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#and point at the . pretty clear depiction of what would happen if a teenager with his specific mental health issues and views got powers
pinewoodpipit · 9 months
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bloodwritten silver fic - Post-fic Meta
The main fic is finally complete, so of course, it's time for a final meta post!
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Other meta posts for this AU
Fic beginning meta
Mid-point meta (posted after chapter 5)
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General thoughts and fic notes
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General thought dump
This is the kind of detail I imagine most won't pay much heed, but I'm really happy with.
How the fic started:
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How the fic ended:
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I LOVE some nice circle form.
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Fade and Neon slept together while Fade was healing. They had nights to themselves since Sage was staying with Reyna and eventually Fade could see Neon was excited one day. Neon was hesitant to do anything about it because she didn't want to hurt Fade, but Fade just responded that Neon had been taking such good care of her, and she wanted to return the favour. She wasn't well enough to properly sleep together, but Neon sitting on her face/using her mouth on Fade was fine. Other times she was excited during Fade's recovery, Fade would just hold her while she took care of herself. Neon has a generally higher libido than Fade so needs to take care of herself sometimes, and they're very chilled about that. They would also be fine if Fade needed to take care of herself sometimes when Neon wasn't in the mood; they're just not too high-maintenance about their sexual relationship.
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On a very different note, some time ago, I drew what Fade looked like as a puppy. She was a little ridiculous looking with funny proportions and huge ears, but she was a cute pup.
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Neon has thought about turning into a wolf herself just as a romantic daydream. After what happened to Lucia, though, it’s clear that the process is very unsafe for humans to go through and could be fatal, so they will never consider this seriously. Neither Fade or Neon think it’s worth putting her life at risk. Fade also wouldn’t want to share being a wolf with her, anyway - she sees it as more of a curse or burden than anything, and she’s seen the stigma it brings first-hand. Neon wouldn’t disrespect her by brushing aside the seriousness of what Fade has gone through because the idea of being wolves together is a romantic one. That said, if she WAS a wolf, she’d be a sort of sandy blonde, a little like how Seth is depicted in the Twilight movies.
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For fun, I did a couple of Twilight edits of Fade (including one of how I imagine Neon would look as a wolf), and I also did one of her brother. I imagine Aykut was a darker grey than Fade, and as she said herself in the fic, his heterochromia was flipped, so his blue eye was on his left. I'm under no illusion that these are good edits, hahah, they were just made for fun.
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One last thought - about their names. I still use their codenames when talking about them in meta posts, but Hazal, Tala, Zyanya, and Ling Ying are their names in the fic canon. Sage chose a fake name specifically so she wouldn't be found out if anyone happened to run into her and ask what a strange woman was doing in the woods.
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Ages and Heights
In this AU, Reyna and Sage are probably about ten years older than in canon. They’re the generation above Fade and Neon and could feasibly have been their (young) parents. This just makes it make a little more sense with the timelines and relationships, considering Sage is pretty much the closest thing Fade has to a mother figure and Reyna and Sage had been dating when Fade and Neon were only young teenagers.
As for heights, things are pretty normal, but Fade is TALL in this AU. While in canon I imagine her to be around 5'5, in this au she’s probably closer to 5'8 in human form and around 7' when standing on two legs as a wolf. She’s big. For comparison, Neon is around 150cm/4'11.
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Reyna
I don’t want to make it look like Reyna’s actions are forgiven. She did what she did from a false assumption that werewolves were actively cursing and killing innocent townsfolk, as Lucia never told her about her lover. She thought she was protecting people, but secrecy, poor communication, and an extremely poor reaction to grief ended up ramping up the severity of the situation until Venshire as a whole became convinced that the wolves were a threat who needed to go.
Fade does not forgive her for this. She has no obligation to forgive her, and Reyna doesn’t expect her to. She has apologised, but it doesn’t change what she’s done, and she understands that. She is now working to break down the stigmas she contributed to forming to take responsibility for what she did.
Neon does forgive her for how she behaved in Neon’s house back in chapter 7. She fully thought Neon had switched sides and was acting as a traitor alongside a threat to the entire town. Reyna understands differently now and has apologised to her, too.
She has significant work to do to better herself. She can’t change what she did but she has stripped herself of her power and is instead working under Sabine, one of the old guild members who was voted as the next leader due to her experience and strong leadership skills. Reyna is still an incredibly strong strategist so her opinions are valued highly and sought after in difficult situations, but she does not want power after she misused it, and has voluntarily given it up.
None of this means she’s forgiven. I want to urgently reinstate that point.
She understands she was working under a misunderstanding and has taken responsibility to strip herself of power and work towards breaking the negative connotations around magical creatures which she perpetuated. The town will always protect itself against attacks, but they now realise they have serious work to do in breaking down their own stigmas and attacking only when it’s necessary; not just eliminating an entire family for the potential of a future threat.
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Further instalments
I have a couple of additions planned for this fic.
One of them (which is already fully finished and ready to post) is a smut add-on, because I can’t make a werewolf au and NOT write werewolf sex (their first time was done in human forms only, while this fic features them a few months into their relationship). I wrote this some time ago, back around the 13th-14th of July. It killed me not to post it!! But it’ll be going up soon, and I hope you enjoy it.
I might write another smut add-on of their first time eventually. Not 100% sure. Fade had no experience at all while Neon had slept with a couple of other people so it wasn’t a particularly long encounter and it ended up being more of Neon guiding Fade on what to do with her hands and mouth, but it was a very pleasant time for them both and Neon didn’t judge Fade for finishing quickly. They were both emotional and a little overwhelmed. If I do write this, it’ll mostly be because I’m curious to write a fic where Neon is the more experienced one, as in most of my fics, it’s the other way around.
The second planned add-on is more of a future look at their lives in this au. While I’m not a fan of about 95% of fan-kid depictions in media, there is a fan-kid in this au’s future and I’m really fond of them. Their name is Deniz Hiraya Eyletmez-Valdez. They’re nonbinary and a werewolf, like their mama. Having a kid which turns out to also be a wolf, meaning she’s suddenly not alone anymore, would be a huge deal for Fade. I did a doodle for this idea which I think is quite cute, which I’ll add here!
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I may end up making a reference sheet for Deniz, too. We'll see! I know what they look like, but it would be fun to draw it.
One last note about Deniz - they were born human. Werewolves in this AU first transform at about a year old, around when the baby is just starting to walk. Fade and Neon had no clue their kid was a wolf until this point. Just in case you get freaked out about Neon having a weird puppy kid, haha.
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More Songs
These are songs which I added to the playlist after I started writing and since my last meta post at the midway point, but I still think they fit.
Petrichor - Cassyette
Blood in the Wine - AURORA
Throne - Saint Mesa
Brutus - The Buttress
Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden
Everyday Is Like Halloween - Ministry
I Was a Teenage Werewolf - The Cramps
Animals - Maroon 5
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truly-morgan · 6 months
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[Age Swap Mafia, Ekubo & Mamoru Headcanon]
Ekubo + Yoshioka | Mob Psycho 100 Age Swap Mafia AU 22-06-2023
#mp100 Age Swap Madia AU ideas (or at least, the way I spin it): Ekubo & Mmoru Yoshioka edition.
-They grew up poor and on the rougher side of the city with neglectful parents. They learn from a young age to fend for themselves and that they only had each other.
-Mamoru was a quiet and calm student with good grades, while Ekubo was a troublemaker who didn't put much thought into classes (he could still pull out great grades in important exams. hence why he always passed).
Ekubo sometimes wonders where his twin would be in life if he had kept studying properly instead of following him down the path of crime and violence. He vaguely remembers Mamoru wanting to be a lawyer to help people.
-Ekubo was the first one to get involved in gang activities and tried keeping Mamoru out of it at first, until his twin made it clear that he would be with him, no matter what happens. It started as doing petty crimes to get buy until a group took notice of Ekubo for his skills and offered him to join as an underling. Then things took off from there, to the point they met Shigeo.
-Mamoru has a soft spot for children (and younger teenagers), he's pretty good around them and somehow always knows what to do. He doesn't think he'd want children tho, not feeling like he'd be a great dad anyway (to which Ekubo disagree).
In contrast, Ekubo doesn't like kids more than that. He can be around them but that's about it, he has never had the twist with taking care of them.
-Ekubo's name and fights circulate around a lot more than Mamoru's one, where he's depicted as a blood-thirsty fighter without any mercy.
People end up surprised when Mamoru is merciless as him and can do great violence and be cruel. His quietness and lack of showing off what he does is part of why people don't assume he'd be as worse as his brother is.
-Ekubo has always hated his strange cheek birthmark for how easily they make him different from his twin when they look the same in petty much every other area. He has grown to hate them less only because Mamoru loves them (for some reason) and makes it known.
-They are both Shigeo's right-hand men and are ranked right below him. They both hold the same level of power, although they overlook different divisions to share the work.
It is known that fucking with them is seen as the same thing as fucking with Shigeo's brothers.
-Ekubo has some sensitivity to spirits and can sense their energy, see them if they are strong enough, contrary to Mamoru. He has no idea why that is, mostly ignores it most of the time. He can tell something bad happened somewhere when this sixth sense is triggered.
He likes using this ability to come up with scary stories about places, the stories guided by something in him that seems to sense more than he can consciously understand.
-They've entirely cut ties with their family, seeing them as dead people. They ignore any attempt at begging for money from them (although Ekubo would be tempted to make them suffer by having debt he knows they cannot repay back).
Shigeo and the Kageyama group are their family.
-Mamoru has grown rather fond of Reigen pretty quickly, enjoying the young teen energy and what he brought to their boss.
While Ekubo's start with him was rocky at first, he also grew very fond of him, showing it by bothering and teasing him all the time.
-Their tattoo are nearly identical in design, which has them rather happy that they can still look so similar even with this. Only someone who's seen the tattoo many times and knows them very well would be able to tell which is which, seeing how they don't parade it much.
-Ekubo is a rather expressive man, it can be easy to read him when he talks about something. He has learned to keep his reaction down to nothing when the moment calls for it.
On the other hand, Mamoru as tamer expression, not quite as expressive unless the emotion is rather strong, which isn't something that happens all that often. He can be very expressive if he wants to, but does it only when he disguises himself as Ekubo
They both know each other's mannerisms so well that they can do them with ease.
-Ekubo has earned the nickname "Green Specter" from his early days when he wore a lot of green, instead of the simpler back suit.
Mamoru has earned the nickname "Expressionless Specter" due to his lack of emotion shown when he fights or kills someone. He does show expression (in his defence) and isn't as stoic as Shigeo, but he looks like a stone statue compared to Ekubo who is very expressive when he fights.
Original
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lullabyforyouu · 2 years
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i think people Really overestimate joshua's "cool, unflappable, composed (ha), non human, above-it-all" demeanor when they portray him because to be honest with you hes gotta be the least cool most flappable least composed most human FAKE above-it-all dude ever. he wants to be above it all so bad. he wants to badly to not be just a guy but he is. hes just a guy and he really thought becoming god would make him not just a guy and then he became god and still had like depression and was just lonelier but now with updated excuses (such as the oh-so-very wide gap between him and other people, which he already believed was there in life, but now even more believed in death, when he is not truly so different) to justify himself in his fresh new coat of misery, until some catboy startlingly similar to himself got character development in front of his eyes and it knocked some sense into him. (a fellow teenage dirtbag™, exactly like himself, learning to reach out and be happier, even reaching out to joshua himself, putting him as a person and a friend before shibuya when no one else had done so. suddenly he had no excuses to continue as he was.) and like. he gets pissed off. not in a godly, scary, intimidating Wrath way, but in a very normal, petty and human way. not scary at all, like when he wanted to go somewhere and neku wanted to go somewhere else and he was all, hm.... I suppose. fine. (crossed arms sprite). he makes little jokes, the ratty mc ratterson line. the spicy tuna roll line. Oh Well I Just Hate Negative People, Don't You?. he is not stoic. he has his fake, above it all sense of finding everything "amusing" which I 100% see as part of his facade, but at his most honest moments he laughs at the small, genuinely funny things. he is also not impossible to read, or impossible to upset. in several instances when talking about his backstory he falls into a visibly Different and cold state. he does the same when he offhandedly mentions that regardless of the brutality, his life in the UG (which, is referring to far more then we and neku know at the time of this line) "beats staying in the RG." He also uses that sprite upon seeing Sota and Nao erased, and becomes serious in the next few moments. He has ISSUES. He emotes. a LOT. so much that I really don't get at all why everyone seems to think hes just like, perpetual unending indifference. like....... respect to everyones interpretations but hes a thinly veiled fireball of a little dude. not only smug but like, typical youthful mischeif. he wanted to be what everyone thinks he is and he just isn't. hes not that divine concept of judgement. he's just joshua okay?
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1kook · 4 years
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attachment: 1 image
— jjk x (f) reader
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summary; But for Jungkook to initiate some sexting, nevertheless sexting at 1pm on a Saturday, when you were at work and you were almost positive he was supposed to be on stream right now? Unheard of, you had to mark this down somewhere. warnings; sexting, dick pics, dirty talk?, phone sex, vivid depictions of jungkook being just so sexy bc its true, rating; mature (18+) misc; mentions of youtuber kook 🥰, he’s just horny, stupid selfie trends (see here), he’s a little whiny but so hot v.v  wc; 4.6k 
notes; I've had this in my drafts since april 😐 n then i was like maybe we should actually finish this so i started n then last night i hit another follower milestone!!! so then i rlly forced myself to finish this bc i was so 🥺🖤👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 anyway enjoy lmk what u think its not proofread bc uhhhhh yeah 🤩
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You’re at work when it happens.
It’s sometime between your usual listless thoughts of what to write for your weekly reflection papers for some course, and your trip to your store’s pharmacy to bother a coworker. Your phone vibrates in the pocket of your work apron. You’re normally pretty good at ignoring the sound, most of the times it’s just a classmate asking for help on homework or Jimin lamenting his love life, so you’ve grown used to ignoring the tiny vibrations, stocking a quarter shelf of different cooking oils before something in your brain tells you to check your phone.
You already know it’s not something grave, but that thought alone means nothing at the sight of the tiny jungkook♡ that appears at the very top of the list of notifications. Your boyfriend’s texts tended to be wildcards, never following a certain routine or alluding to any specifics. He could send you a long paragraph on how much he misses the scent of that one shampoo, the one you’d briefly run through last year because your usual brand was out of stock, with a ten point explanation on why you should switch back to it. Or two word, caveman sentences that drove you crazy because you never understood what exactly he wanted when he’d send those nondescript “munchies dip” texts.
You unlock your phone, clicking to the messenger app instead of directly on the notification. Hopefully the preview will give some warning on whether you should invest in this conversation or not. You hated the read receipts on messages, choosing to ghost conversations as you pleased, but Jungkook had wiggled his way into your phone one afternoon and specifically turned them on for his chat with you, and you’d never turned them off since. So he knows if you choose to ignore Attachment: 1 Image at 1:43pm exactly, and he'll pester you about it until you respond.
You contemplate it all for twenty seconds. It could be a variety of things, you guess, but the only way to find out is to actually see with your own eyes what he’s up to this time. He knows better than to distract you at work, is usually really good at waiting until your shift is over to spam you with messages. For him to send you something now, only a few hours into your shift, is uncharacteristic of him.
But you glance down the aisle anyway, taking note of some elderly woman you’d helped a few minutes prior and another teenager aimlessly walking around, probably looking for the snack aisle. You inhale and press down on your chat with Jungkook.
It takes you a moment to make out exactly what the image is, twisting and turning your phone around as you fight to see it without raising the brightness. It’s only when your eyes finally adjust to the dark screen, the faint beeping of the check-out registers fading into the distance, that you realize it’s a shot of the front of his sweatpants.
“Hm?” you murmur, getting brave enough to pinch the image between two fingers, zooming in until you’re able to decipher a multitude of details. For one, there’s a Flaming Hot Cheeto stain on the hem of his sweatpants, the same one you’d accidentally put on there a few weeks back and haven’t been able to wash out since. Then there’s that huge palm of his, tattoos and all, rested carefully against his thigh. It’s veiny and thick in all the right places, bringing all the attention to his knuckles, which you guess is what he was going for when you consider the centerpiece of the image—his hardened dick straining against the grey material.
There’s no text attached to the message, no snapchat font slapped over the image, so you wonder what exactly he wanted you to do with this information mid-shift. Well, realistically, you know exactly what he wants, but that doesn’t mean you won’t clown him before getting there. After all, Jungkook was seldom the naughty texter; sexting annoyed him, he would whine, because he would do all that and not even get to feel the true pleasure of sex, of being inside you. You’ve dabbled in it here and there, but it never went as perfectly as it did in pornos. He’d drop his phone and forget it, or you would straight up ignore the damn device as you went all in on yourself.
But for Jungkook to initiate some sexting, nevertheless sexting at 1pm on a Saturday, when you were at work and you were almost positive he was supposed to be on stream right now? Unheard of, you had to mark this down somewhere.
you what’s this about?
You decide to play it safe, because as exciting as the image of Jungkook at his computer chair, cock hard and angry at the thought of you, fluffy hair ruffled in that way you adored, jaw twitching and tightening as he touched himself, moaned deep and rough and just how you liked and—
As nice as that image was, for all you knew this vague message was Jungkook sending you a picture from a week ago to purposefully fuck with you at work.
jungkook♡ what time u get off? jungkook♡ miss you bad baby
Your stomach flips, and it takes everything in you to not squeal and bounce between the shelves like a toddler on a sugar rush. Here was your boyfriend, the cutest, sweetest boy, sending you dirty pictures of himself and telling you how much he needed you. Yes, YOU, not some random on the street, or someone else in a club, Jungkook needed pleasure and that pleasure could only come from you.
You glance back down the aisle again, checking your surroundings for the second time that day. You’ve been standing here, stock cart empty for a little over five minutes now, so it’s probably best to change location lest your manager come barking down your neck. You send one quick text before heading off for stock again.
you 4pm :(
Your phone dings again just as you’re leaving the stockroom, but you decide to check it once you get to the hygiene aisle you need to work on next. Still, the prospect of Jungkook having texted you has you walking with a skip in your step, one your coworker teases you about when you pass by her.
jungkook♡ fuck jungkook♡ tell me what panties youre wearing jungkook♡ please ?
You bite your lip, stopping yourself from smiling at the tone you’d picked up from his message. There was no doubt he’d been riled up for a while now, and you wonder if he sat through his usual Saturday morning streams with his cock hard, pushed against the edge of his desk like you knew he did when such things happened. The thought has you nearly fumbling with a bottle of aloe vera.
you seamless black thong you the one you bought me at the last vs sale
Briefly, you wonder if you should have lied and told him you were wearing that red lace set he’d given you last Valentine’s Day, the one he’d bought with his first big YouTube check. But the beauty of being in a relationship with someone like Jungkook is that you could have told him you were wearing grandma undies and he’d still think you were the most beautiful person to grace the planet.
jungkook♡ mm jungkook♡ tiny ones u ruined last time?
You set your phone down, speed stock a row of sunscreen like you’re on some shelf stocking national competition, before daring to text Jungkook again. Your cheeks are still warm, and your hand tightens dangerously around a bottle of shaving cream.
Before you can formulate some response, he’s sending another one in.
jungkook♡ u soaked those jungkook♡ came fast that day jungkook♡ want u so bad
Your cheeks burn, a little embarrassed that he remembers such details. As with all Victoria’s Secret panties, they were, like Jungkook said, extremely thin. You pause, shift your stance just barely, but you’re definitely wet. Not terribly so, but with this fabric, you’d start to notice it sooner than with others.
you mm you makin me wet bunny
It’s not a complete lie, but knowing Jungkook this is exactly what he needs to hear to get that competitive streak going. You shake your head to clear your thoughts, stocking another section of men’s shaving cream. It takes longer for him to message you back, and you wonder if he got off fine on his own. If it’s over now, at least he provided you with some distraction midway into your shift.
When he texts you again, you’ve almost completely convinced yourself he’s finished, so the Attachment: 1 Video that appears on your lock screen throws you for a loop.
It’s a short clip, no longer than ten seconds, but it has you scrambling to lower the volume on your device as some unsuspecting mother of two wanders past. You flash her your practiced smile, the same one you give all the store’s customers. Not like your boyfriend is jacking it off on your phone, shallow pants filtering out from the speakers.
You turn your phone over carefully after she leaves, try to at least pretend you’re still doing your job as you play the video again.
Sweats are gone, but boxers remain. Legs deliciously exposed, thick thighs with muscles that ripple when he moves. Shirt pulled up just slightly to showcase that broad expanse of tummy, cute belly button and defined abs that tighten with each glide of his palm over the outline of his cock. Your mouth fills with drool at the sight. He was so hot.
Your brain hasn’t even processed it yet, all your energy directed towards your clenched pussy, when he shoots another text.
jungkook♡ im so fckin hard jungkook♡ wanna kiss yuo every where baby jungkook♡ come ove r soon ??
Shutting your eyes and counting to ten doesn’t help ward off the sudden wave of horniness that consumes you, but it does remind you of the job you’re supposed to be doing now. You shake your head, as if the image of Jungkook’s dick throbbing beneath his boxers, low voice in your ear, will magically disappear. It doesn’t, and it plagues you even more when you begin stocking a section of sunscreen, numbly instructing yourself on what to do next. Shaving cream, sunscreen, lotion next, you repeat.
It doesn’t help.
Two minutes later and you’re scrambling for the phone you’d hastily tucked into your apron pocket, tapping your passcode in until your messages with Jungkook are pulled up again.
you after work you promise
Your head is absolutely spinning, the coil in your stomach too tight for you to try and be a functioning member of society. Something in you says to sneak off to the bathroom and call him, but your boss is a little bit of a prick when he wants to be, thinks you take too many bathroom breaks as is.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. A curt call of your name has you whirling to face your shelves again, phone tightly pressed against your ribs like maybe it’ll melt into your skin and he won’t see it. At the same time, your sudden fright has you scrambling to turn it off, fingers sloppily pressing against the buttons, hitting the volume like seven times before you eventually feel the familiar click that signals it’s off.
Your boss disappears shortly after, and with his sudden appearance having made every hair on your body stand, you find yourself now slumping against your stock cart. Jesus, that man was a handful to deal with.
The paranoia sticks for a little bit, has you stocking shelf after shelf like a robot until you finish the entire row of hygiene products, back stiff from bending over so much. It’s only when you return to the stockroom ten minutes later that you dare take your phone out again.
A pleasant surprise awaits.
It would appear that during your haste to hide your phone from your boss— Jungkook’s scandalous messages and all —your frantic hands had done something else. A fuzzy picture on your end, a blurry display of lotion bottles you had stacked just before your boss’s impromptu appearance, with no words to accompany them. Normally Jungkook would have ignored that; you frequently sent accidental messages like this, butt texted him, he says.
But there’s something about Jungkook’s horny brain that makes him do stupid things, makes him blow up your phone with a series of question marks, call you four times, whine and fuss in your message thread, and eventually, send you probably the oddest image to date.
jungkook♡ ??? jungkook♡ ????what is that jungkook♡ baby please jungkook♡ I don’t get it ??
jungkook♡ Missed Call (4)
jungkook♡ baby jungkook♡ what does it mean jungkook♡ please ur drivign me insane jungkook♡ jsut wanna hear yuor voice jungkook♡ fuck please just
And then, there’s another one of those cursed Attachment: 1 Image messages.
You shouldn’t be as surprised as you are. You’ve been dating Jungkook for a few months now, know he had that sort of unique personality most college dropouts turned YouTubers do. But every now and then the absurdity of his actions makes you question him still, makes you wonder what exactly goes on in that pretty head of his to warrant such ideas, makes him balance a bottle of body lotion on the thick outline of his cock like this.
Unlike the first few images, this one was taken in front of a mirror. The blinding fluorescent light in his bathroom paints him in a stark color, has every inch of his pretty face on display for you. Rosy cheeks, dewy skin. Perfectly swollen cock straining beneath his grey boxers, curved up against his hip. Shirt pulled up, finally freeing that expanse of muscles on his abdomen, cute little belly button on display once again. The red material is pulled up to his mouth, pearly white teeth biting down on the fabric, and he’s got this flushed expression on his face.
But the real star of the show isn’t his chiseled abdomen or sexy expression, but the sheer hardness of his dick that lets him balance a bottle of body lotion over it, like a fuckin’ shelf or something. He’s so hard, dick so full beneath his boxers. So big too, the little boxers pulled taught around said engorged cock and thick thighs.
Your brain says to laugh, to tease him for being such a clown even when he’s horny as hell. He won’t take it to heart, will probably laugh along with you and you’ll add it to your still growing list of funny memories.
But your caveman libido says call him, so that’s what you do, ducking down behind a new shipment pallet with a squeak as the phone rings. It only lasts four seconds before he picks up, voice breathy and low, but it sounds so loud in the silence of the stockroom.
He doesn’t even let you get a greeting in. “You like my picture, baby?” he husks. It sounds like he’s right there, right beside you, speaking into your ear. Your pussy throbs at the way he sounds. Paired with the picture from before, it has your body tingling all over.
“What the fuck is that?” you hiss, trying to not let the sudden overflow of arousal leak into your words. Jungkook chuckles.
“What?” he huffs. There’s the brief sound of shuffling, the scratchy noise of his phone presumably being pressed against his shoulder. “I’m so hard, baby,” he sighs before you can pretend to reprimand him any further. “Fuck— you, can you just talk to me?” he groans, and the disgusting sound of him spitting into his palm fills your ear.
Your face feels warm, eyes nervously peering across the stockroom like your boss will suddenly appear now of all times to rip you from this important phone call. The anxiety and arousal mix weirdly, have your leg bouncing but every new movement sends a shock up your aching cunt to your chest, and then out to the tips of your fingers.
