#Office Name Plate Holders

[cupid-eclipse]

Unrequited Love (F!Reader x Price)

A bit of angst

   Summary: Reader has been a member of the 141 for so long, long enough that she's loved her Captain for more than 2 years. But is she allowed to be with someone in the military, let alone her own Captain?

A/N: Reader's nickname is Lass. It's not reader's real name.

    "Mornin', Lass." Gaz yawned, reaching for a glass cup before putting it on the coffee dispenser. "How'd your sleep go?"

    "Fine, I guess," You sighed before giving him a small smile. "Ay, what's with the sad face?" Gaz raised his eyebrows, looking directly at you while grabbing his cup of coffee before wincing and letting go of the cup onto the table immediately.

    "Ow! Why's it hot?!" You watched as he shook his hand a few times to loosen the pain. "Of course it is; you didn't use the holder to grab the cup!" You chuckled slowly, watching Gaz's movements.

  "Lass?" While you were having fun watching Gaz, a voice calling your name from behind made you freeze. You knew who that voice belonged to all too well. Turning around, you saw Price watching your movements intently. "My office, please." He ordered–pleaded, you fought with your own thoughts. His voice sounded too soft—unusually soft—for it to not be a plea.

    You turned around again to look at Gaz, giving him one last smile before standing up from your seat and following Price to his office. Upon arriving, you took a small, deep breath before entering his office with him as he closed the door behind you and walked in front of you.

    "...Why'd you wanna see me?" You spoke first. Price stood a few meters away from you, but not too far away for you to not be able to reach him with your hands.

    "...I realized you've been acting a little... off lately. Your performances have dropped both in training and on missions. I rarely even see you eating, as if you're in distress. Mind to share it with me?" Price spoke softly, his gaze searching yours.

    You gave him a tired smile before replying. "I'm okay." You reassured him. "I guess I'm just stressed with work."

    "Stressed with work to the point you've not eaten anything for two days?" Price exclaimed. "Don't act like I don't know. I've been watching your movements these past few days, and I noticed all of the untouched food on your plate. You didn't even drink a single drop of water!"

    "I know work can be tiring, but that's no excuse for you to neglect yourself. And I know you've been skipping sleep, too." Price said, his voice full of worry and concern. "Please, tell me what's wrong." He begged.

    "...what are we?" You muttered quietly, looking down to the floor. "What?" Price breathed, his eyes searching yours. "What are we, Captain John Price?" You spoke, calling him by his full name.

    "Are we really just "superiors" and "comrades"? Do you really not have any feelings for me?" You said it, your voice trembling with emotion. "I've been acting like this because of you, Captain. You're the reason for my behavior right now." You confessed.

    "..." Price looked at you before giving you a small smile. "...I do feel the same way, Lass. But you do know it's not allowed for us to be in a relationship here in the milita–"

    "Then why did you kiss me that day? To give me false hope?" You interrupted, looking up at him intently. "To play with my feelings and then break my heart? Is that it?"

    "Lass, please—don't go there." Price warned softly. "Go where? I'm right, aren't I? You only kissed me to play with my feelings. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here today."

    "I know it's wrong, Captain, but if you really do feel the same way about me, then you would try. But I'm not seeing your efforts." You sobbed. "I've loved you for so long, and when you kissed me that day, I thought my dreams were finally coming true. That I could finally be with you. Yet I was wrong." You avoided his gaze, turning around before twisting the door handle and opening the door.

    "I hope you know that what you did really broke me." You said this before walking out of his office and closing the door to his face before he could run after you.

Part 2?

[twstgarden]

❀ ❝ 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸? ❞

━ azul ashengrotto x gn! reader (reader can either be yuu or an oc/twstsona) ━ after receiving a letter from azul, you decided to pay a visit to mostro lounge to get your complimentary drink. (inspired by twst valentine cards 2021) (f/n means first name)

do not steal or translate without my permission.

my dear friend, thank you so very much for this absolutely wonderful present. i am positively overjoyed to receive such an affectionate gift. when you have the time, please do drop by the mostro lounge. present the enclosed card at the door and you can enjoy a complimentary drink on me. ━ azul ashengrotto

a smile ghosted its way over your lips as you read azul’s returning card, finding it sweet of him to do this gesture all because you gave him a valentine's gift. you placed the card on your desk and made yourself look presentable before visiting the lounge. 

“are you going somewhere?” asked grim, “we ran out of tuna cans, so go buy some!” you let out a hum in response before patting his head and telling him to behave. you then ran out of your dorm, holding the card that azul told you to present for a complimentary drink.

as soon as you step onto the floors of mostro lounge, jazz music can be heard along with the chatter of students from different dorms and sounds of glasses and plates clinking, hinting that it is mostro lounge's busy hour.

“little shrimpy!”

hearing that familiar call, you looked around and spotted the twins sitting by the bar. you waved at them and sat beside floyd as you had a conversation with the twins while sipping on your drink.

the aura of mostro lounge was relaxing which is why it is one of your favourite places in nrc.

“azul is available if you wish to speak to him,” says jade as he seems to know the reason for your “free” drink, “he’s in his office right now.” he smiled at you and you replied with thanks before you walked towards his office while holding your half-finished drink. 

you gently knocked on his office door three times, hoping you weren’t disturbing him. “come in,” voiced out the male as you turned the doorknob and entered his office. you smiled at him as he smiled back, gesturing you to sit on the couch. 

“i see you have received your drink,” said azul, “do you like it?” you let out a hum as you nodded, “aren’t you going to have a drink too?”

it felt awkward for you to be the only one enjoying a beverage and you wanted to have a drink with him, but he shook his head and told you he was fine and that you should finish your drink first.

you nodded and placed the cup on his desk once you were finished, causing him to stand up and grab your cup before walking towards to door.

“i’ll be back,” said azul as he left you in his office. you nodded and made yourself sink into the comfortable couch.

it was cold in his office ━ not the shivering type of cold, but the refreshing type, similar to the scenarios when you enter a cold room after a long day out in the uncomfortable heat. it felt relaxing and you wanted to sleep, but you thought that would be embarrassing.

your eyes trailed around his beautiful office before landing on his desk, a blue folder laid flat on the surface on the further left side with his fishbone pen placed neatly on its holder. it was neat, as expected from azul.

seconds later, the door opened revealing azul with two glasses filled with your drink of choice. he arranged the glasses down on the table and sat on his leather chair.

“care for another drink? with me, this time,” uttered azul as he grabbed his glass. you took yours and thanked him before clinking your glasses together and taking a sip of your drink.

“thank you again,” said azul as he smiled at you, “that was... thoughtful of you.”

you avoided his gaze for a moment and stared at the drink in your glass. you did not know what to say, wondering if the feelings you desired to convey to him through that gift were clear. however from your point of view at the moment, it doesn't seem like your feelings were communicated properly.

“glad you like it,” you mumbled as you continued gulping down on your drink. you continued to lounge around azul's office for a while and had a pleasant conversation with him.

unbeknownst to the man before you, your heart was racing the entire time, feeling as if you were lucky to have this moment with someone that you are head over heels for. 

hours later, you have decided it was time to rest for the night. you stood up and thanked him for his time and how you enjoyed being around him before turning around and walking towards his door.

suddenly, he held your wrist before you could walk away any further. his touch was gentle as his voice called out, “wait...!” 

out of curiosity, you turned around to look at him and questioned, “is there something else?”

azul was silent for a moment before leaning towards you and placing a soft kiss on your lips, then he pulled away and smiled, “sleep tight, love.”

© twstgarden 2023 || please do not steal, translate without my permission, or use this to train a.i.

[weemsicallygay]

the touch of a witch

pairing/s: larissa weems x original female character (edith sinclair)

warning/s: bad grammar, inaccurate french translations for pet names and that larissa is very, very clingy in this

prompt/s: 2 times larissa wanted to be held but was too shy/couldn't say + the 1 time she didn't have to

wow 2 larissa fics in a day? i'm on a whim! blame my brainrot for soft/clingy!larissa for this <3

to say her hands ached for her lover's touch was the understatement of all understatements. larissa stared at her girlfriend from her place on her office couch, she thought of how much it’d be a comfort to have edith hold her softly and snugly. 

her eyes glared at the stack of papers on her desk, edith sat comfortably in her chair as she kept on grading test papers from her Dark Arithmetics class. though talented in the arts of telepathy, archery, and spell binding, the witch preferred the numericals more than the supernatural which led to her being the head professor in that profession. 

“i swear with how you’re glaring, you’d be able to set the papers on fire, my sweets.” larissa jumped, edith’s voice echoed in the once silent room. 

with only the sound of crickets from the outside, larissa blushed. she swore the warmth of the fireplace managed to travel to her cheeks, blood rushed and her gaze fell elsewhere.

she pouted, “i’m sorry darling.” 

edith stopped her scribbling, “what for, ma cheri?” she grinned at the sight of her poor, flushed girlfriend. 

“i’m merely teasing, you did not offend me in any way, my darling.” her silky voice murmured as she put away the last paper onto the other pile. 

edith placed her pen on one of her holders before she grabbed another pile and went through them one by one, larissa sat back as she achingly watched edith’s fingers go through each paper and scan them purposefully. 

she wanted to voice out what she wanted, she wanted to tell edith that she demanded her well deserved cuddles and that she demanded her undivided attention. but knowing edith’s workload, even tho she was the school’s principal and had more on her plate than her lover’s, she knew better than to distract her darling from what she needed to do. 

larissa meekly stared at the fire and watched the flames dance, silently sitting like the good girlfriend she was as she waited. she was going to get her cuddles one day. 

-

she sighed, another day of wanting to hold her lover in her arms yet another failed attempt to do so. a week has passed since that fateful night, and she’d received plenty of skinship from her girlfriend without asking for it. yet every time she wanted to ask for it, every time she needed her lover’s hold, it seemed as if it was always at the wrong place and wrong time. 

the feast of the full moon, the event that made it so hard for larissa to keep edith to herself. as one of the most powerful witches in the school, and the most talented one at that, edith was sure to be the busiest of all the faculty present. although seated as the principal and the one in charge, the responsibility of magic fell upon edith’s hands seeing as it was her duty to make sure all the students were safe and having fun. 

from supervising the prop-making for the full moon theater production by the cappella group led by bianca, to making sure that the furs won’t be able to transform so they may enjoy it with their peers, edith’s hands were full and overloaded. but the smiles on each of their faces were enough to satisfy her, though it was mostly the smile on larissa’s face as she distracted herself with watching the performances. 

she huffed as she sat back and admired the small gathering, larissa had since lectured wednesday to have fun and instructed enid not to stare too hard at the moon when basking time as to take away some of the pressure from edith’s hands. 

larissa found her love with her eyes half lidded and her chin on her palms by the fountain, her eyes were heavy but her body betrayed that feeling as she felt light under the guidance of the moon. wisps of dark blue magic moved from edith’s fingertips to her eyes to keep them open, she laughed to herself as the woman used her magic to keep herself awake. she gave in to her inner demons as she walked towards the witch and sat next to her, her arms grabbing the woman’s torso into a back hug with a smile.

the witch froze, “sweetheart, the children-” 

“do not worry about them, i’m sure they’re much busier with the festivities than focusing on their faculty.” larissa grinned over edith’s shoulder, ignoring the soft stares of the students.

the latter let out a deep sigh, sinking into larissa’s arms with a smile. “you always know what to do and say.” 

if larissa wasn’t going to get her cuddles, she might as well give them instead.  

-

another late night of working in their now shared office, larissa was growing tired of once again being touch starved for the week. as she typed into her computer, the sound of scribbling and page shuffling were heard from her other side as edith occupied herself with grading and transcribing. 

the taller of the two figured that if she weren’t going to get her alone time, she might as well spend waiting for her girlfriend to finish by being productive. now here she was, writing e-mails and reading letters from the board, the students, their parents, and even some officials. 

as her eyes grew tired at viewing the same conflicts over and over, they moved to edith’s figure. the witch wrote elegantly, like she wasn’t tired from a full academic day and from their little bedroom session just a few hours prior. larissa was about to give up and lean her head on her desk in defeat when she heard edith’s voice. 

“y’know, you’ve been staring at me funny lately.” edith closed the book she viewed before standing from her seat. 

larissa had to stop herself from gulping out loud at the sight of the witch walking slowly towards her desk, the way her hips effortlessly swayed and her long strides were enchanting. 

she raised her brow, “like what?” 

when edith reached larissa’s side of the desk, she let her bottom rest on the larissa’s right side. her arms crossed snugly on her waist, “like you wanted to tell me something but you can’t say it.” 

larissa averted her gaze, avoiding edith’s calculated ones as she grinned. “i can assure you that i will tell you everything if i were to need something.” 

“really? ‘cause a little birdie— or rather a severed hand— told me that you look like you’ve been wanting something for a long time now.” 

edith’s hands moved to “walk” towards larissa’s laptop, which occupied an empty email inbox and went to close the device. larissa couldn’t stop her even if she wanted to as the woman’s other hand found itself underneath her chin, now she can’t avoid her gaze for the fear of being suspicious as the woman situated herself in between larissa and the wooden desk.

