#so even if they get bought out the new open license is protected | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jjfast126 · 2 years

Text

Voopoo drag software download mac

Free voopoo drag x software download Download - UpdateStar.

VOOPOO DRAG 3 177W Starter Kit - Element Vape.

VOOPOO DRAG X | DRAG S Mod Pod Kit User Manual - Vaper Club.

Voopoo Software For Mac, (Voopoo For Mac).

Voopoo Drag Series Collection Deals Online | Vapesourcing.

Voopoo Drag 2 Software Mac - DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE FOR.

VOOPOO – Vape Official.

Voopoo Drag Update Firmware Mac – PAWS For Life.

Tutorial upgrade firmware Voopoo Drag Max / Drag X - YouTube.

Voopoo App on a Mac? Waxpen - reddit.

VOOPOO Drag X Kit, Buy 80W Drag X Pod USA Online - VapeSourcing.

Free voopoo drag s software update Download - voopoo drag s software.

Drag X-VOOPOO SHOP.

How to Use PC Mod Software on a Mac - E-Cigarette Forum.

Free voopoo drag x software download Download - UpdateStar.

Probably many of you are wondering how to update voopoo drug on a competing Macbook that is not supported by voopoo. I will surprise you! CAN BE!Link to the.

VOOPOO DRAG 3 177W Starter Kit - Element Vape.

It's claimed that only 6 out of 10,000 develop a fault. The collaboration also boasts the fastest firing speeds the industry, only 0.010s! But it's not only the features which make Voopoo so successful, vapers love the looks. Products like the Drag, Drag 2 and the Drag Mini Kit feature elegant resin finishes. The Drag 2 Box Mod features the upgraded Gene.FIT chipset, a power output of 117W, FIT Mode, a temperature control(TC) suite, OLED display, and comes equipped with premium protection. $25 - $50, $50 - $100, Box Mods, Regulated Mods, Starter Kits, USA Vendor Comments Off on Voopoo Drag, Drag 2, and Drag Mini Sale ($10 Off) 3,422 Views 101vape.

VOOPOO DRAG X | DRAG S Mod Pod Kit User Manual - Vaper Club.

INB4 MAC IS BAD, GET WINDOWS OR ANYTHING RELATED. I just recently bought the drag and want to update the firmware and install a funky Fallout skin that I saw over at r/vaping. BUUUUT I'm currently at home and don't have a pc, just a macbook pro on me. I tried using wine, vm ware, and installing windows on this and all three didn't work. This box is a note. You can add and remove as many boxes as you want. Boxes can be used to display things like location info, store hours, pictures, ads, etc.

Voopoo Software For Mac, (Voopoo For Mac).

Latest WISMEC ACTIVE Mod Firmware Upgrade Tool-Free Download. February 12, 2019. Post Views: 4,908 Wismec Active Firmware Latest Version: (TC Software 1.10)Firmware V1.02 Date Updateed: October 16th, 2018 License: Software Supporting: WIN10/WIN8/WIN7/XP/MAC Wismec is an entertaining VapeMod.…. Sep 20, 2017 · The Voopoo app uses the file in tab ROM Update. Version: V1.5.1.26, puts the.URSC files in Resources and you use the customize tab to load the files in the write them in. On the webpage mentioned above is the version 1.0.0.1 version which can get you back to what I call the original version.

Voopoo Drag Series Collection Deals Online | Vapesourcing.

VooPoo 2.0.0.8 - Download.Voopoo Drag Software For Mac - heavyorder.Download Kms Activator For Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus.Nitro Pro 9 Crack Serial Key | tutinbeila1988's Ownd.Vaporesso Downloads, User Manuals and Firmware » Vaporesso.Voopoo Drag X Plus & Pro Edition Review: Fantastic Single.VOOPOO Drag X PNP-X Elektromos cigaretta pod - E.How to Update Your Vape Mod Firmware.

Voopoo Drag 2 Software Mac - DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE FOR.

Voopoo Drag 2 Software Mac The voopoo software is developing at a frantic pace. New versions of the software should be released several times a quarter and even several times a month.

VOOPOO – Vape Official.

First, start by visiting the manufacturer site and download the firmware updating software. Unzip it and install it on your desktop. Once this is complete, open the software. The software will ask to search for the latest updates on your behalf. Once you hit OK, it will automatically find the latest version available from the manufacturer and. In addition, the 4.5mL pod can be refilled from the bottom and is affixed by a sturdy magnetic connection. VOOPOO DRAG S 60W Pod Mod Kit Features: Gene.TT Chipset. Dimensions - 87mm by 33mm by 28mm. Integrated 2500mAh Rechargeable Battery. Wattage Output Range: 5-60W. Voltage Output Range: 3.2-4.2V. Resistance Range: 0.1-3.0ohm.

Voopoo Drag Update Firmware Mac – PAWS For Life.

The maximum output power of Drag X can be adjusted to 80W to satisfy your needs. Under the hood, the Drag X mod is built with a GENE.TT chipset. VOOPOO Drag X Pod Cartridge is made of PCTG and has a 4.5ml vape juice capacity. It can be adapted to a wide range of coils, including RBA. Drag X Kit is equipped with two PnP coils of 0.15ohm and 0.3ohm.

Tutorial upgrade firmware Voopoo Drag Max / Drag X - YouTube.

Mar 15, 2022 · Drag and drop folders, PDFs, applications, or URLs into VoodooPad, and they will link up just like on the web. And with powerful search, nothing will be lost or out of reach. You may want to check out more software for Mac, such as Voodoo Whisperer- Curse of a Legend - Collector's Edition , Voodoo Whisperer: Curse of a Legend or Password Pad. Oct 12, 2017 · Hi All, I recently bought a VooPoo DRAG, and I wanted to use the VooPoo software to make some configuration changes.But since I use a Mac, I thought I was out of luck. Then I realized I could run Windows as a virtual machine..

Voopoo App on a Mac? Waxpen - reddit.

Apple Software Update 2.6.3.1. Apple Inc. - 84.2MB - Shareware -. Apple Software Update is a software tool by Apple that installs the latest version of Apple software. It was originally introduced to Mac users in Mac OS 9. A Windows version has been available since the introduction of iTunes 7. more info. Nov 09, 2018 · The Drag 2 Mod Includes: You’ll receive the VOOPOO Drag 2 177W Box Mod, a USB Cable, and an instructional manual. The Drag 2 Kit Includes: You’ll receive the VOOPOO Drag 2 177W Box Mod, the UForce T2 Sub-Ohm Tank, a 0.4-ohm U2 Dual Coil, a 0.2-ohm N3 Triple Mesh Coil, a Spare Glass Tube, USB Cable, spare parts bag, instructional manual, and. Apple Software Update 2.6.3.1. Apple Inc. - 84.2MB - Shareware -. Apple Software Update is a software tool by Apple that installs the latest version of Apple software. It was originally introduced to Mac users in Mac OS 9. A Windows version has been available since the introduction of iTunes 7. more info.

VOOPOO Drag X Kit, Buy 80W Drag X Pod USA Online - VapeSourcing.

Free voopoo drag s software update Download - voopoo drag s software.

VOOPOO just released the third generation of Drag box mod – the Drag 3 with their new TPP atomizer & coils. Today we will have a comparison between the new Drag 3, Drag Max and Drag 2. Summary The differences between the Drag 3 and Drag 2 are very clear, including the chipset, working modes, screen and tanks. Sep 20, 2017 The Voopoo app uses.

Drag X-VOOPOO SHOP.

Nov 29, 2018 · hi, guys, the firmware of Voopoo Drag 2 & Drag Mini upgradeable. please check below:. the new firmware fixed the bugs and improved the performance of your Voopoo vape mods. The Voopoo Drag 3 mod is the newest external unit designed by Voopoo. This unit is a two battery external (not included) with a lightweight design and offering up to 155w for optionality with your wattage. Note this product does not come with batteries or a tank. Get a tank for this unit here! Contents. Drag 3 Device; Type C cable; User Manual. May 18, 2020 · 8. Software upgrading: Consumers have access to upgrade the software to the latest version on V0OPOO official webstewhich requires the specific Type-C USB cable equipped with voopoo product to connect the computer.

How to Use PC Mod Software on a Mac - E-Cigarette Forum.

. Voopoo drag s software update More Apple Software Update 2.6.3.1 Apple Inc. - 84.2MB - Shareware - Apple Software Update is a software tool by Apple that installs the latest version of Apple software. It was originally introduced to Mac users in Mac OS 9. A Windows version has been available since the introduction of iTunes 7. more info... More. The VooPoo DRAG is a highly efficient variable wattage box mod with a chip efficiency rating of 95% for accurate and reliable power output. The chassis of the DRAG made from zinc alloy and has a carbon fiber accent panel on one side and the word DRAG lightly etched into the battery access door. The DRAG is compatible with the VooPoo PC App.

Other content:

Ms Visual Foxpro Support Library Download

Samsung Xpress M2020W Driver Download

Window Color Appearance Windows 7

0 notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

Text

Dishwashers have become Iphones

Apple is a true business innovator: For more than a decade, they have been steadily perfecting an obscure anticompetitive tactic, turning a petty grift invented by console games companies into a global, cross-industry mechanism for extracting rents and centralizing control.

I'm speaking of App Stores, of course, and not just any app store, but one that's illegal to compete with or switch away from. This started with console companies, who used technical tricks to ensure that they could skim a rake from every program you bought for your system.

Consoles used proprietary hardware or media formats to ensure that software vendors couldn't sell directly to you, that every sale would be forced through their storefronts or licensing systems.

These tactics acquired the force of law in 1998 after Bill Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), whose Section 1201 made it a felony to traffick in "circumvention devices" that bypassed "access controls" for copyrighted works.

Broadly, that meant that you could go to prison (for five years!) for making anti-DRM tools. What's more, DMCA 1201's drafters rejected tying the law to acts of copyright infringement, making it illegal to remove DRM, even if you did so for a perfectly legal reason.

For example, if your games console had some code that ensured that the software you were running had been taxed by the manufacturer, then removing that code could become a criminal act - even though that has nothing to do with copyright infringement.

To make that concrete: copyright is supposed to help creators and audiences transact with one another. If you own a console and I wrote some software for it, then copyright should facilitate you paying me money for it and then running it on your console.

But if the console's manufacturer had designed its product so that it got to impose a tax on transactions like this, then I can't sell you my copyrighted work anymore unless I pay the tax. Doing so is a felony, but not because it infringes copyright.

No, it's a felony because it's bad for the manufacturer's shareholders. It's what Jay Freeman calls "Felony Contempt of Business Model."

Now, the defenders of this practice say it's not anticompetitive because I can invent and manufacture a different, competing console, sell it to you, and then sell you my code without paying tax.

But this isn't how competition works. Companies don't get to say, "You can compete with me, but only on the terms I set, and in the domains where I think I have an advantage." Excluding competition in "complimentary goods" (like apps) is 100% anticompetitive.

For several years after the passage of the DMCA, the abuse of Sec 1201 to create "Felony Contempt of Business Model" stuck mostly within the realm of games consoles, with the exception of mixed results in the printer ink market.

Then along came the App Store for Apple's Ios devices: these were designed to be locked to a single app store, so that people who made copyrighted works (apps) and people who wanted to buy them (Ipod/pad/phone owners) couldn't transact without going through Apple.

Apple's paternalistic pitch was that it would only use this power to benefit its customers. The press *loved* this story, because Steve Jobs posed himself as a daddy-figure who would use apps to get us all to pay for media again.

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/04/01/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either/

The consensus that Apple should be able to decide how other companies could compete with it was advanced by its most loyal customers, who'd long considered themselves to be a kind of oppressed religious minority.

They insisted that there was no reason to allow a third-party app store because everyone who owned an Ios device loved using Apple's App Store.

But when anyone pointed out that if this was true, then there would be no reason to ban third-party stores (because they'd fail), they'd switch tactics, saying that any Ios user who switched stores was Doing It Wrong.

This is the Apple fanboy No True Scotsman argument: "Everyone loves the limitations of Apple's walled gardens, and if they don't, they're not really Apple customers. If they didn't want to be locked into the walled garden, they should have bought a different device."

To understand how weird this is, consider the inverse: we live in a market society based on property rights. Once I buy an Ios device, I get to decide which programs I run on it and who I buy them from. If Apple didn't like that deal, it shouldn't have sold me an Ios device.

This belief-system is intrinsically conservative, in the sense articulated by Frank Wilhoit: "There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288

How else to explain the indifference of Apple trufans for the company's decision to reverse-engineer all of Microsoft Office's file formats and make compatible players for them, and their defense of Apple's strict prohibition on doing this to Ios?

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

But even if you think Apple will never abuse the power to decide who can compete with it to make complimentary products that interoperate with its own devices, the norms, laws and precedents backstopping Apple's business-model innovations can by used by anyone.

In 2015, I wrote a Guardian microfiction that exposed the perils of allowing companies to choose their competitors. It was called "If Dishwashers Were Iphones."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/if-dishwashers-were-iphones

It was a letter from the CEO of an "innovative" dishwasher company explaining why his customers were wrong to try to wash third-party dishes in his products.

The comments swiftly filled up with Apple defenders who decried it as an absurd, over-the-top analogy.

To those people, I say, behold, the Bob Dishwasher! It's a cute, countertop dishwasher aimed at single-person households, and it uses a proprietary cartridge for detergent dispensing, at about $0.67/wash - about $242/year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVup5ya0WVQ

The company makes a lot of familiar, paternalistic claims to justify selling a non-refillable, single-use electronics package that becomes immortal e-waste once you've used it up and replaced it: the precision electronics and proprietary detergent ensure optimal performance.

dekuNukem bought a Bob and decided that he - and not the manufacturer - should decide whether the "advantages" of throwing out the cassette and buying a new one were worth it. He reverse-engineered it and made a defeat device he calls a "rewinder."

https://github.com/dekuNukem/bob_cassette_rewinder

The tale of how he did this makes for a fascinating read, especially the analog sleuthing he did using product safety labels to reverse-engineer the "proprietary" composition of the detergent and rinse-aid, which turn out to be commodity products marked up by 7700%!

Extraordinarily, he's actually selling the Rewinder, for $30. This shouldn't be extraordinary, but it is, thanks to the penalties under DMCA 1201 (and the UK equivalent law, derived from Article 6 of 2001's EU Copyright Directive).

https://www.tindie.com/products/dekuNukem/bob-rewinder-renew-your-bob-dishwasher-cassette/

It's not just dishwashers, either. Would-be digital rentiers have figured out that they can turn their shareholders' preferences into legal obligations to their customers by engineering their products so they have to be used in specific ways...or else.

For example, KLIM makes a motorcyclist's airbag vest that deactivates itself if you stop making subscription payments (of course, this means that anyone who exploits a defect in KLIM's IT can shut off all its airbag vests, everywhere).

https://twitter.com/TrashGoat00/status/1387301889356689410/photo/1

If that sounds extreme to you, it's really not. Tesla has many safety features that are marketed as downloadable content, which it remotely deactivates when a car changes hands through a private sale:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21127243/tesla-model-s-autopilot-disabled-remotely-used-car-update

If you find yourself scrambling for reasons that it's OK for Tesla to do this with its cars, but not for KLIM to do it with its airbag vests, allow me to gently remind you that Tesla owners are not an oppressed religious minority, either.

This kind of rent-seeking is just getting started. As I tried to illustrate in my novella UNAUTHORIZED BREAD (part of my 2019 book RADICALIZED), there are limitless ways for Apple's pioneering business innovation to destroy our lives:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

And as I wrote in my story "Sole and Despotic Dominion," this is a frontal assault on the idea of personal property - it creates a world where property is the exclusive purview of remorseless, transhuman colony organisms (AKA corporations).

https://reason.com/2018/11/17/sole-and-despotic-dominion/

However, that future is anything but assured. Apple is being sued by Epic for antitrust violations over its Felony Contempt of Business-Model system:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/technology/apple-epic-lawsuit-app-fees.html

And European competition regulators have opened an enforcement action against the company on the same basis:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/30/eu-says-apples-app-store-breaches-competition-rules.html

Meanwhile, copycats who created their own Felony Contempt of Business Model walled gardens, like Valve did with Steam, are facing their own lawsuits, courtesy of Wolfire:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/04/humble-bundle-creator-brings-antitrust-lawsuit-against-valve-over-steam/

We've come a long way in a decade, and the No True Scotsman defense of the right of a dominant corporation to interpose itself between buyers and sellers, to control its customers' choices after a sale, is finally facing a real challenge.

https://locusmag.com/2021/03/cory-doctorow-free-markets/

#pluralistic

295 notes · View notes

broiunno · 3 years

Text

License to Steal - Act IV

License to Steal

ACT IV

Act I // Act II // Act III // Act IV

---

summary: Min Yoongi is your new protection detail upon your return to your father's side after being sent away during a bloody gang war. Now the dust has settled, you've been called back to your old controlled life, and leaving you an unwilling participant in your family's plans. You don't know what they are but you are no longer willing to be the obedient, protected daughter. You don't really care in the least of it makes Yoongi's new assignment hell on earth- So you'll carve your own life out back home on your own terms.

-rating: 18+

-pairing: min yoongi x reader

-word count: 5.8k

-warnings: swearing, gang activities includes drug mention and eventual drug use, the slowest of burns, organized crime, toxic af family dynamics, BEWARE IN THIS ACT: graphic family abuse (father initiated verbal and physical assault- does not fade to black), violence, blood, graphic descriptions of torture, and graphic sex scenes will be included in this work.

-authors note: @chelsea-chee leading the au as usual. I love her the appreciate her as my love, writer, and my beta. Her works are *chefs kiss* Thank you again beautiful <3 PLEASE NOTE: I AM REALLY NOT EXCITED TO POST THE NEXT FEW ACTS. They deal with heavy subject matter and I don't fade to black at any point so please note my works are for mature audiences, warnings are there for a reason and in bold. You are an adult if you are reading this work (per the warnings) and you are responsible for the content you consume. Thank you. ILY all and I love asks about the characters. And that's all I have to say about that...I'm sorry for the wait. I've had covid. I'm back on a better schedule now.

-----------------------------------------------

You fumbled with your hair as you tried to rip your fingers through the still damp strands to assemble it back into a semi-presentable pony tail as the door slid open to your father’s office. You really did wish that you had been able to go upstairs and shower. Or at least change your clothes from the workout gear you currently felt sticking to your skin from the cooling sweat. As a breeze drifted from the vent as the air kicked on, you shivered violently, shaking your head and shooting a hateful stare in Yoongi’s direction as you stepped into the office. Appearances were everything in your family. They were the first level of protection to ensure threats stayed at a minimum. A show of strength and cohesiveness discouraged any hair-brained ideas from a weaker or less organized opposition.

Your father raised a dark, thick brow, turning from the man was speaking quietly to, his expression unreadable as you inclined your head slightly in greeting. “You asked to see me?” you said quietly, keeping your eyes downcast. Since Yoongi had mentioned your father was summoning you, you knew it couldn’t be anything positive. This soon after your arrival? Nothing good would come of this. You had just grabbed onto the distraction of Yoongi until you both stood in the office, feeling stripped bare, awaiting whatever admonishment was about to be delivered.

“You couldn’t make it a full forty-eight hours without causing me a migraine,” your father said sharply and you kept your eyes trained on the floor, as you replayed yesterday in your mind.

“Father, I don’t know what you-”

“Y/N, you weren’t even back a day and you spent how much?” he said, aggravation lacing his tone. “I had to call in Kim to look at your accounts immediately. You’re a fucking hassle.” He huffed and your eyes finally lifted to the stranger that stood next to your father, noting that he stepped away from your father and bowed quickly.