“You shouldn’t be doing that when I’m at work,” you murmur hurriedly, moving to nervously bite at your finger. Jungkook moans softly.
“Uh huh,” he says.
The air conditioning turns on and you nearly jump out of your own skin. “Kook,” you stress, frazzled by your own burning arousal and the fear of being caught. Like you said. Weird mix. “I— not when I can’t respond.”
He shudders on the line. “You’re responding now,” he points out. You hate when he’s right. Before you can defend yourself, define what a proper response is in this scenario, he’s beating you to the punch. “Baby,” he whimpers, voice so airy yet low, makes your eyes roll into the back of your head, back unconsciously arching. “Couldn’t stop— fuck.”
Your mouth feels dry, all and any form of lecturing fading from your thoughts as you become consumed in Jungkook’s little whines and whimpers. He talks smoothly, a modern day Casanova, and it’s certainly because of that cult-like harem he’s gathered on YouTube. Teenage girls who kiss his ass, tell him he’s cute and dreamy. Make his ego so big.
But then he gets horny and can barely contain that lisp you tease him about, shivers and melts when you put his cock in your mouth. “Couldn't what, bunny?” you mumble, voice drawn tight because now you were really horny, and it was all his fault.
The nickname makes him mewl prettily, your speaker suddenly going scratchy as he fumbles with his phone. “C- Couldn't stop thinking about you— your mouth,” he admits, and now you’re certain he’d sat through that Saturday morning stream like this. “T- Tits,” he adds, lisp slipping through. “Fuck.”
You bite your lip, eyes fluttering shut as you remind yourself now was not the time or place to get yourself off. But, well. That didn’t mean you couldn’t get him off. “Sat through your stream like this?” you murmur, circling your kneecap with a trembling finger as if it’ll ward away the raging lust in your abdomen. Jungkook confirms with a breathy moan. “Had all your little fans wondering why you ended so early.”
He groans. “No,” he chokes, voice hot from how much it wavers. “They— I lied,” he confesses out of nowhere, “s- said I had a doctor’s appointment.”
You muffle a giggle into your palm. “Naughty,” you tease. “Too hard to do your job.”
“Just,” he cuts off, voice feathery. He sounds so close and you haven’t even said anything of substantial value yet. “Tell me,” he says quietly, “what to— mmh, what to do.”
A smirk consumes your features. You try to hide it, but there’s no one here anyway so you’re left grinning at an unpacked box of dental floss like a madwoman. “Why?” you inquire playfully, bask in the sad little whimper he responds with. “Shouldn’t you know how to make yourself cum?”
Another groan of frustration, desperation seeping into his tone when he speaks again. “Baby, please,” he begs, and it feels good. Feels nice to have this big YouTuber begging for you like this, whimpering your name like his doesn’t appear on the top 25 most viewed. “Like when you— ah — when you tell me… what to do.”
Your body feels hot, thighs pressing together with each whimper that falls from his lips. “Okay,” you concede, and he audibly moans in relief. “Tip first,” you instruct softly, eyes defocusing as your brain slowly starts to manifest the image of Jungkook spread out on his bed. Thick thighs, grey boxers pulled taught around them, fat cock between his pretty hands, inked knuckles squeezing around his member. You swallow. You can tell exactly when Jungkook does as you say because another muffled moan fills the speaker. “One finger,” you remind him quickly, head spinning from the mere memory of his dick. “Run it… run it over the slit, bunny.”
“Nngh—“ Jungkook sputters. You can only imagine the face he’s making now, the bottom lip he’s bitten raw by now. He does it a lot; it’s a nervous habit. But as sexy as it looks when you’re in bed, you know he has sensitive lips because of it, bleeds easily if he’s too harsh. You have half the mind to remind him about it now, but then he’s hurriedly gasping out for more. “And, and then? Wha— what then, baby?”
He sounds so sweet, melodic voice dripping with honey. “Touch your balls,” you say a little breathlessly. “Don’t squeeze,” you add, “just roll your palm over them.” Your palm squeezes against your thigh, as if it’s remembering the feel of his body, the soft skin between his thighs when you’re down there. He gets so jittery, thick thighs nearly crushing you if you drag him along too much. “O- Other hand on your cock,” you stumble, thighs squeezed together. “Stroke yourself just like I do, bunny.”
Jungkook complies. “Just like you?” he mumbles, suddenly sounds farther away. As if he’s dropped his phone off to the side. “Fffuck,” he grunts, “m- mouth is so pretty.”
“Hm?” you inquire, so consumed with tampering down your growing arousal for a second that you miss his sentence.
Jungkook’s breath stutters, and for a moment you’re met with the wet squelch of his cock in his hand. And then, “pretty mouth… make me— make me wanna see you cry.”
You bite your lip. “Why,” you say tentatively, finally caving in with a hand fluttering over the front seam of your jeans. Not a question, more of a gentle nudge for him to spill his thoughts.
“Be- Because,” he cries, fucking into his hand. He sounds closer and closer. You have to wonder just how long he had been riled up. It’s been a while since his first message, he was probably desperate by now. “Y- You’re so nice,” he cries, and the sentiment, though oddly out of place, makes your heart squeeze with adoration for the boy on the line. “Wanna be,” he groans, “wanna be so fucking mean to you, baby.”
The sudden change of tone makes you choke on a moan, hand pressing against your mound like it’ll somehow penetrate the thick material of your jeans and give you the sensations you crave. As it stands, it’s a muted feeling you get instead. When your hands fail, his voice compensates. “Fffuck, don’t you— don’t you think about it too?”
Admittedly, no.
Jungkook had always been a gentleman in bed. Always cared for your needs before his own, went out of his way to make you feel pampered and adored during your most vulnerable moments. Contrary to what his online persona might say, he was a good boy. Sweetest boy you knew, touched you like you were made of glass.
So to suddenly learn of this dream— fantasy? kink? —of his that you would certainly enjoy equally as much, well. It made you whimper into your palm, eyes worriedly flickering toward the stockroom’s entrance.
“Why?” you whisper, feeling like a broken doll repeating the same phrase over and over again. You’re suddenly aware of how hot everything was. Your polo felt sticky against your spine, apron too tight, jeans too stuffy. How long had you been hiding in here for? You don’t even know. Hopefully your absence on the floor had gone unnoticed.
Jungkook pants into the line; everything sounds so sticky and wet on his end, hand undoubtedly working away at his cock. “Shit,” he curses, doesn’t really answer your question until you prod a second time. “I- I like it,” he stammers. “When you… fuck, when you look small.” He elaborates before you can even ask, breath heavy and drawn out. He was so close. “When your mouth… when it hurts,” he says, thoughts a scrambled mess. “Like when you— when you cry because my cock is— it’s too big for you.”
A blatant ego boost you’ll ignore for now. Not like you can focus on too many things right now anyway. “Your cock is big, bunny,” you agree softly instead. Your legs feel cramped from crouching so long, so you push yourself to your feet. Except then you’re made aware of how fucking wet you are, panties soaked from the phone call with your boyfriend. You shift and they stick to your folds, make you release a shaky exhale that Jungkook doesn’t miss.
“I— you’re wet,” he says boldly, and this time your meek confirmation isn’t a lie. Jungkook grunts. “Fuck, baby, I—“ cut off by his own whiny cry, probably bucking into his hand like a madman by now. “Wanna, wanna kiss you everywhere,” he says, a call back to his earlier message. Your legs feel like jello. You want him to kiss you everywhere too— lips, tits, cunt that is dripping for him now.
“I- I’ll be over soon,” you stammer, feeling like you’ll pass out if he carries on any further. He sounds so good on the line, soft pants, rough growls. You can’t possibly listen anymore, not when you’re so wet and horny in the middle of your shift. “Just,” you pause, can’t get the image of his pretty cock out of your mind. Every blink makes it more vivid, reminds you of the vein on the underside, the exact shade of the tip.
“What?” Jungkook hisses, voice higher than usual, parts of it lost under the rapid movements of his hand. “Tell me, baby, tell me what to do,” he begs hoarsely, “I’ll do it.” Sounds so desperate and needy, two seconds away from busting all over his hand.
You have to lean against the wall of the stockroom to ground yourself, remind yourself you’re not in the same situation as Jungkook and can’t cum in your pants like a teenager. “J- Just cum,” you choke, eyes fluttering shut.
He must’ve been waiting for that command, because the second the words leave your throat he’s filling the line with breathy groans and cries as he comes all over himself, probably ruins his t-shirt. The sounds have your hips unconsciously bucking forward into nothingness, the frustration of not being able to cum with him manifesting in the form of a tiny little sob. Luckily, he doesn’t catch it.
When it’s all said and done, he’s left panting into the receiver, flooding your speaker with breathy sighs that only make you more and more aroused.
“You’re terrible,” you frown, cheeks flushed, body tingling. You flip your wrist over and check the time; it’s been about sixteen minutes since you disappeared from outside. Sixteen minutes of listening to Jungkook touch himself and moan and whine and whimper. Tease you with new possibilities you had never considered before. And now he’s satisfied and you’re not.
Jungkook chuckles, low and tired. The sound shoots straight to your cunt. “Come over after you shift,” he says, as if you’re not planning to fake a severe case of the flu right now in order to get off early and run to his bed. You only had a little less than two hours of your shift left anyway. Not like they paid you well to begin with. Jungkook shifts, releases one of those saccharine groans as he probably snuggles into his bed, all sweaty and worn out. “Want you to fuck my face, baby.”
You frown, counting to ten to calm yourself down. Another few minutes of listless conversation, and you hang up. Your body feels featherlight, a little woozy as you make your way back out into the floor.
Nothing has changed. Customers pour in and out, your boss scolds you for a display you didn’t do, and life inside the store drags on. No one knows that you’re soaking your panties to hell and back, Jungkook’s soothing moans in your ear. Life goes on.
you shift ends in 20
jungkook♡ sweet jungkook♡ got your seat ready jungkook♡ Attachment: 1 Image
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Copyright © 2020, 1kook on tumblr. absolutely NO reposts allowed.
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uvobreakmylegs · 3 years
Text
Prey
got a request for a monster!Uvo as well as a request for an Uvo fic where he chases the reader. hope it’s cool that I combined the two of them
@ramwrites​ and I are in agreement that werewolf is the best type of monster for Uvogin
werewolf!Uvogin
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Warnings: death, blood, gore, body horror, little bit of smut, graphic depictions of violence, mentions of cannibalism, attempted suicide, implied kidnapping, reader does not have a good time
Thin rays of sun that were able to slip past the branches of the trees hit Uvo's back as he went about his work, placing another upright log on the now considerably worn down tree stump and bringing his axe down upon it, slicing the wood in two and tossing the pieces into the pile to his right before he grabbed another unchopped piece from the pile to the left. Based off of the sun's position in the sky, it was only a bit after midday. Uvogin had been going at this for a while now, his sweat staining the white tank he wore.
Though the sweating wasn't because the work was in any way debilitating. Any other day of the month Uvogin would've been able to chop the same amount and not even break a sweat.
No, today was different because of what was happening tonight: a full moon.
Even though the night was still a long ways off, Uvo could already feel the very beginnings of his transformation shuddering through him. Faint, but still noticable. Unfortunately, with the ever present fact that nightfall wouldn't come for hours yet, there was little he could to other than to keep himself busy and distract himself lest the anticipation kill him. So he continued to chopping the logs, even though the amount he had cut already was bordering on excessive.
In the midst of his distraction, his ears perked up when he heard the faint rumblings of a car engine. His senses of smell and hearing were always pretty good even when it wasn't close to a full moon, but those senses were ten times as sharp now, and he could clearly hear as the car came in closer and closer.
Whoever they were, they wouldn't be the first people to have approached him today. Already he'd been asked two different times for directions to the nearby campgrounds, the first time by an elderly couple who were likely well into retirement, and the second by a group of individuals who had also gotten lost. The woman from that group who went up to him told him more information than he'd needed to know, informing him of how theirs was a company sanctioned team-building retreat. She had a piece of gum in her mouth and smacked it loudly as she talked, and because of his sensitive hearing, the sound of it became distressing to the point that Uvo had to keep himself from clawing his ears off.
Everyone in that group deserved to die because of that woman alone.
Uvogin didn't stop what he was doing even when he heard the car drive past and then suddenly brake, just continuing as he was while he heard the sounds of a car door opening and someone stepping out. Words were being spoken; what was being said exactly he couldn't say, but based off of previous experience it was easy enough to guess.
The car door slammed shut and the engine rumbled again as the car began to drive further down the dirt road. It'd be back in a little bit – over that way was a dead end. But Uvogin quickly switched his focus to the footsteps he heard walking through the unmarked pathway and headed towards him.
“Excuse me?”
He heard your voice call out to him, and Uvo finally turned to face you. Upon making eye contact with him, you smiled and held up a map as you called out again “sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could help out with some directions? We're looking for the Visca lake campgrounds, but I think we've been going around in circles.”
You didn't come any closer when you said that, though it seemed to be more out of a desire to not intrude on his space as opposed to being nervous about the axe he was holding. There was a hopeful look in your eye, though you also seemed ready to apologize for bugging him if he instead told you to fuck off.
Already he knew he liked you much better than the bitch from earlier.
“Sure,” he replied.
Uvo set the axe down and walked towards you, his hand outstretched so you could hand him your map. You smiled and handed him the map without any hesitation, coming up beside him as he unfolded it and scanned the paper so he could give you an idea of what direction you needed to go. The height difference between the two of you meant that he needed to lean down a bit as he pointed out to you the appropriate road that would get you to your destination.
“The road to the campgrounds is here,” he told you.
Despite the way he had tried to accommodate the height difference, you still needed to stand on your toes to see where he was pointing. Your arm came up briefly before you swiftly pulled it back. Like you'd been tempted to place your hand on his forearm to better balance yourself but stopped yourself since the two of you were complete strangers. Though Uvo wouldn't have minded too much if you had done so. Taking advantage of the way you were right next to him, he inhaled, memorizing your scent for later.
Uvo then moved his finger towards the left as he continued “we're around this area, so you'll want to drive back the way you came and take the first right you see. Then you'll want to take another right to get onto the campground road. As long as you don't fuck up turning, you should get to the lake in about ten minutes. Maybe less.”
“Ah, okay!” you responded, taking back your map as you looked over the route he'd pointed out to you. As you were desperate to make sure you got his directions right so you wouldn't need to be in the embarrassing situation of messing up his instructions and needing to go back to him for further clarification, you didn't notice the way he was looking you over or how he inhaled more of your scent.
Your hair smelled of something flowery, some kind of hair product you must have used that morning before you drove out here. Your clothing also had a rather soapy smell, though it wasn't as noticeable as the product in your hair. Beneath all of that, he was able to take in your natural scent that was free of any products or chemicals, as well as... Perfume? An odd choice for a camping trip, he thought. Then another smell hit him, one that surrounded you but you were definitely not the source of.
Oh.
It was the unmistakable scent of another man.
The perfume made more sense now. You'd said 'we' earlier as well, so chances were you'd come here with a boyfriend for a romantic weekend getaway and his smell has just gotten all over you after spending several hours cooped up in a car with him.
Not terribly displeasing. A boyfriend being in the picture might make things a bit more interesting.
“Okay, I think I've got it,” you said, snapping him out of his thoughts, “sorry if I took up too much of your time.”
“No problem,” he answered, “I get a lotta people asking for directions, so I'm used to it.”
“Really? That sounds like it gets annoying. Why don't they put up signs or something?” you asked.
“They do,” Uvo said, “but they usually get taken down by vandals.”
More like self-righteous teenagers who'd found out the truth about him and couldn't stand the fact that the elders of the nearby town allowed Uvogin to do as he pleased and thought they could thwart his killing sprees by taking down the signs leading to the lake, like they could save any innocent vacationers if they weren't able to find the campgrounds. Those kids had yet to learn that if they managed to deprive Uvo of his prey, he'd be forced to go to their own town and hunt there, maybe snatch up one of them or their families. The older folk in charge of the town understood that, and they'd decided that it was better to let the occasional out of town stranger be his prey than risk him coming in and picking off whatever stragglers he could find in their community.
People vacationing in the wilderness died all the time, after all.
“Vandals?” you asked. There was the slightest bit of concern in your voice, and when your eyes went slightly wide as you looked at him, he couldn't help but muse at how cute you looked like that.
“Just dumb kids,” he explained, “there's a small town a little ways back and I reckon they don't have much to do around there.”
“Ah, I see. Do you think we'll need to worry about them bothering us?”
“Nah, they wouldn't do anything,” Uvo said, “besides, they know that I'm out here today, and they know better than to bug me.”
You laughed a bit at that, any deeper meaning to his words going over your head.
“I can't blame them. If I was one of them I'd be too scared to do anything to get on your bad side.”
Uvogin just smiled.
A voice then called at the top of the path, and you both looked to see a dark-haired man around your age standing there. He called out what Uvo assumed was your name, and you waved to him, calling out a short “coming!” before you turned back to Uvogin.
“Thank you again for your help. I really appreciate it,” you told him.
“Once again, not a problem. Hope you two have a good time.”
You smiled and nodded at him, and then began to walk back over to your boyfriend. But before you had the chance to bid him goodbye, Uvogin spoke again.
“You wanna know something that's not in any visitor's guides?” he asked.
“Huh?”
He grinned at your slightly confused expression as he explained “if you go down to the southern side of the lake, there are these really beautiful cliffs in the forest. A lot of clearings that show a pretty good view of the sky, too. And it's a full moon tonight; if you want to make some memories, you should check it out when it gets dark.”
Clearly intrigued, you turned back to face him, asking “really? Why isn't that part advertised?”
“The locals want to keep parts of the lake to themselves,” he said, “but I think it's something that you might appreciate.”
“You sure you won't get in trouble for telling me?”
“Not if you don't say anything,” said Uvo, raising an eyebrow as he smirked.
“Ah, gotcha,” you said. Behind you, your boyfriend was starting to look a bit suspicious, and his lips soon formed a frown. You weren't paying him any mind at the moment.
“What's your name?” you asked.
“Uvogin.”
You held out your hand as you introduced yourself, and he humored you by giving you a handshake.
“Thank you so much for everything,” you said, “maybe we'll see you again while we're here.”
“Maybe.”
With that, you finally turned and made your way to your awaiting boyfriend, who gave Uvo one last narrowed glance before he turned his attention to you as you eagerly pulled your map back out and began to tell him the directions that had been given to you. Your boyfriend only gave one more glance towards Uvogin before focusing his full attention on you, looking over the map with you before the two of you made your way back to the car. He seemed rather boring, Uvo thought to himself. Yet before you made it back in, you stepped up and kissed your boyfriend on the cheek. Uvo saw the way your boyfriend stiffened and the blush that reached his ears as he sat down in the driver's seat to escape your random but sweet action. You laughed as you entered through the passenger's side, and Uvo kept an eye on the two of you until he saw your small, light blue car pull away and drive down the road.
When the two of you were gone, Uvo went back to chopping wood, picking the axe back up and slicing the log into two even pieces. He didn't expect that anyone else would come blundering into the forest before evening, but if they did, he wouldn't pay them much mind. If he killed every single person who came in to enjoy the lake he would quickly lose that particular food source and then need to find another area to hunt.
No, the only ones that were on the table tonight were the company group and you and your boyfriend – he wouldn't bother hunting down that elderly couple as it wouldn't be interesting in the slightest to go after them. The larger group had a good number of people in it, so there would be no need to seek out anyone else. Honestly he shouldn't even bother with the two of you, but Uvo thought of you again, thinking over every action you had taken, from the way you had approached him to how you held out your hand when you introduced yourself.
The little bit of affection you had offered to your boyfriend also came to mind but he brushed that thought away. It was unimportant, he told himself.
No, he shouldn't bother with the two of you, but he wanted to see how your naive little expression might change when you saw him next, after the moonlight had transformed him, and hear how you might scream and cry as he hunted you down.
He grinned at the thought, and when his axe came down again, it sliced the log and the stump beneath it clean through.
The true beginnings of his change had started hours ago when the sun sank past the horizon and the moon slowly rose in the night sky. Just little things, like the way his teeth began to shift in his mouth, or how the black tips of his claws were starting to show beneath his fingernails, slowly pushing up beneath the nails and trying to force themselves out so he could have an easier time tearing apart whatever unfortunate victim happened to be closest to him.
His skin was starting to shift a bit in places as well as it began to detach from the muscle beneath, and he was hit with an overwhelming urge to run outside and allow his transformation to complete so he could go wild as he always did on a full moon night.
But he waited, forcing himself to focus on the fire that was burning before him, to wait until it had gone out completely before he stepped foot out of his cabin.
It had turned into something of a ritual for him; when he had started it he could no longer remember. It was purely ceremonial, and at the heart of it he knew that it did nothing to add to his hunt, but after being alone in the woods for so long he supposed he was entitled to a bit of superstition. And at this point, it would have felt wrong to do it any other way. When the fire went out, the moon would be at the highest point in the sky, and when he left the dark cabin and bared himself to the moonlight, his werewolf form would tear through and he would track down the victims he had met earlier in the day, the ones whose scents he had remembered after he'd chosen them for his prey. Didn't matter much in what order he got them, just whatever scent he came across first.
Although maybe tonight it mattered a little bit. If he could manage it, Uvogin wanted you to be the last one to die tonight. After the group from the company retreat and your bland looking boyfriend, he'd hoped he could then have you for last. Something about that made him feel like that would be the only appropriate ending to the night.
But that all depended if he could manage to remember that after he'd transformed.
The light of the fire was growing more dim, and he was having a harder time sitting still, his entire body itching to burst through the cabin door and let the moonlight take him.
Not yet, he told himself.
But soon.
Those black claws were showing a bit more now, and at least two of his fingernails had popped off, blood coating his fingertips as his hands clenched onto the skin of his legs. That same skin shifted once more as he did so, and after a few moments he felt something trickling down his thigh, and when he glanced down he could see in the faint glimmer of firelight the hole in his skin that he'd torn open, and the dark fur beneath the human flesh that was still covered and the blood dripping down his leg.
Not yet not yet not yet
A few more agonizing minutes later that had seemed endless in his mind, and finally the fire he'd begun earlier was reduced to a smoulder, the flames dying out and the wood glowing red as the fire reached the end of its life.
Now
No sooner had he thought that Uvogin had thrown open the cabin door and ran out into the woods that surrounded him, bare as he gazed up at the full moon as he allowed himself the moment that he'd been holding off on.
There were multiple changes simultaneously and Uvogin was barely able to comprehend all of what was happening to him because of it. There was always a pain that accompanied his transformation, and while it was a pain that he was used to at this point, it was pain nonetheless.
At the sight of the moon his green eyes turned yellow and his pupils narrowed into slits, while the bones in his body began to shift and grow. It started with his spine, extending and pushing out through his skin and almost causing a ripple effect through his whole body. His bones were snapping and stretching beneath his skin, growing as his muscles were expanding and making him into even more of a giant than he already was. Claws on his hands and feet tore through the flesh that surrounded them as those parts of him extended, the skin ripping open and allowing more of the fur that was hidden underneath to show through.
When he felt the flesh around his shoulders stretch out in an attempt to accommodate the transformation he sped up the process by reaching up and tearing it away with his own fingers, the black claws easily ripping in and pulling the skin away like a latex glove. Soon the skin that had been on his arms sat around him in pieces on the grass and he began the same process with his chest and legs, tearing away his flesh in messy strips and allowing the fur that had formed on his body to be exposed, matted with blood and looking almost black in the light of the moon.
His skull went through the same process as the rest of his body, and he felt his face crack into several different pieces before the bones began to remold themselves and pushed outward, taking the shape of a wolf's muzzle while his teeth extended and shifted to fit properly in his newly formed mouth. When his ears began twisting and pushing upwards into sharp points was when he tore at the skin on his face, pulling it off as he had done with the rest and throwing it to the forest floor.
When the last of his human flesh had been removed, his transformation was complete. The man who had stepped out of that cabin was gone and replaced with a large, bipedal wolf whose yellow eyes dilated as he looked up once more to the moon. Lifting his head up, he arched his back as he let out a howl loud enough that echoed through the woods and across the surface of the lake. Those that heard it in the nearby town quietly whispered their prayers to whichever gods they worshiped while those who were visiting the lake's campsite merely marveled at the sound.
If Uvo was in a different mindset he might have thought of you in that moment, and what you might be thinking when you heard him. If you had any clue of the danger you were in.
But in this moment, there was no thought of you or even saving you for last as he had tried to so hard to ingrain into himself. There was no thought of doing this in any order or trying to end the night correctly as he had mused about earlier.
The only thing going through Uvogin's mind was the need to kill.
As luck would have it, he'd managed to kill the ones from that company first.
There had been more of them. More that were wandering around their campsite, more that were talking amongst themselves, and in general just making more noise that, combined with their scents from earlier, allowed him to find them first.
There were actually more of them in that group than he'd anticipated, and as he killed off the last woman in the group, gum falling from her mouth as he twisted her head completely around. Uvo then looked around at the carnage he'd left in his wake. It was hard to tell with the way they were all in pieces now, but the number of people group had easily been in the double digits. That would probably cause a bit of trouble, as it would be hard to try and cover this up. This would easily make the news. Annoying, as Uvo would need to make sure to lay low for a bit, and it could possibly lower the amount of potential victims in the area when the next full moon came.
But it had still been worth it.
Uvogin felt more like himself again now that the murderous urges had been sated. Able to think a bit more clearly, more rationally. And he was able to remember you and what he'd hoped for early on. He could imagine it: your scared expression as you watched him kill your boyfriend before he slaughtered you like the rest, your screams cutting short as he bit into the skin of your neck and tore out your throat.