“you can tell me anything, ma cherie. i can assure you that i won’t judge in any way, shape, or form.” there goes edith’s sweet smile, her little nose crinkle and those pearly whites showing. 

the principal sighed, her head leaned forwards and rested on top of the witch’s chest, snugly and fit. “I just..” she trailed. 

“sweetheart..” edith softly spoke, the palms of her hands forming circles on larissa’s back as she now sat on larissa’s desk. 

the taller of the two dragged her arms to circle edith’s waist and pull her closer, like a child holding a teddy in their arms. her movements were slow and soft, afraid that edith might pull away or push her away. yet the woman did neither of those, instead letting the woman do those at her own pace before letting her arms encase her shoulders to pull her in. 

edith placed small kisses on larissa’s forehead and hair, “oh my darling, and here i thought that you wanted something else.” 

“it’s ridiculous,” larissa’s voice rang out, muffled by edith’s clothing, she leaned her face away and let her chin rest in between edith’s bosoms. 

she huffed, “a woman of my stature, my booming figure, asking for you to hold me? it’s embarrassing.” 

edith chuckled, capturing larissa’s lips softly and quickly before smiling. “no such thing is embarrassing, ma arbre cherie.” 

she let the taller woman go back to her old position before staring at the moon that watched their little exchangement. 

“from now on,” she started, “i want you to tell me all your little cravings. no matter how big or small, from big bouquets to small cuddles. am i clear, my darling?” 

she felt the fabric of her dark top move vertically, she chuckled before leaning down closer to larissa’s ear. “i want a verbal response, ma cherie.” 

larissa pulled away to place a soft kiss on edith’s lips, “i promise, my darling.”

[crying-fantasies]

Emergence burns

Masterlist

Related to energon burns, these specific kind of burns happens when an organic helps with the emergence of a new spark, having direct contact to the hotspot full of energon, electric pulses and melted sentio metallico, tangling their organic components with a willing spark, attracted by the organic's living mechanisms wave or radiation and following it.

So far, it appears once the new spark chooses an organic and latches to it, following, in case of humans, the heartbeat, sometimes it comes to the willing hands of the bearer (name used for organics in these cases) slowly, almost searching and shy, other times the new sparks literally launch themselves to the bearer that works as a holder, one that has to endure the contact for as long as it takes the new spark to start the condensation of sentio metallico, the bearer can't let go of the new spark before that or it'll be lost forever.

The influx of high electricity, harmful condensed energon and melting burning metal bring obvious pain for the organic, the first bearer suffered continued heart failures before the first terraformer was able to take a hold of their own protoform, holding it to their little chest while all medical officers in the place mentioned, apart from the obvious painful screams and the blood, the unusual pattern on the bearer's hands and upper arms, oddly similar to lighting strike related burns, but deeper, strange colored that indicated energon poisoning, highly painful but not letting go of the protoform, holding lovingly the smallest protoform in history with care only similar to the long lost carriers.

There is still some investigation around it once the first case came know, easily to do when it happened in broad daylight and in an open, public area.

The resulting uproar was, of course, to be expected, specially from Caminus.

Emergence burns never totally heal, just like other energon poisoning related cases or energon burns, just being different in the lighting like pattern in real cases of emergence, it's the best way to differentiate the two apart.

In order to prevent emergence burns most organics use specialized gloves but it stops the new spark from retrieving elements from the bearer, something that many don't want, nowadays the ones to use the gloves are the organic blacksmiths, trained organics to help others and new sparks to make them reach complete forging, helping them to reach their truest frames, of course, in case the main bearer isn't able to perform the extraction due to health problems then the blacksmith takes action, the bearer puts only a hand in the hotspot and before the new spark reaches totally the blacksmith holds it, moving the sentio metallico before putting it in the bearer's hold, electric charge low and energon inside the new protoform, less dangerous overall.

So far, only conjuxed organics are able to perform this and obtain emergence burns, Camiens call it the sigil of Solus, as for them it's by Solus Prime blessing that organics are able to do it, firsts to call these organics bearers.

So far new sparks called by humans are terraformers, name given by the Lost Light scientific crew, formally know as terramorphos due to their ability to terraform alien environments to one similar to earth, not to be confused with Terrans, elonians call galarions, know for their almost indestructibility hard plating similar to Ore-12, visionaries call prysmorians, which like their bearers are able to use prysmosian magic, dire wraiths call and calve nebulons, similar to infected cybertronians in all senses.

So far, only a few cybertronians "reproduced" with organics, mainly using hotspots, but there are being strange cases of live births that seem to be more and more as pairs of dire wraiths and cybertronians start to appear, and so does their progeny.

[deerslutsworld]

Sweeten The Deal

(Decided to write up a little promo fic for @havocfarceur's and my fic that will hopefully be dropping tomorrow!)

Warnings: Smoking, kidnapping, vague threats.

Read It On Ao3

You open your eyes, memory in a haze and head throbbing as you look around. You appear to be in some sort of office space, and a quite ornate one at that. You’ve been laid down on a velvet couch by the door, and, just in front of that, there’s a bookshelf and a desk. The bookshelf is a little sparse in places, and quite disorganized in others, a bird statue just next to that, mirrored by the one across the way.

Meanwhile, the desk has a stone pattern on the bottom, and a wooden top, sharing in its rather disorganized nature. There are bowls and bottles of sweets in the left corner, and a supply holder, telephone, and picture cramped to the right, just behind the name plate. Squinting your eyes, you see that it reads “Asa Sweet”. 

Looking up to the clean middle, a cat’s paw was there. Following that, there is a man sitting in his tall office chair, although he fills it just fine. The dimming light from outside silhouettes him. It shows off the warm browns of his seat, and the honey of his fur, lighter on the patches around his mouth and eyes. In a way, he resembles a cougar, with his darker ears and tough eyebrows. 

He is waiting for you to look at him, taking a puff on his cigar and, when you do, he smiles.

“Good morning sunshine! Sorry about the rude awakening. Those two workers of mine can be a bit…overzealous.”

As he says this, you swear you see a white paw waving at you from the door. However, it is soon pulled away, causing the door to shut in its absence.

The man, who you assume is named Asa, laughs at this small interaction, shaking his head at their antics. He waits for you to respond. Yet, when you don’t, he just shrugs, standing.

“Not much of a talker, huh? Well, that’s alright. I just need to ask you a few questions, you can just nod or shake your head to let me know if I’m getting warmer or not.”

He picks a folder up from his desk, sorting through it as he paces the room. You sit up as he does so, watching him carefully. You have a pretty good idea why you’re here, and your life depends on your next choices.

“Let’s see, it looks as if you're the triggerman for some new time speakeasy, one who is, well, let’s say attempting to go into direct opposition with my own. They even tried to rehire some of my best workers behind my back. Ha! Crafty.”

In one swift motion, he scans the rest of the files in the folder, before shutting it closed, stirring up some of the dust that had settled on it. He looks up at you with such a big smile, far too gleeful for someone who holds the matter of both your life and death firmly in his paws. 

As you watch him walk around the room, with that strength in his shoulders, and who knows how much information, you find yourself starting to shake. He stops when he sees this, raising his eyebrows. He makes his way over and you tense, your fur going up on end at his presence.

He sits down next to you, putting a firm yet reassuring paw on your shoulder. His fur is softer than you expected, having prepared yourself for a rough bristle, but, this is soothing. He smells of sugar, which you probably should have expected, considering the name and the amount of candy scattered all around on his desk, but, still.

“You’re alright, sweetheart. It’s not you that I want, but your boss . So, make this easy for yourself. Tell us what you know, and then you’ll be free to go. It’s as simple as that,” he says, voice becoming soft.

“If you want, I can even sweeten the deal. Offer a job, I’ll even give you protection should your boss resent you for it,” he reaches into his pocket, and offers you a wrapped candy, “Chocolate bar?”

You take it, considering. If you’re being honest, you were just desperate for the work, bearing no real loyalties to your boss or the establishment. Looking into Asa’s eyes now, you can tell he’s being truthful, nodding along to your thoughts. He smirks, as if he already knows your response.

“Well?”

You take a deep breath, and…

… 

“Come back any time now,” he says as he dismisses you, waving you out the door.

He has your paperwork in his hands as you exit, and you can’t help but wonder if you made the right decision.

You walk out, that black and white cat holding the door for you. Although, he looks mildly less terrifying when he’s not literally chasing after you. He looks straight ahead, not even giving you a glance. You spot someone behind the door too, a gray and black cat, who smirks at you and waves you off with their tail.

You swallow, speed walking away and finally managing to escape this place. Asa was the only bearable one there, you conclude to yourself. In fact, your heart flutters at the idea of seeing him again tomorrow, though you don’t pretend to understand why.

[gamebunny-advance]

Heart and Soul

AN: A story about Yinu and Tenten's first meeting.

So fair warning, I haven't written fiction like this in literal years (unless you wanna count my comic scripts), and I think this whole thing is actually pretty trite and cliché (if the trite and cliché title didn't already tip you off to that), but sometimes you just gotta write some fluff to help you sleep at night.

This is also probably one of the worst platforms for posting long-form fic like this (this is over 12,400 words long, so I don't blame y'all if you don't have time for it here on tumblr). Maybe I'll open an account on a proper fic-sharing website and post it there.

But for now, I hope you'll enjoy this silly story from me.

-------

"...I assure you, Yinu will surely flourish under NSR's care."

The adults talked to each other intently as Yinu's eyes wandered around the office. On the desk was the usual boring collection of things that no child would usually pay much mind to: a small canister of varied writing utensils, a paper holder holding many papers and documents. Among them, she saw the papers that her and her Mama had signed earlier. She was very proud of her own signature: she'd practiced it a lot before coming here. It had taken some time to make sure she could stay on the line. She liked how it looked next to her Mama's, even if she couldn't understand what Mama’s squiggles meant.

Of slight interest was the triangular name plate on the desk. It adorned the name of that lady who would be her new "boss".

"Tatiana Quartz."

Yinu said it in her head a couple of times. She thought she had heard the word "quartz" before. Something to do with measurement maybe? Music? "Oh, like a quarter note!" She was impressed that her boss knew so much about music to be named after it.

She noticed the big portraits on the wall behind Miss Quartz. They were tall and imposing, scary even. The center one she recognized as Miss Quartz herself. The painted lady seemed to glare down at Yinu with incredible force. Her intense expression was very unlike the warm smile of the real Miss Quartz. It was a little scary, so she averted her gaze to the right portrait. This one was another lady, or was it two ladies? There were lots of hands too. Maybe it was even more ladies! Yinu couldn't quite understand the portrait, but she thought she liked it. She looked to the left of Miss Quartz's scary portrait and there was a very strange person wearing a square mask. Yinu had never seen a mask like that: what did the circles mean? Where's the mouth? Or the eyes? Or any kind of face? The strange masked person was surrounded by a few other people. They weren't wearing masks, but they didn't look quite "right" either. They reminded her of the shiny people she saw on TV sometimes, though she couldn’t quite remember what they were called.

Yinu's eyes and mind continued to wander about the room as the voices of her new boss and her Mama blurred and slurred together. She knew they were talking about her, but she didn't really understand what it was about. When she heard her name she would focus again and try to listen, but it was always about things like a "salary" and "management" and other boring and adult topics of that nature. Nothing fun. Nothing interesting.

As Yinu kicked her legs a little in the slightly too big seat, something urgent suddenly struck her. She tugged on her Mama's hand to get her attention.

"...I'm just worried that- oh, what is it Yinu?" Mama looked down into Yinu's eyes. "Mama, I have to go wee."

"Oh, okay I'll take you.” Mama took a hold of the hand that was tugging her fingers, “I'm sorry Miss Quartz may I-" Mama had begun to rise from her seat, but Yinu tugged back, trying to break free from the grasp.

"I can go by myself." she said. Yinu was a big girl after all. Surely at 8 years old she could use the restroom all by herself she thought.

"No Yinu, I don't want you to get lost." Mama said firmly.

"But, Mama..."

Yinu tried to insist, but she knew she could never win an argument against Mama, and there wasn't much time to argue anyway. The situation was becoming more than urgent.

Miss Quartz seemed to notice this and decided to speak up.

"The restroom isn't far, it's only down the hall to the right. It would be easier to get lost walking down a runway."

Yinu was impressed at her new boss’s attitude. She was rarely given any kind of support when it came do doing things her way. But now was not the time to think about how cool Miss Quartz was.

Mama wanted to protest, but the tugging at her hand was getting fervent. She sighed and let go. "Okay, but come back as soon as you're done."

"Okay!" with that Yinu ran quickly out of the room.

Miss Quartz chuckled to herself lightly at the girl’s enthusiasm for simply being allowed to relieve herself.