“Nice to meet you, miss. I’m Kim Namjoon. I’ve been handling your accounts and will continue to do so.” You felt your lips part in a soft ‘oh’ as you studied the broad planes of his face, full lips and intense eyes. You felt like he was picking you apart in that moment as you took your time to absorb his ash blond hair in a relaxed, but carefully crafted style. His skin tone was golden; a contrast to Yoongi’s milk-like skin. He glowed, and you couldn’t tell if it from his melanin or the fact that he was radiating intelligence.

“N-Nice to meet you too,” you stammered and managed to close your mouth as he pushed up the rolled sleeves of his white button-down shirt. You swallowed hard and tried to claw through the mental fog that had overcome you. With the teasing from both Jungkook and Yoongi, being presented with another god-like man was the last thing you needed. “I will admit I’m a little confused; my spending was never a problem when I was away? I mean, it’s not like I bought a car.”

Your father barked a laugh and threw up his hands. “You have no grasp on what I do to make this money that you just piss away Y/N! And you COULD have bought a car with the amount you spent yesterday! Like I said: a god damn burden!” he hissed and you flushed slightly, taking a step back unconsciously as you watched his neck flush. Yoongi hadn’t said a word, but you knew you could still sense his dark presence in the corner of the room, not looking at him to notice his eyes narrowed slightly as the scene unfolded.

“Y/N, I’ve had an idea. You’re a daughter. I can’t do much with you. Your brother who I could actually have used is dead. Your mother-” He stopped as he watched your eyes bulge and he shook his head. “I can’t have more children. I’d consider it disrespectful to her memory,” he mused, a hand running along his chin and you couldn’t help the scoff that escaped you, but your jaw snapped shut audibly as your teeth clacked together after the noise passed your lips.

Your father’s eyes flared to life in challenge and he glanced at Namjoon, lip curling. “Did you calculate her estimated cost of living and monthly expenditures? Do you have solid numbers?” he said shortly and Namjoon just nodded, eyes flicking between the family members silently. “And did you adjust for a profit at the margin we discussed?”

“Yes sir,” came the deep steady voice, Namjoon’s eyes traveling your figure, his gaze not heavy with lust or desire, but full of curiosity. “The monthly amount that you should request for that profit is in the proposal if you would like to review it.” He finished and cleared his throat. “I can return if you want me to look over the contract,” he said softly, clearing fishing for a dismissal and your father granted it, offering his hand and you felt your mouth tighten in confusion.

“What contract?”

Namjoon grabbed a briefcase and inclined his head to you stiffly in farewell before his long legs carried him out the doorway. Your father’s gaze didn’t leave your eyes as he spoke. “Yoongi, see him out.” Yoongi nodded and started after the tall man in silence, not sparing you a second glance on his way out.

“I asked you what contract?” you said softly, struggling to keep your voice even as your father stepped closer to you.

“Well, you went out. Spent a lot of money that you’ve done nothing to earn, and caught someone’s eye in the process. Someone worth a lot of money and who would be an asset to have closer to the family at this point in his career.” Your father clasped his hands behind his back as he continued to close the distance between you, each step he made, you felt your heart plummet further.

“Father… what exactly are you implying?”

“I’m not implying anything, Y/N. I’m telling you. Someone’s made a bid for your hand, and it’s the only thing you’ll be good for at this point. The shopping sprees, your lifestyle. I can maintain them, but if someone else is willing to do so, and the marriage benefits me in my business, I’d be stupid not to pursue it. Do you think I’m stupid, Y/N?” he said, voice getting dangerously quiet as he reached out to tuck a piece of hair that had escaped the rapidly put-up ponytail behind your ear.

“You can’t sell me off like fucking cattle!-” you said, flinching away from his touch, and his large, calloused hand shot out to grab your chin tightly. He forced your face back towards his as you tried to jerk away, squeezing hard enough to make your eyes begin to water. Your heart thudded out a dangerous irregular rhythm as you breathed hard through your nose.

“I can’t? Y/N, you seem to be under the delusion that you are free from the responsibilities that come with being in this family. I suppose that may be my fault. I was too soft on you, pitied the losses I caused you to have. I always had your brother anyway; there was no harm in indulging you. But now, you’re the only one with my blood in your veins. You’re home to do a service for this family. Everyone else has given their lives in some way. Did you think you were special?” His words were measured and cold as he studied you, grip not loosening on your face. You would be bruised tomorrow as you felt the throb set in from the pressure he was applying.

“You may order me to do it, but I don’t have to go along with this,” you hissed, barely able to open your jaw, but clenching your teeth to get your words out, rage licking up and down your body. He had taken your entire life as a child, as an adolescent. Did he really think giving you a few years of freedom put you back in his debt so far that you owed him the rest of your life?!

No sooner than the words were out of your mouth you heard the sharp crack, and felt yourself stumbling backwards into the wall. You blinked quickly as you registered the pain in your head, immediately starting to pound as the metallic taste of blood filled your mouth. You barely had time to regain a semblance of your bearings before your father was upon you again, face chillingly blank as his ringed fingers gripped the base of your ponytail, ripping your head back at an awkward angle, a scream breaching your bloody lips. The noise was cut short by another blow, snapping your head to the side before he jerked your face back to center.

“Who do you think you are, you little bitch?” he said with a lilt to his tone as you choked out a sob, unable to keep it from escaping your lips. “You really thought you weren’t going to do shit to replace that money you spent?” When he finished speaking he gave your head a violent shake, as if to scramble your thoughts further. It was completely unnecessary, as your head felt as if it was splitting with the pain he had rocked through you with his blows and harsh grip. You felt the start of a purely hysterical giggle break through, spitting out the fresh rush of blood that ran in your mouth due to the cuts in your cheek from your teeth. You noticed a piece of the skin from inside your mouth flapping loosely that made you nauseated if you dwelled on it.

The laugh was probably the worst response you could have had.

You heard a soft hiss, and your father stepped into your space further, hands darting from your head to wrap themselves around your throat and squeezing. As your hands scrambled to scratch at his hand, his arm, his face, anything, you wished you were surprised at this. You wished you were hurt because you were shocked, but you weren’t. There was blood in the water and he was a shark. He built his life this way.

“You don’t have to go along with this…” he said softly, voice void of emotion, “but you also don’t have to keep living here either. How long will you make it without this family? You’d never make it out of the city.” He mused and continued to squeeze, your vision starting to spot as you tried to draw in any bit of air within the hold he had, the choking heaves under the weight of him making the blood that had pooled in your mouth from his blows spill over your chin grotesquely as it began to stream onto his hand. “So will you behave for once in your fucking life?”

You were hyper aware of the tears streaming down your face as you managed the smallest of nods. You supposed he was right; you had never imagined you would be used in the family in any way. Your entire life had been lonely, and even though you hated it, you had resigned yourself to it. His hands unwrapped themselves from your neck, letting you inhale a burning gasp of air as you slid down the wall, and onto the floor. You coughed and rocked forward onto all fours as the shaking of your body didn’t allow for much more than consciousness.

Your father pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the crimson of your blood off his hand before tossing it to you on the floor. You could barely recognize the quick but unhurried footsteps coming back down the hallway to the office before they stopped short.

“Yoongi, take her upstairs.”

The flush from hustling back to his boss’s office drained from Yoongi’s face as his eyes widened at your figure hunched forward onto your elbows on the floor. He watched you hack as your body tried to clear your airway. Yoongi stayed silent as he reached down, crouching next to you and attempting to offer you a hand so you could stand on your own, for which you were thankful. You felt the physical pain, but no emotions as your mind sluggishly screamed at you to just accept his hand and stand. You needed to walk out of here on your own. You knew you wouldn’t make it all the way to your room after the assault, but you didn’t need to. Just to the elevator.

You reached out your hand, shaking hard, as you clasped at his large palm and hoisted yourself up, letting him pull lightly as he stood with you, noting that he was still silent. You tried to ignore how your vision swam before you, willing your knees not to buckle. You couldn’t pinpoint if the unsteadiness was from the blows to your face, the lack of oxygen, or the tears that had thankfully stopped streaming down your face but still filled your eyes.

Yoongi seemed to read your mind, shifting his grip from your hand to your upper arm, nestling in your underarm and gently steered you to the door, but let you support most of your weight on the way out. You walked in silence as he didn’t rush you down the hallway, both of your eyes trained on the lift door as he typed in the code. As you waited for the door to open you felt your shaking legs betray you and start to bend. You glanced away from him, the movement of your eyes causing a piercing pain to shoot through your head. “Please,” was all you rasped wetly as you put more weight and started to sink, but the pressure holding you up immediately doubled, Yoongi’s support forcing you upright, even if it made your shoulder raise. It would be almost imperceptible from your father’s office if he was still looking in your direction, but you doubted he would. He had already received your submission; he didn’t need you for anything else.

Yoongi didn’t seem to want to take the chance that he was still watching, stepping into the elevator and continuing to only hold you in one place. His grip was still disguised as if he was walking you out in the same way he may escort an associate who was no longer welcome - in such a manner that would deter any further escalation. No one would be able to tell he was the only thing keeping you upright.

As the door slid shut to the elevator the facade crumbled, you lurching forward and gasping out a sob of pain, tilting your head down to let the blood that had been collecting in your mouth pour out onto the floor. You forgot how much mouth wounds bled. Yoongi was not bothered with the grotesque display as he swiftly adjusted his grip to wrap around your shoulders, his other arm sweeping at your feet as he lifted you with apparent ease. You shut your eyes as the tears began to flow once more, unable to restrain the moans and whimpers of pain that escaped between gasps as you cried. He still hadn’t said a word, even as you turned your face into his suit jacket, inhaling jaggedly as you tried to focus on the scent permeating from him, trying to place it through your snot-filled nose. The only thing you could recognize was the warm, woodsy scent of patchouli as you reached a shaking hand up to hold onto his jacket tightly. You knew he wouldn’t drop you, but it grounded you all the same.

You tried to slow your breathing, but failed as the elevator door opened and Yoongi strode quickly to your bedroom door, bending at the knees and somehow using his crook of his elbow and his body to turn the door knob, the only change in your positioning being that you tilted slightly as he spun it. He kicked the door with his foot gently as he stepped in, by-passing your bed as he carried you into your bathroom, carefully getting on his knees as he lowered you into your large bathtub as he placed you there. You continued to breath quickly, your gasps becoming sharper as your gentle shaking soon became uncontrollable. You released his jacket as he stood and you pulled your knees to your chest, shutting your eyes finally as you heard the tap briefly run before a cool rag brushed your chin, eyes flying open as you flinched away.

“Shh, I need to see your face. I have to get the blood off,” Yoongi whispered, and you finally looked at him, noting his face was still paler than normal. “Princess, I need you to take a slow, deep breath okay? Can you do that? Your lips are turning blue; you’re hyperventilating. You’re safe,” he murmured, brows pinching together in a pained expression you had never seen on his face as you tried to nod, attempting to take a long breath in but ended up gulping in air multiple times on the way, the blurring of your vision worsening as Yoongi grimaced, your breathing speeding up again, your shoulders shrugging with the effort to take in air. The last thing you heard was Yoongi’s tense exclamation of “Shit!” before you blacked out.

When you awoke, you were under the covers of your large bed. You sat up quickly before groaning from the ache in your head, then realizing that opening your mouth made you want to scream from pain. Between the squeeze on your jaw and the cuts inside your mouth, it was safe to say you would be saying very little for a while. You glanced towards the window, noting it was inky black outside.

“How long has he hit you?” came a cool voice from beside your bedside and you turned to face the source, seeing a figure standing beside the small table, casting a shadow with the aid of a lamp. Had he even left? Yoongi had shed his stained suit jacket, but still wore the white shirt and same suit pants. You only knew it was the same shirt due to the blood stain from where your mouth must have painted him. Instead of attempting to speak, you shrugged in an attempt to get his gaze off of you. It was piercing and unnerving. You felt as if this was the beginning of an interrogation, and you didn’t fail to notice the color had still not returned to his normally pale face. Now that your mind was a bit clearer you were able to recognize why it registered so deeply with you. He was the embodiment of white with fury. “How. Long?” he said again with such harshness you swallowed hard, ignoring the fire that licked down your throat as you did so.

“That’s a joke right? He’s always been like that. I just normally am better at avoiding it,” you forced out; your words were almost incoherent as you tried to move your jaw as little as possible as you spoke. That was bearable. Good. Not that you had expected it to be, but at least your jaw wasn’t broken; that would have been a pain in the ass. “What time is it?”

“It’s three am,” Yoongi hissed as his eyes glimmered in the near darkness, pushing off the wall and grabbing a glass of water off the table and sweeping a few pills into his hand. “Take these.” You took his offering and a small sip of the water before carefully throwing the pills to the back of your throat and washing them down, sighing softly. “They’re pain pills. They’ll help and you’ll be able to go back to sleep in a bit.”

You didn’t answer but pulled back the cover of your bed and slid out, noting that your bloody shirt had been changed but you still had on your sports bra and leggings. And your ponytail had been taken down, which was probably a good thing since your scalp was still aching from the hold your father had you in.

“Y/N… don’t.” Came Yoongi’s voice, still unemotional but a bit gentler than his earlier tone. You didn’t turn back to him but stopped your path to your vanity, obviously trying to look at your reflection in the mirror to assess the damage.

“Is it that bad?” you grumbled, turning to him and you watched him shrug.

“It’s not good. Don’t worry about it tonight. No bones are broken from what I can tell. I wiped you down the best I could. Just change once I leave and get back into bed.”

You let out a deep breath but finally stepped towards your closet instead to grab an oversized t-shirt. You could work the bra off under it and slip your pants off once you had it on. “Why did you even stay?” you said softly as you set to work, your muscles aching as you attempted to change modestly. You don’t know why it even mattered, but in this moment it did.

“I needed to know if he had done this before. I needed to know if this was the first time. When we were kids, you weren’t around all the time. Sometimes, I’d go months without seeing you. I didn’t know if this was a part of it,” he spat out, visibly tensing as he took a loud steadying breath.

You shrugged as you pulled off your leggings, successful in stripping your bra off under the shirt, and padded back to your bed. “There were a few reasons he kept me separated from everyone. It wasn’t all because he thought I was too precious to see any of this.” You climbed back into bed and tried to settle back into the plushness. Yoongi took a step closer to you, his mouth slightly open as he watched you try to get comfortable, seemingly unable to stop himself.

“Y/N…” he said softly and reached a hand towards you and you stiffened, eyes narrowing, and he took note, dropping his hand slowly.

“Yoongi, I never asked for your fucking pity.”

“I know, and it makes me want to help you even more.”

You blinked and tried to register what he was implying. “Help me?” you repeated, shaking your head as you felt the same hysterical laugh bubble up that had made your assault that much worse in your father’s office. “No one can help me!” You laughed, eyes widening as the smile twisted your features. “This is my life, this is what I was born into. This is what all those shiny things cost, Yoongi! I always knew it but I forgot.” You watched as the pained expression from earlier slid back over his features, and you raised your eyebrows in response. “I appreciate it, but unless you’re willing to put a bullet in my fucking head there’s no saving anything.”

“Who says it has to be your head, Princess?” he said gently and you swear you felt the world stop.

“Don’t say shit like that Min,” you hissed, baring your teeth and shaking your head. “Even if we don’t always get along, I don’t want you dead too.”

“Whatever you say Princess,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips as he cocked his head to the side. “Are you alright to sleep? You don’t feel like you’re going to vomit?” he asked seriously, watching as you shook your head.

“I don’t have a concussion,” you grumbled but as you watched him smirk and go to grab his jacket you felt your heart speed up. “Yoongi- w-wait.” He immediately stopped, as if he was anticipating your words. “Can you stay here the rest of the night? I know he won’t do anything but I-”

“Let me go change my clothes. Is that okay Princess?”

“Yeah… I just don’t want to be-”

“It’s fine Y/N. I’ll be right back.” You stayed sitting up, watching him as he dismissed your attempts at explanations and justification as he walked out.

You sighed, leaning against the leather headboard and let your breathing even out, even as your heart still raced. The pain began to slowly ebb as the medication took effect; what had you even taken? It had to be something strong as a comfortable fog began to cloud your thoughts.

You didn’t know why you felt the need to have him here. Did you even need to explain? He was technically your bodyguard. You had known each other most of your lives. You had just suffered through an assault; staying with you was reasonable. Even if the assailant wasn’t unknown, nor were the motives. At the end of the day, Yoongi’s presence made breathing a bit easier. His presence made you feel safe.

The door opened again and you sucked in a breath as Yoongi re-entered your bedroom, one hand carrying his gun and holster, the other a hanger with a clean pressed suit. “I’ll wake up before you,” was all he said in response to your surprised expression as he studied you. He mistook the shock on your face as being accredited to the suit. He was an idiot if he thought you cared about the fact he would dress here. You were too busy drinking in the sight of his lean figure in low-slung grey sweatpants. You tried to rip your gaze back to his face but you got caught on the black ribbed tank top and the swirling black tattoos covering his shoulder and chest before disappearing under the material.

“I didn’t know you had tattoos,” you choked out, feeling your face flush and mentally slapping yourself. He may look like sex on legs, but you looked like you just had the shit beat out of you. Which to be fair to yourself, you actually just had the shit beat out of you.

“Oh, I forgot,” he said, a small smirk tilting his lip up but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. He draped his suit over the chair to your vanity and carried his gun with him towards the plush armchair in the corner of the room.

“The bed is big enough Min. I won’t touch you,” you said breathlessly, trying to force away the blush that was deepening across your face. He seemed to freeze and take a few steadying breaths.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Princess.” His voice was controlled but quiet.

“Please Yoongi…” you said just as quietly. “It’s just for tonight. I won’t feel safe if you’re all the way over there.”

It was definitely an over exaggeration. You hadn’t really expected him to even agree to stay in your room with you. The chair was the reasonable option. You knew you were pushing it.

“Princess, I-” He breathed, the airiness of his tone making your belly somersault and it gave you a tiny shiver.

“Yoongi, please. I need you next to me. Just tonight.” You shouldn’t be so worried about getting this man into bed with you, but now that he was here in front of you and it was so close to happening, you felt you might cry if he denied you.

You watched his back muscles rippled as he tensed and tried to relax. He turned wordlessly and walked to the opposite side of the bed, setting his holster down and climbing into the king-sized bed with you. “Go to sleep Princess.”

The drugs had to be prescriptions, not that you really expected a member of an organized crime family to just take a regular aspirin when they were in pain. “Is the oxy working yet? It should start soon if it hasn’t.” You hummed your assent as you squirmed down into the bed and tried to keep the smile from your face as you reached over and turned out the lamp. You took a deep breath and shut your eyes, savoring the heat that quickly built from having two bodies under the covers of your bed, ignoring the slightly annoyed sigh from the other side of the bed.

“Be quiet Min, I’m trying to rest,” you said softly and a soft dry chuckle cut through the silence as you let sleep take you.

Yoongi’s POV

Yoongi listened to the soft sounds of your breathing as they lengthened and deepened, the pain pills having done their job perfectly. If only he could have done his job in such a manner. He had been given a job: to keep you safe, and he took it seriously. Even if the one assigning his work was an abusive piece of shit. Yoongi let out a sigh, glancing over at your figure in the dark to make sure his huff hadn’t disturbed your slumber. It didn’t. You were still laying there, eyes closed and unaware, your face turned towards him to afford him a view of what exactly your father had done in his absence.

He felt his teeth grind against each other as even in the dark, he could make out the near black bruises covering your neck in the clear shape of hands, a bloom crossing your smooth cheek as well. Even your chin and jaw were dark from bruising; evidence that your father had held your face to force submission. It had worked. He opened his mouth and stretched his own jaw to try and stop himself from continuing to grind his molars down to nothing in rage. He didn’t know if he would ever be able to forget how you looked and how he felt when he entered the office, watching the blood drip onto the floor. How he wanted nothing more than to simply pull out his gun and lodge a bullet into your father’s knee before proceeding to swing the butt of his gun down onto him until he shattered every bone in the pig’s disgusting face.

