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mypoisonedvine · 5 years ago

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It’s Always The Quiet Ones... | college AU dark!Peter Parker x (slightly)naive!reader

for @nsfwsebbie‘s dream fic challenge, I was assigned to write something for @harryspet which was vv exciting bc I love her stuff ;-; no pressure right? lol (also thank you to @evnscvll for being my proofreader, sounding board, and partner for some very strange texting for the purpose of screenshots!)

Here is the prompt I got: peter is a dork and is weird and quiet, and the readers friends dared her to sleep with him. turns out he was really kinky and is really good at sex. can be dark. And hoo boy, did I run with that. I hope you like it!!

Word Count: 4.4k

Warnings: smut (it’s consensual but with dubcon undertones, manipulation, and implied coercion/dubcon at the end), stalking, blackmail, voyeurism, and general creepiness. Oh yeah and there’s some degradation and dacryphilia in there for good measure.

You and your friends were in the middle of your daily cafeteria lunch, chatting about the same sorts of small talk you always did.

“Oh god, it’s that weird guy from class!” Jackie blurted out suddenly around a mouthful of fries, pulling you out of the conversation you’d been having. Everyone at the table whipped around and your eyes went wide.

“Come on, don’t look all at once,” you hissed.

“Who is this guy?” Cody asked, looking around with confusion.

“The guy in the blue hoodie over there,” Jackie answered, motioning toward him with her head. It was Peter, setting down his tray of food and opening up his laptop, putting earbuds in. He was pretty much always on his laptop, it seemed like. He took a bite of his pizza before getting back to whatever he was working on.

“He looks normal, or normal-ish,” Mia shrugged.

“No, no, you don’t get it,” you shook your head. “We have him in Computational Physics on Tuesdays and Thursdays--”

“Plus Friday lab,” Jackie interjected.

“--and he’s… kinda…”

“Creepy,” Jackie concluded.

“No,” you denied, “not creepy. He’s just… a bit awkward, I guess.”

“And he stares at you, like, the entire time we’re in class. But won’t even talk to you.”

“Oh, that’s weird,” Mia agreed with a shudder.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “it’s kinda… sweet, maybe? I mean, he’s just shy, right?”

“Oh my god you are such a slag!” Jackie teased, shoving you on the shoulder. “You’re into him, aren’t you?”

“No!” you denied with wide eyes.

“You’re just into the attention,” Cody rolled his eyes.

“I mean, it’s kind of flattering, isn’t it?” you admitted. Jackie laughed.

“You should go over there and talk to him,” she decided.

“Nooooooooo, no way,” you shake your head.

“I kinda wanna see this,” Cody smirks.

“Literally just go over there and flirt with him, his head would explode,” Jackie suggested excitedly.

“I don’t even know how to flirt,” you chuckled.

“So you’re considering it!” Mia accused.

“I didn’t say that!” you squeaked.

“Pleeeeeease,” Jackie whined playfully. “It’ll be funny.”

“I don’t usually sleep with people for comedic effect.”

“I’ll chip in $20 if you do it,” she offered immediately. She turned to the rest of the table, “come on guys, we need to pool together and make her do it.”

“I’ve only got a ten,” Cody mumbled, pulling it out slowly before Jackie snatched it away.

“Okay, $30, who can make it $50?”

“Jackie, calm down,” you hissed.

“You’re telling me you wouldn’t sleep with him for $50? He’s cute!”

“I have $35 and 67 cents,” Mia counted, shuffling through her wallet.

“Oh my god,” you groaned, your head falling into your hands.

“Just do it, for me,” Jackie said, suddenly sounding oddly serious. You didn’t understand why it mattered so much, but you decided it couldn’t be that bad if you just did it.

“Fine, fine, just shut up and don’t stare at us,” you instructed, getting up to a ruckus of cheers. You didn’t even take the money.

You walked across the cafeteria, messenger bag slung over your shoulder, and hoped you wouldn’t totally make an idiot of yourself. If you hadn’t already just by talking to a guy over a dare.

He didn’t seem to notice you when you stood by his table, still focusing on his computer.

“Um, hey,” you waved, and Peter looked up at you as he took out his earbuds.

“Hi,” he replied quickly.

“What… what are you working on?” you asked, motioning to the laptop. He didn’t stop looking at you, and he didn’t say anything. “I… we have comp together? You know who I am, right?”

“O-of course I do!” he suddenly perked up. “Yeah, I just…” he trailed off and turned to his laptop. “I was just working on this model.”

“Can I take a look?”

He smiled a little, and moved his backpack out of the seat next to him. “Go ahead!”

You sat down and leaned in to look at his screen.

“It’s-- it’s not finished but, basically I just put the kinetic energy of an object on the x-axis, the potential energy on the y-axis--”

You used the laptop’s touch screen to move the model around, impressed with his work. “And the z-axis is the conservation of energy for work done on an object,” you finished.

“Uh, yeah, exactly,” he nodded.

“It’s beautiful!” you realized, appreciating the variety of colors as each data point was suspended in the graph.

“Do you do any modeling?” he asked you, and for a hot second it felt like a line.

“Um,” you laughed, “no, not much at least. Nothing extracurricular.”

“Oh.”

“I’m more into abstract math, if I’m being honest.”

He smiled. “Oh, you’re one of those.”

You laughed, shoving him on the shoulder playfully, but regretting it as you saw his smile drop a bit. “People are so judgmental about abstract math, as if it isn’t the study of the founding principles of mathematics.”

“So you think adding a pineapple and a banana is the foundation of mathematics?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“Okay, there’s so much more to abstract mathematics than weird variables,” you frowned. “Like basic functions on matrices! Don’t act like it isn’t dope as fuck to add, subtract, multiply and divide matrices. If you saw my whiteboard in my dorm you would understand.”

“If I had a whiteboard now I could prove to you that abstract math is overrated,” he countered.

“I’d love to see you try,” you scoffed. You hadn’t really meant it literally.

“I don’t have anything for the rest of the day,” he shrugged. It took you a moment to realize he was suggesting to actually come to your room and talk about math. You weren’t sure if that was even what would happen if you went back to your dorm…

You opened your mouth to say that you were busy, that you couldn’t, that you shouldn’t, so you were a little surprised when you heard yourself say “sure” instead.

And that was how you ended up sitting on your kitchen counter with Peter Parker between your legs, kissing you like you’d never been kissed before.

It sort of happened all at once. He just grabbed you and you were confused but went with it, because life is short and he was cute and his hands felt unexpectedly wonderful as they gripped your back.

You gasped a bit when he started to pull your shirt over your head but he didn’t slow down, quickly removing his own-- oh, hello there six-pack, nice to meet you-- kissing you again as he wrapped his hands around your waist and slid you off the counter, guiding your legs to wrap around his hips. He carried you to the bedroom with unexpected grace; he was so much stronger than he looked. And he looked different than he ever had before as he tossed you down onto your bed and started to kiss his way down your abdomen while his fingers slipped under the waistband of your shorts.

“Oh god, Peter!” you yelped as he kissed along your thighs, pulling down your shorts and underwear and tossing them to the side.

“Say my name again,” he demanded before instantly latching onto your clit, sucking and licking directly onto the bundle of nerves.

And you really had no choice in the matter, his name pouring from your lips over and over, accentuated with a yelp as he shoved two fingers into you, finding and massaging your g-spot before you could even process everything you were feeling.

“Oh my god, fuck, Peter!” you hissed, your head falling back onto the mattress so hard it bounced a little.

You were barreling towards an orgasm faster than you probably ever had before. This was nothing like the few other hook-ups you’d had since starting college-- it wasn’t even like the times you’d been alone with your hand or a vibrator. This was like an assault on the senses, so powerful that you couldn’t even really keep track of the sounds you were making or anything that wasn’t his mouth on you and his fingers in you.

“I’m gonna come, oh my god, I’m gonna come don’t stop please--” you moaned as your words turned into mostly incoherent nonsense. How could you be expected to form a sentence in these conditions?

Thankfully, he didn’t stop. He kept lapping at your clit as if he hadn’t even noticed your pleading, his fingers twisting inside you even as your walls clenched so tightly around them that it became difficult to keep up the pace. Your hips involuntarily bucked against his face, your legs quivered as he refused to give you any reprieve from the sensation, but he kept going.

“Oh fuck, fuckfuckfuck Peter I can’t-- it’s too much-- oh god,” you babbled, but it fell on deaf ears. A small part of your brain was confused why he wouldn’t stop-- you hadn’t told him outright to stop but it was kind of implied, right? Wasn’t it some amount of not okay that he was still going? It made your gut sink in a way that was equal parts disturbing and erotic.

You were trying to pull away but his arms wrapped around your thighs and held you down. God, he was strong. He looked kind of skinny in those hoodies he was usually wearing, but now that he was actually exerting some force he was clearly muscular. You felt helpless and it, oddly enough, turned you on.

“Peter, please, oh my god, slow down I-- I can’t take any more,” you whimpered; your voice came out all high-pitched and squeaky and it would’ve been embarrassing if you had enough brainpower left to care.

He groaned against your skin but said nothing, using his teeth to lightly graze your clit. Your whole body jerked at that, a sob tearing from your lips suddenly. It felt like you were past the point of orgasm now and just lost in some sort of aggressively intense world of pleasure-- it neared pain, really. You had never been pushed to your limits like this; you hadn’t even realized that there were limits which one could be pushed to this way! It was exhilarating and exhausting and overwhelming. You fought tears from forming because it would be so embarrassing to cry right now, and he would probably freak out and think you were hurt or something… maybe you were hurt, you couldn’t even tell at this point. But at this point, it was unstoppable. You were fucking crying from the overstimulation and he hadn’t even put his cock in you yet. Your face was so hot that your own tears felt cool as they poured down your cheeks.

Finally, he stopped when he heard your sobs. But instead of concern or fear or confusion, his expression was simply joy.

“Oh, you look so cute when you cry,” he cooed, sliding back up your body to kiss your tears away as they fell. Then he kissed your mouth, open and sloppy and aggressive, and the taste of yourself on his tongue made your head spin.

Before you could collect your thoughts, he pulled back and made quick work of his jeans and boxers-- fuck, he was big.

“You’re too kind,” he grinned, discarding the clothes and stroking his cock a few times.

You hadn’t realized you had said it out loud, and you felt a little nervous but then he was on you again, kissing you roughly and forcing his tongue into your mouth. You felt him reaching down, gripping his cock and rubbing it through your folds. You were soaked, and swollen, and nearly sore. Every time the tip slid over your clit, you jumped a little.

He pushed into you ever so slightly, moving the head of his cock inside you and nothing more. You whined with confusion and anticipation, but he continued on teasing you.

“Please,” you whimpered into his kiss.

He pulled back and looked down at you, his eyes blown so wide that they looked like they’d gone black. “What was that?” he asked, and you sighed because you knew he could hear you the first time.

“Please, Peter,” you repeated, louder, “I need more.”

“More…?”

You sobbed with frustration, and desire. “Fuck me, please.”

He thrusted forward and you groaned as his cock stretched you open. It was like night and day, how he went from slowly teasing you to slamming into your eager walls. You cried out and gripped at his arms, just trying to steady yourself and maybe stop your skull from whacking the headboard if possible.

“You love it, don’t you? You love my cock,” he growled. His voice was lower, gravelly. He sounded like an entirely different person.

“Yes,” you replied weakly.

“Say it,” he demanded.

No one had ever talked to you like this before and it made your cheeks burn. “I-- I love your cock,” you stammered.

He smiled and you hoped you’d done it right, and that he wasn’t smiling at your obvious nervousness or lack of experience. You didn’t understand how this was normally supposed to go, because you didn’t normally hook up with people so casually-- you had just never really been interested in it. But now that he was fucking you so hard you could barely breathe, you were starting to get the appeal. God, your last boyfriend hadn’t even made you come in five months of dating, meanwhile five minutes with Peter had made you a sobbing mess. Even now you were biting your lip to hold back your tears from the sheer intensity of the sensations you were experiencing.

“Oh, you poor thing,” he pouted condescendingly. “You don’t wanna cry but you can’t help it, huh? You’re my dumb little crybaby aren’t you?”

You tried not to react to that but you knew he felt your walls clench suddenly.

“You like that? You like being my stupid whore?”

“S-stop,” you begged weakly, feeling beyond humiliated.

“But you like it, angel, I can tell. Don’t lie to me.”

He reached down to swirl his thumb over your clit, laughing at the way you tensed up and tried to squirm away.

“Is it too much princess?” he asked, but the nickname read less sweet and more mocking. “Isn’t this what you wanted? You asked me to fuck you. Begged me. Now you act like you can’t take it, like you’re this delicate little flower and not the dirty fucking whore I know you are.”

“I-- I’m not a whore,” you denied even as you struggled to suppress your obvious arousal from the derogatory nature of his words. You felt a little guilty for being into it, and slightly insulted, but fuck if it didn’t make your back arch and your throat dry and your pussy so excessively wet.

“Oh, don’t play dumb,” he scoffed. “But, maybe you’re not playing. You really are dumb, aren’t you?”

You logically knew that it was too late to deny anything he said, but you still clung onto your dignity as best you could. “N-no!”

“Not all the time, just when you’re wet. Isn’t that right? You get so desperate for cock and you don’t wanna be smart, you just wanna be somebody’s brainless fuckdoll.”

That sounded so appealing in some forbidden, filthy way and all of a sudden you were going to come again, any second now.

“Yes!” you nearly screamed, falling into your pleasure.

“Come on my cock, baby,” he encouraged, “come for me.”

You didn’t even sound like yourself with the noises you made, or maybe it was just that you’d never had the chance to make noises like that before. Either way, your orgasm crashed through you and nearly punched the air out of your lungs. Your toes went numb. You didn’t even know that could happen. And most important of all, your walls tensed and fluttered so hard that he began moaning into your ear.

“Fuck, ‘m gonna come inside you.” You couldn’t tell if it was a warning, like he was asking permission, or if he was just informing you of his intentions which you would be powerless to stop even if you told him not to. You didn’t have to find out because you were on the pill, but it made you realize all too suddenly that you should’ve had him put on a condom-- how could you have forgotten?

His moans turned hoarse and with a growl and a tightened grip on your hips, he spilled deep in you, coating your walls as his length flexed and twitched inside you. For a moment you were just stuck like that, his weight holding you down as he caught his breath, and finally he rolled to the side and you could breathe cool air again.

“That was…” he began but trailed off, pulling you closer and kissing your shoulder. “You’re amazing.”

It was quite the shift from how he had been talking before. It was comforting, but you were still a little confused. “Really?”

He laughed softly. “Did you not notice? God, I’ve wanted you for so long…”

You were curious about where he was going with that, but then he suddenly sat up.

“Do you want some water?” he offered.

“Uh, yeah,” you smiled. “The cups are in the cabinet just to the left of the microwave.”

He nodded and gave you a quick peck on the cheek before sliding out of the bed, slipping his boxers on over his still-hard cock which was now coated in your come and his, and dashing out of the room.

You were mostly content to just lay there, although you felt uncharacteristically sore between your legs, and quite… sticky. You glanced over to your whiteboard and realized he never had any intentions of talking with you about abstract math. Was this just a one-time thing, or was he going to come back and ask you out? Were you boyfriend and girlfriend now? Or were you just a clueless romantic who thought that sleeping together meant more than it really did?

You rolled over and saw Peter’s phone resting on the bedside table. He must have set it there when he was stripping quickly while you two had been making out-- or that’s what you were pretty sure the order of events had been, it had all happened so fast…

At that exact moment, the screen lit up with a notification. You were about to roll back and not look at all, until you got a glimpse of the words.

PHYS 507, row 3, seat 14

You furrowed your brow. It looked like an alert for an upcoming class, except that this was your class, the one you had with him, and it wasn’t until tomorrow. No assignments due today, either. And what was with the row/seat thing? Peter didn’t sit in the third row… you did.

You picked up the phone just enough to angle it to see the rest of the notification. It wasn’t a calendar alert; it was a text message. “PHYS 507, row 3, seat 14” was the contact name. You could only get a preview of the message…

okay, it’s done isn’t it? can you please delete those pic….

You were curious, or maybe just concerned. Was the seat number supposed to be the person texting him? How were you supposed to keep track of who sat where to know who it was?

It had to be somebody from your row, but it was just you, Jackie, and a bunch of random dudes that Peter had never seemed to have any interaction with.

You assumed you wouldn’t be able to unlock the phone to even try to snoop, which you didn’t want to do anyways, but when you slid your thumb over the screen, you gasped when it opened straight to the conversation. Who didn’t put a password on their phone?

okay, it’s done isn’t it? can you please delete those pictures now? I did what you asked. I won’t tell anyone. just send me proof that the photos are gone, please.

You felt a little sick. You had no idea what this meant but it scared you. You saw the conversation from before but it didn’t make any sense. You scrolled back up to try to figure out what they were talking about and gasped when you saw a picture Peter had sent to the contact.

It was Jackie. But she wasn’t alone. She was on her knees in the lab room, and you gagged when you realized what she was doing-- or really, who she was doing it to.

She’d told you she had a casual thing with a new guy but refused to say who it was. You realized why now. She was fucking your professor, and you just knew she was doing it to get a better grade. You had been trying to figure out how she was earning higher marks than you but never seemed to be able to discuss the class material. It all made sense now, but it wasn’t a comforting feeling.

