#you ever see someone die and then get called in by the waves that drowned them?

[of-the-stars-and-the-sea]

Calling in the Rainfall

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

It’s been raining for hours.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Did you know? 

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Did you know when you left that you would never come back? When you let go of my hand did you know then that it would be the last time you would be in my grasp? 

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

I don’t understand you. Why did you not hold on tighter? Everything is still here. Why would you leave that all behind? 

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Your scarf is still on your chair, still slightly pushed out. I haven’t been able to bring myself to push it back in.  

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

I can still hear the echoes of your voice in my dreams. 

“Don’t let go.”

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

The rain is so loud. Why is it always so loud? I can never escape its incessant pounding. It needs to stop.

…

Where did you go?

…

It didn’t really stop, did it?

… 

It didn’t then.

… 

Thunk.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

There it is.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

I don’t think I will ever be able to escape the rain. Even when it does stop, I can still hear it. I can still feel it. Like a second skin of cold dampness against my skin.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

But lately…the rain hasn’t been the only sound I’ve been hearing

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

There is something else. And it’s calling me, like a fox calls to its prey. Calling me back towards the water.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

I don’t know how long I can resist it.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

If I follow its call, will I find you? Will your face reflect back at me from the water?

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk

I don’t know which would be worse. If I saw you, or if I didn’t.

CRACK.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk

Everyday the pull grows stronger. 

Thunk. Thunk.

I have to follow it. That calling.

Thunk.

Through the rainfall.

…

Inspired by the Amazing Devil’s Song, The Calling

[10piecechickenmcnugget]

(hi chat. i wrote a fic about oli cameo-ing in wild life. it’s about 1k words. lizzie jimmy and scar are in it. it gets a little sad. i hope you enjoy it)

Oli snickered at the absolutely dumbfounded expression currently being given to him by none other than Jimmy Solidarity.

“Hiya Tim. Did you miss me?”

Jimmy continued to stare with his jaw halfway to the void. “What- you- you’re not- how are you here?”

Oli just grins, sitting back and crossing his legs with what he hopes is an annoyingly smug expression. Judging by the way Jimmy’s eyes flash, it’s working.

“I’m just that special. Being practically god and all, I thought I should pay a visit to my sweet sweet boy.” Oli waves a hand, tilting his head. Jimmy looks cute when he’s confused.

“Does Grian know you’re here?”

Oli grins. “Who do you think invited me?”

If Jimmy wasn’t in shock before, he certainly is now. “Grian. Brought you. Here. To his death games.”

Oli swings his legs absently. “Someone had to write a song for that little trivia bot. 2 of them, actually. In one day. Not sure how I pulled that one off, not to mention the snails.”

Jimmy dissolves into a fit of nonsensical babbling, and Oli can’t help but it burst into laughter again. While Jimmy processes this, Oli decides it’s about time he takes a look around. He hops off the block he’s sitting on, spinning around slowly to take in Jim’s base.

It’s cutesy, he decides, and almost painfully familiar. The cherry theming, the hilltop location, the giant animal statues. It always comes back to death and canaries, somehow. Oli can’t figure out how Jimmy keeps getting away with this. He walks slowly, dramatically sweeping around to take everything in. Listening to cherry petals shift under his feet and trying to drown out the phantom sound of explosions in his head. Jimmy has stopped talking, and is staring at him as he wanders. Oli flashes him a smile. Jim just looks apprehensive.

Oli doesn’t blame him. He’s not supposed to be here, even by Grian’s standards. And mathematically, Oli has an infinite amount of kills per death games he’s been in. He’s not a player, and as such he can’t die. He’s immune to Grian’s wildcards and rules. He’s practically a god, in a way, which is not really something he’s ever experienced. It would be more fun if he was allowed to stay. Maybe he can write another song.

Deciding there isn’t much more to look at, Oli turns fully to Jimmy. It’s uncomfortably quiet. Oli is about to make another quip when the silence is broken.

“Oli? What on earth are you doing here?”

If Oli thought seeing Jimmy messed with his head, hearing Lizzie calling out for him is like a shot to the brain. Even so, he can’t help but smile as he turns around to meet her.

“Lizzie!”

She runs up the hill towards him, slightly out of breath, transparent wings twitching in an all too familiar way. She pauses a few paces away, shooting him a grin.

“I knew those stupid snails sounded familiar. Joel recognized you first. How did you even get here?”

Pretending the mention of Joel doesn’t make him want to explode, Oli just shrugs. “Grian invited me. Voiced some snails, made some songs, and thought I’d come by and cause problems before he kicks me out again.”

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t.”

“Well, I am technically God now, so…”

“Is that right.” Smoothing out her dress, Lizzie moves closer, forming a small triangle with the three of them. Jimmy still looks befuddled and Lizzie has that same mischievous glint in her eyes she always does, and Oli is suddenly very homesick. Is that even the right word? Home is where the heart is, or something.

“Yep! 100%, genuine, certified, bona fide God. Can’t die, and my snails wreaked havoc like none other.”

“You’ve got me there.”

“So,” Oli claps his hands together. “This is your guys’s base? Very cherry-esque. Draw inspiration from anyone?”

Lizzie puts her hands on her hips. “Hey! Pink has been my thing since we were kids. Cherry biomes were made for me. I’ve been making cherry wood houses since before your stupid hog.”

“How dare you!” Oli gasps, putting a hand over his chest. “My hog was not stupid, he was magnificent. And pink was my thing too! I had pink hair for a while there, remember?”

“Yeah, cause of me! I’m the only reason you dye your hair at all! And besides, you don’t even die it pink anymore after-”

Lizzie cuts herself off suddenly, eyes wide, and Oli freezes in place. Jimmy looks taken aback by the sudden tension, looking nervously between the two of them.

After what feels like years, Oli exhales. “… Yeah. Alright. Pink is your thing.”

“Oli…”

Oli turns around suddenly, walking purposefully towards the large birds marking the front of their base. He adjusts the little green halo floating just above his hair, which is notably not pink. “These are cute.”

Lizzie, forever hyperaware of Oli’s incessant need to avoid his problems, just sighs. “Aren’t they?”

And just like that, it never even happened. Jimmy eventually realizes he’s never getting any answers, and joins in the banter, helping Lizzie take Oli on an official tour of their base. Eventually Scar returns, resulting in a 20 minute long argument that ends with Lizzie half dragging Oli down the hill and towards the cave BAM has claimed as their own. Lizzie bitterly shows him where her snail first made an attempt on her life, and Oli’s apology is ruined by the fact that he can’t stop snickering.

Eventually Lizzie drags him back up to the surface, and all too fast for Oli’s liking it’s nightfall. Scar unhelpfully comments that they’ll need their sleep to deal with whatever horrors will happen next session, and that Grian will probably be on Oli’s case soon.

Reluctantly, Oli says his goodbyes. And if he hugs Lizzie just a little too long, she doesn’t comment on it. And if his heart isn’t quite in the jokes he makes at Jimmy’s expense, no one says anything.

He doesn’t really know where he’s going. He’s not entirely sure how he got there at all, to be honest. He supposes he’ll have to track down Grian and ask. He doesn’t want to leave, he’s getting awfully tired of finally finding his friends just to lose them again.

Maybe Grian will add him to the next season.

[crazy-ache]

Pirate Elucien Playlist

Tread carefully...

You’ve been warned.

Elain and Lucien are falling into deep waters. A playlist to accompany the fic Treacherous Waters, a story featuring Elain Archeron as a disgraced daughter of society, forced to marry our favorite Lord of Foxes, the mysterious pirate captain intent on keeping her.

This is a little stocking stuffer gift for @jsmelodies for the @acotargiftexchange. Hope you enjoy listening! Key lyrics found below the cut.

Listen to the Playlist

Love Letter From the Sea to The Shore - Delaney Bailey

'Cause you hold in my tide I would die a thousand times Just to see you in another life I think I loved you In a thousand ways 'Cause you remain stagnant On my troubled days No matter how far I drift away You'll be there when I come back one day

Black Water - Of Monsters and Men

But there's something, eating at me Black water, take over Swallowed by a vicious, vengeful sea, oh-oh Darker days are raining over me, oh-oh In the deepest depths, I lost myself, oh-oh I see myself through someone else The strange silence surrounding me Grows closer, feels colder

Allies or Enemies - The Crane Wives

Are we allies or enemies? This will be the death of me This will be the death of me All is fair in love, and war But I can't fight with you anymore This will be the death of me

hostage - Billie Eilish

I wanna be alone Alone with you, does that make sense? I wanna steal your soul And hide you in my treasure chest I don't know what to do To do with your kiss on my neck I don't know what feels true But this feels right so stay a sec Yeah, you feel right so stay a sec And let me crawl inside your veins I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain It's not like me to be so mean You're all I wanted Just let me hold you like a hostage

Troubled Waters - Alex Warren 

The waves keep crashin' What would happen If I asked you to stay? Woah say you won't Let me drown in troubled waters alone Ooh throw me a rope Won't you tell me that you're still holdin' on Feel the world on my shoulders Slowly pullin' me under And I don't wanna push you away Woah say you won't Let me drown in troubled waters Drown in troubled waters alone

Treacherous - Taylor Swift 

Put your lips close to mine As long as they don't touch Out of focus, eye to eye 'Til the gravity's too much And I'll do anything you say If you say it with your hands And I'd be smart to walk away But you're quicksand This slope is treacherous This path is reckless This slope is treacherous And I, I, I like it

What The Water Gave Me - Florence + The Machine

Time it took us To where the water was That's what the water gave me And time goes quicker Between the two of us But oh my love, don't forsake me Take what the water gave me

We Sink - Of Monsters and Men

I know that it's a waste of time, chasing in the dark But keep me in your clouded minds, until time ignites a spark

gold rush - Taylor Swift

Gleaming Twinkling Eyes like sinking ships On waters so inviting I almost jump in

Power Over Me - Dermot Kennedy

I wanna be king in your story I wanna know who you are I want your heart to beat for me Oh, I Want you to sing to me softly 'Cause then I'm outrunning the dark That's all that love ever taught me Oh, I Call and I'll rush out All out of breath now You got that power over me, my my Everything I hold dear resides in those eyes

Sailor Song - Gigi Perez

Oh, won't you kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor? And when you get a taste, can you tell me what's my flavor? I don't believe in God, but I believe that you're my savior

She Lit a Fire - Lord Huron

I've been through the desert and I've been 'cross the sea I've been walking through the mountains, I've wandered through the trees for her I have been trying to find her, want to give what I got She lit a fire, and now she's in my every thought

Salt And The Sea - The Lumineers

I'll let the darkness swallow me whole I need to find you, need you to know I'll be your friend in the daylight again There we will be, like an old enemy Like the salt and the sea

Runaway - AURORA

No, take me home, take me home where I belong I can't take it anymore But I kept running for a soft place to fall

Francesca - Hozier 

Do you think I'd give up That this might've shook the love from me Or that I was on the brink? How could you think, darling, I'd scare so easily? Now that it's done There's not one thing that I would change My life was a storm, since I was born How could I fear any hurricane? If someone asked me at the end I'll tell them put me back in it Darling, I would do it again, ah, ah If I could hold you for a minute

[starclancy]

~ Broken Compass ~

PAIRING: Fem!Reader/Zoro

CONTENTS: 💔 - angst / 🩷 - fluff

WORDCOUNT: 1151

Request status: Open (PLS)

The storm came suddenly, its dark clouds swallowing the bright blue sky. The Thousand Sunny was tossed on the unforgiving waves, the crew scrambling to hold on as the ship rocked violently. You’d been in rough seas before, but this felt different. The wind howled like a beast, and the thunder cracked like a whip across the sky.

You gripped the edge of the railing, your knuckles turning white. A sudden, sharp cry cut through the wind. You whipped around just in time to see Zoro, the swordsman who rarely ever seemed shaken, being pulled off the edge of the ship by the vicious current. You screamed his name, your heart hammering in your chest, but the storm drowned your voice. His figure disappeared into the black abyss, and for a moment, everything felt still.

“Zoro!” you screamed again, unable to stop the panic that twisted inside you.

Luffy, who had been steering the ship, shouted orders to the crew. Nami quickly grabbed a rope, and Sanji ran to the railing, his face pale. Chopper, Nami, and Luffy threw everything they could into trying to save Zoro, but the storm didn’t care about their efforts. You held your breath as the wind screamed louder and louder, feeling helpless as the storm raged on.

Hours later, the storm began to die down. The sun was setting, casting the sky in a quiet orange glow. Everyone was exhausted, their faces drawn with tension, but there was one thing left to do: find Zoro.

You stood at the edge of the deck, heart in your throat. It was only when you caught sight of a dark shape in the water that you finally felt the relief you’d been waiting for.

“Zoro!” you cried again, the sound of his name a desperate plea.

Zoro was pulled back on board with the help of Luffy’s rubber strength, his body covered in cuts and bruises, his hair drenched. He looked like a ragdoll, barely conscious, but he was alive.

The crew worked quickly, bringing him below deck and tending to his wounds. But even as everyone focused on his physical injuries, you couldn’t shake the anxiety that lingered in your chest. Zoro had been pulled under the waves. He could’ve drowned. You could’ve lost him.

Once the worst of his injuries were tended to, the crew left him in the storage room to rest. But you couldn’t bring yourself to leave him alone.

You stood outside the door, unsure whether to knock or just barge in. It wasn’t like Zoro to shut himself off like this. He was always the first one to jump back into action, to shrug off his wounds, to crack a joke and get back to training. But something about the storm had broken him. You didn’t know if it was the near-death experience or the feeling of being completely helpless, but you knew he wasn’t okay.