Until he begged him to stop. Until he begged his daughter to tell Yoongi to stop.

The daydream made Yoongi smile a full gummy smile and chuckle for the first time today. He would stop when you told him to. If you told him to. Now that he knew your father had put his hands on you before this, he wondered if you would just let him continue until his mania at seeing what had been done to you was sated. He knew it wouldn’t be until he heard your father’s death rattle, knowing it had been at his own hands.

You stirred slightly to readjust in your sleep, drawing his attention back to the present as you moved closer to him in the bed and he sucked in a breath. Even beaten and bruised you affected him. Even carrying you in that elevator down the hall as you clutched onto him. He had been spiraling down into violence but as soon as you grabbed his jacket, he knew you wouldn’t withstand even him raising his voice to anyone without shattering. You were normally so fierce and seeing you broken made him want to tear apart this entire society you both lived in, even if it was all either of you had ever known.

It was then he had decided he would be what you were asking of him with your sobs and how you clutched onto him; he would be as gentle as could be and give you whatever you needed tonight. Tomorrow he would begin the undertaking of dismantling your father piece by fucking piece.

He had watched over you after you passed out; you had woken up briefly for him to get you to take pain medicine once before you actually were able to speak to him. Before you asked him to stay with you. He wanted to pretend it didn’t make his icy heart crack, the way you tried to explain and justify his presence. He would never ask you to in this kind of situation. When Yoongi returned to his room, he attempted to steel himself for a night of sitting in that uncomfortable chair, and a sleepless day tomorrow. He had gone more than twenty-four hours without sleep before.

But when your eyes, even if they had started to become glossy and dilated from the drugs, began to run over him, he had to try and think of every unsexy thing he could fathom. You had just been fucking violated and just with one look he felt the blood travel away from his brain and pool below his waist. Why did he think he would be able to wear sweatpants while staying with you? You destroyed every semblance of self control he had. He still hadn’t forgotten your teasing in the elevator prior to this shit show.

Then your soft drowsy voice had called out to him just as he had regained his mental fortitude and continued to the chair. You would be the fucking death of him and he didn’t think he would really mind. Now, as he laid here in bed with you trying to ignore the fact that you were shifting closer to him in your sleep, seeking his warmth, he closed his eyes. He had anticipated the pure fury of tonight keeping him awake, but instead it was the fact that he could feel your breath on his neck, that if he turned his head back to you he could still make out your absolutely gorgeous feminine form from under the blankets. The dip in your waist and the curve of your hips, sloping into your soft thigh. Yoongi’s eyes shot open as he let out a soft hiss as he felt his member stiffen in his sweats, one large hand reaching down to palm himself, and he willed his hard-on to disappear.

He dropped his eyes again, confident he would get his bulge to go down without waking you, and as he tended to it, a soft small hand reached across his middle, making his forehead furrow. He tried to take a steadying breath, and tried to not imagine that the events of last night weren’t the reason he was in your bed. That you had just invited him to bed because you wanted him there, not for security but because you wanted him as a man to share your bed and body. That he could roll over to face you, slip his own hand up that oversized shirt and rub soft circles into your skin before slipping his hand down in-between your thighs.

Yoongi felt his cock twitch and himself harden further, forcing another deep breath in and out as he circled back to try and think of grotesque things to make his longing subside. You at least had stopped wriggling in the bed in an attempt to get closer; he was thankful for that. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and tried to calm his heart and regulate his breath to make it possible for him to drift off.

This was going to be a long night.

#bts suga #bts ff #bts x reader #mafia!bts #bts gang au #bts imagines #yoongi fanfic #yoongi x reader #suga x reader #btsxarmy #License to steal

74 notes · View notes

sofijaeger · 3 years

Note

Hiiii! First of all I love your writing VERY MUCH KWKJSZUSJ and keep making more hcs and fanfics! uwu 💕💕

And can i please please ask Eren reacting having a softie but a crackhead s/o KDJHXHZHSHS and tysmmm!! Have a great day or night <33 Hope you can read this sooner!

HI BABES!!

thank you so so much! i promise to continue because i love doing something that can make everyone happy 💗💗💗

also if you can tell i’ve barely experienced any of this since before quarantine, so i’m rusty when thinking of things lmao

EREN WITH A CRAZY S/O

a crackhead gif for my crackhead boi ☺️

✰ YOU GUYS WILL HAVE THE MOST FUN TOGETHER

✰ it’s very difficult for eren to find people who match his energy, so meeting someone that’s not only kind, but just as passionate as he is about everything?? Yea he won’t let you go

✰ when he first met you, he really enjoyed your politeness, and care for your upfront to people you weren’t all that comfortable with.

✰ so from any normal view, you were the sweetest little being he had ever met, and that’s exactly how eren knew and respected you as

✰ side note: jean, sasha and connie would definitely be your secret friend group. You can’t be crazy alone🤪

✰ they had probably told eren how amazing you were, but warned him of your craziness, and eren believed none of it

✰ but after you two became close, he started to notice a different side of you, and he LIVES FOR IT

✰ now i’m not saying you instantly become this alter ego to everyone. You both keep yourselves collected when in public, and this doesn’t stop you two from spending sweet time together snuggling, or doing other couplely things

✰ but now that you’re more comfortable around him, the real fun can show itself:)

✰ everything you do instantly becomes a party if you’re with him.

✰ Before anyone knows it a whole playlist is blasting and there you are jumping around like a maniac

✰ you definitely sing (more like yell) louder than him during car rides and he’s kinda jealous of it🤫

✰ and because of that he’ll probably open the window while you ✨perform✨ so that the wind hits your face and the entire neighborhood can hear your belting

✰ you guys have definitely gotten drunk together occasionally. Of course before the legal age and even on weekdays because it’s “fun”

✰ Couldn’t tell you how eren’s drivers license was accepted at a convenience store but by 3am you’re both wasted in his room most likely full of snacks and white claws

✰ and with a crazy s/o comes a high libido LEMME TELL YA

✰ when you’re new in the relationship (or sober), he’ll be perfectly fine with taking things slow and simple.

✰ but if you’re both in the mood he’s going all out 🥴

✰ don’t get this boy started on carnivals/amusement parks. If you tell him how much you love them he won’t let go of your hand until every ride is ridden and you’re practically puking on the way home

Have you’ve ever used Randonautica? Basically it’s an app that picks a random location in your local area for you and friends to go to, finding clues and surprises when you reach your destination. But sometimes the surprise is pretty frightening lmao. ppl have found bodies and shit-

✰ yeah you guys go randonauting just about every weekend

✰ and you always end up trudging through tall grass or mud to find some abandoned house or deserted creek with lots of mysterious things

✰ you almost always can’t find your way back to your starting point and it freaks you both out sm, but it’s hilarious when you see eren trying to hide any fears. He’s probably shaking💀

✰ you take walks together in the dead of night for fun i can feel it

✰ but of course that doesn’t stop from eren being protective of you

✰ he never lets his arm slip from holding you, or letting you use any of his clothes to keep you warm🥺

✰ do you raid his fridge? yes. Does he care? He’s probably doing it with you

✰ it’s like you’re high on sugar, or some other drug he somehow bought, but as long as you’re happy and free to be yourself, that’s all that matters to him

✰ he just enjoys spending every minute with you💗

#eren jaeger #eren jaeger hc’s #eren save me #anime #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #eren yeager #eren aot #snk eren #eren x you #hc’s #my love #eren x reader #eren x s/o #sfw #eren smut #eren sfw

206 notes · View notes

cherienymphe · 4 years

Text

Protect & Serve III (Steve Rogers x Reader)

WARNINGS: Cop!Steve, mentions of abuse, violence, STALKING, HARASSMENT, eventual KIDNAPPING/NON-CON

IF ANY OF THIS OFFENDS YOU, PLEASE DNI

➥ {page breaks done by @whimsicalrogers}

summary: escaping an ugly past, you have no choice but to return home. While much has remained the same, Officer Rogers is a new addition who has won over the hearts of the town in your absence. And no one believes you when you start to see him for who he really is

The man behind the counter welcomed you with a warm smile as you approached. Maybe he could sense your uneasiness as you hesitantly placed your hands on the counter, looking at him with a nervous smile.

“Hi,” you quietly greeted. “Um… I need a gun.”

The brunette chuckled, blue eyes filled with mirth as he eyed you.

“No kidding,” he replied, gesturing around to the rest of the gun and hunting and supplies store.

“Right,” you chuckled. “I just… I need something small and easy to handle.”

You bit your lip, and his face slowly grew solemn as he ran his eyes over you.

“You don’t look like a hunting kind of gal,” he quietly insinuated.

You shook your head.

“No.”

He nodded in understanding before inhaling as he straightened, turning to eye the wall behind him. He paced, eyes roaming over the assortment of guns, and you took the time to look around. Never in your life did you imagine yourself in a place like this, but you were tired of being a sitting duck in someone else’s twisted games. You’d been through that once already…

“Here…”

You turned, eyes falling to the small gun in his hand as he neared the counter again. It was small enough to throw into your purse or hide in your car, whenever you got a license, and it looked easy enough to operate. It was perfect.

“I want this one,” you told him.

“Figured you would. It’s a Ruger LC9. It’s a 9mm caliber semi-automatic. Super simple to operate and will still get the job done,” he murmured.

He showed you how to load it, turning the magazine over and going over its features. You nodded as you followed along and grabbed your wallet without hesitation. He eyed you again as he took your cash.

“You talk to the police?”

“For what?” you wondered.

“For whatever’s got a girl like you buying a gun on a Monday morning,” he explained.

You sighed.

“Yeah, I’ve talked to them, but since no crime has been committed, there isn’t much they can do. I refuse to just sit around and wait for someone to hurt me. I’m done with that,” you told him.

He nodded and stuck his hand out.

“The name’s Clint. If you have any questions or…need to come back here, you know how to find me.”

You shook his hand and threw him a grateful smile.

“Thanks.”

The weapon felt so heavy in your purse, and even though the safety was on, you were careful in placing the bag in your car. The ride home was spent stewing over your thoughts. There was too much that you had to consider, and instead of spending the rest of the summer making lesson plans for when school started back, you were worrying about some stranger stalking your house at night.

Here you were doing the cops’ job for them.

That thought drew your mind to Officer Rogers, and you clenched your jaw. There was a time when you gave people the benefit of the doubt, but after your marriage, you couldn’t afford to do that anymore. How glad you were to be wary of the blond cop from the beginning.

His behavior had officially crossed questionable and dove straight into terrifying. You feared to imagine what would have happened had you accepted his proposal for dinner. You didn’t understand his behavior…not one bit. Was he punishing you for turning him down? Surely, that couldn’t be it. It seemed so…silly. Childish even.

Wanda had stated that just about every woman in town had been trying to lock down the man since he moved here. You could believe it. You’d have to be hard of seeing to deny how attractive he was, and coupled with his profession, you could definitely see why he was popular with the women in town. He was a seemingly kind man with the face of an angel, sworn to protect those in need. He was like something out of a cheesy romance novel.

You knew better though.

You’d been on the receiving end of his gaslighting tactics, his nicely veiled threats, and his wandering hands. The real kicker about his behavior though, was that he hadn’t done anything concrete enough to go to anyone with. None of what he did was objectively outright enough to report him with. Wanda had already asked you if you’d misunderstood his quip about your past abuse. You could just imagine anyone else’s face when you told them of how he brushed your waist and held your hand. ‘Oh, the horror!’ they’d say.

You hid your gun in your nightstand as soon as you got inside of your house. You hoped that you wouldn’t have to use it. You’d never been the type to resort to violence, but your ex-husband had changed all of that. If the cops wouldn’t do their job and protect you, without an incentive, then you’d do it yourself.

Hours later, you did just that.

You were half asleep anyway, having been going in and out of consciousness all night. The noise had come from the front of your yard this time, and you peeled your eyes open, slowly blinking as you heard it again. You had swiftly flicked the switch on your lamp and slipped your hand into your drawer to grab the weapon you’d bought.

You licked your lips, slowly sitting up. You looked down, making sure that the safety was off just before exiting your room. It was quiet outside as you quietly crept downstairs. You felt silly, standing in your living room in your oversized t-shirt, both hands on this toy-sized gun. You glanced at all of the windows, and when you didn’t see anything, you crept into the kitchen.

The silence made you nervous because you knew he was still out there. You turned towards the window and didn’t see anyone through the curtain. You weren’t convinced though, and you remained still. Sure enough, a bulky silhouette came into view as they glided past the kitchen. With wide eyes, you raised your arms, the gunshot making your ears ring as glass shattered.

You watched as he clutched his arm before taking off, a deep grunt traveling through the broken window. Hurriedly, you ran after him, throwing the door open before sprinting outside. Your yard was empty, and you had your gun raised before you as you paced the yard, spinning around. It was quiet…empty of anyone else it seemed.

They were gone, but fortunately, you knew that you’d hit them. You were just about to lower your weapon when you had a thought. With wide eyes, you ran back into the house. You were quick in grabbing your phone from upstairs before sprinting back outside. You turned the flashlight on as you neared the grass just below your window.

There, before you, were a few spots of blood, and hope bloomed in your chest. You let out a chuckle, feeling confident for the first time in a while. You put the safety back on the gun and laid it on the kitchen counter as soon as you were back inside. You grabbed a paper towel, stepping back out into the cool night air. You were wiping up the blood with the napkin when red and blue flashes suddenly filled your vision.

You stood and turned, watching as a police cruiser parked along your curb. The cop who stepped out was familiar to you, but it wasn’t the last person you wanted to see. Bucky strode across your yard to approach you, a less than enthusiastic look on his face.

“We got a call about gunshots. They listed your residence as the source,” he said as soon as he was close enough.

Your lips parted, and you glanced away. The blue-eyed man sighed at that.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he admonished.

“What other choice did I have? None of you can do anything until I get hurt, and why would I wait around for that? The state doesn’t require a license to keep one on my property. It was self-defense,” you defended.

He frowned at that, running his eyes over you, alarmed.

“What was self-defense?” he slowly questioned.

You shoved the napkin at him, and his eyes widened.

“I shot him…Officer Barnes. I know I did! I got him in the arm, and now you have his blood, his DNA! You can test it, see if there’s a match in the system-.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” he said, attempting to calm you down.

You hadn’t realized that you were talking so fast, and you apologized.

“Here,” you said, turning to walk into your house.

He followed you, watching as you put the bloody napkin into a Ziplock bag before handing it to him. He gingerly took it, eyeing it before heaving a sigh.

“Well…the evidence is pretty damning. We’ll test it as soon as possible,” he eventually said.

Sighing in relief, you nodded. You watched as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied you. There was a twinkle in his blue eyes, and it struck you how much like Steve’s they were.

“Ms. Y/L/N…is there anyone who’d want to hurt you? Anyone at all?”

You opened your mouth to reply in the negative when you suddenly froze. Familiar blond hair and blue eyes came to mind, and you blinked, a realization falling over you.

“Killian,” you murmured as if just remembering him.

“Sorry?”

You shook your head, eyes meeting Bucky’s again.

“M-my ex-husband. He’s the only one I can think of…”

“I assume it ended badly?”

“That’s an understatement,” you scoffed. “He was advised by his lawyers to go through with the divorce when I filed. It wasn’t his choice, at all, but it was in his best interest.”

The other man simply stared at you.

“He wasn’t…a good man. Not at all. I wish I could say all of it was verbal and psychological, but I had no choice but to come clean when I landed in the hospital. It wasn’t looking good for him and refusing to go through with the divorce would make him look worse,” you explained.

Bucky sharply inhaled, nodding.

“I see…”

“I…can’t believe that I’d never considered him before. He has money, but I’d never thought he’d find me so quickly,” you murmured.

Bucky made his way to the door, and you followed.

“I’ll get this down to the station. You be careful with that gun,” he advised, and you nodded. “Have a good night.”

And for the first time in weeks, you did.

“You look well rested,” Wanda complimented, bringing your plate to you.

You returned her smile with a genuine one of your own.

“I feel well rested. Hopeful, actually,” you replied.

“That’s good! So I take it things are a lot better at your place, now?”

“They will be,” you cheerily said, digging into your food.

“I’m glad to hear it, and what great timing too. It seems like Steve might be out of commission for a few days,” she told you. “So, it won’t be him responding to any 911 calls.”

You blinked up at her. You couldn’t care less about the blond cop in any way, and the information actually filled you with relief, but your curiosity got the better of you.

“Why?”

“He was shot,” was her simple response.

However, it made you feel anything but simple. You almost dropped your fork as you eyed her, brows furrowing as your heart dropped to your stomach.

“…what?”

“Yeah, in the arm…”

It felt like someone took a knife to your chest.

“…the word is that he was involved in a hunting accident.”

You forced yourself to swallow, mind whirling.

“When?”

She hummed, thinking.

“The day before yesterday, I believe,” she answered.

You wanted to be relieved at that, that it wasn’t last night, but…it all seemed too coincidental. No…there was no way. The thought alone made you want to be sick.

“How…awful,” you whispered.

“I know,” she pouted. “I’m baking him a cake tonight. Figured I’d head up to his house to deliver it to him.”

You pressed your lips together, trying, and failing, to talk yourself out of what you were about to do. You knew that you were paranoid, you’d never deny that, but you owed it to yourself. If only to quell your fears. You had to see…

“Uh…when are you heading over?”

“Probably in the morning,” she said just before welcoming some customers in.

“Can I come with? I’d like to check in on him too…”

She looked at you with a sly smile, and you grimaced.

“Growing on you, is he?”

“Hardly,” you scoffed. “It’s just… He’s always entertaining my concerns, responding to every call I’ve made. I feel like the least I can do is check on him, you know?”

She nodded, buying your lie.

“That’s really sweet of you. I’ll swing by your house around 8,” she said. “He lives pretty far out, so it’ll take about 45 minutes to get there.”

You nodded, and she left to go deal with some customers.

You swallowed, appetite lost, and you pushed your plate away. Your paranoia was really getting the best of you because a part of you actually believed that the person you shot last night was Officer Rogers. It was the most outlandish thing to think. The man was an officer of the law, and even though he proved that he didn’t deserve that title, there was a pretty big gap in between some creepy touches and a full-blown stalker.

You knew how it would sound if you voiced your fears to Wanda. People hunted around here all the time, hunting cabins forever common. It was perfectly believable, but…it seemed too coincidental. Besides, you figured there was no harm in seeing for yourself just to put your fears to rest. However, a small voice in your head wondered what you would do if you didn’t put them to rest at all, but only increased them?

What if you only confirmed your suspicions?

This plagued you all throughout the night and well into the morning when Wanda pulled into your yard. You locked up your house and hurried to her car, goosebumps rising on your flesh from the cool early morning air.

“So how far does he live?” you asked as soon as you were in the car.

“Do you remember where Dr. Banner lived before he left town?”

You nodded.

“Past that,” she replied, and you blinked.

“Why so far out?” you wondered.

“Steve likes his privacy. Plus, he’s really a nature kind of guy. Homebody too. I know our town is no New York, but even it gets a bit too much for him sometimes,” she explained.

“Being secluded in a big house with Steve Rogers, out in the woods, sounds like something most women would be interested in. He definitely strikes me as the type to want kids and the whole nine, so why hasn’t he ever taken any offers? You said it yourself that he’s had plenty…”

You were beginning to realize that you didn’t know much about this man, at all. It seemed strange that someone like him hadn’t dated anyone in 6 years. You already knew that there was definitely something wrong with him, but could there be more? Like making you feel unsafe in your own home more?

“I don’t know,” she hummed. “He did have a short thing with Peggy when he first got here-.”

“Peggy? I could see that,” you said to yourself, wondering what had happened.

Wanda answered your unspoken question.

