#attachment to some form of technology

[epickiya722]

Hm... y'all related? 🤨

[plutoslastwords]

I love ur baby Norris fic smmmm

Can you do one where she gets hurt or smth and Oscar is there to help her and he is the only one she wants to look after her xx

bring your kid to work day (gone wrong)

lando norris x daughter!reader, oscar piastri x norris!daughter!reader

summary: baby norris has an accident when visiting the mtc, who will she listen to? not her dad!

warnings: slight description of a broken wrist

w/c: 1.9k

a/n: ahh tysm for requesting! i hope you like it 😁 thank you everyone for so much love on lost and found <3 keep the requests coming!

~~~

Unfortunately, children were not technically allowed at the Mclaren Technology Centre. To make matters worse, the only random uni student Lando had found willing to look after his daughter for 8 hours for the next few days had cancelled. It didn’t help that Max F, Lando’s only friend currently living in London, was in Brazil either.

Therefore, Lando had no choice but to take you to the MTC with him, making special arrangements with Zak and Andrea that you’d be on your best behaviour, you were an angel! (Most of the time..)

That brings us to now, you are strapped in the backseat of Lando’s car, in your booster seat, as he drives to the MTC, babbling excitedly about what you’re going to do today. 

“Gonna see Osc, Daddy!” you squeal, evidencing your adoration for the Aussie driver, who for some reason you’ve been completely attached to since the moment he joined the team. It's quite strange if you think about it, the quiet, reserved Australian and the hyperactive, excitable 3 year old, but he too is very fond of you.

“Yeah, baby, you gonna give him a big hug?” Lando coos at your excitement, he finds it endearing how much you love Oscar, and it also gives him an excuse to put babysitting duties onto his teammate.

You nod rapidly in response to his question, then completely forgetting about Oscar and going on to chatter about something that had happened at nursery a couple days prior.

Soon enough, Lando pulls his car into the MTC’s carpack, jumping out and coming round to unbuckle you and haul you into his arms, giving you a soft kiss to the top of your head.

“You gonna be Daddy’s good girl, angel?” He asks as he walks into the building, bouncing you gently in his arms.

“Yes daddy!” You cheer in excitement, you were ecstatic to be able to visit your daddy’s work, your tiny face plastered with a massive grin.

“My best girl..” He murmurs as he greets some people with a small nod, making a beeline for his office, where you’ll stay whilst he works. He plops you down on the sofa that he has, grabbing your iPad from his bag and putting on a movie for you to watch.

“Okay baby, Daddy’s just going to go to a meeting, I won’t be long, if you need anything then Zak’s office is just next door, I love you my darling.” Too engrossed in your movie to speak, you simply nod and wave at him as he leaves.

In normal circumstances, Lando would never leave you completely by yourself for an extended period of time, but these were dire circumstances and he trusted that he knew enough people at Mclaren who would look out for you if you decided to pull an escaping act.

After about 20 minutes of watching your movie, you got bored, you had already seen this one before, and the songs weren’t as good when your daddy wasn’t singing them with you. You try to entertain yourself by playing some games that you have downloaded on your iPad, but even they did not give you the thrill and excitement that you need.

You remember in the car when your daddy said that Oscar was gonna be here today, but he hasn’t come to see you yet, a pout formed across your face at that realisation. Therefore, you climbed off the sofa, and decided to toddle around the MTC in search of the Australian driver.

With hindsight, Lando thinks that maybe he should’ve sent an email warning Mclaren employees that his daughter was going to make a guest appearance that day, because no one batted an eye as you wandered around the factory in search for Oscar.

You think you’re making progress, something in your 3 year old brain is telling you that Oscar is close, when you trip on your own feet, hurtling down to the floor right onto your wrist.

You let out a blood curdling screech, as pain shoots up your tiny wrist, immediately bursting into dramatic sobs, wailing as you sit on the floor clutching your arm. 

Luckily, you must have been blessed with the gift of prophecy, because as it so happens, Oscar was around this part of the building for his lunch break, stopping in his tracks when he heard your scream. Lando had said something about bringing you in this week… he thought, as he beelined to the source of the cries.

“Oh bug, what’s happened here!?” He exclaims worriedly, scooping you up into his arms as you continue to sob. You don’t make any coherent response, possibly something about your ‘wist’, but Oscar knows that you’re in pain and that is enough for him.

“Okay baby, I’m gonna get you to your daddy, okay?” He tries to put on his best soothing voice, but in reality he is slightly panicking as he holds his teammate's daughter in a bundle in his arms whilst she cries her eyes out.

You shake your head furiously at that, hot tears still rolling down your little face, “Don’t want daddy!!” You screech, your daddy had left you! You just wanted Oscar.

Oscar doesn’t really know what to do, and your screams will soon start to attract attention, so he can’t just be standing in the middle of the hallway doing nothing. He brushes his free hand over the top of your head, trying to calm you down with a soothing motion as he coos soft words at you, “Shh, baby, ‘M not gonna do anything you don’t want me to, breathe sweetheart…”

He decides his best bet is to first bring you back to his office, and calling Lando from there, he knows he’s got some ice in there that he can put on your small wrist, which is quickly swelling and turning a purplish colour, which he decides is probably not a good sign.

Still whispering sweet words to you, he takes your sobbing form to his office, gently sitting you on his own couch and putting some ice on your wrist, cooing soothing words as you complain about the cold.

He then grabs his phone, quickly dialing Lando’s number. “Hey mate, you think you could come to my office, gotta slight problem here…”

Ever the protective dad, Lando immediately picks up on your wails from the other end of the line, “What the fuck is going on?!? I- I’m on my way.” He hangs up before Oscar can explain that no, he has not intentionally harmed his daughter.

In a matter of seconds, much quicker than his usual pace, Oscar notes, Lando is in his office, kneeling at your side. “Angel, what happened? Tell daddy what happened, where does it hurt?” He shoots questions at you.

You just shake your head at him, reaching your good arm for Oscar.

Oscar stands there awkwardly, stuck between his teammate’s betrayed expression and your sweet, sad, big, adorable eyes… he gives in, coming to sit next to you and pulling you into his lap.

“You gonna tell me and your daddy what happened, sweet girl?” He asks softly, smoothing your hair over.

Through hiccups and sobs you manage a few words “T-Tripped! Wrist is sore…” you sniffle, snuggling into Oscar’s lap.

“Your wrist, baby?” Lando asks, “Can you show daddy?”

You just hide your face in Oscar’s chest, shaking your head, and Lando just looks at Oscar slightly helplessly, his own daughter won’t even talk to him…

“You gotta show your daddy otherwise it won’t get better, sweetheart…” Oscar murmurs to you, feeling pity on Lando.

You sniffle but reluctantly pull out your wrist from where you’ve been hiding it from under the ice to show Lando, who has to suppress a gasp - for your sake - at how bad it really is. Oscar’s eyes widen also, as he exchanges a glance with Lando about what they are going to have to do.

Oscar, gently places his hands over your little ears, “You think you should take her to the hospital…? It looks broken…” Lando just nods grimly, the hospital was not his favourite place as a kid and since you’re practically his carbon copy he doesn’t think you’ll be a massive fan either. 

“Angel, daddy’s gonna take you to the doctor’s, okay?” Lando says as soothingly as possible as Oscar releases your ears, “They’re gonna make it all better and then it won’t hurt anymore, I promise..”

You think about it for a moment, you’re not a massive fan of the idea, but your wrist is really sore, and if your daddy is saying that they’re gonna make it better…

“Oscar come.” You decide. Oscar releases a strangled noise of surprise from his throat, and Lando’s eyebrows raise slightly.

“You want Oscar to come..?” He asks, you just nod, your mind was made up and there was no altering your decision. “I- baby, Oscar is very busy, he probably doesn’t have the time to come to the doctors, but daddy will be there, okay?”

You glare at him.

“I- uhm, I don’t mind coming if it’s gonna make her happy..” Oscar interrupts the one sided glaring match that you’re having with your dad.

“Really? I don’t want to disrupt your day, mate, I mean she’s already taken enough of your time today…” Lando starts.

“No, no, I’m sure, I could use a break from work anyway.” You grin at that, like you had never even broken your wrist at all, as long as Oscar was coming with you to the doctors.

So that is how Lando and Oscar ended up at the local emergency room, Lando holding you tightly whilst you grumbled something about wanting to be with Oscar. Either the lady working the desk recognised them and was too starstruck to deny them a doctor, or she saw your grumpy face and decided she didn’t want a screaming child in the waiting room and immediately got you to see a doctor. 

After an x-ray it was determined that yes, your wrist was broken, which broke Lando’s heart, his poor, sweet, girl…

Luckily, the break wasn’t that bad, and you were able to leave a couple hours later with a new, blue cast, as per your request. You had given up on your short lived resentment for your dad, and were snuggled up into his chest as Oscar drove you all back to the MTC. When you arrived, Lando spoke up;

“You gonna say thank you to Oscar for looking after you, darling?”

You wriggle out of his arms, running over to Oscar and wrapping your arms around his leg, “Thank you!” You giggle, the Doctor had given you a light dose of pain relief, so you were no longer screaming about your wrist.

“That’s okay sweetheart, you be careful, okay?” He cooed, you really were adorable. 

“Thanks, mate” Lando smiled at Oscar, scooping you back up, ready to get you home. Oscar smiled back.

The way back was funnily quite similar to the way there, you talked Lando’s ear off the entire time about just how much you loved Oscar!

~~~

a/n: thank you for reading! send in any requests you have xx

[windyremedy]

⏾ time machine mishap +18

pairing: dinasour hybrid alpha bkg x cat hybrid omega reader

cw: dubcon, a/b/o, pheromones, breeding, knotting, scent marking, claiming, time travel

word count: 1.5k

notes: i’m just gonna leave this here and peace out thanks

you weren’t a scientist by any means, gods no.

honestly speaking you had terrible grades in both chemistry and physics combined—or actually any science related classes! but you somehow ended up in a laboratory anyway after volunteering to be a test subject in their newly manufactured invention.

more specifically a time machine you weren’t really informed much about. now that you’re thinking about it, maybe you should’ve asked additional questions to avoid getting into any future trouble. but you were already far too late and the reward money was very much blinding your common sense.

so the only thing you know about whatever it might do is take you through time. perhaps not even in your own universe but to another dimension distant from the era you currently reside in. now that sounds unbelievable and earlier you thought so too. because despite the massive technological advances done from before to now it still should be leaps above truly achieving teleportation, right?

well, no.

stepping out of the metallic structure you find yourself greeted with gigantic flowers and uniquely colored tree’s seemingly reaching the skies with its height. you were both fascinated and a little afraid of the unfamiliar environment but stood your ground and looked around a couple steps farther from the unexpectedly successful contraption.

though it seemed like you strayed a bit too far and now you can’t find that damned machine. everything looked too similar but also not at the same time with leaves larger than your entire body confusing you which one you already passed. then droplets of rain began to fall rather violently.

you really shouldn’t have offered to test it out. now you’re scrambling to find shelter in the unforgiving weather with the beats of water hitting harder than you were used to. finding shelter in a fallen log you sat drenched, like a wet cat. literally. the clothes you wore didn’t help either, already stained from all kinds of dirt and mud.

they must have expected you to head back soon or perhaps not at all. but there was no time to dwell on what could or couldn’t be the case. you had to focus on the present if you wanted any chance of surviving. shivering in your makeshift leaf blanket that you came across at some point in your treacherous journey. you tried to keep yourself warm, breathing into your palms repeatedly but alas it wasn’t helping and you slowly felt yourself drift in and out of consciousness. exhaustion almost consuming you until you heard a noise, loads of them.

a violent stampede cracking the sticks and stones beneath. you heard roars from outside echo throughout as if speaking in a language you couldn’t of course understand, being a hybrid human in the modern era after all.

taking a quick peek you saw a group of humongous men no more than four wearing rugged fur loincloths. in their hands were like baseball bats or to better describe it massive clubs that looked like it could really hurt with just one swing. they all looked mostly human aside from their sheer size incomparable to your own world’s standards, scaled skin on some areas like their arms, and thick tails attached behind.

to your horror one of them managed to pick up the small sound of a stick you accidentally stepped on from trying to move back and hide. yet another grave mistake done sincerely by you as red eyes zeroed in your form from the hollow log, gaze unshifting despite steering out of view.

shit.

SHIT.

what do you do?

from the looks of it they are way stronger and can no doubt outrun you. out of the whole time you’ve been here, this moment by far has been the most stressful. as thoughts after thoughts turn your brain haywire you failed to figure out a plan before getting harshly pulled from the open log.

upon your view upside down you were met with a massive erection sticking out from his loincloth. he turned you back up much gentler than you’d expect from the initial pull, as he aggressively leaned in your neck inhaling your scent. oh you didn’t know how much he wanted to breed you right then and there in the forest.

your smell was so sweet, a lot sweeter than what he was used to. in comparison to other omega’s he’s come across, it was a lot more potent piquing his interest like no other. unlike any other hybrids he’s seen, you were not only the most exotic looking but you were barely defiant either. not even fighting back for any ounce of dominance.

good thing he found you first or else you definitely wouldn’t have made it safe with your soft pointy ears and smaller than normal height. even the shortest of hybrids would dwarf over you like it’s nothing. plus your tail didn’t look like it could do much damage. oh how lost you must’ve been all alone but it’s okay, he’ll protect you. as an alpha it was only a given to take care of the weak.

taking off one arm from his strong hold on you, he pointed to himself uttering from what you could only presume was his name. you nodded meekly, half afraid, half unsure. maybe you should’ve been a hundred percent afraid but then again there was a reason you ended up here in the first place.

“in sargon territory, not safe without mark. to others stranger.” his deep voice rumbled in your ear sensitively.

carrying you on his shoulders he barked out to the others. although you couldn’t understand a single thing he said, you quickly connected the dots as they stepped closer to you and your captor with high interest in what their friend had found.

squirming you tried to escape with the little energy you had left. alas bakugou’s grip only secured you even more. to him, it only seemed like you were just eager to take his cock already.

“will scent you, don’t worry. safe with me.”

he spoke again, continuing to rub your back as if to calm you from your hissy behavior. whatever else they conversed about you had zero clue. but it sounded like they were agreeing on something before katsuki trudged in a direction.

you didn’t think he was gonna kill you. i mean if he really wanted to he would’ve already done so since he could easily snap you in two but he was careful in handling you. that had to mean something, at least you hoped it did.

by the time you woke up you found yourself in a dimly lit cave on top of a stone slab with thick layers of fairly soft fur. unable to move, you realize quickly that you were being embraced by the hulking man that had found you. sensing your nervousness from the anxious pheromones you were emitting he slowly grinded into you.

“you’re awake, will breed you all better.” he murmured from behind, practically covering you in his scent with his body.

flustered by his actions you tried breaking free from his hold as slick leaked out of you.

“what are you—“

“shhhh, it’s okay. gonna fuck you full. mother of my children.”

before plunging his abnormally huge dick in your hole. not even easing you to take that damned pole of a cock, girth just as wide as it is tall. luckily for you he didn’t ravage you immediately like you expected. slowly bouncing you himself as you were basically immobilized from the first thrust. you sat their pliant as he rubbed your stomach outlined with his enormous cock. sloppily kissing your neck then to your lips as he turned your head.

“nghhh, aghhmmmh. please— ah!”

katsuki thinks he just found his new favorite sound and it was you moaning as you took his cock obediently in your wet fucking pussy. grunting in pleasure he paced himself to go faster, heavy balls smacking loudly each time as his hips met your ass. despite wanting to just keep ramming into you full, he tried to restrain himself for a second as to not injure you but that love drunk look on your face said it all.

turning back at him with a pleading look and a voice he knew that was begging for him to continue. what kinda alpha would he be if he didn’t fulfill his omegas wishes and so he thrusted even harder. hands gripping from your waist to turn your neck as he kisses you all messy and wet. parting from each other’s mouths as strings of long saliva break from your lips. only the obscene sound of skin slapping together could be heard echoing and a mantra of.

“mate. mate. mate. mate. mate. mate. mate. my mate.” he muttered obsessively, knotting you full as your body convulses into climax before biting your neck and claiming you as his.

forever.

[natalievoncatte]

The transfer would have to be quick. They had to move Lena -the other Lena- from the Kryptonian stasis pod to the operating table in the Amazonian lab and they had to hurry.

As she watched six Amazons lift her own limp form onto the platform, Lena could hear the cyborg talking to her Kara.

“These are the worst moments. When there is nothing we can do with all our strength. When we’re just as helpless as any other mortal woman.”

“I know,” her Kara said, very softly. “It’s going to work.”

“I’m afraid,” said the Cyborg. “I’ve been searching so long. Fate has a way of snatching things from us at the last moment. What if she hates me for failing her? What if she can’t stand the sight of me?”

“Lena, focus,” said Alex.

Lena snapped her attention back to the task at hand. Her other self, her doppelgänger, her variant, whatever you want to call it, now lay on the table and Alex was attaching sensors all over her body. Lena joined her.

It was a peculiar sight, one’s own self. The way this Lena looked older, maybe wiser, sent some distant part of Lena’s own mind reeling. If they were simply variations on the same universe, merely quantum discrepancies, why would one version of her be older than she was? How could she be born sooner and still be the same person?

It didn’t matter.

One of the Amazons said, “we must move quickly; we’re already losing her.”

Both Karas sucked in a sharp breath, one of them a harsh mechanical wheeze. Lena and ignored it, and hung the bag of while blood while Alex put the catheter in their patient’s arm.

Her blood. Lena’s. This had to work.

“Back, quickly.”

Lena and Alex stepped back, and the device lowered from the ceiling- like everything here it was a strange blend of classical forms and shapes mixed with high technology. Lena stepped back behind the marked line on the marble floor and waited.

The machine built up with a low thrum, the sound increasing and volume and pitch as it rose until finally a vibrant light burst forth, enveloping the other Lena in a cascade of purple hues, constantly shifting and changing.

The body on the bier was absolutely still; the monitors showed no pulse, no respiration, no brain activity.

Behind her Lena felt as much as heard a strangled, mechanical cry like knives being scraped across a sheet of steel as the cyborg cried out in agony and sank to her knees.

Her Kara said, “Wait! Wait! Look!

Lena watched as her own chest slowly began to rise and fall. The monitors began to pulse with the beat of her heart- slow, at first, weak, but growing stronger with each beat, as her brain activity lit up the screen. It was working. It was working.

“I can hear her,” the cyborg rasped, her voice strangely tinny with elation, “I can hear her heartbeat. I can hear her heartbeat again!”

She lunged forward, but both Kara and two of the Amazons stopped her.

“The process will take hours. Perhaps days. She must not be disturbed.”

A crimson tear welled up in her eye, scratching its way down her cold, pale cheek.

“I can’t leave her.”

Diana stepped forward. “You will not have to. You must simply remain outside the boundary. My warriors will stand vigil with you.”

“I’ll stay too,” said Alex. Nia nodded.

“Lena,” said Diana. “A word.”

Lena swallowed hard and walked beside the enormous warrior woman, the top of her head barely reaching her shoulder. She’d even made Clark look small. They walked outside in the crisp Mediterranean evening air. Even the atmosphere here smelled lovely and clean. There was a full moon rising and in the distance it sparked across the sea.

“There is a problem.”

Lena turned sharply. “What problem?”

“I had my physicians examine the cyborg. We had intended to heal her as well- her Kryptonian physiology should enhance the healing properties of the Purple Ray even further.”

“I sense a ‘but,” said Lena.

Diana nodded, her expression darkening as she looked out over the sprawling city of gold and marble around them.

“The damage is too extensive. Much of her dermal layers are synthetic as well- forgive my bluntness, but there is actually very little left of our friend. Other than her brain and spinal column, very little remains. I’m not sure that she herself is aware of how much has been replaced.”

Lena’s legs weakened and she leaned on the railing in front of her, the stone cold against her palms.

“There has to be a way. Can our Kara help somehow?”

“Not unless she can grow a second heart and liver. Forgive my bluntness, but but I don’t believe that we can help her any further, only try to make her condition more-“

“Highness!” an Amazon shouted as she ran towards them, “Princess! There is a quantum surge nearby. The signature resembles a boom tube!”

Diana turned from Lena as if she wasn’t there. “Sound the alarms, surround the incursion site, and have Supergirl join us- we may need both of them.”

“The cyborg is too damaged to fight,” Lena insisted.

“If this is what I fear, we cannot let any warrior sit idle. Come!”

She turned and ran, and Lena struggled to keep up, her lungs burning even in the pure air of the earthly paradise.

Dozens of Amazons surrounded an empty space in the courtyard, aiming spears and swords at seemingly nothing, an empty space. Kara and her cyborg counterpart rushed to flank Lena.

“What is this?” said Lena. “What is a boom tube?”

In answer, there was a crack of thunder that almost launched her off her feet. Kara instinctively caught her in a smooth motion and lifted Lena into her arms. The sound came with a blinding flash and when Lena opened her eyes, purple spots stained her vision.

A corridor of light unfolded in the air, spending from a central flash, sending waves of air cascading around their feet.

“Ready,” Diana called, cracking her knuckles.

Thwip!

A thin stream of some silvery substance shot out of the aperture or tunnel or portal or whatever it was and hit one of the nearby columns with a loud splat, hanging in the air in thin silvery cord that went taut as something swung out of the portal at impossible speed.

Lena could make out that the arrival was woman, but not much else- she was blinding fast, launching another one of those… webs… from her wrist.

Diana tried to grab her and she twisted out of the way with impossible reflexes, turning in the air, using her swing to build momentum and somersault, finally landing on one of the columns, clinging somehow to the smooth stone.

“Easy, easy, easy!” the intruder shouted, showing her hands as she crouched against the marble. “I come in peace.”

The voice sounded too familiar, almost like-“

“Get down from there!” Diana bellowed. “Stand and show yourself.”

The stranger leapt down from the height with unnatural grace, and Lena heard gasps marching her own as she recognized… herself.

Herself wearing a leather bomber jacket over a black bodysuit emblazoned with the white silhouette of a spider.

“Who are you?” Kara snapped, moving between Lena and the… new Lena.

“I’m Lena 938,” she said, offering a hand to shake, “and I’m her to help.”

“Seize her!” Diana barked.

“Oh come on,” said Lena-938. “Can please not do the ‘heroes have to fight before they become friends’ thing? I’ve had a long day and I want to skip to the part where I give you the exposition.”

“Wait!” said Lena. “Let’s hear what she has to say.”

Her counterpart looked at her. “Oh thank God you’re not one of the crazy variants.”

“Variants?” said Lena. “How many have you met?”

