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vorestarr · 3 months

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i love when Astarion is mean, and i mean like genuinely mean, saying shitty things and lashing out specifically to hurt someone or push them away. i think it really says so much about him and about the specific situations when he feels the need to lash out. i love seeing it with Durge/Tav, but i'm playing a Karlach origin to romance him right now and he's so mean during his first romance scene when he can't even kiss Karlach.

after playing it, i went to look at the parsed dialogue for that scene because i wanted to see if there were any dev notes, and oh boy are there dev notes. walk with me here while i go through them all. (i didn't add alt text to the images below, but i did transcribe the lines i'm referencing in the images below, so all the important information is in the text of the post itself.)

it's the typical Astarion scene, but after his "i've been waiting to taste you" line, he diverges with: "Although your condition means tasting you could be a risky proposition. You're quite the forbidden fruit, aren't you?"

the player (as Karlach) has a few choices in reply at that point, but as long as they pick one that progresses the scene (i.e., not the one where you reject him last minute), he goes down the same dialogue tree. this tree starts with:

Astarion: All denied to us because of what Zariel did to you. [devnote: subtext, thinking about Cazador]

so right off the bat he's upset because Karlach's situation is reminding him of his own with Cazador.

but then his next line is:

Astarion: I - you know, I have no idea what to do with you now. [devnote: Astarion's mask as the flippant libertine is cracking a bit here. He's frustrated but vulnerable here. Because he can't physically seduce or touch Karlach, his usual means of interacting with a person is punctured. He's faced with the reality that he might not know how to handle a situation where he can't bite or seduce his way to the finish line.]

wow. that's a lot in that dev note.

at this point, the player has the option of a few responses, but two options to continue the encounter. the choices to continue it are: "You don't have to 'do' anything. We can just be." or "After the life you've led, I'm not surprised."

if you choose the first option, Astarion is frustrated but less mean. he says:

Astarion: 'Just be' what, exactly? Frustrated? Bored? What do we do, if not... that?

if you choose the second option, he's a little meaner. understandably so, since the player just poked at his painful past:

Astarion: You think you know the life I've led? The experiences I've had? You've no idea the stories I could tell, sweet Karlach. But you - you're just -

then, both the paths converge to the same final statement, which is mean no matter what Karlach has said to this point:

Astarion: Urgh! Why is this so difficult? I'd have already bedded you twice if you were normal.

importantly, there are dev notes for all of his lines here, but the notes are all the same:

devnote: Masking defensiveness with offensiveness. In truth he really does want what Karlach is offering (to just hang out without having sex) but now that it's within grasp he's floundering.

again, at this point the player has two choices to continue the encounter, and one to end it. i'll go down each continue path separately, since they can diverge quite a bit.

path 1

the first choice is to say: "Twice in this short space of time? Doesn't sound very satisfying."

he gets mad. and mean.

Astarion: Karlach! You know what I mean. [devnote: Frustrated] Astarion: Or maybe you don't. Astarion: There may be an inferno in you, Karlach, but at the end of the day you've been frigid for a decade, isn't that right? [devnote: Being mean-spirited in an attempt to drive Karlach away, even though he doesn't actually want to do that.]

the player again has two response options to continue the encounter, and one to end it.

the first choice to continue the encounter is: "You want to try that again? Without being a jackass, maybe?"

in response he says:

Astarion: This is impossible - you're impossible! [devnote: Masking defensiveness with offensiveness. In truth he really does want what Karlach is offering (to just hang out without having sex) but now that it's within grasp he's floundering.]

(at this point, the path diverts to merge with the dialogue tree from the previous branch where Astarion complains about Karlach not being normal. so we'll pause here, and continue down that dialogue tree with the path 2 header below.)

the second choice to continue the encounter after Astarion says that Karlach has been frigid for a decade is to say: "What's really going on here, Astarion? Suddenly you're so vicious."

he replies:

Astarion: Suddenly? Darling, you haven't been paying attention. [devnote: Seething and mean.] Astarion: Listen, it's just - ... I'm sorry, all right? Is that what you want?

again, at this point, he diverts to the same shared dialogue tree as the other response option. that merges with path 2, so we'll continue there:

path 2

to go BACK to the previous branch we went down, where Astarion said he would have bedded Karlach twice already if she was just normal, the other response option for the player is: "I am normal. 'Fucked up' is the height of normalcy."

instead of being mean, Astarion immediately apologizes:

Astarion: Oh no - don't you tar me with your 'normal' brush. My demons keep me extraordinary. [devnote: Karlach has punctured Astarion's bad mood with a joke.]

and then he apologizes, like he does in the other paths, saying he doesn't know what to do without being able to touch her.

Astarion: I - ...I'm sorry, Karlach. It's just, not being able to touch you - having to slow down, it's... I'm just not used to it. [devnote: subtext here is on the slowing down. That IS what he wants. But it's hard for him to see that clearly.]

Astarion: So, can you -... I don't know. Help? Show me what to do? [devnote: First breakthrough. He's asking for help knowing what to do when you can't jump into bed with someone.]

again, at this point, the player has two options to continue the encounter or one to end it.

for the first response to continue, the player can say: "We can just talk. As long as we want. Then we can sleep. Near, but not too near."

Astarion responds to this one pretty positively. he's still a little mean, but it's in his fond teasing way, and not his biting, cruel way:

Astarion: Karlach, champion of the Hells, wants to talk and then fall asleep? [devnote: Incredulous] My dear, you're much more boring than I gave you credit for. [devnote: Teasing] All right, Karlach. Let's try it your way. [devnote: Gently. He's feeling vulnerable, but sees that this might be a chance to feel safe.]

the second response option from the player is: "I don't know either. This is all just as new for me as it is for you."

he doesn't respond quite as well to this one, and goes back to being mean:

Astarion: Well. To quote you: 'Fuck.' Astarion: Why don't we put ourselves out of this misery and just sleep? If I can at least look at you, I won't have wasted my whole evening. [devnote: Peak of Astarion sexy toxicity.]

then, the scene fades to black and it transitions to the morning-after scene with Astarion, where the player first sees his scars.

i also think as a whole, this scene is just so representative of Astarion's early-game state of mind. he's following a comfortable script with all his interactions, but when he's confronted with something new, he flounders.

especially when it comes to sex, which is a touchy subject for him, his first reaction to any vulnerability is to lash out and hurt people. in this scene:

if Karlach brings up his past experiences, he lashes out. ("You think you know the life I've led?")

he blames Karlach for the situation because that's easier than addressing that he doesn't know what to do without his script. ("if you were normal")

if Karlach jokes about him ("Doesn't sound very satisfying") he lashes out even further, calling her frigid and impossible and then even doubling down if she calls him out ("you haven't been paying attention").

but if Karlach jokes about HERSELF ("'Fucked up' is the height of normalcy"), it snaps him out of his toxic bullshit and he's able to take a step back and apologize to her.

then regardless, he's also able to recognize that this is an opportunity to get what he wants without having sex, and recognize that he wants that too.

and then to me, Astarion being mean in that last response choice ("I don't know either") makes perfect sense, given the context of his other lashing out earlier in the conversation. even if the player didn't make those previous choices where he lashed out at them, he can still get mean and toxic on this choice.

crucially, with this choice, he's taken that step of hopeful vulnerability where he recognizes that maybe he does want to just spend time with Karlach without having sex, but he doesn't know how to do it. he asks for help.

if the player says they don't know how to do that either, he immediately puts those defensive walls back up. he doesn't want to flounder around, he wants an answer. he wants to know that it's actually possible to have a positive experience with someone without the script he's always used. the player saying they don't have that answer just pisses him off.

wow okay this post got really long, but i really vibed with the dev notes for this scene, and i think you can see exactly these toxic behaviors from Astarion in other scenes and in romances with other characters as well, but it's just so so clear with the Karlach scene and the dev notes just really highlight that.

#astarion #karlach #hellspawn #fireblood #astarion ancunin #karlach cliffgate #meta

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sercj · 1 month

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Alright, I'm finally typing it out. Gather around, all, for the tale of the time my friends and I kidnapped a blueberry and drug them into the Vault of Glass.

Once upon a time, I used to have friends I would play Destiny 2 with regularly. None of them that feature in this story still do, to my knowledge, but at the time we were pretty cracked on the PvE side of things. At the time, we were raiding semi-regularly (when schedules lined up), and as Vault of Glass had just been added to D2 recently, it was our raid of choice that one, fateful evening.

We, like any sane PC player, were using Discord for comms, and so I had hopped into the channel to wait, and headed to the Cosmodrome for my favorite time-killing passtime - blueberry watching. For those of you unfamiliar, blueberries is an affectionate term for new destiny players, named after the color of the low rarity gear they end up decked out in, blue. The Cosmodrome, being the first public area a New Light ends up in, is often a place where you can see adorable new players getting the hang of things.

At this time, the voice channel began to fill up, and one of my compatriots joined my fireteam. We initiated some hug emotes with a blueberry and were just all-in-all chilling when we got word that one member of our team would be unable to join us. Then someone (I forget who) suggested 'hey, what if we took this blueberry along with us?'. It was a patently absurd option - we had no communication with them. Their mishmash of blue armor and crappy weapons would clearly be outclassed by the raid, leaving them unable to damage enemies and likely to die instantly if any of the vex even looked in their direction. But we started to plan a bit - really, we could do every encounter with just 5 people. We'd have to protect the blueberry, but that could be done, theoretically.

I think, in the end, we came to the conclusion that we'd try it, but they weren't likely to stick through it. After all, we weren't (and never did) using the in-game VC, or text chat. The two of us hanging out with them in the Cosmodrome sent a fireteam invite. And the blueberry accepted. So we joined the rest of the team in orbit, and launched Vault of Glass.

I could go into our specific strategies for each encounter, but for the most part it was pretty same-y. We'd use emotes and shooting to get the blueberry into a defensible position, then 5-man the encounter. And somehow, this worked. I have taught many, many people many raids in my time (including many people from this friend group!), and I have never seen someone pick up so quickly on what we needed them to do. With no actual words passing! An absolute, biggest-brained legend of a guardian.

We did get this guy all the way to Aetheon. And with some tricks (and good RNG), we were able to even defeat Aetheon. With some random blueberry nobody knew, or talked to! Unfortunately, they didn't get Mythoclast (can you imagine, though!), but they did celebrate with us with their default dance emote, and we all went our seperate ways. Nobody friended them, we just re-released them into the Cosmodrome like they hadn't just helped us save all of time or whatever the point of Vault of Glass is.

Now, perhaps this was a returning player, or someone on a new alt, who already kinda or entirely knew what was going on. But there's no real way of knowing, and it's just as (if not more) likely that this was a brand new player. Can you imagine what kind of a 'first experience' that new player had with the game? How puzzlingly odd to begin with, developing into concern as the activity we brought them to was clearly beyond them, to the 'fuck it we ball' attitude to stick with it all the way through. A true champion.

And imagine the lore perspective too. Fresh guardian, still got gravesoil in their armor, hasn't been to the tower yet, and they get scooped up into the Vault of Glass? Battle Aetheon? AND WIN!? The reaction from Shaw, or hell, the Vanguard as a whole would be amazing. Our guardians getting reprimanded for taking some fresh new light and dragging them through such a crazy difficult experience they weren't prepared for. Fun stuff to think about.

I wonder how that player is doing now. If they still play, how this particular experience flavored their perception of the game and its community. I know the community at large can be extremely toxic (and worse), but I still strive to embody the community impression we made on that day. Patience and Understanding, being goofy and silly about it, inclusive and kind. Dunno, maybe that's just me being sappy about a fun memory with friends gone by.

#destiny 2 #d2 #vault of glass #aetheon #story #long #i hope this tale brightens one persons day #the original occurence was a very fun night #i miss having people i loved to play destiny 2 with #now i just have to lfg everything #which is okay about 60% of the time #genuinely enjoyable maybe 10%#and the remainder is just bad #and that's AFTER screening lfg posts for ones that seem more chill #pro tip: if it says 'KWTD' skip that shit #buggest thing the new system lacks is a definite warning label like that #anyhow i'm just rambling now #shoutout to all the blueberries #i love you guys

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princesskiii · 3 years

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Locked out

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I’m terrible at titles

The six x reader tag is dry y'all wtf

Warning(s) : Cathy says a few ✨nsfw✨ things, heavily implied fem!reader but they/them pronouns is used, cursing

Summary : Cathy gets locked out of the house and asks to stay the night with you. And at the end of the night you find yourself in bed with a former monarch

°•☆▪︎☆•°•☆▪︎☆•°•☆▪︎☆•°•☆▪︎☆•°

Shit.

Cathy turned around at the slight bang, to reveal what she already expected : The front door closed due to the wind.

“Keys, Cathy keys-" Cathy desperately went through their pockets. "Come on Parr you're supposed to be the smart one-!" They searched for a few minutes. Though all in vain as they groaned and slid to the floor.

They reached for their phone, and whether it was pure luck or fate, they did atleast bring that with them.

They thought about texting Catherine for a moment— But decided against it, 'it's the middle of the show— She won't even have her phone.'

Cathy scrolled through their contacts, trying to figure out anyone they could ask for help.

Their eyes landed quickly, the alternate that had a day off— Rightfully so, Being a super swing they do a lot of covers.

They contemplated their options before opening it, realizing they really didn't have any other options.

—

Cathy Parr : Heyyyy- could i ask for a favor

{Y/N} : Course- what do you need?

Cathy Parr : could you come pick me up i locked myself out of the house :))). And could i stay with you for the night- maybe- please-

{Y/N} : You what-

Cathy Parr : Pls pls pls, I'll ask Catherine if she can give you a few more days off pls.

{Y/N} : Okay okay, i'm coming- this better be a one time thing

Cathy Parr : ofc no worries

—

Cathy cheered— Thanking the gods they asked for all the alts their numbers.

It was originally for calling in sick, till it became making a group chat of the entire cast and talking a lot more outside of the show

Soon enough a car pulled up, Thank god they all knew eachother's adresses in case of emergency.

"Alright, Get in before i change my mind." You lowered the Car's window to speak to Cathy— Who looked almost in awe at seeing you in completely casual attire.

"Right." They snapped out of their trance and got up from the side walk, taking the passengers seat, sending a smile your way.

As the car started up, you decided to make conversation, it would make an awkward night if you didn't talk to the survivor at all.

"How did you end up like this?"

Cathy stared at you before giggling, "i was throwing away leftovers from takeout— No one besides me would want it anyway. I forgot my keys and the door shut because of the wind." You raised a brow before responding.

"Makes sense, i suppose."

The rest of the ride was spent with small talk, You were having small talk— with a former queen. If you'd told anyone about this you doubt they'd believe you.

Soon enough you'd arrived at your home, Cathy staring in awe, despite knowing where you live and being able to come over any time, they never actually did, assuming you'd be uncomfortable with them just showing up.

You chuckled lightly at the wonder in Cathy's eyes as you opened the car door, the noise basically smacking them out of their thoughts and quickly following you out of the car and into your house.

Inside, Cathy looked around. It wasn't much— but it was still pretty.

"You wait here, i'll see if the geust bedroom is available." Cathy raised a brow, did you already have someone over?

You laughed at them, "It's just because it's normally a huge mess, no one ever comes over to spend a night it's basically a storage room with a bed in the middle." Cathy let out a noise of understanding.

“Make yourself feel at home! Or— Whatever they always say.” Cathy chuckled, barely audible to you as you walked away to the geust room.

After a few minutes you returned, Startling Cathy when you started talking. “It is absolutely not, It’s a mess. Unless you like sleeping in between dirt bags, which in that case go ahead.” Cathy snickered, shaking their head. “Rather not. I imagine it’s rather uncomfortable.”

You smiled. “If you want you can sleep on my bed, i’m fine sleeping on the couch.”

“Wait-”

“Because it seems rather rude to have the geust sleep on the couch.”

“We could sleep togheter.”

You blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.

“What?”

“I don’t want you to sleep on the couch either- It’s your house after all. And i wouldn’t mind sleeping in the same bed.” Cathy’s face slowly became a dark shade of red, only now realizing what they really said.

“But i don’t know- You don’t have to-”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh-”

Cathy stared into space for a minute, processing your answer. “Do you have any sleeping clothes with you by some kind of miracle?” You asked, way to casually for the flustered queen to understand. Cathy smiled sheepishly, their face becoming even more red. “I have a bra on?” You grimaced. “Who in their right mind sleeps while wearing a bra.”

Cathy grinned, seeing an oppurtunity. “Want me to sleep naked then?”

This time your face went red. “I’ll see if i have anything else for you.” You walked off again, leaving the queen to process everything that just happened. “Oh sweet lord.” Cathy whispered to themself. They put their face in their hands, blushing heavily.

You returned in only a matter of seconds. Cathy had already calmed down in the short time, but your face was still burning red, Causing a light chuckle from Cathy.

“What’s your size?”

“I... honestly don’t know.” Cathy said, causing you to throw your head back with a groan. “That means you’re gonna have to see if it fits— And i don’t know if you have the energy to go through my entire closet.”

“I’ll really have to sleep in my bra then.” Cathy joked, Though not really knowing if it was fully a joke. “How the hell do you do that?” You asked. “It’s comfortable?” Cathy shrugged, smiling. You looked at her with confusion for a few more seconds before continuing.

“I mean if you’re okay, and comfortable, with that.” Cathy nodded. “It’s not like we’ve never seen eachother like that before.”

Cathy had almost said it in something others would consider a romantic way. It was almost like they were suggesting something different— Of course you knew that wasn’t it. But you still blushed at the thought.

Cathy laughed as she saw your blush grow. “Don’t worry! I’m not suggesting anything!”

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding

“Unless you want me to—”

You slapped your hand over your mouth, blushing furiously. Cathy laughed harder. “I’m kidding, i’m kidding!” They threw their hands up in defence. “I’m only teasing you. Promise.” Cathy grinned.

“Right—, Yeah let’s just go to sleep now.” You walked off to your bedroom, leaving Cathy to undress.

The moment you sat down you slammed your head down on your pillow. Processing the entire situation. You quickly went to your closet to change yourself.

A few minutes after you were done Cathy walked into the room.

Cathy smiled sheepishly. “Well time to sleep then?”

You raised your brow. “Shouldn’t you message the others about where you are?” You asked, Cathy chuckling in response. “I’m an adult.”

“Doesn’t always seem like it.”

“Hey-!”

You laughed as Cathy crossed their arms in mock anger. “I’m 21 thank you.”

“21 going on 5 then.” You chuckled as Cathy gasped. “Let’s just get to bed!” Cathy walked over to the bed, ushering you over to the other side. You quickly thanked the gods you decided to get a double bed as Cathy pulled you down.

“Lay down you maniac!” Cathy grinned playfully holding you down to the matress. “For the first time in my life i want to sleep, which means you have to as well.” They looked up at you for a reaction, grinning more when you rolled your eyes but obeyed.

“Like i said 21 going on 5.” You smiled as Cathy turned the remaining bed side lamp off.

“Fuck off.”

“Can’t exactly do that now can i-”

“Shut up! Go to sleep.”

And as you both layed down and finally went to sleep, you realized you'd have some feelings to work out.

#Six #six the musical #six the musical x reader #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #Catherine Parr six #Six Catherine parr #catherine parr x reader #Character x Reader #x reader #six x reader

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justagirlsearchingforamuse · 3 years

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I wanted to write what characters I think should’ve been romanacable or at least been able to have a one night stand with in Cyberpunk 2077 because I feel they should’ve had more options tbh. I will talk about what kinda missions they should’ve had for the characters were romanceable and how their relationships should’ve developed or could’ve per say.

1. Jackie Welles

First and foremost, I believe Jackie Welles who a lot of people want to romance believe me I can see why but I feel that if you wanted to keep his death in there, I could see V and it wouldn’t matter if what gender you were confessing to liking him. V is realizing that he’s dying right before them and is begging him not to go whilst putting pressure on his wound, Jackie cups their cheek before apologizing and giving them the chip. V manages to say that they love him and whether it’s platonic or not it’s up to you especially if you talk to other characters such as Judy, Panam, & River. You can talk about your relationship with Jackie as being somewhat like unrequited love, if you have the guts and the balls to you can even tell Misty that you had these feelings for him. But it’s gonna slightly bring down your relationship with her, she’ll express how she wasn’t surprised and how she noticed it. If you choose to end yourself in the final mission, depending on if you saw Jackie as a love interest you��ll end up saying how you love Jackie and how you can’t wait to see him. Even kissing the necklace and putting it on yourself before it all ends. But if you managed to keep him alive, I’d say that you’d be able to have a threesome with him and Misty cause honest to god I thought that’s what the developers were hinting at with the fucking ;). If you would manage to pull off such a feat you’d have to collect all of the tarot cards, do all of Misty’s missions as well as Jackie’s which I might talk about more in depth in future posts. Depending on how you’ve been treating them both which is well I hope, Jackie will bring you back to his apartment and talk about your relationships as well as your sex life. It eventually leads to Jackie whispering in your ear about how would you feel having a threesome with them, you can answer according to how you’re feeling. If you say yes then Misty will soon come into the room and she’ll sit right beside you, touching you and kissing on your neck whilst Jackie kisses you. If you guys would want me to write a Misty/V/Jackie smut or go into more depth about it then just send an ask in my ask box.

I’d like to imagine that if you manage to keep him alive up until the very end, he is with you when you visit Alt and when the bad news comes, you’re both pissed and it’s even to the point of Jackie nearly breaking down in tears. Jackie begins to blame Johnny for this, getting pissed at him and Alt, saying this should’ve never happened to V. Johnny can choose to argue with him or try and talk Alt into more options. Depending on how you played V, you can get a scene where if you choose to take over V’s body then V will end up confessing to Jackie saying how it’s the end for them and how sorry they are for this happening. V can even kiss Jackie and apologize once again before saying a tearful goodbye to Jackie. I’d imagine that Jackie would want little to nothing to do with Johnny not just because he believes it’s his fault for taking away his best friend but because everytime he sees Johnny he sees V and it breaks him every time. Jackie can break up with Misty sometime after the incident and is seen just living life with Mama Welles but he’s always thinking of V. If you choose to sacrifice Johnny, depending on how you treated Jackie and Misty you can end up in a polyamorous relationship. Though you all are trying to do your best to manage this, your relationship is pretty decent with them both.

