#x. a series of unfortunate events (dash games) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ciaranswritingportfolio · 9 months ago

Text

Every Cancelled Megaman Game [YT Script]

INTRO

Today we’re going to be looking into the cancelled games of Megaman, we’ll explore the Megaman MMO that almost came to fruition, or the long awaited fourth sequel in the Legends series.. but first, we’ll start with a brawler that never came to be…

Capcom Super League Online

Capcom Super League Online, known as Capsule for short, was a mobile game set to be developed by the Korean studio Kakao Games. It’s reported to have had a similar basis to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros’, in that the game would feature a bunch of different iconic characters from Capcom’s various franchises. Some of these franchises included Street Fighter, Ace Attorney, Resident Evil, and of course, Megaman. From the Megaman games, players would have been able to assemble Megaman, Rush, Roll, Forte, Blues, Sigma, AND! Zero as part of their hero ensemble.

Rather than being side-on fighter like Smash Bros’, Super League was described as being a ‘hero strategy RPG’ with others comparing the style closer to a tactical action RPG. It was based on a grid-like movement system with turn based combat that was typical of the genre, but would also include breakaway mini-games when not in the midst of action.

The game would enter four days of Beta testing in October of 2018, but unfortunately was cancelled six months later.

Maverick Hunter

Maverick Hunter was set to dive into a darker perspective within the Megaman X series. The project was codenamed Maverick Hunter during its six month stint in development until it was cancelled in 2010. Megaman fans didn’t even know of its existence until three years later, in April 2013, when Polygon posted a lengthy article on the cancelled game.

In development with Armature Studio, Maverick Hunter was going to be a modern take on the tried and true series. It was being developed as a first person shooter, while retaining the qualities, and concepts of the Megaman X series. It’s reported that the classic traversal mechanics in the platformer was going to be reimagined, including the dash, wall jump, and combat mechanics, like the arm cannon.

Story-wise, the game was planned to be a trilogy, with the trio of games encompassing a continuous story of a playable Zero who would be forced to destroy X, who had amassed significant power, and intelligence by the end of the games. Since its cancellations, various art pieces have been leaked by team members from its short time in development, including a metallic character design by Adi Granov.

Megaman Legends 3 - Rockman Dash 3

The sequel to Megaman Legends 2 was tragically, and mysteriously cancelled when a message in the summer of 2011 was posted by the dev team told fans of its fate.

The team had created a website, called the Devroom, in order to keep Megaman fans updated, and also involved throughout the development process of Legends 3. On the website, the devs held various community art competitions, polls, and idea suggestion events. This led to the news of the cancellation hitting the Megaman community with much disappointment, not least because of other Megaman cancellations also happening not long before. This led to fans voicing their opinions with an organised campaign in an attempt to persuade Capcom to continue development, but in a bittersweet twist, the 3DS would only be graced with the prototype version that Capcom released in order to generate hype for the game. Some details from Capcom have hinted at why the cancellation happened, with the European Capcom Twitter claiming that not as many people took part in the devroom website, leading the devs to believe that there wasn’t much interest in the game.

Many Megaman fans still after all this time haven’t given up hope, and are hoping for a sequel to the Legends series in the future.

Megaman Mania

In 2004, around the time of the release of Megaman’s Anniversary Collection, a gameboy advance game was set to be released alongside it. Reported to be a compilation of the five gameboy exclusive Megaman World games, it would have been re-colourised for the gameboy advance, and had added features, on top of all the content of the originals.

Some rumours came up about this games cancellation, and it was thought that Capcom had lost some of the source code from the original games, and what would have been a relatively simple job meant that the teams were having to redo assets and animations from scratch, yet others say it was cancelled for reasons far more “stupid” than that. Though much of this is speculation, it was suggested that Capcom had internally planned it to be released for the DS instead, but eventually it was confirmed to be 100% cancelled. Just a few screenshots and early advertisements for the game are all that remains.

Megaman Star Force 4

Capcom didn’t do as well as they had hoped after the release of Star Force 3, which led to the unfortunate cancellation of its sequel. Its story was going to focus on an older version of the main protagonist of the series Geo Stelar, alongside a brand new character named Kazuma. They would become outlaws after some hacking exploits where they end up being wanted by Satella police for 8 million Zenny for each of them respectively.

Hacking mechanics would have taken a large role in the games mechanics, similar to the way Noise worked in Star Force 3.

More mature in tone, Megaman Star Force 4 was due to be aimed at older audiences, and was only discovered to have been in development in 2019, when an old piece of concept art by team member Shinsuke Komaki depicted Geo, and Kazuma standing side by side. It surfaced on Rockman Corner, one of the detailed Megaman archival fansites.

Megaman Universe

There’s a reason as to why many Megaman games were cancelled around 2010, and many nail it down to Keiji Inafune announcing his departure at Capcom. He started out as an artist and illustrator on the first Megaman game, and many subsequent instalments in the franchise. He also ended up in more senior roles acting as a producer. After 23 years, he left Capcom, and with that came some game cancellations, including Megaman Universe.

It was going to be based on the gamplay of Megaman 2, but would involve players being able to construct their own Megaman suit by assembling his various parts. The game was shown to keen eyes at PAX in 2010, and was going to release on the Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. It demonstrated the various characters that players could utilise, even hinting that Ryu from Street Fighter might make a crossover appearance. Another standout feature from this game would have made use of the consoles’ online networks at the time, and had a level editor for users to create their own levels and share them online. Along with the departure of Inafune, the Capcom and Megaman mainstay, Japan also experienced a terrible earthquake and tsunami prior to release, and its speculated that this may have cause irreparable damage to development of the game. It was officially cancelled on March 31st 2011.

Megaman ZXC

A third release in the Megaman ZX series was unknown until a panel of former Capcom employees who worked for studio called Inti Creates, the developer of the ZX Megaman series, discussed that ZXC was in development. The team were talking whilst playing through Megaman 9 when they mentioned that the player character gameplay felt so smooth, and that they had actually used the character assets from ZXC and ported them for Megaman 9 halfway through development on ZXC. After this, they suddenly went quiet on the topic and agreed that it’s likely not their place to talk about the cancelled games, while comedically mentioning that those who cancelled the game likely don’t even work at Capcom anymore, saying to complain to Capcom about the cancellation and not them, just after namedropping Inafune-san. Prior to this, in Japan, there HAD actually been rumours of another ZX game titled ZX Cradle with the conversation on stream seeming to confirm these rumours.

Rockman Online

Back to Korea, and this co-developed project by Capcom, and studio Neowiz Games was going to be an MMORPG set in the Megaman world.

The story was set several years after the X series of games, with its plot being summarised in two released animated story trailers. In the years after being cancelled, Rockman Online would see a barrage of leaked art, and designs from the team as far back as 2007, four whole years before the games announcement in 2010.

The game would feature two factions, and numerous playable characters, among four classes that would offer differing playstyles. Players would take part in battles in a large military facility named Fortress Gaia which was home to different environments like forest, and cityscapes.

The game was going to release a beta test to a competition winner as a marketing campaign to get players excited for release, but the winner of the competition sadly never received a reply from Capcom, or NeoWiz, which subsequently ended up undergoing an employee restructure, and so Rockman online was officially axed in 2013.

RockmanX Interactive

It’s the mid 90s… and Capcom begin work on a Megaman X spinoff, which is now known as Rockman X Interactive, going by Megaman’s Japanese name.

According to documents put up for auction in 2018, the designs were for the interactive movie Super Rockman Adventure, that released in 1988 for Playstation and Sega Saturn. What was interesting however, was the document depicting another interactive movie, named Rockman X Interactive. This led to speculation that the game was going to obviously be set in the X universe, and would have been a follow up to the 1988 movie-game.

Research conducted on Rockman Corner shows that strangely, work on the unreleased title had actually commenced a few years before Super Rockman Adventure had released. The documents detailed the plot, but nothing about why it may have been cancelled.

Rockman XZ Time Rift

Rockman ZX Time Rift was set to be developed by Chinese Studio NebulaJoy who had completed previous work localising the global version of Rockman X DiVE. If released, fans would have been treated to a crossover of the X and Zero series’ in the Megaman universe. Rockman Corner reported on a 19 second advertisement clip for the game which showed X and Zero commencing battle in what looks like a storage facility.

Only a single screenshot was leaked, and it showed classic sidescroller Megaman gameplay. The developers were releasing this for mobile platforms, and aimed for quality to be high, ambitiously aiming to match what would be out on consoles for the time of release around 2022.

An anonymous source told Rockman Corner that Capcom pulled the plug on this project due to the Devil May Cry: Pillars of Combat, also for mobile, underperformed to expectations. Although it doesn’t seem like we’ll be getting a release, more info may be coming soon according to Rockman Corner.

Wily & Right’s Rockboard: That’s Paradise Gameboy Port Wily & Right’s Rockboard is a business board game simulator that was released for the Famicom in 1993. It came out only in Japan, and featured gameplay similar to Monopoly, but utilising all things Rockman. It turned out that a port of this game was in development for release on the Game Boy. The port would have been like-for-like, intended to play exactly as it did on the Famicom, but would have no colour, and would be reduced in its resolution.

Japanese company Dual were the developers on this project, but their work was shut down when Nintendo found that it did not conform to their strict guidelines that they place on 3rd party developments. Nintendo would perform checks known as “lotchecks” and halted Rockboard’s progress. Information about this port was found in Nintendo’s gigaleak in 2020. [31 References Available on Request]

Content Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1nreGK6Yn8&t=14s

#gaming #megaman #content writing

1 note · View note

dianight · 1 year ago

Text

Bit of a long ramble

Don't really like putting or seeing transphobia related shit on my dash, but this one has been cooking for a while on and off.

---

You see, there is this one streamer who I will not name and who we will simply refer to as this dude. For someone who by chance happens to know of this dude, it would be very easy to guess who he is, but I don't imagine many people are aware.

So. There is this dude. Member of a certain community I was also a member of (still kinda am, but meh). To this day he remains the only person kicked and "unpersoned" by his attitude and words, as opposed to being kicked for cheating, as a few others have.

As a player, he has amassed quite a few achievements and was well known and respected for a long time. This part is just context.

As a person, he has always been very outspoken about certain topics that streamers usually avoid. Topics about race (he is brown, in his own words), about sexism, about politics, you get the idea.

Now, I don't like the expression "rent free in X's head" because I don't believe in the concept of rent. But I often reference his case, as I remember it happening in real time, as the archetypical example of how transphobia rots your brain. Nothing in this paragraph is meant as a joke. Fully serious including the rent part.

For added context, this dude was someone that I "took seriously" as in, I expected that if a conversation was about a serious topic, he would actually treat it as a serious conversation instead of saying some platitudes or treating it as unimportant, as streamers are known to do. When I talk about this dude there is sadness in my voice; not sadness because he could have gone differently, as I consider him a lost cause, but sadness in the choices some people make and how they end up much worse as a person.

---

Although the timeline is not exactly as I'll explain, the general idea remains the same. It's been years, so any mistakes are a product of my bad memory.

Around the time the BLM movement was a big thing, this dude got caught in a rather unfortunate series of events.

He got into a twitter argument involving a developer of a game congratulating a white player for a (relatively speaking) minor acomplishment when compared to his own. His point was to call out the racism of ignoring a brown player while praising a white one. For what it's worth I think he was in the right here, as much as I roll my eyes when typing twitter argument. Nothing good came out of it, as the developer did not "reward" him in the same way they did for the white player. What it did though, was attract a lot of bad faith viewers to his chat. You know the ones that like to stir shit up, debate me kind of guy.

This influx of assholes, coupled with the fact that BLM was big at the time and the fact that this dude loved talking about complex issues assuming others are looking for a conversation, to learn from each other and all that, instead of the obvious trolls he was getting, he started getting very defensive about things.

This dude used to have a blog, he's moved urls last time I checked, where he would write out his thoughts. He wrote about a very extensive list of controversial topics and his stance on them, in what I can only assume was an effort to have to explain himself less every time he streamed.

Among these topics was younger people's access to hrt, although with a far more dramatic phrasing. The arguments he posed had a telling stench to them, the fake concern that you get from sources marked in red by shinigami eyes. He got "called out" as I see people say, and he did admit that he was not well informed, that he would do more research and all that.

During all this one of his closest family members passed away. He talked about what it meant for him on his blog. I'd rather not expand here.

As this dude stopped streaming for a while (around a year perhaps?) when he came back he was a bit changed, to put it euphemistically. Aparently he had been getting harassed on twitter by people who disagreed with him over those topics, and he eventually doubled down and kept getting more into the circle that quotes the likes of jordan peterson and other such cockroaches.

Not being involved in this kind of thing, when I got notice of this changed behavior I was skeptical. This dude, who calls out anyone being racist (to him, or to others) is now talking about these grifters? Surely it's a misunderstanding (how naive...). At some point he got kicked out of the community I mentioned earlier. Many in his audience literally begged him to reconsider what he was saying as it was getting too bigoted. At some point I simply blocked any mention of this dude on platforms I use.

---

Make no mistake.

Occasionally he comes up when discussing the history of the earlier mentioned community, as he was there when it was started and he got his contributions, which have been erased and are not talked about unless strictly necessary.

I feel no sympathy for someone like this dude. Many such cases, sadly.

I just want to illustrate a point that we keep seeing time and time again. People tanking their careers, driving away those who care about them. And what for? To tell people that kids taking blockers is dangerous? To shit on those who can't access hormones? To mock those who don't present on a socially acceptable way? To cling to some idealized worldview rooted in bigotry and violence?

I don't know what this dude's point of no return was. I can only guess and I won't out of respect for those who are no longer there.

But past a certain point I stop caring, stop giving chances, stop giving the benefit of the doubt. You can either stand against all bigotry, and I mean all of it. Or you are an enemy, someone to be ignored and forgotten in the best of cases. Or. Should fascism not be squashed before it's too late, someone to be rid of, violently.

No mercy. No excuses.

#dia talks

0 notes

raven-writes-fanfic · 2 years ago

Text

Squeee!!! My first tag game! I don't actually have anyone else to tag...everyone I would have picked has already been chosen, soooo. I'm not enough of an asshole to tag y'all for the millionth(?) time. Anyway, here we go!

Three Ships:

Stuckyyyyy

Chenford (Bradford x Chen from The Rookie!)

Dramione

First Ship: Golly... I've been reading since forever, and there's been so many relationships that my cute lil-kid self invested in, BUT the first one that I really remember getting into, losing myself in, was Dramione. I'm such an HP nerd.

Last Song: Are we counting the ones that get stuck in my head? If so, then it was My Immortal by Evanescence. If not, then it was.....uhhhh....something on the radio? I can't remember what it was though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Last Movie: If we're counting the ones I watched on purpose, then it was Where the Crawdads Sing. A+++ movie, guys. Highly recommend.

Currently Reading: Uh...assorted Stucky fanfiction. The list is too long. 0-o But I'll try?

Just started Dashing Through the Snow (even though I'm not a huge fan of a/b/o dynamics). The premise aside from that was just too enticing, I guess?

Steve and Bucky's Excellent Adventure (even though it's on hiatus atm) by blue_beans

Karma’s a Fake Orgasm by @daisymondays

Let’s not even bring up the hundreds of fics in my to-read list. Or the books that are on my other to-read list. ( Ó ࡇ Ò)

Currently Watching: I’m rewatching A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix right now. Good series. I’m also a regular consumer of 9-1-1, The Rookie, CSI: Vegas, and probably way too many other crime shows. Also Manifest because that shit is awesome. Can’t wait for the ending next year. (^_^)

Currently Consuming: air?

Currently Craving: Dr. Pepper. ‎٩(⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)و*̣̩⋆̩*

Tag some people you want to get to know better!

@secluded-delusions thanks for the tag! Sorry it took me so long to get off my butt to do this!

Tagging the following lovelies (no pressure❤️ I know things are crazy but I appreciate you for supporting me): @sparkagrace @jaemariee @crisis-froggo @dharmasharks @cynefinhome

Three ships:

1. Stucky - I know it’s not original but they’re perfect.

2. Spideypool - I blame @thefuzzyaya for this. Her art is *dirty*.

3. Hob Gadling / Dream of the Endless. I need to write this.

First Ship: don’t hate me, please? Snarry. (Cringe, I KNOW)

Last Song: um, I suck because I don’t listen to music. I love 2 Cellos and Van Halen and Sam Smith.

Last Movie: Yossi (2012) SO good.

Currently Reading: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell; I don’t like to quit, but I’m having a hard time following the language as it’s sci-fi with a lot of made-up words.

Currently Watching: Smiley on Netflix, for the third time. Bringing up Baby and the red thread and great advice about life in general. Plus, it’s got middle-aged people and I so needed to see that. (Sorry kids, I love you but sometimes it’s nice to see our own kind out there, you know?)

Currently Consuming: Toast with homemade raspberry jam

Currently Craving: Salmon sushi. I’m the only sane one in my family who loves it.

#tag game #this was fun #thanks for including me :3

23 notes · View notes

shoichee · 4 years ago

Text

Lucky Bucket

Midorima x Reader

Word Count: 2686

Submission for @knb-kreations‘s All Hallows’ Eve event!

Prompt: black cat

»»—————　☼　—————««

Midorima hated Halloween.

Why would anyone celebrate the day that is especially infamous for terrible misfortune and ominous superstitions?

Scratch that—why in god’s name does October have to exist?

He swore that every step he took provoked different unsettling breezes that whispered various taunts of a series of unfortunate events for Cancers like him.

He even tried to convince Captain Miyaji to bail out of practice for the month out of fear for his “safety and wellbeing,” promising to practice in the sanctuary of his own backyard to compensate.

“What the fuck are you on about?” the said Captain glowered, his patience visibly thinning on his face. “If this is about your horoscopes again, I’m not hearing about that shit again. Winter Cup is around the corner, and you still think you’ll get special treatment just because you’re one of the Generation of Miracles?”

