#until the end o7

[kyasunn]

(They hear Etho losing his last life)

Grian: Etho, my boy!

Cleo: Etho, you're my b-! (chokes up)

Cleo, turning to prepare arrows: Right. So they have chosen death.

(They didn't hear Etho as he ran from Scar, trying to get to safety. "I'm going home, everybody. I'm dying in my home.")

[zerothakun]

Spooky deathduo!

[justcallme-ange]

Dream - Until I End Up Dead (Official Music Video)

[stonerzelda]

days at work rally are just gettjng progressively more and more depressing and making me insecure as shit but in other news to all astarian fans: i geddit neow. humbly bows my head

[girlwiththegreenhat]

high school graduations suck but the valedictorian doing a speech about how corporations are killing the planet and we should be more conscious about our waste and consumerism for the betterment the future of our planet and children, pissing off every idiot conservative on the crowd including my dad, carried the entire thing for me

[you-need-not-apply]

Until I end up dead is pretty good song and I didn’t cry stfu

[todayisafridaynight]

Right??? Thanks so much! I actually first fell in love with Jo's character when RGGJo's voice lines came out haha, so it's super fun to be able to share them.

But I can think of a couple of reasons for the wild personality gap, and for me it starts at their respective roles. Obviously main antagonist and major supporting character are going to draw different levels of attention to themselves, but I think it's chiefly that RGGJo is not just Jo, but he's both Jo and Masato as one character.

RGGJo is much, much closer in age to Ichi, and though they're not "twins" like Ichi and Masato are (RGGJo is a little more than 2 years older), it's thematically there I think. The whole "twin dragonfish," dark and light, two sides of the same coin kind of thing.

And just as Ichi was initially conceptualized as a sort of "greatest hits compilation" of the previous protagonists' most compelling traits, I think there's a strong case for RGGJo being the same for the previous antagonists--specifically Nishiki, Ryuji, and Mine, who are pretty clearly Yokoyama's favorites anyway lol.

I have a feeling casting has something to do with it as well. RGGJo's actor, Hiroki Takahashi, is actually the exact same age as he is, and he's voiced his fair share of fun, flamboyant villains. If I wanted to speculate, he's also voiced his fair share of BL, so that may be why RGGJo's voice lines have a Certain Slant to them; directing his delivery to capitalize on his established appeal (although he has quite a range) makes sense.

Tsutsumi is also only a few years off from Y7Jo, and he was cast for having the dignity and screen presence to "make every word feel like it might have a deeper meaning." Yokoyama (and Takeuchi) wrote the games, he and Nagoshi handled the casting, and Yokoyama generally handles the voice direction for the main story, so a lot of it's specific to his vision.

Within that context I think it's relevant that he wrote Y7Jo while picturing Tsutsumi specifically. RGGJo was more malleable and less "consequential" in terms of the franchise, so, y'know, why not have a little fun with it? I think that's reflected in their designs as well. RGGJo's is larger-than-life while Y7Jo's is relatively subdued.

Overall, I get the sense RGGJo's role is more akin to "son" and "brother," (aniki, if you will), like Masato, whereas Y7Jo's role is more akin to "co-parent" and "father" and I guess "Evil Stepdad" in a Cinderella kind of way. It's not exact across the board, it's not literal across the board, but it's the archetype, right? And I think that does, exactly like you said, have far-reaching consequences for their backgrounds and who they've become as a result.

BTW, you actually are up to speed on Ichi's story, because uh… that's where it stops lol. It was discontinued at roughly the equivalent of the start of Chapter 12 in 7; the rest of the story was written, but not published. It Kills Me.

But I think, despite any concrete backstory, the implication for RGGJo is that (if I assume he joined earlier than Ichi, which would make sense given he's captain), he was at most 18 or 19 when he joined, and he's exactly the same kind of Arakawa fanboy Ichi is. The 15th anniversary book goes on to say he "was purely in love with [Arakawa]'s greatness" and so cannot tolerate the idea of allowing him to live and die in obscurity at the bottom rungs, of Arakawa being in a position not equivalent to his "greatness" in his eyes.

But Ichi thinks that's regardless of what Arakawa himself may want, since RGGJo is apparently not going to stop until he makes him chairman, which the Arakawa Ichi knows wouldn't really care about. I think there's an interesting mix of selflessness and selfishness in his desires that reminds me of Mine.

And that's explicitly as opposed to Y7Jo, whose loyalty remains the same, but whose feelings and motivations are complicated by the existence of Masato; the usage of "purely" before is notable here, as another suitable translation would be "uncomplicatedly," which to me would suggest that degree of admiration is a component of his loyalty in 7 as well.

So I think you're absolutely right the circumstances with Masato are a major aspect of what's going on with Y7Jo. It's inextricable because he's got this immense gratitude towards Arakawa for raising his son and also a need, a primary driving force, to be a part of his son's life at (almost) all costs. The natural result of that is going to be reluctance to do anything that tips the balance.

I think that's one of the things that make him so compelling, he's forced to make a lot of tough, meaningful decisions and there's often (but not always) no right answer. And that's really clear to see with Aoki, as you say.

(Kind of a side note, but somewhat contrary to the above, Masato may actually have existed in RGGO's timeline. There was a comment from Yokoyama or Takeuchi suggesting he's not in RGGO not because he simply "doesn't exist, but specifically because Arakawa may not have opened the right locker or may not have made it to the lockers in time. I guess the other implication would be that Masato would've been Arakawa's biological son in RGGO instead, since RGGJo would've been too young and there was no need for a switcheroo? It was just an off-hand comment, but it's interesting to think about.)

