#and of course the fourth doctor logo

[thelvadams]

THE NEW DOCTOR WHO TITLE SEQUENCE

[bird-of-victory]

Birthday Kisses and Wishes

Youngbin x OC x Zuho

What happens when a wolf shifter, a panther shifter, and a witch are destined to be mates. 

Author Note: This is just a piece I wrote to see what the reaction would be and if anyone would be interested in something like this or in a world like this. Any comments, encouragement to continue or expand, or reactions would be much appreciated. Also, fair warning, this is a long one (like 15 pages long). I just couldn’t seem to stop myself. Sorry, not sorry.

Nari POV

I was standing in the workroom of the shop, the pass-through curtain open to see the counter and shop front in case anyone came in. Luckily, no one really came in during the afternoon on a Wednesday, so I knew that I had some time to work on my little project. Adding a little bit of rosemary in, I couldn’t help smiling as the aroma filled the little room. It was a perfect mix of home-like comfort and cleansing. 

“Ooo, I like this! Is this a new scent for the shop?” questioned Sunhi, leaning in the pass-through window.

“No, it’s a birthday present” I answered, keeping the smile on my face small as I watched the concoction boil a little longer.

“A birthday present? Who’s birthday is coming up?”

Sunhi moved to sit on the counter, facing the workroom. She looked at me with her most sly expression, like she was already planning something. 

“Zuho’s birthday, if you must know. It’s on the fourth and I want to make sure it’s perfect before the party” I said, turning off the burner and ladling some of the potion out into the waiting vials. 

“The fourth? The doctor’s birthday is on the fourth?” echoed Sunhi, her head popping up in surprise.

“Yes, the fourth.” 

“So, is the party on the fourth as well?” asked Sunhi, a smirk forming on her face as she jumped off the counter and moved to the pass-through window.

“Yes, it is. And don’t you try anything. Last thing I need is you trying to play matchmaker when it’s Zuho’s day” I warned, capping the vials and moving to heat up the wax for sealing them.

“But it’s not just his day” whined Sunhi, falling against the window seal and pouting.

“Don’t try anything” I warned again, watching the purple wax melt.

I could only shake my head as I went about sealing the vials and stamping them with the shop logo on top. Humming a random melody, I smiled as Sunhi joined in while moving around the shop. When everything was completed and I had packaged up the vials in a gift box, I went back to the counter to start getting prepared for closing. 

“Don’t forget you promised to watch the shop so I could help prepare for the party?” I reminded Sunhi, continuing to do a drawer count.

“Is that why you asked me to watch the shop again this year? I thought it was because you finally had a hot date with that wolf and panther you are always with” said Sunhi, leaning on the counter.

I could only chuckle because I didn’t know how to tell her how much I wish it was because of that. I’d had a crush on both Zuho and Youngbin oppa since I first introduced myself as their neighbor and that crush has grown into full-on love for both of them as I have gotten to know them more. But there is no way two Alpha shifters would want anything more than friendship with a witch. 

“You know witches are only good as friends to shifters. Even if they weren’t Alphas, they would still be out of my league.”

“I swear, that old stereotype of witches not being good enough to be mates with shifters. I wish I could go back in time and strangle the person who thought that up” growled Sunhi, grabbing a pillow and holding it up like she was strangling someone.

“Just promise you will be back from your modeling gig in time to watch the shop, please?” I ask again, shifting the subject back.

“Of course, you can always count on your best friend,” replied Sunhi, giving me her award-winning smile. “Besides, you helping to set up Dr. Panther’s birthday party is even better than a date. He’ll see how much effort you put into the party and sweep you off your feet in thanks. Who knows? Maybe he will do more than just sweep you off your feet. You’ll deserve a present just as much as he does.”

I could only laugh and push her away as she leaned on my shoulder and winked at her last statement. 

Youngbin POV

“So, everything is ready for the party?” questioned Inseong, looking over the list of things that he and Nari had put together. 

“The ice cream cake has been ordered from his favorite shop. All the decorations are waiting in my apartment. Jaeyoonie and I are going grocery shopping later and will start cooking that morning” replied Nari, counting her fingers as she paced the walkway in between our couch and breakfast bar. “Are Rowoon and Dawon going to be able to keep him away from here so we can decorate? Maybe we should send Chani and Hwiyoung just to be safe.”

It was cute watching her plan this party for Zuho. Inseong and Jaeyoon were normally in charge of birthdays and parties, but Nari insisted on being involved in the planning of Zuho’s party. I could feel the gratitude coming off Inseong and Jaeyoon as they all spoke. Nari really had everything under control and those two were normally scrambling at the last second to throw something together. Not to say they didn’t throw a good party, but this year is shaping up to be one of the best parties yet with half the normal stress.

“Rowoon and Dawon will keep him busy enough. We don’t need the two maknaes added into the mix” I inserted, moving to lean against the back of the couch. “Besides, don’t you want them here to decorate while you cook?”

Nari stopped in front of me and zoned out while she thought through every option. Her vanilla and lavender scent wafted my way and I couldn’t help closing my eyes as I took a deep breath of that scent. Ever since she moved next door, that scent has haunted my mind. It became addictive to the point I kept a bottle of it hidden for when the craving got too much. But even then, nothing compares to the original. As if one cue, a pleased rumble came from deep in my chest, a sign my wolf agreed. 

Inseong and Jaeyoon gave me a matching smirk as they caught me. Those two could tell what this little witch does to me. They could from the first time they met her while visiting Juho and I. It’s been a topic of teasing for them ever since.

“It will be better to keep them here, Nari. Those two are likely to whine so much they all come back early just to shut them up” said Jaeyoon, getting up to put his arm around her shoulders. Smirking at me over her head, he pulled her towards the front door and away from me. “Let’s go get that grocery shopping done so we can finalize the menu.”

“That’s probably for the best. Youngbin oppa, is there anything you want from the store or any requests for the food?” questioned Nari, looking back at me as they gathered their stuff.

“Just be safe” I answered, smiling at Nari sweetly before giving Jaeyoon a pointed look.

“Okay, we’ll be back soon” sing-songed Nari as she and Jaeyoon left arm in arm. 

Jaeyoon bowed his head and let out a quiet rumble, letting me know that he got the hidden command from me. He and Nari had become very close since she got to know all of my pack. If I could trust anyone, outside of Zuho, with her, it would be Jaeyoon. 

“When are you two going to finally claim that girl?” asked Inseong, moving from the breakfast bar to the couch. “Not that this live action drama isn’t fun to watch, but all that tension gets old after a while.”

I moved to sit on the couch beside him, leaning my head back to stare at the ceiling. How much longer could I put off this feeling? Zuho wanted to claim her from the first time he saw her. He held no qualms about having a witch for a mate. No qualms about sharing a mate either.

“A mate bond is between me and my mate. Why does the rest of the world need to have an option on who or what my mate is? As long as they love me and I love them, nothing else matters.”

However, there is still a part of me that holds onto that social conditioning. Wolves aren’t supposed to mate with witches. Wolves aren’t supposed to share mates, especially not with another shifter species. But I can’t deny the fact that seeing her and Zuho cuddled on the couch brings me just as much peace as holding her in my arms does. I can’t deny the fact that my mind has been filled with nothing but her since the day she knocked on our door. Witch or not, she is everything I have looked for in a mate and more. 

“When he can pull his head out of his ass” answered a deep voice from the door.

I turned my head to see Zuho slipping off his shoes and placing them in the shoe cabinet. He stopped for a second and took a deep breath before smiling. It was the same soft, love-filled look he gets whenever he is around Nari. Who am I kidding? I get the same one. 

“Nari was here?” asked Zuho, following her scent till he was standing behind the couch where she was standing previously.

“She and Jaeyoon went grocery shopping just now” I answered, moving to turn on the tv.

“If she needed to go shopping, why didn’t she tell me? I asked her yesterday if she needed to go and she said no” questioned Zuho, a worried tone slightly entering his voice.

The worry of our mate not having everything she needs entered my head and I could smell it coming from Zuho as well. Is she focusing so much on Zuho’s party that she is ignoring her own needs? Is she spending all her money for her own food on the food for the party? I should have given her my card when they left. 

“Jaeyoonie is the one who needed to go shopping. He just wanted Nari to go along with him. You know that recent project has been keeping him busy so he missed her” answered Inseong, smirking at both of us. “No need to worry about your little witch. I’m sure if she needed anything, you would be the first ones to know.” 

“I’m checking her apartment” announced Zuho, moving towards the door.

Inseong sat up quickly, eyes wide and mouthed “the decorations” to me. Shit, the decorations for the party are in Nari’s apartment. I jumped up and ran to the door, grabbing the key we had to Nari’s apartment before Zuho could. 

“I’ll go check and make sure everything is okay. You’ve had a long day at the office. Go change and shower” I said, running out the door and leaving Inseong to deal with Zuho.

I leaned against the front door and prayed that Inseong would be able to at least stall Zuho long enough for me to make sure the decorations were hidden. Moving next door, I slipped the key in the door and entered. Giving myself a moment to just inhale her scent that covered everything, I could feel my wolf howling at being surrounded by it. Getting back to the task at hand, I grabbed the bags of decorations she had around the living room and ran them back to her bedroom. 

“I swear, I was never this bad with Jaeyoon” exclaimed Inseong, being dragged by Zuho as he entered the apartment. 

“Of course not, you two lived with each other from the first moment you met” countered Zuho, going straight to the kitchen. “It’s hard to hide the fact you don’t have something when you live together. The only thing you had to worry about was making all of us vomit with your making out in public spaces.”

“Making out on the couch isn’t in a public space,” said Inseong, crossing his arms.

“It is when you share that space with seven other shifters” I said, coming out of the bathroom after checking that she had everything in there. “She’s almost out of shampoo and conditioner. Do you think she makes it herself, gets it from Sunhi, or can we buy it somewhere?”

“I’m sure we can get it out of Sunhi,” commented Zuho, looking in her pantry. “She has all of her normal snacks and food. All of her favorite drinks are in the fridge too.”

“See you two worried for nothing. She has everything she needs, right?” asked Inseong, looking between the two of us before taking out his vibrating phone. “Jaeyoonie, what’s up?”

I went into the kitchen with Zuho, who kept opening cabinets and double checking things. He had really been getting on Nari about her diet since he found out about her habit of getting caught up in things and forgetting to eat. It had become a habit of his to make sure that she had all the things she liked to eat stocked in her cabinets whenever we came over. We even had more stocked in our apartment just in case she ran out or wanted it while over at our place.

“They are on the way back. If you don’t want to look like real weirdos for going through her things without her knowing, I suggest we go back to your place.”

Inseong pointed out the front door with his phone and walked out. Looking back at Zuho, I saw that his attention had been caught by a calendar on the fridge. The fourth had been circled in red and had a drawing of two birthday cakes on it with Zuho’s name on it. He flipped through the calendar and we saw each birthday of our pack and Sunhi’s circled with the same drawings. 

“Her birthday isn't here,” commented Zuho, looking back at me. “Did she tell you when her birthday is? I don’t remember her ever mentioning her birthday, just being born in ninety-four.”

“No, she didn’t. Let’s just get through your birthday and then we can find out” I said, clapping my hand on his shoulder and guiding him out of Nari’s place.

I could feel my wolf pulling me to go back to our mate’s place as we moved next door and could sense the same from Zuho as we entered the apartment. As much as I considered this home, it didn’t smell right without her scent mixing with Zuho’s and mine. Soon, my wolf whispered. Sometimes I wish I could just let him take over and then I get reminded of all the horror stories I was told of shifters that mate with witches. 

No, Nari wouldn’t be like them. She has proven over and over again to not be like any other witch we have encountered before. But how would the world accept us? A panther shifter and a wolf shifter sharing a witch as a mate. 

“Get your head out of your ass,” said Zuho, flicking my forehead. “I can hear your thoughts from here. One day, I’m going to lose my patience and claim her without you.”

“What?” I snarled, turning to face him.

“I’m not going to continue holding myself back from my mate just because you are caught up with being the perfect Alpha wolf” growled Zuho, eyes flashing green.

“What about you? What’s holding you back right now?” I challenged, letting my eyes flash to amber. 

“Because I would rather our mate feel whole when she is claimed than feel like something is missing” said Zuho, getting into my face as his eyes changed to full green.

“And she won’t feel that if you claim her without me?” I countered, refusing to stand down even when thoughts of those two without me started playing in the back of my head.

The heartache those thoughts caused is worse than I expected. It was like someone ripped my very heart out and stepped on it. Zuho cuddled around her in bed, their scents mixing together without mine. Her moaning out his name with no thought of me in the picture. A home filled with laughter and love that I had no place in. My wolf growled as loud as possible in my head at those thoughts. So loud, I didn’t realize it had come out of my own mouth as well.

“I will spend my life making sure she knows she is enough for at least one of us. The rest of the world be damned.”

My wolf echoed that sentiment but couldn’t just stand by as someone threatened to take our mate away. I could feel my body preparing for a fight as the door opened behind us and her scent took over everything. The tension between Zuho and I dissipated in an instant, both of our eyes shifting back to normal. 

“Youngbin oppa? Zuho? What’s going on?” questioned Nari, taking in the scene of us in front of the entryway. 

“Don’t mind them, Nari. Just two alphas who can’t make up their minds” said Jaeyoon, smirking at us while moving Nari past us.

“What can’t you two make up your minds about? Maybe I can help” offered Nari, breaking away to come stand beside the two of us.

She took one of our hands in hers and looked up at us with such an innocent, hopeful expression, it made me feel bad for almost fighting with Zuho. All she ever wants to do is help with nothing in return. I took my hand out of her’s, moving it to stroke over her hair and cup her cheek. Zuho was stroking her ring finger with his thumb, a barely audible purr coming from him that we both knew calmed Nari.

“Just what we should do for our weekly outing. Zuho wants to have a movie night and I want to go have a cookout at a campsite” I said, making up something quickly.

“Oh… I was actually hoping I could pick this week” confessed Nari, looking down at the floor with a light blush.

“What do you have in mind, Kitten?” asked Zuho, raising her hand to his lips and smiling as her blush deepened.

The spike in her scent had me inhaling a deep breath, savoring it like the delicacy it is. Pushing down the wolf wanting to come out, I focused on Nari again. Running my thumb over her cheek, I could feel the heat from her blush and let my hand slip down to her neck, letting my thumb rest on her pulse and my finger brush over that spot where I would claim her. How would she look with my mark on her neck? How would she look with a mark on each side? No one would even dare to touch her with the mark of a wolf and panther on her.

“I was wondering if we could take a day trip to the beach this weekend. There is supposed to be a meteor shower and I would love to see it while listening to the ocean” said Nari, looking up at us with hopeful eyes before they dropped. “But I understand if that is a lot to ask on short notice.”

“It sounds perfect” I said, cutting her off and taking her hand again, stroking her fingers. “We’ll make it happen. You just have to be ready to go Saturday morning.” 

“Saturday at eight am sharp, Kitten. Do you think you can do that or do you need us to stay with you to wake you up?” questioned Zuho, a teasing note to his voice and expression.

“Now that you mention it, maybe we should stay with her” I teased, shaking my head. “She never wakes up on time on the weekend.”

“Oppa! Zuho!” whined Nari, pouting up at us. “I promise I will be awake and ready on Saturday. Eight o’clock sharp.”

“You better keep your promise, Kitten. The longer it takes for us to get on the road, the less time you will have at the beach” said Zuho, smiling at her with the same fond expression I’m sure is on my face.

“I promise! I’m just happy I can finally wear that bathing suit Jaeyoon and Sunhi helped me pick out last month” said Nari, smiling up at us before going into the kitchen. “Can I have some of the apple juice?”

“It’s your’s, Nari. Drink from the bottle if you want” I answer, shaking my head at her. 

“Why does she still ask if she can have something from the kitchen?” asked Inseong, coming up to wrap his arm around Jaeyoon.

“Because she still doesn’t believe that what is our’s is her’s” answered Zuho, looking over at me and nodding, a silent offering of truce. 

“She will soon” I continued, looking back at him and nodding back, confirming the truce.

“I hope you two are prepared for your little beach trip though” said Jaeyoon, smiling as he swiped on his phone.

“Why do you say that?” 

“Because, oh fearless Alphas, this is what your little witch is going to be wearing” replied Jaeyoon, holding up his phone to show a picture of Nari wearing what can only be called a wet dream of a swimsuit.

Zuho and I grab for the phone, zooming in on the picture. I can already hear the panting from my wolf as we take in her body on display in a black bikini, framed by the black see-through cover-up, making her look like a goddess as it flowed out behind her. A soft growl is coming from Zuho as we both continue looking at the picture. 

“Jaeyoonie, our show is on!” exclaimed Nari from the living room.

“Coming” replied Jaeyoon, taking his phone back and walking further into the apartment with a satisfied smirk on his lips. 

“You still have that friend with the beach house and private beach?” I question Zuho, trying to get that image from the front of my brain. 

“Already a step ahead of you, hyung” said Zuho, holding up his phone to show the text conversation showing we had the private beach and house to ourselves.

We both stalked further into our apartment, settling on either side of Nari as she chatted with Inseong, Jaeyoon, and the newly arrived Dawon and Hwiyoung. 

Zuho POV

As soon as I woke up this morning, Rowoon and Dawon hyung had kidnapped me. I hadn’t even had time to make sure that Nari had made it to work fine since Dawon hyung was holding my phone captive. They were running us around on different errands, claiming that each had to go to this random place so far away from each other and then circling back to a different place. Both of them swore up and down that they just wanted to spend the day together but Inseong hyung and Jaeyoon hyung had put them in charge of keeping me occupied too many times. 

“What time is the party?” I finally asked Rowoon, since he had spent the last 15 minutes debating which mango would be the best for a smoothie. 

“What party?” said Rowoon, trying to give me his best innocent expression.

