#also those copper bits are her touch sensors

[barksbog]

deconstructed the dolphin!!

I can't wait to turn her into a cool sea creature

[winter-fox-queen]

No Cheap Thrill

Thank you to @autumnleaves1991-blog for this awesome prompt, Writer Wednesdays are lovely!  Also, thanks to @hnt-escape for encouraging me to try.  The title is from one of my favorite Suzanne Vega songs, which uses poker playing as a clever theme.  “It’ll cost you, cost you maybe more than you can pay...”

Summary:  You are a thief trying to steal a prize off a steam ship during a themed poker weekend, but a certain Statesman Agent has other plans...

Some making out, the reader is in a dress and seems fairly feminine.  No names used so can be a reader insert.  Not re-read...I wrote it yesterday, got stuck, so I changed it a bit.  

I was not best pleased with the reflection the mirror showed me.  I looked like an extra from a Maverick movie, down to my lace covered cleavage and corset top.  The skirt was full, the sapphire and black colors of my clothes, down to the jet beading decorating on the sleeves screamed expensive and highly inaccurate 1800’s costume.  At least the full skirt hid my revolver (pearl handled, must stay in costume, right?) and some assorted odds and ends.

I was on a steam ship, a steam ship with a themed poker tournament – the prize was a diamond. The diamond wasn’t the real prize. The box, with its flash drive full of dirty little secrets was.  And that was what I wanted.  Not that I’d turn down the diamond.

Tonight was just practice. The main event would be tomorrow…but before the sun rose I intended to be far, far away from here.  I went into the parlor.  

I don’t want you to think I am easily distracted.  But the second I entered the room I made my first mistake.  I let my eyes longer for far too long on a man.  

Everyone there was in costume…but he was the only one here who carried it off.  Black cowboy hat, black frockcoat, tall black boots.  His vest was tawny colored, with a hit of copper in the brocade, and saved the outfit from being too cold.  Something about him hit me in the chest.  And, stupid as I was, I let myself forget who I really was.

He noticed me staring at him and he smirked at me, tipped his hat.  He looked so damned smug – he knew he looked good, blast him.  The voice of self preservation in my head told me to ignore him.

Instead, I did my best sashay over to the gaming tables, took a seat.

I looked up.  He was still looking at me, his gaze more speculative now.  I tilted my head towards the other empty chair, and smiled.

He put down his drink and accepted my invitation.  Settling into his chair he said, “I’m Jack Daniels, what’s your name, darlin’?”

“Darling works.  You have to earn more.”  I said, as the dealer started to lay out the cards.

He grinned, sensing a challenge.  “Well, then. Let’s  play.”

He had a casual way of playing.  I hoped he would be horrible at cards, careless.  He played with the ease of someone who’d been playing all his life.

Then I made my second mistake.

I got invested.

It was a combination of things.  The way he smiled at me, his eyes lazy as they worked down my cleavage and back up. I felt the weight of his gaze like a caress, on the back of my neck, tracing my collarbone…Those dark eyes made me feel like I was melting from the inside out.  It as also the way his large hands held the cards. The way they flipped chips into the pile in the middle of the table.  Oddly graceful.  I never thought I’d ever be jealous of a stack of cardboard, but there you are.

I also liked the way his eyes crinkled, the way he praised me when I had a better hand.  It was so damned good natured.

Sexy without being sleezy. He had a sweetness to him, but also an edge.  Sometimes I would look at him and think his gaze was more sharp than it should be, but he covered it up with that good ol boy act of his.  And I found myself wanting to believe that he really did think I was that attractive.

Finally, it was just us.

“You gonna call, darlin?”

I stared at my hand. A full house.  Not much beats a full house, and I could get my money back, maybe a little of my dignity.  Jack had twisted me around his fingers and then led me to my destruction.  “I don’t…I don’t have anything left.”

He gave me another one of those looks, the kind I could feel burning my skin.  “I wouldn’t say that.”  I blushed like a virgin.

“Still.”

“Your earrings.  Toss those in.”

I took them out and threw them in.

He looked at his cards. I held my breath.  

He dropped his cards with a flourish.  Aces and eights.  

A full house, like mine.

But mine was king high. “You won.”  I said softly.

He stood up, took the earrings off the pile.  “Nice meeting you, darling.”  And left. Someone asked about the pot sitting in the middle of the table.  “Let her have it,” he said, as he worked through the crowd.  

I wanted to get up and rush after him.  But I stayed, tipped the dealer, made arrangements for my winnings.  Use the opportunity to follow the chips back to the saferoom, scope out what I could.

I took off my choker, and placed it with my chips.  “Do you mind locking this up, too?”  It had a nice sapphire on it, but wasn’t really worth much, but the banker smiled and did as I asked.  

Jack had accidentally made the next step of my plan easy.  I walked back towards my stateroom.  The necklace had a tiny sensor and camera installed.  I could pull up a lot of data on my phone, data that would…

A hand grabbed me by my upper arm, and I was pushed back against a wall.

“Jack.”  I was ashamed how relived I sounded.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have been…we were alone in a side corridor, and unlikely to be disturbed.  His eyes looked far more dangerous than warm.  His arms caged me on either side.  Something told me it would not be wise to run.

“Good evening darlin’. Did you get a good look in the saferoom yet?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He grinned at me, mirthless. “You’re a beautiful woman with a rather unfortunate hobby.  Do you really think I don’t know who you are? We were told someone would come for the diamond…”

I looked him in the eyes and cupped his face gently.  “I’m not here for the diamond.”

“Then why are you here?”

I pulled him a little closer.  “Why don’t you tell me, Mr. Daniels?  Maybe I’m here to distract you.”

He reached into his pocket. I felt a tug on my ear, his fingers traced their way down my neck.  I realized he’d put one of the earrings back into my ears, his touch like a ghost’s.  

“Consider me distracted.” He whispered, kissing the other side of my neck, firm enough that his moustache didn’t tickle.  I felt an ache, deep and longing, start to build.  His hand rested on my waist, his other hand coming up to replace the other earring.  