“A lot, and some of us would like to join the party. I’m here to talk about the League of Lenas, and how we’re going to help you.”

She pointed at the cyborg.

“Everyone inside,” Diana snapped. “We will hear your explanation, but no more portals!”

[clownfettis]

Happy late birthday spm, this is my love letter to this damn game asdhdjgk

Screenshots from here and source here

Notes and easter eggs list below

Mario and Luigi's usernames are the only one that use _

Timpani and Blumiere are the only username that use -

Luvbi's name is "The Pure of Heart" in elizabeth English

For Jaydes, Asphodel Meadows is one of the greek mythology afterlife, specifically the one the underwhere is based on

Merlon's numbers are because there's canonicaly multiple Merlon, so they're seperating each others' accounts with numbers. The number are spm's release date

Tiptron was brave enough to publicly take the username "Tippi" because it's not like Timpani"s gonna use it again. So she pretty much went "it's free real estate"

Peach is keeping her names serious due to her status. Bowser does not care lmao

Blumiere's mouth and eye are blue like how when he was defeated, rather than when he was hateful and corrupted

Timpani's hair band mimics butterfly antennas, her colours are from me putting a sepia filter on her pixl form

Mimi is wearing her post game outfit. The form she shape-shifted into is also important and related to her backstory, though I'm not sharing that just yet : 3c

Nassy's design is based on Swoops, which is what i hc she was before she ate Bleck's dreams, and transformed into a Swoop/Human/Tribe of darkness mix from Bleck's dreams of Timpani, in the hope on getting him to love her if she looked more similar to them. Her eye colour is from the square effect when she uses her mind control power. She's not wearing her glasses due to it being postgame, and thus the start of her development into accepting herself and hiding away less, they're not reading glasses but sunglasses due to being sensitive to light (and also hiding some of her face and facial expressions)

Peach and O'Chunks know how to cook/bake, so they're the one commenting on how she made it/how Peach couldn't replicate it despite being a master baker

Luvbi, Grambi and Jaydes are here because, if the witches have tv, then they must also have internet access, and it is canon in my post game that they keep up with what the gang is up to online, since it's not everyday they meet people that can come and go from the afterlife and who they owe their life to. Though obviously it would be from myspace rather than tiktok since they have 2007 technology. Jaydes and Grambi wouldn't post or comment anything, but Luvbi is actively making friends. Also the idea of god himself coming to your comment section to go "what the hell" at your cooking skills is too funny

Nassy is in Saffron's kitchen and wearing an appron designed like hers, since the post game shows she lives in Flopside now. I decided on Sweet Smile rather than Hot Fraun because i thought Dyllis' temperament might scare away Nassy since she's never cooked before, and Saffron would be more supportive

And, well, you saw one of her first attempts GSXGDHI Do not let her in da kitchen

She clearly got the role of secretary just because of how attached she was to Bleck and wanted to be useful. But the whole point is that's she's living for someone else (him), while also trying to be someone else (timpani)

So her not being the "perfect girlfriend" is important to me

Bad at encouragement, bad at team spirit, bad at cooking, bad at comforting, bad at advice

Just, take the cliche of the nurturing perfect mom-friend, and make it the opposite

She's trying to get on Timpani's level, when she doesn't even really want to or enjoy any of this new persona she'd need to use. Because she's not Timpani, and faking who you are to get someone to date you is such a bad move that will crash in the long run

ALSO ALSO TIPTRON SAYING SHE'S ALSO TIPPI, YET TIMPANI REPLIED WITH SASS AND SARCASM, WHILE SHE MADE A JOKE CONNECTED TO ANALYTICAL KNOWLEDGE

TIPTRON IS MORE ANALYTICAL PIXL THAN SASSY TIMPANI

@ooftale @jester--addict get yall's butts over here fqhdhfjf

[marlynnofmany]

Natural Abilities

“I’m just saying,” said Zhee with a click of his pincher arms that said he was not just saying, “that if there’s a way to make your natural abilities more impressive, then it only makes sense to do it.”

“And I’m just saying,” Mur retorted as he tentacle-walked in front of us, “that it wouldn’t be your natural abilities anymore.”

“But it would be impressive. Surely that matters more.”

Mur made a popping noise that was his version of a derisive snort. “Only if you want to be a cheater about it.”

I focused on pushing the hoversled full of packages. “I don’t think you guys are going to agree on this one.”

“There’s nothing cheating about being better,” Zhee insisted. “Do you think spaceships are cheating because you can’t leap to the nearest planet under your own power?”

“Of course not,” Mur said as he scrambled over a mossy rock, probably avoiding going around it just to prove a point. “But you don’t see me using one of those scooters to get around just because it would be faster.”

I put in, “Wio does.”

“Wio’s a pilot,” Mur shot back. “Of course she likes going fast. She even got into races in the corridors in the last station we stopped at. But I’d leave her behind on a tech-free hike because she’s doesn’t exercise. That’s what I’m saying.”

Zhee stepped around another rock, bug legs flashing. “What about tools? I don’t see you going without can openers just because you could pry something open if you tried hard enough. And if we made a delivery somewhere dangerous, I’m sure you wouldn’t turn down a stun gun in favor of throttling any attackers personally.”

“Those are totally different,” Mur said. “Besides, Captain Sunlight would never send us into that kind of situation.”

“But if you were in danger,” Zhee pressed, “You’d take an edge over your opponent if it kept you alive.”

Mur splayed his tentacles. “Well, obviously. Life and death take priority. But you don’t see any Strongarms doing performative duels with enhanced grabbing technology.”

Zhee hissed in his own form of derision. “Probably because it’s difficult to make ‘enhanced grabbing technology.’ Not like fitting a metal blade onto a blade arm.” He did some dramatic pinching of the air, praying mantis style. Those blade arms were naturally serrated, but I could just imagine how deadly they would be with machetes attached.

I asked, “Is that a Mesmer fighting style? Humans have to hold our blades.”

“It is,” Zhee said with pride. “There are many sub-disciplines, as you might imagine. Even before long-distance weaponry was adopted, our fighting forces have been terrifying to behold.”

“I bet,” I said. The idea of being charged by a swarm of predatory bug aliens with double sword arms was nightmarish.

Mur sniffed. “Still an unnatural advantage.”

“That’s hardly a bad thing if it lets you eviscerate your enemies,” Zhee said. “I’m sure that most species would side with me here. Even humans, with no natural weapons to speak of, caught onto blades.”

“Hey, we totally have natural weapons,” I told him with a grin. Freeing one hand from the hoversled, I aimed a mock punch at his giant bug eyes. “A solid punch from a trained martial artist would crack your exoskeleton.” (Probably. I had no idea.)

Zhee was unimpressed. “How quaint.”

Mur said, “At least it’s an honest strike with no enhancements.”

I had to pause at that. “Well. There is a thing called ‘brass knuckles’ that people sometimes use. But that’s not exactly fair, even for us.”

Neither of them had knuckles. They stared at me blankly, and I hurried to clarify.

“It’s a metal thing we hold here,” I said, slapping a fist. “It fits around our fingers and makes the punch hit stronger.”

Zhee nodded in approval. “Very resourceful. Still quaint.”

“Quaint cheating,” Mur said with a smile.

“Oh, for—” I pushed the hoversled harder. “What about throwing? Neither of your species do much of that, and we all know humans are great at it. We still found ways to enhance that too.”

Zhee flicked his antennae in amusement. “Do you mean bullets? You’re hardly the only ones to invent explosives.”

“No, I mean slingshots and bolas,” I told him. “Those will send rocks flying much farther than a bare hand would. And javelin launchers! For when you want to hit something with a sharp stick from exceptionally far away.”

“Hm.” Zhee still sounded unimpressed. “Blade arms are better.”

“Up close and unaltered,” Mur added.

“I’ll have to find footage of a human martial arts tournament for you guys to watch sometime,” I said. “But hey, you just agreed on something.”

Before they could find a way to start arguing again, we reached our destination: the edge of a river that was significantly farther from the aquatic house than I’d expected. It was one of those beaver-lodge deals made of wood and decorative flowers. It was big and artistic. It had neither a walkway nor a doorbell.

That could be a problem.

Zhee hissed. “There was supposed to be an intercom on the shore.” He looked around, but even his range of vision didn’t spot anything.

I dug a toe into the loose river rocks that lined the edge. “I wonder if it was on a pole that fell over and washed away. If they don’t get many visitors, they might not have noticed.”

Mur slid over the rocks and stuck his face in the water. This looked more than a little silly, with his pointy squid head laid out against the surface, but I didn’t say anything. He stood up and wiped tentacles across his face. “Yeah, it’s down there,” he said. “Pole rotted away.”

Zhee hissed and clicked his pinchers in exasperation. “Delightful! How do they expect us to get their attention? Let’s call back to the ship and have them contact the merchant frequency.”

“I don’t think they used that,” Mur said, but he made his way over to the communicator stashed in a sled compartment.

While he called and talked to Wio, Zhee glared at the distant house. “Do you think you could throw a rock that far?” he asked me. “Knock on their door from a distance?”

“Probably not,” I admitted, then looked down at the rocks. “At least not directly.”

Mur ended the call. “They used a different message system,” he told us, sounding none too pleased about it. “The captain’s going to send an urgent notification, but it’s anyone’s guess how quickly they’ll respond to that.”

“Delightful,” Zhee repeated. “And our champion rock thrower can’t even hit the wall from here.”

“I didn’t say that,” I said, stepping away from the hoversled and scanning the ground. “Help me find a flat round one.”

“Why?” Mur asked.

“Like that one?” asked Zhee, pointing with a folded pincher.

I picked it up. It was lumpy on the bottom, but I spotted another that was better. “Like this one! And I’ll show you why. You’ll like this; it’s a totally natural throwing enhancement. Let’s see if I can do it on the first try.” I took a throwing stance, aimed, and skipped that rock for all I was worth.

It skidded merrily across the surface to whack against a board as if I practiced every day, and hadn’t gotten very lucky. Ten-year-old me would have been proud. The whack echoed loudly enough for anyone to hear.

Mur and Zhee were still exclaiming about it when something blue-furred breached the surface near the house. “What??” yelled our client.

We chorused, “Delivery!” while gesturing toward the pile of boxes.

I added, “And your doorbell pole is broken,” pointing in the rough direction of where Mur had seen it underwater.

“Oh!” said the client, still yelling. “Right! Fine. I’ll get the bag.” Their head disappeared with a ripple of river water, off to get something that was hopefully waterproof.

I smiled at my coworkers. “I’m glad that worked.”

“No kidding!” Mur said. “I was starting to worry someone would have to swim over there, and the briefing didn’t say if there are any biting creatures in this river.”

Zhee stood tall. “I’m sure our champion thrower could hit them with a rock if there were.”

I grinned and agreed that I probably could, though I was glad we didn’t have to find out.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[alostwanderernotfound]

PANDEMICS- Hostile Power Takeover? Learnings on Urban & Domestic Warfare, “Disease: Bacteria Part 1, Fundamental Considerations”:

Let’s say the hostile power is more technologically advanced & half robot/half machine or full machine, so seemingly unkillable. Organic beings are very vulnerable to having disease used as a weapon against them.

Disease can be a major benefit to this type of hostile power & it would be an incredibly powerful weapon. This allows the destruction of an organic-based domestic population & it can also allow the harvesting of resources to build new bodies and/or reuse of the entire body depending on the disease process.

There are many insidious ways diseases develop & spread. This process DOES NOT just occur in a laboratory. Remember that there are many different “groupings” of entities we refer to as pathogens or things with the ability to cause disease.

Bacteria are an important one. Bacteria & other pathogens can reproduce by multiple means. Here I’m going to speak about bacteria with the capacity to do Bacterial conjugation. This involves passing characteristic between two different bacteria similar to how sexual reproduction can pass on characteristics. This is overall an important conversation because a lot of the most complex & common life forms in our daily lives also spread these characteristics through similar principles through sexual reproduction.

> A lot of bacteria to our awareness are able to pass on characteristics. Bacterial DNA contains the “instructions”/“resources” for bacteria to either have or not have characteristics.

-Bacterial conjugation for example allows one bacteria to attach to a second bacteria & send resources to the second bacteria. After this process, the second bacteria is able to transform and display the characteristics transferred to it. Example: Bacteria A can change colors like a chameleon. Bacteria B cannot change color. Once Bacteria A attaches to Bacteria B and they are compatible, Bacteria A passes on resources to Bacteria B. Bacteria B then acquires the ability to change color. Bacteria B now can change color & has attainted the same advantage as originally only bacteria A had. Now Bacteria A and Bacteria B can change color like a chameleon.

- The other way characteristics form & occur in a bacterial population is through mutation. If a bacteria’s DNA is altered or mutates then it can produce a bacteria with new traits & characteristics. Radiation for example, like from X-rays, often causes mutations. Sometimes mutations do “nothing” we can really perceive with our eyes. But overtime, they will eventually create large changes and can produce huge benefits for bacteria. For example: A bacteria could have always have been wiped out from nuclear weapons then overtime from mutations it can acquire the ability to survive living inside an area with nuclear radiation.

-This is a very important concept to fully understand so that you can become cognizant of how insidious this process is when discussing what bioterrorism in the modern world can look like. Pandemics are not caused just from mysterious lab leaks. The practices we do everyday are still contributing to the next pandemic occurring.

-This also gives everyone a better understanding of how MRSA or an antibiotic resistant bacteria really was “made” inside our hospitals.

> Bacteria can possibly have random or genetically engineered characteristics.

-If there are 100 random bacteria on an isolated surface that formed there naturally, some will have favorable characteristics to cause severe disease. But, some bacteria will not have those characteristics to cause severe disease. The bacteria lacking these deadly characteristics, but are still part of the same family of bacteria, would be considered weaker pathogens (weaker pathogen meaning they would cause less severe disease in organic beings).

-**But it is important to remember, If someone purposefully put bacteria down on a surface there is a chance it will not be a random distribution in strength of bacteria & they will mostly all be bacteria with strong characteristics. That group would probably be closer to 100 out of 100 of the bacteria carrying the deadly characteristic.**

>There are 2 main basic premises (which can be further subdivided and added onto when discussing what makes pathogens strong, but for now I’m discussing a more fundamentals explanation) we consider when determining bacterial pathogen strength: number of bacteria & the amount of deadly/harmful characteristics each bacteria possess.

-Reducing the overall number of bacteria in a group of random bacteria does not always mean you make a pathogen less strong. (Example: Purposefully killing 50 bacteria out of 100 and now there are only 50 bacteria in the group.)

If you destroy many of the weaker bacteria & only leave strong bacteria to reproduce, pathogens overtime can get stronger & more deadly. So, by destroying only the weaker bacteria in a group of bacteria, you slowly make pathogens stronger through this natural process & it doesn’t have to occur inside of a laboratory. To make a bacterial pathogen less strong by focusing on decreasing the overall number of those bacteria that exist in our world, you would also have to consider how many of each strength you eliminate. This is because we currently we do not use practices that wipe out groups of bacteria 100%, so we must consider these two elements together instead of separate when evaluating pathogen strength. Example: Lets say there are 100 bacteria and you wipe out 90. Bacteria A can cause humans to be paralyzed. Bacteria B cannot paralyze humans. Out of the 10 bacteria still alive, if all 10 are Bacteria A then you have eliminated the chance people would be infected with the less severe version of the disease, with Bacteria B. In the long term Bacteria A now has a strong chance to reproduce & when Bacteria A infects people it would then cause paralysis in everyone & the population could collapse. In another scenario, consider if you wiped out 90 bacteria out of 100, but you did it purposefully. Out of the 10 bacteria left, 9 were Bacteria that were Bacteria B & couldn’t cause paralysis. The last 1 out of the 10 left was Bacteria A. Then when those 10 bacteria reproduced it effectively helps “dilute” this negative characteristic in this bacterial family. Based off randomness & probability, when there this group reproduces to the size of 20 bacteria only approximately 2 of them may carry Bacteria A’s paralytic characteristic & 18 will carry bacteria B’s characteristic that does not cause paralysis. So, even though we can’t stop the bacteria number from growing, since we mindfully intervened we can still divert the trajectory of the pathogen from becoming a pathogen with the ability to become “pandemic level” and/or very very harmful.

>Two ways pathogens can get weaker is by lowering the amount of bacteria in the world & by lowering its severe disease characteristics, but this these two categories have an important interplay.

-This is an oversimplified explanation of how disease spreads & evolves, but the fundamental principles are VERY important to the overall understanding of what’s occurring. Imagine a group of bacteria you count has 100 total bacteria. 50 of them carry a gene to cause paralysis in humans & 50 do not carry this gene. When 100 people come in contact with the 50/50 bacteria distribution and get sick only 50 out of 100 of the people get paralyzed. This allows the other 50 people time to work on vaccinations & interventions to stop everyone from eventually being paralyzed.

-But, if you kill the 50 out of the 100 bacteria that do not carry the gene for paralysis then your bacteria group went from 100 to a total of 50 in size. In the short term the spread of the disease is likely to go down, as it is less likely people will randomly spread 50 objects instead of 100. BUT, those 50 bacteria with the gene to cause paralysis will only reproduce with other bacteria that also have that gene. So this bacteria, since you wiped out the 50 that don’t cause paralysis, now ALL cause paralysis & anyone who comes in contact with this bacteria strain will get paralyzed. So eventually with time the group of 50 bacteria will reproduce to 100 & spread at the same rate as they were originally, but now they cause more harm to people.

>When you unknowingly touch a colony of bacteria on an object or life form, you pick up a random sample of random “strength” of bacteria.

>****PLEASE READ: you can ALSO pickup a sample of bacteria that is all “strong bacteria” but this is NOT usually a natural occurrence you will see & is suggestive someone or something altered the bacteria and purposefully put those bacteria there. A group of bacteria that looks like it formed organically vs one that was purposefully placed there can be differentiated with taking samples of surfaces and people & counting how many strong bacteria vs weak bacteria there are, but we as a population do not regularly test for this in this way. Due to this I’m going to speak with the viewpoint of natural bacteria groups that have a gradient of “strengths”. In an ideal world we would identity groups of bacteria that have gradients of strength of bacteria vs groups of all similar strength, as interventions to stop them from becoming strong pathogens work DIFFERENTLY.)

>After you touch those bacteria they attempt to multiply and stay alive on you. Then if you touch other things they can be placed on another surface or thing. Sometimes they are placed on other surfaces in an environment or you touch your body & they are placed closer to an entrance to the inside or your body & then they are able to enter your body.

-This process will cause one of the following to occur: bacteria will stay in the area you touched & colonize it, they will die when attempting to enter the body, the bacteria will give you a disease , or in some cases the bacteria will live symbiotically inside you & help your body. If a bacteria lives symbiotically with you & does not cause harm then we do not refer to that as a pathogen, but rather just as a bacteria.

>Anytime you wipe out a group of bacteria by taking out 100% it causes that pathogen to get weaker overall, but the issue is that we do not do interventions that wipe out 100%.

-Currently anytime you clean an object in the hospital with a sanitizing wipe, you always kill less than 100% of the bacteria. This leaves behind a certain % of bacteria & they will be the strongest of that group of bacteria, because they were able to live even though you applied a cleaning product on them. This means the strongest bacteria left, even though there are less after cleaning, are now reproducing over and over again & getting stronger.

-So, when there is an environment with a large amount of bacteria variability (so all these new patients with new exposures to new bacteria that travel and touch things all the time), with shared equipment, with not 100% effective methods to destroy pathogens, & this long list of variables, we slowly produce very strong & deadly pathogens inside of hospitals.

-IF someone purposefully puts deadly bacteria ontop of a surface inside a hospital and it is a group of 100 strong & identical or cloned bacteria with no difference in genetics then wiping them out through imperfect cleaning will overall reduce pathogen deadliness. This is because there are no “stronger” pathogens vs “weaker” pathogens. They are all the same strength in this example and therefore will always get weaker when you reduce their number because they won’t reproduce to be more deadly.

>People often think when people are trying to cause them harm that would only occur when someone makes a pathogen in a lab & then deceptively goes and places some near you. This is not accurate.

-With knowing this do you see how for a hostile power there is actually LESS incentive to going through with all that work & instead a hostile power can abuse the system to cause harm? If you expect biological warfare to ONLY come out of a lab, this means you would be looking for the wrong patterns of behavior & pathogens will spiral out of control.

A lot of practices we currently use now unfortunately heavily contribute to this process that causes pathogens to get stronger.

[eyesthecolorofarson]

Next-to-last of our species

Based on this

“Project Cadmus’ purpose was to create an anti-Justice League of sorts,” Dr. Lilva said calmly, twisting her hair in the hand that wasn’t handcuffed to the table. “But despite Luther’s unimaginable wealth, he was cutting costs in this incredibly delicate operation. He decided that instead of one clone for each Justice League member, we’d do one for two.”

“Why?” It wasn’t like Luthor to cut costs, Batman mused. He flaunted his money as if it’d make people forget he was a supervillain. Maybe he’d spent too much on his last mech suit. He should tell Dick that. “I don’t know. But it worked in our favor. We weren’t really creating clones. We were creating embryos that had your DNA. But, as we all know, you need two sets of DNA to form a full body. So, mixing two of your DNA together would not only give the clones a stable body, but the powers or,” she motioned to him, “intelligence of the parents. Which is how we got here.”

Three scientists from the now destroyed Project Cadmus, Dr. Lilva, Sal, and Trit, had turned themselves in to the Justice League saying they were willing to share everything that had happened during Project Cadmus on the grounds that they be allowed access to job opportunities in their very narrow fields. Dr. Sal, who seemed most against turning themselves in, rolled his eyes. “It would have been fine if—“ “No it wouldn’t!” Dr. Trit glared to him. “It would have!” “No! It’d be fine if we hadn’t combined Martian Manhunter and fucking Batman! We created a Batman that can shapeshift and move things with his mind!”

Dr. Lilva sighed. “Be quiet. Our first stable clone was made of a combination of Superman and Luthors DNA. Where we made a mistake was the creation of 14; the combination of Martian Manhunter and Batman.” Sal scoffed. “He wasn’t a mistake. He was a success. As smart and calculating as Batman, capable of shifting into inanimate objects and people, as well as incredible telepathic and technopathic abilities. The mistake was making him too smart. Too aware.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to prevent it.” He looked around. Superman didn’t look very good. He was pale and sweaty, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. Martian Manhunter had a very odd expression on his face, as if he was trying to find every bit of information about ‘14’ that he could. He probably was. Superman met his eyes, and he knew he was questioning how he felt. He was fine.

