#theres next to no material about him so he will not be featuring much

[paranoidblue]

regret to inform the masses that I have recently discovered a new blorbo

[rafeandonlyrafe]

apocalypse

words: 300

warnings: violence, alien invasion lol, mentions of death including parental death

you stomp out your fire before kicking leaves over it, not wanting to leave any trace. you grab your pack off the ground, grunting quietly as you sling it over your shoulder. it’s so fucking heavy, but everything in it is precious. every thing is precious, ever since they came, all material goods are precious. you try not to think about it, especially since it’s been almost a month since you saw the last thing. 

you’re not sure if there’s a technical name for them. they’re so beyond anything you know, anything earthly, that giving any name to them seems wrong. aliens, you suppose. they did come from the sky. large creatures, monsters, that ran on four legs, teeth as sharp knives, bodies moving in an almost mechanical way. they had their weaknesses, and you have found the best way to exploit that. they’ve got terrible senses. sight, hearing, smell, all of it is shit. they’re easy enough to avoid, but deadly when they get close enough. the main issue was the sheer number of them.

just keep your distance, you remind yourself. it’s why you’re out in the woods. you hope they’ll keep to the cities. it would make sense. you thought at first when they came that you’d be safe. they wouldn’t even get onto your island, and you were right, for a while. life in the outer banks wasn’t normal though, even as they began to attack only the big cities. everyone knew they would spread quickly, and chaos started before they even moved out of new york city.

you swallow hard, trying not to think about what happened. you think of your family. kooks. fucking kooks. they went crazy, acting like an alien invasion meant it was the purge. your family owned a grocery store, a small one that had been in the family for generations. it meant you had supplies, but it also made you a target. you force the thought out of your mind, but you still see it every time you close your eyes, the blood and bodies littering the store. you left that day, not even taking a single thing with you, just needing to be gone. they came the next day. you watched from high ground as they tore through the town, only reacting to the loudest screams and most movement. you studied them, committing as much as you could to memory, before turning your back to that world. it was over then.

it’s been almost an entire year now. you’ve considered going back. you’ve never gone far from the outer banks, but you’ve also never stopped moving. you know you’re going in slow circles, but you can’t bring yourself to do anything different, and you don’t need to yet. there’s plenty of food in this area, and the winters don’t deplete your resources as much like they would if you headed north. and south is just ocean, something you don’t want to see. too many memories. the sound of your sister laughing as she jumped in the waves, of your mother laying on the beach, whatever book she’s currently reading in her hand. 

you curse yourself for getting lost in your memories as you hear a twig snap. you quickly move to a tree to climb, trying to keep your movements light. the biggest risk wasn’t even the monsters, just like before in kildare, it was other people. other people killed your family and you are not going to let yourself fall to the same fate. you’d rather stare down the aliens teeth than let another human take you out. it was all just so wrong and messy.

your breath catches when the man creeping through the trees is familiar. his hair is longer now, falling over his forehead in dark blonde strands. you are moving before you can think over the consequences. you were never friends, theres no saying how he’ll welcome you, but he’s someone. someone you know. “rafe.” it feels weird to speak. you haven’t done it in weeks.

his head snaps up at his name, eyes almost bulging out of his head when he realizes who is standing in front of him. “y/n?” he asks, relief spreading over his features. you nod and smile. you’re not sure why you do it, but you get closer. rafe steps in as well, pulling you into a hug. it’s awkward with the amount of gear you’ve both got, but you don’t care, it’s human contact, it’s good human contact.

“you’re alive.” you state the obvious, and rafe nods. “would never let those fuckers take me out.”

you should have known rafe was too strong willed to die. he’s tough, but he’s more than that, he’s too stubborn to let an alien take him out. you wouldn’t be surprised if he had killed a few himself. to still be alive you practically had to.

“what are you doing here? wheres your base?” you ask. theres no way he’s been in this area long, you couldn’t have been missing him this whole time.

“i’m on the move, actually.” rafe says, clearing his throat. “retaking tanneyhill.”

you smile at that, and the action makes your cheeks hurt. you can’t remember the last time you’ve made that expression. “you and what army?” 

rafe shrugs, also grinning. “it’s my home. not going to let anyone drive me out.”

“that’s… brave.” you say honestly. all of the tension is gone from the times before they came. it was always kooks vs pogues, but now, there were just pogues. rafes status was the same as yours. there was nothing for you to be afraid or apprehensive of anymore. 

“come with me.” rafe says. you take a step back. back to outer banks. the thought rolls through your head. “at least to the edge of town.” 

you nod, not able to find words. it’s getting dark anyways, so you need to make camp soon. you’ll sleep on it and reevaluate in the morning when you don’t have the excitement of finally having another friendly human around you again.

“i’ve been sleeping in a nearby cave the past couple nights.” you tell rafe, making sure to keep your voice hushed. “there’s room for two.”

“sure beats just sleeping under the stars knowing i could get my head bit off at any minute.” it’s an attempt at a joke, but you can’t bring yourself to laugh, or even smile. it wasn’t so long ago that you woke up to a huffing sound, sitting up to realize one of those… things was almost on top of you. you grabbed the blade you keep under your pillow and ended it, only because it hadn’t yet realized you were there. you know you wouldn’t get so lucky next time.

you’re quiet the rest of the walk, rafe following in your footsteps quietly. you know exactly where to walk to keep your steps near silent. you get to the cave, pulling the branches out of the way that mask it’s entrance. it’s a tight squeeze to get in. you have to take your pack off and set it inside first. rafe does the same, eyebrows rising as he takes in how large the cave really is, looking up to see the ceiling is a few feet over his head. there’s a few openings in it, letting in the dying sunlight.

it’s an amazing find, really lucky, which is why you’ve stayed in this once place for so long. and just when you began itching to get moving again, here is rafe, presenting you with an opportunity. 

rafe begins to unpack, getting his bedroll out and setting it near yours. it’s the only even spot in the flooring, but your cheeks still heat at the thought of sleeping so close to him.

“here, i have some berries stocked up.” you grab the jar off the floor, opening it and shaking a few into rafes extended hand.

you don’t talk much as you eat. as soon as you stop moving, exhaustion takes over you. you’re thankful that you get so tired, knowing laying down and letting your thoughts run free is not something you want to do. you lay down after you eat, rafe joining you. 

“thanks.” he whispers, noticing that just a bit of moonlight is illuminating the cave.

“no problem.” you say, turning on your side to face him. “i’m glad you’re alive.” if you would have thought about rafe yesterday you would have said you didn’t care if he was alive or dead, but it’s different having him here, right next to you.

“i’m glad you’re alive too.” rafe says, reaching out and squeezing your hand. you squeeze back, palm tingling, and you’re not sure if it’s because of rafe, or because it’s human contact. your eyes flutter closed and you fall asleep like that, hands together.

but it’s not how you wake up. you’re so warm, heat pressing against your front. you blink your eyes opening, realizing that at some point in the night you’ve abandoned your sleeping bag and have joined rafe on his bedroll. you go to move away, but rafes arm is trapping you. he lets out a grumble in his sleep at your attempting to move, squeezing you even tighter to him.

you wait for the blush to subside before you tap rafe. “wake up.” you say softly, unable to resist the urge to stroke your thumb over his cheek. rafes eyes flutter open as you pull your hand away.

“sorry.” rafe mumbles, removing his hand from your back to rub over his face. you don’t speak as you roll away, not telling rafe where you’re going as you head out of the cave to get a breath of fresh air as well as do your business. you’re about to remove the brush to get back inside when you hear a chuffing noise. you know exactly what it is, but you wait until the thing comes into view to confirm it, and you’re glad you wait, because it’s not one, but three.

you rush inside the cave, grabbing your blade. “three of them.” is all you say to rafe to get him moving. the entrance isn’t big enough for them to get in, so you work on packing up in case you need to make a quick move. rafe peaks out the entrance, letting out a quiet curse.

“as soon as they’re gone, we’ve got to move.” you whisper. rafe nods, getting his stuff ready as well. you may be safe in this cave, but you’ve only got a couple berries left, and your water bottle is almost empty. as much as you like this location, it’s time to move, because if three are around, theres bound to be more. they’re not pack animals per say, but they tend to stay in groups when they are on move.

you wait hours, sitting there silently, until the sun is high in the sky. you know you have to use it to your advantage, so you share the rest of the berries with rafe and set off, keeping your head on a swivel. you head towards the outer banks, rafe by your side. you want to tell him again, how thankful you are that he’s alive, but you don’t know how long you’ll be able to stick by his side, no matter how bad you want to.

you spend the whole day walking, and you know that you’re only a few more hours from getting where you want to be, but you convince rafe to stop and set up a small camp. it’s not safe to continue at night, especially with the leaves still on the trees, not letting enough light to the forest floor.

you set up your bedrolls side to side, and again wake up in the morning with your limbs tangled together, this time rafe moving towards you. you close your eyes and let yourself enjoy the warm embrace as the sun rises, sending a warm orange glow over everything. rafe wakes up a few minutes later, squeezing you tightly before getting up. you don’t speak about it as you start to walk again.

you stop by a clean looking river and get some drinking water, both filling up your bottles, knowing you’ll have to boil it later but don’t want to stop. time seems to fly, and before you know it you’re walking down the street of the one place you swore you wouldn’t come back. thankfully, rafes house is nowhere near your familys shop, yet you still feel the tug.

“the fence is still intact.” rafe notes as you approach. he swings the gate open, eyes sweeping over the yard. a lot of the houses have damage, but he’s right, everything looks like it’s still in good shape. you suppose it’s a testament to the older houses being built better, after all this house has gone through hundreds of tropical storms or hurricanes. 

“lets do a quick sweep before we get too excited.” you tell rafe. he gives a curt nod, but you can still see the excitement in his eyes. you stick together, going through every room in the lower floor before heading up the stairs. it’s obviously picked through, but a lot of the important things remain untouched. you want to cry at the fact that there’s still mattresses on the beds. it’s been so long since you’ve slept properly on a bed.

you’re about to head downstairs when you hear nails scratching against the hardwood. your eyes widen and briefly meet rafes before you both look over the railing, realizing one of the aliens must have snuck in after you, and was now heading right towards the stairs.

“rafe.” you whisper-scream. 

“get in the bedroom. close the door.” rafe says, shoving you away.

“no, what?” you protest, knowing you can help.

“please, y/n, i lost… everyone.” his voice breaks, eyes shining. “i can’t lose you too, not when i just got you.”

you frown at his words, but nod, heading towards the bedroom and closing the door. you take your pack off, grabbing your blade. the second you hear rafe in any sort of trouble you’re coming out. 

you hear a commotion, but can’t make much out, until you hear rafe mutter a curse. you throw open the door, seeing rafe clutching his arm, but the monster there on the ground, dead.

“rafe!” you rush to him. “into the bathroom, quickly.” you say, hoping to find some sort of towel to wrap around the wound, maybe if you’re lucky something to stave off infection.

“hey.” rafe stops. “we have to go shut the gate first.” 

you shake your head no. “you’re bleeding, we take care of you first then we can do whatever else.” rafe sighs, but nods, letting you lead him into the spacious bathroom, but it feels small when you close the door behind you. it’s been almost a year since you’ve been inside a house, and its near suffocating being trapped. you quickly scrounge through the cabinets, shocked to find so much stuff. you realize the camerons probably stayed as long as they could, meaning most of the looting was done by the time the house was vacant.

you find some hydrogen peroxide and a hand towel, deciding it will work for now. you turn back to rafe, who has now taken his shirt off. your breath catches in your throat, noting not just his defined muscles but also the various scars littered along his torso. some were clearly deep, other little scratches, maybe from a thorn.

you shake the fuzzy feeling out of your head and squirt a little bit of the peroxide onto a towel, not wanting to waste such a precious resource. you press it to the wound, and rafe doesn’t even flinch at the sting. as you clean it up, you realize it’s not bad at all. rafe would likely recover quickly, especially now that you can control any potential infection somewhat.

you rip the sleeve off his shirt. it’s no good anymore anyways, and tighten it around his wound.

“you make a good nurse.” rafe says, admiring your quick and efficient work. 

“no formal training, but i did watch greys anatomy before.” you laugh, the sound echoing around you. 

rafe smiles at you, tucking a strand of hair out of your face. “stay with me?” rafe asks, reaching down to squeeze your hand. “we can fortify this place. put wiring along the top of the fence. plant, make a whole garden. fish for our food. we can live as comfortably as possible, together.”

you nod before you can stop yourself. you honestly can’t think of anything better than feeling safe. 

the first couple months are just hard work. you use the prebuilt wall along the property to make it a safe haven against the aliens, even going as far to set some traps. 

you eventually settle into a routine. rafe does most of the fishing, you do all of the gardening, and then you fall asleep in the same bed every night. it becomes comfortable. you have sightings of the monsters, but only a couple pose any threat, and you’re always able to retreat back into tanneyhill until they leave the town. you don’t see any other people, probably because no one wants to be trapped on an island, potentially stranded.

you decide to head into town, rafe has been pushing you that it would be smart to check for supplies, and he’s right, but your families shop is in town and you don’t know how you’ll cope seeing it, but you eventually agree you do need to reup your supplies, especially clean, unripped clothing. 

rafe takes a gun he found still in the safe at tanneyhill as you walk together down the street. it feels freeing to be out without a pack, knowing that you have someplace safe to return to. 

you follow rafe, until you get there, and your steps falter. rafe notices immediately as you turn to face the place you grew up in, running down the aisles with your sister, being scolded by your father when you bump the shelves and knock merchandise off. part of you wants to go inside, be surrounded by those memories, but you know what else lies inside those doors.

“hey, what’s wrong?” rafes voice sounds far away, even as hes right next to you.

you sink to your knees, unable to even stand, tears flowing down your face. rafe follows you to the ground, hand cupping your face, other arm pulling you into him.

“hey, hey, i got you.” rafe says, kissing your head. “i got you. it’s okay.”

he lets you cry until theres nothing left in you. the year of pent up emotions, holding everything in because you had no choice. there was no time for breakdowns in the constant struggle to survive, but rafe has helped give you safety, and in that, freedom.

“thank you.” you look up at him, knowing you would still be out there in those woods if it wasn’t for him. you lean in, pressing your lips against rafes. he hesitates for a moment and then returns the kiss, pulling you somehow even closer into him. 

“thank you.” rafe presses his forehead against yours. “i was lost before we found each other.” he pecks a kiss to your lips. “you saved me in ways you don’t even know. i wasn’t coming back to outer banks to retake tanneyhill, i was coming back to give up.” rafe admits.

you can’t help the gasp that you let out. rafe giving up? he must have been in a truly terrible place. you imagine seeing his entire family killed did that to him. you know exactly what it’s like.

“i love you.” you tell rafe, needing him to hear the words you’ve been holding back for almost a month now. 

“i love you.” rafe kisses you deeply again. “i love you.”

[beecanons]

Hello!!! :D Hi, could you do Raiden and Kung Lao (MK1) or maybe Hanzo and Kuai Liang (MK11) agere headcannons? Pleeeeease? Also have a good day, and it's okie if you can't!! :3

hi! im not sure if you wanted them individually or as pairs so i gift you!

Regressor mk1 trio headcanons, featuring Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Raiden!

i know you didnt mention liu kang and as much as i love kung lao, i cant seperate these guys theyre best friends.

raiden would absolutely be a cg for regressors liu kang and kung lao though he would be a bit of a strict and stern cg he would be very caring and keep them out of touble but when he says no, theres no changing his mind.

liu kang or kung lao could easily be a baby sitter for one another but with raiden as cg theyre best buds or even sibs on a playdate

this does include playfights

kitana is either a standin cg or babysitter at least for liu kang, maye not as much for kung lao but will look after them together if need be

raiden's the best at giving sublte and vague excuses for the three of them to leave when needed no one questions him but the other too often suck at it and stumble over or generally mess up the excuse

not very independant regressors, they normally wont even regress unless prompted somehow

raiden picks up on everything knows the moment they feel little and need something hes very attuned to them and can read them easily

angy liu kang has set things on fire didnt always mean to does apologize after time out

liu kang would be maybe 4-5 kung lao might be soemthere between 4-10 depending on the day

kung lao needs some sort of safety precaution on his hat he's allowed to have it, they tried telling him he cant and that was a mistake but when he's little they put something on the bladded rim and he'll sit and pout about it for a bit

regressor Scorpion(Hanzo) and cg sub-zero(Kuai Liang)!

this gif just defines their relationship for me "no, hanzo, this way, there." "oh i see" "good job"

hanzo regresses around age 6 he's a very curious kid but hes also very stubborn and grumpy

hanzo wont often ask for help kuai liang will notice when he needs help and will usually ask first but knows hanzo wont admit to it and will find ways to help him out without causing a fuss

gumpy kiddo will sit next to him and pout until the other takes the hint and gives him a hug doesnt really like cuddles but is okay with hugs or being held for a short time

"hanzo dont do it...noo..." something proceeds to light on fire and be put out with cold "thats it, time out, little one" "no!"

its a fight to get him to settle down he's easier to handle and tuck in for a nap or sleep after he's tired himself out kuai liang will find things to direct his energy towards to keep him busy until he tires or gets burnt out so he can cool down with a nap (pun intended)

its hard to find little gear he wont burn when he gets upset a make shift bottle or sippy cup is just a metal waterbottle. plastic will melt and wood will char, so metal things are about the only material that can withstand his outbursts.

after being grumpy and angry, hes really sweet and helpful at the end of the day hanzo wants to help kuai liang as a thank you for helpng him too he feels bad after he gets upset, so he wants to be helpful and do something nice and be a good kiddo to make up for it.

i love mk so much i hope these were okay!

[alreadyblondenow]

How old is too old?

Jung Jaehyun x reader // SMUT, SMUT, angst, fluff

Themes: OLDER JAEHYUN, YOUNGER READER, please I’m begging you don’t read my works if you’re not comfortable.

Word count: 5k

Summary: Jaehyun was your father’s best friend and life has it’s own twist of reuniting you again. 

Warnings: OLDER JAEHYUN, YOUNGER READER, BOTH LEGAL AGE, sex, sex, sex, over stimulation, choking, slapping, dom Jaehyun, mentions of other idols, pairing of other idols, swearing,  unprotected sex, rough sex, filthy sex, sad ending, Jaehyun is Johnny’s best friend, Johnny is your dad do the math. Mentions of alcohol, mentions of pregnancy, sad ending

A/N: I did this in one sitting. This is only a made up story and theres no way in hell that this is true. If something about the warning doesn’t sit well on you please don’t read. I would like to thank the anon who pointed out the sensitive topic. I already deleted some parts and edited the fic. Again thank you, and I will be better next time. For the first 200+ readers, I’m sorry if the fic was carrying something sensitive and I was clueless about it but after consulting with some of my fellow writers, I think the edited version of this fic is now safer. Thank you! And if the concept is still sensitive you can message me again I’ll be happy to delete it. 

Have you ever seen someone so dreamy and handsome that he sparkles every time he’s around? Or whenever he’s around he just lights up the whole room with his smile. He’s like an angel or a saint that walks among us. Mr. Jaehyun or Mr. Jae, as you call him, is the epitome of that description.

Same birthday, different age. 

Years later

“Good morning princess, happy birthday”

The sun is hitting your eyes and you put an arm on your head, not minding the person kissing your exposed thighs. Yuta has been your fuck buddy ever since the day you’ve been introduced to sex. He was your first at everything, but you two never had the guts to take your relationship to the next level. Nonetheless, you’re both still scared to lose each other.

“See you tonight?” you said weakly, admiring Yuta’s angelic features under the bright natural light that comes in your room perfectly.

“Definitely” he kissed your cheek and flopped on top of your naked body, “Don’t forget to clean up well, I came almost five times inside you last night,” he said before he kisses you one last time and leaves you to enjoy your morning.

On your way to the dining room, every one that crosses your path greets you good morning and happy birthday. You respond with a smile and ‘thank you’ as you continue to walk, everyone seems busy for the dinner party tonight.

On the long table, you found your mother and father having coffee and reading the newspapers. “Morning” you greet the before you sit.

“Happy Valentine's day” Johnny, your father, teases you as he folds the newspaper. You roll your eyes at him at let out a small laugh, “You’ll love my surprise for you tonight” he added, chewing his toast with strawberry jam on it.

“Another car? Oh, wait. Did you bought me a whole Chanel boutique already?” you tease your father, even though he perfectly knew you hate material gifts.

“Oh no. You’ll like this one” he smirks at you and stood up to give you a kiss on the forehead, “happy birthday, I’ll be back before dinner and before the guests arrived. Just have to handle a few things at the office”

“Why do I feel like you’re about to buy me a private plane” you tease him again and left you with your mother to enjoy breakfast together.

Living with fame and money all your life didn’t make you a spoiled daughter, or a big spender like your dad. You’re always about the simple things in life that give you genuine happiness, it’s always the people around you are showering you with expensive gifts that you’re grateful for but to be honest, you don’t need it. Family, career, and love. Those are the most important things in your life. But about love, you’re not sure yet.  

During the family dinner, as usual, the house is packed with family, family friends, and some people at work. Champagnes everywhere, people chatting about business or whatnot, families catching up, and friends reuniting.

“Where is dad?” you asked your mother, Seulgi while you wait for both your father and Yuta to arrive. You’re not blowing your birthday candles without your dad.

As you chat with other people and enjoy your celebration, your ears rang when you heard people exclaiming that Johnny has arrived. You walked to the entrance to greet your father, and to your surprise… Jaehyun is with him. Handsome as ever as if those years of not seeing each other didn’t make him age.

“You remember Jaehyun right?” your father introduced you to Jaehyun like one of his business partners, but Jaehyun is more than that.

“Mr. Jae, you’re back- is he, the gift that you’ve been telling me?” the question was directed to Johnny but your eyes are glued to Jaehyun, shaking his hands still.

“You’ve grown so much!” Jaehyun knew it was wrong to scan your hot body but he couldn’t resist. He’s good at hiding it.

Seeing Jaehyun right before your eyes made you feel things that you are not supposed to be feeling. He’s not your uncle, you don’t share the same blood, he’s just one of your dad’s business partners. The lust that you felt the moment you saw him scan your body felt so wrong but good at the same time. How can Mr. Jae do this to you?

As the night became more and more interesting, you and Jaehyun spent hours and hours talking and catching up. You have completely forgotten about your other guests, you just want to talk to Jaehyun the whole night.

He hasn’t changed a bit, the only thing that changed in his life is his steady career. The business in Connecticut made him filthy rich because he put his whole life on managing it. He apologised for leaving you and not saying goodbye, “to be honest I’m happy I didn’t see you before I leave, I knew you would be sad and I couldn’t bear seeing you like that. How are you?”

“The same sweet girl that you left, Mr. Jae” you just flirted and you hope he will just shrug it off. “Managing my own business now, I could live alone already but I’m too attached with my parents-“

“Hey, princess” Yuta came out of nowhere and interrupt you mid-sentence. He kissed you on the cheek, enough to make Jaehyun think that he’s your boyfriend or someone who has your heart. “Didn’t get to spend some time with you tonight, but it’s fine. I left your present on top of your bed, I hope you like it”

Jaehyun was watching attentively the whole time you and Yuta were talking, and after Yuta left you noticed that Jaehyun was smirking while he drinks his wine. “Now, I’m perfectly convinced that you’ve grown. He’s not your fiancé or anything right?”

“No no.” you shook your head nervously, “Just someone, who can provide my sexual needs” you added confidently letting him know that, yes you’re an adult now.

The catching up with Jaehyun continues, but soon your birthday ends and everyone needed to go home. Jaehyun kissed you on the cheek and told you that he was so happy to be reunited with you again.

“Oh, Mr. Jae” you blurted out before he gets in his car, “Happy birthday”

Jaehyun smiled so sweetly, heart-pounding, ear turning red because he’s so happy that you remember. “Happy birthday to us”

Weeks after your birthday, you decided to live separately with your parents and move out of the mansion. Johnny was sad about it, but he clearly knows sooner or later he needed to let go of you. While you were putting your stuff and organizing some of your things, someone knocked at your door but you’re hands are full you couldn’t open the door for them. “Come in, it’s open. Sorry, my hands are full” You were inside your walk-in closet, putting your shoes inside boxes and you wonder who it might be.

“Thought I should say hi to you. Your father is busy taking important calls” Jaehyun explained. 

For a moment, you and Jaehyun chatted and exchanged questions. He asked you what made you change your mind about living on your own, you asked what's his business with your dad lately. Both gave interesting answers until the room became silent as you go back to packing your stuff.

He watches you put your things on boxes, but your Victoria’s Secret satin sleepwear catches his attention. Those thin shorts that expose your butt cheeks whenever you bend over, thin sleeveless top that he oh so wanted to remove, the way your nipples ghost on your thin satin sexy top makes him want to pinch your nipples until you’re whimpering.

You don’t know what he needs, but you feel his breath on your nape. His presence is not easy to avoid when he’s directly behind you and awfully close. “Mr. Jae, do you need something else?” You clear your throat before reaching something but he stopped you from moving. He turned you around and his hands are quick to hold your ass, squeezing them gently with both hands, your body relaxes against his chest but your heart is pounding.

“Put your leg around my waist” it was a stern tone that made you follow without hesitation. He put you on the nearest wall and pinned you the there, his hands are busy removing your shorts and panties. Once you’re naked waist down, he unbuckles his belt and released his thick, veiny cock. The place was dead silent and you couldn’t talk because you can’t believe what’s happening. He kissed you on the cheek before pushing in halfway.

It hurt. But he didn’t care.

He pulls out again only to push right back in a little harder than before. You closed your eyes because it fucking hurts but it felt so good that you part your lips and rolled your head back.

After a few pleasurable thrusts that stretched your walls good, he stopped. The goal was not to have sex and had an amazing orgasm then and there. Jaehyun was testing the waters if you’re up to doing something stupid with him. His main goal for putting his cock inside you was not to give you an orgasm but to let you know that letting him fuck you someday will fucking feel good.

“If you want this to happen again, go to my place tonight. I’ll text you the address” he went down to get your shorts and panties on the floor and helped you wear it. He buckled his belt in front of you without taking his eyes off of you.

Jaehyun left you in your room with a confused mind. Questions over questions but you do know one thing, he will surely see you in his place tonight. And because of that, you finished putting your stuff and took a long bath on the tub. Making sure that every part of your body smells like lavender.