“We can do this one of two ways, sweet thing,” he drawled softly on my ear, then kissed along my jaw line, just stopping short of my lips.  I kept staring at his lips, wondering what they’d feel like on mine. Part of me felt angry, yelling in the back of my head for acting like this, lust struck over some cowboy.

“Does one of them involve you kissing me?”

He grinned a little, “It could.  Let’s see…” And he kissed me.  Gentle at first, then deeper.  I fisted his jacket labels in my hands.  

He pulled away, took my chin in one of his hands, and looked me in the eyes.  “Don’t make me do what I’ll have to, if you go back for the diamond.” He paused, and then, soft, heartfelt. “Please.”

My jaw dropped a little, and I said, moved to honesty, “The flash drive…it’s got…”

“There is no flash drive.” He said softly, dropping his hand away.

I felt the blood drain out of my face.  “The whole thing was a trap.”  I said, dully.  

“My friends picked up three other like minded souls already.  A couple more less savory characters are due in tomorrow.  I’ve read your file.  You ain’t like them, darlin.  Not yet.”

“I’m a thief.  I said with a spark of – alright, yes, misplaced – pride.  

He leaned against the wall next to me.  “And a damned good one, stealing things back for people who can’t get them back otherwise, stealing blackmail back…you’ve never actively hurt anyone.”  He paused.  “Yet.”

“Yet.”  I said softly.  

He leaned in close.  “I have a proposition for you, pretty thing.”

I hugged myself.  “What?”

His lips were so close to my ear I could feel the heat of his breath.  “Ever hear of the Statesmen?”

[g0dspeeed]

Unconditional Positive Regard, 2

Adam Smasher is very used to getting his way.

Until he doesn’t.

=========================================

De-escalation

 Adam Smasher is very used to getting his way.

Does he always get his way?

Majority of the time, yes, and primarily through intimidation. Intimidation was almost like a personality trait to Adam, the line blurring from who he was authentically and the stone-cold bravado he put out for the rest of the world to see. He utilized tried and true premeditated tactics such as calculated threats, blackmail, ransom, disrupting personal space, ignoring the spoken and unspoken rules of modern society, and frankly not giving a shit about what other people thought. Then again, said tactics occurred unconsciously, too. His physical presence alone made for a great argument. The man stands well over six feet tall, perhaps leaning more towards the seven-foot range, with broad shoulders and a deadly gaze to boot. Adam’s copper red eyes could give a look so menacing that other Arasaka operatives submitted to his authority without question.

And he loved this. He truly enjoyed wielding such power, to walk into a room and have an air of dominance over every stranger that stood before him. Made things simple. Never there to make friends, to play nice, to compromise. The only thing he sought out to do in these god-awful meetings that Arasaka forced him to attend was comply with the given, short-term objectives to a tee. Going the extra mile was only an option to Adam if it benefitted him. Or if it made the job easier, but that stopped if it meant kissing any asses that didn’t have a direct link to his eddie account.

Intimidation was effective on mostly everyone that Adam Smasher worked with or unfortunately encountered in his line of work.

Then there were the others. The ones that didn’t get the message or simply chose to make regrettable decisions. To get in the way. To make Adam’s job harder. Those were the people that required more intention on Adam’s part.

And Adam was every bit intentional with those who refused to submit.

The city appeared calm on the morning of his meeting. Wellsprings was the destination and Adam arranged the AV so he would arrive onsite early. The ride in the AV was short, but allotted Adam time to observe the Night City skyline as sun beams cut through its shadow like knives, gold and sharp and warming the streets below. Like his hometown, Night City had no concept of sleep, its population below teeming towards their next meal, deal, job in a sort of lively frenzy.

Adam himself felt tired. He still required sleep like any functioning being, experiencing a downtime where his senses and sensors went offline, and his brain, his still very organic brain, unwound and processed all that he experienced that day. Unfortunately for him, his brain didn’t want to unwind the night before, too excited about the job, too curious at what Arasaka needed an outside opinion on, and having too many questions unanswered.

What made this job so special?

Why would Arasaka seek out the opinion of someone in Night City rather than in Japan?

What made this third party so important?

Who were they?

Why them?

Why did their opinion have so much weight?

Most of all Adam wondered why he even bothered to care. The image and reputation that Adam had worked so hard to cultivate this past century should have emboldened him with steel-clad confidence in himself and his abilities. Should have. Why the anxiety? True, Arasaka was being oddly theatrical in their deliverance, but if Adam were honest with himself, he would acknowledge that he allowed a dangerous feeling to creep inside, a feeling that’s lethality pushed him to put his life at risk more than anything else: hope.

“Approaching LZ, sir.”

The flat voice of the AV’s pilot pulled Adam out of his mental reverie.

Surveying the area, he felt his suspicion rise. The AV was lowering at the top of a multi-leveled parking garage that connected to a moderately large, white building. The glass windows were polarized with a shade of gold, giving no indication as to what occurred behind them. Adam also noticed a lack of sign or company name, save for a white emblem that looked like the image of a lighted torch. Clean and shimmering, the emblem rested on the building’s corner, as if it were a true, living flame.

As the AV pulled away, Adam headed near the large elevator that sat on the opposite side of his landing zone. Gravel crunched beneath him, the annoying sound adding to his already agitated mood. Just as he approached the control panel, the elevator doors opened with a faint hiss.

Out stepped a fit, middle-aged man with dark, neatly combed hair, navy slacks, and a trim, button-up shirt. The man was occupied with rolling up the shirt’s sleeves, revealing a variety of tattoos on each bicep. Adam noticed a large NUSA script standing out amongst the rest. The man’s face illuminated with a white smile when their eyes met.

“Good morning, Mr. Smasher,” he greeted, his voice deep and rich. “I apologize for any waiting that we might have caused you.”

Adam grunted as he sidestepped the man to enter the elevator. He didn’t have to duck his head, an odd experience for him.

The stranger seemed unaffected by Adam’s response, maintaining a polite smile and joining him in the elevator. As the doors closed, he stepped forward and pressed one of the buttons.

“When we arrive to the office, we request that you place all weapons-”

“No.”

A pause.

The man resumed.

“-in our reservoir and deactivate any and all combat cyberware.”

“Out of the question.”

