#and my computer won't let me screen record any more :(

[bahoreal]

Three Body | 三体 (2023) ep 1 x 23

[intramoon]

Hellooo 🥺 I wanted to know if you have followed a tutorial to make the last gifs? Or would you show how to make them? Than you so much 💕

I didn't follow any specific tutorial, I've just made a quick little process after researching how other people on Tumblr make gifs. I can tell you how I do but I would definitely recommend following a tutorial of someone more qualified! lol

Aj's Guide To Sims Gifs

I am going to show you how I made this gif of Wednesday:

You'll need:

A screen recording program; Streamlabs, OBS Studio

Adobe Photoshop (FYI I am using the newest version).

The full tutorial is below the cut.

I promise it is easy, this tutorial is just long because I want to cover all bases, so if you have no idea what any of what I am saying means you can still follow along easily!

Lets get started!

1. Installing Your Recording Programs

You'll need to be able to record your game. Any streaming or screen recording program with work perfectly! I use Streamlabs because that's what I use for Twitch, but OBS Studio will work too! I've used them all, I recommend Streamlabs because it's more user-friendly.

2. Setting Up Your Recording Programs

You'll need to set up a scene in your streaming program that records your display or your game. In Streamlabs you go to the plus bottom beside sources and add either a Display Capture or a Game Capture, select your display or game. Is there a difference? Using game capture will remove any of your miscellaneous desktop UI and you won't have to crop it out later down the line. Despite that being pretty handy, I do display capture because I am difficult. lol If you have questions about this step feel free to send a ask, but I am going to skip over this to be able to go into more detail about the gif-making process.

3. Recording Your Scenes

Now you'll need to record your scenes in-game! I recommend doing this with ReShade or gshade. I use ReShade. Just make sure your lighting is how you like, the time of day is how you like, and have fun! Tip #1: Save your game before you start recording any scenes. Especially if you are recording gameplay, this will allow you to go back if you miss an animation or interaction. You'll be able to reload your game where you were and you can try to capture the moment again. Tip #2: Only record for 10-20 seconds at a time. Yes, you'll have a bunch of small recordings and that is what you want. You'll have to import those clips to Photoshop and if they are over 30 seconds they are going to strain your computer and be difficult to work with. Record animations just one time through, and re-record from different angles. This will let you pick from a variety of clips to get the gif you want. For 5-7 gifs I have 15-ish recordings that are about 10 seconds each, for reference. Tip #3: If you are alpha like me and are plagued by alpha hair vs. MXAO, just be intentional with the hair choices you make because you cannot edit the MXAO out later (I mean you can but it is a lot of fucking work). I have found updos are better at not having crazy MXAO spots. Or opt for using sims with darker hair.

4. Loading and Shortening Your Clip

Now, pick the first clip you'd like to convert to a gif. Go to File > Import > Import Videos To Frames and then select the video file for the clip. A window will appear that looks like this:

From here you are going to select the exact moment in your clip that you want to use. The two half-sliders underneath the timeline are your start and stop points. You want to move them to just encompass the moment you want to use. Try to cut it down as much as possible to just the moment you need, the longer the clip the more frames, the longer it will take to render and the harder it will be on your computer. You will know if your clip is too long with this pop-up:

Avoid this!

My cut-down clip looks like this:

5. Loading In Your Layers & Workspace

Your workspace should look like this!

You should see 100-200ish layers on the right side and a timeline on the bottom. If you do not see the layers on the right side go to Window > Layers, you should be able to see them after doing this. If you do not see a timeline on the bottom, go to Window > Timeline, you should be able to see it after doing this. If your timeline does not look like mine and rather like this:

Don't worry! That's totally fine! If you do want to change it click the three squares on the bottom left and it will show each individual frame.

6. Cropping and Resizing

You want to work with the smallest file possible so you can use the littlest amount of resources and have the smallest file size. This is, one, to reduce strain on your computer but also because Tumblr only allows gifs that are 10MB. We want to keep the gif as small as possible.

First, we are going to crop our gif! In my example, I need to crop out my computer UI. I think long gifs and square gifs look the best, so I am going to crop my long ways.

We also want to resize our gif to 540px. I know people get on me for resizing my screenshots to 540px but this is a MUST for gifs. If not they will be blurry. They are not like screenshots and portraits. In my crop settings, you'll see I have my set to 540px.

That makes the cropping resizing process quicker by killing two birds with one stone. Alternatively, you can crop as normal, and then resize to 540px afterward. I've done both and both get the same result! If your post will have two gifs side by side you'll want to crop your gifs to 268px.

If it takes Photoshop a little bit of time to crop the image, that is normal! Just requires some patience. The same goes for resizing. I've found sometimes resizing takes the longest.

My resized gif looks like this!

7. Editing Your Gif

Technically your gif is done! If you don't intend on editing it you can export it and you're done! I like to do a little editing on my gifs.

To edit gifs you'll need to use non-destructive editing methods, ie. adjustment layers or smart objects but most likely adjustment layers. If you, for example, edit by going to Image > and then adjusting your image, you'd have to do that to all your layers. That's not viable. Instead, you'll want to make a group at the top of all your layers and place your adjustment layers in the group. You can make a group by clicking the folder icon at the bottom of your layers panel. You can create adjustment layers by clicking the half-shaded circle on the bottom of your layers panel.

BE CAREFUL! Make sure you are doing edits on layer 1, if you edit other random layers the edit will only apply to those layers. I've made this mistake a few too many times.

As for sharpening, this is when you'd use your sharpening action or sharpen it yourself. I am going to be using this sharpening action by insomniacgifs. I've used a handful but this is the one I like the most because it converts my layers into a smart object that lets me do more edits later (which I will show you).

All sharpening actions are different so make sure to read their instructions before you use them. Some sharpening actions have a layer limit so they will not work on longer gifs.

To start using insomniacgifs action I have to convert my layers to frames. They have an action for this. I select "Layer 1" and run their "Frames to Timeline" action.

Now my layers are in a smart object!

Smart objects are a non-destructive way to edit and something I recommend using with gifs and your edits. Smart objects also preserve the quality of your images despite you resizing and editing your image.

In regards to gifs, this allows me to use Camera Raw Filter and more heavily edit my gif! All I am going to do is open Camera Raw Filter and edit away! It will apply my edits to a layer attached to this smart object.

After I've done my edits, I will pick which level of sharpening I want to use from insomniacgifs action. I usually pick soft. I am going to press play on the "Soft" action. This does sometimes take a while to load. You may get a progress bar. Just be patient. This may take a few minutes.

Now that the Soft actions have finished, my gif is sharpened! I am extra and want to tweak my gif a little more. After finishing the Soft action all my layers will be in a "gif" folder. Remember how I mentioned before that to edit gifs you want to place a group above your layers and place your adjustment layers inside? I am going to do that now! It looks something like this:

8. Saving Your Gif

Now, finally, we can save! This is the easiest part! Go to File > Export > Export for The Web (Legacy). I window will open that looks like this:

In the top right, make sure the file type is set to GIF. Here you can play your gif and see it in action! Now, this is what I normally notice if I do not like the speed of the gif. It defaults to 0.06 seconds per frame. Sometimes I like this slow pace to get a dreamier gif but with this gif, it's too slow. I will show you how to fix it. Close this window and go to your timeline. Shift + Left-Click the first and last layers on the timeline. Right-click on the frame duration.

Now click other and change it to your desired duration. For me, that will be 0.03 seconds.

Now let's try to save again! This is the end result!

If you have questions please do not hesitate to ask! I will update this tutorial as people ask questions and clarification is needed! You can always hit me up if you need help!

[weaselsblaugh]

1-bit Commissions - let's try this instead!

Finding a job quickly is not in the cards. Begging for money is not my style. So here's what I'm going to do instead: opening for art commissions. But not just any art: 1-bit art, on my Macintosh Plus from 1986, with a Kensington trackball.

What I'll do:

Scenery!

Maybe a character if it's not too complicated!

Emoji and stickers maybe!

I will do this in whatever art program that will run on a 1986 Mac Plus - I like FullPaint but Kid Pix is also fun!

What you'll get:

A raw PNG image that you can use on your modern computer

A very nice photograph of the image being displayed on an original Mac Plus CRT screen (no fancy shaders here!)

If you really want me to, I'll send you a .DSK image with the original file on it, that you can load in your emulator, Floppy Emu, or write to an actual floppy disk for some reason

If you really, really want me to, I will find a way to record the whole process, probably by jury-rigging my phone up to a tripod and pointing it at the screen while I work, but that's enough of a pain that I'm charging extra for that

What I charge:

$30 for a scene.

$40 for a character, bear in mind I might reject if your character seems really complicated or intricate to draw

$60 if you want me to film the whole process because that's a whole rigamarole.

What I probably won't do:

Gore or nudity

Honestly the more angular your subject, the better, free-hand curves are not easy - did I mention I'm doing this with a trackball

This is the first time I've made this offer, so I'm hoping it's novel enough to spark interest.

If you'd like to get in touch, drop me an email - wild DOT weasel AT gmail DOT com. If I accept your commission, I'll mail you back instructions on how to send payment.

[madefate]

[ LETTER ] for sender to find a last letter, video, text, etc that receiver made for them, thinking they wouldn’t make it out of the situation alive. Obviously receiver does make it out alive, but the letter/video still exists (and receiver will detail what’s in it). [Stolas and Blitz xoxoxo] / @helldustedstories

Shit, shit, shit !

Blitz slaps a hand over his mouth to stifle any sound that might escape him. He's still not sure if he's lost the tail on him, and he can barely hear the sounds from the hallway over the pounding of his heart in his ears. His other hand is clenched around his newly-rescued phone, his arm wrapped around his middle to make sure he doesn't leave a trail of blood right towards himself.

Honestly, it's probably just for his own peace of mind; there was no way to keep his leg from leaving that trail and he wasn't about to slow himself down more to try and find even more cloth to wrap around the bleeding gashes. Satan, these shitheads. Even if he had his pistol on him, one of those bigass shark goons had made quick work of smashing in the fingers of one hand, and he's not letting go of the phone in the other. Not when he already almost risked his fuckin' life to get the damn thing and run.

Greed warehouses are all shit - vast and winding and filthy and, unfortunately, far enough away that no one is coming for help if they don't know exactly where you are. If they care to at all. Blitz checks the phone screen again, trying to shield the light that spills out - still no fucking signal. Of course there isn't. Crimson is a professional, after all.

This one isn't even on him ! He hadn't sought to make contact with the fuckhead in the first place, and by the sound of it, Moxx had spent his life putting distance between them. It'd be nice to have one less criminal on his ass, but of course this is where things end - caught unawares and carted off to some unmarked hovel in Greed.

Wait, shit, fuck, no. He's not going to die here, is he ? His fingers tremble on the screen as he frantically listens for footsteps echoing off the dirt and metal - still none. But when he glances up at the vent shaft, he realizes with a plummeting feeling that with his leg barely being a leg and only one semi decent hand, there's no way he's crawling up there. Not even with Cash's voice in the back of his mind telling him to walk it off, that they can't afford to take a break, that this world will never take its time to coddle an imp's aches and pains.

Without thinking, he sends a text message to Loona. I luv you so much, Sweetie. It doesn't send - won't send until he finds himself in signal range again. He doesn't know if he wants it to send - if it's akin to admitting defeat.

But - fuck. His vision is getting spotty around the edges from the drugs still in his system and the blood he'd left behind on the warehouse floor. He'd been so confident when he'd wiggled out of the ropes and snatched his phone before running, but Blitz feels the edges of adrenalin starting to wear off, thready and wisping out.

He crawls further, shoving himself behind a steam pipe into the shadows of a corner. Typing - typing already takes him forever, and with one hand? No dice. Swallowing his pride, his frustration, his self loathing, Blitz holds the phone up and hits record, his voice a rough whisper even when he tries to smooth it out and find whatever smile he can manage.

❝ Hey, Stols - I gotta be quick. 'M sorry about that. I wasn't tryin' to do anything stupid, I swear. But 'm sorry anyway. I really hope you get this. If you do, I need you to take care of some stuff for me, okay? 'M pretty sure Moxx and Mills should be able to take over I.M.P. but y'er smart and they may need help with legal stuff. Then go in my computer and search for Barbie. 'M sorry, I never got to tell you about her - she's my sister. I've been trying to keep an eye on her - she's been in and outta rehab and she hates me but she needs someone. I know it's a lot, but if you hear anything about her, make sure she's safe at least? Promised Mom - fuck, just. Make sure she's safe.

❝ 'N I know you have Via and that this is a lot already but don't - don't leave Loona alone, okay ? She's gonna be so pissed, I don't blame her. If you can 'n you don't hate me, please just look out for her. Please I can't - I don't want to leave her, I don't want to leave anyone but - ❞

Blitz's throat is constricting and he realizes that he's sped up, practically hyperventilating and it's clouding his head even more. Fuck, he's running out of time.

❝ - Stols. ❞ His voice breaks then, his smile flickering into a grimace. ❝ I'm so sorry. I was tryin' t' be better, less stupid. Less reckless. I want you to know - ❞ His eyes squeeze shut for a moment, the only sound his breathing. ❝ - I love you. I love you so fucking much and I'm so sorry it took me so long to say it in the first place, and I'm sorry about how much time I wasted being an idiot and ignoring how I felt. Y'er it for me. You always have been. I love you, Sweetheart - fuck - ❞

Reality cracks its way back in with the distant sound of footsteps getting closer, and Blitz is forcing himself to stand as he sends the message that he assumes will be caught in the lack of signal. He draws one deep breath, shoves the burning in his eyes away, finds his best cocksure grin, and takes the leap into the fight to get back home alive.

For them.

[starstruckpurpledragon]

Hey, this is a longshot—but d’you have a link to that “how to remove bloatware on Windows/what bloatware to remove” post?

I’m asking because a friend sent me a link to that one about pc specs you reblogged a while back, and I could’ve sworn I saw the bloatware one in the recommended posts for that one, but I forgot to like the post and now I can’t find it. I finally picked up a windows laptop and need to know what to disable.

So it sounds like you're referring to a post I reblogged from @ms-demeanor but I cannot seem to find it. But tumblr search and even the option of using duckduckgo to search tumblr for me is letting me down. Though the PC Specs post might be this one? https://ms-demeanor.tumblr.com/post/726025900027789312/so-the-counter-to-this-is-that-ssds-are-static

I may poke around a bit more later to see if I can find the post but for now... I can list off some of what I did based on my own recent experiences of setting up a new laptop after my old one decided to start blue screening if I moved it five inches in any direction. (That old laptop is now doing perfectly fine when left completely stationary, so I've been using it to experiment with creating a local file sync for back ups using some old hard drives i had lying around.)

Bloatware Social Media/Video Media Apps:

These are probably pretty obvious bloatware since this is a computer and all these services are therefor going to a.) work on the browser and b.) work better on the browser than the app anyway. Also there are a few cases like Facebook where there's a c.) why would I touch <insert application> with a ten foot pole anyway? reason for removing the App

Instagram

Facebook

Netflix

Prime Video

News - Microsoft news aggregation App (there are better options out there than this for news aggregation)

TikTok

Spotify - depends on your spotify usage tbh, but I don't use it since I just dumped all my music onto my local plex server and use that to play music all over the house

Twitter - Or X, whatever

Additionally:

Any preloaded game you don't find interesting. Depending on the vendor there could be a lot of games or no games.