"I'm sorry about that." said Mama as she lowered herself back into her seat. "It's quite alright. Even at that age, kids want to prove themselves. Sometimes you have to let them. Even if it's just to go to the bathroom."

Mama laughed a little too.

"And I'm sure she'll prove herself a great asset to this company as well. As I was saying-"

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

Yinu had some trouble reaching the sink, even on her tippy-toes, but she still managed to help herself up and get her hands sparkling clean, just like Mama and Papa had taught her. She looked at herself in the massive mirror in front of her. Mama had dressed her in her formal clothes: a white button-up shirt with a small pocket adorned with a red ribbon around the collar and a long flowing skirt. Yinu liked to twirl the skirt by spinning around. It made her feel magical and reminded her of when she and Mama would dance in the living room while Papa played the piano.

She looked at her hair in the mirror too. Mama had tied them into two twin buns. Each one looked like a mini rose bouquet. Yinu thought it was pretty, but it was a little heavy on her head and they were twisted just a little too tight. She had been sitting for what felt like hours in that big chair, and her neck was starting to hurt just a little too much for her comfort.

As she climbed onto the counter to get a better look, she decided to take off the bands that her holding the buns in place. They were cute little bands: red with little flower bead decorations. She thought they were very pretty and was always happy when Mama let her wear them, especially as bracelets.

Her hair fell just below the bottoms of her ears like a waterfall ending in little rosebuds.

Yinu felt relieved and still thought she looked like a proper young lady even with her hair down. Satisfied with her work, she put the bands around her wrists: they were cuter this way anyway, and she hopped back down from the counter and left the rest room and began to make her way back to Miss Quartz's office.

The hallways were terribly quiet. Yinu's foot steps echoed through the halls and the smell was what she could only describe as "fancy". She had been through halls like this numerous times: the concert venues that she frequented always had long halls like this. Sometimes they scared her because they seemed to go on forever, but as long as Mama was there holding her hand, they didn’t feel as scary.

She slightly recalled meeting Miss Quartz at one of those concerts after a certain competition some time ago. She was the one who presented Yinu with her trophy for winning first place in the event. She remembered because she was so happy to tell her Papa about it after the show. They both wished he could have been there in person, but he'd said he was so proud of her for winning. They would rewatch the recording in Papa's room and Yinu was so happy to see Papa smiling again.

All the while, she played with her hair bands on her wrist. She liked the way it felt to twirl the beads and tug on the elastic. Her foot steps got slower and smaller as she continued to focus on tugging on the band. It hurt to have it snap back at her, but it was still kind of fun. As she fidgeted with it, the bands found themselves off her wrists and into her hands where she tugged on them to watch them snap back. She could launch them really far if she pulled back hard enough.

Curious about the result, she stretched one of the bands as far back as her tiny hands could stretch them and she let it fly. And flew it did.

"Oh no!" she cried.

It flew so far that it straight past Miss Quartz's office room and landed in front of the grand elevator. She ran to retrieve it from where it had fallen. She quickly picked it up and returned both bands to her wrists, not wanting to accidentally lose them again. Her curiosity of how far the bands could be flung had been satiated, but a new curiosity crept as the doors to elevator opened in front of her.

She had promised Mama that she would go back as soon as she was done, but she really wanted to know where the elevator would go.

They had been in that office for hours already, or so it felt. They would probably be there for several more hours. Besides, they weren't talking about anything that Yinu could be involved in anyway. It wouldn't be bad if she looked around just a little bit.

As she walked into the little room, she heard her Mama and Miss Quartz call after her, "YINU!"

But the doors had already closed shut.

"Mama!"

Yinu began to panic, she hadn't ridden on very many elevators and she didn't know what the buttons meant. She pressed all the buttons she could, which wasn't many given her short stature, but the doors remained closed. She could still hear her Mama and Miss Quartz outside, yelling incoherent instructions, and trying to stop it, but it was too late. The elevator began to lower, and Yinu was alone.

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

No sooner than Yinu had begun to cry, the elevator finally released her. The screen which read the floor number was too high for Yinu to see clearly, but she knew if she'd stayed in the elevator, she would be trapped again. She didn't want to spend another moment in that scary box, so she stepped out and watched the door close behind her as it continued its descent to whatever random floor she had managed to hit.

She looked around, this floor was almost identical to the one she'd been on: the same echoey halls, the same endless closed doors. She called out, "Hello?"

It reverberated through the halls, but became deafly silent again. No answer. No sound. Just the small scuffle of her own feet as she began to walk forward, hoping to find someone, anyone, that would help her.

She jiggled the handle of every door she came across but each one was tightly locked. Every step made her a little more anxious as she walked down what seemed to be an endless corridor. For a moment she decided to look behind her, but she'd already walked so far that the elevator was nowhere in her sight. The hall just seemed to stretch forever in both directions, leaving her utterly lost. As she began to feel the hopelessness of her situation catch up to her, she'd begun to cry again.

"Mama... I'm sorry... please help me..."

Her legs stopped walking and she fell down where she stood, balling her eyes out.

As she did so, she'd begun to hear something else in the hall. It was a quiet, but rhythmic thudding, like heavy footsteps. It echoed through the halls and seemed to get closer. Yinu called out towards the noise, "Who's there?"

The sound paused for a moment as if to consider the question. In return, the pace of the thudding quickened and began to get louder, moving towards Yinu.

The source of the sound finally came in view at the far end of the hall. It was person. At least it looked like a person. They were too far away for Yinu to make out any particular features besides the vague silhouette of a person wearing a tallish hat. But somehow, despite the dim lighting, the figure's face seemed to be glowing, causing unnatural shadows to be cast across their face.

Feeling a little embarrassed about being found crying, Yinu tried to suck up her snot and tears with all her might and stood up. "Hello, can you help me?" she called out. "I lost my Mama. I... just want to go back to my Mama."

The figure paused again until it received the entire message. Then it began to walk towards Yinu. At first Yinu was happy that someone had finally found her, but something felt off about that person.

Their footsteps were just a little too heavy and the way they moved looked a little too stiff as their arms refused to sway naturally at their sides. As they grew closer, the sound of mechanical creaking and whirring had became audible. Eventually the figure came close enough for Yinu to make out the features of its face: its reflective metal shine, its glowing white eyes, its unflinching expression. It was just like the shiny people she had seen on TV. The scary shiny people that shot lasers from their eyes and enslaved humanity. The things Yinu finally remembered that were called “robots”.

Yinu screamed and began running away back down the hall. She ran as fast as she could, trying her best not to look back. She didn't hear it getting faster, but she wouldn't stop now just to find out if she was actually making headway. There was no way that scary things like that could really be in a place like this. If this was the kind of scary place this was, then she'd want nothing to do with it. When she found her Mama she would tell her as much. “Mama...”

As Yinu recalled that she was still technically lost, she tripped on herself and skid her knees across the rough carpet floor.

"Ow, ow..." she cried as she sat up to inspect the scrapes on her legs. As she did so, the mechanical being was still making a steady pace towards her. Even as her tears welled, she tried to pick herself up again to run, but it hurt too much. The figure was getting closer. She couldn't run. She couldn't hide. The best she could do was cover her face and hope the monster would be quick in whatever it was going to do.

As she cowered she heard it stop in front of her and did… nothing. It stood motionless for a while, waiting for some kind of response, or perhaps it was analyzing the crying mass in front of it. Eventually, the light sobbing was interrupted.

"Are you hurt, Little Miss?"

A synthetic voice poured out of the monster. While it was clearly inhuman, it was a little deep and gentle. Almost warm. "Wh-what?" sobbed Yinu.

There was a brief pause between answers.

"Are you hurt, Little Miss?" it asked again.

"Little Miss?" she thought. She liked the way it sounded. It was kind of like a grown-up. Having received this bit of respect, she felt herself growing braver.

Yinu uncovered her eyes to look up into the monster's face. Seeing it up close, even though it still wasn't human, it wasn't as scary as she thought it was just moments ago. The arrangement was very simple, just two glowing white orbs for eyes and a line for a mouth. When it spoke, its mouth wouldn’t move but light up in rhythm to its words. She thought it was like a doll she used to have as an even smaller kid.

"Uh-huh..." she nodded cautiously and rubbed her knees. The speed of fall and the friction of the carpet had given her small red scrapes across both knees. A little blood had trickled out, but nothing so ghastly as to need any serious medical attention.

"I see. May I treat your wounds?" asked the voice. Yinu nodded again, "Okay..."

"Very well." The android crouched onto one knee as to be more level with Yinu. It had stood so incredibly tall and imposing earlier, but up close it appeared much more friendly. It inspected the cuts briefly. Besides her knees, Yinu's face had also gotten a little scuffed from the fall, making her already rosy cheeks even rosier.

"I am about to administer an antibiotic. You may experience slight discomfort, but it is necessary to reduce the risk of infection."

The android raised its left hand towards the wound on her right knee. At first it held its entire hand flat with palm facing down. It curled all its fingers towards the palm, leaving only its index finger extended towards the wound. Suddenly, the tip of its index finger unhinged upwards at the first knuckle and revealed a small nozzle which quickly sprayed what it claimed to be an antibiotic onto the wound.

Yinu winced a bit from the sudden pain and the android apologized for the discomfort again. It repeated this for each area that it had considered as needing attention. Once all the antibiotic has been "administered", it dispensed 4 bandages from its mouth. Yinu giggled a bit, thinking it looked like it was growing a very long tongue.

"Would you like me to apply the fabric adhesive strips?" it asked.

Yinu laughed out loud at the funny way that it referred to the bandages.

"No, I can do this part myself." Yinu said proudly as she gently tore and peeled the bandages apart and applied them to both her knees and her cheek. “I don’t need this one.” she said as she tried to return the extra bandage. “You may keep it. Extra fabric adhesive strips are good to have on hand.” it replied as it gently pushed the offer away. “Okay.” so Yinu stashed it away into her shirt pocket along with the bits of wax paper so she could throw them away later. Mama always told her to throw away her trash in the trash can like a proper lady.

"Was my service satisfactory?" asked the android as it stood back up onto both feet. “Yes.” she replied with a beaming smile. “Very good. I am happy to hear that.” replied the android. Yinu looked up at the android to really take in its features: it looked like it was dressed in somewhat fancy clothes that she thought she had seen somewhere before. Maybe in a movie or a store or something like that. The big hat it was wearing was equally as fancy. On the side of it she caught the glimpse of something shiny. She turned her head to try to get a better look, but now that it was standing at full height again, it was hard to make out. She thought it looked like some lines and circles in a nice neat row.

As she thought of that she suddenly remembered her manners, "Thank you for helping me." she said sincerely to the android.

"You are welcome Little Miss." it replied.

With that formality out of the way, Yinu began another one, "What's your name?" she asked.

The android replied: "I am: 1010-XJ L-Type Version 2.0.1"

"That’s really your name?” asked Yinu, not believing that the string of numbers and letters the android had said could really be a person’s name.

"Can I call you something shorter?" she asked.

The android paused, searching for an answer before finally responding,

"You can. You may call me: "Tenten".

"Tenten? Like the number? But two times?" Yinu asked as she open and closed her hands twice for “ten, ten.”

"Yes." Said the android. While it had searched its memories for an acceptable answer, it had noticed that when being spoken about, humans would often shorten his name to only the first part. When it was relevant, it would be referred to as the "L-Type," and when the Captain was angry it would be referred to as “Soldier,” but "Tenten" was usually sufficient and would probably be easier for the Little Miss to say.

"Okay Mr. Tenten, my name is Yinu."

"Yinu. That is a very nice name." Tenten replied. While its face made no change in emotion, its voice sounded sincere in its tone. Perhaps it thought every name it heard was a "nice name," but without even considering the possibility of this being a stock response, Yinu beamed, "Thank you!"

In what was only a handful of minutes, Yinu had gone from thinking she was in a literal nightmare realm to quite liking the nice android that had helped her out. For a moment she had again forgotten she was still lost until Tenten had reminded her.

"Little Miss, I do believe you were calling for help just a moment ago, yes?" it asked. "That is why I followed your voice, but you ran away before I could help you."

Yinu felt a little embarrassed about her earlier behavior, but having remembered her original goal, she explained the situation about how she had flung her bracelet and gotten on the elevator and separated from her Mama and how she couldn't remember which floor they were on or where she was, and how she saw this scary monster, and oh wait, that was Tenten.

After intently listening to her story, Tenten replied, "Miss Quartz's office is at the very top of NSR tower, so it will be very easy to return there from the elevator." As he said this, he raised his arm and pointed down the corridor in the direction that Yinu was running. It didn't look so far away now, and she was sure that now knowing where her Mama was, she would be able to get there herself.

But after everything that had happened, Yinu was tired of being a big girl for one day.

"Will you go with me?" She tugged on Tenten's free hand, causing him to look back down at her.

Her hand was lightly trembling. Even though she really wanted to see her Mama again and give her big hug, she was equally scared of how much she was going to get yelled at for running off. Mama had sounded really angry when she had gotten on the elevatr. Even so, she felt like it'd be a little less scary if Tenten was there too.

