Tumgik
#and i have several fic ideas i wanna do outside of the series
whiskygoldwings · 3 hours
Note
what are some Fox tropes and headcanons that you like 👀 or anything else that you wanna ramble about him!
Okay!!! I am finally back at my laptop and able to give this question the proper answer it deserves!
STRAP IN KIDS WE'RE GOING FOR A RIDE!!!
HEADCANONS/TROPES
Let's be honest, considering we get about five minutes of him in the animated series and very little extra information outside of it, most of the characterisation of Fox is based on headcanon/fanon tropes. There are a few I am very particularly fond of to say the least! These aren't in any particular order, and at all times can be intermixed/left out etc etc...
The Corries are systematically abused by the Senate/the Chancellor - I won't lie, I'm a sucker for this. The Corries are strange in the show for a few reasons: no known assigned Jedi, several Commanders instead of one, non-officers appear to have the same paint job, and their remit appears to be very different to the rest of the GAR. I'm going to fail miserably at this list thing, because I already want to go off on multiple tangents that are headcanons of their own, BUT! I'm going to highlight the lack of individuality - Fics where this is described as being due to the need to protect troopers from being decommissioned/reconditioned/being singled out by Senators for numerous other nefarious reasons are like crack to me. I will drink that shit like water. It feeds into my loving Fox being a problem solver who works damn hard and damn cleverly to protect his people. The Senate abuse the guard through so many ways - dehumanisation of them being the overarching feature that makes it so easy to treat them like objects, toys for their amusement. Give me a good fic where fox paints himself like a target to take the abuse from the rest. Thorn and the other Commanders refuse to let him go it alone. They are the bulwark against the abuse reaching the rest of the guard.
Thorn painted their armour the opposite to Fox's on purpose. Yeeeeah, this is a little bit of a shippy thing. Won't lie! Not entirely; I do love the idea that thorn does it so they're clearly the highest ranking and can be targetted easily. But I'm also a complete sucker for Fox/Thorn, especially Thorn being devoted to Fox and putting him back together when it all gets too much.
Fox has scars, grey hair, and slightly more golden-brown eyes - Personal preference on the eyes thing. I just think it makes him more Fox-like. I swing between him being named Fox due to his slyness, and because of his eyes. Never written it though weirdly! Scars - heavily predicated by the Guard being abused thing. Typically I picture him with a scar through his right eyebrow (see my pfp and The Ballad), though I am very fond of the scar across the bridge of the nose look. I also, fooking love Fox having Lichtenberg scars, possibly weirdly raised and brutal-looking, due to the fact they've been caused by Sith lightning... Palp's is a bad bad man! The grey hair I headcanon being an indication of the stress his mind has been put under by Sithly intrustion/manipulation. As well as just pure fucking exhaustion.
Fox loves caff! I love coffee and exist in a constant state of fatigue. The man gets to feel both my pain and my nectar of life. Typically he has it black with no sugar, but largely because the Guard don't get frivolous things like milk and sugar! (Secretly he loves it with just one spoon of sugar and a touch of cream. Bail made it that way for him once and he nearly cried. He's been chasing that flavour ever since)
Fox loves his Guard. So much. He will do anything to keep them safe. Half of his exhaustion is caused by him taking as much onto himself as he can, including, but not limited to, the abuses of the Chancellor and other Senators. He's a professional, and it takes some convincing/manipulation/Thorn just bullying him into it, but he does love being surrounded by his Vode in a massive pile of warmth and love somewhere.
The Guard love Fox. They see and know what he does for them. They bring him little gifts and leave ration bars and the other Commanders quietly race through datawork and do their best to take what work they can from him. In stories where the GAR become hostile towards the Guard, Fox's troopers will defend him to the end. (I'm actually not fond of the GAR turning against the Guard in my own headcanon! I read and enjoy it for the angst/whump, but oftentimes I prefer any separation to be more because of Sithly intervention/simple war making communication hard).
Eldritch Fox is fucking excellent by the way. There's a set of fics called Corrie Red that I just love. Fox accepts power to help the Guard. It turns out excellently. (For the Guard!) Eldritch guard is wonderfully delicious, and seems to have a subset of fans within the fandom. There's a few really damn good fics of the sort out there.
Palp's activates Fox's chip and uses him to conduct assassinations - Bonus points if Fox starts to become aware of this. bonus bonus points if it causes the chip to degrade, and there's angst over realising what he's done etc. Yes pls!
Fox struggles to trust Nat-borns due to everything that's happened with the Senate. I struggle to ship Fox with Quin or Riyo because of this. Strangely I find Riyo easier than Quin? I think because Quin is a Jedi, and I can imagine Fox feeling very betrayed by them, or separated from them in a way he doesn't perhaps with a nat-born who has worked from the beginning to help him. She's depicted as quite young at the beginning of Clone Wars, so I more imagine them perhaps getting together in the Bad Batch era. I am getting more fond of Foxiyo these days I'm finding! But, realistically, my headcanon is that Fox can't relax completely with Nat-borns, always feels like there's another foot to fall. Personally, as a clone-shipper, I prefer Fox/Thorn, Fox/Cody or Fox/Thorn/Stone/Thire. That last one makes me so freaking happy! I love the idea of them all just piling in together lol!
The command batch consists of Fox, Cody, Wolffe, Bly and Ponds. This is fairly typical of the clone fandom, but I thought it worth saying! I see Fox and Wolffe in particular as very close, seeing each other very much as siblings/twins. There's another excellent fic where Wolffe realises not all is right with the Guard and goes in to investigate, and I LOVE IT.
Fox being Force-sensitive - This is more a trope I enjoy - I don't personally headcanon it, I tend to lean towards any indication of Force-sensitivity being a reason for decommissioning. But do I love fics where he realises this and cleverly avoids being discovered, or the chip prevents Force sensitivity, or he's just quietly better at knowing what people are going to do, at knowing where to dodge to? YES. YES I DO.
Fox is a kind, but firm person. He'll give you his last ration bar, but he'll expect you to do what you're told. He's a Marshal Commander. He's been trained to lead, and he's earned his position. He'll never order someone to do something he wouldn't do himself, and he'll muck in with everyone else.
Fox will sacrifice himself before others. Rations are being cut? Fox takes the lowest amount. The Guard are being given more tasks? Fox will take the first shift.
Fox saves Dogma and incorporates him into the Guard - He hides him the same way he does any trooper order to be decommissioned - he swaps their idents numbers and quietly hides them deep within the Guard. Dogma's a Corrie, and with them, he learns how to be comfortable with himself.
A trope I have enjoyed (but only know of one fanfic that does it!) - is where Fox is actually a series of different clones. There's an excellent fic where the first fox disappears, and Thorn and the other Commanders move someone else into the position. I annoyingly can't remember what it's called right now, but the current Fox at the end of the war is something like the 9th of that name? It's very good!
I know there's more, but I brought some whisky back from Scotland and have enjoyed a couple of glasses and am now struggling to remember more! I may well reblog and add some more as I remember lol!
To me, the Corrie Guard as a whole is particularly interesting precisely because we know so little of them, and only see very brief glimpses of them. I think I've fallen, HARD, for fanon Fox. Where he's the leader of an abused and beleagured group, and doing his absolute best to protect them with every ounce of power he has. Where he suffers and struggles and is broken down to his very marrow, but forces himself back up, and fights to the bitter end to protect others. He's an excellent whump target, and also a sexy silver Fox. What fanon has made of him has been beautiful, and I love it.
Always happy to talk about Fox, and what I like of him.
15 notes · View notes
dcminions · 1 month
Text
more rp ideas from me and my overactive imagination
a group inspired by all the country music that is constantly playing rn, just like a small town in a southern state where denim jackets with fleece collars and rodeos reign supreme. you could even throw in some yellowstone inspo with there being like one large ranch in town that sorta has a monopoly on like business for the region??? anyways it feels like the type of group that could go a lot of ways, even have a crime element or undercurrent maybe?? either way it’d also be a great opportunity for people to play more people of color in these settings but esp black, latinx, and native people who are traditionally sorta left out of the narrative - now yall could bring them into it :)
a star wars inspired rp, set on a planet that is like the central hub of activity idk listen i do not watch anything star wars related but i play the journey to batuu game on the sims and honestly it made for a nice three hours i think but im also easily entertained either way it could be cute!!just like a central hub city planet place idk it doesn’t have to take place in the sw universe that would just probably be a really great starting point ya know? it also lends itself to a good basis for any magic or technological systems right yall get it yall see the vision it would just take place mostly in one place but it would also be a place for people to get missions, jobs, etc
a city rp with the twist that its like a city from a superhero universe idk ive been on gothamtok for a month now i feel like gotham/metropolis/central city would be so funny like it’s just a regular city rp but you could intersperse it with like news alerts that like deadshot has just killed the mayor or the riddler has taken seven people hostage and is hiding them in a maze that poison ivy created in the center of the city park shit like that idk. your character can even work for them love a henchperson omg it can be the more fantastical versions of the cities like from the animated series or the 90s movies or the more grubby, sad ones from the recent movies or tv shows either way it’d be a nice twist on a classic city rp
BRING BACK BIKER GANG RPS THANKS
college rp centered around a hockey team idk i just love the coho fics that’s just a personal thing
summer is coming up so a summer house/houses rp would eat. maybe like a community omg it just hit me as i started writing this but a community of houses that was built almost specifically for the purpose of it being a party haven??? and it’s like on an island or an two hour drive out of the city and everyone goes up from the city (of your choice) every thursday and leave on sunday/monday (obv some people can stay behind) but either way, the big community aspect could be if you want it to be a bigger group with several houses but if you wanna keep it to 2-3 houses with like 6-8 people per house, that works for smaller groups too omg that would be cute
im watching the valley which is horrible tv but i think a group centered around people that live in a town just outside of a major city would be cute like just far away enough for it be a different county but not so far away that it takes more than an hour to get there and the concept hinges on these being older people who maybe are done living faster paced lives in the city but have a bit of fomo so they wanna settle down out there, idk it feels like a cute idea for a 30+ muses rp esp if you wanna have characters with like full blown relationships, careers, kids, etc
the 30+ idea but inspired by friends / sex & the city where it’s people in their 30s but still living in that major city, trying to ease into somewhat settling down while maybe dealing with the fact that they are getting older??? could be cute i like it
another show/movie to draw inspo from : the gentlemen. i think just a crime rp set in london is actually what im saying here actually, nothing more <3
any city rp set in a city that is not usually highlighted, especially places like rio, mexico city, dublin, singapore, lagos, istanbul, buenos aires, mumbai, etc just to switch it up ya know???
actually this would eat so bad a group in the vein of the gotham idea but actually set in wakanda??? listen i would love that and it could take place before the first movie so it’s still isolated OR OR OR after the second movie so they’re a little bit more open and there’s more people just now moving there, etc. i just love the idea of a wakanda rp and it seems like it would be so much fun as well as give people an opportunity to play more underused black fcs actually thnx
said this last time but a rp set in the 1920s or the 1940s right after ww2 would also be very fun esp the roaring twenties like cmon yall, great gatsby hello???
ive seen a couple of these and they have been so cute but more bridgerton type rps with preset families and shit those just seem very fun and also remind me of jane austen novels/movies JUSTICE FOR THE BRIDGERTON RPS
that’s all i got for now, make some new rps, see yall in 6 months <3
8 notes · View notes
Note
Hi! I was wondering do you take requests or writing prompts by any chance
Hey! It really just depends. I am a VERY busy writer with the worlds most complicated series on my hands at the moment... If you have an idea for Against The World, I am ALWAYS down for suggestions and reader opinions, but I have absolutely no promises that the request will be included in the series. If it is another fic suggestion with a writing prompt/idea you have in mind, I tend to only write one-shots and few-chapter fics for such a thing. And only if I end up inspired and willing to write the request. I so far have no works outside NATM because this series takes me a long time and a lot of work. Maybe I will someday. I also have no upload schedule or promise to complete requested fics. I am a very sporadic and unplanned writer... If you have many ideas you wanna suggest, my DM's are open too!! Oh, and at the time due to several factors, I cannot accept paid-for commissions at all. Thank you for asking! 
9 notes · View notes
xxang3l-trapxx · 2 years
Text
Halloween while Stuck Indoors
A/N: And this is the last fic of the month!! This series is finally over! Phew, I can finally rest now after, especially since I’m sick as a damn dog.
Halloween night, 2006
The Harlem neighborhood was booming tonight. Children in costumes (which were designed to be worn for a single night and then promptly thrown away) ran through the dark, their parents not too far behind calling out for them to be careful. Terrified middle schoolers scattered like ants from dickhead older kids that ran at them dressed a zombies, Ghostfaces and the occasional tasteless Jeffery Dahmer costume (seriously, tact is a thing. Use it fuckrags.). Women dressed in lingerie and some form of animal ears were a dime a dozen in this place, and as long as you looked like you were dressed up, you could pass.
And it wasn’t just people with free time having fun either. Business (as well as police/fire stations and even some local clinics) closed as regular services earlier; and had for the night rebranded as haunted houses, event symposiums and party halls.
All in all, most houses and apartments were devoid of people, and most were enjoying their night.
Except for the Ito residence, where 7-year old Sachio was currently having a little temper tantrum in his room, glowering with tears in his eyes as he looked outside the window.
He gave a small ‘Hmph!’ and looked away, glaring at his older brother Hayato from the end of the bed.
“Hayato, it’s not fair! I wanna go out too,” the young boy sobbed, throwing a pillow at him.
Hayato looked unamused as he caught the pillow, pinching his nosebridge.
“Sachio. I already told you, you can’t go out tonight. You’re injured, and you wouldn’t be able to keep up with everyone else,” he said, setting the pillow on the desk. Sachio crossed his arms and glowered, but he wasn’t about to admit his brother was right.
Earlier in the week during school, Sachio and the other kids were discussing what plans they had for Halloween, all the while playing their games and running around. Sachio, in his energetic nature and lack of spacial awareness, was momentarily distracted by a passing kid. He bumped into them (he was jump roping), and one ungraceful tumble to the ground later, Sachio landed himself in the local clinic with a badly twisted ankle. Along with the order to sit at home, rather than going trick or treating like he wanted.
“I know, but this was gonna be my first year out with Joshua trick or treating! This sucks!”
He glared at his busted ankle, which was wrapped up in a thick elastic bandage and elevated on several pillows. Glowering, Sachio pulled his knee to his chest, but it began to ache intensely in protest.
“Ouch! Ow, ow, ow! Damnit, that was a really bad idea! It hurts!”
Hayato lightly chided his brother for his swearing, but ruffled his hair affectionately nonetheless.
“I know it sucks kid, but this is reality. Maybe there’s other things we can do tonight,” he did his best to console Sachio, to little avail.
Sachio looked out the window, his sullen expression reflected in the window. “Like what?”
Hayato thought for a minute, before a lightbulb went off in his head.
“Sachio, do you wanna go across the hall to Julie’s and watch a movie?”
He wiped his tears, and immediately smiled.
“Julie? Are you serious,” he asked, not really believing at first.
Hayato nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Sachio laughed and gently swung himself off the bed, hopping over to hug his older brother.
“Ahh, thank you Hayato-niiiiii,” he exclaimed, drawing out the last letter.
Hayato smiled, and picked up Sachio, wrapping the younger’s arms and legs around his shoulders and torso, minding the younger’s injured ankle. Sachio giggled in delight at being so high up, his older brother smiling softly as he slipped on his shoes, locked the apartment behind them, and trudged across the hall. He rung the doorbell, and heard a muffled ‘Coming!’ before stepping back.
Julie, in a set of floral pajamas and grey house slippers, greeted the two boys with a smile.
“Ay boys! What brings you here to my humble abode?”
Sachio peaked out from behind Hayato’s hair, smiling.
“Hayato-nii asked me if I wanted to come over here since I can’t go out, and of course I said yes!! You’re like, the bestest older sister in the world Julie-nii,” he rambled as Julie laughed.
“Well of course I am! Come on in,” she said, stepping aside to let the boys in.
She closed the door and locked it as Hayato took off his shoes and shifted them to beside the door.
“To be honest with you both I was gonna just spend the night alone, but the moment you two came knocking I was ready to go with that too,” Julie said as Hayato settled Sachio on the couch, settling a pillow under his leg.
Hayato gave a small laugh as he sat down on the floor, his head in his hands. Julie sat down opposite Sachio and Hayato, the three of them forming a little triangle.
Sachio shifted from side to side, buzzing with energy.
“Ooh, what if we tell scary stories? All night, with the lights off!”
Julie grinned, while Hayato pretended to look terrified.
“I dunno Sachio, I think Hayato might get too scared,” she said in mock consideration.
Sachio brushed her off, batting his hand.
“Hayato-nii always does this, he’s just joking! If he was serious, that’d be really sad,” he said.
Okay, the kid had a point.
Julie sighed. “Fair. Now come on, let’s get started!”
And so, the three told their best stories of terror and fright throughout the evening, shrieking in terror and delight.
Sachio may not have been able to go trick-or treating due to his injury, but this was a thousand times better.
1 note · View note
alexandrablake · 3 years
Text
hi i’m very sorry for the lack of content recently (and by lack i mean there has quite literally been none) ! school is ending next week so everything has been kinda crazy but i will soon return! hopefully triumphantly!
6 notes · View notes
clanwarrior-tumbly · 2 years
Note
Hello I saw your post with the Roxy having a lost child that got me thinking what if chica has a lost child as well.Maybe the child wanted to meet chica in person in the pizzaplex but couldn’t because of money issues so they hid until after hours and went looking for her.
They would probably meet her when the child got hungry and went to look for food like in the kitchen.And possibly the child getting excited to see her and mentions to wanting to share their food with her when catching her eating garbage sadly knowing how it feels to not eat good food due to money issues??
Also they wear a pink shirt with glittery hair clips having big white frame glasses with cheap white and pink make shift jewelry holding a white chicken plushie that has little handmade clothes and accessories to resemble her ???
Not really good with this one maybe you can think of something better??? IDK
Oh this is FAR too cute to pass up...I think I wanna make this a little series haha. If ya'll get anymore ideas with Monty or Freddy or hell even DJ Music Man I'd love to hear them! Doesn't matter if they're plot-centered or not (ie this fic is set prior to SB's events).
.......
Every so often you'd find yourself drawn back to Rockstar Row, hoping to see the face of your favorite Mega Pizzaplex star: Glamrock Chica.
But sadly the pink room with a single window looking in remained empty. Her instrument was abandoned on the sofa, and it only made you frown as you wondered where she could have gone if she wasn't practicing.
Still you didn't give up hope. Though you didn't realize how truly alone you were until now, after the doors closed for the night and wouldn't reopen until 6AM. You can only imagine what this place must've looked like when it was open during the day, with families and children running amok.
The truth was, this was your first time inside the mall. You've always had to admire it from the outside, as financial struggles in your family made it difficult to visit such fun places.
This one certainly wasn't on the table. "We can't waste our money there, [y/n]. We need it for more important things like food and clothing and doctor visits. Do you understand?" Your family said after you casually mentioned Mega Pizzaplex's grand opening.
Of course, it was probably silly to ask them that. But it didn't hurt any less hearing that nearly every kid in town went here, and you had to lie so they didn't make fun of you.
Though now you understood what they were talking about. This place rocks! You didn't anticipate it being huge. You would've lost your way had a Mapbot not surprised you with a free map, so you pulled it out and took a look at it, wondering where to go from here.
