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justanotherpersonsuniverse · 3 months

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SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 70 PN BELOW Lets fucking go cap! ok it’s the weekend, I have my own writing block and I finally finished my fucking assignments and handed them in, I’m practically free forever!! (exams loom in the distance, i willfully ignore their shadow)

I’ve started by reading from chapter 67 just to bring myself back into the mindset (and because they are hype as all hell chapters), this is faster than starting my like 7th re-read.

I even made myself a cuppa to really settle in, the vibes are immaculate, I played Bizet Carmen while reading this time

The dichotomy of Juleka:

I don't want to hurt anyone!

Extreme violence is efficient.

The fact that we didn’t get ladybug trying to kiss rena when she was shot by dark cupid is tragic

This time i listened to shoot to thrill by ACDC, and Burn it down by awolnation for the badass parts

Anyway finally onto Fei, that only took me two hours (i briefly wrote shit so yknow, a good time!)

Fei’s tragic backstory be upsetting frfr, Like damn brother you watched your dad die in front of you? Do you need a blanket and a hug?

The tone change from “My life ended when my dad died.” to “summer was awesome!!” made me snort horrible it’s not funny- but it kind of is-

Oh my god Juleka got a break for weeks AND WE DIDN’T GET TO SEE IT??? Tragedy. (i’m kidding, so happy that she got a break <33)

Rose thirsting over Panthera in a crop top is too funny- you just know if it was anyone else Juleka would be pouting like “damn what do they have that I don’t?”

Oop her hands still kinda fucked, curiouser and curiouser. I wonder if she has tried to practice her secondary power. Which rq, it was SUCH bullshit that LB gets two and the cat miraculous gets one in canon, so happy you retconned it

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD OK CAP I AM SO HYPE HYPE SHE GOT A MODELING INTERNSHIP?????? Like sure cause nepotism but i’ve been wanting to see Juleka try out modeling in a real environment for ages cause like thats something she is interested in yknow and i just-

Augh, hype as hell. And an excellent reason for her to be going to Shanghai, I applaud your problem solving to fit Juleka into the show's narrative! I applaud it always, but this one was more difficult than usual methinks

I have pizza now it is 8pm

Anyways; NOO GABEY BABY DON’T BE EVIL VIBES TO JULEKA SHE’S JUST A LITTLE THING

Oh my poor awkward Juleka… Gabriel wasn’t helping but this is so funny, dude you vowed to kill this girl like a month ago open your eyes

I NEED juleka’s modeling arc to be a thing. Idk how into detail you went but i’m hoping for some i’m rabid i’ve been waiting for this for like 3 years

Oh airports SUCK i feel her anxiety so much, poor thing… i forced my friend to share her location with me one time so we could stalk each other, we never turned it off its kinda funny

… why is Anarka banned from airports?? Being “a living weapon” is so vague.

Killing myself rose and juleka are so cute- and obsessed with each other- every hour is insane

I love Juleka instantly becoming a disaster on baby’s first flight

Juleka instantly being on high alert around gabriel is so real.

“Right,” Mr Agreste’s face didn’t twitch nor soften much in response, just nodded in understanding and turned back to stare forward. “The opening of this store is essential to the future of the Agreste Brand, you two. Opening it much sooner is very good news. There will be other fun times with your friends.”

Hardass, fuck off!!

Poker with literal chips made me laugh- adrien would be terrible at poker

Spiderman far from home? Nah, Panthera Noir far from home.

“Oh that building looked fun to climb.” please Juleka unhinged parkour arc when?? Like people turn away from her and then look back and she’s up a tree.

HELP “bye bye bag” is so real-

She’s so scary, but I wanna ask what her hair dye is. Do it. Please. I think you would factory reset Nathalie and she would answer on autopilot

Awkwardly playing chess is so real, also; yippee!! Adrien and Juleka bonding even more after the acting debacle!!

“Knights were cute. Little pony’s. Rose always wanted to move her knights cause they reminded her of unicorns.” please this is literally my strategy in chess, i just move them around and sometimes i win because i confuse people so badly

LB overthinking chess is hilarious.

Adrien POV???

YOU CAN LEARN MANY THINGS FROM JULEKA SUCH; HOW TO BE A CAT. sorry i just had the mad idea that Adrien might find out this chapter… i would go insane if that turned out to be right

��Knowing info about me is pretty easy when your Wikipedia is super detailed” that’s fucking depressing. Adrien baby that’s a terrible way to get to know someone and not the same experience at all-

Gaelic is a real language!! And a bitch to learn- I briefly tried with my dad and we both gave up, we’ll just stick with scots english

“Where do you disappear during akumas?” hard hitting question Adrien, ten points!

And is also making me high key suspicious about him finding out, the vibes are there

Nah, nah evil. Gabriel spend time with your son goddamnit

GET HIS ASS JULEKA YES GIRL I LOVE YOU

The fact that she thinks she isn’t brave sometimes infuriates me, like babe i get your insecure but your brave as hell.

QUEEN SHIT JUST WENT DOWN THERE

Juleka ripped him to shreds hell fucking yeah.

Wait. why did she give him the king? Hawkmoth called himself a king… cue the x-files music

Who the fuck is this asshole? Fei. Kick his ass, i command thee.

Oh curious, she has burn scars from the fire, i like this detail.

I feel like Fei and Juleka will get along, based on the ever present rage against one guy

She is being used augh

“Your father deserves to be avanged.”

“He does.” UMM GIRL YOUR DAD WOULD HATE THAT WEREN’T YOU THERE FOR THE FLASHBACK??

I want Cash to gtbnrvice this asshole is just using her desperation for information-

I want Juleka to scare him into telling them, as Panthera, i think she would be quite good at that.

Juleka is a feral beast who needs her outside time (i like how she wants to run on rooftops a lot its cute)

LORE LORE LORE LORE

Excited. The prodigious?? Tell me more silly cheese guy

Ummm. i need the prodigious to show up, i can’t remember if thats what Fei has or if this is future future foreshadowing, this is exciting

New arc unlocked: freeing the Kwami from their jewelery or the curse.

Also; yes sadistic plagg in the face of the guardians temple being destroyed, you go girl

Guardian temple? Swallowed whole? Sounds frightening. What a feast. HA

Model Juleka yippee!

Help- adrien your advice is trash-

Ok existential conversation, yes girl let me spiral-

No sick girl Nathalie let adrien speak i want to know what he thinks of the best girlies-

Plagg wanting to take him under his wing- Juleka saying he wants to replace her with Adrien- ITS ALL COMING TOGETHER.

Nah if you actually do have a reveal to Adrien i am going to go buckwild- cause either the vibes of the chapter got me but i think I guessed before any of the concrete foreshadowing

Ok sick girl nathalie actually has some sound advice and is being lovely to Juleka

Yes Juleka use your strength

FEI STEALING CAMERAS??

Get her ass Juleka, or- politely bite her arm juleka?!?

Juleka is just brawling in an alleyway- like damn sister- watch out for bruises you might not be allowed to model-

Oh god what if she took plagg during some of their scrapping- actually, that would be fine. Juleka would just go insane and fight her

Juleka; desperately grasping for something familiar and bantering with Fei

Fei: what the fuck is wrong with her?

Nicest mugger I’ve ever met real and true

Wait

NOO JULEKA THEY WON’T LET YOU MODEL LIKE THIS

YEAH KICK. HER. ASS.

Plagg stays with Juleka yippeee!!

Help their dynamic is so funny- exactly what i was wanting.

Juleka would want to learn how to disappear even better than she already does wouldn’t she

Nah not Fei thinking “well that was fucking weird” while juleka is like “Oh that was cool” Juleka is so weirdgirl core i love her

Oh shit she stole marinettes stuff Tiki is there-

Kick the asshole in the balls Fei, i command thee.

I am so happy Nathalie and Juleka have some sort of alliance, in my as to be written huge tragedy based on Nathalie Gabriel and Emily (which is extensively planned), I think Nathalie is more similar to Juleka as a teenager.

Adrien and Nathalie interaction- “yes we- we did it” agyuhtvrinjfeok love her.

Marinette blinked vacantly, standing in the back alley streets of Shanghai with a paling expression on her face and her entire inventory ghosted from her person.

WHERE THE HELL AM I!?

HELP SHE’S SO FUNNY- i love disaster marinette please-

and thats a wrap for Fei! i started this before five and it is now ten pm- i did other things though.

this was awesome cap, I look forward to the next chapters and I shall review them tomorrow!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed <3

GLAD YOU ENJOYED!!!!!!

#panthera noire au #sneak a cat

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swiftiephobe · 4 months

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OKAY SO.

i didn't have any friendship bracelets because honestly i could not be fucked making them and they generally just aren't really my thing. so i wasn't on the hunt to trade but two nice girls offered me bracelets (one girl spotted my arm lyric and gave me a speak now one and another girl gave me a dbtc one as we were leaving the stadium) which was very sweet of them!

i'm very VERY glad i didn't watch heaps of livestreams or the tour movie because while i was definitely familiar with most of the show i still felt like there were little details that surprised me!!

i may have gotten teary at the opening. it truly cannot be overstated just HOW emotional of a moment that is.

the bracelets during yntcd are so so gorgeous!

i had gone through 500 emotions by the time the lover set had ended and i knew i was in for an exhausting (in a good way) night

fearless really is THAT album like even if it's not high up on your ranking i really don't think you can be a swiftie without appreciating that album and everything it represents and what it did for her career

i had NO IDEA the intro for willow would be like that and it took me so off guard

her champagne problems speech was so!! ahh!!! i felt like the lover + fearless sets were fairly "rehearsed" in their crowd interaction (not that that's a bad thing!!) but in the evermore set she really started to open up and pour out her emotions.

i was surprised that she talked about the flashlights for marjorie because i assumed that was just something the crowd did every night and she would be used to it by now but she seemed genuinely touched by it tonight!

i also didn't know she talked to the crowd after the champagne problems applause so that was a really nice surprise!

the don't blame me/lwymmd transition was mindblowing as predicted

i simply cannot imagine a version of this tour without long love in it

i will NOT be hearing a single bad word about the red set going forwards. yes it's all the hits and none of the deep cuts but they are HITS for a reason!! i simply cannot make the hits not hit!

TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING

the folklore set is an interesting one. i was predicting it to be my fave as a certified folklore girlie and it was amazing BUT i felt like having it placed directly after atw10 put it in a spot where i was feeling VERY drained and i really had to work to pick myself up to get back into it.

everything after this felt very rapid fire like 1989 was just a barrage of major hits!!!! incredible just how many hits that album produced

the SYDNEY chant was a lot of fun

she sang should've said no (thereby declaring debut rights) and i screamed. then she sang you're not sorry one of my fave fearless songs and i screamed. then she mashed up new years day and peace and i screamed.

idk if i imagined this but while singing peace when she sang "would it ever be enough" it looked like she shook her head and it had me :(

the midnights set had my fave visuals of the whole show methinks

no "karma is the guy on the chiefs" for us tonight but i'm sure it was felt in spirit ❤️

thanks for reading my word vomit on all my thoughts about my show (i will probably have more tomorrow) i think i am going to sleep now

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vyragosa · 9 months

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just rewatched ds2 trailer (it pops out in my recs from time to time and I just rewatch it like a lunatic) and you know how the strands have always been shown either in white or black colors, a sort of dichotomy right, so in the trailer they’re red with the “should we have connected?” at the end. do you think there is some kind of symbolism in red strings specifically since red as a color seems more… menacing? it’s like the strings are bloodied, red is generally associated with danger, power, sacrifice but also with strong feelings such as anger&love… anyway since strands are used to symbolise connection it could be an allegory to chiral network backfiring? maybe something to do with Amelie’s cult since red color is strongly associated with Amelie?

omg I kinda realized this is such a cornplate ass ask im-HSKHLDKJDHDSKJLFK im going insane if there’s no new trailer on TGS i’ll just die methinks

put off answering this a little because i remembered a bunch of analysis from before (also it's not cornplate LOLLL isn't it the only thing i do ? ???? (i had to look up what cornplate means LMAOOOO))

TLDR: red, the blood of Isis

first off i absolutely agree!!!!!

there's seriously no reason to think with "should we have connected" that it's not about. " a need to be disconnected from a forceful connection " it's terribly in line with what happened only a few years ago now...the time of the game's rewriting, how people found hobbies during isolation and in general, it's hard to believe kojima wouldn't be inspired by the events, so very guaranteed, also forced connection, having to break off damaging relationships and the likes, our protagonist suffers physically after all too, it's all very loaded meaning

now for this red............that is indeed the symbolism for the blood of Isis, i believe to not be a stab in the dark at all and to be completely correct about this, the first picture is a knot of Isis, the second is her name spelled above her head and now check the figures above the amelie effigy.....

=> Isis is a deity that kojima wrote about before in games like zone of the enders? alongside anubis, there's a lot to be drawn from there and then remember the interviews

"the egyptians had the beach figured out"

not going to go in-depth about the meaning of the blood of isis that's for another time if i manage to write it coherently 😅 but basically, that's why the mask of higgs-amelie is this deep red, the jasper used is symbolizing this blood of isis very clearly and that's how i even started researching this hard because it seemed insane enough to fit in the puzzle...

aside from this about strings precisely, there's the figure of Hekate, who is described as "saffron-cloaked" the triplicity goddess who is also assumed to be the inspiration of the statue of liberty, which, coincidence as it is, is who amelie is also alluded to (her giant form, her "lighting" the path of the chiral network, just a bunch of stuff about it all, and kojima had to notoriously cut a segment about the statue in metal gear so really)

there's of course the red thread of ariadne as well that rings true, there's just a lot of symbolism like that ties the whole thing together and i don't know where i'm going anymore.