Adam turned to face him. The smile had faded, but much to Adam’s chagrin there was a hint of amusement in the man’s hazel eyes.

“I know that our policy opposes your own,” he stated. “But it is a requirement of this office.”

The elevator slowed.

“Are you the third party in the contract?” Adam asked lowly.

“I am not,” answered the man.

The doors opened as they arrived to their floor.

“Then you are of no use to me,” said Adam.

Walking into the space, his brows furrowed. He had arrived at an open lobby that was full of soft chairs and with tall windows aligning the walls. There was a gentle scent in the air, something floral that added to the relaxing ambiance of the floor. Some art was on the walls as well, but what distracted Adam was the sight of a single set of large, double doors.

No one was there other than Adam and the man who continued to speak to him.

“Welcome to Torch. This is our Services floor.”

Again, the man received a cold reply as Adam ignored him and approached the large doors. Giving the doors a firm tug, they didn’t budge from the frame. He tried again, this time with more effort, and became agitated when they failed to give.

“This building prohibits the presence of any and all firearms, as well as combat cyberware,” stated the man, his tone informative and light.

Turning to glower at the man, Adam saw that he was gesturing to a unit in the wall.

“We have reservoirs on each floor, calibrated with genetic security software to guarantee that only you can have access to them. We do not sell or use any of the collected data. It is strictly for security. Not even our own staff can touch your things without your consent, Mr. Smasher.”

Adam stalked towards the man with heavy, deliberate steps.

“Open the door,” he commanded.

“I cannot-”

A hard, mechanical hand reached out to grip the man’s throat.

“Open the door,” repeated Adam. The man’s struggling body was lifted from the tiled floor with ease. “Or I will break you,” added the merc in a whisper.

The stranger struggled in his grasp, attempting and failing to loosen Adam’s hold with his own cybernetic fingers.

“Open the fucking door,” Adam commanded again, his anger growing with each passing moment.

“I-It won’t open,” gasped the man. “Not until I see you put your weapons in the reservoir.”

The lump in his throat bobbed against Adam’s palm.

“Think I give a damn about your policies and protocol?” he rumbled. “I can just pop off your fucking head clean off your shoulders, then I’ll rip open those doors myself-”

“A-And she still won’t see you.”

Adam blinked in confusion. The man had no fear in his voice. No, the opposite. Bold. Certain. His whole demeanor was solid, his eyes never breaking away from that of the mercenary.

“She won’t see you,” repeated the man. “She’s not one for intimidation. N-Never will be.”

With a new blaze of anger, Adam lifted the man higher. The man gasped heavily as the grip became tighter on his air way, his face reddening into a deep scarlet.

Behind them, the doors burst open.

“Mr. Smasher!” yelled a voice. A woman’s voice. “Put him down!”

His head turned in the direction of the sound, his anger near the tipping point of rage.

Standing in the doorway was a woman. She stood before a group of other women, all afraid, their eyes wide and trembling fingers touching lips. One of the fearful women looked to be attempting to pull the other back, but with no luck. She stood firm in a white, form-fitting dress, the garment hiding most of her olive skin and hugging her curves beautifully. Her hair was dark and fell in waves at her shoulders and down her back. Oddly enough she was barefoot, revealing a blood red polish on her toes that matched her fingernails. Simple gold jewelry complimented her complexion.

The woman’s face, though attractive, wore a look of pure admonishment.

“Are you the one hired by Arasaka?” called back the mercenary, his voice still strained.

“Put him down,” repeated the woman. “Now.”

“Answer my question-”

“Not until you put down Dr. Estrada.”

Their eyes locked. Gold like her jewelry, they burned intensely with a heat that Adam could practically feel. His own resolve faltered at her ultimatum, mostly because he wasn’t used to anyone, let alone a woman, making one.

The man’s body dropped loudly to the tile.

To Adam’s surprise, the woman immediately relaxed. Gone was the fire in her eyes and features. Posture eased. She then entered the lobby. The women behind her silently panicked, their mouths agape at seeing her walk past Adam, bare feet padding across the tile, to attend to the fallen man. The man had recovered after a brief coughing fit and was sitting up with a grin. He accepted her offered hand.

“So all of this,” she said calmly, directing the man to the doorway. “Is because of our weapons policy?”

“Are you the one hired by Arasaka?”

His tone was more level, matching hers. The anger was long forgotten.

“I am,” she replied.  “Will you be able to make our appointment or should we reschedule?”

Adam frowned at the question.

Without saying a word, he began walking towards the doors. Her frame stiffened. In a stride she stood between Adam and the opening.

“You want to keep our appointment,” she acknowledged. “Please put your weapons in our reservoir and deactivate any and all combat cyberware.”

And like a switch, his fury returned ten-fold.

“I’m not going to go by your bullshit policies!” he yelled. “We’re meeting today! Stop wasting my fucking time and let’s get this shit over with!”

Pulse raced in his body, so strongly that he swore they could hear it. The doctor stood behind the woman, eyes shifting between her and Adam nervously. He saw how the man’s hands tightened into fists, as if ready to intervene at any moment. The other women were frozen in fear.

What did these fucking people not understand?

Adam was here to do a job.

He didn’t have to abide by whatever policies they were giving him.

It wasn’t going to happen.

All appeared terrified and concerned.

All except for her.

That woman with the dark hair and powerful, golden eyes remained by her place at the doorway, her focus on Adam and staring directly at him as if he hadn’t just yelled at her. If she was afraid of Adam, she sure didn’t show it.

A moment passed before he got a response.

Her voice was touched with a new softness, her face gentle.

“I hear you,” she said. “You are strongly against what we’re asking of you, Adam, and we’re asking a lot. This is our policy. It is important that our clients feel safe here. If depositing your weapons and turning off your cyberware is not acceptable to you, that’s fine, but it is our expectation. You can do what we ask and retrieve your things when our meeting is over or we can reschedule when you’re ready.”

Dark eyes blinked in confusion. No doubt his anger remained, but at hearing her words, the calmness in her voice, he found it oddly abated. Only slightly, but abated nonetheless.

He swallowed.

“Out of the question,” Adam answered lowly.

As if expecting his response, the woman simply nodded.

