#seriously someone take away my mp3 collection from me
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Whumptober, day 19 | Enough Is Enough (repeatedly passing out, head lolling)
Second attempt at writing this. I borrowed a lot of things from the first attempt, but I accidentally started writing with a character that doesn't belong to me and I didn't feel great about posting it.
So yeah. Disco Elysium OST carried the writing of this piece. Specifically track 13, Tiger King.
---
Ohhh...
Another night alone, another disaster of his own making.
He took it too far. With... everything.
His gut sank at the thoughts trickling back.
Oh puppy, what did you do to yourself?
He remembered. A little. Fragments of... what probably happened. He remembered the feeling of dread clawing at his nape, that desperate anxiety he knew all too well. He remembered how he stood in the shower, forehead resting against the cold, sticky tile. How he quietly sobbed in the searing water, trying to keep himself from crumbling more than he already was. How even after he shut it off, steam rose from his moist skin.
What next?
Outside. Cold nibble of air. Felt the moist air freeze in his throat and he huddled into the nearest open bar.
And then?
That's when it all grew fuzzy. All he could fish out was some indistinct blur of black, blue and orange, bright orange, dashes of red, spots of turquoise and green, a face trying to talk to him. A familiar face, one he hoped he wouldn't see tonight.
So much for his alone time.
Sandalwood and oranges, that intimately familiar cologne. He knew it. Hated that he knew it. Hated he couldn't shake the knowledge it was his boss who found him like this. Here of all places.
"So this is what you do on your days off," Fuchs chided as he sat beside his gunman, one hand landing firmly between Durant's shoulder blades. He didn't tense, nor flinch under the touch. "That's enough. Vacation's over."
And just like that, the night came to a close. Not with a bang, but with a pathetic whimper as his boss paid his tab, before he hauled him up to his feet and dragged his drunken ass outside.
They stopped, he thought. Or they didn't. Durant couldn't tell. Everything was swirling, melting into some unrecognizable soup of feelings and vague memories.
Another thought breached the waters of this deep wide oceanic void. Where no light could ever hope to land. But he could feel the most minute of changes here, in his domain. In the warm darkness whose comfort he sought more and more these days.
He recognized that nibble of frigid air, it bit his fingers, his nose, his ears, his lips. How the world tried to topple him, how his gut swam and head bumped against Fuchs' shoulder and neck. Rested against the younger man's jaw. How his neck bent and twisted with every step they took.
"Gosh, what am I gonna do with you?"
The gunman took a sharp breath. You know what he's hinting at, puppy.
The gunman didn't have the strength to speak. Nor to keep his eyes open. He only clung to his boss, to the very best of his ability, uncoordinated limbs just barely following along.
The warm darkness took mercy upon him, veiled him in its comfortable embrace, shielded his senses from the outer world.
But not for long, he was never destined to be so blessed as to stay here, in the warmth, sooner or later he'd have to face the waking world.
It took only a moment and he was right back beside Fuchs, still clinging to him like a castaway to a floating piece of a boat.
As if he was all that kept the gunman from sinking completely.
Not even his eyelids could shield him from the light. Powerful fluorescent tubes hanging from the ceiling, Durant pried his eyelids apart to see a bright, blurry mess of color unfold before him. Likely a hallway. In a house. Or an apartment building. It was... so hard to tell.
Another quick dip into the warm depths of unconsciousness, and he found himself hauled to a bed, laid to rest upon his side. Recovery position. Folded into it by Fuchs and the gunman just laid there, eyes a tired slit, lips parted and jaw sitting ajar. A glob of drool sneakily moving past his lip, down his cheek, soaking into the sheets.
He wasn't even sober and he already felt like shit.
Why did Fuchs have to come looking for him? Why did he have to find him right there? Why couldn't he have... found him outside, vomiting his guts out into a trash bin?
He wasn't done. But...
The gunman felt a presence in the room. His boss, maybe. The terrible mattress creaked as they sat down, one hand coming to rest upon Durant's upper arm. Gentle squeeze. Then it came lower, down to his neck, and further down his back.
And then right back up again. Until those fingers came to rest upon his nape, planting gentle scratches upon the skin, again and again, and again.
Like petting a dying dog.
But he wasn't dying, was he? It just... felt like he was, with unmoving leaden limbs and weary bones so heavy he doubted he could even move.
He had to speak. Durant pried his lips open, slurring the single word on his mind: "Boss..."
A quiet plea for... he didn't even know. A hug, maybe?
But it didn't come. Instead of a hug and a blanket, all he got was the warm darkness swallowing him whole. Chewing him between its molars, spitting him back out into the unforgiving world of consciousness.
And when the morning came, he still laid in that godforsaken bed. Only difference being the painful awareness that something horrible happened last night.
The gunman felt violated. Somehow. Even though the usual pangs in his throat and pelvis weren't there. Instead, he was met with near agony. Aching muscles, that disgustingly nauseating throbbing in his skull, and the feeling his head was about to explode. It all had him raking at his scalp, wincing at the slivers of early midday light peeking through the blinds. Everything hurt, and the sinking feeling grew deeper and deeper.
He drank. A lot. Far too much for any sane man. Far too much for anyone who wished to live.
Not enough.
It was his day off, he could do whatever he fucking wanted.
Fuchs. Oh, Fuchs. He found him. Dragged him back here. Back into this shithole.
Durant slowly rolled over to his back, and even then the world looped in lazy arches around him. Nauseating. His stomach twisted even when he screwed his glassy eyes shut, he was still spinning, following the looping arches.
This was new.
"Oh hey. You're awake," spoke Fuchs with a barely disguised annoyed sneer, "how was the scotch last night?"
So it was scotch. Somehow he wasn't surprised at the revelation. "I don't even want to see liquor for the next two weeks," Durant replied, dragging a hand across his throbbing forehead. The pain congealed into a thick band around his skull, grazing his eyebrows and spanning the whole circumference of his head. Invisible rubber bands squeezing his skull, and the poor, battered slab of electric sponge sitting within.
"Good, good."
But then his boss disappeared from the room without a word, leaving the gunman to aimlessly float in the consequences of his terrible decisions.
It's what you deserve, puppy.
To wallow in this hell of his own making.
Endure your agony.
He forced his eyes open again, regretting the decision in mere seconds. A quiet moan sounded in the room, followed by his strained breaths as he struggled to sit up. The motion somehow made him feel quite a bit more nauseous, stomach twisting at the sudden changes.
And by the time he had somehow managed to sit up, Fuchs came back. Unmarked white pill bottle in his hand. He halted beside the bed, fished out a few tablets and handed them to the hungover gunman.
Three magic triangles instead of the usual two. He glanced up at his boss and the man only smiled as he took his leave.
He swallowed those pills without anything to drink.
#whumptober2022#no.19#enough is enough#repeatedly passing out#head lolling#OC#fic#alcohol abuse#and here we go#durant is officially on brand with the rest of my sad bleeding men#as per usual moose(tm) protocol#wasn't intentional but i have no control over what my fingers do when listening to DE soundtrack#seriously someone take away my mp3 collection from me#because this one track in particular is giving me so much angst juice it's not normal
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Special Preview: Gateway Drug | 1989
Hi:) I hope everyone had a good day! This is something coming up very soon in the story.
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"Now, you and Nikki are like the poster children of what not to do when you get married." Howard Stern says and I rub my lips together, holding back a laugh as I shake my head. "Yeah, yeah, and you know it."
"Well, we shouldn't have gotten married as young as we did--that's where we really screwed ourselves ove--"
"--You were seventeen when you two got married weren't, you?"
"Nineteen. Jesus, no, I was nineteen." I correct him.
"Two years, same difference." He shrugs. "Was he high at the wedding? He was stoned outta mind at Tommy's, I heard."
"He wasn't on anything when we got married. His deal with the really heavy stuff wasn't until a few weeks after we got married."
"That poor man." He says, shaking his head slightly. "Perfectly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, meets a hot girl, settles down some and not a month into the marriage he's so miserable he gets on heroin." He adds.
"Dude, shut up." Duff laughs it off and I roll my eyes, chuckling to myself as Howard points his finger at me.
"You're trouble. You gotta be, that's all anybody can say about you, you know that right? 'She's a hot chick but she's trouble'."
"I'm not trouble." I deny it.
"Well, maybe not now 'cause you got a kid, you can't just go out and kick peoples asses anymore." He points out. "Well, no, no I take that back because you did a number on Bobby Dall and Bret Michaels while you were pregnant, didn't you?"
