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vanfleeter · 3 months ago

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My Love: Chapter 7

Characters: Jake Kiszka x Sara Warnings: 18+ || Gore. Vampires. Blood. Blood drinking. Mentions of death and murder. Fire. Burning. Angst. Physical violence. Self doubt. Crying. Tears. Yelling. Arguing. Smut. Sex. Penetrative sex. Cockblocking. Heated make out.

Only a few weeks have gone by since we brought Sara back home and ever since then she has kept herself locked in our bedroom. I’ve tried everything to get her to come out.

Sex.

Blood – human and animal.

Yet nothing has worked thus far. I hadn’t seen a vampire so reserved and so closed off. The guilt of all the humans she killed has been eating at her. And while I’ve been trying to help Sara and coax her out of the bedroom, Danny has been anticipating Nora’s return back home. He’s been getting their house cleaned and ready when she returns. One speck of dust and she’ll never let him hear the end of it. If there’s one thing to know about Nora is that she is a neat freak, even when she feeds. She never wastes a drop of blood and she never gets it anywhere else on her or her chosen victim.

I’m hoping having her here again, she’ll be able to help Sara too. Nora’s been in this kind of situation before, but maybe having another female around will get Sara to talk, or at least come out of the bedroom as a first step. Just something to get her out of her mind and focused on something else.

I tried to be sneaky and have Sam come over one day and infiltrate her mind with anything happy. That only resulted in her causing immense pain to him and him limping away and refusing to ever come near her again until she’s back to her regular self again.

Silently stepping into the room, I watch her as she still sits in front of the window. That’s all she does is sit at the window and stare out of it. What she’s even looking at, besides the same old trees, is beyond me. I slip into the closet and change clothes before going back out to the room and sitting on the side of the bed.

“Are you coming to bed?” I ask, as I have every night since we got back home.

Her eyes slowly leave the scenery outside and focus on me. I brace myself for whatever pain she decides she wants to inflict on me, but instead all I see is nothing in her eyes. Absolutely nothing. Did she flip her switch again? Instead of speaking, she just turns her eyes back to the window and drops her chin into the palm of her hand.

I take that as a no.

“Please come to bed?” I ask, trying again.

“Jake…” I move closer to the edge of the bed, hope festering in my chest. “Do you still love me?”

“Do I..” I slide off the bed and kneel beside her chair. “Of course I still love you.” I reach up and grab her chin in my hand so I can turn her head. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Because of what I did..” Her voice shakes and her eyes glisten with tears. “I’m your nightmare..”

“Sara, no..” I reach further up on my knees and draw her in for a kiss. “You didn’t have a choice..”

“How can you still love me?” A tear slips down her cheek and I rub my thumb over her skin to wipe it away.

“I can still love you because I know the real you, Sara. The intense feeling you have right now is remorse. If you didn’t care about what happened, then we'd be having an entirely different conversation.” I crack a small smile and reach back over to kiss her cheek.

“Will I ever go back to normal?” She asks. “How long will this feeling last?”

“It’s all dependent on you,” I say. “You’re in control of your emotions and your mind.” I stand to my feet and hold out my hand to her. “Come lay with me, please?” She meerily nods her head and pushes herself out of the chair.

Together we climb into bed and she instantly curls herself into my body. I still miss feeling the warmth that her body used to give off, I still miss feeling her heart beating. It still beats just differently. One thing though that hasn’t changed is the smell of strawberries. That little red fruit used to make her blood so sweet and so delicious when she was human.

I feel a cool touch to my groin making me flinch. Looking down I see Sara’s hand sliding over my thigh and grasping my length lightly in her hand. “I’ve missed you..” She whispers close to my ear.

“I missed you too,” I say, turning my head to look at her. She looks up at me with doey eyes and I feel myself completely falling to her mercy.

“May I?” She says as she starts to slide the waistband of my sweatpants down to release my now aching dick. I nod my head and she kisses my cheek before sliding her nightgown up her body and swinging her legs over my waist to straddle me. “And when I say that I missed you, I really mean it.”

I chuckle and knead my fingers into her ass. “I’ve really missed you too.”

Within seconds she’s completely sunk down on me, the feeling so intense as if it’s our first time together all over again. Her fingers dig into the skin of my chest as she slowly starts moving her hips. I can’t help but to thrust my hips upwards, driving myself deeper inside and making her moan loudly.

I’m so glad we aren’t still at my brothers’ place. I won’t be teased in the morning because of how loud she is.

I can’t resist the urge to flip us over so that now I’m on top and she’s below me. “For once, let me on top.” She laughs.

“I can’t help it,” I pant before leaning down to kiss her. “You know that I love being in control.”

“Well maybe sometimes, we should switch–” She flips us back over so that she’s straddling my waist again. She pins my arms down to the pillows above my head and gradually picks up the speed of swiveling her hips.

“Fuck.. Sara, don’t do that..”

“Aww, can’t handle not being in charge?”

“Of course.. I can..” I strain against her hold on me, fighting against the throbbing feeling of needing to release. “Fuck..”

I let my head back into the pillows as my orgasm washes over me, my body tensing beneath her. She’s still moving, not wanting to stop even as I feel her own release cover me. But soon she does stop and collapses onto my chest breathing heavily. I feel wetness pooling on my skin and I look down to see her tears leaving wet trails as they slide down my ribcage.

When becoming a vampire, every emotion is heightened, especially sadness. I’ve learned that sadness is the strongest one, and I guess now–so has she..

Carefully removing myself from inside of her, I slid her off from on top and onto the bed beside me. I turn to my side and pull her into my body.

“Why can’t I stop crying?” She says, her voice muffled against my chest. “This sucks worse than when I was human..” I chuckle and bend my head down to kiss her forehead. She swats at my chest before rolling away from me. “It’s not funny..”

“It kind of is,” I say as I prop myself up on my elbows. “Babe, I’ve told you this.. Your emotions are heightened when you transition, they always will be–but you have to learn how to control them.”

“But this sucks!” She cries as she pulls her knees up to her chest.

“This will get easier,” I tell her as I wrap my arms around her and pull her close.

“And if it doesn’t?” She says. “What if.. What if I turn into Sitovo and go bat shit crazy?”

“You won’t go crazy,” I say. “Not if I can help it.” Pulling away from her, I climb off the bed and grab hold of her legs to pull her to the edge of the bed.

“What are you doing?” She groans as I pull her off the bed.

“We are going to go hunt..”

“Jake.. I think I’ve had my fill of that..”

“Not humans.. Deer..”

“Ja-a-ake…” She whines. “After everything that I’ve been through, do you really think letting me kill Bambi is a good idea?”

I laugh and kiss her lips. “Just try it..”

“But it’s Bambi..” She pouts. “Can’t I just drink from a blood bag like the wimpy vampire that I am?”

“Wimpy?” I scoff. “Ha! You’re far from wimpy.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her close to me. “But I guess since you asked nicely, we can drink from a blood bag.”

“Drink,” I say, handing her a fresh bag of blood that I had retrieved from the cooler in the basement. “I’m going to go out back and take care of a few things.”

“Chris?” She questions as she pops open the bag. I nod my head and pull my hair back into a low bun. “How did you even manage to get his body back here?”

“It’s not that hard..” I say with a smirk.

One thing that I love about living in the middle of nowhere is that I can drag a body outside without any suspicious eyes on me while I do so. I always forget how heavy dead bodies can be. The aching in my shoulders doesn’t compare to the satisfaction that I have knowing that I finally ended Chris. For all these years I was stupid to believe that he ever cared. I was stupid to ever consider him a brother. I should have killed him a long ass time ago when I had the chance to do so.

We wouldn’t be in this predicament if he was already dead. Sara would still be human, still have the option to live a normal life. Of course the Onyx would still be after her, but at least I’d still have a shot to convince them otherwise. Convince them to keep her alive.

I always knew my time with her was limited, she knew that too. If I had to give her up, I would have with no hesitation if it meant keeping her safe. As much as it would have pained me to again lose someone that I love, I would know that she was safe and she could live a life of peace and of love.

The fire ignites after I throw a lit match on top of it. The warmth of the fire heated my body, only causing memories of feeling Sara’s warm body against mine.

Picking up his body, I toss it into the flames. First his clothes catch fire followed by his hair. His eyes are still wide open from when I killed him. Flashes of the day run through my mind as I watch the flames engulf his body completely. I had never seen a lick of fear in his eyes until that day. Never once has he ever shown fear but seeing it clear as day in his eyes, I felt power surge through me like I never have before. For once in the nearly five hundred years of my life, I finally felt strong and I finally felt like I was worth something.

I stayed outside, watching the flames burn until there was nothing left except for the ashes of his body and the kindle of the wood. Putting out what was left in the pit, I turn to look back at the house. Flickering light illuminates the bedroom window. A smile spreads across my face and I make my way back inside.

Getting up to the bedroom, I slowly push open the door and peer inside. Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed in front of her, she looks at me with a devilish grin on her face.

“Feeling better?” I ask as I walk up to the end of the bed.

“I will,” She says as she crawls along the bed. “But it seems like you need a release..”

“Baby, I got mine earlier.” I say.

Her hands skim across the exposed skin of my torso, beneath the unbuttoned fabric of my shirt. “Mmm, but that was for me, and you know it.”

“Did it help?” I say as she brings her hands back around my waist and tugs on the string of my sweatpants.

“A little,” She says. “I’m trying to be in control of my emotions and how I feel.”

“So you’re channeling it all into sex?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Most definitely not..”

I tilt her chin up and connect my lips to hers. Sliding my hands down her body, I grab the bottom of her nightgown and pull it up and over her head. Our tongues wrestle when we reconnect and she pushes my shirt off my shoulders and down my arms.

I got her laid out on the bed when suddenly the bedroom door flew open. “Woah! Hello!” Sam bellows out a laugh as I scramble to get my shirt wrapped around Sara’s naked body.

“Knock much?” I growl as I spin to face him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Apparently barging in on you for the second time,” He laughs. “Maybe you should start locking your front door. Anyways, we need you downstairs.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me..” He says before leaving the room and closing the door with him.

“Oh this better be good,” I say as I go over to the dresser and pull out different clothes for Sara. She gives me a look and I cock my eyebrow. “Uh uh, the last thing I want is for your lady bits to be on display for my brothers..”

“My lady bits?” She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “So possessive.”

I smile and press my lips to her forehead. “Sam already pushed his limits once, I’m not letting him test the waters again.” I can see her smirk from below the bridge of my nose and I slap my hand across her ass making her gasp. “Don’t even think about it. Now get changed and meet us downstairs.”

Upon entering the living room, I find not only my brothers seated around the room, but Ellis leaning against the mantelpiece and lighting a cigarette with the burning fire. “I do have a lighter,” I say as I take a seat beside Josh on one of the couches.

“This seemed cooler,” Ellis chuckles. “Anyways, you’re probably wondering why I’m here,” He clears his throat and turns to face me. A long cut stretches diagonally down his left cheek. It looks fresh. “The Onyx is on their way here..”

“And why are they coming here?” Danny asks.

“I don’t know,” Ellis says, shrugging his shoulders. “My eavesdropping didn’t go that far.” He falls quiet, his tiny smirk fading. I follow his line of sight and peer over my shoulder to see Sara slowly entering the room. “You look horrible,” Ellis chuckles.

“I’d be careful with what you say around her,” Sam says. “She doesn’t go easy.” Her eyes flash over to Sam and he holds his hands in the air. “I’m only speaking the truth.”

“They still want me dead, don’t they?” Sara says as she steps up to the back of the couch.

Ellis shrugs his shoulders and pushes his black locks behind his ears. “All I know is they’re coming here. None of it sounded threatening–”

“Nothing they ever say sounds threatening,” Danny says as he leans forward on his knees. “Their actions are more lethal than their words.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Sara asks. “Let them take me again? Be their fucking puppet again?”

“No,” I say standing up and taking her hand in mine. “We won’t let that happen.”

“You can’t exactly say ‘no’ when they tell you to do something.” Ellis says.

“I did once before,” I say. “I’ll do it again.”

“Oh yeah? Look how that ended up.” Ellis says.

“Whatever it is they’re coming here for, we just need to be prepared.” Josh says. “We shouldn’t jump straight to conclusions without knowing exactly the reason why they’re coming.”

I feel Sara remove her hand from mine and I turn to look at her. “I need to be alone.” She says as she starts to leave the room.

“Hey no,” I say as I go after her. I stop her at the bottom of the stairs. “Don’t lock yourself up in that room again. Don’t shut down again.”

“So what if I do? It’ll make killing me that much easier if I don’t fight back.”

“Would you stop talking like that?” I say as I grab hold of her shoulders. “No one is going to kill you.”

“You should’ve just let me die that day..” She pushes me away and storms up the stairs.

“Sara!” I shout as I go after her. The door slams shut in my face when I get there. Twisting the knob, I throw open the door letting it bang against the wall. “So you’d rather be dead than to be with me?”

“Not everything is about you!” She shouts as she shoves me backwards. “This is about me, Jake! My life–or whatever it is that I’m living–is on the line!”

“And I told you that I would protect you!”

“Oh yeah? And how is that working out for you? I’m dead!” She shouts, flinging her arms around the air.

“I thought that’s what you wanted?!” I shout back. “You begged me for so long to change you and I did!”

“You did it because you were being selfish! You never even asked me!”

“What?!”

She can’t be serious. How can I ask her when she was unconscious and on the verge of death? I cannot deny that I was selfish when I fed her my blood. I did not want to lose her. I did not want to bear that pain again.

“How could I ask you when you were on the verge of death?!” I shake my head, digging my fingers into my hair as I begin to pace back and forth. “The one time that I actually do something that you have been begging me to do, and then when I do it, it pisses you off because I didn’t ask you?! You make my head spin!”

“Get. Out.” She says, her eyes lighting up with fury.

“No,” I say, standing my ground.

“Fine..” She storms past me and out of the room.

“Sara!” I shout again. My voice echoes through the halls and bouncing off the walls. “If you walk out that door,” I say as I follow her down the stairs. “I will not protect you.”

“Well you haven’t been doing a good job anyways,” She says as she throws open the front door.

“Excuse me?” I storm out of the house after her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to me. “I have done everything to keep you safe to the best of my ability. Sure it hasn’t always been perfect but dammit, I am only one fucking man who loves you so selfishly that it physically pains me.”

A drop of rain lands on my cheek and before either of us knows it, a downpour begins, drenching us both. We look at each other so intensely, both our bodies fuming with anger and lust. Before I can even get my own hands on her body, she’s pulling me into her with her lips crashing onto mine.

“Your emotions drive me insane,” I say when we pull apart.

“I can’t help it,” She breathes. “You made me this way.”

I smile and lean down to kiss her again.

“Pardon, we seem to be interrupting something..” Pulling away from Sara, I look over to the side only to find the Onyx standing under umbrellas and clad in raincoats. Michael steps forward and flashes his pearly white teeth smile. “Hello Jacob..”

“Michael..”

“Nice pleasantries just are not your thing, are they?”

“Towards you? Never..”

Michael chuckles. “Shall we go inside? It’s quite dreary out here.”

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I grab Sara’s hand and motion my other hand towards the door, allowing them to go first. Less of a chance of them getting their hands on her. I won’t take any chances. Josh was kind enough to get us both towels to dry off.

“Relax, Jacob. We come here with good intentions.” Michael says.

“Oh?” Josh speaks up. “That’s a surprise.”

“We put in a lot of thought,” Michael says as he takes a seat on the couch beside Danny. Danny gives him a once over before carefully sliding over to put a little distance between the two of them. The edges of my lips curved slightly as I watched him grow uncomfortable.

“About what?” Josh asks.

“Jacob’s relationship.”

I tighten my grip on Sara’s hand and turn my attention back to Michael. “Around and around in circles..” Josh sighs. “When will this ever stop? Can’t we just move on? She’s no longer human, she’s a vampire just like all of us in this room. Just let it go..”

Michael nods his head. “I completely agree..”

“I’m sorry, what?” Josh says. “Y-You agree?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well that’s a first..” Josh says before taking a sip of whiskey.

“I have thought about what I have done and I am here to issue a formal apology to Sara. I am sorry for all the pain and trauma that I have ordered upon you. I was so blinded by this need to make Jacob realize the mistakes he had made. I wanted him to see the monster he had created and feel regret, because I knew that was his biggest fear and why he was so adamant about not turning her in the first place. We have these rules for a reason and I knew that if I let one slide, I would have to do it for everyone..”

I can sense Josh rolling his eyes which makes my lips twitch ever so slightly.

“So.. I have decided to end this war with you all and wish to start over on a clean slate. I will allow this relationship to continue in its own way. As I can see that Jacob really does love you. I have not seen him so in love since…Vo.” Michael clears his throat.

Danny smirks beside him. “May she rest in ashes..” He mumbles around the glass of whiskey.

“Anyways..” Michael continues. “That was all I wanted to come here for. I believe we can show yourselves out.”

“Please do,” Sam smiles as he motions towards the front door.

“Though I have ended this war, this does not mean that we still won’t be watching you all. You will still be held responsible for any and all actions from here on out.”

“We expect nothing less.” Josh says. “Goodbye. Adios. Hope to never have to see you again.”

Once they were gone, I pry my hand from Sara’s and I turn to look at her. “You can breathe now,” I tell her. She actually releases a breath and I chuckle.

“Well I guess that’s our que to leave now too,” Josh says. “Considering what Sam broke up.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t be so-”

“You better shut up,” I warn.

“Or what? Gonna boil me from the inside out?” Sam laughs and shakes his head. “You’re not scary, Jake.” Sara sits forward and rests her eyes on Sam. “Ow! Ow! Sara!” Sam exclaims as his finger bones crack and bend in odd directions. She smirks a little before blinking and the bone breaking stops. “Why must I always be your victim?”

“You’re just easy,” She says as she stands from the couch. “Now leave.. Jake and I have some unfinished business to take care of.”

“You two nauseate me.” Suddenly Sam begins to slowly lift off the ground. I can’t help the laugh that creeps through as I watch him panic. “Sara, this isn’t funny.” He says. “Put me down!”

“It isn’t me.” She says.

“Then who’s got me dangling like this?”

“Hello boys..” Stepping from around the corner of the threshold is Nora with her finger held in the air and pointed at Sam.

“Nora!” Danny exclaims as he runs over to her.

“Nora?” Sam looks below him, only for a beaming grin to spread across his face. “Nora! Hey! Long time no see! Mind letting me down?”

“Sure,” She shrugs her shoulders and drops her hand to her side, effectively dropping Sam to the floor.

He groans in pain and rolls over to his hands and knees. “Gently…” He croaks.

“Oh sorry, I still can’t quite do it with ease.” She giggles softly before pulling Danny in for a kiss. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” He says. “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought I was too,” She says before turning to look at Sara. “But she helped me escape. Told me to run or she’d have to break every bone in my body, no fault of her own though. Kind of a bitch, but I liked it. Suits her.”

“Well, she is with Jake.” Sam says, dusting off his clothes. He immediately throws out his hands in defense in Sara’s direction. “Don’t even think about it.”

I smile from my place on the couch and laugh just a little. Sam is officially scared of Sara. Who knew? Standing up from the couch, I walk over to the lovey dovey couple and pry them apart before hugging Nora.

“Glad to have you back, Nora.” I say. “Finally done traveling?”

“Well I wasn’t, technically–then the Onyx practically abducted me and well..traveling is officially over.” Nora explains after we pull apart. “You got yourself a keeper, by the way–and a strong one at that too. Definitely can resist being controlled, great actress.”

I look back at Sara and she shrugs her shoulders. “Fake it til you make it?”

“That’s my girl!” I exclaim as I go back over to her. “You are special.” I pulled her in for a kiss, not caring that they were still around.

“Alright, alright..” Josh sighs. “Now we’re leaving..”

I chuckle against her lips and pull away only long enough to see the front door being closed. Finally alone. Not going to be bothered again–hopefully.

I can feel her fingers walk along my jaw and she’s turning my head back so I’m looking at her. “I love you.” She says.

“I love you too.”

@losfacedevil @writingcold @edgingthedarkness @i-love-gvf @katuschka @josh-iamyour-mama @sammysstolenbirks @asendingtothestarsasone @hollyco @musicislove3389 @its-interesting-van-kleep @katiegvf @tinydancer40 @gretavangroupie @lizzys-sunflower @fleetingjake @takenbythemadness @godly-sinsx @psychedelectable @dancingcarbon @oliverfuckingreed @cheersdannyx2 @piratejtk @katuschka @thetroublegetssoloud71

add yourself to the tag list in my master list!