“Yeah, it didn’t last very long though,” she sighed. “She left as soon as it ended. I never did find out what happened exactly, but she was just gone one day. House emptied of everything, and her car was gone. I guess it ended pretty badly. Steve never talks about it.”

You frowned at that. You’d known Peggy growing up, and that didn’t seem like her. Unlike you, she was never the type to just take off. But so many years had passed. Steve came to town about 4 years after you left, and a lot could happen in 4 years. People could change, and you supposed that’s what had happened.

The rest of the car ride was filled with idle talk about things that had happened in the years. Wanda told you about her boyfriend, Vis. He’d move here about two years ago, and he apparently made her very happy. She’d been lonely ever since her brother Pietro had moved away not long after you did, and Vis apparently made her smile more.

Eventually the topic somehow came back to Steve...and Bucky and Sam.

“His name is James, but everyone calls him Bucky. Him and Sam were roommates in college and just remained that way ever since. They both moved down here about…4 years ago? They’re all like 3 peas in a pod, like brothers…”

Sam was Officer Wilson. You’d seen him in passing a few times, usually with Bucky. He seemed nice enough.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one, or both, of them was up here already,” she said, taking a left into the trees.

The driveway was paved and long, curving every which way before it eventually straightened out. You realized that the car was going up an incline, and thick trees surrounded you on both sides. When Wanda said that he liked his privacy, she wasn’t exaggerating. The seclusion of it all could be considered peaceful if you ignored who lived here.

She pulled up in front of a nice two-story house, the light blue paint standing out amongst the dark trees. You had the small cake in one hand while you closed the car door with the other. You admired the scenery as you followed her. It was beautiful, there was no denying that, but the battered woman in you couldn’t help but to think how easy it would be to get away with anything. If you screamed, nobody would hear you.

You followed her around the side of the house towards the back deck, and with a start, you realized that the hill that the house sat on led down to a rather large lake. Fog hovered over the water in the early morning, and your lips parted at the sight, eyes running over the thick trees on the other side.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” you murmured.

“He had it built before he officially moved down here. I don’t blame him for spending all of his free time at home. Who’d want to leave this?”

She knocked on the backdoor, and your nerves spiked as you realized that you would soon be coming face to face with the erasure of your fears…or something that would only worsen them. It took a few minutes before you heard him approaching the door. A greeting was already on his lips when he opened it, but it died when his eyes landed on you.

“Wanda…and Ms. Y/L/N. Come on in,” he greeted, stepping back.

“Hey, Steve. I wanted to bring that cake by before I had to go to work,” she said with a smile.

You followed her inside and shuddered when your shoulder grazed Steve’s chest.

“Y/N wanted to check on you too, make sure you’re alright,” Wanda added.

You looked at him with a small smile, noticing the long-sleeved shirt he had on.

“It’s the least I can do after responding to all of my calls,” you told him.

He returned the smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I appreciate that,” he whispered. “You can just put it on the counter.”

He gestured to the kitchen, with his right arm you noted, and you followed his instruction. You could hear him and Wanda talking in the living room while you slid the plate on the granite countertop. You glanced around, noting how homey it looked. You weren’t sure why that surprised you.

“Rough night?” you heard Wanda ask him as soon as you reentered the living room

Your eyes followed as she gestured to the several empty beer cans on the tv stand. Steve chuckled, placing his right hand on his hip, the left hanging limply at his side.

“Hardly. Sam and Buck came by last night. We just got into a few beers, watching some game that was on,” he replied.

You licked your lips.

“How’s your arm? Wanda told me it was a hunting accident…”

His gaze met yours, and the corner of his lip quirked up into a small smirk. He gestured to his arm, his left one, and relief filled you as he spoke.

“Yeah, Sam and I got a little careless out there. It’s just a graze, but nothing to worry your pretty little head about,” he responded.

Wanda chuckled at that while you fought not to sneer. You were just thankful that you’d put your fears to bed. The man you’d shot last night, you’d gotten him in his right arm. Steve was injured in his left, and you allowed yourself to breathe now.

“Can I use your bathroom?” you suddenly asked him.

“Yeah, sure! Just down the hall there,” he told you, gesturing behind him.

You thanked him and walked past him, Wanda’s voice reaching your ears as she asked him something. You went for the first door on your right, hand on the handle, when you were startled by a presence.

You looked up as Steve placed his hand on the small of your back, eyes widening as he pushed you along. His fingers pressed into your waist, and you shrunk in on yourself, a frown covering your features at his close proximity.

“Not that one,” he quietly told you. “That’s the basement.”

Your eyes met his now, and you quickly looked away at the intensity there.

“This one’s the bathroom,” he continued, opening a door, and flicking on the light for you.

You murmured a quiet ‘thanks’, flinching when he squeezed your hip one last time before returning to the living room. Your jaw clenched. He may not have been a stalker, but he was still a creep.

“I... I don’t understand. How long does it take to test some blood?”

The policewoman before you pursed her lips, arms resting on her desk.

“It can take up to a few days-.”

“Which it has been.”

“Yes, but the sample has to be sent to a lab, and we have to wait for the results,” she explained. “I understand your concern…”

“Do you?” you mumbled.

She chuckled, green eyes sparkling with mirth.

“I do. Why do you think I have the job I have anyway? I like being able to protect myself and other people,” she told you. “There was a time when I wasn’t able to…”

You sighed, glancing around the busy station. It was empty of a certain blond cop, and you were happy.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. You’re also a woman, so there’s no doubt that you definitely understand what I’m feeling. I just…I have to know who this person is. I don’t feel safe in my own house.”

“I know,” she replied. “Steve talks about you a lot.”

Your heart skipped a beat at that, face falling.

“…he does?”

She hummed.

“He wishes that he could do more,” she said. “He worries about you. Of course, with this blood sample, I imagine he’ll be doing a lot more worrying. This is proof that someone is out there every night, messing with you.”

“Do you think this will be enough to convince your boss to let someone stakeout my house?”

She mulled it over, humming.

“You know what? It might be. I’ll definitely bring it up,” she replied, and hope bloomed within you.

You fidgeted in your seat, worrying your lip, and she frowned.

“Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?” she asked.

Her tone of voice told you that she knew you did, so you figured it was best to just come right out and say it.

“If you are able to get someone to watch my house at night…can it not be Officer Rogers?”

Her frown deepened, and she ran her eyes over you. She leaned in, a red strand grazing the side of her face as she studied.

“Now why would you request that?”

You didn’t feel like you had a valid reason to give her, not one that she’d believe anyway. Steve was a town favorite, so you had to come up with something that would make her listen to you.

“You and Officer Rogers are friends, right? You care about him?”

“Of course,” she said, urging you to continue.

“I know that he worries about me, and that’s why I think someone else should be assigned to this. If it gets approved, of course. I just worry that lines may start to blur…”

She straightened up at that.

“How do you mean?”

You let out a soft sigh.

“He did ask me to dinner a while back, and seeing as I only recently got divorced, I refused. I’m just not ready, and I know that he understands and has no problem waiting, but…”

You chuckled.

“He’s just so sweet. I still feel so bad about it, and I don’t want to make this any harder on him. Until I’m ready, I don’t want to give him the wrong idea. I think it’d be best for everyone if an objective pair of eyes were on this. Especially for his sake…”

She hummed, nodding in understanding.

“No, Ms. Y/L/N, that’s perfectly reasonable. I’m glad to hear that Steve is finally trying to get back into the dating pool though,” she said, standing, and you followed her lead. “It took him long enough.”

You simply threw her a smile.

“Well, thank you for listening to me, and please, call me as soon as those lab results come back.”

“I will,” she promised.

Your shoulders felt lighter as you stepped out of the police station. Soon, you could find out who was tormenting you and they’d be locked up. In addition, you wouldn’t have to deal with Steve for a while…or ever again. You could finally breathe again. Soon you’d have nothing at all to deal with aside from lesson plans, and bratty kids were nothing in comparison to this.

As you neared your yard, you realized, with disappointment, that you would be eating your words. A sleek black car was parked on the curb, and it took a minute for you to realize that it belonged to Steve. You’d just seen him a few days ago, so you were unsure why he was paying you a visit. Apprehension filled you as you parked.

He was already out of his car and slowly making his way towards you when you stepped out of your own. You sent him a tense smile, standing beside your driver’s door as you eyed him.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he greeted.

“Officer Rogers.”

“I came by to thank you for the cake,” he told you.

“Oh,” you said with a frown, shaking your head. “There’s no need. Wanda made it. I just carried it in the house.”

You brushed past him, nearing your house, and you could hear him following.

“Still. It was very thoughtful of you to come by and check on me. Especially considering the night you had before…”

You paused and turned to look at him, brows furrowed. He had one foot on your steps while you stood on the porch, neat blond hair pushed away from his face.

“…sorry?”

“Bucky. He told me about what happened,” he explained.

“Ah,” you softly said.

You shouldn’t have been surprised. Wanda did say they were like brothers, after all.

“I confess that’s partially why I’m here. I wanted to see how you were fairing. That must have been terrifying for you,” he admitted, blue eyes inquiring as they drank you in.

You glanced down.

“Yeah…it was, but…I didn’t have much of a choice,” you said, looking at him. “I know you all are just doing your job, and I suppose I can’t blame you for that, but… I couldn’t just sit around and wait for someone to hurt me.”

He hummed, eyeing you.

“So do you know who it is?”

You shook your head.

“No, but I did get some of his blood. I talked to Officer Romanoff today, and she said that the lab results should be in any day, now,” you repeated what she had told you.

He nodded, making his way onto your porch now, and you stumbled back.

“Look, if you need-.”

“Officer Rogers,” you boldly interrupted, giving him pause.

His blue eyes were focused entirely on you as you swallowed, determined to put an end to this.

“Um… I have something to say…”

He straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared you down, waiting for you to continue. Your tongue darted out to swipe over your bottom lip, and you took a deep breath.

“I’ve always tried to give people the benefit of the doubt. Always, but…since my ex-husband, I don’t think I can really afford to do that anymore. For my own sake…”

Steve’s eyes had darkened, and you fought to hold his gaze.

“Your behavior makes me uncomfortable…and I want to say that perhaps you aren’t aware of it, but I don’t believe that. I think you know how you make me feel.”

You watched as he looked down his nose at you, jaw clenching and eyes hard, and you forced yourself to continue.

“If I offended you…or hurt you when I turned you down, that wasn’t my intention. Believe me, that was the farthest thing from my mind, and I don’t appreciate you acting so inappropriately towards me for it.”

His chest heaved with his deep breath, and you watched the way his cheek poked out, probably from his tongue. Satisfied with yourself, you took a step back.

“That’s all I had to say,” you finished, turning to go inside.

“Ms. Y/L/N, wait,” he finally spoke, reaching for your arm.

“Officer Rogers, please! I-.”

Your words were cut off by his loud grunt, pain lacing his tone. You had reached out to push him away, not liking the way he’d grabbed you. You frowned, chest clenching, feeling like someone had dropped a bucket of ice water over you as you watched him clutch his arm…his right arm.

He had reached for your right arm with his right hand, and in retaliation, you’d turned and pushed your left hand against…his right arm. Realization hit you, and your eyes widened as you looked at him with different eyes. Eyes filled with a fear unlike any other you’d ever experienced.

You stumbled back, heart dropping into your stomach as his gaze finally met yours. He opened his mouth to speak, but you were already rushing inside, locking the door behind you just as his fist banged against it.

“No,” you whispered to yourself, shaking your head.

He didn’t knock again, and you moved to the side, watching his silhouette through the curtains. It was getting late, the setting sun casting shadows everywhere, and feeling like you were going to be sick, you noted that the shape looked awfully familiar. He just stood there for a painful amount of time before eventually taking a step back and leaving altogether.

You placed your hand on your couch, struggling to stand. It was no use. You collapsed to the floor on your knees, taking your table and lamp with you, the fragile décor shattering upon impact with the floor. You pressed your hand to your forehead, entire body trembling as you realized what your subconscious had always suspected.

Officer Steve Rogers was the one tormenting you every night.

tags: @xoxabs88xox @darkficreposter @mcudarklibrary @captainchrisstan @nickyl316h @buckybarnesplumwhore @harryspet @readermia @sebabestianstan101 @villanellevi @opheliadawnwalker3 @notyourtypicalrose

@coconutqueen21 @briannab1234 @stargazingfangirl18 @lou-la-lou @izzfizzh @thatgirly81

#dark fic #dark steve rogers #dark!steve rogers #dark!steve x reader #cop!au #cop!steve #cop au #Steve Rogers #steve rogers x reader #marvel #marvel fanfiction

687 notes · View notes

bloody-bee-tea · 3 years

Text

JC Love Month 2020 Day 6

Best Friend and Hope

Day 6 of JC Love Month brings some fake marriage for Mingcheng because otherwise JC might just lose JL. There also comes a confession of feelings with that fake marriage ;)

Jiang Cheng is frozen. He knows he should move, knows he should stop Nie Mingjue from signing the document, but he can’t bring himself to do it.

Jiang Cheng knows that this is the worst thing he has ever done in his life—mostly because it’s going to affect Nie Mingjue’s life as well—but then Jin Ling gurgles into his shoulder and Jiang Cheng tears his eyes away from Nie Mingjue.

They have to do this. They have to do this, or Jiang Cheng is going to lose Jin Ling and he cannot bear for that to happen.

This is the only chance Jiang Cheng has.

“That’s it then?” Jin Guangyao suddenly asks and Jiang Cheng guesses Nie Mingjue is done signing the marriage license.

“Yes,” the officiant says, though he sounds as unhappy about it as Jiang Cheng feels. “Usually the couples kiss, though,” he then adds and Jiang Cheng goes cold.

Theirs is not a wedding out of love or even affection and Jiang Cheng really wishes that Nie Mingjue didn’t have to do all kinds of shit just so that Jiang Cheng gets to keep Jin Ling.

But Jin Guangyao is looking very expectantly at them as is Lan Xichen, though his look holds less of a challenge, and Jiang Cheng knows that they can’t talk their way around this.

“Of course,” Nie Mingjue says and then he turns towards Jiang Cheng, his face softer and more indulging than Jiang Cheng ever deserves, he’s sure of that.

“Come here,” Nie Mingjue mutters, before he tugs Jiang Cheng close. He frames his face with his hands—Jiang Cheng tries very hard not to think about how big they are and how perfectly they feel, cupping his cheeks like that—and then he pulls him close for a kiss.

Nie Mingjue is very mindful of Jin Ling, who is still blissfully sleeping through the whole event on Jiang Cheng’s arm, and then every thought flees Jiang Cheng’s mind, because Nie Mingjue brings their lips together.

It’s soft and almost fleeting, but it’s sweet enough that it brings tears to Jiang Cheng’s eyes.

This is everything he ever wanted and he got it all for the most horrible wrong reasons now and as soon as they are done Jiang Cheng turns away from Nie Mingjue.

“Oh,” Lan Xichen mutters and when Jiang Cheng looks at him—everything is safer than looking at Nie Mingjue right now—he sees a thoughtful look on his face. “I see,” Lan Xichen softly says and then tugs on Jin Guangyao’s sleeve. “Let’s go, A-Yao,” he says and while Jin Guangyao looks like he wants to rip Jin Ling right out of Jiang Cheng’s arms, he turns around and follows Lan Xichen out of the room.

“Well, that’s that then,” Nie Huaisang says, with much more cheer than this whole situation warrants in Jiang Cheng’s eyes, and he ushers them out of the room as well.

Jiang Cheng was very adamant that there would be no celebration—this is nothing to celebrate, in his eyes, and he is still in mourning after all—so he’s not sure what’s expecting them right now.

“Let’s go home,” Nie Mingjue says, one hand protectively at the small of Jiang Cheng’s back, and Jiang Cheng has to bite back some tears yet again.

He knows Nie Mingjue only agreed to this because Nie Huaisang is Jiang Cheng’s best friend, and Nie Mingjue never learned to say no to his little brother—even in life changing things. Jiang Cheng doesn’t know if he should be thankful for it or if he should hate it.

“I’ll leave you alone, so you can put him to sleep properly,” Nie Huaisang says, carefully stroking a finger down Jin Ling’s soft baby cheek and Jiang Cheng fights the instinct to snatch Jin Ling away from him.

Nie Huaisang is not going to take him from Jiang Cheng, he reminds himself. Nie Huaisang is the only reason Jiang Cheng gets to keep Jin Ling, after all.

Well, one of the reasons, because it’s only thanks to Nie Mingjue agreeing to his horrible plan that Jin Guangyao doesn’t get to be Jin Ling’s guardian.

“Thank you, Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue says when it becomes clear that Jiang Cheng is not going to find his voice any time soon and then Nie Huaisang is gone.

The ride home is a blur to Jiang Cheng, his mind going through all the consequences this decision will have for Nie Mingjue, and Jiang Cheng is very close to a panic attack by the time they reach their newly bought house.

Jiang Cheng didn’t want to live in the family home—it felt wrong, as the only remaining Jiang—so they sold it soon after the accident, and Nie Mingjue thought it would be better if they don’t subject Nie Huaisang to a wailing infant, so they bought a new house for them.

Jiang Cheng is sure he would like it, normally, but the circumstances make him hate it more than he can put into words.

Jin Ling makes an unhappy sound when Nie Mingjue stops the car, and before Jiang Cheng can react to that, Nie Mingjue is already there, taking Jin Ling out of his carrier.

Jiang Cheng is too tired and still too full of grief to appreciate the sight of him carrying a small baby, but they are married now.

Jiang Cheng is sure he’ll get to see it again when he’s in a better headspace and then it’s bound to be as devastating a blow to Jiang Cheng’s feelings as it’s supposed to be.

“It’s okay, I can do it,” Jiang Cheng mutters, already reaching out to take Jin Ling from him, but Nie Mingjue pushes him towards the house with one hand, the other securely holding Jin Ling.

“It’s alright,” Nie Mingjue reassures him. “Let me do it for now.”

Jiang Cheng can’t find it in him to protest, but he vows to himself that it won’t be a regular occurrence.

Nie Mingjue is already doing him a huge favour by marrying him; Jiang Cheng really shouldn’t unload even more duties on him than that.

“For now,” Jiang Cheng says and leads the way to Jin Ling’s room.

Nie Mingjue was the one who picked out most of the furniture in the house, since Jiang Cheng was too shocked by everything that happened to participate much. He likes what Nie Mingjue picked, but even if he didn’t, Jiang Cheng knows he would never tell Nie Mingjue.

It’s his house, too. He should get to make some decisions, when he already couldn’t really choose who would live in it with him, or who he would marry.

Jiang Cheng can’t bear to watch Nie Mingjue put Jin Ling down, so he finally takes him out of his arms and then puts him into the crib himself, and Nie Mingjue lets him without commenting.

Jin Ling stays fast asleep, and the moment Jiang Cheng moves away from the crib he breaks down again.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobs out and immediately Nie Mingjue is there.

He pulls him into a hug, and simply lets him cry, like he did so many times in the past. Jiang Cheng has not been the most stable person lately.

“What are you sorry for?” Nie Mingjue asks when Jiang Cheng calmed down at least a little bit and Jiang Cheng is glad that his face is still hidden in Nie Mingjue’s chest.

“You can never divorce me,” Jiang Cheng says, because ever since Nie Mingjue put his signature on that damn slip of paper, he’s been thinking about it. “You can’t. If you do, they are going to take Jin Ling from me. You have to wait until he’s at least fifteen and gets a say in the whole matter or until Jin Guangyao dies.”

The last part startles a chuckle out of Nie Mingjue and he agrees easily. Too easily, considering the fact that Jiang Cheng is ruining his life.

“Alright. No divorce, then.”

Jiang Cheng’s mouth twists with how bitter he’s feeling, but there is nothing he can do to change it now.