I’ll give it to him, he deserved all those acting awards he has gotten, but I’ve known him too long. Just a raise of an eyebrow from me and it cracks. Who would have thought that dragon shifters were so easy to crack?

“They told us to keep you away until at least four. We’ll get a text if they need more time” answered Rowoon, hanging his head in defeat. 

“Four, huh?” I looked up at the clock on the market wall. “It’s just past two-thirty. Plenty of time to get to Nari’s shop and walk her home.”

I started walking off before either Rowoon or the newly reappeared Dawon hyung could stop me. Considering how both of them were trying to convince me to not go to her shop, my curiosity peaked to say the least. Were they planning to throw the party in the shop? That would be something new. It made me move faster towards the shop, just to see what they were trying to hide. 

As I turned the corner to Nari’s shop, I could already feel that it was off. I’m normally able to catch her scent from here. Instead, I catch the scent of sweet fruits and flowers. Maybe Nari had to run some errands. The faint remnants of Nari’s scent are there as I get closer to the shop but I can tell that she hasn’t been here today. Looking over at Rowoon, I can see his pupils blown wide as he takes deep breaths. 

“What is that smell?” asked Rowoon, closing his eyes like I’ve seen Youngbin hyung do.

“That, my friend, is your mate” teases Dawon hyung, poking Rowoon in the side.

“What?” exclaimed Rowoon, breaking from the trance to look at the two of us. “No. Not possible. Dragon shifters don’t normally get mates.”

“Ah, there is the keyword. Normally. Doesn’t mean you can’t have one” I said, joining in on the teasing as we continued getting closer to the shop.

Had Rowoon and Sunhi noona never encountered each other in the time that we’ve known Nari? Thinking back, Rowoon and Sunhi noona were always running around with different schedules with Rowoon’s packed acting schedule and Sunhi noona’s modeling gigs. Rowoon hasn’t really even spent much time with Nari until recently, and Nari mentioned that Sunhi noona just returned from a gig last night. 

Just as we got to the shop, Sunhi noona opened the door and stopped in her tracks when her eyes locked with Rowoon’s. Both of them froze until Dawon hyung cleared his throat. From the blush on her cheeks, I could tell that she was taken by surprise just like Rowoon was. For Nari’s normally out-going and outspoken best friend to be reduced to a quiet blush was definitely telling. She leaned down to pick up the small plant that had been sunbathing in front of the shop.

“Sunhi noona, how are you doing today?” I asked, smiling at the witch.

“Uh, fine, just fine. What are you all doing here? Nari isn’t here” said Sunhi noona, moving back into the shop to place it on the front counter.

“She didn’t tell me she wasn’t going to be here. Do you know where she is?” I questioned, smirking as she continued to glance at Rowoon who couldn’t seem to stop glancing at her too.

Dawon hyung pulled Rowoon to the front of the shop, whispering together, leaving me at the front counter with Sunhi noona. A part of me is enjoying seeing another one of our pack find his mate, but another part is already dreading another member denying their mate bond because of some stupid belief. Just because dragon shifter mates are rare doesn’t mean they don’t happen. Same as having a witch as a mate and living a long, happy life together. 

“Oh, Nari never works on this day” replied Sunhi noona, focusing on the flowers while glancing over towards my pack members.

“She never works on July fourth?” I questioned, confused at her statement.

Why would Nari never work on my birthday? 

“Yeah, she never works on her birthday. It brings back too many bad memories so her powers are never stable enough for work” commented Sunhi noona, continuing to mess with one of the buds on the plant.

“Wait, it’s her birthday today?” I asked, feeling like I just got hit in the face.

Sunhi noona’s face shot up to look at me, wide eyed and open mouthed. I could read the “I just fucked up” on her face easy enough. Today is Nari’s birthday and instead of us celebrating together, she is off somewhere. 

“You can’t tell her that I told you it’s her birthday” pleaded Sunhi noona, grabbing my hand that was clinched on the counter. “I’m the only one who knows and she doesn’t even want me to celebrate it.”

“The only one? What about her family?” I growl out, trying to keep myself present and not let my cat take over. 

All it wants to do is hunt down Nari. Hold her down and keep her safe, make her twice as happy as she makes us. A deep growl from the front of the shop brings me back from inside my head as I realize that I was losing control. Last thing I need to do is lose control in Nari’s shop and have to fight off an out-of-control dragon for messing with his mate.

“Witches don’t really have family in the traditional sense. We are born and sent off to school before we can even speak. Sometimes before we can even crawl in more extreme cases. Normally we just get a birthday card and a gift from our parents every year. I was lucky in that my mother wanted to be in my life, so I got a lot more than what others got. But Nari…her parents signed over parental rights to the school when they sent her off. She didn’t even know when her birthday was until we were sixteen when her magic matured.”

“Where is she now?” I ask, desperate to get to my mate. 

The only thoughts going through my head are imagining a young Nari sitting at school, watching everyone else get cards and presents. Watching her best friend get visits and parties while not even knowing when to expect her own. It makes me want to track down her parents and rip out their cold-beating hearts. Youngbin hyung will help me when I tell him what happened. Nari would never have to know… but she would find out and she wouldn’t be happy with us. She would mourn those people like she knew them. Mourn them like they didn’t throw her away at the first chance they got.

“She’s at your place, helping set up for the party. I think focusing on your birthday is helping her get through this day easier” said Sunhi noona, smiling a soft, secret smile. “Her powers normally start acting up a few days before today but they have been as stable as ever. I didn’t have to help her catch up on orders at all, which is unusual for this week each year.”

I know she said that to make me feel better but all it does is make me feel worse. How am I supposed to feel okay with celebrating my birthday and ignoring my mate’s? My parents always celebrated each other’s birthdays like it was the biggest day of the year. My dad would worship the ground my mom walked on during her birthday. Hell, I remember one year, when she was pregnant with my little brother, she didn’t touch the ground at all.

“I have to talk to Youngbin hyung” I said, walking from the counter and to Dawon hyung and Rowoon. “I need my phone.” 

“Now, come on Zuho, you know I said you couldn’t have your phone yet” teased Dawon hyung, smiling his normally comedic smile.

“It’s about Nari. I need to talk to Youngbin hyung” I said, feeling my eyes flash as I watched him.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?” fake laughed Dawon hyung, grabbing my phone from his pocket and giving it to me. “Has anyone ever told you how scary you can be when Nari noona’s involved?”

I ignored his comment and walked out of the shop, dialing Youngbin hyung and pacing in front of the shop’s window. It rang a few times until his voice came through the speaker.

“This better be Dawon and not Zuho” said Youngbin hyung.

“You knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it away from me” I replied. “But hyung, where’s Nari?”

“Why? Where are you?”

“I’m at her shop.”

I could hear noise in the background as Youngbin hyung moved around until I could faintly hear Nari in the background giving out orders on hanging something. Leaning against the stone of the old brick building, I let my mind wander, imagining what Youngbin hyung was seeing. It was almost like I could see it through his eyes. Nari standing in our living room, hands on her hips as she instructed Hwiyoung and Taeyang on how to hang a Happy Birthday banner.

“She’s here. I’ve got her. Why? What’s wrong?”

The background noise faded again until I heard a click, letting me know he had retreated into a room away from everyone. 

“I found out when her birthday is.”

“That’s great. When is it?” questioned Youngbin hyung. 

I could already hear the plans being drafted in his head. He was raised the same way I was. Mates are to be worshiped on their birthdays. It is to be celebrated because they are alive.

“Today” I answer, dropping down the wall to sit on the sidewalk.

“What?” 

I could tell that wasn’t what he was expecting. I’m sure it threw him off just as much as it did me.

“Her birthday is the same day as mine. And instead of celebrating together, she hid it from us and is letting everyone focus on me.”

“But why?”

“Because her asshole parents gave her up to a boarding school before she could even crawl. Because no one told her that she even had a birthday until she was sixteen. Because it makes her miserable to think about it. Because it messes with her so much that her magic becomes unstable. Because she has to hide from the world to keep herself and others safe every year.”

I didn’t even realize I was crying until I ran my hand down my face. Just thinking about how kind and bright Nari is makes my heart ache for her. What else has she gone through without us? What other secrets lurk in the darkness of her past? How much has she gone through and still come out the other side a better person than most people in this world?

“Zuho, listen to me. Breathe. In…. And out…” instructed Youngbin hyung, helping to calm me down like he had seen Nari do. “Last thing we need is you showing up to this party she planned with either tears on your face or blood on your hands.”

“She put so much into this for me when we should be sharing it. How am I supposed to enjoy it when I know that it is her birthday too?” I asked, holding my head.

“With a smile on your face and gratitude in your heart. Our mate put her entire heart into making this special for you and this weekend, we can focus on her. You can repay her then. Focus on enjoying this party today and this weekend, we will give her a celebration we both know she deserves. One she will get every year from now on.”

I sat there and watched the world go on around me while listening to Youngbin hyung’s breathing while his words processed in my head. She has never wanted the spotlight, no matter how much she deserves it. Nari wouldn’t want a large party with all the fuss involved. She would feel like a burden to everyone if that happened. This weekend, at the beach and during the meteor shower, we will make her feel as loved as she makes us. 

The noise in the background picked up again. Laughter rang in the air and the sweet sound of her laugh stood out against the rest of them. It warmed my heart to know that the family I had with my pack accepted and loved my mate. I could survive with just Nari but knowing that we had a family and that Youngbin hyung would make sure we were all taken care of made me feel less guilty of focusing on Nari. What is that quote that Nari kept trying to explain about her romance stories?

Falling in love with the hero comes with the risk of them choosing the world over you, but falling in love with the villain means they would choose you over the world.

Little did our little witch know that she is going to end up with both. 

“What time does her favorite bakery close?” I ask, coming up with a plan as I walk away from the shop like a man on a mission. 

Nari POV

“What do you mean that you lost him?” I shout as Dawon and Rowoon stand with their heads down. “You two had one job, to keep him with you until we tell you to bring him home.”

I look over at Youngbin oppa who just pets my head before turning to the two knuckleheads who lost our birthday boy. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I get caught by the lockscreen for a second. It is a picture I took one night when Zuho had wrapped his arms around Youngbin from behind, closing his eyes, completely content, while Youngbin smiled at something in front of them. As much as my head tells me it will never happen, my heart can’t seem to get the message. It still wants them both and no one else.

Just as I am about to open the phone app, a call comes in from none other than our missing panther.

“Where the hell are you?” I exclaimed, turning away from everyone.

“Well, hello to you too. No ‘Happy Birthday my love’. Not even a quick ‘Happy B-day Zuho’ before you start yelling at me” teased Zuho, making me blush hard even over the phone.

“I already told you happy birthday last night before I went home” I replied back shyly, feeling Youngbin oppa come over to me.

He stood where the rest of the room was blocked out, effectively hiding me from everyone as he wrapped his arms around my waist. My heart seemed to forget that both Youngbin oppa and Zuho were just very affectionate people and took the opportunity to set a new record for fastest BPM. I switched the call to a video call, letting Youngbin oppa in on the call, hoping that would keep him distracted from hearing my racing heartbeat. I could see that Zuho was still outside on the street but it was hard for me to recognize anything to give away his location.

“Yes, you did. And I’m still waiting for that birthday kiss you refused to give me” said Zuho, giving away the sly smile on his face with his voice.

“Quit it with the teasing already. I told you only mates should share birthday kisses” I whined, looking up at Youngbin oppa for back up. “Right oppa? Birthday kisses are something that only mates should share.”

“That they are,” agreed Oppa, leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek. “And I know for a fact Zuho thinks so too.”

If my heart could go any faster, it definitely just did. I could feel my brain short-circuit with how many thoughts were going through my head. Was Zuho actually being serious about the kiss or was he just teasing? What if he is actually being serious? Does Zuho think we are mates which is why he won’t let the kiss go? But Oppa just kissed me too. Does he think we are mates too? But how is that possible? Sharing a mate is so rare, almost as rare as having a witch for a mate. No… there is no possible way. Wait, Youngbin oppa kissed me when we were talking about birthday kisses. Do they know that today is my birthday? No, no way, there is no way they could possibly know that today is my birthday too. Besides, Youngbin oppa only kissed me on the cheek. The guys tease each other with kisses on the cheek all the time. 

“I think you broke her, hyung” teased Zuho, snapping me out of my head. “There you are, Kitten. Welcome back.”

“I swear, you two are impossible” I huffed, crossing an arm over my chest.

“Impossible to resist, I hope” said Youngbin oppa, leaning down to speak loud enough for only Zuho and I to pick up.

Zuho’s laughter sounds through the phone while I just stare up at Youngbin oppa. I could feel my entire face getting red and didn’t really know what to do. My first instinct was to turn around and hide in Youngbin oppa’s chest, but, no, not going to happen. Instead, I pass him the phone and escape down the hall to the bathroom. A locked door against a shifter is like a piece of cardboard to a normal person but it still gives me a false sense of security. 

It gives me the space to freak out without having an audience. What the hell is going on? Why are they acting like this? Sure, Zuho has always acted like a flirt but Youngbin oppa has always just been physically affectionate. Just like he is with the pack. Or is he? Yeah, all of them thrive off physical contact like all wolves do but is he like this with people outside the pack. 

“Nari, will you let us in?” asked Jaeyoon from the door. “Sunhi is here too.”

I moved to the door, unlocking it and moving back so Jaeyoon and Sunhi could come in. Immediately, Sunhi wrapped her arms around me. 

“I’m so confused. What does all of this mean? Are they just messing with me? Are they serious? I can’t tell” I ramble, just focusing on the wall across from me.

“You and I both know that those two aren’t the type to mess with people like this. We’ve seen them turn down so many people when we go out” said Sunhi, pulling back to wipe my cheeks with her thumbs. 

“A mate bond is always confusing. I can only imagine what it is like for a non-shifter mate” said Jaeyoon from his spot against the door. “By the way, I would be careful with the tears, the only thing keeping Youngbin hyung out is Dawon holding him back and me standing here. Zuho is already running here too.”

“What? Why would Dawon have to hold Youngbin oppa back? Why is Zuho running?” I ask, feeling like things that should be obvious aren’t connecting.

“Nari, Dawon is having to hold Youngbin oppa back because his mate is in a room crying without him. Zuho is running here because his mate was on the phone in front of him and then ran away. Next thing he heard was Youngbin oppa yelling after you and Dawon tackling him” stated Sunhi, smiling at me as she continued to wipe my tears.

“His mate? Youngbin oppa and Zuho?” I echoed, feeling things were starting to fall into place. “No, you’ve got the wrong girl. Youngbin oppa deserves a beautiful and powerful wolf as a mate. Zuho deserves to have a gorgeous and fierce cat by his side. How could I be their mate?”

“Hold that thought” said Jaeyoon, opening the door a crack. “Rowoon, Hwiyoung. If you two don’t grab Zuho when he finally gets here, expect extra training sessions. Dawon, you better hold onto Youngbin hyung like your life depends on it.”

“Have you ever tried to hold back an Alpha from their mate?” shouted back Dawon, cursing out every now and then.

Jaeyoon closed the door again and then gave me a pointed look. Could it all be true? Am I really the mate to Youngbin oppa and Zuho? Did everyone know but me? No, my heart knew but my brain refused to believe it. 

“See. This is what happens when a shifter can’t get to their mate. Hell breaks loose until said mate is back in their arms” said Jaeyoon, smiling down at me. “I know it is a lot for your little witch brain to process right now, but all you need to do is trust your heart. I’ve seen the way you three are with each other. You’ve been acting like mates this entire time. It only makes sense to finally put an official title on it.” 

“We have?” I ask, looking up at him. 

“I know the books and movies make it seem like the entire world shifts when mates meet and for a shifter, it does. They are the main source of happiness for you. They make each day a little brighter. Their needs come before your own. For non-shifters, it’s less earth-shattering but no less consuming” said Jaeyoon, running his hand down my head.

“Who are the only two people you talk about anymore?” questioned Sunhi.

“Youngbin oppa and Zuho.”

“Who do you constantly spend time with every day?” asked Jaeyoon.

“Youngbin oppa and Zuho.”

“Who are you constantly thinking about?” teased Sunhi.

“Youngbin oppa and Zuho.”

“Who are you in love with?” they both asked, sharing a secret smile.

“Youngbin oppa and Zuho.”

“Sounds like mates to me, if I’ve seen them. What do you think, Jaeyoonie?” said Sunhi, hugging me again.

My heart already felt lighter than before. Could it all be true? Am I really their mate? And they are willing to take me as a mate? Do they want to claim me as one? Wait, no, one step at a time. Just the fact they are willing to take me as a mate is enough. Claiming can wait, if it ever comes, because they have already claimed my heart.

“I think her face says it clear enough,” replied Jaeyoon, smiling. “And just in time too.”

Banging started behind Jaeyoon on the door.

“Nari, is everything okay?” shouted Youngbin oppa.

“Kitten, what happened? Let us in. Kitten, please” shouted Zuho, followed by more banging.

“We can smell your tears from here. I swear if Jaeyoon and Sunhi are making you cry,” a menacing growl was heard following Zuho’s threat. “I don’t care if they are your best friends. You can make more.”

“Nari, please, just say something. If we don’t hear your voice in the next 30 seconds, this door is coming down” shouted Youngbin oppa, followed by more banging and then shouting as their voices got further away.

“Are you ready to calm those two idiots down? Because that is the only way anyone out there is going to avoid going to the hospital” said Sunhi, fixing my hair for me with a smile.

Laughing a bit, I take a deep breath and nod my head, moving in front of Jaeyoon and Sunhi. I unlock the door and all the noise outside stops with the click of the lock. Turning the knob, I prepare myself for what I might find on the other side. What’s that saying? Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. As I pull the door open, I’m greeted by the faces of the only two people my heart beats for. The worry in their eyes makes me want to cry again. Is it real?

“Nari, what is it?” asked Youngbin oppa, grabbing my hand and turning my face so I couldn’t hide it from them. 