The thought of Jaehyun being your father’s best friend doesn’t sit well on you but the urge and the want of being fucked by Jaehyun lurks in your mind. What’s so wrong about having sex with Jaehyun anyway? Yes, he’s older but you’re an adult too.

As you drive to Jaehyun’s house for the first time, you try not to think about the people who will get mad if they know about this stupid thing that you’re about to do. Jaehyun’s house location is so far from the city, away from every chaos you could think of. As expected, his house is big and well guarded. But it feels cold and lonely.

“You live alone? Mr. Jae?” you asked when you got out of the car, Jaehyun welcoming you with a hug. He looks comfortable in his house clothes, slippers and all.

“Yes. My helpers come and go every weekend to clean the house. How was the drive?” He put an arm around your waist before he opens the door and enter his house, it was beautiful inside. A Chet Baker song was playing somewhere around the house, and it smells good. “I cooked dinner, I hope you’re starving”

You thought that once you stepped foot in his house, he will bring you straight to his room and have sex with you because it’s always like that with Yuta but you’re wrong. He made you dinner and the set up is kind of romantic. The food that he cooked is delicious it made you feel like you were eating somewhere expensive.

And just after dinner and two bottles of wine ago, you two catch up some more. You caught yourself laughing at his stories, giggling when he flirts with you, smiling whenever he looks at you deeply. Then it hit you, maybe he’s just shy to admit that he likes you and that his true purpose is to date you not just fuck you.

“What I did earlier is rather bold and wrong, I’m-“

“It’s okay, Mr. Jae. I’m here, it happened already” he smiled as you sip on your wine.

“Please, call me Jaehyun” he smiled back to you.

When the two of you grew tired of catching up already, finally he brought you to his room. He left you for a minute to lurk around and all you felt was loneliness. The room felt lonely, his entire house too and you’re not stupid to know why you’re here. It’s clear that Jaehyun is lonely in his life even though he has all the money in the world.

“Where are you?” you feel his lips on your neck. Maybe he noticed that you were spacing out. But again, Jaehyun is close to your body just like earlier and it brought you back to reality. You can feel the warmth of his body that you oh so crave, his soft lips that you want to kiss and taste. He turned your body around to face him and just like that he kissed you softly as if he just read your mind.

“Is it weird?” that an older man is kissing you right now? 

“No. Not at all, do it again?” you confidently requested, and he happily did it again. Arms around Jaehyun’s neck, kissing each other like everything is right, your fingers go through his soft hair. Every moan that comes from your mouth goes straight to his cock making it twitch and want to be inside you.

He sat you down on the edge of his bed and went in between your legs, removing your laced panties slowly. Dress all wrinkled and just above your thighs, straps already fell off your shoulders making you looked ruined already.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he said while removing his pants together with his expensive underwear. What’s about to happen is, Jaehyun will fuck on the edge of his bed. He pushed inside you again for the second time today without foreplay, rolling hips slowly making you see how lustful he is.

He was so concentrated on fucking you, but he leaned down for a kiss and pull away again so he can see his cock go in and out of your pussy. Jaehyun’s deep grunts and moans are like music to your eyes while yours are like an achievement for him. Hearing you moan because of him feeds his pride and he loves it.

“That Nakamoto guy you’ve been having sex with didn’t fucked you enough” he informs you confidently with a sly smirk on his face. You were so sensitive by this time, both legs folded and clipped on the edge of the bed giving Jaehyun more access to your cunt, explore angles as he pleases. You wanted to close your legs so bad, but it feels so damn good you force yourself to keep your legs open for him.

“Spread your folds for me” you followed and you let him flick his thumb up and down your slit while he fucks you still, putting pressure on his finger and putting his whole cock inside you.

“Too much,” you said weakly, out of breath, gasping so hard.

“And that’s what makes it feel good, enjoy it.” by this time you don’t know what made you cum so hard, his sexy voice, his cock inside you, or his fingers. The orgasm Jaehyun gave wasn’t something Yuta can easily deliver and you hate that you’re comparing them with each other. You close your legs and shiver on the mattress, feeling your pussy tingle even tho Jaehyun pulled out already.

“Good?” he leaned down on you again and kissed your lips, your neck, your face while you two crawl up to the bed and lay comfortably with the pillows. The kiss was full of hunger and lust as if he’s not letting you rest even just for a minute after making you cum for the first time. It was so intense that you’re high isn’t going away and you can feel him line his cock again while he distracts you with his hungry kisses.

“Jaehyun, I need to breathe” he chuckles and gave your request. He used the time to remove his shirt and get you naked before positioning himself again in between your legs that you refuse to open, “Baby, don’t make me open those legs for you” it wasn’t a threat, but it made you scared even tho he was kissing your neck the whole time he was talking.

His beautiful body is on top of you as you slowly open your legs again for him, he tickled your sides and it made you giggle. “Y/n, relax why are you so tensed?” Jaehyun’s arms are perfectly wrapped around your body and it’s making you blush and shy because it’s such an intimate position, the kind of sex position married couples use.

“I’m not tensed, it’s just everything feels new and were so close-“

“Get used to it then” he proceeds to kiss your neck and make you calm using his lips, he was still embracing you and you doubt that he’s going to pull away any second. “Ready?” he asked, rolling his hips a little and you nod your head ‘yes’.

There’s that stinging stretch again because of Jaehyun’s cock that makes your mouth open and your eyes closed. Your embrace to Jaehyun tightens while he thrust in and out of you slowly, but not for long. His thrusts became hammering pounds, that your head hit his headboard already but no one cares, it feels good. “Harder Jae, harder” it was a breathy tone that Jaehyun loved.

You can’t believe that those hard and piercing thrusts can make you both cum in no time and as expected, Jaehyun is wild. “Jae” you call out his name but he chose not to listen.

Tears on your eyes started to fall because of the overstimulation but the man above you sill hasn’t stopped, deep inside you don’t want him either. Jaehyun was the kind of man who will not stop even though your cunt is overflowing with his cum, he overstimulated you, he overstimulated himself. And just like that you both cum again, moaning as loud as you can because you perfectly knew no one can hear you.

That night, you’ve been fucked far too many times in ways you’ve never been fucked before. Every round was more intense than the last one, you never felt so thankful to whoever invented birth control pills because you’re damn sure than Jaehyun can get you pregnant.

You don’t know how, but you somehow passed out and you woke up clean and covered with Jaehyun’s thick duvet. He wasn’t beside you, so you forced yourself to go up and wear his black shirt as cover to your naked body and went outside his room. The house was so big that you don’t know where to start finding him, good thing you found him sitting on one of his couches facing the lit pool outside with a glass of wine on his hand. Body still exposed but he’s wearing a clean Calvin Klein boxers briefs now.

“Why are you sitting so far away from me, come sit on my lap” the invitation made you smile and you walked slowly towards him and sat on his lap as requested. “I'm sorry that I had to drag you into this mess. I’m too old to find someone that will love me genuinely, that’s why I find people who can satisfy my sexual needs”

See, you’re right. He’s lonely. And he got the idea of making you a target for his needs because he knew about you and Yuta being fuck buddies during that time on your birthday. “Oh, so that gave you an idea, huh” you smirk, and raked his hair away from his face.

“Yeah. I'm sorry”

“No don’t be. Clearly, I loved everything that happened tonight the moment I stepped right in”

“How about your man friend, Nakamoto. Will he be okay about you fucking other people? Older people?” he took a sip on his wine, leaning comfortably on his expensive couch giving you a perfect view of his hot body.

“You may be old but you fuck like a horny teenager. Yuta doesn’t need to know” the conversation is getting serious.

“Good because, what we have, what happened should stay between us. It will ruin my career, my job, my friendship with Johnny, my relationship with you”

Ouch. That hurt you. “So you’re my second fuck buddy now?” how can you even think that he likes you and that what just happened in his bed was not just because he’s lonely. How can you think that he longs for you, need you? You scoffed and tried to get out of his lap but he’s quick to grab you and put his hands on your thighs.  

“No no, I didn’t mean it that way. We’re together. We’re together as we can be, but we can’t go public until we found a solution. Okay? Don’t frown, please. My heart can’t bear to see you sad or disappointed”

“Okay, I’m sorry I overreacted”

“Let's sleep?” you nod your head with a smile and just like that he left his glass of wine on the table near the couch and carried you back effortlessly in his room. You will never forget this moment that you two slept in one bed. Back against his chest, arms around your waist, the air that comes out from his nose hits your nape perfectly like a reminder that he’s close to you.

Days went on and on like this until it turned into weeks then months. Jaehyun didn’t feel lonely in his house big house anymore, and your life is complete now because you found love. He helped you designed your apartment but you never stayed there because you live in Jaehyun’s now with him.

You and Jaehyun go on to dates like a normal couple but with utmost caution. Spending beautiful nights under the stars, celebrating holidays together, going on vacation. You and Jaehyun plan a lot for the future, and it makes you happy because you have something to look forward to.  

As you live with Jaehyun, you became the woman of the house who managed everything even the expenses. Everything was transparent between you and Jaehyun, ‘what’s mine is yours’ as he described it. It was like a trial to married life with Jaehyun, and you’re loving it so far. A perfect love story and no one is reckless enough so not a single soul suspects your relationship.

“My business partners are giving me a headache” he complains as soon he enters your shared room and kissed you. He smelled like car air freshener and he looked like he had a rough day.

You continue reading your book and reply to some of your clients through email on the side while you wait for Jaehyun to come to bed with you. Focused and unbothered, you didn’t feel him kiss your legs as he crawls on the bed shirtless and only wearing hid pajamas.

“Can we have sex? Make my day better please” he asks so sweetly in between kissing you on your neck, your book is long forgotten.

“Thought you were tired?” you caressed his flawless back, feeling his back muscles on your hand, he only shook his head and kissed you down until you reach the fluffy pillows. Swiftly he unbuttons your sleepwear, revealing your boobs that he soon attacked with kisses and love bites. You managed to get him naked and he managed to remove your thin shorts and underwear.

He checked your slit and you were a little dry, so he went down between your legs and spit on your cunt. Filthy but hot. Whenever you have sex with your boyfriend, his cock still stretches your cunt like he’s getting bigger and bigger each day. You never get used to is. You let out a soft ‘ouch’ and Jaehyun heard it, “Yes that’s right. Hurt for me baby”

“I’m not tight you’re fucking big Jae. You’re not even hard enough and yet-fuck!” he interrupted you with a piercing thrust mid-sentence. “Why do you always do that” you whine, he just smirked and continue fucking you wild.

Whenever Jaehyun is stressed like this the sex is always rough and wild, and you love it. He pulls away from kissing your swollen boobs and put a hand around your neck choking you well. His other hand is intertwined yours so whenever it’s too much you can always tell him to stop. But it was never too much for you. The overstimulation, yes. But his roughness, never. “Harder,” you request in between short breaths.

You smiled at him before you cum, eyes rolling back as usual. He pulls out slapped your cunt while you’re still sensitive and shivering, enjoying the view of his beloved girlfriend whimpering on the bed. “Why is fucking you one time is always not enough. We always have to go for a few more rounds. I’m so in love with you” He grabs both of your hands and put it around his neck, “Keep me close Y/n, I love you” he said before going inside you again to fuck you a little bit softer, gentler, and slower.

Having slow sex with Jaehyun is as good as having rough sex with him. “Does it still hurt? I’m sorry” but he still thrusts and puts his entire cock inside you making a bulge on your stomach.

“Fuck I forgot, pull out when you cum okay? I forgot to take my pill this week. Sorry” it was something that didn’t scare Jaehyun. Having kids with you is something he dreamed of happening and he’s ready for it.

“I want to have kids with you” he sounded serious but you’re not on the right mind right now to tell him your answer. You want it too, but you’re not yet ready. You still have so much to unlock in your life. If he pulls out, that will give you relief. But if he doesn't, well, you can just hope that you won’t get pregnant.

After a few thrust,

He pulled out.

What a relief.

That night, Jaehyun stayed in bed a little late just looking at your beautiful face under the nice moonlight shining through his window. He will ask you to marry him and live a normal life, he will face Johnny and handle the situation in his own hands. He will do everything in his power to give you a happy life without hiding from the people who will judge your relationship.

The next day, you woke him up with loving kisses just how he wants it. Jaehyun lived almost half of his life waking up alone in a cold bed, but now that you’re part of his life, he gets to enjoy waking up from your kisses and waking up with a dimpled smile.

“Good morning, you’re up early,” he said groggily but with a smile.

“See you tonight at the party? I have to leave early and take care of some stuff at the office”

He nods his head and forced himself to sit up and give a kiss. A little longer than you expected, but always sweeter than yesterday’s kiss. “I love you. Find me later okay?” you nod your head ‘yes’ and kissed some more.

The annual business party that your dad threw for his company is a big event for him, nonetheless, it’s not stressful just full of people wearing tuxedos, gentlemen with their wives, your dad’s business partners together with their secretaries.

Wearing a beautiful Valentino dress, you walk to the entrance with Yuta hoping that your boyfriend will not get mad because this was just a last-minute thing. Yuta came out of nowhere before you enter the party, and you didn’t want to shoo him away because it will hurt his feelings. After all, you two had a history.

Seated on the same table, you and Yuta, your father and mother, Jaehyun, and his date Yeri. As part of hiding, you and Jaehyun didn’t talk too much but he did tell you you’re beautiful in front of your father and complimented the necklace that you’re wearing which he gave you. Seeing Yeri near your boyfriend hurt you like you two just broken up. Like you and Yuta, Jaehyun and Yeri had a history because they’re ex-lovers.

“Come dance with me” Yuta being the music lover that he is dragged you into the dance floor and made you dance with him. You feel Jaehyun’s eyes follow you even though you were busy dancing under the upbeat music and having fun with Yuta on the dance floor together with the other guests.

Jaehyun on the other hand invited Johnny to smoke tobacco with him. Men with tobaccos stayed in a room where they can play poker peacefully and talk more about business. This is the perfect time Jaehyun thought. The perfect time to tell Johnny about his relationship with you. Seeing you with Yuta was like the push he has been waiting for and now, he’s going to do it.

“Johnny, I love your daughter” he blurted out, holding his tobacco with his right hand.

Johnny chuckled and shook his head in disbelief, “I know right. Crazy how she was just a little girl, felt like only yesterday. Can’t believe she’s running her own business right now and being successful” he smiled, taking a hit on his tobacco.

“That’s all true, but that’s not what I meant” the atmosphere was quiet even though Jaehyun and Johnny are away from the other men. “Were in love Johnny. We’ve been together for ten beautiful months now”

Johnny was speechless and he wanted to punch Jaehyun on the face right then and there, but this is his party. He can’t cause a scene. Johnny is a powerful man, he can ruin anyone and he’s well aware of that. So instead of causing a scene, he fixed his rings and told Jaehyun that, “You’re a well-established businessman Jaehyun. I think you don’t need me anymore as a partner and… best friend. Stay away from my daughter” he pats Jaehyun on the shoulder and made his way back to the party again to find you.

“Can I dance with my daughter, Yuta?” your father smiled at you and took you dancing. You saw Jaehyun sit beside Yeri, smiling so beautifully and making each other smile. “Oh look at my best friend, I’m happy they got back together” it was a lie that Johnny had to made up to ruin your relationship with Jaehyun and also his way to find out if Jaehyun is telling the truth.

Johnny saw the sadness in your eyes, that’s when he confirmed it. “How about you? Yuta looks like a fine man who’s been around. Give him a shot? After all, The Suh and Nakamoto company looks good merging” it was clear that he was suggesting you to marry Yuta someday because of business and you hate it. But you smile and joked nonetheless.

“Arranging me for marriage dad?”

“Psh. No. I’m just showing you a choice. Yuta is a good person, comes from a good family, and-“

“And I’m not in love with him” your dad knew he had to shut up.

You thought that the party will not stress you out and you will have a great time but the opposite happened. Now, you just hope that Jaehyun will turn everything around remove the stress away. But no. He was silent when you got home and didn’t welcome you with kisses that you oh so crave by this time. You went separately, of course, he was the first one who got home but he’s still wearing the same clothes he wore from the party when you found him in the living room drinking hard liquor.

The dress is beautiful, but you wanted to get out of it because it reminds you what your father just told you about marrying Yuta. Soon, Jaehyun joined you in your shared walk-in closet but he’s still silent.

“You didn’t tell me you were going with Yuta. Baby, I was hurt. I wanted to dance with you so bad but-“

“You should’ve danced with Yeri” you blurted out. “She was beautiful Jae, you just let her sit in the table all night. Did you even offered to take her home?”

“Why would I do that, we're together” he watches you unzip the beautiful dress and expose yourself in front of him with only the lingerie that you’re wearing. “Okay sorry I was overreacting” he leans on the door, shoulders crossed, and his bow tie is already undone. “But I told Johnny about us earlier”

You were speechless and disappointed, you scoffed and you can’t believe he did that. “Well you look disappointed” Jaehyun was hurt, he thought you would be happy that he finally had the guts to man up and tell your father the truth.

“I am! Because you decided all by yourself. You didn’t talk about this with me. No wonder my father was acting weird”

“What, do you want to hide forever Y/n? I’m doing this for us. Don't you want to get married and have kids someday?” by this time both of your tones towards each other were a little higher than usual.

“I know your intentions Jae, but it's not yet the right time. I want to have a family and kids with you but not now. I’m just starting to build my life. Come on Jae, you sound like you’re proposing to me now“ you still sound disappointed.

He thought that getting married will make you happy, but now it’s clear to him that he’s wrong. “Maybe I am”

“Well, then I have to say no for now” that was like a bullet straight to his heart. It was like saying ‘Jaehyun, I can’t marry you because you’re too old. Wait for me to get older, then we’ll talk about marriage’ He ignored what you said.

“Wha did johnny told you?” his eyes were cold, there’s no sign of spark in it.

“He said you were back with, Yeri” you were removing your makeup at the bathroom with only your robe covering your naked body.

“That’s bullshit, my own best friend” Jaehyun sounded irritated you can here drawers closing loudly because clearly, he’s not happy that Johnny bad mouthed him in front of you.

“I know its not true, Jae. He was just saying that because he’s concerned and I don’t know, protecting me?”

“Huh? Protecting you from what Y/n? Were together for almost a year now tell me, am I treating you bad? Can you say that you’re in bad hands?” it was not a question. You knew so you didn’t answer.

This is your first fight with Jaehyun and this is the first night that you shared the bed without facing each other. Tonight he lost his best friend, and he can't afford to lose you too. But he was stern. He still wants to make your relationship public and be engaged soon. He not forcing it but you know he wants it real bad.

If last night you fought for the first time, this morning Jaehyun didn’t feel your kisses woke him up for the first time since you two were together. That simple gesture makes Jaehyun happy first thing in the morning and now that you didn’t do it for the first time, it felt like you’re going to leave him soon.

The same argument went on for days, even you don’t know how to fix this problem but still, life goes on. Jaehyun tried having makeup sex with you but you just let him fuck you and it never fixes things. He was so desperate and he was trying so hard to bring back everything but it was not easy. All he ever wanted was to make you stay in his life. But looks like the relationship is ruined.

Finally, he realized a sad truth. Sooner or later he has to let go of you even though he loves you wholeheartedly. When Jaehyun first mentioned the breakup you were furious and mad, “I’m like this Jaehyun because I don’t know how to fix it but I never wanted to break up! But you! How dare you to even make it an option!” of course you didn’t want to break up with the man you love, being not on the same page for now in the relationship is not enough reason to just throw everything away.

“I can’t give you the life that you want Y/n, we continuously hurt each other every day I can’t hurt you furthermore. We can’t be together anymore” he was so calm and you can’t understand how does he do that.

The perfect love story you thought is now ending with tragedy. How can loving Jaehyun become so wrong? But he was right, sooner or later reality will slap you hard and the truth will not be on your side. Loving Jaehyun was something you will never regret doing, but it was wrong because he was your father’s best friend, you two can’t seem to find your way back to each other now.

As you finally agreed to the breakup, moving out of Jaehyun’s house was a fucking torture. You see to it that you get all your stuff during his working hours so he could enjoy the heartbreak that he singlehandedly decided for the both of you. It was a great relationship that deserved a peaceful breakup.

Jaehyun went home on an empty house and it broke his heart to million pieces. Pictures of you and him scattered around the house and letting go of you is life-changing for him in a bad way. Together with the happy memories that you left in his house is the necklace that he gave and every cute note he gave to you whenever he needed to leave the house before you can even wake up. It’s as if you wanted everything to stay in his house, keep everything hidden like it always has, like you and Jaehyun never happened in the first place.

Jaehyun married Yeri a year after your breakup and the news broke you. Deep inside you were still clinging to the chance of getting back with Jaehyun and turn everything around but you’re wrong. No one knew about your relationship except Johnny. That’s good. You don’t need to explain yourself to people.

As years went by, you decided to build your life with Yuta and love him fiercely without worries, without hiding, you told him about Jaehyun and he didn’t judge you not even a bit. The wedding made the news of two companies merging, and the whole country celebrated.  

Years after your wedding, you were at the record store buying lullabies for babies so you can listen to it and hope that your daughter can hear it. You’re seven months pregnant with Yuta’s baby and you’re excited to be a mother.

“Y/n?” a familiar voice called your name and you’re too scared to turn your back and face him but you don’t have a choice.

And you’re right. You haven’t seen him since the breakup and he was like a ghost to you now. He hasn’t changed a bit. After four years, you’re now in front of Jung Jaehyun with a baby on your belly and a wedding ring on your finger.

[rotten-dan]

dan i hope you dont freaking mind my telling you via ask bc if discovered they expanded the chara limits here and not replies so this way gives me more room to Speak. so anyways... ive said different... because ive believe... that the moment an interpretation of character exists concretely in the world, a new version of that character is created and is inherently a separate guy. because once the person takes that character theyre imparting their own self into that character because their perception of that character will always be different from that of the originals creators... even if you tried your hardest to be the most faithful that you can be to the source can you truly confidently say that your vision of the character is the same as the creators? when you are obviously a separate and different person from them? you will never be them. so what think happens is that we you make that interpretation exist, you sort of make it your own. you get a bit of ownership for That Instance, for That Version of that same character. you know how ppl can say "oh i love your wayne" (for example) because they like how you wrote them? my stance is kinda based on that. a My City Now sort of stance. yes that character is based on what already exists. but do they exist in the same place? no i thinks its a parallel sort of existence... yes theyre tied together by features and name. but isnt that new version sort of independent? well actually. this part is very debatable. how independent/dependent an interpretation is from the og. probably! it varies! on artistic license! and how fleshed out that new version is made.

im gonna talk about some interesting cases of character interpretations. obviously a big one would be fandom interpretation. fan created content of the same character. im gonna use your slu//ttysa/n/s example lol and spin it so i can argue that hes a different character lol. when that much deviance happens i think its fair that this is different guy. sure maybe personality wise and other things may match up, but dont the differences make him... different? not the same? would tob/y fo/x look him and go "yeah thats my guy". i dont know im not tob/y f/ox. BUT IF I WERE HIM AND THAT HAPPENED TO MY CHARACTER ID BE LIKE "THAT NOT MY FUCKING GUY......" and even if the difference werent so drastic maybe the creator would still go ehhhh thats not Quite right.... nonetheless that creator denouncing a version of a character wouldnt stop it from existing no? they still exist as a character with a different existence from the original. they simply have ties

other interesting examples include sher/lo//ck hol/mes, ba/tm/an, spid//erm/an, comic book heroes in general really, drama adaptations of chinese novels wheres theres significant changes due to censorship (im thinking of fairly specific example but i dont know how familiar you are with that fandom and also i know cn drama adaptations actually experience this frequently so im being general here), mythical characters like greek gods and sun wukong (the last character is very relevant to me bc of monki/e kid and hes actually the main reason i started thinking so hard about this). these are all characters that have seen MANY different interpretations

starting from she/rlock. this freaking guy. so many different versions. man. heres two versions i wanna pick out of this dude along with the original. dan you know dgs/great ac/e att/orney she/rlock? how hes such a HUGE HIMBO? hes a drastic divergence from the original. now take b/b//c sher/lock (which i have not seen but were on tumblr. we all know the guy unfortunately.) and set him down next to the other two. whats your answer? i feel like theyre different characters entirely. their source material gave them a whole new life that.... you dont need the og material tbh to see and understand their characters. and the two interpretations are connected to the original but! they arent connected to each other at all. theyre at the very least. different characters from each other

now comic book heros are a fucking doozy. bc the nature of these fucking characters are a fucking MESS. theres an original version for all of them..... but.... comic book heroes live a weird sort of Collective/Collaborative existence. theres so many comics written by so many people about the same freaking guy and yet so many of them are recognized all to be canon by the publisher. for the record i havent read any. nor have i watched the movies. but i know of their nature. and its freaking weird. (actually on second thought i Did watch some of the cartoons as a kid.... WHY ARE THERE SO MANY ADAPTATIONS OF THESE GUYS....) the general public also recognize these characters in this sort of iconic way. sup/erman is always superma/n. everybody knows spide/rman. BUT. ARE THEY THE SAME SAME? THEY ALL EACH HAVE THEIR OWN UNIQUE VERSION OF THE CANON.....bbbuuuut. but but. this is one of The Most dubious examples of same or different characters. bc many people will think yeah theyre the same guy. but is the tob/ey mag/uire parker same as to/m h/olland parker same as spid/erverse parker same as whatever random issue of s/pide/rman parker? i personally would say. no. but some ppl would disagree

ACTUALLY NO WAIT THE TMNT TURTLES ARE ORIGINALLY COMIC BOOK CHARACTER AND THE ROTTMNT TURTLES ARE ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT CHARACTERS FROM EVERY OTHER ITERATION OF THEMSELVES AND YOU LITERALLY COULD NOT CHANGE MY MIND. I AM ADAMANT ABOUT THIS ONE. IM RIGHT

cn dramas...... i wont get too into it. im not chinese, i just watched a handful of dramas. but what sometimes happens is that sometimes is that significant story and character changes will happen. to abide to restrictions. not just homophobia, stuff like possession is apparently restricted too (source: chinese friend, this is only reason i know some stuff). now i wont talk about the nature of that biz. its not my place. but it is interesting tho. im gonna step back and talk more generally about what happens to the identity of characters that undergo significant changes to their story through an adaptation. because its not unique to cn media. it happens all the time everywhere. a big example would be ho/wls mo/ving castle i think. these characters.... are meant to Be the same characters..... but are they... really? still? despite these changes. this one is also a complicated example. relationship between a novel and adaptation. and the characters within. WHAT. makes. a character. that character. their story? their personality? their appearance? their motivations? their drive? their name? their identity? all of that together makes that character who they are. so what happens if you change pieces of them. my friend says this is a different application of ship of theseus and i agree. but also i think is more than taking a ship and replacing a piece of it. because again i believe the new version of that character exists parallel to the original. to me i see it as a ctrl+c, ctrl+v, and edit. its a copy paste with tweaks. because the original is still untouched. it cant truly Be touched except by the original creator. so again my conclusion here is different

actually im gonna speak from an personal-experience-while-reading-fanfic standpoint.... i guess.... what believe what makes a character that character depends on their essence. because even within their own original story literally any part of them is subject to change. but that doesnt stop them from being them. but What is Essence tho...? i licherally could not tell you. its entirely subjective. this entire discussion is subjective. its just... a feeling... and i guess if another version of that character had that same essense i might argue that my answer would be "same" actually... but essence is hard to capture and depending on what is done to that character by another person, that essence Will Change. because i think its different when a character changes within their own narrative vs when a character is changed by someone else. its a different kind of change....

mythical legends thoooooo. again these characters exist kinda in a similar way to comic heroes how their existence is kinda like a monolith in the public consciousness but on a much bigger, grander, and older scale. greek gods. i know you dont like them lol. but you know they exist. and you know how ppl have taken them and created their own narratives with them. big examples being hade/s and per/cy jac/kson. in these cases i think their source stories are more significant. their legends. mythical figures have this different sort of quality to them than modern day characters. in fact. can you call them characters sometimes? is god a character? now this is a hot water subject. but i think it can be said if these figures werent characters before.... they were/are/can be Made into characters. and thats their presence in modern day media i think. theyre new characters that are birthed from their own myths into a new story thats inspired by them. i think thats kinda rad

ok now im gonna get more self indulgent talk about su/n wuk/ong if you dont freaking mind. bc this is the dude who spurred this debate in my head in the first place. hes an example of a mythical figure whos absolutely a character. a character who also has many representations of himself across media. FUCKING GOKU IS SU/N WU/KONG...... but id say go/ku is safe bet to claim as a different character from su/n wukon/g. just fucking look at this freaking guy. needs no discussion. but s/un wuk/ong in my funky little lego show is an INTERESTING example of....... same but different.... because with the nature of the show. the show isnt an adaptation of journey to the west, su/n wukon/gs original story. no its inspired by it. its chronologically takes place After jttw. in fact it goes to establish that This is The sun wuko/ng. the myth and legend himself. theres mentions of his legacy. other characters from that story are in that story also but theres new characters that are Representations of some old character while not being them themselves. sorry if this is confusing? im gonna stick to sun wuk/ong. what im saying is. the character su/n wuk/ong is intended to be the same guy in his myths. buuut. if you look closely.... some parts of the story of his myths within the show is actually different. YOU HAVENT SEEN THE SHOW SO THERE NO POINT POINTING OUT WHAT IM SPECIFICALLY TALKING ABOUT (BUT IT REVOLVES AROUND A DIFFERENT CHARACTER FROM JTTW BUT PART OF SU/N W/UKONGS STORY)..... but anyways if this guy who meant to be the same but actually has a slightly different myth within the show is it truly the same guy still? my head is gonna explode. i wanna say no bc thats my stance but its difficult to say it confidently tho. i do wanna say hes a good character tho. i think they do do a good job depicting him as the character he meant to be. while simultaneously making him a character unique to the show. i love this guy. lego mo/nki/e ki/d is a good show.

