#verse; the deadliest place on earth

[streetlight11]

Hii can I request a one shot for Jeongin with mafia!gn!reader??^^ where the reader met him at the fan sign and i.n is their bias and have a crush on him, then one day, when jeongin just wants to go back home or his dorm from convenience store, a drunk man?? Try to hurt him so the reader comes and safe him. AHAHAHA sorry if this too long

Have a great day/night^^

Hellooo love! Thank you for sending in your request. I'm sorry this took quite long to be posted :( But anyways, this is a cute yet funny idea for a fic and it's something I don't really think I've seen or read before so I hope it turned out okay! Anywho, here is the requested fic! <3

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You're My Hero

Summary: Surely there’s a soft side to even the scariest, most deadliest person on earth... Right? Well, you just so happen to be one of them. Who knew you could be working for a well known mafia boss and find a guy from one of the Kpop groups cute, at the same time

Theme: idol!verse au, strangers to idiots friends 🤟🏼

Genre: crack, fluff, a little violent but not brutal

Warnings: mentions of blood and a broken nose

WC: 5.3k

Pairing: Idol!Jeongin x Mafia!GN!Reader

a/n: This fic idea breaks the stereotypes of where the idol saves the reader and I like it! 😁 It's meant to be lighthearted so I hope I don't disappoint you with this fic!

Viper.

That was your code name within your gang and the mafia world. Why? Because you were an elite member of your mafia gang. ‘The Red Cobras’ was your gang’s name. Everyone in the mafia world knows who The Red Cobras are. Everyone knows not to mess with your team. Everyone knows to never cross the line whenever your team is involved. For their lives would be at stake if things ever go south. And you would be in-charge of eliminating the enemy or targets in cold blood.

Hence, why your code name was given as ‘Viper’.

Similarly to how they show it in the movies, you do have a private life outside of the mafia world. One where nobody knows your true identity. One where nobody knows what you do for a living besides going to university. Your dark side of your life has always been kept a secret, even from your own family and friends.

Reason being you don’t wanna risk their lives for something that you’ve done. If death is coming your way because things went south during a job, you want it to be targeted to you alone and not your loved ones.

Of course, you would never let that misfortune even happen in the first place. Which is why you can be really uptight and super precise when it comes to planning, preparing and going for every job given to you. So in conclusion, your whole life is a mess but you’d do whatever it takes to keep it intact and as far from your loved ones as possible. The only thing that keeps you going everyday is music. Who knew that someone as dangerous as you could love a commonly loved genre amongst all else, and that is Kpop.

Except, not just any Kpop but more specifically Stray Kids. You’ve been listening and supporting them along with their music ever since they were on that survival show. They have been your pillar of strength when nobody was there for you.

Sure they don’t know you personally. Sure they don’t even know you exist. Sure you probably won’t ever get the chance to meet them. Nevertheless, you were thankful that you found them and their music. As dramatic as this sounds, you definitely have no idea where you would be without them.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, you were having lunch in school when your notification went off. You checked your phone to see what it was and you nearly shat your pants. A few days ago, Stray Kids made a comeback with their new album called Maxident. JYP then tweeted saying that there will be a fansign event coming up for this album release and it will be a first come first serve basis. So as soon as they tweeted the link to apply for the fansign, you quickly clicked on it and prayed for the best.

Which is why you nearly shat your pants when you received an email from the event management saying that you were one of the lucky fans to secure a spot for yourself in the fansign. Nevertheless, you were really thankful for this as you could finally check off one thing on your bucket list. Your friend looked at you with an eyebrow raised, clearly unaware of what was going on.

“I got in for Stray Kids’ fansign this weekend!” You said, only then did they let out a scream of excitement that made everyone in the cafeteria turn heads.

“Omg! Are you serious?! Wait! Omg! You can finally meet I.N!” They squeaked to which you nodded.

“I can finally meet I.N!” You repeat their words out of sheer excitement. Not believing this miracle.

Nonetheless, you went about your day just like how you usually do. Finding it hard to focus sometimes whenever your mind just flickers back to the thought of meeting your ultimate bias this weekend. The chances of you getting the ticket in was less than 50% and yet, you still got in. There is no way you’d forget this day and the actual day when you’re finally meeting him in person.

The day finally comes, where you decide to wear something similar to Jeongin’s everyday look since that was basically your favourite style as well. It was simple yet comfy at the same time. You made yourself look as presentable as you could, spraying a good amount of your favourite EDP scent. The journey to the venue took about half an hour, thanks to the lack of congested traffic. Once you made it to the venue, you paid the cab driver the exact change before getting out of the vehicle. Immediately, there was a whole bunch of fans waiting outside in a queue.

They were all dressed up and ready to meet the boys of Stray Kids. Not only the fangirls but also the fanboys too. Who are we kidding right? You’re meeting your favourite idols. Of course you have to look good in front of them so that they notice you. When else can you sit down and have a chat with your idols casually, right?

Minutes felt like hours as they finally opened the doors to the hall. You sat according to your seat number, placing your bag onto your lap that was filled with the gift you got for each of them. The staff played a video of their new album songs, starting with Case 143 music video first. You were quietly listening to it while texting your friend, not aware of how long you’ve been sitting there. All until the Superboard music video stops and soon, you hear Chan’s voice through the speakers.

“Hello! Hello! Shall we come out and meet you guys?” Everyone in the room replied with a yes as you could hear the background began to get noisy with the rest of the members’ voices. Not long after, all 8 of them entered the stage one by one and you could’ve sworn your soul left your body for a split second when Jeongin walked in.

They greeted all of you and had a quick chat before they started with the fansign event. All the while you were waiting patiently in your seat, you went ahead and took pictures of them from afar.

At one point, you were just admiring the way Chan was laughing out loud while playing rock paper scissors with the fan when you glanced over to his left and saw Jisung staring at you. He didn’t have a fan in front of him so he opted to look at the seated fans. The minute you locked eyes with him, you cheekily winked at him and it startled him. Jisung began to giggle with his hand over his mouth, hanging his head low to avoid your gaze. When he looked back up to you, Jisung gave you a finger heart and pretended to shoot you with it in which you catched it in mid air and pressed your palm over your heart.

He grinned widely at you before giving you a little wave as the fan sat down in front of him. You found it adorable and you don’t think you would ever forget that moment you shared with him. About 20 minutes later, it was finally your turn to head on stage to meet the guys, starting with Chan.

The arrangement of the fansign was Chan, Jisung, Changbin, Seungmin, Minho, Hyunjin, Felix and Jeongin. So when you sat down in front of Chan, he greeted you warmly with a wave and a cute grin.

“Hello! How are you?” He asked as he took your album from the staff and turned it to his page to sign it.

“Hello! I’m good. How are you?” You asked, to which he looked up from the album to talk to you with eye contact.

“I’m doing great. Have you eaten?”

“I did before I came. I hope you had your lunch too?” You asked, earning a cute nod from him.

“Yes, yes. We did. By the way, what’s your name?”

“I’m Y/N.”

“Oh wow, that name really suits you! So, what song is your favourite from Maxident?” Chan asked while you thought of an answer. In all honesty, you loved every single song on the album. So it was hard to pick just one. However, because you were feeling pressured with how little time you had left with Chan, you just said a title that popped to your head first.

“I like all the songs but if I had to choose one? I’d pick Superboard.”

“Really? I like that song too.” Chan giggled, making you do the same. You chatted with him for a bit more but it was time to say goodbye to him.

Before you moved seats, you dug your bag for his gift and soon gave it to him. You told him it was a black hoodie with his initials on the right sleeve cuff and he gasped. He took a quick look at it only to smile brightly at you. He thanked you for the gift and told you that he promised to wear it for his upcoming Chan’s Room live.

Chan then waved to you sadly and placed his palm against the glass divider that separates the idol from the fans due to the pandemic that was still going on. You placed your hand against his and soon moved onto the next person, which was Jisung. Immediately, he laughed and spoke up to you.

“Hey! You’re the one that winked at me earlier, right?” Jisung asked, making you laugh.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Y/N.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Y/N. My name is Han Jisung.” He flashed you his signature toothy grin, making you laugh at how cute he looked up close for the first time. He however, was curious as to why you laughed so his expression changed so quickly to a confused frown. His cheeks puffed out while his eyes grew wide.

“Am I funny looking? Why did you laugh?” He asked in a sad tone, his marker hovering over the album page where his picture was.

“No! I didn’t laugh because you look funny! I laughed because you’re so much cuter in real life.” You said, to which Jisung was caught blushing upon hearing your compliment. He burst out laughing from embarrassment, not really sure on how he should react.

“Ah… Don’t say that. I know I look handsome in person.” He sounded so confident, to which Changbin scoffed beside him and said, “Please. If that’s true, then why is Hyunjin the visual of the group then?” Jisung stuck his tongue out at the male beside him in annoyance, making you laugh at their childish antics. Jisung then turns back to you and apologises for the small bickering.

“Don’t have to. Regardless of what he says, you’re still the visual to me.” Upon hearing this, Jisung’s lips curl up into a cocky smirk, earning a laugh from you. After you chatted with him for a bit more, it was time to move onto the next person. Not before giving him his gift which was a pair of ear studs with a chain loop on it. He thanked you for it, saying he’ll wear it out one day and promised he’d do it. You gave him a gentle high five through the glass divider and proceeded to take a seat in front of Changbin. He waved at you eagerly like a little kid, earning a small giggle from you.

“Hi! What’s your name?”

“Hello! I’m Y/N.”

“Hi Y/N, I’m Seo Changbin but you can call me Binnie!” He said cutely to you. This made you laugh knowing he loves being called ‘Binnie’.

“What did you have for lunch, Binnie?” You asked him casually, only for him to blush and giggle hearing you call his nickname.

“I had jajangmyeon, fried chicken, korean beef with rice and tteokbokki for lunch. What did you have?”

“Just kimchi fried rice.”

“That’s all?! Why! You should eat more!” Changbin said with nothing but pure concern and you didn’t know if you should be sad or thankful about it.

“It’s okay, my appetite comes and goes. Sometimes I’ll eat a lot then other days I’ll barely eat anything so it’s fine.” You said, only for him to frown at you adorably with his lips jutting out into a pout.