“Kitten, ask anything. Say anything and it is your’s. Ask for anything and it’s done. Just don’t cry” pleaded Zuho, pressing a kiss to my forehead as he grabbed my other hand. 

“Is it true?” I ask in a quiet voice, staring at their chests, scared of making eye contact with them. 

“Is what true, Kitten?” questioned back Zuho, squeezing my hand a bit.

“Am I your mate?” I finally get out, finding the little spark of courage I had to look them both in the eye.

“Is there even a question about that, Kitten? Have I not made it clear that you are the only one for me from the very first day?” answered Zuho, breaking into a soft smile that I’ve only ever seen him use with me. “You own me, Kitten.”

“Nari,” starts Youngbin oppa, guiding my hand until it rests over his heart. “This only beats because of you. Because you take care of me when I lose focus of myself. Because you care for my pack like they are your own. Because you are everything I have ever imagined in a mate and more.”

“But I’m a witch” I say back, voicing that little doubt in the back of my head.

“That doesn’t change anything, Kitten. You’re stuck with us from now on” said Zuho, pulling me into his embrace.

“We’ll be the ones to change that image. We can show them that shifters and witches can have a happily ever after, like those stories you love so much” continued Youngbin oppa, petting my head with a fond smile.

I wrapped my arms around Zuho, burying into his chest and just savoring this moment. Who’s to say I won’t wake up from this? That this isn’t a dream.

“You came on too strong hyung. You broke our Kitten” teased Zuho, tightening his hold on me.

“Like you wouldn’t have said the same thing” shot back Youngbin oppa, rubbing my back.

“Exactly, she expects it from me. Not the uptight, never flirted a day in his life, perfect image Alpha wolf.”

Next thing I know, my arms are around Zuho’s neck and he is carrying me out to the living room. Youngbin oppa is following us and only has a fond smile on his face at Zuho’s teasing. When we make eye contact over Zuho’s shoulder, he winks at me and whispers “It’s my turn later.” I hide my face in Zuho’s neck which only makes him squeeze me for a second.

“Now, what is this about a party?” asked Zuho, the smile in his voice obvious to everyone.

“I don’t want to throw you a party anymore” whined Dawon. “First, you disappear on Rowoon and I and make us get yelled at by our Luna. And then I have to tackle our Alpha to the ground to save your apartment from being destroyed. Then I have to help drag you two away from that door in a tiny ass hallway. I don’t want to party anymore. I just want to go to bed.”

“Luna?” I question, looking up from Zuho’s neck and over to Youngbin oppa. “Who’s Luna?”

“It’s a title, Nari. The mate of the Alpha of a wolf pack is called the Luna of the pack. She is the moon he follows so the rest of the pack does too. It’s a sign of respect to be called Luna” explained Youngbin oppa.

“Like she wasn’t going to be our Luna at some point” commented Chani from his spot against the wall, already eating a plate of food. “I’m just surprised it took this long for you two. Did it really have to be this dramatic too?”

“Seriously, I’ve seen Rowoon hyung film dramas less dramatic than this whole event was,” said Hwiyoung, joining Chani against the wall with a plate of food.

“You two jerks” scolded Jaeyoon, chasing after the two youngest wolves. “You were supposed to wait to touch that food.”

“With all this dramatic shit going on, how were we supposed to know we would ever eat?” fired back Chani, running the opposite direction as Hwiyoung. 

I moved to be let down from Zuho’s hold, which he reluctantly did from how long it took for him to finally let me down. Turning to face the rest of the room, I took in the state of everyone there. Jaeyoon was chasing Chani while Inseong half-tried chasing Hwiyoung who was really just sneaking him bites of food when they got close. Rowoon was in the window seat with Taeyang, both of them cheering on the youngest. Dawon had claimed one of the love seats as his stage for a dramatic monologue on the trials of being one of the enforcers in a wolf pack. Sunhi came over to me and linked her arm with mine, resting her head on my shoulder as we watched the chaos ensue. Zuho’s arms wrapped around me from behind, followed by a contented purr, while my other hand was raised up to Youngbin oppa’s lips for a kiss. 

Is this what it feels like to be surrounded by family and love? Is this how it feels to belong somewhere? 

“Happy Birthday Zuho” I said, looking up at Zuho. 

“Do I finally get that birthday kiss that only mates can share?” teased Zuho, making me laugh until he swung me around and claimed my lips in a dramatic kiss that had the rest of the room cheering. “You better get used to it, Kitten. This is just the first of many.”

Youngbin POV

The rest of the party went as smoothly as can be expected with our pack, but was fun nonetheless. Zuho really wasn’t lying when he mentioned that we may have another mate pair in Rowoon and Sunhi. They could barely keep their eyes off each other the entire time. But I could only focus on my own mate. My mate. It feels right to finally say it. 

Why did I try to fight it and deny it for so long? Everything feels right now. Seeing Nari smile at the youngest wolves like a loving mother as she pets their heads. Her and Jaeyoon preparing food in the kitchen together while they sing and dance together. She and Inseong sharing stories and knowledge that impress everyone just by the sheer volume of how much they have between them. Dawon and her laughing at his jokes. Her quiet conversations with Taeyang that seem to help pull him out of his shell a little bit. Offering to go over scripts with Rowoon and even giving hints at helping to set him up with Sunhi. 

But this is the thing I knew from the first moment we met was right. She and Zuho curled up on the couch, sleeping peacefully like there wasn’t a care in the world. Zuho never slept as soundly as he does with Nari. When she is in his arms, it’s like all the worries of the world are gone. He doesn’t have trouble drifting off to sleep and stays asleep.

It makes me think back to all those stories of seeing your mate with someone else. That, especially in the beginning of the bond, it is impossible to see your mate with someone else much less held by them or kissed by them. That it is supposed to twist your heart and be painful when someone else kisses them, and a pain close to death when they are intimate with someone else. But none of that happens when I see her and Zuho.

When I saw Jaeyoon slip into that bathroom with her and Sunhi this afternoon, I felt it. That twist in my chest and pain that there was someone else comforting my mate when it should be me. The only thing I could think while I tried to fight off Dawon was that Zuho would get here to either help me break free or just get to her first. Today was the first time I really let myself fully experience the mate bond. Before I fought it and denied it as hard as I could, but I know just how stupid I was being. 

The dried tear tracks on Nari’s cheeks were torture enough when she finally appeared from the bathroom. But when everyone left earlier, and it was just the three of us, when she let her guard down and cried in our arms. When she finally let us into her mind as she sobbed. That was something I never want to experience again. Our mate only deserves the best. She deserves to have everything that could make her happy.

“She’s adorable when she’s sleeping” commented Zuho, opening his eyes to meet mine.

“You both are” I teased before moving a piece of hair out of her face. “I was an idiot to keep stringing her along just because I was denying our bond.”

“I’m just glad you finally got your head out of your ass. I wasn’t lying when I said I would claim her without you.”

“Be happy it’s still before midnight, Birthday Boy. I get her tomorrow” I said, smiling at Zuho.

“Tomorrow we are going to get a king size bed so we don’t have to fight over who gets her,” stated Zuho, moving to sit up. “You said it’s still before midnight, right?” 

“Yeah” I answer off-handedly, looking at the space in the living room. 

If we move the coffee table, we should have enough room for all of us to have a nest on the floor. Would Nari like that? I know shifters enjoy having nests but what about non-shifters? I know humans and non-shifters have similar things in movies and tv shows. 

“Just make the damn nest on the floor,” said Zuho from the kitchen. “We both know neither of us are going to sleep without her tonight.”

Shaking my head, I gathered up as many pillows and blankets as I could before making the best nest I could with what we had. Feeling it, I knew it wouldn’t be as soft as a mattress but one night of this and then tomorrow, we would take our mate to buy the most comfortable bed for our room. Getting up, I lifted her off the couch and placed her down in the middle of the nest. 

“My precious little mate, what have you done to us?” I questioned, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead and sniffing her hair.

“Mmm, Oppa?” 

Nari’s sleepy voice had me looking down at her face, smiling when her eyes opened and she gave me a sleepy smile. I grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles as we kept eye contact. Her other hand moved to the other side and I could tell when she started to panic when there was no one there. 

“Zuho?” called Nari, sitting up to look around the dark apartment. 

“I’m here, Kitten” called Zuho, moving towards us from the kitchen.

I smirked at what he was carrying and pulled Nari back into my chest. Finally wrapping my arms around our mate, I made a promise that this would be how we spend every year together. Covering her eyes with my hand, I pressed kisses to the side of her face and in her hair, feeling my chest fill with pride at her happy giggles. When Zuho had finally settled in front of us, I removed my hand from her eyes and let her see what Zuho had brought over.

“Happy Birthday Kitten.”

“Happy Birthday, my Luna.”

“But how…” asked Nari, staring down at the small cake with a single candle on it. 

“You can’t keep anything from your mates, my Luna” I teased, nuzzling her neck until she was laughing.

“You might also want to think twice about trusting Sunhi with your secrets when she is around Rowoon,” said Zuho, smirking as Nari’s mouth dropped open. “Blow out the candle, Kitten, and make a wish.”

“I don’t need to make a wish,” said Nari, smiling up at the both of us. “I’ve gotten everything I could ever wish for right here.”

The small flame was blown out just as an ember sparked in our hearts, linking the three of us together.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Secret Weapon.”

Hello everyone!

Sorry I have not posted anything in like a weak. I have plenty of excuses number one being that the fourth book in my favorite book series (the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson came out) and I needed to finish reading it for my own sanity

number two being that I am currently working on a new novel and am trying to write 2000 words a day on that

plus I am trying to get into graduate school

also I have a job

And am experiencing a tiny bit f burnout :)

Either way I am sorry that It has been a while, and I hope you like the story today.

“Is he alright?”

“Not this again.”

“Someone should go talk to him.”

“I thought we were past this.”

Dr. Krill, Sunny, Dr Katie, Ramirez, and Maverick huddled outside the door to the observation platform looking inward to where the man stood in front of the window illuminated by a field of stars. His posture was eerily similar to how they had seen him once before, not long before a near breakdown had led him to take leave. Leave they weren’t entirely sure he would come back from.

They hoped this wouldn’t be like that, but this picture seemed all too familiar.

“Someone should go talk to him.” 

Four heads turned to face Sunny who turned the corners of her mouth down in the approximation of a frown, “Why me.”

“Well aren't you like…. His girlfriend.”

“Ex.”

Ramirez raised an eyebrow, “You guys have been pretty cuddly recently for exes.”

Sunny huffed, “The relationship has yet to be defined, but that's beside the point. Ramirez you’re his BFF or whatever you humans call it.”

Ramirez shook his head, “Me, no I think Maverick has this one. She’s all spiritual and what not, so she is like supposed to talk to people about their problems.”

Maverick snorted, “I’m a chaplain not a therapist. Talk to doctor Adric if you need that.” She turned to look to doctor Krill, “If anyone should be talking to him it’s you. You’ve been his friend the second longest and you are the most logical.”

Dr Krill waved a hand, “I am not equipped to handle your human issues.”

“That is such a cop-out answer.”

The squabble continued for a few minutes, until finally Sunny raised her voice, “Fne, fine, I will go talk to him. You all wait here.”

They quieted down clustering around the door as they watched Sunny move forward into the room. She took a deep breath and slowly approached coming up to stand beside him. She turned her head fearing what kind of expression she might find on his face, and was both surprised, relieved, and concerned to find he had an expression of puzzled concentration on his face, brows knit together, mouth turned down in a frown.

She reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, you alright.”

He turned his head to look up at her, “Hmmm, oh yeah…. Fine as I can be I suppose.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

His mouth turned up in a tight smile, “Only if you tell the others to stop loitering in the door and come help me out.” He raised his voice so that the others could hear and, in abashment, they headed into the room. Surprisingly Conn drifted in from the other side of the room where he had been spying from the other door.

They clustered together on one of the tables taking a seat as he turned to face them. He was smiling pleasantly, and the group glanced between each other in concern. It seemed like he was doing fine, but who were they to judge, they had been wrong before.

“Worried about me again I see.”

“I mean, you’ll forgive us. You have been…. Questionably erratic in the past.”

His smile continued,” I know, and I thank you, all for your concern about me. It is nice to know I have friends who I can count on.” He turned to look at Conn, “Go on, tell them.”

Conn floated off to the side ribbons undulating in his simulated zero gravity field, “He is stressed but not overly so.”

They nodded relieved.

He turned, putting his hands behind his back and began to pace. Hisback was straight and the way he walked was like a general examining his troops on the battlefield. “I admit that I have been distant, and I admit that in the past something like this would have overwhelmed me. I still FEEL overwhelmed though not in a drowning sort of way.” He turned the other direction, “I feel like I have been caught in an intergalactic game of chess where I am the king facing down a queen and her rooks.”

Sunny didn’t understand the metaphor but Krill certainly seemed to.

“I don’t have enough experience to play the game and so my movements are limited. But the chairwoman…. She’s a Rundi, and has trained for politics all her life in one way or another.” he turned back in the opposite direction. “And just like a king in chess I find myself the most important piece of a game that I cannot directly influence.”

They watched him pacing back and forth. They had never seen him like this, though it was better than the other options.

“I think you underestimate your position.” 

Admiral vir lifted his head, “And how is that?”

Dr Kate idly played with the ends of her hair as she thought, “Well, you know what she is planning. And she doesn't know that you know, which, I feel, gives you a leg up.”

He nodded, ‘And you are right, for sure, butI find the problem being that I’m not…. Smart enough to know how to use it.” He turned in the other direction, “I had my IQ tested at the academy you know…. Above average but nowhere close to genius, which I would need to be in order to play this sort of game.” He turned to eye krill, “We have a certified genius aboard the ship, but something tells me that politics wouldn’t be your strong suit.”

Krill shrugged rather abashedly. That was true enough.

“If only I had some sort of secret weapon.” 

***

Eris had never been off-world.

Noctopolis had been her home for as long as she could remember though the early days of her life had been spent inside a cage. She was Eunique, the only one of her kind, half human and half starborn, and sometimes, it felt, completely alone.

Despite her maturity, she was less than three years old, and had been grown at an enhanced rate inside a simulated womb using adapted DNA to configure her parts. She was completely unnatural, a freak of nature that had nothing to  do with nature. She was an unnatural abomination. And since they had been rescued, she had spend her days living and working for other people. The hybrids had needed a stable home,somewhere they could learn and grow and feel loved.

She had created that place, and provided that for a time, but she was growing exhausted.

Others had stepped in to help and volunteer. People from all over the galaxy had really shown their compassion in coming to her and either adopting the hybrids or offering to help and work athr foundation. A sweet LFIL couple (Tesraki and Human pair) had offered to take over for her as she was struggling to run what what essentially a business in some ways, though it was more a boarding house for the hybrids.

In the end there were only a few left who needed watching, and her burnout had been obvious to others.

She needed to get away.

To find her own path, but….. What was that?

Eris couldn’t survive in space like a starborn, that was well established, her bones and organ structures were like that of a human. The internal structures of a hybrid always had to be one way or another to avoid horrific malfunctions, so in most ways she was human.

Accept for her skin, and eyes of course which were starborn. She was as pale as alabaster and her eyes were wide and dark. This made her a freak to humans, so she kept her dark hair very long inorder to hide her face, which she grew more and more ashamed of by the day.

It didn’t help that she had the ability to read the thoughts of others, and knew better than anyone what people thought about her.

She wore a gravity belt sometimes since she found it felt better on her joints, but she had stopped when she left the foundation and struck out on her own. Today she wore a hoodie -- with the UNSC logo on it -- and very dark sunglasses. 

Final boarding call for flight 1427 to earth, Final boarding call.

Eris followed behind the tide of other humans pulling her luggage along behind her. She was tired, and her knees ached a little, but she supposed she was ok. Due to the nature of her eyes, she didn’t see very well as humans did, but reading the minds of others as a constant background in her head she was able to navigate better than anyone there as she knew when they were going to move on when they were going to stop. She maneuvered the tide of human bodies like no human could.

Again, Eris was mostly human. She didn’t hear though, and relied on others to do that for her, and she couldn't taste or smell either, but that was also something she could borrow.

Her senses lacked only what the people around her could and could not see.

She follow the boarding call with the other passengers and offered her ticket to the flight attendant.

The woman squinted under her hood rather suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. These space ports were well guarded, and Eris had already had to deal with other people staring at her when she went through security.

She followed the other humans onto the shuttle and took a seat. The floor glowed blue throbbi in time with the engine as she locked herself into her seat. Out the window she could see the surface of mars, Hazy grey in the distance with rough red plateau’s rising up in the distance.

It was strange to be in the human system, the genesis of half her ancestral line. SHe didn't know about her starborn half as she had never met one. She knew who her DNA donor had been in theory, though he had likely had his DNA stolen.

Eris doubted that he knew about her.

And then there was her human donor, Admiral Vir, the most famous human in the galaxy.

Eris Vir

She kind of liked that, though she never really used it, feeling he might see it as a breach of privacy. The man had been nothing but good to her the few times she had met him, and the one time he had saved her. She admired him a lot and wished she had a better relationship with him, though his job took him far away. She wasn’t the only one, most all of her hybrid brothers and sisters, who were part human,had been grown off his stolen DNA.

She was the only one, however, that seemed to care.

Eris Vir.

She sighed and leaned her head against the window.

What was she doing?

Below her the ground sped away as the automated safety system continued to give instructions.

“Preparing for warp.”

She held onto the seat feeling her insides churn as the warp sequence engaged. She jerked once against her seatbelt as te warp stopped, and below her she could see the glittering vista of the human homeworld.

Earth.

She pressed her face up to the window and gasped in awe.

It was beautiful blue and green swirled with delicate white clouds in churning spirals.

Herheart raced inside her chest.

This was it…. This is where it all began.

Preparing to dock on lunar 1 please remain in your seats until the seatbelt sign is off.