You finally pushed open the door to the storage room and saw him sitting on the floor, back against a crate. His swords were beside him, untouched. His gaze was fixed on them, the sharp, determined eyes of a warrior dulled. His usual fire had been extinguished.

“Zoro?” you called softly, your voice trembling slightly. You hadn’t expected to sound so fragile, but it came out anyway.

He didn’t look up. His face was pale, and his clothes were damp, clinging to him uncomfortably. His breath came in shallow, slow inhales, his posture slumped in a way you’d never seen before.

“Go away,” he muttered, his voice hoarse, barely above a whisper.

You took a hesitant step into the room, closing the door behind you. The silence between you was thick and suffocating, but you didn’t leave. You couldn’t leave him like this.

“No,” you said firmly, walking over to him. You knelt down, trying to meet his gaze, but his eyes were fixed firmly on his swords. “I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”

Zoro scoffed, the sound hollow. “What’s there to talk about?” He chuckled bitterly, but it didn’t sound like the usual sarcastic laughter you were used to hearing. It sounded broken, like someone who had been carrying a weight for far too long. “I failed. I couldn’t even handle a stupid storm. I’m supposed to be the one protecting everyone, and I almost got myself killed. What kind of swordsman am I?”

You felt the sting of his words, but you refused to back down. “You’re not invincible, Zoro,” you said gently, your heart aching for him. “You’re only human. And you’re one of the strongest people I know. But even the strongest fall sometimes.”

He looked at you then, his gaze sharp, but there was a vulnerability in his eyes that made your chest ache. His usual arrogance was gone, replaced by something darker, something you’d never seen before.

“Why do you care?” he asked, his voice thick with frustration. “It doesn’t matter. I almost died, and no one would’ve been able to do anything. I could’ve gone under, and you wouldn’t even have been able to reach me in time. The thought of that…” His voice trailed off, and you could see the guilt eating at him. The regret. The fear.

The truth hit you harder than you expected. He wasn’t afraid of dying. He was afraid of being helpless. He couldn’t stand the thought of not being there for the crew. For you.

You reached out, gently placing your hand on his. “Zoro,” you said, your voice soft but firm. “You’re not alone in this. You never have been. We’re all here for you, and you don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. We’re a crew. We fight together, we struggle together, and when you fall, we’ll be here to help you back up. You don’t have to do it all by yourself.”

For a long moment, Zoro said nothing. His eyes stared at your hand on his, his lips parted as if he were about to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. Finally, he exhaled sharply, his shoulders sagging with the weight of everything he was trying to hold in.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, the words barely audible. “I didn’t mean to drag you down with me.”

You shook your head, your thumb gently brushing the back of his hand. “You didn’t drag me down, Zoro. You’re not a burden. You’re family.”

Zoro finally met your gaze, his eyes full of gratitude, and something else—something softer than you’d ever seen. Slowly, he gave a small, but genuine smile. “Thanks,” he muttered, his voice thick with emotion.

You smiled back, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to thank me. We’ll always have your back.”

For the first time since the storm, Zoro seemed to relax, his usual hardness fading away. He looked at you with something more than just affection—a quiet kind of trust, a silent understanding between you both that needed no words.

The weight in the room lifted as you stayed by his side, the sound of the ship creaking beneath your feet, the storm now nothing but a distant memory. Together, you would face whatever came next—stronger for having shared that moment of vulnerability. Stronger for being there when the other needed it most.

[oneatlatime]

The Desert

Alternate title: Gimme Appa back.

"But I believe, Aang can save the world." no pressure kid.

I had completely forgotten about these two chuckleheads. For once the 'Previously On' segment is useful rather than spoilery.

Ok Aang is going to get the world's biggest pass this episode, because he's in the suckiest of all situations. But even so, how exactly was Toph supposed to come and get them, when she was both actually blind for once and the only reason the library hadn't drowned them yet?

Aang has something of a history of running away. Does going after Appa count as running away from his friends?

Zuko's theatre kid tendencies are genetic.

The way Iroh said "What Now?" you know he was actually saying "fuck's sake."

Zuko's hair seems to grow very quickly. I thought that I could use his hair growth to measure time passing but this is not tracking. He barely had a buzz cut in The Chase and now he's fluffy.

Two things: a) this guy has eyes greyer than Aang this episode. b) He's cocking his hands like that ridiculous Henry Cavill scene from Mission Impossible where he cocks his biceps.

This guy's spear has piercings. And is coming out of a Dragon's mouth.

I don't know that I'd call these guys legendary. They're zero for two against an Avatar in Drag and two starving refugees with three functioning arms.

Doesn't Katara ever change out her water? Or even use it up and have to refill it?

I said it last episode, and I'll say it again: why did five people, a lemur, and a ten tonne sky bison travel into a desert famous for its desertiness with only a single water pouch between them? Admittedly, if they'd brought extra water and left it on Appa, they'd be having the same problem, but still...

Is a kids' show actually going to go there?

They actually went there!

Honestly if you're dying of dehydration in the desert, eating strange plants is absolutely the way to go. I'd rather trip my way into the afterlife than just shrivel up and die.

I love the way Aang's glider shadow moves over the dunes. Another one of those tiny details that the animators could have left out, but they didn't!

Sand benders must get crazy high speeds if Aang can't spot even a trace of Appa from up high. He wasn't Appa-napped very long ago.

Everyone go watch the scene where Aang blows up the mushroom cloud. Go right now I'll wait. And pay attention to Sokka's mouth. It does the wave.

His mouth does the wave and his arms do the worm. Someone really had fun this episode.

Zuko breaking the world record for highest number of Fire Nation wanted posters. Despite being the only person on that board who's unquestionably loyal to the Fire Nation. What a nice reward he got for his loyalty.

How is that one wrestler dude's hair so shiny?

Why, other than plot convenience, would Zuko and Iroh be at the Ice Spring?

I see now that the left hand shadow is Sokka with a Momo on his head. But for just a second I thought it was Ramona from Scott Pilgrim.

There are some really beautiful colour gradients in this desert.

"We won't survive without Appa." Well yes, but you have to try.

If this is a normal desert they're going to freeze their butts off overnight.

No comment. Just vibes.

Hey this is a Katara episode! Toph is blind, Sokka's zoinked, Aang's given up, so it's Katara time baby!

This episode has no business being this pretty.

"Sokka. I was there." I'd be very surprised if Katara's voice actress doesn't have an idiot older brother. That line was delivered a little too perfectly.

I'm not going to comment on every Sokka is high joke, but rest assured I'm finding them all hilarious.

Those drinks cost a gold piece each. Where did they get five gold pieces from?

Colour me shocked. The chuckleheads actually had a good idea for once.

Colour me shocked again! I vaguely predicted this!

Zuko. Honey. How are you this dim? He's so very good at missing exactly what's in front of him.

"Gold?"

Big muscles. No brains.

Very pretty. The sand texture is good too.

Well that was mean.

Passive aggressive glider deployment. Also how low is that cloud if Aang can reach it to bend it?

Aang is not shining this episode (understandably) but Katara is going from strength to strength. I NEVER would have thought that she was someone who could keep her cool under pressure like this. Happy to be wrong!

I have no idea if Sokka is going to remember or be aware of this epic trip he's on, but this is probably the best time he's had in months. Certainly since Yue died. He deserves this. Bad timing, but he needed a break.

"You must forgive my nephew. He is not an initiate, and is dumb as shit and incapable of reading the room."

Why is there a flower shop in the middle of the desert? What clients do they have? Obviously it's a front for this pai sho secret society thing, but why did they pick such a nonsensical front?

Toph has so much personality that it's easy to forget how tiny she is. Like a little gargoyle.

Sokka talking like a Greaser was the thing I didn't know I needed.

Poor Katara. Now you know how your brother feels every time he has to save your bacon from your weekly prison break.

I am losing my mind over these colours. Especially after The Library.

"I have a natural curiosity." I'm going to start using that.

Oops they found the circle bird nest.

Hey showrunners, you're going to take Momo from me too? You sure you want to do that? After last episode? Don't give me a pretty sunset with a latte swirl. Give me back Appa, put down Momo, or I'll sic Toph on you.

I do like Toph as a piece of artillery.

Turns out a combined Appa and Momo -napping is what it takes to get Aang to break his no killing rule. I now know how to defeat the Fire Lord.

The Audacity. Going to Ba-Sing- however the hell that's spelled. The sheer audacity. But then what? What's the plan after they get there? Just live the rest of their lives?

Rejected Mortal Combat guy.

You ever have one of those days where you do only your top lip?

Whoever made that door, and that lock - good job!

Nothing to see here, just making a delivery of two giant planters in the middle of the desert. The Owl decided to spruce up his entryway.

Y'all are fucked. Y'all deserve it. Aang has completely lost control. He's spent the whole episode losing it more and more and now he's gone completely off the rails. Has he ever zipped into the Avatar state that fast before?

Never underestimate the power of a woman who's fed up with everyone's nonsense. Just so fed up.

Well that was sad.

Badass name of the day: Malachi Throne, voice of a character whose name I don't recognise.

Final Thoughts

This was Katara's episode. I'm not going to forgive not getting Appa back, but Katara actually keeping a level head for once was an unexpected delight.

This episode was pretty unrelentingly heavy in the A-plot, which is why I don't understand why Sokka and Momo tripping worked so well. It did work, and I very much enjoyed it, but it should have stuck out like a sore thumb and it didn't. The beat up Sokka quota fulfillled from within by chemicals was a nice creative touch.

I am very happy to see Iroh take the wheel, although I'm not convinced there's a long term plan here beyond get food and shelter. Which, fair enough, goals tend to be short term and immediate when you're in dire straits.

This episode really stomped all over Aang. And then stomped some more. I was surprised how negative and shouty he was at the beginning, but by the end I was surprised how long it took him to lose it. Apart from his staff and his clothes, Appa really is all he has left from before he got frozen. That sandbender punk was rotten to the core.

So I guess we're going to the earth kingdom capital regardless of the eclipse information. Is the rest of the season going to be getting there? I also can't help but notice that it's where Iroh and Zuko are headed as well. Zuko could actively run in the direction opposite to the Avatar and he'd still end up tripping over him. The earth Kingdom is ginormous. And yet, like every two episodes Zuko runs into the Avatar. Is it fate? Is it plot convenience?

I should dislike this episode. It's 24 minutes of our faves getting beat down and not finding Appa, with a b-plot of Zuko being more oblivious than usual. I should dislike it, but I don't. This is definitely going on the rewatch list. It was a very pretty episode, which helped. Beyond that I can't put into words why I liked it, but I did!

[black-rose-events]

Villaintine's Day 2024: Evil Schemes Masterlist

(Total: 25)

Evil Scheme 01

Sidekick is the mastermind who’s been foiling Hero/Villain’s attempts, not Villain/Hero

Evil Scheme 02

Investigative Reporter is close to unraveling the plot of the century and Detective isn’t ready for their cover to be blown (either corrupt or secretly Hero/Villain!Detective)

Evil Scheme 03

Detective who has to investigate a string of crimes and ends up discovering more about Villain than they ever thought they would (could be an identity reveal or a bigger plot or a “the Villain is actually the good guy and X is actually the antagonist)

Evil Scheme 04

Wants-to-do-Good Mayor x Jaded!Hero who just wants to go home (bonus points if you pit Jaded!Hero x Committed-to-Evil!Villain against each other too)

Evil Scheme 05

Corrupt!Mayor x Usurping!Villain (villain could be good, villain could be evil and just want power for themselves, it’s up to you!)

Evil Scheme 06

Hero/Villain who barely escapes/defeats Hero/Villain and knows it’s hopeless in the long run but keeps trying - lose the battle, win the war type thing

Evil Scheme 07

Responses to “I love you”:

“Oh, you poor, poor thing.” *laughs hysterically.*

“…What?”

“Oh you lovesick kitten, you fell in love with the wrong person.”

*Laughs hysterically.* “Hilarious, impeccable timing.”

“I hadn’t pegged you for the type to fall in love. I was thinking of angles, researching, trying to figure your actions out. But we both lost. You fell in love and I didn’t even think of that being your reason.”

“I don’t understand.” // “Of course you don’t. Your brain’s all drowned in red roses right now.”

“Yes, yes, we get the joke.” // “No, I’m not joking.” // “Well then, you’re an idiot. Or mistaken. Or under a spell.” // “No, I’m not!” // “Yes, you are.” // “If I was, then I wouldn’t still be here arguing after you laughed in my face and just called me an idiot.” // “Exactly, if you weren’t, then I wouldn’t have called you an idiot. You’re not in love with me, you just think you are.” // “Excuse me?” // “You heard me, you’re mistaken, darling.”

“Hehe, thanks. Soo, anyway—” // “Wait, what’s your reply?” // “Huh?” // “I said I love you” // “Oh, yeah, I said thank you. Thanks. Have a good day.” *Turns to leave*

“Aww, sweetheart, no.”

“Aww, sweetheart…no.”

“Aww, sweetheart. No.”

“Cool. Be cooler if someone loved you too.”

“If only there was someone out there who loved you.”

“Aww, I love me too.” *Goes about their day.*

“No, you don’t.” // “What, of course I do.”

“Um. No. You don’t. You’re in love with the idea of me. Pretty normal, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find someone. Good luck.”

[Bonus] “No, but I really do.”

[Bonus] *Tears in their eyes* “But…”

Evil Scheme 08

Responses to “I’d die for you”:

“Then perish.”