Tenten lowered his pointed hand and wrapped his fingers around the tiny hand which had grabbed him. "Okay. We will go together. From the elevator, it should not take more than a minute to reach the top floor."

No sooner than he had given this assurance, the building intercoms began to sound with Miss Quartz's voice, "Attention all NSR employees. We have a code orange. Currently be on the lookout for Miss Yinu. She is approximately 8 years old, has yellow hair-" the two listened to the alert until it concluded with, "If found, please make a report using the intercom system and return her to the lobby. Until she is found the building will be on lock down and the elevator will be suspended. Thank you."

Yinu felt another huge rush of embarrassment come over her and she began to panic. "What do we do now?" she asked.

Tenten was about to offer a few comforting words to the panicking child, but was stopped by an incoming transmission.

"Tenten, do you copy?" said the voice in its head.

"Yes sir, I can hear you." it replied out loud.

"Who are you talking to?" Yinu asked as she started swinging Tenten’s arm in anticipation.

"My captain is calling me." said Tenten. "Captain?" Yinu thought. She couldn't hear what the "Captain" was saying and began to wonder if Tenten was playing some kind of game with her to make going back not as scary.

On the one hand, Yinu didn't like being treated like she was some little kid who still played make-believe, but on the other she appreciated that Tenten was so worried about her to even think to turn this into game. If that's what he thought was best, then she would play along too.

Meanwhile, the conversation between Tenten and its Captain continued.

"Are you with someone Tenten? Never mind, we need to call off your test right now. At the moment, it is of utmost importance that we locate Miss Yinu. Did you take note of the physical description in the announcement?"

"Yes sir, I am currently with Yinu."

"Oh, very good! The training really is paying off. Okay, I'm down here with Yinu's Mother right now, so if you could-"

"Yinu! Are you there?! Can you hear me?!"

Tenten's inner voice was interrupted by Mama's cries of concern.

"He doesn’t have a receiver on his end Madam, but it seems my robot has already found Yinu. I'll direct him to bring her down immediately. Did you catch that Tenten?"

"Yes sir. We were about to take the stairs and-"

"My Yinu is with a robot?! I swear if it did anything to hurt her, I'll tear it apart!"

"Madam, please relax! Robots are very safe nowadays. Furthermore-"

As the Captain continued his lecture with Mama about the great strides in safety and advancement robots had made in recent years, Tenten turned his attention back at Yinu, who was still gripping his hand and looking back at him patiently. It looked at the bandages across her knees and cheek. The bandages which covered wounds that he had inadvertently caused.

It had hurt Yinu.

If it had hurt Yinu, then it would get torn apart.

Getting torn apart would result in system failure.

If he could somehow avoid Mama but return Yinu, then he could fulfill his current objective without being destroyed, but its system failed to generate any possible solutions that didn't also put Yinu in grave danger. It considered giving her directions to send her alone, but he had already promised to go together. As the situation was, it would be impossible both return Yinu and avoid assured destruction. Then the next best option...

"If I may interrupt sir."

"You can even find robots in hospitals nowa- Oh, what is it Tenten?"

"It is no longer possible for me to return with Yinu under these conditions. I will keep her with me until conditions improve."

"Wait, what conditions?! What happened!? Is she hurt?!" yelled the Captain, desperately trying to get details about the situation, but to no avail.

"I am sorry. Good-bye."

Tenten disconnected from the call and set himself to "cloaking mode.” For now, it was in his best interest to move as far away from this place as possible to avoid being tracked to his last known location.

"Okay Miss Yinu, I know I said I would take you back, but would you like to play hide-and-seek with me first?" he asked.

"Uh-huh!" Yinu smiled at him. She knew right from the start about his plan to make this a game, so she was happy to oblige him. "Okay, we are going to hide from my Captain for just a bit. I know a good place where we can hide, but it is a little far. Do you think you can walk for a while?"

"Yes, sir!" she saluted with the wrong hand, but Tenten accepted this answer.

"Then let us go."

As the two began walking towards the stairs, a new announcement came through the intercom. This time it wasn't Miss Quartz. It sounded like Tenten, but more natural and much more angry.

"Attention all NSR towers employees and visitors! This is code red! A rogue android has taken the missing child Yinu as a hostage. It is to be considered armed and dangerous! Please take cover wherever possible and do not approach the android under any circumstance and allow security bots through. The android is approximately 203 centimeters tall and is wearing a naval style uniform. I repeat, this android is considered armed and dangerous! Please take cover-"

"Oh, is everyone playing?" Yinu asked quizzically as she looked up at the speaker making the announcement.

"It would appear so." replied Tenten calmly, as he continued walking with Yinu to the first set of stairs, still holding her hand firmly.

"This will be lots of fun then!" she said happily.

"But, that man said you were dangerous? Is that true?"

Tenten paused to think of an answer.

"You were hurt because of me, were you not?" it replied. Yinu hmmed a bit as she considered the bandage that was currently itching her face. "Yeah, but that wasn't your fault." she said as she let her free hand glide on the stairwell's railing. "Besides, you helped fix me up, so it's okay."

"I see." replied Tenten as it made note of this opinion.

Finally the two had reached the top of the first flight of stairs. There would be many more flights before they reached Tenten's intended destination, but Yinu was eager to get a move on.

For a while, the Captain's warning message had echoed through the building, but it had finally ceased as the two had cleared their 2nd flight. Now it was just the echo of their foot steps through the stairwell, occasionally interrupted by walking through the halls to avoid any security bots posted near the stairs. It became a tango of walking then ducking for cover as they raced past the less advanced security bots to the next flight of stairs. Yinu thought the security bots were very funny looking. They were all boxy and had very long arms. They were nothing like the humanesque Tenten that was with her.

Although this ducking and running was somewhat entertaining, Yinu was beginning to grow tired. Tenten slowed his stride to keep from dragging her along, but the situation was still urgent to him.

"Miss Yinu, we still have a ways to go, you should keep your pace up." he inquired.

"My legs hurt..." she replied wistfully.

Tenten immediately stopped. "I am sorry. I have caused you pain again."

Under the usual circumstances, Tenten would have forced Yinu to pick herself up by her bootstraps and continue on, but he had been taught recently that he could not expect that same kind of force to work on civilians, especially children. He had to be gentle and considerate of their needs and wants, and right now he realized that he had been neglecting this.

He began to reconsider its current objective: he was determined to keep Yinu safe from further harm, but even traveling the building like this was taking a toll on her. They still had a few more floors until they could reach what Tenten considered a "safe room". Even if they made it to that room, he knew that they could not hide there indefinitly. He could easily keep making the Captain and the security bots keep circling around the tower looking for him for hours if not forever, but Yinu could not. Eventually she would need food or water, and other basic needs that Tenten could not provide while they were hiding. If he prioritized Yinu’s condition, then eventually they would get caught.

Right now, all he could do was prolong the inevitable, but he was determined to do so for as long as he was able.

"Miss Yinu, I can carry you the rest of the way. Would you like to ride on my shoulders?"

Yinu sleepily nodded. In response, Tenten crouched down and arched his back in a way to make it easy for the small girl to climb on. She carefully stepped onto his back then slung each leg over each of his shoulders, resting her body on the back of his head and her head on top of its cap. She thought that its body would be cold and metallic, like a refrigerator, but the robot was surprisingly warm and metallic, like a preheating oven. It was cozy.

"Are you secured?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." she replied. At this, the android began to rise again, holding onto her legs from the front. From here the floor seemed so far away from Yinu, but she always liked being up so high, especially on Mama's shoulders: it was a new, great perspective for her. She wondered if everyone this tall saw the world like this everyday. Even through her sleepiness, she couldn't hide that she was excited about getting carried.

"Okay, I am going to walk a little faster now, so please hang on tight." he said as it began to dash for the next flight of stairs. Yinu wrapped her arms around the robot's head. She giggled sleepily as she felt the rush air blow over her face.

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

They continued this steady pace for the next couple of floors, so Yinu broke through the monotony by asking the questions that were on her mind. She had been thinking of several since getting properly acquainted with Tenten and now seemed to be as good a time as any to ask them.

"So... what were you made for?" she asked. It had taken her until about now for it to really sink in that she was with a robot. She'd seen robots on TV sometimes, usually in movies, but sometimes in the news too. She thought a lot of them were scary since a lot of them tried taking over the world in a fight against the human race, but clearly Tenten was different from those robots. Those robots never printed out bandages or carried kids on their shoulders (unless they were giant friendly ones).

Tenten did not answer for some time both as he pondered what an acceptable answer for a child would be and wanting to keep his voice down from the guards.

He had not been around many children since it had been activated, but it was programmed into his core that he should absolutely handle them with care. Anything that his system categorized as "scary" couldn’t be said to a child.

So it decided to describe itself in its simplest of terms. "I was made to help people."

"Like what you did for my ouchies?" she asked as she swung her legs a bit to emphasize her bandaged knees.

"Yes, and much more. I can administer basic first-aid as well as perform other helpful functions."

"Like what?" Yinu kept pressing. She wanted to know everything that Tenten was capable of, but it started listing mundane utilities like opening and closing doors, twisting open jar lids, playing catch.

"That's all kinda boring." she said honestly. "Can you shoot lasers and stuff?" she asked. Almost all the robots on TV could shoot lasers of some kind, usually from their eyes.

To Tenten this was a "scary" subject, but since Yinu was the one to mention it, perhaps she was not scared of such things? So, weaponry was cleared from his “scary topic” filter so he could be a little more honest about himself. So it answered, "Yes. I can shoot lasers, but only when absolutely necessary."

Yinu's eyes lit up, "That's so cool! Can you show me?"

"It is not absolutely necessary that I do that right now. It would also be very dangerous."

"Aw..." she was very disappointed at this answer, but she figured he was right.

As she thought this, she looked at some of the framed pictures of instruments on the walls that she could finally see from the higher vantage point. They were all artsy renditions, using abstract shapes and colors, but they were still clearly recognizable as people playing instruments. A saxophone player, a cellist, a keyboardist, and many more.

"What about music? Do you play anything?" she asked. They were in the tower of a record company right now. Even if Tenten was a robot, maybe he could do something with music.

"I have not learned how to play any instrument, but I can sing and dance."

Yinu lit up at this. Even if he couldn't play anything, she'd never seen or heard of a singing robot before. "Can you sing something for me?" she asked excitedly. "Not right now. We need avoid detection right now." he said as he steered them up another stairwell.

Yinu's expression sunk, and she lowered her head deeper into its cap. "Can you sing for me later?" she asked in a begging tone. He thought about this. Would there even be a "later" after they got caught?

"Yes, if I have the opportunity, I will sing for you." Yinu was satisfied with this answer for now, so question after question continued to tumble out.

“How old are you?”

“I am approximately 3 years, 7 months, and 2 days old.”

“Hah, that’s younger than me! I’m 8 and a half years old. But you’re a really big kid.”

“My physical age is irrelevant to my size.”

“What does “ear elephant” mean?”

“Irrelevant means it is of little to no consequence.”

“What does “con see quince” mean?”

“It is the result of an action.”

“Will I ever get as tall as you?”

“If your genetics favor height, then possibly.”

“What does that mean?”

“If your parents are tall, then you are likely to become as tall as either of them when you reach maturity.”

“Oh! My Mama and Papa are really tall! Maybe even taller than you!”

“Then you will likely be tall when you become an adult.”

"Do you have a Mama?"

"No." replied Tenten.

"Then do you have a Papa?"

"No."

"How about a Grandmama?"

"I do not have any form of parent." said Tenten, having finally found the common thread in this string of questions.

"Oh..." she said sadly as she balled her fists into the cap, creasing it slightly. Noticing this, the robot stopped walking.

"What is wrong Miss Yinu? Did my answer upset you?"

"You don't have someone who looks after you? Or takes care of you?"

It considered this new definition for a moment. Someone who looks after it and takes care of it?

"I believe my Captain matches that criteria." he replied. The Captain did indeed look after Tenten during his training and the Captain was usually in charge of managing his maintenance checks.

"Then that's your Papa, silly!" Yinu perked her head up again and smiled to herself, but Tenten still didn't move.

"The Captain is my Papa?" he asked. Yinu thought for a moment, "Huh? Well yeah, if he loves you and cares about you, then he's your Papa."

"So a Papa is someone who looks after you, and takes care of you, and loves you, and cares about you. Is that correct?" he asked. "I think so." replied Yinu, though she was a little unsure if this was a satisfactory answer herself. She thought it didn’t exactly describe what she thought of as a “Papa,” but it was technically correct, so she didn’t add anything else.

The android began trying to process this new definition of "Papa."

"Then I do not believe my Captain meets all the criteria." it replied.

"Why not? Didn’t you say he takes care of you?" she asked a little concerned.

"I am not capable of quantifying "love," so I can not determine if the Captain "loves" me or not."