“Okay,” she said, that damn smile once more spreading across her full lips. “That’s your choice. The elevator can take you to the floor that Dr. Estrada met you at. Please reach out to our office so we can reschedule.”

Before he could muster up a response, the woman quietly closed the doors.

[dragonnadder]

Quicksilver and Pyrite

Before I begin, I should introduce. This is the first chapter of an AU Ninjago fanfiction I started post-TLNM, and plan to continue for some time. It’s been up on Wattpad for a while, but as I’m not friends with as many Ninjago fans there as here, I decided to try sharing here to see what y’all think. This also takes place after this one-shot I wrote. 

Chapter 1 - Gilded Solstice, Part 1

Zane was the first one awake. He blinked his optical sensors open and performed a brief self-scan, making sure nothing was out of place. Satisfied, he climbed out of his bed (unnecessary, he knew, but comforting nonetheless), and wandered onto the deck of the Destiny's Bounty, floating at about two hundred meters in the air and roughly a kilometer from New Ninjago City. After climbing up on top of the poop deck, he sat down and watched the clear night sky slowly fade into the sunrise of the first day of the Gilded Solstice.

Cole was next up. He burst out from under his covers and sat on the edge of his bed, panting. His dreams were bothering him again, and meditating before bed hadn't helped. He tried another breathing exercise, but his heartbeat refused to still. If he even still had a heart - he was still a ghost. Visiting Yang's temple had done nothing for him, only given him more nightmares of their last visit. With a quiet growl, he stormed out through the bedroom walls and ran a few laps around the main deck. When his legs refused to carry him any longer, he collapsed on the ground, winded but clearer of mind. After flopping onto his back, the earth ninja noticed Zane sitting on the rooftop and watching his exertion. Sighing quietly, Cole quickly made his way up to his teammate, who looked down at him with a mild smile.

Lloyd woke up to a faint banging sound under the floorboards. A glance at the other beds revealed everyone but Kai having gotten up already. Jay and Nya's beds seemed hardly touched, which was concerning. With a small exhale, he stood up and let out a small laugh/groan as he put weight on his left leg, which was asleep. Ah, First Master, he cursed quietly, half limping to Kai's bedside and shaking the older ninja awake. He stirred and got up, one hand brushing loose strands of hair out of his face. "Lloyd? What's going on?"

"It's morning. I'm gonna go look for Jay and Nya, and I think the other two are above." A yell, a clang, and a peal of laughter interrupted him, followed by indistinct chatter. "That's probably them. Care to join me?"

"Sure," Kai blearily responded, pushing himself up. A red coloring tinged the fire ninja's cheeks as he sat up and closed his eyes for a moment.

"You okay, Kai?" Lloyd asked. "Your face is red."

"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm... I'm fine." He stretches and tried to stand, but collapsed with a wince.

"You are the opposite of fine. Come on, I'll help you down." Lloyd pulled his teammate back up and supported him as they walked out of the room and down the stairs. "What happened between you and Jay?" he asked as the tingling in his leg faded and he could stand straighter. "Ever since you guys came back from that trip last week, there's been a weird vibe between the two of you."

"Nothing happened," he insisted, a small shiver running through him. "We're just-" He broke off in a fit of coughing.

"You're sick, Kai. Something happened, and now you're sick. You need to take it easy for once."

"What! I can't do that! I have three interviews scheduled for today! My fans need to be updated! I have to do things!"

"You can have Jay or Zane set you up with one of those facecon apps if it's so vital for you to contact them. But you're not heading into the city. You need to recover."

Kai continued protesting as the two headed down the corridor and stopped in front of the entrance to the mech dock the two techies had set aside for their projects. Lloyd pushed the trapdoor open, knelt, and looked around at the odd chaos the two had caused.

By some technomagical ingenuity, the inside of the mech dock was bigger than the entire ship seemed able to contain. Six color-coded mechanical beasts were arranged roughly equidistant from one another around the room. Each seemed designed after a different creature, all of which had capabilities of flight. Five of them - the red, green, black, and both blues - were sitting relatively peacefully around the hangar doors in the center room, albeit occasionally sparking from exposed wires and with various pieces of scrap metal sitting around and on them. The white mech, however, was a different story.

Seemingly designed to look like Zane's falcon, the mech was plated in silver and white with glowing blue eyes. Jay was sitting on the bird's shoulders (or whatever they were called, Lloyd certainly didn't know), yelling at the mech and waving a socket wrench wildly. His hair was vaguely poofy from being untended-to and probably awake the entire night. Nya was sitting on the ground nearby with a discarded welder and a few bits of metal, laughing.

Kai leaned over his shoulder and made a small sound of disbelief, and, before Lloyd realized what he was doing, pushed him aside and began to climb down the ladder. His grip failed him a few rings down, however, and he fell down the rest of the way, hitting the floor with a muffled whump. Lloyd quickly hurried down after him.

Jay had heard Kai's fall, and dropped his gear immediately. He slid down the back of the bird mech, which shuffled its feet and snapped its beak, and rushed over to him, Nya close behind him. He hardly noticed Lloyd coming down the ladder, all his attention focused on Kai. With Nya's help, he turned him over onto his back and checked him over for injuries, of which none were noticeable.

"Is he okay?" Lloyd asked, having come over at some point, and Jay gave a panicked laugh.

"Okay? Of course he's okay! Anyone would be okay after falling thirty feet off a ladder!" He continued ranting for a few moments more, but stopped as he felt Kai stir under his hands.

"Jay-Jay, stop panicking," his muffled voice said slowly. "It's... not helping."

"First Master, Kai! You scared me half to death!"

There was a pause.

"You scared both of us almost entirely to death," was the fire ninja's response as he slowly sat back up.

Jay laughed and hugged Kai, and Lloyd and Nya glanced between the two, obviously confused.

"Weird vibe, I'm telling you," he overheard him say to her.

"Jay, get off, now," Kai said after a few moments. He released his stranglehold and backed off as he stood.

"Where're Cole and Zane?" Jay asked after noting their absence. "I don't feel like explaining these mechs more than once."