“Promise me you’ll eat something even if you don’t feel like it, okay? I don’t want you to fall sick.” He said, making you smile and promising him that. Soon after talking to him for a bit, you gave him his gift which was a keychain that has the initials ‘OCB’ then an X over the letter O, followed by ‘SCB’ below it. Changbin laughed after he realised what it means, thanking you happily for the amazing idea. You waved goodbye to him as you shifted over to the next seat.

Seungmin smiled at you like an adorable puppy, before he spoke up to you, “Hi! How are you?”

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Same. What’s your name?”

“I’m Y/N.”

“That’s a nice name. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Thank you! It’s nice to meet you too.”

“So, what is your favourite title track out of all the albums we had?” He asked, to which you took a while to answer.

“I really like all of it… But if there’s one title track that I listen to over and over again, it would have to be Thunderous.”

Seungmin smiled like he was proud of that answer, looking up from the album and said, “Nice choice. I thought you were gonna say God’s Menu or Back Door.”

“Don’t get me wrong though, I love all of your songs. Thunderous just hits me differently.” You explained, earning a satisfied nod from him. You chatted with him a little more about how you came across their music and what other genres you listen to before you were told to move to the next person. You gave him his gift which was a necklace which has a small puppy pendant, telling him that it reminded you of him and so he laughed.

He didn’t forget to thank you before you scooted over to the empty seat next to you. Only for Minho to smirk and tease you like you were his long time friend.

“Hey, haven’t seen you in a while huh?” He said confidently, causing you to frown in confusion.

“But this is my first time meeting you?”

This caused him to cackle, holding his stomach as it curls in his torso. He finally looked up to you and said, “I was just kidding! I didn’t wanna start off the conversation with the typical ‘Hi, what’s your name’ like the other four did. It’s lame.” He really is odd but probably the most realistic one in the group. And for that, you loved it.

“So… how can I address you?” He asked naturally.

“Y/N.”

“So Y/N, what do you think about the fansign so far? Anyone bore you? These four can be pretty dull sometimes, especially the one sitting at the start of the line.” Minho said cheekily before peeking past the front to make a silly face whilst staring at Chan but of course the latter couldn’t hear him so Minho opted for a laugh instead and so did you.

“They didn’t bore me, unfortunately. Maybe you might though…” You said teasingly only for him to scoff.

“Oh yeah? Okay, don’t talk to me then.” Minho said as he began to focus on writing on the page when you laughed, hoping he was not upset.

“I still wanna talk to you though…” You pouted, only for him to glance up and catch the look on your face. This made him smile, falling for your charms easily.

“Okay! Do you like me?” You were flustered by how direct he was, something you forgot Minho was good at.

“Yes.”

“Will you go on a date with me?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I’m definitely not your favourite, seeing how easily you said yes.” Minho began to laugh, finding the situation funny. You, on the other hand, were surprised that he was extremely quick to catch on to the fact that you answered him without much trouble.

“Don’t say that! You make it sound so bad!” You begged, causing him to laugh even more.

“It’s true though, right? So who’s your favourite SKZ member?” He smirked at you and wiggled his eyebrows cheekily, making you laugh.

“I’m not telling you.”

“Why not?” He whined, to which you shook your head and soon took out the gift you got for him. He took it from you and opened the box, only to find a phone case which has a picture of his cats printed on it. He adored the picture so much that he couldn’t help but change his phone case on the spot. He thanked you as he waved goodbye while you got up to move onto the next seat.

Hyunjin greeted you happily as he started off the conversation with, “I hope you’re still having a good day after meeting the rest of my members. You’re gonna have the best day now that you met me.”

“That’s very confident of you.”

“I am confident.” He said before he burst into laughter. He then asked for your name in which you told him.

“What perfume are you using? It smells so good!” He asked.

“I’m using the Peony & Blush Suede by Jo Malone.”

“It’s really nice! I love the scent.”

“Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” He giggled as he signed off the short paragraph of message before looking up at you to focus on you while he speaks.

“What made you like us?” He asked.

“I’ve been supporting you since the survival show and it’s been a great journey up till today. I never thought music could change my life but it did. After seeing you grow from Hellevator to District9 and so on, I feel really proud to call myself a STAY.” You explained briefly, only for him to pout at you from feeling overwhelmed. Though he knew he wasn’t allowed to make skin contact with you, he still chose to sneak his hand beside the glass divider and gently hold your hand to give you some sort of comfort.

“Thank you for staying with us from the start. We wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for STAYs like you.” He said, to which you couldn’t help but smile. You talked to him for a bit more before handing him his gift. And that was a set of paintbrushes that were custom made to have his initials ‘HHJ’ engraved onto the end of each paintbrush.

He was visibly moved by the gift, seeing how he had a hand over his mouth while he stared at the engraved letters. He thanked you for the gift, telling you that it was perfect and that he would keep it and use it well to his best abilities. You then said goodbye and moved down the line, only to meet Felix.

“Hello! Do you know my name?” He asked cheekily.

“Hello! Unfortunately, I have no idea. You are?” You teased just to see what he would say, and for some reason, you had a feeling he would say a pickup line.

“I’m your-future-boyfriend. Nice to meet you.” He said and right after he finished his sentence, his face immediately cringed as he squeaked from his lame attempt at flirting. He’s just too shy and gentle to give a strong pickup line like that. It almost seemed unnatural coming from someone as polite as himself. So you teased him by saying, “No, Felix. Please don’t ever do that to your crush in the future. You should just be yourself. You’re sweet enough already.”

With that being said, Felix laughed at your response finding the truth behind it. He then asked, “Is this your first fansign with us?” While he wrote something in your album.

“It is. I’ve been a STAY since the survival show actually. I just never got the opportunity to go to a fansign before.” You explained to him briefly, only for him to nod.

“I’m glad you could finally meet us in person! How do you like it so far? Have my members been nice to you?” Felix asked as he jokingly side eyed the rest of his members to his right, making you laugh.

“I love it so far. You are all so funny and sweet.” You said, earning a small smile from him. A few more chats and you were soon told to move down the line. So you quickly passed his gift before you forgot. For Felix, you got him a silver stainless steel ring with his initials carved on the inner part of the ring.

“It’s supposed to be worn as a ring but in case it doesn’t fit you, I included a chain in the box so you can put it through to make it a necklace.” You said whilst getting up. Felix gasped in awe, thanking you for the beautiful gift. Thankfully, he tried the ring on his middle finger and it fit perfectly so he decided to keep it on for the rest of the fansign. You waved goodbye to him before turning to the last person that was waiting in line for you to sit down.

Immediately, your heart was so close to leaping out of your chest. You couldn’t contain the shyness of having sat right in front of your bias. If you told yourself 4 years ago that you would be sitting here with Yang Jeongin from Stray Kids and have a full on chat for a few minutes, you would’ve called yourself crazy.

The minute you locked eyes with him, you could feel the world around you spin due to major euphoria. Right when you sat down, you felt as if your words got sucked out of your mouth. Suddenly, you were too dumb to speak.

“What’s your name?” He asked gently.

“I’m Y/N.”

“I like that name. It suits you.”

Jeongin said as you simply giggled while thanking him. He must’ve noticed the tremble in your hands because he immediately giggled and said, “Don’t be nervous… Relax.” With that being said, you tried your best to do as he says.

“I’m sorry! I just can’t believe I’m talking to you right now.” You said, hearing his shy chuckle through the glass divider.

“Well then, don’t let this few minutes go to waste! Which music video is your favourite?” He asked.

“Uh… Maybe Easy? Or Thunderous? But I liked Levanter too. Ahh I don’t know! I love all of it.” You said, earning a laugh from him.

“Who’s your favourite member?” He asked all of a sudden, catching you off guard. Compared to when Minho asked you, it was pretty obvious how you were stunned and almost stuttered now when Jeongin asked simply because you are in fact nervous. If Minho saw you right now, he would make fun of you for getting all nervous and shy now that your bias was the one asking the question.

“U-Uhh… I… Favourite member?” You stumbled over your words in which he reacted by saying, “So cute.” That almost made your knees weak.

“Y-You’re actually my favourite member.” You finally confessed, seeing the way his grin grew wider.

“Really? No wonder you’re so shy. Thank you!” He said, making you smile. Unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye so you gave him his gift.

“Is that for me?” He asked innocently so you decided to tease him.

“No, it’s for your manager.”

“Aish…” He playfully frowned as a pout appeared on his lips, making you laugh.

“Of course it’s for you!”

He opened the box to find a bracelet which had a circle pendant that had his initials on one side and an outline of his SKZOO character on the other. He was amazed by how you managed to get this customised.

“Thank you so much! This is really pretty.” He said with a bright smile on his face.

“I hope it’s okay that it’s not a branded gift.”

“Are you kidding? I don’t care if it’s not branded! It’s the thought that counts more. So thank you!” He said before his manager began to usher you away for the next fan to get their turn. He immediately put on the bracelet you gave him. You took your album and soon got up from the seat in front of him.

He then waved to you sadly, saying goodbye. You didn’t want this event to end but you knew it had to. As much as you wanted them to stay, that would never happen. You left the event feeling happy and content, hoping they’ll remember you even though you knew that wouldn’t be possible unless a miracle happened.

That night, you were getting ready to leave your apartment for your meeting with your boss at the headquarters when you received a notification from instagram with the title, “realstraykids just made a post”. You clicked it only to smile when you see a picture of Jeongin smiling into the camera while standing in front of a plain white wall. What catches your eye however was the bracelet you gave him, still wrapped around his wrist.

Maybe dreams do come true anyway.

It’s been days since the fansign and you haven’t seen them anywhere except through your phone or laptop screen. Your job has been pretty hectic recently, having to use every ounce of energy you had to get into a close combat fight with your targets. As crazy as it all sounds, you weren’t given the title of an “elite member” for nothing. You narrowly escaped near-death experience thrice throughout the past few missions. Tonight was no different.

You were walking down the street to head back home after you got separated from your group halfway through the mission. As usual, you got out of the fight with minor cuts on your arms and cheek but there weren't any deep cuts that would need to be sewn or stapled close.

After a rough fight and thankfully winning on your part, you told your members you were heading straight home to aid your cuts just so they know you’re still alive. However, on your way back is when you heard a squeal followed by a cry for help.