You scrolled down a bit to see the conversation after the photo, and your blood went cold as you read it.

You saw several more messages but you couldn’t bring yourself to read any of it. You knew everything you needed to know.

You weren’t sure what inspired you to open his camera roll… of course you wouldn’t find anything comforting there. But you had to see for yourself.

It was just a list of folders, so many you could keep scrolling for ages. Each had a label and a thumbnail image.

The thumbnail of Jackie on her knees jumped out first. PHYS 507, row 3, seat 14. 45 images.

A girl in a lacy bra posing for the camera. PHYS 509, row 1, seat 8. 12 images.

Two girls making out in a crowded room, holding red solo cups. ENGL 104, row 12, seat 5. 6 images.

A nude selfie in front of a mirror. PHIL 108, row 2, seat 2. 14 images.

And then the one that made your heart stop. It was a picture of you in a bikini, taken by a friend on spring break. PHYS 507, row 3, seat 13. 1 image.

The second you jumped up, dropping the phone, he was there with your promised glass of water in hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked innocently. Just a second of silence was enough for him to pick up his phone from the floor and realize what had happened with a grin. “Oh, that,” he sighed, slipping it into his pocket after looking down at it with a sort of loving look, like he was proud of his work. “I suppose it’s my fault for leaving my phone right there, without a password, knowing I would get a text from Jackie any minute.”

“You wanted me to see it,” you grimaced, “you wanted me to see what you did to my friend. What you did to all those girls.”

“I didn’t do anything. They do all the heavy lifting, I just hack them and get pictures of it. Or, in your friend’s case, I hack them, find out they’re fucking the professor, and follow them to their next rendezvous.”

“You’re fucking sick,” you spat, and he just shrugged. “You’d better delete those photos of Jackie.”

“I will, don’t worry,” he soothed. “It’s a shame though, she was pretty prolific. You, on the other hand, you’re a good girl. You even had pretty good security, I respect that. Here’s a tip: your ISP creates the intranet that your wireless webcam uses to connect to your laptop. It’s password protected, but it defaults to your phone number, and most people never change it. Including yourself.”

You shivered. “You watched me with it, didn’t you?”

“Well, I had to since you didn’t have any good photos of yourself. And you do a decent job of erasing your porn history… but not a perfect job. You watch some interesting stuff. And you look so hot with your hand stuffed in your panties, rubbing yourself to whatever nasty shit you’re watching...”

“Shut up,” you demanded, covering your ears, “stop, please. This is so fucked up.”

He laughed a little. “You look better in person though. A webcam could never capture how perfect you look when you come.”

“Please just stop,” you sobbed.

“Stop what? I’m just telling you the truth.”

“I should’ve listened to my friends. You’re a freak.”

“Hmm, you seemed to like it before.”

“Just delete those pictures of Jackie… and let me go…” you seethed.

“I will,” he promised. “But, I need something to make up for the loss of some great spank bank material.”

You felt sick. But what else was new?

“I need to finally get some good pictures of you. Come on, isn’t it sad that your folder is so empty?” he pouted, pulling the phone back out from his pocket. “I could ruin a lot of lives with these folders. Just let me take a few photos and you can spare them all the humiliation. Nothing I haven’t seen you do before.”

You really really wanted to just deck him, but you knew he could probably release those photos with just one push of a button. He was prepared.

“Don’t post them,” you pleaded.

“You’ll be good?”

You clenched your jaw. “I’ll be good,” you answered through your teeth.

“Oh, look at you,” he cooed, “such a sweet girl you are. Helping out your friend even after she threw you into the lion’s den to protect her secret.”

You hadn’t thought about it that way. A pit formed in your stomach.

“Now come over here and get on your knees,” he grinned, turning on the camera.

#peter parker x reader #tom holland x reader #dark!peter parker #dom peter parker x sub reader #dark!peter parker x reader #dom!peter parker #dom!peter parker x sub reader #spiderman x reader #night monkey x reader #lmao #peter parker smut #tom holland smut #tom holland x y/n #peter parker x y/n #sabs dream fic challenge

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mrpenguinpants · 4 years ago

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Also. I love this screenshot

I finally FINALLY finished the story quest so I can reply to this lol. I'm only how many months late?? But I'm here now and ready to slap the whiteboard.

@5aph join us at the round table

Note: I'm going off Mihoyo's cutscene trailers so Lumine is the "evil" twin and Aether is the one we play.

---

Honestly, I think we've been pretty spot on with our theories. Maybe not the specifics but in general we have been. I still believe in the theory we made last time where: because Khaenri'ah never had a God, they had to find a way to survive in a different way. Creating machines and using alchemy/khemia instead of visions or having an archon.

Now it's confirmed that Dainsleif used to be a part of Khaenri'ah and worked as some sort of guard (PRINCE KAEYA AU WHERE) but this makes me wonder. If Khaenri'ah was already going to shit when Dainsleif was "mortal" how the fuck is Kaeya okay?? Was Khaenri'ah just a shit place to live and that caused his father to take him to Teyvat to save their already ruined world? It's been 500 years so were their just a group of humans somehow living? Or maybe Khaenri'ah is separated from Teyvat and therefore, time passed faster/slower?

Honestly, I think the Unknown God was talking about how Khaenri'ah people were building machines that were stronger than vision holders (according to Dain and Mr.Wolf). If Record of Ragnarok has taught me anything, it's that God's are assholes. Plus if you think about it, that's kinda how the electro archon is. Venti doesn't really care about his Archon duties and Zhongli found empathy/humanity through Guizhong but I fully believe in Dictator Zhongli if Guizhong never existed. I'm assuming that Khaenri'ah people were oppressed or were getting a bit too cocky, either accidentally turning themselves into monsters through khemia or the gods did that themselves, then Unknown God appears and you know the rest. Or maybe, and hear me out, the beginning cutscene we see is a timeline where the Travellers actually succeeded in their mission to help Khaenr'ah. But because of our arrogance to change destiny, we got sent back and everything was either undone or the Unknown God threw everything to shit while we were asleep. Once we woke up, everything was already ruined and etc.

But either way, she probably destroyed Khaenri'ah. Her powers are these cube things, right? And during the flashback with Lumine overlooking what appears to be Teyvat or Khaenri'ah, we see those same red cubes. But there were definitely more Gods, especially if we are going all the way back into the past. I remember Zhongli/Archon war, there were numerous Gods fighting each other. But I think she might be a part of Celestia (maybe like a guard, the same way as Dainsleif?) and not one of the original Seven but I could be completely wrong. Every Archon seems to have an element and she doesn't, plus her cubes trap people and who knows what else.

Maybe it's because I've been reading Tokyo Revengers but this feels like an "I'm going into the past to change the future". Instead of Aether + Paimon, it's Lumine + Dainsleif and they go through the same journey as us. All the stories we hear from Barbara might have come from when Lumine first travelled through Teyvat. I definitely think that the first sibling tried to save Khaenri'ah but failed and using the second sibling (aka us), they are trying to re-write the destiny they experienced. The one where everything goes to shit.

I definitely believe that both Dain and Lumine had the same idea. They wanted to stop the Gods and they both dislike them. But due to some unfortunate incident, Lumine became "corrupted" in the sense that the "end justifies the means" while Dainsleif wanted to rely on himself and not involve others. So they separated and that's why even though the Abyss Order and Dain share a common goal, he's actively fighting against the Order. Plus, considering that this was in the past, I would assume that Venti/Zhongli aren't the same happy/calm people like they are during our adventure. Plus I think Paimon is a better friend compared to Dain when it comes to emotions too.

As for the Tsaritsa, yeah I would agree that she is trying to do the same thing. We're not 100% sure if she's trying to wage war against Celestia or there is an ulterior motive but Childe did say that Tsaritsa wasn't a bad person. But honestly same?? Where is Venti + Zhongli in this?? Give me more lore crumbs plss.

Now the upside-down Archon statue. We see the statue chained up and the symbolism is literally screaming in our faces. perhaps this is something Khaenri'ah people did because they had no archon? Not exactly the same way since I don't think they could lug a giant statue away but using Archon objects to draw power to use them as a catalyst? Re-watching the cutscenes, apparently, they are using the statue as a base, attaching osial's limbs to construct a mechanized god. Since the statue holds abyss power which corrupted Dvalin and it was strong enough to kill a human (like we saw with the thief) it makes sense.

It makes you wonder how Dain got his immortality. Perhaps he was going to become an Abyss Herald himself but something happened, maybe Lumine stopped his transformation since they used to be partners. Or dain is just an op bastard and broke free and fled. I'd like to believe that during the fall of Khaenri'ah, instead of helping the people he simply watched which caused Lumine to feel betrayed and that's why they went their separate ways.

I also want to point out that our twin is using the same sword that we saw during the opening cutscene. But I think I'll stop here since this post is long enough lol. Ty for being patient with me (❤´艸｀❤)

#cattycattitude #genshin #genshin impact #genshin lore #genshin impact lore #genshin spoilers #genshin impact spoilers #genshin theory #genshin impact theory #genshin dainsleif #genshin impact dainsleif #genshin lumine #genshin impact lumine #genshin aether #genshin impact aether #super duper big mwah #lovely person #ask

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theautisticquillholder · 4 years ago

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Murderous Love Chapter IV

(WARNING: This fanfiction has themes of Suicidal Ideation, Suicide itself, Self harm, Sexual Assualt, Murder, Extreme Bullying and Humiliation and a lot of Mental Illness related content and is NOT appropriate for children and the faint of heart. If you are under 18 or may be triggered by the content of this fanfiction please do not read this.)

Motochika’s POV

Myself and Mitsuhide were relaxing in our mini studio apartment that his parents made for us so that we can live independently while we are minors.

Tomorrow our fight to get Da Ji charged and convicted of sexual assault and distribution of Child Pornography and Loki and Ares charged and convicted as accomplices to Da Ji begins.

I knew Odin and Zeus would not take us putting those three in jail laying down. Mitsuhide was scared, he knew his life would become worse if those three are acquitted of those charges. Thankfully Dousan, Noh’s father is the best lawyer we have and has given us a no win no fee guarantee because he knew that due to Zeus and Odin being rich bastards, we may not get the outcome we want.

I hugged Mitsuhide tightly while singing to him, hoping that my singing would soothe him. I then noticed that Mitsuhide was not calming down at all, he then looked at me saying

“Hide the blades, medication and long cords. Now.”

When I heard that I let go of Mitsuhide and went to do so. I’m so glad Mitsutsuna taught me what to do when Mitsuhide ends up having a manic episode or a depressive episode. I then looked at Mitsuhide asking “Anything else?”

Mitsuhide nodded “My wallet.”

I nodded and hid his wallet as well. I then walked to my beloved and hugged him “I love you, I won’t leave you, you’re a god amongst men, you’re the strongest guy I know, you’re an absolute badass, you’ve survived so much and you’re still here, I’m so proud of you”

Mitsuhide rested his head on my chest smiling. I wasn’t told to tell Mitsuhide nice things about him, I just added that to combat the intrusive thoughts that might come up as he deals with this episode, such as feeling unworthy of anything great in life. He looked at me smiling

“I’m so sorry for having that episode.” He spoke,

I looked at him weirdly before saying “Don’t be sorry for something that is not in your control.”

Mitsuhide looked down “No one wants to hire me so I can’t get a job and I don’t want to rely on my parents to get my medication…”

I soon became worried. I looked at him before letting go of him “I just need to ask your father when dinner is ready”

I then walked out of our studio apartment and towards Mitsutsuna saying “Hey sooooooo I found out why Mitsuhide is having these episodes. He doesn’t want to rely on you to get his medication, even though he knows that you and your wife are more than happy to help him…”

Mitsutsuna froze “Wh-What? O-Oh my god!”

He then picked up his phone and called Ritsuko (Mitsuhide’s mother).

Mitsutsuna then said “So, Mitsuhide has not been taking his medication for his bipolar and his depression…

He doesn’t want to rely on us to get it for him…

I know we had that conversation with him that we’re his parents and if we can’t get him the medication he needs then we don’t deserve the honour of parenthood…

Please just get the medication for him, I’ll have a chat…

Motochika managed to get him to talk about whether or not he’s getting his medication…

Okay, I’ll do that for you”

He then hung up the phone and looked at me saying “Thank you so much for telling us this.”

I nodded “It’s okay, if we can at least get him on his medication for the duration of the Trial we can manage his condition as the trial goes on.”

I then walked back to our mini apartment, Mitsuhide looked at me saying “You told them didn’t you…”

“I’m sorry honey, I had to, they want to help you, please let them help you.” I replied.

I hugged him tightly before Ritsuko arrived and handed me the medication. “Thank you Motochika, I think you’re the man that my son needed.”

I nodded and accepted the paper bag.

THE NEXT DAY

It was the day the trials of Da Ji, Loki and Ares began.

I stood by Mitsuhide’s side as we made our way into the court room. Da Ji glared at us as the evidence was presented.

Soon it was Dousan’s turn to present evidence. He walked to the whiteboard and projector and turned it on soon revealing the Instagram post made by Da Ji that had the photo of Mitsuhide naked lying on the dingy bathroom floor.

Loki, Ares and Da Ji were held back as Dousan revealed the evidence and explained the statements given by myself, Mitsuhide and the school staff who found us in the bathroom.

The trial lasted for about five days and Judge Orochi sent the Jury out to discuss what the verdict is going to be, as we waited for the verdict Loki looked at Mitsuhide saying

“Now you’ve fucking done it, how much attention do you fucking want you whore!”

I blocked Mitsuhide’s ears when Loki opened his mouth to talk.

We then saw the Jury enter the courtroom again and the jury Forewoman Tamamo was asked if Loki was guilty or not guilty.

Tamamo replied “Loki and Ares had the majority vote of not guilty of all charges. While I have voted guilty I believe there has been some form of bribery going on that I do not know about. As a result for the sake of the members of the jury who are sympathetic towards the victim the least the courts should do is grant him the restraining order.”

“OBJECTION BITCH!” was heard, I looked in the direction the voice came from to find that it was Loki, he then looked at the judge saying

“Your Honour, I do not believe that Akechi Mitsuhide should be applying for a restraining order against myself and Ares, the three of us are all minors and there is no need for a kid to be applying for a restraining order against other kids, I believe he is doing this for attention, he imagined everything, that Instagram post is fake and we will take legal action if you allow the restraining order to go through!”

Orochi slammed the podium saying “ORDER IN THE COURT! Mr Loki Asgardian you have spoken enough, do not argue with our jury members again. Tamamo, my apologies for the interruption. Do you find Da Ji guilty or not guilty of the Sexual Assault charges and Child Pornography Charges?”

Tamamo replied “We have found Da Ji guilty of Sexual Assault and Production and distribution of child pornography, however, the majority recommends mercy.”

I saw Tamamo roll her eyes, I could tell that she has tried to get us the justice we deserve.

Orochi looked at everyone saying “Loki Asgardian and Ares Olympus are acquitted of all charges and I sentence Da Ji to four months in juvenile detention” he then grabbed the hammer and hit the hammer puck to make the sentence final.

Mitsuhide soon started crying but these tears are not happy ones, they’re tears of sadness and anger.

I called out to Orochi saying “THAT IS NOT FAIR! HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT KNOWING YOU LET THEM OFF SO LIGHTLY!? THEY DESTROYED MITSUHIDE’S LIFE! AND AN ACQUITTAL FOR THE ACCOMPLICES AND A FOUR MONTH SENTENCE IS ALL YOU GIVE THEM!? MITSUHIDE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO LIVE THE CLOSEST POSSIBLE THING TO A NORMAL LIFE WHILE THESE CRIMINALS ARE RUNNING FREE!”

Orochi looked at me with a sullen look saying “I’m sorry, this is the best I can do…”

“FINE IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE US THE JUSTICE WE DESERVE THEN I’LL GET IT MYSELF! AND THAT IS NOT A THREAT IT IS A PROMISE!” I shouted as I picked Mitsuhide up and walked out.

Four months for raping Mitsuhide then taking a photograph of him in the nude without his consent and posting it on the internet is unbelievable! What do we get!? Stuck with the trauma and having those assholes smiling like fucking crazy because they got away with it.

“Mr Chosokabe?” I heard that which brought me back to reality, I turned around still carrying Mitsuhide bridal style.

The person calling out to me was Tamamo. She walked to me and handed me a folder “Here. I have made it a rule that any communication between the prosecution or defence and the jury must be screenshot and sent to me. If you do anything rash that could get you in bigger trouble with the law these might help you justify it. These are all of the messages from the defence bribing the majority of the jury to give a not guilty verdict or if it has to be a guilty verdict to prevent suspicion recommendation of mercy.”

Mitsuhide took the folder while I had tears in my eyes said “Thank you so much, you’re so sweet”

Tamamo giggled saying “Don’t thank me, thank Kaguya, another juror for bringing this up. She was suspicious of the defence for a while and was a bit annoyed that she wasn’t the jury forewoman, I told her that if she needed to talk to me about what was happening in the court I am happy to listen. This was what she presented. Good luck taking matters in your own hands, I will be supporting you from afar.”

I nodded as we walked to the car. I placed Mitsuhide in the middle back seat, he put his seatbelt on as I sat next to him.