I believe that you couldn’t romance him without Misty being there or I feel that he would never break Misty’s heart to date V or cheat on Misty with V because he doesn’t give me those vibes. If anything he’d seem to be against cheating, but I’d like to imagine if you’re a dick and whatnot that you’d be able to try and romance him but he keeps pushing you away if you end up being too touchy or romantic with him. So naturally he’d be quite hard to romance that’s if you include Misty. He is bisexual/pansexual and should be able to be romanced no matter your gender. Also, he gives me bottom vibes or power bottom vibes.

2. Johnny Silverhand

Personally I believe that you’d be able to romance him slightly towards the end of the game, like I imagine that if you manage to get on his good side and get him to trust you as well as remaining non romanceable to other people. I’d imagine that it’d all really depend upon the endings really, like you’d able to confess to him or kiss him in all of the 5 or 6 endings. You can confess in both of the main endings, it goes the same with you crying and saying how he’s one of the bestest friends you’ve ever had and saying how he really impacted your life. You can choose to kiss V or to hug them in a totally platonic way, as Johnny you can choose to say whether you liked them or whether you just wanted to give them as kiss as being able to recognize their feelings for him. Johnny in the Temperance ending will talk to Steve about V vaguely saying about whether he had feelings for them or how they were an amazing friend. He can even say kiss the necklace that V always carried with them before saying something like, “I won’t forget you, babe.” if you chose to make it where Johnny began to develop feelings for V. V in the ending if you had feelings towards Johnny, you can see that she tells that to her Life Coach or whatever if you are a Corpo V and she’ll confess that she liked him, saying how she’s been missing him a lot lately. As much as I’d love a Johnny and V sex scene that I’d be able to imagine in the game, I can’t see sex happening, maybe making out but Johnny seems like the kind to really become angsty at the idea of not being able to actually feel you. But I’d imagine if you could by some miracle would be able to get him to kiss you early on in the game then I’d say it’d be a lot of making out and Johnny getting off of you. Feeling as though he has nothing to offer you or that he hates not being able to actually feel you. But basically a romance with Johnny Silverhand and V would be angsty af or would be short-lived, sorry guys. Also, Johnny is bisexual so it doesn’t matter what gender you are. Though I do like the idea of an ending where you choose to spend your final days with Johnny whether it’s having sex (in some way), doing stupid shit, or just being in each other’s presence, I feel in this ending he’d ask you if you’d want him to take over your body before you go, if you say yes you can kiss him before telling him to take care of them. But if you say no, then he just spends his and your final moments just laying on the bed and staring into each other’s eyes.

He is bisexual especially from how much he regrets not fucking or getting with Kerry back then but he goes give me heavy dom vibes but at the same time he doesn’t seem to care as long as he’s getting some.

3. Viktor Vector

He’d also be bi, I feel that most of the romances are bi/pan or are gay such as Judy. He gives me bi nerd vibes though as well as I am a tired bi vibes. You should’ve been able to romance him in game or at least have something with him tbh. I feel he’d have about 4 quests which should lead to a romance, once you pay Viktor what you promised he’ll say how he thanks you and will text you a quest which would probably be something like being his boxing partner or something. i feel his quests would have to do a lot with him reliving his younger years of boxing or just doing what he’d call stupid shit with V, I can imagine that the quests would be V getting Viktor to do things he usually doesn’t do. In the final mission, I’d imagine that he’d come to your apartment or he’ll text you about having dinner and some drinks or even the final date being after the last mission you guys both did which was dangerous, something that resulted in you being checked up on by Viktor. Depending on if you’ve been playing your cards right, I can imagine him finishing up on your wounds or whatnot and you end up being the one to confess that you’ve grown closer to him, you caress his cheeks and he ends up telling you to shut up and he kisses you. It leads to you both making out on the chair before you end up on top, you caress his cheeks once more before kissing him again and he in between kisses says how you need to be more careful with your wound. You snarkily tell him to shut up and you kiss him again before it fast forwards to some cute yet steamy sex with plenty of Viktor trying to be gentle on you. Though I’d imagine if you were Male V/Non-Binary V he’d be a little less gentle on you or the roles would be reversed in the mission before I’d imagine in the mission before he either took a bullet for you or you took a bullet for him. He’s a little less gentle with you and a huge tease towards you whether you’re fem’ V or male’ V. He’d play a bigger role in the ending if you romanced him, I feel similar to Panam he should have his own ending or at least a secret ending where it ends with him just trying to take care of you in your final moments. He is there with you along with Misty and Jackie if you managed to save him and you say your final words to them, thanking them for being there forever and always with you. Viktor takes off his glasses and ends up kissing you before nearly breaking down in tears as you begin to slowly fade away from this world, muttering how you’ll never forget them. Viktor ends up wanting to keep his business, wanting to try and help people if he can with you always on his mind and he ends up becoming a big thing, He always is thinking of you, even adopting a child who takes after you with their mischievous personality. It ends with him gifting your child with the necklace that Jackie ends up giving you, beginning to tell your child the journey that you went on that he witnessed. He gives me strong bisexual or maybe even gay vibes tbh. Also, gives me major switch vibes.

4. Goro Takemura

Of course everyone loves him, I do too just not as much as some do. I feel a romance should’ve formed or he should’ve had a few sidequests that would lead to more of a romance. His side quests should’ve been exploring the city with him as well as him just trying to find people who can help V with the chip, 2 or 3 of the quests are you and him exploring the city and helping him learn about Night City. Even learning more about his past and him learning more about yours, which could lead to you both having a romance. Realistically speaking I feel there wouldn’t be a sex scene, so sorry but I feel he’s the kind to want to want things to get more serious and whatnot before considering having sex. He gives me very much if you like it then you better put a ring on it vibes. I can imagine on their last quest which I can see being an expensive dinner date that Takemura keeps insisting on paying for but you choose to because you want to see his face twist in pleasure at the amazing food. I imagine he takes you to an expensive restaurant and once you say all the right things, you can grab Takemura’s hand and take him to his car in which you’ll end up making out with him heavily and before you can get his pants off. He pushes you off, insisting that he doesn’t want to move too fast with you and that he’s enjoying the relationship he has with you he just doesn’t want to give that up yet. But I can imagine if he lives he plays a bigger role and even gets his own ending or plays a big role in the endings where you choose to follow after Hanako, he keeps telling you that you’re doing good and that you made the right choice. I can imagine if you romanced him/kept him alive he’s the one trying to convince you to do the final test/experiment to keep you alive. i can see him playing a good role if you manage to keep him alive and if you romance him, overall I feel he’s bisexual or demisexual. He gives me strong demisexual vibes and or bicurious vibes. Also, he’s a bottom/power bottom and I’m leaving it at that.

5. Kerry Eurodyne

He should’ve remained bisexual tbh, I get it wanting gay rep but also don’t do bi erasure, I see him as bi leaning more towards guys but he’ll be happy to date fem’ V as long as they play their cards right. I feel he should’ve been a more serious option or could’ve been more serious, I feel in the first quest or 2 you have to make a good impression on him and show him you’re down for whatever. Show him that you will make an impact on him and that you’re different, during the first few quests which I can see are just helping him with fans who have no boundaries or helping him get rid of his writer’s block and get back into music. I can imagine the first quest he is calling you anxious about a bunch of fans out in his driveway which you can try to convince them that this isn’t right or knock the fans out which the latter can have Kerry a little distant from you. Thought if you don’t manage to convince them they might try to get violent if it means Kerry would come out, which results in Kerry coming out and helping you I’d imagine he’d need someone who can handle the crazy lifestyle that he has, the fans, handle all of the crazy shit that is in his life. I feel the love scene would happen all the same to be honest and would happen after you finish all the quests and show great interest in becoming more. I’d imagine that he wouldn’t play that big of a role but he’s there and often texting you about random ass shit and he’s honestly just enjoying having some company. Also, he gives me power bottom vibes or a switch who likes to talk a lot of shit and tease you, lol.

6. River Ward

I would talk about River Ward who is my favorite love interest in the game tbh but I feel I’d be repeating what I’m saying for Kerry, River should’ve been bi imo or maybe even bicurious and Male/Non-Binary V is his first boyfriend. The love scene could be different in which I feel he’d be the bottom this time, he’d be trying to tell you to go easy on him and saying how he hasn’t done this before. Honestly it’d be just a fluffy love scene with River and he gives me total bi or demisexual vibes. Also, he is a total switch but he is dom more than he is submissive.

Also, this should go without saying that I feel that you should be able to go on a date that is a sidequest with them or even be able to call them and plan dates out with your respectable partners and you can go to bars and food places or even your own place. It’d be nice to have that added in the game but it’d be a lot to do.

Alright so I promise to do girls next and I am totally down to writing about what should be included in Cyberpunk that could improve the game greatly, cause honestly I feel that the story is great and immersive but it’s everything that happens outside of the story that is kinda not done right. Also, send me asks about these possible scenarios such as a Takemura and V dinner date quest, lol.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #cyberpunk river ward #river ward #kerry eurodyne #johnny silverhand #goro takemura #viktor vector #jackie welles

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perseusjackson-jasongrace · 3 years

Text

breaking it down to find a meaning

neighbours au?

this came out of literally no where. I was getting ready for bed and I had "I wanna love somebody" by We Three stuck in my head and then I opened tumbles and this just poured out of me? Yea I literally wrote this in the tumblr post option. no google doc we die like lovers.

I point this out only to say this is defs not edited lmao. I didn't even expect it to be this long it was supposed to a tiny drabble?

please enjoy!

[all images have alt text]

There are exactly three things wrong with Percy's current living situation.

1. He has far too little lounge space for his terribly long body. His shins have hit the coffee table six times today in his attempt to maneuver from sitting on the couch to standing.

2. The spare bedroom is not a good enough sound quality for his guitar or his drum practice. The bathroom is much better. He cannot practice in his bathroom forever, or ever.

3. His neighbour is undeniably, completely distractingly hot.

He hasn't allowed himself to rate the problems in order of most troublesome because he's a little ashamed about which one might take first place.

Since moving in one week ago Percy has had many opportunities to arrange and rearrange every aspect of the tiny two bedroom— or one bedroom and a makeshift studio— apartment until he could walk around it blind. He knows not to step on the third floorboard from the left wall on the way to his bedroom because it creaks unpleasantly and he thinks his downstairs neighbours are going to shove a hot poker through the roof just to brandish the annoying foot that keeps making the noise. He knows that the oven setting has to be juggled just right for it to go on. He knows the curtain railings in the living room are far too thin and brittle— he will have to replace them before the month is out. He knows you have to turn the hot tap in the shower three times and the cold tap four to get the exact perfect temperature. What he doesn't know, however, is his neighbour's name, or the colour of their eyes, or anything about them. All he knows is that they're hot.

But today, bruised shin and all, Percy is determined to introduce himself. If for nothing else but to gauge just how upset they might be when he starts up what his mother used to lovingly call "Melodic Madness".

So far it takes the reign as number one reason he's had to leave his previous living spaces. Mr Chiron from Strawberry Valley, who told the landlord the noise was so loud it made his steel kneecaps rust. Creative, but Percy isn't sure it's feasible. Then there was Minerva from Olive Grove who took one look at him and told the landlord he was a drug dealer, or worse, a drug user. He had raised a brow, couldn't stop his lip from tugging up, liking the way the ring that hugged his bottom lip stretched deliciously. He almost killed her on the spot. He would have laid lillies at her funeral and she would have risen again to throw them away. The last place, a Mr Hedge. Percy was glad to leave him behind. There were baseball bags swinging and yelling almost as loud as he played every time they crossed paths. For his own safety Percy didn't even wait for the man to call the landlord before he wad tucking his drumsticks in his pocket and high tailing it to, here.

Here being Sunset Gardens. Here being in this small apartment that fit him almost perfectly. Here being one knock away from meeting his new neighbour.

Percy wonders, as he looks at the soft cream wood of the door, if he should have worn a turtle neck to hide the snake tattoo wrapping around his throat. Or maybe a button down and a tie, to hide the swirls of ink on his arms. The black t-shirt he has on, a normal longer length to his usual cropped look, is clean and soft from use. He decides it'll have to be good enough because he can't wear button downs all the time. How ever will he afford all the ties that come with the obligation?

Percy knocks on the door.

There's silence behind it. The silence of sleepy world, too cozy-can't move. The silence that doesn't wish to be disturbed.

The door opens.

His neighbour's eyes are blue. Bright blue. Startling blue. Blue enough to make his lungs feel a lack of oxygen. He's reaching for the sky and it's getting harder to breather the higher he gets.

"Hello." Says his neighbour.

Percy is flying closer to the sun than Icarus ever will, ever could.

"Can I help you?"

He needs to stop staring. He needs to say something that doesn't make him look like a gaping angel fish. All starry eyes halos and floundering for relief from the air. Do fish know how beautiful the sky is? He imagines if they did they'd all kill themselves trying to get to it. He's doing it right now.

"Hi," He grins. Teeth white, straight, flossed because his mother forced him to learn the habit. "I'm Percy, your new neighbour."

"Jason," The voice is warm, deep. He knows if he lay his head on that spectacular chest he'll feel every vibration when this blue eyed spectacle talks. It'll be like getting into a really nice car and feeling the seats rumble beneath you.

"How are you finding the apartment?"

They're still standing on his door front. Jason won't relent his sanctuary. Percy won't toe over the line, curiouser and curiouser as he is.

"Good. Living room is causing some bodily harm," He waves to his shin, "But otherwise very good. Cozy."

"We share a wall. I don't know if it's your bedroom and mine or..." His neighbour trails off.

"It's my spare bedroom against you." They both glance to his door, light from his lounge flooding the passage in a perfect parallelogram.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." He's looking into the sky again. Watches as hair falls over that golden forehead. His hands— tattooed "amare" on his left fingers and "amari" on his right— twitch to push it back, to grasp the white strands, to know what light feels like. He tucks them into the pockets of his sweatpants. He tells them behave. The twitch in their hiding place. He doesn't let them seek.

"What about it?" Jason is frowning, in that worried way that says he's used to bad news and he's tired of it too.

"I uh," Percy's eyes flicker around the world. "I play guitar and drums. I'm using that room as my music room."

"Oh." The relief in Jason is a pointed arrow straight at his heart. Even cupid could never shoot something so potent. "That's okay. I'll use your music as inspiration when I paint."

Percy is Icarus three seconds after he believes he can fly. Percy is Patroclus when he feeds Achilles. Percy is Hercules after completing his first trial. Percy is a hero and a warrior and the luckiest person alive. Percy is alive.

"I hope you're good." Jason shrugs as if he hadn't tattooed a permanent place into the underside of Percy's ribcage.

"I hope so too." He manages to say back.

"I'll show you what I can create from you the first time and you can judge." Those blue eyes are so wide with innocence. Not the innocence of life but of words. His neighbour has no idea what he's doing to him. Has no idea that he is about to go home and make song lyrics out of all these declarations.

"I look forward to it." He smiles wide. It's ocean deep with happiness.

There are exactly three things perfect about Percy's current living situation:

1. The kitchen has a gas stove enough counter space for him to make bread and his mother's gumbo

2. His bedroom is big enough for him to fit a king sized bed easily. He is a sprawler when he sleeps and he cannot be happier to sprawl across never ending expanse.

3. His hot neighbour is perfect.

#Jercy #Jason grace #Percy Jackson #pjjg fanfic

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silveryinkystar · 2 years

Note

Lyra for the ask game! Or Ahsoka

Lyra

favorite thing about them: Her lies in Northern Lights / The Golden Compass. I love how much she lies, that she lies about literally anything and everything that she can lie about, and just how wild her lies get. It's also a huge part of her character arc, which I also love!

least favorite thing about them: I kind of had to reach for this one, because it's not super present in the HDM books (as opposed to TSC), but she can get really dismissive of Pan and his anxieties despite them having a deep connection. It's really only noticeable once you set up a foil for her and Pan with other human-dæmon pairs.

favorite line: From Northern Lights / The Golden Compass -

Her dear soul, the darling companion of her heart, to be cut away and reduced to a little trotting pet?

brOTP: Roger, of course!

OTP: Will wins this one, but only by default

nOTP: Literally anyone else (although her ex? from TSC is fine I guess), especially Malcolm (looking at you, Philman)

random headcanon: I like to imagine that Lyra's ability to extrapolate the hell out of any lie is the reason she can read the alethiometer so easily - she's very malleable with her perception of reality, and genuinely clever about it too, hence why she can grasp the layers of meanings that each symbol of the alethiometer has. Where others might go, "wait that's kind of nonsense" or "what is the logic behind this", Lyra immediately jumps to the most fantastical option.

unpopular opinion: [Heavy spoilers for TAS] Dunno if this is an unpopular opinion, since I haven't actually seen people talk about it, but I don't like that the burden of spreading the "tell them true stories" thing is placed on her near the end of the book (and Will, of course) at all! There are plenty of others that Xaphania could also have told, and they could have helped spread it too, but nope, it's Lyra, a kid that only one college knows somewhat well, who maybe has friends but isn't super close to, etc etc etc. It's a lovely ending, but I had a huge bone to pick with it here.

song i associate with them: Scholastic Sanctuary from the season 1 OST! I don't know if Lorne Balfe has confirmed this, but I consider it her official theme in the series.

favorite picture of them: [ID in alt text, GIF by me]

Ahsoka

favorite thing about them: Her ability to make friends. She has Rose Tyler energy in the sense that wherever her mission takes her, if she can make friends or finds someone to sympathize with, she does it.

least favorite thing about them: Whatever the hell is going on with her live action montrals and lekku Honestly, most of the issues I do have with her are related to the general writing of the show, not her personality - I go into it a bit more with my "unpopular opinion" since I'm not actually sure it fits here. But if I had to pick one specifically, I don't like that she and Steela fall into the typical "girls rivalling for a guy's attention" trope when they could have been friends instead (especially considering they did get along well in the episodes!)

favorite line: "You don’t have to carry a sword to be powerful. Some leaders’ strength is inspiring others.” [TCW S04E02]

brOTP: Anakin and Rex, and Obi-Wan in a dad way!

OTP: Nobody! I do have some mayhaps-ships with her, but nothing I'll stand on as an OTP.

nOTP: Rex, any of the other troopers, Anakin, and Lux Bonteri.

random headcanon: I explored this in one of my fics, but I headcanon that she enjoys fabric arts in her spare time, specifically spinning yarn and weaving.

unpopular opinion: This is more of an early-TCW-seasons issue (and more on the writing than character) than a problem for season 4-7 (and Rebels) Ahsoka, but I think she gets off too lightly on the consequences to her mistakes sometimes - I get that the episodic narrative means that we can't linger on consequences of battlefield mistakes for long (not to mention TCW is a kid's series, and kids getting punished isn't necessarily something kids would enjoy watching, even if it's rightly done), but it just bothers me a little nonetheless.

song i associate with them: Ahsoka Leaves in the TCW seasons 1-6 OST being the most obvious, I think a close second is Revolting Children because of the Vibes (and also an extended au in my mind which has a fairly strange premise that I'll only write with lots of prodding lol)

favorite picture of them: [ID in alt text, GIF by me]

Badass.

Character Ask

#velli answers #shrinkthisviolet #lyra silvertongue #ahsoka tano #flashing gif #image described #id in alt text #thank you for the ask!

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crowleystolemyshoes · 3 years

Text

alright I took the ap stats test this year, and a few hours after completing the exam I wrote up a list of important things to study before taking it yourself. I was going to wait until next year to post it, but I realized some people are still going to take it maybe?

note that I won't get my score for another month, so I can't exactly back this up BUT here ya go

know the inferences. you'll have the long part of the formula, but you need to know to take p-hat plus or minus that long part (as an example with a one-sample z interval)

"long parts" that are given on the formula sheet:

(I'm not going to add alt text, just because stats formulas are so confusing to describe without symbols, but please let me know in the notes or dm me if you need me to--I'll send links to pages with the formulas or something. we'll figure it out 👍)

you have to know what to do with these to get each formula. the first thing I did when I opened each booklet was wrote extra formulas for each inference test: one- and two-sample z- and t-intervals and tests (eight formulas when I was done)

remember that the t-table is for confidence intervals and the z-table is for p-values (you will have to use the t-table for z-intervals and the z-table for t-tests) (note--the actual difference is that the z-table assumes you know the population standard deviation, where the t-table uses a sample's SD. The z-table is therefore used with an assumed null hypothesis, i.e. z- and t- tests, while the t-table applies to z- and t- intervals without a null hypothesis). The table is in the back of the booklet for the multiple choice, and it does say "stop" at the bottom of the last question. you are allowed to flip past to the tables.

hypotheses for proportions (z inferences) use p = __ ; mean hypotheses (t inferences) use mu (the weird "u" looking thing; mean of the whole population). do not put x-bar; that applies to the mean of a sample and not population.

also know what your p-value means: it's the probability of obtaining the data you used in the calculation (or more extreme--don't forget "or more extreme") assuming the null hypothesis is true

write out your conditions and show them being met. even write that 60 is greater than or equal to 30 if n=60 and you need to prove that it's an approximately normal distribution (note approximately and not exactly)

put your conclusion in context. mention what's being tested, not just numbers

type I and type II errors are something you'll want to put some time into--they were on both my 2021 exam and the 2012 one ap released as a practice. you'll also want to know the chances of each one happening (one is the significance level used and the other is some weird formula, and I don't remember which is which)

type I error: reject the null hypothesis when you shouldn't have

type II error: fail to reject the null hypothesis when you should have ("fail II reject")

- on that note, never accept the null hypothesis when writing conclusions, just fail to reject it

regression lines and "model error" came up and I had no clue about either. I still have no clue if "model error" is even a statistics thing. neither were in my free response section, thank fuck, but regression lines and that number summary thing your calculator gives you was in the free response for 2012, unless I'm mistaken

chi-tests came up twice on my test: on one multiple choice it was asking what test was appropriate with the given circumstances, and a chi goodness of fit test was an option. the second time was in the final free response question, and it was the chi-test about correlation between two variables. I got lucky, because it didn't actually want me to run one and I could bullshit my way through the question, but make sure you know them. put z- and t- inference tests at a higher priority, though

one of my free response questions was entirely free of calculations; it wanted me to explain the purpose of placebos, the importance of random sampling and assignment, etc. I think I got lucky again there, but make sure you have a firm understanding of experimentation procedure

you'll probably be fine without worrying about probabilities of events and compliments and independent v. dependent events and everything (PA, PB, PA union B, those things). they were a free-response on mine and I drew a flow chart and had no issue whatsoever, it was really simple. this one probably shouldn't be a priority unless it's something you personally struggle with

spend a bit of time with transforming data. ex: mean 1 foot, sd .5 foot --> mean 12 in, sd 6 in

last but far from least:

it's an ap test. for the free response, it's always better to over-explain than under-explain. it doesn't have to be readable; don't worry about repeated words or anything. just put as much on there as you can, and something should stick.

