#Show: Codename: Cranes

[ckret2]

Chapter 77 of human Bill Cipher being a prisoner with terrible fashion sense: beach episode!!! Well, lake episode. Close enough.

And a few other people come to town.

Just after dawn, a sleek, nondescript black government SUV, now dusty from a long drive, parked in front of the Gravity Falls Police Department. Three agents in sleek, nondescript black suits stepped out.

As they left the car, Blubs came out to meet them, Durland trailing behind him. "Agent Powers, Agent Trigger! Good to see you again." He shook Powers's hand, then glanced at the new agent. "And you are...?"

"Agent Dale!" The rookie shook Blubs's hand next, beaming. "Very pleased to meet you. I was just saying in the car—you have a beautiful town here, just beautiful."

"Wouldn't stop talking about it," Trigger muttered.

Blubs chuckled. "Why, thank you. We're quite proud of it ourselves."

Durland said, "Say, Agent Dale—don't you agents usually have tougher-sounding codenames?"

"Agent Clyde S. Dale. Like the horse."

"Ohhh. Yup, that'll do it."

"Sheriff Blubs," Powers said. "I trust you have the requested materials?"

"Right inside," Blubs said. "We've got the readings on last week's gravity anomaly from McGucket's scanners, and reports on this weekend's power surge."

"No overlap between the incidents?"

"None anyone here detected."

"Hmm. Has anything else strange happened since we were last in town?"

Blubs hesitated. "Well—never mind all that." He quickly shifted topics, "Say, I like your 'honk if you want to be arrested' bumper sticker." ("Oh is that what it says?" Durland asked.)

Agent Powers said solemnly, "I can get you the contact information of the shop where I bought it. It's a very nice small business run by art students."

"Would you? That'd be delightful."

Powers paused before following the cops and his agents into the police department, glancing out at Gravity Falls' town square—the modest little main street shops, the town hall, the statue of the town founder, the distinctive water tower with the faded muffin graffiti, and the familiar mountains surrounding the little valley town.

And then he let out a long, frustrated sigh.

"Fine," he muttered grumpily, glaring at the town as though it were an old rival as annoyed to see him as he was to see it. "Let's just get this over with."

He followed Blubs into the police department.

####

"Attention, everybody," Stan said, standing in the entryway with his fists on his hips, Soos beaming behind him. "I've got some great news!"

Abuelita and Bill glanced up from one of Abuelita's soap operas; Mabel and Dipper craned their necks to see Stan from where they were having dinner at the kitchen table.

Stan announced, "It's finally time!"

Dipper and Mabel blinked. Bill said, "Great. I'll get the ritual daggers, you can set up the blood red candles. Dolores?"

Abuelita said, "I will put out the good sacrifice altar." Bill laughed in delight.

"Yeah, yuck it up, you two," Stan said. "We're going fishing tomorrow! I've got the bait, I found everyone's rods, Soos and I patched up the old boat, I even—" He paused at the sound of the vending machine opening. "Hey! Ford!"

Ford ducked in from the gift shop. "What?" 

Stan chucked a hat at him. "I made you a fishing buddy hat! See, it's got your name! That's pretty good!"

"Oh." Ford inspected the letters haphazardly stitched onto the hat. "Why?"

"Fishing tomorrow! Half the summer's gone by, and we haven't gone fishing once! The guys from the lodge probably think I'm too ashamed to show my face. But it rained this weekend, the weather's just cleared up, now's the perfect time for fishing!"

"Oh," Ford said again, trying to drag his thoughts from magical tapes to fishing. "If you'd let me know earlier, I'd have built another fish-summoning beacon like the one on our boat." (Bill glanced curiously at Ford at the mention of an invention he didn't already know about; then stubbornly refused to be interested and dragged his gaze back to the TV.)

"No beacons! This isn't fishing for survival, this is about the sport! Asserting our manhood! Just the skill, strength, and patience of three men—and some women and children—against the lake!" (Soos beamed at being included amongst the men.)

Ford considered that. He didn't assert his manhood very often; usually he just sort of let his manhood hang around minding its own business, like an old cat that wants to be in the same room as you without socializing. It sounded like an intriguingly novel experience. "Okay, great. What time?"

"I want everyone on the road tomorrow morning! By six thirty at the latest."

The kids groaned.

"C'mon, dudes," Soos said encouragingly. "It'll be fun! After about three hours, once you're awake enough to think."

"No griping, we've gotta be there early to get a prime fishing spot," Stan said. "Tomorrow's a lodge fishing day. We're going home with a haul so big they'll be embarrassed they kicked me out!"

Dipper asked, "You mean the lodge for the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel, right? Why'd they kick you out?"

Stan sighed, "Once the town found out about Ford, they realized I'd spent the last thirty years attending lodge meetings under his membership. Since I'd never undergone the—" He rolled his eyes and made finger quotes, "'sacred angler initiation rites,' they booted me. And they said I can't try to join again, just because of that one dumb little white lie! And my extensive criminal record."

Ford hurriedly crossed the living room to avoid blocking Abuelita's TV view. (Bill looked through him like he wasn't there.) "Stan got a lot more out of my membership than I did—once I'd finished my initiation I probably only ever attended three meetings. I tried to petition the Mackerels to let him rejoin."

"How'd they respond?" Mabel asked.

"They kicked me out too."

Bill scoffed. "Big deal! The Fishmasons and all their subordinate organizations are just a big boring social club that got you hotel discounts three hundred years ago. The mystique around them is more interesting than anything they actually do."

"Figuring that out is why I stopped attending after three meetings," Ford said. "I joined to learn about the dark secret underbelly of Western politics—not sit around eating charcuterie and fancy nuts while everyone talks about baseball and makes fun of me for not knowing what a fly ball is. It's a stupid term! Doesn't the ball always fly?"

"Really, they aren't even worth joining," said Bill Cipher, the only person to have ever been kicked out of seventeen separate Masonic lodges in seventeen separate bodies.

Reminded of the fancy nuts he was missing out on at this very second, Stan set his jaw in determination. "Yeah, well, they're a big boring social club that'll rue the day they kicked out Stan Pines! Out the door, six thirty, on the dot!"

"I don't have an alarm," Bill said. "Hey star girl, wake me at five."

Mabel shuddered at the thought of setting an alarm that early. "No way. You can borrow my radio."

"Hold on, I didn't say you're invited," Stan said. "We've already got a full boat! Me, my brother, the kids, and Soos and his girl. Nobody wants to sit on the lake with you for eight hours."

"I wanna sit on the lake with Bill!"

"Nobody but Mabel wants that."

"Relax! I don't want to sit on a boat with you underpainted clowns either," Bill said. "I just want to sit on the beach! I miss sunlight! Sunlight without being forced to hike through half the valley on no food or sleep."

(Ford decided that was his cue to make himself scarce. He scooted into the guest room.)

"Well," Stan said, "we're not staying thirty feet from the shore, we're not leaving anybody behind, and we don't trust you to stay put on the beach without your dumb magic bracelet—so how do you expect that to work."

"I'll just stay with Dolores."

Stan and Soos stared at Abuelita. Soos said, "Abuelita? Do you want to come?"

Abuelita considered it. "Sure. The weather is nice. I can catch up on my reading."

"Yes!" Bill hopped off the couch. "Then it's a plan!"

"Hey, hold on," Stan said as Bill breezed past him, "I didn't agree to—"

"Hey star girl!" Bill leaned into the kitchen. "Need your fashion services! I need a swimsuit before tomorrow."

Mabel gasped in delight. "What kind?"

"Whatever exposes the most skin without getting me arrested. I'm absorbing as much sunlight as possible."

"With sunscreen, right?" Soos said.

Bill turned and gave him a blank-faced stare.

Soos hopefully repeated, "With sunscreen?"

"Don't need it."

"You totally do, dude. Not many people talk about this? But having more melanin doesn't totally protect you from sun damage, it just slows it down," Soos said. "Trust me on this. When I was like eight, I went to this water park—

"Uh-huh, and three days later you were peeling off flakes of your own dead flesh," Bill said. "It's cute how you think you know more about humans from 23 years of passively being one than I do from 500,000 years of actively studying them."

"Oh."

"C'mon, star girl! No time to waste!" Bill grabbed Mabel's hand and tugged her off her chair.

"Wait, my sandwich—!" Mabel grabbed the rest of her dinner off her plate and shoved it in her mouth as Bill dragged her upstairs.

Abuelita shot him a dirty look as he passed, but turned back to her soap opera.

####

Just past five in the morning, Bill crept by the guest room door. He glanced through the wall as he passed; good, both of the Stans were in bed and sound asleep. Bill wouldn't have had a chance to get up to his mischief if Ford had decided to sleep downstairs.

He snuck behind the vending machine; paused to squint toward the future and confirm that when he looked at the stairs, he could only see himself using them anytime soon; then down to the elevator; and down, down to Ford's study.

Bill sighed in relief when the elevator slid open and he saw that Ford had left his study door ajar. He crept into the room, feet socked, hands gloved—Ford was the kind of paranoid to actually check for prints if he suspected anything, and Bill's triangular whorls were very distinctive—and looked through the objects piled on the shelves and furniture for any concealed sensors or cameras. The coast was clear.

He idly scanned the nearby shelves for any sign of his stolen time tape, didn't find it, but didn't expect to. That wasn't what he was here for.

He knelt in front of a half-disassembled filing cabinet, flipped through the files in the removed bottom drawer until he found several folders together about curses and hexes, and flipped through them until he found the one labeled "Curses & Hexes (w/ ingredients)". Good old Sixer, left everything exactly where Bill remembered it.

He rifled through the pages—"aha!"—until he found the paper he was looking for and pulled it out. Handwritten at the top of a ragged-edged piece of notebook paper were the words "Reverse Sunscreen". Bill read through the list of ingredients—"Oh, pepper juice, not pepper flakes, right."—then put the paper back.

He glanced back and forth between the past and present to ensure he put the files back exactly where he'd found them—again, considering Ford's paranoia, he might notice any difference.

And then he returned to the elevator and headed upstairs.

The whole time he was in the study, Bill didn't let himself glance at the back of the room where Ford's shrine to him used to be.

####

"Heya, pal," Bill said. "It's been a while! Where have you been hiding all summer?"

Gompers blinked up at Bill.

"I guess we both look different than we did the last time we met, huh? I think your makeover went better than mine, though! You didn't fall as far as I did." He didn't have as far to fall.

Gompers accepted the backhanded compliment with utter indifference.

"But hey, why talk about the past! Let's let bygones be bygones. Here." Bill knelt, pulled one of Ford's nutrition pills from the folds of his beach towel, and held it out. "A peace offering! A little snack for you."

Gompers eyed it warily.

"Come on, you've eaten worse things than this."

He delicately ate the pill out of Bill's hand.

"Thaaat's right. Tell me how you like that thing later."

Leaning on his car, Stan—the only other person who'd actually been ready to go at 6:30—looked over Bill's shirt and trout slippers, and asked warily, "You didn't forget that humans need to wear pants, right?"

Bill got to his feet, shoved his makeshift umbrella-cane under the same arm as his beach towel, and pulled up the hem of the puma shirt he'd stolen from the gift shop to reveal his bikini bottom. It was teal with little puffy gold triangles painted on. "Cover-up dress. Your arbitrary fashion rules are different for beaches."

Stan considered whether a t-shirt counted as a dress, decided he didn't know enough about dresses and he might as well give this one to Bill, and grunted. "Fine, you're legal."

"Am I free to go, officer?"

"Never compare me to a cop again."

"Stop acting like one!" Bill trotted off to his ride to wait for the other humans to assemble.

There wasn't room for all eight beachgoers in one vehicle; the Pines piled together in Stan's car, while the Ramirezes (including Melody���honorary future Ramirez—and Bill—magic braceleted to Abuelita) took Soos's truck. So that Abuelita didn't have to squeeze past the front seats into the back, Bill and Melody were assigned the back bench; when Bill greeted Melody and she only responded with a vague mumble and an averted gaze, he scooted closer to the middle of the bench, spread his knees to take up more space, and smugly pretended not to notice how Melody squeezed herself against the door.

By the time the Ramirez vehicle parked at the beach, the Pines family was already out of their car: Stan was glaring up the beach with his fists on his hips, the kids were unsuccessfully searching Mabel's supply bag for Dipper's sunscreen, and Ford was lingering back at the car, pretending to check the contents of their tackle box but actually trying to shake the sudden memory of weightlessness and water in his throat. As Bill passed, Ford muttered, "I'm surprised you wanted to get this close to the lake so soon. Considering." It had been less than a week since their joint near death experience.

"Why not? Nearly drowning was the most fun part of that hike." (Ford wondered whether that was a red flag, an underhanded comment about how unfun the rest of the hike had been, or just Bill being Bill; and, for his own peace of mind, decided it was probably the third thing.) "Looks like you got something fun out of the trip, too." Bill snapped the shoulder strap of Ford's waders.

Ford shoved Bill's hand away. "As long as I have them, I might as well use them."

When everyone caught up with Stan, he was scowling at four men, ages ranging from 50 to 80, wearing fishing vests and hats with the Holy Mackerel's distinctive stylized fish symbol. "Eugene," Stan muttered. "Eugene and his goons wanted to kick me out of the lodge for years. Just because I have a grating personality and am generally unpleasant to be around! And tried to get the lodge to pick a local affordable housing fund as our charity for fundraising one year!"

Ford gave Stan a surprised look. "You never mentioned you worked with an affordable housing charity."

"Yeah. The Compassionate Angel's Fund For Gravity Falls Tourism Business Owners Who Are Behind On Their Mortgage Payments."

Ford snorted. 

Bill said, "I think you should've gotten away with it just for being funny."

"Don't even look at them," Stan instructed the group. "These jerks aren't worth it." The collected group studiously avoided looking at the Mackerels, except Bill and Abuelita, who didn't care.

As they walked up the beach toward the pier and veered around the Mackerels, Stan suddenly stopped, turned straight toward them, and said loudly, "Why, Eugene! What a coincidence! I almost didn't notice you!"

A tall, elderly man with a fishing rod over one shoulder and a black wooden cane in his other hand glanced over at the Pines/Ramirez party. "Oh," he said, with a voice like he'd found a fly stuck in gum on his cane. "Hello, Stan-ley. We haven't seen you out on the lake this summer."

Stan laughed loudly, as if Eugene had told a hilarious joke. "Oh, that! I was just waiting for perfect fishing weather! I'm not about to waste my time out on the lake on a bad fishing day!" He gestured behind himself, "Besides, I had to wait until my whole family was free to come along."

(Soos elbowed Melody and whispered excitedly, "He called us his family!")

Stan clapped his hands proudly on Dipper and Mabel's shoulders—who looked like they hoped the sandy beach would swallow them whole—and said, "I don't see your family, Eugene, where are they?"

"Dead." With mournful dignity, Eugene said, "I outlived my wife and all three of my children. Remember? You ate potato chips during my daughter's funeral."

Stan opened his mouth, shut it, and said, "Was that the really boring one that went like an hour?"

Ford, who didn't always have the best social instincts but could tell when Stan had screwed up, started shooing the rest of the family away from the scene, elbowed Stan, and said, "Let's get to the boat. You wanted to get a prime fishing spot, right?"

Eugene looked at Ford. "Ah. You must be the real Stanford Pines?" he said. "So I'm assuming, anyway. Apparently it's hard to tell you two apart."

Stan scowled; but before he could retort, Bill pushed past him to butt into the conversation. "Is it ever! Listen, take it from someone who's made this mistake—you've got to count the fingers on these two, every time."

Eugene huffed sardonically. "So it seems." (Ford self-consciously hid his hands in his pockets and shot Bill a dark look as he shuffled off with the rest of the family.)

"Say, while I've got your attention—name's Goldie, by the way—I couldn't help but admire your cane!" He tapped the tip of his umbrella against Eugene's cane. "I'm in the market for an upgrade from this substitute I've been using! That's no blackwood, right? That looks like true ebony."

"Good eye," Eugene said, surprised. "Yes, genuine Gaboon ebony."

"Must've dropped a lot of gold on this thing," Bill said appreciatively. "You've gotta tell me where you got it."

"I'm afraid I don't remember off the top of my head..."

"That's fine! Look it up—" (he twisted around to speak over his shoulder as Stan grabbed his arm and dragged him away) "—I'm sure we'll meet again!"

About fifteen feet away, Stan growled, "What was that?"

"Networking. I've got plans for that guy," Bill said. "Hey, did you hear him? Gaboon ebony?" He laughed condescendingly. "Easiest way to make a guy look like a moron, start talking about 'true' ebonies. Didja know the word 'ebony' comes from Egyptian? And when they talked about 𓍁𓈖𓏭𓆱, they were talking about African blackwood. Wood so hard it sinks and you have to tool it like a metal! Gaboon ebony is a flimsy usurper!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"But you don't pretend you do, and that's what makes you better than that guy." Bill tugged Stan down by the shoulder. "Listen, Fisherman. I can't tell you where the fish are biting but I can tell you where they're swimming. It'll give you an advantage, but you'll need to do the rest."

Stan squinted mistrustfully at Bill. "What's the catch."

"The catch is you have to accept my help. Do you want it or not?"

"And why are you offering?"

"Because I think these lodge guys are a bunch of snobs. And they should've chosen your charity. It was funny."

That, plus Stan had been the most reluctant to let Bill live; Bill had to convince him he'd made the right choice.

Bill gave Stan directions to a bunch of fish he could see underwater by the Island Head Beast's right earhole; and then, his good deed for the day done, he headed off to claim a spot on the beach.

Ford had gone into Tate & Backle's to properly purchase the clothing they'd borrowed after the eclipse, and Soos was helping set Abuelita up with a low beach chair and a large umbrella. Bill smoothed out a patch of sand about ten feet from Abuelita so he could lay out his beach towel and dump his supplies for the day beside it. While Mabel and Melody got the boat ready, Dipper wandered around looking for sunscreen to borrow. He saw Bill's tube, snatched it without asking, and generously coated his arms, legs, and face. Bill fought back a grin and pretended not to notice.

He tossed aside his t-shirt and fish slippers, settled down on the towel in his bikini, carefully squeezed several horizontal lines of reverse sunscreen across the front of his abdomen and thighs, and drew a few vertical lines in between to break them up.

Ford trudged over from the bait shop to tell Bill, "I thought you'd like to know those ridiculous fish slippers were thirty dollars."

Bill laughed. "Whoa! Seems like a lot of money for some cheap novelty shoes! It's too bad you decided to trap me in a position where I'm too destitute and powerless to make my own purchases, isn't it?"

"All right, all right." Ford's gaze caught on the bruise-blue line discoloring the skin from Bill's left shoulder to his right hip—had he gotten injured during one of his hikes the past week? Or had that always been there? Ford didn't think he'd ever seen Bill's body shirtless, maybe it had always been here—but then he noticed Bill's lines of sunscreen and barked a laugh. "I suppose you're not planning to rub that in."

"Brilliant observation." Bill began smoothing down the lines with a finger, maintaining the pattern he'd drawn.

"You wanted to come out here to suntan? I'm sure you're already aware of the cancer risks from tanning."

"If I'm in this body long enough to get cancer, I'll welcome it." Bill lay down, laced his hands behind his head, and gave Ford an obnoxious smile. "Anyway, basal cell carcinomas are delicious. There's something kinda romantic about them, you know?"

Ford ruminated on that with thoughtful bafflement, shushed the voice in his head trying to point out that Bill was waving ever more red flags, and concluded that perhaps humans weren't meant to comprehend the romanticism of skin cancer. "Fine."

"What's everyone standing around for?" Stan asked, trudging up to Soos and Ford. "C'mon, we're burning daylight! Let's..." He trailed off, staring at Bill.

His bikini top consisted of two triangular red cups. Each cup had an enormous staring eye.

"See something ya like?" Bill asked dryly.

Stan quickly looked away. "Ugh. That's indecent."

"What is?"

"That—design!"

"What's indecent about eyeballs?"

"It looks like...!" He gestured vaguely but emphatically.

"What? What does it look like? Tell me what it looks like, Stanley."

"Never mind!" He turned away with a huff and muttered to Ford, "Can you believe him?"

"I honestly didn't notice anything until you pointed it out." Ford waved back at Bill dismissively as he followed Stan toward the boat. "Enjoy your sunburn."

"I will! I haven't had a good sunburn in centuries! That's one of the best features of earthling bodies!" Bill got comfortable and shut his eyes.

Soos finished getting Abuelita settled, headed toward the boat—but hesitated as he passed by Bill. Bill opened an eye a crack to glower up at him. "What?"

Soos mumbled, "You could've just told me you wanted to get sunburned. I mean—yesterday."

"But you didn't ask if I wanted a sunburn," Bill snapped. "You just assumed I didn't know how they work. And that's the point: you assumed I was stupid instead of considering that maybe you didn't know my plan."

"Oh. Uh... sorry." Soos rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to make you feel stupid."

Bill's irritation flared higher. He sat up. "I didn't say you made me feel stupid," he hissed, voice low, talking fast. "There's nothing that you could do to make me feel stupid. But that doesn't mean you aren't treating me like I'm stupid, does it?"

"Whoa—!" Soos raised his hands defensively. "Chill, dawg. I didn't mean—"

"What's the phrase, do ut des? 'Do unto others'? Your species's phrase. Don't treat me like I'm stupider than you and I won't have to return the favor—sound like a fair deal, Question Mark?" Bill stared up at him challengingly, brows raised.

"But th— I w— You..." Soos's protests that he'd been doing nothing but trying to do-unto-others Bill got jumbled all around under the force of Bill's spotlight glare. His shoulders slumped. "Sure," he mumbled. "Sorry."

"Good." Bill lay back down. "Get out of my sun."

Soos trudged away; and Bill took a deep breath, tried to get in a meditative mindset where he could shut off his mind, and focused on the feeling of sunshine on his body.

He'd just about managed to drop into a proper trance when Abuelita called sweetly, "Bill? Would you grab a bottle of water for me?"

His face twitched toward a frown as he was dragged back to full consciousness. Hadn't Soos left them close enough for her? Some grandson. 

"Bill?"