“Sh-shin-chan, I think this is the time for you to run—”

“Takao. This is none of your—”

“5 extra laps around the campus.”

---------

“You 1st-years are really pushing your luck, huh,” Kimura deadpanned, slightly huffing to catch his breath after doing the extra laps.

“Yeah, thanks a bunch, Shin-chan.”

“I knew it—the horoscopes predicted that the majority of the signs would experience subpar luck today, nanodayo.”

“IT WASN’T THE PREDICTIONS THAT LED US HERE, IT WAS YOU!”

“Absolute nonsense. Why would I intentionally wish ill luck onto my teammates?”

“...”

“Can I throw my family’s pineapples at him?”

“... Maybe it’ll be better for all of our sakes if you’re out of practices just for this month.”

“That’s what I tried to tell the Captain, Otsubo-san,” Midorima sighed, disregarding the stupefying stares his teammates were giving him. “But he would not hear me out.”

“You’re such an impossible person to deal with. Takao, how are you even friends with him?—”

“I am not friends with Takao.”

“Shin-chan is just like an onion with many layers, y’see?” Takao lightly chuckles, evident that he was still short of breath from the sprinting. “I mean if anything, I wonder what (y/n)-chan sees in him.”

“Th-that is none of your business!”

“Awwwww, is Shin-chan being shy?”

“Cease this foolishness at once!”

“Oh hi, (y/n)-chan!”

“Wha—?” At the speed of Aomine’s agility, Midorima whirled around… to see nobody. Right on cue, Takao starts to struggle to hold back an unfiltered guffaw, and his other teammates had their own poor efforts of suppressing their own snickers at his moment of gullibility.

Midorima could feel his veins about to burst at his temples.

“Takao.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It was too good to pass up!—oh? (y/n)—?”

“Are you daft? I’m not going to fall for that again, nanodayo.”

“Fall for who, me?”

At the sound of your voice taking on an irritatingly familiar teasing tone, Midorima reluctantly swerved his head to meet your eyes. He quickly turns his attention away back to Takao in front of him.

“Was this your game all along?” Midorima narrows his eyes.

“What? No! This one was a total accident!—ow!”

“Midomido,” you pouted, prying your boyfriend’s arms away from a dying point-guard. “I want your arms around me too, y’know?”

The entire basketball team is standing there aghast at what you just said in front of the ever-modest Midorima. Sure enough, he was ready to put Takao into a chokehold, and if one didn’t know better, they might think they were extremely close.

“...”

“Miiiiiiido,” you said, tilting your head to look up at his face. He was definitely red. “I want a hug.”

“... We’re going,” was all he said as he (rather harshly) tugged your hand to walk away from the team.

“Oi! Practice isn’t even over yet!”

“Leave poor Shin-chan be. Cut him some slack just this once.”

“Miyaji-san isn’t going to like this when he finds out Midorima isn’t at practice… isn’t he going to kill us all?”

“Easy… just don’t let him find out.”

“Don’t let me find out what.” Miyaji looms over with a threatening smile in a feeble attempt to hide his dark expression. No one needed to turn around to know it was their spartan captain. The immediate chills down their spines told them everything.

“Sh-shit! Run!”

---------

“Shin-chan!~ Shin-chan!~ Shin-chan!~” you called out to Midorima in a sing-song voice to get him to break his silence. You knew that his amount of patience wasn’t generous like his Teiko-manager Momoi’s, nor was he honest about his feelings like his ex-teammate Kuroko, but nonetheless, he had his own unique charm that you found extremely adoring. To tease that is.

Midorima stops walking abruptly and you softly walk into him from the back, amusedly noting that he still has your hand in a tight grip in his own despite his obvious embarrassment.

“What are you doing here, (y/n)?”

“What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’” you said, ready to pull out your signature pouts again. “Have you forgotten that I was gonna bring you a bento box to you at practice? Like I usually do?”

Ah, that was right. You always made the time to drop off snacks and water in the middle of practice. He supposed that his fanatical fear of bad luck for the rest of October made him forget. While he’s not the forgetful type, some extreme things just make him feel completely out of sync with his mind. October was one of those occasions.

“... you don’t have to always do this, nanodayo.”

You giggled. That was just his way of saying: “Thank you, but I don’t feel like I deserve all of this.”

“If you really wanna thank me, kiss me on the lips every time we meet up! Even in public!”

“Wha—!” he sputters. “D-Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Half joking. But I want you to rely on me more. I don’t think of this as a burden or obligation. I want to take care of you. Because I want to. Because I love you, Midomido~”

“... Did you have to say the last part?”

“This time I’m not joking, if you didn’t know.”

A silence falls between the two of you before you teased him to break that silence.

“How long are you gonna hold my hand? Not that I’m complaining obviously, but this is way too out of character for you.”

“Sh-shut up,” he mumbled, his eyes downcast onto your linked hands. “I’m thinking, nanodayo.”

And you patiently stand there, relishing the warmth of his hand as you shamelessly drink in the sight of his sweaty form from practice. His hair was a slightly darker viridian from the perspiration, and miniscule droplets slid off his biceps, making him all the more tantalizing.

“... I want to ask you something.” He lets go of your hand and you reluctantly do the same.

“Eh?” You broke out of your admiring trance as you slowly made eye contact with him again. His piercing gaze, you noted, hadn’t changed at all even from the physical exhaustion.

“Could you…” he started, clearly struggling to get the appropriate words out of his tongue. “... bring me extra lucky items every day… just for this… month.” He didn’t even say it in the tone of a question, and his tense shoulders told you everything you needed to know.

Shy Midorima was too adorable.

“Of course!”

“J-just like that?! You’re not going to ask me why?”

“I know you just wanna be extra prepared, Midomido,” you grinned. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” At your words, he visibly relaxes.

“However…” Midorima perks his head up.

“My lucky items won’t be based off of the horoscopes… but they’ll be all still chosen to help you in some way.”

“... You’re not planning anything, are you?”

“Of course not! I just feel that I would be able to help you better if I was able to choose these on my own terms since I’m not so good at astrology stuff! Plus, I celebrated Halloween and know all the October superstitions since I was a wee kid… I’m an expert on this stuff, trust me!”

Midorima hesitates before he sighs. You knew that meant he gave in and was ready to accept this without a further objection.

He is going to try to rely on you after all, so he might as well start by believing your words.

“Mido! Look! Those cats have been around lately! Aren’t they so cute??”

Please don’t let it be what he think it is, please don’t let it be what he think it is—

You dash from Midorima’s side as you ditched him for the felines, making the extra effort to coo at them to coax them towards your direction. You don’t even notice the way Midorima has his back to you, stiff as a plank.

“Ne, I’ve always wanted to pet them but they’re so sneaky and elusi—Mido? What are you doing?” you turn away from the cats to peer over the petrified greenhead. A realization popped into your head. “… No way! You can’t be scared of a bunch of cats.”

Midorima quietly gulped to himself before he slowly cranked his neck to you… before he noticed the pair of black cats analyzing him behind you. Chills visibly wracked his body before he bolted behind the nearest wall.

“(y-y/n)! Get away from them, nanodayo!”

“No, dummy! Look, they’re so affectionate and cuddly!” Midorima shrinks back further in annoyance when he sees them rubbing themselves up against you and monopolizing all of your attention. While he would’ve just tugged you away to feel your touch again… the cats were a genuine problem.

He stiffly brings out his phone before dialing his right-hand man.

Ring…

“... Takao?”

Please leave a message for Takao Kazunari.

Fuck, how could he forget? He ditched today’s practice in the heat of embarrassment. They were probably at the gym ready to kill him tomorrow. He groaned before facepalming himself. Nothing seems to be going in his favor at all.

Damn it, it was all because of October.

He resignedly sighed as he put away his cell before you hopped to his side again.

“Wahhh, the cats just left,” you whined to him. “I really wanted to pet them more…” Before you reach out to try to hold his hand again, Midorima jumps 3 steps back.

“Stop right there. Not a step closer.”

“Wha? Why?!”

“Bad luck is all over you, and I will not have it be spread to me, nanodayo,” he explained as if it was the most obvious thing ever. “Wait right here. I’ll look for a lucky charm to repel the bad luck for you, (y/n).”

Had his superstitiousness really been that bad?

Half an hour passed before Midorima fully “sanitized” you with some type of water with a spray bottle and gave you a “special plushie” to ward off other misfortunes.

“Did you give me a cute stuffed toy because you felt bad for me?” you cooed at him.

“D-don’t get the wrong idea, nanodayo!” he vehemently denied. “The horoscopes said that this particular item was lucky for your sign today.”

“That’s so cute!” you giggled at him nonetheless, and you were immediately met with denying grumbles and half-shouts.

“Say, are you really scared of those cats?” you curiously turned to him.

“I am not scared,” Midorima said matter-of-factly. “They simply do not bring favorable luck.”

“... Right,” you dryly replied, but you decided to change the subject. “Do you ever see yourself ever prepared against the ‘bad luck’ to the point where you’ll never bat an eye at seeing them again?”

“If I work hard and take every opportunity I can, I don’t see why fate won’t give me a favorable outcome regardless.”

“You didn’t notice my spooky ‘bat’ pun, Mido!” you pouted at him.

“Wh-Wha—Stop that—Oi! Don’t tug on me, nanodayo!”

“I’ll see you off to your own house first, so you don’t have to go through the bad luck atmosphere here any longer, okay?”

Meanwhile in your mind, you were concocting up some ideas on how to boost his luck stat for the month…

---------

“Miiiiiiiiidohh!!” you sprinted to catch up to Midorima the next day, noticing how your boyfriend was eyeing warily at whatever you had in your hand. He wordlessly stops and turns to face you.

“I…” you heaved for air. “... have your… lucky item!” You held out a conspicuous, plastic pumpkin bucket, obviously meant to be used for trick-or-treating. He immediately had his guard up the moment he heard rattling coming from said bucket, but he reluctantly peered into it when you made the point of shoving the tacky orange container to his face.

… It was literally all the stereotypical lucky items he’d see in cartoons.

“Horseshoe… plastic dice toys… talismans?” he frowned. “... why are these papers misshapen 7’s and 8’s?”

“Ah… ehehe…” you sheepishly replied. “I may have fibbed up the cutting part just a bit because I was rushing…”

Midorima squints harder to try to discern the rest of the chaotic collection.

A random rabbit’s foot? He would assume it was faux… dirty pennies… dreamcatchers… acorns? Is that a smashed 4-leafed clover??

“... You said you had a lucky item. Singular noun,” he narrowed his eyes. “I was not aware that you garnered such a collection of multiple things in such a short time, nanodayo… unless you had these for a while now.”

“Yeah! Good catch, Midomido!” you grinned. “But it is a lucky item. It’s the bucket!”

“... I’m leaving.”

“No! Midomido!—Hear me out, I swear!” You tugged on his sleeve in a panic, and he heaved a sigh in response but nonetheless stayed in his spot.

“Okay so, any item that you put into this bucket… becomes lucky!” you explained with utmost seriousness. “Since these items are already known to be lucky, if you let it sit in the bucket, they become even luckier!”

Where the hell did you get this logic from?

“It also serves as your lucky item storage, so you can easily rummage out your lucky item for the day with total ease! Not to mention if you somehow run out of lucky items, you can just put any item into the bucket and it’ll turn lucky! You should totally…”

You’re rambling at this point, and while Midorima still cannot comprehend your flimsy logic, his eyes trained onto your bubbly face and your shining eyes, noting your most adorable smile you’d have when you were passionate about something.

… Maybe if you cared that much about his odd habits and went through such a huge extent for his sake, maybe the bucket isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe it’s lucky because you worked on this idea with love and care?

“Mido! Are you even listening?” you huffed. “Geez, I go through all of this for you and you won’t even listen! Hmpf!”

Midorima slipped out a small rare smile, and almost immediately, your angry face dissipated and was replaced by a faint blush.

“W-w-well, anyways!” you said. “Thank Takao too! He helped me put this bucket together last minute without letting out a single complaint!”

“Takao?”

“Oh! And one final, personal gift from me!” you said, ignoring his looks of confusion. You pulled something from your bag…

And it was a black-cat ear headband.

“Are you mocking me?”

“I would never, dummy!” you frowned. “I heard you say it many times during practice about how you have to know your enemies before you can defeat them!...

… What better way is there to know an enemy than to become them?”

Midorima’s smile was overtaken by the harshest frown you’ve seen in a while.

“This is Takao’s idea isn’t it?—where is he?”

“Nooooo! Midomido, come back! Let me put them on at least! Pretty please! Come on, put them on! I wanna hear you meow!—No, wait! Don’t leave me behind! I have so much fun plans for us on the actual day of Halloween! Don’t ruin the spirit, dummy!”

Needless to say, the real danger of his sanity (and his poor heart) was you.

Screw October—he has to learn how to be careful around your own devious tricks 24/7.

#knb #knb x reader #kuroko no basket #midorima x reader #midorima shintaro #midorima shintarou #takao kazunari #shutoku basketball team #knb scenarios #midorima shintarou x reader #midorima shintaro x reader #knb fic #knb fluff #knb all hallows' eve #knb halloween #event: all hallows' eve

157 notes · View notes

karahalloway · 3 years ago

Text

(Un)Common Attraction: Chapter 5 - Moonlit Escapades

Series: TRR (following the events of Book 1, with some changes)

Pairing: Drake Walker x OC (Harper Gale)

Rights belong to Pixelberry, most characters and some dialogue belong to them.

Book Synopsis: Harper Gale is a small-town girl working as a waitress at a seedy New York dive bar. After a chance encounter with nobility sees her jetting halfway around the world to compete for the hand of the Prince of Cordonia, her dream of seeing the world starts to come true sooner than she expected. But as the completion heats up, Harper quickly learns that life at court is a lot more than just pretty dresses and fancy balls, and that the polished aristocratic smiles often hide deceit. Does she have what it takes to rise above the gossip and intrigue of the social season, and beat the nobles at their own games? And, more importantly, does she actually want to become the queen of a small European country? Or will her heart have other ideas?

Masterlist: (Un)Common Attraction

Chapter Summary: As the Masquerade Ball draws to a close, Harper has some fun with Christian, and not as much fun with the Beaumonts...

Word Count: 3,500

Rating/Warnings: M (swearing)

Chapter Theme Song:

Please read: Author’s Note

Also available on Wattpad.

Chapter 5 - Moonlit Escapades

"Cutting it a little fine there, bud..." I remark as Christian rounds the corner at a fast jog.

"Sorry," he pants, coming to a stop next to me. He quickly loosens his bow tie and pops the top button of his shirt open to try and cool himself down. "Got held up discussing the various tea options for the upcoming lawn picnic..."

"Getting trapped in boring conversations seems to be a forté of yours," I observe as I get up from the stone bench that I had been sat on.

"If only you knew the half of it..." He offers me his arm. "Shall we?"

"Let's," I reply, looping my arm through his.

Christian leads us towards the entrance to the Palace gardens. Our path is illuminated by hundreds of little garden and fairy lights, giving the place a truly magical feel. Arriving at a small wrought iron gate, we step inside a cute knot garden composed of neatly manicured hedges ringed by stone benches looking onto a bubbling fountain.

"It's very peaceful here," I say, detaching myself from Christian to walk around the fountain.

"Yes," he agrees. "I am told it was a sanctuary for my mother. A lot of what you see is actually her vision. Sometimes when I stroll this garden at night, I think of her..." He trails off sadly.

"At least you have a special place that you can share with her, even if she is no longer with you," I say gently, slipping quietly out of my heels on the far side of the fountain. "I'm sure she intended the gardens to be a retreat, rather than a place of mourning."

"You are correct, of course. The gardens hold a lot of good memories as well."

"Because of the maze-tag?" I ask, eyeing up the entrance to the hedge maze.

"Among other things. But unfortunately, my growing list of responsibilities means that I cannot be as carefree as I once was."

"I disagree," I say, coming back round to where Christian is standing with his hands behind his back, looking pensively into the water. "After all, all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy..."

"Is that some kind of American proverb?"

"Dunno," I say with a shrug. "But... TAG! You're 'it'!"

I slap Christian on the shoulder and picking up the skirt of my dress, I dash into the taller hedges on the other side of the fountain.

"Hey!" I hear him exclaim in surprise. "Cheater!"

"Slow-poke!" I toss back over my shoulder as I disappear into the maze.

Despite my head start, Christian is hot on my heels and I need to work hard to stay ahead. The grass is damp underneath my feet, which makes traction elusive around the corners, but against all the odds, I manage to avoid wiping out as I dart through the labyrinth.

However, it seems that my luck is not infinite, and I suddenly find myself trapped in a dead-end. I can hear Christian's pounding footsteps right behind me. Spying a small break in the hedge, I squeeze myself into the gap, hoping that the darkness will help conceal me.

Peeking out through the branches, I see Christian arrive at the entrance of the cul-de-sac, panting. As he bends forward to catch his breath, he quickly surveys the area where I am secreting, but after a second, he jogs on.

I make myself count to thirty before emerging from my hiding place and peeking around the corner to make sure that he is really gone, and not lying in wait for me somewhere. Satisfied that I am alone, I continue on towards the centre of the maze at a more leisurely pace.

"Gotcha!" Christian erupts from the hedge and makes a grab for me.

I shriek in surprise, but manage to dance out of his reach. Whipping around, I sprint down the lane, my heart hammering and my lungs screaming for oxygen. I hear Christian gaining on me, and I dig deep to try and outpace him. But, the fact that I am in a form-fitting dress with a long skirt — while Christian is in a tux — means that despite my best efforts, I am significantly less mobile than him.

I feel hands grab my waist and hear a ripping sound as Christian's foot gets tangled in my skirt. Before either of us have a chance to blink, we're on the ground, tumbling head over heels along the dewy verge. We come to a stop at the foot of a large cherry tree, gasping for air.

"Are...you...okay?" pants Christian, pushing me up from his chest, so he can examine me.

"I'm... fine... I think," I puff, blowing a lock of hair out of my face. I can feel a massive stitch forming in my side, and my muscles are burning from the exertion. "Eugh... I'm gonna feel that in the morning..."

