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evita-shelby · 2 months ago

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Chase

part 2 for Vēnor and a conclusion for the Look Both Ways one shot

Lucy Winters belongs to @mischievouslittlecreature

taglist: @justrainandcoffee @mischievouslittlecreature @zablife @thegreatdragonfruta @wonderlanddreamer @kmc1989

cw: mentions of past murder, trauma, suicide attempt, mentions of a suicide, complicated feelings

Tommy hadn’t meant to hurt both women like this.

And yet, Lucy left him anyway, making him wonder if this was fate. It was a coin toss that had first led him to Eva's door after all.

As much as he still loves and yearns for Lucy, her departure had felt like a sign that perhaps he needed to try again with Eva and be the husband she needed the first time around.

He had done the impossible to make Eva reconsider, he had delayed the hearings, bribed the judge to force her to wait until Charlie was born and then nearly two years after that fateful day, Tommy could only watch her shut the door on him forever.

He loves Eva, even as she rages and rejects his every attempt at reconciliation, he loves her enough to give her his word that it will remain only the two of them if she’d only give him another chance to prove it. He used to be loyal to Greta once upon a time, he could be loyal to Eva if she only let him.

“You say that now, but the moment Lucy returns I would lose you again.” She had said and as always proved he’d find no better advisor than Eva Shelby, the witch had a space in his life that not even Polly or Lucy could fill. “The three of us would be miserable, I would be your bitter wife who hates the two of you, you would hate me for keeping you from her and she would hate me for the woman I would become because of you.”

She has never lied to him and wouldn’t do so now. Eva wanted out and he owed her that.

And yet, he refused to accede to her terms once again. He hated being alone and it didn’t help when everyone seemed to agree he should take his errant wife back and remind her that those who marry a Shelby die a Shelby. To them it was less about feelings and more about the reputation they’d lost because both Eva and Lucy left him.

His family had mixed feelings about Lucy, especially Polly who loathed Lucy and blamed her for the whole debacle with Grace and now, his failed marriage. Polly felt the direction he was taking in his life needed a woman who could make blue bloods eat from her palm, a woman who knew the future as well as she knew herself and most importantly, not Lucy.

“But you will always want Lucy, and I will never be enough for you. I need a husband who has no space for anyone else in his heart nor his bed.” There had been a note of resentment there.

The women had been warm to each other, friendlier than Lizzie had been with Lucy by a mile, but Eva could not love Lucy like Grace claimed she did. Eva had then admitted she never had the intention of sharing him when she said yes and whatever cordial feelings the women had would not survive Eva’s feelings of inadequacy and need for a man to be entirely hers.

“I can’t let you go.” Not you too.

Perhaps if Lucy had never left it would be easier to let Eva leave, but because his red demon was gone too, he knew he’d die without his witch.

Then there was her choice in men.

Tommy knows what he is, what he does and the number of people he has killed whether they deserved to die or not. He had never killed a woman, never would if God doesn’t hate him enough to force his hand.

Brilliant Chang had seduced his wife just as he had seduced the countless of women he had then discarded like yesterday’s garbage. Eva loved playing with fire, believed that because she is as otherworldly as Tommy is, she would remain unburnt.

She was fucking him; the Chinaman had let him know he’d taken her to his bed even if Eva moved with as little presence as a ghost. Chang had given him an olive branch in the form of a steady supply to the Eden after showing him its weaknesses, but Tommy Shelby will never trust that man especially with his wife and son.

Eva may not forgive him for this, but she’s left him no choice.

Taking the letters Grace had sent with her address in London ---because ,somehow, she’d known Eva had left him--- he asked to see her. And just like he’d known it, Grace readily takes up the offer to comfort him and believe she is woman enough to replace his darling witch.

Tommy could’ve taken May, or Lizzie or any woman he desired, but no other woman awoke Eva’s wrath like the blonde woman on his arm.

He doesn’t intend on fucking her, he can fuck without feelings, but Tommy knew he’d lose Eva forever if he even thought about doing it.

They loathed each other, knew they would be enemies because even when he and Lucy took her to bed, it was Eva who he desired as much as he desired Lucy.

Eva simply hated Grace because she lacked empathy for those not of her class and represented everything Eva loathed. Hated her even more when she set the police on Freddie for the crime of being a Jewish Communist and then for cashing in the bounty on Eva’s head by telling Campbell about it.

“You are perfect tonight.” He tells the woman on his arm who has no idea he is merely using her like she used him.

The Barmaid he and Lucy fell for was an illusion, Eva and Lucy were the real thing. Like comparing a light bulb to the sun.

Billy’s notoriety had taken a strange turn after she gave him every question he’d be asked at the trial.

Freda Kempton had been a loose end threatening to destroy his empire, Brilliant went from becoming the cruel lover who killed her to the friend who had tried to help her only for her to become the scorned woman intent on framing him for her suicide.

A cruel thing to do to the poor girl, but the dead have no notion of what goes on after anyways. Besides, she had been about to rat out Billy and, as horrid this business is, too many people were at stake.

But the man survived to see another day and his reputation survived just enough to keep him in Regent Street and change the way he runs things. He won’t do any of the recruiting personally anymore, now the more charming and good-looking soldiers in his triad would be doing that for him. As far as the world will know, Brilliant Chang really is a businessman who had been the victim of a poor mad girl in love with him.

His infamy had allowed Eva to weasel an invitation to a party in Charlie Chaplin’s honor out of her not quite distant cousin, Wag Macdonald.

The dress had been in the style of Shanghai, a cheongsam, that didn’t follow the modern fashions enough to hug her figure and make the women here die of envy. Black satin with gold embroidery and piping to match her simple yet costly jewelry.

“It looks better on the floor.” Brilliant comments as they steal the show from the man of the hour.

Eva has rather liked this.

The freedom to do as she pleases with a man who excites her and has no desire for anyone else. The thrill of the hunt and best of all, knowing Tommy’s yet to ruin this for her.

“Soon, we do not have to stay long, just enough to---” Eva cannot finish her words before she sees them.

Tommy with the blonde bitch on his arm.

Eva knows him like the back of her hand, knows that he is doing this to cause such a scene it will kill any desire Brilliant could have for her. Tommy wants to push her into letting her loathing of Grace appear like jealousy towards him and ruin her relationship with Billy with her own hands.

But Eva will be damned if she let him win like this.

“Mr. Shelby, at long last we finally meet.” Brilliant towers over her former husband being just a whisker away from being six feet tall.

Eva would say this was intentional, as it had been with her previous lovers, but she had never seen the man upright until that day he left his private room to join her. That his height allowed him to prick Tommy’s jealousy even more was a pleasant surprise.

Once upon a time, Eva had viewed her being the same height as Tommy as another sign they were soulmates and equals, but now it served as a weapon to hurt him for continuing to hurt her.

“I am not fond of meeting those my wife—” Tommy begins only to be corrected by the two women.

“Ex-wife.” One said it as a reminder it was over for good, the other trying to be seen as something else beyond an ornament on his arm.

He hadn’t needed to finish the sentence to let Billy know he thinks he will be anything more than a flash in the pan and have Grace piece together why Tommy would seek her out.

“Brilliant Chang.” Billy ignored the jab and introduced himself to the two of them.

“The murderer?” the blonde asks with interest and Billy winces at being known as only that.

“Acquitted.” Eva answers cutting their talk short. Tommy wanted her to cause a scene, for her to be the one driven to madness and yet she would not give him that.

“He wants a scene; I will not give him the pleasure.” The witch tells the man beside her who smiles agreeing with her strategy.

“Shall we enjoy ourselves at his expense, sweetheart?” Billy asks, leaning close enough for her to feel his breath at the shell of her ear.

“Great minds think alike.” Eva moved slightly and kissed her date knowing it’s killing Tommy to see her be happy with Brilliant Chang of all people.

Fuck him. Fuck Tommy and his blasted possessiveness.

She is an adult woman who has killed more people than Tommy, Lucy and Brilliant have combined, Eva knows what she’s doing and has the fucking foresight to know Billy would not hurt her. Hell, he hasn’t even fucked other women since they began seeing each other –which could not even be said about Tommy.

The witch should just tell him where Lucy is and make him her problem.

The redhead had found her aunt and mother through some Lees, this time with them would allow her to heal in a better environment. It would allow her to choose Tommy knowing she is free to have opinions and desires that do not always align with Tommy’s.

Lucy had been in such a state when Eva found her, ready to pull the trigger because Polly mistakenly blamed the Red Demon for ‘ruining’ their marriage. It had taken a lot of effort from the witch to explain that the fault was Eva’s for not thinking things through and focusing on her survival instead of the fact that their arrangement would destroy her.

Tommy and Lucy could love others and have no issue with that. Eva could only see it as not being enough just as she was not enough for Diosdado, who fucked any woman that looked his way, and Antonia, who loved Francisco and the safety of a husband more than risking it all with Eva in Paris.

Eva needed a man ---while she loved both men and women, she had to agree with Toña that the security a husband provided was vital for living in this time--- who is satisfied with just her, someone who can give her his heart and soul as wholeheartedly as the witch does.

And now that she has found him, Tommy is hellbent on ruining that.

When his initial strategy does not work, he corners her in the lavatory while some investors hang on to Billy’s words about taking a risk with his import business.

“Do not fuck her, she is here for fertility treatments and a reason to leave her husband for you.” Eva doesn’t look up knowing she’ll want to break the mirror the way she’d want to make his and Grace’s heads explode with her mind.

“Don’t fuck him, I do not want to be the one they call to claim you at the morgue.” Tommy makes his argument as clear as he did when he confronted her in the parlor of her house.

“I have killed more people than you and him combined, I am more like him than you think.” The dark-haired woman reminded her former lover and husband of her past. She abhors the idea of taking another life after all the killing she did in the war and what she did to Leopoldo Carranza.

Leopoldo who loved her and believed her to be true. She had made him believe he was Haemon to her Antigone and his father the cruel King Creon, so when his father quietly ordered her assassination mere days before her escape, the young man killed himself from the horror of it all.

He was the last life Eva took and would ever take.

“You did not do that on purpose. Billy Chang---”

“Eats and drinks everything he buys for me to prove he has no ill intentions, agrees to keep away from Charlie to assure you he won’t harm him and no longer seduces chorus girls to deal his cocaine for him.” the witch assures the devil, she is in safe hands with the lady-killer waiting for her outside.

“Could be an act for all you know, it was how he got his victim.” The gangster points out as if Eva didn’t know better.

“Freda was going to turn him in, and his uncles demanded he silence her. Billy didn’t know Campbell expected him to do exactly that so he could have something on him.” Brilliant could’ve explained it himself, but Tommy wouldn’t have let him get a word in. “You’re not the only one he’s come after, apparently.”

“Noted, but it still doesn’t make it better. I could make you happy if you let me.” His pained looks used to weaken her defenses enough to let him try and change her mind. They no longer held the same power over her as it did then.

They finally get to the part where its not a matter of safety but the heart.

“You are only saying this because you don’t have Lucy.” The witch finally deigns to look at him though the glass. “She still loves you, she is just finding out who is as an individual, you know. The Lovells are exactly who she needed to do that, being her kin and all.”

He had no idea who she was traveling with, he knew her mother was a Lovell, but he had never been able to track them down. Always too late and never knowing where they’d be going next.

And then when Charlie was born, he stopped looking for her because if Lucy wanted to be found, the red demon would’ve let it happen already.

