#what if (hear me out) you created affiliated characters with me

[evntualities]

5 drafts is such a reasonable number that what if i came up with a new athlete and what if his name was lane

[makeitmingi]

When Flowers Bloom In The Dark [Chapter 1]

Genre: Romance, Mafia!AU, Violence, Angst, Slow burn

Pairing: Hongjoong x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Florist!Reader, Mafioso!Hongjoong, Mafioso!Seonghwa, Mafioso!Yunho, Mafioso!Yeosang, Mafioso!San, Mafioso!Mingi, Mafioso!Wooyoung, Mafioso!Jongho

Summary: When you appeared and wept at his mother's funeral, Hongjoong found himself wanting to find out more about you. A regular girl, who owns a flower shop in his territory and has a relationship with the mother that he hasn't spoken to in years, why hasn't he ever noticed you before?

[Warning(s): 18+ for violence, use of weapons, smoking, alcohol consumption, slight gore, gang affiliation, tattoos and character deaths. Minors DNI. This is a work of fiction and does not represent the Ateez members in real life.]

Word count: 3.1K

(Chapter warning(s): Character death, grieving/ funeral, injury, recollection of previous argument, Hongjoong is in a weird place with his feelings.)

"Thank you for coming." Hongjoong had a stoic look on his face as he deeply bowed to the people that came to pay respects. The people bowed back, reaching out to shake his hand with a comforting smile on their faces.

"She was a good woman. Kind." They patted him on the shoulder. All he could do was stiffly nod in reply.

"Please help yourself to the food and refreshments." He forced a small smile and gestured to the buffet spread where the other people were all seated.

"Should we ask him to take a break?" Yunho leaned over to ask Seonghwa as the older collated the beoseom money together.

"You can try but he's not going to like it. Just let him do what he needs to do." Seonghwa replied.

"Hyung loved his mother. They didn't have the best relationship but I know he always missed seeing her and talking to her." Yunho sighed with a small frown. Seonghwa hummed in agreement.

"But this is for him to figure out. We'll just help him where he wants us." Seonghwa said.

Hongjoong recognised all the people that came. All friends of his late father and now, mother, or his own allies. They were men that worked for him or with him. Although they didn't know his mother at all, he knew that Wooyoung had gathered all their men to come and support him as the leader.

"Oh, coming." Hongjoong noticed some people going to pay their respects and went to his post as the son, keeping his head lowered as they bowed to his mother's casket.

"You have our condolences, Hongjoong sshi. If you need anything, let us know." The leader of a small gang shook his hand.

"Thanks." He nodded. Hongjoong knew their motive, it was to create favours and forge loyalties with Ateez.

"Umm, excuse me." Hongjoong looked up at the sudden entrance of a light, tinkling voice. He eyes fell on the girl that entered, she looked so different, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Who are you?

"Here you go." You took out an envelope of money and handed it to Yunho and Seonghwa, who received it with a bow.

"You can head that way." Seonghwa gestured to where Hongjoong was standing. From the looks of it, Seonghwa seemed just as entranced and/or curious about you as Hongjoong was. You nodded and headed to him.

"You must be Hongjoong sshi." You looked at him with familiarity, still cradling the small bouquet of flowers in your arms. All Hongjoong could do was nod.

How did you know him? He, for sure, didn't know you. There wasn't an inkling of recollection seeing your face or hearing your voice.

"If it's okay with you, can I place this bouquet by the casket? It's our favourite flower." You asked politely.

"Go ahead. Thank you." He nodded. 'Our' favourite? His eyes followed you as you placed the bouquet of white tulips by the casket. The bouquet was simple but elegant.

"I'll miss our afternoon chats. Take care of yourself and rest easy." You prayed softly as you bowed to his mother's casket.

"Thank you for coming." Hongjoong said to you when the both of you stood up from your kneeled positions.

"S-Sorry..." Your bottom lip quivered and tears streamed down your face as you struggled to wipe them all away. There was so much grief and upset on your face, you probably felt more grief than Hongjoong did. Hongjoong held his handkerchief out to you but you hesitated, you didn't know him to take it.

"It's okay." He whispered, trying to convince you. With a shaky hand, you took the white cloth and dried your tears. All this time, Hongjoong was trying to study you.

"Thanks." You smiled awkwardly.

"How do you know me? Did you know my mother?" He asked, even if the answer was obviously yes.

"She comes by my shop almost every afternoon to chat with me. She'll even bring tea and snacks with her. I recognise you from the photos she shared with me." You giggled.

"I see... Well-"

"Hongjoong hyung, there are more mourners. Do you want me to take over?" Someone came over.

"No, it's fine, San ah." Hongjoong assured his brother and bowed his head to you before going back to where the casket was. You tucked the handkerchief into your pocket.

"There are snacks and refreshments." You were directed to the area where the other mourners were chatting, eating and drinking. There were barely any other women around, all men dressed in suits. It almost felt like a business convention, not a funeral.

"Who is that?" Wooyoung asked San when he came back to where they were seated.

"No idea." San shook his head. The 7 Ateez members watched you with curiosity. You sat in the corner by yourself, you didn't take any food or drinks.

"Do any of you know her or recognise her?" Mingi blinked.

"I think she genuinely knew my mother." The boys looked up to see Hongjoong standing behind them.

"Really?" Even Seonghwa was shocked too. They all knew that everyone who came didn't know Hongjoong's mother. How did someone like you befriend Hongjoong's mother?

"She's definitely not from underground." Yeosang said. You were still wiping stray tears that escaped your eyes.

"She's... really grieving the lost of my mother... Even more than me." Hongjoong observed.

"Her name is (y/n)." Yunho said, reading from the mourners book of those that came. The others didn't even notice that Hongjoong left them, going over to where you were seated alone. When Hongjoong pulled out the chair next to yours, you blinked, breaking out of your reminiscing moment.

"Apologies." He said.

"Don't apologise, you must be busy having to do this on your own, on top of the fact that you're mourning and grieving too." You shook your head with a soft smile.

"I have a good support system." He nodded over to where the other Ateez members were.

"You must haven known my mother well to know her favourite flower." Hongjoong brought the conversation back.

"She always came to buy them from me, along with other flowers. That's when I learnt that we both have the same favourite flower. I'm a florist actually." You informed.

"Oh... And here, I didn't even know my mother had a favourite flower." He chuckled.

"Hongjoong sshi." You shocked him and frankly, yourself too, when you placed a hand over his own in comfort.

"I'll miss her too but it'll be okay. From the way your mother spoke fondly of you, I could tell that you both had a great relationship. At least you'll still have your good memories of her with you." You smiled softly. Suddenly, Hongjoong retracted his hand.

"Excuse me." He stood up, buttoning his blazer. He watched as your face fell.

"Hongjoong sshi. I-I'm sorry." You stuttered, realising what you just said to him and how your words crossed a boundary. Hongjoong clenched his jaw and walked back to where Ateez was.

"Woah, hyung. You okay?" Jongho asked, noticing the sudden change in Hongjoong's mood and expression.

"I'm fine." Hongjoong replied through gritted teeth.

Despite what happened, you still stayed until the final standoff. Hongjoong was unexpectedly hypervigilant of where you were, standing on your own at the back of the crowd.

"Hang on." Before the Ateez boys could load his mother's casket into the back of the hearse, he stopped them.

"Captain?" They were confused. Leaning down, Hongjoong grabbed a stalk of flower from your bouquet and placed it on top.

"Carry on." He cleared his throat, side eyeing you. You were watching the entire time as you cried softly to yourself. All the mourners that hadn't left bowed to the hearse as it closed. Hongjoong, still holding his mother's picture, walked to the front seats where he would follow along to the burial site.

"We'll follow behind, hyung." Wooyoung said to him. Hongjoong nodded and entered with Mingi closing the door behind him. The 7 entered their respective vans that were prepared.

As the hearse began to pull out of the drive way, Hongjoong spotted you walking along the streets, arms hugging yourself.

"Who are you?" He whispered as you walked further away.

When the news of his mother's passing first came until this moment, Hongjoong hadn't shed a tear. Was he cruel or unfilial for not doing so? Or were tears just a sign of weakness?

"Good memories?" Hongjoong turned to his mother's picture, remembering what you said to him.

You sighed as you made your way into your apartment. After you removed your shoes, you fell back onto the couch.

"I can't believe you're gone." You said, feeling tears well up in your eyes again as you thought about Mrs Kim and her not being around any longer. Maybe because you grew up without a mother, she was the closest thing to a mother that you had.

"Can I help you?" The doorman asked when he saw how confused you were upon entering the building.

"Oh, good morning. Sorry to bother you but I'm looking for Mrs Kim? I hope I have the right address." You scratched your head, bowing to the older male.

"Do you mean the Mrs Kim that stays in the penthouse? I'm sorry but she passed away yesterday." He informed.

"W-Wait, what?" You couldn't believe it. The flower bouquet slipping from your hands.

"Are you okay, agashi? Yes, unfortunately, Mrs Kim passed." He picked up the bouquet, placing a hand on your shoulder. It was so shocking you couldn't even cry.

"Are you family?" He asked. It took you a while to answer as the news was still sinking in.

"N-No... I'm not but I knew her..." You tried your best to form a coherant answer in your head but it was too difficult.

"I'm sorry, agashi." He said sadly. You bowed your head and turned around, leaving the building. When you reached home, you searched funeral homes online and there it was, her name and her picture. It only solidified that what the doorman said was true, the closest person to a mother that you've had was gone.

"I can't believe I said that. (y/n), what did you do?" You facepalmed when you remembered what you said to Hongjoong. Who were you to tell him that?

"He's her real son, you're not." You scolded yourself, holding Hongjoong handkerchief in your lap.

Mrs Kim always spoke about Hongjoong with such a sad smile, indicating that their relationship wasn't amicable.

There was love, of course. But you could hear the regret and guilt in her voice. All you knew was that if you were to run into him again, you'll definitely apologise for overstepping.

Hongjoong seemed cold but you were grateful that he placed one of your flowers on top of her casket before the hearse left. Whether it was done for you or for her, Hongjoong's gesture warmed your heart.

-

"Where's he?" Seonghwa asked as he climbed up the stairs to the second floor. The younger ones nodded over to Hongjoong's back. The captain leaned against the banister of the terrace, a glass of whiskey held by his fingertips.

"He's still there. Been there since we've come back." Yeosang informed.

"(y/n) (y/l/n). She's a florist in Hongjoong hyung's territory, studying botany part time. Practically as normal as it gets." Jongho walked over, closing a folder. Seonghwa took it and read it.

"As long as she isn't a threat." San shrugged.

"Far from. If there was a motive for her to get close to Mrs Kim, it's not in the file." Jongho said, pouring himself a drink.

"But damn, she seemed to be closer to Mrs Kim than Hongjoong hyung was." Mingi stated and Seonghwa slapped the back of his head for being so direct.

"What? It's the truth..." Mingi rubbed his head. Yunho sighed, patting his best friend's back.

"Hyung will be fine, right? He has to be. He's our captain and our leader. Let's just give him some time then he'll bounce back like always." Wooyoung said with a small frown. Seonghwa nodded in agreement. Although Hongjoong suppresses his feelings and emotions, he always puts Ateez first.

"Yes, Hongjoong will be okay. He just needs space now. And don't bring up the girl anymore, okay?" Seonghwa said. The younger 6 nodded their heads obediently.

"Hyung, what happened between Hongjoong hyung and his mother?" San asked.

"No idea. Even if I did, it's not my story to tell." Seonghwa shrugged.

He is Hongjoong's best friend and second in command, but he didn't know what was Hongjoong's relationship with his mother. It was almost a love-hate relationship, for Hongjoong at least.

"Go back to work. Give Hongjoong a few days off, I'll be taking over his duties in the mean time." Seonghwa informed.

"Sure, hyung." All of them split up to go back to work. Seonghwa cast one more worried glance at his best friend's back before leaving.

Hongjoong sighed as he took another sip of whiskey. Even as he shovelled the dirt over his mother's casket, he didn't shed a tear. The heartache was there but he couldn't will himself to cry. He watched as the flower he placed on top got sullied by the dirt.

"She's really gone." He breathed out.

"You're really gone." He repeated as if he was speaking directly to his mother, clenching the glass in his hand.

You, the girl that appeared out of nowhere, seemed to have a much better relationship with his mother than he did. You cried while Hongjoong was emotionless.

"Damn it." Hongjoong must have channeled all his frustration to his hand because before he knew it, the crystal shattered into pieces.

"Hyung!" Yeosang rushed out, having seen the whole thing.

"I'm fine, Yeosang." Hongjoong hissed, cradling his now injured hand. Yeosang gently took it into his own hands, looking at how bad is was. Blood began to drip on the tiles.

"No, it's not fine. There's crystal shards in your hand now. Come." Yeosang frowned and brought Hongjoong in.

"Get someone to clean the terrace." Yeosang said to a passing butler, who nodded with a deep bow. He brought the captain to his office where his medical supplies were. Thankfully, Hongjoong didn't protest and sat down, patiently waiting for Yeosang to get what he needed to treat his hand.

"Don't move." Yeosang said as he took forceps and tried to remove the crystal pieces from the cuts. Luckily it wasn't too deep that he would need stitches.

"Are you not going to ask me anything?" Hongjoong asked as Yeosang took a magnifier to look for any smaller pieces.

"No. What's there to ask?" Yeosang asked back. At that, Hongjoong sighed and just leaned back in the seat.

"This is going to sting. Bear with me." Yeosang took the antiseptic and spray it over Hongjoong's hand, causing the leader to let out an onslaught of curse words and winces.

"I saw the butler cleaning glass on the terrace. What happened?" San came in.

"Just a small accident." Hongjoong sighed again, watching Yeosang use gauze to wrap up his hand.

"We're done. If it starts to bleed through the bandages, you have to get them changed. If not then I'll check on them in a few days." Yeosang said as he used clips and medical tape to secure the bandage. Hongjoong nodded and stood up.

"Thanks, Sangie." He left Yeosang's room. San stared at where their captain disappeared to.

"Everyone deals with grief differently, whether they want to admit it or not." San said and Yeosang let out a hum in agreement, clearing the bloodied gauze and area.

"He'll be okay. Hyung is strong." Yeosang assured.

When Hongjoong went upstairs to go back to his room, he walked past the second floor lounge and saw a file there.

'(y/n) (y/l/n)'

So, the boys went to search up on you and who you were. Reaching down, Hongjoong took the file and tucked it under his arm, retreating to his room.

"Florist... Studies botany... That's it?" He read the file as he walked. If there was anything else, even secrets, he knew Jongho and Yunho would have found it by now. No piece of information escapes those two. They can source information about a person's entire life on their computers, it's why they're the best.

"Oh?" Hongjoong paused, eyebrows raising when he saw the location of your shop. It was in the territory that he took care of, which was also the area where his mother's house was.

Despite that, Hongjoong has never once visited his mother nor has he spoken to her in years.

"How could you do this? How could you do this to me?! To us?!" Hongjoong yelled, seething with so much anger.

"I know... I'm a horrible mother, I'm sorry Hongjoong ah." His mother shook her head, tears in her eyes as she faced her angry son. She didn't even bother to give an excuse.

"Why?! Why would you do this?" He faced her, his own tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I couldn't just standby and watch. I couldn't." The woman wrapped her arms around herself pitifully. This time, Hongjoong didn't hug her.

"After everything, you'll still side with him. After knowing what he did to all of us, including you, you still..." Hongjoong shook his head, unable to finish his sentence. He was just filled with so much rage he couldn't even breathe properly.

"Get out. I never want to see you again." He turned away, hearing her soft footsteps leave his office and disappear.

"Seonghwa." Hongjoong called out, knowing that his second in command was standing nearby and most probably overheard the entire exchange that happened.

"Yeah?" Seonghwa walked in.

"I want her out of here now. Buy her a house or whatever, somewhere I don't have to see her." Hongjoong ordered.

"Sure, Hongjoong." Seonghwa bowed his head and exited the office. Hongjoong let out a yell, angrily swiping everything off his desk. Papers flews and things broke but he didn't care.

Seonghwa ended up buying his mother a penthouse apartment in the territory that Hongjoong managed. Although Hongjoong didn't like that idea, Seonghwa gave an excuse that at least Hongjoong could keep an eye on her.

He didn't know that Seonghwa did that so if he ever wanted to see his mother again or let her make amends for what she did, he'll know where she is.

But it was too late anyway. Hongjoong's mother was gone, there were no more amends to make, no more apologies.

"Great relationship? Good memories?" Hongjoong bitterly scoffed once again when he remembered your words, throwing your file aside and going to take a much needed shower.

He needed to get out of his head.

~

Series masterlist

[staytinyville]

BDE (WooSanSang Smut)

↣ Summary: You walk in on a comparison of swords (Dicks. It’s a comparison of dicks. That’s it. That’s the story.)

↣ Characters/Pairing: WooSanSang x Reader (poly!Ateez x Reader background)

↣ Genre: Smut (MDNI)

↣ AU/Trope info: idol!au, 

↣ Word Count: 4.7k+

↣ Warnings: Foursome, Big Dick!Yeosang (the inspo), name calling (slut, whore), Edging, Unprotected Sex (We don’t do that here), Cum play, Squirting

↣ A/N: I do not remember which imagine it was that got me thinking—Yeosang has a big dick. I just know he does. That proceeded to create a conversation with @anyamaris that Yeosang is for sure the person who’s like. It ain’t that big. It’s like everyone else. And it’s not. I just know it ain’t. And yes Wooyoung and San are the ones to be like. Stop lying to yourself. This is what came out of it.

Staytinyville’s Permanent Taglist

↣ Affiliates: @pirateeznet , @cultofdionysusnet , @wonderlandnet , @cromernet ,

↣ Special Tags: @wooyoungqueen, @daesukiii ,

↣ Special Thanks: Thank you @saradika-graphics for the amazing banners! Please go check her out if you have specific banners in mind. She is great!

The boys always tried their best to spend time with you. Ever since they all separated into different dorms, your time was spent moving from one to the other–depending on if they were hanging out separately. 

This weekend, it had been Yeosang who had told you Wooyoung and San were going to be over at his dorm with Yunho. They all figured if they were going to spend time together, it was best to have you where a majority of them were. And you knew that if Yunho was going to be home, you weren’t going to put it above him who would more than likely invite Mingi and/or Jongho. 

And so you gave Yunho a peck on the lips when he opened the door for you, his bright grin playing on his lips as he watched you come into the apartment. He allowed you to place your things down, going back to the living room to settle in the couch as he watched something on the TV. 

You dropped something off in the kitchen, having picked up dinner to make later. You also brought something you knew the boys might have been too busy to pick up like drinks and snacks. While you were busy putting things in their place, you realized you couldn’t hear any of the others, so you called out to Yunho. 

“Are you the only one home?” You asked, leaning over the back of the couch to speak to the tall man. 

“Wooyoug and San are over—Mingi's coming later.” He answered you, leaning his head back so you could give him an upside down kiss.

“Okay,” You smiled against his lips. “Do you want anything?” You asked, going to move to the kitchen to get him something. 

“No, I'm okay, baby.” Yunho called out. “You can go ask the others though.” He added. 

You hummed, making your way towards the hallway and to Yeosang’s room where you started to hear their shuffling on the other side of the door. You didn’t think anything of it, assuming it was them just playing games on Yeosang’s computer or going through his things. 

So as you called out to them and opened the door, you didn’t expect to catch them naked and facing each other in the room. “Guys! Do you want anything to—What are y'all doing?” You stopped, lips pulling into a thin line as you looked at them. 