Yinu didn't understand what Tenten meant. Love wasn't something you "quantified." What did quantify even mean? It was just a feeling, and she had a feeling that she had a lot to teach this android. She tried to think of all the things her Mama and Papa did that made her feel loved.

"Does your Captain ever tell you stories at night to help you sleep?" asked Yinu.

"I do believe he has shared his personal history with me before, but not to aid in my rest."

"Does he kiss your ouchies better?"

"No. I do not get "ouchies.""

"Um... does he stay by your bed when you're sick and feed you soup?"

"No. I do not have a bed and I am incapable of any organic consumption."

The girl was running out of ideas for how to explain the feeling of "love" to the android.

"Well, how do you feel about him? Does he make you happy when he's with you?" she asked, grasping for anything that she could reasonably call love.

Tenten repeated the question to itself, "Do I feel happy when the Captain is with me?"

Tenten tried to analyze all of his memories with his Captain which contained feelings of “joy.” It came up with less than a handful of results, but they were still results.

A day when after a particularly long dance practice session, the Captain remarked, "Good work! You're finally getting it down!"

Another time at the shooting range when it'd managed to achieve 99% accuracy and the Captain said, "Impressive! You've still got it Tenten!"

Earlier this year when the Captain said, "This is it, we finally made it to the top brass: NSR! I know you and the squad are going to shine out there!"

"Yes." it finally replied.

Any instances of praise did cause a reaction of "joy" in Tenten. It knew it was programmed to please the Captain and he was rewarded with "joy" for meeting these expectations, but if this reaction could be considered "love" and the expression of praise was likewise "love" then perhaps the Captain did love Tenten, and Tenten loved its Captain in return.

After considering this assessment, he also considered the warning that his Captain had also just given, condemning him as an armed and dangerous robot. His Captain had essentially given anyone who saw him permission to kill him. That action did not seem to line up with any definition of love that Tenten currently had.

If the Captain did love him, then the Captain did not love him at this time.

Tenten began moving again, determined as ever to complete its current objective, but he hadn't noticed that while it was stopping to think, a couple of security bots had seen the duo and were starting to close in.

"They're going to get us!" Yinu cried playfully. This game was getting very exciting, and the sudden idea of getting caught had woken her from her near stupor.

Tenten quickly looked around the hall, looking for anywhere, anything he could use to help them escape, but there was nothing he could use without causing unnecessary damage. Crashing through the window would surely harm Miss Yinu. Just evading them wouldn't stop them from following them afterwards: once these security bots had their target in sight, it would be almost impossible to shake them off.

There was only one solution right now to both get through to the upper floors and keep the bots from following after them.

Tenten grabbed his cap from off his head and placed it onto Yinu. It was a little big, falling just over her eyes.

"Hey!" she cried as she peeked from underneath it.

"You wanted to see me shoot lasers, right?" he asked, as aimed his right arm towards the bots and pointed at them with his index finger.

"Uh-huh!" she said excitedly.

"You can peek, but cover your face with my hat when my lasers hit those bad guys, okay?"

"Okay!"

The moment he got this assurance, Tenten fired a short beam from his finger tip, aimed squarely in the middle of the first security bot's rectangular chest. It shot straight through the bot leaving an opening big enough to see the other side of the hall through. It was so fast that Yinu nearly missed it, but she guarded her face as the bot began to explode into pieces of debris and scrap metal. Tenten helped hold her in place on his back with his free hand and tried to block as much of the scattering parts from hitting Yinu as he continued blasting through the small wave of bots.

Yinu could hear them bursting apart and desperately wanted to see it happen again, but hearing the little flecks of metal bounce off the cap convinced her that keeping cover would be for the best right now.

Once the way was cleared, Tenten began to sprint up through the next flight of stairs. The commotion had attracted the security bots to guard the top, but Tenten blasted through them all the same.

"Miss Yinu, please hang on. We have almost reached our destination."

Tenten made a dash through the hall until he had his sights on a pair of grand double doors.

"We have arrived." he said as he crouched down to let Yinu off his shoulders so he could open the doors. He allowed Yinu to scurry in first before following and closing the door behind them. Yinu was in amazement of the room: it was a large concert hall, one of the biggest she'd ever been in before. Even the smallest sound she made seemed to echo throughout the room. But more than all that, what caught her interest was the grand piano on the stage.

Of interest to Tenten were the many rows of seats and balconies which could be used for cover and barricades if needed. They could hole up here for several hours and make quick trips to the dressing room to procure bottled water for Yinu.

"We should be able to hide h-h-heeeeeere. Y-Y-Yiiiiiinuuuu." Tenten's voice began to stutter and distort, creating an uneasy sound which echoed through the hall. His legs began to buckle and he dropped to his knees, nearly collapsing on the floor. "Oh no!" Yinu rushed back to his side. She tried to help him up, but he was much too heavy for her to even prop up. This game was starting to get a little too serious.

"Tenten, what's wrong! Do you feel light headed? Do you need some candy?" she cried, thinking of all the ways she tried to help Papa when this happened to him.

"I'm r-r-r-runnnnnnnnning ouut of p-p-p-pooooower." by instinct, Tenten wanted to process how he could have saved more power by being more efficient, but even that act would have quickly drained him of what little power he still had left.

"Power? How do you get power?"

"M-m-m-m-mussssssssic-c-c-c." he hissed.

"Music? Any kind of music?"

"Y-Y-yes..."

Yinu looked down at the stage with the grand piano again then back to Tenten. "Okay. I'll play something for you." Yinu stood up, ready to get on the stage, but she felt her leg getting pulled back.

"B-b-b-but we we we we we willllllll bbbbbbbe caught. Caught. Caught. If you plaaaaaay."

She crouched back down and took Tenten's hand into hers, it was burning hot from all the shooting he'd done just moments prior.

"It's okay. Eventually everyone gets found during hide-and-seek. And I... really don't want you to die yet. Please... don't die yet." she said. She remembered saying the same thing to her Papa once. It hadn’t worked back then, but maybe it would work now.

Tenten said nothing, but he loosened his grip on her leg and gave a weak nod. "I had a lot of fun today Mr. Tenten. You did a lot for me, but now it's my turn."

Yinu began to scamper away and back towards the stage. As she did so, memories of today replayed in her head: losing her hair band. Being scared and running away from Tenten. The funny way he treated her scrapes. Feeling safe holding his hand when they were lost. The satisfaction of talking about the meaning of love. The excitement of tearing through the security bots. Everything came together to be what she considered a very entertaining day. There was no way she could let it end with her new friend dying trying to help her. Days like this deserved a happy ending, she thought.

Climbing up the steep steps, she admired that beautiful grand piano. Its ebony hull seemed to sparkle with the invitation to be played.

Yinu adjusted the piano bench's height to accommodate her short stature. Upon sitting she lifted the key cover and took a deep breath. Soon, her fingers were gliding across the keys, playing sweet melodies which reverberated through the entire room and beyond. Everyone, who had been in a panicked fervor trying to locate the missing Yinu a few floors above and below stopped to listen to the sound. It carried far and wide throughout the building, reaching even Mama's ears.

"That's gotta be Yinu playing!" she cried. Miss Quartz who'd been with Mama since Yinu disappeared declared, "We have a grand piano on floor 10, that’s got to be where they are. Jay, order all security to that floor immediately!"

"I'm on it!" as Tenten's captain motioned for the team of deluxe security bots to follow him up the stairs.

Still planted on the ground, Tenten looked out to the stage, watching as Yinu lost herself to the ivory keys. Each note sent just a little more power through his body and began recharging his battery. Soon he had enough power to stand back up, albeit clumsily.

He began to hobble down the lane, using every other seat as a balance as he moved towards the stage. He just had be closer to the wonderful source of sound. It was a song unlike any he'd ever heard before, and never would have.

This was a family piece that Yinu's Papa had taught her when she was very small. They played it together often, and when Papa had passed, she always played it for her Mama. It was a happy song that reminded her of sad times. It was the song that won her many awards and got her signed onto NSR. It was still precious to her and she was happy to play it for anyone who would listen.

It wasn't long before Tenten had joined Yinu on the stage and was hovering over her, listening intently until the piece had concluded.

Yinu turned around to see him clapping for her. "That was a wonderful performance Miss Yinu." Yinu's face lit up again at seeing her friend well and standing. "Tenten!" she practically jumped off the stool to hug him, so relieved and happy that he was okay.

He almost fell over, not expecting such a sudden great force bashing into his legs after he just recovered his balance, but he nonetheless returned the gesture by patting her on the head. He lowered himself again to meet Yinu at eye level.

"I am feeling better now thanks to you. So, thank you." He held out his hand for her to shake it, but she leaned in to give him another hug. This time, he properly returned it. "I'm just glad you're okay." she said, hugging him tighter.

At this, Tenten stood up once more and turned his gaze towards the piano. "I did not know that you could play the piano so well." he said.

"Yep!" Yinu beamed. "That's why I'm here, so I can play the piano for everyone!"

It had finally occurred to Tenten that he had not once asked why Yinu was in the NSR tower. He had put all his objectives before learning anything about her, and for this he felt somewhat ashamed. He would need to make up for this grave error before his many other grave errors caught up with him.

"Do you think you could play for me one more time? I’m not fully charged yet, and I would like to sing for you, like I promised." he asked.

"Of course! What do you want me to play?" she giddily made her way back to the piano bench ready to play any number of songs for her friend.

"I am not capable of improvising, but I am familiar with a small library of popular songs. Could you pick one, and I will tell you if I know it."

"Okay... do you know this one?"

She began to play a few bars. He listened intently as he tried to match the sounds to his database.

"I believe so..."

He seated himself next to Yinu on the bench. "Mama and Papa used to play this one a lot together." she said as she continued through the first measure.

Tenten counted to himself until he began to sing.

Outside the hall, all manner of security bots being led by Jay, were getting ready to storm inside, but all ceased when a voice began accompanying the piano.

"Heart and soul,

I fell in love with you.

Heart and soul,

The way a fool would do:

Madly, because you held me tight,

And stole a kiss in the night..."

"Who is that?" asked Mama, who was close behind Jay and Miss Quartz.

"It sounds like… Tenten?" answered Jay, surprised that his rogue soldier would be doing something as quaint as sing a song during an apparent kidnapping.

"Shouldn’t he be trying to hide?” asked Miss Quartz who was similarly flabbergasted that such an advanced military A.I. would do something to blatantly blow its cover like this.

“Maybe this is his way of giving up? Or it’s a trap and he’s getting ready to ambush.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter why it’s singing. Go in there and get Miss Yinu!”

“I can’t just barge in there without knowing the situation!”

While the two bickered, Mama listened closely to that sadly familiar song. Without thinking, she opened the doors to the hall herself. Although the other two were too late to stop her from walking headfirst into theoretical danger, there was no sudden shooting of lasers or other obstruction. Instead, the sound of the duet just poured out into the halls for everyone to hear clearly.

Yinu had started to join in the song too. She was a little off key and she stumbled slightly, her talents were truly in the ivory keys, but the two of them were having too much fun to worry about something like perfect pitch.

"Heart and soul,

I begged to be adored,

Lost control, and tumbled overboard,

Gladly...

That magic night we kissed,

There in the moon mist."

Both were so lost in the song that they failed to notice the all the security bots trickling in along with the Captain, Mama, and the CEO.

"Oh, but your lips were thrilling,

much too thrilling.

Never before were mine so

strangely willing."

As the bots quietly closed in around the stage, the adults stayed back watching the strange display before them: A little girl playing piano and singing happily with a military-class battle bot. Surely, this was the kind of sight you could only find in a place like this.

"But now I see,

what one embrace can do

Look at me,

it's got me loving you,

Madly, that little kiss you stole,

Held all my heart and soul..."

Yinu continued to play, but Tenten had noticed the sound of the doors opening and the movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked out toward the seating area, seeing all the security bots now surrounding them at the foot of the stage and his Captain looking back at him, arms folded in what Tenten recognized as "disappointment.”

"Oh, but your lips were thrilling,

much too thrilling.

Never before were mine so

strangely willing.

But now I see,

what one embrace can do

Look at me,

it's got me loving you,

Madly, that little kiss you stole,

Held all my heart and soul.

Held all my heart and soul.

Held all my heart and soul."

As the last note of the piano played and reverberated through the fall, it was followed by clapping from the human watchers. Yinu almost jumped in surprise since she hadn't noticed that the hall had filled up. She looked towards the back of the hall and saw her Mama with one hand resting on her cheek. She was trying to keep her smile from showing after hearing her daughter play so beautifully. Right now she had to look serious.

When the clapping stopped, a voice broke through the silence, the Captain's voice.

"That was very nice you two! Very lovely!" he called out giving a couple of last claps. Yinu looked out at the source of sound. His body looked the same as Tenten’s, but the face… was he wearing a mask? She felt like she’d seen it somewhere before, but he was too far away for her to make out the details.

"But Tenten, you need to let Yinu go now before I order security to fire! Stand and keep your hands up where I can see them!"