The problem is…

Why did the voice sound so oddly familiar?

You rushed your footsteps quietly down the path only to peak past the wall. That’s where you saw a familiar white headed boy curled up against the alley brick wall with his hands clasped in front of him desperately.

“Please don’t hurt me! I-I just wanna go home! T-Take my money! Just take it, please!” Jeongin cried as he begged the drunk man with a pocket knife in his hand, just pointing the sharp blade towards Jeongin’s eyes. Just as he was slurring over his words, you yelled at him to get his attention.

“Oi!”

Both of them turned to you as the drunk man began to swing his arm at you whilst letting go of his grip on Jeongin’s shoulder. You swiftly dodged his arms whenever it was getting closer to you.

“T-This is not your business! Get lost!” The man said as he struggled to stand on two feet. His breath reeks of alcohol and as much as you don’t normally comment on a person’s hygiene, this man looks like he’s been out of the house for days without proper care. Just then, he swung his arm out with the blade pointing outwards when you grabbed hold of his forearm to block it while your other hand lifted up at an angle only to slam your elbow down on his arm joint.

He let out a loud grunt followed by dropping the knife willingly due to the sharp pain, giving you access to punch his face.

The man groaned in pain as you stared at the broken nose and red crimson blood dripping down his cupid’s bow. You then bent his arm behind his back, keeping him in a locked position so his movements were restricted.

You reached down swiftly for your karambit knife as you wrapped an arm across his shoulder while pressing the tip of your blade against his neck right beneath his earlobe, only to hear him panic.

“Please! Please! Don’t kill me! I’m begging you!” The man cried to you. All you did was jerk your arm into making him think that you’re about to slice his neck open but you didn’t. The drunk man panicked even more as he apologised further. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Just… Please don’t! Don’t kill me! I swear I’ll leave!” He begged desperately while you had him locked in your arms.

“Get lost before I change my mind.” You threatened as you shoved the man forward, seeing him scramble away like he'd just seen a ghost. You kept your gaze on the drunken man, completely missing the way Jeongin had already stood up and was staring at you deeply. It wasn’t until he spoke up that you finally looked at him properly.

“I-I know you… You came to our fanmeet the other day right? You’re the one that gave me this bracelet.” He said as he held up his left hand to show you the bracelet you had gifted him.

This shocked you with the fact that he even recognized you in this all black fit in the dark alley. You remained quiet as he continued softly, “Y/N right?” You frowned when he was about to take a step closer to you but stopped him.

“Don’t come any closer… I… I’m a dangerous person for you. I should leave.” You said as you turned to leave when he spoke up again in a hurry, “Wait! Please don’t go. You just saved me from getting hurt, I can’t just let you go without properly thanking you.” Jeongin said as you felt your heart melt from his kindness.

Since you were hesitating, Jeongin spoke up again, “How about grabbing a coffee tomorrow afternoon at Daisies Cafè down that street? Coffee’s on me.”

“Are you sure?” You asked him, genuinely concerned for his safety and career.

“Of course I’m sure. Unless you have a better suggestion?” He asked expectantly with his adorable almond shaped eyes in which you could never say no to.

“Okay. I’ll see you there.” You said with a small smile. He mimicked your expression and soon nodded his head to you.

“See you there…” Jeongin said as he was about to walk off when his eyes grew wide at something he saw. Suddenly, he reached up to touch something on your face when he stopped himself. To avoid infecting your cut, he proceeded to touch the spot on his own cheekbone where your cut was and told you that it was bleeding. You swiped a finger over it, only to get a smudge of blood on your fingertip.

“It’s fine. I’ll clean it later.”

“I can’t believe this. How were you so shy a few days ago but so badass and strong now? You’re so cool.” He smiled brightly, earning a soft laugh from you.

“You’ve only seen a little.” You teased, seeing him burst into laughter. Jeongin decides to let you head home and rest, opting to say goodnight instead of running away, even though he just saw you threaten someone with a blade in your hand.

“Goodnight Y/N. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said.

“Goodnight Jeongin. Get home safely and I’ll see you tomorrow too.” You smiled before going separate ways.

And that's how you became friends with your bias.

[apexulansis]

did Kariians ever farm or?

Sort of. Certainly never in the same degree as an Earthling, given Kariio was always an aggressively cold place and just could not cultivate the same sort of life as a place like Earth. And even before the cataclysmic event that threw Kariio into its still ongoing nuclear ice-age, all its life had to be fairly ruthless to survive.

If you had to pick between an Earth-cow and a Kariian-cow or an Earth-flower and a Kariian-flower, the answer is pretty obvious. 'Farming' on Kariio in of itself would be like trying to herd lions. So yeah obviously the Zehen-Khasiik still do it but it's certainly not a docile or simple lifestyle for them. To be a farmer on Kariio 15-R is absolutely not an easy task because everything wants to kill you; it is not a lifestyle for those who are not clever and adaptive. Farmers on Kariio 15-R will frequently have educations either in beast-training and/or botany (education is freely shared between them; probably the most streamlined thing about their society tbh) should they wish to either A) not die or B) excel in their craft.

Fauna-based farms on Kariio are on the above-world. They are plentiful in the vast mountain cordillera of Zourne and Zozava'Zahhania, as many of the smaller peaks are shallow enough to traverse between on foot or vehicle but are steep enough to block out the fiercest of the perpetual storm's violent winds. Fauna-farmers on Kariio are at the highest risk of being killed or maimed. Most Kariians are predators, and even the most docile of its wildlife will attack you if it perceives you as a threat. And Zehen-Khasiik are incredibly threatening.

Flora-based farms are primarily underground, cultivating the mosses and lichen in the tunnels below the mountains. They live in almost complete darkness save for the natural bioluminescence of the Kariian life around them. One of the main forms of income for them are extracting the deadliest of the fungi here and selling them to the Dominion, as they contain elements frequently used in bio-engineering and bio-weaponry.

As for the above-ground flora-based farms... The cold is simply too extreme in this era for flora to persist above exposed to the raw elements, but some Kariians have created what are essentially 'greenhouses' made of ice in places where the suns are the brightest. In these sparse places are where they've brought back previously extinct (on the homeworld that is) species of flowers that existed in the pre-nuclear era. These places would likely be the least dangerous of the 'farmer' jobs, but one has to be well versed in the plantlife to cultivate it properly there, and it's more fitting to just outright call them botanists.

[dramatisperscnae]

MCU-SPECIFIC

Verse: After the Equinox Mainverse, canon-divergent: ignores everything after Endgame. Bucky has mostly recovered his sense of self, though he still has his bad days and some of the conditioning he went through will probably never fully fade. He’s not a part of the Avengers, but he does lend a hand when asked; right now he’s just trying to find his own way.

Verse: Infinite Eclipse canon divergent, ignores everything after Infinity War. After Thanos’s victory, Bucky is left to try and help pick up the pieces of a devastated Earth.

Verse: The Coming Spring post-TWS. Winter is off the grid, avoiding recognition, and searching for answers.

Verse: Deepest Winter Zimniy Soldat. Pre-movies During his days with the Soviets and Hydra, the Soldier is their best asset, little more than a ghost story, and one of the deadliest assassins in the world.

Verse: As Autumn Turns WWII, before his fall from Zola’s train. Sergeant Barnes is an outstanding soldier on his own, an incredible sniper, and a much-welcome addition to the Howling Commandos when they’re formed by Captain America.

Verse: Summer Gone By Pre-war New York. Bucky Barnes seems to spend a good portion of his life trying - and often failing - to keep Steve Rogers out of trouble.

COMICS/AU VERSES

Verse: Solstice Shielded MCU BuckyCap. Bucky Barnes has taken up the shield in place of Steve Rogers and become Captain America. Whether this is a good or bad thing remains to be seen. More Info Here.

Verse: Midwinter’s Turning Winter Soldier AU 1991. The Winter Soldier has gone rogue after his final mission, the assassination of Howard and Maria Stark. Hunted by Hydra, with no idea as to his true identity, he is simply a ghost wandering the world seeking identity and purpose. More Info Here.

Verse: Winter’s Bite vampire!Bucky ‘Verse In creating the Winter Soldier and trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum for that purpose, Arnim Zola accidentally gave Hydra a vampiric assassin. So far they’ve been able to control him without undo effort, but it remains to be seen if that will last. More Info Here.

Verse: To Everything There Is A Season Generic Modern ‘Verse Bucky Barnes, circa now-ish. Possibilities include college student, Army sergeant, police officer, and just about anything else I can throw in here. Details in this post.

[eidetic187]

i’ve been inactive for months wtf happened in dpoe

[voxum-stellarum]

MZD’s fate (Canon end for DPOE [kinda alt but eh.])

Warning: this is the canon end (bad end) to what happened to MZD in DPOE and how it feels :’3c

Trigger warning: burning, flesh melting, blood, gore

MZD knew his end would come but he is so persistent that he chuckles. Of course this is wrong but what else could he even do about it? Just embrace it despite the last of his existence in a few spare minutes. The despair disease he had caught is rapidly progressing at a higher stake due to it being left untreated, now becoming a physical health problem.

His legs weak to bolster much longer, he boasts out a sinister laugh. The deed is done for most but with those last spare minutes he thought of his last wish being put into place: burn. MZD had it with this game of murder, no matter how hard he tried to keep himself alive but in the end, he has failed tremendously. Without any afterthought left, the DJ clutches his chest with what strength he could.

“Please! BURN ME! I rather die out in ashes than to have been quickly killed. I would entertain you fucks for playing me the whole time in my last minutes!” MZD bellows out, weakly chuckles as he limps down to the floor, laying on his left side, unable to navigate much longer. So beautiful, this torture.

Obviously he never knew they would. Drenched in gasoline, leaving a trail far from him. There wasn’t retaliation left from MZD knowing how it would be his last time. When the fire is lit blazing down the trail, it speeds through with no breaks. Once it reaches MZD, the tip of his shoes feel like a blistering mess of heat and then swallows the him fully into flames.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” MZD hoarsely screams, squirming frantically as possible yet he said to himself he wouldn’t back out yet pain is dear. The hair from his scalp begins to dissipate into smoke, eyes bleeding in and out, and body hardening while bones get frail. The tips of his semi-meaty fingertips show miniature bones. MZD’s clothes already burning from the fire aside him--then on him--then, in him. Blood gushes out from his abdomen and the flesh from it opens up. He is already dead.