Also, loved your tags haha. It's SO funny you start off like you're going to say something crazy and then it turns out to actually be something I wanted to write about in the previous ask, but that I cut out because I couldn't make it flow. I guess it might just be the case that I'm crazy on the same wavelength?

But yes! I think a lot of the time, impressions of that aspect Jo's backstory sort of begin and end at Evil Stepdad Perpetuates Cycle Of Abuse, perhaps understandably, but there's genuinely so much that's established in both his and Arakawa's backstories that have clearly stayed with them that I'm positive your take on it is at the very least least true to the character, whether or not it's intentional.

Because like, Arakawa and Jo both came from abusive households. And they're both affected by Aoki's "parental abuse" (although Aoki doesn't know it himself, I guess he doesn't need to). But the way Arakawa has always dealt with abuse is defiance; I think the implication of one of the first scenes is that that's how he got his scar. Jo, on the other hand, has always dealt with abuse with avoidance. Running away. Brushing it under the rug, like he says he and Ikumi had done all their lives; I think that statement's fairly clearly linked to abuse and neglect.

And I think that shows both in Arakawa and Jo's respective responses to traditional authority figures and in how they choose to handle things with Aoki. Arakawa defies Aoki's plans in his own way at every turn, and he ends up getting killed for it. Jo, on the other hand, ignores it until there's nothing left to do but sever himself completely, in the same way there was nothing left to do back then but run. IT'S SO. Ugh.

Each Jo's respective role in the overall plot of their stories definitely plays a part in why they turn out different from each other the way they do; it's interesting to see how RGG decided to handle Jo's character to sort of 'adjust him' to fit better as more of a background figure than The Big Bad, and to especially see how his relationships end up is spectacular. Choosing to divide that devotion between his son and his boss in Y7 is something I'm just positively obsessed with: it's clear he joined the yakuza predominantly for Masato's sake, but the concept of Jo gradually coming to genuinely respect Arakawa as an individual opposed to someone that he just happens to have to follow after because his son's involved heightens him as a character for me (I might have to write a side piece on the psyche of Jo- there's just a bunch of aspects to him that I want to explore better and really intrigue me, but I refuse to try and squeeze any of that into this long-as-is answer lmao).

I definitely recognize Ryuji and Mine the easiest in RGGJo (Mine's influence still persists a bit in Y7 to me, if not solely for his devotion and his own version of The Knife Scene existing as The Eye Scene; though Jo's anger wasn't purely due to Arakawa's death in that scene like Mine's was due to Daigo's 'death', it was clear Arakawa's passing was a sore subject). Jo's dedication to Arakawa in RGGO really is totally reminiscent of Mine's devotion to Daigo: both willing to take drastic measures to secure the ones they idolize the spot they feel they deserve and to exterminate any opposition to that dream (if I'm remembering Mine's RGGO story right wherein he partakes in the Okinawa deal as a HUGE ploy just to secure Daigo remains chairman should he wake up, but I don't have to clarify how that didn't go as planned).

As for Nishiki, it's clear Jo borrows his 'position' in the story, just as Ichi obviously takes Kiryu's. To yoink a phrasing from another ask I got, they're 'dark parallels': though they both clearly want the best for Arakawa, they're going about it in different ways (in that sense, Y7Arakawa's line about him seeing the Arakawa Family as his 'sons' makes this situation a little funny: just two kids fighting each other for what's best for their dad lmao). It's a shame the story didn't go on any more after the Millenium fight, but I'm a little happy knowing in that I'm not missing anything (what I will scratch my head over is what RGGOMasato would've been like. I guess it's not exactly certain whether or not he survived The Locker Incident or he was just so considerably normal he wasn't worth bringing up, but regardless I'll have a ponder about it..). It'd be rad if RGG ever decided to release at least the drafts of the rest of the story one day, but I won't hold my breath.

I've peaked over at Takahashi's past roles (I didn't realize he's voiced so many characters I know omg), and I think that's a fair conclusion to come to: he repertoire combines characters with sort of 'harsh' tones to their voices/dialogue, but as you said he does benefit from having voiced some 'lighter' characters! As for Tsutsumi, I think I've made it a little clear on my blog that I've taken time to look at his past projects, and though I haven't seen all of his roles, Jo's an interesting inclusion to his list (but by no means an inappropriate fit. If I were to compare him to one of Tsutsumi's past roles, Nobunaga Oda from Honnouji Hotel is similar in being an intimidating man with a violent reputation but still having a 'soft'/deeper side). It gets more fun when I think of it: Tsutsumi, from what I can gather, is a tad renowned for playing loving fathers (whether they're perfect fathers depends on the character, but they all absolutely adore their kid/family- this might be the only time I've seen him play a father and he isn't doting on his kid, lmao). Yokoyama and Nagoshi are definitely masters at deciding who should play who and how to utilize their talents efficiently, and having prior knowledge to Tsutsumi's roles, I feel as though audience members would have been able to get a hint at Jo's whole character early on (just as RGG had capitalized on Takahashi's reputation) which I personally find to be a fun tidbit, if not just grateful that they chose such an excellent actor to play such an intricate character. Ergo, his ability to give 'deep' performances and have that sort of presence and give his character that type of atmosphere definitely helps enhance the human aspect of Jo's character.