#ap tests #ap stats #math!!#uhhh how to tag this bitch #education #?? I guess??#how to bullshit an exam for a subject you took entirely online from september to january #when your entire amount of studying is three hours the night before the test #idk bro shit is wild #long post #but it's worth it because college board is a fucker

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terreisa · 3 years

Text

Love Down the Line: Chapter 9

The last thing Indie musician Emma Swan needs is a gigantic wrench thrown in the workings of her biggest tour to date weeks before its launch. When her backing guitarist that caused the problem says she has the perfect solution Emma is skeptical but left with little choice but to accept. Unfortunately she isn’t really prepared for said solution to be former Rock Star and leading man of Emma’s teenage fantasies, Killian Jones. With no other options and a month of performing across the country ahead of her Emma just hopes she doesn’t come to regret letting Killian onto her stage and into her life.

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, AO3

~*CS*~

Los Angeles, May 24th

“-and there’s a bit of a backup on the 405 just south of the 10 due to a two car accident in the southbound lanes. That’s the morning traffic report brought to you by your local Southern California Honda dealer. This is Treena in the morn’ and I got some Yaz on the way along with Echo and the Bunnymen and Talking Heads after this-”

“A clock radio?” Emma mumbled into the pillow, “Really? What are you, like, three hundred?”

Killian’s chuckle stirred the hair at the back of her neck, “Try thirty-five, love.”

“So you say,” she groused as he reached over her to turn off the alarm. She blinked up at him as he set his hands on either side of her shoulders, looming over her with a smile, “I bet you still have a landline, old man.”

“And a rather impressive laserdisc collection,” he said with a wink.

“You would.”

He laughed, a bright joyous thing that had her smile stretching from ear to ear. It was the last of the three days of no shows that they had while in LA and the second morning she’d woken in the bed of Killian’s house in Malibu. Since their first night together in Denver they hadn’t slept apart, much to Tink’s delight and Will’s annoyance. When they’d arrived in LA Emma had been surprised and pleased to discover that Killian had a house there where no one would disturb them as long as they kept their phones on silent. Unfortunately it hadn’t really been an option as her suddenly vibrating phone reminded her.

“What time is Regina sending the car?” Killian asked as he dipped his head and started trailing kisses down her throat.

She hummed in pleasure, blindly swiping at her phone to dismiss the call, “Nine. We’re having brunch with people from the label to talk about the next album and then it’s interviews for the rest of the afternoon.”

“And after all that we’ll rendezvous back here for dinner and a bit of Netflix and chill,” he murmured into her collarbone before dragging his tongue across it.

“You go-” her breath hitched as his hand travelled up her thigh, “going somewhere?”

He paused his ministrations, much to her frustration, and said somberly, “Aye, Robin still lives out here with his son. I haven’t been in town for… well, quite a while and I’m long overdue for a visit.”

The delicious tension she’d been feeling mellowed into something warm and soothing at his earnestness. Ever since they’d landed he’d waxed nostalgic about all the things he’d used to do in the city, places he’d eaten that he wasn’t sure were still around, venues he’d played, museums he’d spent hours getting lost in and all the interesting people he’d met in that time. What he hadn’t mentioned once was his former bandmate and friend. In the bright morning light streaming through the wall of windows she could see that for some reason he was nervous about seeing him again.

“You guys talk all the time,” she reminded him, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair and cupping his cheek, “I interrupted one of your FaceTime dates just a couple of days ago.”

Killian chuckled, “Aye, and don’t think I haven’t received more than my fair share of nosey texts about that since.”

She blushed, forgetting that when she’d done the interrupting she’d been wearing one of his shirts and not much else.

“Seeing as Robin has come to Boston several times in the years that I’ve been there it’s only fitting that he gets to monopolize some of my time while I’m here,” he said, one shoulder lifting higher than the other in a half shrug. “I’ll be home by the time you’re done with your interviews.”

“You don’t have to rush back just for me,” she said quickly, guilt already pulling at her, “Just text me when your male bonding time is over.”

“We’ll deal with the logistics later, love,” he murmured, turning his head slightly to press a kiss to her palm, “For now I’d like to pick up where we left off before-”

Emma sighed in disappointment as her phone began to vibrate again. Knowing that Regina was the only one who would not only call but do so before nine a.m. no matter the time zone she couldn’t ignore it. She’d made the mistake of doing it before a show in Arizona once and had sworn Regina would have pushed her into the Grand Canyon if she’d been given the opportunity.

Gently nudging Killian off of her with an apology she sat up and grabbed her phone. Killian sat up behind her, pushing her hair to one side as he nuzzled into her neck. Giggling but in no way discouraging him she swiped up to answer.

Regina started talking the second the call connected, “The car will be there in thirty minutes to take you straight to the restaurant-”

“Wait, what?” Emma jerked away from Killian’s ministrations to look at the clock on the bedside table and saw it was only a little after seven. “I thought you said it’d be here at nine!”

“Plans have changed,” Regina said off-handedly. “The brunch meeting is now a breakfast meeting and I’ve pushed up one of your radio interviews to give you the time you’ll need for the streaming exclusives.”

“Exclusives?” She asked warily.

“Enchanted XM wants you to curate a ten song playlist and record intros for their Alt Rock station and then there will be an in-depth interview with one of their djs. Snowdrops and Buttercups has been their number one request since its debut and is poised to take the number one spot on the chart next week. It’s also been getting increasing play on their hits station. We need to strike while the iron’s hot.”

Emma tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling as she counted to ten to keep her patience. She was well aware that self promotion came with the territory, especially as a solo artist, and usually she had no problem giving interviews or whatever little fun extras needed to do so. What she hated was that Regina tended to take liberties with her schedule whenever they were in a big enough city and there was extra down time. It was all the more frustrating that Regina knew that things between her and Killian had shifted and apparently didn’t care about infringing on their time alone together.

“We’ll still be done by six right?” She asked, resigned, Killian’s warm hand gliding across her shoulders calming her much more than her counting had.

“Yes,” Regina huffed and Emma could practically hear her eyes rolling, “You and lover boy can have your romantic evening together and don’t think we won’t be discussing how to play whatever it is you two are doing to the press.”

“Really?” She growled.

“Really.”

Before Emma could even begin to shoot down that idea Regina had hung up, leaving her staring at the phone in her hand with disbelief and anger. Even Killian’s gentle ministrations were no longer helping.

“I need to get ready,” she said mournfully, moving to stand from the bed.

Killian stopped her with a hand on her wrist, “Everything alright, love?”

“Yeah, everything’s great. The meeting with the label got moved and there’s already a car on its way. Which normally wouldn’t be a big deal but-” she shrugged, still angry but also starting to blush, “We were getting to the good stuff.”

“That we were,” he agreed with a salacious grin. Then the grin faded and he narrowed his eyes at her, “Was there something else she said? You seem upset over more than just an earlier meeting.”

Emma hesitated. As much as she wanted to share her frustration with Regina dictating her life she couldn’t do so without bringing up the questions she’d successfully avoided since the morning after they’d first slept together. First and foremost, was what they were doing just as important to him as it was to her and if it was, then what did that mean for them once the tour was over and they returned to their respective lives. Chickening out she figured they could talk it over later, when there wasn’t a time constraint or a full day of interviews where she’d need to keep focused.

She shook her head and smiled, “Nothing you need to worry about. Regina just has me getting some list of songs together for some streaming thing and I have no idea what I’m going to pick. It takes me two hours to edit the playlists I already have, how the hell am I supposed to choose ten songs and then talk about them?”

“Simple, pick one of your playlists, put it on random and the first ten songs that play are the ones you choose,” he said easily. “You already know and enjoy those songs if you spent two hours picking them and there’s no pressure of trying to curate a perfect list from scratch.”

“That’s… actually a really good idea-” she beamed, grabbing her phone and bouncing up from the bed. She spun around and gave what she hoped was a come hither look, “You know, I hear California is in a drought. It’d be a shame to waste water by taking separate showers.”

His lips curled wickedly, “I’d say that I love the way your mind works, Swan.”

Taking his hand she led him into the bathroom and made good use of the less than twenty minutes they had before her car arrived. Several hours later, however, she wished she had pushed back a little more against the schedule Regina had set up for her. Of course she’d had no way of knowing that her too short morning with Killian was going to be the least stressful of her day.

Sitting in one of the green rooms at Enchanted XM between the recording session for her song picks and her interview she let her eyes slide shut. It had already been a long day and it was nowhere near being over and done with. The breakfast meeting had been good, the representatives from the label had been pleased that she had already written a few songs that she felt were strong contenders for the next album and they had easily agreed to giving her three months off after the tour to work on the rest. Even Regina had been pleased with the meeting, if her short and not too unreasonable list of demands for moving forward were any indication.

The interview she’d done directly after had been the kind that she’d gotten used to over the years. Questions that were more often than not the same ones others had asked her time and again. She’d gotten good at making it sound like she was hearing them for the first time and varying her answers just enough so she didn’t sound like a robot. The best part were the teasing texts from Killian waiting for her once she was done. She was surprised and touched that he had taken the time out of his day to listen to her interview, especially since he knew how unexciting they could be.

As her day continued Regina had left her to make her way to the Enchanted XM studios on her own. Once there she had immediately had to get to work ironing out her list of songs and recorded the intros with the program producer. It had been more fun than she’d anticipated. She’d already had her choices written down in one of her ever present notebooks, having listened to a randomized playlist in the car on her way to breakfast like Killian had suggested. The first ten songs that had played had been perfect but she’d made one substitution to make sure that a Realm of Jewels song was one of her picks. It was her thank you to Killian for giving her the idea in the first place and a not so subtle wink to whatever was going on between them.

The producer, a woman named Gwen, had been impressed with her choices. They’d spent nearly an hour talking them over, working through a rough script of what she would say about each one. Then she had been taken to a small recording booth where it had taken less than an hour to get what they needed. She’d wanted to text Killian about it but Gwen had immediately invited her to lunch and she hadn’t had the chance. Once they’d returned to Enchanted’s headquarters she’d been asked to record a few small promos for the stations that played her songs in heavy rotation. Not willing to say no she’d been ushered to another recording booth with barely any time to take a breath.

Being left alone in the green room was a welcome break from what had become an increasingly busy day. Just as she was about to pull out her phone for the first time since after her first interview the door opened and Regina stormed in, angrily snapping at whoever the poor soul was that was still in the hallway.

“-not recording as scheduled and I want to know why a rider was requested when nothing that is on it is in this room. There’s not even a bottle of water. See that it gets taken care of.”

“Of course, Ms. Mills.”

The disembodied voice wavered slightly and Emma's earlier annoyance at Regina flared back up.

“The water that’s in here is fine,” she called out, leaning forward and catching the eye of the young woman in the hallway giving her an apologetic smile. She turned pointedly to Regina and glared, “I don’t need anything else.”

“That’s not the point,” Regina sniffed, her dark eyes narrowing followed by the sound of retreating footsteps. “Certain expectations were to be met and they weren’t. Just one more thing this company has failed at. I have a mind to stop booking appearances here if they’ll just be treated like this.”

“Okay, this is about something more than water bottles and a missing box of Milk Duds. What’s going on?” Emma asked suspiciously.

Regina pursed her lips as she took out her phone and began rapidly typing. Emma waited patiently for her to answer, knowing better than to push if she wanted to keep her head on her shoulders. With a final tap on her screen Regina focused back on her with a wary look that immediately had her on edge.

“You were supposed to do the on air interview with Graham Humbert but apparently due to an ‘unfortunate’-” Regina rolled her eyes, “scheduling conflict you have to do it with Walsh Hoakley instead.”

Emma groaned. An interview with Graham would have been fun and easy. They’d both gotten their start in the business around the same time, so he not only knew what types of questions she enjoyed answering but what her boundaries were when it came to her personal life. Walsh, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

Every interview she’d had with him had her sitting through bad jokes and his comparing her career against his own. He had been the frontman of a pop punk group that had taken a break almost a decade before, though he insisted that it was only a matter of time before they would release another album. It was bad enough she had to play nice as he gave her unsolicited advice but once the mics were turned off he tended to dial up his smarmy charm and invite her out for drinks or a meal. She’d always firmly said no but he’d kept it up and after their last interview nearly two years earlier she’d told Regina that she preferred not to do any more with him.

“I thought he was with that big station in New York,” she said sullenly.

“Apparently not,” Regina sniffed. Her eyes softened fractionally, “Do you want me to reschedule?”

“No,” she sighed, “We’re already here and I know we don’t have any time to come back while we’re still in LA. Plus I don’t want rumors starting that I’m being difficult over Walsh Hoakley. I don’t want to give him that honor.”

Regina smirked, “I’m sure he’d dine out on that for years.”

“He would. So where’d you disappear to?” Emma asked, through talking about Walsh.

“I do have other clients that happen to conveniently live where their label’s offices and some of the best recording studios are,” Regina said drolly, perching herself delicately on a chair. “You might want to reexamine the benefits of moving out here after this tour is done. You’re only going to get bigger from here on out.”

She hummed noncommittally. For a few seconds she let herself daydream about moving into Killian’s beachfront house, waking up in his arms every morning before heading to the studio that would admittedly be leaps and bounds better than the one back in Maine. She could almost see herself returning at the end of her day to find Killian preparing dinner in the kitchen or strumming his guitar on the balcony. Before her thoughts went any further than that she stopped them in their tracks, forcing herself to remember all the reasons why she loved living in Storybrooke and to not let herself get wrapped up in a fantasy. She didn’t let herself dwell on how her imaginings had given her the same feelings of home that her real memories of Storybrooke did.

Ten minutes and an increasingly impatient Regina later another assistant came to show them to the recording booth. From behind the glass they watched as Walsh introduced the next group of songs that would be playing and teased her interview. As soon as he switched off his mic she was ushered into the booth, shown which headphones and mic to use and then left alone with him. To her great relief he smiled and shook her hand, seemingly not knowing that she had requested not to do interviews with him. She smiled back, settling in the chair in front of the mic she’d been shown and adjusted everything to her liking. As they waited for the queued songs to finish playing they made small talk about their day and the thankfully very few mutual acquaintances they had.

The interview started off well. Walsh only mentioned his band Behind the Curtain twice and kept his advice to a minimum. Emma found herself actually enjoying the questions he asked, responding with enthusiasm when he asked about living in Maine and her writing process. She was so caught up in lightheartedly debating with him over notebooks versus a phone app to write lyrics that she was surprised when he mentioned that their time was drawing to a close.

“So, Emma, before you go, how has this tour been so far? You’ve only got a few shows left right?”

“Yeah, just the last few cities heading north but it’s been really, really great,” she enthused, “This is the biggest tour I’ve ever done and the fans have been amazing in every city we’ve played. I’m actually really looking forward to tomorrow night’s show since it’s where they have the Oscars.”

“Right, the Dolby theater, when we played it was still the Kodak and it’s a great venue. Bigger than what you would think when you see it on tv,” Walsh said with a wink and a grin.

Emma fought against a cringe at his bad innuendo, glad that he hadn’t been like that through the whole interview.

“I haven’t had a chance to get in the space yet and, I know this is really nerdy or whatever, but I’m really excited to stand on the same stage that some of my favorite actors have been on. I mean, some of my idols have played there and it’s always an honor to get to perform where they have too, but come on, tomorrow I could be standing in the exact spot where Meryl Streep or Tom Hanks or Oprah have stood. Oprah!”

Walsh chuckled, “So you still get starstruck meeting other celebrities?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a nod. “I don’t even think of myself as a celebrity. I live in the same town I mostly grew up in, all my friends are ones I’ve had since before I even thought about recording an album, I don’t even have ‘people’ or whatever. I nearly had a heart attack seeing Lady Gaga from across the room at a benefit concert once.”

“So how was it when you met Killian Jones, famous guitarist for Realm of Jewels, before the start of your tour?”

She shot a glance to the window into the sound booth where Regina had been throughout the whole interview. Regina barely looked up from her phone and nodded, twirling her hand in a gesture Emma took to mean keep going. They had talked about what would happen when Killian was finally recognized but the longer they went without it happening the more she had convinced herself that they could get through the whole tour with no one the wiser. It seemed their time was up. Taking a deep breath to settle her racing heart she looked back at Walsh and found him watching her closely.

“I was surprised and a little annoyed actually,” she said with a small laugh. “Ruby, the guitarist I usually tour with, had broken her arm but said that she’d found her replacement for me. The thing was she wouldn’t tell me who it was so I walked into the recording studio and Killian was there. Realm of Jewels was one of my favorite bands, still is, so seeing him sitting there was a kinda surreal fangirl moment and intimidating too, knowing how good of a guitarist he is.”

“Rumors have been circulating on social media for a few weeks that it was Killian onstage for your tour and then earlier this afternoon uber-producer Robin Locksley seemed to confirm it-” Walsh pulled up a sheet of paper and began reading, “He said in an interview: ‘I’m very excited to begin working with Killian Jones on new music and other projects moving forward. He’s been touring the past few weeks as a backing guitarist and he told me it’s been a great first step to getting back out there. I was even fortunate enough to hear a few rough cuts of songs he’s already written for a new solo album and they’re amazing. I really can’t wait.’ Since you’ve confirmed it yourself have you heard any of his new songs while on the road? He’s already with your label and turns out he signed on with your manager Regina Mills back in March so will the rest of the tour be a double bill? Maybe even a possibility of a duet in the future?”

Emma felt dazed, like she’d been hit with a pillow shot out of a cannon. She had completely forgotten that Robin had become a music producer after Liam and Milah had died. He’d even sent her an email after her last album had been released, saying he wanted to work with her at some point. That little detail was nothing compared to the realization that Killian hadn’t mentioned that his lunch with Robin was really about business. He hadn’t even hinted that he had whole songs written let alone recorded anything. Worst of all was that he had signed on with Regina before he’d joined the tour and she knew without a doubt Regina would do anything necessary to further a client’s career. Especially if the final outcome would prove advantageous for two clients at once.

“I, uh, haven’t listened to anything he’s recorded-”

Her phone buzzed at her elbow. There were several notifications but the preview screen showed a text from Regina. She opened it in a daze.

Regina: No double billing, play coy about duet, plug rest of tour, still seats in Vancouver

The fog she’d been in cleared away as white hot anger took its place. She looked at Regina through the glass and found her making the same ‘continue on’ motion she had before. There was no sign of an apology on her features, only impatience and the ever present look of expectation that she perform well. While acting wasn’t her forte she was more than ready to give the performance of a lifetime.

“Killian was only brought on temporarily until Ruby was well enough to play again. Luckily her recovery happened to work out perfectly with us arriving in LA-” she knew she sounded too upbeat but pushed through, “I’m sorry to dash any hopes but Killian has decided to stay here and focus on his own music. Ruby will be back for tomorrow night’s show and will be finishing out the tour. We’re sold out for most of those shows but I think there’s still some tickets left for Vancouver, but not many.”

“So, no duet?” Walsh asked hopefully and Emma wasn’t sure if he meant musically or hinting at something between her and Killian.

“Nope,” she said decisively, her heart cracking as she did. “I’ll be taking some time off after this tour is done. Rest and relaxation are the only duets I’ll be performing any time soon.”

Walsh laughed, “Now that’s a duo everyone loves. Well, Emma, it’s been great talking to you.”

“You too,” she said with feigned pleasure.

“Here’s Emma’s latest single ‘Snowdrops and Buttercups’ which has been flying up the charts. Safe to say you’ll be playing it tomorrow?”

“Yup. It’s been fun to see the responses get more enthusiastic as it gets played on the radio more,” she said, finally feeling like she was being genuine.

“That’s always a great feeling,” Walsh said with a grin. “Alright, here it is ‘Snowdrops and Buttercups’. Thanks for stopping by, Emma.”

“Thanks for having me.”

As the first notes of her song filled the studio Emma ripped off the headphones, ignoring the constant buzz of her phone at her elbow. She wasn’t sure who it was that was calling, she’d told everyone important to her about the interview and she knew they had probably all tuned in to listen. With the way her pulse was pounding in her temples she wasn’t too sure she could keep herself from unfairly snapping at whoever it was and whatever questions they were going to have.

“Emma?”

She looked up at Walsh and by the way his grin faltered a bit she was sure that her anger was painted clear across her face.

“Yeah?”

“Er, I was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink?” He asked hesitantly. “Talk a little shop, maybe?”

“I already have plans,” she said shortly, the words tasting like the ashes of the evening she originally thought she’d be having.

“Coffee then? Or lunch? I’m up for anything really,” He said with a wink and a chuckle.

“Look, I don’t know how much more clear I can make this but I’m not ‘up’ for doing anything with you,” she snapped, his annoying persistence the final straw. “I thought that you’d gotten better than the last time you tried this but apparently not.”

She snatched up her phone and turned to leave when she heard him scoff and mutter something under his breath. She spun back to face him.

“Wanna share with the whole room?”

“Yeah, actually,” he said with a sneer that twisted his face into something vicious. “You act all high and mighty but you’re just a step away from falling into obscurity just like me. That whole thing about Jones was given to me by your people and by tomorrow morning both your careers will be reaping the benefits from it. I could have helped you along even further with the contacts I have in this business.”