#anonymous

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aubins · 10 months

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TOA Anniversary Munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

NAME. darcy, but i also go by elio in other places

PRONOUNS. they/them

BIRTHDAY (NO YEAR). january 9

WHERE ARE YOU FROM? WHAT IS YOUR TIMEZONE? sea & gmt+8

ROLEPLAY EXPERIENCE. i couldn't give you an exact timeline tbh i do it very on and off for the most part

GOT ANY PETS? not at the moment!

FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR. there aren't really seasons where i'm from, so more generally my favorite time of year is the start of it! something nice about seeing the year turn over i think

SOME INTERESTS AND THINGS YOU LIKE. my life is a constant cycle of consume new media > fixate on said media > repeat so my current interests really depend on what i've gotten into recently haha (rain code right now i fear) otherwise some things i always like to talk about regardless are atla, orv, ace attorney, and specifically venti from genshin & ryuki from somnium files. i'm sure there are other things that i can't remember rn tho haha. in general, i also like math, reading & writing (i mean. you know LOL), photography, and music (i play the piano)! i also just like to learn in general

SOME FUN FACTS & TRIVIA ABOUT YOU. i speak three languages, though i can only confidently say i'm fluent in two. my mandarin has unfortunately suffered from years of disuse

WHAT NON-FIRE EMBLEM GAMES DO YOU PLAY? ace attorney, somnium files, rain code…there is a pattern here lol but those aside, other games i like that come to mind are 13 sentinels: aegis rim, hades, pokemon, and honkai: star rail

FAVORITE POKEMON TYPE & POKEMON. fairy types & ditto :] i just think it's a silly little guy

HOW DID YOU GET INTO FIRE EMBLEM? my brother came home with fe3h one day and i decided to play it too because he seemed like he was having fun

WHAT FIRE EMBLEM GAMES HAVE YOU PLAYED? fe11, fe12, fe16 (+ hopes), & fe17! though i got a little bit through awakening before i stopped, and i've watched play throughs of the tellius games & sov

FIRST FIRE EMBLEM GAME. three houses

FAVORITE FIRE EMBLEM GAME. i don't know if i would say i have a specific favorite to be honest

ANY FIRE EMBLEM CRUSHES? hm, not really? if i had to say one, maybe yuri, but that's in part gender envy i think haha

IF YOU'VE PLAYED THE FOLLOWING GAMES, WHO WAS YOUR FIRST S SUPPORT? WHO WOULD YOU S SUPPORT NOWADAYS? — THREE HOUSES. claude…probably yuri these days though haha — ENGAGE. technically no one because i immediately reset it after, but i gave the pact ring to veyle before i did

FAVORITE FIRE EMBLEM CLASS. mages are fun! in general i just like magic conceptually

IF YOU WERE A FIRE EMBLEM CHARACTER, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CLASS? i used to do archery so probably an archer!

IF YOU WERE A THREE HOUSES CHARACTER, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR AFFILIATION? i am heavily biased toward the golden deer because they were my first route haha but i'm an ashen wolves liker at heart so probably between those two

IF YOU WERE AN ENGAGE CHARACTER, WHICH EMBLEM WOULD YOU ENGAGE WITH? ooh…byleth? goddess dance is silly methinks

HOW DID YOU FIND TOA? i was struggling a lot with my writing at the time and stumbled upon the heart & soul ad on twitter! it was rather serendipitous timing i think

CURRENT TOA MUSES. one mister yuri leclerc

WHO WAS YOUR FIRST TOA MUSE? IF YOU DON'T HAVE THEM ANYMORE, COULD YOU SEE YOURSELF PICKING THEM UP AGAIN? my first muse was the lovely marianne von edmund :] she is very dear to my heart which unfortunately means i was very hard on myself when it came to writing her so probably not, but i think of her time in toa fondly

HAVE YOU HAD ANY OTHER TOA MUSES? caeda very briefly from when i first picked up the archanea games, and est whose app i wrote on the spot in the middle of the night after rereading her base conversations & supports

DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE A TYPE OF CHARACTER YOU GRAVITATE TOWARDS? i'm sure i probably do, but i wouldn't be able to put my finger on it myself. i think the process that happens for me when it comes to muses is that i find characters with certain aspects that i find interesting and would like to explore, then i learn to write them. and very rarely a character will just hit me over the head with a steel chair (yuri and est namely for muses i have/had in toa haha)

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE YOU ENJOY WRITING THE MOST? i love exploring a variety of relationship dynamics, though antagonistic relationships and found family in particular are my favorites (paw against the glass for the ashen wolves..) and i like writing the disparity between what a character thinks internally versus what they would actually express externally. more generally, i really enjoy writing combat!

FAVORITE TOA-RELATED MEMORY. i think any silly rng moments with the dice. two that come to mind immediately are est & sirius whiffing their attacks against one another in arena and, far more recently, waking up to yuri immediately getting bodied in team zofia. those made me laugh a lot haha

HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE TOA? by the letters! t-o-a

GOT ANY DELUSIONS THAT DIDN'T SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY THAT YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? fun fact of the day is that edelgard was going to be my first muse before i got intimidated at the idea of writing a lord mfksldjflskd i unironically have delusions of writing sommie haha but otherwise i have half-written apps for clarisse, both solm royals, lysithea, and shez

#❛　𝐎𝐔𝐓. 　 clever as the devil and twice as pretty #it's wednesday for me now haha but i thought this would be fun to do so

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helianskies · 1 year

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“you don’t scare me.” Arthur/Antonio

*cracks knuckles* time for a new au, methinks...

Tremors

Antonio does not know for how long exactly he has been sitting in that chair, staring at the same wall, fighting tight knots, and turning over the thought in his mind that says, just because you haven’t been killed yet does not mean that that can’t change.

The night before, he had been in bed sleeping peacefully. And then, the worst thing imaginable happened: a pirate raid.

That being said, it was not exactly… what Antonio imagined a raid would be like. There was less violence, less screaming, less fire, and more… organised, almost. Though, he himself woke to the sound of smashing glass, and didn’t even have a chance to get out of bed properly before his room seemingly became the raid’s epicentre…

One minute, Antonio had been in his home. The next, he had woken up with a throbbing head in that very room.

Outside, he hears the sea. He fears that land is already so far away. He fears that he is destined to die away from home.

Antonio closes his eyes. His head still hurts. He is still so, so tired. For a moment, he nods off—and maybe for a few seconds, or maybe for a few minutes—but, once more, violence pries him fiercely from the grip of sleep with the slamming of a door, and Antonio opens his eyes once more.

Finally, his captor has decided to make himself known.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the stranger says, staying out of sight. "I trust that no one else has disturbed you just yet…?"

He does not humour the other with a response. Instead, he listens as the footsteps near, and then does his best to steel his nerves as the other pulls up a chair, legs scraping on the floor, and sits down opposite him.

“Forgive me for being a bit blunt, but you do speak English, right?” he is asked, and Antonio, though he does not provide a verbal reply, instead examining his company, has answered the question regardless: “Good. If you didn’t, I’d be worried.”

Antonio’s brows twitch and form a slight frown. That means ‘why?’ as he still refuses to talk.

“You’re the kid who speaks a library’s worth of languages, aren’t you?”

He is not a ‘kid’, he wants to point out, but instead he says nothing.

“That’s why you’re here.”

His silence remains firm.

In light of this, the man—a pirate through and through, if the hat and partially-exposed chest and bad smell is anything to go by—leans forward, closer—too close, in fact. Antonio leans away from him, though there is not far he can go; the back of the chair stops him, and all the while, the other draws nearer.

His hand reaches out. Antonio does not like where it is heading. Fingers start to curl. Antonio’s toes curl in turn. And then, those fingers grip the underside of Antonio’s seat and slowly, steadily drag the chair towards their owner.

Antonio does not enjoy how close they end up, legs brushing against each other, only a couple inches of space remaining between them.

The smell worsens.

“I have something in my possession that I need translating,” the other begins to say. “It’s not in French, Spanish—not even Dutch. But a little birdie told me there was someone near where we were docked—the son of a merchant sailor—who has a knack for languages.”

How Antonio’s existence has come to be known to someone like this man is beyond him. It seems that years of studying have indeed provided him a future, as he had always intended, but now he is not sure that this is the future he—

“You know, I thought it was considered rude to ignore someone…”

“There is a difference between ignorance and defiance.”

“Ahhh, so he does have a tongue.” The other smirks. “Good to know.”

“You want me to translate something,” Antonio goes on despite the growing taste of acid in his throat.

“Mmh.”

“That is why you dragged me from my room, onto a ship, and started sailing away?”

“Yeah. Why, is that a problem?”

“It could be,” Antonio replies, “if it turns out I cannot translate whatever it is you want me to.”

At that notion, the other’s grin starts to fade. His relaxed posture ceases. And, in turn, what seems to have been relatively good humour, for a man of his calibre, becomes soured.

Once more, Antonio finds his personal space invaded. Once more, Antonio is unable to back away.

“You’re going to translate what I tell you to translate,” the other insists, “and if you can’t, then I have no use for you. And for that problem, I have an easy solution.”

The Spaniard swallows. “You don’t scare me,” he says, but the words hold no real weight or conviction.

“And yet, there is a faint tremble in your cheek,” the blonde remarks as his fingers suddenly dare graze over the skin of Antonio’s face, “and you can’t quite seem to look at me—not in a way that a brave man would.”

Antonio has no room to shy away from his touch, but the intention is there, and clear. The other pulls his hand away after a few more seconds of no doubt relishing in the reaction that has been plucked from his captive, and, once more, Antonio is able to breathe.

With that, the other gets up. He walks away. Antonio turns his head to try and find him, but hands settle down on his shoulders and lips are suddenly too close to his ear, breath tickling his skin.

“You and I are about to be good friends. So, friend, have you got a pretty name to go with that pretty face of yours?”

The brunette takes a slow breath. “Antonio,” he offers up without protest. “My name is Antonio.”

“Mmh, not too bad, I suppose,” muses the other. “Well, Antonio, in that case, you can call me Arthur.”

And, with that, Antonio finds himself alone all over again.

[ final wordcount, 999 words; prompt list here! ]

#helia writes #hetalia #hws spain #hws england #engspa #pirate au? pirate au.#folks you have to stop sending me things that make me want to write whole stories it's just not fair :'v #(im kidding i'm here for it)#also. look. finally something less than 1k words :')

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lucyandthepen · 2 years

Text

last night on earth - iii . | kdy

part i, part ii

you soon find out that there are more dangerous things than the flesh-eating undead during a nationwide implosion.

pairing: doyoung x reader verse: zombie apocalypse au rating: M for horror themes only ! genre/s: romance, horror/suspense warnings: brief but still present mentions of and sometimes depictions of violence, mentions of and possible character death, language word count: 7.6k

author’s note: been a hot minute since i’ve done anything on this blog thanks to real life issues but A PERFECT UPDATE FOR HALLOWEEN METHINKS!!!!!!!!!! enjoy october, everyone! it’s almost the end of the year and you made it through such a tedious year <3

“Is everyone okay?”

You turn to find the three newcomers in a heavily panting huddle; one of them is on the floor, his hand clutching his thigh. Kim Doyoung is in front of them, arms outstretched; it’s clear he wants to help them somehow, but he also doesn’t know how to. The result is him looking like a half-hearted scarecrow that’s, for some reason, breathing as heavily as them.

You can’t blame him, though; you notice that your own chest is heaving, and your grip on the umbrella is so tight you wouldn’t be surprised if your fingers made permanent dents on the handle.

The one who’d been urgently yelling at you to close the door is who responds with a brief but firm nod.

“Thank you,” his voice sounds coarse, like he hasn’t drunk water for days. “You saved our lives.”

“We just opened the door,” Doyoung says, voice back to its normal quiet and fairly calm state. “Hardly heroic.”

“Still more than what anyone else has done for us. We’d been trying to find someone who’d help us for more than an hour. We would have died if you hadn’t opened the door.”

Doyoung spares you a tiny glance that you don’t meet; you turn your back to him, now locking the deadbolt without protest or interruption. When you face the group again, your eyes land on the floor; the other guy hasn’t picked himself up, and his head is resting precariously on the knee of one of his companions, face contorted in pain.

“What’s wrong with him?” You ask, using the umbrella to point to him.

“Like I said,” the first guy’s voice grows a little softer, and maybe a little sadder. “We’d been running for a while. Those things that were after us… well, they were a lot more aggressive than we thought they would be. We got jumped near Gangnam Station, and one got its teeth into Sungchan’s leg. He’s more or less okay, apart from the fact that it’s been getting harder for him to walk, which is why we needed to find someplace safe to stop.”

Those things. The source of all of this chaos was still shrouded in mystery. Your mind briefly flashes back to your disgusting encounter with that cannibal businessman, digging his teeth into that poor lady’s skin, and you press a finger to your mouth briefly to stop the little egg you’ve ingested from coming back up. It’s Doyoung’s voice that brings you back to reality.

“Well, you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need. I’ll help you upstairs, and you guys can clean up and rest.”

He takes Sungchan’s legs, and the other two take him by the shoulders again; you cringe at the horrible sound of pain that he makes. They make some sort of haphazard human gurney, slowly easing him up the stairs. You’re still frozen for the most part, watching them haul what is essentially dead weight up the stairs while emotions assault you every which way. Deciding standing in front of the stairwell is pretty unproductive, you make your way back to the kitchen, ditching the umbrella back in its receptacle on your way.

The eggs are still on your plates; Kim Doyoung’s plate is almost as untouched as yours, and you pick up your fork, debating on whether or not to continue eating. It’d be a waste to not, especially since there’s not much food left and you’re slowly starting to realize that it really won’t be too easy to procure more food in the state the city is in at the moment. Still, you’re out of an appetite, and you don’t think it would be nice to offer this food to guests considering it’s been touched to some degree. The end result is you simply having a staring contest with your eggs, fork tightly in hand.