FUCK. DAN. THIS IS STRAIGHT UP AN ESSAY. I KNOW I WARNED YOU BUT IM SORRY ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THIS. IS THIS EVEN ABLE TO SEND??? i hope i put enough slashes for you bc. theres so many characters. oh man. DAN IVE HAD SO MANY THOUGHTS............. thanks for letting fucking go off hgjruitgjkxfgk. oh my god. i care about characters so fucking much. CHARACTERS MAN.

ok JOkES ASIDE YOU HAVE A LONG AND VERY GOOD POINT JEM, KINDA FUCKED ME UP NOT GONNA LIE BCUZ LIKE I MENTIONED I LOVE WRITIN IN CHARACTER ITS ALL TRUE

what else is there for me to add except that this should be a youtube essay with funny graphics that lasts like 1 hour or so

i like how passionate you are while writin

[meltwonu]

| 🍒 CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB! 🍒 |     [CHAPTER 16]

pairing; dom!seungcheol x camgirl!reader

this chapter’s notes; camshow, dom!seungcheol, oral(fem receiving), a little overstimulation, some hair pulling, dirty talk, possessive!seungcheol makes an appearance, sex toys, seungcheol riskin’ it all in this one 😏😳 yall!!! only 4 more chapters after this 🥺 it’s so crazy, I don’t even remember when I started this series but omg, my longest one yet! 💕 thank you so much for the support on cherry bomb, as always!! I love yall 💕💕 also my god has it been a week 😭 gonna do an inbox roundup tomorrow!💕 But for now, enjoy ch16 and have a good, safe weekend!! 💕🍒 

chapters; 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - x - x - x - x

“Let me get this straight… She asked you if you considered her your girlfriend and you said what?”

Seungcheol grimaces for the third time, brows furrowed when Jeongguk blinks at him incredulously. “I’m sorry, I just---I need to hear it from your lips again, hyung.”

“Ugh, I said ‘sure’, okay!? I got nervous! That was a big fuckin’ question!” Seungcheol tugs at his own hair, groaning as he slams his head down onto the concession stand. “Don’t even get me started on the look she gave me after. I had to sleep next to her, you don’t know how horrible that was after my fuck up.”

Jeongguk pats Seungcheol’s hair; shaking his head as he gently tries to comfort his hyung.

“What did she say afterwards?”

“She just said ‘oh, okay’ and then she changed topics.” Seungcheol lifts his head from the countertop, hair mussed as he stares back at Jeongguk who shoots him a pitiful look.

“And that was it? The two of you went to bed?” Seungcheol nods, “We ate a little and she started talking about work so I thought everything was okay? But the more I think about it the more I’m thinking ‘oh, okay’ isn’t really okay? Listen, I haven’t been in a relationship in a while and the last thing I ever expected out of meeting her was for her to be my girlfriend!”

Jeongguk laughs in return, “I can tell. You’re fuckin’ rusty as hell, hyung.”

“He said what?”

You groan as you pick up another plate. “He said ‘sure’ and then it got awkward. We ate dinner and then went to bed and this morning when he dropped me off, I felt like---weird? I was all shy all of a sudden, maybe even awkward.” Jun helps you clear off the table, taking a couple plates of his own before turning to face you.

“Like, ‘butterflies in my stomach’ kinda shy? Or, like, ‘that wasn’t really the answer I was looking for’ kinda awkward shy?”

Grimacing, you start to wipe down the table as Jun watches. “I’m not even sure. I mean… He didn’t say no, right? But I guess I was just expecting a little more than just ‘sure’. Nothing like, grandiose but… a little more than ‘sure’? It’s like he was replying to me asking if he wanted a piece of chocolate.”

Jun laughs, fingertips on his chin as he thinks of an appropriate response. “He might just be… awkward. I mean, what was the preface of this question? What conversation were you two having?”

Your lips press into a firm line, cheeks hot as Jun stares you down. “Okay… maybe you’re right. I didn’t really… work up to that question. I kinda just… asked it. I mean, you guys were asking about it in the comments too so I just thought--”

“Ah! There’s the problem though. I don’t think hyung was even in the chat at that point. So, just because all of us were talking about it doesn’t mean he knew, y’know? He might’ve just been caught off guard.”

“Ugh... fuck, you’re probably right.”

You and Seungcheol don’t talk about it.

Even though you can feel the tenseness between the two of you during dinner and even when he drops you off and picks you up from work Friday afternoon. It’s all clipped conversations and shy, awkward smiles like the two of you had met for the first time, all over again.

It eventually comes to a head when you’re only an hour away from needing to start your cam show, Friday night, and you realize that you weren’t sure if Seungcheol was going to be part of it or not. “Hey, ‘Cheol?” You ask, voice small as you stare at the back of his head. The male turns from his place on the sofa, eyes wide as saucers at your shy voice.

“Y-yeah?”

“Are you, um, going to cam with me tonight or…? I mean, I can do it alone, I just--I wasn’t sure if you wanted to, tonight.” Seungcheol bites the inside of his cheek; he really wanted to talk about it and he didn’t understand why this, out of all the things, was so difficult for him to talk about.

“I--I don’t know. I just, I’m sorry, can I just... apologize first?” He groans as he gets up from the sofa and rounds it until he steps in front of where you sit atop the bed sheets. “It’s been so awkward and I know it’s because of me, so you don’t need to say anything. I just--I should’ve said more than ‘sure’, I was just nervous!” His cheeks burn red; wide eyes avoiding your own as you stare up at him. “I really want you to be my girlfriend, if I didn’t already make that clear. I was just thinking about how I never really expected you to like me that much, much less start a relationship with me, so the first thing that came out of my mouth was just… that. It was dumb, I should’ve said something else, but I think my brain was just mush by then.”

Your own cheeks feel hot at his confession; trying to hide the beaming smile that threatens to paint your features. “No--no, I should apologize a little too. I asked you that out of nowhere and made you panic. I should’ve worked it up better than that too.”

“I guess we’re both a little dumb, huh?” He laughs under his breath as he scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. “We can talk about everything else under the sun but that was just… harder to talk about in the moment.”

“Yeah, but we’re okay now, right? We’re an official c-couple?” You bite your lip, looking up at Seungcheol who seems to be staring off into the distance. A grin finds itself painted on his lips as he meets your shy eyes.

“That’s right, babygirl.”

Seungcheol decides to let you do your cam show alone tonight; watching from the sofa as you get settled on the bed before nodding at him and starting your stream.

“Hey, everyone! Happy Friday!”

The comments and donations flood in as soon as you start and you already hit your donation minimum before you even open your mouth to speak again. It catches you off guard momentarily as your eyes go wide and your lips part in a shocked expression.

“Whoa, that was so fast! We already hit the donation minimum!”

sleepy_wonu has donated $75

sleepy_wonu: your channel has grown so much in the past few weeks im not surprised lol

universe_WZ: yea seriously, i remember when it took us like 30 mins before we hit minimum

artist8hao has donated $75

artist8hao: now theres ppl we’ve never even seen before in the comments lol

angelhan has donated $50

tangerine_kwan has donated $50

“Oh I know! Remember that one cam show where it took me, like, almost an hour to reach minimum? If it weren’t for ‘dom.cheol’ then, I don’t think that one would’ve taken off at all!” You giggle at the memory, eyes momentarily flitting to Seungcheol who smiles back at you.

kitty_junjun: speaking of? No loverboy tonight?

therealchan99: oh yeah i didnt even notice he was gone 😌

chwenon: lmfao

“Ah, he said he wanted to take a break tonight so it’s just me! Hope that’s okay with you guys?” You pout at the camera, fingertips roaming your lingerie clad body as you read off a few more comments. “I’m so used to his hands all over my skin though… He gets me to cum so easily, y’know?”

You pick up a dildo sitting next to you on the bed; bringing the silicone toy to your lips as you moan. “This is the biggest toy I have and it’s not anywhere near the size of his cock...” Wrapping your lips around the tip, you start sucking on the toy, imagining it was Seungcheol’s cock instead when it fills your mouth.

Your eyes flutter shut when you start grinding against the bedsheets underneath you and Seungcheol feels his throat going dry at the way you take more and more of the toy into your mouth until you’re gagging on it. Tears spring to your eyes when you feel your throat constricting around the silicone and you repeat this action a few more times before you’re pulling the toy from your mouth and sputtering to catch your breath.

gentleman_josh95: god youre so fucking pretty choking on cock

alphagyu97 has donated $50

alphagyu97: fuck i know

Setting the toy down, you immediately work to get your lingerie off; tossing it to the side before spreading your legs for the camera. “Mmh, I’m already so wet thinking about this toy filling me up…” You tease yourself with the toy, dragging the tip through your folds and collecting the wetness on it as you mewl.

xcaliburDK: but is it gonna be enough for you?

hoshi_tiger_xx: probably not, we all know the toys arent as good as the real thing lolol

You let out a whimper as you circle your clit with the tip of the toy. “I know… But I really want something inside my pussy…”

Seungcheol feels his cock throbbing in his sweats at the way your words only sound sweeter to his ears now that the two of you had cleared the air. He bites his lip, palming himself through the material as he watches you from his place on the sofa.

alphagyu97: is ur tight lil cunt ready to take it?

therealchan99: why dont u use your pretty fingers to get yourself ready hmm?

You nod shakily, setting the toy down again before bringing your middle and index fingers to your lips to wet them properly before snaking them down your body. “Ah, my fingers aren’t as big either…” Mumbling, you pinch and tease your clit, moaning out loudly before dragging them down and sinking them into your soaked entrance.

“Fuh--fuck, mmh!” Regretfully, your fingers aren’t as thick or long as Seungcheol’s but you curl and scissor the digits inside of you to prep yourself for the toy.

The sound of your moans and cries mix in with the pinging on your laptop from donations and comments and for once, Seungcheol realizes how weird it is to be on the other side and not with you. Admittedly, he’d gotten quite used to being on cam with you that it seemed awkward to just be doing nothing on the other side of the room.

“Oh, ngh, I--I want the toy n-now…” Mewling, you pull your soaking fingers from inside of your pussy; bringing them to your lips to clean them off of your wetness before grabbing the toy again. You run the silicone through your folds as you get it covered in your slick before positioning it at your entrance and slowly sinking it in.

It was definitely smaller than Seungcheol and didn’t have the same girth, but you still whine and whimper when it fills you up to the base of the toy. “Ngh, feels g-good…”

universe_WZ: i just kno that toy is noy as satisfying as the real thing huh princess?

xcaliburDK: right? Her pretty lil pussy is probably so used to being stretched by a big cock 

You thrust the toy into your pussy, soft cries spilling from your lips as you try to imagine it’s Seungcheol instead. In all honesty, you would’ve wanted him to film with you but you respected his decision to stay on the sidelines for tonight.

“Ah, it--it’s not the s-same… I--I need h-help…” You whine; shaky fingertips still working the dildo in and out of your soaking pussy. 

“P-please, ah… the toy’s not, mmh, enough to make m-me feel good...”

In the time between you picking up the toy and you actually sliding into your wet cunt, Seungcheol internally argues with himself on what to do.

And it’s not until you start begging to the air for more that he mentally says ‘screw it’ and gets up from the sofa.

Your eyes are clamped shut as you try to chase the pleasure and soon you feel the bed dip; confused eyes peering back at Seungcheol who’s entire body, including his head, is in the camera’s shot. “W-wait, you---”

“Me, what? You asked for me, right?” He turns his head, eyes staring directly into the camera as he smirks.

“Hi. I’m her boyfriend. But I think the rest of you know that already, right?”

The comments go wild with Seungcheol’s sudden face reveal, even though you and him are already lost in each other as he grips the base of the dildo and starts pumping it inside of you, angling it as best as he can to graze against your g-spot.

xcaliburDK: i think i need to quit my job tomorrow

chwenon: ??? didnt u just start

angelhan: damn i knew this dude was gonna be hot as hell

kitty_junjun: whoa nice to see ur face

kitty_junjun: i take it u lovebirds made up

xcaliburDK: yea i did but i think ive embarrassed myself enough for one lifetime

xcaliburDK has donated $150

xcaliburDK: for my shame

Your entire body is aflame with Seungcheo’s confidence and you feel the pleasure building up even quicker now that he was here with you. “Ah, f-fuck…” Whining, you bite your lip to prevent yourself from calling out his name; something you were used to by now.

“What’s wrong, baby? Call my name. Let them know who makes you feel this fuckin’ good. Let them know who’s cock you always crave and who’s cock fills you up better than this toy ever fuckin’ could.”

“Fuck, S--Seungcheol!”

Your orgasm hits you out of left field; thighs clamping shut around his arm as he continues to fuck you with the dildo as you ride out your pleasure. He turns to face the camera yet again, winking at it cockily before he turns back to you. “That’s right, baby. Now I’m gonna eat your ‘lil cunt out and make you cum on my tongue while you let the entire world know who gets you this fuckin’ wet.”

He doesn’t give you a second to come down from your high before he’s nudging your thighs apart and sliding the dildo from inside of you. A shaky breath falls from your lips as he readjusts you on the bed; this time giving the camera a side view as you turn your head to face the camera.

The comments and donations continue to flood in, except now it seems like they’re going twice as fast.

xcaliburDK: kjdkjghsdkhg fuck

sleepy_wonu: well can i say at least hes not an old weirdo lol

sleepy_wonu: ❤️

chwenon: im like, pretty sure ive seen this dude come to the convenience store i work at

chwenon: bruh i met a celebrity and i didnt even know it

xcaliburDK: dont even get me started

Seungcheol pries your shaky legs apart before he eases himself down between them. “I want you to be as loud as fuckin’ possible. Understood?” He smiles at you warmly, but his words have a certain edge to them that has you nodding profusely.

“O--okay…”

He wastes no time; skilled tongue flicking at your swollen clit as you jolt and immediately tangle your hands into his hair. “Oh, god, Seungcheol I’m--I’m, ah, sensitive…” He smirks against your skin, noting the way you already start to grind against his tongue despite your words.

Resting your thighs against his shoulders, it allows him to eat you out easier as he flattens his tongue and drags it from your soaking entrance to your clit; alternating the pressure as you whine and whimper above him.

When he notices you trying to keep your noises in, he pulls away slightly, flicking your clit with the tip of his tongue before speaking.

“I thought I told you I wanted to hear you, baby? Don’t get shy on me now.” He smirks, watching as the goosebumps rise on your skin. “In fact, why don’t you tell your lovely viewers how good I make you feel, hmm? Or tell them about the time you made me finger you in the restroom at work ‘cause your ‘lil cunt couldn’t wait.”

xcaliburDK: THE RESTROOM? At woRK?

artist8hao: ah one of the originals huh

gentleman_josh95 has donated $75

gentleman_josh95: for backstory

tangerine_kwan has donated $75

tangerine_kwan: seconded!

You bite your lip when you catch the comments, shy eyes flitting from the screen to Seungcheol who resumes eating you out. Your thighs tremble and threaten to snap shut around his head; body already on the edge of another orgasm. 

“I--S--Seungcheol was at, ah, w-work… and I--I couldn’t wait so--so I made him finger m-me in his work’s restroom…” You whimper, hangs tugging on Seungcheo’s hair harshly when his tongue dips into your entrance. “Fuck, I--I couldn’t stop thinking about, ngh, his--his fingers afterwards e-either… They fit my p-pussy so well…”

A garbled moan floats through the air when Seungcheol’s lips envelope your clit, sucking it into his mouth as your cry out his name.

Your back bows off of the bed, fingertips locked tight into his hair. “Fuck, Seungcheol, please… please…” You grind against him, toes curling against his back when your sensitive body gives into the pleasure and your orgasm washes over you a second time.

Cries of his name are all you can manage when your body goes rigid; head fuzzy when he starts to dip his tongue into your pussy again. He smiles against you, calmly continuing to eat you out as your orgasm continues to wash over you.

kitty_junjun: is it just me or is it nicer to hear her actually calling someones name

artist8hao: honestly i was just thinking that too

artist8hao: its more organic idk  

alphagyu97: ~organic~ ok nerd lol

chwenon has donated $50

therealchan99 has donated $50

When the  overstimulation starts to bite, your soft cries of Seungcheol’s name turn into hurried, jumbled noises and only parts of his name as you squirm and tug on his hair.

“Ah, ‘Cheol it’s, ngh, too--too m-much…!” He drags his tongue against your clit a few more times, relishing in the way you still grind against him. “I c-can’t cum again…” You cry, teeth chattering when he gently laps at your folds and collects your wetness on his tongue.

Seungcheol repeats this a few more times; letting you tug and pull at his hair as he licks you clean.

“Ngh, Seungcheol…”

He finally pulls away, using a hand to pry your fingers from his hair as he smiles at your tired body. “Cute.” Mumbling, he eases your shaky legs from his shoulders before he sits up; lips covered in your wetness as he grins at the camera.

Seungcheol picks out a few comments as he chuckles under his breath; already wondering what work was going to be like on Monday when he had to meet Seokmin. 

universe_WZ: u look like a dude that could fuck someone up 

kitty_junjun: he probably would too

chwenon: come thru the convenience store bro, I'll hook u up 

xcaliburDK: should I quit? be honest

Your tired groans bring his attention back to you; eyes trained on the way your tired eyes threaten to snap shut. 

“Okay, I think I need to go take care of my girlfriend now. It was nice meeting you all, finally.” Seungcheol grins, taking care of your stream before thanking your viewers and ending the stream. 

He turns to you, a genuine and caring smile on his face when your hazy eyes look up at him. 

“Ready for a shower?”

“Ugh, carry me, boyfriend~”

[babyflossy]

twentieth floor | s.jn

pairing; johnny x reader

requested; nope! this is just pure self indulgence

summary; johnny’s office is thankfully high enough off the ground to prevent disclosing your activities to passerbyers, and you love to exercise that privilege.

genre/warnings; smut, kinda dom!johnny but not really, unedited as per, i can’t really remember what exactly is in it but theres’s nothing extreme (slight choking i think, hinted size kink but not really), see y’all in hell ig

word count; 2.5k

if there was one thing you loved more than johnny, it was johnny dressed in a suit. the way the slacks melt around his thighs, the way his shirt emphasises the bulge of his biceps - it did things to you. the clean cut navy material frames his face and accentuates the strong line of his jaw. it was truly irresistible, and your thoughts can rarely stay innocent when you do see him in such clothing.

this is the predicament you find yourself in currently, finding it impossibly hard to look away from the tiny slither of skin that shows as he loosens his tie and pops the top button of his shirt open. it's almost the most inappropriate time to be thinking like this, with a meeting well under way and the stress lines that form whenever he frowns making themselves comfortable on his forehead.

but, alas, with one look at you johnny knows exactly what's going through your mind.

and he smirks.

he does nothing except paint the most irresistible smirk on his face that makes you want to nothing less than walk over to him and forcefully remove it. with your own lips, perhaps. you hope no one else notices the way his eyes narrow at you when you cross and uncross your legs repeatedly just to feel something in your desperation.

ten minutes more pass with you unable to do anything except sip your water and try not to think about the growing ache between your legs, the heat raising in the room. a breeze passes through the blinds and you feel goosebumps raise along the exposed skin of your legs; johnny notices and rubs a warm palm down your thigh in an attempt to combat your coldness. it achieves the opposite of his goal, however, and more goosebumps rise as his hand dips dangerously close to the hem of your skirt.

you can tell your reaction to his touch has not gone undetected and you pout at the way he stares down at you, something darker about his gaze that makes you shiver. despite the other people in the room, you feel yourself lose focus in the meeting, the objective long forgotten as you basically undress your boyfriend with your mind.

the hand still hasn’t moved and you wrap your fingers around his to stop it moving further upwards, not prepared to hide your arousal from a room full of your co-workers. up to now, johnny’s actions have remained out of sight from everyone else, the shiny black table covering your legs completely.

a few more minutes pass of you sitting with bated breath, trying to ignore the presence of the man next to you and simultaneously trying to stop the image of his bending you over the cold surface of the meeting table in his office and pounding you until you scream. the task it impossibly harder than you originally thought, and soon your mind has wandered to johnny fucking you against the floor-length windows spanning the far wall, his tie around your mouth to keep you quiet–

a nudge to your side whips you out of your daydream and you try to ignore the way your cheeks are suddenly burning.

“what do you think?” well, shit.

“hm?”

“what do you think? about the plan?”

for a second your heart stops, unsure of what to say considering you haven’t the faintest clue what the plan is even for. you chance a glimpse at johnny and watch in horror as he just raises his eyebrow in question, clearly enjoying the panic that must be evident on your face.

“well,” you start, not even sure where you’re going, “i, uh– i think it’s a good starting plan.” it comes out as a question and you’re sure your facade is slipping. “could use some improvements, maybe,” you offer timidly, glancing around to see how your co-workers are taking your weak attempt at feigning interest. “i’ll– i’ll, uh, look over it later and get back to you.”

“perfect, thank you.” the relief you feel is outstanding and johnny shoots you an amused smile as you zone back out, letting the chatter be drowned out.

after what feels like hours, but is most likely minutes, people start trickling out of the room until finally only you and johnny are left. for a second neither of you move until he pushes on the table so his chair rolls backwards. without breaking your gaze he stands, walking over to lean on his desk, reaching over to pull at the blinds on his office door. you feel warm pool in the bottom of your stomach when he motions you over with a flick of his fingers.

“well done in the meeting, by the way, you really had some fantastic ideas.” the words would almost sound sincere if they weren’t accompanied by a sarcastic smile on his face.

you stand in front of him, slotting between his legs and resting your hands on his chest to toy with the buttons of his shirt. warm hands wrap around your waist and you lean up to press a light kiss to the space just under his ear lobe. the shiver he fails to suppress makes you smile.

“well, you looked so good i couldn’t concentrate.”  you reply, loosening his tie with your fingers and popping open the first few buttons.

“you can’t even last a day without me touching you?” as he says it, he trails his fingers down the side of your face, eyes admiring your features delicately. the way he’s looking at you is so tender you feel a different kind of warmth roll through you, love. “can you, angel?”

“you know i can’t.”

johnny’s hands move from your waist down to your hips, pulling you impossibly closer to him. through the material of his slacks you feel the undeniable hardness and look up to see a smirk plastered along his lips again. matching his playful expression, you reach down and start palming him lightly, teasingly. for a second his cockiness slips and you hear the faintest murmur of a moan before his hand wraps around your wrist and pulls it away.

