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write-orflight · 2 years

Text

Townie (S. H x Reader)

**Gif Not Mine**

Pairings: Steve HarringtonX Reader (Enemies to lovers)

Rating: M

Words: 5K

Warnings: SMUT!! Language, lewd conversation, Mean Reader, Mean Steve, Soft!Dom!Steve, Over-stimulation, Oral sex(Female receiving), fingering, sexual content. unprotected sex

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary: The five times you should’ve hated Steve Harrington and the one time you didn’t.

A.N: Named after Townie by Mitski. This is a terrible 5+1 fic. This fic is so shitty, like its not good at all. but it’s over 5K words so I’m not going to not post it. If you like it, please comment and reblog it. it would mean the world to me. No taglist because it’s different than my other stuff. Also if you want to be tagged in my new Steve Harrington “The Bear” AU fic, inbox me. Much love Cia

It was no secret you and Steve did not get along.

You don’t know how it started, neither of you really talked in high school, having run in different circles. Him with the popular crowd and you with the band kids. You knew Steve as the King of Hawkins High, untouchable and frankly, an asshole. Now that your town has essentially turned into a horror movie that you both found yourself sucked into. You learned that Steve was actually pretty down to earth and kinda a dweeb but still an asshole.

Especially to you.

The first time was when Dustin somehow managed to talk you into taking him to the mall. You’d known Dustin since he was a kid, You were his regular babysitter and neighbor so you always found it extremely hard to say no to the kid. When you entered the mall, you fully expected to browse on your own, leaving Dustin to find his friends and meet later. It was only when you got there that you realized Dustin’s ulterior motive was for you to meet his new “friend” he made while you were away at college. You were happy Dustin was coming more out of his shell and meeting new people outside his party, you had been worried about the kid when you left. However, what you were not expecting when you entered the small ice cream shop, was to come face to face with the King of Hawkins, himself, dawned in the most ridiculous sailor suit.

“Dude!” Steve greeted excitedly, when he saw the gap-tooth smile of his friend.

“Dude!” Dustin greeted back. “This is Y/N, my neighbor, I was telling you about.”

“Oh, Y/N..” Steve trails off, pondering for a second. “You look really familiar.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes at the man. Of course, he didn’t remember you. “We went to high school together.” You say.

Steve hums for a second, thinking. “Oh, tuba girl!” Steve says, your face turns beet red as he remembers the single most humiliating moment of your high school career.

“Tuba girl?” Dustin asks, tilting his head in confusion.

“Oh my god, it was so funny! She went the wrong way during a pep rally, ran head first into a tuba.” Steve laughed. Part of you was gracious that Steve left out the part where your skirt also flew up, giving the entire gym a view of the pink underwear you decided to sport that day. But that part of you was already filled with rage. “You know, you kinda disappeared after that.”

“Well, I had all the credits I needed to graduate and early admission, so I didn’t see the point of sticking around while everyone called me Tuba Girl, thanks for that by the way.” You said, rolling your eyes.

Steve scoffs at you. “Oh my god, you really think you’re better than me.”

You look him up and down in his ridiculous work uniform. “What was your first clue?”

You could tell Steve was really starting to get irritated with you now. “What do you have that I don’t have?”

“Well, friends my own age for one.” You snap back. Everyone in the Scoops Ahoy winced, including a brunette girl with shorter hair you recognized as Robin, from band class. You looked guiltily at Dustin. “No offense, Dusty.” You added. The younger boy shrugged.

You watched Steve’s face get red with anger. “Well, maybe you didn’t get made fun of because you fell in a tuba. Maybe it was because you were a bitch who acted like you were better than everyone!” That made everyone wince again and you fight back tears entering your ducts.

You lifted your bag higher on your shoulder. “You know what, I don’t need this.” You turn to Dustin. “I’m going to be at the mall entrance in 4 hours and if you meet me there, I’ll treat you to a movie. Okay, kid?” Dustin nodded and you scruffed his hair but not before throwing another nasty look at the man in front of you.

The second time was after Dustin let you in on his secret life of fighting monsters and secret russian facilities.

You could’ve lived fine without the knowledge to be honest. You didn’t like the idea of Dustin constantly putting his life in danger. Much less, in the hands of that idiot, Steve Harrington, so you decided it was time for you to step in.

You were sneaking around Starcourt mall. You and Dustin were on one side of the hall, Robin and Steve were all the way down the other end of the hall. You waved your hands to the two of them, trying to signal them to go left.

“What?” You hear the crinkly buzz of the walkie talkie exclaim from Steve. You roll your eyes and signal again.

“We don’t understand you, I don’t understand why you insist on using dumb ass signals when we have walkies!”

You flip the bird at Steve down the hall before speaking into the walkie. “Do you understand this signal?! I’m sure you’ve seen this one a lot, dickhead!”

“Guys.” Dustin exasperates. “Can you save the bickering until we’re out of danger?” You nod apologetically before sneaking further down the hall.

The third time was shortly after the explosion of Starcourt. You had found Steve beaten badly, and a little loopy. Despite your own injuries, you’d driven everyone home as yours weren’t as bad. You save Steve for last, stepping out the car to help him into the cold, empty home. You knew about Steve’s parties from high school and how his place was the go-to because his parents were never home. You never realized how lonely that was until you entered the cold living room. You almost felt sad for him.

“Hey big guy.” You said, lugging his weight. “Where’s your bathroom?”

Steve points in a general direction, which you follow. Once you find it, you sit Steve down on the toilet before raiding his medicine cabin in search of something to clean his wounds with. When you find the rubbing alcohol and cotton pads, you turn back to the boy.

“Do you have bandages or something in here?”

“Under the sink.” Steve mumbles. You’re semi-gracious he’s back to speaking, even if you hated everything that came out of his mouth most of the time. Steve winces slightly when you press the cotton to his temple.

“Oh shut up, big baby.” You say. “You know, what you did was incredibly stupid. You could’ve gotten yourself and Robin killed!”

Steve groans. “Do we have to do this right now? I got the shit kicked out of me.”

You step in between his legs to get a closer look at the wounds. You feel his hand circle around your waist to steady himself, you guessed. You ignored the fluttering feeling that entered your stomach. You equated it to not getting laid in a while.

“Seriously, you’re lucky as shit that we found you when you did. You have no idea how close to death’s door you look.”

“I’ve got a pretty good idea, considering how I feel.”

“Why did you do it?” You exclaimed. “I told you to wait for me.”

“We didn’t have that kind of time, okay!” Steve snaps back. “I couldn’t let them find you.”

You blink at that. “I’m capable of handling myself, Harrington.”

“I know, I know. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you–you guys.” He adds. You feel the grip on your waist get tighter, you guess it was subconscious. “I figured it was better me than you… any of you, I mean.”

You decide to ignore the freudian slip and continue to work on his wounds.

The fourth time was after you moved back to Hawkins full time and took a job at the Family Video with Steve and Robin. Though it was much to the chagrin of your parents (they didn’t know Hawkins had turned into a literal Hellscape) you decided to move back and work part time while taking classes at the local university.

Your relationship with Steve now was… weird. Not good but not necessarily bad. Ever since that night you dressed his wounds in the bathroom, the two of you developed a sort of tolerance for each other. You still bickered often, but not enough for Robin to want to stab her eyes out, which was ideal for everyone.

You and Robin were discussing a magazine while Steve stocked shelves when Dustin came running into the Family Video.

“Dude, watch my tapes!” Steve yelped as the smaller boy almost went careening into a stack of tapes.

“Sorry!” Dustin said, getting upright.

“What’s up, Dusty?” You asked once you saw the commotion.

“I need advice.” He said. “Girl advice.”

“What happened?” You and Steve said at the same time. Looking at each other annoyed, thinking you were the one the boy was referring to.

Dustin looks nervously between the two of you. “Well, Suze mentioned it being our 7 month anniversary next week when I was talking to her on the phone. And I think she’s expecting a gift? But I have no idea what to get her.”

Steve laughs. “Oh that’s easy, nothing.”

“Wait a second, Dust.” You cut Steve off. “If she mentioned it, that means she remembered and is probably expecting something. It doesn’t have to be big but you should get something to show you at least care about it.”

“Dude, I’m telling you. If you get this girl a gift, you’re just giving her an excuse to walk all over you. Save it for the major ones.”

“Dustin, are you really going to listen to someone who’s been chronically single for the past two years?”

Dustin opens his mouth to say something, probably in defense of Steve, but was immediately cut off by Steve. “I don’t see anyone banging down your door, at least I can get a date.”

“That’s because I don’t want to date any of these guys in Hawkins.” You rebuttal. “Trust me, if I wanted to date any of these losers, I could.”

It’s at that moment, you notice who just entered one of Steve’s former teammates enter the store. Nick Nakumara, affectionately called Nick-Nak by his team, greets Steve with a clap on the back. Nick was fairly attractive and thankfully not one of the participants that made High School rough for you. You raise an eyebrow at Steve, letting him know the challenge he’s just placed before you. Steve shakes his head, but you ignore it as Nick approaches the counter.

“Top Gun…” You say. “Good choice.”

Nick beams for a second. “Yea, I saw it in theaters. So good!”

You smile back and quickly write your number on the back of his receipt. “Well, If you want someone to watch it with. Call me.” You smile.

Nick falters for a second, looking confused between you and Steve. “Aren’t you and Harrington…” He says, pointing in between the two of you. The two of you seem to realize what he’s saying at the same time. You throw a nasty look to Robin and Dustin who are now giggling in the corner.

“What, No!” You say at the same time as Steve’s “Gross, no.” Which you try very hard not to get offended by.

“It’s just you guys are always hanging out…”

Which was true, between the two of you being the main transport for the kids there were a lot of times where you and Steve were together alone while waiting for the kids to finish whatever they were doing. Which resulted in the two of you often having dinner at the local diner or catching a movie. You could understand the confusion, but it didn't mean you had to like it.

“So you gonna call me or…” You say, deciding that the change of subject was needed.

Nick smiles at you again. “I’ll call you.”

You smile as the man walks out with his tape and your number in tow. You turn back to Steve with a smug look.

“Don’t go out with Nick.” He says.

“Why not?”

“Because I know the type of guy he is!” Steve snaps. “He’s just going to try and fu–” Steve cuts himself off, remembering Dustin is still in the store. “He’s just after one thing.”

“You know, I know what fuck means, right?” Dustin adds.

“Don’t you have a gift to be looking for?” Steve says to the boy.

“But you said–”

“Just go get your girlfriend a gift, Alright kid?” Steve says, effectively dismissing Dustin, who shrugs and leaves the store to do just that. “Seriously, just don’t go out with him.”

“You don’t know if that’s all he wants.” You say.

“Are you kidding? I do know that. You don’t know what he was like in high school. And then you just invite yourself over to his place to watch a movie? You might as well have tattooed ‘please fuck me’ on your forehead.”

“You know, I don’t see how this is any of your business, Steve.” You snap back.

“You’re right it’s not.” Steve says, almost venomously. “But don’t come crying to me if you don’t want to hear ‘I told you so’.” He says before marching into the break room.

The fifth time… you actually don’t remember how the fifth time started. But you knew it ended with you marching into Steve’s house after he tried to slam the door on you.

“You’re such a goddamn asshole all the time!” You yell as you enter the house. Steve rolls his eyes.

“And you never know how to fucking listen!”

“Why would I listen to you?!”

“I don’t know, maybe because I’m always right!” You scoff at that which makes Steve’s blood boil more. “No I am, I was right back at Starcourt. I was right about Nick–”

You wince slightly. “You said, we wouldn’t talk about that.”

You hated to think about that night you decided to go out with Nick Nakumara. Steve had been absolutely right about Nick. He picked you up and brought you back to his place. He was sweet, he brought you snacks you had mentioned in your earlier conversations on the phone but not even 10 minutes into the movie he was trying to put his hand up your skirt. You had been vocal and said that wasn’t what you wanted and he all but kicked you out of his house on the other side of town. You’d walked to the nearest gas station and used the payphone to call the only person you knew with a car, Steve.

He pulled up next to the stoop you had been sitting on for the past 30 minutes, leaning out the window.

“What happened?” He asked you, concern on his face.

“Shut up.” You say, getting into the car and crossing your legs. He looks over at you, with a still concerned look on his face. “You were right, is that what you want?”

Steve says nothing, just places a heavy hand on your leg. You try to ignore the shocks that go straight to your heart. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He says, lowly. Steve has never called you anything endearing so when you hear that it puts butterflies in your stomach. “You didn’t deserve that.”

Though you’ve never said it to anyone, you watched Steve that whole drive, seeing him in an entire new light. He annoyed you to no end, sure. But Steve was… sweet. He cared about you, even when you were nothing but rude to him most of the time.

You wanted him.

Badly.

“Doesn’t make me less right.” Steve says, immediately pulling you back into the conversation at hand. Right, arguing with Steve, you thought, Not thinking about the freckles that dotted his nose or how his arms filled out the polo he was wearing. “You have to be right, all the fucking time that you make idiotic decisions that get me beat up or picking you up in the middle of the night. You have to admit that there’s some things I’m just smarter than you about.”

You couldn’t think of a good rebuttal so you went with a classic. “Fuck you, Harrington.”

“Yea, you’d want that. Don’t you, sweetheart?” He fires back just as fast, voice dipping almost dangerously low.

It stops you in your tracks. Steve had only ever called you Sweetheart one other time and that was the car ride away from Nick’s. You thought about how heavy his hand felt on your thigh. How it stayed there the rest of the car ride, dangerously close to your center. How you thought about that night often in the comfort of your dark bedroom, alone at night. Subconsciously, your legs squeeze together. Steve notices this, he always does.