Soon, after several minutes as roughly it being 55 minutes--almost an hour, MZD is right. Almost nothing except for the burn marks left behind as well as his blood. His sunglasses, well his frames were gone, broke, bent and burned into distortion but nothing more. Maybe this is how he should live out morally. He lived out technically.

[spottedcharms]

Pre-warning: This will contain several triggers including: SERIOUS Gore, Body Horror, Blood, Cannibalism, DPOE and Adrien having a REALLY shitty time. A page break will signal where the serious gore will start and end. 

UPDATE: More descriptive gore and more Adrien suffering.

Nicolette stood next to her sister as she violently tried to deny the evidence stacking up against him. He was a hero, he was her role model, there was no way he could have done something so horrendous. Especially not after what happened to Ikki, he knew better. She bit her lip in anticipation, denying any possible chance that he was the killer. She knew him better, there was no way that he did it. They had to be wrong, they just had to be... 

The results came in....

          AND THEY WERE RIGHT.

                ADRIEN AGRESTE WAS A KILLER.

Nicolette’s blood ran cold as she gripped her Miraculous, trying to calm herself down. She was internally panicking at the realization and she didn’t dare look at how Marinette was handling the information. Her eyes darted around the courtroom as she knew what was coming next. She wanted to scream out that Monokuma got it wrong, Adrien would never kill anyone! We was too good of a person to do anything that horrific. She knew that she had to do something, anything to help him! She didn’t glance back to her sister, knowing that if she saw Marinette’s face that she might accidently drag her sister into this foolish plan. Instead of even consulting with her sister, all she did was bolt from her spot and ran towards Adrien and Monokuma. 

She didn’t get very far before she felt something cold and hard grab her neck and slam her down into the ground. The wind got knocked out of her lungs as she shut her eyes, trying to gather her bearings again. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Monokuma standing over her, with Adrien on his stomach looking at her in horror. No words needed to be exchanged as it was clear what he was wondering. Why.

“Upppupp, looks like someone wants in on the fun.”

With that Monokuma pulled out a new collar and slapped it around Nicolette’s neck. The minute the lock was clasped, the Monokumbot let go of her neck and a searing pain shot through her. A cry of pure agony ripped through her throat as she felt her body shifting, changing. To her, this change felt like hours of pure agony when it really was only a minute. Where a fourteen-year-old girl once laid was now a pitch black cat with blue eyes. She was disoriented and confused as to what happened, but she was sure of one thing. She was hungry. 

Pushing herself to her feet she saw her master walking away with her dinner, she just silently followed him. She made eye contact with her dinner and felt nothing, well that was a lie. She felt something, an ever growing hunger. When they reached the execution area, she waited patiently for her master to finish playing with her dinner, meowing in excitement and anticipation. Soon several other cats entered the area and her master gave the signal to enjoy. 

A surge of excitement went through her as she went straight for his calves. It was the easiest part to get to and she sunk her teeth into the exposed flesh. A cry came from her dinner and she paid not attention to it as she pulled back with a tug. The flesh didn’t come easily off the bone, much to her annoyance. She let the relatively large section go, and went back again. Only this time she took a much smaller bite and was able to successfully get the muscle and skin to come off. She was ignoring all the sounds her dinner was making. now as it was starting to annoy her. She slowly chewed her dinner and savored every second of it. 

     It’s tough and chewy.

Yet she realized something, while this WAS still meat... it wasn’t as tender as she was hoping it to be. She paused sitting on her hind legs licking off some of the blood on her fur. She looked at the bottom half that she claimed for herself and thought about her problem.

     Maybe If it was smaller.

Pushing herself back onto her paws she dug her claws back into the muscle tissue once again. Instead of pulling out a chunk with her teeth she tore at the exposed flesh, to get it into significantly smaller pieces. When she was done the calf she was working on looked like ribbons. The shredded tissue looked almost like raw pulled pork instead of human parts. She gathered some of the meat and ripped it off the bone and swallowed it hole. 

      Better!  But more, I want more!

She cared not at the mess she was making, all she cared about was satisfying this endless hunger she was feeling. It did not take her long to shread the rest of the muscle and even less to finish eating it. She didn’t bother chewing the torn up meat, opting to swallow it hole. She thought about trying to break open the calf bone to get to the tempting marrow hidden inside. She also realized that would be more trouble than it was worth. Seeing the feet... now that was something different, much easier. Yet still holding the treasure she desired inside. 

She was about to attempt to get the strange object covering her prize off. Then she heard her master stand up and walk towards them. She carefully moved away from the body leaving bright red paw prints in her wake. 

“Having fun Adrien? Get ready for round two!”

With that being said, she watched as her mastered grabbed her dinner by his spinal cord and flipped him onto his back allowing fresh access to the rest of the meat. Before leaving, she watched as he stepped on each arm and leg. Each break caused her dinner to weep in sheer agony. The weeping she found musical in comparison to the annoying screaming. Before Monokuma left the area, he took off both of Adrien’s shoes and ring before skipping off.

“Uppupp, play nice everyone!”

She saw one of the cats go towards his face and she hissed at the cat. Muscle fibers were still caught between her teeth, not that she cared, as she bared her fangs at the offending cat.

     That is MINE.

“Nikki... I... I’m so sorry....”

[Rip Adrien’s Feet here]

[Rip Adrien’s right hand here]

She watched in bored amusement as the rest of the cats finish the meal. She felt her master bend down and took off her collar. Her form started to shift again, unlike the first time id didn’t hurt. She was back to her normal form and she felt full. It took a moment for her to process what she just did and her eyes went wide with horror as she stared at what little remained of Adrien and she didn’t know if she wanted to pass out or throw up right now.

Nicolette bolted upright, as she felt sick to her stomach. She coughed a few times and blood came from her mouth. Her breathing was rapid and she touched the corner of her mouth and glanced at her hand. She was praying that it wasn’t covered in what she thought it was. Her luck did not hold as she saw her hand was almost completely covered in a dark crimson layer. Horror took her over as she threw the rest of her covers off to see her body was in the exact same state. Her legs were less covered than her feet but that didn’t change the simple fact of what she did. 

She just sat on the floor of Felix’s room as she brought her knees to her chest and started to sob to herself. She completely forgot that her fiance might still be in the room as she sat there, her body caked in blood.

[ceruleansniper]

"..." "..." "...worth it."

[reaperdachi]

Adachi's Hospital Visit: Or: How he became a despair. As you all remember, Adachi was taken to a hospital after having his legs wrecked during Dojima's execution. He was taken care of so he wouldn't die, but the lower half of his body wouldn't function. During his stay, Kyu visited him and told him the truth about everything that was happening. She told him that he could save Nanako if he worked with Monokuma. And Adachi, being a desperate man who just recently lost someone near and dear to him, believed her. He still does, in fact. Poor fool.

[firstelevens]

sambucky, 14 (bc i know u had IdeasTM u wanted to get out and im trying to make it easy for u)

14. grabbing their hand to show them something

( also on AO3 )

If there is a field that Sam’s kind of an expert in at this point, it’s admiring a good view: earth from the deck of the Guardians’ new spaceship, the skyline of Birnin Zana against the mountains in the distance, lightning bugs flitting around the backyard as the sun dips behind the trees.

Now, on a breezy May afternoon, Sam stands a little ways away and considers the deadliest assassin of the twentieth century as he watches a middle school choir performance, and not a great one at that. Bucky has a stuffed animal tucked under his left arm, a way-too-big bag of cotton candy hanging from his vibranium fingertips–AJ’s, naturally, because Sam had told him he’d have to carry any novelty-sized snacks on his own, but Bucky remains a sucker for an earnest, “Please, Uncle Bucky?”—, and his phone held aloft in his right hand. 

For a moment, his eyebrows are knitted together, his gaze laser focused on the phone as he adjusts it for the clearest video. Then, sudden enough that it makes Sam a little dizzy, there’s a grin on his face so wide that it’s making the corners of his eyes scrunch up.

Bucky’s been a little freer with those unguarded smiles in the past few months, but no matter how many times Sam catches one, it doesn’t diminish the warmth that thrums through his veins at the sight. It doesn’t hurt that this particular smile is directed at the stage, where Cass is warbling his way through a solo on “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”

He’s practiced nonstop for weeks. When the others were on the verge of rioting if they had to listen to the song one more time, Bucky had taken to inviting Cass along on mostly-made-up errands, so he could sing in the car and the rest of the Wilsons could get some peace at home. Chances are good, Sam realizes, that Bucky has heard Cass sing this specific verse of this specific song more times than any of them have, but he’s still beaming, the pride rolling off of him in waves.

They’re both cheering and whooping as Cass moves back to his place and chorus starts again. Bucky has kept the phone remarkably steady the whole time, and as Sam pushes through the crowd to reclaim the spot beside him and AJ, the rush of affection doesn’t fade. Sarah hadn’t even asked Bucky to take a video when she found out she couldn’t join them. The choir teacher has a camera set up; the whole thing is going to be up on YouTube later anyway. Bucky had just insisted, pulling Sam and AJ this way and that as he found a spot that gave them the best vantage point of Cass’s mic.

Without a word, Sam plucks the phone out of Bucky’s hand and replaces it with one of the drinks he’d gone to grab. Bucky lets him do it, murmuring his thanks and taking a sip of the drink without a second thought. If Sam weren’t so distracted, he’d take a beat to marvel at how far they’ve come.

Onstage, the choir launches into their next song (“April Come She Will”, which at least explains why Sam thought he heard Bucky humming it on the comms last week.) Beside Sam, Bucky makes a pleased noise and holds out the drink to get a better look at it.

“What is this?” he asks. “And why is it so good?”

AJ answers before Sam can. “It’s Miss Colette’s sorrel. Mom says it’s magic.”

Bucky tilts his head as he looks down at AJ. “Magic, huh? That’s the secret ingredient?”

“That’s what Mom says.” The, ‘And she knows everything,’ is implied in the way he shrugs before returning to his kettle corn.

Sam leans in a little and murmurs, “Maybe there’s magic in there, but I’m pretty sure the actual secret ingredient is a pound of sugar.”