Tenten stood up from the bench with his arms raised to his head. Yinu mimicked him, but hid behind his legs, scared of the security bots below. When did the game get so scary? Were they still going to be in trouble even though everyone was playing together? Tenten turned his gaze towards her and noticed the tears welling in Yinu’s eyes. He moved to place his hand on her head again to help her calm down.

"HEY! Keep both your hands up Tenten! Miss Yinu you don’t have to do it too!" called out Jay. As Yinu lowered her arms, Tenten could sense the guide lasers from the security bots being aimed at his head. He dared not move again unless instructed to.

"Miss Yinu, you’re safe now! Please step away from Tenten and come off the stage. Your Mama is very worried about you!" he called.

Yinu stepped a little from behind Tenten, but quickly ducked back again and hugged his leg when she too noticed that all the security bots had their hands pointed at Tenten. These bots were different from the blocky ones that Tenten had blasted away. They looked like bigger, meaner versions of Tenten, and if they were anything like him, he was going to be blown up to more than just pieces.

"Don't be afraid! They won't hurt you, just come down and-!"

"I won't go if you're going to hurt him!" she cried out.

The room was quiet again as the adults murmured to themselves about what to say next. Tenten wanted so badly to turn to Yinu, but he could not risk it. Instead, he tried to focus his sonic hearing on the adults across the room.

“Did he brainwash her or something?” whispered Miss Quartz.

“I don’t think he’s capable of that.” said Jay. “We haven’t added the “smooth talk” feature yet.”

“Can’t you shoot him from here and get Yinu back?”

“We can’t be hasty. That is still a highly-trained military class battle bot. He hurt Yinu earlier, so he might be willing to use her to protect himself if he needs to.”

Had his processor been capable of it, Tenten would have been appalled at the mere suggestion that he would ever willingly hurt Miss Yinu. Instead, he broke through the murmurs himself, speaking loudly so that all could hear him:

"Yinu, we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone today. Please return to your Mama. That was our original objective, was it not?"

Yinu began to cry, "But... you're about to die again... You can't die yet... you said you wouldn't..."

"I did not vocalize such a promise. And this situation is different. I am about to be killed. That is different from dying." he said so matter-of-factly.

"You still promised! You promised you wouldn't die yet!" she cried.

"I am sorry, but I do not have any choice in this matter."

"Then I'm not going!"

"Yinu, do not be stubborn. Go to your Mama."

"No!"

"Yinu."

The two went back and forth like this for a bit bickering the same way that siblings would over who’s turn it was to use the computer. It was beginning to be comical to those looking in. Or so it would have been had this not been a literal crisis situation. All the while the adults continued to murmur to themselves.

"This is ridiculous!" grumbled Jay as he pinched around his “face” where a brow used to be. "What is even going on here anymore? Is this even still a kidnapping?”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t let that thing free-roam!” chided Miss Quartz.

“I have to do the field testing somewhere! What am I supposed to do, let him walk around the Metro Division by himself?”

As those two bickered and the kids bickered, Mama was lost in thought. Anger had long since subsided as she was more than relieved that her little girl was alright. But as she listened to the playful way in which the android and her daughter was speaking, she began to think that maybe she really wasn’t ever in danger with him by her side.

Finally, the verbal battle on the adult’s side had come to an agreement.

Jay called out again, "Okay! Tenten, you come here with Miss Yinu! Keep your hands up and we won't shoot! We're just going to have a talk about this!"

Yinu cried out, "You promise you won't hurt him!"

"I promise! Now both of you get down from there so we can all go home!"

The security bots lowered their weapon hands.

Yinu looked up at Tenten, "Okay... let's go..."

Slowly, Tenten began making his way off the stage, hands still raised. Yinu followed behind, not letting her hand off of the back of his left leg. They descended the steps off the stage, and started walking down the aisle towards the adults until they were standing no more than a few feet apart.

"Yinu, are you okay baby?" asked Mama calmly.

Yinu was still behind Tenten, but she replied with a sheepish, "Uh-huh."

She was about to go back to her Mama’s open arms, but then Yinu looked up at Tenten's Captain. Now that she was closer she could see the details of his mask... it wasn't a mask, it was his actual face. Was he a robot too?

Yinu wondered how a robot could be the boss of another robot, but she supposed that some people were the boss of other people too, so it made sense. Just before she could walk back over to her Mama’s side, the Captain began talking, very angrily.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself solider?" the Captain asked sternly.

"Papa..."

"...What did you just call me?" exclaimed the Captain.

"I mean, Captain Neon Jay, sir." Tenten quickly rectified his blunder.

"I sincerely apologize for my actions today. It was not my intention to endanger or harm Miss Yinu in any way. I-"

CLANK!

"I am not asking for your excuses soldier!" the Captain slapped his hand across the android's face, turning his head a full 90 degrees to the right. The loud clang of metal on metal froze everyone in their spots.

Yinu cried, "Tenten!"

"I was not hurt, Miss Yinu..." Tenten assured the girl as he clicked his head back to its original position. This was half-true. It did not hurt him physically aside from a small scuff from metal clashing against metal. The slap had probably done more harm to the Captain's hand than it did to Tenten's face, but the gesture was agonizing. Never before had the Captain reacted with such violent disappointment.

"How could you possibly disobey direct orders like that!? Not only did you put a child in a dangerous situation, but you used firearms in an unauthorized zone! Not to mention cloaking without express permission! Do you know how much this is going to cost us!"

The android could do nothing but stand and listen as all of his failures today were listed out in great detail, each one causing him to feel just a little more shame. But, more than that, he began focusing on Yinu holding onto him tighter and tighter. He could feel her tears streaking down his leg, and right now that was the most important detail.

"You are making Miss Yinu cry."

"And you know- What did you say?! After all that you still have the nerve to interrupt-" Jay was about to raise another hand towards Tenten until he repeated:

"You are making Miss Yinu cry."

Jay turned his attention to the girl still cowering behind Tenten.

She was murmuring to herself, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... it's my fault...if I didn't run away then... you wouldn't be getting yelled at…"

“Yinu… it’s okay Yinu...” Mama finally stepped forward to comfort her daughter with a hug. Yinu gave a half hug back, not wanting to let go of Tenten’s leg.

Tenten looked back at Yinu. "Miss Yinu, No one is mad at you." he said.

Tenten so desperately wanted to comfort Yinu too. It was taking every bit of restraint in his processors to keep him from moving from his current position, for he still had not been given permission to lower his arms. He hoped that his words would be enough comfort, though he doubted their effectiveness.

"Everyone here was very worried about you. They are mad at me because I got you hurt." he continued.

Yinu broke away from everyone.

"But you didn't hurt me! You protected me from everything." she chided the android for saying what she thought was a lie.

"Then why are you covered in bandages?" pointed out Miss Quartz. Yinu felt the bandage on her cheek again. It had happened so long ago already that she'd forgotten it and the ones are her knees were even there.

"I tripped and fell when I was running away. Tenten fixed me up." she admitted between sniffles.

Neon Jay crossed his arms and turned back towards Tenten. "Is this true, Tenten?"

The android said nothing.

“Soldier, you answer when I ask you a question. Is it true that Yinu was hurt because she tripped and fell?”

“...Yes sir.”

"Then why did you say you hurt her?"

"Miss Yinu tripped and fell because she was frightened of me. That means the fault lies with my poor approach."

Neon Jay sighed. "That's... You blew this whole thing out of proportion! We thought you did something to seriously hurt Yinu!"

"Is this not serious?"

"I mean, accidents happen Tenten. Something this small doesn’t necessitate all the hell you put everyone one through today."

"But I was threatened.”

“When? By who?”

“I quote, “I swear if it did anything to hurt her, I'll tear it apart!” end quote.”

The Captain looked at Yinu’s Mama who was still hugging Yinu before turning back to Tenten and pinching at his face again "We really need to refine your ability to understand figures of speech."

"It wasn't a figure of speech." murmured Mama. “But… no, I wouldn’t have done it if I knew that’s what happened.” she finished as she picked up Yinu to carry in her arms and get a good look at the “harm” that had been done.

"What about your hair Yinu, how did it come undone?" asked Mama.

"I did it myself. It hurt to have them that tight, Mama."

Mama furrowed her brow. "Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

"Because I know Mama worked really hard to make it really cute like that. I didn't want to disappoint you…" Yinu said shyly.

“Oh Yinu…” Mama kissed her cheek.

“Well, I’m glad this has been resolved and no one was seriously injured, but this has still been a major incident.” started Miss Quartz. “Jay, I expect you to file the proper reports on this and make-up for your robots’ mess today.”

“Yes Ma’am!” the Captain saluted, but his tone had the slightest bit of annoyance behind it, aimed at the much too cautious android.

Then Miss Quartz turned toward Yinu and her Mama. “As for Miss Yinu’s transfer, we can continue this another day. I’m sure you would both like to go home and relax after all this nonsense.”

They both nodded. “And Miss Yinu,” she turned her attention specifically to the little girl. “I am willing to overlook today’s events as a simple accident and misunderstanding, but I’m expecting a lot less tomfoolery from you in the future. When your Mama asks you to come back immediately, you do so. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do things by yourself, but you must still obey your Mama, understand?”

Yinu nodded, “I understand.”

“Very good, then everyone move out. There’s a lot to catch up on! Chop chop! I’ll escort you both to the exit.” Miss Quartz clapped as everyone exited the concert hall to return to their respective stations.

As the Captain and Tenten were about to walk away to survey the damage done to the security bots a few floors down (which would certainly have to be deducted from the Captain’s salary), Yinu called out. “Wait, Tenten!”

The robot stopped and turned around to look back at her calling his name. “Go ahead.” said the Captain. With permission, Tenten walked over to Mama carrying Yinu.

“Yes, Miss Yinu?” Tenten asked.

“A little closer.” she said. Tenten took another step forward towards Mama and Yinu.

“Closer!” she laughed. He took a few more steps, enough that he noticed that Mama was getting a little uncomfortable having to look at the robot so closely.

He became so close that his face was only a few inches away from the girl’s face.

“Now turn your head to the left.” his face whirred into place.

“My left.” he whirred again until his left cheek was facing Yinu.

Finally Yinu reached into her pocket and pulled out the extra bandage that she still had from earlier. She applied it to the scuff that was left from the Captain’s slap.

“There, now we match.” she said proudly.

Tenten turned his head back to look at Yinu and the bandage that was stuck to her left cheek too.

“Yes, we do.” he replied as he touched the freshly applied bandage. “Thank you very much Yinu. I hope we can see each other again.” he said.

“You probably will,” started Miss Tatiana. “She’ll be working with us very soon. Once we clear all the paperwork.”

Yinu nodded and smiled. “Yeah! We’ll get to see each other a lot!”

“Yes, hopefully with a little less excitement next time.” said Miss Quartz towards the android. “But right now, it’s time for you two to say good-bye.”

“Okay. Good-bye Tenten.” said Yinu as she waved farewell towards him.

“Good-bye, Miss Yinu.” he waved back and began to walk back to the Captain’s side.

As Mama began leaving with Yinu, the girl let out a small yawn as her sleepiness caught up with her again. “I’m sorry I made you worry Mama.” she said sleepily. Mama kissed Yinu on the forehead again. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Mm-hmm…” Yinu’s eyes started to glaze over until she finally closed them as she nuzzled into her Mama’s warm arms, falling fast asleep.

Meanwhile the android and cyborg walked in relative silence back towards the stairwell to investigate the lower floors.

There was a lot that Jay had to consider about what to do with Tenten. Whether it had good intentions or not, an android that so clearly disobeyed orders did not give the Captain confidence in its current programming. Something would have to be done about this, but until then, there was one question still weighing on Jay’s mind that he wanted answered sooner rather than later.

“Tenten, why did you call me “Papa” earlier?”

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

Several months passed since Yinu had been properly signed onto NSR. She was already raising the ranks in Natura. By next summer it was all but guaranteed that she would take over as the top charter. During such a small amount of time, she had already accomplished much at NSR, but she hadn’t seen Tenten again since she returned. Apparently he had been undergoing maintenance during his upgrade to MK III. She did however learn that Tenten was actually a part of group of other Tentens.

She wondered what that would be like, five different versions of Tenten. Would they all be as nice as the one she’d met before or would they all be a little different. But today she would get to seem them during their new debut. She was excited to meet them again after what felt like forever.

“Yinu, please don’t run in the halls!” Mama called after her trying to match her daughter’s energetic pace.

“I want to seem them Mama! I want to, AH!”

“Yinu!” gasped Mama as she ran over to her side.

Yinu had accidentally collided with someone and fell over. “Ouchies…” she cried, rubbing her forehead. Whoever she hit was unnaturally hard, and metallic. Wait, metallic?

“I’m sorry, are you alright Little Miss?” asked the voice. It was clearly synthetic, but it had a warm and familiar tone.

Yinu looked up to see a robot looking back down at her. Its face a little different than she remembered. It was a lot more human than before, but the glowing white eyes and fancy clothes were a dead giveaway.