“13, the combination of Superman and Luthor, didn’t have Luthors intelligence but he did have Superman’s powers. Average intelligence but very emotional, he seemed to feel everything ten times more intensely than others. 14, however…. He was best at learning. Not just science or math….” Lilva shivered. “He watched us, copied us, and it took us far too long to realize, but he was reading our minds. Learning.”

“Unfortunately, it took us longer to fully understand the lengths of his technopathy. We thought it was just light electrokinesis, but—“ she cut herself off with a strangled laugh. “When he started talking about our personal information, things we looked up, things we talked about at home without our Cadmus devices—that’s when we realized he’d attached himself to every. Single. Piece of technology. That we’d interacted with.”

She motioned for Sal to speak. He sighed. “One day, I was staying late to finish some work. 13 was incredibly clingy, and 14 was a charmer, so they got to share a room. One of the walls was made entirely out of nth glass. 13 was asleep, and 14 was watching me. He tapped the internal mic, and asked me why I wasn’t at Lily’s recital. He told me that she was asking ‘Mrs. Millie’ if she’d seen me come in. He told me…. he told me ‘lily pad is very upset.’” Sal looked disturbed. “I had forgotten my daughter, Lily, had a play. She was playing the sugar plum fairy. Mrs. Millie is her teacher, and ‘lily pad’ is a nickname I have for her. And he knew that, despite me never mentioning having a family.”

That was a little disturbing. Not just knowing about his family, that was easy with a little research into the employee, but to know not only the teachers name, the recital, and a nickname, that implied that ‘14’ had been watching Sal for quite a long time. “How does this imply that ‘14’ had ‘attached himself’ to your devices?” Lilva motioned for Trit to speak. She also sighed. “Ok. So. Uhh, during my break I’d, uh, use my home phone to watch Netflix and stuff. And keep in mind Project Cadmus was located almost twenty five miles underground, and the break room was on surface level.”

“Well, one day I was watching The Nun, and when I got back down I had to deal with a ‘strange situation.’” She used air quotes then sighed again, running a hand through her short hair. “13 was crying and 14 was trying to comfort him, telling him it ‘probably wasn’t real’, which made him cry harder. When I asked what was wrong, 14 yelled at me for ‘choosing to not watch Friends this one time.’ 13 interrupted him and asked me if demons were real. I told him I didn’t know, and asked 14 what this was all about.”

She laughed. “He didn’t answer, but it was pretty easy to figure out. I usually watched Friends during my break, but I’d finished it at home. So I’d decided to watch a movie. And before this we’d seen signs of 14 building a mind link between himself and 13. It was obvious that he’d attached himself to my phone, and shared with 13 what I was watching. Unfortunately, it was a horror movie.”

“After that we noticed that the electric doors would unlock and relock at random, usually locking us and the other doctors in and letting 13 and 14 out. Our computers would glitch and turn off when using them, the machines made to test their ability’s would break down right before testing. I’d tried to make sure no one put physical locks on anything because I didn’t want 14 learning how to pick locks.” Trit sighed again and glared at Sal.

“And someone didn’t listen to me.” Sal scoffed and rolled his eyes. Lilva glared at both of them. “How was I supposed to know he’d learn? He didn’t have any lock picking skills or anything to pick locks with!” Lilva gave him a look. “He had his mind.” “So, ‘14’ knows how to pick locks telepathically?” “Not just pick them,” Trit replied, “in less than a day he learned how to unlock and relock them. We learned this when Sal turned off the power to their electrical door and put locks on them.”

Trit and Lilva waited for Sal to speak. He grumbled. “I went in to fix a light that 13 had broken when he was practicing flying, turned around, and both of them were outside the room. I watched as 14 relocked the locks he’d unlocked without touching them.” Sal looked embarrassed. “I was stuck for three hours as they destroyed the lab. I had access to my—“ Lilva raised her hand for him to stop. She was looking at her phone. She was pale.

“Ms. Lilva?” He asked after a moment, “Is something wrong?” She took a deep breath, then tried to give her phone to him. She wasn’t able to. When her arm raised a spark left her phone and she yelped and dropped it, rubbing her hand as it continued to spark. At the same time, the Watchtowers main computer turned on. Batman felt himself and the others tense. The screen was covered in static.

“Stand up!” Lilva told him, her voice shaking. “Flash, stand up and walk fourteen feet backwards from the screen. Do it! Now!” Sal muttered swears. “Why me?” Flash asked, even as he stood. “Because you’re the only one who’ll give us an instant honest reaction on what you see.” That was a good point.

Flash went fourteen feet, turned and jumped. “Holy shit!” He almost choked. “There’s eyes in the screen! Like, a face—oh my god it’s smiling at me.” Bruce quickly stood, as did the others. The scientists stayed seated. Batman walked backwards to Flash, keeping his eyes on the screen. There was nothing. Static, static, static, then—he stood next to Flash and he appeared.

He took a few steps back and forward, testing his eyes. A foot forward he was gone. And a foot back, the same. Only when Batman stood fourteen feet away from the screen did he see his and J’onn’s clone, 14. He was hidden in the static, but at fourteen feet away the static melted together to form a face. It reminded him of when he was a child, stuck at galas and so bored he looked to the marble to find hidden pictures.

The static face was watching them intently. Batman could feel a finger gently poking his mind, trying to enter. He locked his psyche down tightly. 14’s face seemed to become amused. “Interesting…” Martian Manhunter muttered. “He knows who we are. All of us.” Superman stood next to Batman, tense. “What do you mean?” “It means he knows our identities. He knows where your parents live, the code to Batman’s contingency safe, the names of Wonder Woman’s mother and aunts….it seems that the moment the doctors phones got close enough to the computer, he attached himself to it.”

That wasn’t good. The static face seemed to think it was hilarious, laughing. “Who are you?” He asked sternly. It didn’t seem to affect the face. The face disappeared. Bold words appeared. ‘You know who I am,’ they said, ‘you just spent ten minutes talking about us’. So he’d been listening. How quickly was he able to get into the computer? “What do you want?” The words disappeared and were replaced with new ones. ‘Nothing much. Just, oh, I don’t know—the people that tortured and experimented on us dead? That too much to ask?’

So revenge. “What does 13 think of that plan?” He hadn't noticed it before, but there was a low ringing sound coming from the computer. It got louder at his question. ‘His name is Connor. And he shouldn’t have to worry about these things. He had it worse than I did.’ He glanced toward the scientists. They’d only told them of the clones and that there had been experiments—they hadn’t said what type of experiments. “Could you elaborate?”

‘Sure. The people sitting in front of you–if they can even be called people–are sadistic, selfish, narcissistic assholes who not only ‘encouraged’ us to show our powers with physical torture but also sold information they learned in the project to third parties. Like they’re doing right now.’ Suddenly Sal, Trit, and Lilva’s bodies began sparking and smoking. Trit shrieked and removed a wire from her hair and waistline. They sparked and the one from her waist caught on fire. Trit continued to panic as she tried to pull a chip out from under her manicured nails.

Sal removed two chips and a wire from his tie, belt and hair while Lilva removed four wires from her bra, waistline, shoelace and hair band. The one from her hair caught fire before she could pull it out, and a small section of her hair caught fire. Sal helped her pat it out as a distorted laugh came from Lilvas phone on the table.

‘She deserves worse.’ The words on the screen said, ‘Superman. Have you ever been burned before?’ Superman didn’t answer, instead whispering to Wonder Women about how odd it was he didn’t hear the wires and bugs electrical humming. ‘CLARK KENT.’ The words were bigger now, and he felt someone pinching his mind. ‘DO YOU KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE BURNED? DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN BE BURNED?’

Superman jumped and turned, reading the words. “Uh, no—no, I haven’t. I can’t.” He sounded unsure. Batman didn’t blame him. The static disappeared, and a video played. It looked to be camera footage. It showed a medical room. Sitting on one of the beds was a boy, maybe fifteen, with short curly black hair and blue eyes. His skin was unhealthily pale, and he had bags under his eyes. He was wearing a simple shirt and pants, the shirt having Superman’s symbol on one side and the number 13 on the other.

Out of place in the medical room was a fire pit. There was a fire poker in it, and the flames were lit up green. Doctor Trit came in. “How do you feel?” 13—Connor glanced at her then looked away. “Fine. A little nauseous. Is that normal?” Trit walked to the fire pit, shifting the poker around. “Perfectly. Hold out your hand.” Dread pooled in Batman’s stomach. Connor looked nervous, but did as he was told.

Trit pulled the fire poker out, kryptonite attached to the end. Its end was slightly red and orange, cracks running along it. She turned and placed it in Connor’s open palm.

Connor shrieked and screamed, trying to pull his hand away. Trit held him still. Connor struggled, tears running down his face, begging her to stop, to help, to take it away. Trit made him hold it for twenty seconds before pulling it back. When she did they saw Connor’s hand, the flesh bubbly and red with blood, blisters forming. Connor cried, and the video ended. The static returned, but it was quiet. Almost in respect.

"Jesus christ," Flash muttered, and Batman was a little worried about the way Wonder Women was looking at the scientists. "We were just doing our jobs!" Trit cried weakly, "We didn't want to but we had to!" 'SHUT UP' The text said, and the scientists began to yelp and wither. 'There is a fine line between experimenting on a subject and torturing them.'

'What you did to us stepped several feet over that line. What you did to us spat in the face of workplace ethics and our human rights.' Trit suddenly shrieked, and Sal began convulsing. 'We're never going to forget or forgive what you did to us. He will never feel truly safe, truly happy as long as your alive.' Sal began foming at the mouth, whimpering. Trit was muttering 'make it stop' over and over again, and Lilva was writing something on the table. It looked to be a will.

"He's melting their minds," Martian Manhunter gasped, "That—that is not a metaphor. He's quite literally reducing their brain matter to mush." Flash went to the scientists side and tried to keep Sal still while Green Lanturn began copying what Lilva was writing. Her handwriting was getting worse and worse. Wonder Women went to Trit's side as she began to sob and stutter, attempting to speak. It was all incoherent.

'I don't want to hurt people.' The screen said, 'I don't even enjoy hurting them, no matter how much they hurt me. But this isn't about me, it's about Connor. It's about ensuring Connors safety. It's about making sure Luthor gets a clear cut message; hurt him, and see what happens. Try to hurt us and I'll destroy him and everything he cares about. Fuck around and find out.'

"We can help keep you safe," Batman said as Sals twitching slowed, "Both you and Connor. You don’t have to kill them." Lilva wasn't writing so much as scribling, and Trit was still crying. Her eyes were bloodshot. 'I do, Batman. They installed both of us with a kill switch. Only two ways to trip it; either insert a key into the incubators were were created in, or enter a code on the computer in Luthors office.'

Batman felt his heart drop. 'The key and the incubators have been delt with, the computer and any copy of the software destroyed. Only one person had the code. The lead researcher. And he shared the code with two other people. I have to keep my brother safe, Batman. We're all we have. I'm sorry.'

The room was much more quite now; Trit was dead, Sal was unconscious, and Lilva mumbling incoherently. 'I want to live the rest of my life by your code, Batman, and I'll try my best to do so. But please, please understand that I had to do this. Not just for revenge, but for our safety. Martain Manhunter would’ve never found the code in their minds; he's not as invasive as I am. They would’ve left and immediately killed us. Thats why Sal wanted to get out of their as quick as possible.'

'Maybe one day, when the dust has settled and Conner feels safe we can talk face to face; really talk, y’know? I'd like to do that. But I don't know when the right time for that talk will be.' It was quiet as the rest of the League read the message. The humming was fading. Batman felt his heart jump when his pocket buzzed. It was his phone.

It was a new contacct thats number kept changing. It was named 'Danny'. The text read, 'but in the meantime, I'm down for some small talk.'

[writeforfandoms]

Mirror Mirror 10

Find the series masterlist

You finally get some answers. Everything is not magically okay, but it could be worse.

Warnings: Swearing, some explanations, some things are still a mystery, slight suicidal thoughts, emotional turmoil, this one's a bit of a rollercoaster.

Word count: 2.2k

“This was partially my idea,” Cortana said after the silence had stretched long enough to become uncomfortable and send your nerves jangling. 

“Okay,” you said slowly, gaze darting from her to John. 

“He didn't tell you anything, did he?” She sounded amused now, shooting a fond glance at John. “Just like you to rely on me to do the heavy lifting.” 

John huffed softly but didn't actually refute her words. 

“No, he didn't, and I would really like an explanation.” You leaned back in your seat, putting physical and emotional distance between you and them. 

“You were right,” Cortana admitted softly, looking at you and away. “About a lot of things. Warden was manipulating me. And… touching the Domain… it changed something in me. In my programming.” 

“Like a virus,” you offered when her words petered out, her gaze far away. 

“You could say that,” she agreed. “Like a virus. I didn't notice it, didn't even think it was possible. But once I got away from there and looked… well.” She waved one hand expansively. “I was able to do a lot of things.”

“Like get rid of the virus,” you guessed, though it was a safe guess. John wouldn't be sitting so calmly with her if she was still homicidal. 

“Right, but more than that. I found out where you came from, too.”

That had you leaning forward, arms dropping back to your sides. “What did you find out?” 

“The Forerunners never intended for AIs to use the Domain,” Cortana started, choosing her words with care. “It took me a while to figure out what I was doing and how to… control it. Sort of. I thought I was controlling it, but…” 

“You stopped it,” John said softly, reassuring. Or as reassuring as he seemed to get.

“Right.” Cortana paused and then nodded. “Well, somehow, I pulled you here. I still don't know exactly how I did it - it doesn't make any sense. The Forerunners didn't have time travel technology, and yet you're here, from over 500 years in the past. I still don't fully understand it.”

“Oh.” An accident. Well, of course it was an accident. No sane person would want you from the past - there were much better people than you, if they wanted someone from your time. You had just been the idiot who ignored all her training from horror movies and investigated something. 

You truly were an idiot out of time. 

“But that's not all,” Cortana continued, and your heart sank. More? “As far as I can tell, when I accidentally pulled you though, I created a sort of… link between us.”

“A link.” But you knew exactly what she meant. You had felt it. The blue light in your vision, the pain, all of it. 

“Must have been a side effect of pulling you through time. It didn't just effect us, though. It effected John.” 

You lifted your gaze, horrified, to John's helmet. “What?” You whispered. 

“I've spent so much time in his neural interface that the link formed between you and him, too. Which helped, I'm sure. Not that he would have abandoned you, but he never would have brought you to me otherwise.” 

“That's enough,” John said, soft but firm, though his helmet was fixed on you. 

You barely noticed. A mental link, between the three of you. You had been… what, manipulating John? This whole time? Your very presence had influenced his choices, made him do things he wouldn't normally do. 

He probably didn't even actually like you. Just the bits of Cortana you were attached to. 

“Get rid of it.” You almost didn't recognize your own voice, hoarse and pained. You could barely even feel your lips moving past the weight of shock and hurt. 

“I already did.” Cortana popped one hip, though she couldn't look right at you. “Before I brought you to John. I think breaking that connection sent you into shock. You'd been unconscious for a while.” She looked down, shoulders curving. “It nearly killed you. I nearly killed you.”

You swallowed back your immediate reaction, which, right now, was to demand she do a better job next time and just kill you outright. You breathed in. “You didn't know,” you said tonelessly. “None of us knew. Excuse me.” You stood and went around the holo table, not getting close enough to touch John despite the fact that you desperately wanted to.

Maybe especially because you desperately wanted to. 

The first door you chose led into the cockpit. You debated leaving, but Fred had already turned his head to check. He looked at you for a moment and then wordlessly pointed to the chair next to him. 

You dropped into the chair gracelessly, leaning back in the chair and staring straight out ahead. 

You hated the silence but you couldn't sit in the other room right now. Not after learning you'd been influencing John. And possibly Cortana too, although you felt almost no guilt about that, since you'd prevented her from mass destruction. 

“Chief doesn't make friends easily,” Fred said out of nowhere, startling you out of your thoughts. You turned your head to look at him, but he was looking straight ahead. “None of us do. For a long time, all we had was each other.” 

You shook your head slowly, the desire to hug them all returning. “You all survived so much,” you murmured. 

“I've never seen him take to someone so fast.” Fred finally did look at you, and probably saw your flinch. That had definitely struck a still very raw nerve. “And I'm glad he did, no matter the reason. You're good for him. For us.”

“How?” You asked, slumped hopelessly in your seat, head turned towards him. “I was… messing with his head.” You lifted one hand to twiddle your fingers at your own head. 

Fred shrugged. “Cortana explained that,” he said. “Didn't seem to me like you did much besides be in the wrong place at the right time.” He paused, and there was a clear smirk in his voice when he spoke again. “Making big eyes at Chief probably helped.” 

You snorted. You couldn't help it. “Big eyes?” 

“Oh, yeah. Big, trusting eyes. Terrified, but trusting. Easy to see you were hurt and scared, but you still trusted him.” Fred shrugged again. “At the time, I figured you just knew our reputation.” 

“I didn't. I honestly don't know if that would have made a difference anyway.” You turned your head front again, brow furrowing as you tried to find the words. “I just… I saw John, and I trusted him. Knew he wasn't going to hurt me. It still only sort of makes sense, but…” You trailed off and shrugged. 

“Do you still trust him?” 

“Yes.” You didn't even think, the answer ingrained in you already.

Fred nodded and looked at you, lifting his hand up to his helmet. His first two fingers made a quick swipe over the helmet where his mouth would be. 

You smiled, the gesture unfamiliar to you, but somehow you knew it was meant to be a smile. To be something good. “Thank you, Fred,” you whispered. 

He nodded, those same two fingers reaching across the open space to touch your forehead. “Shortstack.”

You laughed, tension spilling out of you as you swatted harmlessly at his hand. “And you ruined the mood. Here I was, all set to hug you despite that armor, and then you ruined it.”

“Aw,” he deadpanned, absolutely unimpressed. 

“No, no, mood's gone, no hugs for you.” You grinned at him, still fighting down the last of the giggles. You resettled yourself in your seat, breathing out slowly, looking outside. “Where are we?” 

“Heading towards a colony planet,” Fred answered after a moment. “It's the closest Guardian.” 

You nodded, eyes a little unfocused since the view outside didn't much change. “How long until we get there?” 

“Another few hours.” Fred glanced over at you. “If you want to take a nap.”

You breathed in deep, holding it long enough to feel the ache, before you let it all out in a whoosh. “I don't think so,” you murmured. “Can I just stay in here?” 

“Of course.” Fred settled a little more in his seat, glancing at you before focusing on flying again. 

You didn't mind this so much. You could just hear him breathing, the steady whir of the ship's engines different enough from the Guardian that you didn't feel so alone. 

After a little while, Kelly came in, dropping a bottle of water and a protein bar on your lap. “We've got an hour left,” she said, standing slightly behind you with her arm across Fred's chair. 

“Not bad.” You cracked open the water, sipping from it. Now that you thought about it, you were a little hungry. But the signals seemed a little… muted. Delayed. 

Weird. You'd think about that later. 

“Let me guess. You all go blow stuff up, I stay on the ship.” You didn't mind that plan, actually. Not being in mortal peril for a while sounded good. 

“Sounds right.” Kelly tipped her head at you. “Why? Hoping to do more sight seeing?”

“No thank you. I like not getting shot at.” You grinned at her. “But if you all wanted to make a pit stop on a new planet…” 

Kelly snorted. “We'll see,” was all she said, turning away. “Eat up.” The door slid shut near-silently behind her. 

You tore open the protein bar, chewing it slowly. “Why did you bring me along?” You asked suddenly, frowning. “I mean, I can't help with this stuff.” You waved a vague hand at the ship, meaning to encompass everything. 

Fred was quiet, glancing at you, but he didn't answer. You had just frowned at him, starting to get annoyed, when the door opened. 

“Do you want the easy answer or the hard one?” Cortana asked. 

You shot Fred a betrayed look before you turned to look. John stood in the open doorway, Cortana standing in the palm of his outstretched hand. 

“Both.” You refused to look away this time, feeling steadier already. 

“You were right to be wary of that doctor. He's ONI. They suspect you're not who Chief said you are.” Cortana spoke matter-of-factly. 

You nodded. You'd seen enough of ONI in the files to know that their suspicion was bad. “Definitely a good idea to get away from them,” you agreed. “And the other reason?” 

“We wanted you to come.” John spoke this time, steady as ever. “I wanted you to come.” 

You squashed down the warmth and happiness that simple sentence had inspired. “Are you sure?” You pressed, fingers twining around each other. “With, y'know, the link and all.” You half-shrugged, half-jerked your head, unsure how else to communicate. 

“I'm sure.” John stepped closer, and Fred stood, managing to slip past John and out. The door shut behind him, leaving you with John and Cortana again. 

“How can you be sure?” You pressed, sitting up and watching as he sat in the pilot's seat. 

“I thought about it. The entire time you were unconscious.” 

You went very still at that, staring at him with wide eyes. “You… did?” Even to your own ears, you sounded faint. 

John nodded, sitting up perfectly straight, helmet aimed straight at you. 

“Oh.” You smiled slowly, warmth finally flushing through you. “Well. I mean. In that case. I guess you mean it.” 

“I do.” 

You breathed out slowly, watching him. “Okay. So I'm along for the ride, not going anywhere. I also can't be of much help with the Guardians.” 

“Trust me, these guys have got that down fine,” Cortana piped up. “Besides, I think you could help me.”

“With what?” You didn't even try to keep the confusion out of your voice.

“The lifespan of the AIs.”

“Ah.” You sat back a little, surprised. “You realize I know nothing about that, right?” 

“That might be useful,” Cortana said. “You don't know how things are supposed to work, so your ideas might be more helpful.”

“Whatever you say,” you said, shaking your head. You didn't get it, but you didn't have to. “I can help with that, sure.” 

“Chief has something for you. I made it while we were on the Infinity. Just a little something to help.” Cortana looked expectantly up at John. 

John held out something small in his other hand. You took it, picking it up and turning it over. Actually, it reminded you of an earbud, similar in style and, you'd guess, in function. 

“That's connected to comms,” Cortana told you. “You'll be able to keep track of us. There are two buttons on the side - one is to mute your end, and the other is to switch uses. If, for example, you wanted to connect it to your data pad, you can do that.” 

“Cool. Thanks.” You popped it in, adjusting it until it sat right. Once it was in, you could hardly feel it. “Do I have to turn it on?” 

“No,” Kelly answered, sounding amused. “You're patched in.” 

“Very cool.” You smiled and felt for the two buttons. 

“Top mutes your end,” Cortana told you, watching you until you muted your end. 

“That should be helpful,” you muttered. “So I assume you all are going to go blow up the Guardian as soon as we get there.”

“Affirmative.” John nodded, still watching you. 