The house is quiet; someone, probably Doyoung, likely turned off the television, since you can’t even hear the faint drone of the news channel. You let out a heavy sigh and are a little surprised when it comes out so sharp that you actually feel a bit of pain in your nose.

You’re… angry. No — it’s not that intense of a feeling. Maybe frustration is better — frustration stemming from confusion is bubbling up in your stomach.

Your job is to protect the people; you know this, live by it as much as you can. That, on its own, made the choice you should have taken at the door simple. People were in trouble, and you should have helped them. But you also had a huge job; you had to protect this one particular person, and letting strangers in, risking his life in opening that door really was not the way to do it. Still, did that mean that you were supposed to prioritize Kim Doyoung’s life just because he was richer? Did not doing your assignment also mean you were doing something wrong? And were you really supposed to save everyone just because you felt that was your job?

The headache you gave yourself caused you to stab a piece of egg on your plate viciously before taking your plate up off the table. When you turn to head for the garbage disposal, though, you find Kim Doyoung standing at the doorway, watching you with an unreadable expression.

Nothing comes to mind for you to say, so you just place the plate down onto the counter.

“You don’t have to feel bad. About hesitating to open the door. I get it.”

“I don’t feel bad,” you lie, tossing the fork back onto the plate; the clatter it makes is loud and obnoxious. “I still don’t think we should have let them in. My job is to protect you.”

“I’m safe, aren’t I?” He lets out an incredulous laugh that lacks mirth as a whole. It’s once again a little uncharacteristic for him, but it comes and goes so quickly that you don’t have time to dwell on it either.

“You won’t be for long if I have to keep opening the door for everyone that knocks. You’re the number one priority here, and your house isn’t a fortress for everyone to hole up in. The more we let people in, the more you’re exposed to problems, and I’m supposed to stop that from happening.”

“You said yourself that you’re not my bodyguard. This is a temporary job.” He steps further into the kitchen. “You’re a cop. That doesn’t change just because you’re under my roof. If you want to protect people, protect them — people like them. I’d prefer it. It’d be for the best.”

“I can’t save everyone either. That’s just not how it works. If the mayor wants you alive, there has to be a good reason, and I’m not going to be the one that gets you killed by poor decisions.”

“And you’re going to be okay with that? Knowingly letting people die because you have to protect some guy you’ve never met and don’t care about?” He presses, his mouth giving way to the thinnest, slightest of frowns.

You’re taken aback, to say the least. You hadn’t been expecting gratitude, but you also weren’t expecting a lecture — at least not one from someone other than you. This only exacerbates your frustration, and you end up feeling slightly defiant.

“Yes, I’m okay with that,” it feels like a lie again, but your pride is swelling to immense proportions. The only thing you can do is tell yourself that your answer is the right one. “If that’s what it takes, then yes. Sacrifices are sometimes necessary.”

“Well, I’m not okay,“ he says firmly. “I can’t live knowing people died because of me. And I’m aware that I don’t deserve to be saved at the expense of others, so don’t go through the trouble.”

There it is again — that strange, darkly heroic aura he gives off, that he’s not worth protecting. The silence that falls between you is interrupted somewhat by the groans and footsteps coming from upstairs. The entire house feels stuffy now, and not just because there’s more than double the occupants there had been an hour ago.

“Look,” Doyoung manages to break the silence again, a heavy sigh leaving him. He’s rubbing his face, and when his hand falls back to his side, you note the darkness around his eyes. “Forget it. It’s… we’re all on edge, obviously. We just need to rest.”

“You go ahead,” your words are terse, voice distant and robotic. “I need to… do other stuff. Update my partner. I’ll clean up here.”

It sounds like a load of bullshit, and it’s clear that he doesn’t buy it, but he nods anyway, slowly, like he’s still trying to figure out what to say. Instead, he settles on the expected, mundane answer.

“Goodnight, offi — goodnight, _______________.”

You watch his back as it retreats, and you just stand in front of the counter for what feels like forever before you hear his door shut. Your body goes on autopilot, taking his plate and dumping the eggs, making a half-hearted mental note to figure out what the safest route to the nearest grocery store is after this.

You do the dishes, only slightly derailed by the fact that there is literally no dishwashing rack out; it kind of makes sense that he wouldn’t have to do the dishes if he doesn’t eat here, you realize, but the thought of that doesn’t curb the annoyance you feel when you have to scale the kitchen counter to reach the rack, which is perched on the highest shelf of one of his cupboards.

By midnight, you’re worse for wear; you head up to your room and take your phone out again, noticing that Youngho had called you a couple of times and even texted. When you try to call him back, though, it just rings out, which is kind of weird, since he usually has his phone at the ready for any emergencies. You want to worry, but the numbness that comes with tiredness convinces you that he’s probably just enjoying Kim Jungwoo’s hot tub or peeing, or something.

“Sorry,” you yawn into your phone after his voicemail beeps. “Had a situation over here. We have three new civilians to take care of. Unfortunately, Kim Doyoung’s house has become a human sausage fest.” You pause because you know he’s going to need a bit of time to laugh at that; a small smile grows on your lips too, despite it feeling inappropriate for the situation. That smile slips off the moment you hear soft, pained moans and muffled voices coming from the other room, and you realize that the injured guy is probably next door. “Front yard’s currently compromised, but I’ll check in the morning again, since there aren’t much disturbances, for some reason. Call me when you get this.”

Tossing your phone away, you roll over in bed. There’s still something nagging at you about what Doyoung had said, telling you that you need to give it some kind of attention, but your exhaustion causes you to reject it, and you fall into a dreamless but still somehow troubled sleep.

Youngho calls at around half-past eight, your ringtone jerking you awake unceremoniously. In your tossing and turning last night, you’d buried your phone under the excessive pillows on the bed, and the call drops before you can find it. A few seconds later, it starts up again, and you pat around hopelessly for another minute before you find it, answering the phone breathlessly.

“For fuck’s sake,” Youngho’s voice comes down the line, drowning out your hello. “I thought you died.”

“I thought you died!” You fire back, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. “You didn’t pick up yesterday either.”

“I was enjoying the home theater. There’s no service down in that room, so I left my phone upstairs. The surround system is killer, by the way,” he explains nonchalantly. “What happened to you? You said you’d call me back. Not to sound like the needy boyfriend you’ve always wanted, but I was kind of hoping you’d at least give me a better explanation.”

“There wasn’t much else to tell.” You untangle yourself from the sheets, standing to stretch your back in front of the window. The sky is unusually dark for the morning, especially since fall has just begun; you wonder if there’s a storm coming later. “Three guys came looking for a place to stay. They said… something was after them, and one of them got injured.”

“And you let them in?” Youngho sounds incredulous.

“It wasn’t my decision! Kim Doyoung told me to, and it’s his house, so I didn’t have a choice.”

“And? They’re still there?”

“Well, yeah. What was I going to do, kick them out in the dead of night?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem right, _________________. They could be dangerous p—“

Your phone makes a shrill noise, and you jerk it away from your ear in surprise; the screen flashes a warning and then goes blank, effectively cutting Youngho off.

“Shit,” you mumble under your breath. You’d forgotten to charge your phone last night, and the battery had already taken a huge hit from all the game playing and music streaming you’d done outside of Kim Doyoung’s house. You’re plugging the charger into the wall when a soft knock comes from your door, and the man himself steps in.

“Morning,” his voice is back to that quiet, aloof tone, like last night hadn’t happened at all. “Sleep well?”

“Yes. You?”

“I slept all right.” He jerks to the door, expression morphing into something sheepish. “I was… standing outside for a little while. I didn’t want to interrupt you on the phone.”

“Oh. Um — it’s fine.” Your phone dings, signaling to you that it’s charging, and you leave it on the windowsill. “That was just my partner.”

“Is anything wrong at my brother’s house?”

“Apart from the fact that your brother is spoiling my partner? Not much.”

He cracks a smile before clearing his throat, tugging at the neckline of his sweater. You watch him move, his small hands fiddling with a stray thread that’s sticking out of the knit. The only relief you get in this situation is the knowledge that he’s feeling just as awkward as you are right now.

“I’m sorry,” he says, finally, and it catches you off guard. Your jaw slackens a little, and you grapple with what to say, but he raises a palm to stop you. “I know… I know your job is important to you. Your priorities are different, and… you seem dedicated to your job. The fact that I don’t want to be protected doesn’t change the fact that you’ve been told to protect me.”

Only three men in your life have apologized to you with any modicum of sincerity: your father, who’d pranked you so much into thinking that there was a monster under your bed that you’d lost days of sleep; Youngho, who’d accidentally shot you in the face with a paint gun during the department’s MT (you’re still not sure if this counts because he’d been laughing hysterically while doing so); and Kim Doyoung, who’s currently fiddling with his sweater and watching for your reaction.

“I…” Your voice comes out broken and gross, and you clear your throat too, but you don’t miss the fact that he straightens up a little. “It’s fine. I’m sorry too. Everything you said last night… you were right, and I knew it.”

“It’s still not my place to tell you what to do. You’re the expert in this case.”

“I’m really not,” you smile weakly.

“You still know more than me.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter now,” You dismiss the cursory part of the conversation with a wave. “The point is that everyone’s safe here. We should probably let go of last night’s guilt.”

“Letting go of guilt,” he muses; his gaze isn’t on you anymore. In fact, it doesn’t seem like he’s looking at anything in particular at all, and that somehow makes you feel even less comfortable. “Is it that easy?”

“What is feeling guilty going to do? There’s no real point anymore. We just have to keep moving forward.”

“Right,” he comes back down to earth, it seems, and his fingers resume their movements. “Moving forward. About that — we’ve got three more people in this house, and I don’t think I have anything to feed a single one. I don’t know how much further forward we can move without supplies.”

“Oh god,” you squeeze your eyes shut, kneading at your brow to relieve the sudden headache that comes with the arrival of another predicament. “Shit. Right — okay. You have… cars, don’t you?”

“Well, yes,” he replies slowly.

“Great. Can I borrow your least expensive one?”

“You can take whichever you want, but I—“

“I’ll be down in five, then,” you cut him off, looking over at your now-empty bag and wondering why you’d just asked for time when you don’t have any clothes to change into.

He nods, stepping back out of the room. Your phone dings to life, and you turn back to it; it starts vibrating off the hook with a steady stream of messages from Youngho, the screen blinking annoyingly in its attempt to catch up.

[ incoming ] 영호 - STOP HANGING UP ON ME [ incoming ] 영호 - I’m convinced you hate me [ incoming ] 영호 - tough bc you’ll never find a better, more attractive partner and also we’re stuck together for the whole year [ incoming ] 영호 - _______________ can you pick up stop being annoying it’s important [ incoming ] 영호 - are you watching the news??????????? [ incoming ] 영호 - I’m telling chief that I want a partner divorce you’re useless >:(

[ outgoing ] 영호 - my phone died you absolute pain in the ass!!!! [ outgoing ] 영호 - go eat your caviar croissants or something [ outgoing ] 영호 - what’s on the news

“__________________.” Your head snaps up to find Doyoung still standing by the door, hand on the doorknob. He’s twisting it idly, back and forth, the lock clicking every now and then.

“Oh — sorry,” you put your phone down, ignoring the fact that Youngho’s name keeps popping up on the notification banner right above a slew of middle finger emojis. “I thought you—“

“No, it’s fine, I —“

He stops when your ringtone goes off again; the piano introduction of Heroine is loud and a little embarrassing, and you pick up a pillow to suffocate as much of the melody as you can.

He smiles, but this time, it almost reaches his eyes. You think that Doyoung’s face suits smiles as long as they’re not half-hearted or sad.

“More Sunmi?”

“She’s a national treasure,” you defend yourself, pressing the pillow down harder against your phone.

“Right. I’ll be downstairs.”

Whatever he’d wanted to say leaves with him as he shuts the door quietly behind himself, and Youngho doesn’t miss the annoyance in your voice when you finally pick up the call. He takes his sweet time getting to the point of the conversation to get even at you.

“The news says it’s some kind of wack infection. They’re not sure how it’s spreading or how it’s starting, but these people aren’t in their right minds. Remember that guy we saw yesterday?” He’d said when he’d finally gotten to the brunt of his call. “I’m willing to bet my mom’s car he was sick too.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We just do what we can. There’s no cure, apparently; I mean, people are still trying to figure it out. All we know is that antibiotics obviously don’t work against viral cannibalism.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. I have to go out for some supplies, though.”

“So, duty relief for you today? At least you’ll get to drive a cool car before you get fired–”

You hang up at this point.

Five minutes later finds you jogging down the stairs, and you spot Kim Doyoung and the guy from yesterday who’d explained what had happened. They were both looking up at the television, wordless beside each other; the screen flashed different, horrible scenes — buildings on fire, abandoned cars crushed against one another, and bodies. So many dead bodies. You see a flicker of disgust flash across Doyoung’s face as the screen zones in on a single, rotten arm, and he turns off the television.

“So,” you try to sound like you’re not minutes away from throwing up either, and the two men turn to you. “Which car am I taking?”

Doyoung presents you with a key; it’s one of those button-heavy ones that don’t even need to be inserted into the ignition, and you take it gingerly.

“This is the fancy key to your least expensive car?”

“The price is irrelevant,” he frowns. “What matters is that it works, and it works fast. Minhyung’s coming, by the way. Minhyung-ssi, this is __________________.”

“I can drive,” the other guy, who you now know is Minhyung, volunteers. You nod, slightly relieved that you won’t have to be the one worrying about driving a car worth more than your life insurance among other things. “We checked outside, too; there’s no one there. I guess as long as they don’t see a target, they don’t care that much.”

“Great,” you push the keys into Minhyung’s open hand. “Let’s get going, then.”