The white chicken plushie that you dolled-up to resemble Chica was tucked under your arm as you read the map. You then felt your stomach growling a little, and you decided simple snacks won't do. You've been using magnets to scramble the vending machines so you didn't have to scour for quarters.
But you could definitely go for a proper meal. Like a pizza.
'Wait..Chica always advertises food...maybe she's at the kitchen!' You thought with a smile, before you ventured to the atrium where most of the popular attractions and restaurants were.
You saw places like El Chip and Bonnie Bowl on the floors above, but none of them seemed fitting for Chica. So after carefully maneuvering past the STAFF security bots, and getting lost several times in the vents, you arrived "behind the scenes" of the mall and found the red double doors with a sizzling pan icon on the wall.
Of course, it didn't say "kitchen" in bright neon letters, and this place was more dull and dreary than you expected. But judging from the munching sounds you heard on the other side, you knew you were right where you wanted to be.
After dusting yourself off, you prepared to meet her, hoping to share a pizza with her if possible, as you gently pushed the door open.
And you finally saw the glamorous chicken you've come to adore..
Eating...garbage?
Sure enough, there she was--shoveling old food and plastic wrappers into her beak like it was the last supper. She seemed to take delight in this "meal", as she continued happily munching on the trash, ignoring everything around her.
Despite being surprised she was acting this way, you weren't shocked nor disgusted.
After all, you could understand the need to pick through trash, relying on leftovers and other people's food scraps to sustain yourself. It was far from unhealthy, but you were used to it. It's been your way of living and getting whatever nutrients you needed. You even searched through those same dumpsters to make jewelry for yourself, like the glittery clips in your hair and plastic bracelets on your wrists.
Considering that, being able to visit this place and afford real tasty food was something you only thought was possible in dreams.
You never would've expected to see Chica, a literal robot celebrity, doing the same thing you've been doing for years.
Did they not feed her enough here? Or was the food not as great as everyone says? Or maybe the pressures of singing got to her?
As you thought about why she'd resort to eating trash, the door unknowingly squeaked shut and you tensed up.
The sudden noise made her cease all movements. Then, much like an owl, she swiveled her head around 180 degrees and saw you standing there.
You hugged your chicken tightly, frozen like a deer in headlights as she stood up and turned her body, her head shifting back into its normal place with a click. "This area is off-limits!" She warned, approaching you, though as she realized you (and your plush) were dressed like her, she stopped and gazed at you in wonder.
"Little chick..you look...so lovely! What adorable glasses!" She smiled, taking the wing of your chicken and shaking it. Though she frowned slightly, her friendly demeanor faltering quickly. "But what are you doing back here? Especially after hours?"
"I-I..I got locked in." You told her, not wanting to be afraid. "But I just wanted to meet you!"
Chica got down on both knees and tilted her head, a frown resting on her beak. "I haven't seen you before. What's your name, sweetie?"
"[Y/n], I'm..probably the only kid in town who hasn't seen you in-person. I can't really..a-afford to come here." You looked down at your shoes in shame, hugging the chicken plushie. This was definitely not how you wanted your first meeting with your idol to go. She was probably mad at you for trespassing. "So I..I stayed after closing."
"[Y/n], you should know better." She tutted, shaking her head. "No matter the reason, nobody should wander back here where it's so dark and dirty and full of rats and...trash...mmm..delicious trash...."
"Uh..Chica?" You looked up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her strange behavior.
"H-H-Huh?" Suddenly her head twitched as she made a bwak-like noise, holding the sides of her face before seemingly coming back to her senses. "I'm sorry..I...our friendly security STAFF will escort you out-"
"No, no. It's okay. I don't judge you for liking trash." Putting your plush in your pocket, you reached up to put your smaller hands over her plastic ones. "I...know what it's like to not always have good food. Sometimes trash is all I have for a few days, or a week..maybe longer. But I understand the struggle, Chica. It's okay."
Chica blinked with surprise, before her shoulders relaxed a bit. She knew very well nobody was happy with her new "eating habits", especially after that Monty Mystery Mix made her go haywire. But she wouldn't dare tell you that...she felt guilty enough for scaring you.
She definitely felt like something was wrong with her, though for now she didn't want to put that burden on you. You've gone through enough trouble trying to find her--and put great effort into your choice of fashion--so all she wanted to do was treat you like a superstar, as every kid who met her deserves to feel.
Being caught in a dirty kitchen eating filth wasn't exactly the best first impression, but you seemed to understand and have empathy for her. And for that she was grateful. She couldn't imagine what would happen if another child caught her like this.
"Oh, sweetie..that means a lot to me. Now I can't send you home on an empty stomach, can I?" She stood up, gesturing to a nearby bot dressed in a chef's outfit, explaining to you how pizzas are crafted virtually and delivered on time.
Since the machines were still working, she took you to the kitchen office where the Pizzabot's controls were, holding your hand so you didn't get lost. The Security bots who patrolling the area seemed confused about whether to sound the alarm or not.
In the end, you got to enjoy a delicious pizza with your favorite Glamrock.
You both agreed this was definitely more satisfying than leftovers.
622 notes · View notes
Text
Bent, not broken 2
Warnings: non-consent sex and rape; violence; injury; blood; drugging, tags to be added throughout series.
This is a dark!fic and features the winter soldier and Captain Hydra x reader and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.
Synopsis: An attack leads to the uncovering of decades old secrets when you are taken by the deadliest assassin in the world
Note: Thank you all for your patience with this :) So happy to get part 2 out!
Thanks to everyone for reading and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)
I really hope you enjoy. 💋
<3 As usual, I’d appreciate if you let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!
Tumblr media
The man with the metal arm brought you a set of plain grey clothes. It was the type of shapeless linen given to patients in a long-term facility or inmates at a prison. When you struggled to lift your right shoulder over your head and winced as your ribs throbbed, he helped you get into the long-sleeved shirt, pulling the fabric down gruffly and backing away.
You shoved your feet into the rubber shoes, and held your arm across your middle, as you stood with shoulders curled forward pathetically. You hobbled to the door as he beckoned to you. You were reluctant to leave the room, fearful of a worse prison ahead. You didn’t have much choice in the matter; resistance was a ridiculous idea given your injuries. 
As it was, you were still too hazy with shock and pain to even think of doing anything other than what you were told. You only hoped that you would have a moment to lay down again. Standing up was torture, even just breathing, and those fleeting moments of sleep were your only relief.
The halls stretched on and on. The twists and turns seemed counterintuitive as he led you along and when you didn’t walk fast enough, he grabbed your arm and dragged you along. You limped and tripped several times but he hardly noticed as he kept his eyes forward.
He brought you out into the sombre grey evening and the gulp of cold air was like a slap in the face. You didn’t know how long it was since you last felt the outside, but it made you tear up. The subtle chill tickled your nose and sent a shiver up your neck. It didn’t feel real, not after the stifling stillness of that white room.
He ushered you over to the boxy black vehicle and opened the backdoor. He nudged you and pointed inside. You looked at him and then around at the barren dirt. You braced the side of the doorframe and grunted as you tried to climb up into the backseat. You gasped and dropped back onto the ground and touched your ribs.
He sniffed and you flinched as his hand came up under your ass and he pushed you up and into the car. You groaned and landed heavily across the seat and kept yourself from sliding onto the floor. You turned back just as he slammed the door.
You coughed and reclined against the seat. You watched him climb in the front, a clear barrier between the front and back of the vehicle. The engine turned and hummed as he played with the controls. A screen above the dash lit up and showed coordinates on a map as several switches lit up below.
The jeep began to move as he steered mechanically away from the building. You peeked back at the grey brick and stretched your legs out as you leaned on the door. You rocked with the motion of the wheels but each jolt made you whimper. You closed your eyes and quelled the panic bubbling in your stomach.
You knew it couldn’t be good. None of it was. Waking up in that closet, being locked up in that white room, and now, your unknown destination hardly meant a mysterious fate. The Captain’s leer returned to you and his ominous words. The way he ordered the masked man around like a dog worried you more.
When you next opened your eyes, just about to doze off, you heard a subtle buzz through the barrier. Next to the screen, a phone was propped up and the timer counted up the minutes in the call. You couldn’t read what you assumed was Russian Cyrillic and you couldn’t quite hear the words coming from the speaker.
You sighed and it caused a stab in your ribs. You closed your eyes again and opted to try to cling onto your fatigue. It wouldn’t matter if you could hear the conversation, likely one-sided as it was, or if you could figure out where that little blinking tag on the map was. None of it made a difference. You could be certain you would not escape those men.
Mountains rose with sun through the slits of your eyelids. You batted away the sleepiness and shifted as you looked around at the rocky landscape, the road ahead steep and winding as the tires gripped the dirt. The angle of your ascent made your stomach flip and you leaned into the corner more heavily.
When the terrain plateaued, the mist thick around you, you dared to move and craned to peer around at the obscured lands below. The man drove on along the trail, just wide enough for the wide military vehicle and steered into the open mouth of a cave hidden between tall rocks jutting out from the mountain face.
The darkness consumed all but the glowing screen and symbols in the front of the vehicle and when the tires crunched to a halt, you sat up cautiously. The lights all went out and the front door opened and closed. The door behind you swung open and the rigid metal grip pulled you out. 
Your feet hit the ground harshly and you stumbled against the man’s unwavering posture. The door shut and he sidled you ahead of him between the metal and stone. You couldn’t see in the suffocating blackness of the cave but he walked on without hesitation. His hold on your arm was the only guide you had.
He stopped as the air grew sharp and startlingly cold. Your teeth chattered and you heard the shift of rock against rock. A glowing blue oval appeared, as if floating, and he covered it with his thumb. A low rumble came from deep in the mountain and suddenly the slate before you shifted and a wall of light shone over you.
He shoved you through the door and followed, the metal door sliding closed as the rock wall on the other side clattered back into place. You looked up and down the hallway. The walls were constructed of metal sheets and the atmosphere was just as sterile as that before. Each door was thick and firmly shut, a keypad set into the wall by every frame.
The metal finger pointed you ahead of the masked man and you staggered down the long hall. He led you from behind, a right turn and then to the end. The only open door led to a peculiarly cozy room. The walls were made of rippled wood and lent the air of a cabin as the fireplace burned with artificial flames. There was a long sofa and two plaid armchairs, and the place was decorated like a real home.
Your eyes were drawn to the walnut bar in the corner where the lone figure stood. The Captain no longer sported his helmet or combat suit but wore a pale blue cable knit sweater. He smirked at you as he swirled the dark liquor in a round-bellied bottle and sniffed the neck.
“About time,” he said to the man behind you.
The masked man poked you and grabbed your elbow. He brought you to the bar and pulled a stool close to you. You couldn’t climb up on your own and so he lifted you and plunked you down. He perched on another as the Captain ordered him to.
“You look confused,” the Captain said coolly, “why wouldn’t you be? I can only assume the breadth of explanation offered by my companion.” He winked at the other man who only glared back above his black mask, “he doesn’t say much but you can call him Bucky, he might answer to it.”
He took a slender shot glass and filled it with the nearly black liquid. He turned it slowly and tilted his head as he eyed it. He put the bottle down and leaned an arm on the bar as he watched you.
“Soldat, maybe,” he offered, “he’s a good soldier. And you already know who I am, but sir will suffice.”
You frowned and glanced between him and the other man; Bucky, soldat, whatever he was. Steve chuckled and lifted the shot. He held it up until you looked at it and just as quickly, knocked it back and hissed as he slammed the glass back down.
“You see, me and him, we have different variants of the serum. Similar enough, one of the things we have in common being our tolerance for alcohol. But this…” he flicked the top of the bottle, “a couple shots and the edge starts to blur. If someone like you were to take just a sip, well, you’d be on your ass.”
You shook your head, not quite catching his point. He inhaled and poured another shot. He put it in front of the soldat.
“Loosen up, will ya?” he chided.
The dark-haired man squinted and stared at the glass. He reached up with one hand and took off the mask. He revealed a square jaw and chiseled cheekbones. He drained the shot in a single robotic motion but when he brought the glass back down, it shattered against the bar.
“He has issues with… restraint,” Steve said, “to him, a knock in the head is like a peck on the lips. He doesn’t feel it. If he can’t feel, how can he know what others can?”
“I don’t…” you sniffed.
“He could’ve killed you. He almost did by the looks of it, but he didn’t,” he continued, “there are flickers in him… little things left behind from who he once was, but I don’t think it was mercy.”
You chewed your lip and stayed silent. You took a breath and once more wracked your tender ribs. You folded your arms around you and grimaced.
“Yeah, hurts, doesn’t it?” he taunted, “unfortunately for us, you’ll need lots of rest if you don’t wanna puncture a lung.”
“What do you… mean?” you regretted asking the moment the question was out. It was a dumb question.
He raised his brows and the scar across his eye paled. He rubbed his forehead and chuckled. His blue eyes wandered for just a moment to the plain gray cotton along your shoulders and he shrugged.
“Look, you don’t wanna do this now,” he said, “so I suggest…” he reached under the bar and revealed a bottle of wine then a stemmed glass, “you get comfortable,” he turned and searched the slim drawer at the top, “and try not to think too much.”
He put an orange bottle of pills down beside the glass and filled the crystal. He pushed the wine towards you and uncapped the bottle. He placed two tablets beside the base and popped the lid back on. 
“It will help with the pain,” he assured you, “and it will make it easier to get settled in.”
“I… I don’t what these are,” you scoffed as you pointed at the pills.
“I wouldn’t poison you. I could end it a lot quicker than that,” he tisked, “so, accept my generosity or I’ll shove it down your throat.”
You blanched and stared at him. The other man, Bucky, stood and stopped you from reaching for the wine. Steve looked at him in amusement and watched him jab a finger towards his chest.
“I’m helping her,” Steve said flatly, “but if you have an easier way, by all means.”
Bucky lowered his chin and closed his eyes. He sat and turned to you. He took the pills and held them out to you. You scooped them up shakily and he swiped up the wine, hovering it just before you. You shoved the pills in your mouth and accepted the wine.
His eyes focused on your lips as you sipped and he glanced back at Steve. He put his hand flat in the air, a blunt gesture. The blond laughed and raised his palms defensively.
“He wants me to leave you alone now,” he snickered, “go on then, Buck, find her a bed.”
The soldier stood and waited for you to do the same. You left the wine half-finished and he ushered you back to the door. As he reached it, Steve’s voice rose again.
“Shouldn’t worry so much about me hurting her, soldat,” he called mockingly, “you do that well enough.”
He prodded you through the door and growled under his breath. He directed you down to the corner and pressed his thumb to the keypad. The door slid up suddenly and you flinched. He blocked the doorway behind you as you entered and looked around at the bedroom. Everything you needed awaited you within those walls and if you weren’t in the middle of a mountain, it would seem an entirely ordinary place.
You turned back but all you saw was the metal descend and close you in. You stared at it for a moment then went to the bed. You sat and rubbed your temples. You could feel the pills dredging up your mind and the wine curdling in your stomach. Sleep was tempting as it was your only choice.
When you woke next, you felt an odd presence. The room was dark but it was that feeling you got as a child when you left the closet door open and conjured monstrous creatures watching from within. 
You groaned as you propped yourself up on one elbow and reached to the switch above the headboard that turned on the lamps on the side table. The room lit up and you crooked as you found a visitor in your corner. 
It was the soldat, his mask back in place as he stood and watched you. You blinked and looked at the door. It was firmly shut. You kept the blanket over you like a shield as you sat up and tried not to show your fear.
“Hi,” you said softly, “are you… okay?”
His blue eyes searched you but gave nothing away. The mask and the curtain of his hair shrouded his emotion. You just stared back in silence as his lashes flicked subtly, his irises moving up and down the bed. He took a step closer and you winced, squeezing the edge of the blankets.
He neared and lowered himself onto the edge of the bed. He grabbed the top of the blanket and tugged until you let them go. You quivered as he pushed your shoulders down and you were forced flat with your head on the pillows. You gulped and the movement of your throat caught his gaze.
His metal fingers tickled along your neck and sent a chill down your spine. His hand continued down the front of your shirt and he pushed the hem up as the blanket bunched beneath your stomach. You latched onto it in a panic and he tore your hands away. He pressed them to the bed beside you until you went limp.
He raised your shirt higher and framed your ribs with his hands, feeling carefully along your bruised torso. When you exclaimed he retracted his hands and pulled your shirt back down roughly. He shook his head and his brows slanted.
His metal fingertips tapped on his thigh as he thought. You laid frozen on the mattress as his forehead wrinkled and he angled his head as if arguing with himself. His hand shifted suddenly and closed around yours. You let him lift it, terrified to anger him.
He reached to unhook his mask and set it in his lap. He brought your hand to his cheek and leaned his face into your palm as he bent over you. You felt the short stubble stabbing your palm. He took your hand away and swung it back towards him sharply so that you smacked him stiffly. 
You stared at him in confusion and he did it again. Then he let your hand go and pointed at his cheek and nodded. You dropped your hand and did nothing. His blue eyes turned to daggers and his jaw squared. He balled his hand and punched his leg in frustration.
He huffed and picked up his mask. He stood and put it back on. He waved his fingers at you dismissively and stomped to the door. He pressed his thumb to the small indent and it slid open before him. When the door shut, you left the lights on. 
Even with the drugs still coursing through you, sleep didn’t seem likely.
493 notes · View notes
liesoverthec · 3 years
Text
OG 911 Character Details from Canon Pt 2
Hi y’all I’m back! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reblogged the last details post - I sort of just thought people would like it and it would die, so to see it travel and hopefully reach more writers was so great so thank you again!
Details under the cut since I went a little crazy 😅 and if this is your first time seeing this, the first part, and any future parts, can be found under this tag here!
Quick note before I get to the details - always, ALWAYS take details from dialogue or plot over details from the set or props if they contradict each other. The writers have the ultimate say over what happens on the show/for the characters, so whatever they say goes, even if it goes against something props has already laid down (eg, Chim’s birthday, sorry Libra crew. He’s an Aries or a Pisces). So keep that in mind for the future in case some of these details I have which are from props/set are changed in the future, or if you’ve noticed something yourself!
Also if you have questions, I am MORE than happy to answer them, although if you leave them in the tags on this post I’m probably gonna lose them, so if it’s something you’d genuinely like an answer to, drop it in my inbox! Besides my standard “ask” tags, I’m also tagging asks about canon details with this tag here. Every time I make a big post like this, I’m going to link all the asks I’ve gotten since the last post, but if you’re looking for more info in the mean time, that’s the other spot to look!
Buck has a grill on his patio.
Eddie doesn’t hang Christopher’s art on the fridge - instead it is either hung on the corkboard in Chris’ room to the left of the door, or Eddie puts it in an actual frame and hangs it using a hammer/nails in Christopher’s room. All the Diaz family has on their fridge is a bunch of bendy people magnets. (I absolutely ADORE him putting all this effort into treating Christopher’s art like it’s something you’d buy from a professional artist).
Info on everyone’s ages can be found here. (Little more discussion of Chim’s situation here).
Albert has a bachelor’s degree! I don’t know in what though, except that it’s some field for which is a Master’s is useful.
Athena was in a sorority in college, Delta Sigma Theta. Their website describes them as “ ...a sisterhood comprised primarily of Black, college-educated women ... [that] considers the issues impacting the Black community and boldly confronts the challenges of African Americans and, hence, all Americans ”, which I love for Athena, and feel is very in-character for her at that time in her life!