Hades was driving us as he was given a note by Mitsuhide’s parents stating that they are unable to bring us to the courthouse. When Hades got in the car he then screamed loudly “FUCK YOU ZEUS YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I FUCKING HATE YOUR GUTS! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE WHY THE FUCK MUST THE WORLD LET YOU BE SO PRIVELEGED THAT YOU COULD JUST FUCK UP A FUCKING TRIAL LIKE THAT YOU FUCKING PERVERTED PLAYBOY ASSHOLE I HOPE YOU FUCKING ROT IN HELL!”

I blocked Mitsuhide’s ears as Hades screamed. When he was finished Hades looked at us with tears in his eyes saying “I’m calling your parents and asking if I can take you two somewhere for icecream and shopping to cheer you up.”

He then did so, explaining the situation, thankfully both my and Mitsuhide’s parents approved of this before we could leave a guy with silver hair and aqua streaks in his hair got in the car and looked at Hades and kissed his forehead saying

“Hey Hades, baby, what’s wrong?”

Hades looked at the guy saying “My younger brother is a privileged asshole Yang Jian… he made my mental health client lose his court case…”

Yang Jian kissed Hades’ forehead again saying “I’m guessing a repeat of us when we were sixteen? Everyone pulled the ‘they didn’t know better they’re only little’ garbage?”

Hades nodded he then said “I have asked my client and his boyfriend’s parents if I could take them out for ice cream and shopping to cheer them up. If you want you can go somewhere else while I do this”

Yang Jian looked at Hades saying “which client is it?”

“Akechi Mitsuhide” Hades replied.

Yang Jian replied “You referred Mitsuhide to the place I work for and they chose me to be his mental health support worker. This is the perfect opportunity to get to know him, even if I spend the entire time with him in silence, building rapport does not require talking at the first instance.”

Hades nodded before turning on the ignition and driving to the next town over. I’m willing to assume to keep us away from Ares and Loki so we can have some time to breathe and be happy before we get thrown through the gauntlet of bullying for trying to throw people in jail.

When we got to the mall Yang Jian looked at us asking Mitsuhide “Hey, is it okay if we just spend time together just you and me? Hades will look after Motochika for you.”

I looked at Mitsuhide who replied “O-Okay b-but if we see those two no ifs, whats or buts, I’m finding Motochika and staying with him.”

Yang Jian nodded “I understand, I want to make sure you’re comfortable and safe.” Mitsuhide put the folder in my satchel, grabbed his Lapras plush doll and his handbag and went with Yang Jian while I stayed with Hades.

I looked at Hades asking “’A repeat of us when we were sixteen’? Are you saying that this has happened before!?”

Hades nodded sadly “Yes. Not to this scale, but my parents never approved of Yang Jian, they acted like Yang Jian was a bad influence on me. I wanted to pursue a career in mental health, so did he.

My parents wanted an accountant. But because of the fact that my parents hated Yang Jian, Zeus gets to be a dick to me and not get in trouble for it.

Which sucked… and it also sucks knowing that he gets to get away with letting his son and his friends do what they want with light consequences…”

I nodded and we went to a musical instrument store because I wanted to get a new shamisen.

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2monstax · 6 years ago

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things i’ve been doing in college that helped

i’m close to graduation so here are some things that i've personally been doing over the years that i found helped me (and hopefully you too)!

had a layout of what classes i took during what semester. i put this in a cover of a binder and, after every semester, organized all the stuff i'm keeping according to that and put it in there. it's also a way to check my credits and make sure my degree and major requirements are being met

took a screenshot of my schedule (so that i could see the class, days & time, professor, and location) and put that as my lockscreen til i felt i memorized my days correctly

planned the routes to classes. i only had 10-15 minutes inbetween classes and i don’t have a bike (and i have this thing about being in class at least a few minutes before it starts) so i needed to be efficient and put my mind at ease about the late thing. i timed how long it'd take me to go from A to B, or made estimates based on previous experience. (it's best to do this before school starts so you also know where you're supposed to go)

got my uni's email and canvas (or blackboard if your school uses that) apps IMMEDIATELY and made those notifs ANNOYING!! i've made it so they'll show up in banners while i'm on my phone AND on my lockscreen when i'm not. (it’s up to you if you want sounds to accompany them.) if i needed to go back to an email for whatever reason, i marked it as unread so that it’ll still badge the app (bc i’m the type of person who prefers clearing out my notifs)

grouped all the apps i needed for school into one thing. that means all email apps, canvas, calculator, google apps, whatever else

got 3-subject notebooks and made them stretch. i used different sections for different classes, then stapled and labeled them at the end of the semester so that i could use the remaining paper for future classes/semesters. i've only used 2 3-subjects notebooks and 4 single ones for 33 classes so far, but i did also take notes on my laptop for when i was too lazy to write or knew there’d be a lot of info to cover

had one good binder with dividers and loose leaf paper for my classes. in my experience, i typically didn’t get a lot of physical papers aside from the syllabi and a few handouts, nor write on paper a lot (at least to turn in), but i like being organized. on the divider tabs (or the divider if i didn’t have enough room), i wrote the class, professor, days & times, and locations

developed a note-taking writing style that wasn’t word-for-word letter-by-letter but still understandable!! imo, writing everything out makes it boring and you might as well be reading the textbook twice. plus, you need to be able to get information from lectures quickly; professors may not only use visual aids, but also say important things that you should put down too!! i hardly ever write/type articles (ie “the,” “a,” “an”), “and” is shortened to ‘n’/&/+’ (and each symbol means something different), and i shorten words (eg “biological”/”biology” > “bio”). however, i did write down definitions nearly word-for-word because those are fundamental things you should know

made my notes visually interesting. i used different bullets to mark definitions, people, important vs unimportant points, etc. i also staggered them like how you would an outline - the main point or overarching idea would be positioned to the very left, and everything that came from that would be positioned more and more to the right. it also helped make my notes easier to read than if everything was lined up on the left side of the page

had an organization system!!! you need to know your system and stick to it. i've labeled and dated pretty much everything, i've got folders on google docs, canvas, and my laptop grouped by semesters AND classes, and binders and dividers for everything physical.

had a BIG whiteboard with a calendar and space to write notes. i wrote ALL my due dates/deadlines and things i should do in each class for the entire month and only wiped them off when i did them or if it was too late to do/submit them. i also wrote down on the side what days i was absent for each class (which helps if you do participation assessments, and/or your professor has a limit on how many unexcused days you can miss without your grade taking a major hit)

had my mwf and tt materials in different stacks and put them in order of when i had class. if i needed to do/finish something asap, i put that class's stuff at the top for easy access

wrote down a list of all the classes i was interested in before advising for registration happened. i put the semester at the top of the page, and looked through the entire list of available classes for any class i wouldn't mind taking. i separated classes for my major and gen eds/other classes with labels, and put the crn's, times, and special attributes next to each class/block. from this, i arranged a tentative schedule and marked back-up classes in case the ones i really wanted/needed were full

if you have particular tricks that helped you get through college, please add them!!

#mine #college #school #university #if yall need help or advice let me know! i don't love college for reasons but i want yall to succeed

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ego-centrick-moved · 7 years ago

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EGO MAYHEM THEORIES: II

THIS IS PART II. CLICK HERE FOR PART I.

OK FUCKERS LET’S FIRST COVER SOME STUFF:

Jack posted a photo to his instagram with red lights shining on his face as he wore chases shirt and marvin's mask was spotted in the back

he livestreamed some fortnight and @lisasepticsuperplier spotted marvin’s mask hanging on the whiteboard. @maggiemaemoo also noticed and pointed out when he went on a “pee break” the mask went missing. this same mask was on the whiteboard in his new “am i colorblind” video.

it’s important to note that the red lights were in every video between chapter one and the colorblind video.

RGB lights/lens flares in most thumbnails.

he wore a black shirt in every video up until today (5/9) where he switched it out for chases shirt in “try to fall asleep” and a fairly normal tee in “am i colorblind”

i don't think “am i colorblind” is important to our theories at all, i actually think for once we got a normal video? besides the mask, nothing off happens the whole video and there’s no red lights. did jack go back to sleep?

CHAPTER 4: “IT WAS ALL CONNECTED”

"you see a man in front of you. this man looks strange, not like any man you have seen before. suddenly, you realize you were looking in a mirror..."

by this point we know all of the intros are connected/parallel events having to do with jack/the egos. this intro doesn’t end with “stories untold.” it’s likely the case because in game, we learn what the characters “untold” story is- and we start to uncover jacks.

all of his egos have a similar likeness to jack, so he could be referring to coming face to face with any of them. i think, however, this is more of a “i don’t recognize myself” statement. jack has lost his memories, he hasn’t been himself and his subconscious knows. that’s why he doesn’t recognize the man in the mirror, why it looks strange to him. mirrors have been a common theme over time regarding anti/broken!jack, and mirrors were also involved in the second video this day.

i really think jack did a good job choosing stories untold to be The Game(tm) where all this shit goes down. there’s a lot of very obvious connections you can make with jack/the ego’s stories and this game, and i enjoy it a lot. i took some notes while watching the video, it would take to long to expand on them individually so i'll just share this screenshot. it’s a lil messy:

now let’s jump to that ending. i’m still reeling from it; wig evaporated.

i still have NO SOLID IDEA what he could’ve been referring to. does he remember everything or just some things? does he blame schneep or anti? does he remember who everyone is again? SO MANY QUESTIONS! gif credit

@fear-is-nameless pointed out he looks directly at the camera, not through it. almost as if he's talking to someone. i think he’s either talking to us, or talking to schneep/chase considering (i think) they were the ones trying to get him to wake up to begin with.

@no-strings-puppet pulled together the whispers that you can listen to slowed here, slowed and reversed here.

@damienisverygood made a transcript of the whispers, i have a hard time hearing it so i cant rly confirm for 100% that this is accurate, but definitely worth noting.

@monochromemedic had a really interesting theory about schneeps involvement in it all, it’s definitely worth taking a peek at.

@booperdoopcr has a theory that really got me thinking as well.

i really do think someone has been “pulling the strings,” choosing what jack can remember and locking away whatever memories either a, hurt him or b, doesn’t serve their agenda. it’s hard to tell if it’s anti who’s in control of what jack knows or if it’s our doctor.

i don’t think schneep is evil or malevolent. if he’s keeping jack from remembering it’s for jacks health or the well-being of the other egos/himself. it’s an outdated theory that anti thrives off of attention (i can’t remember but i think jack said that wasn’t quite the case) so it would make sense for henrick to lock away memories that involved anti, it would also explain why jack doesn’t remember him (considering he was corrupted last time we saw him). the thing that doesn’t quite add up with this theory is why schneep was so frazzled to see jack playing his role, when he knew jack didn’t remember him or really know what he was doing. schneep looked scared when confronting jack, he knew something was wrong. overnightwatch happened after schneep left for “vacation,” yet jack seems to forget about that too. i don’t dismiss this theory completely, it just leaves a lot of questions.

anti, however, would benefit from jack having amnesia about him. if he doesn’t know who anti is and doesn’t know there’s something fishy going on, he can’t stop it. it would make sense for anti to make jack forget schneep, considering he tried to save him. it also could’ve just been a casualty of trying to get jack to forget everything regarding the glitch demon himself. it would also make sense for schneep to be frazzled in this case when confronting jack, because he likely didn’t know who he was talking to. he recognized jack, but he didn’t know jack. if that makes any sense.

i stand strongly by my theory that memory-lacking jack is just a puppet of antis, being controlled by him without really knowing. schneep has experience with anti, he was likely afraid of the unknown possibilities that stirred around confronting an unstable, unknowing puppet!jack. i honestly believe schneep came back to try to save jack. after he confronted puppet!jack, i think he started some sort of therapy to get him to remember, and had chases help. (like a parallel to the dr. alex/mom and james in the game ya feel?)

@chronically-illustrated pointed out that all of the endings could be a bit of interpretation of what happened to jack over the years. James Ation had a hard time interpreting reality so the truth manifested in complicated and symbolic ways. the outros could’ve symbolized jack’s memories coming back to him/events that have been actively happening.

we see jack “wake up” periodically (i think the jack that remembers is conscious, just locked away, being tortured and watching everything unfold) , leaving hints and cries for help littered here and there. they almost ALWAYS get removed though, seemingly by anti trying to get things back under control. the tags on the DDLC playthroughs that got deleted (canyouhearme, i remember what happened), the entire overnightwatch stream getting deleted (seemingly from memory as well), the random tags showing up on posts only to get deleted later (the sos in morse code). anti doesn’t want jack catching on, he deletes all signs of him he can and all of jacks cries for help while simultaneously taunting us and fucking with us (like overnightwatch as whole). thanks to @fear-is-nameless for reminding me about the tags on DDLC.

no traditional outro or intro

CHECK PLEASE

this video just seemed very off. i don’t have a lot to say about it, but i’ll let my notes sum it up:

i don’t really know what to make of it, other than it’s suspicious as all hell. the red light was in this video as well.

he mentioned magic 6 times, made a blood/knife/threatening comment about 5 times, and got injured/burned twice.

that mirror speech was all fine until he said “you got this- we got this.” i just don't trust like that.

if anything, i think this just helps solidify the idea that memory vacant jack is just a puppet of antis. it might also reveal that anti’s whole plan is to become one with jack and be the foreman (host).

“papa” sounds a lot like anti in the closing scene lmao. i don’t think there’s much to read into, its just something funny. if he is a puppet i wonder if he sees anti as dad?

there IS a traditional outro/intro

TRY TO FALL ASLEEP

i hate this man. i absolutely despise him. im kidding i love him and his creativity and torture knows no bounds. this mother fuck really did this to us.

before even watching the video, i knew we were NOT in the clear, after jack seemingly “waking up” yesterday and then this video? i love hate him.

here are my general notes on the video. i added lines to make it easier to read cos this was a Lot:

i take the notes during my first watch through so i'm sorry for the meaningless comments/reactions throughout.

let’s break this down a lil bit. the video starts off weird. there’s no normal intro, and the red lights are there- just dim (this was brought to my attention from this post by @markired), “jack” fades in through static.

@lizziebirb made this gif where you can see marvins mask show through the static:

then that creepy grin is back as he introduces the game. he stares directly at us as he makes his “speech” about going to sleep. when he makes the comment “when you drift off, that’s when the fun begins,” i half expected to hear anti’s laugh. bone-chilling to say the least.

the character in the game is someone who just went through an accident of some kind, and memory loss is mentioned (another parallel?). jack glosses over that, and instead focuses on brain damage. now hear me out; what if jack doesn’t want to remember? what if he wants to stay asleep because he’s afraid? i feel like due to the theme of the last game egos aside, he normally would’ve pointed it out or made a connection? i could be wrong, im just thinking out loud.

he also, out of place, brought up “why are all these people in my house” which reminded me a lot of a post he reblogged a few days ago.

he says “i don't know if i need a mask” (referring to gas masks in game) but that line stuck out to me, due to the fact two egos have masks and one of them even popped up in this video. the other ego (jbm) we haven't heard almost anything from since this all started.

i found a lot in the TV snow. we see marvin, JJ, and a hidden message. ill link the post with all the pictures here, but i would like to highlight a few screenshots in specific.

in this one, jack’s webcam seems to glitch out when marvin pops up. i don't know if that was something that messed up in the rendering of the video, but it honestly reminds me a lot like the glitches that popped up during the antipocalypse days. with the way the color fades and there seems to be hints of color over his face. i wonder if there’s a second image there we just can’t see?

and then there was this:

i traced over the words, but that’s all i saw. i’ve seen people claim it says “you need to wake up” but i just... don’t see that. it would make sense, but i never see the end of this sentence and i very clearly see an “A” in the 3rd word, so it doesn’t say “need”. it could say “you have to flee,” considering that is the next word we see after this. if that’s the case, who is he fleeing from and why?

it could ALSO be someone telling jack he HAS to wake up. like they’re telling him he doesn’t have a choice, he can't just keep acting like things didn’t happen and put off confronting his memories/his egos. after waking up yesterday, and then this video today, i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s deliberately trying to fall back asleep.

we also see JJ. but why? this is the only time i see him, and as far as i know jack doesn’t even reference him in this video, unlike how he referenced marvin with the abundance of magic-related comments. what’s the significance of JJ being in this video/making an appearance?

he also makes a face worth mentioning after reading the phrase “loose lips spit sekrits.” (i’m p sure it’s spelt that way because in dreams it’s common for things to be a little off, especially words. it wasn’t a typo by the developers, it was deliberate). this face goes entirely full screen and only lasts for about a second. it could be for comedic effect because he thought it was a typo, but it could also be a certain someone throwing some shade, yanno? someone's been slipping us hints, “spitting sekrits,” and another someone is probably not very thrilled about it.

he then makes a comment about “revive” due to the word being on a podium. he picks up a fuse and says, “can the doctor revive me after this” (as JJ pops up on screen) which could be a direct reference to schneep “reviving” jack- or at least his attempts to.

fear was a big theme in this video, he repeated that he “wasn’t afraid” many times even though he was very obviously afraid. i wonder who he was trying to convince he wasn’t afraid? who are we even watching in this video, and who are they trying to prove something to? he breaks the fourth wall towards the end and tells us “no fear, im repeating it so you guys remember it.” does he want us to have no fear, is it important that we aren’t afraid? or is he trying to convince us/whoever he really isn’t afraid, just cautious for our sake?

there were about 5 mentions of magic i caught throughout this video.

no traditional outro/intro

i’ll add more as the days go on, but in another two days (if there’s still ego stuff goin on) i’ll make another one. :D if you have any theories to add lmk by tagging me, messaging them to me, or just replying here ! i’ll throw them in where/if they fit and tag you. thanks for all the positive responses on my first theory post, i hope this one is as helpful. :D

Tags (im sorry): @jacksoopticboop @jacksepticeye-protection-squad @lum1natrix @puppet-master-anti @kasper-the-ghost @septicjacks @mrcamillaa @hufflepufftrax @rogue-of-broken-time @marielgum @markired

#jacksepticeye #antisepticeye #overnightwatch #marvin the magnificent #jse theories #jse community #stories untold #mo theorizes #mo squeaks #long post #*100

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swiftwidget · 8 years ago

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Collapse - Chapter Six

The Waiting Game

Cowritten and Proofread by @aoimikans

Naomasa took the stairs two at a time, foam cup of coffee in hand. He checked his watch. 6:03AM shined up from the clockface.