X-Box gaming apps - while there are some reasons to keep the x-box gaming stuff, most people are gonna find it useless

WildTangent Games

Omen gaming - if you've got an HP laptop specifically, you will probably want to give Omen related game apps the boot too

Vendor specific applications - YMMV, I do keep some of these for diagnostic purposes, but you definitely want to at least give any HP this or Dell that or whatever type programs a harder look. Any program starting with the name of the vendor that created your laptop? At the very least look it up to see how important it really is/isn't

Adobe programs - there are free versions of everything adobe does that do it better than adobe does

3D Viewer - it's a 3D modeling program, but odds are you won't need/want this

Microsoft 365/Office/etc - Unless you need these programs specifically for professional reasons, LibreOffice is free and reliable and has multiple UI modes for the toolbars depending on your preferences

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft ToDo

Microsoft Family

Microsoft Maps

Mixed Reality Portal - Unless you're doing VR dev/VR gaming using this computer, there's no real reason to keep this one

Microsoft Whiteboard

Microsoft People

Sound Recorder - YMMV, this is useful for recording lectures and the like, but I prefer freeware like Audacity which is more reliable/just works better

Sticky Notes

Weather

Cortana

Amazon Alexa

I'll usually keep Edge around as a backup browser, but Firefox is definitely the best browser out there right now.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Eyes, Internets, etc.

Okay! I successfully ate in the Denny's without sunglasses today! Our nearest Denny's has, like, spotlights on every table. It has been really painful to eat in restaurants like that, and shop, but I am getting better.

It's still not super comfortable for me to read. I'm not a fan of my surgery results thus far, but a big part of that is I'm not getting much aftercare. "Will my eyes improve to the point that I can once again look over and read my spouse's computer screen, a social interaction I value a great deal?" I wonder. "Your appointment has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, please reschedule it," says the eye doctor. This is the one local person I've found who specializes in binocular vision dysfunction, whom I contacted after self-diagnosing. Nobody else had any idea why I was sick and in pain.

I'm an individual. I went into this with an obvious unique issue (my left eye impairs my binocular vision) and a bunch more less obvious (autistic, problems healing, multiple chronic health issues, etc) only some of which these people bothered to ask me about and then, like usual, they forget all this information and treat me like the default. "Hey, these eye drops don't work!" *crickets* "Yep, okay, back to doing my own research and buying shit off Amazon in case it helps."

But, I am improving. Me and my arsenal of OTC products which may or may not be helping but I'm getting real sick of my eyes not working so I'm throwing everything at the wall to see if it sticks. I'm going to try to get back to the feed and the social interaction. I've tried before and it hasn't been any fun, but now I can eat in the Denny's so we'll see.

The world moves on and stuff's been happening during my extended hiatus. Just to tick off two major things I would've written way more about: There is no justification for genocide, and wow, I gave money to con-artist and plagiarist James Somerton. One of these things is VASTLY more important than the other, but I have less of a personal stake in freeing Palestine. I think I've done all I can to back away from my country of origin and its propensity for letting a little ethnic cleaning slide when it's politically feasible. But I could've done better research on my donations.

I haven't been fucking READING much for the past couple years. Not, you know, books. It's been taking more effort for me to read books, even though I'm still probably reading just as much across various websites (and my own writing and editing). Well, it's still an effort, and I don't know if that's going to change much. Because, once again, I believed people when they said something would be easy to fix and improve my quality of life. I'm sure it's been easy for them, but it's never easy for me. Jury's still out on my "quality of life," which everyone is always very concerned with until it requires some extra effort on their part.

It might still be fine. It just won't be because doctors pay attention and care about me. It'll be because people generally heal and are fine. You can get away with a lot when human bodies are fairly resilient.

Last week, when I needed a refill on some goddamn heartburn medication that a gastroenterologist said I ought to take for the rest of my life to reduce my risk of developing cancer, my family doctor threatened to withhold it because... I haven't been in for a while. I've been back to the specialists I had to beg him to send me to, multiple times, and he has access to my records (and somehow missed my most recent blood work) but apparently he needs to talk to me about...?? I don't even know what, but I bet he'll tell me to take more herbs. ...If he doesn't altogether say he didn't want me to make a phone appointment, he wanted me to come sit in his office and deal with the lights and noise for some reason. We'll see.

I can't... There's not even a word for it, but I can't divest myself of this person and stop him from viewing my records and violating my privacy. Leaving your family doctor in order to not have one is not a thing Canada allows. Obviously, you want a family doctor! Especially if the only alternative is not having one at all! You need one! That may be the case, but this one is kinda low-key trying to kill me and there aren't any others. I would rather have a clinic OKing my prescriptions and sending me to specialists. At least they wouldn't pull bullshit like cutting off my heartburn meds because they might want an update on my thyroid which they should not require me to give them. Or, you know, if they did, I could at least go to another clinic.

This guy can't even remember how to pronounce my name. He's clearly reading it off a piece of paper every time. If and when I change my name and gender officially, I hope it either bothers him so much he fires me as a patient, or it kills him. Those are kinda my only options for getting rid of him. Wow. I'm praying for a guy's death and it's not even one of the ones doing the genocide - man, I'm selfish.

Oh well. This'll be another stressful week with more medical stuff, some of it unnecessary, but maybe I can get back to the feed tomorrow. And maybe I'll be able to draw without making myself sick soon. This too shall pass. I dunno if I'm gonna like where I end up after it passes, but it will pass.

Then I'll have a whole new thing to deal with.

[missxfaithc]

I decided to put an excerpt from an old Markiplier fanfic of mine through Google Translate several times. Here’s what it came up with…

“Don't dare,” Mark said defensively at the computer screen.

“Or what?” Donker eyed the YouTuber warily. “There's nothing you can do to stop it. Me, so don't do that."

Dark smiled at Mark and the lights went out. Before Mark could do anything, a demon appeared and stabbed him with something.

“What the hell…” Mark staggered backwards. "What have you done for me?"

Mark felt... strange. His whole body suddenly caught fire. Like he was burning from the inside out.

Dark laughed next to Mark's computer. He had to be stopped before he could go any further. Mark walks into his recording studio as heat builds in his system. Was that how Darko killed him?

"I wouldn't do it if it was you," he warned as the student cast his demons under the dim light reflected on the computer screen.

“You know, the more you fight this poison, the faster it goes. Married? I will fight, won't you."

I wasn't strong then. But now...now I'm not strong.

Marcus asked what to do. Not on deck. But what will you do if you don't want to use it?

“Why did you do this?" asked.

The poison seemed to slow him down...or was the body dead?

Mørk gave the YouTuber an almost questioning look.

“Say what, Markiplier," he said as if it were an insult. "If you give me what I want and I can't help it, I'll think you're safe."

“Damn, you do. I'll take my chances with poison. Now tell me what you're doing."

Dark shook his head angrily, "You really don't understand? It's me giving the orders now, not you."

He approached Marcus, their faces almost touching. "You're useless," he said, grabbing Marcus by the collar and saying, "Nothing."

A dark sign was standing against the moss covered wall in the room. A YouTuber was once grateful for a pillow between the wall and his body.

“Now you can stay here and be good, or I will make your death much quicker."

Marcus closed his mouth, but said nothing more. While he wanted to destroy the demon at once, he knew well enough that he did not know if he could win by any means. Marcus hoped that he would live long enough to be explored.

Dark Mark eventually ran away and returned to the YouTuber's computer. "We," he said, "evil devil. "Some time ago I was in one of your videos. I think the times are changing, don't you think?”

Darken turned and tried to gauge Mark's reaction.

Mark didn't let on how terrifying the demon was. “Come on, I don't think I can stop you.”

Darhk smiled, “Finally! I didn't think you'd admit it. Maybe you're not as helpful as I first thought.”

Marcus does not want to accept meat. We'll have to wait and see what the Dark One is up to.

The demon stared at the computer screen, playing with something Mark couldn't see from where he was standing.

After a few minutes, Dark seemed to have everything ready for the live broadcast. Mark swallowed, heart pounding - and not with poison. He knew what was going on Dark.

"Dark..." Mark said, the hysteria fading into his usual calm tone. "What are you doing?"

The demon laughed at him, "What am I doing here? I want to talk to your fans!"

“Actually... you don't," Mark tried to reason with him.

“Oh, is anyone afraid that a big bad demon will ruin their career?" dark smile.

He smiled. "Don't worry. Markimoo, don't hurt your dear fans…”

Marcus watches, clenching his hands into fists. "Don't you dare bring my subscribers here. Do what you want, but don't you dare bring them here.”

Tumma sighed, not impressed at all. "I'm really, really confused Marcus. Yumma I thought you were... interesting. I can't help but wonder though. You're a star, aren't you?"

“It has nothing to do with the hero!" Marcus shouted desperately trying to stay calm. “What do you think of my fans? Why are they becoming your font?"

Dark pressed the button to start the live stream and then smiled "Hmm. That's it, right? I guess you'll have to wait and find out for yourself.”

Mark watched in horror as the demon began to speak to his worshippers. He felt the audience noticed something wrong when the fans didn't. He couldn't hear everything Darkness said as he spoke quietly, but there seemed to be a lot of thought put into the conversation.

Most Marks couldn't read the stuff because it sounded too loud, but I caught a few people who seemed to wonder if it was some sort of game or not.

If only people knew it was true.

“Then I need your help!" The darkness spoke loud enough for Mark to hear clearly.

[6rookie-writer0110]

Heaven is not waiting for me anymore

Clark Kent x Male!Reader Kent

Request - where y/n is the son of Clark and Lois from the injustice universe. He has kryptonite in his system where he is unable to use his powers because clark (injustice) made an example of him so he can show fear. After that he has been cold to others and distance with people including Barbara who he has feelings for but so much has happened. So he has to relay on martial art from training. with bruce, he also has a bat suit. He also have a deep hatred for his father (injustice superman).

Earth 2- Injustice Universe

You lost your mother Lois because of the Joker. Your father Clark snapped, he became a different person. Now he is starting to kill criminals and doesn't care about anyone or you. He doesn't stand for hope anymore now he stands for destruction. You feel that you lost both of your parents, you don't wear the symbol of hope anymore.

You made a plan to stop your father. You didn't think fully out the plan, but you have kryptonite inside a gun. You are half Kryptonian and kryptonite is still your weakness.

You have been tracking your father, he is about to kill a criminal robbing a bank. But you stepped in and punched him in the face. Everyone saw what you did, they take out their phones and start to record. Now you and Clark start to fight each other.

“You are destroying everything! You are no god!!” You yelled.

“I am a God. Everyone bows down to me and you would bow down to me” Clark said.

You take out the gun, you pulled the trigger. But he used speed to grab the gun and there is one bullet left. Now he will make sure everyone will watch what he will do next. He has his hand around your throat, you are struggling to breathe and tears go down your face.

“Anyone who tries to disobey me or think they can kill me, this will happen!” Clark yelled.

He aimed the gun on your chest and pulled the trigger. Everyone is in shock at what happened, he throws you to the ground. You are in pain and you try to use your powers but can't. Barbara arrived at the scene, she used Batarang to distract him. He left and Barbara picked you up and takes you to the bat cave.

---

A week later...

You have been in a coma for a week, Barbara and Bruce have been taking care of you. You wake up and you see Barbara looking at a computer screen.

“What happened?” You asked.

She turns around and walked towards you.

“You have been in a coma for a week. The kryptonite was close to your heart. You lost a lot of blood and it was too much kryptonite in your system” Barbara said.

You touch your chest and you see the scar. You sighed and she gives you a cup of water.

“Thank you, Barbara. But I have to go” You said.

“Your father thinks you are dead. Don't do anything stupid, you almost died and if it happens again he would kill you” Barbara said.

“He needs to be stopped,” You said.

“I know. But he is stronger than you, you are thinking reckless” Barbara said.

You take out the iv from your arms and take off the hospital gown. She gave you a hoodie and sweat pants.

“Where are you going?” Barbara asked.

“Dont worry about me,” You said.

She watched you walk away and she called Bruce and told him what happened. You went to a rundown motel and you want to be alone. Your father thinks you're dead and he is still killing criminals, no one can stop him.

Days went by, you didn't leave the motel room for anything. Barbara didn't check up on you, she wanted to give you space. And she has been busy with Bruce designing a suit.

You are in bed watching tv, you hear a knock on the door but you don't get up. She starts to knock louder, but you don't move.

“Y/n! Open the door now” Barbara yelled.

You sighed heavily then got out of bed and opened the door.

“What!?” You yelled.

“Are you done with the pity party!?” Barbara asked.

“How did you find me?” You asked.

She walks in and you closed the door. The motel room is a dump.

“Wasn't hard. I put a tracker on the hoodie you left with. I know you still want to stop your dad, so come with me” Barbara said.

“Why should I? Plus he still thinks I'm dead” You said.

“To train. You are still weak if you went to fight him now well he will break like a stick” Barbara said.

“Fine,” You said.

You leave with Barbara, she took you to Bruce’s mansion. You and Barbara have feelings for each other, you told her, and you were going to ask her out but tragically struck. Her feelings for you haven't changed but she wants to be there for you. She wants you to open up to her but you won't.

“Y/n, how are you,” Bruce said.

“Why do you want me here?” You asked.

“To help you train and stop your father,” Bruce said.

“Okay,” You said.

---

Bruce and Barbara started to train with you in Martial arts. Today you are fighting against Bruce, Barbara, and the League of Assassins. Some are friends with Bruce and they agreed to train you. They are pushing your limits, they don't let you rest. Any mistake you make will let you know and make you train harder.

During the night, Bruce is training you with weapons. Barbara shows you how to use the weapons, you did struggle to fight with weapons. Bruce and the league of assassins easily knocked the weapons out of your hands.

After training Barbara would want to spend time with you, but you would lock yourself in the bedroom. She gives you space and she goes back to the bat cave.

“Here is your dinner, master y/n,” Alfred said.

“Thank you. You don't have to call me ‘master’, Alfred” You said.

“Master, y/n you shouldn't hide from the world. Yes, you are going through a tough time but that doesn't mean you can't be happy in the end. You should let yourself grieve for your mother, she was a wonderful woman and she was strong” Alfred said.

“I wish everything didn't change,” You said.

“We all feel the same way. But now you have a chance to create the life you want a new one. what would your mother say right now?” Alfred said.

What made you think what he said, he walks out of the room. You start to eat the food and keep thinking about what he said.

✯ ✬ ✫ ✬

A few weeks later...

Bruce and Barbara have been designing a suit for you. They finished with the suit and they watched you test out the suit. Last few weeks, you were training from dawn until the next day. You mastered fighting with weapons and learned new combat moves. You are still distant from Barbara, two days ago you got into a huge argument with her.

You are still in love with her but you want to protect her from your father. You don't want to see Barbara get hurt.

“What do you think of the suit?” Barbara asked.

You take off the helmet.