It's a great blend into Jo's otherwise cold demeanor, and going off the idea that RGGJo was a combination of Masato and Jo, the decision to have Jo be a committed father to Masato (as much as he's allowed to be, anyhow) while Masato became the power-hungry villain (even if RGGJo's motivations were ironically centered around Arakawa succeeding moreover himself), it's somewhat of a roundabout way to have them still be connected: though they're not the same character anymore, there's that bond that keeps them stitched together that I find neat.

AND THANK YOU ABOUT MY TAGS I can't sugarcoat it, I'm not a very confident person, so I'm glad you've gleamed there's some validity to what I'm saying. And I'm glad you've expanded on not just Jo, but Arakawa's upbringing as well: though they both come from abusive homes, they do handle it differently, and I feel so blind for not even having wholly noticed it in how they react to Aoki- it's so brilliant I almost want to scream. It's a tragic irony that despite Jo resolving to not 'half-ass' things anymore and to face things head-on, to 'take responsibility', he incidentally falls back into trying to avoid the problem for as long as he can. It's poetic really, and I'm positively going to go insane over the fact.

[inksandpensblog]

Chosen has been alive for 4 and a half years, but he’d been imprisoned and enslaved. He’d never seen another stick figure before Dark. All he knew was fighting, being forced to destroy pop-ups, and trying to escape. Does HE know the nature of other living things? Does HE know how to behave towards others of his kind? Does HE understand the concept of death?

Chosen was older. Chosen had experienced different things from Dark. Chosen probably experienced pain and fear at Alan’s hands…Was that enough to give him the basis for a sense of morality? Enough to instill him with the ability to empathize?

We must remember that Chosen spared Dark.

Chosen had no qualms about (seemingly) killing the icons on Alan’s pc, but he spared Dark.

Because of this, I used to think that this factored into why he was fine with attacking Yahoo and Angry Birds, but began having second thoughts once they reached StickPage. I figured that stickfigures were more real, to him. But of course, then Newgrounds doesn’t make sense, as many of the animations there aren’t stickfigures. But, I thought, maybe StickPage was just the jolt he needed to really start looking, and Newgrounds was him following through.

The first time Chosen saw a living stick besides himself, he spared them.

Now I wonder. Maybe it wasn’t the fact of Dark being a stickfigure, that stayed Chosen’s hand.

Maybe it was the fact that Dark was also created by noogai.

Theory: The Newgrounds attack takes place On October 2nd, immediately after Dark and Chosen escape.

I’ve touched upon how I think the Timeline is a little wonky in this regard before, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

And I think I’ve figured it out.

When Victim first escapes Alan’s PC, he first goes to Yahoo.

I even made a joke about it in my last post, about how Alan’s taken the piss out of Yahoo before.

But, well, that previous time?

The Flashback.

But moreso: Yahoo is the first thing Chosen and Dark are shown attacking during the Flashback.

Both Victim AND Chosen and Dark end up at Yahoo after they escape.

And there might be a reason for it:

Alan’s PC was originally tethered to Yahoo. [It also seemed to have an offshoot connection to MSN, which it took me an hour to identify that logo as I was unfamiliar with it.] That was the primary webstring (tunnel, but I wanna call them webstrings bc world wide web) to his IP box. And His IP only originally has one webstring coming out of it.

Until Victim does...Whatever THIS is. And causes ALL OF THE IP addresses to become tethered to the Outernet directly.

[Victim not being uploaded anywhere and coming directly from a PC in a rocket made of computer program parts might have significance on why the Barrier became connected to the IP Boxes, but that’s a different theory for another day.]

So currently, Alan’s PC has two connections to it: One that leads to Yahoo/MSN, and another that leads directly to the Outernet.

We all assumed that Chosen and Dark went right to the Outernet when they left his old PC, because it was implied that that tunnel was the same one Chosen had COME from and that he and the Color Gang were currently going through; a webstring that does spit them out into the Outernet.

But they didn’t.

Dark and Chosen did not go through the Outernet webstring.

They went to through the YAHOO webstring.

I refuse to believe it’s a coincidence that they ended up on Yahoo first, or just happened to choose to attack Yahoo first, when Yahoo is shown to be directly connected to Alan’s IP box.

They never went to the Outernet. They went from Alan’s PC DIRECTLY TO Yahoo.

Which means that the first part of the Flashback is showing the events of what Chosen and Dark did IMMEDIATELY after they escaped.

Yahoo was the first place they were spit out into, so they decided to destroy it too. Why not? They just literally got done destroying Alan’s computer, why not wreck more human shit?

Victim and Chosen/Dark’s paths differ after Yahoo.

Victim goes to Runescape, then Myspace, to the Singh Family IP Box, where he crashes out of and into GracesPC, where he’s taken to Newgrounds, and then he crashes into the Outernet.

Chosen and Dark, if the Flashback showed their complete journey, went from Yahoo, to Angry Birds, to StickPage, to Newgrounds.

The websites are shown to have dozens, if not hundreds of webstrings attached to them. Each leading to different places: other websites, other programs, other IP Boxes.

It’s totally possible that Dark and Chosen just went through a different webstring than Victim did to end up at Angry Birds instead, especially if they stopped to destroy Yahoo. Victim just made a (somewhat straight) shot through. But they could have just picked an exit at random.

I made a diagram for it:

It this theory is true, then it implies that StickPage is the first time both Dark and Chosen are seeing other living stick figures besides each other.

And that some HUGE implications.

Do Chosen and Dark realize what they’re doing, when they’re attacking stick figures?