“Oh… Oh!” Steve says, knowingly. A smug look crosses his face. “That’s exactly what you want.”

You sputter for a second. “Shut up!” You exclaim. “I never said that.”

“You kinda didn’t have to, sweetheart, you’re kinda telling on yourself right now.” Steve says, smugly. “Is it me calling you sweetheart? That do it for you?”

Your face wildly flushes. You feel incredibly embarrassed and not to mention, turned on. You sputter for a second before regaining your confidence. “You fucking wish, Harrington.”

“Yea, maybe I do.” He says, stepping incredibly close into your space. You back instinctively but find yourself back into a wall. Steve takes this opportunity to crowd into your space. “What do you want, honey, huh?” He says, almost condescendingly. He doesn’t miss the way your breath hitches.

“Steve–”

“If you don’t want this, just say that. I’ll let you go and we can forget this ever happened. But what do you want, sweetheart?” Steve almost looks pained. The cockiness in his voice fading into something genuine. As though he, himself, was scared of your answer

“You.” You whisper so quietly that even you have trouble hearing it but it was all Steve needed to pull you into an almost bruising kiss. You gasp at the suddenness of the action before relaxing slightly. You fight for dominance for a while, you not wanting to give him the upper hand on you. That is until you find yourself pressed rather roughly into the wall. The hand that had been cupping your cheek was now wrapping softly around your throat, as if he was testing exactly what you would be comfortable with. He smirked slightly against your lips when he heard the soft moan escape your mouth. Steve began sloppily mouthing around your jaw and neck that produced probably the most embarrassing sounds from you. Steve pressed himself closer to your body and you couldn’t help but moan at the feeling of his erection pressing against your center.

Suddenly, Steve is pulling away from you. You’re ashamed to admit it but you chase after him a bit, but you’re held back by the hand that was once softly around your neck, now gripping it fully, not enough to hurt but enough to make you very aware that you had lost complete control of the situation.

“Come on.” He says, deeply into the space between you. You let him take you into the downstairs guest room. You assumed that, like yourself, he was too eager to make the long stretch upstairs to his bedroom. As soon as the door was closed, Steve was on you again, kissing you just as intensely as before, this time tugging aggressively at your clothes. You decide to help him by pulling your shirt off. Steve sucks bruises into the newly exposed skin, you whine which makes him groan deep in his throat.

“Take these off.” He says, deep as he pulls apart the button of your jeans. The tone does things to you. Steve was a natural leader, you knew that, but you hadn’t been expecting that authority to follow you in his bed. “I need to taste you.”

Your head is spinning enough that you don’t even realize what’s happening until your back hits the bed. Steve is tugging roughly at the waist of your jeans pulling them down. You lift your legs a bit in assistance. Once your pants are down, Steve is groaning as he parts your legs and leaves biting kisses on the inside of your thighs. You hiss slightly as Steve hand snakes its way up to to rub against your clothed sex.”

“Fuck.” He groans. “How are you already this wet? I’ve barely touched you.” He says, before pulling your underwear to the side and slipping two fingers inside you. You moan loudly, which only spurs Steve on. “All of this? Just for me, sweetheart?”

“O-only you.” You stutter back, losing yourself in the feeling of Steve's rough thumb pad rubbing diligent circles on your clit. Steve leaves hot kisses down your flesh, biting your most sensitive places, your neck, stomach, the dips in your hips. He then tugs your underwear down but remaining eye level with your sex. He looks up at you as if silently asking for permission. You nod, flustered. Steve grips your hips tightly with one hand, the other grabbing the outside of your thigh almost bruisingly. He pulls you sharply towards his waiting mouth.

You moan embarrassingly loud as you feel the sharp quick lick to your clit. Your head thrashes back against the pillows. You started squirming away from the assault, your head swimming from the intensity of it. Steve just holds you in an iron grip, moaning slightly against your sex, which causes you to moan again. You brave a look down at him and realize you shouldn’t have. The man was beautiful. His hair had fallen sweatily in front of his face, his caramel eyes blown almost completely black. You see his hips moving slightly against the mattress as if searching for any type of friction. The idea of him enjoying this just as much as you pulled you dangerously close to the brink.

“S-Steve.” You moaned, the man looked up at you as his finger pushed into your center. You feel tears entering the corners of your duct as he brushes the spongy spot inside you. You were teetering closer and closer to the edge. “I’m– I’m gonna–” You tried to get the word out but the feeling was too intense.

Thankfully, Steve didn’t need many words. “Go ahead and cum for me, honey. Come on.” He says, low as his fingers continue their assault. That was all you needed to let yourself fall over the edge, Steve licking into you greedily. He crawls back up your body leaving kisses up your torso before landing inevitably at your mouth. You moan at the taste of yourself on him. You tug at his shirt to take it off which he helps you with before bringing him back down to kiss you. He presses more into your center before looking up at you.

“How are you feeling?” He asks. You melt a little at the tenderness in his voice.

“I’m fine.” You whisper back. “Why?”

“It’s just, I’ve never seen you this silent.” He laughs. “If I knew that this was all it took to shut you up. I would’ve done it years ago.”

You roll your eyes. “Shut up and take your pants off, Harrington.”

“There she is.” Steve smiles, reaching for the button of his pants. You watch as he pulls his pants and underwear down in one go. The sight widens your eyes a bit. Steve notices this. “What’s wrong?” He asks, raising an eyebrow at you.

“N-Nothing.” You stutter. “It’s just–I mean, I heard the rumors at school but I thought you know, you had spread them yourself.”

Steve laughs at that before cupping your cheek. “We can stop if you want, honey.”

“No, I want to. Please, fuck me.” You whisper.

Steve groans. “God, you’re killing me here, sweetheart.” Steve reaches down to grab the base of his, in your opinion, surprisingly well-endowed member. He looks to you one more time for permission, which you silently grant him, before sliding into you slowly.

The two of you groan as he bottoms out inside of you. He watches your face, for any signs of discomfort, which you have, he was bigger than you had been expecting.

“You okay, honey?” He asks, trying to be as still as possible. It was hard, you were unbelievably tight around him.

Steve was going to kill you with all these pet names. You had never known he could be this sweet. It was then you had a very scary thought. That you wanted this, for as long as you could have it. Forever.

“Please… just move.” You whisper. Steve grips your hips tightly, one hand braced above you on the headboard above you before delivering slow, deliberate strokes into you. He was so deep inside you, brushing into your cervix. You moan loudly before moving your forearm to your mouth to stop yourself from embarrassing yourself further. Steve instantly grips the offending hand, pinning it to the mattress below you before fucking into you harder.

“Don’t ever do that.” He says, gripping your hand tighter. “I want to hear how good I’m making you feel.”

“Steve–” You keen, loudly. Steve is now pistoning inside you, moving your legs higher up his torso so now he’s impossibly deep inside you, hitting that spot on almost every other thrust. You felt yourself nearing the edge again.

“Fuck, you feel so good, baby.” Steve moans. “So perfect. God, this pussy was made for me, huh?”

“I’m-I’m gonna cum” You breathe in between moans.

“Should’ve known you’d be this greedy.” He smiles. “Go ahead, cum on my dick, let me feel you.” Your eyes shut, as you hit your peak. Steve slows a bit as he fucks you through your orgasm.

Steve kisses under your jaw, still fucking into you. “Think you can give me one more?”

“Huh?” You say, dazed.

Steve looks up at you. “Do you want me to stop or can I get you off again?”

“I don’t–I don’t even think I can again, Steve.” You say. And you believed it, your body felt floaty and spent. You hadn’t been expecting this, to feel like this. You honestly, just hoped it’d be mediocre so you could get it out of your system and have it be over with. Now that you knew, Steve could make you feel like this, you didn’t know if you could ever go back.

Steve made shallow thrusts inside you, pulling that train of thought. “I know, I can get you there again.” He says, smugly against your ear. “Let me make you feel good, please.”

You nod weakly as he folds your legs higher up your torso, fucking harder into you. You gasp at the feeling, eyes rolling back slightly as he fucks deeper into you, finding the spot in you again, almost instantly.

“God, sweetheart, you feel so good around me.” Steve says, in between your moans. He feels you tighten impossibly around him as he drifts a thumb down to draw circles around your clit. You’re seeing stars behind your eyes at this point. “Fuck, are you close?” You nod, stuttering his name like a mantra as you near your edge for the 3rd time that afternoon. “Come on, baby. I need you to feel you cum on my dick again. Please, honey.”

That was all you needed to break the dam inside you as you felt yourself shatter around Steve. Through your haze, you heard him moan, his thrust getting more erratic as you felt him emptying inside you.

The two of you stayed like that for a minute. Him, laying his full weight on you before pulling out and laying in the space next to you. The two of you don’t say anything, neither of you really know what to say. What do you say in that situation? Hey, I know we’ve been assholes to each other since we met but thanks for the best bang of my natural-born life. You look over to Steve who’s already looking back at you.

“How do you feel?” He asks, shyly. Suddenly this was not the man who just took you to bed but Steve again, caring but unsure of himself.

“Sore.” You answer.

Steve chuckles a bit. “I did kind of take it too far. I can run you a bath if you want.”

You shake your head. “I just want to lay here, if that’s okay.” Steve nods.

“Y-Yea, okay.” Steve says, starting to move. “Let me just get my clothes and I’ll be out of your way.”

“Steve.” You call. Steve looks at you inquisitive. “Stay… please.” You don’t realize how much of a plea it was until it left your mouth.

“You hate me…” Steve says, slowly.

You look at him confused. “Steve, I don’t hate you.”

“But you–”

You sit up to look at the man fully. “Steve I– I’ve never been good at this kind of thing. When shit gets complicated, I run. You know that. But I don’t hate you , I’ve never hated you. Do I give you shit sometimes? Yea. But that’s only because I didn’t want to think about the alternative that…” You drift off for a second.

“What?” Steve asks, now looking you deeply in your eyes.

“That I mess with you because that’s what gets you to pay attention to me.” You say, as the boulder weight goes crashing off your shoulders. “That I like who I am around you. That I really really like you.” You look away from Steve when you realize that he’s not saying anything. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

“I’ve liked you since you walked into Scoops Ahoy.” He says, almost too quiet that you almost miss it. “And you’ve never had to do anything to get my attention, you’ve always had it. In fact, you can always have it, for as long as you want.”

“How’s forever sound?” You joke.

Steve presses a kiss to your lips. It’s different from the hungry desperate kisses from before. This one was sweet and held something in them. A promise.

“Sounds perfect to me.”

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buckleysg1rl · 10 months

Text

𝗠𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘆, 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘆, 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘆 ✩ 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗩𝗜

✩

♡︎ Ethan Landry x Chad Meeks-Martin

- also including; Scream VI; characters

summary; Ethan and Chad confess to eachother one night and they become a couple - all pictures from pintrest requested; no! but I do write for both football players and any Scream characters so send in your requests!!! <3 info; all the ghostface killings didnt happen but all of them still have family issues 😻💋 as well imagine that sam and tara are twins 🤭 anyways- enjoyy x ALSO ITS NOT PROOF READ BTWW

✩

Groupchat; failed abortions

Mindy added 6 other people to "failed abortions"

Quinn; what is this

Mindy; a groupchat dipshit

Quinn; well no shit but why did you make it

Mindy; 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Anika; hello!

Mindy; loml fr how you doin'? 😻

Sam; did you just use a Joey Tribbiani refrence???

Chad; you watch Friends?

Sam; you dont?

Chad; no 😹

Tara; @Mindy this is just gonna cause chaos

Mindy; ik thats why I made it

Quinn; oi wheres ethan

Mindy; idkk ask Chad

Chad; why me

Mindy; bc ur his boyfriend??? 🤨

Chad; HA?!

Chad; Were not dating

Anika; YOU ARENT DATING???

Chad; no why

Quinn; just as I tought my baby brother isnt a virgin, he still is 😔

Mindy; you want him being a whore like u hm 🤡

Quinn; kys IMMEDIATELY

Sam; now now lets be nice

Mindy; stfu

Quinn; stfu

@Mindy and @Quinn were muted for 5 minutes by @Sam

Anika; how?? u arent even the admin

Sam; I got my ways ;)

Anika; ..okay..

Chad; Sam is scary 🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️

Tara; had to deal with her before u knew her so stfu pls 🤷‍♀️😹

Chad; why so mean 😭

Tara; funnsies

"Chaaaaad!" the jock heard his name being called. "What d'ya want now Mindy?" he answered. Looking to his right he saw his twin sister come out of the kitchen where he and Ethan lived. Currently everyone from the group minus Ethan was at their apartment, haning out. They were all going to a frat party later, so they all decided to get ready and Ethan and Chads place.

"Do you have any eggs?" she asked her older brother. "Eggs? No, why?" he asked confused. Mindy just shrugged before sitting next to him on the couch. "I'm bored. Amd wheres Ethan?" she asked him. Chad shrugged as he continued to watch some TV-show that was playing. "Pretty sure his Econ class is until 7, why?"

"Well we got a party to attend!" Mindy exclamed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Coudn't he just skip?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow. Chad just rolled his eyes. "Well first of all, his profesor would have been up his ass next class if he didnt have a writen sick note. Remeber last month, when we went to that caffe, and then what happened?" Chad asked her. Mindy only nodded.

As Ethan didn't have a writen sick note, the profesor as punishment made him write a 5 page long essay about some subject no one from the group knew about. The poor boy was dead by the end of writing it, and he was ready to kill his profesor with his own hands.