He tried to think of an excuse to stay where he was; then growled in irritation and sat up. "Okay, okay." He couldn't afford to offend the chef with access to the poisons.

The bag with the water bottles was right behind Abuelita's elbow; but maybe her joints were stiff. Bill knelt to unzip the bag. "Another bodice ripper?" he asked, glancing at her book. 

"A powerful sorceress queen has been captured by her enemies. She just learned they are led by her former apprentice."

"I can sympathize with that." Bill dragged the bag up next to Abuelita's knee so he wouldn't need to grab another bottle for her later. "Who's the love interest—guileless guard? Heroic rescuer?"

"The apprentice."

"Sympathy's gone." Bill glanced toward the boat to see what the rest of the household was up to.

They'd already reached the spot Bill had indicated and started fishing. Soos was excitedly reeling in his line; the boat listed to one side as everyone crowded around him to see what he'd brought up. Stan dipped a net in the water to scoop up his catch.

It was a boot.

Everyone's faces fell in disappointment.

Except for Ford's, who gleefully snatched up the boot he'd kicked off during the eclipse when he fell in the lake. He dumped the water out of his boot, switched places with Soos, and began fishing the same spot.

Abuelita said, "My grandson has been very nice to you."

Bill looked at her warily.

"Hasn't he?" She had a polite smile and daggers in her eyes.

He had the oddest feeling that this was going somewhere dangerous. "Yeah yeah yeah, sure he has," Bill said. "Nothing but nice. I think I'll take a little stroll, stretch these legs! See ya!" He stood to escape.

He only got a step away before the enchanted bracelet pulled tight around his wrist. He turned around to stare in amazement.

Abuelita had wrapped the slack of the bracelet thread around her hand.

Bill had made a severe miscalculation.

"So," Abuelita said. "Why are you being mean to my grandson." It was a trap all along. She'd agreed to be handcuffed to him so she could corner him for an interrogation.

"Whaaat," Bill said. "Me? No way! I'd never!"

Abuelita stared at him patiently.

"I don't even talk to him," Bill said, trying to think of a conversational escape route.

She raised a brow.

Got it. "He's just too nice, you see! I don't know how to talk to a guy that nice," he lied. "Makes things awkward!" How could any grandmother complain about her grandson being called too nice? "Yeah—not Jesús's fault at all. I don't hold it against him."

"Ah," Abuelita said, "you aren't used to people being nice to you?"

Sure, they could go with that, try to get him some pity. "Yeah! You know how it is. King of Nightmares, scourge of the multiverse—I'm not a popular guy."

"But you have friends, don't you? The scary ones you brought with you to town last year? Are they not nice to you?"

Bill hesitated, trying to figure out his story now. "Sure—they're nice to me. They're my friends! They love me! They'd do anything I say!"

"Oh. So, you're only comfortable with people being nice to you when you can control them." Abuelita smiled sweetly.

Swift, efficient, and brutal. Bill gaped at her.

"I'm glad you have nothing against Soos," she said. "And that you won't be rude to him."

Bill snapped his mouth shut. "Of course not." He gave Abuelita a tight smile. Played like a fiddle. Even though he'd been lying, she still managed to make him look like a loser. How embarrassing. "If you don't mind, I've got a sunburn to get back to."

"I'm not stopping you." She let the extra thread on the bracelet cuffs unwind from her hand and drop to the sand.

Bill trudged back to his towel, snapping as he went, "I hope this is one of those books you hate where the couple only gets hitched because they've got a baby coming."

"The sorceress has magical birth control."

"Course she does."

Bill flopped onto his towel again and stared at the sky. Ouch.

####

(I've been promising Agent Powers AND a beach episode for ages, and we finally get to them both at the same time. Let me know what y'all think so for!)

[fallen-down-slowed-down]

🎀... crushes !

(warning: 150+ crushes)

🎀books

Edward Hyde – Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ( book + musical )

Holden Caulfield – The Catcher in the Rye

Košečkin Toporkov – Čekhov’s short stories

雨村 (Yucun) – Dream of the Red Chamber

🎀films/series/tv shows

Akutarō Shindo – Bucchigiri?!

Alador Blight + Darius Diamonne (poly) – The Owl House

Bandit Heeler – Bluey

Basil – The Great Mouse Detective

Captain Harlock – Captain Harlock ( anime + film (2013) )

CatRat – Gabby’s Dollhouse

Charles Bingley + Fitzwilliam Darcy – Pride and Prejudice (2005)

David – Camp Camp

Debra5000 + Eric – The Mitchells vs the Machines

Dragon King – The Monkey King

Ebisu – Nuragami

Eda Clawthorne – The Owl House

Edric Blight – The Owl House

Emile Petit + Francœur + Raoul – Un Monstre à Paris

Ezra – Captain Harlock (2013)

Father – Codename: Kids Next Door

Fukuo – Kiki’s Delivery Service

Gramorr – LoliRock

Guido – Luca

Hans – Frozen

Ichabod Crane – Sleepy Hollow (2013-2017)

Ichiya – Bucchigiri?!

John Darling + Slightly – Disney’s Peter Pan

Kabal – Mortal Kombat

Kakeru Zabu – Bucchigiri?!

King Dice – The Cuphead Show!

King Magnifico – Wish

King Solon – Spellbound

Krampus – Red One

Kristoff – Frozen

Kuzko – The Emperor’s New Groove

Loid + Yor Forger (poly) – SpyxFamily

Louis – UglyDolls

Louis Mérante – Ballerina

Marito Jin – Bucchigiri?!

Mephisto – LoliRock

Metro-spider – Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse

Morton – The Owl House

Nicholas Wolfwood – Trigun ( anime + manga )

Nico – Rio duology

Ozzie – Over the Hedge

the postmaster – Spellbound

Prince Naveen + Tiana (poly) – Disney’s The Princess and the Frog

Ryan – Sing 2

Sandman – Rise of the Guardians

Scientist (nnic) – Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse

Silencer + Truth – Miraculous: les Aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir

Spike Spiegel – Cowboy Bebop

Suki – Sing 2

Tarrant Hightopp – Alice in Wonderland (2010-2016)

Ted Shackleford – Curious George

Tsukasa Shishiō – Dr. Stone

Valentino – Wish

Victor – Ballerina

Walter Beckett – Spies In Disguise

Waymond Wang – Everything Everywhere All at Once

William Dalton – Les Dalton (2010-2015)

🎀videogames

Achilles – Alchemy Stars

Adras – Alchemy Stars

Angus Ciprianni – That’s Not My Neighbour

Arlecchino – Genshin Impact

Baizhu – Genshin Impact

Beretta – Alchemy Stars

Beverly – Alchemy Stars

Boothill – Honkai Star Rail

Brock – Alchemy Stars

Caleb – Alchemy Stars

Capitano – Genshin Impact

Casta – Alchemy Stars

Chenya – Twisted Wonderland

Chevalier Michel – Ikemen Prince

Clavis Lelouch – Ikemen Prince

Comte de Saint-Germaine – Ikemen Vampire

Corax – Alchemy Stars

Cuscuta – Alchemy Stars

Diavolo – Obey Me! duology

Divus Crewel – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Fleur – Alchemy Stars

Francis Mosses – That’s Not My Neighbour

Genevieve – Alchemy Stars

Jack Howl – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Jamil Viper – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Jean d’Arc – Ikemen Vampire

Joselyn – Alchemy Stars

Kleken – Alchemy Stars

Leon Dompteur – Ikemen Prince

Leona Kingscholar – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Leonardo Da Vinci – Ikemen Vampire

Licht + Nokto Klein – Ikemen Prince

Lilia Vanrouge – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Ludovico – The Arcana

Malleus Draconia – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Mephistopheles – Obey Me! duology

Michael – Alchemy Stars

Minos – Alchemy Stars

Mozus Trein – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Nails – Alchemy Stars

Napoleon Bonaparte – Ikemen Vampire

Naroxel – Alchemy Stars

Nazali Satrinava – The Arcana

Neuvillette – Genshin Impact

Pantalone – Genshin Impact

Pittman – Alchemy Stars

Praetor Vlastomil – The Arcana

Pyro – Team Fortress 2

Quaestor Valdemar – The Arcana

Nadia Satrinava + Portia Devorak (poly) – The Arcana

Rebecca – Alchemy Stars

Rui Kamishiro – Project Sekai

Sam – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Sebek Zigvolt – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Silver – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Taki – Alchemy Stars

Theodorus van Gogh – Ikemen Vampire

Toya Aoyagi – Project Sekai

Tsukasa Tenma – Project Sekai

Vic – Alchemy Stars

Vil Schönheit – Twisted Wonderland ( videogame + manga )

Welt Yang – Honkai Impact 3rd

William Shakespeare – Ikemen Vampire

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Ikemen Vampire

Zandik – Genshin Impact

🎀other type of source

Ace – Bungō Stray Dogs universe

Andrealphus – Hellaverse

Astr0 – Felix’s OC (his name has his social linked!)

Ben Solo / Kylo Ren – Star Wars universe

Black Cat + Witch Bunny – Witch Bunny

Carlos + Cecil Gershwin Palmer (poly) – Welcome to Night Vale

Chūya Nakahara – Bungō Stray Dogs universe

Daredevil – Marvel universe

Denver – So Not My Type ( webtoon by @ prollycarmen )

Ezekiel Sims / Spider-therapist – Marvel universe

General Grievous – Star Wars universe

Graziano – The Merchant of Venice

Kowalski + Rico – Madagascar universe

Lewis Pepper – Mystery Skulls Animated

Marchese di Forlipopoli – La Locandiera

Marvin the Martian – Looney Tunes universe

Meta Knight – Nintendo universe

Miles Edgeworth – The Great Ace Attorney universe

Mr. Mistoffelees – Cats ( musical )

Mungojerrie – Cats ( musical )

Munkustrap – Cats ( musical )

Mushitarō Oguri – Bungō Stray Dogs universe

Paimon – Hellaverse

Projectile dysfunction bloke – Projectile Dysfunction

Shadow – Sonic universe

Shōta Aizawa – Boku No Hero Academia ( manga + anime )

Shylock – The Merchant of Venice

Sigma – Bungō Stray Dogs universe

Sin-eater – Marvel universe

Skimbleshanks – Cats ( musical )

Tayama Iida – Boku No Hero Academia ( manga + anime )

Turning a Sphere Outside In bloke – Turning a Sphere Outside In

Wally Wackford – Hellaverse

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Stalker X Stalker, Part 7

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Perma tag: @nathleigh @peachmuses

Stalker x Stalker taglist: @aespades @jayjayspixiepop @blueslushgueen @fan-written @seraphichana @nerd-nowandforever

No I didn't get carried away with writing domestic fluff and forget to do the one thing I was supposed to with this chapter I'm a professional and would never do that

It took a long time for Tim and Cass to convince Marinette that, no, it wasn’t a trap, it was just a normal Halloween Party. It took even longer to explain what a Halloween Party really was, because apparently it wasn’t a huge deal in France.

But, eventually, she got it:

“Okay, so every Rogue and vigilante has to go to his Halloween Party in stupid costumes… or else?”

Tim nodded. “Rogues have to go because he’ll be insufferable, we have to go because otherwise we’re leaving a bunch of Rogues alone together without supervision.”

“And it really is just a Halloween Party?”

Cass flashed two thumbs up.

Marinette still looked a little confused. “And we… we want to babysit the Rogues?”

“They mostly behave themselves. Again, Crane can be insufferable when he wants to be and they have to spend a lot of time with him in Arkham.”

“I guess that’s cool then…” Then, a thought seemed to occur to her because she brightened up. “Is Nightwing coming?”

Tim nodded, suddenly a lot more wary. “Yeah, both he and Flamebird drop by for most holidays, anyway, so they might as well… why?”

She blushed a little. “I kind of wanted to see if I could get him to train me. I think his fighting style is pretty cool.”

Tim was not jealous or annoyed that Marinette might like two of his brothers more than him. He was fine if she liked Cass more, because Cass was, well, Cass. But Dick? Damian? Come on!

At least he had a month before the party to prepare himself.

For now, he glared at Cass, because she was laughing at him behind her hand.

Then he remembered that Marinette was still there and was watching the two of them interact with a vaguely confused expression and he pulled himself together: “I don’t know if he can teach you much since he’s usually in Bludhaven, but I used to be obsessed with the guy and I know all his moves by heart.”

She tipped her head to the side, considering, then smiled at him. “Sure. Thanks, Red, I owe you one.”

He tried to hide his relief behind a smile. She smiled and blushed, so he was pretty sure it worked.

~

Marinette smiled as she scrolled through the Batinternet on her phone (they’d finally given her the password! She no longer had to waste data!). The batkids were all working on the computer, trying to hack into their father’s files to see their Christmas presents.

She didn’t get why they were doing it then, it wasn’t even Halloween yet. Still, they insisted that Batman was always prepared well before the holidays hit. She was curious about what they’d find, if anything, so she waited as Red Robin hacked their dad’s files.

Loud cheers erupted from the others, which meant they must have found something.

“... right, Ladybug, yours is easiest to get into… he probably didn’t expect you to try… he’s getting you an Xbox and a bunch of games to go with it.”

Her gaze shot up and she surged to the front of the group to see. “Really?”

Red Robin pointed at the screen and she blinked a few times. Yep, that was a customized Xbox. Wild.

Then her shoulders slumped. “Damn, I was only kidding. If I knew he was actually going to get it I would’ve asked for a Playstation.”

She continued looking at all the ‘random’ games Batman had bought her (he was suspiciously good at guessing what she liked), completely oblivious to the fact that she had accidentally started World War III right behind herself at the casual mention of a thing she wanted.

She glanced back at them once during their fight and they straightened instantly, innocent smiles in place. The hand Red Robin had in Robin’s hair turned into a hair ruffle. Black Bat had turned the way she gripped the collar of Spoiler’s shirt into pulling her down for a hug. Signal’s eyes stopped glowing under his domino. She smiled a little and turned back to the screen to look at the rest of the games. Fighting resumed.

Or, at least, it did until Marinette saw the file name.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“I knew you fuckers took my blood,” she hissed irritably.

She wasn’t exactly scared, the bats seemed generally well-intentioned, just paranoid, but that didn’t mean she liked it. They stole her blood to figure out her identity without asking.

They all tensed up behind her and looked at each other awkwardly.

Robin was first to snap out of it. He swatted Red Robin over the back of the head. ���Look what you’ve done, Drake.”

Marinette blinked and then pulled her gaze back to Red Robin. “Drake?”

The batkids looked at each other awkwardly. Except for Red Robin, who was glaring at his youngest brother.

Spoiler was the first one to come up with an excuse: “It’s an older codename. We told him to come up with something original since everything else he’s used has belonged to someone else first… and that’s what he came up with.”

She considered whether Drake really confirmed that Red Robin was Tim Drake-Wayne. On one hand, yeah… but, on the other hand, was he really that stupid? Would he really use his own last name for a codename?

She supposed that, in all her time knowing Tim and Red Robin, he had never shown himself to be original. Smart, sure, but a little unoriginal.

So, yeah, Tim was almost definitely Red Robin.

But she was prepared to ignore it for now. Every bat seemed tense at the idea of her learning their identities, so she played dumb:

“It’s not that bad of a codename. Dragons are pretty cool.”

She could feel Black Bat still staring at her, but everyone else relaxed almost imperceptibly.

“He didn’t base himself off of dragons, he chose male ducks,” Robin informed her.

She blinked. “Why the hell would he choose ducks?”

Signal snapped his fingers and started pulling out his phone. “Oh, Mari -- can I call you Mari? -- you should see his outfit.”

Red Robin realized he was about to get murdered for his younger self’s outfit choices and tried to snatch the phone away.

Unfortunately for him, while he was concentrating on Signal, Black Bat had sidled over to Marinette. She tugged her arm to pull her attention from the two fighting boys and then showed her the picture.

Marinette stared at the ugly cockroach outfit for a long time before taking a deep breath: “Alright, first of all...”

~

Tim… he was fine.

Okay, no, he wasn’t.

The tracker was better, he would admit. She had even started wearing more red and black so she could wear the necklace more (something that made him feel all fuzzy inside), but she wasn’t wearing it every day and he couldn’t exactly tell if the necklace was there because she was home or if it was there because she’d worn a different outfit.

So, he only had one solution: randomly dropping by to do chores with her.

It started off with the ‘might as well’ principle. They were already out for photography and getting ideas for outfits, why not pick up some groceries while they were on their way back? She could even carry more since there were two of them.

He quickly dropped pretenses, though. The one time every few days that they hung out wasn’t enough to keep her in the house, and even if it was she clearly wasn’t fond of staying inside for long periods of time. He started dropping by every day to just go out with her.

He could tell his family was getting a little suspicious about what he was doing, Steph and Cass both narrowed their eyes at him whenever they saw him leaving the office at a normal time and once he had caught Duke following him to see where he was going… but it was fine. They weren’t going to complain about him actually getting some sort of down time.

And, he had to admit, it was nice. Not only did resting his brain for an hour or two a day do wonders for his mental health, he just… enjoyed doing chores with her? He didn’t think he would. He’d expected to like it the first few times, the novelty of going on his first grocery shopping trip or figuring out how a laundromat was always going to make it interesting and new for a bit, but it didn’t seem to be wearing off.

He was pretty sure that was because of the person he was doing it with, though.

He smiled as he watched Marinette half-climb the supermarket shelves for a bag of Takis.

“Need help?” He called.

“Nope!”

He watched her jump a few times on the lowest shelf before, eventually, climbing up another shelf.

Tim winced and surged forward to support her weight a little.

She huffed and grabbed the Takis. He set her down.

She crossed her arms. “I said I could get it.”

“I trust you. The shelves? Not so much. Do you want to die crushed under a bunch of chips?”

Her halfhearted glare morphed into a grin. “If I die any other way you have to promise to resurrect me so I can do it again.”

He rolled his eyes. “How about I resurrect you and you try not to die again for a while?”

“Hm… I guess that’d be alright.”

Then, at the laundromat, Tim saw a bunch of Two Face’s henchmen. How did he know that they were henchmen? The black and white suits kind of gave them away.

He was just wondering whether it was worth it to try and call Duke over so they didn’t risk something happening when he realized that Marinette had slipped over to them.

But she wasn’t concerned as she offered some of her detergent. “Hey, if you need to wash lights and darks together like that… you’re going to need a different detergent. I know those are cheap but there’s a reason for that.”

“Isn’t that just an old detergent problem?”

“No, separating every single color into a different load is. But, if you want to do pure black and white like that… you don’t want to risk it.”

Then she turned and glared at another goon, who was pulling their luckily still okay clothes out of the washer.

“You’d better not be putting that in the dryer.”

The sheepish look on the henchman’s face was answer enough.

She huffed. “That is airdry only why would you do that --?!”

And that’s how they ended up friends with -- and possibly under the protection of? -- a bunch of henchmen. Tim had to admit, they were really nice when he and Marinette weren’t trying to get them thrown in jail. He almost found himself slipping and hoping that Frank managed to achieve his mob boss dreams. He actually did offer to babysit Sam’s kids while she had a shift because she seemed very stressed.

“Tim, darling, do you even know how to take care of kids?”

Tim didn’t know whether to blush because she had called him darling oh my god or due to embarrassment at that massive oversight.

“Uh… would you be willing to help?”

Marinette gave him an exhausted look. “I’ve only ever babysat one kid at a time without their older sibling being there to help.”

He quickly changed the offer to paying for a babysitter. Sam was thankful regardless.

When everyone had finished laundering their clothes to Marinette’s satisfaction, the two of them headed back towards her apartment.

Tim changed the position of the laundry basket on his hip so it didn’t dig into him as much. “You know, you didn’t have to help them.”

She snickered. “First of all, you’re absolutely wrong. I couldn’t just sit by and watch them ruin their clothes right in front of me!”

He rolled his eyes, trying to hide the fond smile on his face. “And second of all?”

“Secondly…” She let him into the house and closed the door behind him. A cheeky smile formed on her face. “Well, they’re henchmen. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to have them on our side in case things go wrong rather than indifferent to what happens to us?”

It was here, with her smiling in front of him, intelligence sparkling in her eyes and the necklace he gave her hanging from her neck, that he realized that he was going to fall in love. He might not be there yet but, if they continued doing things like this, he was sure he would.

He wouldn’t mind that, he thought, as she leaned forward to take the basket from him, pressing a kiss to his cheek on the way over. He watched her disappear to her room, no doubt to fix whatever damage he had done while carrying it that would be invisible to anyone but her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and went to start up the coffee machine.

~

There are no botanical gardens more beautiful than the ones in Gotham. Whether that was because Poison Ivy herself tended to them or because they were kept in tip-top shape to appease her, Marinette didn’t know. Whatever the reason, it was gorgeous and Marinette had gotten quite a few different ideas. She pretty much had an entire spring collection planned out…

It was unfortunate that she’d gotten ideas for a spring collection in the middle of autumn, but she was ignoring that.

Now, they were sitting on her couch. They needed to relax after all that walking around on top of a rather exhausting night the night before (Scarecrow had broken out of Arkham to start preparing for his Halloween Party). She was completely in his space in an attempt to mess with him. It, unfortunately, didn’t seem to annoy him as he lazily rested his head on top of hers.

She huffed a little but allowed it.

He fiddled with the settings on his camera, biting his lip.

She looked down at the camera and asked: “How’d you get into photography?”

“... it’s a kind of personal story,” he said carefully. “A little sad, too, I guess.”

She tried to pull back, an apology on her lips, but he just rested an arm around her shoulders and held her close.

“It’s fine.”

She nodded as much as she could with the head resting on top of hers.

They were silent for a long time. She tried to relax herself. There were no akumas in Gotham, it was okay to accidentally upset someone and it was okay to ask them if they wanted to elaborate. They were people, people are supposed to feel sad sometimes. It’s healthy.

She took a deep breath before curling more into his side. “Would you like to talk about it?”

The arm around her tightened almost imperceptibly. “I… I guess I can, sure.”

“You don’t have to,” she said quickly. In fact, she might be a little more comfortable with that. Emotional conversations weren’t a Parisian’s forte.