“Well.” You managed a little smile. “I'll be here for the fireworks.”

[ditzycafe]

🥐 Softening the edges

Summery ; Estella, a kind-hearted bakery owner in the bustling city of Piltover, is known for her sweet confections and even sweeter demeanor. Sevika, hardened from her life in Zaun, comes into Estella’s life under less-than-ideal circumstances. Over time, they form an unlikely bond that leads to something neither of them expected.

Author note ; I hope you guys like this it took foreverrr but I will be posting more I promise and please send ask 🥹🤍

W/C ; 1.7k

The little bakery on the corner of Piltover’s artisan district was a beacon of warmth and light. Estella, the bakery’s owner, embodied its charm—always bright-eyed, smiling, and wearing flour-dusted aprons. Every day, the aroma of fresh bread, cinnamon buns, and lavender scones floated down the street, luring in even the grumpiest customers. But there was one particular customer Estella had yet to win over: Sevika.

Sevika didn’t frequent sweet shops. Her world was one of underground fights and dirty deals, where niceties were a waste of time. However, she had a habit of stopping by Estella’s bakery—not for pastries, but for strong, bitter coffee. She appreciated that Estella didn’t ask questions or push for small talk. Sevika wasn’t the friendliest person, but she wasn’t about to complain about the only place in Piltover that served a decent cup of black coffee without trying to dress it up.

One cold morning, Sevika swung the door open a little too forcefully, setting the bells above it jingling madly. Estella was kneeling behind the counter, picking up a basket of freshly baked rye loaves. Her eyes popped up at the sound.

“Sevika! Good morning!” Estella’s voice was sunshine. She beamed at the towering, scarred woman in front of her.

“Coffee,” Sevika said flatly.

Estella grinned despite the brusque greeting. “I have some ready. Give me just a second!”

She busied herself behind the counter, pouring the dark brew into a clay mug. Steam curled up, bringing with it the rich, roasted scent that Sevika craved. Estella handed it over with care, their fingers brushing briefly. Sevika jerked her hand back as if burned.

“Careful,” Estella said gently. “It’s hot.”

“Yeah.” Sevika didn’t meet her gaze, eyes fixed on the black surface of her coffee. She turned to leave, but something made her hesitate.

Estella noticed. “You okay?”

Sevika froze. “I’m fine. Don’t ask me that.”

Her tone was harsh, but Estella didn’t flinch. Instead, she softened her expression and leaned on the counter. “Okay. But if you ever want to talk, or… need anything, I’m here. No strings attached.”

Sevika stared at her for a long moment. “I don’t do ‘friendly,’ bakery girl.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Estella replied. “Just offering.”

With a grunt, Sevika pushed open the door and disappeared into the street.

Days passed, and Sevika continued to come for her coffee, though she lingered a little longer each time. Estella started to notice the small things—the way Sevika’s shoulders tensed and relaxed depending on the crowd, the glint of something haunted in her eyes. But she never pried.

One evening, just before closing time, Sevika appeared at the door again. This time, she looked… different. Her arm, the one that had been augmented with shimmer-fueled technology, was sparking. Blood dripped from a cut along her cheekbone.

Estella gasped. “Sevika! What happened?”

“None of your business,” Sevika snapped. She staggered inside, breathing heavily. “Just give me the damn coffee.”

“Coffee’s not what you need right now.” Estella stepped around the counter, grabbing a clean towel. She hesitated only for a second before reaching for Sevika’s face.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping,” Estella said simply. “Sit down before you pass out.”

For once, Sevika didn’t argue. She slumped into a chair, scowling but too tired to protest. Estella pressed the towel to the cut, careful not to irritate it further. Her touch was so gentle, Sevika found herself leaning into it without thinking.

“Does this happen a lot?” Estella asked softly.

Sevika huffed. “Occupational hazard.”

“That’s not really an answer.”

“Stop digging.”

Estella nodded. She didn’t push, instead focusing on cleaning the wound and calming Sevika’s sparking arm. When she was done, Sevika felt lighter than she had in weeks.

“Thanks,” Sevika muttered.

“You’re welcome,” Estella replied, smiling.

The next morning, Sevika returned to the bakery. Estella greeted her with the usual smile, but today there was a small box on the counter.

“What’s that?” Sevika asked, eyeing it suspiciously.

“A gift,” Estella said. “Open it.”

Sevika’s first instinct was to refuse, but something in Estella’s expression stopped her. She popped the box open and found a small, perfectly golden pastry inside.

“It’s a honey bun,” Estella explained. “Thought you might like it.”

“I don’t eat sweets.”

“You don’t have to. But it’s here if you want it.”

Sevika carried the box out without another word. Later that night, when no one was watching, she took a bite. It was soft, warm, and tasted like kindness.

The days turned into weeks, and Sevika found herself visiting more often. Estella learned to read her moods—when to chat and when to let silence fill the space. Slowly but surely, Sevika began to open up. Little by little, the bakery became more than just a stop for coffee. It became a safe place.

One rainy evening, Estella was closing up when Sevika knocked on the door. She was soaked to the bone, and her usual gruff demeanor was gone.

“Hey,” Estella said, unlocking the door. “You’re drenched.”

“Yeah.” Sevika stepped inside, water pooling at her feet. “I… didn’t know where else to go.”

Estella’s heart ached at the vulnerability in those words. “You’re always welcome here.”

She fetched a towel and some tea, guiding Sevika to sit by the small fireplace in the corner. For the first time, Sevika let herself relax completely.

“You’re too good, you know that?” Sevika said quietly.

“I just care,” Estella replied. “About people. About you.”

Sevika looked up, meeting Estella’s gaze fully. “I don’t deserve it.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Something shifted between them then—a fragile, unspoken understanding. Sevika reached for Estella’s hand, and Estella didn’t pull away.

For the first time in a long time, Sevika felt like she belonged.

The days following that rainy evening felt different. Sevika still grumbled and glared at anyone who looked at her the wrong way, but Estella noticed something new—she lingered longer, softened more easily, and even gave small, grateful smiles when no one else was watching.

One afternoon, Estella had just finished arranging a tray of berry tarts when the bell over the bakery door rang. She turned, expecting the usual sight of Sevika in her thick coat. But instead, Sevika was standing there, looking unusually uncertain. In her hands was something wrapped in crumpled brown paper.

“What’s this?” Estella asked, stepping closer.

Sevika cleared her throat, looking everywhere but at Estella. “You’re always giving me stuff. Thought it was… time I returned the favor.”

Estella’s heart skipped a beat as she gently took the package and unwrapped it. Inside was a small, intricately carved wooden flower—a lotus, to be exact. Its petals were smooth and delicate, with a faint shimmer of varnish.

“It’s beautiful,” Estella whispered, tracing the edges.

“Not really,” Sevika said, her voice gruff. “It’s just… something I made when I had downtime.”

“It’s perfect,” Estella insisted. She set the carving on the counter and took Sevika’s hand without thinking. “Thank you.”

For a long, quiet moment, Sevika didn’t pull away.

But life in Piltover and Zaun was never simple, and peace never lasted long.

Late one evening, Sevika arrived at the bakery, breathless and tense. “Estella,” she said urgently. “You need to close up. Now.”

Estella blinked, confused by Sevika’s sharp tone. “Why? What’s going on?”

“There’s trouble,” Sevika growled. “Some old enemies of mine are looking for leverage. If they find out you’re—” She stopped herself, jaw tightening.

“If they find out I’m what?” Estella asked, stepping closer.

Sevika swallowed hard. “Important to me.”

Estella’s eyes softened, but there was no time for tenderness. Outside, the sound of heavy boots echoed down the street.

“Back room,” Sevika ordered. “Now.”

Estella obeyed without question, ducking behind the storage door. Sevika turned to face the entrance just as a group of thugs burst in. They were scarred, dirty, and armed with brass knuckles and jagged blades.

“Well, well,” the leader sneered. “If it isn’t Sevika. Heard you’ve gone soft.”

Sevika cracked her knuckles. “You’re about to find out just how soft I am.”

The fight was brutal but quick. Sevika moved with the precision of someone who had fought a thousand battles. In mere minutes, the thugs were sprawled on the bakery floor, groaning in pain. Sevika wiped blood from the corner of her mouth and turned to the back room.

“It’s over,” she called.

Estella rushed out, her eyes wide with worry. “Sevika—your arm—”

“It’s nothing,” Sevika muttered.

“It’s not nothing.” Estella grabbed a first-aid kit and started tending to the bruises and cuts. Her hands trembled slightly as she worked.

“You shouldn’t have to deal with this,” Sevika said softly.

“I choose to.” Estella met her gaze, her expression fierce and unwavering. “I care about you, Sevika. I’m not going anywhere.”

Something inside Sevika cracked—something she had kept locked away for years. Without thinking, she cupped Estella’s face with her good hand.

“I don’t deserve you,” Sevika whispered.

“Yes, you do,” Estella said firmly. “More than anyone I know.”

And before Sevika could argue, Estella leaned in and kissed her—soft, sweet, and full of everything Sevika had been afraid to hope for.

The next morning, the bakery felt lighter. Estella hummed as she kneaded dough, and Sevika sat at her usual table with a steaming mug of coffee. The sunlight streamed through the windows, warming the space and casting golden light across the floor.

For the first time, Sevika felt at peace.

“You’re happy,” Estella said, noticing the change in Sevika’s expression.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Sevika grumbled, but there was no edge to her voice.

Estella laughed. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

They spent the day together, Estella teaching Sevika how to make pastries despite Sevika’s insistence that “baking is for soft people.” By the end of the lesson, flour coated both of them, and Sevika’s scowl had turned into something dangerously close to a smile.

As the day faded into evening, Estella wrapped her arms around Sevika from behind.

“Stay for dinner?” Estella asked.

Sevika turned, resting her forehead against Estella’s. “I’m not used to this.”

“I know,” Estella said softly. “But we’ll figure it out together.”

Sevika kissed her again, slow and tender. And for the first time in a long, long while, she believed that maybe—just maybe—there was a future worth fighting for.

The end..

[pagelets]

Danger- C.B

Synopsis: Choi Beomgyu is a South Korean spy in a cyberpunk era where South Korea has imposed Prohibition across the entire country. One night out in NeoTokyo, while trying to gather information, Beomgyu meets a girl as mysterious as himself. Falling in love while on duty is a dangerous thing, especially when it’s with someone who has as many secrets as he does. 

Disclaimers: nsfw, contains smut.

Word count: 16k

Notes: I recommend you to read this with Gyu's deep voice in your mind (I swear it hits different). And honestly, I don't think Beomgyu would be able to live without his precious 멕주 (aka beer) for 6 whole years, haha.

위험

NeoTokyo, Japan; spring of 2333:

Beomgyu was standing on the sidewalk across from a milk shop. It was night and he had his hands tucked in his black sweats ‘cause of the cold air of late spring. He stared at the sign of the store, the bright red and white lights formed the name: Ichigo’s Palace, “A milk shop”, he muttered to himself before chuckling, “Subtle”, he looked to both sides of the street, then crossed it to enter the establishment.

 As he pushed the glass door open, his vision was filled with a scene straight out of a 2000s anime. From the strawberry-shaped booths and the checkered red&white tile floor to the oversized milk cartons pinned on the walls— with their kawaii faces grinning at him— made him feel like he was trapped into some kind of bizarre coffee shop video game, “What the hell…”. Approaching the counter, he hesitated before pressing the button on the touchscreen, the monitor flickered to life, revealing a cute virtual attendant, wearing a maid outfit. Her oversized eyes sparkled, and her high pitched voice greeted him cheerfully: “Welcome to Ichigo’s Palace! How can I help you today?”, Beomgyu moisturized his lips before saying the secret code he had memorized, “One strawbeery milk, please”. As the words came out of his mouth, the screen froze, then turned black for a few moments, before showing a message: please proceed to the payphone at the end of the corridor on your right, he obeyed the virtual command, wondering what was a payphone during his ride down the hall. He couldn't avoid glancing around looking for cameras, he found 2 hidden among the milkshakes and desserts advertising on the walls. 

He turned to the right and saw a large, rectangular, metallic thing attached to the wall. It had a moving part—the receiver— that resembled another device he had seen once in an antique store in Busan, “Using old technology to avoid being tracked… clever”, he thought. 

Beomgyu reached out his hand, pulled the receiver off the hook and brought it to his ear, but immediately had to pull away due to a loud buzz coming from the other end of the line, “Shit!”, he cursed while pressing his ear, “Hello? Is there anyone there?”, he heard a voice coming from the speaker, “Yes”, he said placing it back to his ear, “Name and ID number, please” “Chen Beomgyu, 130301040319” “Hold on”, after a few minutes of silence the voice came back, “Please, put the receiver back on the hook and protect your head with your forearms” “What?!”, he asked, confused, but the only response he got was another loud buzz. He pulled the receiver away from his head and stared at it, unsure of what to do. Then, the floor gave away beneath his feet, pulling him down into a dark hole. Beomgyu felt a bang to his head, instantly regretting not obeying the mysterious voice. He couldn’t see anything and had no idea where he was going to, but by the way his body was moving, making sharp curves at a high speed, he assumed he was on a slide heading to the speakeasy bar,  “Aaaaahhh!”, he shouted, his deep voice echoing through the metallic tube, “How did I end up here?”, he asked to himself. 

Choi Beomgyu ended up in a turbulent, dark slide beneath a milk shop in NeoTokyo, with a fake identity and a mission to investigate clandestin bars because he was a spy for the South Korean government. 6 years ago, in 2327, the South Koren president decided to ban alcohol consumption, under the pretext of providing a longer and healthier life for the citizens. But the actual truth was, the president was a clever player, th alcohol producers, including artisans and industrials, had been gaining more and more political influence. Fearing losing his power to them, the president implemented the Prohibition, and it didn’t happen only in Korea, but also in one of its main allies, Japan. Together, they launched an anti-alcohol campaign across all Asia. Industries were closed and liters of alcohol were burned in public places, even so, illegal bars and shops still existed,that’s where Beomgyu’s job came in— locating, investigating and commanding the destruction of those places, as well as arresting those who kept them running, was the role of the army and its advanced reconnaissance squads. 

According to his contacts in Japan, the milk shop was also a front for a clandestin bar, the Japanese spies couldn’t infiltrate ‘cause all their IDs were marked by the criminals. But Beomgyu was Korean, young, had a charming smile and incredible persuasion skills— including his cute pout in extreme cases. That’s why he was there.

He wished he hadn't complained about the slide because when he reached the end, he fell into a ball pit that, instead of colorful balls, had purple and cyan cubes with a jelly consistency to cushion the fall. He was submerged among the cubes, which glowed in a neon glow, “Biotech”, he tought, before moving to the surface and breathing deeply. 

Around the ball pit, was the supposed bar, decorated in neon tones of purple, green, blue, and pink. The walls were made of metal, giving the place an industrial vibe. On the ceiling, there were black and blue light lamps and tubes which a yellow fluorescent liquid flowed through. Electronic music played from the speakers, and he could feel the bass vibration on his chest. People danced nonchalantly on the dancefloor, holding different laboratory glassware containing neon liquids in various colors— it was a true underground rave.“Clandestin, but not amateur”, he thought.

He left the ball pit and moved through the crowd, cautiously scanning the place: there were no cameras, no guards, no doors or even a single window, the place seemed to have been designed to prevent any sort of invasion. For a spy, that place was a trap, in which he was completely locked in. He leaned over the counter, and there was a bartender with a bionic arm on the other side, “How can I help you tonight, sir?” “Beer. Cold”, he said, “Right away”, the man went to the kitchen, leaving Beomgyu alone. He sat on the bar stool, still alert, his fingers drummed against the counter while he tried to architect an escaping plan in the back of his head, but still seemed impossible— he definitely couldn’t crawl the slide up and it had no perspective of getting out of that place. The same man from before came back with his beer, “Your drink, sir” “Thank you”, the drink had a radioactive chic look, glowing fluorescent pink and served in a chemistry glassware, a Beaker. Beomgyu grabbed the container and looked at it with suspicion, “Is this thing radioactive?”, he said loud enough to catch the attention of a woman sitting a few stools away, “Relax, you won’t die. At least not of that”, she said in a playful tone.

He looked toward the sweet voice coming from his right, the woman seemed young, not like a teenager, but like a mature woman in her mid 20s. She had an octopus tattooed on her right hand, and he was almost certain that her arms— exposed by a black tank top— were stronger than his. Besides that, she had dark short hair styled in an undercut, with locks dyed in blue, pink and green that glowed under the black and blue lights. She was a badass, that was for sure, maybe even an outcast. “Are you sure?”, he asked, his face relaxing for the first time since he stepped into that place, “Yes, beer is my go-to in this place”, she said before drinking the glowing blue drink that was in a round bottom flask. 

Beomgyu adjusted himself on the barstool, turning toward her. "So, do you come here often?, she smirked, “You like asking questions, don't you...", she left room for him to say his name, "Beomgyu. Chen Beomgyu" "Beomgyu..." Isn't that a Korean name?" “Damn. She's sharp”, he thought, "My great grandfather was Korean"

"Ah! So you have Korean heritage” "I guess so”, he shrugged. She smiled, then raised her frask, "To the Koreans, who made this place possible”, he raised his Beaker, laughing, “Cheers!" “Cheers!”. He brought the glass to his lips and drank the suspicious drink, the cold beer hit his throat like magic, the bitter taste in contrast with the smooth bubbles of the carbonation, feeling like a dream to him. She watched his Adam's apple move up and down as he swallowed the drink, she couldn't deny that he was attractive. After drinking half the beer, he let out a satisfied sound, something like: "Ah!", which made him even more attractive. "Was it good?", she asked, "It was perfect. I haven’t drunk beer in years” "Well, you’re in the right place now”. He looked at her in a way he shouldn’t have, he should’ve been subtly questioning her to maybe get some useful information about that bar. But no, there he was, looking at her and thinking of compliments, thinking about how he wanted to ask her questions— not to investigate the place— but to get to know her better. "You’re beautiful, you know that?", he let it slip, "Do you think so?" "I do" "Thanks…", she felt her cheeks burn and a shy smile form on her lips so she grabbed her drink and tried to hide her  flusterness behind the glass. Beomgyu followed along, "It even tastes like real beer, doesn’t it?,  she commented, changing the subject, "This isn’t real beer?", she laughed. "Beomgyu, stop asking questions!”, suddenly she stood up, “C’ mon” “Where are we going?” “Dancing, silly”, he didn’t move an inch, “C’mon! I won’t bite you”, she offered her hand, he switched his gaze from her hand to her eyes, which begged him to accept. Hesitantly, Beomgyu grabbed her hand and after emptying the Beaker, stood up and followed her to the dance floor. 

“What are you doing?”, he asked himself while they moved through the crowd, “You're not here to have fun, you're here on duty, to find clues”, he lectured on himself, but his conscious didn't matter at that moment, what mattered was to see her happy and if dancing with him was going to make her happy, he was going to dance with her.

 “So…”, he started— his voice slightly louder to be heard over the music— as they danced to the sound of another electric beat coming from the speakers, “...are you a regular?” “You already asked me that” “And you haven’t answered”, instead of answering, she turned around and glued the back of her body in front of his, he could feel her ass pressing against his crotch. He could already feel the blood flow increasing in the area of his genitals as he moved her hips in swing motions, completely lost in the music— driving him insane. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, when he opened again, he spotted the tattoo he saw earlier, “I like your tattoo”, she turned her neck to look at him, “Which one?” “The octopus”, he showed her the back of his own hand,  “Right! I forget that’s the only tattoo other people can see” “Do you have others?” “Oh, a lot more” “Really?” “Yes”. She turned to face him again, Beomgyu silently thanked for that, then she pulled her tank top up just to show her first left ribs, “TXT”, he read, “Yeah” “What’s that?” “Something really special to me”, she put her top down again. “You don’t really like answering questions, do you?”, he teased her, “And you really like asking them, don’t you?”, she teased back, “Well, I do like actually” “Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”, she said approaching him, “Don’t you think that not answering them it’s even more suspicious?”, she looked into his eyes, “I have nothing to hide, Beomgyu”. Their hearts were beating faster, their breaths getting shallow, maybe because of the drinks or maybe because of the undeniable chemistry they had, “Neither do I”, he was lying, of course, but also was she, they both could tell, but both of them couldn’t care less. 

All that mattered was that they were leaning in, their lips were getting closer and closer, almost blending into a beautiful mistake when they heard the sound of something crashing in the background, Beomgyu turned toward the noise, a shower of glass came flying their way, so he immediately turned back to shield and protect her.

That mess was the result of 2 idiots getting into a fight and spoiling everyone's night. “Shit! Are you ok?”, she cursed underneath the protection of his body, “Yes”, he tried to suppress a moan of pain, “Just some scratches. How about you?” “I’m good”, the two brawlers started to get more aggressive, “Fuck those assholes! Let's get out of here”, she said, “How?” “Just follow me”, she said, grabbing his hand, not really giving him much option, and dragged him with her towards the kitchen. He concluded she was a regular customer, since she knew a way of getting out of that bunker, as they moved through the kitchen, dodging droids and cyborgs, his eyes scanned the cabinets, appliances, and utensils, trying to figure out where the secret exit was. Until she stopped in front of an industrial freezer, "Are you a fan of the cold?" "Not really” "Then you might not like what I'm about to tell you”, she said, opening the freezer door, "Please don’t tell me there’s another slide in there”, she laughed, "No, no. Just a few meters of ice. You go in, walk until you reach the edge, climb down the fire escape, and jump” "Where does that lead?" "An old abandoned subway station" "A ghost station?"

"Yes. From there, we can walk to Ginza” "Alright" "Now go, I’ll be right behind you", Beomgyu nodded in agreement. He took a deep breath before stepping into the freezer, the cold air got into his nostrils, burning them, he could hear the sound of ice cracking around him, "Who thought it was a good idea?", he complained, squinting his eyes as the icy wind blew against his face— he could swear he’d leave that place with frozen eyelashes. But his agony was about to end, after walking a few meters, he reached the edge of a drop, looking down, it seemed more like a sewer than a train station. With his hands trembling from the cold, he grabbed the freezing metal of the fire escape and climbed down, being careful not to slip. With a jump, he landed in the mysterious ghost station, the first thing he did was look  around as always, the armed guards he missed in the bar were down there, illuminated by neon blue lights, “Whoever did all that, it’s a fucking genius”, he thought. Beomgyu tried not to stare too much, but it was almost impossible, the men were tall and strong, like walking walls, and they carried rifles in their hands. There were also machine guns on the ground, probably for defense against attacks.