#jaketober #my love #vampires #jake kiszka #jake kiszka fanfic #jake kiszka fic #jake gvf #greta van fleet #greta van fleet fic #greta van fleet fanfic #gvf #jake kiszka smut

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bloopitynoot · 4 months ago

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Reading SVSSS: Chapter 15

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

It's chapter 15! Time to figure out what happened to SQQ in the latest cliff hangar.

Today no tea- but I did have a blackberry cider that was very tasty.

I also did impulse buy a baby's-first-fountain pen to get into my little writing flow and add to the ambiance of my note taking journey. So, pls ignore the worse-than-usual writing; I am learning to write with it.

let's goooooo!

Well, SQQ appears to be in a coffin? p29

fuck, i'm already smudging the ink with my new pen. The lefty curse of it all. IDK how much of this is going to be legible later. RIP

okay... but how long has he been in here? MXTX is describing everything as dusty as hell. p30 (resolved as I read further- not very long LOL)

and he has his original body! That's exciting! Who did it though?? p30

LOL SQQ has 0 chance with this "advanced level plot" p31. He is totally fucked for sure.

These 'blind corpses' sound like a walking horror show. I would be so scared omg. I don't know how far the animated series got- but if this is animated that would look cool as fuck. p32

okay! they're fueled by breath! that's really neat though! pp33-34 Scary, but cool.

I would die immediately in this situation. When the thing (blind corpses) that are already horrible and unbeatable are scared of something else -> absolutely no hope in surviving. p35

ah, it is our little snake-man. I had a suspicion this was related to him and Luo Binghe's dad. He probably took SQQ's corpse too and brought it here. p35

OMG LOL Luo Binghe's dad is awful, but also feels like a troll AND is serving dad jokes. Re: thinking back to when SQQ knocked on the coffin and he answered from inside LOOOL. p36

Listen. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the absolute DILF that is Luo Binghe's father? I am a whole lesbian but that character art cannot objectively argued as anything else. p37

and now SQQ is going on about Tianlang-jun having BDE (not those exact words but I mean when you say he's working that coffin like it's a Paris fashion week runway and Luo binghe - the man you are obsessed with- could NEVER, it says something.). p38

That fucking power move too! SQQ: seems you've waited a while to meet me, why don't you come out of there and do so. Tianlang-jun: *bats eyes* okay but only if you hold my hand and work for it p39

SQQ has this habit of getting kidnapped "for his own good" but no one ever tells him why it's good for him XD this entire situation is so annoying. Tianlang-jun did this all so that he could get him away from the sects he wanted to destroy. p43

OMG scratch that. He also wants to use him as bait to snatch his sons body as his own. p45.

aside: I'm going to have to organize these notes later- I'm not catching the nuance in the hand written notes LOL my brain is processing faster than my hand (you will notice that the last 2 points here do not match my hand written notes because they were a hot mess).

What an entrance Luo Binghe! p47

Yes SQQ! You rescue your man from his dad (RE: holding Zhuzhi lang hostage) p51

holy shit. Zhuzhi lang is WILD - he really was about to just die instead of be a hostage LOL p52 I want to know what his character motivation is. He's giving the same blind trust energy as The Core Melting Hand in MDZS. Both just so loyal to a fault/their own demise. Do we learn more? or is this it? (genuine question- don't tell me WHAT we learn, just yes/no if we learn more).

That was so smart to hit the anti-theft measures in the tomb p53

aaaaaaaand he snatched the wrong person on the escape. well, that's fantastic. p54

I am loving the traps in this mausoleum though! The face with the magma and then the various rooms. I want to know if this exists as a D&D dungeon crawl/anyone has made one, I think it would be so fun. p59

omg. I don't think that Luo Binghe realizes/knows that that was his own father and cousin. that's so terrible. Truly Luo Binghe was treated so fucking badly literally his entire life. His dad does not even give a shit. Honestly probably only had him for this situation - needing a new body. p61

:((((( Our boy, Luo Binghe is in a bad way rn. gah! so many cliff hangers. p63

MXTX Cliffhangar Lord

And now I have to wait until tomorrow to see if baby Luo Binghe makes it. I'm sure SQQ is going to do something about it but dang, he is not well.

#bloopitynoot reads svsss #svsss spoilers #mxtx svsss #svsss #scum villian self saving system #scum villain #we have left the mushroom bod officially #RIP SQQ's mushroom body

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tommock · 8 months ago

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I DNF'd Mistorn: Here's Why

Disclaimer: You asked for this. Let me start there. Don't get mad at me, Mistborn lover. If you clicked on this link, and that means you are taking the dagger into your own hand. The wound is self-inflicted!

I did not finish Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I know, I know, its actually called The Final Empire. The name Mistborn has stuck with so many readers for a reason, so I'll continue to use it as a shorthand. The book didn't work for me, but I think WHY it didn't work for me might be interesting to read about, especially for fellow authors.

If you have read and enjoyed the Mistborn books, or any work by Brandon Sanderson, I'm delighted. I want to applaud any work of fiction that brings people joy (so long as it or its author is not reprehensible in some way (he said, covering his ass)). I don't want you to think this is me taking shots at you or at Sanderson. I'm just talking about a work of fiction and what it did to my brain.

Believe me when I tell you I have no delusions about being some high-handed minister of good taste. You should see some of the anime I watch to destress at the end of a long day trying to be a self-published author, editor, and, well, just an ordinary semi-functioning human being.

I've read many, many books and loved them, only to come back to them later and find they were … less deserving of my matured tastes. Sometimes books meet us at the right time. If Mistborn was, or is, one such book for you, I would be a jerk and a fool if I tried to tell you that you were wrong for liking it. That isn't what this is. But, if you're at all curious why I didn't like it the way you did, here are my thoughts.

Instead of trying to construct some long elaborate essay, I've decided to present my reading notes as I was writing them. If you're at all familiar with my SPFBO9 opening reads thread, this is in a similar, though much protracted style. This is my travelogue of the first few chapters. If these notes are rough or feel stilted in places, I'm sorry. I DNF'd the book a few months ago, and I found in trying to clean up my notes that I was making up commentary to fill in gaps and I don't think that's fair. I've tried to provide some context where I could.

Pages referenced are from the first mass market edition, published August 2007 by Tor

My Notes:

Starts well enough. Interesting introduction to the fantastic elements of the environment (the ash fall) and the enslavement of the skaa. Some neat 2nd world titles “obligator,” etc.

Not great, not riveting, but competent introduction of world and one protagonist, Kelsier. He doesn't know what to do with Vin, though. Disconnect between the characters as we're told they are and their actions. Lacking coherent motivation.

(P.5)The slave that stands and stares defiantly sending a chill through the lord so-and-so is a bit melodramatic. Both actions struck me as over the top.

(writing note)…too many “of courses”

The writing is competent and descriptive. The Mist at night is another interesting setting detail.

(p.6) I immediately dislike Kelsier. “I’ll have to cure them of that (fear of the mist) some day.” This is has an unsympathetic arrogance about it. If this is also the man who stared defiantly at lord-so-and-so, hes blasé about endangering these people, and seems to look down on them, much like lord-so-and-so. I suspect this impression is not intentional. I suspect I’m supposed to think him strong and clever. We’ll see.

(7) rolling his eyes at these people. This seems intentional. But it’s also annoying.

(10) beatings beatings beatings. These “peasants” and their daily beatings. Did I mention the beatings? Their lives are harsh! There are beatings!

(‘) what is this talk about Tepper “leading” the skaa? Leading them how? They’re slaves! What decisions are they making? No, really. What is this forced little conflict? It’s pointless.

(‘) “How do you do that?” “What?” “Smile all the time” - there’s no reason for him to ask this. It’s unmotivated dialogue. How do you smile all the time? How? No. Why, sure. “You keep smiling. Is something about our home funny to you?”

(19-20, ch.1) I’m having trouble with Sandersons storytelling. This is coming across as heavy handed and simplistic. Here’s Vin. She was betrayed. There are betrayals. This boy who came to get her who’s nice enough will also betray her. But the ash is free…

I wonder if we’re going to slowly work through the alphabet section by section. Ash, then beatings and betrayal… who knows what could be next? Crime? I bet it’s crime.

Also - Reen’s sayings and betrayal. I think in general I find it a bit affected when we meet a character and they’re immediately thinking of their backstory … but that’s probably not fair of me. I think what comes across as affected is Sandersons execution. There’s a very light fiction - YA quality about Vin’s angsty introduction. I might have loved it if I read it at 14, but not now.

I’d like to think of an example of what would be more appealing to me - the introduction of a character with similar enough circumstances… Actually, Gideon the 9th might be a good example. We get to hear Gideon’s voice in the prose and the dialogue and get a strong sense of her character as well as the specific and very interesting world building details of how she got into the 9th house. Here, Reen’s betrayal is left completely unexplored, and so I wonder why bring it up at all except for that cheap YA punch in the gut of “my brother betrayed me and now I’m here.”

Maybe Sanderson felt some necessity to move faster here. He wanted to get to the city theiving … but it isn’t working for me, so obviously I think it was a mistake. Obviously he was hoping this would create a sense of anticipation that we would eventually find out HOW Vin’s brother betrayed her, but because he leads with it and then doesn’t explain it, it makes it seem like it doesn’t really matter HOW Vin was betrayed, what’s important is that she was betrayed and now she doesn’t trust anyone. It’s just a bit weak.

THE HEAVY HANDEDNESS (People being mean to Vin - her hard life) (21) the slap in the face (23) Theron looking Vin up and down - “eyes lingered on her … running down the length of her body. … She was hardly enticing (didn’t even look 16); some men preferred such women, however.” (24) “what do you know?” “Enough” - Vin hurts her, expositional dialogue about her brother’s debt and selling her to a whorehouse.

(25) fearing Vin would disappear in a scene she doesn’t have much to do during, we get these unnecessary interjections of her watching the interaction, followed by the explanation of Camon thinking Vin is his good luck charm. This should have been presented earlier, because it just interrupts the dialogue here. But also, it feels inaccurate after Vin made such a useful critique of Camon’s servants. She seems much more useful in other ways than a luck charm, and comfortable offering her criticism without the slightest hesitation.

This chapter ends rather abruptly and without much Go to it. Vin uses her Luck and gets our stuffy official to consider her boss’s mundane business proposal.

The notion that Camon brings Vin along because he thinks of her as his luck charm feels really thin, especially on a job like this where everyone has to look the part. Which raises an important question: what was Vin doing there? I mean literally. Why didn’t Camon have SOMETHING for her to do. Camon didn’t dress her up in any part, she didn’t have any kind of cover story as his daughter or nurse or anything. Just some kid in the room dressed … who knows how while important official business is discussed. She just floats somewhere, doing nothing, as far as anyone is concerned.

VIN’S MOTIVATION Where is it? What does she get out of making this work for Camon if he has no idea what she’s doing? Why is she avoiding him if this is such an important job? Why is she helping him at all?

The pieces are there, but Sanderson doesn’t put them together.

Camon should know about Vin’s ability to “smooth things over” in some capacity. This would give him a serious reason for her being there on this crucial job. Vin should be motivated to help him because if this lucrative job works out, it will go a long way towards paying off her brother’s debt. Now suddenly there is a sense of urgency for her instead of just having a bad time owned by a “crew leader” getting slapped around. The scam itself isn’t enough. Frankly, it’s kind of boring at this point. It’s a slow moving beurocratic swindle.

(32) Kelsier. Sanderson is doing a good job introducing some thieves’ cant here as Dockson and Kelsier are planning their job, talking about how they need a “Smoker.” Someone is a good Tineye. The loss of a man to the Steel Ministry underscores the mortal risk these men are taking. But … there’s something about all this crime play that feels a bit cute, like Sanderson had only a passing, generic understanding of (fictional) gangs/criminal organizations. He’s spent his world building energy on the fantasy aspects of the story - the dystopian Tolkien Lord Ruler and Steel Ministry, skaa, ashfalls, mist - but not on developing the criminal world of the characters, linguistically speaking. They’re all crews working on a job headed by a crew leader. This is the world we’re living in, most immediately, and yet it feels the most underdeveloped.

“Kelsier shook his head. ‘No. He’s a good Smoker, but he’s not a good enough man.’ Dockson smiled. ‘Not a good enough man to be on a THIEVING CREW … Kell, I have missed working with you.”

This stopped me dead. I laughed at the book and put my hand over my eyes. “Thieving crew” is just silly. It’s sixth grade D&D language, but even more ridiculous is the sentiment of Dockson’s statement: that character is somehow a moot point because they are criminals. It’s as if he’s saying: we’re breaking the law, so we’re the bad guys, and bad guys don’t work with “good men.”

Here we see Sanderson’s shallow understanding of the characters he’s portraying. They are stealing from slavers who exist in the service of a brutal, oppressive dictator. But put that aside, and consider we’ve just been told one of their ilk had been caught and beheaded by the Ministry. The risk these people are facing couldn’t be higher. Working with people they can trust, a stand up guy or a “good man,” would be one of the most important things to them. From their point of view a “good man” doesn’t mean a patron saint of the poor, but it means a hell of a lot. If a guy is a drunk who cheats on his wife, you can’t trust him not to turn on you. If he gambles too much, you can’t trust him not to gamble on your safety. He doesn’t keep his apartment clean, how can you trust him to be conscientious about keeping you alive. It all matters - even more so because he’s on a “thieving crew.”

Now, Sanderson probably didn’t give this line more than a moment's thought. He was writing fast and sailed right over it. But that’s exactly the problem. It gives the book a kind of childish, YA feeling.

(33) “Kelsier turned with curious eyes.” I’ve written lines like this, but I almost always revise them because I write about eyes too much. The point is his eyes aren’t curious, Kelsier is, and it shows on his face. I can’t picture curious eyes, and I’m sure you can’t either. And I would cut the next line of dialogue - going to chastise my brother … we already know he was going to do this because he said so, and the line just isn’t very good anyway. A look of curiosity from Kell, and the promise from Dockson “it’ll be worth your time,” gets us out of the section better. Sometimes the best repartee between characters is a look.

(33-34) the scenes with Vin remain heavy handed, and affected. This section adds almost nothing to the story accept for the disappointingly narrow view of a fantasy underworld that the women in it are only ever whores. This from a world crawling with Smokers and Tineyes? I think not. The clumsy presentation of Vin’s awful life is what makes these sections particularly affected. With her particular ability to use her Luck, I can’t help but wonder why she’s even still here. That seems to be the story to me. Not the abuse, but why she remains when she clearly has the power to get out. She can smooth over deals with reps from the SM, but she hasn’t thought to calm some member of the crew and then just … walk? Go literally anywhere in the city and use her Luck to get work where she won’t be whipped and slapped. It seems like the easiest thing in the world, so why hasn’t she done it? This is what the story here could have been, and it would have been so much more interesting.

Obviously she has to be there so Sanderson can have terrible things happen to her so she can be saved by Kelsier just like he saved the other raped scaa girl (let’s all take a moment to roll our eyes) and then her character can have a trajectory from passive victim to active hero - but that’s an excuse, and excuses don’t make good stories.

That said, as is, these two pages could be cut entirely and with very minor revision to the next session, nothing would be lost. It introduces a hideout we don’t need to know about, abuse that is redundant, over the top and unmotivated, and then Camon says “it’s time.” It’s just a prelude, in which nothing happens, before the actual scene. So just cut to the actual scene.

(36) we finally find out what the Camon job was supposed to be, I suspect because Sanderson finally decided what the details were. It would have been much more interesting to know this earlier, just like it would have been more interesting to understand about the particulars of Vin’s brothers betrayal earlier, so we could understand the context of the story being told.

But a LARGER ISSUE continues to emerge. First Camon tells Vin nothing about his plans. She says she is apparently the only crew member who didn’t know what was going on. Then, as they sit in the waiting room, in the vey belly of the obligator beast, he tells her everything. Why? Because Sanderson wants us to know even though he never decided who this character was.

He wants her to be a passive victim of inordinate abuses by a group of irredeemable villains, who only avoids constant sexual assault through the exhausting use of her secret magic so she can be saved and then learn how to be powerful later. But he also wants her to be a smart, capable member of Camon’s crew who is considered as such, because he knows passive protagonists aren’t interesting and because he wants us, the reader, to know what’s going on, and also think that Vin is cool. She can’t be both at the same time. She either needs to be less of an abject, pathetic victim, or she needs to be less involved in this big important scam - and that means she knows less about it and does less to make it work. As is, he’s done too little with either idea of her character and both Vin and Camon are an unmotivated mess.

(42) steel inquisitor. Cool, creepy, disgusting - something straight out of hellraiser.

(43) “Besides, I’m not about to let a possible Mistborn slip away from us” Ah!

Ch3 (45) after the meeting with the obligator (that was a trap), is the first time Vin ever expresses any interest in getting away. Much too late Sanderson gives us a much too thin reason why Vin hasn’t run away (considering the conflicting versions of her character as mentioned before). It’s little more than an afterthought.

(47) in no more than 2 pages Vin goes from never thinking she could make it on her own to leaving for good, telling herself she’d survived sleeping in alleyways before, she could do it again and - “Reen had taught her how to scavenge and beg. Both were difficult in the Final Empire … but she would find a way, if she had too.”

So far, this is all based on a bad feeling. More motivation conflict - Vin has no problem telling Camon directly how his plans won’t work and that he should change the way the servants are dressed, helps him succeed with her luck in both plans, but sees no reason to tell him “I have a bad feeling about this. That was too easy. Why did that obligator suddenly agree. Doesn’t this seem weird to you?”

Sanderson has many of the right pieces, but he hasn’t been able to put them together coherently.

(45)(And, just as an aside, I’m not sure why a girl who has spent to book so far reiterating to herself that EVERYONE WILL BETRAY ME is going out of her way to tell Ulef she has a bad feeling and to get him to come with her. Sanderson says “if he would go with her, then at least she wouldn’t be alone.” But he has also up until this point defined her character by a near constant desire to be alone - when she is introduced sitting in the window of the hideout thinking her brothers word “Vin wasn’t on duty; the watch-hole was simply one of the few places where she could find solitude. And Vin liked solitude. ‘When you’re alone, no one can betray you’- (37) at the “It’s just another betrayal, she thought sickly. Why does it still bother me so? Everyone betrays everyone else. That’s the way life is … She wanted to find a corner - someplace cramped and secluded - and hide. Alone.”

(47) "Bringing Ulef was a good idea. He had contacts in Luthadel." These after the fact explanations are no good. This isn't Vin thinking this, it's the author coming up with more justification for Vin's action, but in order for her character to seem active and motivated, this needed to be revised into the section where Vin decides to bring Ulef. Now it's just tacked on - oh, yeah, and, by the way, if you weren't sure it made sense for Vin to do this, Ulef probably knows people. So, there.

It doesn’t wash. Who is this girl? Can she not stand the idea of being alone, or is it the one and only thing she wants? Is she strong and resourceful in spite of her circumstances, or is she a passive victim? Does she believe everyone will betray her, or does she desperately want to believe otherwise because she can’t live in such an unkind world? Sanderson doesn’t seem to have been able to make up his mind. Maybe some of these details were added in revision on the suggestion of beta readers and the result is a checkerboard character. I’ve seen that before where you make a suggestion to a writer and they add your suggestion but they don’t make the necessary changes to the rest of the book so that the new material earns its place, they just throw it in and dust off their hands - job well done, gotta stay on schedule to publish! But now I’m just writing fan fiction about Sanderson’s process. I don’t know.

(55) Vin’s “weakness” - the contradictions/inexactitude of characters seems to be an ongoing issue for Sanderson, at least for Vin. Is she weak and has to pretend to be strong, or is she strong and often chooses to pretend to be weak (so far she has seemed to be weak and act weak, other than her Luck).

Well, that's as far as I got. Kel shows up just in time to be the wrath of justice for Vin. He's the superman who will make everything alright for this feckless girl. Our hero. Did Sanderson lay it on thick enough? Did you get that these people were all so irredeemably and stupidly bad? Aren't you so glad this strong man has shown up to be Vin's vengeance, just like had been telegraphed all along?

Sorry, I don't mean to be sarcastic. This part of the narrative really isn't so bad, its just been so heavy handedly and clumsily lead up to that there's no thrill in it for me. It isn't a bit satisfying. I'm just glad I don't have to read about any of these shallow side-characters anymore. Except, I have no intention to read on, so I don't have to read about any of them anymore.

Is this book bad? Yes and no. I don't want to read any more, and only read as far as I did as an examination of storytelling, so for me its bad. You only get so many eyerolls before I have to say that. The sentences are very clear and coherent. On their own, they are coherent. Together, they fail to paint of picture of coherent characters who drive the action of the story. If you don't have that, at least in my book, you've got nothing.