Emma gaped at him, “By going out with you? Classy, you sack of shit.”

Something flashed in Walsh’s eyes, “You-”

“Emma! Let’s go, now.”

For half a second she was grateful that Regina had burst into the room, then she remembered why she was angry in the first place. She brushed past her, ignoring her stream of hissing admonishments and the stuttered apologies of the producer. Halfway back to the green room she realized her phone was still buzzing non-stop. Her stomach lurched, not wanting to know if it was Killian calling when she was walking the thin line between yelling at him or breaking down in tears. Steeling herself she finally looked at the screen and breathed a sigh of relief, swiping to answer.

“Ruby, pack your shit. I need you in LA tonight.”

#captain swan #captain swan fan fic #captain swan ff #captain swan fanfiction #captain swan fan fiction #cs ff #cs fanfic #cs fan fic #ouat ff #my writing

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catboymingi · 3 years

Text

prince charming - veninder chap. 9

navi/masterlist

story masterlist

pairing: mingi x reader

genre: fluff; soon best friends to lovers

word count: 7.2k

warnings: hints at abuse, some language

det ku’ være os to - it could be the two of us

mingi woke up around eleven, for a moment slightly confused about what had happened, but when he saw you fast asleep in his arms he knew where he was and, most importantly, with whom he was, smiling a little and trying not to move so he wouldn’t wake you up. you looked peaceful, even though you were drooling on his chest a little; he honestly thought it was adorable. you’d moved a little in your sleep so your head was now more in the middle of his chest, upper body half on top of his, being absolutely adorable as you clung to him as if he was a big teddy bear. it was sweet, it was how he wished it could always be, and he fell asleep smiling, peaceful as well until a very certain person’s phone caused him to wake up about six hours later.

“good morning, pretty”, he hummed as he slowly opened his eyes, for once not that angry at your alarm, and you puffed as you forced yourself to get off him even though he was so warm and so comfortable.

“really pretty, drooling all over your shirt. i should get a modelling contract.”

you turned off your alarm, now on the room side of the bed because your phone had been on his night table, with him scooting closer to the wall side so you wouldn’t fall down. as soon as the alarm was off, however, the distance he’d brought between you turned nonexistent as he pulled you against him, because while he wasn’t angry at your alarm he was still tired and in need of cuddles and you looked so cosy, hair messy and eyes all heavy and in his shirt.

“you’re so pretty i don’t even mind you drooling all over my shirt”, he informed you, stroking your hair gently with his other arm wrapped around your waist.

“be nice”, even though he was being nice and that was the problem - he was too nice, making you flustered because he just randomly called you pretty like this.

“mh”, he murmured, just leaving you be for now because he knew he was being nice, too, but he could also guess why you were reacting this way. so, instead of trying to argue, he just buried his face in your hair, which was very soft and smelled like hair dye, something he told you with a smile you weren’t able to see on his face.

“you’ll have to keep dyeing it for me whenever the colour fades”, you informed him, mainly just wanting him to wash your hair again because it had felt so nice and domestic and you’d liked his ministrations, the way he’d gently massaged your scalp to get all the dye out, how soft he’d been when he’d dried your hair after, all those cute things.

“will do”, happy you wanted him to be the one to dye it again. “sleep more or get up now?”

“hm…”, you hummed, thinking about it. “we can sleep some more, but i’ll have to get up at 6.30, for the alt girl revival.”

“i’m excited”, though he sounded more like he was about to fall back asleep any second, “but let’s sleep now.”

and because you wouldn’t be able to escape his hold anyway you just let him spoon you, turning off all alarms until 6.30 before you closed your eyes to nap until the next alarm would wake you up.

when that happened mingi groaned into your hair, not very pleased, but let go of you anyway. it was time to get up, he knew that, so he rubbed his eyes, almost elbowing your back because his movements weren’t the most coordinated in his tired state.

“sorry”, he grumbled, voice deeper than usual because for some reason he was more tired now than he’d been one and a half hours ago when your first alarm had rung.

“i’ll just go get ready, you can stay here”, you tried to compromise, but he was clingy and didn’t want you to be away for more than an hour, which was how long it’d take for your next alarm to ring.

“you do your makeup here”, he almost ordered, and you sighed, smiling.

“fine. but i’ll go get dressed now, so see you soon.” and before he could protest you slipped out of the bed, leaving him missing your warmth as he watched you gather your clothes and take off to the bathroom.

lucky for him he didn’t have to wait long, though, because you were back less than ten minutes later, now wearing everything but the garters which you’d chosen to neglect for now in case he wanted to cuddle some more, because they wouldn’t be the most comfortable and you’d run risk of genuinely hurting him if he held you too tight.

“how do i look?”

you really hoped he’d approve of the outfit he’d chosen, both because you wanted him to think you looked good and because it was either this or the clothes you’d worn last night, or maybe your pyjamas if you were desperate.

he let out a sound that was either a “wow” or an “oh”, you weren’t exactly sure, but by the way he’d sat up and by how big his eyes were you assumed it was more a wow; it was a sound of approval, at least.

“good?” and because unlike him you’d had time to wake up, time to clean your (slightly drool-covered) face with cold water, you were awake enough to be silly, turning around so he could see you from all sides and pretending his room was a catwalk, something that did not at all match the actual outfit.

“really good. stunning.”

he seemed about as flustered as you as he realised what he’d said - his mouth seemed to have moved without his help, just complimenting you in his half-asleep state without trying to maybe make it a little less embarrassing, a little less whipped. but you did look stunning, in his opinion, bright hair and tights and everything else being entirely black, a combination he knew from experience looked good, but he hadn’t expected it to look this good on you. when you genuinely looked comfortable in your skin, wearing what you liked, you seemed to be glowing, looking much better than usual, both in his professional and in his much more emotionally affected opinion.

“do you have a mirror here? otherwise i’ll have to do it in the bathroom.”

you wanted to give him the option to watch you, but without a mirror that wouldn’t work. he got up now, though, making his way to the chair and rummaging the mess on his desk that you’d respectfully ignored whenever you were there because the rest of his room wasn’t messy at all.

“there should be one here from when seonghwa…” the rest was quiet mumbles, making it obvious that he was just talking to himself, trying to remember where on earth this mirror was. then, a delighted “ah!” as he found it, a fairly small one, but he hoped it’d do.

“big enough?”

he held it out for you, and the excitement on his face (was he genuinely excited about watching you do makeup? incredible) made you nod even though you would have preferred a bigger one.

“you need to hold it so i can use both hands”, you let him know, and he nodded, sitting down on the bed cross-legged with the mirror resting against his legs because this would be more stable, he guessed, while you got out your little makeup bag.

“so, what’s the vibe for today?”, you asked him jokingly, but mingi seemed to genuinely be thinking.

“big and scary. i want to see what you would’ve looked like if i’d met you back then. please?”

“got it”, opening the little bag and getting out a bunch of stuff he’d seen in theory but never in use. then you started, and as he watched you do your makeup on the floor in front of him, concentrated though your face was expressionless, he couldn’t help but text his own group chat with the boys, the one you weren’t in.

[mingi]: i think i have a thing for alt girls actually

and a reply came almost immediately, from hongjoong, even though it was maybe seven in the morning.

[bad cop]: i think you just have a thing for y/n

while it was true, he didn’t have to say it like that, because even though you already knew he liked you so there was nothing to keep secret it was still embarrassing to be called out for it like this. because of that his phone ended up thrown to the chair after he locked it, causing you to lift your head and look at him questioningly.

“nothing, don’t worry”, the giant told you before you’d had a chance to ask, and you just accepted the reply, continuing to paint your face in a way that would have mingi fall in love with you even deeper because you just looked so pretty like that and he most definitely did have a thing for alt girls, he decided.

“scary enough?”, you asked once you considered yourself done, looking up at him with a smile on your now bright red lips - you’d ditched the black because of university, but that didn’t mean black wouldn’t have been your preferred choice.

“i don’t actually know if i can even go to uni like this”, something you hadn’t thought about earlier but that you now worried about just a little - you’d dressed like this the first few days, before your old friend group had adopted you, but you found yourself weirdly insecure now.

“absolutely, you can”, the redhead was quick to reassure, “it looks great.”

this time he was able to control himself from being embarrassing and spewing out the first compliments that came to his mind, even though it was hard when you looked… hot like that. you’d been really pretty before, but that was the vibe usually, pretty. the only other time that you’d been hot was at that damned party where he’d never gotten to enjoy the time with you, so this was a first, in a way. and that you used to just look like this on the daily had his thoughts race, a few wanting to go in directions they shouldn’t be going, but he caught himself and forced them back to how glad he was that he was the one who got to watch you do your makeup in the morning, how he’d gotten to pick your outfit or dye your hair.

“you sure? i haven’t done it like this in ages.”

now you were looking up at him curiously, scanning his face for any sign of lying, but he was sure. you looked great, and if he had the right to he’d show you off to anyone that cared and even those that didn’t.

“i can do yours too”, you teased, but then he was actually considering it, and a few minutes later you found yourself sitting across him on the floor, leaning in close trying to figure out how to decently apply eyeshadow to monolids.

“i’m sorry if it looks bad”, you apologised, though there was no need to, not for him - no matter what you’d do, he’d love it.

“eyeliner too?”, because you weren’t sure just how alt boy-adjacent he wanted to look, and since he couldn’t feel your hands on his face so he wasn’t running risk of ruining any makeup he nodded.

“okay, this is going to be weird. keep your eyes closed for now, i’ll tell you when to open”, mingi listening like a well-behaved puppy, keeping them close while you drew the line on his top lids, then opening and barely flinching when you pulled on the skin beneath his eyes to get to apply the eyeliner to the bottom lid, looking carefully to see whether or not you’d done a good job, and repeating the same with the other eye.

“now you look like a real bad boy”, you told him proudly once you were pleased, and handed him the mirror so he could check himself.

“you need to do this more often”, the giant sweetheart let you know, “i look really handsome like this.”

“as if you don’t usually”, you dismissed his hidden attempt at self-deprecation, “but i can do that, if you want me to.”

if you hadn’t been so close you might have missed the smile he tried to suppress because he felt a little ridiculous about it, but you noticed, and it made you smile, too.

“i can’t decide if i want to look like this daily or just on special occasions”, mingi mused, looking at himself in the mirror again. he didn’t know why exactly he felt so much more handsome because of a little eyeshadow and -liner, but he did. maybe because, despite your worries about being completely lost when you were trying to do his makeup, you actually knew what you were doing.

“you can’t rub your eyes now though, or you’ll look like a raccoon”, you warned him, because you had a feeling that he hadn’t actually thought about that yet.

“i probably need to bring some makeup wipes” - the one thing he knew existed and also the name of - “just in case.”

“got you”, handing him the entire package, seeing how you knew not to touch your face and they’d dry out if you handed him single ones. he smiled gratefully, pushing them next to his bag so he’d remember them later even if he was too lazy to get up right now. then, he pulled you against him as he leaned against the bed, and you stayed hugging like this until it was time to get breakfast, talking about everything and nothing.

the day was spent surprising everyone you saw with your makeover, the boys being first, seemingly more surprised by mingi than by you, even though you looked a lot more different than he did. but they liked the look, they assured, sending teasing messages to their private group chat as soon as you’d left for university, telling mingi that it did seem like he had a thing for alt girls when he even let you put makeup on him.

then, on the train, the tall, now very intimidating redhead held your hand, staring down everyone who dared to send you weird looks. not that that was needed - you’d dealt with judgmental glares before, when this was your daily attire, and you knew how to handle them, but the gesture was still appreciated.

at university you were much more grateful for him being there to stare people down, or more specifically, a certain group of people that seemed even less pleased now that you weren’t even trying to adhere to their rules for dressing anymore. you’d fully distanced yourself in the last three and a half weeks, and they weren’t happy about it. but mingi towered next to you, a protective and somewhat threatening presence, making it known that he’d be there to finish any shit that they’d start. and it was obvious, from the look of determination in his eyes, who would win.

you were sad to have to leave him for class, but that was made up for when you came to the lunch table and mingi had somehow managed to acquire liquorice - most likely through magic, because you’d found this impossibly hard yourself, so you’d given up on this childhood snack in right after you’d moved out from home after high school.

“where’d you get this?”, voice and expression clearly displaying your surprise, and he grinned proudly.

“i found out that it’s apparently really common in finland, and then i looked up foreign food stores, and then i sent the boys to look for this. i hope it’s the right kind.”

you grabbed the little box, trying to not be too touched because you’d need the makeup wipes you’d given him otherwise, and found that there was a little folded note attached to the lid that did not seem to belong there.

you carefully removed it, unfolding it, and it got really hard to not be too touched when you read what the sweetheart next to you had written.

y/n,

i know you pretend you don’t mind, but i can tell you really miss finland sometimes, and while i can’t bring you there i can try to bring a little finland to you. hopefully this helps fill your heart with warmth the way you do for me. and if it does, i know where to get it now, so i can get you a monthly supply if it would make you happy! if you just smile that bright smile of yours again, it’s worth it.

terveisin,

mingi

you focused on the fact that he’d used the kind of ending phrase you’d use for business enquiries, because if you’d focus too much on his sweet message you’d be sobbing in no time.

“mingi?”, you tried to catch his attention, not knowing that his eyes hadn’t left your face for even a second while you’d read it, “terveisin isn’t how i’d end a letter to you.”

“is it rude?” panic in his eyes, and you quickly reassured him.

“no, no! it’s just kind of formal. but thank you, a lot.” the last words quiet and full of genuine gratitude, which made him squeeze your leg right above the knee to show you that he’d heard you, not wanting to make the situation awkward for either of you.

“anytime.” and he meant it, because your smile when you’d seen the liquorice and read the note and the raw emotion you were trying to hide right now showed him that the letter was both appreciated and very much worth it. so he’d write you more little notes, whenever he had something to say, wanting to see that smile again. as he said in the note, the bright smile of yours made whatever hassle he’d have to go through worth it.

despite the warmth and emotions coursing through the two of you’s veins right now you were glad when wooyoung spoke up, asking just what mingi had chased the boys through the entirety of seoul for just so he could get it for you.

“you want to try? it’s kind of salty”, you asked while holding the little box towards the others, offering each of them to try if they wanted to.

they all accepted, though the reactions were mixed - some seemed to have a very strong aversion, and their reactions made you giggle, a cute sound in stark contrast to your harsh exterior, a sound that only made the redhead fall for you more whenever he heard it.

“you make fun of me for not being able to eat spicy when this isn’t even real salmiakki!”, you teased, glad to finally have the grounds to do so.

the ones you called out grumbled but accepted their fate, choosing to eat their lunch instead.

the next two days continued similarly, except on friday your little note was a reservation for the cinema date that your teddy bear owed you, and you rolled your eyes at him, though smiling at him with your still red lips - you hadn’t yet dared to do what you most liked to do, something your old friends had called the kim possible lip when you’d first met them, a dark colour on the top lip and a brighter one painting the bottom one, even though a certain redhead had tried to convince you to do it, and he would try again for the date today.

“what time?”, and because the boys had gotten used to mingi trying to win your heart and because he might just use them to get everything to be perfect and figure out what would be most to your liking - something he didn’t see as cheating the “it has to be authentically you” request, because his ideas were still his, he just asked them whether or not he’d make a total fool of himself, something he’d do about any other girl, too - they didn’t even question it anymore, because the two of you had frequently agreed on the time for your study session at the lunch table, too, even before he had started openly trying to make you fall for him.

“depends on the movie”, an answer that should’ve been obvious to you because of course you’d have to decide on a movie before you’d go if you didn’t want to risk waiting for ages until a fitting movie started playing.

you chose the movie right there, with some of the boys being annoying and chiming in, giving their (obviously very professional) opinions, seonghwa texting mingi while the others were causing chaos, lucky that you weren’t using his but your phone to check the timetables because otherwise seonghwa would have mercilessly embarrassed his friend.

[good cop]: pick horror so you can comfort her

[mingi]: absolutely not.

technically, the idea wasn’t bad, if you weren’t so horribly, awfully, incredibly scared of horror movies and if the giant didn’t prioritise your feelings over a poor attempt at getting closer to you. so, instead, you picked something that, based on the reviews, was somewhat dramatic, but with some humorous scenes as well, and of course, romance, because there really wasn’t any movie without at least a hint of romance.

once that was done and lunch was eaten, you decided to go home, each to their own place, to get ready for the evening. while you were texting san, who had become your second-best friend, your date for the night had gathered everyone else in his room to help him decide what to wear, because he wanted something that was casual, but not too casual, something that showed that he’d put effort in, but not too much effort, and something that would match with you, at which point san was forcibly added to his group of fashion advisors because he knew what you would wear, even though he wouldn’t show anyone else because it was supposed to be a surprise, because that was how dates worked.

so, without his consent, san had become the line of indirect communication between his two red-haired friends, telling you that mingi would love whatever you’d wear and telling mingi just how much black he should add to his outfit and how much of a bad boy he should be, then telling you that your date wanted to wear makeup but had failed horribly when he’d tried to apply it himself so you’d have to plan some time for that, and telling mingi that you said that was fine, that you could do that, feeling like a poor excuse of a messenger pigeon when the two of you could technically just text each other yourselves.

the outfit decisions worked out well, probably largely owed to san’s efforts, with the two of you looking like you were there together but not too obviously trying to match. both of you were dressed in all black, with you wearing bright green fishnets and a bright green print on your shirt to contrast both the black of your clothes and the red hair because, while you didn’t care much about the colours you wore going well with each other since everything went well with black, you wanted to look good for mingi on your first real date.

it seemed to work, because despite obviously looking like a bad boy when you opened the door for him with black ripped jeans and a leather jacket you were pretty certain he’d borrowed from one of his friends his expression was that of a victorian schoolboy who saw a naked knee for the first time in his life, surprised, but not unpleasantly so.

“you’ll get some green, too, don’t worry”, you pretended to reassure him (it was teasing, actually, your tone was a teasing one), and soon after he was wearing bright green eyeshadow matching the one adorning your own eyes.

the trip to the cinema was weirder for him than for you, because you were used to being stared at and looking intimidatingly alternative, but he wasn’t used to looking like a bad boy if he wasn’t going to a party, the baddest thing about him being his red hair that, when it was fading to a pale-ish pink-orange shade, just made him look adorable. so while you were relaxed he was nervously playing with your fingers, something you didn’t mind in the slightest, but something he stopped once you got to the cinema and he bought the tickets and the snacks to go with the movie.

you’d chosen sweet churros and both sweet and cheese-flavoured popcorn, the cheese flavour mainly because you were curious about how it tasted and mingi assured that if you didn’t like it he would eat it. then, two large colas (he meant it when he said he’d get you all the snacks in the world), before you moved to your seats, completely packed because he was just like that.

he was shy to hold your hand during the movie, strangely, because this time it very much felt like a romantic thing when before that it had more been a friend thing, even though he did have feelings for you. he’d done it to pull you along with him, or just because he felt like it, but he felt like if he held your hand now, in the dark cinema, it would very obviously be a romantic gesture, and he wasn’t sure if you’d be comfortable with that. this was only your second date, and the first one had been dyeing your hair, something that maybe didn’t even really count, so he was incredibly uncertain.

but then, as the cliché went, your hands brushed against each other as you reached for the popcorn - you wanted to try the cheese flavour, and he wanted some sweet popcorn, and the respective flavour was on the end farther away from the one who wanted it -, and mingi took it as a sign to stop being a baby and just hold your hand, though he asked first in case he’d stop you from eating or just plain made you uncomfortable if he just held it.

“can i, uh…”, and then he went to grab it (though he didn’t yet, his fingers lightly brushing against yours) rather than finishing the question, because it was embarrassing to ask about holding your hand out loud, for some reason, “do this?”

he was adorable, his cute awkward behaviour causing you to smile in the darkness, and you did grab his hand that was still shy to hold yours. he smiled, too, a happy grin that was half illuminated by the screen, and it seemed like he was still grinning by the time the movie was over, the only moments where he hadn’t been grinning those when he put food in his mouth or drank a little.

the redhead brought you home, too, insisting that that was how one did after a date, even though you wouldn’t have complained about it either way. and he asked to stay the night, because he saw that something was a little off and he wanted to be there in case something was upsetting you that you’d like to talk about.

since it was already kind of late the two of you immediately got changed - after weeks of being your best friend he’d finally stored one of his pyjamas at your place so he wouldn’t have to be shirtless whenever he was spontaneously staying over -, cuddling up in bed together and you trying to pretend that there was nothing on your mind.

“what’s wrong?”

you’d been surprisingly quiet in his arms since you got to your place, been quiet ever since the cinema, and of course he’d notice, even though you’d tried your best not to show anything.

“i don’t know, it feels stupid.”

the giant sweetheart turned you around gently so he could look at you and saw the obvious frown on your face, trying to smooth the lines on your forehead with his thumb.

“doesn’t matter even if it is stupid. what’s wrong?”

you were still frowning, and he was still trying to smooth the lines, though mainly as a calming movement to maybe cheer you up.

“i just realised we just went on a date. so that’s my first date and, i don’t know, i’m scared you won’t want to go on any more and this is like… i don’t know, i told you it’s stupid.”

his movements were so gentle, you wanted to stay in his arms forever.

“it’s not stupid, y/n. and i do still want to go on more, if you’d want to, as well. i just don’t want you to regret it. do you regret it?”

a question mingi couldn’t stop himself from asking, though he tried to not show how nervous the potential answer made him.