He nodded casually at one of the guards who was suspiciously staring at him, the man nodded back, gripping his weapon tightly, "Don’t be nervous" he heard her voice coming from above, "Anyone new is suspicious”, she said descending the ladder. Beomgyu quickly moved to hold her by the waist, helping her come down, "Thanks," she said when she reached the ground with him, "Where are you heading?" she asked, "Shibuya" "Great! We can walk to Ginza together". "What’s the story of this place?" he asked as they walked,

"The abandoned station?" "Yeah" "From what I know it was occupied during the rebellions when Prohibition was implemented. After it ended it stayed abandoned until they built the bar here" "You know a lot of things" "Not really", she shrugged, "You know… I never imagined myself doing something like this", he confessed, "Like what?" "Walking on an underground train rail with a stranger, surrounded by armed men after witnessing a bar brawl", she laughed, "What?! How have you never done this before?" "What? Have you?" "Of course! All the time, actually" "Maybe you could teach me how to have fun” "Yeah, I think so. You could use some lessons”, he placed a hand on his chest, pretending he was offended, but before he could say something, she stopped and climbed another fire escape under a manhole cover. She pushed the cover open and looked around before sliding it to the side and stepping out, "Come on!" she said, looking down at him, he climbed the ladder, putting his head out first— it was a dark, empty alley, the only light was an old Japanese sodium vapor lamp, relatively safe. She reached out her hand to help him climb up, he took it, feeling the strength he had already guessed she had, "Wow, you’re strong. Were you ever in the military?" he ventured, she gave him a smile, chuckling softly, "Good guess". She slid the manhole cover back into place, "I think that’s hot", he said, completely unfiltered as she walked toward him, "You think so?" "Yeah”, their bodies were close, hearts already racing, and breaths were slightly heavy once again. His eyes blinked slowly, and he moisturized his lips, a sign of what was about to happen. She was so beautiful, even more so close like that. Beomgyu looked down at her slightly lifted heels, and then he looked up again. Without being able to control himself, he bent down, her face drawing closer to his. His stomach knotted with anticipation, their lips approached more and more , until they finally met in a passionate, desperate kiss. His spy instincts— never let your guard down— completely failing. Beomgyu hadn’t felt the euphoria of drinking in a long time, so he wasn’t sure if it was the beer or the kiss that brought it back. After they pulled away searching for oxygen, completely against their wishes, she avoided his eyes, she was shy, something that Beomgyu never thought it was possible to see, “You didn't say your name”, he asked with a smile printed on his face. She introduced herself, “Nice to meet you” “Nice to meet you too, Beomgyu” “Do you live around Ginza?”, she smiled, “There you go with your questions again” “Answer at least this one”, he pouted, making her roll her eyes, “Fine. I live in Shimokitazawa with some friends” “With friends?” “Yes, 4 friends. Me and 4 guys” “Do you live with 4 guys?”, asked, completely in disbelief,  “Yeah” “You’re courageous” “I know. What about you?” “I live by myself in Shibuya” “You should try living with your friends, it’s so much fun” “I don’t have any friends” “Well, now you have me” “But…”, he approached his lips to her ear, “...what if I don’t want to be friends only?”, she smirked, “So we should meet again” “Yes”, she grabbed her phone from her pocket, “Leave your number” “Okay”, he mumbled shyly, tapping his phone number, “There you go” “Alright. I text you”, he nodded, “Have a good night, Beomgyu. And stop asking questions, you can get in trouble because of that”, she said before winking and walking away to disappear in the night.

 At the end of the day, as Beomgyu floated home, completely lost in ecstasy, he was sure of one thing only— it wasn't about his mission, nor about the girl, but about himself: he was completely screwed.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

In a cozy apartment in Shimokitazawa:

Yeonjun dragged his tired body to the living room. He heard a sound coming from there, and since he lost at rock, paper, scissors, he was the one who had to check what was going on. He held a hair straightener in one hand, hoping it would be enough to beat the supposed thief, but thankfully, it wasn't. It was just one of his roommates, "Bro, what are you doing? It's 3 AM”, he complained to her, who had her head stuck in the fridge, looking for a snack, "I'm hungry” "Where were you?" "At the bar” "How was it?", he said, throwing his tired body on the couch. She grabbed a bowl with green grapes and joined him on the couch, "It was good. I met a cute guy”, Yeonjun smirked, "Really?” "Yes” "And how was it?" "It was good. He's a weird type who asks a lot of questions, but is very charming" "What kind of questions?” "About the bar. I suspect he is Korean" "Why do you think that?" "He said he hasn't drunk beer in six years, and he lives alone in Japan, no friends, no family" "Maybe he left the country to drink something that doesn't taste or look like dirty water”, Yeonjun referred to the beverage the government replaced alcohol with, something very suspicious and disgusting. She laughed, placing the bowl down and grabbing the remote, "I recorded a drama" "Did you? Let’s watch it" "Should we call the other guys?" "I’ll wake them up" “Alright”.

There were five of them in total: Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin, Kang Taehyun, Huening Kai, and her. Together, they were TXT, short for Tomorrow X Together, a gang of exiled South Korean former soldiers. They operated with other gangs in Japan, trying to get rid of every person involved with the South Korean government— it didn’t matter how, they were going to get their revenge. Years of serving their nation only to be discarded like that would not be forgiven.

She opened the texting app and sent a picture of the grape bowl to Beomgyu:

 ‘Have you eaten already?’

Then she locked her phone and closed her eyes, thinking about their kiss.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

Shibuya, NeoTokyo, Japan:

In a dark and wet underground garage, Beomgyu was struggling to take his fake contacts from his left eye, “Why is this thing so annoying?”, he grumbled to Jeongin, aka I.N, his partner for that mission, that guy was good with computers, so while Beomgyu collected information, I.N broke them down. “Did you rather get an implanted camera?” “Not even death”, he heard creepy stories about implantations which went very wrong, “Just a little more and…”, he took the lens out of his red eye, “Ugh! That’s ugly, bro. You should put some saline solution in that eye, man” “Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and watch the tape” “Alright”, Beomgyu went to the bathroom and looked for some gauze and saline solution, his eye hurt really bad every time he used that contact. He heard a buzz coming from his pocket and grabbed his phone to see what it was: a text from her. She was eating grapes and wanted to know if he had eaten already. He smiled, no one cared about if he had eat or not since his mother died when he was just 14 years old:

‘I haven't yet’, he replied back, 

‘Go eat, then’

 ‘I’ll soon’

‘Can't stop thinking about our kiss…’, she confessed. He was about to answer ‘me too’, when he remembered I.N was watching the whole thing he recorded through the hidden camera on the fake contacts, “Shit!”. He placed his phone on the metallic sink and ran to the other room, exactly in the part when they kissed. Of course nothing could be seen since he had his eyes closed but it could be heard, Jeongin turned around and looked at him “Bro…” “Why are you still watching it?”, Beomgyu asked, completely embarrassed, “Her moans are sexy”, the other man felt his blood boiling out of embarrassment,  “Take that off!” “Why? Don’t you think this is sexy?”. Of course he  agreed with Jeongin, but Beomgyu knew what was coming next, his own moans. I.N never reached for a button that fast in his life. He grabbed an empty can of Cherry Coke he had on his desk and threw it on his partner, “Why didn't you say before?!”, Beomgyu dodged the can, “Cause it was embarrassing enough already!”, he shouted, feeling his cheeks burning, “Who's the girl?” “I don't know” “So you kissed a complete stranger?” “I just know her first name. I was investigating her, I think she's a regular to that bar” “That’s an interesting way of investigating someone”, Jeongin teased him before turning back to the computer screen,  “Well, while I’ill try to gather information through facial recognition from the images you got, you keep investigating her”, he said casually while he tapped in his keyboard. 

Beomgyu nodded, investigating her was the natural thing to do, he knew it— his analytical spy brain knew it— even so, he couldn't help but feel flustered with the idea, he liked her for some reason. His confusion was clearly printed on his face, “You shouldn't have kissed her”, Jeongin said without taking his eyes from the screen, “Excuse me?” “You let your guard down, man.You know, this girl can be involved with illegal stuff. She can either be your way to get more information or she can be your downfall” ” “I know, she’s just…”, I took his bangs from his eyes, “... different. I don’t know why or how but she got my instincts to fail” “Just don’t get too attached, bro. If she’s involved in some operation, she’ll kill you the second she finds out who you really are” “I know that. I won’t get too involved”. Jeongin leaned back in his chair, “Good. Now go take some rest while I dig into this”, Beomgyu just nodded, and dragged his body to the apartment above the humid garage after grabbing his phone in the bathroom. 

His mind raced as he thought about her, her confidence, her strength, and the way her lips tasted like sweet watermelon lip gloss and bitter beer. Despite knowing it was dangerous, part of him wanted to see her again, and the other part knew he had to for the good of the mission, so he picked up his phone and replied to her, 

��I can’t stop thinking about it either. Let’s meet again soon, you pick the place ;)’.

After sending the text, he lay on the bed with his back flat to the mattress, staring at the ceiling. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he was certain it was not going to end well, either for her or for him.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

Shinjuku, NeoTokyo, Japan: 

The next time they saw each other was 2 days later, on a date at a ramen restaurant hidden inside the brick walls of an alley in Shinjuku. The neon lights on the ceiling gave off a soft pink glow over the only counter in the place, creating an intimate and cozy atmosphere. Beomgyu was sitting at the counter, nervously drumming his fingers on it while he waited for her to arrive. Would she really show up? Or was this all part of an ambush? He shouldn’t trust her so much. His chaotic and anxious thoughts calmed down when he saw her walking toward him, gracefully, the colorful strands of her hair glowed even more under the pink light — he had never seen a girl as enchanting as her before, and her smile? Ah, when she smiled at him, all his worries melted away— how could he not trust her? She sat next to him with a playful smile on her lips, “You really are into secret places, aren’t you? First a fake milk shop, now a ramen hidden in the thickness of the wall...", he said, "What can I say? I have a thing for places with personality” "That suits you," she smiled shyly, but before she could respond, the chef came over to take their order. Beomgyu watched as she read the menu and decided what to eat, he was so absorbed in watching her that he lost track of reality, "What about you, sir?" the chef asked. He looked at the man, completely disconnected from himself, "Hum... the same as hers”, the chef nodded, then walked away. 

 “So, did I pass the test?”, she tilted her head, confused, “Test?” “You know, the one girls do to figure out if the guy’s cool enough to see them again”, she grinned, “You’re so lame! You’re lucky I’m a sucker for charming smiles and too many questions” “I’m just a curious guy. Don’t you think that’s sexy?”, she hummed, “Sexy? I wouldn’t put it like that. It’s more like… How do you say it? Oh, right! Annoying”, he smirked, “Well, since you already think I’m annoying, I’ll keep going with the questions” "Here we go" she rolled her eyes, but the smile that never left her face when she was with him, showed how much she was enjoying that, “What’s the story behind that octopus tattoo?” “The octopus? It’s a reminder” “Of what?” “Of resilience. It can also mean camouflage, you know, adapting to whatever life throws at you” “So you had a rough past?”, she looked at him before sipping her drink. He took advantage of the silence to tease her even more— a strategy to get the information he wanted, “In the military, maybe?”, she choked on her drink, coughing in response, then looked at him pale as if she had seen a ghost, “Did I get it right?”, he said, smirking. 

She nodded. "Yes, I was..." she drank more sake, why was she even considering telling her past to someone who was almost a stranger? There had to be something connecting her to him because she couldn’t stop her tongue, "... I was dishonorably discharged” "Am I about to eat ramen with a murderer?", he joked, but she didn’t smile, just shook her head, denying, “A traitor, then?” “Deserter” “Oh!” “Yeah… but what about you?”, she quickly changed the subject, “Any tattoos I should know about?” “None. I’m boring like that.”, she laughed, the tension fading away, “Boring? You go to secret bars and drink radioactive chic beer. Not exactly boring in my opinion” “You have a point. But tell me something, do you always go out with guys you met at that bar?” “No, you’re the first. Consider yourself special” “Special?”, he puffed out his chest, feeling his ego inflated, "I like that”. 

Their conversation was interrupted by the chef, "Enjoy your meal," he said, and they thanked him in unison before Beomgyu continued with the conversation, "You said you live in Shimokitazawa, right?", she nodded, "That’s a cool area. What’s it like living with four guys?", he asked between bites, "Chaotic, to say the least”, she shrugged, still chewing, "It’s messy, and also loud. But they’re family, we’ve been through a lot together" "In the military?", she nodded again, "Sounds nice. The family part, not the chaos” "What? Can’t handle a little noise?", she teased. Beomgyu leaned in closer— close enough for his cologne to fill her lungs— and spoke in a low voice, "Depends on the noise". She blushed, placing a hand on her chest and pretending to be innocent, "Are you flirting with me, Chen Beomgyu?!" "Depends. Is it working?”, she stopped chewing, holding her gaze with his , their faces were so close, "Maybe", he gave her a silly grin and leaned back, satisfied, "I can live with that", she smiled shyly, silently begging herself to stop blushing. They continued eating and teasing each other, a playful energy flowing effortlessly between them.

After finishing their meal and chatting, they left the ramen shop, the alleyway was bathed in the glow of neon signs in kanji, reflecting on puddles on the dark pavement. The air was cold, Beomgyu took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders. She looked at him with a grateful smile, pulling the edges closer, "You okay?", he asked, "Yeah, why?" "You didn’t even finish your food" "Oh! I enjoy the experience more than the food itself", she glanced at him, "Anyway, I thought spies were supposed to notice these things”, he was almost certain his face turned pale, yet he smiled softly and tried to keep cool, "So now I’m a spy?", she smirked, "Well, you ask too many questions and you show up in unusual places you don’t even go often. Either you’re a spy or a guy with way too much free time" "Maybe I was just meant to be at that bar that night… to meet you”. She stopped walking and looked into his eyes, "That’s more dangerous than being a spy, you know", her tone was playful, but he could see something dark in her gaze, as if she was trying to warn him about something. He let it slide, he was here to investigate her, not to dive deeper into her world—or at least that’s what he kept trying to convince himself, he couldn’t tell the difference anymore. "Dangerous? I think you’re overestimating yourself" "What do you mean?", she raised an eyebrow, trying to get into the shield he kept between them, "That maybe I like danger", he mumbled, she looked away and kept walking, "You should be careful, Beomgyu”. 

They passed a street artist playing a smooth jazz melody on a saxophone, Beomgyu subtly followed along the rhythm with his head, she glanced at him—he was so cute, yet so enchanting— he shouldn’t be with someone like her, with dirty secrets and full of sins. "Why did you want to see me again?", she asked, he looked at her, surprised by the question, "Do I need a reason?" "People usually seek out others for their own benefit. What do you want from me?", he turned to face her, "Can’t I just want to spend quality time with you?" "I don’t understand how someone like you could simply want to spend time with someone like me" "Someone like me?"  "Yeah. Predictable", he chuckled internally— If there was one thing Beomgyu wasn’t, it was predictable. "Ouch" "Predictable isn’t always bad” "If I’m predictable, then you’re full of surprises" "I know". He took a few steps closer to her tilting his head slightly, carefully choosing his words, "Maybe someone like me just needs someone like you", she kept eye contact, her expression completely unreadable, "Look, if I were a spy, I’d say you’re impossible to crack" "That’s exactly what I’m trying to do" "Have I mentioned I like challenges?" "Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be my downfall?", she said, "Because I feel the same way". “Beomgyu...", their voices were barely audible, "Hum?" "I’m no good" "I’m not looking for any good" "You have no idea what you’re saying, what you’re getting yourself into by wanting to be with me" "Then tell me. Let me in". At this point, Beomgyu wasn’t investigating anymore, he was on a date, his mouth was spilling nothing but raw truths and raw feelings— he meant every single word.

In the heat of the moment, she grabbed his neck and pressed her lips to his in a heated kiss, full of emotions. The sensation of his warm tongue contrasted with the cold night, sending shivers down her body, his hands roamed her curves as if his life depended on it. His training taught him how to identify and avoid getting trapped, but that time? That time he fell into the ambush, completely entrapped, with not even a cyanide pill to escape. When they pulled away, she wiped her lipstick stains from his lips with her thumb while his hands firmly rested on her waist,  "Come on, let’s hit the bar" "Do I have to go down that slide again?" "Yes"  "Damn"  "It’s okay if you want to call it a night" "Are you going to the bar?" "Yes" "Then I’m coming with you”.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

The next morning, Beomgyu woke up naked in an unfamiliar bed. Beside him, her sleeping— also naked— body rested peacefully. The sunlight intensified his throbbing headache so much that he could barely think.  Great—he was naked, hungover, and in a place he didn’t recognize, Jeongin was going to love it. He scanned the room, wondering how he’d ended up there, the place wasn’t exactly neat, and by the amount of women’s clothes scattered all over the floor, he assumed it was her room.

A sudden stab of pain in his head brought back reminisces of the previous night, he remembered his bare body on top of hers, sweat dripping onto her chest, rising and falling with effort due to her heavy breathing as he gave slow, deep, blissful thrusts... All of sudden, he knew why his back burned, a reminder that her nails had left behind. He looked at her, she looked so beautiful sleeping like that, with her bare chest coming up and down at a cool pace, so different from the last night. He snapped out of his thoughts when his eyes caught sight of the tattoo on her ribs—TXT. His fingertips  touched it softly, “What the heck is that?”, he wondered, “Maybe something related to her time in the military or even an old high school band…”.

“Good morning”, her lazy voice broke his inner monologue. He retreated his hand from her ribs and looked at her with his usual enchanting smile, “Good morning. Did I wake you up?” “Nah. It was the light” “Do you also have a headache?”, she nodded while rubbing her eyes, “I can get you Advil if you want to” “Please”, he muttered, “Can I also have water?”, she stepped out of the bed, searching for a shirt, “Sure”, he nodded, “I’ll be back soon. Feel free to take a shower”, she pointed to the bathroom, “Okay, thank you”, she muttered something he didn't understand before leaving the bedroom. He looked around, a note at the bedside table caught his attention, it said: 

“Meet me at The Rooftop Garden tomorrow at 8PM

-Tae”

He hummed, it was a great opportunity to investigate her without being caught up in the moment and waking up next to her in the morning after. He took a mental note of his new appointment before putting the note back in its place. The room had a lot of her personality, it was decorated with old action movie posters, fluorescent string lights, lava lamps, a gaming PC with a colorful keyboard, piles of clothes in some corners, platform boots scattered around— kinda messy with a retro vibe. But nothing seemed suspicious other than that note, either she was innocent, or she was very good at hiding her tracks.

 With his head throbbing, he decided to take a break and take a shower to relax.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

After taking a shower and popping an Advil, he found himself in the kitchen having breakfast, something rare for him. They were laughing together when other 4 tall men came into the room, their sweaty hair sticking to their foreheads, “Must be the roommates”, he guessed. They greeted her, the tallest of them messing with her hair. “Who’s him?”, Yeonjun asked, “This is Chen Beomgyu, I met him at the bar. Beomgyu, these are Choi Soobin, Choi Yeonjun, Kang Taehyun and Huening Kai, my best friends and roommates” “Nice to meet you all”, he said politely. Yeonjun, Kai and Soobin greeted him casually,except from Taehyun, his silence made it clear he didn’t like the new guest. 

“Coming from the gym?”, Beomgyu asked, attempting to small talk, “How did you guess?”, Yeonjun asked, completely astonished, “I’m just good at guessing things” “He really is”, she confirmed, smiling. 

“We also went shopping”, Kai added, “Soob’s making meatballs and pasta for lunch today” “No!”, she whined— Soobin wasn’t the best cook in the house— “Can you at least pretend you like my food in front of the guests?”, Soobin scolded her,  though his tone was playful, “That’’s a no”, he ignored her before turning to Beomgyu, “Are you staying for lunch, Beomgyu?” “Oh, no. I’ll be heading out soon” “I will brush my teeth and take you to the train station”, she suggested, “Alright”, just like that she disappeared down the hall, leaving Beomgyu alone with her friends. 

With his peripheral vision, he could see Taehyun staring at him, which was  more uncomfortable than the headache from before, “So…”, Kai began, sitting next to him, “What do you do for a living Beomgyu?” “I work with cybersecurity” “That's nice”, he nodded, “What about you guys?”, the 4 men exchanged glances, silently communicating between themselves. “We….”, Kai hesitated, his eyes pleading for Yeonjun’s help, “... work from home”, the older one smoothly finished the sentence, “That’s cool. What do you work with?” “We work with gaming development”, Yeonjun continued, “Really?”, Beomgyu knew they were lying, what he was trying to figure out was why, “Yes. Except for Taehyun, he's a bouncer in a nightclub”. Beomgyu’s gaze shifted to Taehyun, his dead cold stare still on him. “I haven’t been to a nightclub in a while. Cause of alcohol, you know” “We only serve diaries”, he nodded in acknowledgment, looking back at Kai,” So, you all run a game development company?” “Yep,” Kai said, he was nervous, a trained spy like Beomgiyu could tell, “It’s called TXT”. Taehyun’s jaw tightened, clearly irritated that Kai was revealing their actual name, “TXT? What does that stand for?” “Tomorrow by Together,” Kai said quickly, “It means we work together for a better tomorrow” “Creative,” Beomgyu said with a small smile, “I know. She picked the name” “Did she?”.  Taehyun had enough, he stood up, walking towards the table to interrupt the conversation, “You really like asking questions, don't you?” “Yes, he really does”, she answered, walking back to the kitchen with something in the palm of her hand, “Look”, she showed it to Beomgyu, “I found this on my bedside table”, he looked at her hands— she was holding his fake contact. “Shit! I completely forgot about them” “I just could find one, tho” “I only took one off”, he replied casually, grabbing it, “Why?”, Taehyun asked, even more suspicious, “So Jeongin wouldn’t watch us later”, he thought. Instead, he answered, “My left eye was irritated” “Really? You eye looks fine to me”, Taehyun said, narrowing his eyes, “Okay, Tae, enough”, she interjected, grabbing her keys, “Let’s get going, Gyu, you’re infecting him, he never asks this many questions”. Beomgyu chuckled, standing up to shake hands with the men in front of him, Taehyun’s grip felt like the bones of his hand were being crushed, “Watch out, Chen Beomgyu. With the bar, I mean, alcohol’s no good for that hurt eye of yours. Stop by the club sometime, for having some real milk”, Taehyun said as low as a mutter, “I’ll think about it,” Beomgyu replied, avoiding Taehyun’s eyes. 