But he sighed and shook his head. “It’s fine. Our relationship can’t progress all that healthily if we never tell each other anything.”

Yikes. Way to accidentally call her out on the fact that she hadn’t formed a healthy relationship in years, Tim.

“Not that I’m all that great at healthy relationships,” he said after a minute.

At least she wasn’t alone, she supposed.

“No easy way to say this, I guess… my parents weren’t the best. They’d go on trips -- they were archaeologists -- and I’d be left home alone, usually for months at a time.”

She cringed internally and took his hand in hers, rubbing comforting circles into his palm.

He sighed lightly. “So… I was lonely, obviously. I started by taking pictures of my parents. Sometimes it was all I’d have of them for months. They could leave, but the pictures weren’t able to.”

She felt him bury his face in her hair.

“I started following the bats after a while. I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t sated by pictures of just the two of them and decided to expand, if it was because they had a happy family despite a distant father and I wanted that for myself, or if it was because I wanted my parents to find out and be worried about me, or a mix of all of that… but…”

She slowly moved the camera off of his lap and pulled him into a hug. “But?”

He was silent for a bit, thinking over his answer. He shrugged and wrapped his arms around her. “It was an old coping mechanism. A way of feeling connected to people when I couldn’t actually be.”

“‘Was?’ What changed?”

He laid back on the couch and she allowed him to pull her down beside him. “People around me… started ‘leaving permanently’.”

She winced. Oh.

“It hurt a lot more to look at the pictures after that. It just felt like a reminder that I was alone.”

She frowned. “But… you’re taking pictures of me, now.” Her eyes widened. “Shit, did I accidentally trigger --.”

He shook his head quickly. “No, no. Well, kind of, but it’s okay! Every time they’ve died, it was because of some sort of shortcoming on my part. I think I’ve learned from all my mistakes. You… I won’t let you get hurt, okay?”

Marinette didn’t know how to respond. On one hand, she was pretty sure that she should be assuring him that, even if she did end up dying, that he shouldn’t blame himself… on the other hand, she had no intentions of dying and she was pretty sure it was nearly impossible for her, so maybe it was a good thing that he had chosen to protect her of all people? Maybe the problem would solve itself?

She didn’t know.

She carefully took his face in her hands, pulling him to look her in the eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, okay, darling?”

He gave her a tentative smile. “I sure hope you’re right.”

~

He had been asked to stay the night. Her excuse was that she was almost done with an outfit for him and she wanted to give it to him the second it was done and, by the time it would be, it would be too dark to go out safely.

Tim kind of felt bad that he had worried her but he wasn’t going to turn down the offer of staying over and watching her finish the outfit.

But, first, food. They dropped a million takeout menus on the desk. A long silence stretched between them as they looked at all the options.

“... what do you want?” Asked Marinette.

“I’m not in the mood for anything in particular, you?”

She sighed. “I don’t know, do you want anything?”

“I don’t want anything, what about you --?”

This continued on for about three minutes before Tim got a brilliant idea. He dialled Damian’s number and put it on speaker.

“Drake. Why are you calling? Have you been hurt?”

“No, Dami, I’m getting takeout and I was just wondering if you had any ideas.”

Marinette gave him an affronted look, but he clapped his hand over her mouth before she could warn Damian that, no, he wasn’t buying food for him he was just going to be an asshole.

“... I suppose I wouldn’t be averse to Chinese.”

“Thanks, Dami! Hope you can get Alfie to make that for you.”

“What do -- ?”

Tim hung up on his very confused younger brother.

Marinette frowned as he removed his hand from her mouth. “That wasn’t nice of you, that’s a kid.”

Tim was not about to get beaten by his brother in both identities, thank you very much.

“Alfred can cook better than anyone in the world, he’s not going to suffer.”

She snorted. “I doubt he can make food better than…” She picked through the takeout papers for a few moments before holding up a menu. “... this place!”

He squinted at the menu. “... I really hope you can speak Mandarin.”

“You’d be hard pressed to find a language I can’t speak, Timmy,” she said, absently dialling the number.

Well, he supposed that explained how a person from France knew ASL and could speak English like a native. Damn. Now he kinda wanted magical god-earrings so he could speak every language in existence.

She spoke cheerfully to the person on the other side of the line for a moment before turning to Tim. “What do you want?”

“Uh… shrimp fried rice?”

She rolled her eyes and flicked his nose. “Alright, fine, white boy.”

“It’s a safe option okay --!”

She wasn’t listening to him explain why fried rice was the best choice for him because she was relaying the order to the person on the other side of the line. She hung up with a smile.

“Food will be here in about three minutes. Do you rich people have small bills or do you just use them for tissues or something?”

He raised his eyebrows. “They go down to a hundred, right?”

She pressed her lips together thinly, clearly unsure whether or not he was joking.

He snickered and shook his head. “Nah, I think I have twenties and fifties…”

“Yeah, that won’t do. We’re going to get robbed,” she said, reaching into her purse.

“We? Didn’t know I lived here, too,” he joked.

She barely even glanced up from where she was counting money. “Honestly, with how often you’re here, you might as well move in.”

He choked. He wanted to say something smart or funny or smooth, instead all that came out was: “You --? I --? Uh --!”

She snickered behind her hand. “Love, relax, I’m just kidding. You don’t have to leave your fancy mansion with all your siblings --.”

“Wait, don’t make living here sound even better. I will do it purely to get away from them, don’t test me.”

She rolled her eyes with a grin. “Maybe that's the plan, you’ll never know.”

Tim had exactly zero idea whether they were joking or not anymore. The tone and reactions made him pretty sure they were kidding, but… what if they weren’t?

He was just gathering the courage to ask when the doorbell rang, pulling their attention to the food. She continued counting for a second before running to the door and swinging it open.

He walked up beside her awkwardly as she chatted politely to the guy to take the food inside. He knew, logically, that Marinette was actually way stronger than he was… but his stupid brain saw a thin, short woman in need of someone to help her carry things. So, he took it from the guy with a smile.

The delivery guy glanced Tim up and down before asking Marinette something. She laughed and gave a shrug. Tim did not know what was going on but he felt vaguely insulted.

He was definitely learning Mandarin after this.

The moment the door closed he whined about being insulted. She looked amused.

“You know what he said?”

“... no,” he admitted.

Her lips twitched.

“... you’re not going to tell me, are you?”

She snickered and leaned over the two bags of food in his hands. “So, you got the fried rice, right?”

“Mariiiiiiii.”

“Your food is going to get cold.”

“Beeeaaaan,” he complained.

She raised an eyebrow at him, a blush spreading across her face. “Bean?”

He grinned, feeling heat creep to his own cheeks. “I don’t know, I couldn’t think of anything for a nickname. First thing I thought of was coffee beans, so: Bean.”

“Wow, you’re such an addict,” she teased.

He continued pouting at her until she gave in.

She leaned forward to press a kiss to his nose. “He asked if you could use chopsticks or not so he could get you a fork if you couldn’t.”

He felt the blush on his face deepen. “Oh… I can’t.”

“That’s fine.” She grabbed a tote bag from the floor of her pantry and pulled out a set of plasticware.

He blinked. “... you keep plastic forks?”

She shrugged and tossed the bag back in her pantry. “Plastic forks, grocery bags, napkins, a few sets of chopsticks…”

“... why?”

“Some of us are minorities, darling.”

“What --?”

~

She hummed tunelessly as she worked.

Tim had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Had most of this been an elaborate plot to make him finally get some sleep? Possibly.

She didn’t feel all that bad, though. With how much he overworked himself both as Red Robin and as Tim Drake-Wayne… honestly, she was beginning to doubt that he slept at all. And, really, if a vigilante coffee addict with a magically enhanced physique is worried about your sleep schedule, you’ve got problems. Intervention was needed.

Don’t get her wrong, though, she was going to make up for lying to him. She’d move him to her bed and leave a cup of coffee for him on the bedside table. Maybe she’d even make him breakfast, it depended on how tired she was in the morning.

But that was for when she was done. For now, she was working on the last part of the outfit: she needed to lace up the corset. His posture needed a little work and she didn’t have the heart to tell him that to his face.

… besides, corset vests are cute. She wished more guys would wear them.

She smiled to herself as she pulled the last bit of lace through and tied a loose knot. Done.

She looked down at Tim. Loose strands fell in his face as he slept. The tiny wrinkles in his forehead disappeared, making him look much younger. His lips curled into a slight smile at whatever he was dreaming about.

He looked so genuinely at peace. She hated that that was abnormal for him.

She couldn’t help but worry a little about what he’d said earlier. He’d claimed that the reason he had gone up to the top of that building the day they’d met (as Tim and Marinette) was to scout out a location for photography, but now that was seeming like a lie because he apparently preferred taking pictures of people over locations… so, why was he up so high? He’d known it was illegal to be there, so she doubted he thought anyone else would be…

She swallowed thickly.

She didn’t think his mental state was that bad… but, just in case it was, she waved Tikki over for a bug and sewed it into one of his sleeves.

Tikki was looking at her disapprovingly. Marinette ignored her.

It was Ladybug’s job to make sure everyone was doing okay mentally, and she wasn’t going to fail a person she cared about of all people.

His head slipped from her shoulder onto her stomach and she sighed, trying to lightly push him off without disturbing his sleep. It didn’t work. He made a quiet sound in the back of his throat and buried his face in her stomach, his arms wrapping around her tightly.

Well, this is her life now.

… she supposed it wasn’t so bad, though.

[sleepyowlwrites]

Sleepy is bored at work show Vol.1

some people have changed their url and they’re not people I know, so I don’t know how to find them to change it. interact with THIS post if you have a wip title that you’d like me to draw.

The Stray Spirit - @/ashen-crest 

Muse's Band of Misfits - @/vylequinne 

Salt & Silver - @/vitrichor

Checkmate - @/scriptura-delirus 

The Death of Josie Wolff - @/novanovelwriting 

Operation Get It Right - @/crystallized-ink 

Night's Daughter - @/vellichor-virgo 

Golden Hands & Golden Fingers - @/surroundedbypearls

Totentanz - @/talesofsorrowandofruin 

The Darkblade - @/kitastrophic-writing 

Lotus on the River - @/mel-writes-with-her-dragons 

Always the Bridesmaid - @/pens-swords-stuff 

Bake a Loaf of Bread - @/andiwriteunderthemoon

Collecting Keepers - @/lunarmoment

Where Camellias Blossom - @/mary-is-writing

These Cursed Paths - @/hiddenhistoria

Shrouded - @/viskafrer

The Huntress and the Wolf - @/rhikasa

Indigo Wars - @/zmlorenz 

And Onward into the Bright Bright Future - @/woodhousejay 

Hurricane - @/akindofmagictoo 

Muddy Roads and Foxgloves - @/chayscribbles

About Nightmares - @/sourrcandy

The Shroud of the Ascott - @/caillevch

The Stormkeeper - @/writingonesdreams

Thriving - @/spacetimewraithwrites

Inscribed - @/artbyeloquent

Heartbeat - @/writingamongther0ses

The Quest For the Book of Balance - @/authortango

Kingdom - @/scriptura-delirus

Cursed Pennyroyal and the Wizard Asturia - @/writing-with-melon 

What Remains of Troop 734 - @/aetherwrites 

Puppet Kingdom - @/josephinegerardywriter 

Between Gods and Men - @/iparisaltanwing 

Days of Halcyon - @/elysianhymns 

Sapphire Dreaming - @/livvywrites

Earthly Bodies - @/asableheart

Always the Bridesmaid - @/blindthewind 

A Headless God - @/serpentarii

The Further We Fall - @/incipientdream

Between the Trees - @/thethistlegirlwrites

All the Red Butterflies - @/magnoliaash 

To Pursue Utopia - @/iveldi

Gemini - @/writingbyjillian

Edifice - @/rainydaydarling

Embers and Infernos - @/ninazeniks

Backwater - @/thenataliawrites

Anchor Point - @/haldimilks

The Iridessia Chronicles - @/ambsthom 

Andromeda Rogue - @/chayscribbles 

Making a Killing - @/vylequinne

Whisperwind - @/viskafrer

A Gust of Rising Wind - @/fuyugomori

Operation Eclogues - @/ladywithalamp

The Wicked Within - @/47crayons

Romantics - @/kishons

Unearthly Delights - @/crowsandlace

And No-one to Remember Me - @/euphoniouspandemonium

Terraclaw - @/writtendevastation

Ashenskin - @/mel-writes-with-her-dragons

My Name Your Teeth - @/seas-dubh

Ship in a Bottle - @/fayoftheforest

Kriya Petri - @/andiwriteunderthemoon

Crane Anatomy - @/avakrahn

Forgotten Names - @/forgottennamesgame

The Power and the Glory - @/talesofsorrowandofruin

Embrace of the Dawn - @/ambsthom

The Mourning Rose - @/weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables

The Heir's Odium - @/the-finch-address

Paper Heart - @/thelittlestspider

Namesake - @/peresephones

This is the Way the World Ends - @/writting-in-blood

To Be Determined - @/waldeinsamkeiten

The Fall - @/harps-for-days

Four Houses - @/jmax523

Asra Green and the Bluster Gambit - @/avi-why

Unholy Holy Things - @/lend-your-lungs-to-me

Foggy Mornings - @/codename-mango

Paragon - @/pretend-im-normal-blog

Touch - @/struckbyelectriclove

Peacocks and Pearls - @/ashleyddddd

Lies in a Holy Tongue - @/incandescent-creativity

Souls Rend Your Vows - @/inkflight

The Stars Never Decided My Fate - @/novastories

Brigand Master - @/faithfire

A Cycle of Seals - @/homesteadchronicles

Out of Time - @/painless-and-colorful

Forgotten Memories - @/the-problem-child-vents

Star-eater - @/wulfrann

Empty Space - @/spacebricks

High Water Homeward - @/the-titular-bird

Era Beyond - @/maudlin--queer

By Your Side - @/kowore

Queen of Wishes - @/alwolfe 

Cut Circuit - @/romanwrites

Cynical Chaos - @/writing-with-chaos

Queen Anne's Lace - @/moononherwings 

Haven's Ember - @/druidx

Tropical Storm - @/gwens-fiction

Humanless - @/poore-choice-of-words 

[shepard-ram]

Anonymous asked

To celebrate this month's pride and to be mild vengeance he's one of my favourite au's from the discord the yandere mcc au hope you enjoy the friend trio oc's.

You had no idea how your dear avian friend Alfie had won the sweepstake and gain those tickets to the mcc charity masquerade but hey standing here now with your friends in very fancy looking clothing and masks (thanks to Xanders want to show up all the rich attendants with the clothes he had made,you had never seen such determination in his eight eyes) having the time of your lives. You were only going to see these people once after all you could have some fun at their expense right, at least that was your thought as The Badboyhalo who was taller than even Erma (which was impressive considering she was an enderian) stammered out an excuse as he left blush covering the entirety of his face, you could hear your friends chuckle as they watched you lay the charm down thick sending each and everyone who was coming your way running back to their little rich people group stammering and blushing, ok only stammering in the case of Dream since he had a mask that covering entirety of his face like on all his public appearances.

Wilbur was having the time of his life at this party, he had thought it would be yet another boring charity event where he, his friends and family showed up looked nice for the cameras and donated a little to the cause of the day like every other even he's gone to these last few years but no some unknown human was providing no end of entertainment,how had he not met you sooner surely he must have met the charming socialite at some other event but he couldn't have after all he would have remembered a group consisting of a human, arachnid, avian and a enderian a group like that is not something you see every day was this the first event your group had gone to? You guys were certainly bold using the noxcrews masquerade as your debutante but a glance at Noxites amused grin showed that your boldness was paying off.

As Dream rejoined them his mind was drawn back to the game they had started against you, after Bad had returned face red and lovesick expression on his face they had decided to see if anyone would be immune to the humans charm or if anyone can make the human flustered but no one had succeeded and now even Dream had lost like everyone else, the stammer in his voice and constant glances back in their direction showing that he had fallen as well. The last chance they had against the human with the silver tongue was Techno surely the seven foot tall piglin hybrid wearing a literal boar skull as his mask would be their limit or he would remain as unflappable as always and resist the humans charm it took some convincing on his part but soon his brother was making his way towards them, unfortunately it had all been for naught as the human just cranes their neck to look techno in the eyes before long his brother came back face crimson and with a smile that threatened to split his face into. Rather than feel disappointed that they had lost he just felt even more amused when it was made rather apparent that the human would have more than a few admirers visiting them once they figured out who they were himself and his brother included, the masquerade was almost over all that was left was the raffle.

You had completed forgotten about the raffle so caught up in your little game, you didn't need to enter since entry was automatic for guests such as your group these prizes though were absolutely exorbitant even the "disappointing" prizes were worth more than your shared apartment and the price of rent for at least a decade. None of your group won any of the prizes which was ok Alfie probably used all of your groups luck just winning the tickets. You just waiting for the winner of the mcc team prize to be announced then you would all go home to your shared apartment and sleep in the nest that Alfie and Xander made for you all, you were brought out of your sleepy train of thought when you heard Noxites voice declaring that a the winner was the human next to the arachnid, avian and enderian...WHAT!? How had you gotten the only prize that couldn't be sold, oh prime you were going to see these people again, you didn't even need to look you could just feel their eyes drilling into you. This was very very bad, you made sure that your group left as soon as possible running as soon as you guys were out of sight of any potential masquerade goers. Once you guys were back in your shared tiny one bedroom apartment, you later it out flat that you guys were going to have to keep up the rich person act otherwise things could go south rather than the expected reaction of dread like you were feeling, Xander simply went over to his little crafts closet and declared that he vowed to bring the noxcrews costume designers to shame, Erma rushed off saying she was going to find the perfect codenames for you all since this would be a covert operation leaving only Alfie to wrap a wing around you and try and comfort you saying that at least you had left a good impression with them all right? It was official you were the only person in his apartment with even a little bit of common sense. Deciding to calm yourself down by reading your news feed didn't help as you saw news articles with quotes from the other mcc participants stating that the "golden geese" would come dead last and to not expect anything from the rag-tag group besides a bunch of unprepared socialites that would likely forfeit because it would be to hard for them. You could just feel the dread give way to pure rage at the idea of people laughing at your friends, oh you would make sure your all prepared, more than prepared you would be more than willing to knock them down a ladder or two as they say "pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall".

We haven't even gotten into the yandere yet this is just the prologue. Not going to lie got the names for the of friends from a random name generator they have existed for a while but I never gave them names but the names they have now fit them I think. Lastly as light said yes you were absolutely correct but you didn't have to out our little trio.

Ender-anon

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

WOOO One of the most iconic sagas from the discord has arrived for all to see! I love the origins trio so much and I hope y'all enjoy this because trust me- Ender has alot more to share

[starsarestars]

Just did the R!henrik cheating on roof terrace route and that shit got me thinking about clarice figg, I hope girlie is doing okay she had it bad like low-key let me get VEXXED:

I understand to a degree that the plot line boils down to the idea of personal agency and mc being held accountable for bad actions and that’d make sense if there was actual fiscal consequences for other characters who do shit like that within the game beyond a minor blow up that ultimately gets resolved. These mfs are ostracising mc and acting as if she’s the literal antichrist for getting a bit of William Cockleshork on a show about getting William Cockleshork. Not to mention the fact they bolster Gary’s disinterest in MC in order to push them towards that route? Not sexy. And the fact Hannah and Lottie unionised to get this mediocre crane man back in goth girlie’s bed??? Call those bitches Gru bc they’re despicable 😡

Also the fact the man who you shag is all “oh as if I’d actually have a relationship with somebody on love island! I don’t fuck with cheaters.” Except that’s EXACTLY what you did. Where is your responsibility breh? When Lucas cheated in his last relationship? Is that what you’re telling me in this Homebase? It’s just cruel, weird, stinky and a bit of a slap dashed plot line to have towards the tail end of the season and I’m not even gonna GET INTO the logistics of Marisol to Elisa.

Basically #Justice4Clarice

@codename-mango

[need-a-fugue]

We Grow Together (26)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Tessa Sullivan (OFC)

Chapter Summary: Shit’s about to get real... 

Summary: Relationships can be tough, especially when one person is a recovering-from-being-brainwashed-and-tortured former assassin and the other is an overworked mutant scientist. But hey, every couple has their struggles. Right?

“His name is Lobe? What the hell kind of name is Lobe?” Clint asks with a laugh.

Tessa shrugs in response. “No clue. But if Scofield says I should meet him, then I think I should meet him.”

Steve throws up a silencing hand. “Now, just hold on.” He moves over to stand behind Natasha as she sorts through mounds of data on the computer in front of her. “Nobody’s meeting anybody until we know a little more about this guy.” He nudges Nat’s shoulder. “Got anything?”

“Nothing,” she mumbles, obviously perturbed. “There are no references to anyone named Lobe in any of SHIELD’s files. Or in any other data we’ve collected over the last few years.”

“It’s probably a codename,” he tells her.

She twists her head around to look a him. “Ya think?” she asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Maybe’s he clean,” Tessa suggests, immediately earning her incredulous stares from everyone in the room. “What? Devil’s advocate. I’m just trying to think of reasons why he’d never pop up on anyone’s radar.”

“I hate to say this, guys,” Clint sighs as he sidles up next to Tessa and drapes an arm over her shoulders. “But I think Doc’s right. If we can’t find anything on this guy, we should send her in to meet with him. Might be the only way we’ll get to know who he is.”

Tessa narrows her eyes. “For the record, you’re not saying that you hate to say that I’m right, right?”

“Right,” he responds with a confused frown.

She nods. “You just hate to say it because it’s not an ideal situation to be put in. Got it.”

“Not an ideal situation?” Bucky repeats with raised brows. “It’s a little more than that.”

“He’s in New York already. Scofield said that he’s actively looking for scientists, preferably ones with experience in genetic mapping and cellular splicing. This is perfect timing.”

“To be fair,” Natasha chimes in, leaning back in her chair, “while I really don’t think someone going by the name Lobe is a non-threat, it is possible.”

“It’s like Scofield said, X-gene research is highly regulated,” Tessa supplies. “And highly frowned upon. That could be reason enough to come up with a fake identity.”