If Jin Guangyao even suspects that they are not the happily married couple they pretend to be then he’s going to rain hell on Jiang Cheng and Jiang Cheng is not strong enough to stop him and his army of lawyers.

If Nie Mingjue leaves him, then there’s nothing preventing Jin Guangyao from taking Jin Ling from him.

It was already a hard enough fight to get the court to agree to this; a stable family home with two married parents was the condition for Jiang Cheng to get custody of Jin Ling since he was admittedly a mess after he lost his entire family in less than a year.

He had barely started to cope with the death of his parents when Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan died in a more than suspicious car crash and Wei Wuxian disappeared that same night.

To say that it left Jiang Cheng reeling is the understatement of the year and the only reason he even somewhat pulled through is the fact that he had to care for Jin Ling and that Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang were there for him through it all.

And now they are forced to be there for him for the foreseeable future, if they want to or not. Jiang Cheng barely knows what to do with himself around Nie Mingjue, his crush on the other man nearly debilitating in its intensity, and every time Jiang Cheng reminds himself that Nie Mingjue only agreed to marry him to keep him from shattering completely it feels like he’s being sliced wide open.

But they are going to play a married couple now and they are going to do it well enough for Jin Guangyao to believe it because otherwise Jiang Cheng might just join his family if he loses Jin Ling as well.

“It will be fine,” Nie Mingjue says, and Jiang Cheng only somewhat belatedly realizes that he’s still pressed to Nie Mingjue’s chest.

He moves away, a telling flush rising on his cheeks, but Jiang Cheng scrubs a hand over his face and hopes Nie Mingjue will think it’s because of the tears.

He wants to keep his last shred of dignity, at least.

“I hope so,” Jiang Cheng whispers, his voice rough, and he turns back to the crib, where Jin Ling continues to slumber on.

Jiang Cheng only hopes he can protect his nephew.

~*~*~

Living with Nie Mingjue is a form of hell, specifically tailored to slowly drive Jiang Cheng insane.

Nie Mingjue is perfect.

He loves Jin Ling and dotes on him, but he’s also the only one in this house with any knowledge of child-rearing, so he takes the lead in a lot of things.

Jiang Cheng is eagerly soaking up every morsel of knowledge Nie Mingjue gives him and Jiang Cheng thinks he’s not half bad at caring for Jin Ling as well, even though he sometimes does burst into tears as well when Jin Ling is inconsolable.

Nie Mingjue never once held it against him and always very calmly consoles first Jin Ling and then Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng thinks it’s entirely unfair that he’s the only mess in this fake marriage but on the other hand he’s glad about it. If they were both messes no amount of fake marrying another could have prevented Jin Guangyao from taking Jin Ling away from Jiang Cheng.

But Jiang Cheng is very weak and very much in love and his heart can absolutely not take even one more single sweet gesture.

Jiang Cheng has to tell Nie Mingjue that he’s in love with him simply so he stops doing things Jiang Cheng is entirely unprepared to cope with and then he has to pray to all the gods Jiang Cheng knows that Nie Mingjue will still stay.

They don’t even have to share a room anymore; Jiang Cheng isn’t sure why they are doing it in the first place, but he was in no place to protest the first time it happened and then it simply kept happening, and Jiang Cheng thought the moment to bring this up had long passed.

But he keeps waking up with Nie Mingjue next to him, always curled towards him and on the very bad days he wakes up cuddled up to Nie Mingjue which is all kinds of bad.

It can’t go on.

“Wanyin, if you’re worried about something, put Jin Ling down, you can’t keep squishing him like that, he’s not a cat,” Nie Mingjue gently chastises him when he finds Jiang Cheng pacing in the baby room, Jin Ling in his arms and Jiang Cheng immediately gentles his hold.

“Am I hurting him?” he asks, frantically checking Jin Ling over, but he thinks that if Jin Ling was truly hurt or uncomfortable, he would be screaming his head off by now.

“No, but you can’t keep using your nephew as a prop,” Nie Mingjue says with a small smile and then simply takes Jin Ling from Jiang Cheng.

Who is left standing in the middle of the baby room, the love of his life cradling his infant nephew to his chest and Jiang Cheng has never felt more love than in that moment.

And it’s a problem.

“Please don’t divorce me when I’m done,” Jiang Cheng blurts out and effectively catches Nie Mingjue’s attention.

“I thought we already established that I wouldn’t?” he gives back and Jiang Cheng worries the hem of his shirt instead of answering him immediately. “Wanyin, what’s wrong?” Nie Mingjue asks, clearly picking up on the fact that this is not one of Jiang Cheng’s usual meltdowns.

“I know you did this as a favour to Huaisang,” Jiang Cheng starts and very deliberately doesn’t let his mind stray to the first and only time Nie Mingjue has kissed him, because that is so the wrong thing to think about at the moment.

“And I know we said this was for appearances only, so that I could keep Jin Ling,” Jiang Cheng goes on and he’s ashamed when he realizes that he’s shaking.

He has always been so weak.

“But?” Nie Mingjue prompts him when he doesn’t go on and Jiang Cheng takes one last deep breath.

“But I’m in love with you. I have been for a really long time, and I can’t do this anymore. I—you’re so attentive and sweet, and so good with Jin Ling and you allow me all kinds of liberties like sleeping next to you or holding me during a movie, but it’s not right. I shouldn’t be the one you give all of that to.”

Jiang Cheng is breathing hard, but he’s not yet done, even though he can’t meet Nie Mingjue’s eyes, not before he got it all out there.

“You can’t divorce me and we cannot take the chance of you taking a lover and Jin Guangyao finding out, so that really leaves you settled with me, and I am so sorry for it. I know you probably imagined your life differently than helping out your brother’s friend and losing all chances of a happy future for yourself, and I can never thank you enough for it, but it’s not fair to you at all, especially not because I never said a thing.”

“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says and his voice holds enough authority that Jiang Cheng’s eyes automatically snap up to him. “When I imagined marrying you, I always thought it would be because we’re in love,” Nie Mingjue tells him, and Jiang Cheng’s heart starts to race at those words.

The hope that blooms in his chest is a very dangerous thing, Jiang Cheng knows it, but he’s not strong enough to smother it completely.

“I thought you weren’t in love with me when you asked; you were desperate and grieving and it seemed like the only idea to you at the time. But I never agreed because you’re my brother’s friend. I agreed, because you’re Jiang Wanyin and I’m in love with you. I thought like this I would at least get to take care of you.”

“Oh,” Jiang Cheng whispers, blinking rapidly because Nie Mingjue’s words simply don’t compute.

“I love you,” Nie Mingjue says, softer this time, and Jiang Cheng sways forward.

It’s not a problem at all, because Nie Mingjue welcomes him readily, one arm already extended to him and Jiang Cheng melds against his body like he was made to fit there.

And suddenly a thought crosses his mind.

“Is that why Jin Guangyao hasn’t been pressing so hard anymore? Because Lan Xichen realized what you really felt when you kissed me that day?” he asks, because he remembers the little sound Lan Xichen had made and how he had tugged Jin Guangyao away.

“Yes,” Nie Mingjue says and presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s head.

“Why didn’t I realize?” Jiang Cheng mutters as he slings his arms around Nie Mingjue and he can feel Nie Mingjue chuckle.

“Because you were a little preoccupied with your kid and the loss of your family,” Nie Mingjue gives back.

“Our kid,” Jiang Cheng corrects him immediately and then prays for forgiveness from his sister.

“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue whispers and Jiang Cheng reluctantly lifts his head to look at him.

It was a very comfortable spot to be in.

“All this time?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng nods.

“All this time,” he agrees. “Every time I woke up with you still in bed I thought I was dying. Every time you are just so amazing with Jin Ling I want to die on the spot because it’s the perfect picture. Every time you are more than good to me my heart hurts because I thought that was just how you are. But it’s not, is it?”

“No, that’s just for you,” Nie Mingjue nods and then he sighs. “I was trying to give you space,” he then admits. “I would have cuddled you more if I had known it was okay.”

“And kisses?” Jiang Cheng dares to ask, because by now he trusts this.

If Nie Mingjue says he loves him, then he does.

“All the kisses,” Nie Mingjue gives back and immediately leans down to kiss Jiang Cheng.

It’s just as soft as their first kiss, but it’s a lot sweeter, simply because Jiang Cheng knows that it’s mutual this time.

That Nie Mingjue really wants this, him. It’s a very good feeling.

“So, no divorce?” Jiang Cheng asks when they part again and he melts on the spot when he sees Nie Mingjue’s dimples as he smiles.

“Never,” he promises and Jiang Cheng believes him.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

#bt writes #jclovemonth2020 #the untamed #mdzs #mingcheng #modern au #fake marriage #hurt/comfort #mourning #love confession #first kiss #getting together

236 notes · View notes

holylulusworld · 4 years

Text

The Boy Next Door

Summary: Dean is the boy next door and the one that got away.

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Characters: Sam Winchester, Lisa Braeden, Cassie Robinson, unnamed mother

Warnings: angst, shy reader, bullying, sadness, mentions of death of loved ones

A/N: This is my entry for @cockslut-padalecki‘s BACK TO THE MOVIES challenge, my song was ‘The boy next door’ by Judy Garland from the movie ‘Meet Me In St. Louis’

I just recognized the challenge was due October 1st not 7th, sorry. I hope you still like my entry.

Words: 1963

I still remember the moment the Winchesters moved in. Not as I was nosy and watched every new neighbor move in, but as a certain boy caught my attention.

He was around 10 but the way he cared for his little brother, who he lovingly called Sammy, was something else. I never saw a kid take care of his sibling the way Dean Winchester did.

I think the moment he kneeled in front of his brother to check on Sam’s bleeding knee was the moment Dean Winchester stole my heart. I could see the smile on Dean’s face when Sam stopped crying and my heart fluttered.

I smiled with Dean when his brother jumped up to run toward his father to show him the Batman plaster his big brother put onto his wound. Of course, John grumbled something I didn’t understand before he ushered his sons inside.

The moment I saw him smile

I knew he was just my style

My only regret is we've never met

Though I dream of him all the while

Months later I saw Dean playing with the kids from the neighborhood. Only I was not around. I always was a nerdy little girl, afraid to talk to other kids.

“You should go and talk to the boys, Y/N. They seem to be nice,” my mother said, hoping I will finally get over my shyness, but I didn’t.

I tried to forget about the cocky boy's smile but – to be honest, I never did. When the months turned into years I slowly lost hope that I ever will find the guts to talk to Dean.

Once I almost made it to their house, but then Sam called for his brother and I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. I ushered back inside, hating myself.

Sixteen was the turning point. I got rid of my braces, asked my mom to buy me a nice dress as Dean invited every kid from the neighborhood to celebrate he got his driving license.

I smiled to myself when he hovered over the classic car his dad got for him.

I still remember the black Impala, its roar, and how the car paint reflected the sun on hot summer days.

“Will you go, sweetheart?” My mother asked when I stood in front of our door, ready to break out of my shell. “I can go with you.”

“No, mom. I’ve got this,” I gave her my bravest smile before I finally opened the door to almost run toward the Winchesters' house. But when I arrived, my heart dropped.

Lisa, the prettiest and most popular girl was leaning against the Impala, giggling at something that Dean said. I stood on the other side of the street, glancing at Dean who yelled something at Jimmy, his best friend before he ran off.

“Why is that freak here?” Cassie chortled, looking at me with disgust. “Did Dean invite her?”

“No,” Lisa laughed, shaking her head. “He doesn’t even know that nerd exists. Hey, go back to where you belong. Stick your nose into another book, freak.” Lisa said, unbeknownst Sam heard every word.

But he doesn't know I exist

No matter how I may persist

So it's clear to see there's no hope for me

Though I live at fifty-one-thirty-five Kensington Avenue

And he lives at fifty-one-thirty-three

I dropped the gift I got for Dean. A book about the Impala as I thought it’s a nice gift and that Dean will finally see me. But when I realized he didn’t even know I exist, my world crumbled down.

“There she goes,” Lisa snickered, watching me dash toward our house. “I wonder why she showed up. Dean never mentioned freaky sneaky Y/N.”

“I invited her,” Sam picked the gift carefully up. “She’s always alone. I thought it’s nice to get to know her. I should’ve known better than letting someone that nicely get close to you…bitches,” Sam ran off, pushing his big brother aside when Dean tried to stop him.

I only know Sam never mentioned the gift or that day, but my mom told me she watched the boy hide the book in his jacket, protecting it against Dean’s elder friends.

How can I ignore the boy next door

I love him more than I can say

Doesn't try to please me

Doesn't even tease me

And he never sees me glance his way

When I said that day was a turning point – I meant it. I didn’t forget about Dean or stopped admiring him from afar. I simply stopped imagining he would finally talk to me or hold my hand.

I knew it would never happen, not with girls like Lisa around. There are always girls like Lisa, or Cassie or whoever got his attention.

I must admit, it pained me I missed my chance to talk to him. My boy next door, the one that got away.

Instead of talking to Dean or get to know him, I watched the boy next door go to prom with Lisa.

And though I'm heart-sore, the boy next door

Affection for me won't display

I just adore him

So I can't ignore him

The boy next door

The last time I saw him was when he moved out, hand tightly wrapped around Lisa’s waist. I never asked about him or where he went. My admiration followed him, just like my heart, but I knew – I must let go of a dream that day.

I just adore him

So I can't ignore him

The boy next door

It’s been ten years since the day I swore to myself to never get close to his house but I can’t keep my mind from wandering toward the boy next door.

“Hey, I heard you are around, Y/N,” a deep voice catches me off guard, and I jump. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” I wonder why this foreign man stands in my parents’ front yard a big smile plastered on his lips. “You don’t look like the guy on the sign.”

“Oh-no!” The man huffs, looking at the sign of my realtor in the front yard. “I don’t think you’ll remember me, but I lived right over there. My name is Dean,” Dean holds out his hand, frowning when I step backward.

“I remember you, Dean,” eyes downcast I sigh deeply. “You moved in when you were ten,” I don’t meet Dean’s gaze when he steps closer, opening his jacket to show me something he hid for almost ten years. “How could I not remember you? I just didn’t think you knew I exist.”

“I found this, two years after that party,” Dean swallows thickly, showing me the book, I bought for him. “Sammy, he said you dropped it. I thought you didn’t like me back then and threw the gift away. Sam, he told me a few days ago what happened.”

“Lisa said you don’t even know I exist, so I went home. I think I dropped the book,” I awkwardly glance at my shoes when Dean opens the book to reveal the card I wrote. I gnaw at my lower lip, hating I dropped the book instead of throwing it into the dumpster.

“Dear Dean,” he clears his throat, stepping closer to me, “I know we never talked, but I wanted to tell you that I admire the way you care for your brother. I must admit, I kinda watched you now and then. I’m a bit shy, but you seem to be a nice guy and I’d like to be your friend. It’s okay if you don’t want to, I’m a nerd to anyone else. I know guys your age don’t want anyone to ruin their reputation. So, if you decide you don’t want to know me, I will be okay with it. I just wanted to give you the book as I like your car.” Dean puts the card back into the book, careful to not lose it.

“I was a shy teen. Sorry for the stupid words,” I shuffle from one foot to the other, hoping the real-estate agent will save me sooner or later. “I didn’t think much of it.” I lie. Truth is, I spend days finding the right words to express my feelings.

“I liked it,” Dean mumbles, stuffing the book back into the pocket in his jacket. “You see, Sammy said you’ll be back in town for a few days. As I never got the chance to thank you for the gift, I thought we can go for a coffee.”

“Listen, it’s kind of you that you want to try to be nice, but we are not in high-school any more,” I meet Dean’s gaze, giving him a cracked smile. “I’m twenty-six now, not a teen. Let’s just stop pretending you ever knew I exist. Go back to your life and throw that card and the book away. It was a gift of a stupid girl.”

“No, no, sweetheart,” when I try to walk into the house Dean runs after me, grasping for my arm. “Y/N, please. I always hoped you would come back to town. I waited for ten years.”

“You moved out after high school, Dean. Why would you want me to come back to town? This doesn’t make sense. If you excuse me now, I must sell my parents house,” I try to escape the awkward situation, but Dean won’t let go of my arm.

“Y/N, I was too shy to talk to you. You always sat under that huge tree behind the school building reading a book. Once or twice I wanted to talk to you, but you looked like you were in your own world.”

“I was, as no one liked me. I spend my days alone as I was shy, awkward, and a bit nerdy. Sam was the only one talking to me when he saw me after school,” I look over Dean’s shoulder, not wanting him to see my tears.

“I didn’t know,” Dean mumbles, dropping the hand holding my arm. “Would go for a coffee with me? I…I want to talk about the book with you. I really would like to spend time with you.”

“Dean,” I glance at the wedding band around his finger, shaking my head. “I don’t think Lisa will appreciate you spend time with the freak she liked to bully. Go back to your life and leave me the fuck alone,” I walk into the house, slamming the door shut. “I shouldn’t have come here.”

“Sweetheart? Hey, uh-erm, can I come inside? It kinda starts to rain and I want to talk to you,” I let out a frustrated sigh when Dean enters my parent's house. He awkwardly glances around the house, sorting his thoughts. “I’m not married anymore. Just didn’t take the ring off yet.”

“When did you get divorced?” Dean shrugs, looking at the golden band. “Sorry, it’s none of my business, Dean. We don’t even know each other.”

“She died five years, three months and sixteen days ago,” I gasp, stepping closer to Dean to squeeze his hand. “I never found the strength to take it off, Y/N.”

“You don’t have to, Dean,” I give him a soft smile, silently apologizing for my question. “We all grieve differently. My brother and sister want me to sell the house for years, but I just can’t,” now tears run down my cheeks and I sob when Dean wraps his arms around me.

“Why don’t you keep it, sweetheart?” His voice calms my nerves and I relax in his arms. I feel Dean’s hand run up and down my spine whilst he mumbles softly into my hair. “Will you go for a coffee with me? I’ve missed the girl next door.”

“Okay…”

I just adore him

So I can't ignore him

The boy next door

Tags in reblog

Text divider by @writeyourmindaway

#The Boy Next Door #backtothemovieschallenge #angst #readers pov #dean winchester #dean winchester x you #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester SPN #dean winchester x reader #dean x reader #dean x you

214 notes · View notes

apfelkuchle · 4 years

Note

Please tell me what "rights" the Stonewall Riots got for us lgbt people, besides making us look bad. We couldn't even marry until decades later

It made our voices heard. It also sparked the Pride movement that is making the way to equality for us LGBTQ+ people.

Let’s start with some history...

In the 1960’s, in New York it was illegal to serve alcohol/serve really anything to a suspected LGBTQ+ person, because it was considered dirty and disorderly. Because of activists, this rule was overturned, and it was then legal to be gay/trans in public.

However, because the riots hadn’t happened yet, it was still illegal to kiss/love the same gender in public. You can serve them, but if you were seen kissing the same gender or holding hands, etc. you could be arrested and even killed. Gay bars only existed because they were run by the Mafia.

Just like the riots today, in 1966 most riots were started by the police. The police would frequently raid known gay bars so they could arrest and KILL gay people.

Again in 1966, the Genovese crim family (who controlled most of Greenwitch Village’s gay bars) bought Stonewall Inn, which was originally a “straight” bar. They cheaply ronovated it, and opened it as a gay bar. It became home to gay people in Greenwitch, most of the people who went were poor and homeless gays, because the bar was very cheap and it did not require a liquor license due to it being a “bottle bar”. It was also just about the only gay bar that allowed dancing.

Police raids were normal. Some corrupt cops would warn bartenders and owners so they could hide the liquor and other illegal activities, so they were always perfectly fine. However, on the morning of June 28, the police raided again, and it was a total surprise.