“Then perish.” They said it with steely blank eyes. No emotion on their face.

“Then die."

"Then die.” And they punched them in the face and walked over their body.

“Then go ahead,” they said, waving their hand dismissively, “You have my permission.”

"…Cool.“ They gave a big smile and walked away.

"You will.” and pushed them off.

Evil Scheme 09

Civilian!Kid keeps showing up to Hero’s and Villain’s fights, heckling Hero/Villain and ends up becoming a thorn in both their sides

Evil Scheme 10

Retired Hero x Retired Villain but the grudge is still going strong…just in retirement so it’s over things like shuffleboard or the local baking competition or something

Evil Scheme 11

Investigative Reporter keeps getting in the way of Detective’s investigation (for a romantic twist: and keeps putting themself in danger)

Evil Scheme 12

Hero and Villain know each others’ identities and try to inconvenience each other as civilians as much as possible

Evil Scheme 13

Klutzy!Villain x Unlucky!Hero

Evil Scheme 14

Mad Scientist x Magic!Hero/Villain

Evil Scheme 15

Mad Scientist x Mad Magician

Evil Scheme 16

Mysterious!Villain x Hero Who Can See Emotions

Evil Scheme 17

Abstract: Hate potions

Scheme Ideas:

Maybe Whumper (Villian/Hero/Civilian/Mayor/Sidekick/Henchman/etc) gives Caretaker a hate potion so they don’t like whumpee anymore. Maybe Whumper gives a hate potion to whumpee. Or (!) Caretaker mistakenly drinks a hate potion and becomes a whumper👀 There are options😈

Evil Scheme 18

Gentle Supervillain x Investigative Reporter

Evil Scheme 19

Sassy!Villain x Adorable!Henchperson

Evil Scheme 20

By-the-Book Detective x Chaotic!Hero

Evil Scheme 21

Vigilante x Pesky!Reporter

Evil Scheme 22

Chosen-One-Hero-Turned-Villain x the powers that chose them

Evil Scheme 23

Evil Scheme 24

Hero knows Villain’s identity. Villain doesn’t know Hero knows.

or

Villain knows Hero’s identity. Hero doesn’t know Villain knows.

Hero’s and Villain’s civilian personas are lovers…but Hero and Villain are nemeses

Evil Scheme 25

Injured hero/villain/sidekick/henchman shows up on Civilian's doorstep...but their whumper isn't far behind them.

-------------------

(Please see the rules and guidelines for more about whump do’s and don'ts for our event😊)

Villaintine’s Day 2024 Ways to Participate

[drewsbuzzcut]

Persephone

drew starkey x fem!reader

part of the college baseball au ( the breakup part 3) pt 1 , pt 2

warnings: alcohol consumption, angst?

Late April (almost 2 months after the breakup)

Drew sits at the bar, feeling empty no matter how hard he tries to fill himself up on overpriced alcohol. He should be the happiest he’s ever been- he got recruited by his dream team and spent the day visiting the city he will soon call home, but his happiness was sinking by the minute. He tries not to think about how downtrodden you sounded on the phone when he called to tell you about his recruitment (out of habit). He honestly didn’t expect you to answer the phone, but when you did, the good news just spewed out from his mouth. He barely had enough time to hear your sniffles. He tried asking what was wrong but you kept insisting that you were fine. You just congratulated him on his good news, he knew it was forced, though. 

There was something wrong, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to get you to crack and tell him. It felt out of place for him to do that, so he swallowed his worry and chalked up your sadness to something that may have been going on in your life. It drove him crazy that he didn’t know what was going on in your life. 

“Drowning your sorrows, too?” Drew hears a voice next to him ask. 

He turns to see who it is and it’s a tall brunette with the bluest eyes he’s ever seen. Even more blue than his. She has long, beach waves and a septum piercing. Her skin was flawless. A woman many men would dream about. 

“Not necessarily,” Drew mutters back. 

“Hmmm… so you’re just drinking about two beers every 30 minutes for fun?” Says the girl. 

“You keeping an eye on me?” 

“No. I just notice a lot of things. I also know that drinking as much as you are is because you’re trying to forget something,” the girl retorted. 

Drew just hums, not wanting the girl to know that she was absolutely correct.

She squints her eyes, trying to get a better read on him. She notices the bags under his eyes and the lack of color in his skin. 

“Who is she?” The girl asks. 

“Why do want to know?” Drew asks.

“Just want to know more about why you’re here.”

“You don’t even know my name. I don’t even know yours, and you want to know about why I’m here,” drew laughs sarcastically. 

“Persephone,” the girl finally introduces herself. She holds out her hand for Drew to shake it. 

“Uncommon name,” Drew points out. 

“Uncommon parents. What’s your name?”

“Drew.”

“And who’s the girl that has you in here when you’re wishing you were with her?” 

“Y/n. And I don’t wish I was with her.”

“You don’t?” Persephone asks, knowing he is lying. 

“No.”

Persephone lets the conversation die. She knows when not to claw too deep. She orders two shots, sliding one over to drew. He takes it without hesitation. They sit in silence for about 10 minutes. 

“You’re right,” Drew says lowly.

“What was that?” Persephone has to resist the urge to smirk. 

“I do wish I was with y/n.”

“Then why aren’t you with her?”

“We broke up. Plus, I’m an asshole who doesn’t really deserve her.”

“But you love her?” 

“I do. So much.” Drew admits.

“Then you should be with her,” Persephone states.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. You go to her and tell her everything that’s buried in your heart. Bare your soul to her.”

“You don’t get it.”

“Drew! You love her, then go get her. It is that simple. Be completely honest. Get her to be honest with you. If it’s meant to be, you will end up together. If it’s not, then at least you got everything off your chest.”

“I don’t know how to get her to open up to me anymore,” Drew says bitterly.

“Yes you do. I’m sure you’ve done it before. Dig down in your head and remember all the times you’ve gotten her to open up to you. It’ll all come rushing back to you.”

“Why’re you helping me?”

“Love deserves to be shared and felt. I want people to experience love,” Persephone says. 

“Do you love someone?”

“Myself.”

“Is that enough?” Drew questions. 

“It is for now.”

They sit in silence for a while, but Drew ends up breaking it again.

“I’m going to get y/n back! I need to book a flight back home like now,” Drew realizes that he’s probably had too much to drink. 

“Sober up first.”

Drew drowns a cup of water every 20 minutes, wanting to sober up as soon as possible. When he finally feels like he can function properly, he gathers his belonging and heads back to his hotel to pack up and head to the airport.

Before he actually leaves the bar, he turns to Persephone for one last request.

“Can I have your phone number?”

“Ummm… why?” Persephone was a bit thrown off by his question.

“So I can tell you how things turn out,” Drew answers.

Persephone smiles at his sweetness, hoping and praying that he gets his happiness back. She sends him off with her phone number, wishing that when she does receive a text from him, it’s because he’s happy. 

a/n: This is the third part of the breakup! I hope you all enjoy; there will be more!

[sugarsnappeases]

LIGHTHOUSE FICCCCC

SUDE BABY HELLO ILY!!!!! you already know quite a lot of the lighthouse fic vibes but i shall explain for the layperson

the basic premise is that sybill is a lighthouse keeper on this little island somewhere off the british isles and lily is like. the aristocrat’s wife who’s come up for the summer to oversee the decoration of their new manor before the arrival of her husband and son….

sybill has this tragic backstory (haven’t quite decided yet but i’m leaning towards like. her dad or maybe even both parents dying at sea bc of some fault in the lighthouse somewhere) which has made her basically shut herself up in the lighthouse, isolate herself entirely from the community on the island and dedicate herself w an unhealthy degree of intensity and vigilance to the lighthouse and watching the sea, ensuring that the light is always on and no one else will ever be lost to the rocks and the waves…

and lily has this like role that she’s playing in high society and she’s convinced herself that she’s happy with james and harry and that this is the life she’s always wanted etc etc but when she gets to the island and she’s Away from them and she’s just in the manor like choosing between two different shades of the same heavy paisley upholstery, it starts to get a little stifling. and boring. and she goes out exploring….

and she’s nosy and curious and she’s never really been anywhere near the sea before so the vibe is all New to her and she’s coming across sybill in the lighthouse and just sort of sweeping her along in her adventures. and they have this immediate connection and it’s SO GOOD!!! so so good for both of them!!!!!!!

like sybill is weaving herself slowly back into the community and she’s hasn’t been so Present on the island since she was a little girl and she’s learning to love the sea and the island and the lighthouse again the way she used to rather than just seeing them as her Duty and she’s taking control of her life more and actually Doing rather than just Being and its so HEALTHY for her. falling back in love w her life as she falls in love w lily

and for lily it’s soooo freeing. like she doesn’t have to pretend to be someone that’s she’s come to realise she isn’t, sybill has no expectations of her, they can just Be, and she’s getting lost in and falling in love w the island and the sea and w sybill and w the little oasis that they’ve created where she can forget about the fact that her husband and son are due to arrive at the end of summer

but. of course. all good things must come to an end. and i’m physically incapable of ever giving sybillily a happy ending. they call out for tragedy i’m sorry. and this particular tragedy drives me INSAAANE

so . james and harry on their way right? they’re getting a boat over, it’s the only way to get to the island but Oh No! What’s This? a STORM ?!?!?! and there’s no one in the lighthouse ?!?! bc sybill is out w lily ?!?!?! and there’s some kind of fault w the light that makes the boat crash into the rocks ?!?!?! and james and harry DROWN ?!?!?! what a horrible tragedy!

sybill obvs immediately shuts herself back up in the lighthouse again bc it’s her fault and she should’ve been at the lighthouse and she should never have let herself get so distracted from her Duty and she swore no one else would ever die at sea and she’s gone and killed lily’s family, which is even worse bc she loves lily. she loves lily and she’s just killed her fucking family and she’s never going to leave the lighthouse again and she’s doubling down on the isolation so hard and blaming herself entirely and it’s miserable

and LILY is complicated bc she’s like. her husband and son have just died so she should be grieving them right? right?? and then she feels so guilty bc she’s not grieving them as much as she should be. she’s more grieving the loss of the thing she had w sybill. bc she’d known. she’d KNOWN that james and harry were coming and that they’d interrupt her little paradise but she’d thought selfishly desperately that maybe she could still have sybill. just like. more under the radar or whatever but w this!! they’ve completely taken sybill away from her and that’s a horrible horrible thing to be thinking about her fucking dead husband and son

when i was talking about them w jen she was like yeah and maybe at one point pre-storm lily has this thought where she essentially just wishes j&h didn’t exist at all and then she feels so guilty about it after they die… which YEAH!! bc like now they aren’t there anymore but this ISNT WHAT SHE MEANT!!! this isn’t what she wanted!!!! and she feels guilty again bc now she’s thinking that they didn’t fucking die properly and that’s a completely unfair thing to think about these people who she’s meant to love above all others … like she wanted them to cease to exist so she could love sybill without the complications but they’ve gone and added so many more complications w their death and it’s just all wrong and she knows she’s being so selfish but she can’t help it bc she just wants sybill and she can’t have her anymore and aaaaaaaaaaaa

i’ve also recently thinking about a little element of resentment that sybill might hold towards lily. bc she made a vow, an Oath to herself that she would never let anyone grieve the way she had when she lost someone she loved to the sea and now (she doesn’t know about lily’s complicated feelings) it’s LILY who’s going through that grief which is awful and she’s broken her vow but it wouldn’t have ever happened if lily hasn’t insinuated herself into sybill’s life in the first place. and lily is distraction (and connection and understanding and happiness and love but she pushes those thoughts away bc lily is distraction) and she’d made sybill forget that the most important thing in her life is the lighthouse, and she’d made sybill hope that maybe Maybe her life could be more than that and she could be more than the lighthouse but sybill should’ve fucking known that could never be true and then she’s right back to blaming herself again, for believing that maybe she could have the life she saw w lily, as if she wasn’t tied irrevocably to the sea, as if she hadn’t already given her life over to the sea. and james and harry’s death is the sea reasserting her control over sybill.

anyway. they drive me insane. it’s so complicated and miserable and AAAAAAAAA. haven’t actually written a word of it yet but i’ve been Plotting. and mwah love you thank you for asking, hope there’s some sort of new interesting tidbit of information here for you ahsjshsjd

[blametheeditor]

Day 18 | Pirates

Gt July Prompt List

First | Previous | Next

When stranded on an uncharted underwater planet, alone and surrounded by hostile lifeforms, there are only two possible outcomes: adapt and survive, or die trying.

Spoilers: For the game Subnautica

Content Warnings: Cursing. Mentions of death and violence. Mentions of drowning and suffocation. Referring to someone as 'it'.

________________________

Have the ship he’s on crash on an alien planet while searching for another crew that went missing? Sure. It’s a less than 0.00001% chance, but when traveling in space, it’s always a thought on your mind for ‘what ifs’. 

End up thinking you’re the only survivor because no one shows up at the rendezvous point within a month? Considering the fact it’s an uncharted ocean planet with leviathan class creatures, it wouldn’t be too big of a leap in logic. 

Getting told by someone they’ve survived this long by befriending the massive beings that call this planet home? 

That...that’s something Scott’s having a hard time believing. 

The worst part is how genuine Fritz is, nothing but a pleading expression aimed up at him as the kid tries to reassure him they’re not in any danger. Despite there being a leviathan waiting right outside the cavern for them. 

You can say Scott was an idiot for assuming Fritz just managed to come at just the right time where the predator hunting him decided to leave, even though he heard haunting sounds seemingly right outside just moments before. But he never would’ve thought the kid swam directly past it. 