"They're above, most likely," Lloyd replied. "I think they're-"

"Speak of the devil," Nya interrupted, gesturing to the ladder. The two missing ninja were climbing down and walking over to the other four.

"'Morning!" Zane said cheerfully. "We heard a bit of a commotion and decided to come down. Hopefully you haven't forgotten about the Gilded Solstice celebrations?"

"The... Oh, First Master," Jay groaned, putting his face in his hands. He felt someone - Kai, probably - put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We completely forgot. The mechs aren't quite finished yet, but almost all the wiring and coding's complete. Maybe you boys could help us finish up?" Nya asked.

Cole responded, "You're gonna have to catch us up a bit first, Nya. We got a lot of work to do, and I'd rather not screw it up."

Kai's mech was a streamlined firebird in red and orange whose form could be ignited with a press of a button. He was quick to point out that he could also light them up with his own powers, and was eager to test it out before being shouted down by the other ninja, for obvious reasons.

The darker blue mech was Jay's, in the form of a dragonfly/firefly fusion. The wings and abdomen of the bug would be able to light up in glowing lightning blue and course with electricity when complete. At the moment, they were just semitransparent reinforced glass or tough cloth.

Nya's mech was also a bird, designed after the legendary sigmarus, a water-elemental form of a phoenix. Painted in every shade of turquoise and ocean blue, it would be a sight to see out in the sky.

Next to Zane's falcon stood Cole's mech, a brown, copper, and bronze dragon with striking similarity to his first dragon, Rocky. Its onboard AI had been designed to mimic Rocky as much as Jay could remember, with a bit of unknowing input from Cole himself.

The final mech belonged to Lloyd. It was a serpentine, wingless dragon in various hues of green and accented with gold, a nod to his former place as the Golden Ninja. The dragon's eyes whirred to life and it looked at its blonde owner with a slightly tilted head. He waved back, nervous, and the mech responded with a small puff of warm air and a slow blink.

The six ninja set to work quickly, fixing, adjusting, and testing the mechs. Zane shouted out the time every so often, to their annoyance - the celebrations would begin at sunset, which, as Zane reminded them, was at 8:43 in the evening. About an hour before noon, Kai took one of the skimmers Cyrus Borg had built for them a little while before and headed out to the city to grab lunch for the group. By the time he got back with noodles from Skylor's noodle place, the others were about to give up and go make food themselves.

After a short lunch break, Jay and Nya were satisfied enough with their progress that the group took their mechs out for a test flight. One by one, they dropped out of the mech bay and sailed into the open sky. Although the mechs still had a few kinks to work out, Nya was happy with how far they'd gotten. They might even be able to decorate the mechs before the Solstice festivities began. They'd definitely have time to deck the ship, though.

With a bit of struggle, the ninja managed to split into two groups to continue preparing. Zane, Jay, and Lloyd stayed and continued working on the mechs, while Nya, Kai, and Cole went up and started finding decorations for the Destiny's Bounty.

As they dug around in the storage rooms, Kai was struck by the sheer amount of tea supplies. Sensei Wu had obviously been prepared for many long journeys before he was sent into the time rift. He sifted through one small container, crushing some of the leaves together on his fingers and smelling them. They smelled vaguely like peppermint and lemon.

"I found a stash of lanterns," he heard Nya announce. "We could string these up on the railings, and on the roof of the pilot's cabin."

"That could look good on the sails, too. Kai, mind lighting these up for us once we get above?"

He lifted his head and nodded. "No problem."

"We can't put lanterns on the sails, it'll impede their function and we wouldn't be able to go anywhere."

"Maybe you're right at that."

Nya scoffed. "Maybe."

"What've you got there, Kai?" Cole asked, kneeling next to him.

"Sensei's tea leaves."

"He had a lot of them."

"You could say that again."

There was a brief pause as the three remembered their old Sensei.

"How old even was he?" Kai eventually asked. "I don't remember him ever telling us, and since he's the First Spinjitzu Master's son, he must be pretty dang old."

"He mentioned to the three of us before you arrived that he was roughly a hundred and fifty, something along those lines," Cole responded.

"A hundred fifty!" Nya exclaimed, having joined the other two. "That's absurd. The average person lives for maybe eighty years, ninety if they push it. Even then, they're almost completely bald. Either something genetic in the First Master's lineage gave him really long life, or he was lying to us."

"Sensei wouldn't lie to us," Cole protested.

"Wouldn't he?" Kai challenged.

"What cause would he have to lie to us?"

"To keep us safe? To make sure we couldn't destroy him and the rest of the team if we decided to turn against him? He's already-"

"You'd turn against us? What kind of ninja are you?"

"Hypothetically speaking! Why would I want to betray you guys? You're my best friends!"

"Like that's stopped you from leaving us behind before!"

The argument raged on for the better part of a minute, until Nya interrupted with an explosive "Enough!"

Both boys turned to look at her.

"Your arguing isn't helping anyone, least of all yourselves. We have an entire ship to decorate before sunset, and you're bickering like drunkards in a barroom. We are a team, whether you like it or not, whether Wu lied to us or not, so you had better suck up the insults you're throwing at each other and help out or I swear to the First Spinjitzu Master I'll have you cleaning up the streets on your own after the celebrations are over."

Kai exchanged looks with Cole. "Understood, sis."

"Good. Now help me get these lanterns up on deck."

The team of three made quick work of hanging the red paper lanterns around the ship. Off the railings, on the roof's overhang, anywhere they would decoratively fit and not impede the function of the ship. Kai was, for once, careful not to light entire strings of lights on fire, instead focusing on the fires to make them small and concentrated, as Wu had tried to teach him from the start. Cole had found some red and gold ribbon, and climbed up the mast to decorate a bit further, while Nya fastened the lantern strings in place along the ship. The sun was just an hour or so from touching the horizon when the other group of three came up on deck and announced that they were done, and Zane brought out a meat pie for the team's dinner.

Roughly fifteen minutes before sunset, the ninja headed belowdecks to check out the mechs. After settling in and reconfirming their familiarity with the controls, the hangar doors opened, and one by one the team dropped down and flew toward the city.