"What on earth possessed you to do that?" he asks, reaching up to pull a large leaf out of my hair.

"Does it matter?" I ask, brushing grass clippings from his cheek. "It was fun, wasn't it?"

"Oh, definitely! And, we made it to the centre of the maze."

"I have no idea how... But, the important thing is that I won."

"How do you figure that?"

"I'm on top."

"That seems to be quite an arbitrary barometer. But, if that's how you want to play it..."

Suddenly, I find myself pinned beneath him. "Hey!"

"Hey," he smirks. "I'm just playing by your rules. And since I'm on top now, I say I win."

"You just don't want to admit that you got beaten by a girl," I tease.

Christian's expression turns serious. "Harper. You are the only girl that I can honestly say that I am happy to lose to. I don't know what it is about you, but when I'm with you, I feel like a completely different person. You remind me of what it feels like to be young and carefree – as if I were any man, not a prince with the weight of a kingdom resting on my shoulders."

"Maybe you need someone like that in your life," I whisper.

"Maybe I do..." he murmurs as he leans in and captures my lips with his.

My eyes widen in surprise, but I find myself reaching up to tangle my fingers into his hair, returning his kiss. His lips are pleasantly warm against mine and I breathe in the cool scent of his aftershave, combined with the musky undertone of sweat and wet grass.

"I'm sorry!" gasps Christian, pulling away suddenly and pushing himself off me. "I should not have done that... I don't know what came over me..."

"I... It's... it's okay..." I stammer, as I slowly sit up.

"God, Harper," sighs Christian, running his hand through his hair in exasperation. "Why do you make me want to break all the rules?"

I smile. "Well, based on what you told me today, being a prince is not a huge amount of fun, so, I guess someone needs to lighten the mood."

"It has its ups and downs, like any job, I guess," he replies, helping me to my feet. "But you are probably right. I haven't had the opportunity to have a lot of fun lately. So, while this was definitely not how I imagined our midnight escapade to unfold, it has certainly been memorable."

"I'm glad I could be of service, my prince," I demure, dipping into a small curtsey.

Christian snorts.

"What?" I ask. "My curtsey not up to your standards?"

"No, it's not that," he chuckles. "You're just... not looking quite like you did at the start of the night."

"Let me guess..." I reply wryly. "My hair's a mess, my make-up's smudged and my dress is ruined?"

"That sums it up, yes."

"Well, you're not much better," I counter with a smile. "You look like you've been spat out of a tree."

"What a pair we make, eh?"

"Gives a whole new meaning to Lord and Lady Muck," I agree.

Christian's grin fades into a grimace. "I guess we should head back. My bodyguards are probably tearing the Palace apart looking for me."

"And both of us could probably do with some sleep," I reply. "We don't want to look like zombies at that all-important picnic you're planning."

"Definitely not," he agrees. "Shall we?"

I loop my arm through his again and he begins leading us back down the lane.

After a couple of yards, I ask, "Erm, you do remember the way out of here, don't you?"

"I guess we'll find out..."

* * *

"Finally..." I sigh as I collapse onto my bed, its feathery softness enveloping me like a warm cocoon.

It took us a good half hour to find our way out of the hedge maze, as unfortunately Christian's memory was not as good as he would've like to have thought (or maybe he was deliberately dragging his feet about having to call it a night).

Nevertheless, the walk back had been pleasant. We had swapped stories about our very different childhoods. Despite our damp attire, the night had been pleasantly warm, and if you listened carefully, you could just make out the sound of the waves crashing into the craggy beach in the distance. In short, it was a welcome escape from the pomp and circumstance of the Masquerade Ball.

But, as fun as the second half of the night had been, the jetlag and the lack of sleep was seriously starting to catch up with me. Even though I desperately needed a hot shower to wash off the mud and grime after our frolic in the gardens, it was proving very difficult to extract myself from the warm embrace of the bed, and I could no longer keep my eyelids from fluttering shut.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I jerk suddenly awake, groggily trying to figure out where the gunshots were coming from, only to realise that someone was just knocking at the door.

"Who the hell could that be...?" I grumble as I pull myself out of the bed and stumble to the door to open it.

"Harper!" cries Maxwell. His grin is quickly replaced by a look of horror as he takes in my ramshackle appearance. "Whoa! What happened to you?"

"Midnight escapades in the garden," I reply, trying to stifle a massive yawn. "What time is it?"

"Early," he admits. "I'm sorry to bother you, but there is someone you should meet..."

"Can't it wait till the morning?" I ask sleepily.

"It is the morning," declares an authoritative voice from the corridor.

Before I could protest, a tall, reedy man with thinning hair and a hawk-like face pushes himself into my room. His eyes widen at the sight of me and even in my sleep-deprived state, I can tell that he is trying very hard not to have an aneurism.

"This is the girl you've chosen to represent our house?" he manages to choke out.

"Yup!" beams Maxwell. "Harper, this is my older brother, Bertrand."

"'Sup," I reply grumpily.

I had no idea why Maxwell had thought it would be a good idea to hold a crack-of-dawn convention in my room to introduce me to his brother. Especially when I looked like I had just rolled out of a bush... Which, actually, I had, but that was not the point. All this could've waiting till after breakfast.

Bertrand's nostrils flare in disapproval. "The proper way to address a duke is 'Greetings, Your Grace'."

"Are you kidding me?" I groan as I sink down into a lavishly upholstered chair. "The two of you barge into my room and wake me up to give me etiquette lessons?"

"Maxwell..." grits Bertrand, with visible difficulty. "A word with you in private?"

"Erm, sure?" says Maxwell getting up from the chair he had just sat down in, a look of confusion on his face.

Bertrand grabs his brother by the arm and hauls him out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.

Rolling my eyes, I push myself out of my own chair and lean against the door to listen to all the – no doubt wonderful! – things that Bertrand is about to say about me.

"What, in the name of all that is holy, possessed you, Maxwell," hisses Bertrand with barely contained fury, "to choose a girl like that to represent our house? Don't you realise what's at stake?!"

"I do," replies Maxwell calmly. "That's why I picked Harper. Christian really hit it off with her when they met at his bachelor party. She was our waitress."

"Waitress?!" I can imagine Bertrand's face turning purple with rage. "You could've picked from any number of unsponsored duchesses or countesses from half of Europe, all with impeccable pedigree, and you choose a nobody? From America?"

"You're right, she's not from a noble family, but she and Christian have a lot of chemistry!" insists Maxwell sincerely. "I've never seen Christian as happy with another woman as he is when he's with Harper. Shouldn't he have a shot at love like that, even if he is the Prince?"

"Spare me your sentimentality!" comes the sneered response. "Do you honestly think we have a chance running an uncouth Yankee against the likes of Olivia Nevrakis? Whatever passing fancy the Prince may think he is feeling now will quickly be replaced with revulsion when he realises what a bumbling buffoon she really is! You have made a grave mistake, Maxwell. I sincerely hope that we will not live to regret it..."

The door is thrown open and Bertrand stomps back into the room with a chastised Maxwell in tow.

"So," I say, leaning casually against the door frame. "Pleasant chat?"

Bertrand's eyes narrow suspiciously. "You were listening to every word, weren't you?"

"You were not exactly subtle. Or quiet."

"Perfect..." gripes Bertrand, throwing his hands up into the air. "She is rude and impudent!"

"Now, look here, bud," I say, forcefully, poking a finger into his tweed blazer.

Bertrand's eyes narrow dangerously.

"It was not my idea to come here, but Maxwell insisted, so I agreed, thinking that the two of you were in agreement about picking me for this bizarre contest. Obviously, I was wrong, so if you will excuse me, I'm going to start packing."

"No!" Bertrand and Maxwell cry in unison.

They quickly compose themselves, looking sheepish as I turn around with an arched brow.

"What we mean..." says Maxwell, clearing his throat, "...is you can't leave."

"Why not?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Because we— I mean, I..." he corrects, seeing the look on Bertrand's face, "...already told everyone that you were our pick."

"Maxwell is, unfortunately, correct," confirms Bertrand, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Since you have officially been presented to the King as a suitor, you cannot withdraw now."

"You're joking..."

"I never joke," declares Bertrand. "So, as much as it pains me to admit it, it appears that we are stuck with you until the end of the social season."

"Fan-fucking-tastic..." I groan, sinking into my chair again.

"Honestly, Maxwell," sighs Bertrand. "You couldn't have chosen someone with even a modicum of comportment?"

"Oh, grow up, Bertrand!" I snap. "Everyone swears."

I grew up with three older brothers. I was gonna swear... So, sue me.

"No, they do not. Especially not well-bred noblewomen who are looking to marry a prince. Perhaps it has escaped your notice, but the ladies you are competing against are the crème-de-la-crème of European society, so we will have our work cut out for us if we are to have even a fool's hope of passing you off as a serious contender."

"And I suppose you will be the one showing me the ropes?" I ask wearily.

"In every sense of the word," sighs Bertrand gravely, as if tutoring me was going to be his life's work from here on out. "The Beaumonts are a highly respected family in Cordonia and abroad, and we did not get to where we are today through luck or wishful thinking, but through hard work, dedication and – most importantly! – deference."

"Now I know how Diana must've felt..." I grumble, slumping lower into my chair.

Even though this was not how I had imagined my European adventure unfolding, I knew that — for the time being at least — I would have to work with the Beaumonts to not only avoid making a complete ass of myself at court, but to also avoid causing an international diplomatic incident by inadvertently embarrassing some stuffy Cordonian noble in public.

"The late Princess of Wales had the good fortune of having been born into an aristocratic family, so she, at least, had a basic understanding of rank, peerage, courtly etiquette and grace," lectures Bertrand. "You, on the other hand, are a commoner, and an American to boot, so we are literally starting with nothing."

"But, on the bright side," interjects Maxwell, "think of all the fame and recognition that we will win if Christian choses you!"

"You mean you will win," I correct. "I'm not a Beaumont... and I don't care about any of that."

"Maybe, but it's something that Bertrand and I could really use right now..."

"Maxwell..." growls Bertrand in warning. "You overstep."

"...'cos we're kinda broke," finishes Maxwell. Fixing Bertrand with a pointed look, he adds, "Well, she was bound to find out eventually, so it's better that she hears it from us, rather than someone else, right?"

"You're broke?" I ask in disbelief. "How does an aristocratic family become broke?"

"That is none of your concern," sniffs Bertrand. "What is important is that Maxwell's little revelation stays between the three of us. In the circles that we move in, if word got out of our financial situation, we would be completely ruined. What good standing our name still carries would evaporate instantly. But, if – despite all the odds – you are chosen to become the queen-in-waiting, then all sorts of doors will open for us, monetary and otherwise."

"Great..." I sigh. "Talk about loading up a girl's plate..."

Seems like Maxwell did not only — rather conveniently! — forget to share some key details with me back in New York about this stupid competition, but Drake had most definitely been right... I was in way over my head. Saving an aristocratic house from financial ruin had certainly not been part of the bargain!

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Harper," says Maxwell apologetically. "But Christian is already hooked on you, so in a way, you have already jumped the most difficult hurdle."

"Thanks..." I grumble, feeling anything but reassured.

I should've listened to that little voice in the back of my mind and told Maxwell to shove his sponsorship when I'd had the chance...

But it was too late now. We were in this for the long haul.

That's what you get for being impulsive, Harper!

"Speaking of hurdles," interjects Bertrand, "have you chosen your attire for the next event?"

"You mean the lawn picnic?"

"No, the Derby," corrects Bertrand, as if I were a stupid child. "You do at least know what a derby is? Or is even that asking too much?"

"I know what it is – it's a fancy horserace and we have quite a famous one in Kentucky," I snipe sarcastically. "I wasn't born under a rock, you know."

"Your current appearance would suggest otherwise..." replies Bertrand with equal dryness. "But, you are correct. The Derby is first and foremost a horserace. However, it is also a fashion event, and will therefore be covered by the press, so you will need to choose your attire with care to ensure that it sends the right message."

"Which is...?"

"That you are a serious contender in this competition with an impeccable sense of style."

"So, no jeans then?" I ask wryly.

Bertrand's eyes are steely. "Definitely no jeans. Many of the ladies will be opting for haute couture, but the Queen prefers a look that is more modern in style, so if you want to impress her with her fashion-sense, I suggest you choose something accordingly… and make an effort to keep it presentable.”

He runs his gaze disapprovingly over the grass and dirt stains on my dress.

"I will keep that in mind," I reply evenly. "Anything else I should know?"

"As I mentioned, the press will be covering the event. Every major local, national, and regional news outlet will be in attendance, and they will be on the lookout for any kind of story. Therefore, it is imperative that you put your best foot forward and conduct yourself with grace and composure. These events provide a chance for you to build your image in the eyes of the Cordonians, but if mishandled, they will instead provide fodder for the gossip rags."

"Right, so try to avoid any embarrassing underwear incidents," I surmise.

"At all costs," replies Bertrand with a shudder.

The story continues in Chapter 6 - A Crash Course in Etiquette

Permatags (let me know if you want to be added!)

@twinkleallnight @lovingchoices14 @petiteboheme @aussiegurl1234

#trr fanfiction #the royal romance #drake x mc #prince liam #uncommon attraction #harper gale #Spotify

18 notes · View notes

satoshi-mochida · 3 years ago

Text

Some thoughts on my last Gamefly rental, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

*Though most people are familiar with DBZ, especially the three main Sagas in this game, given how often they’re played out in games, I’ll put a spoiler warning here just in case. Also, I didn’t try out the DLC stories, yet, so this will just be about the base PS4 game with it’s current updates. I may buy the game and try those out in the future. I also say a lot about the game.

The game spans from the Saiyan Saga to the end of the Buu Saga(not counting DLC). Pretty much every important scene is played through, though a few parts are skimmed over or skipped, like:

Goku traveling Snake Way, his brief fall into Hell, and training with King Kai(shown a bit and mentioned but not playable)

Piccolo using Hellzone Grenade against Android 17(you can have him learn the move and do it yourself, though).

Future Trunks’ battle with Cell where he found out the speed-loss disadvantages of Super Saiyan Third Grade(that moment isn’t shown or mentioned, though he does still fight Cell in that form)

Vegito still attacking Super Buu after being turned into candy(which means we don’t get to see him beating Super Buu up as a high-speed jawbreaker). Also, Goku and Vegeta freeing everyone trapped inside Super Buu happens offscreen.

And possibly a few smaller moments. They aren’t too important in the long run, though, plus some were probably for better pacing or something.

There was some added stuff, too:

Several times, you’ll be able to meet, and occasionally do sidequests for, several older Dragon Ball characters, like Nam, Eighter and Launch.

A new fight for Goku against Kid Buu to end the main story before he launches the Super Spirit Bomb at him.

There's a fairly small amount of playable characters(who can also be put in a party as Support Members):

Goku

Gohan

Vegeta

Piccolo

Future Trunks(Android/Cell Saga and Epilogue, only)

Gotenks(only in two battles against Super Buu)

Vegito(in one battle against Super Buu, which, considering how powerful Vegito is, is more of an epic beatdown than a fight)

And a few characters that are support only:

Krillin

Tien

Yamcha

Chiaotzu

Goten

Kid Trunks

Android 18

All characters, Main and Support Only, have a ‘Super Attack Skill Tree’ that you can use Z Orbs that you find/earn to give them new skills and attacks. What you can get increases based on the character’s level and story progress(example, you can’t get Super Saiyan 2 for Gohan until he unlocks it during the fight with Perfect Cell).

Throughout the game, you’ll collect ‘Soul Emblems’ to place onto several ‘Community Boards’ to increase various ingame bonuses, like more EXP or cooking benefits. You get Soul Emblems both from the main story and side quests. They can be leveled up with Gifts to increase the Community Level, giving more bonuses. This seems to be the best setup for all of the emblems that I found.

At campfires and at Goku’s House, you can make food from items/materials you have to give yourself a stat boost. And Chi-Chi can be asked to make the party Full Course Meals at her home, which also increase the Base Stats of whoever eats them.

A certain filler episode from the original series where Goku and Piccolo are forced to get a Driver's License also happens in this game(though unfortunately without the outfits they wore in said episode). After doing so, you unlock the ability to make cars and battle walkers from Bulma, as well as Time Attacks for both types of vehicles(which I didn’t do much of).

Like the first Budokai game, this one has story’s events shown in cutscenes, which the later ones just had them happen in dialogue to speed things along, probably. And they did a really good job of animated said scenes, matching the look and feel of the series VERY closely.

The flying also feels well done, and true to the series. Aside from flying normally, which is fairly slow, you can hit L3 to start flying faster, at the cost of your Ki slowly going down and not being able to sense Ki with R1. This is the best way to travel the the large maps. Goku and Gohan can also use the Flying Nimbus, though you can’t pick up items that you need to hit Circle while doing so. Also, ramming into weaker enemies while flying will defeat them instantly and give you EXP. It’s a bit hard to aim yourself at enemies correctly, sometimes, though.

Going underwater functions the same as flying, except with an air meter to keep an eye on. If it runs out, you get kicked back above where you entered the water as the only penalty. Take a peek down under whatever bodies of water you find; there’s always stuff to see and collect, depending on the map, especially on maps with oceans.

You can also dash on the ground by hitting L3, and unlike when flying, you can still sense Ki while doing so.

I feel like this game’s flying controls are about what it should feel like for a Superman game. Probably might need a few tweaks to fit more with that series, but this feels like a good base for that kind of game.

The game’s many maps are pretty large, with lots to see and explore, including towns, caves that you need to be a certain level to enter, materials to gather, fishing spots, and more. They include plenty of well known DBZ locations, insulting Kame House(and the ocean around it), West City and Capsule Corp., Korin’s Tower and Kami’s Lookout, and so on.

Floating around these maps are enemies you can fight. They grow in strength as you do/the story progresses. If you’re strong enough and are fast-flying when running into an enemy, you’ll defeat it and gain EXP right away.