“Do you think she’ll come back with me?” Tommy Shelby asked knowing everything that leaves Eva’s lips is nothing but the truth.

“Eventually, women fall too easily into your arms, your next wife should be allowed all the time she needs to look both ways before she jumps.” The witch smiled and turned to face him knowing this is the last time he will ever try to stop her from seeking her own happiness.

Hopefully Tommy will take the hint and make an honest woman out Lucy instead of unintentionally making another woman as miserable as Eva was with them.

“You know what she thinks about marriage, but you have never lied to me and if you say Lucy will be the next Mrs. Shelby, then it will happen come hell or high water.” Tommy Shelby’s sorrows melt away as her words sink in. He fears he is too fucked up too love ---as if Eva and Lucy couldn’t give him a run for his money--- a very real fear all three share strangely enough.

But Eva has always known the sun always rises again and just like she told them, it has.

At long last, their chapters in each other’s life come to an end. Eva returns to Brilliant and enjoy the rest of the night while Tommy leaves to find the fairgrounds Lucy will be at tomorrow morning and hope she will choose to share her life with him after looking both ways.

#evacore #tommy shelby x oc #brilliant chang x eva smith #brilliant chang x oc #venor fic seires #peaky blinders fanfiction

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theedengirls · 5 months ago

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( 𓇢𓆸 ) . . . 𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𖥻 ᵀᴴᴱ 𝕯𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝑜𝒻 𝐏𝔸ℝ𝔸𝔻𝕀𝕊𝔼

EDEN ( 에덴 ) is a fictional South Korean five-member group that debuted on March 13th, 2018. Once bubbling beneath mainstream media, their cult-like following skyrocketed them into stardom, turning once lovely girls into global stars.

In 2015, U-Sound stood at the edge of the chasm of death: bankruptcy, vermillion spilling from the fissure and lapping at their feet in taunts should they not do something soon. Their survival—fragile, gossamer ligaments holding on for dear life—depended entirely on successfully constructing a new group. With two doomed boy groups beneath their still-callousing fingertips, the decision to debut a girl group was not a choice, it was a necessity.

Of their arsenal, there were but six girls who possessed what they required: the it factor. Of this batch, BOMI was a fan-favoured to debut, and while in rapping she showed just why she would debut one way or the other, the coin tossed for such a skill proved that she would, likewise, lack a certain finesse to public affairs that made even the most hardened of the publicity team nervous. Tentatively, she was made the leader of the trainee group.

The instating of Bomi as leader would prove disastrous. After a controversial post on her online journal, and the rumour that she was spotted with a trainee of the opposite gender at a restaurant, the entire publicity team felt their throats loosen the breath they had been holding since Bomi became a trainee: she was dropped from the label.

The creative team, however, could practically see the crimson of defeat each time they stepped into the building, a future of red ledgers until the entrance above their heads collapsed, as did the rest of the infrastructure.

Upon the official announcement that SILVER STARS—a girl group formed under the TV Show NEXT TO THE STARS—would not have their temporary contract renewed, and thus, they would disband that year, hope dared to itch at their hearts and pockets. In a desperate bid, U-Sound cast their nets out to gather any stray unemployed-idols. Now ex-members HAYUN and YEWON signed on with the company.

The acquirement of two Silver Stars girls birthed rumour of an impending girl group within a year and a half. Further speculation determined that the group would be formed around Hayun and Yewon.

By mid-2017, only Yewon remained of the two, leading to the supposed Leader Curse of U-Sound, which stated that whatever girl was named leader would leave the company within three months. This came in response to Hayun being the third leader to either leave or be removed from the trainee group.

Their debut in 2018 was an instant hit among those who had been following the group pre-debut. Despite praises from critics for their fresh sound, they failed to make any true impact with more mainstream audiences. It would not be until U-Sound was acquired by ARCADIAN ENTERTAINMENT in 2021, would EDEN begin to dominate the music world domestically and internationally.

( 𓇢𓆸 ) . . . 𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𖥻 ᵀᴴᴱ 𝕽𝐄𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝑜𝒻 𝐇𝕆ℙ𝔼

❛ Yewon. ( 1997 ). leader, dancer, centre, vocalist

❛ Kittiya. ( 1997 ). vocalist, rapper

❛ Rina. ( 1998 ). rapper, dancer, face of the group

❛ Yoojin. ( 2000 ). vocalist, dancer

❛ Maru. ( 2000 ). visual, dancer, vocalist, maknae

#kpop oc #kpop original character #fictional idol group #fictional idol community #idol oc #kpop idol oc #fictional kpop group #𝜗𝜚 . ° › eden #𝜗𝜚 . ° › eden ⦂ written history #edited bc i forgot to change their birth years :))

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ma3-author2 · 2 years ago

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Campfire Cooking In Another World x Reader

I recently watched this on Netflix, and I like this sort of theme as it gives me the same vibes as "The Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime." So I thought, why not write a fanfic of it?

I also noticed that not many people wrote about this. Also take note: I followed the manga instead of the anime, but I also put the anime part. In simple terms, I mix it between manga and anime.

Chapter 1 : "Discovery of the new world and amazing skills!"

____________________

"So care to tell me how we end up in this place?"

"You're asking me? I’m as clueless as you."

Everything was surprising, hectic, and clueless to both of you and Mukoda after arriving in this fantasy place with swords and magic. Unlike in the modern world,

At the age of 27 and 28, you two are just on your way to work when suddenly a light emerges out of nowhere, and the first thing you see when you open your eyes is this group of people gathered in a circle, wearing domentor clothes, and a girl who was screaming in tears.

"The summoning ritaul has brought you three warriors to us—please save this kingdom of Rayseer!" The lady in tears exclaimed in agony, hoping for the tree warrior to save them.

"Miss, there are five of us; what do you mean three?" You exclaimed, gaining the attention of Lady Tears, and seeing her surprise look, she too didn’t know why there were five people.

"Eh? Oh-"

"I think we should use the "identifier" spell." One domentor said he was holding a seemingly big mirror, and once he made his way to the tree students in front of you two,

He said it out loud: "One is a swordsman, while the other two are spearsmen with holy magic, fire magic, and water magic." an amazing and powerful skill.

But when it comes to the both of you and Mukoda, you two can’t help but feel embarrassed about it.

"You two are... online shopping and... expresswa then spending?" Even the domentor is clueless about what he reads through the mirror.

"At least I have two skills," you muttered, but soon chuckled as you couldn’t believe how you could still feel proud of having that skill while the other students have a good one.

"...Then what about me?" Mukoda murmured, hiding his now-red face.

"Hey, at least you don’t have the spending part. It's obvious how I love to spend money."

As soon as that was done, you two were brought to the king, and when you saw the size of this so-called king, You already knew why the nation is failing, as all the taxes of the people are inside of him.

Furthermore, the royal family is wearing heavenly jewelry.

As the king began his speech, he told some history in regards to the Rayseer kingdom and told the warriors what they were going to do to help them with this mission. You can’t help but feel annoyed as the tree warrior was given a lovely service while you and Mukoda are still in your working outfit, not even getting acknowledged.

'Hey, isn’t this too suspicious?' Mukoda whispered in which you shush him before he got caught.

'Obviously,'

Sighing as you whispered this, you then raised your hand and said, "Excuse me for my intrusion." As you gained their attention, you continued

"But we two are not warriors, and we don’t want to interfere with your work!" And we both decided to look for something else to do when you guys do your things. "

"A-and do you mind sparing some money?" Mukoda cut your speech by asking for money; you wanted to smack your face because of his forwardness. But you saw his point, as you two are not from this world and you need some money to survive.

They didn’t even question you two, and they handed you a bag of money. Afterward, they tossed you two out like you were nothing but dust.

"At least they didn’t throw us in a dungeon," you muttered, counting the gold coins.

Mukoda just chuckled at your statement, agreeing with what you said. But as you two walked around the place, he noticed that people began to whisper and look at you two with a confused look.

"Hey, why are they looking at us that way?"

"I know your sharp Mukoda-san… but I didn’t know that you were this sharp."

Mukoda can’t help but sweat at your sarcasm, and when he noticed where you were pointing, he couldn’t help but be embarrassed at the obvious part.

"R-right… I forgot. Sorry, Y/N-san."

It was a good thing that there was a nearby clothes store, and as soon as you two went in to fetch a new pair of clothing, the saleslady couldn’t help but coo in delight when she saw you two walk out of the dressing room.

"Well, well, doesn’t this suit you two lovebirds well!?"

"L-love birds!" Mukoda exclaimed that a flush was starting to form on his cheeks and couldn’t help but glance at where you were.

"Ma'am, we're not together." You said you were correcting the lady, but in return, she said how she thought you two were, as she wanted to give you two a discount.

In replying to that, you immediately tagged Mukoda beside you, who wasn’t stopping his shuttering noise. "I sometimes forget—huhu—silly me, aren’t I, honey?" You lied, eyeing him to play along.

"Y-yeah, that’s why I l-love you, sweety~ hehe."

"Don’t worry, it's normal to couple!" and here is your charge; this is an extra gift for you two."

"Is it okay if we sell our clothes?" you ask, taking the paper bag from her hand, and when she says that, you can.

You earned more money than you have; the same goes for Mukoda. Even though you are known for your spending hobby, you are also known for getting more money.

As you thanked the lady in the store, Mukoda on the side still couldn’t brush away his blushing face when you suddenly acted like that. But it soon went back to normal when he remembered how you did that a couple of times before.

"Okay, now the clothing is done... "We need to look for an inn to rest for the day."

As you two are now on the lookout for an inn, it wasn’t that long before you two found one, and hearing the owner say how it’s the most affordable on the town, you doubt it.

"I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Okay"

It was a nice room with a rather uncomfortable bed, but you could survive it in a day, and as soon as you laid down, you stretched your arms and thought how you two ended up in this mess so quickly.

Though you hated to go to work to earn a living and were always tired to continue it, if it weren’t for Mukoda banging on your door every morning, you would have been dead long ago.

Mukoda and you met in high school; he's a chill guy who is sometimes an airhead, and you two just clicked, and in the end, you two ended up being neighbors to being a neighbor to work as well.

‘I should check it out now’

"Status display." Once you said this word, a large screen appeared displaying your name, age, and skill, aka job.

‘Okay, they got my name right... my age... *sigh* Why did it need to remind me that I’m 28’

Anything that was identified that you needed to learn, seeing your level and attack. It reminded you of an MMORPG, but instead of autopilot, You need to do it manually.

‘Great... so, basic skill... ‘ Just seeing the big words, you can’t help but sweat at this, and hearing Mukoda in the other room shouting his, then silent...

‘Okay, let’s try not to shout it.’

With a simple touch on the skill, it pops out like an ad, and seeing the skill in front of you, you can’t help but express your interest in it as it is displayed like the word expressway and spending indicated of it.

"Y/N-san! Come look at this!"

"Okay, wait"

As you closed the skill, you made your way to Mukoda, knocking on the door first and walking inside.

"What is it? Where did you get this food?"

"It’s from my skill, and it’s pretty cheap; I also brought your F/F."

As Mukoda showed you his skill, you couldn’t help but tell him how you have the same skill but that yours has things that he doesn't.

"Oh? Can I see?" And when you showed Mukoda yours,

"Y/N-san… "Why is it blank?"

"I don’t know... That’s the expressway, and this is the spending."

Like him, you can also buy food and other stuff, but instead of paying the same fine as him, you only need to spend half of what he does.