“I like it and I can move in it,” You said.

“You are okay with the symbol?” Bruce asked.

“I like it,” You said.

The suit is all black, the Batman symbol is red, the eyes are red, the gloves have sharp claws, and the suit protects you from kryptonite. Barbara and Bruce start to suit and you put the helmet back on.

---

You three found Bruce in the city, you stopped him from killing someone.

“Son, you came back from the dead” Clark said.

“This ends today,” You said.

“I see you are wearing a new symbol -”

“You ruined the legacy of being a Kryptonian!” You yelled.

He used heat vision to attack you but you dodged it. Now Clark is fighting you while Barbara and Bruce are trying to get the citizens away from the fight. Clark punched you and you hit the ground, he used speed to grab you by the neck.

“This time I will make sure you are dead,” Clark said.

“You are not the same father that I used to have. He is dead to me!” You yelled.

You took out, you tased him, and he lets you go. You and Clark used heat vision at the same time, you used more strength to not fall. You throw Batarang at him and it started to explode.

He fell then you start to punch him in the face over and over. All the anger you have for him starts to come out. You take out the kryptonite dagger and you try to stab but he has his wrapped around your hands.

“Y/n! Y/n don't kill him” Barbara yelled.

“He deserves to die!” You yelled.

“That is an easy escape for him! You are much better than him, don't become like him” Barbara said.

Something clicked in your mind.

“I want you to suffer until the day you die. I lost my mom and my father” You said.

You moved away from him and he starts to stand up. Bruce played a video of Lois on the big screen and starts to watch, you your father cry.

The moment where Clark held Lois before she died.

“I can't lose you” Clark cried.

“I will always love you, Clark. I will always remember you and y/n, please be there for each other. He is going need to you. Tell him, I love him...”

You start to cry and it would be the last time you hear her voice.

“Son, I am sorry for the chaos I caused,” Clark said.

“I don't believe you and I will never will. You killed my friend Shazam and many others. You are lucky I didn't kill you because of Barbara. This is the last time you will see me” You said.

You take out the Phantom Zone projector and you sent him to the Phantom Zone.

✯ ✬ ✫ ✬

Time Skip...

You and Barbara became an official couple. She makes you happy and you carrying boxes into her apartment. You are going to live with her and she is very happy about that.

You and Barbara sat on the couch and she gave you a peck on the lips.

“So happy that was the last box,” Barbara said.

“Now we have to unbox everything,” You said.

“How about we go get something to eat and we do it later?” Barbara said.

You kissed her on the lips.

“Sounds good to me,” You said.

Later, you and Barbara spend half of the night unboxing everything. You did use speed to do it faster which Barbara is happy about. You and Barbara would save the city together but you don't kill criminals who rob a store. You would kill if it's a life and death situation only.

[krakenartificer]

When I got my ADHD diagnosis, I looked at the questions on the screening form and thought, "If this result comes back positive, then I'm definitely not the only person in my family who has it." Questions like

"Have difficulty finishing one activity before starting another one" and

"I finish others' sentences before they can finish it themselves" and

"have trouble staying on one topic when talking"

...I thought were just weird quirks of my family, but no. When I got my results, I contacted my cousin, and she contacted her sisters and mother, and .. .. yeah. Basically everyone in my dad's side of the family is ADHD.

Now there are some problems with that, obviously, (getting family reunions to stick to a schedule is lol no) but there are some really fantastic perks. For one thing, no one in that family minds if I interrupt them while they're talking ... everyone's happy to keep 3 conversations going at the same time .... and no one minds if you fidget constantly.

But the best perk -- at least that I've found so far -- is that all of our parents have coping mechanisms, and passed them on to us. When I found myself unable to handle tasks with more than one step, my father didn't say "WTF are you talking about? It's easy! Just do the thing! Stop being lazy!" No, he could relate completely, and he sat down and taught me how to handle that.

So today, I'm going to pass on to you the coping mechanism my dad taught me for handling the "cannot put tasks in order / cannot get started / forget what I'm doing" problem. You'll need to adjust it for your own needs and your own struggles, but hopefully it'll be helpful in setting up your own process.

I'm going to walk through it with a big project I'm doing at work, just to have a concrete example. That will make some of the discussion specific to computer programming and technical writing, but I do the same thing for all my projects, so hopefully it'll be generalizable.

So to set the stage:

I was supposed to modify this piece of code -- we'll call it "Rosetta" -- to make it handle call data as well as what it was already doing. I did that.... but we now need the code to be able to handle calls (if that's wanted) but also to be able to handle NOT having calls (if THAT'S wanted).

Which is just .... ugh. So much. SOOOOOOOO much.

So. Break it down.

Step one is to get some recording mechanism - pen and paper, whiteboard, blank computer document, whatever

(Technically, this is a different coping strategy, so we'll just take a quick detour: WRITE THINGS DOWN. Your brain is shit at remembering things, and anyway you've already got limits on your working memory; why would you choose to tie up some of that limited resource in something that could be accomplished with literal stone-age technology? Don't even try to remember things. WRITE THEM DOWN.)

I like sticky notes: they're readily available in all offices, they're pretty cheap, and (most importantly) they can be rearranged if it turns out that I forgot a step or put the steps in the wrong order (which, like, let's be honest, I am definitely going to do). But they kill trees and create unnecessary methane emissions, so I've recently switched over to using virtual sticky notes. That's the format I'm going to use for this example, but you can use anything that meets your purposes.

So, you've got something to write with, you're ready to start.

The first question is: what are you trying to accomplish here? What would "done" look like? What is our goal?

I need to end up with a version of Rosetta that will make the correct results if you don't want calls, and will also make the correct results if you do.

The goal here is that you end up with a statement that you can definitively say (a) Yes this is what I wanted or (b)No this is not right because _______

In this case, in order to do that, I'll need to define "correct results" for both call- and non-call versions. But if I have that nailed down, then this statement meets that criterion: I'll be able to say "Yes, this is what I wanted: see, it makes the correct result for calls, and it makes the correct result for not-calls". Or else I'll be able to say, "No, this is wrong: see, it makes the correct result for calls, but on not-calls it does X and we wanted Y."

I have a clear, definitive standard about what I need to do and whether or not I've done it.

But there was a prerequisite there: I need to define "correct results".

So that goes on a sticky note: Create test that will compare my results to existing call!Rosetta-results and to existing not-call!Rosetta-results.

[ID: Two blue boxes, one on top of the other. The top one says in white text "Create test to compare my results to call!results" The bottom one says "Create test to compare my results to not-call!results"] OK. So now we know what we want. The second question is: what do we need to do in order to get that? Here's where the sticky-note recording system really shines, because you don't have to answer this question sequentially. You just start writing down every single thing that is not the way you want it to end up.

I need it to remove commas in the python script, not the bash script

I need to delete the first part of the get_runs() function, which doesn't do anything

I need to delete the rest of the parameters passed to build_query_script() function, because runs encompasses all the others

while we're on that subject, runs doesn't even need the group_variable, so let's pull that out of the parameter document

we also have a dmf defined, which the bash script demands but doesn't use; let's change that demand

since we're changing the structure of the parameter document, we don't need to pull new metrics for each run, so let's move that outside of the runs() loop and only run once

right now the parameter document is ALMOST but not quite "one row per template". Make it so it's actually one row per template.

among other things, that's going to require making it possible for a template to be followed by nothing at all, since it's the assumption that a template will have a metrics block after it that makes it not quite one row per template. So make it possible to publish a template with a null block

the other thing that's weirdly hard-coded is the definition of what a block looks like. Would it make more sense to separate that out into an input file, like the parameters document? On the one hand, that would make it much more flexible; on the other hand, that's another piece that can break. Don't know. Put a question mark on it.

etc

Here's what it looks like at the end of this step:

[ID: A black and white background showing many boxes in two different shades of blue, all with white text. Some of the boxes are overlapping each other.]

As you can see, at this phase you don't need to worry about any of the following:

ordering the tasks. Just stick 'em right on top of each other for now

how you're going to do any of this. Right now we just need to know what, not how

sticking to only one project. As I was working on this, it occurred to me that this whole process would have been a heck of a lot easier if someone had just made a user manual for this, and since I have to go through all the code line-by-line anyway, I might as well write up the documentation while I'm at it. (To help out future-me, if nothing else.) So I put those tasks on another color of sticky note.

making notes that make any ***ing sense to anyone else. This process is for you, and only you need to understand what you're talking about it. Phrase it in ways that make sense to your brain, and to hell with anyone else.

on that topic, also don't worry about making steps that are "too small" or "too dumb" to write down. This is for you. If "save document" feels like a step to you, then write it down.

You also don't need to get every single step involved in the project right now. Get as many as you can, to be sure, but the process is designed on the assumption that you ARE going to forget important steps, and is designed to handle that.

When you can't think of any more steps, then the third question is: what order does it make sense to do these in? Are there any steps that would be easier if you did another step first? Are there any that literally cannot be done unless another step is complete?

This is also a good place to group steps if they fit together nicely. When I used physical sticky notes, I used two different sizes; digitally I can of course make them whatever size I want.

So I have several documentation steps that (a) do need to be written to make sense to other people and (b) I really need to know what's going on before I can do that. I could write them now, but if I did, I'd just end up re-writing them based on things that change as I'm coding. So we'll move those to the end:

[ID: Three dark blue boxes with white text. They read "Create step-by-step instructions for creating your own metric agg", "Create step-by-step instructions for modifying a metric", "Create step-by-step instructions for modifying a query."]

These parts, though -- if I had all the variable structures written down, I could look at them while I'm coding. Then I won't have to keep scrolling back and forth in the code, trying to remember if it's an array or a dictionary while also trying to remember what part of the code I was working on. Brilliant. Move that to the front.

[ID: Seven dark blue boxes with white text, three large, four small. The first one is large and says "Write up explanation of how Rosetta works." The second one is large and says "Document structure of all variables." Attached to that one are four smaller boxes that say "All_blocks", "Runs", "metric", "New_block". The third large one says "Document what qb_parameters.csv contains"]

Also, while I'm at it, I should get the list of variables I need to document -- then I won't have to keep scrolling to find them. Make those sub-steps.

I definitely keep needing to look up what's in the parameters document, so I should write that down, too. For the user manual I also should write down what's in the metric document, but I don't need that for myself, so I can send that to the end.

[ID: The same three dark blue boxes from two screenshots ago (create step-by-step instructions for metric agg, modifying a metric, and modifying a query), now with another dark blue box in front of them with white text that says "Document what granular_metrics.tsv contains."]

These five are all small steps, and are all related in that they don't actually (hopefully) change the functionality of the code; they're just stuff left over from prior versions of this code. So we can lump them all together.

[ID: Five light blue boxes with white text that say "Delete first part of get_runs()", "Have build_query_script only receive the "run" parameter" "Delete dmf" "Move metrics=get_metrics() outside build_all_blocks (all the way up to the top level?" "Delete group_variable from qp_parameters"]

My brain likes this better, so that I can keep track of fewer "main steps", but that's just a peculiarity of me -- you should lump and split however you prefer to make this process easier for you.

[ID: The same five boxes from the prior screenshot, now all made smaller and attached to a larger box that says "Remove Legacy Code"]

Keep going, step by step, sticky by sticky, until you've got them in order. If -- while you're doing this -- you remember another thing you need to do, write it on a sticky and slap it on the pile; you don't have to stop what you're doing to deal with it, because it's written down and it's on the pile and it will get processed; you can just keep working on the thing you're on right now.

[ID: All the same boxes from the first screenshot, now in a neat row. Some of the original boxes have been grouped together. The ones that were said to be at the beginning of the process are on the left and the ones that were said to be at the end are on the right.]

Step four: for the love of all that's holy, SAVE THIS LIST.

Write it on your cubicle whiteboard where it won't be erased

write it on a piece of paper and tape it to the office wall

send an email to yourself

take a picture with your phone

I don't care but save it.

When I used physical sticky notes, I kept them all on the hood of my cubicle's shelf. Now, as you can see, I use Powerpoint, which is irritating af but does allow me to keep everything in a single document, which I can write down the path of.

[ID: White text on a black background says "open ~/Documents/Rosetta\ Modifications\ and \Documentation.pptx" The next line says "Notes in Rocketbook pg 10-12, 16" The next line says "Turn that into documentation that can be used for making modifications."]

And now (finally) you can answer the question "How would I even get started on that?" You look at the first thing on the list, and you treat it as its own project. You can hyperfocus on this step and completely forget about everything else this project requires, because everything you need to remember for the rest of it is written down.

If, as you're working a step, you think of something else you need to do for the big project, write it on a sticky and slap it on the pile. Don't even worry about trying to order it or identify sub-steps; as long as it's not blocking the thing you need to work on right now, you don't have to care. Just stick that bugger anywhere at all on the list, and go back to what you were doing. When you un-hyperfocus and come back to look at your list, there'll be a big sticky note stuck sideways across all the rest of the steps, and you'll remember to file and order it then.

Other benefits of this system

1) The first question really helps with unclear directions from your boss. You can take whatever they told you to do, and translate it into a requirement that is clearly either met or not-met, and then run it back by the boss.

If they say, "No, no, we want ______" then phew! You just saved a huge miscommunication and weeks of wasted work! What a good employee you are! What an excellent team player with strong communication skills!

If they say "Yes, that's what I want," then you know -- for sure -- what it is you're trying to accomplish. Your anxiety is reduced, and your boss thinks you're super-conscientious.

(And if your boss is a jerk who likes to move the goalposts and blame it on their subordinates, then have this conversation over email, so you can show it to their boss or to HR should it become necessary.)

2) Having this project map means that when you spend an hour staring at the requirements and trying to figure out how to get started (which, let's be honest, you were definitely going to do anyway) ... When your boss/coworker comes by and says, "How's it going?" Instead of having to say "I haven't even started 😞" You can say, "Pretty well! I've got all the steps mapped out and am getting ready to start on implementation!" and show them your list, and they think you're very organized and meticulous. 3) Sometimes, especially in corporate jobs, you and your coworkers will run into a problem that's too big for even Neurotypicals to hold all in their heads. At that point, the NTs will be completely lost -- they've never had to develop a way to handle projects they can't just look at and know how to get started. So then you pipe up in the meeting and say, "OK, well, what exactly are we trying to accomplish?" and everybody at the conference table looks at you like you're a goddamned genius and you don't have to tell them that you use this exact same process to remember how to make a sandwich 😅

4) Having this project map makes it so much easier to stop work and then start it up again later, but this post is already really really really long, so I'm going to address that in a separate (really really long) post.

[itsmeanyango]

THE SUN IN VIRGO IN THE HOUSES(SUN TRANSIT IN THE HOUSES)

So incase you guys don't know, the sun is malefic and that's what we are going to talk about on the last day of Leo season which is Sunday and the Sun is Leos ruling planet.

Virgo season starts tomorrow and this is what you need to know.

Virgo is a dual sign, the M and the fish at the tail. To me, it means Mother (the M) and child(the fish). Virgo represents facts and order. The Sun is how you see yourself. Most of the things I mention below are going to be your own doing.