As they walked out, Taehyun watched their figures getting smaller and smaller. “Something’s off about that guy,” he thought, hoping he was wrong.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

The Rooftop Garden:

Beomgyu adjusted the collar of his leather jacket as the transparent elevator hummed softly,  its walls giving him a full view of the neon city under his feet. The sea of holograms and skyscrapers taking his breath away. The Rooftop was a floating rooftop garden, some kind of tropical paradise for the elite and outlaws, suspended high above the chaos of the city. He only had heard whispers about that place, he even doubted it actually existed.

Suddenly the elevator slowed down and the doors slid open soundlessly, revealing the garden. The platform floated in the air, held up by some type of magnetism, it was breathtaking, almost from another world.

A tropical greenery filled with monstera, palm leaves, and heliconia plants dominated the scene. A cascade of ferns, illuminated by bioluminescent mushrooms, gave the environment a soft, ethereal glow. Cherry blossoms moved gently  in the cool breeze, their petals falling slowly like snow. The air was surprisingly fresh for a late spring night, highlighting the contrast between the metallic atmosphere of the city with the sweet aroma of the herb being smoked there.

Holographic koi fish swam through what appeared to be pools embedded in the transparent floor of the garden. At the center stood a crystalline booth selling smoothies and açai bowls.

The place was full, yet calm. He activated his trained hearing, trying to listen beyond the gentle hum of dispersed conversations, searching for her familiar voice. At the edge of the garden, behind a curtain of cascading ferns, he saw her.

She was sitting on a bench, leaning back with her legs crossed, Taehyun was sitting next to her, his posture relaxed but still alert, his expression was unreadable as usual. A trail of smoke curled up in the air from the herb they were sharing, the emerald green glow matching the colors of the neon lights reflected on the vegetation.

 Beomgyu blended in the shadows, carefully moving closer, his hearing never leaving their conversation, “Our next target is big. If we make it, we’ll be untouchable”, the girl said, her voice calm but with a hint of anxiety in it, “But it's very dangerous, we must move fast”, she completed. Taehyun exhaled a cloud of smoke, he glanced over the curtain of fern, exactly where Beomgyu was hidden behind like he could feel his presence. Beomgyu froze, his breath getting heavy. Did Taehyun see him? She continued, lost in her own mind, “Do you and Yeonjun already prepared everything for tomorrow?” Taehyun finally looked away, then nodded, “Yes. Our package was delivered today. Our allies will implant it in the basement of the brothel tonight” “Good. How is that place called again? The holographic geisha? Something like that?” “The wired geisha” “Wired!”, she acknowledged, exhaling a cloud of the green smoke. Taehyun chuckled sarcastically, the man was resentful, “That's what the diplomats of our country do, they go on supposed businesses trips to eat the finest ramen, sleep in th best beds and fuck chromehead geishas while honest and innocent people are expatriate”, Taehyun said with a hint of disappointed in his voice, “Korea isn't my country. Not anymore” “I know, sorry”, Beomgyu's stomach twisted, so was she also Korean? He asked himself, his instincts telling him to walk away when it was still time, but his emotions didn't let him move. How could she make his earthquake like that? 

His instincts kicked in even more when he saw them standing up and preparing to leave. Taehyun crushed the glowing herb with his black military boots, Beomgyu caught the metallic glint of an object attached to his belt. A weapon? Whatever it was, he carried it with the confidence of someone who knew how to use it. They began walking out of the green curtain toward the elevator, and Beomgyu knew he needed to move fast before someone caught him hiding he knew staying there could be a fatal mistake. Pretending to adjust the sleeve of his jacket, he silently slipped into the light, maintaining distance from the duo, his mind already thinking of a convincing excuse in case he was noticed. 

She was talking about what Soobin was going to make for dinner, mindlessly, when Taehyun noticed a shadow approaching them from behind, “Wait,” he said sharply, his voice cutting through the air like a blade. Beomgyu rushed to behind a bush when he heard Taehyun. The TXT member stopped abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the area. Beomgyu had to act quickly, running would be too suspicious, so he decided to step out from the bushes with a relaxed expression on his face as if he was simply admiring the garden. Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar frame emerging from the greenery, “Beomgyu?”, she called without thinking much, he looked at them as if he was surprised, “Oh, you guys are here too,” he said with a casual tone in his voice and a smile. He switched his gaze toward the mushrooms, as if the view was more interesting than they were. Taehyun didn’t seem to be convinced, he stepped forward, eyes locked on Beomgyu’s trying to see into his soul. She tilted her head slightly, also studying Beomgyu, she was no fool, “Do you like places like this?” she asked, her tone casual yet curious. Beomgyu shrugged, “I heard about the place. Seems like a good place to relax, right? I was needing to relax”, he looked directly at Taehyun, making sure he noted his indifference, “Are you alone?” Taehyun asked, his jaw completely tense, “Yes. I don’t have family or friends in the country” “She mentioned” “Didn’t expect to run into familiar faces here” “What are the odds, huh?”, Tae murmured, not even bothering to hide his suspiciousness, Beomgyu chuckled softly, gesturing toward the bar. “Actually, I was thinking of grabbing an açai bowl. Is a tropical fruit, I heard is pretty good”. She exchanged a quick glance with Taehyun before responding, “Well, we’re leaving already. Why don’t you join us on our way to the elevator?”. Beomgyu bit his tongue, trying to suppress the discomfort that her invitation made him feel, he knew refusing would be worse, so he smiled and nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

As they walked together, Beomgyu kept commenting about the garden’s design and the city view, trying not to show his anxiety, even though if one of them grabbed his hands, he’d be in trouble as sweaty as they were. It was clear they were already suspicious, but he worked to maintain the image of a curious visitor lost in the charm of the extravagant place. Inside the elevator, he had nothing to say anymore so the silence grew heavier, Taehyun remained alert, his gaze burned Beomgyu’s back the whole ride till they landed in his keychain hooked on his belt, a familiar symbol to Taehyun, the insignia of one of the South Korean army’s squad, he knew something was off. “So, what did you think of the garden?” she asked, finally breaking the silence. Beomgyu kept smiling, “So beautiful. A little bit of peace in the middle of all the chaos down there. Sometimes it’s nice to escape for a while, don’t you think?”, she nodded, “You guys didn’t seem too impressed with the garden” “We’re used to coming here” “Oh! I see”. When the elevator reached the ground floor, Beomgyu casually said goodbye before walking away without daring looking back, he knew they would be watching him. He did his best to maintain his relaxed posture until he blended into the crowd of the city. 

Once he was far enough, he stopped in an empty alley, leaned back against the cold brick wall and placed his hands on his knees. Finally he could exhale, his heart still beating hard in his chest, damn shadow, he would need to be more careful next time. The adrenaline rushed in his blood, they were going to attack Korean diplomats? They were Korean? Was she indeed involved with crime? He had so many questions, how was he supposed to find the answers? How was he going to make them say anything now that Taehyun was even more suspicious? How was he going to… but then, a glimpse of her tattoo flashed into his head, “What’s TXT?” “A very important thing to me”, “TXT?” “Yes, is our company’s name”, those moments flashbacked on his mind, and then, he knew. TXT was the answer to everything he was looking for. He pulled the hoodie he was wearing under his jacket to his head and ran back to Shibuya, if someone could help him in that city, that person was Jeongin.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

“I.N”, Beomgyu called out his partner, breathless from running, “You’re back already?”, he spun his chair to face Beomgyu, “Did you find anything about the girl?” “Still nothing. There’s no facial recognition record of her in the Japanese archives, so I’m searching through other countries databases. It’s going to take a while since I need special permission for that”, Beomgyu sat on a chair and started untying his shoes, “Can you figure out what TXT is?” “T what?” “TXT. Tomorrow X Together, with an X.”

“I can take a look”, Jeongin turned to the computer and started typing on the keyboard, searching on the national archive, “Apparently… it’s a gang” “A gang?!” “Yes, it’s in the Japanese police’s wanted criminals registry” “I knew it had to be something like that”, Beomgyu muttered to himself, “What do you mean?” “I heard their conversation. They’re planning to attack a brothel full of Korean diplomats tomorrow” “You said ‘they’, was she with someone else?” “Yes, a friend” “Do you know have his full name?” “Kang Taehyun”, Jeongin typed the name in the search bar, “Also nothing”. Bemgyu remembered of Taehyun’s words— our country— “Try in the Korean archives” “Korean?” “Yes, go ahead search there”. I.N obeyed, his fingers moving across the keyboard, Beomgyu watched the screen carefully, as Jeongin selected the eligible citizens. “That one!”, he shouted when his partner clicked on the name with the photo that matched the man they were looking for. “Ex-military, dishonorably discharged for deserting his position as a protest against the Prohibition”. 

Beomgyu let out a disbelieving chuckled, “I can’t believe it,” Beomgyu muttered, his voice was shaky. He buried his face on his hands, his breath becoming shallow, his heart pounding like a clockwork. Jeongin looked at him, confused at his partner’s sudden breakdown, “Damn it! She told me the same story”, he shouted. Beomgyu couldn’t, or rather, he didn’t want to, believe it, she was a criminal, a traitor to her nation, and worse, she probably was involved in the illegal bar scheme. And he was falling in love with her.

Jeongin pulled him out of his turbulent cloud of thoughts by tossing him a device, “What’s this for?” “To report the attack. So they’ll be busted” “No! Taehyun already suspects of me. He’ll know who did that” “So what?” “I need more time to investigate them. I’m almost certain they’re involved with the illegal bar. They have the answers, but if they get arrested, it’s over. Our mission is over” “I’m going to pretend you’re not doing this just because of her” “Jeongin” “Am I wrong?” “I’ll stop the attack, but don’t say anything to anyone, okay?”. Jeongin sighed, shaking his head, the things he would do for Beomgyu, “Look, I’ll keep my mouth shut, but if any of the diplomats die or get hurt, I’ll report them with no hesitation. And also you” “Fair enough”, I.N nodded, “And Beomgyu…” “Hum?”

“Try not to die, you idiot” “I’ll do my best, bro”.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

The night of the attack:

Beomgyu had spent the last four hours on top of a building across the street from the brothel, he had never seen a place like that before, its architecture was old, probably was an actual chaya in the past, but the neon sign of a naked chromed geisha—with one bionic eye and arm—revealed the exotic essence of the place. During the time he spent on the rooftop, he meticulously studied the building's layout, observed everyone who entered and left— including three members of TXT: Yeonjun, Taehyun, and Soobin—and went over his plan with Jeongin. “Let’s go over it one more time”, I.N said through Beomgyu’s earpiece,  

“Dude, we’ve already reviewed it like 30 times”  “Then let’s do it again. Come on, what’s the first step?”. Beomgyu took a deep breath, trying to be reasonable, he knew his partner was just as nervous as he was, I go to the air duct that leads to the basement” “And then?”  

“I crawl until I reach it. If someone’s there I wait for them to leave, then I go in. Once inside, I find the package they talked about in the garden and get rid of it”  “And the grand finale?”  

“I get out before anyone sees me” “Good. It’s simple, right?”, Beomgyu let out a sarcastic laugh, the IT guys would never understand how nothing was simple in the field, but he wasn’t going to tell Jeongin that, “Yes, quite simple” “Do you have your tools?” “Yes, everything’s here”  

“And the camouflage?”. He placed his fingers in a pinching motion on the bridge of his nose, it was the fifth time they’d gone through everything, “Yes, Jeonginnie, it’s all he…”, Beomgyu stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw her entering the brothel, arm in arm with a middle-aged man who wore a black suit— she was disguised as a geisha, obviously a human one. She was there, which shut down any doubts he had about her being a criminal. Beside her was Kai, dressed as security. If everyone was there their plan was about to start, which meant his plan was too.  “They’re here,” Beomgyu updated I.N, “It’s showtime”, he pulled up the bandana around his neck to cover half of his face, wore the hood of his hoodie and slid down the metal pipe of the building he was on. Once on the ground, he ran to the side of the brothel and removed the metal screen from the air duct,  “I’m entering the duct, Jeongin” “Copy that”, Beomgyu muted the earpiece and crawled into the ventilation shaft. Of course it was dark, so he turned on the flashlight attached to the camera in his contact lens to see the long metal path ahead of him, “Okay,  give me the directions” “Go straight until you hit a junction, then turn left and go all the way to the end”  “Got it”. 

He crawled along the path his partner indicated until he spotted a pink light coming from the metal grid. He arrived. Carefully, he glanced through the gaps of the grid– Yeonjun stood at the door guarding the entrance with a walkie-talkie in hand, while Soobin and Taehyun stood in the center of the room, apparently waiting for a signal. Beomgyu’s suspicions were confirmed when a male voice echoed through the radio, causing Yeonjun to nod at the other 2 men. In one swift motion, Soobin lifted Taehyun, who pressed a button on the ceiling, Beomgyu quickly kept down to avoid Taehyun’s sharp gaze. “Done. Activated”, one of them said, “Activated? Activated what?”, Jeongin asked through the earpiece. When he looked up again, the 3 men had already left, Beomgyu scanned the room until his eyes landed on the ceiling. His stomach sank— a bomb.  “Shit,” he muttered, punching the grid until it came loose so he could jump into the room, “Jeongin” “What’s going on?”  “A bomb. They planted a bomb on the ceiling” “What?!”. Remembering of the layout he had memorized earlier, Beomgyu realized that the room above the basement was a private room, “I think they’re planning to blow everyone up” “Fuck, fuck, fuck! How much time do we have?”, Beomgyu looked at the timer on the bomb, “Less than ten minutes” “Disarm it now, damn it!” “Yeah”. Scanning the room, Beomgyu looked for something to climb on, he spotted a wooden bar stool so he dragged it over, and climbed on top to be face to face with the bomb. 

9:38, the timer said,  “What kind of bomb is it?” I.N asked, “TNT” “Classic. Cut the red wire” “I know”, Beomgyu said back, struggling to balance on the stool while reaching for the pliers in his bag, his hands were sweating, and his heart was racing faster than an olympic sprinter. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the tool as firmly as he could and carefully pulled the only visible red wire,  “I found it, J” “Great. Cut it and get out of that place”. Beomgyu didn’t need to be told twice, he pressed the pliers onto the wire expecting the timer to stop. But it didn’t. His face turned pale, he couldn’t believe it. He cut the wire again at a different point, but nothing happened. The timer kept ticking: 7:40... 41... 42... 43... 44, the bomb had been modified— as if they anticipated someone would try to sabotage their plan. “J,” he called, “Did it work?” “No” “What?!” “The timer’s still running” “Did you try cutting the wire again?” “Yes” “And nothing?” “Nothing” “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Try cutting another wire, then” “Which one?” “I don’t know, try the green”. Beomgyu’s stomach twisted, there were at least six tangled wires, some even the same color. The timer showed 5:57.His trembling hands reached for the green wire, praying it wasn’t a trap, he cut it. Nothing happened. “Still nothing”. 5:32. “Try a black one”, he grabbed the black wire, he closed his eyes and thought about her—dressed in that traditional geisha outfit—if the bomb exploded, would she have escaped already? He opened his eyes, the timer was under four minutes now, he didn’t know what, but something inside of him told him to not cut the black wire and for some reason he decided to not do it. Inspecting the bomb again, he spotted a purple wire— purple reminded him of the bar, reminded him of the first time he saw her, when they danced together and their lips almost touched— purple was an unusual color for a wire, maybe it was a way to trick anyone who might find the wire too suspicious to be cut. 3:02, the timer said.“I.N” “Hum?’” “I’ll cut the purple one” “Are you sure?” “No. But that’s all I got for now”. With his sweaty hands, Beomgyu grabbed the wire and cut it. Suddenly, everything around him froze, the wind stopped, the sound of music in the background faded, all he could hear was his heart pounding. He looked at the timer: 3:02. He had done it. He had disarmed the bomb, “Jeongin!”  “What?” “I did, It was the purple wire” “Hell yeah, bro! Good job!”, they celebrated briefly, before focusing back on finishing the mission, “Alright, get out now” “Got it”. Beomgyu climbed down from the stool, his legs were shaking, but he had succeeded. He walked to the door— locked. “Damn it,” he muttered, before coming back to the ventilation duct. He climbed onto the stool again and crawled out of the basement. Once he reached the street again, he stopped, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to calm down. That’s when he heard voices approaching, it was Taehyun’s voice speaking with the walkie-talkie, “You two, get out now!”, he was referring to Kai and her. But Beomgyu didn’t need to worry anymore, the place wasn’t going to explode.

He saw Yeonjun, Soobin, and Taehyun at the brothel’s entrance, so he ran in the opposite direction. The older men seemed too concerned with their members still inside to notice him, but Taehyun— who was always sharp— caught sight of a shadow moving. Taehyun took a few steps toward the figure to investigate, but all he saw was a black silhouette disappearing down the street. His brows furrowed,  “What the hell is that?”, he muttered before turning back to join his members, now all of them, on the brothel’s door.

But then, his eyes moved to the alley beside the building, the air duct grid was thrown on the ground, he knew that the duct led to the basement, “Shit!” he shouted, drawing the group’s attention. “What is it, Tae? We need to go” she said, following him to the alley. “There’s not going to be an explosion”, he replied, turning to face them, who seemed confused, “Someone sabotaged us” “What?!”, they said in unison, “Someone entered the basement through the air duct” “But who?”, Kai asked, “Let’s get out of here before someone sees us”, Soobin, their leader, said, “But what about the diplomats?” she protested, “He’s right,” Taehyun agreed, “We can deal with them later. For now, let’s go”. She looked at him,  her eyes burning in fury, “We’ll make whoever did this pay, okay?”, Taehyun assured her, “Okay”, she said, finally bending.

The group walked toward their getaway car, Taehyun glanced one last time at the air duct, that’s when something shiny near the entrance of the duct caught his attention, he kneeled down and picked it up— it was the keychain he saw on Beomgyu’s belt 2 nights ago in the elevator of The Rooftop. He gripped on the object tightly before walking to the street and stared in the direction the figure ran away—“You’re so done, you son of a bitch”,  he swore to the night before joining the others in the car. Beomgyu didn’t know it yet but things were about to get ugly.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

Back in his temporary apartment in Shibuya, Beomgyu rested on his bed, the adrenaline still rushing in his bloodstream, his mind was a turmoil of thoughts, but he wasn’t thinking about the bomb or the fact that he could have died—that had happened a few times before and it was almost a habit for him. In fact, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, she wasn’t the woman he thought she was. The woman who smiled at him so beautifully was the same woman who had almost blown up those people just to have her revenge? The people she considered her family, they were also all a bunch of criminals. It was all a big lie. He chuckled sarcastically, maybe they really were made for each other—he was just as much of a liar as she was. He pressed his pillow against his face and screamed. But his breakdown was suddenly interrupted by his ringing phone. It was her. "Like she read my mind," he thought before picking up,"Hey!", he tried to sound casual and hide the knot in his throat.

"Beomgyu… are you busy?", her voice lacked its usual energy, "No, I’m not" he replied, concerned, did she already figured out it was him? No, that was impossible, he didn’t leave any traces behind. 

He leaned back against the headboard, feeling anxious, "Are you okay?", she let out a heavy sigh, "Not really. Today things were messy… at work", he gulped, the disappointment in her voice cut him even deeper cause he knew he was the one who did it to her, "What happened?" "Everything went wrong, and I just… I know it’s kinda stupid, but… I don’t know, I just needed to hear a comforting voice”, the line went silent for a moment, the guilt was consuming him, "The comforting voice I mentioned was yours, you know…" "Yeah, I know… I…", he couldn’t believe she had called him seeking comfort. He hated himself so much in that moment that his chest physically ached, "I don’t think that’s stupid, I think it’s human", she smiled on the other side of the line, "What can I do to help you?" "Just distract me. I don’t want to think about work" "How about I take you out the day after tomorrow?", he offered, caught in the moment once again,"We can do something fun, just the two of us" "What do you have in mind?" "Do you know The Scuba Diver?" “Yeah” "What do you think?"

"Sounds perfect to me", her voice brightened again, and he could swear he could hear her smile through the phone. "Great! I’ll pick you up in the afternoon, then" "It’s a date" "It’s a date," he murmured back, "Okay, I’ll try to get some sleep now" "Alright. Good night"

"Good night, Gyu. And… thank you” "It was nothing". 

His head spun as she hung up, what the hell was he supposed to do? Should he stay loyal to his mission or to his feelings for her? He fell asleep hours later with those thoughts haunting his mind.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

She spent the next day shopping. She decided to buy a sexy black dress for her date with Beomgyu, she didn't mind wearing her black clothes and military platform boots everyday, but when it came to him, something different lightened up inside her, something that awakened not just her sensuality but also her delicacy. The dress was a basic sleeveless black, but it fitted her so well it was almost breathtaking. She liked it and she knew he would like it too. After returning home, eating her favorite ramen, and taking a shower, she needed to dry her hair. However, she lent her hairdryer to Taehyun, so she wrapped a towel around her dripping hair and went to her friend’s room. Just as she lifted her hand to knock, she heard the sound of the lock clicking, and the door opened. The person who stepped out was none other than Lee Heeseung, a hacker from Enhypen, a gang allied with TXT in Japan.

"Heeseung?!", she exclaimed, he looked at her and smiled, "Hey! You smell great", Heeseung was the personification of rizz, "I just took a shower... What a surprise, what are you doing here?" "Taehyun asked me to come" "But he’s leaving already", Taehyun interjected, stepping into the hallway, "I am," Heeseung confirmed, "Thanks for coming," Taehyun said, "It was nothing. Good night, guys, see you around", Heeseung said before bowing and disappearing down the hall.