They all turned to you, San giving you a smile as he got excited to see you had arrived while Wooyoung gave you a grin. Yeosang only sighed, dropping his shoulders as he realized where it was that Wooyoung and San were going to go. 

“Oh, Jagiya. Good you're here.” Wooyoung said, bounding over to you. “You've fucked all of us, so tell us—who has the biggest dick?”

Walking into the room you hadn’t expected them to be naked. Which meant you for sure wouldn’t have expected them to be comparing dick sizes. So when Wooyoung asked you that question, while it did leave you wondering who had the biggest, you weren’t going to admit to it when all you could see was Wooyoung’s grin in front of you. 

“I'm not answering that.” You deadpanned, turning around to leave the room and the boys to their own devices. 

“No! No! No!” Wooyoung pulled you back, wrapping his arms around your waist as he pushed you against his naked chest. 

You felt his leg push between your own, your ass pushing up against his cock as he softly rubbed against the back of your thighs. San smiled as he walked up to you, giving you a peck in greeting squishing you between two naked men. 

You sighed, looking over San’s shoulder to Find Yeosang giving you a small smile. 

“You are not leaving until you tell us.” Wooyoung pouted. “Now look.”

“Wooyoung, I'm not looking at your dicks.” You pursed your lips. “What is this even for?” You asked him, trying to turn around in the man’s arms. 

“Yeosang doesn't think he has a big cock.” San told you, moving to the side to look at the man who shook his head at the statement. 

“Yeosang, you literally have the biggest.” You nonchalantly spoke giving his dick a glance. 

You weren’t one to compare dicks–especially not when you had eight boyfriends who all took care of you in their own way. But you will say, no matter how sensitive you are when it comes to the touches you get from them—some of the boys were just much harder to take if you hadn’t been stretched open beforehand. It wasn’t that they didn’t get you as horny as the others, it was just easier to slip in if you were already relaxed. 

And Yeosang was one of them. 

“Ya see! I told you!” Wooyoung grinned, hand running down the front of your thighs as he messaged his fingers into them. 

You sighed, feeling your legs relax at his menstruations. You leaned into him a bit, causing his arms to wrap tighter around you. He gave you neck a kiss, grinning as he knew exactly how to get your skin burning. 

“I don't think it's that much bigger!” Yeosang pouted, looking down at his hanging half hard cock. 

“Yes it is!” Wooyoung continued, letting go of you as he rounded to Yeosang. “(Y/N) can't fuck you if you dont stretch her out first. And she is already an ocean when all we do is play with her thighs.”

“Hey!” You pouted, leaning into San who took up Wooyoung’s spot behind you. 

“They are amazing thighs, let me get smothered in them.” San gushed, getting onto his knees behind you and rubbing a cheek along your ass. 

He gave it a bite, making you gasp and turn to glare at him. “San!” You pouted, turning around fully to get away from his grinning smile. 

“We'll prove it to you.” Wooyoung’s voice came out, causing you to turn around. “(Y/N), on the bed.” The youngest boy told you, pointing towards Yeosang’s neatly made bed.

“Excuse me!” You glared. “Not even going to say pleas—“ 

You let out a squeak as San quickly pulled you into his chest, forcefully walking you towards Yeosang’s bed. You pouted, relenting as you crawled onto the middle of the bed and sitting down with your arms crossed.

“I'm greedy. You know this.” Wooyoung crawled over to you, his wicked grin taking over his features. 

As you knew that he was going to waste no time in pulling your pants off you and onto the ground. The three boys were the ones who preferred your thighs over all else. It was where some of the softest of your skin lay, so they would always find themselves gravitating towards that part of your body. 

Wooyoung gave the tops of your thighs kisses as he pulled your clothing off finger digging into the fat of them as he jiggled them just a bit. He laughed quietly when you made a sound of protest, whining at his kisses as something began to stir within you. 

There was no denying that everytime you came over for the weekend you would end up in one of the boy’s beds. It wasn’t that you were all nympho’s but when you only had a day or two to spend time with certain members, it was a given that you would have sex with them. 

And you loved how each one of them spoiled and treated you. 

Once Wooyoung got your pants off your legs, he stood back up messaging your legs for a bit before pulling away. “Yeosang!” He called behind him.

The oldest one came up to you, stroking his cock as he placed his knees onto the bed. He was quick to let go of himself, moving to place his hands on your thighs and spread them apart to rub further into your skin. He raised your shirt up, pulling it all the way until you felt the need to take it off all together.  

When your breast came into view after you had taken off your bra, you jumped a bit from the harsh fall of San crawling closer to you to pop a nipple into his mouth. He made himself comfortable into your side, his half hard dick rubbing along the side of your thigh as he suckled on your boob. 

He wasn’t bothered by how Yeosang was crawling between your legs and trying to position himself there. He also wasn’t bothered by Wooyoung moving to get comfortable on your other side, slowly stroking himself with an arm behind his head. 

The boys didn’t have a problem with sharing you at the same time as another. With how busy schedules could be it was the most probable time to have their ways with you. When they were either all together or hanging out with one another. Besides, each of the boys had their own versions of voyeurism. While some might have it more than others, they weren’t shy. 

If it was anything to go off by that fact that the three boys were clearly comparing dick sizes before you had walked in. 

With the way Yeosang was pushing at the back of your thighs with his own, your toes curled as you wanted to close your legs to feel pressure on your heat. But Yeosang was one of the service doms of the group, allowing his cock to fall between your lips and cover himself in your slick. 

As Wooyoung stated, you were always quick to start making a mess of yourself. With San suck at your nipple and Yeosang humping your pussy with his hot cock you knew it was easy to find yourself wet and sticky. 

“Try to stick it in. And you’ll see that it’s not as easy with you.” Wooyoung instructed. 

Yeosang huffed, giving the younger boy a glare but ultimately tried to do what was asked. He did move to probe at your entrance for a moment to make sure you were slicked enough. When his fingers came up glossy, Wooyoung grinned when he knew that you were more than ready as always. 

The sensitive little slut you were for your boys. 

Yeosang leaned over towards you, quickly giving you a peck on your lips. “You sure you want me to?” He asked you quietly. 

You smiled at him. “Even if you have to wait for the others to stretch me I still want to fuck my pretty boy.”

Yeosang laughed against your mouth, moving to slot his lips against yours. His hand went down to line himself up with your core. You moved your hands away from Yeosang, reaching out to find San and Wooyoung’s thighs. However, Wooyoung took your hand and placed it on his own cock. When you felt his hot skin, you tried to reach out for San’s quickly finding his hard dick. 

As Yeosang tried to push in his tip, you moaned out, legs flexing from the stretch. You never complained about it, you always told them that the after burn of being so full left you in a dazed mindset the rest of the day. It left your legs twitching. 

You stopped stroking San and Wooyoung, dropping your head back as you squirmed under Yeosang. The man was biting his lip on top of you, feeling how you were resisting him. He could feel that you were still wet, all of your slick sliding down the inside of your thighs and across his shaft. 

But he knew he couldn’t just force himself in without hurting you. If he was to shove himself in all the way he knew it would take you much longer to adjust than if you were already stretched. So with a huff he pulled back, shuffling away from you as he allowed himself to grind against your heat again. 

You all turned as Wooyoung began to snicker, his face showing off that he had been right. You huffed, already knowing the outcome of the whole thing. However, if that was the only way to prove to Yeosang that he was one of the larger members, you were more than happy to allow the three boys to have their way with you. 

You hummed, hips moving up when Yeosang bumped your clit. 

“I told you!” Wooyoung laughed. “You're huge man. Big dick energy.” He continued. 

“Yes, Yeosang is one of the biggest of all of you. Now can you please fuck me so I can actually enjoy his big dick.” You huffed out. 

“Greedy, baby.” San giggled, being the first to get up. 

Yeosang allowed himself to drop down next to you but you whined. He leaned up to look at you, waiting for what you wanted. 

“Let me suck you off.” You told him, making grabby hands for his cock. 

“Okay, sweetheart.” He gave you a kiss before getting up onto his knees. 

You patted Wooyoung’s thighs, telling him to do the same. His lips turned up into a large smile, happy to do as you wanted. Before San slotted himself between your legs, you were quick to turn over onto your stomach, wiggling your ass in a mocking way at San who gave it a light slap. 

Yeosang moved to sit down at the head of the bed, leaning back when he understood the position you wanted to be in. He smiled down at you as you placed a cheek down onto his thigh, looking up at him through your lashes. 

Wooyoung knew where this was heading, so he too laid down next to Yeosang, knowing that the moment San would start pounding into you your arms would become jelly and you wouldn't be able to hold yourself up. 

You weren’t even able to stay upright when San allowed his tongue to flatten itself out along your pussy to lap at you. You had already fallen over into Yeosang, tongue slowly licking at his tip. 

They knew how to make your orgasm hit twice as hard. Edging was one the best and worst things they ever found out about you. 

You moaned out when you took Yeosang’s cock into your mouth, hand stretching out to reach for Wooyoung’s. He kept a grip on your hand over him, moving the pace on his own because he knew he would be the next one to fuck you. 

San gave you one last lick from your clit all the way up to your puckered hole, pulling away to scoot his thighs closer against your own. You whined when he slapped his tip against your backside, pushing back into him to get his attention. 

“I’m going, needy.” He gave your ass a slap. 

Yeosang let out a breathy moan, the tip of his dick hitting your cheek from how you were turned trying to look behind you without taking him out of your mouth. When you couldn’t see what you wanted you took a glance over at Wooyoung finding him blissed out with an arm behind his head as he used your hand for his own pleasure. 

You knew he didn’t need anything more, content with waiting for his turn as he too edged himself. So you put your attention on getting Yeosang to hit the back of your throat, using your other hand to pump what you couldn’t. 

When you felt San’s tip at your entrance you could help but whimper, anticipating for him to shove himself in. You wiggled your hips one more time, arching your back even lower causing Yeosang to look over at San. 

The hum San would let out each time he would sink into you always had your body relaxing from the goosebumps it would cause all over your skin. The way his fingers would grip onto your hips in any position had you trying to suck him in even more. 

You had to let go of Yeosang’s cock from your mouth for a moment as your whines and whimpers overflowed from you. When you pushed back onto San, your senses returned to you and you went back to sucking Yeosang off slowly so as to make him last. 

San moved his knees to place your legs between his own before beginning to thrust forward. As he began to move back and forth, you didn’t realize you had gripped too tightly onto Wooyoung until the boy whined and quickly pulled your hand off him. 

“Pretty, I want to last.” His eyes rolled, softly taking your hand once again to put back on him. 

Yeosang let his hand wander to your back, rubbing along your spine as his breathing was turning short and mouth wide open. When you felt San’s fingers start to grip your hips tightly, you let go of Yeosang and Wooyoung, dropping your head down onto Yeosang’s thighs as your moans grew louder. You began to move back onto San, trying to get him to hit that spot within you. You began to meet his thrusts, causing him to lean over you just a bit as he began to reach his high. 

“That’s my good girl.” San huffed out. “Gotta get you all stretched out for Sangie.” He held himself up with one hand while the other moved to play with your clit. 

You let out a choked moan as his fingers softly moved along your nub. It only served to push yourself further into him, causing the sound of skin slapping to each around the four of you. San groaned and closed his eyes when you began to squeeze around him, head falling back and his fingers paused their movements on you. 

Yeosang and Wooyoung were quick to watch your face contort as they knew the one you made when you orgasmed. Wooyoung had to pull your hand off him, while Yeosang squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his thighs to keep from cumming. 

“Sannie.” You whined, nails scratching at Yeosang’s abs and finger crests being created on Wooyoung’s thigh. You whimpered out as your orgasm came in waves, falling forward as you had begun to get overstimulated. 

San quickly tapped the tip of cock along your ass cheek, huffing out and whining as he came onto your back. You squirmed and moan, rubbing your cheek into Yeosang who softly rubbed at your head to bring you back down from your high. 

“San.” You softly called out. 

The sweaty man hummed looking over at you. When you stuck your tongue out, the man grinned knowing what it was you wanted. The man quickly swiped at his cum on your cheeks, gathering it between his fingers the best he could. When his fingers were in front of you, you took them into your mouth, swirling your tongue around to make sure you had gotten all of cum clean off. 

“Pretty baby knows how to please us.” Wooyoung snickers, fingers moving to dig into your hips and he rubbed his cheek against your back. 

He moved his fingers down to swirl San’s drying cum around your skin, messaging it in. “Sangie, do you want to do next?” He asked his Hyung, looking up at him from his spot on your back. 

You turned to look up at him, climbing up slowly placing a kiss on his lips causing him to smile at you. “You can go first.” Yeosang told Wooyoung, keeping his eyes trained on your lips as you crawled into his lap. 

“Turn around for Woo, Darling.” Yeosang whispered against your lips.

You hummed in acknowledgment, turning around to seat yourself between Yeosang’s legs. The man moved to gather your legs in his hands, putting them under your knees before shoving them wide open. He placed your feet outside his own legs, making sure you were wide open for Wooyoung. 

You moaned, head dropping back as you panted. Wooyoung had a grin on his face as San moved to take his place beside Yeosang, head leaning back to watch the show. Before Wooyoung moved to position his cock between your legs, he moved down to look at your hole, giving it a nice slow lick to sooth the stretch you had gotten from Sannie. 

A whimper came from you, Yeosang moving a hand up to your neck to softly message your skin. He began to leave open mouth kisses along the place between your neck and shoulder, his other hand messaging into your inner thigh. 

Once Wooyoung got up from licking at you he shuffled closer, lining himself up with your entrance. Your hole gaped open, legs twitching as you began to anticipate his intrusion. 

“Always be ready to take us all.” Wooyoung cooed, moving forward to lean over you as his tip finally worked its way in. He squeaked, trying to keep it in but you knew Wooyoung could never keep quiet. 

You giggled quietly, arching your back off Yeosang, as your hand creeped up to Wooyoung’s neck. The boy’s head fell back, choking on air as his hips began to steadily move faster inside you. 

“You know I’ll always take you.” You praised him. You gave him a kiss on the cheek after making him lean down by his neck. 

“Wooyoung.” You moaned out, sliding down Yeosang as you felt him hit that spot within you. 

“Come on, Youngie. Make (Y/N) cum so Sangie can have his turn.” San spurred the man on. 

Wooyoung huffed, but moved to hold himself up onto his knees as he began to thrust faster into you. It only served to make you whine out, neck being on display as sweat formed on your body. Yeosang continued to suck on your skin, moving his hand to place itself on your pussy. He used two of his fingers around your entrance causing Wooyoung to let out a choked moan from how the man was squeezing his cock moving in and out of you. 

It wasn’t long until you were pushing Wooyoung away from you as you both came at the same time. You were once again feeling the overstimulation and you didn’t want your slit or pussy to start hurting before you were able to take Yeosang. 

Wooyoung let go of himself on your stomach, some of it landing on your core. It made you whine, knowing that you loved how their hot cum felt on you rather than in you. You shut your legs together tightly, rubbing the liquid together making Wooyoung smack his lips. 

“You’re such a whore for our cum.” The man spoke up, leaning back. 

“I don’t hear anyone complaining.” You retorted back to him out of breath. 

He gave you a wicked grin. “That’s why we love you.” With one last kiss to your lips, he got up off the bed, stretching his legs.

“Sangie.” You called out, turning around as you shuffled onto Yeosang’s lap. 

He smiled up at you, shuffling himself down to lay against the pillows, feet planted on the bed as he knew he was going to have to do all the work. “You sure you can go again?”

You grinned down at him, falling forward to be chest to chest with him. “For you? Always.” You giggled. 

Yeosang hummed, grinning like a love-struck fool. If there was anything that always got him hard it was the way you always were ready to take any of them. Maybe he did have too big of a dick that you needed to be stretched out first compared to the others but even if he did need to do that, he knew you weren’t going to complain about it. Especially not when you were just as giving as he was. 

He lined himself up with your entrance, feeling Wooyung’s cum mixed with yours hitting the tip of his cock. He groaned in your ear, finally happy to be encasing himself in your warmth. You were more than ready to take his cock while still squeezing him perfectly. You always did no matter how many of the members you took. 

You whine in his ear, too tired out to twitch your hips against him but you still arched your back to get him to hit you further. Your arms moved around his head, fingers gripping at the pillows and you stretched back like a cat. Your huffs and whines in his ears made him grab the fat of you hips, thighs pushing forward all the way to sheath himself. 

When he heard that harsh groan from you he knew he had hit your cervix–your favorite part about having him fuck you. So when you moved yourself up, hands on his shoulders, Yeosang knew it was the moment to go hard on you. And he did just that. 

His thighs slapped against the back of yours, you whines and moans turning into screams as you begin to feel your heat clench much tighter than normal. You felt that build up in your stomach coming full force. 

Yeosang quickly sat up, pulling your chest closer to him as he felt you tighten and squeeze around him knowing where it was going. San and Wooyung were quick to move around, coming to watch you bounce on Yeosang’s cock from behind. 

“Babygirl, you gotta come for us.” Yeosang spoke into your ear. “Make a mess on me. Go one, I know you’re gonna squirt.”

You cried out at his words, scratching up Yeosang’s back from how you gripped onto him tightly to keep you down on earth. When your pussy squeezed onto Yeosang tightly, the man cried out gripping your hips to move you off him when it became too much. As your orgasm gushed out and onto Yeosang’s thighs and the sheets, he let go of his cum as well, not caring where it landed. 

You could hear Wooyoung and San groan as you squirted, moving off the bed quickly knowing that you would have to be moved to a dry place after all that. And it was clear the moment you fell over into Yeosang, exhausted from fucking all three of them and cumming so many times. You were sure if they touched your clit right now it would hurt. But you were glad to have them with you. 

“You did so good.” Yeosang whispered into your ear. 

“So perfect, Pretty.” Wooyoung called, kissing your head. 

“We got everything.” San spoke up, giving you back a quick message as he moved his fingers along your skin. 

You groaned, feeling your legs tighten from the sensation of cumming so hard. Your muscles kept twitching, trying to get rid of the overexhaustion. As Wooyoung and San went out to get what they need to change the sheets to the bed, you heard someone else make their way into the room, causing Yeosang to look up. 

“I just needed a gaming remote.” Yunho giggled, watching as you slowly turned over onto your back and rolled off Yeosang. “Don't mind me.” He waved you off. 

“Yunho!” You whined out, making grabbing hands at him to take you off the soaked bed. 

“I'm going.” He softly spoke up, coming out to give you a tshirt he found in the room. 

He held you up, carefully putting on the shirt before picking you up in his arms. Yeosang got up behind him, moving to gather up his clothes to put them back on and help the boys clean up the room. You relaxed into Yunho’s arms, allowing him to take you out into the living room where someone else sat waiting to play games with his best friend. 

“I thought men comparing dick sizes for fun was just a gay joke.” You huffed against the Yunho’s neck. 

“So, who's is bigger?” He giggled.

“You guys get dressed together, I think you know.” You rolled your eyes. 

“Yeah.” Yunho hummed. “It's Yeosang's.”

“Yeosang's what?” You saw Mingi poke his head over the couch, giving you a dazzling smile as he watched Yunho bring you over to the couch. 

You were dropped onto it, allowing yourself to get comfortable against Mingi who nuzzled his nose into your cheek. 

“His dick.” Yunho laughed. He turned around to get you some water and a snack, knowing you got hungry after something as rough as that. 

“Oh yeah, man's hung.” Mingi said as if there was nothing wrong with that. 

“I know!” You pouted, stretching your legs out to get the soreness to go away. 

“What are we playing!?” You heard Wooyoung’s grin without even seeing it. 