Doyoung walks you both to the door, but instead of stopping by the doorway after he opens it, he steps out onto the porch with you. And down the stairs. And walks towards the car.

“Hold on,” you stop, and he stops too, alarmed. “You’re not coming with us.”

“What?” He sounds incredulous, like this is the first time he’s considered you might say that.

“It’s too risky.”

“We’re going to the grocery store. I’m sure I can handle that. ”

“And we don’t know what’s at that grocery store,” you frown. “You have to stay here. We��ll take care of your car. Well, I mean, he will.” You jerk your head at Minhyung, who’s slipping into the driver’s seat.

“It’s not about the car. I want to help you.”

“And I want to protect someone that’s willing to actually stay protected. Only one of us can get what we want, Kim Doyoung-ssi.”

He makes a face — at the return of the formal address, at your words in general, you weren’t sure. You sigh, looking back briefly at Minhyung, who’s just started up the car engine; the windows are tinted, but you can see through them enough to know he’s turned towards the two of you, waiting.

“Look, you called the shots last night, right? I listened to you, and you were right. We got to help people. Let me have this one.” You try to smile weakly, but you think it kind of comes across as a grimace. “At least I can go back to the department and say I did what I could to protect you this one time.”

He stares at you for what feels like ages, but the moment is punctuated with a sigh and a reluctant nod. He steps back up onto the porch, and you offer him a reassuring nod of your own before turning back to the car, tugging the back door open and tossing your uselessly empty backpack inside before going back up to the passenger’s seat.

Minhyung has the car radio on to the news, but it’s more static than voice, and you just end up dialing the volume back down before putting on your seatbelt.

“Is Doyoung hyung not coming with us?”

Hyung? How close were they already? “No. I told him to stay. He’ll be fine.”

Minhyung nods wordlessly, shifting gears into reverse and slowly pulling the car out of the garage. When he turns his face forward, though, he slams down on the break, and an undignified yelp of surprise leaves you.

Doyoung is at your window, a fist raised to rap lightly on the tinted glass. You roll it down, trying to keep the panic out of your voice when you ask, “What? What is it?”

“Make sure to come back,” he says simply. Your face scrunches up in confusion.

“Of course. It’s just a supply run. Your car will be back in no time; don’t worry.”

“No; that’s not what I — don’t —“ He sighs. “Don’t go back to the police station. Just come straight back here. Okay?”

“But I thought you said —“

“I know what I said last night. I’m saying this now.” There’s a hint of pleading in his voice. “Come back.”

“I — okay,” you agree, altogether befuddled. He lets go of the window, and you slowly roll it back up as Minhyung backs out of the driveway. You try not to keep eye contact with Doyoung, fiddling with your seatbelt even if it’s already fastened, but you know he’s standing at the porch, watching you both drive away with yet another unreadable expression.

You trade the radio noise in for the GPS once you’re firmly on the road, and it’s on silent; your guess is that Doyoung doesn’t like the annoying robotic voice telling him where to go, so you have to make sure Minhyung is looking at the screen from time to time. You like that he isn’t unbearably talkative and is fairly safe as a driver, and you think he looks smart enough, which is always a good bonus, considering that you’re used to Youngho as a driver and as a human being.

The residential area of Apgujeong doesn’t have any big marts nearby, so you end up having to look for CUs and Ministops on the map. Even the nearest one is a good twenty-minute drive away, which seems hardly practical considering you’re in a heavily residential area. Even if you like that it’s quiet, though, it feels wrong and pretty awkward that nothing breaks the extended silence, so despite the fact that you don’t particularly enjoy small talk, you start anyway.

“Your friend,” Minhyung breaks his gaze away from the road to glance at you before turning back. “Sung… chan? Is he okay?”

“I’m not sure,” he admits, tongue peeking out nervously to wet his lips. “We’re not… we’re technically not friends. He and that other kid — Donghyuck — go to the same university, I think. We were just in the same bookstore when the fighting and madness broke out.”

“Oh. So you… you work at a bookstore?”

“Me? No; I was just there looking for some books for research.”

“Are you a teacher, then?”

“No,” he chuckles the way you would expect; it’s a deep, baritone rumble that’s fairly calming and not at all like the wheezing Youngho does that makes you want to smack him upside the head. “I’m working on a novel.”

“That sounds pretty neat. What about?”

“Well it’s — it’s complicated.” His fingers tighten a little on the wheel. “My editor’s been asking me to write a romance novel — you know, since a lot of people are into that these days. But it’s just… it’s not something I can write about well. I’ve never had a real interest in romance novels, so everything I make just comes out bland.”

“So what do you like to write about?”

“Science fiction, mostly.”

“Anything I may have read before?”

“Depends. How prolific a reader are you?”

“I’m not even sure what prolific means,” you laugh.

“My books aren’t that big. Mostly because so much editing beyond my reach happens to them, they never look like what I’d wanted them to in the first place.” He sighs, turning into a smaller street. It’s equally empty here, for some reason, but it doesn’t feel like the safe, quiet neighborhood it’s supposed to be. You see a lone woman limping down the sidewalk, and you wonder, briefly, if she’s sick too. You don’t get a good look at her face, though, and Minhyung’s driving at a speed that doesn’t give you much opportunity to look back, so you let it go. “What about you?”

“I’m a cop. I actually got promoted to corporal fairly recently.” See: yesterday, but you don’t think it’s necessary to specify this.

“That’s great; congratulations,” he throws you a small smile. “No wonder you’re so protective of Doyoung hyung.”

“Yes, well, it’s kind of my job to be.”

“I can see that. I’m sure he appreciates it. Is that why you didn’t want him to come along?”

“Yeah. I don’t really know if he gets that helping out here more is just going to put him in more danger.”

“Maybe he does, though,” Minhyung’s eyes flit to the screen again; the destination is growing closer. “Maybe he just wants the chance to protect you, too?”

You sit there, staring at the road in front of you, trying to decipher what that means. The CU sign comes into view, and Minhyung slows the car as you approach the entrance.

“But,” you start carefully. “Why would he?”

“I’m not a romance expert, but isn’t that normal for couples?”

“It is,” you say, your voice small so that he can’t hear how close you are to imploding from embarrassment. “Except we’re not a couple.”

Not for the first time today, Minhyung steps down hard on the brake. You both lurch forward, but no one makes a sound this time; your bodies just lean forward silently and snap back against the seats with soft thuds.

“Oh. I thought… because you were staying in his house…”

“I’m just here on official business,” you swallow hard, staring out your window so that you both can avoid feeling even more awkward than you already do. “From the police department.”

“He said… his girlfriend didn’t like people going into her room, so I thought —“

“Yeah, that’s… that’s not my room. Sorry.”

“Oh.” His voice trails off into almost nothingness. “Sorry.”

He kills the engine, but the both of you just sit there in silence for a little while, letting the strange atmosphere ebb away. Thankfully, he doesn’t press the conversation further, and you step out first, with him following your lead. Your hand is at your waist, fingers brushing against the stock of your gun, but there are no disturbances for the most part, and you relax somewhat. You and Minhyung both head for the store; the little bell that usually jingles to announce a new customer is on the ground outside.

The inside is fairly empty, too; there are canned goods and flyers on the floor. The microwave is half-open, and you notice that a now-cold sausage is on the dish inside. You start picking up the canned goods, stacking them onto a basket while Minhyung keeps the door open with his foot, bending down to push six-pack bundles of water outside near the front wheel of the car.

“You think anyone’s in?” He’s whispering, and you don’t know why it feels appropriate to move as soundlessly as possible even if the place is deserted. Shaking your head, you pass him the basket of canned goods, and he starts nudging the water towards the trunk of the car with his feet so he can load them.

You wander down the aisles, tugging on everything you think you might need — tissues, snacks, toiletries — piling them all up in your arms. The area feels unsettling, though, so you try to pick up the pace, stuffing anything useful between your arms. There’s a weird noise that hangs over the convenience store, and you realize later on that it’s radio static coming from the set behind the cashier’s counter. You guessed whoever was manning the till was in too much of a rush to leave to turn off the radio. Somehow, though, it makes you feel even more uncomfortable, and you quickly hand off the items to Minhyung, who’s having as much trouble cradling the things in his own arms as you.

You hear it during your second round, when you reach out for a jumbo-sized bottle of shampoo on top of one of the shelves — a low groan that can’t be radio static, can’t be the wind, can’t be Minhyung from outside. A horrible chill runs up your spine as you turn towards the sound slowly, holding your breath.

A man is standing by the staff room entrance on the other end of the shop; his posture is weak, arms limp by his sides, and he continues to make incoherent noises. It’s clear by his wrecked uniform that he’s an employee here, and it’s even clearer by the bloodstains on the uniform that he’s definitely not okay.

Thankfully, his back is turned to you, and whatever had drawn him out of the staff room, he clearly couldn’t find; he’s still whipping his head here and there, trying to spot something anomalous, but he hasn’t found the sense to turn yet. Your arm drops, foregoing the shampoo bottle, and you slowly, carefully back away, your fingers twisted into knots as you pray for safety.

You’re almost by the door when the worst happens; your left foot, dragging backwards against the floor, catches a stray flier and creates a loud, horrible crumpling sound.

The employee turns his head back to a degree way more than any normal human can, spotting you between the aisles; he lets out a shriek as his body turns the rest of the way with him, and he charges straight at you, arms outstretched.

“Shit,” your fingers fly to your gun, but he’s moving so quickly that all your body can think of is fleeing. You almost slip on the flier, managing to yank the door open, only to bump into Minhyung, who’s on his way back in and oblivious to what’s happening.

“________________, what —“

“Move!” You don’t even have time to apologize for pushing him back so hard that he stumbles a little; the rabid employee smacks into the door, and something crunches sickeningly as he does.

“Oh, fuck me—“

This feels like a horrible semi-dejavu moment, in which you’re yelling at Minhyung to get the car door open, and he’s panicking so much that he has no choice but to tell you to shut up while he fumbles around for the keys — except he doesn’t have a gun, and the employee doesn’t have an old lady to be distracted by.

He comes barreling out of the convenience store, and he notices Minhyung first — Minhyung, who’s so frazzled by everything that he’s taken out what appears to be his apartment keys instead of Doyoung’s car keys and is trying to fit it into a keyhole in the driver’s side door that doesn’t exist. The employee lunges, and Minhyung effectively drops whatever he’s holding, running backwards with a panicked yell. This doesn’t work out well for him; his foot gets caught in a sizable crack in the road and he falls backwards.

You leave the passenger’s side, running around the hood of the car while you take out your gun; in your hurry, you don’t get to aim well, and the first shot you fire misses and hits one of the backseat doors of Doyoung’s car. You let out an incoherent groan of frustration that’s drowned out by Minhyung’s more urgent noise; he’s trying to weaponize a bundle of water bottles, but it’s too heavy for him to fling in this position.

You take another shot; it hits the employee square in the leg, and the close proximity causes the bullet to go straight through. Another disgusting noise sounds as he crumples to the ground, but he’s hardly demotivated, using his elbows and one working knee to advance towards your companion. Another shot — it goes through his chest, but it’s like he doesn’t notice.

“The head, the head!” Minhyung yells, scrambling back on his palms and ass. “Aim for the head, _____________!”

You raise your arms slightly, taking another blind shot; it’s not a perfectly centered one, but it blows the top off the employee’s head and ends his advance effectively. Minhyung looks up at you, dazed and covered in a smattering of blood.

“Thanks — oh, god,” he has to turn away to retch, scooting further from the now-limp body and patting around for his apartment keys blindly. He takes your outstretched arm once he finds them, hauling himself up.

“How did you know a shot in the head would kill them?”

“I didn’t,” he doesn’t let go of your hand, looking a little pale, like he’s trying not to think about how he’d just seen someone die in high definition. His grip on your fingers is painful. “It just seemed like the most logical place to aim.”

He finally locates the keys in his pocket, taking one look back at the body and the water bottle pack that’s now covered in blood too. He grimaces, shaking his head, like he’s convincing himself not to go back for it. You have to pry your hands free from his hold before he ducks into the car.

The ride home is absolutely silent; neither of you make an attempt to turn on the radio this time, and the twenty minutes going back seems like an eternity. You notice that Minhyung is driving even slower now, for some reason, but this doesn’t bother you.

The urge to call Doyoung hits hard, for some reason; it seemed like a natural course of action, especially since you needed to cushion the blow his emotions would probably take after seeing the hole you made in his car door, but you realize you don’t have his number. You think about calling Youngho too, but you just don’t move, staring dully at the road ahead until Doyoung’s house comes back into view.

Minhyung jogs to the back of the trunk to open it up while you make for the door, ringing the doorbell. When it opens, you’re surprised to see the other kid from yesterday in front of you.

“Where’s Doyoung?” You demand at the same time that he asks, “Where’s Minhyung hyung?”

There’s louder, more pained groaning coming from the second floor. “Doyoung-ssi’s upstairs. Minhyung hyung,” he calls out, pushing past you to help Minhyung with the supplies.

You take two steps at a time to get to the second landing, noticing that Doyoung’s bedroom door is open. When you peek in, though, he isn’t there; the television is on again, and the news anchor is repeating warnings. Stay indoors. Ration your food. Arm yourselves as much as you can. This is serious, biological warfare.

Hushed voices fill the first floor as the front door shuts; you look down from the banister to see Minhyung and Donghyuck enter the kitchen, cans and water bottles in hand; the rest of the supplies are by the umbrella stand.

“Doyoung-ssi?” You call out.

A moment later, his head pops out from the room next to yours; his face looks grim, but he smiles at you nonetheless.

“You’re back. Did you get what we needed?” He steps out, quietly shutting the door behind him. His free hand is gripping an electronic thermometer and a capped syringe wrapped in a wet towel, and you eye them dubiously.