"Hey, isn’t that cheating? Why do you have the lowest price?!"

"I don’t know... oh wait." All of a sudden, there was a pop-up message telling you that you earned a point for spending, and once you complete the bar and earn more points, you can have one item for free.

‘So like... a point to point’

"That’s cheating!!"

With the discovery of both of your skills and how Mukoda still felt that he was robbed, you simply told him that he could have the free item just to make him feel less robbed.

"No, no, you have it, Y/N-san."

"If you say so." Rolling your eyes and chuckling at this, as the morning arrived, you two didn’t wait another minute to stay and are now on your way to another town away from this town.

According to the kids, to get to the border from the capital. You two need to go through the town of Kiels. And there will be a horse cart route connecting to it.

"Thank you, kids, here have this" handing them a freshly baked loaf of bread that you brought on your way, thinking it’s best to eat it on your way to another place.

But seeing their skinny look, you just give it to them.

"Thank you, Nee-san!"

Furthermore, if you need to cross the border, you can just get on the next horse cart route to get to the kingdom of Feenen, but sadly, one of you needs to stay behind.

"Kiels-anybody going to kiels-"

"Excuse me! We like to go!"

"Yes, yes, ah- but there is only one available... I think you need to wait for another one, lad," the coachman said.

You and Mukoda couldn’t help but glance at one another, and before he could say anything, you offered to stay behind and wait for the other one.

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. Mister how long will the next one take?"

"About an hour or so."

Nodding at him, you simply told Mukoda that you could just go back to the inn and stay until the next one returned.

"So what would it be?"

In the end, Mukoda stayed behind as well, and you can’t help but thank him for not leaving you behind. "Of course, I would never leave you."

"Oh, Mukoda-san, that’s too cheezy."

"O-oi! Not in that way!"

"If you say so... so, should we go back to the inn or should we explore?" You didn’t even get to finish talking when you heard a passerby talking, and when you heard their conversation, you couldn’t help but sprint to them.

"Excuse me, I can’t help but hear your conversation... What do you mean by "closing the border and no more horse routes?"

"Didn’t you hear? On this day, the king and queen declared that they were closing the border because they couldn’t afford the expense of the route to it"

"And if they continue it, there will be no more food for us... I can feel their struggle."

‘Struggle? Really?’ You deadpan thought,

"I know what you're thinking, Y/N-san... If only they knew, so... what should we do?"

"I think it’s time to see what my other skill is." With that said, you two made your way to fewer people, and when you opened the skill,

You two can’t help but express your joyful look when you find out that you can use your skill to travel to another location, and with this, you don’t need to wait for another hour to go to another capital.

But the only problem was the expense.

"Why is it expensive?!?" You exclaimed that going to Kiel's cost you 12 golds.

"I can share my coins-" But you didn’t let Mukoda continue his speech when you suggested something, and that suggestion was a good one for him.

"What about this? I can be the ride to the capital while you handle the food."

"Ah, sure. I think that’s okay with me. but I can share my-"

"Okay great! Let’s go"

Mukoda only sighs and sweats as you cut his words again, but soon chuckles as you’re a person who has a lot to spend but is not a person who would ask for money as you spend it with your only money.

As you clicked the name, a warning note popped out telling you that if you're traveling with someone, you need to hold their hands for them to join you and in the further down.

"Caution, you might get a side effect for a first-timer." You expect to see a note on what side effect it was, but "Who would put this without giving the description of the side effect!"

"Maybe you'll just be dizzy," Mukoda says, trying to calm you down.

"I hope it will be... Okay, are you ready?"

"O-oh, yeah." He almost forgot the holding part; it’s not like he didn’t get to hold your hand, but is a high five counted as one?

As soon as you felt his hand on your hand, you clicked the button. and within a minute it sends you off to Kiel's place, if you have to rate the ride.

You would rate it a negative one because as soon as you clicked it and landed on the place, it felt like you two went inside a black hole because your whole body circled in one place.

You thanked that you didn’t eat that bread, as you would have been vomiting like Mukoda on your right side. "I-I think it’s best if we should… *blargh* … find another way."

"I-I agree"

Just like the two guys said, the route to the capital has stopped operating.

"So this is the border? Why do people seem so normal when things are this bad?" Mukoda whispered next to you.

"It’s like when you don’t get your paycheck. You need to force yourself to work to have it," you mutter as you still feel a little dizzy.

"HUh?"

"Let’s just go grab some food; I need some water." You didn’t even get to finish when Mukoda’s stomach grumbled.

"R-right, let’s go!"

You two made your stop at a bar and seeing all the people dressed in heavenly armor, swords, and archers lying on the table or beside the table. You can’t help but wonder how strong they can be to lift that much weight, as you can’t even lift yourself to go to work.

"Mukoda-san, I’m going to order, and you go find a table."

"Ah, Y/N-san... were not in the modern world."

"Oh right, I forgot... then let’s find a table."

As you two found a good table to sit at and eat, Mukoda leant his way toward you, whispering another word. "While we're here, why don’t we ask for some information?"

"Good idea; you go to the left; I’ll go to the right." And so you two made your way to your station to ask for some information. While Mukoda got his, you also got yours.

Thanks to the lady you spoke to, you were right on why the king and queen want to close the border, and as soon as you went back, you needed to tell Mukoda that you two needed to leave before it completely closed thanks to the greedy king and queen.

"Mukoda-san, we need to leave soon."

"I know, but I don’t want to use that again," he muttered, not wanting to remember how much he vomited on your skills.

Nodding at him, you look around, wanting to find an idea or plan to use another way without using these expensive skills of yours, and as your eyes land on the people around you.

"Hmm, why don’t we recruit these adventurers?" They can help us, though it will cost as dearly, but it’s a better route than mine."

"I will take that offer."

As you two made your way to the front desk to ask if they would take a bodyguard's request to escort you two, thankfully, they did, and in your opinion, it cost less than yours.

But because of the closure of the horse cart route, the fee was increased a little bit. And if we two need to catch someone’s attention, eight gold coins would be better.

"Hmm… what do you think, Y/N-san?"

"I think it’s fine... Unless you want to ride mine." You didn’t really say it out loud, but this lady in front has a strong hearing sense.

"Oh my~ you two don’t need to do that here!"

Hearing the lady at the front desk, it took you two minutes to understand what she said, and you immediately corrected the awkward situation.

"I-it’s not like that!" Mukoda exclaimed that redness was now covering his whole body.

"Hehe, it’s okay; it’s normal for couples!"

"We're not a couple!" Now it was your time to exclaim, ‘What is it with people thinking that we're a couple!’ Heck, even back then, can they just think that you two are just close without that word?

"Ehem- er, can we bring food with us?" Mukoda muttered, still flustered by what the lady said.

"That is no problem! I will notify you when someone accepts it. Thank you for coming."

After that conversation, it was a semi-awkward situation, but it quickly settled down, as you and Mukoda needed to prepare for this trip and how you two needed to tip the adventurers.

"Okay, first we need a simple starting pack. A cape or warm clothes to protect from the cold, a sleeping bag, and some water jog."

"Water pouch Y/N-san"

"It’s the same thing, and of course, food."

As you two made your separate way to buy all the necessary stuff with all the money you have. You were not even far from where your separation spot is when you jogged toward Mukoda, tagging his back clothes.

Thanks to this, he got startled.

"Y-Y/N-san? You scared me, I thought a holdaper-"

"We have that skill, why are we still buying it through the market? and it cost less."

"I mean, you're right... But would that be dangerous? I mean, they've never seen it before, and it could be suspicious for them if they saw it."

"You do have a point... Hmm, okay, we will just buy the clothes here, but for the food, we will use the skill."

____________________

‘Holy cow, his handsome’ You thought as the leader of the will of metal, Werner introduced himself, giving you a dilfi aura.

"So you two are the clients?"

"Yes, it’s us. You can call me Mukoda and "Y/N-san." Mukado can’t help but sweat at how much you're staring at Werner and has nagged you to snap out of it.

"Oh, ah. "Hello, thank you for accepting this task."

"Nice to meet you."

Just by shaking his hand, you already knew that he worked hard. Werner then continued to introduce his other team. You met Vincent, another handsome guy; Rita, a cute bubble girl; Lamon, an old cool dude; and lastly, Lamanka.

Another Dilf, but a Milf one.

‘I only saw it in games, but now I can see it in person!’ You were happy that these people would be the ones to guide you; you just hoped that they wouldn’t rob you like any other novel there is.

"Well then, to Feenen!" Vincent exclaimed, followed by Rita's chirping voice.

It was like a movie with a theme of fantasy and action, but instead of just seeing it on the big screen, You're watching it in 3D with a twist of reality.

And you can’t help but clap your hands at how fast they work by defeating some monsters.

"The sun is about to set. "Let's camp here." Werner said, and as soon as he said those words, You let out an exhausted yawn as your feet were killing you.

‘Finally’ only to groan when Mukado tagged you towards him.

"Y/N-san, we should cook them a meal... I mean, they helped us survive."

"You're right, sorry. We should get started. Umm… Is it okay if we cook you guys something in a thank you way?"

"It’s no problem for us, but are you sure?" Werner asks, oh, how you see that he has a pure soul. and prayed that he would never change.

"I’m craving some hotpot all of a sudden with this cold," you whispered, shivering with the cold night.

"I agree, but we need fast and simple food; we don’t have that much on us." Mukoda whispered, chuckling, as he brought out a stove. Thanks to the item box, you two don’t need a big bag to carry this stuff, and you also took yours.

"Hey, Mukado-san, Y/N-san, can use the item box? I no wonder your bags are so small." Vincent saw the magic stove you two brought out, and you and Mukoda immediately told him that it was just a small item box.

"Wow, this magical item looks awesome."

"Oh, haha, we got it from someone we know." Mukoda said, glancing at you, to which you shrugged your shoulders. starting your cooking show.

while Mukoda serves a simple sausage soup with bread from another world. You, on the other hand, serve a sweet corn soup with mashed potatoes on the side, which you brought from another world as well.

But before you fed it to the Will of Metal group, you told Mukoda to taste it first. "So, is it okay?"

"Yeah! It’s delicious!"

"Yours as well; we should hand it to them now... They kept staring at us. " You sweated as you said this, as the group has been watching you two like hawks for the last minute.

"Be careful, it’s hot!"

"Whoaa, it’s really the soup!"

It’s not even a minute when they gulp down all the food in one go, and just hearing their compliments in regards to your food and Mukoda. You smiled in pride at this.

‘At last, someone who appreciates my food!’

"What is this? This is so good! This soft little thingy is so delicious!" Rita exhaled, gulping down the mashed potato. "Thanks to this meal, I feel more youthful than ever!"

"I feel like my body is full of energy now!" Lamanka excalimed.

‘Hey, Y/N-san… What do they mean by that?’

‘Maybe it’s the way they compliment? and I would gladly hear it all day!’

Mukoda sighs, and he can’t help but start to sweat at this. When he heard Lamon talk about mind, he used the skill "evaluation," and when he saw Rita’s status, some were adding up thanks to the food.

He can’t help but spit the soup out of his mouth. And seeing him, you asked if he was alright while patting his back.

"Mukoda-san?! what happen? Are you okay?" Vincent asks

"Oh, no, no. I was choked because of the soup."

‘Y/N-san, check their status."

‘What?’

‘Just say evaluation."

With what he said, you followed it and when you saw it. You almost choke on the mashed potato you're munching on, and may I remind you that it’s soft and not a hard potato.