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[onebizarrekai]

I'm pretty sure someone asked you this 4 years ago 💀 BUT ANYWAYS. can you describe fatal flaws/dreamswap un the worse way possible? 😈🙏

hear me out

once upon a time there were two Brothers, even though the lore said that they weren't Brothers they were definitely totally Brothers, even though the lore said that they had separate parents and that there was complicated spiderverse logic where characters had little affiliation with the source material they Totally were Brothers. you see, there were a bunch of ambiguous villagers who read the Dreamtale Bible and figured that the two Brothers had to be Brothers because the Dreamtale Bible said so. they were not interested in confirming this striking suspicion, so when they accidentally walked in on the two Brothers sharing a kiss in the chapel, they were shocked! they were appalled! they reported this act of blatant incestuous degeneracy to the authorities! arthur and miles ended up in court. pleading with the judge, miles cried, "we're not Brothers! who has declared this blasphemy?!" arthur was holding back tears; the boy was strong, he was tough, he was not a crier. but this, this accusation was the only thing in the world that could make him cry besides his first love, whom he had yet to meet, whom he would meet at the age of 20 instead of 100 or however old he was because it was pretty weird in the old version of the story. arthur, providing his and miles's birth certificates because he was their own lawyer, revealed that he and miles did not share birth parents. the court was shocked! how did arthur find those documents? the prosecutor called that it was a forgery. miles, gritting his teeth, fists and with his face overshadowed like a jojo character, said "it's because we're brown, isn't it?" the room fell silent. "that's not what it is at all," the prosecutor muttered. arthur slammed his hands on the table like phoenix, phoenix wright. "I'm going to erase this world from crime and suffering one day. I will remember this wrongdoing for the rest of my life." miles looked over the previous paragraph and realized that arthur's true love was someone else who wasn't him. he got really upset, but he kept it to himself. "if you aren't Brothers, then explain this!" the prosecutor demanded, slamming down a stack of papers titled "Unconventional". a gasp echoed throughout the room. "that evidence is obsolete! it was written in 2017 by a high schooler!" arthur declared without missing a beat. "if you read the author's note, you'll see that they agree that it contains poorly aged writing!" the prosecutor flinched. "dammit! I thought that if I removed that author's note, they would forget about it!" he grumbled. arthur brought up several tumblr posts on his ipad. "if you read the history of this blog, you will see that, despite inconsistencies, the only thing that remains consistent is the author's distaste for the Dreamtale Bible's decision to make dream and nightmare biological siblings. historically, they ignored all of canon on that behalf and implicitly created several new sets of characters with new personalities and negligible similarities to the originals. it was not particularly tasteful for them to appropriate someone else's work, but that's the truth." the prosecutor had taken a lot of HP damage, but he wasn't done yet. a huge stack of papers appeared in front of him. "my last resort…" he said. the words "TCU" in giant letters were written on the top. "the co-author of that story is the creator's dumped ex," arthur finished. the prosecutor collapsed. the judge ruled the case… postponed. the incident put such a strain on arthur and miles's relationship that they broke up. arthur promised it would only be until the townspeople came to their senses…

… but the day never came.

[vexwerewolf]

Felicitations, comrade! We had our session 0 for the IGF campaign im running, and one of my players wants to be a moonlighter pirate "infiltrating" Hell's Gate militia. He was initially thinking of being affiliated with the Hell Hounds, which for obvious reasons would present some challenges. Do you have any advice for making this happen, what with the very first mission putting him up against his true boss? I dont know that he'd have enough time to have truly built up camraderie with the rest of the SRT to truly make his character have conflicted loyalties.

I mean, he'd have to have been with the militia a while to build up enough trust to be seriously considered for the SRT.

But moreover, let me tell you what being a Hell Hound is like.

CW: psychological and physical abuse

So one thing I want to make it clear that the Hell Hounds are basically an incel cult without the weird gender-sexual overtones. I imagine there ARE women and enbies who join it but in essence Andros Capella is a creepy weirdo who preys on disaffected, primarily male youth with no prospects and indoctrinates them into his worldview of nihilistic violence.

Andros doesn't really have a philosophy, or at least not one that he could describe in words (and even if he could, he wouldn't), but it could be summed up as "the weak exist solely to create things for the strong to take." You are worthy of having things if you are strong enough to take them, but only so long as you're strong enough to keep them.

The closest political ideology I could ascribe to him would be "stateless fascism." Andros is certainly sadistic, devoid of empathy and believes himself to be supreme, but he's too intellectually lazy to bother engaging in justifying why he's supreme. He makes the most basic of naturalistic arguments (i.e. "this is just the way the world works") but feels it's beneath him to actually justify or provide evidence for his claims.

He hates the minutiae of day-to-day life, and derives no joy from anything that doesn't involve someone else's discomfort or pain. He will steal your food for the sheer thrill of having taken something that you wanted to eat, but he won't enjoy eating it because he despises the physical sensations of chewing and swallowing.

And if you are a Hell Hound who, god forbid, enjoys something, he will bully the shit out of you. He will verbally and physically abuse you until you learn to hate the thing you liked just to make the pain stop.

Lemme tell you what the average night on Fort Cerberus looks like when you're not on a raid: you and a couple hundred other sick fucks lurk around the corridors drinking and gambling but you sure as hell better not actually look like you're having fun because you're all desperately trying to avoid becoming the bossman's next chew toy.

Some poor fuck catches Andros' eye. You're not sure what for, but from the sounds of things he might've been counting his poker winnings too loud. He gets a hand on his shoulder from the big man, who tells him that he's being too selfish - gotta learn to share a bit more, yeah? Now, way Andros sees it, guy's got ten fingernails that he's keeping all to himself, so here's a set of pliers - redistribute.

You jeer along with the rest of the room, loud enough to drown out his screams, because you're so very, very relieved that it isn't you. But you fuck up. You look a little bit too enthusiastic, perhaps, or maybe it's the opposite, maybe you weren't forcing it enough. Either way, the bossman's eyes land on you and your blood turns to ice in your veins.

"You," he says. "C'mere."

The room is dead silent all of a sudden, quiet enough that the pitiful whimpering of the first guy, (currently on his second thumbnail) is the only sound you can hear. You walk over, as a prisoner does to the place of execution.

He takes your hands, inspecting your fingernails, and then your hands, then your arms. "No ink yet? You not pulling your weight? Am I payin' to feed a fuckin' leech?"

You say you're not a leech.

"Those pricks over at the Gate are gettin' too clever. Learning too quick. Gettin' the jump on us too many times. I want someone over there learnin' what they know. You 'avin' no ink makes you a good choice. They'd sniff out any of these boys in a second, they would, but not you. You look soft. Don't he look soft, boys?"

The room jeers at you just as you jeered at the first guy (he's on his ninth nail, now, and his throat is so hoarse he can't make sounds anymore). You try your best to remain composed.

"Normally soft'd be fuckin' worthless. But soft'll let you blend right in with the Gaters."

So, to avoid whatever horrific torture he's currently ideating, you agree. The next time they go out on a raid, they pick a ship full of people who don't know each other and slip you in with the passengers when nobody's looking. You don't go to Hell's Gate directly - you do a couple of hops through the Thousand Habs, just to throw off suspicion.

You sue for residency on the station as a refugee from a failed habitat. They give you your own cabin, and they make sure you're fed and clothed. You smirk to yourself - they really are as soft as Andros said they'd be; they have food and water and clothes and they're just giving them away!

You don't have all that many marketable skills, so after a few rotations scrubbing air filters, you apply to take the militia aptitude test. You try to play it down so they don't get suspicious, but if nothing else you're a damn good pilot, so you get fast-tracked. These fucking idiots just give you a mech! God, it's gonna be so easy to tear them apart from the inside.

They put you in a team. You train together, building up hours in the simulators. Then something weird happens. They... trust you? They want to... spend time with you, outside the simulators. They want to drink with you, play games with you, hear about your life. Well, is it more suspicious if you say no? You have to maintain your cover.

You don't always fit in well. Sometimes you crack jokes that are... a little unpleasant, a little off, a little worrying, and you learn to bite those down because it's bad for your cover. You also have this odd air about you, like you're constantly on guard, like you're waiting for the other shoe to drop (like somebody's gonna make you rip your fingernails out if you're too happy). People figure you must've gone through some trauma and are kind stupid enough not to pry.

You feed information about the militia back to Andros - carefully, so as not to blow your cover. Some members of your team get hurt - nobody dies, but they get hurt. You feel... bad. Why do you feel bad? They're soft, they're weak, they don't mean anything. They're not your real friends. You don't have any friends.

Months pass. Jerry says he wants to tap your team for a long-standing project he's working on. This is your chance. Sabotaging this will prove to Andros that you're strong, that you're not weak, that you're not a leech, that you can pull your weight.

Sure, a bunch of your team will have to die. The only people who've ever put their trust in you, the only people who've ever believed in you. But that's fine, right? They don't mean anything, they're not real people, right? They're idiots for trusting you, right? They deserve it, right?

Right?

... right?

[peachesyeo]

The Maestro The Dinner

word count -2k words pairings - seventeen ot13 x fem!oc genre - mature, dark romance, cultish/yandere, mystery , crack

chapter warnings - none

author's notes - Hey darlings! Sorry for the short chapter! I just want to clarify something regarding my story. In this setting, Joshua is not a Christian. Please understand that the characters in my story are not affiliated with their real-life counterparts. Additionally, I apologize for the infrequent updates. Similar to 1117, The Maestro might be updated on a monthly basis. I'm currently studying and cannot write as quickly as I'd like. Thank you for all your support and encouragement. I'll do my best to keep writing.

thank you @sousydive for beta reading!

network: @mansaenetwork

Back to Masterlist?

Dear Residents of the Maestro,

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your recent letter. I am pleased to inform you that, thanks to your support, my child was born safely. Although I am no longer directly involved with the Maestro, I remain my commitment.

Yours faithfully,

Kang [REDACTED]

Dinner was fairly awkward.

Wonwoo took the empty seat next to me after carrying out the first dish. I noticed a familiar silver ring on his pinkie and furrowed my brows, trying to remember where I had seen it before. It wasn’t until Junhui passed me a napkin that I realised everyone at the table, except for me, was wearing the same silver ring.

Welcome to the family. I've been hearing this phrase a lot. Joshua, Soonyoung, and Jihoon have all said it. I don't know why, but it just feels… wrong.

“Is everyone here?” Seungcheol’s voice cut through the chattering as everyone stopped and looked at him. “Alright. Let's start.”

Joshua hummed, standing up. I looked around to see everyone else putting their hands together, their eyes closed. Hesitating, I followed their lead, putting my own palms together as I looked at Joshua.

“To his Lord,” Joshua started, his voice soft and calm. “We thank you for the meal you bestow upon us. We thank you for lighting our paths when we need it, and guiding us through the journey of suffering and pain. We thank you for allowing us to live, free of sickness and pain. Praise his Lord.”

I watched as his prayers were echoed by everyone at the table. My mouth felt dry, and I hesitated, unsure if I should join in. The words felt foreign on my tongue, and I fumbled through them softly, feeling a wave of awkwardness wash over me. When we were done, Joshua nodded at Seungcheol before sitting back down. Conversations broke out as the clinking of utensils joined the symphony of noises. I took some of the dishes for myself, digging into them quietly.

As I cautiously finished the food in front of me, I couldn't help but wish I were hiding in my room. To my left, Wonwoo sipped his cup of water quietly, while Junhui on my right stared blankly at his empty plate, absently toying with his fork. The clinking of utensils and sporadic bursts of laughter created a facade of normalcy, but I could still feel Seungcheol's intense gaze burning into me from across the table.

What's his problem? I wondered, trying to ignore the weight of his stare.

I wanted to look up and glare back at him, but something in me warned against it, a voice cautioning restraint. The feeling suddenly dissipated, and I seized the opportunity to lift my gaze. Jeonghan was engaged in conversation with Seungcheol, diverting his attention from me and sparing me from his piercing stare.

In that moment, I felt a surge of gratitude towards him, despite my earlier feelings about him. Suddenly, I heard my name being called.

A plate of pudding was pushed towards me by Chan, who winked and gave me a thumbs-up. I gratefully accepted the pudding, enjoying the sweet taste of caramel upon soft milk pudding.

As the sweetness of the pudding lingered on my tongue, someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned to see Seungkwan looking longingly at the pudding over Wonwoo's shoulder. "Is it good?"

I nodded eagerly. Seungkwan sighed, swallowing. "If only I'm not on a diet…”

“Then don't be on a diet.” Next to Seungkwan, Jihoon interjected, leaning into his palm as he stabbed his food absentmindedly with his fork. “You're not a reporter anyway.”

“Hyung, I look ridiculous in the office photos. Every time I walk past my photos I see a dying whale amongst a crowd of people.” Seungkwan touched his face, frowning. I shook my head. “You're fine, Seungkwan. I agree with Jihoon too.”

Seungkwan made a face. “I have a problem with bloating, Raeyang.” His expression was serious. “It really disrupts my image as a journalist—”

“Don't be ridiculous.” I looked up. Seungcheol was frowning at Seungkwan, while Jeonghan let out a tired sigh. “Kwan, you're fine. You can just go down to the gym tomorrow with Jihoon to do an extra rep.”

“I don't want to,” I heard Seungkwan mutter in reply. Seungcheol opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly cut across him. “You work as a journalist, Seungkwan?”

“Yeah! Oh, I haven't introduced myself formally to you, have I?” Seungkwan’s eyes lit up as he shot me a grateful look for stopping Seungcheol from nagging. “I work as a journalist for the newspaper Carat Daily.”

“Carat Daily!” I repeated, shocked. “That's one of the biggest news companies here!”

Seungkwan looked proud. “Yeah. Wonwoo hyung’s a streamer under their sub-company Campfire Streams. He's a pretty popular streamer too.”

Wonwoo waved his hand. “Nah, I'm still ranking up the charts.”

“Don't act so humble. You were gloating about it yesterday.” Beside Seungcheol, Chan snorted loudly. Wonwoo rolled his eyes. “Shut up and eat your food.”

“What about you, Raeyang?” Junhui asked. I looked down at my almost-empty plate. “I'm an interior designer.”

“Woah. That sounds cool.” Seungkwan said. “What's the job scope like?”

“Just providing sketches of designs of rooms to match with my client's ideas. I normally work from home, though.”

“I wish I could work from home.” Jeonghan sighed longingly. “But I'm always needed at the studio. I'm a model, by the way.”

I'm not surprised by that. “I can see that.”

Jeonghan’s eyes glinted. “How?” He asked, leaning in. I took a bite of my food absentmindedly as I replied to him. “Well, you're really good-looki—” I stopped mid-sentence, realising what I was saying. Looking up, Jeonghan looked pleased with himself, his eyes wrinkling into crescent moons as he grinned. “Really? You think that I’m good-looking?”

I mentally face-palmed myself. “Urm… I- Yeah…” Why did I say that out loud?

“Well, Raeyang, Hannie’s going to gloat about this for a very long time.” Joshua said, noticing my embarrassment. Jeonghan rolled his eyes at him. “She’s only telling the truth. Everyone knows that I, Yoon Jeonghan, am the most good-looking resident of the Maestro.”

There was only silence for a while, before Mingyu snorted. “There’s a fine line between daydreaming and deluding, hyung, don’t cross it,” he said, earning a glare from Jeonghan. “If I am a model instead of you—”

“You’ll be endorsing all the underwear brands.” Seungkwan commented as the table burst into laughter. Mingyu pouted unhappily. “Stop laughing. That's not funny.”

“Who do you think is the most good-looking person here?” Chan asked, as everyone’s attention returned to me once again. “Other than Jeonghan hyung, of course.”

Oh, how I wish I could disappear from the face of Earth right now.

“Don’t ask that stupid question, Dino-ah.” Soonyoung tutted. “You’re putting Raeyang in a tight spot. Of course, I am the most good-looking one after Jeonghan hyung.”

That caused a commotion of protest from the others. I shot Soonyoung a thankful smile for saving me, as he winked. Seungcheol cleared his throat, causing the chaos to die down. “Alright, that’s enough.” He said, as everyone returned to their food.

“If you’re an interior designer, can I look at some of your samples?” I looked towards Junhui. “I’ve been wanting to redesign my apartment, but Hao’s refusing to help me to design. Said he would rather make a stray dog a home than to help me with my apartment.” He jabbed his thumb accusingly at the mentioned man from across the table.

“Minghao’s a designer too?” I asked, surprised. Junhui shrugged. “I guess. He makes clothes and paints.”

“Sure, I would love to help you…” I said. I have no upcoming projects anyway, so why not help a new neighbour out? “By the way, what’s your job?”

“A boring accountant. I work from home mostly.” Junhui took out his phone. “Can we exchange numbers?” He asked, handing me his phone for me to punch my number in. “My unit’s 303, on the other side of the elevator. You can come up at any time to take a look around.”

“Alright.” I handed him his phone back. “I think I’ll go visit once Jeonghan tours me around the place.”

“Then that's decided.” “What's decided?” Beside Junhui, Seokmin asked.

“Mind your own business.” Junhui picked a piece of cutlet up and stuffed it into Seokmin’s mouth. “Eat your food.”

Nothing else interesting happened after that. When everyone was almost done, I looked up at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see that the time was already nine.

“Who is on dishwashing duty today?” I hear Chan say. Everyone gradually got up from their seats and so did I. Soonyoung and Seokmin came over to me. “Hey, Raeyang! We’ll send you up, Jihoon’s on dishwashing duty today.”

“That reminds me. When you’re bringing Raeyang around tomorrow, show her the roster list,” Seungcheol said to Jeonghan, who waved at me. Mingyu had already disappeared into the kitchen, and Vernon strolled past me with a couple of dirty plates on a tray. “See ya, new neighbour.”

“See you… Thank you for the meal!” I said, as Soonyoung led me to the door. Wonwoo waved as Mingyu’s head popped out from behind the kitchen door.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it! See you tomorrow!”

“Oh, Raeyang!” I turned. Jeonghan was still in his seat, and he gave me a lazy smile. “Nine in the morning, tomorrow.”

I nodded in reply as Seokmin closed the door behind me. Both of them led me back towards the elevator, and Soonyoung turned to me. “How was it?”

“The food’s pretty great,” I replied, smiling.

Seokmin nodded in agreement. “Of course, Mingyu’s a famous private chef for the rich.”

“Really?” I asked, shocked.

Seokmin grinned. “Yeah, so it’s a privilege to have him cooking for us every day. I cook too, if I’m on kitchen duty…”

“Seungcheol mentioned the roster list…”

“It’s the big board on the first level. Jeonghan hyung will bring you to check it out tomorrow. I think there’s going to be a shuffle of roster duties since you’re here,” Soonyoung pressed the button on the elevator. The doors quickly opened and we all stepped in. “It’s mainly stuff like gardening, dishwashing, trash emptying, and grocery shopping. Seungkwan was all about organic food intake, so we grow our own vegetables. Still, we don’t really have a farm, and the meat’s got to come from somewhere.”

“Don’t worry too much about it, there’s fourteen of us to balance the roster anyway,” Seokmin said as the elevator doors slowly opened for us to alight. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Raeyang. Have a good night!” He waved, and I waved back.

“Thank you, Dokyeom.”

“Don’t mention it. See ya, Hoshi.” A big smile hung on Seokmin’s face as he walked towards the opposite corridor of Soonyoung and me. “Bye, Kyeom.”

As Soonyoung and I walked back to our own apartments, he spoke. “If you can’t sleep tonight, Raeyang, you can take the elevator up to the fifth level. There’s a terrace up there. You might meet one of the others if you’re there, though. The stars are pretty clear and obvious over here.”