“Uh — yeah, there’s food downstairs. What’s all that for?”

“It’s for Sungchan. We’re just monitoring his condition. Was the trip okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, I’m fine. Minhyung’s covered in blood downstairs, but,” you raise a hand to still his worry. “He’s fine, too. Maybe a little traumatized, but physically fine.”

“Oh, good.” He nods. “I’m glad for that. Thank you for making the run. And, well,” he inhales, thumb running along the length of the thermometer. “Thank you for coming back.”

“Just doing my job,” you smile tightly.

“I know.” Something like ceramic crashes inside Sungchan’s room, and Doyoung turns his attention to it. “I’ll just… I’ll get that cleaned up.”

“I’ll help them move the supplies downstairs.”

You both nod, but you watch him go first; it’s only when the door shuts that you head downstairs. Donghyuck and Minhyung have moved most of the stuff, leaving only a few bottles of shampoo and a couple of canned soups by the door. You pick them up and walk into the kitchen, finding the two sorting cans into Doyoung’s relatively empty cupboards. It’s funny that Minhyung’s found himself on the counter, trying to stuff cup noodles into the top shelf where the dish rack used to be. You probably looked equally ridiculous last night.

“Minhyung, you really need to go get changed. Nobody wants undead CU employee blood on their ramyun.”

He chuckles softly, slipping off the counter. “That was the last I could fit up there, anyway. Donghyuck will help you sort the rest.” Minhyung makes to clap Donghyuck on the back, but the kid evades his touch, looking at Minhyung’s bloodstained palm like he’s expecting it to grow eight extra fingers. “Right. Sorry.”

You divvy up the food in relative silence, only talking to introduce yourselves and agree on what to set aside for lunch. He keeps turning his attention to the door, like he’s waiting for someone to appear.

“Your friend — how is he? Is he getting any better?”

“I don’t really know,” he admits, emptying a can of soup into a pot and placing it onto Doyoung’s previously untouched induction stove. “Doyoung-ssi’s been checking up on him. I don’t think any of us know what to do, but he said his grandmother had some special medicine for infections that he could try on the wound.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“It’s deep, and he’s been running a high fever we’ve been trying to break since last night. He barely talks, too, and he won’t eat anything. We tried a couple of crackers he had in his bag for his hypoglycemia, but he wouldn’t take them.” Donghyuck sighs, dumping in a little too much salt and pepper into the pot. “I don’t even know what’s happening. We were just there for comic books.”

You help him ladle the soup into bowls before volunteering to call everyone down for lunch, jogging back upstairs. Doyoung clearly hasn’t left Sungchan’s room yet, since his door is in the same position as you’d found it and the television is still going. You shout down to Donghyuck to turn the den’s television on, deciding that he could listen to the news during lunch instead of leaving his bedroom TV on uselessly.

The remote control is on the edge of the bed, and you only need to take three huge steps to get in and reach for it, but it still is technically trespassing, even if all you want to do is help the man conserve some electricity. Still, before you turn the television off, you catch a bit of what the news anchor is saying.

“Remember, it’s imperative that you stay indoors. Avoid contact with these creatures. The virus spreads quickly through the bloodstream, and experts have still not found a cure. Keep any arms or improvised weapons close to you, and make sure to stay away from —“

Your blood runs cold, and your fingers tighten around the remote control.

The virus spreads quickly through the bloodstream.

Your feet think faster than you, it seems, carrying you out of Doyoung’s room. You bump into a freshly-bathed Minhyung, and he raises his palms up like he’s being arrested.

“What’s with you and all this running?” He manages to ask before you shove him away, skidding down the hall as you pull out your gun. You rattle the doorknob only to find that it’s locked.

“Cover your ears,” you snap at Minhyung, who barely has time to do so before you aim the gun at the door and take a shot.

You can tell why Youngho likes the idea of busting down a locked door; the dramatic effect is so powerful, and you’ve now experienced it firsthand. You don’t have the time to dwell on how cool it is, though, especially since the smell of rotting flesh is what hits you the moment you push the door open.

Doyoung is seated, frozen at the edge of the bed; the syringe is still in his hand, but it’s uncapped now. Sungchan is lying back, pale and sweaty, his pant leg rolled up to reveal a deep, bite-shaped wound on his calf.

“_______________, what the hell are you —“ Doyoung starts, but he falls into a stunned silence when you point the gun at him.

“Come here. Stand behind me.”

“If you’d just explain why you’re holding a loaded gun in my guest bedroom—”

“Can you, for once, do what I’m asking you to do without the running commentary?” You hiss, and he stands slowly. You get a better view of Sungchan’s face, and it’s not pleasant; he’s biting down on his lip, but it’s clear the pain is too difficult to contain, and his eyes are constantly rolling to the back of his head. “Come here.”

“Just calm down.” Doyoung eyes the gun warily. “I have to help him.”

“Doyoung-ssi —“

“He’s hurt, ___________________. Just let me give him the medicine.”

“He’s going to turn into one of them.” You swallow hard. “I heard it on the news. He’s going to die, and then he’s going to turn into… into one of those things.”

Doyoung carefully sets down the syringe on the bedside table, slowly walking over to you. Instead of getting behind you, though, he places his small hand gently on yours; with a little added pressure, he pushes the gun down to face the floor. You look up at him, frustrated and confused, these feelings only exacerbated by the inexplicable calm on his face.

“I know he will.”

#doyoung x reader #doyoung x you #nct x reader #nct x you #nct 127 x reader #nct 127 x you #doyoung drabbles #doyoung imagines #doyoung scenarios #nct imagines #nct scenaios #nct drabbles #nct 127 scenarios #nct 127 drabbles #nct 127 imagines #ficscafe

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unohanadaydreams · 2 years

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This part of TYBW reread is just that ‘When will you learn your actions have consequences!’ Vine

He goes on to ignore this line of questioning which proves to be fatal to Nemu.

Why is soul king’s left arm serving Yhwach? Because no part of the soul king would ever serve you, Mayuri. The soul king serves only because he has been rendered a useful corpse. This is well over 1000 years of distilled hatred of shinigami—the arm of a God.

Right now, Mayuri truly believes this is a being he can subjugate. But this arm is more Quincy pride and calculation than Uryu was—the one person so far that Mayuri hasn’t beat.

Again, Kubo is really hamming up how over confident Mayuri is. He just won’t shut the fuck up! He’s doing the same thing he did with Orihime—bargaining as a farce of respect.

You can keep only the dignity he wants you to keep. Have your name but the spelling will change because you’re a thing.

You’ll have a paper typed up on you and a nice place to float in preservation liquid and you’ll have everything about you squeezed out and dissected and stitched back into something new. Because the respect Mayuri gives is in how thoroughly he’ll use you.

The fact that he basically tells them to fucking google what Explosive Reactive Armor is dhzuajahsishsis. Also, does that mean his sunshine outfit was metal??? He’s so paranoid, like he will put a bomb in or on anyone, even himself.

Also the way he sits into the floating platforms looks really fluid and no wonder—I’m sure he’s glad to have the weight off.

Mayuri would rather die than not make freaky little inventions. If he can’t misuse the human body for functional purposes, he can’t live.

His alarm clock is a horrible mouth that starts licking his eyeballs if he tries to snooze, I just know it.

I wanna know how long Mayuri gauges as a long time for performing arm surgery. Like, what, a week? A month?

Also, Pernida is evolving rapidly. He could barely speak a couple panels ago and now he’s taunting Mayuri back. Not just that, but he’s doing it in a similar way to how Mayuri would. His eye is smiling. If he could grin with a mouth, he’d be mirroring Mayuri, no doubt.

Pernida is bastardizing what Mayuri did to Jizo.

Mayuri caused Jizo to bleed from his eye, using his finger to cause harm to Jizo.

Pernida is using the blood from his finger to pour into his eye, causing harm to himself.

Pernida is now mocking Mayuri for real and I’m not sure Mayuri is fully picking up on it.

The fucked up abortion baby who looks purple and bloated and dead is finally due. He’s so proud of himself for this one liner.

Szayel is rolling in his grave and so is Jizo. Mayuri punished his zanpakuto for disobeying and then altered it into a more advanced version of the one who made Jizo disobey.

Very vindictive. Mostly because Mayuri views disobedience as the highest insult from something meant to explicitly serve and protect him.

Even more so that Jizo’s first birth is one who feels constant pain.

Remember the last time you forgot someone was a Quincy, Mayuri? Remember what happened when you dismissed that aspect of them as uninteresting?

Now begins the come down, methinks. Mayuri begins to realize what he should have panels and panels ago—why the soul king’s arm is fighting for Yhwach does matter.

Pernida spells it out right here too—he has always been a Quincy. And by extension, the body he was attached to has always been a Quincy. The king they coveted was never theirs. The powers Mayuri is still figuring out are that of! A! Quincy! What do quincies do to their surroundings Mayuri???

Mayuri should start to feel very worried about how he’s going to come out of this alive—Pernida is thinking and acting and articulating like him. When the ending panel shows Nemu, it’s clear she understands Mayuri has been driven into a corner and is worried for the both of them. I’m not sure Mayuri has figured it out yet.

#this battle is definitely a huge fucking L to Mayuri #if IIIII am figuring out the battle faster than Mayuri there is something wrong #R&D backlog

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sirendeepity · 7 months

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As of today (November 1st) Blaketober is officially over and, my goodness, what a ride. I am a changed person. Lowkey proud of myself for respecting the timeline, even when I thought I wouldn't make it (tragic) and entertained the idea of cheating a little (fyi, I didn't, except on one (1) small occasion, but it was just 20 pages and life got in the way,so-).

Like basically anything else in my life, here are my unasked for opinions on all the books <3

Needless to say, there will probably be spoilers

Alone with You in the Ether [★★★]

This challenge didn't start off very strong for me. Although I did overall enjoy the story, this was the book I struggled the most with—the only one, actually. The writing style was phenomenal, to no one's surprise, but I found the pace to be a bit slow, and didn't particularly connect with the characters. Not to mention the theories (seriously, Olivie, leave quanta alone). To sum it up: Not my cup of tea, my cute little brain was not made for this. But the bees !!!

One For My Enemy [★★★★★]

This, on the other hand, my brain very much enjoyed. My heart can't say the same, given the fact that I was in physical pain after finishing it, but anyway- I felt for Dima, for Masha, for Dima and Masha, for Sasha, for my baby Lev (love that man, seriously). I even felt for Roman. Roman! Someone give that man a hug. What a tragedy, this book. Olivie blake could easily write Romeo and Juliet, but could Shakespeare write One for my Enemy? I don't think so.

Masters of Death [★★★★★]

One of the best books I've read this year. Favorite one out of all five. Easily. Even if ghost Thomas Edward Parker the fourth was a child of Twitter, yes. I spent half of the book laughing out loud and the other half crying. I wish I were joking, but I'm not. I was hyperventilating by the end of it. (Not fun.) Fox and Brandt could step on me and I'd thank them. Seriously, go back and do it again. Don't walk, run to buy this book.

The Atlas Six [★★★★]

It was supposed to be 3.5 stars, since I felt like it missed that ✨sparkle✨, but that is to be expected when you already know the plot points and twists and all of that, so I decided to change it and leave the rating as it was after the first read. If I gave it 4 stars, there's a reason. I don't really have much else to say about this? I still didn't understand shit about physics and quantum theory (again), but I did understand the characters a little better this time around. Or, at least, I started to appreciate them for who they were instead of what I wanted them to be, Parisa and Libby included. A win is a win, right?

The Atlas Paradox [★★★★]

Repeat after me: Nico can learn how to live without his left hand (Libby), but he can't learn how to live without his conscience bECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW WHO HE IS WITHOUT GIDEON !!!!!!

@olivieblake don't worry, I'll take it well if they're not endgame 😊(🔪)

Anyway, Dalton? Hello, hi, nice to meet you. Also, who told Callum he could be so hilarious? That man is not appreciated enough, methinks. I am so ready for The Atlas Complex and whatever new project our lord and saviour Olivie is working on. Take all my money. Take my firstborn too, I don't care, just give me the gays and the theys.

#dee reads #blaketober #alone with you in the ether #one for my enemy #masters of death #the atlas six #the atlas paradox #the atlas series #olivie blake

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theghostpinesmusic · 2 months

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youtube

Ha! I was going to write about my Thoughts and Feelings whilst on the road and instead I just did Midwestern self-abnegation stuff and didn't talk about my emotions with anyone! And now here I am over a month later just writing about Phish again! I sure fooled you! I "win"!

Passive-aggressive, multidirectional cries for help aside, this jam is a weird one to cover, but it's the only one available on the official channel from the 8/2/23 show, so I'm going for it.

8/2 was a bit of a weird show in the broader context of this seven-show MSG run I've been covering in the sense that it was the first (and ended up being the only) show of the run that didn't completely blow me away. Four incredible New Year's run shows and four mind-boggling summer MSG shows drug me back to listening to Phish regularly (and convinced me to buy tickets for Denver this September without really having a plan to get there) and then there is this show, which is a show I would have been thrilled to see in person, but that lacks a certain...something that the previous eight shows all had. More flow and less jam in this one, methinks. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it's certainly not a bad show, but I'd put it on a slightly lower tier than the previous four if I was someone who "objectively" rated shows.

But I'm not, right? RIGHT?!

Anyway, I would have gone with "Blaze On" or "Carini" as the highlight of this show, but instead we've got a "Jam" -> "Meatstick" -> "It's Ice" sequence, where the "Jam" is technically out of a cover of the Apples In Stereo song "Energy," and "Meatstick" and "It's Ice" are neither of them jam vehicles, per se.

It's worth mentioning (and not to undersell this jam) that while they may have cut the "Energy" cover proper from this video to keep from having to worry about copyright and such, it was also a pretty roughly rendition of the tune, and the following jam was a fairly aimless for a bit before picking up speed en route to the segue to "Meatstick." So, with that all said, the video starts somewhere mid-jam...