The often-bustling and chaotic city was decorated similarly to the Bounty, in streams of gold and red. Glowing paper lanterns hung along rooftops and across roads, and depictions of all manner of creatures adorned every meter. Near the center of the city, merchants and food-sellers set up shop in several of the town squares and were hawking their wares as the people danced to the festive music and held cheerful conversation with friends, strangers, and out-of-towners alike. The parades hadn't begun yet, so the ninja landed on the flat roof of a tall nearby building and dismounted, telling the mechs to stay put until they were called.

"Shall we head down?" Lloyd asked with a grin, gesturing to the ground several stories below.

"Race you!" Kai responded, leaping off the building. Jay hurried to the edge, along with the other ninja, and saw him shooting fire out of his hands and feet to slow his fall. He grinned and vaulted over the side, magnetizing his hands and jumping between metal outcrops. Zane flew past him, surfing down an ice bridge forming before him, and Cole followed close behind on a flat slab of rock. Nya shot down nearby, starting a Cyclon-do spin to stop from splatting onto the ground. Behind all the rest, Lloyd swung down, carefully parkouring down the side of the building.

After regrouping on the ground, the team set off to Diamond Square, where the main festivities were taking place. They quickly split up, each heading to a different section of the square. Jay hurried to the food stalls and stared at the goods for sale. Melons and fruits sat next to cherry pies and caramels, and jerky and kebab sticks abounded. He noticed that Chen's Noodle House had set up a small shop a few stalls away, and waved as a break in the crowd appeared and he caught sight of Skylor, who grinned back. Seeing as he had little else to do, he headed over to talk.

"That's 35 back. Enjoy your meal!" she said to the last person in line, who thanked her and walked into the crowd. "'Evening, Jay. What brings you here?"

"We're waiting for the parades to start organizing," he said with an offhand shrug. "You taking part this year?"

She snorted a laugh. "Hardly. There's a chance next year, if I can get someone else to run the booth. Even then, I'd need to build a float or something of the kind, and I'm not sure how much time I have for that."

"Nya and I built our team flying mechs this year. We could probably build you one, too," Jay offered. "We could hold on to it when you're not using it, too, in case you don't have space."

The Master of Amber seemed lost for words, and perhaps the slightest bit confused. "That... that would be great," she finally got out, brushing a lock of red hair behind her ear. "Thanks, Jay."

"I'll send you a message later with details."

"Jay! Sky!" The two turned and saw Kai heading toward them.

"Kai!" she called back with a wave. "You guys are gonna be in the parade?"

"Yep! This guy-" he lightly punched Jay's shoulder "-and my sis built these awesome mechs for us."

"He told me. He also offered to build me a mech for next year's festivities," she said, favoring Jay with a small smile. "Maybe I'll join you then."

"That would be awesome," Kai agreed. "I'm gonna go find Cole."

"I think I saw him by the DJs," Jay told him, gesturing to a spot a short distance from the dancers. As he left, the music changed from cheerful and light to rock and roll.

"He's still a ghost, right?" Skylor asked, and he nodded. "Poor guy. How's he dealing with that?"

"He went to Sensei Yang's temple a few weeks back, before the whole Hands of Time thing. Thought it would help him turn back to human, but it didn't work. He's been having nightmares since then, too."

"Man."

"No kidding."

The two watched the crowd for a few minutes with a few insignificant comments about the festivities before a gong's chime quieted the city. Rising from the post he had been leaning against, Jay told Skylor, "That's our cue to prepare. See you in a bit?"

She smiled and waved him off, and he quickly headed to the building they had landed their mechs on. Zane was sitting on his falcon already, and waved a welcome to Jay as he climbed over the edge of the roof. His lightning bug (he internally chuckled at the pun) was still sitting in the same spot he had left it, luckily. It whirred to life and turned to look at him, and he patted its head before hoisting himself up in front of its wings, checking the panels and levers in its head.

The other ninja quickly appeared, and with a few last-minute power checks and décor adjustments, the group set off to where the parade was organizing.

"Ah! Ninja! We have a spot for you near the front if you'd like to walk, but it appears you've come prepared to fly. Would you like to do that instead?" An organizer dashed up toward them. Her auburn hair seemed disheveled, and she brushed a wavy lock out of her slightly flushed face as she spoke.

"We can fly if there's enough space on the roads," Lloyd responded, climbing down from his dragon, who snorted and nudged his head with its snout while Jay held back laughter at the friendliness of the dragon.

"There should be plenty if you don't all line up side by side."

"Awesome, thanks." Lloyd climbed back up and the team took off into the air, planning out some group maneuvers.

"I have a name for you now," Jay told his mech, who looked back at him and whirred curiously. "Storm. Whaddya think?" It made a sound of approval, and he grinned, patting its side.

"All right! Ninja are heading out first! Repeat, ninja are heading out!" a different organizer called, gesturing a go-ahead to the team. With a shared smile, the ninja zigzagged through the streets and entered Diamond Square as they activated their special abilities.

Kai's phoenix lit on fire as he flipped upside down and high-fived the crowd beneath him, while Nya's sigmarus seemed to ripple and glow slightly. Mech-Rocky breathed out a burst of stone and corkscrewed through the air, and Zane's falcon threw up snow clouds wherever its wings passed. Jay began channeling the lightning, lighting up Storm's transparent bits and glowing with an electric blue, and Lloyd's dragon grew semitransparent, crackling green energy wings as it swooped through the air. Jag felt a wild grin light up his face at how well the mechs were functioning, and whooped as he pulled Storm into a backwards loop.

The crowd cheered, clearly in awe of the mechs, and chattered excitedly. Jay spotted Skylor standing with Camille and Neuro on the far side of the square and waved a hello, which was quickly returned by all three. An effusive grin on his face, he guided Storm in a glowing loop around the square and down a side road, meeting back up with the other ninja as they went up and landed on a building overlooking the square to watch the rest of the parade.

A troupe of dancers had come after the six, and were currently spinning and leaping in flashes of orange and yellow as a small group of musicians played a sprightly accompaniment. After they vaulted through, two battle suits, one in gold and green, the other in black and violet with an extra set of arms, reenacted a scene of combat that Jay recognized as Lloyd and Lord Garmadon's combat some time ago. A glance over at his teammate confirmed his guess. Lloyd was watching them with a faint mixture of a frown and a laughing smile. Beyond them, Dareth and his trainees displayed their skills, to the ninjas' hilarity.