If this does not resonate with you its okay, this is a general interpretation which has not taken into consideration every single persons birth chart. But these are the themes you are bound to meet.

I will expound more on my Patreon, join to support me. Thank you in advance.

The first house is the house of first impressions. Virgo in the first house means you come off as very orderly and well put together. The Sun transiting Virgo first house means people may see you as the person with facts and very organized during Virgo season(when the sun is in Virgo). The sun will be highlighting you in peoples eyes. You may feel like everyone has got their eyes on you, they probably do because you are acting jittery. If you make a mistake, everyone will know(or in your head you will convince yourself that everyone knows). If you do something good even if you are unaware of it, it wont go unnoticed. You may feel heavily scrutinized by the public or be in a place where everyone is checking your work ethic. Peoples expectations of you may feel like your hand is in fire but you can't remove it.

The second house is the house of your money and survival needs. The sun transiting Virgo in the second house may mean if you are not organized then all your sources of income or survival will be burnt and you will have nothing left. Always save up and in different accounts! I bet people who had this transit before the pandemic began found themselves spending a lot of money or losing money. They may have also had a boost but failed to save so when the pandemic was made official in the news, they were struggling!

The third house is the house of communication. The Sun transiting third house Virgo means your communication may be taken the wrong way. Virgo is ruled by Mercury, Mercury rules communication and is in this house. Virgo as mentioned is a dual sign! What you intend to say may not be received but instead the opposite will. Be very very clear in communication, do not use ambiguity and do not leave room for guesswork! We are in a very digital age! If you are not clear with your communication get what will happen to you online? Your image will be tarnished, burned!

The fourth house is the house of roots, it also represents home. Everyone has their own definition of home. Sun transiting Virgo in the fourth house means you need to be careful making a home purchase if you have this transit as you may get scammed! You may also fail to follow all the procedures for the purchase. You may still buy the home but fail to notice certain things and now your dream of owning a beautiful home is burned! You may also burn very important bridges or have important bridges burnt that are related to your roots due to the discovery of certain factual information. This house is ruled by Cancer(a water sign), so you better check the drainage and water supply in the area you want to purchase a house/home in. Also find out the rains in the area because they might just sweep your house away. You may want to avoid having a house in a valley or near a water body.

The fifth house is the house of romance, love affairs, fertility and self expression. The Sun transiting Virgo in the fifth house means that you may find yourself nitpicking on matters related to this house. You may be doing everything robotically or 'scientifically'. You may act like you have OCD when it comes to dealing with the matters of this house. Rest, don't be so calculative.

The sixth house is the house of health, fitness and organization(order). This is Virgos house. The Sun transiting a Virgo sixth house means that your schedules will be on fire. You may put too much on your plate or insist that you must change your whole life in this month because you want to become a better you. You want to rush the process. So you enroll yourself into gym, you create a packed daily schedule that you force yourself to follow from morning till bed time, you change your diet or suddenly change your routines. Burnout will catch up with you and you may end up spiraling backward. Unless you have an intercepted house, Virgo sixth house means you have a Libra seventh house. If we look at it the Sun transit way, you won't be able to regain balance. You may start overcompensating. However, you probably have another planet in your seventh house which may be beneficial to you. Take things one step at a time.

The seventh house is the house of Relationships and contracts. All types of relationships and not just romantic. The Sun transiting a Virgo 7th house means you need to be very careful of the contracts you sign and relationships you get into because they have the potential to burn you or you them. Use facts and not assumptions or first impressions that look good. First impressions of the matters in this house may be very attractive like gold they end up blinding you.

The eighth house is the house of merging. Anything that is joint is here. Joint is also shared. So whatever you have joint ownership, CUSTODY or partnership of is under highlight over here. The Sun transiting Virgo eighth house may mean: Please keep your legal documents very safe away from fire and water! If you have any critical information as a softcopy, back it up and back it up and back it up more! Keep records!!!!! These records will save you when you are about to be drowned(the 8th house is a water house) in boiling(Sun) water! Triple check your documents, do not let just anyone see them because you never know who wants to get you. The most innocent of souls could be the one to get you! Like your child may accidentally spoil your computer/phone/USB stick/external storage. Be careful around water. Keep your hardcopy documents in waterproof packaging.

The ninth house is the house of travel, higher learning, ethics, and critical/fast thinking. The sun transit ninth house Virgo means you need to have the right documents on matters related to this house. If you have many or any assignments to submit at school, do them very well. No plagiarism at all, this assignments can either break or make your life during this transit. Double check your travel documents especially your covid tests and certificates. Ensure you have carried them when travelling. If you are applying to schools(University mostly), please please check the percentage of OPEN SOURCES THE SCHOOL OFFERS otherwise when doing your thesis you will have a very very difficult time. If possible, visit the school environment and see if it is worth it, some school environments are tough especially for students who will be looking for housing near school. Research on the countries you want to visit, please stop going to countries where minorities are suffering because of tourists due to increase spread of the virus and pollution. Be kind. Find out if your ethics are really ethical, you may be very oppressive with your ethics.

The tenth house also called Medium Coeli(MC) or Midheaven, is the house of career, long term goals, structure, experts and father. The Sun transiting Virgo tenth house means someone may be excited to become a dad. Someone might be looking into paternity because they either feel skeptical that the child they are raising is not theirs or their father is not their biological dad as they have been made to believe. I like saying that the tenth house is what they mean by 'things that have been put together in heaven, no man can put asunder', so do not force things or interfere with things in this house. Just do your part and leave the rest otherwise you will be wasting your time and energy. During this transit you may feel like everything is falling into place but you may need to think twice. Virgo is facts and order, do you really have the facts or you think you do and you are just going with it? You may be thinking that things are meant to be, everything may be looking real good right now or real harsh right now when they aren't. Go back to the drawing board and check that your facts are not twisted.

The eleventh house is the house of groups, friends, humanitarianism, technology and the future. The Sun transiting Virgo eleventh house may mean your social circles and activities need vetting. Do you really know these people or do you think you know them? For some, you may not even need to do the evaluation because things will happen in your life that shows you who these people really are. You will need to be very specific about any pieces of technology you buy during this transit, research on it. Then go to reputational shops to buy and not just anywhere that claims to sell. CHECK AND KEEP THE WARANTY. Scan and print receipts because they fade, scan and print the warranty too. Keep soft copies of the warranty and receipts. Take a video of you unboxing the technology so you can catch any damages on camera and return it with proof that it was not your mishandling(this is if the business delivered it to you otherwise they can say you damaged it while transporting it). Check that your anti virus(not those free ones, they are fake. Buy a legit anti virus) is up to date and you do not have any security threats. If you love yourself, please stop clicking ads, stop allowing people to plug anything into your PC, TURN OFF BLUETOOTH DISCOVERABILITY, stop using public WIFI and please close all tabs and running apps when on zoom (or any other such platform)because when you share screen you may not know that your information is out for everyone to see-some of which may be very sensitive-. How humanitarian are you? And do you do things humanitarian in a human way or analytical way just because its what needs/has to be done? You may need to significantly drop the statistics and analytical things when dealing with people face to face. What is your plan for the future? Revisit it and make the necessary changes. If you have none, start writing down one.

The twelfth house is the house of endings, spirituality, dreams and the subconscious. The Sun transit Virgo twelfth house may mean that you need to have detailed end of life plans, pay for them now or start saving up for them now. It doesn't matter if you are just 18, start. What do you need to let go of? Your sick relative who is willing to go but waiting for you to let go of them? A friendship? A job? A house? Unhealthy eating habits? Unhealthy coping mechanisms? Several things you are hoarding? Write down things that need letting go of then start letting go of them bit by bit this month. Have you been doing things subconsciously? Start recording them, you may need to see something. Like a pattern which may be as a result of trauma or your instincts getting stronger or something else. You may need to stop looking at spirituality like a science experiment. You may not find the facts you are looking for but it does not mean people who are spiritual are lost. You may however, find that some things just do not make sense because they conflict each other. Someone may be starting to learn something spiritual. Your dreams, write the down even if they do not make sense.

These are the messages I am able to channel, I have been writing for over an hour. It is 20.22(which is cumulative numerology 6 and Virgo is the 6th Zodiac sign) EAT right now. I have written this through two Horas! I hope this helped.

[sunarintoes]

Dear Whovever: [Kenma]

Synopsis: You and Kenma are both best friends and youtube gamers however you want to be more than just best friends so you decide to ‘man up’ one day and write a heart felt confession in a minecraft notebook before then putting it in Kenma’s personal chest.

WC: 3K

TW: slight swearing :)

[Episode one]

[recording in 3… 2… 1… start!] 

“Hey gamers, Kodzuken here with Tulip-but-make-it-yellow! I've done a few Minecraft videos with Tulip before, but thought I'll start a new series that will be posted every Monday.”

“It's called Minedays with Tulip and Kodzu”

“I- no, Tulip. I'm not sure what we’re gonna call it. But you guys will know- obviously since it's the title of this video.”

You whine and pout into the monitor, “Kodzu I think Minedays is a cute name.” 

Instead of replying Kenma rolls his eyes and hits you ingame. “Should we introduce the challenge and get it started?”

“Yeah that's a good idea!” 

“Well, it's about eleven am right now, we have until eleven pm to build a Minecraft house from a random topic,” he pauses and moves to the side to point to a sectioned spinwheel, “on this bad boy,” whacks the spinner, “we have eight different themes, in a sec I’ll spin it and whatever it lands on will be what we have to build.”

You let out a high pitched ‘hmm,’ “I feel bad for Kuroo and Hinata, they’re both going to have to edit twelve hours of footage down to 10 minutes!”

Kenma chuckles, “fifteen minutes actually.”

This time you roll your eyes. “Hurry up and spin it you fool! I want to get buildinggg” 

Smiling, Kenma moves back a bit and spins the wheel, after thirty seconds full of anticipation the wheel finally stops and its small arrow is pointing at- “Yes! Cottage core theme!” you yell out while Kenma groans. 

“Really? That's lame why couldn't we have ‘Lucifer’s Bedroom’?” 

You poke your tongue out to the monitor - which Kenma could see, after all, you are in a Discord call with him. “Don't be sad just because you're prancing in my turf…. Looooooser!”

Kenma playfully glares towards you, “You’re on! See you in twelve hours!”

Unfortunately, the difficulty of building a cottage core house in the woods - in survival mode, proved more difficult than planned. 

“We spawned in a desolate area huh? Barely any flowers!” you hear Kenma make a sound of agreement as you sink into your comfortable ‘gamer’ styled chair. 

“Don't tell me you've given up? Just because you can't find any flowers?” 

You scowl at his cocky tone however your mood does a one-eighty when you suddenly get a good idea. “Ok everyone! I know what I have to do! I'm going to restart in another place because this isn’t working!”

Kenma makes a sound of surprise, “you're restarting? It's been an hour already-”

“Yeah and we have, like... eleven more.” Kenma sighs in response, “better get a move on.”

For the most part, the two of you kept quiet - not wanting to let the other know how well you were doing. However one look at your phone only to see that your twitter has blown up, you decide to take a short break, after all it has been four hours of you sitting on your ass playing Minecraft. Once you open Twitter you're met with a barrage of tags and mentions - all of which screaming ‘KenYn’ and ‘Kodzutulip.’ You felt heat rise to your face, you - yes you, Ln Yn with the online alias Tulip-but-make-it-yellow, has a big, fat, humongous crush on your best friend and fellow youtuber - Kenma, aka Kodzuken aka the cutest guy in the world. To make it worse - or better, you couldn't really tell, was that many of your viewers shipped you with him - as did his viewers. 

You are of course, happy with this but you can’t help but wonder if Kenma feels the same way, does he feel weirded out by all this shipping content? Does he find it uncomfortable? Does he find it unsettling to be shipped with his in-real-life best friend?

“Hey Yn?” Kenma calls softly, “you've been looking at your phone for the past ten minutes and your face looks sad.”

You instantly look up to meet Kenma’s face and try to find the right words to say, “I… I’m just kinda tired and eventually got distracted!! Sorry Kenken!”

Kenma visibly cringes at the old nickname - the one you gave him in primary school, “if you say so… better get your head in the game though - my mansion looks epic.”

Your eyes narrow, “mansion? The theme is cottage core!” Kenma quietly chuckles in response, “a mansion can still have a fairy aesthetic, you should know that”

You huff in faux annoyance as you place your phone away and ‘get your head in the game’ just as he requested. “Be prepared to be crushed! I am the cottage core guardian!”

There are ten minutes left to your’s and Kenma’s excruciatingly long Minecraft challenge, your ass hurts from sitting on it for almost twelve straight hours - including bathroom breaks. When the buzzer rings the two of you step back from your respective buildings and make your way to the starting point - which had been marked by a stack of 20 or so dirt blocks. 

“Well that was twelve hours of eye straining torture,” you say as you stretch your arms. 

“You're tired already?”

“Kinda… I can't wait to go to sleep after this.”

“Weak, I’m playing Battlefield as soon as this is over.”

You roll your eyes and scoff, “this is why you look like a living corpse in the morning…”

Kenma looks you dead in the eyes and with a completely serious face he says, “yeah but you love it.”

You choke on your spit at his boldness, “y-yeah I guess.” 

If you were being honest, you were not the best at reading people and it was dark in Kenma’s gaming room, the only light coming from his three screen/monitor computer setup, but you think you see a light blush creep up to his cheeks. And you hate it, you hate when he says things that make your heart flutter, you hate it when he just sits there and the digital glow accentuates all of his delicate features, but what you hate most is yourself. You hate yourself because you have fallen in love with your best friend, you hate yourself because you know he doesn't like you back and you hate that you continuously give yourself a sense of false hope. 

“Yn… you want to stay up and game with me don’t you? ”

You sheepishly look to the side, ‘mayhaps.’

Kenma sighs looking at you with a soft face as he whispers “then I won’t play Battlefield and I’ll go to bed and so will you, ‘kay?”

You smile tiredly at him, “sounds like a deal.”

“We'll get back on at the same time tomorrow and we’ll do the final part of this video - the reveal. Until then.”

You smile and wave at the camera “cya soon~”

[recording over]

After your call with Kenma ended you got ready for bed but for some reason, no matter how tired you were, you just couldn't fall asleep - your mind was screaming obscene ideas that you couldn't help but contemplate. At first it was just wishful thinking but then came a thought that refused to leave, ‘confess.’ 

It was a tempting thought, but how? Surely you couldn't just say ‘hey Kenma I've liked you since high school lets date!’ yeah no, that was a horrible idea. Maybe if you confessed with some originality he would be more likely to accept but for now, you were going to do your best to go to sleep.

[Episode two]

[recording in 3… 2… 1… start!] 

In the morning you woke up feeling refreshed and excited for the day to come, Kenma had texted you and asked if you were feeling up to recording the reveal from last night and episode two today and of course you said yes. 

The video goes on without any troubles and soon you find yourself staring at the computer screen at eleven once again. 

“Remember to like, subscribe and comment below on who you think won this round.” Kenma’s voice is soothing - if you had to describe it you would say that it is silky like honey and smooth like dark chocolate; or maybe you would just say his voice is perfect. Kenma waves to the screen monitor, “hello? Earth to Yn! Are you dead or something? You look like a zombie.”