Chim is an aviators dude. When he wears sunglasses, they’re always aviators.
Athena also wears nothing but aviators.
Bobby wears square aviators.
Eddie, on the other hand, always wears Wayfarers.
Buck either doesn’t really like sunglasses or he constantly forgets he owns them, since we’ve only seen him wear them once in 60 eps, in a move I’m pretty sure was ONLY for dramatic effect.
Hen’s sunglasses change style over the seasons like her regular glasses do, but she tends to like browline sunglasses.
Info on Christopher’s school can be found here!
There are two colors of dispatch polo, and there doesn’t seem to be any rhythm or reason for who wears what. Maroon - Maddie and Linda. Blue - Josh and May. Jamal has actually worn both maroon and blue, so it doesn’t seem to be TOTALLY set in stone although I’ve never seen anyone else switch. Sue is too badass to wear a dispatch shirt.
Both Bobby and Eddie drive 4 door pickups. Bobby’s is navy. Eddie specifically has a black, 2020 GMC Denali 1500 pickup truck (in case you want to specifically look up what the inside of it looks like or what features it has 😂)
Info on the 118’s medical certifications can be found here.
Correction to Eddie’s living situation from last post: no next door neighbors, but instead UPSTAIRS neighbors. (Pointed out by Abigail in this ask). Also since someone else was wondering the notes of the last post - no, there is absolutely no discussion on the show of whether or not Eddie rents the apartment or owns it. But based on the fact that it’s 1) LA and 2) an apartment, my guess would be he rents it.
When Maddie isn’t feeling like herself, she tends to straighten her hair rather than curl it. It seems to be more when she’s uncertain about her place in her own and other people’s lives, rather than just when she’s simply worried - eg it’s straight in 2B, when she’s uncertain if she wants to continue working as a dispatcher/is unsure about her relationship with Chim.
For work, Chim, Eddie and Buck all use black duffel bags with a LAFD patch on the top. Hen uses several different cute bags, and Bobby seems to have a plain black duffel bag.
Watches - Bobby, Athena, Chim, Hen and Buck all wear their watch on their left wrist (but Athena ONLY wears hers for work, she takes it off at home.) Eddie wears his on his right wrist, and Maddie doesn’t wear one.
Chim (and Maddie by default) literally still have the exact same couch as in the pilot. (Which means that Chim has cuddled Tatiana on that couch, AND Albert has had sex on it. TIME TO GET A NEW ONE, BUCKLEY-HANS 😂)
The 118 has five different rigs - the engine (E118), the ladder truck (T118), two ambulances and the captain’s truck. 95% of the time, when the team is chilling in the cab of a rig and chatting (eg the ‘stuck under a live telephone pole’ scene in Jinx), they’re in the engine, not the truck. (Which I personally learned recently are NOT interchangeable terms!)
Athena and Michael got married when Athena was 37.
If you’d like to give Maddie a full name beyond “Maddie”, you should use Madeline. (I know, I know, in 4x04 she says Maddie is the name on her birth certificate, and that you should never use props details if they contradict script details, but I always thought that was a super weird exchange in 4x04 which could be explained by Maddie getting a nickname since she was born when Margaret and Phillip, you know, actually loved their kids and showed it, so of course Buck doesn’t get one, and in 4x04, Maddie was trying to avoid the entire issue of why she got one and Buck didn’t. But! Do what you want, and use Madeline as the full version of Maddie if you’d like, since that’s what’s on the BOLO in 2x13 😂)
Athena’s call sign is 727 L30, but she doesn’t have a specific squad car - the number changes throughout the series.
Chim really likes chewing gum, but he’s the only one out of the entire family!
The station has an Xbox One S, and it’s white.
In the real LAFD, there are stations 1 through 114. To avoid confusion while filming on the streets (I’m assuming), our fictional LAFD never uses the number of a real station. So if you want another station for a fic, and you want something that would be real in OUR universe, use the numbers 115 and above. They’ve gone as high as 221 in our universe.
Battalions - station 118 is in Battalion 7, which is also not a battalion in real Los Angeles. The 118 has interacted w/ Battalion 1, which is a real battalion, but other ‘non-real which makes them more likely for our universe’ battalions include numbers: 3, 8, 13, 16, 19 and above.
S1 Buck knew the term Jedi, but based on context, didn’t understand AT ALL the context provided by Star Wars, so there’s another edge of his pop culture limits for you.
Chim is the most tech-savvy out of everyone, hands down.
Athena has a VERY active Twitter account.
Abuela’s house number is 8902. I don’t have a street name for you unfortunately though. :/
Athena’s favorite flowers are white roses. None of the other women are really flower people.
Michael likes to wear purple.
When they’re at a call, Buck does pretty much all of the stuff with the hammer and the saw. Eddie does all the work needed with the drill.
Harry goes to Meadowbrook Elementary.
Buck lives on the fourth floor of his apartment building, across the hall from Apt. 416. The lovely @lovelessmotel found this listing for what is more or less the apartment. What happened was: the set crew rented this apartment for the one episode at the end of s2 when Buck moved in, and then over the summer before s3 built their own set of it, and changed some things - eg giving him an island, and moving the sink to a second counter against the far wall, you can see the changes here in this amazing gif set by the awesome Austen, but the listing should let you click around a little more upstairs and figure out dimensions better than what the show provides!
When Athena and Hen go out to eat together, it’s always fast food burgers and fries.
Waffles are Athena’s favorite food, and tiramisu is her favorite dessert.
Every takeout we’ve seen Buck eat has always been in a Chinese food takeout container, and we know he likes Thai food the best. EXCEPT! The one time we see him eat takeout with Eddie and Christopher, they have pizza. So take from that what you will......
Eddie has a cell phone and a landline.
Chim is a shameless multiple texter.
Chim and Bobby sleep closest to the door in their respective bedrooms (both right side of the bed if you are standing at the foot, facing the headboard), and Athena and Maddie sleep furthest away from the door (left side).
Some canon last names for other firefighters at the station in case you wanna add more people to a fic - Mitchell, Sanchez, Serrano (woman), Porter, Meyers (woman), Maxwell, Voyta
Hen and Karen really love decorating their house with dark/red wood.
Karen is Mommy and Hen is Mama.
Bobby has a brother, and a grandmother, and that’s literally ALL we know about his family outside of Marcy and the kids.
Evidence points to Eddie being the oldest child in his family.
Karen has multiple brothers (no sisters), but no idea how many - just that one of them is named Trey, and one of them lives in LA and has kids. They might be the same brother and they might not be.
Both Hen and Athena are only children.
Athena has been on the police force for 30 years.
Christopher and Denny are the same age (born in 2011), and Harry is two years older than them.
Michael lives in apartment 308.
The bank in this universe is CalAm.
Hen and Karen have a picture of Denny, May and Harry on their fireplace mantel.
Eddie having a black thumb + a lot of plants in his living room = him buying fake plants bc he likes the aesthetic ™ or someone (cough Carla cough) is taking care of them for him.
The COVID timeline in OG’s universe is fucked up compared to the real world’s, so it shouldn’t be used as a way to measure time! They just throw it in wherever it makes sense for the story they want to tell (eg the vaccines in s4 ep 8), since s3 was both done before COVID hit but also airing while it was happening. It makes absolutely no sense for May to graduate in March nor for Chris to be going to what is specifically labeled summer camp, and the vaccine plotline was INCREDIBLY early, even for real life, so don’t use anything from that as a measure of time. I’ve found except in specific examples, eg the two tsunami episodes, it’s very safe to say every episode covers a week - fall holidays on the show line up with their real life counterparts, indicating about the same amount of time is passing for us and them.
On that note - Jee-Yun was born in late January, early February 2021. (Conceived in Pinned, which was end of March/beginning of April, meaning Maddie was around a month along at May’s graduation in May ➡ 42 weeks + 3 days from then = late Jan/early Feb. Which unfortunately means we most likely won’t see her birthday celebrated on screen. If we assume she was conceived on the date Pinned aired, aka the very sexy hotel scene, then January 21st or 22nd would be Jee’s birthday, depending on if she was born after midnight or not.
Buck has had at least one other Jeep between the one Maddie gave him, and the one he has now, which means that when he needs a new car, he is purposefully choosing Jeeps.
I hope this was all as interesting/enjoyable to you as it was to me! And just to repeat - I love answering questions so pls let me know if you have any at all ❤
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Tagging: @buckbuckley
346 notes · View notes
sweetest-honeybee · 3 years
Text
Down to Dust
Chapter 2
Fic Summary: Grian will have to keep the dragon egg secure for the Watchers. But, they’re not the only ones who want it. On a completely unrelated note, Mumbo will have to deal with a version of himself thats only amplified by his No Killing mindset.
Chapter Summary: Mumbo steals the dragon egg. Grian is a little pissed.
Word Count: 1462
TW: Vague threats
Notes: I’m aware that the farms that Mumbo built were in the Nether and the End but for the sake of this fic, they’re both going to be over world farms
Enjoy!
———————
Grian was sluggish the next morning. He was out much later than he intended, busy experimenting with The Wither and dripstone with his Boatem-mates. It was a success thankfully, and then he went to get more skulls for hours afterwards. He dragged himself out of the portal and to his bed, not hardly bothering to check if Scar did end up moving the egg again. He wouldn’t be surprised, it was out in the open.
Rubbing his eyes, he slipped out of bed and into his day clothes. Slowly, he made his way down the stairs with a yawn. However, his exhaustion was short lived as he saw that the egg was indeed not in its original place. He groaned and grumbled to himself while he looked around for it. If Scar was feeling particularly mischievous, he probably moved it somewhere else entirely. Revenge, he supposed, but even after the previous successful attempts at finding the egg, Scar hardly had an interest in doing anything more than leaving it a few blocks away.
So, Grian searched in nearby nooks. He was surprised at how far the egg might’ve gone and quickly became impatient. If it wasn’t inside, it was likely outside, then. But, with a quick search nearby, he found that it was not. He scratched at his head in confusion, then glanced at Scar’s wagon where the terraformer was detailing a second wagon behind it. Grian decided to pay Scar a visit.
He flew over and landed on the cylinder full of honey whereas Scar was just below him on the main deck. Somehow, he managed to startle his friend into dropping a bee’s nest, the bees escaping immediately from the floor’s impact.
“Aw, I just got them in there!” Scar complained. He then saw Grian’s sour expression. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Where’s the egg, Scar,” Grian asked flatly. “It was left out in the open and now it’s gone.”
This brought Scar some surprise. “It was? Huh, if I knew, I probably would’ve moved it again.”
The builder hopped down from the honey container with a thud. “You’re the only one who tries to touch the egg all the time. Who else could it have been?”
The other fiddled with his cufflinks. “Well, I haven't had it or touched it since I left yesterday if that’s what you’re asking. I was with you guys and The Withers, remember?”
Grian tapped at his chin. “But I was gone for hours trying to get more skulls. It was an easy opportunity, no?”
Scar shrugged. “I’m not all that bright when it comes to that. I wouldn’t have thought much about it. Besides, I’ve been working on my wagon as you can see.” He waved his hands in all directions. “If it wasn’t me then it was probably the one person in this area who didn't help with The Withers.”
The two looked over to Mumbo’s van. The mustached man in question tending to his potato vending machine and deflating at what they assumed was a lack of diamonds.
Grian hardly needed to think about it at all. “That...would make a lot of sense.”
“Exactly so go bother him, then.” Scar made a shooing motion at Grian. “I’m busy.”
The avian laughed. “Oh I’m not done with you, yet. This interrogation isn’t over.” This only made Scar shrink away from him.
He definitely seemed guilty, Grian thought. And, of course, Scar was a terrible liar just digging himself a hole. But, after their conversation yesterday, Mumbo was a definite suspect all things considered. “I’ll go talk to him. But I’ll be back.” He smirked just to tease the other into at least a little bit of fear. He pulled the strings of his rockets and left.
The avian landed harshly to scare Mumbo and much to his satisfaction, did just that. Mumbo dropped the bundle of potatoes in his arms, each landing with a small thump over his feet.
“I should do that more often,” Grian noted aloud. He clapped his hands together while the redstoner bent over to pick up the potatoes. “So, my mustached friend, you wanna tell me where my egg went?”
Mumbo paused, then continued. “It was with you, I thought,” he replied simply.
“Yeah because I told you. What happened to it after I left? You were the only one in the village during The Withers and you had all the time in the world to hide it.” Grian hardly waited to accuse him.
The other stood and feigned confusion. “So you’re saying I have it? Why would I have it?”
The builder crossed his arms. “Didn’t you say you wanted to babysit the egg?”
Mumbo stammered. “I-I mean I did but-”
“Right, so when people babysit, the child goes back to the parent afterwards. Give me my egg.” Grian held out his hand expectantly.
“I wasn’t being serious about it! Could Scar not have taken it?” he questioned.
“Well, it was one of you so fess up or I’ll do something about it myself.”
Mumbo snorted and held out his arms. “Go on then, I don’t have the egg.”
Grian squinted at him with suspicion but shrugged. “Okay. Then I’ll be back tomorrow. Unless you wanna hand over the egg before then.” Mumbo shook his head. “Alright, I’m gonna go bother Scar again.”
As he left, Mumbo let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Of course Grian already connected the dots to yesterday. Mumbo of all people should know that. After saying that he’d be a good babysitter the egg goes missing. He rubbed a hand down his face with a groan. Well, Grian wouldn’t be getting the egg for a while anyways. After the tree war and…several other wars, he could honestly take whatever the builder had in mind.
Curious as to see how the egg was doing, he visited the vault. All seemed well, the egg was still nestled in the pillow. He walked over to it. Nothing seemed out of place. He grinned to himself. Hopefully he could do something with the egg. But, if Grian was going to try to look around for the egg, a vault is exactly what he’d look for.
Mumbo pondered over that thought for a few seconds. Then, an idea struck him. He could take the egg with him everywhere, really. He had farms he planned to build, the egg could just stay with him while he worked on those. Yes, it was a foolproof plan. Grian wouldn’t ever even think to try killing Mumbo for the egg, it was a reckless attempt.
Removing the egg from the pillow, he immediately went to the surface to gather materials for his farms. He’d need enough for days worth of work at least to keep Grian off of his tail and let the builder do as he pleased while he was gone. Grian would likely look around for hours before giving up. This brought a smirk to Mumbo’s face and, if he were being honest with himself, it was hilarious to even think about.
He concluded his search for materials within minutes. While doing so, he had already planned out where everything would be. It was only a matter of going there and doing the rest. So, he set off to do just that.
When he arrived, he sat the egg down by a chest he placed beforehand. He would keep it in his inventory but the last thing he wanted to happen was to die and lose the egg in a series of hoppers, droppers, dispensers, and chests- or, if he was particularly unlucky, having it blown to pieces by a creeper the second it dropped from his inventory. Mambo shuddered at the thought. He only wanted to keep the egg for a little while, not destroy it entirely. Then, he’d have to explain that to Grian which he decided was something he’d be terrified to do.
Shoving those thoughts aside, he began his work. Occasionally he glanced back at the egg to make sure it was still unharmed. Not but minutes later, he fell into a rhythm while placing his redstone and hardly noticed the hours flying by around him. He only noticed the time changing when a pink and orange hue lined the sky’s west.
Mumbo stepped back to the chest to admire his work. Well over half an industrial sized farm finished and thankfully the egg was never displaced. He picked it up and held it in his arms.
“I think it looks pretty good so far, yeah?” he asked, as if the egg could answer. The redstoner turned his gaze down to the egg. “I do wonder if you’ve got anything inside of you.”
He shrugged and placed a bed nearby in a torch-spammed thicket. The sky was growing darker and darker and he didn’t want to have to fight zombies and skeletons.
96 notes · View notes
paracosm-writing · 3 years
Text
00 | "𝕤𝕒𝕨 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞"
𝖎𝖓 𝖛𝖆𝖎𝖓 | Reiner Braun
Tumblr media
Link to multi-fic masterpost.
Pairing: Reiner Braun x Reader
Word Count - 1.5K
Song – Saw You In A Dream// The Japanese House
Synopsis: Reiner Braun sees a series of memories as a young boy and falls in love with the girl who stars in them. Upon discovering that this girl is you, an Eldian on an island of devils, Reiner vows to save you from the impending doom his memories foretell. But will his efforts be in vain?
TW: slight Yandere! Reiner, angst, Y/N death, toxic/abusive relationships, canon-divergent
A/N: This is so weird to put online after literally daydreaming/brainstorming this plot since last year. Feedback is welcomed and if you want to be added to a taglist just message me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I just wanna know that in the end it was all worth it.
The pain, the agony, the death.
That at the end of it all we can say;
‘It was for the best.’
Do you know…
What I mean?”
You sat in the overgrown grass, sprouting up from green to yellow at the tips. Watching the sun dip low to kiss the earth. From orange to a deep pink that illuminated the faint stars in the afternoon sky. Patiently, eyes welling with tears, waiting for an answer.
Reiner started to speak, compelled to assure you, compelled to tell you;
It was worth every bit.
But he was swept away.
Your eyes shifted, the sun rose in the sky, the breeze rustled past the both of you, and several lifetimes seemed to pass too quickly for Reiner to decipher – stopping in the midst of labor to watch seagulls drifting in the morning sky, you squinting beneath the sun’s gaze.
“I wonder what it’s like,” you murmured. “To have wings like that. They have no idea how lucky they are.”
Reiner reached for you. To tell you something so heavy his heart weighed down his chest but thought against it.
Because in this very moment, you were blissfully unaware and freer than the birds you admired so wistfully.
He envied you. Like the poor envied the rich, with malice and adoration. Love and hate, but love won over and he swept you up in his arms, placed you on his shoulders and told you to fly. Your rambunctious laughter echoed for miles.
Never had he wanted to live in someone’s laugh, falling and falling into a bed full of wildflowers.
He flipped the pages of an old, ancient book, the brittle parchment hissing with every turn. Your index finger rested on a drawing of a flower that filled a whole page, dirt and bits of flower petals embedded under your fingernails. And you protested about there not being enough flowers, and pronounced ‘red dahlia’ all wrong, and he started to tell you something.
Something that weighed on his heart but he could not remember.
Only one thought he could recall; that if he said anything, he would surrender such a precious moment.
Instead, he basked in your smile as warm as the noonday sun as you rode horses out on an open field.
He was a yard ahead of you and your warm, frustrated smile twisted his insides like the sharp end of a bayonet. The pain made him yearn for something, excitement like he had never known searing through his entire body like a hot iron.
“It’s not fair, you’re so good at everything,” you whined but you were still smiling so fondly.
No one had ever smiled at him in such a way and he wanted to – owed it to you – to say something.
Yet before he could speak you lied underneath a night sky and wondered aloud, “If I need you, will you know? Will you always come and find me?” Voice so small, as if even the slightest reprimand would make you shrivel up and disappear.
He had the urge to tell you you could scream for him in your thoughts and he would still hear you.
He would fight like hell to get to you.
And he needed to tell you something.
But your eyes were on his for the last time. Glassy and afraid. Staring up at him as you breathed your last breath, cradled in his arms, the last pleas for your life on your lips. Blood soaked his clothes. Marred your face.
He had not come to get you, and it hadn’t been worth It in the end.