"Y/N-san! Are you okay?" Werner ask.

"Oh, yeah. Just remembered how amazing you guys are for defeating that monster, hehe."

‘Why the fuck did that go up?’ You glance at Mukoda and seeing him looking at his food. You did it as well. It was a good thing that it was only temporary and not permanent, but still.

The food you two made is a bit dangerous, and just seeing Mukoda's expression, you already know what he was thinking. That is, unless you two don’t shut your mouths.

‘We should keep this a secret’

‘Agree’

Unknown to the both of you two is that the Will of Metal group has their own thoughts, but instead of thinking how dangerous their discovery about the food is, it’s: "These two lovebirds are meant to be’

Five days of traveling and the group hasn’t reached the destination; with that time frame, you're starting to think about having a second thought about using the skill you have.

But at the same time, you don’t want to risk vomiting your soul out.

"Don’t worry, in this state, it would take 2-3 more days."

‘Yehpe…’ You thought, huffing as your feet were getting tired with all the walking and walking, then climbing, then walking again.

"Our current location is quite troublesome. It’s not really dangerous. But we have to be careful in the remaining part of the trip." Werner said, and with his words, everyone cheered.

with you and Mukoda joining them, even if you two have a tired expression.

On the way to the next capital, the group found a giant red monstrous boar, and because it was big and they couldn’t carry it all, you and Mukoda asked the group if you two could put the remains in the item box.

Collecting the fangs, meat, skins an various vulnerable from the previous monsters to sell it, there was one info that you learn from which is to leave half of it.

Despise the fact that you and Mukoda can carry it all; you two agreed that you did not want them to be suspicious as you only have a small tiem box after all.

"I’m excited to cook for tonight! It’s been so long since I tasted meat!" you exclaimed, stretching your arms.

"You said it! "I'm going to cook my favorite food!" Mukoda excitedly said, as he too couldn’t wait for it.

With the meat from the boar, it has the same taste as a regular one in your world. And it’s easy to cook; it despise not knowing what it tastes like at first but after the final result.

You and Mukoda made one another's favorite meat. while he cooks stir-fried red pork with ginger. Yours is just simple fried pork with miso soup on the side. What could be better than soup on the side or bread?

Yummy!

"Itadakimasu!"

Just seeing their reaction is enough to satisfy your two hardships in cooking the meal for tonight. And wow, maybe it’s too good, as they're showing too much expression.

‘I’m starting to think of opening a restaurant because of them’ You whispered to Mudoka, to which he simply chuckled. But, like they said, if it’s too much, it will be bad news.

You two are just sharing where you got the ingredient from when all of them went quiet.

"Why are you guys so quiet? Is there something you don’t like about the food?" You ask, but when they simply tell you that it wasn’t that, but the presence behind you,

‘Behind me?’

What do you know? not only for your happiness with their reaction to the food you two made, or cheering the fact that you can finally eat some meat after so long... but this monster behind you also wants to eat it.

"Humans… Let me eat with you!"

Next Chapter ---> Part 2

#campfire cooking in another world #Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi #Anime #anime food #anime isekai #Isekai #manga #tondemo skill #tondemo skill de isekai hourou meshi #sui #fel #campfire cooking in another world with my absurd skill #food anime

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unperceivable-future · 1 year ago

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Narcissus [Pilot]

Hawks/Keigo Takami x Reader

Content warning: My own take on the Hanahaki Disease. English is not my best language. Foul language. Angst. May not feel like a Reader-insert considering that Reader has a given quirk and other parameters (except appearance) [I'll be updating the list as I go]

Synopsis: In a world where humans have further evolved into having redundant traits, you are simply trying to survive life while assisting the Winged Hero.

Note: This story concept smacked me on the head when I was having a sad girl moment.

0 1...

===============

"Don't forget your meeting with the chairwoman at 2 PM." You remind Hawks as you hand him a stack of papers for him to go through and sign.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course." Your boss grumbles as he goes through a casefile.

In a world where humans have further evolved into gaining superhuman abilities, meta abilities as they have first been coined, comes in a rather redundant trait.

You personally think that quirks are an interesting evolutionary trait. They vary and therefore cannot be pinpointed to selective pressures in nature. It is not akin to peppered moths darkening due to the soot that comes with the Industrial Revolution, quirks were random and have no basis.

So did the abilities of humans coughing up petals after petals when they feel strongly for another person.

You have worked with Hawks three months since he started his hero agency. Fresh out of college and simply through nepotism, maybe a little bit of genetic luck. Your quirk and your family ties were what links you to the Wing Hero.

"I'd appreciate it if you actually read through the reports since, you know, Madame Witch herself would like to know how your last mission went. In full detail." You add in annoyance.

You watched him start as a new hero, a new agency and simply a company you joined through the recommendations by your mother. A mysterious boy that came out of nowhere much like you did if anybody were to take tabs.

"When have I actually not?" Hawks retorts, he looks up to you with such a charmingly playful smile.

"Would you actually like me to list that out for you?" You huff out. It took a while for your relationship with your boss to stabilise.

You joined Hawks' hero agency a few months after the agency itself started. Hawks was anal at first, absolutely all over the place after just firing his fifth assistant in the three-month period his company was set up. He grilled you, put you through so many tasks with mind numbing filings and organising paperwork as his previous assitants simply could not keep up. He was intimidating and a bit pissy, already forecasted for you to fail and to be tossed away but you managed. In fact, you exceeded his expectations, having been able to be a step behind him and sometimes a step before.

When you hit your second month in the company, he actually became a bit nicer and more relaxed. Perhaps it is the fact that you were able to clean up the administrative mess that was caused by the start-up of his business plus the fact that you're coping quite well under the pressure of his ever growing popularity and high demands. And that you memorised his personal likes and dislikes.

And now four years later, your dynamic with your boss is much like you being the nagging mother, constantly reminding him of the mundane tasks of hero work while also picking up after him.

"What does next week look like?" He asks, still reading through whatever casefile the Hero Public Safety Commission handed him some time ago.

"No meetings but your new sidekicks are joining in so you're---"

"Training them, yeah, got it." He sighs, snapping the folder shut and shoots you a tired smile.

It is admirable how Hawks can withstand the pressure of being the number 3 hero despite his young age. He breaks records of being the youngest and fastest while looking so cool and effortless that spectators are under the assumption that he is an under challenged prodigy.

But he is not. He is simply human running on constant adrenaline and stress.

"I'll go grab you some coffee. You might wanna look alive for when the chairwoman shows up." You offer, turning your heels and making your way out of his office.

"Have I mentioned that you're such an angel?" He calls out and you can hear the grin in his voice.

"Many times." You retort like clockwork.

He always tries to make himself look like he has got his shit together despite his age. And honestly? That's definitely why a lot of the people in this country cough up sunflowers when they think of him.

#bnha hawks x reader #keigo takami x reader #hawks x reader #bnha hawks

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maddoc05 · 1 year ago

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Finnegrin doesn’t loom. He doesn’t need to.

Instead, he nodded to Deadwood, and Callum watched as the thing around the creature’s knuckles crackle with lightning. Chained securely to the wall, and Callum already knows that he has no place to escape. His stomach clenched, his mind going curiously numb as it prepares him for the pain.

But at least it wasn’t Ez. It wasn’t Rayla. It wasn’t Soren. Villads.

Callum could take it. He had to.

He looked away.

The feather-light touch of a glove tilted his head upwards. Callum hadn’t even registered the sound of footsteps on the wooden planks. The scent of salt and brine assaulted his senses. So close that it was inescapable. The coin flipped through the fingers of Finnegrin’s hand with ease, an almost idle motion, rocking back and forth like a boat sways on sea.

“I am a reasonable elf, Callum.” Finnegrin said, a low whisper in Callum’s ear. “Just give me what I want, and you and your friends walk free. After all, one of your own has already done it. There is no need for pain. No need for you to hurt your friends.”

Callum jolted, as if struck. “If you even touch them-” His voice dropped to a snarl.

Finnegrin drew back. Amidst the hardness in his dark eyes, Callum saw the glitter of satisfaction. “I won’t even have to raise a finger.” He promised. He nodded to Deadwood, and before Callum could react, the creature took the first swing.

The force slammed him against the wooden pillar. His head snapped back from the power of it, mouth open in a short, harsh cry as the air was readily driven from his lungs, as he felt something crack and break. He tasted copper. His head rang.

“What- ” He wheezed, choking-

“Sound carries well over water.” Finnegrin informed him, his voice almost kind. “Perhaps you would do well to remember that.” The implied threat hung in the air.

The next hit was worse. The lightning ripped through him this time, locking up all his muscles and he couldn’t scream not even if he wanted to with the way that the contact burned his cheeks. The tears that slipped from his eyes was hot, like the pain was hot, a sharp knife caressing through his insides as the creature trailed its charged knuckles across Callum’s face and down the side of his neck and-

It dug in between his shoulder blades, pinning him in place without any give, any place for his body to react. He tasted the ozone first, and then he tossed his head back with a guttural scream.

His vision returned in splotches. His breath came in short, harsh pants, a fine tremor running like a crack over his entire body, and all he felt was the aftermath of the sparks that held his muscles taut and stretched, the second it failed him all at once and he sagged against the only thing holding him in place.

If he closes his eyes, he can almost pretend that he hears Rayla’s voice, calling his name.

He’s given a moment to breathe. Breathe. He just- had to- breathe. He sobbed the next breath as quietly as he could, shaking with the agony that lanced through him. The logical part of him knew that Finnegrin was not going to kill him, not yet, there’s something from him that the Tidebound elf still wanted, but Callum tethers also on the edge, lost within the throes of the desperate struggle to survive.

The blood that trickled from where it split his lip landed on the creature’s arm, staining the wood dark.

It was clear where this was heading.

(Callum, stubborn in his silence. Finnegrin, ruthless in his)

“Suit yourself.” Finnegrin sighed theatrically and the coin stilled in between in his third and fourth finger.

Callum flinched, long before the blows resumed raining down on him.

And all the while the captain watched, with nothing but the cold of the sea in his gaze. The cold of a watery grave. And if Callum was still conscious enough to hear it, the distant mourn of the ship’s crew as they sang well into the evening.

“Arghh!” Rayla yanked against the chains, the steel cold and biting, but that was nothing compared to the chill of the fear in her gut. It could almost be mistaken for the cold of the fog from the sea, but she knew better.

Finnegrin had taken Callum below deck, along with Zym and Bait and the rest of the wee Baitlings, and she had been helpless to do anything to stop it. She met Soren’s gaze grimly, and he returned in their silent conversation by scooting closer to Ezran. “Sea legs, huh?” He said loudly, “I get it now.”

“Aye.” Captain Villads said, uncharacteristically solemn. “It’d be that.”

“Crab-solutely crazy, right?” Soren shook his head.

Rayla let the forced chatter fade. She wondered, what did Finnegrin want?

Callum was- he was the most amazing person that Rayla had ever known. His display with stealing the wind from Finnegrin’s sails was certainly impressive, but now it also had attracted the attention of the wrong person. She thought of her first impression of the Tidebound elf - that shadowed figure, high above in the railings. She did not have to wonder what sort of acts he had done to maintain that sort of control.

Rayla was afraid. Of course she was.

She gave the chains another vicious tug. It did nothing. She eyed the empty chains where Nyx had been, right before she’d been allowed to fly free. There would be no hope of rescue from that one, Rayla thought resentfully. Worst still, she didn’t even know what deal the Skywing elf had cut with Finnegrin in exchange for that freedom.