...with Fishman playing a backbeat and Page leading the way over it on piano. Almost immediately, Trey and Page start playing off of each other, leading to a more cooperative jam that sounds pretty straightforward unless you listen to Mike, who is just going absolutely insane by himself over in the corner. He eventually steals the spotlight to the point where Trey and Page are both borrowing riffs from him, which is great.

Around 1:55, Trey switches to a more robotic tone and the jam coalesces around this descending riff that he, Page, and Mike each take turns playing and improvising around at various points. This bit of the jam is definitely less about any particular band member blasting off and more about interplay. At 3:20, Mike introduces a bit of tension into the proceedings, but we come out pretty quickly on the other side still in more or less the same sonic space.

Trey pushes out in front a bit at 4:05, which moves the jam into a more standard rock-and-roll direction, though Fish and Mike keep things interesting and a little dissonant. Then there's this great mind-melded drop into a bluesy breakdown that happens around 5:05...like, how do these guys all know how to do this at the same time?! Phish magic, I guess.

I'm not sure if it's the mix through my headphones or what, but Mike continues to DOMINATE this section. The lights kick in in an especially trippy way next, as Trey continues a sort of bluesy build/jam that reminds me a bit of "46 Days."

At 6:54, Fishman finally switches over to a more unambiguously driving beat, and we're off for a bit on a straight (and great) blues vamp. This is making me reconsider my first take on this jam as being "fairly aimless." I mean, it's certainly not the weirdest or the most experimental jam in Phish history, but it's definitely got a swing to it.

The band smoothly switches tacks at 8:45 again here, to something funkier and spacier sounding, though Fish keeps driving with the drums in the background. Trey falls back to some chording, which allows Mike and Page (on the clav) to shine a bit more. Page, in particular, starts coaxing weirder and weirder tones out of his rig, and as much as I'd love for the jam that's happening at 9:35 to just keep going forever, he starts up the (knowledgeable fans insert the name of the correct synth here) that is irrevocably linked to one and only one song in the Phish canon: "Meatstick." And so, instead of more jam we get an excellent, clever segue into one of the weirdest songs Phish plays.

Meatstick starts at 10:05 or so, and continues until 14:25. Yes, the band is singing in Japanese during the second half of the song. And there's a choreographed dance. Obviously. Try to keep up!

At 14:25, Trey plays a little reprise of the song's melody for a minute, but the band pretty quickly and smoothly moves into another improvisatory space by 15:05. There's a darker, funkier tinge to this jam, and it almost feels like a continuation of where they were headed right before the segue into "Meatstick." Trey's lower-octave effects/playing here is something, if you like Evil Robot Funk (which I very much do, as you likely know by now). I love the build in crowd noise that happens about 16:15. It might well have been something specific happening off-camera that set the crowd off, but also sometimes thousands of people will all start cheering at once at a Phish show because we all experience the same wave of collective effervescence at the same time. So maybe it was that.

Trey keeps leading this new jam with variations on a particular riff until 17:45, when eagle-eared listeners will hear him start to play a variation on the opening riff from "It's Ice." That's where we're going, but the band is going to take an extremely smooth and well-executed segue to get there. How they end up at the beginning of the song proper at 18:32 is beyond me, but it's one of my favorite transitions I've heard in a long time.

"It's Ice" doesn't feature Japanese lyrics or dancing, but it's one of my favorite Phish songs from a composition standpoint. For any uninitiated who still read these screeds (thank you!), everything from 18:32 until XX is the composed portion of the song. There's a break, then, that the band will sometimes improvise at length within and sometime will...not.

In this case, they jam briefly, starting at 24:00. It's a return to the Robo-Funk of earlier, with Trey and Page riffing off of each other while Mike and Fish lay down a jazzy foundation. This section reminds me of a jauntier Pink Floyd, and features a few "Frankenstein" teases from Trey. It's short but sweet, dropping back into the song proper at 25:45.

From here, "It's Ice" wraps up, and that's it! Like I said at the top, sort of a weird one compared to most of the jams I've written about lately, but there are a few noteworthy bits of improvisation in there, and nobody does transitions like these but Phish. So, a memorable segment from 8/2 even if there's no "monster jam" in there.

#phish #jams #jam band #music #live music #videos #tour journal #writing #Youtube

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girltomboy · 4 months

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Right so this week feels like the longest week this year so far, it just feels like it should be the weekend already no way it's only been FOUR days of it. I'm not a fan of this part of February at all, doesn't feel like the shortest month of the year. But we'll manage, we'll get to the end of it safely; and what awaits us there? Fucking MARCH!! Holy shit spring is so close I feel like I can just reach out and touch it. Even though technically it only truly begins once Aries season hits. We can still enjoy the symbolism of it all methinks. Anyway, a water pipe exploded at my office and we had to work from home this week. Kind of a bummer for me because I was SO excited to finally reunite with my work friend (and possibly meet our new coworker too who's not that new anymore and everyone hates her for various reasons apparently lol), but we might have a movie marathon this Sunday.

Also, this week I made a green pea stew with veggies and chicken, and it actually came out incredible. I was craving it and there are usually ready-made portions at the store, but I wasn't sure if I'd find any of this specific dish, and also I was kind of in the mood to cook something myself. Finding a thorough recipe that included all the ingredients I wanted was a fucking headache, but I managed to put everything together nicely and I had it for dinner for like 3 or 4 days (just finished it today actually). And I didn't even get tired of it cause, well, it's really fucking delicious what can I say. And it was easy to prepare too, so I'll probably remake it next week. I've been in a highly gourmand mood lately, specifically with these charcuterie boards I've been making this week in the evenings. And I'm planning on researching more funky recipes for the weekend. I'm kind of craving some pizza for tomorrow evening, I've been wanting a Crunchwrap Supreme for THEEE longest time, but I never find myself in the right mood to go all the way to the mall. And idk if Taco Bell even delivers, but I prefer to get my own food, even if I take it to go. So, idk tomorrow it might be pizza time, it might be adventure quest time. I just hope it's gonna be sunny and nice again. Today we finally have some decent sunlight in what feels like an eternity. I can't wait to go for a little walk, the sun no longer sets as soon as I finish work and I can get a decent half hour of sunny outdoor time.

My bf got fired from his not-job, the boss lady apparently came to the store one day and told him it'd be best if he didn't show up anymore, because he wasn't "good with the register". My bf was actually starting to get the hang of it, without any training whatsoever, plus he did like 4 days' worth of totally free labor. 🙄 And then he got another interview for a call center, and they made him call actual real-life customers to promote some event business they had. And mind you, these were randomly generated numbers from some shady database, idk it was overall so scammy. AND IT WAS FREE LABOR AGAIN for basically what was supposed to be A JOB INTERVEW after which he was rejected, ofc. Like how the fuck are these employers getting so bold nowadays, making applicants work for free only to then send them home. Fuuuuck off and don't ever say shit like "nobody wants to work" anymore.

#anyway he had a march visit planned so it would've been awkward if he had actually gotten either job but still #rethinking my walk cause suddenly i feel drained lol 🤭#i can't tell if i'm still hungry or just tired but i do need to buy some stuff so i'll probably drag myself out #later update: i didn't :)) i ended up reading in bed

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liopleurodean · 1 year

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Season 5, Episode 4: The End

Oh boy

Yes he has

For security

Interesting analogy

Oh, Cas

Ey, good old KC

Let him get his beauty sleep

Oh, Cas 😂

Hi, Sam

That's one way to put it

Fair

Also fair

Oh, Sam...

That's a sad thought

He's lying

Doesn't mean it's not worth it

He... kind of has a point? But also not really

Uh...

Whoa. Apocalypsetown, USA

Did that theatre say it was showing Route 666?

That's some freaky sound design

Don't do it, Dean

Yikes

That's not good

Whoa, crazy Dutch Tilt

Run, Forrest, run!

Come on, Dean, you've parkoured worse before

Blood bath

Time travel!

So reliant on cellphones, smh

Boo

Pretty sure that's a Bill of Rights amendment, but okay

Whack

Biblical numbers!

Angel disappearing act

Oh, no...

Ooh, secret compartments!

That's a weird photo

Baby! I almost didn't recognize her 😭

Of course he gets clocked after getting distracted by his car

That's a new development

And how do you think you're gonna convince him of that, Dean?

Did you try Borax?

Yeah, that'll do it

I don't know what he expected

Ooh, this'll be good

Actually, I didn't want to know that

Yeah, that's about right

Uh oh

Are you with him now, Dean?

Don't just leave him like that

Pfft. No

What does that say about you, Dean?

That's resourceful

Oh boy

Uhhh

Dean.

Even in the apocalypse, he still gets around

What is that supposed to mean?

Whoa, Cas is getting some!

Asdfghjkl he just said it. Out loud 😂

So he still has angel powers

Nice

I don't think I like this Cas

That explains it

Huh. I don't think I've ever seen someone do that one handed before

Oh, Dean screwed this up

That's probably fair

Again. Fair

Yeah, no kidding

Oh...

Now Dean's getting it

Yup

Nice

Oh, Dean...

Dean, don't- don't start

Of course, yeah

Definitely!

Maybe? Probably? No? Time travel is weird

Ahh yeah

Hah! Dean knows himself too well

Oh crap

Yeah. Dead.

Come on Dean, use your thinking brain

All these years, still the same Dean

This seems a little off

Planet's gonna die anyway

Again. He knows himself

Chuck foresees Covid

Oh, he will

Not until he knows what it is

It's a little too far out methinks

He lost his grace?

Yikes

Thanks, Cas

Yeah, still don't like this Cas

Riiight

Risa is definitely gonna die

Yeah, obviously

Liar

Yeah, I was wondering that too

Cannon fodder

Wasn't it obvious

I can't believe Dean is idealistic

Is that the bunny blooper?

Hi, Lucifer

Not really

Oh, he knows

"shape"

They're misunderstanding the point

You might wanna listen, Dean

We are God's favorite children. This has caused problems, historically

Rolling Stones

Yeah, pretty much

Heh. Snake joke

They don't actually kill him, do they? They just lock him up for eternity

I think I've used that gif

He is wrong!

That's freaky

What do you think, Dean?

He won't. Not yet, at least

He's learned something

What.

Nice, Cas!

Dean and I agree

That's a desktop screensaver if I've ever seen one

Princess-Bride-esque music

Always Dean

Angels

Yeah.

That is true

#ashla chick flick moments #supernatural #season 5 episode 4 #the end

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rsmrymnt-tea · 2 years

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「 🐳 」 i think that painting landscapes are a lot more relaxing than drawing people and critters because there's so many more opportunities to create organic shapes and not mess up. you're living in the moment rather than trying to compose yourself enough to make a living being perfect than to focus on the environment around... and! i snuck around your bgs and i adore every single one of them <33 they're super up my alley and i attempt to capture the essence of old paintings, too. tempted to reblog them on my new personal blog 💕💕

while i adore drawing my ocs and other characters, landscapes are a lot more fun imo. i never thought i'd end up enjoying it as much as i do, considering that i was once incredibly afraid of creating backgrounds. hopefully this link will allow you to see? https://imgur.com/a/dJTwqsn

which is why i also think taking a break would be beneficial! taking the time off for yourself and to not focus on people in a specific environment, i mean. similar to painting backgrounds! everyone will still be here, whether you take a few days off up to a couple months off methinks ^^ I know that's the general statement we always hear when we tell people we wanna take a hiatus, but I genuinely believe that the people around you would rather you take some self-fulfilling time off to heal than to let yourself deteriorate in another place ;w;;

Oh, for sure there's so much more room of looseness and fun with landscapes! For me they are infinitely more freeing than humans to paint and while there's still plenty you can do with a person, there's just... way more appeal to me when it's beyond a person. My favorite works are usually when there's something much larger than the human going on in the scene—be it an entire Situation or just something that's literally bigger than the human—and often the human in the picture is actually massively dwarfed in size. For example, this has been my desktop wallpaper for the longest time.

How it shows the sheer scale of the dragon! Emerging from the clouds, so much larger than anything you've seen! And yes of course it's from Guild Wars 2 sdgfdfg By Ruan Jia I think?

The worry of 'getting it right' with landscapes/backgrounds/environments is so much less infuriating than with humans. Sure there's still the matter of perspective and painting a material in a way that it looks correct; textures are still important and there's still rules to the natural world, but mistakes made with portraying humans stand out so, so much more to me in my own work and it drives me crazy. There was a time when I ended up veering much more heavily towards realism in my style and realized that I was genuinely slowly starting to grow loatheful of my output because there's so much to fucking adhere to. I am hypercritical of the work I make and will forever judge it with cold harshness that I'll never see anyone else's work with, and drawing literally anything other than humans is the most respite I can offer myself from it sdhkfdg

(Like if there's going to be anything I have in common with Dola, it's the dissatisfaction with my work as an artist; though thankfully with her she loosens up once she finds herself y'know, a few centuries old with the skills of a master >.>)

And sdhfjkdf nonnie what in the hell, thank you ;w; Especially with your quality of work like wtf??? NONNIE!!! NONNIEEE!!!!!!!!!! ;w; ;w; ;w; I'm reminded of Ghibli's backgrounds in some of those... Waaa @.@ I gotta get to working on my stuff soon... I need to remake a study plan I had 2 years ago but dropped off from when I developed carpal tunnel syndrome... So motivating seeing someone else's really good art like Nonnie what on earth... Are you a triple threat or something........ ;w; ;w; ;w;

Re: hiatus... I mean it's tempting but like at the same time I realistically don't think I can stay off this site for very long because have some friends here that I can only talk to while here? I think I'm too attached to not check at least once a day to see if they're okay, though I guess I can have a few days off, like a week or something... or a semi-hiatus where I come in for like a few minutes to go see how they're all doing >.<

#chat & colloquy #🐳 nonnie!!#tbh i really should take a week off...#spend it all figuring out the art situation and getting some mounts in gw2 lmfao #i hate it here less now that ive aggressively blocked a ton of tags/words/some people and like #made peace with the fact that i just dont have it in me to really read fics or much less comment on fics rn #or have anything to contribute to the fandom really LMAO

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dboliklover · 3 years

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Breathless Whispers - Shu

My new series. Will take a while to complete (don’t mind the fact I am STILL working on the Easter Smut series). It’s based off an ask I got and is very sinful and I implore everyone who is triggered by the following to NOT INTERACT WITH THIS SERIES. The tags will vary from each entry but “Breathless Whispers” is a SAKAMAKI BROTHERS X STEPMOTHER! READER Smut series. As such Cheating/Adultery and pseudo-incest/stepcest are always going to be included in the chapters.

