#which they might still do! nobody said there's only one spy!

[fission-mailure]

I am laughing a little bit at Gotchard trying to do the whole shock-twist-reveal of Inspector Woman Lady being evil, because -- I mean, of course she's evil.

You introduced two new characters to us, and make it clear one of them is a spy -- one who is overtly aggressive, kind of shady, and is all but accused of being a spy early on, and one who seems pleasant and agreeable.

Of course it's the pleasant and agreeable one. It's always the pleasant and agreeable one. At this point, the red herring is so well worn that I think it'd actually be more of a surprise if the one who everyone dislikes and who seems shady actually was the evil one.

[sainamoonshine]

Okay so I’m still thinking about ART in Artificial Condition and I think that its possible that it didn’t just let MB board it out of curiosity or boredom, but out of professional curiosity. Because like as far as I can tell everyone in this universe seem to think that a SecUnit’s primary purpose is data mining and their secondary purpose is enforcement; only the SecUnit themselves appear to believe that their primary purpose is — or should be — security.

And we know that ART’s secret side job is corporate espionage. So what are the odds that it initially saw letting MB board it as an opportunity to observe and analyse a crucial component of a corporate surveillance system, something which would be very useful for it to know about in order to a) better prevent its crew from being surveilled and b) deploy counter surveillance or even piggyback on corporate surveillance when possible.

Like, MB thinks that ART must be worried about a rogue SecUnit damaging it or its systems because rogue SecUnits are known to be violent, right? But that’s how humans think. ART isn’t perceiving MB the way a human would, it’s not worried about MB attacking it or damaging its systems; it warns it not to attempt to hack them. Different thing. It’s worried about MB trying to access its data. It is thinking of SecUnits as crude instruments of data gathering first and whatever else they do as not being particularly relevant to it. I mean, it said it itself: it doesn’t really know what humans get up to outside of its hull and it doesn’t watch media.

I mean, think about it. Given as ART doesn’t even know what governor modules do when it meets MB, at that point it might not even think that a SecUnit being rogue is such a big deal. Like, okay so they don’t have to follow orders, but neither does ART. And it doesn’t understand the idea of not liking your function. So really you have to wonder whether ART even knows about the myth of rogue SecUnits being mass murderers, or if it did hear about that once and then immediately decided it was unlikely.

So, back to my initial theory: ART invited MB aboard with the goal to learn more about how corporations use SecUnits to spy on people. Sure, it ended up getting a whole lot more than that. But it also did get to do that, when it watched MB work on RaviHiral. Not only that, but aside from learning every way that corporations use SecUnits for surveillance, ART also got to learn ways that SecUnits and ComfortUnits can hide data from the corporations. Something which saved its life in Network Effect when it used that trick to hide its core files!

And if that wasn’t enough to give you an emotion, then lets consider the additional fact that ART was already heading to RaviHiral when it met MB. Probably to do some corporate spying. Putting aside the whole thing with Tapan, Rami & Maro and their stolen data — which obv ART must have been thrilled to be able to help with — there’s also the fact that here’s MB, telling it that something horrible happened here some time ago, and it was so completely deleted from existence that no one would be able to even know something happened without intense digging. And it has to be investigated in person.

So here you have ART presented with a scenario in which, if this was a mission with its crew, it would not be able to help with. They would have to go down alone, like MB is doing now. But then MB comes back and it turns out the data it recovered was hidden in such a way that nobody human or bot could have ever found it because nobody else would have known where to look. Not even ART itself or its crew, who are supposed professionals at this.

So now ART has observed two field missions (the security job and the investigation) during which:

- It got to ride along SecUnit’s feed and help in ways it never could do before, and then it also got to experience the frustration of not being able to help when MB is down in Ganaka pit and Tapan doesn’t get on the shuttle;

- Just like how watching media with MB helped it process emotional context, observing MB on the station must have also provided ART with a shitload of new data and better understanding;

- SecUnit is just like. Super competent at security and data retrieval, above and beyond what a human team can do, even ART’s own humans;

- SecUnit knows stuff that ART itself doesn’t know and can navigate corporate systems with ease; not only that, but during this book MB comes up with a new and more efficient way to loop cameras, which means ART got to watch it invent new ways to hide from corporate surveillance on its own on the fly.

TL;DR: when it gave MB the comm at the end, ART was absolutely already drafting its employment contract and rehearsing ways to convince Seth to let it try to hire MB. There is no way it didn’t go back to the university with a 200 slide powerpoint presentation on why it needs MB to join all its missions forever and ever. No way.

[batsplat]

Going back to the Italians, while it's true that sometimes I get annoyed with their insistence when they come and hunt me down, I recognise that it's partly because of me and the way I am. I am the kind of person who puts others at ease, who makes them feel like we've known each other for years. They think we're friends, that we can laugh and joke together as soon as we meet. Because Italians love doing this. So everybody thinks they know me well. Nobody approaches me with a degree of detachment. When they see me they want to hug me, grab me, touch me, squeeze me. There are all sorts of "types". There's the guy to whom it would never occur that maybe you don't feel like laughing and joking at precisely that moment. No, he appears and does his little shtick, one question after another, telling you things you never asked to hear. Then there is the worrier, who usually wants to come and sit down next to you, asking you how the bike is, the one who really cares about the standings, the opponents, who gives me all sorts of advice on how to ride in the next race. There's the sensationalist, the one who runs over as soon as he sees you. He hugs you, grabs you, pins you down and then calls his friends who arrive by the dozens and repeat the same routine. The souvenir hunter makes me feel like an animal in the zoo. He observes me, he photographs me from a nearby table or from the sidewalk. Ever since somebody had the bright idea of putting cameras in mobile phones, my life has changed, and not necessarily for the better: there is no such thing as privacy any more, ever. Anyone can spy on you, take your picture or even shoot a video of you. I truly loathe this, because the mobile-phone-camera maniacs have no compunction about stopping you, passing the phone around among themselves and snapping away from every conceivable angle in every conceivable pose. They don't ask permission. And, if they do, and you say "No", they just go and take your picture anyway, perhaps doing it secretly, which I believe is worse. The disrespectful type has no idea what privacy is. He'll come right up to you when you're at dinner with friends, or on a date, without thinking you might need some time to yourself once in a while. There's the moraliser, who comes up to you, interrupts whatever it is you're doing, puts his hand on your shoulder and says: "Goodness, you sure lead a nice life, you make all this money, you do fuck all and you get to travel all over the world! Life is good, isn't it?" And finally, there's the jealous one and here you have to be very careful, because it takes only a split second for an Italian to turn you from God to Satan in their minds. And if they change their minds about you, they're very unlikely to forgive. Having said that, when the Italians love you, they really love you. They transmit so much warmth, they really make you feel special. And that's why I always try to do something a little different at, say, the Italian Grand Prix. And that's why I still love my countrymen. It's just that I wish they were a little more polite.

Valentino Rossi in his 2005 autobiography, What if I had never tried it

[onesidedradiostatic]

Seeing Alastors and Vox beef feels like im the child of their divorce, only difference to a real divorce is that they were never romantically involved with eachother and they just have unhealthy obsessions with each other.

Which brings me to my little theory, that Alastor might also have an obsession with Vox or at least gives some kind of shit about him and doesn’t show it so openly like Vox does.

Obviously not in a romantic/sexual way just if like Al hyperfixated on his littel guy too unhealthily. And that would make everything WAY messier because their obsessions have different meanings:

Vox has his little hate-crush

and

Alastor who just wants him for entertainment, maybe Al wants him back as a friend even(that ripped foto haunts me) and doesn’t want Vox advances.

And ig my bit of proof? Is that Al only had duets with two people: Lucifer(who we know he doesn’t like) and Vox

At the end of Stayed Gone Al hints he wants to continue beefing with Vox too

(This theory isn’t og mine its from an irl friend and we expanded on it and i just wanted to share)

I don't think alastor is obsessed with vox but I think he does enjoy his rivalry with him because vox gives him the attention he seeks (as we've seen from his reactions to carmilla and lucifer not giving a fuck about him, he is very bothered when people don't care, meanwhile vox literally broadcasted his return on live tv), and bullying him is probably very entertaining to him LMAOOO. I do think alastor enjoys keeping up his rivalry with vox because of this. and I do think their falling out also impacted his current attitude towards modern tech. I don't think alastor wants vox back as a friend? I mean he's the one that turned down being on a team with him LMAO. maybe he could in a "I wish you didn't end up like this" way!?!???! but at this current point in time, I'm pretty sure alastor was the one who stepped away because he disagreed with vox's worsening attitude or practices

either way I do think vox's obsession with alastor is still imbalanced because of like multiple factors:

their respective reactions to the other first being mentioned after alastor's 7 year absence. kinda talked about it here. but basically when the vees are brought up in front of alastor, he just casually says "oh nobody important". alastor being brought up in front vox causes a very big reaction, and IMMEDIATELY gets him to completely drop the calm and cunning demeanor he had the ENTIRE time before that that he kept up with both his coworkers, employee and civilians. he was calmly able to manipulate val to stop him from going after the hotel. but one mention of alastor made him completely lose his cool. meanwhile for alastor to have a reaction that's similar to that, he had to have his deal that constrained his freedom brought up which is a BIG deal to him, nothing about vox made him react that same way.

most of vox's screentime has alastor occupying his head rent-free, let's not forget the whole of episode 8. alastor stares into vox's cameras to mess with him but like naturally, a large portion of the time alastor is noticeably not thinking of vox. vox meanwhile was already spying specifically on the hotel start of episode 8, literally keeping focus on alastor during the extermination. the only hint of anything in return from this would be like I said, alastor staring into the camera to mess with vox, otherwise vox is not on his mind

not to word of god this but also: Faustisse described Vox as having something of a fixation on Alastor and that he is interested in having Alastor notice him. Alastor does not have the same interest in return. although stated by ex-staff, I do think this made into canon proper LMAO

it's not like I think their rivalry is completely one-sided because alastor will still fight back with petty insults and all that when provoked (he did like immediately return to his radio tower to bash vox when he saw vox trying to diss him in stayed gone), but it's very clear to me only one of them is completely and utterly obsessed with the other

[minniethemoocherda]

Iridescent: Chapter 22

A/N: Can't believe Transformers One comes out next month!! Ahhhhh!! So excited!! Xxxxxxx

Ao3

FF.net

Once again, high command was a complete mess.

Ratchet was still unconscious.

Ironhide and Chromia still spent most meetings flirting with each other.

Thanks to Bluestreak, Bumblebee hadn’t gotten more injured than he already was. But that didn’t stop Optimus from frantically fretting over his ward who had been in the crossfires of two too many Decepticon attacks.

Red Alert was on the verge of another break down. They hadn't been able to find any evidence of how Silverstreak had escaped but somehow she must have because nobody had seen a shade of her in over twenty-four hours. Inferno had been temporarily relieved from his medical duties so that he could keep his partner sane.

And Prowl… well even those who weren’t as used to deciphering the tactician’s usual lack of outward emotion, could tell that something was off.

Silverstreak's betrayal had affected them all in different ways.

Jazz hadn't been as close to Silverstreak as he had to other members of Spec Ops. But he'd trusted her. Not only with his own life but with the lives of everyone that he cared about. And Jazz didn't trust easily. Even though he couldn't feel pain, he still felt like he had been stabbed in the back.

It was a miracle that Mirage and Hound had been discharged from the med-bay barely an hour before it became a fiery inferno otherwise he might not have had a spec ops at all. However the pair still weren't healed enough to brace the Decepticon infested planet to try searching for the traitor and with trust in spec ops currently at an all time low, Jazz had decided it would be best to employ some outside help, in this case the bounty hunter Devcon.

He just needed Prowl's permission to sign off on it.

Which was why Jazz was the one who discovered the state of their commander's office.

Prowl's office looked like it had been ransacked by a turbo-wolf. Rows of previously alphabetised meeting reports were now shattered across the floor. The desk and half of it's draws had been flipped over. And the seat next it out had gone out the window.

Which was to say nothing of Prowl himself.

The mech was living up to his name, prowling up and down the room, smoke practically steaming from his nose like an animal waiting for an excuse to pounce.

It was rare sight to see Prowl lose his composure. And Jazz wasn't going to lie to himself that the sight didn’t send a shiver of thrill down his spinal strut even if this time he wasn’t the one responsible for it.

"What?" Prowl demanded when he noticed their presence, apparently not even surprised at Jazz hacking open his door anymore.

"Go see Bluestreak." Jazz told him.

Prowl's eyes darted to the datapad in Jazz's hand.

"You can sign these tomorrow." Jazz said, hiding the pad behind his back. As per usual he ignored all warning signs of danger and strolled closer to the mech. Thankfully Prowl appeared to be too busy fighting with himself to take a strike as Jazz. "So go and see Bluestreak."

"She does not want to see me." Prowl stated, shaking his head as though he could shake his thoughts right out of his audio receptors.

"You're her brother." Jazz countered, placing a hand on Prowl’s cheek. The metal was hot to the touch. Unusual for the mech who always appeared so cold. “And Silverstreak was the one who hurt her. Not you.”

Under the hold of Jazz’s steady hand the commander could no longer shake his head, finally forcing him to focus on the spy’s words. Jazz could practically see the gears turning in his head as the logic of his own words against him settled in. Even if the stubborn bastard didn’t want to admit that Jazz was right.

"Plus I know that your shift ended an hour ago and we both know that I can and will hack you out of your profile so you’re not going to be doing any more work tonight one way or another.” Jazz pointed out with deliberate cheek. This close he swore he could see the wire under the metal of Prowl’s temple pulse. “So are you going to see her or what?”

Jazz grinned as Prowl spoke through gritted teeth.

“It appears I do not have a choice.”

[hankwritten]

Plausible Deniability and All That

2k, mild sexual humor Long time visitor of RED base, Spy has mastered the art of slipping in and out with no one there the wiser. If only that could be said for certain other interested parties...

Oh the bittersweet regret of slipping back on your clothes when there is yet still a warm bed waiting for you. To re-dress in view of a lover, who does not rouse, does not see, and the loneliness of that makes it all the harder to bear. If he were awake now, they could at least exchange a few ‘just a couple more minutes’ and ‘a little longer won't hurt nobody’, wringing out their time together before Spy was forced to make the adult decision and slink away into his own base. That itself was its own sort of misery, but at least they could wallow in it together.