"Besides, no one is going to show up before 9, that when it gets dark. And you know Ethan hates parties, its a miracle Quinn and Anika got him to come." Chad added. Mindy just sighed heavely, drowning into the couch.

"Dose this look good?" a voice asked. The twins turned their head to see Tara and Sam in matching outfits. "Yeah." Mindy replied, giving them a thumbs up. Chad only nodded. Soon after both Quinn and Anika joined the four, and now they were just waiting on Ethan to come.

"Jesus its raining cats and dogs outside." Anika pointed out. Looking out a window, the group saw the rain pouring and it looked like there was a storm incoming. "Oh hell no, I aint going to the damn party. I dont got waterproof make-up and Im not planing to look like a soaked rat." Quinn said, before taking off her shoes and getting more comfortable.

"Y'know I agree once with Chucky-" "Hey!" "lets stay. Besides, im to comfortable now." Mindy said. The group murrmured agreements, and soon after they changed out of their costumes and into more comrotable clothes. Just as 19:45 pm rolled around, the group heared someone quickly entering the apartment.

"Jesus Christ-" Jack wheezed as he slid against the door. He was drenched, his hair as well clothes were stuck to him, his white shoes looked darker then ever (probally because of the mud as well rain) and his bag was making a puddle of water on the ground due to it being soaked. "Damn Sherlock, you good?" Mindy asked him from were she was sitting. "Peachy.." he rasphed out as he coughed.

"C'mon, you need a warm bath." Chad said as he got up and went to Ethan. Offering him his hands, the younger hold onto him. The jock swiftly liftied him up, and soon the two got into the bathroom that was in their apartment. "I'll put your bag into your room, and I'll get you a spair pair of clothes alright?" Chad said as Ethan sat on the toilet lid. "Thanks.." Ethan rasphed out. His eyes were half opened, and he looked like he was about to fall asleep any minute. Chad just ruffuled his hair before making his way to Ethans room. He put his bag next to the bed before going into the boys closet to take some fresh and clean clothes. He quickly returned to the bathroom, and there he saw an almost asleep Ethan. He was bearly awake. "Hey buddy." Chad said, shaking him very softly. "Hm..?"

"You gotta be awake man, c'mon just shower and then you'll be able to sleep, okay?" Ethan just nodded before carefully getting up. "Call if you need anything." Chad added, kissing his temple before leaving the bathroom. The little kiss left Ethan a blushing mess. The younger had a crush on Chad for a good while now, but he was to scared and insecure to ask him out even tho the other girls told him that Chad liked him. Hell, even Mindy confirmed it!

Some time later, the group heared Ethan coming out the bathroom. He was in an oversized sweather and he was also wearing some black sweatpants. All them could see him shivering as he aproached them, he even made sweatherpaws which Chad found way to cute and adorable.

As Ethan sat down next to Chad, Quinn quickly threw her younger brother a blanket. He immediately wrapped himself in the blanket and Chad coudnt help but to smile at him as he looked way to cute. "You good?" Chad asked him with a small smile. "I-I'm freezing." Ethan said, trying to warm himself. The jock put an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer to his chest. "You'll be warm soon, I'm sure." he said. Ethan didnt reply, instead he relax more, cuddeling up to Chad and closing his eyes. The girls smirked at them, and Chad coudnt do anything exept roll his eyes. They all knew that the jock had a big crush on the brunnete but was to scared to confess.

Groupchat; Girlypop

5 members

Sam; Samsie Tara; Twizzler Anika; Kpop Adict Quinn; Harley Quinn Mindy; geekyshit101

geekyshit101; 😏

Kpop Adict; ???

geekyshit101; do you not see the lovebrids???are you blind

Harely Quinn; Anika your going to let ur gf talk to u like that 🤨

Samsie; *pictue of Chad and Ethan, Ethan is in a blanket cuddled up and asleep on Chads chest while Chad is a blushing mess*

4 members saved a picture

Twizzler; Sam the meance

Harley Quinn; aye aye

Samsie; shut up and watch the movie -_-

@Samsie was muted for 1 hour by @geekyshit101

geekyshit101; never use "-_-" EVER AGAIN

As the girls stopped texting Sam sent Mindy an unamused look. The girl just shrugged and smirked at her before returning her focus on the movie.

failed abortions

anika; *pictue of Chad and Ethan, Ethan is in a blanket cudduled up and asleep on Chads chest while Chad is a blushing mess*

📸 credits to Sam :)

"Anika you little shit!" Sam whisper-shouted. Chad gave the two a weird look, but choose to ignore the two. Anika just giggled to herself before continueing to watch the movie. As time went on alnost everyone fell asleep. The all mutualy agreed they would crash at Ethans and Chads place, so they all scattered around. Mindy and Anika went to sleep in Chads room while the Carpenter sisters went into Ethans room. Quinn just decided to crash on the other couch next to Chad and Ethan, not bothering to go into any of the boys bedrooms.

The only person awake was Chad. He was watching some shitty sitcom on the TV with half open eyes as he coudnt fall asleep not when the most perfect person on planet Earth was next to him, cuddled up against him, asleep on his chest.

"Hey.." a voice whispered shocking Chad out of his toughts. "O-oh hey Eth.." he whispered, looking down at the boy that was alseep on his chest moments ago. "Why are you awake Eth, go to sleep." the jock said, pulling the younger closer to him. "Its kinda hard to fall asleep while sitting.. And why are you awake?" Ethan asked. "Coudnt sleep.."

Ethan nodded, laying his head onto Chads shoulder. "Hey Chad.." he whispered. "Yeah?" "I gotta tell you something, but you have to promise you wont hate me." with that statment, Chad got concerned. What could Ethan possibly say that would make the jock hate him. "Whats up E?"

Ethan took a deep breath before looking at the older, starring into his eyes. "I like you. Like like like you.." he whispered. Chad looked at him stunned, shocked. Ethan frowned, looking away. "I'm s-sorry, I should go.." he said, attempting to get up anr leave.

Keyword; attempting

Chad pulled him back down before he locked their lips into a kiss. At that, Ethan eyes widend before he kissed back. The two kissed paciontley before pulling away. "I like like you two..dare I say love you.." Chad boldly said. The brunnete softly smilied at him before pecking his lips. "I think I love you too.." "Yeah?" "Mhm.."

The two continued to stare at eachother, before Chad laided down and mention to Ethan to lay down on his. Ethan quickly complied, laying on the jocks chest. "Can we be boyfriends..? I-if you want to o-of course.." Ethan asked. Chad smilied at him, kissing his head. "I'd love to be your boyfriend Ethan."

And thats how the two fell asleep, cuddled up and consent.

"Hey lovebird." a smuge voice said as Chad wakes up. Looking around, he saw that Ethan was still fast asleep and that the smug voice belonged to no other then Mindy Meeks-Martin. "Dont even start." he told her in a rough voice. Mindy giggled. "I suggest you take a look at our wonferfull groupchat."

Raising one eyebrow, the older carefully took his phone from the coffee table that it was on without disturbing Ethan before entering the groupchat.

Looking at it, he saw that Quinn took way to many pictures of the two toegther sleeping. "I'm gueesing your boyfriends now?" his twin asked him. "Yeah." he replied, nodding. "Glad to hear. And if you dont want for this to repeat I suggest you two dont sleep together next to Quinn." Mindy laughed, winking at him. "Oh fuck off." Chad replied with a small amused smile. He was so so happy and so so glad he had the chance to be with the most perfect person on this planet, and he woudnt change it ever.

#scream #scream movies #scream franchise #scream vi #ethan landry #chad meeks martin #chad meeks #chethan #chadthan #ethan landry x chad meeks martin #ethan x chad #m/m fanfic #our fav couple #mwahhh

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kollector-of-stims · 7 months

Note

any recommended stim toys? i need some new ones, especially ones that would be discreet at school

Glad you asked this when I was in the mood to organize my stuff! Here are some suggestions I have after careful listening as I used them!

Good fidget/stim toys for school:

1. Sugar balls

There are big, small, and average types of sugar balls. Basically, they're balls filled with clear glue/thick gel and when squished they rise slowly. Also, they're usually soft when squished slowly, and resistant when squished hard. (Definitely the case with nee doh nice cubes and gumdrops. Regular sugar balls are easier to squish in general, in my opinion.)

There can be sounds when your fingers stick to them slightly and are pulled away (honestly not noticable with the slightest background noise so not a big deal probably), but if you put one in your pocket, not only is it hidden, but it's still the same level of satisfying from squishing it!

2: small foam squishies

A classic! Squishies come in all kinds of sizes, including small enough to go on keychains and fit into a pocket with no issue! Super quiet, and if you see them in store, more than likely you can test their firmness and pick which one suits your taste the best!

3: worry stones and the like

A worry stone is basically any object with a smooth surface for sliding your thumb against. For me, a piece of jewelry I found on my grandmas floor has legit no resistance and is super calming to slide my thumb around on. Fidget cubes also have a worry stone side, and sometimes even erasers give the same effect! (To me anyway. Any surface that's calming and small and easy to feel fits, as they show)

OH and fidget cubes have two silent buttons to press, if you enjoy that!

4: silly putty/thinking putty

Depending on how its played with, putty can be super quiet and also not a big distraction as long as there isnt tons of it. (maybe more dull colors are better for class?) But, if you play with it with enough energy to cause bubbles, those bubbles will pop when its pinched or squished in a certain way. A good alternative though: KNEADED ERASERS. They're like putty but a slightly different texture and should be more fine for class.

5: hedge balls

Hedge balls (this one very firm with a good thick, solid center) when squeezed, apply pressure to your skin with their little prickles. This pressure can help people, and I do believe people can also pick at the prickles! They arent for everyone, but who knows? If someone didnt know what they were, maybe they now think they need one!

If you want me to try suggesting more, lemme know! Also, anyone can reblog this with more suggestions as well! Helping people with class stims seems IMPORTANT!!

EDIT: I LEFT OUT MARBLE MESH FIDGETS:

Small enough for most pockets, and moving the marble back and forth makes no noise!

#ask answered #stim toys #fidget toys #these are the quietest and smallest things i have but someone else may have good stuff to say about something else too #school #school stim #helpful post #helpful stuff #recommendations #sugar balls #squishies #putty #hedge ball #worry stone #class safe

38 notes · View notes

kthyg · 1 year

Text

ghoul. — (intoxication)

[FOURTH (4) INSTALMENT OF GHOUL SERIES : INTOXICATION]

“Familiarity. That was what Taehyung felt.”

Rosé couldn't celebrate your successful solo mission with you, so she invited Taehyung to celebrate with you.

pairing : taehyung x reader

rating : M

genre : tokyo ghoul au, soulmate au

disclaimer : this story is a work of fiction. descriptions of the BTS members in this story does not reflect nor portray them in real life. everything in this story only fits in imagination and does not apply outside of imagination.

warning : nothing.

word count : 6.3k+

lexicon & profiles | masterpost | masterlist | navigation

note from winter 💌 :

i have no notes for this... except for i love oc and tae's interaction during the dinner so much. and I have an obsession for someone taking candid photos of me, its a kink atp HAHA also, smut on the next part just telling y'all ;))))

💌 what is winter listening to? : bambi by baekhyun

📝 if you want to know more about this au, you can refer to lexicon & profiles. any other questions you can refer to me !!

dedication : to my sleep demon pt.2

The sun marked the beginning and end of the day.

When it rose, sunrise, marked the beginning of a new day. And when it set, sunset, it signified the end of the day. The silky, smooth collusions of sky burst red and yellow washed and painted itself over the colourless, milky white building of KCCG.

It was the end of the working hour for most office workers in Korea including KCCG. The road was packed with cars and motorbikes. The sidewalk was not any less crowded than the road; People were walking back to their homes.

“Rosie,” you whined. Locking your arms with your friend’s one. The two of you had passed the entrance gate, now on your way to the main door to exit the building.

“(Y/N),” Rosé mimicked. A light chuckle followed shortly after.

Clinging hard on her arm, you let your cheek be squashed against her arm. Not quite reaching her shoulder due to her model-like height. “You promised a celebration dinner with me…”

“I’m sorry,” Rosé sighed regretfully. “Something came up in 10th ward… I really wanted to celebrate with you but if I don’t check on the 10th ward ASAP, Jay will kill me.”

Rosé worked under the control of Jay or Jung Hoseok, the Chief Director of Division 2. She was a Special Class investigator and also the leader of R Squad. Every Special Class investigator was required to form their own Squad with adequate members in range 3 to 4 excluding themselves. A group of 5 or 6, only then the team could be registered as a squad.

Why didn’t Director Kim station you in her squad instead…

You understood or at least you tried to be professional, but you couldn’t help to pout. It was your first solo successful mission in Q Squad. In every squad, the members including the leader were obligated to carry out solo missions that were designated for them. These missions were often put on the hardest difficulty, not everyone could pass on the first try.

Unlocking her arm from you, she turned her body to face you. “Don’t pout or I’ll kiss you,” her hands cupped your cheeks.

You pouted even harder to tease her. She chuckled before her thumb reached out to play with your lips.

Her eyes flickered to look up and behind you. Recognising someone, she called out. “Oh, V!”

You craned your neck to look at the said person.

Kim Taehyung. God’s favourite.

You had almost forgotten the name he used in KCCG as you always go for his government name. Taehyung was a charming yet mysterious man. He was the epitome of perfection. From his perfect and symmetrical facial proportions to his well-built body. Like Jimin, Taehyung has enough muscle at the right place, and like Rosé, they shared almost the same height, the model-like height.