She looked at Taehyun, he was shirtless, alone in a locked room with Heeseung in the middle of the night, "You and Lee Heeseung, huh?", she teased, "What?! It’s not like that"

"Then what was he doing here?" "He was in town, and I asked him to help me with something" "I’m not sure I want to know the rest" "Stop thinking nonsense and come in. I need to talk to you", she obeyed, he was too serious for her to keep teasing him, "What is going on Tae? You don’t look okay", he ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath before he started speaking, "Heeseung was here because I asked for his help to investigate Beomgyu" "What?! Why?" "I haven't liked that guy since the first time I saw him" "I know he’s… different. But that’s just how he is. He’s a good guy" "That’s what you think", she crossed her arms, "What do you mean?" "He’s lying to you. His name is Choi Beomgyu, and he’s Korean", her lips parted slightly, "Well... I lied about my name and nationality to him too. He must have his reasons" "He does. The guy is military" "M-military?", her voice trembled, "Yes" "Are you making this up just because you don’t like him, Tae?", she really didn’t want to believe him. Instead of arguing, Taehyun just grabbed the tablet that Heeseung had left behind and handed it to her, "See it for yourself if you think I’m making it up”, she looked down at the device in her trembling hands, there were documents confirming everything Taehyun had just said, along with photos of Beomgyu. In some of those, he was in uniform with his squad, in others, he was leaving government buildings. There was even one of him receiving honors. The tablet slipped through her fingers, landing on the fluffy carpet of her friend’s room. "I tried investigating him with Kai’s help, but there was nothing in the Japanese records except the lies he’s been telling you", Taehyun said, pulling out the keychain he had found the night before and showing it to her, "This was on his belt that night on the rooftop garden". She looked at it, it was a keychain only South Korean militaries carried,"Recognize it?", she nodded, "That’s from the army…" "Yes. That’s why I called Heeseung, because I didn’t know what this insignia meant, so I asked him to hack some Korean databases". He bent down and picked up the tablet from the floor, slid the screen, and showed her, "Advanced Reconnaissance Squad", her eyes switched from the screen to the keychain and back again, it was the same insignia. She could barely breathe, "Are you telling me… that he…", she tried to breathe, but the air didn't come, "…he’s… he’s…" "A spy? Yes”, her eyes filled with tears, but she fought to hold them back, the pain was excruciating, "He… he was using me to investigate the bar and the gang, wasn’t he?", Taehyun nodded, "I think so" "That’s not possible…", she murmured, "And there’s more", she looked at him, her eyes begging him to stop, but she needed to know, he couldn’t let her keep being fooled, "I found this keychain last night near the entrance to the ventilation duct", she already knew what her friend’s next words would be,"I believe he sabotaged our plan", but hearing it out loud was an even more painful. Her knees gave in, and she collapsed on the carpet, the towel falling from her head to the floor. Taehyun kneeled down, "It was all a lie…", her chest hurt as if her heart had literally been broken. He had taken advantage of her, and she had fallen in love with his lies, with the person he made her believe he was, “I’m sorry," Taehyun said, pulling her close and letting her tears soak his bare shoulder as he gently stroked her hair, "Let it all out”. 

When she finally calmed down, she pulled away from Taehyun, "I’m sorry, but you needed to know”, she looked at him, fury burning in her eyes, "You should feel sorry for him, not for me", her voice was flat, as if the warmth of it had faded away, "What do you mean?"

"That guy is done. We’re going to eliminate him", and by eliminating, she meant killing him, "Are you sure you want to do this?" "I’m sure. I’ll do it myself. Tomorrow” "If that’s what you want, you’ll have our support”, she smiled bitterly, "Thanks, Tae" "What are you planning?"

"The Scuba Diver" "Good. The chances of escaping are almost zero" "Exactly"

"Will you need our help?" "No. I created this mess, I’ll deal with it", Taehyun nodded. 

The Scuba Diver was an underwater motel, isolated and nearly impossible to escape from without drowning first. Beomgyu had chosen that place himself, unaware he was digging his own grave.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

The Scuba Diver motel was just as surreal as its name suggested. Located beneath the surface of an artificial indigo blue lake, the only way to reach it was through a pod elevator that descended underwater. The walls of the pod were transparent, showing a dizzying view of the vibrant corals and schools of exotic fish swimming outside. The pod stopped at the bottom of the lake, Beomgyu had never been there before, but he had heard it was the perfect shelter for forbidden lovers. He followed her down the hallway, his nerves on edge, he kept telling himself to stay calm, to put aside his inner battle for just a moment. She needed him, and he couldn’t let her down— again. She opened the door to their room, The soft buzz of the room decompressing echoed through the hall. The room was small but luxurious with a bed surrounded by soft red lighting and a panoramic view of the underwater world. “Wow,” he said, surprised,“Pretty cool, huh?”, she replied, glancing back at him over her shoulder, “It’s impressive,” he admitted. She stepped closer to him, her fingertips brushing against his chest, allowing himself to relax a little, he placed his hands on her waist leaning in to brush his lips against her neck, “You look stunning today,” he whispered. His warm breath against her sensitive skin sent a shiver through her body— how was she supposed to go on with her plan when he was so irresistible? His soft lips finally pressed against her neck, leaving slow, wet kisses, she let out a small moan, unable to control herself, her fingers tangling in his hair. “C’mon,” she murmured, slipping from his arms before she lost control of the moment entirely.

Beomgyu swallowed hard, his heart pounding—as it always did when he was with her— and he followed her to the bed. She grabbed his hands, pulled him closer, and turned his body, making him sit on the edge of the king sized bed, “It’s so sweet of you...” she began, standing between his legs and letting her hands ran over his shoulders and down his chest, “...to take the day off to spend time with me”, her touch sent a wave of heat through his entire being, “I-it seemed like you needed it,” he tripped over his words. She leaned down, bringing her lips close to his, “As a thank you,” she whispered, “I want to take care of you, too”, he swallowed hard, feeling her cold hands slip under his shirt, contrasting with his warm skin, driving him crazy, “T-take care of me?” he asked, “Yes,” she replied in a low, sensual voice, “I have plans for you, loverboy”. His hands slid to her hips, pulling her closer and closing the gap between them. That kiss felt different, it was deeper, heavier, with emotions that were almost suffocating and he responded with the same intensity, pouring out all his confusion into it. Her hands traveled up his bare chest, making him let out soft moans into her mouth, his shirt was pulled up, and their mouths parted so she could take it off his body. 

She took a step back, slowly and provocatively slipping the straps of her dress off, one by one as he watched her, lust overflowing from his eyes. "You’re beautiful”, he said as her dress slid down her curves, revealing her body covered in tattoos in a black laced lingerie paired with black silk knee socks."Liar", she thought, but she just smirked at him and climbed onto his lap for another round of kisses. He pressed her hips against his erection, and she threw her head back, moaning in response, she hated that he had that effect on her, but he did. Her body betrayed her mind, showing him how much she wanted him, how much she needed him. Without wasting more time, she brought her hands to his belt, unbuckling it and opening his pants—a signal for him to take them off. He obeyed immediately, lifting his hips to slide his black jeans and boxers down. She glanced down at his almost fully hard member pressing against his belly button, she grabbed it with one hand, tracing circles around the tip with her thumb. He lay back on the bed, breathing heavily, “I-I don’t think I’ll be able to last much if we keep playing around like this”, he fumbled over his words again. She smirked, slowing the pace of her movements, “Are you that desperate for me?”, she teased, receiving a nod in response— he was too overwhelmed by pleasure to speak. She chuckled, releasing his dick and leaning over him to kiss and suck on his neck, his hands moved to her hips, one sliding down to her core, still covered by her panties, then he pressed his thumb against her entrance, making her shiver, “You’re so wet already” “Just for you, baby,” she replied— and unfortunately, it wasn’t a lie. No one had made her feel like that in years.

He pulled his thumb away from her core and moved his hands to the waistband of her panties, removing them in one smooth motion. Then, his fingers worked smoothly on the clasp of her bra, easily freeing her soft, round breasts. He switched their positions to hover over her body and pushed down to take one of her breasts into his mouth, sucking it fiercely, almost too roughly for something as delicate as her breast, but he didn’t care— she squirmed beneath him, and if she was enjoying it, nothing else mattered. Her hips lifted involuntarily in response, and he knew what she wanted, so he let go of her breast and kissed her mouth before aligning himself with her entrance to slowly, almost torturously, push his member inside her, little by little, giving her time to adjust to him.

She let out a deep sigh as she felt him filling her, and as he started moving, slowly and teasingly, tears escaped her eyes. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be, he wasn’t supposed to have that much power over her— but what harm could one last time do before she left him forever? “Beomgyu…”, she moaned, “Are you okay? You’re crying”, he dried a few tears with his thumb, “It’s… it’s just because it feels so good” “Alright”, he leaned over to place a kiss on her forehead, “Let me know if you feel uncomfortable”, she nodded. It wasn’t entirely a lie— she cried from the pleasure, but also from the sadness, from the pain of his betrayal. Beomgyu shifted the angle of his hips, hitting a sensitive spot inside her— her eyes rolled back, and her back arched. She couldn’t wait any longer, she had to put her plan into action before she gave up. “Gyu…” “Yes?” “Let me be on top”, he smirked, “Sure”, he replied before switching positions with her.

“Hold on”, she reached for her bag. While he waited for her, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and took his hair out of his eyes. She took out from the purse a black ribbon, saying with pleading eyes, “Can I tie you up?”. His spy instincts told him to say no, it was too risky, but he wasn’t thinking with his head—at least not with the one he had over his shoulders, “Only one hand” ““Both” “Just one. Take it or leave it” “Fine. Just one, then”. She tied his hand to the headboard, then leaned down to kiss his lips, he grabbed the back of her neck, deepening the kiss as she rode him, chasing her own climax, “Shit! I can’t hold it anymore”, he said between moans, “Cum for me. Let it all out”. After a few more thrusts, he threw his head back, his body collapsing beneath her, as he released inside of her. She kept grinding against him for a few moments longer before reaching her own orgasm, then she rested her hands on his abdomen, breathing heavily as she tried to recover. 

That’s when she realized it was the perfect moment to execute her plan, he was tired, with his eyes closed and his guard completely down. Quietly, she reached a hand down to her knee sock and, as sly as a fox, pulled out a switchblade. Slowly, she moved up it his leg, 

“Are you already ready for another round?”, he chuckled, eyes still closed. But when she pressed the blade against the sensitive flesh of his dick, his eyes snapped wide open instinctively, “Don’t move an inch”, she said through gritted teeth, her voice dark and hostile, “Or I’ll cut it off”.

He swallowed hard, breathing heavily, he could see in her eyes that she knew everything,

“What the hell…” “Shut up! No more games, no more lies”, her voice firm and sharp, “Who are you?”. He laughed nervously, “What are you talking about?” “Stop playing dumb” she pressed the blade harder against his member, “I know you sabotaged our attack”, she held up the keychain in her other hand, “So stop lying and tell me who you are and what do you want from me”. Beomgyu didn’t know if it was the fear of losing his manhood or the hurt in her eyes that made him speak the truth, “My real name is Choi Beomgyu. I serve in the South Korean military under the advanced reconnaissance unit, which means I’m a spy”, he held her breath, trying to keep her tough exterior still, “I was sent to Japan to investigate the speakeasy bar”, she didn’t say anything, so he continued, “When I met you, I didn’t know who you were or what you did, but as I investigated you…” “You were really investigating me?”, she interrupted, “Yes, but…”. The air left her lungs as reality hit her, so he really had been using her for his mission, “Then everything between us was a lie?”. He felt the pressure of the switchblade ease slightly, like his confession made her lose strength, “No! No, not everything was a lie. I like you, I care about you, more than I should. That’s why I didn’t report your attack. That’s why I’m here now” “And you really expect me to believe you?” “It’s the truth. I’m risking everything for you. Everything”

She looked down at her hand, the knife trembling against his flushed skin,“I don’t believe you” “You don’t have to believe me, but it’s the truth. I never wanted to hurt you”, she stared at him, dropping the blade, unsure of what to do or say. He took the opportunity to trap her between his legs and change their positions and even with one hand tied, he managed to pin her arms and toss the weapon to the ground. He looked down at her, lying beneath him with tears rolling down her red face. If he could, he’d take all her pain and put it on himself. “And you? Who are you? The real you” “You want my help to finish your mission, don’t you?”, she chuckled, “Where are the cameras, the bugs? Where?” "There's nothing, just me. The guy who asks too many questions and can’t stop thinking about this girl stuck in his head", even while pinning her down, lying, and using her, he still managed to be charming. She hated him for that. "Who am I? You already know who I am, don’t you?" "I only know parts", she laughed bitterly, "I’ll tell you, so you can see how rotten the system you work for really is", he nodded.

"I come from a family of brewers from Busan. They were artisans, and for generations, my family poured everything they had into their craft. Until Prohibition", she paused, feeling her jaw tightening, "Everything they had was taken from them. The government treated them like criminals. They were marginalized, starving, and anyone who dared to help them would be punished including those in the military, like I was", Beomgyu’s brows furrowed, "Tae’s family was in the same situation as mine. So one day, we decided to bring together everyone who was opposed to Prohibition and put our plan into action: to desert" "As a form of protest?"

"It was much more than just a protest. We were desperate, watching our families die a little more each day, unable to do anything. Deserting was our  hope of getting their dignities back. But it didn’t work, they didn’t care if hundreds of soldiers deserted, we meant nothing to them", she said, her voice breaking as tears returned to her eyes. "All those years serving the military, giving our blood, sweat, and tears, it was like none of it mattered. Tae and I were exiled, along with our families. The rest of the men left the country because, with a dishonorable discharge, they couldn’t do anything else in Korea. When we arrived in Japan, a family of former brewers took us in and together, we built the bar. Tae and I joined the rest of the TXT a year later, not for justice but for revenge. Those people don’t even know the meaning of justice”.

Beomgyu’s mouth hung slightly open, they had made innocent people go through all that because of alcohol? He didn’t know what to say, he had been following orders blindly, unaware of what those people had passed through to build their illegal bar. "I-I’m… I’m so sorry. I had no idea”, she chuckled sarcastically, "Don’t lie, Beomgyu. You are one of them. So… just grab your stuff and leave before Taehyun finds out I let you go and comes after you" "You’re… letting me go?" "Just go before I change my mind. And never bother any of us again". He bent down, picked up the blade from the floor, and cut the ribbon binding him to the motel bed. In a few minutes, he was gone, completely embarrassed, leaving behind a girl with two broken hearts—- hers and his, because his heart belonged to her and no one else. ⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

Days had passed since their fateful episode at the motel. Beomgyu had vanished without leaving a trace. No one had heard from him, not even Jeongin, it was like he had never existed. She had told TXT she had killed him, hoping that Beomgyu wouldn’t come back to bother again. So it seemed insane that Beomgyu was now standing at the entrance of a club, hesitating. But he had nothing left to lose, his job no longer made sense, and the girl he had fallen in love with hated him, and back in Korea, he had no family—his father had disappeared when he was a child, and his mother had died of illness when he was a teenager. With nothing holding him back, he walked into the club, the neon sign above the door said, ‘The Dairy Lounge’, "These guys are really creative" he muttered to himself.

Inside the place, he passed through people dancing with bottles of milk and yogurts in hand, mumbling apologies as he bumped into a few of them. He stopped in front of a door with a VIP sign above it, the guard standing in front of it was Taehyun. Turns out, the guy actually had a job outside of the gang, "Hey!" Beomgyu called out, catching Taehyun's attention. Taehyun’s eyes narrowed at the figure dressed in all black standing in front of him, "You..."

"Think we can talk?", Beomgyu asked, "You're alive?", Taehyun muttered, “Either that or this drug adulterated milk you guys serve here is messing you up real bad", Beomgyu replied with a smirk. Taehyun’s jaw clenched, and his fists tightened as he lost all his composure. Without saying a word, he grabbed Beomgyu by the collar and dragged him to the alley behind the club. Out of sight from his superiors, Taehyun’s fist hit Beomgyu’s face without any ceremony, "What the hell, man?! I just want to talk!", Beomgyu shouted, placing a hand on his sore cheek, "I don’t want to talk", Taehyun landed another punch, this time making Beomgyu’s cheek bleed.

Fed up with Taehyun’s temper, Beomgyu fought back, throwing a punch of his own, right on the other’s jaw. The shorter man touched his jaw, in disbelief, “Are you out of your mind!?” “I said I just wanted to talk, but you started hitting me”. Taehyun didn’t bother in reply, he shoved Beomgyu to the ground, straddling his torso and began punching him repeatedly. One blow after another, not giving him a chance to defend himself, “You survived, but not for long. I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch!” “Do it. I’m already dead anyway”, Beomgyu said, making Taehyun freeze in confusion, “What?” “I’m already dead inside…”, Beomgyu paused, struggling to breathe without choking on his own blood, “... without her. So go ahead. End it now., do this favor for me” “You care about her that much?”, Taehyun asked,

Beomgyu nodded, the excruciating pain spreading through his head, “More than anything”

“Then why did you make her suffer, huh?”, Taehyun shouted, “I didn’t mean to… the last thing I wanted was to hurt her”, Beomgyu said, leaning on his elbows, “I need to talk to her. She needs to hear this, to know how much she means to me” “No way. And even if I let you, she wouldn’t believe you” “I’ll do anything to prove I’m trustworthy. Anything” “Even swim in the Electric Seaweed Lake?”, Taehyun asked, “What’s that?” Beomgyu asked, confused, “You really don’t know anything about this city, do you?” “No, but whatever it is, I’ll do it” 

“For real?” “If I do it, will you let me talk to her?” “I’ll think about it” “Fine, I’ll do it”, Beomgyu said firmly. Taehyun got off him. “My shift ends in two hours. Stay here and wait until I come back”, Beomgyu sat up with difficulty, spitting blood onto the ground, “Okay” “If I come back and you’re gone, I’ll hunt you down, even in hell. Got it?” “Got it” “Good”. With that, Taehyun came back to the club.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

2 hours later, Taehyun showed up with the rest of TXT — except her and Soobin— the four of them got into a car and headed toward the Electric Seaweed Lake. When they arrived, Beomgyu was hit by a strong scent of something rotting, the lake was green , shady, and had a sticky consistency. But he was determined to do that.  Beomgyu began taking off his clothes when a voice interrupted him, "Are you insane?", Yeonjun asked, "What?" "I asked if you're insane. Do you even know what's in there?" "Electric seaweed?"

"You wish it was just seaweed. That lake is full of strange creatures that feed on human skin cells and some even eat human flesh!", Beomgyu smirked, "I’m not insane. I’m just a guy in love", he said, finishing removing his pants and standing there in just his underwear. “ALright what are the rules?’, he asked Taehyun, "You swim to the bioluminescent coral reef and back. If you make it out alive, we’ll have your back" "Okay, let’s get over with this", Beomgyu said, stepping into the lake.

The moment he placed one foot inside, he felt like a strange force was pulling him down. He turned to Kai and said, "If I die, tell her I love her, okay?" “O-okay”, then he continued walking into the water, trying to ignore the strong smell of decomposing seaweed invading his nostrils like poison until his entire body was completely submerged. The three men stood watching from the shore, "Tae?" "What is it, Kai?" "Is this really a good idea?" "What do you mean?" "There’s no way he’s coming out of that alive. If she finds out we killed him, she’ll kill us" "Then it’s better if she doesn’t find out", Taehyun replied coldly.

Underwater, things weren’t as terrifying as they seemed from the surface. Sure, there were plenty of strange creatures that seemed unnaturally drawn to his body, but they weren’t as bad as he feared they were— some were even cute, others had vibrant colors. If he survived, he’d want to learn more about that ecosystem. He swam several meters, coming to the surface for air occasionally, until he spotted the glowing corals Taehyun had mentioned. He reached out to touch them but was startled by a small electric shock, "Better stop messing around", he thought and turned around, ready to return. But suddenly, he stepped on what he thought was a rock and his foot got stuck. It wasn’t a rock, it was some kind of weird creature that fed on human flesh. He felt its grip tighten as it started to take in his foot. Panicking, he tried to free himself, but nothing worked, he tried to scream for help, but no one would hear him this far underwater. As the surroundings grew darker, his eyelids began to feel heavy, "I guess I really can’t live without her", he thought before everything went black. ⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

“Do you think he’s dead already?”, Yeonjun asked the other two, “I bet he is”, Kai answered,  

“Silence”, Taehyun ordered in a low voice, hearing the sound of a car engine approaching. They turned around, momentarily blinded by headlights, from the truck, she and Soobin stepped out, “Where is he?” she demanded, fierce like a raging animal., “Soobin! Did you snitch on us?”, Kai asked, panicking, “She heard you guys talking. You know how scary she gets when she’s angry?”. “Where is he, Taehyun?”, she yelled, “In the lake,” he said calmly,  

“Are you insane?!”, she shouted, “You told us he was dead!”, he shouted back. She ignored him, starting to remove her clothes, “How long has he been in there?”, she asked. No one answered, “How long?!”, she yelled again, “At least seven minutes”, Yeonjun finally said,

“Damn it!”. She moved to the edge of the lake, ready to jump in, but Taehyun grabbed her arm, “You can’t go in” “Let me go” “I can’t let you die because of him”  “I want to die because of him”,she shot back, pulling her arm free and diving into the lake, swimming at lightning speed.  

The lake was dark despite the bioluminescence, but spotting a man of 180 cm wasn’t hard. Near the coral reef, she saw her beloved’s lifeless body, one of his legs caught in the jaws of a strange creature. Quickly, she swam to him, pulling a laser device from her bra and slicing the creature in half— fortunately, that species took hours to digest human flesh, so Beomgyu wouldn’t lose his foot or leg. She placed his arm over her shoulder and swam back to the shore, her lungs burning from the lack of oxygen, “Kai, Yeonjun, help me here!” she called out once she reached the sore. The two of them grabbed Beomgyu by the arms, pulling him out of the water, while Soobin and Taehyun helped her get back to land. Ignoring everyone, she went straight to Beomgyu, pressing her ear to his chest. No heartbeat, no breathing Immediately, she started CPR— she learned in the military. 30 compressions, 2 breaths, 30 compressions, 2 breaths, again and again for 2 minutes in a row. Finally, she stopped, exhausted, holding his face as tears streamed down her cheeks,  “Beomgyu, please”, she whispered, “I think he’s gone”, Soobin muttered, his heart breaking from watching the scene. “No! He can’t be gone!”,  she screamed, turning to Taehyun, “What is your problem?! Why did you force him into the lake?” “He…” Taehyun began, but a deep voice cut him off, calling her name, “Not now, Yeonjun,” she snapped, assuming it was him. But it wasn’t, “I… went in because I wanted to” , the voice continued.  She turned around almost unable to believe what she was hearing,

“Beomgyu!”, she ran into his arms, collapsing against his chest in tears, “Why did you do this? And your face looks like that?”, she asked between sobs, ““Taehyun told me if I did this, he’d let me see you. And because I think I’m in love with you… I did it”, he said as it was the most ordinary thing ever. She looked at him, scanning his bruised face, the air caught up in her throat, “Do you think?” “I know”, she leaned in, kissing his hurt lips, the taste of blood mixing with both of their tears,   

“You idiot, you almost died!” “I can’t live if I’m not with you”, she sniffed, “I think I’m in love with you too”, she whispered, “No more lies, okay?” “No more lies,” she promised.  

He pulled her close— vowing to himself never to let her go again— and there, lying on that wet ground, covered in the slime of the lake, he knew he would never be in danger again as long as she was by his side.

⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

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Tags: @dawngyu, @nanahachi3, @whatblop

[mari-lair]

To the moon AU, where Hanako and Kou work at Sigmon Corps, a technological corporation whose clients are the dying, people filled with doubts and regrets, wishing for a different life. Their job is to rewrite their clients' memories so that their ideal life becomes true, diving into their memories, getting to know strangers' lives from the end to how it started so that they can tweak it all, inserting fabricated memories as naturally as they can to give their clients a believable dream life during the minutes before their death.