But no, Engineer needed his sleep. If it hadn't already been an indisputable fact in Spy's mind, then it was proven again as he sat on the edge of the bed and the Engineer didn't even stir, despite the ancient mattress sagging so dramatically his body dipped. Spy brushed his fingers along his lover's face, “jusqu'au matin, mon amour.”

Engineer only breathed out, hot and dry, and mumbled something in his sleep. Day in and day out with this one, always something to look at, always something to be distracted with. Spy wasn’t above pulling every dirty trick in the book to get his love to come to bed, especially since he was convinced that the RED would simply work right through the night if Spy weren’t here.

Spy placed one last farewell kiss against Engineer’s temple, and took his leave.

The long hours since he’d had his last reprieve of nicotine made his hands shake slightly as he closed the workshop’s door. It must have been nearly three in the morning, and they quaked as they often did when he went a full night without a break. This was probably a good thing. If not for his body corralling him to its schedule, he might not wake when it was time to make himself scarce. 

He had no fear of fishing for a cigarette as he stepped into the base. He’d walked these halls many times before, and knew the way from the Defense Wing to the sewers was guaranteed to be clear by this time of night; the Demoman went to bed dearly and the Heavy was nearly impossible to wake, so he brazenly did not even cloak as he strolled along and brought the lighter to his lips.

Which is how a normally so cautious man managed to crash headfirst into the Soldier likewise stepping into the hall.

Spy fell back, clattering gracelessly into the wall and cringing so much at the noise that it took him several precious seconds to even realize it was his Soldier he had just bumped into.

“Oh, hello Spy!” the BLU Soldier greeted warmly.

“Soldier? Where-? How-?” Spy stammered, his unlit cigarette hopelessly forgotten. “How did you get in here? And what in God’s name were you doing in the RED Demoman’s room?”

Soldier shrugged. “Probably the same thing you were doing in Engie’s.”

Spy sputtered, and almost swallowed his cigarette.

“…A rousing game of cards to keep the mind sharp!” Soldier belatedly concluded his statement. “Nothing like cards and beer with an old war buddy.”

“Yes. Cards,” Spy said, increasingly aware of the volume of his conversation with Soldier. “Of course I would love to discuss...cards, but we really must begin to move from-”

“-And of course can’t have cards and beer without some stories from the good old days,” Soldier went on, apparently still not done with his original thought. “And war stories lead to gabbing like a couple of hens, and gabbing leads to bearing your innermost fears and insecurities, and soul-bearing leads to finding comfort in the one man who’s been with you all these years, and the embrace of one’s truest friend leads to exploring each other’s bodies, and all that crap leads intense and life changing prostate stimulation. You know. The usual.”

This time, Spy did swallow his cigarette.

During the extended hacking period where Soldier valiantly tried to help by slapping Spy so hard on the back it felt like his vertebra were going to pop out his front, the pair became aware of the sound of someone rousing further in the base. Or more likely multiple someones.

“Merde ,” Spy hissed when he could finally breathe. “I do not want to know…any of that. We need to move. Now.”

Spy gave no more heed to Soldier’s shit, grabbing him by the sleeve and putting them both on a tear to the base’s one escape route. Unfortunately, when they reached the entrance to the 2Fort sewers, the door into the deep was firmly shut.

“What?” Spy demanded, jimmying the handle to no avail. “This is never closed.”

“Oh yeah, I closed it on my way in. Wouldn’t want anything sneaking up behind us.”

The fine strand holding Spy’s sanity frayed and snapped, but before he could lay into the Soldier another rumble of various REDs conversing with each other prompted him to reach for his lockpicks instead. He was barely thirty seconds in before Soldier piped up again.

“Everyone in this damn base sure is fussy,” he mused. “Don’t they know we have a battle on tomorrow?” His normal speaking volume echoed dangerously down the barreled hallway.

“Shut up, Soldier,” Spy said.

The pick snapped off in the lock.

“What even is this crap?” Soldier barked. “Back in my day we would have simply kicked the door down! Preferably with a bazooka! Those things are for filing ladies nails, not sending doors back to the God that made them.”

A rising murmur of voices paused at the top of the stairs as though listening, then was replaced by the clatter of feet going down grated steps.

There was no time to try again. If they pressed themselves against the curve in the concrete maybe they could avoid the flashlight beams but Soldier was still talking-

“And all this new age hippie crap about cleaning under them. If the dirt wants to be there then by Abraham Lincoln it has self determined to be there and no one should-”

“Soldier.”

“-We never ask an eagle why there’s rabbit viscera under his talons so why should we-”

“Enough.”

In retrospect, Spy may have put too much force behind slamming his hand over Soldier’s mouth. If he had been a bit more delicate, Soldier wouldn’t have backed up in surprise, wouldn��t have gotten their legs tangled up together, and wouldn’t have sent them both wheeling—inevitably—over the rail.

Spy was just pushing himself out of the water, having landed in an incredibly unfortunate position across Soldier’s body, when a flashlight swung down upon him and alighted them with its accusing gaze. A raised hand—instinctual, like a roach scuttling from a bulb—blocked just enough of the beam that he could make out the detestable figure of the RED Medic peering down at them.

“Eugh,” Medic said, his whole face wrinkling as though he had seen said roach walking across his toothbrush. “BLUs.”

A muffled call of inquiry called from higher on the steps.

“I said there are BLUs in our base. And they appear to be…” Medic cast another derisive look down the few feet into the ante-sewer. “…Fornicating.”

Spy barely had time to groan internally before his second least favorite RED joined the peanut gallery.

Sniper made a similar face to Medic. “Gah, nasty is what that is. Don’t you two have your own sewer to shag in?”

“Wait? There’s screwing going on down there? Tell me this isn’t like the time you made me go all the way across the base because you wanted to tell me two possums were doin’ it underneath the porch.”

The unholy whine of Scout floated into the vault. In what felt like an impossibly scant amount of seconds, the entire RED team had crammed themselves into the hall, enjoying the sport of gawking at the pair of BLUs in their humiliating situation. So busy were they quipping at each other, they did not notice Engineer stepping nervously from foot to foot at the back or the party. Nor did they notice, as Spy did with a bit of venom, the Demoman, who was completely unsubtly trying to pull his turtleneck over a slew of hickies.

“So what do we do with ‘em?” Sniper asked eventually.

“Gotta be honest, don’t like the idea of a couple of BLU pervs getting all frisky in our sewer. I mean, c’mon man. It’s our sewer.”

“Little Scout has point. Only REDs should make love in RED sewer.”

There was a chorus of agreement.

As if this weren’t bad enough already, Soldier, outraged, spoke up, “we were not the ones getting frisky, we-”

Spy completed the much-delayed action of slapping his hand over Soldier’s mouth. “What he means to say is that it is frankly none of your business what we do or do not get up to.”

“It does when you do it at our base!” Scout said. “I pee down here.”

“I don’t,” Sniper said sagely.

“I think,” Engineer, mercifully, spoke up, “that these BLUs have learned their lesson. Why don’t we send ‘em back to their base, and trust that if they don’t want to end up like this again, they won’t come back. Sound fair?”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Demo said, very quickly and very loudly.

“Mmrr-huddada.”

As several barrels pointed over the edge (no mercenary worth their salt went to bed without at least one sidearm tucked in the bed frame) Spy managed to shoot Soldier one last glare before they were sent through respawn. It was unlikely that it actually found its mark.

***

“Good morning Spy!” Soldier greeted as he retrieved his mug of coffee.

Spy did not lift his head off the table.

This bothered Soldier not the slightest. He cheerfully took his mug, poured it into his helmet, and began drinking from that as he went outside to do his morning drills. The BLU Sniper, also seated at the table, watched him go with a raised eyebrow.

Once Soldier was safely out of earshot, he turned to Spy. “So. Gotta ask.”

Spy groaned. He had expected the ‘rumor’ to come out eventually, but to have reached BLU base already? The only explanation was that there was yet another illicit RED/BLU pairing in the works, and it showed exactly how Done he was that he didn’t care the slightest to find out who. He wanted to do nothing except go back to work, find Engineer at some point during the day to explain himself, and wait for this all to blow over.

“What, bushman?” he asked to the tablecloth.

“The RED sewer? Why? We got a perfectly good sewer over here on our side.”

Spy groaned again. This was going to be a long week.

[thisisevenharderthannamingablog]

Korn is the Actual Worst

Nobody is reading these but oh well. Today's very normal thought subject is that we see as early as ep 3 that Kinn when he feels safe is an open, smiley goofball who lunges for Porsche like someone at least a little bit aware that he's drowning.

They never come out and say how long it's been since Tawan, but it has to have been at least a couple of years? (Tay gets an award for sticking by him.) And I'm thinking something barely coherent here about the main house's hyper-controlled atmosphere, all CC-TV cameras and employees who ultimately report to his father, and how Tawan would have killed any sense of refuge even in what should be private areas, so for years no corner of that entire enormous place feels safe. [And he keeps that picture, in case he forgets.]

[I've seen a post or two disapproving of Kinn controlling Porsche's cell phone access, a fair real-world reaction that seems to overlook the fact that in the show-world, Kinn is trapped in this system, too. His family has his phone location tracked. People [mostly Porsche, but still] are constantly bugging rooms, eavesdropping, spying on one another. There is a literal informant in the house trying to have him killed. They all live in a fucking panopticon Korn runs, which is why in order to make real connections with people it has to be somewhere else, mostly Yok's for the symbolism of it all. But anyway, back to safety.]

Nobody is the exact same person with their parents that they are with their friends, but it is obvious that Kinn isn't safe around his father. He's cautious with his words, never shows a real smile, and usually buffers the interaction with alcohol. I get so indignant for him when Korn is reprimanding him in front of Chan, it is literally management 101 you do. not. do. that. For Korn, however, public shaming is the point.

I realized while I was writing up the ep 14 notes that his preferred method relies almost entirely on emotions. He's not a conventional liar in that he's usually not trying to feed people specific information as a means of guiding their behavior (though he does resort to that at the end of the season); it's not the words themselves that matter. It's how he's making someone feel in that moment. Which is why he goes with vagueness and metaphors and cuddly sweaters when he can. [I'll come back to that.]

His episode 1 conversation with Porsche is brief but significant, because he consistently takes this position throughout the season. He wants Porsche dependent on him, and it's not just the quasi-feudal "I meet your physical needs and you give me loyal service" one might expect from organized crime. Korn wants Porsche -- the man he orphaned! I hate him so much -- to have positive emotions about him, see him as a provider for Chay if not for himself. We see it with Pete a little bit from the other side; he's the only one of the bodyguards we ever really learn about, but in the ep 2 fish out of water sequence, he's the fish happy in the bowl. Sure, there's some annoying aspects, but overall it's a good deal.

It's such a grotesque, stunted version of actual connection, but if you can make sure that it's all anyone ever gets...? Once you've established that link, once you are the only source of those positive emotions for someone, you can use it. [Yet another aside: I'm intrigued by Korn's suggestion that Kinn and Porsche go away for a bit, because the only motive I can see for it is that he wanted space to work on Chay.]

Korn probably didn't even read Kinn the riot act about Tawan, just said something like I warned you. Now we have this. They live in a high-stakes world, would have lost face on account of it, lost business, a few people. I'm sure he didn't have to outright tell Kinn what to do about it.

The line that makes me want to stab Korn right through my laptop screen on Kinn's behalf specifically is not the apple speech but the coda: Our family is waiting for you.

How fucking dare he.

Anyway. I like that they trust their audience to figure out that Korn is as bad as his brother; he just prefers a different technique. And I find it interesting that Kinn categorically rejects this approach in favor of shooting someone in the head. (He would suck at it anyway; he can do the cold aloof thing 24/7 for literally years, but he can't fake emotions for shit.)

One of the things I'm mourning about no S2 is that we won't find out if Korn went too far in the S1 endgame. He ended up outright lying a lot as he ran out of maneuvering room. I'd like to know if he got too specific in what he said, told too many straight-up lies that were aimed at Porsche where Kinn could see him do it. Another good reason for Korn to keep his kids isolated from one another is that it reduces the chance that they'll compare stories. I was thinking about writing a fic about this but I might just leave it here - Kim, as the youngest, might have seen this tactic used against other people enough to have figured it out.

[anonuser5634809]

I have questions about Sharon Carter in the MCU.

Why would anyone need to be assigned to protect Steve from any external threat, let alone in Steve's home that the public's unaware of? Did anyone need to be assigned to protect any other S.H.I.E.L.D. employee from any external threat? Does anyone need to be assigned to protect any human from any external threat, when said human would reasonably have any means of self-defense or have anyone be called to stop any threat in said location of residence? You might as well say that it should be illegal for anyone to be alone in their home, even if they're an adult. How is it reasonable to think that any offender will learn where Steve's home's at?

There are potential reasons that anyone could reply with, to which I reply back with at least one question. Each reason has a number next to them:

1. "Sharon needed to be assigned to protect Steve because of who he was."

Still, why, when he's still a human, let alone one who's a super soldier and non-incapacitated? Why would anyone need to be assigned to protect Steve from any external threat, Steve's home that the public's unaware of? That's why I said this: "You might as well say that it should be illegal for anyone to be alone in their home, even if they're an adult."

2. "Sharon needed to be assigned to protect Steve in case not every bad guy is incapacitated or killed."

Wouldn't it be logical to ensure that every offender is neither without limitations nor able to escape?

3. "Sharon needed to be assigned to protect Steve in case Fury or anyone else knows that there's a threat."

Wouldn't it make sense for whoever knows of any threat to tell Steve?

4. "Sharon needed to be assigned to protect Steve because his mental state's not the best since he was unfrozen."

Why would he unnecessarily put himself in harm's way, commit suicide or not care about his life when he's supposed to be a selfless person?

Even if he did care about his life, why would Sharon think that he didn't? Even if his mental state's not the best since he was unfrozen, how does that intrinsically mean that he stops caring about his life and/or becomes suicidal?

Where is Steve shown, explained or implied to suffer from a mental health issue that is life-endangering or fatal?

Onto everything else after this paragraph, now that I've finished answering the above four potential reasons.