“Going home?” Your friend asked in a friendly manner. You reached for her hands that had been cupping your face to put them down.

“Yes,” his baritone voice was honey to your ears. You wouldn’t admit it, but you have a big fat crush on him or maybe you were just attracted to him. Could you blame yourself? Almost everyone in KCCG was attracted to or even openly admitted to having a crush on him. “What about you? I heard there’s a commotion at ward 10.”

Rosé nodded unenthusiastically. “I swear it was clear yesterday. The ghouls can’t give us a break for God’s sake.” Her hand unconsciously found yours as she held onto your hand. You let her.

At least it made you feel included.

“What can you expect? 10th ward’s ghouls are vigorous, I can’t lie.” He said, followed by a deep chuckle.

God, the chuckle. You’re so damned.

“Very true,” she agreed eagerly. “You’re in charge of ward 8, right?”

V nodded.

Smirking, she asked, “Want to switch up by the end of this week?” Her eyebrows wiggled.

“No, thank you.” He was quick to turn her down. “I can assure you ward 8 is not any better than 10.”

Rosé playfully rolled her eyes. You couldn’t help but smile at her behaviour. She was the epitome of the real social butterfly; she could get along with anyone and knew almost everyone in KCCG. As if finally remembering something, she looked at you before she directed her attention back to the male investigator. “Oh, V, what are you having for dinner?”

“Good question,” he hummed, cupping his chin. “I have yet to decide.”

Rosé eyes shone. “How about a dinner with (Y/N)?”

“Huh–” You stared at her in shock.

“Huh?” V didn’t expect that question, too, it seemed.

Clapping her hands together keenly, she began to explain. “We were supposed to celebrate (Y/N)’s successful solo mission, but, well, something came up, like I said.”

After a long pause, she blurted out. “Can you go in my place?”

Shocked, you quickly intervened. “T–There’s no need!”

Although you liked the idea of getting to stare and listen to Taehyung for a longer time, you would not want to be in the awkward situation of two people, that barely knew each other, having dinner. “We were just planning to drink– Not a proper dinner at all!”

You were literally begging her to reconsider by giving excuses. “Plus, I can still celebrate it with you tomorrow…”

Rosé frowned. “Eh, that restaurant near this building, what its name? The First? They offer proper dinner though.”

That was the only thing that got through her head.

“Yeah, I guess, but–” You tried to come up with another reason because you knew damn well that the restaurant does serve proper dinner in the menu option. You were a regular there.

Completely dismissing you, she went ahead to ask the male investigator. “So, V? Are you down for some drinking?” She playfully winked at him with a drinking gesture.

“Wait–” You gripped her sleeves, trying to hold her back desperately. “I’m pretty sure Investigator V has something better to do than drinking–”

You would rather have 5 hours training session with The Min Yoongi or maybe Jimin than have dinner with Taehyung. Not because he was a horrible man or anything akin, – the two were definitely not the lesser evil though – it was just that… If it was a dinner with V and Rosé, then yes, you would be fine with it.

“Sure,” he cut you off. With a shrug, he added. “I don’t mind actually.”

“You don’t need to!” You quickly told him with a shake of head. “Uhm, I can ask Minghao or Sunoo…?”

“I mean V agreed to go,” Rosé frowned but didn’t relent to try convincing you. Why do you even need to be convinced? “Plus, don’t you have like a cr–”

Your eyes widened. You knew she would babble her mouth about your folders. Cutting her off with a high-pitched ‘okay’, you quickly pushed your hand to cup over her mouth. Instantly agreeing with her idea. “I think 10th ward is calling for you!”

“Gosh, okay. Okay,” she pulled away your hand from her mouth. Her eyes scrutinised your figure before she asked, “Did you bring your camera?”

“Of course,” a frown found its place on your temple. “Why did you ask…?”

Rosé mimicked the pose of a photographer – except that she was exaggerating – and subtly pointing at V. Your eyes immediately widened at her signal and quickly pushed her away. You waited until she was out of your vision before you turned to V.

You would hate to admit that you liked to take pictures of him.

Both secretly and openly.

Secretly, when you would see him around KCCG, and like a beautiful flower in the garden, you couldn’t fight the urge to capture its beauty, it was the same for Taehyung. Openly, when you were assigned to do a meeting report or any reports in general that required you to include pictures of the related event, or when the magazine companies would like to feature KCCG as the front page, KCCG would – most of the time – send Taehyung and Jimin for it.

“Let’s go…?” This was going down to your history book of the most awkward situation.

The charming smile of his sent your heart to drum fast in your chest and butterfly wilding in your stomach.

“After you.” Gentleman.

“Table for two, please.” You told the waitress with a polite smile.

She led you and Taehyung to a table. You noted how redness covered her cheeks and ears. Assuming it must’ve been because of Taehyung, you could only laugh to yourself. She probably has a crush on the male investigator with the way she was openly gawking at him with a dreamy look while taking the order. Taehyung was popular in Korea due to his career and his look. He received attention everywhere he went.

An order of Samgyeopsal and Jokbal was placed, and the girl took her leave to the kitchen. You took off your long white coat and draped it over the chair next to you. Taehyung had chosen to sit on the opposite side, facing you.

As if that didn’t add up to your nervousness that has already reached its peak.

You were left in KCCG formal innerwear: a turtleneck shirt, cargo pants, and platform boots, all in jet black. KCCG was very monotonous. You noticed Taehyung seemed to have taken off his coat as well. His innerwear was nothing different from yours except that he was wearing a pair of patent leather boots.

This was the first time you had seen him without his coat.

You have always seen him in that white coat. Given that he was under Director Jung’s division, you didn’t bump into him frequently – or else you would’ve had the chance to witness him in mission state. Rosé, however, was under the same division as him which explained her friendliness towards him.

Come to think of it, this was the first time you were having a meal with Taehyung. Just the two of you. Of course, you have had dinners with him, but they were joined by your colleagues as well. Most of the time, it was just company dinners or some other celebrations. That, too, you never really try to talk to him during those occasions because you would either be with Jimin or your squad members.

Squad was a very essential thing in KCCG, and it was divided into two categories, operation squad and mentoring squad. Operation squads usually consisted of powerful and strongest investigators derived from Special Cases, Associate Special Cases, and First Classes. This kind of squad was liable for disbandment as it was not a permanent group. Operation squads could exist due to any calling for it from the higher-ups and cease when the operation was finished, not subject to success or failure.

Mentoring squad was a permanent squad. Once a person earned the title of ghoul investigator after graduating from the training academy, he or she would be sorted into a squad. Squad sorting would be determined by the division directors’ evaluations. Once sorted into a squad, one was bound to stick in it forever unless changes were made. In any KCCG function, the seating plan was according to squads. It was a rare case for a squad to have changing members because if there were to be any problem, it was to be solved within the squad itself, according to the leader’s orders and commands.

It was also a rare case for the higher-ups to be involved in the matter of squad and you happened to be one of the rare cases.

“I heard Namjoon removed you from Jimin’s squad.”

You looked at him with wide eyes, unsure as to how to reply to him.

If that’s what you heard, then you aren’t wrong, was what you wanted to reply with but decided against it.

Avoiding eye contact, you forced out a nod. Way too many people have come to you and asked that. You were getting sick of it. Most of them would continue to pin you as the problem. You didn’t have the heart to tell the truth… Just because. Taehyung only hummed as he leaned back into his seat with arms crossed on his chest. You squirmed in your seat uncomfortably under his gaze.

“Jimin is my soulmate.” He announced suddenly. The charming, gentlemanly aura was long gone as it was now replaced with a cold, aloof character.

His sudden disclosure about Jimin was met with a puzzled look on your face. “I… See?”

It was his turn to look astounded. A hint of annoyance was evident in his voice as he continued. “I’m glad you are not in his squad anymore. You’re way too close to him for a childhood friend.”

Blinking, you were very much confused but slowly, you asked, “Are you jealous…?”

“What– Of course not!” He quickly retorted. “As if someone like you could make me jealous.”

You badly wanted to roll your eyes but decided against it as you sighed. “I hope you’re not getting the wrong idea, but I have no desire for Investigator Park. I don’t have any feelings for him if that’s what you’re mad for…”

“And I didn’t know you and Investigator Park are soulmates,” you awkwardly added as your hands fidgeted under the table. Never in your life would want to make someone feel insecure or be a threat to someone’s sacred bond and you most definitely didn’t want to be a homewrecker.

You liked Taehyung, and you have a crush on him, but would you even call it a crush? You liked pretty things and he happened to be one of the world’s wonders.

“I like pretty things.”

“And? Why are you telling me that?”

Because I feel the need to assure you in whatever way possible.

You sighed. “Investigator Park is majestically pretty and so are you. It’s just a silly attraction, but I promise you I don’t have any romantic feelings for the two of you.”

“Do you have a soulmate?” He suddenly asked.

Taken aback, you blinked at him, “No.”

The subtle look of shock didn’t go unnoticed by you, but he was quick to be apathetic. “Therefore, I don’t trust you.”

“Up to you…” You looked away defeatedly with yet another sigh.

You didn’t blame him for not trusting, honestly. You completely understood where he was coming from, but you would very much want to justify yourself with the fact that you’ve been with Jimin since kids and that if you have feelings for him, you would’ve been rejected before you could even confess.

Maybe that was why you didn’t justify yourself. Your reasons were not helpful to the situation at all.

The Samgyeopsal and Jokbal you had ordered finally arrived along with a few bottles of Soju. The worker set up the grill and you immediately began to prepare to cook the meats. When the grill finally reached the desirable heat, you carefully placed each piece on top of the hot grill pan. Taehyung quietly helped you along as he got himself a pair of tongs.

“You like photography?” He broke the silence with the sudden question.

He seemed like the type of person that couldn’t handle quietness. You cast a side eye at him. He gave you a bored face as he jutted out his chin at the camera bag next to you. You slowly nodded but then you continued to cook up the meats when Taehyung fell silent again.

“Show me your skill.” He finally spoke again after moments of silence.

“What…” You gave him a dirty look. If it was someone else, you would’ve complied immediately, not questions. If it was anyone else, you wouldn’t have dared to do so, but Taehyung stopped wearing his gentleman mask. If he found no reason to be a gentleman around you, you surely should not have any reason to keep up with your good-girl image around him.

Or at least that was what you told yourself.

You got that unfamiliar sense of comfort around him. Although he was very much hostile towards you when he told you about Jimin, other than that, he treated you normally. You found yourself to be more expressive and open to him. It wasn’t Investigator V that was present here with you.

It was Kim Taehyung.

“My camera is full of your soulmate.”

“You take pictures of me too.”

“Is that a statement?”

“Yes.”

Surrendering, you put down your tongs. Your camera bag on your right was dark, hueless; black with your signature, and a small Lotus next to it, embedded in the fabric. It was given by Minghao as a birthday present for you. Taking the camera out of its shelter, you turned it on and searched for some pictures of him.

Truthfully, there were quite a number of his pictures in the camera. You thought you had transferred it to your computer. They were pictures of the latest photoshoot for KCCG weekly magazine. This week, Taehyung and his squad were featured in the magazine so, as you have been doing religiously, you attended the photoshoot.

You showed him the pictures. He casually took the camera away from your grasp. Well, he looked like he was experienced in holding a camera, so you didn’t panic. You picked up your tongs again as you continued cooking the meat and putting the cooked ones in your bowl and Taehyung’s as he mindlessly went through your camera’s gallery.

“Not bad,” Taehyung mumbled with a playful smirk tugging on his lips.

Heat crept up to your face as you felt your face getting warm. Although that didn’t sound like a genuine compliment, it was the first feedback you ever received from someone that viewed your pictures. You let Jimin look through your gallery occasionally, but he never said anything about the pictures.

Taehyung was intrigued. He was amazed by the pictures you have taken of him. Glancing at you through his lashes, he saw you smiling. An endearing smile as your eyes shone with a gleam of adoration. He caught himself smiling together with you but quickly wiped it away as he continued going through your camera until the end. There were pictures of Jimin's solo shoot for the 2nd Ward monthly magazine.

He always thought his soulmate would make a good model but after seeing your photos, maybe it was better Jimin wasn’t a model. The modelling industry would be under his feet instantly. Your pictures of him proved how majestically beautiful Jimin was.

Click!

He heard a shot was taken. “What are you doing?”

“Taking pictures of the food…?” You replied.

He frowned as if you did something very offensive towards him. “Shouldn’t you include the person you’re eating with too?”

Are you serious? “Whose rule is that?”

“Mine.”

Rolling your eyes, you continued to snap more pictures. “Shut up and eat before they get cold.”

Taehyung brought the camera to his eye level. You were still busy trying to get the perfect angle and lighting for the pictures, and he silently clicked a photo.

You looked perfectly flawless – or maybe it was just his skill or the camera.

He slowly angled the camera to his eye level again as he intended to take another picture but as he was looking through the camera lens, you were already staring at him with a boring look. “Taking my pictures now?”

“Jokes on you, I was taking pictures of the food.”

“Jokes on you, do you think I’m stupid?” You retorted but couldn’t help the small laugh that followed shortly after. “Give that here.”

He gave you puppy eyes, but you quickly turned him down as you narrowed your eyes at him. Surprisingly, he surrendered with a pout. He looked like a sad puppy as he picked up his chopsticks to himself some meats.

Bringing the camera to your eye, you prompted him. “Look here.”

Click!

A picture of him munching on the meat, luscious lips pouting. The flavour of the meat burst in his mouth as he savoured the food, eyes widened in pleasure.