Speaking of Korin’s Tower, you can eventually unlock the ability to grow Senzu Beans there, which fully heal you. Once they’re unlocked, they will gradually grow and can be collected from Korin, with a Senzu Bean icon appearing next to it on the World Map if there’s any available. He will hold up to 9 at once, so check back once in a while.

Fishing is pretty easy to do; just hit one of the face buttons(X, Triangle, Square and Circle) when the marker is in a marked area, then hot one again when the closing circle is within another marked circle(this might make more sense when you see it yourself). You’ll get items for cooking from fishing, and some sidequests need them, or just certain types of fish, to clear. An amusing detail when fishing is that Goku and Gohan, even when he’s a teenager, use a fake tail as a lure while Vegeta and Piccolo fish like normal people(I forgot to check and see what Future Trunks does, but probably the latter).

After clearing the Frieza Saga, you can collect the Dragon Balls on Earth during Intermissions. They give off a small orange slow when sensing for Ki, and you’ll hear a low humming sound when you’re close to one. You can get several different wishes from them, with three of them always being for Z Orbs, Zeni or Rare Material Items. Other wishes are reviving certain dead characters to fight them again, and can only be done once, unlike the three listed above. At first, you can only make 1 wish at a time, but as the game goes on, it gets upgraded to 2 then 3 wishes at once. After making a wish(s), you ‘ll need to wait 20 ingame minutes before the Dragon Balls can be found and used again. They seems to have a couple set locations on whatever map they end up on(two locations are west of Orange/Satan City, for example).

Speaking of Mr. Satan...I know that his actually Japanese stage name, but I always end up calling him Hercule due to hearing that for so many years(and just liking how that sounds better). Also, ‘Satan City’ just sounds really funny. XD

You probably won’t need to really grind in the base game; you should get enough experience from doing sidequests and story events to get by. Gohan especially; he ended up quite a few more levels than everyone else just from the story EXP alone, and his Unleashed Potential ‘form’ from Elder Kai makes him do quite a lot more damage. Also, gained experience is shared among all party members, even those not currently set to fight.

One of the sidequests you can do throughout the game is defeating ‘Villainous Enemies’, who are fairly strong, and are covered in a red aura. You should at least be at or around their level before fighting them, since you can’t run from fights in this game. It may be best to do them during Intermissions when you can select your party members, and bringing someone who can stun with Solar Flare(like Krillin), can be really helpful.

In the epilogue/postgame, in addition to being able to play as Future Trunks(talk to him outside of Capsule Corp.), you can also use his time machine to redo Boss fights, and do any sidequests you may have missed.

The game’s opening has the old opening for the show, ‘Cha-La-Head-Cha-La”, and this is the first time I really listened to it. It’s really good, and kind of reminds me of the opening to Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, too, for some reason.

There’s a few parts where there’s some nice attention to the series’ details:

At several story points when Saiyan characters are healed, like with Senzu Beans or the healing pod on Namek, they gain experience, while others, like Krillin, don’t get that bonus, which does make them, admittedly accurately, start lagging behind in strength.

If you use Ki Sense on Androids, and a certain researcher in Capsule Corp., you won’t see anything emitting from them.

If you have Piccolo and/or Android 18 in your party while eating a Full Course Meal from Chi-Chi, they won’t eat any of it. Saiyan characters(again, forgot to check Future Trunks) eat it ravenously(even Vegeta), while human party members eat normally.

Only Goku and Gohan can use the Flying Numbus.

These aren’t really important observations, but some events in the game made me think:

Did Piccolo destroying the Moon to stop Gohan’s Great Ape form have any effects on Earth? Or did nothing really happen?

How in the world did Supreme Kai and Babidi survive being so close to Majin Vegeta when he used Final Explosion while Piccolo and Krillin hightailed it out of there with Goten and Kid Trunks?

I noticed a possible(intentional) goof at the end. In the cutscene after beating Kid Buu and going back to Kami’s Lookout to reunite with everyone, Dende is a kid again for some reason. Apparently, both the original anime and manga made this goof too, so maybe it’s a nod to that? It is kind of jarring, though. XD

A couple technical issues I found were that sometimes when loading a map, and in some battles later on, the game would hang for a couple seconds, and one time it crashed while it was loading into an area after traveling to another. Thank goodness for autosave. Also, be careful using the stronger version of Goku’s Spirit Bomb attacks; it caused major lag for me a couple times.

This ended up being one of my favorite DBZ games that I’ve played, close runners up including

Budokai 3

Budokai Tenkaichi 2(mainly for just how many characters that one has, including most of the movies from around that time, outmatched by Budokai Tenkaichi 3, which I didn’t play)

Legacy of Goku 2(I didn’t get the chance to play Buu’s Fury back then)

Next game being sent is: Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel

#Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot #Dragon Ball Z #Thoughts on my rentals

7 notes · View notes

epiphany-of-a-madwoman · 4 years ago

Text

Daylight | Edward Cullen x Stark!OC

Chapter 1 | Hard Time Adjusting

"You gotta step into the daylight and let it go"

Summary: Delphina Stark, to be frank, is tired. After the events of the Accords are done and half of the Avengers are now considered fugitives, she moves from bustling New York to live with her mom in Forks, Washington. Wielding a sarcastic attitude and crippling self-deprecating humor, she somehow gets wrapped up in the supernatural world.

Word Count: ~4k

Note: Click here for the Masterlist for this series ♡ || Link for my tag list in my Bio ♡

Cold and rain, something so typical of this place, yet Delphina can’t help but scowl as she stares out the car window. The lush green trees from the forest that surround them zip past them, becoming nothing but blurs in shades of green and brown. Her forehead rests against the cool glass, the window fogging up wherever her warm breath hits. If she was seven years old, she’d excitedly draw little pictures on the window, writing witty things that only she laughed at, but she’s not seven anymore. Instead of bouncing in her seat, talking animatedly about everything to anyone who listens, she just sits in the car, barely moving an inch, as silent as a statue. Quiet music pours from the sterosystem of the car, an acoustic guitar and a smooth male voice easing the silence. Occasionally her mom sings along, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the song.

Delphina looks over at her, taking in her brown hair that’s been cut to her shoulders. Her eyes trace over her mom’s pale complection, a stark contrast to Delphina’s sunkissed skin. Her brown eyes focus on the road in front of them, a small smile resting on her lips. Her gaze moves back to the window, a small sigh leaving her mouth, creating a large cloud of fog on the glass.

Forks, Washington; easily one of the dreariest places Delphina has had the privilege of visiting. Rain always pours from the sky, threatening to drown the town and sweep it away until it’s nothing more than Atlantis. On the off chance the rain ceases, a thick overcast covers the sky, blocking out any chance of sunlight shining down on the city, bathing everything in it’s warm glow. And on the especially rare days where there is no rain but only clear skies, blue is tinged with grey and the sun is dim, not as bright as the summer days in New York. The town is small, with a population of only around 3,000 people, which means the high school can only have one hundred students, two hundred tops.

“School starts tomorrow. Are you excited?” her mom, Anna asks from the driver’s side of the car. It’s been two hours since the plane hit Seattle, an hour of that time spent in the car. They didn’t exchange anything more than small talk and pleasantries in the airport, Delphina too lost in her own little world, dreaming of grand adventures far from here.

“About as excited as I’ll ever be,” she mutters, taking a sip of her soda. It’s awkward and tense, Delphina not having anything to say and her mom not knowing what to say. It feels like a lifetime since Delphina last visited, wearing two pigtails and bright summer dresses she’d inevitably ruin, only ten and causing a storm. But she doesn’t wear pigtails anymore, nor overly bright summer dresses she’d ruin, but still causes a storm everywhere she goes.

“What classes are you excited for?” she continues to prod, either not realizing how disconnected her daughter is or maybe she did and doesn’t care.

“The one with the books and the paper. Don’t even get me started on the ones involving pens and pencils. I’m getting giddy just thinking about it,” she says. A sardonic smile forms on Delphina’s face as her eyes continue to trace random shapes in the green-blue sky. Her mom reaches across the dash and smacks her arm lightly, the sound off beat with the music playing.

“Don’t get smart with me, young lady.”

“Can’t help it, have you met my dad?” Delphina replies.

“Unfortunately.” her mom replies while rolling her eyes. Delphina simply snorts but says nothing else.

“You were the one that procreated with him,” she mutters, glancing at her mom from the corner of her eyes.

“Yeah and now I’ve got to deal with you,” Anna says, a smile creeping onto her lips that are painted a soft pink.

“Lucky you.”

The silence surrounds them for a few moments, the sound of rain pattering against the car piercing through it. Delphina slips her hand into the pocket of her sweatshirt, feeling the smooth surface of the flip phone. She runs her finger over its smooth surface, feeling the indent from glass to plastic. And it’s comforting, knowing Nat is only a phone call away, ready to swoop in if Delphina needs her. But more than that, it’s a piece of her home as she’s being thrown into the wolf den.

“You’re hair’s blonde,” her mom says, glancing at her briefly before returning her gaze to the winding road. Delphina touches the tips of her bleached hair, a light silver that she decided on after the abysmal mess Season 8 of Game of Thrones ended up being.

“Yeah, thought it’d look better,” Delphina says, dropping the strands of hair, watching as they limply fell, lying past her shoulders. She remembers lounging out in the main room, watching Game of Thrones with the TV on full blast, if only for the stern reprimanding she knew Steve would give her. And whenever he was on Earth, Thor would sit on one of the couches, enthusiastically watching it with her, despite not knowing what was happening. He’d cheer when Delphina did and get mad with her, even if he didn’t know why he should be upset when Daenerys burned King’s Landing.

The rest of the car ride is spent in silence, the minutes dragging on until they reach the house, her new house. When they stop in the driveway, her mom turns off the car and the two of them get out and begin the slow process of unloading the things Delphina brought onto the plane. Her furniture and boxes already arrived two days prior, courtesy of her dad and expedited shipping. The process of unpacking is tedious and annoying, Delphina growing unreasonably frustrated with each passing moment. Her room here is much smaller than her room at the Compound so it’s like playing Tetris trying to fit her furniture. Delphina never liked Tetris. Eventually, she gives up, hearing the sounds of the front door opening and shutting, the old house shaking from the force, a second later unfamiliar voices filtering through the house.

Quietly, Delphina walks downstairs, the soft sound of feet touching the carpet the only sound she makes. It sounds like two voices - a man and a woman. Upon reaching the landing of the stairs, she sees two people standing in the living room with her mom. The girl looks around Delphina’s age, with mousy brown hair and a pale complexion that makes her mom look like a middle aged woman who fell asleep in a tanning bed. The man next to her is much older, probably her dad. He’s wearing a police officer uniform with short brown hair and a mustache that looks like something straight out of an 80s boy band.

“Delphina! I was just about to call you. Come in come in, I want you to meet some people.” her mom exclaims, the smile on her face a touch too wide. The two people look over at Delphina as she apprehensively walks further into the room until she stands next to her mom, directly across from the girl.

“This is Charlie Swan and his daughter Bella,” both of them smile at Delphina, the girl nodding when her mom says her name.

“Hey,” Delphina says, feeling the gaze of her mom that oozes with sugary sweetness, hiding daggers in them, silently demanding that Delphina play nice, if only for the next few minutes.

“Hey,” the girl, Bella, mimics. “You’re going to Fork High, right?”

“Not like there's any other high school,” Delphina says. Her mom digs her elbow into

Delphina’s side, subtle enough their guests don't notice, but firm enough to get her point across. Bella’s expression falls the tiniest bit, glancing at her dad and Delphina’s mom before moving her gaze back to her, and Delphina feels a small amount of guilt set in.

‘Must be Capsicle’s influence finally rubbing off on me.’

“Sorry, yes, I’ll be at Forks,” Delphina says, painting the most charming smile she can force on her lips. And Bella’s smile returns, nodding her head again as she opens her hand, pointing it towards Delphina.

“Me too, I can pick you up tomorrow, if you’d like?” she continued. Delphina opens her mouth to decline, not wanting to interact with anyone more than necessary--.

“She’d love to.” her mom interjects smiling at Delphina, her voice too chirper to be normal. Delphina gifts her with a scathing glare, not enjoying her mom strong-arming her into making friends. “It might be good for you to have some friends your own age.” her mom says in a defensive tone. This elicited an eye roll from Delphina but she didn’t argue and a laugh from Charlie that he quickly covers up with a cough when she looks over at him.

“Yeah, Bella could introduce you to her friends at school, they’re… interesting.” Charlie says. At the end of his sentence, he starts scratching the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. The tension in the room between Delphina and her mom is palpable, so thick you could taste it.

“That’s a great idea! Now, I do believe Bella was kind enough to bake us some brownies, so let’s go eat dinner and devour those,” her mom exclaims, bustling towards the kitchen area.

Internally, Delphina groans as she drags her feet towards the dining room. She would give her left foot away if it meant she could be back at the Compound, locked away in her dad’s lab as she tinkers with anything and everything. Instead she has to endure as her mom plays host, pretending to not notice the wary looks both Bella and Charlie give her, like she’s a ticking bomb seconds away from exploding if either of them say or do the wrong thing.

o0o0o0o

After the most awkward dinner ever, Charlie and Bella leave their house, Bella telling Delphina she’ll be back at 7:30 am to pick her up. After helping her mom clean up, placing dishes in the sink and quickly wiping down the table, Delphina rushes up to her room, ready to go to sleep. She gets undressed and throws on some cotton pajamas, running through her skincare routine before eventually settling in bed, scrolling through her IPad mindlessly, doing anything and everything to avoid any headlines that involve the Avengers. A few moments later, her mom knocks on her doorway, standing in the hallway. She’s out of her clothes and in a sleep shirt and old leggings, wet hair dripping on the carpet with a bare face.

“Goodnight,” she says.

“Night mom,” Delphina says, not looking up from her screen.

“Del, I’m glad you’re here.” her mom says after a moment of silence.

“Yeah, I missed you,” she mutters, briefly meeting her mom’s gaze before her eyes flit back to the bright screen, enraptured by the cat video playing. She sighs and then another moment of silence passes before once again, it’s broken by her mom.

“Look, I understand this must be difficult with everything that’s happened in the past month --” her mom begins. Delphina’s mind snaps to the present upon hearing the words, already where the conversation is heading and not liking it.

“I’m gonna make like Kanye, and cut you off. I don’t want to talk about it,” she says, holding up one perfectly manicured hand.

“I’m serious Delphina, I know you were close with all of them, and now most of them are wanted criminals --” her mom pushes through like a charging boar going headfirst, seemingly unbothered by Delphina’s attempt at shutting down the conversation.

“And I’m serious when I say I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice grows louder, completely smothering the words her mom said. She presses down on the lock button, her IPad turning off with a quiet click. She haphazardly tosses it to the other side of the bed, bouncing a few times before it settles in its spot.

“Ignoring it isn’t going to solve anything,” Anna continues to argue, looking at her daughter with wide, pleading eyes.

“And neither is this conversation,” Delphina says, throwing the plush duvet over herself, cocooning herself in it’s warm embrace, willing her mom and her prying question away.

“I don’t want to start this right now Del. Just know I love you.” and with that, her mom closes the door behind her, her footsteps slowly disappearing.

Delphina lays motionless for hours, staring at the same spot in the wall, her mind a chaotic storm, sweeping away any sense and logic. Eventually sleep overcomes her, lulling her into it’s warm embrace, the memories fading away until all she dreams about is happier times.

o0o0o0o

FORKS HIGH Home of the Spartans.

The wood sign in the grass displaying the high school name, like everything else in this town, is old and worn, the words nearly too faded to read. The school building itself is no exception. The brick building is larger than Delphina anticipated, different than the pictures she painted in her mind. The design is similar to the stereotypical school, the kind in all the kids cartoons. Bella’s orange truck pulls into a parking spot, near a white van with a group of people surrounding it. Her eyes scan over them, watching the three boys rambunctiously talk to each, pushing one another around, feeding into the small town stereotypes Delphina built up. The group turn to face the truck once Bella cuts the engine, the truck spitting loudly before finally shutting down. And Delphina has to force the scowl that’s forming on her face away, unwilling to further the rich girl stereotype, even if she perfectly fits into it most days.

“Hey, Bella! Who’s that with you?” a blonde guy in a letterman jacket and jeans says to Bella as she opens the car door, Delphina following suit.

“Hey Mike, this is Delphina, she’s new here,” Bella replied, gesturing towards Delphina’s general direction with her hand. The group immediately turn their attention to Delphina, watching her like scavenger birds about to feast upon a freshly rotted corpse.

Gross.

“Delphina eh? Interesting name, I’m Mike,” the guy - Mike - says, walking towards her with his hand outstretched.

“Don’t touch me,” she says, effortlessly side stepping him and turning towards Bella. “I’ll see you later, I’ve got to get my schedule.”

“Wait aren’t you Tony Stark’s daughter!?” a girl in the group exclaims, her voice grating against Delphina’s eardrums.

She doesn’t give them a response or any indication she hears the question, quickly walking away from the group. She adjusts her backpack and messes with the bracelet on her wrist, the metal is cold and smooth to the touch, bringing her out of her thoughts momentarily.

Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot.

She wills herself to keep moving forward rather than fleeing like she wanted to, especially since everyone’s gaze is on her. She can see in their faces, the tilt of confusion, eyes alight as they recognize the daughter of Iron Man himself. The closer she gets to the steps that lead up to the school, the more people notice her. And despite the airs of arrogance she puts on, Delphina hates people looking at her, especially when they look at her like a tiny new toy to play with. And for a brief moment, she considers convincing her mom to let her do online school rather than deal with any people. Or maybe she could run off into the woods surrounding the school, never to be seen again as she lives in solitude for the rest of her days.

Eventually she reaches the top of the steps, moving in the school building that brings a much-needed warmth to her chilled body. Her eyes scan the entrance, trying to see past all the people moving around, chatting loudly with one another. More students are inside, near lockers and other spots, seemingly enjoying the cold as much as Delphina did. She darts towards the wooden door to her left, the sign hanging over it reading OFFICE.