“And the fake identity might only be for people he doesn’t know. Once she gets in, maybe we can get a real name.”

“Once she gets in?” Bucky asks incredulously.

Tessa turns to him with a frown. “Are you just going to repeat everything everyone else says?” He glowers at her and she relents. “Okay, fine. I get it. Like I said, it’s less than ideal. But,” she continues, turning to face the rest of the group, “this guy, whoever he is, is doing something that he shouldn’t be doing… something with mutant genes. That something might be good – maybe looking ways for ways to enhance DNA to prevent or even cure certain genetic diseases – or it could be something really, really bad. Either way, I want to know.”

To say that it took some convincing would be the understatement of the century. But in the end Tessa, Clint, and Natasha were able to talk Steve and Bucky into letting the meeting happen. There were certain parameters put in place, of course. For example, it had to be in a public place where they could be at least reasonably sure that they wouldn’t lose her. Scofield said that Lobe wanted to meet at a place called Magellan’s in upper Manhattan. Not ideal, but it would do. Tessa would get there early and sit in a pre-scouted location near the windows so that Bucky could see her from his position on one of the buildings across the street. Clint was able to move sites easier, so had a few spots he could go between in case they lost visual. Both Steve and Nat would be inside the restaurant, at the ready.

“Seems a bit like overkill,” Tessa mumbles as she sits down at the predetermined table. The team had Tony call into the restaurant to reserve two of the surrounding tables, ensuring that no other diners would get in their way, so Tessa found herself sitting neatly tucked away in a small sea of empty tables while the rest of the place bustled around her. “Not too obvious,” she snipes into the coms.

“Are you gonna argue with all of my orders?” Steve asks from his position at a corner table.

“I’m not arguing. I’m ridiculing.”

“I think I’m over wanting you on the team,” he mutters. “I’m ready for you to go back to your lab.”

“I got Scofield in my sights,” Bucky interrupts. “He’s entering the restaurant with two other men.”

Tessa stands when she sees the older man make his way over to the hostess, two other men trailing closely behind him. The hostess points to her and she waves as the men turn to make their way over. She takes one look at their faces and… “Oh shit.”

“What?” Steve asks.

Clint is heard next. “Is that – ”

Tessa nods stiffly as the men arrive at her table.

“Who?”

Clint barks out a laugh. “Oh, man. No way!”

“Dr. Sullivan,” Scofield greets, extending his hand to her. “This is my associate, Lobe.”

She looks to the thin bald man and offers a rigid smile. “Very nice to meet you,” she says, shaking his hand. He says nothing to her, and offers no smile nor hint of warmth.

“And I believe you already know Mr. Calvin,” Dr. Scofield says with a coy grin.

The other man – a tall, muscular, dark-haired specimen – quirks his lips as he too extends a hand. “Dr. Sullivan,” he says, deep, rich voice sounding all too brazen.

“Who the fuck is Mr. Calvin?” Bucky bites out.

She glares at him, refusing to touch his outstretched hand, opting instead to awkwardly, angrily stand and stare. “Uh, Doc,” she hears through her earpiece. “I know this is probably a bit of a shock. But you kind of need to get your shit together.”

“Who is this guy?” Steve asks again, more insistently.

Tessa cocks her head at the handsome man in front of her. “I thought you were dead.”

He shows off a dazzling smile. “Oh, come on. You didn’t really believe that.”

“Well,” she says, her jaw clenched, “a girl can dream.”

“Barton?” Steve nearly shouts through the coms, letting loose with a loud cough from his corner to cover the sound.

“Remember when I told you guys I met her ex in Minsk?” he says, an all-too-playful lilt to his voice. “That would be him.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Bucky mumbles, barely audibly.

“Ah,” Natasha croons. She can barely be seen leaning forward on her bar stool, craning her neck to get a better look. “I see what you mean about her type. Tall, dark, and… very fuckable.”

“Romanov,” Steve chides. “Try to be a professional.”

Clint chuckles as he meanders across the street, moving to a second, closer location. “Nat, did you just imply that Barnes is very fuckable?”

“This conversation is making me very uncomfortable,” Bucky mutters as he follows the small group of people at the table through his rifle’s sight.

Steve sighs loudly enough to be heard through the coms “Can everyone please stop saying fuckable?”

“Captain Rogers,” Natasha intones “you’ve got a dirty mouth.”

Bucky takes his eye off the table and leans back for moment to blink heavily. “Can we focus please?” he asks, clearly not amused.

They all watch as Scofield drops into a seat, the others slowly following suit. Between Lobe’s very obvious general awkwardness, and the rather extreme tension between the Tessa and Mr. Calvin, the older doctor is the only one who seems even remotely at ease. “I must say,” he begins, leaning back into his chair and popping open the menu in front of him, “I was rather surprised to hear that you hadn’t spoken to Mr. Calvin in years.” He glances up at Tessa and says with a chuckle, “Though I suppose if you thought he was dead, that would explain it.” He turns to Lobe, who looks utterly disinterested. “Mr. Calvin does have a knack for faking his own death.”

“Well,” Calvin says, charm just oozing from his pores, “It’s an unfortunate necessity in my line of work.”

“And what line is that, exactly?” Tessa asks before nervously taking a quick swallow of water. “Nowadays, I mean.”

Lobe answers for him in a deep, measured tone. “He’s in… acquisitions.”

“Personnel acquisitions?”

He stretches his lips into a long, slender, utterly terrifying smile, and says with a slight nod, “Of course.”

“That guy’s not too creepy,” Natasha mutters over the coms as she slowly stirs the martini in front of her.

At the table, Calvin leans in, closing much of the distance between him and Tessa, as he says, in a manner obviously meant just for her, “I was a little disappointed you didn’t mourn my passing like I thought you would.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “How would you know whether or not I mourned? Were you keeping tabs on me?”

“Maybe a little,” he says with a shrug.

“Well I’m feeling a lot better about this guy being involved,” Bucky snipes sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes, Tessa mutters, “It wasn’t the first time you died, Cal. Besides, if you wanted it to be believable, you would have had a coked-out hooker stab you in a by-the-hour motel.”

“Oh, sounds like a keeper,” Clint says. “Wonder why it didn’t work out.”

Steve clears his throat into the coms, a wordless order for everyone to shut the hell up.

At the same time, they hear Calvin laugh, soft and supple. “Car explosion was cheaper.” Then, leveling Tessa with a thoughtful stare, “Still, I’d hoped you’d be a little more upset.”

“I stopped getting upset about the things you do a long time ago. I’m over it.”

“But you never quite got over me, did you, sugar?” he asks with a wink.

She leans in, green eyes steely. “Do not call me that.”

“They have a history,” Scofield tells Lobe conspiratorially as he watches the scene unfold in front of him.

For his part, Lobe simply rolls his eyes. “I’ve heard good things about you, Dr. Sullivan.”

She drops her angry glare and looks over to the man across from her. “Have you?” she asks. “From Dr. Scofield?”

He spends a long moment looking her up and down, seemingly assessing her very being, before responding with, “Yes.”

She feels a shiver pulse through her, unsure if the anxiety she’s feeling is a result of simply being nervous about this whole situation, or if it’s due to the fact that this guy’s energy is almost unreadable for her. She tries to cover the unease with a small smile. “Well, I do have a rather full resume,” she says.

Scofield chuckles a bit. “A rather impressive resume, you mean.” He turns to Lobe. “Before coming to Genetech, she studied with Dr. Moira MacTaggert.”

Lobe’s expression shifts to what seems like genuine interest. “At Muir Island?”

She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “Yes. For a time.” Another put-on smile. “I was very young then. Still in med school.”

He gives her another appraising look, this one ending in a wide-eyed grin. “I would very much like to know about your time there.”

“Well…” she starts, not quite sure where to go.

“You know,” Calvin interrupts suddenly, “I wouldn’t mind having a moment alone with Dr. Sullivan. Just to catch up a bit.” He shoots her a meaningful look before glancing back at Lobe. “A quick drink at the bar, maybe? Won’t be but a few minutes.”

“I’m not here to meet with you, Cal. I’m here to meet with Lobe,” she says, uncertainty lacing her words.

“C’mon,” he croons, reaching out and gently wrapping his fingers around her wrist. “One drink,” he says with a small tug.

Instinctively, she jerks away as though she’s been burned.

“It’s fine, really,” Scofield says absently, waving them off. “Go have a drink. Lobe and I have some things to discuss anyhow.”

“If you stay near the end of the bar, I’ll still have visual,” Clint’s voice sounds through the coms.

“And from here I can get audio on whatever the other two talk about,” Steve says. “Let’s play this out.”

“Fine,” she says with a scowl, harshly pushing back her chair. Calvin jumps up as well, hurrying to catch up with her as she makes a beeline for the bar. He’s next to her in just a few long strides, dropping his hand to the small of her back in a guiding gesture. “Stop it,” she turns to growl at him.

“You used to like it when I touched you,” he whispers in her ear as they both lean onto the bar. “Said it made easier to suck up all my… intensity.”

“He’s a real charmer,” Natasha mutters from her spot at the opposite corner of the bar.

“What do you want?” Tessa asks him.

His eyes positively twinkle with mischief when he replies, “You really want me to answer that?”

“Oh, if only he knew that her current tall, dark, and fuckable boyfriend had a high-powered rifle trained on him right now,” Clint hums.

She shakes her head impatiently, both at the man in front of her and the one in her ear. “Can you be serious for five seconds?”

“Sugar, after five years together, I’d think you’d know the answer to that,” he says with an airy laugh.

“Five years!”

“Barton,” Steve barks out with obvious irritation.

Tessa sighs, long and drawn out. “What are you doing, Cal?” she asks with a shake of the head.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

She looks up at him, her expression softening for the first time since he waltzed into the restaurant. “I’m serious. Do you even know who this guy is?”

The smug smile falls from his face, his lips tightening into a firm line. “I know enough about him to know that you shouldn’t be meeting with him.”

She quirks her head at him. “Why is that?”

He leans in close, his lips grazing her hair as he whispers into her ear, “If he finds out what you are, he’ll tear you apart and sell every piece to the highest bidder.”

“What was that?” Natasha asks, watching as Tessa’s expression turns grave. “What did he say?”

Calvin leans back and looks down at her. “You should go,” he says with a small nod.

She takes a moment to gather her thoughts before looking him right in the eye and issuing out, “Fuck. You.”

A surprised laugh escapes him. “You’re being pretty hostile right now,” he tells her, quirking his brow. “Keep this up and I’ll be left to assume you want to hate fuck in the ladies room like old times.”

Someone snorts out a laugh into the coms. “That’s not funny,” she grumbles.

He reaches out and runs his fingertips along the curve of her hip. “It has been a long time, sugar.”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” she says, taking hold of his forearm. He twists in her grip, grabs onto her hand and brings it to his lips for a lingering kiss.

“I have a clean shot,” Bucky breathes out through the coms.

“Ugh,” Tessa growls. “Stop it.” Then she grasps his arm again and gives a strong tug, pulling him around into a corridor.

“What the hell,” Bucky roars as soon as he loses visual. “Romanov?”

“I’m on it,” she responds, getting up and heading for the hallway that Tessa and Calvin disappeared into. She tries to remain casually hidden, not quite rounding the corner. But from her position… “I can’t get a clear visual.”

She may have disappeared from their sight, but the team can still hear everything that Tessa says. “Who is he, Cal?” she asks hurriedly. “And what the fuck are you doing for him?”

“He’s an entrepreneur. And I’m acquiring things for him.”

“Things?”

“C’mon, T. You know what I do. I go where the money is.”

She takes a sharp inhale. “Tell me you didn’t sell him the samples?”

“Samples? What samples?”

Her voice rises when she says, “The ones you stole from me in Belarus!”

He scoffs. “Those samples were sold a long time ago, sugar. And this guy… he’s way past wanting some tricked-out, radioactive genes.”

“The genes weren’t radioactive,” she corrects, impatiently. “They were activated by radiation.”

“Whatever,” he says with a dismissive sweep of the hand. “You know I don’t give a shit about the science.”

“Right. You only care about the money.”

“Look,” he says, his voice dropping an octave. “I’m trying to look out for you here. Whatever you’re doing – whatever you’re up to – I’m telling you, you need to stop. Now.”

“That’s cute, Cal. Really. You thinking you can tell me what to do. Cute.” She brushes past him and strides back over to their table, almost clipping Natasha on her way around the corner. “Mister,” she starts, standing in front of the two men, “sorry… Lobe.” She drops back into her seat with a saccharine smile. “Lobe, what an interesting name.”

“Not really,” he says to her. He looks up as Calvin returns and takes his seat as well, a furrowed, concerned look on his face. “Everything alright, Mr. Calvin?”

“Yes, everything’s fine.”

“All done with your lovers’ quarrel, I hope.” He turns back to Tessa. “Can we finally talk business then?”

Tessa tosses a quick glance to Cal and takes in his warning glare. Then she gives Lobe a curt, but certain nod. “Yes, I think we should.”

[daemoninwhiteround2]

Okay THAT PET NAME ANON GOT ME THINKING! Now, imagine a scenerio where the Batfam aren't imposters but they're cursed to forget the one they love dearly. And Jason has to suffer them looking at him and not knowing who he is, not waking in the morning to Dick's soft "sweetheart", or go to sleep hearing Tim heatedly calling him "Babe" or those peaceful moments where Damian will just call him "Beloved" whilst they read and sketch. Or the loving, tender moments with a open Bruce and his "Darling".

Ok, from now on, they're implementing some sort of Designated Survivor protocol. The entire family is never showing up to the same fight again--it means that when they all get their asses handed to them, there's no one to come rescue them.

At least this "supervillain" is wallowing in their capture like a pig rolling around in mud. Jason's never seen her before--Bruce had muttered over coms that she was one of Zatanna's occasional dance partner. Zee asked Babs to handle it, Babs already had the Birds deployed elsewhere, and so Babs had asked them to deal with it. Apparently whatever the chick writes down becomes reality--on paper (ha) she'd seemed really easy to take down. Just cause a little blackout, seperate pen from notebook and case closed, early night for all the bats and birds, right?

Turns out the bitch doesn't need to write things on anything. She scrawls across air, light following her finger, and Nightwing's tangled up in what appears to be multiple ribbons. Robin jumps her but she manages to spin out if the way, and the brat's hitting the ground next to 'Wing, gaged and bound at the wrist and ankles with similar looking ribbon.

Red Robin tosses a smoke grenade at her feet--the ribbons start to break apart and Jason grins, activates infrared vision and dives in but a massive blast of wind slams him onto his bavk and the ribbons solidify. Red brings his staff down of her wrist and she screams, but the bitch finishes her sentence with her other hand and Red joins the ribbon bondage pile.

Jason has got no idea where Bruce had got to. He grits his teeth and rolls into his feet, aims shots for her wrists and arms and darts around to some cover on to opposite side of the warehouse to where the others are. He's using rubber bullets but he should be able to do enough damage to make writing really fucking hurt--or hopefully the others will be able to free themselves from ribbon bondage hell.

Of course, she guestures and massive wings unfold from her back. A couple of flaps takes her high and back enough that she can look at him and the others, and the warehouse isn't big enough for him to break line of sight. He fires a couple of shots at the wings and she shrieks again, higher pitched, more like a bird, and pain screams through Jason's skull before everything goes black.

--

Everything hurts when Jason wakes up. He keeps his breathing as similar as possible, tenses different body parts in turn to see if anything is hurt enough to impact the inevitable fight--his shoulders ache, from the position of them and the feel of his arms, he's definitely restrained like the others. It's weird though, he knows he's tied up but he can't feel anything.

"And the last of you awake!" the bitch chirps.

Jason slowly opens his eyes. Yup, they're all tied up, even (aww fuck) Bruce. She's at least colour coordinated the ribbon with their costumes--Nightwing's also appears to be sparkly. Christ, if this bitch makes 'Wing dig out the Discowing costume, Jason's hunting her down to whatever hole they stuff her into and breaking something.

She's ranting on and on, how dare they get in her way, don't they know she's just trying to make things better, blah blah blah. Jason watches her posture more than anything, watches her work herself up into a frenzy, even as the pressure in his head starts to build again and the blinks get longer and longer.

Finally she stops. Honestly she looks pretty shitty, the worst Red hit is already sweeping up in a way that promises a fracture, at least, and reddened eyes and tangled her don't do her any favours.

"I'll show you," she hisses, lights starting to flicker at her fingertips. "I'll show you what it's like to lose-"

Black Bat crashes into her.

B, 'Wing, Red and Robin all flinch as her magic rolls over them.

Black spots creep over Jason's vision, but they hold off long enough for Jason see see Black Bat spray something in bitch's face that makes her away and crash to one knee.

Jason smirks and falls back unconscious.

--

He blinks. He knows this ceiling. He rolls to the side and vomits. Fuck his head hurts and that did not help.

Jason hates waking up in the med bay.

He hasn't got anything keeping him on the bed, no IVs or ECG sensors, so he slides off the bed, takes a second longer to get his legs underneath him than he should need, and stumbles off to where he can bear voices.

They're all here, gathered around the computer, and to Jason's swiftly buried relief, they all appear unharmed although they're all still in full consume.

Dick spots him first, and actually smiles at him. Huh. Either the bondage has put him in a good mood, or maybe he's happy that Jason didn't go for any really debilitating shots. "Hey! How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit in the head with a crowbar," Jason snarks back.

Dick's smile turns polite. "Ah, OK. Listen, I know Batman won't, but I wanted to thank you for helping out back there. You did a decent job distracting her."

Jason pulls away a little bit. Dick's talking to him like, like--

Tim comes over and holds out his hand. "Are you one of the Birds of Prey? Oracle didn't mention a male on her team?"

What the fuck.

The brat stalks over, his arms crossed. "An outsider does not deserve to wear our bat."

OK that's not totally out of character but--

None of them have taken any armour off, even though Jason knows Dick's electricity got reflected back on to him earlier and he should have removed the costume already so that Alfred can try and salvage what he can. No one has taken off a domino. They're all still using codenames, even though they're in the Cave.

They're all stiff, wary, hands are near their weapons, but not in the way they usually are. There's no ... tension, or rather, the tension that should be there isn't, it's like

It's like

It's like when Tim first bought Stephanie to the Cave. Like when Babs bought Cass.

What the fuck.

Bruce breaks away from where Cass was giving a report. He stalks over to Jason and stops just close enough that Jason has to crane his neck slightly, just close enough that he is backlit by one of the light and all expression vanishes from his face.

"Who are you," he grinds out.

[myaekingheart]

116. The Protegee

read the scarecrow and the bell on ao3 index | from the beginning | < previous | next >

Get me out of here so I can breathe It's all become so clear What lies beneath your skin, it's thin You're never going to keep me down Get me out, just get me out of here - Get Me Out, No Resolve

               Rei chewed her lower lip as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her gaze was focused, sharp, scared. She fixed her gauntlets to her forearms without breaking her gaze. She narrowed her eyes as if her own face was becoming foreign to her, as if there were parts of herself that she no longer recognized. A voice called from behind. “Big day today, huh?”

               Kakashi leaned against the doorway, arms crossed with a tender smile on his unmasked face. Rei’s tense expression faltered as she dropped her head. An airy, tired chuckle broke past her lips. “Unfortunately” she replied.

               “Are you nervous?” Kakashi asked. He strolled closer to take a seat on the edge of the tub. Rei shot him a questioning glare over her shoulder—the kind that said are you dumb? Of course I’m nervous. Chuckling, Kakashi replied, “You’ll do great. Everything is going to be fine.”

               “You say that” Rei said, slumping beside him, “as if I’m not a magnet for disaster.”

               “That’s okay” Kakashi assured her. “You’ll have Yugao there to negate the charge. One to attract”—here, he pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her rapid heartbeat beneath his palm—“and one to repel.” A satisfied grin touched his face, as if he was wildly proud of his little analogy.

               That was, perhaps, the one saving grace of this whole situation: Yugao. They had said nothing more to each other of their new roles but the change was strongly felt. It was present in the way they looked at each other, in the way Yugao would wave goodbye to her in the locker room at the end of the day and help her fix her vest when a strap came undone. They were a team now, there to support and unlift one another. One to attract, the other to repel. If anything was to go awry and Rei felt herself beginning to lose her nerve, Yugao would be there to catch her, to reassure her that there was always a way out. Or at least Rei hoped.

               Yugao did not strike her as the type to be cynical or coldhearted. Faced with this brand new challenge, however, she hoped her lieutenant would at the very least retain the confidence that Rei so sorely lacked. And within that confidence, hopefully Rei would feel far less doomed. As of right now, she didn’t have a ton of faith in all of this. She pressed a hand to her stomach and sucked in a deep breath, trying to swallow back the thoughts of what could have been.

               When Rei arrived at the administration building, Toshio by her side, Yugao was waiting in the hallway. Rei idled for a moment, cursing her own anxiety, before clearing her throat to attract her attention. Yugao met her gaze and even from behind her mask, Rei could tell that she was smiling. “It didn’t feel right to go in there without you, Captain” Yugao replied. Rei gave a single nod, suppressing nervous laughter. If she was going to make this work, she needed to wear a persona. She needed to appear cool, confident, collected. She needed to be tough and intimidating. She needed to be a captain.

               Without another word, the two women burst into the hokage office side by side. One to attract, one to repel. The new recruits were already lined up awaiting their arrival. There was no turning back now.

               “Sorry we’re a little late” Yugao apologized softly as she and Rei stood attention beside Tsunade’s desk. Toshio sat dutifully between them, sniffing the edge of Tsunade’s desk in hopes of finding a crumb of breakfast or a drop of tea.

               Tsunade shook her head. “No, you’re actually just in time.” Her eyes surveyed the batch of rookies standing before her and a sly smile twitched on her lips. “I was just giving your new recruits a rundown of the way things work around here.”