"Okay, that's…" I trail off, sighing, trying to think.
"Yes or no, that you tore them a new one when you were still knocked up?"
"I did, but it wasn't, like, a physical altercation, I don't think they would've hit me because I was pregnant."
"I think they didn't hit you because they figured they'd have half of the sunset strip rock scene on their backs." He adds, going back to what he said earlier about not believing Duff and Nikki were the only rockstars I was sexually linked to and Duff coughs, taking another puff of his cigarette.
"Probably." I agree.
"So, that's confirmation you've rolled around with--"
"--I didn't say that." I argue. "I know a lot of those guys through Nikki and the boys and so I'm friends with a lot of them so if they caught wind I was hit when I'm pregnant, they'd probably be pissed." I explain.
"What even happened in that situation, why were you pouring beer or piss or whatever the hell it was on Bobby and Bret?" He asks next.
"Slash had said something about posers in a magazine." I tell him.
"And we shared a publicist, not anymore, but anyway, Bobby and Bret--apparently--had approached her and was grilling her over what Slash had said and she made the smart comment that she didn't understand why they were so threatened by us when Guns hadn't sold 500,000 records, but they were selling millions, and according to her, Bret and Bobby poured beer on her for it, and she was really upset so me and the guys sent her a card and some flowers and Viv had heard about it and...took it into her own hands." He tries to hold his grin back.
"You don't say." Howard says it, brows raised. "How did your husband feel about this? Because I feel like you get yourself into some stuff when he's either stoned outta his mind or in rehab--does he normally keep you on a leash and pretty tame because you seem to fly off the cuff when he's not available." He says next. "I'm noticing a pattern."
"He doesn't keep me on a leash." I reply.
"Unless you want him to." He counters and I can't bring myself to even respond to it. "Is it because you're lonely and want attention when he's not around?"
"No, that's not--"
"--'Cause I can give you attention if you'd like." He says next.
"No, thank you." I dryly say.
"Are you into stuff like that, though, I mean really?"
"What stuff?"
"Leashes and weird things like that."
"I--"
"--You gotta be to be married to someone like Nikki Sixx." He crosses his arms. "Well, take that back, because he cheated on you with that wild Vanity chick, right? So, you probably were his vanilla companion and he went to her for the unspeakable stuff."
Ouch.
"He was with her for drugs." I state.
"Oh?"
"I wouldn't get high with him or find it fun to lay around and find new ways to cook substances so that's why he was with her--to have somebody to do drugs with and have this whole romantic thing going."
"So, you were good in bed together? He wasn't bored?"
"If Nikki finds something boring he doesn't do it. If he thought I was boring in bed he'd honestly stop and go find something better to do."
"Ouch."
"Yeah."
"But that's good for you, though, because you know he's not bored with you. He likes sleeping with you. Not that I can blame him. You're hot--what'd he think of that Playboy cover you did? Was he into it or…?"
"Not really because we weren't really on speaking terms because it was right after some stuff happened and...yeah. I don't think he didn't like it because I was doing it. I think he was still mad over other things going on."
"I was certainly into it." He says. "Wish you woulda shown more but, whatever, I'll take what I can get, Miss Modesty."
I roll my eyes and he smiles.
"I have it pinned to my ceiling." He adds. "I have fun with myself while looking at it at night, you know."
Duff nearly chokes on his water.
"You're awful." I tell Howard.
"How tall are you?"
"5'10"."
"God," he huffs out, glancing at Duff. "You lucky bastard." He says next and Duff chuckles. "Yeah, laugh it up, I hate you. I hate Nikki, too--I especially hate Nikki because he's been getting to do some things to you for years that every man in the continental United States and some parts of Europe can only dream about."
"What are you even talking about?" Duff can't help but laugh at the specificity, and I can't help but to, either. "Are you on anything?" He asks him.
"I'm not on a damn thing--just high on the feelings I'm getting being in the same room as her." He replies, clearing his throat. "You were how old when you two started dating?"
"Seventeen." I reply.
"Was he your first sexual experience?"
"I'm not answering that."
"He was wasn't he?"
"Howard…"
"Oh, my God. Seventeen. That must've been nice. You were still innocent church girl who didn't even know what sex was, I bet."
"I knew what sex was." I argue.
"That lucky, lucky, lucky bastard." He says it again. "I'm pissed that he cheated, by the way. I couldn't cheat on you. I feel like it'd be physically impossible to imagine myself with another woman except you--right now, at least." He says and I wrinkle my nose.
"You're a pig." I tell him.
"Don't make me get the chains and candle wax out while you degrade me, 'cause that turns me on."
"You're sick."
"I wouldn't mind being next in line to have a kid with you." He says next.
"I hate you." I say flatly.
"You want more kids in the future? With Nikki, obviously, unless you three just have some threesome thing going." He motions to me and Duff.
"No, no, we don't...I'd like to have kids with Nikki, yeah." I reply.
"Really? How many?"
"Quite a few."
"We talkin' two, four, six, eight, how much is a--"
"--About that many, yeah."
"Eight?" He raises his brows, shocked.
"About four to six, maybe."
"Six kids?"
"Sure."
"Do you like being pregnant? I feel like that subconsciously comes from a freak part of your brain that's into pregnancy."
"Why is everything sexual to you?"
"You're deflecting."
"I'm not into pregnancy I just want a big family. I'm the only child my parents had and I want Monroe to have a lot of brothers and sisters."
"Does Nikki know you want six kids?"
"Yeah, we've talked about it."
"And he's good with that number?"
"Yeah."
"Answer this question for me."
"Okay."
"Did you mention wanting six kids with him while making love, because I guarantee anybody in bed with you is gonna agree to murder if you ask them."
"Why do you keep tying it back to sex, Howard, dude, chill." Duff tells him.
"I'm just making a point." Howard tells us.
"It wasn't during 'making love'." I say.
"I don't believe that." He states. "Because no man is gonna agree to six kids unless they're distracted by what the kids are gonna be coming out of--that's a weapon for you women and you guys use it knowing we're paralyzed victims."
"Oh, my God." I mumble.
"The same vagina that got Nikki Sixx to get married, is the same vagina that had Duff McKagan risking his brand new career on a big tour, is the same vagina that convinced Nikki to stay and have six more kids despite you being completely crazy."
My face turns bright red, my eyes closing as I hold back a nervous chuckle, and I can tell Duff's getting aggravated.
"Why do you want so many kids--the real reason." Howard asks.
"The plan is to milk as many from him as I can and then file for divorce and collect alimony and child support." I say, sarcastically.
"Seriously?"
"No, Howard." I scold him for even considering that's a possibility.
"I honestl--no, you know what I think? I think what I hear about you being wild and crazy and evil is completely true, and you just keep stomping your heels down on these guys' throats and torture them but they let you get away with it because you're sexy and have a hot body and whatever poison is between your legs is like heroin."
I feel a punch to my stomach but push it aside.
"Oh, please, if that were the case I'd be getting anything I wanted and wouldn't have had a husband who was strung out for years."
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The post I want to make on the MTS forums but can't...
...because they're touchy about discussing the "p" word. As in "piracy." I understand why they are, but I also think that they're wrong to silence people about "pirating" yet not have a care in the world if people tell others to buy used disks, for reasons that you'll see if you choose to read this thing. But...Their site, their rules and that's cool and all that. I’ve got no problems with that. I just think it’s doing the current (and future) TS2 community a disservice. Hence, this post.
Now that EA has announced that they will no longer give out the TS2 Ultimate Collection, I think it's time to address how to get the game if you don't already have it and want it. Or if you have it but your disks are lost/damaged. Or if you suddenly find yourself with a new machine that doesn't have an optical disk drive and you don't have and/or don't want to buy an external one. Or even if somewhere down the line EA removes the UC from your access, if you have it already and you then can't install it on a new machine. (They'd be entirely within their rights to do that, by the way.) If one is concerned about legality, then one ought to know what actually is legal or not and why and where the shades of gray are, so that you can make informed decisions about what you want to do. So, if you're interested in that, that's what I'm going to talk about in this post.
I'm going to say this up-front, though, as a sort of teaser: Now that EA is no longer giving out the UC like people give out Halloween candy: THERE IS CURRENTLY NO FULLY-LEGAL WAY TO GET OR PLAY THE GAME, if you don't already have it. Yes, the above is true, and behind the cut is why.