You couldn’t contain your laugh as you reviewed the picture you just took. “You look cute.”

If you weren’t so busy with the camera, you would’ve seen the way his eyes widened as blood rushed to his face, cheeks flushed from your compliment. He didn’t know why he reacted in such a way but something about you complimenting him so nonchalantly must’ve caught him off guard.

The two of you continued bickering from him urging you to delete the pictures to you nagging about the foods getting cold because of the never-ending bickering and Taehyung that doesn’t seem to want to stop. You shoved pieces of meat together with lettuce into his mouth to shut him up. But as if that stopped him. He continued to babble to the point he drifted into some random topic. You only listened to him while you cook up more meats for him.

It was as if the two of you were close friends.

Taehyung fed you meats in between his random speech and having food offered right in front of you, who wouldn’t open their mouth automatically? Surely not you, hence your lips parted every time food was offered to you by Taehyung. Sometimes, you would pick up the meat off the grill and immediately offer it to him after blowing away some steam.

It felt so natural.

For him to feed you. For you to feed him. For you to listen to him as he went through from KCCG matter to some personal stories and random thoughts.

It naturally happened.

It naturally happened to the point you found yourself downing bottles of Soju mindlessly, definitely going over your drinking limit. You were a light drinker, but you didn’t care as you let the alcoholic drink continue to enter your system.

Taehyung looked at you. He was far from being drunk, for whatever reason. But he has the decency to remind you as he took away the bottle of Soju from your hand. “I think that’s enough of Soju for you, (Y/N).”

You could only whine in response, grumpily picking up your chopsticks again and shoving a few leftover slices of meat into your mouth.

“Aigo, (Y/N),” a soft voice cooed.

Taehyung and you simultaneously turned towards the voice – even though you were not exactly functioning well, your sense was surprisingly still functioning and able to pick up your surroundings.

You seemed to recognise the lady as you whined in response. “Ajumma…”

It was probably the restaurant’s owner.

“Let’s stop here, okay?” The old lady came next to you as she caressed your shoulders gently. You mumbled something inaudible for her old hearing as you put down your utensils.

The lady looked at Taehyung as she asked. “Are you her boyfriend?”

“No, I’m her colleag–”

“He’s my friend!” You exclaimed; your head whipped so fast as you looked at the lady next to you, index finger shushing over your lips. “Ajumma, he’ll get maaad if you call him my boyfriend. He already has a soulmate!” You whispered – more like trying to – the last sentence in her ears.

“Pull yourself together, (Y/N).” Taehyung shook his head as he heaved a heavy sigh.

“It’s not often I get to see her like this.” She told him after chuckling softly. “You must be a special friend to her.”

“Special?” He repeated with pure confusion.

This was the first time you and he were having dinner together.

“When she comes here with her friends, she never gets drunk.” She remembered the times when you would not drink even a sip of those alcoholic beverages as you stuck with your usual Cola. Even when one of your friends offered you to drink, the invitation was politely refused by you and for sure you must’ve felt really bad for rejecting it. “So, for her to get drunk in front of you, she must’ve really trusted you a lot.”

Your arms found their way as you circled the old lady’s figure. “Ajumma, I want a soulmate, too…” The sound of melancholy was apparent in your voice and certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the lady and even Taehyung.

Sighing pitifully, she caressed your head, “You’ll meet the one soon, honey.”

You must’ve been so lonely, she thought.

Finding a soulmate in today’s world is very crucial, but not everyone would find one. They would make one. In a world where the ghouls roamed around and blended in with the humans, one out of ten ghouls would have human as their soulmates and ghoul soulmates as the humans’, but not everyone was willing and ready to commit to someone who was not of their kind or more like they could not risk it.

There was a reason for the establishment of both CCG and KCCG, after all.

They were an anti-ghoul organisation.

Humans were not to get along with ghouls as they were considered monsters and existed for nothing but to cause chaos. CCG and KCCG made it their main purpose to exterminate the whole existence of ghouls as per their motto, to create a better world for humans, free from any danger.

That was why some people make their own soulmates. Modern technology and medicine paved the way for people who wanted to choose their own soulmates or run away from the ill-fated soulbond. Although some people still preferred the traditional way and pain-free because the alternative way was said to be painful and time-consuming as one must go through many procedures in order for a new desired soul bond to be established.

Expensive too.

Your eyes closed as you mumbled with sorrow. “What if I already meet them? But I don’t feel any connection with Mingyu and Minghao, but I love them, and they love me.”

The old lady tried to recall the guys you mentioned, and it clicked rather quickly given the number of times she had seen you with them. Indeed, you were very close to them. They treated you earnestly, lovingly, and caringly to the point she had thought they were your destined lovers, but you had explained before that they weren’t.

It was hard for even the lady to fathom the fact that they weren’t your soulmates too because she knew for a fact that your relationship with them was definitely not a normal one.

How could three souls be very loving and inseparable but not soulmates?

The three of you were one piece that was separated into three.

“They have to be my soulmates…”

Taehyung’s eyebrow twitched at your last sentence. The unexplainable urge to shut your mouth was clouding his mind, but at least you passed out now. He was not really a fan of the whole soulmate system although he already has his own soulmates. He liked to be free. Free from commitments. His soulmates gave him the freedom he wanted, of course, but at the end of the day, he was still in a relationship that required his commitment.

Or at least that was what he thought.

What was it that had you desiring soulmates so badly?

Couldn’t you just wait for them to naturally come to you?

You looked so desperate and pathetic.

“Poor kid,” the lady kindly supported your head that was resting on her. The soft and gentle caresses on the side of your head never ceased and it irked Kim Taehyung. He has the urge to push away that hand and replace it with his but for his own good sake, he held himself back. “Young man, you can go home if you want to, I can handle her.”

Her free hand went beneath her apron as she rummaged through her pocket for something. “Let me try to call Mingyu or Minghao…”

God, if Taehyung wasn’t so close to pushing that old woman off you.

Does she think he wouldn’t have the least amount of decency to bring her back home after having dinner with you?

Does she not trust him even though she mentioned him being a special someone for you?

Of course not.

He just had dinner with you.

For the first time.

And it was the first time the owner had seen you with someone other than Mingyu and Minghao. Even if there were someone else, she would’ve recognised.

She doesn’t trust him.

But then again, he doesn’t trust the old lady as well.

“No, it’s fine,” Taehyung said with his box smile, fighting back a snarl. “I can get her home.” He doesn’t need to justify himself as his aura spoke for him. He rounded the table to get to your side and practically snatched you from the lady’s hold.

His voice held finality as well as his action.

Taehyung gently manoeuvred you into wearing your coat. Outside was cold and windy, he wouldn’t want you to freeze to death before you could even reach your home. When he was done keeping you warm securely, he carefully carried you on his back. Luckily neither you nor Taehyung brought own Quinque because it would’ve been a pain in the neck to carry it along at this moment.

There was one thing that was still a problem.

He didn’t know where you live.

The night was cold as Taehyung carried you on his back. Wind marched into the chilly picture blowing like a sneezing monster, peeling off the brown cadaverous leaves from the strangled tree branches. The night would chill anyone down to the bone, but Taehyung remained unfazed as he strode in the cold weather.

The cold night breeze blew on your face, making you nuzzle into Taehyung’s neck in search of some warmth. Your body had picked up the spine-chilling temperature despite your mind being hazy from the alcohol. After some more snuggling, failure in search of perfect warmth, your eyes fluttered open.

Taehyung has very acute senses, you have come to notice that. Perhaps it was due to his years of being a ghoul investigator, but it still didn’t fail to amaze you as he spoke the second your eyes blinked open.

“You’re so heavy.”

Processing his word, you narrowed your eyes at him – although he couldn’t see you or if his peripheral vision was wide enough to see you, “Literally no one asked you to carry me!” You chided.

“I’ll let you fall,” he voiced with a minatory voice and that shut you up immediately.

“Put me down properly, dude,” you finally spoke again after minutes of silence. You’d rather walk than be carried by him knowing the fact that he could drop you off anytime. The thought of falling was very much not entertaining at this moment. Taehyung didn’t hesitate to let you down. “That gentleman image was just for show, was it?”

“I’m glad you’ve realised,” he brushed you off as he continued walking, leaving you behind.

One time he was bearable, another time he was nothing but an arsehole.

You rolled your eyes, “Ever since you told me Investigator Park is your soulmate,” and caught up with him. You didn’t notice how Taehyung had already slowed down his pace as now he was sauntering. He was waiting for you to at least walk next to him instead of getting out of breath with just a few quick steps. A smug grin paint itself on his face as he heard you whining and maffling.

It was only today and just now that Taehyung finally has a moment with you. Alone. He would occasionally see you with Rosé after the working hour or maybe he actually noticed you during the photoshoots but didn’t bring himself to give extra care about you.

Telling you that Jimin was his soulmate was just an excuse. Heck, even the whole dinner was just an excuse. He never wanted to have dinner with you, he would not want to. He had agreed to Rosé because he saw it as an opportunity: a chance to push you away from Jimin. You were the problem in Jimin’s squad. A hindrance. He was nothing but glad and elated when Namjoon had done him a favour of removing you from Jimin’s squad – not quite directly but the complaints were very helpful, and he was very thankful to whoever filed those complaints against you.

But a dinner with you was fun.

He hated to admit that.

You felt like a friend to him.

“Look, if you don’t want to carry me, let me at least cling on your arm for some support.” You huffed; arms crossed.

A scoff escaped his lips as he gave you a side glance, “You sure are something when you’re drunk, (Y/N),” but he still offered you his arm.

He shouldn’t have done that, right? He should yank his arm away from you.

But that moment never came. He didn’t feel the supposed emotion of anger or hatred bubbling when he was with you. Not even during the dinner just now. He told himself he was supposed to piss you off, embarrass you, and watch as you run out of the restaurant crying your heart out, be it tears of anger, humiliation, or even grief for the broken heart.

He wanted you away from his soulmate and him.

You should just be with your alleged soulmate.

Maybe your bond was broken.

Maybe you were soulless.

But why did all those thoughts stir uneasiness in him?

“How come you’re not drunk in the slightest?” You asked. The question had come out as slurring.

“Because who will take care of you when you’re drunk.” That came out as a natural response, he didn’t even think of constructing some believable lies.

You loured. “Lies. You don’t care whether or not I get drunk, and you certainly don’t care about the aftermath. You simply don’t get drunk.”

For one you were definitely sharp, he thought.

Shrugging, he said in a boring tone. “Whatever makes you sleep at night.”

You heard his tone, of course. So, you took it as a cue to shut your drunk self. Your tired eyes travelled down to the ground, watching as your steps matched with Taehyung’s. He definitely slowed down his pace. A small smile involuntarily tugged on your lips. Taehyung was soft despite the cold persona he had presented to you when he told you about Jimin. He was a guy overflowing with emotions but didn’t have a way to express them or at least had trouble doing so, hence he opted to suppress those emotions.

Heaviness started to gather on your eyelids as you struggle to keep your eyes open. Your pace was becoming slower, and Taehyung noticed the drag. He slightly turned to look at you only to see you sleeping. Eyes closed, your eyelashes lay like veils upon your cheeks, lips slightly parted, and regulated and calm pattern on breathing.

You look divine.

And if people were to pass by, they would think Taehyung was in love.

“(Y/N)?” A voice thick with an accent called, drawing only Taehyung’s attention as you passed out again. A blondie.

Another voice jumped in, sounding very excited. “It’s really you!” A brunette.

Japanese?

“Ah, she’s drunk,” The brunette said.

The first voice that had called you turned to Taehyung, giving a slight bow, “Oh, sorry,” she apologised. “Are you (Y/N)’s boyfriend…?”

You mumbled something gibberish and clung even harder to Taehyung’s arm, going as far as burying and hiding your face. Probably protecting your face from the harsh and cold wind.

“…n – not my boyfriend… I have boyfriends – Mhmph…” You were mumbling in Japanese as if your brain picked up the surroundings but not really functioning accordingly. He heard you clearly albeit it might sound gibberish to the others.

“Ming…yuuu,” you slurred.

And Taehyung decided he had enough of your shit.

His hands immediately found the back of your knees as he scooped you into his arms causing a yelp to escape your throat but despite the sudden force, you still didn’t come to your sense, mind was still heavy and clouded by the bottles of Soju you just had.

He made a mental note to not let you drink anymore.

Anymore?

Would there be a next time? Was he hoping for another dinner with just you?

“I apologise but she’s really out of it today,” pardoning on your behalf, the foreign language was fluent on Taehyung’s tongue as he put on his gentleman mask. “Are you perhaps her friends?”

“Yes,” she answered enthusiastically. “I’ve never seen (Y/N) this drunk!”

For a fact, this brunette looked really fascinated by you.

The elegant-looking blondie pulled back her thrilled friend by her shoulder, whispering something that made the brunette’s eyes widen like plates. She backed a few steps from you and Taehyung but still, a sweet smile plastered on her face.

The blonde cleared her throat, “We do not wish to hold you back any longer,” she said with the greatest formality and politeness she could muster. It sounded extremely formal in the language they were conversing in: Japanese.

“We’ll meet again, Investigator V,” she bowed slightly, her smile wore the softest smile, but Taehyung could never overlook the mischievousness that shone in her eyes that was quick to disappear as fast as it had appeared. The girls then walked past Taehyung and you, heading towards the opposite way of where he was planning to head.