               Rei clenched her fists at her sides, digging her nails into her palms, as she secretly surveyed these young shinobi. Without their masks on, she could clearly see the hope in their eyes. It was the same brand of blind, naïve optimism she had when she first joined, as well. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, willing herself not to be sick. They had no idea what they were getting into. They were so unprepared. Ishoku seemingly had not broken them down enough and for a moment, Rei cursed the entire training division. At the same time, however, a sickening realization was taking root in the pit of her stomach. They were unprepared, but she could use that to her advantage. Destiny had ripped her away from her hopes, had shoved her down the wrong path and the same could be said of these four, as well. They weren’t meant to be here. Destiny had fucked up. If Rei was to have any hope of righting the future, then she would just have to take fate by the scrote and redirect it herself. These rookies would merely be a casualty in her pursuit of utopia. Quite frankly, she was perfectly fine with that.

               Yugao clasped her hands behind her back and chuckled under her breath. “Have you scared them off yet?” she asked Lady Tsunade.

               “Not quite” Tsunade replied. “I was saving that responsibility for their captain.”

               “Good” Rei said, voice low and hoarse. A snarky little laugh bubbled up from deep within her chest. “I’d hate to disappoint them.” She hadn’t expected to sound so sharp, insinuating that perhaps she did her killing before breakfast, but the effect was clear in the way the new recruits looked upon her now. Joke’s on them, Rei thought to herself, I didn’t even eat breakfast this morning.

               An inkling of pride bloomed in the back of Tsunade’s mind at Rei’s sudden haughtiness. As talented as she knew Rei was, that meant nothing in the stead of confidence and for leadership positions such as this, confidence was a hefty requirement. A captain needed to garner respect not just for one’s protegees but for the sake of the mission, as well. An anxious captain made for a much larger margin of error and in increasingly tense times such as these, there was no room for second-guessing. Tsunade was well aware of Rei’s issues in the past, of Naru’s death and the way Rei blamed herself. She knew placing Rei in situations with similar risk was dangerous but Rei was also a different person now. Stronger, smarter, and more outspoken. If nothing else, Tsunade had faith.

               Rising to her feet, the hokage looked to the new recruits with confidence, pride. “These will be your new team leaders” she announced. “Rei Natsuki, codename Aisuru, will be your new captain and Yugao Uzuki, codename Kasha, will be your lieutenant. Together, the six of you will make up Team Ku.”

               Team Ku. There was something so final about the sound of it. To think that they had a name, this ragtag group of strangers. They were a collective, a unit. Team Ku.

               Before Rei could make her harsh introduction, however, a tall girl with choppy blonde hair in pigtails cleared her throat. “Don’t you mean seven?” she asked. Tsunade blinked despondently, following the girl’s pointed finger to Toshio standing guard beside Rei. Toshio barked and wagged his tail in attendance.

               “Oh…right” Tsundde muttered. It was so rare that Toshio accompanied Rei on missions but she understood the logic. Toshio was a guard and a companion, not to mention a shinobi in his own right. His presence was likely on Kakashi’s suggestion. Of course Kakashi had faith in his fiancée’s abilities but that was not going to stop him from worrying. At least with Toshio by Rei’s side, Kakashi knew she would always be dutifully protected even in Kakashi’s absence. Especially in Kakashi’s absence. After all, that was the purpose that the copy ninja had thrust upon himself so many years before: to keep Rei safe at all costs. If that meant extending the responsibilities to Toshio, as well, then so be it. The dog had already avowed to do the same, anyway.

               “What’s with the mutt?” another new recruit, a towering bald man, asked. Meanwhile, a scrawny brunette boy with glasses sneezed into the crook of his elbow, eyes watering.

               “His name is Toshio, and he’s my ninken” Rei snapped. “He’s just as much of a ninja as you all are, if not more, so I expect you to show him respect.”

               “Great!” the blonde exclaimed in frustrated disbelief. “Now we’re being compared to a fucking dog.” Taking great offense, Toshio’s upper lip curled and a monstrous growl vibrated from deep within his chest.

               Rei rested a tender hand on his shoulder to soothe him, muttering with a slight smile, “Calm down, Toshio. You can sic them after they show us what they’re made of.”

               Rolling her eyes, the blonde mumbled a frustrated “Absolutely ridiculous” before Tsunade called order with a sharp glare and slam of her fist upon the desk.

               “Do we have a problem?” Tsunade asked through gritted teeth. The wood began to crack beneath her fist. Legend of Tsunade Senju’s strength was not lost on these new recruits and, sensing imminent danger, they quickly backed off. “That’s what I thought” Tsunade hummed, settling back into her chair.

               “Well!” Yugao exclaimed cheerily, attempting to break the tension. “Seeing as we’re all going to be spending a lot of time together, why don’t we all introduce ourselves?” The new recruits looked to one another suspiciously, unanimous flashbacks of the first day of school running surely running through their minds. Memories of cold sweats and fun facts and underhanded sneers. “You already know Rei and myself” Yugao continued. Toshio barked in interruption, if not wanting to be forgotten. Yugao cleared her throat, adding under her breath, “And Toshio….” Pleased with the recognition, Toshio craned his head around so as to lap at Yugao’s fingers happily. She swatted him away, not unkindly, in an effort to maintain composure. “But we don’t know anything about you and I think we ought to so by all means, please!” She motioned for them to commence with all the encouragement of a kindergarten teacher. Rei stifled laughter—she never expected Yugao to be so upbeat and accommodating. Kakashi’s words from that morning echoed in her ears: You’ll have Yugao to negate the charge. God, was he right. He must have known from conducting missions alongside her during his own time in the ANBU.

               The first to step forward was none other than the outspoken blonde girl. Rei studied her features intently, already getting a rather clear image of the type of person she must be before she even opened her mouth. “Arai Kawakubo” she introduced, “But for codename, let’s go with Dokyou.” There was a certain arrogance to her, an unrefined quality that truly fit her name. She was tall, nearly as tall as her bald comrade, with a build suggesting her discipline in training: broad shoulders, flat bust, muscular arms and legs. Her skin was tan and toned, eyes calm but sharp like aw amethyst. Her face reflected her coarse nature by way of pronounced cheekbones, a squared jaw, and an aquiline nose. Rei could already tell that out of all of them, Arai was going to be the catalyst for the most problems.

               Beside her stood the skittish brunette, sniffling as he wiped his nose wih the back of his hand. Rei wondered whether he was a member of that clan with the snot jutsu, the one she always saw the Third Hokage’s grandson hanging around with. “I-I’m Hitsuji Akado” he announced. “For my codename, I’ll go b-by…by….” He gasped for breath as his watery eyes squinted, preparing for another sneeze. His achoo mixed with his preferred name, however, causing Rei to cock her brow in confusion.

               “Sorry, what was that?” she asked.

               Smiling sheepishly, Hitsuji replied, “Sorry about that. It’s Chishiki.”

               “That should be easy enough to remember” Yugao jested, elbowing Rei comically in the arm.

               Deep down, Rei wondered how old this boy must be. He loked like he could be no older than fifteen or sixteen with big eyes and a baby face. There was no way someone like him would ever last in the ANBU. “By the way, are you sick or something?” Rei asked as HItsuji’s nose began to drip with snot. He panicked a moment, searching the room for a box of tissues, before Arai unenthusiastically whipped an embroidered hanky from her back pouch and shoved it in his face. Hitsuji took it gratefully, blowing into it like a foghorn. When he went to hand it back to Arai, she winced and raised a hand, shaking her head as it to tell him to keep it.

               “No” Hitsuji sniffled in response to Rei’s inquiry. “I just have a dog allergy.”

               Toshio narrowed his eyes, offended. So far, these new recruits werne’t winning his approval. They could all do so much better. If only they knew they were being judged so harshly by a dog.

               The next recruit to step up to the plate was a rather jaunty blonde boy. “Hello, beautiful!” he exclaimed, taking Rei’s hand in his for a princely kiss. “I am Sukui Yukio, your knight in shining armor! But please, call me Kishi!”

               Disgust crossed Rei’s masked face as she gingerly took her hand back and wiped it on her pants. “The pleasure is all mine” she muttered sarcastically. This boy had to be roughly seven years younger than her and, truthfully, seemed far too optimistic and charming to ever have been accepted into the black ops in the first place. Rei glanced to Lady Tsunade and wondered how desperate she had become. Or if she had set them up to fail from the beginning.

               “You know” Sukui said, striking a flirtatious pose, “Some people say I bear a striking resemblance to the sexy actor Keihaku Goman from the Icha Icha films! I’m always so flattered but really, how could I ever compare?”

               “You don’t” Arai interrupted. Sukui glared back at her, offended, before the bald man pushed him aside.

               “Alright, let’s get this over with” he rasped. Sukui stumbled, narrowing his eyes in displeasure. “The name’s Kikkake, I’ll go by Janome, great to meet you. Okay, let’s leave.” His voice was so monotonous, so dull, with a demeanor to match. Out of everyone, he was likely the most prepared for a position such as this. He was clearly older than the others with an age far closer to Rei’s or even Sekkachi’s. The optimistic youths had clearly left him weary and jaded. You and me both, Rei thought to herself. At least there was one person she was beginning to like.

               Arai snickered from behind and Kikkake whipped around to glare at her. There was a fire in his eyes but Arai seemed completely unphased. “Are you sure a more appropriate codename wouldn’t be Cueball?” she asked, stifling laughter. Kikkake’s hand immediately flew to his bald head, a flicker of self-consciousness quickly making way for fury.

               “No, I don’t” he snapped.

               Clearly Arai, however, was not prepared or willing to quit. Shrugging, she replied casually, “Well, sorry, I just thought codenames were supposed to be easily identifiable an Cueball just seems to fit.”

               Kikkake clenched his fists at his side, his temper flaring. “Keep it up and I’ll cue you” he growled through gritted teeth.

               Before they could start an all-out brawl in the hokage’s office, a kunai flew straight between them, sticking in the wall and leaving a monstrous crack. Rei strode forward and shoved the two of them away from each other. “If you both don’t shut the fuck up right now, your necks will be the next thing that kunai hits” Rei sneered, voice low and dangerous. After a moment of silence, Arai burst out laughing. Rei wasn’t a threat in the slightest to her. How could she be? Displeased with her disobedience, Rei whipped another kunai out of her holster and within five seconds, had pinned Arai against the wall with the blade to her neck. “Don’t test me.”

               Arai calmly rose her hands in surrender and smirked. “You’ve got it, boss.” Rei certainly did not appreciate the sarcasm, but she knew her limitations, at least right in front of Tsunade. She slowly released her grip on the girl, who readjusted her pigtails as she sauntered over to the others.

               Turning around, Rei glared at the new recruits and added darkly, “That goes for all of you. Step out of line even once and you’re Toshio’s next meal, guaranteed.” The dog barked in agreement and in that moment, Rei had never been more grateful for her ninken’s support.

               Yugao blinked as she surveyed their new protegees’ faces, unsure what to make of Rei’s leadership skills. Tsunade glanced toward her and it was clear that even behind her mask, all the color had drained from her face. “It seems like you both have your work cut out for you” the hokage murmured.

               Sighing despondenly, Yugao ran a hand through her dark hair and replied, “Unfortunately.” She was beginning to question how capable she truly was in a position such as this. Rei was so crude, so harsh, so different from the way Yugao conducted herself. She had never expected Rei to hold quite so much darkness in her heart but then again, that was likely how she had made captain in the first place.

               Rei tried to remain composed as she returned to her spot beside Yugao, but deep down she was spiraling. She should’ve known that sinking feeling in her gut that morning meant something. If only she had just gotten her period.

               Truly, what had she gotten herself into? This was undoubtedly a recipe for disaster. She watched the four of them bicker and complain as they departed the hokage office together. The day was still so young and yet the introductions alone had already depleted her social meter to near empty. She squinted up at the sun and braced herself for the mind-numbing orientation they would all have to sit through for the rest of the day. Five hours wasn’t that bad, anyway…right?

               As much as she wished she could just sleep through the whole thing, Rei knew this orientation concerned her, too. She pulled a small notepad from her back pouch and idly jotted down some notes—it was the least she could do to remain conscious. Every so often, she’d look up to survey her new protegees sitting at the table in front of her. Kikkake listened intently, arms crossed and eyes focused. It warmed Rei’s heart to know he was taking this seriously. Hitsuji was dutifully taking notes, as well, complaining softly under his breath with every sneeze that Toshio’s presence triggered. Every so often, Toshio would crawl forward to begin licking at the boy’s elbow just to spite him. Hitsuji would gasp and shoo him away every time, his eyes tearing up as he suppressed yet another sneeze. Beside him, Sukui twirled a lock of short blonde hair around his finger as he stared off into space. He was likely dreaming of some romantic escapade a la Icha Icha Paradise. Rei’s stomach flipped at the thought. He really did resemble Keihaku Goman and that was likely where at least half of her hatred for this boy stemmed. As for Arai, she leaned back in her chair with feet propped up on the table, the personification of apathy. If everything was such a chore for her, then why was she even here to begin with? Rei couldn’t comprehend it. Huffing her long bangs out of her face, Rei hoped that these recruits would at least retain something from his longwinded lecture. Or at the very least realize that none of them are fit for this after all and back out altogether. Either would suffice.

               By sundown, Rei was completely drained. She undressed in the locker room silently, her mind wandering elsewhere. It felt so weird to be here now, as a captain. She glanced to her comrades, to Mikazuki and the others whose name she had forgotten who she had worked alongside before. She di’n't feel like one of them anymore. She was above them now, an outsider. Rei raked her bangs back out of her face, caught her reflection in the small mirror affixed to the inside of her locker door. For a moment, she idled there surveying the roundness of her face and the curves of her body. Her hand skated to her stomach and her breath hitched in her throat. I need to get out of this. Get me out of here…please. A tinge of despair struck her chest. She swallowed it down hard. There was no time to sulk or second-guess.

               “So what do you think so far?” a voice asked from behind. Snapped from her daze, Rei stumbled as she turned to face Yugao. There was a sly smile on her face as she tugged her undershirt up over her head, revealing her toned abs and delicate breasts.

               “They’re alright” Rei said bluntly. She shoved her vest into her locker, scrunching it up to make it fit. “I give them two weeks, tops.”

               “Your skepticism is very refreshing” Yugao commented and for a moment, Rei was unsure whether she was being sarcastic or genuine. “You have to admit, though, they have some potential.”

               “Yeah…” Rei muttered. That was a dangerous word: potential. No, they were not allowed to have potential. They were not allowed to have any positive attributes whatsoever. Any promise in them was a threat to Rei’s true purpose, her villainous plan. She slammed her locker door shut, sucked in a sharp breath. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

               “Well, tomorrow will give them the perfect opportunity” Yugao nodded. A shiver ran down Rei’s spine, horror and hope intertwined. Come morning, they would all traverse to the 44th Training Ground for a final exam of sorts. Their last chance to prove now to their captain and lieutenant that they were truly meant to be here. The moment that could make or break their career. Rei toyed with the drawstring on her uniform pants and tried to steady her breathing. She would not let herself think about the repercussions this would all have on their lives if she chose to fail them. She would not let herself humanize these brats in her mind. She needed to keep herself cold and distant, to practice restraint. This was all or nothing. Ready or not, the fork in the road was rapidly approaching. She had to make her choice.

               Forty-five minutes. Since Rei returned home, she had gone a total of forty-five whole minutes without speaking. Kakashi watched her quizzically from behind his book: watched as she shifted restlessly in her seat, brushed her bangs back out of her face, read a few paragraphs of her own book, sighed and then shifted again. “Rough day?” Kakashi finally asked.

               Rei glanced up at him for only a moment. She didn’t want to tal about it. She didn’t even want to think about it. It took every ounce of her mental energy to focus instead on the words on the page, the images they evoked, the syllables of which they consisted. She tightened her grip on the book. “Just tired” she muttered.

               It was clear to Kakashi, however, that there was far more to this than just exhaustion. Setting Icha Icha Violence down, he scooted nearer to give her his undivided attention. “Did something happen today?” he asked. “How were the new recruits?”

               Rei kept her eyes locked hard on her book, attempting to ignore his inquiries, but she couldn’t bring herself to keep up the charade. She knew he deserved an explanation, even if she didn’t want to trudge through all of the complicated thoughts swirling around her head. It was too much. There was no way she could ever possibly organize it all into something even remotely coherent. “Problematic” she finally said bluntly. “They are very problematic.”

               “Oh?” Kakashi asked, cocking a brow. “How so?”

               Rei released a sharp exhale through her nose. She narrowed her mossy eyes, concentrating very hard on a single word in the text as if that was the key to ending this conversation altogether. Kakashi was unfortunately not going to let her slide that easily. Something was troubling her and he needed to know what. With index finger extended, he reached out and tilted her book downward so as to better view her face. She was utterly defeated. She couldn’t ignore him anymore. She slowly lifted her gaze to look at him and in her eyes, he saw exhaustion, uncertainty, fear.

               “Now why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” he asked.

               There was no avoiding it further. With a pathetic groan, Rei buried her face in her hands. “Oh god, Kakashi, it’s so bad” she complained. “I can’t do this. I never should’ve agreed to do this. These kids are…absolutely terrible.”

               “How so?” he asked. “What did they do? Stick a frog in your locker? Ice down your back?”

               Rei stared at him blankly, unamused. “You think you’re really funny, don’t you, Kakashi?” she asked.

               Kakashi shrugged. “I try” he jested.

               Rei shook her head and sighed, resting her chin on her drawn-up knees. “I just don’t think I have what it takes for this” she explained. “There’s only one who I think has some real potential, and I’d hate to ruin it for him, but everyone else…my god, I don’t think I can go through with this. They’re not cut out for this.” And I’m not, either, she thought to herself.

               “Well, they had to have shown some potential to get to this point in the first place” Kakashi mused.

               There was that word again: potential. Why did there always have to be potential? Groaning, Rei threw her head back against the arm of the couch. Her legs extended out across Kakashi’s lap. Toshio sauntered forward to lick at her feet but Rei barely even noticed. “I hate that word so much” she whispered. “There’s not an ounce of potential in any of this.”

               Kakashi sighed. She reminded him so much of when he was first assigned Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. He had so little faith in them. Besides, what made them any different than any other team of spoiled brats he had been assigned? He fully intended to fail them right from the getgo but then…something changed. There was something strange and new about these kids. He had, for the first time, faith. Kakashi reached out and rested a tender hand on Rei’s stomach. Her entire body electrified, sending blaring signal flares throughout her brain. Reminders of what she was hoping to accomplish here. She couldn’t take it. “Maybe you’re just not giving them enough credit” he offered.

               “I’m giving them plenty credit, Kakashi” Rei snapped, flicking his hand away. Dejected, he drew his victim hand up to his chest, his gaze softening. “But I’m only going to give credit where credit is due” Rei continued. “I’m not going to sugarcoat things for them and make them feel like they can do this if they can’t. They have no fucking clue what they’re up against.”

               “Neither did you when you first started” Kakashi sharply reminded her. A kunai to the chest, sharp and stinging. The last straw. Rising from her seat, Rei tossed her book on the table and approached the kitchen. She stood over the sink and let the water run until it was scaldng hot. Steam rose up to warm her cheeks. Kakashi watched her intently from the couch, unsure of what she was planning. “You can’t get mad at me for the truth, you know” he called after her. She said nothing. For a long moment, aside from the sound of rushing water, they stood in utter silence. Then, heaving a sigh, Kakashi rose to his feet to follow her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. She felt his embrace warm and certain around her lower stomach and it took all of her strength not to cry out. “Give them a chance, Rei” he pleaded. “You might be surprised with what they’re capable of.”

               Rei dropped her head, rested a hand atop Kakashi’s against her stomach. “Do you really think so, though?” she asked. “I don’t want to waste my time. I don’t want to put these kids at risk of…of something bad happening just because they’re not prepared for this. Or because…I’m not prepared.”

               “Do you think taking this on was a mistake?” Kakashi asked. She wasn’t sure she knew how to answer. Her heart beat faster and faster in her chest as she tried to think of a proper response.

               “This just…wasn’t the way things were supposed to go” she finally whispered, voice strained.

               Kakashi rubbed her lower stomach, tightening his embrace. “I know” he whispered. “But it’s the way things are. This is the path we’ve taken now. We can’t go back.”

               “How do you know?” Rei asked. A sick sense of hope was bubbling up her throat now. “Maybe we can try again and…and this time we’ll be successful. I can get out of this, and we can make things right. Do things the way it was supposed to be. Have our little family.”

               “Rei…” Kakashi sighed. She could hear the disappointment, the regret, dripping in his voice. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, hot breath against her skin. “You’ve made a commitment to these kids now. You’re responsible for their futures. You can’t give up on them.”

               “There will be other captains…” Rei whispered, though deep down even she knew that was wrong. “I just don’t know how to do this, Kakashi. I’m not prepared. And they’re so…needy. And dumb. They’re not cut out for this. They can’t do this.”

               Kakashi nuzzled her cheek, kissed her jaw tenderly. “I said the same thing about you, and look at you now” he reminded her. She hated when he did this. Mainly because he was always right. “If change is what you want to see, Rei, then you have to initiate it. You’re the captain, remember? You’re the one guiding them. Their success in this relies completely on you. Rei…you’re not powerless.”

               As reassuring as his words were, his reminder was not entirely comforting. With great power there was always great responsibility. She was in charge. Everything relied on her. She held these kids’ futures in the palm of her hand and, much like a flower, she could either nurture them or destroy them. She knew what the right decision, the moral decision, was but…why did it have to be her responsibility? Why was she required to decide their fates when she wasn’t even given the chance to decide her own? Rei swallowed hard and tightened her grip on Kakashi’s hand. At the end of the day, the only one who could change the course of fate was her. She was responsibility for guiding the destinies of herself and now everyone else who was involved in this twisted little clusterfuck. All of this rested solely on her shoulders. If only the weight of that responsibility was easier to swallow.

[anthem-news]

Polygon’s Cover Story: The State of BioWare

Polygon interviews BioWare devs about the studio’s project history, touching on titles new and old. 

The article begins:

On Oct. 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy brought havoc to the East Coast of the U.S. Among the destruction, its 60 mph winds struck a construction crane atop the One57 luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan and left the crane’s massive arm hanging precariously over a street. Buildings throughout the adjacent blocks were evacuated, and millions watched as footage of the scene unfolded across news networks.