The images work. The setting, in its broad strokes, is eveocative. I'd love to set a DnD campaign in a world of ash and a dark lord and all that (I'm not the least mad about the cliché of the dark lord, by the way. Who doesn't love archetypical stories?) But, as near as I can tell, there are no human beings in this book. No one is real. The characters are just that, only characters in a book. They are paper cutouts. They fall flat when the hand of the author isn't pushing them around and making them do things.

Fans often hold Sanderson up as the gold standard of a fantasy author who produces work fast. And having read this far into Mistborn, I can say this about it: It reads like it was written fast.

Yes, Mistborn was an earlier book of his, so I can't judge him by it alone. But it is a work that is so often held up as a favorite by his readers. That's why I picked it up, to see what all the fuss was about. There were many things I enjoyed, but what I enjoyed wasn't the narrative. The story and the characters who moved it were the thing that I enjoyed least. The unique magic and broad setting details and description of places and creepy Inquisitors were what I liked best. The proper nouns were fun.

But proper nouns don't make a story for me. So I did not finish Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

If I were looking for a light fantasy read that I didn't have to take seriously and I could pick up and put down whenever I wanted because it was never that exciting or particularly witty or clever, but managed to string along one event after another and kept them going, more or less, whether it made much sense or not, until the end, I think Mistborn would be a fine book to dip into. Lots of people have read it. But then, that seems to me to be its major appeal. It’s a book you can talk about with other people.

It's not enough for me, though. There's lots of fun fantasy books out there that feel more coherent, and, well, INTERESTED in the story they're telling. Interested in violence and revolution and crime in an oppressively totalitarian, dystopian world. Interested in the plight of a young girl who only wants … well, what does she want? To be safe? But the only way she finds she can be safe is to go toward danger and realize how very strong she is? Maybe this story would like to be that, but it hasn't been for the first 60 or so pages.

Sanderson's novel felt more interested in the large and vague story shapes around the characters - a city, a dark lord, slavery, soot snow, bad mist, some kinds of magic, and (I cringe to say it) rape and thieving and beatings - but not in the world of their lives.

I've heard good things about The Way Of Kings from people who did not like Mistborn either, but its safe to say at this point that I have reservations about my reading tastes being a good match for Sanderson's work, at least at this point in time.

If I'm looking for fun I'd rather read another swanky, noir fantasy by Douglas Lumsden any day, or the next gothic gaslamp fantasy mystery by Morgan Stang, or discover my next favorite author, indie or otherwise.

I don't think Mistborn was terrible by any stretch of the imagination. Sanderson has delighted readers for over a decade now! He's prolific, hard working, and he delivers what his fans want, and he and they continue to be richly rewarded for his efforts. He is a Name in the genre, often listed alongside the greats. And why not? Isn't pleasing readers what this is all about? Taylor Swift has oceans of adoring fans, and she's no less deserving of her accolades. Brandon Sanderson is the Taylor Swift of fantasy, you could say. I just don't like her music either.

#books and reading #brandon sanderson #Mistborn #book review #book critique #dnf #fantasy books

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detectivereads · 6 months ago

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Delicious in Dungeon vol 5 by Ryoko Kui

4/5

This post is for fan entertainment, I’m not being paid.

Yes! It took me awhile to get the next few volumes but now I have volume 5! I will say that I have watched the anime, that covers the whole of the manga. Keeping Dungeon Meshi Thursday alive!!!!!

Ok starting off on this volume, I did get creeped out with how Falin was going to the Mad Mage under that trance like state and the Mad Mage they are absolute terrifying.

Now I will say this, because I guess there are people who think with what Marcille did to bring Falin back with ancient magic was evil. I honestly don’t believe that Marcille did anything wrong. Marcille knew what she was doing, she did everything correctly to bring Falin back with no issues, however I do think she should have planned ahead a bit.

Being in a magic dungeon with the rumor mad mage running around (granted no one has confirmed that the mad mage was alive) and using the meat of the servant to the mad mage was probably not the smartest idea. (but hey how can you plan for that scenario?)

I don’t think that Marcille deserves the backlash she got from former party members. Marcille learns the forgotten ancient magic so it won’t be forgotten, it’s a part of history that should be remember or at least learn enough about it to see why it was label by the non-magic users as forbidden. (Ok rant over)

Also, I wanted to bring up some of the realistic emotions that Chilchuck showed in this volume. I do remember when Laios, Marcille and Chilchuck agreed to come back down into the dungeon in the beginning that he knew that the group would need his help to scout for traps and the like. But Chilichuck is not a fighter. I was so emotional when he was planning on leaving the group after the run in with the Mad Mage. I am also glad he didn’t.

Senshi is still Senshi and he is awesome and perfect.

In the later chapters we meet back up with Karbu’s group, I thought Laios was a bit odd, but I think Karbu is under that category as well. But I do find the way Karbu interacts with his team a bit more refreshing than Laois and his group.

Also, in this volume we learn some lore about Namari, which I did feel bad that she was left holding the bag for her dad, while he skipped town.

I guess I could understand why she is more brash after learning more about her. I also understand that she needs to make money and can’t be tied down to a situation she can’t benefit from.

I felt bad for Laios’s team when they met the dryads, pollen is horrible.

Throughout the manga we also me back up with the Samuri of Laios’s old group and he is running with a new group as well.

Ok I will say that these new characters are amazing to look at, and they are power houses in their own right.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I think the pumpkin heads are so neat and when I was at the At Home store, I found this and I was tempted to buy it, but I did some thinking, I could find something a little more similar to the picture in the manga. Also, I think this pumpkin thing in the picture is a vase or candy dish, not a bowl.

FYI Code Orange is happing.

Dungeon Meshi Thursday!!!!!!!

#books recommendations #book review #fantasy #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #laois touden #marcille donato #chilchuck #senshi of izganda #code orange #dungeon meshi thursday

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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 29 days ago

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Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials - Number 15: Danganronpa 1 Case 6

//This render is sick^^^

//Anyway.

//I want to quickly jump back a little bit to the beginning of this countdown at the beginning of this month. If you've been reading these posts as they've been uploaded daily, you would remember that one of the kickstarters of this list was Chapter 6 of Danganronpa V3; i.e. the final trial of that game.

//And you'll remember that I largely had very negative opinions of it. For a variety of reasons.

//However, to V3-6's credit, if there's one thing I can say it DID hit the mark on, it's the fact that it was both climactic AND emotional.

//Regardless of what kind of emotion it made you feel, whether you satisfied with the twists of it or not, I don't think any of us can deny that the final trial definitely felt like a final trial.

//Which...is strangely not the case for me in my relationship with the finale of Game 1.

//Let's talk about it.

//For starters, let me just preface that I don't dislike the ending of Danganronpa 1. It DOES contain one of my favourite plot-twists in the series, as most of the final trials tend to do. But to quickly sum up my thoughts on it, I think I generally feel about it the OPPOSITE of how I feel about Game 2 Case 2.

//Game 2 Case 2 was incredibly satisfying for the story, and the character development, but it felt incredibly lackluster as a mystery. Game 1 Case 6 is an incredible and fun mystery, but once it's solved, it's packed with what I think are really mediocre and cliche character moments that feel a bit too...anime, compared to the rest of the game.

//For what it's worth though, the setup for this finale is pretty solid. I think that largely has to do with the fact that unlike the rest of the games, where the 5th Case is far removed and kind of only slightly lays the groundwork for the final chapter, the one that did it in this game, I feel, was Case 4 with Sakura. While Cases 5 and 6 feel like a 2-part finale, especially since Case 5 can end with the Bad Ending where Kyoko dies, and the remaining students are forced to live out the rest of their days in the school.

//But in the alternative TRUE ending of the game, things take a turn that’s both fascinating and a little...anticlimactic.

//Let’s be honest: the final chapters of the Danganronpa series tend to be less about storytelling and are basically one big investigation. Even though the trials themselves kind of round up all the key mysteries in the plot in one...not-so neat little bow, the 6th Chapters themselves are mostly trying to scramble together loose clues to SUPPORT the final points.

//But in this case, it's not just an obligatory sprint to the finish line. It’s a clever, engaging lead-up to the climax.

//Chapter 5 leaves Makoto narrowly escaping execution with an assist from Alter Ego. Instead of the afterlife, he gets the cozy confines of a garbage pit, where he hangs out for a while before Kyoko shows up to save the day.

//Of course, Makoto’s earlier decision to let Kyoko’s gambit slip didn’t just keep her in the game, it also boxed Monokuma into a corner. Caught in a lie, Monokuma has to save face, and Kyoko masterfully reminds him that the "outside audience" is watching. So rather than just brushing the gang off (which he can easily do, might I add), Monokuma makes a bold move: he dares them to uncover every mystery of Hope’s Peak and their situation. If they can figure it all out, they can leave.

//This is largely why I like Monokuma so much in the first game, because these are his roots, and what sets him apart as a villain. Although, to be perfectly frank, I admit that this trial is probably where things kind of take a poor turn for him. That's not the bear's fault though, but...we'll get to that.

//Either way, challenge accepted, queue what I actually think is one of the best investigation segments in the entire series.

//I didn’t love it at first. My initial impression was that it was one giant info dump, which can be a problem for the final chapters in this series, as I've kind of already said.

//And trust me, this trial definitely IS an info dump. As I said before, the issues with the final trials are universal throughout the whole series, and that includes DRA and SDRA2.

//But on reflection, I came to appreciate how dynamic and rewarding this investigation feels. Compared to 2-6, or V3-6, this one doesn’t feel like a tedious game of “connect the dots.” Instead, it’s like you’re genuinely piecing together a massive, vital mystery.

//I think that's especially because of the sense of freedom. Throughout the game, even in the later stages, there are areas you’ve known about all along but couldn’t access until now. Finally getting to explore them feels as satisfying as closing a dozen browser tabs after finishing a huge project.

//(That's the same joke I made back when I reviewed these trials on Reddit. Needless to say my opinions have changed a bit.)

//It’s an “ahh, yes” moment that makes you feel like you’re cracking open the heart of the game.

//Then there’s the trial itself. Sure, it’s not as flashy as some of the earlier trials, except maybe the first and fifth one, but that’s okay. It doesn’t need to be.

//What makes this trial stand out is that the Big Bad isn’t spending the whole time lecturing you or dumping plot twists on your head. Most of the revelations are things you’ve already uncovered during the investigation. You’ve got all the puzzle pieces; now it’s just a matter of putting them together.

//Unlike in the other games, the villain isn’t spoon-feeding you answers, and the clues actually feel meaningful, which is a step up from some of the other final trials.

//There's a lot of really neat plot twists in this case, particularly the fact that the students have actually been here for over 2 years now, and they WILLINGLY locked themselves inside the school, but as far as they go, there are two major twists that stand out especially.

//And while I think both are good, the first one...is executed a little strangely.

//I won't say POORLY.

//Just...strangely...

//The twist I'm referring to is the twist of who the Mastermind controlling Monokuma is, and who actually is that's running the Killing Game.

//And...You know what? I don't know why I'm dancing around so much, we all know who it is.

//It's fucking Junko Enoshima. THE Mastermind. The biggest villain in the series and one of the most all-time notorious villains in FICTION.

//Again, I shouldn't have to explain this to anybody who's a fan of Danganronpa and has played these games, but...I have to pad this out somehow. What makes this reveal especially shocking is that Junko was presumed dead early in the game. During the first trial, she is graphically executed for breaking Monokuma’s rules, leading everyone to believe she was just another victim of the deadly game.

//However, the twist reveals that this was part of an elaborate ruse. Junko faked her own death to continue manipulating events from behind the scenes. The rumored 16th student hiding somewhere in the academy, Mukuro Ikusaba, who we find out was actually the Ultimate Soldier; and in this trial, Junko's older twin sister; willingly posed as her and took her place as the first apparent victim.

//This misdirection ensured that no one would suspect the real Junko was still alive and controlling Monokuma.

//I have complained previously about how Mukuro really wasn't much of a character in DR1, because honestly, I generally don't think I would have given a single shit about her had it not been for IF, and this game really just treats her as a plot twist and a throwaway character.

//At the same time though, I do have to commend this segment not just for its cleverness, but how it immediately sets up what kind of threat you're dealing with. The fact that Mukuro and Junko were not only working together, but also Junko's reveal that they're SISTERS, shows her ruthlessness and willingness to sacrifice anyone, even her FAMILY, for the sake of her goals.

//These days we obviously know that Junko doesn't care about anything enough to think twice about making these sacrifices. But remember, this was the first time we ever got to see her in action.

//And for what it's worth, I think this really is a good way of showing how the person who set up this absolutely horrific game is every bit as evil as we anticipated they would be.

//(Also, minor note here, but one thing I really like is the fact that the reason why Junko's surname is Enoshima and Mukuro's surname is Ikusaba is never actually explained, and Junko absolutely refuses to say why. I just think it's kind of funny.)

//But anyway, when Junko finally reveals herself, her character takes center stage. She is far from the shallow Fashionista image she projects in the outside world. Instead, she is the embodiment of chaos and despair, characterized by her erratic behavior and constant personality shifts.

//The Ultimate Despair, if you will.

//Her motive is not rooted in greed or revenge but in a nihilistic obsession with despair itself. She orchestrated the game to spread despair to both the participants and the outside world, reveling in the suffering it caused. Her ultimate plan involved broadcasting the killing game to the apocalyptic world outside, amplifying despair on a global scale.

//Generally I think this twist itself is fine. It does a good job in recontextualizing much of the game, from the participants’ amnesia to the overarching theme of Hope VS Despair. It also highlights Junko's brilliance as a manipulator and cements her as the standout villain of the series, and it's its still one of the most defining moments of the franchise, even though today, we all KNOW who Junko is, and that she's essentially Hitler in a schoolgirl outfit.

//...Don't imagine that, please.

//Actually, I take it back. Hitler WISHES he could be this evil. But again, we will get to that.

//So with all that said, the real question is what do I think of Junko as a character, AND as the Mastermind?

//Well...that's a bit of a difficult question, because the honest answer is that it depends on the iteration.

//For example, I think she's an extremely competant and awesome villain in DR2, wheras in DR3, I still think she's a cool, sadistic villain, but only when she's not being such a valley girl.

//(DR3 is legit the only iteration in the series where I generally prefer the sub instead of the dub, but then again, the majority of the voice cast is different, save for Makoto and a few of Class 77. I do love Jamie Marchi, but I'm just so taken by the afflictions of Bennett Abara and Erin Fitzgerald, and I think they nail the switching personalities way better.)

//As for the first game...eh...It's honestly not her strongest.

//To be completely and totally blunt, the first time I played Trigger Happy Havoc, the moment the mastermind stopped hiding behind Monokuma and revealed themselves was a standout point where my enjoyment of the game took a SWANDIVE.

//While the twist revealing her as the mastermind pulling all the strings is undeniably clever, her execution as a villain in this game feels…underwhelming.

//Don’t get me wrong, some of her later appearances, show a much darker, more sadistic, and outright evil side to her character, but...we'll talk about that when we eventually cover those cases.

//Here though? It’s almost hard to believe that this cartoonishly over-the-top douche-canoe is the Mastermind behind all the heartbreak, destruction, and death you’ve endured.

//And yeah, I know I said that killing off Mukuro really showed that villainy out of the gate, but...that's really it, at least at first.

//As established, learning that Junko was behind everything was one of those jaw-dropping moments that sticks with you. It’s a classic "mastermind was hiding in plain sight" reveal, and I loved the sheer audacity of it. But as soon as she starts talking, her dialogue and exaggerated mannerisms make her feel like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

//She’s dramatic to the point of absurdity, and while that’s part of her...ahem..."charm"...it also undermines the gravitas of what she’s done. Especially when she goes on to reveal what's ACTUALLY going on in the outside world.

//You’ve just spent the whole game mourning your friends and unraveling this massive conspiracy, and now you’re confronted with...what is basically a living meme? It’s a bit of a tonal whiplash.

//Then there’s her motivation...or lack thereof.

//When you first find out that Junko orchestrated this apocalyptic nightmare purely because she felt like it, it’s almost laughable. She’s not driven by revenge, ideology, or even self-preservation.

//Nope, she just wanted to watch the world burn because despair is her jam, and it is QUITE LITERALLY the only way she can feel anything anymore.

//Don't get me wrong, that can work for a villain. I mean, look at the fucking JOKER from DC comics. He's basically the exact same.

//But just because the Joker manages to pull it off, that doesn't make it any less tricky of an archetype. Villains who are bad just because they can be need to be handled with finesse to avoid feeling hollow or one-note.

//Unfortunately, Junko in the first game falls victim to that curse. The game shows the things that she has achieved, mostly on her own, might I add, and when you look at it, is really shows just how INSANELY powerfil this creature of a woman is. But the issue is that that isn't reflected in her personality, or the way she conducts herself. If anything, it downplays her.

//But at the same time, Junko's not designed to be a "likable" villain. She’s not supposed to have layers of tragic backstory or moments that make you empathize with her. Junko is the ultimate embodiment of Despair, a character specifically crafted to make you loathe her.

//And in that sense, she’s excellent at her job. She’s less of a person and more of a force. A plague infecting everything she touches, leaving destruction and misery in her wake. The sheer hate she inspires is exactly the reaction she’s meant to evoke, which is why she works so well as the overarching villain of the series.

//Especially compared to the other big bads, Monaca and Tsumugi. Not counting Mikado, Utsuro, or Akane Taira, because they're another matter. Junko still stands out as the strongest antagonist.

//Sure, Monaca had her moments, and hell, even Tsumugi had hers in the end, as limited as they were. But Junko’s influence is on a whole other level.

//She’s the original, the template, the blueprint for despair in this universe. Her character’s impact, not just on the narrative but on the players themselves, is unmatched. You’re not supposed to like her. You’re supposed to hate her with every fiber of your being, and that’s why she’s so effective.

//Which is kind of what I hope to capture in Survivor. What's most important for me with Junko going forward in this story is I want to make sure she damn FEELS like the most dangerous creature on the planet. Hence why her introduction in the final arc of Phase 2 immediately shook everyone to their core before she even revealed herself.

//So, while I’m still not a fan of her cartoonish antics in the first game, I can’t deny that Junko’s presence lingers long after the credits roll. She’s not a "fun" villain or a "cool" one, but she’s the right kind of villain for this story. The kind that gets under your skin, makes you uncomfortable, and ensures you’ll never forget her, whether you want to or not.

//But in short, the whole way she's presented just makes it hard for me to take these sinister aspects seriously, and thankfully, it gets fixed in later games.

//But then there’s the other twist. THE twist. One of the best in the series, hands down: the reveal of the outside world.

//Turns out, the world beyond Hope’s Peak’s walls; that, might I add, everybody has been fighting this WHOLE game to break through and breach through any means necessary; is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, courtesy of "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History."

//Because why the FUCK not!?

//The twist is devastating, not just because it’s essentially...well...the goddamn APOCALYPSE, but because of the weight it retroactively adds to everything that’s happened.

//All those characters who died trying to escape? Their desperate struggles were for a world that’s beyond saving. It’s heavy, gut-punch stuff, and it reframes the story in such a tragic, chilling way that it hit me like a brick wall.

//For me, this moment was peak Despair. It’s haunting, it’s horrifying, and it lingers.

//But again, this is another reason why I struggle to take Junko seriously as a villain, because the sense of sadism she gives off throughout the game when she's acting as Monokuma doesn't match when she finally reveals herself.

//You're telling me that the entire world outside of the school fell into a state of despair and destruction...because of HER?

//THIS chick!? REALLY!?

//It just...It feels so unbelievable at the time, and...thankfully, it DOES get fixed in later games. But that doesn't change that I really wasn't okay with it at the time I first experienced it.

//Still, it doesn't really take away from the horror of the twist itself, and I think these days, we're so attuned to this aspect of the Danganronpa games that we tend to forget just how POWERFUL this moment is. Like I said, it's one of THE BEST plot twists in the series.

//The students' isolation is no longer just physical but existential. They've spent this whole game fighting to get back to the safety and freedom of the world outside this school, but...now there is seemingly no safety or freedom to return to.

//And you realize, with horror, that this school, where anyone could drop dead at any moment by someone else's hands, is the LAST BASTION of humanity, and the SAFEST PLACE IN THE WORLD!

//I also forewent mentioning this, but this also explains why the Killing Game is being broadcast. Unlike the rest of Junko's main motivations for getting her classmates to murder each other in this game, it’s not just a sick experiment but a psychological weapon in a larger, twisted agenda.