Here are my "credentials," if you will: A nice chunk of my income comes from royalties and licensing and stuff. Much such stuff is sold in digital format, music CDs and data CDs of original compositions and stuff like that. I have sued individuals and companies, successfully, who've infringed on my copyrights and/or the licensing agreements that I'm involved in. I'm pretty well-versed in this stuff.
So let's make one thing about this issue clear off the top: You do not these days purchase games or non-game software or movies or music or whatever that comes on a disk or in some digital form like, say, a book you download onto your Kindle. You only purchase a license to use the information on that one, single disk or that you got from that one, single download that you paid for. It's a small but all-important distinction, and it pretty much defines what makes things legal or not when we're talking about getting TS2 now that EA is no longer selling it or giving it away themselves.
Now that EA is out of the picture, at least for now, you have three options for getting the game:
1) Find someone selling disks that you know absolutely for certain have not been used.
Guess what? Still probably not fully-legal. The reason is this: If you're buying from a genuine retailer and not some shady "business" in Taiwan or a guy on eBay or something, EA recalled all new, existing, unopened TS2 discs from all retailers (at least in the US and I believe -- but am not certain -- worldwide) years ago. 2013ish, if memory serves. Those retailers were given full refunds for any unsold discs but were actually not required to physically return those discs. (Because, of course, EA didn't want to pay for return shipping!) They were supposed to destroy the disks, in good faith, in exchange for the refund. Even if they didn't receive a refund, they're still not supposed to be selling disks anymore because they've been recalled. Those disks are not supposed to exist and all end-user (that's you) licenses associated with them are now void. Which means that even if you now manage to find a genuinely unused retail disk, you have no legal license to use the game because EA voided it. They only way it would be legal is if you are buying from an individual (not a retailer of any kind) who bought the game and somehow never installed it...and I'd take such stories with a grain of salt, personally.
Because, remember: You're not buying a game; you're buying a license to use a game, and EA has revoked those licenses on retail disks that were unsold as of 2013ish. Now, is someone going to come pounding on your door to arrest you or to serve you court documents because they’re suing you? Of course not! But bear in mind that if the above applies to you, your game is not fully legal.
2) You can buy used disks from someone. Ebay and Amazon Marketplace and such are teeming with them.
Also not fully legal. Why? Because, as I said, each disk comes with a license to use the game for a single buyer and his/her household. No one else. That's one of the things that the End-User License Agreement says and that you agree to, probably without reading it, when you install the game. So as soon as the original buyer of the disk you subsequently bought installed the game on a machine, that single user license was used up. It cannot be transferred to another person. The disk can be transferred, sure, but not the license to use it, which when it comes to legality is all that matters. So, if you buy used disks, you still do not have a legal license to use the game.
Again, no one's going to come pounding on your door, of course. No one's pounding on the door of second-hand game shops, either, because it's not illegal to sell the used disks at all. But it is legally shade to actually use those disks when you buy them. So, just realize that your game is not fully legal if you bought used any or all of the disks you have. Then move on and don't worry about it...but also don't claim that you have a "legal" game so you're somehow more moral or whatever than people who pirate it. Because that's not true at all. In fact, legally you're in exactly the same boat -- pirate ship or otherwise ;) -- as people who've “pirated” the game. Which leads me to...
3) You can "pirate" the game. Meaning, you can get it via torrenting so that you never have a physical disk and you use a no-CD crack to play the game. Or you can make a copy of your friend's disks. Whatever.
There are multiple legal issues here. I'm not going to discuss why it's illegal to pass around copies of a game. I trust that everyone understands why that's so.
But you might be surprised to learn that it's actually not illegal to download the game illegitimately, for the same reason why buying and selling used disks isn't illegal. But there’s a catch. Again, the issue is that you don't buy a game; you buy a license to use it. So the problem arises, again, from using what you downloaded (or using that copy you made of your buddy's disk), because you don't have a license to do so. Sure, obviously no one would download something that they wouldn't then use, but my point is that if you download the game from a torrent, your legal problem is exactly the same as the legal problem that people who buy used disks have. And at least you, as a "pirater" did not pay someone for your legally-shady copy of the game. No one profited at EA's expense, in other words, whereas someone did exactly that if you bought used disks, especially if the seller didn't originally buy the disks themselves, which is usually the case at second-hand shops.
If you download the game via a torrent (as opposed to making copies of someone's disks), it's illegal not because you downloaded the file but because of the way torrenting works. It works by sharing your incomplete download with other downloaders as you download, as you go along, as well as after you do so, if you continue to "seed" the torrent after your own download is completed. The sharing part is illegal for what I hope are obvious reasons; the downloading part is not. It’s a technicality, sure, but then all of this discussion is.
In the end, the most-illegal thing you can do when it comes to this stuff is not downloading via torrenting but making a copy of your buddy's disks for your own use because in that case you're transgressing twice. And here's why.
There's a thing in copyright law called Fair Use. This covers multiple things, but the relevant bit here is that it allows you to make a backup of digital media that you've legitimately bought for archival purposes. This has always been on the books, as long as there've been digital formats, which goes all the way back to tapes. So if you have, say, a copy of The Lion King on DVD and your three-year-old insists on watching it twice a day if she can and in the process breaks a disk a week, you have a right to make a copy of the original in order to preserve the original. (OK, you're not supposed to make multiple backups, just one, but seriously? The kid breaks them constantly and Disney disks are terribly overpriced. And no, I'm not talking from experience at all. :) ) Anyway, Fair Use = 1 backup of your legitimately-purchased disks.
But then in the 90s the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) came along. (In the US, that is. There's similar bullshit worldwide, though.) Mostly it came about because movie and music distributors (not the musicians, one needs to point out) are absolute control freaks and were really, really pissed that CDs/DVDs are so damn easy to make copies of. The relevant bit of this was that it said, "Nope, no more personal backups for you! At all! And hey! No ripping that CD to put the songs on your phone or MP3 player, either! You gotta buy another copy of the songs from iTunes or whatever it is that we want to make more money from today!" It all comes back to "You don't buy a movie. You buy a license to view the content on that one disk, so if your obsessive three-year-old breaks it you have to buy a new disk every week. Sucks to be you, but it's really awesome for us." (Needless to say, you can guess what I think -- as a musician -- of this bit of corporate greed.)
My ranting aside, the issue now is that it is technically illegal to make copies of disks and stuff that you legitimately own, even for your own use and you never share anything with anyone. Again, no one's going to come knocking on your door, but you should know about this. (Mostly, in the wake of DMCA, court cases have involved small companies that make software that can rip DVDs by decoding/bypassing encryption, not individuals who make or use copies of disks. They know they can’t pursue such individuals in any practical way. Instead, they seek to take away the tools that allow you to do it.) So, that's transgression #1 when it comes to making a copy of your buddy's TS2's disks. The other, of course, is the same as the other points: You don't have a legal license to use that copy of your buddy's disk. So, you're transgressing coming and going, so to speak.
So, what's a TS2 fan to do now? Honestly? All three options are problematic, legally. Unless you can somehow manage to find genuinely never-used disks from an individual (not a retailer), you will not be fully legit. So, if you want to be pure and clean and looking down on all the sinners from your fine high horse, you can't get TS2 now if you find you need it, unless EA decides to distribute it again. But for the rest of us? I'm not going to advocate any particular thing because, as I said, all of the options are shady and more or less equally so and for the same reason across the board. But you have the info now -- if you’ve actually managed to read all this -- and you can make an informed decision for yourself, should you need to acquire the game again. Or for the first time. But for the love of God, please don't go around saying that you're all legit because you bought used disks while that person over there *gasp* got their game on the torrents. Because you're not legit, and you’re not legit for pretty much the same reason as a dirty pirate is.
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podiots sentence starters, part i. contains 143 lines of dialogue collected from episodes one through three of the vidiots’ fortnightly podcast podiots. i’ve edited some lines to fit roleplay better, and randomised the order. contains two mentions of violence against nazis---last two sentences on the list, if don’t want to see it---feel free to change those into your muse’s in-universe equivalents, as well as edit anything else needed to fit your muse’s mouth or life better.