Meanwhile, in an Edmonton, Alberta, office building 2,000 miles to the northwest, the team that had shepherded the Mass Effect trilogy to its conclusion was charting a new course. A number of the folks in the room had spent the better part of a decade working on BioWare’s acclaimed series of sci-fi role-playing games; they were desperate to find unexplored territory for their next project, an action game codenamed “Dylan.” 

“As we were coming up with concepts for Dylan, there was that storm that hit New York,” recalls game director Jon Warner, “and there was this giant crane that had been damaged, and was dangling off the side of a building. CNN and everybody was showing it.” For a time, the disaster haunted their imaginations. [...]

[pyroflyer23]

I wonder what would happen if I told y’all that I self-ship. Cause I do. I have a list of F/Os who I love dearly. Y’all wanna see it? No? Too bad.

Romantic F/Os:

Starscream. (Transformers franchise)

Blizwing. (Transformers Animated)

Wreck-Gar. (Transformers Animated)

Robot Devil. (Futurama)

Nick (Left 4 Dead 2)

David (Left 4 Dead Screamer OC)

Merasmus (Team Fortress 2)

Sniper (Team Fortress 2)

Medic (Team Fortress 2)

Fritz Ludwig (Emesis Blue)

Christian Brutal Sniper (Freak Fortress 2)

George “Digger” Harkness/Captain Boomerang (DC Comics)

Oswald Cobblepot. (ANY VERSION OTHER THAN THE SKINNY ONES.) (DC Comics)

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, (Batman/DC Comics)

Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter (Arkhamverse games)

Joker (Young Justice version and Injustice 2 version)

Arthur Fleck (Joker 2019)

The Amazing Mumbo/Mumbo Jumbo (Teen Titans)

Blade (Puppet Master)

Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus)

Erik Destler (The Phantom of the Oprea, 1989)

Inkubus (Inkubus, 2011)

The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Agent Smith (The Matrix)

Egon Spengler (Ghostbusters franchise)

Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters franchise)

Ron Alexander (Ghostbusters IDW comics)

Dr. Caligosto Loboto (Psychonauts)

Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)

Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel)

Vox (Hazbin Hotel)

Father/Benedict Uno (Codename Kids Next Door)

Lou Pottingsworth III/The Toiletnator. (KND)

Jack O'lantern. (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy)

Dr. 0/Zero (Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues)

Stu Macher/Ghostface (Scream 1996

Johann Kraus (Hellboy franchise)

Demongo. (Samurai Jack)

Scaramouch the merciless. (Samurai Jack)

Jack Frost (The Santa Clause franchise)

Snow Miser (Rankin/Bass specials)

Springtrap (Goes by “Spring”) (FNAFB and FNAF world cannon mix)

Foxy (FNAF/FNAFB cannon) 

Dr. Insano (Atop the Fourth Wall/The spoony experiment)

Captain Buggy! (One Piece)

Soul King Brook (One Piece)

Sir Crocodile (One Piece)

Ryuma (One Piece)

Señor Diablo (JTHM)

Richard (Looking For Group)

The Terror (The Tick 2017)

Guerrero (Human Target 2010)

Willie Loomis (Dark Shadows 2012)

Pyramid Head (Silent Hill)

Albert Wesker (Resident Evil)

AM (I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream)

Herbert West (Re-Animator)

HP Hatecraft (Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated)

Captain James Hook. (Peter Pan. I like the cartoon version)

The Mask/Stanley Ipkiss (The Mask movie and animated series)

Kowalski (Penguins of Madagascar)

Murdoc Niccals (Gorillaz)

The Spine (Steam Powered Giraffe)

Lore (Star Trek TNG)

Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture (The Venture Bros) 

Zed Blanco (Borderlands)

Ned Blanco (Borderlands)

Giovanni (Pokemon) (It’s complicated.)

Lex Luthor (Justice Leauge Action)

Rorschach (Watchmen)

Dr. Ian Malcom (Jurassic Park)

Eckert (EleTRONica) (It’s a former Disneyland park show)

Spiderman Noir/Peter Parker (Into The Spiderverse)

Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze (Marvel, 2007 movie)

Papyrus (Most of the Papyruses) (Undertale and it's AUs.)

Gaster (Undertale)

Spamton G Spamton (Deltarune)

Professor Membrane (Invader Zim) (I liked him before the movie. It just reminded me.)

Wade Willson/Deadpool (Marvel) (Both dating and friends with benefits depending on the day)

Cell (Dragon Ball franchise)

Jeice (Dragon Ball Z Abridged)

Skeletor (He-Man)

Cobra Commander (G.I. Joe)

Skullmageddon (Double Dragon Neon)

Remus Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Hades (Disney’s Hercules)

Platonic F/Os:

Jervis Tetch /Mad Hatter (Batman the animated series)

Grim (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy)

Nergal (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) (Friends with benefits type)

Reg Barclay. (Star Trek TNG)

Ray Stanz, Winston Zeddamore, Rookie (Ghostbusters franchise) 

The Scooby gang (Scooby-Doo franchise)

Toulon’s Puppets (Puppet Master)

Bubba Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

Chop Top Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

Slimer (Ghostbusters franchise)

Q (Star Trek) (IDK but you could put Discord from MLP on here as well. I like them both for the same reason.)

Jervis Tetch (DC Comics/Batman the animated series.)

The Eds (Ed Edd n Eddy.) (Childhood friends type.)

Rrazputin Aquato (Psychonauts)

Milla Vodello  (Psychonauts)

Sasha Nein (Psychonauts)

Morceau Oleander (Psychonauts)

Stolas Goitia (Helluva Boss)

Hazbin Hotel staff (Vaggie, Angel Dust, Husk, Charlie, Nifty) (Hazbin Hotel)

Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel)

Guzma (Pokemon) (He is friend shaped.)

Sans (Undertale and it’s AUs.)

The robots and Water Workers (Save The Spine) (Steam Powered Giraffe)

All of the Straw hat crew (cept Brook cause we’re dating) (One Piece)

All the Sanders sides save Remus and Deceit. (Deceit might become platonic more we learn about him.)

Gnarl (Overlord games) (Leader and advisor type relationship.)

The Minions (Overlord games) (One-sided devotion on their end. I hold very little attachment to the majority besides appreciation.)

Familial F/Os:

Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas) (Big brother)

Mad Mod. (Teen Titans) (Father)

Master Splinter (TMNT franchise) (Father)

All the Ninja Turtles. (TMNT franchise) (Brothers)

Freddy Kruger (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) (Uncle)

Lord Fathom. (Jake and the Neverland Pirates) (Father)

Brewster (Animal Crossing) (Father)

Mad Mod (Teen Titans) (Father)

Bill and Mandy (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) (I just kinda adopted them.)

Nergal Jr. (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) (Adopted nephew)

Irwin (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) (Son)  I'm not as attached to Irwin as I am to the others but he's still my son and I love him.

Nigel Uno/Numbah One (Codename Kid Next Door) (Nephew)

Delightful Children From Down The Lane (Codename Kids Next Door) (Children)

Webber (Don’t Starve) (Son)

Hank and Dean Venture (Venture Bros) (Sons)

Bowser Jr. (Mario) (Son)

Heat Miser and the rest of the Miser family (Rankin/Bass specials) (family in-laws)

Serena (Pokemon) (Daughter)

Silver (Pokemon) (Son)

Yellow (Pokemon) (Daughter)

Toriel (Undertale and it’s AUs) (Mom)

Thor (Marvel) (Brother-in-law)

Charles (Looking for Group) (Adopted son)

Dib Membrane (Invader Zim) (Son)

Gaz Membrane (Invader Zim) (Daughter)

Zim (Invader Zim) (Adopted son)

Shin Godzilla (Godzilla franchise) (Adopted child)

Pet F/Os:

Sparkles (Pikachu) (Pokemon)

Rex (Quagsire) (Pokemon)

Richard (Houndoom) (Pokemon)

Froggy (Greninja) (Pokemon)

Zigzig (Zigzagoon) (Pokemon)

Fifi (Xenomorph, Runner type) (Alein franchise)

Sparky (Licker B) (Resident Evil)

[alovesickdork]

To my S/I list

While all my F/Os are good to send letters as, here’s the list from the doc.

Brewster (Animal Crossing) (Adopted father)

Father/Benedict Uno (Codename Kids Next door) (Romantic)

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (DC comics) (Romantic) (Use my S/I’s name for that, Plague/Rosea) (She’s a villain)

Lex Luthor (Justice League Action) (Romantic) (Again please use my S/I’s name for this.) (Songbird/Rosea) (She’s a hero)

Captain Hook (1953 animated Peter Pan, not OUaT) (Romantic)

Eckert (Tron/ElecTRONica show from DCA) (Romantic)

Robot Devil (Futurama) (Romantic)

Murdoc (Gorillaz) (Romantic, NSFW is okay)

Jack O’Lantern (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) (Romantic)

Nergal (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) (Platonic BROT3 with Jack)

Giovanni (Pokemon) (Romantic, NSFW okay)

Albert Wesker (Resident Evil) (Romantic)

Mr. Needful (Rick and Morty) (Romantic, NSFW okay)

Starscream (Transformers) (Romantic)

Rusty Venture (Ventrue Bros) (Romantic)

Dean and Hank Venture (Venture Bros) (Adopted sons)

[shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl]

“Take my believing heart!”

Little Witch Persona AU anyone? Phantom witches?? Witch thieves???

**Please DO NOT edit, use, or repost any of these! Thank you!

—

Nine New Phantom Witches

character profiles, concepts and dialogues under the cut!

Diana Cavendish

Codename: Empress Arcana: Hierophant

Mask: Silver mask with intricate carvings reminiscent of crowns exuding a royal vibe

Outfit: Think Revolutionary Girl Utena just with a different color scheme, white and blue and gold

Persona: Celtic goddess of healing Sirona -> Roman goddess Diana (second awakening)

Skillset: Strong heal and magic spells, high magic resistance but weak to physical and status ailments

Weapons: Rapier and Desert Eagle

All-Out Attack Card: “Battle Royal” written with a castle in the background and she says, “It was hardly a challenge.”

———-

Atsuko “Akko” Kagari

Codename: Nova (short for Supernova) Arcana: Fool

Mask: Golden domino mask with star shaped holes for the eyes

Outfit: Think Shiny Chariot just more conservative and more red

Persona: Susanoo -> Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and of the universe [World arcana] (second awakening)

Skillset: Strong physical attacks and resistance but lower magical defense

Weapons: Shiny Rod (but Akko swings it like a bat) and slingshot gun

All-Out Attack Card: “A Dream Come True!” written with a colorful background and she says, “Wasn’t that so much fun!”

CHATS:

Akko: Just what kind of dish is “Cavendish” anyways? Diana: …I can hear your stomach growling. Have you eaten at all before this?

Akko: I don’t get this arcana thing. Why isn’t Chariot’s arcana Chariot? I mean it’s already in her name! Diana: Clearly you haven’t been studying. Again. If you did then you would know that that’s not how arcanas work.

Akko: Isn’t it weird calling out your own name when you summon your persona? Diana: I suppose it is but I’ve gotten used to it.

Diana: I’m still uncomfortable with the use of firearms in battle. Akko: At least you get to use an actual gun! Why the heck do I get a kid’s toy instead?

Diana: It’s amazing how there are worlds like this all because someone believes it. Akko: Chariot was right all along. A believing heart is magic. And it’s our duty to make sure that magic is used for good!

———-

Ursula Callistis

Codename(s): Chariot, Crane *NOTE for Ursula, she will have two masks: she starts out with Chariot and later on dons Crane (since the curse suppresses her powers)

Codename: Chariot Arcana: Sun

Mask: Golden masquerade mask

Outfit: Think Overwatch Mercy just more red than yellow and minus the halo

Persona: Astraea (star-maiden or starry night in Greek) [or second option Alfrodull, literally sun-chariot in Norse]

Skillset: Well balanced, master of all elements, high SP cost

Weapons: Shiny Rod which transforms into Shiny Axe for melee and then transforms into Shiny Arc for long-ranged

All-Out Attack Card: “A believing heart is magic!” written in the sky among the stars and she says, “I believe in you!”

Codename: Crane Arcana: Hanged

Mask: Red bird-shaped mask with pointed beak

Outfit: Simple white witch outfit with bird motif and red accents

Persona: Hestia, Greek goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state

Skillset: Strong bless skills, weak to curse skills

Weapons: Eskrima sticks and a crossbow

All-Out Attack Card: “Shoot for the stars!” written with the Fountain of Polaris in the background and she says, “I can shine at least this much!”

—–

Croix Meridies

Codename: Crow Arcana: Moon

Mask: Black bird-shaped mask with curved beak

Outfit: Same as anime but maybe edgier and more black accents

Persona: Morrigan, Irish mythology of a crow goddess –> Branwen, Welsh goddess of love, means “blessed raven.” (second awakening)

Skillset: Strong nuclear and has curse skills, weak to psychokinesis

Weapons: Gadgets linked to her smartphone and sniper rifle

All-Out Attack Card: “Sorcery Solution System” written on a smartphone interface background and she says, “Your magic is outdated.”

CHATS:

Ursula: What are the odds that our outfits are both bird-themed? This reminds me of the saying, “birds of the same feather flock together”. Croix: Except we’re both literally different species of birds.

Ursula: So your codename is Crow and your persona looks like a crow… not to mention the fact that your real name sounds like… Croix: You’re just jealous because I have a theme.

Ursula: I think Crow is a good fit for you. They’re known to be quite the smart animals that have good memory. Croix: You know what else crows are good at? Murder.

Croix: Don’t you want to find out who would win in a birdfight, a crane or a crow? Ursula: No. Let’s not find out. Ever. Can’t we just find out which bird has better manners?

Croix: If I fold you a thousand origami cranes then would you grant me a wish? Ursula: You don’t have to do that. I’ll gladly help you in achieving your wish with all my power.

———-

Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank Albrechtsberger

Codename: Steam aka the Navigator Arcana: Magician

Mask: Same goggles she wears in the anime

Outfit: Steampunk armor pls

Persona: Baduhenna, Germanic goddess associated with war

Skillset: “Wild Hunt” which is basically ship mode and the usual navigator skills, strong gun skills, offense support type

*Notes: Her persona is/can transform into a ship (like the one in the anime). Her persona also doubles as the transport vehicle of the group. She even makes “modifications” on her persona (skill exclusive to her and Croix)

Weapons: Her modified guns like in the anime; her persona also has canons

All-Out Attack Card: “Modern Magic” written on a circuitboard background and Stanbot says, “Victory!”

———-

Amanda O'Neill

Codename: Rogue or Rebel (couldn’t decide) Arcana: Chariot

Mask: White mask, maybe same as P5 Joker’s but edgier

Outfit: Think P5 Joker and her hair is groomed like in the Holy Grail episode

Persona: Eris, Greek goddess of chaos

Skillset: Strong physical, high agility, most likely to do follow-ups

Weapons: Bo staff and shoes that hurt as hell, and submachine gun

*Notes: Amanda has the only solo-rideable persona. It takes form of either a revamped broom or a hoverbike. She’s the only one who equips two melee weapons because of her acrobatic fighting style.

All-Out Attack Card: “Wrong side of the law” written with a heist background and she says, “That all you got?”

———-

Jasminka Antonenko

Codename: Mishka (Russian Bear mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games) Arcana: Strength

Mask: Polar bear mask

Outfit: Think Overwatch Mei but with a different color scheme

Persona: Maslenitsa, Slavic goddess of harvest and witchcraft

Skillset: Good at party healing and dealing brutal AOE damage but the only catch is that she doesn’t have a lot of SP so she uses a lot of items to replenish it. Most likely to give cover fire.

Weapons: Two-handed axe or hammer and bazooka

All-Out Attack Card: “Chow Down” written on a dining table filled with food as a background, and she says, “Seconds, please?”

———-

Lotte Yanson

Codename: Owl Arcana: Temperance

Mask: Great grey owl-shaped mask but the eye holes are covered with prescription glasses

Outfit: Think traditional fantasy rpg mage but with grey feathery look

Persona: Luonnotar, the Finnish “female spirit of nature”

Skillset: Strong buffs and support; her high affinity with spirits makes her handy to have when doing shadow negotiations particularly recruiting shadows

Weapons: Spear and harpoon gun

All-Out Attack Card: “Night Fall and Spirit Calls” written with spirits celebrating in the background and she says,“I lost my temper back there.”

———-

Sucy Manbavaran

Codename: Miasma Arcana: Devil

Mask: Plague doctor mask

Outfit: Dark cloak and robes, horns headband, black leather gloves

Persona: Maria Cacao or “Maria” for short, the goddess at Mt. Lantoy in Cebu, Philippines

Skillset: Strong at dealing status ailments and debuffing enemies; her intimidating aura helps in shadow negotiations particularly shaking down more money and rarer items off shadows

Weapons: Sickle and modified gas pistol

All-Out Attack Card: “Deadly Concoction” written in a cauldron with mushrooms in the background and she says, “Was that too strong for you?”

———-

CHATS:

Akko: Why would you name yourself “My asthma”? You sick or something? Lotte: It’s not “my asthma”, it’s mi- Sucy: No. Don’t tell her. This is funny.

Akko: Why am I not surprised that Sucy is just as creepy even as a Phantom Witch? Sucy: It’s called consistency- something you lack.

Akko: Thank goodness we have Lotte with us, she’s really good at talking us out of a fight! Lotte: Well we wouldn’t be fighting so much if you just tried talking first instead of running in head first.

Akko: Hey, you’re not wearing your glasses. Can you even see anything? Lotte: Oh, actually my glasses are incorporated in my mask. It’s thoughtfully convenient.

Akko: Amanda’s outfit is so cool! Not like in a Chariot way but still cool! Amanda: Thanks. It just shows how cool my rebellious spirit is. Meanwhile your outfit is… very Akko. Akko: Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!

Akko: Just how many snacks do you bring with you each time? Jasminka: Enough for everyone… and more!

Akko: How come you guys get to ride your personas? Like Amanda can ride on hers and Constanze has a huge ship! Amanda: You can’t even ride a broom, how can you ride anything else? Constanze (through Stanbot): Akko, basics!

Akko: Constanze has it easy, huh. We have to fight shadows while she just stands back and supervises. Constanze (through Stanbot): No cover fire for Akko! Akko: Eh? Ehhhhhh? No way! J-Joke! That was just a joke! I was kidding!

Sucy: Hey, can you modify my gun so that it shoots gas more accurately? Or maybe something that shoots more painfully? Constanze (through Stanbot): Possible! I’ll work on it soon! Akko: Somehow, those two teaming up makes me feel uneasy…

Lotte: You’re so strong! I don’t know anyone else who can lift such a large weapon so easily. Jasminka: Thank you. I don’t know anyone else who can talk to spirits though.

Lotte: I feel kind of silly in my outfit. I’m not used to wearing something so eye-catching. Sucy: It feels the same for me. Well the mask is more pointed but as long as it serves its function, I could care less.

Amanda: Hm? So the Luna Nova’s “princess” is a Phantom Witch too. Huh, never thought I’d see the day. Diana: I would prefer if you call me by my codename “Empress”. Lotte: Please no fights. Let’s all get along now.

Amanda: You use a rapier? You know I’m pretty badass with one too. Diana: Yes, I’m aware. I think everyone has already heard of your infamous Appleton incident.

Diana: So a diplomatic approach could work just as fine… Interesting, I wouldn’t have learned that from Akko. Lotte: Yes, well you know Akko. She has her own way of dealing with things. Sucy: It’s called brute force. Akko: Hey! I can hear you guys over here!

———-

Some personal commentary,

Initially I just wanted to make edits as the girls and professors being Akko’s confidants but when I opened photoshop, my hand slipped. Maybe I’ll try and do edits for the rest of the girls some day so here have their profiles in advance. PS I love everyone. 

Anyways! As for this AU, this just came up for fun! I mean if you like it but think you have a different image for their outfits and codenames then by all means, do you! I’m just putting this self-indulgent idea out there. I believe that you can shape this into something more spectacular! Go and enjoy creating!

Feel free to edit or add to this AU. Have fun!!

[aion-rsa]

Bloodlands Episode 2 Questions & Theories: Goliath, the Owl Pendant and the Kidnapper

https://ift.tt/3bOuuzP

Warning: contains MAJOR spoilers for Bloodlands episode 2.

In BBC thriller Bloodlands, in Belfast in early 1998, weeks before the Good Friday Agreement was reached, four people disappeared from both sides of the political conflict. They were former IRA member Joe Harkin, UVF Loyalist David Corry, Catholic priest Father Quinlan and military police officer Emma Brannick. The disappearances were made to look as though the victims had left the country, but it was suspected that all four had been executed by an assassin codenamed ‘Goliath’, an ‘inside man’ with access to police files. The disappearances were never solved, the investigation was hushed up, and evidence relating to them was removed from the police archive.

20 years later, three of the missing people – everybody but Emma Brannick – were discovered buried on an island in the middle of Strangford Lough. At the end of Bloodlands episode two, another body possibly joins them when DCI Tom Brannick shoots Adam Corry, brother to victim David, who had been having an affair with Brannick’s wife Emma before they both disappeared. Is Tom Brannick Goliath? How does the Pat Keenan kidnapping tie in? We sum up the major questions and theories below.

Who kidnapped Pat Keenan?

CCTV footage showed an unidentified brunette woman with Keenan in his car before the kidnapping. If it’s a character known to us, then our options so far are: Dr Tori Matthews (wearing a wig), who’s recently returned to Belfast from England and is secretly the illegitimate daughter of Goliath victim Father Simon Quinlan; DS Niamh McGovern, who only joined Brannick’s team six months ago and may have a secret connection to the case though if she does, she has an excellent poker face; Izzy Brannick, daughter to Tom, whose mother is believed to have been killed by Goliath; or – if she’s still alive – Emma Brannick herself.

Why was Pat Keenan kidnapped?

Former IRA member Pat Keenan was kidnapped by someone who wanted to force the police into reopening the official investigation into the 1998 ‘Goliath’ disappearances. The kidnapper left a postcard of the ‘Goliath’ shipbuilding gantry crane – a famous landmark on Queen’s Island, Belfast – on Kennan’s car wing mirror and at the hotel in which he was held to prompt the police to revisit the four disappearances that were hushed up at the time.