Entering the room, it’s relatively small with a few chairs pushed up against the wall. They face towards the counter that the front desk woman is sitting behind. And further behind her is another door that most likely leads to the office of the principal and the assistant principal. The woman behind the desk looks to be in her late 40s, with fine blonde hair, nearly as pale as her skin, that’s cropped short. She wears a pair of stereotypical receptionist glasses set on the bridge of her nose as she eyes Delphina with a look of interest. Thick red lipstick coats her thin, wrinkly lips, some of it smudging onto her face.

“How can I help you today sweetie?” she asks, lowering her gaze slightly to get a better look. Her eyes burned through Delphina for a few moments, trying to determine if she knows her from somewhere. Delphina moves forward until she stands close enough to the counter that she can touch it and smell the strong floral perfume the woman wears.

“Hi, I’m Delphina Stark. I’m here to pick up my schedule,” she says. With those magical words, Delphina watches the woman’s eyes widen a fraction in surprise before she manages to semi collect herself. But she’s sitting up a bit straighter, her lips stretching into a grin that is a hair wider than a few minutes before.

It looks like the notoriety of her last name has reached everyone in little old Forks.

“Oh of course! I’ll get that right for you, Ms. Stark,” the woman says, rolling her chair away and opening a filing cabinet. She rummages around for a few moments, before finding her target. She rolls back to where Delphina is waiting and places the sheet of paper on the counter, her long acrylic nails tapping against the countertop. Bright red, a bold color, yet so stereotypical for a secretary. “Here you go, dear.”

“Thanks,” she mutters, turning to leave the room as soon as possible. Looking down at the paper, she reads her first class of the day, Biology. Glancing down at the map in her hands, Delphina begins following the vague directions, hoping to get there before class starts.

‘God knows I don’t need the attention.’

o0o0o0o

The bell rings loudly in the hall, piercing through any ambient noises and causes any lingering students to rush off. With a slur of curse words, Delphina rushes towards the door, that if the map is correct, should lead to her Biology class. Her footsteps pound against the glossy linoleum floors as she closes the distance between her and the door. She stops in front of the door, smoothing down her sweater and jeans, adjusting her backpack, and smooths her hair. With a final deep breath, Delphina opens the door, entering the classroom.

The chattering that previously filled the room ceases once Delphina enters the room. The teacher, Mr. Molina is standing near his desk and currently faces Delphina, some papers in hand along with a pen. He smiles widely at her, in an attempt to ease her anxiety, the corner of his eyes crinkling as he does. Each of her steps in the room is magnified 100x, the students watching her like a hawk.

“Hello, Delphina I assume?” he asks, meeting her halfway, clicking his pen on.

“Yeah, that’s me,” she says, handing him the paper the front desk lady gave her. He quickly scribbles his signature and hands the paper back to Delphina. He turns towards his desk and grabs a book before turning back to her.

“Alright Delphina Stark, welcome to Biology! Here’s this book for you --” he says as he hands her the Biology textbook. “I’ve got a seat for you, right over there,” he continues, pointing to the only empty seat in the room.

“Thanks,” she mutters, making her way down the rows of seats towards her new lab partner.

When her eyes land on him, Delphina nearly forgets how to breathe properly, needing to make an effort to inhale and exhale. He looks perfect, like a sculpture from Ancient Greece with a beauty that could put actual gods to shame. His skin is porcelain pale, nearly glowing in the dingy classroom lighting. His copper hair is messy, like he runs his hands through it a million times a day, framing golden eyes that look like glittering gold. He’s boyish in appearance with a blank expression resting on his perfect face, clearly already bored with the class. An unopened notebook along with a pen is the only possession he seems to have with him.

His gaze moves up to Delphina, gold meeting blue for only a second, but it’s enough to electrify her, as he moves his eyes back to his desk, fist clenching at his sides ever so slightly. And despite Delphina’s best interest, her heart stutters for a moment, her mouth getting drier the longer she looks at him.

Like in a trance, she moved towards the table, her eyes moving from her mysterious lab partner, to the back wall, back to him, then back to the wall. She finally arrives at the table, pulling out the chair and sitting in it. The chair scrapes against the floor, pulling attention back to Delphina, but they quickly lose interest as the Mr. Molino starts to speak, droning on about onions or something.

“Hey,” she says, not expecting a reply, if his sullen expression is anything to go by.

And she doesn’t receive one. The entire class passes by and he manages to not utter a single word to Delphina, doesn’t even breathe in her direction.

As soon as the bell rings, signifying that class is over, the guy shoots out the classroom, disappearing from view before Delphina could even blink, leaving her mildly disgruntled, confusion clouding her thoughts.

“Hey, New York!” the voice of Mike breaks her out of her thoughts. “Why don’t you let me walk you to class?”

And as she grabs her books and bag, she groans, doing everything in her power to dodge Mike while inflicting minimal injuries to him, not wanting to be sent home on her first day of school.

o0o0o0o

Tags:

@stuckupstucky

#Edward Cullen x reader #Edward Cullen imagine #edward cullen #edward cullen fanfic #twilight #twilight fanfiction #twilight imagine #twilight one shot #cullen clan #stark!reader #stark!daughter #stark!oc #Avengers #post civil war #avengers crossover #pre infinity war

88 notes · View notes

maraudererasmut · 5 years ago

Text

Toss a Coin to your Fandom...

Okay, this is going to be a bit of a weird ramble, so bear with me for a bit.

I am fandom confused and I totally get it and also it hurts my brain.

The Witcher is a show that just came out fairly recently. With the show came a whole new influx of fans, very suddenly, who are very, very eager. And I love it! I love these new Witcher fans! I love what they’re doing to the fandom and how they’re changing things! And I love the direction that the fandom is growing!

But the grumpy, broody fanboy inside of me is upset, and I don’t know what to do with these odd feelings.

You see, since the moment the Witcher show was announced, I have been anticipating it with bated breath. The original Witcher is a book that was written in Polish and translated into other languages. This book had three video games based on it. The games did not get as popular as they are until the third one. I’ve enjoyed this series with my Significant Other since the second game. When I found out they were making a show of one of my favourite books and video games, I was really hesitant. Once the showrunner was announced and she began to post character descriptions on twitter, I was cautiously optimistic. She seemed to have a strong understanding of the source material and was determined to keep it true to the original. Once I discovered Henry Cavill’s enthusiasm and passion for both the books and the game, I was slightly more excited; any actor who wants to play a character because they like them is likely to bring it their all.

Let me tell you, I binge watched the entire series the day it came out. I’ve watched it since. I was floored. It was AMAZING. It was so true to the books, it kept the very essence of the Witcher alive within the episodes. Geralt was wonderful. Dandelion (who was allowed to return to his original Polish name, Jaskir) was AMAZING. Yennifer made me nervous when I first saw her, but as I watched the character grow into herself, she fully embodied everything that the orignal character ever was. I was so proud. I was so glad that the show turned out as well as it did, and I wanted everyone to watch it!

What I wasn’t expecting was that everyone would watch it.

Now, across my dash and on my friends’ blogs, I see SO much Witcher content! I see so many different Geralts and so many wonderful Dandelions (I have so much trouble calling him Jaskir, I’m awful! I’m sorry!). I see some stunning Jennifers and some Tris Merigolds who don’t have auburn hair but are beautiful nonetheless.

More than anything, I see a lot of Geralt x Jaskir content.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good gay ship as much as the next fella. In fact, I had an argument about this with my SO. The way the show presents the relationship, I can TOTALLY see how one can get on board with the Jaskir x Geralt ship! I get it! The show absolutely presented it as if they are an amazing couple.

But the source material didn’t.

My SO tried to tell me that because the author never intended Jaskir and Geralt to be together and never intended Geralt to be gay, it’s a little weird. I explained to him about DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (which is a hill that I will DIE on) and that, based on the show alone, the ship makes sense.

But something is missing here.

I’m all down for Geralt and Jaskir. They’re cute, they’re great, the dynamic there is hilarious. I’m fine with is, so long as Geralt and Yennifer are still a thing.

The show did things REALLY well because I know what happened. I know what everything is and I know who everyone is. I know all of these events already, so watching them play out made sense to me. Unfortunately, I think the show may have been a lot more confusing for people who don’t know the source material. It jumps around in time a lot, nobody ages because magic, nobody has ever explained what the hell a Witcher even is, and The Wish was only briefly touched on. The wish. The Wish. The last wish that Geralt makes with that Djinn.

In the show, it was presented as another story, another monster of the week, another thing that Geralt fought.

But that wish is more important than ANYTHING.

That wish is what draws Geralt and Yennifer together over and over and over again throughout their lives. That wish is why Geralt and Yennifer are never again certain if what they feel is love or simply the result of a powerful magic spell. That wish is EVERYTHING to Geralt and it forever defines his relationship with Yennifer.

Geralt and Yennifer are bound to each other. Whether it is real love or not, they are forever entwined by destiny.

We don’t even know what the heckin’ wish IS! But we do know that it somehow ties them together, weaves their fates, keeps them as Geralt and Yen until the day they die.

So.

We have a problem.

I WANT to ship Geralt and Jaskir. I WANT to want it. I love it! I love that dynamic. But that bloody puritan fanboy inside of my does NOT want to see Geralt love anyone but Yen. He can have sex with anyone he wants. And he does. That’s just the way of mages and witchers and people in the universe. They have lots of sex. I just have so much trouble separating Geralt from Yen. Geralt LOVES Yen, whether he wants to or not. Yen loves Geralt, whether she wants to or not.

Geralt can have feelings for Jaskir.

He can be in love with Jaskir.

But Jaskir will never be to Geralt what Yen is to him. That’s just magic.

ANYWAY.

All this to say that I am... confused. By my own emotions. I don’t know how to feel. Like I’ve said, this new influx of fans is fantastic! More content! Hooray! It also means more Gerals x Jaskir, which is also hooray! I just... don’t know how to feel when there are two sides of me, deep down inside, that are at odds. Geralt and Yen and ONLY Geralt and Yen? Or should I get on this new sexy bandwagon that Geralt and Jaskir are both on and just let it happen in my mind?

Okay, ignore me and my ramble. This was just me putting my thoughts on paper! None of this is important other than the fact that I am excited about the Witcher and I love that I can talk about it with people!

SHIP AND LET SHIP!

((But also, destiny.))

((Also also also, I’m typing this at work and did NOT edit it. Sorry for any awful mistakes!))

75 notes · View notes

handsbloodiedmoved · 2 years ago

Text

List 5 songs you listen to, then tag 10 mutuals:

Tagged by: @youthstclen

1. Butterfly by Demi Lovato

2. Uncomfortably Numb by Arrows in Action ft. Taylor Acorn

3. SNAP by Rosa Linn

4. Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter

5. All My Friends by Snakeships ft. Tinashe & Chance the Rapper

Tagging: whoever wants to do it!

#x. a series of unfortunate events (dash games)

0 notes

emmyrosee · 5 years ago

Text

Hopping.

On The Run I

Hey guess what.

It’s done! I’m so excited!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m terrified. This definitely isn’t how I thought this would go, but I don’t despise it??? I don’t know. Anyways.

WARNINGS: heavy plot, heavy dialogue, language. No smut in this chapter (don’t worry it’s coming😘)

Gordan Merkel x Fugitive!Reader; after a series of unfortunate events lands you in East Berlin, you fear everyone and everything in your path. And it crosses paths with a stranger who takes a risk on you.

———-

“Do you remember how you got here?”

The question snapped you out of your confused daze, and you stared at the man before you. His piercing green eyes bore into you like you were nothing more than a piece of wood, waiting to be carved.

It was a good question, to be fair. But which ‘here’ was this man referring to?

The ‘you,’ running in Milan?

The ‘you,’ hiding in the deepest, dankest corners of Paris?

Or the ‘you,’ committing the most heinous act that you knew possible all those years ago.

No one would blame you for jumping at the most random of sirens. The warrant for your arrest was out there, and the reward was obscene.

Hell, if you knew you would be given some form of immunity, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.

But this was your life on the line now. The police from home, various government officials, even the people who had once housed you had turned against you at the ridiculous amount of money being offered. And no stones could be left; whether they were criminal or not, their crimes would be lessened if they turned you in, dead or alive.

They weren’t very picky.

The chilled streets of Berlin’s alleys only seemed to make your stress levels grow, heart beating faster and faster as you tried to shield yourself from everyone you passed.

Night after night you wandered, opting it safer than the day. In the day, no one was willing to listen to your story, see another side of you. All they saw was money, and they wanted it.

At night however, stories howled like the wind. People of their own sins had more important things to focus on than you, and you accept and adore that lack of attention.

You’re not sure what tripped you off. A distant siren, maybe? Or maybe just one too many money-hungry eyes?

Whatever it was, you felt the need to run.

Well. Run further that is.

You dug your hands deeper into your pockets and slowly crept faster, walking speed feeling more of a jog.

Then faster.

The feeling grew and your holed, disgusting sneakers squeaking against the pavement.

You felt like you were doing this for your whole life. The same routine over and over and over and over again.

Your legs kick higher and higher as you dash, scrambling around as your weakened body struggles to keep up.

Until a massive force stops you, gripping your arms tightly to steady you.

“Woah, woah, woah,” a voice says, struggling against your fighting form. You shove harder at the chest that’s trying to hold you, unsuccessful with every jerk of your much smaller frame. His large hands grab your shoulders and force you into the brick wall you were closest to. But the fire of fear was still roaring, and whether you wanted to or not, you couldn’t stop.

All you could do was bite, kick and scream, praying someone would hear.

“Relax!” He commanded, giving you one last, hard shove. The bricks bit into your skin, the small pebbles of the flaking wall crumbling in your struggle.

“Please,” You whimper in fear. “Please let me go, I-I-I don’t-“

“Shush,” he demands. You close your lips, though you’re unable to stop your shaking lips from allowing whimpers past. Your eyes creak open to look at the deep voiced, large German man who’s grip wasn’t about to falter.

Despite his demanding, deep voice, his eyes showed no malice or anger; in fact, nothing but sympathy was pooled in his forest green irises. His jaw was tight with authority, and he seemingly waited for you to look at him before continuing to speak.

Shit, you think to yourself, not like this. Shit shit shit-

“We need to get you out of the open,” he says sternly, yet softly. “Come on-“

“N-no!” You protest. “No!”

The man pulls back slightly at your apparent fear, and licks his lips in thought.

“I’m not going to leave you out here,” he explains. “God knows the last time you ate or bathed or-“

You tremble weakly in his grip, and almost on cue, your stomach growls loudly. He tilts his head, “you haven’t eaten recently, have you?”

Against your better judgement, you gently shake your head and avoid his laser sharp gaze. He nods, “so I thought.”

“I’ll be fine,” you spit, shrugging him off of your arms. He finally drops his arms as you spin on your heel, crossing your arms tightly over your chest and walk hurriedly away.

“You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to,” he calls after you, making you stop. “But I sincerely want to help. Please? Just allow me to feed you, then I’ll sneak you over any boarder you’d like.”

“No,” you say quietly, so softly you’re not sure he can hear you. “I’ve made it this far, I can make it further on my own.”

“Don’t think I don’t know who you are,” he says. “You’re that fugitive, aren’t you?” He asks though his voice is sure, making you screw your eyes shut tight. “The one who’s been on the lamb for, what, three years?” His footsteps are loud as they pound on the pavement behind you. “That little pile of mad money that the government has raised is enough to make anyone an enemy, no?”

You say nothing.

“Lucky for you, I have no reason for the money. In fact, I’d set the money on fire and join you on the run as well before I give into any shit that the government spills to its sheep.

“Just let me take you someplace; a safe place that I know. And then wherever you want to go, I will take you. But just take the help I’m willing to give because God knows how long someone is going to show you this extent of mercy.”

You want to scream at him, ask him how he dares speak to you like that. You want to smack him one, tell him that he has no fucking idea who he’s talking to, and that you’ve survived without the help of anyone for those three years.

But you can’t.

Because everything he said is true. That, and you’re so weak- especially from trying to fight him off- that you literally aren’t sure if you raise your hand high enough to smack him.

“I’m heading to Sweden,” you say softly. “You feed me, you get my name, and you take me to the Swedish border. I go from there. Deal?”

“Deal,” he says with a gentle smile.

——————-

“Do you remember how you got here?” The man asks quietly.

Your fingers clutch at the warm, thick blanket that’s draped over your shoulders. In front of you sits a small plate of cookies and a cup of tea, which of you’ve cleared three of. Each time you clear the plate or drain the cup, the man chuckles and merely refills it.

“Any recollection of how you ended up in East Berlin?” He asks, shifting to lean forwards on his knee.

You avoid his gaze some more, eyes casting away to the plate of cookies as you eye them.

“Go on,” he nods. “Have more. Please. I insist.” He smiles encouragingly, and slowly you reach forwards to take another one.

“I don’t know,” you whisper at your cookie childishly, playing the edge against your chapped lips. “I just.... turned a corner and ended up in Berlin.”

“You and I both know that that’s not the type of ‘how’ I meant,” he teases. “I mean I know your records and I know your crimes, but how did you get here?”

Your heart sinks further into your stomach as you finally look up at the man. His face was soft despite his sharp features, the dim lights of... whatever building you were in (a printing house? Some form of passport office? You couldn’t put your finger on it.) casting shadows on him to make him look statuesque.

And you wanted to trust him.

Desperately.

His reassuring kindness and your endless bounty of cookies and tea brought you a new wave of hope, that someone out there just might want to help you with nothing else in mind.

If he wanted the money, why didn’t he just turn you in?

“Where were you before?” He asks.

“Crossed over from Poland. Settled in Cottbus before the game began again.”

He cocks a brow, “game?”

You grin, “of cat and mouse, of course.”

The man chuckles at your joke, smile bright against the dingy air around you.

“More like fox and rabbit, since you’ve been hopping around like a little bunny, no?”

And you laughed.