Now that his hunger was taken care of, he left the campsite of the now-dead group. Right now all he wanted was to find you and your boyfriend.
Remembering what he had told you of the southern side of the lake, he took a gamble as he headed off in that direction, making his way through the woods at speeds much faster than a regular human would be capable of. He stopped when he felt the wind blowing again, and lifted his nose in the air, trying to see if he catch anything.
….. There
It was faint. Very faint, but he managed to catch a familiar human scent.
He turned and headed off in your direction. It was too far away to get your exact location, but it was enough that he could get at least an idea of where you were.
Continuing towards the south side of the lake, he stayed close to the shoreline until he found your little blue car from earlier parked close to the lake, a tent set up not too far off from it. Your scent became a bit more clear as he came closer, and yet when stopped to scan the area, his eyes looking for the slightest bit of movement and his ears straining to hear any bit of noise, he couldn't find you.
A bit annoying, but based off of the way the two of you had left things, you should still be in the area. It was just a matter of hunting you down.
Uvo stalked about the campsite, just in case he missed something while also puncturing two of the tires on your car and cutting off that potential escape route. Satisfied that neither of you were on the site or next to the water, he walked back into the woods, following after the little bits of that fragrance he'd latched onto.
As he walked, he thought to himself with some amusement that you'd actually taken up his suggestion. Uvogin had found that most people didn't bother, either because they were too dedicated to the plans they'd made before arriving or because they didn't trust that the landscape was as beautiful as he'd made it out to be. In fairness, it mostly all looked the same to him, but there had just been something about that particular bit of campground that made him enjoy hunting there more. So it was even more perfect that the two of you had ended up there. Most likely you were just doing what you felt like and didn't feel like adhering to any particular schedule.
His ears perked up as he heard a low voice in the distance. Not yours. Probably your boyfriend, then. Focusing himself so he could move silently, Uvogin weaved through the trees, his eyes searching for you while he listened for more noise from either of you.
When he heard your voice next, he had definitely gotten closer. Your voice had sounded odd, though. Almost breathless.
He found the two of you in a larger clearing that stood beneath one of the cliffs he had spoken of. You were laying with your back on the grass, dressed in a swimsuit with only a shirt over it. Your boyfriend was in a similar state with the moonlight falling onto his bare back, and it looked like both of you were a bit wet, some drops of water still on your skin and hair still damp. So the two of you had gone swimming before you wandered over to this area to mess around.
You said something to him before the two of you shared a kiss, and you moaned into it when he slipped his hand under your shirt to grab at your chest.
It certainly wasn't the first time Uvo had come across a pair of lovers in the woods. Such encounters usually ended with one or both betraying the other, as several times in the past one would push the other into Uvo's path in an attempt to save themselves after having a passionate make-out session only moments before.
Uvogin stepped out from the treeline and waited for one of you to notice him. You let out another moan, and to him it sounded like it was slightly exaggerated. Was your boyfriend not that good? Not too surprising, based off of Uvo's impression of him.
If Uvo had been the man on top of you, he was certain he could do much better.
….. Where did that come from?
Uvo didn't get much time to wonder about that as he heard you let out a sharp gasp, and when his eyes refocused on you, he saw that you were looking right at him. Your eyes were wide and your skin paled as you stiffened, your hands grasping at your boyfriend's arms.
“What's wrong?” your boyfriend asked when he noticed your reaction.
Keeping your eyes on Uvogin, you answered him in a small whisper “there's something over there.”
Your boyfriend turned his head to where you were looking, and he went stiff as well when he saw Uvogin's werewolf form.
It was quiet in that clearing, free of any noises from any woodland animals or even the insects, as anything that was in that immediate area sensed the danger and were desperate to keep silent. No, the only sound Uvo could hear was your breathing that became more panicked as you struggled to keep it under control and the way your boyfriend tried to shush you while he broke out into a cold sweat. You two were both under the impression to stay still and not make any sudden movements for fear of provoking him.
Then your boyfriend whispered your name.
“When I move,” he breathed out, “I want you to run back to the car and get out of here. Even if I'm not with you, you have to take the car and leave.”
As he spoke, your boyfriend slowly moved his hand over to a pack beside you that Uvo hadn't noticed at first. Still, Uvo grinned. He thought he could take him on?
You tried to protest but your boyfriend wasn't hearing it, only repeating his instructions to you and trying to make you promise that you would do as he said. You didn't want to; that was clear, but when you looked back over to Uvogin's form outside the treeline, you shuddered once more and agreed to leave with a short nod.
Uvogin waited for the boyfriend to make his move. He looked just as terrified as you were, but he was clearly trying to be brave for your sake, and his resolve seemed to steel when he got a hold of whatever he had been searching for in the pack.
“Now!”
Your boyfriend yelled as he shot up and charged at Uvo. For the first time since seeing him, Uvogin felt mildly impressed with your boyfriend; he'd been genuine about wanting to save you over himself. Not like he wouldn't still die for it as he was still incredibly weak, but there was something to be said about the willingness he had to face down a beast like Uvo for your sake.
You must be something special to make a man go that far for you.
The thing your boyfriend had pulled out turned out to be a can of bear spray as well as a medium-sized hunting knife. Uvo managed to doge the stream that had been aimed at him easily on account of how badly the hand that held it had been shaking. The boyfriend ran back a bit, unwilling to get too close to Uvogin even with the knife. He tried to aim it again, but Uvo used his claws to slice at him, slashing upwards as he aimed for his throat.
Somehow, he missed the boyfriend's throat and only managed to hit the side of his face, opening up his cheek and taking off his ear. The boyfriend cried out at that, one hand going up to his bleeding cheek while still trying to incapacitate Uvo with the bear spray. But with the way he stumbled about, it was almost too easy for Uvogin to grab him by his face and hurl him into the trunk of a nearby tree. He hit headfirst, and there was an audible cracking sound that came from the impact. Uvogin didn't even bother to watch the way his body hit the ground, experience telling him that he was definitely dead.
Uvogin was much more interested in you.
You were still in the clearing. At first you had done as your boyfriend had told you and bolted the second he yelled, running back to your campsite. But you stopped and turned back when you heard him cry out when Uvo had slashed at him. You wanted to help him but you also knew there was nothing you could do, and so you were left standing in the clearing, your whole body shaking as you struggled with the decision to stay or leave your boyfriend behind.
It was cute how loyal you were to him.
And loyalty certainly wasn't a bad quality.
When you saw your boyfriend die you froze, tears streaming down your face as you looked between the now dead man and the thing that had murdered him. You were clearly in a panic, your legs trembling as your brain struggled to figure out what to do, where to go from here. Certainly you had to be aware that you'd lost any chance of getting away like you'd been told to do, right?
Apparently not, as when Uvogin stepped forward you bolted, running back towards the camp. Yet Uvo found a sense of relief with that, that you wouldn't just sit there and let him kill you and end it so early.
For whatever reason, that last thought displeased him.
But he brushed that away as he chased after you only moments later, not bothering to be quiet with his movements and instead being as loud as possible, breaking apart any low-hanging branches in his wake as he howled into the night air once again.
You had only made it a little ways past the car when he emerged from the forest and lunged towards you. It seemed like you were trying to get away on foot given the damage to the car. Already there was a scent of blood in your wake, as the soles of your feet had already been cut up on the sharp debris of the forest floor.
You turned towards him just in time to see him raising his clawed hand over his head before he sliced it downwards. Through what must have been some bit of luck, you stumbled backwards at that moment and all he managed to do was give you a flesh wound.
You hit the surface of the gravel road hard, crying out in pain at the force of your fall as well as the cuts that were on your arm, your hand immediately grasping at your wound as you desperately tried to use your legs to get yourself off of the ground.
Then he was on top of you.
He opened his jaws wide; you saw as he did so, and attempted to crawl out from under him.
He snapped his jaws shut on your throat.
And you went stiff.
It was quiet for a few moments.
And then a small rush of air escaped from your mouth as you let out a breath you had been holding.
Almost.
He had almost killed you in that moment.
The pointed tips of his teeth were pressing lightly into your skin, not quite hard enough to make you bleed, but that would change if you shifted your neck just slightly.
Why had he stopped?
He stayed there, hunched over you, his arms caging you in while his maw was around your throat. He felt the pulse in your neck beating wildly, almost causing vibrations against his teeth. You had stopped struggling, your legs still while you continued to clutch at your wounded arm, the only noises coming from you now being your uneven breathing.
What was he doing?
His yellow eye glanced over to your face, and he found that you weren't even looking at him. You were gazing in the direction of the night sky, where the light of the moon shown down on you like a spotlight, but it didn't even seem like you were even looking at that. Your eyes were wide as you breathed hard, and Uvo had to wonder if you were currently seeing your life flash before your eyes. That perhaps your mind had accepted that this was the end of your life and was remembering as much as you could before Uvogin would sink in his teeth and sever those major arteries in your neck.
Were you satisfied with all that you had accomplished up to this point, or were you disappointed and felt that you should have done more?
Moments passed like that, his hulking form engulfing yours with no movement from either of you. He took in a deep breath, and he once again caught some of the flowery smell of your shampoo, though it had largely faded by now, and you smelled much more like the woods after the hours you had spent there. More like pine and tree leaves, and the fresh water of the lake, and....
Uvogin let out a short grunt that made you whimper and you clenched your eyes shut as you believed this to be the end. You had no clue that Uvo could smell your arousal coming from between your legs. It had come from the way you'd been fooling around with your boyfriend earlier – there was no way you could have been turned on by this.
Uvo thought again of what he had seen when he stumbled upon the two of you, and that odd thought that had interjected at one point. You had been on his mind almost all day, and he thought it was because he wanted to kill you. And now you were beneath him and the moment couldn't have been more right, and yet now that was the last thing he wanted to do.
It hit him then. The different urge he'd had about you since he had seen you earlier in the day, since he had seen the way you treated your boyfriend; the way you had kissed that man had stuck out in his mind. Hardly any different than any other couple he had seen who were too big on PDA, yet combined with the way you had first come up to him, had smiled and thanked him, and introduced yourself so willingly while also asking for his name had made all of the difference in the world.
His days in the woods were lonely. It was something Uvo was well aware of but had thought he could handle, and he had done so for several years now without issue. But now that he knew you, with your actions and your touch and even the sweet scent of your arousal that he wished more and more that he had been the cause of, another second of being alone sounded more like torture.
Still, the biggest reason he had stayed on his own for so long was that he had accepted that there would be few in this world who would be alright with spending the rest of their lives with a man-eating monster. And any that he may have wanted to keep alive despite that probably wouldn't have been worth the trouble. Keeping someone else with him would also mean he would need to put in the effort to keep them alive, and if he had them unwillingly he'd need to make sure they wouldn't be able to get away, either by restraining them or locking them up.
He watched you, watched the way your face stayed scrunched up as you waited for him to finish it. He wanted you, but were you worth the trouble?
When Uvogin pulled off of your neck and sat back up, you meekly opened your eyes in confusion and trying to anticipate what horrible thing he would do to you next. You yelped when he grabbed you by the back of your shirt as he stood, pulling you up to your feet and setting you in front of him. With one hand on your shoulder and one on your hip, he turned you so you were facing away from him, making sure you were steady on your feet.
He leaned down so his maw was right next to your ear, and in a voice that sounded more animal than human, he growled out a single word:
“Run.”
With that he pushed you forward. You stumbled a bit, your brain still processing what he had said as you barely took a few steps away from him. Then, like a lightning bolt had hit you, you finally seemed to understand as you snapped back and made a beeline for the woods. Your bare feet were loud on the cluttered forest floor, and he occasionally heard little gasps and soft whimpers of pain when you cut your foot open further on a rock or a sharp branch.
Uvo waited, wanting to give you a good head start before he began to chase after you. It would be easy to track you, especially with how much you were bleeding now, but he shuddered with barely contained excitement, eager to chase you down but knowing that he needed to give you a decent head start or else it would be over too quickly.
If you proved yourself worthy of keeping alive, then he'd take you back to his cabin.
And he really hoped you wouldn't let him down.
…. But then something felt wrong.
Uvogin's eyes narrowed as he sensed that you were still within the immediate area and not moving away from him as he had expected. The direction you had gone in was the same one the both of you had come from; the patch of woods and the clearing where he'd found you in the pathway. There wasn't anything there that you could have fallen over or gotten stuck on, so why....
A new thought occurred to him, and Uvo growled lowly to himself as he hoped he wouldn't see what he felt he might when he found you next.
You were back in that clearing, sitting next to your boyfriend's fallen body. Your body was facing the direction Uvo had arrived from, both of your hands in front of you as looked down at your now former lover. There were tears rolling down your cheeks as you sat there.
A wave of disgust hit Uvogin as he found he was correct and was thoroughly disappointed with your actions. He'd given you a chance to get away and you'd wasted it by sitting around crying. Clearly he had given you too much credit.
You heard him as he began to walk towards you, and he noted the way your hands slipped beneath your boyfriend's slightly upturned body, your head still downcast.
He stood across from you, letting out a huff that made you flinch. But still, you didn't move from that spot.
As he opened his jaws your head shot up and you lifted your hands from beneath the body.
Just as you did so, something sprayed into his nose, eyes and his open mouth. Something that stung and made him gag. Fuck it burned, and Uvogin let out a howl of pain as he clutched at his face.
The bear spray-!
Something sharp then dug into the flesh beneath his collarbone, and the pain from the bitter spray was accompanied by the sensation of a knife blade stabbing into him.
With another howl as he was now blinded, he swiped a hand in your general direction and heard you yelp as he simultaneously clawed your shoulder and forced you to the ground. With his hearing now being his greatest sense, he managed to pick up the clatter the bear spray can made as the force of his blow made you drop it, and he moved one of his feet to stomp at it, crushing it and making it useless.
Uvo roared again as he swung about wildly, trying to catch you once more, but you managed to avoid his attacks and made your way into the woods again as he heard your labored breathing and footsteps growing fainter and fainter.
He clutched at his face as he tried to make himself calm down, trying to will away the pain and regain his sense of sight and smell.
…. Not bad.
Even with the rage he had felt in the moment, he found himself relieved, almost happy that you had caught him off-guard. You had gone as far as to use your boyfriend's body as a prop, to make him think that you were too broken up about his death so he would lower his guard. Had you been a bit taller, you could have done a decent amount of damage if you'd managed to stab the knife into his throat.
The knife was still in him, he realized, and after regaining a little bit of his sight in his left eye, he easily pulled it out and threw it across the way.
Now you had no weapons, but he was also at a disadvantage as his eyes were still watering and he could no longer smell you as clearly, the harsh chemicals of the spray making him internally wince every time he breathed through his nose. If he wanted to catch you, he would need to rely almost entirely on his hearing to search for you.
The sounds you were making were quite distant now, but he grinned to himself and stayed there a while longer, letting you get further away.
The direction you were going had no civilization, there was only forest for miles, and he was happy to let you get yourself more and more lost if it meant that his hunt would continue.
By the time dawn was nearing, signaled by the sickly pale color the sky had turned to, Uvogin had managed to chase you further into the wilderness, up through the trees and near the edge of a cliff face. Throughout the night there had been times where you had slowed or stopped completely as you tried to regain your strength, taking advantage of your smaller size and slipping into places that he couldn't easily get to. You also had several brief spurts of energy where you had sped up suddenly, more determined than ever to get away from him while you threw various stones and branches back towards him, though you never tried anything else as bold as you had with your trick from earlier as you didn't allow him to get that close again.
But as you stumbled to the edge of the cliff and looked at the steep drop before you, it was clear to him that your fight was gone. He knew it even before you fell to your knees on the sharp rock. The chase had ended, and just in time, as daylight would be here soon, and when that came he would revert back to his human form.
It had been one of the most memorable hunts he'd had in years, and even though your will had been broken in the process, by now he was certain that he wanted to keep you. To have a little partner in his solitary life, someone to keep his bed warm and wait for him to return home in the evenings. The scenario was nice to think about, and he especially liked the idea of you cuddling up to him during the colder months of the year, trying to keep yourself warm with his body heat to fight the chilly air that would sneak inside. Maybe eventually he'd get you to give him sweet tokens of affection like you'd given to your boyfriend, perhaps a kiss on the cheek before he went out to hunt.
And maybe every once in a while, if you were still insistent on putting up a fight, Uvo might let you out during a full moon and make you think you had a chance to escape, just so he could hunt you down and drag you back to his little home in the woods.
The thought of it gave him chills, and he wondered how long he would need to wait before he could let you out.
You were lightly swaying in place as you looked to the ground below while Uvo was consumed in the thoughts he had about you. He assumed that you were just waiting for him to finish it – your willpower was dried up, and there was no way you would try to run around him or do anything as stupid as try to climb down the cliff face.
He had no clue where your thoughts had taken you in that moment.
Realization shot through him when he saw your shoulders sag and your body began to fall forward over the edge.
Uvo rushed forward and grabbed you by your shoulder before you fell off and he threw you back, a good distance further and far rougher than he had been intending, as you wailed weakly when you hit the ground.
If you were willing to kill yourself to escape him, he'd need to wait some time before letting you run about the woods again.
By now, you were covered in dirt and blood and whatever else had stuck to you from the forest while you had run from him. Your skin was covered in cuts that he and the forest had given you and it would likely be some time before you would be able to properly walk again based off of the state of your feet. When he approached you once more, you clenched your eyes shut again. By now you were past the point of tears and just waited for him to finish you off.
You jolted at the feeling of his fur brushing against your skin when straddled you once more, but just as before, the killing blow you were expecting never came. You opened one eye, and just as you did so, the first rays of the sun shone over the landscape beyond and hit Uvogin.
You watched in silent horror as the fur that covered him caught on fire and began to burn. He was briefly consumed by the flames before they vanished into puffs of smoke. His bones were snapping again, breaking into pieces and retracting back into their normal size while his muscles and skin rippled and shrunk back down, tightening around his fingers as the claws also retracted and vanished beneath the skin. As his wolf face broke apart and reformed, there was a look of shock in your eyes as you saw the beast on top of you become more and more human. And that shock soon turned into a realization when you found that you recognized the man who was on top of you.
His transformation back to his human form was over in a matter of seconds, and when it was over and his green eyes looked back down at you, you stuttered as you tried to find your voice.
“U-Uvogin?” you asked weakly.
He grinned, pleased that you had remembered his name.
Without another word, Uvo leaned down over you so he could begin the process of properly claiming you as his.
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illuminatedquill · 3 years
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Extracurricular, An Analysis
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Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri
“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as it’s accomplice.”  - Tom Robbins 
You know the story. You’ve heard it before, right? 
Boy meets girl. 
Girl finds out that boy is running a side protection business for prostitutes. 
Girl decides to blackmail boy into letting her join his business. 
Classic high school criminal shenanigans ensue leading them into more dangerous situations where they are forced to make desperate decisions to stay alive. 
Oh, and they fall in love along the way. 
Oh? You haven’t heard this one before? Then let me introduce you to this delightful kdrama called Extracurricular. 
I watched this one while waiting for the newest Hometown Cha Cha Cha episodes to drop and ended up binging the whole series in two days. There are many remarkable parts of this series: it’s a crime drama, first and foremost, that showcases high school teenagers caught in a cycle of violence and crime, abandoned by the society and adults that are supposed to be protecting them. There are no clear good guys and bad guys in this drama; everyone is cast in shades of grey. Our main leads, Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri, run the prostitution business, and are both from broken family backgrounds. Their actions are morally questionable at best, but the top tier performances from Kim Dong Hee (you might remember him from Itaewon Class) and Park Ju Hyun make you cheer for them anyway. You want them to have a happy ending, despite the horrible things they do. The audience is always reminded that despite how clever they are in staying ahead, their actions have consequences, and they’re just high school kids. The drama never pulls it punches. 
But, weirdly enough, it’s also a love story. And that’s the part the really sticks with me until now. (The chemistry between the main leads is absolute dynamite and I could watch ten episodes of them just verbally sparring with each other. They don’t even kiss. They’re that fantastic when together on screen.)
I’m writing this because this is undoubtedly one of my all time favorite kdramas and I have a lot of feelings about our main pairing, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri. I can’t call them a couple (wait, didn’t I just say they fall in love) because their relationship can’t be labelled simply as that. Think of it as something similar to the main leads in My Ahjussi. Two people who should have become soulmates, yet met at the wrong time. 
This kdrama is not particularly happy, and while I do encourage people to watch this, I am warning that the subject matter is extremely dark. If you’re sensitive to scenes depicting sexual assault, graphic violence, or anything in that zip code you’ll want to steer clear. 
Also, I’ll be diving into spoiler territory in this analysis. So if you want to go in clean, then stop reading here. 
Still here? Awesome. Let’s dive deep into the messy, amazing pairing that is Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri. First, let’s do a brief character background on our two main leads, starting with Ji-soo. 
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Oh Ji-soo is one half of our main pairing and this story starts with him. He lives by himself and has been essentially abandoned by his only parents; his father is a failed businessman who gambles whatever money he acquires on scams and his mother ran away. His apartment is small, sparse, but functional. He owns only a few outfits aside from his school uniform. The only unique item he owns is a pet hermit crab that he takes care of. His life outside of school is non-existent; he has no friends, no one to hang out with and do typical high school teenager activities with. He takes care of himself and lives only for himself and his “dream”: to graduate, attend college, get married, and have kids like a normal person. 
But to do that, he needs a large amount of money. He has no other financial means to do so (his father is largely absent, as is his mother), so he decides, at some point, to start up this protection business for prostitutes. The drama doesn’t go into detail about the how and why he came to this conclusion that this was the best way to make a lot of money in a short amount of time, so you’ll have to suspend your disbelief from the get go. Considering the themes of the story (how youths abandoned by society tend to act out in extreme ways to make it in this world), it’s not hard to believe his desperation would drive him to make such a decision. 
Ji-soo, despite his shady business, is actually a decent person. There’s a streak of humanity that exists inside him that refuses to go out, despite the increasingly dark and bleak events that start to overtake his life. He’s attached to his hermit crab, cares for his “employees” outside of them being tools to make him money, and doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. He goes above and beyond what’s required to help out people at the risk of his own life (in particular, Gyu-ri, and we’ll get into that shortly). 
What we learn from the first few episodes is that Oh Ji-soo is extremely smart and methodical in how he approaches his life. At school, he is known as a model student - quiet, top of the class in terms of grades, doesn’t draw any attention to himself, always follows along with what the teachers ask of him. Only his homeroom teacher, Mr. Cho, seems to consider his quiet style of existence to be concerning and tries to make him less socially awkward by pairing him up with another student in a new extracurricular club. This leads to the introduction of Bae Gyu-ri, Ji-soo’s longtime crush and future partner-in-crime. 
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Meet Bae Gyu-ri, the other half of our dynamic duo. Her introduction into the story kickstarts the entire plot, as one of her earliest actions leads to a domino effect that spells increasing doom and tragedy for our main leads. She messes with Ji-soo’s operation at a critical moment and she spends the rest of the drama doing her best to make up for the consequences that follow. 
In my personal opinion, she is probably the best main female lead I’ve ever seen in a kdrama. Hands down, no other character exists (currently) that rivals her sheer cunning, wit, and badassery. Gyu-ri is Crazy, capital C, and is the chaos to Ji-soo’s control; the fire to his ice. Despite being the direct cause of half the events that happen to Ji-soo in the drama, he can’t help but need her because of what she offers. They make an incredible team. Her competitiveness, her need to win no matter the odds, helps them survive time and time again. 
Gyu-ri is from the opposite end of the spectrum of Ji-soo; he’s dirt poor and she’s insanely rich (always nice to see a reversal of typical kdrama tropes). Her mother and father run a successful entertainment company. Gyu-ri is popular at school, friends with seemingly everybody, pretty, cheerful and gets along well with her teachers. Ji-soo, and the audience, believe from the beginning that she has the perfect life. It’s not hard to believe that she’s just involving herself in Ji-soo’s business because she’s bored and needs an outlet, at first. 
We soon learn otherwise. Gyu-ri has more in common with Ji-soo than he initially realizes, in that they’re both trapped in circumstances beyond their control - it’s just that Gyu-ri’s cage is gilded, whereas his is not. Her parents are strict and have her life planned out for her, all without her consent or input, leaving her feeling frustrated and powerless despite her rich lifestyle. A suicide attempt hasn’t done much to change her parents attitude towards her, only serving to further their control over her life. 
So, when she learns of Ji-soo’s operation she immediately seeks to angle her way into it. First, she tries to rip him off, believing that he’s an evil “pimp” and thus deserves it. But after spending some time with him, she changes her mind last second and decides to help him out instead. 
And, now, let’s get into their relationship, which is one of the best (if not the best) aspect in the entire series. 
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I need to be upfront about something: the relationship between Ji-soo and Gyu-ri is not exactly healthy. I wouldn’t describe it as toxic - the circumstances surrounding them aren’t exactly the best environment to encourage open and honest communication - but it’s definitely not what should be considered ideal, especially for young adults, and especially for young adults who are dabbling in crime instead of studying. 
So, why do I love them so much? If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know that I loathe toxic relationships in kdramas, so I understand if you think I’m coming off as hypocritical here. Why do I like Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri when I didn’t like, for example from recent history, (oh boy, here I go again on my Nevertheless BS) Park Jae-eon and Yu Na-bi?
First, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri are way cooler than Jae-eon and Na-bi ever could be. They run a criminal enterprise that involves having a high amount of intelligence, cunning, and daring to do so. Do Jae-eon and Na-bi run a criminal enterprise as a side business? No, they don’t, because they’re boring art students. 
Secondly, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri actually progress in their relationship and change their views as they learn from each other. Now, granted, that progress isn’t towards becoming better versions of each other - quite the opposite. But at least they have progress. Jae-eon and Na-bi stayed in the same stupid cycle for the whole series and then decided that it was better staying that way as opposed to trying for something else. 