“Still early.” Nodding, Naomasa slowed as he reached the top of the stairwell and pushed the door open.

“Sir!” Sansa greeted him in the hall and jogged up to him.

Naomasa quirked a lopsided smile at the officer’s appearance. His fur stuck out at all angles and his right ear was flipped backwards.

Shaking his head, Naomasa pointed in the direction of the locker rooms, “Go home, Sansa.”

Sansa blinked blearily, “S-sir? Wait, no, I can-”

“You look exhausted,” Naomasa chuckled and reached out, carefully fixing his subordinate’s ear, “Did you stay here all night?”

“Y-yes, sir,” Sansa’s ears pressed back guiltily. He rubbed his gloved hands together, shoulders bent in exhaustion. He gestured behind him, toward the bullpen, “Those kidnappings, sir… There’s been another, and I’m trying to map out the a-” Sansa yawned widely, blinking and rubbing at his face, “Sorry. I’m trying to map out the area to narrow the search parameters.”

“Already thinking like a detective,” Naomasa commended softly, “Thank you, Sansa. But please don’t burn yourself out. I need everyone at their best for this case, and you still have your separate duties as an officer.”

Sansa bowed his head, “Sorry, sir.”

Naomasa clapped his hand on Sansa’s arm, “No need to apologize. I appreciate the help. How about this, you can come back after getting at least a solid six, alright?”

A soft trill came from Sansa’s throat, and he smiled, “Thank you, sir. I’ll do that. Oh, and Alb- Wright’s team got here an hour early. They’re already hard at work and should be ready for the morning briefing.”

Naomasa nodded, patting the officer’s back, “Thank you. Get some rest, Sansa.”

“Yes sir!” he chirruped, continuing down the hall.

Naomasa watched Sansa go before walking to the conference room. Taking a long swig of coffee, he knocked and entered.

“Good morning,” Naomasa greeted.

Wright’s team sat around the conference table which was shoved to the front of the room to make space for the large whiteboard in the back. Boxes of evidence and files sat on the far end of the table, a couple open. Their contents were strewn across the wooden surface. Colored tabs stuck to the tops of each smaller pile.

“Morning, Detective,” Mary Shin grinned up at him as her peers returned the greeting. She brushed a lock of white hair behind her ear and tapped the stack of papers in front of her, “Court order came through. Rishi General Hospital just had the rest of their supply records sent over, including any supply contacts with the Espa Clinic.”

“Good,” Naomasa turned to Vera Lang, “Any luck with the clinic?”

Lang’s fingertips brushed over her digital braille terminal, and she nodded, “The clinic’s owner has a spotty history. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was a straw owner, renting out the building’s old maintenance tunnels as a hideaway. Either way, shady business. Reminds me too much of Montgomery’s opioid case in the UK.”

“Mary, I finished this stack,” Genji Tsuda said, quietly sliding the papers to her, “Some of these don’t make sense. They are labeled as surplus, but don’t show up in the storage count. It’s fishy.”

Naomasa leaned across the table, tilting his head to read the highlighted supplies.

Intravenous fluids, calcium supplements, iron supplements…

“These are some of the supplies found in the room where Yagi was kept,” Naomasa felt a wave of energy rush through him, “Great find, Tsuda.”

Tsuda glanced up at Naomasa, and a small, bright grin lit his face as he dug into the next stack of paper. The small fern at the center of the table doubled in size.

“Tsukauchi,” Bellamy called from across the room, “Could you come see this a moment?”

The empath stood next to the whiteboard. On it were pictures of four people, two men and two women, with one of the women off to the side.

“Since Yagi’s second abduction, four people have been reported missing in the nearby Wards. Officer Tamakawa was working to find a possible connection between these recent missing person cases,” Bellamy tapped on the picture separated from the rest, “This woman here is Mirai Shimeno. We can’t be certain that she’s involved, but her disappearance is suspicious to say the least. She was reported missing after she failed to show up to work. Her supervisor noted that on her last shift, she never clocked out.”

Naomasa nodded, committing the woman’s face to memory, “Fair enough. Where does she work?”

Bellamy pointed to a pinned spot on the map, then stepped back to gesture at the marked edge of the circle surrounding a cluster of other colored pins, “She works in a senior care center just outside of our search radius. The fact that she went missing in a medical facility was reason enough for Tamakawa to include her on our list.”

Naomasa’s expression darkened, “A senior care facility…”

He glanced at Wright who gave him a knowing nod.

Isamu Sato’s words echoed in the back of Naomasa’s mind, “I used to work in a cancer ward for terminal patients. It was one of my night shifts…”

Naomasa pinched his lip in thought, his gut urging him as he asked, “Bellamy, what was the time frame of Shimeno’s disappearance?”

Bellamy hummed, picking up a file, “Roughly between 10pm to 2am. Apparently she was going to cover for another coworker in the morning, and no one could reach her when she didn’t show up. ‘Uncharacteristic’ according to her supervisor’s report.

“There was something else,” Bellamy continued as his fingers moved along his rosary, “I went to get a feel for the place. There was a sense of loss - an emptiness. Now, it’s not uncommon considering the nature of the facility, but after a little asking around, I discovered that one of her patients passed away in his sleep during that same time frame.”

A chill worked its way up Naomasa’s spine.

He was there. All for One.

Bellamy turned, gesturing to Wright, “Go ahead with your theory.”

Wright set his pen down and stood, frowning as he made eye contact with Naomasa, “While I realize my… error in how I handled Sato’s interview, the information gathered remains valid. This is his M.O. Taking quirks from those close to death like a scavenger. A senior care facility is one place with easily accessible quirks.” He pointed to the picture of Shimeno, “If she was anything like Sato…”

“Wrong place, wrong time,” Naomasa murmured with a nod, brows furrowed in thought, “Was Sansa able to find something connecting the rest?”

Bellamy hummed, turning back to the map, “The rest were taken off the street. Souma Ogawa at midday and on film. Kousuke Shiga vanished in the evening according to his friend who had planned to meet him for their Sunday drinks. So far, he’s the only person with a criminal history. He robbed a convenience store four years ago and did his time for it. Tayori Yamadori was last seen by her grandchildren when she dropped them off at their home. Yamadori runs a flower shop but hasn’t opened the store in a couple days.”

Bellamy gestured to each pin marking their homes, places of work, and frequently visited locations, “It’s a bit spread out, but one commonality between them is their pharmacy. Each opted to pick up their prescriptions here-” he tapped on the single red pin. Then he sighed, “Granted, any number of people could be using that pharmacy for any number of reasons. Still… it isn’t something that should be overlooked.”

“Now, to be clear,” Wright abruptly spoke up and moved to Naomasa’s side, “You believe these people were captured by the man known as the Good Doctor and All for One?”

“Yagi believes so,” Naomasa said, approaching the whiteboard. He considered each missing person’s face, “Something he remembers the Doctor said while he was at the Espa Clinic makes him think as much. Unfortunately, I think he’s right. He has a good sense for these things.”

“Why not bring him in?” Wright asked with feigned nonchalance.

Naomasa pinched the bridge of his nose, “He -”

Wright held up his hand almost apologetically, “I know he’s been injured, but he is the most valuable asset to this case. You both believe these people are being abducted to recreate what was done to Yagi. So, why not use what he knows?”

“We already have what he knows,” Naomasa insisted, “I was also there at Kamino. I know what All for One’s transmission quirk looks like,” he added, pointing at the blurred screenshot of Ogawa’s abduction.

Sighing, Naomasa went to the coffee machine and refilled his foam cup, “Please keep in mind, Yagi was a pro hero and knows what sort of information we need for these investigations. If he remembers anything more, he knows to contact us.”

Just let him rest, Naomasa thought, stirring the still steaming coffee. He deserves to distance himself from this.

Wright rounded the table and gestured to the many stacks of paper, “Then perhaps as an extra set of eyes?”

Lang huffed a frustrated sigh, “Will-”

Naomasa barked a laugh, earning startled looks from each of the team members - though Bellamy’s was more bemused.

“Toshi- ah, Yagi and paperwork don’t mix well,” Naomasa said with a chuckle. He sipped from his coffee before taking his place at the table, “Listen, if I believe we need Yagi’s consultation, I will ask for him myself. For now, we are fully capable of working this case with the information he has given us and what we have found.”

Wright crossed his arms and frowned, but Bellamy pat his shoulder and squeezed gently.

“That sounds perfectly fair,” Bellamy said, humor twinkling in his dark eyes as Wright dropped his hands and argument.

“Thank you.” Naomasa turned away from Wright, “Speaking of bringing people in,Vera, any luck with your Rishi Gen supply logs?”

Vera huffed, “I’ve noticed inconsistencies similar to those Genji found, as well as what look like hidden transactions, but they all lead to dead ends-” She waved her hand in Wright’s direction, “Yes, yes, Wright, I know how you feel about dead ends , but like you said I could use another pair of eyes so to speak. I suspect Miss Shiire knows more about the inner workings of this log than I do.”

“I thought as much,” Naomasa hummed, considering the whiteboard, and nodded, “Alright. I’ll bring her in. We have enough on her through Sato to at least make a case for theft and fraud. She may accept a deal and agree to help us for a lesser charge. We need to find where these hidden transactions lead.”

Unbidden, the memory of Toshinori stumbling, pupils blown wide, and drugged out of his mind came into sharp focus.

The bits and pieces taken from him still sat in evidence.

Determination fired in Naomasa’s gut.

Never again. That damn Doctor will not have free reign.

“I agree,” Bellamy flipped through his notes, “With these new kidnappings, the Doctor and All for One will face a drain in their resources. If we manage to unravel this puzzle, and if we can get the cooperation of other nearby medical facilities, any attempt on their part to obtain materials through these hospitals will lead us directly to their hidden location.”

Naomasa grinned fiercely, “Exactly.”

“Alright,” Wright frowned but took his place at the table, steepling his fingers, “So Tsukauchi will see to Miss Shiire. Mary, if you would, accompany him.”

“Me?” Mary blinked, “I- well I have spent more time in the logs… Yes. I should be able to tell if she’s trying to lead us astray. I wouldn’t mind joining you if that’s alright, Detective?”

Naomasa’s lips twitched with amusement, “I wouldn’t mind at all. Any other suggestions, Wright?”

Wright gave him a blank stare, “I’m ready to get to work if you are.”

“Great,” Naomasa said, clasping his hands together. Just as he reached for a free file, his phone binged merrily. He gave it a quick glance and grinned.

“Here we go,” Naomasa pocketed his phone and at the questioning looks he explained, “A meeting was just confirmed with Ryukyu, the Dragoon Hero. She is familiar with the area around Espa Street, often dealing with the rival gangs there. It’s possible she will recognize the small time villains guarding those old tunnels and know if they are connected to any larger organizations.”

Any lead is progress.

“Good luck,” Tsuda said, his sharp focus never wavering from the logs in front of him.

Naomasa smiled and nodded, “Thank you. I’ll send an officer in when I’m ready to head back to Rishi, Mary.”

“In the meantime, I’ll try to identify as many of those strange transactions as possible,” she replied.

Taking one last swig from his cup of coffee, Naomasa stood and straightened his jacket, “Thank you everyone. I trust your skills. We are going to find the Doctor and recover the people he’s kidnapped.”

Naomasa bowed swiftly before exiting.

The clock is ticking.

Toshinori glanced down at his new, updated watch and raised an air horn high in the air.

And… now!

The air horn blared, the sound echoing across the disaster zones of USJ.

From his place at the top of the stairs, Toshinori could see the students leap into action. His tail swayed, and he grinned.

This felt right.

Classes 1-A and 1-B were split into groups of five, students intermingled to give them a variety of unfamiliar quirks to work with. Each group was set out to locate, treat, and retrieve a U.A. teacher acting as survivor and instructor.

Lowering himself onto the top stair with a grunt, Toshinori turned and elbowed Aizawa’s leg.

“I still say I would have been fine acting as a survivor out there,” Toshinori said, his tail thumping the ground with excitement.

Aizawa glanced down and gave him a flat look before returning his attention to the four fields, “You’re already injured.”

He suddenly winced, yanking his earpiece out and giving it a red-eyed glare.

“HEEEEEEELP!” The drawn out yell echoed loudly from the rockslide area.

“Present Mic is really going all out,” Toshinori joked, hands over his sensitive ears.

“I’M TRAPPED! SOMEBODY HELP!”

Toshinori’s attention focused on the screen showing the kids approaching Mic’s location. Their hands covered their ears as they cast nervous looks at the loose and shifting rocks. Young Kirishima and Tokoyami pointed to the rocks most likely to shift, and redirected their team, choosing a safer route to Present Mic.

“HEEELP!”

The students barely dodged a sudden rock slide knocked loose by Present Mic’s shouting.

Toshinori grinned fiercely, “When the person you are trying to save is using a volatile quirk in panic, it can create a far more dangerous situation - if you don’t calm them down first.”

He recalled the boy who turned water to vinegar and a certain explosive incident.

“Calm down!” Bakugou roared, hands smoking, “We’re coming already!”

Speak of the devil. Toshinori chuckled.

“YOU CALL THAT REASSURING??” Present Mic scolded.

“If he doesn’t learn to inspire confidence in those he tries to save, he’s going to continue to struggle,” Aizawa grumbled, marking something on his clipboard.

Toshinori quirked a smile, warily glancing at Aizawa’s notes, “Every student has their weaknesses. He will learn.”

“Don’t worry! We’re coming to save you!” Kirishima called out.

“You’ll be safe soon, sir!” Shiozaki promised, clasping her hands together and sending her vines into the ground.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Toshinori’s smile widened, “They’ve figured something out.”

Tokoyami darted forward, Dark Shadow shielding Present Mic from the shifting stones above.

Monoma touched Kirishima’s arm, and they both ran forward. Their arms hardened and they dug Present Mic out from under the rubble. Shiozaki’s vines appeared from the ground, steadying the space left open when Kirishima tugged Present Mic out.

Monoma and Kirishima laid Present Mic down.

Kirishima looked over Present Mic for ‘injuries,’ spotting the fake blood painting Mic’s pants, “Where are you hur-!”

The ground suddenly shook.

Shiozaki tensed, sweat beading from her forehead, “Hurry!”

High above, a giant boulder suddenly came loose.

“Where do you think you idiots are treating him!?” Bakugou leapt forward.

“Tokoyami! Shield!” he growled, throwing up his hands.

Dark Shadow burst forth, expanding overhead.

Bakugou’s AP Shot burst from his hands with a catastrophic boom! The boulder exploded, debris showering the area. Kirishima and Monoma stepped in front of Present Mic with hardened bodies as Dark Shadow shrank in the harsh light.

When the dust cloud settled, Toshinori grinned as Bakugou appeared in front of Present Mic, hand outstretched, “Come on. I’ll carry you somewhere safe.”

Present Mic nodded satisfactorily, grabbing the young hero’s hand.

Toshinori chuckled softly, “He’s learning.”

Aizawa hummed, but Toshinori spotted the proud glint in his gaze.

Toshinori jolted as his tail thumped the ground loudly, and he snatched the limb up and pulled it onto his lap. The tufted tip still wagged eagerly.

He coughed, ears heating as the long tuft swat against his chest.

Behave, he pat his tail.

“Looks like the other groups are wrapping up,” Aizawa said.

Toshinori’s ears perked and he scanned the disaster areas. In the shipwreck cove, he spotted Izuku and Jurota Shishida helping keep Cementoss’s head above water as they were pulled to shore by Yaoyorozu and Tetsutetsu. Manga Fukidashi ran forward, words of concern popping up where his face would be.

“Looks like a successful rescue,” Toshinori hummed, “I imagined that area would pose an issue for young Tetsutetsu. With his quirk and body type, I wonder how well he can swim without sinking.”

Aizawa nodded, “That’s why I put Yaoyorozu and Midoriya on his team. With their planning skills, they can make up for any weaknesses if they put their minds to it.”

Toshinori smiled and suppressed a sympathetic chuckle as Jurota shook off the water coating the fur on his body once they reached the shore. He ran his fingers through the ridged mane along his tail.

Scooting back, Toshinori pushed himself up with a grunt and, leaning on his crutches, focused on the arriving students.