He pointed up, and I noticed the ring on his finger. “Can I ask you something, Hoshi?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you guys know each other for a very long time?” Soonyoung followed my gaze, looking at the silver ring on his pinkie. “I noticed that all of you wore that ring.”

“Ah.” Soonyoung pulled the ring off his pinkie, holding it out in front of me. “You mean this? Well, you could say that I have known these guys for almost all my life,” he said with a fond smile. “This is a… I guess you could call it a symbol of our family.”

Soonyoung’s initials were carved into the silver ring. I removed my gaze from it, looking at him. “My father had a ring with his name engraved on it too,” I said lightly, missing the way Soonyoung’s shoulder tensed. He cleared his throat, putting his ring back on.

“Well, maybe you'll get yours too. I think Joshua hyung’s asking everyone to vote on the design for the new ring.”

“New ring?” I repeated. “You guys change it often?”

“From time to time. Sometimes one of us gets tired of the design.” We stopped in front of my door. “Have a good night, Raeyang.”

“You too, Hoshi. Thank you for today.” I opened the door, turning to him.

What I didn't know was that as soon as I closed the door, Soonyoung’s smile faded. He clicked his tongue impatiently, staring at the ring on his pinkie as he muttered something under his breath. If I had been there, I would have been shocked at what he said.

My father’s name.

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[keep-the-wolves-close]

The Hound’s Pursuit

Chapter 1: Crossroads of Chaos

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the movie Triple Frontier and I don’t claim to have created its original characters. The only characters that belong to me are Juniper and JD. This is posted for pure entertainment, and I do not make profit off of this.

Warnings: mentions of violence, language, PTSD (I think), tension between old friends, mentions of dead bodies, anxiety, dread, loss.

Pairing: Will “Ironhead” Miller x Juniper “Hound” Winters

Word Count: 2,629ish

Author’s Note: I hope you all enjoy! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! A little nervous about this one.

“No,” Juniper’s face sharpened intensely at her older brother’s buddy Santiago from special ops, who breezed in through the door to the bar. “Absolutely not.” She frowned as she observed Santiago searching for the room, and when he spotted the siblings he strutted the rest of the way over to them.

Pope called out to grab her brother’s attention. “Deadeye!”

Juni felt her shoulders tense. Every time this man showed up, some hare-brained scheme was attached and it left her waiting in the wings worried sick about whether or not her brother, friends, and herself would come back in one piece.

JD screwed his face up at her reaction to their friend. He understood her trepidation when it came to Pope showing up out of the blue, but he’d welcome any of his friends with open arms any time. Pope had an over the shoulder laptop bag that he swiftly set down next to a chair on JD's side of the table. Pope set a black plastic clipboard, the kind that had storage once you opened it, down on the table.

Juni eyed it suspiciously, remembering the day he’d come to her and JD to ask for help with the last mission in Brazil taking down the well known criminal powerhouse that was Lorea. They were rich for a few short days. Until they weren’t. The thought of how Redfly’s family was making out crossed her mind.

To Juni, the bar suddenly felt like the locker room at the gym before Benny’s fight, the night Pope gathered them all to sell his scheme. The whole group gathered together, debating whether to trust Pope’s latest get rich scheme or not. Whether they could even achieve it. Juni laid her reservations of the cons outweighing the pros out on the floor before Benny bit at them to focus because he was going into his fight.

She remembered the look Will gave her like it was yesterday. The silent agreement with her solid points. Juni looked back to the clipboard. Unless they were files from the job he’d just come off of, Juniper just knew that meant he was here on business. She’d only ever seen that portable clipboard when he was working.

The last time he’d shown up brought chaotic planning and action. They went from being together, watching Benny fight, to being in Brazil seeing the arsenal Pope had acquired over the years, within 24 hours. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this time was no different. She could smell chaos brewing from that clipboard. The feeling of the heavy weight of her holding Redfly’s body wrapped up made her shudder. The memory of carrying her fallen friend made nausea creep up her throat.

Her mind worked quickly to figure out what Pope could be up to. Could it be Lorea’s son? A family member? Someone Lorea worked closely with wanting revenge? No, the family hadn’t gotten a good enough look at them on the way out. Could it be another big guy Pope had been gunning for since becoming a full time hired gun advisor? She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. Her breathing sped up as all of the endless possibilities sped through her mind. The mumbles of conversation swirled around her and the clinking of the glasses were an ample reminder of the war going on in her mind. The dim lights, almost deafeningly bright.

JD rose from his chair and clapped hands with the subject of Juniper’s ire. The intrusive noise added to her annoyance. “Hey man, good to see ya! Didn’t know you were back in town,” he chuckled, cutting through the tension between his sister and Pope. The men slapped each other on the back and released each other. JD welcomed Pope with an easy grin, oblivious to his sister’s internal battle. All Juniper could feel was dread pooling in her stomach. The last few times he had shown up brought nothing but chaos and extra therapy sessions.

Juni glanced between the clipboard and her brother. Her heart thudded in her chest as she wondered if JD had already been roped into whatever Pope had come here to discuss. Part of her wanted to shield JD from anymore trauma, but she knew he would make his own decision regardless of her fears. During the mission in Brazil, they’d come close to losing everything. She couldn’t let that happen again.

It was like her brother could feel her rising anxiety. JD knew Pope probably had some idea in his head, and considering how the last one ended, it was a shot in the dark on whether he would accept it or not. Despite the warmth of the bar reddening his cheeks, he felt the bite of the cold air of the upper Andes snap at his face and a shot rang out in his head. A flash of Redfly falling forward, and their special ops brother’s blood splattering across his face crossed his mind.

He shook his head and pulled himself out of the memory feeling his breathing begin to slow down and even out from the almost hollow breaths the memory had caused him to take. He rubbed his fingers against his palms trying to get rid of the sweat that had started to push through his pores. A wave of survivor’s guilt hit him. He didn’t blame Pope. It could have happened to any of them. It was just bad luck. He still trusted Pope, but after Redfly, it was a shaky foundation that his blind acceptance stood on. He glanced down before meeting Juni’s gaze.

He looked her over, catching her straight back and the fidgeting of her trigger finger and silently shook his head. Juni felt her chest release ever so slightly when she spotted the slight hesitation in her brother’s eyes. At least she wasn’t about to be barraged with the news that her brother would be heading off on some idiotic mission.

“Yeah it was a last minute thing. I didn’t even know until this morning.” Pope paused to glance in Juniper’s direction. Her face remained unchanged from the foul, unamused look. A slow smirk spread across Pope’s lips. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the ankle biter! How you been, Juni?”

A voice boomed out from by the entryway, “Pope, JD!”

Juniper blanched when she realized who the voice belonged to. Something was off. Benny and Frankie showing up and at the same time as her and her brother, definitely smelled like Pope was up to something. She loved Benny and Frankie like brothers, but they never showed up at the same time unless it was planned. She glared over at JD while he was occupied with the commotion of his brethren showing up.

“Benny boy!” Pope spun around with his arms outstretched, his antagonization of Juniper forgotten. Following behind Benny, the other heathen of the group, Frankie stepped into the bar. Benny’s brother, Will, strode through the door last.

She leaned against the back of her chair and propped her elbow along the top of her seat, observing four out of the five men act like children. Seeing all of them so carefree and happy, even for a few minutes, made a soft grin sprout on her face. As much as Pope’s presence had her on edge, she didn’t really hate him. She just wished he wouldn’t bring trouble around as much. Nothing could ever be a simple visit for Pope.

Catching Will’s eyes glimmering at her between the guys, Juniper’s smile widened at the quietest Miller. She and Will were the most moderately tempered of the group. The ones who had the most control of their tempers, anyhow. Choosing their words carefully, the logistical, analytical thinkers. The observers.

When the group was together, they often sat quietly with each other, keeping a watchful eye on the rest of the troublemaking group. They talked, but more often than not the conversations were non-verbal. Slight nods here, gentle touches there. If there was one thing William Miller was good at doing, it was speaking with his eyes. Will parted his way through the group and opened his arms to her.

Juni stood slowly and moved towards Will. She felt the eyes of her brother and the rest of the gang lock onto her as she returned Will’s open arms. His warm voice caressed her ear as he leaned into the hug, “Junebug.” Goosebumps blossomed down her neck from the sound of the nickname he had given her years ago. Her heart fluttered at the affection.

She was tempted to tell herself that it was a particular mission, or an exact moment that she’d gained a soft spot for Will. But she knew the truth. The second those stony blue eyes batted their lashes at her, she’d been a goner.

With her face tucked into his shoulder, she murmured, “Hey, Will.” His warmth felt like a safety net from Pope’s chaotic presence and the storm that always trailed behind him. The goosebumps continued to sprout along her spine when he splayed his hands on her back, anchoring her.

“So, you less mad that I’m here now?” Pope’s voice cut through the moment, ripping her out of the cocoon of enchantment Will always seemed to wrap her in.

Juniper hesitantly pulled away from Will, the loss of his warmth snapping her back to reality when Pope’s words settled in. “No, actually. I’m not.”

Pope sputtered at her admission.

“Because when you show your face, you’ve got some wild get rich quick scheme that’s dangerous and life threatening.” Everyone’s face darkened when they thought of Brazil.

Pope reached down next to the table and picked up a laptop bag. He laid it on the table, keeping his eyes on his hands, and pushed it toward Juni. Looking up at her through his thick lashes, “but with you there JR,” he turned on the charm but Juni’s face remained sharp, “we’ll have the best Hound on the scent.”

Juni’s heart dropped at his use of her special ops nicknames sending unwanted thoughts and flashes screaming in her mind. Redfly taking too long because he got greedy, messing up the timing of the plan. The Lorea family almost catching them. Crashing in the mountains. She steeled her face and squared her shoulders. Memories of crash landing at the top of the Andes, and the kid from the village attacking them took over her mind. The group almost lost everything the last time. She couldn’t sit and watch it happen again. “Absolutely not.”

Pope’s face became crestfallen at her quick dismissal. Juni’s eyes fell to the floor. She knew Pope was just trying to give them opportunities to make the rest of their lives easy, but the repercussions that inevitably followed weren’t always worth the weight of the risk.

Pope scoffed at her refusal. “C’mon Juni, you're the key to making this work.”

“Me being there the last time didn’t stop anything! What would it stop this time?!”

“That’s exactly why we need you, Juni. To make sure it doesn’t happen again. We both know you’re the best chance we have. Me and the guys are lost without you.”

“Do you honestly think —,” her words began to tumble out in panic. Will placed a hand on her lower back to offer comfort. Benny and Frankie shot each other concerned glances at Juni raising her voice. She was like Will and didn’t do it often. “Getting caught with my pants around my ankles in the fuckin’ jungle isn’t exactly something I wanna do again. I almost didn’t get us out of the tight spot we were in then.”

“You and Benny got outta there just fine! You’re a deadly combo!” Pope continued to lay on the convincing. “You and Will are a fatal pair. If you two knock your heads together on this one, we’ll be set!”

“Pope, what the fuck?” JD yelled when he noticed the military posture pulled out of his sister. A sense of guilt hit him, realizing just how much Pope affected her with his words, and how often he’d let it happen. A sense of protectiveness washed over him toward his sister and he glared at Pope. The bullet scar she carried reminded him of the stakes at hand.

“There’s a reason we called her the Hound, JD.” Pope tried to smooth his proposition to Juni over. “For this one we’d need a little more recon than the last one. She’s the best person for it.”

Juni glanced at Will, his fingers gently rubbing her lower back. There was trepidation in his eyes. He wanted to trust that Pope knew what he was doing, but after Brazil, he wasn’t so sure how far he would jump for Pope anymore. Juni could see that Will was hesitant. She knew exactly what she had to do because no one else would.

“Santiago Garcia, I said no,” her voice was harsh and raw. She grabbed her jacket and purse. Thinking about all the ways whatever Pope’s idea was could go wrong. She gave a sharp look at her brother. “Joseph Winters,” he winced at her tone, “if I even hear the slightest hint that you’re going to go along with whatever his idiotic plan is? So help me god.”

She gave an irritated look to the rest of the group. They should know better after the last time. “We’re not the fucking Avengers.” She paused, hoping the statement would bring everybody back down off the ledge. “We can’t save everyone. Hell, we barely made it out of —,” her voice caught and her hands balled into fists shaking with rage, fingernails digging into her palms — “Brazil alive.”

“Look Juni,” Pope tried to calm her, holding his hands out in surrender. “I get it. But this time is different. I can’t do this without you.” She looked like she was ready to throw a punch, and Benny sidled up next to her and his brother, ready to jump in and stop the fury that was Juniper Winters.

Pope took a step back, seeing the turbulent violence behind her eyes. The air around the group shifted. It popped and crackled with Juni’s anger. Seeing Benny come between them, brought an understanding to the situation he hadn’t had before. He pointed to the laptop, “with that information and any other details you find, you’ll be the most knowledgeable person in the group. You’ll know the terrain, how many people, you’ll have maps and rap sheets, blueprints. Security details. You’ll be the best equipped person to keep us alive.”

Juni stood between Benny and Will, chewing on her lip as she stared at the ground. Pope’s voice softened, making her look up at him. “Meet up with us tomorrow and at least hear me out first.”

Will gave Juni’s waist a soft pinch. She moved her gaze over to him. The look Will was giving her told her he understood her reservations. He squeezed her side, letting Juni know that if she decided to be there, he’d have her back the entire time.

Juni huffed at Pope while holding eye contact with Will. The healed bullet wound gave a phantom throb as she weighed everything. If she went and didn’t like what she heard, she could leave. It would be as simple as that. On the other hand, she wouldn’t be able to watch over her brother if she didn’t go. Or the guys. “Okay, fine.”

Pope prematurely celebrated. “Yes!”

Juni held out a finger to Pope, effectively shutting him up. “But I reserve the right at any time to tell you all you’re a bunch of fuckin’ dumbasses and leave.” She looked through the group, letting her point sink in. Frigid fear of uncertainty freezing her.

[northwest-cryptid]

You know what, no I'll go on record and just say that;

Mabinogi hands down IS the best MMORPG.

Now sure, you can immediately call me bias; and I can literally tell you that is an overused argument. Truth is, yes I have a bias, I have a bias as someone who has played literally hundreds of MMOs, and has never found one that can hold a candle to Mabinogi. Yes this includes games like WoW or FFXIV, and even lesser known but still popular titles like Path of Exiles or Warframe or even Tree of Savior.

But why exactly do I say that Mabinogi is the best MMORPG on the market? Well I think a good MMORPG does a few things, firstly I think any game that wants to be an RPG that lets you make a character needs to give you a sense of identity. Second, I believe an MMO needs to create an interesting environment for playing alongside others; whether they're directly in your party or not. Lastly, no good RPG is complete without going on a grand adventure with proper noticeable growth.

Now, before we begin to really dive into this essay of a post, I want to cover something real quick because I think it's important. When I say Mabinogi is the best MMORPG, and I'm saying that I've played games like WoW or FFXIV. I'm not trying to say those games are bad. I will concede that direct translation and definition would suggest I believe they are "worse" than Mabinogi, and yes I do believe that. However I'm not trying to tell you that your favorite MMORPG is bad or garbage or whatever. Please do not take my personal opinion to be slander of your favorite game. For a lot of players, an MMORPG can be special to them, the characters and the world can mean something to them; and I don't want to be some hater when it comes to your favorite place on the internet.

I'm not coming into this as someone who's naive about the world of MMOs, I know the good and the bad of them, not ALL of them; but a good lot of them. However I want to make something clear; if I went into why other games were "worse" than Mabinogi I would immediately be ignored. Let's say you really like FFXIV, that's fine; it's a good game, I play it myself and am excited about the latest expansion coming out in a few days. Now if I tell you that I think it's kind of ridiculous how much they've simplified the game to the point no class feels truly unique mechanically, or how I used to like AST more before they took away our card's uniqueness and such. It's entirely possible you would stick with me and understand that, even if our opinions differ; what I'm saying is true to me even if it's not to you. Sure maybe you hated having RNG in the RNG healer class, maybe you disliked having to decide if you wanted to spread that buff to the whole party, or enhance that buff for one person, or extend the buff. Maybe you like it more now that everything sort of does the same thing. I'm not talking down to you or being sarcastic when I say, that's fine. We just feel differently about it. Thing is, I've very likely lost you; It's unlikely you hear all of that and not think I'm just some FFXIV hater. I'm not, but it's unlikely you think that way after hearing all my gripes with it. I wouldn't blame you for thinking someone who just tore into a game likely dislikes the game, that's a fair assumption.

If at any point I do sort of dig into a game for it's changes, mechanics, or just how it works. I want you to understand I only feel that way because I do enjoy those games and wish they didn't do things that made playing them feel less fun to me. Those last two words are possibly the most important there; this whole post is strictly opinion, it's my opinion. We don't need to share that opinion, but I hope you find what I say to be at least interesting. I don't see much reason to sit through the whole thing otherwise.

Oh... and one more thing, if you follow this link and download the game now it should be done roughly by the time you finish reading this, probably; maybe? <- That's not even an affiliate link; I'm not sponsored to say anything I'm saying here, I wish I was though.

Game Website Link -> Right here, if you need to make an account.

Now without further delay, let's get into my first key point of why Mabinogi is the best MMORPG on the market right now.

The first order of business in any MMORPG will also be the first thing we talk about here, creating a character. You can't step foot into a world of fantasy without having an avatar to represent yourself. If this individual is to be your fantasy self then the game better have enough customization options to really let you be you. Mabinogi has plenty, from skin color, player weight, and even age; to the colors of the garments you wear.

Let's start with that first bit I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, creating an identity. Mabinogi is a game that truly allows for a diverse cast of characters, when you first make a character the system will unfortunately be fairly limited. Yet when you're released into the game proper and complete the tutorial you will soon find that it's extremely open ended. Your character will start at an age between 10 and 17 (but can go to 25 and even further if you wish), which you'll be able to select once per day, or once per week depending on your level. Age has a very slight almost non-existent effect on your stats, but will mostly determine how tall you are. As a quick example, here is my human main at 18 (left) alongside 2 other players. While I cannot see their age, I can tell their race is human; which allows me to at least guess one is roughly 10 - 13 (middle) and the other is likely anywhere between 15 - 16 (right).

When it comes to skin color, Mabinogi is one of the few games that has a great selection. From the realistic to the fantastical; there's almost certainly something for everyone here.

I've seen light skinned characters, dark skinned characters, tanned and red skinned characters. I've partied up with fantasy demons and zombies. I buy my dyes from a player who's literally pure black with blinding white eyes; a small imp-like character who's style I absolutely adore and who's dyes are top quality. While it doesn't even begin to cover the extensive list, I thought I'd take a few screenshots to help show what I mean.

Now I understand a lot of you may feel like your character doesn't truly reflect you as a person unless you can be the right weight for you. Mabinogi has you covered here as well, albeit with a slightly convoluted system. I will openly admit that this game is flawed, it is by no means a perfect game; but I take this as a sort of "better than nothing" approach. Food in Mabinogi will grant slight stat bonuses, but underneath those stat points and flavor text there's a hidden mechanic.

Food provides players with Upper and Lower muscle gain or loss, as well as a Weight gain or loss. While food is not the only method of gaining or losing both weight and muscle, it is the most common, and arguably easiest method. Players have many guides on the internet that explain which foods to eat in which order to gain the body type you want, this even includes the wiki.

It's also important to note that weight does not effect your stats, the food you eat absolutely does give a small temporary bonus. However your character can be as fat or skinny as you'd like without ever effecting your ability to perform any task.