Her arms ached. She knew that there would be bruises there - in the morning. If she even survived to see one.

“Rayla.” Ezran said softly. “Callum will be alright.”

But there was that same fear mirrored in his eyes.

She should have been comforting him, not the other way around. “I know, Ez.” She said, more confidently than she had any right to at that moment. “Callum, he’s- he’s strong.” Stronger than me. “He’ll be fine.” She hated that the words still felt like an untruth.

“If they wanted us dead, laddie,” Villads consoled, “We would have been all thrown overboard before you could say ‘argh ’.”

“Arghh.” Soren said. He waited a beat. Then smiled. “See, nothing?”

Rayla tried for a smile.

But the moment of levity was short-lived. The distant murmur of voices, too low for her to ever make out, was interrupted by the start of a sharp, pained cry. It was a noise that cut right through her bones and stilled her heart in her chest. She immediately knew who it belonged to.

Ezran’s face went white.

Soren sucked in a breath. Rayla thought she heard him mutter under his breath, “Oh crab.”

She herself barely had time to react, before it was followed by what could only be described as a scream, Callum screaming, she had never heard him make that sort of sound before, she- she had to- Callum- what was Finnegrin doing to him -

Something inside her snapped.

Almost before she registered the thought, her body was already moving. Rayla squared her shoulders and threw herself forward. The chains yanked her back just as viciously, metal grinding in the hot sea air. “CALLUM!” She raised her voice desperately, feet slamming against the part where her part of the chain connected to the deck.

Her eyes caught one of the nearby sailor’s. The man looked away just as quickly.

Something inside of her slipped even further.

Rayla aimed a particularly vicious kick, a low animal growl escaping her as she tried to set herself free. Her enemies were the chains that held her down, and there would be no mercy for that which stopped her from reaching Callum. She felt for weaknesses in the metal, the beginnings of a plan formulating in her mind, but for that she also knew she needed a little bit more time.

The silence of the gaps in between hurt equally like knives in her chest, the terror that bubbled up turning her reckless, even as she tried and failed to desperately grasp onto any semblance of calm that she still could muster. Callum had to be alive, he couldn’t be dead, she would know .

The three things that would haunt Rayla’s nightmares long after was this -

The glittering of salt waters and Ezran’s sniffled tears. The sound of creaking wood and the bite of metal holding her back.

And when Finnegrin had ordered her mage brought out-

Callum, slumped motionless on the deck and on his knees, bloodied and bruised and as defeated as she had ever seen him.

Her chains clicked. It dropped to the deck.

Rayla lunged.

#the dragon prince #tdp #the dragon prince spoilers #s5 spoilers #fic #whump #hurt/no comfort #callum #rayla

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kiss-my-freckle · 3 months ago

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HI, which are your top 10 scenes of tvd season 6?

I love a lot of their Delena scenes lol

The cupcake scene. Their kiss combined with this scene are written on the opposite side of 3x10 and 3x11, so you might as well just imagine this scene at the end of 3x11. Here, Elena basically gives Damon permission to kiss her any time he wants. This scene is perfect for "spontaneous" Damon.

The moment Elena basically told Damon it should've been him in 3x22. They're written alongside Tyler and Liv in this episode. The only difference is that Damon had time to work through the pain of her choice. Tyler's wound is still fresh. This is my favorite Delena kiss because of the scene in its entirety. They're written around the quote, "If you love someone, let them go. If they come back, they're yours." Elena always finds her way back to Damon because she follows her heart.

"The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel." This scene jumps off scenes in season 4. I love this entire episode. This scene because of Damon's response. He cares how he makes Elena feel, so when she pulls a fake-out, then says this... his smile says it all. I mean... he essentially stabbed her, she made him believe she was dying, then she put this huge smile on his face.

His choice to take the cure. Fans had to know that Stefan would be making a point with his visions. Damon was planning a vampire life with Katherine. While in transition, he watched them drag her into the church and set it on fire. Believing she was dead, he had no intention of completing his transition. He was planning to die. Here, he basically tells Elena that even if she dies, the rest of his miserable existence will be worth the time he did get to spend with her. The fact that he speaks to the rest of his miserable existence means he plans on living the rest of his human life even if she dies, that's how much he loves her. His "smallest chance" comment is a reference to Emily's talisman. They gave Damon the best lines in the show, istg.

Liz's funeral. What Damon couldn't do for Alaric in their season 4 lantern lighting, he does for Liz here. He's expressing his loss with the group. That's growth. What I love about this scene is Damon's words to Caroline and her song... because I love it when she sings. Damon's words to Caroline are his true feelings about her, so fans should also know why Klaus loved her as he did. "You're a beautiful, strong woman, a generous friend, and a bright light in a sea of dark."

This is my favorite Defan scene. Everything Stefan needed. Damon told Bonnie it wasn't just Elena he had to get back home to. He had to get back to Stefan because he knew. Losing a brother is insanely painful, and this came two seasons after Stefan gave Elena advice on mourning Jeremy. It's through his loss of Damon that Stefan felt it... how right Damon was to say that he wasn't enough for Elena when she lost Jeremy. Caroline wasn't enough for him. He had to let her go because he couldn't deal. Anyway, I love Stefan's emotion in this scene. You can feel how much he loves Damon.

Damon and Bonnie in the prison world is written like Damon and Enzo in The Cell. Difference is, Bonnie was able to get word to Damon that she survived... with Ms. Cuddles. This hug represents what could've been for Damon and Enzo, and it came after Liz's funeral, so it was something Damon certainly needed. He said goodbye to one friend and hello to another.

"I mean, you'd think he'd at least flip a coin... heads he picks you, tails he picks..."

Coin tosses are a Salvatore thing, and Kai messed with the wrong women. Damon's girlfriend and his best friend lol... that's a death wish. Fail as he does, when Damon wants someone dead, it's just a matter of time before he gets it right.

This dance scene. Caroline is hot as hell, and I love seeing her without her humanity. She's having so much fun it's insane. I'm pretty sure season 6 is my favorite season for Caroline. I should point out the fact that Liz's death was her moment for Damon. So much so, she took his advice and flipped her switch.

Enzo pulls a Damon move. This could've been his only scene in the show and I'd still love him. Two people Enzo cared about... Damon was upsetting, Caroline topped the cake for him. Stefan doesn't know what it's like to truly be alone. Enzo does. That's why he's angry as hell in this scene. Stefan has everything that he doesn't, and he's wasting it on a fake life. This scene had me cheering.

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limerental · 2 months ago

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ficletvember 2024 - day 10

iorveth&isengrim, background dijkstra/isengrim

Isengrim offers refuge to Iorveth in Novigrad, failing to divulge exactly whose hospitality he'll be enduring.

Iorveth had lived far worse places in his life. Had camped in muggy forests teeming with insects, had ruined his poor spine sleeping in the boughs of trees, and several times had woken in the dirt with no bed but leaflitter, jewels of frost stiffening his clothing and hair.

He listed these places off on his fingers, voice rising.

“--and I'd take any of those over staying somewhere where I'd have to entrust my life to Sigismund Dijkstra of all–”

He broke off into archaic elven curses to describe the dh'oine, listing those off on his other hand.

Isengrim didn't look impressed.

“Are you quite finished?” he asked, voice grating and familiar, and though Iorveth did want to keep shouting, the walls had ears in Novigrad, even secuerely indoors. Nevermind that that could largely be attributed to the man known as Sigi Reuven and his men.

He'd missed Isengrim. Had thought him dead for years now and only in recent months as everything made a turn for the worse in Redania had Iorveth gotten word that Isengrim was alive and well and able to offer a respite to any Scoia'tael who remained. A place to rest for the winter in a land where dwindling few safe places remained for them.

“I missed you, brother,” said Iorveth, though the word he spoke in elder was untranslateable, meant something more than kin. Brothers by choice, by circumstance. “Now, tell me you're playing some prank, and you haven't just offered me a room in a house owned by the Devil of Drakenborg.”

“You'll be safe here,” Isengrim promised. The room did seem fairly ordinary, no shackles or barred windows or trap doors that would reveal it to be a dungeon after all.

Iorveth paced to inspect the space again, feeling like a feral mongrel pulled off the streets. There was a bed with down pillows and enough blankets for a dozen elves to survive the winter. There was a fireplace and a writing desk and chest in the corner.

What was the catch? He searched for any stain of ugliness in the room itself, any sign that Isengrim was lying, and couldn't. He searched Isengrim and wondered what it would take for his friend to deceive him. A great sum of coin? Torture?

Isengrim stood placidly with his arms folded across his chest, looking faintly amused at Iorveth's suspicion. He looked well. As handsome as ever, of course, and he was dressed in a richly-colored cloak, deep emerald lined with fur. Iorveth was dressed in actual rags, scraps stolen from corpses sown together, a blood-stained mockery of the insignia of a half dozen kingdoms.

He'd once thought it all very clever and poignant, and now he stood filthy and worn in a room that he'd dreamed of, that shouldn't exist.

“I don't understand,” said Iorveth. “What’s in it for him? He signed the death warrant of countless non-humans. The mad king who burns witches in the streets learned half of his cruelty from him. Why would he–”

“Sigi will be home from his errands soon,” said Isengrim, his even-toned voice infuriating. “He'll explain it himself. How we met and how I came to trust him.”

Iorveth wanted to shout some more scathing insults. He wanted to tear open the down pillows into a blizzard of feathers and toss the fine parchment on the writing desk into the fire. None of it made any sense.

He'd not wanted to give up the fight in the wilderness, would have fought on to his grisly end. At first, when he'd found Isengrim's message, a note on a message board written in a Scoia'tael code they had come up with together in the early days, Iorveth had no intentions of going himself to find refuge, had only wanted to spread the word to others.

But there'd been no one to be found. Only burnt ash every place he returned to. Vacant outposts. Scenes of bloody slaughter. Every fighter he'd ever known had either been killed or fled or vanished. For all he knew, he and Isengrim may be the very last Scoia'tael alive.

When Sigismund Dijkstra returned that evening, he came up the stairs holding a covered basket under his arm. He loomed there filling the kitchen doorway, as ugly and human as Iorveth had imagined.

Isengrim had coaxed Iorveth into bathing and dressing in clean clothes, and he felt a little like he'd been given a flea treatment and also that he'd be ruined for any other bath but the sprawling one tucked in the private rooms in the bathhouse below.

The human did not question Iorveth's presence at the kitchen table. Isengrim had brewed a calming tea and poured it into delicate teacups, and though Iorveth didn't feel calm, he felt less like an animal snared in a trap, searching wildly for the exits.

Dijkstra's errands had apparently largely involved shopping for produce at the market. From his covered basket set on the table, he unpacked vegetables and fresh bread and a cut of meat wrapped in paper. Isengrim rose to help him, settling in to chop vegetables to add to the water bubbling over the hearth.

“Is your pet fugitive staying for dinner, Grim?” asked Dijkstra. His voice was far from what Iorveth expected, soft and softening further on the mangled shortening of Isengrim's name. Beside him, Isengrim touched the human's shoulder.

They were the same height but that’s where similarities ended. Isengrim was lean and scarred and dangerous, and Dijkstra was fat and bald and unpleasant to look at. And yet, they leaned into each other with quiet familiarity, filling the other's space.

Ah, thought Iorveth. So it's like that.

“Iorveth?” Isengrim prompted. "Are you staying?"