You actually laughed.

You couldn’t help but laugh.

It was the first time in three fucking years you’d been able to do so much as chuckle, let alone laugh.

The silence, for once, is comforting to you, and you grasp the blanket higher on your shoulders.

“The sun is rising,” he says softly, bring you back to him. Your eyes traveled upward to the windows of his building, and through the dark grey clouds, you could in fact see the brightness of heavens joy that brought you nothing but fear.

“Oh fuck,” you whisper in worry. “I can’t go out there! Not now. Can I just... stay here?”

The man sighs, “sadly, no. But, I can help you further, if you so desire.”

“How so?”

“Stay in Berlin,” he says, grinning as you tense up. “I’ll figure a plan to get you safely to the Swedish border, exactly as you asked. Then,” he crosses one leg over the other, “home.”

Home.

You missed home.

You missed home. A lot.

You’d rather die than not go home, but after three years you wondered if you could even attempt. And to think this man could?

Hm.

But he hasn’t let you down yet.

“That amount of money is going to keep rising, sir,” you insist.

He grins, “my trust for the government cannot be bought, Miss.” He stands up and slowly creeps towards the door, “if you want to come with me and be served with the utmost protection, we must leave now.”

Your ears perk up and your heart pounds. “I don’t even know your name,” you say, a certain sadness in your voice.

He grins.

“Merkel. Gordan Merkel. Trust me. You’re not my first,” he says, pushing the door open. “I’ll come with the car around.”

He winks.

“It’s time to relax on the hopping, little bunny. You’re safe now. I promise.”

Tagging💕

@peachesandfern

@anxiousamandapanda

@hecohansen31

@blakewaterxx

@w0nder-marie

@babyboy-cody

@kathryn-jane

@kaigitana

@ohhoneyaaaaaaa

226 notes · View notes

loverspersonas · 5 years ago

Text

liability | i

pairing: ot7? x reader

genre: spy au, grisha reader, angst, drama, fluff

length: 2k

summary: She’s known as the Wraith, a destructive member of a notorious intelligence organization. When a mission goes wrong, she runs into a rival group, BTS, and is offered a choice that could change her whole life.

↳series masterlist

The mission was simple.

It was a matter of getting into the casino and then getting out. What happened in between those two was the tricky part. But you had been doing this for a while now. Years and years of training and mastering your powers had brought you here. Had made you what you were now.

“Wraith.”

Your hand touched the comms unit in your right ear, activating your mic. “What?”

“Do you have eyes on your target?”

“Yes. At the bar, next to two blonde women.”

Of course, the missions did have their dry parts. A lot of the time, your job was to watch out for potential threats that could compromise them while the others, the more superior members, handled the rest. You did get some credit though. You’d gotten them into the place through security without the detectors and security catching their weapons. It was just a simple mental manipulation, and jamming the detector’s signals when no one was looking.

“Excuse me, darling.” You turned to see the man who’d approached you near the balcony railing. He was quite young and wore an overpriced, pristine suit like most of the men there, a glass of champagne in one hand. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Professionalism was crucial on a mission, so no matter how annoyed you could get, you managed to smile at him, a signature one you’d honed over the years that could charm strangers to do whatever you wanted. “No, thank you. I’m actually waiting for someone.”

He looked around briefly, smirking slightly. “I don’t see anyone.”

People like this really made you question if you had an anger problem. Refraining from rolling your eyes, you said, “Well, they’re here. Making sure their casino is running smoothly and there are no uninvited guests here tonight, because after all… this is an exclusive event. Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Lee?”

The colour drained from his face slowly. “How did you—“

“You’re asking the wrong questions,” you said, taking his champagne. “What would happen to you if Minho found out you were here?”

He stuttered. “You wouldn’t—“

“Oh, I would.” You sipped the drink and sighed. “Unless of course… you tell me where they’re taking the new ashe shipments.”

“What?”

“The. Ashe. Ship. Ments,” you repeated, emphasizing each syllable. “Ashe, the most widely used, addictive drug in the country right now? Oh, and don’t play dumb. I really don’t have time for that.”

He clenched his jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You stared at him for a long moment, focusing your mind to find the neurones working in his head. You raised your hand, its motion reflecting the manipulation you were making. “Oh, but you do.”

He blinked as something shifted in his mind. “On the fifth floor,” he said automatically. “The large room near the back that’s being guarded.”

“Good,” you said, satisfied. You passed the glass back to him. “You can go now. Have a few more drinks.”

Confusion passed over his face shortly before he turned and wandered off towards the bar. You turned on your heel, stumbling suddenly. Your hand shot out to grab the railing. “Fuck,” you muttered, dizziness washing over you. Trying to manipulate the human mind was difficult enough as it was and you’d already done it once that night when you had to go through security. And that had been more than one person. Hopefully, you hadn’t exerted too much of yourself.

“Wraith. Do you copy?”

You sighed and touched your in-ear comms. “I’m here.”

“Minho’s men are heading to the basement.”

“Lee says they’re keeping the ashe on the fifth floor. I’m heading there right now.”

“You can’t go by yourself.”

You rolled your eyes. The fact that you had these rare abilities made your team skeptical of trusting you. Even the ones that came close to trusting you had to draw the line somewhere. It never mattered how long you’d been with GOT7. You were like a time bomb to them; you could go off at any moment. That explained the silver collar around your neck that could’ve almost been jewellery. But you knew better. “I don’t need to be babysat.”

“This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Wasn’t it? And is that what JB told you?” The silence that came after only confirmed that you were right. “We came for the ashe. I’m getting the shipments before someone else does.”

“Fine. I’ll send a team to you for backup. You know the time limit. Try not to get killed.”

You disabled your comms and entered the elevator, hitting the fifth floor button and then the close button. Unfortunately for you, just before the doors slid shut, someone managed to slide into the elevator.

He let out a breath, like he’d been running. “That was a close one.”

You made a noncommittal sound of agreement without paying him much attention. Great, you thought. Just what you needed. Another delay in getting your job done.

“You don’t seem so familiar.”

You raised a brow, watching the number start to climb from the ground floor. “And why would I?”

“I’ve been to this event many times before,” he said as a matter of fact. “I’ve met almost everyone, learned to recognize faces… but I haven’t seen you before. I think I would have remembered you.”

You managed to stay calm. It was a simple observation; he might’ve not been insinuating anything else. “I’m just someone’s plus one.”

“Right, of course. Would that someone be Lee, or Minho?” Your eyes snapped to him while he stood there, casually blowing your cover as though he was asking what the weather was like. “Or maybe someone from GOT7?”

He finally turned his head and your breath nearly caught in your throat, even more so since the revelation had almost left you winded. His hair was styled as a mullet, long and black and fell past his forehead, contrasting with the light gray hue of his irises. He could’ve been any of the guests in the main hall, dressing like them and talking like them, but you should’ve known by now that nothing was always what they appeared to be.

Before you could utter a word, there was a ding and the doors opened. You checked the screen. Third floor. A taller, older man with stern features stepped inside to stand in between you and the gray eyed boy. You felt like the tension in the small area only got thicker, making your skin heat up. The doors closed and you dared to glance at the boy again, only to find that he was already looking your way.

It should’ve made you uncomfortable. It should’ve sent you into panic, because he knew you weren’t supposed to be there. He knew what you were up to. But he wasn’t watching you out of suspicion. Slowly, his gaze shifted to the man in front. Unable to contain your curiosity, you tried to see what had caught his attention. But all you saw was a flash of metal before the man lunged at you with a knife.

You cried out in surprise, stumbling back into the elevator wall. A second later, you realized the knife never touched you. When you opened your eyes, the gray eyed boy was right in front you, his hand grasping the man’s arm that held the knife inches away from your throat.

You only exhaled when the fight moved away from you and to your relief, the elevator reached the fifth floor. You didn’t waste a second to dash out of there, moving down the hall as fast as your heels would allow you to. Maybe you were compromised. But you could still get to the ashe in time.

“Wraith, come in.” The comms unit crackled. “We have a bit of an issue.”

“You don’t say,” you replied sarcastically. “Some guy just tried to knife me.”

“Do you know who he was?”

“No, he was too busy trying to kill me. I’ll make sure to ask next time though.”

“Shit. You know what this means, don’t you?”

You didn’t speak right away, dread filling the silence. “We’re not the only ones who came for the ashe.” There was another team in the game. Your mind flashed back to the boy from the elevator. Whose team was he on? And more importantly, why had he saved your life?

An alarm tore through the hall, red lights blinking around you. It was just seconds later when you heard the chatter, people getting confused and surprised by the sirens. No doubt security would arrive and ask all the guests to leave the premises. The perfect opportunity for someone to slip through security and find the drugs.

“Wraith, are you there?”

“I’m here,” you said then made a split second decision. “Keep Minho’s men and the others away from the fifth floor. I can get the shipments.”

“And if you can’t?”

“Like JB said. Then I’ll make sure no one can.”

You didn’t wait for a response as you turned off your comms unit and sped down the hall, lifting the skirts of your long midnight blue gown so you wouldn’t trip. The costume was always a large part of the mission, so no matter how much you disliked dressing like a doll, sometimes it was necessary.

There were two men up ahead in black suits, blocking one of the doors. It had to be where the shipments were being held. You didn’t bother trying to hide. As soon as they noticed you coming towards them and reached for their weapons, you raised your hands, and they went flying back to the hit the wall. One of them managed to find their gun but before he could fire at you, you used your power to twist his arm until his bones cracked and he screamed. With another motion of your fingers, the door flew open.

You weren’t surprised to see all the boxes and crates stacked around the room, all with the familiar logo for the company EXO. And inside the boxes, you wouldn’t have been surprised to see packs of the ashe. What did surprise you was the fact that you weren’t the only person in the room.

“Who are you?” one of the boys asked. He had white-blond hair while the other was a brunette but they were both surprisingly young, probably around your own age. Clad in black suits too, they were holding guns that were uncertainly trained on you. And you wondered once again, what team were they playing on?

There was no more time for them to ask you questions or further exchange puzzled looks, because that was when more people stormed into the room, yelling at all of you and holding up their guns. The two boys didn’t waste a second to defend themselves against the newcomers and once again, you were lost, not knowing who was on what team. Was your team still there?

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw someone charging in your direction and instinctively, you raised your hand to block them. The man dropped to his knees, blood dripping from his nose. At the same time, another swung at you with his fist. You managed to dodge him just in time, and used your powers to slow down his pulse until he collapsed.

The sound of your heartbeat was beginning to overwhelm you along with the noise from the gunshots and the fighting. Your breaths were heavy now, sweat starting to form at your hairline. The ashe was still here. Everyone else was too busy fighting each other. You could still make it out of there.

Right when you took a step forward, your body froze for a fraction of a second before you began convulsing. It was like electric shocks were constantly being sent through your body, lighting each of your nerves on fire. Only dimly aware of the fighting that soon was eventually dying down, you released a breath as the pain came to a stop.

“Jimin, don’t,” you heard someone warn. “I know her.”

“She came for the drugs, Taehyung. She’s probably with them.”

There was a light touch on your shoulder and you tried to open your eyes from where you were lying on the floor. A pair of familiar gray eyes looked down at you and it was strange how soft them seemed, despite the ebbing pain and dizziness in your head that was trying to overtake your senses.

“Are you okay?” His face was blurred and his voice distorted like looking through an old camera lens.

You tried to say something in return but soon, everything faded to black.

chapter ii

45 notes · View notes

keyofjetwolf · 6 years ago

Text

As requested, here’s my quick notes on each of THE GIFTENING finalists. Mostly (theoretically, but it IS me) just “haven’t seen this”, “saw this and loved/didn’t like this”, stuff like that. I’ll try not to get into too much while still being honest, as I don’t want to impact the voting more than necessary.

Under the cut for those who’d rather not!

ANIME

A Place Further Than The Universe: Never heard of it, I know literally nothing beyond it’s an anime, and has a lot of words in the title.

Aggretsuko: Never seen it, though I know the main character is a VERY angry red panda.

Azumanga Daioh: I have absolutely no idea what this is about, though I’m pretty sure it’s just part of this general anime milieu that is a fact of life on my Tumblr dash. Maybe it involves a two-toned fanged bear? I DUNNO

Card Captor Sakura: I did this for THE GIFTENING 2016, and really didn’t care for it much.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood: I did this for THE GIFTENING last year and really enjoyed it.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: All I know of this is that it’s been a strong contender in THE GIFTENING every single year.

Magic Knight Rayearth: I watched all of this waaaaay way back in the day. I remember Umi. I think the other two were Fuu and Hikaru? I wanted to punch the marshmallow bunny thing in the face.

Ouran High School Host Club: Hubby watched this and liked it. I think it’s the Kiss Kiss Fall In Love thing from the memes and there’s something about vase smashing, leading me to assume the main character is Link from the Zelda games.

Princess Tutu: I first did this for THE GIFTENING 2016 and have since had it voted in occasionally on my Patreon. I really like it.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Has appeared in the past two GIFTENINGS, and has also been voted in on my Patreon from time to time. It’s crackerballs and delightful.

Sweetness and Lightning: A wildcard in last year’s GIFTENING and a surprise joy. I’ve seen no more since.

NON-ANIME

Batman: The Animated Series: I’ve seen the odd one or two episodes and thought they were pretty good.

Gargoyles: I watched the first four or five when Doc streamed them. I wasn’t super impressed.

Gravity Falls: Consistently voted as my Patreon liveblog and I’m super into it.

Over the Garden Wall: I liveblogged the first few eps for my Patreon, then watched the rest on my own and enjoyed it.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: I’ve seen the whole series and love it.

Teen Titans (2003): The Titans is one of my favourite DC books and while I haven’t watched the whole series, I did enjoy it when it was airing (and I could catch it).

X-Men Evolution: The X-Men is my all-time favourite superhero team, and Evolution is one of my favourite incarnations of them.

LIVE ACTION

A Series of Unfortunate Events: I’ve read (or, rather, Holligay’s read to me on road trips) the first four or five books. I’ve seen a song from one of the episodes. I know Mr. Trick plays Mr. Poe and that’s cool.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: I watched the first couple episodes for last year’s GIFTENING, and while I enjoyed it, I found liveblogging it difficult.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One of my life’s major fandoms. Things got difficult for me (THANKS JOSS), but if it’s voted through, it won’t be a problem.

Galavant: #jet wolf watches galavant

Golden Girls: Loved it when I was little, did a complete rewatch a couple years ago and found it mostly holds up.

Great British Bake-Off: Fun show, love to watch it, dead to me without Mary, Mel, and Sue.

Leverage: I watched the first few episodes a bunch of years ago and liked it but probably got distracted by something shiny and never went back. I know Tumblr fucking loves it.

Orphan Black: Only just started watching courtesy of @skylineofspace but really like what I’ve seen so far.

Pushing Daisies: Heard of it, never watched, don’t think I even know the premise. Something about undoing death?

The Good Place: Part of last year’s THE GIFTENING and a rare sitcom that works for liveblogging. I’ve since seen all of S2. I absolutely cannot with the romantic turn for Eleanor and Chidi and it’s about sucked all interest out of me for S3, about which I am deeply bitter.

Twilight Zone: Often brilliant, many episodes I’ve not seen/don’t remember.

Xena: DOES ANYONE LOVE XENA AS MUCH AS ME I DUNNO I DOUBT IT (sorry that was lacking in every drop of chill but come on)

MOVIES

Black Panther: Saw it, thought it was great.

Clue: One of my favourite movies when I was little and I still kind of love it.

Coraline: Never saw it, never read the book.

Kiki’s Delivery Service: Haven’t seen it, and should note I’ve not really enjoyed the previous Miyazaki movies I’ve streamed.

Legally Blonde: Haven’t seen it

Madoka Rebellion: Haven’t seen it, have not heard kind things said of it on the Tumbles.

Moana: Didn’t see it, and something being Disney doesn’t automatically carry any particular emotions for me.

Ocean’s Eight: Haven’t seen it but wanted to.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: I haven’t seen it, though Mike and Jill did and loved it. If this wins, please note that I will not pirate the movie for streaming, so it’ll be, like, me going to the movie theater and then chatting about it afterward or something.

The Last Unicorn: I did this last year for THE GIFTENING. I didn’t like the movie much, but the stream was a ton of fun.

The Mummy: Saw this for the first time last week, I think it was, and enjoyed it.

The Princess Bride: Don’t like it. Really really don’t like it. I’ve watched this multiple times to try and figure out what I’m missing. I still have no answers.

Thor: Ragnarok: Saw it, thought it was marvelous.

Wonder Woman: Did this for last year’s GIFTENING and thought it was okay. I’ve since seen it again and enjoyed it more the second time.

I’m not sure games or miscellaneous needs any thoughts from me, but if you think they’d be helpful, just say and I’ll do my best. Speaking of helpful, I hope you found this worthwhile too! Next year, I’ll see about doing something similar to this maybe around the second heat, when we’ve managed to cut down the nomination lists significantly, but before getting right near the end.

Also, next year for movies, I think I’ll automatically trim out anything that hasn’t yet been released on DVD or streaming, just eliminate that potential conflict before it even starts.

You guys still have over two whole days to cast your votes SO GET TO IT

Anime

Non-Anime

Live Action

Movies

Games

Miscellaneous

#THE GIFTENING #THE GIFTENING 2018 #THE GIFTENING 2018 voting

19 notes · View notes

tfcrp · 6 years ago

Photo

Hey Foxes! That concludes tonight’s acceptances. Unfortunately, no roles were accepted tonight. If applicants would like feedback, I’d be happy to provide it should they ask!

Our next acceptances will be taking place one week from today on Sunday at 8PM EST, and there are many open characters that I would love to see applications for! Currently, my most wanted characters are sibling duo Kent Cheong and Bianca Shay, but I would also love to see Carter Maddox, or applications for any of our open original character slots!

Additionally, I’m considering taking up Glory Hoskins as a third character, so if you’re interested in playing her, please get your applications in before next week’s acceptances, or you might miss your chance!