“well, then,” his words have just a faint whisper of their previous power, the soft tone comforting in your ear even with the dirty undertones. “i can’t keep my princess waiting, can i?”

in an instance, you’re flipped over so his body cages you against the desk, the sharp edge digging into the backs of your thighs. his hands are no longer tame and gentle, they skim up your legs and pull the fabric of your skirt with them. when johnny starts kneading the flesh of your ass you let out an involuntary moan that he swallows when his lips meet yours.

there’s nothing sweet about the kiss, only raw and desperate and everything you need right now. he tips your jaw up to deepen it, teeth clashing and noses brushing against each other. you faintly wonder if he remembered to lock the door before realising you don’t actually care, the heat rising between you is enough to push all sensible thoughts out of your head.

one of johnny’s thighs pushes in between your own and you let yourself rest on it, moaning out when the fabric of his suit brushes your most sensitive spots. a look of glee crosses his face at the noise, free hands moving to pull you further down onto his leg to strengthen the feeling. you’ve been on edge for so long that when you experimentally roll your hips onto his leg you can already feel the pit in the bottom of your stomach deepening and the whine you let out tells johnny exactly that.

“my poor baby.” he coos with a devilish smile. “needing me so badly.”

you don’t have time to think as he flips you around so you’re facing the desk, your dress bunching at your waist. johnny slips a hand between you to rub at your clit over your panties and you try to conceal the moan clawing up your throat. when’s he tired of being constricted, he yanks the thin material down your legs and helps you step out of them, his fingers now without a barrier are cold against your core and you shiver.

“fuck, that feels so good,” your words are stuttered and breathless but johnny hears them just fine, setting a strong pace on your clit that has you moaning out too loudly for his office.

“i know baby,” he leans down to whisper in your ear, fingers not letting up. “but you have to be quiet for me, okay?” for a moment he slows the movement of his hands to a standstill until you nod.

to your surprise you feel the fingers of his free hand poking at your mouth and you accept them in without complaint. they cut off your ability to speak and johnny gets no verbal warning of when you tip over the edge, only the shaking of your legs and the strangled noises escaping around his hand.

“feel better?” even without looking at him you can see the cocky smile on his face.

you can feel wetness collecting at the tops of thighs as you clench them together, trying to gather the strength you were stripped of from your orgasm. the metallic clink of a belt only makes you wetter, knowing what comes next and more than excited for it.

within seconds you feel a hand prying your legs open again and the head of his cock slipping between your folds. the air changes and you can almost feel johnny’s demeanor switch as he starts to push into you, hand leaving your mouth only to close around your throat. this is always your favourite part, feeling his attitude drop from the normal sweet johnny to the man that chokes you and calls you his bitch.

to say you were hoping for that now in an understatement.

with nothing blocking your mouth you’re free to moan as load as you want when he finally starts easing himself into you. the delicious burn from the stretch is addicting and you clench around him involuntarily. “what do you say?” johnny asks in your ear, voice so much lower than usual.

“thank you.”

“thank you what?”

“thank you, daddy.”

it’s the final straw he needs before he bottoms out inside you, not waiting a moment for you to adjust to his size before he starts pulling back out. it takes you a few thrusts to get over the sharp stinging but when it dissolves into pleasure you find your mouth dropping open. johnny hits every deep spot inside of you that no one else has, a heavenly feeling when paired with the rough pad of his thumb flicking your clit once again. it’s still sensitive from your first orgasm and in no time you feel another building.

johnny seems to sense this and you whine in annoyance when he pulls out of you, looking behind to glare at him. this only seems to amuse him. “oh, i’m sorry, angel, where you about to come?”

one thing you’ve learnt about johnny over the years is he never asks rhetorical questions, meaning you were expected to answer all of them. he quirks an teasing eyebrow as he waits for your words. “yes, are you happy now?” but your weak anger only serves to amuse him more.

“very.” he purrs in your ear when you turn away, hands gripping your hips and pulling you up from the table. you wonder for a second what he’s doing and feel your inside swirl when he starts walking you towards the window. when you’re close enough you bring your hands up to steady yourself against the cold glass and johnny resumes his place behind you. “this is what wanted, isn’t it?”

finding yourself unable to speak, you simply nod and hope it suffices an answer for him. it seems to as no other words are spoken between you as johnny wraps an arm around you to rest his hand on your abdomen. you know this is one of his favourite things, to feel himself pushing into you through your skin, and you try not to shiver at the coldness of his hand on the bare skin under your skirt.

your eyes follow the cars on the roads 100 metres below, thankful that the height of johnny’s office would make it near impossible for anyone to notice you. it distracts you momentarily until you feel the tip of his cock lining up with your entrance, rubbing up between your folds a few times to collect your wetness. your mouth is caught in a silent scream when he finally does, the feeling again too much.

once again, it takes not much more than a few strokes of johnny’s cock hitting your sweet spot until your legs are shaking. you can feel your heart pounding and your moans are uncontrollable as he presses his hand firmly against you to feel himself slip in and out. you can almost feel the effect it has on him as his hips start stuttering against you, signalling his impending release.

“fuck, daddy,” you can’t help but drive him on, reaching down to cover his hand with your own, leaving one against the smooth pane of glass. he presses a soft kiss to the delicate skin behind your ear in response to the way you curl your fingers around his, a rare moment of tenderness breaking through his dominant exterior.

the contrast has your head spinning and you let yourself fall over the edge to the dirty words he whispers in your ear, back arching and eyes screwing shut. the sight of you coming undone around him, so exposed where anyone walking on the street could see you has johnny falling apart seconds later, hips faltering as he releases into you.

there’s a few seconds of heavy breathing and calm as you both try and come down from your highs, chests heaving. you pull your skirt down after he pulls out of you, spinning to lean against the window and throwing him a lazy smile, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of his cum starting to spill down your legs.

“i love you.” he murmurs into the air between you before kissing you, hands suddenly gentle and loving.

“mmh,” you hum in acknowledgment, happily watching the dramatic scowl paint his features. “i love you, too.” the smile is instant. “even if you drip cum over my work clothes, you idiot.”

[reincarnated70sbaby]

star crossed

-chapter four-

*disclaimer: this work is entirely fiction, all scenes with real life people presented in this work are entirely fictitious.*

word count : 2.4k

warnings : angst! (af!) swearing ?  charlie watts being unbothered as ever, did i mention angst?

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After a couple drinks in, the conversation of recording a track started up. Jimmy was actually quite excited, a Rolling Stones and Jimmy Page track was bound to happen sometime. Sure, Jimmy had played with them in his session days, but not anything to the extent of actually being featured and credited for the track. They decided to come back tomorrow to Bill’s home studio to record a track that might feature on the upcoming Goats Head Soup album. Two nights previous, he finished up the English leg of the 72/73 tour. In a couple weeks, Led Zeppelin would be embarking on their biggest tour yet - the 73 North American tour. There was plans to record a concert film and album, and Jimmy was really hopeful everything would work out.

“Lads I’m about to fucking pass out here, I’m out, see you all tomorrow yeah?”

“All right Jim, see y’a tomorrow, not to early mate right?”

After agreeing to come in the early afternoon with Bill , he bid goodnight to the rest of crew there, Charlie and the pianist for the album, Nicky. Sure, they weren’t as wild as the Toxic Twins, but they were still good company - better than getting drunk in his hotel room alone.

Walking back to his hotel room, the walk felt much longer than 10 minutes. Even though it was the beginning of February, and therefore the start of spring, he had to wrap his arms around himself to preserve body heat.

Reaching the hotel lobby, he was met with the warm air of the large room. Red carpets and gold accents adorned the room. It was quite late in the night - or early in the morning, so he decided to skip going to the bar in hopes of picking up a partner and instead, head straight to his room. On his way into the elevator, he passed two women, both wearing sunglasses. He thought that peculiar, and even more peculiar, he thought he recognised the woman with short brunette hair. After attempting to place the woman, he concluded he was in no state of mind to try.

Laying down on his bed, his thoughts wondered to Alice. He hadn’t heard anything about her since they were last together. He wasn’t even sure if she was still in the music business. He wondered would he ever see her again. He hoped he would, but a feeling in his gut told him it would happen eventually. Sooner, or later, he thought.

Waking up slightly hungover, he showered and prepared for the day of recording ahead. It wasn’t to be a serious session, more of a jam of sorts and hopefully produce a track in the process.

Strolling casually into Bill’s recording studio, he noticed that, as per usual, everybody was there expect Mick. On second look he noticed that Mick Taylor was not there either.

“Where are the Mick’s?”

“I think Jagger is just late, but oh, theres Taylor there now!”

Just as Keith finished speaking, Mick Taylor walked in, guitar case in hand. This would be the first time Jimmy and Mick played together, and he hoped they would get on well.

“Jimmy, great to see you again, ready to play?”

“Nice to see you too, lets get down to it shall we boys?”

Mick Jagger had finally arrived, so he and Keith were working on lyrics, while Charlie and Bill were working on rhythms and riffs, leaving Jimmy and Mick Taylor to work out the main guitar melody. They worked really well together, as they both had the same blues origins and both loved incorporating it into new material.

“So who's the sound tech here anyway” Jimmy asked, while in the process of tuning his guitar down.

“Allie, she's been with us for the album, she's great, have you met her before?”

“Hmm, the name doesn't sound familiar I don't think”

“Well she had an appointment, so she’ll probably be here within the next hour” Mick commented, a shy smile coming onto his face when mentioning her.

After around half an hour of messing around, the boys were finally ready to start the recording tapes. All that stopped then was the missing sound tech.

“Good afternoon boys, I, being your guardian angel have brought lunch for all of us” Alice said cheerily, bursting through the door with a bright smile.

Jimmy’s head shot up at the sound of her voice, suddenly connecting all the dots. The feeling in his gut about meeting her, the woman in the hotel, and the ‘Allie’ nickname.

“Oh thank you Alice, forgot to mention we invited a special guest to join our entourage, last night at Bill’s after you and Taylor left” spoke Mick Jagger with his usual eloquence.

“Alice!”

“Jimmy” Alice replied curtly, a hint of sourness in her blank expression. Jimmy was now in front of Alice, greeting her.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, its been what, nearly four years! I didn’t even know if you were still an audio tech” Jimmy said warmly, excited to see her again

“I would say it’s a pleasure to see you too, but its not, so I wont” Alice casually said, blanking him, and moving further into the room. She set the bags of fresh food on the table, in the back of the recording section of the large hall. Jimmy watched her walk away casually, totally taken off guard by her coldness. The rest of the Stones all caught this too, extremely confused, but a little entertained by their encounter.

“Wait, you guys know each other?” Keith asked, a small smirk on his lips, pointing between the two.

“I would say used to know, I was on of the engineers on Zeppelin II in 69”

“Hold on, I didn’t know you worked Zeppelin II? That means you must have been a teenager when you worked on it. Blimey” Mick, asked, all of this coming news to him, as well to the others. 

“I suppose you wouldn’t, after all I wasn’t even credited, nor my boss Tom” Alice said coolly, still not turning away from setting up the various soups and sandwiches. 

Obviously, the teenage Alice that Jimmy once knew was long gone. 

“God, Allie you look so old, what are you now? Twenty four, twenty five” Jimmy asked, sampling the new nickname, trying to break the stifling awkwardness that now infected the room.

“Still getting my age wrong I see, Jimmy. Im surprised you still know my name, after all the stunts you pulled over the last four years” Alice replied, walking directly towards Jimmy, accompanied with razor sharp glare. She now stood directly on front of him, slightly invading his personal space. She has grown taller and her face matured, loosing the slight roundness to her cheeks she once possessed. She apparently had cut off her long wavy crimson locks, in favour of a modern, dark brown bob.

“Uh, what’re you talking about?” Jimmy asked chuckling nervously as he scratched his head, hoping she wouldn’t notice his feigned innocence.

“Oh I’m sure you know, as does everyone else in this room. I don't really have the energy to continue this irrelevant conversation, or frankly, any conversation in general with you at this point. Also, it’s Alice to you” Alice stated sternly with a finger pointed to his chest. Jimmy could practically see the ice swirling in her cool blue eyes, the eyes he had come to miss over the years. He had never had encountered her true, red headed temperament. Now that he was on the receiving end, he desperately wanted to stay away from it.

“I’m not really hungry anyway, so I’ll be in the mod room if you guys need me” Alice said, directing her words to everyone but Jimmy, before leaving and entering the conjoining mod room. Mick Taylor quickly set his down his burnt orange Les Paul, then followed Alice out of the room.

“Woah, I haven’t seen drama like this since the last time Mick and Bowie had an arguement - which was last week, I think hmm” Keith remarked with a sarcastic finger on his chin, before moving to serve himself some soup.

“Actually Keef, I think this charade is a lot more entertaining than David’s and I’s little tiffs, as this is bit more of a lovers quarrel”

“Better not let Taylor hear that, or he’ll have to have a word with you Pagey” Bill commented, wide grin now on his face.

Jimmy was now the confused one. He turned to Charlie, silently asking him about Alice and Mick with the point of his finger. Charlie simply shrugged his shrugged his shoulders in response before going back to drumming a riff with the hi-hats and snare drums.

After everybody had ate or, cooled off, recording was finally underway. After a couple of takes, Alice interrupted to give some pointers.

“Look boys, I’m gonna be candid with you all. It sounds shit” Alice said into the mic. Ever since she had gotten more experience under belt, she became renowned for her no bullshit opinions. In turn, people valued her honestly and knew what she said was, more often than not, right.

“Yeah, boys let’s not sugarcoat it, we’re not exactly gelling as one” Keith commented, starting to become fed up with having to balance not only Mick Jaggers usual dramatics, but another egotistical lead guitarist in the mix.

“Okay, what do you think love?” Mick Taylor asked softly, trying to keep the peace before something erupted. He wasn’t wrong, the Stones, along with a quarter of Led Zeppelin, and a hot headed tech was a bit of a lethal cocktail. Fights often combusted quickly between the Stones and Alice, as all members were just as stubborn as each other.

“Well it sounds like there’s 5 Stones, and 25% Led Zeppelin playing. What I want, and what fans want to hear is The Stones featuring Jimmy Page. You five need to change your usual routine of recording for once and mix it up. And you” she looked to Jimmy “need to stop pretending you’re with the other boys. You both need to work with each others strengths and quit overcompensating. Stop pretending you’re something you’re not”

Everybody in the entire house probably could pick up that the last sentence was a direct jab to Jimmy. Another awkward silence passed, ultimately stemming from a staring contest between Alice and the famed guitarist.

“Oh my fucking god, kill me now” Mick muttered, pinching his nose, while Charlie just rolled his eyes and started drumming the start of the song. Eventually Keith started the riff with Mick Taylor,along with Bill and Charlie carrying the bass and percussion, and Mick Jagger singing the lyrics. Only when they reached the solo part, did Jimmy break eye contact with Alice and begin playing.

Finishing up recording, the boys all started to leave. Mick and Jimmy were the last to pack up their stuff, and an uncomfortable air fell over them. Obviously they both either had history, or were making history with Alice. Eventually Mick realised he should probably let the pair talk it out, so, as Jimmy toward the mod room door, Mick moved toward the hallway door.

“Alice, can we talk? Obviously things have become a bit strained between us, and I don’t want it to stay like this” Jimmy started softly. It was probably his choice of words that set Alice off, as immediately after his finished she whipped around from the sound board and kicked off.

“ 'Strained' Jimmy, are you serious?! Strained?! First of all, you didn’t even tell me you weren’t mixing the album with us, and then you just left after our night together. Then- don’t try to interrupt me James. Then, you barely even credit Tom for his songwriting tips on the album. You didn’t even mention me once, even whenever anyone brings up that Theremin part in ‘Whole Lotta Love’! You blush and go on to explain how it was your own fantastic brain that thought of it. The you had the audacity to diss Mystic studios in the papers! What was it you said again? Oh yeah, 'Mystic Studios was far from mystical and closer to meagre, and as a result, the workers were too.” Alice snarled, stream practically blowing out her ears.

“Okay, I agree that comment about Mystics’s capabilities was definitely wrong, I was extremely out of it in that interview- hell I even jibed Atlantic Records!” Jimmy was now getting frustrated too. Normally, no one put him in his place, or gave out to him.

“And then how cold you were about Tom!”

“Wait what happened with Tom?” Jimmy inquired, now serious.

“Oh my fucking god Jimmy” Alice shouted at him “you don’t even remember to you?” She said with a laugh. She searched his face, but all she saw was confusion in his light grey eyes.

“Tom had a fucking stroke last year. Peter told you, and don’t you dare deny it, as he told me he informed you all when I spoke to him on the phone. For Christ’s sake even Bonzo rang to see how he was doing! He didn’t even have my number, but he found it anyway! Robert and John joined the call after he finished speaking. When I asked for you, they said you were in a closet fucking a groupie!”

“Look Alice, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to sa-”

“I’m not surprised Jimmy, it’s a marvel you can play guitar at all, with having no fucking sense in your thick head”

“Stop being so fucking rude to me, you’re not perfect either! Don’t act so high and mighty! I know what went on in Geffen records! I’m mates with David Geffen” Jimmy was no shouting too. At the mention of David Geffen, Alice’s face immediately switched from red to a pale white.

“You do not know what happened between myself and David, if you did, you wouldn’t speak to him ever again” Alice spoke low and slowly, her face now white as a sheet.

Unbeknownst to the pair, all of the Stones were listening outside. When they heard Jimmy shouting about Geffen, Mick Taylor had enough and burst in. The rest of the boys tried to stop him, but he broke free.

“Jimmy, stop it. You don’t know anything about the Geffen incident. You don’t know Alice anymore. I suggest you leave her alone before I step in more. Al, let’s go, our driver is outside.” Mick stretched his hand out to Alice, her eyes now watery, trying to bite down her quivering lip.

Alice immediately joined Mick, and left without a second look to Jimmy.

Jimmy, now alone in the mod room, felt his gut twist with guilt. Had something bad happened with David Geffen and Alice? His mind wondered to Mick’s choice of words -‘incident’. He had heard rumours that were more damaging on David’s behalf, but being friendly with him, he thought he knew him better than all the tabloids and industry gossip.

Jimmy realised that both he and Alice had changed drastically in the last four years, how could he have expected everything to go back to how it was in the summer of ‘69? Now, they were even more distant than ever before.

Maybe they had missed their chance at eternity. Maybe the stars had uncrossed.

His heart nearly broke at the revelation.

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ok so chapter four !!!

I wanna write angst more often it’s my guilty pleasure

anyway, I think this is my favourite piece I’ve written 😌

navigation

star crossed masterlist

tag list : @rebel-without-a-zeppelin @princesspagey @dreamersdrowse

[la5t-res0rt]

Wanted to ask about beetlelyds, sorry, I thought it was technically cannon? Like in the old comics after the show ended she grew up and married him. Sorry I’m an old school fan and have no idea why this whole thing is such a big deal. Wasn’t the actor like 20 too? I’m sorry if I sound very dumb. I’m not used to this new tumblr.

youre fine you are one hundred percent allowed to especially when you do it civilly as you have done here

first of all the biggest issue faced in the whole what is and is not canon debate is the fact that there are three (four if you count the limited comics run) publicized iterations of my media

i will go over each very briefly just kidding this is going to a long answer so i will spare the dashboard with a readmore

there is the movie which im sure you dont need me to explain the plot since youre an old school fan but basically the climax is that yes beetlejuice does go for the marriage angle in exchange for stopping the exorcism of adam and barbara and his motive for this is so that he can cause as much chaos as he wants on the mortal coil but his plan is thwarted when barbara rides a sandworm into the house which promptly eats beetlejuice sending him to bureaucratic death limbo

the end of the movie features the deetz and the maitlands happily living together with lydia havign a new appreciation for her situation and beetlejuice gets his head made real small which is very funny haha 

so no in the movie they are not canon editors note the actress who played lydia winona ryder was a teenager while filming the movie she turned 17 the year it released 

the next is the cartoon which i will admit has the most grounds for being considered canon but in the end the show is about a middle schooler and her best friend who is a ghost which in itself is a pretty iffy gray area sort of thing but for a childrens cartoon to work a friendship is better than the obvious enemy status they held in the movie

anyway in the cartoon they are potrayed to be very close friends with lydia being the person beetlejuice cares about the most and honestly if you were to watch it with no prior knowledge of the media and if you ignored their massive and obvious age difference than yeah you probably would read it as a romantic relationship 

however lydia is a middle schooler and that is simply immoral

there have been writers for the cartoon who have been credited to say that a relationship is what they were trying to invoke but for obvious reasons they couldnt exactly move forward with that angle with them establishing that lydia is a child in middle school and a fully grown adult man dating a child who is in middle school is immoral and also illegal in the united states and in canada 

this isnt a good argument for whether or not something is canon and i will tell you why with one simple name and that is luke weber

if you dont know who luke weber is he was a storyboard artist on the cartoon steven universe he is known for making a lot of self ship artwork of him and the character pearl

he worked on the show isnt his material canon no of course it isnt it wasnt put in the actual publication and also if memory serves he was eventually asked to leave the project after he drew art of the shows creator giving him permission to date pearl and calling them her otp and a lot of fans hated this because the most generally accepted interpretation of pearls character is that she is sapphic so a lot of people took issue however that again is just a widely perceived headcanon it is never stated what her actual sexuality is no one in that show is because it isnt a show about that its about wait im getting off topic sorry

what im saying is what can truly be considered canon is what you see on the screen and with the cartoon they are definitely the most friendly with each other and that is why so many people in the beetlebabe shipping community take so much stock in the cartoon because it is the easiest to read the relationship between the mas romantic although that is not what the show actually provides in black and white terms

interpretation does not equal canon and in this case no matter what anyone says the fact remains that in the cartoon itself they are friends good friends yes but friends all the same

it is definitely not a show about a grown man grooming an adult and if it were you definitely shouldn’t be stanning it the extreme because grooming a minor is wrong and it is apparently a problem in the fandom

anyway if the cartoon and the movie are both products of their time and there was more leniency on content bear in mind this was the same era as notorious animation powerhouse and known predator john k who was a showrunner on ren and stimpy and he maintained a relationship with a teenager which was an open secret that nobody really took issue with because in that time being a woman in the animation industry was tricky business and your career could be ended easily if you rejected advances luckily time has moved forward and the animation industry although still full of problems of a similar nature at least people are getting called out and punished for it

you can look more into that yourself its really upsetting though

as for comics i havent been able to find good scans of them and im not willing to purchase them but in my search i never found anything about the two of them ever being married in the cartoon again because she is a child i did find a cover where he appears to be getting married and hes asking lydia to get him out of it but im not sure where the comic actually goes all i know is she is standing off to the side shrugging and looking like she doesnt really care

anyway that brings us to the musical which is set in the modern day 

in the original libretto lydia is described as thirteen but since they got an actress who was older in the updated librettos she is listed as 15 and the story is pretty similar to the movie the young girl befriends ghosts and they try to scare her family out etc etc

the major difference between the film and the musical are that lydia and beetlejuice are more like friends like in the cartoon 

she summons him to help scare after the maitlands attempt doesnt really work so he shows up and they have fun terrorizing people together however she drops him for the opportunity to perhaps get her mom back but when no one will help she goes back to beetlejuice who tricks her into almost exorcising barbara

she agrees to marry him in order to stop the exorcism and he only wants to get married so he can be alive again and cause problems on the mortal coil like in the movie in the musical he states several times its a green card thing whihc obviously doesnt make it okay but still

anyway lydia tricks him and runs off into the underworld before the wedding can happen blah blah blah she goes back blah blah and she agrees to go through with the wedding to save her friends and family with a plan to make him go away for good

theres a very tongue and cheek song called creepy old guy which points out how wrong the whole thing is but everyone is going along with it in a very comedic matter and it includes the line 

i cant believe some cultures think this kind of things alright

basically saying yeah this is very very wrong anyway they do get married and beeltjeuice is alive for like 6 seconds before lydia stabs him to death with bad art and he dies thus nullifying the marriage because death do you part etc

so in the musical no at the end of the show they are not canon because he is dead their marriage is nullified and they go their separate ways

anyway sorry about that i just need to make it very clear that these three properties are all very distinct from each other and basically all three are indeed canon since they are publicized material and arguing the validity of which one is pointless editors note all actresses who played with the exception of dana steingold were minors for the majority of their runs as lydia with sophia ann caruso the originator of the role turning 18 during the run and dana being in her late twenties presley ryan however was a minor the whole time and still is one

tldr no they aren’t canon but to the credit of some people in this fandom their interpretation isnt too far of a stretch thanks to the era and some of the writers wishing to imply a relationship between an adult and a child

i also need to address how this is all a big deal and i suggest you take a peak through my discourse tag and check out @leedia‘s blog to see some of the more harmful things done by beetlebabe shippers

the beetlejuice fandom is home to many minors after the musical came out since musical fandom is vast and the ages of its members varies and normalizing pedophilia is harmful to them not to mention the people who have been effected by sexual harassment at the hands of adults

both sides have victims of csa but one side continues to perpetuate the cycle by showing time and time again that this behavior is normal and easily romanticized in the name of coping and literally anyone who has ever been to a good and credible therapist could tell you that posting cp even if it is simulated cp isnt a really good way to cope and you can get mad at me for saying that its totally fine but and im going to remove my character veil here for just a second as a csa survivor myself i think its harmful to not only myself but many others ok the veil is back down

tldr again there is a lot of bullying and harassment going on with both sides having their own issues but there is one side whos issues run a bit deeper in my humble opinion 

thank you for your question it allowed me to talk a lot you are welcome to discuss further with me in dms if you wish i honestly recommend giving the musical a listen because it is very fun and despite what some people say its very clever and if you get a chance to see a boot of it its visually stunning

one last note that i couldnt really fit in here but a large portion of the beetlebabes shipping community ignore the musical because it openly condemns the idea of beeltejuice and lydia having a relationship and a lot of the antis take issue with much of the writing and characterizations of the cartoon just a note that i think is important since were talking about canon

[jornthur]

Jail Time

John Marston x Abigail Marston, Low Honor 🐺

(Thanks to my friend @liars-and-cheats​ for helping me with this idea!)

Summary: John is in a terrible mood and finds himself in jail, what’s he going to do to release his frustrations?

(Warning: Smut ahead, hanging sentence if you read)

•••••

John sat on the hard bench inside the jail cell he currently occupied, silently fuming as he stared down at the trail dust covering his worn boots. He let out a hard sigh, lifting a hand to take off his hat. Lowering it to his lap, he stared at one of the last reminders he had of his old friend.