//Junko’s ultimate goal of spreading Despair gains new weight as the broadcast of the game becomes a tool to perpetuate the hopelessness consuming the world. This revelation elevates the stakes BEYOND personal survival, tying the characters’ struggles to a global narrative and making their choice to hope all the more significant.

//But what you might be wondering so far upon reading this is...why do I have this so low on the list if I have so many good things to say about these twists?

//So far, my biggest issue with the trial is that I struggle to take Junko seriously as a villain. But I also admitted that in the later series, this gets reprimanded because Junko as a villain becomes more dangerous.

//Well...ah...the simple answer is that I'm REALLY not a fan of how this all gets resolved.

//Because as I kind of implied at the beginning of this post, there's...a strange lack of impact here for me, for something that's supposed to be an incredibly climactic finale.

//I can actually break the explanation why down into three things.

//One: Hope winning out over Despair feels way too simplistic.

//The way that this trial ultimately resolves itself is that Junko sets up a gambit where the survivors of the Killing Game get to vote for her to be executed. Complying herself with the rules of the Killing Game, she is the one who killed Mukuro, so that technically makes her the blackened for the case.

//The catch is that EVERYONE has to vote for Junko, and when Junko dies, they will get to leave the school. If even a single person doesn't vote for her, the spotless (everyone else) suffers the punishment.

//It sounds simple enough, considering voting for Junko is the only way that they don't die, but the twist is that the way they "die" is of old age, being trapped in the Academy forever. And it's a difficult situation because if they stay trapped in the school, the killing game will continue with Junko watching over them. But if they vote her out, they'll be forced to step into the outside world, which as a reminder, is a hellscape.

//Also, Makoto gets killed because Junko doesn't like him. Perfectly understandable at this point considering he's basically fucked her over.

//(Also, I know this is from the anime, but I love this little cartoon, don't @ me.)

//Well...we have a franchise, which includes a trilogy of games, and a spinoff game, so you probably already know how this gets resolved. The survivors boldly choose hope and triumph over Junko’s despair, thanks to Makoto "planting his seeds" in them.

//Also, this is probably the most impactful thing Makoto does the entire game beyond his relationship with Sayaka in the first chapter. Most of the stuff he does, he's either told to do, or is goaded into doing, by Kyoko. She's basically the real heroine of the story and Makoto is the sidekick.

//Although, despite the way I feel about this, I can't really talk bad about Makoto in this case, because even with the fact that this is the biggest impact he leaves on the game, it doesn't feel outwardly nonsensical or contrived for him to be doing this.

//And no, that's not just because he's the protagonist. Hajime and Shuichi did the same thing effectively, but somehow, Makoto's tirade still ends up being distinct.

//I know that they don't spend much time dwelling on it, since this is the only time in the whole series where the two of them actually meet face to face. But I genuinely think people don't talk enough about Makoto's relationship with Junko and how they are are perfect narrative opposites, with their contrasting ideologies and approaches to life defining the thematic core of the whole franchise.

//Makoto represents unwavering hope, kindness, and the belief in the inherent goodness of people. Despite his initial self-perception as "ordinary," he consistently demonstrates an extraordinary ability to inspire others and bring people together. He believes that hope is not just about avoiding ruin but actively choosing to confront challenges and inspire growth in oneself and others.

//This perspective is why he's such a beacon of resilience and optimism, emphasizing that Hope is a collective force built on trust and unity.

//On the other hand, Junko embodies nihility, chaos, and a deep CONTEMPT for humanity. Her obsession with despair stems from a warped view of life’s meaninglessness and the thrill she derives from causing suffering.

//Where Makoto uplifts and motivates those around him, Junko manipulates and tears them down. And even without him realizing it, her attempts to crush hope are repeatedly thwarted by Makoto’s ability to inspire perseverance and unity in his allies.

//Their dynamic showcases how these two ideas aren't just opposing forces but choices individuals make in responding to adversity. The dichotomy between Junko's cynical, destructive despair and Makoto's optimistic, constructive hope underscores their roles as perfect foils, driving the series' exploration of human resilience and the enduring power of belief.

//But even with all of that said, am I the only one who feels that this is almost suspiciously...tidy...given the dark and gritty narrative leading up to it?

//For a game that throws its characters into a relentless spiral of betrayal, murder, and despair, the ending wraps things up in a way that left me scratching my head more than anything.

//The survivors’ unanimous decision to embrace hope feels a bit too streamlined for a group that just spent weeks accusing, lying, and voting each other to their deaths.

//As a reminder, Makoto is literally the ONLY PERSON here who didn't try to screw over the whole group at least once.

//(Before anyone asks; Byakuya in Chapter 2, Toko, Hiro, and Hina in Chapter 4, Kyoko in Chapter 5. Also, Hiro and Toko did nothing to help this whole game and my god this is probably the worst group of Survivors in the entire series including the Another games so help me god Kyoko and Makoto are the only good ones here and I guess Hina too because she's a sweet bean but fuck the rest of them I know Toko redeemed herself in UDG but she sucks here they all suck WHYYYYYY-)

//These are people who were at each other's throats, sometimes literally, yet by the end, they're standing shoulder to shoulder as a united front. It’s as if all those emotional scars and lingering trust issues evaporated the moment Makoto delivered his TED Talk on hope.

//While inspiring, it also raises the question: Did nobody need at least a little therapy first?

//Anyway, two: The ambiguity of the Post-Apocalyptic Setting.

//There’s a stark contrast between the gritty narrative tone of the game and the saccharine optimism of its finale. The world outside is still a post-apocalyptic wasteland, riddled with despair and ruin, but the survivors walk out of Hope’s Peak Academy with the confidence of contestants on a game show finale.

//Sure, they’ve chosen hope, but how do they plan to, you know, survive out there? The optimism feels less like a well-earned triumph and more like the developers waving a bright "TO BE CONTINUED" sign at the audience.

//For a plotline that doesn't really get resolved in the best way, might I add.

//Putting DR3 aside, the only sign we get of what happened to Makoto and co. after the Killing Game is the fact that the main trio shows up at the end of DR2 and reveal that they are the members of the Future Foundation trying to save the Remnants of Despair, and then we get further context in Ultra Despair Girls.

//But we don't actually SEE a lot of what happens to the survivors and how this came to be in those games. Even in the anime, they're kind of already established members of the Foundation, so...there's still a lot that isn't ever really explained. We don't know what they actually DO with their lives post-Killing Game.

//I can't complain because yeah, the sequel at least proved to be an absolute godlike game that really built a solid foundation from DR1. And again, a lot of these issues are mainly because of DR3, not DR1.

//Finally, Three: The lack of impactful consequences for Despair.

//Junko’s obsession with Despair was such an overwhelming force throughout the game that defeating her with a pep talk and a group vote feels like it might have oversimplified things a bit.

//I'm not saying they could've jumped her and killed her on the spot is a good alternative, because that solves nothing, but still...

//Junko spends the entire trial, as well as most of the game when she masquerades as Monokuma, proving that despair is layered, intricate, and relentless.

//But Hope? Hope wins in a neat little package with zero paperwork or follow-up emails. For a villain as theatrically chaotic as Junko, her defeat feels almost anticlimactic.

//The only villain defeat that's more anticlimactic than this is that one Borderlands villain who dies falling down some stairs.

//And that's the real killer for this final trial. It's anticlimactic. At least, it's anticlimactic compared to the final trials of literally any of the other game finale's.

//Despite its tidiness, the resolution does fit thematically with Danganronpa’s central message: Hope, no matter how improbable or naive, is the antidote to Despair.

//Still, for a game that thrives on complexity and moral gray areas, this resolution feels more like a rainbow-colored band-aid slapped onto a very messy wound. It works, but it doesn’t stop you from side-eyeing the optimism as you imagine the survivors squinting into the wasteland and wondering what on earth they’ve gotten themselves into.

//But in short, when it comes to the Danganronpa series and fangames, if you can do an ending that's better than this ending, then it's a good ending.

//And luckily for us, we still have three more final trials to talk about.

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #danganronpa 1 #dr1 #mod talks #makoto naegi #junko enoshima #kyoko kirigiri #byakuya togami #toko fukawa #genocide jill #yasuhiro hagakure #aoi asahina #dangancember 2024 #ranking

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spideronthesun · 3 months ago

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OC Deep Dive

Thank you for tagging me lovely @mrbexwrites ! (here)

Rules: answer the following questions for your OCs

Passing the torch over to @satohqbanana @addomfarm-ogf-updates @alintalzin @cain-e-brookman @illarian-rambling

I did a lot of editing today, so I am going to put myself in Adamas' shoes. I worked the most on the chapters featuring him. Putting my answers under read more.

What uncommon/common fear do they have?

Drowning. It is not as if he is scared of water, but he doesn't go near it unless he is with someone else. He had an accident when he was younger, and he was never able to face it properly. He still doesn't know how to swim to this day.

Do they have any pet peeves?

No, in fact he's incredibly patient. He doesn't care if someone chews very loudly in front of him, or talks to him when he's studying. He will even give people a second chance when they mess up. And he won't hold it against them. Meanwhile, his brothers are full of pet peeves. Robertas dislikes it when someone plays music on a loud speaker instead of using headphones, Edvardas hates it when people talk shit about other people behind their backs, Nikolas doesn't like it when someone touches them, Danielius loathes being interrupted.

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

You're definitely going to find posters on his wall, journals and notebooks on his nightstand, as well as a bottle of cold water every night.

What do they notice first in a person?

Their shoes. He sometimes struggles making eye contact when he's nervous. Please don't hold it against him.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance?

4 to 5? It really depends. Burning his tongue with hot water or scalding his hand won't probably bother him that much. He will hardly notice that it even happened. But being punched does phase him.

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure?

Much to his surprise, he gets into fight mode. But he does hate confrontation and would rather not fight anyone. He hates it when someone in front of him starts fighting. Makes him nervous. But he will also defend those he cares about.

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?

Both. He comes from a big family, as he has got four brothers, and he is the second youngest in the family. But he's also a family person. He's used to people coming and going in his life, but he will always welcome at the doorstep even if they decide to show up like five years later after not speaking.

What animal represents them best?

Bear. He also gives great hugs!

What is a smell that they dislike?

Alcohol. He's just not a big fan of anyone drinking in front of him. It makes him anxious. And he will probably end up spilling the drink behind your back.

Have they broken any bones?

Nope!

How would a stranger likely describe them?

Shy, silent, a little bit awkward, usually keeps to himself.

Are they a night owl or a morning bird?

Night owl. He doesn't even notice that he has stayed up until the sun starts coming out and he hears footsteps of someone getting ready to work behind the closed door.

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love?

Love - chocolate, because who doesn't love chocolate?

Hate - tomatoes.

Do they have any hobbies?

He likes to read and write in his own time. In fact, he's a journalist, so he has a very inquisitive nature about him, and he likes to work on his articles. He likes learning about the people no matter how weird they might appear to the outer world. He feels like he always learns something new from the people he interviews.

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises?

Happily! While he doesn't like surprises very much, Adamas is still very receptive to them, and he's more than happy to celebrate his birthday with his loved ones. He knows that a lot of thought went into preparations.

Do they like to wear jewelry?

Only bracelets. And a necklace his best friend gave him.

Do they have neat or messy handwriting?

Adamas has a neat handwriting. The messiest handwriting in the family belongs to Edvardas after all. No one can ever decipher what he wrote. Not even him.

What are the two emotions they feel the most?

Peace and curiosity.

Do they have a favorite fabric?

Uh... knits? He likes sweater season.

What kind of accent do they have?

He has aukštaitiškas accent, as he grew up in the north-east side of Lithuania.

#wip: tales of the oak and lightning

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incorrect-junji-ito · 3 months ago

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Uzumaki episode 3 review

Spoiler warning for this episode

Okay, so this episode wasn't as bad as episode 2, at least. The animation is a little better, and the impactful moments get a little more weight than in episode 2. But I'm not here to compare this episode to the last. I'm going to talk about it as it is.

This episode covers the hospital arc, as expected. I also expected the anime to combine it with the end of Mrs. Saito. But even though it takes up a big part of the runtime, it still feels like it went by too fast. This is another argument for how this anime should have been given more episodes.

The firing effect section was disappointing for me. It's one of my favorite chapters in the manga because it contains one of the best quotes in the story: "We try our best with human hands, but sometimes nature can create things beyond our imagination. After all, most shapes are really patterns, but we can only see a piece of them at a time." This quote from Mr Goshima is important because Uzumaki is a piece of cosmic horror, and one of the biggest themes of cosmic horror as a genre is forces beyond what humans can comprehend. And it foreshadows that it's already too late to escape town because the spiral is already everywhere, we're only witnessing pieces of it at a time.

It also skipped over some great character moments that are in the firing effect. Kirie forcibly dragging Shuichi to her house is replaced by Mitsuo pulling him along, we don't get to see Shuichi running away and throwing up after eating from the spiral plate, or Kirie yelling at her dad for serving Shuichi food from that plate. And the fact that the clay comes from dragonfly pond doesn't come up in dialogue either. Shuichi calling Kirie because he felt lonely isn't there either. It just felt like they adapted the chapter with none of the depth that it had in the manga.

The typhoon chapter also changes things by having Shuichi being the one coming to Kirie's house in the storm instead of the reverse. It's a change that I don't like, since Kirie going out in the storm to make sure Shuichi has food is part of why I like their relationship so much. We didn't get Shuichi predicting the storm was coming either, or their nice quiet moment at the beach together.

Now for a part that I did like. The way they adapted chapter 13, "the house" was neat, even though a lot of details were skipped. Namely, because in the anime, Shuichi starts living with them in the row house. Though he doesn't speak a lot in this section, it's nice to see that he's included and is staying with Kirie. It makes sense that he would want to stay with the family to look after her, and I'm guessing his house was destroyed by the typhoon in this one. We don't get the Goshimas being temporarily infected with the spiral, but Wakabayashi's transformation is scary and effective.

Then there's Jack in the box. Yeah, he's here too, I guess. He just comes in at the end, does a few bounces and then falls apart. If they weren't going to do his part properly, then he shouldn't have been included, because the ending of the episode would have been fine without him.

Things that I liked:

Junji Ito himself voicing the typhoon was neat. Shuichi having more interactions with Kirie's family was also neat. Though I said the hospital arc went by fast, I actually think it was okay. The pregnant women were creepy, and Shuichi being with Kirie when the "mushroom" twist was revealed was pretty cool.

Overall, it's an okay episode. It's a big improvement from episode 2 at least. And I'm feeling slightly more optimistic about the end of the anime.

#junji ito #uzumaki #junji ito uzumaki #uzumaki anime #uzumaki review

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chuckeroo777 · 2 months ago

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Frieren Liveblog- Chapters 29-32

Last time, we found a new companion. Not sure how long he'll be sticking around, but he should be fun.

I see. So it's been exactly two years since chapter 4. I think you should be a little leniant with him. After all, it was only back in chapter 26 that Stark learned birthday gifts were even a thing.

Sein has only been with the group for a few days, and even he can see the romantic tension between those two.

Good to see Sein and I are basically on the same page here. I don't get what Fern's problem with the pouch was though.

Stop overthinking things. Just talk to people. It's easy.*

*It very much is not easy. But it is usually the correct course of action.

I see they went to the Loid Forger school of helicopter parenting.

Yes! She finally gets her revenge for all of Heiter's unsolicited head pats!

Definitely bigger on the inside.

TLDR: Flying is hard.

Once again, I suspect we are conflating warrior traits with dwarf traits.

Oh. Oh no. I've suspected it for a while, but...

Himmel really did love Frieren, didn't he?

What an oddly specific and oddly useful spell. Does it only work on things that belonged to you, or can it be used as a general loot-finding spell?

I really hope Frieren does get a chance to talk to him by the end of all this. Even if they can't be together, I really want to see them reconcile and bring closure to their relationship.

I think this is the only lingering spoiler. I saw a clip a long time ago of a scene where Frieren explains her deeper motivations when it comes to mimics. It's the same scene that gave me the impression that this manga was more dungeon based.

I think I also remember a clip of Frieren having a wizard duel in a dungeon, but that's such a vague scenario it barely counts.

Was it, Frieren? Was it?

Huh, neat. I was wondering why Frieren wasn't able to cure poison and stuff despite studying so much magic.

A standard round in DnD is six seconds. It'll be fine.

Talking is a free action. Seriously. I've read enough Manga at this point to know definitively that talking is a free action.

Also, Frieren's go-to slaying spell is a varient of Soul Track, so it would probably bypass refection.

That's how it goes with this sort of party. Frieren is terrifyingly OP, so the rest of the squad is tasked with covering her blind spots.

Is this that Yaoi thing I keep hearing about?

Lol, Fern and Frieren barely hesitate to consider selling Stark's body for money.

Ah, I see. Guess Stark gets to keep his innocence for today.

Frieren knows what she's about.

Also, I've long learned to ignore money values in this sort of setting. It tends to come up so infrequently, that there isn't really any consistency.

Could be worse. And judging from this chapter's cover, I think things will work out fine.

Talk about imposter syndrome. Not only is he being forced into a noble position, but the young prince is basically in the same position Stark used to be in.

On the one hand, Frieren may be doing this due to understanding the romantic tension between Fern and Stark. On the other hand, it's just as likely because she's lazy.

Yep, that's pretty much how I've felt at every wedding I've ever attended.

Weird. Outside the cover illustration, we basically don't get to see them dance. I imagine the anime won't skimp out.

And that's a wrap! Not too much of note happened this session, but Sein is quickly establishing himself as a nice member of the team, and Fern and Stark are clearly forming a connection, even if they won't admit it.

#sousou no frieren #frieren #frieren liveblog #manga #manga spoilers #chapter 29 #chapter 30 #chapter 31 #chapter 32

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eccentric-nucleus · 1 year ago

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actually if i'm gonna make a games rec post.

here are some games i have enjoyed recent-ish.

kenshi. an open-world squad-based rpg with base-building elements. get stronger by getting beaten up. lose a fight and get knocked out, have your weapons and food taken by the bandits that mugged you and left you bleeding to death. get rescued by some slavers that capture you and sell you into slavery. free yourself from slavery and limp away until you roll in hours later with a whole squad of overpowered fighters. then head a little bit too far south and get murdered by skin bandits. they take your skin. this is a completely self-directed game; there's no "main plot", although arguably "figure out the history of the world" is kind of the main 'story' mystery. there's also a bunch of unique recruitable characters with custom-written interactions. i usually recruit exclusively from freeing slaves but you can do w/e.

wildmender. a survival gardening game. this one came out recently and the devs are still releasing bugfixes; it's unclear if they'll make large content patches in the future. apparently multiplayer can still be pretty glitchy, and there's a water flow bug that i've been finding very frustrating. the way biomes work is kind of unsatisfying. kind of slim content-wise, but still, i really enjoyed what's there. out of all of the climate change terraforming anxiety games i've seen, this has been the one i've most enjoyed.

hellpoint. a scifi soulslike made by a team of like 12 people. previously i had thought things like "it would be neat if dark souls was less linear". hellpoint is a great example of why that might be a nightmare. the areas are connected in such a complex way, with one-way routes and branching unlock keys and secret paths and hidden doors behind hidden doors that it gets profoundly disorienting. a hint: almost every single hidden door in the game (there are a lot) is the middle panel of the same exact three-paneled-wall geometry. once you notice what it is you will see it everywhere. also, the enemy designs are hot.

crystal project. remember playing fan translations of final fantasy v? remember wandering around in old mmos? crystal project is kind of a... turn-based rpg mmo-influenced platformer. with a job system. you can sequence break the game from the tutorial level and also at basically every other point in the game too, although until you know what to look for it might seem like there's a linear critical path. but there's a lot out there. hint: play on easy mode. the combat gets tough later on and the game absolutely expects you to be finding and exploiting some class combinations.

astlibra: revision. a sidescrolling rpg. it must have been released episodically originally or some of the chapter pacing makes no sense. also it was originally released with a mess of art sourced from all sorts of places; 'revision' is a re-release with a more unified art style. it gets extremely anime all the time. there's a whole obligatory section where you have to ask all the women in a town about what kind of panties they're wearing. it's rough. i enjoyed how chaotic the systems are and how much Stuff there is to pick up and upgrade and unlock. the plot goes some unexpected places though it doesn't quite stick the landing, i still enjoyed what it did. also karon should be the love interest instead.

silicon zeroes. a cpu-building puzzle game. this straddles the line between the tech/code games that are literally just "learn a new language and code in it" and ones that are more structure-themed like, idk, spacechem. connect modules to assemble solutions to problems. it takes too long to get to chapter 3, which is where they start asking you to make entire cpus.

ashen. another souls-like. i just really like the environments in this one. the initial area looks gorgeous and the way it changes through the game is really neat to see happen. the seat of the matriarch is wonderfully awful to traverse and i wish there had been two or three more dungeons like it in the game. you can't level up; you gain stats mostly by progressing sidequests and the name quest. i eventually ran out of things to spend money on AND inventory space to store items. the late-game tuning is a little rough but until then it's great. a hint: there are three weapon types and within that type nearly all the weapons are identical. you get thrown so many weapons that don't matter; don't worry about collecting all of them. see above re: running out of space and things to use money for.

i guess it would be cheating to recommend minecraft regrowth or morrowind but i have also been playing those.