I would be remiss not to mention another feature of creating an identity, and it does feel like this is an appropriate place to do it. Every day, or every week (depending on your level) you can preform something called a Rebirth, your level will return to 1 and you will be allowed to change some things about your character or leave them as they are.

This will unfortunately readjust your weight settings, which is why we see so many guides on how to get the ideal weight you're looking for. Thankfully it is by no means difficult to achieve this weight gain once more and will take no more than a few minutes after rebirthing.

As a quick note I won't spend too much time on, for my fellow genderfluid and NB friends out there; you can actively change your gender whenever you rebirth (though obviously you don't have to be NB or Genderfluid to enjoy this feature) and there is a good amount of items specific for crossdressing if that is something you'd prefer. That list of items is far more than your generic maid outfit for men; including everything from dresses to common skirts, with women getting suits, hoodies, and everything in between. If you switch genders you will even get an achievement specifically titled "Genderfluid" which I genuinely appreciate quite a lot.

Speaking of clothing, Mabinogi allows you to use a Style Tab when putting on gear. Your style tab won't give you any stats, but allows you to use the look of whatever is equip to the selected slot over the actual gear worn under it. The Style Tab is free for all players, so you can look your best no matter what you might be doing. Though I suppose those clothes wouldn't really be your own unless you had some kind of say over how they looked right?

Thankfully Mabinogi features a robust dying system in which you can actually use hex coded colors on just about any part of an outfit. You can also preview these changes directly on your character prior to using a dye.

There's a specific, and short; list of items that can't be dyed. Otherwise it's common for every item in the game to have at least one or two dye slots where you can customize their colors however you'd like.

You can do the same for your weapons, even giving them skins to change how they look; and then dying those skins to look just how you want them. A good weapon should match your best outfit after all, right?

Clothing items additionally come in the form of helmets, gloves, boots, main body, robes/back slot, face accessories, and then two more accessories that typically float to either side or behind you. This means you can mix and match everything you wear. You're not stuck trying to make some minor hat fit the entire rest of your armor that came as one solid piece, and you're certainly not struggling to match colors when only a small part of your armor actually dyes to the color you want.

Your identity in Mabinogi is what you see fit to make it, and while it would make this segment incredibly long, more so than it already is; the customization doesn't even end here. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, you can actually customize how often and how many times your character will blink. There is no other game on the market that lets you create a character the way Mabinogi does, not while still being an entire world outside of your character for you to explore. Speaking of that world, before we get to exploring just what this game has in store for you on your adventure; I'd like to talk about the characters who aren't you. No I don't mean the NPCs, I mean the other players, and how they impact the game you play even when they're not in your party.

Speaking of other players, to really hit home just how different everyone can look I ran around and took a few pictures of players I found in just this one small town.

You may be wondering how much these other players actually matter, in a lot of MMORPGs other players are merely there to fill out the party for dungeons or assist with world encounters. In Mabinogi they do that as well, however there is a constantly evolving economy both on the player ran Auction House, and for things like the Commerce system. Players can also run their own shops, join you for a jam session to play some music together; and even burn some items for a campfire spirit summoned at a group bonfire.

While the NPCs in this game are fantastic, the players are the lifeblood of the game, as is the case with any good MMORPG. From guilds and parties running content together, to the occasional camp you'll come across while exploring the world. Players populate Mabinogi and their effects are felt whether or not you're actively a part of their game.

One of the features most effected by this is Commerce; a trade system which lets players transport trade goods between major cities and towns. If an item is being traded to a town more than others, it's price will drop and you may find better deals by taking it to far away cities. Though you'll encounter bandits on the road, and due to carrying heavy trade goods you'll be a good bit weaker than you usually find yourself. This makes traveling in groups much easier, with those who use air travel particularly; in need of parties thanks to the dragons who will come after your hoard of trade goods. If a bandit is to steal your loot, you need not worry; as other players can take up the role of bounty hunters and track down these bandits at their hideouts to get your stuff back. Bounty Hunting is an easy way to make some cash and also help out your fellow players who may have been wronged by a poorly placed bandit or two.

What about production? Surely I don't need anyone to assist me with making my goods. Though, a second opinion never hurts; you will actually get a boost to production success rate while in a party with other players who also have production skills. In fact, this is a great way to make some strong gear; as products you make will get bonus stats over those found in stores. This does mean that the player economy is largely populated by products made by other players. If you do a good enough job on the item you're making, you'll even leave a signature behind which can be seen by the individuals who buy and use that gear. This is a minor touch, but it's one I greatly appreciate. Anyone can have a really cool demon sword, but only I have a blade forged specifically by my good friend; in hopes it would aid me in my quest. The connection between myself and my party is ever so slightly more apparent, even when they're not around; I always have a small piece of them with me.

Players attending the banquet, an event held weekly that awards free EXP and a lottery raffle at the Tara Castle; can actually donate their food to the catering tables. This is a great time to hang out with fellow players, get some free levels; and of course eat significantly too much food.

Surely that's all, right? Well no, believe it or not players actually have a hand in many things. If you want to enchant some gear but you don't have the enchanting rank to do it yourself; you can request another player to assist you. Perhaps you're an alchemist needing to create alchemy crystals of special magic skills; another player can cast that magic nearby and let you synthesize it into a crystal. If you're using the Jam Session action other players can join you with their own instruments when you play music; automatically matching whatever song you're playing. There's a fashion contest where the winner is put on display in full costume right in the middle of the major cities for all to see. There's even mechanical changes to things like magic, if you're casting Ice Bolt while I cast Fire Bolt next to you; we instead both gain a charge of Fusion Bolt. This form of magic combines the properties of your Ice Bolt and my Fire Bolt into a more powerful version of our respective magics, all because we happened to cast at the same time nearby each other.

If you enjoy music then you might find yourself reading through the Bard Bulletin Board, where players can post the compositions for their custom music. You can transcribe this music yourself and play it whenever you wish, though you can also use the MabiNovel Bulletin to read books written and published by your fellow players as well. This does in fact mean that you too could become a composer, or even an author and post your works to the respective boards.

Players can also obtain their own small piece of the world via Homesteads. These function as a sort of player owned housing system, and they allow you to do everything from growing farms to hosting your own production stations with boosted success rates. Of course the owner of the Homestead can allow either friends, or anyone; to come and gather from their herb patches, farm animals, and various logging, mining, and production sites. Meaning that other players not only offer you an expanded world to explore, but potentially gathering and production spots that may not otherwise be available at your current location.

While Homesteads start quite small, they're nothing to scoff at when fully upgraded; allowing for even a proper house, pets, and partners; to be placed on the fully customizable property. Some items will even passively grant you bonuses to your stats or provide your gathering and production stations bonuses to gathering and success rates.

Alright great, so you have a character who's uniquely you; you even have a place in the world among other players. However what good is that if you don't have a world worth existing in. You're here to play an MMORPG, if you wanted to simply dress up an avatar and exist in a space with others; you'd play something like VRChat or Second Life, or maybe you'd go download that Sims multiplayer mod. You want an RPG! An adventure! A living world to explore and be a part of!

Well Mabinogi's got you covered there as well believe it or not. Now where you fall in terms of enjoying the story is fairly up in the air; I know some people who love it and others who could take it or leave it. That's entirely fair and I don't blame them for feeling that way. To avoid potential spoilers I will be saying up front that if this has been enough for you and you're willing to trust me that this game is worth your time. Skip ahead to the Q and A if you think you need it, or go download and play the game now if you didn't already do that. Hell you can even add me in game if you want some people to play with who are going to be chill with newbies. If you need a bit more though, then keep reading because you might just like what I have to say about this game's journey.

When you start Mabinogi you'll be told you're this being from the stars, something that cannot die; and therefore has importance here. You may literally be an immortal entity, but you won't feel like it. You'll start with only a handful of skills, and with this game having no real class system it's not so straight forward how to get more of them. You'll stumble upon a few while just exploring the world, but others might require you to actually engage with the world around you. If that sounds exciting, don't worry; we've only just begun to explain the whole system of interacting with NPCs.

See the game of Mabinogi is before all else, the story of you; your character the journey you go on. So it's fitting that you keep notes in a Memo, this Memo is written in the perspective of your character; and will keep tabs on what you've been through. Each entry in the Memo is given a Key Word; and these key words will be given to you as you experience new places and things. Whenever you engage with an NPC you can start a conversation, this allows you to flip through your Memo and select a Key Word to speak about with them. Asking them about their private story will reveal this character's lore and backstory, at least; if they like you enough to share that information with you. NPCs do actually contain a system of trust with the player, and if you befriend an NPC they'll even let you access a secret shop where they sell exclusive items. Other Key Words include things like Nearby Rumors where you can obtain gossip and quests; or perhaps you want to ask about Part Time Jobs. Whether you're working for the town blacksmith to deliver some refined ore, or you're gathering wool to make bandages for the town healer; Part Time Jobs offer you fitting rewards for the work you perform, and allow you to even unlock various skills down the line if you perform well enough. Which brings us to another Key Word, the Skills Key Word. Skills is a Key Word that will ask an NPC if they believe they could teach you anything, if you see a knight you can ask them about Skills and maybe learn a new technique for your swordsmanship. Asking a chef about skills may result in them giving you a quest that has you running out to make flour and bake some bread. These methods are meant to immerse you in the world and teach you how the mechanics behind these skills works, rather than just saying you're level 16 so now you can bake bread.

Some NPCs will even react to your title, thanking you for the deeds you've done or perhaps judging you for why you'd do such a thing. This is because every NPC in the game, no matter how minor; has a story to tell. They all have unique theme music that contains a name referencing something about the character and their story. The more you talk to these NPCs and they open up to you, the more you'll learn about the world you're a part of.

However, small NPC stories don't amount to much in the grand scheme of an epic adventure do they? Well don't worry, now we're getting into the main scenario quests, and the lasting impact they have on you as a character. Have you ever felt like you should have maybe gotten a new power, or been recognized for the deeds you've accomplished after you literally save the world; only to return to business as usual? Well Mabinogi actually considered all of that, not only do you get a title that NPCs might react to, as I mentioned previously; but the Main Scenario Questline actually gives you everything from transformations to special unique items. This is again the last chance to not have spoilers as I will be covering at the very least Generation 2: Paladin and Generation 10: Goddess of Light through Generation 12: Return of the Hero.

Okay now that everyone who doesn't want spoilers is gone, allow me to tell you about just a few of these MSQ rewards; of course jumping right to the good stuff without context makes it meaningless. So let's start with a quick summary of Generation 1 that's roughly spoiler free.

Generation 1: Advent of the Goddess starts with The Goddess asking you for help, then you save her. See I kept it spoiler free! You're given the title "[Player name] Who Saved The Goddess" for doing this which grants you some nice stats, but the real reward is that you get to move on to Generation 2: Paladin. Well wow, that's kind of an underwhelming title isn't it? You just finished Advent of the Goddess and now you're on... Paladin? Huh okay, well this quest line is all about a Paladin of legend. You spend the generation becoming someone worthy of the Paladin's armor, searching for his old armor, and even reliving some old memories of his. All to figure out who he is and solve the grand mystery that sparked this whole generation in the first place. The political drama of a potentially puppeteered prince who may actually be dead from the start... Okay yea listen it's more interesting when you actually play it. The real plot twist of this whole generation however is when you figure out who that old Paladin actually is, and more importantly that they're still alive. In the final dungeon of this generation when you face off against the final encounter he is not the one who saves the day. Rather it is you who gets to don the armor of the legendary Paladin and in a moment I love, you get to save him. This transformation is actually a fairly minor stat boost at first. You're not some overpowered god, you're still you; just powered up. When you complete the generation you will find yourself with a wholly new power available to you, the power to become that very same Paladin; now with it's own skills to rank to make it even stronger than it already was.

Yes, just for clearing Generation 2 you now have an entirely new power unlocked for you. The power to, once a day in game time; transform into your Paladin form. If you're an Elf you transform instead into a Falcon, and Giants transform into a Beast. These new forms come with their own unique skills and properties. However you don't lose access to the skills and abilities you already have. This will be a running theme throughout Mabinogi, you only get more; you don't get locked out from being you. If the Paladin aesthetic isn't your deal, and you want things a little different, don't worry; Generation 3: Dark Knight might be more your style. However, this begs the question; are Dark Knights and Paladins the same thing flavored differently? Nope. Sure they are both the same Transformation at the end of the day, but their inner workings are very different. To give you a quick example of what I mean, Paladins always get the same stats every time, but they have no specialized skill they can use while transform. They're essentially your generic stronger form, with buffed stats and nothing more, dull but reliable. Dark Knights instead roll for their stats every time they transform, meaning sometimes you're going to have much stronger physical defense, and other times a much higher magic damage stat. If you're interested in the specifics, here you go:

Dark Knights also don't get forcibly removed from their transformation when their timer is up, rather they go into a state called "Disarmed" where they will take heavy damage over time, but this can be healed if they wish to power through it and keep fighting in their transformed state. They additionally obtain Control of Darkness which lets them tame an enemy to fight for them for a short time.

The Generation 2 transforms (Paladin, Dark Knight, Falcon, and Beast) all have 4 tiers of their transformation, dependent on the skills rank. Each boasting it's own unique title and appearance that builds on their central aesthetic and motif. This means a player who's max ranked Paladin will transform into a Champion, or for Dark Knights, they'll become an Infra Black. I do enjoy the morals of the game being muddier than to just say Paladin is bright and shiny and good, and Dark Knight is well, dark and edgy and bad. As you go through the game you'll learn a lot about the politics of the gods, and understand their moral values a lot better. Which leads us to our next major upgrade.

In Generation 10: Goddess of Light, we take the fight to the gods, and between Generation 10 and Generation 12, we'll even obtain the Sword of the Gods, a then usable sword weapon which ironically may not even be as powerful as some of our own gear by the time we get it; but more specifically we'll decline godhood and become a Demigod. However it's a bit deeper than that, as you'll find that at the end of Generation 10 you're confronted by your doppelganger. Upon defeating it, you gain the power to assume the form of a Demigod; which yes, you can in fact transform into while also transformed into your Generation 2 state. Not only does this form regen your HP, MP, and Stamina; but it additionally allows the use of special skills that depend on which of the gods you're allied with. Those who are being supported by the Goddess Neamhain will obtain skills such as Spear of Light, and Fury of Light; however if you decide to be supported by the Goddess Morrighan you instead obtain Wings of Eclipse, and Wings of Rage. Of course you won't have a choice right away, when you first obtain the ability to become a Demigod, you'll be defaulted to working with Naemhain's skills. They're not bad, but Morrighan isn't going to just give you her skills so easily so if we want options we'll need to get her to work with us. Once we clear Generation 11: Sword of the Gods; we in fact obtain the Sword of the Gods itself. This is important since we'll need it if we're going to fight the gods. Now in Generation 12 we are asked to fight alongside Morrighan to bring down the King of the Gods, Nuadha. For clearing this generation, you'll obtain the right to be supported by Morrighan; which is kind of funny since if you're a Dark Knight it shows you've actually betrayed her by giving up the path of the Paladin in favor of following Dark Knight. I guess she can overlook that given you just helped her defeat the King of the Gods.

Surely the upgrades stop there right? Well no, actually; but you probably knew that already. See there's actually currently, up to G25, with G26 on an active countdown to release as I make this post. With even more transformations, special skills, and some really incredible upgrades that change even the way we engage with crafting; the generation quests are more than worth your time and leave you feeling more powerful with each completion.

Mabinogi isn't just having you go through these quests to complete the story, it's also actively making you more and more the proper image of this immortal hero of legend. It's giving you a power boost on par with some silly shonen anime. As much as you may cringe to hear me make a stupid joke from the early internet; yes the Milletian could beat Goku. Sorry I had to make the dumb joke after making the shonen anime reference you know? These powers aren't ever restricted from you either; it's not as if you suddenly can't use your Paladin transformation in a dungeon, nor are you locked out from using Demigod to regen some stamina just to pick some flowers. Mabinogi is the story of your character, and it gives you so many upgrades and power scale boosts because it genuinely wants you to feel like a powerful hero going up against powerful enemies.

Now I will admit there's something to be said about the balance in some of the later Generation quests, especially because you can skip over a lot of them. They absolutely do plan for you to have the full arsenal of Generation specific skills by the time you reach Generation 20+ but dare I say, I think that's fair. We actually see this in other games too, it's just more allowed from other games because they do a better job of hiding their barrier to entry.

What I mean is that FFXIV is like Dark Souls 3, it's not going to let me go somewhere I'm not actually ready for, because it knows I won't have any fun getting my ass kicked but it's really linear. While Mabinogi is like Elden Ring, it looks at me saying "I'm ready I'm ready put me in coach!" While facing down against an actual god well before I'm... you know, actually ready. Yet it just says "go get 'em champ!" Only to watch me become a pancake two seconds later and think "yea this balance is garbage." Truth is, if I go back and do the content I'm suppose to do first; I will be more than ready for this content when I reach it. However I might actually be able to clear this content when I'm not supposed to yet, and Mabinogi; much like Elden Ring, lets me try. We see this same type of barrier to entry in how FFXIV says "hey man you can't run this until you're Item Level 280 sorry." That feels boring when you just want to run the thing, you don't want to go back and "grind" for item levels, but in reality it's just stopping you from trying and failing repeatedly. Which makes sense for the type of game FFXIV is, where other players are a requirement, and you don't want to hold them back because you thought you could do it with less.

The other truth is, with Mabinogi; not every path to success is going to look the same. I might spend my time training my combat skills, slowly saving up the small stat gains to get to where my base strength is at 500 and I can deal some nice damage. My friend who doesn't want to touch combat skills can absolutely focus on his cooking, slowly but surely becoming a master chef as I've become a master warrior. Now he can make a catering dish that boosts his strength to 500 all the same. We're not going to be dealing the same damage since things like weapon type, and skill ranks will come into play; but this does mean he could achieve the same goals as me in a totally different way. Personally I'm a huge fan of this, it lets every single character feel unique; you can truly become your own kind of player here.

Whether it's weaving your magic skills into your archery gameplay, or becoming an apothecary bard who uses musical buffs and potions to level the playing field. Perhaps you want to train your Ninja and Chain Blade skills to keep you at a distance, debuff enemies, and set explosive traps. You could even just play the game with life skills, relaxing by the pond as a master fisher; before tailoring a new outfit. All of these methods are entirely valid ways to play the game, they all give the necessary stats to enjoy whatever content you wish to, and yes they all give you levels.

It is for these reasons, and honestly; many others. That I have played this game since it's beta, for literally half my lifetime; and why I believe this is genuinely hands down the best MMORPG on the market right now. I urge you to give this game even 15 or 30 minutes of your time, don't get caught up on the old dated graphics, don't fret if you don't understand everything right away. The game is complex, it has a ton of mechanics that mix and intertwine to create a unique experience. The things you might find troublesome at first are exactly what makes the game so fun and unique when you understand them. Given the average internet speed and size of Mabinogi, should you have downloaded this game at the start of this reading it should be about done by now. If not, you've got the Q and A down there for any potential follow up questions you may have. So go ahead and jump into the world of Erinn, if you stop by Dunbarton on Channel 9 you might catch someone from the Landsbetween guild, feel free to stop and say hi; we're a friendly bunch.

A quick Q&A for things I've been asked frequently and might answer some questions or possible concerns you have about the game.