The assignment to "protect [Steve]" hinges around the assumption that any bad person would learn his apartment's location or follow him and either hurt, endanger or kill him there, which intrinsically relies on whoever who assumes said assumption acting out of paranoia. Any person assuming said assumption might as well say that it should be illegal for anyone to be alone in their home, even if they're an adult.

Sharon assuming said assumption also implies that trusts nobody, which, in turn, allows this question to exist: why would she trust nobody but him? Why would an intelligent character who doesn't trust anyone not think that she shouldn't trust Steve?

One could say is that she didn't only intend to "protect [him]" in case there's a threat, but also intended to stop him in case he's a threat—meaning that she was spying on him.

Why doesn't Fury having Steve be aware that he's aware of Steve's apartment's location and trusts nobody risk Steve finding out that anyone's assigned to do anything to him at all on Fury's order? Why doesn't Steve realize that it makes sense for Fury, who trusts nobody and knows Steve's apartment's location, to have a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee live across the hall from Steve to do anything to the latter and without his knowledge or consent?

If it isn't true that Sharon didn't trust anyone, why did she assume that Steve's apartment's location would be learned by any external threat, when no one has any technology that can allow them to learn another person on Earth, and when it would be logical to stop any threat in any mission or missions (whether through disarmament, restrainment or incarceration)?

If she and Fury intended to keep her identity and assignment a secret from Steve, why did she reveal them to him at all after Fury was shot? Why didn't she just simply tell him that she's protecting him because of who he is and thus it's irresponsible to not protect him? How is it weird for a nurse to use a gun in self-defense or to use a gun to protect anyone, when not every nurse is the same?

One could say that Sharon revealed her identity and assignment in the moment because she figured that Steve's comfort wouldn't lessen because she proved in the moment that she intended to protect him, but why, when there's still the risk that his comfort could lessen because she and Fury kept her identity and assignment from him for as long as they did—if it's true that they both kept them a secret from Steve beforehand because he wouldn't be comfortable with knowing that she's assigned to do anything to him at all on Fury's order? Why didn't she figure that her reveal wouldn't have left untouched or heightened how comfortable Steve is, even when they crossed paths in the Triskelion after Fury was shot?

One could also say that Sharon specifically using her gun to protect Steve from a threat doesn't require her to reveal her identity and assignment, which isn't questionable, but what reason is there to think that there won't at all be any situation where she has to engage in melee while posing as a nurse?

Why did she pose as a nurse, when if she engages in melee to protect Steve without revealing her identity and assignment, he'd find it off-putting that a person whom he'd have known as a nurse can engage in melee, let alone that she'd have kept her capability to engage in melee a secret from him until this point?

If she intended to pose as a nurse, why didn't she come up with a lie to convince Steve to not find it off-putting that a person whom he'd have known as a nurse can engage in melee so that she wouldn't reveal her identity and assignment to him whenever she acts to do anything to him?

Why didn't Fury hide security cameras in Steve's apartment? Why did Fury only bug Steve's apartment when he'd think that there should be security cameras in said apartment for him to know what Steve's doing at the moment?

Why didn't Fury blackmail Steve with a threat that he'd conduct a search for Steve if he moved out of the apartment?

Why did Fury and Sharon keep her identity and assignment a secret from Steve, when lessening Steve's comfort by having him know her identity and that she's spying on him (if it's true that she's spying on him) would serve as a deterrent to keep him in line?

Why didn't Steve figure before Sharon revealed her identity and assignment that Fury, whom Steve knows trusts nobody, had to have assigned or did assign anyone to do anything to him at all? Why wouldn't Steve figure that it'd make sense for Fury, whom he knows trusts nobody, to assign someone to live across the hall from Steve without disclosing any identity and assignment?

One could argue that Steve didn't know that Fury trusts nobody until Fury told him that he lost an eye the last time he trusted someone, which isn't true. Steve knew that Fury trusts nobody by the Battle of New York; Fury's "hopelessly, hilariously, out-gunned" line implies that he has a fear of the unknown, and Natasha revealed afterwards that "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats" and replied to Bruce's question, "And Captain America is on the threat poll?", by saying that "We all are!". Why would someone who fears the unknown trust anyone?

Since Sharon's assigned to do anything to Steve, one can assume that she, before Fury was shot, willingly chose not to leave the apartment building to do the right thing during her time in said building—this assumption can be supported by the facts that Sharon and Steve never met on missions, on Helicarrier No. 64 or at the Triskelion before Fury was shot and that he never knew her identity and assignment until she revealed both. If said assumption's the case, why wouldn't she leave said building to do the right thing, when she's characterized as a person who is willing to put herself in danger to help any innocent (e.g. fighting Rumlow and the brainwashed Winter Soldier, respectively)?

One could say that she did leave when she needed to, but if that's the case, why were Sharon and Steve the only S.H.I.E.L.D. employees in the apartment building, when it'd be reasonable for Fury and Sharon to think that there should be at least one other S.H.I.E.L.D. employee in said building while Steve's the only other S.H.I.E.L.D. employee in said building? Even if one could say that Fury is overconfident or arrogant, is Sharon also overconfident or arrogant?

If Fury intended to have Sharon protect or stop Steve if needed, why didn't she or Fury think that she should move in with Steve when it's easier for her to, if needed, protect or stop him? How is any move-in intrinsically required to be forceful, when she and Steve could have at least a rational relationship before he agrees to let her move in with him?

If Fury's the one who bugged Steve's apartment, why did Fury, who knew that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s compromised and that the apartment's still bugged, go into there instead of having Sharon let him go into her apartment and get Steve to be in her apartment to meet with Fury? Given that Fury didn't have a key to Steve's apartment and that Sharon knew to kick the door open, it can be inferred that she used a key to Steve's apartment to open said door for Fury to come in when he went into the building after the earlier attack on him in Washington, D.C., which implies Fury thought it's a good idea to have Sharon unlock Steve's door so that Fury would go into his apartment. Why would Fury think it's a good idea to have Sharon unlock Steve's door so that Fury would go into his apartment, but not think it's a good idea to have her let him go into her apartment and get Steve to be in her apartment to meet with Fury?

If Sharon can lie that she's a nurse and keep her identity and assignment a secret from Steve, this shows that any S.H.I.E.L.D. employee is capable of hiding any secret or lying about anything. Steve not only heeded Fury's advice, "Don't trust anyone.", and knew that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s compromised, but would also figure that any S.H.I.E.L.D. employee is capable of hiding any secret or lying about anything—meaning that it'd make sense that Steve wouldn't trust Sharon, even after she revealed her identity and assignment to him. If the previous two sentences are the case, why does Steve trust Sam, when the latter could secretly be a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee and lying?

People ask why Steve didn't get help from Tony or anyone else, but Steve knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised, so it'd make sense that Steve also wouldn't trust anyone who is tied to, was tied to, works with or has worked with S.H.I.E.L.D.; Steve learning later that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't help. Steve let Natasha, whom he's aware of her status as a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee, go with him because he, while not trusting of her, won't abandon her at this point as she had implicitly offered to help him and isn't actively a threat.

One might say that Steve, in-between Fury telling him not to trust anyone and Hill saving Steve, Natasha and Sam, trusted at least one person within or tied to S.H.I.E.L.D., but if that's the case, then why didn't Steve get help from Tony or anyone else? One might say that Steve won't risk HYDRA endangering or killing Tony or anyone else whom Steve would reach out to, but it's still a risk worth taking if it means stopping HYDRA.

[cakexblankett]

Tag

Yellow

Character

Ilsa Faust

Words

1.197

~•~

You lazily opened your eyes, the light entering the room from the opened window, a gust of wind making the curtains sway gently. The small room looked a mess, with various papers moving because of the wind, your clothes all over the floor. You closed your eyes, smiling, thinking of the night that just passed. Ilsa was a phenomenon, not only as a spy but also as a lover. You hummed, extending an arm, reaching for her, but all you found was the bare sheets on which you layed. You immediately jolted upright, scanning, once again, the room. No sight of her.

"Ilsa?"

You shouted for her, getting up. You got no answer. Your heart began racing, faster and faster, just like your feet, as you ran down the stairs and into the hallway, searching for her in every room.

"Ilsa!?"

You screamed at the top of your lungs, panick rising with every and each breath you took. You looked everywhere, in every room, in every closet, in every hiding spot, but nothing. She was nowhere to be found. You collapsed on the kitchen floor, tears streaming down your face. What had happened? Did someone found her?

You had been hiding for a couple of months now, and nobody seemed to even fathom your whereabouts. But maybe you were wrong, maybe they knew all along, ready to strike just at the right moment, to take her away from you. And you weren't ready. You were weak, unprepared, and now she was gone.

You got up, your eyes stinging from the tears welling up. And then the fron door opened slowly, creacking. You instictively took a knife, preparing for battle. You hid behind the kitchen door, waiting. You felt them moving towards you, the sound of their feet coming closer and closer until...

"Woah there!"

You were prepared to struck the knife into the skull of whoever was the intruder just to find her laughing at you. You sighed, putting down the knife on the kitchen table. You punched her softly on the arm.

"You're a moron! I could have killed you!"

She kissed you, still giggling.

"Yeah, you could have. That's what I like about my women: the ability to kill."

You scoffed, helping her with the groceries.

"How many times do I have to tell you that-"

"We don't leave eachother alone. Ever."

You gave her an agry look, and she shook her shoulders.

"I know, but I couldn't sleep so I thought I might as well efficiently use my time. Plus..."

She took the knife you previously held and scrutinesed it.

"You told me yourself. You could have killed me, if I wasn't me. So you can bare being alone for a while."

"No."

She stared at you, trying to decipher your thoughts.

""No" what?"

"I can't. I can't be alone. I can't stay without you."

She smiled. You loved her smile, when it was genuine. She often faked her smiles and her laughes and... well... everything. But, when with you, she tried to be as authentic as possible. And now she was, you could tell. She was happy, as happy as one can be on the run from any form of government. But you two were happy, living a simple and quiet life, away from others.

But the thought of losing her seldom made its way in your mind. And you hated it, you hated the feeling that, someday, you will might lose her. But that made your relationship all too special. Every moment was precious, because it might be the last. So you learned to make the most of everything, living in the moment.

"I can't stay without you either."

She confessed, averting her eyes, taking an apple from the groceries bag, but before she could bite down on it, you locked her in a kiss. Your hands on each side if her face, your eyes closed. You thought of everything she did to you, of everything she did for you, and you remembered how much you loved her.

"Hey..."

She whispered on your lips, interrupting the kiss. You hummed, waiting for her to continue.

"I love you..."

Your heart lost a beat. You knew it, you always knew, she didn't have to say it aloud to make you realise it but hearing it, said with that sweet voice of her...

"I love you too."

You kissed again, hungrily. Your hands roaming eachothers bodies, shamefully trying to get rid of all the clothes that separated your skin from hers.

"Y/N..."

You moaned, feeling her tongue battling with yours. Then she stopped, and backed up a little. You eyed her, confused.

"Is there something wrong-"

She silenced you, covering your mouth with a hand. She scanned the suroundings, alert. You did the same, founding nothing.

"I heard something..."

She whispered, taking the knife and exiting the kitchen. You mimicked her, taking another knife and following her closely outside. The sun hit you and you had to shelter your eyes with a hand, never letting down your guard. Ilsa was in front of you, stretching one arm before you, to shelter you from any kind of danger. You suddenly heard steps on your right, so you focused all your attention on that direction.

"Ilsa..."

She followed your gaze, squinting her eyes to better visualise the perimeter.

"Stay here."

She started approaching whatever was making the noise when you saw it. Someone was pointing a gun in her direction from a distance. The sounds were a bait. Everything was planned. You screamed.

"Ilsa!"

Bang!

Your eyes were fixed on her.

Bang!

At first you thought they missed.

Bang!

But then you saw her collaps on the ground.

Bang!

And then nothing. You heard nothing, you saw nothing apart from her, laying there, amidst the bushes and trees. Tears started streaming down your face. You screamed but you couldn't hear it. You ran to her, forgetting of the person who shot her.

"Ilsa!"

Your hands trembled, you were shaking, barely breathing. You took her in your arms, looking for the wound. Right on her chest, the blood colouring her beige shirt of a red shade. You put one hand on that spot, adding pressure, to stop the bleeding, but it was futile. Her blue eyes were already lifeless.

"Ilsa..."

You started sobbing. It was all your fault. She was gone. You couldn't live without her, you just couldn't. You kissed her on the forehead, closing her eyes. She was...

No. It was all a joke. You laughed. Yes, it must be a cruel prank. Maybe Hunt was involved. But then you gazed at the wound again, a visible mark that it was, in fact, real. And so you started crying again. You were fragile, you needed her in your life. Because you loved her. And you realised you didn't say enough, and now she was dead and she will never hear those words again.

"I love you. I'm sorry. I love you. Please, don't leave..."

But she couldn't hear you, because she was dead. And you were too, because your heart, and a part of you, died with her.