Once your friends were completely out of the radar, Taehyung looked down at your sleeping face and then up ahead. He stood there for a solid two minutes before his lips slowly tugged into a smirk. “So, I wasn’t wrong…”

“They are the transferred investigators.” He mused to himself.

Namjoon had mentioned that CCG will station a few of their investigators at KCCG. He didn’t expect to have met them informally like that, but he most definitely didn’t expect them to blow their cover like that. He was grateful for his sharp sense.

“What a shocking information, (Y/N),” he muttered under his breath. “You’re friends with ghouls.”

CCG has no reason to station ghouls in KCCG.

#kthyg : ghoul #taehyung x reader #yandere bts #taehyung smut #bts smut #taehyung angst #bts angst #taehyung fluff #bts fluff #yandere taehyung #taehyung x oc #taehyung x you #yandere taehyung x reader #taehyung imagine #bts imagine #taehyung scenario #bts scenarios

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eleftherian · 1 month

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15 Questions, 15 Friends

Tagged by my fave @drewsaturday 💜😘✨

1. Are you named after anyone? Not technically. Dad found my birthname in the Bible and I chose my current name after the Adriatic Sea 🌊

2. When was the last time you cried? He huh hm memory is hard & time isn’t real sooo maybe yesterday maybe four days ago, but definitely within the week!

3. Do you have kids? HA no. I don’t want any humanoid creatures of my own thanks, but I DO have a toddler niece that I would literally kill for. She’s so fricking perfect and she’s my favorite entity in this universe

4. What sports do you play/have you played? Well. Idk if you’ve heard, but I was the star basketball player on my team in the 2nd grade. (Translation: they threw the ball at me too many times so I stopped showing up)

5. Do you use sarcasm? Whaaaa

6. First thing you notice about other people? I have this habit of complimenting random strangers on things like their eyes and hair and clothes and earrings and nails etc. so the first thing I notice is anything I like that I can tell them I like

7. What is your eye color? A really deep, dark brown (the spaces between stars)

8. Scary movies or happy endings? In the hospital i randomly wanted to watch a scary movie so like yeah i enjoy a good one, by happily ever afters are where its at folks

9. Any talents? I know all the words to All Star by Smash Mouth. Oh and also I taught myself to play both the flute and the piccolo but that’s secondary really

10. Favorite music genre? (Thanks, friend!) really into indie and folksy music. Faves include Florence + the Machine, Two Door Cinema Club, Winterbourne, Hozier, and Mitski (NOT Noah Kahan bc his music makes me sad sry)

11. Any pets? Yes! We have a 90lb labradoodle named Hershey and a 7lb cat we found in a trash can named Jalapeño

12. How tall are you? 5’5”

13. Favorite subject in school? As an undergrad, I loved art history. As a high schooler, I loved Latin. But I have ALWAYS loved every English class I’ve ever taken

14. Dream job? Special collections curatorial librarian (it’s what I’m currently in school for)

15. Something went wrong bc there was only 14 so I’m coming up with another one my ownsies: favorite comfort movie? Mine is the og Ghostbusters! I like the 2016 one with the girl gang too and also the ones with the kids but the og is my fave when I’m sad.

TAGGING: (btw I don’t think I know 15 people irl so this is not going to have 15 people…) @idle-dreary-days @mickletag @genderfcker @satanspersonal666 @psychicsoul97 and anyone who wants to do it! 🩵

#my posts #tag game #vega #thankee 💜💜💜#avn

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pennyserenade · 8 months

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it seems that its time for my first reading wrap-up already. being as i didn't have an especially literary september, i decided to include both the months of august and september in this one. going forth, i will likely only do one month at a time. if you'd like to follow my reading journey more closely you can do so at my goodreads or my storygraph. if you would like to talk about these books, recommend your own, and/or speak about your own monthly reading interests and habits, you're welcome to come to my inbox and do so. i'm always willing to speak about this topic, but you'll probably see me do it more at the beginning/end of each month. i'll be tagging this as #miranda's bookclub. if you're interested in following along.

the books i read in between the months of august & september were:

pet sematary by stephen king (fiction) - got from library

miss subways by david duchovny (fiction) - got from library

cultish: the language of fanaticism by amanda montell (nonfiction) - bought on my kindle

the only good indians by stephen graham jones (fiction) - got from libby app (library)

the overstory by richard powers (fiction) - got from library

PET SEMATARY by stephen king.

this novel was my first real incursion into the literary world of stephen king. i've been flirting with the idea of reading a stephen king novel since i saw a boy in seventh grade, clutching his thick edition of it during math class. i'd always been slightly too terrified and intimated, both by the impressive weight of some of his novels and the promise of horror i'd been told of my entire life. i picked up pet sematary as a sort of joke--scary cats coming back to life, haha--and what i got was so much more than i ever could've bargained for. the tragedy and horror in this is not necessarily caused by frankensteinian animals seeking revenge, but by the heavy weight of human grief and this inability we have to let go. i was stunned by the emotion this made me feel, and how deeply affected i was by it. i continue to ardently recommend this to anyone who will listen

my goodreads rating: 5.

my storygraph rating: 5.

MISS SUBWAYS by david duchovny.

oh, david duchovny. i picked up miss subways after reading duchovny's other novel, bucky f*cking dent. i was surprised by how much i enjoyed his writing style in the first novel, and i decided to give this one a try namely because of the fact that it was centered around a female narrator. the way duchovny weaves humor into his stories is great, so markedly him, and what made bucky f*cking dent so wonderful--all that humor, the heart, the genuineness of the story--seemed to stray a little in this novel. i'd like to start of this quasi-review by stating three things: i might not be smart enough for this novel, i probably am not the right audience for it (i don't read much fantasy), and i think this might've been too ambitious of a project for him. the thing i really love about duchovny's writing is that you can always tell how passionate about he is about writing. this is also something i sometimes hate, too. i remember thinking at some points of this that he struggled with telling too much, making it obvious how very much he had researched the topics. as for his handling of a female narrator: not too bad! which surprised me most of all. there wasn't a part in this that really made me roll my eyes or think 'this is a man writing a woman and it's terrible.' he seems to have a grasp on the fact that so much humanity is universal, which is a good thing that so many other male authors often forget. i think duchovny made a most valiant effort in trying to bring this centuries old story to the contemporary, but i think this story wasn't really meant for his humor.

my goodreads rating: 3.

my storygraph rating: 3.5.

CULTISH: THE LANGUAGE OF FANATICISM by amanda montell.

i heard about this book first on tiktok and it captured my attention because like most people i'm vaguely interested in cults. call it morbid curiosity or perhaps its just the anxious person in me always on the look out. when i was a teenager, i once heard something that's stayed with me for a long time: everyone is someone that could be sucked into a cult. i wanted to find out who these people were, the ones that had gotten trapped. while this novel focuses more on the language aspect surrounding cults, i did get a healthy understanding of the people in them. what i really, really, really liked about this novel was the fact that it dealt with and accentuated the fact that these people were often at first willing, smart, and above all things: human. they were not brainwashed beyond the point of saving. they weren't stupid, backyard hillbillies. they were not irrevocably broken individuals. mostly they were affluent, hopeful, and looking for a community of like-minded individuals. their tragic endings were not always the product of their own makings, as we've been lead to believe. they didn't all go out easy, trapped under the spell of a charismatic leader. i liked that the author offered this much needed perspective. i too enjoyed the way montell showed the ways cultish language is employed not only in jonestown situations, but things as simple and innocuous as workout groups and alcoholics anonymous. she throughly picked apart and analyzed cultish language in seemingly every sector of life, and i think that my understanding of these situations is much better for it.

my goodreads rating: 4.

my storygraph rating: 4.5.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by stephen graham jones.

last year i took a class on native american literature and i believe during that class stephen graham jones was one of the authors to be mentioned. i'll admit that i'm rather new to the horror genre, so my grasp of it isn't exactly great but i did enjoy this story and i intensely loved the way this was from a non-white perspective and that it was not a white story. i found myself adequately terrified, psychically cringing at points. these characters, despite all of their endless flaws, were lovable and watching them scum to a seemingly unbreakable curse was equal parts horrifying and sad. the one real critique i have about this story was the pacing of the ending. i found it to be tediously slow at points, focusing too much on the characters of cass, gabe, and mostly denorah. even having said that, i think this was a great novel and i recommend it for anyone looking for a spooky, tragic read for october.

my goodreads rating: 4.

my storygraph rating: 4.25.

THE OVERSTORY by richard powers.

i almost love this one too much for words. currently it is competing for the spot of my most favorite read of this year, and i think its nearly won. i do not think there was a character or family or a relationship in this massive novel that i did not care for or form an attachment to by the end. i cried three times throughout the entire thing and they weren't any trembling lip cries either. no, they were tears down my face sobs. i'm not usually one to cry like that over books, so this was a feat. powers has an incredible way of breathing life into every character that graces the page. in the first part of this story he pays special attention to every character, mapping out their life, their motivations, drawing their lines to trees carefully. in the second half of this novel he throws them together, pushing them all towards one earnest, painfully relevant mission. tragedy, grief, love, passion--it's all here, done so beautifully as to make me enroll in a science class and pick a topic dedicated to the sweeping beauty the forests. i'm not a science girlie and yet this novel has made me care so, so deeply about this it.

my goodreads rating: 5.

my storygraph rating: 5.

#miranda's bookclub.

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antiloreolympus · 2 years

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10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. ok but I love Rachel spent the latter half of 2021 being like ooooh Kronos is coming back!! this is a big deal!! only to timeskip ten years and NOTHING happened. like wow even Kronos isn't a big deal when it comes to how totally not pathetic Persephone is as a 30+ year old doing no work and only being obsessed with a guy she knew for a month. literal masterclass in awful writing. It's almost impressive how bad it is.

2. Deadass I don't even get why RS is like oh yeh nymphs and other creatures should be second class citizens but they're also all "trash" and thus its good and even encouraged to abuse and mistreat them. like yeah that's what was missing, racism where the marginalized group are evil and "deserve" to be abused and mistreated by those with all the power over them. THAT's what mythology was so sorely missing. jfc. I know a lot of the WT staff are white people and so is Rachel but wtf???

3. It's quite funny how a woman old enough to be my mother cannot draw or write worth shit and there are literal teenagers on this website who are a thousand times the artist and writer she could ever hope to be.

4. This isn’t me trying to be mean but like, why is everything from the book covers to the official merch so ,.. cheap looking? Like these are supposed professionals, not Rachel, doing it, yet they’re still so poorly designed and crafted. It doesn’t help the images Rachel gives time to work with are all in the rushed, ugly style now either 😪

5. I just find it funny that every time an LO fan or even WT promotes it its like ... they ONLY use art from the first 10-ish episodes at best. Like yall, that was over four years ago, why aren't you using current art to be more accurate? Like it's kinda telling on themselves they know the quality declined rapidly after the first few months but are like "just ignore that! look at this three good panels from 2018!"

6. I HATE those panels where RS tries to be anatomically correct to IRL humans and its like omg they look even worse (and are still wildly wrong anyway?? She cannot draw heads to save her life for real). Like lady just work within your stylization, there's a reason people picked up your work off what it used to be versus what it is now.

7. this isnt necessarily LO based but I do find it crazy how people like RS and her fans viewed the original hymn like ugh Demeter is such a bitch why wouldnt she be happy Hades married her daughter like .... you guys are aware ancient brides tended to be married at 14, right? maybe that's why Demeter was pissed and creeped out by him. They're so blinded by their fantasy of this "perfect Hades" that never existed over the truth of a mother defending her literal CHILD.

8. Zeus is objectively the only hot man on cast because he actually has a personality, fashion sense, and pretty hair meanwhile Hades just looks like a dusty old man with zero drip and a million and one red flags 🫣

9. "This style of story telling" what style? just lying and making everything up to where it matches nothing in mythology? my god, she's so concerned over looking like a clever writer who has everything planned out and knows more than anyone else (including actual greeks??? ma'am) over actually telling a decent story. ive never seen someone so self conscious about being perceived as a "real writer" before.

10. Why even use mythology when you won't keep any of the stories true to how they were, change all the relationships, and just make up whatever else instead? At that point just go "this was inspired by the greek myths" and use your own OCs, not claiming you're telling an accurate story with a ton of research put into it. Rachel really just wants to have her cake and eat it too, huh?

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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chellyfishing · 1 year

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well, i finished the last book i meant to read for the year, and i’ve been wanting to do a lil year in review of all the media from this year, but the main problem is that i don’t log movies/tv anywhere and my memory is uhh?? real bad?? i also definitely didn’t listen to nearly as much new music this year as usual :\\ anyway i figured i’d start with books for now and maybe ponder music/tv/movies/games over the next couple days.