“Well done,” he called, tail swaying happily as the first of Class 1-A passed by.

His students smiled brightly, energized by the chance to use their skills. A few of them sported small scrapes and burns from their practice run.

“Students with injuries report to Recovery Girl,” Aizawa said, gesturing over his shoulder at the tent by the exit.

“Go on over,” Toshinori nudged Ojiro toward the tent, “That’s a nasty burn. You too Jirou. Aoyama, good thinking utilizing your laser to get up on the roof. Keep working on your landing.”

Aoyama nodded, smile intact but strained as he clutched his gut.

“I can’t believe that’s All Might.”

Toshinori’s ear twitched back, but he continued to usher injured students toward Recovery Girl.

“Cut that out. Of course he’s All Might.” He heard another student say, “You heard what happened. That’s the risk that comes with being a hero. Show some respect.”

Toshinori quirked a lopsided smile and sighed. All in all, 1-B was taking it fairly well. Better than Toshinori had expected. He asked Blood King to give a brief announcement to the class about his condition. Even so, Toshinori saw the astonished looks that the students of 1-B sent his way.

Ah well, these things take time.

He turned and pointed young Monoma toward triage, “Have Recovery Girl take a look at your head. Looks like you have a bump.”

Monoma clicked his tongue as he covered the bleeding scrape and turned to Kirishima, “Man, what’s with your defective quirk?”

“Practice makes perfect,” Kirishima grinned challengingly and hardened the skin on his arm, “You gotta work to level up!”

“Boring.” Monoma huffed dismissively.

“It’s manly!” Kirishima sputtered indignantly.

Shaking his head, Toshinori snorted at the bickering.

So much energy.

Itsuka Kendo waved at All Might as she passed, catching his attention. She bowed her head briefly, “It’s good to have you back, All Might-sensei.”

Toshinori smiled softly at the familiar voice. ‘Some respect’ huh? I see why she’s called the ‘Big Sister’ of 1-B.

“It’s good to be back,” he said, and gave her a knowing look, “Thank you.”

There was a soft buzz in his pocket, and he excused himself, allowing Aizawa to take over for the moment. He hobbled a little away and pulled out his phone.

[How was class?] Naomasa’s text read.

[Just wrapping up. Not bad for the first day back.] Toshinori replied, [I observed for the most part.]

[You need your rest] was Naomasa’s quick reply.

Toshinori’s tail swayed as he grinned, [Either way, I’ll be glad when I can be more active.]

[Just take it easy until then.]

Toshinori’s ears twitched when he heard a bang and students laugh loudly.

[With these students?] he joked, chuckling to himself.

[Right…]

Toshinori went to pocket his phone, then hesitated. He lifted it back up.

[Have there been any leads in the case?] he asked.

There was a long pause, and for a moment Toshinori thought Naomasa had put his phone away. Then:

[We’ve found a few things connecting the four recent missing person cases. While that isn’t a confirmation that the Doctor has them per se, we can’t ignore it.]

Toshinori furrowed his brow, [Four? I thought it was two?]

[Another person was reported missing under suspicious circumstances, and a nurse reported missing earlier this week may be connected.]

[But listen, Toshinori.] Naomasa continued, [We’ll find them. We are working on a few possible leads now. It’s going to be alright.]

[That’s my line,] Toshinori replied. His gut twisted painfully, and he fished a small ball of aluminum from his pocket and popped it in his mouth.

[Is there anything I can do to help?] he asked, his grip on his phone tightening.

It’s been days for Ogawa… How many quirks -?

Naomasa’s text popped up on his screen, [You can focus on getting better.]

A jolt of frustration zipped down Toshinori’s spine, and his hackles bristled. Then, he sighed, shoulders slumping. He’s right…

Swallowing the last of the aluminum, Toshinori rubbed at his chest. It was nearly time to empty the acid sac. It pressed uncomfortably at the base of his ribs and left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Ah, wait.” His ears perked, and he quickly typed, [William Wright. I ran into him at the station. I forgot to mention it before, but he gave me his card.]

[...] The pending dots bounced for a moment, and Toshinori could almost hear Naomasa sigh.

His broken hock throbbed dully in its brace, and he shifted his balance on his crutches as a wave of fatigue washed over him.

His tail curled uneasily.

Phone buzzing again, Toshinori looked down at the screen.

[He asked to bring you in today. I told him just what I told you. Rest first.]

Damnit. Toshinori lowered his phone and scrubbed a hand down his face. Four people. He’s taken four. How can I just… ?

His leg ached.

[I know you want to do more,] Naomasa’s next message read, [But you have your students, and they need you more. You’ve already given us great leads to follow.]

[I know. You’re right.] Toshinori conceded, despite the old call to action pulling at his chest.

[I’ll keep you updated,] Naomasa said, [and if you think of anything, you can tell me. We’re still going to catch him, Toshinori. He’s not getting away.]

[We’ll get him, I know. Thank you, Nao.] Toshinori replied.

He pocketed his phone with a sigh.

Glancing up, Toshinori’s lips twitched with a small smile as he watched Aizawa and Blood King round up the students and issue homework based on the day’s trial.

Warmth cautiously bloomed in his chest, There are still things I can do.

Isamu pulled the freshly made key from his pocket, turning the sleek metal over in his palm. The key slid solidly into the deadlock, and with a smooth twist, he unlocked and opened the door.

Midday sun shined through the windows of Isamu’s new, campus apartment. It was a one bed, one bath apartment with a spacious kitchen and living room - a far cry from his old, cramped apartment. A small pile of boxes sat in the corner of the living room. Everything he owned neatly labeled “Kitchen,” “Bedroom,” “Bathroom,” and “Other.”

Isamu checked his watch.

All Might has class for another half-hour. Plenty of time to unpack the essentials.

Opening up the “Bedroom” boxes, he smiled, “At least I won’t have to live out of a duffle bag anymore.”

Earlier that morning, Principal Nedzu had come to him in the infirmary with a genuine apology for the delay.

“Delay?” Isamu had asked.

“For your housing!” The principal chirped with a cheery smile, “It took us some time to collect your belongings, but you’re all set now!”

Isamu’s cheeks burned, “H-huh?”

“Third floor, sixth door on the left,” Recovery Girl said, patting his hand as she dropped the key in his palm.

“The accommodations should be to your liking,” Nedzu said, whiskers twitching.

Isamu shook his head. The principal hadn’t been kidding.

Finding his washed bedding, he hoisted up the box and carried it to the western style bedroom. He glanced around the bare room.

A clean slate.

In Isamu’s back pocket, his cellphone buzzed. He quickly fished it from his pocket and grinned at the caller ID.

“Hey Mom,” he answered, tucking the phone against his shoulder, “How are you?”

“I’m just fine, Isamu,” Koharu said, and Isamu could hear her smile, “How are you doing? They aren’t making you do anything dangerous, are they?”

“No, no. Nothing dangerous, Mom,” Isamu laughed, pulling out his fitted sheet and wrestling it around his mattress, “While I am around some of the hero course students, I’m just making sure All Might doesn’t strain his leg for now.”

“I see,” Koharu sighed in relief, then gasped, “Oh! You aren’t working now, are you?”

Isamu grinned, throwing his comforter over the bed and patting it flat, “No, I’m setting up my apartment on campus which… was a pleasant surprise.”

“Oh, yes,” Kohana hummed, “I think we got a call about that. Is it nice?”

Isamu tossed his pillow on the bed and left his bedroom. Rummaging around, he found a bathroom box and collected his towels and soaps.

“It’s like twice the size of my old place and cleaner,” he said, then looked up, spotting a sliding door, “It has a balcony.”

A giddy flutter filled his chest as he set the bathroom supplies aside and slid open the balcony door. A rush of unseasonably warm air blew past, swirling inside his living room. He laughed aloud at the view.

His balcony faced a U.A. training forest, like a rolling sea of green, orange, and yellow.

“There’s so much to see here, Mom,” Isamu huffed a disbelieving laugh, “You know my last place? My window faced an alley, but this… This is incredible!”

“Oh Isamu,” his mother sighed, delighted, “I’m so happy for you. A new, safe job and studying under Recovery Girl. Are you enjoying your work?”

Isamu paused.

That blonde student’s glare flashed at the back of his mind.

“Y-yeah!” Isamu quickly replied despite the unease in his gut, pushing the memory aside, “I mean… I’m not working with as many patients as I’m used to, but I’m still helping. Learning from Recovery Girl is a dream come true. Did you know she has to consider exactly what she is healing and how the mending process works? It’s not just accelerating the healing process of the patient. She has to know exactly what she wants to have healed and to what degree.”

“I’m sure you can learn a lot from her,” Koharu said. In the background there was a high pitched whistle, “Oh dear, water’s done. Well, I just wanted to check in and give you some exciting news.”

Isamu straightened, “Oh?”

“Well, when your father and I dropped you off at the station, we … happened to run into our old friend who works in child services. And we decided to open our house and foster again.”

A bright grin split Isamu’s face, “That’s amazing!”

“Oh good!” Koharu huffed a sigh of relief, “I was worried over nothing.”

“Mrs. Sato! Can I help?!” came a distant shout.

“Yes, Hatoko dear. Would you like to take that basket down the hall? I need to pick some squash,” Koharu answered, “Just be care- be careful with your wings. You don’t want to bump them on the table.”

“Sounds like you have your hands full,” Isamu joked.

“He’s a delight and a sweet boy. A lot like you, actually,” Koharu laughed, “Goodness, it’s nice to have a little chaos in the house again. He’s so vibrant. Once he was washed up, we found pink feathers in his wings. He said his mother’s were the same color… That’s all he’ll say about her, but that’s alright. He just needs time and a little love and care.”

“You and Dad have always had more than enough to give,” Isamu said with a grin.

“Hmm, he’s still a bit skittish around your father, but I’m sure he’ll warm up to him once he knows he’s safe. Poor child…” Koharu tutted softly.

There was a distant fluttering of wings and an excited yelp.

“Oh dear, he’s found the greenhouse,” Isamu’s mother giggled, “Oh! Hatoko, dear - hold on, Isamu - Hatoko stay away from the kiwi. You’re allergic.”

“Aw! But it’s yummy!” Came the distant shout, “And my mouth didn’t itch that long…”

Isamu snorted and suppressed a laugh, “Good luck. Can’t wait to meet my new foster brother.”

“Thanks, Isamu. I’m sorry, I’ll call you again later. Have fun at your new place!” Koharu laughed again, and placed her hand over the receiver, “Hatoko, that’s not how allergies work…”

“Talk with you and dad later. Love you, mom.”

Koharu paused and took a steadying breath, “I love you too, Isamu. Take care of yourself, okay?”

Isamu smiled, looking out over the balcony, “I will. I promise.”

His mother sighed on the other end, “Thank you. Bye, honey.”

He nodded, “Bye, mom.”

Hanging up, Isamu stretched his arms and took several deep breaths. He frowned and twisted at the waist, rubbing his side when it pulled.

I really am lucky. This… His fingers traced the outline of his scar - a pale asterix dimpling the skin under his shirt - and he reached around his back, feeling at the smaller exit wound. He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. I’m lucky to be alive. And here.

Isamu shook off the inkling of uncertainty and collected his bathroom supplies. There was still more unpacking to do.

Toshinori walked across campus, his stride long but still uneven - crutches clicking on the sidewalk. His breath puffed in barely visible clouds, the air crisp but not uncomfortable.

Tail flicking in agitation, he frowned at his fractured hock. The urge to jog, to run, to leap itched at the back of his mind.

Huffing, he kept up his hobbling pace.

At least it isn’t throbbing anymore.

A cold wind rushed through the nearby wooded area, leaves rustling and fluttering to the ground. Toshinori shivered, and his hackles bristled as the wind blew through his light jacket, nipping at the bare skin of his tail.

“Goodness, it’s brisk!” He sped up and ducked into the live-in staff building. Rubbing at his arm, he pulled out his phone, double checking his texts.

[All Might, would you meet me at my new apartment? Staff apartments, room 306. There’s something I’d like to give you.]

[Ah, and please bring your shed spike!]

Toshi brushed his hand over his breast pocket - the small spike still sat at the bottom.

Curiosity put a hop in his step that had nothing to do with his crutches as he ducked into the elevator and walked down the third floor hall.

“Three .. ‘o six,” Toshinori murmured, stopped at the door. He raised his fist to knock, and paused. A lopsided smile twitched on his face as he knocked.

Isamu swung open the door, looked up and grinned, “You got my text!”

“I did,” Toshinori replied, stepping into Isamu’s apartment when he held the door open, “Sorry I took so long getting here.”

Isamu waved off the apology, “No, please. You’re still on crutches.” He moved further into his apartment, “I just unpacked my cups. Do you want something to drink?”

“Just water, if that’s alright,” Toshinori said.

Glancing around, he grinned at the simple setup of the apartment. A couch, loveseat, and coffee table sat in the living room. Dappled sunlight shined through the balcony doors and dotted the walls and floors. A few collapsed cardboard boxes leaned against the wall, and a pair of boxes still sat half full of miscellaneous objects.

Toshinori smiled softly, tail wagging.

“Looks like you’re getting settled in nicely,” he said.

Isamu emerged from the kitchen with two cups of water, “There’s still some work to, but yeah. It’s exciting.” He set the glasses down and gestured to the couch, “Please, sit down. I just need to grab some supplies. You brought your spike?”

“Yes, I did,” Toshinori fished it from his pocket as he sat and held it up. The cream color had faded a little but the rippling base was still the same light brown.

Isamu nodded eagerly, “Fantastic.”

Toshinori grinned as Isamu darted off, footsteps thudding dully against the hardwood floor.

“When I heard that spike fell out - Well, I thought it was time to show you this,” Isamu called from down the short hall. He reemerged with an old, wooden chest. It was ornately carved on all sides, little relief carved gardens stood out from the dark polished wood. It rattled faintly as Isamu set it on the coffee table and sat beside Toshinori.

“Back before the appearance of quirks, my family passed down a tradition of carving. Wood mostly, but when our quirk emerged in the family line -” Isamu unlatched and opened the lid - “We added bone as a carving material.”

Toshinori’s ears perked as he stared at the contents of the small chest. On one side lay a carefully wrapped tool roll. Isamu lifted it from the chest and unrolled it. Carving tools with worn wooden handles peeked from their individual pockets. Then he reached back in and gently lifted a larger roll. It rattled softly as Isamu unrolled a portion of it.

Shed spikes were tucked into velvety sleeves, each ornately carved, some with dark resin filling the grooves. Isamu slipped one from its sleeve and held it out to Toshinori.

“It became tradition to carve our shed spikes,” Isamu explained, laying the carved spike on Toshinori’s palm.

The spike was nearly the length of Toshinori’s palm and as thick as his thumb. The relief carved image wrapped around the length of the spike . Toshinori carefully rolled it, following the image down to the base.

His tail twitched as his brows rose, “Is this me?”

Isamu grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck, “Y-yeah. I would have given it to you sooner but it was probably my most complex carving to date.”

Toshinori stared at the spike, rolling it across his palm. The image was of him running, starting with his clawed hand on the base, continuing with his body winding up and around the middle of the spike. His tail twisted toward the top, the tuft of his tail curling and fluffing at the tip. His names - both his given name and hero title - were engraved in the sides along with what looked like billowing clouds. It shone faintly in the dappled light, polished in a clear coat.

“It’s incredible,” Toshinori breathed, running the back of his capped claw down the side.

Toshinori suddenly jolted, and his gaze snapped to Isamu, “Wait. You said ‘give’?”

Isamu grinned and bowed his head, fingers still tracing around the divots in the back of his neck, “That’s part of the tradition. We keep most of our own shed, but some are given as gifts to people close to us, usually family. And well, after what - after all that’s happened … You have my quirk and… some of my DNA. That kind of counts as family, right?”

“I…” Toshinori huffed a disbelieving laugh, reaching back and tracing the spikes on his neck with his claws.

Isamu smiled, gesturing to his neck, “You’ve even got my nervous tick.”

Toshinori’s hand froze on the second spike, and his cheeks reddened. Grinning, he barked a laugh, “I suppose I do!”

Returning his hand to his lap, his tail thumped against the couch, and he turned the carved spike in his palm, “Thank you, Isamu.”

Reaching out, Isamu nodded toward Toshinori’s shed spike, “Could I see yours?”

Toshinori passed over the smaller spike with a nod, and watched curiously as Isamu pulled a few measuring tools from his tool roll.

“My family’s always made a big deal about our first sheds,” Isamu explained. He pulled out a few smaller tools and a small table clamp, “The very first spike is always made into a pendant. Yours is -” he laughed softly - “a bit bigger than the usual first baby spike but that actually makes working with it easier. If you would like me to get it started for you, that is.”

“Please,” Toshinori urged with a grin, ears perked in fascination, “It was originally your quirk so -”

“It’s your quirk,” Isamu interrupted. Looking down, he nodded to himself and clutched Toshinori’s spike, “It is my family’s quirk, and now it’s your quirk… I hope our tradition can be yours too.”

“Of course,” Toshinori said softly, brows raised. His tail wound around Isamu’s waist and squeezed gently. Running his claws over Isamu’s carved spike, he released an awed sigh and said, “I’m honored you would share this with me, Isamu. Please, continue.”