She waited patiently and stopped off with the others, walking out into the fifth spaceport of her trip, her suitcase rattling behind her.

She followed the sins to the proper docking station and waited for another shuttle that would take her to earth. It would be at least an hour for the next one to Mid-Mericanda, so she would have to wait.

She slumped in her seat and listened to the music of the girl next to hre. The music was ood, it had a nice beat.

When her boarding was called, she stood and followed onto another shuttle, which took her down through the atmosphere rattling and bouncing in her seat. She did her best to keep her hood covering her face as she stared out the window at the wondrous view below her. It was so bright!.

Noctopolis had no sunlight, but this was beautiful and colorful, and it looked so warm.

She didn’t see why everyone thought earth was so dangerous.

They touched down outside an Airport where she could see planes fuling for in-atmosphere flights, and stepped out onto the tarmac with wide eyes. Wides eyes under the radiation of the sun. Glorious, glorious heat, it warmed her through her sweatshirts and into her body making her drowsy and happy and warm. Her entire body felt energized, and even her knees seemed as if they were aching just a little less. She stood in the sun probably longer than she should have.

“Been a while since you’ve seen the sun huh?”

She jumped a little in surprise, which was unusual for her and turned to look at the human baggage attendant standing on the other side of the gate, “Oh yes…. A very…. Very long time.”

The smiling human tipped his hat at her, “Well enjoy your stay ma’am.”

She couldn’t help but smiling back thinking about how pleasant he was. His memories were warm, filled with sunny days spent with his family. It made her chest ache just to think of it as she turned and headed towards the baggage claim.

She picked up her bags just fine and then walked to stand just outside.

Suddenly very lost.

She looked up at the sky which  was a beautiful blue color she had never seen before and she breathed in the air of earth, Air thousands of years old, breath in by countless humans that had come before.

Eris frowned at herself. She needed to stop thinking of them as being so different from her. She was half human after all, even though her eyes and skin were a little strange. Still, it that moment she had never felt so alien, unsure of where to go or how to proceed.

“Need a lift. Lady.” 

She turned on the spot coming fact to face with a man leaning back against the hood of his strange yellow machine…. A taxi it seemed.

She searched or his intentions and heard nothing but his desire to work.

She walked over nervously and held up a small piece of paper, “I am looking for this address, do you know how I can get there.” He scanned the address with a chip implanted in his hand and then tilted his head to look down at his wrist as a map appeared. 

He chewed slowly on a wad of gum and blew a bubble, “Yeah I can get you there, can you pay.”

“Do you take credits?”

“Take anything as long as you meet the exchange value for dollars.”

She nodded, “I would like to be taken there then, please.”

The man nodded and touched his forehead helping her ut her suitcase in the back before opening the door for her. She climbed in, and h slid into the front seat pulling away and into traffic. Looking around she could see most of the vehicles didn’t touch the ground, though a few rolled on wheels. The high speeds at which they drove made her nervous and she clutched the harness holding her in place.

Below her she could see the city unfolding in a great sprawling vista. She stared, the architecture was so strange with sharp geometric lines mostly of steel and glass rising hundreds of feet into the air. They dropped lower into the city and eventually out to where lines and lines of similarly cut houses stood in sharp rows.

She had seen this in the memories of humans before but never thought shed see it.

They drove for a little longer until the houses gave way to sprawling fields and little tons until they pulled into a small place in comparison to the city, past a school and some other amenities before pulling in to another one of the subdivisions.

She recognized the house even though she had never seen it in person, and the Driver pulled to a stop.

She paid the man and stepped out of the car thanking him as he got her bag for her and then just drove off.

Eris was left standing alone on the quiet suburban  street under an earth sun. Though she was alone her mind was full of strange images, seen through the eyes of unusual creatures. It made her disoriented for a moment, but she quietly walked forward up the sidewalk and to the front door of the house.

She paused.

She could feel people inside, and knew that she was at the right palace, but she was nervous, how would they react to her. Would they even accept her existence?

What was she doing here?

It’s not like she was part of thor family, not by choice anyway.

She almost turned around but stopped and then raised a hand knocking softly on the door.

Eris held her breath and waited, footsteps approached the door, a man approaching thinking nothing more than one of his neighbors come to ask a question.

The door opened and Jim Vir looked down at her.

He was a tall intimidating man, one who had work hard all his life.

He tilted his head in that curious fashion humans had, “Can I help you?”

Nervously, Eris pushed back her hood and pulled off her sunglasses letting her long black hair roll down next to her face. The man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but the thought in his head was a little less than what she expected.

Another one

He frowned, “You’re…. Not a starborn ar you?”

Hedidn’t seem to think so recalling that Adam’s friend Conn couldn’t survive without a 0 gravity field.

She shuffled nervously, “No…. well yes…. I’m half starborn and half human.” 

Yep, another one.

To her surprise he smiled and opened the door, “You must be Eris then.”

She blinked, “You know about me/”

Dumb question as she could see Adam had told his parents about her. They even had a picture of the two of them together.

Despite hos scary he looked his thoughts and demeanor were pleasant as he opened the door to invite her in, “Guess this makes you my granddaughter in a way doesn’t it?”

“In the technical sense.” She said quietly smiling 

“Well Family is always welcome here.”

Isn’t that nice she thought.

She hoped it was going to work out

[rookie-ramsey]

Curveball, Chapter 6

Description: Two months after the ski lodge, life throws them a big surprise.

Preview: The words left Sienna’s mouth in a rush. “Olivia’s in labor. She’s in the ER right now. She was in a car accident and isn’t badly hurt, but it triggered labor.”

At that, Ethan felt his heart stop. His throat clenched, suddenly dry with worry. He didn’t remember breaking into a run, but the hallways of the hospital blurred past him as his feet carried him to the ER.

previous chapter

The baby shower began with lunch. Olivia got to go first, making sure to take at least one of everything. She took a seat next to Ethan at the table and leaned against his side as they started eating.

“How does it feel seeing a baby shower in your apartment? It looks like the baby aisle at Walmart exploded in here.”

Ethan chuckled. “I’m more concerned about what the conversation over there is related to.”

She arched a brow, watching curiously as Sienna whispered with Olivia’s mother and siblings and Alan in the corner of the room. “What could our relatives be gossiping about? My sister is writing something.”

“It’s hard to tell.”

After a few minutes, Sienna stood up and grinned. “We’re going to warm up with a little guessing game. I’ll tell a childhood story about one of the parents, and you guys get to guess who it was!”

Olivia couldn’t contain an amused smirk. “I guess this means I get to hear some more delightful Little Ethan stories.”

“Apparently so.” Ethan sighed.

Sienna glanced down at the paper and giggled before reading. “This parent used to wear a white bathrobe and plastic stethoscope and played hospital with stuffed animals. Who thinks that was Olivia?”

Several hands went up. Ethan bit back a smirk as her cheeks flushed a little.

“That’s right,” her mom confirmed. “She waltzed around the house in a little white robe, used every room in the house as a hospital room for her ‘patients,’ and insisted that we had to give them privacy.”

“It sounds like I’m finally getting some blackmail material,” Ethan whispered, earning an eye roll.

“Sure you are. Nothing will ever be more embarrassing than little you making out with your teddy bear.”

Sienna moved onto the next one. “True or false! When Ethan was really little, he had a fascination with Band-Aids.”

“Why do I think that’s true?” Olivia grinned.

“Because it is,” Alan confirmed. “When he was a toddler, all it took was a box of Band-Aids to keep him amused for several minutes. Of course, he put them on everything he could get his hands on. His toys, the furniture… the interior of the car on a road trip.”

Olivia laughed. “That’s adorable.”

“It’s wasteful.” Ethan shook his head, trying not to smile. The game continued for several minutes until people were finished eating.

Curious, Olivia watched as Sienna set out several unlabeled jars of baby food. “What are those for?”

Sienna grinned. “People have to guess the flavor by smelling it or taking a tiny taste if they’re brave enough. Just a heads up, the smells and tastes may not always be accurate!”

“Who goes first?”

“You pick.” Sienna handed her a basket containing slips of paper. Olivia reached it into, digging her fingers through the papers until she picked one. She opened it slowly to increase the suspense and smirked when she read the name.

“Zaid.”

Zaid startled, his eyes widening. “What?”

Amused, Olivia revealed the paper slip with his name on it. “You get to go first.”

Ines laughed and nudged Zaid toward the table. “Do it.”

He sighed. “I should have listened to my conscience and not put my name on that paper. I should have known better.”

Baz rolled his eyes and grinned. “Okay, Eeyore. Be a fair sport and play the game.”

Giving in, Zaid picked up the first jar and took a tentative sniff. He immediately set it down. “Is that supposed to smell edible? Because it does not.” He jotted down an answer on the slip of paper and reluctantly moved to the next one.

Olivia picked the second name. “Bryce, you’re up. Don’t chicken out.”

“You think I’d really back down? Never.” He picked up the first jar and smelled it, wrinkling his nose with uncertainty.

Jackie snorted. “I’ll pay you ten bucks to taste a mouthful.”

“Deal.”

Sienna handed Bryce a clean tongue depressor from the bag of supplies. “Here you go.”

Ethan arched a brow. “Are those from the hospital?”

“We didn’t have enough plastic spoons!”

“Stealing an entire Ziploc baggie of tongue depressors from a hospital that has thousands of them? Badass.” Bryce laughed and dug out a scoop of the baby food. He put it in his mouth, immediately making a face.

“Ten dollars,” Jackie reminded him.

Bryce swallowed it and tried not to gag. “That… was gross. Zaid, I’ll do your clinic hours if you try it.”

Zaid rolled his eyes. “Do I look like a moron? Don’t answer that.”  

After a few more games, they sat down to open the inordinate number of presents occupying their apartment. Olivia grabbed the first one and dug through the tissue paper until she found two tiny sets of pajamas designed to look like scrubs.

“These are so cute!”

Elijah grinned. “You’re welcome.”

Olivia picked a large present from her mom and nudged it toward Ethan. “Open that.”

Ethan removed the paper, exposing a box that seemed to contain some sort of sophisticated trash can. “What in god’s name is this?”

Rebecca laughed. “It’s a diaper genie! It’s basically a fancy trash can that’s supposed to contain the diaper smell inside them.”

“These exist?”

Rebecca chuckled. “Yes, and believe me, you’ll need it. If not for the diaper smell, then to stop them from getting into it when they learn to walk. When Olivia was a year old, she felt like knocking over a trash can full of diapers. Worst mess I ever had to clean up.”

“Really, Mom?” Olivia groaned. She opened the next present, which was from Sienna. She opened it and grinned as she dug out two stuffed dolphins, as well as two little onesies with dolphins on them.

“What do you think?”

“I love them!” Olivia folded the tiny outfits and put them back in the bag. She opened several more gifts, collecting plenty of clothes, diapers, and other necessities. When she opened the present from Baz, she giggled and held up the four matching sets of Christmas pajamas.

Ethan stared at them, his expression blank. “It’s October.”

Baz grinned. “So?”

“These are perfect. And I will make it my life’s goal to get Ethan to wear his.” Olivia gave Ethan a pointed look, wordlessly telling him he would not win the argument even if it wouldn’t happen for another two months.

Once most of her guests had left, Olivia curled up on the couch and rummaged through the gifts. Bryce and Sienna stayed to help her family clean up while Ethan helped her sort through their presents.

“I think this is my favorite.” She held up the picture frame from Alan, containing a copy of one of their sonograms and an empty slot they would use for a newborn picture when the twins were born.

Ethan thumbed through the customized journal from Naveen. His other hand subconsciously rested on Olivia’s stomach, and a moment later he felt the now-familiar little kick against his palm.

Olivia smiled, lightly placing her hand on top of his. “I don’t think you’ll ever know how cute you are when you do that. I don’t even think you realize you’re doing it half the time.”

“I guess it’s become an instinct.” Ethan slipped his arm around her.

“A cute instinct.” She gave his hand a squeeze. Stifling a yawn, she rested her head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s already October. By December, they’ll be here. I feel like it’s gone by fast and slowly at the same.”

Nodding in agreement, Ethan pressed a kiss to her head. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. Opening presents and eating is a lot of work when you have two people inside of you.”

He chuckled and drew her closer to his side. “I’m sure it is.”

Olivia draped her arm across him and snuggled into his chest. A mischievous smile lifted the corners of her lips. “I never thought I’d see Dr. Antisocial Ramsey attending a baby shower.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “You forget that I’m capable of surprises.”

XXXXXX

It didn’t take long for maternity leave to give her cabin fever.

Since twins were almost always born earlier than expected, she scheduled her C-section for the 37th week. Even that was pushing it, but she wanted to let them develop as long as possible.

Halfway through her fourth episode of House, her phone chimed with a message from Ethan. She picked up her phone and grinned when she saw a picture of two baby onesies, each with the caption “Relax, my parents are doctors.”

She grinned as she looked at the picture to see that the onesies were blue and green to match Edenbrook’s logo. She typed a response, glancing at the time and realizing she would need to get ready for her appointment soon.

As she showered and dressed, a kick in her abdomen reminded her of just how soon their lives would change.

XXXXXX

As 1:30 approached, Ethan slipped out of his office to meet Olivia for her 35-week appointment. He pocketed his phone and car keys and made his way toward the elevator.

“Ethan!”

Ethan stopped, turning at the urgency of the voice behind him. He frowned, seeing Sienna rush toward him. “What happened?”

The words left Sienna’s mouth in a rush. “Olivia’s in labor. She’s in the ER right now. She was in a car accident and isn’t badly hurt, but it triggered labor.”

At that, Ethan felt his heart stop. His throat clenched, suddenly dry with worry. He didn’t remember breaking into a run, but the hallways of the hospital blurred past him as his feet carried him to the ER.

He made his way to the closed curtain in the corner and shoved it aside, finding Olivia resting on the bed with Bryce standing at her side. She held an ice pack to her bruised temple, clutching her stomach with her other hand.

Olivia looked up, her eyes wide with panic. “Ethan, it’s… it’s too soon for this to happen! I’m not supposed to have the C-section for two more weeks! My… my water broke in the cab…”

“Shh…” Unsure if he was trying to calm himself or her, Ethan took her face into his hands and met her worried eyes. “Everything’s going to be okay. I want you to take a deep breath and focus on me. Okay?”

Breathing shakily, she tried to take a deep breath. The heart monitor next to her beeped sharply, indicating her rising blood pressure. She winced when a contraction tore through her.

Ethan looked up, forcing his voice to remain steady for her sake. “Lahela, who’s on the OR floor right now?”

“Tanaka, but he’s in a heart transplant right now.”

“Scrub in.”

Bryce’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? I’m her friend.”

“Bryce, please. We can’t risk waiting too long,” Olivia pleaded, her voice trembling.

Bryce took one look into his best friend’s panicked eyes and nodded. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

Taking Olivia’s hand into his own, Ethan let out a small sigh of relief. “How nervous will you be?”

“More nervous than I’d be operating on a stranger, but I can do it. I promise,” Bryce assured him. “Let’s go.”

Ethan moved to the head of the bed. He kept a firm grip on Olivia’s hand as they rushed to the available operating room. Her hand clutched his tightly, seeking the reassurance. When they reached the OR, she squeezed her eyes shut against the threat of tears.

“Hey…” Ethan’s hand cradled her cheek. “Everything will be alright. Please try to believe me.”

“I’m trying…”

He helped her turn onto her side so she could receive the injection for the spinal block. Olivia gripped his hand, wincing when the needle pierced her skin. She let out a long sigh as Ethan gently turned her onto her back again.

Sensing her need for comfort, Ethan brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Talk to me. Try not to focus on the risks right now. Tell me the likelihood of both babies being fine.”

Olivia’s face furrowed in thought as she wracked her mind. “Babies delivered at 35 weeks have a 99 percent chance of survival, presuming that they don’t have pre-existing conditions.”

Ethan nodded, relieved when she seemed to relax a little. “You’re right. Remember that.”

He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as he tried to convince himself to believe his own words. They gave the spinal block five minutes to take effect before transferring her to the operating table.

Ethan’s heart thudded against his ribs as Bryce and the surgical team he’d assembled gathered around, ready to begin. “Please tell me this isn’t your first time.”

“I’ve done one solo and assisted on three. I can do this,” Bryce assured him. He took a deep breath and firmly gripped the correct scalpel. “Ready to make the first incision.”

Ethan rested his hand on Olivia’s cheek. His thumb gently grazed her jaw. “Bryce is starting now. Focus on me and think about the fact that in just a few minutes, the babies will be here and they’ll be fine.”

Olivia leaned into his hand and drew in a long breath. With the numbing agent, she couldn’t feel the incisions. She squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on Ethan’s fingers raking gently through her hair.

The minutes that passed ticked by agonizingly as she tried to think about anything other than the chance of something beyond their control going wrong. Her racing heart slowed just a little, allowing some of the tension to leave her body when Bryce announced that they were in.

“Everything’s going fine. Just keep hanging in there, okay? I can see the first baby,” Bryce assured her.

“Hear that?” Ethan laced his fingers through hers. “They’ll be out soon.”

Olivia nodded, her movements slowing a little. The monitor next to her beeped as her blood pressure suddenly started to drop, first to a normal rate and then a little lower. Ethan frowned, worry etching his features.

“Her BP is dropping. She could become hypotensive.” He knew the complication was common during cesareans and that there was only a minimal chance of serious risks, but that didn’t stop his heart from racing faster.

Bryce picked up the pace a little, keeping his hands steady as he finished the incision and instructed one of the other residents to place the clamps. “We’re ready to get baby number one out!”

Moments later, a cry rang through the operating room as Bryce removed the first baby. When Bryce passed the newborn to him, Ethan reacted with an instinct he didn’t know he had and immediately cradled his son in his arms.

Ethan’s heart skipped a beat, swelling with affection. Olivia blined groggily before slipping into unconsciousness. His throat tightened with anxiety as he reluctantly surrendered the newborn to a nurse for an examination.