A snort. “Is that why you’re not having any of yours? You don’t have–what did you call it the other day?–the ‘sweet tooth of a five year old whose parents are really strict dentists’?”

“That cake was covered in jellybeans and marshmallows and sprinkles, Buck, and you took down four slices. Tell me there was a better way to describe that.”

(The better way to describe it, they both know, is that the local girl scout troop had baked and decorated a cake to thank them for helping out in a cookie emergency, and Bucky had taken extra slices so Sam wouldn’t have to. The girls had been delighted and Sam had avoided a sugar crash, which meant he wasn’t passed out on the couch when they got called out to deal with a situation in Arkansas that afternoon.)

All he gets in response is Bucky shaking his head, then pointedly finishing half his drink in a single slurp.

It’s enough of an answer for Sam to continue the conversation. “This is for Cass,” he says, giving the cup a little shake. “It’s his favorite; I just wanted to grab him one before they ran out.”

Something in Bucky’s eyes goes a little softer, and just as he opens his mouth to speak, the crowd erupts into applause and startles them both. Sam raises his eyebrows questioningly at Bucky, but he shakes his head and gestures towards the stage.

As the audience disperses and parents cluster to take pictures of their kids, the three of them hurry over to the steps and wait for Cass to make his appearance. It’s all hugs and fistbumps as they fawn over him, Cass ducking his head and shrugging off the praise.

Sam points the camera right at Cass and informs him that he expects to be thanked by name in his Grammy acceptance speech. 

“But you have to thank me before Uncle Sam,” interjects AJ, “‘cause I convinced you to join choir in the first place.”

The flip from ‘performer in front of adoring fans’ to ‘annoyed older brother’ is instantaneous. “No you didn’t!” scoffs Cass. “I joined choir because Nin- I mean, I joined choir because I wanted to.”

“We know you did,” Bucky says, his voice placating as he passes Cass his drink, and at least then he’s mollified enough to stop glaring at his brother.

Sam had called Cass’s crush on Nina-from-down-the-street (not to be confused with Nina-from-the-library, a high school senior) during a carpool run last month. Bucky had originally told Sam he was jumping to conclusions, but then they’d both watched Cass tear through the kitchen baking Nina’s favorite cookies for the choir bake sale and he’d conceded that Sam may have had a point.

“So what do you want to do now?” asks Sam. “Y’all want to stick around here a little longer, maybe go on some rides? Or do we go get that pizza I promised you?”

“Pizza!” says AJ immediately, but Cass shakes his head.

“I didn’t get to do anything fun earlier,” he says. “I just did the ring toss one time. Can we walk around a little more?”

AJ, who in fairness has been out here and on his feet since nine in the morning, looks absolutely mutinous at this idea. 

“Why don’t we split up?” Bucky says quickly, glancing from the boys to Sam and back. “AJ and I will go get pizza; you two go play some games. We’ll bring back some slices for you.”

Sam turns to AJ to see if that works for him, but he’s not where he was a second ago. Before the panic can set in, Bucky points to a spot a few steps away, where AJ is somehow already in the middle of a complicated secret handshake with his best friend Yusef.

Yusef’s mom, Maya, sends Sam an apologetic smile as he walks over with AJ and Bucky in tow. “I was just telling AJ that we’re going to go get lunch before we head home,” she says. “He’s welcome to join us, if that’s okay with you. You, too, Cass.”

“Cass is going to see if he can beat my record at the ring toss,” says Sam, “but I know AJ would love to join you. Should we pick him up from your place when you’re done, or…?”

But Maya waves his question away. “Don’t worry about it; I’ll drop him off,” she says. “It’s on the way anyway; I’m driving Nina home, too. You’re neighbors, right?”

“Yeah, we’re just up the street from her,” Sam says, silently counting down until Cass chimes in. 

“Actually, Uncle Sam, now that I think about it, I’m kind of hungry,” he says. “I think I’ll just go with AJ and Yusef, if that’s cool.”

Sam shrugs and hopes he looks nonchalant. “Fine by me,” he says to Cass, as AJ plucks his cotton candy from Bucky’s hands. Then, to both boys: “Be good for Tante Maya. We’ll see you at home.”

They nod, AJ more distractedly than Cass, and Sam thanks Maya before they set off towards the parking lot. 

At the last second, Bucky calls out to Cass. He jogs back, eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah, Uncle Bucky?”

Equally confused, Sam watches as Bucky holds out the stuffed dragon toy that Cass won at the ring toss booth earlier. “You forgot this, kiddo.”

“You can keep it; I don’t want it,” Cass says, starting to turn back to the others.

“I know you don’t want it,” Bucky says conspiratorially, “but remind me, who was it in the carpool who couldn’t stop talking about her new book with all the dragons in it?”

Cass’s jaw drops a little, and Sam follows his gaze to the group, where Nina has just joined the others.

Bucky smiles as a wide-eyed Cass takes the blue dragon from him, holding it like it’s something precious. The moment feels like it should be private, so Sam pretends to be distracted by his phone, although that doesn’t stop him from overhearing.

“What do I say?” asks Cass, half-whispering. “I can’t just like, give it to her. Isn’t that weird?”

“She’s your friend, right? You guys talk all the time. Tell her you won it earlier and you remembered that she likes dragons.”

“That’s it?”

“It can be something quiet, Cass. People just want to know that you’re paying attention.”

It’s solid advice, muses Sam, eyes still on his phone. He tamps down the impulse that says he should follow it and starts typing a response to Rhodey’s last text to distract himself.

He doesn’t look up again until Cass has called out a thank-you and walked away. They both watch as he rejoins the others, waiting until they’re all out of sight before turning away.

“Ready to head out?” Sam asks Bucky. Crowds can wear on Bucky, he knows, and though he probably smiled through it for the boys, there’s no point in him putting himself through this longer than he has to. Anyway, they’ve both got reports to write up from that mission to New Mexico last week. “Uncle duties have been taken care of, so we can just-”

“Are you hungry?” Bucky asks without preamble, and Sam furrows his eyebrows.

“Am I hungry?”

“Yeah, I saw a funnel cake stand back by the ferris wheel,” he says. “Come on, I’ll buy you one.”

Before Sam knows it, Bucky’s hand is in his, pulling him along through the crowd until the vanilla-sweet smell of fried dough is in the air. 

“Buck,” he says, “we don’t have to stay here. We can just drive home.”

“Sweet tooth of a five year old, remember?” 

It’s only when Bucky lets go that Sam realizes they were still holding hands. He feels the back of his neck go hot and tries to ignore it. “Fine. Maybe if you eat enough sugar, you’ll be too tired to mess with my music on the way back.”

(Bucky, Sam has discovered, is a serial song skipper. He’ll make it twenty seconds in, say he likes the song, then skip it anyway. Sam is incredibly tired of only ever getting through the first verse of “Son of a Preacher Man”, and he’s starting to suspect that Bucky’s doing it on purpose.)

“Don’t hold your breath,” Bucky laughs, then steps up to the counter.

The topping choices are messily scrawled on a chalkboard beside them, and Sam is busy squinting at it as Bucky orders. He’s just decided on the berries when he hears Bucky say, “And one strawberry shortcake, please.”

“How did-” he starts to ask, but trails off. Bucky’s observant, he tells himself, and they spend basically all their time together. It stands to reason that he could narrow down Sam’s preference from a list of five options. It’d probably be more surprising if he couldn’t.

The clouds of powdered sugar are still hanging in the air when the girl behind the counter passes them their funnel cakes, the paper plates bowing a little in the center from the weight of the toppings. As they make their way to the cluster of picnic tables nearby, Sam watches Bucky lick caramel off his thumb and tries not to feel any particular way about it.

“So why funnel cake specifically?” he asks when they sit down. “There’s giant s’mores on a stick two stalls down; that feels more like your thing.”

“Who says I’m not headed there next?” Bucky asks. He reaches over with his fork and steals a strawberry from Sam’s plate, slow enough that Sam could swat him away if he wanted.

He doesn’t bother, just makes a vague noise of protest and says, “You could’ve gotten this, too, you know. Then you wouldn’t have to steal mine.”

“They taste better stolen, Sam. That’s just a fact.”

“I let you have that one for free,” Sam says. “Come for the funnel cake again and it’s going to cost you.”

“Should’ve known our partnership would end this way,” Bucky says, shaking his head.

Sam snorts. “Me fighting you because you can’t keep your hands off my dessert?”

“No, you fighting me because you don’t like to share.”

“That wasn’t sharing, Buck; that was theft. Sharing implies an exchange.”

“Aww, Sam, if you wanted to try mine, you should’ve just asked,” Bucky says, pushing his plate closer to Sam with a smirk.

“Pass,” Sam says flatly, though he can’t quite keep the corners of his mouth turned down. “I don’t need to try it to know that it’s an abomination.”

“If they didn’t want you to combine the praline and the hot fudge, they wouldn’t have put them next to each other on the menu.” Bucky’s prim delivery is offset somewhat by him shoving an enormous bite of funnel cake into his mouth. “And besides, it’s delicious.”

“That’s not the point. Of course it’s delicious. Funnel cake is the-”

“-best part of going to any given fair, carnival, or amusement park,” Bucky finishes for him. When Sam looks at him in surprise, he just shrugs a little. “I heard you telling Sarah.”

Sam doesn’t have a response, just ends up looking at Bucky for a long moment. For once, it’s Bucky who blinks first, ducking his head to keep his eyes on the food in front of him.

They finish their food–well, Sam’s food and Bucky’s sugar monstrosity–mostly in silence, but it’s the comfortable kind. Sam nudges his plate with its last few strawberries over to Bucky; Bucky reciprocates with the one praline that somehow was untouched by chocolate. When they go to throw away their trash, Sam catches Bucky looking at him, his gaze assessing.

“What?” he asks. “It’s powdered sugar, isn’t it? I swear it gets everywhere, just spreads every time you try to wipe it off.”

Sam is pulling out his phone to check in the camera when Bucky reaches out a hand, stopping just short of Sam’s jaw. “It’s right there,” he says, gesturing to somewhere Sam can’t see because his eyes aren’t on his nostrils.

He reaches up and tries to swipe away the sugar anyway. It must not work, because then Bucky huffs a quiet laugh and asks, “Is it okay if I-?”