NO i will not include fic even though i definitely did spend like a week recently accidentally reading a 600+k fic for a fandom i’m NOT EVEN IN, i can’t believe i read the whole thing

my storygraph is here

i read fifteen books this year, which makes it my best reading year since 2016, when i inexplicably read 40 in one year?? who is she i gave 5 stars to three of them:

confessions by kanae minato: this is a thriller told from multiple POVs about the supposed accidental death/actual murder of a teacher’s young daughter and the fallout that happens when she reveals she knows the truth. it is hard to root for anyone in this but that’s not really the point. every chapter reframes the original story again and again and again up until the final page so honestly don’t bother making your mind up about anything at any point before then.

the last house on needless street by catriona ward: i feel like explaining almost anything about this book and why i loved it so much would be just one massive spoiler, because its strengths lie in its abilities to subvert. subvert what? kind of... everything? it’s about a man, and his cat, and his daughter. it’s about a woman searching for her missing sister. it’s about illness, and abuse, and a serial killer. trigger warnings abound, especially regarding things happening to children. i don’t really know how to recommend this, except that it’s just Good and i haven’t stopped thinking about it.

you’ve lost a lot of blood by eric larocca: this is the book i just finished. it is very short, you could almost class it as a novella, in fact there is a novella in it? but also other things? i literally just finished it, so i’m still processing, because SO MUCH happens in a very short span of pages. i might reread it quickly because it really does go so fast, you almost don’t have time to breathe. the novella within the novel(la) is told in present-tense, in very short sentences and paragraphs, and you especially fly through those sections. i don’t know at this point if i think the whole thing could have benefitted from being longer or not. i might even change my rating of it later, but i sat for a minute after the last page and felt pretty strongly it was a five-star read so for now i go with my gut. i could feel myself going on a face journey the whole time, from sentence to sentence. it has things to say, in a sort of recursive way, it’s hard to explain. i think what it’s about is art, and also identity. i think i’m going to be thinking about it for awhile.

several other books i read this year probably would have been 5 stars if i was still using goodreads instead of storygraph, like a powerless fool, with the top ones of those being:

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid: you all know this book!!!!! i’m late to the party. there is a lot in here that is so beautiful and compelling. there is something about her writing that i also felt in malibu rising (which i also read this year) that keeps things from being a full five stars from me. i don’t think i can really explain it succinctly. but i was still very moved by this book, i cried a lot, and i do intend to read more by her, because her work is very readable.

piranesi by susanna clarke: i think this is a book that i only didn’t love quite as much as other people because i heard how good it was going in and expected something more revolutionary or life-changing instead of just A Very Good Book. like if i didn’t have any expectations i probably would have finished it and gone “wow!” instead of “oh, that was nice.” it’s about a man who doesn’t know much living almost entirely alone in a place that can’t be real, and what happens when both he and outside forces start to peel away at that reality.

all the feels by olivia dade: this is the sequel to spoiler alert, which i also read and loved this year, but slightly less. both of these books are very wonderful funny wish fulfillment romantic comedies about fat women and gorgeous prestige television star men (the show they’re on is like game of thrones but make it greek myth), they were the kind of thing that i just kind of needed to read at the time. what puts this one slightly ahead of its predecessor for me is that most of the conflict comes from the characters not being able to get out of their own way and sort of having to learn how to grow and be better people both for themselves and each other. i also just liked their romantic dynamic a bit more and i think anybody who is familiar with both pairs and also me would be like “yeah that tracks.” there’s a third book in the universe featuring a very minor background couple from the first two coming out soon!! ready for it!!

and the other good to very good things i read:

the ghost bride by yangsze choo (4.5): this book is set in 19th century malaysia and is about colonial chinese families (the author herself being chinese-malaysian). it’s about a woman whose family is Respectable but in a precarious position, and so naturally that means hoping for an Advantageous Marriage. there’s a man she loves, but he’s out of reach, and then his family proposes the idea of her marrying... that man’s dead cousin? which she’s not into (for whatever reason). but then he starts haunting her, and she has to figure out how to get him off her back so she can actually live her damn life. it’s very cute and fun and adventurous and sweet and romantic. it’s also a series on netflix which is somewhat faithful, it changes some things for the better and some things for less so, i enjoyed it though! the dead man, who is a limp weirdo in the book, is kind of a banger character in the series (i mean, still a weirdo, but with killer fashion sense).

the bright spear trilogy by hl macfarlane (all 3.75): these are three books classed as “gothic scottish fairy tales.” in terms of writing they are very light and frothy, kind of romantic drama with a fairy tale backdrop. there’s a bit more plot in the first one but things gradually become more about the relationship drama as things progress. slight spoiler but absolutely approve of the heroine having two handsome suitors and deciding she will keep both. they aren’t amazing books overall but they were fun fast reads and i honestly appreciate them being kind of just lightly poly. the third book is... unexpectedly dark? like trigger warnings for SA among some other things. things never get truly grim but after i read it i was like oh yeah that was kind of a lot wasn’t it, if you think about it. the author has promised a sequel series about the child character born at the end and... yeah. yeah i’m gonna read it.

malibu rising by taylor jenkins reid (4.5): another book in the taylor jenkins reidiverse, about the family of a minor evelyn hugo character. he’s a rock star, he’s got a wife who’s been with him from before he Made It, they’ve got kids who love to surf. the action focuses on the kids, taking place over one night, with flashbacks filling in the stories of their parents, and how actually, their dad kinda sucks. this is a lighter read than evelyn hugo but deals with similar ideas and themes.

penpal by dathan auerbach (4.25): this is kind of a famous no sleep/reddit horror story that was published as a novel. it’s about a man who’s reflecting on his childhood, putting together a lot of seemingly disparate, out-of-order events to form a truly disturbing narrative. the most important thing about this book that you should know is that it’s a bummer. you won’t walk away from this one feeling very good about anything. the pacing is kind of slow as things build over time and then A Lot happens in the last bit and then you just kind of have to live with it.

neverworld wake by marisha pessl (3.5): this was easily the most disappointing book i read this year. it’s about a group of friends who are stuck in purgatory reliving the same day over and over again, and it’s also about their friend who died a year ago and what happened to him. i... don’t really know what to say about this book. it wasn’t bad, obviously. maybe i just don’t get it. i don’t know what it was trying to say. i don’t know what i was supposed to feel. but i wasn’t feeling conflicted in the way i was with something like, say, confessions. it was just kind of like, “...okay? and?”

spoiler alert by olivia dade (4.25): as mentioned above.

autumn of the grimoire by jl vampa (4.0): listen... i read this because it’s arranged marriage. more broadly it’s about four sisters who are like, seasonal witches, and they pass around a grimoire from season to season that gives them tasks passed down by their predecessors. our protagonist is sister autumn and she always gets the absolutely worst most grim and traumatic tasks, and now she’s inexplicably being forced to marry Some Guy. the thing that i liked the least about this book is how it was told from different viewpoints of characters who have different amounts of knowledge but the reader is constantly being kept in the dark for no real reason, like, we weren’t learning with the characters, the characters already knew!! we were just being teased with constant reminders about how there’s More Going On, which is so tedious to me. “had i but known” and related writing tropes are among my least favorites. also, i knew it was going to be het, but there was a teeny tiny part of me that thought maybe the male half of the marriage was already in a relationship with another man and he and his wife were just going to end up bffs and i read like half the book through that lens and it took quite awhile before the book reached a point where i could no longer pretend that made sense. i recommend trying this anyway because if the author is going to repeatedly remind me there are things i don’t know it’s my right as a free american to pretend the thing i don’t know is gay. overall in spite of all that there are some fun characters, and some fun plot twists! i didn’t expect it to end how it did and i’m actually kind of looking forward to reading more in the series when they come out!

i didn’t read any books i hated this year, which was nice!! i think i read more 5 stars last year but i also read some real duds too. the “worst” was just being disappointed by

neverworld wake

i started so many others but i don’t consider any of them DNFs becaaaaause i start books all the time and put them down and it has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the fact that i have a squirrel brain and reading is so so hard. hopefully i’ll finish some of them next year?? i don’t think anything i read this year was an aborted attempt from last year tho sooooo idk. i wish my brain was better but i still consider this a pretty good reading year overall!

#deep thoughts

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arlecchno · 1 year

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5 hours of sleep squad …. i honestly dont know how well i sleep but today i had a dream and alhaitham and kaveh were in it (i only got to chat w haitham tho) i was in this gigantic ass library type thing and it looked so cool , the entire thing was made out of dark brown wood and it was so pretty (i actually had another dream where i was in the same building before where i was running errands around the “school” HAHAH) but yeah since it was a library / school type place i was obviously there to learn shiz and — this is the weird part — the lesson was on dreams !!!!!!! and like bro ?? are my dreams becoming self aware ? 😨 i thought the lesson was interesting but alhaitham tried to gaslight me into not liking it (an exaggeration , he just thought i was lying when i said it was interesting) i think he was supposed to be like ,,, a helper to me in the dream idfk it was funky as hell - sorry for going off on a tangent about my dream LMFAO

WHSJSJ fischl is my baby shes one of the first 4*s i got and i kinda relate to her on some level , i too love playing pretend , but mostly when i was younger id pretty much spend all my recess roleplaying with my friends . trying to imitate my favorite characters is a pastime ive always enjoyed , and it honestly makes me insanely happy when people say i kinda act like my faves (ig its smth i do subconsciously LOL) because its like “WAIT . THEY THINK IM LIKE THIS INSANELY COOL CHARACTER I LOVE WITH A BURNING PASSION ???? [inaudible screaming]” recently ive found myself a new genshin rp friend and . dude . id never have thought that playing as alhaitham would be so goddamn fun . screenies for funnies:

(making cynos joke was so much fun too so i included it)

bro i lost my mf 50/50 to jeAN on haithams banner - not even a diluc , tall men hate me ig LMAO and it really doesnt help that ive been drained as hell from school lately so ive been slacking w my fricking primo farming ;_;

YESS the fungi event was lovely but tbh … the entire event i was just yelling about how i wanted to see cyno HAHAHAH - i suffer with chronic writers block (/hj) so . like . [dead alex sound]

GREAT NEWS my injury has healed hooray !!

absolutely , escaping school is great , id probably go on more field trips if it didnt mean id have to do makeup work tbh , i hate doing makeup work .

DINGDINGDING ! YOU ARE CORRECT ! the region i was going for was indeed mondstadt ! aster (my oc) lives in mond and is originally from khaenriah , im glad i didnt draw in their face yet because their eyes wouldve totally given away the fact they were khaenriahn LOL

my week was honestly pretty busy (atleast to my tiny brains standards , i feel like you could also tell by how long it took me to send another ask 😭😭) i had two tests today (that i frickin ACED HAHA im so proud of myself) one of my friends and some guy i share a bunch of classes with also gave me pieces of their cotton candy and the guy told me good job for actually doing my work LMFAO (i usually fall asleep in that class … haha ,,) and one of my other friends complained about also wanting food so i called him friendless (even though i thought the guy who gave me a piece of cotton candy didnt like me so i dont think he counts as a friend ??) my friend also recently introduced me to a series they liked and now im practically obsessed because DELICIOUS . i also recently did heizous hangout quest and GODDAMN he - he is so . im so gay for this detective motherfucker i was practically screaming at my ipad … haha …… heizou is honestly so my type he has such a way with words and i DO NOT know why a lot of npcs / characters in game talk about him negatively how do people not like him - yeah but i also almost went on a full genshin lore tangent to my ipad because of my uncontrollable urge to explain things SMH . oh my god the part where heizou said that he wanted us to be his partner all the time and i just straight up actually screamed , yes heizou ill be your partner forever if yk what i mean - HAHAHAH i also made a collection of goofy genshin triangles on one of my friends old schoolwork in math class hehe

aaaanyways id like to return your question ! how have your recent days been ? and if you dont deem anything of note or dont want to share , if you could choose anyone in genshin to share a house / be roommates with who would you choose ? (since these are again two questions , if you want , fire back two as well !) also , dude i have a terrible habit of rambling like crazy , so i totally dont mind if you ramble and stuff in replies (because i do that wayy too much as well LOL)

— jellyfish

HELLOO TO YOU!!!! your dream sounds so funny LOL in the 2 years i've played genshin i've never had any genshin characters appear in my dreams,,, it's always boring ones that revolve around my life. but nevertheless your dream made me imagine how alhaitham would act around you 😭 and the way he tried to gaslight you LMAO he's so cute and goofy

haha i love how enthusiastic you are about fischl!!! we all have that one character that we have an undying love for to the point that everyone you know in life knows them (for me that'd be kazuha,, every time someone sees him it'd just remind them of me hehe)

THE RPS LMAO “i just find you rather annoying.” THAT'S SUCH AN ALHAITHAM THING TO SAY!!! also i'm pretty oblivious so this just made me realize that the denial is a river in egypt tiktok meme is also pointing out the fact that the nile. is a river. in egypt???? i just found out it's a wordplay thing???? denial (the nile)???? damn i really thought it's like a random word being thrown to make it seem exaggerated or something 😭😭😭 i'm really dumb LMAO how did i not figure that out sooner 🙁🙁🙁 the fact that i know the nile is a river in egypt is embarrassing too like it never occurred to me to piece the puzzles together...

man that sucks 😭😭 i remember when you messaged me on genshin talking about it LOL please humbly accept my offer of my c2 diluc to you,,, he's been in my hands far too long and i cannot fathom the fact that he keeps appearing in my 50/50's (tighnari pls come home i beg). i was on a 50/50 for haitham too and the very loud sigh of relief i let out when he finally came home is insane. i've basically farmed everything in the new area (i have 99% exploration progress now due to it) and have milked my welkin for him so i'm glad he actually came home... the things i'd do if diluc appeared in screen instead should be left unsaid 🤗

YAYY GLAD TO HEAR YOU'RE WELL NOW!!!

aster is such a badass name and the fact that they're originally from khaenriah???? awesome as hell. hope they're besties with kaeya because that would be totally legen... wait for it, dary!!!! (cue my love for barney in himym i just had to quote him)

also very glad to see that your week has been going okay!!! would love some cotton candy rn tbh they're so good </3

and heizou's hangout quest.... honestly same. i haven't exactly finished all of the endings but i've done some and it made me squeal and giggle every time he flirted with us 😭 made me feel like a total loser with his charming words bro i can't believe the npcs in game have such negative views on him because me personally if i was in the game, i'd immediately fold for him the second he breathes in front of me HAHA i'm . not weird at all.