Do they understand that other sticks are alive like them? That other sticks can be hurt, that they can feel pain? Do Chosen and Dark have a concept of death? Do they even realize they’re causing death to the sticks they’re attacking?

Dark was literally just created THAT DAY. How much does he know? How much does he understand?

How much knowledge does a stick figure possess, innately, when they’re created?

Chosen has been alive for 4 and a half years, but he’d been imprisoned and enslaved. He’d never seen another stick figure before Dark. All he knew was fighting, being forced to destroy pop-ups, and trying to escape. Does HE know the nature of other living things? Does HE know how to behave towards others of his kind? Does HE understand the concept of death?

Dark was made to kill Chosen, and the first moments of his life were spent attempting to fulfill that purpose. And then he went immediately into destroying the computer. And then immediately into destroying websites.

Dark had nothing to teach him that wanton destruction and mass murder wasn’t okay to do. He and Chosen simply did them, and he found he liked doing them. He didn’t have a moral compass to tell him it was wrong, and he didn’t have the opportunity to properly develop one. There was no resistance to prevent him from becoming a psychopath who enjoyed hurting and killing other living beings.

Because Chosen certainly wasn’t stopping him. Not yet, at any rate.

But Chosen...Chosen was older. Chosen had experienced different things from Dark. Chosen probably experienced pain and fear at Alan’s hands. (Victim’s backstory has got me fully doubting that Chosen was just left to twiddle his thumbs when he wasn’t being used as a pop-up blocker. Alan hurt Chosen too. Chosen just probably never died from it.) Was that enough to give him the basis for a sense of morality? Enough to instill him with the ability to empathize?

Is that why Chosen pauses, when Mitsi dies? Is he starting to realize the full consequences of their actions? That they’re killing sticks?

Or does none of this even matter? Was Dark made from the start to be an evil psychopath and that’s why he is the way he is? Was Chosen made ‘normal’ and simply chose to be an asshole because he was angry?

How much of it is their nature vs their lack of life experience?

This might be the reason why Chosen is participating in the Newgrounds attack. It’s so early into HIS life that he hasn’t had those changes to his morals yet. This might be the START of that change. The instigating event. The things that start causing him doubt his own actions, that eventually blooms into distaste and guilt. That eventually allows him to see that Dark’s behavior isn’t right.

That allows him to recognize his own behavior isn’t right.

The Flashback attacks have set in motion the divide between them on what their characters eventually become: Chosen develops a sense of morality, Dark does not.

Both the party and the Flashback attacks are happening on October 2nd, 2011, mere hours after Chosen and Dark have escaped.

There IS one potential snag to this theory, and that's the escape portal.

And that is, admittedly, a massive one.

That LOOKS like a Chosen-made portal. It even makes the same sounds as the ones in The Virus and The Chosen One Returns did.

But we never see nor hear what a 'normal' entrances/exit to a website looks like. We see Victim exiting them in side profile, not as they look from the surface level.

It's very possible that Chosen is just opening up the entrance into a webstring when he makes his portals.

The webstring to the Outernet already exists. He's not MAKING a connection, just opening a door.

And a webstring from Newgrounds to the Outernet ALSO already exists.

That's what I think the escape portal is, this webstring that was made when Victim fundamentally changed the entire fabric of digital reality by complete accident. Dude had a busy day that day.

Honestly, I don't think even The Chosen One has the ability to MAKE webstrings. They seem like they're fundamental connections across the internet that had been pretty well established before Victim did his thing. And that was a MASSIVE amount of energy that was released to create those new webstrings.

The entire way the internet digital space works feels very cosmic to me. Like some massive inspiration was taken from the universe in it's design. The IP Boxes look like stars, the websites planets, and they sheer nothingness in between feels like a vacuum.

I don't think it's IMPOSSIBLE to make new webstrings [I actually theorize Dark figured out how to do so with the cliff side portals] just...

Beyond Chosen's ability to do so himself.

Hence: the webstring between Newgrounds and the Outernet.

The wobbly weird-sounded hole in the ground might just be what they look like naturally. Or someone else opened it. We have no confirmation that's an ability unique to Chosen.

So that's my theory. Chosen and Dark never went to the Outernet before they started their rampage. They rampaged, and THEN probably went to the Outernet.

Where they probably got stuck, for at least a little bit. Cuz, y'know, the Sky Barrier is solid. (Also hey Signh Family IP)

[derrypubliclibrary]

WRITING CALNCELLED why is it so cold in my room. im shaking & shivering what happend.

[irrealisms]

something that i don't feel like i've seen enough posts about is the fact that. it was a joke. jack logged on as a joke because he lost a bet, intending to "take the piss". it takes maybe a few minutes for him to see the manishroom in his inventory and get genuinely emotional about it, as something he's had since the beginning of the server, as something that represents a hugely important time and series of events in his life. it's--it wasn't planned. it was just... a joke. until, suddenly, it wasn't.

and if that's not the best, most fitting end to the dream smp, i don't know what would be. o7

[tinamybeloved]

.

[apopcornkernel]

if anyone else is curious, here are all the opinions from the tags so far 👀

@acediscowlng: #ngl my first reaction to this poll is that if this happened bruce would also be dead before jason got to him #we know he doesnt handle losing his children well #losing one turns him…. into a neurotic control freak who will be taking over the world #but four? (he still thinks jason is dead) and three in rapid succession? #uh. i cant imagine him handling it well. #but if he does manage to survive that #depends on how they died i guess #we know that he would be more willing to kill in the immediate aftermath of his kids death #but if given the time to stew? #uh…. i think he wouldnt kill the joker because he would hate the idea of being a hero altogether #he became batman because he wanted to be a person who could have saved his family #but he was the most batman batman could ever be and his family died anyway maybe even because he's batman #like how would he even carry on after that?