Before he can find the words, any words, Scott’s HUD flashes to alert him he’s losing oxygen. Looks behind him to see he moved too far away from the coral that’s been keeping him alive through this entire ordeal. 

Ordeal. That doesn’t describe how much terror he’s been living in for the past hour. The past day. The entire month. 

“How low are you on air?” he asks. 

Fritz looks surprised at the change of subject. “Oh, um, I’ve got a rebreather. Did you find a brain coral in here?” 

That’s what its called? Scott was expecting a better name for a literal lifesaver.  “I did.” 

He doesn’t bring up the fact the apparently ‘friendly’ leviathan chased him in here. That the only reason why he didn’t drown was because of  the coral. He doesn’t want to yell at a kid for ever thinking a creature like the one outside could ever be trusted. Not when Fritz doesn’t look older than 15, maybe 16. It’s a miracle someone that young has survived this long on his own. 

...which means he shouldn’t discredit the kid. Be skeptical, but anyone who has fabricated  a rebreather and built a base deserves respect. 

Scott takes a deep breath. “Explain what you meant by preferring a leviathan over a seamoth.” 

“I haven’t had to worry about a stalker or boneshark for weeks,” Fritz begins earnestly, eyes wide and pleading. And even though Scott might not be familiar with the names, hearing ‘shark’ gives him a fairly clear picture. “They’re big, but they’re careful, and they won’t let anything come after us.” 

Or, they’re waiting for you to become a proper meal.

Hold on they? 

“There’s more than one?” Scott breathes, feeling the color drain from his face. 

Fritz quickly waves his hands frantically. “There’s only two, and I trust ‘David’ more than ‘Vincent’!” 

Okay, two things. One, that doesn’t sound as comforting as Fritz might think it is. Being told the kid trusts a leviathan more than another gives absolutely no sense of security. 

Two, what the hell came out of his mouth. 

It’s almost like Scott’s brain needed to restart when Fritz suddenly pronounced something long and deep in the middle of his rapid words of attempting to offer comfort. 

“Can, can you repeat that?” the man breathes. 

“Which part?” 

Scott waves a hand. “The entire sentence.” 

“I, um, trust ‘David’ more than ‘Vincent’?” Fritz repeats, looking confused as to why Scott’s confused. As if he’s not saying something otherworldly. 

“That, the last word.” 

“Oh! That’s his name, ‘Vincent’.” 

Of course. The leviathan has a name. Not one in common, of course not. It just knows common. It speaks an entirely different language, too. One Fritz knows enough to have a name. 

A hesitant look is given as Scott does nothing to hide the skepticism he’s feeling. “D-Did ‘Vincent’ say anything to you?” 

The man has to bite his tongue from responding sarcastically. He’s upset with the leviathan that’s been taunting him about his death, not the naive kid who’s in over his head. “He said a few things. Nothing that was reassuring, though.” 

Fritz looks puzzled. Suddenly swims closer to the opening. Before Scott realizes it, the kid’s calling out to the massive beings. “Hey ‘Vincent’, did you say you weren’t going to eat him?” 

A painful shock of fear races up his spine at Fritz just blatantly talking about being eaten to something that easily can and most likely will. Feels a compulsion to yank the kid away from the opening, moves to do just that to make sure he’s not grabbed. 

Freezes when instead of the cavern shaking or a shadow signaling a reach reaching forward, a voice rumbles. Not speaking in common, but he hears the same cadence used from before meant to be a name. 

It earns a shocked expression from Fritz. “So you didn’t say you wouldn’t?” 

This time, a second voice joins in. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it almost sounds like arguing. 

What the hell is happening? 

Scott stares as Fritz’s eyes grow wider and wider with every word spoken. The longer nothing happens, the more his terror from before thinking there would be consequences for making such comments slowly morphs into curiosity. Especially with the kid looking more horrified than afraid. 

“What are they saying?” 

“’Vincent’ says he, um, wasn’t really clear on his intentions,” Fritz begins, giving the perfect impression of a kicked puppy. “’David’s’ yelling at him.” 

Honestly, he doesn’t know what he was expecting. He didn’t think he’d actually get a rough translation of the apparent words being spoken. “Is this normal?” 

“The arguing, definitely. But ‘Vincent’s’ usually a bit more...straightforward? He’s never made me second guess him,” Fritz explains as he slowly begins to hunch in on himself. Suddenly seems unsure as his eyes refuse to meet Scott’s. “I-I’m so sorry he made you think he’d kill you.” 

The tone of despair sends a knife through Scott’s heart. He can only stare at the sight of a kid taking responsibility for the actions of someone who, frankly, seems like nothing more than an asshole. A leviathan who can kill them both effortlessly, but an asshole none the less. 

And here he is, the actual adult, forcing a teenager to handle something like this by himself. A situation he isn’t qualified for in the slightest. If a kid can mediate actual leviathans, though, then he at the very least can offer support. Worry about how he got to this point at a later time. Preferably somewhere safe where oxygen is abundant. 

Scott clears his throat. “So you know what they’re saying?” 

“There’s still a lot I don’t know,” is quietly admitted, though a small spark begins to grow. “But I know the important parts and use context clues for the rest.” 

“And do they understand you?” 

“’Vincent’ knows a lot of common. ‘David’ knows a little, but he prefers us using his language instead.” 

He almost forgot, there’s two leviathans. One he had the displeasure of being trapped by, the other he has no way of knowing if they’re any better. But if he doesn’t want to leave Fritz alone with two catastrophic beings, then he’ll have to trust they won’t eat him at the very least. 

He takes a deep breath. Holds it. “About this seabase.” 

Fritz brightens up immediately. “It’s completely leviathan proof, not even ‘Vincent’ can dent it! It’s about 200 meters from here, but I brought the seamoth. You can drive it if you want and I can follow!” 

That’s right, the smaller sub only has room for a single pilot, meaning one of them will be protected while the other is left at the mercy of the leviathans. 

No way in hell is he letting Fritz swim out in the open. 

“I’ve never piloted one, so I’d rather trust you at the controls,” Scott smiles even as his hands begin to tremble. “Anyway I can hang onto the outside?” 

“I think so!” 

And just like that, the kid, disappears. As soon as it clicks he just swam out of the cavern, Scott’s racing after him. “Wait!” 

By the time he catches up to Fritz, the kid’s already gesturing toward the sub floating a few feet away and toward the horizon where he assumes the base is. 

Scott finds himself going completely still when he realizes he’s out in the open and at the mercy of the leviathan that chased him. Looks up at a dozen eyes focused down at them, a predatory smile revealing the sharp teeth that could end him in seconds once he exited the safety of the rock. 

And to his left, there’s a second leviathan. One who seems a little more human. Instead of long extensions on its back, however, large mandibles frame its face, a silent promise anything that gets too close will be grabbed and shoved into its massive maw. The fact it’s a little bigger and much broader than its companion doesn’t escape his attention. 

Scott’s heart pounds as he waits for a haunting wail as he’s lunged at. For a fight to ensue over who gets to eat them. To have Fritz grabbed by one, him by another, the kid’s blinded trust having been used to their advantage. 

But nothing happens. 

“-and you can’t ‘hold’ the sub, ‘David’.” 

Scott flinches as the mandibles that look strong enough to crush the sub almost directly beside it shifts as it huffs. That’s all the leviathan does. The other only watches. 

What did I get myself into?

“You okay, Scott?” Fritz murmurs, the smile he had turning into a concerned frown the moment he turned to see the unmistakable terror. 

“I’m fine,” he forces out. 

It takes full minute for him to look away from the towering beings. Focuses on the sub that will bring them to a base promised to be leviathan proof. Carefully swims forward as he prays it won’t trigger an attack. 

The two giants are eerily silent and still as Scott checks for handholds before finding a seat on one of the short wings. Positions himself where he can see Fritz once the teenager climbs inside, and what’s behind them so he can warn if a leviathan suddenly charges at them. Reaches forward to see if he can grab the antenna on the top of the sub, relieved that he can and therefore has something to use to keep from falling off the smooth metal. 

“Think this will work?” Scott asks. 

Fritz nods, his excitement coming back. “We can do a test real quick!” 

Scott moves his arm so the kid and climb into the sub without issues. Goes tenses once the hatch closes at the realization he’s alone with the two leviathans. 

The purple one makes an odd sound before rumbling something. The other smirks as it replies. 

“I can still hear you!” Fritz calls, causing Scott to jump at the teenager’s voice. “I’ll withhold peepers if I have to!” 

He was not expecting a look of panic followed by indignation to appear. 

Scott sends an appreciative look down at the teenager. “You bribe them with fish?” 

“Only sometimes,” Fritz grins. “Ready?” 

“Just don’t go too quick.” 

It’s a pleasant surprise when the seamoth is gently accelerated instead of thrown into full throttle. He never got the impression Fritz would pull something like that, but it’s hard to tell with teenagers. Though the ones who disregard other’s lives and feelings most likely wouldn’t have survived being stranded for this long. Wouldn’t have tried to befriend leviathans, that’s for sure. 

After the sub travels about 20 meters and Scott becomes confident he won’t get pulled off by the current, the leviathans then finally move. A sight that fills him with awe, and fear. 

The way they move through the water shows they’re made for this planet. It’s all one fluid motion from lying down to following after them. Absolutely massive beings that are nothing but silent as they trail behind. 

It sends a chill up Scott’s spine at being the thing they’re focused on. Can effortlessly imagine how it’d look if they were to lunge. “That’s terrifying.” 

“It still gets me sometimes,” Fritz agrees as he offers an encouraging smile. 

Scott finds himself returning it, admittedly a bit awed the sheer amount of courage this kid has. Much too trusting for his own good, but who is he to judge. He’s just grateful he wasn’t robbed blind and then left to be eaten by a leviathan the moment he decided to trust the kid. 

That would’ve been one hell of a scam. Reminds him of the horror stories involving ships getting boarded by robbers who take everything and leave no witnesses. Because even in space, there’s still such things as pirates. 

Suddenly, the seamoth slowly decelerates, flooding him with panic as he watches the leviathans get closer and closer. Startles when the hatch to the sub opens as Fritz climbs out, only then realizing there’s a base sitting in front of him. One with a concerning amount of windows. 

“Want to see the inside?” Fritz asks. 

“Yes please,” Scott begins as he carefully swims away from the seamoth. Sends a fearful look behind him toward the quickly approaching leviathans before following the kid. 

Breathes a sigh of relief when his feet find solid ground and his HUD stops flashing a warning. 

He doesn’t get a full minute to recover before a hand is grabbing his arm, Fritz looking absolutely ecstatic as he gently tugs at the man to follow. “We’ll do proper introductions, and then I’ll get a coffee machine built!” 

Scott has no choice but to allow himself be led through the hallway. Finds himself softly cursing when he realizes why there’s so many windows, unsure how to feel about the fact a leviathan can watch him whenever it’d like. Can only watch as both monoliths settle down on the seafloor, focusing on nothing except them. 

Fritz is completely unaffected by the scrutiny as he excitedly gestures toward the two. “’David’ and ‘Vincent’.” 

Scott can feel the weighted looks as he becomes the center of attention. God, he has to try and pronounce their names in front of them? “Avid and Int?” 

“’David’,” the leviathan with mandibles growls as the purple one laughs. 

“David,” the man snaps with a glare. He’s sorry, this is his first time trying to speak an alien language. 

The other one smirks. “’Vincent’.” 

Oh God, his voice can not go that deep. “Vince?” 

His second attempt earns him a smile. It has him glancing down at Fritz to confirm if that’s a sign of approval, or a silent promise he’ll be killed at the first opportunity. All he’s given is an encouraging look before Scott’s gestured to. “And this is Scott!” 

“Cot,” sounds like David gargling rocks. Then proceeds to glare at Scott, like it’s his fault for having an apparently difficult name to pronounce. 

He’s starting to get the feeling he’s not going to like either leviathan. 

“Scott,” Vincent chirps perfectly. 

“Ott.” 

“Scott.” 

David growls lowly. “Scott.” 

The man then turns to Fritz, ignoring the rumbles as what he assumes will become a familiar sound of arguing starts up. He’s just glad to no longer be the center of attention. “Where’s that coffee I was promised?” 

[angelic-writer]

Fear of the Deep - Sleep with the Fishes (Not Really)

Day 6 of @augusnippets

Prompts: Car accident/Plane crash/ship wreck

CW: Drowning

Fandom: Fear of the Deep by @moonlightsmasquerade

Cain was always a meticulous planner, barely budging when things don't go his way. Miriam and Dylan had to literally drag his ass out when his oxygen tank got low. He threw a hissy fit not long after. So it shouldn't be that surprising when a pop up storm rolled over the ocean while the trio was out. Miriam tried countless times to tell him to get back to the dock, but he shrugged her off. That's when a rogue wave hit the side of the boat, causing it to smash into the a nearby rock, making the ship split in two. The force of the crash caused Cain to fall over the boat edge and into the water.

He didn't remember hitting his head. All he knew was that one second, he was on the boat, the next, he was in the water. It was cold, so cold. He tried to move his limbs, but they were like lead, refusing to work. He opened his mouth to call out to someone, but the taste of salt greeted him as he inhaled water. Is this how the people that went missing were feeling when they die? Is he going to be like one of them? Miriam and Dylan will never find him, at best finding his body hours away from their location.

What a shitty way to die.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted something glittering in the water. When he took a closer look, he saw a humanoid fish creature swimming towards him along with several more of them, all smiling at him with their sharp teeth. Cain blinked. He thought those things were a myth, but here he was, seeing them with his own two eyes. As if hypnotized by their beauty, he reached out to them. He was just out of reach.