Before he’s even done with his question, Sam has tilted his chin up just a little in silent permission. Bucky’s fingers are gentle as he brushes it away. It doesn’t escape Sam’s notice that he uses his right hand, even though the reach is a little awkward. He almost comments on it, but then there’s mischief lighting up Bucky’s eyes.

He frowns dramatically, squinting at Sam’s face before shaking his head. “Nope, still there.”

“What, the sugar?” asks Sam, mostly because he knows he’s supposed to.

“No,” Bucky says, “the paperwork face.”

“The paperwork face,” Sam repeats flatly. “What is the paperwork face?”

“That face that you make when you’re thinking about all the reports we have to write when we get home,” Bucky says, like this is something Sam should know.

“This is just my face, Bucky.”

Bucky just looks at Sam, stoic as ever.

It sinks in after a second and Sam shoves his shoulder. “Very funny,” he deadpans. “Tall, dark, and brooding over here telling me that I have paperwork face.”

“I’m just an objective observer, Sam.”

Sam lets himself laugh, shaking his head. “Maybe if you worried a little more about paperwork, I wouldn’t have to be so dedicated to making mine clear and detailed.”

“My paperwork is clear and detailed,” says Bucky. “It’s not my fault that kids these days can’t read cursive.”

It’s not, but it definitely is Bucky’s fault that they don’t have another choice. He claims he can’t fill out his reports on a tablet because the vibranium hand doesn’t respond well to touchscreens. It would be a lot more believable as an excuse if Bucky wasn’t constantly reading books on Sam’s tablet when they have downtime on the jet.

(It’s possible that, as Captain America, Sam should discourage this kind of behavior, but sometimes the only thing that cheers him up after a frustrating joint mission is watching an annoying SWORD agent grit out a thank-you when Bucky hands over triple copies of their exhaustive paperwork, all filled out in beautiful and perfectly illegible cursive.)

“I’m feeling generous because you just bought me food, so I’m not going to make fun of it, but I want you to know I heard that ‘kids these days.’”

“You call them kids, too! And they exist in this time period, Sam. What else am I supposed to call them?”

Sam just laughs, bumping his shoulder into Bucky’s. “Come on, Old Man Barnes. Let’s go play some overpriced games for crappy prizes.”

Bucky’s only response is a vague grunt, but when Sam puts a hand on his elbow, he lets himself be pulled along. There’s a water gun race booth near them where a crowd has just cleared out, and Sam beelines there first. Bucky looks skeptically from the plastic guns to the little model boats and back.

“Really?” he asks flatly. “This?”

“What?” asks Sam, already in his seat. “You worried you’ll lose?”

Bucky scoffs.

“It’s okay, Buck. We can go play the kiddie games if you want. Straws in a milk bottle, fishing with that little magnetic pole…”

The glare that Sam gets as Bucky grabs the stool next to him is less Winter Soldier than it is Bucky realizing Sam ate the last of the peanut butter, and he just grins back unrepentantly. When Bucky turns to line up the shot with the little pink water gun, the corner of his mouth twitches up just a little, too.

Then Sam beats Bucky by what can only be called an embarrassing margin and Bucky looks appalled, handing cash to the man running the booth before declaring that it’s now best out of three. Sam doesn’t bother to conceal his delight, even when Bucky evens up the score in their next round.

The third race finds them neck and neck the whole way, but the light at the end of Sam’s track goes on just a second before Bucky’s, and he takes the win. Bucky doesn’t even look annoyed about it, just tolerates Sam crowing about his victory as they keep walking among the booths.

Eventually, Bucky points to a game a little ways away. “Hey, what’s that one?”

Sam squints at the darkened interior of the booth, then lights up as he realizes what it is. “Skee-Ball! That used to be my favorite as a kid.”

Bucky just lets out a mildly interested hum, eyes still on the booth. “You played it a lot?”

“Sarah and I used to get really into it,” says Sam. “Eventually, she figured out that as long as I had the advantage of being taller, it was a better idea for her to stop me from scoring instead of trying to outscore me.”

“Do you want to play a round?” asks Bucky. “Promise I won’t use Sarah’s strategy.”

Sam looks at Bucky through narrowed eyes for a moment, then nods. “Fine, but I’m warning you, this is going to be a much more embarrassing defeat than the race.”

But all Bucky does is shrug just a little too casually before he starts heading for the booth. “Who knows?” he calls over his shoulder. “Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

When they get to the game, there’s a group of teenagers getting very intense about their competition, so Sam uses the time to take a picture and send it to Sarah. Bucky’s back is to the camera, but he’s still pretty distinctive, so Sam texts, ‘New Skee-Ball opponent. Maybe this one won’t try to cover my eyes in the middle of a game.’

She texts back immediately to tell him that there are no rules against that, so he can take his talk of cheating somewhere else. Sam is typing out a reply to her when he hears Bucky laugh and turns to find that he’s already looking back at Sam.

He raises a questioning eyebrow and Bucky holds up his phone. “Sarah’s giving me advice on how to beat you.”

“What?” Sam moves closer so he can get a look at Bucky’s screen. “Did she tell you to cover my eyes, because-”

Unfortunately, whatever Sam was planning to say next is interrupted by what can only be called a yelp, and he belatedly realizes that it came out of his own mouth. When he looks up again, Bucky is grinning delightedly at him. 

“She said you were ticklish and I should go for your sides, because you always leave them open.”

Sam clamps his arms around his sides, deletes the beginning of the text he’d written to Sarah, and sends, ‘TRAITOR!!!’ instead. She replies with cry-laughing emojis.

“Don’t worry,” Bucky says. “I’m not gonna sabotage you.”

“I feel very reassured,” deadpans Sam, as they take the two freed-up spots in the booth. He very hesitantly relaxes his arms. “But it doesn’t matter, ‘cause I’m good enough to win even if you do sabotage me.”

“Then I guess you have nothing to worry about,” says Bucky, picking up the scoop and flipping it in the air before he catches it again. 

Sam narrows his eyes at Bucky again, but his face betrays nothing.

“Ready when you are, Samuel,” he says, flipping the scoop again.

Shaking his head, Sam squares his shoulders, hits the button to start the clock, and clears his head of the competition, focusing instead on scoring with every shot.

It’s a sound strategy, even if he starts off kind of rusty: he keeps overshooting at first, has to modulate his strength a little to land on 50s and 40s consistently. Once he gets into the rhythm of it, it’s a little easier, and he’s proud of his score when the clock runs out and the machine spits out his tickets.

He drops the scoop back onto the ramp, shaking his hand out as he turns to look at Bucky, who he pities for just a second: if Sam had to hold back his strength for the game, then it must have been even harder for Bucky.

But Bucky looks completely unbothered, leaning casually against the divider between his ramp and the next, an absolutely absurd amount of tickets clutched in his hand. 

Briefly, Sam has the thought that Bucky just pulled the panel off the ticket dispenser and took out the whole roll, but then he looks up at the display above Bucky’s spot and realizes the words ‘high score’ are spelled out in flashing lights. Just below them, the digital display reads, in blocky red letters, ‘PERFECT GAME.’

Sam feels his jaw drop.

“Did you know,” says Bucky, looking more smug than Sam thought humanly possible, “that one of the first ever Skee-Ball ramps at an amusement park was at Rockaway Playland in Queens?”

“Did you just-”

“That thing had years on it by the time Steve and I used to take my sisters there, so there wasn’t always a line, and if the guy running the booth was feeling friendly, he’d let us keep playing until new people showed up. We got pretty good at it.”

“You just hustled me,” Sam says, shaking his head in disbelief.

“We didn’t bet anything, so I don’t think that’s technically hustling.” Bucky furrows his eyebrows, smirk gone. “Right?”

“Not technically, no.” In an ideal world, Sam would have a snappier comeback, but he’s busy trying to convince himself that Bucky going from cocky to sincerely confused in a split second isn’t something he finds endearing. It’s not working.

“Good,” Bucky says, nodding like that settles it. He steps aside to let a group of kids take his place, and Sam follows suit, handing off his tickets to them as he does.

There’s a memory niggling at the back of Sam’s brain, a story Steve once told him that shook loose at the mention of Rockaway Beach. He can’t remember what it was, exactly, but he remembers laughing about it with Steve and Wanda and Natasha, tucked away in a safehouse in Accra.

He shakes off the ache of missing them and focuses on Bucky again, who looks a little sheepish.

“I didn’t think I’d remember anything about the game, you know,” he’s saying, eyes sweeping the rest of the fairground. “I didn’t even know I had that memory until I saw the booth, and I figured it’d been so long, and it’s not like it was a skill I used after we shipped out, and-”

“Bucky,” says Sam, gentle but firm.

He stops talking. After a moment, his eyes snap to Sam.

“I’m not actually upset,” Sam continues. “And I’m glad it came back to you. It sounds like it was a good memory.”

Bucky bobs his head in a short nod. “It was,” he says. “So do you want to go to the prize booth? See what this many tickets gets us?”

Sam agrees absently and lets Bucky lead the way, because he’s finally got it, the memory he was grasping for. 

He can see it so clearly now, Steve doing an exaggerated impression of young Bucky Barnes’ swagger while he chatted up some girl with an old school name. ‘Three dollars,’ Steve had laughed. ‘Three whole dollars to win her that bear. I still think the guy took pity on him and rigged that last game.’

They reach the prize booth, all brightly lit and full of brightly colored plushies and cheap toys. It’s quieter on this side of the fairground, barely any booths and no line for prizes, either. 

Bucky slides his fistful of tickets over to the bored-looking kid at the counter, who tpoints them to a corner with stuffed animals easily the size of Sam’s torso.

“What do you think?” Bucky asks, as nonchalant as ever. Now that Sam’s looking for it, though, he can see the way his eyes linger just a little, the way Bucky’s mouth lifts into a smile when Sam’s does.

Sam makes himself look at the prizes and immediately grins at the sight of one, right at the very end of the shelf. “That one,” he says, pointing decisively at a massive teddy bear. It’s wearing a jaunty gingham bowtie. “Definitely that one.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows. “Really? Not the dolphin? Or the frog? Or the bird with wings that kind of look like yours?”

“Redwing would get jealous,” Sam says, shrugging.

“The bear, then,” Bucky says to the kid. 