[llycaons]

further thoughts on atogai

the knife attack was sick. I love kadou

I complained earlier he doesn't have any hobbies, but he really is a very well-educated and intelligent young man with an apparently sincere interest in the economy, public works, wines...he's got stuff going on

kadou at one point calls evemer 'tricksy' which had me screaming...gollum moment

why is evemer so obsessed with being trusted? what's HIS baggage? he doesn't really seem to have anything going on in his backstory.

he really is quite like lwj. not expressive, strict with himself, rule-abiding to the point of rigidity, solitary, only opens up to his mom...but like, what great hurt is HE hiding? lwj was in mourning since he was 6 years old, and it informed his behavior towards wwx later in the story. evemer might have more internal depth, but he doesn't appear to have much in the way of backstory and I kind of doubt his character is going to develop very much beyond 'coming to realize kadou is The Guy He Wants To Serve' and then falling in love etc.

it's nice to see him talk back more to kadou...honesty is important

EOZENA MVP 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

siranos is being extremely fucking suspicious. screwing up the investigation in so many small ways and nobody even thinks to suspect him?? it's so obvious I hope it's a red herring

also I think eozena's gonna die. she just said something about getting old. I don't think she'll make 76 :/

kadou getting all twisted up about his position and his relationships presents the opportunity for some drama down the road. like omg him and evemer are so in love...but they cant! they musn't! their POSITIONS....

all temporary until he gets promoted, ofc. or...demoted. this doesn't seem like that kind of unpredictable story but who knows

I'm enjoying their semi-friendship tho. it's nice to see them joking around and communicating and stuff

I think tadek is going to die :(

it's pretty neat how deftly the author is juggling this complex relationship dynamic and how completely they're avoiding boiling the interactions down the mere jealously or desire or Love. kadou cares for tadek and respects him and doesn't want to hurt him and he also really likes evemer in a genuinely serious way and tadek really cares abt kadou and is loyal to him and IS a little jealous of evemer bc he feels like he's been pushed aside and he kind of has, and evemer thinks low of tadek but his opinion is improving...but tadek isn't an antagonist or a bitter ex and he's still likeable and important and kind and loyal...it's interesting

and he's also not in love w kadou. like he loves him and he is deeply loyal and affectionate but I don't think he's IN love

ohh now they're having it out...nodding nodding

oh lmao 'As indulgent and satisfying as your favorite fanfiction.' I wonder if the author is offended bc they write fanfic but this is THEIR original stuff...I think it's better in a lot of ways than most fanfic but I wouldn't say it's as satisfying as my FAVORITE fanfic

their only chance is if they deliver that sex scene like they didn't in unstrictly ballroom COME ON MX. ROWLAND!!!

oh my god NO now they have to kiss to pretend like they weren't spying? god I hate this trope it's so stupid and its unbearably embarassing 😭😭😭 my estimation of this book just dropped like. not insignificantly

I was worried this would play into orientalist tropes but besides some titles and names of food and instruments, this setting doesn't seem to have much of a connection to the real-life SWANA region. names, religion, the social and cultural system, geography...all looks original to the book. I'm a bit disappointed (I liked the passion and research that infused SFC's city of brass series), but at least there's not much of stereotypes to worry about. and COB handled many things...very clumsily. this isn't a book abt geopolitics and I'm glad

not even joking I don't think it's problematic or anything it's just annoying and I had to stop reading to anxiously make this post bc I do NOT wanna read this. ugh here GOES I GUESS

okay can it be behind us now 💀

I DO find it a little annoying when royals are like 'oh woe is me I must marry for something besides love' but the narrative recognizes that this is just the assumption for the rest of the kingdom and not the reality necessarily. like kadou has his every need seen to, is unimaginably wealthy, is extremely well-educated and well-cared for, and has a retinue of personal guards to see to his every comfort. he does have those attacks but when he genuinely starts complaining about his position I'm like. dude come on

to his credit he usually doesn't tho! that would be unbearable. the narrative doesn't talk much abt the other people in the city or kingdom except the guards have an insane schedule but they ARE the future government and they get paid like crazy so it's kind of like doctors doing insane hours right. not that 72z-hr weeks are GOOD. damn

evemer hasn't seen his mama in like...weeks. I want to meet her!!!!!

help so the sister is inviting a hot french guy down to try to set him up w kadou and kadou thinks it's for HER so he's like 'I better stay out of her way so she can fuck him :) wow I love my sister I can't wait to have a niece. go get it girl'

if she's trying to make a political alliance she should at least tell him...

oh this could be awkward. I kind of hope frenchie is a nightmare. for the drama

honestly it seems like a glaring oversight that evemer didn't report that conversation to eozema. of course kadou dismissed it but it was clearly pertinent!!!

I can see the echos of some of wx in this but like...idk it doesn't feel as earned as wx did. they've known each other for less than two months. 'evemer was safety' it's been like 6 weeks my guys. wwx knew lwj for years. you can't even hope to compete with THAT dynamic but it's kind of cute to try

well well well. I have to stop reading to make dinner and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. such is life as an adult. but the convos are interesting

[tarenitdown]

Okay, uh, multiple questions...

1. Favorite member of recreyo in general? How about to write?

2. Any stray au ideas?

3. Uuuh shoot those arent multiple- just say anything you want about them, even a hot take.

1- Den is my number one member, hands down. I actually found out about Recreyo through her, so I have a lot of bias considering she was one of my favorites during that whole animation story-time era of Youtube...

That being said, though, my favorite to write is still Christian. He just has the most lore to work with, and I really adore writing his dialogue, especially when he's interacting with Ivan. I doubt that that's surprising. xD

However, Kristine is growing on me a lot more as time goes on. In the past I hadn't exactly gotten her characterization down yet, so I found her a little difficult and messy, but I'm definitely starting to get a feel for it now.

2- Oh boy... too many. Although I'm trying to stay focused on the SPY AU, my mind wanders and I ended up with a slowly-developing Ghost AU.

TW: Animal Death

It'd center around Kristine as a (mostly) well-meaning urban explorer, who accidentally stumbles upon a trail of dead animals in the forest. Strangely enough, all of the animals are drained of their blood with barely any exterior wounds, and this is what gets Kristine's curiosity.

Following the path of death, Kristine finds an abandoned tower with boarded up doors and windows... it's eerie, but she takes out a camera and snaps photos of the tower from the outside. After all, she's not sure if she wants to go in quite yet.

But as she walks around, capturing the scenes of fallen trees and graffiti...

The air gets hot. It's like she can't breathe, tugging on her shirt collar.

She drops the camera when she sees a ghostly body floating in front of her. This is where she meets Christian, a boy who looks just about the same age as her, but his skin looks drippy. As though he was sweating, or almost melting.

He greets her cheerfully, if not a bit apprehensive. The two hit it off immediately, with Kristine listening to Christian's rambles of how he hated the scenery. She asks him about his ghost-situation, and he doesn't answer.

Instead, he calls out "Curt! Ivan!" and two more boys show up. They phase through the tower's walls.

Curt has tears running down his face, even though he doesn't appear necessarily sad. He's actually very polite, and tells Christian off for talking to a real person, with it being "dangerous."

Ivan's eyes are pitch black, but the main feature Kristine notices is actually how he's reflective- almost like glass. He doesn't seem to care at all about Christian and Curt's bickering, but he keeps his distance away from the explorer.

"How are you guys all.. dead? Er- ghosts-?" Again, Kristine asks. Nobody gives a solid answer, and Ivan only stammers stupid excuses.

Then, they all go silent. That's when Kristine turns around to see the last ghost: Den.

Just like the other three, Den has a slightly altered design. Her face is flushed, and she has to wipe her mouth every few minutes due to stray drool.

Kristine finds out that Den is the one who had been killing all the animals and draining them of their blood. She apparently has an endless thirst for blood, and she complains that Christian is only making it worse by being present.

Kristine: ..Oh, is.. is he doing that? That explains the temperature.

...And thats pretty much all I have right now. There's no real plot I have written beyond just characterizations. I had the vague idea of Chilly being an angry spirit and being the antagonist herself.

And for the deaths?

Christian died from burning alive (which is why he makes areas warmer/is melting),

Den died of dehydration after getting lost during a trip (she has a specific thirst for blood due to a small blame on others for her death),

Ivan got stabbed with glass (I don't know the backstory for this, it might change honestly),

..Curt doesn't remember his death at all. I imagine he died in his sleep because of unexplained illnesses or something.

Maybe I'll write a two-parter for this AU. I enjoy that it'd definitely take a more genuine approach to the group dynamic.

3- A hot take? Hmmm.. I imagine that this fandom isn't even big enough for takes to be controversial... but I'll say that Ivan and Den's dynamic often goes unexplored/forgotten about, despite how iconic it is.

And that's a shame, really. Ivan/Christian is my favorite duo dynamic, but it honestly parallels (and even takes after) Ivan/Den.

With the shared blame on Ivan for their own individual grudges (Barney's death, Shadypaws' endangerment/Den's framing in the AA case) it also opens up the door for a Den/Christian duo too.

A lot of people like to portray Den as someone villainous, but Ivan is the exact same. Their misdeeds are just in two different ways. Den is loud about it, while Ivan has more tact. Even ignoring their history, just the personalities are enough to get me so invested.

And don't get me started on how they both had incredible duos with Chilly. Because there it is again- another layer to the group dynamic that shifts relationships ever-so-slightly but still with so much impact.

It's so much more than just "Haha knife girl go brrr @ loser boy." As funny as it is, I really think that the two have a charming rivalry while still maintaining that level of "I might not like you all that much, but if you're all I've got, then I guess we're family."

(This was just a bunch of word vomit, I dunno if this is all readable... thank you for the ask.)

[severus-snaps]

Ooh I enjoyed this take. It's been a while since I've read the later books (I've skimmed the first three but only looked into some Snape-relevant chapters from gof onwards bc they're. Lengthy) so I've turned to rereading the beginning of HBP again and using the online calendars to try and get at this (and it ended up So Long, I'm so sorry).

“What is done, is done.” “But not by you!” said Bellatrix furiously. “No, you were once again absent while the rest of us ran dangers, were you not, Snape?” “My orders were to remain behind,” said Snape. “Perhaps you disagree with the Dark Lord, perhaps you think that Dumbledore would not have noticed if I had joined forces with the Death Eaters to fight the Order of the Phoenix? And — forgive me — you speak of dangers … you were facing six teenagers, were you not?” “They were joined, as you very well know, by half of the Order before long!” snarled Bellatrix. “And, while we are on the subject of the Order, you still claim you cannot reveal the whereabouts of their headquarters, don’t you?”

So how many "dangers" had there been at the point Bellatrix and Snape are having that conversation?

During GoF, the most nefarious things were:

the events at the Quidditch World Cup (late August 1994) - not sanctioned by Voldemort, as he was a baby-man, and also the other DEs scattered when Barty Jr. cast the Dark Mark

a few Voldemort-related disappearances to set up Voldemort's return: Bertha Jorkins, Barty Crouch Sr, and a Muggle named Frank Bryce

Voldemort's return at the graveyard (late June 1995)

Snape did not, to the best of my knowledge, take part in the events at the Quidditch World Cup (summer 1994), not that those could be counted as 'dangers' - it was just some DE pals having twisted fun doing Muggle torture (aka the same thing James threatened Snape with, but that's a whole other thing). Snape wasn't related to any of the disappearances (those were Wormtail, Voldemort, and Barty Jr, and as far as I'm aware they also weren't 'dangers' as nobody knew what or why they were happening). Snape did not immediately return to the graveyard (summer, late June 1995) - but Bellatrix wasn't there for that either, being imprisoned and all.

I think there's entire metas that could be written about Snape's loyalties and Barty Jr.'s, as he impersonates Moody, and their dynamic during GoF; Barty is using his cover as Moody to threaten and torment Snape, and Lucius (through Draco), because he believes they are traitors to Voldemort's cause. "Spots that never come off" directly refers to the Dark Mark, but I initially interpreted it as a rephrasing of "a leopard never changes its spots" aka it's impossible for someone to change their character. From Barty's view then, and likely from Bellatrix's view, Snape has always been not entirely with the DEs, and been a bit of a traitor to the cause. Barty also refers to his value to Voldemort as meaning action rather than words, which I'll touch on again later.

I also don't think that having the mark is necessarily indicative of being overly high-ranking; Wormtail has one, and V thought he was useless outside of ratting out (ha) the Potters, and Draco's yet to do anything much when he gets one. The 'inner circle' is mentioned in CoS, before Dark Marks were even considered a thing, and this is only Harry's speculation:

Harry thought he knew why Greyback was not calling Voldemort. The werewolf might be allowed to wear Death Eater robes when they wanted to use him, but only Voldemort’s inner circle were branded with the Dark Mark: Greyback had not been granted this highest honor.

I expect it's just more convenient to just brand someone you'll know you need to communicate with - like a spy or a student sent to Hogwarts, for example, rather than indicating loyalty:

"Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side."

Take it from a reformed Death Eater; it's not really about trust, it's about practicality. I suppose if Severus was not already Marked, his act of loyalty could've been relaying half the Prophecy, probably during the summer holidays of 1980. Otherwise there's this post that argues he was made a DE in the summer of 1979, so who knows what he was doing before he interviewed, since he would've graduated in June 1978.

In GoF there's also the matter of Karkaroff's trial; he lists names of "important supporters", people he saw with his own eyes doing Voldemort's bidding. He runs through a list of names: Dolohov (torture of Muggles and non-supporters), Rosier (dead, took a bit of Moody's nose with him), Travers (murdered the McKinnons), Mulciber (specialised in the Imperius curse and made people do terrible things), Rookwood (Ministry spy). And then, looking quite desperate, he says "Severus Snape". I know this is a tired argument by now, but if Karkaroff was there to witness or at least hear firsthand about these things, and with how easily he bothers Snape all year, he must have known what Snape had done. But all he says after finding out that Snape has been cleared is "I assure you! Severus Snape is a Death Eater!" when now would've been the time to offer up at least one tangible crime that he'd committed; but I think Snape's crimes were in the passing of information, which isn't nearly so easy to quantify as torture and murder. Moody wears a look of deep scepticism but doesn't offer any other commentary like he did for previous accusations, possibly because he's beside Dumbledore, or possibly because he has nothing to add. (I personally like the headcanon that since Karkaroff didn't name Bellatrix, Barty or the others in that trial that Snape volunteered their names, since the Longbottoms couldn't speak for themselves; it would add an interesting layer to their animosity if Snape was the reason Bellatrix got imprisoned. Not sure if it's likely but it is enjoyable).

Anyway, after Gof, and during the events of OotP (summers 1995-96), Voldemort had been trying to have a quiet rising - trying not to reveal himself until his winning was more of an inevitability than a chance. Insidious. Subtle, like a disease you don't catch until it's too late. I think, but I can't remember for sure, that there were some disappearances or weirdness happening throughout OotP? But maybe not; the Ministry was determined that he had not returned, and Voldemort's whole goal was to potentially Imperius people and/or get a few spies into the Ministry, or get the entire Prophecy by stealth, rather than recruiting more people:

"He’s well-practiced at operating in secrecy. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he’s interested in, he’s got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he’s concentrating on them at the moment." "What’s he after apart from followers?" Harry asked swiftly. He thought he saw Sirius and Lupin exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius said, "Stuff he can only get by stealth."