They arrested 13 people. People were arrested because they violated dress laws (men weren’t allowed to wear feminine clothes such as tight pants and dresses, and women weren’t allowed to wear pants. They had to wear dresses and skirts, mostly.) they attacked patrons, and dragged suspected “cross dressers” (most of which were trans people) to the bathrooms and forced them to reveal their genitalia. By the way, that’s called sexual assault.

They became VERY angry. They were fed up with the constant murder and attacks on their people, so they protested. Peacefully at first. But when an officer slammed a lesbian’s head on a cop car while pushing her into it, she yelled for them to attack the officers. Before that even happened, the police were beating and manhandling people, but the gays remained peaceful.

After she yelled to attack, they threw pennies bottles, and cobble stones at the police. In fact, Marsha P. Johnson herself threw the first brick at the police, and a fill blown riot broke out.

While Stonewall didn’t START Pride, it sure did make America listen to us and hear us. That made way for activists and leaders to start our uprising.

Next year, on the anniversary of Stonewall in 1970, the first pride parade went active. They marched from Manhattan, to Stonewall, to Central Park. This was called Christopher Street Liberation Day. The official chant was, “Say it loud, gay is proud.”

The rights it got us, was being ALLOWED to be gay. Being gay before stonewall was called a “mental illness”, but it was deemed not one in 1972. (Or 73, I can never remember)

But the biggest thing was just being heard. We wouldn’t HAVE gay marriage if it wasn’t for stonewall, because no one would’ve cared. No one would’ve heard us.

It paved the way for marriage, so that being gay was no longer a mental illness, so that it was no longer a crime to be gay, and we had more of a chance of being protected by the police. Of course, that last one was a microscopic amount considering we’re still victims of police brutality.

The only people it made us look bad to was straight people who were scared to get their privilege taken away. The only people we looked bad to were the police, who realised we would no longer stand this abuse, and that we would fight back. The only people we looked bad to, were HOMOPHOBES.

#gay #trans #transgender #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtqia #lgbtq+#lgbtqia+#lgbtq rights #stonewall stonewall inn #stonwall riots #marsha p johnson #marsha p. johnson #gay rights #trans rights

443 notes · View notes

crystalstar8 · 3 years

Text

Eye of the Sky

Ch. 2

Pairing: Namjoon x oc

Genre: heist au, action

word count: 1,791

warnings: action, violence, gun violence, car chases, car crashes, swearing, blood probably

notes: heist au, action, adventure, crime, enemies to lovers, ooc namjoon, because he has his license lol

Summary: Ten years ago, Namjoon's father was killed by his best friend and partner in crime, A man who now goes by the name Hawthorne. Now, Namjoon wants to get into the family business in order to avenge his father's death. After finding the man who killed his father, Namjoon builds a team and creates an elaborate plan to finally take the man down.

But will they be able to get through Hawthorne's state-of-the-art security system? And will they succeed with a mysterious assassin chasing them? Let's just say, it's a good thing Namjoon's team members keep surprising him with useful skills.

@mozy-j @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @daechwitad-2

In the top floor penthouse in downtown Seoul, Taehyung stood in his walk-in closet, tying his tie in front of the floor length mirror. He checked the time. Five minutes before he had to leave. A text from his driver let him know that his ride was downstairs. After pulling his jacket on and checking himself one last time, he left his penthouse and made his way downstairs.

The drive was quiet. Taehyung appreciated his early morning drives to the museum; it was a moment of peace before getting to work.

His museum was his pride and joy. The building was all white marble, Grecian in design with a massive atrium dome in the center of the roof. He built it himself, without his father’s help. Not that his father would have helped him even if he were alive. His father was killed when Taehyung was a teenager, but the man was never very present in Taehyung’s life. He was almost always overseas on business, a business Taehyung was now in charge of.

Taehyung never minded. He loved what he did. The thrill of it was almost as great as the wealth that came with it. The only thing he wished was different was the fame. He was the owner of the biggest private museum in Korea, not to mention the youngest, and with that title came press. He passed a billboard on the way to his museum, his own face looking down at the expressway.

Stealing famous art and priceless artifacts would definitely be easier if his face wasn’t on every Louis Vuitton cologne and Rolex advertisement.

His museum came into view and he was pleased to see he already had a line outside, waiting for the doors to open. There was a new exhibit opening today, and he was just as excited about it as the people waiting along the sidewalk.

Once he was in his office, his assistant came in with a frazzled look on her face.

“Sir, there’s a big problem,” she said.

Taehyung took a deep breath before saying, “What’s wrong?”

“One of our tour guides called in, he said he came down with something,” she said, frantically riffling through the disorganized mess of papers in her arms. “Which leaves us with only five guides. We’re going to be overloaded. There’s going to be children running around like monkeys, putting their filthy hands on the new exhibit-“

Taehyung grabbed his assistant’s shoulders and fought against the smile threatening to come out. This was just like her, panicking every time something small didn’t go according to plan.

“I will take his place,” Taehyung said.

“But, sir…”

“It’s my exhibit after all,” said Taehyung. “Who better than me to give the tour?”

“Are you sure? People will recognize you,” she said. “Your most recent photoshoot for Hyundai is currently trending on Twitter. You’ll distract from the exhibit.”

“I am sure,” said Taehyung. “I don’t think I’ll be a distraction.”

His assistant gave him a skeptical and not at all placated look as she left his office.

The museum doors were finally open and visitors were pouring in. The crowd was split up into six different tour groups, and Taehyung began his speech throughout the new exhibit. Quite a few eyes were glued to him rather than the exhibit, but he paid them no mind.

A few tours later and something caught Taehyung’s eye through the crowd. He stuttered in the middle of his speech and stared wide eyed at the visitors waiting for him at the entrance.

“Everyone, if you would please pardon me for a moment,” he said. “Please be responsible and follow the signs through the exhibit. Another guide will find you in a moment.”

Taehyung pulled his earpiece and microphone off and pushed through the crowd of visitors. He made it to the front doors of the museum and stopped in front of two men, his smile dropping.

“What are you doing here?” Taehyung whispered.

Jin smiled and said, “What, we’re not allowed to visit an old friend?”

“I’m working,” said Taehyung. “You can’t bring this here-“

“Meet with us tonight,” said Namjoon. He handed Taehyung a slip of paper. Taehyung took it and slipped it into his inside coat pocket without tearing his eyes from them.

“I will speak with you later,” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was in the middle of a tour.”

Taehyung backed away from them and then made his way back to his tour group.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How do you know he’ll actually show up?” Jin asked as they drove back to Namjoon’s apartment.

“He will,” said Namjoon. “He lives for this kind of thing. Literally. He does jobs like this for a living.”

“I thought his museum was honest now,” said Jin. “Doesn’t he do modelling now too?”

“Oh, sure. His museum is honest alright,” said Namjoon. He took the turn into his parking garage. “If by honest you mean every single piece on display there was stolen one way or another.”

“Doesn’t he buy or…” Jin began.

“Sometimes. But most of the time, he acquires them himself,” Namjoon said as he parked the car. Jin’s Mercedes was parked beside them.

“I’m glad we have him on our side then,” said Jin. They sat in silence for a while before Jin said, “Well, I will see you later tonight. Tell your mother I say hello.”

“I will,” said Namjoon. Jin opened the passenger door and stepped out, getting right into his own car beside them. Namjoon waited a few minutes after Jin drove off before leaving the parking garage himself.

The prison loomed over Namjoon as he stood in front of it, leaning against his car. He didn’t have to wait long before he saw his mother step out of the double doors. He smiled as they met in the middle. His mom wrapped her arms around him and held him in a crushing hug.

“My son,” she said, her voice wobbly. “My beautiful son. Look at you.”

She pulled back and held his shoulders.

“You’re so handsome,” she said. “I mean, you’ve always been handsome, but there was that weird awkward phase you had-“

Namjoon scoffed and rolled his eyes as she burst out laughing.

“I missed you, mom,” he said.

“I missed you too.”

They got into the car and Namjoon began the drive back home.

“How’s your sister?” his mom asked.

“She graduated yesterday,” said Namjoon. “She wants to be a school teacher.”

“Good. I knew she’d be successful,” his mom said. “She’s a smart girl. You both are. How are you? What have you been doing with your life?”

“I work for a tech company in Seoul but I’m planning on leaving them soon,” said Namjoon. “I have a lot of work to do for my new job. Jin says hi, by the way.”

His mother narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized him. “You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Namjoon, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Well, I suppose it’s none of my business, as long you keep me out of it,” she said. “Whatever you’re up to, you know I won’t stop you. I just want you to be careful.”

“I will,” said Namjoon. They drove in silence for a while before he said, “I’m taking us out for dinner tomorrow to celebrate Geongmin’s graduation.”

“I can’t wait to see her. Why didn’t she come with you today?”

“She’s busy with interviews today,” said Namjoon. He chuckled at his mother’s shocked face. “I know, she doesn’t waste any time, right?”

“Good for her,” his mom said.

After getting home and helping his mother settle into her new apartment he had bought for her next door, Namjoon spent some time getting ready for his own meeting. Jin arrived early, then Taehyung shortly after. Namjoon served them drinks and then sat with them around his dining table.

“So, tell us the plan,” said Jin.

“Hawthorne’s collection is underground,” said Namjoon. “Behind a safe door that only opens with a password and thumbprint.”

“How are we going to get Hawthorne’s thumbprint?” asked Jin.

“We won’t,” said Namjoon. “Because that’s not the print we need. The only thumbprint that will open the door belongs to his son, Laurel Hawthorne. Laurel is the heir to the entire collection.”

“Ah! Laurel Hawthorne!” Taehyung exclaimed. “I’ve worked with him in the past. Not a fan.”

“You’re going to have to meet with him one last time to get the prints,” said Namjoon. “We’ll set up a meeting with him, where you’ll fake a sale. We’ll have someone hiding nearby with a tranquilizer gun. Once we take him out, you’ll nab his prints and we’ll be out of there.”

“This sounds dangerous,” said Jin.

“Inside the collection room is where the real trouble begins,” Namjoon continued. “Hawthorne uses a state-of-the-art technology to protect his collection. The security system inside uses gaseous detection. Once the door is opened, the room fills with a harmless gas. If there’s any kind of movement behind the barricades of the artifacts, another gas is released into the air, turning it toxic. From there, the person inside the chamber will only have a few minutes before dying. Once the security system is neutralized, and the cameras are placed in a loop, we’ll be able to just go in and take what we want. We’ll obviously replace everything with fakes, especially the Sky’s Eye, the item we need to leave with.”

“Ah, the Sky’s Eye,” said Taehyung. “I had a feeling the necklace was what this was about. But I thought only one man has been in possession of the Sky’s Eye for ten years.”

“You are correct,” said Jin. “Hawthorne is the very same man.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened as he made the connection.

“Hawthorne is Montgomery,” he whispered. “So, this job isn’t just for the necklace.”

“We’ll do all of this on the day of Hawthorne’s party, while he’s distracted,” said Namjoon. “We just need to find a way to get an invitation.”

“Yes, that will be difficult,” said Jin.

“Do you know anyone who’s going?” Namjoon asked Jin.

“I might,” he said.

“Do you think it’s someone you might be able to go with as their date?” asked Namjoon.

“Oh, trust me. I would die to be this man’s date. He is the most handsome man in the world, after all,” said Jin. Namjoon narrowed his eyes. Jin burst into laughter, slapping his knee and pulling an envelope from the pocket inside his jacket.

“You had an invitation all this time?” asked Taehyung.

“Of course!” said Jin, laughing and slapping his knee. Namjoon shook his head but couldn’t help a fond smile from pulling at his lips.

14 notes · View notes

bnha-ra · 4 years

Note

I really really love your work! if you have time could I ask for some headcanons with Todoroki with an S/O who's a super popular idol? pretty please?

Here ya go, bub

You had met before U.A but only started a relationship around the time of the work studies while he was trying hard to get his hero license.

You guys had first started off as acquaintances, then friends before you two even thought about dating

You, of course, held feelings for the half and half boy but you could tell that he had is own trauma and, well, you did too, so it took a while for the two of you to finally get together

I will admit, it’s a pretty hard relationship at first, having to keep such a huge secret from the world, I mean, famous idol, (Last) (Name) matching up with the number 1 hero, Endeavour’s son, Todoroki Shouto. That shit would have been plastered all over the front page of every paper in Japan, it would make headlines on popular broadcasting and News station, it would be a national disaster

And you didn’t even want to think about your foreign audience

Anyways

So, your relationship had to be kept, deep, deep in the shadows, especially if you didn’t want your boss to find out either.

The only people who actually knew were the class and your other idol friends

Though, it gets easier with time

You’re the one who confessed first because Todoroki’s emotionally constipated.

It was sweet though, you didn’t go over the top. You just dropped by his room one day in the dorms, holding a small bouquet of flowers and told him how you felt, explaining that you understood if he didn’t feel the same way but you didn’t want to keep the secret anymore

It was the only way really, you knew that if you tried to flirt it would do jack shit plus you sucked at it-

Chile, anyways-

He actually recuperated your feelings but he told you he would need some time to settle as he didn’t really understand relationships and he wanted to know how to correctly return your feelings

You reminded him, that, you too had no idea how relationships worked but agreed to take it one step at a time

So, the relationship starts off slow.

You started off with a date because that’s how all couples start off, right? Right!?

You both actually read into how to date because y'all hopeless

Your first official date was just going to a small cafe near the school, you dressed in disguise

He didn’t recognise you at first and you weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry

It was an adorable date and it only got better from there

Next was physical affection because you weren’t quite ready to voice how you felt each other yet

You are obviously the more physical one in the relationship, it isn’t that Todoroki doesn’t want to be it’s just that he’s scared to because baby is touched starved and he deserves the entire world-

Anyways, you started it off with hugging him (because you were a hugger in general so people didn’t really notice the difference), adding more and more time onto each hug before next thing he knew he was actively seeking you to hug or to full-on cuddle in your room because wow being held is nice

Hand holding came after because it didn’t garner more attention from your peers, holding hands when you guys sat next to one another at lunch, when you went on walks around campus, watching movies in your room, just lovely

Then came the kisses and boy did he enjoy them.

You always asked in the beginning, pecking his cheek softly, lightly kissing the tips off his fingers, smooching him and over time you just started to plant them whenever you felt like and, he recuperated in kind.

He’s really good

His favourite kind of kiss is when you two are alone in bed cuddling, where he can old your cheek and just kiss you super light and sweet on the lips-

I’m projecting a bit, sorry

He told you later on about the abuse, about why he was the way he was and you just held him, comforted the best you could and decided from that day forward not only would you show him how much you loved him, you were also gonna help him come to accept his fire and physically fight his father

You subtly started to lean more towards his left side, held his left hand more frequently, made sure to hold his left cheek when you kissed him, nuzzled into his right side when you cuddle- just showed him love to his left side but also tried not to be overbearing because he would notice

He, of course, did notice but he enjoyed the attention nonetheless

Now, Todoroki didn’t listen to music, he saw no need for it but he obviously had to support your career and decided to actively show support towards you because you deserved it

He started listening to your music and was actually pleasantly surprised when he found out he actually really enjoyed your genre of music

But mostly because it was you singing, obviously

He bought magazines with you on the cover, bought your merchandise, albums, watched your interviews, hell, you remembered holding a show and seeing him standing by the side waving a small flag with your face on it and a ridiculous disguise which was just a ton of your merch

You teased him about it afterwards

You also talked about the pains of being an idol

Not being able to be a normal teenager and enjoy your younger years, go out with your friends without wearing a disguise, wear the clothes you want because it doesn’t fit with your persona’s aesthetic, being forced into diets, having to maintain a perfect persona of yourself for the audience, pressure from the media, hate from others about you deciding to become a hero

He holds you when you have breakdowns

Helps you eat when you force yourself not to because it’s “fattening”

Tells you that he thinks you’re beautiful and no hater outside of that will change his mind

Thinks you’ll be a great hero and if you really want, will help you retire from your idol career in the future

You do like singing to him though

The way his eyes seem to shine with adoration when you do, holding him and just running a hand through his hair, maybe sometimes sing him to sleep when he has nightmares about when he was back in the Todoroki household

He’s also protected you from a rogue fan or too that got a little too in your space while you guys were out together

Your hero

But you’re also his hero

He first realised he was in love with you when you guys were out on patrol and you had just caught a bad guy who had robbed a shop nearby.

Watching you fight the villain so gracefully, act so strong and determined and bold as you took him down and handed him over, then, for you to switch when you returned everything stolen to the shop, to act so kind to the grateful owner, it was just a reality check for him. You were strong, but also kind, you could fight but also acted so soft and he just realised how lucky he was and how he had fallen head over heels for you.

You first realised you were in love with him when you were cuddling

It was early into the night, but it was dark in his room as the two of you cuddled. The curtains were drawn, some rain patted at the windows and you were both on the verge of sleep, but then, just as you were about to fall into the land of dreams, he tightened his hold on you and pressed the most, loving and sweetest kiss to your lips, then your forehead and wished you a goodnight. You stayed up for another two hours thinking about it and how hard your heart was beating in your chest

He made it his personal mission to be the first one to admit his love.

Was he scared? Of course!

Worried about your reaction? Yup!

But he was still gonna do it

So, he asked his friends

What he didn’t know is that you were also planning to say that you loved him

Asking your own pals how you should react and what you should do

In the end, you decided to do the same as you did when you told him you liked him. Bring him a small bouquet of flowers, maybe a small treat and tell him how you felt

It was honestly hilarious when you went to his room, only for him to pull open his door with a small teddy and bouquet in his hands, both staring back at one another like a deer in headlights

He just pulled you into his room, told you how he felt and finished with a timid “I think I’m in love with you, (Name)”

And was happily surprised when you responded back with a soft “I think I love you too, Shouto”

The kissed you shared was probably the best kiss out of all of them and the most memorable

#boku no hero academia imagine #my hero academia imagine #mha imagine #mha x reader #mha scenario #bnha imagine #bnha x reader #bnha scenario #shoto todoroki x reader #shoto todoroki #todoroki shoto #todoroki shoto imagine #shoto todoroki imagine #todoroki shoto x reader

80 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

Ducktales Della Arc Reviews: The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

Hello all you happy people. I’ve been dreading this one.. not because it’s bad. Quite the oppisite. In fact on rewatch I was marveling at how brilliant this one was and remembering why it was on my best of list. But because the ending, as you all well know, is the most gutwrenching part of the entire series. Three seasons and lots of other heartrending moments.. and the ending of this episode from the big reveal to that final shot above tears you the fuck apart. It’s hard to watch even know it all works out in the end and that i’d be watching the conclusion the next day instead of having to wait a rather painful week like I did at first airing. It’s just that good. So join me under the cut for a review of one of the series finest half hours and some of David Tennant’s best work as we crash the Sunchaser one last time.. for this season... and i think Launchpad crashes it again in the finale so I don’t get that title.

So our plot for the episode is that

youtube

Yes Clan McDuck is taking their version of a vacation. It’s off to Monocrow for the E.X.C.E.S.S. Expo! Yes it’s the EXCESS Expo! With the latest in racecars lasers and many more! The EXCESS Expo! With booths from such welcome guests as Stark International, Muppet Labs, S.T.A.R. Labs, VenTech, The Franklin Sherman Memorial Fishmobabywhirlomgig Institute, TCRI, Gryzzl, Sumdac Systems, G-Heavy Industries, Tylerco, Lexcorp, Wayne Enterprises, Quickstart, The Gizmonic Institute, Alchemax,and Baintronics! But that’s not all! We also have huge paneeellls! Hank Pym’s “The ethics of dating your robot grandaughter”, Reed Richards “How to Dispatch an Evil Council made up entirely of yourself!”, Victor Von Dooms “CURSE YOU RICHARDS I’M SMARTER FOR I AM DOOM”, Stanford Pines with “How to Kill a Godlike Demon and Get your Smile Back”, Dr. Bunsen Hondedew with “How to abuse your assitant in 2020″ Dr.Light with “The Ethics of helping your robot child fight an evil albert einstein”, Profesor Henry Hidgens with “The incoming apocalypse with songs from Working Boys: A New Musical” Ray Palmer “Welcome To Pain”, and you know our friend Ass Dan will be in full effect> yeah bitch you know he’s going to live forev... what’s that? He’s dead. oh shame. Someone call rusty venture. Yes I know i’m typing this. Shut up. THE EXCESS EXPO. BE THERE OR WE’LL SEND OUR ROBOTS AFTER YOU.