It takes a while to register, you weren’t really paying attention to the words he said as you were more interested in the way he sounded. You sit up and smile into the camera, “I'm awake… thanks for caring!”

He scoffs and swivels in his chair a bit, “I don't care about you, you're just my idiot best friend and flatmate.”

You playfully narrow your eyes, “well this idiot flatmate of yours helped you bake apple pie so you wouldn’t starve to death!”

“Hmmm, I guess. Well I'm going to head off. I'll see you later.”

You smile softly, “yeah I'll see you later, i'm just gonna stay on for a while.”

Kenma looks at you with an intrigued expression, “you're going to stay up longer? Better not be in this world, that's cheating. Want me to stay up with you?”

You roll your eyes and giggle, “it's all good I want to fix my house up in the other world. I'll see you tomorrow.”

He sighs, “if you say so.”

[recording over]

Your chair rolls back as you stretch, “maybe I should confess to him through a Minecraft journal…” you jump up. “Thats it! Thats a great way to confess! Its original and Kenma would appreciate it…. If he accepts my feelings that is…” 

You groan and slump back down into the chair, “maybe it’s best if I don't confess at all. No! I've wanted to do this for years! If he doesn't like me back it's all good! Maybe I just won't do this on a stream!”

You reach over to the bench and pull up your phone, “who to call, mmm ok let’s call Alisa I’m going to need some emotional support!”

“Hey gamers, Kodzu here in another Minecraft live stream, today we’re just in mine and Yn’s regular world and i'm going to build a house - a cottage to be specific,” he pauses and looks at the comment section; ‘no Yn isn't here right now, no Yn won't be joining this video, no I didnt know shes streaming at the moment, yes my favourite food is apple pie, yes I have a calico cat, no Yn is not my significant other, yes we are just friends.’ Kenma moves back and takes a breath, “wow you guys sure are interested in Yn huh? Maybe I should get them in more videos, might get more views that way,” he laughs a bit.

“Let's start off by heading to my base, I have the materials I’ll need there- oh uh what's this?” Kenma pauses as he stares at the foreign object, “I don't remember having a written book in my chest… maybe Yn went in here and put it in?”

Kenma stares at the book for a while before he opens it, only to be shocked. The comment section notices the blush on his face and continue to spam him with questions:

[kodzusbabe]: what's in that diary!!

[Kenmastan]: hahAAAHHA LOOK HE’S SO RED IN THE FACE

[piefacecutie]: ^^ omg you're so right @/Kenmastan hes so cute 💓

[Kenmaxyn]: I hope it's a confession!

[ynhater]: @/Kenmaxyn from who? Cause I didn't do it and I'd be the only one for Kenma oppAr

[kennismaken]: I hope it’s Yn! They’d be such a cute couple

[applepudding]: umm? Kodzu! Why did he get up and leave??

[ynhater]: babe come back!

[Kenmaxyn]: OMG MAYBE IT WAS YN !!!!

After your late night call with Alisa, you decided it would be best to just do it and then ignore Kenma for the day - well, not ignore him per se, just simply decline all his Discord calls and Facetime calls so you could put off being rejected a little while longer. You woke up with a throbbing headache that you could only blame yourself for, after all you are the dumbass who stayed up until God knows when just to write a heartfelt confession. Eventually the angst of waiting for a message from Kenma overwhelmed you and here you are now; streaming Overwatch to get your mind off of a certain someone.

“Ah no! Cant believe that stupid Hanzo got me! What a pain!” you frown at the screen and let out a sigh, “the round is over… bummer. Well while we wait an eternity for the next round I guess I should answer some of your questions… oh? I didn't know Kenma was streaming, no I’m not dating him… “ you feel your heart sink as you read the next comment; “what do you mean Kenma ran away after reading a book? Was he unhappy?”

The next moments felt like a blur, your heart was heavy and you felt tears well up in your eyes and somehow you missed the sound of someone breaking into your apartment and then your bedroom. Within a second you feel someone wrap their arms around you from behind, your body tenses up but immediately relaxes when you recognise the perpetrators scent; sweet yet salty, like caramel toffee.

“Kenma! W-what are you doing?”

“I like you too… I have for so long.”

Your eyes widen and it doesn't take too long for a smile to appear on your face, “I'm so glad to hear that.”

You feel him smile into your neck as his embrace tightens, “finish up your livestream so we can talk please.” 

“You don't need to tell me twice!”

It is eleven at night once again, but this time you’re not sitting alone in your gaming chair, instead you're sitting on Kenma’s lap - in his gaming chair as he slowly runs his hands through your hair and softly kisses your neck.

“So everyone’s pretty much freaking out over us huh?” you hum in response, “we’ve been officially together for what? Five hours?”

“Correct you are.”

You smile and hold up your phone while you continue to cuddle into him, “smile baby, I want the whole world to know that you're my player two.”

[Bonus - the love letter]

Dear Kenma,

This must be so strange - finding a journal in your chest. 

I have wanted to tell you this for quite a while and I guess I have never found the write words to say; or the right way to for that matter,

But I love you

I have loved you since our first year at Nekoma

It's been a while hasn’t it?

I'm sorry if this inconveniences you, makes you uncomfortable or makes you never want to see me again; 

Just let me continue for a little while longer because I need to get this off of my mind.

I love your smile - especially the rare one where you really smile, where your eyes crinkle and your cheeks begin to hurt 

I love your voice - it’s smooth and silky, like honey being spread across bread

I love your scent - it reminds me of salted caramel,  I can never get enough 

I love your mind - the way it works to make me laugh, make me calm and all else

I love your lips - not necessarily in a sexual way, but more so in the way you talk and speak, they move softly and slowly in a way only your lips could move in.

I love your body - how although you're hunched most of the time you still possess a fine elegance in the way you move. How at times it reminds me of a graceful swan floating down a lake. 

I love your hands - they are so pretty and dainty and soft, I want to hold them all day and all night

And most of all;

I love you

I love you in your entire

I could go ahead and pick the parts I love most and least but then you would no longer be you

I love you in your entire

Flaws and all

I know this may not be the most romantic, especially considering you’re reading this through Minecraft and I've never done this before but I had to let you know

Love 

Yn

Taglist: [open] @ladyrenart

note: sooo this is another style that i tried and i have mixed feelings about it :) also if you can’t tell,,, i’ve never written a love letter before :’)

[snowydaffodils]

Underground

1473 words | Seventeen

Warnings: profanities, violence, mentions of character death, crime, and uh, its a mafia au so its dark. A bit angst too, because its uh, there's deaths and casualties. So we gon be sad about that.

a/n: This is a Seventeen Mafia!AU involving all members of Seventeen, including the ex-supposed-members, too. It includes everyone but the ones who appear is Seungcheol, Soonyoung and Jihoon. It's just a simple prompt I've thought of, and maybe would want to make continuous chapters but I'm still not sure. I hope you enjoy this one, though!

---

Seungcheol sighed, looking at the last of what they had for the week. With that much, they could barely survive food for all thirteen of them, much less feed the survivors. He gripped the straps holding his bulletproof vest on him and dumped the heavy armor on the old couch behind him.

"Is this all we have?" Seungcheol didn't mean to raise his voice, but his frustration was hard to contain. Across him, who for once he was away from his computer screen, was Jihoon, who shared his look of concern.

"With a couple more part times from a few members maybe we can have enough for the survivors as well this week," Jihoon sighed. "But for how much longer do we have to do this, Cheol?"

Born from the Underground, it was difficult for them to work normally in society. They have burdens to carry, and while it was their choice to leave their main families and leave the gangs they were part of, it also became their anchor because they were marked as betrayers.

Resources were hard to get because they weren't only blocked from the open society because of their records, blood and pasts, but also because their previous families decided that they would make it hard for them to gain anything in the Underground. Imagine being blocked off even from the black market.

Soonyoung was on the other side of the table, his guns still attached to his body, his full gear still on, he didn't bother taking anything off because the next mission is in half an hour. His face was grim, as he had just came back from a mission. He had just taken captives away from being trafficked by the infamous Kim family and he succeeded his mission perfectly, but not without cost. Minghao was unconscious when they brought him in, which frightened him on the inside, but he couldn't let his concerns be in the way of the mission. He had carried his member back, Junhui on the other side and Chan clearing anything that was in their path, and Soonyoung had the darkest look on his face. As soon as Jeonghan claimed Minghao's vitals were unharmed and that he would leave, Soonyoung breathed relief, took a few seconds to himself, but immediately went back to work as if nothing happened.

They were literally fighting for their ideals and for their own values, but it certainly wasn't easily. Being outnumbered was one problem when it comes to these mafias, but cutting off resources was proving to make them suffer even more. They have been trying to slowly put the other survivors into society, managing their housing, their jobs, and their identities, but it costs a lot and they can only return so few, when the number of people needed saving was only growing.

"We can't keep doing this," Soonyoung breathed out. Soonyoung was the type to bring the happy atmosphere in the room, one of those who just make the world a little brighter. But once he's on edge, he'd just turn and blow up. The casualty of his member and the stress on necessities were more than enough reasons to push him there. "We can't manage, we can't live like this!"

On normal days, Jihoon would've the more rational one, the cool-headed one, but he, too, was on edge.

"What do you suggest we do, huh? Spit your shit, Soonyoung!" Jihoon retorted. Every single one of them was being too sensitive, they knew this. They wouldn't mean the things they'd say, but they needed to blow off steam anyways.

"I don't fucking know, Jihoon!" Soonyoung cried. "Quit being superheroes!? Get a job, blend to society?! Maybe then Minghao can actually lay on an actual hospital bed!"

"You think I don't want that?" Jihoon snapped back. "You think I haven't been trying for the past years, to put all of you into society, put you to proper jobs, give you new clean identities without having to worry about shit?"

"Well it's all for nothing, isn't it?" At this point Soonyoung didn't realize the words he was spouting. "Tell me, what kind of growth have we gone through the years, Jihoon? Seungcheol, what makes this so different than when we first started?!" Jihoon just glared at him, knowing full well Soonyoung was just on rampage mode, and he wasn't thinking, but every word still struck his heart like spears would've. "Well it's not any different!" Soonyoung cried.

"Shut up, both of you!" Seungcheol yelled. "Just," his hands made their way through his head as he tried to clear his mind and he lowered his voice as he spoke. "Shut up. The boys will hear. We can't have all thirteen of us raging at each other. We have missions to do. People to save."

When Seungcheol first gathered them, they were given a choice, just like any other runaways he had met. To join him, or to keep running. He had never once held them back against their choice. When MingMing chose to go back to China, live a normal life, Seungcheol only wished him luck and bid him goodbye after handing him a new passport Jihoon had managed to get. To both Dongjin and Samuel, he had urged to go back to society after they joined for a while. They were too young. They wanted to help, but when Seungcheol saw what trauma Samuel had to deal with, he asked Jihoon to prioritize the two and hand them their ticket back to society. It was easier, too, because they were young, and not much of a gap in their lives to be filled on paper.

"I'm not telling you to leave or stay," Seungcheol had said. "You can choose, but your ticket is right here, and I promise you'll be fine. You won't have to fight anyone ever again, nobody will touch you. We'll all be here for you, no matter what."

Both Dongjin and Samuel bawled, and Seungcheol had hugged them tightly. On weekends, he kept his promise and checked up on them routinely. He'd escape basecamp and watch them from afar. Only Soonyoung and Jihoon knew where he'd disappear after dark hours, as they sometimes joined him, and other times made the excuses for him. Seungcheol was proud of the two, and that was evident everytime he returned from his "lookout" trips. Once, Seungcheol came home with a rare smile on his face, and it was everything the world needed. "I saw Samuel audition in a company today. He's really talented," he had said, his eyes beaming.

At times like these, Soonyoung questioned why he had to lead this life. Why he had to be the responsible one and save everyone else and why he can't just run like any other person. He wanted to be like Samuel, given the clear way out, and Seungcheol would still have his back no matter what. In fact, they all would. Nobody would blame or judge him for it. But damn him and his pride; him and his conscience. The guilt he would've felt had he left just like that - he won't, couldn't, live through it. Not for the people who were just like him, who were unlucky enough to be born in the dark, not to those who were held against their will, victims of the Underground, and certainly not to those who he treated as brothers.

Soonyoung just screamed. He hated feeling so helpless.

"Soonyoung," Seungcheol called, the bags under his eyes became evidence of his tiredness. "Take a break. Have Jun lead close combat. I'll send Hansol to your team. I'll cover his position."

No. He couldn't rest now, not now when one of his members is already hurt. Soonyoung took a deep breath, and sighed. He shouldn't be hot-headed. Not now when they have mission after mission to complete.

"No, I'm sorry. I'll keep my cool. Minghao's down, I can't leave the team," Soonyoung resigned heavily.

"No," Seungcheol said firmly. "Not when you're emotional. If it bothers you, go get Seokmin and have him back your team up, too."

"I'll be calm, I prom-"

"You know very well I can't make decisions based on promises, Soonyoung. That's not how we work here."

The hurt in Seungcheol's eyes were evident, and both Soonyoung and Jihoon knew full well why. Seungcheol diverted his eyes away; he can't bear to see the eyes of his friends, his long time partners, both wallowing in pity to him and to themselves.

"You guard here - that's final. Jihoon, you make sure he stays. Soonyoung, unarm yourself and go get Seokmin."

Seungcheol didn't stay for more arguments. He left after he took back the bulletproof vest he threw on the couch and went to get his team.

Soonyoung cursed in frustrations, and Jihoon just held his head on his hands.

---

[primroseprime2019]

Darkness Rising- Part One

The sun's rays pierced through the clouds. On the road, a red Dodge Challenger drove down the road. "So there I am on the lookout when out of nowhere, these highlight beams light up my rearview," the red Autobot said, "and then it hits me. I'm illegally parked!"

"Another parking ticket?" A blue and pink Kawasaki Ninja 250R asked in a knowing tone as she drove down the road. "Better. The boot," the red bot said.

"Big metal tire clamp impossible to remove," the motorcycle said.

"Bingo! So the local police do their thing, and I let 'em get all the way down the back," the red bot said, "that's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and bang!" "New York's finest soil themselves," the motorcycle said, amusement in her voice.

"You know me Arcee," the bot said, "you mess with Cliffjumper-" "And you get the horns," Arcee said, earning a laugh from her partner, "not sure how that complies with Autobot rule number one: keep a low profile."

"What can I say? Patrolling out here in Dullsville gets lonesome," Cliffjumper said, "almost makes me miss the Decepticons." "Like Jasper Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock Cliff," Arcee said.

Cliffjumper's GPS navigation system started going off. The screen changed from the road route to a sonar picture of the area he was in. "I'm getting a signal," he said.

"Need backup?" Arcee asked, alert. "Do I ever need backup?" Cliffjumper said before going off-road. At the highest speed, Cliffjumper sped towards the location. When he arrived, he skidded to a stop at the edge of a ditch. There were big and small dark blue energon crystals sticking out of the bottom of the ditch.

"I just found a whole lot of energon!" Cliffjumper said. A shadow suddenly loomed over the Autobot and the energon. Cliffjumper transformed into his bipedal form and looked up to see a large ship. "Decepticons," he said.