“Protect her,” someone screamed a strangled cry in the distance. “You just had to protect her-“
“I will protect her!” He shouted back, rage and grief pulsing through him. Lifting him up from his surroundings until all he could see was red. The color of your blood. Your tears. In the blood that seeped from his hand as he bit down hard--
And he awoke with a sob, sitting upright so quickly his head spun and black splotches filled his vision. His heart raced in his chest, and his breath ran from him. As if to find where you might lay, hollow and unmoving, and fill you up again.
He desperately tried to untangle himself from his covers, trying to get to you. To protect you so your eyes would always be alive with wonder and your smile would always be warm.
Reiner managed to get free and stumble on to the cold, wooden floor, heart galloping so loudly with fear that he heard it in his ears.
His mother, Karina, found him. Crawling in vain, tears streaming down his face, muttering to himself about a girl he’d saw in a dream.
“There, there, Reiner,” she had cooed, taking her son in her arms. “It was just a bad dream.”
“But-but,” Reiner managed, your dead, lifeless eyes engraved in his mind. “It was, like, I saw her. In a memory.”
Still, Karina ruffled his hair, holding him close. “When you become a warrior, you’ll never have to worry about someone getting hurt ever again. Your father will come back to us, and we’ll finally be a family. And no one will want to hurt us because they will finally understand we are good Eldian people,
You must protect us, Reiner.
From those island devils.
It’ll all be worth it in the end, you’ll see.”
When Reiner enrolled in the Warrior program, he thought of that dream. The one he’d had the night before enrollment and he imagined he was coming to you, the strange girl in the dream, to tell you he was a warrior.
Would that keep you smiling that warm smile that reached your eyes as if your whole body was alight? A smile not even his mother could muster from bearing the weight of his ancestors’ sins?
Would it keep you alive?
Then he felt embarrassed, ashamed even, that he was considering a silly dream.
And ran into the depths of his future.
Meanwhile, across the sea, in a meadow field in Shigashina, you watched your mother close the storybook in her hands as she finished her last sentence.
“Thus, the knight defeated the dragon, rescued the princess, and they lived happily ever after. What a nice fairytale, isn’t it, y/n?”
Usually, you liked hearing your mother read her fairytales but that morning you couldn’t ignore the dark circles under your mother’s eyes and the bruise she hid with the sweep of her hair. With every passing day since your mother had remarried – no, even further than that, since your father had gone on a scouting expedition and never came back, you were reminded more and more that fairytales were not real.
You considered the titans outside the walls, waiting to devour humanity, and your mother waiting for your stepfather to change and wished aloud, “I wish I was a knight and then I could rescue us and we’d live happily ever after.”
Your mother had gasped, stricken-faced and speechless.
Before snatching your hands into hers and holding you steady. “Y/N L/N, you take that back right now. There is nothing wrong with the way we live. We could be in an even worse position without your father, you hear me?”
You started to protest, but she didn’t give you a moment to speak.
“Would you rather us live in the Underground? With no one to protect us? Because that’s what would have happened if he hadn’t shown us kindness. Are you really that ungrateful?”
She clutched your hands so harshly that you were brought to tears, before guiltily loosening her grip and pulling you into her arms. Her sobs reverberated against the small of your back as she buried her face into your eight-year-old frame.
“It’ll all work out in the end, baby,” she whispered as if she were convincing herself. “I promise.”
Laying in bed that night, you selfishly dreamed that there was a knight coming to save you. To tear down the infrastructure of your small little house in Shigashina. He’d run a sword through your enemies. He’d shield you from the titans. He’d reach for your hand, pull you out of the cold rubble of your home and he would take you away.
Somewhere far where no titans roamed the land and you ran free beneath the pretty birds that soared the blue skies.
But then the dream turned into a nightmare, the knight into a monster, who scooped you up in his large hand and swallowed you whole.
You woke up with a start as you were falling into the abyss but did not cry.
Instead, you looked out your window, waiting for the sun to rise high and kiss the sky. And you decided even if your knight was a titan, it would still be worth it all if you could get free.
187 notes · View notes
luvlyrv · 3 years
Text
A Promise Under the Stars | Irene x F!Reader
Genre: fluff, idol au-ish but not really(?), romance is not extremely explicit
Summary: When you get to meet Joohyun again, you think back about a promise you two made long ago.
Word Count: 1.8k
A/N: Whew. First Irene writing that I’m posting as a stand-alone rather than a part of a series. Also can I say thank you for two of my posts reaching 100 notes within the same week? My very first fic, ‘Second Place’ and ‘Troublemaker’ seem to be very popular, thank you so much fhksadjhfk,
Date: 2/19/21
Tumblr media
You collapse on the ground, all your energy expended during several hours of practice. Lying down you can feel the wooden floor under you, your heart pounding as loud as your breathing. As much as you physically feel pain, there was a greater pain building in your heart and mind. Will you ever make it? You've been waiting so long now, how much longer?
With nobody around tears threaten to emerge from your eyes, but the moment is lost when you hear a soft creak. Quickly, you compose yourself just enough to make sure no tears fall. You don't bother turning your head to look at who it was, instead staring at the ceiling as you hear footsteps growing nearer and nearer to your body. Finally, a familiar face emerges from the corner of your eyes. The girl leans over your face, smiling at the sight of you exhausted and sweaty.
"I figured you'd be here." She says teasingly.
"When am I not?" You say as your breathing starts to become steady again.
The girl offers you her small hands and you accept. She helps you on your feet, and when you're finally standing up on your own she doesn't let one of your hands go.
"Wanna cool down with a walk?" She asks you. You lazily nod your head, following behind as your friend, Joohyun.
She takes you outside the building, continuing to walk hand in hand on the sidewalk. You don't know where you're going, but frankly you don't care. Joohyun's mere presence is enough for you to calm down, to feel comfortable and safe. So you take the time to enjoy the feeling of her hand in yours, the night air passing by your skin, and the sound of your footsteps against the pavement. The silence between the two of you making you feel happy.
Eventually the two of you reach a swing set. She let's go of your hand and sits on one, tilting her head to tell you to sit on the one next to her. You go ahead and sit down, gently kicking the ground to create a soft sway. Joohyun does the same with her two hands holding onto the chains holding up the seat. You stare at your feet until Joohyun speaks up again.
"Look up at the sky. It's beautiful, isn't it?" You listen to her command and turn your head up.
You're quite literally star-struck for a moment, a smile appearing on your face as you admire the sky. You've seen the sky and the stars nearly every day of your life. It's the same sky as always, yet somehow on this night it stir something inside you.
"Sometimes I forget how good it is to be living, I let all the beautiful things pass me by." You admit to your friend. You stop looking at the sky, instead turning to face Joohyun. Your eyes follow the outline her side profile as you admire the amazement glazing over her eyes, the curve of her nose, the way her lips pursed together. The nighttime casts her in darkness but the moon gives her an ethereal glow. She stops looking at the stars to give you a smile similar to yours, a smile filled with endearment.
"It's nice isn't it? I come here a lot, just to recollect myself most of the time. It's my space. One where I can exist without worry, without trying to change myself." She says it as she recalls the many nights where she wanted to cry, the nights where she found herself walking here without thinking about it. "I wanted to share it with you though. You seem more stressed recently..." Her soft voice suddenly became laced with worry. You sigh before you start talking again.
"I guess I'm getting bad at hiding it." You try to joke. "I've been training for so long, you know? I've seen so many people leave. So many switch companies, so many debut. Sometimes I wonder if the last several years have been a waste. I don't wanna grow up with this kind of regret." Joohyun looks down dejectedly for a bit at your response.
"I know." She whispers. "I've been feeling the same thing. Sometimes I doubt I even belong. I don't know if this dream is achievable anymore."
You look down, not quite sure what you could possibly say to comfort the both of you. As another wave of silence envelopes the conversation, you kick a nearby pebble, watching it skid as you begin to launch yourself off the ground harder. You feel weightless as you get higher and higher, a little free even, from this restrictive life you live.
Joohyun sticks to the ground, not enjoying the idea of being at such a high height. Still, she begins to smile at the sight of you having at least some sort of fun. Things continue like this, the both of you contemplating different things in the silence under the same worries.
"Hey Y/N." Joohyun breaks the silence by calling for you. You're still staring at the stars as you swing in the air.
"What?"
"Slow down for a minute." You listen to your friend and start to slow down your momentum. When you're finally settled, Joohyun leans over from her swing with her hand out. She has her pinky finger raised while you look at her in confusion. "How about we do it?"
"Do what?"
"Let's complete our dreams. Together." You chuckle a bit at her sudden childish-ness that was different from her mature nature. Despite how out of character it was though, you couldn't help but feel appreciative for the act anyways. You stick out your hand and wrap your pinky around hers.
"Alright. Our little promise, between just the two of us."
"I know I can do it if I have you by my side." A pink hue paints itself on Joohyun's cheeks, complimenting the adorable smirk she gave you. Your heart pounds a little and you laugh at her.
"Since when were you so childish and greasy?"
"I don't know, since whenever it could make you smile like that?" You look away, feeling warmth flood your face.
"Whatever." You scoff light-heartedly.
For the past several weeks you felt like you were in a rut. Motivation draining away from you. Your promise with Joohyun though, her words, her loving voice, everything about her made you want to stay. Perhaps now you can complete your dream.
*
*
You're waiting in line, a smile is plastered on your face that you can't seem to wipe off. Finally, you can see her again.
You can still remember the day she told you she would debut. There was a part of your heart that hurt, but otherwise you were ecstatic for her. Of course out of consideration she tried not to talk about it much, but you assured her it was something that was worth celebrating. That it was an event and feeling you wanted to share between the two of you.
Things didn't turn out as planned. You kept training, but seeing Joohyun debut with seemingly no results for another year was disheartening enough to make you quit. It also didn't help that as Joohyun got busier, the two of you got to talk and hang out less and less. Everyday you would compulsively check your phone, only to be gifted a response on a rare occasion.
After your trainee years you moved on in your life, getting a higher education and joining a career that you found pleasure in. As you focused on your career though, you also found yourself with less and less time. It seemed like at some point Joohyun changed her number and forgot to tell you. For some reason it left you feeling a bit heartbroken. Although she wasn't really a part of your life anymore your memories with her graced your thoughts often.
Now though, as time has passed, your work life has settled down more. You've earned some money and took some vacation time to attend a very, very important event.
The person in front of you finally moves and you're face to face with Yerim, a girl you spent a lot of time with under the same company. She looks up at you with a smile and a face filled with both surprise and recognition. She signs your album before gently nudging the member next to her.
You move on in the line to meet Seulgi. She's happy that Yerim caught her attention to tell her you were here. She gives you a familiar smile and thanks you for coming to see the group. You get your album signed by her and two other members who you didn't get acquainted with during training until you reach the end of the table.
There she was, Bae Joohyun, the person you were closest with during those grueling years training. As soon as you're standing in front of her your heart threatens to jump out of your throat. When your eyes meet you almost feel like crying.
"Hey." You barely get the word to leave your mouth. The sound could hardly escape the tightening of your throat. Judging by the look on her face, it seemed like Joohyun was overwhelmed with feelings too, nearly wanting to cry. Instead she gives a light laugh.
"I've missed you." She says. Maybe it's in your imagination, but she's staring at you so dreamily. You don't know what to say, so you decide to just be honest.
"I've missed you too. I've been waiting for this day." You pause for a second before continuing. "I'm sorry I didn't make it." Joohyun shakes her head at your apology.
"Don't be. As long as you're happy with where you are now then I'm happy too." She gives you her signature smile that had always managed to comfort you.
"Let's make a new promise." Once again she sticks out her pinky finger at you. You take it without hesitation. "Let's talk. Like old times." Even though you haven't talked to each other properly in years, the feeling of her pinky and yours made you feel just as close as you were back in those days.
The staff are ushering you to go, the moment the two of you were sharing was holding up the line for too long. Quickly, Joohyun signs your album and you notice that she opens it and scribbles something inside. Could she have possibly written a message for you?
When go arrive home you admire the album with signatures strewn across it. The question that you had for the entire day though was what Joohyun wrote inside of it. Within the privacy of your home you finally felt safe to open and check.
xxx-xxx-xxxx
let's stay together this time ♥
172 notes · View notes
babypandawrites · 3 years
Text
Allies, Pt. 9
The Northern Air Temple 
Pairing: Sokka x F Reader Warnings: None Word Count: 3,813 Summary: You thought that the chance of there being Airbenders other than Aang was too good to be true, sadly you were right. 
Note: How I completely forgot about this until now I'm not sure but! Another piece of this series I’ve done for the fun of it is outfit designs- If that kind of things in fics isn’t your cup of tea then feel free to act like these don't exist! But for those who are interested or who might just wanna see; here you go.  This is just what I personally envisioned while writing, again feel free to ignore it if you want, but I figured I might as well share :)  I was also going to wait until tomorrow to post this bc Wednesdays is my upload day for it on Ao3 but I’m also a chapter ahead there and wanted to get my tumblr uploads caught up- so back to back post today and tomorrow :) Yay 
-Navigation- | -Atla Masterlist-  -Last Part- | -Allies Masterlist- | -Next Part- 
Taglist: @boomeraangin​ | @brokennerdalert​​​
Tumblr media
“So, travelers, the next time you think you hear a strange large bird talking, take a closer look, it might not be a giant parrot, but a flying man! A member of a secret group of air walkers who laugh at gravity and laugh at those bound to the earth by it!”  Aang smiled. “Aren’t airbender stories the best?” “Was it realistic? Was that how it was back then?” Katara questioned.  “I laugh at gravity all the time. Haha! Gravity.”  A pair of hands holding a hat suddenly appeared in the space inbetween Sokka and Y/n. The storyteller shook the hat, the jingling of coins being heard.  “Jingle, jingle.”  The two searched their pockets for any money. Y/n didn’t have anything, and the only thing Sokka pulled from his coat pocket was a small ball of lint and a bug.  Y/n offered the storyteller a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”  “Aww. Cheapskates!” The man left them, going to ask other audience members for donations.  She turned to look at Sokka, a disgusted expression apparent on her face at the bug that wiggled around in his hand. “Why… was there a bug in your coat?”  “Hey! Don’t question a man and his bug.” The bug rolled over, and started to crawl up his hand. Sokka yelped and shook it off.  Her expression twisted into amusement. “A man and his bug, huh?”  “It’s not my fault we can’t afford to keep him fed.” 
The next morning, the group found themselves on the way to the Northern Air Temple. Apparently, the airbenders in the story they heard were seen the previous week. It seemed a little too good to be true, that there might be airbenders other than Aang still out there, but Y/n wasn’t going to be the one to crush the kids' hope.  That was Sokka’s job, not hers.  “Hey, we’re almost at the Northern Air Temple! This is where they had the championships for sky bison polo.”  Y/n looked at Aang with a smile. “Sky bison polo? That sounds fun.”  “It is fun! So much fun!”  Katara moved to sit next to her brother. “Do you think we’ll really find airbenders?”  “You want me to be like you, or totally honest?” Sokka asked, focusing on whittling a piece of wood.  “Are you saying I’m a liar?” Katara crossed her arms over her chest.  “I’m saying you’re an optimist. Same thing basically.”  “They’re not the same thing at all.” Y/n commented. The boy just shrugged his shoulders.  “Hey guys, look at this!”  Appa was starting to approach the Northern Air Temple. It sat up on a sheer peak, several people flew around it, and smoke rose from a few pillars.   “Huh! They really are airbenders!” Aang leaned, crossing his arms unhappily. “No, they’re not.”  Sokka pointed up at the people flying around. “What do you mean they’re not? Those guys are flying!”  “Gliding maybe, but not flying. You can tell by the way they move. They’re not airbending. Those people have no spirit.”  Y/n tipped her head to the side, watching the gliders. “I mean, they look like they're flying to me, but you would know best.”  As she finished speaking, a glider passed over the group's heads, nearly taking them off. The glider’s pilot laughed, turning to pass by Appa again. Getting a closer look at the kid, it could be noted that his glider was built out of the wheelchair he sat in.  Katara pointed in the glider’s direction. “I don’t know, Aang. That kid seems pretty spirited!”  The glider made another pass, and soon Aang was standing up glider in hand, before taking off. Another glider flew in front of Appa, startling him and causing Katara and Y/n to fall backwards into Sokka. The three grunted at the impact.  “We better find some solid ground before it finds us!”  Appa made a landing on one of the temple’s outer terraces, the trio getting off him and watching as Aang and the boy in the wheelchair glided through the sky. Aang eventually came down and landed next to them, the other boy also coming to a landing. A few kids came other and detached the glider from his wheelchair, before he wheeled over to the group.  “Hey! You’re a real airbender! You must be the Avatar! That’s amazing! I- I- I’ve heard stories about you.”  Aang rubbed at the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Thanks.”  “Wow! This glider chair is incredible!” Sokka rushed over to the kids who had the glider setup, inspecting it.  “If you think this is good, wait until you see the other stuff my Dad designed.”  He began to wheel away, the group following. They were led through the huge main gate of the temple, into the main chamber. The room was dominated by steam-powered machinery with many wheels, gears and pipes.  “Wow!” Sokka ran forward, looking around the room excitedly.  “Yeah, my dad is the mastermind behind this whole place! Everything’s powered by hot air. It even pumps hot air currents outside to give us a lift when we’re gliding.”  Aang took a look around. “This place is unbelievable.”  The boy in the wheelchair smiled. “Yeah, it’s great isn’t it?”  “No, just unbelievable.”  Y/n tried to hold back a laugh, clearing her throat to force down her laughter.  “Aang used to come here a long time ago. I think he’s a little shocked it’s so… different.” Katara said, before following after Aang when he walked off.  “So better!”  Rolling her eyes, Y/n elbowed Sokka in the shoulder. He gave her a look.  “Come on, you don’t think this is cool at all?”  “Not really.” 