When Bucky’s handed the stuffed animal, he holds it out to get a better look, brushing the fur into place and adjusting the bowtie a bit so it sits right. Sam can admit to himself that it’s kind of adorable.

Bucky fusses with the bear for another second or two before he holds it out to Sam. “For you,” he says. “I feel kind of bad about the Skee-Ball thing.”

And because Sam can’t resist messing with Bucky just a little bit, he shakes his head and says as earnestly as he can, “Really, Buck, it’s not a big deal. You should keep it.”

“I-” Bucky starts to say, then frowns. “It’s yours, Sam. Just take it.”

He’s about to say no again, see if he can’t push Bucky into actually saying what he wants instead of the silent 1940s wooing that’s apparently happening here, but then from the corner of his eye, he spots a blue dragon like the one Cass won earlier.

He hears Bucky’s words in his head again, gentle and earnest, the way he always is with the boys: ‘It can be something quiet.’ 

Sam had thought the advice was just for Cass, to let him know it was okay if he couldn’t get the words out. He’s starting to wonder if Cass wasn’t the only one who’d needed to hear it. 

He thinks of funnel cake, of Bucky holding the camera up so Sam’s arm wouldn’t get tired, of how fiercely he loves the boys, of longform cursive paperwork and company on the nights Sam screams himself awake and those smiles that always feel a little bit like being entrusted with something precious. All those quiet somethings that have become his touchstone, warm and steady and always there.

Sam looks back at Bucky, reaching out to take the bear with a soft, “Thank you.”

Before Bucky can pull away again, he catches the vibranium hand in his own, watching as Bucky’s eyes widen just a little. His eyebrows knit together in confusion as he looks from their hands to Sam’s face and back.

“Just wanted to try something,” Sam says, hopefully with more confidence than he feels.

It must work, because Bucky’s shoulders relax just a touch. “Okay,” he says, nodding.

Using their joined hands, Sam pulls so they’re closer together. When he hears Bucky’s breath catch, he asks, “Okay?��

Bucky nods.

Sam slips his hand out of Bucky’s grip, bracing it against his neck. “Still okay?”

Bucky nods.

As gently as he can, Sam leans in and rests his forehead against Bucky’s. “Sti-”

But he never finishes his question, because then Bucky is gently tipping Sam’s chin up and pressing their lips together, quick and chaste.

Bucky pulls away after a second, but only manages the first word of an apology before Sam is pulling him closer to kiss him again. Sam is pretty sure he hits Bucky in the head with the teddy bear that’s still clutched in his hand but he’s also pretty sure neither one of them cares all that much.

When they pull apart again, there’s a part of Sam that’s pleased to see Bucky looking just a little bit dazed, especially since Sam can’t seem to stop the dopey grin on his own face.

It’s Bucky who recovers first. “So wait,” he says, “you’re telling me that in the end, all it took to win you over was a cheap bear from a fairground? That’s it?”

“Don’t forget the funnel cake,” says Sam.

Bucky hums, nodding very seriously and doing a terrible job of biting back his smile. “No, we can’t forget the funnel cake.”

“Just one question,” says Sam, as they pull away from each other and make their way into the crowd again. “When you blew all your train money to win that girl a teddy bear, did you try to woo her with a funnel cake first? Or is that just in the updated version of-”

Bucky’s eyes go wide, his ears and neck turning red. “He told you about that?!”

“He may have been carrying some bitterness about having to ride home in a freezer truck.”

Sam slips his hand into Bucky’s as he launches into an explanation of how the freezer truck had been a brilliant plan, actually. He hefts the teddy bear a little higher in his arms, listens, and lets himself be led.

[voxum-stellarum]

“I had a feeling that this Adachi guy was up to something...” MZD frowns but he just accepts this. Whatever monocoins he had left he is willing to spend it on some food. He shakes his head.

[lamentis-a-blog]

@rationalclover.

               “ You aren’t like the rest of them, Ken. We can’t just... ignore the possibility forever. The longer we wait to talk about it, the more likely we won’t get the chance and I... don’t want that.”  Ikki’s hope ends at blind stupidity; he knows Utopia is where attentions have turned. Concordia may as well be hanging by a thread. And him, with it.  “I’d rather say goodbye to you prematurely than not at all.”

[xaallo]

GENERAL

name: Xaallo Hifrandius

alias(es): Xaa

gender: Cis Male

age: 10-21 in human years/250k+ earth years

date of birth: ???

place of birth: Hifrandius

hometown: ???

spoken languages: Various 

sexual preference: Bisexual, feminine preference

occupation: Weaponsmith/Armorer

APPEARANCE

eye color: Golden

hair color: Blond (cream-gold fur)

height: 8′8″

scars: Various, hidden under fur

burns: None anymore

over weight: No

under weight: No

FAVOURITE

color: Green

hair color: Black

eye color: Purple

(earth) song: Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

(earth) movie:  Predators

(earth) tv show: 1000 ways to die/deadliest warrior 

(earth) food: cosmic brownies Cactus

drink: Water ???

book: ???

HAVE THEY

passed university: Yes

had sex: Verse Dependent

had sex in public: Verse Dependent

gotten pregnant: None

kissed a boy: Yes

kissed a girl: Yes

gotten tattoos: No

gotten piercings: No

had a broken heart:  Verse Dependent

been in love: Yes

stayed up for more than 24 hours: Yes

ARE THEY

a virgin:  Verse Dependent

a cuddler: Yes

a kisser: Yes

scared easily: No 

jealous easily: No

trustworthy: Yes

dominant: Sorta

submissive: Can be

in love:  Verse Dependent

single:  Verse Dependent

RANDOM QUESTIONS (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

have they harmed themselves: No

thought of suicide: No

attempted suicide: No

wanted to kill someone: Yes 

drove a car: No

have/had a job: Yes 

have any fears: Yes

FAMILY

sibling(s): Yes, one sister and three brothers

parents: Zhoka and Xallomiir (biological), Rriimsi and Kaldane (adoptive)

children: None yet

pets: Has ox-pecker like aliens that clean his fur whenever he returns from earth

Tagged by: @magioffire​

Tagging: @unmaskedchimera​, @augurhound​, @dragon-prince-behemoth​, @bleedinghearth​, @rhesus-skavative​

[petalsbloomed-a]

( OH FUCK BEFORE I DISAPPEAR I WANNA DROP SOME IDEAS FOR MY VLD/HTTYD VERSES FOR RYAN HUEHUEHUE. THESE ARE ALL STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION BUT KNOWING MYSELF WILL I ACTUALLY CHANGE ANYTHING??? SDJKHFSD )

* note: ryan is FULL HUMAN in both of these verses.

VERSE: voltron - legendary defender      ryan was born on earth and trained at the galaxy garrison about five years prior to the events of the first season of the show. during the attack on earth in which adam died, he was captured by the galra and after only a few hours managed to escape. he found himself traveling for days on end, low on food and water until his battle cruiser was suddenly alerted by a foreign yet friendly signal from a nearby planet. he allowed the ship to guide itself towards the signal, barely needing to do anything to control it, almost as if a force was guiding it. turns out that the white lion, a mysterious hidden battle ship and the sixth and most powerful part of voltron that had been missing and essentially lost through space and time and little to nobody left to pass on its memory, had been calling to him and had managed to guide not only ryan but his battle cruiser to it. it took him a few days but he managed to learn what the beast wanted from him, and he gladly climbed aboard and made it his new ship. he then made it his duty to do what he could to fight against the galra, teaming up with the blade of marmora and some rebel forces along the way.      the white lion was the sixth and final creation of alfor’s, not brought up to the public as the final and rarest, and most powerful, part of voltron out of fear for it being found out. it was left in alfor’s lab when altea was destroyed, but it managed to find its way out due to its extreme natural intelligence. it is smaller than the black lion and only slightly larger than the red lion, but it is easily the fastest lion of the group and delivers the deadliest of blows, particularly when it is paired with a strike from voltron itself. it does not physically group up with voltron; rather it is often saved to be used as a last resort due to its sheer power and strength. it has a natural cloaking ability powered by quintessence, as opposed to the green lion whose is powered by technology alone. this allows it to strike out of nowhere, completely invisible to enemy radar. despite the sheer strength of its firepower, which come in the form of oxyacetylene blasts that fire at 3200 degrees celsius and that can create a 300 mile-diameter crater on an average-sized planet, it only has an eight-shot limit before it needs to take time to recharge its blasts. a single shot can tear a galran cruiser in half. it can fly at a solid 4000 miles per hour on earth.      the guardian of oriande is also referred to as the “white lion,” and for good reason. the white lion’s energy was manifested from the guardian after alfor returned, and the guardian sensed his presence as one of the most powerful alteans in the history of the universe, so it lent its power and a good handful of its quintessence to alfor for his secret project.

VERSE: how to train your dragon      ryan is a distant relative of grimmel the grisly, a born and raised dragon hunter who has had his own fair share of spilling the blood of dragons who crossed his path. as a teenager, he began to hear stories of the berkians and how they had made peace with the dragons. he didn’t believe it at first, which was why he allowed his curiosity to get the better of him and travel to berk to see what he was up against. he managed to stay hidden in the forest just outside of the village, but even after spending a week there his mind was promptly changed. the journey home was spent mulling about in his head of what he was going to tell his team captain when he returned. occasionally he was on night watch for the trapped dragons they had, and he ended up befriending and getting close to a male light fury they had trapped there, occasionally catching fish for him and feeding him to earn his trust. eventually he opened up about his thoughts following the excursion to berk at a later time, being requested to join a hunting squadron and was almost promptly shut down and chased out with weapons. the light fury, hearing that his friend was in danger, attempted to break out to save ryan, but he found him first, quickly freeing him from his prison and having him take him as far away from the hunters’ base as possible. they ended up settling on a remote island nearly thousands of miles north, just south of the tip of greenland. after three years of making home on the island they were found by a rather explorative portion of drago’s army, and they were forced to evacuate. the only place they could think of returning to was berk, and there they met hiccup and the team and was invited to join the group at dragon’s edge. he named his light fury blizzardwing, who was approximately twenty years old at the time.      ryan is approximately three years older than hiccup, making him only eighteen years of age when he set out to explore berk and its newfound peace with the dragons.