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tala-bez-i · 7 months ago

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At first sight Chapter Sixteen

(m!reader x Bonten!Haruchiyo Sanzu)

Fluff/slash/reader is male/cursing/BontenTimeline/drugs and alcohol mentioned/violence/blood/death

All characters that appeared in the Tokyo Revengers manga and anime belong to Ken Wakui.

Words: 4853

Today is my day off from work, so I decided to publish the next chapter. The next one is on Saturday as usual, so this week instead of two chapters there will be three.

This chapter may not be pleasant to read for some people.

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You couldn't remember the last time you sat in the passenger seat of a car, but you loved it. You were finally able to focus on something other than driving and your eyes wandered around the houses and parks you passed. The street lamps illuminated your path as you approached your destination. To Uchiyama's house.

There was a smell of tobacco in the car, but it was not as intense as it might seem, knowing who it belonged to. The interior itself was very neat and clean - the blond strategist certainly contributed to this.

“From the next street you can get to the back of the Uchiyama house.” You said in a calm tone and your companion nodded slightly.

“Tell me, L/n... Do you sometimes miss working directly with me and Kisaki?” Hanma asked in an equally calm tone.

You looked down for a moment, remembering the old days when you were still members of Valhalla. It was during one of the fights between the gang you belonged to and Toman that you saw Haruchiyo.

“No offense, but I'm not complaining about the change.” You replied, looking up again. “Basically, not much has changed.”

“Huh? Really?" Hanma laughed, looking at you secretly. “That's something new. And I thought you were more on vacation than at work.”

"Why?"

“Sanzu usually kept you away from riskier tasks.”

"Are you sure? Because acting as his bodyguard and getting rid of the bodies of traitors for him and Bonten is not an easy task." You winced slightly and looked at the tall man pointedly.

“Do I hear you complaining?”

"Absolutely not." You shook your head and Hanma parked the car near a tall fence at the back of the well-kept house. “I like my job and believe me; I have no intention of changing my closest company.”

“The closest company…” Hanma repeated thoughtfully, a mischievous smile appearing on his lips. “Really, Y/n?”

You looked at him colder than you intended, and his smile grew, a dangerous glint in his golden eyes.

"If you say so. Apparently you're more happy with being imprisoned by Sanzu than the freedom Kisaki gave you." He shrugged, and just as you were about to share some sarcastic remark with him, Shuji looked thoughtfully at the house you were planning to break into that night. “The light is on upstairs. Haven't our little ones gone anywhere today?"

You looked in the same direction as him and frowned. The house should be empty...

“Maybe the meeting time has changed?” You muttered, but after a while the light in the window went out and after a few more minutes you saw in the rearview mirror a car driving from the direction of the Uchiyama house. “It's their car.”

"Very good." Hanma said as he got out of the car, and you did the same. “Do they have any free-roaming animals in the garden? I would rather not come across a guarding dog.”

You pursed your lips and looked out of the corner of your eye at the tall man with you.

“I don't know…” You said truthfully and Shuji looked at you coldly before smiling and pointing to the fence you would have to get through.

“So, you go ahead.”

You cursed quietly and easily climbed the fence. You mentally cursed yourself for not wearing much more comfortable clothes than a suit, but it was far too late. Besides, you weren't alone, Hanma didn't prepare well either. You have obviously become unaccustomed to this type of action. After all, you always used the front door...

You looked around carefully and saw no trace of the dog, so you signaled to Hanma that the path was clear and jumped silently to the other side. After a short while, a slim man landed next to you, and you headed towards the glass door.

You looked carefully through the glass into the nicely decorated living room and were about to say that everything was fine when you saw a light turned on by someone in the open door to the room.

“Fuck, someone's home.” You said quietly and Hanma pulled you around the corner of the building.

He did it at literally the last moment, because after a short while you heard the glass door slide open and someone came outside. You and Hanma looked at each other, trying to stay as quiet as possible, and you heard someone light a lighter, and after a second, the smell of a cigarette wafted to your nostrils.

Hanma peeked surreptitiously around the corner, smiled broadly and, like a ghost, attacked the unsuspecting figure, covering their mouth and blocking their arms to prevent them from screaming and defending themself. You jumped around the corner right behind him and the last thing you saw was the tails of a woman's silk robe and they both disappeared inside the house. You quickly followed them inside, sliding the glass door shut and immediately closing the curtains.

Shuji was struggling in the living room with a woman you hoped you wouldn't have to see again.

*slap*

The tall man's head snapped to the side, his face showing surprise and something much darker than anger. His eyes flashed with sadism, and he responded to the petite woman in kind, but unlike Hanma, she fell to the floor with a loud moan.

You looked at all this with complete indifference. It's like you're watching a movie.

“Be good, honey, and no more harm will come to you. We understand each other?" Hanma asked in an artificially gentle tone, grabbing the woman's hair and pulling her up so he could look into her face.

“Fuck you, dickhead.” She shouted angrily, grabbing his hand with both of her small ones to free herself from his grip. “Both of you, fuck you!”

*slap*

The woman moaned once again and your body shuddered in a way you hadn't felt in a long time. You didn't like to use violence against women, but since some of them asked for it...

Hanma grabbed her face with his other hand and twisted her head towards you. Her beautiful brown eyes that you could once stare into for hours widened in horror. She inhaled loudly and froze.

“I guess that's not what you expected, huh?” Hanma asked, smiling cruelly at her, bringing his face close to hers to get a closer look at her. “You're beautiful, darling. Now I understand how someone could lose their head over you.”

“Give it up, Hanma.” Your voice was so dispassionately cold that it even surprised you. “It was so long ago it can't even be true.”

“Y/n…” The woman whispered and Hanma lifted her off the floor by her own hair. “Let go!”

“Oh, no, princess.” He led her out of the living room into the small dining room and sat her on a chair. “We'll talk politely, like adults... And then we'll see.” He looked at you with a wide smile on his face, sadism lurking in his eyes. “Hey, L/n! Search everything you can and I'll take care of Mrs. Uchiyama, what do you say?"

"No problem. Have fun, Hanma.” You said leaving them alone in the room and the woman called your name in a terrified tone, asking you to come back and not leave her alone, which you completely ignored.

You slowly walked away from the dining room, hearing Hanma teasing Emiko. The first room you went to was the living room where you were just a moment ago. You looked around the room carefully and put on the gloves you kept in your inside jacket pocket.

You walked up to the bookshelves and checked if there were any interesting documents on them, but you didn't find anything. You checked the coffee table for any hidden drawers, but all you found was an unfinished crossword with a woman's clear handwriting.

Emiko's wedding photo hung on one of the walls, but there was no groom at her side. She looked phenomenal in a wedding dress decorated with white flowers. Her black hair flowed in curls over her slender shoulder...

You shook your head and moved away from the photo you had walked towards without even knowing when. You looked away from it and tried to calm your racing heart. If Sanzu saw you now, he would probably kill you... You almost started imagining yourself next to the woman who abandoned you five years ago.

You weren't supposed to feel anything for her anymore...

Her scream reached your ears and you felt terrified. Halfway through your step, you stopped and with all your willpower, you forced your legs to take your next steps in a completely different direction than the dining room.

You started walking up the stairs to the first floor where you assumed the master of the house and Emiko's bedroom was. You opened the first door, behind which was the bathroom, and out of curiosity you opened the medicine cabinet. You saw several bottles of pills; the labels had the name Haruka Uchiyama on them. You took one bottle in your hand and found out that it was painkillers, but another... Antidepressants?

You snorted loudly, put the pills back in their place, closed the cabinet and left the room, heading towards the next door. From downstairs you heard the sound of several more blows and the woman's cries of pain.

Another shiver ran down your spine, which wasn't necessarily unpleasant, and you opened another room, which turned out to be... Empty. Strangely empty.

There were colorful wallpapers on the bare walls that had not been completely removed, and a colorful rug was carelessly rolled up against one of the walls. In one place there were traces of a bed on the panels. Your shoulders slumped slightly as you realized that they were traces of the small bed. The room you entered was the child's bedroom. A child that Emiko gave to an orphanage, giving up all parental rights.

You walked to a door in one of the walls and opened it. It was a built-in wardrobe that was empty. There were only specks of dust on the shelves, but when you looked down... In one corner of the closet, you saw a small, tattered teddy bear and children's scribbles on the wall. You crouched down and gently took the toy in your hand to look at it, and your heart sank for a moment.

You recognized it. It was the teddy bear you gave to Emiko when you were still in school and not yet engaged. You got up and left the room, unconsciously still clutching the teddy bear in your hand, which had certainly seen too much with its glassy eyes.

You opened another door and this time you found yourself in an adult's bedroom. It smelled of women's perfume, but the decor was more masculine. You walked over to the desk that was right next to the curtained window and started searching through it.

The first thing you found were documents that might interest Kisaki, so you took them. In one of the drawers, you found a notebook with a leather cover, which, when you opened it, turned out to be written by Emiko's hand. You put it in your jacket pocket and checked the drawer again, looking for the second bottom. You weren't disappointed and after a quiet click, you lifted the plate, underneath which was a key that looked like it fit into a padlock of some kind. You took it and looked around the bedroom.

There were a few photos and two small paintings on the walls that didn't look too expensive. You walked over to the low chest of drawers and started looking through its contents. A few drawers contained some women's clothing and the rest contained men's clothing. Nothing special and apart from a small sum of money, you found nothing else.

Your eyes landed on the large double bed, and you decided to look underneath. On the dusty floor there was a small cardboard box that looked like it had previously held shoes. You pulled it out and lifted the lid. You saw tiny baby shoes and some documents.

You frowned, wondering why Emiko left these things instead of throwing them away, and pulled out a piece of paper folded in half. It was the act of birth. The date was five years ago, and the child's name was Yuuta Miura. It was the maiden name of the woman interviewed below, so the boy did not belong to her first husband.

You continued reading and when you reached the section where the name and surname of the child's father should appear - you froze.

Your heart started beating faster and stronger, and you could hear the sound of your own blood in your ears. For a moment you felt uncomfortably light, as if you were floating in the air, but the pounding of your own heart brought you down violently. Your eyes wandered over the page, constantly returning to father's name and surname.

Y/n L/n.

Father's Name: Y/n L/n.

You felt sick and had to fight yourself not to vomit. You had no idea how long you had been kneeling on the bedroom floor of the Uchiyama’s house, staring at the birth certificate in your hands, when Hanma's slightly concerned voice snapped you out of your trance.

“Hey, L/n. Everything's all right?" He walked up to you and you could feel his searching gaze on you. “Fuck, I'd say you're pale as a sheet, but I don't think I've seen such shades of gray and green before…”

His voice died in his throat as he leaned over you, and you knew he had read the same thing as you.

“Tell me my eyes are playing tricks on me, Hanma.” You whispered without looking up at him. “Please tell me this is bullshit.”

Hanma cursed heavily under his breath and lifted you off the floor by your arm. “Ask that bitch yourself. The document does not appear to be a fake.”

Hearing the disgust in his voice, you looked at him and for probably the first time in your life, you weren't able to read any emotions on his face.

“Did you find anything else?” He asked and you handed him the papers from the desk and the key, which he looked at and nodded in approval. “We're going down. I tied her to a chair, but I want to take her to the hideout so Mikey can talk to her.”

You nodded, putting Yuuta's birth certificate and the teddy bear in the box you took with you.

“Are you taking it away?” Hanma was surprised as he followed you.

“I need to know more.”

“And what next?”

“I have a son, Hanma... I guess.” You started walking down the stairs and Hanma followed you with a heavy sigh.

"And what about this?"

"Seriously? What about this?" You shot him a cold glance over your shoulder. "It's my son."

"Probably. She could have just given your details, you know the paper will accept anything. Plus she never tried to contact you, even about alimony..." Shuji said, taking out a pack of cigarettes.

You grabbed his hand. “Don't smoke here. We don't want to leave any more traces.”

The man wrinkled his nose, but put his cigarettes away and licked his lips without saying anything.

You entered the dining room and seeing Emiko tied up and broken, you felt some kind of satisfaction. Her pretty face was starting to swell on one side, and the lips you kissed so often were cut and bleeding. There was pain in her eyes, and when they landed on the box you held in your hands, there was even more fear than before. A long moan escaped from her chest and turned into a silent cry.

“Please, Y/n... Please, no.” She whispered through her tears, turning her head away so as not to look at you.

Your blood boiled and you placed the box right in front of her on the table before grabbing her face and turning her around with such force that the woman groaned in pain.

“Whose baby was it?” You asked in a quiet, icy voice. “Look at the box, Emiko! Whose son is this?”

Spasms wracked the petite woman's body, and an anger similar to the one you felt when Mina tried to shoot Sanzu rose within you. It was bad...

“Listen, bitch…” You growled, but the woman interrupted you.

"Your! This is your baby, Y/n. Yuuta is your son… God, please…” She sobbed loudly and you felt your hand tighten into a fist and you began to raise it up to punch her right in the face that you loved so much years ago. At the last moment, Hanma grabbed your elbow and moved you away from the sobbing Emiko. All you had to do was pull out your gun...

“Calm down, L/n. Control yourself.” He said in a warning tone and you were about to tell him to go to hell when you saw a dangerous gleam in his eyes. You knew he understood your anger, but this wasn't the time or place to take it out on this woman.

You pulled away from his grip and, taking the box from the table, moved away against the wall of the dining room. Your eyes were fixed on the woman that Hanma was leaning over again. He whispered something in her ear, and she sobbed louder, shaking her head.

The tall man shoved a key in front of her and Emiko gasped. Still furious, you couldn't hear their words, and the muscles in your neck and back tightened and relaxed. You wanted to beat the woman out badly, more than when she left you.

“Give it to me, Y/n.” Hanma said, placing his hands on the box you were holding tightly to your chest. You looked at him with wide eyes, your fingers tightening on the box. You had no idea when he approached you. “Y/n, give me that box, man. I'll take care of it while you go down to the basement and find the door Mrs. Uchiyama kindly mentioned and open it with the key that was hidden in the desk. Do we understand each other?" The man's voice was hard, but there was a certain gentleness in his golden eyes.

You started shaking your head, trying to pry the box from his long, slender fingers, but you let go of it obediently as you looked into his eyes again. You took the key from him and tried to look at the woman tied to the chair, who was effectively hidden behind Shuji.

“The entrance to the basement is at the end of the hall, right next to the toilet door.” The tall strategist instructed you calmly and, placing one hand on your shoulder, directed you to leave the dining room.

Without a word, you followed his instructions and opened the door, beyond which were stairs and darkness. You searched for the light switch with your hand and when you turned it on, you began to carefully climb down.

The temperature was slightly different from the house itself, but a strange smell filled your nostrils, mixed with air fresheners and the chemical smell of cleaning products. You knew this smell perfectly well, and even a layman would know that it was not typical of basements. You knew that if the police looked into the house itself more specifically, they might find some traces of the missing and murdered prostitutes.

At the bottom of the stairs, you stopped and looked around the room. Against one brick wall you saw a small workshop and some tools scattered around, while against the other there was a washing machine and a dryer. The small shelf contained cleaning products, washing powders and an air freshener. You walked over to it and checked to see if it was possible to move it to the side, but the shelf wouldn't budge.

You looked around again and in the corner of the room, behind several crates, you saw a piece of material. You walked over to the spot and without picking up the fabric from the floor, you could tell it was a piece of underwear. Most likely female. Still crouched, you looked at the wall near the workshop. There were several shelves hanging on it with some jars with unknown, suspicious contents. In the very center there was a metal wardrobe, typical of workers' locker rooms or gyms. It wasn't locked with any kind of lock or padlock, so you walked up to it and opened the door.

The hinges worked perfectly, as if they had been regularly oiled, and you saw several hangers with some work overalls, and another two air fresheners. You moved them to the side and your eyes were met with the back wall of the closet, which looked completely ordinary. Too ordinary.

You put your hand on it and pushed it forward slightly. The wall gave way slightly under the pressure and you already knew that you had found a hidden entrance to the next room. You started looking more closely at the shores, looking for anything that would help you open the passage. You certainly didn't need a key at this point because, again, you couldn't see a lock or padlock.

As you began to feel frustrated, you placed both hands on opposite edges of the closet wall and pushed forward. Suddenly, the wall moved slightly to the side, and you realized that it was a type of sliding door, so you pushed it further to the side and an unpleasant smell filled your nose. You immediately felt a metallic taste on your tongue, and the tiny hairs on the back of your neck stood up so much that your skin hurt.

You've done a lot of bad things in your life, and you've probably seen even more with your own eyes, but something told you not to go into the dark room on the other side of the door. Your heart was pounding in your chest, and you swallowed hard. You went back to the workshop where you saw the flashlight and went back to the aisle with it. You turned it on and swept the hidden room with a beam of light.

You saw a table, several chairs next to it, and chains attached to the wall. You carefully entered the room and found a light switch on the wall next to the entrance, which you pressed. Lamps started to come on all over the room and you immediately wished you had stuck to shining the flashlight.

Your wide-open eyes wandered around the room, stopping at various pieces of equipment whose purpose you didn't even want to know. Everywhere you saw darker stains on the walls and floor, indicating recent suspicious activity. The entire room smelled of dirty bodies, chemicals, decay and death.

At the end of the room, you saw another door, but this time it was locked with a padlock. You walked over to them and checked to make sure the key fit. It slid into the hole without any problem, and when you turned it, the padlock opened with a soft click. You took it off and opened the door.

You weren't prepared for this sight and your eyes almost popped out of your sockets. Behind the door was something like a warehouse. The shelves were full of neatly arranged small packages. You didn't have to get closer to know what was in them. You've seen them many times when you accompanied Sanzu to pick up large shipments of drugs. There were several crates lined up against one wall and when you lifted the lid of one of them, you saw the guns and your heart started beating faster.

You felt all the blood drain from your face as you realized what you had just discovered and backed out of the room. “Fuck, fuck…” You cursed quietly, your voice shaking with emotion.

“L/n?!” You heard Hanma's voice in the distance and shouted back over your shoulder.

"I'm here! Go through the metal closet!”

After a moment, you heard a surprised whistle and turned around to see a shocked Shuji looking around the room with wide eyes.

“Fuck, Bonten could learn from that bastard Uchiyama.” He said in surprise, and you extended your hand towards the freshly opened door to the warehouse.

“Look there.”

Hanma looked at you confused but moved closer and peered inside through the doorway.

“Fuck me, I think I'm dreaming.” He muttered. “Is today a fucking holiday? Because I didn't look at the calendar, and this..."

“I guess Santa Claus came earlier this year.” You laughed uncertainly, feeling beads of sweat begin to form on your forehead.

"Fuck..." Hanma echoed, amused, taking his phone out of his jacket pocket and starting to record everything. “You broke the bank, Y/n. You broke the fucking bank.”

Just as you were about to answer him, a soft moan came from the corner of the torture chamber and you both almost jumped in place. Your heads snapped towards the sound,and you saw a crouching figure in the darkness.

You stood frozen, but as soon as you heard Hanma pull out his gun, you pointed the lit flashlight at the corner of the room and felt like you were in a horror movie.

A naked girl was cowering on the floor. Her entire body was covered in bruises, cuts and blood, and her hands were covering her face. You didn't have to get any closer to see that every single one of her fingers was broken. Her long hair was tangled and caked with so much blood and dirt that you couldn't tell what color it was.

“Fuck…” You whispered and Hanma slowly started to walk closer to her.

“Hey, little one…” The man began quietly, holding his gun at the ready. “You're safe now, darling. We'll get you out of here. Do not be afraid."

You observed the battered girl, but something about her didn't suit you very much.

“Hanma?” You whispered, but your companion raised his hand slightly, signaling you to be quiet.

He crouched down next to the quietly sobbing figure and lightly tightened his long fingers around one of the girl's wrists, wanting to expose her face. The poor girl didn't resist, but when Hanma managed to push her swollen hands away... He froze.