Last, but certainly not least, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri are actually interesting to watch for me. The chemistry between Park Ju Hyun and Kim Dong Hee is explosive and they way they spar, exchange looks, and just generally exist around each other on screen is something I can watch forever. I’ve said this before but Han So Hee and Song Kang’s on screen chemistry, outside of their intimate scenes, really didn’t impress me. 
Okay, back to Extracurricular. This relationship, man. It’s all I can think about (other than HomeCha’s Du-sik and Hye-jin, but that’s another post). Ji-soo and Gyu-ri are so good together. 
I’ve noted before that Ji-soo is methodical in how he approaches his life; he plans out everything ahead, and rigs any situation as much as he can in his favor. It’s brilliant, but when a crisis happens, he doesn’t know how to deal with it effectively. He panics and flounders; becomes indecisive at a time when clear, decisive action is required. 
Enter Gyu-ri. She quickly becomes the partner he never knew he needed. When there’s a situation, she becomes invaluable in her quick thinking and wit, coming up with solutions on the fly. It’s not perfect, but it keeps them just one small step ahead of whatever is coming their way. 
The only thing preventing them from becoming unstoppable is the lack of communication and trust they have with each other. A lot of that has to do with how Gyu-ri entered Ji-soo’s business - she blackmailed him first, and, when that failed, she strong armed her way into getting him to accept her help. It’s implied in the drama that Ji-soo has had a crush on Gyu-ri for a while (since ninth grade, I believe) and in the first episode he actually gets the chance to spend time with her outside of school on a sort of quasi-date. 
It goes sideways pretty quickly because of some shenanigans from his business, but not before she gets to know him and says some pretty touching words regarding his situation. Poor guy is head over heels - even after finding out that she’s the one blackmailing him, his feelings are only dampened, not extinguished. When he catches a glimpse of her family’s situation, he gains a deeper understanding of her and why she acts the way she does. Even more importantly, Ji-soo treats her the same after finding out this information which, to someone like Gyu-ri, means more than if he comforted her about it. 
If you want to see a physical representation of how he feels, other than paying attention to his actions, you can see it in him keeping mementos from Gyu-ri. She has an interesting habit of folding bags into origami shapes and giving it to him. Even after the blackmail reveal, you can see that he continues to keep these in a container on his desk. It’s really cute that he keeps these, when it probably doesn’t even matter that much to Gyu-ri. 
Towards the end of the drama, Ji-soo prepares to turn himself in to prevent Gyu-ri from being implicated in the crimes they committed. And it costs him almost everything to protect her. Ji-soo, the quiet, nerdy kid, puts himself on the line time and time again to protect Gyu-ri, knowing that it puts his life and his dream at risk to do so. And all for what? For some girl that he thinks doesn’t even like him in return? 
Well, let’s talk about that. Because I’ve seen some comments that Gyu-ri was only using Ji-soo for her own selfish gain. And I can agree that was how it was at the beginning for her; she definitely was only interested in acquiring money, like Ji-soo was, in order to achieve her own goal of being free from her parents. 
But, oh man, that is not what is motivating her at the end. 
It’s actually pointed out relatively early by some of her friends that it’s obvious that she likes Ji-soo more than he likes her. Understandably Ji-soo is keeping her at arms length from him given the whole recent blackmailing, so it would make sense that it looks that way. 
Further questioning reveals what she likes the most about him: 
“It’s not like I’m crazy about him. He’s fun. And amusing. He’s smart. And there’s a certain charm he has. He also has a wolfish side to him. But he thinks he’s a puppy.” 
- Bae Gyu-ri
But, as she gets to know Ji-soo better, you can certainly see that she starts to fall hard for him. As a cover story for why they hang out so much together during and after school, Gyu-ri states to everyone that they’re dating. The reactions across the school definitely imply that this is a shocking development, which means that Gyu-ri hasn’t dated anyone before. So why Ji-soo other than the reasons she herself states? 
He challenges her, just as she challenges him. Gyu-ri may be the more dynamic, quick thinking of the pair but Ji-soo is every inch her intellectual equal - just in different ways. She doesn’t seem to be the type to be easily impressed, but you can tell that she’s definitely impressed by Ji-soo’s operation and how thoroughly set up it is. When Ji-soo is frustrated at the beginning by his setbacks, he blows up at another student (knocks him out in a crazy punch) and immediately walks over to Gyu-ri afterwards (who saw the whole thing) to inform her that she is now his partner in crime. 
The look in her eyes, and the small smirk she has speaks volumes about her attraction to him in that scene. Smoldering. 
And, oh yes, she’s prone to jealousy. Another classmate, Min-hee, gives Ji-soo a present out of the blue (it was supposed to be for her boyfriend, Ki-tae, but that’s another sub-plot) - all within view of Gyu-ri. It’s hilarious how she tries to brush it off. Later, for plot reasons, Ji-soo has to spend more time with Min-hee which only furthers Gyu-ri’s annoyance. 
And her motivations stop being entirely about the money and more towards helping preserve the dream that she and Ji-soo share about being free. There’s a scene in episode 8 where it’s revealed that, due to a business partnership with a local gang (set up by none other than Gyu-ri herself in a desperate move), Ji-soo would have to drop out of school permanently to work on their behalf. Gyu-ri overhears this and, despite badly needing the gang’s help in sustaining their own business, immediately terminates the partnership. 
All because it would interfere with Ji-soo’s dream. 
Man, if that isn’t love. 
In the following episode, Gyu-ri, and later on Ji-soo, is kidnapped by the same gang in retaliation for terminating their partnership. Ji-soo comes to her rescue but Gyu-ri is already almost free (again, she’s really, really badass) and is demanding that they bring Ji-soo to her instead of running for her life. 
Surviving this latest attempt puts the two in a reflective, vulnerable mood and Gyu-ri asks Ji-soo why he keeps saving her. Ji-soo asks later on why she keeps risking her life to be with him. They don’t say the answer in words but in an almost kiss (yeah, you read that right - almost). 
And then, if you aren’t already convinced, Ji-soo crosses his one last remaining line in an effort to keep Gyu-ri safe; he accidentally pushes a fellow classmate down some steps and, instead of helping her, leaves her to die after grabbing the evidence she has on him and Gyu-ri. 
Extracurricular pulls off quite the magic trick here, hiding this well done love story in the middle of a serious crime drama. 
The real tragedy is that Ji-soo thinks that Gyu-ri views this whole business, and by extension his life, as one big game. It’s something that she takes offense at, visibly becoming upset when he says that. 
But even if that were true, he should be assured since Gyu-ri doesn’t like to lose. 
As they hurtle towards the end and face up to the consequences of their actions, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri undoubtedly lose sight of their original goals and dreams. They do some fairly horrible things to stay alive and ahead of the police who are close on their trail. You can’t really blame them for doing what they did; in the face of a society that has abandoned them, what they’re doing is a logical outcome to gain what they want so desperately and deserve so much: the chance to be free to live like normal, care-free people. 
I can’t say for certain that they achieve that. The drama is serious in consequences and, at the end, the net around them is drawing tighter and tighter. I won’t spoil the ending scene for you, because I highly encourage you watch this drama yourself but I will say this: Ji-soo and Gyu-ri seem stuck in an impossible situation with nowhere to go, and no one to help them, with a clock ticking down towards either death or discovery by the police. 
But, all the same, I’m always the optimist. They’ve gotten through situations like this before and they can certainly do so again. Maybe not as bad as this one, but not too far out of their league. And, like I mentioned before, Gyu-ri doesn’t like to lose. Especially when it comes to Ji-soo. 
Their relationship is truly dangerous, as Ji-soo himself notes. Them being together is the source of their problems; they’re too much alike now, as opposed to the beginning of the drama where he stated that they’re too different. Their love is the kind of love where both of them are willing to burn the whole world down if it means keeping each other safe. 
I’m a real sucker for those kind of love stories. No one’s a hero here. They’re just kids in high school, doing the best with what they know. 
Who are we to judge what is right and wrong? Especially when the one committing the acts are high school kids who don’t know any better and just want to save each other? 
Do we have that right? 
Do they really deserve that punishment? Shouldn’t we be pointing fingers at the society that forced them to act this way? 
Extracurricular really makes you think about that. Is it really so outlandish and terrible what Ji-soo and Gyu-ri do to survive when the adults who are supposed to be protecting them, teaching them better, have failed in their duty? 
Maybe they really did win at the end. Not so much in succeeding in their goals but in gaining something that not even regular people are likely to find - a partner, a soulmate, someone who will stand by you no matter what. 
If you do watch the ending, and are not an optimist like I am, then all I can say is this: whatever happened, they were together at the end. 
They were together. 
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writingwithcolor · 3 years
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Jewish and Muslim children of gods & biblical figures
hello! this blog has been an amazing help as a white, pagan writer and i just wanted to say thank you for that! 
i have a book i’ve been working on for about a year now, and the short summary is that it takes place in a world where if enough people believe in something existing, it does. from urban legends, cryptics, and religion.
the main story plot follows a group of teenagers who are the children of biblical figures (and later hellensism, since those are the religions i used to worship and now do), but several characters are different religions than that. i can’t believe it’s taken me so long to realize this, but isn’t it kinda… off? to have jewish and muslim characters be children of greek gods and biblical figures? i don’t want to completely erase that part of them, and its also stated in the story that the religions they believe in are true, also, but i’m neither muslim nor jewish, so i don’t want to just assume it’d be okay.
(also, for context, the plot causes such a diverse cast of characters. they are brought together because of they are their children, like percy jackson, i guess)
Here is a recent post that listed our concerns with inclusion of Jewish characters in settings where polytheism is literally true: Can Jewish authors write polytheistic settings?
One way I might fix the awkwardness of having the child of a "Greek god" convert to Judaism (lol backwards Chanukah?) is if, as in the linked post, the "gods" aren't actually on the same level of divinity as the entity in our prayers, but are just like, mortal superbeings that just happen to have way more power than regular humans. As for biblical figures, well, there are tons of Jewish biblical figures so if you want to write fanfiction about them that's legit, just do your research to make sure you're using Jewish interpretations about them that aren't filtered through Christian analysis. (And there are also Jewish characters in the New Testament.)
Honestly as a Jewish person I would not feel left out if I was not included in one of those polytheism-is-true stories. I may off-hand wonder where we fit into the worldbuilding, but that would be less distressing than some kind of depiction of being stubborn, wrongheaded, backward, and ignoring the reality in front of our faces, which is hard to avoid unless it's clear the gods are just, as I said, mortal superbeings and not literally divine and on the same level as HaShem. Which would be the other way of making me cool with it.
--Shira
Shira’s answer covers most of it for me, but I did want to come back to this part:
>>it takes place in a world where if enough people believe in something existing, it does.
There are a couple of things about this that don’t seem quite compatible with our theology, at least as I’ve been taught it.
First of all, this seems to be suggesting that Hashem was created by humans, through their belief? I don’t love that. I pray multiple times a day to the ‘Master of the universe, Who reigned before any form was created.’ Proposing a deity that exists simply because people believe in it doesn’t answer many of the questions that religions set out to deal with, such as ‘How did we get here?’ and ‘What does it all mean?’ And it’s fundamentally not the God I pray to.
Secondly, although this is pretty much what Shira already said, I want to point out again that monotheism and polytheism are obviously not compatible, unless you add certain caveats. Our prayers and other sacred texts repeatedly emphasise the ultimate Oneness of Hashem. Judaism just can’t be right in a world where Hellenism is also right, unless you go with the Greek gods being nothing more than humans with superpowers. In the post that Shira linked to, we already talked about including Jewish characters in polytheism-as-fact settings, and we highlighted the diversity of Jewish opinions on this (Shira and Dierdra: Yes, IF…; me: Pass, BUT…). I thought this was important to bring up again, because this sounds like an ‘all religions are true’ story and I wanted to highlight that these are not as inclusive as they may at first sound. They’re actually very difficult to pull off respectfully. Usually (not always), people who write that kind of story are the folks who have never had to fight for their beliefs or have them seen as anything other than the norm.
Finally, I’m curious about what this premise means for racism and other bigotries. Many people believe in a type of monster called a Jew who controls government and finance and kills babies for fun. Does that exist in your story, too? I’m not saying you can’t go ahead with this premise, but just something to think about: maybe there should be some checks and balances on the it’s believed = it’s true thing.
On another note, as Shira touched on, I was confused by this part:
>> to have jewish and muslim characters be children of greek gods and biblical figures?
According to our own traditions, we are the descendants of Biblical figures? I’m not sure what you thought would be off about that, but it would be kind of cool to see a character being singled out Percy Jackson style because they were a descendant of Yitzchak and Rivka – as long as it was well-researched and executed in line with how we view these figures.
--Shoshi
The Muslim portion of this character is open to followers. Muslim mods are not active at the time of this answer. We’ll recruiting for more mods; Muslim writers, feel free to apply anytime! https://forms.gle/qywJmrwcZj3E28nh8 
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nataliedanovelist · 3 years
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GF & MvsM - Wanna Talk About Dinos?
This crossover was inevitable. It just works too well. Maybe one day i’ll write a fic about how the folks at Gravity Falls handled the robot-apocalypse. Probably shrugged it off. “Eh. We’ve had worse.” Haha! What if Stan and Ford, cuz they were out sailing, had no clue what happened and when they came back they were like, “Wait, what?”
For now, please enjoy this fic of Aaron making a new friend...
(credit goes to @stephreynaart for her OC Jacob) ~~~~~~~~~~ “Hi, would you like to talk to me about dinosaurs?”
Aaron asked this question more times than he could keep track of, but that wasn’t going to stop him from asking it. It started as a dare from his big sister two years ago, but now it’s a fun hobby. When fifth grade isn’t overwhelming him, scaring him with mountains of homework and horror stories about how hard middle school is going to be, and when he’s run out of YouTube videos to catch up on, he is on the hunt for fellow giant-lizard-lovers like a hungry Ceratosaurus.
“No, okay bye.” But it did get a little tiring to always cross out names and phone-numbers on the phone book with red ink. Hey, a dinosaur of a way to find phone-numbers was appropriate. He read the next number, dialed it, and after a ring or two he asked, “How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs? No, okay thank you.”
Aaron crossed out another name and sighed, taking a break since he reached the end of a line of numbers. Maybe he should just be grateful for Abbey and accept that no one else wants to talk about the Jurassic Period. Or the Cretaceous Period. Or the Triassic Period. But then a big, old, gray-tinted ad distracted him. He grinned, thinking it would at least be fun to give them a call, and he dialed the number.
Private home phone-numbers were fun, but businesses were also fun! Poor, bored workers would gladly talk to him rather than crabby Karens, and they got paid for it! So Aaron smiled as the phone rang, and he grinned when someone picked up.
“Thanks for calling the Mystery Shack, you’re talking to Mr. Mystery himself! How may I befuddle or bewilder you?”
“Hi! How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs?”
“Oh, dude! I’d love to, but I’m scheduled for a tour of the Oddity Museum in three minutes.” The man said, and Aaron grinned continuously, because it sounded like Mr. Mystery really wanted to talk with him about dinosaurs. “But hey! Can you hold on for one minute, I think I know a guy!”
“Yeah, sure mister!” And Aaron was greeted by the sound of a catchy jingle about buying t-shirts and mugs and snowglobes. He smiled and wiggled his feet along to the music as he looked outside at the beautiful late-fall afternoon, entertained while he waited.
~~~~~~~~~~
Soos was on the hunt. He planned out the house in his head. Abuelita was taking a nap upstairs, Melody was organizing the upcoming tour, and Stan took Jacob out for ice cream, so he might be…
The owner of the Shack grinned when he stopped at the doorway and saw the man he was looking for, sitting in Stan’s chair, reading a book.
“Uncle Ford!”
The old sailor smiled up at the young man. “Yes, wh-...”
“Do you think you could answer the phone for me? I have a tour and I think this customer’s request is right up your alley.”
“Uh… sure, but w-...”
“Thanks, you’re the best!” And Soos was gone before he could address Ford’s confusion.
Ford was a bit lost, having little to no business with business, but he had learned at this point to trust Soos, so he picked up the phone beside him and was immediately greeted with a sweet, “How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs?”
Ford grinned and closed his book. “I would love to! All three periods are equally as fascinating to study, but the Triassic contains some of my favorite dinosaurs!”
A young voice gasped on the other line. “Mine, too! Everyone thinks the Jurassic period is so great, and it’s pretty cool, but the Triassic gave us Plateosaurus and the Brachiosaurus!”
“That’s very true! You know, it’s very interesting, maybe depictions don’t include feathers at all, which is a bit frustrating, but perhaps after the news has spread they will incorporate more feathers on merchandise and textbooks.”
“YES! That’s what I wanna do when I grow up, help draw better-accurate dinosaurs!”
~~~~~~~~~~
The phone rang on Sunday. The Shack was closed today, so Stan lazily answered it and was greeted with, “Wanna talk about dinosaurs?”
“Sixer, phone for you!”
Ford ran into the living room, elbowed his twin out of the chair, and took the phone. “Hello again, Aaron! Now, where were we? Right, so Australopithecus. … No, I don’t think… Oh! No, homo habilis was erect, Australopithecus was never fully erect.”
“Maybe he was nervous.” Stan groaned, getting to his feet.
Ford shot him a look as thankfully the young boy on the other end didn’t catch that and happily shared some more fun-facts about homo habilis.
~~~~~~~~~~
While most college students were excited for Spring Break so they could get drunk or lose their virginity, Katie was excited because her family had planned a special secret roadtrip. She was careful to keep up with her family and talk to her parents and brother frequently, but Aaron had a hobby he wasn’t talking about that his parents found out and were thrilled about. Aaron had made another friend.
Rick and Katie did some research and the tourist attraction sounded right up their alley! In the middle of the woods, tons of weird stuff, and a fun roadtrip filled with diners and attractions. They decided to surprise Aaron, and they made up a lie that they would spend Spring Break in California with Katie so she could show her family around San Francisco, when in actuality they would be traveling up the state to the Redwood Highway and see the oddity place, and maybe even allow Aaron to meet his new pen-pal. Or, um, phone-pal.
So after bombarding Katie with hugs the Mitchells threw her luggage into the car and drove off. Aaron turned to Katie and excitingly asked, “So where are we going first? Can we go fix the Golden Gate bridge by painting it gold?”
Katie laughed and ruffled his hair. “Maybe later, right now I wanna show you guys this fun store right outside of town. Here, check out the videos I made for my classes!” And she pulled out some airpods and gave one to Aaron.
“Cool!”
Rick and Linda smirked at each other as they drove north. By the time they reached a little diner in Redding, CA, it was very clear to Aaron that they weren’t in San Francisco anymore. “Come on, just tell me where we’re going!” The boy begged as he fed Monchi a fry.
“The best kind of prizes are the surprises.” Linda quoted.
“Eric, Deborahbot5000, where are we going?”
“Sorry, Aaron, we cannot give that information.” Eric said, he and the other robot sitting politely in their seats, happy to be a part of the social interaction.
“Yes, Mother will bury us if we disobey.” Deborahbot said matter-of-factly.
“What?! No I won’t, sweeties.”
“Won’t you ground us?”
The family laughed and Aaron let the topic go; if he was honest, he loved a good surprise. The big family stopped in a motel just at the California-Oregon border, and the next morning after muffins and coffee and orange juice they were on the road again, passing dozens of trees that made Rick feel at home. Katie happily recorded the trip, trusted to be the documenter for another fun roadtrip, with hopefully not as much mortal peril.
Aaron watched as they left the highway for a simple road, and they passed a big sign. The boy gasped and caught what was happening. “No WAY! Really?!”
“You know, I hear this Mystery Shack even has a Sasquatch.” Rick commented while Linda pulled out a pamphlet from the glove box.
“It says here it’s full of odd things you’ll never see anywhere else, even a dinosaur footprint…”
“Wasn’t there a rumor of there being a Bottomless Pit?” Katie asked, pointing her camera at Aaron to get his reaction.
“Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!” Aaron cheered, hugging his Dad’s neck and kissing his Mom’s cheek.
“Hey, no worries, buddy.” Rick eased, fixing his shewed glasses. “We wanted to see this place, too!”
“Why don’t we eat a quick lunch and then we’ll take the backroad for the attraction? There’s a coupon in here for a diner made from a giant log!”
And so after being served by a pretty blonde teenager at Greasy’s, they drove through town to get to the backroad. Signs made them confident that they were going the correct way, as well as Eric and Deborahbot5000’s GPS. Then as they turned a corner, a big triangle-shaped building came into view. Aaron grinned at the giant sign with a missing letter. People were already leaving, arms full of souvenirs and one or two already wearing their new hats or t-shirts. Once Rick parked in the Free Parking Lot, Aaron spilled out of the car and ran for the shack, but he stopped.
Katie caught up to him and patted his back. “You cool, man?”
Aaron shrugged, holding his hands in front of him and his shoulders up to hide his face a bit. “I-I dunno… What if… What if he doesn’t like me?”
“Hey, I get it.” Katie admitted. “When I first met my friends I was really nervous. I had talked to them online for weeks and I was worried it wasn’t gonna be what it was all cracked up to be, but it was. Your system worked! You found another dino-lover! You earned this moment. Just take in a deep breath and be yourself, cuz you’re a pretty cool dude.”
Aaron smiled up at his big sister. “Thanks.”
Trusting Eric and Deborahbot5000 to watch Monchi and make sure he used the bathroom, the Mitchells went inside the shack. On the porch there was an ice cooler, a sign reading schedule times for tours of the Oddity Museum, a Help Wanted sign, and two rocking chairs with a game of checkers between them.
Inside the store a few customers filled up the gift shop, alongside t-shirts, snowglobes, a vending machine, a door beside ti that read Employees Only, a bookshelf full of comic on one side and old newspapers claiming alien sightings on the other, a fish tank holding a monkey-mermaid, and barrels full of spaceship keychains and dino claws. A new section called Camping Stuff caught Rick’s eye, selling backpacks, lanterns, flashlights, batteries, canteens, and compasses. Katie opened a comic called Lil’Stanley and laughed at the swears, taking a pic and sending it to her friends’ group chat. Linda looked into the barrel full of patches and grinned at all the fun designs, while Aaron stared happily at the mer-monkey.
The Employees Only door opened and closed and Rick watched as a man in a suit, fez, and eyepatch walked up to the lady at the register and kissed her cheek. The woman smiled lovingly and left while the guy who resembled a gopher checked a customer out. Rick waited until the buyer left to approach the register, leaning an arm on the counter.
“Welcome to the Mystery Shack, dude!”
“Thanks! So, this is gonna sound weird, but my son Aaron talks to a guy here about dinosaurs…”
“No way!” The owner interrupted excitedly. “Good to see you, dudes! I’m Mr. Mystery! Wow, you guys came a long way, huh?”
“Nah, only from California. My daughter is attending art school there.”
While the men chit-chatted and Linda joined them, Katie noticed a guy walking up to Aaron and looking at the mer-monkey. She smiled and tried to read the comic without being too nosy, but she kept her senses on her brother.
“Hm, quite fascinating, isn’t it?” The man in the blue hoodie said. “But I think my favorite is the fossilized footprint. Could be Nanuqsaurus hoglundi.”
“The Polar Bear Lizard?” Aaron clarified, touching his chin as he looked at the dino-print, his back to the man he was talking to. “Maybe, but they’re from Alaska. It’s possible plate tectonics did cause some fossils to be relocated here, but it could also be a Nanotyrannosaurus lancensis footprint.”
“The Dwarf Tyrant? Could very well be. Would you like to talk about dinosaurs after your tour?”
Aaron’s eyes widened as the voice was finally familiar to him. He turned and looked up to find an old man smiling up at him. He had fluffy gray hair with a white stripe running around his scalp, wrinkles by his eyes due to smiling, a cleft chin, glasses, and wore a blue hoodie with a maroon sweater underneath. His hands were behind his back and he smiled down at Aaron warmly, while the boy was jittery and overly-excited. He took in a sharp breath and had to fight every muscle to keep from leaping through the screen door. 
“H-H-Hi…” He peeped. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Y-Yeah, sure! I’d love to! I’m Aaron! Er, wait, you already knew that.” And he held out a hand to shake.
His phone-pal, Ford, chuckled and got on one knee to be eye-level. “Greeting, Aaron! It’s nice to formally meet you.”
Aaron shook his hand and noticed something. He had six fingers on his right hand. A quick glance told Aaron he also had six fingers on his left hand. Aaron grinned with sparkling eyes at his new friend, while the old sailor smiled warmly at the boy that reminds him of his niece and nephew when they were young.
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Five years ago, the women on this site who treated me like trash over loving Labyrinth and shipping Jareth/Sarah were almost always obliviously consuming Radfem propaganda, or were out and out Radfems/Terfs themselves.
They were the types of people who casually threw the word “pedophile” around against grown women who shipped an adult Sarah with Jareth, aka literally one of the most popular ships for women in fandom for 30 years.
Pretty much invariably, these women had serious sex-negative anxieties, which included a severe paranoia about any and all kink and fetish, and porn in general. I saw a lot of shocking, fear-mongering propaganda surrounding sexual expression. Pretty much invariably, their method of approach involved immediate personal shock-value attacks on anyone they perceived to be “bad.”
Today, you can look at the way some people react to other popular so-called “problematic” ships and recognize the same toxic, fear-mongering rhetoric coming from women who consider themselves regular, trans-inclusive feminists. Sometimes it even manifests in the words of very well-meaning people (including myself here), who feel the need to talk about specific issues that pertain to their own experiences of trauma and oppression.