“Olivia.” He firmly patted her cheek, torn between fear and relief when she let out a subconscious groan in response. A minute later, he looked up as Bryce removed the second baby.

For a long moment, time slowed to a crawl when the baby remained quiet. Just as Ethan felt his chest clench with panic, the newborn emitted a loud cry that made him weak in the knees. He held his arms out, accepting his daughter into them. His heart stuttered in his chest as he gazed down at the fussing baby.

He held her for a few moments before letting the nurses take her. His mind swam with mixed emotions as he returned to Olivia’s side.

Ethan waited nervously as Bryce closed her up. A relieved sigh escaped him when Olivia’s blood pressure started to creep towards normal. “Bryce?”

“Yeah?”

“Good work.”

Once Olivia was transferred into a private room, Ethan stepped into the hallway. He slipped his phone out of his pocket and started the call. “Dad? If you’re not busy, you might want to make a trip to Boston…”

“Is everything okay?”

“Your grandchildren were just born. I thought I’d… did you already hang up?” Shaking his head, Ethan slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked up as Naveen approached him, a wide grin on his face.

“I just heard some gossip that my two favorite employees just became parents.”

Ethan nodded, unable to stop a wide smile from forming on his face. Naveen pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tight. Ethan returned it, swallowing the lump that formed in his throat. “Olivia passed out during the C-section, but she’ll be okay. She should be awake in just a couple of minutes.”

“I won’t keep you from her. I’ll come meet those babies later. You go be with your family.” Naveen released him and squeezed his shoulder.

“Thank you.” The smile never left Ethan’s face as he quietly slipped back into the room to check on Olivia and the babies.

His family.

He liked the sound of that.

Next Chapter

Note: This was definitely my favorite chapter so far. Stay tuned for more! 

[tanoraqui]

I can’t figure out if I’ve made this post before or not but: I’d hecking kill for a Doctor Who episode where...I dunno, the Judoon or some other space police are hunting the Doctor again, or maybe just an old enemy is, or a relatively new enemy. And she’s on Earth of course - I wanna say UNIT gets involved at some point slightly? - and it raises all sorts of questions about how much does the Doctor save people vs just bring trouble and danger and death down upon them, both on a planetary and personal level. Maybe part of a season-long arc? 

In the climactic moment, the Doctor is a captive on the enemy spaceship, as maybe they broadcast to Earth about how this dangerous criminal is finally being executed...

...interrupted by Kate Lethbridge-Steward popping up on their screen via video chat, to be like, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Not if you don’t want to be immediate recipient of three nuclear missiles currently aimed at your ship.”

“What?” says the alien with a blaster aimed at the Doctor’s head.

Another video chat pops up, I’m gonna say an official-looking Chinese man. “Make that twenty-three. We advise that you de-power your weapons.”

A third, the US President with the Oval Office behind her. “Space Force is standing by. Release the Doctor or we will open fire.”

Fourth, a couple people standing around a crackling machine with a Torchwood logo; one has their hand on the lever. “Cardiff Rift energy locked on target, ready to be fired.”

And the Doctor has that kind of heartbroken, mostly wondering look on her face, and the aliens look confused and angry and a little alarmed, as the music swells and just more and more people come onscreen, making threats or showing support; outside shots show at least one Osgood leading a bunch of people, Zygon and (apparently?) human in a refurbished spacecraft, flying in, as well as a trio of space jets with fucking American flags on the side. The Doctor tearing up a little maybe, as the entire human race, the entire planet Earth, rallies as one to say, “Fuck no, that’s our alien menace. You don’t touch her.”

...maybe it’d be a nice holiday special?

[makarov-my-beloved]

Watch Dogs: Legion x AmRev

@burgoyned Chapter 6 pumped out in an hour lol. Not sure if it's any better but feel free to share your thoughts ^^

Chapter 6: Keep Calm and Resist

André sat in front of his computer browsing through the information from the damaged Spiderbot. As he sat there pondering, Howe and Burgoyne chatted about the easiest road leading to Royal London Hospital. After hearing about increased Albion security in the streets (i.e. more fighter drones patrolling the streets), Bagley suggested a more covert way of reach the destination. “Best case scenario would just take a taxi there so that way you won’t be under the radar,” he said as he closed the map. “I’m up for whatever. You wanna come with me, André?” Howe asked the hacker. André shrugged. “I guess. I’m finding some disrupted data that needs to be cleaned up.” “I can take care of that,” Bagley chimed in. Howe looked at his phone. The time reads 10:15 PM. “If we head there now, there shouldn’t any workers present. Most likely security guards, but they can be taken care of.”

“Ok. We’ll be off. Don’t do anything stupid, Burgoyne,” warned André. The playwriter held his hands up yet said nothing. Both André and Howe left the Safehouse and walked into The Earl’s Fortune where they found the pub mostly empty except for a few patrons sitting at the lounge smoking and chatting. Clinton sat at the bar with Hanger discussing current events. The bartender looked up and smiled. “Y’all out for a night exploration?” “Of course. London looks beautiful at night. We’ll be back shortly.” “Sure thing. And do be careful Albion is everywhere tonight,” Clinton said. André gave his friend a reassuring smile before leaving the pub with Howe. Using his phone, the fighter flagged down a taxi. He climbed into the driver’s seat with the hacker in the passengers. Tossing his bag into the back, Howe began setting up the GPS route to the Royal London Hospital. “This shouldn’t be too long of drive….15 minutes. Sounds reasonable enough,” he said as he shifted into drive. “Methinks that the hospital is going to be heavily secured tonight,” André muttered while watching an Albion guard detain a civilian on the street. Howe looked over and shook his head. Around 10:30 PM, the men pulled up to the Royal London Hospital.

It was to be expected; guards patrolled the entrance of the hospital, including the driveway where ambulances are parked. Making his way towards the front entrance, Howe and André put on their masks and hid behind a brick wall. The hacker pulled out his phone and almost immediately pinged, directing the signal to a nearby ctOS fighter drone. We could use the drone to clear the guards. Hacking the drone, André began piloting it inside the main entrance where Albion guards are stationed and proceeded to take the guards down one by one. Howe watched with curiosity as the hacker pointed the drone towards a guard on the second floor before he prodded his friend. “I see the data machine look!” he hissed. There was a black box located right behind the guard which made the mission more convenient than they both thought. André shot the guard then flew the drone close to the machine. “Alright. Wait…” he stopped. Howe became confused. “What happened?” he asked. “Someone seemed to have cleared the data from the machine. The drone isn’t picking up anything.” “

“Do they know we were coming then?” “Not sure. But no data is coming from that box.” It was then Bagley pinged their earpiece. “It appears that someone has already hacked the data from the file server. I do believe there is backup storage stored somewhere on the other side. See if you can find something.” “Copy that. Alright.” André piloted the drone to the front of the hospital. There are several stories; each floor containing rooms of many patients as well as nurses and doctors working night shifts. Outside, the balcony floors were devoid of any sign of life, except for a few hospital workers. Gently flying the drone away from the windows, André finally located the backup file storage sitting on the fourth-floor balcony. “Second time the charm here we go…” He flew the drone towards the black box only for the phone to be suddenly disconnected.

Frustrated, André attempted to reconnect his phone back towards the drone. He successfully regained control only to see part of it damaged. “Oh God, who could it be now?” he groaned. Tilting the drone to the side, both men saw another fighter drone next to them. “What the...GET OUT OF HERE!!” André snarled and attempted to shoot it. He was unlucky. The other drone dodged the laser and proceeded to shoot the ctOS drone, destroying it. The phone signaled a loss of connection. Bagley pinged again. “It seems that someone has gained access to the backup storage. Looks like all the data are cleared from this location.” “DAMMIT!! Ok, what about St. Thomas could you check on that?” André said, giving Howe an incredulous look. The fighter shook his head. A moment of silence conveyed until Bagley spoke up. “Unfortunately I was unable to locate any data worth recovering from there. And don’t bother attempting Guy Hospital, that one was long cleared.” “Fuck! Ok, well appreciate your help, Bagley.” “Certainly. You should probably get back. Lord Germain has now issued a curfew at midnight.” Both men growled at that name. “We’ll be sure to head back,” André responded, tapping his earpiece. They both got up and walked towards their car only to notice a message clipped to their windshield. Howe took of his Ded Coronation mask, tossed it into the taxi, and started reading the note. André slid next to him. “What does the note say?” “It’s not a note,” Howe whispered. Staring at the paper, André read out loud the message:

Hey DedSec,

~~~~~~~~~C@N’T F1ND WH@T Y0U’R€ L00K!NG F0R? B€TT€R LUCK N€XT T1M€~~~~~~~~(8>

“DeFaLT”

“ ‘DeFaLT’? The Polish black hacker and well-known DJ? HOLY CRAP YES!!” André’s eyes lit up like fireworks. “Have you heard any of his songs Billy? He’s got helluva a collection.” His enthusiasm was not shared by his friend, who was staring at the paper with a blank expression. “William? Is everything ok?” the hacker asked, concerned. “Huh? Oh, nothing…it’s just…” Howe stopped. Defalt. Richard loves that man just like André. Even learned to hack like him. Could it be…? The fighter shoved the paper into his jacket before entering the taxi. André got into the passenger seat, head swimming with mixed emotions.

The drive back to the pub was extremely quiet. André wanted to continuously share his enthusiasm about his favorite artist but couldn’t since Howe was not in the mood to converse. They arrived back at The Earl’s Fortune. Few patrons still sat by the fireplace, conversing over the news while Hanger poured drinks to a few customers at the bar. Entering the passcode, Howe and André returned to the Safehouse where Howe tossed his bag onto the desk next to Bagley and walked towards the broken down train converted into a bar. Clinton, who was sitting on the leather couch tuned into his headphones while browsing his laptop, looked up and saw André standing there with a glum look on his face. He took his headphones off, placed his laptop on the couch before getting up to comfort the hacker. “What’s the matter? Got busted by Albion?” “No. It’s something else…” André said quietly. Bagley spoke up. “Every hospital record has been taken by someone. Not sure whom it may be, but it seems that person knows what we’re up to.” “A spy? Well well guess we’ll have to watch our backs,” Clinton said, sighing in disbelief. Howe finally emerged from the train and pulled out the note from his pocket.

“This is what I found on the taxi we drove. Looks like someone was playing ‘DeFaLT’ and got to us before we could.” Clinton took the note and stared at it. “My God it looks as if someone is trying to cosplay as an actual hacker, writing a note like that.” He turned it over to find nothing else. “Probably some kid on the street who thinks it’s funny to play games like this.” Clinton handed back the paper. “In any case, we’ll need to cover our tracks more discretely from now on.” Howe looked back at the paper. “We may have to. Although I do plan on paying a visit to the Royal Navy shipyard tomorrow.” “How so?” Clinton inquired. “I have a hunch….but I could be wrong….that my brother wrote this message. He could be trailing us.” “Richard? That guy hasn’t spoken to you in ages how could he possibly emerge from the shadows like this? It doesn’t make any sense,” André pointed out. Howe sighed. “Look, I’m going to the navy quarters to find out. Y’all wouldn’t mind coming with me?”

“Why certainly. Hmm, where is Burgoyne?” “He’s in the training room trying to ‘jack himself up.’ “ Clinton grunted. Bagley snickered. “As if that’s not the only thing he’s ‘jacking up’ on.” “DAMMIT BAGLEY!!” Clinton yelled as everyone burst out laughing. Exhausted, André slid onto his gamer chair before tossing his black DedSec jacket onto the table. His white shirt displayed the fox logo of DedSec in blue highlights, matching his black cargo pants. Stretching, André leaned back and closed his eyes. Who could be playing Defalt? Hmm...Mission Complete.

[queenofthefallenangels]

Dr. Moxely

Jon Moxley x OC (Allie) .  

Warnings: smut of course, physical violence, some fluff

Summary: Dr. Jon Moxely is a local doctor at an ER who works night shifts. He soon meets the beautiful cashier who works nights in the store nearby. Will luck be on this handsome doctor's side or will she not want him back? 

Tag Team: @sithlita​ @xladyxfatex​ @sassymox​ @ueomega​ @writtingrose​ 

Jon was just finishing another long night shift at the hospital. He was tired and could barely keep his eyes. He was scared that he wouldn't be able to make it home. His eyelids were heavy with sleep as he drove the short distance to the local convenience store by the hospital. The sun wasn’t even up yet as he drove out of the parking lot and into another. The store wasn't far. It was within walking distance from his work. Most nurses took their smoke breaks on the property. He had gone there a couple of times before work, but it wasn't a normal stop. 

The parking lot was empty with just a few workers with the early shift heading in to get their morning coffee and gas. Jon slowly walked in the door. He grabbed his normal monster from one of the cooler doors and got in line. 

"Come on, Allie, when are you going to give me a chance?" He asked her.

The girl behind the counter shook her head. "Have a nice day, Vince." She said before she turned her attention to Jon. Her hazel eyes meeting his bright blue ones. "Can I help you?" Her smile was sweet and welcoming. Jon could see why that guy was begging for her attention. The cashier was beautiful. Her hair was two color tones. The top of her hair was light brown that turned into blonde when you came down to the tips. She wore bright red lipstick to match the polo she wore with the store's logo on it. Her smile was award-winning. It lights her whole face up as she motioned him to come near. 

Jon didn't move for a second. He was stuck looking at the girl, but he soon snapped out of it and walked forward as he placed his drink on the counter with some gum he had grabbed real fast. The other guy was glaring at Jon, but he soon started to leave out the door. 

Allie rang him up keeping a smile, “So you must work at the hospital, but I don’t think I have ever seen you before.” 

“I don’t come here most often.” Jon knew that some of the nurses made a trip over here nightly. 

“Too busy?” She inquired. 

“No, I just like to make sure that I got what I need over there,” Jon answered scratching his head. “I don’t like leaving the ER very often. I was just too tired to drive home tonight.” She nodded, “I know that feeling. I sometimes need one after a long shift here all night.” 

“You work every night?” He looked around for any other coworkers, but he didn’t see any. The other register was still marked closed. “All by yourself? Doesn’t that scare you?” She shrugged simply, “You get used to it after a while. I don’t mind it as much anymore. It’s mostly quiet besides your coworkers. It will be 4.83.” 

He nodded as he handed her the cash and she handed him the change. “Have a good night. I hope you get home safely.” He gave her a nod, “Have a good day.” 

-------

Jon couldn’t get her out of his head after that. He knew why that guy was begging for her attention. Sure, it was her job to be nice to him. She probably did the same to everyone else. He wasn’t special to her. He wanted to be though. He couldn’t get her smile out of his head for days. He had gone back a couple of times after that just to go see her.  She gave him the same smile and that she was happy to see him, but he still couldn’t tell if there was a difference between him and every other tom, dick, and Harry that comes into the store. 

He sighed deeply as he came back one night after the fourth attempt of getting her to say something to him different from basic small talk. 

The other ER doctor came up behind him. She tilted her head as she handed him a file. “Are you okay?” She asked him. “You seem lost in thought.” Jon shook his head, “Yeah, I am fine. What’s up, Britt?” He asked her.  

“I just need help with this case. Do you think you can?” 

Jon nodded as he took the file from her. It didn’t take him long to figure out what she had done wrong. He told her what was wrong with the patient and handed her back the file. 

“What is wrong with you?” She asked again. “You don’t seem like yourself. It’s odd with you actually taking breaks this time.” 

“Is it because of a certain cashier?” One of the nurses Peyton chimed in. “What’s her name, Billie?” 

“Who? Allie?” Billie asked cocking her head to the side. The name made Jon's heart stop, but he tried to act like nothing was wrong. “Most guys have the hots for her. It's crazy, she’s still single.”

“She is?” Jon asked looking up at them. It was one thing that he didn’t really ask about. He was scared that she had a boyfriend. 

“You are interested,” Peyton gushed. “The man who only ever seems to think about work actually likes a girl. My my, “She teased. 

Jon shook his head, “It’s nothing.” 

“We could totally help you out,” Billie smirked. “We see her like almost every night she works. We could talk you up. I mean you already a doctor, so there isn’t much talking up that we have to do.”  

Jon rolled his eyes, “I’d rather you-” 

“Peyton, I was just about to head over anyway and get myself some red bull. Are you in?” Peyton nodded at Billie and before Jon could even stop them. He sighed as he watched them go and turned to Britt. “Don’t look at me. I am still in shock that you have feelings inside you. I always thought you only loved your job. That’s all you have ever seemed to care about since I met you.” 

“No one caught my attention..until Allie. I had a rough one before med school and I just never thought about loving again.” Jon shrugged. 

Britt nodded as she took the file from him. “Well, let’s hope they don’t mess this up for you.” She walked back out of his office as he began to stare at the blank wall in front of him. Fear crept into him. He was okay with admiring her from a distance. He never even thought of the next step or at least tried not to. It was hard not to wonder what it would be like to kiss her red lips, run his fingers through his hair, have his hands roam every inch of his body, his lips touch every inch of her body as he...He shook his head. He had to stop thinking about this. Not at work for with the scrubs he was wearing. He was just asking for someone to see something. He would be the talk of the ER. Jon always liked to remain lowkey about his life. 

He knew some things about her. He knew she was 25 and that this was just a job she had while she finished school that's why she worked nights. He wasn't sure what she was studying. She didn't really seem to want to say. She might have still been deciding. He may never get to know when she did. He sighed. What if all those trips were for nothing? What if they did ruin his chances? 

Jon decided to push all his thoughts away go straight back into work. He even ignored Peyton and Billie when they came back. He didn't want to hear the rejection. He decided to just drop the whole thing. He stopped going to the store for the next couple of days. He just couldn't face her. He just couldn't take the rejection if she didn't feel the same way. She had made him think that he might not actually be alone forever. He should have known better. 

Days went by and Jon refused to go to the store. He was lucky that Billie and Peyton didn’t work the same days as him so he could avoid their presence. A week went by and he couldn’t avoid it anymore. It was a full moon and the hospital was busy as hell, with some of the most frustrating patients. After getting cussed out by the third parent that thought they knew more than him, he decided he needed to take a break and go for a walk. He was walking towards the store. He was deciding if he should get a monster or some strong alcohol in his system to get through this night. Whiskey sounded amazing. He doubted the convenience store had some of that. 

Some noise stirred him out of his thoughts. It was a girl shouting. He looked up to see Allie standing in front of the door to the store. It was the guy from the other day. He had his hand wrapped tightly around Allie’s wrist. Jon ran to get closer to what was going on. He slowly was able to hear what was going on. 

“Let go of me,” Allie yelled as she tried to break from his grasp. 

“I am trying to prove a point to you. I can have you if I want to have you. I don’t need to listen to your stupid no.” He smiled with a smile that even made Jon shake in his shoes. Allie tried to fight his grip pushing him off her. He fought back tightening his grip on her arm. She screamed as he could feel him twisting her arm to turn around. Jon got there just in time to hear the crack of her most likely a  broken wrist. She was screaming, but he ignored her. 

Jon jumped into action as soon as he got close enough. He punched the man straight in the face. He was stunned by the punch that he let go of her arm. She fell to the ground. The man grabbed his jaw as he tried to straighten it. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?” “Stopping you and if you know what’s good for you, you will leave now.” He said as he handed his phone to Allie for her to call the authorities. She did just that as soon as the phone hit her hand. The guy balled his fists trying to decide if it was worth it or not. He soon shook his head as he walked off as the sirens began to approach them. “Chicken,” Jon said under his breath before he turned to Allie. “Are you okay?” He asked. 

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, he is such an ass.” She said as she whipped a few tears from her eyes.

Jon slowly moved her arm causing her to wince in pain. “I think you need to come with me to take a look at this.” He said gently. 

He helped her up as he began to walk her to the ER. Luckily the ER had slowed down a lot since he had left. He was able to get her back in X-ray before most could have. He had been right about her wrist. The man had broken it in two places. After the police had done their questioning and they had gotten her arm into a cast. Jon came back to visit her. 

“How are you doing?” He asked her. 

“Alright,” She told him as she sat up a bit in her bed. “Just in pain.” He stayed back a bit. “It probably is going to hurt a bit, but in a couple of weeks it should be fine.” 

She nodded. There was a pause before Allie spoke again. “Thank you, by the way. For saving me from him. Vince always was a creepy piece of shit, but I hate to think of what would have happened if you hadn’t had shown up. “ She shuddered. 

“It’s nothing,” He said as he rubbed a hand behind his neck. “I would have done it for anyone.” 

She nodded as she bit her lip. “Please sit down on the bed. I got something to ask you.” 

Jon cautiously walked over to where she was sitting and sat on the edge of the bed. “Yes?” He asked raising an eyebrow. 

“Billie and Peyton had hinted at something like you liking me, but then all of a sudden, you stop showing up at the store. “Was it a lie or something?” She asked. “I guess I want to know if what they had said was true. I understand if you don’t.” She looked down playing with her hands. “I just want to know why you stopped visiting me. I really missed seeing you.” 

Jon sighed, feeling like an idiot. His own fear of rejection might have just ruined his chances with her. “I was scared you didn’t feel the same about me. I thought you might not return the feelings of liking me.” 

“Are you blind? You are every woman’s dream. You are handsome and a doctor. Cross two things off my mother’s list for me.” She teased. Her smile coming back across her lips making her eyes light up as she laughed. 

Jon rolled his eyes, “Of course.” He chuckled slightly. Soon his blue eyes met with her hazel. He was soon lost inside them. Before he could tell what he was doing he began to lean in as she did. Their lips met with a soft kiss that soon grew more hungry as he moved his lips on hers. He licked her bottom lip just begging to an entrance. She allowed it. His tongue dove into her mouth as soon as she opened it. He explored every inch of her mouth before battling with hers for dominance. His hands began playing with the hem of her shirt. She soon broke the kiss and pulled her shirt over her head. Jon watched as she reached behind and unhooked her bra. Jon bit as his eyes gazed at her exposed boobs. He knew it was wrong of him to be doing something like this at work, but fuck it. He wanted her so badly. 

He licked his lips as he reached his hands out to grab her soft breasts. He squeezed them gently at first, then began massaging them roughly. She let out a soft moan. Allie reached for his scrubs as she put her hands on his chest. She traced his abs slowly. He could feel his dick throb with anticipation as her hands moved closer to his pants. Her hand was soon inside and wrapped tightly around it as she began to jack him off. He groaned as he began to harden in her hands. It had been so long since Jon had touched another girl that he felt like he was going to crumble under her touch. He was weak to her, but he still had to double-check. "Are you sure about this?" He asked meeting her eyes. 

She nodded. "I want you so bad, Jon." That was all it took. Jon was now on a mission. He kissed her lips again before moving down her neck as he kissed down her body to her core. He pulled her pants down with a firm yank before spreading her legs. He could already see her juices leaking from between her legs. He leaned in and tasted them as he licked her folds. She moaned softly as he flattened his tongue against her. She put her hands in what hair of his she could. She enjoyed the feeling of his beard scraping against her as he licked all around. He flicked her clit with his tongue sending chills down her spine. "Fuck Jon, " She moaned. "I need you inside of me. 

Jon gave her one licked before he stuck a finger in her. Her walls tightly wrapping around it. He groaned as he added another before moving it. 

"You know, I hate to admit." He said while he thrust his fingers inside. "But, its been a while so I don't know how long I will last." 

"It's okay. Just, please. I want that dick inside my pussy. I need it. Please." 

Jon never heard a girl beg for him before. It was turning him on even more if that was possible. He took her legs and wrapped them around his shoulders as he pushed himself deep inside her. He waited a minute to let her adjust before he began thrusting hard and deep inside her. She quickly had to cover her mouth because her moans couldn't be quieted as she felt the head of his dick rub against her g spot. She took her good arm and began leaving scratches down his back as she dug tightly. He groaned lowly trying to keep it quiet as he thrust hard and deep. He moved her hair out of the way as he moved his lips down her neck biting on it. He soon began sucking on it and leaving little marks behind. The feeling made her pussy clench tighter around Jon's dick. He could feel them both getting close to their high. He reached down and pressed a thumb against her clit as he began to rub it roughly. That's all it took. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She bit down on her cast to cover up her screams as a wave of pleasure rushed over her. Her toes curling and uncurling. A flood of fluid gushed out of her as she came. “Oh, Jon.” She let out. 

He quickly pulled out of her as he began to cum. He released himself all over her stomach. He groaned. “Fuck that was amazing.” He cussed. He caught his breath before he got up and walked over to get a towel and cleaned her stomach off before helping her get her clothes back on. He slipped his scrubs back on before cuddling into the bed with her wrapping his arms around her pulling her close. “Shouldn’t you get back to work?” Allie asked. 

He shrugged. “They don’t need me.” He kissed her head. “I am busy with another patient. Plus they let me clock out after what happened to you because I wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

She smiled. “I am more than okay now.” She said as she nuzzled into his chest. “But, next time you have to take me out to dinner first.” 

“Deal.” He smiled back.

[puppetsoftomorrow]

okay so imagine: the trapped in the tv ep but with only british tv shows - if ur not british i'm sorry!! hopefully this will still be funny for you lol

No one was fazed as the classical music rang out overhead, and Nate and Mick waited patiently for it to finish. The pair were stood next to a low table, set on lush green grass and under a backdrop of a clear blue sky and a large country house, with people milling around and chatting, just quietly enough not to be heard over the music.

The logo flashed faintly in the sky, and Nate coughed, adjusting his glasses slightly.

"Well, here we have a lovely piece - a mantle clock, looks to be 17th Century, possibly Russian," He started, tipping the clock back slightly to get a better look at it. "Can you tell me a little more about how you came to have it?"

"It stole it." Mick shrugged. "It looked expensive."

"And you'd be correct." Nate said, waggling his finger to emphasize his point. "Made by an early pioneer of this type of time-keeping, Rip Hunter, the craftsmanship is just - exquisite, and there's not even - oh, there's a small dent here."

"Probably from when I hit Rasputin over the head with it." Mick said, and Nate nodded sagely.

"Well, even with that, it's extremely valuable - you don't see many of these pieces, I'm very honoured to be evaluating it. What do you think it's worth?"

"From the age and quality, I'd want a couple million." Mick grunted.

"And what would you use the money for?" Nate asked, and Mick shrugged again.

"Put Lita through college. Some for the Legends, buy more condiments."

"That sounds fantastic. Well -" Nate started, then paused for an unnaturally long time. Everyone held their breath. "I think, at auction, it could fetch up to £3 million."

Behind them, the Legends cheered, Ava punching the air. Mick nodded, then picked up the clock in his gloved hand wand walked off, swinging it as he did so.

///

The music faded out, and Sara shut the book she was reading, smiling widely. The nursery she was in was quiet, the children having not yet arrived for the day. "I didn't see you there! I'm Sara - what's your name?" She said, voice bright and bubbly.

There was silence for a few seconds, and Sara nodded, despite no one replying.

"Ah, of course. I'm so glad you're here - I need your help." She stood up, eyes wide. "There's a giant octopus named Tagumo terrorizing the village - and we need a special treat for the bake sale! But who should we ask for help?" She scratched her head in an exaggerated thinking motion, then stood up and walked backwards to the large, colourful map that hung on the nursery wall.

"We could ask - Ava the Bureaucrat?" She asked, pointing at a point on the map.

Ava popped up on screen, dressed in her suit and surrounded by stacks and stacks of papers, threatening to topple at any moment. She gave an exaggerated shrug.

"No, she's too busy. Maybe Nate the Historian?" Sara said in a sing-song voice.

At the top of a pink castle, a hand was waving.

"No, he's stuck at the top of his castle. Maybe Zari, the Cat Chat celebrity?"

Zari was on her phone but started to wave as the camera zoomed in on her.

"Yes, that's it! We'll ask Zari, the Cat Chat celebrity!" Sara said, smiling widely. "Come on, let's go to Zari's house!"

Sara walked through the quiet streets of Waverider, avoiding the large chunks of stone that were being thrown her way by an angry octopus. It was a sleepy seaside town, with brightly coloured buildings and extremely predictable weather, and she loved it. She stopped in front of the yellow house and knocked on the door.

"No! It's mine!" "It's mine!" came the muffled voices from inside.

"Oh no! I think Zari's having an argument with her brother Behrad." Sara said, eyes wide. "Let’s see if we can help."

She opened the door, where Zari and Behrad were having a tug of war with a small bracelet. Sara stood, hands on hips, with an exaggerated frown.

"Z! B! What's this?"

"It's my turn with the totem!" Behrad whined, and Zari stomped her foot.

"No, dummy, it's mine! You used it to beat Genghis Khan last week!"

"Did you two forget our last lesson, when we learnt about sharing?" Sara said, and the two broke apart, looking distinctly guilty.

“No, Miss Lance.” They said in unison.

“Good.” Sara said, smiling brightly. “How about – Zari, you use the family heirloom to capture the giant octopus, whilst Behrad and I make a treat for the bake sale!”

The pair brightened up. “Sounds great! We can make a Behrad brownie!” Behrad said brightly, moving towards the kitchen, when Sara put out her arm to stop him.

“Uh oh, did you forget something?”

Behrad struck his palm on his forehead with an exaggerated sigh.

“Whoops! Here you go, sis.” He said, passing the totem over. “I’m sorry I wasn’t sharing nicely.”

Zari shrugged, slipping the bracelet on. “I’m sorry too.” She said, and the pair hugged. When they broke apart, Zari blinked.

“Wait -”

///

The tannoy overhead started to play classical music, overlaid with the booming voice of an announcer. "DC's University Challenge! With your host - Raymond Palmer!"

The lights went up on the studio and Ray sat at a desk, smiling widely at the audience, shuffling his cards.

"Good evening and welcome to DC's University Challenge!” He said, barely being heard over the sounds of the audience clapping politely. He waited until they’d started to quiet down before beginning again. “Our first team tonight is the Time Bureau, a secret government organisation that has produced several bureaucrats, a multi-million-dollar magical creature theme park and around a dozen clones. The organisation has just under 1,000 employees and ranks number two in the inter-governmental department softball league. Their team tonight includes -"