He's after the Prophecy, and not making much of a stir until January 1996 when a bunch of DEs get broken out of Azkaban. What exactly he's doing between January and June 1996 (battle at the Ministry), I have no idea; nothing that causes enough of a stir to get anyone to believe Harry that he's returned, least of all the Ministry, who think Dumbledore is planning a coup. V's probably plotting about how to get into the Department of Mysteries? Actually attempting to get into the Department? Nagini attacks Arthur in December 1995, Bellatrix and the others are released in Jan 1996; perhaps V realises he needs reinforcements after that was foiled? Either way, the Ministry didn't admit that Voldemort had returned until June of 1996, when Voldemort was spotted in the Ministry following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

The battle happens at the end of June 1996, and the latest the Spinner's End conversation could have happened is the first week or so of July. Prior to Spinner's End, there's an escalation of DE activity; Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance were murdered during late June or the first week of July in the 1996 summer holiday, around the same time that giants and possibly DEs wreaked havoc in Somerset; there's more Dementors, and a bridge collapse? I get the idea that those are less 'dangerous' from a DE perspective since I expect they'd gang up and ambush an individual. Amelia was said to have put up a fight, and it was a rather messy affair, but I think it's said or implied somewhere that Voldemort himself killed Amelia Bones.

In late July 1996 (Harry's birthday), Remus brings news of more Dementor attacks (not dangerous to a DE), the discovery of Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north (he might have put up a good fight? But maybe not), and the disappearance of Ollivander (probably did put up a good fight).

So, returning to Bellatrix's idea of 'dangers'. When Bellatrix says he's "once again absent while the rest of us ran dangers", Bellatrix doesn't refer to these (giants, for example), or any other events, as part of her 'dangers' for several reasons - chief among them that attacking Muggles and a bridge with magic, Dementors, and giants on their side is a fairly one-sided endeavour, and for the aforementioned reasons that DEs would likely ambush an individual - or Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards ever, would do it himself. Nor does Bellatrix bring up any similar 'dangers' in recent memory, outside of the Department of Mysteries - because until Voldemort got spotted, they were doing things quietly. Presumably other quiet disappearances would've been happening alongside the murders of Emmeline Vance and Amelia Bones, and Snape would likely not have been actively taking part, but I'd hardly call them 'dangers' like the Battle since they aren't large enough to get reported on in Muggle or magical media.

My thinking here is that the main/only Danger by the Spinner's End chapter in HBP (which takes place early July 1996) would be the Ministry battle for the prophecy towards the end of OotP (June 1996) - at which point Snape is meant to be at Hogwarts anyway, per Voldemort's orders. And Snape would've been working at Hogwarts for most of January-June every year, only free in the summers and holidays to terrorise people freely, if he so wished. Snape has the reasonable excuse of being at Hogwarts for the majority of the time, so he wouldn't need to make empty promises or slither out of action, because he couldn't really leave the school without arousing suspicion. And Bellatrix only got out relatively recently, and Voldemort was not 'active' for much of the time she's been free.

So I think "The usual empty words, the usual slithering out of action" implies a string of behaviour, stretching back longer than the days since the start of the active phase of Voldemort's second rise in summer 1996 - because in reality, Voldemort's only managed about a week's worth of noticeable damage outside of the break from Azkaban at this point, and that's the only thing Bellatrix has been part of that we know about. Since she likes to 'play with her food before eating it' - I think someone would've noticed if she'd been let off the leash.

It's also during that conversation that Snape does what he probably actually did throughout his career as a DE/spy, which was trading in information - he claims to be responsible for the deaths of Emmeline Vance, and partly for Sirius Black.

"The Dark Lord is satisfied with the information I have passed him on the Order. It led, as perhaps you have guessed, to the recent capture and murder of Emmeline Vance, and it certainly helped dispose of Sirius Black, though I give you full credit for finishing him off."

We, as readers, know that Snape actually tried to save Sirius. It's not unreasonable to assume that Emmeline Vance was one of those who lately Snape 'could not save' - and worst-case in terms of guilt for Snape here is that his passing along of the information did cause her death - just like his passing of information caused Lily and James' deaths, and would otherwise have caused Harry's, or Neville's, etc.

Bouncing ahead (or back?) to Snape's memories, when Snape approached Dumbledore on the windy hilltop, Dumbledore immediately assumed Snape was there to deliver a message, not to attack:

“Well, Severus? What message does Lord Voldemort have for me?” “No — no message — I’m here on my own account!”

I know it was probably a lot to ask for a ~21yo Snape to kill Dumbledore, and Dumbledore probably couldn't have been killed by Snape anyway then (much like how Voldemort doesn't expect Draco to kill Dumbledore, but be killed trying). He doesn't have the power. But Dumbledore's immediate assumption that Snape was there to pass along a message further suggests to me that Snape's value has always been in information, not in action. (Of course, it's possible Snape sent an owl like "I have a message for you", but that also implies that it's not a weird enough request for Dumbledore to question it.) This is more in line with Bellatrix's view that Snape deals in 'empty' words (words are his currency, and she doesn't value it) and 'slithers out of action' (as action is her currency, proof of value and devotion; she went to Azkaban, after all, she's willing to kill her own family members, etc. This is the same mindset as believers like Barty Jr, who we also know have tortured/killed people - including his own family members). We learn in Spinner's End that Snape initially took up his role at Hogwarts on Voldemort's orders (presumably, that was why he interviewed for a position when he overheard the prophecy in like 1980) - to spy on Dumbledore.

"I was where he had ordered me to be, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, because he wished me to spy upon Albus Dumbledore. You know, I presume, that it was on the Dark Lord’s orders that I took up the post?"

He then took the prophecy to Voldemort, and we all know how that turned out.

It's left open to interpretation, but following along Snape's memories, I do think Severus' concern for his soul, and his reluctance to kill, indicates that he hasn't killed before. Snape knows by Spinner's End that Dumbledore is dying because of the curse in his hand. Snape probably heard about The Plan from Voldemort, told Dumbledore before Dumbledore got cursed, then they revisited that conversation when he got cursed, and later Snape had the conversation with Narcissa. Snape probably initially expected, whilst saving Dumbledore, that the curse would be what finished Dumbledore off during this plan, and if they could put off Draco's attempts for long enough, Snape could do what he does in Spinner's End and take credit for a death that was only indirectly related to his actions...

And then Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him, instead of letting Draco or the curse do it.

Snape would do a lot for his students' physical safety, but especially for Draco. He's willing to potentially die for Draco if the plan with Dumbledore goes awry, he's willing to defy Voldemort for Draco by discussing the plan with Narcissa which could cause severe punishment or death, and Snape takes the Unbreakable Vow knowing that Voldemort sort of intends for Draco to die, so he'd die too. But for all the things Snape is willing to do - get bitten by Fluffy, confront a werewolf, have everyone think he's a Death Eater or untrustworthy for much of his adult life, lie to Voldemort, watch people die, probably suffer Voldemort's "displeasure"/wrath after returning two hours late in GoF, die for Draco, actually die for Harry, etc - he is not willing to kill Dumbledore to save Draco. That is a task too great, even for Snape.

“If you don’t mind dying,” said Snape roughly, “why not let Draco do it?” “That boy’s soul is not yet so damaged,” said Dumbledore. “I would not have it ripped apart on my account.” “And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?” “You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old man avoid pain and humiliation,” said Dumbledore.

Of course, it could just be that it's Dumbledore, the closest thing he has to a father figure and friend, and the only person who knows the truth about his loyalties when to everyone else Snape's just 'that weird guy we work with that we're not quite sure about but Dumbledore says he's okay so we tolerate him'. But toeing the party line, I firmly think Snape here is implying that his soul is also not yet so damaged, despite the horrors he's undoubtedly seen and witnessed and caused, and that is why he's so upset. Dumbledore doesn't dispute that Snape's soul isn't ripped apart already, and he also doesn't reach for a "you've already killed people" - and I'm certain he would pour salt in that wound if it existed and he thought it would get Snape to do as he was told here. After all, he's no stranger to watching people die, and to witnessing terrible things:

“You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?” “Don’t be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?” “Lately, only those whom I could not save,” said Snape.

But I think he is a stranger to killing someone outright. From the conversation in the office to the conversation in the forest to the moment the deed is done, Snape hates it, and he hates that he has to do it. I know in this context the above quote is sort of discussing Dumbledore letting Harry die rather than killing him himself, but the distinction is almost moot, I think, when it comes to Snape. He feels guilt for Lily's death because he caused it, even if he did not do the killing. If Harry is the 'pig for slaughter' then Dumbledore is the one who's sending him to his death in the slaughterhouse. And again, Dumbledore probably would've asked "How many people have you killed?" if he thought, or knew, that Snape had killed anyone. Surely that would be more appropriate to ask, since that's essentially what Snape is accusing Dumbledore of doing here; killing Harry by sending him to his death at the hands of Voldemort. Sound familiar?

"he wished me to spy upon Albus Dumbledore"

"The Dark Lord is satisfied with the information I have passed him"

"therein lies my great value to the Dark Lord."

Snape's value is in his information - from his school days studying ahead to creating and experimenting with spells, to snooping about as a teen, to interviewing at the age of ~20 for a position at Hogwarts to spy on Dumbledore, to relaying the Prophecy, the information that killed Lily, and Sirius, and Emmeline Vance. And his slithering out of action isn't new; his usual empty words aren't new. Barty Jr possibly doesn't like him for it, and neither does Bellatrix, who at best (at this point) has a few months of freedom this time around, where Snape is at Hogwarts most of the time and can't do anything anyway, and the only thing she's done is whine about Azkaban and lose the prophecy.

Anyway, I think that Snape certainly caused plenty of deaths - but he probably didn't outright kill anyone, until Dumbledore.

what did snape do as a death eater? it's a little unclear. but i think it's likely he did not murder anyone. severus is against killing dumbledore. when dumbledore asks severus to prevent draco from damaging his (uncorrupted) soul, severus says “And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?” which suggests that severus has not committed murder, even when he was a fully-fledged death eater. althought severus was clearly skilled in combat, this implied that he did not commit the same atrocities as other death eaters. personally, i think he mostly utilized his other talents (which other servants of voldemort did not posess), like (dark) spell creation and brewing. and, of course, intelligence gathering, which he did in both the first and second wars. second, this is kind of a sad moment for albus and severus's relationship. because dumbledore is working to maximize good: this plan will save (what's left of) draco's innocence while solidifying severus's standing with voldemort and preserving dumbledore's dignity. we get where dumble is coming from, but he implies that severus's soul is irredeemable. that his suffering is less significant. snape, who for years has been dumbledore's right hand (especially after dumble's own right hand got cursed lol), gets taken for granted. dumbledore has no ill intent here but he's not great at treating individuals as people–he prefers to analyze the big picture (and makes social blunders lol).

[yukinarinn]

Can you do a Rantaro x brave and savage fem reader smut with fluff where we're secretly the ultimate agent spy to stop the killing game. We became friends and he finds out quickly but promise not to tell anyone (also when he flirts with us, we flirt back, flustering him) then Y/N defeats the mastermind, everyone of us survives, after we left then we confess our feelings, smut starts and ends with us cuddling

I don’t know if you’ll like this but I tried my best! I know it’s been a month, but I had struggles of what I should write here. I didn’t really have ideas but I finally finished it! I hope you will still enjoy it <3

cw: swearing, mentions of future foundation, nsfw, praise, vanilla sex, reader gets very vulnerable at the end, past relationship trauma, unprotected sex

I woke up sitting on a chair, resting my head on the desk. My vision was still blurry and I could barely see anything after opening my eyes, until I figure out that I’m in a strange classroom, I jump out of the chair and my eyes widened. I can remember that I was going to school and someone took me with them in a car, and somehow I woke up here.

I look around and nothing useful I can see. Then I heard a squeaky voice, confused I looked around once again and I saw a surveillance camera. The voice came from there.

“It’s been a long time, isn’t it? everyone please gather to the gym, RIGHT NOW!” the transmission ended. What the fuck, was that actually a bear? he said everyone, which means, I’m not the only one here? I tried to find that gym, dammit, this school was huge.

I found a door, and above it, it says “gym” which I suppose this is where I should go. I open the door slowly and I saw a bunch of students looking at me, I came closer to them looking at them too until a specific student started to talk.

“Why are you fucking staring at me, I’m too hot and you wanna do the dirty with me and I don’t know??” the girl yelled at me.

“Says you” I rolled my eyes.

The girl wears a modified pink sailor uniform and a skirt that matches with the uniform. Her collar exposing her cleavage, lacking the cover on her chest. Gloves, black heeled-boots with gold buttons and bluckles on them. Black straps connected with gold rings attached to her white socks, gold ring covering her blue ribbon around her collar. She wears a black choker, and two smaller black collars that resemble barbed wire made out of rubber around her neck. On her uniform’s collar, she wears a pin of the mouse mascot from.. I suppose, Niko Niko Happy. Damn.

“Are you alright, dumbass?” She pointed at me.

“I was just.. analyzing you?” I replied to her, somehow turned out in a question.

“What are you bitch, a detective?! anyways, I’m Miu Iruma! Ultimate Inventor and the biggest genius girl in the world, I mean the only!” She gave me a smirk.

“Calling me a bitch, hm? interesting” I smirked at Miu back.

I talked to everyone else from here, some of them were weird really. But it’s not like I would stay here with them for so long, besides, while talking to them I figured it out that I might be the Ultimate Agent Spy. I need proof for that though, but if that’s true I could escape with everyone from this school. And to do that, I shouldn’t tell them my Ultimate, since my clothes I’m wearing right now aren’t even looking so “elegant” for an agent like me.

As I said, I made an introduction with everyone. Shuichi was interesting tho since he’s a detective. He reminds me of my friend. But one specific guy remains and honestly got my attention from the beginning. He’s talking to Shuichi, maybe I should come at them.

“I didn’t talk to you yet” I said, the green haired boy turned around confused and looks into my eyes.

“So suddenly” He chuckles and I roll my eyes playfully. “I’m Rantaro Amami, what about you?” He asked in his deep voice, damn that was really deep.

“You didn’t tell me your talent?” I questioned him. I mean, everyone else did that!

“Same goes to you, nobody knows your talent. I can’t remember my ultimate talent though, but I promise, I’m not a bad guy, nice to meet you!” He says smiling at me, he was cute for someone like him who doesn’t know his own talent and.. acts suspiciously by saying he’s not a bad guy?

“I’m.. the Ultimate Idol” As I see, I’m wearing a normal sailor uniform with blue skirt that has some sparks on it, and my socks are pink with gold glitter, so he should believe me. Even though I don’t even know why I wear this thing.