You stepped closer and shined your flashlight on her so he could take a closer look and you felt sick. This time, the contents of your stomach rushed up your throat and you had to cover your mouth with your hand to keep from vomiting.

You saw a lot, a lot, but you just realized why there was a sweet smell of rotting meat in the air.

“Dear God, what have they done to you, honey?” Hanma whispered, and for perhaps the first time in your life you heard terror in the man's voice.

The girl's face was in such a state that you couldn't recognize her facial features, and her eyes...

“Those motherfuckers gouged out her eyes.” Hanma growled softly, and the girl let out another moan of pain. “All her wounds are infected. She's rotting from the inside. How are you still alive?” He got up from his crouch and aimed the gun at the girl's head. “Sleep peacefully, honey. No one will ever hurt you again.” He said gently and pulled the trigger, ending the girl's unimaginable suffering.

You turned on your heel and quickly left the torture chamber. You ran up the stairs, fell into the toilet and vomited. Your body racked with tremors worse than during those rare moments when you overdose on alcohol. You felt terrible, you felt dirty.

You vomited again and fell onto the cold tiles with a groan. You lay there for a while, feeling your head spin and gasping for breath.

“L/n?” You heard Shuji Hanma's voice again as he anxiously poked his head between the door and the frame to look at you, and you gave him a thumbs up to let him know you were recovering. “I'll call the boys. The entire house and warehouse need to be secured.” He withdrew his head from the room, but then put it back inside. “Are you sure you can do it?”

“Yes, I'm fine. I'll just lie here for a while, okay?" You replied in a weak voice and after a few seconds Hanma told you that it was no problem.

“Don't worry, I won't tell Sanzu about this.” He said calmly and you heard the outgoing call.

You rolled over on your back, glad that the toilet room was larger than normal, and you stared at the ceiling, wondering in your mind whether Emiko Miura would be capable of all this. You closed your eyes and sighed heavily. No, not Emiko... But her name was Haruka Uchiyama now, and she was a woman who probably didn't really have much in common with the girl you once loved.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x y/n #male reader #tokyo revengers haruchiyo sanzu #haruchiyo sanzu #haruchiyo sanzu x reader

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detectivecarisi-1 · 2 years ago

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The Senator’s Daughter Chapter 2 (Bodyguard! Dave York x Female Reader

AN: Lol I am alive. Honestly, I am even surprised this took as long as it did, but I transferred from my old job teaching at a middle school (after a student threatened to stab me lol) and moved to a high school, so I had to completely restart my curriculum, which, if you’ve been following me, is why I’ve been having a bit of a mental breakdown as of lately. But being at the high school has been so much better for me, so I am finally back to writing! I appreciate you all for your patience, and if you’re reading this, thank you for coming back :) I am currently figuring out how to make a masterlist, so hopefully that gets up soon. I have alot of oneshots in mind for Din Djarin (my beloved) and Joel Miller… But we’ll see if I ever have the time to write those. I know there’s a ton of new people to the Pedro Pascal fandom so... that makes me a little nervous. But, stay tuned! Thank you again! - Megan

Rating: M for language, and discussions of drugs and alcohol. Future chapters will be explicit, so 18+ ONLY!!! MINORS DNI\

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: A lot of language (sorry, I have the mouth of a sailor, it’s hard to write without it), Eventual Smut (18+ FOR THE WHOLE SERIES), AFAB! Reader, HUGE divergence from canon, MeanDom!Dave York, Dom/Sub undertones, Brattysub!Reader, legal age gap relationship, Enemies to lovers, Mentions of drug/alcohol abuse, self-destructive behaviors, corrupt cops (probably only in this chapter), Politics lol, Minor violence (probably?), eventual mentions of parental abuse.

Tags: @fatimaisabelpascal

If you’d like to be tagged in future chapters, feel free to dm me!

________________________________________________________________

“Sir, yes, sir” she says before slipping into the connected bathroom to shower. Dave starts to turn away, to give her some form of privacy, but Senator Leland grabs him by the arm before they could leave. Dave watches, as the strict father act Leland was putting on earlier melts away, as he slumps against the wall near the bathroom door.

“I just… I wanna make sure she gets in okay.” Just like his daughter, Senator Leland looks completely different than how the news channels show him. Where she looks younger, and softer than the washed-up party girl TMZ shows, Till Leland looks more exhausted, and unsure of himself, compared to the confident, perfectly styled politician he saw on MSNBC. Dave, after years of service in the CIA, has a certain skill for reading people, and Dave doesn’t see Mr. Leland as a slimy, sure of himself politician, he just sees a tired father. His shirt is wrinkled, and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he looks exhausted, like he has been up all night. Mr. Leland stands, close to his daughter private bathroom, waiting for the sound of the shower to turn on, with one of his hands pinching the bridge of his nose.

Dave takes his time to look around the girl’s room. Just like the girl herself, her room is nowhere near what Dave would’ve expected. Despite the shoes in her bed, and the mascara stains on a pristine white pillowcase, her room is perfectly kept. She has a makeup desk, with a few photos of her smiling next to a small white dog. On a shelf above her bed, she has a collection of stuffed animals, each one seems to be placed carefully, with the smaller ones in the front and center, while the larger ones are arranged in a neat row behind them. He spots a bookshelf in the corner, with a few cookbooks, The Great Gatsby, and War and Peace, Dave raises his eyebrows, genuinely impressed when he spots a tasseled bookmark, sticking out of the book, she’s almost finished with it. Dave had expected her room to be a complete mess, with dirtied clothes, bottles of pills and alcohol, and the trash overflowing, but this is the room of a normal girl. She continues to defy his expectations.

Finally, the shower starts, and Dave watches the senator’s entire body relax with relief. Senator Leland turns to Dave, “You have kids, Dave?” Dave nods, “two girls.” The senator nods… “so you… understand what I’m trying to do. I just want to make sure she’s okay… I don’t know what else to do.”

Dave doesn’t respond. Dave would stop at nothing to ensure their safety and their health. Dave has killed for much less, but for his daughters? He would make anyone, anyone who even looks his daughter’s direction with a sense of malice, suffer until they are begging for him to kill them.

He looks at the senator, he sees a distraught father, desperate to save his little girl from her own self-destruction. Dave thinks… If this was his child, he would burn down every nightclub in the state and nail her door shut. Perhaps Till Leland’s plan is just a little more level-headed. Dave has never been the best at controlling his temper, so a he understands the Senator, sure, however, he still questions how things could’ve gotten this bad with the girl.

Dave simply sets his jaw, and nods.

The senator runs a hand through his hair, sniffs and turns to Dave, shifting back into the smooth-talking senator Dave met earlier that morning. “Let me show you around the house. I can show you where you’ll be staying.”

They leave the girl’s room, and Senator Leland leads Dave to a room, only across the hall from the girl’s room. Leland opens the door, revealing a simple, but still beautiful bedroom. There it’s painted a soft gray, with dark wood floors, clearly original with the house, Dave can tell they’re aged, even though they had clearly recently been polished. There is an oak desk along the front wall, and a queen-sized bed with a white comforter on the opposite wall, with a simple nightstand beside it. Senator Leland breaks the silence “It’s not much, I know. Before my dad passed he stayed here full time.” Leland opens a door in the back corner, “You have your own restroom, shower, bath, anything you need. Dave don’t hesitate to ask for anything else. I know this job isn’t the same as a simple celebrity escort. I want to make sure you are well taken care of, so you can take the best care of my daughter.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You step out of the shower, confused, and more hungover than you’ve been in your life. You look in the mirror, and oh great you look just as fucked up as you feel. Incredible. Thinking back to the mysterious “Mr.York” in your room, you feel the heat of embarrassment warming the back of your neck…

No big deal, just saw the hottest man I’ve ever seen, and what a great first impression, vomiting in a trashcan… things could be worse… hopefully.

You look in the mirror, trying to piece together the night before, attempting to shake the weight of shame, and embarrassment that’s currently making you want to melt into the cool tile of the bathroom floor. It only worsens when you remember the look on your father’s face, he hasn’t looked that disappointed since… well ever. Some shit went down last night and its driving you crazy that you can’t remember a thing.

“Whatever… can’t get worse than this.”

You throw on some clean pajamas and stumble downstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you enter the dining room, you spot Mr. York and your father, facing the stairwell, looking like something out of a sitcom’s “intervention” episode. If you weren’t so nervous, (and not insane) you would consider looking for a camera.

You get your first, clear-headed look at Mr. York, and, somehow, he's even more attractive when you’re (mostly) sober. You feel a little insecure, seeing him so perfectly put together and unaffected, and here you are, with your knees turning to jell-o.

Despite your distraction with Mr. York, you can still feel the tension in the air.

You walk up to your father and wrap him in a hug, that he doesn’t return, “Morning, old man. What’s the deal? Polling numbers down?” Your dad chuckles dryly “yeah, well, they’re about to be at least.”

His voice is raspy, he sounds exhausted. You hate that he feels like this, and, although you’re not exactly a genius, you know it’s somehow because of you.

You raise an eyebrow, and plop down on the seat across from your father… You pretend to think deeply for a moment, before gasping, “Oh, shit, they found out you did acid at a Nirvana concert in 91’?” you ask, trying desperately to lighten the mood.

“It was the Smashing Pumpkins, sweetheart, you know this. But no, that secret is locked away.” He smiles, and for a moment, he seems like it's just a normal morning, and that everything, deep down, is okay. But his face falls again, and he reaches across the table to grab your hand. “Honey… I love you very much, you know?”

Oh shit. This is bad, this is really bad.

You feel the color drain from your face, and your blood turns cold. You don’t trust your own voice to come out without squeaking, so you just give your dad a nervous smile.

“You… you got arrested last night. You were found passed out in front of a nightclub, and when the cops came to help you up… you dropped a small bag of pills.” He refuses to meet your eyes, he’s chewing his lip, and takes a deep breath before he continues, “If it weren’t for the fact that Office Benson was on the scene, you would’ve been charged. Benson owes me a favor so, he confiscated the pills and let you off the hook, but honey… you had Percocet on you. Where did you even get them?”

Your head is swimming. This makes no sense, you would never, ever, get hooked on meds like that. Alcohol? You admit you tend to overindulge, but opioids? No. No way, never in a million years. You’re trying to make sense of this situation in your head, trying to figure out how to explain to your dad that you would never, you could never do that to yourself, or him. You’re shaking your head, and tears you refuse to let fall start to burn your eyes… All is made a little worse when you look up at Mr. York, who is staring at you with the coldest eyes you’ve ever seen on a man. He’s judging your every move, he looks disgusted by you. You make eye contact, hoping he’ll soften up, but no, he just stares you down until you nervously look away.

You turn to your father, hoping that he starts laughing and this is just some sick tactic to make you straighten up, but he instead looks at you with red eyes, and “Honey, I’m just so worried about you… I can’t lose you.”

Fuck… you need a drink.

Everything, from the very moment you woke up, has just been too much. You want to leave, go to some shitty bar downtown, take a couple shots, numb these feelings that are currently making that sour taste at the back of your throat return, and maybe then you can have a civil conversation.

But it's 9am and your dad would probably die of a broken heart in front of you.

Or worse, Mr. York looks like he could kill you himself.

Instead, you resort to trying to talk, your voice warbled the tears you apparently can no longer hold back, “but… I don’t do drugs, dad, you gotta believe me I… I don’t do drugs.” Maybe if you weren’t so overwhelmed, things may have been a little more eloquent, but all things considered, you’re pretty proud of yourself for getting through that in one piece. Considering how much you feel. You feel like a child, you’re embarrassed, and scared, and… you can’t even begin to figure out how to process this.

Your dad straightens up a little, and he clears his throat a little.

“I know, honey, I know. They did a drug test, last night at the station, you’re cleanBut someone gave these to you, and you took them. You’re losing yourself, honey, you may not see it now, but I have to watch you slowly destroy yourself, I can’t do it anymore.” He stops for a second and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, takes a deep breath, and like he’s presenting a new bill to the Senate floor he says, “honey, you have now made it clear to me that you cannot control yourself. This is no longer a simple rebellious phase.You may not see it, but I know are going to end up killing yourself and dragging me down with you if you keep going like this. You have shown me that I cannot trust you to stop, and that you will push things further and further with no regard for yourself or others. So, this is Dave York, he’s going to be your bodyguard until after the election.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so maybe you could have handled your response better. But fuck this. Fuck Percocet, mega-fuck the person who gave them to you, and seriously fuck Mr. York.

After your dad broke the news that Mr. York was essentially going to be following you around, no privacy at all, to make sure you’re in, what your dad calls, “in a better place mentally and physically”, it’s all a blur of you screaming, “fuck that”, “absolutely not”, “I’m not a fucking child”, and “I’ll do what I fucking want”. Your dad, during your (admitted) tantrum, argued back trying to reason with you, but even more infuriating, Mr. York just sat, watching you with those cold, judging eyes. His lack of response only makes you angier, you want to affect him, you want to see him get up, and tell you to get over yourself, or explain why him being your bodyguard is great, hell, even if he just laughs and agrees with you, that would’ve been better than him sitting, completely still, while you have a complete breakdown in front of him.

After your dad yelled “I won’t let you kill yourself this way, you hear me?” you just… gave up. Stormed upstairs, where you are currently screaming into your pillow.

You fuck up one time, and all of the sudden you lose all your privacy?

Okay, sure, maybe this isn’t the “one time” you fucked up. But you’re 21 years old living in Virginia Beach, where there’s literally nothing else to do except go out and drink till you blackout, but, who even cares?

You’re losing your mind. You’re shaking, and crying, and, screaming in the pillow did nothing to help the very apparent emotional break you’re currently experiencing.

Nah, fuck this.

You walk over to your dresser and pull out the flask you take with you to clubs sometimes, you’re not even sure what this is filled with anymore, and honestly? You don’t even care. You need to calm your nerves, and you’d take a shot of fucking rubbing alcohol right now if it was offered to you.

You’re about to take a sip, about to let whatever this mystery liquor is burn down your throat, to soothe your nerves…

“I’m going to need you to put that down.”

That’s… definitely not your father’s voice. And of course, as if he appeared torment you further, you see Mr. York casually standing in the entrance of your room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

How did he even get in here so quietly?

“Fuck off, Mr. York.” You roll your eyes, “I’m in my own room, I’m not hurting anyone, get off my back.”

He doesn’t respond, just stands and watches you, like he knows that enough to make you break.

He’s right.

“Jesus Christ! I don’t need this! I don’t need a ‘bodyguard’! I don’t need you! What I need is to just… fucking calm down I can’t think straight, and I’d be a hell of a lot better if it weren’t for you standing here like a fucking serial killer. Get out!” You’re screaming at him, of course having your second temper tantrum of the morning.

And just like always, he just stands there, his arms crossed, not the slightest bit moved by your outburst.

“Are you all done?”

You laugh bitterly, “fuck you. Mr. York.” You look up at him, challenging him to say something back to you, to finally acknowledge your frustration.

He shrugs, “the little temper tantrum you put on downstairs not enough for you? Had to do it again? Are you so pissed off that you didn’t get your way? You think you can just scream your way out if it? Keep trying, maybe eventually it’ll work.” He’s leaning against your bedroom door, and he said that all like he was just reading the forecast for the week. He doesn’t even sound mad, just annoyed, as if the very fact he has to speak to you is an inconvenience to him.

Okay… so maybe him just standing there is better than him being affected by you, when he just stood there, it was a lot less embarrassing, hurt a little less. He’s staring at you, with his hand held out, waiting for you to pass over the flask, “you gonna hand that over to me or do I need to take it from you.”

You hand him the flask and get back in bed.

#Dave York #dave york x reader #dave york fanfiction #dave york fanfic #dave york smut #dave york x afab reader #bodyguard!AU #Pedro Pascal #enemies to lovers #dave york fluff #slow burn #The Equalizer 2 #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fandom #my work #My writing #smut #pedro pascal smut

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briefhottubcoffee · 1 year ago

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Hello! This is the very first story I have ever put out into the world! I am very nervous and have ~social anxiety~ so please be kind!

This story came to me looking at all the stuff my friend with kids has on her fridge and I thought it would be perfect for the Forgers. My husband helped me brainstorm ideas so it may be multi-chapter. I’m waiting to make an AO3 account. Again I’ve never done this before lol. Apologies if formatting is weird, I only use tumblr on mobile.

Refrigerator Magnets

Loid is grocery shopping with his daughter one Thursday evening, the sky cloudy and gray. He’s so tired. He was assigned two extra side missions this week, dull and mind numbing, but then a patient at the hospital actually did kick him in the stomach! It wasn't just an excuse! Leaving a bruise and a slight wince to appear on his face occasionally when he inhaled. But they needed groceries for this weekend and Anya was still bustling with energy when she came home from school, Yor working late. So out he went, robotically putting ingredients in the cart and leaning his body on it far more than he usually did. Anya was skipping beside the cart, humming a tune, the exact opposite of her father. He could never get on her level.

And then she spotted them, hanging from an endcap as Loid browsed the juices, a package of refrigerator magnets, different colorful animals.

“Papa!” Look! This looks just like Agent Penguinman! And this one is like the lion I saw at the zoo!”

He reaches for the pack, handing them to her for a closer look. She coos at them before putting a cute, purposeful look on her face, flipping the package and standing on her toes for him to see.

“Neat,” he says mildly, gesturing for her to throw them in the cart, and letting her help him steer. He grabs his ingredients and her favorite candy bar before heading to the front. I am a normal, tired father, he thinks, apologetically smiling at the cashier as Anya, pushing the cart she can’t even see over, lightly crashes into the corner of the register.

******

Another Thursday evening, this one a little brighter with Yor’s pretty smile directed at him and the refrigerator magnets bringing some color to their kitchen. She’s helping him start dinner, when the front door bangs open and Bond shoots up from his nap. “Anya has returned!” their daughter shouts, grabbing for her dog.

“Welcome home, Anya. How was your day?” Yor asks, taking her hat from her head.

“Oh! Guess what?” Anya says. She unzips her backpack and rummages through before pulling out a rose pink envelope. “Anya was invited to a birthday party!” She lifts the invitation high above her head, before Loid grabs it.

“Oh? I’m glad you're making more friends.” An excellent source of information for Operation Strix. The parents of this child might be important in Ostania. It might be crucial for her to attend.

“Well, Hannah isn’t really Anya’s friend. She took the last cookie in the cafeteria,” Anya pouts.

“Well… she invited you to her party.”

“She invited the whole class,” Anya shrugs. “But can we go Papa? Can we? I’ll be nice to Hannah! She said there would be ponies! Ponies that we could ride?! And a big slide and an orch-ee-stra, and a magician!”

“My goodness! What an elaborate birthday party!” Yor says, opening the card and marveling at the beautiful, ornate invitation inside, fit more for a formal wedding than a seven-year-olds birthday party. Loid blinks. He supposes this is the norm for rich, pompous people, to spoil their children with extravagant birthday parties and ponies. Anya’s attempts to befriend her more wealthy classmates have not gone particularly well, Damian Desmond in particular, which caused Loid intense stomach pains, but this party could indeed be a big opportunity for the mission. He could meet some upper-class parents, perhaps gather intel, and then, of course, since this girl invited the whole class, Damian Desmond himself might attend. Could his parents even show? His reclusive target? Surely not, but this is still a good chance to get another foot in the door with his young son, a chance for Anya to play nice outside of school, a positive step forward!

“Alright, we can go,” he says. “But you’ll need to get her a present.”

“Ooohh lets go to the Big Toy Store! I can get Hannah a Mega Elephant Circus!” Anya squeals, spreading her arms wide. Loid turns to watch Yor with her pretty smile tack the pricey, shimmery invitation on the fridge with the elephant magnet. This birthday party is going to be a big expense for Operation Strix.

****

The invitation stays on the fridge for weeks, a reminder of the upcoming party and ooting for the Forgers. Before the party, the family heads to the toy store, the huge, expensive toy store, with giant stuffed animals and a freaking merry-go-round in the center.

Anya and Yor spend time checking out all the toys, Anya pointing out all the ones she wants. Loid trails behind, tired again. They settle on getting Hannah a doll tea set, reasonably priced, but still, hopefully, expensive enough to satisfy a rich family. Loid then sits on a bench to rest, watching Anya bounce up and down beside Yor, both waiting to ride the merry-go-round. Yor is such a huge help at times like these. He’s grumpy and worn down. Side missions pile up, patients pile up, and he feels a gnawing frustration at his lack of progress with Operation Strix. Yor’s pretty smile and cheery disposition make up for his failures with their daughter. She can get on Anya’s level. She can match Anya’s excitement about riding on a merry-go-round. She can marvel at a giant stuffed kangaroo with her and come up with a silly name for both the mama and the baby in her pouch. She can crouch down and help Anya snap blocks together as they build a castle complete with a watch tower for Bondman. Present and engaged and sweet all the time.