Soon they followed the boy, Teo, to another part of the temple. This time it was a courtyard of sorts, it was untouched, and there were statues of airbenders.  Aang was much happier about this, than he had been about the other room. “It’s nice to see even one part of the temple that isn’t ruined.” He spoke, as him, Y/n and Katara looked at a huge statue of an airbender monk.  “Look out!” A voice shouted out, shortly before a wrecking ball crashed through the statue. The three flew backwards with the debris, and everyone started to cough from the dust. As the dust settled, several people could be seen through the hole that’d been created. One of the people walked forward, a middle aged man with a mostly bald head who wore a monocle, a green tunic and an apron.  “What the doodle! Don’t you know enough to stay away from construction sites? We have to make room for the bathhouse!”  “Do you know what you just did? You just destroyed something sacred! For a stupid bathhouse!” Aang, clearly upset with the man, took on an airbending stance.  The man waved a hand in front of his nose. “Well, people around here are starting to stink.”  Aang pointed at him. “This whole place stinks!” He slammed his staff against the ground, sending a strong gust of wind through the hole in the wall, knocking the wrecking ball and it’s rig off the building's foundation. “This is a sacred temple! You can’t treat it this way. I’ve seen it when the monks were here. I know what it’s supposed to be like.”  “The monks? But you’re twelve!”  Teo wheeled over. “Dad, he’s the Avatar. He used to come here a hundred years ago.”  Aang walked closer to the man. “What are you doing? Who said you could be here?”  “Hmmm… doing here… A long time ago, but not a hundred years, my people became refugees after a terrible flood.” He gestured his arms for effect, before moving to stand behind his son. “My infant son, Teo, was badly hurt and lost his mother.” Sniffling, he held back tears. “I needed somewhere to rebuild and I stumbled across this place. Couldn’t believe it! Everywhere pictures of flying people. But empty! Nobody home! Then I came across these fan like contraptions!”  He held his arms out as if they were wings, making flying motions with them as he walked about the courtyard for a short moment. He stopped in front of Aang, who was clearly still upset.  “Our gliders.”  “Yes, little light flying machines. They gave me an idea. Build a new life for my son, in the air! Then everyone would be on equal ground, so to speak! We’re just in the process of improving upon what’s already here and after all, isn’t that what nature does?” Aang was still upset, while Sokka and Katara stood behind him, teary eyed from the story. Y/n rolled her eyes at the siblings, before moving to stand next to Aang, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sure, the story was sad, but to her the boy’s feelings were more important.  The Mechanist turned to look through the hole in the wall he’d created. “I suppose that’s true. Unfortunately, progress has a way of getting away from us.” He looked down in a bout of sadness, before his head snapped up to look at an odd candle device..? A bit aways from them. “Look at the time!” Three candles burned brightly on a stone pedestal, each separated into their own sections. Next to the pedestal, a large mallet rests, sitting head down. The Mechanist turned to one of the scribes behind him. “Come the pulley system must be oiled before dark.”  Sokka approached the candles, observing them. “Wait, how can you tell the time from that thing? The notches all look the same.”  “The candle will tell us. Watch.”  The candle’s flame snapped four times in a row.  “You put spark powder in the candle!” “Four flashes, so it’s exactly four hours past midday, or, as I call it, four o’candle!”  Sokka let out a laugh, as The Mechanist looked at him, seemingly pleased he was interested. “If you like that, wait till you see my finger safe knife sharpener!” Y/n’s attention moved to the man at the mention of that, watching as he held up his left hand, where three of his fingers were made of wood. He detached them from his hand, before tossing them to Sokka. “Only took me three tries to get it right!” Sokka let out a scream, as he caught the wooden fingers. “Follow me!”  The Mechanist turned to leave, the men who were with him and Sokka quickly followed. As the boy passed by Y/n, he grabbed onto her wrist and dragged her along with him. She offered a quick goodbye wave to Aang, Katara and Teo as she was dragged away. 
Quiet steps echoed through the narrow hallway, as Y/n, Sokka and The Mechanist descending a narrow staircase. Each of them held a lantern, glowing with sparse blue light.  “These lanterns are terrible! I can’t see.”  Y/n ran into Sokka’s back, as he abruptly stopped to open the jar to his lantern. She flicked the back of his head, as he continued to speak. “Why would you want to use fireflies for light- Hey!”  She snickered, watching the firefly that escaped from his lantern.  The Mechanist turned to look at them. “Hey, close that up! They’ll get loose. Fireflies are a non-flammable light source.”  “Are you meaning to say that something down here is flammable?” Y/n asked, as they all continued walking.  “Well, why else would I need a non-flammable light source?” The Mechanist offered a chuckle, as they approached a door. The edges of it were blocked by some sort of sealant, which he felt around, probably to check for leaks.  After checking he turned back to them. “Cover your nose and hold your breath.”  Once they’d done so, The Mechanist slid open a panel in the door, which they all looked through. It just showed a dark and empty room. “Okay, so you brought us all the way down here to see an empty room.” Sokka spoke with a somewhat confused tone.  “Wrong.”  Eyebrows furrowing together, Y/n watched as the panel was slid shut again. “You brought us all the way down here to see a room full of flammable explosive gas?”  “Correct! It’s filled to the brim with natural gas. Came across it my first time here. Unfortunately, I was carrying a torch at the time. Nearly blew myself and the whole place even more sky high. Thought my eyebrows would never grow back! Anyway, there’s a vital problem that needs solving. From time to time we have gas leaks and they’re nearly impossible to find.”  Y/n took a few steps back, as Sokka helped check the door for leaks. “So this place is an explosion waiting to happen?”  “Yes, until I figure out how to locate something I can’t see, hear, smell or touch.”  “Right, is it safe for us to be around this gas? Should we be wearing masks or something, in case we come across a leak so we don’t, you know, inhale it?”  “Oh don’t worry, we should be fine.” The Mechanist paused for a moment, straightening up after finishing checking for leaks. “Well, as long as you aren’t a firebender or something- hah!” He let out a laugh, which Sokka quickly shared.  Sokka nudged her in the arm, as they started walking back. “Oh come on, that was funny. You know that was funny.”  “Yeah, hilarious.”  He threw an arm over her shoulders. “Come on, loosen up. We’re gonna be fine, even if we do come across a leak.”  She put her hands up in defense. “Okay, okay.” 
The Mechanist led the pair to his workshop, and very clearly told them not to touch anything, before going to look over some papers on his desk. Sokka, of course, did not listen to that and started poking through things the moment the man's attention wasn’t on them.  “Sokka, he said not to touch anything.” Y/n whispered, smacking his hand away from something he was about to mess with.  He gently pushed her away a bit, before going right back to poking around. “Calm down, it’s fine. It’s not like I’m going to break an-” Sokka cut himself off, as he knocked some stuff over. Grimacing, he tried to keep it from falling to the ground.  “I said don’t touch anything!”  When The Mechanist spoke up, Sokka dropped the things to the ground. Y/n crossed her arms over her chest. “Not gonna break anything, huh?”  The Mechanist came over, to help Sokka pick the things up. “Oh, don’t worry, that experiment is old and that egg was just part of last week’s lunch.”  Y/n kneeled down to help them too, as Sokka sniffed the air. “Ugh! Week old egg smell!”   “Quick! Find that egg!”  The three started to crawl around, looking for the egg, but none of them were having much luck.  “How could something that’s so small you can’t even see it make such a big stink!?” Sokka complained as they looked. The Mechanist perked up at the comment. “That’s the solution to our problem!”  “Yeah!” Y/n looked at the two, confused, as they faced each other with excitement. “What?”  “If we put a whole mess of rotten eggs in the cellar where the gas seeps up..” Sokka started the thought, which The Mechanist continued.  “The gas will mix with the smell of rotten eggs…”  “Then, if there’s a leak…”  “You smell rotten eggs! Then you just follow your nose to the place where the smell is coming from..”  “And plug up the hole where the gas is escaping!”  “You’re a genius!” The two spoke in unison.  Still, Y/n looked between the two with a confused expression. “ What? ”  Suddenly, a large bell started to ring, and The Mechanist was quick to get up and rush from the room. “Something’s wrong I’ve got to go.”  “Wonder what that’s about.” Sokka said, getting up himself. He helped Y/n up, grinning. “We should follow him.”  “Always a snoop, huh?” Laughing softly, she shook her head. “Alright.”  Grasping onto her wrist, he dragged her out of the room to follow after The Mechanist. They’d followed him to another room, one that was filled to the brim with different war machines branded with the Fire Nation’s insignia. 
“You make weapons for the Fire Nation!?” Sokka was clearly angry with his words, rightfully so. Y/n was pretty mad about this development as well. She pointed a finger at The Mechanist.  “You! You're terrible. Horrible terrible!”  The Mechanist looked at the ground in humiliation and shame.  Teo looked at his father angrily. “Explain all this! Now!”  “It was about a year after we moved here. Fire Nation soldiers found our settlement. You were too young to remember this tale. They were going to destroy everything, burn it to the ground. I pleaded with them, begged them to spare us. They asked what I had to offer. I offered… my services. You must understand, I did this for you!” Teo turned his wheelchair away, clearly upset. The Mechanist turned on his heel, and walked back down the hall, leaving the five kids in the room.   Teo shook his head. “I can’t believe this…. This is terrible.”  “I know..” Aang looked at the weapons with disdain. “There’s so much here.”  Y/n crossed her arms over her chest. “The Fire Nation could be coming for this soon…”  Aang breathed out a sigh. “Your right… I’m going to go figure it out.”  “I’ll come with.” Teo said, as Aang started to leave the room, before following the boy.  With Aang and Teo’s return, they found out that the Fire Nation was coming soon. And they were intending to burn this place to the ground. They were all outside on one of the walkways, trying to figure out a plan.  “This is bad! Very bad!”  Katara looked over to Aang. “Aang, what are we gonna do? How can we possibly keep them all away?”  “I’ll tell you how.” He pointed to the sky. “We have something they don’t. Air power! We control the sky. That’s something the Fire Nation can’t do. We can win!”  “I want to help.” The Mechanist approached the group, as he spoke up.  Aang offered the man a smile. “Good, we’ll need it.” 
“We finally got the war balloon working, thanks to Sokka. This boy’s a genius!”  “Thank you. You’re a genius!” “Thank you!” Y/n rolled her eyes at the exchange. “Can we get on with this?”  Sokka cleared his throat. “Right. See, the problem with the old war balloon was you could get it airborne, but once you did, it just kept going.” He demonstrated with a model that flew up and hit the ceiling. “You could put a hole in the top, but then all the hot air would escape. So the question became, how do you keep a lid on hot air?”  “Ugh, if only we knew.” Katara commented. Y/n, Aang, Teo and Katara herself all laughed at the remark.  Ignoring them, Sokka pulled the model down from the ceiling, now showing off the mechanism to open and close a lid on the top. “A lid is actually the answer. If you control the hot air, you control the war balloon.” He demonstrated again, but this time the model didn’t fly up to the ceiling, thanks to the lid that could be pulled open with a string.  Katara crossed her arms. “Hmm. That’s actually pretty smart.”  “Okay, we’ve got four kinds of bombs. Smoke, smile, fire and-”  The Mechanist cut Sokka off. “Stink. Never underestimate the power of stink!” 
“We’re going to have to modify this to the new design, and fast.” The Mechanist said, as him, Sokka and Y/n worked on bringing the War Balloon he’d already constructed outside. “With both of you helping we should be able to get it up and running pretty quickly though!”  “Yeah! And I’m pretty sure Aang and Katara will be able to hold off the Fire Nation with everyone’s help.”  Y/n furrowed her eyebrows. “They’ll be able to hold them off, but we can’t count on them too for too long, even if we have the skies. The Fire Nation’s army is huge, who knows how many soldiers will show up.”  They got the balloon set up to do the necessary modifications. “Oh she’s right, time is not something we have on our side right now.”  Sokka nodded in understanding. “Right. It’s only one modification though, so it can’t take terribly long, right?”  “Let’s hope not.”  Getting to work on the War Balloon, they probably could have gotten things done a little faster. But nonetheless, they got it done, and just in time too apparently. While Sokka and The Mechanist got ready to take off in the war balloon, Y/n went to find the others to see how they were holding up.  “How are things going out here?” She asked, once she found Katara, Aang and Teo. The three looked at her with slight concern.  “Not well.” Katara started. “Please tell us Sokka is coming with that war balloon soon.”  Before she could give an answer, the war balloon rose up from behind them all, and started moving towards the battle field. From where they all stood, they could see Sokka and The Mechanist dropping giant slime bombs onto the Fire Nation soldiers. The bombs that they had didn’t stop the soldiers, however, and they were starting to advance closer to the Temple.  Katara put a hand on Y/n’s shoulder, to get her attention. “What are they doing..?”  She squinted in the direction of the war balloon, trying to see what was going on. “I’m not sur-” She cut herself off, watching as something fell from the basket of the war balloon. Was that the balloons fuel source? “Did they just push out their fuel source..?!” “What?!”  A sudden explosion set off, a really really big one. The entire Temple got clouded in a ginormous wall of grey smoke. When the smoke dissipated, it was revealed that the Fire Nation was retreating.  Aang pointed to where the army was leaving. “Look! They’re retreating!” Everyone started to cheer at the success, but the joy was cut short, as the war balloon started heading downwards quickly. Thankfully though, Aang was able to get Sokka and The Mechanist before the balloon crashed below.  Currently, they all stood outside on the main terrace of the Air Temple.  “You know what? I’m really glad you guys all live here now. It’s like the hermit crab.” Aang spoke, as he carefully picked up one of the hermit crabs near them all. “Maybe you weren’t born here, but you found this empty shell and made it your home. And now you protect each other.”  Teo offered a smile to the boy. “That means a lot coming from you.”  “Aang you were right about air power.” Sokka pointed to the sky. “As long as we’ve got the skies we’ll have the Fire Nation on the run!”
55 notes · View notes
whereisten · 4 years
Text
ghouls just wanna have fun (A Creature Feature Story)
A Taeil fic that’s part of our Halloween Series! 
Tumblr media
Summary: After your date ends up being a dud, you stumbled upon an unusual movie theater and its most appealing visitor, Moon Taeil. 
Pairing: Ghost! Taeil x female reader
Genre: romance, angst, pinch of smut, drama, fantasy, horror
Word Count: 7k
Warnings: gore mention, death mention, smut: masturbation mention
(A/N: Hi! Special shoutout to the Creature Feature readers. I love you...It’s almost one year to the day that I posted Part 1 (I know: where the hell is the rest of it?). Rest assured, the series will continue in November. This Halloween series has gotten me out of my funk. I hope you enjoy this story. And to newcomers, welcome! This story can be read alone, if you'd like, but I think you’d enjoy this more if you read my Creature Feature updates! Anyways: SHOUTOUT TO MY BEST FRIEND AND PARTNER IN CRIME/WRITING KRYS. SHE CREATED ANOTHER SPECTACULAR MOODBOARD FOR ME. SHE’S MADE SEVERAL FOR ME. AND I AM SO SPOILED. HER BRILLIANT BRAIN AND VISION DESERVE ALL OF THE LOVE. SEND IT HER WAY. We hope you enjoy this installment and our upcoming posts! Thank you for all of the love in our stories so far!
___
“Jaebum, I’m not going. Let me off here,” you demanded.
Well, tonight was just fantastic. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Your date that your friends set you up with ended up being a bust. He wanted to take you to a house party so he can get high and you could be his side piece for the night. Your friends were all in committed relationships and they thought you were bummed because you felt single and bitter.
No, you were just bummed at the fact that your friends had blown you off too many times for their significant others. That was the actual problem.
But they were doing better with you, you had to admit. They spent more time with you as their honeymoon stages with their significant others had finally dwindled. The set-up was supposed to be for fun.
They even thought that this date could open doors for you.
Doors to what? Well, it ended up being to the stench of weed in the back of Jaebum’s old Sonata.
Jaebum’s car, which included his two stoner friends Jinyoung and Yugyeom, came to a halt at a red light near a plaza.
“You want to leave, y/n? Then here’s your stop,” Jaebum said.
You raised your eyebrows. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Jaebum shrugged. “Take it or leave it. I got places to go.” His friends muttered over how uncool you were. The least this jerk could’ve done was take you back home.
You rolled your eyes. “Fine. Go to hell.”
The car sped off as you stood near the plaza entrance. It was getting colder as midnight approached. So you decided to wait outside of an abandoned Spirit Halloween store so your Uber could pick you up from there. You walked towards the plaza and suddenly…
Bright lights appeared before you that you quickly shut your eyes. You blinked them open, wondering what just transpired when you realized...
There was an active movie theater there, with a giant sign surrounded by bright light bulbs. It read “Sinema”.
What the hell, you thought.
You walked closer and closer and saw people coming in and out of the theater. And then...oh, wow, you really had lost your mind. Little human-like creatures of different colors were flying around the entrance...They were fairies! Their pixie fairy dust landed on your shoulders. You picked off the dust that had fallen on the shoulder of your dress. The texture reminded you of Cheeto dust. It was hard to get off. You were certain your black dress was permanently stained.
Then, a man walked past you and transformed into a large purple dragon before your very eyes. He blew out fire within a few feet from you, you yelped. He set off for the sky and vanished. After, another group of men walked past you, flashing their vampire teeth as they laughed about something. They were all stunning but the one with wavy electric blue hair was the real showstopper. You couldn’t think that too long as people that looked bright and transparent walked towards you.
You thought they were going to bump into you so you said. “Hello? Watch where you’re going!”
But they walked right through you and kept going. Seemed like they got that kind of comment a lot.
You blinked a few times. Did that just happen? Were those...ghosts?
A young woman in her red and navy blue uniform appeared before you. She smiled. “Welcome to Sinema, the premier theater for the supernatural! My name is Haseul. You look like you have a lot of questions. Is this your first time here?”
“I...I…” You started. “Is this really happening?”
She laughed. “Yes...All supernatural creatures and their approved companions are welcome here!”
You frowned. “There must be some mistake. I’m not a supernatural creature.”
Haseul pulled out her phone. “Your name?”
“Uh...y/n y/l/n…” You said. “Wait, why did I say that?” You answered her without even thinking. It was like she compelled you to do what she asked.
She winked. “It’s a special little skill of mine. It’s a part of the job.” She scrolled through an app on her phone. “Well, you’re not a part of the approved human companions list so...You have to be supernatural!”
You gaped. “That’s funny…This is a joke, right? Some kind of Halloween event? Well, you’re a few months too late…”
Haseul shook her head. “Oh, no, this is no reenactment. This is the real deal. Allow me to escort you inside.”
You weren’t sure if that was a good idea but you were curious. You followed her inside.
The movie theater was elegant and modern. The latest video games were available at the arcade. The concession stand was huge. It had to be with the number of creatures that were lined up for snacks. The theater was three stories high. Posters for the latest movies were up. The music that played overhead consisted of songs from the 70s, 80s, and more. Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” was playing.  Sinema seemed like any regular theater.
Well, except for the supernatural creatures, of course.
“What is this place?” You asked Haseul. “This can’t be real...I’ve been drugged. Jaebum got something in my system and I’m hallucinating. That has to be it.”
Haseul gave you a confused look. “This place is very real, y/n. I know it might be a hard pill to swallow but you belong here. To the supernatural world. A part of you is connected to this world. I’m not sure why it took you so long to discover that but...you’re here now.”
Haseul’s phone rang and she answered. “Yeah, boss?...Okay, I’ll stop calling you that...Oh? I see. Well, have fun with your boyfriend…” She teased. She hung up and she continued, “Well, y/n, I must be going but if you need anything, you can reach out to anyone who is wearing this uniform.” She showed off her uniform. She looked like a very casual flight attendant. The navy blue skirt was very flattering on her. Her white blouse had a red tie over it. Her name tag had her name written in her own elegant cursive.
“W-wait…” You started.
Haseul gave you a reassuring smile. “You can stay or leave, y/n. No one is keeping you here. But know that you’re always welcome here at Sinema. We hope to see you again.” She walked off to resume working, you thought.
You stood there, confused over what to do. Going to the movies hadn’t been in the cards for you tonight. Much less finding out that the supernatural existed in the same world you did.
Unless this was a parallel world, which just made your head spin even more.
Deciding to stay, you went back out to the main entrance to buy tickets. You heard growls among the chatter of people that stood in line before you. All kinds of creatures stood in front of you: werewolves, selkies, fairies, kitsunes, and more. You felt like the only outsider. For everyone else seemed to know their place…
According to Haseul, the only reason you could access this place was because you were a supernatural creature. And that...that just couldn’t be true. Sure you were adopted but you never displayed any kind of power or ability that would indicate you were a creature.
It was impossible, you thought. A striking young man with long silver hair stood behind you and you could feel his eyes on the back of your head. He was tall and muscular. You wondered what kind of creature he was or if he was actually a companion like Haseul described. You turned to him and his stare never wavered. “Can I help you?” You asked.
He blinked a few times to snap out of it. “I’m sorry...I zoned out…” He tipped an imaginary hat. “It’s your turn.”
“Miss?” The employee at the ticket stand asked. Like the young man behind you, she seemed human. However, the red tint in her eyes told you otherwise. You wondered what she could be.