@modernoracleofdelphi: #what i want to happen; what would make sense to happen; and what would actually happen are all different answers #i think in any world where joker dies bruce cant be the one that does it. 2 is the most plausible joker dies scenario #i think the truth is somewhere between 4 6 & 7 but he tells himself 5 too when hes trying to seperate himself from his emotions #whats most likely to happen with the comic writers at the time the utrd was published is probably option 8 actually #where things are fundamentally Worse somehow. The way bruce treats jason would be darker and heavier #the worst outcome i could see being genuinely comic canon accurate is bruce slitting his throat and then putting him in arkham WITH joker #itd be framed as The Morally Rifht Decision because jason is 1) 'getting helped' & 2) where bruce cant impose his love onto him #(because its fine to love him as long as you dont have to look him in the eyes. its fine if you dont say it.) #i could also see him genuinely pitching it as protection for jason From jason. yeah he forcefully institutionalized you but jay… #cant you see he did it because he loves you? he just wants you to get better son. #Again: all of this would be posed as morally correct despite the obvious damage it would do #very clearly a Dont Come Home but also youre not allowed to leave him in any meanigful way

@fancyfade: #i think some of the no options are p much the same but anyway no #he is too stubborn to change his moral code wven if he thought it was his only option to have part of a family and not be miserable

@an-android-child: #number 6 literally number 6 #he has lost everything and it is his fault #everything he touches rots #he's been cursed since he was eight #there's no more love to give #just death

@havendance: #i think it changes nothing #but also everyone is dead and it's all his fault and his first mistake has come back to haunt him #i think if the choice Jason presented him with was different Bruce would let Jason kill him #if that's what Jason wanted

in my dream i ran a poll/hypothetical situation where dick, tim, and cass were also killed along with steph during or right after war games. which meant that in under the hood, bruce was alone for a completely different, completely involuntary reason.

anyways unrelated poll

Yes. And why shouldn’t he kill the Joker himself? His other children are all dead. Why risk losing the miracle that brought Jason back to him? He’s always wanted to kill the Joker, anyways. (And Jason will come home at last.)

Yes. He won’t kill, even now. But maybe he can lower the gun and watch Jason blow out the Joker’s brains. (Will it be enough for him to come home?)

Yes. He won’t kill and he won’t let Jason kill the Joker. But maybe he can turn a blind eye to the Red Hood as he rampages through Gotham’s criminal underworld. (Will it be enough for him to come home?)

No. The only thing he has left to live for is his code. He won’t betray his own morals. (Don’t come home.)

No. The only thing he has left to live for is Gotham. He won’t let a murderous vigilante run rampant in her streets. (Don’t come home.)

No. He was right, his own love is a death sentence. He will drive Jason to hatred, for his own safety. (Don’t come home.)

No. This changes nothing. (Don’t come home.)

[ebony-blood]

OH MY GOODNESSS I was wondering, if you can pretty please do a lost boys X reader (poly if your comfortable with it) but she’s a wallflower? Like maybe she moved to Santa Carla and she’s bullied? Maybe a sprinkle of insecurity but ends up meeting the lost boys at the boardwalk and they just. Can’t. Leave. Her. Alone? She’s their mate and she’s so flustered cause the HOTTEST guys she’s ever seen are paying attention to her? Pretty pretty please?🥹🥹🥹 I’ll love you forever

Poly! The Lost Boys x Shy! Fem! Reader

Author's notes!: I had to look up what 'Wallflower' means lol, for those who don't know, a Wallflower is basically someone who kinda hangs back during parties because they are too shy. TW: READER IS FEM!! Bullying, mentioned violence, vampire stuff, the boys being obsessed right from the start. I tried so hard not to describe Reader in this, I try to be as inclusive as I can, but if anything is mentioned it's because I'm tired lol, I'll fix it, just bring it up in the comments and I'll track it down o7. This probably sucks, I'm sorry.

You had moved to Santa Carla looking for a fresh start a few weeks ago. You weren't used to the weird styles, the smell of weed and gas that seemed to constantly cover the streets, the loud boardwalk parties, none of it. So naturally, you kept to yourself, hanging back during parties and avoiding eye contact, unfortuantely, Santa Carla was not a place people like you, shy wallflowers, were treated right. 

Some people ignored you at best, they’d glare at you when you waved or smiled at them, they’d ignore you if you asked questions, they avoided you. But a lot of people were downright cruel to you. They mocked you at parties, some openly tried to take things from you or would push you around. People were never openly violent with you, at first, but after a few weeks they started getting more violent, pushing you around and screaming in your face. It was mostly the people who were either on drugs or drunk. It was mostly the men and their girlfriends who were openly hostile and mean to you. You wished you’d never moved to this place, it was gross, the people were indifferent at best and downright cruel at worst, and you missed people you knew in your past. You wish you weren’t like you were, so quiet and shy. Hell, it had been years since you could look in the mirror and see someone you didn’t view as hideous looking back at you, but Santa Carla made it so much worse.