His lungs burned. His vision was growing dark.

As he closed his eyes, he heard one of them speak to him.

"Soon, Cain. Soon, you will become one of us."

---------

As he slowly became aware, he could feel something pressing on his chest pretty hard. Cain wanted to scream out, telling that person "That hurts!" but he couldn't move. He couldn't open his eyes. The pressure stopped momentarily as someone pried his mouth open, pinched his nose shut and breathed into him.

Is someone... trying to revive me?

"C'mon, Cain! Wake up, dude!"

Dylan?

Oh... He and Miriam got me after all.

After what felt like minutes of Dylan (or Miriam? Maybe both.) trying to resuscitate him, he finally responded. Water spilled out of his mouth, the two of them rolling him onto his side so he doesn't aspirate the water.

"Hey, dude. You're okay now. You're okay." Dylan said, trying to catch his breath. Cain peeled his eyes open, seeing his and Miriam's blurry figures.

"Mmm... G'mornin'..." He mumbled.

"Seriously? That's all you have to say? Jesus Christ, Cain, you nearly died! You're lucky we even got to you in time!!" Miriam shouted.

Cain sat up. "Uuuuuuugh, Miri, quit being a drama queen. I just had a little swim, that's all."

"A little swim.- Do you ever take anything seriously?! You need to stop scaring us like that! Imagine what would've happened if you were alone!"

Dylan wrapped his jacket around Cain who was soaking wet. "Yeah, I have to agree with her. You really need to listen to us."

"Dylan, I could've swam up on my own. I didn't need your guys' help." He coughed. Although what he said was true, he could've swam up on his own, but he couldn't move his body. It was like he was paralyzed. Must've been that blow to the head. He rubbed the back of his head, wincing.

"Okay, you need to rest. C'mon." Dylan lifted him up to his feet and started walking him back to their headquarters, Miriam scolding Cain the whole way. He looked back to the ocean, the image of the fish creatures smiling at him repeating in his mind.

He was far away from the dock so how did he get back there? Did they carry him here?

It was hard to concentrate with the throbbing pain.

[bellysoupset]

Ok so absolutely no pressure but I’d literally die to see Bella freaking/spiralling about the breakup as well. Like. Working too hard and getting sick or showing up at someone’s house in the middle of the night with a fever? Love your writing :)

I am very purposefully keeping Bella out of the main focus, but this was too tempting to pass!

---------

"What do you think?" Wendy asked loudly so Vince could hear her, even though her phone was sitting on her dresser. She twirled so her sequined skirt flared out.

"I think you look good enough to eat," Vince answered and she opened a large smile, walking back to the phone.

"Thanks," she fixed her bra strap, "see you tomorrow for lunch?"

"If you're not hungover to hell," he snorted, "have fun, honey."

"I will, thank you," she sent him a lipstick kiss and Vince smiled, sending her a kiss back, but not before yelling.

"But not too much fun!"

Wendy rolled her eyes as she hung up the call and put on her heels. It had been a while since she had been out with her friends, an even longer while since they had gone dancing. She was beyond excited.

She met her friends outside the club, in the queue. Barbie and Megan were both clad in equally sparkly clothes and make up and they squealed and waved as Wendy turned the corner, in order for her to spot them.

"I'm so happy you came!"

"Finally, after holing up in that hospital all day" Megan hugged her tightly, "let's get fucked up."

She had met them in college, but clicked immediately, much like Jonah. Barbie was an engineering student and Megan a gastronomy one. Wendy had met Babs first, only meeting Megan via her, but never did the other two make her feel like a third wheel.

They kept small talk flowing non stop during the queue, updating each other on their lives. Barbie could drown out any noise with how loud her giggling was, much to the other two's amusement.

Then finally it was their turn and they handed in the tickets, alongside their IDs, before getting colorful bracelets with QR codes on them, "have fun girls."

Like anyone who had ever been to an EDM club, they knew they had to pick drinking first. Three shots in and Wendy found herself sandwiched between her two friends, dancing to a remix of Dancing Queen by ABBA.

Barbie twirled her around, giggling when Wendy twerked and slapping her ass with a obnoxious, "work it girl!"

They went in for another round of drinks and then back to the dancing floor, Megan already considering removing her heels, while Barbie had a girl be all over her. Wendy raised her arms to the beat, swaying from side to side, when she opened her eyes and saw a familiar face.

A mane of red curly hair that she'd recognize anywhere, even though they didn't see each other all that much.

"Is that Bella?"

"Who!?" Megan yelled back and Barbie was too enthralled with the girl who was flirting with her to hear.

"I'll be right back!" Wendy yelled, squeezing Megan's hand and pushing through the crowd.

It was Bella.

Bella, clad in a deep red dress that left very little to imagination, back pressed to some guy's chest who could not keep his hands to himself and was tugging on the hem of her dress as he pressed her ass to his crotch.

Wendy raised both her eyebrows. Wow.

"Bella?" she yelled, despite common sense telling her that the ginger was busy and she should give her space.

Bella opened her eyes, painted in black makeup, and then they twinkled as she smiled, "Wendy!" and moved away from the guy in order to tackle Wendy in an overly affectious hug that was nothing like the girl, "Hi!"

"Hi, how... How are you?" Wendy tried to peel her back, but Bella was taller and stronger.

"Uhm, you smell so nice... Is Vince here?" then Bella did pull back, her drunk happy smile vanishing and giving space to a panicked frown, "Oh no, is Vince here?"

"No," Wendy shook her head, cringing as she realized Bella was nervous over being caught, even though she wasn't doing anything wrong, "who's your friend?"

"Uh, he-" Bella frowned at the guy. He was handsome, Wendy had to give her that, in the most sleazy fuckboy fashion, but handsome nonetheless. He also reminded her a fucking lot of Lucas, with the mop of brown hair and green eyes, "what's your name again?"

"It's Jack," the guy smiled, grabbing Bella by the waist, "let's get out of here?"

Wendy shook her head, alarm bells ringing as she noticed Bella stumbling into his arms, "sorry, pal, she's not going anywhere. C'mon, Bell, I wanna introduce you my friends."

"What are you? Her mother?" Jack rolled his eyes, tugging on Bella's wrist, "let's go."

"I don't think-" Bella slurred, seeming more than a little confused by the fight, "you can stayyy, let's meet Wen's friends."

Wendy opened a victorious smile, "yes, let's-"

"No, let's have some alone time-" Jack grabbed Bella's face in his hands, planting a kiss over lips, "uHm? You were having fun..."

"But Wendy is here now," Bella mumbled, shoving his chest, or trying to, "I don't think- Don't think it's a good idea..."

"Don't be dumb-"

"Let go of her," Wendy scoffed, shoving his arm with all her force. It was a little ridiculous, considering Jack was very tall and built, while Wendy herself was chubby and short as hell, even in heels, but he wasn't expecting her to practically body tackle him.

He let go of Bella, glaring at Wendy and then at her, "you're such a bitch."

"Yeah yeah, go stick your dick in a waste disposal," Wendy raised her middle finger, before grabbing Bella's hand in hers and tugging the ginger back to where her friends were.

Megan had moved from the middle of the dancing floor, with Barbie right next to her, except Babs was pressed against the counter kissing the blonde girl who had been flirting with her.

"What the fuck was that?" Megan asked, clearly referring to the scene she had watched from afar, "and who the fuck is this?"

"This is Bella," Wendy shoved Bella sitting down at a bar stool and the ginger groaned at being manhandled, but was drunk enough to go easily, "she's sticking with us tonight."

"Okay," Megan raised her eyebrows in a judgmental manner, before looking sweetly at Bella, "hi Bells, I'm Meg. This is-" she poked Barbie's ribs to force her apart from the blonde, "is Barbie."

"Hii..." Bella smiled, waving, "hi Barbie."

"Hi!" Barbie grinned, "where do I know you from?"

"No idea," Bella frowned, hugging her stomach, "Is Vince here?" she asked again to Wendy, fanning herself and Wendy shook her head.

"He's not here, none of the guys are," she reassured her, noticing that under the makeup Bella was actually quite pale. She sighed, "Bells, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah," she punctuated it with a hiccup, "I'm fine... I- It's twirling."

"She's definitely gonna blow," Megan said and Wendy scoffed.

"You think? Help me get her to the bathroom- Barbie you're coming with, stop sucking face!" Wendy bossed and together all four women stumbled into the bathroom, Bella sandwiched between Megan and Wendy.

They lowered her in front of the toilet and Wendy pulled on her long red curls, stopping them from getting covered in the mess, "there you go, get it up."

"I'm not-" Bella belched wetly over the water, "I'm not sick..."

"No, of course not," Megan said sarcastically, while Babs squinted at Bella, clearly still trying to place her.

"I'm not," Bella insisted and then gagged, "Ugh- It's just...twirling-"

"Oh! You're the captain's girlfriend, aren't you!?" Barbie exclaimed, "Luke's!"

"Aw fuck-" Bella answered her and then her shoulders hitched with a violent heave and she threw up a large stream of nothing but liquid. Wendy cringed at the strong smell of alcohol.

"Geez, Bell, how much did you drink?" she groaned, flushing the toilet, while Megan patted her back in a friendly manner, ushering the rest up.

"It burns..." Bella groaned, hanging over the bowl, struggling to breathe, "hurts..."

"I know, get it up, you'll be fine soon..." Megan said and Wendy bit down a smile. Of all three of them, Megan was the one who held her liquor the best, so it wasn't like she'd actually know.

Barbie cringed, gagging softly in her hand, big blue eyes wide, "should we call someone...? Her boyfriend?"

"He's not-" Bella gagged again, "he's not my fucking boyfriend!"

"Oh you and Luke brok-

"Babs," Wendy interrupted, widening her eyes, "get Bella a bottle of water?"

"Sure," Barbie made a sympathetic face, "feel better, Bella..."

As if answering her Bell groaned loudly and heaved again, this time bringing up more than just pure liquid and coughing. The music outside drowned most of the noise, but Wendy could swear she heard the next gurgle before Bella was once again shuddering forward, bringing up even more.

"How do you have so much inside of you?!" Megan groaned, turning her face, "you're skinny!"

Wendy couldn't help but chuckle, rubbing Bella's naked back, "you're almost done."

"He fucking-" Bella pulled back and Wendy reached for the toilet paper, which Megan passed her a bunch of towels of. She cleaned Bella's mouth and chin, while her friend flushed the toilet again, "fucking gave me this awful ring."

"Awful?" Wendy humored her, although she already knew about the proposal. Over Bell's shoulder, Megan leaned in, actually interested.

"Horrid," Bella leaned back against Megan, hugging her stomach, "with this-" she burped sickly against her hand, before trying to describe the ring, "big diamond and a bunch of pink rocks around it-"

Oh Lucas had fucked up bad, Wendy thought, while Megan frowned, moving her arms to hold Bella in them in a less awkward manner.

"Your guy proposed? That seems like a perfectly good ring-"

"Not to me!" Bella groaned, shaking her head, "I hate pink, he knows that- He-"

"He proposed out of nowhere in public and then broke up with her when she said no," Wendy cleared up quickly, all in one breath in hopes that Bella didn't quite catch that.

Megan whistled, letting out a scoff, "what a piece of work."

"Found the water!" Barbie beamed, walking back into the bathroom. She too crouched down in the bathroom floor, no thoughts to the fact it was a public bathroom floor and unscrewed the cap, "what did I miss?"

"Bella's ex is a jerk," Megan said and Bella agreed, chugging down the water.

"The worst."

"He cheated?" Barbie's eyes widened and Wendy groaned, but thankfully didn't have to answer that, as Bella immediately regretted drinking the cold water so fast, lurching over the toilet again.

"No, he dumped her because he's a manbaby" Meg explained and Bella groaned loudly, head buried in the bowl.

"Don't call him that..." she belched again, bringing up a smaller wave of vomit and straightening up. This time it was Wendy who caught her, struggling to hold the girl.

"Fuck, you're heavy-" Wendy struggled not to fall on her ass on the disgusting ground, "girls? A hand?!"

Together they helped Bella up and away from the toilet, holding her over the sink while Barbie washed her face.

"There you go!" Barbie smiled brightly, the sunshine person that she was, even though all she had managed to do was melt Bell's mascara down her cheeks, "do you feel better?"

"A little," Bella nodded, taking a small, cautious sip of the water, "sorry-"

"Noo, don't be sorry," Barbie pouted, while Megan agreed, Wendy smiling at her.

"Yeah, it's fine. You're ready to go?"

Bella nodded, while Megan made a face, "Wen, I don't think you can handle her on your own, she's really tall-"

"It's fine, I'm not that drunk..." Bella rubbed a hand over her face, "puking helped."

"See," Wendy grinned, victorious, "I'll see you two tomorrow at the mall, don't forget it."

"Okay..." Barbie threw an arm around Bella, hugging her, "feel better, Bella."

The ginger seemed completely taken back by the kindness display, blue eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights, "thanks..."

"You could come tomorrow" Megan said, hugging her too, "we're going to watch a movie and shop."

"I... I will think about it..."

"Let's go," Wendy waved her friends goodbye, taking Bella's hand in hers and guiding her out of the bathroom and through the crowd.

Once she grabbed her purse at the front desk and they paid for the drinks, Wendy leaned against a street lamp, waiting for their Uber.

Bella seemed to be coming back to herself, the aloof personality, the shame hitting her full force. She wiped the black marks down her cheek and groaned, "that was... That was a mess."