❝ after my dad showed me that, i never trusted him again. ❞
❝ that’s actually an explanation for a lot of ghost sightings, carbon monoxide poisoning. there are symptoms that cause like hallucinations and feelings of dread and fear. ❞
❝ i would be called chocolate thunder, and i’d wear a cape. ❞
❝ would you just get over it? i was a kid! ❞
❝ it was just this weird rag doll girl who happened to be in a bikini just falling, forever. ❞
❝ is there ever not a sexual element to it?! ❞
❝ well, you’ve clearly never met a salaried genie who’s on a retainer. ❞
❝ you’ve had your money taken. ❞
❝ i just want people to pay attention, for fuck’s sake. ❞
❝ you guys are really into your obscure shit. ❞
❝ it’s a bit like class tourism, isn’t it? ❞
❝ that’s what i was saying, this is---this is probably not legal. ❞
❝ you asked to bring weird things. ❞
❝ boy, do i hate facebook! ❞
❝ to be fair, her balloon animals are quite impressive. ❞
❝ jesus, why aren’t you on neopets yet? ❞
❝ you can’t always afford the homemade stuff. and typically, there’s less of it. and sometimes it’s not very good. and you’re paying a premium! ❞
❝ i’m so fucking over [thing]. to be fair, i ruined it for myself. ❞
❝ he’s just some time traveller, fucking with them with a fucking mp3 player. ❞
❝ what the fuck is a ‘num noms’? ❞
❝ so it’s a miracle that [name] didn’t asphyxiate himself as a child, and it’s amazing that i didn’t have some kind of cardiac issue almost immediately in my late teens. what do you bring to the table here? ❞
❝ i’m a big fan of weird gameboy stuff. ❞
❝ i’m like that rabbit from alice in wonderland. tiny, and late, and white. ❞
❝ it’ll make you terrified of ever going to a hotel again. ❞
❝ i like watching it but it’s not teaching me anything. ❞
❝ no, i don’t think there was any bubbles in it. ❞
❝ what do your mums think about what you’re doing? ❞
❝ gho-mophobic. that was a really difficult pun. ❞
❝ should we just start it? should we just go without him? ❞
❝ not that i could out-style you in any capacity. ❞
❝ i shouldn’t have asked for a horse. ❞
❝ our problem was nobody would take us seriously. ❞
❝ i’ve spent months trying to explain the job to her. my old job, she kind of got that, but now... ❞
❝ about halfway into the first [food] i went ‘oh... this is a lot of food’.---/i ate it all/, and then i felt sick for the rest of the sunday. ❞
❝ you were skirting around it, but if you ask me, directly, that’s what i’m going to say. ❞
❝ say a ghost laid a ghost poo on the floor, does it just stay there forever? ❞
❝ do you have an answer to this? because i’ve never given /any/ thought... ❞
❝ i’ve heard somewhere you can do that now. ❞
❝ my mum thinks you’re very funny, [name]. ❞
❝ no, that was all you. every penny, all you. ❞
❝ not the reason i was there, but it was a nice benefit. ❞
❝ stop. i mean---don’t stop. but /stop/. ❞
❝ [name] is the kind of man who’s so rich, he thinks a can of beans costs two thousand dollars. ❞
❝ just before going/coming in, my taxi driver said ‘oh, be careful, people get stabbed around here, bye!’ ❞
❝ be aware that this is /not/ a donation to a charitable cause. ❞
❝ i just do shots of olive oil. ❞
❝ no wonder he’s so fucking weird. ❞
❝ get a big old truck, for all that junk inside your trunk. ❞
❝ you’re not supposed to put cotton swabs in there, let alone a lit flame. ❞
❝ fuck you... [name]. i’m gonna... suck. your dick. ❞
❝ i’ve admittedly grown more bold with my culinary disgusts. ❞
❝ my chocolate shotgun, it’s a legally non-threatening weapon. ❞
❝ you did look very smart. very respectable. ❞
❝ everyone’s pulled the legs off a daddy longlegs, but that’s just like level one, that’s where you leave it. ❞
❝ see, that just sounds like batman. ❞
❝ i forgot that was the origin of this. ❞
❝ i feel like there’s something in the air. ❞
❝ there’s cosplaying and dressing up, and then there’s furries. ❞
❝ obviously, he--i mean i say obviously, like it’s /logical/, but... ❞
❝ if they did that, it’d be a lot more convenient for me. sometimes, it’s not the end of the world, is all i’m saying. ❞
❝ i am a freak. i have hands and feet, and if you’d saw me, you’d be petrified. ❞
❝ they have a meal deal which is like [£40/€45/$55]. and you get like a 25" square pizza, like seven garlic breads, and several ice creams. i could never make a dent in that, but the idea of it sounds very sexy. ❞
❝ well, he’ll be back soon! ❞
❝ you know, like a hammer throw---if i tied a string around it, i think i could throw a ps2 pretty far. properly like, swing it around, lean against it, do a spin. ❞
❝ day to day... i don’t eat breakfast. ❞
❝ we’re trying to be on everything, that’s our goal. ❞
❝ my finishing move would be called the ‘fuck you.’ ❞
❝ but i could never do that, i've got stuff to do! ❞
❝ i like dad rock. ❞
❝ if you’re having a party, i’m going to tell you what to do. ❞
❝ she looks far more normal than i expected. ❞
❝ i asked metaphorically, not physically. ❞
❝ i asked for some ___. we got about fifty. we only needed five. ❞
❝ there’s still time to save this american icon. ❞
❝ there were two [job title]s in there, who were like, super young and sexy men with really nice hair. ❞
❝ it’s read like it’s a documentary, not like ‘haha, and then he died!’ ❞
❝ i don’t want my lampshade looking at me! ❞
❝ give him something to do, he’ll be quiet, [name] and i can go to the shops and talk about where our marriage went wrong. ❞
❝ you don’t need to look at the front. usually, you’re behind ____. if he’s got a nice arse, that’s all that matters. ❞
❝ what’s your favourite cereal? ❞
❝ i’m just saying---sometimes local shops are shit. ❞
❝ i don’t think if you know this, [name]---i think you do, because you told me. ❞
❝ you take kids to a mcdonald’s, they’ll play at mcdonald’s. ❞
❝ you exist and then you don’t. ❞
❝ [name] is going through some financial issues, by which i mean, it’s fucked. ❞
❝ that’s a bit morbid. ❞
❝ i was thinking about ____ earlier. yeah, it crosses my mind at least like once an hour. ❞
❝ i had a great day, we went outside for lunch, i got gelato, it was great! ❞
❝ the tabloids loved the story. ❞
❝ you have to be really confused. ❞
❝ i really wanted to include h. h. holmes in this list because he’s my favourite murderer. ❞
❝ we’re not journalists, we’re just idiots on the internet. ❞
❝ it’s not the kind of name you gloss over. ❞
❝ ‘how did it get there?’ this is a /talking mongoose/ and you’re wondering how it got there? ❞
❝ is he a cat?! ❞
❝ i bought a replacement [name]. ❞
❝ i grew up in a village that didn’t even have a supermarket. ❞
❝ he was just---he was borderline abusive in my own house. ❞
❝ that’s gonna take you forever! ❞
❝ okay, well, i’m uncomfortable, what are we doing? ❞
❝ we’re not like... ‘i think i can make a joke about fighting your mother while playing a game’. we don’t know that well. ❞
❝ he’s like a genie, we only get one wish per day. ❞
❝ you take a drink and then you’re like ‘i don’t wanna drink too loud’ so you end up taking a tiny amount but then you don’t want to swallow too loud so you sort of inhale it a little bit and you’re like ‘i can’t cough, i can’t cough’... ❞
❝ now, [name] just heard that i wanted the attention and instantly decided he needed it instead. ❞
❝ we’re in dire need of new shelves. that money is going straight to shelves. ❞
❝ i never played ____. i kinda missed that train. ❞
❝ i could do the face for free. ❞
❝ it’s immediately feeling very warm in here. ❞
❝ presumably, this guy owns a lot of toys, so num noms is a thing. ❞
❝ i think that’s just a [region/state] thing. ❞
❝ let’s play a game called ‘how many people did they murder?’ ❞
❝ who is getting out of this room alive? ❞
❝ it’s like that song about the grandfather clock. ‘and it stopped, short, never to go again, when the ooold maaan died’. ❞
❝ [in the tune of new york] you’ll get punched in yoouur face. ❞
❝ don’t---don’t entertain his odd nonsense! ❞
❝ i don’t like people! i want my own space! ❞
❝ that’s something i always found really fascinating, like just wanting the username ‘batman’. how early would you have to be just to be ‘batman’? ❞
❝ you can’t complain about something disappearing if you’ve not been using it. ❞
❝ oh yeah, i always go to the dentist and get my brows done. ❞
❝ i loved [old place], and [this place] is also very lovely, it’s just a lot more expensive. ❞
❝ it’s a shame. just a couple of months longer and you would’ve had some employee rights. ❞
❝ there is a very good balloon elmo in this picture. ❞
❝ so, with all of this, what do you think the result is of this kind of upbringing and toxic relationship with your mother? ❞
❝ yeah, think about that. maybe we don’t like you. ❞
❝ they're’s so comfortable, i could almost fall asleep. ❞
❝ could you take this bottle of water, pour it in the sink, fill it again, and bring back to me? ❞
❝ it’s a sex number, i like it. ❞
❝ so what did the police do?---return him to [person]. ❞
❝ i wish /my/ mum thought i was funny. ❞
❝ okay, that’s gonna be interesting, having someone with a blade on my throat. ❞
❝ they can fire me if they want! they can fire me! ❞
❝ i don’t know why i said ‘basically’ like i’m about to explain how the internet works. ❞
❝ before, i had---there’s a shame element, isn’t it? you don’t want to do it because you’re afraid of judgement. ❞
❝ at one point, he had me squatting barefoot in my own bath. ❞
❝ eventually, we’re just gonna have to buy a storage locker for all this stuff. ❞
❝ i’ve got quite a sizeable list, i won’t talk about all of them. ❞
❝ how did we become the internet goblins we are today? ❞
❝ are you allergic to a.i.? ❞
❝ at least this is something you’re self-aware. if it was something other people had picked up on... ❞
❝ we have yellow and black, kind of a barry b. benson inspired look. ❞
❝ i was very disappointed at like eight when i found out they weren’t called ‘the food fighters’. ❞
❝ oh yeah, kicking hitler and shooting nazis is a lot of fun. ❞
❝ i’d love to throw a bop it extreme at hitler’s face, is what i’m saying, and i could do it from a long distance away. ❞
#rp meme#sentence meme#rp sentence starters#rp sentence meme#starter meme#category: ask#category: sentences#podiots#* meme.#* sentences.