“Oh, uh... A ticket to ‘Spider-Man: The New Kid’, please,” you said.
“That’ll be 12.50,” the employee replied.
Even if this was a movie theater for the supernatural, they certainly charged like a regular theater did. You paid the employee and got your ticket. The ticket stub was actually very beautiful. It was holographic so you could collect these stubs like trading cards, if you wanted.
You hung around too long so the silver-haired boy approached you.
He smiled at you. “Hello.”
You smiled, a little uneasy. “Hi…”
“First time at Sinema?” He asked. The man was stunning with his high cheekbones and dangerous dark eyes. A devil-may-care smile that must have won over a few women.
You nodded. “Is it that obvious?”
“The look of horror on your face hasn’t faded,” he said, chuckling.
You sighed. “Yeah...Well, I’m still pretty stunned.”
He said, “Well, you’ll get used to it eventually. Something about you makes you belong to this world, right? Do you know what it is?” His eyes widened.
It was almost as if he knew the answer. But if you didn’t know, how could he?
You sighed. “I couldn’t tell you. Maybe I’m just a fluke.”
“Oh, I have to disagree…” He started.
A ghost materialized right beside you. He stood closer to you and stared down the silver-haired man. Even if he was a ghost, he was the most alluring man you’d ever seen. Although translucent, his features were striking and not to be ignored. His undercut that accentuated his face so well was bright red, like rubies. His ears were decorated with crescent moon studs. He wore a navy button down and black slacks, like he was dressed for a hot date. His tan skin cast an ethereal glow. “Yuta, give the girl some air. She just discovered she’s not human.”
The silver-haired man named Yuta sighed. “Do you ever stay out of people’s business?”
The ghost rolled his eyes. “Do you?”
You averted your eyes from them and looked at the concessions menu. Hmmm, the Sour Patch Bats looked promising, you thought. You started, “I’m gonna go.”
Yuta was about to call your name again but the ghost boy raised his hand to stop him. “You’re already messing around here too much. Leave her alone.”
Yuta rolled his eyes. “I don’t have to listen to you. I’m the alpha.”
The ghost boy made faces as he imitated Yuta’s voice. “I’m the alpha. I eat the hearts of my enemies for breakfast. I’m Yuta.”
Yuta growled and it was so animalistic that you wondered if he was going to transform into the creature he most likely was. Your money was on him being a werewolf.
Yuta stormed off and returned to his posse of gorgeous and muscular people. They all watched you and you wondered what was so fascinating about you.
The ghost boy followed you as you got in line for concessions. “What’s your name?”
“Y/n...Yours?” You looked into his soulful eyes.
He smiled. “I’m Taeil. The eyes and ears of Sinema. And you’re new.”
“Yup...And I have no idea who I am or what the world is anymore…Well, it’s time for a snack.”
Taeil chuckled. “The Sour Patch bats are really popular but they sell out fast.”
An employee at the concession stand announced over the intercom. “Sorry, folks. The Sour Patch Bats are sold out.”
Everyone groaned and moaned and growled and wailed. Even you couldn’t help the tiny huff of disappointment that escaped your lips.
Taeil sighed. “Well, lucky for you y/n. I’m friends with the manager of this joint.”
You raised your eyebrows. “Oh, are you?”
He smirked. “I know where she keeps her secret stash of Sour Patch Bats. Now she normally hides those away for her boyfriend but I’m sure she won’t miss one bag…”
Taeil led you upstairs to the manager’s office.
You frowned. “Are you sure we can be here?”
Taeil winked. “Nope. But she owes me.”
Taeil moved himself through the front door and unlocked the door from the inside. You entered the office and found a bouquet of flowers on the manager’s desk.
“How did you touch…”
He cleared his throat like he’d debated what he was going to say. “With most of my strength, y/n...Anything to impress the prettiest girl to set foot in Sinema.”
Although your concept of ghosts was completely debunked (ghosts could indeed touch inanimate objects), your face warmed up at that comment. You tried changing the subject. “Taeil, maybe this is a bad idea…”
He shook his head as he stuck his hand through the manager’s desk drawer and rummaged around before he grabbed a bag of the popular candy. He threw it over to you. You caught it.
You opened the bag and ate the bat-shaped sour gummies of lime, orange, lemon, and cherry. They were the best candy you’d ever tasted and until tonight, you’d been deprived of their existence.
Your eyes grew. “These are...Oh my God.”
Taeil smiled knowingly. “I knew you’d like them. See, the supernatural world isn’t so bad, is it?”
You were touched. He was being so kind and attentive. So quickly, too. “No, I guess not…”
His beautiful lips curved upwards as he watched you enjoy the candy.
“What movie are you going to see?” He asked.
“Well, Taeil, I thought you were the eyes and ears of this place. You should know,” you teased.
He laughed. “Well, I don’t. Is it an oldie? Sinema plays throwback movies every week to appease the masses.”
You shook your head. “I’m watching the new Spider-Man. The new actor they picked is supposed to be above all of his predecessors so I’m excited.”
Taeil asked. “Can I join you?”
You pretended to deliberate. “Well, you have supplied me with sustenance so how could I say no?”
Taeil usually kept to himself, occasionally confiding in his best friend. He really was the eyes and ears of the theater. He knew of all the romantic entanglements that transpired. The current feuds between species. And more.
Typically, he was stuck facing his demons and never quite got past the last thing he needed to overcome in order to ascend to heaven.
He’d sought justice so what was holding him back?
And at the sight of you, he felt an ease in his heart that he hadn’t felt since he was alive.
___
Your first night at Sinema was the first of many where you and Taeil bonded and enjoyed each other’s company. You went to the theater every weekend and met up with him. You’d see a movie together and talk about it for hours on end. He’d even sometimes accompany you back to your dorm. And even if you could see him...no one else in the human realm could. So you would have to pretend you were on the phone when you talked to Taeil. Even as he sat closely beside you. Longing to hold your hand.
You wondered just how many creatures hid from you in plain sight. Some of them could masquerade as humans and you’d never know it. That terrified and excited you.
You loved Taeil’s sense of humor, how he showered you with free movie tickets and concessions (courtesy of his best friend’s connections), his wit, his smile, the goofy, fascinated look he gave you when you spoke.
You always wanted to push back his hair and slap his arm when he teased you. And you wondered what those soft red lips would feel like on yours.
But you couldn’t.
The most wonderful person you’d ever met.
And he was an apparition.
As for Taeil, well, he loved everything about you. Your mind. Your curiosity of the world. Your inability to shut away the unknown completely. The way you adapted to Sinema so quickly. The way you looked at him.
He was convinced that you also wanted to kiss him.
It killed you both, honestly.
You told him you were in your senior year of college. You were getting a degree as a nutritionist but you felt unsure about what you would pursue after college. You felt like nothing got your heart racing. You were just going through the motions, making your parents proud. They’d given so much to you so you didn’t want to disappoint them. So you figured getting a steady paying job was a step in the right direction and maybe one day you’d figure out your passion...and how to capitalize off of it.
Taeil could tell you were frustrated and lost and he wished you didn’t feel so down. He saw the light in your eyes. You had a whole future ahead of you. You would find your dream job someday, meet a man, settle down, have his children, and grow old together.
And him? Well, maybe at that point, he would finally have moved on.
Before meeting you, he was fixated on getting even with the man who murdered him and the woman who betrayed him and got the ball rolling.
He told you all about it...Originally, he didn’t want to because the details were too gruesome. But you’d been honest with him so it was the least he could do for you. He told you about his life in the west coast town of Luna, where he aspired to be a producer and songwriter. And he told you about how his life came to an abrupt end.
Taeil’s killer had been none other than Jung Jaehyun, the man whom his girlfriend had cheated on him with. Jaehyun was a member of one of Luna’s most notorious gangs and he detested Taeil. Taeil’s girlfriend, Lexa, didn’t know how to break up with Taeil so she could be with Jaehyun. She was frustrated because Taeil was so sweet and giving. He was so good to her that Lexa chickened out and never broke up with him. She was getting frustrated and Jaehyun was getting even angrier.
One of the nights that Lexa spent with Jaehyun, she let it slip that she wished there was a way she could get rid of Taeil. And Jaehyun was more than happy to oblige.
Jaehyun and his men cornered Taeil one night. He thought he was meeting Lexa for their 300 day anniversary. He got a text from her phone saying to meet her on the rooftop of the Nectarine Hotel because she had a surprise for him.
However, she was nowhere to be seen. Jaehyun took Taeil by surprise and pushed him off of the twenty story luxury hotel.
Jaehyun’s men lingered downstairs and made sure there were no witnesses on the scene. All evidence of Taeil’s death had been covered up. Taeil’s family and friends reported Taeil as a missing person. Lexa had also disappeared off of the face of the Earth. And many wondered if she and Taeil had disappeared to start anew.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Jaehyun, Lexa, and his men disposed of Taeil’s body off underneath an overpass. They’d buried his body and washed their cleans of him.
Taeil always thought about whether or not an afterlife existed. When he hit the ground from his fall, everything went black. The roaring pain all over his body that hit him for one moment...Quickly vanished at the next.
Taeil opened his eyes again and instead of seeing Downtown Luna...Only white surrounded him. Surrounded by golden specks.
An angel appeared before him with stunning peach-colored wings. The angel shined so brightly that Taeil couldn’t make out their face. They spoke softly… “Moon Taeil...Born June 14, 1994...Died October 22, 2018.”
Taeil sobbed then. “Please, is there any way you can save me?”
The angel sighed. “My poor child...You’ve been wronged. I want to give you the opportunity to seek justice...And once you have seeked justice and found peace, you can ascend into Heaven and join us. Our Heavenly Father awaits you.”
Before Taeil could respond, he became a ghost. He manifested into another town he couldn’t recognize. It was the city of Mystic. Jaehyun lived a life of luxury and terrorized the new city with his gang. And who reigned right beside him in a God-awful bubblegum pink wig?
The woman he’d loved and planned to propose to: Lexa.
Lexa played around with the buttons on Jaehyun’s designed shirt as she quietly thanked him for killing Taeil. And Jaehyun murmured back a thank you for giving him the idea and for suggesting a good hiding place for his remains.
Taeil felt sick to his stomach. The love he felt for Lexa had quickly shifted into hatred. And Taeil wanted revenge. He wanted to take them both down. But how, he wondered.
It took him a few more months to figure out how exactly he could enact revenge on them. Haunting them for a few weeks was a thrill but he wanted Jaehyun behind bars. And Lexa? Well, Taeil just wanted her to drown in guilt.
And then, Taeil found Sinema, a supernatural hub in the seemingly typical town of Mystic. Taeil struck a deal with the vampires to help them dig up his body. They in turn compelled the police to find his remains and track down Jaehyun.
Taeil owed the vampires a few months of haunting humans who had deceived them when they were once humans. So both parties were happy.
Taeil decided to spare Lexa from prison. Instead, her family, her friends, and everyone from Luna shunned her for having a hand in Taeil’s murder. Although she was never charged, she was as good as guilty as Jaehyun and his men.
Lexa remained in Mystic in a run-down apartment, barely making ends meet. The luxuries she was able to afford before, because of Taeil and then because of Jaehyun, were no longer accessible to her so she lived a life full of resentment.
But Taeil visited her many nights to remind her that more than anything, she should’ve felt guilt and remorse for what she’d done to him.
How she convinced him that he’d found happiness in her. How she made him out to be a fool. And how she discarded him like a piece of trash.
Lexa’s mind slowly unraveled over time and the guilt slowly consumed her each time.
Taeil ate it all up. This felt like justice and he didn’t want to ascend just yet. He wanted Lexa to get on her knees and pray to God for forgiveness for what she’d done to Taeil.
But that day hadn’t come. So Taeil frequented her apartment at night...Having Lexa think she dreamed of him as she slept.
One late Saturday night...going into Sunday morning, Taeil waited with you at the bench for your Uber to arrive to take you back to your dorm. Sometimes he accompanied you to the dorm and talked to you. You’d have to pretend you were on the phone so your Uber driver didn’t think you were talking to an imaginary friend.
Tonight, though, he wouldn’t be taking you home.
You asked, “Are you going to see her now?”
Taeil froze. “What?”
You wondered aloud, “Lexa...Do you haunt her on the weekends too?”
“Not recently, actually...I’ve been seeing her less.”
You smiled. “Taeil, that’s great. It means you’re getting over her.”
Taeil glared. “I don’t need to get over her. I despise her.”
Your smile vanished. “I know that. It’s just-”
He shot back, “Just what?”
You looked down at your hands and played with your fingers. “It’s just...You’ve sought justice...Jaehyun is rotting in a jail cell...Lexa is guilty over what she’s done...And...I hate to say this...But I think if you stop going to see her...There’s a chance you can finally ascend.”
He looked taken aback at your words. “I can ascend whenever I want.”
You lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”
Taeil looked even more annoyed as he sneered. “Absolutely. Excuse me for wanting to spend a little more time with you before I leave forever.”
His words infuriated you. “Taeil, you...I’m not the reason you want to stay...You’re hung up on your ex. Even if it’s not in the romantic sense...You’re fixated on terrorizing her until what? She begs for forgiveness?”
“And what the hell is wrong with that?”
“Taeil, you’re meant to find peace. You have to let her go.”
“Well, y/n, thank you for your opinion. I never asked for it but it’s certainly never stopped you...Have a safe trip back to your dorm.”
“Fine! Manifest yourself back to me when you get a grip.” You crossed your arms around your chest in anger. He was unbelievable. You were right. He just wouldn’t let go. He wouldn’t give up on seeing that...that wretched bitch.
Why did you let this piss you off so much and why were you overstepping...You had no right…
Perhaps it was because you’d fallen for Taeil and seeing him jeopardize his fate over this woman infuriated you like nothing else had.
The full moon was out that night and you couldn’t help but yell in fury at the sky.
Someone crept up behind you and with his claws, he scratched deeply into your collarbone. “Hey, what the fuck?!”
You turned around to find a werewolf before you. It was a literal wolf on two legs. His muscles protruded like that of a man’s but they were so large...You knew he could easily snap your neck with a quick movement of his hands. His tawny coat shined in the moonlight. His brown eyes watched you, expectantly.
You were about to get on your knees and beg for mercy.
You saw a group of people lingering beside the werewolf. You remembered them. They were a part of Yuta’s pack.
“Yuta?” You finally connected the dots and realized the wolf who scratched you was Yuta. You hadn’t seen him since that first time.
He had been a werewolf, after all. But why had he transformed? Why was he here? Why had he done this to you?
You winced slightly at the scrapes and monitored them as they quickly vanished. You couldn’t believe your eyes.
Yuta’s fur vanished as he transformed back into his human self. He was shirtless but his pair of jeans remained on. “Y/n, I wanted to confirm something…”
You frowned. “What?”
“The scratch of the alpha is borderline lethal to any outsider of the pack...So any pack member or...descendant of that pack member can heal from his bite…”
You laughed nervously, confused. You wanted to get the hell out of here. Where the bloody hell was your Uber? “Uh...That’s interesting, I guess.”
“Can’t you see, y/n? I’m the alpha of the Nakamoto clan. You’ve healed from my scratches...Which means…”
You demanded, “What does it mean?”  
“It means you are a descendant of this clan, y/n…”
You shook your head. “No...That’s...Impossible. I’m not a werewolf…”
“You were adopted at five months, y/n...Your parents perished in a war against the vampires...Your parents led normal lives as humans for as long as they could...Much to the disappointment of my father.”
“Yuta, you don’t know what you’re saying…”
“I do, y/n. The pack and I have uncovered everything about you and your family history. You’re a werewolf. An unawakened one.”
“No…”
“Explain how your bite healed. The only way you could enter Sinema of your own accord is if you possessed supernatural blood. And werewolf blood is as supernatural as it gets.”
“Yuta, please, you’ve got the wrong person...I don’t know why you bit me and why it healed. Maybe it’s some magic trick you pulled off to please your pack...I’ve had a shitty night so if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home,” you said, checking your phone for the arrival of your Uber. It was arriving.
“Y/n!”
The Uber pulled up and you turned to him. “Just leave me alone.”
___
You visited your parents the next day. You asked them about where they’d adopted you from. They’d always been very mum about the details.
“Someone told me something crazy the other day,” you said to them as the three of you shared dinner with your adopted younger siblings.
Your parents both looked at each other, concerned.
“He said my biological parents were werewolves!” You laughed in disbelief. “How crazy is that?”
Your parents eyed each other again.
Your mom started, “Who is this man?”
“Mom, I believe the proper response is ‘That man is crazy. Where did he get that kind of story?’”
You knew your parents were hiding something and you wanted to hear the truth from them.
Your father scratched his neck as he took off his glasses. Your younger siblings all eyed each other uncomfortably.
“Why aren’t you guys saying anything?” You asked.
Your dad said, “Y/n...We hoped for you to never find out.”
You shook your head in disbelief. “Dad, you’re scaring me...Find out what?”
Your parents went on to tell you about the incidents you had when you turned eleven. After you’d had your first period, you began to experience terrible mood swings and throw tantrums left and right around the time the full moon occurred. And when you turned thirteen and the first full moon following your birthday occurred…
You’d attacked a neighbor who was walking their dog.
You’d grown teeth and hair all over your body that night. You’d become a wolf, according to your parents.
Once the night had ended, you’d transformed into a human again and fallen asleep.
Your neighbors never knew that it had been you. Your parents helped your attacked neighbor get to a hospital and they reported an animal attack in the neighborhood. Your neighbor couldn’t remember anything.
But her dog never forgot and hated you.
Your parents got a hold of the adoption agency and they had no information on your birth parents besides their names. Your parents then got in touch with a psychic, who referred them to a witch. They took you to the witch and she told them you were an unawakened werewolf. You were a fledgling. Unless you received the bite of an alpha werewolf and acquired your position in the pack, you were susceptible to these monthly full moon transformations and since you hadn’t been awakened, it would be even worse and dangerous for those around you. So the witch concocted a potion that would suppress your fledgling urges but it was critical that you consumed it each month.
Which explained why your parents were always so adamant for you to come home every month for dinner. They put the potion in your dinner. So you were able to suppress your urges up until this point.
Could this be the reason why you felt so unfulfilled? Because you never explored your true nature? Your parents never gave you the choice to control it.
Your parents had good intentions but you had the option to meet the pack all of these years...And you never knew.
You’d always felt like a part of you had been missing and your trip to Sinema had done the trick to lead you to the truth.
___
Back in your dorm and without having ingested the potion your parents had given, you’d only had a few days until the full moon. You were resolved to speak to Yuta.
You’d gotten out of the shower, letting out a shaky breath from all of the bundled up nerves you carried. You were shocked to find Taeil standing in your common room that you shared with your roommates. They were all away for the day.
“Taeil!” You started as you covered your towel more tightly around you.
“I heard,” Taeil started, worry etched all over his face, “If I could kill Yuta, I would…”
“Taeil, I’m going to him,” you started.
“What?” He asked.
“I’m going to be awakened by him.”
He looked at you in disbelief. “Y/n, what are you-”
“I’m an unawakened werewolf, Taeil. My biological parents were werewolves and if I don’t receive the official bite of the alpha, I’m going to suffer by the influence of the full moon.”
“Y/n, the full moon is in two weeks!”
“I know…” You said.