Wendy shrugged, "I've seen worse. Hell, I've done worse."

"Really?" Bella hugged herself, pouting, "because that seemed like rock bottom to me."

"No, rock bottom would be if you had gone home with that asshole and then promptly puked all over him and still had to fuck the guy despite wanting to die."

Bella raised her eyebrows, mouth hanging open, "did you... Did you-"

"I didn't fuck the guy in my case, but he heavily implied it, yes," Wendy rolled her eyes, "you're fine."

"Thanks..." Bella shivered, it was a really cold night and her teeny tiny dress wasn't made for it, "I feel like an asshole."

"What for?"

"Barbie is on the cheer team, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Wendy chuckled, "so that's where she knows you from."

"I hated the cheer team," Bella scoffed, cheeks flushed, "I was so jealous of him around them. All beautiful and girly and bubbly- Sounds pretty fucking pathetic now."

"A little," Wendy admitted, "lucky you Babs doesn't hold grudges."

"Lucky me," Bella nodded, not sounding like she felt even the least bit lucky, "How... How is he?"

"We're not doing this," Wendy shook her head, "fuck Lucas."

The ginger let out a surprised chuckle, nodding, "I guess..." she stared ahead, "I really fucking miss him, Wendy..."

"Oh honey," Wendy sighed and pulled her for a hug, only for Bella to crumble against her. She wondered if anyone had bothered to check on Bella since. Had anyone hugged her?

"I keep- I keep thinking that if I had said yes-"

"No," Wendy interrupted, tiptoeing to kiss her temple, a difficult task with Bella wearing heels, "don't go there. You did the right thing, you're twenty three. You have no intentions of marrying right now-"

"It's not that I don't love him, I just- He knew I never wanted any of this and then he went and did it anyway and he-" she choked up, "and I still love him!"

Wendy squeezed her harder, rubbing Bella's arm, "I know, I'm sorry..."

"Can this... Stay between us? Could you not tell Vince?"

"I'm not," Wendy agreed, hugging her harder, "it's just between us girls."

"Thanks Wen-"

"And you should totally come tomorrow. I'm sure you could use getting out of the dorms," she looked at Bella sternly, "this is not a friendly suggestion."

Bella chuckled, nodding, "yeah, alright..."

[timptoe]

As the Revel Meets the Day

And this is the second piece, which I wrote in less than a week. Four times someone sees Shepard in pain, and one time Shepard finally, finally has peace.

Because sometimes, even during the longest night of the longest year, you get a glimpse of the light returning.

Read it on Ao3.

--

let me die, let me drown lay my bones in the ground I will still come around  when the time for sleep is through

over hill, over dale through the valley and vale do not weep, do not wail I am coming home to you  - The Oh Hellos, “Thus Always to Tyrants”

—

pain

awful, excruciating pain

why

why can I feel pain

I shouldn’t be here

I should be done

I made the choice

a choice between three, but not a choice 

not really

only one option, pull the gun, fire at the weak point blow the whole thing to hell blow all of them to hell for us for them for him

Kaidan

I’m here

Kaidan

—-

He grunts as the bulkhead in front of them collapses forward. “That was too easy,” he mutters into his comm.

“Commander Bailey, what is that?” comes the low, terrified voice of the kid on his flank. Not a soldier, not even an adult, just a teenager he’d found huddled in a corner of the Presidium when the Reapers invaded. One of the few survivors he’d managed to hide in a burned-out storefront while the Reapers transported the whole goddamn Citadel to Earth. 

Earth. He can see it up there, in the cracks—the chasms—in the ceiling above his head. The automatic mass effect fields  are holding the air in for now, but he’s got no idea how long that’s gonna be for, not since that wave of red energy burst through the Citadel and fried anything with an on switch, from the internal communications array to his gun’s targeting computer to the fucking keepers. 

But not everything electrical. Not the mass effect fields automatically keeping gravity constant and the atmosphere stable. Not the helmets he and the kid are wearing on the off chance the atmosphere becomes unstable. And not the display screens all around the station, every one of which had started displaying the same message in the instant before the red wave swept through.

FIND HIM. And a set of coordinates.

“That,” Bailey says, answering the kid’s question, “is what we’re looking for. I think.”

It’s a pile of rubble, but it’s not. He’s no expert, but even with just a glance he can see that the tech half-buried amongst the twisted metal and sheared polymers is far, far beyond anything he’s ever seen on the Citadel or in any Alliance installation. He can’t even begin to guess what some of those pieces do, or even what material they’re made of. And really, he doesn’t care.

FIND HIM.

Somebody needs to be found.

“Alright folks,” he calls into his comm, gesturing to the gathered team behind him, “just like the last two times.”

Getting to this part of the Citadel was no mean feat. Along the way, they’d encountered more than a dozen other survivors who’d somehow survived the Reaper invasion, some of them drawn this direction by the message on the screens, others needing to rescued from rubble just like this.

Well. Not just like this.

But rubble’s rubble, and the team seems just as determined as Bailey to figure out what that final, unblinking message means. So they go to work.

It’s hours of digging. Hours of moving massive pieces of who-the-hell-knows-what. Hours of breaks, working in shifts, wondering out loud what that red wave was, why all the Reaper troops they encountered on the way were dead, why the Reaper ships they can just barely see through the chasms in the ceiling seem to be just floating derelicts, who it is that’s waiting under the rubble. Hours.

Until the moment comes.

“Commander, I think I found something!” the kid yells into his comm. Immediately, Bailey’s on his feet and running, lead in the pit of his stomach. He stops where the kid’s crouched, struggling to pull part of a bulkhead up.

Up and off of a pair of N7 greaves.

Bailey’s heart stops for the barest of moments. Holy shit. Then he bellows, “Over here!”

In seconds, dozens of hands have joined his and the kid’s, clutching at the bulkhead, lifting it carefully, revealing more of the buried figure. Precious seconds tick by as more of the rubble is cleared, more of the body is revealed, legs crushed but held together by state-of-the-art armor, chestplate all but melted away, bits of metal fused to the skin underneath but moving—somehow moving—with labored breath. The unmistakable red stripe on the right pauldron. The face, bruised and bloodied almost beyond recognition. Except for the single, piercing blue eye that locks onto Bailey.

“How…” Bailey says breathlessly.

“Who is it, Commander?” the kid asks.

Bailey kneels down next to the figure, gently takes his broken hand, feels the fingers weakly grip his. Something stirs within him, an emotion he doesn’t dare name, something he hasn’t felt since the Reapers took Earth. 

Maybe it’s gonna be alright.

He squeezes back and whispers, “It’s Shepard.”

Read the rest on Ao3.

[eyesteeth]

pure stream of consciousness carpnfaulkposting below, body horror n drowning n death n suicide n me going feral

i need them to end up together (as in two people in the same space, not romantically) whether its as friends or family or enemies or two heads in the same twitching mass of horrible saintly flesh and silt or two people on a porch swing looking at the setting sun. they're dirt and water (I WILL GET TO THIS LATER) to me and just aaaauauauuauua they need each other for their arcs to resolve in a positive way and if they do not reconcile at least one of them is gonna die, i am So Certain of this.

faulkner mostly falls into this cause his whole arc is about love and acceptance and how he only ever got that from her. to be quite honest if he doesn't see her again he's either gonna fall so far into his act that he's gonna martyr himself intentionally or unintentionally. either he summons a big wave and fucking dies in the process or he pretends to go out in a big way that will surely go down in the verses to hide the fact that he wants off this mortal coil like five months ago

just. fuck. i need him to drown himself and have her pull him out of the water, i need him to accidentally drown and have her pull him out, i need her to slap him once or shake him and say "what the fuck were you thinking", i need him to cry because he has no hate for her in his heart and is just so full of regret, i need him to see her alone so he can finally tell her everything, i need him to see her in front of his followers so he has to choose which version of himself he drowned or reconcile with the fact that he already drowned a version of himself and it's the one that wanted, i need her to call him "brother" when she sees him again so he's reminded of what she said before he sent her off, i need her to call him "faulkner" so he knows just how much she's come to hate him, i need him to confess everything on the spot, i need him to play the act harder until it swallows him whole, i need him to play the act and fail, i need him to idolize her more than his god as contrast to the betrayer figure he's made her into, i need him to misconstrue her as someone who loves him unconditionally, i need him to misconstrue her as someone who will finally kill him the way he wants, i need val to come in and absolutely ruin them in a way that inadvertently brings them closer, i need them to just be Together, even if it's arms embracing or blades and brine or a head shoved under the water or something that doesn't have arms anymore or a white tree and the body dying beneath it and the body the roots are tied around. i just need them together.

and man, imagine how depressing it'd be if the lifestyle determines the death style and one dies to land and one to water (or vice versa) and their bodies can't be in the same grave. i think there's enough room for both of them to fit into one. faulkner's a short motherfucker. they can make the squeeze. carpenter's the one with the shovel but faulkner already dug a grave for both of them. and it's big enough. they should put "mallory and richard" on the epitaph. no one's ever going to call them by those names again.

[thenightlymirror]

Yesterday, we were laughing and useless from the very start. I was sort of glad she was there because, honestly, a lot less gets done.

With our coats on, we give Moulder and Scully vibes. Drew mentioned David Duchovny was another one of the rare men he found hot. We all agreed. Later, I said, “Nobody gets that many freebee’s! If you think David Duchovny is hot: you would suck a dick!” Then we laughed at how that sounded like a rant a thirteen-year-old would make.

We had a bunch of stones in the park to check out, and took the golf cart for its first ride. It’s like a Cadillac of golf carts. It has a windshield, a windshield wiper, a radio. It’s incredible. It was raining and entirely too cold. We went back.

She said, “My seat is wet.” I said, “I know. I enjoyed it too.” Haha

Buck stopped by our window.

“We’re going out to do some rubbings. I usually just do my rubbings in the park alone. She just watches.”

“Unless I’m doing the rubbings myself!”

“Then I watch!”

Buck was very confused.

We often mention how totally fucked we are if either of us decides we are sexually harassing the other. She is very adamant that she is not my boss. She’s kind of my boss, but not really. I mean, it certainly could be a hostile work environment if either of us was attracted to the other. Haha. I think we’re just a case of fast friends. I remember worrying slightly when she started training the memorialist at my old place that she seemed into me. But that hasn’t been a thing. You can tell when someone is into you. It feels horrible.

We went out into 13 to see if an installation had been set. I was walking on the unstable grass, rolled over my ankle, launched myself forward into the air. The way she saw it, I was walking behind her, and then was suddenly in front of her lying on my back, and once on the ground, further collapsed into complete relaxation, like a little death. She was trying not to laugh. I was not really hurt.

My ankle was stiff for the next 24 hours. After work, I did some shopping, then stopped at the beach to watch the tide roar in, and thought about standing on the dock and letting the ten foot waves pull me in. A painful way to die, getting slammed to the bottom and drowned. Best to jump in and breathe as much water in as possible. But my ankle was already sore, and pain didn’t seem very romantic in that moment. It was thrilling though.

Today, we were both inundated again with just how much work there is to do. The day before, she mentioned how freaked out her husband would be if he ever heard one of our conversations. You could sort of see her trying to account for our rapport to herself as well. That’s fine. Her dad is bipolar, and an alcoholic. I think that I’m bipolar, but safe, so it’s a bit of a headfuck in that regard. I think that’s the hook.

She brought a jalapeño croissant egg sandwich that her grandmother made specifically for me. Hell yes. She put another one in the fridge for Andrew, because she doesn’t like them. After she left for the day, I went out in the golf cart to the garage to check on a marker. For the second day in a row, one of the new groundsmen has called me specifically to inform me that he found a veteran bronze left on the floor in the garage under a bunch of debris. I could not find it this morning, but he had remembered more, and I found it. It was like he was calling in a side-quest. It was in a cardboard box under a bunch of mouse shit. From 2018. Good job, Sean.

Buck walked in, caught me on my way to the golf cart. We took a joyride around the park listening to yacht rock on the little radio. Buck was absorbed in the news that there had been a drone attack on the Kremlin, but he accidentally said “Crimea” at first, so I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. We essentially reiterated the entire conversation we had the first morning we talked, about the prospects for revolution in America. World news gets him worked up. I feel a little more like capitalism has seeped so deeply into the logic of every little thing that happens, that nothing really ever happens. The machine just makes a lot of noise as the parts loosen up and slam into one another as it wears down. Calamity can happen, must happen, but not because of any decisions anyone makes. We just don’t make decisions anymore.

That’s something along the lines of what I would have said, but I was mostly listening to Buck vent.

[sannflwrr]

How To Get Out of the Friend Zone: A (Chaotic) Guide by Jisung (Ch. 3)

Author: sannflwrr

Pairing: Jisung x MC

Genre: Frenemies(-ish) to Lovers

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: mentions of smoking, weed, drugs, alcohol, homophobia (homophobics are not allowed on my page), some sexual themes, and of course - angst

Summary: Bae is obsessed with making the most of her time during college. She has a very colorful group of friends who make living life recklessly fun, and a dance team that throws all sorts of unparalleled events in her way. Along the way, she falls (hard) for many people, but what will it take for her to realize everything she’s wanted has been in front of her the whole time?

RULE 2: DON’T ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE.

November is spent watching the leaves die, sleeping in the library, and forgetting to shower. Truthfully, she could be doing better - taking better care of herself would help with this, but she had no motivation to do that, the only thing keeping her from spiraling into a depressive episode was drowning herself in school work and her dance team. So that’s what Bae did. 