my week has been slow actually, i finished my finals a while ago so we have nothing to do now so i've been doing absolutely nothing at school LOL! senior year is coming up soon so i might be more busy and focusing more on my studies... it's sure gonna be hell for me.

and recently i've been packing up my stuff because i'm moving out!! (hence why i haven't posted a new asphodelus chapter lol i've been so busy). it's been rather slow for me tho since i have a lot of stuff and it's kinda hard to choose the ones i'd have to throw or give away because like,, i love all of my stuff 😭 my mom has helped me with some but i still got a shit ton of stuff to declutter. basically everything is a mess rn

other than that, i think everything's been a-okay! i'm just reaally busy with irl stuff now but i think i can survive through them :D (i hope i do because i am one inch away from going insane). also my mom's been trying to convince me to drive lately since i'm supposed to start now but i have been avoiding it,,, it's scary being on the road and i am far from ready to risk my life 😔

as for your question, i think out of everyone, i'd choose kazuha. before you say anything, i'm trying to not be as biased as i can since like kazuha is my favourite character ever— but yeah, i think i can accept the terms of living with the kaedehara kazuha. he's such a nice guy and although he's a very very lightweight and behind all that charming looks he's a pretty scary guy himself (cue that scene where he threatened that treasure hoarder in the archon quest that he'd brand his forehead with hot iron) i think i could actually survive living with him. he'd do his set of chores, i'd do mine, everyone gets their happy ending. if i were to live with my other favs like kuni and alhaitham i think i would just die. kuni would be rude as fuck and alhaitham would just bully his way out from doing our shared chores. i cannot deal with them. (i'm sorry my sweethearts i'll do you two justice one day)

time to give a question to you!!! how's your progress in genshin going? (it can be exploration wise, storyline, anything) and what's your current main genshin team rn :0

hope you're having a great day!!! it was fun talking with you hehe i've been dying to get an ask since the blog has been real quiet lately, and i'm glad it's you! have a wonderful day ahead :P

#h answers #jellyfish <3 #sorry for the long ramble once again #i am in need of more interactions with people on this blog #pls someone talk to me

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lavaeolus · 2 years

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Jedi Shadow: beating KotOR with as little killing as possible

For a game with such an array of skills, Knights of the Old Republic is very willing to just let you charge in and clear out dungeons with your lightsaber. There's about one point where Stealth as an option is explicitly acknowledged, and it's on the Endar Spire. From a player's perspective, it's an odd investment: you could slowly sneak in and bypass foes or set up mines... or you could just charge in and collect that sweet, sweet enemy XP in a flash.

Still, it did get me wondering. How viable is sneaking around? And in a game that pats you on the back for mercy and de-escalating conflicts, how much combat is unavoidable? Neither of the Old Republic games would support an outright pacifist run, but how well would the game react to us eschewing its main gameplay? Let's go on a journey together, people, a quest to save the galaxy with a minimum of whoosh-whoosh pew-pews.

Enter my character, a Scoundrel. I wasn't sure what approach would be best for this run, but I figured the class that starts with stealth and gets a buttload of skill points would be a good choice. I decided I'd take the extra effort to grab 14 Intelligence, even though in the harsh world of the first game that equates to a whopping one extra skill point a level. Given the goals of the character, it felt fitting enough to go for a more defensive Dexterity-focused build. Would it be enough? Let's find out.

Oh, and this post is pretty long. Just a warning.

The Endar Spire

Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. For the Endar Spire we're in full tutorial mode, and that means you're gonna learn how to combat. You can mostly leave Trask to it, as you sit in the corner mourning Sith, but your hands will get dirty.

A bloody, bloody time. I counted 16 people in total, including 5 I electrocute with a computer. Keep that number in mind for later! It's a very murdery tutorial.

Taris

Would you believe only 2 kills?

Well, sort of, but that's a charitable count. First, it doesn't count the ships in your first mandatory turret sequence. Second, a specific rakghoul needs to die before Mission will spawn -- but it's the one who attacks Hendar, so if you charge out and take hits he can land the final blow. It's also ignoring Davik, who we technically never lay a hand on: he just gets crushed by rubble mid-combat with us, thanks to the Sith bombardment.

Brejik, then? You win the swoop race, but Bastila (not yet part of our party) breaks out of her own accord... and can easily handle things by herself. You're obligated to kill zilch.

So who are our lucky two victims? It's an assault droid in the Sith Base and the Sith Governer. All other combat kills can be avoided by stealth, by hacking computer terminals to open doors and shut down turrets, or -- more than I would like -- by running away from people while screaming. Let's call it 1 person, 1 droid and 1 creature.

Dantooine

Dantooine doesn't get much time to wrack up a killcount. We talk down Juhani and become a Consular, then head to follow a vision. The only necessary kills are 2 droids guarding the Star Map. Even then, you don't need to take them out in *combat*. You can stealth past them, use the computer to unlock the seal, and then just run back into the main room. Do so, however, and they just... inexplicably explode when you open the door to the Star Map. C'est la vie.

Still, here's something fun. You know the beasts attacking the runaway droid? You can run up to them, lure them away, then break line-of-sight and return to the droid to talk to him. While I don't know if that's intentional, it's cool it works as a solution.

Tatooine

You do need to get a Sand Person disguise, and those are dropped by the Elite Warriors who form part of each desert ambush. Otherwise the game auto-kills you when you pass by the Sand People's turrets. So we kill this Warrior, but let the other two ambushers live.

Since we'll go light-side, you might think that's it: Sand People negotiations done and killing's solved. Alas. We have to take part in a krayt dragon hunt, and that means luring some banthas as bait. To finish luring the banthas, we're forced to kill four more Elite Warriors who attempt to stop us.

That makes 5 people and 1 creature (the krayt dragon) in total. Calo Nord tries to ambush us but we can... literally walk past him without triggering combat? A bounty hunter for the ages.

Korriban

Home of the Sith, and a multiple-quests Prestige system! We sweet-talk our way into the academy and do most of the non-combat stuff: recite the Sith Code, reveal Yuthura's betrayal, get the info from the Mandalorian (and fake his death while we're at it), fetch Ajunta Pall's sword. You might recall in that last one, a Sith student tries to get the relic off you. We refuse to give it to him but run past him; any overt trickery would get him killed.

But count that up. We need five Prestige points, and I listed *four* things. We're left with a sadistic choice. To get our last prestige point, we must either:

Rat out Kel Algwinn to Uthar, which technically keeps our hands clean and avoids combat altogether. But Uthar is implied to kill the young apprentice.

Help the renegade Sith students escape: they just need a Terentatek killed.

Head into the Tomb of Tulak Hord and either let the hermit kill Mekel, or help Mekel turn the tides against him.

In the end, I went with killing the Terentatek. This way we can say with some earnesty that, hey, did you know you only need to kill one person on Korriban? A crack stealth squad of me, Mission and Juhani (remember: she has a stealth ability!) went into the caves, just barely eliminated the beast, and reported its death to the renegade students. It's not an easy task at level 9, but when you're loaded up with determination and adrenals, there's nothing you can't do. (You can get the Qel-Droma Robes without actually killing the beast, for the curious: they're on remains nearby, so you can grab 'em with stealth.)

Technically I cower in a corner, stealth, and just let Yuthura solo Uthar. In this case my character walked in knowing there'd be a conflict, and I did poison him to weaken him, so I'm still going to count that as a kill. Yuthura is spared but, sadly, not redeemed -- we need peace with the academy so we can convince a Sith duelist to free the academy's captives. (He assumes it's all part of a powerplay by an in-hiding Uthar.)

So there you go. Korriban: least bloody planet so far. 1 person and 1 creature.

Manaan

It might seem sneakier to use a passcode or passphrase to enter the Sith Base, but that actually results in a fight the moment you enter. If you go to the Hangar, however, you can just sneak aboard a transport and arrive at the back of their base, avoiding combat altogether. At least initially: we'll still have to trigger the fight when exiting the base, but at that point we can just run through the front door. Sadly, the dialogue doesn't change to acknowledge your relatively softer methods.

Three Firaxan sharks must die to clear us a path in our first sea floor expedition, followed by two more sharks in our second. It's a shame because in principle, these sharks don't need to die -- but I couldn't figure out a realistic way of avoiding their aggro or their attacks.

So that makes 5 creatures. Manaan, with its cold war and courtroom drama, was almost our first pacifist planet completion. Alas.

Kashyyyk

I, er, actually don't have much to say! You're not on Kashyyyk for long, and here's the secret: we're not going to be doing the core of it. This whole Chuundar vs Freyyr civil war thing? Seems like that's something for the wookiees to solve. We just get the Star Map and leave. Sorry, Big Z!

Oh, but the trick with the droid earlier works here as well: we can lead the two Mandalorians attacking him away, peacefully saving Grrrwahrr. Beautiful name. All-in-all, we finally completed a planet without having to kill something and all it cost was one of our companions.

In case you're wondering about my order here: by leaving this planet completion last, we can avoid the Star Map's droid fight without getting any dark side points. But I'm simplifying things. Technically I went to Kashyyyk, picked up Jolee, took him to Manaan and dealt with Sunry, *then* came back to wrap things up. The XP from the Sunry trial is too important to pass up.

0 kills!

Leviathan

Mission's the pick for a bloodless rescue, in my eyes. We invest a point into Carth and Bastila's stealth skill and equip them with basic stealth generators, just barely giving us some wriggle room to work with.

Of course, there's the Saul Karath boss fight and his minions. That's 7 people in all! Weep.

After that, though, we can get through without killing any other Sith while on the ship, although leaving begins the second mandatory turret sequence. How many die there? I still don't know. One for each ship at least. Maybe they're drones. We live in hope.

Unknown Planet

Starting this begins our third and final forced turret sequence. But we don't actually have to kill anyone in this One vs Elders war. Rescuing the Elder scout from the One requires he set the beasts on you, but once that cage is open all you need to do is find that Elder and tell him to get a move on.

But we don't manage to complete this planet without some death. In the catacombs, the door to the tile puzzle's room actually won't open until our party takes out the 2 droids in the map. An attempt to proof the tiles against NPCs walking on them, perhaps?

That's it, though. Sorry: we'll be staying on the light-side rather than murdering Jolee and Juhani. I know it'd be funny to do a dark-side pacifist run, but alas, here it's not really viable. Maybe in KotOR II.

Star Forge

This is it. Our journey's complete. No more level-scaling any more and we do have some mandatory fighting. But it's also the last of any significant XP gain from objectives. So where did we end up?

Level 13. That's not good. That's not good at all! Bastila and Malak are level 20, so our Force powers won't work. And it's not that I haven't been completionist, either! If a sidequest didn't require killing, it was done. Oh well.

We run past most of the Star Forge. We have to kill three Dark Jedi to progress, but the first real obstacle is Bastila. Still, give it time and we wear her down. Fortunately, we manage to give her a quick pep talk and avoid having to deal a fatal blow. She is Good once more.

Malak's another matter entirely. Now, I tried various ways to cheese him: my accumulated mines, kiting, etc. But in the end, it's not enough. Maybe if I'd been more prepared: if I'd optimised a little better, if I'd remembered to get that Crit-Immunity belt. Alas. I have to turn the difficulty from Normal to Easy. Importantly, that neuters his crits.

That done, I decide to go the extra mile. On Easy mode, Malak can't realistically kill me so long as I'm pumping medpacs. Thanks to stealthy looting, I have about a hundred of these things. I decide I'll take on Malak out without personally killing the Captive Jedi. It's less impressive than it sounds; Malak makes terrible use of them, draining them when he takes only a bit of chip damage.

And with that, down he goes. Peace in the Republic is restored. The full gang reunited, heroes of said Republic.

Wait, are we missing someone?

Final tally and thoughts

So that's 34 people, 8 creatures and 5 droids. Thank the Force we could spare the droids. But wait. That means just under half the people we killed were on the Endar Spire. I told you tutorials were dangerous! Obviously you can quibble with that count a bit. There's also the ships we blew up, and we turned the tides of a war and were complicit in the Star Forge's destruction. Still, there's the broad strokes of it all.

I really wasn't sure how this run would play out. How much XP would we get on Taris? How many Jedi levels would we be able to get? Had I a more solid idea it would've changed some of the things I took for granted. I managed to fully restore HK-47 before the Leviathan, but only just; I just assumed I'd get Master Valour at some point, but that power's not available until character-level 15! Stealth is more finicky in the early game, and there's a few annoying encounters on Taris who have +60 Awareness. But there comes a point where you can reliably count on it letting you delve through a dungeon, looting what you want.

In hindsight, I wish I'd repaired more droids. I avoided it because I didn't want to start fights, but had I realised that every little XP would matter come endgame, it definitely would've made sense to optimise them but not put them in patrol mode. I did all sidequests I could, but squeezing out the maximum XP wasn't something I prioritised early on. I also avoided XP leeching (e.g. triggering Canderous to fight against the rakghouls), which probably would've bumped my level up... and in turn, given me a free ride from character level 6 to 7 at Dantooine.

But hey. We did it. The constraints proved interesting enough. Did you know you can't access Yavin's shop after you get your fifth Star Map? There's also equipment that's useful -- but only available by killing. Goodbye, my Circlet of Saresh. But with a hundred medpacs and a bunch of drugs, no Sith Lord is completely invulnerable.

Originally posted on my Reddit, I’m now crossposting here for prosperity.

#Star Wars #KotOR #Knights of the Old Republic #Challenge Run #Pacifist Run

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