... Where.. Where was I? Oh yes, big vacation. Monocrow.. which sadly is not just a big field with just Crow T. Robot in it. Someday you’ll get MST3K/Ducktales Jake, someday. Point is our heroes are excited, and Scrooge is also there to find the Maltese MacGuffin, a mysterious artifact no one’s ever seen. And the kids and Scrooge have their own specail guest joining them: Bentina! Yeah turns out she has hundreds of vacation days built up, and simply hasn’t used them so she’s using a few to join them. It also once again shows how much less of a heartless money monster this Scrooge is as any of his employees asking for a vacation, paid or not, in the comics would result in this:

So their off on their greatest adventure.. with Louie having’ bought something mysterious along with him he’s only telling the other kids about. On with the intro!

Beakly.. is intstantly not at ease as they take off after driving their jeep into the plane. She feels launchpad is reckless, rightfully so not helped by a lack of seatbelts on the plane or his cheefully saying the closest he’s got, a floatie, will help “When” we crash. She’s also equally annoyed by Scrooge’s cavalier attitude, having intrusted the kids to him only to find out what the adventueres are really like. And this is the only part of the episode that REALLY doesn’t work. She KNOWS these two idiots too well for this to be beliviable. Launchpad wrecks part of the mansion at least once a day, and before Duckworth she had to clean that shit up. He’s there all the time.. and more damingly HE DROVE YOU AND YOUR KID, YOUR KIDS BEST FRIENDS, AND YOUR KIDS GIRLFRIEND TO THE FUCKING MOVIES. I can’t buy given how bad a driver launchapd is she didn’t wrench the wheel from him to prevent their early graves. Scrooge meanwhile is her BEST FRIEND. And until season 2 for her and 3 for him ONLY friend. Sure she works for him, but outside of one incident in this episode he treats her as his equal more than his housekeeper for the entire series. They trust each other more than anyone else at this point. And the only other two people Scrooge ends up trusting as much are Donald and Della. She’s been around him enough to know how he is. What did she THINK he was going to be like with the kids? She’s met the twins, and even mroe so is on good terms with Donald even into the pilot and they only got off on bad terms due to clashing over house rules. So she KNWOS this is what he does with children. You can’t be shocked Scrooge took children on death defying adventures in a barely secured plane after all this time. It’d be like giving Donald a turkey to carve and being suprised when it ends in this...

It just dosen’t work especially with a professional spy! Her job is reading people! And yes I know many of you are going to say “Well she misread Bradford”... but so did Scrooge and so many others. NO ONE suspected him. He’s that good. So her suddenly having a complaint about all this stuff when she could’ve come along anytime to check it out or just looked at the plain bothers me a LOT. Thankfully it’s only really present at the start as while it sets off her concern their back and forth soon has a far deeper meaning. But Scrooge insists Launchpad take her on a tour to ease her worry, seems like a contrdictary set of sentences there, while he flies. How hard could it be. Somewhere on the Moon, Della has the sudden urge to kick her uncle’s ass.

So meanwhile in a secret base set up in a cargo box, the kids are working on the Della mystery. Turns out what Louie smuggled aboard was the documents shredded on the date the boys found on the Spear of Selene plans. Louie got them by smooth talking Quackfaster who even he found nuts. It also once again shows Dewey was only holding things back by keeping the other boys out as in jus weeks, since chronologically there were two other episodes between this and the last Della episode versus just one, their almost to the truth as one document from that day is simply torn into pieces and simply needs to be re-jiggered like a puzzle. Like most puzzles though naturally once they get it all together they find there’s one goddamn piece missing and it ends up loose int he plane flitting around... just as Scrooge majorly screws up and bumps things, leading Beakly to wonder where the kids are and them to scramble out.

So yeah Scrooge seemingly crashed the plane.. except Launchpad notes that if they crashed.. why are they still airborne? This leads to everyone finding out their precariously perched on a VERY narrow rock that’s skewered the plane. Orignially the crew decided to strictly adhere to the concept that any movement would rock the thing.. but realized i’td make things boring visually so they allowed themselves some artistic license.

So yeah our heroes are stuck in a hard place and Scrooge stubbornly digs in insisting he can fix this and turns on the plane.. which sends it spinning and prevents Dewey from getting the piece which ends up wedged in the jeep. Huh I think we need some appropriate music for going in circles.

youtube

So yeah all Scrooge did was blow up one of the engines... I mean the blow up the engine button is right there, would’ve saved you some time. So Beakley berates him for not calling for help and digging in and for it’s next plan it’s time for Handyman Corner where he’s going to show you how to jumpstart a plane with a jeep’s engine. Beakly is not impressed and Scrooge’s case is not helped as Louie feigns fear , with Huey and Webby following his lead, so Dewey can get the piece. Unfortunately pointing out the very REAL dangers they face, with Huey giving the odds and Webby pointing out unlike most dangers they face there’s no easy way out and no villian to fight, sends Louie into an actual panic, jumpstarting the car and causing the cargo bay to open, leading to one hell of a sequence: From Bentina driving a butterfly knife into the ground to hold the kid’s secret base crate (and wondering why it’s so heavy), to Launchpad desperatley platforming his way to saftey to scrooge swining in with his cane to rescue them. It’s some whopper animation that really shows off how damn good the team was and how gorgeous this show truly was at it’s best.

The results aren’t good: the plane’s ballnce is now off so even a slight movement can move it, a holdover from the original idea simply saved for when it’d create the most tension. As a result Dewey can’t get the last piece as he can’t move and Scrooge berates the kids and has thems tay still watching the end credits of darkwing duck (It’s launchpad’s inflight movie and the tape is jammed to that section.

IT’s here the Scrooge and Beakley stuff went from poorly written to “oh shit” in one line. Scrooge is getting more and more desperate to prove he can take care of the kids on his own but Beakely’s demeanor has turned from annoying scolding.. to genuine concern and PLEADING with him not to go through with another dumb stunt that will leave them in a worse situation, int his case using the parachutes as counterweights to fix the engine. He refuses both rebuffing her as “your boss” (Which gets her rightfully pulling on the cord too tight) .. but then that one line comes in “I can protect her”. Beakley is confused.. but it instantly makes clear this is about Della and on rewatch now knowing the reveal at the end.. it makes it that much more heartbreaking. Part of his refusal to backdown is his natural nature as a stubborn ass. It’s been well displayed throughout this season and the ones after it: HIs refusal to backdown from nevverst, his jealousy of Dewey for being better at him and his refusal to accept it.. the man just does not back down and while it’s good in tight spots and against bad guys, as he finds a way out for him and his family with sheer grit and badassery... it’s a massive character flaw when dealing with people, as refusing to actually talk to them like a ratoinoal adult only makes things worse. And boy oh boy is he about to make things worse. But the other part is he can’t admit to himself there’s a risk in his lifestyle and that he can’t keep everyone safe constantly.. that theres inherent danger. He’s bought into the “because i’m scrooge mcduck” mantra here not out of his ego, entirely, but because he can’t let that not be enough again. He can’t LOOSE someone again like he lost Della and he can’t fail again. So his worst trait and his greatest trauma have mixed to make him act so rashly even Launchpad takes some shouting to agree to give him the other parachute. It’s clear he’s endangering EVERYONE to prove he can save them.

Eventually though things reach their head as Dewey CAN’T take the wait anymore. He’s waited his whole life to find out about his momma, and the answer’s feet away... and he can’t let it sit any longer. He HAS to know what happened. So he goes for it, though the rest of the kids are against it since i’ts highly risky and they can wait Huey ends up agreeing to help using his Junior Woodchuck knowledge (Where Newton apparently got the idea), to counterbalance hsi weight and guide him via walkee talkee. It’s a really nice moment, not only showing off Huey’s skill and intellect but also how much they care for her. Dewey may of screwed up last time but their still the duck boys and if he can’t talk him out of being sucidially reckless.. Huey’s going to at least give him a fighting chance.

Unfortunately Scrooge spots him mid argument with Beakley and naturally wants him to give it here... but once the ship buckles when Dewey tries we get the scene that makes the episode. Up till now the tension has been top notch, ratcheting up by bit, not knowing if the kids would get caught, if something would happen with the plane all building to this. Scrooge and Dewey’s final chase. Dewey uses the distraction to make a runner for it with Scrooge following.. and Launchapd using the fact he’s still attached to the airbag to stop him. It’s a small but excellent character moment, showing that as much as Launchpad loves his boss.. he loves his best friend and eveyrone else’s saftey more. SCrooge of course uses it to knock him back while Beakley and the kids counterbalance. We also get the best joke of the episode as Beakley tells them to stop running.. only for them to simply start tip toeing, with Bentina’s reaction being a perfectly resigned “That’s not what I meant and you know it”.

It’s a tense chase, with both sides using the enviorment to their advantage from the parachute to the crate.. and it’s breaking open reveals something’s gonig on and causes Beakley to notice Webby has the blueprints in her pocket and once she unfurls them and finds out what they are.. she can only give a sad, remorseful “oh children, what have you been up to” She’s not even mad like they seem to think.. she’s just sad, knowing the wound that’s about to be reopened for her closest friend and the one that’s about to be inflicted on those poor children, and knowing that they’re ALL made it worst by hiding it. Toks deserves all the praise for her delivery here.

Eventually the piece blows outside of the plane and Dewey refuses to give up and go after it. Things get their most tense as everyone BEGS him not to come back, it’s not worth his death to get this. It’s not worth all of this. But he simply chucks the walkee away and ignores them. We then get Scrooge going from scolding grandpa.. to dearly begging Dewey to come back... David’s delvery here is just heartbreaking “I can’t protect you. Is that what you wanted me to say. Please lad just tell me what it will take to come back inside?” And Ben Schwartz meets it with an utterly emotional “Tell me about the spear of selene”. The animation here is once again some of the series best with Dewey’s determined face and Scrooge’s heartbreak as he realizes he has to finally stop hiding this from them and he’s not ready. So he takes his uncles hand.. and if you thought all of this is painful.. oh boy.. we’re just getting started.

So back in the plane, with Launchpad setting up a table and a proper counterbalance so they can all sit, Scrooge finally explains and the boys, webby, and us int he audience all get the answers we desperately wanted: It was 10 1/2 years ago. The Original Trio had journeyed the world, having all sorts of adventures and making themselves into legends. But eventually you hit a wall and they’d realized they’d been just about everywhere. They could still globetrot of courser and as Season 3 would bear out there were some places they didn’t know about.. but the earth was about used up. So Della, being an aerospace wunderkind, thought of the next logical place to go. The stars. The Spear of Selene was a rocket, her pet project to give her kids, who she was expecting at the time the stars.

Thing was Donald wasn’t on board with this at all. And the clash between the two, which we see in the flashback but don’t hear since Scrooge is narrating all of this over some cool looking semi-still images, was inetiviable. As I coverd in the spear of selene review I feel Donald was burnt out at this point. That he was tired of adventures and just wanted normalcy even before Scrooge forced his hand with what was to happen next. So to him Della should just settle down, live a regular life and raise those kids. The problem is... Della WASN’T burnt out. She didn’t need a break to live a normal life like Donald badly needed. She wanted to keep going and it was her choice. While Donald ultimately was right about the risk, he was wrong to try and force her into a life she didn’t want and project on her like that.

What happened next though was all on Scrooge and Della. Scrooge simply did the thing that’s likely part of why Donald resents him so much and it took so long to fix thing: He ignored what Donald felt and thought, sided with Della and built the ship without telling either of them. His selfishness, thinking he knows what best and treatment of donald.. all backfired horribly. Della sussed out the ship.. and I still feel she was suspicious on her own.. and that Bradford telling her was him simply handing her a lit fuse knowing it’d go off and WHATEVER happened as a result of this would break scrooge. Even if the rocket had gone off saftely and everything was fine.. he could easily claim Della threatned him,k which she probably did and he simply went with it, and either way Donald would be unable to forgive either SCrooge or Della for the deciet. It just went better, and worse than he could’ve anpiciapted: much like the fantastic four she took the ship in the dead of night and hit a cosmic storm, with Scrooge only finding out in time to try and help her.. but the storm hit the ship.. and unlike the ff instead of gaining the power to turn invisible, she simply disappeared. She was lost. He and Donald didn’t speak again after Donald found out till 6 months ago.

If that wasn’t heartbreaking enough.. it gets worse. The kids, full of fresh pain and anger over Scrooge’s part in things, their mom abandoning them, and their uncles hiding this for decades.. take it out on the one person there. Frank and Matt recently said in an artcle detailing the best 7 episodes from one site, or at least what the site considered to be the best, that Donald was absent because he also knew and would’ve told them sooner. I also feel it’s because he would’ve disarmed this conflict, at least admitting what scrooge did alongside beakley. As mad as he was.. his own anger had started to disapate. The wound was fresh to the boys and thus they lashed out.

Dewey blames him for it outright, Huey tell shim he should’ve called her back, and Louie tells him he shoudl’ve sent a fleet of ships to find her. As we find out in the somehow even MORE crushing ending he did the last two and as I made clear, and the show does, this was Della’s horrible decision. She took an unfinsihed rocket, she left her kids, she did this. While she regretted it and I don’t hold it against her because she spent 10 years away from the mon the moon, she’s suffered THROUGHLY for it and I don’t feel I need to pile on, Scrooge wasn’t wholly responsible. Still partly. Dewey makes things worse by impling scrooge GAVE UP ON HER because it cost too much.

Look the rest of it is valid, if misguided, as Beakley tries to chime in on it and correct them knowing the full story. But claming, no matter how greedy he is that Scrooge would ABANDON HER.. that’s just wrong and he knows it. It’s why Scrooge gets so upset.. and why he pushes the last two people in his corner away. Webby critisizes building the rocket and Scrooge belts out “This is a family matter, your not family”. runing his position and poisiong his one ally by lashing out at someone who DID NOT DESERVE THIS. Make no mistake, this is present day scrooge’s WORST action. The past scrooge did worse, we saw that, but this is almost worse than the goat thing. Telling a child h’ed basically adopted, ignoring the finale twist for this as it’s irrelvant and all it does is twist the knife deeper, that “she’s not family” just because he wants someone to be mad at besides his boys... that’s fowl. Everyone’s against him except launchpad and tha’ts where his stubbornesst ragically comes in: he digs in his heels refuses to explain.. and the plane crashes due to it. though safely. Their safe.. but the family is broken.

So we get our hell of an ending scenes. Donald cheerfully announces to the boys, who earlier had no intention of leaving anyway, the boats finished.. only for Dewey to inform him “We know abotu the spear of selene” . Donald is heartbroken, not only that they know.. but that he didn’t tell them.

But since “it gets worse” is this episodes motto, we end on Beakley, Webby and Duckworth all leaving on vacation. How a ghost does vacations I dunno, maybe he’s going to go to Amity Park. Point is Webby, despite EVERYTHING , is crestfallen he’s not even going to say goodbye and still worried. As I said in my review of the finale.. it’s her heart that makes her and while Scrooge may be a dick right now.. he’s family. So we get the final lines of the episode Beakley: Well, you've successfully pushed your family and everyone who ever cared about you away... again. I hope you're happy. Scrooge:I AM

It’s just damn heartbreaking.. once again he’s lost everything and is too bitter to admit it and try and get it back. And as we see between the lines.. the boys were wrong: He drained his bin and his buisnesses creating a fleet to get Della back, and kept going despite the expense. He did everything he could to call her back. Nothing worked.. and he only stopped because the board yanked him away, Bradford sneering with pride as his plan, which backfired HORRIBLY, had at last finally gotten him what he wanted: a broken scrooge tired of adventure. And as Scrooge sits in his chair seething.. he’s broken again, angry, with tears in his eyes, loving nobody.. and nobody loving him, eerily mimickcking his first appearance in comics.

Final Thoughts:

This episode is a masterpice. It’s perfectly paced, with only a minor flaw tha’ts qwuickly snuffed out for a gripping drama. This was a gamble, taking 9 minutes where ther’es almost no jokes and just pure tensino and heartbreak.. but it paid off. This episode is one of the series finest and leads to one hell of a finale but on it’s own.. it’s nigh untouchable. This is the series at it’s best, and the finale and later information (More about Della and the spear, WEbby’s true origin, bradford’s role in all this and role as head of fowl), only make it better, with all those things being aware to the creators but not us. They really made us wait for this reveal but damn if it wasn’t perfect.

Next Time: Webby, Bentina and Launchpad try to desperatley piece the family back together before the boys and donald leave forever.. and Scrooge’s darkest hour leaves him vunerable for his greatest foe. It’s finally time to get back to Lena as the Shadow War descends over our heroes.

If you liked this review, follow for more and you can comission your own reviews by paying me 5 bucks to review any episode you like. Message me to talk it over. And if you’d rather get a gaurantted review every month, hit up my patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet. For 5 bucks a month you get a review every month and as of now special thanks in each review. Even a buck a month gets the thanks and helps and my next stretch goal, which is 5 bucks away nets everyone a review of darkwing duck everymonth for my lovely patreons to vote on. Special thanks to my patreons Emma and Kev, and I will see you at the next rainbow.

#ducktales #scrooge mcduck #dewey duck #della duck #the last crash of the sunchaser #della arc #huey duck #louie duck #webby vanderquack #bentina beakley #launchpad mcquack #donald duck

24 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

Text

How Facebook will benefit from its massive breach

Facebook has *such* a sweet racket. First, they used the Roach Motel model - data checks in, but it doesn't check out - to trap you and all your friends in a mutual hostage-taking situation, where you can't leave because they're there, and they can't leave because you're there.

All those address books they imported, the data they gathered from publishers' websites through the Like buttons (which gather data whether or not you click them), the data they bought or snaffled up through free mobile SDKs is now permanently siloed inside of FB.

FB is a walled garden: when you leave, you leave behind your friends and communities - you can't switch to a Diaspora instance or even Twitter and exchange messages with FB.

To their credit, millennials hated this shit, especially once their parents started joining FB and friending them. Those smart kids all bailed for Instagram.

So Facebook bought Instagram, explicitly to ensure that wherever you went, you'd still be in the Zuckersphere.

Facebook's surveillance data isn't that valuable, so it has to gather a *lot* of it. Most of its ad-tech advantage is just fraud: lying to advertisers about who saw its ads, lying to publishers about which kinds of content generate the most revenue.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/11/number-eight/#curse-of-bigness

The data advantage itself is very short-lived; for example, location data is highly prized by advertisers who want to show you an ad for shoes while you're outside a shoe-store. This value is annihilated as soon as you move somewhere else.

Data isn't the new oil, it's the new oily rag: a low-grade waste-product that is only valuable when it is piled up in such vast quantities that it poses an existential, civilization-ending danger.

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

Facebook's insistence on warehousing all the world's oily rags means things are on fire all the fucking time. They realized this a long time ago and worked out an unbeatable strategy for making sarsaparilla out of SARS: Facebook declared itself to be the world's firefighter.

"Hey guys! Have you noticed that the world is full of arsonists who want to set our oily rags on fire?! Have no fear! Collecting and warehousing oily rags made us so big and powerful that we - and only we - can stop them!"

The corollary of which is usually (but not always) unspoken: "If you take away our power - make us smaller, force us to release our hostages - then we won't be able to stop the arsonists any more."