The parade continued for what must have been an hour at the least. As they neared the end, the center of the square opened up, and more festive music began playing as couples entered the opening and began a dance Jay thought he recognized.

"Should we head down and join them?" he asked, looking at his teammates. With the exception of Cole, they all agreed and quickly joined the circles of dancers.

Cole looked at his ghostly green-grey hands and sighed. Rocky lay down next to him, and he stroked his head with one hand. "If only going to Yang's temple had worked," he said quietly. "If only anything had worked. I miss going swimming with the others. And water balloon fights. Now I can't even touch a glass of water without going paranoid."

The dragon made a rumbling sound and nudged at his side, seeming to recognize Cole's... sadness? He wasn't sure what to call it.

"I can't age, I can't eat or drink, I can't even touch half the things around me. If I stay dry, I would just... exist, possibly forever. I don't want that, but I don't want to die without becoming solid again first." He leaned back against Rocky's side and exhaled a sigh. "Am I dead already? I don't need any of the essentials of living life, but I still feel. I still hurt, and I still laugh and sadden and all of that. Maybe I'm just an in-between. Not dead or alive, just... existing, here, now. Forever."

The two sat on the roof and watched the moon cross the three-quarters-down mark, surrounded by deactivated and sleeping mechs and seeming for all the world as sentinels of a forgotten age as the dances continued below.

As the stars turned in their endless cycle above him, Cole drifted through his thoughts aimlessly. A new vision overlaid the cityscape before him - crumbling ruins colored with rust and vines, dust swirling through abandoned roads. The patterns of the Diamond Square were chipped and faded, untouched in what must have been decades, perhaps centuries. The mechs around him were rusted and torn, never again to raise their heads and spread their wings for flight. The sky was clear and filled with stars in a way the living city, the old city, never could have seen. Despite the ruins all around him, a sense of serenity pervaded the air, albeit tinged with a bit of sadness. He was the only "living" creature in this new world, the guardian of a past unremembered and watcher of a future unknown.

Here was a world where he could fit in. Here was a world where he could walk through the city without being stared at and hidden from.

Here he was alone.

In both this future and the present, Cole was still as the ghostly traces of music rippled through his thoughts and the moon slowly set behind him, marking the end of the first - and last - night of the Gilded Solstice.

[shadowofthelamp]

Behold, some context for this, specifically Bella’s part. I’ll add more when I actually write more about Kit’s bit.

Wordcount: 2075

The second she saw the airship soaring through the red-tinted sky, shooting anything that looked at it funny, Bella knew she had to get inside of it. Let Kit flirt with their host (or, if she was honest, fail to flirt with, man, she didn’t even like flirting and even she knew that he turned into a pile of goopy mush when he was around a guy he thought was cute) and let Vee attempt to kidnap yet another animal to try and smuggle home, she wanted to find out who the heck made a steam-powered airship in the twentieth century.

Or maybe Hell was actually stuck in the year 1900, who knew? Time probably passed funny in the afterlife, but the fact that nobody had shot them out of the sky yet said that there was something else afoot- the pilot had to have some way of warding off attacks considering rivals probably had, like, grenade launchers, and she wanted to find out how. Style merged with substance, ruling the air with confidence- and she wanted in.

“Hey! Hey you!” She flagged down somebody with four arms and purple fur who looked short enough to be less likely to punt her into orbit- Mom had warned that most people down here were mean as, well, Hell- and pointed up at the ship. “What’s the deal with those?”

“You a newly dead?” The demon raised one of their four eyes, and Bella nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, newly dead. Anyway. Story?”

“They’re made by Sir Pentious, one of the Overlords. He’s some kinda inventor, I’unno. Never blew up anything that mattered to me, so I never cared that much.”

“Sir Pentious…” She rolled the name around in her mouth, plucking the ‘T’ in the middle thoughtfully along with the rubber bands wrapped around her braces. “Got it. Thanks!”

“Er- you’re welcome.” They darted off, but that was fine. Now it was just a matter of actually getting onboard.

____________

She couldn’t find a rocket pack anywhere- lousy Hell lagging behind Earth technologically- but ended up stumbling across the next best thing in a warehouse that had an extra ship that had clearly been in some sort of accident. This one was only partially-reassembled, and there was a lot of burn damage sustained to the aluminum and copper outside, but that just meant that she could see the skeleton without having to slice through a lot of layers, so it was almost better- and a lot easier to crawl in one of the big holes in the front window via a pile of parts in front of it.

The interior was decorated like a mansion, with vivid yellows, reds, and blacks- she could respect the commitment to the aesthetic, especially with torn-open snakesheds and red eyeballs plastered everywhere. It looked like something out of Mom’s old comic book collection, toxic and yet intoxicating, every detail chosen for maximum dramatic potential. It must look even better with all the lights on and more than her phone’s flashlight illuminating bits at a time.

It was the best playground that she could imagine- nothing but her and a massive ship the size of an apartment building. Oddly enough, there wasn’t much dust- maybe it had crashed recently and was being held here for repairs? It was certainly of a similar design to the one that she’d seen from the ground, so she couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t just an iteration or two away.

Her fingers ran over the sleek machinery like it was sacred- some of it looked like it belonged in a museum, but the rest was cutting edge, and the seamless way they blended was like something out of a dream. A genius indeed- if she’d been born a hundred years ago and was suddenly thrust into the modern day, she could only hope that her tech would look this good. There was room for improvement of course, there always was, but it was loads better than most of what she saw digging through the junkyard, and a lot closer to the stuff she made with Grandpa Zim using his irken tech. Impressive for someone who’d clearly been dead for some time, considering he’d made enough of a name for himself that some rando off the street knew it.

“Genius inventor, huh…?” Bella pulled out her screwdriver, starting to work on freeing the control panel. It had a touchscreen and levers, what was that about? She had to know what it looked like underneath- did Hell even use cables and wires or was she going to need to drag Kit in to do his magic business here?