He knew he'd gotten drunk last night at the saloon, but he could barely remember a damn thing. All he could recall was that he’d been in a dark mood, some moron had talked shit to him, a fight had ensued, and now here he was.

Oh, he was definitely still angry alright, and he was going to make sure everyone else that ran into him knew it, including that piece of shit deputy.

He lifted his gaze from Arthur’s hat, looking up through the iron bars at the deputy who was leaning back in his chair across the room. The man was piggish, and there was no doubt the dumbass had an inbred lineage, his own features giving off his overbearing ugliness and stupidity.

Those small eyes glittered when the man realized John was looking at him, his lips twisting into a sneer. “Oh, they gon’ hang you for sure, amigo!” He lowered his eyes, “I already called dibs on dem boots a’yers.”

John said nothing, his eyes narrowing into slits. He wanted more than anything to take this bastard out here and now with one of his guns, but considering they were hanging on a wall opposite the room at this very moment, he willed the boiling venom inside him to a simmer.

He stroked the brim of the hat, trying to calm himself down.

“Dat’s one ugly-ass hat ya got theres,” The deputy taunted, “When yer hanged, I’m takin’ all yer stuff, but I’m gon’ burn that old rat trash.”

The venom came back to a raging boil, but John absolutely refused to give the idiot any sort of satisfaction. He couldn’t wait to get out of this cell so he could strangle the ugly man with his bare hands. There was so much anger built up inside of him, and he knew he needed to release it, really soon.

Discreetly, he scanned his surroundings, seeing if there was anything he could use to his advantage.

Suddenly, the front door of the jail burst open, and in charged an angry, beautiful woman.

His wife.

Abigail looked absolutely livid. “Where is he?!” She spotted him and stomped over in his direction. “I’m gettin’ real damn tired of dealin’ with your shit, Milton!”

The deputy stood up from his chair, and John noticed how the fat man was staring at his wife, lust clear in those small beady eyes of his.

“Well, hey ther', beauty.” The man said in a low voice as he made his way over. He was clearly making a desperate attempt to make himself look good in front of John’s woman, but it was a vain attempt. The man rested a hand on his belt as he got closer, “Don’ you worry none, he’ll be hangin’ soon ’nough.”

Abigail noticed how the deputy was looking at her, and she decided to use that to her advantage. Recalling her old skills, she began to seduce the man. “Well, you seem like a tough man that takes care of his own.” She could feel John’s dark eyes on her as she made her move.

Those cracked lips stretched into a self-satisfied smile. “Oh, I can take good care a’ ya, beauty,” he said in a low voice.

“Is that right?” She got up close to the man, moving her body in a way that kept the man distracted. “I’d like to see that.”

Just as the man was close enough and about to touch her, she reached out and snatched the gun from his holster and aimed it at his head. The deputy froze, lifting his hands. “Open the cell,” she snapped, her tone completely flat now.

The man narrowed his eyes, “You dumb whore, I ain’t doin’ shit — ”

She swung the butt of the gun through the air, hitting him square on the head and knocking him out cold. The deputy collapsed to the ground with a hard thud.

“Serves the bastard right,” she snarled under her breath. Leaning down, she snatched the keys from the deputy’s belt and made her way over to the cell as John approached the locked door.

“Hey there, sweetheart.” John teased.

“Oh, shuttup, Marston, I’ve about had it with you.” She snapped, placing the key into the lock. With a loud clank, the thing gave way, and she opened the cell door. “Now c’mon, let’s get you out of here.”

He followed behind her as they walked over to the wall where his weapons were stored. As he put his equipment back on, he bore the brunt of his wife’s harsh words the entire time, all the while his frustration continuing to build. The fact that the man had looked at his wife the way he had, it was all he could do to barely control himself.

Abigail sighed, “What am I gonna do with you, John?”

With that, she turned away as if to walk out of the jail. But before she could take a single step, John reached out and grabbed her wrist. She looked back at him over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

The next few seconds happened in a flash then. Before she could blink, John had her pressed up against one of the cells, his hard body pressed up against her small frame.

Abigail’s eyes widened at her husband’s unexpected actions, “John, what the hell are you d— ”

Those dry lips of his interrupted her next words. His breathing was hard, hot air hitting her cheek as he breathed through his nose and parted her lips with his warm tongue. She moaned, the familiar taste of coffee and him combined more than welcome, to hell with the situations. She closed her eyes, relishing the heat of him through the fabric of their clothes. How long had it been since she’d felt him like this? Too long, she knew, but — but now wasn’t the time. Her rational mind kicked in, and she pulled away in an effort to reason with him once more, “John, we can’t do this here.”

“Shuttup, darlin’,” he growled, and with that he pushed his lips back to hers, and she lost herself in his rough touch. She had no idea what was going on, but it was clear he was tense. He needed a release, and she couldn’t bring herself to deny him.

John groaned, running his hands up the sides of her body, relishing in the feeling of her soft curves. It had been too damned long, he thought. He’d missed this, the feeling of her, the wild and heated sensations. He tilted his head for a better angle, deepening the kiss further as he pressed himself against her even harder.

Abigail groaned, and John instantly pulled away looking worried, “Did I hurt you, sweetheart?”

She let out a short laugh, looking up at him, “It’s these damn bars, they ain’t quite that comfortable, John.”

He let out a deep chuckle, and she gasped as he suddenly lifted her in his arms, carrying her over to the desk across the room. He sat her down on the edge of the hard wooden surface, and without wasting another second he picked up where they left off.

She lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck as he leaned down and continued to kiss her. She would never get used to the sweet overwhelming feeling of being so close to him, this beautiful idiot man she loved with all of her heart.

He pulled away and began placing quick warm kisses on her cheek, and she leaned her head back with a sigh as he made his way down her neck, leaving a wet trail behind. As soon as he reached the hem of her blouse, he traced his way back up with his tongue, groaning at the taste of her skin.

Grabbing her hips, he pulling her towards the edge of the desk and pushed her skirt up until the fabric was pooled around her waist, then he pulled her hips flush with his and began to thrust his hips into her. “Oh, damn,” He groaned, grunting as he gripped both of her thighs and spread her legs further apart to give himself more room. Shit, she felt so damn good, their bodies fitting together perfectly. The tension inside him was at a breaking point, and he needed to be inside of her soon.

Abigail gasped as she felt the heat of him through his ranch pants, unable to help but notice the unmistakable arousal he had for her. He was so hard, so hot that she almost lost herself completely.

John pulled away and began yanking at her drawers, his fingers merciless as the fabric began to tear away. Cold air hit her center as soon as she was finally bare to him, and she looked up to see those brown eyes of his staring down at her most private area, looking completely lost at the sight.

“Abigail … ” his gravelly voice was so low, almost feral. It would’ve terrified her had she not known that he would never hurt her.

A silent moment passed between them, and she couldn’t help but give him a small smile. Reaching up, she grabbed the brim of his hat and placed it on the desk behind her, using her other hand to grab the back of his neck and pull him into another deep kiss.

He let out a deep moan, and without pulling away he brought his hands down between them, working at the fly of his pants until they were undone. Once his cock was released, he looked down and gripped it with one hand, placing the hot tip of himself to her wet core. Another hard breath passed his parted lips, and he looked back up to meet her gaze, as if he were waiting for something from her.

Without a word, she wrapped her hands around his neck, laying a single kiss to his cheek. John growled, and with that he moved his hips forward, slamming himself into her with a single thrust until he was buried inside her to the hilt. They both gasped, and Abigail threw her head back, digging her nails into the rough material of John’s gunslinger vest.

John lowered his head, nearly losing himself in the warm embrace of the woman he loved more than the world. He took in the feeling, the heat, the hold she had on him in more ways than one.

Finally, he began to move, pumping himself into her. Slowly at first, pulling his hips back and bringing them forward again and again. John bared his teeth in a hiss, “Damn, you’re tight, woman. I ain’t — I ain’t too sure about this.”

Abigail let out a short laugh, and his heart nearly skipped a beat at the soft sound. “Well, I can say the same about your size, Mr. Marston,” she teased.

He grinned at that, he so loved this woman. “I suppose you could, Mrs. Marston,” he teased back.

They both laughed, and John continued to thrust his hips back and forth, closing his eyes as he allowed himself to relish in the warmth of her, her soft sheath to his hard shaft.

After a while of slow love-making, he started to pick up the momentum.

Soon their bodies started to sweat from the heat they created, and before too long, he was hammering her into the desk, the heavy piece of furniture creating scraping sounds as the thing inched across the floor with each of his thrusts.

The sex then became furious. It was wild now, and John was no longer holding himself back, pumping himself in and out of his wife’s soft core, releasing everything that had been pent up inside of him over the past several hours. Abigail had to keep her legs wrapped around his waist to keep from being pushed off the desk.

He was getting so close to release now. Everything felt so damn good in this moment that he didn’t care about anything else but her. “You’re mine, Abigail,” John growled into her ear, rocking his hips forward hard to emphasize his point.

Abigail gasped and nodded, “Yours,” she agreed.

John grinned, and continued his relentless hammering, grunting with each push as he plunged his cock deeper and deeper into her heat. A white hot fire slowly began to grow in his gut, a familiar burn he knew all too well. He sped up his thrusts, ready for the explosion to come.

Suddenly, there was a low groan coming from across the room. Halting his hips, John looked over to see the deputy’s head moving around, realizing that the man was slowly coming back to reality.

To hell with that.

Snatching his gun from its holster, Marston shot a single bullet into the ugly man’s skull.

Without being bothered, John went straight back to what he’d been doing, the heat building up once more inside his body. Abigail gasped at his actions, but she was unable to care at that moment in time, completely overwhelmed with the hot pleasure coursing through her entire body.

John gripped her hair in one hand, using the other to keep her hips in place as he thrust into her harder and harder, the slapping of flesh on flesh the only sound in the room next to the moans of pleasure coming from the both of them.

At last, John threw his head back and let out a loud, long groan, like a wolf howling at the moon. Abigail felt his release shooting into her as she came at the same time, hot rays of pleasure shooting from her core to every single part of her body.

Finally, he collapsed onto her, his head going limp as they both panted hard.

“Oh, John,” she sighed, closing her eyes as he lowered his head into the crook of her neck. His hot breath tickled her skin, and she reached up to run her fingers through his long black hair.

She said something under her breath, and John lifted his head to gaze into her eyes. “What’d you say?” He asked.

She let out a small laugh as she smiled, reaching over to his hat and placing it back on his head, “You’re my sexy wolf-man.”

•••••

The End

(*This was my very first smut entry, I hope y’all enjoyed. Please lemme know what you guys thought!*)

[ask-rogertaylor]

((Here’s another fic. This time the story of when Roger first realised he had feelings for Brian and also had his first gay crisis—and then that one time they kissed and roger freaked the fuck out. This started as a ficlet but I’m sappy and can’t write my thoughts in a concise way .. so have pining sad roger ,, the ending is kinda sad ,, but just keep in mind that Rog and Bri end up together eventually!! Featuring @ask-brian-may and @ask-rogerina! It also has John, Jo, Freddie, Jamie and Melina very briefly!!))

Roger feels light.

It’s the buzz of the alcohol. It’s why he likes the stuff so much. Roger feels heavy most of the time. He doesn’t talk about it, and nobody really knows about it, so he relieves himself of that burden as often as he can. Because feeling light is a relief.

His head is also pretty light. Nothing really seems to be in focus right now. He doesn’t even think he’s moving himself, it’s mostly Brian dragging and guiding him along up the pathway leading into his and Rogerina’s place. The hand Brian has supporting Roger’s waist is very warm, but also cooling in a weird sense Roger can’t explain.

“M’sorry,” Roger slurs, he’s embarrassed, a little. Brian shouldn’t have to be dealing with the consequences of his shitty coping mechanism.

Brian smiles softly, “For what, Rog?

“This. I reek, I’m a mess, and you should be at home right now,” Roger explains, taking in the sweet scent of Brian’s cologne. He really is a stark contrast in comparison to Brian in this moment.

“Rog. I like being with you. Besides, you were right, I did need an excuse to show off my new clogs tonight,” Brian chuckles lightheartedly, but the smile he gives him is genuine and true. Roger can’t help but smile back. He probably looks goofy in his woozy state, but he can’t help himself.

“I had a fun night, Rog. Don’t worry about it. It’s actually kinda funny to see you like this. More blackmail material for me. I would ask you if you had one too, but I can tell you did,” Brian jokes.

Roger let’s out a hybrid of a giggle and a chortle, far too pleased for his own good. Brian makes him feel like he’s on a constant high. He likes being around Brian. He just knows with Brian. He knows this is a companion he’s made for life. And he’s happy to have him in his life.

He looks up at Brian, in this astounding stolen moment. He can see his profile, beautifully framed and lit by the soft moonlight above them. His eyes are warm. His skin is soft. Then he looks over at Roger with the kindest smile and his eyes twinkle with this softness and watchfulness. Roger thanks the universe, and he knows he’s on borrowed time, and yet the universe gave him this one spectacular moment, and he praises it.

And everything else seems to fade and all Roger can see is Brian.

His vision hazes into this rose colour. Flowers are blooming. His heart starts to race. He feels chilled but also very warm. There’s a ringing in his ears. He feels increasingly light. He feels like he’s falling.

Brian knocks gently on the door, and Rogerina opens up within a minute.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Rogi, but your idiot brother here forgot his keys and uh..is slightly..very intoxicated,” Brian explains sheepishly.

She smiles amusedly at her own brother, “That’s alright, darling. I wasn’t asleep anyway. C’mon in, I would help you, but he’s gross.”

Roger flips her off—at least tries to, he’s far too drowsy to actually recognise if he has or not.

Brian dumps him onto the seat by the window, a chuckle escaping him as Roger flopped down like some rag doll. He shook his head and tutted fondly.

“..Well..I mustn’t stay too long. It is late. ..so uh..just—“

“—aspirin and a glass of water by his bed. Make sure he falls asleep on his side. A bucket too. Which is super gross to think about,” Rogerina grimaces.

“You’re a dear, Rogi. You really are. Well..goodbye, see you soon,” Brian announces, but looks over at Roger and comes closer to him, so they are at eye level. He rests a hand on his shoulder, and it’s warm. It also tingles. Roger smiles sloppily at him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Rog. Sleep well,” Brian says sweetly, his eyes warm and inviting. It makes Roger feel at home.

Roger watches him as he leaves, and he shifts over to watch the window, his eyes following him as he fades away into the night. When he walks it’s like he leaves a trail of stardust behind him. He’s absolutely magical and Roger can’t keep his eyes off of him. He takes his breath away.

He doesn’t even notice the stupid smile on his face.

“Jesus, you’re like in love with him,” Rogerina jokes casually, as she picks up the coat he’s dropped on the ground and hangs it up on the rack.

Roger’s heart drops and his chest is cold. He feels so heavy and his ears are ringing. The pulsating in his heart gets louder and louder and his hands are clammy and he feels absolutely empty. He doesn’t even remember where he is anymore.

Fuck, he’s in love with Brian.

It’s a sinking feeling that pulls him down to the ground. It takes him over almost completely.

Roger’s scarily light. He pushes himself to his feet, and he stumbles, the world is collapsing in on him and he can’t breathe.

As he ravages up the stairs like he struggling through some sort of rainforest, he feels his heart rate begin to pick up as his head pounds and the lights start to flicker and the ringing of his ears gets too much, he’s so light, so light, until he’s so heavy and he’s falling against his bed and he’s sobbing. He’s crying so hard and he can’t even contain himself, he’s completely lost control, the image of himself he has carefully created for the world to see crumbles into dust. Just like that.

He cries and he cries because he is not meant to feel like this. This wasn’t allowed. His father would be so angry if he found out he had fallen in love with a man. He cries because he knows he cannot possibly have Brian. It hurts so much and it feels like he’s on fire and he doesn’t know how to put it out.

He tries to quiet himself down, stifle the sounds into the fabric of his pillow, for the sake of his sister. Even now he doesn’t want to bother her, not when this is a struggle he should be going through alone.

But his sister would follow him anywhere, and he hears his door creak open. He tries his absolute hardest to silence him.

“..Rog..” Rogerina coos at him gently.

He makes a folly attempt to appear asleep, but a pathetic sniffle ruins his endeavor.

She sighs and hops onto his bed, and lays next to him, and pulls him close for a hug, and it’s just that push for the dam to break.

“I.. love him,” Roger sobs violently into her chest, shrinking into her hold on him to try and make himself as small as he feels. He grabs on to her like a lifeline, shaking ferociously, in fear that if he lets go he’ll never stop falling.

Rogerina offers him a sad smile, “I know. And it’s okay. It’s okay, Rog, it’s okay to feel like this.”

“But it’s not,” He whimpers.

“It is, it absolutely is, Rog — it’s just love. It’s just love.”

Roger doesn’t say anything at that, and merely moves in closer, “I’m scared.”

“I know. And I’m here. I understand,” She whispers quietly.

She doesn’t leave him for a second that night.

Months later, maybe, and Roger is still falling.

It still feels sickeningly light to the stomach at times, and sometimes it makes his heart throb, but he’s learned to numb it and push it to the back of his mind where everything else is. He’s learned to control himself, and he’s painstakingly build up these walls around himself to keep himself from hurting too bad.

But there are still these moments where Brian makes it so difficult. Where he unknowingly swings a hammer and chips down at the walls he’s built for himself.

Moments like today.

Brian looks at the skies above and watches the stars shine.

Roger looks at his own star. But he’s on the ground with him.

They’re both buzzing. They’ve both had one too many. They’re piss drunk. It’s cold outside but they’re both still too warm.

He takes a long drag of the cigarette he’s smoking, and he’s surprisingly silent. He’s not like this. He’s loud and talkative but with Brian he just wants to soak everything in. When it’s all he can get.

“Look, I can see the corvus constellation..” Brian says softly, and when he speaks his eyes are so full of light and there’s that dumb smile of his and Roger can’t help his own smile.

He looks at him longingly. God how he wants him. Roger shifts uncomfortably, knowing full well that he’s just torturing himself, but how addictive the pain was.

But theres something that draws him to Brian. The whole universe is telling him to do this, like his destiny calls for it. And he knows it’s impossible. It’s not possible, they are too different on a molecular level. This is not how the story goes.

But when Brian turns over to look at him his eyes are so warm and those lips look so inviting, Roger collides with him and suddenly a star is born.

A whole new plane of existence opens up, and Roger feels like he’s exploring a whole new galaxy, everything is so exciting and so beautiful and he watches as planets collide and leave spacedust in its wake. Brian’s lips against his feel like they were always meant to be there, and he feels limitless.

But when he pulls away he is crushed by the gravity of what has happened, and it breaks his soul once he’s realises what he’s done. He has made a horrible landing back to reality and once he’s experienced the magic he just has everything is so much worse now.

Roger can’t breathe, “Bri.. I’m sorry, I—“

He can’t read Brian at all.

“I.. I need to go,” Roger says hurriedly, pushing himself off of his feet.

“Wait, Rog—“ Brian tries, only now returning to reality.

But Roger’s too far gone; and he runs like he’s never ran before. He doesn’t know where he’s going but at this stage he doesn’t care, he just can’t face him anymore, and in his drunken stupor he’s completely aimless.

All he can feel is the adrenaline pumping through his system and then suddenly he’s stuck.

And he just cries.

Until he hears a familiar voice.

“..Roger..?”

Jamie examines him, “..What are you.. doing.. in my rose bush?”

“I kissed Brian,” Roger slurs, still sobbing incoherently.

“Oh, sweetheart..” She coos softly.

“Who the hell is that in our rose bush?” Melina asks.

“A dumbass,” Roger sobs.

The two women help him release himself from the tangles of the bush, and once that’s done they drag him into their house, where they promptly drop him onto their couch.

“I’m sorry,” He cries pathetically.

Jamie smiles sympathetically, taking a seat next to him, “It’s okay.. darling.. just.. try and rest, okay?”

And the two of them talk to him for hours until he passes out.

Roger can’t face reality anymore. Everything’s too broken. Everything’s in ruins.

He tells Freddie over text that he’s caught the flu, and that he would just be complaining about Roger’s constant display of symptoms, and that he really doesn’t want to hear Freddie’s yapping. He tells John over the phone to not come visit him, because he doesn’t want his favourite bass player catching this too. And when Johanna tries and visits, he puts on a smile and tells her that he’s fine, that he just needs to get some sleep and he’ll be better soon.

But he doesn’t talk to Brian at all.

He doesn’t talk to him for three days.

He ignores all of his texts. There are hundreds of them at this stage and he doesn’t open one. And all of his calls. He ignores every single one. He ignores his worried knocking at the door, and the stones being thrown at his window. He locks the door when Rogerina lets Brian into the house. He just can’t face him. It’s too hard. It hurts too much.

He can’t even get out of bed.

And eventually he does attempt conversation with Brian again. But it’s empty and almost robotic. It’s rehearsed and emotionless. It’s like they’re complete strangers. Everything is worse now and Roger wishes it could return to how it used to be but he’s ruined it all. It’s just not the same.

He can’t face the music.

*** “God, Roggie — you’re in that jumper,” Rogerina sighs deeply.

Roger raises and eyebrow unamusedly, he’s wearing his glasses for once, gesturing towards a clearly well worn grey The Who jumper, which is also miles too large for him, “This? And? Your problem?”

Rogerina looks exasperated, “You always wear that when you’re sad and recluse. Last time you had that thing on you didn’t leave the house for a week! And last time you didn’t have friends.”

Roger is clearly unamused at that.

“Oh, come on, I’m being honest! Take it off and put on some jeans, get out of the house! And eat something, please! Talk to Brian! Fuck, talk to anyone! Just.. get out of here, okay?”

Roger is clearly unaffected by her pleads and merely sits himself on the kitchen table, looking completely null and void.

She softens, sighing and sitting herself next to him. He looks completely miserable. There’s no light in his usually sparkling eyes, he’s a ghostly pale, and he’s clearly been crying, and his hair is a mess. He’s such a stark contrast to the bubbly and energetic Roger that she’s grown to know.

She takes his hands in hers, wrapping her fingers around his, firmly, but in a way that shows that she isn’t letting him go. She strokes his hands gently. Her gaze is just as firm, and watchful, her focus is all on him. He struggles to look at her.

“..Roger..  please, love.. I know you’re hurting. And it breaks my heart, and if you really can’t have Brian.. would you really rather not have him in your life at all..? Is this worth completely losing him, dear? Because I don’t think it is. Do you remember who you were before you met him?”

Roger blinks, and slowly removes his glasses as he feels tears well up in his eyes. He bites harshly on his lips to prevent the cascading of them, and thinks about it. He doesn’t like the man he was before Brian. In fact, he’s a distant memory, a memory he doesn’t quite want to return to.

Roger thinks about it. And when he tries to place himself in his own head from those years ago, he only remembers loneliness. And fear. And so much rage. So much hatred. He tries to pinpoint the moment those feelings had begun to fade away, and all he can hear in his fucking head is Brian talking about constellations.

He doesn’t even understand them. But the emptiness is replaced by a sense of wholesomeness. He spent his teenage nights with a fucking radio as his best friend, longing and wishing to all the deities out there to give him a best friend, someone who he knew he could tell anything to, someone he could just feel safe with. And he has it now. And Roger feels so dumb for not appreciating that enough. He’s come so far he’s forgotten where he’s come from.

God, he can’t lose Brian because a life without him is so empty. It’s so dark. And it’s cold. And Roger hates the winter.

He feels so selfish and so ashamed of himself in this moment, because how did he let himself become so greedy? Why was he wanting more, when Brian was more than he ever deserved to begin with, how did he let himself get so entitled? He’s forgotten his place, but  fuck does it still hurt so, so much.

God, he wants him so bad. And he knows he can’t. But he can’t lose all of this over his own selfishness. He has to be better than that.

That’s enough, Roger. That’s enough now.

And is face crumples and he bursts into tears, unable to contain the pathetic noises he’s making, he tries to angle his face away from his sister, crying into his hands because dammit he’s still got his pride.

But she’s his darling sister and she sees past his bullshit and pulls him into her own touch, and holds him close, kissing him on the temples as he sobs his heart out.

“It’s alright, Rog.. it’s alright,” she tries to assure him as he cries into her chest.

“Fuck.. then why does it feel like nothing will be alright ever again?” He whimpers weakly. It feels like every star in the sky has been put out. It feels like someone has dismantled the sun and packed it away. He desperately wishes to return to a few days ago before he’s royally fucked up, but nothing is the same now. The walls have already caved in and he’s surrounded by its ruins. He can attempt and build over it but the damage has been done. History cannot be erased.

He wishes he could have tamed his heart. Told it to not yearn for what it can’t have. He doesn’t remember where he lost his way and thought that he could even have something this good. What was he expecting? He was not one of these people who got good things like this. He was born in filth. And he was to live in it. That good life was not made for him, and having had a taste of it has made the void hurt so much more because now he knows what he could have but cannot.

God dammit, Brian May, did you have to be an angel?

He exhales shakily. He’s terrified. But he’s not giving up on his band. They will not fail because he was too reckless with his own heart. The band will not suffer because Roger was too stupid to control himself. He couldn’t live with that. His hand lingers over the door knob, and he kicks himself once and lets himself through the door.

Roger can feel the air in the room shift once he   enters through the door, all eyes are on him. He inhales shakily, a chilling, buzzing sensation spreading across his chest. He turns over to see his band mates, and in particular, Brian, who’s mouth is agape.

Roger pushes aside all thoughts in his head, and tries to relax, and he puts on a show, he puts on a mischievous grin, “..Jesus, Bri, shut your fucking piehole before a fly comes and chokes you.”

And while he still feels like every wall has caved in, trying to replicate his old self brings him a sense of familiarity that does put him at ease. He knows he’s performing, but it’s all he’s ever known, and it feels like home.

Roger watches the wave of relief wash over Brian’s eyes, and he likes to think the walls are rebuilding themselves.

And Brian smiles that beautiful smile of his where it’s like the sun has decided to shine just for him, and Brian’s glowing and Roger can’t help but bask in that warmth.

Yes, Roger’s heart is aching but Brian is too good to loose.

It was but a silly fantasy to ever believe that Brian could ever be his, god, no way, not him, Roger is not meant to live in a pretty palace amongst royalty. He belongs to the stables and he is grateful he is even able to serve such royalty. His story just isn’t written that way.

Having Brian in his life at all is enough. It has to be enough.