The people who shit on Labyrinth often seem to not really be able to comprehend that the Goblin King, like the film itself, is canonically a representation of a teen girl’s psyche, a soup of fears and anxieties and desires and dreams. He’s not a literal human adult preying on a literal child, and to read the film that way seriously undermines the entire point of the film. 
When I (and people of many fandoms) say “This is fiction, calm down,” I’m not just saying it’s not real so it cant hurt you and you can’t criticize me. I’m trying to call attention to what fiction actually is - artistic representations of feelings and experiences. The Goblin King is Sarah’s fiction. Therefore, he can be anything she or any woman who identifies with her wants him to be, including her lover when she’s grown and ready for such a thing.
I once took an alarming dive into Beetlejuice fandom to see what content was there (the cartoon was a favorite when I was little). Chillingly, what you’ll find is an extremely wounded fanbase, with a sharp divide between the older women who had long been shipping BJ/Lydia because of their love for the cartoon series (and whom were previously the vast majority of the Beetlejuice fandom), and a massive amount of young people riding the wave of the musical fad who had decided that the entire old school Beetlejuice fandom was populated by literal pedophiles. 
I saw death threats. Suicide baiting. Constant, constant toxic discourse. It did not matter how the BJ/Lydia fandom dealt with any particular issues that would exist in their ship, in fact I’m certain that the people abusing them cared very little to even consider if they were trying to handle it at all. The only thing that mattered was that they were disgusting subhuman scum asking for abuse. If you have at any time reblogged recent Beetlejuice fan art or content from fans of the musical, you have more than likely been engaging positively with the content of someone participating in toxic fandom behavior.
Nobody is really sticking up for them, either, as far as I saw. It’s really hard to imagine how painful it must be to have such a large group of people explode into into your relatively private fandom space to tell you that you are evil, vile, and deserve constant abuse, and also you are no longer allowed into the fandom space to engage in it’s content. But I think there’s something very alarming indeed about this happening specifically to the BJ fandom, and I’ll explain why. 
The pop-culture characterization of Beetlejuice, which is heavily influenced by the cartoon series to be clear, has always in my mind been a vaguely ageless being who matches with the psychological maturity of whatever age Lydia is supposed to be. He’s more or less like an imaginary friend, a manifestation of Lydia’s psyche. In fact, I would argue that i think most of us who grew up with the cartoon or it’s subsequent merchandizing before the musical ever existed probably internalized the idea as BJ and Lydia as this ageless, salt-and-pepper-shaker couple beloved by the goth community, similar to Gomez and Morticia. In each version of canon he may be a creepy ghost in the literal sense, but any adult who is capable of identifying literary tropes (even just subconciously) would read cartoon!BJ as an artistic representation of a socially awkward outcast girl’s inner world. Lydia’s darker dispositions and interests, which alienate her from most others, are freely accepted and embraced by her spooky magical friend. BJ/Lydia in the cartoon were depicted as best friends, but to my memory there was always an underlying sense that they had secret feelings for each other, which I identified easily even as a small child. In fact, their dynamic and behavior perfectly reflected the psychological development of the show’s target demographic. They are best friends who get into adventures and learning experiences together, who have delicate feelings for each other but lack any true adult romantic/sexual understanding to acknowledge those feelings, let alone pursue them.
Though I haven’t seen the Musical yet, I’ve read the wiki and I would argue that it embodies this exact same concept even more so for it’s own version of the characters, in that Beetlejuice specifically exists to help Lydia process her mother’s death.
This is not a complicated thing to recognize and comprehend whatsoever. In fact, it looks downright blatant. It’s also a clear indicator of what BJ/Lydia means to the women who have long loved it. It was a story about a spooky wierd girl being loved and accepted and understood for who she was, and it gave them a sense of solidarity. It makes perfect sense why those women would stick with those characters, and create a safe little space for themselves to and imagine their beloved characters growing and having adult lives and experiencing adult drama, in just the same ways that the women of the Labyrinth fandom do. That’s all these women were doing. And now, they can’t do it without facing intense verbal violence. That safe space is poisoned now.
Having grown up with the cartoon as one of my favorites and been around goth subculture stuff for decades, I was actually shocked and squicked at the original Beetlejuice film’s narrative once I actually saw it, because it was extremely divorced from what these two characters had evolved into for goth subculture and what they meant to me. It’s not telling the same story, and is in fact about the Maitland's specifically. In pretty much exactly the same way two different versions of Little Red Riding Hood can be extremely different from each other, the film is a different animal. While I imagine that the film version has been at the heart of a lot of this confused fear-mongering around all other versions of the characters, I would no more judge different adaptations of these characters any more than I would condemn a version of Little Red in which Red and the Wolf are best friends or lovers just because the very first iteration of LRRH was about protecting yourself from predators.
I would even argue that the people who have engaged in Anti-shipper behavior over BJ/Lydia are in intense denial over the fact that BJ being interested in Lydia, either as blatant predatory behavior a la the film or on a peer level as in the cartoon (and musical?) is an inextricable part of canon. Beetlejuice was always attracted to Lydia, and it was not always cute or amusing. Beetlejuice was not always a beloved buddy character, an in fact was originally written as a gross scumbag. That’s just what he was. Even people engaging with him now by writing OC girlfriends for him (as stand-ins for the salt-and-pepper-shaker space Lydia used to take up, because obviously that was part of the core fun of the characters), or just loving him as a character, are erasing parts of his character’s history in order to do so. They are actively refusing to be held responsible for being fans of new version of him despite the fact that he engaged in overt predatory behavior in the original film. In fact, I would venture to say that they are actively erasing the fact that Musical Beetliejuice tried to marry a teenager and as far as I’m aware, seemed to like the idea (because he’s probably a fucking figment of her imagination but go off I guess). The only reason they can have a version of this character who could be perceived as “buddy” material is because...the cartoon had an impact on our pop cultural perception of what the character and his dynamic with Lydia is. 
We can have a version of the Big Bad Wolf who’s a creepy monster. We can have a version who’s sweet and lovable. We can have a version that lives in the middle. We can have a version who’s a hybrid between Red and the Wolf (a la Ruby in OUAT). All of these things can exist in the same world, and can even be loved for different reasons by the same people.
I’ve been using Beetlejuice as an example here because it’s kind of perfect for my overall point regarding the toxic ideologies in fandom right now across many different spaces, including ones for progressive and queer media, and how much so many people don’t recognize how deeply they’ve been radicalized into literalist and sex-negative radfem rhetoric, to the point where we aren’t allowed to have difficult, messy explorations of imperfect, flawed humans, and that art is never going to be 100% pure and without flaw in it’s ability to convey what it wants to convey.
This includes the rhetoric I’ve seen across the board, from She-Ra to A:TLA to Star Wars to Lovecraft Country. We don’t talk about the inherent malleable, subjective, or charmingly imperfect nature of fiction any more. Transformation and reclamation are myths in this space. Everything is in rigid categories. It is seemingly very difficult for some of these people to engage with anything that is not able to be clearly labeled as one thing or another (see the inherent transphobic and biphobic elements of the most intense rhetoric). They destroy anything they cannot filter through their ideology. When women act in a way that breaks from their narrative of womanhood (like...not having a vagina), then those women must be condemned instead of understood. Anything that challenges them or makes them uncomfortable is a mortal sin. There is an extraordinary level of both hypocrisy and repressive denial that is underlying the behavior I’m seeing now. Much like toxic Christian conservatism, these people often are discovered engaging in the same behaviors and interests that they condemn behind closed doors (or just out of sheer cognitive dissonance). As an example, one of the people who talked shit to me about Labyrinth was a huge fan of Kill La Kill, which to my knowledge was an anime about a teenage girl in like, superpowered lingere (hence why I stayed the fuck away from that shit myself). Indeed, they even allow themselves plenty of leeway for behavior far worse than they condemn others for, and create support systems for the worst of their own abusers. 
Quite frankly, I’m tired. Instead of talking about theoretical problematic shit, we need to start talking about quantifiable harm. Because as far as I can tell, the most real, immediate, and quantifiable harm done because of anybody’s favorite ships or pieces of media seems to consistently be the kind that’s done to the people who experience verbal violence and abuse and manipulation and suicide baiting and death threats from the people who have a problem.
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master-sass-blast · 3 years
Text
Children of the Gods: Part Three, Chapter Two.
I had to input every single italic you see in this fic by hand because Tumblr doesn’t hold text format when I paste it innnnnn. *pained smile*
Please give this chapter some love, because that was fucking painful to do.
Summary: The aftermath of capturing Allison proves messy -both in dealing with the teen's evident trauma, and in all the skeletons in various closets that get unleashed soon after.
Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader, Nathan Summers x Wade Wilson, Frank Castle x Karen Page, and Alexandra Rasputin x Nikolai Rasputin.
Rating: M for gun violence, depictions of death and injuries, depictions of emotional trauma, and gratuitous use of the word “fuck.”
Word count: 8.9k.
Set after “Children of the Gods: Part Three, Chapter One.”
Taglist: @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @leo-writer, @emma-frxst, @sadstone-s
“What the hell were you thinking!”
“Ooh, careful there, Doohan,” Wade snarks, head rolling to indicate he’s rolling his eyes. “Get any more agitated and you’ll be saying all the no-no words.”
Scott scowls at Wade. “Stuff it, Wilson.”
“Every damn night, laser pointer.”
A mixture of grimaces, sighs, and groans go up through the crowd.
You’re all gathered in the medical wing of Xavier’s –the X-Force and nearly all of the X-Men. Allison’s off being examined by Dr. McCoy and Alyssa –to make sure she’s stable enough to be taken out of the handcuffs and the suppression band—and Frank and Karen are sequestered in a separate room until it's clear how everything's going to shake out.
Because, naturally, there’s been a wrench thrown in the situation.
Or maybe the whole damn toolbox, you mentally amend as Wade and Scott resume arguing.
“We cannot harbor a mob criminal here—”
“She’s thirteen, Summers!” Wade snaps. The eyes on his mask narrow into slits. “She’s not a criminal –and her parents’ choice don’t automatically make her guilty!”
“Murder, illegal theft and possession of firearms, assault, stalking, kidnapping,” Scott starts listing, ticking off each of Allison’s misdeeds on his fingers.
“She lost her family,” Nathan interjects, voice going to gravel. “Where the fuck were all of you when she needed support? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
The room goes silent. Many of the X-Men members look away or hang their heads slightly.
“We had no way of knowing that Allison was a mutant,” Ororo speaks up. “Without the proper information, we can’t help. It’s unfortunate, yes, but out of our control all the same.”
“But you know now,” Wade argues. “You knew with Russell. You knew with all the kids at Essex house. You turned your back on him and those kids, just like you’re turning your back on Allison now.” He scoffs, disgusted. “Same shit, different day. You’re all a bunch of cowardly cocksuckers.”
“We do have limits,” Professor Xavier speaks up from his chair. “Russell and the other members of Essex house were considered wards of the state. Legally, that meant Essex house had custody of them until they turned eighteen. We wrote petitions. We did as much as we could to bring attention to the issue. Unfortunately, it got swept under the rug or stonewalled by anti-mutant members of the legal system. As for Allison…” He sighs. “Taking in wards with criminal connections put the school at risk. Not just for fear of retaliation –as would certainly be a risk with Miss Ricci’s connections to the mafia—but also our funding and licensing. As an orphaned mutant, she is certainly deserving of our help—” he pauses to glare sternly at Scott and a few of the more stubborn, self-righteous members present “—but we have to consider the needs of our other residents and students, too.”
“I think we’re overlooking that Allison is here right now,” Jean pipes up. “Whether or not she stays with us is one thing, but we need to decide what to do for at least the next forty-eight hours.”
“She stays here,” you say automatically. “As far as we know, she has no other guardians, potentially even nowhere to go. I don’t think it’s gonna kill us to give her a bed and some food to eat.”
“Absolutely not,” Scott fires back –and, behind him, Angel and Iceman nod. “She’s far too aggressive to possibly put the students at risk.”
“She’s agitated and traumatized,” you reason, “but that doesn’t mean she’s going to lash out at people left and right.”
“Doesn’t she have a guardian of sorts?” Neena pipes up. “Artemis? Has anyone gotten ahold of them?”
“We reached out with the number Miss Ricci gave us,” Xavier explains. “The call picked up, but there wasn’t any verbal response for the duration of the call.”
Well, that bodes well. “What about her attorney?” you ask. “If we can’t keep her here, wouldn’t her attorney be able to arrange some sort of safe place for her to stay.”
“Thus far, we haven’t been able to reach her attorney.”
And that bodes even worse. You fight the urge to sigh or roll your eyes, and instead mentally curse monkey wrenches and whoever thought to invent the damn things.
“For the time being, I’ve contacted some of our external resources” –the glance Xavier shoots at both you and Piotr tells you that it’s your uncle and Alexandra—“to help with matters until the dust settles. They should be arriving soon, so—”
There’s a loud crash from down the hall, the sound of glass shattering, and an angry screech that sounds suspiciously like, “Fuck you, Castle!”
You give into the urge to sigh before booking it towards the sound of chaos and rage. Great. Now it’s an entire toolshed.
***
Subduing Allison this time, at least, is easier for several reasons.
First, she’s still wearing the repression cuff on her wrist. Without her powers –without a way to pop in and out of this existence, specifically—she’s much easier to catch.
Second, she’s tired. It’s not just the bags under her eyes or the sweat glistening at her furrowed brow. She’s stumbling unevenly, panting as she tries to exact her revenge.
Third, Illyana happens to show up at the exact same time with your uncle and Alexandra (and Nikolai as well, though he has less involvement in the “subduing process”).
Alex reacts fastest. She hooks one strong arm around Allison’s waist, then scoops her away from Karen and a hangdog-looking Frank. “Alright, that’s enough.”
Allison, however, doesn’t seem to agree. (Though whether it’s due to general teenage contrariness or trauma-induced rage, the jury’s still out.
…Actually, it’s probably both.)
“You don’t even get it, Castle!” Allison snaps with a manic grin, eyes wide and haunted. “You killed a good man. My dad was getting out! He was going to testify against them—”
Alex clamps a hand over the teen’s mouth, making her cut herself off with a garbled grunt. “I said enough.”
Allison thrashes in the older woman’s iron-clad grasp –to no avail, unsurprisingly. Her face scrunches up, then her jaw starts flexing. There’s a moment where her expression goes slack when Alex doesn’t react, then her nose scrunches up again and her jaw starts working harder.
Alex sighs, then starts carrying Allison back down the hall (she’s astonishingly unfazed by been chomped down on). “Come on. Let’s get you calmed down, malen’kiy.”
At the other end of the hall, Neena pokes her head into the fray. “Someone who calls herself Artemis is at the front door.”
Professor Xavier nods, then says, “Please escort her back to Miss Ricci’s room,” before wheeling after Alex and Artemis.
You look between Neena and the Professor –then, in the interest of going where you’re actually allowed to be (and not being bored out of your mind because you’ll be literally shut out of the room), you head towards the foyer.
“Do you think Frank was set up to stop the trial?”
Your uncle shrugs; the two of you have taken up a spot at the back of the room, where you can watch things unfold and gossip like the two old ladies you are in spirit. “It’s possible. It’s also possible that it was retribution for Allison being a mutant. The Ricci syndicate is notoriously… intolerant.”
You grimace. You certainly understand just how far people will go against their own flesh and blood for intolerance’s sake. “Blood and water.”
Your uncle nods, expression equally sour. “You fucking said it, punk.”
There’s not much point in hashing it out any further –both from the standpoint of “forbidden knowledge” and digging up old trauma—so you settle back into watching Artemis go through the mandatory security check.
She’s tall, with broad shoulders. Her hair’s dark, just starting to streak with silver at the temples, and her eyes are deep, intense, borderline black color. Her nose is slightly crooked –comes with the territory in this walk of life—and she’s dressed in black motorcycle wear and combat boots.
She honestly looks so fucking familiar.
You frown, brows pinching together as you try and place her face in your memory. Failing your own abilities at recollection, you lean over and whisper, “Is she one of your team members? I swear I’ve seen her before.”
“Uh –no,” your uncle replies (and it’s too fast and shaky, but you’re too caught up in figuring out whom the fuck you’re looking at to notice). “I mean –everyone has a doppelganger, right?”
“I guess.” You squint at Artemis, as though physically narrowing your eyes will help your brain puzzle things out—
And then Alex strides into the foyer –wiping the hand that Allison bit, and if you look close enough you’re pretty sure you can still see a few bloody teeth marks—and the cloud of confusion lifts from your mind.
“Oh!” you gasp quietly. “That’s why she looks familiar! She looks like Alex.” You look from the Rasputin matriarch, to the other black-leather clad woman, then back again. “She looks… a lot like Alex, actually.” You laugh softly –coincidence is a hell of a thing—then keep rambling when your uncle doesn’t say anything. “Two women who love the color black and carry enough weapons on their person to stock an army. You’d think the universe broke the mold with Alex, huh?”
Your uncle shifts from foot to foot next to you, but says nothing.
“You really weren’t kidding about the whole ‘doppelganger’ thing, huh.” You cock your head to one side, then frown as another epiphany starts growing in your mind. “Actually… she kind of looks like you, too.”
Your uncle makes a quiet, pained choking noise. “Punk—”
“Yeah, she’s got more of your build…”
“Punk.”
“And her lower lip has that weird lopsided curve like yours—”
“Punk—”
You peer closer at Artemis’s face. “Actually, her nose looks like you took yours and Alex’s and mashed them together—”
“Punk.”
You finally look up at him and take in the pale, wide-eyed, tight-lipped expression on his face. “What?” When he doesn’t say anything, you look at Artemis, then Alex, and then back at him—
Oh God.
Oh God.
Holy fucking shit.
You stare up at your uncle, agape. “Wait a second –you and—”
“Okay, shut the fuck up!” he hisses, panicked, before dragging you out of the foyer and into the nearest hallway.
“You and Alex had a baby,” you blurt –albeit in a voice no louder than a harsh whisper. “Artemis is your and her lovechild!”
He winces, then holds up his hands. “I can explain—”
“I don’t think you can!” you hiss. “Why didn’t you tell me that I have a cousin who happens to be my husband’s half fucking sister! Oh God, does Piotr know? Do any of the Rasputins know?”
“I…” He trails off, then cringes. He rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not sure, actually.”
You stare up at him, dumbfounded. “You’re not sure. How are you not sure? Nick knows who you are –what, you think Alex just kept a whole child from his knowledge—”
“I mean, he probably knows that there was a baby at one point—”
“The baby is in this fucking house!” you snap in a quiet growl, arms flailing wildly. “She’s a full grown adult who probably pays taxes and has a 401k going! Why wouldn’t Alex tell her husband—”
“Look,” your uncle interjects, cutting you off. “As far as Alex knows… she thinks she’s… dead?”
You gape. Then, as quietly as you can manage (given the circumstances), you exclaim, “What the fuck!”
“Keep your voice down!” your uncle hisses, gesturing wildly in panic. He looks over his shoulder, then when he’s certain no one overheard you, he sighs and looks back to you. “Look, it’s a long story—”
“I’m sure it fucking is!” You cross your arms over your chest when he winces. “How is it that you know your secret lovechild is alive, but Alex doesn’t? What, did she just abandon her?”
“No, no—”
“Didn’t think so. So what the fuck happened?”
He sighs, shoulder slumping, and runs one hand through his already disheveled hair. “Look –long story short, the people who ‘made’ Alex took the baby—”
“Artemis. Her daughter. Your daughter.”
He purses his lips, but concedes with a nod. “They took her away after she was born and told Alex she was dead –and that’s actually what prompted her to get out, but that’s another story for another day—”
“Okay, hang on a second.” You squeeze your eyes shut and hold up one hand. “Alex thinks her baby is dead –probably one of the most traumatic things in her whole life. You’ve known that she’s alive…” You open your eyes again and fix your uncle with a stern stare. “Okay, how long have you known for?”
He grimaces and shifts uncomfortably. “…well, the US took her, but she didn’t present early, so they turned her loose into the foster system because she didn’t have potential as an ‘asset’—”
“How fucking long?”
He ducks his head, carefully avoiding your gaze. “…tracked her down when she was ten.”
Your eyes widen –and then you slug him in the shoulder. “You fucking colossal asshole!”
He panics again, motioning for you to keep it down while checking over his shoulder. “Shut the fuck up!”
“No! Not only have you lied to Alex for decades—”
“She never asked—”
“A lie by omission is still a fucking lie!” you snap in a gravelly whisper. “So, not only did you lie to her, but you also abandoned your daughter to the mercies of the US foster care system!”
“My life wasn’t safe to keep a kid around!” he hisses back at you. “I couldn’t take care of you, and I couldn’t take care of her! If anything, it was safer for her if the government thought I didn’t know she was alive!”
You sigh, pinch the bridge of your nose, and wave dismissively with your other hand. “Okay –fine. That still doesn’t justify the whole lying thing, but whatever. Does Artemis know that you and Alex are her parents?”
“…Yes. She tracked me down when she was in her twenties and I told her the truth.”
“Well, it sounds like determination runs in the family,” you mutter. “But at least you two have kept in touch…” You look up, see your uncle’s grimace, and sigh. “You didn’t keep in touch with her.”
He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets. “I didn’t know how to handle it.”
“Pretty sure ‘not like that’ is a good answer.” You sigh again, then shrug and put your hands on your hips. “Well, you’ve probably solved your own problem. She’ll probably just tell Alex who she is just to spite you, assuming she got the ‘petty vengeance’ gene too.”
Your uncle’s eyebrows spike to his hairline, and his expression goes through the five stages of grief in a matter of seconds. “She –she can’t—”
“She can and she probably will.”
He hunches over, crouching, and grips the back of his head. “Shitfuckshitfuckshitfuckshitfuck—”
“Myshka?”
You and your uncle both jump, then whirl in unison and give your husband your best convincing, “we’re totally not talking about long lost, hidden family members and other poor life choices” smiles that you can each manage.
(Consider that you don’t look like you just shit your pants, you win.)
Piotr’s forehead wrinkles with concern. “What… is everything alright?”
“Just fine, baby,” you assure him, subtly kicking your uncle so he relaxes. “Just talking about what happens next.”
Piotr nods after a moment, likely picking up on that whatever’s going on right now isn’t life or death and that you’ll fill him in later. “I actually came to find you,” he says, gesturing to your uncle. “Professor Xavier still cannot reach Allison’s lawyer. He has asked for your assistance.”
“Right. Absolutely. On it,” your uncle says with a none-too-convincing smile. He shoots your husband a pair of finger guns, then books it out of the hall and towards the medical wing of the mansion.
Piotr stares after him, then shoots you a confused frown. “Is he okay?”
You shrug. “He’s doing about his usual.” You decide to further sidestep the issue by ambling over to him and giving him a gentle hug. “How are you?” Are doing okay?”
Piotr wraps his arms around you and kisses the top of your head. “I am fine now. Just a little sore.”
“Me too.” You nuzzle your cheek against his burly chest. “We really should invest in that hot tub we keep talking about getting. It’d be great for post-mission recovery.”
“Hot tubs are expensive, myshka,” he chuckles.
“Yes, but we’re not getting any younger. It’d be a good investment in taking care of our bodies.” You tilt your head back and grin up at him. “I thought you were all about that life.”
He sighs and shakes his head, feigning exasperation, but his amused smile is a dead giveaway. “Whatever shall I do with you, myshka?”
You grin wider. “You could kiss me.”
Piotr grins back, then dips his head and presses his lips against yours—
Mikhail appears next to you out of thin air. “Ah. Gross. Big meeting is happening. All hands on deck.”
Piotr rolls his eyes when his elder brother teleports away once more, then looks back down at you and strokes your cheek with his thumb. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine, baby.” You unwind your arms from his massive trunk of a torso, then slide your fingers between his as the two of you walk towards the medical wing.
“—I am telling you, Charles, not being able to reach this kid’s lawyer is a bad fucking sign.”
You and Piotr walk into a conference room to find your uncle and Professor Xavier locked in a heated argument.
Wade, Nate, and Neena are leaning against the table to watch, occasionally leaning over to whisper bits of commentary to each other (or, in Wade’s case, speak at normal volume).
In the corner of the room, where a couple of armchairs are positioned, Nikolai sits with his two other children; they’re speaking in hushed Russian, but none of them seem too concerned about everything else going on.
“As I previously stated,” Xavier says, words clipped, “we cannot release Miss Ricci without speaking first to her attorney. The X-Men operate as a special law enforcement service, and failure to comply with criminal and civil statutes will have enormous consequences for the Institute—”
“There’s going to be a bunch of fucking ‘enormous consequences’ for the Institute,” your uncle interrupts, growling through clenched teeth, “if you don’t evacuate this building right fucking now! Fuck’s sake, Charles –you hired me as a security advisor; just listen to me.”
Piotr frowns and curls one hand over your shoulder. “What is happening?”
“What’s happening,” a new, strong, feminine voice interjects from the hall, “is that we’re leaving.” Artemis shoulders past your husband –a feat not easily achieved by many—with Allison in tow, then holds up the teen’s arm that has the repression cuff still attached. She glares at Xavier (and God, she really looks like Alex when she does that), then spits out through gritted, bared teeth, “Get this fucking thing off my kid.”
There’s a longsuffering sigh in the hall, and then Alex steps into the doorway. “She has that cuff on for her own safety –as I already told you—”
Artemis whirls, face contorted by a vicious scowl, and snaps, “I didn’t fucking ask for you input!”
(Boy, if that doesn’t just scream ‘repressed trauma and mommy issues.’)
Your uncle looks like he’s about to pass out again, but Alex seems remarkably nonplussed. She merely raises one eyebrow at Artemis, as if to say ‘that’s all you got?’