Cambridge Analytica didn't *abuse* Facebook, they *used* Facebook - used the services that FB had set up and marketed to political dirty tricksters to disseminate disinformation. That was the system working as intended.

FB used the we-fight-arson wheeze to come out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal stronger and more powerful than ever: they shut down the APIs that potential future Facebook competitors used to help people escape its walled garden, claiming it was an act of firefighting.

Under the same guise, they've threatened legal action against NYU's Ad Observer project, which teams up with FB users to scrape the ads they're served and verify whether FB is living up to its own promises to block paid political misinformation:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/25/musical-chairs/#son-of-power-ventures

Get that? A group of activist-academics and a collective of FB users teamed up to hold FB to account on its own firefighting promises, and FB is threatening to sue them into a smouldering crater... in the name of protecting users.

Here's a thing: Facebook lost control of 553 million user profiles: "phone numbers, full names, location, email address, and biographical information." They went up for sale on hacker forums months ago, but now they're free.

https://www.businessinsider.com/stolen-data-of-533-million-facebook-users-leaked-online-2021-4

The data was scraped by unscrupulous actors and is being disseminated to commit crimes against half a billion FB users, the "dumb fucks" Zuckerberg derided because they "trust me."

https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a19490586/mark-zuckerberg-called-people-who-handed-over-their-data-dumb-f/

I bet you a testicle* that Facebook's response to this will be to decry the efforts in the UK, EU and USA to force Facebook to interoperate with other online services, including co-ops and nonprofits.

*not one of mine

They will use the fact that the lost control of user-data and kicked off years - decades! - of fraud against a group of people outnumbering the combined populations of the US, Mexico and Canada - as evidence that they should continue to be entrusted with that data.

They will say that any rule that forces them to open their data up to third parties will make their job transcendentally hard; only they can extinguish the oily rag wildfires.

In other words: creating a problem makes you uniquely qualified to solve it.

This is radioactively self-serving bullshit.

Not because privacy isn't important. Privacy is very, very important. It's far too important to leave up to the whims of corporate executives, especially *Facebook* executives. That's some next-level fox/hen-house stupidity.

The right way to establish the boundaries for data-handling isn't to give Facebook unlimited power to exclude competitors and hold its users hostage.

It's to encourage interoperability and block anticompetitive mergers, so there are lots of places FB users can go without giving up their social connections.

The way you prevent bad actors from interoperating with Facebook in ways that are harmful to users is by creating a federal privacy law, with a private right of action, which allows users to sue companies that violate their privacy.

All forms of interop are potential sources of liberation from Facebook's historically unprecedented hostage-taking, including scraping and other forms of Competitive Compatibility.

As my EFF colleague Bennett Cyphers and I detailed in our paper in Feb, we *can* have privacy without monopoly:

https://www.eff.org/wp/interoperability-and-privacy

Image: Open Gate Farm (modified): https://www.flickr.com/photos/opengatefarm/512870804/

CC BY-NC: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Ott Rebane (modified): https://www.flickr.com/photos/158940298@N08/50016811527/

CC BY: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

#pluralistic

138 notes · View notes

tact-and-impulse · 3 years

Text

Shinkane Week 2021 Day 6

A crossover with the light novel series Sugar Apple Fairytale! The first 2 volumes were already translated but I hope someday that it’ll be picked up again or licensed.

Fairytale

Initially, he thought he could take advantage of her naïveté. She was obviously a traveler, alone and with wide eyes surveying the surroundings. And in need of a warrior fairy like himself, for protection on the road. After all, that was why she bought him.

His left wing, long separated from the rest of his body, was now in her possession, and he braced himself for the inevitable squeezing, for his will to be bent to her liking. But she never did. Instead, she offered her other hand, like he was another human.

“I’m Akane. Nice to meet you.”

“…Hello.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Call me whatever you like. You’re my owner.”

She frowned. “Don’t fairies have names?”

“We do, but people don’t really care.”

“I care.” She looked terribly earnest. She really was on her first trip away from whatever small town she hailed from.

“‘Kougami’ is fine.” A part of his full name would do.

“Alright, Kougami-san.” She smiled, and he dragged his stare to the gray sheen of his wing, to remind himself that he was under her control.

***

His new owner was far too defenseless.

As their wagon headed for the capital city, she tried to ward off the silence with conversation. She had been trained in sugarcraft by her late grandmother and this was her first competition. Silver sugar was blessed by the gods, but also inherently difficult to work with. With her skills, she hoped to do well enough to be promoted.

“Not to win the grand prize?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

“As long as I make something that only I could have, something that I’m proud of, even years from now, I’ll be happy enough. And I’ll give you your wing back, once we get there.”

“Sure, you will. Until you decide you like having someone follow all your orders and don’t want to release me.” It had happened before, multiple times.

“I’m not changing my mind, Kougami-san. And I won’t give you an order either. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Then, why don’t you hand over my wing now?” There was a flicker of hesitation, and he leaned back, his suspicions confirmed. Despite her doe eyes, she was just like the others. “As I thought.”

Unable to reply, she focused on driving the horses. It was supposed to be a scenic road. Then, in his periphery, he spotted four silhouettes on their own mounts, deliberately swerving towards them.

“We have company.” He warned her. “Probably heard crafters like you would be traveling this way.”

Akane snapped the reins, but with the sugar-laden wagon, they could only travel so fast. She glanced behind. “Are they armed?”

“Looks like it.” His elbow nudged her side. “Order me.”

“What?!”

“I can’t do anything unless you give me an order. Go ahead, twist my wing.”

“I won’t do that. I said I wouldn’t.” Stubborn, even when her life was at stake. The horses continued on, but their pursuers were catching up. Their rough, weather-worn faces slowly became visible.

“If you won’t, then we may not make it to your destination.”

The bandits rode closer. Their eyes traveled hungrily, not only upon the sugar barrels, but his owner as well.

Finally, she relented. “I’m not ordering you, I’m asking you to protect me.”

“Close enough.” Flaring out his right wing, he jumped off. He summoned his sword, black and electric blue, and went to work. Too easily, the enemies were rendered to crimson smears. It wasn’t much of a fight, but after so long, his skin was buzzing. The thrill of battle. He almost missed the wagon turning around.

“…stop…”

But her voice was too far away.

“I said, stop!”

And she must have twisted his wing because he spasmed and fell to the blood-soaked ground.

***

When he came to, he was curled on his side, and Akane was leaning over him.

“You’re awake! Thank goodness. Here, drink this.” She held a cup to his mouth, and he tentatively sipped. Coffee, but the sweetness was refined silver sugar. At the taste, it was as if a moonbeam was cast upon him, closing his wounds and rejuvenating with pure divine essence.

“…You didn’t leave me behind.”

“I wouldn’t have. I still have something that’s yours.”

In another life, he might have accused her of eating too much of her own supplies. But he looked directly at her, saying. “I feel better. You still have enough to compete?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.”

They reached the capital by noon, and once they passed the main gate, she held out his wing. “Thank you so much, Kougami-san. I wouldn’t have made it here without you.”

He eyed her. “You’re really giving it back?”

“I meant what I said.”

He reached for his wing, afraid she’d pull away, but at the gossamer feel, energy surged through him. It glowed and flew to his back, fitting in its rightful place. After years of forced servitude, he was finally free. He slid off the wagon, stretching as he hadn’t in a long time. He felt like he could take a deep breath. “Thanks.”

She beamed and pressed a wrapped handkerchief into his hands. “Before I go, this is just a little gift from me. I wish you well.” Then, she bowed and headed further into the city.

After he watched her disappear, he opened the fabric. Sparkling in the midday light, there was a tiny silver sugar wolf. Its ears were bent towards a sound only it could hear; the paws were poised in mid-step, the tail in a perfect curl.

“Damn it.” Pocketing the sculpture, he followed the signs to the competition, but the area was closed to participants only. Public viewing would be at dusk, with final judging at the end of the hour. Reluctantly, he left but even before the sun went down, he was loitering outside.

His intuition told him what her handiwork was, a spiraling arrangement of delicate flowers and leaves, studded with dewdrops. It reminded him of his early days of existence in the wildwoods, oddly nostalgic. However, the adjacent sculpture was very similar. Had the crafter cheated? The promotions were announced first, and he spotted her, flushed with joy as her name was called. In her wake, there was another girl, with long black hair and cold eyes. Then, the prizes were delegated but at the first runner-up, there was a snag. Two sculptures had caught the judges’ eyes, but there could only be one winner, who would be granted permission to tour the country and learn from the other masters to hone their craft. A tiebreaker round would decide the victor.

There might have been trepidation in the other girl’s face, but Akane shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I’ve used up my supplies.” An automatic forfeit. But he didn’t want her to stop here, she deserved more. And he was partially responsible for the decrease.

He gritted his teeth and stepped forward. “Not all of it.” Ignoring the stunned looks of the crowd, he held up the sugar wolf. “You made this for me. You can break it down and recreate it. With your skills, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Her lips parted, surprised at his presence, but she determinedly took back the sculpture. “I can.”

The girls were given fifteen minutes, which seemed to drag on. The other had copied the wolf with great detail given that she’d only seen it once, but Akane had altered hers. Instead, it was leaping, balanced on one front foot and with a prouder demeanor than before. The judges’ eyes didn’t betray them, and Akane was rightfully declared this year’s master sugarcrafter, as the other girl was dragged away by officials. The extra round had been twofold, to uncover foul play too.

As the city descended into celebration, he hung in the growing shadows, but she still found him. “Kougami-san! Thank you, for helping me.”

“It would’ve been a shame if your hard work was put to waste.” He evasively replied. “Are you still planning to go home?”

“That was what I first thought, but…” She was thoughtful. “I wonder if there’s more I can learn, if I visit other sugarcrafting workshops.”

“Then, go. You can send a letter home and continue your journey.”

“What about you? I thought you would have left already. You’re free, you don’t have to follow humans’ orders anymore.”

“No, but I can do what I like. And right now, I think I’d like to see other sugarcrafting workshops.” At his answer, her smile was radiant.

In the morning, they bought fresh supplies and filled the sugar barrels. Settling into the wagon, he took the reins as she began sketching new ideas for sculptures. And so, they traveled on, past the horizon’s edge.

#shinkaneweek #shinkane #psycho pass

23 notes · View notes

hopetofantasy · 4 years

Text

Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E1

Previous season Prologue: Vlogs (1) - Vlogs (2)

Zaterdag 21:43

The time lapse already showing us a string of places that will be important later, like the dark alley, the Meir with Noor’s workplace, the university neighborhood, the Scheldt river where the boys hang out, ...

Perfect parallel:

The second season starts Zoë’s POV with a (washing machine) door, whilst the third opens with a door to a party that Robbe attends.

Robbe glances back at Noor passing through the shot this episode, an action he repeats when he spots Sander in the second episode. - A very subtle hint to where his love life may lead.

The first one starts with two unknown LGBT+ girls kissing at a party, the last episode shows two known LGBT+ boys (Sobbe) kissing at their own party.

The aerial shot through the floor to introduce us to Robbe’s POV here and the aerial shot through the roof to say goodbye to him in the last episode.

Moyo saying “No one would do you” to Aaron in this episode, Aaron realizing “No one here wants to do me!” in the last.

Where’s Wally? Noor greeting Marie, accompanied by Jana and Britt. Max dancing with Keisha in the crowd.

How ‘meta’ of you: Newsflash, yes you are!

Nod to the OG:

The deliberate messy POV: following everyone that we know already and then slowly settling on the Isak version in a tub.

Robbe saying Noor looks like ‘Natalie Portman’, which is what people said to the OG Emma when they flirted with her. Everyone, except Isak, that is.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Moyo keeps pressuring Robbe into explaining what type of girl he likes. The boys laugh it off when he answers that ‘he doesn’t have a type’.

Lost in translation: Moyo mocks Noor’s Dutch accent, making his ‘g’ and ‘st’ sound harsher, while also adding ‘hoor’ at the end - a typical word used by the Dutch to emphasize a point.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is playing with the weed bag. Keisha is one of the girls that Moyo mentions as Jens’ ex-girlfriend or ex-fling. Not only did Noor nót flush the toilet, but she didn’t used any toilet paper either!

Zaterdag 22:44

C is for culture:

Noor rescuing Robbe on her scooter - In Belgium, you’re allowed to drive a moped or scooter once you’ve reached the age of 16. Nothing is needed if the vehicle doesn’t go above 25 km/h. If it stays between the range of 25-45 km/h and max. 50 cc, you need to pass a theoretical exam, 4 hours of driver’s ed and a practical exam to get the license. Anything other than that, has a whole new set of restrictions, types of driver’s licenses and minimum ages. Noor and Robbe are, however, still breaking the law. As long as you’re not 18, you’re not allowed to have an extra passenger with you. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet. (Plus they ignored a red light. Those rebels!)

“You do know that you always have to have it with you?” - The Belgian law states that everyone above age twelve, has to get an ID to identify themselves. Some might have had a Kids-ID already - for travel purposes - but that’s not mandatory. However, once you're fifteen years old, you’re obligated to carry your ID with you at all times.

Perfect parallel:

Luca being all jealous whilst staring at Noor and Robbe making out in S3, her glaring at Maud and Robbe every chance she got in the last season.

Robbe and Noor having fun on the scooter while screaming and Robbe filming their adventure in this episode. Robbe and Sander doing a similar thing, but on their bikes in a later episode.

Wink to other remakes: Robbe sporting a brown jacket. (Eliott, anyone?)

Surprise bitch, guess who: It’s Willem Chanterie, the on-set costume designer and social media production assistant!

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has a ‘Fuck Trump’ sticker on her helmet. Robbe says “Hey, it’s red” in a very clear Antwerp accent.

Zaterdag 23:11

Hello from the outside: The garbage truck they sprayed, still drove around the city regularly. The art piece itself is named ‘#Genoeg mama' (= ‘#Enough mommy’). It blames the consumer society as toxic, making young people its victim.

Oopsie: Inside the graffiti den, Noor suddenly sports a tote bag with supplies, even though we never saw her wearing that in the previous shots.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has black combat boots. The photographer is obviously Sander, in case you have missed that subtle clue.

Zondag 13:41

Lost in translation/Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity:

“Check die pekie’s”. The word ‘pekie’ is actually Amsterdam slang for ‘beautiful girl, girlfriend’. In recent years, more and more Dutch slang are making their way into the Flemish dialect, because of the Dutch rap songs gaining popularity with the youngsters.

“Vamos, flikkers”. The word ‘flikkers’ can mean ‘wussie’ as well as a derogatory term for ‘homosexual’. Again establishing the fact that the boys use a lot of homophobic or toxic words for each other.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +1, him tossing the bag behind Jens instead of into his hands.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: There is a football right next to the skateboards.

Maandag 16:04

C is for culture: “The whole art school was talking about it” -

Secondary school is divided in four sections: general, technical, art and vocational. Which section you choose can have effect on further education. In one of these sections, you pick what you want to study from your first to last year (‘directions’). That means that you have some courses purely focused on the direction and others that are obligated for everyone, regardless.

Art high schoolers can choose to go to work or study a specialization afterwards. Their coursework isn’t solely art based, there are general required courses too. That’s why some foreigners - including the Dutch - come to Belgium, since they’ll get a more rounded and higher level of art education than in their countries. ‘de!KUNSTHUMANIORA’ is the high school in Antwerp Noor goes to and is known for having students with unique styles.

Perfect parallel:

Noor waiting outside the school for Robbe and him reacting somewhat confused here, Sander doing the same and having an instantly happy Robbe in a later episode.

Robbe having no problem kissing a girl ‘as a straight guy’ in front of the gates in this episode and scared for what might happen if he kissed a boy ‘as a gay guy’ later on.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The insta caption underneath the art work says ‘An inspirational message on a Sunday! Just discovered this in Antwerp city today. Artist unknown... Can you remember when you last called on your mother?’ (That last sentence, oooofff, the symbolism!)

Dinsdag 14:57

C is for culture:

“Yes, mini enterprises are so chill.” - Mini enterprises are often used as a tool for Economics in the fifth/sixth year. The goal of these is to ‘learn whilst doing it’. Like the name specifies, mini enterprises are actual miniature companies set up by a group of students. During the school year, they’ll try to work together on commercializing a product. All aspects of entrepreneurship are at play here: writing a business plan, holding meetings, doing bookkeeping, marketing the product, produce and sell it, ... If the enterprise idea is good or well executed, it might even win a national prize by the company making this education formula.

“What if he contacts child protection services” - Actually, those services doesn’t really exist in Belgium. There are, however, other youth organizations for these types of things, like JAC - Youth Advice Centre, CLB - Centre for Student Guidance and the Centre for Mental Healthcare.

Perfect parallel: The boys hyping Aaron up to walk over to Amber and talk to her - yet he fails in this episode, them doing the same and he succeeds (after some fails) in the last episode.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Jens saying “Damn, seems like someone is on his fucking period”, after Robbe snaps at him due to the difficult telephone call with his dad.

Lost in translation: Jens saying “Mijn kop staat er niet naar” (= “My head’s not standing there”) can actually mean different things: I’m not in the mood, it’s not the right time, I don't want to do it, my head’s all over the place, ... It depends on the context, on which interpretation would suit the situation the best.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The girls are all fawning all over Britt’s cellphone, so there is a good chance that they’re discussing (pictures of) her boyfriend, Sander. Also, Jana’s braces are gone!

Donderdag 17:13

Perfect parallel: Robbe stating that he can’t talk to his dad or he’ll fight and Zoë getting that, as she said a similar thing to an understanding Senne about her parents in S2.

How ‘meta’ of you: Ah, yes, fandom ship names in SKAM. We applaud!

Oopsie: If you look really hard, you see that the body type and hair of Robbe’s dad, doesn’t correspond with the version waiting at the restaurant later on.

Wink to other remakes: This shot reminding you of a certain S3 trailer? 👀

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The numerous references to Zoënne’s relationship in their room (relationship pics, Senne’s guitar). The paper Milan gifts to Robbe is the written permission by his parent to live with them, as is obligated by law.

Vrijdag 20:04

Perfect parallel:

Senne pulling Zoë up after a kiss here, just like with their first kiss in S2.

Robbe pushing Milan away after thinking he wanted to kiss him at the party in S2, them hugging it out in after talking about it in S3.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë and Milan making some healthy party snacks like cauliflower and cocktail sauce, cheese with tomatoes and salami squares. She pulls back the bottle of gin that Milan wants to steal. Senne also bought paprika and tortilla chips from Colruyt (a discount store).

Vrijdag 20:54

C is for culture: “Noor, Robbe’s girlfriend” - (Teen) dating culture is different in Belgium. Usually, if you have kissed, hung out, texted or just said/did something to show your mutual interest, you’d pretty much consider yourself in a relationship. It can go from 0 to 100 very quick. Unless there is, of course, an agreement that what you’re doing is no such thing. Also, nobody really ask you to be their gf/bf. It just implied or stated to their family or friends.

Perfect parallel:

A reluctant Robbe pushing himself to do stuff to Noor (playful dancing, kissing, riling her up) as far as putting his hands on her bra here. A totally different, excited Robbe not even thinking twice about doing these things to Sander, even licking his nipple during their reunion.

Noor pushing Robbe on the bed and climbing over him, whilst Robbe looks all sad in this episode. Him pushing Sander on the bed and being happy as Sander crawls over him during their reunion.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe tries to convince himself into liking heterosexual sex with Noor and fake laughs with his friends about having it.

Where’s Wally? Keisha laughing with Amber and later dancing with Marie.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is talking to Senne. The decorations behind Milan saying ‘Welkom Robbe’ (= ‘Welcome Robbe’). Noor has a beautiful tattoo of a pin-up girl covered with butterflies on her lower arm.

#wtfock #wtfam #skam #skam belgium #cpm rewatch

124 notes · View notes