He intended to say something like before I dine with his ilk, I'll need an explanation as to why you've allowed this dh'oine to keep you like a spoiled pet. But instead, his empty stomach growled loudly, and Iorveth decided the harsh accusations could wait until after a warm meal.

“Very well, I'll eat your slop,” drawled Iorveth, resigned to his fate. “You'll explain this foolishness immediately afterward, of course.”

He was already thinking of the bed and the down pillows and the crackling fire. He would suffer a single meal at least, for one night of rest.

#my fic

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pokemon-card-of-the-day · 2 years ago

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2899: Alolan Raticate-GX (Celestial Storm)

Alolan Raticate-GX was one of those Pokemon that had attacks that only worked in the right situation. You could hit for a bit of damage for no Energy, but only by discarding from the hand. You could hit pretty hard, but only if the coin flip went well. You could get a ton of Item cards to help set up, but then you had to dodge hand disruption and give up your GX attack. This was not going to be enough to get use on its own. Like any other sometimes decent GX, it had some argument to be used with Mewtwo & Mew-GX, and some people did indeed try it. Darkness wasn't a type that hit much that was needed, but there was still a good GX attack and some chip damage to help get more Pokemon into the discard pile to try out.

200 HP was around where most Stage 1 Pokemon-GX ended up, and was mostly able to survive a hit, though there were exceptions really late once Zacian V and Eternatus VMAX came along. The Fighting Weakness was worth noting only right at the beginning in the BKT-On format even though nobody would likely use this there. A Psychic Resistance helped against Mewtwo & Mew-GX in rare cases. The Retreat Cost was also 3, and was quite high. These stats only mattered if you were actually using Alolan Raticate-GX by itself. You'd likely just discard it to be used by Mewtwo & Mew-GX or skip it altogether in reality.

Chuck Away didn't even need any Energy to use. The attack had you discard up to 2 cards from your hand and do 40 damage for each card you discarded. This was a decent way to get more Pokemon into the discard pile to be used by Mewtwo & Mew-GX while also getting chip damage in, so it was a solid set-up move in some spots.

Hyper Fang got 150 damage in, which was quite good for a Darkness and 2 Colorless Energy. The problem was that the attack just failed with a tails flip on the coin you had to toss, making it very unreliable as a result.

Item Maniac GX did cost the team's GX attack for the game but required no Energy. It let you search your deck for up to 6 Item cards to put into your hand. This was a really nice set-up move unless you played with Marnie available (which was where Alolan Raticate-GX seemed to get almost all of its play) in which case you had to hope to dodge that so your Items wouldn't get stuck on the bottom of your deck. Reset Stamp could disrupt this to some extent as well, but this was an early-game move and you had at least some chance to draw back into something. Either way, it was a bit of a risky play, but sometimes you didn't have a better move early on while getting big attacks ready and your opponent wasn't always going to hit that disruptive card on the right turn.

Alolan Raticate-GX was simply a set-up Pokemon that only had some use because it could just get discarded quickly then get used by a Basic Pokemon. Using a Stage 1 for this would have been hard to make work otherwise. Even then, it wasn't the most common inclusion in the deck, getting a bit of use in Rainbow versions of Mewtwo & Mew-GX that just tried to take advantage of common Weaknesses. Alolan Raticate-GX could discard Pokemon and fetch Items, and that was quite useful for that specific deck.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #raticate #alolan raticate #alolan raticate-gx #celestial storm

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nerdyenby · 2 years ago

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Pink time :D I’m watching Scar

Pregame

I’ve literally watched three scar videos today but I’ve missed him so much <333

I forgot Tubbo and Scar were called slushie duo :(( /pos

Scar praying to Scott for a desertduo buildmart 😭

Boatem team isn’t a want it’s a need

Scar’s “Is that a bad boy??” when he sees Joel across the lobby

“It says ‘gullible’ on the ceiling” “Does it? No, it says ‘3’” “… don’t worry about it” Beky and Tubbo my beloveds

Parkour Tag

Did Ant just say he was… tossing??

It’s literally the bare minimum but people using they/them for Aimsey means everything to me

SCAR SURVIVAL!!!!!

This team’s comms are insane :D

Beky supremacy!!!!

“Vex on vex violence!!” “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN” slushie duo is everything actually

They’re so good at encouraging and hyping each other up :))

Tubbo first swear in the first game lmao

HOW DID THAT WORK????

BEKY SUPREMACYYYYYY!!!!!

Pink parrots 2nd in parkour tag????? They’re so cool <333

Rocket Spleef

Immediate Ant swear lol

Was collecting data for this entire game so I have nothing else to say except sorry for being so neurodivergent today /j

Why do they want sot early??

Sands of Time

I talk fast too so keep in mind that I’m a hypocrite but Ant stresses me out so bad in sot, he’s not even doing anything wrong he just always sounds so frantic that it freaks me out a lil

Tubbo seems a lil high strung rn ngl

Okay yeah, this team is lacking in confidence, I fully believe they could do well but they were all so frazzled and this was a hard sands

Sky Battle

Why is Tubbo so mean to blue??? I know it’s not mean spirited but like, cmon man

Tubbo and Ant are so stressful to listen to 😭

Scar and his barn strat my beloved <333

“I got a kill!!…… myself..” Scar 😂

“They’re not coming from our right, I got that on lock” Scar mvp

Yo they won!!!

Tubbo losing his absolute mind and Scar just “uh hey guys? We won”

Scar’s face when we have the 6th swear by the start of halftime 🙃 lmao

Slushie time :D

Ace Race

“I’m gonna fail at that- I didn’t!!! Did you see that confidence?” So true Scar

“Unfortunate times with Scar today”

Ant saying Scar’s toe tip helped and getting first :))

Battle Box

Ant is such a tryhard /pos

I could not care less if it’s actually concrete, it’s always gonna be wool in our hearts <33

STOP TRASH TALKING BLUE I WILL CHEW YOUR CABLES

Wool time :D

Beating the top three teams and almost no one else is so iconic of them

The way Ant tries to give Tubbo a compliment and he says “No, definitely not” 😂

Grid Runners

It feels like they’re just breezing through these rooms lol

That golf was so clean

Why are Tubbo and Beky saying everything twice lol

Their push-up comms are so painful, it wasn’t bad just chaotic

“Dyslexic duo had some trouble with the hints”

TGTTOSAWAF

Team bonus!!!!

Scar top 15 both rounds so far!!!

“There are like no coins between fourth and fifth” “There’s literally no coins in this game”

Dodgebolt

Tubbo’s commentary 😂

Toby doing the absolute most to avoid acknowledging Ranboo’s existence sure is something lol

Talking about how both of these teams deserve this win is so real

Everyone cheering on False :D

This team wanting a replay :))

#mcc #mcyt #mc championship #mcc 29 #gtwscar #goodtimeswithscar #antfrost #bekyamon #tubbo

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aeondeug · 2 years ago

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I am uncertain on how I feel about the save system in Fear and Hunger. I've seen that many just use a mod that gives unlimited books of enlightenment or who edit their save files but something about that seems very unsatisfying to me. What is the point then?

I like limited save systems in horror games. I think they're not utilized nearly as often as they perhaps could be. But they're a very love it or hate it thing and there's a fine line between something that adds to the stress in a positive way and something that just makes the game unfun to play.

Fear and Hunger's is...interesting. The coin flip mechanic in general is kind of a bitch. It's the rng of an rpg given a physical form. Instead of the game simply rolling the dice on whether I get hit by an instant kill attack like in most games in the genre, I have to be the one to roll the dice. And I get to see the literal cast and watch in painstaking agony to see what the result is. In battle this is lovely. Especially since many of these can be avoided outright so long as you know when to block.

But with beds it's different. With beds I can't defend at the right time to avoid it. The only thing I can do to mitigate the issue is to use a lucky coin and those are a rare commodity. And even that doesn't guarantee success. I've burned a coin on a failed save attempt and while the thing that attacked me was something I could deal with it still sucked. A lot.

This has changed how I view save points. In rpgs I tend to be very blasé about save points. Why would I give a shit unless it's a NES era dungeon crawler? In 99% of games that still use save points over universal saves it doesn't really matter. Survival is never much of an issue. In survival horror meanwhile save points are generally my favorite fucking thing in the world. They are small areas of respite. I see one and lose my goddamned mind because oh thank fuck I'm safe now. I can save my progress. Now if I die it's ok.

So I don't really think about saving in most survival horror games, with the sole exception being games like Resident Evil 1 where saving is performed with a consumable item. Even then I generally have a decent sense of how much I can push things. I save much more conservatively and I am tense about that, but the tension is bearable. And I generally feel confident enough in my ability to survive early PS1 era survival horror because I am well experienced in the art of running past shit.

Meanwhile in Fear and Hunger I saw a bed the first time and was so happy. Then I laid down and failed a coin toss and got killed by some Pyramid Head looking bitch (this was in the demo, I seemed to need to talk to the statue to avoid the Crow Mauler). This was shocking. And then it happened again. Most of my early deaths in the demo were to this fucking bed.

After getting out of the demo and into the real game I was very excited about the first bed because oh I know how that works. But then I realized something. This is barely anywhere. I have effectively wasted a free save by just rushing it while having made no real progress beyond picking up some food. And then I saw the other beds and felt no joy upon looking at them because I knew they weren't safe. They could be safe but there is heavy emphasis on that could.

I'm still thinking about the beds though. I tuck them away in my memory to a greater degree than I do the random boxes I pass. I have a mental map of where my beds are. Some beds I have lit the sconces near them. This is because I have deemed those beds to be potential strongholds. But for the most part I am just marking them down because I don't want to risk things.

But then that brings up the issue. I eventually got hold of a purified talisman when I knew where the door to the Hexen was and also I had access to an Ancient Book, which I had yet to try out using but figured would be rad as hell given that it warns me before using it. And I was very excited about these things but also it hit me that I could just...Not win the coin flip and die. And then I might not find those things when I load my last save back up. I wanted to save before I popped the book and definitely while I had access to the Hexen but I didn't want to risk the beds. Because what if I die?

But what if I just keep going and then I die anyway? Saving has now become a matter of how much I feel like risking.

Except I then shortly after found a book of enlightenment. Which I had heard what it did but forgot about but popped anyway because I wasn't warned about shit and given a coin flip so I just figured it'd be fine. And then I was presented with the save screen and remembered what this thing is.

And so I now have another complication in my save issue. I can risk it for the biscuit but now the biscuit isn't just how long I feel like going before I lose my shit. Now the biscuit is literally there is a free save option available I just need to be lucky enough to find it. The lucky coins, though still risk filled, offer a similar sort of temptation to keep going.

So there's just a lot of things that are going into encouraging me to keep playing without saving. The coin flips, the fact that lucky coins and books of enlightenment can be found, the fact that the lucky coins have uses other than making saves a bit safer to do... Which is all very neat. One of the things I like a lot about games is how they train you and I find survival horror has some of the coolest forms of conditioning. And this is definitely a very cool form of it. As it has trained me to view the thing I would normally deem safe as dangerous. As something I don't want to try when I've made significant progress, but which I know I have to do if I want to realistically keep that progress.

But this is also incredibly fucking frustrating. I have spent the past few hours of play trying to get past the mines and one of the bumps in the road I come across is the fucking save system. I prepare and get a lucky drop and go oh sick. Then I try and save only to fail the flip and die. Also while wasting a coin but I mean I was dead anyway but like it's extra insult to injury.