Tags for this chapter: Stepcest/pseudo-incest, cheating, NTR (Netorare) ((Karlheinz gets cucked)), dub-con (the reader believes she has feelings for Shu), dubiously-consensual implied impregnation, mentions of pregnancy, blood, and my out-of-practice smut writing skills that border on cringe, Happy sex (?)

This is as vanilla as it’s gonna get for this series, methinks. Next chapter it’s Reiji’s turn. ;) Happy sinning ❤

WORD COUNT: 5.8K (11 pages)

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In his life, Shu learnt to try to ignore meaningless things around him and to feel as precious little as possible - he didn’t need to feel, it added no enhancement to his life. To love was to have weakness and those he loved and cared for often ended tragically.

It was only natural that he chose to stick to himself and become a solitary creature after all that he’s been through, was it not? Solitude meant safety. Slowly but surely Shu cut as many emotions away with a metaphorical knife as he could, opting instead to be careless regarding all matters. He didn’t need anyone else, just himself. Only himself.

But there was one emotion that refused to leave, one emotion he would never allow the chance to withdraw from his heart - hatred. Pure, unadulterated loathing towards the man who caused his, his brothers’ and their mothers’ tragedies - Karlheinz. The hatred he felt was coated by a layer of would-be indifference - he knew better than to challenge the man, at least for the meanwhile - memories from the North Pole haunted him still. His father was a cruel, demanding man and Shu felt abhorrence, perhaps it did not reach the hatred felt by some other brothers but it was there and undying.

Karlheinz’s largest sin of all was the pain he caused his mother - the burdens he put onto him were a close second, however. But Beatrix’s suffering still wounded Shu to think about even after so many years had passed. The guilt instilled in him from that time flowed through his veins, unrelenting. His mother had her streaks of emotionally tormenting him but after all she merely wanted to prepare him for a difficult life ahead and Shu missed her presence as demanding as it was. And that was why when his father chose to re-marry yet again, Shu felt nothing but slight pity for the bride but regardless, he felt towards her as he did with most things; wholly indifferent. That was, of course, until he got to know the woman - he recalled the wedding day, it was a boring event and the fact his appearance had to be publicly seen bothered him for he’d much rather be doing anything but - still, he did as told and attended, albeit with minimal effort.

You made for a blushing bride, he couldn’t deny that. Glamorous appearance was hardly something he heeded though, and his father was known for choosing beautiful women as his wives - you knew nothing of the terrible fate that was bound to befall you in the coming months or years. At least all the other wives were long dead, namely Cordelia (whose torments only fed into the neglect his father served his mother, furthering her agonies) so you’d have no other competitors for Karlheinz’s horrid affections. He felt nothing for you, then. But unbeknownst to him, that detachment would not last forever and soon thereafter Karlheinz sent his bride away to live with his sons: what drove his father to such a foolish decision baffled Shu and he felt it somewhat of a ploy, another experiment to conduct. Maybe it was, but then again it only wasted time and energy to speculate on what went through Karlheinz’s mind. But you were their new stepmother, not one of their sacrificial brides; that was made clear, if unspoken. You were not their shared property but the property of the vampire king and it was to be respected, even if you had a puppet authority or no true power over them.

He avoided you at first, in his mind getting to know anyone was worthless; and yet you persisted under the guise of ‘getting to know’ him and the others, wanting a relationship with your new stepsons. None of them really wanted a relationship with you, except for perhaps Reiji who hoped that you’d speak well of him to his father, ever-the-suckup.

You were a vampire of course, although it was surprising to learn that you were not a pureblood as they were. Karlheinz always made his decisions for a reason and he knew the reason for marrying you wasn’t love: therefore must’ve been something else entirely.

Karlheinz was incapable of love.

Gradually he found himself enjoying your attempted affections and voice - you figured out his disposition and chose to talk to him without expecting anything more than grunts and hums in return, knowing he preferred to listen to his music. Even he wasn’t sure at what point in your relationship he started to favour the sound of your melodious voice to his earphones, but it happened and he soon found himself turning down the volume as you spoke about your day if only to listen to your sweet voice far more vividly. He started to seek you out, something...unusual growing in his soul at the sight of you - he began appearing in places you were around the mansion, silently guarding you against the likes of the others (such as Laito). He liked being around you - a feeling he’d lost long ago ever since the “death” of Edgar - true companionship. But it couldn’t last perpetually, as nothing ever could, and those amicable feelings grew until they bloomed into something far darker than protectiveness towards his new stepmother and prospective friend - his heart yearned for you in the most unusual ways. It was troublesome for an overwhelming variety of reasons, primarily because he couldn’t have you. His romantic intentions soon turned to a subtle obsession. He needed to be close to you, always there - watching.

You’d always smile and greet him pleasantly, innocently - how on earth you could be so innocent after centuries’ worth of living on this earth, much less so after marrying Karlheinz, he had no clue. Your naivety and sweet nature brought him to you, made him fall into insanity because of you. It wasn’t instantaneous, things rarely were. Months went by but eventually he could no longer cope, his dreams were haunted by your form and always the exact same: you laid nude, breasts perfect and demure for him to corrupt, moaning out his name like the most delightful song from an ephemeral musical meant only for him. But when he awoke he was alone.

You tempted him without even knowing it but it was only a matter of time before it would come back to haunt you, he couldn’t be expected to have control over his instincts and needs forever and the time came when he finally snapped.

Stepmother or not, he was going to have you. In a way, it served as the most exquisite form of perceived vengeance towards that man - to steal his wife. He was hesitant about how to approach his desire to seduce you, such things were really more of Laito’s expertise, but he’d be damned if he failed to achieve his goals. You were too good for Karlheinz - a kindly thing to the point of intoxication and frustration, too pure for a vampire. He wanted to be the one to fully spoil your spirit, he wouldn’t permit his father to shatter your psyche as he did with all his previous wives. Shu was going to protect you, but in order to do that he first had to take you; claim you for himself. And that’s when he came across the most intriguing sight: your hushed moans of pleasure as your [slender/chubby/elegant] fingers stroked your glistening cunt in your private chambers - the same chambers which were supposed to be blessed in sacred matrimony if only his father hadn’t left you here all alone at the mercy of his ravenous sons. He must’ve assumed such a thing would happen sooner or later, hadn’t he? If not, then...well, Shu couldn’t help but think it his father’s loss from his own folly. “Shu.” Your angelic voice uttered his name - not his father’s, not your husband’s - but his. In your moment of unholy ecstasy, it was him on your mind; thoughts of him that edged you to your bliss. His obsessive passions were returned to him in kind, it seemed, and he couldn’t be more glad.

“Shu?” You questioned the following evening at dusk, that blossom-pink blush dusting your cheeks like an undead Aphrodite, tempting him further into his hidden lustful hunger, “Is...is everything okay? You’ve been staring at me all evening and I just wanted to ask if there’s something wrong-” He sighed, eyes half-lidded as if tired but it was his internal frustration revealed. “There is.” “Oh?” You pouted and fuck, he wanted to bruise your plump lips right there and then until they held his mark. “You really are more trouble than you’re worth,” It was a lie, of course, but he was a guarded man and his words reflected that. “Shu…? What do you mean?” The sadistic aspect of him was fuelled by the subtle distress in your eyes, however, you tried to remain calm, he’d said harsher things and you knew he scarcely ever meant them but something...something seemed so offbeat tonight. No, not just tonight - as of recently, but you couldn’t place a finger on the exact date when things began to change between you.

Your hands were down, pressed together as your thumbs nervously rubbed the other. You just wanted answers. “Heh,” He smirked, “You have no idea how alluring you are, do you?” His tired eyes stared earnestly into your soul and you felt stripped of your integrity. An innocent blush flooded your visage with lecherous embarrassment at such a sensual suggestion, sputtering out various syllables as you rushed to find your footing and speak out in protest of such an inappropriate topic between mother and son - that was what you were, related or not...you were his mother, even if merely by marriage. Guilt clogged your throat up as you thought of your own lust for your stepson, he was only slightly younger than you were and handsome beyond compare (as much as you loathed to admit it, your carnal self preferred Shu’s indescribable silent grace and steely blue eyes to the snowy tresses of his father) and disgust for yourself stung you deeper than a knife dipped in holy water - had he...witnessed your acts of depravity in your chambers? Did he know? “S-Shu, I...I don’t know what you mean,” You were drowning, unable to form proper words, “Don’t.” He cut you off before you could deny what you both knew at that moment. You weren’t as innocent and proper as you made yourself out to be. As you wished to be. No, you were a creature of tainted prurience and Shu was more than happy to play into your fantasies. You paled and nodded, if you were human your heart would’ve surely been palpitating by now. Fear wholly consumed you - would he be disgusted by you - no, he would’ve made that clear by now. Shu hid his thoughts and feelings from others but if he’d felt abhorrent disgust he wouldn’t have chosen to speak to you or indeed even be around you, you trusted that truth if nothing else. But then there was only one explanation for his demeanour, one that made you clench your thighs tight as you stood before him, a woman. He stood from his seat, no longer laying on the windowsill. “You’ve been a terrible wife,” Tears of crimson welled in your eyes while your knees felt weak but you nodded, ashamed. “Yes.” “And a filthy mother,” His harsh breath on your ear and neck made you whimper, “Y...yes,” You stuttered out with another whimpering moan, “Shu please don’t toy with me, I’m sorry I-” Without another sound escaping your painted lips you felt the amorous pressure of your stepson’s kiss, disclosing the intense emotions he returned for you. Your mind screamed at you for your sins and yet you were both inhuman creatures; Perpetuity of faithfulness was boresome and your husband had done little but ignore you and your hopes for a good life. Shu, however, had been there since the beginning of your marriage - even if you’d started out as nothing more than his father’s wife - now you were so much more, immensely more. Your knees buckled as you gave into the kiss, unable to avoid your feelings for him a second longer - you needed him just like this and he needed you too.

Human or not, the inherent wrongness burned your flesh and chest. You’d tried to be a good wife but your husband had practically abandoned you here with his sons bred for him by other women, he’d left you here and did little to even write to you. Loneliness was an obvious side-effect and it was only a matter of time before you would’ve fallen into another’s arms. But your debauchery brought you right into his son’s embrace. A terrible wife indeed.

Shu devoured your moans, swallowing your lust and increasing his own as his ample size grew in the confinements of his pants. “Fuck,” He huffed out as you pulled away from him, blinking. Your thighs burned with a need only he could satisfy. A shy hand wandered down his body towards his growing erection, stroking it from the fabric of his pants. Your efforts were rewarded by the sound of his deep groans. How long had it been since anyone touched you like this? Since you’d been able to make someone feel unutterable pleasure - since anyone made you feel wanted? You had slept with Karlheinz only a couple of times and he failed to sate your inner hunger as Shu was doing with only kisses and loving groans. “You’re playing with fire,” He breathed out, staring at you and sealing you in place. “I...know,” You swallowed thickly, “P-please, I...I need-” “What do you need, whore?” His teasing words of degradation made you feel alive, you were the object of his uttermost attention. His lips traced your neck, licking and gnawing but never piercing, fangs flying over the tender flesh. “You.” The certainty in your otherwise meek voice nearly made him burst right there. He was done restraining himself, pearly fangs sharper than needles pierced your neck as Shu drank the sweet nectar beneath. Your pleasured moans filled the hallways of the Sakamaki manor and he prayed his brothers could hear you wherever they were knowing that he won you. And he was going to keep you. You were going to no longer be just his stepmother - you would be his woman.

The blood, thick and plentiful, dripped down your neck. The droplets were not wasted as his tongue gathered them before they could drip onto the marble flooring. Shu was going to get addicted to this taste - your taste - he was sure of it. This was what you were made for; to belong to him. As he did this you toyed with his pants, unzipping them and releasing his erect cock from its prison, letting it spring free, wet with precum. “Oh fuck,” You whimpered at the sensation, pumping up and down his length. You wanted this, you wanted him so badly. You could feel yourself slowly dripping with clenched thighs. This was wrong - it was revolting - but you couldn’t stop the heat inside you, your inner desires. On your quest to befriend your sons you inadvertently ended up falling in love with one of them and never before had you longed to be held by someone as you did when you were with him.

You wanted to be his, no one else’s. But you couldn’t be, for you already were a taken woman; despite the truth, you wanted to succumb to your immorality; to pretend that, for tonight alone, you were his.

Once he pulled away from your neck Shu chuckled lowly, “You’re such a lewd slut, mother.” You cringed at the name, reminding yourself of the positions between you two and, for a short-lived second, you attempted to pull away except the moment you did he caged in on you, back shoved against the wall with burning eyes glaring at you. “But you’re going to be my slut from now on.” his breath hitched as your hand movements sped up, blushing crimson from your wicked sensuality. You were loving this, in all its sinfulness. “Y-Yes,” You choked out submissively as you brought him to his edge, creamy cum coating your hand and sinking into the fabric of your dress, physically tainting you. It drove you wild.