Last night, Anya was fussy when it was time to go to bed, too wound up to be sleepy. She wailed at Loid as he helped her with her pajamas and tried to tug the covers over her, rolling around in bed instead and kicking her feet up on the wall. Loid felt impatient and drained as he sighed at her. This is impossible. Bedtime seemed like a straightforward task but was so draining in reality. He felt like he would never get this parenting cover right. Yor came in after hearing their bickering, and laughed softly, kneeling down next to Loid.

“Let’s try to hush a bit,” she calmly said to their daughter, smoothing her hair down. Loid watched as Yor pulled out a book and began reading to Anya, and what an idyllic picture they made. Yor’s voice came out in such a tranquil way, her eyes twinkling in the dark room. He couldn’t look away. She kept stroking Anya’s hair, her voice like a melody, her presence like a soothing light. Like a miracle, Anya yawned and her eyes became heavy, and Yor shot Loid a smug look and he felt like he was flying. She was magic. She could do the impossible.

In the present, Loid watches with a frown as the pair climb aboard, Anya tugging on her mothers arm and pointing to the two horses she wants to ride.

“Will the ponies at the party be green and pink like these?” he hears his daughter shout.

“I doubt it,” Yor replies with a giggle, helping the girl on to her horse. The music starts and the ride begins to spin, daughter and mother sending exuberant waves to Loid as they squeal with excitement. Loid feels pensive and melancholy. Cranky. I am no good at this, he thinks. Appearances are everything for a spy, and he supposes he is a good father at surface level, to the bystanders who see him wave to his wife and daughter each and every time they make their way around. But he feels lacking. Anya is a sweet girl and Yor is a lovable mother, he feels another painful kick of guilt at the thought of using them, deceiving them. They deserve the real thing, a matching father to complete their pretty picture, something perfect enough to tack on the fridge and admire everyday. Not someone playing pretend.

It’s what needs to be done, he thinks with finality. He centers his thoughts, reminds himself of the mission, of war, of the invitation on the refrigerator with its elephant magnet, of what this seven-year-old’s birthday party means for world peace. Pull yourself together. He has rich parents to schmooze with, he must appear charming and affable, he must ask all the right questions, not too probing, not too demanding. He has to appear engaged and interested. He has to fit in with the other good fathers. They will be charming and affable, they will laugh with joy at their kids, walk next to them with their hands on their backs as they ride ponies, they will wipe their faces when they're covered in icing. He has to remind his daughter to play nice with Damain Desmond, to be on her best behavior, to not eat too much cake.

He has to crush this child's birthday party. World peace depends on it.

****

The party is too much. It’s so extravagant and pink. There are balloons and peonies everywhere, the birthday girl sits on a gold chair in a pink tutu with a crown on her head. Loid sighs. Next to him, Yor frets with the pink gift bag she’s holding, her lips in a thin line and a crinkle between her brows.

Loid leans towards her. “Rich people,” he scoffs with an eye roll and Yor looks up at him and giggles, swats his arm.

“Hi Becky!” Anya shouts as she pelts across the perfect, giant lawn.

“Anya, don’t crash into anyone,” Loid warns looking around. He immediately hones in on his main target for the day, a young boy with dark hair and a pompous arrogance about him, surrounded by two other boys and glaring at Anya as she twirls around, showing Becky her dress. Loid thinks of a way to move his mission forward, a way for Damian to bring up the Forgers to his father, who is definitely not here, so that he is interested. Perhaps there is a servant or even the boy's mother present? Someone closer to the man in question. Loid and Yor are then approached by the mother of the girl of the hour. Hannah’s family are rich socialites, the father a bank executive.

It’s time to schmooze.

The shmoozing goes well, the birthday party is in full swing. There’s a damn violin quartet in the corner, and waiters dressed as princes and princesses serving hors d'oeuvres to the parents. Loid has gotten a little useful information to bring back to Wise; the fathers had retreated to the mansion shortly after the party began. Loid had joined them for a bit, engaging in a game of poker and listening to the men complain about their wives and their jobs, gathering intel in a room full of cigar smoke. But he grew tired of it.

I have to make sure she and Damian are getting on well, he justifies to himself as he ventures back out to the lawn. He is the only father out there. He sees Yor standing awkwardly with the other mothers and slides next to her, resting a hand lightly at her waist.

“What are you doing back here, Dr. Forger?” Hannah’s mother asks, surprised.

“Oh I wanted to check on Anya. And I missed my wife,” he replies with a charming smile and Yor stiffens and flushes as the other women aww at them.

Anya and Damian are not interacting, at least not in any friendly way. Loid watches as Damian shoves past Anya and Becky in line for the pony ride.

“Rude!” Shouts Becky as Anya sticks her tongue out at him. Well… their relationship hasn’t improved much.

Loid blinks. There are at least ten ponies and only one handler, he seems a little overwhelmed at the task at hand, monitoring young children on little ponies trotting in a circle.

“Is no one going to help?” Loid asks Hannah’s mother, gesturing towards the pony ride.

“Well the boys are busy inside,” she replies with a sniff. “He’s got it covered.” And that’s the end of that.

This isn’t going to go well, Loid thinks as he rushes over, just as Damian Desmond tries to climb on to a pony alone. His foot gets stuck in the saddle, and he falls over. Tears well in his eyes as the other kids laugh at him. All except Anya who walks over to him.

“Here you go!” Anya extends her hand to Damian. He frowns at her, a bright red blush on his cheeks. “I don’t need your help, dummy!’ He shouts in reply. Despite the kids reaction, Loid is proud of his daughter for being caring and kind, compassionate and warm. Yor is raising her well.

“I’ll help you up,” Loid says, picking up the boy and placing him on the horse. Damian looks at him suspiciously. “You’re shorties- I mean- you’re Anya’s pops right?” he asks.

“Yup! Horses can be a bit intimidating at first, but you’re up here now! Just hold on tight to the reins and you’ll do great,” He says. His mind is running a million miles an hour. Don’t overdo it, this may get back to Desmond, be kind and fatherly, I am a good dad, I am a normal dad.

Damian is still blushing but mutters his thanks. Loid realizes this kid is alone. No guardian for him, he must have attended with friends. The ponies begin their circle. Loid stays nearby and straightens up the kids as needed, teaches them how to tuck their shoes into the saddle, how to hold the reins correctly. The handler shoots him a grateful look. The mothers are looking at him curiously. Maybe he messed up. Maybe he should be inside with the other men. Maybe it’s not normal, but it didn’t seem right to him to be like the other fathers. The men smoke inside while the women gossip outside, helpers and nannies monitoring the kids. It was so detached. He had felt something unsettling in his gut, something he couldn’t ignore. Maybe he actually did want to check on his daughter, maybe he actually did miss his wife. She’s looking at him now, her pretty smile back. He feels like he’s flying again. Anya is laughing with joy on her pony, the sound like bells, waving at her father.

No good, this is no good. This isn’t going to go well. He tries to center himself, remind himself why he’s actually here. But he can’t. He’s going around in circles. He’s flying high.

****

They return home from the party, everyone exhausted. Anya is quick to settle for the night, he considers nights like these where she is actually tired a miracle indeed.

“Night, Papa,” Anya mutters, closing her eyes and snuggling with her chimera. Loid hums and smiles, affection rising in his stomach. Anya is a good kid. Disruptive and loud, but sweet and happy, reminding him of the good in the world.

Once she is tucked into bed, he sighs and settles on to the couch, petting his dog on the head. Yor’s quiet tonight. She shuffles around the kitchen making tea, he sees her take down the party invitation from the refrigerator and tuck it into a box they keep on a shelf. She hands him his tea and he shoots her a grateful smile, but she’s looking away, her lips in a tight line and her frown back between her brows.

“What’s up?” He asks, letting the steam from the tea settle on his face. She looks at him and blushes, his heart stutters in his chest.

She sits with her tea and shakes her head. They stay silent. He listens to his dog snoring softly and the clock tick, as he and his wife watch each other with their tea. It’s a good night. It was a good day. He spent time with his family, for the mission, he reminds himself. He feels calm and warm, his mind slow, helpless, thinking of the picture they make in this living room, an idyllic picture.

“You’re a good father,” she says finally. “One of the best, I think.”

She blushes pink and her eyes twinkle and her pretty smile is back and Oh. I am flying again.

#spy x family #twiyor #loid x yor #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #damian desmond kinda #there’s no plot #and I thought it’d be fun to give Loid some anxiety about being a good father and husband instead of Yor #my first fanfic!!#spy x family fanfiction

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onemeangreenbean · 1 year ago

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Anything Ch 3

SUMMARY: On the precipice of death Wynter does the only thing she can think to do to save herself. Something that is forbidden in her practice….to summon a demon and make a deal. The demon that answers her call ask what Wynter is offering and in her delirious state she answers with the only thing she can think of “Anything”.

PAIRING: Demon!Yoongi x BlackWitch OC

GENRE: Demon AU, Mystery, Strangers to Lovers, Soulmates, Smut, Fluff, Angst, slowburn

WARNINGS: violence, gore, murder (maybe), eventual smut, panic attacks, honestly my brain has stopped but promise each chapter with have individual warnings!

WORDCOUNT: 5,550

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Anything Masterlist | Masterlist

Sunlight filtered in through the crack in the blinds. Slowly waking Wynter out of her sleep. Her body heavy and sluggish as she rolled over and to grab her phone. It was 7:45 am, meaning that she was already running late to work. While Namjoon did get to the store extremely early, he was usually busy prepping and maintaining all the spells or rituals that were working overnight. Though if she called and told him she wasn’t feeling well, he probably wouldn’t mind. Wynter had never called off since she started working, but knowing Namjoon he would stop by to check on her and that was not something she could afford with Yoongi posted up on her couch.

Head pounding Wynter pulled herself up and texted Namjoon.

Wynter: Good morning best boss in the world! I will be a bit late. I’m feeling a bit under the weather but I’m fine to come in.

Joonie: You don’t need to come in if you’re not feeling well. I can handle the place by myself today. I actually think Tae might be able to come and help today. I’ll stop by afterwards to check on you

This is exactly what she didn’t want.

Wynter: Really I’m fine to come in. Nothing my mama’s secret tea can’t fix. I promise I’m fine. If I show up and you think otherwise you can kick me out!

Joonie: Okay…..but don’t push yourself too hard.

With some extra time added to her morning. Wynter removed herself from her bed and made her way to the bathroom. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yoongi was still sprawled on the couch asleep, feet hanging off the end. Only a little tuft of long black hair poking out of the blanket. Wynter smiled a little at the sight before closing the bathroom door behind her.

Quickly showering and going through her morning routine. Wynter threw on her green silk bathrobe and went to go make her tea. When she exited she saw the Yoongi was no longer asleep but awake. Wrapped in her blanket he was watching tv and eating a bowl of cereal. Cheeks still puffy with sleep and hair a mess. His eyes slowly dragged their way over to her form in acknowledgment before going back to the tv. “Good morning.” Wynyer greeted as she made her way around the couch and to the kitchen.

She pulled open the drawer where she kept her teas. The 1 oz mason jars were organized in neat little rows labeled clearly on the top. The joys of having an herbalist as a mom was that Wynter never had a shortage of tea for any occasion or aliment. Finding the mason jar labeled “For Mama’s Baby” in her mama’s neat handwriting, Wynter plucked it up and opened it. The scent of peppermint and lavender filled her nose and instantly reminded her of home.

It was a special blend that helped with illnesses of all sort. Really a catch all tea for when you didn’t know what was wrong - 9 times out of 10 it worked. Yoongi watched her from the couch as she walked around the kitchen and made her tea. When she made to turn around he fixed his attention back to the random show that was on and stuffed his face with more cereal.

“Is it good?” Wynter sat on the other end of her small couch, leaving enough space for a person between them. Her floor length rope falling open a bit showing her smooth leg, while she sipped her tea.

“Yeah,” Yoongi mumbled with his mouth full. They sat in comfortable silence and watched the anime that was on. Wynter wondered if this was what it was gonna be like for the next five years. That was honestly still crazy to her. Five years was so long. She watched Yoongi as he stared intensely at they screen, he brow furrowed in thought, pulling his lips into a pout as he tried to understand what was happening on the screen. Cute.

“Do you plan on just staring at me all morning or do you not have work today?” Wynter chocked a little on her tea as he called her out. Feeling her face warm a bit. Yoongi smirked at how cute she looked flustered.

Averting her eyes she took another sip of the calming tea before she spoke. “I wanted to say thank you for last night. You didn’t have to help me.” It had taken her by surprise that he took the time to help calm her panic attack down. While he was still aloof and cold his touch had been gentle, grounding her.

Now it was Yoongi’s turn to feel flustered. Scratching the back of his neck, he placed the empty bowl on the small coffee table in front of him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna do some digging into this Jiyeon girl and see if I can find out anything about her or what her motive could be. What all do you know about her?” He needed to change the subject, because thinking about how Wynter being upset had also upset him brought more confusion to his mind than he cared to admit.

“Well, before she tried to kill me, allegedly, she said that she was a university student studying linguistics. Lives alone, single, interested in the occult. She herself doesn’t have a lot of power. I could barley sense it when we hung out.” Wynter rambled about what she knew, which honestly wasn’t a lot. Jiyeon had said that she was adopted and after some digging realized that her birth parents were shamans. She had confided in Wynter that she wanted to cultivate whatever magic she did have.

Magic was something that needed to be cultivated, practiced, and maintained, or it was lost. Which is way training usually started early. But depending on how strong your bloodline was you could cultivate at any age, it would just take more work.

Yoongi hummed and ran his hand through his hair. If what Wynter was saying was true than this girl shouldn’t have been able to place this curse. Though it could also just be beginners luck. “Okay. I’ll look into it. In the mean time you go about like nothing is wrong if you run into her. Were you able to find anything yesterday?”

Taking another swig of her tea. Wynter could feel her body starting to feel lighter, her mama’s tea working. “Um, no. All the books in the store are rudimentary at best. I’ll have to look through Joon’s personal collection in the back if I want to find any info of use.”

Yoongi still didn’t like the shaman that Wynter worked for. Still hadn’t ruled him out for trying to kill her but if he expected her to trust him he’d need to extend that same courtesy to her judgment as well. “Okay. Just don’t tell him what’s going on.”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Wynter said as she downed the rest of her tea and finished getting ready. Throwing on a bright yellow sundress since it was sunny and warm outside. The yellow popped against her skin making the brown deeper and richer like velvet. The low cut neckline made her boobs look great and gave the allusion that they were probably bigger than they actually were. The hem falling a little below her knee. Her mama always told her that if she didn’t feel good, at least look good. It’ll trick you into thinking that you’re fine. Now was that good advice. Probably not but it worked for Wynter.

When she walked out of the bathroom Yoongi felt that pull in is chest again. She looked absolutely delectable. He felt his mouth water as he watched her put her bag together and throw her sandals on. Her curls hung in loose coils around her head, trailing down until about mid back. “Let me walk you to work.” Yoongi languidly got off the couch. For some reason he did not want to be out of her presence just yet.

“You don’t need too.” She shook her head and walked out the door, with Yoongi trailing after her. “Don’t you have to go and spy on Jiyeon?” Wynter playfully whispered as she made her way out of the apartment building.

She was right. He should get started on figuring out what Jiyeon was up to but he also wanted to hold on to what little time he had left with Wynter this morning. No, that’s not why he was following her. He was just making sure that his “investment” made it to work in one piece. He needed to keep that distinction straight in his head. He would check back in with her later that day. Probably grab another coffee at the cafe across from the store. To make sure that she doesn’t get herself killed.

Wynter walked stealing little glances at the pale demon who was clearly having some intense internal monologue. While his face remained pretty passive, he had a small twitch in his right eye that was giving him away. She figured he didn’t even realized he had the tell. “I’ll try to be back around lunch. Try not to die.” That was all he said before he disappeared into the ether.

The rest of her walk went by without incident and when she made her way into the shop there were a few patrons milling about. Namjoon was over by one of the bookcases restocking the shelves. Wynter was gonna leave him to his own devices until she saw the look of clear confusion on his face. She placed her tote in the little space under the counter. “You look like you’re solving the world toughest problem over here.” She walked around some of the smaller shelves over to him.

“I feel like I am. Is there a reason-” Namjoon turned around and let his sentence trail off. His mouth hung slightly open as Wynter tried to watch him reboot his brain.

“Is there a reason why what?” Wynter suppressed her laugh as Namjoon clicked his mouth shut and cleared his throat. Pushing up his glasses he turned around and grabbed the tablet with the spreadsheet of the shops stock.

“Why are these not in alphabetical order. It’s impossible to figure out where any of these books go.”

“Well, Boss Man Namjoon, you said and I quote ‘No one knows who any of these authors are they just know what they’re looking for’” Wynter dropped her voice and did her best impression of Namjoon. He stared at her owlishly from behind his glasses.

“First off, I do not sound like that.” He pouted while Wynter laughed at him. “Second off, how do you even know where to place things.”

Still laughing Wynter just grabbed the book from Namjoon's hands and began shelving. “Just go back to your hideout and make potions. Leave the front of the house to me.” Wynter began shelving the books that he had placed on the cart easily. Her slender hands making quick work of the clearly offensive books categorized by topic. With her back facing him, Wynter missed the fondness and longing the filled Namjoon’s eyes at her referring to the shop so familiarly.

Her yellow dress swished around her as she went about helping costumers and cleaning. Wynter had never been more thankful to her mama then at this moment cause she felt nothing like she did when she woke up. Full of too much energy for how slow today seemed to be. While that meant she had enough downtime to go pursue the shelfs in Namjoon’s backroom. She was still trying to find a viable way get back there without drawing suspicion.

The door bell chimed as she was on the ladder stocking the top shelves. “Noona!” Taehynug’s baritone voice called out over the low hum of the desk fan Wynter had on. He bounded over to her his chocolate hair flopping around him. “Hyung, said that you weren’t feeling well! You shouldn’t be up that high.”

He stared up at her with his puppy eyes, big and round in concern. Scoffing, Wynter continued to work. “You worry to much, Tae. I’m fine. Just hot.” The day had gotten increasingly hotter as it progressed, the large storm from the past two days making Seoul feel like a sauna. She wiped some sweat from her brow, suddenly regrating wearing her hair down. The curls clinging to the sweat slick skin on her back.

“I worry the perfect amount. Jin hyung is the one the worried too much.” Wynter hummed in agreement as she made her way down the ladder. Tae held out his arm for her to grab onto as she took the last few steps. “He’s been making you his famous get well soup all morning. Been fussing over it not being right.”

Wynter wasn’t surprised that Jin was making her something to eat. The oldest of the Kim’s was a master healer, much like her mama. Jin’s mode of choice was food that contained potent healing properties. He had really perfected the art, even opening up his own restaurant down the street. Namjoon excelled in many things but particularly spell work. He could generate a spell out of nothing, always pushing the boundaries of what is and what could be. Did it help that he was a magical prodigy who picked up on most things quickly? Probably. Taehyung, was a seerer, able to have prophetic visions. According to him some events and futures were set but most were in flux. He helped out a both of his older brothers places when he wasn’t painting murals or commission pieces.

She considered herself lucky to have found and been taken in by such a loving family. They treated her as one of there own. “Are you actually helping today or are you going to keep distracting me?” Wynter smirked as she walked over to plop in front of the fan, grabbing a wayward flyer to fan herself more.

I would never distract you, noona,” Tae feigned innocence as he came and pulled himself onto the counter.

“You’re brother doesn’t pay me to sit around and talk to you all day.” Tae furrowed his brows and looked around the empty shop.

“I can see you’re so busy today.” Laughing Wynter hit Tae in the arm with the flyer He clutched his shoulder pretending as if she had given him some grave wound. “Besides, Joon hyung would pay you for just -”

“Tae!” Namjoon stalked out of the backroom and up to his younger brother. “Stop harassing, Wynter.” Tae held his hands up in surrender as Namjoon’s ear began turning red. “I’m glad it’s slowed down so I could talk to you about why Taehyung is here.”

Wynter turned slightly to give Namjoon her full attention. Noticing that he had taken off his sweater and was only donning a thin white button up. “I didn’t want to worry you with it but a few days ago someone summoned a powerful demon.” Wynter hoped the deep breathe she took came off as anxiety about the big bad demon and not as anxiety about getting caught that it was her. “It’s nothing we can’t handle but we’re having a hard time tracking him. He seems to be highly guarded this time, but Tae has been able to track him to the area.” Tracking demons, was one of Taehyung's specialties, as he was able to catch glimpses of after images in time.