It’s likely therefore that the kidnapper has a connection to one of the four 1998 victims: David Corry, Joe Harkin, Father Simon Quinlan and – though her body has not been found so it’s still possible that she’s alive – Emma Brannick.

Who was Adam Corry’s mystery tea drinker?

Tom Brannick thinks that it’s someone involved in Pat Keenan’s kidnapping, and that they and Adam cooked up the kidnap plan because they wanted the Goliath investigation reopened due to their links to the victims. If it’s somebody we’ve already met then after episode two, most people’s money would be on Dr Tori Matthews, though crime scene investigator ‘Dinger’ also seems worthy of suspicion (see below.)

Four months before Keenan’s kidnapping took place, Adam Corry contacted a local fisherman and tide expert under the false name of Frank McPhee, asking about the Goliath disappearances and the possibility that there were bodies buried on that loch island (as suggested by the farmer witness statement that wasn’t followed up back in 1998). Corry and a co-conspirator could have planned the whole thing to prompt the police to start digging on that island.

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How does Dinger know so much about the Goliath case?

Crime scene investigator ‘Dinger’ (played by Michael Smiley) tells DS McGovern that he and Tom Brannick go back “a wee while”. He has a lot of information about the 1998 Goliath disappearances, including the specific intelligence unit Emma Brannick was recruited to, and he suggests – like Adam Corry – that DCS Jackie Twomey is responsible for making the original investigation go away. Dinger also knows about the Goliath calling card left on Pat Keenan’s car and at the hotel, information that to our knowledge, only three officers had: Brannick, McGovern and Twomey.

Add to that the fact that Michael Smiley’s a terrific actor too good to waste on a bit part, and it’s likely Dinger’s more involved than it first appears. “At some point, the past has to die,” he told McGovern. Just what ‘Goliath’ might say…

Did Emma Brannick engineer her own disappearance?

As Dinger tells McGovern at the pub, if anybody could successfully fake their own disappearance, it’s Emma Brannick. As a military intelligence ‘spook’, Emma would have had the skills and connections to engineer her own kidnapping. The question is: why might she do it? One thing that suggests Emma was taken and didn’t run away was that she went missing while she was looking after her infant daughter Izzy. Is she the type of person to put her young child at risk, or didn’t she have a choice?

Adam Corry susses out that his brother and Emma were having an affair (hence his corpse being discovered wearing her owl pendant), so did they plan to run away together? Did Tom discover the affair and ‘disappear’ the two of them?

Why was Jackie Twomey secretly meeting with Siobhan Harkin?

“Siobhan, we need to be careful,” says Jackie Twomey after going to a static caravan, retrieving a hidden mobile phone and then arranging to meet Joe Harkin’s widow in a remote location. Are they simply having an affair, or does Twomey have a stake in the ongoing rift between the dead Joe Harkin and Pat Keenan, who fell out years earlier when Harkin lent Keenan the money to start his haulage company?

Who is Dr Tori Matthews really?

As we saw from her reaction to Izzy saying that her father believed the third unidentified victim on the island to be a priest, and the visit to her mother’s care home, Tori Matthews is the illegitimate daughter of Catholic priest Father Simon Quinlan. She only recently returned to Belfast, and could easily have arranged to ‘accidentally’ run in to Brannick and McGovern on their visit to the hospital investigating Keenan’s disappearance. It’s worth remembering that Keenan had an appointment at the hospital where Matthews works on the day of his disappearance.

Matthews also made a point of asking Tom his daughter’s name, seeking Izzy out in a lecture and befriending her. She was at the rugby match with Tom and Izzy, and for whatever reason, could even have tipped off the Keenan gang of their whereabouts, facilitating the attack on Izzy.

Is Izzy even Tom’s biological daughter?

There’s nothing yet to suggest this, but Adam Corry worked out that his brother David was having an affair with a married woman, and David’s corpse was found wearing the distinctive owl pendant that Tom and Emily both wore, engraved with an ‘E’ for Emily. As Izzy was very young at the time of her mother’s disappearance, there’s a chance that the affair began before Izzy was born, and David Corry is Izzy’s biological father. Total speculation at this stage, of course.

Why did Tom shoot Adam Corry?

One answer would be that Tom is ‘Goliath’ – i.e. he was the original assassin of the three victims, and perhaps also the killer of his wife Emma, whose remains have yet to be found. In that scenario, Tom would have killed Adam Corry because he’d discovered Tom’s true identity and so represented a threat.

Another is that Tom is protecting the real ‘Goliath’, i.e. his wife Emma Brannick. If Tom discovered that his wife – a trained military police officer and so capable of committing the close-range 9mm murders – was the assassin back in 1998, instead of turning her in perhaps he told her to run and has been covering her tracks ever since by destroying the case paperwork. With two episodes yet to come, it’s all to play for.

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Four-part thriller Bloodlands continues on Sunday the 7th of March at 9pm on BBC One.

The post Bloodlands Episode 2 Questions & Theories: Goliath, the Owl Pendant and the Kidnapper appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[ch4mb3r-blog]

Please, Please, Please. // Jubes & Jono

@short-fuse-long-jacket

It couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks since the last time they were at Orthodox, and potentially the third time in the past month or two. Ever since their first visit Jono hadn’t had a very easy time masking just how much he’d wanted to go back, and back, and back. He hadn’t quite gotten to the point of going by himself, and he inwardly hoped he never irritated Jubilee to the point of her not wanting to go with him, what for all the pestering.

There were no secrets about how difficult it was for Jono to operate in everyday life without getting stared at and singled out. It was a large part of why he stuck to such a dark, monochromatic palette; he figured it helped him blend in, try to remain unassuming. He didn’t have to worry about that here, and the freeing effect that had was swift and clear. Tonight Jono wore a royal blue button down that was both more colorful and more fitted than his usual fare, unbuttoned partially down his chest for the sake of his intentionally loose bandaging, letting light seep through the cracks. The shirt was tucked neatly into a pair of dark wash jeans and his hand was tucked just as neatly in Jubilee’s, gesturing towards the first bar once they were into the thick of it. /Buy you a drink, luv?/

The second they were inside the actual club she could see the shift in Jono, his shoulders relaxing, his stance becoming less defensive. She gave his hand a squeeze, grinning up at him. It wasn't that she didn't find the other patrons interesting, she did, just after more than a few visits to Orthodox in the past months it had stopped being quite so enthralling, watching Jono hadn't.

She gave him an affectionate bump from shoulder to hip (her shoulder to hip anyway). "Just one, please, then can we dance?" She twisted a little, making her dress twirl out. Her outfit was a little less date-y than she'd worn the previous times they'd gone out, and was a little more Jubilee. From a distance the dress looked black with some kind of polkadot pattern, but up close you could see the PAC man graphics repeating along the fabric. It was finally warm enough to go without tights, but bright yellow heels, a messy braid and some hella blue eye shadow completed the look. "I have to tell you what Alex did today."

/Ugh,/ Jono replied automatically and with an equally dramatic eyeroll, even as he appreciated the twist and the swirl of fabric, his fingertips lightly brushing over the skin exposed by the scoop in the back of her dress. /And here I thought we were going to have a nice night,/ he added good-naturedly, his arm settling around Jubilee’s waist to keep her close, half due to the press of the crowd and half because he wanted to.

It wasn’t difficult to find a spot at the bar, because even in a place like this Jono managed to clear space for himself by virtue of being somewhat on fire, curls of energy sneaking through the purposefully careless bandaging. He leaned one elbow on the bar and nodded to the telekinetic behind it, who smiled at the both of them and nodded in reply; they were starting to get noticed as regulars, even in this sea of thoroughly noticeable mutants.

"Think again, hot stuff." She quipped, sliding her hand into his back pocket to keep her arm from being trapped between them (no other motive, none) and kept her expression as innocent as possible. The five seconds it lasted were probably the longest she'd gone without looking like some kind of trouble in years, but all good things must end. "We're gonna have an awesome night." She shot him a wink that fell somewhere between ridiculous and flirty (which was more or less where she lived).

They came up to the bar and people shifted to make room, though the way people parted here seemed less about fear and more about trying very politely to not get singed. Jubilee sent the bartender a jaunty salute when she nodded their way and waited for her to come over. The woman levitated some bottles and had them pouring in a complicated dance, the drinks smoothly hovering to the people who ordered them. When she finished that round she made her way to them, smiling widely.

Her voice came out in a smooth drawl, not like Rogue's, something further west that Jubilee found oddly comforting. "Welcome back. Something sweet for you," she tipped her head at Jubilee who nodded enthusiastically, and bottles were already leaving the shelves and counter behind her, "and you, ready to take the plunge?" She flicked her eyes to the side, giving the injection apparatus a significant look.

/Ah, not just yet, I don’t think. Thanks, Angel, luv./ They still weren’t 100% on whether that was her real name or a mutant moniker. Plenty of mutants outside of the X-Men had started adopting codename-esque nicknames, sometimes for fun but often for safety. Jono doubted that Angel had much to fear with the hulking four-armed man who often accompanied her to give side-eye to overly drunk or friendly clientele, but better safe than sorry.

Jono’s fingertips absently traced the scoop of the dress at Jubilee’s back before his hand flattened there, warm against her skin while he watched the floating bottles expertly and precisely pouring a drink with layers like a sunrise. His eyes spared the faintly glowing purple tube connected to the injector a brief look before turning his attention back to Jubilee with a smile in the corners of his eyes, content to pay her more attention than the room around them like she had been for him earlier. /That drink looks like it’ll have enough sugar to keep you goin’ for a few hours yet,/ Jono figured as he pulled a couple of bills out the pocket not occupied by her hand, sliding them across the bar.

When Angel went to take another order she sent a mental whisper to Jono, /You ever decide to try that, I'm paying./ She insisted. Since one of them didn't eat or drink it made splitting the bill a moot point, so she was calling dibs on that, should it ever happen. Not that she really expected it to any time soon though, so she was already planning to take him to a movie or concert next weekend.

"As if I need it." She replied, watching the bottles move back into place. Her drink levitated over over, layers mixing slightly.  Jubilee called out a thank you to Angel, took a sip and repeated the thanks with even more enthusiasm. She'd taken to just saying she wanted something sweet and letting Angel figure the rest out, whatever this was had just a little bit of sourness to it to stop the sweetness from being too overpowering. "Our usual spot?" She asked, looking up at Jono to find his eyes already on her. She felt her cheeks heat but didn't look away like she might have done a month ago, instead she stretched up, silently asking for a kiss.

/We don’t even know how much that costs,/ Jono replied dubiously but not without an air of both amusement and absent affection; that she would even offer meant a lot. He inclined his head to bump his nose against Jubilee’s before pressing a kiss to her lips that would’ve lingered longer if not for the other people antsy to take their spot at the bar. He nodded lightly in response to her question as he straightened up, hand finding the small of Jubilee’s back so he could trail her through the crowd.

Their usual spot was a couch with a prime mix of privacy and a good angle for people-watching, something they had both learned to do with just the right level of discretion. Jono also figured that he’d had enough of being stared at in his life that he could return the favor every now and again.

He paused only briefly as they reached their (remarkably vacant) spot, frowning and taking advantage of his height to crane his neck over the crowd for a moment, then settled himself down next to Jubilee with long limbs stretched out as much as space would allow, and a thoughtful look. /Think I might’ve seen one’a my students./

She gestured as wide as she could in the cramped space with a wry smile on her lips. /Behold the field in which I grow my fucks. Long has it lain fallow./ She gave him a smile that said she wasn't going to budge on this.

She went up on her toes to return the kiss, pausing for a second before heading off into the crunch of people, knowing he'd be right behind her. When she made it to 'their' area she flopped onto the sofa with enthusiasm, sending her skirt into disarray, the bright yellow crinoline under it showing even after she tried to smooth to smooth it out. Whatever.

"Yeah?" Then a sudden thought and wave of responsibility, "Wait, current or former? Are they allowed to be here? Is that our job? Are we those adults now? Oh god, we're adults." The stream of consciousness ended there in horror, then another beat and then tentative after a sudden thought, though she honestly didn't think it was the case, "Are they not supposed to see us?"

Jono glanced at Jubilee with quiet amusement for the string of questions, stretching one arm over the back of the couch to rest comfortably around her shoulders. The last question seemed to surprise him, as if he hadn’t even considered it and wasn’t expecting her to ask (which, he hadn’t and he wasn’t). /I don’t give a toss whether they see us or whether they’re allowed to be here. S’one of my current students, and if you ask me, I should give them a specific assignment to come here./

Jono figured that if it could help his own self-consciousness -- of all the unhelpable, rock-bottom conditions -- it could probably help anyone.

/I think people’ve gotten the idea about us already,/ he added, deceptively casual in the tone of the statement. /At least, I’ve certainly caught wind of people talkin’./

"Ok, see? That's why you're the hot teacher. Mandatory club field trips. Also, sweet, I don't want to be that kind of adult." She settled back into her seat, snuggling up against him as much as she could while still being able to look at him. She wouldn't argue, the fact that this would be a positive experience aside, if they were here they weren't traveling to alternate dimensions or being kidnapped or brainwashed or any of the other things that happened when they went off on their own at that age. Maybe they'd have gotten in less trouble if they'd had something like this when they were a bit younger. "I'm not sure I want to know which one, I'll be too tempted to make finger guns at them in the hall." She secretly hoped it was Shark Girl. Lies. She secretly hoped it was all of them.

She bit her lip and looked away. "Yeaaaah. You've been gettin' that vibe too, then?" She set her drink down and fiddled with her braid. "I've gotten some questions...more than normal anyway." After they started...whatever this was, wasn't the first time she'd been asked if they were together. She'd assumed back then that it was just people assuming that men and women can't be friends, but now she wondered if they'd seen something she hadn't.

She grinned, waggling her eyebrows. “Guess we've stirred up the rumor mill a little. What have you been hearing?" Her favorite so far was definitely the one about their secret engagement, not that she'd be the first to bring that particular one up, even if she did find it hilarious.

Jono chuckled absently and shook his head when Jubilee wiggled her eyebrows, giving her shoulders an affectionate squeeze that doubled as pulling her in to nuzzle against her temple, mindful of where his bandages parted. /I think yer just a little more approachable than I am./ Understatement of the century. /Haven’t gotten a lot of direct questions, but I’ve noticed my students exchanging looks when yer walkin’ me to class. Roxy did ask point-blank if there was somethin’ goin’ on between us, though./

Bling always was one of the more forward in his class, and Jono honestly admired her for that. It was typical for mutants with very obvious mutations to become withdrawn -- much like Jono -- but Roxy was too strong-natured for that.

/So, I told her yes,/ Jono finished with a small shrug, then seemed to have a thought as he shifted uncomfortably. /Kurt kinda caught wind earlier’n most. Early enough that I insisted nothin’ was goin’ on and that I was sure you only saw me as family, because… that’s what I thought, at the time./

She felt a wisp of flame lick near her face when he tugged her close, just a little flash of heat before it was gone again and it didn't stop her from leaning into his touch.

"Only a little." She teased, "Might have something to do with me being a nosy neon weirdo." A grin showed that she wasn't being self deprecating at all, she liked all those things about herself. "Or it might be that people are still like, mega-protective of me and hafta check on me every ten minutes." She felt confident in guessing more staff had talked to her than Jono, though she got her fair share of student interest too.

She was pretty sure they'd gotten similar looks when people saw them together before, and they just hadn't noticed. She didn't correct him. What she did do was cover her face to laugh, her words coming through muffled. "Course Rox asked. That girl, she's not subtle." She shook her head, a proud sort of smile on her face. Someday she was going to realize she didn't need to be quite as tough as she looked, and then she was going to be damn near unstoppable. She wondered if she should tell Jono how Roxy came out to her, but was more interested in something else just then. "What did she say to that?" She wanted to know what he said to her, beyond 'yes' but didn't ask.

She was sure there were going to be all kinds of questions at the GSA meeting this week, she made a mental note not to get her hopes up about actually accomplishing anything with them.

Her eyes softened when he started to look cagey. She'd seen a lot more of his shy and hesitant side in the last couple months, it was something she found unbearably cute. "Hmmm. Well I'm glad I set you right." She reached for his hand and traced over the lines of his palm with her fingertips. The way his hand felt against hers was definitely not familial. "Did you tell Kurt that he was right?"

"A couple of the students I know well have asked. An' Trevor keeps giving me these super significant looks with all his eyes at once," she rolled hers, and then it was her turn to look uncomfortable. "It's actually been mostly staff that have talk to me? Most of 'em have been really cool." She didn't bring up that some had not been as enthusiastic.

/Really?/ Jono’s tone was flat and thoroughly dubious, the word a borderline scoff as his fingers wandered absently over her shoulder, eventually giving it an affectionate squeeze. /Would’ve thought it’d be a full chorus of ‘you’re too good for him,’/ he continued, in such a way that suggested he probably agreed with the sentiment.

He watched Jubilee’s fingers trace his palm before he shook his head and curled his fingers in to lace between hers, the calloused pads of his fingertips against her knuckles. /Roxy didn’t say much, since I didn’t say much. Just sorta narrowed her eyes at me and went back about her business. I think Trevor’s given me some of the same looks,/ Jono added with amusement, since it was pretty difficult for Trevor not to give anyone a ‘significant look.’

/’Onestly, I’m expectin’ the overprotective shotgun brigade at my door any day now, with Logan front ‘n center./ He had to glance away and over the crowd as he said so, eyes narrowing briefly with an emotion that was difficult to pin down.

She gave his hand a hard squeeze, equal parts punishment for the implication and reassurance that it wasn't true. "Yes, really. Rogue and Alison were both super cool, Remy too. The main concern has actually been how different we are, but I got questions about how this," she gestured at herself, them him, then between them, "worked when we were just friends."

She wondered if she should expect some kind of talking to from Roxy, if not more of Jono's students. As awkward as the prospect would be, she liked the idea of them looking out for him. Speaking of..."I talked to Logan and...it went ok. He's protective and yeah, he doesn't really get it." She squeezed his hand again, "but I told him he doesn't need to. He just needs to respect that I know what I'm about and not be an ass." That conversation had gone the second least well of all the ones she'd had about Jono. It probably would have been worse if Logan ever said more than the bare minimum of what was on his mind. Bobby however, had no such qualms."I'm not going to lie, he's probably going to talk to you. A couple other people might too." He wasn't meeting her eyes and it sent a spark of worry through her. "And...I'd get it if that's not something you want to deal with." Her hand loosened a little incase he wanted to pull away. She didn't want to believe he would, but past experience said not to bank on it. "Logan's hard enough to work with without..." she repeated the gesture between the two of them before leaving it there simply because she didn't know what to call whatever it was they were doing. She gave a sigh and looked down at her skirt. So much for an awesome night.

/Hey,/ Jono murmured, the tone as she trailed off being enough to bring his attention more respectfully back to the conversation, letting go of Jubilee’s hand only in favor of using his fingertips to tilt her chin in his direction again. /No, I don’t want to deal with it. I’m not gonna lie and tell yeh otherwise. But what we have is worth it, and it’s like yeh said: whether I or other people think yeh deserve better isn’t for us to decide, tha’s for you. Yeah, it might uncomfortable. But you know I’m not exactly easily intimidated./

It was probably the most Jono had thought about the situation, and certainly the most he’d said about it in one sitting so he gave a shrug, shifted uncomfortably, and felt the need to add, /Tha’s my feelings on it, anyway. If anyone wants to start somethin’ with me, they’re welcome to try./ Jono doubted there was much anyone could say to him that he hadn’t already thought of or about himself.

She let him guide her back to eye contact, though her gaze would almost certainly have snapped back a second later at what he said, a flare of irritation clear on her face. "You shouldn't have to put up with it!" There might have been an undercurrent of insecurity because other people had opted not to risk it, but she pushed that down. If she wanted him to accept that he was worth it, she needed to be willing to do the same. It was just...she bristled at the idea of this being something that made his life more difficult than it already was. As if he didn't already question his value like, all the time. He didn't need people adding fuel to that fire (no pun intended). She was just really getting going in her head when he followed it up with something that cooled her anger.

Her irritated half sulk turned into a tentative half smile. "Me too, worth it, I mean, me think that it's worth- fuck." She covered her face with her hands. /I think it's worth it too. I just wish folks would stay in their lane./

/I wish that every day of my life,/ Jono replied with a good-natured chuckle, inclining his head to nuzzle Jubilee’s temple while she had her face covered. /I appreciate you bein’ pissed on my behalf./ The reasoning behind it wasn’t lost on him, and he gave her shoulders an appreciative squeeze, tucking her in closer against his side.

/An’ while I want to give you the whole ‘they’re just lookin’ out for you,’ I also wish they’d realize you can look out for yerself./ It was a sentiment he often expressed and unfortunately, one that had plenty of reason to persist. If Jono was tired enough of being treated like a leper, surely Jubilee was just as tired of being treated like everyone’s kid sister.

She cuddled in, letting her hands drop from her face. "Don't laugh at me, I'm a beacon of poise and perfection and I will fight you."

She blew out a breath, her bangs blowing everywhere. "Anyway, only Logan and Bobby have been shitty. Everyone else has been some mix of cool and supportive, with optional side orders of protective or teasing." She swept her fingers through her bags, hoping to put them in order. "Allison was like, high-key pleased. Wanted to know when I started being into bad boys." She gave him a smile, hoping this would be enough to change the subject. She picked up her drink and took another sip. "You know, I might be the thing that ruins your reputation."

An eyeroll to accompany the mention of Bobby’s name was inevitable. Jono had anticipated Logan, and while he hadn’t necessarily expected Bobby, he was hardly surprised. He wondered whether or not that would end up being a conversation, and if so, whether either of them would make it out alive.

/Never much cared for my reputation either way,/ he murmured, unsurprisingly. There was amusement in his eyes again as he brushed his thumb over the curve of Jubilee’s shoulder, attention wandering back into the crowd. /Y’should probably be more worried about yours, datin’ a ‘bad boy’ like me./ That phrase was dosed with more than enough sarcasm to get his point across.