“Are you al-”

“Tenten!” Yinu beamed. “I missed you!” she said.

“Oh, but you didn’t miss me. You ran right into me, Doll.” he laughed.

“Huh?” she said slightly confused at this answer. Tenten never really told jokes like that. He smiled back at her, but she thought he would be a little more excited to see her again.

From behind Tenten the Captain appeared.

“What did you bump into this ti- Oh, it’s Miss Yinu again! How are you?” said Jay as the little girl came into his viewing range. “Hello Mr. Jay. I’m well,” replied Yinu a little more formally. She hadn’t gotten to see Neon J. much either since coming back, but the last thing she remembered about him was him yelling at Tenten, so she was still a little frightened of him.

“What happened to Tenten? He’s a little… different now.” she said, looking back up at the white haired robot. Did Tenten even have hair the last time she saw him? She didn’t think so, but it was a little hard to remember everything that happened that day.

“This is the new MK III Tenten!” exclaimed Jay. “He’s a little more natural and a lot more stylish, but he’s still got the same Tenten moves.” he said.

“Yeah, new and improved, Babygirl!” said Tenten with a wink.

“But… do you remember me?” asked Yinu, looking straight into Tenten’s glowing eyes, hoping to find a hint of the answer she wanted to hear. Jay was silent and was about to stop Tenten from saying anything else, but it was already too late. He had improved his reaction time too much:

“I can’t remember someone I’ve never met.”

---------

AN: Originally I wrote a bit more after the last line, and after Jay asking about why Tenten called him "Papa" but neither were going anywhere, so I cut them. If y'all like it though, maybe I'll write about both aftermaths. Fair warning though, neither are going to make this ending any happier.

[tranquilamaresia]

Guide to Quality Sofa Beds by Acme Furniture

Lately, sofa beds are turning out to be increasingly more famous among private consumers. Sofa beds are practical as they have two capabilities at the cost of one. They are performing multiple tasks furniture that sets aside you space and cash. Whether click here to learn more what you really want is an additional bed for guests or one to use around evening time, that is the thing these beds are for. This modification has offered clients with combined benefits of a sofa and bed in one furniture.

The Acme brand of sofa is a reasonable and solid line of sofa beds accessible in the market today. As the name recommends, this furniture will leave the client with the combined benefits of having a sofa and bed in one furniture. It can act as a sofa in the day when companions and family members come over, and be changed into a comfortable bed around evening time.

Claiming one will save you space and give you more ideas for different furnitures as they don't consume a great deal of room not at all like a normal estimated bed or a fairly huge measured sofa. It will be generally great for smaller and more traditional homes where the constraint of room is an issue.

The Acme dark movable sofa is for the most part built with a metal edge with twisted unveils to the seating and bed region for added solace. The shade of this sofa gives it a significantly more contemporary and flawless look which will make it an ideal expansion to any living or office space. The exceptional highlights that this sofa has incorporate 2 practical and helpful cup holders that likewise have the extra capability of being a table plate which is completely up to the client's inclination.

Another reason why individuals will more often than not float and decide to get a sofa bed rather is that the fundamental plan and construction make it object allowed to incorporate into any room or living space. It has been specifically planned so that it very well may be utilized for numerous reasons and in different spots, repeating the opposite side of how flexible a sofa bed can be. This would make the buy even more reasonable and savvy!

One more useful tidbit for likely consumers, have a short glance at the organization's client care criticism, in that way you will have a more clear thought whether the help is sufficient and if they give fast, functional answers for clients who have encountered difficulty in transportation or assembly problems.

[taffyclassy]

Manual for Quality Sofa Beds by Summit Furniture

As of late, sofa beds are turning out to be increasingly more popular among private purchasers. Sofa beds are savvy as they have two capabilities at the cost of one. They are multitasking furniture that saves you space and cash. Whether what you want is an additional bed for guests or one to use at night, that is learn more the thing these beds are for. This change has offered clients with consolidated advantages of a sofa and bed in one furniture.

The Summit brand of sofa is a reasonable and tough line of sofa beds accessible in the market today. As the name proposes, this furniture will leave the client with the joined advantages of having a sofa and bed in one furniture. It can go about as a lounge chair in the day when companions and family members come over, and be changed into a comfortable bed at night.

Possessing one will save you space and give you more thoughts for different furnitures as they don't consume a ton of space not at all like a normal sized bed or a fairly enormous sized sofa. It will be generally great for smaller and more regular homes where the restriction of space is an issue.

The Zenith dark adjustable sofa is by and large developed with a metal frame with twisted unveils to the seating and bed region for added comfort. The shade of this sofa gives it a much more contemporary and impeccable look which will make it an ideal expansion to any living or office space. The exceptional features that this sofa has incorporate 2 practical and helpful cup holders that likewise have the extra capability of being a table plate which is completely up to the client's preference.

Another motivation behind why people will generally float and decide to get a sofa bed rather is that the essential plan and design make it whine allowed to incorporate into any room or living space. It has been explicitly planned so that it tends to be utilized for numerous reasons and in better places, emphasizing the opposite side of how flexible a sofa bed can be. This would make the buy even more reasonable and financially savvy!

One more useful tidbit for possible shoppers, have a concise glance at the organization's client care criticism, in that way you will have a more clear thought whether the help is satisfactory and in the event that they give speedy, serviceable answers for clients who have encountered trouble in delivery or gathering issues.

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[personify123]

The Versatility and Utility of Mountable Poster Holders

Mountable poster holder are essential tools for effective communication and display in various settings, from commercial spaces to educational institutions. These practical accessories offer a streamlined and professional way to showcase posters, announcements, or informational materials.

One of the primary advantages of mountable poster holders is their versatility. They come in various sizes and styles to accommodate different types of posters, whether they're small event notices or large promotional graphics. Their design typically includes features such as easy-loading mechanisms, which allow for quick and simple updates to the displayed content without the need for tools or extensive effort.

These Name plate holder can be mounted on walls, doors, or other flat surfaces, making them highly adaptable to different environments. In retail stores, they can be used to highlight sales, promotions, or new products, ensuring that customers are always informed. In schools or offices, they can display schedules, important announcements, or educational materials, contributing to a well-organized and informative environment.

Mountable poster holders also enhance the aesthetic appeal of any space. Many models are designed with sleek, modern finishes and can be framed in materials like acrylic, metal, or wood. This not only protects the posters from damage but also adds a polished look that complements various interior designs.

Moreover, their durability is a key feature. High-quality mountable poster holders are built to withstand frequent use and environmental factors, such as changes in humidity or temperature, ensuring that your posters remain in excellent condition over time.

In summary, Mountable poster holder are a practical and stylish solution for displaying information effectively. Their ease of use, adaptability, and protective features make them a valuable addition to any space where clear and attractive communication is essential.

[hibewriter]

Belonephobia

Masterlist   Read it on AO3 Chapter 2

Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse | Migwen | 6.7K | E 

Tags: Non-Con | Kidnapping | Police Butality | P in V Sex | Non-consensual drugging | Breeding kink

Chapter 1

"Sure you don't wanna stay the night, Gwen? I promise Margo doesn't mind." 

Gwen took one look at Miles, all grown up on practically the other side of the world, and shook her head. She was only going to be at Stanford for two days, and she already wasted the first working up the courage to knock on the door to the off-campus apartment that Miles had gotten with Margo. She had to leave to even hope to get back in time for classes to resume at NYU. Spring Break was no excuse. 

"Nah, I gotta start heading back. My hotel is only two hours away, and then I'm spending the night at Hobie's, so ya know…" She hated the way he looked at her, no longer how he used to. Instead, his eyes were full of concern and disbelief. He'd seen her worn hoodie and torn shoes. He had been at the funeral. 

But he didn't push. 

Just a hug. Another tight-lipped smile as she headed out the door. A wave when she turned back from her car. 

Text me when you get to your hotel. 

She breaks down thirty minutes away from the hostel she booked. A dead end for hikers, runaways, and various other riff-raff with twenty bucks and two feet. Her car pulls to a sputtering stop, slightly off the side of the road. She sees the smoke in the waning light of the surprisingly dusty road, rising from the hood of the rusted bucket she inherited from the Captain. 

She knew she should've gotten it checked before making the cross-country trip. Probably could've afforded the repairs with the leftover cash from her dad's emergency fund. But that would've required thinking before she packed her few belongings into the car and took off. 

She was kind of surprised she made it this far if she was honest. 

She sighs, tugging her phone out of the cup holder she tossed it into. 10% . Another sigh fights its way to the surface, giving her pause as she tries to figure out what to do. A tow truck would take too long, and her phone would never last. Her battery pack is dead, gone from her day of use building her resolve. The road looks…empty. The last building she passed was around forty minutes ago driving in the other direction. 

She worries her lip, staring towards the vagueness of the road ahead. She could try to walk it. Get lost, maybe, and get eaten by wolves or coyotes or whatever they had in the California desert. Or she could stay in the car. Turn it off, lock the doors, and make a makeshift bed out of her duffle in the back seat. She could walk back to that bar in the morning. Call a tow truck and get the fuck out of dodge by nightfall tomorrow if she's lucky. 

She nods, mainly to herself as the plan solidifies in her brain. Rest. Regroup. Tackle the problem. She can do that. 

Her head's barely on the stuffed duffle for more than ten minutes when she hears the soft rapping at her window. She bolts up, squinting against the light shining in her face from the unexpected guest's flashlight. 

Never fully roll down your window to a stranger. Her father's voice rings in her head as she moves to roll the antiquated handle down. Just a crack so she can hear. 

"Ma'am, you can't park here." The voice is deep honey spent, familiar only in its tone. The same tone she’s heard dozens of cops use all her life. She shakes her head, still squinting against the light. Has the sun really set so quickly? Maybe it’s been longer than ten minutes. 

"M' sorry, officer," she mutters, sitting up fully."My car broke down and my phone died. You wouldn't happen to have one I could use, do you?" 

It's silent for a beat, and she holds her breath, hoping he doesn’t ask for any papers. She hadn't quite shifted the plates to her name yet. Or fully renewed her license. But she can swear she hears the beep of his radio. Swears he mutters something about an O'Hara into the receiver. 

"Where are you headed?" he asks, and she wants to ask him to turn the light down. Let her see properly so she doesn't feel so groggy. 

"The Fillmore Hostel down the road." 

Another beep, a mutter of civilian assistance . 

"I'll take you there while my partner comes to collect your car." 

She's never heard of such a procedure in her life. Alarm bells start to ring in her ears, telling her to shrink away from the figure on the other side of the door. She shakes her head, scooting down the seat. "I'd rather stay in my car, if you don't mind." 

The sigh that comes out of him is more akin to a beast, full of disappointment and chiding . As if an unruly child had just demanded candy from him knowing damn well dinner was almost ready. 

"It's not safe out here," he says, clearly on the edge of his patience. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." 

Again, she shakes her head, inching away from the door again as he huffs.  

"You just had to make this difficult, didn't you?" 

The next moments happen in a flash. One second, she’s inching to the other side of the car. The next, an entire arm the size of both her legs is shoved through broken glass. A singular hand finds her ankle, ignoring her squirming and yelling as she tries to escape the stranger who found her. His fingers overlap circling her calf, finally finding purchase on her before he yanks . 

She's tugged nearly halfway out of the vehicle. Her nails are ineffective against cloth seats as he pulls her out of the window, tight into his arms. And she shrieks, loud as she can against the futility of the night. It's all she can do before she feels a sharp prick in her neck. In the next second, the world goes black .

__________

It's the clinking of metal against metal that rouses her from the darkness. Not that it's much brighter in the room when she wakes. Or maybe it's the haze in her vision that makes it seem much darker than it is. Her eyes refuse to adjust, the shadows are long and cold as she tries to orient herself.

She's on a cheap mattress. Similar to the worn ones at her sleepaway camps upstate when she felt the longing for home. The room is nothing but concrete slabs, a single bulb illuminating the space – what little there was. 

"You're awake." 

The voice brings no comfort. It's a sugary molasses, slow and sickening as it passes over the burnt embers of his mouth. She tries to move, only to find the pressure on her shoulders refusing to relent. The most she can do is lift her head, despite protest from every cell in her body.

He's on the other side of the room, just out of range of the feeble light. It didn't matter, really. From her limited vantage point, he is a colossus, his frame nearly touching the ceiling of the room. If only she could see a door, but even without the reference she can tell he’s wide. Just his shadow fills the space to the point it feels claustrophobic. As if a shift would fill her past capacity.

"Are you hungry?" 

She reels, brain swimming to process the words. "What?"

"Are you hungry?" he asks again, stepping to the side. He keeps to the wall, just out of full view. "I've heard the effects of the toxin can have adverse effects on the body's digestive system–"

"Wh–what? Toxin?"

"Well, it's more of a paralytic I've been working on. Though I fear I may have given you too much, most don't sleep for eighteen hours."