It was yet another late night in Santa Carla. Another night of wandering the boardwalk while you tried to avoid the harassment you got from people. You weren’t surprised every time you were shoved aside, or shouted at by a familiar group. Honestly, you didn’t wanna deal with that tonight, you wanted to walk around, maybe go see whoever was playing a show that night and see if they were actually good, and then head back to your apartment, but it seemed whatever form of fate you believed in had a different idea, because the group just wouldn’t leave you alone, shouting random shit, from ‘Weirdo’ to one girl just straight up calling you ugly. You were fighting back tears.Why the hell were people so needlessly cruel? Whatever, it’s nothing new. 

You stopped by some area where people on the beach park their bikes. You took the biggest breath you possibly could when you realized your tormenters weren’t following you anymore, so you could finally breath. 

That was until you heard voices, four guys, you guessed. You looked in their direction and, for the first time since moving to Santa Carla, you got that butterfly feeling in your gut. That wasn’t a thing you had felt since high school. You swore the bullies you faced then laughed the feeling out of you, but these four seemed to knock the breath you had just taken out of you. Damn, they were hot. Three of the four men were blonde, one had curly hair, one had fluffy hair, and the third guy had a haircut that kind of reminded you of Billy Idol, he was smoking a cigarette. And then there was the one that seemed to be trailing behind, observing people around them while the other three, mostly the ones with curly hair and fluffy hair, laughed and joked. The fourth guy had long, dark brown hair. You stared for a minute longer before snapping yourself out of whatever daze you had been in. 

They had stopped walking, they were staring right at you, and you immediately prepared your apology in your head. Quietly standing up, and then one of the four, the fluffy-haired one, said something you assumed wasn’t meant to be said out loud.

“Holy shit, Marko, she’s hot.” 

You looked over at the four, confused, the man was immediately smacked across the back of the head by the one with the cigarette.

“Don’t say shit like that out loud, dumbass.”

You were staring at the four, your face suddenly warming up at the idea that they were talking about you. You figured it was a stupid thought, there were other hot girls around the boardwalk, why would any of these four think you were hot? Then, the one with the cigarette cleared his throat.

“Sorry about that, doll. Paul can’t seem to keep his mouth shut around pretty girls.” He said, glaring back at the one with fluffy hair, you assumed he was Paul.

The one with curly hair snickered a bit and looked over at Paul, before the one with the cigarette spoke up again, he quickly shut up then.

“I’m David, The guy behind me is Dwayne, and those two are Paul and Marko.” He said

You nodded softly, even their names were hot, what the hell? David and the other three were staring at you with a confusing amount of attention. 

Paul had an almost immediately obsessed or enamored look in his eyes, like you were just the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, Marko also looked absolutely in love with you already, both had the same look in their eyes, the other two, Dwayne and David didn’t seem in love, if they were, they were hiding it well enough. 

“So, where ya off to, sweets?” Paul said, giving you a soft grin.

“Oh, I was about to head home,” You reply, and they all suddenly seem to perk up a bit.

“Oh, really? Well, maybe, instead of that, you could come and hang out with me and the guys?” David asked, motioning to their bikes. 

Something about these four felt…supernatural. They carried themselves with such confidence, and something unseen seemed to be pulling you to them. You thought for a minute. Was it a good idea? Maybe not. It felt too good to be true, four hot boys, paying attention to you? They stared, waiting for your answer. Against your better judgment, you made your choice.

“Sure, I don’t see why I couldn’t.” 

Paul and Marko got visibly excited. Paul grabbed your hand quickly and led you over to their bikes, the other three following behind him, laughing at Paul’s excitement. You were carefully put on the back of one of their bikes and David got on in front of you, looking back at you when you wrap your arms around him.

“Hold on tight, alright?” 

You could only nod before the four sped off, David following behind the more rambunctious two, with Dwayne behind him. 

At the time you didn’t know it, but come the end of the next week, you’d be theirs, and you’d have no complaints about it.

This got so long lol.

Sorry it ended like it did, it's 4 am here and I'd dying.

more coming tomorrow <333

[acerathia]

under the candlelight || Qi Yu | Rafayel

Summary:

There is only but one candle left, one candle and him. And he was much brighter and hotter than any flame could ever be.

Wordcount: 1.7k

Read on AO3

Pairing:

Qi Yu | Rafayel / f!Reader | MC

Tags/CW:

Minors and Ageless Blogs DNI! pwp/nsfw, spoilers for 'Gem Affection', making out, literally so many kisses, and bites, vaginal fingering, piv, confessional sex bc man, lowkey fluff dkfjsdlkf, extremly self-indulgent o7

Note:

his new memory drives me insane, and i desperately needed to lick that juice off!!!

The light is dim. Rafayel has easily extinguished most candles with a simple flick of his wrist. Only one remains, lighting the distance between you two. This was supposed to be a facade, a fabricated situation to eradicate any lingering attention from outside. A soft push, your fingers tangling into the jewelry framing his torso, accentuating his body and each movement of his muscles. The heat of his skin, something much more warmer than any average person, seeps into your fingertips at the simplest of touches.

Your concentration is waning, your mind intent on only thinking about him, and him alone, keen on ignoring all outsiders and their unrelenting eavesdropping. Yet, you don’t. Rather, you begin to slowly pull away, rotating your head slightly towards the door to get a better chance to hear the ongoings outside.

Silence.

Unsure if you had succeeded in your repulsion tactic, you decide to get closer to the door to make sure. But before you could even move accordingly, Rafayel has grabbed you, pulling you much closer, your bodies connecting as you end up straddling him.

You feel the heat of your own body rise, yet you don’t pull away. You simply put your arms around his shoulders, looking down on him. Meeting his eyes, there’s something swimming in them, an inexplicable emotion darkening his gaze. You can’t help but let your eyes flick towards his slightly open mouth, plush lips soft under the candle light, inviting you to take a taste, to share the same breath.