Isamu placed his hand on Toshinori’s tail and let out a shaky sigh, “Thank you.”

Toshinori watched as Isamu set up the small clamp and lined up the small spike between the vise jaws. Secure, he drew a small circle on the base and pulled up a small hand drill.

Checking the narrow bit, Isamu glanced up at Toshinori, “I’ll get the pendant hole drilled, then you can decide how you want to carve it. I’ll teach you.”

Souma shifted uncomfortably under the low glow of the morgue’s flickering lights. He checked his watch and cursed quietly, dropping his naked wrist.

The Doctor had taken his watch away, a punishment for not cooperating despite his kindness in allowing Souma to keep his street clothes. That had been six ignored meals and several sleep cycles ago.

Whatever that means, he thought bitterly, steam puffing out of his mouth as he sighed.

His life revolved around the clock. Wake up at 5AM. Eat, shower, dress, and be out the door by 6:30AM. Arrive at work between 7AM and 7:05AM depending on the train and the pedestrian traffic. Check delivery lists after clocking in, and organize the most efficient routes for the day. Pick-ups began at 9AM, so there was time to pick up the company truck, top off the gas, and drive to the suppliers. The small truck was easy to fill with one supplier’s goods in under thirty minutes. Then it was on to the next and the next. By noon the truck would be full, and Souma would return to his building where the supplies would be unloaded and repackaged for individual hero offices by the sorting staff. While they worked, Souma went on his hour lunch break and ran his errands. At 1:30PM, he was back to work and delivered the repackaged supplies to the hero offices that ordered them. Then it was back to his office to log in the successful deliveries, check emails, file any necessary reports, and clock out at 4pm.

This place with no windows, no watch, no clock, and sporadic visits from the Doctor was a nightmare.

Movement caught Souma’s eye, and he looked up.

Mirai waved from her cell, then carefully signed, “You need to eat. Keep up your strength.”

Souma grimaced and glanced at the tray of food to his left, ignoring the empty ache in his stomach. He shuddered and signed slowly - his hands trembling as his stomach clenched, “Why? We’re trapped.” He shook his wrist and gave the chains a weak tug to emphasize his point.

Mirai frowned stubbornly, leaning forward and pressing her hand on the glass between them, “Because we need to escape. Please… ” Her eyes squeezed shut, and she inhaled sharply, hissing through her teeth. She pressed her free hand to the mahogany brown horns jutting out from her forehead. They shifted, visibly growing longer, and curved over her hairline. They were almost a half-circle now.

Mirai shivered and pointed to her lips, “Sorry. I’m tired too… But please, don’t give up, Souma. If you give up, that bastard wins.”

Souma rubbed at his stomach, giving the food a sour glance, “And if it’s poisoned?”

“I don’t think he wants to poison us,” Mirai shook her head slowly, a hand steadying her horns, “Eat.”

“Fine,” he signed sharply.

For you. And a chance to get at that doctor.

Souma’s hands shook as he ripped open the packaging for one of the sandwiches he was given, and gave Mirai a look before taking a bite.

“See? Eating.” Souma huffed even as relief washed through him and raised his brows in question, “Happy?”

“Yes,” She smiled and nodded, signing a clear, “Thank you."

Making quick work of the sandwich, Souma tossed the wrapping on the tray and pushed the tray into the corner of his cell. He glanced at Mirai, catching her shivering again.

“Cold?” he signed.

Mirai rubbed her arms and nodded.

“Do you want some steam?” Souma asked, gesturing to the row of vertical slits in the cell’s glass near the floor.

Nodding again with some difficulty, Mirai snagged her thin blanket from the metal table serving as a cot and wrapped it around her shoulders. She moved close to the wall and held out her arms, elbows pressing against the glass and making an improvised tent.

Souma lowered himself onto his stomach and took a deep breath. Holding it, his lungs heated the steam building in his lungs. When his lungs burned, he pressed close to the vents and blew the steam through.

Mirai sighed in relief as she relaxed into the warmth trapped by her blanket.

Souma took another deep breath and blew more billowing steam through the vent -

Mirai’s hand slammed against the vents and patted frantically. Souma jerked back and looked up. Mirai pointed over his shoulder. He twisted to look, expecting the Noumu creature.

Instead, black ooze erupted midair in the next cell.

An older woman stumbled from the sludge, coughing as she collapsed to the floor.

Another!? Souma scrambled to the opposite wall, waving and knocking against the glass.

The woman coughed and gagged, shivering as she pushed herself to sit up. She looked around, grey eyes wide and half-moon glasses slipping down her narrow nose.

Souma waved again, and the woman turned to him.

She was petite, with a round, handsome face. Faint laughter lines crinkled around her eyes despite the shock and confusion shining in them. Her greying hair was pulled back in a loose braid that frayed in places where the locks were knocked loose. Thin hands clutched her thick, cable knit cardigan as she stared at Souma.

“Who…? What just happened?” she asked, leaning to look over Souma’s shoulder to Mirai’s cell. “Where am I?”

“I’m Deaf. Do you sign?” Souma asked quickly.

The woman stared at his hands, “Very little. Know… children’s books.”

Souma moved back, turning to Mirari, “Can you…?”

Mirai nodded, then waved at the woman.

“Can you hear me? What’s your name?” she asked.

Souma looked back to the woman as she glanced between them.

“Y-yes… My name is Nozomi Shishiki,” she spoke clearly, lips easier to read than most. Nozomi pushed up her glasses, “Where … is this?”

Souma didn’t need to look back to know that Mirai began to explain. Nozomi’s reaction was more than enough. His heart ached as Nozomi’s eyes grew wide with horror, hands covering her mouth as she shook her head. Shivering, she pulled her cardigan tighter around her bony shoulders and folded in on herself.

Then Souma spotted her watch.

He scrambled forward, tapping urgently on the glass, then spun, signing frantically at Mirai, “Her watch! Tell her to hide it!”

Mirai jolted and nodded, glancing at the door.

“Nozomi, listen,” Mirari pressed her hands to the glass, “You need to hide your watch. He takes them away.”

Souma looked back at Nozomi, heart hammering in his chest.

Nozomi frowned, but she unbuckled her watch. Clutching it close to her chest, she scanned her small cell, twisting uncertainly. She paused, gaze lowering to the vents, and then she looked up and met Souma’s gaze.

She bit her lip, then held out the watch, “You take it.”

Souma nodded, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw it was an analog watch with the time and day.

Nozomi moved forward and carefully threaded the watch through the gaps in the vents. It was thin and small, the tan leather strap barely as wide as Souma’s pinkie finger. Souma pulled the watch through, reverently cradling it in his palm.

Thursday. 10:37am.

It’s been almost four days since I was taken. Okay. Okay.

“Thank you,” Souma signed with one hand.

Scooting back and crossing his legs, he looked around the cell, leaning to feel under the metal table serving as his bed.

No ledges or crevices… He did a final cursory glance around his cell and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Not the most comfortable hiding place, but…

He blushed, turning away from the older woman, and slipped the watch down his shirt and shoved it under his binder.

Mirai caught his eye and signed discreetly, “Maybe we can take turns hiding it. Just in case you… need a break.”

Souma smiled wryly, awkward resignation fluttering in his gut at the thought of changing out of his binder in front of another stranger. Despite his anxiety, he pulled at his shirt and sighed, “... Fair enough.”

We’re all stuck here together anyway.

Rubbing his arms, he held his breath until his core temperature was pleasantly hot. He exhaled steam through his nose and watched the clouds expand and rise in the chilly prison. The small watch ticked against Souma’s heart, a calming constant that cleared his head.

He turned his attention to the door across the room - the only way out.

I’ll figure out that Doctor’s schedule. So far, it’s just been him.

One man. One routine.

If… Souma glanced at Mirai and Nozomi, If one of us could escape…

His stomach growled, and his cheeks reddened. Scooting over, he leaned back against the back wall and grabbed the second wrapped sandwich left on the tray.

He waved to Mirai, “Tell her… about the noumu creature. There might be a way to get past it. I’m thinking.”

Mirai’s eyes widened and she nodded, turning her attention to Nozomi.

No one deserves this. He munched on his sandwich, thinking of their escorted - seemingly random - bathroom breaks and formulating plans, I’ll get back at him.

The Doctor brushed black transmission ooze from his coat and glanced around. He was in the morgue hall, just outside his subjects’ room. By the sound of scrambling on the other side of the door, Ogawa and Shimeno had discovered their new neighbor.

“Doctor.”

The Doctor turned.

All for One sat back, hands folded loosely in his lap.

“I take it your errand was successful,” he said.

“It was,” the Doctor confirmed casually. He took his place behind All for One and began to roll him back to his temporary living space.

“We’re halfway through collecting these subjects. I won’t be imposing upon you much longer, Sensei,” he said, voice bouncing faintly down the blue-grey tiled halls.

“Imposing?” All for One hummed and chuckled darkly, “No. You would know if I felt you were imposing.”

The Doctor shivered, grinning at the rush of adrenaline. The ancient man would never admit it - perhaps kill anyone who’d insinuate it - but the Doctor knew transmitting multiple people drained his energy.

“I’m certain I would,” he said, rolling All for One into his room.

He made careful work of hooking All for One back to his life support systems. Once finished, he returned to the door, “I have my subjects to tend to. Excuse me.”

All for One inclined his head and turned to the specialized monitors with practiced ease, dismissing him without a word.

Once out of the room, the Doctor chuckled, reaching into his pocket as he stepped down the quiet hall.

He’s in a better mood. The change of scenery probably helped.

The benefit of Jedha Central Hospital was its age. It was originally a mission hospital opened in 1902 and grew into a large teaching hospital. After the emergence of quirks and the increased need for medical study and attention, it was renamed and doubled in size to accommodate the variety of quirks.

The Doctor shook his head in awe. Due to a certain donor years and years ago, several of the older buildings were left mostly unchanged.

Including the old teaching mortuary.

The Doctor leisurely flipped through his keys, selecting one and unlocking the third door on the right.

“Hello again,” he said as he swung open the heavy door, “Have you warmed up to your new accommodations?”

The two residents of the room looked up from their places on the floor.

“Screw you, asshole,” Shiga spat, standing in his cell. Dual chains hung from his wrists and attached to the back wall.

The Doctor suppressed a smile and turned his attention to the clipboard dangling from the front of the man’s cell.

Kousuke Shiga. 48.

Medical History: Appendix removed at 16. Broken right arm twice.

Allergies: Soy and peanut intolerance.

Quirk: “Thorny Body” - Produces thorn-like protrusions made of keratin from his skin where hair is present.

Glancing up, the Doctor took note of the small, dark thorns dotting the man’s arms and fists.

Could use some enhancement, he thought, mildly disappointed at the thorns’ size, Nothing I can’t fix.

He replaced Shiga’s chart and lifted the one hanging from the neighboring cell.

Tayori Yamadori. 64.

Medical History: Birthed three children. Fractured hip in a rock climbing incident. Hysterectomy.

Allergies: N/A

Quirk: “Language of the Birds” - Ability to understand and command birds. The more intelligent the bird, the better the communication.

Inside her cell, Yamadori sat in a seiza with her eyes shut, and her dark calloused hands lay neatly folded in her lap. Her breathing was slow and even despite the shackles circling her wrists and the racket from her neighbor.

“Hey! Look at me, yah prick!” Shiga roared, straining against his chains, “Let me out so I can kick yer ass!”

The Doctor considered the man. Short in stature but broad with muscular arms and back. Physical traits that were handy for a deep sea fishing, crabbing, and construction - a few of the many odd jobs listed in his history.

He glanced back, gesturing toward himself, “Noumu.”

His masked noumu, N-057, jerked at the sound of his voice, and it stood. It lumbered over from the corner of the room, long arms swaying.

The Doctor held out his hand to halt it, and he walked over the the small cooler off to the side.

“I think you’re ready, Kousuke Shiga.” He reached inside and plucked a blood-filled vial from the rack.

“My name is Kou, yah fucking walrus,” Shiga snapped.

The Doctor prepared a syringe, tapping it as he turned and opened Shiga’s cell.

“Noumu, restrain him.”

N-057 darted into the cell, slamming into Shiga and pinning his arms roughly to his sides.

“Shit! Let go!” Shiga shouted, baring his teeth. Half-inch thorns spread down his arms and beneath N-057’s hands.

Not that the thorns would pierce the noumu’s Tough Skin Quirk.

Shiga bucked under N-057’s grip, “Get OFF!”

“Kou…”

The Doctor looked over.

Yamadori stood, her knotted hands curled in fists at her side, “Please, don’t hurt him.”

“That all depends on him,” the Doctor stated flatly, “Noumu.”

N-057 loosed a gurgling screech and gripped tighter until Shiga cried out in pain and finally stilled.

“That’s more like it,” the Doctor smiled, brandishing the filled syringe.

“Don’t yah touch m- Ah!” Shiga grit his teeth as the noumu squeezed his arms in warning.

The needle slipped into Shiga’s skin with ease, and a jolt of anticipation rushed through the Doctor’s veins as he pushed the plunger.

How will you adapt? How will you change? Will your mind survive like his?

Grinning, the Doctor pulled the emptied syringe from Shiga’s deltoid. He stepped back out of the cell, “Noumu, come.”

N-057 shoved Shiga back and stepped out of the cell.

The Doctor closed the cell door, the automatic lock clamping shut.

“What did you just do to me?” Shiga growled, but the Doctor could hear the trembling of his breath.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” the Doctor replied with a smug grin.

How long? How long?

He was eager to find out.

Waiting is always the hardest part.

Shiga rubbed at the injection site on his arm, and Yamadori pat the wall between them as if the action could comfort him.

“Fuck you, yah shit doctor,” Shiga spat, brown eyes hard with rage, “It don’t matter when, the moment I get the chance I’m knockin’ out yer teeth.”

Antagonistic. Stubborn. The Doctor recorded the Quirk injected and the time on Shiga’s chart, Like him then. That’s promising. He may flourish.

The Doctor then shrugged with a grin and turned away, “Noted. Have fun nursing your own wounds, Kousuke.”

“It’s Kou!” Shiga roared.

The Doctor shut the door without a backward glance.

Sighing satisfactorily, he straightened his coat and continued down the hall.

“One last task,” the Doctor hummed, flipping to his next key.

Souma Ogawa, Mirai Shimeno, and Nozomi Shishiki looked up and tensed. Each displayed slightly varied reactions. Ogawa stood and glared. While he could not stand in front of the two women, he moved to the front of his cell - as if that would be enough to shield the others. He, like Shiga, was short in stature, but broad. His legs and arms were muscled and toned from lifting daily orders of hero support items. An asset in his favor during the Doctor’s selection process.

He would likely not see it that way, the Doctor thought with quiet satisfaction. He’d chosen well. Ogawa was a prime candidate.

Souma Ogawa. 24.

Medical History: Born deaf in both ears like his parents. Regular use of prescribed hormones to aid in transition. Asthma which all but disappeared after the development of his quirk. Broken wrist at 17.

Allergies: Mild cat allergy.

Quirk: “Blow Off Steam” - Ability to exhale hot steam. Limited to lung capacity. The stronger the emotions and/or the longer the breath is held, the hotter the steam. Can cause 2nd degree burns.

The Doctor turned his attention to the far right cage and suppressed a grin.

Shimeno’s reaction was far more promising. While she did not rise to her feet, Shimeno kept a sharp eye on the Doctor as he moved to the table to pull Shishiki’s file. More than that, she kept her horns facing him.

A natural show of defense from someone with that kind of quirk.

Behavioral adaptation to the Ram Horn quirk. Interesting. It’s settling in surprisingly well. The Doctor clasped his hands together, Perhaps there is benefit in not drugging them.

He needed to update her file.

Mirai Shimeno. 32.

Medical History: Use of generic anti-vertigo medications. All vaccinations up to date.

Allergies: Sulfa allergy.

Quirk: “Fast Forward” - Ability to see into own future from the 3rd person in fast forward. Limit 6 hours ahead. Causes vertigo if used too often, used to look too far, used to search slowly for details.

Quirk(s) Added: “Ram Horns” - Curved, bony protrusions grown from the forehead - resembling ibex horns. They will continue to grow in length, but can be trimmed to make them manageable.

Once the Doctor collected Shishiki’s files, he attached them to a clipboard and hung it from the door of her cell.

Shishiki struggled to stand, still disoriented from the Transmission quirk and her current situation.

Nozomi Shishiki. 57.

Medical History: Multiple x-rays as a child. Pronounced infertile after a miscarriage.

Allergies: N/A

The Doctor hung the clipboard on the outside of Shishiki’s cell, his fingers brushing over the last filled box.

Quirk: N/A

He turned away in order to hide his grin and returned to the fridge.

Quirkless. Just like you, All Might.

The Doctor, eager to change that, rummaged through the selection of vials. He paused.

But it isn’t your turn, Shishiki.

He settled on one and plucked it from the rack, rolling it between his fingertips and smiling at the label. He reached in and pulled out Ogawa’s hormones, setting the smaller vial alongside the first and sterile wipes on a tray. He returned to the cells.

“Stand back from the door, Ogawa,” the Doctor ordered, hand hovering by the cell door latch.

Ogawa glared suspiciously back, signing sharply “Not going to sic your monster on me?”