The sight of you in front of him, dress dripping with his cum made him hard almost instantly as he ordered you to strip for him after he grabbed your arm and pulled you into the empty music room - he didn’t want to be interrupted by any of his bothersome brothers.

“Strip for me.”

You nodded and bit down harshly on your lip, droplets of blood still flowing from your neck at the open puncture wound, staining the white semen-soaked fabric as you unzipped the back and slowly released your hold on it as it fell down your form until you were exposed in only your undergarments, intimate and raw. This was incredibly embarrassing and yet, for him...you didn’t mind humiliating yourself. You were convinced of it, now: you were in love with him. Soft hands twirled around to unclip your bra, feeling as though it wasn’t merely your body which you were exposing to him but your very being as your breasts bounced free from the cups’ confinements, bra forgotten as you threw it down onto the floor, not caring about anything else but him. ‘Don’t do this’, your sanity pleaded but whatever morality may have existed in the cage of your heart was extinguished with a single gaze into his yearning eyes. If you didn’t do this the lack of his touch on your skin would surely drive you insane. You just wanted to be loved, cherished and used.

You were married - and although that sentiment alone should have been enough to snap you out of this sexual haze you were trapped in, it did little to sway your lust-filled judgement. Swallowing nervously your fingers dipped below the strips of your panties, sliding down your silky thighs, pride consumed you as you watched his subtle but intense reactions, the way his thick member twitched in anticipation made you feel powerful for the first time in your life. You couldn’t wait to feel him inside you. “Come here,” He growled, making you squeal as you nodded like a good little whore and fell onto your knees, crawling over to him - you felt like putting on a show for him, filled with risque concupiscence. If your husband was to ever find out you feared the consequences and despite the dangers, it drove you further into the arms of his eldest son to consider how taboo, how wrong such a union was. There was something unspokenly intimate about this. An intimacy from which you never wished to awaken. As soon as you were at his feet you admired his cock, glistening from residue cum in the moonlight. “Oh God,” You were about to cross a border from which you could never return and it turned you on profoundly to think about how your relationship would develop from here. Opening your mouth, you took his length inside your warmth, (e/c) eyes staring up at him like a sweet gazelle, pumping your head up and down and twisting your tongue around him as you sucked his member with a fierce determination to please. He believed this was the closest to heaven he would ever be; you, his personal fallen angel at his feet, his cock in your mouth.

Shu thought you were perfect just like this; doing all the work as you fucked your mouth on his cock, giving him your all as he sat back, eyes fluttering shut to focus on the pleasure you were providing. You were so good for him, such a pretty girl. Such an ideal woman, his woman. Further lewd commentary fell from his lips as he prompted you on. He wanted you on your knees for him each night, and you would be. He would make sure that things would stay this way forever now he was so close to having you all to himself. Even if it meant having to fight against his father, even if it meant the most intensive of efforts and having to use all the energy he had stored in his muscles - though he’d never utter it aloud, for you he would do anything.

Even if the only way to keep you would be to commit patricide. You were worth it. Just before his release, he pulled your head back by gripping your hair forcefully causing a pained yell to escape from you, your voice full of physical anguish that set off a primal need within his chest. “That’s enough.” He then lifted your chin to look him in the eyes, “Ride me.” You gulped back the juices in your mouth and shakily stood as your thighs were flooded with slick. “Y-Yes I…” You blushed vehemently as you aligned yourself with his cock, sucking in a sharp hiss as you felt the heat of it against your burning cunt. “I want you to make me yours.” Instantly you sat down, thighs clenched as your walls adjusted to the intrusion, making you cry out in ecstasy. Did you seriously almost orgasm simply from having his length inside of you? You couldn’t be blamed - not when your husband had neglected you. But it was going to be all better now that Shu was here to help you. Just as a good stepson should. “Fuck,” He gasped out quietly, breath falling from his chest. You were so fucking tight he could’ve potentially fooled himself into believing you were still virginal. That was, of course, until he reminded himself that his father stole that honour for himself and elicited underlying rage in Shu. With the buck of his hips he drove himself inside you as you cried out his name, holding tightly onto him, arms tied around his neck as you rode him, clumsily moving your hips and revealing your sexual inexperience to him; the knowledge that his father didn’t seem to take any time cherishing your body like this, lewd and sinful, eased him somewhat because it meant he could be the one to make you completely lose your mind and become his perfect little whore.

Maybe he’d even make you his wife, along the way.

His arms held your waist and he lazily guided the movement of your hips. You were insatiable, rapid. He could tell you wanted to go faster but his strong hands consistently ceased your attempts - he was going to force you to take your time, to truly feel the way his cock filled your insides, to ensure your walls would take the shape of his dick.

He wanted you to know that he was superior to his father, that no one could ever please you better. He never felt so attached to anyone prior to you, you did something to him. Something dark. Enchanting. And he was never going to let you go after this. By giving your body to him, you have given yourself in your totality.

Even if you didn’t know it quite yet, or didn’t fully apprehend the consequences sex with him would bring.

Your whines became far more desperate with each blunt thrust. Slow, steady but forceful; Shu’s cock reached into the deepest parts of you, lovingly rubbing your cunt. It was indisputable that he was focused on your enjoyment as much as he was on his - it wasn’t anything like what sex with Karlheinz was like, he was self-gratifying and solely cared about his own high, Shu (much to your surprise) paid attention to your smallest reactions to ensure this was as great for you as it was for him. His fingers delved below and started to mercilessly torment your clit, electricity flying through your spine and cunt clenching as more love juices were produced, soaking his cock and helping to lubricate the thrusts.

He wanted to show you how mindblowing sex with him could be, to show you he could love you in ways no one else ever could. In the eyes of his brothers, especially in Reiji and Ayato’s point-of-view, he was the one who got everything; the golden, careless heir. But they did not and would never understand that he had everything he didn’t want. His entire life the things he truly yearned for were stolen from him, his happiness, his innocence, his friends and beloved companions of human and animal kind; destroyed, ruined, killed. It reared his indifference to the material goods he possessed for they held absolutely no value of their own. And now there was you. You, you, you. Sakamaki Shu knew that, without a single shred of disbelief, he would happily give up all of this if it meant he got to keep you. All the wealth and grandeur and power that his position brought was worthless in comparison to his beloved whore whimpering above him as she impaled herself on his cock.

“S-Shu,” You moaned out into his ear, “Fa...faster, please,” You choked back spit as you made feeble attempts to catch your breath, the intense friction between your joined bodies making it difficult to think. It wasn’t as rough or primal as you initially thought it would be like, it was...better than that, intimate. Was this what they mean when they say sex can be ‘making love’? This closeness between bodies as they become one, the heat and passion in the air and bouncing breasts and thighs clasped around one’s lover? It wasn’t fucking - it was so much more. A proclamation of love, even, though you could never dare and utter that belief out loud. His self-satisfied comments, “Hm,” He playfully paused completely, making your eyes widen as you stared at him with desperation for him to continue, to let you reach your climax. Your nails scratched his back like a needy brat as you cried out pleas, “Please - please Shu, I need you to keep going I-” You swallowed thickly, blinking wildly as your core ached without movement and he kept your hips down, unable to fuck yourself on his dick regardless of how hard you tried. “Say you love me.” “W-What?” You gasped out, sweaty and needy but with enough common sense to know that saying something like that to him - even if it was true - would seal a secret deal between lovers, it would open all the nightmares of your very own Pandora’s Box.

But you loved him - you did, somewhere along the way you became enamoured by your stepson and now he was inside of you, fucking you with a tenderness that made you sure that he must love you, too. “I…” You smiled weakly, genuinely. You pulled back ever-so-slightly, (e/c) eyes sinking into his. There was a vulnerability in his eyes that he was finally permitting you to see; he trusted you with his heart, you could see that now. Your hand stroked his cheek, his hard dick still throbbing inside of you (you knew he wanted to keep going but held himself back, resolved to get what he wanted out of you). He melted into the caress, your hands were soft as angel feathers. “I am in love with you, Sakamaki Shu.” Despite the arousal that filled your mind you earnestly tried to convey the true depth of your affections for him and it seemed to awaken the beast of passion as he soon started to bounce you up and down his thick, throbbing member at a speed only vampires could achieve, determined to claim your womb for his own.

It wasn’t hard to notice your maternal longings, your desire to baby the boys despite their inherent aggression towards you all but proved it. And if was a baby you wanted, well...who was he to deny you of that right? His hushed grunts only sent you further into ecstasy - You had the power of feminine sexuality over him and it gave you somewhat of a power rush. It was paradise - not worthless fucking like animals - but true divinity here in his arms, where you felt appreciated and loved and as though you finally had a raison d’etre - You wanted to be his so badly it caused you physical anguish but you were his if only for the moment, connected to him so snugly. “I love you,” You sobbed out as tears welled in your eyes from the intense satisfaction and your own emotions coming to the surface, “I love you, I love you,” Each word sent Shu into a brand new dimension of rapture. You loved him, you loved him - more than anyone else in this world. If binding your bodies together didn’t officially make you his your whimpering confessions just did. The urge to impregnate you with his seed only grew with every passing moment as you mechanically moved in perfect timing to his thrusts, nails once again clawing at his flesh. “That’s a-” He inhaled sharply, stopping mid-moan, “That’s a good girl,” He breathed heavily, you felt so perfect on his dick, his personal cockslut, the love of his life, stepmother and soon; the mother of his children. “F-Fuck you’re going to look...fucking amazing,” He sighed out as he felt your fluttering walls try their hardest to milk him, “When you’re swollen with my troublesome brats, heh…” He could only smugly smile at your immediate reaction to the statement being to clunch down on him, tightening as if your womb was begging him to cum inside, to fertilise your pussy and breed you over and over. “Pregnant?” You exhaled out, teary-eyed as you locked your eyes with him, fucked out to the high heavens with sweat causing your hair to stick to your reddened forehead and lipstick smudged with perky, puffed lips. “Yo-You want to get me pregnant…?” The timidity of your voice betrayed your excitement. Logically you wanted to escape, to push him away and scold him for even suggesting such a thing - you couldn’t become pregnant with his child! It was atrocious enough that you were currently having this affair with him, your stepson, but to be bred by him was in a category all of its own - truly disgusting.

No matter how much your husband neglected you he didn’t deserve to for his wife to not only cheat on him with his own son but to be inseminated by him - but the inner beast within you was wanton, a silent whisper in your mind that tried to persuade you to surrender fully to your hopes for motherhood, to allow this man in front of you, this beautiful vampiric prince, to fill you with his seed and claim you as his bitch, his bride; to be stolen from the man you originally wed and live your eternity as Shu’s whore. “I-...we can’t, Shu! We-” Morals renewed, you tried to get through to him, “Please-” “Shut up.” He ordered and you instantly did as told, being the good girl that you were. “Don’t lie to me. You’re loving the-” He moaned, “-idea of...of my children growing inside of you. I felt you tighten up at the notion, you’re such a fucking lewd woman. My lewd slut.” You hated yourself because you knew he was right; it was true. You wanted this so badly, to give birth to his kin, to feel your uterus painted white with his cum. Primal needs craved relief. “No, we...we can’t, I...don’t…” You choked on your words as he kissed you roughly, his thumb on your clit twirling and pulling until you were unable to form anything more coherent than mindless stutters. “S-Shu! Fuck, fuck, fuck I...I...I love you! I do! I do, please I just...I want-” “What do you want, pretty whore?” “...I want, I w….want your cum! I need it, I need you to fill me up and get me pregnant!” The last remainder of your will crumbled under the pressure of your sudden orgasm. ‘I’m so sorry, Karl…’ you thought bitterly as amazement overtook you, making you screech in the midst of the night in the moonlight, squeezing the lifeforce out of your stepson’s dick. Shu groaned and laughed in dark victory as you came undone around him, biting into his neck instinctively mid-orgasm. The sharp sensation was enough to push him completely over the edge.

Your tongue lapped over his neck, sipping the blood that flowed with delicious fervour as the heat of his semen poured into your deepest depths, coating your womb with his lust. Once you pulled away you felt almost faint from the intensity of your love-making, concupiscence fading as the realisation of what you just did hit you in full force, causing your eyes to open. “Shu..oh fuck, I...we...just--” You squealed and tried to hop off but he kept your hips forced down, still inside your leaking cunt despite slowly growing soft. “No.” Shu was serious, now, eyes grave. “You’re not running away. You,” He exhaled, bringing your lips closer to his, “Are mine.” “Shu-” The distance between your lips was closed as he fought with your tongue. Your heart yearned to return his kiss and despite the inner war ongoing within your soul you did, tongues dancing in the warmth of your mouth. When he pulled away he smiled.

And you felt yourself smile too, hand travelling to the spot below your stomach but above your cunt. “You’re mine now, troublesome woman.” You laughed, nodding and kissed him again. The conflict within you wouldn’t fade, and you were terrified of what might happen now to yourself and to Shu. But maybe it won’t be that bad. It was only one time - you can surely find some form of birth control to ingest before the next time, and he’d never have to know. It was...one time, so you shouldn’t get pregnant this time...right?

Somehow you felt proud - proud to have his cum flowing from your core, to know it’s his seed that potentially is currently fertilising you and not your husband’s. You did feel authentically guilty but the guilt made you more aroused. Karlheinz didn’t deserve...this and despite that here you were, and the worst part was you knew you wouldn’t be able to stop anytime soon, there was no point in vowing to yourself that this would be the ‘last time’ because you knew that the moment he came inside you you were already addicted to him. The child of your lover...realistically it was an awful, unspeakable idea but a sense within you wanted to go through with it, to allow yourself fertility, to fully become his.

Little did you know you would have no choice in the matter.

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