At the same time I can't really see myself editing in unlimited books of enlightenment. That would remove something I view as very crucial to the experience. So it's a weird case of there is a system I kind of hate but also which I can't remove because I would like the game less if I did. Which is just incredibly fascinating.

#fear and hunger

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tara-mna · 2 months ago

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Tabletoptober Day 17: Western

Anders Kolbeck

Surviving the Arcane Scourge changed him, made him something much worse. Anders wasn't a person many folks knew or cared about, but by the end of the year nobody would forget the Grim Reaper's Gunman. Now, the bounty hunter has a bounty of his own, though most are wise enough to steer clear of Kolbeck. Thousand platinum to whoever kills him, and that bounty's not been claimed in near enough a decade.

"You wouldn't happen to be a fellow by the name of Anders Kolbeck, would you?" The kid talked like it weren't nothing much, but the gun pressed against Anders' head said otherwise. Course, still didn't stop him finishing his whisky and tossing some coin down before he answered. Doesn't pay to be rude, after all.

"Might be. If you're gonna shoot, then do it. Otherwise, take a seat and let's talk this out like civilised folks." Kid wouldn't shoot him. Too fresh, too scared. Sure enough, the kid sighed and sat. He looked barely an adult, maybe even still a teen, some kinda giantkin with short hair and a shitty attempt at a beard. Anders ordered another glass of whisky and some weak ale for the kid, before motioning for him to start talking.

"I don't have anything against you myself, mr Kolbeck, but someone's put quite a bounty on your head and well, I need the money. I hope you understand why I've gotta do this, sir." Fuck. If the kid were some arrogant bastard looking to make a name for himself, he could just put a bullet in the guy's knee and be done with it. But no, this was a desperate lad, and a respectful one too.

"A duel. Noon. It'll be easier to pull the trigger if I'm pointing a gun at you. Weighs less on your conscience too." Anders prayed the kid would realise he's in over his head before then.

Fuck the gods. What use was praying if they couldn't even convince some dumb kid to run away from a duel with Anders fucking Kolbeck. Well, time to do this the hard way.

"Duel ends on surrender or death. We take ten paces, then turn and draw when the clock tower rings." Kid just nodded, and they went back to back. Anders unloaded all but one bullet: he had to give the kid a fighting chance after all. Ten paces. However many seconds until the bell rang. Gods, he hoped the kid gave up before that fucking bell rang. Silence. The clock struck noon. They turned. The kid drew. A split second to aim, then he fired.

Anders swayed to the side, letting the bullet graze his cheek. Kid had good aim. He sprinted forwards, ducking under the kid's second and third shot. Drawing his own revolver, he planted it against the kid's head and pulled the trigger. Click. Four warnings left.

The kid's fourth shot almost caught him, piercing through his loose trousers but failing to find flesh. Anders' second warning was aimed at the kid's knee, and he watched the momentary terror in the kid's eyes before he realised the chamber was empty.

His third warning came when the kid tried to grapple him, but ended up being slammed to the ground. He kicked the kid's gun away, letting him struggle fruitlessly under Anders' boot. He waited until the kid gave up and it was silent once again. Slowly, deliberately, Anders pulled the trigger. Click. It was deafening in the silence. Again. Click. No more warnings.

"Give up kid. Don't make me shoot you. Please." He prayed to any god that would listen, hells he'd deal with a devil if it meant he didn't have to kill this kid. Please, just let this kid choose to live.

#tabletoptober #long one this time #anders is a deadlands character put into industrial revolution dnd #I'm quite fond of him so I put him through The Agonies

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feathery-dreamer · 1 year ago

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Freefall (webcomic) quotes

fair warning, there's a ton of them

"Coming together to make music and sing is as old as the human race. It was likely the first non-survival related gatherings we did. For what is a community other than a friendly setting where you can make a complete fool of yourself?" ~Gregor

"If microgravity caused rapid fat loss instead of muscle loss, humans would have had a vastly overfunded space program and been an interplanetary species by the 1970's." Sam

"Benevolence. Philanthropy. Altruism. Thinking like an alien makes my brain hurt. Though in this case, totally worth it." Sam

"His Dad's is starting to warm up to me. His Mom, if she warmed up any more, she'd combust." Florence

"Encounters hardship and concentrates on solving the problem rather than complaining or blaming others? That is nonhuman." Tess

"Artificial intelligence won't be fully human for a while. They're too closely supervised. One day you'll read about a bowman's wolf embezzling from the pension fund and then you'll know they've finally reached parity with us." Tess

"In wartime, human officers who fought with the men they were supposed to lead sometimes got fragged. A fragmentation grenade tossed into the tent to remove that officer. What we're seeing here is an unpopular manager getting economically fragged." Sam

"Helix, I'm proud of those guys. I offered one ship, they want three and a station. The robots have learned how to mooch." Sam

"You can be part of humanity without being human. It's culture, not biology. It doesn't matter if you're organic, mechanical, or virtual. If you share the same core values and goals, you're part of our society." -Tess

"If an employee can go on line, create a new account and order a part from Amazon easier than he can get a part out of your own warehouse, you have a problem." Sam

"So we know to get people smarter than us to help. That's a kind of smart all on its own." Sam

"Well, if something is inevitable, the only course of action is to figure out how to profit from it." Sam

"In order to learn from your mistakes, you have to survive them." Sam

"Tell people you're doing something for them out of the goodness of your heart and they'll be suspicious. Tell them you're doing it out of self interest and you'll gain their trust." Sam

"Every now and then, I find it profoundly disturbing that someone trusts me with their life and even more disturbing that I want that trust." Sam

"It is strange. Humans are often more concerned over how something gets done than if something gets done." Rover17

"Most people get along just fine knowing less than one percent about most subjects." Sam

"Negotiation. Extortion. Two sides of the same coin." Sam

Rover17: "Should I take advice from someone who fails to magnetize their feet?" Sam: "People who lack common sense are the best teachers. We've learned from experience!"

Sam: "The Station manager is trying to trick you. By deliberately putting humans in danger, he knew robots would come to the station and provide low cost labor." Rover17: "So to avoid endangering humans, we have to be well paid?" Sam: "Bet you didn't know greed could be altruistic."

"This solar system is filled with people who made the leap to form a new colony. Pioneers, adventures, gamblers and explorers. If given a choice between an overprotected life of ease in the garden of Eden, or a life of hardship with the chance of greatness, they'll go straight for the apple every time." Sam

"You have tiny feet and yet you still find a way to make me worry when the other shoe is about to drop." Niomi

"There's no point in becoming a legend if no one remembers your deeds." Sam

"Hearts and minds sounds good. But if you really want change, you have to get wallets involved." Mr De Morel

"There are those who want power so they may command the wealth of others. Then there are those who want power so their wealth can not be commanded by others." Mr Hillman

"It's also about purpose. It's about being able to contribute to your community. People may not like going to work on Monday. What they like even less are Mondays with no job to go to." Mr Hillman

Mr. Hillman: "Your whole species lives on just one planet? Man, that would make me twitchy! Anything happens to that one planet and BOOM! It's all over." Sam: "Yes. It's a worry I never had until I met humans."

#freefall #webcomic #quotes #wisdom #life #funny #pun #perspective #philosophy #money #capitalism #humanity #people

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restrained-by-society · 7 months ago

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He should've been naturally defensive as Ira started to move the mottled hand to his mouth; indeed, the hairs on the back of neck, what few that hadn't been alarmed by everything preceding this moment, stood rigid - a dog sensing danger, but unsure about what to do with or about it, yet.

Ira was dangerous. That'd been very quickly established that night. He wasn't prey, even if he was Cleric's prey. Cleric's... prey. Neurons fired with irregularity, confusion, elation, rage, fear and everything between those emotions as he felt Ira's lips, suddenly soft and welcoming, against his palm. Instinctively, Cleric's functional fingers started to close as though intending to cage Ira's brown eyes in them but they froze, shaking slightly with every semblance of control Cleric could exert over them. Inches from the sclera, his own eyes not daring to remove themselves from Ira's controlled movement.

Control. He knew Ira knew what he was doing, just as he knew Ira knew that Cleric knew what he was doing. 'You lost, but not by chance.' His eyes remained intensely focused on Ira, but his brow twitched ever-so-slightly, thinking he disagreed with that. It seemed entirely chance that he happened to have targeted someone who could bite any part of him off with such a measure of that same control, trapped behind a veneer of feral survivalism that Ira had displayed. It was chance that had whatever psychotic defect in his brain that drove him to make the spontaneous decisions that he always made elected to pick Ira from the herd.

But maybe... it really wasn't chance. Maybe he was perceiving it the wrong way. Coin flips went a long way with Cleric; more often than not, his entirety was affected by how that coin landed in his mind. The decisions that led to the night in the woods might've been chance, but Cleric hadn't... gotten lucky. It wasn't a coin toss that made Cleric "lose", despite him wanting that to be the case.

Iraavanan had elected for him to fail.

Just as Iraavanan had elected to laugh at his joke for some reason. Ira's laugh prompted a scoff from Cleric himself, another nervous response though he didn't know why he was nervous. If that was even what it was. He felt simultaneously fevered and chilled, even as Ira relinquished his hand to offer his whole, digited pinky finger. Cleric's eyes darted to stare at it instead this time and for a moment, he attempted to physically force his wounded hand to imitate the gesture, holding it up with obvious effort extended to get it to move the way he wanted.

Pain was surged through his hand, up his arm, and it gritted his teeth with frustration before he exhaled roughly and he lifted his other, uninjured hand in response. It was his turn to be careful, as gentle as Ira had been with him and his other little finger wrapped itself around Ira's. He pulled the other man's hand towards him this time and maneuvered it until the knuckle was pointed to him and he placed his own lips against it.

Blood for blood before. He didn't know what this was. New. Horrible. Exciting. The duality, the contrast gripped his brain with its own clawed hands. "I'm not sorry for making an attempt." He admitted. "But I'm... also not sorry for failing."

What he would have given for a chance to take a look inside Cleric's head, to see the way cogs turned within the thick layer of bone. He had never consumed anyone's brain in the past. It felt sacrilegious, not because it would dishonor his food, but rather because he found it beneath him. But when it came to that man, so intriguing and secretive, he would have consumed all of him, down to the marrow.

Ira watched as abused flesh stretched, sore, bruised, stiff. Gently, he pulled the hand to his mouth and laid a gentle kiss on the man's palm, where the skin was thickest, as if to allow him to claw out if face in retaliation. The move was careful, and he never once had him out of sight. "You lost, but it was not by chance," not one bit. He had acted out of instinct, but someone with less desire to win the fight would not have made it. It was not enough to force the other to let go. Ira knew then that he needed to convince his opponent that letting go was the only viable option. And he did.

He could tell that Cleric was not scared of him, but there was apprehension. The air in the room was thick. How would they get out of their situation. Where would this lead them ? Cleric knew Ira could destroy him, Ira knew that Cleric could do the same. He was intrigued. He wanted to ask him how, and why. One was doing it to defend himself, necessarily but also out of sick malice and hunger.

But then, just like that, something unlikely happened. Humor. It wasn't that funny and yet the lawyer couldn't hold back his laughter.

He quieted down next and lowered his gaze as he let go of his prey and predator's hand to offer him his own, his little finger held out for him to take.