“I’m telling you this in case you come across him. I don’t want you to be unprepared and defenseless.” Wynter took in Namjoon’s demeanor and could see that he was really worried about this. She couldn’t tell him that said demon was living in her apartment and that he was “highly guarded” because of her protection wards. “I made you these.” He handed her some bottles filled with a thick green looking liquid. “It won’t do a lot but it’ll give you enough time to get to safety.”

Nodding, Wynter placed the small bottles in the pockets of her dress. It would be good to have them for later use. She still needed to find a way out of this contract after all was said and done with the Jiyeon situation. “Do you know who the demon is by any chance?” She tried to keep her voice as even as possible.

“Yeah,” Tae answered. “He’s name is Min Yoongi. He’s a nasty demon too.”

“Oh,” Wynter responded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“Oh yeah. He was this tyrant king who was so powerful that it took our clan teaming up with three others to defeat him.” Wynter felt herself shiver at the thought. It took four powerful shaman clans to defeat him. It somehow didn’t surprise Wynter that he was a king, since he looked like he’d never heard the word no a day in his life. “He’s bloodthirsty, cruel, and a different level of evil altogether, so we’ll have to take out whoever summoned him too so they can’t do it again.”

Wynter knew that the brothers came from a long line of shamans. The knowledge from every generation was passed down to the next. Passing their memories and experiences down to the next set in order to keep the knowledge that they gained as pure as possible. Namjoon had explained it once. He had said that it was like looking through water. He could see everything his ancestors had been through, their love, their losses. It was a unique from of ancestor worship that the Kim clan had perfected. So if they had fought Yoongi before it meant that he was more powerful than Wynter gave him credit for. The Kim clan really only ever got involved with demons that threated the balance of good and evil in the world.

They were going to kill her. Literally and figuratively, when they found out. She was fucked either way. “But,” Namjoon cut Tae of before he could continue seemingly taking her spariling for fear. “We have it under control. With him only being in our realm for a short time he shouldn’t be at his full strength yet. So, please don’t worry too much about it. You’re too pretty for that,” he said softly as he moved a piece of her wayward hair out of her face.

“Yeah. I’m totally not worrying.” She said tersely as she fanned herself harder.

Yoongi had been trying to locate Jiyeon all day with no luck. He had tried the university where Wynter said she went and thought he caught a whiff of her essence but lost it. He knew what it he was looking for because all magic had a signature of whoever did it, no matter how rudimentary. What was irritating him was it was like as soon as he picked up on it and got close, the trail would slip through his fingers like smoke.

It felt as though he would make it to a place moments after she had left. If what Wynter said about Jiyeon’s power level was true then she should’ve been easy to track and locate. He’s found more powerful folks with less effort. Yoongi had been hopping across Seoul all day and was beginning to feel irate. He stood in a park next the the Han river. Watching as it meandered by slowly. It hadn’t really changed all that much from when he was ruler. A little ruddy, but that was it.

The breeze ruffled Yoongi’s black hair causing him to run his hand through it to tame the flyaways once again. He needed to think. If he couldn’t find Jiyeon then that meant that someone or something was protecting her. Another demon or entity more powerful than him, which was a small but scary list. Something about the whole thing felt off because even if that was the case why attack Wynter. He needed to figure out where and when this death curse came from so he could narrow down who all would be involved.

Yoongi inhaled at Han park and exhaled in front of an abandon monastery. The location was nestled deep within the Baekdu-daegan mountains in North Korea. The mountain range was known to pool massive amounts of spiritual power. There were many Buddist temples and monasteries along the range but Yoongi had discovered this one a few decade after becoming a demon.

As far as he knew he was the only one that knew about it and he wanted to keep it that way. Yoongi was sure that Jungsoo had his underlings looking for him. He honestly didn’t need the headache. The stone steps were eroded and beginning to crumple as he made his way up the large staircase. It was a long walk but not too difficult, he couldn’t just apparate into the place itself as the Buddist monks had done an excellent job of putting up a barrier that lasted long after they had died.

The wooded door opened with a loud creak as he slipped inside the long abandon halls. He made quick work of making his way to the library and going through the ancient scrolls. The only sound filling the space was the rustling of parchment and the wind coming in through the cracks. He was looking for any information that fit the bill for this death curse.

Yoongi had seen his fair shares of death curse, and delt them out. They ranged in effects but were pretty fast moving. Draining the victim of their life essence through fear or brute force. From causing the victims to go mad and kill themselves, to creating vivid hallucinations of their worst nightmares, to causing a physical malice that ended in a horrible and painful death. Either was it was a shitty way to go. He had never come across or even seen the one that Wynter had.

At the end of the day with folks who possessed magic a death curse would kill them, as well as destroy whatever magic they had. Tossing it into the void to be dispersed and reconfigured into later generations. It was complicated and many beings, including demons had me trying for millenniums to beat the system with deadly results. But someone had figured it out. The curse that Wynter had was not just killing her but filling her up. Pushing her soul out until whatever could inhabit her vessel. Keeping her magic in tact.

Yoongi had to give it to whoever created the curse, it was innovative and good. Definitely not the work of a beginning practicineer. He doesn’t know how long he had been staring at the scrolls. He wasn’t really getting anywhere just that it had to be a combination of two separate curses, but which combination was the problem. The ancient script on the scroll he was reading was beginning to run together. He was about to chuck it into the ever growing pile of useless shit that was behind him, until her saw something that made him pause.

While rare it is possible for demons who were once humans to develop latent soul bonds that should have been formed in their lifetime.

Yoongi readjusted himself at the stone table so that he could study the writing better.

These bonds can be anything from parent to child, eternal enemies, eternal friends, but the most common form we see this happen with are soulmates. Humans who became demons renounce these soul bonds in order to tap into demonic power which is void of these bonds. Though if a bond is strong enough it can be reformed when the two are in proximity to each other. These bonds will feel distinct from contractual bonds that demons make with humans.

Soulmates. Yoongi fell back in the chair in disbelief. He had made his fair share of bonds in his lifetime as a demon. They all usually felt the same. Soft and brittle forged from the fleeting expectations that comes with the contract. Always sat in his stomach for some strange reason. But the bond her had with Wynter was solid. It filled him with warmth and hope, and it was bright. If he really concentrated he could see the little golden string that bounded them together in the ether as it came out of his heart.

Yoongi didn’t have a soul so it shouldn’t even be possible, but still. He rubbed the offending part of his chest, willing the connection to tamper down. “Is there a reason you’re here in this dump?” The sound of Hosek echoed through this temple. He was walking through the door and towards Yoongi. His bright red hair and equally as colorful outfit standing out against the dark room.

Rubbing his eyes, Yoongi sat back up in his seat. “Trying to get some piece a quiet clearly. How did you even find me?” Yoongi knew those wards were tough so he was honestly a bit concerned the Hobi had found him so quickly.

Sitting on the bench across from him Hobi simply shrugged his shoulders and smirked. “I’m always gonna find you, bro. You’re stuck with me for the rest of your grumpy eternal life.” Yoongi just rolled his eyes. Hobi had been his head general, as well as his closest friend, when Yoongi was king. He had followed behind Yoongi without questions becoming a demon, along with two other men of his trusted inner circle.

“I wanted to give you a report on what’s been happening. I’ve been able to round almost a legion of demons to fight. Jungkook almost half a legion. Jimin is having some problems with Shindong in the south but for the most part he’s holding his own.” Hobi waited for Yoongi to respond but when all the former king did was stare at the table he continued.

“ We have almost ten thousands demons backing us. We’ve been trying to keep things as quiet as possible for planning but Jungsoo has his bitches attacking us from every direction. He’s sent Eunhyuk and Heechul to search for you. What are your orders?”

Letting out a deep sigh Yoongi ran his hands through his hair. He didn’t want this. Any of this. In no way, shape, or form did he want to lead this rebellion. He truly just wanted to get out from under Jungsoo, the current king in the underworld, thumb. Didn't realize that everyone shared that same thought. “I don’t know. Why don’t you lead it? You seem to have everything under control.”

“Because you’re my king and where you lead I follow.”

“Hobi.” Yoongi sighed. “I haven’t been your king for over a three centuries. I keep telling you that we’re equals at this point.” Hobi just leveled a stare at Yoongi. His lips pulled down into a frown. Yoongi knew that he was going to get nowhere with this conversation anytime soon. With resigned breathe Yoongi ran his hand down his face. “Look, continue what you’re doing. We’ll need to have as many demons as we can on our side if we even have a chance at winning this. Also, tell Jimin to lead Shindong to Solar’s realm. I believe that she has a bone to pick with Shindong anyway so she’ll be able to help.”

Humming, Hobi nodded in agreement. “What are you doing anyway?” He looked at all the scrolls that were surrounding Yoongi. Pulling another scroll over the one he was reading about soul bonds, Yoongi cleared his throat.

“I took a contract.” Hobi raised an eyebrow for Yoongi to continue. “Some foreigner accidentally summoned me to remove a death curse. I was going to just leave her but saw her magic and I’ve never seen it before. Figured it could be useful to fight Jungsoo.” What he said was true, for the most part. Yoongi went on to explain the death curse and why he was looking at all the scrolls.

“I’ll keep an ear out for who’s experimenting with curses.” Hobi said. Yoongi’s shoulders sagged in relief. Hobi was great at gathering intel which was what made him Yoongi’s best general. “What’s her power?”

“I’m unsure, honestly. It’s dark in nature, like it’s absorbing light and energy around it. I haven’t gotten to see her use it in person.” Yoongi mumbled. “From what I can tell she doesn’t seem to want to use it or is scared of it.” Yoongi thought back to the dinner that they had and how Wynter’s brain went silent at the mention of failing her test. He figured it had something to do with her power.

“Okay. I’ll leave you to you’re precious alone time and research. Be on the look out for those two assholes.” Hobi waved has he apparated out of the library leaving Yoongi in silence once again.

Wynter closed the shop up while Namjoon and Tae worked in the backroom trying to come up with a game plan to find Yoongi. It was still wild to her that they knew who Yoongi was. She needed to boost up the wards at the apartment so she could keep him hidden for a bit longer. Wynter really hated having to lie and hide things for Namjoon. It felt like a betrayal, even though she did not mean to summon a demon as powerful as Yoongi.

She still had to get to the books that Namjoon had tonight. She couldn’t afforded to lose another day of research because she was scared Namjoon would see through whatever lie she came up with. As Wynter cleaned she did her best to hype herself up to talk to Namjoon. The sun was just beginning to set casting a orange hue within the shop by the time she had finished. After making sure everything was straight she ventured back towards his workspace. Knocking twice on the wooden doorframe, Wynter heard Namjoon let out a low “mmm” signaling that he was listening as he worked on a potion with Tae.

Tae gave her small smile as walked in. They looked exhausted from working on this. “Is there a way I can borrow one of your books, Joon?” He looked up from whatever he was concentrating on to look at her. She swayed on the balls of her feet, hands clasped behind her back as she waited for his answer.

“Yeah,” he says curiously. “Are you looking for books that will be helpful for controlling your power?”

“No.” Wynter tone was clipped as she forced a smile on her face. “Um, no. I don’t think I’m quite ready to deal with that yet.” Both Namjoon and Tae’s face morphed into ones of pity. It made Wynter’s skin crawl know that they pitied her and her fear of her power, but if they knew what it could do they’d be scared of it too. “It actually has to do with that dream I had a few days ago. It’s just stayed with me you know.” She tried to sound as non chalant as she browsed through one of Namjoons many shelves.

“Dream?” Tae’s interest was piqued. He was great at dream interpretation.

“Yeah,” Namjoon answered. “She mentioned it two days ago.” Wynter could see the wheels in Namjoon’s head turning. Making connections. “What was your dream about again?”

He sat down the vial that was in his hand on the table, giving her his full attention. She started out slowly trying to piece together the right words to not alert Namjoon or Tae. “In it I was in a really dark room lying on the floor and there was a figure standing over me. It became really hard to breathe like my lungs were collapsing in on themselves, honestly it felt as though my whole body was being crushed and pulled apart at the same time.”

Now that Wynter was recounting it she felt as though her body was reliving the trauma. “It was so hot, it felt like my blood was boiling out of me. I could even feel blood coming out of my mouth and ears and eyes. It –” Wynter felt her throat begin to close as the room begin to close in on her, fading to black along the edges of her vision. She didn’t even notice that Namjoon had stopped working all together and was standing in front of her, trying to get her to refocus, or Tae frantically searching for something on the shelves of potions.

She didn’t even notice that blood had began to drip from her eyes and roll down her cheeks. “Hey hey hey,” Namjoon spoke softly. “Wynter can you hear me? Wynter I need you to look. Baby, I need you to focus on me.” She could barely hear him through the ringing in her ears. Wynter could see his eyes franticly searching hers as she tried to focus like he was asking her.

Looking at his lips she could see that his was saying something but the ringing kept getting louder until suddenly it stopped, and Namjoon can into focus. The chocolate eyes searching hers, to make sure that she was with him. The fear that his gaze held scared her. “Namjoon, I don’t feel good.”

#bts x reader #bts smut #bts x black reader #yoongi smut #yoongi x reader #yoongi x black reader

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kiwipineappleparasol · 7 months ago

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TTYD Remake — Chapter 3, 4, & 5 Ramblings

I suddenly realized I forgot to post all my rambling here! And then I beat the game haha. But I will post my notes like I did not just Watch the Credits Sequence today . So do not fear! This is only for Chapters 3 4 & 5

I like when they show all the partners out together! Like at the Thousand year door or the blimp cutscene with them all riding together … That one made me unreasonably happy when starting chapter 3 haha.

I was . Literally kicking my feet giggling hysterically when I saw that the photo standee now actually does a little photo op??? I was sooooo happy oh my god . Noone asked for them to make the standee actually interactable to this extent but they did cause they could ! As a kid I would always pretend I was getting photos in it so this literally shot an arrow directly at my Child Self . This game is for meeeeee.

The fact your title screen has your Yoshi color on it! Suuuuuuper neat, I was quite surprised by it -- I just love the title screen in general . How everyone shows up as they join the cast! So fun. Another one of those details just added because they could ! I named my Yoshi Hot Dog by the way . And it was pink! I always wanted the pink one as a kid haha -- but I never got it.

I spent so much time talking to every NPC in chapter 3 it was embarrassing . And I don't think I even saw every piece of NPC dialogue despite my best efforts . Chapter 3 was such fun for me to go through I looooooove Glitzville . One of my favorite chapters for sure

I can appreciate how much foreshadowing there is for everything in this chapter now that I'm older… Bandy Andy and the Seven Wonders are an obvious example -- he directly foreshadows both Grubba's motive and his own demise. NPCs won't stop talking about Prince Mush, especially the juice shop lady -- who is obviously Jolene in disguise… My favorite might be this extremely obscure piece of dialogue if you talk to the freelance cameraman on the second floor, he tells you that Rawk Hawk used to be such a polite guy; he even sent Prince Mush a cake before their match! … Yep. Super Polite Guy! Bet that cake wasn't poisoned.

The way Bandy Andy's disappearance is like. All but unsaid is so cool to me. He just vanishes from the hallway and is silently replaced like nothing happened. But if you talked to him, you'd know exactly what he investigated that caused his disappearance. Loveee chapter 3.

Shellshock eating the cakes will never not be funny to me 🍰 that and him calling Mario "baby" is just inherently amusing to me. Mario is NOT your babygirl.... (End of Chapter 3 Notes)

THEY DID IT THEY CHANGED THE TRANSLATION !!!!! 🏳️‍⚧️ we looooooove you Vivian . I will give her The World . They also changed the translation for Jerry though too! Originally, he said he had to stop Luigi from wearing a dress ever again, but now he says he can't let Luigi fumble around in heels again because he might just kill someone . Jerry Character Development we love to see it .

I love the fact all the NPCs have different little voices it just adds so much … And I still can't get over all their cute little animations.

VIVIAN'S THEME IS SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! I will be listening to this Again . The spooky battle theme rules too . Such great Spooky Atmosphere they set with this chapters music and visuals .

Doopliss rocking in his little rocking chair was an absolute highlight for me . Look at him . I love his room so much . All he does is sit around, watch TV and curse the townspeople all day. He's bored!

the partner hints can be very silly . I really like how because Goombella DITCHED Mario for his poser in Chapter 4 that Vivian becomes the main partner hint girl for a time ! Love extra Vivian content .

I had the W Emblem badge when I got to chapter 4, but I was thinking that it wouldn't affect how Doopliss looked, let alone random NPC dialogue. But color me shocked when Doopliss stole the Wario Color Palette and the townspeople said he wore purple and yellow! This attention to detail is so cool.

The reveal at the end of the chapter ! How the paper ripped away to reveal his true form ! How Mario's shadow state was peeled off like a sticker! Finally a good use of stickers in Paper Mario . (Laughtrack)

My mother wasn't pleased that we had to beat Doopliss up because "look at him he's so cute he didn't do anything wrong." But she did say he should give up Mario's identity because his true form looks much better which is true. (End of Chapter 4 Notes)

Arfur saying he wants to talk to Swindell but he can't find him anywhere … You walk over two feet and see Swindell across the bridge. That got to me LMAO. That and Swindell calling some guy hopping into people's chimneys dashing. Happy Pride!

Mario tipping his hat to pay his respects to Scarlette …

FLAVIOS SINGING VOICE IS SO FUNNY. imagine being on a ship forced to listen to that for days on end.

The sequence of them all going overboard was Awesome love seeing everyone drown . But actually just so many of these cutscenes look so good in this remake !!! It's almost hard to appreciate them all because they set such a standard for them all!

Keyhaul Key looks so good actually. I mean I love all the new graphics in general it just really was hammered in here. Like wow. This game looks awesome. I love the battle theme here too.

Flavio and Pa-patch fighting over who's the Bravest Coolest Guy only for them to both quiver behind Mario is both entirely expected and very amusing. I Enjoy whatever is wrong with them.

(not) LORD CRUMP DOING THE FUCKING 👉👈 POSE??? hilarious. Also him Evilly Apologizing all the time. AND WHEN HE PICKED UP MARIO OVER HIS HEAD. why didn't he just drop him over the bridge and get it over with .

Koops saying "here I was feeling depressed … Mario, whack this guy" after they realized Bobbery wasn't dead . LMAO.

"Um. No. Not fair. I hate you all." Has got to be one of my top ten favorite lines from this game now.

The amount of joy Flavio riding on Yoshi with Mario brings is insane it's so funny to me. Two grown men piggybacking on a child . The only downside to the new pipe system is that you can no longer do the Flavio glitch and keep him forever.

Bobbery's partner hints are so full of personality… Also you can interact with the winch with every character and you bet I did that just to see what everyone said. I like how Koops didn't even know what the sluice gate was called, it feels very in line with him growing up in a peaceful village doing Nothing. Me too buddy.

I Can't Believe It Was Lord Crump This Whole Time! … Is what I would say if he hadn't told us earlier. I mean his disguise was flawless. Can you imagine Lord Crump doing this 👉👈? (Joking Statement)

CORTEZ SHAKING WITH RAGE WAS SOOOO FUNNY . He is SEETHING. also him eating the Skull Gem . Yum yum! I love this whole sequence with him and Flavio so much. His cabin is soooo pretty in the remake. They really went all out with the coins and gems here. I had to take so many screenshots !

THE SHIP FIGHTING SEQUENCE is great . I watched it twice just because I could .

I can't get over this dialogue from Pa-Patch after chapter 5 . The only explanations I can think of is 1: this is somehow offensive in Bom-Omb Culture or 2: he realized this sounded like he was flirting with a widower who just barely stopped blaming himself for his late wife's death. Bad look.

#paper mario #paper mario the thousand year door #Dumping from the parasol #So many things I could say but if I did we'd be here forever ... We will return whenever I post my chapter 6 7 and 8 notes #Didn't even talk about the Peach and Bowser segments . Um . We love dancing with computers and hag on hag warfare #Actually the one of Crump having to find the stupid bomb Beldam lost after chapter 5 and then going to war with Bowser is hilarious #They're like two rocks hitting against eachother until they light a fire . That sets off the bomb . Idk I could think of a better metaphor #Basically they're hilariously incompetent and it's Great #Also KAMMY GOING TO GLITZVILE WITHOUT BOWSER was one of my favorite interlude moments as a kid . So funny . She had the time of her life

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