There’s no way she knows, you think as you watch the two stare each other down. Not with how much she cares about her kids. There’s no fucking way—
“Actually, we’ve got bigger problems,” your uncle pipes up, voice quavering slightly before he clears his throat. “We can’t reach your kid’s shark.”
“They have other clients,” Artemis retorts, upper lip curling in a derisive sneer. Her dark eyes smolder with barely constrained hatred as she tosses a withering glance in his direction (daddy issues, too, this chick won the whole lottery). “Or maybe they got stuck in traffic.”
Your uncle narrows his eyes at that (and now the two of them look so much alike, overcome by ire as they are). “You cannot possibly be that fucking stupid.”
Artemis sucks a breath through her teeth, eyes widening with rage and hurt. “You fucking dick—”
In the corner of the room, Illyana bolts upright before going stock still. Then, she gasps and reaches out towards her mother. “Mama!”
(The way Artemis’s face mars with a pained grimace makes your heart ache.)
Alex tenses, eyes glowing gold as she starts scanning the horizon (presumably checking for heat signatures). “Gde?”
The room goes quiet –and then you hear it.
The sound of engines rumbling –multiple engines—and car wheels crunching against gravel. Doors thumping open and shut, followed by footsteps. Hushed voices.
You scamper over to the nearest window and float up, just enough to see several men clad in black and Kevlar and carrying rifles stalking towards the front door and around the sides of the house in groups. “Guys with guns. Lots of them.”
“Then get down!” Nate hisses before yanking you back from the window.
“Lights out,” Alex orders before hitting the switch herself. “Get everyone to a reinforced room.”
“There’s a safe room at the end of the hall,” Xavier says before wheeling himself towards the door.
Allison clings to Artemis’s sleeve, much like a baby koala. “What’s going on? What’s going to happen?”
“Go with the Professor,” Artemis says. She quickly –but gently—frees her arm, then clasps the teen’s face with both hands. “Look at me. Listen to the Professor, and stay put until I come get you. Okay?”
Allison’s forehead puckers, and her lower lip starts trembling. “But—”
“Is alright,” Nikolai interjects with a kind, reassuring smile. He gently ushers Allison towards the door, then down the hall before she can protest further.
A few doors down, Karen pokes her head out of the room where she and Frank have holed up. She frowns as she takes in the chaos. “What’s going on?”
“Mafia men with guns!” Wade chirps as he half-skips, half-jogs towards the mansion’s entryway. “Tell your boy to suit up!”
“There’s a safe room at the end of the hall,” Neena adds as she runs after Wade.
Frank squeezes around Karen and kisses her temple before falling in line behind the two assassins.
You step to the side so Karen can run past you, then turn and press a hasty kiss against Piotr’s cheek. “Love you.”
He kisses your cheek in return, equally as brief. “Ya tozhe tebya lyublyu.”
And then the two of you run towards the danger bearing down on your home.
***
In all the firefights you’ve been in, there’s always this moment of silence. A calm before the storm. A moment where everything goes still, while both sides wait for the other to make a move.
You duck behind a wall as the mafia gunmen continue hammering away at the front door, tucking yourself in a shadow. Your stomach tenses, breathing going quick and hard as your mind starts putting a plan together. Don’t want to risk collapsing part of the house by doing a pressure vacuum. Best option is to probably knock them to the ground so the others can jump them.
The door rattles. The wooden portal splits on one side, sending jagged splinters poking out into the air.
You slow your breathing, forcing yourself into a calm, focused state. Wait for them to get past the entryway so you can hit as many of them as possible.
In the back of the house, near the kitchen, you hear glass shatter.
They’re in. You clench your fists at your sides, watching as the front door slowly gives way. Three… two… one…
The door breaks open, swinging inwards as the first gunmen step into the foyer—
And then the door snaps off its hinges and slams into the men, taking them out like bowling pins.
Strike, a small, inane part of your brain giggles.
Shouts go up through the house. You can hear the sounds of rushed footsteps, shattering glass, and what sounds like people being bodyslammed through tables (and, given the type of people fighting for your side, it just might be that). Gunfire pierces the air –and is accompanied by the telltale, metallic plinks of the bullets ricocheting off your husband’s armor.
Angry screams emanate from the front step. Men barge in, firing down the hall, towards some unseen target (likely Alex or Nate, given the door trick).
You wait until as many men are piled into the foyer as possible, then send down a downdraft that blows out the windows on either side of the door.
The gunmen tumble to the floor, swearing in a mixture of English and Italian.
Nate, Wade, and Neena swoop in. They descend upon the mafia men like a pack of wolves, breaking bones, dislocating joints, and cracking skulls as they disarm –and, in some cases “un-alive”—the gunmen.
“It’s raining men!” Wade sings as he runs one of his katanas through the gut of one assailant. “Hallelujah! It’s raining men!” He ramps off a nearby wall, then t-bags another man before stabbing him through the temple. “Amen!”
You crouch, tracking the movement of the scuffle. You tense when you see a couple of the men jump Nathan, then charge towards the railing and dive over when a few more try to break past to run down the hallway. You flip in the air, land in the hallway ahead of them, and unleash a blast of wind right in their faces.
The mafia men fly out through the front door. They sail over half the front drive, then bounce off the gravel surface and roll several times before coming to a stop.
You let out a harsh breath, then dart down the hall towards the kitchen when you hear glass shattering and the sound of Frank bellowing angrily.
The kitchen and rec room are a mess. Glass shards from shattered windows coat the floor, glittering before being crushed underfoot. Doors are cracked from having people slammed into them. The rec room couch is overturned –and is sagging suspiciously on one side, hinting at a cracked frame. The entertainment system is shattered, with smoking bullet holes littering the TV, speakers, and media systems.
Frank has one of the guys pinned down over the sink. He’s snarling as he uses the lip of the sink to choke the guy out. There’s blood smeared his lips and chins, trailing back up to his chin.
Another gunman stalks in through the dining room, gun trained on Frank’s head.
You whip a blast of air at the second man, sending him sailing into the wall so hard the drywall cracks.
He drops to the ground, unconscious.
There’s some terrified shrieking –and then a gunman is punted up and out of the basement stairwell. He sails through the kitchen window headfirst, crumpling in a heap in the hedges outside.
Your husband storms up the staircase, teeth bared in an angry snarl. The waning daylight glints off his metal exterior, almost making him look like some sort of avenging angel. He stops short when he sees you, though; his irate expression vanishes, replaced by concern. “Ty v poryadke?”
You manage a smile and flash him a thumbs up—
And then a truck with a Gatling gun strapped to the roof rolls up to the back door.
“Get down!” Frank hollers before tackling you to the ground behind the kitchen island.
The room explodes into chaos. Bullets plow into the walls, sending up spurts of drywall dust in their wake. Wooden doorframes and floorboards crack, unleashing cascades of splinters in every direction. Glass shatters, raining down upon everything in its reach.
Frank positions himself over you, shielding you as fragmented bullets rain down upon your both. He cups your head with his hands, doing his best to protect you from the hellfire.
Over the din, you can just make out a loud, angry bellow –and then the sound of bullets hitting metal. Heavy, deliberate stomps make the floor shake.
The gunfire cuts off. A shriek pierces the air just before you hear what sounds like a car being tossed into a tree.
(As you’ll discover later, that’s precisely what you heard.)
Frank lifts his head, then carefully rolls off you. He crouches next to you and holds out a hand. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Your ears are ringing, and you’re pretty sure you’ve got glass shards and splinters in your hair, but you’ve been worse. You take his hand, flinching when you hear the sound of more gunfire outside.
Frank peers over the lip of the island. “Reinforcements. At least five more cars headed our way.”
You suck in a breath. “Piotr—”
“Is holding his own for now,” Frank says.
“I’m gonna help him,” you rasp out. “Make sure everyone in the house that’s not on our side… stays down. And that we’ve still got all our people.”
Frank nods, then runs off towards the foyer.
You catch your breath, then creep towards the back door (better safe than sorry). You flatten yourself against the wall next to the doorway, then peer around the broken frame.
Piotr’s facing off against the new influx of cars. He’s got one hand on the hood of one Range Rover, arm extended out like he’s fending off a five-year-old. With his other hand, he flips another SUV over, causing the thing to land on its roof and putting the vehicle squarely out of commission.
Your stomach sinks when five more Range Rovers tear across the lawn, leaving deep, muddy tracks in their wake –and are followed by three more trucks with Gatling guns attached to the roofs. You sprint out the door, take a flying leap over Piotr, then send out a shockwave of air when you land on the ground.
A few of the cars fly backwards, rolling across the lawn like tumbleweeds. A majority of them, however, manage to stay upright or bump into each other and recover.
Your eyes widen when one of the Gatling gun operators aims directly at you. Shit.
Piotr leaps in front of you, whirling so his back is to the gun. He curls his body over yours, shielding you as gunfire rains down on you both.
You grit your teeth, grunting. You can feel the impact of the gunfire resonating through your husband’s metal body. Worry clutches at your heart when Piotr lets out sharp, ragged groans; he’s largely invulnerable in his armor, not to mention his sense of touch is severely dulled, but you know that with shit like this he’s still feeling some sort of pain –and there’s nothing you can do. You’re both pinned down, and as powerful as your shockwaves are, they’re not enough to stop or even skew the trajectory of a bullet—
Blue light washes over both of you. The sound of the gunfire wanes, replaced by warbling, pinging noises instead.
You peer around Piotr’s side to see Illyana standing between the two of you and the oncoming cars. She has her arms outstretched, palms facing the onslaught of adversaries. A shimmering, sky blue shield with various magical incantations floating through it surrounds all of you, stretching into the sky for at least forty feet.
Illyana grunts. She’s being shoved backwards from the force of impact from the bullets. Her feet are digging into the ground, leaving ruts as she tries to hold her stance. “We need new plan!”
“How about ‘stay alive?’” Piotr shouts back as he digs shrapnel out of the grooves on his arms.
Wade, Neena, Nate, and Frank come barreling out the back door, faces streaked with soot and blood. They dive for the ground, covering the backs of their heads and necks with their hands—
An explosion goes off inside the mansion. The shockwave shatters windows on both the first and second floor, blowing out window frames and trim.
Piotr covers your body with his once more. He cups your head with his hand, shielding you from the falling debris and the worst of the shockwave.
You cough and hack as smoke billows out the broken windows and doors. You do your best to make a vortex to suck the smoke away and send it up into the air. Your lungs burn, and your ears are ringing like a bell from all the gunfire and the explosion—
Four more gunmen emerge from the smoke pouring out the back door.
You snarl, then whip blasts of air at them, slamming them into the exterior walls of the house.
One of them goes down, while the other three are merely stunned.
Mikhail comes barreling out next. He lets out a guttural battle cry, then sucker punches one of the men in the back of the head before aiming a blast of rust colored energy at another’s gut.
The man screams as he sails into the air, arcing over the tree line and disappearing somewhere in the canopies.
The third man aims his gun at Mikhail –then staggers and drops to the ground when a beam of golden energy sears through his chest.
Alex storms out of the smoke with Artemis and your uncle trailing close behind her. She glares down the remaining gunmen and cars, teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Blood is flecked across her face and spattered over her leather jacket. “House is clear!”
“Yeah, except now we’re about to be cleared out!” Wade hollers back. “As in, ‘all sales final, no returns, no exchanges!’”
“If we could make plan,” Illyana screams, voice strained with the effort of holding the shield, “would be very great!”
You look over to Alex –and see her eyes widen. You whirl towards the gunmen just in time to see one of them aim a rocket launcher at all of you. “Oh, for the love of—”
The first hit is technically deflected by Illyana’s shield, insomuch that the projectile and the shield both shatter the moment they meet. The force of the magic breaking sends out a shockwave of blue energy that flies backwards into all of you, knocking those who managed to get up back off their feet and stunning the rest of you.
You groan, head reeling. Your vision clears slowly, casting double images when you move too quickly. Shit.
You can make out Piotr, just next to you. He’s lying face down on the lawn, grunting and moving in slow, clumsy movements. He turns his head, brow furrowing when he sees you, and reaches out towards you.
You extend your hand to grab his –but he’s just out of your reach, no matter how far you strain. Your body feels heavy with fatigue and pain; everything inside you is screaming to get up, to fight, to keep moving because death is knocking right on your door, and you’ll be damned if this is how you go out—
Alex recovers first –no surprise there. She shoves herself to her feet, seething and growling like a feral beast. She hurls a blast of energy at one of the cars –and, from the sounds of the carnage, makes a direct hit. She storms towards the sea of mafia men like an avenging angel, hell bound on vengeance and blood.
Audible gasps go up from the amassed assassins.
You lift your head to see several of the gunmen backing away from the mansion and crossing themselves with shaking hands. You chalk it up to Alex being Alex, and make to drop your head back against the ground once more—
And then you see Allison standing in the ruined doorway.
She’s glaring down the gunmen with a viciousness that doesn’t suit the youthful roundness of her face. Her brows are knit together, and her mouth is twisted into an ugly scowl. Her eyes are glowing a brilliant shade of blue and give off little wisps of azure colored smoke. Her skin and hair are smoking as well, creating an aura around her body. Blood drips down from her nose and onto her shirt –which is stained with ash and soot. There are burn marks and indents on her wrists from where the repression cuff and the handcuffs used to be, respectively, but the restraints themselves are gone.
The ground begins to shake. Two patches of cerulean light appear underneath the grass, growing larger until they form swirling vortexes of magical energy. The ground begins to crumble at the edges of the portals, eroding away and growing wider until they make gaping tunnels that channel so deeply into the earth there’s no telling how far they truly go.
You recoil when the smell of sulfur and smoke blenches forth from the tunnels. Shit, did she hit a gas line? Fucking dammit, like this day can get any worse—
Echoing, blood-chilling howls emanate from the tunnels.
Your eyes widen –and then your heart starts working overtime when you see two, then four massive hellhounds (like the ones Allison summoned at the mall) crawl out of the tunnels.
Shrieks of terror sound from the gunmen. Several take off running, while others try to shoot the beasts.
The hounds snap and snarl at the gunmen, then charge at the group. Two of them go off after the runners, while the other two start lunging after the assassins like they’re rabbits.
You stare at the chaos in disbelief –and then a set of strong hands grab you underneath the arms.
“Get up.” You uncle tugs you to your feet, keeping you steady when you stumble. “You can’t be in the flow of traffic for this.”
Behind you, Allison is panting like she’s run a marathon. The aura of blue smoke is growing around her, trailing into the air and floating over the ground. Veins of light spread across her face and arms, glowing the same shade of vibrant blue as her eyes. Her breathing grows louder and more ragged, until she’s growling and shaking with each exhale— and then she screams.
Much like the first confrontation in the cemetery, all those months ago, the scream unleashes a shockwave of blue energy. This time, though, the shockwave is far from a decoy for escape. It washes over you, the X-Force, your uncle, the other Rasputins, Frank, and Artemis harmlessly enough –then slams into the mafia forces and vehicles like the wall of a hurricane.
Alex charges after the shockwave, carefully trailing behind it. She waits until it clears the first line of gunmen, then slams her fist into the face of the man closest to her. She blocks his attempt to strike her, then twists his arm –dislocating the shoulder, which makes him shriek in pain. Then, she wrenches his rifle away from him. She shoots him once in the center of his forehead, then turns the firearm on his fellow men and keeps firing.
Mikhail and Artemis go after the one surviving Gatling gun. Mikhail teleports onto the truck bed; he sweeps the back of one man’s jacket over his head, effectively blinding him, then kicks the other man present in the balls before shoving him over the side of the truck.
Artemis, on the other hand, stops a few feet away from the truck. She uses her telekinesis to rip the Gatling gun off its mount, then yanks the driver out through the windscreen –headfirst, no less—and dumps him on the lawn.
He doesn’t get back up.
“Come on,” your uncle says, pointing towards the further reaches of the property, where some of the gunmen are still trying to outrun the hellhounds. “Let’s give the dogs a helping hand.”
The two of you reach out, creating a wind current that slices through the air and slams into the stragglers.
The men careen into nearby hedges –and the hellhounds have it from there.
The familiar sonic blast of Nathan’s gun rips through the air. The shot slams into the last remaining SUV, rendering the vehicle to little more than glass shards and mangled metal.
The back lawn and gardens fall silent, save for the sounds of groans of pain and the hellhounds chewing on various gunmen.
Mikhail takes a fall off the back of the truck bed. He flops onto the ruined grass below, limbs splaying like a rag doll’s. “Alright. Is time for nap. Wake me… never.”
Illyana scoffs from where she’s sat next to a smoldering bush. She picks up a nearby stone, then chucks it at her eldest brother’s head (and hits her target, no less). “There is still clean up. Bezdel'nik.”
Mikhail flips her off, then groans as he rubs the bridge of his nose.
“She’s right,” Alex lectures her eldest as she picks her way through the carnage. She nudges one body with the toe of her combat boot, then shoots him through the temple when he groans.
“Mama!” Piotr gapes at her, expression scandalized. He sputters, looking between her and the body at her feet.
“Chto? Vy khotite yego zhivym? Chtoby on mog dolozhit' svoim khozyayevam? Chtoby on mog obrushit' adskiy ogon' na etu shkolu i vsekh, kogo vy lyubite? No –no.” She holds up her index finger and stares sternly at Piotr when he tries to argue. “You do not leave enemies on your six o’clock, medvezhonok. First rule of survival.”
Piotr swallows hard, then says softly, “X-Men do not kill.”
Alex shrugs. “And I am not an X-Man.”
“We’ll handle it,” Nathan says. He holds his hand out for Alex’s rifle, nodding when she hands it to him after a moment���s hesitation.
(Wade and Frank are already working their way through the sea of dead and wounded. Frank’s traversing the chaos methodically, sticking to minimal shots to kill the survivors, while Wade’s alternating between singing “Dancing Queen” and getting post-mortem revenge.
“You shot my dick off inside!” Wade gasps as he peers down at a –slightly chewed on—corpse. “Extra bullets for you!” He then shoots the dead body several times before resuming his pitchy serenade.)
“What now?” Allison asks, staring out at the carnage with a slightly shocked expression.
“‘What now?’” Artemis repeats, laughing incredulously. She stomps towards Allison, pulling a pack of tissues out of her inner jacket pocket. “What the hell are you even doing out here? You were supposed to stay in the safe room—”
“They had cameras in there,” Allison says with a roll of her eyes, as if that justifies her decision to join the fracas. “You guys were getting your asses kicked.”
“We would’ve handled it.”
“Yeah, except you weren’t,” Allison fires back. She scrunches up her face when Artemis starts wiping the blood off her face, but otherwise takes the mothering without any complaint.
“It’s not your responsibility to deal with this shit,” Artemis says, voice and expression softening for a moment. She cleans up Allison’s face –then scowls. “And where the fuck are your cuffs? How did you even get out of them?”
Allison shrugs. “I used my powers to short the repression cuff out and ash it off.”
Illyana’s, Alex’s, and your uncle’s heads all snap around to stare at Allison.
“Are you kidding me?” Artemis hisses through clenched teeth. “You could’ve fucking killed yourself!”
“Or caused magical paradox that ripped hole in space-time continuum,” Illyana snaps.
“Ruptured blood vessels in your brain and caused an aneurysm, made the cuff deliver a lethal electrical shock, turned your magic against your own body and rendered yourself to ash,” your uncle continues, ticking off items on his fingers.
“Well, I didn’t do any of that!” Allison snarls, glaring at the others while Artemis keeps cleaning up her face. “And I made sure you losers won the fight –so fuck off!”
“Get her something to eat and drink,” Alex says. “Her blood sugar is bound to be low after pulling a stunt like that.”
Artemis glares at Alex and opens her mouth to respond—
Across the yard, Wade lets out a pained shriek. “My balls are not fetch toys! Bad Fido! Bad!”
Your eyes widen as you watch one of the hellhounds swing Wade around by his legs. You bite down on your lip, holding in a shock-induced laugh.
“Where’s this mutt’s off-switch –hey, hey! No!” Wade wriggles in the hellhound’s mouth, panicking as another beast bounds towards him. “My spine is not a tug toy! Can someone get rid of Fido and Rufus before they rip me in half!”
Allison snorts –then, before anyone can stop her, holds out her hand and flicks her wrist.
All four hellhounds melt back into the ground, disappearing to the depths of hell from whence they came.
Artemis swears under her breath, then catches the teen when she stumbles. She moves frantically, grabbing more tissues as blood starts pouring out of Allison’s nose once more. “You fucking idiot. Why the fuck did you do that? When are you going to fucking learn that you’re not invincible—”
Allison lets out a sharp, hoarse laugh –then passes out.
The wreckage inside the mansion is heartbreaking.
You stare at the ruined furniture, the scorched walls, the splintered doors, the ruined rec room and kitchen, and you have to wonder what was the fucking point?
Part of you understands that the mafia came prepared for war; they were going up against powerful mutants, so –naturally—they would want to be prepared. Having the strongest, most powerful weapons available increased their chances of success. Logically –from a strictly tactical standpoint—it makes sense.
Glass crunches under your shoes. You stare down at a litany of fallen picture frames, heart wrenching as you stare at the ruined pictures of graduates, students, and workers inside. We’re just a school. We work with kids. What was the point of trying to wipe us out?
Piotr ambles up behind you. He puts his arms around your shoulders and kisses the top of your head. “Cleaners and repairmen will be here in less than one hour.”
You feel numb. You place your hand on his arm. “That’s good.”
“We have back ups of pictures,” he murmurs. He kisses your cheek. “Insurance to cover replacing damaged items. We will be fine.”
“I know.” You sigh, leaning back against your husband’s chest. “We’re just a school. What… what was the point? Why try to wipe us out?”
“I do not know.” Piotr kisses your other cheek, hugging you reassuringly. “Perhaps they believed we knew information about ‘family business.’ Or that we were protecting Allison for some reason.”
“She’s just a kid,” you argue, voice breaking as your grief and exhaustion wells up and threatens to overtake you. “She’s only thirteen…”
Piotr says nothing, merely holds you closer.
You sigh—
And then a door slams. Hurried stomps echo down the hall. There’s creaking as a door opens again, followed by more footsteps and exasperated shouts.
Allison storms past you and Piotr, heading towards the kitchen. Her jaw is set, fists clenched at her sides.
You and Piotr look at each other –then follow after her, if only to be sure that nothing else is going to explode today.
She slams her hands down on the island counter –and, on the opposite side, Frank and Karen both flinch and stare at her warily.
Allison glares at Frank, jaw working convulsively. Her shoulders heave with each breath she takes. Her eyes shine with unshed tears, making the bags underneath seem darker and deeper by comparison. She trembles, expression flickering wildly between grief, white hot rage, and the neutral mask she’s trying so desperately to hold. She sucks in a breath that sounds more like a pained sob, then stares Frank down and spits out through gritted teeth, “You leave my people alone, I leave yours alone. Deal?”
Frank sighs. He nods, expression heavy with grief and eyes shining with remorse. “Yeah, kid. You got a deal.”
Allison clenches the edge of the island so hard her hands go white. She lets out a strangled, angry laugh as the tears finally start to fall. She ducks her head briefly, then glares back up at Frank. “I fucking hate you.”
Frank grimaces, but nods and says, “I know kid. It’s okay. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“That ain’t worth shit.”
“I know… believe me, I know.”
Artemis –who’d previously been watching at the kitchen threshold—steps forward and puts her arm around Allison’s shoulders. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go.”
Allison clenches her teeth together, but still lets out a choked sob. She presses her lips together, looking around the room to try and regain her composure, to stop the flow of tears. She manages a deep breath, then takes one last look at Frank and snarls, “If I have to see your fucking face again, I’m ripping out your guts,” before storming out of the room.
Frank, to his credit, doesn’t respond (though you suspect he feels too guilty to even consider arguing). He merely hangs his head, expression that of a kicked dog.
Karen leans against him. She interlocks her fingers with his, murmuring in his ear (likely about how it isn’t his fault, and while it looks like that may technically be the case, you’re glad you don’t have to walk the spider’s silk of a line those facts lie upon).
What a shitshow.
Piotr puts an arm around your shoulders and gently leads you out of the kitchen. “Come on, myshka. Let’s go find spot to rest.”
Frank and Karen leave shortly after “making the deal” with Allison.
Allison and Artemis hang back for a bit to talk to Xavier. You don’t get all the gorey details but from what you can tell, it’s essentially an offer to help train Allison’s powers so she doesn’t hurt herself rolled in with a warning to keep her nose clean, stay on the straight and narrow, etcetera etcetera.
The sun’s just starting its descent from the sky before the two of them walk out of the meeting room.
Allison is wearing Artemis’s jacket and looks downright haggard.
Artemis has her arm around the teen and is gently guiding her while she talks to Xavier (though, perhaps the term “talk” is too generous, considering most of her responses are nods or terse, one-to-two word replies).
The rest of the Rasputin family, you, Piotr, and your uncle are all gathered in the foyer to make sure Allison and Artemis leave without too much trouble (or causing more trouble themselves).
Your uncle is sweating bullets and looks like he just shit his pants; he’s glancing between Alex and their daughter so fast it’s a miracle he hasn’t given himself a headache yet.
Now or never, you think, watching him with pursed lips. Tell your secrets before they’re told for you.
Alex kneels down next to Allison. “Are you okay?”
Allison’s gaze doesn’t leave the floor. “The fuck do you think?”
She quirks her mouth to the side. “Not all that good.” Alex ducks her head lower, trying to catch Allison’s gaze. “You remember what we talked about?”
Allison’s eyes narrow. She moves her gaze away from Alex. “Go to hell. I know what I know.”
“Sometimes… it’s better to not,” Alex says. She stares at Allison for a moment longer, then pats her shoulder before standing and walking away.