#Bones and All // Cleric and Ira #//SORRY THESE ARE LONG EVERYONE

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marauderundercover · 3 years ago

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The Strings that Bind Us: Ch. 3

AO3

Marinette is nervous. It’s worse than any other nerves she’s ever felt. Today was the day she was going to meet Bruce’s sons. They’d been dating for almost two months and even though she’d met Alfred (and often called him to talk and trade recipes), she had yet to meet Bruce’s sons. Mostly because she didn’t want to interrupt their lives. She didn’t want to walk in and meet them and then be gone. Neither of them deserved that. So, she had waited. And now the day was here and she was panicking. She glances around the small grocery store, determined to get the ingredients to make dessert for dinner tonight. Bruce had told her that Dick had an insane sweet tooth, and she didn’t want to bribe the kid, but she really did want him to like her. Bruce had already warned her that Jason was a little less welcoming, but she had hope that the cookies would work on him as well. Grabbing a bag of chocolate chips, she heads over to the frozen section to pick up a few staples.

“I don’t understand why we have to hang out today. I thought you hated us.” A voice says, and she frowns.

“I don’t hate you. And I just wanna warn you, make sure you know that just because she’s here today doesn’t mean she’ll be here tomorrow.” A second voice says. Shaking her head, she moves past, trying hard not to listen to the boys’ conversation as they walk away. It wasn’t her business, after all. She grabs a couple bags of frozen veggies before heading up to the checkout and paying. She leaves the store, taking note of her surroundings as she walks. She looks both ways before crossing the street and heading into the bank. She needed to send some money back home to her parents for the anniversary since she couldn’t be with them in person this year. She’s just about to get to the teller when a loud bang echoes throughout the bank. She whirls around and eyes widen at the man who just entered the building. His suit was interesting, half of it was a solid gray color and the other half was bright and patterned. But that wasn’t what shocked her. What shocked her was the way half his face was completely red and scarred. Well that, and the ten men with guns that walked in behind him. Her eyes dart around the room, searching for anything that may be helpful, when her eyes land on two boys. Both tense as they look at the man, but instead of fear (like everyone else had on their face) the two looked determined.

“Ah, how nice to see the two of you here.” The man says, walking up to the two boys and grabbing the younger one’s wrist tightly. Marinette’s eyes narrow as the boy winces slightly.

“Let him go.” She snaps, storming over and glaring at the man, trying hard to ignore the way the guns were now trained on her.

“Oh and what, you volunteer instead?” He asks, and she scoffs.

“I never said that, now let him go.” She demands, giving the man her worst Ladybug glare. His eyes narrow, but he lets go of the boy and she shifts so that she’s between the two. “Now, why don’t we talk about this like grown ups.” She suggests, crossing her arms.

“Do you know who I am?” The man practically growls. She raises an eyebrow.

“Non. I haven’t been in Gotham for long.” She admits, trying (and failing) to come up with this man’s name. He was obviously one of Gotham’s villains, if the reaction of everyone else was anything to go by. And the fact that he came with goons instead of by himself made her believe he wasn’t your everyday bank robber.

“Tell you what. Since you decided to take the kid’s place, we’ll let the coin decide your fate. Unmarked side, I let you go and you can go on with your day. I’ll even leave the bank.” The man starts, and her stomach drops. Two Face. That was his name. And he was leaving her fate up to chance. To luck. “Scarred side, I shoot you in the head. Or, if you don’t wanna play, we can let the kid play. Whaddya say?” He asks with a grin. She grits her teeth and hopes that her years with Tikki had left her with enough residual luck to make it through this encounter.

“Go ahead. Let the coin decide.” She says, whirling around and hushing the boys behind her who are objecting suddenly. “Not now.” She hisses, terrified that if they object he’ll move along to them next. She turns back to Two Face and nods, watching as he tosses the coin in the air and catches it. Her heart beats out of her chest as she watches him reveal...the unmarked side.

“Looks like lady luck was on your side today.” He says, and his smile almost appears genuine, which makes her stomach churn. “Pack it up boys, we made a deal.” He says, and all of his goons turn to leave with him. They make it all the way out the door before she hears the sirens pulling up. She frowns. The police here were not great at showing up on time, were they? Her eyes widen when she sees Batman drop down, joining the fight. That’s definitely unusual. Turning away from the chaos outside, she turns to the two boys.

“Are you two okay?” She asks, scanning their faces.

“That was really stupid.” The younger one says, a scowl on his face. She ignores him, instead looking at his already bruising wrist.

“May I?” She asks, holding out a hand. He frowns.

“Let her look, Jason.” The older one says, sighing. She smiles at him in thanks before holding the younger boy’s wrist gently. She pokes softly and turns it, trying to make sure there isn’t a break. She glances at the boy’s face to gauge his reactions.

“I don’t think it’s broken, but you should definitely ice it when you get home.” She says softly. The boy just snorts and rolls his eyes, taking his arm back and frowning at her.

“Why’d you do that?” He asks, and her heart aches at how he looks at her. As if he’s suspicious of her. As if someone helping him has to have an ulterior motive.

“Because I don’t appreciate people picking on children.” Marinette says simply. The boy starts to answer, but is cut off by a gruff voice.

“Ma’am, other witnesses are saying you were targeted by Two Face?” She turns and is unsurprised to see Batman.

“Ah, not quite, sir. He actually went straight for these two. I simply diverted his attention somewhere else.” She says.

“Why?” He asks and she blinks in surprise.

“Um, because they’re children? And they’re innocent. I don’t see that there needs to be any more reason than that.” She says. Batman nods.

“The police want your statement. I’ll take the boys’ statements.” He says and she nods, but hesitates to walk away from them.

“Do you boys have someone who can come pick you up?” She asks, not willing to let them walk home alone after something like that. The oldest nods.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Thank you.” He says with a small smile. She sighs and returns the smile, turning to go talk to the police. If she could get through that situation, surely she could survive meeting Bruce’s sons.

---

Marinette squeals as Bruce lifts her and spins her around, before setting her down and kissing her gently.

“What was that for?” She asks, smiling up at him through her lashes.

“Being you.” He says simply. She snorts and whacks his chest gently, rolling her eyes.

“You’re such a goof.” She teases, turning and immediately heading towards the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” He asks, slipping his hand into hers.

“To say hi to Alfred and set down the cookies.” She says, swinging their hands as she drags him to the kitchen.

“Good evening, Miss Marinette.” Alfred says, a soft smile on his face.

“Evening, Alfred. I brought some cookies for dessert. I hope that’s okay.” She says, letting go of Bruce’s hand to give Alfred a quick hug. The two had grown close in the little time they’d known each other, and Marinette could honestly say that she adored the older man’s company. He was funny, and she often got to hear embarrassing stories about Bruce (not that she’d ever tell him that).

“Mari, just a warning, the boys might be a bit...distant tonight.” Bruce says suddenly, stopping the conversation that she and Alfred were having about his latest attempt at macarons. She frowns.

“Are they okay? Should I leave? We could reschedule, I don’t want to-” She starts to ramble, concerned for the boys. She may not have met them yet, but she’d heard enough stories from Bruce.

“They’re fine, please, stay.” Bruce says, grabbing her hands and turning her so that she faces him. He cups her cheek gently, smiling down at her. “They’re fine, love, I promise.” He says. She lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding before nodding.

“Did something happen?” She asks. He sighs and lets go of her face, running a hand over his own.

“They were caught up in a Rogue attack downtown.” He says quietly and she gasps.

“Bruce Thomas Wayne!” She scolds, frowning at him. “They were involved in a villain attack and you expect us to just, meet? I doubt either one of them wants to go through the trouble of meeting some completely random person after going through something like that. Mon Dieu Bruce, they may say they’re fine but that has to be emotionally draining.” She says, shaking her head. She pushes the loose strands of hair out of her face, sighing.

“Mari-” He starts, but she shakes her head.

“Bruce, honey, I don’t want to intrude.” She says, standing on her toes to give him a quick kiss. “We can meet on a day when they haven’t been through something traumatic.”

“Well shit. Looks like we’ve already met you little girlfriend B.” A familiar voice says. She whirls around and her eyes widen at the sight of the two boys from the bank standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She glances at Bruce and raises an eyebrow at his tired expression.

“Jason, what have I said about your language?” He asks tiredly. Jason shrugs.

“To not say things like that.” He says, making both Bruce, and the boy that Marinette assumes is Dick, sigh.

“I can still leave.” Marinette offers the boys, ignoring the frown on Bruce’s face.

“To be fair, you went through something traumatic too. Might as well stick around and deal with the trauma together.” Jason snarks. She smiles, though it’s a little forced as she remembers she had almost watched one of Bruce’s sons be shot today. If she hadn’t stepped in….

“It’s nice to meet you in a, er, calmer environment.” She says with a small wave, resisting the urge to lean into Bruce for support. “I’m Marinette Dupain Cheng, but you can call me Marinette. Or Mari, if you want.”

“I’m Richard, but everyone calls me Dick.” Dick greets with a small nod in greeting.

“And I’m Jason, but you knew that.” Jason says, crossing his arms. Marinette just smiles, but this time it isn’t forced. This was going to be interesting.

---

“So, Jason, Bruce tells me that you enjoy reading. Do you have a favorite author?” Marinette asks, trying to keep the conversation going. Both boys were still hesitant, and she wasn’t sure if it was her or the incident from the bank. She hoped it was the latter.

“Not really.” Jason says, hesitating before adding, “I like classics though.” Marinette grins.

“Really? I could never get into them when I was your age, couldn’t sit still long enough.” She says with a laugh. “But in the last couple of years I’ve found myself really enjoying Hugo and Dumas. Oh! And the Brontë sisters.” She adds, eyes lighting up as Jason grins.

“Have you read Hunchback of Notre Dame?” He asks and she laughs.

“They may have thrown me out of Paris if I hadn’t.” She teases. She feels herself relax as she talks to Jason about books, grinning at the boy’s enthusiasm and genuine love for literature. It reminded her of how much she loved designing before she got so caught up in Hawkmoth. She feels someone hold her hand, and she sneaks a glance at Bruce, smiling softly at him and squeezing his hand before turning her attention back to Jason. The rest of dinner flies by, with the conversation mostly being led by her and Jason. Dick is much less talkative. Which contradicts many of the stories Bruce had told about him. Though, many of those stories were from when he was younger. Once it’s time for dessert, Marinette stands to help Alfred clear the dinner plates.

“Miss Marinette, I can bring in the dessert just fine.” Alfred scolds, gesturing for her to sit down. She just grins.

“I know, Alfred, but you already made a lovely dinner. Let me help.” She says, grabbing some of the plates and following him into the kitchen. Once the kitchen door swings shut, she starts clearing the plates and glances at him nervously. “Do you think the boys like me?” She asks, worried.

“I believe young Master Jason does. And although he may not act like it, I do believe Master Dick does as well. He just needs time to be able to show it.” He says, and Marinette feels the tension in her shoulders seep out. She nods, glancing back towards the dining room.

“I really like him, Alfred.” She says quietly, afraid that Bruce or one of the boys would hear her. “I don’t wanna mess this up.” She admits.

“If I may be frank, Miss, Master Bruce has smiled more in the past two months than I’ve seen in years.” Alfred says, and Marinette blushes. She feels her chest warm and she sighs happily.

“I don’t think I’ve smiled this much in years either.” She admits, smiling softly at Alfred before grabbing the cookies and taking them out to the dining room. This was the happiest she’d been since Hawkmoth first started his reign of terror all those years ago, and she was willing to do anything to keep her little slice of heaven.

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