The Decepticon warship- or the Nemesis, as most called it- loomed over the energon. A gun-like blaster unfolded on the side and fired at Cliffjumper. The blast exploded at Cliffjumper's pedes, the force of the explosion sending Cliffjumper flying into the ditch. The Autobot warrior got on one knee as he looked up to see a few Decepticon troops flying out of the ship and landing near the edge of the ditch.

"Arcee... about that backup," Cliffjumper said, "fair warning boys. I'm gonna put a few dings in ya." He transformed into his vehicle form and drove up the wall of the ditch before he flew off it, transformed into his bipedal form and began to fight the Vehicons.

◊◊◊◊

"Arcee to Optimus! The 'Cons are back. Cliff might be neck deep in scrap," Arcee reported to her leader, Optimus Prime. "Understood," the Prime replied, "Ratchet, do you have Cliffumper's coordinates?"

"I'm locked onto his signal Optimus," Ratchet said as he drove through a snow-covered area, "but our teams are scattered across time zones."

"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Firestorm, Primrose, rendezvous back to base and prepare to ground bridge," Optimus ordered.

◊◊◊◊

Cliffjumper was having a rather hard time fighting the troops. The odds weren't in his favor now as the Decepticon troops punched him hard. One punched him hard enough to send him flying back into the ditch and the punch sent one of Cliffjumper's horns flying off.

Cliffjumper got to his pedes. "You want the horns," he said, unlocking his blasters, "you got 'em." With that said, he began to shoot at the Decepticons, taking one of them out before the others started to fire back at the red Autobot. Cliffjumper dodged the shots before the energon exploded, the force of the explosion sending Cliffjumper flying into the wall.

As the smoke drifted into the air, two Vehicons dragged Cliffjumper to the warship.

A silver and dark grey Seeker stood in the command center. "The energon," he said bitterly, "it's worthless to me now." He turned to see the Vehicons dragging in a nearly burnt and beaten Cliffjumper.

"Scream... been a while," Cliffjumper coughed, "so... where's your master?"

"Nevermind him!" Starscream snapped, "I am my own master." With that, the Seeker slammed his digits into the left side of Cliffjumper's chestplates. "Any last questions?" The Seeker growled.

Cliffjumper let out a weak groan and when Starscream pulled his claws out, the Autobot fell to the floor limp.

Starscream stepped back, "clean that up."

◊◊◊◊

Once the Decepticon warship flew away, a ground bridge opened. Firestorm, Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, Primrose and Ratchet jumped out, their weapons out. Optimus came out last, his blasters out.

"An untapped energon deposit," Optimus said. "What's left of it," Bulkhead said.

"The first Decepticon activity we've seen in three years," Ratchet said. "That we know of," Firestorm huffed.

"If the Decepticons are scouting for energon, they may be preparing for his return," Optimus said gravely.

Primrose, Arcee and Bumblebee bounded down the wall of the ditch and to the bottom. Primrose looked around before she froze as she saw something.

Arcee followed her gaze and widened her optics. It was Cliffjumper's horn. She scooped it up into her servos, "no." Optimus walked up beside her before he looked to Ratchet, "Ratchet, can you track his position?"

Ratchet opened a mineature computer in his wrists. "No... Cliffjumper's signal... just went offline," he said gravely. Firestorm widened his optics.

"No," Primrose whimpered, "no." Arcee wrapped her arms around the young Prime, feeling despair in her spark.

◊◊◊◊

Starscream stood in the command center. A slender Decepticon Seeker with black and purple colors and a visor silently walked up to the other Seeker.

"Soundwave," Starscream said, "what is it?" "Like Jasper Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff," Soundwave recorded the conversation between Arcee and Cliffjumper before the red Autobot's death.

"Ah, the one called Arcee," Starscream said with a smirk, "why slay one Autobot when we still have the advantage of surprise?"

◊◊◊◊

"We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgement," Optimus said as he and his teammates stood on the roof of the silo, "as of today, only we seven Autobots remain on this Earth. We owe it to ourselves, to the memory of Cybertron, to any Autobots in any galaxy seeking safe harbor, to humankind."

Primrose knelt down and placed a rose next to Cliffjumper's horn. "And we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade to survive," Optimus said and he looked to Arcee, "Arcee."

"If Cliff's gone, standing around here sulking won't bring him back. So unless anyone minds, think I'll get back to protecting humankind," Arcee said bitterly as she walked away before she transformed into her vehicle form and drove away.

"Optimus, helping humans will only result in more tragedy," Ratchet said. "Your opinion is noted," Optimus said with a nod.

◊◊◊◊

In the busy part of Jasper, Nevada, a sixteen year old boy was working at a local fast food restaurant called KO Drive-In.

He had raven black hair and deep blue eyes. "Welcome to KO Drive-In where every patty's a knockout," the boy said in a bored tone, "may I take your order?"

"Uh, two super combos, extra fries," the customer said. "Okay, dos numeros twos," the boy said as he prepared the order, "anything else?"

"Yeah," the customer said, "some advice. How do I get an awesome job like yours?" Then the sixteen year old boy heard laughter in the background and his eyes narrowed.

"So that's two we're-not-as-funny-as-we-think-we-are combos with a side of bite me," Jack sniped.

The customer laughed before he realized what Jack had said, "what you say?"

"5.59, sir," Jack said, "at the window." When he said that, he turned away as the customer drove up, grabbed the bags and drove off, laughing.

"H-hey! You have to pay for that!" Jack said. However the customer didn't get far as a fourteen year old girl stood in the way. She had midnight black hair, light brown eyes and she didn't look happy.

"I suggest you pay my friend- even though I don't do violence, would you rather have your precious car vandalized?" The girl asked with a smirk.

The customer quickly backed his car up and paid Jack before he drove away. Jack gave the girl a thankful look, "thanks Paige."

"No problem Jack," Paige said with a soft smile, "you coming outside yet?"

Jack laughed softly and he nodded.

Arcee drove down the road, almost getting lost in her thoughts. She hadn't meant to leave her teammates behind.

Cliffjumper's death was really hard on her. First it was Tailgate, now it was Cliffjumper. Something caught her attention and she shifted her side mirror and saw two Vehicons driving after her.

"Twins," she said to herself before she sped up and drove over to the restaurant. She drove into a spot and watched as the two Vehicons drove past.

"Take five Sadie," she said once the hologram of the motorcyclist disappeared and she turned off her engine.

After a few moments, Jack walked out of the restaurant and his phone started to ring. He took it out of his back pocket and answered it. "Hi Mom," he said, "I just got off. No, I'm not going to the dance. Experience says I should never cut a rug; unless it's stolen carpet."

Paige smiled at Jack as she walked up beside him. She saw the motorcycle and went over to it.

"Be careful? Seriously? This is Jasper," Jack said with an amused smile. He paused in mid-step when he saw the motorcycle. "I love you," he said dreamily before he realized he was still on the phone, "uh, yeah, Mom. Love you too. Gotta run." He hung up and he hurried over to the motorcycle.

"Hello, beautiful," he said, "where have you been all my life?" Paige chuckled slightly as she looked the motorcycle over curiously. She squatted down in front of the motorcycle and gazed at it's headlights.

Something felt strange about this motorcycle. She didn't know what it was but she could almost feel it's presence surrounding hers. She could feel it's emotions.

She looked up at Jack as the sixteen year old mounted the motorcycle. "It may take a few KO paychecks but I am gonna own a ride like you someday," he said.

"Are you talking to your motorcycle?" He and Paige looked to see two girls laughing.

"U-uh, to my motorcycle? N-no," Jack stuttered, "but- to you, I am." He pressed his palm to his forehead in embarrassment, 'lame.'

"Smooth Darby. Smooth," Paige said with a slight smirk, earning a light glare from Jack. "So how's things, Sierra?" He asked the girl, "take you for a spin sometime?"

"C'mon, smooth operator," Arcee whispered as she kept her side mirror on the two arriving Vehicons, "wrap it up." Paige looked at Arcee for a moment before she sat behind Jack and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You know my name?" Sierra asked. "We're in home room together," Jack said, "I'm Jack. Jack Darby." Lights shone in the teenagers' direction.

"Scrap," Arcee hissed. The two Decepticons drove towards the group. Sierra and her friend ran away. Arcee started her engine and drove towards the Vehicons. Jack shouted in fear. Paige shut her eyes tightly in fear and shock as Arcee sped past the Vehicons and she drove out onto the road.

"Do not let go," Arcee said to Jack and Paige. "Who said that!?" Jack shouted, freaked out.

"Commander Starscream, target sighted, acocmpan by two human youths," one of the troops said. "Destroy them all!" Starscream ordered.

When Arcee had Jack and Paige safe in an alleyway, she finally stopped and let the two off. "What are you?" Jack asked, stepping back.

"I don't exist," Arcee hissed, "tell anyone about me and I will hunt you down."

Paige widened her eyes slightly before she ran away with Jack quickly following. Arcee drove out of the alleyway and the Vehicons drove after her.

One of them turned down the alleyway. "Scrap!" Arcee said. In the process, she jumped over the oncoming vehicon before turning the corner. In the alley, Jack and Paige were running. Jack grabbed Paige's hand so she could keep up.

"We don't even know her!" Jack shouted at the Decepticon that was chasing them. "What do you want with us!?" Paige shouted.

Arcee drove past the Decepticon and up beside Jack and Paige, "hop on!" Once the two did just that, Arcee sped ahead of the two Vehicons.

Once Arcee was on a highway, the Decepticons followed in pursuit and started to shoot at the Autobot femme.

"Why are those guys shooting at us!?" Jack asked nervously. "There's no us, kid," Arcee said firmly, "and there are no guys."

Bumblebee joined them on the highway and rammed into the Decepticons. After skidding around the highway a little bit, Bumblebee regained control and immediately went to follow Arcee.

"Friend of yours?" Paige asked curiously. "Family," Arcee corrected.

◊◊◊◊

Under the bridge in Jasper, Nevada, a young boy was racing a toy car around by himself. As he had fun with his remote control car, his phone rang, which he immediately answered.

"Hey Mama," he said, "racing right up the street. Okay. Just five more minutes?" He hung up and started to drive his toy car around.

Arcee drove over the bridge and landed a few yards away from Raf who dropped his remote in surprise. "Whoa," he said.

"You have no idea," Jack sighed. Raf walked over to Jack and Paige. Paige got off of Arcee's vehicle form and let out a breath of relief.

The sound of revving engine caught the kids' attention as the two Decepticons drove over to them. Paige widened her eyes slightly and she pulled Raf close protectively.

Arcee transformed into her bipedal form. Jack, Paige and Raf hurried to the side.

"This ends here, Cons," Arcee said and she charged at the two Vehicons. That's when the fight started.

"Wh-what are they?" Raf asked. "Talking cars that turn into robots," Jack said, "or the other way around."

Arcee punched one of the Vehicons multiple times, "this. Is. For. Cliff!" Her punches didn't seem to phase the Vehicon as he looked at her.

She stepped back before she started to dodge the Vehicon's blaster shots by doing backflips. There was one she couldn't dodge as one of the shots hit her right in the abdomen, sending her skidding back across the ground.

The Vehicons walked towards her only to stop when Bumblebee jumped down and attacked the two. He punched the closest Vehicon next to him before he kicked the other away. He walked forward until there was a loud crunch under his pede, causing him to pause in surprise. Looking down, he lifted his pede and saw Raf's crushed toy car.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking to the kids. "No problem. Really," Raf said.

Suddenly Bumblebee was shot, the force of the shot sending him flying back and landing on the ground. He pushed himself up only for one of the Vehicons to slam their pede on the back of his helm. The scout turned towards them and they aimed their blasters at him.

"No!" Paige shouted. "Leave him alone!" Raf shouted angrily. Bumblebee and the vehicons turned towards them.

"Please?" Raf squeaked. "Bad call," Jack said. One of the Vehicons walked towards the three. "Go! Go!" Paige exclaimed and she quickly ushered Raf to run ahead with her and Jack quickly following.

The three climbed into a storm drain and continued to run as the Vehicon reached towards them. Suddenly the Vehicon was pulled away from the storm drain. Bumblebee peeked into the storm drain. "You kids alright?" "Thank you," Paige and Raf said in unison.

"No problem," the scout said before he quickly left to help Arcee.

"Don't look back," Jack said. "What did we just see?" Raf asked. "No idea and I'm not sure I wanna find out," Jack said.

The fight between the Decepticons, Bumblebee and Arcee continued. One of the Vehicons punched Bumblebee hard, sending him flying back next to Arcee who quickly knelt down to help the scout.

The Decepticons walked towards the two Autobots only to stop when a green Lamborghini LM002 drove towards Arcee and Bumblebee. He transformed into his bipedal form, standing beside his comrades, "who's ready to rumble?"

The Vehicons looked at each other before they transformed into their vehicle forms and drove away.

Bumblebee bent forward, placing his servos on his knees in exhaustion. Arcee looked to Bulkhead, "what took you?"

"Traffic," Bulkhead said with a shrug.

◊◊◊◊

At the base, Arcee was explaining the events to Optimus. "And the Cons would've been scrap metal if I wasn't distracted by the human," she said.

"Human?" The Prime repeated. "Two boys and one girl," Bumblebee said.

"I guess the other one caught us in action? I don't know. Was a little busy at the time," Arcee said, crossing her arms over her chestplates.

"If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at great risk," Optimus said. "Well this will be interesting," Firestorm said, leaning against the wall.

◊◊◊◊

At the school, Jack walked down the stairs and he looked towards Raf and Paige who waved at him. Jack hurried over to the two, "guys, hey. Look, let's just forget this ever happened okay? Keep this between us?"

"I honestly doubt that'll happen," Paige said and a honk caught her and Raf's attention. "Jack," Raf said happily.

"Oh not again," Jack groaned as Bumblebee drove up beside them and opened his door.

"You two, get inside," he said. "It wants us to get in," Jack said.

"No. Just me and Paige," Raf said. "How do you know that?" Jack asked, surprised.

"He said so," Paige said. "What!?" Jack gasped. "Yours is over there," Raf said, gesturing to Arcee who was parked on the other side of the street.

"Yeah, I really don't think-" "How's it going?" Raf asked as he and Paige climbed into Bumblebee's venicle form.

"Wh-hey! Stop!" Jack protested but Bumblebee was already driving down the road. The sixteen year old boy frowned before he sent a glare towards Arcee and walked away.

A fifteen year old girl sat on the stair, drawing a sketch of Arcee. "Coolest bike ever," she said. Her phone rang and she picked it up. "Host parents? Ignore," she said with a huff as she closed her phone and continued her drawing.

When she looked up, Arcee was gone. She groaned in disappointment before she saw the motorcycle drive down the road. She quickly got up and ran to follow it.

In an alleyway, Arcee drove up and stopped in front of Jack. "Relax. I just want to talk to you," she said.

"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" Jack asked. "Kid, there's a lot you don't understand," Arcee said, making Sadie disappear.

"I get it, I get it," Jack said quickly, stepping back, "the first rule about robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club." He turned and started walking away and much to his dismay, Arcee began to follow him.