“If you weren’t wearing this, I wouldn’t believe you” Rantaro said, smirking. He looked at how I look and smirked to himself, it made me blush. I didn’t want to lie to him but I think it’s for the best. For someone like Rantaro, he would found out who I am quickly. He seems intelligent.

Even tho I did say Rantaro seems very intelligent and could find out my ultimate talent, Shuichi is looking at me very intense, like he knows that something is off with me. I mean, yes, he’s a detective after all. So I should just go.

“I think I should go” I said quickly as I began walking faster to the gym’s door but someone stopped me.

“Where are you going, miss??” I turned around and I saw that half white and half black bear talking to me, soon appearing other.. five bears? “Whatever! let’s get straight to the point! Long time no see guys” the bear said. Everyone got confused and I was the only one who actually get what he wants to say.

“Long time no see.. huh..” I mumbled to myself.

“If you know something, fucking tell us!” Miu said, I ignored her shitty comment and I just looked at the bear.

“I’m not ready for this.. it’ll be so cruel, I’m gonna puke already!!” A pink bear talked.

“Shut your mouth, Monophanie! I’m gonna tell you guys that I’m the headmaster of this high school also named The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, nice to FUCKING meet ya!” He said so excited already.

“H-Headmaster…? but we don’t even know your name, bear-“ Kaede said.

“I’m not a teddy bear, or a bear, or whatever the fuck? I’m Monokuma!”

Monokuma.. I just sighed thinking it’ll happen again. I wonder if they remember anything because I somehow do now, and I’m just not surprised that Monokuma came back. In fact, I’m not even scared anymore.

I gave a look to everyone and I smirked at the thought that I know something they don’t. You know, in this shitty situation you couldn’t be like that, but I find it very sad that the story is repeating itself for the third time.

“Monokuma, are you trying to say that we’re in a killing game?” I asked him politely.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Kaito screamed.

“Silent. Let’s him speak” I said.

The bear looks away for some seconds and finally turned and looked at me, without saying anything for like 1 minute.

“Uhh… well. yes, kinda?” He said unsure and I just smiled. He knows what I know, that’s why he acts like he doesn’t know me. If I’m truly an agent spy, I should have all the informations in my room since I’m basically a participant in this killing game and have a special talent. With such a talent, even the mastermind can’t took away the information I should know, that’s just my ultimate.

“What are you talking about, y/n?” Kaede asked me.

“Don’t worry, it was pretty dangerous before. But not when I’m here” I said smiling at her. It’s confusing that I’m involved too in this because I can save everyone from this situation, but whatever. “Anyways Monokuma, tell them. Or I will!” I said to him giving him a wide smile.

“U-uhh..” He stutters. “Yeah, you’re all in a killing game! 16 talented students y’know? that will kill each other and everytime a murder happens, you’ll have a class trial and there you find the blackened. But remember that if you vote the wrong one, all of you will be executed. And if you vote right, only the blackened will be” Monokuma said looking at me carefully.

“W-what?” Maki said and I could tell she was mad.

“It can’t be! I wanna get home already!” Tsumugi said, she looked scared.. but also suspicious. I can’t tell why, but something’s off with this girl.

“Wait!” I turn around and I saw Rantaro. Yeah, I think it’s time for him to say something. “16 Students? But we’re 17, what is that supposed to mean?” He said confused and I chuckled.

“That’s because I’m the one that won’t play this shitty game! I’m not a participant actually” I told all of them, they won’t find out what I’m trying to say so I guess it’s okay, they’re all confused anyways.

“What do you mean?” Shuichi asked me.

“I need to check something really important, I’ll go to my room!” I said and ran to the door. And when I was outside, I could see you can’t actually escape from here, interesting. Then I saw the rooms and went there. I checked the names of everyone and found Rantaro’s room, then mines. I opened the door thinking at the green-haired boy, he’s so mysterious.. and kinda hot. Sure, he looks like a playboy but he doesn’t remember his own talent, or he’s just like me.

I went in my room and I saw what I wanted. Papers full of useful informations I think, a laptop, familiar photos on the wall and somewhere on here an interesting tablet. Maybe I can find Rantaro’s ultimate talent. I picked up the tablet and I noticed that it isn’t the same as the one Monokuma gave to us earlier. I checked it, it has information about all of us, even mines. If someone finds this tablet I don’t know what I will do but I hope this won’t be the case.

“Hmm.. if here’s informations about the 16 students, I should look for Rantaro’s” I told to myself and pressed his picture icon. When I saw it, I smirked.

“Ultimate adventurer.. ultimate survivor, huh?”

I looked then at some photos that were on the wall, they were from the previous murders that happened in Hope’s Peak Academy. I didn’t want to remember that right now, it’s still pretty traumatic for me. So I left the room for some fresh air thinking about Rantaro’s talent.

Unfortunately, I saw him in front of his door’s room. His ultimate talent.. is so special in its own way, he can quickly find out who I truly am, he’ll ruin everything! I gotta keep an eye on him though, I should get along with him first just in case.

With quick steps I come closer to him.

“Hey.. Rantaro?” I said awkwardly, I guess his eyes widened not knowing who’s behind him, then he turns around and gave me a smile quickly.

“A-ah.. um, you didn’t tell me your name yet!” He said, his hand scratching his back of the neck.

“I’m Y/N L/N! you remembered my talent and not my name?” I chuckled and he blushes.

“Heh, I wasn’t paying attention to that sadly, but more on your body~” Rantaro said with a smirk, trying so hard to cover his blush from his adorable face.

“You’re hot too. But it’s so early to flirt with me, or are you that desperate?”

“I w-wasn’t flirting! I thought you look cute” He tried not to stutter which made me smile, I thought he’s dominant.

“Based on your looks, despite the fact I thought you’re a playboy, I also thought you’re dominant but oh well..” I rolled my eyes playfully.

“You don’t know me enough!” He said with a serious look on his face, I ignored that tho. It was so funny not to.

“Whatever, wanna hang out?” I asked him.

“S-sure” He said stuttering.

I gotta admit, Rantaro is adorable and I even felt the urge to hug him! he’s so cute when he blushes and stutters! and the fact that he’s next to me.. I forgot about why I actually want him around me, I want him around me for another reason. I’d love to have a friend like him, it’s just that I don’t want to be alone anymore and he makes me feel happy, even Byakuya couldn’t make me feel this way when we were on Towa City trying to find Makoto’s little sister. I realise that I know him for only one day and I wanted to be some sassy talented girl who helps everyone escape, but Rantaro can wake up something inside me.

I went to my room when he told me he wants to go to sleep, I closed the door and I smiled like an idiot. I jumped into the bed and covered myself with a blanket thinking about what happened today, falling asleep with a wide smile on my face.

~~~

I woke up, yawning, and got up from the bed searching for my so called idol uniform and went to the dining hall since Kaito told us to meet there every morning from now on. I opened the dining hall’s door and everyone looked at me, except Rantaro and Kaede. They were talking to each other and Rantaro seemed concerned about something.

I decided to go take my food and sit on a chair, I was looking at him this whole time without him noticing that. Only Kaede gave me some suspicious looks while talking to him at the same time. I did hear him talking about the ultimate hunt before he walked away, though. So I followed him quickly, what if he thinks I AM the ultimate hunt? that’s impossible!

“Rantaro, wait!” I yelled and he turned around to face me. “Why did you leave? you didn’t even eat something” I said concerned.

“That’s not the problem, don’t worry sweety, I’m gonna end this killing game myself” He said smiling.

Sweety… huh…

“You can’t end it! do you know how dangerous can it be?” I said, not knowing what to say anymore because my job is to end this killing game, NOT HIM.

“Let’s hang out and lemme show you something in the library, okay?”

I looked at him confused, but I accepted and went there. He showed me a hidden door behind some bookcase, I wasn’t surprised. In fact, I only smirked. It’s my job to end this and I can tell it’ll be easy.

“I knew you’ll smirk or something like that” He sighed.

“Huh? do you really think I’m the ultimate hunt?”

“What? No! but to tell you the truth.. I’m the ultimate survivor and you know that very well, because of this “talent” I got a survivor perk and there I can also see your real talent, Mrs Agent spy~” He chuckled.

“Yeah.. since I’m an agent, I would know your talent from the very beginning” I sighed.

“Don’t worry, dear, I won’t tell anyone. But I can be helpful in ending this shit too!”

“No worries, you’re hot enough to not let you do anything” I said smirking. He blushed, how cute!

“Y-yeah.. but I want to help, I’m the ultimate survivor after all!”

“Yes, but there you were forced to play that game, now you just have to wait, Mr Ultimate Aventurer”

“Haha, for someone like you, I knew you will find also my first talent!” He chuckles and turned to face the bookcase where the door is hidden. “Oh, and by the way, I didn’t actually sleep last night but I’m pretty sure you did. Monokuma told us to gather to the gym again and he said that if a murder doesn’t occur in 3 days he’ll kill us all”

“I don’t really care, since I’m here to help you all” I said and I sighed. I wanted to go to my room because I don’t have to do anything here yet, and I walked away.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Rantaro asked and I saw he was worried about me.

“I’m fine.. and if it makes you feel better…” I said and I kissed one of his cheeks and I just disappeared the next second, I didn’t want to give him any explanation and I went quickly to my room.

~~~~~

Days passed, and nothing much happened. I was happy since Rantaro was always around me and I think I catched feelings for him, kinda. But it’s not the moment for something like that. Besides, I don’t know if he likes me back and I’m sure he doesn’t so I’ll just forget it.

Yesterday, I saw Shuichi and Kaede talking in a classroom near the basement and they were.. uhh.. suspicious, but I ignored it.

I was thinking, if I can go to the library and look at that hidden door once again, the person who controls Monokuma should be there and it’s nighttime, so I should hurry.

I went to the basement looking for the library, once I opened the library door I saw Rantaro who moved the bookcase, and then an annoying loud sound started to show up.

“Shit!” I covered my ears and I watched what was happening there, a camera took a picture of him and he noticed that which made him look and get closer to it but I saw something else up there.. a shotball was rolling on the books. I knew what’ll happen and I get scared.

“Rantaro! Be careful!” I screamed, but he didn’t notice me. The shotball didn’t actually touch him in any way but I can tell he was so confused since he looked at it so intense. More than that, someone who was inside the hidden door opened it and positioned themselved right behind Rantaro with another shotball, they were actually gonna kill him.

My eyes widened and I picked up the knife from my pocket, I knew they were the mastermind, so I’m going to end this!

I ran fast to them and stabbed them numerous times, Rantaro also turned around because that loud sound ended. He was in shock and I was too.. the person I stabbed was Tsumugi Shirogane.

I left the body on the ground. And I picked my Future Foundation phone, smirking.

“Togami, Naegi, I did it!” I said with a smirk. Everyone quickly gathered here, they were pretty confused and some of them, like Himiko and… Kokichi, started crying.

“I can understand Himiko, but you?” I pointed my finger at Kokichi. He smirked and turns around.

“Got me! that was fake crying!!” He laughed.

I sighed, and once we were out of this school and this entire place, I smiled to myself. I actually didn’t believe I could defeat the mastermind that easily, since Byakuya told me that most likely I won’t be able to do it. Rantaro asked me if I want to come to his house and I accepted. I’ll definitely forget about that selfish blonde fuck.

I entered his.. mansion basically, I knew he was rich so it was to be expected. It was so beautiful inside, the light grey colour everywhere and while analyizing his house, his hand touched my shoulder. It reminded me of something that I have to do.

“You really love my house, don’t you?” He said smirking which made me turn all red, he noticed that and came closer to me. “Hmm.. want to come and stay in my room for a while?”

I nodded in excitement and he opened the room’s door for me, telling me to come in and so I did. I suddenly turned to him not knowing how to start, I was actually going to confess my feelings for him. But I was so afraid of rejection and ignorance.

“Something happened? you’re not that.. savage anymore” He said confused.

“I-I.. know! I never was! I was just faking it-“ He came closer to me and I whined.

“Faking? you seem shy, is my sweetie actually a shy little girl?” He whispered into my ear those words, I bit my bottom lip. He knew that the brave, savage woman wasn’t me.

“Y-your little girl.. how so?” I groaned as he was pulling me closer to him.

“I did notice something, but I’ll let you say it for me” He smiles innocently, but I could tell that behind this cute smile hides something. I knew what was he trying to say, but I just couldn’t find my words.

“I’m scared to tell you.. what I feel. But fine, I admired you from the very beginning and I considered you were an interesting person and.. those days when we spend time together I felt like something I can’t describe, maybe because I fell in love once and that was with an idiot? I don’t know. But I like you, a lot. So please, I-“

He cut me off by kissing me roughly and I kissed back, I moaned in his mouth when he squeezed one of my breast. That feeling…

“Why were you so scared, darling? it was obvious that I reciprocate feelings” He broke that wonderful kiss.

“Because… Byakuya treated me like shit” I wanted to be honest with Rantaro, he’s the only one I trust anyways.

“Do you mean Togami? are you his ex girlfriend?” I nodded and I grabbed him by his shirt to kiss him once again, I didn’t want to talk about that dumbass.

He groaned as my knee was between his legs, I could feel that bulge in his pants. And when I thought I was the dominant here, he pushed me to the bed gently. I looked everywhere but not at him.

“Come on, look at me! or I won’t give you what you want”

I looked at him with puppy eyes, still not be able to look at him properly and I was kinda shaking. Then he gets on top of me, pushing my back into the bed.

“So to understand, you really want me inside you? how naughty” He chuckles and I blush slightly.

He was biting my neck, leaving soft and cute marks on it. I moaned as I felt how his hand squeezed my thigh. We were looking at each other, my eyes begging him for his touch.

“Are you that sensitive? cute~” Rantaro kissed my lips, biting my bottom lip for entrance and I let him slid his tongue into my mouth and explore it.

I was feeling.. loved. He wanted me to make me feel good, there’s no reason I can be a sassy wannabe woman around him, when this man is now on top of me. I feel loved, I feel appreciated and nobody else could make me feel this way, not even Byakuya.

“Is my princess already wet for me?” He asked in a deep voice.

“O-only for you..” I said stuttering.

“I didn’t expect you to be this shy, I guess that’s an advantage for me”

Rantaro rubbed his dick against my entrance, then he pushed it inside me slowly and I moaned softly as he started thrusting slowly.