"Hey! I'm Mona Wu, and I'm reading creature care and getting in touch with my wild side!" Mona said, waving and smiling brightly.

Gary coughed. "Uh - Hello - I'm Gary Green, and I'm studying as an apprentice of the dark arts under John Constantine."

"I'm Nate Heywood, and I'm doing a second PhD deductive historical reasoning and turning into steel." Nate said, giving the camera a mock salute.

"And finally, their Captain -"

"I'm Ava Sharpe, from 2213, and I'm reading how to move on from clone based psychological trauma." Ava said, nodding with a tight-lipped smile. She looked at her team – they looked good, all dressed in the Bureau suits. She hoped it would be enough to beat their opponents.

After the clapping ended, Ray gestured to the other side of the studio. "Our second team tonight are the Legends, founded in 2016 by Rip Hunter. Although seen as the underdogs, they won a comfortable victory against the Legion of Doom in the first round, answering questions on the French Revolution, punk rock and African oral history. With a combined age that's impossible to calculate, lets meet the team."

"Hey, I'm Behrad Tarazi, and I'm studying the air totem - but if my parents are watching, I'm studying .... business." Behrad said awkwardly, fiddling with the bracelet around his wrist.

"Hi, I'm Charlie, I'm from before the concept of time, and I'm reading loom weaving - and also shape-shifting." Charlie said, waving to the audience and adjusting the Beebo mascot they had placed behind their team name.

"I'm Mick." Mick grunted. There were a few seconds of silence before Ray spoke again.

"And their Captain -"

"Hey, I'm Sara Lance from Star City. I did two tours with the League of Assassins and now I'm reading kicking ass across the time stream." Sara said, pointing her finger guns towards Ava and winking, which caused the opposing captain to blush.

Ray set the cards down. "Right, well, we all know the rules, so I'll just get started. Your starter for 10 is - in the novels of Rebecca Silver, how many breasts does the alien queen Garima have?"

Mick was on the buzzer, but Mona was quicker. "Three!" She answered excitedly.

"I'm sorry, in the most recent novel, Death of a Rogue, she is revealed to have a secret fourth breast. Another starter for ten - the 1995 film Swamp Thaaang, written and directed by Greg Berlanti, was based on the memiors of what creature?"

John slapped the buzzer decisively. “Swamp Thing.”

Ray nodded and the crowd went wild. “Correct. Your questions will be on marine life. How many penis’ does a shark have?”

The team formed a little huddle, and Behrad shrugged.

“Anyone got any -” Sara started, but John cut in.

"Two." John said.

“Are you sure?” Sara asked, and John nodded, wincing slightly.

///

“Welcome back to – Top of the Pops!”

The lights came up on the little podium where Astra was standing, holding the slim microphone between her fingers, and she smiled widely.

"So, your top five this week is Doctor Mid-Nite with ‘Year 3000’ at number 5, Ava and the Clones with ‘The One and Only’ at number 4, Rip Hunter and Wally West with ‘Careless Whisper,’ entering the charts at number 3, and that was the JSA, staying strong at number 2 with ‘Kids in America.’ But, coming in hot at number 1, with their new hit ‘American Idiot’, it's the Legends of Tomorrow!"

Astra swept her hand towards the stage, where the lights came up to rapturous cheers from the audience.

"We are the Legends of Tomorrow - and we're here to change your destiny!" Charlie shouted into the mic, just as Mick started up on drums. Nate’s hands hovered over his bass guitar, looking over to Sara, who winked at him as the chords of her electric guitar rang out over the cheering audience.

///

(shows featured are - antiques roadshow, balamory, university challenge and top of the pops)

not featured: ava's very short episode of 'who do you think you are', the legends very chaotic stint on strictly come dancing and a master chef ep where the only food they make is mush variants

okay should i keep going!! should i post this on ao3? i wasn’t gonna but if ppl want me to i can :) thanks for reading!!

[chaniters]

Cellmates

Awan and Elyise have time to talk, as they seek to escape their cell.

Part 13 of @kruk-art‘s Awan Cormac’s fic, and the longest thing I’ve written so far. The end is nigh though.

___________________________________________

“Are you awake?!” A voice says to your left. 

You turn lightly, to notice Elyise chained to the ceiling, her feet dangling over the ground.

Looking up you realize you are similarly restrained, and that you are dangling just as she is. 

“ARE YOU AWAKE?” she insists. 

“I think I am” you state.

“About time” she grumbles.

“What’s going on…?” you asks just an instant before your mind decides to reboot and provide all the missing memories. “Oh. Reaper is a jerk.” Your suit seems to be still on, and there’s a pair of burn marks where Reaper shot you. So this is where you ended up it seems.

“Precisely.” she nods. 

“He got you too?” you ask rather calmly. By your standards, being suspended is pretty tame… unlike the farm’s numerous pressure tests. 

“No, I just came to stretch my arms… OF COURSE, HE GOT ME TOO, GENIUS!!” she states dangling to the side furiously.

“Ugh, don’t yell, my head’s killing me” 

“He’s the one who’s gonna kill us if we don’t do something”

“Relax. If he wanted us dead we wouldn’t be even talking up here” 

“RELAX? You want me to relax?!”

“I’m the one who should be mad, you’re darn liar, remember? What the fuck is your deal, Elyise?”

“My deal? Getting out alive is my deal, always!”

“You worked for Hollow Ground, you had links with the Loanshark and then you helped Reaper? What side are you on?!”

“I’m on my own side ok?. Someone has to be,” 

“You could have mentioned that YOU HELPED KILL HOOD!”

Oh, that struck a chord. She turns to you, angrily. 

“Do you think it was my idea? I don’t know what you heard, but I was FORCED to help in that.”

“You could’ve said NO!”

“Because that was a great choice for me, right?  If I hadn’t helped Hollow Ground would have thrown me out for mom to find. She had precogs in her little cult. Wouldn’t have lasted a day on my own”

“You also helped Reaper murder a ton of people just to keep your secret!”

“Those people? They’re SCUM! And I don’t know if you noticed but everyone in their right mind approved of what Catastrofiend did”

“So if you’re so happy about it, then why aren’t you helping Reaper anymore?!” 

“BECAUSE HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HURT YOU GUYS, OK?  I DONT KNOW WHY HE DID THAT! HE SHOULD HAVE TOLD CATASTROFIEND TO LEAVE WHEN YOU SHOWED UP. I QUESTIONED HIM AFTER OUR CHAT, AND HERE I AM!”

“Hurting us, huh? That’s what bothered you? What about, oh I don’t know DATING CHARGE for example? Did someone force you to do that too?!

“I knew this was about it! You never liked me around him! I saw how you looked at us!”

“That’s not...”

“Admit it already!” You’re definitely NEVER going to admit something like that. 

“You know he worshipped Hood, and you’re accessory to his murder! Don’t you think he had at least the right to know about something like that?!”

“...” she starts to say something, but her voice breaks and she looks away.  You won the argument, clearly.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought!” you say annoyed, looking at the binds. Maybe you can find some way to get out and leave her here.

“...I just wanted to be normal, ok?” she says after a while, turning back at you. 

“Normal?”

“He talked to me about so many things… And he listened… And I… I had never been with anyone before… and he was so darn nice I just… I just wanted to be happy”

“Don’t. Just don’t! Don’t you dare... No.. don’t you… crap” you say looking at her teary eyes.

It’s not the physical crying that does it but the inner mess of emotions. It actually shuts you up, mainly because you understand where she’s coming from all too well. 

Are you just being one big hypocrite? 

You escaped the farm to kill someone in the first place.

Shit, she’s making it harder to hate her. 

“What?” she says as you fall silent “aren’t you going to go on about how am I a total piece of shit?”

“... No…” you grumble

Silence. Only interrupted by the clinking of the chains.

If only you could walk out of the room and have some time to think about it… But no. You have to return to reality. 

Realty being you’ve both been captured by a skull-faced homicidal maniac

“Listen… I assume you’ve tried to get us out with your telekinesis?” 

“I did. There’s some sort of security system that prevents it. 

“Can you show me?”

She nods slowly 

“This cell gets even funnier when I try that”  You can sense her concentrating and…. 

The walls start shinning in bright blue, the room filling with static, followed by a deafening booming sound from every side, stronger. She screams something… and then you’re screaming something too… so loud… 

Until it all dies out, your ears still ringing echoes of it. 

“Ugh, this is a nasty one… Sonic pain inducers” you yell.

“WHAT?” she yells back, still half-deaf.

Probably on par with some of the Farm’s tests. Just your luck, Awan, you say to yourself. 

A console lights up on the far end, with Charon’s logo on it…

“For the fourth time Prisoners, I advise you not to attempts that again. This room can be electrically magnetized and will counter any telekinetic attempt to escape. It is also equipped with sound blasting technology that will castigate unruly behavior.” The console shuts down soon after the last word is said. 

“Shit!” you say

“I know. Do you have any skills to escape something like this?”

You study the binds. They seem simple chains and manacles and you’ve got nothing to pick the lock with. THere’s no other mind than Elyise’s close enough for you to reach either.

“Nope”

“Then we’re royally fucked” she states.

“Indeed” you sigh.

“Distract Charon. I will try to send a telepathic message to the rangers” you send the words into her mind so Charon won’t overhear. She seems startled, but nods in silence. 

You start clearing your mind for the task at hand. Never attempted communication at this range, and there’s no guarantee that it would work at all even if you had been practising. It doesn’t help that there are millions of people in Los Diablos and you want to find a single mind.  

Piece of cake, Awan.  

________A few hours later._______________

Your arms hurt like hell from dangling and you’ve lost track of time, but you’re not giving up, repeating the message over and over… impossible to tell if you are being heard or not.  

“HEY CHARON!” She yells. Elyise has been doing a superb job of distracting the AI. You wish she wasn’t that good because it distracts you as well. 

The screen turns on, and the display comes online once more. If AI’s had human personalities you would say Charon is surprisingly gossipy. He probably doesn’t get many people to chat with since the Defenders Society disbanded. 

“What? I’ve already told you I’m not going to let you go”

“Just wanted to ask you when did Reaper decide he wanted to kill all those drug-dealers”

“Whatever do you mean? Master has killed drug-dealers many times in the past.”

“Oh c’mon! He hasn’t killed anyone in almost a decade!”

“It’s true… he took a long hiatus after retiring from the crime-fighting life. His focus fell almost entirely upon charity projects after his cancer got worse”

“Was it hard, overcoming it?”

“He did not overcome it.

“What do you mean? He told everyone he was doing great!”

“That was a lie he repeated many times. His doctors gave him months to live and he dismissed them. And then the Hauswald foundation burned down, sending him into a deep depression”

“What?” you interrupt. Elyise gives you an angry look, her mind telling you to focus on your own thing. She’s right… back to send your signal.

“Months to live? Is he dying? I saw him standing up earlier!”

“He was dying, right until he wasn’t. My research into the subject he brought in changed everything!”

You can barely hear what they’re saying… you’re picking up something… something getting closer...

“You mean my mother?”

“Affirmative. The subject possessed impressive regenerative properties never seen before on a boost. I theorized that a series of transfusions could heal him by making his own tissues more competitive than the cancer-cells”

It’s clear now. Someone picked up your message and is very close to Reaper’s complex… 

“He has… my mother’s blood?”

“Indeed. He was reluctant, thus I had to administer it hidden in his medication.”

“You… gave it to him without him knowing?!”

“Indeed. I would do anything to preserve my master.”

“Aren’t there secondary effects?”

“Oh yes. Many in fact. I discovered most of them after the third transfusion took place”

“What side effects?!”

“Psychological mostly. Sharp aggression increases, self-restraint, almost nullified. Morality ambiguity and…”

Someone’s walking up to the Manor’s gate… with a vengeance. You sense some sort of fight taking place. 

“I am sorry. Someone’s being rather rude at the main gate. We can finish this conversation later” the screen says before turning off.

“Did you get someone?” she asks

“I think so?”

“Who?”

“I’m not really sure… I think it’s…”

The sound of fighting interrupts you, along with blaring sirens.

There is only one presence in the complex asides from her, and it doesn’t take you long to figure out who. 

“It’s Anathema!” you say. “They’re fighting a lot of security drones”

“about time we got some good luck. Guide them to us?!”

It’s not hard to send Anathema a signal they can follow. They’re used to working with you. 

Finally, you can hear the noise coming up to your cell, with gunshots and skittering of metallic legs and the sizzling of acid.

“CEASE AND DESIST INTRUDER! THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND YOU ARE TRESPASSING!”

“I’ll give you trespassing and then some, you dumb toasters!”

“GET AWAY FROM  THE PREMISES!”

“Will you shut up already? I can’t hear my own thoughts and I think I’m getting some that are not even mine…”

“Get out before you are hurt human!” 

“Hurt? You know your spider-things can’t hurt me! I’ve gone through three dozens of them already!”

“Losses are meaningless. I have an immense reserve of combat drones!”

“And I have like the worst case of reflux in mankind’s history, so give me a break will you?” he sounds like he’s just in front of you now… 

“HERE! WE’RE IN HERE!” You shout out, with Elyise joining you.

“About time! I thought I was going mad with all the talking toasters”

The door starts smoking and dissolving under the acid shower from the other side. 

Soon, Anathema steps in, looking up at the two of you. 

“Oh, so you’re doing some stretching up in here?” he jokes, looking relieved.  

“Very funny” you answer. 

“Yeah, hilarious”  Elyise adds

“Oh c’mon, It was a good one-liner!” he grins looking up at the chains. “Now how do I get you out without dripping acid on your hair…”

“Can you deal with that box on the corner?” Elyise says looking down at it. 

“Can do” Annie states, letting a few drops off at it. Always amazes you, how it goes through almost anything.

Elyise inhales deeply and puts her powers in motions, both sets of chains bursting open to pieces. She floats gently to the ground…. While you land less gracefully.

“Ouch,” Anathema says helping you. 

“My poor arms” Elyise complains, stretching some. Yours do too, but you’re a bit more used to this kind of stuff.

“How long have we been here?” you ask. 

“A day and a half? I realized something was wrong when you didn’t come back… But I expected you were behind it all” Annie says looking at Elyise. “No offense”. 

“I do get that sometimes…” she sighs

“It’s not her Annie. It was Reaper all along”

“R… Reaper? Are you for real?”

“Afraid so…”

“RETURN THE PRISONERS AND SURRENDER!” Charon’s voice reaches from afar, the sound of metal legs coming in closer.

“Ahh crazy computers, love me. Ok, you two stay behind me, and don’t step on the acid, ok?” he says grinning.

The way out is plagued with spider terror drones but they are simply no match for Anathema, who marches you to the exit without a hitch. You find your gun on the way out along with the data rod. Elyise gives you a terrifyed look as you take it, but you don’t say a word about it to Annie. 

Not yet, at least. 

___________________________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[judgestarling]

A Short Story by “Martian” Physicist Leó Szilárd on a Funding Agency whose Mission Is the “Retardation of Scientific Progress”

Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) was a physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear fission reactor in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. 

Legend has it that Leó Szilárd was once asked why there is no evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth despite the high probability of it existing. Szilárd responded: "They are already here among us—they just call themselves Hungarians." Thus, was born the term Martians, which included in addition to Leó Szilárd, such luminaries as Paul Erdős, John von Neumann, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner. 

The Martians were characterized by their strong accent (made famous by horror actor Bela Lugosi), their “superhuman” intellect, and by the fact that they spoke two incomprehensible languages, Hungarian and Mathematics. John von Neumann even invented a history for the Martians. They are descendants of a Martian scout force which landed in Budapest around the year 1900, and later departed after the planet was found unsuitable for colonization. They left behind children by several Earth women—children who all became famous scientists.

In addition to physics, engineering, and politics, Leó Szilárd also wrote short stories. These were published in a collection entitled The Voice of the Dolphins (1961). The title story describes an international biology research laboratory in Central Europe. This laboratory became reality after a meeting in 1962 with Victor F. Weisskopf, James Watson and John Kendrew. When the European Molecular Biology Laboratory was established, the library was named The Szilárd Library and the library logo features a dolphin.

My favorite story by Leó Szilárd is “The Marla Gable Foundation,” a funding agency whose mission is the “retardation of scientific progress.” It reminds me of the NIH and NSF. 

The Marla Gable Foundation

Leó Szilárd

[1948]

As soon as I saw the temperature of the rabbit come back to normal, I knew that we had licked the problem. It took twenty-four hours to bring his temperature down to one degree centigrade, injecting three grains of Dorminol every ten minutes during that period. Sleep set in between the third and fourth hours, when the body temperature fell below twenty-six centigrade; and after twenty-four hours, at one centigrade, there was no longer any appreciable metabolic activity. We kept him at that low temperature for one day, after which time, having completed our measurements, we injected Metaboline and allowed the temperature to rise to normal within one hour.

There was never any doubt in my mind that once we got this far, and got the temperature down to one centigrade, we could keep the rabbit “asleep” for a week, a year or a hundred years just as well as for a day. Nor had I much doubt that if this worked for the rabbit it would work for the dog; and that if it worked for the dog, it would work for man.

I always wanted to see what kind of place the world will be three hundred years hence. I intended to “withdraw from life” (as we proposed to call the process) as soon as we had perfected the method, and to arrange for being returned to life in 2260. I thought my views and sentiments were sufficiently advanced, and that I had no reason to fear I should be too much behind the times in a world that had advanced a few hundred years beyond the present. I would not have dared, though, to go much beyond three hundred years.

I thought at first that one year should be plenty for perfecting the process as well as for completing the arrangements; and that I should be in statu dormiendi before the year was over. As a matter of fact, it took only six months to get ready; but difficulties of an unforeseen kind arose.

A section of public opinion was strongly opposed to “withdrawal from life,” and for a time it looked as though the eighty-sixth Congress would pass a law against it. This, fortunately, did not come to pass. The AMA, however, succeeded in obtaining a court injunction against my “withdrawal” on the basis that it was “suicide,” and suicide was unlawful. Since a man in statu dormiendi cannot of his own volition return to life—so the brief argued-from the legal point of view he is not living while in that state.

The ensuing legal battle lasted for five years. Finally, Adams, Lynch and Davenport, who handled my case, succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to accept jurisdiction. The Supreme Court upheld the injunction, with three justices dissenting. Mr. Davenport explained to me that the ruling of the Supreme Court, though on the face of it unfavorable, was in reality a very fortunate thing for me because it removed all obstacles that might have stood in the way of my plans. The ruling of the Supreme Court, Mr. Davenport explained, established once and for all that a man is not legally living while in statu dormiendi. Therefore, he said, if I should now decide to act against the advice of his firm, disregard the court injunction and proceed to withdraw from life, no legal action could be taken against me under any statute until I was returned to life three hundred years hence, at which time my offense would come under the statute of limitations.

All arrangements having been completed in secrecy, and having named Adams, Lynch and Davenport as executors of my estate, I spent my last evening in the twentieth century at a small farewell party given to me by friends. There were about six of us, all old friends, but somehow we did not understand each other very well on this occasion. Most of them seemed to have the feeling that they were sort of attending my funeral, since they would not see me again alive; whereas to me it seemed that it was I who was attending their funeral, since none of them would be alive when I woke up.

According to the records, it took about two hours until sleep set in, but I do not remember anything that was said after the first hour.

The next thing I remember was the prick of a needle, and when I opened my eyes I saw a nurse with a hypodermic syringe in one hand and a microphone in the other.

“Would you mind speaking into the microphone, please?” she said, holding it at a comfortable distance from my face.

“We owe you an apology, as well as an explanation,” said a well-dressed young man standing near my bed and holding a microphone in his hand.” I am Mr. Rosenblatt from Adams, Lynch, Davenport, Rosenblatt and Giannini. For reasons of a legal nature we deemed it advisable to return you to life, but if you wish to complete the three hundred years, which appears to be your goal, we hope we shall be able to make the necessary arrangements within one month. At least we shall try our best to do so.

“Now, before you say anything, let me explain to you that the gentleman sitting next to me is Mr. McClintock, the mayor of the city—a Democrat, of course. Subject to your approval, we have agreed that he may give you an interview which will be televised. The proceeds will go to the Senile Degeneration Research Fund. The broadcasting companies understand, of course, that it’s up to you to agree to this arrangement, and they have an alternate program ready which can be substituted if you should object. If you agree, however, we shall go on the air in one minute. Naturally, the broadcasting companies are anxious to catch your first responses rather than have something rehearsed put on the air. I’m certain you’ll appreciate their point of View.”

“Before I answer this,” I said, “would you mind telling me how long I’ve been asleep?”

“I should have told you this before,” he said. “You were out ninety years.”

“Then,” I said after a moment’s reflection, “I have no friends left from whom to keep any secrets. I have no objection to the broadcast.”

As soon as the announcer finished with his somewhat lengthy introduction, the mayor came in.

“As chairman of the Senile Degeneration Research Fund, I wish to express my thanks to you for having graciously consented to this interview. Senile degeneration is one of our most important diseases. One in eight die of senile degeneration, and more than half of those who reach the age of a hundred and five. Given ample funds for research, we cannot fail to discover the causes of this disease, and once the cause of the disease is known it will be possible to find a cure. But I know that I should not monopolize the air; there must be many things that you would want to know about our society. Please feel free to ask anything you like.”

“Why was I returned to life?” I asked.