"What you need to understand is that I don't want any crazy, talking robots following me around trying to get me killed!" Jack snapped. Arcee transformed into her bipedal form, kneeling down, "look. Jack, is it? Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime requested your presence."

"O-Optimus who?" Jack asked, confused. "You may be in danger because you are one of the few- one of the only who have ever seen us," Arcee said.

"Dude, what're you waiting for?" They both looked to see Miko standing next to the corner, looking excited. "Go with!" She said.

"Scrap," Arcee sighed.

◊◊◊◊

Arcee and Bumblebee drove down the road. Miko was cheering loudly in Jack's ear, much to his and Arcee's annoyance.

"And why exactly are we bringing her?" Jack asked. "Rules," Arcee said. The two Autobots drove down the road and sped past the stop sign.

"Whoa!" Jack yelled in surprise and fear. A rock slab slid down and the two Autobots drove into the base. They drove down a tunnel and into a large room.

"Whoa," Jack and Miko gasped. "Cool," Raf said. "Amazing," Paige said.

Bumblebee stopped and Raf and Paige stepped out of his vehicle form, allowing him to transform. "I thought there were three," Ratchet said.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply," Arcee said sarcastically. Paige looked at Arcee then at Firestorm and Primrose.

"I'm Raf," Raf said to Miko. "I'm Miko," she said as she ran up to Bulkhead, "who're you?"

"Bulkhead," Bulkhead said nervously. "Are you a car? I bet you're a truck- a monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball as a punching bag?" Miko asked eagerly.

Primrose chuckled softly. "So if you guys aren't robots, who made you?" Raf asked. Ratchet scoffed, "puh-lease."

Paige couldn't help but frown and she tensed up when there were heavy, rumbling footsteps. She turned to see Optimus Prime walking over to them.

"We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots," he said. "Why are you here?" Jack asked.

"To protect your planet from the Decepticons," Primrose said as she walked up beside Optimus.

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night," Arcee clarified. "Okay... why are they here?" Jack asked.

Optimus knelt down so he could be a comforting sight to the humans, "a fair question, Jack. In part, they are here because our planet is uninhabitable; ravaged by centuries of civil war."

"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf asked. "Foremost, over the control of their world's supply of Energon, the lifeblood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce and endured for centuries," Optimus said, "In the begining I fought alongside one who I considered a brother. But in war, ideals can be corrupted. And it was thus that Megatron lost his way."

"Is there gonna be a quiz?" Miko sighed and she grunted as Paige lightly elbowed her in the arm.

"So what does Megatron or any of this have to do with us?" Jack asked.

"Megatron has not been seen or heard from in some time," Optimus said, "but if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic."

◊◊◊◊

"Those transmissions are aminating from deep space. I would hate to waste the Energon," Starscream sighed, "unless you are absolutely certain." Soundwave nodded his helm in confirmation. Echo looked at her brother then at Starscream.

"Then lock on transmission coordinates and activate the space bridge," Starscream said.

◊◊◊◊

In the darkness of deep space, a space bridge opened up. In mere seconds, a silver and purple jet flew out of the space bridge and transformed into his bipedal form.

"DECEPTICONS! I have returned," Megatron said with a triumphant grin.

[zwiezraczek]

Player [Blurb]

Part 2: Believer  - Part 3 - Part 4: Lover

~~~

Tied up in your basement. Tied up in your own fucking basement. The treatment of a a mole, of a snitch. Nothing else. Your hands hurt, felt sore with the rope tied around them, you weresure about the scars on your skin after all of this. But would there be an after all of this? You doubted.

Billy did his best, he did his best to protect the Ghosts. But every time he hesitated, rolled his eyes, refused to speak he could hear your voice, your muffled screams as you begged for them to stop. You cried all night long, you cried your eyes dry. They splashed your face with glasses of water, cold water, icy water as you gasped before opening your eyes to see Billy, right in front of you. He looked miserable, probably as miserable as you – with eyes half-closed, blood on his sweatshirt, a reddish face but still these gleaming eyes in the dark. Yet, he managed to smile, faintly as he caught your gaze.

A sweet metallic taste in your mouth reminded you that you were probably bleeding more than you thought you were. You breathed heavily as your father passed-by, avoiding your eyes, but he couldn't avoid you forever. And he knew it, because he looked at you. Somehow, behind his outraged expression you saw pain, regret, probably deception. And with a sight, he approached you, knelt in front of you and took your chin into his hand, much more delicately than he did yesterday as he pressed his thumb and index into your cheeks while Billy cried to make him stop, cried information, exposed himself. And now, you had pain in your eyes too, but more hate than pain.

“My only daughter,” he whispered, rubbing his thumb against your cheek in a cold and displeased tone hiding probably much more. “Why,” he asked, “why?” You refused to reply, looking down at your bare feet, and he began to caress your cheek with his hand. “I love you so much y/n, but I hate you so much at the same time...”

“Same here,” you coughed, you didn't intend to, but your throat was sore and dry.

“Here, drink some water,” he offered, taking a glass of water standing at the foot of your chair before putting it against your lips. And you drank, as if water was the most delicious beverage on earth.

“Thank you,” you said against your will, relieved yet angry at yourself. You couldn't stand the mixed feelings he aroused in your heart, you couldn't stand how poorly he treated people – children – and how poorly he treated Billy.

“You are still my daughter after all,” he murmured before standing up and going to talk to Billy.

~~~

“I will kill the youngster, I will fucking kill him,” One repeated endlessly as he paced back and forth in the room in which the Ghosts held an emergency meeting. Three day, three days without hearing from Billy. All because of this stupid mission.

“I will kill him too,” Seven added, “and then I'll kill myself for even listening to him when he told me to not shoot! He made a fucking fool out of me...!”

Two only gave them a dark look, her arms crossed on her chest as she glanced at Three who was typing something on the computer. The clicks of the keyboard made the silence unbearable, maybe even more than her teammate's complaints. Only Five sat in front of a coffee, her head resting against her hand as she looked down on the papers. She was furious, she spent nights looking for some medical records of this man, studying what she found, looking at Four's records to make sure how much he could handle without any proper care... And she pinned all that on the large board in their plan room. She felt exhausted, but she wouldn't feel relief until Four was here, with them.

“Listen,” Two finally spoke up, wanting to escape the endless silence she made herself, “we know we fucked up. Four wasn't the best choice for this mission, I should have...”

“Stop this,” One interrupted her almost violently. “I told him he was the perfect man for this because he knew everything about the house, because he was somehow linked to this and... Fuck, I was the one telling to cut the ties with the living world oh my fuck.”

“If you don't stop this, I'm going to explode,” Five added, and they all looked surprised at her. “We don't need to talk, we need to act and Three and I seem to be the ones to actually take the matters into our hands,” she said and Three hummed in approval.

“Fine, I'm looking the guy up in the CIA files,” Two said, before she sat next to Three and began to type herself.

“I'm going out,” Seven said, “I just... I need to be alone with all of this,” he stated. He felt guilty, absolutely guilty about this situation. He had to pull the trigger. He had to... But Four said that he shouldn't, so he listened to him, just like he did when his squad died. Just like that.

“Going out with you,” One said, not being able to handle the tension in the room himself.

~~~

You looked up at the ceiling, this gray ceiling made of concrete. You always have hated this basement, even more now. Everything smelt like humidity, and the things that the man your worked with one brought for you and Billy to eat weren't really helping to set a nice atmosphere. But at least, you had something to eat from time to time.

From time to time, they left you alone with Billy, far from you, as far as possible but you were still able to see him, hear him – and so was him, especially when they tortured you. You looked at him, trying to give him a reassuring smile, you tried your best with the corner of your cracked lips, and he smiled back, closing his eyes.

“Why are you doing this,” you asked him, your voice still weak but audible – thanks to the glass of water they made you drink earlier.

“BDSM kink,” he joked. And even in this situation he made you chuckle a bit, making your stomach hurt a bit from the punches you got. But it was worth it.

“You and your sick kinks,” you whispered. “You should have stayed quiet, my father wouldn't let me die, and you know that.”

“I know that, but I can't see you suffer anymore,” he admitted looking you right in the eye. “I watched you suffer because of me, I couldn't screw the things up again as I did three years ago.”

“You did the right thing back then.”

“I'm doing the right thing right now, protecting the one that never gave up on me.” You could see how his smile widened as he spoke about you, and about your support. You couldn't help yourself but smile too. Maybe too much, and at the worst moment because one of your ex-colleagues entered the room.

“Y/N is soft and flirts with the enemy,” he chanted mockingly, rubbing his hands.

“Fuck you,” you said, a rush of confidence running through your veins.

“Want to taste blood, little girl,” the man asked, standing tight in front of you as you looked up at him.

“Tasted so much blood in my life, wouldn't be a problem,” you retorted.

“Hey, you,” Billy interrupted and the man turned back, “why don't you try to hurt somebody your size?” He laughed. The man laughed before approaching Billy, a grin on his face.

“Because hurting you won't provide more information, pretty boy, but hurting her, over there,” he precised with a movement of his head towards you, “will make you speak and sing and even dance as we want you to. So no, I won't damage you more than we already did in the first place, I'll just watch you suffer ad I hurt this lady over there, once my superior you know.”

“You're a lucky bastard, you're so lucky that I don't have my gun right here, with me,” you managed to say in a much more audible voice than before, “you would be dead, just like this girl three years ago.”

“The one you killed because of your undying love for your so-called 'bestfriend',” he teased you as he tilted his head looking at you. “Don't make me laugh more than I already did when this clown spoke. Please, y/n, I thought you were better than that.”

Your blood boiled inside your veins as the man sat in the chair next to the exit and began to look at his phone, ignoring both of you. What annoyed you even more, was how accurate his words were. You killed her as a revenge, because Billy was your bestfriend, your soulmate, and losing him meant losing anything and everything – your sanity first and foremost. Finding him meant the same, just at the moment you found your stability through killing and partying, he stormed in your life again, just to fuck your emotions up and to remember you how much you suffered without him. But you couldn't be mad at him, because he explained everything to you, because he allowed you to see trough your father... You closed your eyes. What a fucking bad situation to be in.

~~~

“We're almost in,” Three said as One put a hand on his shoulder looking at the screen on which Three was working.

“So we're ready. Tomorrow, we strike.”

[templeoftheslavegarden]

BLOOD & FIRE

Chapter 7 - Spend Some Time, Drink Some Wine - Ehem Whiskey

New York, New York August 7 1994

"Where in the fuck is my bag?" I say to myself as I stand at the luggage terminal inside John F Kennedy International Airport waiting for the little luggage carousel to push out my bag. I feel like I've been standing here forever waiting for it to pop out and each time a bag rolls by it never ends up being mine.

The meeting I had with Susan went really well and I'm so excited that she appointed me as an assistant for Pantera.

Pantera! Can you fucking believe that? I sure as hell can't. Their tour manager needed some extra help so Susan was able to set it up for me and I am so excited. I had already met with Steve Bainbrige just a few days ago and signed a temporary contract with him so that I am able to assist him for the next couple of show dates for Pantera. Type O Negative is also playing a few dates with them as well so at least Kenny will be with me and it won't be so nerve wracking.

The only time I've ever met Phil, Vinny Rex and Dime was when they played a few shows with Soundgarden when Soundgarden was opening for Skid Row. Damn, that seems like such a long time ago. Like another lifetime ago.

This is my first time doing this all on my own and I'm nervous as fuck. I seriously don't want to mess anything up at all. I'm going to try and be confident and professional and not shy and socially awkward just because I'm such a big fan of Pantera. They're playing here at L’Amours tonight so I will get first hand at what it's like to work for Pantera. I'm so fucking excited!

I glance up at the multiple clocks that were lined up on the wall behind the ticket booth indicating what time it was in each time zone, New York showing just passed 4:00PM. I called Kenny earlier this morning letting him know when my flight was in and he said that he was going to meet me here at the terminal. I just hope I hadn't kept him waiting because of this stupid luggage carousel refusing to give me my luggage. After another 10 minutes waiting and it still didn't come out, I walk over to the attendant at the luggage terminal to ask where my luggage was.

"Your luggage ticket number?" The bulky male attendant asks me barely looking up from his computer screen.

"5023" I say a little impatiently. He types a few keys into the computer still not looking at me and starts to shake his head.

"Nothing in the system with that number, what was your flight?" He says still not looking at me.

"Flight 402, the 11:00AM Seattle to New York," I say trying not to sound frustrated. He punches a few more keys and still not one ounce of eye contact. Suddenly I feel a warm hand slide across my lower back under my leather jacket and I glance up and see Kenny looking so freaking amazing in his black button up shirt loosely tucked into his black jeans and leather jacket, his jet black curls flowing passed his shoulders standing beside me.

"Hey babe," He says a little raspy with a cute grin and places a kiss on my temple, his sweet cologne tickling my nostrils perfectly.

Damn he smells so fucking good.

"Hey," I exhale, my frustration diminishing for a few moments.

"Still nothing in the system... last name?" The attendant says to me still not looking up at me.

"Um, Cornell," I clear my throat.

"First name?"

"Andrea," I say and he types some more keys.

"What's going on?" Kenny asks me.

"Trying to pick up my luggage," I say looking up at him as I push my curls out of my eyes.

"I'm sorry there's still nothing here with that ticket number," The attendant says.

"What do you mean?" I ask frustratedly.

"There isn't any luggage with that number," The attendant finally looks up at me but doesn't offer any other expression other than a straight face. I pull out my ticket and show him but he still says that there's no luggage with that number.

"So, what... it's like lost then?" I ask attempting to remain calm but the attendant still offers no sympathy or anything which pisses me off even more especially since he is working a customer service position.

"Did you purchase any insurance?" The attendant asks.

"Well no... but - "

"I'm sorry we can't do anything without insurance," He cuts me off.

"Are you kidding me?" I say as my anger starts to rise.

"Babe, hey... it's alright, Here... let me," Kenny says and moves to the attendant window and talks to the attendant, trying to be sweet at first but as the attendant still shows no empathy or anything, Kenny starts to lose it. As he argues with the attendant I try to pull him back to calm him down.

"It's policy, no insurance, we can't do anything sir,"

"Yea well, fuck your policy!" Kenny exclaims.

"Kenny, hey... let's just go," I say trying to pull him away from the window. He was getting angrier than I was and was starting to create a scene which I don't blame him but I really didn't want to draw any attention.

"Fuck you!" Kenny exclaims as the attendant smirks and shakes his head and I'm eventually able to pull him away from the window.

"I'm sorry babe but what the fuck? He fucking needs to show some remorse or something... like, Jeezus," Kenny says as we walk away.

"It's ok, just... what the fuck am I gonna do now? I only have what I'm wearing right now and a dress in here. All my favorite band shirts and my favorite jeans... and my shoes to go with this dress... fuck me, " I say frustratedly as I look down at my bag slung over my shoulder.

"Hey, it's ok babe... we'll get you something. I've had this happen to me more times than I can count... Just that fucker back there could use some fuckin' customer service training or something," Kenny says which makes me giggle.