You hesitate.

Noticing the state of your mind, a whirlwind he’s all too familiar with, he begins to speak. His voice rough and terse, so much different than the lighthearted tone he always takes on.

“Will you indulge me?”, he whispers against your skin, before his lips meet the soft junction between your jaw and your throat.

This touch draws a gasp out of you, your breath leaving you all to willingly. And his touch ignites something in you, something you’re not ready to explore yet. So, you look for a distraction, if even for a moment to allow you to sort your own mind.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice the gleam of the fruits, akin to jewelry under the flicker of the candle. With a small movement, the hand closest to it carefully picks one of the small fruits, guiding it towards his oh-so-tempting lips.

He looks up to you, eyelashes fluttering, but he doesn’t reject you, rather he leans closer to the fruit, taking a small nibble out of it. The juice sticks to his lips and you feel the need to lick it off for him, the need to get much closer to him than you are right now.

His breath grazes your wrist at the same moment his hand grabs it, guiding your skin to his lips. But instead of placing a soft kiss, his tongue darts out, picking up the drops of juice sticking to your skin. Your hand trembles and in a moment of weakness the fruit slips out of your grasp, only to roll down over his body.

“Oh, Your Highness, you will help me, yeah?”, his teeth scrape against your pulse point, and he must realize how fast your heart is beating for him, due to him. At the same time, you refuse to let him fluster you one-sidedly.

So, you lean closer to him, but instead of meeting him in a kiss, to taste him and the fruit, your lips tint the front of his throat with warmth. You keep traveling down, peppering small kisses over his clavicles and shoulders, teasing his nipples with nibbles, until the moment the trail left behind by the fruit starts. Slowly you begin to lick the juice off, lapping your tongue against his skin, and you feel him shiver against your touch, panting each time you suck and bite. Following the trail, you work your way lower and lower, until the fruit lays right in front of you, sitting in the dip of his hips.

You look up and despite the sparse light, you recognize the flush coating his face and neck. Yet, the most burning thing are his eyes, locked onto your figure, following your every move with uneven breath. Your eyes meet and you keep the contact as you slowly guide your tongue towards the fruit, nudging it and grazing his skin. The consequent shiver only spurs you to press your tongue against his v-line, before carefully picking up the fruit with your lips.

With your little spoil resting in your mouth, you consider going lower, hands already trailing the soft, silky material of his pants. The shadows only accentuate his situation, as he strains against the fabric, and the simple outline of his desire makes you only feel the need for him so much more intensely. Your fingertips hover over him, but before you could outright touch him, a hand grabs you, pulling you back up to him. And once again you end up straddling him. But this time it’s different, as you can feel the bulge press against you, making your insides squirm and heat up.

This position doesn’t last long, as Rafayel presses you into the bed, face hovering over yours.

“My turn, my dear,” he murmurs before dipping in to take your lips in. The fruit pops at the pressure of his tongue against yours, and the sour sweetness mixes with his taste, making you only crave more and more.

Thus, you tilt your head to deepen the kiss and grab his hair carefully to pull him in infinitely closer. For a moment, you forget where you start and where he ends, all tongue, saliva, teeth, and his taste dripping down your throat.

His hand touches your bare skin, drawing pattern over your waist, your hips, only to tug the fabric covering you low enough to expose you. You barely have time to register the change, before his long fingers dip into you, sliding into your folds, pressing against your sweet spot.

A moan escapes you, and you squirm underneath his touch. His lips have left you only to kiss your throat, latching onto the base of your breasts, slowly making his way to your nipples.

Meanwhile, his fingers work you, slowly pressing and moving in a rhythm which makes you yearn for more, as Rafayel still has to truly do more than stimulate you. Yet, you want more. The image of his slender, elegant fingers entering you ignites the heat in your lower region, and you feel as you soak his fingers.

“Rafayel, please…”, you whimper, as you try to move your hips in an attempt to seek more touch with him, in an attempt to persuade him.

He kisses the sensitive underside of your boob with a rough chuckle. “Oh, do you need me that badly? Then, should I be a good boy and give you what you desire?”

Furiously nodding, you grasp his shoulders.

“Now, you need to use your words, Your Highness,” despite his words, he slowly makes his way back up to you, even if his fingers were still moving between your folds at an agonizing pace.

“Y-Yes, please,” you burrow your face into the juncture between his shoulders and neck. At the same time, you wrap a leg around his hip, pressing you closer to him, to feel his own desire against yours, even if it’s barely a touch.

Only after hearing those words does he retract his hand, only to drag his tongue over his fingers, the ones glistening with your need for him, and you think you feel him throbbing through his pants. Even if the lack of contact makes you ache, you feel some sort of relief as he sinks closer to you, hips against hips, fabric soaking you in, indirectly conjoining you despite the flimsy barrier between you.

A sigh mingles with his breath as he kisses you over and over again, holding your lips captive between his. A faint rustle, and you can feel his heat much more prominent against your skin. But you barely get the chance to glance at it, much less admire it, as Rafayel keeps kissing you over and over again, not allowing you to catch your breath between them and his sweet nothings.

Until he stops in his tracks. This time, you’re the one not allowing him to act on his thoughts, as you give him a smile. “I love you.”

His breath gets caught in his chest, before plunging in for another kiss, whispering ‘I love you’ against your lips over and over again. Rafayel doesn’t stop kissing you, even as he slowly allows himself to sink into you, to stretch you to fully take him. So, you pant into his mouth, your noises getting swallowed by him as he returns them.