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Old Saiyuki thing. An AU story I started quite some time ago (I can’t remember when I wrote any of these things anymore).
word count: 2,016
The same god-damn routine. Were the words sprawled out in the notebook. The young man sat lazily in his seat on the bus he was riding home. He had on a pair of earphones and was listening to the music on his mp3 player while writing. Every so often he would glance out the window. He stopped with his writing and started tapping the pen against the notebook, slightly irritated. After about a minute of this, he looked out his window; then reached up and pulled on the cord above the window signaling to the driver that he wanted to get off.
When the bus stopped he shut his notebook, leaving his pen inside, and got up. He knew the driver was watching him as he got off the bus, but he didn't acknowledge him. When he stepped up onto the sidewalk he stopped and removed his mp3 player from his pocket to stop his music. As he was doing this he heard the bus start driving again. Removing the headphones he shoved them and the player back into the pocket of his jacket, he headed up the stairs to his apartment. He removed his keys from his belt-loop and went to unlock the door... only to discover that it was already unlocked. “Tch. She's too trusting,” he muttered as he opened the door and stepped inside. After tossing his keys carelessly onto the table he turned around to shut and lock the door behind him.
At that moment his roommate exited her room. “Oh, you're back. How...” she began saying but was interrupted.
He gave her an annoyed look. “Don't you ever lock the door?” he demanded as he dumped his jacket on the back of one of the chairs.
She blinked. “I knew you were coming home soon, so I left it unlocked.”
“Don't give me any fucking excuses. Lock the door from now on,” he told her as he kicked off his shoes. He was clearly upset about something. He dropped his notebook along with his mp3 player and it's headphones onto the table. Walking into the kitchen, which was across from where their table stood, he pulled open the fridge door and removed one of the beer cans. After shutting the fridge door with his foot, he opened the can and took a drink from it before walking over to sit down at the table.
The young woman watched him for a minute before she picked up his discarded jacket and hung it up in their closet, which is where they kept all their coats and other odds and ends items. Then she sat down at the table across from him. She wondered how to go about asking him what was wrong. With knowing him for only a couple months she wasn't sure what exactly to expect from him. “Genjyo, what's wrong?” Might as well just be blunt.
He glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye. “Nothing,” he told her and took another drink from his beer. She was unsure if she should believe him or not.
“Nothing?”
“That's right.” She seemed a little confused. Genjyo got up and, with beer in hand, started to his room.
“Then, why did you get mad when you came in?” Curiosity got the best of her.
He stopped in the doorway and without looking back, told her, “Learn to lock the door, Yaone,” then shut the door behind him.
Yaone smiled. Though she didn't know if he was concerned or paranoid.
Parking his jeep, he looked up at the building in front of him. The office of the Shangri-La Apartments. Common sense says to find a potential home when first arriving to the city you might consider calling home. As he entered the building, a bell sounded. He saw the woman in the room next to the door get up from her chair through the glass. “Hello there,” she greeted him with a smile. The type of smile like she knew something but wasn't sharing. “Are you looking to rent?” He had a good look at her now. She was dressed quite interestingly, and, in his opinion, inappropriately for the workplace. The top of her white dress was styled as a halter-top and the bottom had slits reaching her hips. She also wore a cloth belt and a pair of black tights with slip on shoes.
“Ah, yes. I was considering it at least.”
“I see,” she motioned to the large table located in the other part of the office building. “Have a seat and I will be right with you.” He managed a 'thank you' before she turned around and reentered her office. As he went to sit down he looked around the buildings interior. Behind him there was a small kitchen and hallway. To his left there was a fireplace that was perfectly clean and a couch, two love-seats and a coffee table. “Here you are,” the woman said setting down a pamphlet in front of him and sitting down at the head of the table. “Our rules and regulations. Feel free to look through them.”
Picking up the pamphlet, he skimmed through it. Inside there where, of course, the rules and regulations of the complex, as well as a map and layouts of the different apartments with their prices. “It seems I can't afford to stay here at this point,” he told her as he closed the pamphlet.
She smiled. “Not to worry. If money is the problem perhaps you could look at the bulletin board by the door,” she told him as she pointed out the board in question.
He looked back. “The bulletin board?” He did see it when he walked in.
“Yes. People make written requests and I post them.” She smiled. “Sometimes people are searching for roommates.”
Getting up from his seat, pamphlet in hand, he decided to at least take a look. He wasn't expecting on actually finding anything. He opened the first set of doors and held it open for the woman since she came with him. Skimming over the requests, he spotted some unusual ones. Seriously, who would ask for a toaster? Wait... a live in maid? He glanced over at the woman. “What should I know about the live in maid request?”
“Ah, yes, Gojyo. He came in a couple weeks ago with that request. He's always out with the women from his work; so I would suspect he doesn't have time to clean,” she informed him. She turned her head slightly to look at him. “Shall we see if he's home?” He didn't answer as he thought it over. “I'll go get the paperwork,” she stated as she turned to head into her office.
“Wait a minute. I didn't...” the door swung shut and she couldn't hear him anymore. He stared dumbfounded after her. A couple minutes past and the woman returned. She unlocked the glass case that covered the bulletin board and collected the request slip. “Miss, I haven't agreed to the request.”
“And neither has he,” she stated as she relocked the case. “But never mind that,” she stated as they stepped outside. Tucking the folder she had under her arm she said, “My name is Kanzeon Bosatsu. And I run this establishment.” She held out her hand. “What would your name be?”
He was shocked to discover that she was the owner of the place. She runs the complex with such unorthodox methods. “Cho Hakkai.” He introduced himself as he shook her hand.
“It's good to meet you Hakkai,” she told him. “Now come along, I'll show you to his place.” With that she started walking. They walked in silence until she began leading him down the road labeled 'West Haven', “Tell me about yourself,” she said as she glanced over at the man walking next to her.
Hakkai had been looking around when she had spoken up. He looked over at her, then as he spoke up he looked forwards. “There's not much to tell really.” But then added, “I'm just looking to get a fresh start.”
“Oh? What happened to make you search for a fresh start?”
Hakkai, however didn't answer her question. Not until they reached the second set of three apartments. “I... recently lost someone I care about.” A small, sad, smile on his lips as his eyes drifted elsewhere.
Kanzeon looked at him. “I'm sorry to hear that.”