Artemis stares after Alex, expression morphing rapidly between fury and shock. She sputters for a moment before snapping, “What –that’s all you have to fucking say?”
Alex pauses, turning slightly so she can see Artemis. She raises one eyebrow, otherwise looking unbothered. “Is there something else I should be saying?”
“You don’t have anything to say to me?” Artemis presses, crossing her arms over her chest. “Nothing at all?”
“Is there something you want me to say to you?” Alex fires back, smirking slightly.
Artemis stares at Alex for a long, hard moment. She shakes her head, eyes welling up with tears, then turns her glare onto your uncle. “You really didn’t fucking tell her.”
“What?” Alex’s expression sobers, going wary as she looks between your uncle and Artemis. “What didn’t you—”
“This really isn’t the time or place—” Your uncle tries.
And here it goes.
“I’ve gotta do all the work, then,” Artemis snarls with a vicious smile. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense, considering I’m not your favorite,” she tacks on with an angry glare towards you. She storms towards Alex, one hand outstretched, with a cruel, angry smile stretched across her face. “Hey, mom. How’s it going?”
Alex’s eyes widen. She stares at Artemis, eyes tracking over the younger woman’s face. “What…”
“You fucking heard me.”
Illyana, Piotr, and Mikhail look at each other, then at Alex, then at Nikolai. They explode into confused Russian, gesturing between their parents, Artemis, and your uncle—
Realization dawns in Alex’s dark eyes. Her expression trembles, tears welling up in her eyes as she stares at Artemis’s face.
And then she uses her telekinesis to yank your uncle over and decks him.
38 notes · View notes
sage-nebula · 3 years
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idk if u heard but rumiko takhashi confirmed sess is rins dad in the og inuyasha, sess is saved !
Yeah, I heard. And honestly? I’m not impressed.
First of all, not tolerating pedophilia in any form is the one of the absolute bare minimum requirements for being a decent person. It’s right there along with “don’t murder people” and “don’t rape people” and “don’t abuse animals.” You don’t get a cookie or a congratulations for doing the absolute bare minimum to be decent. The absolute bare minimum is what’s expected of you. It’s what you should be doing without provocation. It shouldn’t take an enormous backlash to your behavior to make you do the absolute bare minimum, and if you do have to go through that, then you need to sit down and seriously reflect on yourself as a person so you can figure out why you needed a bunch of people freaking out on you for you to not be doing heinous shit.
So with that being said, I’m not going to thank or congratulate Rumiko Takahashi for doing the absolute bare minimum by saying that she always saw Sesshoumaru and Rin’s relationship as father-daughter in her original work. Not only was it obvious that their relationship was familial in her original work (and thus I really didn’t need her to confirm that), but her saying that in response to backlash to the romantic Sesshoumaru/Rin pairing in Yashahime (and only saying that after the first season has stopped airing) comes across as her trying to cover her own ass, perhaps particularly because she signed that petition against banning pedophilia in anime/manga. I’m not going to thank or congratulate her for doing the absolute bare minimum, particularly when it seems she’s doing it not because she’s decent, but because there’s been blowback over what occurred in the sequel series.
On that note, there’s a cliché that goes something like, “There’s no use in closing the barn door after the horse has already escaped.” It doesn’t matter what Rumiko Takahashi says about her intentions in the original series, because the fact remains that she greenlit what Sunrise did with Yashahime (and what they did was make Sesshoumaru/Rin a canon pairing, at least as far as what’s been presented in the anime thus far). To be incredibly honest, I don’t care what her reasons are. I don’t care if she did it because she thought it was a good idea, and I don’t care if she hated the idea but only agreed because of the prospect of money. If she did it because she agreed with the idea, then she’s a disgusting person who supports pedophilia. If she did it because she wanted money, then she’s a disgusting person who sells out morals for money. Either way, she’s gross. I have no use for people like that. She could have said “no,” she could have refused all involvement. She chose to be involved knowing what they were doing. (And no, there’s no confirmation that she “fought” with them over it; that part of the interview translation was fabricated as far as I can tell.) As a result, she is a person I do not respect, and nothing she says or does now can change that.
Because let’s get one thing straight: Even if the second season reveals that Mom!Rin was all a ruse, and someone else was the mother all along, that doesn’t change what was depicted in season one. That doesn’t change that season one spent its time depicting Sesshoumaru/Rin as a couple, that it showed heroic characters (e.g. Kagome, Sango, Kaede) being perfectly okay and even supportive of them as a couple, that it romanticized the idea of a grown man raping a teenage girl that he’d raised since her early childhood. It literally does not matter at all if season two retcons that, because season one still exists and was still shown to so many little girls, normalizing this idea for them, depicting it as something good and romantic. Even if season two says, “It was made up by the villain, none of that happened!” a.) that only explains the story told in episode 15, b.) it was told to Towa by Kaede, c.) Jaken seems to believe it too, and d.) it’s far too little, far too late. Rumiko Takahashi being okay with all of that because it would be retconned in a season that happens potentially a couple years from now doesn’t make her a respectable person in my eyes. The fact that she greenlit that at all, for any reason, made me lose any respect I once had for her. If she didn’t want people to think that she was okay with pedophilia, she should have never greenlit the sequel. Period.
As for Sesshoumaru . . . I’m going to be honest with you: I never cared about him very much to begin with. Just about the only use I had for him at all was as Rin’s father-figure, because growing up with abusive and emotionally neglectful parents made me crave that kind of relationship representation in fiction. The found family aspect of Sesshoumaru and Rin was something I really cherished, but outside of that I didn’t have much care for his character. I didn’t think about him too much, I didn’t ship him with anyone. My favorite character was (and still is) Kikyou, and I also liked Inuyasha a lot back then because as an angry teenager myself (due to the aforementioned abuse) I related to how he, too, was an angry teenager.
My point is: I never cared about Sesshoumaru, so my revulsion with Sesshoumaru/Rin and my pleas to have it not happen in Yashahime didn’t really have anything to do with him, and instead had everything to do with not wanting a little girl to be raped and victimized like she was. Again, my favorite character was Kikyou, and my opinion on Rin pretty much started and ended with “she’s cute and deserves happiness after what she went through.” It’s not like I was a Rin stan. But in a situation like this, I’m always, always, always, always going to have more consideration and care for the victim than the rapist. I didn’t want Sesshoumaru/Rin to happen because Rin didn’t deserve to be raped, not because Sesshoumaru didn’t deserve to be labeled a pedophilic child rapist. So whether Sesshoumaru is “saved” or not really doesn’t matter to me at all. I want Rin to be saved. I want her to have not been a victim of rape. I want her to have not had to give birth to twins at 15 years old. I want her to get out of that tree. I want her to be able to have a happy, fulfilling life. I want her to be able to be her own person, without her story revolving around a male character (whether that male character is Sesshoumaru or Kohaku, because honestly, I never shipped Rin with anyone either). Sesshoumaru can get rabies and die for all I care, especially after that disgusting shit in Yashahime that Rumiko Takahashi gave the go-ahead on. The only one of those two characters whose happiness and safety matters is Rin’s, because she’s a little girl who deserved to be protected and instead was victimized by pretty much everyone around her. 
TL;DR:
I’m not impressed with Rumiko Takahashi and she has forever lost my respect for greenlighting Yashahime regardless of what she says. Yashahime has depicted pedophilia in a positive and romantic light and nothing that happens in season two could possibly change that. I never had use for Sesshoumaru outside of him being a good father to Rin and so I was not angry on his behalf for Sesshoumaru/Rin being a thing in Yashahime, but rather angry on Rin’s behalf, because she was an innocent child who didn’t deserve such a thing to happen to her. I hope that clears things up. 
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dorki-c · 3 years
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My Guardian Demon |Chapter 1, Part 2: Two Dreams
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Relationship: Izuku Midoriya X (Reader)
Rating: 16+
A/N: Hey! Hey! Hey! Everybody! I just wanted to let you all know that in the beginning of this series like prologue story arc wise, I will only be highlighting the main points of said story arc.
TW: Suffocation and depiction of injury!
[Masterlist] [<--- Previous| Next --->]
(Song reccomendation for this chapter: Feeling Good by Michael Bublé)
PROMPT QUESTION FOR THIS STORY ARC: Are all demons ‘bad’?
When leaving the school gates with a silent warning that he gave to (y/n), there were a few minor details bothering him when traversing through the empty streets leading home.
At least he was able to walk alone to clear the commotion of todays events.
Sure, Izuku was used to Bakugou’s harassment towards him. For the most part, his mind always filtered out the nasty phrases that were thrown at him for the longest time.
However, what Bakugou had said was completely out of line.
Telling Izuku to commit suicide? Wow, what a great friend he was (if you could even call him that…).
Though the green-haired boy could easily say that about (y/n) as well. Even though its him and his stupid demon against society.
Was he sure that something may happen today? No, absolutely not. Even when turning a corner of the semi-suburban area that was closest to Aldera Junior High school, Izuku isn’t clairvoyant to anything that involves him.
Nope, not at all.
Even when making his way under the dark tunnel (to which he ignores his demon trying to hold him back from going in there, saying something along the lines of “W-w-wait! I don’t want to go down this way…”), Izuku still holds his head up high and ventures down the tunnel.
Like I said before, the green-haired boy isn’t clairvoyant that involves around him.
Plus, that shouldn’t exempt him from being cautious about what might lurk in the shadows.
Until this point, (y/n) only spoke in short sentences, though the only thing that caught Izuku off guard was the shaky utterance of “Izuku…L-Look behind you!”
He regrets looking behind him; A thing manifesting as a large murky green glob, paired with two large eyes and razor layered teeth (that scarcely resembled shark teeth), loomed over the 14 year old’s body.
I-I-It’s a villain!
As soon as Izuku blinked, one moment he was free and scrambling to his feet (fearful of the sludge villain) and the next, his body was trapped in something slimy… The green sludge body dripped with viscous thick globs as it wrapped like a vice around the boy. With a waterfall of pleading cut short and shown through desperate green eyes as Izuku squirmed annoyingly to the villain, there was no chance of escaping because he would be dead “in a minute” tops.
In a vain attempt to free Izuku from the grasps of the villain, the demon’s futile attempts to scratch away at the slime, only resulted in their misty hands to pass through the slime like their hand was non-existent.
Fuck—If a damn hero isn’t going to save Izuku, then it has to be his demon’s duty to do so.
Though it’s quite challenging for (y/n) to grip Izuku’s shoulders and pull him forward, it doesn’t have enough energy to stall for time.
 Was fate cursing (y/n) again? The sun was up high in the sky, yet it always deceived the unguarded and weakest of them all. Didn’t it? If it wasn’t for the saving grace of a frisbee object hitting the villain in the eye, the sludge villain recoiled backwards and (thankfully) released its hostage, where the boy’s limp body met face first into the pavement.
.
.
.
Staying close to Izuku’s unconscious body, (y/n) watched as the pro-hero blatantly invaded their owner’s space and didn’t hear their screeching of something along the words of “DISGUSTING!!!” and “AAAAAAAH BEGONE! BEGONE! BEGONE!!” And the boy wasn’t woken up because of the cheek slaps, it was because of (y/n)’s obnoxious protests of the pro-hero’s cheek slaps.
Let’s not forget the loudest sigh released by the demon when one, Izuku (finally) woke himself up, and two, when that (god forsaken flimsy, annoying, outrageous) hero, was actually the number 1 hero, has retracted his hand from the demon’s owner.
(And (y/n) definitely called the number one hero “a filthy maggot that is followed by an equally filthy contra-” before they were tuned out of Izuku’s ears.)
“Ah! Thought we lost you there!” Announced the hero (to nobody in particular).
This, unfortunately, caused Izuku to pale- where it practically looked like his whole face lost all of its colour, including his eyes- and for (y/n) to think (if they even have thoughts in the first place…) that if there was a camera pointed straight at their face, it would show the most horrifying deadpanned expression on the demon’s non-existent face which would break the camera lens.
Screaming and scampering backwards, Izuku only managed to utter the words “C-C-CAN I HAVE AN AUTOGRAPH!!” before seeing his notebook (which was coincidently fish food a couple of minutes ago) signed by the hero and bowing to said hero out of gratefulness, although knowing their owner; (y/n) figured that Izuku would obviously cherish this autograph as a ‘family heirloom’.
(Izuku may or may not have blurted that out in the moment. Oh well. You can’t take everything you say back.)
.
.
.
“I have a question…” Murmured the green haired boy as the hero turned tail to “deliver this villain to the police station!” Sadly, the hero didn’t hear him and was about to leave the boy, where his demon was shaking their head in disappointment- “Why bother asking him?” Whispered (y/n), leaving the faint trace of their empty temperature to scarcely brush his cheek, “The man in front of you is a mere façade of bravery.” - it’s not like Izuku cares about his demon’s opinion.
Even when it’s in situations like this.
(And by situations, I mean when Izuku and his demon are clutching for dear life on the infamous hero’s legs when flying more than fifty feet above the ground.)
Looking below his feet, Izuku is always reminded that great power also has a greater price to it.
And well, All Might would probably agree (if it weren’t for being airborne).
Additionally, why did it look like you were enjoying him scream in fear for his life, when you know that if he dies, you die too.
(Was his demon secretly a sadist?!)
.
.
.
The landing was rocky and rough, but at least his feet managed to stand on their own after a few moments of wobbling and the small rub of your hand against his to beckon him to stand “tall and proud for being uniquely him”.
Glancing towards the hero, (y/n) scoffed in disgust at the retreating soldier whereas Izuku only begged him to “Wait,” continuing along with an unspoken prayer casted off to the sky and “one second!” to remain.
“No!”
It’s typical of a hero to say that word, but situations like this aren’t.
“I don’t have any time.” --- “I have to know!” --- “Why do you bother with him, Izuku?”
The years of quirklessness weren’t new to him. Though he wanted more.
“Even if everyone thinks I’m useless…” Izuku wanted more fulfilment for himself.
“Despite what anybody thinks.” (Y/n) wanted freedom for themself.
“I need to know.” The two of them had dreams.
“Is It possible to become a hero, without a quirk?” Even with a fearless grin, the man before the aftermath was the symbol of peace.
Well to put it simply, the embodiment of peace was secretly a human coat hanger. Now, how would the murky red demon and green haired boy react to said human coat hanger?
Uh…Yeah, they’re both screaming; Izuku was doing it out of horror, (y/n) was doing it out of disgust.
(This is a typical occurrence.)
“WHERE’S ALLMIGHT?!” The worn-down skeleton of a man looked like a couple of popsicle sticks were stuck together with Elmer’s glue as the artist called it a day. Looking left to right, then again, and finally- just for good luck- glanced left and right, as society always said, “Third time is the charm”.
“You! You’re not him!” Izuku profoundly screeched, where in fact both his demon and scrawny adult rolled their eyes. “Izuku, you don’t even have his birth certificate to prove that he—” Though poor (y/n) got cut off by Allmight proclaiming “You know how guys at pools like to suck in their muscles and flex at the same time?” The flaxen haired male then said “I’m kind of like that…” which did nothing to soothe the teenager’s shock.
“What! No! Allmight isn’t some scrawny—old—depressed looking human being!” Oh boy, your owner was as stubborn as an old mule.
“Izuku, stop what your—” Again, (y/n) was cut off by another person, “All Might’s is a hero with a fearless grin who beats every obstacle!”
.
.
.
“Kid, there’s plenty of fear behind a smile. Don’t be fooled.” The rustling of a white shirt caught the attention of the demon and human alike. And what it revealed…well…it was pretty nauseating.
“Pretty gross, isn’t it?”
The merged sickening stitching of skin pulled together in a makeshift attempt to preserve as the hero’s body, at the epicentre of the wound was a thick encircled glob of pink that seemed to allow an abundance of conjoined violet speckles to extend outwards in an attempt to infect the rest of his body.
“I got this in a fight around five years ago.” Relaxing his body, and moving the shirt downwards, the hero continued, “My respiratory system was destroyed, I lost my stomach, and the rest is history.” Even if his shitty joke didn’t lift the depressing tone of reality, all Izuku could do is stand there in shock—maybe a tad bit of horror— however he would’ve never thought that the one and only top hero of Japan had an injury!
(Izuku’s naïve thinking always rubbed his demon the wrong way sometimes.)
“W-wait! Does that mean Toxic Chainsaw gave you this injury!” Chuckling and turning his glance to the side, All Might shook his head. “I’m impressed, you know your stuff- however, that punk couldn’t land a couple hits on me, even if they wanted to.” “Most of the world wouldn’t have known about this fight, regardless of how much you dug through any news articles.”
(And most of the world would’ve never known about the deadly purple miasma growing on their precious hero’s body.) .
.
.
“This job isn’t easy, and to be nice—” At least Izuku would listen to All Might, whereas he ignored you at least 50% of the time, “—I think you would be better off picking a better profession, like a Police officer!”
------------------------------------------
“I mean he is right…” (Y/n) said to Izuku, as they continued their trek back home, with the boy loathful to agree at the red mist’s statement.
“Heroism isn’t easy.” Maybe he should give up his dream?
“You saw how disgusting his wound was.” He could be horribly injuried like All Might if he tries. “It’s practically oozing with miasma.” But Izuku can’t bring himself to give up his dream.
And if Izuku ever asked you to give up your dream of freedom, you would answer back with defiance.
“I know it isn’t easy (y/n).” 
 “I know I could die or get a wound like that.” 
“But I’m not giving up on my dream, if you aren’t going to give up on yours.”
Alas, the gloriously golden sun highlighted the features of the old dusk that was soon turning into their new dawn. 
(And might I say, if society got in their way, they will pay their dues the hard way.)
Taglist:
@glitterfreezed, @izukubabe​, @sweater-weather-seven, @nyanyabisjjj, @quietlegends, @dragonsdreamoffire​, @candybabey, @honeylavender13​​
CREDITS:
All content and art used within this story belongs to their respective owners. PLAGARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!
Art credits: Dorki-C and @glitterfreezed​
[MASTERLIST OF “My Guardian Demon”]​ [MAIN MASTERLIST]
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washymylifeaway · 3 years
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MatsuHana fanfic recs
HI LOVES :D MatsuHana is one of my FAVORITE ships and I always love reading their fics! I’m procrastinating my other wips rn, so that do be why this is coming out rn LOL. Also that ask really made me get onto writing this, so anon thank you for sending it in LOL. There are some with VERY sensitive topics and they’re very BOLD, but I hope you all are safe while going through this list <3 (also matsuhana leans more to lots of drinking, spicy smut scenes, and teenage boy humor (like d*ck jokes and sexual innuendos) and sometimes I don’t remember to warn for that, so again CAUTION)
As always, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for fics before reading and make sure you’re taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) Stay healthy loves <3
CP:
plus one by orphan_account (G) 6.1k // this fic made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside LOL. It’s also hilarious and is definitely worth a read! When will I get to share a heart shaped bed with someone :( But I really love it when they just go with the flow of things, and other people are like,,, aren’t you already dating? BUT THEY’RE LIKE UMMM NO? HSAKJSH.
rated m for by orphan_account (T) 10.7k // I love this fic it made me laugh so much throughout the whole thing! The vibes in this fic are immaculate and give me life (we love a good reunion with mystery writers), it is SO good! That’s why you should never leave/stop listening prematurely (@ iwa when he was a single dad fic). 
This gets annoying fast, Makki by Ink_stained_quills (G) 2.3k // IM IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC PLS I COULD NOT STOP CRYING TEARS OF LAUGHTER. This AU needs more fics PLEASE. It was SO freakin’ funny and the other teams KILLED ME. Like how they all approached the problem differently and how some of them (KUROO) asked for help LOL. Please this is so freaking funny go read it.
quidditch gloves, parchment, and custard cream by h_lovely (T) 12.4k // THIS IS SO GOOD, I love this fic. It really takes you through the emotions, and I love all the development in it!!!! Their relationship with one another (but only as homies right? ofc ofc), and even their families loving the other, this fic is so good! Read it even if you don’t like slow burn, you won’t even notice <3333
call me maybe by totooru (T) 33.6k // okay yea another (semi) chat fic,,, fight me. MatsuHana are just funny in general but throw some other characters (like Kuroo) into it and it turns into a comedy show. But the main point of this fic was like the near miss meetings and I think that the misunderstanding were hilarious (as much as I hate misunderstandings LOL).
Magical Mishaps and How to Deal by plumtrees (M) 10.9k // I lost this fic once and I searched for it FOR THE LONGEST TIME. But that’s cause I wanted to reread this masterpiece. IT’S SO FUNNY AND CUTE AND DOMESTIC AND UGH. Also the small angst made me SO SAD. But the ENDING? THE KISSES AHHHHHHH. (I’m yelling a lot BUT that’s cause I really love this fic <3333)
hang out fall in love by carafin (T) 8.6k // I love the Makki hates Mattsun initially but then falls for the irresistible charm he posses trope. It might be my favorite trope for MatsuHana specifically LOL. Like I really love this fic and it has MAGIC. It’s like a magical version of the VA one LOL. But like no radio shows or reunited best friends in this one :(
THESE ARE VERY ANGST!!!!!!!
boiled frogs by reginagalaxia (E) 91.5k // is it possible to hate a character this much? I never realized how much hate/rage I had in me. Really. Like. Imma boutta fight this MF LIKE SQUARE UP. The way I tried to manifest a fake characters death like,,,, Anyway. If my RAGE doesn’t explain how good of a freakin writer they are, then idk what will. PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND WARNINGS, THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!
Even Though it All Went Wrong by plumtrees (T) 9.2k // THIS IS THE REASON THIS POST CAME TO BE. I love this fic with all my heart (or what’s left of it). Like LOVE as in, this fic really broke me beyond just breaking me. Like. When Oikawa says what he says to Mattsun after the thing (you’re sorry __ _____ __ ____) and the Iwa right after (we know __’__ ___ ______ to make you ____ __ ____) (if you’re wondering wtf I’m putting here, just ctrl F you’re sorry and you’ll see), you cannot believe how hard that hit. GOD. (I am okay if you’re wondering :’)) This is my #1 favorite angst fic of all time and if you are okay mentally and have read the tags and warnings and are fine with them, then please read it. PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND WARNINGS, THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!
The Truth Comes Out by Your_Friendly_Neighborhood_Pigeon (T) 10.2k // this made me so sad and empty after I read it. Like I just sat there being like wtf did I just read I’m sad now. Again read the tags, there is a suicide attempt but there’s also some cheating in this one. This one also ends happy. PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND WARNINGS, THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!
New:
kiyala // this writer has a LOT of fluffy MatsuHana and I really love their works! It’s just all (for the most part) really cute and there’s a lotta blurred lines and boundaries that get cleared up (they define what their relationship is but with ~love~) in their fics :) My fav? Making Sense by kiyala (T) 1.5k // it’s very cute and I am one who loves when things just fall into place :D
tookumade // this writer has some of MY FAVORITE MatsuHana fics in it and I’m kinda really sad I don’t get to ramble on about them here :( (dw I will elsewhere LOL) If I had to choose, I would say Remind Me by tookumade (T) 28.6k and Zenith, Nadir by tookumade (T) 10.7k were my absolute favorites, but I cannot choose between them so don’t make me.
plumtrees // I LOVE THIS WRITER OMG. Again, someone who has written my all time FAVORITE fics (did I mention OF ALL TIME?) and I’ve obsessively read some of them too many times :’) Because I already recommended my other faves above, Captured Light by plumtrees (T) 3.5k will be my acting favorite rn. It’s really cute and depicts some really sweet moments between MatsuHana too!
h_lovely // this writer has SO MANY GOOD FICS! I really love their series and their getting together fics are all SO GOOD UGH. I recommended my favorite teen one above, but the other ones I loved are explicit so just check out this writer in general LOL. (I REALLY love mirror flower, water moon, it’s my favorite but it’s E cause some smexy scene happen, but it’s really SO good omfg. Also the roses series IS AMAZING as well!!!!)
cream puffs and carnations; by crossbelladonna (series) 11.6k // AU SERIES!!! I love the AU’s in this series and I really liked the prompts they chose for this MatsuHana week :D My favorite from this series might’ve been there he is again by crossbelladonna (T) 1.6k cause a) I love the mattsun hc in this (for his appearance) and b) IT’S CUTE :D I definitely related to Makki and his not very subtle crushing, and also I like the IwaOi + Makki as friends trope (and then they meet Mattsun), if you couldn’t tell yet LOL.
on the anatomy of crushes by carafin (T) 2.3k // (kinda cp but not LOL) it’s very short and cute and I love it a lot LOL. I love medical AU’s (even though it’s very back burner LOL), but also, like Mattsun saves the day is the move. Like the dedication he has even going on the bus? Especially for a guy? Amazing. I could never :’)
Parallel Lines by orphan_account (T) 16.3k // IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE CONSTANTLY. I hate math. Just putting that out here. And while it’s a math fic, IT? IS? SO? GOOD???? And like I love it when characters are smart, like I love intelligent characters so like this was just ajndf. (also same Mattsun, I am allergic to normal math.) 
live it up, drink it in by punybastard (T) 2.1k // GAH this one! This is a pretty iconic fic in MatsuHana hell (in my personal opinion) and if I didn’t have that two fic limit on my staple fics, this would be there. I really loved the ending of it (v cute and v well done), but also the small side stories that were inserted made it all the more entertaining :D (aka the volleyball) But they are drinking underage, so if you’re not about that BE WARNED.
it's cold out here by bishounen_curious (M) 8.6k // PLEASE I LOVE THIS FIC. YES READ YESYESYES READ. OKAY FIRST check tags and warnings, there’s a lot going on in this fic. Like don’t be stupid like them, drinking underage, and don’t do drugs not a good idea very very bad. Aside from that, I am in love with sad sad sad Makki (along with stupid IwaOi) and him being a sad drunk made me ajhkjdfs. Just read it and feel the akfnakjs with me LMFAO.
poolside by tothemoon (T) 4.1k // I’m starting this out with I LOVE the ending and I REALLY LOVE the way this confession panned out. It’s such a great concept and it made me ajhfldshf inside!!! Also, recursive endings are some of my favorites (if you couldn’t already tell LOL), and I think it really makes something so nostalgic and adds depth to a fic.