“no. maybe, i don’t know.” and because you saw his face fall you elaborated, because you didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. “i don’t regret spending the time with you or anything, and i don’t regret going on a date with you. i guess it’s more, i’m scared that you’ll figure out you don’t like me, and then one of the firsts on my bucket list is already… gone sounds weird, but i don’t know how to say it better. i kind of want first date, first relationship, first kiss, first time, first house, first pet, first baby, all those things, i want to stay with the same person. when i’m with someone i don’t want it to just be a temporary thing.”

then, as if you’d realised what you just said: “that doesn’t mean you have to be with me if you don’t want to! i’m sorry, this sounds like so much pressure, i’m not saying don’t even try unless you want to marry me someday, except maybe i am. i don’t know. it’s all hard to figure out.”

moving closer to him so you could hide your face in his neck and he could rest his head on top of yours, because you didn’t want to look at him now, you still thought how you felt was stupid, but the redhead was thinking about your words.

he most definitely was not ready for marriage, or a house or a baby, but he knew marriage at least was something he wanted for his own future, and if it were with the person he loved, and if you were the person he loved, why not stay with you? the thought of having a future with you made him feel strange, but not in a bad way. it was scary to think about having as big of a future, with a wife and a house and kids, but it wasn’t scary to think about being with you. the only scary thing about that was thinking about not being good enough for you, but you being scared to dump him because you didn’t want to have ‘wasted’ a first if you were just going to leave him after.

“it’s okay”, he reassured, stroking your hair now, “i’m not going to talk about marriage, but i wouldn’t mind being with you for a while, as long as you can stand me”, a joke to hopefully make you feel a little better, but it was also how he felt, secretly, scared that you’d be the one to get tired of him.

“if it helps, we don’t have to go on dates?”, though he wanted to so bad, he wanted the time you spent with him to be special and have a special name, but he even more so wanted you to feel comfortable, “or, how do i explain… you know those package deals? so we’ll call it a date for now, but if you end up not liking me” - he didn’t even consider that he might not like you, because he knew he was in way too deep already - “we can just pretend it wasn’t dates. it’s only dates if you get the whole thing after. a free trial period?”

and while his explanation was a little silly you were really grateful, because this seemed like a good compromise, seemed like something that could work for you. you did want to be with him (though not yet, you were still worried), but you didn’t want either of you to feel weird about it no matter the outcome, so this was good.

“thank you, teddy bear”, using the nickname as you nuzzled even closer against him because you were so grateful for him and for how understanding he was and had always been of your struggles with this.

“of course. let’s sleep now, hm?”

so you did, with him hugging you tightly and his face pressed against your hair, refusing to let go of you until he had to.

the sweet red-haired giant continued being more adorable than good for you, planning two to three incredibly cute dates per week, the next one a picnic on sunday where he brought you some flowers he’d picked on the sidewalk because he thought they were pretty, then a library date at seoul metropolitan library on wednesday because he’d done some googling and apparently there was an international collection, and he wanted to see if there were books in your languages so you could read for him, on saturday he took you to the color pool museum you for some reason had never been to yet and loved, and on the monday after that he went thrift shopping with you, having done some googling again to find alternative thrift shops for all your alt girl dreams. he always asked if you were free and if his plans were fine with you, which was always the case, and you fell for him harder and harder with all his cute dates and the thought he obviously put into all of them. on tuesday, after your afternoon classes, he told you he had something planned for you at his place if you were free, and you joined him excitedly, curious to see what was waiting for you this time.

though the first thing he did was tell you to get changed, giving you the hair dye shirt and a pair of old sweatpants that you could tell no longer fit him, because they almost fit you, and when both of you were dressed he told you you were going to paint with your fingers now.

and you did, on the living room floor with cut-up trash bags covering the wood, laying on your stomachs and, in the end, being covered in paint from when you just couldn’t control yourselves and had to paint the other one’s face.

the date after that was on saturday, having ordered hongjoong to be your private teacher because mingi wanted to tie dye shirts with you but had no idea how to do it, unlike his smaller friend. so the second-oldest taught you how to do it, carefully giving instructions, and when it seemed like you’d figured it out he left the two of you alone to do lovebird things.

the tall boy found out a lot about you through these dates, like that you preferred speaking swedish over speaking finnish because swedish had never been a language of punishment, instead it had been some kind of refuge because your father didn’t speak it. through this he found out that your father had most definitely not treated you with the kindness you’d have deserved, something that made his heart ache and had him promising himself that from now on he’d be there to protect you, he’d be there and he’d do his best to keep anyone from ever hurting you again. he also found out that you struggled financially when you told him you preferred thrifting both for ethical reasons and because your wallet couldn’t afford much else, and he took a mental note of trying to pay for small things for you when he could because he could most definitely afford it, and any won you saved would help you in the long run. he found out that you’d claim your favourite colour to be rainbow because you couldn’t decide on just one and didn’t want to hurt the other colours’ feelings (which was how he’d come up with the tie dye idea), something he found adorable, and he found out that you were good at drawing but terrible at painting, and that you refused to draw with anything but grey pencils. he loved all the little details he found out about you, all of them only making you more perfect in his eyes, more deserving of his complete adoration.

“i want one of the shirts you made”, you interrupted his adoring thoughts, and he looked at you confused.

“why that?”

“your shirts are always really soft, and they’re so big. perfect to sleep in. am i wearing shorts underneath, am i not wearing shorts underneath, the world may never know.”

mingi smiled down at the shirt he was currently working on at your joke, deciding that he would work on this one with a lot of love and that you’d get this one, then, because if you wanted a shirt from him then you’d get a shirt from him, and he’d try to make sure it was a good one. life was a little unfair, though, because he’d never get to wear one of your shirts without stretching it out impossibly much.

“you’ll get this one”, he let you know his decision, “but one day i want one of yours.”

“you could get one right now if you weren’t so tall”, whining a little because his height made life a little difficult for you sometimes, mainly when you wanted to hug him or when he teased you by randomly lifting you up while your arms were around his neck, feet dangling in the air until you’d give in and wrap your legs around him so he could carry you wherever he wanted to go.

“maybe you just have to grow”, he whined back, and you scoffed, choosing not to reply to that and instead giving him the cold shoulder for maybe one minute, until he asked you if you liked the colours because you would just have to accept them either way.

“you really wouldn’t make another one if i don’t like this?”, you asked him with big round eyes, and he cursed internally for being so absolutely soft for you, because instead of teasing you back he told you that he’d make you as many as you wanted, until you’d be happy.

“you’re sweet” was your reply, smiling at him, which caused him to lower his head and pretend to focus on the shirt he was dyeing when he was really just trying to hide his embarrassment.

hongjoong had greatly approved of your tie dye projects, and a day after the initial dyeing you’d stolen the shirt that was meant for you, choosing it as your pyjama shirt now and near refusing to take it off as you spent another night at the boys’ place. while he’d never admit it, the tall redhead was happy to see that, because while he’d never actually owned or worn the shirt it was still in a way his clothing that you’d claimed for yourself, and he wanted to see you wear his clothes more, wear them casually, wear your boyfriend’s clothes. and, as weird as it might have been, you wearing this big shirt was what made him not want to wait any longer to ask you out, really ask you out. it had been three weeks since the awkward and, in all honesty, less than perfect confession, and though he didn’t want to rush you he just really wanted to be able to call you his. so, he decided, he’d ask you the next day, during lunch.

what he hadn’t anticipated, though, was how nervous he’d be, fiddling with the hem of his shirt the entire lunch break as he waited for the perfect moment to give you the note he’d written that morning, rewritten like seven times and with the help of some slight googling and trying to write it as prettily as possible, especially the latin letters. though he didn’t know that you kept all his notes in a little box and read them sometimes when you felt anxious he still wanted the notes to be perfect, because you deserved perfect. especially when he was quite literally asking to date you.

but then lunch was almost over and yunho kicked his leg because he was being a coward and he yelped out and now he most definitely had your attention, and now there was no going back.

“i have something for you”, voice quiet and shy and, much to his dismay, not only your but also the boys’ eyes were on the two of you now. still, he handed you the little paper, starting to ramble as soon as the paper had changed owner.

“i know this looks like you don’t have a choice, but i just didn’t want to be the one to put the no right there, so i just added a comments section, but you can say no, of course, it’s fine, don’t worry about it, i’ll still be your friend and all, but i just felt like asking. you can also press snooze and i’ll ask again somewhen else, or give it back later if you need to think a little, everything is fine, i-”

“mingi”, you interrupted his nervous rambling, “will you let me read what you wrote before you worry so much?”

your words seemed kind of harsh, but your voice held a softness to it that was reserved for the tall baby in front of you only, so he knew you weren’t annoyed at his barely coherent rambling. you just wanted to calm him down, because he was obviously nervous.

“oh, yeah, of course, sorry.” staring at his hands which were now playing with each other in his lap, though not because he was hurt but because he was embarrassed, not wanting to see your reaction, which was a shame, because he missed the absolutely adoring smile that made its way to your face when you unfolded the little note. he’d even looked up the word for ‘girlfriend’ in swedish for you, and though you couldn’t be sure if that was why you suspected he’d chosen swedish because he knew you’d always been closer to your swedish-speaking mother than your finnish-speaking father.

will you be my flickvän? - mingi

[0] ja

[0] extra ja

comments:

the note was adorable, with a few sweet very mingi drawings, and you didn’t have to think twice about your reply, telling him to turn around and lean over so you could use his back as a surface to write on. and write you did, obviously filling out the comment section, making him nervous. then, you handed him the note, smiling before heading off to class, leaving him to stare at you dumbfounded while he wondered just what you’d written, but needing to wait until class was over to talk to you about it.

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bladekindeyewear · 4 years

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HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-05-19

Figured an upd8 was coming, it’s felt like enough time has passed for one.

Huh, looking at my last post I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to play through Pesterquest sometime... work is busy and stressing me out a bit, I’m not sure when I’ll have the energy on the side to do that. (Maybe I’ll livetweet it like I did Undertale a while ago, but this time not looking at my twitter replies so I don’t get spoiled by One Guy™?)

Also, including bonus commentary on A Threat Sensed.

Okay, going in completely blind. I’d guessed from context that we’re hopping over to Meat side to get a chapter there before we can come back to actually see Yiffy?

Yep. Okay, what is this about exactly?

(Agh, dammit, I’ve been copying and pasting so much at work remoting into Windows lately that now I’m automatically trying to hit control-C instead of command-C to copy.)

> CHAPTER 9. How Goes The Eulogizing, Dear?

CONTENT NOTE: This chapter contains Child Abuse.

Which one???

Wait

JANE: (Where is he?) JANE: (It's a question I've found myself asking many times in recent days.)

Holy SHIT we get two Candy chapters in a row??? So we might see her right away?? No, it’s gotta just be another tiny glimpse.

(Has two Candy chapters in a row happened before? Future Boots, scroll back up and put this here. FUTURE BOOTS: “I forgot to scroll back up and put that here.” EDIT: Also, not the first time with two in a row, but it IS the first time with THREE in a row, huh.)

So Jane has to be talking about either Tavros or Dave. --Oh, if this was a Candy Side chapter title, I guess Rose or Jade is eulogizing Dave for John?

> (==>)

JANE: (Where now is our merry savior?) JANE: (Where is the horn that was honking?) JANE: (Where is the cape and the codpiece, and the...) JANE: (The...) JANE: (Oh, fiddlesticks.)

What? Is she reading a childrens’ book? --Oh. She’s eulogizing Gamzee. So that gives us a third option, where the rebellion crashes the funeral somehow, probably audiovisually rather than in person. (Which would make sense, given Candy practically began with Gamzee crashing Dirk’s funeral.)

> (==>)

Ah never mind, she’s still writing it.

That sure is a single button drama-remote that’s going to be pressed at some point. Oh, and who the fuck keeps a spork in a pen cup??? --No no, don’t say it’s one of those pens with a spork at the eraser end, either ready-made or rubber-banded to the side. That would make sense. You totally know it isn’t that and is just a spork.

JANE: (Okay, poetry is out.) JANE: (What else?) JANE: (Hrm...) JANE: (I've always been pretty good at crying on cue.) JANE: (Could I try staging an emotional breakdown?) JANE: (That could work; playing to people's humanity.)

Why were you crying in Jake’s arms about his death if you didn’t care that much? Did you just want him to hold you and kinda make him feel in on things again? Or did you just cry yourself out about him?

JANE: (Or whatever is the more inclusive term.)

I bet the rest of Earth C figured out a more inclusive term millenia ago FUCK I accidentally added millennia to my dictionary misspelled instead of correcting it hold on--

...There, killed the entry for it. ...Huh. Take a look at my Chrome dictionary’s custom-added words over the years, apparently:

Caliborn Eridan Kanaya Matriorb Meenah Tavros alchemiter dichotomic nephilim reblogged uncaptchalogues uncaptchaloguing

That’s fun.

Okay back to reading. Millennia. Phew! Where was I.

JANE: (One really good and calculated weep could do it, I think.) JANE: (But then there's the danger that I might get carried away and do it for real.) JANE: (And I can't risk that.)

So still feeling something, just too used to calculating over the past years.

JANE: (What can I say about him that will stir up their emotions?) JANE: (Do I mention the stuff about the milk?) JANE: (Think Crocker, think.)

WHY would you-- how much did Gamzee normalize adult breastfeeding?!

JAKE: Ahoy over there!

Not the best time.

(The thing with the divorce papers from the Epilogue and John implying he was planning with Jake to execute something that sounds like a divorce... is that going to be sprung here? Did her lawyers send the divorce papers way back when she was in a fit of pique, and he just had them available to sign now at the tactical moment? Or... let me pull the exact text...)

JOHN: now, harry anderson, i know that you and tavros haven't always gotten along. JOHN: but i am going to have to ask you to try and look out for him for the time being. JOHN: your uncle jake and i... well, i'll explain later. JOHN: let's just say that gamzee isn't the only family member jane is losing today.

(So is John going to submit the papers? Or did they already go through a while ago and default custody to John or something who’s going to adopt him too or some nonsense? And did he plan this out with Jake NOW, or a while ago, and if only a while ago, is Jake going to KNOW whatever John’s about to pull in that respect is about to happen??)

> (==>)

Butte

Janepalme

> (==>)

JAKE: Er... how goes the eulogizing, dear?

Gah. I completely forgot again that capitalized-first-letter chapter names don’t mean KANAYA is saying them. That probably makes a lot more sense out of my wondering about the chapter title earlier to those of you who didn’t realize I was making that mistake.

JANE: It turns out that it's mighty difficult to find touching things to say about a person, the relationship with whom was predicated on deep-seated mutual loathing.

Hah!

--A loathing you regarded as largely more important to you than Jake ever was, by the way. You asshole.

JANE: I imagine this is one of the reasons no funerary tradition was ever established on Alternia, besides the barbarism of their culture. DIRK: Jesus christ. JANE: Not only did a significant proportion of their interpersonality depend on romance in the form of hatred, but it was a society based on cruelty and violence. JANE: What reason could they have had to provide for the dead? JANE: What kind of last rites could they have even imagined?

I wondered for a moment why (bg!)Dirk of all people would react to a single line of her starting to bring up prejudices, but then I realized that (1) Brain Ghost Dirk is a little more Jakey, and (2) Dirk knew that more ranting would follow the first line.

JANE: I can't think of anything good to write about him because deep down, I hated his guts. JANE: But he was and is beloved of the multitude, so I have to think of something regardless. JAKE: Im not sure i understand. JANE: Don't worry your pretty little head about it. JANE: This is politics, Jakey. JANE: Lying through your two front teeth about people you hate is about as good a definition as it's possible to get. JANE: But, by gum, is it tiring work.

Mm. It’s a position Jane put herself in, but it’s still a legitimate position once you’re there.

JANE: The funeral is tomorrow, after all.

Got it.

DIRK: Dude, the bowl. JAKE: Hm? JAKE: Oh, right. JANE: What is it now, Jake. JAKE: I brought something for our guest as well. JANE: You mean the prisoner. JAKE: Y...es.

Wait, bowl?

Oh god damnit which of you had the idea to feed her with a DOG BOWL. Either of you could have thought of it, and either of you would be horrible for it.

> (==>)

Huh, that outfit on Yiffy looks familiar, like a reference to something. And a black tail? This definitely isn’t quite the look I was expecting from Jade Plus Rose, but I suppose the snazzy tie is a Roseish vibe. Also reminiscent of Jade’s old Dead Shuffle dress. Formal wear and soccer cleats??

JANE: She's over in the corner. JANE: Don't worry, she won't bite. JANE: I've seen to that already.

WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN. I don’t see anything over her mouth! Did she stick something in it, or drug her? File her fucking teeth???

I mean I did forget the Child Abuse trigger warning to be fair. Hoping whatever would be on her mouth is just not shown in-panel yet for stylistic reasons.

> (==>)

JAKE: Its only mac and cheese, sorry. JAKE: Its all I know how to make, haha. JAKE: ... JAKE: I um... hope you can safely partake of cheese? JAKE: ... JAKE: Well, JAKE: Bon appetit.

How the fuck did Jake eat on his island then? --Oh right, preserved food cans that Grandma Jade stored up, I think I remember. Why would cheese not be a thing for them, if it’s fine for Jade? I know he’s probably not just worried about lactose intolerance.

Either way, if she’s drugged here, that’ll mean we won’t get a good idea of her for a while, so which is it...

> (==>)

DIRK: Bon appetit. DIRK: Seriously dude? JAKE: (What? Did i pronounce it wrong?) DIRK: Jake. DIRK: You put the food in a fucking dog bowl. JAKE: (It was all there was, ok???) JAKE: (I feel awful enough as it is without you getting on my case about it.)

Ah, missed the bone pun. AND, yeah, Jake, you’re a fucking idiot, you could have put it in a cup or something.

JAKE: (So far ive yet to see anything come of that brilliant plan of yours.) JAKE: (Are you sure sending that message to the others was enough?)

Okay, so he IS coordinating this slightly.

> (==>)

Horrifying image to contemplate, eh Jane?

Or anger-inducing?

> (==>)

Seems about right!

> (==>)

Oh that’s a GREAT exasperated Jane face.

JANE: I hope you're not expecting dessert, young lady.

I like how Jane didn’t notice, comment on, or care about the bowl. How can you hate a kid so much??

> (==>)

Oh I know why I felt like I recognized the outfit style, it’s because it’s ANIME AS FUCK. Feels like some Persona 4 Arena nonsense, and I say that not having played any of those games or even remembering what they looked like. Also, white hair, black fur’d dog parts? Nice change of pace.

YIFFY: GRRRRRRRRR... JANE: Oh no you don't.

Red text? What color exactly... “#D00009”? Huh. That’s nowhere near Alt-Callie’s #FF0000, and darker than Dave’s #E00707. In fact, let me go back and check those spilled color pins the commentary pointed out from an update or two ago... no, the red pin is #E63225, closer to Dave’s color. (Also, is Yiffy blocking the doorway out? That’s a pretty slack chain then.)

Did Jane see to it that she wouldn’t bite with like, a water spray bottle?

(EDIT: Oh my FUCKING GOD, THAT's why it's #D00009...)

> (==>)

FUCK I didn’t notice the shock collar in the Yiffy image! FUCK YOU, Jane.

> (==>)

Keeping someone in line with collars, especially ones that punish whenever one strays out of line, has always been a decent way for her to mix in some Doomy control of others to show how she’s “grown” to balance her main role and her Tiara-controlled-like inverse for more power. Doom in part represents boundaries that you can’t cross without getting hurt or punished.

> (==>)

FUCK, those little buck teeth!? D’:

JANE: That's more like it.

She HAS to have more of a reason for hating her than hating her parents, right? Like, more than that and general racism applying to partdogfolk?

> (==>)

Hey fuck off with that!

> (==>)

This is a pretty cool ima-- are those piercings on her dog ear? I didn’t notice that in the first shot, neat.

JANE: You've been a thorn in my side ever since I agreed to enroll you at the academy, little madam. JANE: Back then, I was doing a favor for two old friends who made a disgusting mistake. JANE: I'm no longer going to play nice with you just because of your parents, however. JANE: That truce is over. JANE: Do I make myself understood?

What the fuck? WHY would you do that? Why does Jane run "Ms. Paint’s Home for Inconvenient Girls”? What did Yiffy do to piss her off so much there, how much trouble could she have caused?

I don’t know if she’s referring to the behind-Kanaya’s-back part as disgusting or she’s just being MORE racist.

> (==>)

JANE: We don't want you passing out during the ceremony, do we?

Oh, just showing the hostage off during the clown funeral, huh? Classy much?

> (==>)

JANE: Now, be a good hostage and get some rest, Yiffany dear. JANE: We've got a big day tomorrow.

For a politician, Jane’s not good at looking at herself in a mirror.

> (==>)

JANE: Night night. JANE: Hoo hoo.

> (Yiffy: Lights out.)

Huh, dream stuff is gonna be relevant out in Candy then? *click*

Okay, dark background all of a sudden. Properly dramatic? You even have to highlight the non-link “>” part of the Next link to see it.

> (==>)

-- thespiansGlamor [TG] began pestering adamantGriftress [AG] --

Well, I don’t know WHY it’s happening, but the white-backed pesterlog suddenly on the dark site framing is certainly evocative. Of like, a mood, or something.

TG: i thought he was pretty quiet down there. TG: we'll make a rebel of him yet! AG: Lol. AG: I think it's more that he can't sleep. AG: I know how he feels. TG: yeah. TG: today was a lot. AG: ... TG: do you wanna talk about it? AG: Ugh, not you as well.

It’s really jarring to transition between Homestuck’s “kids jarringly mentally resistant to freaking out about the end of the world” to HS^2′s more realistic “kids traumatized by their first firefight even though it was an overwhelming victory-escape”.

TG: but seriously, do you? AG: Not really. TG: not even about... you know? TG: her? AG: No. TG: ... are you sure? AG: A8solutely. AG: What are you, my moirail? AG: Just leave it, Harry. TG: ok.

Are they about to have an “I wonder what Yiffy’s like” talk?

> (==>)

Very similar Tav/Vrissy convo to the previous one.

GG: I havent ever shared a bedroom before,,, GG: Not even for a slumber party,,, AG: Tavvy, you are just a8out the saddest person I've ever met.

Well, we have an even better idea how horrible Jane can be with kids, now. From Nanna to THIS is quite jarring. I wonder how the double Nannasprites that must still be around here somewhere feel?

> (==>)

TG: nothing about my dad is cute. TG: what are you even saying. AG: Lmao. TG: seriously! TG: i think he has something against that word, even. he gets super weird about it. AG: He's a strange and funny m8n. TG: yeah. TG: ... TG: i think something bad must have happened.