“I’m not unreasonable,” the Doctor said with a smile, “I thought perhaps leaving Noumu out of this conversation would show that.”

“What do you want?” Ogawa asked, brows furrowed.

The Doctor gestured with the tray, “To give you your medication, of course.”

Ogawa eyed the vials, hands twitching and curling into fists. He looked up and glared, lips pressed in a firm line.

“And a little something else,” the Doctor continued, “You get both. Or neither. Your choice.”

“That’s not a choice,” Ogawa signed, teeth bared, “You know that’s not a choice.”

The Doctor shrugged, waiting patiently.

“No.”

Shimeno shook her head, realization dawning across her face. She waved and knocked frantically, “Souma, no! Leave him alone!”

Ogawa bit his lip, his hand running through his short auburn hair. He glanced at Shimeno, shivering in her cell.

The Doctor pounced, “You have something else you want? I can be… flexible.”

“How do I know you won’t go back on a deal?” Ogawa asked.

“I could, but I won’t. Trust is important between doctor and patient,” the Doctor replied easily, gesturing to either side of Ogawa, “If you refuse… There are others who can take your place.”

Ogawa’s eyes widened, and he grit his teeth, fists shaking. He rubbed at his arms, looking away - anywhere but the tray in the Doctor’s hands.

The Doctor suppressed a smile.

Sighing, Ogawa released a burst of steam that briefly clouded his cell. When the steam cleared, his shoulders slumped, and he took a half-step back.

“Excellent,” the Doctor reached for the handle, but paused when Ogawa held up his hand, “Oh? Changing your mind?”

“Let me inject my own hormones,” Ogawa signed forcefully.

“Hmm,” the Doctor smiled, “I could allow that. Under my direct supervision.” He nodded, “Alright, yes. Any other requests while we’re at it? Within reason of course.”

Ogawa blinked, caught off guard, and took another step back, “What?"

“You obviously haven’t cared for the food I brought - oh! Would you look at that, you have eaten. Good. But yes, special requests, extra privileges, et cetera. I am not unkind.”

The Doctor glanced at the other two, thankful their shock rendered them silent. He leaned forward, focusing on Ogawa, “It’s your choice.”

Ogawa swallowed roughly and frowned, looking to Shimeno who shook her head in warning. He gave her a weak grin and stood taller.

“Mirai… and Ms. Nozomi. Give them something warmer,” Ogawa signed carefully, “... It’s freezing in here.”

Easy.

The Doctor’s smile widened.

All for One was right. Those in the hero industry are just too easy to manipulate.

He gripped the cell’s doorknob firmly, as if shaking Ogawa’s hand, and nodded.

“Deal.”

Souma sat on his metal cot with his knees drawn to his chest. He rubbed at the site of the second injection and blew a puff of steam.

His skin crawled.

Hours had passed - exactly ten hours and twenty-four minutes - and both Mirai and Nozomi were asleep - bundled in thick blankets provided by… that doctor.

Trust.

Souma ran a hand through his hair and frowned, He’s being awfully ‘nice.’ I don’t like it, but perhaps we can take advantage of it.

Scratching behind his ear, Souma thought of their last escorted visit to the restroom.

That noumu creature… He frowned and scratched at his wrist, huffing with irritation, It doesn’t seem too… aware. If one of us could find a way to trap it…

Souma hissed under his breath, steam billowing from his lips, as the itch spread up his arm and down his back.

What the hell?

He looked down at his red, irritated skin and rubbed. White flakes peeled back and a shine caught the light.

He yelped.

“M-Mirai!”

Tears pricked in his eyes, and he slammed his knuckles against the glass, knocking furiously and jolting Mirai awake.

“Mirai! What is this!” He held up his arm, and tears streaked down his face as the unbearable urge to scratch nearly overwhelmed him.

Mirai blinked owlishly, rubbing at her eyes and staring down at his arm.

She looked up in shock, “Scales…?”

Souma’s breath caught.

He looked down and rotated his arm. It was the same light tan color as normal, but -

His chest burned, and he felt his cheeks heat up. Coughing, steam whooshed from his throat then stopped. He wheezed, core temperature still rising.

His breath quickened, but no steam came.

“Wrong!” He panted and signed frantically, “I feel -!”

The heat in his core bled to the rest of his limbs, and he stared at his arm in shock.

Faint trails of steam seeped from the - the scales on his arm.

The edges of his vision bled white, and he gasped for breath, surrounded by his own steam.

Hot…

He swayed and fell forward, hand and forehead pressed against the cool glass.

White and gray filled his line of sight.

Too hot...

His lower back ached.

Water…

Toshinori frowned, scrolling through his phone, and glanced at the upper right corner of the screen.

3:28AM.

Kicking off his covers, he huffed, turned onto his stomach, and propped himself up onto a few pillows. His tail flicked in irritation as he shook the thin blanket off his good foot, claws catching on the fabric.

He heaved a tired sigh.

Looks like I’m not getting sleep anytime soon.

He stared at the article on his phone, the headline a glaring red.

Breaking News! Another Abduction Leaves Strange Residue and Growing Unease

Is there a serial abductor in Musutafu? Police won’t confirm.

Another woman was abducted off the street, leaving only more of All for One’s transmission sludge on the sidewalk.

Naomasa called just before dinner to give Toshinori the news.

Nozomi Shishiki, a local librarian and after-school tutor for young children. She showed up for work in the morning, left for a late breakfast, and never returned to her desk. Her husband reported her missing when she didn’t come home or answer her phone that afternoon.

The police were taking missing persons cases more seriously, forgoing the standard 48 hour window. When they were informed of the new missing persons call, Naomasa’s team was deployed and found the transmission residue just outside the library staff exit.

Toshinori locked his phone and pressed the top of it against the deep crease in his brow. Glancing over to his desk, his crutches glinted sharply in the clear graytones of his room.

He grunted and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed.

“I need some air…”

Grabbing his coat and a single crutch, Toshinori limped over to the sliding glass door and onto the balcony. He closed his eyes, leaning on the railing, and took several deep breaths of the crisp night air.

He sighed and frowned at his hock, itching to move.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another with this body.

He winced at the slip, running a hand through his hair, and he forced a smile, “My body.”

And what abouttheir bodies? A quiet voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Toshinori shoved his hands into his pockets, tail lashing.

Something sharp pricked the palm of his hand, and he frowned.

Curling his fingers, he felt a small business card and pulled it out curiously.

Ah… ‘William Howard Wright. Investigator.’ Toshinori read, recalling their brief conversation.

“We share a mutual interest it seems.”

Toshinori knew bait when he saw it. Regardless, the call to help pulled and pulled .

He tucked the card away and gripped the handrails.

Souma Ogawa. Mirai Shimeno. Tayori Yamadori. Kousuke Shiga. And now… Nozomi Shishiki.

He grit his teeth, Those are just the ones we know about. He may have taken even more!

How many quirks could the Good Doctor give them in the time they’d been missing?

How many more would he take?

How long…?

I have to find them. I can’t just-

He flinched as his tail crashed against the railing, the loud clang ringing out into the night air.

Shit. Shit. He looked around at the neighboring windows and sighed in relief when no lights turned on. Rubbing his sore tail, he squared his shoulders.

Naomasa is looking. He’s the best at what he does… and if he needs me, he’ll call.

Exhaustion weighed down his shoulders, but he smiled limping back into his room. Sitting on the edge of his bed, Toshinori pulled out his phone and turned up the volume, resting it next to his pillow.

He’ll call if he finds anything, like always.

Toshinori tossed his coat back onto his chair and sunk back onto his bed.

He’ll find them...

Until then, he would have to wait.

Unease stirred in his gut, and he rubbed at his wrists.

Waiting is always the hardest part.

Canvas 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Catalyst 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Control 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

Collapse 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Contained 1 / 2 (WIP)

Find the whole series on Archive with fanart at the end of each chapter HERE!

Check out Aoi’s and my sideblog @toshinoumu for more series content!

#I Am... Series #Toshinoumu #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #aoimikans #swiftwidget #chapter 6 #the waiting game #toshinori yagi #Collapse #naomasa tsukauchi #all for one #the good doctor #sansa tamakawa #isamu sato

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perfectirishgifts · 5 years ago

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Xayn Promises User-First Privacy In Its Search Alternative

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/xayn-promises-user-first-privacy-in-its-search-alternative/

Xayn Promises User-First Privacy In Its Search Alternative

Xayn screenshots

Our search activity offers a hilariously depressing conundrum. We long ago made the conscious decision to trade privacy for convivence, but according to a recent survey at least 92% of those surveyed have some sort of data privacy concern. Yet, we blissfully continue to use services that gather information about us quicker than a Seagull gathers French fries at the beach.

So maybe we just need a more secure search that offers the algorithmic features of standard search functionality, but with a mind toward the user experience as well. That’s what new search engine Xayn seeks to offer. An alternative to the data privacy torture chamber we’ve found ourselves in. Yet, we seem to enjoy the sadomasochism of existing on the internet, as every time a search alternative pops up, Google continues to reign supreme.

Google holds over 90% of the worldwide search engine market share, the rest fighting for scraps. If you look at just the United States, just mobile search engine, then DuckDuckGo chips into Google’s dominance at 2.39%. Google sits at 94.19%. This is where you’d paste in the butterfly meme asking “is this a monopoly?” Well, that’s what the Justice Department is trying to figure out right now. It’s hard to imagine any new search application biting too hard into Google’s market share, regardless of the privacy implications.

What Xayn offers is the future of how we should approach search and data privacy. Xayn enables its users to control the search algorithms. Through a simple swipe on the results, users can change the algorithm. This is because instead of sucking up user data and aggregating at a central point, all the AI machine learning is performed right on your device through federated machine learning. Plus, if you want, you can just turn it off.

With the addition of a pandemic into our hyper-connected reality, data privacy concerns have risen to the top like that film in your pudding cup you left out overnight. The EU is especially concerned since Facebook started acting a tad irresponsibly with user data privacy concerns. Regardless, we should be looking for tools that offer the same services as big data alternatives, but with a more sincere focus on privacy.

Xayn was developed from the ground-up with privacy in mind. Instead of being fully staffed with Silicon Valley Bois focused on jamming in features just because they can, this startup was founded by academics, 30% of its staff holds a PhD. This academic-focused staff has been working hard on ethical AI-based solutions, including its search application. Instead of worrying about privacy concerns later (if at all), Xayn was whiteboarding them before one piece of code was ever written.

Xayn’s founders, Leif-Nissen Lundbæk (Ph.D.), Felix Hahmann, and Professor Michael Huth, have dedicated their careers to creating ethical AI systems, to secure our data privacy for the future.

“Until now users have always been the losers — they either had a good search experience or protected their privacy,” Lundbæk tells me via email. “Now, they finally can choose a search engine with no compromise because we offer privacy and convenience. And we’re putting the human into AI because we’re enabling them to control the search algorithms.”

Features include an AI personalization model that users can switch on and off; AI swiping that puts users in control of their search results; an intuitive interface that includes things like one-hand control and zero click search; collections to collect, store, and sort favorites; a home screen that acts as your own personal RSS, curated by user. It’s that AI-modeling that really speaks to a possible future of search that doesn’t require the current state of data collection.

The AI model actually consist of four AI models developed in XayNet, a specially developed framework for masked federated machine learning. The app doesn’t collect user data at all, but instead combines the encrypted AI models from users’ devices to a collective model. This is all done asynchronously with homomorphic encryption to retain privacy. The models learn from each other, then the collective model is fed back to users’ devices. Then there’s a bunch of detail about the four individual models, but the gist is that each time you search the AI modeling gets better, never at the expense of your privacy.

We are clearly having a tough time grappling with the effects of all these years of behavior that created a world in which our data privacy is nearly nonexistent. Xayn, and apps like it, can at least technically prove that its possible to retain the functionality we’re used to while also protecting our privacy. The trick is to create something that achieves widespread adoption before we sink back into the familiar, because regardless of the privacy concerns, it’s what we know.

Will it be possible for Xayn to gain enough of a market share to at least make a difference in how we understand how these applications work? It’s too early to answer that, but it’s a step in the right direction, because operating in a world that is slowly draining us of our individual human right of data privacy is exhausting.

A desktop app is being developed for the future, but right now the Xayn search app is mobile-only, which is where we spend most of our time searching for random crap anyway.

Xayn is available now on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store.

From Social Media in Perfectirishgifts

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buzrushcommunityblog-blog · 5 years ago

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Content Marketing Blog

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ladystylestores · 5 years ago

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Valve secrets spill over—including Half-Life 3—in new Steam documentary app

The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx is now live on Steam as a $10 download, and it’s a phenomenal look at the underbelly of Valve video game development, told with a wealth of inside access and a host of multimedia goodies.

The project, as led by journalist Geoff Keighley, is a years-in-the-making look at Valve’s journey to release a new Half-Life game, complete with stories about other attempts that never got off the ground. Separated into 12 “chapters,” the app is predominately driven by Keighley’s text, full of interviews and quotes, and every page comes with embedded image galleries and pictures to drive each point home.

Get ready for a Borealis-load of Valve secrets

An interactive slider chart lets you dig through a few surprises in Valve’s game-development timeline, which Keighley’s story describes at great length.

A screenshot of the codenamed project “A.R.T.I.,” built in a brand-new, voxel-based engine that differed from Source 2.

Geoff Keighley

A screenshot of the codenamed project “A.R.T.I.,” built in a brand-new, voxel-based engine that differed from Source 2.

Geoff Keighley

A peek at the Shooter prototype developed for possible inclusion in Valve’s “The Lab” box of VR toys.

Geoff Keighley

An early prototype version of Half-Life: Alyx.

Geoff Keighley

Concept art for Half-Life: Alyx.

Geoff Keighley

The app includes a few fun interactive widgets, including full scans of characters from the game.

Valve / Geoff Keighley

You can also create and mix your own chain of headcrab sound effects.

Geoff Keighley

A look at how the G-Man was brought back to life.

Geoff Keighley

More G-Man insight.

Geoff Keighley

The app’s biggest dirt is arguably its confirmation of exactly what started and stopped within Valve on the way to getting Half-Life: Alyx out the door this March. That includes information on Half-Life 3—and it is a much firmer account of Valve’s history than what IGN reported earlier this year.

As described, however, this “HL3,” which began life in the early ’10s, would have been very different from what fans might have expected from a full-fledged Half-Life sequel. Inspired by Left 4 Dead, this non-VR version of Half-Life would have revolved around combat sequences through procedurally generated towers and buildings, chained together by crafted plot events.

A more plot-centric Half-Life project emerged within Valve in 2015, led in part by former series scribe Marc Laidlaw: a VR-exclusive game codenamed Borealis. (This followed the prototyping of a Half-Life arcade shooter, simply titled Shooter, that was made for possible inclusion in Valve’s VR toy kit The Lab, only to be canceled; we’ve reported on that one previously.)

Borealis would have taken place entirely on the boat of the same name while players “ricocheted in time back and forth” between various points in the Half-Life universe, including the series’ Seven Hour War. If that sounds familiar, its concept resembles the story Laidlaw eventually posted for fans, which many took to resemble his vision for a “Half-Life 3.” He left Valve shortly after the prototype failed to “gain traction,” Keighley writes.

Shortly before ground was broken on what became Half-Life: Alyx, Valve also had a “mini team” begin prototyping a Left 4 Dead sequel in late 2015, which was also shelved after “months of work.” (Its codename was “Hot Dog,” if you want to start digging through old Source Engine files for hints of it.) And other sections of the app talk about other canceled Valve games, including Left 4 Dead 3 (not to be confused with “Hot Dog”) and new, codenamed games like “A.R.T.I.” and “RPG.” (Today’s report also acknowledges a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 project that stalled when its team members shifted to help ship the first Left 4 Dead game.)

“The highest-paid blog post writers”

Keighley’s account of Valve’s history is blunt about the studio’s lack of significant game launches during the ’10s and about the issues they had in common—particularly that they all pulled the in-development Source 2 engine in different directions. “We sort of became the highest-paid blog post writers of all time,” longtime Valve writer Jay Pinkerton admits, while other staffers talk frankly about the studio’s reputation for spinning up multiple small projects and then watching them fall apart internally.

“We sort of had to collectively admit we were wrong on the premise that you will be happiest if you work on something you personally want to work on the most,” Valve developer Robin Walker tells Keighley, soundly rejecting the ethos that Valve has publicly carried as a torch for some time. The studio used a new Half-Life project as a way to focus the entire studio—even though, as we’ve previously reported, that project began life with more modest expectations in terms of length and content.

From there, Half-Life: Alyx‘s story picks up steam, intertwined with the studio’s vision for building VR hardware and experiences. The whole thing is a spoiler-filled exploration of how HL:A took shape, but most interesting is that the game’s biggest internal test ended with fellow Valve staffers giving a big thumbs-down to the ending. The production team sought permission to rebuild the narrative arc with a stunning ending, and Valve boss Gabe Newell greenlighted the shift, knowing it would delay HL:A‘s launch outside of the Valve Index hardware launch (which everyone had hoped would happen side-by-side).

And, yes, we finally have confirmation of what those two other VR games were that Newell bullishly announced in 2017: the aforementioned “A.R.T.I.” project, and something codenamed SimTrek, which Keighley only says was built in part by members of the original Kerbal Space Program team. Today’s news doesn’t clarify whether those projects may come back to life, however, and it doesn’t exactly say what may happen to In The Valley Of The Gods, a game absorbed as a Valve project when the studio acquired Campo Santo in 2018.