Q: I see a weird banner with P on it, does that mean I require a premium account to use that skin/hair color? A: No. That symbol signifies that it would cost Pon. A cash shop currency that is given to the player fairly regularly. You in fact get a gift box with about 20 Pon when you reach an early level milestone such as 50 or 100. It costs anywhere between 3 - 5 to change eye, hair, and skin color. Of course it only costs you to change to a color that uses the P banner, if a color you would like doesn't have any symbol (either a P for Pon or a B for a Beauty Coupon) then it's completely free. Q: I see a lot of cool characters, how much of a grind is it; or do I need to pay real money to customize my character? A: You can play Mabinogi entirely free to play, gacha boxes do contain high end loot and good in-game items. However the Auction House easily allows you to buy these items from players using entirely free to play gold when a new gacha comes out. While it might seem intimidating to make 1m at first. You'll quickly learn you can make 1m passively per week + any actual activity you do in this game earns you quite a lot. A single run of a dungeon will net me between 50k - 350k depending on drops and my actual in game luck stat. This is on top of the 160k I can make for free just logging in and doing Fynni Blossoming for the day. Of course, the higher your skills and total level; the easier it will be to make money. Q: I don't want to do a specific part of this game, can I still enjoy the other features? A: Yes. Entirely, in fact; I'm doing a challenge run on a character who's not allowed to rank up any combat or damage skills. I've already completed the first major questline of the game without any problem. I will say that your ability to play the game will directly reflect how much knowledge of the mechanics you have. This isn't to say you should scour the wiki for days on end, unless you're into that. However I would argue that having a few friends to play with, or perhaps actually taking the time to read through skills and practice with what you do enjoy doing; will help you to get by not doing the stuff you don't want to. You really can play this game however you want, it just may require you to have a better understanding of it's inner workings. You're always welcome to ask me about stuff whether that's here on tumblr or in game.

Q: My UI and HUD are this weird plastic blue color and I kinda hate it. Can I fix that or am I stuck with this? A: In the settings menu the game allows you to change the color of the UI and HUD to fit your liking. You can also enable various hotbars and disable others. Additionally you can change the game's resolution, and even pick out which version of the OST you'd like to use of which there are three distinct versions.

Q: Does this game have a meta I should worry about?

A: Yes and no, yes it has a meta; no you shouldn't worry about it. If you're really concerned I recommend picking Giant as your race and Close Combat as your starting Talent. I didn't go over Talents in this essay but they're sort of specializations, not classes. They don't limit anything you can do, but rather give you 2x EXP towards the skills they govern. Giants have a fair bit more strength and HP, they're your standard tanky race. While they may not be as fast on their feet as nimble Elves; they can take a good few more blows, and even have racial skills specific to gathering up enemies. Close Combat doubles down on what Giants are already good at, giving you more HP and Strength. Start out by ranking your essential basics, those being Defense, Smash, Counter, Windmill, and honestly throw Assault Slash in for good measure; since you'll want to often combo these skills together. DO NOT SLEEP ON DEFENSE, it is a heavily overlooked but extremely powerful skill. If you feel like you're struggling in combat, grab a shield and rank your shield mastery; even light armor mastery will be more than enough so long as you have a decent shield and the necessary ranks in the skills. You'll soon feel like a steel wall of defense that not even major storyline bosses can put a dent into.

Q: What are the differences between Elves, Humans, and Giants? Can I change my race after I make my character, since I can change my gender?

A: First off, no; sadly you cannot change your race after making a character. This is become of the racial differences. The major ones are as follows...

Elves can use invisibility to hide themselves, they'll fire 2 arrows as opposed to 1 when using archery; and they obtain a unique poison arrow that spreads to nearby targets when fired. They move faster than other races and have stats better geared towards Magic and Archery; though that won't matter too much. They become a Falcon after Generation 2 letting them use Elven Magic Missile, and cannot use 2 handed weapons nor can they dual wield.

Giants can use stomp which is a fairly week AoE ability, they also get Taunt, Stampede, and Wind Guard as unique skills. They can use two handed weapons in one hand letting them use a shield with them, and can dual wield blunt objects. They have stats geared towards a close combat play style, though again that won't matter too much later on. They become a Beast after Generation 2 letting them use Giant Full Swing, they cannot use bows but have thrown spears instead.

Humans cannot learn the specific racial skills of the other two races. They can dual wield swords; and don't have equipment restrictions outside of not being able to dual wield blunt objects and not being able to use the throwing spears. They have stats geared to an all around play style, which as you know; doesn't really matter much. They become a Paladin after Generation 2, or they can become a Dark Knight which gives them the active skill Control of Darkness which lets them tame an enemy to fight for them.

Q: Is this game Pay to Win?

A: Is any MMORPG not Pay to Win? Alright, real answer; let's break it down. Does Mabinogi have Pay to Win properties? Absolutely it does. Most if not all MMORPGs do. FFXIV has the paid level boosts just like Mabinogi has paid gacha boxes with end game loot. I'm not trying to pick on FFXIV here, it's just what I'm familiar with because I also play it. Truth is, Mabinogi gives you a lot of gold for just doing content, whether you're a crafter who can sell your wares for millions, just doing daily Fynni gems for 1m a week per character, or combat focused and running your Lord missions with boosts for a few million in a couple hours. So while I'd argue that it absolutely is pay to win, not only do you not need those minor boosts from the gear until long into the later generations; you also will have the money to buy it off players long before you actually need it. That's if you need it at all, since you can easily get ahead in this game by just engaging with the many skills and mechanics. If I had to give this a simple yes or no, the answer is yes; but I really don't think it's nearly as bad in Mabinogi as it is in other games. Especially considering how small the PvP scene in this game is. You don't need to pay to win when someone else in your party absolutely did, or maybe you just pay in gold to win. However I'd argue that it's pay to win FASTER than others. Just take it slow and enjoy the journey. Every game is pay to win, Mabinogi handles it better than most.

Q: Is there any reason for me to not like this game?

A: Yea the devs haven't hired me to write articles like this for their marketing. Boycott worthy honestly; they should pay me for this, or at least make me a soul streamer, you know? (┬┬﹏┬┬) ^ This last one is a joke, you know; in case reading comprehension.

[justplainwhump]

Spotted

Co-written with @hackles-up. Part of the Ridley-Dies-Arc, can be read on it's own. B and Tom (aka second bad guy) are her characters.

Dany and B's escape takes a bad turn.

[Masterlist]

Content / Warnings: BBU elements, recapture, feverish whumpee, restraints, multiple whumpees, multiple whumpers, abduction, threats of noncon.

Being the daughter of a man like my father, I've been taught quite a lot about being on the run, even though I've rarely been myself. The importance of high quality fake papers, for example, and how much further you can get if you just behave like a rich person; how with the right tip a concierge at the Ritz will surely keep you out of the books, while a dingy motel owner might sell you out for the price of a Big Mac.

It's ironic, that we have both of that - good documents and good money -, and still need to rely on the very dingy sort of accommodations. Because all I learned didn't take into account being the subjects of a nationwide manhunt for the murder of a mafia-affiliated just-not-billionaire. Or hiding a huge, broad-shouldered traumatized man with sharp titanium teeth who refuses to take off his collar.

We've slept in the car, twice, but B's fever had only become worse, and none of us had been able to close an eye.

We're at a rest stop on a highway, a small shady restaurant with a bunch of guest rooms above it. A significant share of these is most likely occupied by the prostitutes sitting at the bar right now, slightly bored because it's not yet their time of the night. It makes me feel better, in a way. Means the police aren't quite welcome here. That can only be good for us.

B has stepped away for the washroom, and I'm just studying the road map once more, when a thin man in a leather jacket slips into my booth and sits down in B's spot.

Under the table, my hand wraps around my gun. I can help myself, but it would create attention, and attention is the very last thing we need.

"Hey, sweetheart," he says, while he looks me down. Black jeans, oversized black Tee, short gloves, dark baseball cap over a short bob. I look nothing like the pictures from the wanted posters. I also look nothing like a sweetheart.

"Fuck off," I tell him. "That seat is taken."

He chuckles. "You don't even want to hear my offer?"

"Pretty sure I do not, no."

"I can get you out." He gestures roughly towards the border. "Out of the country. Friend's got an airplane, used to... unregistered cargo."

"What makes you think I want to leave?"

He laughs, points at my cap, my baggy clothes, the duffle bag between my feet. "I know the looks of people like you. And I know this place isn't exactly a spa retreat. People come here for reasons."

"Oh yeah?" With the hand above the table, I take a sip of my coke. "And say I were interested. How much would that flight be?"

The stranger tilts his head towards the restrooms. "Your... buddy back there. Built like a brick, isn't he? Seems like he can handle himself quite well."

I lift my chin in alarm, while he just leans in conspiratorially, and asks, "WRU material?"

I clench my jaw and shake my head.

"If he came back, and I said the magic word, what would he do, huh, princess?"

I can't help but tense at the pet name. At the implication.

"What would you do, huh?" He gives me a slow smile. "Wanna give it a try? Respect!"

"Fuck off." I slam my gun onto the table, trained at him, keeping my voice low. "I'm not a runaway pet, nor is my friend. I've just had some trouble with some assholes, and it didn't end well for them. If you don't want to test your luck, I think you should just walk away and forget we've ever met."

He stares at the gun and lifts his hand in a mock gesture of defeat. "Gosh, you're a flimsy one, aren't you? Alright, I'm leavin', I'm leavin'."

My heart is racing, as I watch him retreat through the front doors, looking back to me with a final mock salute.

It still does, when B returns to the table. He still looks exhausted, his eyes dull, with deep rings underneath, feverish sweat glinting on his forehead. 'Seems like he can handle himself well', the man has said. Fucking ironic, a threat within a threat.

B needs a break. And I’m not giving him one. I toss two bills onto the counter and grab the uneaten burger from the plate, before I nod at him. "We gotta go."

“Trouble?” He asks, moving in step with me as I move. All professional, all alert Guard Dog. Both of us know how much it costs him to keep it up.

"Yeah." I cast a glance around. Nobody seems to spare us any attention, but I've been fooled before. I hadn't seen the guy coming. And he must've been watching us for a while. Fuck. I'm pretty sure that I haven't convinced him. Just need to hope that he'll find easier prey. Or that we'll be gone before he returns. "Some gangster spotted us. Can't tell you what he wants exactly, he doesn't know about the bounty, but way too interested in you to be safe."

I lift the heavy bag and throw it over my shoulder. It's better if I carry it than him. He's sick; and he needs his hands free. "He left through the front door. Don't think we've seen the last of him though." I bite my lip. "Any other way out?"

B nods, indicating to his right hand side. "This way."

He makes steady determined steps past the bathrooms and towards the back entrance, almost betraying the exhaustion he must be feeling. Just as I try to let myself be fooled, too, though, he wavers for a moment, stumbling and reaching to hold himself on the wall.

I'm by his side right away, holding out my arm to steady him from the other side. He's burning, even through his clothes. His fever has become worse. A plane ride would've been just what we needed. Fucking asshole.

I rest a hand on B's hot cheek. "It's not far," I promise. "Two more days, and we can find Frankie's friends, and rest there."

I had thought about just leaving our car behind, making a run through the fields behind the rest stop, and just find someone who sells us their car for enough cash.

But B isn't even well enough to make it to the parking lot in one run. I grimace, making sure the gun is where I can reach it. I can't use any police attention. But if that's the price to pay to get B out of here safely, so be it.

Whatever that guy is up to, he's bad news; he's a threat, and he won't be any more with a bullet in his chest. I wonder for a second, if Dad would like that reasoning. He never wanted me to think that way. But there's many things about my life that he's never wanted.

"Come on, Ben," I say quietly. "We need to keep moving. You can hold on to me, alright? You can sleep in the car."

B bunches his hand into a fist against the wall, exhaling with a groan.

"Nh... No... 'M fine, Dany... I can do this." He mutters, and pushes himself off of the wall and stumbles forward, shrugging off my hand. "We can't stay here."

He pushes himself against the back door, holding it open with his body so I may slip out.

Something moves behind me. There’s a hand on my side, and cold metal pressed to the back of my head. They came from behind. Of course they did. Fuck. Fuck.

"Stay nice and still, pretty thing." someone murmurs.

I will not.

"B!" I shout, when I feel the barrel shift as he reaches around me, fumbling for my gun. I spin the other way, let the heavy duffel bag slam into his side and shoulder, while I grab my gun myself. The attacker stumbles, but catches himself too quickly, his gun in front of my face just as I bring my own up.

Fury is burning in his eyes. "You fucking... Don't fucking move or I'll put one in your knee. Sluts don't need to walk."

In front of us, B lets out a low growl. He bares his titanium teeth, taking a shaky step forward. The backdoor is still open, the night air wafting in.

"Oh no you don’t," the stranger hisses, pulling back the safety on his gun and pointing it at my leg. "I saw his collar. Tell your pet to back down or I'll shoot."

My mind is racing.

My gun is still in my hands, half way up. I could get a bullet in his chest, but he'll be faster, shooting my leg. I could kill him, but we'd never get away.

They want us alive. They want us alive, and they don't know who we are, so chances are they want us alive and not torture us to death.

Sickening as it is to admit, we'll stand better chances later. It feels like a betrayal, when I say, "Stand down, B."

B’s glare stays on the man, burning and deadly. He dropped his defensive stance immediately, though.

I don't lower my own gun.

"What do you want?"

He doesn’t reply, keeps his own gun level, while he remarks, “Impressive. It’s very responsive to you. How did you get your hands on a Guard Dog, huh? Must’ve cost a fortune. Daddy bought him for you?” He sneers.

Daddy. My hand trembles and I need my other hand to steady it and the gun. "Daddy is not in the picture any longer. And he answers to me," I reply. "What do you want? There isn't a lot to get out of us. The Guard Dog is old and sick, he isn't worth much any longer, but we can talk money." Ridley's words taste sour in my mouth. I hope B gets why I have to talk like this. They need to let us go.

The man just laughs. “Oh I wouldn’t discount you two so quickly.” He takes a step forward. “Now I need you to lower that gun and come with me. I’ll tell you all you wanna know then.”

“Don’t move…” B grits out. “We won’t go… anywhere with you.”

“Oh it talks too. Clever doggy.”

"Don't come closer," I hiss. "And don't talk to him like that. Or I'll shoot, and I won't bother aiming for the leg."

When I notice the shadowy movements behind B, it's too late. Something lowers around his neck and yanks him back.

I lose all control.

"No," I yell and stumble over towards him. "No! B!"

He’s falling, catching himself just before he hits the ground and lunges with teeth bared at his assailants, fighting the noose around his throat.

“Oh no you fucking don’t.” The man behind me is on me, grabs me in a vicious choke hold, arm pressing into my throat and kicking my legs out from underneath me to send me crashing to the ground. The gun falls from my hand, clattering across the floor behind me.

I have eyes only for the scene in front of me, the long catch pole, the noose lanyard choking B’s neck, his desperate, feverish thrashes. He’s panting for breath already.

"Stop," I shout, half sobbing. "B. Don't. Don't."

At the sound of my voice, B freezes in place.

It’s enough. The men yank back on the pole, sending him crashing into the ground.

The man behind me presses me down, pinned under his weight.

“Shhh, there’s a good girl", the stranger breathes in my ear, wrenching my arms back and fixating them with zip ties, while hissing obscenities into my hair.

Good girl.

I have betrayed B. I have betrayed myself, giving up this fight.

The man's hands are wandering over my ass. I don't care. All I care about is the man folded over on the other side of the back door, the man whom I promised to get him to safety.

My eyes are burning with tears.

I swallow back a sob.

"Don't hurt him," I whisper. "Please. Fuck me however you want to, I'll let you, but please, don't hurt him."

“Oh I think we’ll do whatever we please, sweetheart.” He murmurs, hand still firm on my ass. “We’ll take good care of your dog. Better than you have. Get it back on its feet and it’s gonna earn us a fortune in the dog fights.”

Better than you have. I can't breathe. He's right. I've almost let him die of this fever, keeping him on the run, always on his ties, never allowing us to rest.

The man who’s sat in the booth with me has stepped in outside, kneeling on B’s back.

I watch with tears in my eyes, as he pulls out a collar.

I didn't have a choice, I tell myself. I had to.

I’ve failed him, nonetheless.

I’ve failed us both.

---------

-

Tag list (this is a very old one; lmk if you want to be added or removed!): @distinctlywhumpthing @whumping-on-the-ridge @queenofthenoobs @ocean-blue-whump

[growling]

Tribe Nine vs Last Defense Academy

What are your thoughts

I already kinda spoken about these at length a while back in this post but since new info came out on Tribe Nine (still radio silence concerning THL:LDA) here are my thoughts:

Last Defense Academy:

I don't get the hype. I mean I get it because Danganronpa man make another game that you can pretend is basically Danganronpa 4 if you squint but. Wish we could go back to the days where Kodaka merely alluding to wanting make another Danganronpa game resulted in him getting ratio'd on twitter

From what we know about the gameplay I'll confidently say its not my thing. I don't like strategy games. It looks like Forge of Empires mobile ad

I have a feeling (rare occurence) that it is actually a barely disguised gacha game

It's basically just Danganronpa with extra steps. It's literally Danganronpa but less good. They gotta do something REAL spectacular here in order to convince me they aren't just pandering to all the danganronpa fans left here.