Eighteen hours. She feels tears welling in a burning sensation against her dry eyes. She was supposed to be headed to Hobie’s apartment right now, letting the desert air flow through freshly cut hair with a new punk record playing over the speakers of her dad’s ‘67 Buick. Instead, she doesn’t even know where she is. 

Her stranger doesn’t appear to be too bothered by her silence. His steps are soft, terrifyingly so as he paces around the room. She hears, rather than sees, his ruffling through cabinets and drawers. Each grind of drawer wheels against metal, the soft closing of a makeshift cupboard as he rummages for food or tools. Maybe he was planning to cut her, take the only thing from her that didn’t hurt, and drag her through the nightmares that plagued her. Maybe he was creating new ones for her to fear. 

“You know, chiquitita ,” he murmurs as if simply discussing plans for the coming weekend. “I didn’t expect you . Si no fuera por el capitán … si no hubiera muerto ese día . You see where things could’ve been different, yes?” 

She huffs, ignoring the pain in her throat as she swallows, wincing at the crack of her voice. “I don’t speak Spanish.” 

Even if she can’t see him, the amusement is evident in his laugh. "Of course, you don't. Why would you? It's not like New York has a large Spanish-speaking community."  

The words seem to swirl in her mind, both far and close as she lies in her cot. He continues to rummage around, noises echoing through the room. New York. Capitán. New York. Capitán. New York. Capitán. The sound of the water running is an accent to the running thoughts in her mind. Still, she can do nothing but groan. There’s something to connect but the pounding in her head refuses to let her. 

“Drink.” Her eyes fly open (when had they closed?) to see the man standing above her. They go wide, staring at his face. 

Capitán. Captain George Stacy. Promoted after his exemplary work in apprehending the leader of the 2099 Crawlers. The same leader was supposed to be rotting in a cell on the other side of the country right now. Instead, he is staring down at her, a bored expression on his face as he holds a small cup to her face. 

She shakes her head, lips pressed together. What is there to describe his face other than disappointment? Suddenly his hand strikes out, slipping between her head and the lumpy mattress. His grip encapsulates her skull, dragging her head upward against her restraints. “Open your mouth or I’ll open it for you.” 

Her hesitation is quickly forgotten as he moves to set the glass down, mouth turning agape in his stranglehold. The corner of his lips upturned, grip renewing on the cup as he proceeds to slowly pour into her waiting mouth.

The water is a fountain after what feels like a month of dehydration. It soothes away the ache of sore flesh, a cooling stream of relief against the effects of her poison. She wants to close her eyes in relief, to savor the feeling, but she can only stare at her captor. Even when he drops her head, letting it fall back into the mattress, she can only stare. Some of the water falls out, splashing over her face and clothes, but she can’t stop tracking his movements. He studies her back, squinting at her in kind. 

“I originally planned to make our dear Georgie suffer,” he states, calm as the sky on a summer afternoon. “Imagine my disappointment to learn that all that is left of him is you .” 

“What are you going to do to me?” 

“That, chiquita, is up to you.” 

He backs away from her then, unfurling his crouched position back to his full height. She watches as he turns and walks to the far wall. Can do nothing but watch as he moves the rusted metal of the door she hadn’t noticed as if it weighed nothing. Watches as he glances over his shoulder back at her. “When you’re hungry, just say so.” 

__________

By her count, there are exactly three spiders in what she now can recognize as a basement of some sort. One hovers on the wall behind her head, just above the sink and cabinetry. The second moves every three-ish minutes toward the light fixture on the ceiling, occasionally dropping to create more of its web. The third is a track star, running between the various areas of the room as it searches. For what, she’s unsure. Is it food? A comfortable space for it to nest? 

The restraints (metal bars across her chest, stomach, wrists, legs, and ankles) remove themselves after hours ( days?) pass. A whirring sound fills the entire room and blocks out any thought she may have had. But she can finally move. Sitting up seems to be just as much a struggle as keeping her eyes open, but she does it anyway.  Her muscles creak and groan as she stretches; whether they’re stiff from their held positions or the last of the poison in her body, she doesn’t know.

“You have an hour before you need to be lying back on that cot,” his voice rings from the sky. “If I have to put you back myself, we will have a problem.” 

She frowns, finally swinging her legs off the mattress. “What if I have to pee?”

“There is the sink or the drain in the middle of the room.”

She frowns, staring at where she thinks the sound is coming from. He can’t be serious. Nonetheless, she stands. Finally, her limbs move – each step releasing the numbing pinpricks in her nerves as they get used to pacing the small room. 

She tries the door first. Swears she can hear the snort of laughter from farther away when she finds it heavy and locked. He’d moved it like paper earlier, but she swears it must weigh at least fifty pounds with how ineffective her pushes are. 

Next, she explores the cabinets. Plastic bowls and plates, silverware locked in a clear box. The glass from earlier upon closer inspection is nothing but plastic either. No soap, no toiletries. Just water. 

“Can I take a shower?!” She calls, not even bothering to try and find a source for the violent man on the other side. “Or brush my teeth?!”

“Not now.” 

She sighs, filling another cup of water. Not that she expected luxury from her captor. Or that he’d proven himself to be particularly magnanimous. 

The hour is up before she realizes it, and she finds herself annoyed with her traitorous body as it moves to the cot and lies back in her position. No matter how she tries to rationalize her thoughts as trying to stay alive, she still finds herself annoyed with herself for folding so easily to his demands.

"Good girl," his voice rings as the bars return to their position on top of her. She squirms, the indescribable panic creeping up her chest. "You're doing so well; maybe tomorrow we'll give you two hours." 

She whimpers and nods. That does sound nice. He was going to keep her, until at least tomorrow. Still, she feels an aching pain within her. It gnaws at her stomach, twisting and turning as her head began to ache again. "I'm hungry."

She's met with silence. For a second she almost believes he's left. Left her alone in this windowless room as punishment for her wrongdoings. What wrongdoings she can’t be sure of. He'd told her to tell him when she was hungry. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't plan on fixing it. 

The door opens in a woosh. He's standing there, a plate of toast and apple slices in hand as he begins to cross the room toward her cot. 

"Food," he says as if she can't see the plate in his hand. He balances it easily as he walks in, dragging a chair behind him. She says nothing until he sits, the food now balanced on his knee. "No funny business, pollito ." 

She nods, this time merely dropping her mouth for him to put the first apple slice in. She relishes the crunch. The explosion of juice in her mouth is somehow the most satisfying thing in the world to her. Happily, she takes the second slice, watching his dark eyes as they follow the working of her jaw. It's the third slice that he switches hands. He rests his newly freed hand on her stomach. Not pressing down, no trailing of his fingers.

"Did you know I once had a wife? A daughter?" he asks as if telling her a bedtime story. She shakes her head, no. He sighs. 

"Well, I did. Paula and Gabrielle." For a moment he looks peaceful, remembering the family he had. “When I took over the 2099, Paula was furious .”

Her brow furrows, her heart rate quickening against her chest. The hand on her stomach flexes, nails sharp even through the thin cotton shirt. 

“She didn’t like the danger of it,” he sighs. The next bite is a piece of toast, so tiny in the hands of a beast. “Said it was too violent to raise our girl in. But I had a plan, you see.” 

His nails dig into her stomach, pressing, scraping, and flinging as she looks at him with fear-filled eyes. But he doesn’t seem perturbed. It’s like she barely registers as real, a simple doll for him to ground himself with. 

“I had stopped the drug pushing. Or at least the major bits. We still had internationals to deal with. Partners who wanted us to finish contracts, things of that nature. But we were protecting our own, right?” 

Her breath catches when she realizes what his hand is doing. It’s only when he finds it, the high waistband of her leggings, that it registers. He makes quick work of her shirt, rucking it up with one hand as he continues his monologue. 

“Then Jess . Fucking Jess was convinced that George was a good one. Someone who could help us . When has the NYPD ever helped anyone?” His anger is palpable, laced into the tone of each word as his hand slips under the band of her pants. Suddenly her hunger is gone, her eyes widening as he continues his exploration southward.  

“W-wait, I –”

“ Callate perrito ,” he hisses. He is no longer looking at her face, attentions drifting southward as his fingers break the seal of the underwear she’d worn. “Did you know it was George who arranged for the shipment to New York? I told the group, no, we didn’t need it. But George infected us. Made us weak.” 

She can only whimper as his finger trails her slit. It stings, the soft laughter he lets free when he finds her dry. Cruel , she thinks. 

“Tell me, chiquita, do you do the same? Infect your friends with your silly ideas of what is right, only to hurt them in the end?” he spits at her. She doesn’t know whether he wants an actual answer, or if he is simply musing aloud. He withdraws his hand, and for a brief second, she believes maybe that is going to be the end of it. He’ll leave, and come back to feed her in the morning without his touch infecting her. 

She never is that lucky. 

He sticks his fingers in his mouth, giving a gentle suck before slipping them down her pants once more. 

“George,” he continues, pressing his index against her clit. Years of fumbling with boys and he’d found hers within a second of touching her. “He was a bastard. Only brought Jess and me to the meetup. Should’ve known it was a trap. But Jess vouched for him. I wonder, chiquita , if you were home alone, sleeping soundly as your father lead us to death?” 

She has a hard time concentrating on his words, a whimper escaping her mouth as he presses tight circles into her clit. Her body is a traitor, responding to his touches in kind as she feels herself warm. It pools and coils in her gut, a serpent of arousal as he pulls from her feelings she’d pushed far away since that day . 

“I wonder if you celebrated the night he put us behind bars.” He leans forward, his lips just on the shell of her ear. “I wonder if while you celebrated, your father knew what his men were doing to the families of the 2099?” 

She cries out as he lets his finger pierce her opening, still far too dry to receive any sort of penetration. 

“That’s how Jess screamed when they beat her. Cruel, no?” he whispers, drawing the finger out just to slip it back in. “They killed her husband next. A raid with no warrant, no discipline still. Not so much as a reprimand.” 

She can only whimper in return. It feels sickening, the pleasure he rips from her with each stroke of his finger inside. Silently, she is grateful for the bar holding her hips down, refusing to allow her to chase the sensation when he pulls out. The wetness between her legs builds, regardless of her wants. 

“Poor cosita linda, so confused? Imagine how Paula felt when the police came to our house. Took her in front of our angel . Then they told her I was gone.” His words are straight venom, a hiss to add to the sting as he forces a second finger inside. “And they kept coming back.”

Tears flow freely now, and she wants to reach out, push him away, or hold his hand to the only place that doesn’t hurt. But he doesn’t release her. His thumb joins the fray, returning the attention to her clit. 

"I think I figured out what to do with you, linda ." His voice is a razor blade, his tongue a serpent's fork, as he reaches out and tasted the salty tears on her cheeks. "And you're going to enjoy it, aren't you?"

"N-no," she hiccups, weakly. "I don't want–"

"It's not about what you want," he murmurs, and the coil tightens inside her, rushing for release. "It's about making things right. A family for a family. A daughter for a wife."

Her teeth bite into her cheek, drawing blood as her body seizes. She feels as her orgasm courses through her entire being, clenching and releasing her nerves from head to toe until the only thing she can focus on is the two fingers coaxing her down.  

"There you go," he whispers as if soothing a balm on a tiny cut. There is silence for only a moment, the only sound in the room her jagged breathing and soft sobs. "Rest now, chiquita , there will be more in the morning."

[tonymattblog]

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[yhwhrulz]

Today's Daily Encounter Thursday, April 18, 2024

Living in Harmony with Your "Bumper Sticker"

"By their fruits [actions] you will know them."1 – Jesus

The story is told how a driver was being tailgated by a stressed-out driver on a busy boulevard. Suddenly the light turns yellow just in front of her. She does the right thing and stops even though she could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating driver hits the roof, and the horn, and yells in frustration as he misses the chance to get through the intersection. As he is still in mid-rant, he hears a tap on his window and looks up into the face of a police officer.

The officer orders him to exit his car with his hands up. He takes him to the police station where he is searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman opens the cell door, and escorts him back to the booking desk where the arresting officer is waiting with his personal effects.

The officer says, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, shaking your fist and yelling at the driver in front of you. I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car."2

Suggested Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me live in such a way that my life and actions will always bring glory to Your name and be true reflection of who I say I am — a child of God. May others come to know you through my genuine testimony. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen.

Matthew 7:20 (NKJV).

Author Unknown

Today's Encounter was written by: Crystal B.

NOTE: If you would like to accept God's forgiveness for all your sins and His invitation for a full pardon Click on: http://www.actsweb.org/invitation.php. Or if you would like to re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, please click on http://www.actsweb.org/decision.php to note this.

Daily Encounter is published at no charge by ACTS International, a non-profit organization, and made possible through the donations of interested friends. Donations can be sent at: http://www.actscom.com

ACTS International P.O. Box 73545 San Clemente, California 92673-0119 U.S.A.

Phone: 949-940-9050 http://www.actsweb.org

Copyright (c) 2016 by ACTS International.

When copying or forwarding include the following: "Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes (c) 2005-2023 ACTS International

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