Taeil sighed. “Y/n, you have a chance to be away from the supernatural world. To avoid the dangers of these creatures. I know humans are terrible, deceitful, and cruel...But the supernatural doesn’t fare better. You didn’t grow up in this world. It could consume you and spit you right back out…”
You were resolved, though. You longed to explore more of the world and to embrace the part of you that had always been neglected. “Taeil, I’ve made my decision. My family has respected it. And I hope you will, too.”
A tear escaped Taeil’s eye. “Y/n, I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t left you alone…”
You shook your head as you wished to embrace him. “Taeil, this isn’t on you. This opened my eyes. My path is more defined now...Who knows what awaits me once I awaken? That’s for me to find out.”
Taeil extended his hand out and pretended to caress your face. “There’s nothing I can say to make you change your mind, is there?”
“No,” you said, as you leaned closer to his transparent hand.
He smiled weakly. “Y/n, I’ve thought a lot about it and you were right...I’ve given up on visiting Lexa.”
You opened your mouth wide. “Really?”
Taeil avoided your stare as he stared at the potted plant by the window. “I...wanted to stay longer but...we’re both meant to part ways...And I’m not happy...Terrorizing Lexa hasn’t given me any sense of fulfillment. Temporary pleasure? Yes...But I long to find that peace.”
You cried. “Taeil, I’m so happy to hear that. And you will find that peace, I promise you.”
“In the meantime, I’ll be by your side as you head into your next chapter.”
You smiled at him and didn’t realize your towel slipped to the floor.
“Y/n…” Taeil coughed as he quickly turned red and turned around.
“What?” You frowned.
Without looking at you, he pointed to the towel on the floor.
“Shit!” You exclaimed. But then, you watched Taeil...He was blushing…
“Did it hurt that much to look at my body, Taeil?” You asked, quietly.
“What?” He asked, confused.
“It’s okay...You can look…”
Taeil turned and was shocked to see you still unclothed.
You gave him a flirty smile. “I know we can’t touch...But it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, right?”
You got onto your bed and slowly began to tease your clit and Taeil’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. He adored every inch of you as he scanned your body and worked his hardest to commit it all to memory.
You could see his member grow in his pants. He immediately gripped his gorgeous length and pleasured himself alongside you.
“I wish I could feel your heavenly cock on my clit…” You told him.
He grunted. “Heaven can wait...This is real paradise...Here with you.”
You muttered sweet nothings to each other and imagined that you made love to each other that day.
___
You and Taeil were more inseparable than before. Because you knew your days together were numbered.
The full moon arrived and Yuta had agreed that this was the ideal time for your initiation into his pack. You would be able to absorb the moon’s power as you transformed from Yuta’s bite.
Yuta invited you to his mansion in the woods not too far outside of town. His pack members were present and they’d arranged a massive bonfire at the center in honor of your awakening.
Taeil was right beside you, much to the chagrin of the rest of the pack members. But what could they do? Drag him out? When they couldn’t even lay a finger on him?
Yuta was dressed in his best tuxedo as he recited the pack’s code of conduct to you and welcomed you into their pack. He transformed into his wolf form and at the brightest the full moon had been, you’d taken on your fledgling form. You howled at the moon and became rabid. Yuta knew what he had to do.
Taeil watched you in concern but Yuta had sworn to protect you. For you would be one of his family soon enough. So Taeil had no choice but to trust him.
Yuta bit into your collarbone and your eyes shifted from their usual color and into a bright amber. You felt yourself regain consciousness and became aware of where you were.
“Y/n, do you know who I am?” Yuta asked.
You nodded.
Yuta continued, “Good. You are now a fully awakened werewolf. Harness your abilities with honor and know that you have a family in the Nakamoto clan forever.”
“Hear hear!” The pack members yelled out.
You’d reverted back into your human form through your own accord. You were shocked at how quickly you could turn back.
You ran over to Taeil and he beamed at you. “How do you feel?”
“I feel...whole...Fulfilled...I have no idea what will happen next but it’s a new kind of uncertainty...And I like it.”
Taeil said, “I’m glad, y/n…”
He started to pixelate before you and his voice began to fade.
Your smile faded. “Taeil?”
“I think God wanted me to stick around for this momentous occasion...Before he summoned me…”
You couldn’t help the tears that escaped you. “Taeil, I love you.”
He cried with you. “I love you, too. I will see you up there...Soon. I’d better be the first person you look up when you ascend, you hear me?”
You wrapped your arms around him and to your shock. To everyone’s shock at the party...You could feel Taeil. He was muscular and the warmth of his body was like the fuzziest blanket wrapped around you after the worst day. He felt wonderful. And you never wanted to let him go.
Taeil longed for the day he could feel your body around his...And it was only at this time when you two had to bid farewell when he could feel you against him. You were strong but at that moment, he held you tenderly. Like you would break at any second. Because this moment was the most fragile. It was fleeting. So you both soaked in the feeling of each other’s bodies as you held each other.
Taeil kissed you and you reciprocated. His lips felt just like you’d imagined them. Soft. Perfect against yours. His kiss was the euphoria you would treasure for the rest of your life.
You released each other.
“Goodbye, Moon,” you teased. You made a play at his last name. Since you were a werewolf now, you’d be highly influenced by the activity of the moon.
He joked back. “Goodbye, Wolfie. Don’t forget to howl at me once in a while. It’s kinda hot...” The cliche of werewolves howling at the moon was actually a common practice for them.
You shook your head and laughed as he faded away. You cried hard that night, missing him already.
Yuta and his pack comforted you as you cried. They celebrated you and they mourned with you. This pack had become your family.
___
Taeil finally ascended to Heaven. It was a lot like Earth but idealistic. Paradise had everything at his disposal. He could go to the movies and have an unlimited supply of Sour Patch Bats. He finally knew what they tasted like. He could get a foot massage whenever he felt like it. He could play his music and sing to his heart’s content. God was a big fan of Moon Taeil. 
But the thing he loved most was being able to look after the loved ones he left behind.
Now that Taeil had become an angel, he would accumulate power overtime in order to send blessings to the people he loved most.
Especially to you.
____
You’d gotten a better grip on your powers but you were still a long way from being Yuta’s right hand. You’d moved into one of Yuta’s apartment complexes that he owned. You were finishing up your last year of school, as well. Since you’d stabilized your powers, you could carry on with your day-to-day activities. It’s just nighttime that would be unaccounted for.
One day, Yuta visited you.
You greeted him as you welcomed him inside your spacious apartment. He sat down on your L-shaped couch in your living room as you gave him a glass of water. “To what do I owe the pleasure, boss?”
Yuta never visited his pack member’s homes unless it was important business. Usually, he summoned them to a common area, like one of his mansions in the city.
Yuta smiled. “I see you like your new place.”
You nodded. “It beats hearing my roommates screw their boyfriends every other night, I must admit.”
He laughed. “Well, I’m glad to hear that.”
“What’s up? You’re not usually one for small talk...Unless you want to sleep with them...And that girl isn’t here at the moment.” You knew about Yuta’s tumultuous relationship with Sinema’s manager.
Yuta blushed then. “You...Knock it off.”
You laughed heartily, then. You two had developed an older brother little sister relationship. Yuta was able to uncover more information about your parents and your extended family. He’d been extremely helpful during this time, providing financial support not only to you but your entire family.
When Yuta said the pack was a family, he really meant it.
Yuta was mulling over his next words and he gave you a solemn look. The light, breezy mood had quickly vanished.
The power the alpha held to control the room.
He said, “Y/n, prepare your things. The war is about to begin.”
[Fin...Or is it?]
Stay tuned for the next spooky story...
238 notes · View notes
lululawrence · 3 years
Text
Wordplay 5.0 Reflections
I dunno what else to call it lmao it doesn't sound right to call this a meme, but whatever it is, here we are! lol @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed came up with these questions after @wordplayfics wrapped up last year and I love them so i'm gonna use them for this year as well.
I'm going to start out with listing the prompts and linking the fics i wrote for each one for everyone's reference, though I'll be linking them again through the answers as well. I'm also putting all the questions and answers beneath a read more because, as usual, I rambled lmao Alright! Here we go!
Struggle: I Said It Wrong, But I Meant It Right Reduce: I Love This Feeling (But I Hate This Part) Divide: He Carries The Key Rise: Thou, Sun, Art Half As Happy Sketch: I Heard You Talking
How did you come up with your ideas for the fics? Can you take us through your process after first receiving the prompt?
I don't know that I have a set way I come up with my fic ideas for Wordplay. It all depends on the prompt and what fic ideas I've got on my "to write list" that might fit that prompt. If nothing on my to write list fits or can be tweaked for a prompt, then I just go through my prompts tag until something strikes me for it, or I just ruminate on the different ways the word can be used and see if something comes up.
So, when I did the random word generator for the first prompt and "struggle" was the word that came up, I immediately thought of "struggle bus". lolllll and when I went looking through my to write list, I saw the girl Payneshaw fic I wanted to write and I was like omgggggg Nick ABSOLUTELY is riding the struggle bus the ENTIRE FUCKING TIME and I knew that was my fic for the week. lmaoooo and there you have it.
What is your favorite fic you wrote for Wordplay this year?
oooohhhh this one is HARD AND MEAN lmaoooo i forgot this was a question asked. okay legitimately i cannot choose a favorite because i'm actually stupidly proud and happy with all of the fics i wrote this year.
If you’ve participated in previous years of Wordplay, what has been your favorite prompt from all years you participated in?
WELP. as the creator of this challenge, i've participated in all 5 years which means there've been 25 prompts i've written. lolllll and honestly i think my favorite prompt is STILL from the first year. it was "bloodsucker". like, how great of a prompt is that???
What was the shortest fic you wrote this year? The longest?
the shortest one this year was... I Said It Wrong, But I Meant It Right at 4381 words.
the longest one was... I Heard You Talking at 10580 words.
What fic of yours surprised you?
i think all of them surprised me in some way. that's part of the joy of writing fics, isn't it? lollll but i think the one that surprised me the most was Thou, Sun, Art Half As Happy. it was a last minute change (i'll elaborate in the answer to the next question haha) and it was a VERY different direction than i had planned. it was all based off of a photo i saw on tumblr, and there was no prompt with the photo. i got to just take in the basic idea of the sticker being placed on a bridge overlooking the city and what might make that spot a good kissing spot.
now, as an ace who doesn't actually ENJOY kissing, i... didn't think about the fact that i would be writing a lot of it. lollll i actually have a super hard time writing kisses and trying to make them varied while also relaying the emotional intimacy of the moment, and then add on top of that the fact that once i started writing the fic, both harry and louis let me know pretty much as soon as words started getting written that they were both genderqueer and that worked differently for each of them, so harry would use they/them pronouns and louis would use he/him still, it just made things more interesting. and the way the fic developed??? like, i had a very vague idea of what would happen in the fic. so the way it actually came about all surprised me.
long answer short, from the very start, this fic surprised me and i was just along for the ride. it was a BLAST and i sure do love it, even if it does have the second lowest hits of all the fics i wrote this year haha
Were there any prompts you struggled to find an idea for?
STRUGGLED HAHAHA sorry. just funny since struggle was a prompt this year. ANYWAY. the prompt i had the hardest time with was defo rise. i've had this fic idea ever since greg james tweeted with shawn mendes months ago about how shawn basically forgot his interview with greg on the breakfast show, so greg had to last minute wing a LOT OF AIR TIME AND SHOW CONTENT and he did a great job, but it brought about some funny content... anyway. that made me wanna write a triad a/b/o fic where greg is louis and harry's beta. rise was going to be used in a lot of different ways through the fic, as well. because breakfast show requires greg to rise from bed early, he gets a rise out of harry and louis with his behavior and overt flirtations with shawn, they have to rise above their jealousy, etc etc etc. i was VERY EXCITED.
except i only had three days i was able to write every week this summer, and those were really really difficult to get. if i wanted to write on tuesday or thursday, i was often curling up with my laptop in a dark room with some caffeine and candles burning to soothe me after the insanity that is my life atm, and write for as long as i could before my brain stopped functioning, which was often only around 30 min. but see, that particularly week was the worst part of my son's 18 month sleep regression, which meant instead of him sleeping and letting me write, i was driving him around or trying to rock him back to sleep or letting him play in an attempt to tire him out etc etc etc and by friday morning i had to admit to myself there was no way i could write that a/b/o fic in my one guaranteed evening to write every week (saturday, btw). so i was suddenly left with around 36 hours to find a new fic idea and develop it enough to be able to write it in one evening.
as i said in the answer to the first question, i usually go to my prompts tag to see what might inspire me with this prompt word in mind, but for this one that wasn't the first place i went. i tried looking at more definitions even though i'd done that earlier and nothing was inspiring me. so i then spoke to several friends and was still having a hard time finding any ideas that felt like something i would enjoy writing and could do so quickly.
by saturday morning, knowing i had less than 12 hours to figure out what i was writing so i could actually WRITE IT in only like 2-3 hours of writing time, i finally sat down and scrolled through my prompts tag. once i did, i saw the photo for the "good kissing spot", and i immediately thought of sunrise. so i ran with it. but i wanted to make it stylinshaw, so how would i work that in, etc etc etc. it was just very fast and very difficult trying to figure out how i would structure it so it could be a fun meet cute kind of fic, but also work into them actually building a meaningful connection etc and... well. it was a lot. haha so yeah, it was just a hard time overall that week, but i'm super proud of it in the end.
Were there any prompts you had an idea for but ended up writing something different? If so, what made you choose to change what you wrote? Do you think you’ll ever write your original idea at a later date?
HA okay well i already answered most of this above, but for the last part of this question, yes i will absolutely write my original idea at a later date. the whole reason i decided not to do it wasn't because i couldn't turn it into a fic that could be written in that one writing session, but because i had hopes for what that fic would be, and i didn't want to shorten and condense it enough to do that. i didn't want to have to lessen the dreams i have for that fic in my head, so i decided i would just put it back on my to write list and save it for later. who knows when, but that fic will absolutely get written.
What do you think was the most difficult as well as the easiest part about the Wordplay Challenge?
most difficult was 100% finding the time to write. that was insanely hard for me all summer, but by the time wordplay was going, things at home had ramped up to being very overwhelming regarding the demands on me and my time, and what i had been doing to carve out some time for myself and writing wasn't working anymore, so i had to adjust even more with the understanding that i was working on a really strict timeline too. so yeah. just finding the time was absolutely the hardest part for me.
easiest part was the actual writing. these fics really flowed from me, outside of the pack fic, that one was actually pretty difficult to make sure i was getting the dynamics exactly the way i wanted to have them turn out, but even with that aspect, it still was like it flowed from me most of the time. these fics really just took over and i was along for the ride. it was a blast.
If you participate again next year, is there anything you’ll do differently? If so, what?
lmao well assuming people still want wordplay to happen again, i'll run it again and very likely will take part. so... with the difficulty i had in finding any time to do anything this summer, i was actually ridiculously stressed when it came to the writing part, but also the modding aspect of it. so i am not sure that i'll run it during the summer again next year. i might have it go during the early fall once school is back in session so i at least have only one child at home instead of three to battle lol so that's one thing i'll hopefully be doing differently.
as for the writing aspect, i don't think so actually. i've done 5 years of this, and i'm having fun with it. haha if i ever find a fic idea i think could work for it, i would consider doing a series for it next year, but it all depends on if there's something i'd like to write that could work for that kind of set up with this challenge.
if you made it this far, thank you for reading!!! xxx
12 notes · View notes
tillthelandslide · 4 years
Text
Broken
Anon request: “hi love, hope you are doing well.. I want to request you something.. Can you please write a fic/series where Henry's Gf dies.. and he is absolutely devastated and a mess since then ..He remembers their fond memories, her immense love for him.. He is left to live the aftermath and misses her..(intense angst) I think with your writing this will be loved by all.. Please consider this request.. Love you <3″
A/N: This was honestly such a hard one to write, imagining Henry to be like this honestly broke my heart, I was literally a sobbing mess the whole way through. This was very different for me but I’m glad I expanded my horizons and wrote this. I would say I hope you enjoy it but I don’t think it's appropriate.
Also I know you asked for it to be Henry’s gf but I started writing it and it became wife so sorry. Also I usually write my stories as “you” but I’ve been wanting to switch it up a little so my stories don’t seem too repetitive. 
Also I listened to Goner by Twenty One Pilots (one of my favourite bands) whilst writing this so if you wish to listen to that, to add to the mood, ’ve added it.
I love you all so much - L
Tag List: @harrysthiccthighss @thereisa8ella @magdelen69 @henrythickcavill @hc-geralt-23 @kissthatlifeaway @darkbooksarwin @august-w-princess @speakerforthedead0 @pixie1484 @constip8merm8 @tigerbroadwaybaby @agniavateira @summersong69 @aestheticallywinchester @stephartrave @al-wiisa @henrycavillfanpage @intenselikes @anat2507 @ellixthea @aguspalazzo @1ookatthestars00 @wintersoldierslut @michelehansel @cavill-sass @thecavillstache @xelizabethvalentinex @sesamepancakes @tumblnewby @thefangirlsblog @sugarmelonwater @madbaddic7ed  @bakika @abundanceofsoph @noisymist @mis-lil-red @runawayolives @kellbell44 @dashingcavill @006819red @paosesposts
(if you would like to be added to my tag list, feel free to message me, if you are new to my blog then I post Henry Cavill fanfics and make Henry Cavill fake Instagram posts, my requests are open so feel free to request anything and I will try my best to make your vision come to   life. Edit: requests are still open but there might  be a delay as I am working my way through the current ones and all  other stories I am writing)
youtube
Broken : Henry Cavill Fan Fiction
Warnings: mentions of death, severe angst, crying and sobbing Henry. Please do not read this if you think it will impact your mental health. Mental health matters and always comes first. Here for anyone who needs to talk 
He had never believed in the idea of the human heart shattering into a million pieces... until he lost her. This dreadful event had been the downfall of his once perfect life. 
Darkness. That’s all his life was now, the existence of her had changed his life, she was his saviour, his salvation, but the loss of his one true love, that destroyed his life. She was the brightness even in the darkest of times and places. Everything he had loved before, he despised now, everything reminded him of the woman he once held in his arms, the one he was lucky enough to call his wife. He was convinced he would never be the same again, he felt like his heart had been combined with hers and when she left him, his heart left him too. He hadn’t expected this, he had expected to grow old with her, have 4 or 5 children and several grandchildren to carry on the couples legacy. She had promised him that’s what would happen. She vowed to love him until their final days, and he had underestimated when that day would be.
Here he sat, in their garden, a cigarette between his fingers, bringing it up to his lips and taking a deep puff, the tar slipping down his throat and coating his lungs with filth, she’d scold him if she were here... but she wasn't. He knew it was bad for him, but he didn’t care anymore. He needed an escape, he didn’t want to feel anymore, he wanted all the agony and anguish to disappear, leave him like she had.
God knows why he blames himself but he does. She had her whole life left ahead of her and this cruel world stripped that from her, removed all opportunities for the both of them to live a full and happy life together.
“I miss you my love” he says, to the sky, the darkness perfectly resembling himself, the stars in the sky seemed to be dimmed, apart from one, which was glistening brightly. He had decided that was her, watching down from heaven. Heaven was another thing he hadn’t believed in until his world collided with hers. She was this angelic being and had to have fallen from heaven, there was no other explanation to her beauty, her perfect personality, one in which complimented that of his wonderfully. She was the kind of person that bettered those around her, made them whole, made them purer. 