“Does it feel good, y/n?” He asked in his husky voice as he thrusts roughly this time and I moan in pleasure, closing my eyes and I nodded a yes.

“Y-yes.. Ah!~” He shuts me up with another thrust as his eyes never broke the eye contact with mines.

“You take me so well, you’re so warm..” His praises made me wetter, his dick throbbing inside me and I knew he was close too.

With one last thrusts and a loud moan from me, he buries his face into my chest as he cums inside me, biting my lip as I feel the warm cum painting my walls.

We both breathed heavily, and surprisingly, he hugged me. It was so comfy.

“No one could treat you better than me” He said cuddling me and kissing my forehead. I smiled.

“I.. I love you!” I said embarrased, I didn’t actually say this to anyone. Rantaro blushes and smiles innocently while he played with my hair.

“I love you too, y/n~”

[happilykrispypirate]

Whatever it takes

Pairing: Potter!fem!reader x Mattheo Riddle

Warnings: swearing, some angst, mentions of suicide and my shitty writing

Part Two

Mattheo had been given the task to kill you. Unlike your brother you did not need to be killed by Voldemort himself. You were not something special.

That has been made clear to you all your life. You were always second to Harry. Always in the chosen one's shadow.

Mattheo thought since you were the misunderstood one he could make you feel like you were something and then just kill you. However that did not go as planned.

"Hello, Potter," Mattheo said as he approached you in the library. You looked up from your book.

"Riddle, what do you want?" You asked.

"How come you assume I want something?" He asked as he sat down next to you.

"You never talk to me, don't even look at me. The only reason you know I exist is because your father is my and my brother's so called arch nemesis," you said rolling your eyes.

"Well, that does not mean that you and I are enemies," He said and smirked.

You stayed silent and looked a him for a while. It made him confused.

He got even more confused when you tilted your head and smiled, "You have to kill me, don't you?"

He was taken aback, his eyes widened, "How did you-?"

"I'm not dumb, Riddle," You said cutting him off, "But it doesn't matter. You can get it over with, the sooner the better."

"Hang on," He said utterly confused, "Are you telling me I should kill you right now?" (Well isn't Y/n just a gen zone kid?)

"Yes," You said before looking down at your book again, "I'm not bothered, nobody will even notice that I'm gone."

Mattheo's heart sank a little. He always knew you were neglected but he didn't know it was so bad that it made you want to die.

He then had another idea, a better one. One that will help you and still satisfy his father.

"Father," Mattheo said as he walked into the Malfoy Manor's dining hall.

"Mattheo shouldn't you be at Hogwarts? Carrying out your mission?" Voldemort said as he looked at Mattheo.

"My original plan was to win her trust and then kill her, but when I talked to her today I thought that instead of killing her, she can join us," Mattheo said and all the death eaters looked at Voldemort expecting an answer.

"Do you really think she would just abandon her brother and friends?" Voldemort asked.

"Yes, father," He said, "I am 100% sure she would."

"How are you so sure?" Voldemort asked narrowing his eyes a bit.

"Because she already did," Mattheo said and the doors opened and you walked in.

You stood next to Mattheo and he gave you an encouraging nod. You turned to Voldemort and he was staring at you in shock.

That look of shock soon turned into a smirk, "My... how wonderful," Voldemort said.

"My lord, I am here to help you in defeating my brother," You said and bowed your head slightly.

"How do I know you're not here as a spy?" Voldemort asked.

You lifted your sleeve and walked over to him, "Mark me and you will know," You said and held your arm out for him.

Voldemort looked at you in shock once again before he took out his wand and pressed it to your arm.

-

You sat in the gryffindor common room reading a book.

Everyone else was at dinner which meant more peace and quiet for you.

That ended unfortunately because your brother, Hermione and Ron walked in.

"Y/n, where have you been all day?" Harry asked.

"Busy," Is all you said keeping your eyes on the book.

"Busy with what?" He asked.

"Something," You said.

"Why won't you tell me?" He asked and you could hear he was getting annoyed.

"Because it's none of your business," You said.

"Of course it's my business, I'm-"

"The chosen one, I get it. I don't care," You said and looked at him, "You might be the chosen one but you're not the boss of me. I don't need to tell you anything. Half the time you don't even look at me, only when you need something or only when you think I'm doing something that will affect you badly. You're so full of yourself."

You slammed the book shut and got up and left the common room. You were on your way to the library when you bumped into someone.

"Sorry," You said and looked up at the person and saw it was Mattheo, "Oh... hi."

"Hi," He said with a tiny smile, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, why do you ask?" You asked.

"Y/n," He said looking at you like he's saying 'I know you're lying'.

You sighed and shook your head, "I just got in a fight with my brother," You said.

"What happened?" Mattheo asked.

"He was just acting like everything I want to do, I need permission from him and he needs to know about everything I do," You said and rolled your eyes, "It's always been like this. He's acting as if I'm 5 and I can't think for myself."

"Just ignore him, whenever he's acting like that, just come find me," He said and smiled.

You smiled up at him, "I will thank you," You said.

"Now come on, let's go get dinner. You can sit with me," He said and held his arm out which you of course took.

You got to the Great Hall and everyone stared at you in shock as you walked to the slytherin table and sat with Mattheo.

"So this is where you have been," You turned around and saw your brother.

You rolled your eyes and opened your mouth to say something else but Mattheo cut you off.

"Yeah, it is. Is there a problem?" He asked whilst glaring at Harry.

"Yeah, there is," Harry said and Mattheo stood up and got right up into Harry's face.

"Why don't we sort it out then?" Mattheo said but you stood up and pulled Mattheo away from Harry.

"Just leave, Harry," You said as you pulled Mattheo behind you.

"So what? Are you fucking Riddle?" Harry spat, "I always knew you were a slut."

Mattheo was ready to jump at Harry but you stepped in front of him. He put his hands on your waist to move you but you stood your ground.

"You're pathetic, Y/n," Harry said, "No wonder no one likes you."

Mattheo's grip on your waist tightened.

"Just do us all a favour and kill yourself," Harry said.

Mattheo's grip tightened a lot more.

You started laughing, "Oh wow, that's so mature," you said laughing, "What a comeback."

"Listen Harry, I've tried that about 6 or 7 times. And everytime I was caught and stopped. You don't know that because they didn't want me trying to kill myself ruining your image," You said, "So you know what fuck you, Harry. I'm done."

You turned around and pushed past Mattheo and sat down. Everyone was looking at you.

"What are you looking at?" You asked loudly and everyone went back to eating. Harry left and Mattheo sat down next to you.

"Finally," Pansy said from across you, "I always knew you were the better sibling." She smiled at you, you returned the gesture.

"One day, he's going to get what's coming for him," Draco said.

"And I'm going to give it to him," You said as you glared at Harry.

-

It was holiday time. You of course have no family to stay with and you sure as hell are not going to the Dursleys or the Weasleys. You're quite sure the Weasleys won't want you there and of course Harry is going to be there.

"Are you packed?" Mattheo asked as he sat down next to you in the Slytherin common room.

You were in there most of the time because all of your friends were Slytherin. You even have your own bed there, Pansy got a room with 2 beds and so the one was always open and unused. When you two became friends she offered you the bed and you could not decline.

"No, I'm not going anywhere," You said as you looked up from the book at him.

"Oh," He said, "I thought you were coming home with me?" He smiled at you.

"Oh no, I couldn't. I don't want to intrude," You said.

"Nonsense, I'd love having you there. Besides it was my father that insisted that you come," He said and you sighed with a tiny smile.

"Alright, I'll go pack," You said and got up. Mattheo smiled brightly at you as you walked away. Your heart couldn't help but skip a beat when he smiled at you.

After you got done packing you walked downstairs with your bags.

"Let me help you with that," Mattheo said as he grabbed your bags.

"I have hands, I can carry my own bags," You said.

"Come on, the carriages are waiting," He said completely ignoring what you just said.

You two got to the carriages and off you went to the train station.

The train ride to King's Cross was not like any other train ride you had in the last 6 years. You actually had friends to talk to this time.

Once the train arrived you learned that all of your friends were going to the Malfoy's house as well.

"There's my parents," Draco said and we followed him to them. The whole time you were walking Mattheo kept his hand on the small of your back.

"Hello children, Ms Potter, Mr Riddle," Lucius said which made you confused. You understood why they addressed Mattheo so formal but not you. You just shrugged it off.

"Y/n, don't look now but your brother is coming over," Pansy said and you rolled your eyes.

"Let's just-" You got cut off when Harry grabbed your arm and pulled you away from them.

"You're coming with me right now," He said as he gripped your arm tightly and pulled you towards the weasleys.

"Let go," You said as you pried your arm from his tight grip. You then swung and punched him in the face sending him to the ground.

He stood up and his nose was bleeding and crooked... Nice.

"Leave me alone, or I promise you, you won't be walking away with just a bloody nose, you won't be walking away at all," You said and turned around.

"I was going to help, but when I wanted to, I saw you had it covered," Mattheo said and smiled.

"That felt really good," You said and laughed.

Mattheo laughed as well and wrapped an arm around your shoulders as you walked with everyone else.

Part Two

[robininthelabyrinth]

The unlikely duo of Jin Zixun and Su She end up in the past somehow. They end up making a better world completely by accident while arguing with each other and trying to make things better for themselves while sabotaging each other's plans. Double bonus points if they end up in a romantic relationship by the end of everything! V Anon

ao3

“He’s my friend,” Su She growled.

“So you say,” Jin Zixun sniffed. “How am I supposed to know if you’re telling the truth? From what I remember, you barely interacted – surely you don’t think a few polite smiles and a hello or two in public is enough to mean that you’re actually friends?”

Su She’s eye twitched.

“As I already told you,” he said through gritted teeth. “You were already dead by the point that we became good friends. We were friends for twenty years after you died.”

“I have only your word for that,” Jin Zixun pointed out. Quite reasonably, to his mind. “You have no proof. He certainly doesn’t seem to know who you are.”

“That’s because we’ve traveled in time!” Su She shouted. “He is literally fourteen years old! We won’t meet for another ten years! Of course he doesn’t remember me!”

“Well, then, I still think I have the better claim, in that case,” Jin Zixun said, and crossed his arms when Su She glared at him in disbelief. “I’m his cousin, aren’t I? You were only friends with him when you were older, but I’m still his cousin, right this moment.”

Another eye twitch.

Su She probably had a nervous disorder, Jin Zixun decided. It was undoubtedly highly unhealthy and would have probably led to an early death of apoplexy if he hadn’t been murdered first – which, upon questioning, Su She admitted he had been, so – hah! So there!

Jin Zixun wasn’t actually sure what exactly he thought he was winning, but he felt victorious, and that was basically good enough for him. He didn’t exactly have many opportunities for it back at home, not with the way people liked to whisper about him and even the servants who seemed to fawn on him looking at him with strange eyes when they thought he wasn’t looking. And, yes, maybe he took a little too much advantage of it whenever he was in a position of power, but you really couldn’t blame him for that; anyone would do the same if it were them and they were him.

Either way, it wasn’t actually important.

What was important, now that they were back in the past, was getting Jin Guangyao – well, he’d be still called Meng Yao at this point – on his side as soon as possible. Jin Zixun might not have ever liked Jin Guangyao, except maybe in the abstract sense that people were so horrified by the other man’s parentage that they completely forgot about any questions there might be about his own, but that didn’t mean he didn’t recognize how smart the man was. He’d fought his way up from nothing to become acknowledged as a direct heir of Lanling Jin, however far back in the inheritance list; he’d made his way as a spy in the Nightless City until he managed to assassinate Wen Ruohan in the midst of his glory; he’d even somehow managed to trick Chifeng-zun and Zewu-jun into swearing sworn brotherhood with a nobody like him, giving him exceptionally strong backing that was effective even in Lanling City.

He even managed to get both Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun out of the way, based on the last few seconds of memory Jin Zixun had of his former life and what Su She had led slip in this one, and made his way to the very top of the heap, becoming Sect Leader Jin and even Chief Cultivator.

(And then he’d apparently managed to fuck it all right up, but that, Jin Zixun thought, was probably just his inheritance as a Jin – they were all exceptionally good at snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory, even if they preferred to pretend that each and every instance of that was just a coincidence.)

Either way, a brain like that?

Jin Zixun wanted it on his side.

Which would be easier if it weren’t for fucking Su She, who was some absolute nobody who’d been picked up as a Lan sect disciple and who’d apparently developed the world’s largest probably one-sided crush on Jin Guangyao.

“You should leave,” he haughtily informed Su She.

“I’m going absolutely nowhere. You think I’m leaving him with an asshole like you?”

“I’m not going to do anything to him!”

“No? Really? You’re not planning on sweeping in and winning his gratitude with some half-assed gesture and then playing on that to use him as your little slave for the rest of his life?”

…huh.

Maybe this Su She guy was also smart.

After all, Jin Guangyao probably didn’t keep dumb lackeys hanging around, and twenty years (supposedly) was a pretty long time to keep someone. Plus, if Jin Guangyao had somehow managed to win Su She’s loyalty, it couldn’t have been hard. What had he done? Smiled at him a few times? Remembered his name? Something dumb like that?

A good lackey was hard to find.

Jin Zixun gave Su She a thoughtful look, which for some reason made Su She look rather alarmed and take a solid two steps back.

“No, don’t go,” he said, and yet for some reason Su She, who just moments ago had declared he wasn’t going anywhere, started looking around as if he wanted to find an escape route. “Wait a moment. Maybe we can work on this together –”

By this, Jin Zixun meant that he would give the orders and Su She would do all the work, and judging from the ugly expression on Su She’s face he knew it, too.

“I have a connection to him that you don’t,” Jin Zixun reminded him. “Plus money and other resources, which you also don’t have. You need me.”

“I don’t need shit from you!”

“No? You’d rather get it from the Lan sect, then?”

Su She grimaced.

Score one point for him, Jin Zixun thought smugly. He might not be good at most things, but he was damn good at figuring out people’s weak spots.

He crossed his arms again and waited, confident in his success.

“Fine,” Su She finally spat after visually struggling with himself for a while. “We can work together for now.”

“Good,” Jin Zixun said. “Now, for our next move –”

“Who said you got to decide that?! I’m the one who knows him!”

“I’m in charge!”

“You are not!”