...um. What? Why would John have some sort of trauma about the word cute or being called it?

Did John dress up as a hint of his buried June ambitions as a kid and Dad lavish him with “SO CUTE” praise in an epic supportiveness backfire that caused him to shelve the idea of wearing non-masc clothes and being happier on the flipside of gender ever again??? Because if that’s how June gets canonized as promised, it’s a little harsher than the back of my mind was hoping. I guess it kind of had to be though from the premise of how it was read into his childhood for the original idea, though. Fuck, I hope this Cute business is about something different from that (like a Terezi reference or such) just to get less John Sads. (But still June. Definitely still want to get June.)

> (==>)

Oh, and now Vrissy is doing nothing but talking about what she said she didn’t want to talk about, of course. (Also I like how JANE’s now being called the Batterwitch.)

AG: And the worst part was they didn't even fight a8out it! AG: That made me madder than 8nything else. AG: It felt like I was the only person who even W8S mad! GG: I dont think thats true,,, AG: What would you know a8out it?! GG: Maybe nothing,,, GG: Sorry,,, GG: Its just,,, GG: To me,,, all the way through the conversation,,, aunt kanaya looked even angrier than you,,, AG: ... AG: Adults are so fucking weird.

Guh, I don’t want to be reminded how hurt a good chunk of the fanbase is by Kanaya getting hurt this badly.

Original Tavros was always SLIGHTLY perceptive of others sometimes, but maybe perceptiveness is being hinted at as a Tavros specialty? We still don’t know his classpect/hero-title or have any firm guesses based on purely him evidence. (Also, frightened kids of abusive households tend to learn to get perceptive pretty fucking quickly I hear.)

> (==>)

TG: dad was sitting in the cafeteria with aunt jade and your moms. TG: it looked like they were discussing something important... they were whispering and stuff.

[etc etc] Alright, the what-happened-to-Dave bit. And I imagine they’re kind of helping John grieve there, since Rose and Jade have talked that out already.

TG: aunt kanaya's was the only face i could see. TG: she was standing next to them, but she wasn't looking at what was going on. TG: almost like she couldn't bear to. AG: I doubt it. Kanaya's got a8out as much Emotivity as a very reclusive stone. TG: ok, i think that is bullshit but whatever. TG: she saw me standing there, but didn't say anything. she just shook her head slightly, and pointed back out into the hallway i came down.

Yep, giving them some space to grieve. Also-- gosh, shouldn’t Vrissy have the same emotive senses that Aranea implied Vriska shared with her? Kanaya isn’t that EXPRESSIVE but she’s certainly full of emotion. Also, I hope part of her not bearing to watch wasn’t lingering anger toward Jade and Rose mixing with that, but there probably was a bit of that too, though Dave being gone is so much harsher than that. --I just realized they might not have broken the news to Karkat yet, either.

AG: I guesadxcxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz TG: vrissy?

Put to sleep by someone slumping down on your phone keypad, or surprised by something about the other conversation?

Oh shit, “other conversation” reminded me I didn’t look at Tavros’s chumhandle:

glutinousGymnast [GG]

HHHHHhhhhuh. Hm... huh? hhhh. huh? what, but. Why would. ?????

I really don’t understand what that chumhandle or any of its entendres should signify in this context.

Also, this means for our new four kids we have TG, GG, AG, and ??.

> (==>)

GG: I think she might have succumbed to sleep quite suddenly,,, GG: It would explain the,,,,,, interesting messages I've been getting for a while,,, TG: hehe. TG: i guess that tracks. TG: she does that from time to time.

That’s... strange. Homestuck’s taught us to be suspicious of that.

TG: ... TG: tav? GG: Yes,,, harry anderson,,,? TG: what does it feel like to know someone who's died?

Who is Harry referring to? (EDIT: Yes I know Gamzee for Tavros, but I meant Harry talks like he's worried he'll have to feel that way soon?) Is he just kind of inferring that something bad might have happened to Uncle Dave? Got that perceptive “parents are about to tell me about a death in the family” vibe? Or did he overhear more than he let on to Vrissy?

...alright, that’s the last page of this update. Looks like this chapter is going to continue to have a good bunch of grieving, or talk around it.

---

Now for Bonus Commentary for A Threat, Sensed. For some reason I have a dim memory of like... reading this myself without commenting on it? Or skimming it? But I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that. Weird. Must have imagined doing it.

Ah, I think I saw the opening paragraph scrolling Patreon, and my mind kinda filled in the blanks, this is still looking new to me.

Okay, mostly banter and japes in the commentary here. About Dirk “throwing a huge tantrum in his philosophy cave”.

We’ve had quite a bit of speculation on whether this is “really” Andrew. To that, I think we’d say that it doesn’t “really” matter.

Really? That was speculated about? :/

Here we discover that Dirk has not, as some people have speculated, been directly intervening into the Candy timeline, or influencing it in any way. In fact, he has a very hard time seeing anything going on there at all.

Mhmm, and that was a pretty important thing to learn.

A couple of years ago I might have agreed with the take that everything happening in Candy is simply too outlandish to ever happen naturally, without direct, villainous interference, but that was before literally every fucking batshit insane thing that has happened on Real Life Earth started going down, and now I will believe literally anything.

This is a nice bit of distraction from the idea that at least the opening parts of the Candy story were written/narrated by Original, Alive Calliope over on meat side. To refresh your memory of what was pointed out to me:

ROXY: back when jade first got all effed up callie saw somethin and it made them freak out ROXY: it took me weeks to convince them that it was safe to come home ROXY: but now we got the opposite problem and they arent leavin the house at all ROXY: they stay home all day with the blinds drawn paintin some weird ass shit on the walls TEREZI: WH4T? ROXY: its not as bad as it sounds i promise ROXY: some of it is like ROXY: weird and violent?? ROXY: like lotsa nasty purple blood and um ROXY: nudity???? TEREZI: >:? ROXY: yeah yikes ROXY: but MOST of it is cute stuff like... various combos of all of us being happy and gettin married and shit ROXY: anyway thats kept callie kinda busy

Which tracks with the initial out-of-character-seemingness of almost everyone at the start of Candy, and how they kind of tried to railroad things back onto the “Happy??” track after Dirk derailed it with his weird self-accumulation suicide, along with some of the flowery-idyllic descriptions of characters seeing each other bathed in a halo of light and such.

Of course, they’re not going to out-and-out STATE that Calliope was at fault for that narration, helping the Candy story not necessarily fall out the way it did “naturally”, until we finally get a glimpse of her on the heroes’ ship in Meat probably still painting the continuing Candy events, inspiring them into the void of the singularity with her latent powers. Til then, it’s a bit of misdirection whenever the topic is to be brought up. Along with a mix of Roxy’s late-Candy point to John of more or less “why COULDN’T we have done this naturally? you don’t know”.

He might even think that he has more direct power over the narrative than Hussie does himself. Surprise, motherfucker, you are a fictional character.

I’ll quote this next part in full:

There’s been talk of whether or not this bonus was written in the two days between its release and the Yiffy reveal chapter. The answer is--no. It was written over a month ago. But I think the things it addresses were not difficult to suss out. Obviously, Dirk is highlighting the issues that the readership are having with Yiffy, in his typical Dirk fashion. If it seems a little defensive, well...I suppose it is. Yiffy is one of the two hard lines drawn in the sand, and all of us love her, and we’re hoping that everyone else will love her too. But more than that, it focuses on the fact that update culture has a rhythm to it--shock, revulsion, acceptance (or not), and then excitement (or not). Will it follow that pattern this time? Who knows. I guess we’ll find out.

Yeah, given what was going to be dropped on us I expected they would have had exactly this lined up, especially because Andrew specifically mandated Yiffy. --I wonder why they aren’t mentioning that somewhere in the commentary and only on one of their Twitters?

Also quoting this:

There’s something both incredibly “cringe” and self-indulgent, as well as philosophically intriguing, about the author arguing with his villain, especially since he’s writing both halves of the conversation himself. You are, for all intents and purposes, trying to solve a problem that you have created for yourself. You are looking an aspect of your personality in the eye and asking, hey, what the fuck, man?

But in the end, isn’t that what every story is? Trying to untie knots that you put in the rope yourself?

Since it’s part of the central struggle of this story, and kind of the question Andrew’s tried to imply with every Homestuck work about what right we have to keep these characters trapped in a story, and if they’d be better off escaping it.

I’m really trying to avoid quoting so much of this, since the commentary is paid... but I think we can make an exception here? I’ll have only quoted about half of it; just, the really plot-important half. Plus, I left out a LOOOT of japes.

Dirk has a certain idea of how stories are supposed to go. That’s pretty much what the Epilogues is about. The audience also has a certain expectation of how a story is supposed to go. In a way, the Epilogues were also about that. They were taking a story that had reached the traditionally “acceptable” happily ever after, and saying, wait, no. What happens next? Thinking past happily ever after in any story is a terrifying prospect. Once Cinderella marries the prince, what then? Sure, she got what she wanted, but who knows that it will be everything she dreamt it would? What if she changes her mind, if not today, what about ten years from now? What if the prince dies of malaria?

And I’m...

Yeah I don’t have anything else to add here, I’m kind of out of brain juice to think about this tonight. BUSY day I had. Y’all take care!

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #Homestuck^2 #bladekindeyewear #blastyoboots #spoiler #spoilers #Homestuck Commentary

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technicallyswagpizza · 4 years

Photo

RABBIT HOLE RECOLOURS AND RESCRIPTING TUTORIAL

Are you having difficulties getting the outrageously coloured rabbit holes to fit into your moody emo town? Or would you like to make your high street look like a Skittles factory had just exploded? Despair no more! Release your inner MacGyver and DIY!

Programs you need: S3oc S3pe Photoshop or Gimp (DDS plugins for Photoshop -> this and this, Gimp has this feature built in already)

// Disclaimer: This tutorial is picture and text heavy. I hate having to have bazillion different tutorials open because everyone always assumes you know what you are doing and I keep on closing tabs by accident, so this tutorial will run you through each and every step with (far too much) detail because I’m a simpleton and I need both pictures and text when learning new stuff! I have divided this into digestable parts, so you can skip ahead down the tutorial if you are familiar with some of the steps such as cloning. Pictures above are numbered and each step is explained below.

1. CLONING A RABBIT HOLE

1. Open S3oc, click Cloning and Normal objects.

2. Click Tools and Search, type in keywords such as bookspa or hospital. If you still can’t find what you are looking for, then the other option is to just scroll down the list of items and try locating the rabbit hole you need.

3. Once you have found your rabbit hole, click Clone or Fix.

4. Tick all the boxes I have ticked.

5. Edit the Catalog Name and Description, these are the things you see in game when you browse through the items and stuff. If you are not fussed, leave them as is.

6. Change the file name here (Some guides mention changing it, some skip it, but I have changed mine and nothing exploded so far!) and click Start. A window pops up asking where you want to save your package, I usually create separate folders for my projects on my desktop as I don’t want to accidentally mix my .DDS files with other rabbit hole files and stuff, but if chaos is your thing just save wherever.

2. RECOLOURING A RABBIT HOLE

7. Locate your newly created rabbit hole clone .package (You can create a backup copy of it somewhere if you think you will mess up somehow) and open it with S3pe. Look through the IMG tags and find a LOD image like this. Right click and Export to file. If you are organized like I am, you can save it in your project folder with your package file... Or place it wherever because of whatever method of madness you use when editing your files. I’m not your mother. Do whatevs.

8. Now depending on which program you use, open the .DDS file in Gimp or Photoshop, if you get a pop up window just go with default size and no mipmaps. This is the step where you let your creative juices flow and take over. Want to change everything? Or only one colour? Depending on the rabbit hole you have chosen to edit it could be a really simple one click thing fix, or if you picked a more complicated one like I did, you are going to spend some time on this step. I added my before and after picture edits I did in Photoshop as an example.

// Photoshop Tip! I’m not familiar with Gimp, so I’m not sure how well this works in there, but I abuse the hell out of Hue/Saturation and the colour picker in Photoshop to get rid of and edit the colours. Press the little hand icon in the Hue/Saturation pop up box and click the colour you want to change in the image and it picks it for you, then just use the three sliders to change your colours, easy! Be careful though! Sometimes it changes too many areas in one go, so you might have to use marquee tool to isolate the bits you want to edit so rest of the image doesn’t change (While using marquee tool you can press either Shift or Alt at the same time which allows you to add into or remove from your current selection!). Or use masks. Up to you. Then once you have selected the areas, create a new layer and hit the Hue/Saturation button and it will only impact the areas you have selected. Play with layer settings if you end up adding separate colours on top, for example my red paint layer looked best with linear light and 80% opacity.

9. Once you are satisfied with your colours and you have merged your layers, this next step is different with Photoshop and Gimp. With Photoshop you can use Save As option while with Gimp you have to use Export As. Either way, save or export over/replace the image you originally opened using the .DDS settings shown (Please correct me if I’m wrong with Gimp settings as I don’t really use it!). If you have been saving as psd or changing the file’s name, make sure the name is now EXACTLY the same as when you exported it earlier. However, I’d urge you to do backup copies before overwriting the file, in case you have coloured something wrong or if you think you might want to change something after doing a test. Just you know, to save you some hassle if shit hits the fan.

10. Back to S3pe, you will now replace the image you previously exported with the edited one. Click Resources (or right click the IMG file on list you are replacing, both ways work), Import from file and pick the newly edited file, click ok on the prompt. Your old IMG file should be crossed out on the list and new IMG added (Once you save the crossed out one simply disappears). Depending on what kind of edits you did to the LOD IMG, you have to repeat exporting, editing and importing each and every IMG file corresponding to the changes you did with the first one. Be extra careful with matching the colours between the IMG files, otherwise you get some funky rabbit holes when zooming in and out! For example for my rather edit heavy LOD image I had to edit another 5 IMG files all in all in the end (Different wall bits, bit of carpet, window trims, roof!).

3. MAKING IT BASE GAME COMPATIBLE

11. Done with your IMG files? Still in S3pe, locate OBJD file on the list, either hit enter or right click for Details.

12. Change the group number from whatever to 0. Save your package.

You are done and your rabbit hole is ready to go in game! Drop it with your other .packages in your Mod folder and test it, in edit and live mode in game. Are some parts of the building still showing old colours or are they changing drastically when you zoom in or out? It’s not the end of the world! You must have forgotten to edit one of the IMG files or the colours are not matching, double check that all the bits you edited in the first image match with rest of the IMG files. Even if you got the colours right there will be a slight chance due to how Sims 3 renders items, so don’t panic unless IT’S REALLY BAD! Just look at how other nonedited Sims 3 stuff renders and compare how yours behaves. // But wait! Maybe you want to make it a default replacement rather than a new individual rabbit hole like my tutorial does? For default replacements, follow this guide.

4. CHANGING THE RABBIT HOLE SCRIPT (OPTIONAL)

Like the look of your rabbit hole building, but don’t think it looks like a spa or a bookshop? Is it giving you a hospital and science lab vibe instead? Again, no need for anxiety! You can fix it! Sort of. It should work but be wary! If you use lets say the Annex script, you got to have University EP installed to make it work. Without the right expansion, you can’t have special careers. Just keep in mind that some scripts may not work with some buildings due to the specific animations and stuff, so test it before you release your masterpiece in the wild.

13. Open your .package in S3pe, locate OBJK file and right click Edit OBJK.

14. Replace the String bit with one of these scripts from the following list. Commit to changes and save your package. You are done!

Bookstore Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Bookstore

Business and journalism Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.BusinessAndJournalismRabbitHole

City hall Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.CityHall

Criminal building Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Hideout

Diner Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Diner

Grocers Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Grocery

Hospital Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Hospital

Mausoleum Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Mausoleum

Military Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.MilitaryBase

Movie studio Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.MovieSet

Police station Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.PoliceStation

School Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.SchoolRabbitHole

Science Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.ScienceLab

Spa Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.DaySpa

Sports stadium Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Stadium

Theatre Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Theatre

Vault Of Antiquity Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.VaultOfAntiquity

Subway Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Subway

Fortune teller caravan Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.GypsyCaravan

Equestrian center Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.EquestrianCenter

Annex Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.Annex

Hospital & science combo Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.ComboHospitalScienceLab

School & stadium combo Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.ComboSchoolStadium

Book & spa combo Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.ComboBookstoreDaySpa

City hall, police & military combo Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.ComboCityhallPoliceMilitary

Business & bistro combo Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.RabbitHoles.ComboBusinessRestaurant

And I think that’s it. Let me know if you know a better way or I have made an error in this tutorial! Or if you want to fight me, I will meet you behind the mall by the bins for some asskicking.

#the sims 3 #ts3 #simblr #ts3 tutorial #ts3 rabbit hole recolour tutorial #ts3 base game compatible tutorial #ts3 cloning tutorial

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cordytriestowrite · 5 years

Text

Tequila and Terror

Loki x Reader

Halloween Theme One Shot

Summary: How about Halloween party where Loki shows up in his Jotun form and she falls for him as is? Requested by @wolfsmom1

There was a chill in the air as the month of October was coming to an end. Usually you would be excited for the drop in temperature but outside the popup bar waiting for Loki you wished it were warmer. The fake blood congealed on your face and arms made you shiver as a breeze tunneled through the side street and your nude flats, while working for your costumes need for bare feet, did nothing to stop the cold from seeping up to your toes from the sidewalk.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea, having your third date with Loki on Halloween at the pop up bar Terror and Tequila, but you love Halloween and Loki was new to the concept and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Come on Loki, it'll be fun!" You had pleaded with him, pointing your laptop screen in his direction.

"It's a pop up bar so it's only open on Halloween."

His frown grew deeper as he pointed a long finer out a block of small text.

"Costume required." He grumbled.

"Yeah they have a costume contest too! Just come looking scary. Like, if it scares you, that's your costume."

Loki pursed his lips in thought, eyes roaming the page you were still presenting to him. He relented with a defeated nod.

Maybe he was standing you up. Thinking back to that night on your couch you can see everything with a new perspective, see how you had basically bullied your recent romance into this event. Goosebumps erupted that had nothing to do with the late night and low temperature and everything to do with what could very well be the end of a promising relationship with someone you liked very much.

A trio of axe wielding murderers gave you furtive looks as they walked around you and into the venue. It was getting packed and if you didn't get in soon you probably wouldn't get in at all. Your feet shuffled as you weighed your options. You could go inside and forget about Loki, after all this pop up was only here for the night. You could go home and crack open a much cheaper bottle of tequila and ruminate on the relationship that ended too soon. You could keep waiting and hold on to the hope he would eventually show up and then feel the slow drain of disappointment when he never does.

The sounds inside the club were too loud for you to hear footsteps approaching. You subconsciously gripped yourself tighter as the night got colder. You watched your long sigh exit your mouth in a puff of fog. It wasn't that cold was it? You looked up just as your name was called.

Your eyes met those of a bright blood red. Your pulse quickened with a rudimentary flush of fear. There was something familiar about this person before you that kept you from running. You looked deeper, imaging the blue skin pale and smooth, the red eyes as a mirthful green.

"Loki?"

He tried to smile but his mouth didn't do much more than quirk upward with a twitch. You assumed he could not move his face too well under the makeup and prosthetics. Knowing now who he was you openly ogled his costume. Your fingers reached up to gently run along a raised piece of skin.

"This is amazing makeup, Loki. How did you come up with this?"

He grabbed your fingers and yanked them from his face. It didn't hurt, but it was forceful enough to snap you out of your staring.

"This is me. The real me. The monster."

You met his eyes and your heart sank. Beyond the shocking red of his iris you could see a weighty burden of pain and uncertainty. There was a vulnerability to Loki that left you empty and cold. You didn't want to feel this way, didn't want him to feel this way. With a steadying breath you stepped into Loki and wrapped your arms around his chest. He was freezing cold and your body reacted as if it had touched a block of solid ice. Your mind screamed for you to withdraw but you couldn't being yourself to flinch away from the man bearing his soul to you.

"You're not a monster, Loki."

"Ye-"

You didn't let him argue back. Your lips were planted firmly against his in an effort to keep him from saying anything bad about himself. You could feel the soft sigh of his relent against your mouth before Loki kissed you back. His arms wrapped around you and a shiver ran up your spine. You thought you would turn into a popsicle if you stayed in this embrace any longer, but who were you to pull away from the man who kisses like he is the god of it?

Eventually you couldn't even feel the cold anymore, which was lucky when the kiss turned heated as your mouths opened and tongues began to move with each other playfully. A high pitched squeal coming from the entryway of the club finally permeated your singular thought of kissing. Loki kept you close, leaning his forehead against yours.

"Thank you." He whispered.

Loki's skin was pale again, his eyes your favorite hue of green. You let your fingers run along the now smooth plane of his cheek. He didn't pull back from your touch.

"Wanna skip the bar and go back to my place?"

Loki chuckled, looking beyond you to the crowded club.

"Absolutely!"

Loki practically dragged you away from the venue making you giggle and quicken your pace to keep up. Once you're next to him he adjusts your hands and interlaces your fingers.

"Not to offend you love, but I'm not sure I am a fan of this holiday."

You look over at him, already thinking up ways to change Loki's mind.

"You'll come around on it, Loki."

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emersoncqwr625 · 3 years

Text

Keys To Google Map Embed Code-- Also In This Down Economy

Google & Esri.

Google additionally produces earnings from its free Maps program with one more, extra refined, form of advertising and marketing. Each map shows specific businesses on the street level, making it simple to locate a specific location.

You can additionally export the information as a KML data using the same dropdown food selection. It will certainly offer you the alternative to export the entire map or to choose one layer particularly. Attempt exporting the UK Global Fats layer as a KML layer.

In the Google Maps application, you should see a tiny compass sign visible in the top-right corner, listed below the button for changing the map surface and also design. If the compass isn't presently noticeable, utilize two of your fingers to relocate the map sight around to present it.

Simply search for an area in Maps' desktop version, after that click the "Instructions" button as well as put in whatever beginning factor you want. Despite the name, live maps are not really presented in the wearable app, unlike with Apple Maps.