This time when he looked at her, his demeanor had shifted. Quite a drastic change. “You don't need to apologize. After all, you should know who would be living here,” he told her with a painfully sincere smile. She looked forward again; and his smile faded.
They were passing the last set of apartments; soon they'll reach the end of the road. “What sort work do you do?”
“Ah, none I'm afraid.” She led them onto the next road; 'South Minor'. “I've been traveling quite a bit this past year. I've sustained myself doing odd jobs for people.”
“Do you plan on leaving here soon as well?”
“Mm. Good question...”
They walked a bit further before they saw someone leaving their apartment. “And there he is.”
She picked up her pace a bit, causing Hakkai to walk behind her instead of next to her.
Gojyo noticed them walking over. He was tempted to pretend he didn't notice her and hop on his motorcycle and leave. “Oh, it's you.” He decided against it. He shot a glance past Kanzeon than focused on her again. “What do you want, I'm in a hurry.” He waited for them next to his bike.
“This shouldn't take long,” she stated as she walked over. She set the folder down on the seat of his bike and removed the request slip. Holding it out she said, “I found someone who may be interested in your request.”
Glancing at the slip, than over at Hakkai, he questioned, “That you?”
“Is that a problem?” Hakkai returned his question with one of his own.
Gojyo shrugged. “Guess not. But damn, I was hoping for a hot lady to show up.”
Kanzeon replaced the request back into the folder and removed a different sheet of paper and the pen. “I wasn't aware you wanted me to clean your apartment,” she spoke up as she closed the folder again.
“Hell no. I don't even want you in my apartment,” Gojyo snapped.
“Good, I wasn't going to anyway. Now sign here,” she told him holding out the pen. “This document states that you two both agree to the request so there can't be any complaints later.” Gojyo swiped the pen and scribbled his name on the line that she had indicated. He then held the pen out to Hakkai, who stepped over and accepted the pen. He stared at the document for a moment before he too signed his name. “Perfect.” Kanzeon collected her pen and gathered the paperwork. “Well, you boys have fun,” she told them as she turned to walk away, giving a slight wave as she went.
Hakkai watched her walk off for a moment before Gojyo grabbed his attention. “Alright, man, let's make this quick 'cause I got places to be. What's your name?”
“It's Cho Hakkai.”
“Got it. Mine's Sha Gojyo,” he told him before he tossed his apartment key at him. Startled, Hakkai almost didn't catch it. “Don't lock me out, I'd hate to wake your ass up in the middle of the night.” With that said he grabbed the helmet and hopped onto his bike.
“Yes, sir.” Gojyo smirked and gave a quick wave before he took off. Hakkai watched him leave than looked to the apartment. This would be interesting.
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A Meme
@jon-quixote tagged me to name ten songs that are, and here I quote, “My Jam”, and then to tag ten of my mutuals to perpetuate the memery.
1) Epica, “A Phantasmic Parade” : I’m SO GAY for people who could be opera singers going into metal bands instead. For a start, it means we can inch away from metal singers being screechy growly dickheads who might be singing decent lyrics but you’ll never tell because it just sounds like flagstones rutting. Epica are, as far as my experience goes, pretty much the best band of this type out there at the moment, and this song got into my head so bad it has to be included in the list. Also, the singer, Simone Simons, would probably be my pick for if I had to be straight for someone.
2) Garbage, “The World is Not Enough” : A Bond theme, and easily my favourite. If ever someone held me at gunpoint and forced me to do karaoke (and it would need to be at gunpoint for me to do karaoke), this would be the song I’d pick.
3) Miracle of Sound, “Lady of Worlds” : Miracle of Sound (who is a bloke called Gavin) does songs about computer games. This one is about The Witcher 3, which I have not played because there’s fat chance of it running on my elderly laptop, but which has done more to make me want to play the Witcher series than even the trailers for the game. Most of Miracle of Sound’s music is great, but there’s something special about this one. Guest vocals by a woman named Ailin Kennedy. This song juuuuust beat out “Nameless” for this slot.
4) Devin Townsend Band, “Vampira” : Holy fuck but this bloke’s got a voice! This was my introduction to Devin Townsend, and I would have had many questions but the song was too good to interrupt. Seriously, if that link’s working, go watch that gloriously stupid video. It’s proper hard metal, but he’s not taking himself seriously, and he’s having so much FUN making good music, which we often forget is why we make music in the first place. To make a successful career out of having that much fun is an enviable state of being.
5) Nirvana, “Smells like Teen Spirit” : Some of these are songs that I happen to like at the moment. Perhaps their favour in the court will ebb and flow with time and fate. This song isn’t one I listen to often. It’s not on my phone to listen to when I’m off walking. But this one song is, in all likelihood, the single most influential song of my life. I was too young to appreciate Nirvana when they were around, and didn’t get into it until about the age of 15. But I still remember, vividly, the day a friend of mine lent me the Nevermind album, and that evening I took it home, listened to this first track, and was blown away. The music I had been listening to before this was nice enough. It was popular, so clearly it had some merit. But this was the first song in my life that showed me what music could achieve, how it could stir the soul in a manner that nothing else had even tried to before. I wouldn’t even say it’s the best song I’ve heard, not even on this list. But my life would have been a very drab affair had I never encountered this little gem.
6) Nobuo Uematsu, “Aeris’ Theme” : Why yes, I am that specific kind of trash. There are a generation of people who you can always spot, because they’re the ones who can’t get more than a few bars into this piece before bursting into tears, even after two decades. Besides which, it’s just a really good piece of music.
7) Loïc Nottet, “Rhythm Inside” : Surprise! Bet this isn’t where you were expecting this to go! This was Belgium’s entry in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. It didn’t win (that went to Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw, who also had a good song and is a being of extraordinary beauty), but several days afterwards this song was the one that stayed in my head. So I found it, it’s found its way into my MP3 collection, and I still listen to it fairly often.
8) Skindred, “Nobody” : Rediscovered this one recently, and I had forgotten how great it was. Probably won’t remain as an enduring classic, but for now it never get skipped when it comes on.
9) I forget who, but “The Sleepers of Telos” : No link supplied, as I can’t find it on youtube. I acquired this song courtesy of the @jon-quixote mentioned above. It’s a song about Cybermen, and cashing in the weakness of your flesh for something more useful. Cybermen are great. They’re such intriguing villains because they think they’re helping, and they kind of have a point. They’re people who have transcended mortal frailty, but can no longer conceive of all the mortal joys that made life worthwhile and those frailties worth enduring, so as terrifying as they are there’s a hint of pathos and tragedy to them too. Anyway, the song is a bop, but I can’t find it online anymore to show you how good it is.
10) The Vision Bleak, “A Curse of the Grandest Kind” : A Lord Byron poem/diss track, set to some really good music, recited by a German bloke who probably knows what he’s singing but messes up his English every now and then. It’s needlessly extra and overly dramatic and I can’t help but think Lord Byron would approve.
So that’s it. As for tagging ten mutuals, I honestly don’t know if I HAVE ten mutuals, so if you’re reading this and want to join in, go right ahead. Hi there!
#meme#music#epica#miracle of sound#garbage#devin townsend#nobuo uematsu#nirvana#loic nottet#skindred#the vision bleak
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‘Hazardous’ Headphones Part 3 (Revised)
This is part 3 again, but re-written, upon receiving some feedback I decided to alter things to make things more realistic and more in character. Hopefully, this part is more enjoyable! I'll be working on getting a part 4 and 5 up shortly. Let me know your thoughts about the changes etc, and thanks for reading. also on AO3
Chloe's words replayed in Beca's mind over and over again. This was the first time Chloe had ever openly admitted to having feelings for her, which only complicated how she felt about her further.
"No. For once this isn't about you, it's about me. And I refuse to have this conversation right now, not like this" Beca said whilst shooting her a look to enforce she meant it. It's not like she didn't want to talk about their feelings but now wasn't the time and she knew she'd say or do something she'd regret. "Now, it's not like I need to explain anything to you, but I busted a tap and it drenched us okay? You just happened to show up whilst we were changing our shirts."
"Not to mention Beca isn't my type." Kimmy Jin said casually as she pulled her front door towards her "but I'll leave you two to argue it out." she said disappearing inside. Beca, however, was surprised she even had a type at all.