She steered clear of the alcohol for a bit, seeing no reason for it since there was no occasion that called for it. She wasn’t going to any parties, small hangouts or not. Outside of seeing Mark in class, or going to her team practices, there wasn’t much social interaction in Bae’s life. Honestly, she was okay with that. 

Two weeks ago, her and Karina had been scheduled to get dinner together. A way of compensating for no longer living together - that made it easier to schedule things like this so that had a set date for every few months where they would go out and eat. It was a nice policy, but Bae had to cancel in the light that she had a paper due that evening. Now, two weeks later, she asked if tonight was a better time for Karina - it worked for her - so she was supposed to meeting her in a few hours. In the meantime, Bae decided to take a walk, and enjoy the sights in her silence. 

In the midst of her walk, she passed the skate park a ways off campus. This was where she first hung out with Jungwoo. She laughs to herself. This is the first time in a while that she’s thought of the man outside of practice. Seeing him in there wasn’t as awful as she thought it might’ve once been, maybe it’s because she doesn’t care anymore. She left her feelings for him at that bus bench where she cried her eyes out to Jaehyun, and since then, seeing Jungwoo or being around him isn’t…painful anymore. 

And she recognizes someone at the park when she sits down at one of the benches, Jeno. He doesn’t talk much about himself whenever she’s around him, so seeing him with his board surprises her, just because she hadn’t realized this was one of his hobbies. At the same time, she knows she shouldn’t. This seems like a hobby that was only natural for a guy like Jeno. 

He doesn’t notice her at first, which makes sense since she’s pretty far away from where he is, but eventually he does. And waves at her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.” 

“I wasn’t either.” She admits, letting out a laugh. “I didn’t even know you skated.” 

He shrugs. “I’m a man of many mysteries.” He is definitely right about that one. She can count on her hands how many things she knows about him. Bae can assume that Jaemin would know the most about Jeno, since they’re always tied at the hip, but this makes her wish she did know more about him. But, at least does care about all of them to a degree - as seen when he got into a fight with that dude for Karina. Maybe that’s his way of caring, through actions rather than words. 

They exchange a few more words, Bae can probably mark this as the longest conversation she’s ever held with him, before he skates back to his group of friends. She’s noticed that they watched him talk to her curiously, and that they seem to be asking him about her when he gets back. That makes her laugh. 

She pulls out her earphones, and begins to listen to some music over the noise of wheels against the pavement. She still needs to go back and do her laundry, along with finishing her homework she allotted to herself for the day - so that by the end of week, she’s accomplished everything that needs to be done. But seeing that she only has a couple hours left, and the commute back home takes a half hour, and it’ll take her another half hour to actually get into the zone - Bae finds it more productive of her time to just waste it here at the skate park. She can probably finish her work once she gets home from the dinner. 

The music is loud in her ears, loud enough that Bae doesn’t hear the roll of wheels coming closer and closer to her until she hears a voice call for her attention. Standing in front of her is an orange-haired man. He wears a similar outfit to Jeno, but this man is a little taller, probably a little older too. His orange hair is messy, and it touches his neck. 

“Bae Chen?” 

“The one and only.” She hesitates before speaking again, trying to wrack her brain on who this man is. She doesn’t recall talking to him before, any guy who looks like him is someone she definitely would recognize. “I’m so sorry, have we met before?” 

“Not really.” He’s wearing a loose T-shirt that reaches past his pockets. The sleeves expose a few tattoos doodled across his arms, notably one of hello kitty on his wrist. “We took english 103 together last year on Zoom, I think. We were in the same final group.” 

Her lips purse. “Oh…Yuta, right?” Now it’s ringing a bell. She never saw this man in person, but she did recognize how to spell his name since Yuta Nakamoto in a black box was all she saw two days a week for a few months. They had gotten along really well, and even agreed to meet up sometime in the beginning of the year. Over the break, she forgot about it…as he did, probably. “Wow, it’s nice to finally see you in-person. How’s everything?” 

He shrugs. “Could be better, could be worse. I’m doing alright.” He pulls out a pack of Marlboro. “You smoke?” 

Yuta notices her hesitation and pulls it away slightly, trying not to come off as pressuring, but she shrugs. “Not often, but why not.” 

The first (and last) time she had smoked was with Jisung. Entering college, Bae had been extremely inexperienced with the smoking and drinking that so many of her other friends were accustomed to, to the point that she didn’t know how to smoke either. She had been embarrassed of the fact back then, looking back on it now she’s not really - it was better that she stayed shielded from something that could have corrupted her life so fast at such an impressionable age. Jisung also didn’t have too much more experience in smoking in comparison to her, but he at least knew the basics so he taught her. At least, after he made fun of her for being a priss. 

Yuta takes out his lighter to light the cigarette between her lips. Jisung taught her how to smoke one just for the art - as he worded it. Cigarettes looked cool, but they were so out of fashion lately. What a shame that Yuta also smoked them. Deciding that she doesn’t know him too well, Bae doesn’t comment on it. 

It doesn’t taste good, or feel good - she doesn’t really know how to describe the sensation - as she inhales the tar that burns from the rolled substance, but she pushes down the feelings, focusing more on the relaxed Yuta who stands in front of her. Maybe her type is guys who smoke cigarettes. Even though she hates them. 

“You know Jeno?” 

“We’ve talked a few times.” He nods. “Not really. He keeps to himself.” 

“That seems accurate. He’s like that with us too.” 

“How do you know him?”

“He’s friends with a good friend of mine. Over the years, we’ve hung around each other. He’s maintained the mysterious personality.” 

“Oh yeah?” Whereas Bae’s staring at the subject of their conversation, she notices Yuta’s still looking at her. That thought alone makes her insides flutter. In a way that had remained dormant after Jungwoo broke her heart at the arcade. “I get why he hangs around.” 

Bae doesn’t know how to respond, so she just continues to watch Jeno, who’s trying some trick (and failing repeatedly), and laughs nervously. Not in like nervously-please-stop, but like a hahaha-you’re-cute-but-I-don’t-know-how-to-say-it-without-being-weird nervous. 

So, she pulls out her phone. “Here.” It’s open to the contacts app. “I remember we said we should meet up, but never got around to it. This way, I won’t forget again.” 

He fills in his number with one hand, a smile spread on his lips. “One of my guys is having a party this weekend, if you wanted to go. I’m going to be there.” 

“Oh yeah?” Bae glances from his orange hair to her phone. This feels like new air circulating through her lungs. When Yuta hands the phone back, she finally makes eye contact with him. “I am actually free this weekend. So I'll see you there.” 

His smile is gorgeous, and if there was a word that meant more gorgeous than gorgeous, it was that. She had a feeling she would do anything to keep him smiling, it just made him that much more radiant. If Bae had a smile like that, she would always have her camera on in a Zoom class. She wonders why his was never on. 

“I’ll text you the address.” 

“Great.” She gets up, deciding to resume her walk back to the center of campus. “I should get going. I’ll see you at the party!”

He says goodbye as she’s walking away, but Bae doesn’t turn around to wave, afraid that he’ll see the huge grin on her face. 

Karina is the first to hear about Yuta, which then passes to Chenle, then Jisung, then to Jaemin, and finally Jeno. The flabbergasted look on Jeno’s face when he hears a name that he’s associated with is priceless, it’s the most amount of emotion she sees from him. Eyebrows scrunched, mouth hanging wide open. “Seriously?” 

“He invited me to a party.”

“And you went?” Jeno presses, still surprised. Karina snorts at his reaction. Bae nods. “Was I not supposed to?” 

“Wait, hold on.” Chenle holds out a hand. “Jeno, you’re telling me your little ring of skater friends have parties? And you didn’t invite me to any of them?” 

“They’re not your crowd.” He says simply, to which Chenle gawks at immediately. “Meaning they’re not your crowd,” He says again, gesturing to the entire group sitting on the couch. “That’s why I’m surprised when she said she went. You liked it?” 

“I mean…” She hesitates now, realizing that this is an invitation for her to explain exactly what happened. Karina’s struggling to look at Bae without laughing because she already knows everything that happened at the party. “I was there for like an hour max? It wasn’t too bad from what I saw.” 

“Well, I wanna’ know what’s up with these parties.” Chenle asks, still surprised that his friend had been holding out on him. “Jeno, you better invite me next time.”

“I hardly go.” That seems to line up, since Bae had been expecting to see him (but didn’t) at the party. “I brought Jaemin once.”

The other nods. “Yeah, they invited some underground band. There was a contemp dancer there too, shit was weird. I think everyone was on acid, so they didn’t seem to care much.” He laughs at Chenle’s expression, now knowing that Jeno had not only hid this from him but also brought Jaemin and not him. “It was a one-time thing, I’m pretty sure that’s the only time we’ve gone.” 

“That was the last time I went.” Jeno confirms. Then he looks back at Bae. “It wasn’t weird?”

“I mean people were doing stuff. I smoked a little. It wasn’t that weird. It was too dark mostly, I couldn’t really see too much.” 

“You smoked?” Jisung tilts his head. “I thought you don’t like to smoke.” 

“I mean not really. He offered so I didn’t really want to say no.” She notices his expression twist into something of a scoff, not skipping a beat to make fun of her. Bae rolls her eyes at him, not bothering to argue. If Yuta asked her again, she probably would, even if it was awful. That might be a bad thing, but Bae’s not too good at making the best decisions. 

“So why did you leave after an hour?” Karina asks, her smile betraying the fact that she wants to laugh. “What happened?” Oblivious to the tone underlying, Chenle also hops on, asking the same thing. 

Bae glares at Karina. She doesn’t really like to make her relationship history an open book, especially to all of the guys just because it’s weird…Jisung always finds an opportunity to make fun of her taste in men and tells her the guy she picked out is trash, Karina decides to agree with him and tell her that the guy she likes is probably ugly, and Chenle just laughs at her for even liking people in the first place. 

“Fine! I hooked up with him.” Those six words are enough to silence the entire room for a few seconds, and she watches as the guys digest her words, one after the other. Karina’s not surprised since she already knew - Bae suspects she had been plotting this from the start - Jisung looks the most taken aback, which he usually is whenever she mentions hooking up with anyone. Chenle seems to be having a silent conversation with Karina, slight furrowing in his brows as he presses the other girl for more information, he’s noticed that she already knew this fact. Jaemin is amused, like he expected this to be the outcome, and Jeno’s expression is unreadable. She can’t tell what Jeno’s means out of all of them - and his is the one she’s most curious about. 

“That’s why I left early.” She concludes. “To hook up with him.” 

“I mean, was it good?” Chenle blurts.

“I don’t…want to talk about that?” Bae flusters. Karina laughs immediately, again, she knows exactly what that means. Chenle spends the next few seconds trying to dissect what that means, while Jisung stares at the wall behind Bae. He’s probably trying to think of some way to tease her for this. What concerns her is that Jeno mumbles something in Jaemin’s ear after he’s recomposed himself. Out of them all, Jeno is still the one who knows Yuta the best, being a part of the same ring of friends. 

“Is that weird?” She asks carefully, directing her words to him. She wants to ask if she made a mistake, but it sounds a lot more vulnerable in her head than she wants it to come off as, so she retracts her words. He shrugs. 

“I don’t know.” Honestly, a yes or no could have been a better answer. But Jeno’s confusion makes her worried. She hopes she didn’t walk right into a mistake. But someone like Yuta couldn’t possibly be a mistake. That night had been amazing, in more ways than one. He was sweet to her even when they had class together. He had been great to her at the skate park, and even at the party. His attention had been mainly on her at the party, which felt great. It had been a long time since someone made her feel like she was on top of the world. 

So, even though Jeno seems to know something he’s reluctant to share, Bae doesn’t press him on it. Frankly, she doesn’t want to know. She’s too happy right now to care. 

Over the next few weeks, Bae becomes familiar with the woody smell of Yuta’s apartment, and his creme-colored bed sheets. Going to class becomes less of a distraction from her sad sad sad life, and instead is something she does out of the newfound happiness in her life. Mark made a comment at some point that she looked a little less dead, to which she responded to him with the same thing. He told her he started taking adderall, which might’ve done the trick. Bae knew very well what she was doing could be something along the lines of a drug. 

After her classes finished for the day, Bae decided to treat herself at the bubble tea shop on the way back to her apartment. It’s a campus favorite, and usually whenever she goes, she finds someone she recognizes - that’s how popular it is. The weather is getting colder by the day, but that doesn’t deter her from getting an iced oolong milk tea. As she takes her receipt, she recognizes Jisung’s mop of black hair sitting at a booth facing away from the door. Her sliding into the seat across from him surprises him, he glances up from his phone immediately to probably ask who the fuck is sitting across from him, but then relaxes when he realizes it’s Bae. To top it off, he rolls his eyes at her. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Am I not allowed to buy a drink for myself?” 

He raises a brow. “Not while I’m here.” 

“Ugh. And to think I was excited to see you here too.” Jisung had mentioned over text that there was this new girl he was seeing - his definition of seeing is just hooking up (he’s been in his hoe phase for several years now, if Bae had a dollar for every girl that made it into his hoe phase, she would be rich). “I was going to ask about Aeri Uchinaga. That’s her name right?” 

He looks away, and back at his phone. He doesn’t appear to be flustered, which makes her want to press further. “Yeah.” 

Her and Jisung follow basically the same people, so it didn’t take long for her to notice that user aeriuchinaga on Instagram was posting pictures of bubble tea dates, and outings to the arcade, all of which had hands that were very similar to the ones holding Jisung’s phone across from her. When she asked him about it, that’s when he finally decided to mention it to her. 