Roger is still plagued by the sickly bittersweet fairytale of love and the idea of having Brian’s hand to hold, and the thought crushes him, and fuck Roger is hurting.

But he’d rather hurt every day of his life than not have him at all. A life without him is so empty and that life would absolutely shatter him. There is a magnetic connection, a molecular bond that draws and pulls him to Brian May, and he knows it’s going to hurt him, but he’s okay with it. He needs him in his life or the balance of the universe will tip against him. He needs him.

He’ll have to settle. And he thinks he’s okay with that.

He’ll make do. He always does.

[convell4]

Qrows Ruby’s Father

Okay, First off, SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THE END OF RWBY SEASON 6, Second, I would prefer this to be a conversation and not an argument, so during this (probably long) post I am going to be stating theories, evidence etc but I am also going to posting the evidence against them, so its fair. At the end of the day this is all just theory making. I will state that I support this theory, although I have no problem with anyone who doesn’t. You believe whatever you want to believe, I’m not going to fight you over it. Finally, this post is going to basically be an essay as I am going to try put everything together that I’ve seen, their counter arguments and a bunch of images.

Point A

So for point A I’m going to state that throughout the series when it comes to the younger characters, they very much seem to follow the looks and traits of their parents, especially when it comes to what clothes they wear, what colours those clothes are generally their fighting style has at least some hints of their parents.

The Schnee Family

One of the best examples is the Schnee Family. As you can see in the picture the entire family has white hair (although I believe that WorstFatherTM dyed his), the same skin tone and in general they all wear smart, formal clothing that is coloured white. The entire family has also seemed to inherit blue eyes. Personality wise, Weiss began out as very formal, closed of from emotion and rather stuck up, which she likely comes from being in a very upper class, rich family. When it comes to fighting styles, we don’t have any information on whether either of Weiss’s parents were huntresses or had a fighting style etc, however Weisses family owning one of the biggest dust companies definitely contributes to her use of dust. It is also likely that Weiss chose her weapon and a lot of her elegant fighting style techniques from her older sister Winter, who she seems to have looked up to when growing up.

The Belladonna Family:

Next is the Belladonna Family. The entire family has black hair, blake has also inherited Kali’s ears and seemingly her long hair with bangs that cover her forehead. While from Ghira she has more seemed to inherit a sense of dress code when it comes to clothes that reveal a bit of skin. The family also have the same cat like, yellow eyes.Blake also follows the same color scheme as her family, With the White, Black and purple clothing. Personality wise, Blake has seemed to inherit the trait of wanting to fight for justice and rights for her race, just like her parents. She also has a strong sense of brotherhood when it comes to the White fang.One thing I however cannot connect are fighting styles, as Blake seems to be more of a rogue/finesse type of Fighter where as Ghira is definitely a head on brawler, Kali doesn’t really have a fighting style, she just hits people over the head with trays. 

The Ren Family:

Ren and his family. When it comes to inherited traits, from season 1-3 Ren has a similar short hair style to is mother, An, he has also inherited her pink eyes, however he has also inherited his dads, Li, black hair. From season 4-6 he has also grown his hair out longer and is now at least a similar length to what his fathers hair was. Rens personality definitely seems to have at least a bit of each of his parents, most of the time he is calm,collected and thoughful. Ren follows the colour scheme of his parents where it comes to the colour of his clothing, with the greens, blacks and gold-ish outlines. Ren has not seemed to pick up a fighting style from either of his parents, from what we know it seems like only Rens father was a fighter. However Ren didn’t inherit using a bow like his father. Personally I would put this down to that her didn’t have his father to teach him how to use the bow and he also didn’t like to look back on his past due to how terrible it was, so he likely learned his fighting style from scratch. The Xiao Long Family:

Like everyone else, Yang has inherited a lot from her parents. Yang has blonde hair just like her father but it seems to be a darker compared to Tai’s. This is likely due to Ravens hair being Black and making it a darker shade, her hair is also very similar to Ravens in both its length and style. Yang has inherited Ravens deep red eyes, but only when she becomes angry, usually her eyes are purple, which is a colour mix between Tai’s blue eyes and Ravens red. Personality wise Yang seems to follow more in Ravens footsteps, fighting more aggressively, using her anger as a funnel in fights. She has also seemed to inherit Ravens lighter skin tone and complexion. Yangs clothing colour scheme is very close to Tai’s with brown, orange and pale colours. She has also copied his red Bandanna like material wrapped around his arm, however choosing to wrap it around her leg instead. Her fighting style is definitely inherited from Tai, as we have seen them both sparing and training together, this is likely due to the fact that Tai was the only one around when Yang was younger, as Raven wasn’t present.

The Rose Family:

In the picture above we can see A LOT of Ruby in Summer. The short hair style, Silver eyes, Light skin. However from this image it does seem like Summers hair is a straight red colour, Where as if we look at Ruby, her hair seems to go from a Black to a dark red towards the tips of her hair.  Ruby even dresses the same with the cape and high cut clothing, The inside of Summers cape being a very similar red as to Ruby’s entire cape, outfit and weapon. Ruby even seems to inherit Summers petal effect, However we don’t see anything from Tai, there are no prominent inherent body features like skin tone, hair or eye colour (granted that the silver eyes are story driven and likely a more inheritable feature) Ruby also doesn’t seem to follow a colour scheme similar to Tai, nor wear similar clothing. However, if we look at Qrow..

Qrow has Black hair just like his sister with hints of grey throughout it. He also has bangs in front of his forehead just like Summer and Ruby. Qrows dark hair could explain how dark Ruby’s hair is. Qrows skin tone is also similar to that of Ruby’s, or it is at least a lot lighter than Tai’s. Clothing colours are similar with dark colour, especially black and red, The cape is also a feature of Qrow however Ruby’s cape is very must tailored to be like Summers compared to Qrows. When it comes to Ruby’s personality, ruby has been seen to be quite stubborn at times, but thats only when it comes to doing whats right. Its kind of thought that out of the four members of team STRQ, Summer was likely the Kindest, most bright person in the group, likely followed by Tai, this could go a lot towards Ruby personality as Ruby is always one who seems to be holding out hope and never giving up. Ruby’s fighting style is exactly like Qrows because he is the one who trained her, just like Tai trained Yang. This is likely due to not only Ruby wanting to be like her uncle by having the same fighting style and weapon, but also because Tai would of likely been busy training Yang in his fighting style at the time. This could also be down to Ruby being physically strong enough to be a brawler like Tai and Yang. Point A Summary: Every Character Inherits something from each of their parents, however Ruby only seems to inherit something from Summer and not Tai. Where as if you match Summer and Qrow together it makes a pretty good case on how Ruby looks and acts. Points A Counter Argument: As far as I have seen for a counter argument on this point, people point that Ruby’s fighting style has only come from her looking up to her uncle and following his steps, which does make sense. However so far I have not seen an explanation as to why she doesn’t seemingly have any of Tai’s inheritable body traits (feel free to tell me if there is one)

Point B

Point B is a quick and short one that has a really quick counter argument. Qrows song, Bad Luck Charm. Bad Luck Charm is about Qrows semblance of bad luck and how it effects the people he’s close too. The song in general talks about everyone near him, however there is one line, “ You don't want the burden of my name” that can be more turned towards someone a lot closer to qrow compared to anyone else, likely a family member. Taking on and using someones name, specifically their last name is most likely due to either marrying said person, or being their child. This continues on with the theory of Qrow being Ruby’s dad with the idea that qrow is terrified of his semblance and maybe even superstitious of it, Possibly believing that by even inheriting his last name, Ruby could be cursed with bad luck, let alone even being in Ruby’s life as a father figure.

Point B Summary:

Some Lines in Bad Luck charm could be giving hints towards such things

Point B Counter Argument:

Jeff Williams, the creator of the RWBY Soundtrack has stated that none of the songs are Canon material and they are just made by him from scratch

Point C

Point C is a continuation from point B, Qrows semblance. Qrows semblance is literal bad luck, not just to himself but everyone around him. And he no control over it. However he is close to is going to experience it. This has most prominently come up so far in his fight with Tyrian, but theres definitely other moments of it being shown. Because his semblance is uncontrollable, having anyone close leads to them having bad things happen around to them, this loops over to my previous point that if Qrow was around Ruby as a father when she was a lot younger, this could of caused a lot of bad situations. One theory that I’ve seen a lot is that Qrow may feel he himself is responsible for Summers death (leading him to become an alcoholic) and you could believe in this whether you ship Qrow & Summer or whether you don’t, the theory doesn’t rely on them being together. However, if we go with the idea that Qrow is Ruby’s father, being close to someone with such a semblance you believed led to the death of not only your loved one, but the mother of your child, would be no easy task. It would be an a lot better cause to keep your distance from the daughter, to try spare her from not only the semblance, but the truth at what Qrow believes the cause of Summers Death

Point C Summary:

Qrows Semblance makes qrow not want to be near anyone, but even more specifically Ruby due to the possibility he believe his semblance had a hand in Summers Death

Point C Counter Argument:

Qrow could still feel responsible for Summers death even if Qrow was not in a relationship with Summer. This goes the same with him trying to stay away from Ruby as much so that he doesn’t effect her life.

Point D

Point D is about the 3 photo’s we see of Team STRQ, but mainly about Qrows photo in particular.

Tai’s home photo:

As you can see, Tai’s home photo of the team is in pretty much pristine condition and is framed, there’s no markings on the photo and it doesn’t seem to have suffered any type of damage. Where as Qrows: 

Has definitely seen a lot more use. For starters the colours on the picture have began to fade, likely meaning its been out in the open air a lot or at lead has been looked at a lot. The material the picture is on is also bent meaning its likely always carried in a pocket or something similar, which makes sense as Qrow is not the type of person to settle in one singular spot. Next is the ring over Summer, this is likely to be either a glass or bottle ring from where they have been places on top of the image. Specifically the bottle or glass would be covering Summers face, which could suggest that Qrow doesn’t want to look at Summer or maybe even can’t bear to see her (this goes back to him feeling responsible) Next are the droplets on the page, I believe these can be seen as one or two things, tears or drink stains. If drink stains, it could mean that Qrow has been looking over the photo while he’s drunk, or even looking at it may have started causing him to drink even more. If they are tear stains then it could be seen as a sign of mourning, grief or regret, and Qrow covering up Summers face becomes even more meaningful. Point D Summary: Qrow carries around a damaged picture of team STRQ which shows a lot of connotations that he has dealt with some emotions over the picture Point D Counter Argument: Qrow could just be sad about the collapse of his team, or solely over Summers death.

Point E

For point E I want to Solely talk about Qrow and his line of work. Qrow is likely considered a master huntsmen. Due to the clan he was born in he has been trained almost all his life to not only fight Grimm, but also other people as well. He is highly trained and likely a major threat to almost anyone he faces, he is also affiliated with Ozpin and has been working with him for years. As he does work with Ozpin, this essentially puts him on Salems kill list as one way or another he is a threat to her plans. We also know that Salem will do pretty much anything to make her plans successful, so if qrow was found to have a daughter, who also happened to have Silver eyes, its likely that Ruby would of been targeted by Salem a lot sooner, most definitely when she was younger. This would of destroyed the possibility of a silver eyes warrior getting in Salems way and hurting qrow in the process Point E Summary: Qrow would of stayed away from due to his line of work so he wouldn’t put her in danger Point E Counter Argument: The Same can be said whether Qrow is Ruby’s father or not

Point F

For this point I want to talk about the timeline between Yang and Ruby’s birth. From what we can tell from the timeline we’ve been given, their births goes in an order similar to this: Tai and Raven are together - Yang is born - Raven leaves - Tai goes through grief and evidently gets with Summer - Ruby is Born - Summer dies  According to their ages, Ruby is between a year and a half to two years younger than Yang, I believe, according to their birthdays, they are 1 year and 8 months apart. Now this is where my knowledge gets a bit Hazy so please forgive me, but I believe it takes 9-12 months to fully conceive a baby. Which means that within 8 months, maybe even less, Tai moves on from someone who he loves and had a child with, to someone else and then also has another child. Personally that seems very out of character for someone lie Tai but then that also could possibly come down to the stages of Grief. The 8 months also drops considerably when you consider that Raven most definitely wouldn’t of left home directly after giving birth to Yang. If you consider that it can take up to or over 2 months for someone to recover their full strength after giving birth, Raven may have not left for 3-4 months, which means Tai would of have to gotten with Summer with 4-6 months, which in my mind is rather ridiculous.  Point F Summary: Tai would of had to move on very quickly and thats a very shitty thing to do Point F Counter Point: I can’t think of one for this tbh, let me know if you can

Point G

Qrows Closeness to Ruby, For point G I would like to talk about how close Qrow is to Ruby, this is kinda a hit or miss point as it depends on each individuals persons opinion. However, I believe I and a lot of people who think of Qrow being Ruby’s dad, think that Qrow is a lot closer to Ruby then he is with Yang. Which could seem odd since Qrow is physically blood related to Yang. Of course Blood doesn’t mean everything, however from what the show actually gives us, Qrow and Yang don’t even have that many direct conversations and when they talk with each other someone else is usually present (Qrow, Yang and Ruby playing video games comes to mind) Where as Qrow and Ruby have definitely had several personal and more alone conversations comparatively. This shows that Qrow is definitely a lot more in contact with Ruby over Yang

Point G Summary:

Qrow is a lot closer with Ruby than comparatively to someone who is blood related, like Yang

Point G Counter Argument:

This could be due to Yang being older, Qrow may feel he needs to support Ruby more than Yang due to her being Younger, Yang also has a close relationship with her father Tai, meaning she likely doesn’t need to converse with Qrow in such ways often.

Point H 

I wanna leave point H up to @anthurak with their amazing post on what happened during Season 6 and what Qrow and Ruby’s relationship is like in comparison to other parents https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/anthurak/182407206555

My Counters to what people say against this Theory:

This is just going to be a bunch of stuff I’ve seen written against the theory that I’d also like to discuss.

“Monty, Miles & Kerry have all debunked this theory” - True, that does mean its not likely to be cannon, however there has been cases in the past where creators will say something will not happen and it eventually does. But, whether it happens or not. Its still no reason to fight over it, just let people be, ship what they want and theorize what they want.

“Why would they add this? it seems unnecessary to the plot” - Personally I don’t think any kind of character development is unnecessary and anything that changes the character in some form is welcome. But just as an example if it was revealed that Qrow was Ruby’s father, we could have several things like these:

It could lead qrow and ruby to have more heart felt conversation, including a deep conversation about Summer

It would take the weight of the secret of both Tai's and Qrows conscience it could lead qrow to taking more adult responsibility and further his journey of not going back to the booze.

It could make Ruby and Yangs relation even stronger because it says "we'll still be sisters even if we're not related"

It would bring conflict along with resolution. Conflict: Ruby finds out, it makes her question a lot of things and look for answers Resolution: She ends up confronting Qrow about it, learns more about his and summers relationship, why the hid it etc. It could also continue on with Ruby telling Tai that she know sand they go from there, or even telling Yang and they have a conversation about how it doesn't change anything about them being sisters

There’s a lot of possibilities that could lead to great character development and could make characters a lot more conscious of their choices.

But yeh, thats about all I got so far. If you read the entire thing then I very much appreciate it. I felt the sudden urge to write this after getting my first ever Tumblr hate mail, so thank you random anon! If anyone wants to have Conversation about any of this with me, whether you believe the theory or not then I am more than willing, as long as it doesn’t turn into a rage contest.

[izzy-b-hands]

Årsgång På Metall-Chapter Two

So Chapter Two is really late lol. But it is here. And Chapter Three will be here sometime later today, after I get some sleep and a shower. 

For now, please enjoy the fruits of my labor--it was really fun getting back into writing this one, so I hope you guys like it. 

Link to Chapter One, in case you haven’t read it or because it has been forever since I posted it: http://aboutthatmelancholystorm.tumblr.com/post/169018669101/%C3%A5rsg%C3%A5ng-p%C3%A5-metall-chapter-one

Though I will say, sorry and RIP to mobile users if the ‘cut/read more’ feature doesn’t work. I don’t mean to make you scroll for eternity, this is just what happened this time lol.

The very next morning, the Keep Skwisgaar Safe plan began.

“There ams things to prepares. Lets me up,” Skwisgaar mumbled into Toki’s neck.

Toki held him tighter, having the advantage of already being awake and laying properly in the bed. Skwisgaar was flopped against him, half out of the bed, and exhausted from his constant research and preparations.

That alone was part of what made it all so frightening to Toki. Skwisgaar didn’t trust the Klokateers with the research, or do much else other than help prepare the trip for them. He kept waiting for the usual ‘world’s best guitarist’ attitude to come out, and for him to refuse to do something. Or to demand a break from the pace he was working at. Something, anything diva-ish in nature.

But it hadn’t come out at all. He realized this must have been what it was like for Skwisgaar before the band—doing all his own work, willing to get his hands dirty doing whatever he needed to do. Granted, he didn’t mind watching Skwisgaar get filthy while they chopped firewood, or observing his repairs to his guitar (watching his hands do all of that was downright erotic.)

It was so strange all the same—a side of Skwisgaar that he’d known existed, but that he figured he’d probably never see. Yet here it was, and now he wanted to make it go away. To have his Skwisgaar back—the arrogant asshole who let him into the band, who begrudgingly became his friend, then not so begrudgingly his boyfriend.

“Lets me up, don’ts bes an asshole,” Skwisgaar grumbled, pushing and prying uselessly against the arm Toki had wrapped around him.

“Ams not an asshole, just wants to cuddle,” Toki murmured. He knew it didn’t sound convincing, but he was too focused on figuring out his possible next steps to make it sound better. Like, what if Skwisgaar managed to get up? Should he just tackle him, try and lure him back to bed somehow, what?

“Yous heart ams beatings too fast,” Skwisgaar said. “What ams wrong?”

“Nothing,” Toki replied.

“Yous ams a terrible liars,” Skwisgaar muttered. “What ams your problem?”

He was right. Lying wasn’t going to work. Truth probably wouldn’t either, but he could at least give it a shot.

“Everythings you reads about this ritual, alls the things you tells me about it—it scares me,” Toki didn’t mean to whisper, but it came out as one anyway. “People don’ts do this ‘Year Walk’ anymores much, right? So I thinks, ‘why ams that?’, and I thinks--”

He paused. Couldn’t let the tears fall. Couldn’t completely fall apart, not with Skwisgaar acting the way he had been. Someone needed to have their shit together.

“I thinks it ams because they lose people. People who sees things and don’t wants to come back homes, or who ams stolen by whatevers ams out theres, or who sees that their futures ams goings to be bad, and so theys kills themselves so it won’t happen,” Toki continued. “I don’t wants to lose you.”

Skwisgaar was quiet.

Toki couldn’t bring himself to look at Skwisgaar. He stared at the cabin wall, and let his arm go limp so Skwisgaar could push it away.

“Ams sorry,” Skwisgaar mumured, his voice hoarse.

Toki sat up and turned to Skwisgaar.

Tears were pouring down Skwisgaar’s face as he sat up. “I didn’ts thinks about it likes that. Didn’ts thinks you would cares if--”

“If yous was gone? If somethings happens what ams terrible and tragic and leaves me heres all alone?” Toki asked. “You ams so stupids sometimes. I loves you—of course I cares. I wouldn’ts bes here otherwise.”

Skwisgaar was quiet again.

“I wants the albums to bes good too. But if you ams not here, wes don’t haves an album. Please don’ts does this,” Toki let the tears fall now, half sad at the thought of losing Skwisgaar, but half happy that Skwisgaar was listening and understood. They’d all joked that years of evading the deaths that had befallen their fans and business partners and family had started to soften them up. But maybe it had—and maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

“I haves to,” Skwisgaar replied. “Just this once, to sees ifs I can, to sees what ams out there when yous does it.”

Toki choked back a sob. How could he say that now, that he had to?

“But, maybes wes can do it differently. I don’t knows what wills happen if wes change it—wes can only try,” Skwisgaar said. “Yous could comes with me. Do the rituals with mes, and wes go outs and does the walk together. Plus, then wes both gets materials for the album.”

Toki slipped a hand over Skwisgaar’s—his hands were always so cold. “Thought you needs someones back heres in case somethings happens.”

Skwisgaar nodded. “Normally yous do. But wes ams not normal—ams guitar gods. Wes can’ts be killed by just anyone.”

“Yous ams,” Toki corrected.

“No—you ams one too. Just ones that needs to practice more,” Skwisgaar smiled.

Toki’s heart was beating fast for an entirely different reason now. Skwisgaar had never included him in that definition before. “So—wes does this togethers then?”  

Skwisgaar nodded. “Wes either dies outs there togethers or comes back and drinks and writes new music.”

Toki nodded. It wasn’t exactly how his Keep Skwisgaar Safe plan was supposed to end—ideally, it would have ended with them staying in bed and fucking the day away, and no ritual at all on New Years Eve. But if the ritual had to happen, then this way would be better than the alternative.

“Wes shoulds gets up then, gets things ready,” Toki sighed, and moved to leave the bed. “What ams lefts, yous haves beens doing so much already.”

Skwisgaar’s now free hand crept over his shoulder and pulled him back down to the bed. “Nothings, actually. Was just sayings that so yous would lets me gets up. Wes gots four days of nothings to dos until the nights of the ritual.”

“Ams that my new nickname? Nothings?” Toki grinned.

Skwisgaar moved to straddle him and frowned, clearly confused.

“You ams goings to be doings nothings for four days—who else woulds you bes talkings about?” Toki continued.

Crying out of pure, overwhelmed love and emotion during sex was usually only Toki’s thing—but it was weirdly nice with both of them doing it at the same time. And it distracted from the idea that they both might die out there in the woods, cold and terrified. But at least they’d be cold and terrified together.

Four days later, walking was an interesting exercise for both of them, and they had hickeys in places that would have made their mothers blush (if either of their mothers had actually been decent mothers, of course.)

“Nows wes fast—plus nos drinkings, and it ams supposed to bes no seeings anyone else but--” Skwisgaar shrugged as they dressed in the darkness of the bedroom. He’d insisted on keeping all the lights off, apparently another part of the ritual in some places.

“Wes ams already breakings the rules, wes coulds have a little drinks,” Toki replied. They’d never been this sober for this long. But in between all the research and work, Skwisgaar hadn’t had time for drinking, and Toki hadn’t really thought of it until now. Even on Christmas, his only concern had been that Skwisgaar be forced to eat and bathe at some point. Celebrating and drinking just hadn’t made the list of worries.

“Wes don’t wants to bes drunks if there really ams...things outs there,” Skwisgaar said. “Ams goings to feels fucked up as it is, with no foods or drinks.”

Toki found himself only able to nod. After all, he didn’t really know for sure what they’d be facing. Sure, he knew of some of the creatures that had been reported during others’ ‘year walks’, hell, some of them had their own version in Norwegian and other Scandinavian folklore so they weren’t any great surprise to read about, but he’d never envisioned actually having to ever face any of them. As a kid, they were just scary stories his parents told him to keep him in line.

Now, they might be real.

“Wes can’ts talk, cans we?” Toki asked as they settled into the living room.

“Ams not supposeds to,” Skwisgaar replied. “Wes probablys coulds though. If wes ams alreadys screwed withs breakings the rules, how much worse cans it get?”

They didn’t talk anyway, cuddled up on the couch. It was easier to just sit in the darkness somehow.

For Toki, it was because he didn’t want to admit that he was gradually becoming more and more terrified. But one of the rules was, you couldn’t be scared, couldn’t show it—to be scared and show it was to essentially declare yourself a free treat for the creatures.

He didn’t know if Skwisgaar was quite as scared as he was, but he knew Skwisgaar’s hands were shaking as they wrapped around his.

Midnight came quicker than he expected. They pulled on coats and boots and hands and gloves in silence, before finally heading out.

He’d forgotten how many of the stars were visible, somewhere further away from city lights and the ever present security lights of Mordhaus. It was beautiful, but he knew better than to break the silence they needed to keep for the walk. He settled for squeezing Skwisgaar’s gloved hand as tightly as he could as they started into the woods.

There were a few places they’d agreed to go, and a few they’d agreed to avoid, based on what information Skwisgaar had gleaned in his research and what time they’d had to discuss it all while they fucked.

Churches and graveyards were supposed to be extra spooky, but also could offer a glimpse of things to come with only the risk of a Church Grim being present.

Rivers and lakes nearby were to be avoided if possible—most of the articles called the creatures by their English name, the brook-horse. Granted, it was supposed to take children, but they’d both figured there was no need to risk finding out if it would make an exception for them.

Huldra were going to unavoidable most likely—they couldn’t go into the forest otherwise, which would have made the whole thing kind of pointless, since Skwisgaar had discovered the nearest church and graveyard were within the woods. Mylings and the Night Raven also seemed potentially unavoidable—they might run into them, they might not. There was no way to be certain.

Toki felt the fear start to slowly melt as they walked. If he didn’t think about the potential to disappear forever, it was a nice walk. Cold, but they were both used to that. For Toki, it had been terrifying nights left in the punishment hole—and he knew Skwisgaar had spent nights as teen alone in the woods, to get away from his mother.

The trees rustled as they continued on through the brush, and for a moment the thought of trolls flashed through Toki’s mind. Sure, no account had mentioned them, but who was to say they might not be out there?

Skwisgaar suddenly tapped him on the shoulder with his free hand and pointed.

Just a few feet ahead, there she was. A huldra, gorgeous as could be (but still nowhere near as gorgeous as Skwisgaar, of course) was watching them. She was saying something—nothing Toki could understand. It sounded like a song, not a language proper they could translate really. But her meaning was clear enough: follow me.

Skwisgaar shook his head, and they turned down a fork in the path, away from her.

The song turned to a shriek, and Toki could hear the whoosh of air as she raced past them. If the folklore and accounts were true, they might be okay as long as they kept walking. Stopping and trying to fix the offense during the walk seemed like it might only worsen the issue.

She dashed in and out of their path, but they kept on. Finally, she stopped in front of them one last time and growled, before taking off into the trees.

Toki let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. If every creature was like that, then maybe they could do this. And it was inspiring—he already had a riff in mind for a song inspired by her shriek. He only hoped Skwisgaar would like it.