Regardless of what place on Planet you want to look into, Marble will assist you out with it. As an example, ride-sharing companies might attach their application-- or software program application-- on their site to Google maps. Vehicle drivers as well as consumers can track each various other's motions to help interact where as well as when to fulfill in addition to help reduce wait times.

How does a Google map work?

Google collects its mapping data from a wide variety of sources including road sensors, user contributions via Map Maker, and local transport departments, among several others. Hidden away in Google Maps settings is the option to view traffic data for any location in real time.

Google claimed it created its maps from third-party data, public resources, satellites and, often most important, customers. People can send adjustments, which are evaluated by Google workers. Yet exactly how Google arrives at its names in maps is typically strange.

How do I put Google Maps on my desktop?

When looking at any map in Google Maps, highlight the URL on your Web browser's address bar. If you have your Web browser maximized, either click the "Restore Down" button or press "Alt-Space-R" to display a portion of your desktop. Drag the highlighted URL, then drop it on your desktop to instantly create a shortcut.

The 2nd example is exceptionally tough on its own, other yet the design discovered a language design prior that allows it to get rid of ambiguity as well as properly review the road name. One of the intriguing staminas of our new version is that it can normalize the text to be constant with our calling conventions, as well as disregard supplementary message, straight from the data itself. Instance of road name from the FSNS dataset appropriately recorded by our system. On the exploration side, we added the Explorer tab to Maps back to 2018 and also I think that's an arc we're still in the beginning of. There are lots of fun concepts coming up around making it less complicated for individuals to recognize what's around them right now as well as what's fascinating and also relevant.

erasing A Google Map.

For instance, it gives 3-D maps and access to data from countless 3rd party resources, including collections of historical maps. Google Maps doesn't require you to mount software program as well as your maps are conserved in the cloud. Google Earth requires software application installment as well as is not cloud-based, though maps you produce can be exported.

Note that you can go back in time (i.e. check out older satellite photos) by clicking on the 'Show historic images' icon on the leading toolbar. and after that adjusting the time-scale slider that will certainly appear. Google Planet works in similar method as Google Maps Engine Lite, however has extra attributes.

data.

For example, some hotel reservation websites utilize pens to show you the location of resorts on a map.

We make use of the collaborates of the City of London, a historic landmark in the middle of London, as map facility.

Today, let's find out just how we can utilize the Google Maps JavaScript API to construct customized maps for our sites and applications.

Later, we discuss how you can use Maps API to find collaborates of any location on the map.

Google Maps aids us daily in browsing our way via roadways and finding places in a fashion that was uncreative simply a few decades back.

You can then check out the place info of your vehicle, utilizing the proper food selections on the web site. iPhone spy applications will certainly find the area of a smart device swiftly and also successfully.

download And Install Et application:.

And also, you'll have the ability to view various other phone information consisting of messages, emails, call log, and also much more! Because spy applications are undetectable, the phone owner will certainly never figure out they're being tracked. Just like Google Planet, this can bring far locations to your smart device and make you really feel closer to the places that you wish to see. That claimed, keep in mind, in India, the government really did not allow Google to catch street information so you will not discover street sight of many locations, apart from the user-generated ones.

How do I embed a Google Map in bootstrap?

How to Use Google Maps in Bootstrap Studio 1. First, go to the Component panel and search for the Map component.

2. This will take you to the Google API Console.

3. The next step requires you to apply restrictions for the key.

4. This will create your API key which you need to copy and paste into the API Key field in Bootstrap Studio.

5. Now your Google Map is ready to use.

More items

While maps themselves aren't particular data-intensive, things like Street Sight and also Satellite Sight are, so be sure to keep track of your data. It is also possible to download "Offline Maps" for later use. The application can likewise offer directions for strolling just, which can be picked at the course planning screen. Footpaths are a lot more susceptible to being outdated than road maps, so constantly utilize care prior to possibly trespassing on a person's residential or commercial property. As a result of Google's tenuous partnership with China, numerous Google solutions are blocked there.

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rorykillmore · 4 years

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okay this is. well. a LATE birthday fic for my friend jemi, who does not have a personal tumblr atm, but i’m sticking it here because this is where i file all my fics at this point, and because it’s also a tiny bit of a partial co-present for @xivuuarath too!

jemi, one of the things i’ve loved most about this past year is getting the chance to write with you again and develop these new and wonderful and crazy cross-fandom dynamics just the way we used to. it’ll always mean a lot to me to be able to write with you, and i really hope i’ve done everyone in this fic justice because i cannot tell you what a DELIGHT forming this disaster of a group dynamic/eventual found family with you and storm has been!!! i can’t wait to develop them more together, but for now, this particular fic is set a little ways in the hypothetical future once they’ve all gotten to know each other a little more, and after villanelle has had... SOME kind of similar encounter with her family to the one she just had in canon. tldr: her mom sucks, she’s dead now, and villanelle ran off after burning her house down.

anyway, yeah, ENJOY!

They all look like idiots, and normally, Villanelle would delete any photo that made her look like an idiot without a second thought. But there is something kind of nice about it this time.

Villanelle supposes that maybe it’s a little unfair to blame Konstantin for the fact that her birth family turned out to be shit.

(Okay, not all of them were shit, but it is easier to pretend that they were and not that the few days she spent with them were the happiest she’s ever been in her whole life.)

Anyway, while it’s not technically his fault, he is the one who told her they were alive, and the last thing she wants right now is to go back and tell him exactly how catastrophically things did not work out. He is no longer her handler anyway. She has to report back to Knock Out.

(Actually, she has not been on a mission recently, she has nothing to report, and Knock Out would probably not even notice if she didn’t contact him for several more days, but... Villanelle will just make up a reason to talk to him, then. He doesn’t have to know she’s wasting his time just because he makes her feel a little better.)

So she’s surprised when she texts him (or his comm frequency, however it works with Cybertronians) and gets a message back that he’s already waiting for her at Mistoffelees’.

That’s how Villanelle thinks of the house, absurdly, as belonging to Mistoffelees and Victoria -- namely because by know she knows them much better than she knows their people. Somehow, amidst the chaos of the past several days, Villanelle had entirely forgotten she’d agreed to cat-sit again (less for any pragmatic reason this time and more because she hadn’t had anything better to do, before the issue of her family had cropped up) starting this evening. She’d also forgotten that they’d all planned another marathon session of Kitchen Nightmares, and for some reason... all of this rattles her.

For some reason, when she arrives and walks up the driveway and finds Knock Out parked waiting for her, and Misto and Tugger settled side by side on the fence, she gets a strange little lump in her throat that she can’t explain.

“Finally,” Tugger complains the minute he sees her. “If any of us actually had thumbs, we may well have considered starting without you.”

“Excuse me,” Knock Out is quick to protest. “Just because it’s not exactly strategic for me to transform in the middle of a human neighborhood doesn’t mean you get to lump me in with you furballs.”

Mistoffelees rolls his eyes in an unnervingly human gesture that Villanelle is only just starting to get used to. “I’m sure he meant ‘if any of us actually had thumbs that we could conveniently use without causing hysteria in this precise moment.’ Didn’t you, Tug?”

“Sure, darling,” Tugger says, not sounding very sincere at all.

Villanelle comes to a slow halt beside Knock Out’s alt mode, trying to bask in their familiar banter, trying to make it feel just the same as her family’s home-y sense of chaos did. It doesn’t quite work. But it does make her want... something.

“We should take a road trip!” Villanelle announces suddenly, entirely out of nowhere and without thinking about it. Mistoffelees and Tugger turn nonplussed looks on her, and she can practically feel Knock Out figuratively side-eyeing her, and for a second she worries that they’ve noticed something’s wrong.

But the silence only lasts for a beat before Knock Out scoffs, “What, now? And where, exactly, were you thinking of going?”

Villanelle shrugs, undeterred by their skepticism. “Anywhere. We could just... drive.”

“In that?” Tugger stares wide-eyed into Knock Out’s windows, and then very quickly clears his throat. “Sorry. In him?”

“We could bring Victoria too,” Villanelle says, appealing to Misto. “Is she home?”

Mistoffelees flicks an ear uncertainly. “She’s out at the junkyard this evening. And anyway, Villanelle, we can’t exactly up and disappear without giving the others cause for alarm --”

“So go tell them! We can wait here. It would only be for, like, a couple of days, and your humans will not even notice since they’re not due back ‘til next week.”

“Not to agree with Tugger, but I’m still stuck at the part where I have to lug them around and get cat fur all over my interior,” Knock Out quips, rather casually considering the chaos unfolding around him. “...Not to mention, we don’t exactly have clearance for this.”

“We don’t have an assignment either,” Villanelle points out. “Do they really care what we do in our own time?”

Knock Out seems too surprised to answer, maybe because this is the first time outside their missions and their little casual reality television get-togethers that Villanelle has ever expressed such an interest in spending time together.

The cats are almost as baffled. Tugger and Misto exchange a look that Villanelle can’t quite read, before Mistoffelees settles his attention back on her. “This is all a bit... sudden,” he starts, and it’s the fact that he sounds almost gentle that makes something in Villanelle prickle up again. Is her behavior so erratic and concerning that she’s making them feel sorry for her?

“Fine,” she cuts in, changing tracks suddenly. “Fine! Never mind. I will take one on my own. See you all in a couple of days --”

“Er, hold on.” Knock Out recovers enough to stop her. “If you’re going to do this anyway, I might as well tag along and see that you don’t do anything careless. Otherwise I’ll have nothing to do but drive around London while you go off and have all the fun.”

Villanelle stops in her tracks. “Do you want me to be careful, or do you want me to have fun?”

“...Is that supposed to be a trick question?”

She shrugs, still recovering her pride and wondering if she should brush him off just on principle because of it. Deep down, though, Villanelle doesn’t want to, and so instead she looks back at the cats where they’re still settled together on the fence.

On the fence. Heh. Like a metaphor.

“I think you two could use the vacation,” she tells them casually. “Have you ever actually been on a honeymoon?”

“A what?” Mistoffelees asks as Tugger sweeps his feathery tail around him. Villanelle has started to get used to the easy affection they share between them, but it hasn’t yet ceased to give her a pang of something indecipherable each time.

“A honeymoon,” she says. “It is something two people do when they get m -- when they love each other and want to be together forever. They go off and take a trip and kind of... celebrate their relationship.”

Tugger tilts his head ever so slightly to one side. “And is it customary for them to bring their friends along?”

Villanelle glances at Knock Out, but if he knows anything about this particular Earth custom, he stays silent for once. So she shrugs. “Sure. That way it is like a party, you know?”

“I daresay neither of us do.” Mistoffelees turns so he can meet his mate’s gaze. Villanelle expect Tugger to have a very decisive opinion on all of this, and to state it very loudly, because that’s just how Tugger is. So it surprises her when instead, he returns Mistoffelee’s look quietly - almost gently - and waits for his verdict.

“Is it really only going to be for a couple of days?” Mistoffelees asks cautiously at length. Villanelle grins despite herself.

It is roughly a five hour drive between London and Paris, which is a bit of a pain in the ass when the taking the train shaves about half of that off, but for once Villanelle is trying to be objective about how she is probably the least inconvenienced person in this situation. The only reason Misto and Tugger aren’t stuffed in the trunk right now is because she offered to buy them cat carriers to travel in instead, and when the cats vetoed that option, she’d reluctantly promised Knock Out that she’d be the one vacuuming his back seat instead.

Even with that compromise made, though, five hours is a long time to spend in a car with someone. Especially a sentient car. They’ve already gone through the motions of arguing about the radio - a pointless endeavor, given that Knock Out is the one who controls it - and then Villanelle had tried to teach them how to play a couple of road trip games ( “Fuck, Marry, Kill” had gone the most disastrously).

Finally, Mistoffelees asks, “Was it really necessary to come so far for this... other city you described? I don’t see how it can be all that much different from London.”

He sounds almost uncomfortable, and for the first time Villanelle wonders whether he or Tugger have ever been this far from home before -- they are cats, even if they are special ones.

“Paris is nothing like London,” Villanelle insists, though she knows that alone might not mean much to him. “-- It is the most beautiful city in the world. And if you’re in love, you have to go at least once.”

“I never figured you for the sentimental type,” Knock Out quips dryly.

"Maybe she means if you’re in love with yourself,” Misto offers. “I suppose that describes at least three out of four of us, so --”

He breaks off at Tugger’s feigned indignant gasp and even-more-feigned swat, laughing, and Villanelle gives both of them a pointed look through the rearview mirror.

They are just made for Paris, these two. Later, they’re going to have to admit that she was right.

Knock Out sighs audibly, distracting her from her thoughts. “You know. You really do owe me for this.”

Even Knock Out can’t find too much to complain about once they reach the city proper, though. Villanelle beams smugly when he admits that there’s a certain classiness about it all “as far as cities on this mudball go”, and he rolls his windows down a little so that Misto and Tugger can better appreciate the scents and sounds.

“It’s not home,” Tugger drawls, enjoying the way the wind buffets the mane of fur around his neck. “But it’s not half bad.”

It’s home to Villanelle, though, or -- the closest thing she’s ever had to one, besides the one she just burnt to ashes. She takes them past the street where her old apartment used to be, just for nostalgia’s sake.

“The only thing about Paris is, it’s really more of a walking city,” Villanelle tells them at length. “Hey Knock Out -- you don’t have some kind of boat mode, do you?”

“A boat?” Knock Out echoes scathingly. “What exactly do you take me for?”

“Okay, so, the river tour is out. But I can show you around even better from here. Just follow my lead.”

Mistoffelees leans languidly against Tugger as they share the open window, and sighs. “What could possibly go wrong.”

To Villanelle’s credit, she does give a hell of a tour, taking them past the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe. Then they make a stop at the Pont Neuf bridge, where Villanelle positions the very bemused cats on the railing so that she can take their picture against the backdrop of the Seine.

“I can’t say I really understand the purpose of this,” Misto says for about the third time, then flattens his ears when Villanelle shushes him.

“I told you! It is easier to show you than tell you -- here, look.” She approaches to show them the image on her phone, ignoring the peculiar looks she gets from one or two passersby. Tugger is the first to lean forward with skeptical curiosity, and then --

“-- It’s us.” His eyes go wide, and Villanelle watches his reaction with a smug sort of delight. “Oh, that actually is marvelous.”

“I knew you would enjoy any excuse to look at yourself,” Villanelle quips in return, though in truth, it is a very nice picture if she does say so herself. Misto and Tugger look especially handsome in the photo -- you know, for cats. The sun brings streaks of vivid color out in Tugger’s fur, while Misto’s black and white pelt looks particularly glossy. They sit side by side, their sides touching, and Villanelle had captured just the right moment to preserve the glance they’d exchanged as she took the picture: Misto looking up at Tugger in "can-you-believe-what’s-happening” exasperation, and Tugger returning his gaze with something that read between amusement and the inevitable fondness he always seemed to regard the other cat with.

It’s very... them, Villanelle decides.

“It’s...” Mistoffelees seems almost uncharacteristically at a loss for words. “...It’s like you froze a moment in time.”

Villanelle shrugs agreeably. “Humans kind of collect them. I can get this printed, and then you can have your own physical copy, if... that is something you want?” She isn’t sure whether cats have any particular use for photos, but Tugger and Mistoffelees seem to like the idea.

“Seems a shame to waste such a handsome keepsake,” Tugger says, his eyes glinting. Misto smiles - in that very un-catlike way the Jellicles have - and looks up at Villanelle directly.

“Thank you.”

She tilts her head and almost responds, but then can’t think of anything good or clever to say. So instead, she turns to where Knock Out is still parked, the impatience practically simmering off him.

“Knock Out! Let me get one of you.”

“I don’t do autographs, if that’s what you were thinking.”

“Don’t be so boring, God. Actually, we can all get in it! I will get someone to take it for us.”

It is probably only Villanelle’s perfect French that saves her from looking like a completely batshit tourist as she herds the cats over to him and needles one very confused local into taking a picture of the four of them together. Instead, she just looks like... well, a batshit French person obsessed with taking photos of herself, her two cats, and her sports car. Which is fine with her, really.

The photo turns out nice, too. Not quite as romantic as the first -- actually, it looks pretty silly. Tugger, taking advantage of Knock Out’s inability to protest while in public company, had leaped up onto his hood and sprawled out like some kind of feline model, which had made Villanelle throw her head back and cackle while in the midst of trying to scoop a begrudging Mistoffelees up into her arms.

They all look like idiots, and normally, Villanelle would delete any photo that made her look like an idiot without a second thought. But there is something kind of nice about it this time.

She takes them to the Luxembourg Gardens, too, where an artist asks if she can paint Mistoffelees (leaving Villanelle, Tugger, and Knock Out all quite individually offended evidently not to be considered the prettiest of the group), and then to the fish market where she figures the cats will be in heaven (shockingly, Tugger decides that Parisian food isn’t beneath him, though Misto is partial to the vanilla ice cream Villanelle buys him later).

By then, it’s getting close to nightfall, and Villanelle checks the time and then the listing on her phone. “Okay. Just one more stop. You will all like this one, I promise.”

“I think we’ve all learned by now not to trust your promises,” Mistoffelees retorts, but it’s goodnatured, a mild protest by his standards. Tugger even joins in making fun of his grumbling this time, and Knock Out has spent the last twenty minutes idly looking into things near the city he might want to do “for reconnaissance purposes” the next day, so Villanelle suspects that - not so secretly - they are all enjoying themselves.

The last stop is at a little park just beyond the city, where an overlook affords them a view of the Parisian lights in all their glory. Misto and Tugger stop to enjoy it together for a little while, while Villanelle urges Knock Out to continue on up the road a little ways to find parking at...

“A drive-in theater.” Knock Out realizes, surprise lacing his tone.

Villanelle slips out the passengers side door to stretch her legs, but also to inform him: “Drive-in is a loose term. I rented out the entire space for us tonight. I figured if we had a bit of privacy, you wouldn’t have to be stuck as a car all night.”

“I --” Knock Out starts, then seems to register what she actually said. Villanelle waits through the pause patiently. “...I happen to be gorgeous in vehicle mode. As anyone with optics could tell you.”

“Yes,” Villanelle agrees, because she’s already learned how to butter him up, “But you make an even prettier robot.”

Knock Out tilts his mirror at her. His version of a side-eye, and code for I know exactly what you’re doing but I’m still flattered. “Well. I suppose this was... shockingly thoughtful of you.” He transforms once Villanelle takes another step back, and then crouches down to eye her suspiciously. “Uncharacteristically, one might even say.”

But Villanelle has no real ulterior motives, this time. She is just happy they all came with her to her favorite city in the world for no other reason than because she asked. Instead of saying that aloud, though, she redirects her attention to the overlook, where Tugger and Misto’s silhouettes are visible. “Do you think they are enjoying their honeymoon?”

“How would I know?” Knock Out flippantly tilts his head to consider the pair. Misto tucks himself against Tugger’s side, and Tugger wraps his tail around the tom’s smaller frame as if they’ve done this thousands of times before. They look so... still. So content, in a way Villanelle isn’t used to imagining them. “I’m not an expert on the mushy stuff.”

“Really? You don’t have anyone?”

“I...” That actually gets Knock Out to hesitate, his expression unreadable. “...Think it’s inappropriate to divulge that kind of information between agent and handler.”

Villanelle nods ruefully. Konstantin had always been smart enough to avoid talking about his personal life with her, too. “I have someone,” she announces quietly, the status of the actual having be damned. “I might tell you about her someday. But --” And before Knock Out can react to that, she shifts her attention back to the cats again. “I think they really love each other.”

“That seems like a safe assumption,” Knock Out quips dryly. “Why do you even care?”

Why does she care? Envy? Her usual fascination with other people’s emotions, the ones that are always just out of reach for her? Neither of those feel right, but Villanelle doesn’t know the name for what is.

It just... feels better, knowing that Mistoffelees and Tugger have each other. It makes something in her calm strangely when she thinks of them.

She just shrugs again, in the end. And then the cats are getting up and coming back around to meet them, and Villanelle shoos away whatever she was feeling or pondering feeling and gives them an elegant smirk. “Finally decided to join us, lovebirds?”

Tugger smirks right back up at her. “Personally, I would have been quite happy to spend the rest of my night watching the city lights, but Mistoffelees here seemed to feel that would have been terribly discourteous of us both.”

“It is your honeymoon,” Villanelle points out, because despite her teasing she wouldn’t really have minded. Her and Knock Out have a movie they could have entertained themselves with, after all.

“Yes,” Misto agrees lightly. “And I don’t think it’ll be one we’ll ever forget. Especially if you’ve chosen a decent... movie for us.”

“Please, Mistoffelees,” Villanelle mimics Tugger using his full name, because she enjoys the way it rolls off her tongue and she knows her accent makes it sound a little funny. “Surely you trust my taste by now.”

“Not unconditionally.”

“It’s French,” Villanelle promises them as she goes to turn on the screen. “-Ish. And romantic. You will watch it, and be grateful that your lives are not anywhere near as terrible as this couple’s are!”

“Moulin Rouge?” Knock Out asks in confusion as the title screen pops up. “I’m not sure I understand the need for dramatics. It all ends happily enough, doesn’t it?”

Villanelle stares back at him wordlessly, one eyebrow raised.

“...It... I may have caught Starscream watching it once. And I’m positive they get back together safely at the end.”

“Do not spoil it for the cats!” Villanelle tries not to sound too gleeful at this newly collected potential blackmail on the Decepticon second-in-command. She sits down in the grass by Knock Out’s feet, and Tugger settles in beside her with Misto at his side, and Villanelle spends a moment reflecting that it would be really fun to teach them some of these songs.

She wonders if cats can technically sing?

#fic #i know we talked about them meeting eve and i was INCREDIBLY tempted but this was already getting really long #ill do it in another fic. i swear.#also: not sure what to do with the information that starscream turns off moulin rouge 10 minutes early? me neither #also feat. villanelle starting to get soft for these idiots which is Important.

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aelaer · 4 years

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Whumptober 31: Embrace

And somehow I've completed every prompt for @whumptober2019 with this final one here. Even more crazy, I basically completed NaNoWriMo with this series, only, you know, in October. The Google Doc all my fics live in for this series is at 51,299 words with the following fic's completion. Considering I was absolutely not attempting the challenge when I started this, I'm counting that as a complete NaNoWriMo, even if it does include a lot of the author's notes in that word count. Doesn't matter, it's still my writing!