It took some doing- whatever had taken this particular ship down had welded the panel into place and it took a crowbar to pry off, ha, take that Venus for saying she ‘didn’t need to bring it’- but eventually she got into the guts of the thing. Sure enough, it was wiring, spiraled all into itself in a knot- it must have gotten all messed up at some point, maybe that was what caused the crash on top of whatever burnt the outside?

She was about to start taking it apart when she heard a pitter-patter behind her.

“I’ve got a gun and I know how to use it, ya know,” she said, rummaging around in her pocket before pulling it out. “Mom insisted I bring the one that can vaporize people since apparently half of you can’t even die the normal way anyway? Bunch of freaks.” Her finger twitched towards the trigger as the pitter-patter became a shadow as the thing scrambled up towards the same hole she’d come in. “I’m warning you, I’m a great shot. Won’t take two to blow your brains out.”

“Whoever you are, bossman says you gotta go!”

It was an egg. Not like some kind of insult, it was literally an egg, and probably a third of her size. It was also wearing a little hand-tailored suit and top hat. She stared down at it, and it stared up at her.

“Who’s bossman?” Bella asked after a few very long seconds of silence.

“You know… bossman!” It blinked. “He doesn’t like people pokin’ around his cool, cool stuff and you tripped the motion sensor. Hey, is that a ray gun?”

Bella’s finger eased off the trigger. “Yeah, it is. It can probably scramble you.”

“Oooh! Fun! Not as good as boss’s, I’m sure, but-”

“Hey, what say you take me to this boss?” Bella crouched down, knowing this was incredibly stupid but also already entirely committed to it. “Then he can decide what to do with me in person.”

“Hmm… alright, but no funny business!�� The egg looked her up and down before turning heel, starting to clamor down the pile of parts. She had to hold back a snort when she saw that it had ‘#69’ written on its back.

Some things never changed no matter where you went.

____________

The egg blabbered on all the way back to the ship, mostly about jazz music oddly enough, but soon enough they were nearing a different ship that had settled behind a building. It was either the one she’d seen before or a duplicate, and she felt a shiver run up her spine as she got close- it looked a lot cooler in one piece and lit up bright yellow. Her phone buzzed, and she discreetly pulled it out as the egg launched into a diatribe on the importance of the saxophone. It was a text from her sister.

dolittle 🐭: bells where ARE you

dolittle 🐭: kits distracting clove so I could grab one of those bugdog things but moms gonna be asking how were doing soon, what should I say

Bella thought for a moment before sending back a reply. ‘im checking out that airship we saw earlier. have weapons. ill be fine. meet you back at the cafe later’

dolittle 🐭: be careful ok? know you can handle it but still

Bella smiled a little at that, sending a thumbs up before tucking her phone back into her pocket as they ascended the bridge.

“And then, then he saysss to me, he sayssss- Ah, there you are! Good, good.” She heard him before she saw him, voice booming as he welcomed his hench-egg back. “And what was poking around the warehouse?”

“This, boss!” The egg tugged at her jeans by the knee around the corner before pushing her forward with surprising force. “They said they wanted to see you!”

“Well well well!”

Bella’s antennae twitched as her eyes widened. The man in front of her was a jet black snake, with fangs, a top hat, a bowtie, and eyes on his face as well as nestled on the open space on his chest and hood. Best she could pin from Venus’s nature lectures he was a cobra of some sort, and there was a smug fang-y grin on his face as he slithered up to her, taking advantage of the height that his tail gave him- he’d probably be seven feet easy to Bella’s mere five foot one.

It took her only a moment to shake off her awe. “So you’re the famous Sir Pentious!”

His grin widened. “Ah! You’ve heard of me, little tresssspassser?”

“Obviously, considering I knew your name, right?”

“Er- yes!” He faltered for just a moment, and she went in for the kill.

“Your work’s fantastic, but you really need a way to keep the gutty stuff in order in case of a hit- that’s probably part of why that other ship went down, y’know? But your sense of design and how you mold your century-old designs with the new stuff- it’s fantastic, I just want to cut it all open and see how it works.”

“What did you do?” His hood flared, and she twirled the gun in her hands.

“I only touched the control panel, and your little egg boy got at me before I messed with anything, but I’d give anything for a couple of days working on the interior of this place- I bet I could make it run faster and with less fuel.”

The eye on his hat rolled itself as he narrowed the eyes on his face. “Who are you to come in and think you know better than I about my own shipssss? I should end you right here for your insolence and your trespassing!”

Bella folded her arms, glancing around. “Hmm… far left column, the one with a yellow eye instead of a red one.”

“What about it?” He folded his arms as well, waggling his head. “Are you-”

“It’s welded weird. Something went wrong with the metal when it was being forged, so you put it in the back so you wouldn’t have to look at it. You didn’t want to waste a perfectly good column because somebody screwed up one little part. And that’s just what I see looking around in, like, five seconds- gah!” The end of his tail had wrapped around behind her while she’d been talking, and struck before she finished her sentence, lifting her up to his eye-level with her arms pinned to her sides.

“Little wrench! How dare you?”

“I’m…” Her legs kicked a little, ribs feeling uncomfortably bendy at the moment as his scales pressed against her chest and back. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

His tongue darted out as he hissed, just barely brushing her nose before sliding back into his mouth.

“What do you really want, missy? I don’t like competition, you know.”

“You to let me breathe, for one,” she wheezed, fingers turning to try tickling what she could reach, and his cheek twitched funny before she dropped bodily to the floor, only managing to roll in time thanks to muscle memory from combat training. Thanks, Grandpas. “I really do just wanna see how all your stuff works. The ways I could improve my own inventions if I just could figure out how to blend different functionalities the way that you do…”

“I am quite impresssssive, aren’t I?” He puffed up his chest a bit. “And you have no intention to-”

Bella drew an X over her chest. “Cross my heart. You’re the bossman.”

He looked her up and down. “Hmm. Get back to me when you have a proper uniform and not those ragssss, and I suppose I could show you around a bit, if- if!- you show me something of yourssss.  ”

Bella’s grin slipped into a smirk as she gave a bow. “Bella Donna at your service, then, Sir Penny.”

[theresebrunette-blog]

Upper arm Physical exercises.

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