They slowed as they joined the tail end of a funeral procession. Towards the front of it, Toki could see a head of silver long hair, one of blonde and silver hair, one of greying brown hair, and another of grey and curly hair. Which meant Pickles was...he didn’t want to think about it, even as he stared at the coffin atop the shoulders of the Klokateers in front of them.

“He lived a hell of a lot longer than he should have,” Nathan’s voice echoed in the quiet of the forest. “Especially after--”

“Wes don’ts needs to talk abouts that again. Wes haves the scars to remembers it by,” a version of Skwisgaar’s voice rang out next. It was clearly older, thought Toki couldn’t place an exact age for it. It was strangely comforting to his ears. If this vision was true, Skwisgaar still had plenty of years left.

“Still, gotta give him kudos for it. Can you imagine how pissed off he is right now, wherever he is?” Nathan chuckled.

“Yeah—dying of old age in hisch bed like a normal dildo, inschtead of an overdosche or schomething,” Murderface’s voice showed his age more. Toki knew he’d hate to hear it, but he kind of sounded like a male version of his grandmother.

The procession reached the graveyard, and they hung at the back of the group as the Klokateers set the casket down by an open grave.

Suddenly, the casket popped open as the group turned and stared at them. A very dead, very gnarly-looking Pickles sat up in the casket.

“Seventy-five,” he croaked. “The water will not kill you.”

Toki looked to Skwisgaar, who only shrugged. They’d both read how some of the visions might not be one hundred percent clear on their meaning. They’d have to talk over what it might mean later, if there was a later.

Suddenly the group was gone, and they were alone in the graveyard.

A song started up from one of the graves, slow and melodic, but very clearly the riff Skwisgaar had been playing with for weeks.

It was Skwisgaar’s turn to squeeze Toki’s hand, as the song continued, well past what Skwisgaar had written down back at the cabin. Toki knew Skwisgaar was probably trying to memorize it, and he wished he’d checked to see if it was against the rules to bring pen and paper for things like this. Too late now, of course.

Skwisgaar led him out of the graveyard, and towards the church they could see in the distance. A closer look revealed it to be something very old, and almost definitely abandoned.

Except for the Church Grim, staring them down from the stairs at the church entrance.

It looked like a goat, for all of a second at least. Then there was the cracking of bones and some unsettling squishing sounds as it grew and stood up to be something like a man with a goat’s head.

It met them at the gate to the church, and Toki held back a gasp as it placed a hand on each of their heads. It was way taller than he’d been thinking any version of the Grim might be—at least seven feet. And none of the reports had mentioned this happening.

Then there was a sound like a gunshot in his head, and he could see a vision—himself and Skwisgaar, at the altar. It had bits and pieces of the ‘perfect wedding’ they’d each told one another about—the braids down their backs and small black flowers intertwined in their hair that Toki had wanted (he would never deny that he wanted some of the really cheesy romantic shit) and the black and red candles dotting the aisle and altar that Skwisgaar had mentioned wanting.  They’d both laughed off that version of a wedding—at the time, it had seemed unlikely to happen if only because neither one of them had proposed and neither of them were in a rush to when they were happy as they were (and had been together long enough to fall under common-law in most places.)

But it looked perfect in his head. And they were smiling and happy in it, wearing the black metal rings Skwisgaar had once designed during a night of drinking, complete with engraving in silver—the phrase ‘I love you’, in Swedish on Toki’s ring and in Norwegian on Skwisgaar’s ring.

The vision exuded love—even the rest of their bandmates were smiling in the vision. Pickles had his hands occupied—one holding onto Charles’ hand, and the other holding onto Nathan’s. That wasn’t surprising—they all pretended they weren’t all fucking, but it wasn’t a secret to anyone who spent a night at Mordhaus. And  they could be disgustingly cute with each other, the latest being Nathan carefully carrying both Charles and Pickles to bed after a long night of recording, while humming a lullaby under his breath. Granted, the lullaby was a black metal song, but that was a lullaby to him.

Murderface was alone, but he didn’t seem upset. Toki noticed a ring on his ring finger, and wondered A. who’d fallen in love with Murderface, and B. why they weren’t at the wedding as well. But he didn’t have time to question it, as he felt the weight of the Church Grim’s palm leave his head and the vision went away with it.

The Grim stood in front of them, hands now held out with a ring in each palm.

Toki tried to ask what he wanted to ask with just a look to Skwisgaar as he took the ring with Norwegian engraved on it from the Grim.

Skwisgaar nodded, and took the other ring from the Grim. They yanked off their gloves as quickly as they could, and placed the rings on each other’s fingers as the Grim watched and nodded, seemingly pleased.

They watched the Grim go back into the church as they pulled their gloves back on, whatever job it had been assigned for their walk apparently complete.

As soon as it was gone, Toki pulled Skwisgaar into a kiss. He wasn’t sure if that particular interaction counted as another breaking of the rules, but he didn’t really care. The ritual seemed to be adapting for their rule breakage anyway.

Neither of them could stop grinning as they pulled away and continued down the path. If the rest of the walk was like this, it would be a breeze.

The thought of course, immediately jinxed them, as Toki had figured it might.

Suddenly, the sounds and lights of war surrounded them. Constant gunfire, screams, and the roaring of something very ancient. It was terrifying, for more reasons than Toki could count. But perhaps the most unsettling was the view of him, Skwisgaar, and the rest of the band—bathed in red light, and striking down soldiers without even having to touch them. He couldn’t tell exactly who they were fighting, or why—but the vision again didn’t give him time to ponder it much more.

As quickly as it had come on, it was gone, and they were back on the quiet trail. Skwisgaar let go of his hand, and instead wrapped an arm around his shoulder to draw him close. Toki was grateful for that, after seeing what they had.

The splashing of water broke them both out of their reverie, and Toki realized with a held back gasp that they were right by a river.

Skwisgaar’s just slightly longer steps spurred them both on faster, even as the sound of hooves came about on the trail behind them.

In the distance, Toki could hear a baby crying, and he wished desperately that another fork would appear in the path.

There was nothing to do except go forward, or risk the brush without any semblance of a path. It was a split-second sort of decision, one that normally Toki would have wanted to discuss. There was no need though, as Skwisgaar seemed right on the same page, pulling Toki with him into the brush.

They broke into a run, as best they could through the mess of moss and branches and snow, until the hooves and crying were far behind them.

Skwisgaar pulled him into a hug, and as nerve-wracking as it was to not keep moving, he hugged back as hard as he could. It was evident in Skwisgaar’s eyes that he wanted to talk, and probably had a lot to say—but they weren’t done yet.

Snow and brush crunched beneath their boots as they stumbled around in search of another path, again hand-in-hand.

Finally, a stone path appeared in front of them, far too well-maintained to be real. But it was all they had, and Toki knew the sun had to be coming up soon—and by then, if the various legends and folklore had it right, they either had to be in a church or back at home to be safe. He wasn’t sure what was considered more safe, but if he had a choice he’d rather they be back at the cabin rather than sharing the morning with the apparently harmless but still creepy Grim in the church.

The path, of course, didn’t lead to the entrance of the forest, but to a huge nest. It was filled with rotten eggs the size of boulders, and bones—bones that were much too small to belong to any adult.

Skwisgaar squeezed his hand again, and Toki remembered what little lore they’d amassed on the Night Raven. It all seemed to boil down to: don’t be a naughty child that could be stolen by it, don’t look it in the eyes, and don’t touch it. Easy as those three things should be (particularly the first), he still wasn’t keen on having to face the creature.

In a flap of giant wings, it was there, and they didn’t have a choice. Skwisgaar had yanked the edge of his beanie down over his eyes, but Toki got a glimpse of the bird as he reached for his own hat.

The Night Raven squawked in surprise and fear.

He could understand that. According to legend, he should have died upon viewing it. But he felt fine.

The Raven continued to squawk and splutter, until it began to gag up a vile black fluid. It pointed a wing in apparent accusation at Toki, but he only shrugged. Wasn’t his fault the legend wasn’t flowing the way it had for others here, or that he apparently had the ability to kill the Raven just by looking at it.

It finally fell silent, then turned to ash. As soon as it did, Toki pulled Skwisgaar’s hat back off of his eyes.

Skwisgaar was well-beyond puzzled, that much was clear by the look on his face, but the explanation would have to wait.

Toki pulled him off the stone path and back into the brush, hoping that they were nearly at an end. They had plenty of material to use at this point, or he did at least.

He could see the edge of the forest, but just before they could reach it another vision took them over.

It was...strange. In how simple and utterly boring it was. The band was in the living room, settled on their usual couch, with the news playing.

“Dr. Rockso, the clown who did cocaine, found dead in Miami of an apparent...everything overdose? How can you OD on everyth—I’m being told by my producers to continue the broadcast despite this...quirk, in the story. More to follow on this story at eleven,” the female newscaster disappeared as Nathan turned off the TV.

“Thank fuck you got over that creep. Thank fuck he’s dead,” Nathan said.

Pickles nodded. “I mean, he didn’t even show up to your wedding. What a fuckin’ tool.”

“Even if he had, he woulda ruined it,” Murderface scoffed. “Can’t we juscht be glad he’sch dead and move on with our lives?”

The vision version of Toki pressed a kiss to the vision version of Skwisgaar’s forehead. “Yeah. Yous ams rights. Can’ts believes I wasted so much times with him—I hads somethings betters to helps mes cope right here.”

“That is disgustingly cute, cut that shit out,” Pickles said.

“Yous boughts Nathans and Charles roses today, Pickle. Ams that not also disgustinglys cutes?” Skwisgaar asked pointedly.

“Yeah, but Nathan and Charles are disgustingly cute, so they deserve disgustingly cute things. That’s just the way shit works, don’t ask me,” Pickles replied.

The sounds of their playful ribbing of each other faded out with the vision, and suddenly the cabin’s front door was right there, with the sun coming up just behind them.

They dashed in and Skwisgaar slammed the door shut behind them, locking it and pushing an end table in front of it for good measure.

They sat in silence for a beat.

“Wes maybes needs a naps, then wes goes over this?” Skwisgaar asked.

Toki nodded. It was both wonderful and weird, being able to talk again. He’d gotten used to the silence, in a way.

“A nap sounds goods; that was...” Toki shook his head. He really did need sleep.  

Skwisgaar took the lead again as they stripped off their outerwear, then stumbled into the bedroom and onto the bed.

If it wasn’t for the rings still on their fingers, Toki figured he could have passed it all off as a hallucination.

But it was all fucking real, and it was going to make for a kick-ass album.

[virmillion]

As Above, So Below - Part 8

Part 1 // Part 7 // Part 9 // Masterpost

i dont know who posted for me to get an influx of people reading at once but you guys are too nice honestly i love it ok so anyway i dont know how i managed to crank out another chapter but here we are - just a heads up school starts again monday so these might not be as frequent im sorry but ill try to keep up with posting something

Warnings: tiny bit of swearing, let me know if theres any more

    “And you’re certain you haven’t discerned any information on a past encounter between your friend and Prince Roman?” Logan reiterates, taking this Patton boy on a condensed tour of the castle. If he insisted upon staying, the advisor supposed it was the least he could do to keep him occupied. From the mesquite banisters to the polished oak floorings, Logan allows himself a reprieve of pleasure in showing off the palace to someone who isn’t so used to its grandeur.

    “Not a clue!” Patton replies. That incessant smile hasn’t left his face since they left the meeting room, where the prince and Virgil remains to hammer out some minute details about the current situation. Perhaps the most bothersome thing about this boy is his refusal to admire the finer points of architecture, instead favoring trivial nothings like the garden. “I’m not stupid, you know, so you can stop mentally criticizing me.” At Logan’s stunned expression, he continues, “it’s written all over your face. Just think of me like a normal person, just like you, and we’ll get along great.”

    Logan draws the corner of his lip between his teeth, eyebrows furrowed. He was certain his countenance was neutral, and it wasn’t like him to let emotions slip through the cracks. Opting to instead change the subject, he turns to a still-beaming Patton and suggests a return to the meeting room. “They’ve probably figured everything out by now,” he adds, veering through a side door for a shortcut.

    “We’re back!” Patton exclaims, bursting into the first available room. “Did you mi—oh no where’d they go?” The only person watching him back, a note of confusion in their eyes, is someone in a kitchen staff uniform. Definitely not Virgil or Roman, at the very least.

    “Wrong room,” Logan replies, pointing to a door further down the same room. Patton follows the direction and repeats himself, this time to a more familiarly occupied area.

    “We’re back!” Did you miss us?” He catapults himself into a hug with Virgil, while Logan strolls in more calmly behind. Roman sidles up next to him, watching the pair converse.

    “Anything?” the prince asks. The only giveaway to his worry toward the mysterious boy is the small lines wrinkling near his mouth, likely from biting the corner of his lip. A habit he picked up from his advisor years ago, one that neither had managed to drop.

    Logan shakes his head. “He’s as ignorant of the situation as you. Speaking of which, what’ve you got?”

    Roman sighs, still watching Patton fawn over Virgil. “All I heard was sarcastic comments. Whatever his deal is, he’s not giving it to me. I even asked a guard to check out the library on our way down earlier for any mentions of a Virgil in the records, but nothing up until he passed a boundary. No evidence of him ever having a boundary set until he broke it. Where did this kid come from?”

    “I’m not deaf, y’know,” Virgil calls, scowling beside Patton. “Just because I didn’t answer your stupid questions doesn’t mean I can’t, it just means I won’t.” Roman sticks his tongue out before making an about face and turning for the door.

    “I suppose we may as well continue the tour, shall we?” he tosses over his shoulder. The other three follow, Patton bouncing between decorations as Virgil maintains a straight line path. Logan brings up the rear, schooling his features into a cool disinterest as he observes the newcomers. From the towering windows to the dangling chandeliers, nothing ceases to amaze Patton, while everything endlessly bores Virgil. Perhaps the most strange thing Logan picks up on is the few manners Virgil demonstrates, which he shouldn’t have any knowledge of. From issuing a respectful bow to the highest member of the royal guard to properly addressing the palace staff by their official title, Virgil seems to have already grasped the ropes without being handed the knot. Logan makes a mental note to look deeper into the matter later as Patton comes running up beside him. Ahead, Virgil stiffens.

    “What’s your favorite part of living in the palace?” Patton asks. Detecting no malice or ulterior motives in his voice, Logan decides a dignified response is in order.

    “The library.”

    “Can we see it?”

    “I don’t see why not. Roman!” The prince in question turns back from where he’s failing miserable at walking beside Virgil, who isn’t having any of it, changing his pace to remain alone. “To the library.”

    “To the library!” Roman declares, a finger raised triumphantly in the air. Logan does his best to meet Patton’s enthusiasm with diminished politeness, more focused on Virgil’s inexplicable etiquette than the charm of a castle that’s worn off from him. One of the only places he truly cares about anymore rapidly draws near, Roman throwing the doors open with a grand flourish of the arms. Patton bursts through, roaming the aisles with Roman in tow, as Logan hangs back to run a hand over his favorite cypress desk. Lost in thought, he’s unprepared and a good deal startled when a purple clad figure materializes at his side. Logan gives a slight nod before Virgil jabs an accusing finger at his chest.

    “Listen here, pal.” Contempt drips from Virgil voice, taking Logan aback to the point that he leans against the desk for support. “I don’t know what bull you people are trying to feed me, and frankly? I couldn’t care less. But if you so much as lay a finger on my friend?” Virgil punctuates each word carefully with another stab of his finger, forcing Logan back until he’s leaning on his elbows and gazing up at Virgil. “You’d better pray to whatever higher power there might be. You will stay away from him, and if anything I do to protect him from you monsters is wrong, then so help me, I will face God and walk backwards into hell.”

    Roman pops his head around a bookshelf, asking if everything is still okay. Virgil flashes a thumbs up, acting as if his threat had never happened, letting it settle in Logan’s gut. Something lingers in Virgil’s eyes, something Logan has no intention of going up against. Something that terrifies him.

Tag List:

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[elsewhereuniversity]

Me and My Shadow, a Freshman Story

Alex couldn’t remember applying to Elsewhere University, that’s how it worked sometimes, but the course he was accepted on was perfect for him. He loved the feel of the liberal arts college, but their Computer Sciences department had a great reputation too, he wasn’t sure how he hadn’t been rooting for this school all along.

The suggestions for living on campus seemed a little silly, he mulled over them a few times, puzzled by the descriptions of salt and iron, and outright baffled by the need to use a fake name.  He spent the summer determined to ignore them. He would be a voice of reason amongst the student body, he thought, as he imagined parading around with his real name printed on a teeshirt, emblazoned on his backpack. Nevertheless, as the day of his departure grew ever closer, he relented, and packed a handful of iron washers, a large canister of salt, and a thesaurus to pick a name from. If he had to live by a pseudonym for the next 3 years, he wanted an impressive one. Alex hadn’t been popular at school, much more of a wallflower than the centre of any social circles. This year would be different, he wanted a name that stood out, a name that would bring an air of mystery.

By the time he set foot on campus, Alex was Shadow, and Shadow was cool.

The first few weeks of school, Shadow managed to keep his social profile higher than he ever had before. Parties every week, no embarrassing stories to follow him from high school. It was the best few weeks of his life and, while the following weeks never quite compared, Shadow built up a reputation. The cost, however, was his grades.

The first few projects Shadow handed in were graded poorly. He fought the feelings of embarrassment at the idea of failing, he had never gotten less than an A in his life, even at Elsewhere, it only took a couple of months before he was called before his Professor.

“ Look, Shadow. I didn’t want to say anything, I actually thought you had been taken. It was a bit early, but then thats when the most simple mistakes are made, but I had a quiet word with a few people and I hear you just aren’t putting the work in.”

Shadow was glowing scarlet. This wasn’t what he wanted, he had made a crucial mistake.

“ I’m sorry Professor, I really am. It’s all just been a bit overwhelming and I lost track of priorities, I’ll try harder.”

The Professor seemed unconvinced.

“ I want to give you a second chance Shadow,’ he removed and started polishing his silver glasses.

“ You’re grades have really suffered, it will take a lot of work to get back up to an acceptable level.”

Shadow was in full panic mode, he needed a second chance.

“ Can I redo the projects?” He gasped. They had a week free for study coming up, he could sacrifice his time then as a lot of his friends were heading home.

“ I will let you hand them in if you manage but, I have to say Shadow, it’s a lot of work, I don’t know if you have time.”

They agreed that the Professor would grade the papers again, on a reduced scale. It wouldn’t get him anything resembling an A level score, but he might scrape by with something respectable. He ran full sprint to the library, setting himself up in the computing department.

The EU Library was odd, but the computing department at Elsewhere University Library was odd in it’s own special way. Each shelf had a locked door, able to be opened only on presentation of a special ID card (made of iron, naturally). Apparently the campus had an ongoing issue with books about technology being vandalised at night. Far at the end of the room, one cabinet was sealed with, apparently, no lock at all. He asked in the first week about that shelf, the Librarian mumbled “Those books aren’t finished yet,” and somehow escaped from sight.

He gathered what he needed for his first project of the year, and got to work. It had been a couple of hours when someone came and sat across from him at the table, a young man, around his age, black hair, smart clothes. A few moments later, Shadow noticed the student was not doing work.

“ Can I help you?” he asked, looking up from his book.

“ No, but I think I can help you,” he replied. “ If you go upstairs to the 12th floor, theres a room. 17c. Time works weirdly in there, its good for concentration or something. “

“ I’m fine here,” Shadow mumbled, mildly irritated at the interruption.

“ Someone is about to come in and clean, it’s gonna get loud.” the stranger added. Shadow took the bait and packed up his stuff.

Shadow was sure there had only been 9 floors to the Library, but there it was, the button for floor 12.  17c was creepy. A single room, with a single desk. Olive green walls and a single pendant lamp with a heavy shade, making a spot of light on the floor and sending the dark corners into wild shapes.

The guy was right. Time went weirdly here, but so did everything else.  The room seemed smaller one minute, then huge, sound seemed echoey and then muffled.  Shadow was sure he had been there for a few hours when he realised it had only been 1. The light wasn’t still, so his concentration was being slightly disturbed by the shapes and figures rising from the shade of the area outside the light. It was getting too much.  Shadow got up and went to find a coffee machine, his study materials scattered over the desk. Including his favourite calculator. The one he used at school. The one with stickers all over it and his name scratched into the back.

The week dragged, Shadow felt like he had been living there for a month when the rest of the class came back from their visits home, but the work was done, and the grade came back good. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, and he cut his partying in half.  

One day, his room mate moved out without a word. Things had been weird between them since Shadow had been around more often, he figured the guy just didn’t like him. Their room was small, two single beds only a foot and a half apart. It was tough luck, most of the other rooms on campus were far better, but maybe the guy just needed more space.

That night, he remembered waking up with his leg out of the bed, his shadow stretching across the room to the sheet of the bed opposite. He must have been dreaming, because he was sure he saw his room mate asleep over there.

The next day, the bed was still unmade, and not slept in. He went about his business, enjoying the new independence, which made it all the more annoying when he came home from class that day and found a boy in his room.

“ Hi, I’m your new room mate. My name is Alex.”

—————–

‘Alex’ was startling to Shadow. He looked so like him it was unreal, though not identical, they could be brothers.

He was paler Shadow, with darker hair, but still blond. Their eyes we’re different colours, and where 'Alex’ was slightly taller, Shadow was slightly more muscular. Their faces were stronger and weaker in the same places, but the features did not match.

“ Wow, we could be twins!” the new boy exclaimed as his brown eyes landed on Shadow in the doorway.

“ I’m a late transfer, I hoped we could be buddies and you could show me around the place?” his eyes were pleading.

“ Yeah, sure.” Shadow replied, the guys chosen name alarmed him at first, but coincidences happen, and he would hate to be here so long after orientation with no friends.

They chatted for a while and realised they had quite a lot in common. By the time they went to bed, Shadow felt like the guy had been here forever. His other roommate had been boring, they had nothing to talk about and the guy was always so moody, Alex was a breath of fresh air.  A few weeks went by and life was starting to become a bit of a routine. The good kind.

Alex was always very busy through the day, arriving around 8-9pm each night, in time to socialise a bit before bed. It suited Shadow fine, he could spend the time between classes and Alex’s return catching up on his work.

The friends he made at the beginning of the year resented Alex a bit, the timing of his arrival had been around the same time Shadow had started taking his studies seriously again, so from their perspective, Alex was bad news.

The first few parties Shadow took him too had been pretty bad for Alex. Mostly ignored and left out, he had been resigned to the sofa while Shadow caught up with people he hadn’t seen in a while. Some crazy girl, who kept talking about glowing eyes in the darkness, sat next to Alex and wouldn’t leave him alone the first time. Shadow thought she was on Acid.

But over a few weeks, the group warmed to the new kid. Alex started to build friendships himself and Shadow felt a little relief. He really enjoyed Alex’s company, but he had started to feel like they were in a couple.

The end of semester projects were handed out in March. Shadows class groaned in unison as they realize the workload expected of them. The next party Shadow would be going to would be when they left for summer. Alex came and went, day in day out. They still hung out a few times a week, but the summer sun had come to Elsewhere and the classes had begun to move their study periods outside, he was getting a little tan and his hair was bleaching in the summer rays, becoming a brighter gold than before.  It suited him and he had been getting a lot of attention from girls and guys.  Alex was a busy man!

No one had warned him how much of his social life would suffer doing computer sciences. The coding and the technical aspects were so unpredictable he was up all night, most nights, trying to get his work done. His team had grown distant, he attributed it to stress, which meant that Shadow had started to work alone more and more often. He was starting to feel like the old Alex, the one he left behind and never wanted to meet again. The one he had worked so hard to get rid of.

Time passed, and projects finished. Shadow had been napping after handing in his full project, he had done most of it himself, when Alex woke him, face so close he could smell his breath.

“ Shadow. It’s done. Come party!” he whispered, before handing him a beer and sliding silently out of the room. He went to his buddies house, the party was raging as always ( he was half sure it never stopped), and people we’re everywhere. He saw his friend Jeff across the crowd, a rush of realisation at just how long it had been hit him as he waved and ran across the room.

But Jeff practically sneered before turning away. It was almost like he couldn’t see him, but what he had seen had really annoyed him. Shadow lost him in the crowd.

He saw Alex coming towards him. “ Hey,” he whispered as he grabbed Shadow’s arm.

He looked into his friends eyes, but saw only annoyance and frustration.

Alex’s mouth opened, it looked subtly different somehow, it had done for a while. Maybe it was the tan.

“ Alex, the others want you to leave. They said they don’t like flakes who think they can come back after disappearing and act like nothing has happened.”

Shadow took a second to realize Alex had used his real name on him.

“ No no, I’m Shadow. You’re Alex…”

“ Alex, I know you must be upset, but you need to leave!” Shouted Alex as he grabbed Shadows arm and escorted him out the front door. “ Now go, find somewhere you belong.” Alex grinned. Just before he slammed the door, his brown eyes shifted to a very familiar green.

Shadow… No, the other guy was right, he was Alex again now, wandered across campus. When he got to the dorm, his ID wouldn’t work, he couldn’t get anyone to pay attention to him and no one would help.

It took two days before he stopped trying to find where he belonged. Even then it was only because of a lack of options. He slumped next to a wall near the crows, the crows could see him, he could tell that much. How did this happen, he wondered? He had noticed his hands growing pale and he could not bear to find a mirror, he knew he wouldn’t like what he saw. His trousers were getting too short for him, he thought he had stopped growing.

A pair of purple leather shoes stopped in his vision. Shining inexplicably in the shade of the crows tables, and leading into a pair of olive green trousers.

“ I’ve been looking for you!” the new voice shouted, a growl to it that scared Alex, but not enough to snap his depression. He glanced up into the eyes of a creature that definitely wasn’t human. Dull grey skin, wrinkled and sagging so much it looked like folded tissue, a snub nose any pig would be jealous of, and a subtle green sheen to his skin that looked like he was coated in petrol. As disgusting as he was, the eyes that locked with Alex’s were vibrant and more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. At first they looked black from corner to corner, but then they flickered… constant flickers of blue and purples, spectrums and nebulas, all shining out of an inky black void.

“ Time has been catching up with my room since you left in that boys bag, I need the shadows to form the circle, you know that little shade.” he growled, “No one escapes from Gossamer,” he took hold of Alex’s collar, the grip was strong and somehow relieved the shade of all mass and weight it had left. Crumpling into something looking like a gauze suit, it was stuffed into a purple briefcase with no ceremony.  Alex smiled, as best he could.  The darkness of the case was home to him.  He could relax, he belonged. 