“So? Do you like her?” 

“Yeah.” He shrugs. “She’s nice.” Bae‘s about to protest that he’s not giving her much to work with, but the barista suddenly calls for her order, so she leaves him with a glare to pick up her order. By the time she returns, Jisung’s already standing up. 

“You’re leaving?” She asks. Maybe she’s a little disappointed that he’s being so closed off when talking about his recent fling. Maybe not even maybe, she is definitely disappointed. She loves to get on his nerves by probing around his dating life and asking him all these questions, but at the end of the day she also is genuinely curious. As annoying as he is, she still considers Jisung a great friend. 

“I was just going to go wherever you’re headed.” 

“I’m going home.”

“Okay.” He tells her, pushing the door open for her. 

“So you guys matched on Tinder?” 

“You’re not leaving it alone?” 

She groans. “Jisung. Is it that bad that I’m curious?” 

“I'm not really asking questions about Yuta.” He responds. 

“Well, you and I aren’t the same. I just want to know…” She trails off. Bae is curious about who this Aeri Uchinaga girl is. She wants to know why exactly she and Jisung linked up, and if he really did like her. It would be nice to see that Jisung finally did get himself into a relationship after bouncing from one fling to another. Not that flings are bad, she just felt that Jisung deserved something more permanent. Bae knew that from time to time Jisung disappeared from the group, sometimes it ranged from a couple weeks to a few months. He never explained the disappearances, just said that he had “gotten busy” and had been “taking time for himself”. Maybe all that was true, but she knew Jisung better than that and also knew that he tended to brush off how deeply he experienced emotions. Typical toxic masculinity tendencies. It would be better that if he did disappear, he had someone who was more than a friend to check in on him. 

She mutters a “whatever” under her breath, probably too quiet for him to hear. If he really doesn’t want her to ask, then she won’t. Bae spends the next few minutes sipping through her straw. The silence is awkward, but not totally unbearable. With Jisung, this kind of silence that passes them happens all the time. Over the years, she got accustomed to it. Usually, he’s too far in his thoughts to notice that she’s gone silent. 

Honestly, sometimes she wonders what it is that makes her still hang out with him. And why he still lingers around her. He pisses her off more than he makes her laugh. Yet, she’ll still walk him back to his house if he’s too drunk. And she still wants to talk to him if she runs into him at a cafe. And if he’s hungry she lets him eat her food. 

It’s her tendency to care too much, she concludes. 

He’s on his phone next to her, presumably texting someone. When she glances over curiously, she can see the conversation history between him and someone named ‘Aeri’ in his contacts. At that moment, another message pops up, so he exits from their chat. She’s disappointed to find out that it’s just Karina who texted him. Somehow that girl always has impeccable timing. 

“What are you making for dinner?” He asks her, now responding to Karina. They seem to be talking about Lexapro - an odd topic. God bless her amazing vision.

“Nothing for you, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She scowls, nudging him with her shoulder. Jisung clicks his tongue almost immediately and puts his phone away. Seems like that was enough for him to finally start talking to her.

“Why not?” 

“I need to go grocery shopping. I'm not spending more grocery money on you. You still owe me from the other day.” 

“I’ll pay.” He offers. “Let’s go.” 

“Don’t think this lets you off the hook for the noodles.” She reminds him, shooting him a glare. “You’re paying for today, Park Jisung.” 

This makes him laugh for some reason, like a genuine relaxed Park Jisung laugh, which makes her also relax a little. His hand grabs onto her elbow, nudging her forward. “Okay okay, I got it. Let’s hurry then, it’s getting dark.” 

Shotaro kept mentioning some event that JUSA - Japanese Undergrad Student Association - was having was happening today. He’d mentioned it to their team during practice last week, and the week before, and the week before that, asking them to come. He had so much optimism for the organizations that he was a part of, which right now seemed to be their dance team and JUSA. He’d mentioned to Bae that she should really come, it was a carnival event of some sort. It was cold out so having an outdoor event in this degree weather probably wasn’t the smartest, but JUSA made it worth it by doing the term ‘carnival’ justice. It certainly looked like one.

Shotaro had also mentioned to her that he was looking to join the board, that he had a lot of ideas - typical eagerness and excitement from a freshman. She had just laughed at him when he told her this, he asked her what was funny and she brushed it off, saying it was nothing and that he definitely should go for it. So she’s mainly at this carnival wearing 5 layers of jackets just for him. They’ve occupied the field outside of the campus gym, many different booths and games in a large circle mapping the entire perimeter of the field. She finally finds him after a minute of scanning over the tables repeatedly. Bae‘s not sure how she missed that head of blond hair. 

“Bae!” He’s manning the caramel apples, and beams at her instantly. “Do you want an apple?” 

She’s not a huge fan of caramel apples, but she nods, just for his sake. “Sure. How long are you running this table?” 

“The entire time, so the next two hours.” 

“Oh shit.” Bae knew she could never be bothered to do that for that long, especially in this weather - she hates winter. “They better give you that board position then.” 

“Yeah, I was talking to Aeri, our VP, and she said they’d definitely want me on the board. Isn’t that so exciting? It’s only my first year but-”

“Wait.” She recognizes that name. “Aeri? Like Aeri Uchinaga?” 

He nods quickly. “Yeah. You know her? I think she’s in your grade.” He glances at a spot behind Bae. “She’s actually supposed to be running this table with me, since she’s on the board. And she’s heading our way right now.” Wow, her luck is amazing. 

The first thing Bae notices is her dark red hair, which really suits her. She smiles at Shotaro, then at Bae. “You’re Bae Chen, right?” 

Her brows rise slightly, it’s hard not to smile back. “Yeah. Aeri right?” 

She seems pleasantly surprised that Bae knows who she is, even though this would technically be their first conversation. “Yeah! You’re friends with Jisung? He’s mentioned you.” 

Bae wonders what conversations those two have that Bae is brought up in them. Considering that she remembers her name, and can even put a face to it, it must be more than once. She hates that she likes this girl already. Already starting off, she’s beautiful. She’s really sweet too. Already she seems to be too good for Jisung. He’s made plenty of awful choices in the past which she likes to make fun of him for, but Aeri clearly is not one of them. 

She nods. “Yeah. You guys did great with this whole event, it looks so cool.” 

Her smile is contagious, it makes Bae want to punch a brick wall. She opts for taking a hard crunch out of the apple Shotaro gave her. 

“Thank you! We’ve been planning this since the summer, I guess it paid off.” She directs her next question to Shotaro. “Have you seen Yuta? I swear he said he was going to help Shohei with the dunk machine but I can’t find him.” 

Yuta? That causes her ears to perk. He never mentioned he was in JUSA to her. Though it probably makes sense. Shotaro glances around the carnival. “Yeah…he came by a few minutes ago. I gave him an apple.” 

Bae realizes she’s lingering too long, so she waves at the two. “Thank you for the apple! I’ll see you at practice, Shotaro.” 

The both of them smile at her as she leaves, which makes her want to slam her head into the concrete pavement underneath her feet. She is so unbelievably pretty, like prettier than whatever she posts on Instagram. And she’s not in a relationship? Instead she’s in some stupid fling with stupid-Park-fucking-Jisung? It makes her sick. 

Maybe some people don’t want relationships. Maybe she’s one of those people. But still, with Jisung?

She reminds herself that now that she’s seen Shotaro, she can technically leave. But Bae remembers that she mentioned Yuta. Part of her wants to find him before she goes back to her place. But that’s too weird, isn’t it? Seeking him out? She’s been trying to play off their thing as pretty nonchalant, and she did see him last night so technically she’s had her “fix”, if she even wants to call it that. But, Bae really likes him. So she tosses her pride aside and continues along the ring of tables. 

JUSA really outdid themselves, she’ll say it again. Aeri must be extremely hard-working and passionate too, especially being in such a high ranked board position. She was able to pull this entire event together. Wow. Such an accomplished person and she’s hooking up with Jisung? 

She spots the dunk tank, where Yuta stands, just like Aeri had mentioned he was supposed to be at. He’s laughing at someone, specifically a somebody who emerges from the dunk tank soaking wet - she feels bad for him (especially in this weather?). He notices her approaching closer a few seconds later and waves light-heartedly. 

“Hey Bae.” She’s so glad she didn’t listen to her inner thoughts and step out in a pair of sweats, her layered outfit actually looks nice today. His eyes travel over her outfit. “You look nice.” 

“Thank you, I didn’t realize you were going to be here.”

“I also didn’t think so either.” He shares a laugh with the soaking wet dude next to him, who’s busy drying himself off. “Aeri insisted, so I’m here. Don’t really take you as an extracurricular guy, right?” 

“Everybody has their moments, I would assume.” She responds. “Are you staying here for the entire time?” 

“Unfortunately, yeah. Shohei already got dunked once, so it’s my turn.” 

“You all wet? That’ll be a sight.” 

“I’m sure you’re familiar.” Yuta jokes back. Had it not been for the weather, her cheeks would have been aflame. Even with his friend right next to him, that doesn’t seem to deter him from flirting with her. One of their pillow talks consisted of him asking her to have sex in a campus bathroom, apparently he was into the whole sex-in-public thing. She’s not really there (and isn’t sure if she ever will be) and shot it down. He was mildly disappointed, and said something like he’ll convince her one day. Bae really doubted it.

“I’ll catch you later?” She tells him, then glances at the tank. “Have fun with…that.”

“You sure you don’t want to play?” 

“Yeah.” She grins at him. “Maybe we can play another time.” She waves at the other dude next to him, then takes off. 

And just like clockwork, as she leaves the ring of tables, her phone buzzes. It’s from Yuta.

How does tonight sound? I have a few games in mind.

chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5 (coming soon)

[bltzgore]

"Pick a god a pray." He sneered.

Praying wouldn't make that gun any less real, wouldn't stop or even slow the flight of a bullet. Wouldn't make his broken ribs ache any less

Nick knew this. He knew this. But it didn't stop him. Quiet mutters started to roll from his lips, eye shutting, chin falling in a bow of reverence drawing a strike of pain from his ribs. Maybe it was the vein hope that something would happen. Maybe it was the comfort brought by the whisps of memories of him praying next to his mother in his early childhood. Maybe it was just that he hoped to distract himself for the instant it would take to shoot him.

He didn't want to die here.

He wasn't picky about who he called out to. He raced through as many names as he could manage. He called out to the storm spirits, the earth father, the lovers, life and death, he tried for the sun goddess, the moon, and even the brother in darkness.

That's when a name slithered into his mind. It was as if someone had knelt down and whispered it to him, as if the heat of their breath still warmed his ear. He didn't waste time thinking about it he just yelled.

"DAMNUS-JICTA!"

He froze as it echoed, drowning out the laughter of his soon to be murderers for just a moment. And he paused to listen as well as think about what had just left his mouth. It wasn't a word he had ever used outside the walls of his own home if he could help it, and for good reason. This word was a cry of the dark ones, a word treated as a swear, an ancient and profane slurry of syllables that demanded vengeance. It was a word, not a name though. Right?

His echo faded away and so did the laughter of the thugs. Everything had gone so quiet, why weren't they speaking? He opened his eyes and let them stay on the ground, looking up might get everything moving again. He started to focus on his ears again, and they still weren't speaking, the wind had stilled, the animals went silent.

What the hell?

It began as sound then movement, but all of it vibration.

It was as if the air around them was rippling, being pressed and bent out until something gave. Then something did. There was a crash that sent the group clamoring to cover their ears and what they saw when they looked back was what looked like reality had turned into a broken window. Their reality had a hole punched through it, like a very messy portal. Through it moved a being that raged like the sea. Aura like rolling waves and crashing like ice. Whoever this was, they were pissed.

They were taller than any human, but that really wasn't what made them so unbelievable. They looked like they were made of fire, smoke, and broken glass of all different colors that caught the light and shone like stars in various directions. The world around them churned until they set what had to be eyes on the thugs.

They raised their hand. The chaos, the rolling smoke and ash like flecks froze. Slowly it collected and rose behind the deity, until it was looming like a great dragon over them all.

They dropped their hand.

The onslaught that rushed forward consumed the thugs. Cutting them to ribbons then the blood and flesh burnt to ash and blew away with the wave. It twisted up into an almost tornado looking structure then dissipated into the sky.

Nick couldn't find the words or the scream or the tears to respond to what he had just witnessed. Instead he looked back at the entity, and swore his heart stopped when they opened their mouth. It had to be their mouth, it had so many teeth. Their voice rushed out booming, it enveloped them.

"You called to me faithful servant. And so I have answered."

Nick threw his forehead to the ground, staying face in the dirt in a revenant bow. Partially because he thought it was most respectful, partially because he didn't think he could handle seeing this thing for much longer without losing it. Slowly he worked the words out of his mouth.

"F-f-faithful servant? I-I don't think we've e-ver met before."

They looked down at him, taking a few steps closer. Their voice changed, as they spoke, going from the rumble that surrounded like a fog down to that whisper he'd heard in his ear minutes before.

"Haven't we? It's I, the one you've spoke for when you stepped between your friend and his tormentor. I, the one you honored when you distracted those thugs from that woman and her daughter. And I you called out to when you lost your sons."

His eyes started to creep up from the ground, peering at them again. It wasn't just a swear, it had once, long ago been a name. A name for-

"I am Damnus, god of justice, and you have done well faithful servant. I would like to reward you."

“Pick a god and pray” they said, and you did, praying to every god you knew. And as you did this a name popped into your mind, one you didn’t recognize, yet you prayed to them all the same. In response the air stood still, like even the world had forgotten their name.