[reaperdachi]

> Rise killed herself. [adachi voice] well wtf am I supposed to this hand then

[js116]

Silent Planet’s Everything Was Sound

22 May 2021

A wee bit of background before we get to the main event:

Silent Planet is an American post-rock metalcore band from California headed by retired psychologist/therapist Garrett Russell, and Everything Was Sound is their second studio album. Released in 2016, this concept album did nothing short of blow my mind; the total runtime is 41 minutes, but it took me a couple hours to write out everything I picked up from each song. 

Everything Was Sound has thirteen tracks, standard, so that is the album I listened to for this review! For the purpose of sticking with the album’s story concept, I’ll be adding my standout lyric quotes with the description of the song, rather than sticking them at the end. 

- I want to post a warning before I get into this album: this one covers topics some may view as disturbing. There are mentions of death, suicide, war, several mental disorders including depression and eating disorders), politics, and generally dark themes. This is where you should stop reading if any of these will bother you. -

The concept for this album revolves around the idea of the “panopticon,” which describes a circular prison surrounding a central guard tower. There are bright lights shining down from the tower so that the prisoners cannot see into the tower, where they are told there are guards watching them constantly. The prisoners are isolated from the guards and each other, being unable to see into the tower or other cells due to the walls and the lights. This setup removes the autonomy of the prisoners, and the paranoia that the guards are constantly watching (whether there are truly guards in the tower or not) removes the will to try to escape or act out. 

This concept is introduced in the first track of the album, Inherit the Earth. This first song begins by referencing the events of the previous album’s last track (Depths II from album The Night God Slept, in which the viewer has a vivid vision in the forest before falling asleep) as having happened only a few hours before, and now the viewer is waking up in the woods to find it is starting to rain. The viewer (us) stumbles through the rain and the forest under they find a structure: the panopticon. They enter the prison to escape the weather, and so we are pulled into the story of the album -- a metaphor for the human condition. 

“We inherit the earth, we inherit the war / I inhabit the wound, I dwell in the harm / Oh how far we fall: We’re casualties of time / Oh how far we fall: Forgive existence.”

The second track, Psychescape, (and each subsequent song, except the last one) introduces us to the contents of one of the cells: Schizophrenia. The theme of this song is paranoia and delusion, and the tower’s lights and watching guards are revealed to us; there are two distinct, conflicting voices. 

“I waited on the tracks of reason / But my train of thought never came / It never came.”

“Scrawled across the walls the suffering saint cries out: / ‘Is it madness to retreat from the myopic gaze that holds us captive?’”

Dying In Circles, the third track and second cell, holds the prisoner Organized Religion. Heavily rooted in Biblical principles, I was surprised to find this track used those principles to highlight and call out the hypocrisy of the modern church; the gatekeeping, neglect of those in need, the isolation of outsiders. Silent Planet calls on systematic religion (particularly modern Christianity) to return to its original purpose: to care for others, rather than turn them away or determine their worth as an organization. They are charged with trading their religious superiority for the awe and compassion for humanity they once had; to return to being a religion about the life of God, rather than being solely about his death. I really do love the idea of the “Image of God” being represented by a homeless person sleeping on church steps. 

“Beside the shadow of a frozen chapel / Under the marriage of cross and crown / Outside the privilege of the ‘chosen ones’ / The Image of God is sleeping on the ground.”

“We are the eulogy at the funeral of God.”

“Trade your certainty for awe.”

The fourth track took me for a spin, personally, as I’ve encountered the prisoner described here myself. Understanding Love as Loss opens with a few brief lyrics outlining the suicides of writers Sylvia Plath (“Searching for solace in a toxic temple--” death by toxic inhalation), Earnest Hemingway (“Fragments of lead climbing through your head--” death by shotgun to the skull), Virginia Woolf (“Stones load your coat as you wade through the winter current / Dancing with the dead on the riverbed--” death by drowning), and David Foster Wallace (“Wanton hanging of the wise pale king.” death by hanging). 

The line immediately following the deaths of these writers stuck out to me, as a fellow writer who has struggled with depression: “And I see myself.”

The title of the song explains that love is sacrifice; you lose a piece of yourself when you love someone else. Lose that piece, Silent Planet urges in this song; lose that piece to another person instead of losing yourself to your suffering. 

Lead vocalist Garrett Russell: “[Sometimes with depression,] the world feels like there’s no color. Even if you can’t see the color, be bold enough to ask someone to describe the colors of the world to you.”

This song was my favorite this far into the album, for its bare, unflinching honesty on the subject. The footnotes for this song in the album booklet include the number for the National Suicide Hotline. I respect that. 

The fifth track, Tout Comprendre, draws its title from the first half of a French quote, and translates loosely to “To Understand All.” This song is an interlude, meaning it does not contain any lyrics, and it is the first of two interludes on the set. 

Immediately following Tout Comprendre comes Panic Room, a track that tells the story of a veteran who has come home, but is mentally haunted by the war. The lyrics take us to bloody battlefields in desert sands, and lay out the plague of terror-memories. Panic Room’s prisoner is PTSD, and it delves into the American treatment of returned veterans and their struggles with armed-conflict trauma. 

“Praise me for my valor, lay me in a crimson tower / Justify my endless terror as my ‘finest hour’ / Treat me as a token to deceive the child / Whom we fatten for this scapegoat slaughter / I learned to fight, I learned to kill, I learned to steal / I learned that none of this is real, none of this is real / None of this is real, NONE OF THIS IS REAL”

Just after this verse, there is a brief, almost total silence, before the song resumes. There are several breaks like this in the music; periods of calm between the intense music. 

We move on to the fifth cell and seventh track, REDIVIDER. This song threw me off at first; I thought the words were being reused and rearranged before I realized the song is a palindrome. About halfway through, the lyrics flip to mirror the first half of the song. 

“Death ran away then life flooded in world / This I am: Imbalance, beautifully so / Hands connected, perhaps… / Then dead reflections saw you / I did, didn’t I? / I didn’t, did I? / You saw reflections dead then / Perhaps, connected hands… / So beautifully imbalance: Am I this world? / In flooded life then away ran Death.” 

The fifth prisoner is Bipolar Disorder. 

Nervosa is the name of the eighth track; this one disturbed me the most out of all of them. My first impression of this song was, if you’ll excuse my Irish here, “Holy sh*t.” None of the imagery prior to this song was nearly as vivid and disturbing as it was here. The clean vocals (singing instead of metal-screaming) are very well done, capturing the desperation of the situation in a very raw way, which is fitting for the theme of the song -- this cell’s prisoner is the deadliest of psychiatric disorders, bulimia nervosa. The entirety of the lyrics are well-written (although, again, vividly disturbing), so I chose the most poignant of them.

“I am not my own reflection / I am not myself, I am not myself / I am haunted by a non-existent lover / The spectre, the ghost, the self-starving host / I am haunted by a non-existent lover / I was gifted with the vision but cursed to be the witness.”

This song, too, contains links to help services for eating disorders in the footnotes of the album booklet. 

We come now to the second interlude, C’est Tout Pardonner, titled after the second half of the French quote, the entirety of which translates to “To understand all is to forgive all.” The prisoner held in the two of these is ignorance. 

Just as C’est is the second, contrasting half of Tout, which was followed by war-themed Panic Room, so Orphan, the second, contrasting half of Panic Room, follows C’est. 

Orphan relays the perspective of orphans of war, the prisoners of this track. Particularly focusing on crimes against peaceful civilians (especially in the Middle East), Orphan also describes the reunion of two brothers on opposite sides of war. 

“I’m finding the violence -- it looks like me.”

“Terrified little son, encumbered by your sword / You can hide your fear, but won’t shed the weight of your humanity -- Humanity / You can face me toward the mountains / Where I meet our mother’s gaze / Too blinded by this hatred / To recognize your brother’s face.”

The eleventh track, No Place to Breathe, was both ahead of its time and should not have had to be written in the first place. The prisoner in this eighth cell is fascism, specifically within enforcers of the law. It dives into how easy it is to turn a blind eye to issues like systematic racism, police brutality, and inherent injustice, if these things do not affect us personally. There are three murder victims, (Eric Garner [2014], Hernan Jaramillo [2013], and Kelly Thomas [2011]) all killed by police, whose last recorded words are attributed in the song: “I can’t breathe.” 

Does that sound familiar from more recent news? This album was released in 2016, to give some perspective on how things have changed. 

“We shout at fascists, hands fixed on asphyxiating those in need / Place your hands to the pulse of this city / Keep your ear to the ground / Hear him gasp, / ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.’”

The ninth and final cell is explored in the twelfth track, First Father (which is the partner of a song called First Mother from their previous album). The final prisoner is the grief over losing a loved one. Switching between a rushing, loud tempo and a low-toned quiet of guitars and vocals, the song captures the process of moving forward through personal loss. 

“‘You pulled me through time,’ through the edgeless night / I’ll learn to love as you learned to die / I’ll begin to feel again and finish the chapter you couldn’t write / Candles in the dark, defiant to the night / Defiant to the shadow / You pull me through time, through the edgeless night / I learned to love as you learned to die.”

With the thirteenth and final song, we’ve literally come full circle and are finally at the prison’s central tower, where we discover we are the guard watching the prisoners. Titled after a line from the first track’s lyrics (”We inherit the earth[...] We inhabit the wound”), Inhabit the Wound tears down the guard tower, freeing the prisoners from the confines of their situation or disorder. Each of the nine prisoners reaches into themselves and retrieves a seed, which is planted in the place of the tower. The album closes with this image:

“The earth, with a final gasp, shook free from our inventions. Grace and nature reconciled as I heard ‘it is finished.’ The final seal was broken, the concussion blew me back -- I teetered on the edge of re-creation and the wrath. The nine lovers stumbled out of their shells of brokenness, they reached inside their wounds to find the seeds borne from their suffering. Coalesce upon me to plant the tree of life inside the heart of the machine. Reach inside -- heal the wound -- make us whole.”

I found this album to be an absolute masterpiece, and metal isn’t usually a preferred genre of mine. I’ve got to give this one five out of five symbolic and vivid frogs. Well done, Silent Planet, both in composition and in raising awareness about different types of struggle.

Next week I’ll be reviewing an album that was recommended to me, and that was released today: Twenty One Pilots’ Scaled and Icy.

Thanks for listening with me!