As Gossamer scurried back to the Library, his hulking frame moving far faster and more sprightly than should be possible, the layers of loose skin on his face split, blue lips curling into a tight twisted line. Time flowed like water around here if it wasn’t regulated correctly, and his circle had been suffering all year for being one member short.

Shadow Alex went on to pass with flying colours but, once graduated, disappeared.  He hasn’t been heard from by any of the alumni or staff since.

x

[caepaecaesurae]

> SD: Get some tail

CC: Caesurae was visibly unsettled and a little skittish when he kissed his moirail goodbye and explained where he was going. He mentioned that Psii extended his regards, on tumblr -- but he has someone online in need of healing to visit. He'd be back soonish.

SD: Kankri gave him a kiss back. He was certain this was alright? He seems a bit skittish (soft moirail worry) In the meantime Madrus was warning Mindfang he was about to have a very peculiar visitor, and got the pad turned on in his cabin , waiting for the arrival of Caesurae. He was wearing nice loose pants, tucked into expensive boots that made his feet look normal, a self indulgent fancy shirt (although the fabric was a corser choice than the high style called for) and waist coat made of good sail canvas and dyed purple completed it. The most expensive thing about his outfit was the boots, despite attempts at looking presentable. The dye probably cost him a nice penny though. Purple was notoriously hard to get on a budget.

CC: Caesure tried to reassure Kankri, but couldn't find much terribly concrete to say about it. He'd be alright, and back soon. The friend he's visiting is fine. He went into a back room, tried to settle his nerves for a bit, then put down a temporary transport pad to teleport away with. He matched his icon fairly well -- a ten sweep old, already eight and a half feet tall somehow. Some sort of black bodysuit, a white T-shirt, blue jeans, black boots, and a shockingly violet hooded cloak that was the most austentatious thing on him. The boots were a close second. It took him only a moment to reflexively catalog the room around them before turning his eyes to his alternate -- and smiling despite himself. They were a product of different eras and worlds, but the similarities managed to surprise him a little. It was only a moment or two before he offered a hand, fins adjusting. "--Orphaner," he greeted.

SD: They stood at the same height, and that was interesting in of itself, fins perked and flared a bit with interest as he took him in. The cloak didnt at all match the teeshirt nor did the boots, although the pants were forgivable. The youthfulness really struck him. The cabin was about what you would expect, a bed that was the best feature of it, a couch, a few electronics and a wardrobe, not many nick nacks that couldnt be bolted down or stored away for rough seas. There was the painting he'd been sharing the other night above his couch, secured well to the wall. The title of his station brought a grin to his face. "Caesurae, wasn't it, babe?"

CC: "Aye, that. A pleasure, I think." ..He hadn't been this close to an Alternian sea in a while. The waves felt somehow different with something lurking beneath -- or was it his imagination? He put it out of his mind.

SD: It probably wasn't his imagination in this case since the water had an Area Effect to it. "I find it a pleasure at least, welcome ta th' Stormrider." He offered him a hand.

CC: Cae would shake it, glad for the welcome. "I'm sure she's lovwely," he said honestly, consiering his alternate's face before turning his head slightly to consider the painting again, and its curl of a tail. "...I'm a little surprised, you look more familiar in the flesh than in the painting."

SD: He quirked an eyebrow and glanced up at the painting and back. "..Well I'm wearin a bit more, in life." He lifted both eyebrows. "Or do y'mean th' boots?"

CC: "..It is the clothes," he admitted. "--Not howv you mean, though. I think wve both prioritise the boots." Caesurae glanced back. "..despite not sharing a number of the reasons."

CC: "..the only vwiolet on either of us is our outerwvear."

CC: Aside from patches of Cae's hair and his eyebrows.

SD: "Th' boots make people over look my feet- and they make me taller." He grinned with a wink. "- your wardobe looks ah, a bit mismatched I've got ta say, doll."

CC: His mouth opened and hesitated that way for a moment, teeth briefly showing, before his fins colored and he shrugged with a sheepish grin. "..I'm a bit mismatched myself. ..Sorry, chief, I should'vwe changed into something more focused."

CC: After a moment, he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "..Being on the younger side's in vwogue back hivwe, and there's a fewv bits of my old life I havwen't left behind yet."

SD: "..that sounds like a bit of a tale, babe, you dont look a night over .. what is it ten? A little over?" He shook his head. "I don't mind th' look its just a bit jarrin. He turned to walk over to the couch and settle down so he could get the boots off. "- I'm guessin y' need ta see whats left to do your thing?"

CC: "..It's a tale and a half, and more than a bit of a headache for most." He followed a pace or two, but stayed politely out of arm's reach, finding a nice patch of wall to lean against as he watched. ".. It wvouldn't hurt, aye." He let his gaze stray back to the painting, pointedly focusing on the tail. That was how it Should be. It obviously wasn't, yet, but...would it be, in a minute or two? ..He absorbed every detail, considering where the bones and muscles would lay underneath the skin.

CC: "...WVouldn't wvant to accidentally split your pants, either,"

SD: "I'm gonna have ta get them altered." He sounded excited, thrilled even. "I've a kilt till then, darlin." Oof boots off. He wiggled his toes, unscrunching them a bit before he wiggled out of his pants. It didnt take a minute before he was on his feet again, the way he stood was visibly different, when he didnt have the boots on, with a bend at the knee to shift his center of balance. He turned so Caesurae could see the scarred stump, scooting his shirt up in the back for it.

CC: Caesurae let his peripheral vision slide across it for a moment -- but as his eyes focused on where the tail Should Be, he knew what he already Firmly Expected. Let there be tail, exactly like in the painting.

SD: That. Was probably the oddest sensation he'd come across. And he worshipped a horror terror, one moment there was nothing and the next- his mind mapped out the feeling of a tail that had been gone for hundreds of sweeps. He made a startled sound and looked back over his shoulder to stare at the short thing that swished with interest. He visibly rebalanced himself, fins spread wide, startled, interested, he was still forming the thrilled part of his response out of sheer surprise.

CC: Caesurae watched it swish, his fins raising and spreading a bit, head tilting with a smile.

CC: "..Sorry it's a bit...Sudden. Others are better at being graceful about it."

SD: "- I'm not complainin'" He flicked it and got a feel for how it connected to him- had the magic fixed the nerve damage from the initial amputation because he didnt know it was there? "Bloody hell"

CC: Sure had. It was a tail, and there wouldn't even be a scar. The painting didn't have a scar.

CC: Undamaged and whole. And a little short, but all his.

CC: "Good luck managing all your chairs, chief."

SD: "They used ta be made for this. I remember back that far." he wiggled it a little more just sort of watching it. This was attached to him, that was amazing.

SD: "Only coolbloods have tails, th' warm grew out of it a long damned time ago."

CC: "..I think it wvas evwen longwer, wvhere I'm from, if wve had them at all. Herself wvas impressivwely picky about her modernization programs."

SD: Time to stop stairing at his own but and take a few tenative steps, compensating for the thing moving around and throwing him off. He made his way over to the wardrobe to pull on a kilt. "..Would y' like a bottle've wine? I stole some just th' other night."

CC: "I nevwer mind if you're offering -- I'll wvander off wvhenevwer you'd like me to though, as wvell."

SD: He shook his head, wrapping the garment around his waist and bothering with its fastenings. " I'd be rude as shit, babe, an you just did for me somethin I could never do for m'self."

CC: ..He probably ought to stop watching his alternate get dressed somewhere around now. It took a few more seconds before he Finally shook his head, and let his chin drop. "...It's nice to do some good nowv and again. "

SD: "D'ya not do good often" He took a bottle out and peered at the label for a moment before offering it to the other sea dweller. "Not as good as when we were in charge of th' vinyards, its a short ferment but decent enough."

CC: Caesurae accepted it, glancing back with a dim smile. "..There's not alwvays opportunities." ..man, actual wine, that was an interesting thought. "..WVhere I'm from, wve're populating anewv after an...incident, so there's precious little aged anything just yet. WVe could sit and share a fewv glasses if you like."

SD: "There always seems ta be opertunity ta me if y'look." He raised his eyebrow at the offer and settled onto the couch, one of his legs was curled up under him to make the tail placement easier. He fished in his sylladex for a couple of coffee cups. Very fancy.

CC: Caesurae finally sat down, gently uncorking the wine and giving it a bit. "..There's alwvays wvrongs to be righted. The issue is finding wvrongs that are one's business, or wvhere one is wvelcome."

CC: "..And capable, to be honest."

SD: "An how might they not be your business, I'm curious?" He offered one of his coffee cups to the other troll.

CC: "..Evwer knowvn a troll to refuse help, particularly material help, out of some sense of ... ..." The word was hard to find. "..Not alwvays pride exactly, but..." He accepted the cup, with a vague gesture.

SD: "Theres fear too, of th' implied debt due." He mused "There are usually ways other than showerin people with things. Have y' tried somethin where they feel like they've earned it? y' can name anythin you want- a couple hours labor here and there, a sale of somethin. As long as they've got somethin concrete they can look at and know they've paid the debt with and its not hangin over their heads."

SD: "Even now I'm sittin here wonderin how I can ever repay y' for fixin my tail up."

CC: "..Aye, that's fair. I'll try to remember." He looked a little sheepish at the mention of Madrus's potential debt, fins settling back gently. "..I wvouldn't particularly wvish being less than wvhole on anyone. One of the oddities of all the magic out there is there's things like this, wvhere an act that means the wvorld to one troll can be a fewv minutes out of an evwening for another."

CC: "..WVould it be unsatisfying to call it square? ..Or name a pittance?"

SD: "Its th' same with anyone whos got a unique talent, you're payin for their ability ta do it, not how hard it is or how long it takes, only if its a skill few posess." He shook his head. "I've got th' money but I dont know how much good our money here'll do ya. Or forged documents? I could figure up how much rigger woulda wanted if I got a cybernetic prosthetic for it"

CC: Caesurae considered Madrus for a few seconds, before smiling wryly.

CC: "...Dairy's remarkably rare back hivwe. Infrastructure and all. Might be fairly easy to pay me in butter and icecream if you happen to find any good sources here or there."

CC: "Spices, too."

CC: "I could try to look up howv rare, if wve're considering exchange rates and all."

SD: He set his elbow against the back of his couch and his chin in his hand looking at him. "..Shit babe if all you want is a shopping trip to a grocery store we can do that."

CC: He shrugged his shoulders, swirling the bottle gently, and considering the scents coming out of it for a moment. ..No, he'll pour it soon, but not yet. After a few moments thought, he listed the usual prices for a few staple goods, like bread, or a shirt like the one he wears. ..and then listed the best approximate price he could come up with for milk, cheese, and butter.

CC: It wasn't in caegars, but numbers were still numbers.

CC: "..If you're fond of barter, that's a fine wvay to bribe me and 'Darkwving'. Livwing plants wvith medicinal properties as wvell, perhaps."

SD: "Medical properties or 'Medical' properties, babe." Eyebrows went up, and he grinned. It was .. interesting, surprisingly startling to watch someone who looked so much like him putting on dusty airs "..th' price of your milk things is astonishin."

CC: A wry smile. "I'm sure he'd only be interested in the medical properties, but the 'Medical'," gentle eyeroll, "--wvould be popular wvith my auspistice in our church, I'm sure."

CC: ..he let his gaze drop and shook his head, finally pouring a glass of wine for each of them. "..The troll wvho put together our infrastructure has.. Opinions, and decided that herding is animal slavwery, and that he wvouldn't be participating. ...I'm awvare of twvo herds in the capital region, numbering about [number] goats and [number] sheep."

CC: "...And that is the sum of our dairy production."

SD: "..Animal. Slavery." He tried to decide how he felt about this, he needed a drink and eyed that bottle, but he waits for that. "..a'ight so animal slavery. .. That aint enough milk for a whole city atall, I can see where you'd be hard up ta get some."

CC: "It -- He's." Caesurae sighed and rubbed his face, finishing the pour and setting the bottle down for a moment. "...He is also the reason all meat is wvild-caught."

SD: -Wine! He sips at it in his coffee cup like a gentleman.

SD: "I guess thats good excersize for some folk at least."

CC: He sipped his too, shaking his head. "..Aye, wvell. Hivwe is an advwenture."

SD: "I can definitely take y' ta get some groceries in some bulk ta take back hive." He mused. "..so thats no domestic animals at all for th' most part?"

CC: "Aye. None at all. I'vwe already gotten my auspistice some chickens, and there's a fewv in the palace courtyard."

CC: He shook his head. "...It's -- wve'vwe had the chance to start ovwer entirely fresh, and it's .. a bit on the extreme side, I suppose."

SD: "Why'd y' let th' one guy do all've that?" He was curious.

CC: ".. There wvere less than thirty of us, and he didn't ask permission. From wvhat I can piece together, he just.. did it, so there wvould be something wvaiting for us wvhen the rest arrivwed."

SD: "..Better'n no one doin it. Even if y' dont have half th' things trolls are suposed ta eat" He sipped his wine.

CC: Caesurae shrugged, nodding and leaning back. "..Aye, wvell. No one complains to him. WVe just try to wvork around it."

CC: "The hunting, butchering, and tanning industries are booming at least."

SD: "Good for th' economy, that." Finperk "Hows th' fishin?"

CC: A soft grin. "Fantastic. I could probably nose around for suppliers if you evwer care to start trading dairy for fish."

SD: "I personally dont mind eatin our fish but some of th' others aint real keen on random tentacles and eyes."

CC: He shrugged his shoulders. "..Different tastes for all. Some fear the deep."

SD: "Might be able ta set somethin up with th' fishin in th' name of th' free ports." He mused. " ..for th' lads and lasses who dont want ta end up like me."

CC: "Aye, that. Or forge the existance of a fishery and sell to the needlessly rich before the rebellion kicks off."

SD: "They get theirs from farm fisheries inland." he grimaced. "fresh water shite."

CC: He tisked softly. "..I suppose fresh and sea wvould be a difference, wvouldn't it. ..Pardon, nevwermind it." Another sip.

SD: "They wont admit theres somethin wrong with th' water, but their cities shrink further and further inland, and th' high wont eat th' fish." He shook his head.

SD: "Nothin ta apologize for, its a good suggestion, just impracticle"

CC: "...Aye, that. Pardon, by the by, for not thinking of the issue of payment. I think I'm beginning to forget certain niceties."

SD: He shook his head. ".. I can see where it wouldnt be s'big a thing, for a god."

CC: Caesurae balked visibly, cup partway to his lips.

CC: ".. Not, ..my preferred term," he managed after a moment.

SD: He gestured vaguely with his mug. "Twoblade isn't too shy with it, babe."

CC: Caesurae grimaced, and rubbed his face. "..For vwarious reasons, I prefer to be vwague and call it a metaphor around church or their associates, more often than not."

CC: "..But ..Yes, that is one wvord for it."

SD: He sipped his wine. "My goddess is not threatened by you."

CC: "Those wvith less talkativwe divwinities occasionally feel otherwvise."

SD: "..its strange, an I dont pretend ta understand all th' talk of universes and dying more than once and godhood, but if she isn't threatened I'm not fussed."

CC: Caesurae grimaced and rubbed his face. "...I .. ..Thank you. Sorry. ..I don't mind answvering questions, if there are any."

CC: He glanced towards a porthole. "..I'vwe missed her, I admit."

SD: "She'll bind y' ta th' sea, mate, if y' let her." It was as much warning as it was a h igh point. "..I'm what they warn wrigglers about." he gestured vaguely at the black swirls on his face. "T'nights a good night, though."

CC: He took both sides of the warning in good faith, looking wistfully out to sea. "...Aye. Aye, that."

CC: "..You knowv, I spent centuries in servwice to her, but it took ages to see it as religious. It felt more like duty."

SD: "It was always r'ligious, for us, and I was just initiated not long before th' revolution." He sighed and took a drink, not sipping at it this time.

CC: "..I founded the practice, back hivwe. Fewv hundred swveeps before the Signless." Sip.

SD: He raised his eyebrows at him. ".. How old are you, mate?"

CC: ..Sheepish neck rub. "..wvhich life? ..Or altogether?"

SD: He shook his head clicking his tongue and took another drink of wine- and then peered down into his cup. hm. that went fast. "all t'gether I s'pose, babe. I'm round about four hundred thirty five."

CC: ..Caesurae went to refill both their cups. His hadn't lowered much, he apparently didn't drink fast, but he still enjoyed the wine. "..The math's alwvays a bit tricky. If wve're counting only time spent alivwe, you'd havwe .." He had to think. "..maybe a decade on me."

CC: "If.. ..Other, times count, I'd be significantly older."

SD: "-Other times? Time when you weren't livin?" Curious fins perked.

SD: He gave him a grateful smile and sipped a little. He probably went through that too fast.

CC: Caesurae nodded sheepishly, rubbed his cheek with his knuckles, then let the hand drop with a sigh and started counting on his fingers. "..The first time around, I didn't evwen make it to ten. Some magical--things, happened, wve failed a test, and wvere givwen the chance to hatch again so our evwentual descendants wvould be givwen a chance to try the same test. WVe took it. So wve hatched wvithout any memory of the first life, and that lasted a good four hundred and..sevwen I think, swveeps, for me .." He trailed off.

CC: A shrug, after a moment, taking a longer drink and then shaking hi shead. "--I died. I had to wvait it out as a spirit of sorts until the vwast glub."

CC: "...Maybe a dozen centuries there. I don't knowv, there wvas no wvay to track."

CC: "..Our descendants managed it, wvith a bit of help, and the participation awvard for my generation wvas life and youth."

CC: "..Another swveep or four since then."

SD: He considered him, blinking, watching his body language and his fins as he told his tale. "..bad luck there mate. I hear dyin hurts a bit." That was perhaps the least helpful and eloquent response possible to what he was being told. After a while the things these people were telling him just became one more absurdity on the next, and if his tail werent flicking behind him he wouldn't have given them a moment's credance.

CC: Caesurae rubbed his face, then reached into his sleeves to adjust something near the wrists. "..Aye, it can."

CC: "..Life is wvorth livwing. Best evweryone does as much of that as they can manage."

SD: "Planned on it" He grinned at him- though he didnt miss the motion at the wrists, and he might be caught watching his hands off and on trying to get a glimpse of what he'd been messing around with. " Bein th' change I want ta see an all. Th' freeports are some of th' largest cities left on this mudball, y'know."

CC: "And I'd wvager you had something to do wvith them?" Interested eyebrows and a trace of a smile, as he took a sip. ..There were some killer scars on his wrist, just barely hidden by the edge of the black sleeve. ..was there something like a metal cuff under there too? Plain black metal, it very nearly matched the bodysuit...

SD: The sharks grin widened and he filed aside the information, be careful around the wrists, dont talk about wrist injuries. "I founded them. I'm th' pirate king of Alternia, darlin'. "

CC: "--Hah!" Caesurae sounded delighted. "--Nadaya's built himself a fleet, but I'vwe a bit of a wveakness for more.. established, sorts of places, myself. I'm glad you'vwe made places for people free from all that nonsense, chief."

SD: "Nadaya doesnt think ocean vessel's're proper ships neither" he snorted. " Hes a real nice character though, enthusiastic. A whole fleet though? Of space ships I'd wager? - People needed a place ta go, and I sure wasnt gonna stop banditin' off with them in th' day."

CC: "--Aye, that. He tends to introduce his rescues to the wvonders of piracy or find them places to filter out to."

CC: "I nevwer actually made it into space myself, my duties alwvays kept me on planet."

SD: "Nothin wrong with turnin ta piracy" he put a hand over his heart. "I did it m'self and look how I turned out." A fin flicked. "..I was trainin, for it. I know enough ta know my way around one of th' old wrecks if I got my hands on one, but I never went up."

CC: The smile was dimmer, but he sipped his drink and listened attentively. "..I'vwe drivwen small craft once or twvice, but nothing more than joyrides short distances."

CC: "...Don't think I left the atmosphere properly."

SD: "..Not even ta visit your kismesis?" Eyebrows.

CC: ..His cheeks heated visibly, and he rolled his eyes gently. "--Does it count if it's vwia a transport pad?"

CC: "WVe could'vwe been a mile underground and I'd nevwer knowv the difference."

SD: "I think it does count." he sipped wine. "..You should ask him ta let y' pilot a little ship just ta do it, maybe show it t'ya."

CC: He tisked softly, but rubbed the back of his neck and nodded after a moment. "..I suppose I'vwe nevwer been on a significant space vwoyage, then. I'vwe passed through spaceships wvhile they happened to be in flight, but I'vwe nevwer been to the bridge wvithout ah-- --ulterior motivwes."

CC: "..That does sound like a treat, though," he murmered thoughtfully. "..I might just."

SD: "..Ulterior motives is it?" His eyebrows were going to waggle off of his face at this rate, fins say hes in an extremely good mood right now. " Bet he'd love ta show off for y'"

CC: The grin was entirely unrepentant. "Sometimes a man just needs to wvander around his kismesis' ship, looking like his twvin wvith an inexplicable fondness for hooker boots."

CC: "You knowv, I think he wvould. Quick maneuvwering in a good craft is a wvonder and a delight."

SD: He covered his mouth with a cough that turned into outright laughter. "You're an evil thing, thats beautiful, luv." He wiggled the toes of his free foot. "Would that I could spend money on shoes just as I please."

CC: A wink and a grin. He finished his mug, and started to pour another -- offering to do the same for his alternate. The bottle was probably getting low by now. "I havwe to admit some curiosity about howv the ones you'vwe got there are built, and I'vwe been acquiring a fondness for creating things wvhole-cloth."

CC: "..I'm... I admit I'm spoiled rotten," he admitted sheepishly. "..but I don't mind sharing, wvith those wvho let me."

SD: He leaned down and scooped one of the boots up off the floor and set up up where Cae could get a look at it. "Th' only thing I spend real money on except for th' ship ta be honest. "..cant even imagine just havin whatever y'want whenever, doesnt that take some of th' fun out've it?"

CC: Caesurae accepted it, peeking inside and exploring the textures of the outer bit, and the weight of it, with his fingers. He was interested, but the smile was a little sad. "..Aye, more than a little. I could be vwice incarnate, but it's all ruined. .. unless I share wvith others, in wvays small enough not to ruin things for them too."

CC: The smile turned sheepish. "..I'm more interested in people these nights, than anything else."

SD: It was a very good boot, nice leather, lined, cusioning in all the right places- parts of it didnt line up with the outside because it was made to give the illusion of a plantigrade foot. "Can't make people can ya?" He grinned at him. "Well, not that way anyhow."

CC: "No, not that I knowv of -- and I'd rather nevwer find out if I could."

CC: ".. The old fashioned wvay's much more fun."

SD: "I suggest practicin it often." He laughed. " - an that is why theres a imbalance where th' cool bloods are havin high hatch rates, an have been for sweeps."

CC: A wry smile. "...I'd help if I could, but I suspect crossing the streams biologically wvould be an advwenture."

SD: "Could be fun, mate, y'never know, th' worst that would happen is nothin, isnt it?" He laughed, taking a drink from his mug.

CC: "Or a broad vwariety of brand newv mutations, sure."

SD: He snorted softly. "Like what, babe?"

CC: Caesurae considered him for a few moments, then yawned long and slow.

CC: All of the Lots Teeth.

SD: He leaned forward, his fins perked and spread. "- Tha's beautiful, its damned near been bred completely out" He admired.

CC: His fins spread and shifted forwards a bit, his head tilting. "--It has a place here at all?"

CC: "..Me and Eridan are unique, back hivwe."

SD: "Its part've th' old look - like th' tails, th' biolum, th' feet- more frills than I've got, I'm .. more modern than not sadly. It was a sign of pure leniage for sea dwellers once- s'pose it still is but its got different connotations now. "

CC: Caesurae chuffed, his head tilting slightly. "..I'vwe a bit of bioluminescence, and a different gill setup from this univwerse from wvhat I'vwe heard. Nictating lids."

SD: "- Now thats different an might mess somethin up" He seemed dissapointed.

CC: Caesurae shrugged a shoulder. "Gods only knowv wvhat there is that doesn't showv. It'd take setting some vwery patient jades on the matter to clear outside vwisitors."

CC: "For actual contributions at least."

SD: "Organs are so damned touchy." He sighed. "- but heres ta practicin ey?" he toasted him with his cheap mug.

CC: A wry smile and a toast. "To good wvorking order."

SD: "Aye mate!" He didnt even know what he meant but it didnt matter. He would drink to practically anything.

CC: He downed the last of hsi glass, and shook his head with a smile. Time to gently set the mug down.

CC: "..I should probably head hivwe sooner or later. It's been a treat meeting you more directly, though."

SD: "Let me know when y' want ta arrange some groceries, luv- it was nice meetin you too." OOp gotta set the wine down and offer him a hand.

CC: A firm clasp and a small smile. "Aye, I wvill. Maybe somenight wvhen things are calm."

SD: He grinned and held the hand for a minute in an equal grip. "I'll be turnin th' pad off once you're away, dont like t' leave th' thing on."

CC: He nodded. "Good idea. The place I'm going has a passwvord system, and it's set to expire shortly."

SD: "Ha. Good idea, its a shame I've no idea how ta mess with th' programmin"

CC: "Mechanically minded trolls are useful, wvhere they choose to put their attention."

CC: He retrieved his hand, gently set the boot down, and picked up the bottle. It wasn't bad, for what it was. One last small smile, and he'd head to the pad.

SD: He scooted the boot over with its mate and finished his wine in one go, uncurling from the seat to stand- because he felt he should stand when someone was leaving. "Good evenin' luv, enjoy th' wine"

CC: "I'll be sure to. Good luck wvith the tailoring."

CC: beep beep boop beep. He let his hand poise over the enter button long enough to give a wink, and ..off he goes.

CC: One divine alternate has left the building.

SD: Time to go show Mindfang a surprise under his skirt.

CC: She was pleased for him, and going to play with it.

CC: Probably mystified, depending on how specific her warnings had been.

SD: He did not warn her well he thought this was hilarious and played it off as innuendo until she was actually under his skirt, explinations came when she actually asked how the fuck.

CC: "--what the ACTUAL FUCK, sweetie?"

SD: He laughed untill he couldnt breath