Hanako is a veteran in the job, the poster boy for the corporation and the one who came up with the 'we grant people wishes!' slogan. Despite his competence, he can't keep a partner for long, tending to isolate himself and overall be hard to work with. Kou is a newbie that was paired with Hanako to get some experience. It was a tough pair-up at first, since Kou gets attached easily to the patients, having trouble staying professionally detached and more than once making himself interactable in memories he doesn't belong to, for he wishes he could be of 'real help'.

Hanako is as charmed as he is annoyed by Kou's meddling at the start, having grown apathetic to people's lives after so many years on the job, so he is mostly dismissive of Kou's struggles, being a good teacher when teaching him how everything works, but not a good friend.

To everyone's surprise, Hanako and Kou, who could always be seen arguing over how the other decided to solve a case, eventually grew inseparable, a fixed pair. Hanako could even be seen trailing after Kou instead of lockng himself in his office, able to smile with genuine joy.

It was a miracle!

Nene is one of their youngest clients, only 27 years old, only two years older than Hanako and Kou, and already on her deathbed. Her request form tells them her wish is to fall in love with a handsome and princely man and be able to live happily with him until they are 100 years old.

She is so young, her case hits Kou hard, but Hanako doesn't care, flipantly commenting that Nene is cute and treating her memory as carelessly as most patients.

At least not at first, but as they walk through Nene's memory, watching her make bad love decisions after bad love decision while trying to stay hopeful and being able to give the people around her all the love she has, they grow attached to.

They fall in love so easily, it scares Hanako, who, for once in his life, has trouble ignoring that this girl is at death door, sleeping for now, and never waking up again. 

Hanako considers making her meet him in high school and make her fall in love with him. Kou is highly against it, claiming it isn't ethical to insert themselve into a patient's life (something Hanako always tells him!!) and that Hanako isn't 'a handsome and princely man' as requested, which Hanako takes some offense to despite Kou being correct. 

Kou wanted to do the patient wishes, insert an incredible boy much better than himself to sweep Nene off her feet during one of her lowest memories and start off their happy love story. Hanako claims Nene would be happy with anyone's love anyways, and is overall acting 'weird', enough for Kou to worry a bit.

Turn out, in one of Nene's earlier memories, she had met Hanako before. When he was a small kid lost in a festival, the younger version of Hanako clearly awestruck by Nene.

Hanako is embarrassed, claiming he didn't remember this, and Kou become more exasperated than angry with Hanako, giving him an earfull 'dude don't use our job to fulfil your dream to get with your childhood crush, this should be about Nene's wish.'

In the end, they fulfill end up fulfilling her wishes and give her a wonderful made-up husband who is rich and popular and beautiful and some of this made up prince charming personality is suspiciously similar to Hanako, but he treat her well. And she is happy. Nene dies in a picture perfect world, happy, but they both feel empty, attending her funeral.

[sunderwight]

Thinking about Alpha Timeline Jayce and Viktor, from the very first iteration of events, the one Mage Viktor is from and thus also the one where no mage went back in time and rescued Jayce and his mom from the blizzard. If such a thing exists and it's not just a big ole paradox, anyway. But I like to think that it does, it makes sense. There had to be a first version of events, right? One that wasn't yet tampered with by magical intervention in the timestream, the one where Viktor did indeed just destroy everyone. Alpha Timeline Jayce included.

A timeline where there was no mage to rescue Jayce and his mom from the blizzard. I imagine this means Ximena dies, but Jayce lives long enough for some other form of help to find him. Maybe that form is also magical, maybe some mage lights a fire for him or does something else that's less flashy but still leaves an impression, a yearning in young Jayce for the power to have potentially saved his mother.

I don't recall what the deal is with Jayce's dad, if he's dead or not or when he died if so, but for the purposes of this timeline let's assume that if he's still around during the blizzard period he nevertheless doesn't survive long after Ximena's death. Jayce inherits the Talis hammer factory, but he's still just a kid. He lives as something of a mascot/figurehead for a while, at least until various shareholders sell the business off to competitors and his inheritance is, more or less, bartered out from underneath him while he's still too young to understand what's going on. By the time he hits his mid teens, Alpha Timeline Jayce has lost the last connection he had to his parents and his more peaceful childhood existence, and has been exposed to the cynical and often two-faced machinery of Piltover's social system. He's still not much of a politician by nature, but this time that knowledge of self comes with a lot of bitterness and self-recrimination attached. Being "careless" (read: a minor) cost him his family legacy (that he wouldn't have particularly wanted in the timeline where he could have kept it, not that he knows that).

With positions in the academy highly coveted and sponsors limited, Jayce's road to becoming a scientist is a lot more difficult the first time around. House Talis isn't even a respectable middle-class family, it's barely even a recognized house anymore, and forget about getting sponsored by Cassandra Kiramman, Jayce basically has to rely on luck and several other mid-class houses to cobble together enough support to attend the academy. This version is a lot more like League Jayce (also a Jayce Giopara by the time he meets Viktor, perhaps?), and a lot more paranoid about letting anyone do anything for him, a lot more aggressive about sticking his name directly onto any project he's even tangentially involved with because otherwise he knows the credit can be swept out of his hands and leave him just holding the bill afterwards.

This causes him to butt heads with Alpha Timeline Viktor, who is also struggling along (even more than Jayce, given he still comes from the undercity of course), with both of them vying for positions as assistants to more established academy members, and access to funding. Viktor thinks Jayce is a blowhard with too much flash and ego, and smarts from a few incidents of Jayce stealing the credit and spotlight from him (Jayce can do this mostly just by not going out of his way to acknowledge Viktor all the time, by virtue of Viktor's even less "respectable" background), and Jayce finds Viktor's prickly attitude and conflicting standards (i.e. Viktor not really wanting to be put in leadership positions on projects but then getting miffed when Jayce does what he's seen every other project leader do) to be frustrating.

On the other hand, Jayce also treats Viktor as a respected peer in terms of intellect regardless of his background, and Viktor still becomes the first person to take any of Jayce's theories about technology and magic seriously. I imagine they meet before the Apartment Explosion Incident in this timeline, by virtue of Jayce actually getting into the academy sooner and having to grind more for it, since he has no parents to either be reluctant to see him depart from the family business or help him find sponsorships. So when the apartment break-in does happen, and Jayce's experiments with magic are uncovered and he's initially disgraced, Viktor still helps talk him off the ledge.

Because this version of Jayce is less idealistic (though still not a bad guy by most standards), this version of Viktor is more cynical also. He has less of a tether to the notion of scientific pursuit as something pure and joyful. When they work together they're often arguing quite a bit. This version of Viktor also ends up being closer to his League counterpart, using proto hextech inventions and combining them with cybernetic implants from an earlier stage to do things like create "safety features" for mine workers that bypass their autonomy in the name of avoiding human error. Jayce, who had his livelihood and his family's business swept out of his hands by being bypassed "for his own good" in his youth, doesn't take well to these incidents. Meanwhile Viktor sees this direction as the only one that might yield the results he needs to possibly cure his illness, trusting even less in some idealized vision of him and Jayce just science-ing their way through the problem. The schism between them over Jayce's increasingly public success and political trajectory is also wider. Viktor keeps even more of his personal struggles to himself and has even less sympathy for Jayce's packed schedule, while Jayce is even more baffled and annoyed by Viktor's mercurial moods and private projects.

Jayce and Mel also have a rather more cynical dynamic, I imagine. This version of Jayce doesn't need any bonus motivations to pursue his own political best interests or secure his personal position, but there's still a mutual attraction, so Mel pulls out a card from her mother's playbook and is like "well that was fun, no need to take it too seriously" after they sleep together, and Jayce is kind of expecting it and doesn't go in for the cuddles. He still definitely wants the cuddles though.

Despite his more contentious and less contentious relationships overall, Jayce still wants deeper connections with the people around him, in fact. And he still gets attached, even if he's worse at expressing it. And he still rushes to commit mad science to save Viktor's life, against Viktor's stated wishes to destroy the hexcore instead. And Viktor still leaves him afterwards. And Jayce is still fucked up about it. But, he's also more invested in The Grind and his council position, so instead of hibernating in his lab he throws himself more into handling the current political crisis. Which means he isn't there when Heimerdinger and Ekko break in. Thus he never leads them to the anomaly, or goes there himself, and that whole plot arc never happens. Ekko and Heimerdinger just workshop some possible treatments for the tree and are still trying to fix it by the time shit hits the fan.

Ambessa does still launch things into martial rule under Caitlyn of course, except this time she gets to "secure" one of the scientists behind hextech (Jayce). Despite being a bigger douche in this timeline, though, Jayce is still not really onboard with making hextech weapons for Noxian soldiers to use against the underprivileged, and since he and Caitlyn aren't as close in this timeline either, he gets to go through his Tour of Pain courtesy of Ambessa's attempts to coerce him. So Jayce goes "missing" by way of being imprisoned, a state of affairs he manages to escape after Singed leads Vander/Warwick to Stillwater and Ambessa gets distracted by hunting down the werewolf with a much more biddable mad scientist in hand.

Jayce makes his own way to Viktor's commune, and Viktor is like, oh hey there you are, good news I'm not mad at you anymore, would you like to become one with me? Whereas Jayce is like, Viktor what the fuck, you left to go start a cult? Why is that hot? Ugh no forget it we can unpack that later, soft maybe on the becoming one thing does it involve sex no wait shelve that, there's a Noxian takeover we have to deal with first. So the fight that badly injures Viktor is actually against Ambessa in the commune, with Singed explaining to Jayce that they can save Viktor but they have to sacrifice Vander to do it.

To his credit, Jayce is like, no I learned my lesson from last time. We're only doing mad science to resurrect Viktor if he signs the consent form first. Which Viktor does, because Ambessa and her forces are still out there and he and/or the hexcore and possibly also Jayce even managed to convince him that all of this is necessary to save everyone, and also because this version of Jayce being less of an idealist has led to a version of Viktor who is less of one as well. Machine Herald Viktor basically steamrolls the Noxians and then was welcomed back to Piltover openly as a hero.

Uh-oh.

So Jayce figures out that Viktor's "glorious evolution" is in fact a huge problem in the eleventh hour and after he's unwittingly led him back to the anomaly he needs to finish his ascendance, but by then there's nowhere close to the resources necessary to put up much of a fight about it. He mostly tries to fight Viktor alone or with whatever allies he can grab last minute (Mel if she hasn't left for Noxus yet, maybe also Vi and/or Jinx who are likely to be on the warpath about Vander, Caitlyn if she's nearby, etc), and he only gets anywhere with that because Viktor still wants him to join with him willingly.

But anyways, it fails, Viktor "wins", and then gets to sit in the ruins of his triumph and lament. I imagine that when he starts tinkering with alternate timelines, there is a part of him that still thinks he's correct on some level. Like clearly something went wrong in the process, because the end results haven't worked out as he'd hoped, but he's not sure what exactly it was yet. But maybe Jayce will know, because Jayce was always good at catching things that Viktor missed (and vice versa)? The version of Jayce which Viktor merged with... it didn't work right. It wasn't supposed to result in Jayce being gone, being silent, like this. Viktor can't hear his voice to ask him questions anymore, so the first thing he goes looking for in another timeline is Jayce.

But he miscalculates a little bit (first time doing anything remotely like this, even a "perfect" hextech god needs some margin of error), and he ends up finding Jayce when Jayce is only a child, stranded in a blizzard with his mother. Viktor rescues them, but he's still trying to win an argument in his head about it, so he's also very "look how cool I am" about it. Like behold, New Jayce, I am going to win so many arguments even though I'm also reeling from being wrong about something that might have actually been the most important argument we ever had. Aren't I nearly perfect? Once you finish baking into a hunk you can tell me what part of the equation wasn't completely right and then I really will finally be completely perfect. I am prepared to wear down your skepticism and -- wait why are you looking at me like that? You're looking at the magic, right? Uh... look see, here's a rune! Magic, that's... that's the thing. To be looking at that way. Okay gotta go bye!

It takes a few iterations before Viktor arrives at the "there is no prize to perfection, only an end to pursuit" conclusion about where he actually did go wrong, and by then he's made rescuing Jayce + Ximena and being flashy as hell about it a standard part of the process. You will pry baby Jayce's awestruck look of wonder from his dead robot hands actually. Also clearly he is doing a better job of this than the original mage who couldn't even rescue Jayce's mom about it. Loser. His ego also needs to consolation prize if he's going to accept that overall Asshole Grownup Jayce was, in fact, more right than he was. At least at first.

He has mixed feelings about all the subsequent Jayces being sweetie pies, too. Like obviously it's a net improvement for both Jayce and the other versions of Viktor that he has better emotional regulation and is less of a gloryhound, but it also makes it all the more obvious that even though he can speak with versions of Jayce, the OG is still gone. Surprisingly few iterations of Jayce turn into dickheads, and even fewer respond to the revelation of Viktor's apocalypse by turning against him, even though Viktor initially assumed that would be the standard. They all definitely have thoughts on the situation, and none of them want their own timelines to be doomed, but most of them do also try to and help Viktor. Most of them are still willing to follow his advice. Even after everything.

It is... humbling.

By the time he gets to Arcane Jayce, he's not even prevaricating or showboating (much) anymore. He shows Jayce his human face, lets things unfold as they will, is simultaneously detached (he doesn't get Jayce out of the pit he's fallen into, Jayce has to do that himself) but also romantic ("only you can show me this") and even lets this version have OG Jayce's hammer to replace the one he had to dismantle for his leg brace. This is Jayce simultaneously at his best, his lowest, his brightest, his most noble, and most different from the first and yet still perhaps most different from Viktor's preconceptions about him rather than the core of his true self. Mage Viktor told himself he was refining his evolutionary process, but in reality what he ended up doing was distilling different versions of Jayce, unlocking the formula for the one that could stop him.

But also wouldn't leave him.

[daylesspax]

So, I’m sure other people have said this BUT!

TFOne spoilers ahead:

Transformers One’s uses of ‘transformation’ is impeccable. I think I truly got to appreciate it when the race contestants did their transformations and each was uniquely done! Yes, almost all transformations across franchises are unique, but it made me so giddy in the theater to watch it…

And then I saw how the roads changed and, well, transformed

The trains in particular, they survive the surface because, like the surface, the railway/railroads change and adapt to the ever-changing and transforming planet— because of course their railroads can transform!

I know I’m jumping around— but I also took note of it during the mining montage, about how caves regularly open, close, and shift around. They need special tools to keep rifts open long enough to mine, and as we’ve seen, mining is incredibly dangerous and it shows what miners have to put up with— their lives are constantly in danger because unlike human mines, where we have some certainty in the stability of the terrain, their mines are at risk of spontaneously closing or coming across an unstable energon vein. And also knowing that the material they mine is so volatile is just an extra layer! (And the fact the planet transforms so often leaves room to question why transformers themselves aren’t nomadic— how can cities like Iacon or the High Guard’s hideout exist? Does the Primis simply sense where his people are most concentrated and transforms to accommodate their homes? Do they use similar technology to the stabilizing sticks but stronger to keep the space open?)

Moving away from that tangent…

I would also like to pull attention to the incredible fight scenes! I have only seen the movie once in theatre so I can’t give a deep analyses into things I’ve missed, however, I’d like to share the things I picked up

I adore how incorporated transformation is to a transformer’s movement and what they can do with their bodies— they shouldn’t move like humans because they aren’t humans and I love it when transformers media does stuff with their bodies that makes sense. For example, Elita one spinning her entire torso/waist in a 360 to do a spin-kick rather than doing it with her full body because she doesn’t need to do that! There are no muscles, skin, or bones that could break if she did that!

Sentinel is able to transform his weapon and transform his arm to capture D-16’s rather than simply catching it with his normal fist

They’re able to move their kibble to suit their needs in either mode— my favorite example is when Optimus tears off Megatron’s tank cannon (the one mounted on top of his vehicle, not the black one in his arm) but Megatron fucking flips over and TRANSFORMS IT BACK INTO HIS BODY TO CONSEQUENTLY USE IT AS A WEAPON TO SHOOT OPTIMUS HOLY SHIT THAT’S COOL AS FUCK!

Optimus/Orion is also able to move his little rocket booster thingies on the sides of his arms both in and out of vehicle mode, making it really feel like it’s still the same mech and that the vehicle form is still attached to the mech and not just plain kibble that doesn’t move outside of transformation!

Another example of really incorporating the vehicle mode with the mech, uh— AIRACHNID??? She can just transform her head open (a little)?!! Her entire body is a thin, but deadly frame, and it’s obvious where each of her limbs are in vehicle mode, which I think is super cool!

And just… gods, this movie is good

[charmsponies]

🩷💚 Custom Fizzy Takara Doll 💚🩷

Created using the 3d model made by Otteroflore!

Wip description and pics below the cut ^^

So I am a COMPLETE AND TOTAL NOOB when it comes to technology. and I made a lot of mistakes trying to print this Fizzy due to my own incompetence and also everyone online assuming you already kinda know something about 3d printing if you own a printer. We recieved a 3d printer as a gift and I knew Nothing about it so I reallly struggled trying to figure it out. Also my computer is ancient and had to download a like 5 year old out of date version of a 3d printing program (cura) to even get it to work. took an entire week and several failed tries T-T

FINALLY we got an attempt that was salvageable! And had to rip out all of the support beams from it. But even then there were some major mistakes:

It did not print hollow. Nobody online explained that if you want it to be hollow it wasn’t enough that the model itself had hollow parts, you have to turn off a hole setting in cura and mess with the infill or something

For some reason the bodies were Very Fucked Up? The middle and sides printed Weirdly to where, once the supports were all removed, They had no sides/shoulders. Wuh oh.

The way I combatted this was by taking extra filament plastic and a soldering iron gun to weald it on and do literal plastic surgery.

(A before and after) it looks like complete ass and is a little janky but. please be kind to her it was a major operation 😭😭😭

Then sanded things down a bit more. I know people say to sand it down until you can’t see the lines anymore but im an impatient motherfucker and only had a little bit of sandpaper so :P

Then it was painting time! Used my own fizzy to color match, painted her green with a white nose and a milkshake cutiemark. I also glued stick on gems into her eye sockets

Then the hairing! Used a sewing needle heated up with a lighter to easily poke holes into her skull! The lovely user minticat on Mlptp provided great reference images of what a takara’s hair length and hair holes look like, so I did my best to mimic that

Her hair is the closest color matches for fizzy that Shimmerlocks had: Cotton Candy pink, Angel white, Heart Throb 2.0 pink and Gusty green. Now the head isnt actually all that hollow (I hollowed it out best I could with my soldering iron but still not the best) so I couldn’t use the usual hairing method where you punch the hair in and then glue it from inside. I realized I needed to attach glue to the hair itself and then get it into the holes.

At first I was too much of a scardey cat to use my actual hairing needle in fear it would break on the plastic, so I tried a very infuriating method of putting glue on hair strands and painstakingly trying to push them into the holes with a pin. This was awful. I quickly gave up, braved up and grabbed my rehairing needle. Punched the hair in after applying glue to the hair, and it worked out surprisingly well!

All that was left was to 1) String the doll using elastic bands to tie the legs and arms into place but still make sure they were moveable. 2) GENTLY trim, wash and style the hair (using buggys special method of getting tiny curly curls. 3) Figure out the head

I originally wanted to make a neckplug for her out of clay as you see here but it didnt work too well. The plastic of the doll is much harder than the clay and it kept breaking after trying to put the head on. So I accepted I would have to glue the head on in place (It cant turn, unlike the arms and legs 😔) You can also see i used some clay to patch up a crack in the plastic that formed (which I had to paint over again)

FINAL STEP was making the dress!!! I forgot to take ANY pictures of that ùwú Not that pictures would be useful to you guys as I kinds fuckin winged it and made up a pattern as I went. I think its adorable, but in the future I would make it a little bigger (the back doesnt fit quite right). Maybe if theres interest I’ll fix up the pattern so its better and share another doll dress tutorial with the class? 😳 sound off in the comments below haha

[transmutationisms]

Wrt the addiction discussion, is there not a lot of overlap between the types of people you describe (e.g. people with a physical dependency, 12-steppers, people who are unhappy with their substance use, etc)? I feel like it's a mistake to treat them as universally discrete categories, even accounting for the wide range of experiences and attitudes 'addiction' encompasses. Yes the term is heavily medicalised and used to justify punitive interventions (which shouldn't happen, obviously), but couldn't the same be said of, say, queer identities given how homosexuality was listed in the DSM until fairly recently? It's not morally wrong to identify as queer just because the category itself is rooted in oppression. The term spans such a broad array of possible identities, preferences and behaviours, but a lot of people still find it useful for solidarity-building, and I think something is lost when we eschew these fluid, broad-spectrum terms in favour of finely atomised individual behaviours.

where did i say i was interested in making new discrete categories out of the addiction label? nowhere because i explicitly am not interested in makingn categories at all. reread the post.

there is no 'addicts pride' or 'pro addiction' movement comparable to the lgbt scene, which should tell you some things about quite differently weighted use of these medical terms. incidentally, many people do in fact perceive some difference between eg homosexual and gay precisely because of the former's medical and criminal history.

the term addiction is not used for "solidarity-building" please like don't make me laugh. once again it is not only "rooted in" but currently used for pathologising efforts born of theories of social degeneration. when someone says video games are addictive sugar is addictive the internet is addictive -- these are active current new claims about the supposedly deleterious social effects of technologies and practices the speaker perceives as insalubrious and threatening to the social order, specifically relying on medico-legal notions of the Addict to make these claims.

your comparison sucks anyway because there is in fact broad agreement on what eg gay means, what practices and forms of social violence it refers to: there is no such agreement as regards addiction, not in the medical discourse and not in popular use either. reread the post.

id really invite people to think about why you are so incredibly instantly defensive over this particular piece of terminology. what do you think is at stake here? it's not useful shorthand, it's not attached to meaningful political activist groups, and it's in constant semantic shift in order to make claims about new groups and activities being socially degenerate and destabilising. in order to convey anything useful or specific about how you use substances, when, or why, you are in fact already relying on actually explaining yourself beyond this term (so is your medical chart).

the umbrella term i believe you're actually grasping for here, & it's frankly embarrassing you're apparently so far removed from harm reduction activism that you don't know this & yet are sending paragraphs whinging to my inbox, is "people who use drugs." i personally think person-first is slightly corny and usually just say "drug users" or "recreational drug users" as the case may be but i have no serious objection to the former as an umbrella term.