The Courage of Stars by FairyLights101 (T) 7.1k // AHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS FIC YES!!!! OKAY TW CANCER THERE’S CANCER IN THIS NO DEATH JUST PAIN and chemo (which basically is pain). Some controversy, but the angst part of me wanted him to die DONT GET ME WRONG, I’m glad he lived, but like imagine. I really love this fic, and his efforts in the bucket list were admirable :’)
we could be the greatest team by anyadisee (T) 5.7k // it’s my crack fic :D Yes, this is just Seijoh messing around, boys being boys, relationships being compared with other relationships. No pining, just me with my established relationships (and Iwa fanclubs cause those are a thing. ALWAYS).
Wet Your Whistle by darkmagicalgirl (E) 5.4k // SMUT ALERT okay but like while it’s a major plot point (lmfao I can’t believe myself), the storyline itself is good. Also, I’m all here for bartender Makki and tattoo Makki and not subtle at all Makki and basically everything Makki. I like banter and stupidity okay?
[obnoxious clucking noises] by parenthetic (renaissance) (T) 3.4k // some more crack fic for you <3333 Literally, just idiots being idiots. That’s the fic. LMFAO but seriously, I would like to participate as well,,,,, I have yet to lose a game of gay chicken cause of my lack of fear akdjaslk.
that's what you get (for waking up in vegas) by skittidyne (T) 4.2k // THIS IS SO FUNNY. I love Elvis cause he’s always officiating marriages in my fics LMFAO. But also IwaOi in this added some real nice comedy, and overall another crack fic but I really liked this one (AGAIN LMFAO).
A Bouquet of Flours by guyfierimpreg (G) 5.2k // first I want to know how they got the flour to scream, I just can’t figure it out so if anyone would like to send me pictures that’d be great. Second, they would do this bs and this is all canon. I said what I said, and I don’t take criticism. Like, matsuhana best parents proven by the magical mishaps fic (LMAO).
texting (with a capital S) by parenthetic (renaissance) (M) 2.1k // okay I just wanted to say that the accuracy in the math stuff being mentioned makes me feel like this writer was in calc ab or something and that’s trauma right there. Anyways, it’s a texting fic kinda sorta getting together kinda sorta not? Idk how to explain it, but it was funny and then smut LMFOAJIAHFSJS (the derail was just like IwaOi in gay chicken, someone call the police LMFAO).
nebulas by tothemoon (T) 10.8k // I like the casualness of it. Like the confession was just so casual (smooth Mattsun) and like the progression was GOOD. Like, it’s a very poetic fic and there’s lots of thinking of deeper meaning, but its still got some comedy sprinkled throughout. I really loved the flow of it!!!!
my heart beats for contract law by orphan_account (T) 4.4k // I too would have a breakdown over school (me pretending like I haven’t already done that ahaha), but I really love so many things about this fic! Everything was just so ajsdfljdsn and I really love the 3 part plan Mattsun comes up with :DDDD (esp pt 3). Also, to propose while having an emotional breakdown at 3am in a McDonalds drive through. A mf dream.
Reflex by hiuythn (T) 2.3k // PLEASE IF THEY DIDN’T MEET AT HS THIS WOULD BE CANON ASF. You cannot tell me you don’t think this would not be cannon asf. They would meet like this. Also poor Teuchi stuck in the middle of all of this. I haven’t watched naruto, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is random emotional sexual bonding over something. That is important. (THE ENDING AJKFHKJ)
You're in Pink (and I'm in blue) by Hyeyu (T) 4.4k // whooooo Hanahaki whooo anyway, despite how it seems, I like the hanahaki trope. I don’t fully understand it sometimes (most of the time tbh), but it adds some nice angst and desperate confessions, and I do appreciate those :D Honestly, I really liked the way this fic panned out, and I felt really bad for Iwa LOL.
stranger things by tinypersonhotel (G) 10.2k // I really like this one :D:D:D I love Makki + Oikawa friendship and they’re really the best to each other :’) The ending was satisfying, and the PLOT omg. It was SO good. I feel like I say this a lot though LOL, but I’m just really into fics with good plot progression (or else I don’t read them OOPS).
something of a disaster by latenights (T) 1.4k // chaos ahahhaha. Another crack fic? I hope no one is surprised LOL. It’s just a really short and simple, cute getting together fic with a LOT of insults LOL. I love this one in particular, “Tooru’s dinner special”.
snakes, meth labs and something like love by orphan_account (G) 3.6k // THE ROOMMATE AD PLEASE. I honestly would never think Oikawa would get a snake, but that doesn’t matter LOL. This was me indulging myself in the makki IwaOi best friends and mattsun stranger agenda but it’s a great agenda okay? It’s a good fic and there’s a microwaved fish :D
Lemonade by carriecmoney (T) 4.1k // okay once again, responsible drinking and don’t drink underage bad idea smh. But MatsuHana just making out where they want? I could see that. Yeah. Anyway, as much as public make out seshes make me *gag* feel embarrassed, what made me feel more *gag* embarrassed was the fact that the girls? just? stood? there? Like why are you watching this. Is that just me? I feel like they should’ve left smh.
surprise, surprise by airblends (T) 7.6k // some more pining and dancing around the issue whoooo. As much as I hate them not getting to the point (almost as much as I hate misunderstandings), it was a great fic. This is nosebleed c*ck block (idk if I needed to censor that but I did fight me).
A God for Every Season by timkons (T) 18.4k // I love the Hades and Persephone trope! Okay, I just love mythology leave me be, but anyway I really love a lot of this fic. Like how Mattsun thinks it’s a little brighter with Makki? CUTE I LOVE. But also, the fish funeral is ridiculous but also very on brand for Oikawa. And some BokuKuroo (idk is that their ship) in here as well :DDD
The Best/Worst Places to Cry in the City by AngryKitten (T) 4.4k // literally it is the title. Just you know, looking for the best place to cry in the city,,,, I’d like to say, don’t cat call people cause we’re not about that here. Even if it worked out for them, just don’t do it :/ Also don’t follow strangers. I feel like that’s a given but jic ya know?
this isn't exactly how i thought i'd be spending my adult years by jadedpearl (NR) 7.5k // okay petty Makki is yes and so is my Makki + IwaOi agenda LOL. (I’m thriving here can’t you tell? Yes regular skype/phone calls constantly) Anyway, blackouts and sickness really be here getting people together. (I’m asking nicely, nike.) And Makki is smooth with his words. (SHORTER MEN MADE ME LAUGH)
chocolate by tellalie (T) 3.6k // the dedication in this fic was amazing. Like making a whole a cake? Someone go do that for me. (For mankind.) Fake dating is really something else, but fake dating to out gag your best friends? Seems like I need to step up my game (but no seriously, my best friends are PDA monsters I hate it here). Also practice confessions are wack.
FINALLY I MADE IT. You don’t know how many times I almost gave up on finishing LMFAO. Is this my longest list? Idk. But I just know that I would’ve finished faster if I didn’t end up rereading almost every fic on this list LMFAO. Like no seriously I almost had to make a post saying this wouldn’t be coming out cause I got distracted by one of the longer fics (I’m blaming Mirror Flower, Water Moon specifically). But I hope you enjoyed this, and once again go thank that anon for spurring me into finishing this list LMFAO (am I a horse? Yea, probably but if one thing, I’m not sturdy).
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cambionverse · 3 years
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WE FUCKING MADE IT Y’ALL
this essay, “Of Spinoffs and Spinning Off” by Louisa Stein, is a published academic work that mentions cambionverse by name as part of a 700-page book about fandom studies!? HOLY SHIT??!? this was published in 2018 but it took the sheer chaotic SPN-returns energy of 2020 for us to stumble across it. astounding. love this for us
(quick aside to caveat that of course we were not the inventors of the Team Free Will 2.0 concept, it was already well-established before our first fic posted in 2011, and “Cambionverse” as a name is pretty specific to our fic series and not something people use for all fandom content that happens to feature Ben/Jesse/Claire. BUT STILL, shoutout to literally anyone who has made fanwork of our verse over the past ten years because YOU’RE FAMOUS NOW TOO)
(second aside to say “it is also entirely possible that the creators of the eventual canon version of Claire drew inspiration from the prior fan authored versions of teenage Claire.” U DON’T SAY)
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Text from the screencaps below:
“To my mind, there is no better example to demonstrate the politics of the “official” spinoff in conversation with energies and labors of fan spinning off than the longrunning fanbeloved TV series Supernatural, and so for the rest of this chapter I will use Supernatural as my case study. I do not mean to suggest that the spinning off that occurs by the hands of Supernatural fans is necessarily different in quality or significance than that of other series, fans, and fandoms, past and present. Rather I turn to Supernatural because its now 12year run offers a wealth of snapshots of different modes of industrial and fan spinning off, and the relationships and tensions between the two.
[...]
Spinning Off to a Better Text: The Cambionverse
Also in Textual Poachers, Henry Jenkins talked about how fan authorship (often) emerged from dissatisfaction as much as from enthusiasm on the part of fans. Elsewhere I have argued that fan works can be seen as critique as well as supplement in that they point to holes, to misrepresentations, to gaps, to things left wanting (Stein forthcoming). Some fan spinoff verses—like the Endverse—seem to cumulatively build on the source text, giving us more of what the text offered, and thus do not seem to be oppositional to the source text. But even such works that follow clear markers in the source text can be read as critique. Fan authorship of “Down to Agincourt” and other Endverse works function as critique as they voice fan desires for different narratives and themes, along the lines of: “We want more Endverse; We want darker tales that blur morality further; we want a darker version of Dean, a continued depiction of Sam and Lucifer, a more extended stay with drug and sex fixated Castiel.”
At the same time, spinoff verses can find their origin in critique driven by fan desire to fix some of the consistent perceived failings of the source text. For Supernatural, this means that fans envision and author spinoffs that feature female characters, people of color, and queer characters (and characters who merge these identity markers) who don’t get killed. For example, in between season eight and nine, fans envisioned a version of Supernatural that centered on powerful female “big bad” Abaddon, rather than relegating her to marginal, doomed, and finally unimportant figure. At around the same time, fans authored the first stories in what they termed Cambionverse, also referred to as “Team Free Will 2.0.” The Cambionverse envisioned the next generation of hunters, comprised of characters who had (then) only been featured in single episodes. One of these characters at the center of this fan envisioned spinoff was Claire Novak, daughter of Jimmy Novak, whose body the angel Castiel possessed. Like the Endverse, Claire Novak had offered story and character potential that the Supernatural series seemed to overlook but that resonated with fans. Thus, as fans continued to write stories featuring Claire together with other oneoff characters Jesse Turner and Ben Braeden, these stories to a certain degree served as critique of Supernatural’s poor story choices and flawed ideologies of representation.
Fans spin critique into new work with all the transmedia tools and then some that they deploy for the televisual source. Cambionverse creators create fic, GIF sets, vids, art, meta, and fanmixes (musical playlists created and shared on interfaces like 8Tracks and Tumblr, http://8tracks.com/explore/cambionverse/popular/1). This active transmedia spread positions Cambionverse as an expansive multimedia universe in its own right with the fic at the center, but as was the case with “Down to Agincourt,” there is arguably more collaborative feedback with less purposefully clear policing of the lines drawn between “official” and “unofficial” authorship. The Cambionverse spreads across multiple platforms deployed by fans, including An Archive of Our Own, Tumblr, and 8Tracks, spun by multiple authors in multiple forms. Thus, the Cambionverse demonstrates how transmedia authorship and the multiplicitous transmedia landscape further destabilize traditional notions of authorial control.
[...]
Fan literacies extend beyond close textual analysis of the series to knowledge about the politics and potential of Supernatural’s future production, to a larger production literacy regarding the creation of spinoffs, as we have seen in fan coordination and campaigns for the Supernatural spinoff Wayward Daughters. Arguably, the concept for Wayward Daughters emerged from the same fan impulse that birthed the Cambionverse: the desire to tell the stories of characters with strong potential who were underused or introduced in an episode, and who were left underdeveloped yet with strong narrative potential. In response to these rich narrative gaps, fans told Claire Novak’s story through to her teenage years. They wrote various versions of Claire’s narrative in the years between her character’s first (one episode long) introduction in Supernatural’s fourth season and her eventual return six years later in the series’ tenth season. By the time the official Supernatural writers cast Claire as a teenager and brought her to the screen, fandom had already fleshed out her character and narrative. Supernatural actor Kathryn Newton came to fill a character already fleshed out in the fan imagination, in GIF sets, vids, featuring actors from other media fancast to serve the character of Claire, and drawn and painted by fan imagination in lines inspired by these fan castings and by individual interpretation. Both fans and the Supernatural producers were working with the same source and question: what would Claire Novak as we saw her in season four be like as a teenager, given her physical qualities and personal trajectory? Thus, perhaps it is not surprising that the teenage Claire Novak of eventual Supernatural “canon” looked quite a bit like the fan imagined Claire, blonde but sullen, a rebellious teenager with an angelic chip on her shoulder (and in the world of Supernatural, the descriptor angelic is not a compliment ...). Of course, given the visibility of fan work and the knowledge of fandom displayed by Supernatural producers, it is also entirely possible that the creators of the eventual “canon” version of Claire drew inspiration from the prior fan authored versions of teenage Claire.”
Louisa Stein is Associate Professor of Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College, Vermont, USA. Her work on gender and generation in media culture and transmedia authorship has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is a book review editor for Cinema Journal and the Journal of Transformative Works and Cultures. She is coeditor of the collections Teen Television (McFarland, 2008) and Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom (McFarland, 2012). Her book Millennial Fandom: Television Audiences in the Transmedia Age was published by the University of Iowa Press in Fall 2015.
In conclusion:
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^ This artwork is now famous.
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femalechibiblogger · 3 years
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Sara Berry Character Bio (The Ballad of Sara Berry)
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Age: 17-18
Occupation: High School Student (formerly); Mental Patient (currently)
Family: Father, Mother
Likes: Being popular, Prom Night, becoming Prom Queen, being adored, wealth, the whole school loving and admiring her.
Dislikes: Julie, becoming unpopular, being forgotten, losing to Julie, her parents pressuring her, having rivals for Prom Queen, admitting her own faults.
Voice Actor: None
Description
Sara Berry is the main character in the song: The Ballad of Sara Berry, sung by the  2012 musical theater production 35MM: A Musical Exhibition. The song tells the story of how popular high school student, Sara Berry, drives herself insane trying to become Prom Queen when she begins to lose to another girl named Julie. 
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Personality
At the beginning of the song, Sara is described as being the most popular girl in school who has everything: Beauty, a hot boyfriend, cheerleading captain, and was very rich. Sara thought very highly of herself and believed that she could become Prom Queen without even trying. 
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But when a less popular student named Julie loses one of her legs in an accident, Sara becomes paranoid when she overhears people saying that Julie should run for Prom Queen. Because of her parents’ high expectations and her reliance on popularity, Sara began to push away her friends and boyfriend in favor of being elected Prom Queen...though this only made her lose her popularity and even furthered her chances of being elected Prom Queen. 
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Sara officially lost her mind when her boyfriend broke-up with her and told her that he was taking Julie to prom instead. By this point, it is clear that Sara is no longer popular but is in complete denial about it, believing herself to still be at the top of the school’s social circle...though all of her fellow students pretty much see her as an insane teenaged girl who only cares about becoming Prom Queen. 
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Sara came to the conclusion that, in order to become Prom Queen and regain her popularity, she had to eliminate all of her rivals...including Julie. On Prom Night, Sara killed all of the girls who were running for Prom Queen in various ways...but Julie managed to hide from her as everyone in the auditorium ran away from Sara in horror of what she had done. 
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After killing all but one of her rivals, Sara was now completely delusional and saw herself as the ‘Queen of High School Land’, wearing the crown and sash that she believed belonged only to her. In her delusional state, Sara saw herself as an actual queen and everyone cheering for her. But in reality, she was disheveled and covered in the blood of her victims while twirling around on the stage. 
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In the end, Sara is arrested by the police and is taken away to a mental hospital. She remained delusional and in complete denial of how far she had fallen, declaring herself the ‘Queen of High School Land’. It is very likely that Sara was disowned by her parents and ended up spending the rest of her life in a mental hospital...clinging on to her past glory.
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Relationships
Parents: While not much is known about her parents, it appears that they had high expectations for her and pressured Sara into excelling at everything...including being elected Prom Queen. Sara was afraid to disappoint her parents and likely wanted them to think highly of her. After committing a ‘Prom Nigh Massacre’, it’s very likely that Sara ended up being disowned by her parents and that her murder spree may have damaged her family’s reputation.
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Friends: Sara had a group of friends and a clique who looked up to her and followed her everyone. While not much is known about them, they had originally thought very highly of Sara and likely would have voted her for Prom Queen.
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But when Sara became obsessed with becoming Prom Queen, she pushed them all away and her friends believed that she longer cared about them. She also began to ignore her cheer captain duties and the rest of the cheerleading squad, losing the respect and admiration of her fellow cheerleaders and likely losing her position as their captain.
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Boyfriend: Before the events of the song, Sara had a boyfriend whom she appeared to have been close with. While not much is known about him, he was likely popular and maybe even a star athlete at their school. Sara was very proud of herself for having such a good-looking boyfriend. But when she began to obsess over becoming Prom Queen, she began to push him away and he likely believed that Sara no longer cared about him.
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He eventually broke-up with Sara over text and told her that he would be taking her rival, Julie, to Prom instead of her. Their break-up is one of the things that drives Sara over the edge, and her devastation over this shows that she did love him...but she appears to be in denial that their break-up was her fault or that her obsession with Prom had contributed to it. It is unclear what happened to him afterwards, though it is likely that he witnessed what Sara had become and was among the students who fled from her in terror.
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Victims: On Prom Night, Sara murdered six girls who were also running for Prom Queen: Patricia, Raquel, Anne, Marianna, Quiara, and Eunice. While not much is known about them, they were likely on good terms with a lot of the students and may have had better reputations than Sara, since they are not depicted as being obsessed with Prom or becoming Prom Queen. 
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Sara killed each of them in a different way, as she believed that eliminating her competition at the last minute would guarantee her victory as Prom Queen. Julie was meant to be the seventh victim, but she managed to hide from Sara and called the police. Their murders are the reason that Sara ended up being arrested and sent to a mental hospital. Sara had no regrets over what she did to them and seemed to believe that their murders were “justified” since they were also running for Prom Queen.
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Julie Jenkins: Julie is Sara’s self-proclaimed rival. While not much is known about her, she is depicted as being the opposite of Sara which is nerdy and not standing out as much. Julie did not seem as popular as Sara and is likely from a normal, middle-class family. After she lost her leg in an accident, Julie suddenly became popular and was seen as inspirational since she did not allow losing her leg to get her down.
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While Sara did not think much of Julie at first, she became paranoid when their fellow students decided to nominate Julie for Prom Queen (likely out of pity). Sara began to only focus on becoming Prom Queen to the point that she neglected her friends, her cheer captain duties, and her boyfriend... Julie, however, did not focus on just Prom and maintained the relationships in her social life. 
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As Sara’s obsession with becoming Prom Queen caused her sanity to slip, she began to view Julie in a negative light since she still had the most votes. Eventually, Sara’s boyfriend broke-up with her since she had been ignoring him and decided to take Julie to prom instead. 
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While Julie is depicted as Sara’s rival, the two are not actually seen interacting with each other. Julie is never depicted as being cruel or malicious towards Sara, and does not appear to be obsessed with becoming Prom Queen. Sara’s rivalry with Julie appears to only exist in her head and Julie does not seem to think that being Prom Queen is that big of a deal. But in the end, Sara went completely insane and murdered the six other girls who were running for Prom Queen. Julie managed to hide from her and called the police, leading to Sara being arrested for six counts of murder and sentenced to spend the rest of her life in a mental hospital. It is unknown what happened to Julie after this, though she likely sought therapy after witnessing what Sara had become. But it is also likely that Julie went on to live a normal life after graduating high school, since she is depicted as being a person who moves forward towards the future.
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Fan Art Gallery
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Videos
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murasaki-murasame · 3 years
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Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep12
This show really doesn’t want to give me much to work with, huh? lol
Anyway, thoughts under the cut. Plus more Umineko stuff.
On the one hand only like 10% of this episode is even substantial enough to talk about on it’s own merits, but on the other hand I actually think it handled the recap stuff better than most of Sotsu has thus far. I guess the fundamental issue is that they shouldn’t have structured this whole series this way to begin with, but if they were gonna do recap stuff anyway, this approach is better than just dragging out these loops for no reason.
After how the last arc went, it was pretty obvious to me that there wouldn’t be anything particularly interesting about these loops, which ended up being totally right, so I’m glad they didn’t dwell on them much.
It could have been interesting if they sped their way through the first couple of arcs in one or two episodes and spent more time on these loops instead, but I don’t think that’d change the bigger issue of how this is still just recap material we have to get through on the way toward returning to the Nekodamashi cliffhanger, so in that sense the ideal option would have been to gloss over ALL these loops.
Either way, this actually covered more than I thought it would, since the preview images only showed up to the Akasaka loop, so I think I ended up being less negative on this than most people are, since it came across as mercifully brief, despite still being really boring since this is the most blatant recapping that we’ve gotten in Sotsu thus far.
We still have the last two episodes of Nekodamashi to get through, but since this episode went over the first two Nekodamashi episodes in addition to separate scenes with Eua and Hanyuu, it seems fairly likely that we can get back to the gun cliffhanger by the end of the next episode, which would leave us with at least two episodes to show what happens afterward.
Part of me does agree that it’s hard to imagine this not leading to some kind of direct continuation, but I still feel like there’s ways they could end this that would only require a couple of episodes once we get back to the cliffhanger, so it’s entirely possible that it’ll just end here.
All I can do is speculate, but at this point it feels like they ran into an issue where they didn’t have enough material to justify having Sotsu be even one cour long, but they couldn’t figure out how to condense the entire story into one two-cour season, so they had to use recaps to stretch Sotsu out into it’s full length. 
Having this episode end with Eua and Hanyuu finally confronting each other also makes it feel like this is genuinely gearing up for the climax of the whole story. At the very least it’s kinda hard to imagine how we could get a full season or more of content after this arc, with how everything’s out in the open and everyone more or less understands what’s going on. It feels like all that’s left is to bring the story to it’s close, and the question is just how that’ll work in practice.
There’s still the lingering thread of the promo material showing the other club members as teenagers in different outfits to the ones they had in Satokowashi, but I dunno how much I should read into that. And the fact that it’s part of Sotsu’s key visual and OP seems to imply that whatever it’s related to will happen within Sotsu itself anyway.
Like I’ve said before, the only real way this series can justify it’s own existence at this point is to be an Umineko prequel and end with the formal creation of Bern and Lambda, and even if it might annoy people, that could easily lead to a somewhat abrupt ending where Rika decides to embrace her own witch side so that she and Satoko can be together forever, even just as separate entities to whatever they leave behind in the real world. I at least think that’s more likely than this ending in basically the same way as the original series except Takano gets replaced by Satoko and/or Eua.
At the very least, the recap of the scene where Rika has a mental breakdown about her trauma and her crippling fear of being left alone reminded me that that would be a pretty understandable basis for her accepting the idea of becoming a witch so that she and Satoko can be together forever while traveling the sea of fragments. Obviously it’s pretty clear at this point what Satoko would get out of that kind of relationship, but I think Rika would also have her own reasons for wanting that, especially if this ends with Hanyuu permanently leaving her one way or another.
And on that note, it looks like we’re finally going to get some content between Eua and Hanyuu that actually explains what their deal is, so that’s exciting. I think I said last week that I’ve been thinking of Gou-Hanyuu as being a piece that Eua created, but after this episode I think it’s more likely that this is basically the same Hanyuu we’ve always dealt with, and that Eua is like the separate witch version of her. Which isn’t really that different to my original idea, but instead of Hanyuu straight up turning into Eua, she split into two entities. Which would at least fit with how this whole process has been depicted several times. It’s also clear that both of them know about each other, which is especially surprising for Hanyuu, so that seems to heavily suggest that they have some sort of direct, personal connection.
Eua does seem to talk about Hanyuu like she has some kind of ownership or authority over her, but it’s entirely possible that it’s just the same sort of thing as how witch Satoko saw her ‘human self’ as an outdated fragment who couldn’t keep up with the times. So if we interpret Eua as being like the cynical, malevolent part of Hanyuu spawned from her thousand years of isolation and observation until Rika’s birth revived her spirit, then I can see why she might see Hanyuu as being a ‘failure’ for being emotionally attached to Rika and basically sacrificing herself for her sake.
It also makes me wonder if maybe instead of her being ‘defeated’, Eua basically gets merged with Hanyuu to become one entity again, and that’s how we get Featherine. But who knows at this point. I at least think that’s the closest we’d get to having Eua be ‘defeated’ as a way to resolve things.
That’s basically all I have to say about this episode, but on a separate note while I remember, I’ve started reading the translation for the Answer of the Golden Witch interview that Ryukishi did after Umineko ended, and he mentions at one point that if he’s still writing in ten years, he’d like to go back and rewrite Umineko. This interview was done in 2011, I think, so we’re now at around the ten year anniversary of him saying that, which might just be a coincidence, but Gou/Sotsu definitely feels like it’s specifically designed to set up for Umineko’s story, lol.
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