He takes my hand in his lacing his fingers through and suddenly he stops us from walking towards the main doors. I glance up at him and he has the most sweetest grin on that boyish clean shaven face of his. His other hand reaches up and cups my face, his thumb brushing across my bottom lip and then presses his lips to mine so soft and gentle, lingering for a few moments as his tongue flicks at my top lip and then he pulls away, touching his forehead to mine. After a few moments we break away from each other as he leads me out of the main doors of the airport.

"C'mon, We'll uh... head to my place," He says.

"Ok,"

Fuck, I've missed him.

*****

A short while later, we arrive at Kenny's apartment, a small one bedroom located in Brooklyn near the lower east side. The building was part of a duplex with his apartment on the upper floor. Once Kenny opens the door, I step inside to see his living room that was attached to the kitchen, scattered with stacked Mesa/Boogie amps and a few of his guitars, a T.V on a small makeshift stand and a stereo record player set up on the opposite side of that, a couch that faced the T.V and a large reading chair to the left with a ton of magazines and scattered papers all over the coffee table and floor. It's such a guys apartment.

It reminds me of the first time I went to Chris's apartment that he shared with Andrew Wood from Mother Love Bone. Chris had it set up the very same way. Guitars and amps all over his room and a string of unfinished lyrics that you could shake a stick at.

"Sorry for the mess, I just hadn't had time to uh, you know... clean," Kenny says immediately walking over and trying to tidy up the papers.

"It's ok," I say and close the door behind me as I watch him try to find where to put everything.

"Kenny it's ok, I don't care really," I giggle as he shoves more papers into a drawer in the coffee table then flips his curls out of his face as he turns to face me.

"You want a drink or somethin'?" He asks so cutely, stepping over a stack of magazines.

"Sure,"

He steps into the kitchen and fumbles around to make some drinks as I set my bag down at the door, take off my jacket, head over to the couch to sit down and glance at some of the papers that were still somewhat scattered around the coffee table. I glance up at Kenny as his back was facing me while making our drinks and then pick up the one piece of paper that caught my attention and read a little bit of it. I didn't mean to be so nosey but I couldn't help it.

"Did you write this?" I ask cutely when he steps back over to me and hands me a Jack and Coke.

"Uh... yea, I did," He says suddenly sounding shy about it as he steps passed my to sit down beside me taking a sip of his beer and turning slightly to face me as I glance down at his scribbling. Funny, how I always thought that Peter was the lyricist and Kenny just came up with the guitar parts.

"You want me to play it for you don't you?" Kenny smirks slyly at me taking another sip of his beer.

"No, no I was just... I mean, not if you don't want to," I say getting a little flustered as he leers at me still. He takes another sip and sets his beer down, then leans over and grabs his acoustic guitar.

"It's not like... completely finished but... well anyways," He says so cutely laying his guitar across his lap and plucks a few strings. I couldn't help but grin a little seeing him get flustered and shy. I shift a little in my spot as I watch him get himself situated, clearing his throat and figuring out how to start. Then he begins to play.

"You give your love to me tonight

You owe your flesh to me for life

You give your body and your mind

I'll fuck your warmth and your lies

My lady..."

He continues to strum and the sound of his voice is so different. I'm used to him singing the small parts when he plays with Peter if Peter can't sing in that range. Here, he sounds so clean but raspy at the same time, with so much emotion that I never thought would come out of him. It's making me feel things that I didn't think I would feel ever again.

"You give your heart I'll treat it right

You bring your flaws I'll give them light

You know I wanna sink deep into you

I'm created to love you and finally lose..."

He trails off and stops but still avoids my eyes and I had no idea what to do for a moment, but then I couldn't help myself. I set my drink down and then immediately move myself over to him take his face him my palms and press those beautiful soft lips to mine. For a moment I could tell that I startled him but then as I started to suck his bottom lip, he moves the guitar from between us never breaking his lips away from mine and responds with his tongue swiping across my bottom lip, his hands immediately going straight to my hips and up under my White Zombie band shirt, to the small of my back and further up.

Suddenly after a few moments, I had to stop myself. I have no idea what came over me or why I started to second guess myself but I needed to stop.

"I can't..." I pull away and he looks at me with those dark eyes completely confused and I don't blame him.

"You can't what?" He asks and I lean my arm on the back of the couch covering my eyes with my palm, forcing myself not to cry. I can feel him still looking at me but I can't bring myself to look at him.

What the serious fuck is happening to me?

"Baby...?" He asks slightly worried moving closer to me. I still couldn't bring myself to say anything and all I could feel was this intense feeling of fear and sadness inside me.

"This is stupid... I'm so stupid... I can't... I just..." I try to explain fumbling over my words and still holding back tears and not letting myself look at him.

"Andi, talk to me... what can't you do?" His voice is calm but still worried as he pulls my hand away from covering my face. I open my eyes to look into his, seeing the worry and concern on his face.

"What are we doing? I mean... what the fuck am I even doing? Fuck I'm not making any fucking sense," I say as I start to get angry at myself.

"Baby... talk to me..." He still looks at me with those eyes and suddenly I let everything out.

I tell him everything. I tell him how I was married to Chris, and that I still am though we are separated and haven't talked to each other since we split, other than breaking out of the contract I signed with Soundgarden which I had to talk to him then but other than that, nothing from him since March. I tell him the reason why we split which was the most difficult thing I could talk about since I haven't been able to talk about it since it happened.

"... we tried for months to have a baby you know? The whole time I thought that there was something wrong with me. Like, my body wasn't working right or something. But, then after so long we just decided if it doesn't happen it's ok. But then it did. I got pregnant and I was so excited..." I say as I look down at myself unable to look him in the eye forcing myself to keep it together.

"What happened?" He asks after a few moments though I think he already knew the answer.

"... I uh... lost the baby. She was um... she wasn't breathing when I delivered... her and..." I trail off fighting the urge to cry and I could see the look on Kenny's face that he could tell how I'm still struggling with losing her.

"...anyways after that Chris and just... fell apart. He started to ignore me and I wasn't any better since I couldn't fucking even get out of bed for like 4 months straight. I tried to make it work once I started feeling better but at that point it was too late. We had already grown so far apart that there was no going back at all. Anytime we talked to each other it just turned into an argument. He just threw himself into Soundgarden and left me alone to fight the horrible pain all by myself..."

I cannot believe I'm letting this all out. There is no way in fucking hell Kenny is going to want me after this. If I were him, I'd be heading straight for the fucking door.

"Jeezus..." Kenny exhales.

"Kenny... I'm so fucked up," I say looking away and trying to stop the tears from coming out. He reaches up and cups my face in his palm, brushing away a stray tear that rolled down my cheek.

"No... no you're not fucked up," Kenny says looking at me with those dark eyes.

"I have no idea why you even want to have anything to do with me... I mean, I'm pretty much like damaged goods here," I say looking back down at myself.

"Andi... I don't know if you've figured this out yet though I thought you would've got the hint from that song, but... I'm fucking in love with you so... if you're fucked up then I'm fucked up too,"

I flick my eyes back to his in complete disbelief. I had no idea what to even say but I also wasn't sure I heard him right.

"What?" I ask quietly.

"I love you,"

**************************************************************************************************

[onlystylesangels]

I Will Be There

Pairing: Harry x Character: (Ella)

Prompt: Where (Ella) texts Harry about how she's going to be horrible during her AMA'S performance. Harry then video chats her and they talk about it

Warnings: Fluff, supportive Harry, body image, a little cursing

_ _

A/N: Hello! This was another idea I had and decided to finally write it.

_ _

It's been months since Ella found out that she was going to be performing at an awards show.

The American Music Awards.

Ella has been petrified about being at the event altogether. She was excited that she was asked to perform her latest singles, but she was also going to be performing in front of so many other artists that she has admired for so long. She was nervous about what they would think of her.

Ella has been friends with Harry since one of her close friends invited her to go to this wedding she was invited to. Y/n went and there is where her friend introduced her to Harry Styles, the charming British lad that once worked at a bakery.

Ella and Harry then became very close and they always had contact with each other no matter what country they were at.

Currently, Harry was in London where he was resting at the moment after touring for a whole year.

Ella was in California where she was lying in bed, her head wrapped up in a towel because she just came out of the shower. Soft music was heard from her Bluetooth speaker that she had mounted on her nightstand.

She began texting Harry, telling him the big news that she was going to perform in less than a week at the AMA'S.

"Love. That's amazing! Congratulations."

_"I'm nervous though. What if I sound terrible and what if they make up stories about me that I can't _sing or I didn't dress appropriately."

"Love, you are going to be fine."

"I can't do it Harry."

"Hold on Ella"

Ella waited for a couple of minutes until she received a video call from Harry. She smiled at the picture she had his contact as, him puckering his lips wearing his pink Gucci glasses.

"Can you hear me pet?" Harry's voice rang out, as his face started to shift and discolor for a bit until he stopped moving around and his face was still.

"Harry?"

Harry smiles, showing off his dimple

"Yes love. Its me."

"Why FaceTime? We were just texting."

"I like FaceTime better. I wanted to talk to you face to face."

Ella touched her chest, feeling touched by Harry's little response.

"I wanted to say that no matter what happens at your performance it's only going to last for three or four minutes. Don't overthink it, while you're up on that stage you'll get nervous, yes, I'm not going to lie about that. But once you finish performing you're gonna wish it never ends, but it always does."

Ella let that sink in her head, as she imagined hearing the praising and claps from the audience and seeing smiling people bobbing their heads to the beat of the music. You wanted to feel ready, but you were so close to being ready now that Harry made the performance seem as a regular performance in front of your fans or family.

You were ready this whole time, you just didn't want to make yourself think you were ready.

"Ella don't worry, I'm going to go the AMA'S I'm going to be backstage and I will be there if something happens or if you feel self-conscious. I'll be there for you Ella, I won't allow you to feel alone because I'm going to be with you."

Ella frowns and she remembers that Harry was on break after he finished his world tour. He can't go, there is no humanely way that Ella will allow Harry to travel down to California just so he can be with her.

"Harry you can't come. The AMAS is during your break. I'm not going to let you come and see me. I don't want you to interrupt your vacation just for me. "

He shakes his head, closing his eyes for a bit and opening them, "You can't stop me love, I'll make it, don't worry okay? I don't want you to worry about me, just relax okay I'll be fine."

Deep inside you were regretting telling Harry about the show you were going to perform, but at the same time you wanted to see someone from the crowd that wouldn't be judging you.

 Flashback

“Does she really think she has a good voice for the boss? Look at her, she’s short and ugly.”

Ella would constantly hear the other girls banter about her and how she looked. She always felt self-conscious about her body and especially her face. She was wanting to change her face and add more definition to her body as well, but her sister stopped her from choosing to change her beautiful features.

“Ella, you don’t have to change your face to stop the people from talking about your face and body. Don’t pay attention to them, they’re just jealous because you’re one of the lucky ones that got signed off with a record deal and look at your nose, honey we have the same nose, why do you want to change your nose?”

“I am tired of hearing them talking about my face how they always tell me how my eyebrows are ugly and that my body is my obstacle because I’m… fat.”

“Baby, you’re not fat stop saying you’re fat. You’re beautiful the way you are and there is no one that will change that. Because if you change how you look, you are changing to look like the person that the people want to see you be, but once you change your body you’re not going to recognize yourself you’re going to feel as if there is a stranger in your body. You’re not going to feel as yourself.”

_But her sister didn’t understand how she felt when those girls would criticize her about her looks and how they constantly told her to fuck off and leave the building where she was training her voice where she was determined to become a famous singer or to become someone. Ella just wanted to be noticed for once. _

“I just want them to stop Daisy, I can’t take their judgments anymore, I hate hearing them talk about my body and I just want to change it so they can finally stop talking about me for once.” Ella sighed out, wiping away the tears that started to fall down her peachy, freckled cheeks.

“I know darling, but you can’t just decide to change your body because you want people to stop talking about you. If you want to change the way your body looks you have to do it for yourself to be happy not to make someone else feel happy. Remember it’s your body, you’re going to feel the pain, but them… they aren’t going to feel any pain because it’s not their body. So if you change your body, you’re not going to be benefiting yourself, you’re just going to be another victim of theirs.” Daisy emphasized, cupping her little sister’s cheeks and kissing her forehead giving her reassurance that she wasn’t alone, that she had someone to be there for her and that she was never going to leave her side until she finally admitted that she doesn’t have to change for anyone’s liking.

Flashback ended

  “Love? Did you hear me?” Ella came back to the present where she was seated on the mattress of her bed, forgetting that she was facetiming with Harry.

“Sorry Harry. Did you say something?”

“It’s all right. You’re getting a little sleep eh?”

“A little Harry. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to you, I got uh… distracted.”

“It’s fine love. I’ll text you or you can text me… whichever works.” Harry smiles and looks down, showing off his beautiful dimples that Ella loved so endearingly.

“Yea, yea. Maybe tomorrow? We’ll see Harry.”

Ella stared at her computer screen as she remembered the first time they met at that party and how he was like a magnet, pulling in anyone that was affected by his beautiful charm, and aura. That was his gift, he always managed to pull anyone that felt interested in knowing this lean, tall green-eyed man that at first looks intimidating, but once you talk to him he is nothing, but a big stuffed bear that you could cuddle with every day.

 The comfortable silence brought Harry back as he was also distracted staring at Ella’s freckled cheeks, he found her cheeks his favorite facial feature on her face, reminding him of the many little stars that stare back down on him every night.

Harry breaks the silence by clearing his throat which cause Ella to come back from her deep thoughts, as she stared at Harry’s pink heart-shaped lips as he was speaking,

“Love, it’s getting a bit late. Im’a leave ya so you could rest up for your day tomorrow, yea?” Harry asked, as he was rubbing his eyes himself, showing that he was also tired from the long talk.

“Yea. I should get to sleep, I just lost track of time. Sorry if I kept you up.” Ella apologized, covering her mouth as a yawn escaped her lips.

“Don’t apologize love, it’s actually already morning here, I couldn’t quite fall asleep, I kept overthinking over somethin’. But thank you for texting, I would’ve still be up doin’ nothin’.”

“Harry! You never mentioned it was morning there already. I forgot that London is eight hours ahead. I’m so sorry Harry, I’m going to leave you so you can get your rest. Good night Harry.”

“Don’t be sorry Ella. It felt good to talk to you again. We should do this again some other day, maybe tomorrow, or… I mean when you can or if you want to do this again.” Harry stuttered out, as Ella smiled finding Harry being cute, stuttering trying to be understood by her.

“Yes Harry. I enjoyed this very much, especially your company. Good night Harry, dream of your lucky stars.” Ella finished off, as she watched Harry smile again showcasing his infamous dimples,

“Good night love, dream of your many desired dreams, I’ll see you real soon Ella.” He farewelled, as Ella smiled, but her smile disappeared when she saw the video call come to an end when Harry pressed the little red button on the screen and her screen was replaced with a black, empty space.

A/N: Hey! Let me know what you thought of this one, and feel free to go to my ask box, or message me if you want! I would love to hear what you thought. Much love -A.❤💓

P.S. (Let me know if you want this to be a series or not. okay that's it im going now.)