Chloe wanted to be anywhere else but here. Now that she was thinking logically she realized that it was a bold assumption. She didn't know what to say, there was no taking it back, she was in the wrong yet again. Chloe was quickly learning that there was no worse feeling than being wrong about something you were once certain you was right about.
Beca looked at Chloe's pained face. "Whatever you do. Don't. apologize, clearly, you never mean it because all you've done is make things worse." Chloe lowered her head. She had so many things flooding her brain, the stress of Beca attempting to leave the group, the strain of their damaged friendship and the worry that Beca didn't feel the same. The only thing she didn't have to worry about was The Dorm's rent that Beca covered with the cheque she threw at her.
"Okay, Beca... I'll respect your wishes and just go." Chloe said looking down, focusing on just the pavement slab below her. She was tired of fighting. Chloe paused for a moment, her voice dropped to a sincere and gentle tone.
"I mean, you're absolutely right," Chloe said whilst still staring down "right now all I am doing is making things worse. It's just, I'm so fricking scared of losing you but-." Chloe glanced up only to see that Beca had already headed back inside, she realized that she had probably been gone for awhile.
Chloe's eyes began to fill with tears as she retreated back to her car, that of course, she couldn't get into. She began power walking down the road, far enough so she was out of view of Kimmy Jin's apartment before pulling out her phone and calling Stacie.
Stacie: "Hey, any luck finding Beca?"
Chloe: "I found her, but I'll fill you in, in person. Do you think you can come pick me up?" she asked desperately trying to sound normal.
Stacie: "Didn't you take your car with you?"
Chloe: "I did, but I dropped my keys down the drain. I'm by Kimmy Jin's place."
Chloe's voice suddenly cracked "I think she's starting to hate me Stacie. She doesn't look at me the same way anymore..."
Stacie: "Hang tight. I'll come now."
-
Stacie and Chloe were now on her motorbike heading back towards the dorm. Chloe was thankful that Stacie rode a bike, it meant she couldn't be expected to explain what happened, though she knew Stacie would get it out of her eventually.
After a fairly short journey, Stacie pulled into The Bella's drive. They both took off their helmets and Chloe quickly rushed ahead to avoid being questioned, heading in before Stacie, who followed shortly after. The girl's all stopped what they were doing instantly focusing their attention on Chloe, before promptly noticing that Beca wasn't following behind her. "Where's Beca?" Cynthia Rose asked expecting things to be resolved. "As much as I hate killer cardio we're really going to start to fall behind, we can't rehearse without her" Fat Amy stated sounding concerned, which only worried the girls more.
"I'll fix it okay!?" Chloe said raising her voice slightly before taking a deep breath. "Girls, it's me who screwed everything up. I'll fix this mess and make it up to all of you I swear, I won't let Beca leave the group, and I won't let you down."
Chloe's face changed to a determined one as she proudly climbed on top of the small, knee height living room table "I'm getting her headphones back!" she said placing her hands on her hips. "The auction is today, so I need to act now!" her determination apparent in her eyes "although, I'm not quite sure how... I can't exactly steal them from the children..." she said with less passion as she slowly stepped back down.
"well you shouldn't have donated them in the first place Chloe" Fat Amy said bluntly "we, don't exactly have the money to buy them back, we could barely pay the rent" Chloe sighed "You're right, I don't know what I was thinking, once I signed her Beats over I just had to follow through and" Chloe paused for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.
"I'll just have to swallow my pride. I'll talk to chairman, I'll explain my wrongdoings and plead and maybe he'll let me take back my donation"
"Yeah, your donation of items that weren't yours to give away" Fat Amy said bluntly yet again. Chloe glanced down "I get it Amy, I messed up!" she said sounding stressed "Maybe you could do some volunteer work?" Emily suggested "That's actually a good idea" Chloe commented "well, it's one way to soften the blow" Stacie said. "And after we win the world's! we can donate some of our winnings!" Chloe said excitedly as Fat Amy groaned sounding unenthusiastic "Yeah Chloe, as long as it comes out of your share only." Chloe decided not to comment on Fat Amy's remark.
"Gurl, what happens if he doesn't let you take the donation back?" Cynthia questioned her. Chloe sounding troubled replied "If it comes to it, I'll take them back for Beca's sake, but I'll need a distraction, I need someone to go with me just in case, but i'll need someone subtle" Fat Amy promptly raised her hand "I'll go" she said casually "Fat Amy?" Chloe tilted her head "I said someone subtle" "No Chloe, I'm actually really good at being subtle" Fat Amy tried to argue.
"I can go with you" Stacie said raising her eyebrows "Okay girls, us three will go. Don't worry I'll do all of the talking and explaining but if that fails you guys will need to distract them" as Chloe said that Stacie started pulling her top up and Chloe swiftly grabbed her hands and pulled it back down "Without!" she said sternly "doing anything indecent or destructive that will put us back in the bad side of the news! Remember girls, we've made a name for ourselves now, we're not just some acapella group anymore"
Both Fat Amy and Stacie sighed before agreeing. Lilly clicked her tongue in annoyance, having been saying how she'd go even before Fat Amy raised her hand "I could get the cargo myself in one fell swoop. But nooo" she muttered bitterly.
-
The auction for Beca's Beats was now about to start.
"Today, ladies and gentlemen, we have a rare collection of Beats, a vast mix from limited editions, to various models. They are all in great condition and have all variations of color. The money today will go to the underprivileged children charity"
As the man carried out his speech, Chloe, Stacie and Fat Amy entered the crowd.
"Our generous donator" he continued "Beca Mitchell has also insisted that 10 of the 60 pairs are donated to the children, so they can enjoy the music of the world through mp3 players, that we will personally provide. So please, bid generously!" Both Stacie and Fat Amy turned to Chloe at that moment "Seriously? you even donated them in her name" Chloe swiftly avoided eye contact "Look, I don't have time this, I need to find the chairman"
"Okay ladies and gentleman our starting bid is set at $2000" now that the bid was underway a woman raised her hand "I bid $3000" she called out, a man then raised his hand and bid higher. The woman rolled her eyes as she began to approach the stage.
Chloe was looking stressed as she continued her conversation with the chairman who she had now found and approached. "I know the bidding is already underway, but if there's just any chance that you could stop the auction. The Bella's will give you 100% commitment, we'll perform and donate our winnings"
(cough) "her winnings" Amy added in "Yes- my winnings if we can just--" Chloe's words trailed to a stop as she noticed a woman walk on to the stage and grab the microphone. "What is she doing?" Stacie commented as she and Fat Amy looked over.
The crowd watched on curiously, muttering complaints as the woman clearly wasn't meant to be up there. "Okay, let's get serious. I bid $7000." the audience oohed, their faces looked shocked it was quite an increase from the last bid that was $3500. "Ma'am we take bidding here very seriously if--" the brunette woman held up a cheque "I'm deadly serious" the man blinked a few times as he looked over the cheque.
"This can't be happening!" Chloe gasped.
"S-Sold to a-" he took a moment to read off the cheque "Mrs.Mitchell!" the audience promptly applauded "Do I need to tackle a Pitch? because I can do that" Fat Amy said whilst riling herself up "I was once offered a position on the Australian Men's Rugby Team," she added. Chloe shook her head "Amy, you can't just assault someone. I said we need to stay OUT of the news" she said shaking her head. "Chloe's right, maybe should we follow and see if we can persuade her to at least let us buy back some of the Beats?" Stacie suggested.
Chloe narrowed her eyes, still looking determined "Let's follow her and come up with a plan" the trio then shifted through the crowd, dodging in and out of them as they followed the woman as she exited the building with the box of Beats.
As they followed the woman out into the Town Centre they noticed her staring at a flyer. It wasn't just any flyer, it was a flyer with all of the Barden Bella's on it. "What is she doing?" Chloe whispered as the three of them stopped and hid behind a sign post. "Maybe she's a fan?" Fat Amy shrugged "Looks to me like she's eying you, Chloe . . . or is it Beca?" Stacie whispered "It makes me uncomfortable that this woman is staring at my face" Chloe said snapping several photos. "Just in case she's a stalker" she mumbled.
Now that Chloe had a chance to get a good look at the woman something dawned on her. "Holy shit, maybe we don't have to persuade her after all, is it just me or does she look a bit similar to Beca? maybe she's her mom?"
Stacie then focused her attention on the woman "Shit, they do seem a bit similar? Good thing we didn't let Fat Amy tackle her then, we basically would have assaulted her mom. She must have bought them back for Beca, bit of an obsessive donation though" Stacie said widening her eyes. Fat Amy was surprisingly unvocal. They both turned to her "You're surprisingly quiet Amy?"