I was wrong about the radio silence bit there actually was a twt post that revealed that there are basically THREE mascot characters. There's a THIRD one. And they all look hideous. Get cum shinigami away from my fucking eyes I hope they die in the prologue after giving the tutorial and we never hear from them again

Moving on to the art. Why are they white. I don't mean the race I mean why the fuck are they #FFFFFF. And I thought raincoders were unnaturally pale it doesn't even look good. All the character design suck except maybe for main boy I think he's fine. Especially the eyesore blue hair girl who approved this she doesn't look official my 10 year old self could make an oc with more aesthetically pleasing colors than whoever created this wretch

Takumi is fine. I could kidnap him. Still not over how he's just walmart Yomi but if he chose peace. Truly, a son, and brother -- I'm an extremely abusive father,

I have irrational levels of hatred towards The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

Tribe Nine:

This one is actually confirmed to be a gacha game from the start but I can forgive them

As mentioned in the above linked post I just find its premise too funny not to respect. No I'm not gonna play it. However,

The only thing I care about is the superior glory of the character known as Zero. Holy fucking shit words cannot express how much I want him I mean how much he interests me as a character

Look at him. Gorgeos. He looks so much like Makoto. He looks and acts like a makoyomi baby which is crazy that I got like 2 whole ass kids that look like they'd be plausibly mine, and brother, I am an

He's even got a mask. This is fucked. Everything about whatever the fuck he's got going on has been life ruining for me. He's like a honorary blorbo at this point. I hope he's a cyborg of some sorts

I support him in every atrocity he wants to commit. Let baby do a little bit of dictatorship stop stifling his creativity

#1/Kazuma, while he's not Zero, which knocks down his position by a LOT, can take second place. He can have it. Not just because he's affiliated with <3 Zero <3 but because I love these kinda evil henchman type of guys. Loyal deeply cringe manservant lickspittle who's fucking obsessed and borderline gay about it. All my hopes for Kazuma is that he has to say any variation of "on it boss. you got it boss. right away boss. you need to talk to the boss. got a problem with the boss? well if boss says its alright then its alright" pleaaseeeee its not everyday that we get a guy who both thinks that he's the shit and is actually some more powerful guy's lapdog and doesn't mind it. I want him to be gay about it, like, Darkstripe and Fake Zilch levels of gay. I can make him so fucked up. I wanted to include another sentence but my life flashed before my eyes as I typed this I think I shall keep that shit to myself if I value my following

Why is the SHSL impostor here why did nobody tell him that he can stop impersonating Togami already

I don't give a fuck about any of the other guys aside from Zero & Kazuma. I will only ever check out Tribe Nine (on youtube) in order to look at every single scene with Zero and Kazuma and then be done I don't care for the other guys and especially the gameplay

If I had to pick a main character to care about aside from the aforementioned honorary blorbos, like, if I had a gun to my head, I'll pick dollar store Shinigami

[scoutxbaker]

( daisy edgar jones, 26, cis woman, she/her ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that SCOUT BAKER is a ARCHEOLOGIST that works in SECTOR 1. According to the file, they’re a mutant with the power of EARTH MANIPULATION. That must be why they’re ENERGETIC and IMPULSIVE. If you ask me, they remind me of plants growing between cracks in the earth,. They are affiliated with NOBODY.

basic information:

character name: Scout Baker

nickname (s): Baker

face claim: Daisy Edgar Jones

mutation status: Mutant

birthday: June 30th

sexuality: Bisexual

moral alignment: Chaotic Good

occupation: Geographer/Cartographer

work sector: Sector 1

affiliation: None

3 positive traits: Energetic, Loyal, Independent

3 negative traits: Impulsive, Sarcastic, Closed

biography (optional): An orphan discovered on the outskirts of Sol City, Scout was often hard to miss. She was scrappy, gangly, and scrawny, running around looking for a new adventure every chance she got. It easily gave everyone around her a heart attack. Even as she grew, that draw for life on the wild side never quite left her, despite the tragedy she experienced as a fresh eighteen year-old. But, don't open that can of worms! Stamp that out immediately, in fact! A genuine sweetheart, although sassy and sarcastic, Scout's hard not to love. But, stay tuned for more on my chaotic cutie!

questionnaire:

how do they feel about living in sol city? have they always lived there or did they travel from another settlement? Scout has always lived in Sol City. She doesn't know anything different, and isn't sure she wants to know anything else. It may not be much, but it's home. And, as willing as she is to take the leap on adventure, she's not sure she's prepared to take on an entire new settlement anytime in the near future.

do they trust the council’s leadership? why or why not? She's not quite naive enough to believe that the council has her best interests at heart. Growing up having to essentially fend for herself as the resident Sol City orphan was enough to make her somewhat distrustful of the council's ability to lead. While she's in no headspace to entertain the option of overthrowing them, she would likely turn the other way if she were to hear something... compromising.

if they chose their sector and profession, why did they make that choice? if they didn’t, why not? were they happy with their assignment or not? Currency! Money makes the world go 'round! It can be exchanged for goods and services! But, in a much more real sense, Scout adores learning about the world before the meteor. It's always fascinated her so much. Any chance to go out and see the wastelands, run across a small little hint that there was something or someone here before her, lights up her entire day.

what’s one object that they always keep on their person? An aged leather bracelet with small silver beads. It was found on her as a baby, and she's attached the belief that it belonged to her parents. While she's not sure if it's true, it gives her a sense of calm to believe it.

(mutant only section)

what is your character’s ability (or abilities)? Earth Manipulation

are they gen i or gen ii? Gen ii

what can your character do? what are their strengths? Geo-telekinesis: she posses the ability to control, move, and make pieces of earth projectiles as needed. She has also managed to learn to create earth shields by raising the earth up to cover her when needed. create earthquakes/ground rupturing: This can only be done in contact with earth, but she is able to manifest the shaking and splitting of earth. However, this exerts an extreme amount of energy, and she would only use this in a dire circumstance. earth detection: can sense the presence of earth and other "earthen" elements and possibly gain detailed understanding about the earth they are sensing, including the amount/size of the earth they are sensing and whether it is hidden.

what can’t they do? what are their weaknesses? She is not capable of creating earth, she can't control artificial solids, any kind of protection she creates with earth can be eroded. Also, standing at the very tall height of 5'4, and still being a bean pole of a human (mutant?) she's only able to control so much with her level of strength.

is there anything else you’d like to specify about them? can and will use her powers in the wastelands every chance she gets!!!

[jounosparticles]

au where the hunting dogs disband and jouno and tecchou join the agency together (they both need some purpose, some sense of justice to act out and they don't know where else to go). tachihara returns and stays with the mafia, and brings teruko with him because they don't want to separate. i feel like she'd hate being a mafia agent (i know nothing about her, i haven't watched season 5 and i last saw 4 when it released) so maybe she just lives with tachi. i wonder what jouno and tecchou would do if they were on a mission to stop the mafia and encountered tachihara again....

sorry for the long ask btw i wanted to tell someone this and all my friends are asleep #heartbroken

also ill give myself a sign off because iv sent you like 3 asks atp but im too terrified to remove anon

- 🗡️ aka literally jouno again :3

DONT BE SORRY!!! i love getting asks this is so fun to me :) idk who u are but you seem cool and id always love to hear your ideas !!!

i also super recommend checking out season 5 whenever you can :)) call me biased because i am but i think it’s a great season :)

ANYWAY

first i’ll talk about teruko. i do not see her going into the mafia however i can her sticking with tachihara. i wonder if it would create some sort of tension or if they’d just let each other live? hmmm i’ll have to ponder that idea. i do 100% see tachihara going back into the mafia though, he found his place there.

jouno and tetchou joining the ada would be really fun i think. i could see maybe some tension due to what happened in the whole "dogs hunt dogs" episode, however since it was a misunderstanding i can see them being forgiven easily as well.

i feel like jouno would have a hard time adjusting. he has a low temper with tetchou i can just imagine how short he would be with some of the ada members. i could see him arguing with ranpo and dazai a lot. and possibly getting along with kunikida since he wouldn’t be an ass.

id like to see jouno and dazai talk normally though. their pasts parallel each other a good bit! i feel their conflicting morals would make them not particularly get along however it could make for some interesting interactions. i will go on about that in another post eventually

i feel like overall jouno would rather stick to tetchou as well as anyone who will treat him as a superior instead of the others.

as for tetchou. literally all i want is for him to mentor kenji. like they’re basically friends now, they’re similar in morals/principles, and are both very direct with everything they say/think. that combined with them having similar physical capabilities i could see tetchou training kenji well and taking on a mentor/older brother figure.

i also feel like kunikida would like tetchou. he’s very direct and i doubt he’s a disruption, they’d get along well.

in contrast i feel like junichiro would probably be intimidated by him. not sure why, just how i feel.

i also don’t think dazai would have much fun with him, since he probably isn’t easily bothered by the silly antics dazai likes to do.

unfortunately i don’t know how this would work if the hunting dogs require surgery to live still. jouno and tetchou would probably be fine since they’re still affiliated with law enforcement but tachihara would likely die. that’s a post for another time i suppose.

OH! and encountering tachihara. huge angst potential here that sounds really hard to do. i could see them trying to bring tachi back since he has proven himself to be good before? i don’t know if it would work but even tachi said before the hunting dogs weren’t bad either. he just needs a place to be himself

but anyways i really like this idea!!! i love imagining how the different characters would interact w/ each other :)

[twilightmalachite]

Machina - Test World 6

Author: Kino Seitaro (with Akira)

Characters: Mika, Shu, Natsume, Tsumugi

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Kagehira has gotten involved in some shady business practices involving cryptocurrency… Now, do you realize the gravity of the situation?"

Season: Winter

Location: Dressing Room

Mika: (Hmm~… What was so bad about it?)

(Does Oshi-san just not like digital art that much?)

(He’s pretty particular about the material and narrative behind his works, so maybe he thought my works, which were mostly design, lacked context.)

(But, design is also a part of art too…I would’ve been happy if he could’a at least given me an evaluation of that.)

Nnah~… But I guess in the end it’s me who’s lackin’.

I failed t’make a work that satisfied Oshi-san, and that’s that.

…I’ve decided. This time I’ll just have t’sit down and make a work of art that’ll satisfy him!

So far I’ve been interpretin’ digital art only in terms of novelty, but now I’m gonna challenge m’self with expressions unique to only digital art!

Just ya wait, Oshi-san~! I’ll have ya gasp in awe!

Location: ES Hallway

Shu: ……

(I stormed out of the dressing room due to a circumstance I did not foresee.)

(And Kagehira… He’s not chasing after me.)

(Usually, he would be running after with a reddened face. He seems to be quite fond of SSVRS.)

Hmph. My goodness, just who on earth showed Kagehira something like this… I suspect it was at that boy’s suggestion or something.

I have a word or two for him. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I’ve had a poor experience with SSVRS once already.

Location: NewDi Office (Conference Area)

Tsumugi: ♪~ ♪~ (sweeping dust with a broom)

Natsume: …… (scooping up the dust with dustpan)

Tsumugi: Wow, you’ve been a huge help helping me clean up the office, Natsume-kun~! ♪

I was busy at the end of the year, so I wanted to get it done before the first day back at work at NewDi. ♪

Natsume: Do you know what “first day back at work” meaNS?

Tsumugi: Yup. It’s the first official work day for the agency’s workers and affiliated idols!

Natsume: ThEN, what is it we’re doing right nOW?

Tsumugi: This is off-duty housecleaning!

We’ve gotten quite a lot of money all at once from SS, but we’ve always been thrifty thinking at NewDi, so I figured I'd clean it voluntarily. ♪

Natsume: I don’t understand your reasoniNG. Aren’t my labor costs are quite hiGH?

WeLL, I also had lots of work to do on the Phantom Airship before work officially startED. And nothing will change no matter what I tell yOU, anywAY…

I’m only helping out so that Sora could take a New Year’s holidAY, not for your saKE, Senpai. AlrigHT? Got iT?

Tsumugi: Yes, of course! ♪ You were very helpful, Natsume-kun. ♪

Shu: …Boy!

Tsumugi: ...? Oh, that’s…

Shu: You have a moment? I need to speak with you!

Natsume: What’s wroNG, Shu-niisan? You seem to be in a foul moOD.

I apologize if this four-eyed mophead did somethiNG.

Tsumugi: Eeh!? I-It’s my fault?!

Natsume: If a superior’s wrath is incurrED, it’s because of yoU. Just another part of the daily routiNE.

By the wAY. I had heard that you went back abroad once SS had endED—You’ve returned alreaDY?

Shu: Yes, for a small errand.

But nevermind that. It appears that Kagehira has gotten involved with SSVRS while I was in Europe. I am looking for the person responsible for introducing it to him.

Kagehira has gotten involved in some shady business practices involving cryptocurrency… Now, do you realize the gravity of the situation?

Tsumugi: Shady business practices, you say…?

Shu: Yes. He is being made to create digital commodities and have them be sold fraudulently.

They call it a virtual currency and decorate it with fancy rhetoric to trick people. However, it is not so simple!

I had also felt that L$ was risky, but currencies created by some people are not credible.

Natsume: HmM. I did hear a server for cryptocurrency had been set up for use within SSVRS, but I didn’t expect Mika-kun to be involvED…

But Shu-niisan, the way I see iT, isn’t Mika-kun doing it voluntariLY?

I also have connections with the game company that developed SSVRS.

From my perspectiVE, It’s a legitimate and honest company with nothing unusual about iT.

They’ve also been cautious about introducing cryptocurrenCY, and it’s currently operated solely within the limited space of the Test World.

It’s not like people from the dark society are involved and forcing Mika-kun to work for thEM.

Isn’t he enjoying the process of creating works and getting paid for iT, tOO?

There is the possibility that perhaps he is simply enjoying this new form of art called digital aRT—

Shu: Enough nonsense. If those from the game company are involved, introduce them to me. At once!

Or did you think you could fool me with that evasive attitude of yours…?!

Natsume: ……

Tsumugi: Umm~, please excuse me for interrupting…

Sora-kun recently recruited test players for the Test World. Maybe Mika-kun was invited by him?

Shu: Is that true, boy?

Natsume: « You didn’t need to mention that… »

SiGH. Continually evading things doesn't work against yOU, Shu-niisan.

I just didn’t want to put Sora up against an angry Shu-niisan… You’re quick as ever to mess uP, aren't yOU, Senpai.

Tsumugi: Ahh, so that’s what it was. I’m sorry.

Natsume: That's enouGH. Either wAY, I can’t lie to Shu-niisan.

Natsume: It was probably Sora who introduced Mika-kun to SSVRS. BuT, Sora wouldn’t ever teach him about cryptocurrency out of maliCE.

He loves new technologies innocentLY, and is unaware of their dangeRS. That’s aLL.

Let’s go meet up with Sora, and ask him why he invited Mika-kun to the world of SSVRS.

Before we condemn SSVRS and cryptocurrenciES, let’s at least hear him out for iT.

← prev | story directory | next →

[ofxalectox]

ah, is that ALECTO CARROW emerging from the shadows? the TWENTY SEVEN YEAR OLD, pureblood WOMAN who currently spends their days as an BAR OWNER . people from SLYTHERIN are known for being DETERMINED, ALURRING AND INDEPENDENT , but also for their CHAOTIC, RECKLESS AND MANIPULATIVE  tendencies—perhaps it all adds up after all. they say SHE has aligned themselves with THE DEATH EATERS whispers carry far in these uncertain days. let me tell you what i’ve heard: ALECTO evokes scent of alcohol mixed with cigarette smoke ; an old worn leather jacket ; a chaotic redhead trying to get her father’s attention ; perfect makeup hiding a multitude of sins ; the sound of high heels on wooden floor ; the self imposed pressure to exceed expectations ; manipulation and deceit hidden behind a perfect smile and is said to be the mirror image of the muggle MADELAINE PETSCH.  let’s just hope SHE hears the truth before the obscura has a chance to change their mind.

BASIC INFORMATION

Character name: Alecto "Allie" Carrow

Age & Birthday: 27. 31st August

Gender & Pronouns: Cis Female. She/her

Occupation: Owner of Delirium Bar in Knockturn Alley

Blood status: Pureblood Previous house: Slytherin

Affiliation: Death Eater

Face claim: Madelaine Petsch

Traits: Positive; Cunning, Determined, Ambitious, imaginative, flirtatious

Negatives: Manipulative, Chaotic, irresponsible, resentful, Sneaky

CHARACTER SUMMARY:

Alecto has always been chaotic. From a young age she knew that she wasn't really wanted, and so she was determiend to cause as much havoc as she could. Her parents struggled to control her. Maybe if they'd tried a little more to love her it would have been different. But Alecto was, and still is, a law unto herself. She only has herself in mind, and doesn't really care about many others

Alecto struggled at school. She isn't very academic and she isn't the best at magic. She struggled in most classes, but she didn't really care too much. She knew she didn't want some high fancy job, and she didn't care too much about her lessons. She spent more time in detention than out of it. She left Hogwarts without a lot of qaulifications, but that didn't matter to her.

Joining the death eates was more as an avenue to cause chaos than it was the actual cause. Yes, she did believe in the pure blood supremacy, but she just enjoyed being able to create more chaos in more places.

BIOGRAPHY

Alecto was never a wanted child, and she certainly wasn’t planned for. A surprise addition to the wanted male heir that the Carrows needed. Alecto was just an addition that her father did not want, nor need. Alecto was both a spare, and a girl. She would have been more frustrated with this, if it hadn’t been that technically Amycus had been born first, and thus was actually the heir.

But, Alecto found that she couldn’t actually be annoyed at Amycus. She might be unwanted by her parents, but she never felt that around Amycus. The twins were closer than anything. Alecto loves herself more than anything in this world, but Amycus came in a close second. There is literally nothing that she won’t do for her brother. Throughout their childhood, they came as a pair, and that continued well into adulthood. Alecto just spent her childhood being a curator of chaos. She loved nothing more than creating chaos, and craziness. She sometimes involved herself, but on occasions she would watch from the side lines. However she planned it, Alecto loved being chaotic. Her mother tried to force her to be a good little pureblood girl, and dress up, and sew.

But Alecto hated that, even going as far as to ruin all her pretty dresses. She was mostly left to her own devices, with a father who didn’t really care, and a mother who did not know how to control her. Another thing that could not be controlled was Alecto’s magic. Even when she got to Hogwarts she was not the best at magic. Luckily, she learnt to control it a little more, but that was about it. She had some talent for potions, but she did not really care enough about her studies to benefit from the talent. Alecto found herself in detention more than anything else. But she kind of didn’t mind that.

Alecto left Hogwarts with not many qualifications. She spent more time getting in trouble than she did concentrating on classes. But Alecto didn’t really need a job. Her family had money after all. Alecto used that money to buy a little bar in Knockturn Alley. She’d found during her Hogwarts days that she could mix a pretty killer cocktail, and so she used these skills to run a successful bar.

Of course in order to get that bar she manipulated her father into giving her the money. It wasn’t hard. She had a rather gifted talent for manipulating. She just promised her father that if he brought the bar, that she would rake in the galleons. Her father was rather invested in getting as rich as he could, and so, she managed to convince him pretty easily to buy the bar. Not that he’d see the galleons. Alecto had no plan on sharing her success with anyone other than herself, and maybe Amycus.

Alongside her bar, Alecto also spends a lot of time using her ] her talent for manipulating. For what she lacks in her magical ability, she makes up for in her ability to make anyone give or do whatever she wants. It was this specific talent of Alecto’s that caught the attention of the dark lord. She might not be the best fighter, but she has a mind, and a manipulating talent that can be as deadly as the killing curse. Alecto knows that sometimes simply threatening people with a wand doesn’t work, and for those times, she is there.

One of the advantages that Alecto got by involving herself with the death eaters was that it opened up the door for Alecto to get mentored by some of the older death eaters. Her father would probably love this. After all, she was involving and supposedly making friends with the members of what her father would consider the more respectable pureblood families. Alecto just saw it as an opportunity to better herself. After all, she had always intended on proving to her father that she had not needed him to make herself important in this world.

As far as Alecto is concerned she has done just that.For a girl that was never wanted, and never planned, she’s made a pretty decent life for herself.

[inmontana]

# INMONTANA, AN INDEPENDENT AND HIGHLY SELECTIVE MULTI MUSE FOR CHARACTERS FROM TAYLOR SHERIDAN'S YELLOWSTONE. THIS BLOG IS TRIGGER HEAVY AND DYNAMIC FOCUSED. THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE SERIES IS NOT EVERYBODY'S CUP OF TEA, I GET IT, BUT THAT JUST MEANS THIS ISN'T THE SPACE FOR YOU. BY BRI, 27, SHE/HER. TWENTY1+ ONLY. IN AFFILIATION WITH: DUHTON AND DEVILSLEFT. + CHARACTER DIRECTORY.

GENERAL RULES -.

001. i do not claim the rights to any media found on this blog. i am not apart of creating any of the shows, films, games or novels the characters i write belong in. what i do take pride in, however, are my portrayals therefore i'm making it known that i do not tolerate stealing of any kind. while i don't think i'll have an issue with this — i have in the past so i like to get it out of the way. if you do steal from me, i'll approach privately.