Tears emptied from his eyes and he sighed, his hand which was holding his cigarette thrusting into his deep curls, curls he hadn’t washed or brushed in weeks. He didn’t think he could cry anymore, but here he was, water running down his face like a flood, amplifying his red and bloodshot eyes, the deep and bruising bags underneath his eyes a reminder of his soul crushing pain. His hand moved back down, slipping the tip of the cigarette back in between his lips, sucking it.
“God I fucking miss you baby” he says, his voice completly broken, he sounded like a character in a show or film, a different person alltogether and he supposes he is now he’s without his wife. He hears a knock on the door and swears, picking up the ash tray and walking with it, inside his house, where he plods to the door, swinging it open and seeing her best friend.
“Fucking hell Henry” she says as she sees him, the lead in her hands attahced to the collar around his dogs neck, Kal looks up at him making him turn away, even Kal reminds him of her and he can’t deal with him at the moment, hence why her best friend was looking after him. She closes the door behind her, following his trail back outside, releasing Kal from his collar, letting him roam the house.
“Thought you’d want to see Kal” she says, sitting outside with him, it was freezing and dark but she bared it, picking up his pack of cigarettes and taking one for herself.
“You don't smoke” he grunts, flicking the ash at the end of the cigarette into the ashtray.
“Neither do you” she quips back, making him raise his eyebrows, putting out the cigarette as it reaches its end, pulling one from his packet and lighting it instantly, needing his lungs to be filled with the poison.
“If she saw us now” her friend says, making him sigh, more tears falling down his face.
“Fuck” he says, wiping them away, the last thing he needed was her friend seeing him completly destoryed, she would for sure tell his family and hers and that would damage him even more.
“Henry” she says, sympathy laced in her voice.
“I miss her so fucking much” he says, making her reach forward and take his hand.
“Me too” she says, not knowing what to say, but she squeezes his hand, making him tear it back not wanting the attention.
“You don't understand,” he says, making her scorn him.
“Of course I don’t. It’s not as if she was my best friend. For fuck sake Henry, I’m trying to be here for you, its what she wanted” she said, looking away, her eyes landing on that same twinkling star, taking a puff from the cigarette.
“Well she’s not fucking here so who the fuck cares” he spits.
“Amazing. She wouldn’t have wanted this” she says, standing up, taking one last puff of her half used cigarettes, stubbing it out before leaving him.
“Wait” he says, stopping her in her tracks, she looks back, her eyes falling over his face, tears now streaming down his face, she walks over to him and his hands reach out to her, they’ve never done this but she knows he needs it, so she wraps his arm around him, his tears sinking into her shirt as his head rests against her.
“I’m so sorry” she says, tears springing in her eyes too.
“I can’t live without her” he sobs, his voice cracking making her heart ache for him.
“Henry” she says as she hears Kal crying behind her. Henry pulls away and looks at the dog, his face falling, the dog's large eyes looking into his.
“Hey buddy” he utters half heartedly and the dog walks up to where he’s sat outside, Henry puts out his cigarette and his hands begin to pet the dog's head.
“He’s had his hair cut” he says, making the friend nod.
“Yeah, he needed it, I know she usually takes him on Monday’s so I thought I’d take him” she says making Henry frown.
“Shit, did you tell Caroline?” he says, talking about the groomer she usually takes Kal to.
“Yeah” her friend says, a frown on her face too.
“I forgot to tell her.” he says.
“It’s okay, it’s the last thing you needed to remember” she says, referring to the long list of people Henry had to notify.
“We need to sort out the funeral, I can plan it if you’d like?” she says, making Henry shake his head, still petting his dog.
“No that’s okay, I should do it” he says, his voice breaking as he sobs loudly again.
“Henry, she'd hate to see you like this” she says, her hand gesturing to the man whose features looked uncanningly like another person.
“Well she’s not fucking here is she?!!” he shouts making her friend flinch.
“Sorry” he utters, dropping his head into his hands.
“I just wanna be alone” he says.
“No you don’t” she says, dropping down to her knees, placing her hands on his knees so she’s level with his face.
“Talk to me, she asked me to be here for you and that’s what I tend to do” she says caringly.
“Well I don’t fucking want you here, I want her and she’s fucking dead” he shouts, knocking her back, her hands landing on  one of Kal’s paws making him yelp.
“Shit, I’m sorry” he says, to her best friend and to Kal.
“I’ll just fuck off then” she says, giving up. The dog looks longingly at his dad as she storms inside, before she comes back with the lead clipping it onto the dogs collar, slamming the door as she leaves the house.
“Fuck” he shouts, standing up from his chair. He walks back inside, looking around his house. His hands land on a vase containing flowers from his mother and he throws it aggressively against the wall, the noise ringing out dramatically in the empty house. It smashes against a picture on the floor, the picture falling loudly to the floor, the glass from the vase and the frame smashingly loudly making him swear.
“Shit” he says, walking over the picture frame, picking it up, the shards cutting his hand, but he doesn’t flinch at the pain, no amount of pain could hurt more than that in his heart. His fingers push the remaining shards of glass off the picture, revealing a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day. A small smile appears on his face as he scans her face, she looks genuinely ecstatic, that's how he will always remember her. His lips are pressed against hers and he carries her down the aisle, a smile against her lips and he remembers the moment like it was yesterday. It was the best day of his life, their friends and family were there to celebrate the union of the couple, it was the day she promised to love him forever, promised to be his faithful and loving companion until death does she part.
“We didn’t know it would be so soon huh love?” he says, chuckling despite it being far from funny. He places the frame down, deciding to clean the glass up later, he no longer had the dog to worry about and he didn’t care if he got hurt by the sharp shards. 
His eyes drift to the other pictures that frame the walls, the one he had taken of her at their honeymoon, her naked body completely covered by the beach water, the waves crashing against the shore perfectly, making for the perfect picture, she had that same smile on her face and Henry’s lips lift up momentarily at the sigh.
“So beautiful” he says, looking at the picture.
The next is a picture he had taken of Kal attacking the beauty with kisses.
“That was taken after the first time we shagged '' he says to himself, chuckling at the memory. Laughing loudly when he remembers all the times she cringed when he used the word shag. They had shut the dog out wanting to save him from the sight of the two of them making love. Henry had gotten up moments after the wonderful moment when he heard his dog crying at the door, he had opened the door and Kal had jumped up on the bed, kissing her face as soon as he saw her, Henry had picked up his phone almost immediately, he remembers framing the picture on the wall but she had taken it down to cut part out (because her breasts were in the picture). 
He looks at the next picture and he thinks this might just be his favourite, it was a picture of her being carried by his brothers, they had played a game of rugby and Henry was worried she would get hurt but she beat his team and his brothers picked her up to celebrate her winning the final shot. They were all laughing and so was she.
“Oh how I loved your laugh baby” he says. He walks to the kitchen, grabbing the first aid kit from the cupboard and quickly cleaning and wrapping the wound, before  picking up a notepad she kept there, finding a fluffy pen she used and he began writing.
“My love,
No words can truly express how much I miss you, no words can describe my pain. So I’m not going to speak about that. I’m going to talk about how amazing you were, how amazing you will always be. The moment you walked into my life, I knew I was done for. You turned my word upside down baby. I know you were the one the moment I met you, I knew when you said my name for the first time, I knew when we kissed for the first time and every time since, when it felt like fireworks. In films we constantly see these epic ideas of love and me being the pessimist that I am never believed in them. But then I met you. And oh baby did that change. Our love was epic, and it always will be. I remember the first time you met my family, you were so nervous, you bit your lip so much that it bled. But the moment they met you, they loved you, you became one of us, that was the moment I knew I wanted to be your husband. I remember being so excited to meet your parents, because I was so curious to meet the people who shaped you into the wonderful person you are… were. I remember asking you to marry me and I was so fucking happy when you said yes, the moment you became my life will always be the best thing that has ever happened to me. And part of me is convinced that it’s the best thing to happen to anyone, anywhere. I will forever be grateful for the time I had with you but boy do I wish we had more time. I will love you forever and a piece of me will always be absent. I ask you to look over me. Heaven is one lucky place because now they have you. I was and always be your husband, your Henry. This world has no idea how lucky it was to have you, you will forever be the love of my life and I will continue to count my lucky stars, everyday baby.
Forever yours,
Henry
200 notes · View notes
deejadabbles · 3 years
Text
A Thousand Songs (Atem/Yami x Reader)
Chapter One: We Are Broken
One /// Two /// Three /// Four /// [Five Coming Soon]
Summary: You knew that you and your band could make it big. Not only that, but stay together while doing it; the five of you were family, after all. The only problem was that despite all your musical talents...none of you were particularly good at lyrics. After years of struggling to put out your first full album, the solution finally made himself know in chance meeting on an empty stage.
Rock Band AU, Atem x Reader, gender neutral reader.
A.N.  Woo look at me, starting a new series before I finish my current ones. Don't hate me I have the attention span of a squirrel! I know band AUs are pretty cheesy but I don't care, this idea has been floating in my head for awhile and it's super cute okay?? I was also going to wait to post this until all the chapters were done but I couldn't control myself anymore. These chapters will be much shorter than my usual length so hopefully that means I can update faster??? I won't make any promises but I'll try. Anywho, I hope you guys like fashionable, sensitive Atem because that's who'll be featured in this fic <3 The reader's gender is never mentioned but I will admit I tended to lean more towards songs sung by women in this, I don't really think that matters though (I have Atem sing songs originally sung by women so...). I really hope you guys like this series and I'll love to hear your thoughts <3 Also: @ohyema​ This is the series I told you about all that time ago lol
Tumblr media
I am outside
And I've been waiting for the sun
With my wide eyes
I've seen worlds that don't belong
My mouth is dry
With words I cannot verbalize
Tell me why
We live like this
The crowd was small, as always, but it was enough. Anyone hearing your songs was enough for now, or so you told yourself week after week. You felt Yugi’s eyes on you as you leaned away from the mic, plucking the cords of your Stratocaster for the brief solo and you looked to your left to see him smiling at you; always the positive optimist, the sun that shone on you and the rest of the band.
You flashed him the briefest smile in return before turning back to the mic. If you closed your eyes, got lost in Anzu’s keys, Jou’s steady beats, and Honda’s strings, you could almost pretend you were playing in front of a packed venue. One full of fans solely there to hear music, and not just a dozen or so patrons who enjoyed the music as a backdrop to their late-night drinks.
Keep me safe inside
Your arms like towers
Tower over me
You could have sworn you heard another voice in the crowd join yours as the chorus came. Ah, so there was an actual fan in the crowd.
Cause we are broken
What must we do to restore
Our innocence
And all the promise we adored?
Give us life again
Cause we just wanna be whole
Your eyes fluttered back open for the briefest second and through the smoky haze in the room, you saw that someone at the bar was holding up their phone, camera aimed at the stage. That managed to make you smile, at least you had someone’s attention.
Lock the doors
Cause I'd like to capture this voice
It came to me tonight
So everyone will have a choice
And under red lights
I'll show myself it wasn't forged
We're at war
We live like this
“Are you guys on SoundCloud or anything? Cos that was pretty awesome!” asked a young man who looked barely old enough to be in the bar at all.
You were just helping Yugi pack away his turntables, having finished your set and wishing the small crowd a good night. The young man was with two others, all of them looking enthused as they stood at the base of the small stage. The girl even giggled when Honda winked at her.
Yugi, as usual, was the one to speak up and pulled out a small leather folder from his back pocket. “Yeah, we are actually! We also have a youtube channel,” he pulled cards from the folder, black cardstock with your band’s name, logo, and media accounts scrawled across it in gold text. He handed one to each in the trio, smile still bright on his face, “Check us out if you get the chance, we’re trying to put out a new album this summer, so we should have plenty of new songs to listen to soon.”
With a few ‘cool man’s and ‘awesome’s, the trio wandered back to the bar, the one who had spoken already pulling out his phone with the card in hand, and the girl waving at Honda over her shoulder.
“You know you shouldn’t get their hopes up,” Anzu whispered as she set her keyboard case at the foot of the stage, “Two songs does not an Album make- we have no clue when we’ll actually have it out!”
“Well,” you chimed in, clicking one of Yugi’s several cases closed, “Maybe telling new fans to expect more from us will finally light a fire under our song-writing-asses.” When Jonouchi opened his mouth, that cheeky look on his face, you held up your hand to silence him, “And yes, I know I procrastinate too much, I’m to blame too.”
Yugi lifted two of his cases- and answered after Jou jumped in to take the heavier of the two, “I still think all of us should take a week's vacation, lock ourselves in our studio and work on the album together. Only getting together a few times a week is what’s really killing us I think- we can’t get into a creative groove!”
You and Anzu exchanged a look, knowing full well that neither of your bills would appreciate the week's loss in pay. Still, maybe it was something that you guys could find a way to work out. Then again, there was another idea that had been brewing in the back of your mind for a while now, and you weren’t sure if it was really something that the others in your band would go for...like, at all.
“I don’t know, a week probably wouldn’t even be long enough,” Honda chimed in after slinging his guitar case over his shoulder, grabbing an amp in the free hand.
Jou nodded as you all started filing out the bar’s back door, “I’m still thinking that gettin’ together every single night until the album’s done is the best way to go, even if it’s just for a few hours!”
This was the usual road the song writing debate took, or at least, how it usually went the past month or so, and soon enough the topic came to a standstill, as it usually did.
After loading up Jonouchi’s truck with your equipment, Honda gave the suggestion of stopping for some burgers at the 24 hour joint down the road, a common ritual after your monthly gig at “The Bandit’s Den”. As usual, Jou parked in the space best visible from the front windows of the dinner, and the five of you were glad to find that not another soul sat at the tables.
After settling at your usual booth and ordering, Yugi actually splayed his hands out on the table, looking rather determined. “You don’t start work until seven tomorrow. Right?” he asked you.
“Yeah?”
“I think we should take another trip to the station.”
You actually had to repress a sigh at that. Yugi was all about trying to trigger inspiration for songs, and the “station” referred to an old train station on the outskirts of town. You guys had discovered it long ago and were eager to use it in a music video, but were waiting for the perfect song to go with it. Sure, the old giant clock and brick stairs were a perfect setting, but it had only sparked a line or two of lyrics, nothing to make a full song.
Out of the five of you, most of the lyric writing fell on your’s and Yugi’s shoulders, with Anzu, Honda, and Jonouchi giving occasional input. Since you were the lead singer most seemed to think you would be the natural lyric maker, but the truth was that, despite your talent in singing and playing the lead guitar, lyrics just weren’t your forte. You’d had some luck when teaming up with Yugi, his emotional maturity helping you work through the written expressions, but that only went so far. Yugi also tried things like this, exercises and field trips in the hopes that it would spark creativity.
“How many times have we been to the station before, Yugi?” you asked, “I just don’t think it’s the oracle of inspiration we all hoped it would be. I still want to film there some time, but I don’t wanna take time out to visit it again, I’ll just get annoyed when it doesn’t lead to anything.”
Yugi’s set expression seemed to blink away, replaced with something almost like guilt, “Okay, I was just trying to think of something to get our inspiration flowing…”
Now you’re the one who felt guilty. “I know...hey maybe we could try something new? Like we could go some other place or try some different way to spark our heads?” you suggested, trying to sound positive.
Yugi’s eyebrows lifted in interest, but he was cautious when he asked, “Like what?”
“I…” you trailed off when your mind came up blank. It remained blank even as your eyes trailed over the entirety of the empty dinner as well as the dark scenery outside. A growl of frustration left your throat as you face planted on the table, “I don’t know!”
You heard Yugi giggle as he reached out and patted your head. Beside him, Jonouchi said, “What you need is some brain food! That’s sure to help some ideas come- ah! And here’s our feast now!”
Even though the food was good, kick-start your brain, it did not. If anything the meal just made you more sleepy, even as you guys chatted over the next hour before paying the tab and piling back into Jou’s truck.
Like always the next stop was the studio, the home and hideaway for you and your friends. For a small-time band whose biggest fame was on Youtube, all of you were actually quite proud of your studio. Yugi’s grandfather owned a few rental properties, and since the building wasn’t fitting for a residential space, nor in a part of town that would serve a shop well, he had agreed to give you guys the small building in exchange for help around his game shop every week.
Working together to make the space your own was some of the best memories you had with your oldest friends; going to second-hand shops to gather fitting set pieces, saving up for the sound dampeners so you could record your songs without paying a big-time studio, setting up the back room with tattered old furniture and a mini-fridge that was sure to break down any day.
The only thing that beat those days were the times you actually spent in the studio; rehearsing, recording your few music videos, spending downtime together writing new music on lumpy bean bag chairs and worn rugs (and definitely getting distracted by each other every ten minutes).
The night was late enough that no one bothered the five of you as you unloaded the truck, and soon enough all of you were taking your usual spots in the back room (Anzu sprawling out on the battered chaise, Jonouchi and Yugi filling up the loveseat, Honda falling onto a pair of beanbags, and you plopping down in the hammock chair).
“Alright you guys, I’m just going to come out and say it,” Anzu sighed after a few moments of hanging off the arm of her seat, “We need help writing our songs.”
You actually sat up as straight as you could in your chair and peered over at her- had she really just said what you had been thinking of saying for weeks?!
When she saw your look, something like panic colored her face as she waved her hands, “Not that I don’t think you’re a good writer! The songs you came up with were awesome! ...But-”
You waved off her concern, the hard motion causing your hammock to spin a little, “No- no, Anzu, I totally agree! I just didn’t know if I should bring it up...”
Even if you hadn’t thought of it too, Anzu had plenty of reason to think you needed help. In the whole four years since your group had started the band, from the first days sitting in class drawing up logo ideas, you had only written six original songs- and that included the two that were meant to go on your new album. You had gotten by with relying on covers to fill out your live sets and media accounts and making a host of excuses for the lack of originality.
“You really think bringing in another bandmate’s a good idea?” Honda chimed in, eyes narrow as he leaned back in his beanbag chair.
“Yeah, we don’t wanna end up like half the other bands out there,” Jonouchi chimed in, seeming to subconsciously pull Yugi closer to his side, “you guys know the only reason our band works is because we get each other- we’re family! We can’t just bring another person into that, it’ll ruin it and maybe even break us up!”
Yugi put a hand over Jonouchi’s, “Hey hey, slow down, don’t you think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves? First of all, bands hire ghostwriters all the time, and they don’t always join the band. Besides... I don’t know, if the person’s really cool, would it be that bad to have another member?”
“We could always have them ghostwrite for us for a while, and if we like them, then talk about letting them join,” you offered, and were glad when everyone seemed to contemplate that with at least some positivity. “But that brings up the issue I think we’ll have, I’m not sure we can find someone who fits with our style all that easily. Like Jonouchi said, there’s a reason all of us work well together.”
It was true, all of you brought something to the table, something more than an instrument. The five of you had slightly different tastes, all of it coming together in something that wasn’t quite punk, not quite rock, not quite pop or even metal, and that’s what worked to your advantage. You wanted to prove that different sounds and styles could come together in harmony and appeal to listeners all across the spectrum. Not fit into a genre-labeled box that only fans of said genre would even bother listening to.
Eventually, Anzu gave a shrug, “We won’t know until we try. Why don’t we put the word out and see what happens?”
“We can still work on our own, and if we don’t find anyone who fits, we didn’t really lose anything besides time,” Yugi added, and that pretty much settled the matter.
Tomorrow the search for a new member of your team began.
21 notes · View notes