"Yeah, well uh. See, the thing is" she began to fidget before mumbling "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I guess that, given you two aren't Beca's super best Australian friend and roomie in the world that you would lack such knowledge. It was told to me in confidence... but I think I should probably tell you"
Chloe and Stacie eyed her curiously "What is it?"
"Beca's mom is dead."
"What???" they exclaimed sounding shocked.
"Yeah, she didn't want to tell anyone... but those headphones were initially from her mom, well most of them anyway, hence they were sentimental. There was even an engraved pair, at least that's what Beca said"
Hearing that news made Chloe's heart sink, she felt guilty and was annoyed at herself for acting out in anger. She thought about all the times she'd bang on to Beca about not getting her mom a mothers day card, and about the times they all discussed memories from childhood and it made her feel like shit. "I had no idea---"
Stacie sighed "This complicates things then, how are we gonna get back the headphones? if its not her mom then-" Fat Amy tilted her left and right whilst wincing "uh, well, the thing is guys, Beca showed me a photo of her mom and now that I've had a good look at that woman, that's definitely her so ... we're either seeing a ghost or..."
Chloe gasped "Wait, are you positive? are you sure she doesn't just look like her?" Fat Amy nodded "As certain as I am that there's a slice of cheesecake in the fridge, and I bought it this morning" Stacie rolled her eyes "Yeah, but you ate that before we left" "Does it really matter? fine, I'm as certain as I am that my real name is Patricia! That is definitely her."
As Chloe looked at her she felt all kinds of emotions, firstly she was confused, why was she alive? how was she alive? answers were something she needed and answers were something she planned to get.
As Stacie and Amy glanced up they noticed Chloe walking over with purpose "Chloe!" Stacie and Fat Amy gasped as they noticed her a fair distance ahead of them. "Crap, when did she--" Stacie said as they both rushed to catch up with her.
Upon sensing Chloe's presence the woman turned "Oh my god! if it isn't some of the Barden Bellas!" given Chloe was ready to confront her, her sudden greeting threw her off guard which allowed Fat Amy and Stacie to catch up to her. "So she is a fan" Fat Amy tried to mumble subtly "Not quite" the woman responded hearing Amy's mutter "It's just that you know my daughter!" she said sounding excited "she's the moody one folding her arms, Beca" she said pointing at the flyer. The three girls were in disbelief "Did she just admit that to us?" "Whoomp, there it is..."
"Excuse. me." Chloe said sternly as she narrowed her eyes "You seem close with my daughter! how is she doing? can I get a selfie?" Beca's mom said raising her phone. Chloe raised her hand "I don't mean to be rude but I don't think that's appropriate. If anything, I'm a little confused"
"Uh, I think we're a little more than confused Chloe. The woman was meant to be dead, I think she has some explaining to do." Fat Amy said bluntly. "Yeah, we don't even know if your friend or foe" Stacie said skeptically.
Beca's mom held out the box of headphones towards Stacie "I understand you may not think too kindly of me, but um if you could just give these back to Beca I'd appreciate it. I saw her tweet, she was raging about how her headphone's were stolen from her, I don't know how they came to end up at an auction, maybe thieves nowadays have morals? but I know that she always had a good ear, and a great sense of rhythm, I really don't want this to hinder her dream of being a DJ" she paused for a moment " um, that's if she's still pursuing that?"
Stacie slowly took the box back from her. "Looks like she's leaning more towards friend" she whispered. "Yeah Chloe it IS weird how they ended up at an auction isn't it" Fat Amy said whilst coughing. Chloe shifted her eyes and ignored her remark "That's really nice of you, but how are you alive?"
Beca's mom froze "I feel that Beca should know the answer to that question first. I want to talk to her" Chloe folded her arms "I respect that, but seeing you will destroy her. I mean, how long has she thought you were dead for?" she said raising her voice slightly.
Beca's mom hesitated before answering "She's in her twenties so, at least 9 years" Chloe frowned "So what, you disappear for 9 years of her life and let her fucking mourn you?" Beca's mom glanced down "I know you care about her, and if I'm honest, I can't say much to defend myself, but I'd just rather her hear it from me rather than you" Stacie then placed her hand on Chloe's shoulder " C'mon Chlo, let's just leave it."
Fat Amy shot Beca's mom a look "If you hurt my number one roomie and best friend in the world then I'll show you that Spiders aren't the only thing to fear from Australia." Beca's mom watched on awkwardly as the three of them turned and walked the other away.
-
Now that the three of them were back on board the Bella's bus they didn't quite know what to do. "Well, we got her Beats back" Fat Amy commented "Yeah, but we got way more than we bargained for" Stacie said as she slouched back further into her seat, Chloe, however was pacing up and down the bus "We have to tell Beca." "Yeah, but it's not our place to just tell her Chlo" Stacie commented wearily "we'll then I'll tell her. I can't just relax at home knowing she's going to ambush her. Besides, Beca doesn't exactly like to share things, she'll just remain quiet as her emotions eat away at her and I can't allow that to happen."
Fat Amy sighed "well, if anyone can be there for her when the news hits, it's you Chloe. Even I, won't have the skills unlocked to handle Beca when she finds out, and as much as I wish I could be that someone, that someone is gonna be you"
Chloe nodded "This isn't something that can wait either. Drop me off at Kimmy Jin's" Fat Amy finally started the engine "Okay"
-
Chloe got off of the bus. She took a deep breath as she approached Kimmy Jin's door, feeling more weary . She knocked, this time ensuring she didn't speak to herself.
Kimmy Jin slowly opened the door "Raging Red, well this is expected, Beca said you would come." she said casually as she looked Chloe up and down. Chloe pouted slightly "I really don't want to be predictable here, but I have something she's going to want to hear" Kimmy Jin sighed "She said she doesn't want to hear it" Chloe looked puzzled "I didn't hear her say that-" "Precisely. She just knew what you'd say." Kimmy Jin then slowly closed the door.
Chloe huffed "Well, one thing about me is that I don't give up." she said to herself Chloe then walked to the side of the building. She took another deep breathe "Aubrey was right, those death-defying exercises are gonna come in handy after all." Chloe then stood up on the window ledge and began scaling the building, she only climbed a short distance up until she reached the window ledge that she could only assume was the room that Beca was staying in. She grabbed a hold of the ledge and hung on, slowly letting go with one hand as she knocked on the window.
Beca turned her head upon hearing the knock, she approached the window curiously, before glancing down only to notice Chloe dangling below. "Seriously Chloe?" Beca said shaking her head "Beca, please let me in" Beca went to turn away "This isn't happening, I am so not dealing with you right now" Chloe knocked again, this time more loudly to draw her attention back to her "Beca, I'm going to lose my grip! I underestimated my upper body strength! please?" Chloe pleaded sounding more desperate as her arms were starting to give.
Beca had no choice. "Shuffle to the end of the ledge, I need to open the window first" Chloe then shuffled to the side, allowing Beca to have enough room to open up the large window, Beca then grabbed on to Chloe's arm and helped to pull her in.
"You're seriously unbelievable. What if you fell?" Beca said shooting Chloe a look now that she was safely inside.
"I was only gonna worry about that, if it happened" Chloe tried to joke but Beca looked unamused. Chloe dropped her voice into a gentle tone "this isn't just about me screwing up anymore, can we just talk? I have something to tell you"
Beca faked a smile "Sure, but follow me." she said casually as she led Chloe back downstairs. "I just wanna grab my coffee first" Chloe nodded "no problem Becs" Kimmy Jin then swiftly pulled the front door open, Beca then gave Chloe a gentle shove out of the door, which promptly got closed behind her before Chloe could react.
Beca and Kimmy then turned to look at one another "Team work" they said in unison. "She's very persistent and predictable. I never thought we'd have anything in common Beca, but keeping that redhead out of my apartment seems to be a common goal we share" Kimmy Jin commented as she walked away from the front door. Chloe then started knocking on the door "Beca, please. I wouldn't be this persistent without a good reason."
Beca looked at the door and sighed "I swear you love making things worse, can't you just give me space? seriously, Chloe this is ridiculous."
"Beca, please, I don't want to have to say this through a door"
"Oh, just get it over with Chloe, for serious, nothing you say is going to make me open this damn door."
"Beca, I saw your mom"
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