If you’re in desperate need to tour a famous building while locked up in quarantine, Geoff Keighley has your back in the form of this full-3D tour of Valve’s Bellevue, WA, headquarters.

Having been to Valve’s offices, I can tell you that quite a bit is left off limits; they operate multiple floors of office space, but we only get one floor, and a few rooms are entirely blocked out.

But it’s still fun to turn on “free-walk” mode and walk through its 3D recreation.

Geoff Keighley

A few hand-drawn art murals can be found in the tour, and they all have Sonic the Hedgehog in common for some reason. (Maybe because that game’s feature-length film launched one month before Half-Life: Alyx did.)

Geoff Keighley

I’m going to assume these whiteboards are covered in text that Keighley’s crew censored.

Geoff Keighley

If you’re a public visitor to Valve, you start your real-life tour here. Sadly, the app doesn’t let you go up the stairs to the cafeteria.

Geoff Keighley

The rest of the app is a doozy in terms of Valve history—including tantalizing hints about Valve’s vision for brain-connected hardware—so you’ll have to head to Keighley’s app, available now for $10 on Steam, to learn the rest and get access to exclusive galleries, prototype videos, and multimedia toys, including the above interactive tour of one floor of Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. And while the app doesn’t end with a promise of more Half-Life games to come, it strongly suggests such a future: “We’re not afraid of Half-Life no more,” one Valve staffer suggests. (And whether that project may come in VR or not remains to be seen.)

Listing image by Geoff Keighley

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captainglobalaskbuzrush-blog · 5 years ago

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Content Marketing Blog

We interviewed across 150 sellers to be familiar with the tips and tricks to the productivity and just how they be capable of bring their promoting A game title to perform each day. No spots for wondering, all vendors we interviewed exhibited 1 widespread characteristic - an everyday habit to view at least one blog posting, view a relevant video or pay attention to a podcast whether at the job or throughout their travel. We collected the only thing that computer data with one another and here’s a listing of their major personal blogs they consistently follow and read every day.

TECHCRUNCH

If you’ve been used for a time you might be most definitely knowledgable about TechCrunch. Were only available in June 2005, TechCrunch can be your preferred guide for any items engineering, providing splitting solutionsnews and opinions, and examination on technician providers from around the globe, the two publicly dealt and rising startups. Especially marketing tech and this is the place to find all that information, as a startup marketer you want to be ahead of what’s the latest in tech. Devote a couple of minutes each day browsing because of their newest media and very quickly you’ll find yourself as being the dialogue starter in your place of work.

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georgialou25 · 7 years ago

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Finished Item Boxes

Here are my finalised item boxes.

All I had to do to finish them off was incorporate the logo and then add the name labels.

Adding the logo was really easy. I’d already allocated an area that I want to place The logo in so it was just a matter of adding it to resizing it. The logo worked really well against the dark grey background. I was worried that the intense black colour in the logo would look out of place against the box but it was fine. It complemented it perfectly. I think this was helped by the white rim which clearly separated it from the grey on the box from the black in the logo.

At this point all the generic decorations were complete. All I had to do now was add the all the individual labels for my box. This totalled to 12 labels all-in-all. I wasn’t sure what font to use for this. I wanted a font that looked handwritten but was still easy to read for children. So the font needed to printed rather than joined to make it easier to read. Joined up fonts often have a tendency to be a bit confusing. I couldn’t find a suitable font within the library off fonts offered within the app (autodesk sketchbook) so I had to source one externally. I did think about hand writing it myself but I wanted it to look professional and have a continuous theme through out so using a set font would be a much more practical solution to this. So I had a look on the website dafont.com. This website was really useful because it splints all the fonts into different categories, they even had a category called handwritten! So I had a look through this and found a font that I really liked. It was called lemon yellow sun. Dafonts really good too because it allows you to place a text sample in the chosen font to see what it’s liked. So I tested my first box label out - first aid kit (because it was one of the longest labels) by inputting it into the sample test, screenshotting it and placing it on the whiteboard of my box. I loved it. It worked so well with my box and board game theme. I particularly like that some of the letters were angled slightly so that it didn’t follow an entirely straight line. It emphasises the idea of a handwritten label.

Once I knew it worked as a font, I had to do the same for all other boxes. This process was alright initially but got a bit monotonous after a while so I was glad once it was over.

Now that the exterior is done, all I have to do is print off a grey sheet of paper for the interior and and construct them. This will be done by cutting the nets out with a scalpel for accuracy and then built by sticking the tabs together with a hot glue gun. I can’t do this though until we’re back at college when I can get them printed professionally on the lutre paper.

I really like these boxes now that they’re done. There is very little that I would change about them aside from maybe adding a bit more information to the front and back of the boxes to fill up a bit more space. I didn’t do this at the time purely because I didn’t know what to add, so my only solution was to enlarge the text. If I was to do this again, I would do some more in depth research into NASA’s equipment to get some inspiration about the type of information I could possibly include on the box.

Now that I’ve finished the item boxes, I’m going to create the item/card holders. This should be fairly easy as I can continue the same theme as with these item boxes. The only thing I really need to experiment with and plan is the shape, size and where the specific details/decorations will be placed. This is my next priority.

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andrewmrudd79 · 7 years ago

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My Home Office Set Up and Tour

youtube

What’s up, everybody? I’m so excited, because today I’m taking you on a tour of my home office!

Whether you work from home or a coffee shop or somewhere else, you’re going to get a couple things out of this post.

First, you’re just going to see the different kinds of work that I do and why it’s important to have a specific environment where you do those certain things.

Second, hopefully it will also give you some inspiration for something to work toward when it comes to your own work space—because this is definitely not how it was for me in the beginning. It took a number of years and a lot of hard work to get this level. I’m not about dream cars and dream vacations and things like that; I’m about the dream office, because my office is where I produce a lot of what I create for you guys.

My Very First (Very Tiny) Office

I remember my very first office. It was in a one-bedroom apartment I shared with my wife, April, right after we got married. It was hardly any room at all; just a little dinky corner in the kitchen space. Check out this screenshot from a video I made way back in 2008.

But the thing is, this tiny space worked really well for me. This goes to show that you don’t necessarily need an incredibly spacious office. You just need a place to do your work—one that has whatever you need to get into that “work mode” mindset, whether you’re sitting down or standing up. As long as your location and setup helps you check in mentally to do the work you need to do, that’s what matters.

My New Digs

From there, we rented a house and I had an office for the first time. That was really nice, because I had my own door that I could close. A few years later, we bought our own house. By that point, I had a really good idea of what I wanted in a working space, and I was willing to invest a lot of money to build one I would love. And that’s what I’ve done! I put a lot of thought and care into my current office space. The design process was especially cool because I got to tap into my architecture past to help make it happen. I created some design drawings and then shared them with an interior designer, who added her touches and shared them with the people who eventually built it all.

Ready to take the tour? Let’s go!

My Home Office Tour

Here’s a shot of (most of) the space. It was definitely built from scratch and it’s my dream office. I had it very specifically laid out for all the different things I do, and each space and item has a specific reason for being there. I’m going to share those things with you now!

This room isn’t that big; it’s maybe 14 feet by 16 feet, but that space is utilized in a way that maximizes the productivity and usefulness of the entire space. As you can see, there isn’t much wall space left—but it’s not just a bunch of shelves, either. Everything in here has been very strategically designed and placed.

The first thing you’ll see is the large stand-up desk in the middle of the room. Standing up while working has been one of the best things for me in terms of staying focused and being able to get off my butt a little bit. It’s nice to stand up. It’s good for your back. And if I have to sit down, I can pull out one of the stools that are strategically placed underneath the desk so they don’t take up much room!

I use the standing desk to do some of my writing, but I also write on the board you see below. It’s not really a whiteboard—it’s a frosted glassboard. I like it better than a traditional whiteboard because it’s a little more stylish. Regular dry erase whiteboards don’t really do justice to some spaces, and I wanted to make sure this one looked really good and fit the space nicely.

The surface of the glassboard is writeable, so I can just go into one of the drawers located in the standing desk, pull out one of these markers and write on the surface. Then, if I want to, I can erase it using one of these chamois cloths. You might also recognize these Post-it notes from a previous blog post where I walked you through my book writing process.

Down on the ground on the left here is the infamous “Hello, My Name Is Pat” backpack, which some of you may have seen on me at conferences!

Now, I’ll get into some of the other important parts of the space. To the left of standing desk is my planning area. As you can see, there are no computers here.

This is where I sit down to do my planning, scheduling, and things like that. This giant calendar essentially has my whole year laid out. I don’t use this space very often—it’s more decorative than anything most of the time, to be honest. But I still keep some interesting pieces over here! Here’s my diploma from Cal.

And here is my foam roller. I sit on the floor here every once in a while and do some foam rolling to wake myself up if I’m feeling tired. It’s good for the muscles and tissues, as well.

To the right are some books you might recognize from posts I’ve written before. Here’s a fun little tidbit for you: My interior designer, who I hired to help create the space, told me books look really good when you take the covers off. If you’re trying to design a nice, elegant space, just take the covers off some of your hardcover books and set them out. Here’s The 4-Hour Body, which you might recognize as a purple and orange book, but take the cover off and it’s a nice-looking blue book for you to show off.

This is my hoverboard from Back to the Future Part II. It’s not a real hoverboard, but it does look like one. I got it on Etsy.com.

I’m a huge Back to the Future fan, if you couldn’t tell already from the hoverboard, or the Back to the Future Lego I’ve also got over here.

This next one is really cool. An artist who was a fan of SPI sent me this. If you look really closely, you can see some of the threading.

Back to the center of the room, you’ll notice this large TV.

I do a lot of my writing right here. If you look underneath the table, you’ll see some stools. Often, I’ll pull out a stool, set up my laptop up here, and do some work.

I can also use Apple TV and Airplay to show what is on my laptop on the screen, as well. Let’s pull out my Logitech Bluetooth keyboard that’s stored underneath the TV and fire up my Apple TV.

Then we’ll open up YouTube and see if we can find some Smart Passive Income videos. There we go!

I like using this space as a “learning center.” I’ll watch course material or informative YouTube videos and take notes. It’s almost like I’m watching a lecture, which is really cool. I find that I learn better sitting in this space as opposed to the area to the right with the computer screens, where it’s easier to be distracted.

Another thing I love to do at this table is practice my keynote presentations. I’ll pull one up on the screen, then walk back and forth behind the table to practice my presentation while I look at the slides on the screen.

Let’s move down to the right, where I have my computers. This is the space where I actually spend most of my time. You’ll notice these two iMacs, which I use to do a lot of my writing. My main screen on the right is one of the newer Retina display 27-inch iMacs, and the one on the left is an older 27-inch iMac.

To left of the screens is my podcasting mic and stand. Those of you who are podcasters might recognize the microphone as a Heil PR-40. This is an awesome podcasting mic (although the ATR2100 by Audio-Technica is great, as well).

The mic stand also shows off my Smart Passive Income mic flag, which is really cool. You can go to impactpbs.com to get your own.

The mic arm is really handy because it connects right into my desk. I had to modify it to do that, though. The part that’s supposed to keep it from sticking or moving around kept falling off, so I just said, “Hey, let’s drill a hole in the counter and stick it there.” And it works really well!

Typically when I’m podcasting, I swing the mic around and up so I can speak into it while standing. I like podcasting standing up. I feel like I have better volume, and I’m more alert and focused. I’ll often do Skype interviews this way, too.

Let me show you some other cool parts of this space! The shelving area to the right of my computers was originally stacked full of books. When my interior designer came in to help me design my office, she loved this space so much that she wanted to take pictures of it for her portfolio. So she gathered lots of little books, boxes, coral, vases, and bottles from her house and brought them here. I liked the way she set it up so much that I half jokingly said, “Hey, I’d love to buy that stuff off of you because it looks great there.” She said, “Okay!” So I bought them from her and left them on the shelf, along with some of my camera stuff and other things that are important to me.

You can see the trumpet up there. I played trumpet in marching band in high school and college.

A bear, because I graduated from UC Berkeley.

And of course, I’ve got the Delorean with working gull wings, from Back to the Future Part II.

This is a baseball signed by Nolan Ryan, my favorite baseball player. (Thank you, Azul, for hooking that up for me.)

This is a lightsaber. If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember I was Darth Vader for Halloween one year.

I have a lot of storage space in here, as well. Another thing you’ll notice about this room is that the wires are virtually hidden. That’s one thing that was important to me, because I didn’t want to get distracted and I don’t like seeing wires everywhere. All of that stuff is in the walls or inside the cabinets.

This cabinet is where all the internet stuff goes: my router, cables, and all that stuff.

Over to the left, this cabinet is where my printer lives, as well as my sound mixer and scanner. You can’t see it because it’s so dark, but the printer is an HP Laserjet P1102W. It’s the thinnest printer I’ve found, so it fits in that space really nicely.

You’ll notice these red boards here. These are actually padded. This is more acoustical paneling on either side of the television here, which frames it quite nicely.

The windows are covered in gray Roman shades, which absorb sound, too. I like this little white border that my interior designer insisted be placed there. I’m really glad she did, because they look really good.

If you look up, you’ll notice these track lights. These are something I’d never had in a home before. They add some modern elements to the space, and can be used to highlight different parts of the room.

Up above, you’ll notice some more books and memorabilia, including stuff from my college years, and of course, more Back to the Future items.

Moving to the right, here’s one of my favorite parts of the room. This is the banquette area (as my interior designer called it), and it’s sort of my thinking area. A lot of cool things happen in this space. More on that shortly.

Above the couch, you’ll find an image of me at New Media Expo in 2014, presenting about how to convert your casual audience into raving fans. The cool thing about this piece of fabric is that it’s not just a canvas; it’s a piece of acoustical fabric. It was custom printed on this fabric that absorbs sound from the room so there’s less echo. You’ll also see these Edison lights, which are really cool, on either side.

To the right is possibly my absolute favorite part of the room. Behind all these cards is a 5-foot acoustic panel that’s similar to the one over the couch. On this one, I’ve pinned all my thank-you notes and letters from fans of Smart Passive Income and people who I’ve helped with their businesses. This isn’t all of them, not by far. When I’m feeling down and out and lacking motivation, I’ll often just turn around and look at this board, and it always gets me fired up again. Some people have even sent me the first dollars they ever made online; one person sent me the first $5 they made online, because they promised that’s what they would do.

There’s so much cool stuff here. Someone sent me a CD with videos on it. Another person even sent me Magic cards because they knew I like Magic: The Gathering.

Right next to my thank-you board is my meditation chair. This is where I meditate using the device you see on the table there. It’s also where I journal using my Five-Minute Journal. We’ll come back to those two things in a minute here!

This really cool table cuts away to reveal storage space I use for magazines.

Back to the chair. This is my favorite chair in the room. It’s actually an Ikea chair that I reupholstered for a couple hundred bucks. I do a lot of my thinking and reflection in this very chair, mainly in the morning. Here’s my routine: Each morning I come downstairs, get a glass of water, then boil some water for my bulletproof coffee. Once I’ve grabbed that, I sit down here and journal.

I’ve been writing in my Five-Minute Journal almost every day for several years. It’s been life-changing to write down why I wake up each day, what I appreciate, and what I’m striving for. Then at night before I go to bed, I journal about the things I’ve accomplished, and write down what I wish I could have done better.

I also use what’s on this table to help me meditate, because I’ve always had issues with meditating. Having one spot where I meditate each day helps me check in mentally and get into a routine. To help me meditate, I also use this device, the Muse headband.

You may have seen me talk about the Muse before on the blog. It’s a brain-sensing headband. If you go to ChooseMuse.com, you’ll see what this device is all about. I’ll put it on now, then sit down and show you what I look like for 7 to 12 minutes every morning.

I don’t have my headphones on right now, but those are also necessary. The Muse senses your brain activity, and when you have an active brain, you hear crashing waves and loud wind in your headphones. When you have a calm brain, you hear hardly any wind at all, maybe just some trickles of water. If you’re calm for a certain period of time, you may also hear some birds chirping in the distance. It’s a really cool tool, and it helps me validate if I’m doing it correctly, because that was the biggest issue for me with meditation.

I get my work done in the other parts of the office, but this area is where I sit down, relax, journal, meditate, and read, and I love it. It’s also where I can be right next to what matters most to me besides my family—you guys, courtesy of my thank-you board.

Well, there you have it! I showed you all the different spaces in my office, including where I get stuff done, where I plan, and where I meditate and work on self-improvement. I know a lot of you might not have a home office, and even if you do, it might not be quite as intricate and planned out as this one. Maybe you get most of your work done at a coffee shop. It’s up to you! You have to figure out what works best for you.

I’d love to see where you work, as well. Where do you get your work done? Where do you do your planning? Where do you do your meditation stuff? Maybe it’s all in the same spot. Wherever it is, I’d love to see it. Click here to visit the video version of this post on my YouTube channel. When you get there, leave a comment with a picture of your workspace, too. I’d love to see what you have going on and where you do most of your work.

And if you haven’t already, make sure to click here to subscribe to my channel to be notified whenever I release new videos. Cheers!