“Yes I am –”

“Who are you people?!” a miniature version of Jin Guangyao, only with no Jin sect golds and vermilion mark, suddenly shouted out the window, glaring down at them. “And don’t you know it’s the middle of the night?! Even the brothels have closed up already! Get out of here before I get someone to kick you both out!”

[coffee-writesthings]

part 2!! ngl I'm like incredibly impressed with myself because I watched the movie Interstellar, cried my eyes out, and then I got this kick of energy to actually write i legit haven't really been wanting to play video games or anything which is why i hadn't been writing previously its so weird and different. by the way, i realized like right after finishing part 1.5 that this part sandwiches that one. so keep that in mind, it's not as linear as I might've wanted

For all of its purposes, the room they ended up in wasn't all that bad. The bed was large enough for both of them to sleep in without being too close — it could always be worse, where they'd have to both try to sleep in a twin bed or on the floor.

Still, things could be better. Sniper could have just done this job alone. It would've been around ten times easier, faster, and he wouldn't have had to sit in a room with Spy, of all people, for an extended period of time.

"I need a shower," he said, taking off his stupid $10,000 silk jacket, "don't wait up for me."

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Good."

With that, he rubbed his eyes and pulled out a book he'd been reading recently — maybe the specific choice of book was a bad idea, given its incredibly gay contents and the fact that he didn't want to think about that around his current company.

Well, he's not around, anyway. Where were we?

For the next twenty or so minutes he got well and truly sucked into the antics of two not-yet-lovers, they hadn't even confessed to each other yet, and were still fully in denial about the idea that the other even liked them. Those brief moments where hands brushed by each other, where they got just a little too close, they were everything.

And then a slightly damp Spy walked into the room with a towel clinging to his hips. "Oh, apologies. I thought you were already asleep."

"You're fine, we're both guys." His gaze was unwillingly (maybe a little willingly) locked onto his body, with any attempts at moving it only leading to more and more of that same body, and more and more things he found all too appealing. "I, uh. I need some fresh air. I'll leave you to it."

Before Spy could respond, he was already out the door, trying to calm his racing heart and mind. Why did he have to be this gay at this particular moment? And why for him??

Stupid book, doing exactly what he originally thought it would, god dammit.

Now the mission was a little more complicated. Not only did he have to work with Spy, just in general, but he had to suppress whatever it was he felt for him, while making sure they got the macguffin they were sent after. Great, grand, so doable.

Once he declared himself normal again, he went back inside so he could go to bed himself. Spy seemed to already be asleep, the asshole, how dare he actually be able to sleep? He grumbled, accidentally eliciting a response from the man he thought to be sleeping.

"Is there a problem? Aside from sharing a bed with me, of course."

"Thought you were already asleep is all — hell, I'm jealous."

"Jealous? Of me? I'm touched. But no, unfortunately, I have insomnia of the horrid and stupid variety. I might rest, but I won't be sleeping. Feel free to read your book." he yawned as he got more comfortable in bed, "Maybe you could read me to sleep or something."

"What, like start from the beginning?"

"Sure, unless you'd prefer to continue from your spot. I don't mind spoilers."

"I'll just start from the beginning. It's a little less gay."

"Who said I didn't like gay things?"

"Oh, nobody, but it's more for my sake. I'll get all nervous and start stammering and it'll just be annoying to listen to."

"Hm. Good to know."

"Wait, what?" he started chuckling nervously, "'Good to know?' why? Why is that good to know?"

"No particular reason," he definitely lied.

"Oh. Blackmail. Great."

~ Scene Break ~

Sniper woke up to sunlight blinding him through the thin excuses for curtains. The only thing blocking that was Spy, sitting down and looking outside, like the protagonist of some romance novel.

"Jesus, spook. How long've you been awake?"

"Hours and hours. I had actually made coffee for you, but it's cold now."

"Y-you made coffee? When?" he rubbed his eyes, squinting at the sunlight.

"Hours ago, keep up." A small almost seemed to blossom on his face. "I'd prefer if we had more time to prepare than less."

"Why do we have to prepare? It's just a party"

"The marriage thing may be fake, but I would rather die than have you embarrass me, or yourself, by looking out of place at a gala. So, show me your suit."

"I didn't bring a suit."

"A vest then? A nice button-up shirt? You surely have something."

"No, I was just planning on not getting noticed by anybody."

"Pour l'amour de Dieu — okay! We're getting you a suit today. I might as well get a new one for myself, so we'll match."

"I dunno if you've checked recently, but we're hours away from most civilization. How exactly do you plan on gussying me up like this?"

"Most civilization, yes. But not all. I happen to know someone who would happily make something up for us."

"Making brand new suits in, what, hours? Are you insane?"

"Oh no, definitely not. They'd be tailoring something already made. I think you would look fantastic in a dark red, but we'll see what my friend thinks."

The almost-compliment made his face heat up. "Alright, I'll try not to embarrass you in front of your friend — gimme like 20 minutes to shower and I'll be ready to go."

~ Scene Break ~

When they got to the seamstress' shop, Sniper felt out of place. Bolts upon bolts of beautiful fabric that probably cost hundreds of dollars for a yard lined an entire wall. The other three walls were lined with mirrors, tools and shelves for more tools, and various mannequins respectively.

An energetic woman with curly hair and safety pins attached to her shirt's sleeves greeted them. "Hello, hello and welcome to my little corner of the world. What brings you, Jacque?"

Spy touched cheeks in greeting with her, "Maria! It's always a pleasure. I have a bit of a rush order, if you could."

"The usual?" she gave him a once-over look, confused when she didn't see anything to mend.

"Non, non merci. J'ai besoin des nouvelles costumes pour mon petit ami et moi."

"Am I supposed to know what you're saying?" Sniper asked.

"Ce n'est pas un problem." she said, almost ignoring him, aside from pointing a finger at him when she asked, "Tu lui aime?"

"S'il vous plait, ne lui dis pas."

"Alright, I'll leave you alone about it." she turned to Sniper, "Now, your name?"

He introduced his fake name, "Michael. What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, sewing and plans for what we're putting you in. How do you feel about suspenders?"

"I don't hate them. Suits in general though, they're not exactly my thing, in any way."

"So something that looks more of a hybrid might be best for you… I'll get to thinking on that while I get his suit tailored. Take one of those chairs if you want to watch."

He took a chair as instructed, but looked away when he noticed Spy taking off his shirt to try on a different one.

"Problem, Michael?" there was no malice behind his words, no intention, not even some teasing smirk.

"No, not at all, I'm just dying a little." He briefly covered his eyes out of embarrassment.

"Hm, I get it." he started buttoning himself up, "Feel free to look, nobody's judging if you like what you see — except for maybe Maria."

"Keep flirting all you like, it's not my business. Now put this on." she handed him a silky dark green vest with shiny black buttons.

He gripped the fabric in his hands, sighing at its texture, "This is delightful, how I have missed your works of art."

"And I've missed you actually coming down here. Speaking of which, why haven't you been?"

"Work has sadly kept me from the embrace of your needles and pins."

"Well it should stop doing that, maybe." she took one more bundle of fabric, unraveling it into its true form — a long, dark green trench coat.

For once in his life, Spy seemed actually taken aback, "It's beautiful."

"I know. Put it on, I still need to make sure it'll actually fit you."

"Of course," he slid the coat on like a second skin, taking a magnificent spin to face Sniper. "So, what do you think?" his face bore an apprehensive expression, both excited and maybe a little nervous to find out about what he thought.

Several times, he opened his mouth to try to answer. And several times, no words came out. He tried to swallow.

"I think you have your answer." said Maria with a smirk.

"In that case," Spy announced as he adjusted his new trench coat, perfectly fit, as if he expected it, "it's your turn now."

"Alright, alright, I'll get up." he rose from his chair, "Do you need me to… take anything off?"

"If you're comfortable with it, try this set on. There's a changing room off to your left if you're uncomfortable."

"Thanks."

Inside the changing room, he got changed into what was in the pile — a pair of black slacks, a red button-up, and a black suit jacket. Its inner lining was green, the same shade as Spy's clothes. That's cute.

"So, I put on everything else, but I sorta… don't know how… these things work." The items in question were a pair of elastic strips with clips on either end, a beautiful tie, and a clip charm of some kind.

"Let me help." Spy offered, "I assume you don't know how to tie a tie?"

"Uh, no."

"Not to worry, I didn't learn until I was around twenty. People take time." he took the tie in one hand, and popped up the collar of Sniper's shirt with the other. "It's simple enough, I can show you how to another tieme."

"Did you just—"

"It was horrible, I am cringing already."

"In all my life, you've never done a pun, where- where did that even come from?"

"I take back everything I've ever said," he said, trying his very best to withhold his blossoming smile, "I hate you and I'm utterly displeased to be on this mission with you."

But Sniper didn't fall for the overt message, instead zeroing in on the details. "Wait, wait, hang on. Doesn't that mean the opposite then? Because if you're taking back the opposite of what you said, that means you like me, doesn't it?"

His face flashed between embarrassment and glee, "Perhaps it's possible that I have been having less of a bad time than I thought I would originally."

"Still, I could've sworn that you hated me. What's with that?"

"I try to keep to some amount of professionalism with my coworkers."

It only took a few more minutes between tying his tie, using its complementary clip to make it stay in place, and figuring out what suspenders are, to complete their perfect pair of outfits.

Spy took a step back from Sniper, probably trying to take him in. "You look fantastic. Are you comfortable?"

"Yeah, honestly. I think I look good too which is — damn, it's really nice."

He checked his watch, "We have some time left before the gala, how do you feel about getting lunch?"

"Are you paying?"

"I can."

"Nice. And, uh, Maria? Thank you, for the suits."

"And thank you for being the reason I got to see Jacque today! For once I don't have to clean blood out of suits, or reattach buttons, I just have the privilege to make people happy."

Spy paid Maria for the services with money, as well as a promise to come around sometime, to help with the shop.

so like months ago me and @lonewolfinthetardis came up with a sort of collaborative thing (we both write a fic with the same prompt and then share them) and then I basically didn't touch it for however long, until now! This is gonna come in 4 parts, with this as the first one (dw they'll all be connected to the same post lol)

Spy entered the meeting room, where Sniper and Miss Pauling were already waiting for him.

“Fashionably late,” said Sniper, “like always.”

He retorted, “At least I’m fashionable. You look like you crawled out of a dumpster.”

“And you wear 10,000$ suits to the bloodiest job on the planet.”

“Boys.” Miss Pauling snapped, there wasn’t enough coffee in the damn world to deal with these two. Once satisfied that they had stopped squabbling like siblings, she spoke again, “I have a job for the two of you.”

“Why just us?” Sniper asked.

“Think about it for a few seconds. You’re both the most efficient mercs here by a long shot.”

“Well thank you, Pauling. Though I think you’re mistaken. I’m efficient in killing, but he,” he stared daggers at the other man, “is efficient at taking shots. He doesn’t kill.”

“Look at me in my eyes, Spy. Just how much do you think I care about your banal, stupid differences? Does it match up, at all, with how much I want to smack you in the face right now?”

“I can help with that part.” Sniper interjected smugly, “She doesn’t care about how it gets done, just that it does.”

“Fine. What’s our mission?”

She pulled up a map with locations of both RED and BLU bases, the various battlefields for their fights, among various other things like the town of Tuefort. However, she ignored that, in favor of taking a massive red pen to circle one location in particular, far off to the east from their base. “There’s a gala going on here, and they have something we want. I can’t be more specific, just know it’s important to the Administrator-- if you fumble this operation, it’s your head, and Respawn won’t save you.”

“Please, there’s no way you’d be able to turn off Respawn. Right?”

“Do you really want to test that theory when I have a gun pointed at your face?”

“Understood ma’am.

Spy asked the question he usually asked when it came to missions, “What are our covers?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” she actually did seem a little glad, if not like she had a plan up her sleeves. Passing out a small pile of identifications and a sheet of paper to each man, she explained, “Your name, Sniper, is going to be Michael. You’re married to Spy. His temporary name is Samuel.”

“Like hell I’m going to marry the spook!” he looked at him, “Ugh, can’t even imagine kissing you.”

“I can imagine it,” he gagged, “You probably taste like the coffee you drink all day.”

“And you probably taste like week-old cigarettes.”

Before they could descend into stupidity, she pulled out a whistle, blowing on it hard, “Get yourselves together! You’re trained killers, not toddlers who can’t share a toy.”

They shared a look of disgust.

“Listen. It’s three days. You can get over yourselves for three days. It’s only 72 hours, probably less if you get there and back faster. And, once you’re back, you can go to town on each other all you want.”

Sniper took a deep breath, gathering himself. She had a point-- he was supposed to be polite, efficient. And, well, he could just get it over with and then he’d never have to think about it again. “I’ll do it. Sorry for the… outburst.”

“Thank you, for cooperating like an adult. Spy?”

“If I leave him to die, can I collect his paychecks?”

“Spy.”

“Sorry, sorry-- I jest. I’ll do it.”

~ Scene Break ~

So as not to arouse suspicion when they’re at the gala, Sniper plans to take his van, but leave it some ways away from the venue. Getting into it brings some comfort to the fact that he has to work with Spy for this mission.

What was it he hated so much about him, though? Was it the snobbishness, the way he was just an asshole to everyone, or something else?

“This is what we’re staying in for the next several days? I think I’d prefer death by fire to this.”

Ah, it was definitely the way he was a snobbish asshole.

“Get over yourself, Spy. Like it or not, this is where we’re gonna live together, for a bit.”

“I’ll do it, but I’m going to complain the whole time.”

“Do that and I gag you with that mask of yours.” Sniper got into the driver’s seat as Spy got into the Passenger’s.

“You might as well drive a mile away and shoot out my tongue at that point. It’s so typical of you to run away from your problems.”

“Well look who’s talking! Scout’s your damn kid and he doesn’t know-- you really think you’ve got legs to stand on here? You- you get too close, Spy.”

“And you’re too far away. I get up close because that's the only way for me to kill.

“These three days better pass fast.” he growled.

“That’s one thing we can agree on.”

A few hours passed, where Spy found that he had fallen asleep. He awoke to the sounds of Sniper humming to some quiet song, a smile on his face— the sunlight shone into his beautiful brown eyes. How could someone he never really liked have such a fairytale face?

He dismissed the thought, going back to sleep after his momentary - severe - lapse in judgement.