We have one more week of roleplaying before the next timeline update, which will include the first installment in our #ExyProm series: The Fall Banquet! The banquet will be handled like a game, which means that it will have its own separate event post on Saturday of next week, so there’s still plenty of time to work the upcoming banquet into your current threads!

And, finally, I know that late August/early September is a busy time for a lot of people, and I wanted to thank those of you who have been in touch with me about hiatuses! We have a good number of people on hiatus right now, which means that if you’re not on hiatus I’m looking to you to keep your activity up and the dash moving in these busy times!

Admin X.

#bio rp #oc rp #literate rp #tfcadmin

1 note · View note

gukyi · 7 years ago

Text

forever and a night | jjk

⇒ summary: the werewolf in the forest isn’t dangerous, you told them, he’s just a boy with beautiful eyes and a heart of gold.

⇒ werewolf!au

⇒ pairing: jungkook x female reader

⇒ word count: 7k (whoops)

⇒ genre: fluff, angst

⇒ warning: graphic depictions of violence, death

⇒ a/n: to the anon that didn’t want angst: i’m sorry!

part 2 of my fear is forever series. sequel to fear in your eyes.

It’s as if the breath gets sucked out of your lungs all at once, leaving you empty and weak, because that’s how you feel under his piercing gaze, those dark eyes suddenly a lot more frightening than they appeared five minutes ago. Scared, that’s what you are. Scared, alone, and good as dead.

“It’s true?” You somehow manage to utter out, your mouth likely working on autopilot at this point, brain still frazzled. “What they say is true?”

“She speaks,” Jungkook muses, voice honeyed, letting those lips of his curl upwards into a smile. He looks like he’s waiting for the realization to hit you, letting the thought sink in and the dust settle before he pounces, bites.

“You’re a werewolf?” You ask, and you don’t need him to confirm before you’re wrestling your wrist from his hold, tugging free and holding up that stick in your other hand out in front of you, guarding yourself.

“Ding ding,” Jungkook says, and—as if you need any more proof other than the way he seems to growl with every word he utters—he flashes you a grin, and you get a very good look at those teeth of his, sharp and canine and stained red. “It’s a shame you had to find out this way, but you did want the truth. Happy?”

“Less so,” you tentatively speak, slowly stepping backwards, each movement bringing you closer to the forest edge, the clearing that leads to your cottage, safe and warm. But Jungkook knows what you’re doing, smirks with every step you take, and doesn’t hesitate to move towards you every time you inch further from him. He’s played this game before. How many other innocent lives has he taken?

“Now, unfortunately for you, our brief exchange ends here,” he says, cracking his neck and his knuckles, preparing for something (likely your demise). Perhaps, if he’s feeling generous, he won’t string it out, torture you slowly as the life is sucked out of you. Maybe it’ll be quick, like you’d always hoped your death would be. Faster than the blink of an eye. “But even though you’ll forget me, I won’t forget you.”

“Don’t come any closer,” you order, and your voice wavers but you stand tall, holding out the sharper end of the stick right at his throat. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Well,” Jungkook says, emitting a hum of surprise, “that’ll be a first. I’m impressed with you, dearie. You’re not like the other ones.”

“Because I won’t bend to your every beck and call?” You ask, scoffing a little.

“No,” Jungkook says, moving closer. He lets that end of the stick press into the skin of his neck, ever so close to rupturing his trachea. “You aren’t scared.” With that, he grabs the middle of the stick roughly, snapping it in half and letting it drop to the forest floor, scaring the wits right out of you. You jump at the action, shocked by his sheer strength as you stand, defenseless against him. Well, so much for that. You’re half-prepared for death to welcome you with open arms, the Grim Reaper practically staring you down, when he opens his mouth ever so slightly, baring those teeth of his. “Run,” he growls, and you don’t think twice before you drop the other end of the stick and dash, leaving him far behind.

You’re out of breath by the time you reach the clearing, panting and heaving as you place your hands on your thighs, leaning over to catch the air that has left your lungs. A quick glance behind you tells you that Jungkook hasn’t followed you to the forest edge, though that isn’t to say he’s not lurking in the shadows, waiting for you to be caught off guard so he can attack. Better move now than later. Even though you feel like you’ll collapse if you take another step, you keep running, all the way until you’re securely in the comfort of your room, doors locked and windows bolted.

The night comes rushing back to you all at once, making you nearly topple over onto the hardwood floor of your bedroom. You drop to the ground almost instantly, still sufficiently shaken by the events, letting the whirling in your brain steadily come to a halt before you regain your senses. The way the memories flood back is similar to the way you imagine a life flashes before someone’s eyes, when they’re on the brink of death and look back at everything they’ve done throughout their measly time on Earth. The image of the moon, the peaceful forest, then the sound of a twig snapping. Jungkook’s face, flirty, smug, and secretive, drawing you in like he’s probably done with other unsuspecting girls in that forest. The feeling of him whispering against your ear like he’s murmuring sweet nothings, dirty talk. His teeth, and how deep the color of the blood that tints them is. His voice, enticing and tempting and frightening, terrifying.

It’s, frankly, alarming how easy it is to fall into the trap he sets. Like he’s done this before. A thousand times. There were always rumors of a werewolf in the forest behind your cottage, but there was never any reason for you to believe them. Until now, when you’re panting on the floor of your cottage, having just narrowly escaped death from the hands—or should you say, paws—of the beast himself. When you thought of werewolf, you thought of a monster, disfigured and emotionless, one that isn’t human, can’t distinguish between want and need, acts upon its desires. Instead, you got exactly the opposite, a beautiful human, with a charming smile and attractive looks, but a devil behind that grin of his. You don’t know which is worse, but you’re leaning towards the latter.

The townspeople were right, you suppose. Imagine how they will react to the fact that you lived to reveal your encounter with the werewolf. Imagine how they will worry, fear for you, fear that he will strike again. Imagine how they will revere you, the person who finally lived. The one who will bring him down.

It’s past one in the morning when you finally climb into bed, dreaming of nothing except pearly whites stained with scarlet.

The next morning is disorienting, to say the least. You wake up with your head in a daze, still reeling, mind half-convinced that what happened last night was nothing but a nightmare, a figment of your imagination. But the way your windows are screwed tightly shut, even on a warm night like last’s, and how there are faint scratches on your wrist from where he held onto it proves otherwise. You topple out of bed, having seemingly lost all awareness of your movements.

Strangely enough, there’s something in the corner of your mind that’s telling you to go back, see him again, but why on Earth would you?

You eventually head out to the marketplace, needing subsistence for breakfast since your refrigerator is sufficiently lacking in all things food. On your journey, you’re always tossing your head behind you, seeing if perhaps Jungkook is still following you, tracking your every move to decipher the perfect time to pounce, but the coast is clear, and perhaps you’re just a bit on edge.

The townspeople seem to take notice of your stupefied expression, the way you’re practically tumbling over with each step as you browse around for some fruit.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” They ask you, hand placed gently on your upper arm, as if they’re steadying you. “You seem sick.”

“I’m fine,” you insist, picking up an apple and holding it out, signifying that you’d like to purchase it. “Really, just had a rough night last night.”

“Oh,” the lady says, looking sympathetic. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you insist.

A young boy—not older than ten, it seems—gasps, making his mother stop in the middle of the marketplace, right next to you. “Maybe she saw the werewolf.”

Murmurs erupt throughout the building as the words set in, everyone around you finding the werewolf a very plausible explanation for your behavior. But even though you saw him, you don’t know if you want to reveal that to them.

“She’d be dead if she did,” an older man grumbles. “No one sees the werewolf and lives.”

Maybe you should tell them that there’s a werewolf, if you’re breathing evidence that you can, in fact, have a hearty (albeit nerve-wracking) conversation with the werewolf and survive. Maybe they will stop being so frightened, stop whispering about you behind your back every time you step outside the confines of your home.

“I did,” you say before you can stop yourself, and there are melodramatic screams that sound throughout the marketplace. “He’s there.”

“And you’re-you’re alive?” The fruit shopkeeper asks, eyes wide. “Did he do something to you? Bite you? Will you hurt us?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” you insist as everyone backs away from you, the mother pulling her son closer to her torso. You hold out your arms. “See, no marks. I am werewolf-free.”

“Is she lying?” the little boy whispers.

“Wouldn’t you all have heard me if I was bitten? Hear my screams, my cries?,” you ask, reminding them that this is a small town, after all. Surely, if they can hear a wolf howling from that forest of yours, they would have heard your shrieks.

“She’s got a point,” an older woman says, and she’s the revered elder in the town, the one people come to for advice. When she sides with you, everyone else seems to calm down slightly.

“See? The werewolf means no harm. I’m okay,” you insist. “Don’t worry.” With that, you pay for your apple and keep walking, like nothing’s changed, picking up groceries as if it’s another casual day.

You almost don’t go back to the forest. Almost.

Why should you, if the last time you did had you on your knees, knocking on Death’s door? What’s the appeal of the forest when there’s a werewolf lurking among the leaves, one that found you excellent prey? Do you really want to tempt fate again?

But it’s the middle of the day. It’s the middle of the day and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and if you look into the forest from the right angle you can see the opposite end of it. There’s nowhere to hide in a forest like that at this hour. He even said he doesn’t normally come out during the daytime.

If worse comes to worst, you’ll bolt. Scramble out of the woods as fast as you can, because the daytime gives you the advantage of light, of being seen. Why should a werewolf keep you from lounging the forest like you always had before? If he had seen you before last night, you’d already be dead.

The pros outweigh the cons and the positive experiences greatly outnumber the negative ones, and by the time you decide that there’s no point in staying away, you’re already out the back door, slowly creeping up to the forest. It looks the same as it always has, peaceful, quiet, serene. Like it doesn’t hide a killer in the branches, a safe haven for you and your thoughts. The first step you take onto the forest grounds spells out no danger, the birds are chirping, flowers growing, leaves rustling. You’re hesitant, sure, but the forest feels the same as it always has.

It’s good to get away and clear your mind for a bit, even if the very thing you’re trying to forget resides within the confines of the woods, but daytime is your first security measure, and hopefully your only one.

Even like this the forest is beautiful. It’s always been, when you think about it, and that must be one of the reasons why you keep returning. There’s something mystical, enchanting about a forest like this, the way the fog sometimes lingers for a little bit near the treetops, how the dew glimmers on the blades of grass in the early morning. The woodland creatures that seem to acknowledge your constant presence, go about their lives like you’re not even there because they know you won’t disturb them. The wildflowers that grow in the patches of the grass, little white and yellow ones that dot the landscape. It’s astounding that the townspeople don’t see beauty like this, in its natural form rather than the construction of manmade prettiness of today’s society. It’s amazing that they can’t take things for what they are. Even with a werewolf looming amongst the leaves, sometimes beauty is worth the fear.

“I didn’t think you’d come back.”

You whip your head around to see him leaning against the trunk of one of the larger trees in the forest, a sturdy oak that’s likely lived there longer than your entire town. He’s got a hand stuffed into one of the pockets of his dirtied old jeans, a devious grin to his face. There’s no stick to save you now, but you have a feeling that Jungkook won’t attack today. At least, not right now. Even so, you hold your hands up to protect your face.

“Just because you’re here doesn’t mean I should stop coming to my forest,” you say.

Jungkook smirks, staggering over to you, footsteps heavy and threatening. “Aren’t you afraid?” He mutters quietly. “Afraid I’ll hurt you? Bite you? Kill you?” He asks, placing a surprisingly soft hand around your wrist and lowering it.

“If you say you’ve lived here as long as I assume you have, then you would have already done it by now,” you declare, and even though he’s got a grip on your wrist you won’t allow yourself to falter under his gaze. “I know you’ve seen me when I walk.”

“Smart and fearless,” Jungkook comments, letting your wrist go as he leans back on his heels. Almost immediately, you bring your hand back up. “I’ve never met a girl like you before.”

“And how many girls have you had the pleasure of speaking to before you rip them to shreds, hmm?” You ask, a single eyebrow raised. You expect him to say some sort of sleazy response, something like “a couple, but they weren’t nearly as pretty as you”, a shitty half-assed compliment that you could get from a drunk boy at a bar.

“None, actually,” he tells you, and it makes your guard waver a little bit, that comment does.

“Liar.”

“Werewolves don’t eat humans,” he continues. “They bite them if they’re desperate, but biting a human is like taking a drag of a cigarette. Able to stave off hunger temporarily, but never enough to satisfy it entirely. Not worth it, in my opinion. Not with all of the other animals for me to eat in this forest.”

You’re rendered speechless, mouth wide with some snarky retort on the tip of your tongue, but nothing comes out. Instead, you close and open your mouth like a damn fish before finally stuttering out, “You don’t?”

Jungkook chuckles at your reaction. “Bet you didn’t think that, did you?” He asks, walking circles around you. “Small town girl with big dreams, hung up on stereotypes without actually finding the truth for herself. You think I don’t know why you people are scared of me? Think I don’t know what you think of me?”

“I—”

“You think you’re so smart, different from the rest of your town,” Jungkook says, gesticulating wildly, “but you’re not. Just because you get teased for living near the werewolf doesn’t make you any different than them. What’d you think when I spoke to you last night? Thought I was gonna murder you, bite the flesh right off of your body. You thought that I’d killed people from your town ever since you were born. That’s what you thought,” he tells you, pointing an accusing finger at your chest, “because you never once bothered to step into my shoes.”

To say that Jungkook has left you a little taken aback would be a massive understatement. He’s got you pressed up against a tree trunk, unable to mutter out some sort of defensive statement, mind reeling.

“Looks like I finally got the fearless girl scared,” Jungkook comments to himself, humming softly as he backs away from you. “What are you gonna do now, hmm?”

“I’m not scared,” you say, finally gathering up some of your resolve.

“Not?”

“No,” you declare, fixing your posture to stand tall. “You don’t harm humans. Why should I be?”

“I don’t know, I thought the dent in your ego might leave a mark,” he jokes. “People are normally frightened of me.”

“Well,” you say, and this time you’re the one to step towards him, “if you can prove to me otherwise, then what’s stopping you?”

For the first time since you’ve met him, Jungkook smiles, not cockily, not smugly, not devilishly, he just grins, those canines of his showing amongst his pearly whites. He smiles, and he looks just like a boy, instead of a beast.

You never thought you’d meet someone who knows the forest better than you do, but there’s a first time for everything. Maybe you’ve visited the forest almost daily your entire life, but Jungkook’s lived it, breathed it, known it. He’s found places you’d never imagined would be hiding out in this forest of yours, secret rivers and underground caves and wildflower clearings.

“What’s your name, Forest Girl?” He asks as you stroll through the woods together. “In all the time we’ve spent together, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten it.”

“Y/N,” you tell him.

“Y/N,” he repeats, letting your name roll of his tongue. “A pretty name for a pretty girl.”

It’s dizzying, seeing him in his element like this. The sun reflects caramel streaks in his dark brown eyes, and magic isn’t real but he certainly is. Werewolves were supposed to be murderous creatures, dark and demonic and deadly, but Jungkook is beautiful and strange and wonderful. He leads you through the woods with his hand wrapped loosely around your wrist, traipsing through the fallen branches and grass, smile ever present on his face.

“I didn’t even know this was here,” you admit as he takes you to a tiny little creek near the forest edge, one that empties into a watering hole not far from where you’re standing.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” He asks, letting go of your wrist as he settles on a rock nearby. “I like sitting here, listening to the moving water.”

“It’s so quiet,” you say, staring down into the creek, peering at your reflection in the water, watching it warp with the current. “How can you hear it?”

“The forest is quiet,” Jungkook says softly, “when no one visits it.”

His words make you wonder, how long has it been like this? How long has he been alone in these woods, feared by people who don’t even know he exists? You speak up. “I do.”

“I know.”

“Have you seen me?”

“Silhouettes, yes,” Jungkook says, cracking a small smile. “I see glimpses of you, sometimes. A bit of your hair, the edge those Converse sneakers that you always wear when you walk around here. Your shadow against the forest floor, but never you.”

“And you didn’t say anything?”

“I didn’t really think you’d, um, be very open to speaking to a werewolf alone in a forest,” Jungkook says, chuckling awkwardly to himself. He’s reached a hand to the nape of his neck, scratching it like a nervous schoolboy. “And I was right.”

“You try getting jumpscared by someone in a forest at midnight,” you say. “I’m speaking to you now, you know. Alone in a forest, too.”

“And how’s it working out for you?”

You shrug, like you’re genuinely trying to come up with an answer. “I’d say not bad.”

Eventually, you let yourself settle down on the rock alongside Jungkook, swinging your legs up and down in front of you as you both watch the creek, minds somehow buzzing and empty at the same time.

Your visits to the forest have become even more exciting, now that you know Jungkook will be waiting for you at the entrance near your cottage, ready to guide you through the woods like you’ve never seen it before, a new world to discover. There’s something about him that keeps drawing you back, to the point where you’re meeting up with him amongst the rustle of the leaves daily, always making time to spend even as little as an hour together, playing in the leaves.

It makes you feel like a child, nonetheless, the way you traipse through the forest like you own it, even if you have yet to explore it. Jungkook brings a wonder back to the woods that you thought you had long outgrown, and it’s refreshing and nostalgic and charming all at once.

It’s mid-afternoon when you visit him this time, locking your back door with a click to see him standing lazily against a tree at the forest entrance, watching you from above with a fond grin on his face. He’s started to come greet you recently, waiting at the forest edge for the sound of you leaving that little cottage of yours, the metal snap of your door locking as you close it. You send him a wave, and he pulls his hand out of the pockets of those terribly worn jeans to wave back. You meet him at the tree he leans against, rocking back and forth on your toes.

“Hello again,” you say. “What do you have planned for us today?”

“I don’t have anything to show you today, but we can go wherever you want,” Jungkook says, holding out his hand for you to take. It’s become a common occurrence, really, for you to interlock fingers in a totally (alright, mostly) non-romantic way as you scamper through the forest. “So, your call.”