After he’s fully in you, you both just take your time, time to adjust, to enjoy the intimacy and closeness of this position, being as close as humanly possible. His hands find yours, fingers intertwining as he rests his forehead against your shoulder. You both simply breathe and take it in and feel the heartbeat of the other.

Only when you begin to shift, pressing even closer to him, does he begin to move, pacing himself slowly, his strokes careful and measured, much like he’s painting a mural out of your emotions and every gasp and moan escaping out of you.

He keeps panting your name, declarations of love and desire, kissing every single spot he can find. His lips meet your shoulders, clavicle, throat, only to tenderly kiss your eyelids, your forehead. Rafayel nuzzles his face against yours as his want takes over and the pace speeds up. His hands grab your hips to lift you slightly above the bed, making sure to hit every spot you ever desire. Freeing one of his hands, he lets his fingers wander over your sensitive folds once again, every movement in sync with each other.

With his deep knowledge of you, it doesn’t take long for you to tip over the edge, dragging him along with you.

After you both get down from your high, he continues to stay in you, to stay connected to you, as he lets his weight fall onto you. A breathless giggle escapes you, as you wrap your arms around him, nuzzling your face into the softness of his hair.

Between the continued confessions of love and desire, the single candle flickers, shining bright like a tiny star looking down on you, almost like it’s recording the absolution and conviction between you.

[pomefioredove]

Hi, can I have a sugar cookie, #16, with chocolate drizzle?

o7

order #16, sugar with chocolate drizzle

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ it'll pass

tropes: exes to lovers characters: leona additional info: romantic, gender neutral reader, reader is yuu, post-nrc, a little bittersweet, for those thinking they wouldn't forgive him and would marry rook instead, I understand, yes this is a fleabag reference <3

That question, that bitter uncertainty that had caged itself in your chest, behind your ribs, by your heart, had not passed.

It will pass, you had said, your friends had said, even he had said it himself.

It'll pass.

And then, the question. But what if it doesn't?

What if you never forget Leona Kingscholar?

What will you do with this love, now that there's no one to give it to?

It becomes grief, and pain. Bitterness, anger, resentment, longing, desire.

It becomes a secret, it becomes a question.

But what if it doesn't?

You had, at first, slept too much; but then that reminded you of him, and you stopped sleeping altogether.

You began writing, not fiction, nor letters, but your thoughts, if only to get them on paper and out of your head.

Most days, they were nonsense. A procession of words and feelings with no meaning, nor sense, nor relationship between one another.

Bird, television, cold, knocking, tired, tired, tired...

It always ended with that.

And it always began with Why? Why, what? Why did he leave you? Why didn't you stop him? Why can't you move on? Why any of these things?

It was strange.

You were the one destined to leave. When you and Leona fell in love, in your years at Night Raven College, that threat loomed over you both.

One day, you would leave.

Leona still became yours. He was the one constant in your life, the only person you could really rely on. He cared about you, more than he'd ever admit.

Likewise, he had never said that he wanted you to stay, but you knew he did.

It didn't matter. Crowley never found a way home, or perhaps he did, and didn't tell you, but again, it didn't matter. You graduated NRC, and went to Leona.

You were happy, too.

And then he was suddenly betrothed to a duchess, to have a family he never wanted, in a position he resented, and that was that.

It'll pass.

That's all he had said when you told him you loved him.

"I love you,"

"It'll pass,"

You wanted him to stay, like he did to you.

It'll pass.

You became despondent, sleepless. You found shelter and companionship in the form of an affluent Rook Hunt, when you had no one else to call.

But he, too, must leave. For months, the villa is empty, and it's only you and your disconnected words and your paper and the night.

One day, there's a letter for you.

Not for Rook, or for the household, but for you.

It has no name, no initials, no return address. It's not signed. It's typed. It says:

French, confused, nosy, prick, soft, missing, quiet.

So on, so forth. Hundreds of those words, meaningless and senseless and yet special, precious, worthy.

You hold the letter to your heart and the ink smudges on your sweaty hands.

There's another the next day. Quiet, manners, hate, missing, windows, dark.

And one more after that.

Boring, empty, doves, missing, water, spoon.

They come, one after the other, until Rook returns at the end of the month, freckled from the sun and tired from his work.

"Ah... an admirer?" he had asked, listening to you read the letters aloud.

"They aren't from you?"

"From me? Heh. I like to think my prose is a little more cohesive, non?"

You wake the next morning to breakfast, courtesy of Rook, and a letter, courtesy of the wind.

This one only has one word on it.

Sorry.

No more come after that.

The news that Prince Leona had broken off his engagement to the wealthy duchess reaches you in your remote room, through the sharp eyes and upturned lips of a certain Rook Hunt.

Unhappy, was the word, this time.

It was bitterly poetic. Unhappy. It reminded you of something you had written, but when you went looking for that, you were met with an empty sheet of stamps, and a drawer with no paper in it.

"You must forgive me," Rook had said, "I could not bear to see you both suffer so."

The mysterious letters, your "admirer", suddenly make sense.

The next day, another letter comes. But this one is special; it's attached to a hand, that of a certain Leona Kingscholar.

This one, too, has a full sentence.

I love you too.

[fionnaskyborn]

i was actually cooking with gas with this one ngl. world's most normal and least traumatized twenty-six-year-old's grand return

oh wait no i am actually not going to bed just yet hang on