So thank you very much to the mods for putting this together, because I would have never come up with all of these stories (which includes three series) otherwise.

I'll have the full list linked on my "bingo list" post, and the works have been slowly going up on AO3 for easier reading (and AO3 is only about a week behind at this point) - all the links will come probably in the next week or so. I'll reblog it when it's ready.

This one is the last one in the "demon" series within these prompt fills. If someone told me on the 2nd that my experimentation in first person would lead to this I wouldn't have believed them because I wouldn't have thought I was crazy enough to do every prompt while working a full time job on the freaking fly. *shakes head*

The series: Part One: 20 - Trembling Part Two: 22 - Alt 6 - Lost Part Three: 25 - Humiliation Part Four: 29 - Numb (and fanart(!!!!!) from dragonnan here, tw blood/wounds)

31. Embrace

Christine looked up at the Sanctum doors with a soft frown. Out of all the times she had been to Stephen's weird new home, this was the first time she could remember that she was coming without an advance notice of any sort.

The thing was, though, that after that… that thing (she really didn't like to think about it too much) over three months ago, Stephen had been acting odd. And even if they didn't tend to see each other more than once a month (and sometimes not even that), they kept in touch fairly consistently through texts. She knew he used her as a bit of a remaining connection to the so-called real world and she was happy to provide it. Besides, it was fun to share hospital gossip with him.

But for a while he had been very limited in his conversation until he stopped replying entirely two weeks ago. She texted Wong to see if he was especially busy "being a superhero" but he assured her that it's been relatively quiet since "the demon issue" (ugh, she really didn't want to think about it).

So here she was, come to figure out why the hell he was suddenly ghosting her.

After a moment of hesitation, Christine ascended the two steps up to the doors and firmly knocked upon them. After waiting for thirty seconds with no response, she bit her bottom lip and looked at her purse; maybe she should text someone, see if anyone was available—

Suddenly, the door opened… but she couldn't see anyone on the other side of it.

Magic house, right, she thought dryly as she stepped in. She knew a little bit of the weirdness that encompassed Stephen's new home, but generally speaking the building had acted like a proper, regular building every time she visited (and, to her own credit, she never went into any of the rooms that Stephen told her to leave alone. That made perfect sense to her, but apparently not everyone had her common sense, at least according to Wong).

Long story short, this was different.

"Uh, hello?" she called out into the empty foyer. "Stephen? Wong? … anyone?"

Yeah, it was completely empty. This was… this was definitely unusual.

Still, she had been at his house— the so-called Sanctum— enough times to remember where Stephen's study and the library were, so she decided to search those two rooms. Since the house had let her in, she figured she was more than welcome to.

If she wasn't, well, she'd blame the magic house.

She ventured first towards the library, careful not to touch anything sitting on the shelves or hanging on the walls. Even with her familiarity with the Sanctum, many of the items in the building's collection continued to look rather otherworldly or just felt outright wrong to her.

(Christine had learned early on, maybe her second or third time within the Sanctum, that they had a surprising amount of dangerous things on display for aesthetic purposes. At her remark about that, Stephen had pointed out that they didn't exactly have any children within the Sanctum to worry about. Wong later said that having magical items on display was a fantastic litmus test to weed out any really idiotic and self-destructive novices and apprentices, though that the test had somehow failed with Stephen. Stephen had flipped the bird at that remark, but she had seen it was in good nature, and it definitely made her happy to see the somewhat reclusive man making friends with his new cult.)

The library doors were closed. She knocked, then tried the handle; it opened and she peeked into a library that still looked like it was stuck somewhere in the nineteenth century. It was completely empty.

Now that she thought about it, it was a little weird she had yet to run into anyone. While Stephen's new home was rather empty the first few months he was there, it did not become uncommon to see the occasional passerby, though only a few people stopped to talk with her when she was with Stephen. When she really thought about it, she couldn't actually remember the last time she hadn't seen other people in the Sanctum.

Weird.

Christine shut the library doors again and started towards Stephen's study. It was closer to his bedroom (which she only knew because she came over to bring him soup when he had to cancel a meetup because he was sick, thank you very much), so she went up a level and headed there.

Stephen's study door was closed, too. She knocked and heard some sort of noise just beyond the door. Christine waited, but when nothing happened, she knocked again. "Stephen? It's me. Can I come in?"

Silence. She frowned and tried the door, but it didn't budge. "C'mon, Stephen. Even if you don't want to see me, at least reply to me." Even though she tried to pretend to be genuinely unbothered, the silent treatment did sting. He was meant to be a friend, after all.

The knob on the door jiggled and it opened, but all she saw in the small gap was shades of red. Why was the Cloak opening the door? Was Stephen hurt? At that alarming thought, Christine pushed the door fully open, the Cloak sweeping aside to give her full access of the room.

Stephen was… Stephen was sitting in the air, meditating, it looked like. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw he was okay, but her lips began to downturn as she stepped a bit closer. There were dark shadows under his eyes and it appeared like he had lost a bit of weight. Didn't Wong say that things were currently calm and uneventful? At the moment, Stephen looked something like he did after the alien invasion in 2012, only somehow worse. (She had, of course, seen even worse than this, but she refused to think back on the months after the accident. He was a different man, a much different man now.)

Christine took a couple steps back so she didn't startle him when he came back from wherever he went to when he was meditating. "Is he okay?" she whispered to the Cloak. It still astounded her how communicative the fabric could be.

And she really didn't like how it down-turned to bow its collar, only to end up shrugging its shoulders in a gesture that spoke of uncertainty. Her frown deepened and she went back to watching him and, finally accepting that he might take a while, asked the Cloak, "Are there any books here in English that are safe for me to read?" The Cloak tapped at several options, and she picked one at random to read.

It turned out it was about souls, of all things. She had keyed in that they were very much real things after… after everything that happened with the world in the last few years, but beyond that she only had a vague grasp of what it was, or what she thought it was, from the occasional visit to church as a kid.

The first five pages of the book were both incredibly dry and fascinating at the same time. It reminded her of many medical textbooks; no wonder Stephen was so good at this magic stuff, if this was the tone of the material in all his books. Christine settled down into a rather plush loveseat and got comfortable; her record for waiting on Stephen to "come back" was forty-five minutes, and during that wait Wong had proved to be surprisingly entertaining, funny, and kind. If anything, getting to know him better had made Christine feel a lot better about Stephen's very strange (hah) new role in life.

This time it was just after twenty minutes when she heard Stephen say in clear confusion, "Christine?"

She looked up from the book; he was now standing and his expression matched his tone. She offered a smile. "Oh, there you are."

"What are you doing here?"

If she didn't know him better, she might have been a bit miffed by that greeting. However, she did know him, knew him very well, and he sounded honestly puzzled. Still, she was more than happy to respond to bluntness with bluntness. "I came here to see why you're ghosting me."

Stephen looked startled by the accusation. "I'm not ghosting you— or certainly not intentionally. I've been too busy to check on my phone in a couple weeks."

"No, you haven't," Christine countered, and her comment surprised him so much that she was able to continue without interruption. "I asked Wong if things were busy and if you all were overworked with your jobs. He told me it's been so quiet that he finally got to catch up on the last two seasons of 90 Day Fiance and the newest season of Botched, and I still can't believe he enjoys trash TV so much."

He blinked and shook his head. "I knew you two talked sometimes, but— but that's not the point." He walked over to his desk; the Cloak followed him halfway before stopping in the middle of the room, and turned from him to her, and then back to him. He rounded the desk and flipped through several pieces of paper, looking them over as he said, "It's been quiet, yes, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. There is always work to be done and I just don't have time for other things."

She narrowed her eyes at him and placed the book down before standing. The Cloak was again facing her as she took a couple steps forward. "Other things like the occasional break? Talking with friends? Sleeping?"

Stephen narrowed his eyes at her. "I've been sleeping just fine, thank you."

"Stephen, I can see the dark circles around your eyes from here. You're not hiding it from anyone."

He blinked and quickly strode over to a small mirror on the wall, back to her. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, but it was quiet enough in the room to hear. When he turned back around, the bags were completely gone and he looked fully refreshed.

Christine gaped. "You're using magic to hide your exhaustion? I can't believe you!" Actually, on second thought, she could very, very much believe he would do something like this. As one of his friends, he drove her absolutely insane sometimes.

"I do what I must," he retorted. "I am still relatively new to my position and there is entirely too much to do and learn, and I cannot show any faltering to the students of Kamar-Taj."

"What about your peers?" she retorted right back. "What about Wong or, or any of the others, these Masters? Does anyone know what you actually look like or what you're putting yourself through?"

"There is no need for them to," Stephen answered, lips pressed into a thin line. "Now if you'll excuse me, I do have work I need to do, as enjoyable as this little conversation has been."

Christine recognized that biting sarcasm a mile away. She pulled out her phone and looked for Wong in her contacts.

"What are you doing?" Now he sounded alarmed.

"Telling Wong that you need a damn babysitter," she snapped.

She managed to type a couple words of her text before she heard sparks and then a golden rope wrapped around her right wrist. It didn't hurt, but its sudden appearance caused Christine to drop her phone in surprise. Her eyes shot up at Stephen, who looked just as shocked as her by its presence in his hand. A beat later and the magic rope was gone and Stephen was stumbling backwards, clear horror in his eyes.

Okay, that was… not good he did it in the first place, but clearly he realized that and looked on the verge of panic. She pushed the issue to the side to talk about later and instead addressed what was in front of her right at this moment. "Hey, hey," she said slowly, calmly. She left her phone on the floor and took two slow steps forward. "It's okay, Stephen. You didn't hurt me. Not even a mark, see?" She lifted her wrist to show him. "It's alright."

"That was not alright," he said. He made it to the back wall and leaned heavily against it. "That was not alright at all."

"I am not angry at you," she answered slowly in a slow, calm voice. "Everything is okay."

"No it's not," he gasped, as if struggling for air. He slid down the wall until he was sitting, and Christine finished crossing the distance between them to sit a few feet away. He stared off for a moment, then met her eyes. "I could've hurt you."

"You didn't," she reminded him.

He shook his head. "But I— Christine, this is why we can't— I can't see you anymore. I only bring danger whether it's through my own actions or due to who I am."

"You are not completely yourself right now," she reminded him gently. "You're clearly exhausted, and even then you caught your temper immediately. That's a vast improvement from a few years ago." He snorted in self-derision, and she pressed on. "As for who you are, I've known for years that there might be risks. I'm okay with that."

"I'm not," he whispered.

She offered him a small smile. "You don't get to decide who wants to be your friend, Stephen. And I know you and your level of stubbornness, but you know I can be just as stubborn if I want to be. And you're worth the effort."

He closed his eyes and shuddered. "I'm not so sure I am."

"You are," she retorted a bit more strongly. Lips downturned in thought, she considered his words. "Is this about that… that demon thing that happened three months ago?" Come to think of it, that did about match the timing when he started seeming a bit off, at least in texting habits.

Stephen pressed his lips together. "That should have never happened. I failed to place basic protection about you and it was a gross oversight on my part."

"Congratulations, you're human," Christine deadpanned, then softened it with a small smile and added, "no matter how much you'd like to think otherwise." He took another shuddering breath and leaned his head back against the wall. In the corner of her eye she saw the Cloak hovering, as if anxious. And she definitely understood that feeling.

But this, this was a start. "Stephen," she said softly, "I think it's time you told us what exactly happened after you got me back home." He stilled, and she couldn't quite read him, but she said, "Please, Stephen. Let your friends back in." She reached out and laid a hand on his calf.

Again he shuddered and, after a moment, he slowly nodded. She gave him a small, encouraging smile before offering her hand. He took it and together they got back up on their feet.

She led him to the loveseat and had him sit down. She sat beside him and asked, "Is it okay if I have Wong join us? Or will that be too hard?"

Stephen closed his eyes and again pressed his lips together, but a moment later responded, "You can call him. He probably deserves an explanation as well."

Christine gently squeezed his forearm, then stood up and went for her dropped phone. She abandoned the text and tried calling Wong instead.

He picked up on the third ring. "Christine," he said in greeting. He didn't sound surprised (she wasn't sure if he ever allowed himself to sound surprised), but she'd like to think that he at least knew she wasn't calling for no good reason. They texted, not called. That was what they did.

"Hey Wong, are you busy?"

"Not with anything I cannot finish later," he replied. "Do you need something?"

"Not me," she answered, walking back to Stephen. He had his head bowed. She placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. "It's Stephen. He could use another friend here, if you don't mind."

A pause that, again, she couldn't read. "Certainly," he answered. "Where are you?"

"In his study. And um, if it wouldn't be too much to ask, could you make that tea of yours?" He made really good tea.

"I can," he answered, and with that he hung up. Succinct, as always.

"He'll probably be here as soon as the tea's ready," she said as she sat back down beside him. "I like his tea."

Stephen slowly nodded. "It's very good tea," he muttered.

Christine peered at his face. "Are you going to wear the mask around him?" she asked.

He exhaled, long and slow. "Not much point if we're having this conversation, is there?"

"It's okay to be human, Stephen."

He shot her a grim smile, and slowly the mask that covered his exhausted face dissipated. The Cloak closed the distance it had to the couch and hovered at Stephen's side.

A couple minutes later, a portal opened straight from the kitchen and Wong floated a tea tray into the study before following it in. The golden sparks disappeared behind him and he turned to look at the two of them on the couch. He stared at Stephen for a moment, then exhaled. "I suspected something," he muttered, almost as if to himself. He let the tray settle on the table in front of the loveseat and summoned the chair from the corner of the room to sit across from it, and from them. Wong settled in the seat and poured out three mugs of tea, keeping Stephen's only partially full. He gave them both their cups wordlessly, then sat back and looked at Stephen with silent, but unjudging expectation.

The man in question huffed as he grabbed the mug and took a short sip. "Now all I need is a blanket to get real cozy," he muttered.

The Cloak, in turn, twisted its way between Stephen's arms and legs and settled across both his and Christine's laps.

She laughed softly at his slight frown at the garment and patted the red fabric on her lap. "Good Cloak."

They fell into a patient silence after that, both Christine and Wong quietly drinking their tea as Stephen gathered his words. She could see his struggle in his small microexpressions that she had only learned after knowing him so well after so many years. Wong, she suspected, could read him nearly as well, if not equally.

Eventually he cleared his throat and began to speak. "In return for Christine to get back safely to Earth, I agreed with the demon Mephisto to play games of his choosing for the next twenty-four hours…"

Christine listened in growing horror as he described each game, seeing how this creature had somehow known about Stephen's innate need to protect and rescue innocents and how he dangled souls that, no matter their decisions, he would certainly see as people taken advantage of in desperate, awful times. Throughout his recollection she occasionally looked at Wong; the man's expression was completely frozen in a soft frown. She had a feeling that it was a mechanism to keep the absolute horror off his face. Goodness knew that she was doing her best to appear supportive and sympathetic as opposed to absolutely horrified.

It only got more difficult as Stephen's account went on. By the time he finally got to where he was let go back to Earth with the six souls he managed to save, her free hand was gripping the Cloak so tightly that she felt that she might rip through it, were it not the Cloak.

"I've replayed those hours time and again in my head," he muttered as he stared down at his shaking hands; the quivering had incrementally increased throughout the tale. "All I can think about is all the ways I could have done more, done better, saved more innocents. It was only due to his whims that I was able to save any."

"Oh, Stephen." She leaned towards him and, without asking for permission, engulfed him in a large hug. She felt the Cloak wrap around her side and she was sure it was pressing against Stephen on the other side.

She felt him let go for a moment and indulge in the embrace before pulling away, and she let go and gave him his space again. She watched him as he looked up to Wong, who had managed to keep his amazing poker face with only the slight frown throughout the conversation. "Wong," Stephen started, "I couldn't— I couldn't bear telling the other Masters about my failures in my first real test as Sorcerer Supreme. And I promise you, I've been doing everything in my power to bridge the gaps that remain in my knowledge and power so that I may be more capable in meeting such threats, whether I have the aid of the Vishanti or not."

Wong exhaled and clasped his hands together. "The experience you call a failure, Stephen, is what all of us consider a success," he started. Stephen immediately opened his mouth to argue, but Wong quickly said, "Let me finish, and try to listen to my words and not the doubt that plagues your mind as I speak." He leaned forward. "When you first left with the demon that refused to name itself, we thought it a lesser one that a sorcerer of your caliber could deal with, even on its own plane of existence. Any one of us present would have been able to, though it would not necessarily be easy. It was with that thought in mind that we left you with advice rather than protests, though Master Hamir was correct in his suspicions that the demon was unusually more powerful than those we've encountered in recent memory.

"I know you have been doing a lot of research on demonology, Stephen, and what information we have upon the greater demons known as the Hell-Lords. There is a reason that, despite thousands of years of collecting knowledge, what we know of them is so little. Hell-Lords are very powerful due to the number of souls they have attained over the uncounted millennia in which sentient, reasoning lifeforms have existed. They gather more souls to be ever the strongest, but they are not desperate for every sentient being they come across. Hell-Lords are unlike lesser demons in that they will kill if they don't think the person's soul is worth the effort."

Christine grabbed at the Cloak again and looked again to Stephen; he, in turn, was looking at her with a tight expression.

They both turned to Wong as the man continued, "Had we known this was one of the Hell-Lords, we would have done as much as we could to stop you, perhaps even by force— though I doubt that would have worked in our favour. So we would have seen you off and declared you dead, more than likely."

Stephen's brow furrowed. "Dead? Immediately? Why?"

"The last time a Sorcerer Supreme fought a Hell-Lord within their own domain and lived was the first one in Agamotto. The last time anyone encountered one was the Ancient One in Germany at the end of WWII. From what I understand there were three Hell-Lords present in the spring of 1945 in that country, but as they were upon Earth's plane, they were manageable. Facing one in its own dimension is unprecedented in modern history. That you were able to play its games with enough wit to not only survive, but to also bring back six souls that would have otherwise been lost, is a great victory."

Christine watched as Stephen's gaze fell to his hands, still trembling. "It did not feel like a victory," he mumbled. "Each test, each game I failed in some manner."

Wong shook his head. "Each test was specifically designed to take advantage of what Mephisto would consider your weaknesses, though I assure you your passion for the soul of the individual is considered one of your greatest strengths by all of us." Stephen lifted his head in surprise, but Wong continued on. "Consider this: if it had been Hamir in your place, one of his tests would have involved something that would give a person with two hands a distinct advantage. If it had been Minoru, you know there would have been something with spiders." Stephen's lips twitched upward, and Wong raised his brow pointedly. "The point, Stephen, is that this demon is known as a deceptive trickster. He twisted his so-called games to place you in the worst possible position and keep you in a position of doubt."

"Out of all of this, what I do find concerning," Wong admitted, "is that he knew you so well. It is possible that he has been watching you for some time."

Stephen's brow furrowed. "Why would he do that?"

"It is hard to say," he answered. "Demons are soulless creatures with no concept of time beyond the souls which they trick and enslave. It is thought that some have some greater perception of the wider multiverse and their realities; it is possible that Mephisto has some small knowledge from that."

Christine did not like where this conversation was going, and there was still one rather important thing to address at that time. "I think what you should get out of this, Stephen," she started, "is that you are most certainly not a failure. You can't be so hard on yourself."

He gave her an imploring look, as if willing her to understand him. "I have a great responsibility to this world and I cannot—"

"No, she's completely right," Wong interrupted. "Kamar-Taj calls for devotion wholly to defending reality, but you can't do that if you're half-dead from exhaustion."

"I'm not—"

"You wouldn't be using glamour if it wasn't an issue," Wong pointed out, and Stephen had nothing to retort to that. "And," he added, "the occasional lunch or ice cream break is not only permitted, but encouraged to retain one's sanity and reminder as to why we do what we do."

Stephen gave him a long look. "Are you saying you do it for ice cream?"

"And so that reality TV may flourish unhindered," Wong replied, and Christine quickly covered a surprised laugh. "If there are indeed areas you believe you may be lacking in knowledge, all the Masters will be more than willing to assist you, though I feel that you are equal if not more knowledgeable in most fields. But we can talk about that tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why tomorrow?"

"Because you look absolutely awful and clearly need to sleep for the next twenty-four hours," he retorted.

Stephen frowned. "I'm awake and functioning."

Christine wrinkled her nose. "Barely. Get some sleep!"

The Cloak lifted itself off their laps and waited expectantly beside the study door, causing its keeper to make a face at it.

Wong stood up and walked over to him, offering him a hand. "Listen to your friends. We can discuss more details about what happened and where we need to go tomorrow, but for now, you need to rest. No matter what you have been telling yourself, you do deserve it."

He hesitated, but for only a couple seconds before taking Wong's proffered hand and letting his friend hoist him up. "Don't let me sleep too long," Stephen muttered.

"You're sleeping for the next week if you have to," Wong retorted.

"I can get some drugs that would do that," Christine quipped as she got to her feet.

"No need; we have spells that can do the same, but thank you for the offer all the same."

"You're both terrible," Stephen moaned as he trudged to the door. The Cloak fit itself snugly across his shoulders.

"You're welcome," she said in return, and he glanced at her with a soft, but very warm smile that still made her heart do things that it shouldn't do, all these years later. Damn that man. "I'll text you."

"You'll hear from me," he promised, and then he turned and let Wong and the Cloak usher him towards his bedroom for some much-needed sleep and, for the first time in a long time, a peaceful time of rest.

—————

(Anndddd the series is done! Wooow. Whoda thought this was going to be a thing, because I certainly didn't.

You can take the headcanon that Wong is an enthusiastic fan of trashy reality TV shows from my cold dead hands. Definitely inspired by my two co-workers I work with the most, though I have had the occasional reality TV show binge watch.)

#whumptober2019 #no.31 #embrace #stephen strange #doctor strange #christine palmer #wong #doctor strange fanfic #genre: angst #genre: friendship #my writing #my fanfiction

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