“Are you sure you don’t have anything to show me?” You ask, pouting. It’s always an adventure when Jungkook’s got a place to take you, a hidden nook or cranny of the forest you’ve never seen before. You poke his chest, “A waterfall?” Another poke on his arm, “A treetop?” A final one on the tip of his nose, making him scrunch it up ever so slightly. “A bird’s nest?”

Jungkook giggles at your touch, the simple action knocking that barrier of tough-werewolf-boy right down. “Alright, I might have one final place to show you.”

“Only one?” You ask. “What’s happened to our journeys? Our forest travels?”

“Don’t push it, this place is special to me,” Jungkook chides, grabbing ahold of your hand and tugging you along.

He leads through a path in the forest that you’ve never noticed before, one that ends right before a clearing littered with purple and blue wildflowers. The sight makes your breath catch in your throat as Jungkook stops right in front of it, letting your interlocked hands linger by your sides. How can so much beauty be right under your nose without you even aware of it?

“I didn’t even know this was here,” you say, practically speechless as you let go of his hand to wander through the tall grass, letting your fingers gloss over each flower that rests in your path. “How long has it been here?” You ask, turning back to Jungkook with awe lacing your features.

He’s watching you with something akin to fondness, amazement, perhaps, eyes soft and lips pink. “I discovered it a couple of years ago,” he tells you, joining up with your footsteps. “It’s my favorite place in this forest.”

“It’s beautiful,” you murmur, letting your eyes jump from petal to petal.

“It is, isn’t it?” He hums in response. “I’ve never really… shown people this place before. You’re the first one.”

“I’m the first for a lot of things in this forest, aren’t I?” You muse, looking at him. “I’m honored.”

Jungkook sighs, settling down in a patch of grass. “I’d show you the world if I could.”

You both end up lying on your backs amongst the flowers, letting their stems reach over your heads and dance in the breeze.

“What does your wolf look like?” You wonder aloud. “I’ve never seen it.”

“Do you want to?” Jungkook asks, sitting up straight and looking down at you, his bangs flowing in the breeze.

“Can you change at will?” You ask excitedly, eyebrows raised.

Jungkook nods enthusiastically, pushing himself off of the grass and dusting off the dirt that’s settled on his shirt. You allow yourself to sit up to watch the transformation, leaning back on your hands as your palms dig into the forest floor.

“Ready?” Jungkook asks, and you nod, waiting. Jungkook gets on his hands and knees in front of you, and before your eyes, he turns into a wolf. The boy you had known is gone, and in his place is a majestic creature, dark chocolate fur coat that flutters in the wind. You almost wouldn’t recognize him, if you saw him like this, if it weren’t for the gleam in his eyes, the same one that permanently resides in his human form, like he’s got magic in the palm of his hand.

You know Jungkook can’t talk in this form, restricted to barks and growls and hums of appreciation, but he can hear you. “You’re beautiful,” you whisper, reaching over to pet his fur.

Jungkook’s ears flatten at the words, and it must mean that he’s flattered, because pretty soon you’ve got him rolling around in the dirt as you rub his stomach. Wolves are just big dogs, really. Big dogs with pretty eyes.

“Can you do tricks?”

Jungkook growls.

“Alright, no tricks. What can you do as a werewolf, then?” You ask, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

It’s a poor choice of question, because without another moment to spare Jungkook is playfully pouncing on you, knocking you to the forest floor with a gasp as he pretends to tackle you, biting down on the hem of your dress as you giggle, shrieking about how “It tickles! Jungkook, it tickles!” You’re beside yourself with laughter, and when Jungkook thinks enough damage is done, he shifts back into human form, towering above you with a mischievous grin on his face. There’s a solid tear out of the bottom of your dress, a good chunk torn off and discarded on the grass from when he bite into it.

The position sucks the breath right from your lungs as you take in how close the both of your bodies are to each other, his eyes right above yours as he hovers over you, hands placed on either side of your arms. He looks at a bit of a loss for words as well, mouth slightly open with a retort likely resting on the tip of his tongue, but nothing comes out as he climbs off of you.

“Look at what you did!” You exclaim, grabbing onto the fabric from your dress and holding it out in front of you. “I liked this dress.”

“My bad,” Jungkook says, clearly not sorry. “I didn’t know your dress was so fragile.”

“Asshole,” you mutter, but you don’t really mind about the dress, not as he settles down next to you with a quiet sigh, clearly tired, and certainly not as you take the plunge and move your head to fit in the crook of his neck, watching the clouds above.

You make it back to your cottage before the night is in full swing, thank God, because you need to drop by the marketplace before it shuts down for the day. Jungkook bids you goodbye at the forest edge, because every time you try to convince him to join you for dinner he declines, telling you that the forest is the only place he should be. Today, the adventure ends with a soft smile that lingers on his lips, one that you feel like you should kiss right off, but you restrain yourself, only allowing a light peck on his cheek that has it blooming red once you pull away with a toothy grin.

“See you again tomorrow?” You ask, already knowing the answer.

“Tomorrow, right here, like we always do,” he confirms, and with that you wave goodbye, walking down the hill towards the back door of your cottage, turning around every now and then to see Jungkook’s eyes still following you home.

You manage to drop into the marketplace in the last fifteen minutes that it’s open, just in the nick of time for you to pick up a couple of things. The townspeople have treated you differently ever since you revealed that you had seen the werewolf several weeks ago, like they don’t trust the fact that you came back unharmed and unchanged, like you’re hiding something beneath the innocent exterior you give off. Like you’ll bite them one day. But they have no proof of that, no proof that you’ll do anything to harm them, and so they are forced to serve you the same as they always have.

“Have you been okay recently, Y/N?” One of the shopkeepers ask you as you approach their table, eyeing the vegetables in baskets placed on top.

“Me? Yes, why?” You ask mindlessly.

“Your dress is horribly ripped.”

You look down at your clothes, only remembering then that you had forgotten to change when you got back to your house after being with Jungkook. The tear is pretty horrifically noticeable, you realize, a huge chunk torn from the fabric without a neat edge in sight.

“Oh, this old thing? Yeah, I got it caught on something earlier,” you fib, not wanting to cause a commotion.

“Awfully big for it to just get caught on something,” another person chimes in from across the way, making you whip your head around and sneer. “Looks like something took a huge bite right out of it.”

You already know what everyone’s thinking.

“Like the werewolf,” the resident Old Man says.

“You’ve seen him, haven’t you? He’s real?” The shopkeeper asks.

“Well, yes, but he means no harm,” you insist.

“Did he do that to you? Bite your dress? Rip it apart?” A woman asks, approaching you carefully and placing a hand on your shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you say, pulling yourself away from her touch. “He didn’t do anything to me. Things just, fall apart, I guess,” you say, holding up the skirt of your dress where it’s torn. Suddenly, you don’t really need vegetables anymore. “The werewolf means no harm,” you repeat, backing out of the marketplace oddly faster than you originally thought you would. “I’m fine.”

The next day, you meet Jungkook earlier than you normally do, the sun not even completely up in the sky when you leave the little white cottage. He’s waiting there, nonetheless, like he just knew you’d be coming around soon. Werewolf powers, you suppose.

He waves wildly from where he’s standing at the forest edge, like you don’t already see him crystal clear, but you greet him back anyway, scurrying up to him quicker than usual.

“Hey there, stranger,” Jungkook jokes.

“Hi, Jungkook,” you respond. “You’re here early.”

“You’re the highlight of my day,” he says, and he doesn’t say it like he’s flirting, teasing you. He says it because he means it, and makes your heart skip a beat (or two, or ten).

“Can we go back to that clearing?” You ask him, and even though there’s several clearings in this forest of yours, you both know which one you’re talking about. “I loved it.”

“Anything you want,” he muses, taking your hand like it’s a natural thing to do and taking you there.

The flowers look different in the morning light. Less vibrant, less bright, like they did mid-afternoon when he first showed them to you. No, in the morning light, when the sun is peeking through the tree branches rather than shining right above them, they’re a softer color. The white in them, bleeding through the blues and the purples, it’s more visible at this time, letting them give off a pastel color reminiscent of spring. It’s a break from the muggy weather of the end of summer that it is right now, and for some reason, walking into that clearing makes you think it’s spring to begin with.

“What do you want to do here?” He asks, reaching down to pluck a dying flower from its stem. He snaps it off right near the tip and looks towards you, placing it above your ear.

“I don’t know,” you admit sheepishly, feeling your face heat up from the simple interaction. “I just wanted to come here.”

“Geez, you sound like me,” he jokes. “I love it here.”

“I love it here, too.”

“Well, what should we do the pass the time until you have to be off?”

“Is there an activity you had in mind?” You ask, letting go of his hand and beginning to slowly make your way through the garden. “Because I just like talking, to be honest.”

“Talking it is.”

And so, you settle down in that same patch of only grass in the middle of the flower garden, and you talk. Jungkook is easily one of the most enjoyable friends you’ve ever had, and the feeling of being near him, with him, is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s frighteningly new, but you like it.

“I’m sorry I thought you ate humans,” you tell him, staring up at the clouds and making shapes with them in your mind.

“It’s okay,” Jungkook says, chuckling. Clearly, he’s not too bothered by it anymore, but you still feel bad. “You didn’t know any better.”

“But I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions,” you say. “You were right, I shouldn’t have assumed thing so quickly just because that’s what other people say.”

“If I were you, I would have been scared too,” Jungkook admits. “No big. I mean, you’re still here, aren’t you?”

You turn to look at him, and he’s got his eyes wide open with an innocent smile dancing across his lips, like it doesn’t matter how you first met, because first impressions aren’t always the only ones. Certainly not in this scenario, especially. And once again, he’s right. The boy’s wise beyond his years, years of solitude in this beautiful forest making him knowledgeable and intelligent.

“I guess I am.”

“Tell me something about you, then,” Jungkook says, changing the topic. “You’re always asking for my life story. What have you got to say about yourself?”

“I love this forest,” you breathe out, and the sentence makes Jungkook laugh.

“I already knew that,” he says, swatting you playfully. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I love this forest,” you repeat. “I grew up in it, like you did, because I didn’t have many friends and thought that this was my only escape. This forest is as peaceful as it is welcoming.”

“You really love this place, don’t you?” He asks. “You’ve got some sort of bond with it.”

“I want to be buried in this forest,” you admit. “I want it to be my first and last home.”

“It’ll be mine,” Jungkook jokes.

“That reminds me,” you say, the thought popping into your head. “Why don’t you leave the forest? You never want to come to my house for dinner.”

“I’m bound to it,” Jungkook says. “I can’t leave it, the forest won’t let me.”

“You’re bound to it?” You ask, sitting up and looking at him in shock. “You’re stuck here?”

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing,” Jungkook says, laughing as he grabs the flower that fell from your ear when you shot up, putting it back in its rightful place when he sits up next to you. “It’s not. I was born here, and I’ll die here. Wolves have a stronger sense of home that humans do. They can’t just move from place to place like them. This place is my home, and I’ll stay here for as long as I live.”

“But don’t you want to see the world?”

“Why would I need to see the world when you’re right in front of me?”

Your eyes widen when he says that, but he doesn’t give you any time to say anything before he’s leaning over and pressing his lips firmly against yours, making you squeak out a noise of surprise before melting into the kiss. Again with the assumptions, but you had pictured kissing a werewolf to be a bit different than kissing a human, but his lips are just as soft and the only thing that’s any different is how your tongue grazes over those canines of his, but it’s hardly noticeable when it mixes with the thumping in your chest and the blood rushing to your brain. Kissing him is like nothing you’ve ever felt before. Kissing him is like magic. Jungkook takes your reaction positively, pressing deeper into the kiss as he opens his mouth ever so slightly, slipping in a little bit of his own tongue before the two of you break apart, heaving.

“I’ve wanted to do that for forever,” Jungkook admits, and his cheeks are flushed a deep red color as he catches his breath.

“Me too,” you tell him.

“You make me feel normal, Y/N,” Jungkook tells you. “I don’t feel like a beast when I’m with you.”

“You’re not a beast, Jungkook,” you tell him, connecting your lips for a brief moment again. It breaks your heart to know that he thinks of himself as a monster. “You’re just a boy.”

Jungkook smiles, and it is as warm and bright as the sun, as all of the stars that light up the night sky. “I love you.”

You hum, resting your forehead against his. “I love you too.”

Somewhere along there, you fall asleep in the grass, head resting on Jungkook’s chest as he softly lulls you to sleep. You don’t know how on earth you managed to take a midday nap, but it’s not much of a midday nap as it is genuine sleep, because when Jungkook violently jolts you away, it’s dark outside.

“Jungkook?” You ask, but you don’t see him anywhere near you. Instead, you catch a glimpse of a furry tail bounding off somewhere, and you quickly scramble up to follow him.

Jungkook’s fast, but his cautiousness slows him down, so you catch up to him with relative ease as he makes his way to the edge of the flower garden.

“Jungkook, what is going—” You ask him, looking down at the wolf before you direct your eyes to where he’s watching a sufficiently angry mob of townspeople, your townspeople, heading right for you. You gasp at the sight of them, a hand coming up to cover your mouth as Jungkook growls beside you. “Jungkook, don’t—”

But it’s too late. Another couple of steps and the townspeople are practically right in front of you, and their weapons glimmer in the light of the moon, silver guns and polished knives in their hands. This is no pitchfork gathering. The townspeople are here for one reason and one reason only, and you have a sinking feeling that you already know what it is. Jungkook’s howling at his point, baring all of his teeth as he shakes with rage.

“Jungkook, please—” You beg, trying to get him to calm down, to see straight, because maybe you can talk them out of it, maybe you can all get home safe and secure, but he won’t listen to you. Not in wolf form. “Please, Jungkook, let me do this. Please,” you say, grabbing onto his muzzle and forcing him to look at you. Even behind all that anger, all that fear, his eyes are still his eyes, Jungkook’s eyes, and so he stays back, still growling, but he doesn’t move.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you she was a wolf!”

“We’re not here for her, we’re here for him.”

“No, please,” you say, standing up and facing the herd. “He means no harm, I swear. Don’t hurt him.”

“Why shouldn’t we?” One man sneers. “He’s terrorized this town long enough.”

“He hasn’t done a thing,” you insist, guarding Jungkook with your body. “You’re just scared.”

“Scared of him?” Another man asks, like it’s a joke. “We aren’t scared of him. He’s a dog.”

“He’s just a boy,” you plead.

“So? He’s a monster,” the same man goes.

“He’s not a monster,” you say, bewildered that they won’t see what you see, that they won’t hear you out. “He won’t hurt you.”

“Us, huh? What about you?”

“What about me?” You ask defensively.

“You trust him,” another spits. “He’s tricked you, somehow. You’re under his curse.”

“I’m not under a curse,” you declare. “He hasn’t done a thing to me.”

“What about when you came to the marketplace yesterday? With that tear in your dress?”

“I got it caught on something. How dare you accuse him,” You say, repeating what you had said at the marketplace. Clearly, no one believed you.

“He’s dangerous,” the first man hisses. “And we don’t want dangerous things in this town.”

“Don’t do anything to him!” You shout, arms out and guarding Jungkook.

But the man just spits in your face, knocking you down onto the forest floor with the butt of his gun, pushing the air right out of your lungs as you hit the dirt. Without you to reason with him, guard him, Jungkook absolutely fucking loses it at the sight of the men hurting you. He’s jumping on them before you can tell him to stop, to keep calm, roaring and howling as he bites at them. It’s a mistake, and you know it, because Jungkook won’t stand a damn chance against those guns, and even if he gets a couple of them down the rest won’t cease.

“Jungkook, no!” You shout futilely, already knowing he’s jumped into a death trap the second he moved towards them. “Stop! Stop hurting him!”

Bang!

Jungkook flies backwards, hitting the ground with a thud, crushing the beautiful purple and blue flowers that surround the two of you. You scramble over to him, on your hands and knees, and watch him shift into his human form beneath you. It’s only then that you see the wound, a dark red spot right in his abdomen, one you know he won’t recover from. He’s coughing up blood now, letting it tumble out of his mouth and hit the grass next to you.

“Jungkook, are you crazy?” You ask, smiling, like it’ll make everything better. “I told you that I could handle it.”

“I couldn’t stand seeing you hurt,” he says hoarsely, losing his voice with every breath he takes, short and quick. “You don’t deserve that.”

“Look at you, Jungkook,” you say, desperately scrounging around for something to block the bleeding from his stomach, staunch the flow of blood. “You’re hurt.”

“I’ll be fine,” he promises. “I had to protect you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” you say, running your hands through his messy hair. “I can protect myself.”

“Guess I know that now,” he jokes, cracking a final smile, bloody and red, but beautiful nonetheless. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asks, and the words make a tear fall from your watery eyes.

“Jungkook, no—”

“I love you,” he whispers, and there’s not enough time, not enough time, not enough time, and his eyes are closing and his breath is stopping and his heart is slowing and all you can do is cry, smiling through your sobs as you drag your fingers through his hair, his body turning cold the second the blood stops moving.

“I love you,” you murmur back.

“You love him.”

You turn around to see one of the men staring at you.

“Is there anything wrong with that?” You ask, looking desperately at the crowd in front of you before switching your eyes to the boy next to you. Even in death, he is gorgeous. “Is there anything wrong with learning to love someone like him?”

“Yes,” the man says, and that’s when you see his gun being raised, pointed straight at your chest. “Everything.”

You had always wanted to be buried in this forest, amongst the purple and blue flowers that change colors throughout the day. Next to the boy you grew to love. Perhaps, you will get your wish.

Bang!

⇒ send me requests/talk to me!!

#bangtan bookclub #bangtanwriters-net #bts writing squad #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #bts angst #bts fluff #jungkook scenarios #bts scenario #bts scenarios #jungkook imagine #bts imagine #jungkook au #bts werewolf au #bts au #this ended up being way sadder and also way more political than i thought it would #sorry there wasnt a happy ending :-)

2K notes · View notes