002. i do not follow everyone back. i've been on tumblr for many years now and have learned how best to curate a space for myself that i am happy to be in. it would be a disservice not only to myself but to everyone if i acted as though i could keep up with a quick moving dash by interacting with every single person. for the most part, i tend to follow people back within twenty four hours if i can see us writing together. otherwise i do make sure to softblock unless rules state you'd prefer to be hardblocked to avoid confusion. 003. if you support or condone racism, homophobia, transphobia, white-washing, suicide baiting, bullying or bigotry of any kind i will immediately block you. this also goes for zionists. we have nothing in common and i do not want that energy in my space. this is your one and only warning. 004. in terms of callout culture: i do not partake in it just for the sake of it. i typically do not reblog or engage with callout posts, but if someone is actively harmful to the community as a whole then of course that's different. i'm not interested in watching anyone to try to chase somebody out of a community simply because they don't like them. i am an adult with a mind of her own who can make decisions for herself. just because i don't interact doesn't mean i don't see it nor does it mean i'm supporting or not supporting it. 005. lastly, i am wholly uninterested in jamie dutton as a character and even more am i uninterested in hearing/seeing reasoning for the behaviour of him. there are no redeemable or good traits that you can convince me jamie possesses. he was a legal adult at the time of taking his minor sister to get an abortion and then he proceeded to make a decision, while being fully knowledgeable of said decision, that resulted in her being sterilized alongside of it ALL WITHOUT TELLING HER. that is violating her bodily autonomy and it is taking away the right to choose. again, i need to reiterate because it fucking means something. beth is a minor at this point in time. i'm sorry, but if in the year 2024 there is anything even close to condoning of that shit- keep it the hell away from me, because i will be blunt here: i'm not going to be nice about it. that is, in my opinion, the worst thing jamie did but for the sake of transparency lets keep going by saying that he, on multiple occasions, blamed beth (the sister whom he did this to) as if it was her fault and took multiple digs about children and her inability to have at her expense. he puts his hands on her more than once as well. which. yeah, beth also does to him, and i don't disagree that anyone should be able to defend themselves- i do also think it's fucking weird the ways in which it happens and considering that he has clearly never respected her bodily autonomy i just personally don't care. she's not the only woman he has laid hands on either (a journalist whom he killed and sarah whom he was sleeping with) so one could say it's a pattern. i could keep going about the terrible things jamie has done but honestly, i'm not trying to sway your opinion of him if you still choose to have anything good to think about him after reading that or knowing that. i'm all set with that. all i ask if that you don't follow, don't interact, and quite frankly feel free to block me because it'll save us both the trouble.

[keep-the-wolves-close]

The Hound's Pursuit

Chapter 2: The Gathering Storm

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the movie Triple Frontier and I don't claim to have created its original characters. The only characters that belong to me are Juniper and JD.

This is posted for pure entertainment, and I do not make profit off of this.

Warnings: mentions of violence and dangerous situations, language, mental strain, intense conversations, anxiety, dread, loss.

Pairing: Will "Ironhead" Miller x Juniper "Hound" Winters

Word Count: 3,743ish

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy! It’s a little longer, but we’re in the heavy exposition point. Only downfall of making mission plans lol. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! A little nervous about this one. Especially with the plan lol.

Also big big love to @lexixstewart for being a cheerleader and sounding board and part beta reader for this chapter! 💛

Juni spotted Will’s truck a few cars ahead of her in traffic. She smiled softly at the thought of him leaning to the left on the window, right hand gripping the wheel, head propped on his hand. His bright blue eyes hooded from lack of sleep. She could see a second silhouette in the rear windshield and realized Benny was with him.

Her grin spread thinking about the close sibling pair. Will’s turn signal popped on breaking her out of her reverie. Turning on her own, she pulled her 1991 Ford F-150 up outside of the warehouse Pope had told them to meet him at. Looking to her right, she smiled when Will smirked at her presence.

Grinding gears of the warehouse door pulled their attention to who was opening the building. The bony hand of apprehension wound its way up Juni’s shoulders seeing Pope in the corner of the large door back lit by the dim lighting from inside. The edges of her vision went blurry as her heart thudded in her chest.

She heard two doors slam shut, and Will came into her line of sight in front of her truck. He spread his arms wide as he leaned on the hood of her truck. He stared into her, urging her to keep a cool head. Juni knew he would help her get out if she needed to. She nodded shakily at him.

Benny darted around the back of her truck and opened her door. His heart thudded in his chest worried about where this was about to go. "Hey, June. Just breathe," Benny said, lowering his voice. "Focus on me." His tone was firm yet gentle, like coaxing a frightened animal back to safety. Benny realized she was still good, he let out a small huff. His attempt to reassure her didn’t fall on deaf ears, but the rising bile in the back of her throat made it difficult to fight back.

Juni blinked hard, refocusing her sight, and peered up at the other younger sibling of the group.

"There's my brown-eyed girl. Me and Will got your six," Benny said, flashing her a boyish grin. The sound of her brother's jeep cut through the moment. Benny sighed. “Even JD will make sure you’re good. Just listen to what Pope has to say.”

Doubting Pope felt like deception to her. In the past, his judgment could be trusted, no contest. When retirement started looming over Pope’s head, Juni noticed his actions became more reckless.

His planning skills weren’t as sharp anymore, more impulsive instead of tactical. Her thoughts drifted to the time when he had planned a mission from A to Z. Each point had a specific cadence and was enacted perfectly. She remembered him pacing back and forth, delegating orders. Eyes sharp, and commands clear.

Now, as of the Lorea mission, it felt like he was gambling. Not all the blame could be put on Pope though. Redfly’s greed threw a wrench into their once perfect rhythm.

Out of all of them, Juni was the most apprehensive about being dragged back into another mission of Pope’s. If that kid from the village had been wrong about who he was shooting at? It could have been JD that died that day. He was right next to Redfly, and from behind they both looked similar. When she had seen the blood on her brother, she thought she had lost everything.

As JD walked up behind Benny, he clapped a hand on Benny’s shoulder and peeked around to inspect his little sister’s expression, concern inscribed in his face. “You good, Juni?”

She stared over Benny’s tall shoulder at her brother. JD could see the fear in her eyes. He knew she was overthinking. She seemed to be the only one that did. He reached around Benny and nudged her arm. “Hey, don’t do that. Let us,” he motioned to himself, Benny, and Will, “take care of that for now.”

Juni glanced back at Will in front of her truck, and then past him at Pope waiting for them to come inside. Will's eyes narrowed as he watched Juni's lips purse. She exhaled shakily. He wanted to scoop her up, throw her in his truck, and drive away from the turmoil. But he respected her strength. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that she shouldn't face this alone.

The grumble of Frankie's old truck pulled her from her anxiety. Juni watched as he hopped out, slamming the door shut with the squeak echoing in the desolated parking lot. Her eyes followed him as he rounded the front of his truck and met up with Will, creating more of a barrier between her and the object of her discomfort.

Frankie locked eyes with her and gave a paternal smile and nod, silently making sure she was okay. He knew how difficult it was to be brought back into a mission after the last one. It had done a number on her, all of them, and she had to be talked down from a ledge many times once they got back. Having a daughter had really done wonders for his empathy levels. She gave him a weak smile back.

Juni gandered back up at Benny with a sigh. “Let's get this shit show over with, boys.”

Pope’s voice echoed through the warehouse as he hollered from the doorway, his arms crossed. His disheveled hair and the dark circles under his eyes spoke of a sleepless night. “C’mon guys! We don’t have all night!” Juni’s stomach twisted at his urgency, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as if echoing his call. Though his voice was steady, Pope's hands trembled slightly, betraying the urgency that simmered just beneath the surface. “With the help of Hound, this plan will be amazing.”

Frankie’s head spun around hearing Pope’s confidence waver. He gave a sharp glower to Pope at the use of Juni’s ops nickname. He knew how much it affected her mental state. It was almost as if JR or Hound were trigger words that changed her personality into something borderline predatory. The tension rolled through the group at Pope’s choice of words.

She winced at the use of her nickname, a visceral reaction coursing through her. It felt like a stiff uppercut from Benny. It was a reminder of the power she wielded but also the darkness she fought to leave behind. The bile she'd pushed down crept back up her throat, burning as it came, accompanied by the metallic taste of anxiety.

The name used to bring her a sense of pride because of how good she was at her job. Now, it felt like a brand. Bringing reminders of a past she’d worked hard to overcome. The things she’d done under the guise of that name were horrific. She had worked hard in therapy to escape that.

Juni was unaware of the warning look Will shot his little brother and JD. He was making sure they’d pull Juni back if her anger got the better of her. Yes, she had herself under control a good portion of the time, but Will knew if she was pushed too far, she’d go into a frenzy and they would need a coroner. Not for Juni, but for Pope.

They called her Hound for a reason, but there was also another meaning behind it. When she lost her cool, she was a man eater. When she was done with whoever was in her way, it looked like a pack of wild dogs got a hold of them. Not even JD had been able to explain where Juni’s astronomical level of violence had surfaced from.

As the tension thickened, an old memory crashed into Will's mind dragging him back to a time of helplessness. The sight of bodies — torn to shreds — flashed before him, bringing a chill down his spine as he remembered the moment he'd feared for Juni and Benny. A haunting reminder of what happened when Juni was pushed too far. The person she was as the Hound was terrifying.

The bodies of the men littered around the room, torn to shreds from knives and gunfire. The fear that zapped down his spine when he didn’t spot Benny or Juni right away but knew they’d been cornered. The consequences that followed had been brutal.

He could tell that Juni and his brother had gotten backed into a corner because those men looked like they’d gone through a woodchipper. When Will had gotten Benny and Juni back to the group, it had taken Benny, JD, and himself to hold back her wrath from Redfly and Pope.

Benny extended his hand in quiet stability while she hopped out of her truck. Without hesitation, Juni took it, her fingers gripped his palm as she swung her legs out of the cab of the truck. She smiled thanks to Benny and stepped around him. Hearing her truck door shut, she knew Benny and her brother were close behind her. The crunch of some loose gravel had her attention as she counted her steps.

The asphalt radiated the summertime heat it had collected throughout the day, wrapping her in a warm blanket. It reminded her of Will, bringing a small amount of comfort. Coming around the front of her truck, Frankie stepped back to let her between him and Will. She peered up at the blond man. Their eyes locking in on each other, assessing. No one from the team moved, waiting patiently for her to take the lead. For her to set the pace.

A loud clap from Pope vibrated through her bones making her jump, her nerves raw and electrified. The group’s eyes shot over to their old friend. He chuckled softly, “Juni, I’m glad you showed.” Juni swallowed thickly. “When you left last night, I thought I was in the shit.”

Juni squared her shoulders, bracing for the impact of her next declaration. “Me being here doesn’t mean you aren’t in it, my friend.” She paused to let that sink into Pope’s head. “But I have to say,” her posture relaxed as she cocked a hip, unconsciously moving closer to Will. “When I’m done talking, you have exactly 60 minutes to tell me everything you need me to know and why my participation is so important to you.” She caught him in a simmering glare, silencing any argument from him.

“If you fail to do so,” Pope’s soft grin faltered when heard her voice drop low and hazardous. He felt about three feet high with the look she pinned him with. It was the Hound speaking to him, not Juni. Her brown eyes — ablaze in red like hellfire from the fading sunset — looked demonic. Taking a half step back, he thought about which direction he could run that would be the quickest getaway.

Benny glanced between his brother and Frankie, alarm bells tolling in his ears. They felt her personality shift. It was thick, heavy, and dark. Like drowning in molasses. The guys silently flanked her like a shadow, ready for when she jumped at Pope’s jugular. It wasn’t a question of if she’d jump, but when.

Pope knew he was pressing his luck. He felt like he was staring down Cerberus with a slowly deteriorating chain keeping her tethered. “Like I said yesterday, I’m telling you you’re a fuckin’ dumbass, and I’m leaving. To take your suicide mission, and leave. I won’t stand by while you destroy yourself or the people I care about. Not again.”

Pope cleared his throat, wiping his palms on his shirt. “Well then,” he waved the group inside the warehouse. “Shall we?”

Juni’s feet moved forward into the dim warehouse. The Hound persona, stiffly unfurling itself from its slumber, brushing off the rust that she’d worked hard to pack away after Brazil. She scoffed at herself. She should know by now it wouldn’t truly go away. She squinted to adjust to the low yellow light. The footsteps of the rest of the group echoed behind her, giving her a sense of formation. She stared at the back of Pope’s head as she trailed behind him down the walkway.

At the edges of her peripheral, she could see Benny standing tall on her left. Will caught up to her pace on her right, meaning Frankie and JD were bringing up the rear. A small nudge of her elbow made her head turn to Will as they kept walking. Her face scrunched in silent question. Her mouth turned upward in a grateful grin. For a fraction of a second, she let her shoulders relax just enough to tell Will she was good.

Realizing it had already been two minutes, she pushed Pope gently. “58 minutes.” Pope sighed heavily at her antagonizing. “You thought I was joking about the time limit?” Juni chuckled darkly. “Amateur.”

He groaned and bit his bottom lip. Coming to a stop outside a room, Pope turned to the group with a flourish. He placed the palm of his hand flat on the door, feeling the cold metal. A shiver ran down his spine when his eyes landed on Juni.

“56 minutes, Garcia.” Her voice bit at him.

He swung the door open wide in annoyance. “Go. On the table is a map of the areas we need to cover.” Juni huffed at his theatrics and shoved past Pope and into the room, Will tailed closely behind.

They came upon a large map on an even bigger table. In front of them were three screens, a screensaver that floated back and forth between them. There was a light above the table, making the shine of the laminated map bounce back harshly. Will watched Juni lean over the map, bracing herself on the table. Her bottom lip caught in between her teeth, brows scrunched up in concentration. She pointed at a few locations on the map, its laminated surface cool from the sparse room.

Will followed her finger. He trailed his eyes up her arm, that was littered with a few tattoos, and back to her face. The look of intensity made his breath hitch. Pope marched around the other side of the table to look at Juni.

Juni decided to address the elephant in the room once everyone was inside, targeting Pope directly. “Pope, this is South America.” Her shoulders felt rock hard at the idea of going back there. “Why the fuck would I wanna go back there?” She sniffed, annoyed by the musty smell of the warehouse.

“You and Will are the only reason this works.”

Benny frowned at Pope’s insistence that Will and Juni were the epicenter of this mission. He wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. Redfly had been the one to get everyone on board with the last one. The ghost of their last mission haunted him briefly. He gave a silent look to Frankie and JD, then back to his brother and Juni. He noticed her fingers were digging into the tabletop.

Will sighed heavily and placed his hand on the table, almost touching Juni’s tense fingers that gouged into the surface. The buzz of energy between them made Juni give him a sidelong glance. She could see the irritation rolling off of him like steam.

Before Will could open his mouth and say something to Pope, Juni beat him to it. “Start talking,” she ground out. Benny and Frankie chuckled, nerves rattled in their chests. Pope’s eyebrows tightened at her order. Juni stared back, unwavering.

“You always liked to get to the point, didn’t you, JR?” Pope chuckled darkly, challenging her.

Juni’s jaw tightened so hard she thought her teeth might crack. Her posture on the table looked feral, swaying back and forth like a wolf sizing up its prey. “If I wanted to dance around the point, I’d ask Frankie.”

Frankie laughed at the dig from Juni, trying to break the sour air between the old friends, “I mean, I do dance a mean rumba, cariño.” He swiveled his hips and waggled his eyebrows provocatively at Juni. She rolled her eyes, irked that he could break her through the haze so easily. She struggled to keep the metaphorical snapping jaws at bay.

Pope gave Frankie a smirk, thankful for his interjection. “This isn’t just a cash grab. We have the opportunity to destabilize a faction of the black market trading and trafficking, and several criminal organizations by going through with this.”

His eyes broke from the hold Juni had on him, and searched the table. “We settle old scores,” Pope grabbed the black plastic remote that glinted in the intense light. “And if you’re as good as I know you are?” He clicked the screens to life. “We might make some money in the process.” The group squinted at the flash of life from the large screens.

Eight medium sized pictures captured the group’s attention. The photos were of specific locations, and the criminals that held control of the spaces.

The first two pictures were of a dilapidated building, and a grainy photo of a paramilitary group shown on the far left. It looked like a house that turned into a bunker. Some of the windows on the first floor were boarded up, the door missing, overgrown with weeds and bushes. Keeping up the illusion of abandonment.

The second set of photos appeared to be temple ruins and a group of black and white mugshots of smugglers. Juni thought she recognized some faces from past missions. Vines splayed across the wide flat surfaces of the ruins, twisted and knotted around the few short columns left standing. It looked flooded in some areas.

The third location photo was more modern, the picture next to it of the crime syndicate members recently identified. The woman in the center of the large group caught Juni’s eye, a tingle running down her spine. Something about her looked familiar, but Juni couldn’t quite put her finger on why or who the woman was.

The picture of the location closely resembled an underground office. If Juni didn’t know any better, it looked like a black market trading spot. Juni pictured her younger self in the middle of a warehouse. Talk of incoming shipments of items to be trafficked from one criminal’s hand to the other. Accounting, wire transfers to offshore accounts, plans to steal the artifacts and art.

The final images were of an old mining facility that was no longer in use, and a pixelated blob of people. Recognition quickened Juni’s pulse when she saw the mountain peaks in the background. She was looking at the Andes, which weren’t forgiving even during the best of times.

Snow piled around the fixtures and deserted machinery, making the cold jump out and bite at her cheeks. Giving her a quick reminder of how cold she’d been after they crash landed. The mental image of the look Benny gave her when they crawled out of the wreckage. Redfly getting shot, her scream tearing from her raw throat, Will struggling to hold her back.

Juni pulled herself off the table and out of the reverie. She crossed her arms, her elbow brushed against Will’s. “Pope,” her voice deceptively calm and quiet, “if you think I’m stepping foot back in the fuckin’ Andes, you’re an idiot.”

Pope held his hand out, asking her to back off for a second. “I’ve gained some intel on a hidden cache in the middle of the jungle. Filled with artifacts, artwork, all sorts of valuable missing things.” Juni raised an eyebrow. The grip she had around her elbows tightened. The other guys shifted on their feet. “If we find this cache, we can give the items back to their rightful owners, and destabilize the criminal organizations that have their hands on them.”

JD looked to his sister, watching the tension roll through her. Will stood close next to her, stoic and looking dangerous. JD spoke up for the first time since they came into the warehouse. “What’s the actual catch?”

Pope pointed at JD with a smile. “I’m glad you asked.” Frankie frowned at the overly confident manner Pope tried to inflict on the already volatile situation. “The slight hiccup is, the coordinates of the cache are separated into fragmented codes in four different locations. Guarded by the different criminal factions in the matching pictures.” He motioned to the screens behind him. “These are the places where we'll find the coordinates information, but we’ll need to be able to figure out where the clues are.”

“So before we get to the actual cache, we’re gonna have to play seek and find?” Benny grumbled. He thought it was too many steps, too many chances for something to go wrong.

Juni rolled her neck to the side to look at Will. Finally, she understood why Pope wanted her and Will so badly. His mouth set in a hard line, the muscles in his jaw working overtime.

Pope’s voice cut through the moment, resolute. “Lorea was a shit show, yes,” he admitted, gaze casted downward. He knew it was a fine line he was walking. “But the jobs we did before that? Flawless. Just not for our paychecks. This time, we could be set for life.”

Juni felt the gentleness from Pope’s tone. He wasn’t trying to get her to agree anymore. He wasn’t forcing anyone’s hand. He truly believed they could make it work. Her shoulders dropped when she looked around at everyone. She exhaled slowly, releasing all the tension the last 24 hours had given her. “Santi,” Juni started, meeting Pope’s eyes as he looked up at her. “I know your heart is in the right place.” She gave him a small smile that was tinged with worry. “But this plan… we can’t guarantee we’ll all come home alive.”

Benny nodded solemnly with his arms crossed. “There are too many moving parts.”

“A heap of different outside uncontrollable variables,” Frankie added, images of the six of them getting overrun by enemies fueled his uneasiness.

Juni observed everyone intently now that they had all the information. The disquiet hummed through them like an electric current. Her teeth gnawed at her bottom lip. She caught Will’s stare, the intense heat there gripped her chest. There was an imperceptible nod between them.

She looked at an imaginary watch on her wrist, and sighed. “I’ll give you an additional 10 minutes to explain to me how all of us make it out alive.”