She gave him an extra squeeze, grateful for his putting up with her crazy family and a commiserating look about Bobby. She loved him like a brother but he never did know when to drop the jokes which landed the ice cube in hot water on at least a biweekly basis. And Jono was one tall glass of hot water.

"Psh. My rep is untarnishable. I mean, it's also beyond inaccurate, but if trends continue I've got nothin' to worry about. You though?" She shook her head in mock pity. "S probably for the best that you don't care. You keep acting all sweet to me and that scowl is gonna stop work-" she paused, his words having sunk in and leaving a her a little surprised and a lot pleased. "Dating?" She angled herself a little more towards him. "Is that what we're doing?" It came out a little uncertain, a little teasing and a little shy. "I mean, it's what we're doing but," another pause, this time to bite her lip and look up at him through her lashes, a little smile on her lips, far more optimistic about his answer after the rest of their conversation. "Neither of us have really called it that...So what do you think, Sparky, wanna go steady?"

The word -- ‘dating’ -- had slipped out so naturally and without a second thought that Jubilee’s reaction surprised him for a moment. Jono raised his eyebrows and looked back to her as she leaned in, and the fluster was nearly instantaneous; his cheeks flushed, and it had nothing to do with being a tall, hot glass of water.

/I mean… / If he’d had a throat left to clear, he would’ve done it, stalling with a hesitant shrug instead. /I’d probably never recommend anyone ‘go steady’ with me. But I hear yer pretty difficult to dissuade,/ Jono added, reaching up to brush at her bangs with his fingertips. /So, if yeh’ll have me./ He trailed off again, and with another faint shrug he nodded, the look in his eyes warm.

/Then, yeah. … I’d like that, sunshine./

He was...fucking adorable, she decided, watching the blush spread above the bandages and wondering what she'd have to do to get him to look that way more often. Probably just keep being as into him as she already was and well....she was pretty sure she could manage that without much trouble.

She leaned up and kissed him softly, a smile on her lips. "I am known for my tenacity." When she settled back in and he swiped her bangs out of her eyes she joined him in blushing. She wanted to make a comment about 'having' him but passed it over in favor of responding with the same sincerity.

"I'd like that too." She tugged him down to her to brush her nose against his, staying close and talking low. "Not gonna lie, I've been high-key holding back by not callin' you my boyfriend. It'll be nice to not haveta skirt around it, I've...kinda wanted to call you that for a while."

/Really?/ The surprise was instantaneous and almost comical, not to mention genuine; Jono wasn’t doubting the sentiment nor was he teasing her for it, he was legitimately caught off-guard.

/I mean-- tha’s good,/ he was quick to add, the hand he didn’t have resting on Jubilee’s shoulder moving to settle on her knee with a tentative squeeze. His eyes softened and he gave something like a chuckle, shaking his head and glancing down. /Bit of a miracle anyone considers me boyfriend material anymore. Lord knows I’ve been told the opposite plenty ‘a times./ By Paige and others. He looked up again to meet Jubilee’s eyes and brushed his calloused fingertips lightly against her jawline, still not sure how he got so lucky -- or when he would manage to screw it up. /’M also more than happy to consider yeh my girlfriend, luv./

Jubilee punched him in the shoulder. Not as hard as she could have, but not exactly joking around either. "Duh!" She shook her head, huffing at his astonishment. What did he think she wanted with him?

She gave a little eye roll at the phrase 'boyfriend material'. Material had to be changed, had to be made into something else.  It was true that she desperately wanted Jono to be happy and more comfortable with himself, but she wanted those things for him and she wanted him regardless of whether he ever made it to that point. Regardless, semantics wasn't a battle she was picking today.

She turned her head to press a kiss to one of his fingertips, the skin warm and rough against her lips and familiar. Her lips quirked up at the memory of how he'd managed to stop her cold with a touch there before any of this started.

[the-fitsquad]

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Lenovo ThinkStation P910 Workstation Pc Evaluation

Private office suites, co-working areas & hotdesks, meeting room hire and virtual workplace services in 7 prime locations. Based on the model, HP EliteBooks provide a wide range of configurable options such as choice of Intel Unified Mobile Access (UMA) or NVIDIA discrete graphics choice of Intel Core i7 processors(8) or future Intel Core or Core vPro processors and either higher-definition (HD) or HD Plus resolution displays.(9) All new HP EliteBooks also come preloaded with HP SkyRoom,(10) an affordable, HD videoconferencing software(9) that delivers reside, actual-time collaboration for face-to-face meetings. What differentiates laptops – sorry, mobile workstations – is the way they’re packaged up, and, especially in terms of the Dreamcolor-branded show technologies and quickly storage, HP does properly. No matter how excellent your most current Pc develop is, HP’s new Z Workstation lineup can probably prime it. The company’s latest Z8, Z6 and Z4 desktop workstations are its most effective and ridiculously upgradeable ever, it says.

Searching to acquire property workplace furniture from a totally Irish owned organization? With our manage area workstation you can monitor all methods in production, making certain both the top quality and compliance of the goods. Fortunately, upgrading your storage capacity is 1 of the easiest adjustments you can make to an current workstation Computer. If you are on a spending budget, adding more storage is effortless any time, and it usually gets less costly over time. Disk %two has reached a logical block provisioning permanent resource exhaustion situation. The business was assessed a $7,000 penalty for every of the two violations, which is the maximum amount permitted by law for a critical violation, and has 15 company days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet informally with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings prior to the independent Occupational Security and Wellness Review Commission.

Its motherboard also supports up to two Xeon CPUs for a total of 56 cores (28 cores every), and dual NVIDIA Quadro graphics card. Developed by Autodesk, Maya is a expert-grade 3D modeling and graphics software. The Indigo Magic graphical user atmosphere blends the simplicity of a familiar icon-driven interface with the power of UNIX. The Precision Tower 7810 is a very impressive workstation that delivers substantially far more performance than its Ivy Bridge-primarily based predecessor although retaining the many configuration possibilities required to take full advantage of the additional CPU muscle. These also feature a 1TB 7200 rpm hard drive and a SuperMulti DVD optical drive, ship with preloaded Windows 7 64-bit, and incorporate a Windows 10 Pro 64-bit license.

Processor Intel Broadwell-E terdiri dari four chip yaitu Intel Core i7 6950X (ten core), Intel Core i7 6900K (8 core), Intel Core i7 6850K (6 core) dan Intel Core i7 6800K (6 core). Noctua’s DX line of coolers have turn out to be a common option in high efficiency quiet cooling options for Intel Xeon CPUs. According to most analysts that adhere to the workstation market, HP is a leader for workstations. There’s a lot of worth in the HP xw6600 Workstation, specially with a dual-Xeon configuration, and it very easily prices a top score of “5” in technical stars. Decide on from corner personal computer desks and laptop stands to personal computer workstations that combine elegant hues with highly functional styles for a distinct transitional feel. On the day of the incident the workers began setting tower sections with the help of a crane service organization.

Packed with the newest business-leading processing, graphics and revolutionary technologies, HP Z Workstations offer the tools you need to handle the toughest workstreams. I’ve always wanted a tiny Windows tablet with excellent battery life and performance, and the Lumia 2020 could have been that device. For many men and women, information is possibly the most important aspect of desktop computers, laptops and smartphones. Right now, HP is launching updates to their HP Z Workstation lineup If you are a modest enterprise seeking huge horsepower in your Pc, appear no additional than HP’s most current offerings. 4. Total your workstation design and style by deciding on from various further accessories, such as lightning, energy, shelves, bins, chairs, trolleys, drawer units, cabinets, etc all whilst watching your workstation take type on your screen.

The machine is excellent for CAD in certain, but with four CPU cores operating at 4.0GHz, it is no slouch below rendering applications either. Dell tends to make a rock strong technique and if you purchase a Dell Precision Workstation with Premier Help, it will be supported right here in the US, not by a foreign contact center that barely speaks English. PAWs are advisable for administration of identity systems, cloud solutions, and private cloud fabric as effectively as sensitive enterprise functions. Intel seems to be so moody exactly where it comes to workstations: one year they make them (workstation-class motherboards), an additional one particular they never. ‘A technically ‘better’ gaming card will run SOLIDWORKS worse than a low end CAD video card as a outcome. I think it’s entirely lame for a firm to pull this type of crap – hiding their telephone number to keep away from calls – particularly 1 that won’t quit speaking about what a higher level of customer service they provide.

It offers Microsoft and hardware makers the flexibility of creating versions of Windows 10 with diverse characteristics and functions, speedily and effectively. An employee in this position performs standard workstation duties in the deployment and maintenance of workstation hardware and software program. Sit and Stand pc desks offer a healthful alternative to sitting all day. The A400 and A500 servers were 64-bit, single and dual-processor 2U servers primarily based on the PA-8500 and later processors, making use of the Astro IOMMU and Elroy PCI adapters. The Windows 7 Pro 64 bit operating program makes the BCD-VW6M user-friendly. Set some other disk as active or use the DiskPart utility to clean the data disk, and then retry the restore operation. If you want furnishings financing, we supply % interest as well as fixed month-to-month payments so you can acquire your office desk these days.

The new Dell Precision mobile workstations also deliver the highest efficiency with up to 16GB¹ of 1866MHz memory, fourth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processor options up to Core i7 Intense Edition, and AMD FirePro and NVIDIA Quadro skilled graphics, with up to 8GB graphics memory¹ on the M6800 configured with NVIDIA Quadro K5100M, for handling complicated 3D function, such as rendering and simulation. Core i7 lines have onboard integrated graphics, whereas Xeon processors need a discreet graphics card. Additionally, the laptop offers a 4GB of NVIDIA Quadro devoted graphics which is the most recommended and specially made graphics processor for CAD performs only. Suffice to say, it really is a excellent deal quicker than any other Intel Core i7 chip, and would beat a lot of Xeon CPUs, also.

Nevertheless considering that it is extremely configurable, customers can nevertheless load it up with up to 384GB of memory whilst retaining the dual-CPU selection. With its combination of high-end processor overall performance, expandability, and new technologies, like DDR4 memory and Thunderbolt two, the HP Z840 is the pinnacle of higher-end performance for these few customers who require it. It has all the bells and whistles that an engineer and their supporting IT employees would need. This series of notebooks was discontinued soon after HP’s acquisition of Compaq. Mazurkiewicz lends his expertise to make sure that HP’s suppliers are complying with the company’s environmental objectives, as properly as to support drive new HP innovations. This adds some design complexity, but can simplify safety monitoring and application updates if a massive number of accounts and workstations are employed in your PAW implementation.

Workers that are not hired do not give any Skill. Parallels (optional & additional licensing price) – Note: If feel you must have the Parallels computer software to run Windows based applications, you ought to reconsider your decision of a Mac device. The 3100 series, codenamed Wolfdale (solution code 80570) dual-core Xeon (branded) CPU, was just rebranded version of the Intel’s mainstream Wolfdale featuring the very same 45 nm procedure and 6 MB of L2 cache. Like a mobile workstation, the Z2 Mini packs a lot of effective (and energy-hungry) components into a small space, requiring higher-finish cooling capabilities. Nicely, if you are into 3D modeling and complicated CAD works then we would advocate you to buy a transportable workstation laptop for oneself. As with the Z1 G2, the G3 is not very adequate to make desktop workstations obsolete.

Windows 10 Pro is aimed at little businesses and includes device and app management, information protection solutions, and assistance for remote and mobile operating, as effectively as all the characteristics of the regular consumer version. The workstation-class applications the DL380z is meant to tackle are engineering, computer aided design and style, digital media, oil and gas exploration, and other higher-finish applications that need drastically far more computing and graphic energy than the common workplace applications. Our HP Z640 build consists of two x Intel Xeon E5-2667 v4 (25M Cache, three.20 GHz, eight-cores ) processors, 8 x 8GB (64GB total) 2400mhz memory, a NVIDIA M5000 graphics card, 512GB Z Turbo Drive G2 SSD for boot storage, two x 512GB HP Z Turbo as main storage, and Windows 10.

The Application Licensing Service reported that the product identification information is not accessible. • Right here at Huntoffice we offer a choice of personal computer workstations in a choice of colours like the most well-liked ones like beech, oak, maple and white. A single of the files in the registry database had to be recovered by use of a log or alternate copy. There’s the H-series, targeted at “overall performance laptops and mobile workstations,” and the S-series, meant for a lot more-standard desktops. Created for the executive, the Pod Desk enjoys a rich and earthly appeal with clean lines and an open hardwood construct that innovatively combines discrete storage solutions and a slim streamlined building. Your audio Computer forms the foundation of your overall DAW (digital audio workstation) set-up, and is accompanied by added elements such as audio editing software program, a soundcard or audio interface, as properly as input devices Therefore, it wants to be constructed specially to help all these elements, and give maximum speed and stability for audio processing and editing.

Models, textures and applications are taking up far more storage space each and every year, so it really is critical to select the optimum storage configuration for your workstation. The HP Z620 Workstation packs computing and visualization power into a quiet, compact footprint. Yes, complex tasks like RealvView, Wire Frame View and Relative View certainly demand more refined graphics so even if you have heard that ‘gaming’ graphic cards (like Nvidia Geforce or AMD Radeon) work, they will probably lead to graphical glitches and make some characteristics of the application such as Realview Graphics inaccessible. For far more info on our fine workplace workstation goods, as well as our other new and utilised office furniture and services, call or e-mail NFL Officeworks today.

Even though businesses will sometimes devote a fortune on non-disclosure agreements to make certain that organization partners do not divulge business info, they will at the same time usually fail to train their personal employees how to shield the organization from information theft. Accurate to form right here at Metabox, each aspect of our Mobile Workstations can be tailored to precisely how you require it. Providing you the energy to produce an extremely powerful and really distinctive Mobile Workstation. The cost of the stolen business or personal data and of the resulting troubles (identity theft, credit card fraud, breach of privacy laws) can be numerous times the worth of the stolen laptop itself. Silent: The use of the low power Core M processor makes it possible for the Macbook to be fanless.

18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Right now at Adobe® MAX, HP (NYSE:HPQ) will showcase the world’s most strong detachable Pc 1 developed to solve the functionality and mobility wants of artists, designers and digital imaging specialists who want to push Adobe Inventive Cloud® and other professional applications to the limit. The HP Z Turbo Drive G2 1TB PCIe will come out, also in April, for $799. Hadir dengan fitur 4 core dan 8 thread, memiliki base clock 4.20 GHz dan mampu digenjot hingga four.50 GHz melalui Turbo Boost Dibekali L3 cache sebesar eight MB, L2 cache 256 KB serta unlocked multiplier. Distinctive fanless cooling, despite using greater functionality CPU than the usual fanless Core M CPUs. From Personal computer Aided Design and style (CAD) to quantity-crunching to video editing or image processing, compared to a desktop Pc an Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family members-based workstation will give the intelligent efficiency that is demanded by many expert applications.

Active workstations may possibly be less suitable for mouse-intensive perform and susceptible users. This contrasted with the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed larger, more pricey minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by a lot of people, generally at the same time. E.g., guest might make partial cash payment and charge the reminder of the account balance to an acceptable credit card. VMware Workstation Player is the market common for running numerous operating systems as virtual machines on a single Computer. Use Workstation Player to be a lot more agile, a lot more productive and more secure each and every day. Style – take the style of your property into account when selecting house workplace furnishings to guarantee your décor flows nicely.

Finding home workplace pc desks to match your furniture décor has in no way been easier. But Intel’s workstation will have only a single Knights Landing chip, which will load the OS and increase application performance. The Library reserves the right to deny access to the Net workstations to any patron who has damaged the gear via vandalism or the use of computer software. ten. This system is preinstalled with Windows 7 Skilled software and also comes with a license and media for Windows 8.1 Pro software. Excellent workstations prevent injuries to knees, joints, and wrists as effectively as offering appropriate support to the back. The directory service is also busy to full the replication operation at this time. The Precision 490 as a result has up to two Dual- or Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® series 64-bit processors.

Performing the evening audit requires attention to accounting detail, procedural controls and the guest credit transactions. It exposes a wide range of GPU and PCIe expansion capabilities to customers and can fit dual Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs. The account division maintains this list and is sent to the other departments of the hotel such as reservations, front desk, bills, sales etc. It was also priced a lot greater than the dual-processor (DP) versions. The laptop is well-recognized to give a workstation-class functionality along with a long-lasting battery backup. These run on the same simple elements as their laptop counterparts (low-energy processors, non-upgradable integrated graphics, 2 to 6GB of RAM, smaller difficult drives or flash storage, no optical drives, and Windows 10 or Linux—assuming there is an operating program at all).

The most current addition to HP’s Z Series Workstations, the HP Z1 is just a single of 4 other models available in the range, which is developed to cater to the ever-evolving demands of specialists today. Industrial Pc Workstations property computer systems and peripherals in such a way that cables are kept out of harm’s way. With the introduction of AutoLisp and the increasing energy of AutoCAD as a modeling system, it became clear to me that we had been on to something far more effective and significant than a drafting program. At initial blush, you could balk at the value of our review unit, but as we wrote in our current overview of HP’s Z230 SFF Workstation , a workstation naturally falls into a different league than an ordinary desktop—one where obtain price is the least of its buyers’ concerns.

Personal computer desk with pull out keyboard tray and pull out printer shelf. A workstation Computer is a subset of the desktop Computer household. With the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update releasing to the public subsequent month, the firm has began focusing far more on stabilization. Intel baru saja merilis Coffee Lake yang merupakan processor dari keluarga Intel Core 8th Generations dan bersamaan pula dengan peluncuran pendampingnya yaitu Chipset Intel Z370. Dual Xeon CPU can do 24 jobs at the same time. In addition, entry systems primarily based on the new Intel® Xeon® processor E3 household with Intel® HD Graphics P3000 present users with optimized graphics constructed in that lessen the want for third-celebration graphic cards. The base model sports thirty two Xeon E5 hardware threads more than sixteen cores split among two CPUs.

“CAD Software program Operates with Symbols from” Item News Network. James Raquepau, OEM Alliances Director, Parallels, told DEVELOP3D the requirements for the program are two identical graphics cards (HP presently supports Nvidia’s Quadro FX3800, FX4800, and FX5800), lots of memory and ideally a dual socket (CPU) workstation. Updated HP Z440 Workstations The new HP Z440 Workstations pump up the energy a bit, and are far more clearly defined for inventive us specialists. Whilst you are going to locate most vendor CAD workstations are equipped with Xeon procs, the Xeon’s bigger memory address space and hyperthreading capability is going to be of marginal worth for most of you, unless you happen to be carrying out hardcore FEA or rendering most of the time. A credit limit is set for the guest based on his credit profile and then in turn must be marked on his folios.

I have purchased other products from RSVP Design and style previously and identified Graham and his team to be knowledgeable and really helpful in identifying the proper education tools for the appropriate scenario and I will undoubtedly be making use of their products in the future. That’s not the leading configuration, even so, as you can equip the Z2 Mini with a bigger SSD ($499 for 512GB, $779 for 1TB), 32GB of ECC unbuffered memory (an further $200), and up to an Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 or v6 processor (price varies by CPU model). File Server Resource Manager failed to perform a secure hyperlink with a hosted module approach. With a range of overall performance, capabilities and price points, there is a correct Quadro to go with the desktop workstation of your selection. These days I will be providing details on the Ergotron WorkFit-P Sit-Stand workstation (US$299), an innovative thought to assist information workers get on their feet for at least portion of the day although functioning alternatively of becoming glued to a desk chair.

Freeform surface modeling is usually combined with solids to enable the designer to develop products that fit the human type and visual requirements as properly as they interface with the machine. Founder of Amsterdam-primarily based Red Layer Guitars, Jort Heijen builds higher-finish, custom-produced guitars that he styles in AutoCAD. Office workstations consequently need to have adjustable components which make them suitable for all body sorts and work tasks. Paved the way to much more potent keyboard workstations. Even computer systems in toys, games and single-function devices follow guidelines in their built-in system. All personnel climbing or otherwise accessing towers need to be trained in the recognition and avoidance of fall hazards and in the use of the fall protection systems to be employed, pursuant to 1926.21 or exactly where applicable, 1926.1060.

Ergotron WorkFit-T Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation – stand is rated four.4 out of five by five. Prosesor ini memiliki cache 512 KB, 1024 KB atau 2048 KB dan menggunakan front-side bus dengan kecepatan 100 MHz. Program ahead for workstation improvement expenditures (desks, chairs, computer accessories, etc.) in annual budgets. By working with our customers we are in a position to supply deliver and install new and utilised workstations, workstation accessories, screens, seating, mobile storage units, operate benches and racking systems to suit our client’s particular requirements. Industrial Laptop Workstations transformed computer use across supply chains, supplying operatives and machinists with a practical, protected, multipurpose remedy for employing computer systems without having the threat of upsetting the provide chain.

Dengan Frame Rate Target Control dapat membantu dalam menghemat daya dan mengurangi panas serta noise. Our options range from all flash, hyperconverged appliances, to converged HPC, Massive Data & Cloud platforms. Workstation Graphics Cards appears identical as the standard graphics cards from the outdoors but their working is very much diverse from them. As an example, HP spent nine months evaluating the traits of solid state challenging drives ahead of generating them accessible in their workstations. So we freshened up on the most current Intel Xeon processors and bought the following hardware. Computer desks are an integral aspect of your property office furniture and give a contemporary accent to your décor. Several professions that utilize engineering, animation, rendering of graphics, and mathematical plotting benefit significantly from a powerful workstation.

Use our Reflection POS® Embedded method with Pc Workstation to offer your team efficiency, productivity and support. Though you may be operating on an earlier version of the software, you want to future-proof your video card because you can not swap it out in a laptop. It can take advantage of technologies like SSD drives and Nvidia’s CUDA in order to maximize performance in ways that are more exciting (and usually cost successful) than just receiving a lot more expensive processors. Workstations have normally been the drivers of advancements in CPU technologies. Credit card settlement creates a transfer of credit on the guest folio and moves an account balance from the guest ledger to a credit card account in the city ledger (non- guest ledger).

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