“I’m certain,” the mayor said, “that Messrs. Adams, Lynch, Davenport, Rosenblatt and Giannini will want to give you a detailed explanation of that. It was their decision, and I have no doubt that it was a wise one in the circumstances. I’m not a lawyer, but I can tell you something about the political background of their decision. Politics—that’s my field.”

“I wonder whether you realize how much trouble your process of “from life” has caused the government. For a few years only a few persons followed your example, mostly political scientists and anthropologists. But then, all of a sudden, it became quite a fad. People withdrew just to spite their wives and husbands. And I regret to say that many Catholics who could not obtain a divorce chose this method of surviving their husbands or wives, to become widowed and to remarry, until this practice was finally stopped in 2001 by the papal bull “Somnus Naturae Repugnans.”

“The Church did not interfere, of course, with the legitimate uses of the process. Throughout the latter part of the century doctors encouraged patients who suffered from cancer and certain other incurable diseases to withdraw from life, in the hope that a cure would be found in the years to come and that they could then be returned to life and cured. There were legal complications, of course, particularly in the case of wealthy patients. Often their heirs raised objections on the ground that withdrawal from life was not yet an entirely safe process; and equally often the heirs demanded that they too should be permitted to withdraw from life for an equal period of time, so that the natural sequence of the generations would be left undisturbed. There are about one million cancer patients at present in statu dormiendi, and half a million of their heirs.”

“Then cancer is still not a curable disease?” I asked.

“No,” the mayor said, “but with all the funds which are now available it can take at the most a few years until that problem is solved. The most important, even though a somewhat controversial, application of your process,” he continued, “came about twenty-five years ago. That was when the present great depression started. It came as a result of seventy-five years of Republican mismanagement. Today we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress; but this is the first Democratic President since Donovan, and the first Democratic Congress since the Hundred and Fifth. As more and more of the Southern states began to vote Republican, our party was hopelessly outvoted, until gradually its voting strength began to rise again; and today, with a Democratic majority solidly established, we have nothing to fear from coming elections.”

“So finally there’s a truly progressive party in the United States?” I asked.

“Yes,” the mayor said, “we regard ourselves as progressives. We have the support of the Catholic Church, and eighty per cent of the voters are Catholics.”

“What brought about such mass conversions?” I asked.

“There were no mass conversions,” the mayor said, “and we wouldn’t want any. Families of Polish, Irish and Italian stock, having a stronger belief in the American way of life than some of the older immigrant stocks, have always given birth to more children; and so today we have a solid Catholic majority.”

Now that the Democratic Party is established in office, we’re going to fight the depression by the proper economic methods. As I said before, there was a Republican Administration in office when the depression hit us twenty-five years ago. In the first year of that depression unemployment rose to ten million. Things looked pretty bad. There was no public-works program or unemployment relief, but Congress passed a law, the Withdrawal Act of 2025, authorizing the use of Federal funds to enable any unemployed who so desired to withdraw from life for the duration of the depression. Those unemployed who availed themselves of this offer had to authorize the government to return them to life when the government deemed that the labor market required such a measure.

“Seven out of ten million unemployed availed themselves of this offer by the end of the first year, in spite of the opposition of the Church. The next year unemployment was up another seven million, out of which five million were withdrawn from life. This went on and on, and by the time our party got into office, two years ago, there were twenty-five million withdrawn from life, with Federal support.

“Our first act in office was to make withdrawals from life unlawful; and the second was to institute a public-works program.”

“What does your public-works program consist of?” I asked.

“Housing,” the mayor said. “Is there a housing shortage?” I asked “No,” the mayor said. “With twenty-five million unemployed in statu dormiendi there is, of course, no housing shortage.”

“And will you now return these twenty-five million unemployed to life?” I asked. “Only very gradually,” the mayor replied. “The majority of the sleepers are non-Catholics and it would upset the political balance if they were returned to life all at once. Besides, Operating the refrigerator plants of the public dormitories for twenty-five million sleepers is part of our public works program.

“Incidentally,” he added, “Whether you yourself come under the Anti-Withdrawal Act of 2048 is a controversial question. Your lawyers felt that you would not want to violate the law of the land, and they tried to get a court ruling in order to clear you; but the court refused to take the case, because you weren’t legally alive; finally your lawyers decided to return you to life so that you may ask the court for a declaratory judgment. Even though there is little doubt that the court will rule in your favor, I personally hope that you’ll find our society so pleasant, and so much more advanced than you would have expected, that you’ll decide to stay with us in the twenty-first century.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor,” the announcer said. “This was beautiful timing. We’re off the air,” he said to me, thinking I needed more explanation.

The mayor turned to me. “If you feel well enough, I would like to take you home for dinner. It’s a small party, four or five guests, my wife and my daughter, Betty. The poor girl is brokenhearted. She has just called off her engagement, and I’m doing what I can to cheer her up. She’s very much in love with the fellow.”

“If she loves him so much, why did she break with him?” I asked.

“All her friends teased her about him because he wears teeth,” the mayor said. “Of course, there’s no law against it, it’s just not done, that’s all.”

Something began to dawn upon me at this moment. The nurse, a pretty young girl, had no teeth, Mr. Rosenblatt had no teeth, and the mayor had no teeth. Teeth seemed to be out of fashion.

“I have teeth,” I said.

“Yes, of course,” the mayor replied, “and you wear them with dignity. But if you should decide to stay with us you’ll want to get rid of them. They’re not hygienic.”

“But how would I Chew my food, how do you chew your food?” I asked.

“Well,” the mayor said, “we don’t eat with our hands. We eat from plates-chewing plates. They plug into sockets in the table and chew your food for you. We eat with Spoons.”

“Steaks, too?” I asked.

“Yes, everything,” the mayor said. “But have no fear, we shall have knife and fork for you tonight, and flat plates such as you are accustomed to. My daughter kept them for her fiancé.” “I’m sorry that my second daughter will not be with us tonight,” the mayor said as he was starting his car. “She’s in the hospital. In college she’s taking mathematics and chemistry. She could have talked to you in your own language.”

“Nothing seriously wrong, I hope,” I said.

“Oh, no!” the mayor said.” Just plastic surgery. She’ll be out in a day or two.”

“With a new nose?” I asked.

“Nothing wrong with her nose,” the mayor said. “As a matter of fact, she has Mark Gable’s nose. No, it’s one of these newfangled Operations. My wife and I don’t approve of it, but this girl, she runs with the smart set. ‘Esophagus bypass,’ they call it. No longer necessary to watch your diet, you know. Eat as much as you please and switch it to the bypass—goes into a rubber container, of course. I tried to talk her out of it, but that girl has an answer for everything. ‘Father,’ she said, isn’t there a food surplus in the world? If everybody ate twice as much, would that not solve the problem?”

“Maybe she’s right,” I said, remembering with an effort that I always used to side with youth. When we sat down at table I looked forward to the steak; I was pretty hungry by that time. But when it was served, after a few fruitless attempts with knife and fork I had to ask for a chewing plate.

“The choice cuts are always especially tough,” my hostess explained.

“Tell me,” I said, “when did people begin to discard their teeth, and why?”

“Well,” the mayor said, “it started thirty years ago. Ford’s chewing plates have been advertised over television for at least thirty-five years. Once people have chewing plates, what use do they have for teeth? If you think of all the time people used to spend at the dentist’s, and for no good purpose, at that, you’ll have to admit we have made progress.”

“What became of all the dentists?” I asked.

“Many of them have been absorbed by the chewing-plate industry,” the mayor explained,

“Henry Ford VI gave them preference over all categories of skilled workers. Others turned to other occupations. Take Mr. Mark Gable, for instance,” the mayor said, pointing to a man sitting at my right, a man about fifty, and of great personal charm. “He had studied dentistry; today he is one of the most popular donors, and the richest man in the United States.”

“Oh,” I said. “What is his business?”

“Over one million boys and girls,” the mayor said “are his offspring in the United States, and the demand is still increasing.”

“That must keep you pretty busy, Mr. Gable,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say. Apparently, I had put my foot in it. Mrs. Gable blushed, and the mayor laughed.

“Mr. Gable is happily married,” the mayor said. “He donated the seed when he was twenty-four years old. The stock should last indefinitely, although the demand may not. The Surgeon General has ruled that no seed donated by anyone above twenty-five may be marketed in the United States.”

“Has there been legislation about this, giving the Surgeon General such authority?” I asked.

“No,” the mayor said. “Legislation was blocked by filibuster in the Senate. But the Surgeon General takes action under the Pure Food and Drug Act.”

“How can he do that?” I asked.

“There was a decision by the Supreme Court thirty years ago,” the mayor said, “that all ponder-able substance which is destined to enter through any orifice of the human body comes properly under that act. There was no legislation in this whole field whatsoever. Any woman who wishes to bear a child of her own husband is perfectly free to do so. Over fifteen per cent of the children are born in this manner; but most wives prefer to select a donor.”

“How do they make a choice?” I asked.

“Oh,” the mayor said, “the magazines are full of their pictures. You can see them on the screen at home and in the movies. There are fashions, of course. Today over seventy per cent of the ‘donated’ children are the offspring of the thirty-five most popular donors. Naturally, they’re expensive. Today a seed of Mr. Gable’s will bring a thousand dollars; but you can get seed from very good stock for a hundred. Fashions are bound to change, but long after Mr. Gable passes away his estate will still go on selling his seed to connoisseurs. It’s estimated that for several decades his estate will still take in more than thirty million dollars a year.”

“I have earned a very large sum of money,” said Mr. Gable, turning to me, “with very little work. And now I’m thinking of setting up a trust fund. I want to do something that will really contribute to the happiness of mankind; but it’s very difficult to know what to do with money. When Mr. Rosenblatt told me that you’d be here tonight I asked the mayor to invite me. I certainly would value your advice.”

“Would you intend to do anything for the advancement of science?” I asked.

“No,” Mark Gable said. “I believe scientific progress is too fast as it is.”

“I share your feeling about this point,” I said with the fervor of conviction, “but then why not do something about the retardation of scientific progress?”

“That I would very much like to do,” Mark Gable said, “but how do I go about it?”

“Well,” I said, “I think that shouldn’t be very difficult. As a matter of fact, I think it would be quite easy. You could set up a foundation, with an annual endowment of thirty million dollars. Research workers in need of funds could apply for grants, if they could make out a convincing case. Have ten committees, each composed of twelve scientists, appointed to pass on these applications. Take the most active scientists out of the laboratory and make them members of these committees. And the very best men in the field should be appointed as chairmen at salaries of fifty thousand dollars each. Also have about twenty prizes of one hundred thousand dollars each for the best scientific papers of the year. This is just about all you would have to do. Your lawyers could easily prepare a charter for the foundation. As a matter of fact, any of the National Science Foundation bills which were introduced in the Seventy-ninth and Eightieth Congresses could perfectly well serve as a model.”

“I think you had better explain to Mr. Gable why this foundation would in fact retard the progress of science,” said a bespectacled young man sitting at the far end of the table, whose name I didn’t get at the time of introduction. It should be obvious,” I said. “First of all, the best scientists would be removed from their laboratories and kept busy on committees passing on applications for funds. Secondly, the scientific workers in need of funds would concentrate on problems which were considered promising and were pretty certain to lead to publishable results. For a few years there might be a great increase in scientific output; but by going after the obvious, pretty soon science would dry out. Science would become something like a parlor game. Some things would be considered interesting, others not. There would be fashions. Those who followed the fashion would get grants. Those who wouldn’t would not, and pretty soon they would learn to follow the fashion, too.”

“Will you stay here with us?” Mark Gable said, turning to me, “and help me to set up such a foundation?”

“That I will gladly do, Mr. Gable,” I said. “We should be able to see within a few years whether the scheme works, and I’m certain that it will work. For a few years I could afford to stay here, and I could then still complete the three hundred years which were my original goal.”

“So you would want to go through with your plan rather than live out your life with us?” asked the mayor.

“Frankly, Mr. Mayor,” I said, “before Mr. Gable brought up the plan of the foundation, with science progressing at this rapid rate I was a little scared of being faced with further scientific progress two hundred years hence. But if Mr. Gable succeeds in stopping the progress of science and gives the art of living a chance to catch up, two hundred years hence the world should be a livable place. If Mr. Gable should not go through with his project, however, I would probably prefer to live out my life with you in the twenty-first century. How about it, Mr. Mayor?” I said. “Will you give me a job if I decide to stay?”

“You don’t need a job,” the mayor said. “You don’t seem to realize that you’re a very famous man.”

“How does being famous provide me with a livelihood?” I asked.

“In more ways than one,” the mayor said. “You could become a donor, for instance. Now that over half of our professional men are medical doctors, more and more wives want children with some measure of scientific ability.”

“But, Mr. Mayor,” I said, “I’m above twenty-five.”

“Of course,” the mayor said, “the seed would have to be marketed abroad. The rate of exchange is none too favorable,” he continued, “but even so you should be able to earn a comfortable living if you decided to stay.”

“I don’t know, Mr. Mayor,” I said. “The idea is a little novel for me; but I suppose I could get accustomed to it.”

“I’m sure you could,” said the mayor. “And incidentally, whenever you decide to get rid of that junk in your mouth, I shall be glad to get an appointment for you with Elihu Smith, the dental extractor. He took care of all our children.”

“I appreciate your kindness very much, Mr. Mayor,” I said, smiling politely and trying to hide a suddenly rising feeling of despair. All my life I have been scared of dentists and dental extractors, and somehow I suddenly became aware of the painful fact that it was not within the power of science to return me to the twentieth century.

[the-desolated-quill]

Absent Friends - Watchmen blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t read this comic yet, you may want to before reading this review)

At Midnight, All The Agents managed to set the tone with its cynical and biting critique of superheroes, presenting them as being violent felons or worthless failures indulging in power fantasies. The second issue, Absent Friends, sinks its teeth even deeper as we take a look at the Comedian’s past via flashbacks whilst the other characters attend his funeral and pay their respects.

So lets talk about the Comedian.

Aside from the accusations of rape, the first issue didn’t go into too much detail about Edward Blake, other than that no one besides Rorschach seemed to like him very much. This issue goes into much more detail as we see the Comedian at four major points in his history.

The first flashback is that of the Minutemen back in 1940, where we see Eddie try to rape Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre. It’s a very shocking and disturbing scene, not just because of the fact that he’s supposed to be a superhero, but also because of the sheer brutality of the attack. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons don’t hold back in depicting Comedian’s sickening behaviour, but they also don’t become too indulgent with it. They clearly take no pleasure from depicting this type of sexual violence and there is a legitimate artistic reason why it’s there. Prior to the flashback, we see the two Silk Spectres discuss the Comedian. Laurie is disgusted that Sally would have anything positive to say about Eddie after what he did, but what I find most interesting is a moment during the conversation where Sally shows Laurie a porno comic of her. This, to me, reveals what Moore and Gibbons are getting at here. Namely the role of women in superhero comics.

Female superheroes have always been something of a paradox. They need to be strong and independent, but not too strong and independent. We can’t have Wonder Woman upstaging Superman, now can we? Oh and of course they need to look sexy. Long hair flowing. Plenty of bare flesh showing. Tight leather outfits. High heels. Makeup. Never mind the fact that this getup is not remotely practical or appropriate to fight crime in. 

While this sexist attitude is slowly and thankfully fading away from modern comics, historically there has always been this kind of seediness to how women are presented in comics. They’re not there to empower women. They’re there to appeal to the male gaze. Sexy athletic women with massive boobs beating the shit out of baddies. They are, for lack of a better term, sex objects. Watchmen takes this to its extreme, presenting both Silk Spectres as being incredibly sexualised to the point where some characters, like the Comedian and the pornographer who made the comic, perceive them as being little more than sex objects. Not only that, but Sally and Laurie’s different perspectives on this sexualisation reflects the changing attitudes about women in comics at the time. Sally accepts the porno comics and the attempted rape as par for the course. The reality of being a woman. She even chose her costume herself in order to draw attention to herself in the hopes of jump-starting a modelling career. Laurie meanwhile didn’t choose the sexualised image that has been thrust onto her and is very vocal in her distaste toward how she’s perceived and how her mother is willing to brush it aside. People often have a tendency to write off Silk Spectre as being the weak link, but I don’t think that’s fair. There’s a lot going on with this character and in our current age of MeToo and social media empowering women to open up about their experiences, she’s a character that has become more and more relevant as time goes on.

The second flashback depicts Captain Metropolis trying to recruit the main characters into ‘the Crime Busters,’ only for the Comedian to ruin it with his nihilistic attitude. This mainly serves as a takedown of superhero crossovers like Justice League and the Avengers. Rorschach even comments on it, saying it feels more like a publicity stunt. It also serves as subtle foreshadowing for Ozymandias’ plan, but we’ll come to that in a future blog. But most importantly, it displays the Comedian’s changing attitude towards crime fighting. When he was with the Minutemen, he was happy to indulge in his own violent fantasies by beating up criminals, but now he’s become aware of how pointless it all is due to the Cold War. Capes and masks are useless against the nukes.

The next flashback depicts the Comedian and Doctor Manhattan fighting (and winning) the Vietnam War. This is probably my least favourite of the flashbacks and it’s because of Eddie killing a Vietnamese woman he had impregnated months earlier. Whereas the attempted rape of Sally felt thematically justified, the murder of a pregnant woman just felt like shock for the sake of shock and doesn’t really serve a purpose other than to reinforce the fact that the Comedian is a horrible human being. But it does raise an important issue. Superheroes and patriotism.

America has a few superheroes associated with it. Superman. Spider-Man. Captain America. But very rarely do comics explore the impact a superhero would have on a country’s political standing in the world. Having a superhuman associated with your country could tip the scales greatly in your favour, which is exactly what happens in Watchmen. Thanks to Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian, America is able to win the Vietnam War, turning it into the fifty first state. The United States is much more powerful than any country on Earth thanks to the likes of Manhattan, which is what has escalated the Cold War because the Russians are running scared of the threat America poses.

Morally speaking, any superhero who truly believes in justice and heroism should ideally be completely impartial. Siding with one country over another could seriously compromise the hero. But how, you might be tempted to ask. A superhero serving his country doesn’t sound so bad, right? Except there’s a world of difference between fighting for moral good and fighting for your country. This isn’t the same as stopping a mugger and giving an old lady her purse back. In war, good and evil isn’t so clearly defined. So by sending a superhero into a war zone, you’re effectively demonising a whole nation of people. Because the side with the hero must be good and the side fighting the hero must be bad, right? It imposes a black and white mentality onto a situation that is, to put it mildly, incredibly messy.

Another problem with having superheroes in the army (or any form of law enforcement) is that superheroes are a law unto themselves. They exist outside the chain of command. While, yes, the police and the military are both deeply flawed institutions, there are laws and safeguards that (in theory) prevent officers from abusing their power. Superheroes don’t have that. So with no one holding them to account, there’s nothing to stop them from going too far, as we see the Comedian do many times.

Which brings us to the fourth flashback. The police strike of 1977 where we see the Comedian and Nite Owl try to stop the riots and we hear about congress pushing through the Keene Act to outlaw superheroes.

Like Rorschach, the Comedian is also based on a Charlton Comics character. The Peacemaker. A militaristic superhero who believes heavily in pacifism and wishes to bring peace to the world.... through violence.

Yeah, I don’t get it either. But honestly, it feels like Moore and Gibbons are using the Comedian to take the piss out of Peacemaker. He’s a ‘superhero’ and yet we see him fire rubber bullets and tear gas at a crowd of people, murder a pregnant woman and try to rape someone. It’s as if they’re saying that it’s impossible to be both a hero and violent. We have a romanticised view of superheroes fighting crime, but where do we draw the line? Why is the rape of a woman unacceptable, but the beating of a criminal okay? Is it because the criminal is quote/unquote ‘evil?’ So are we saying that a criminal’s life is worthless the minute they break the law? If that’s the case, then the conversation has turned away from superheroes and toward fascism.

Many people describe the Comedian as a nihilist, which is true, but what a lot of people fail to recognise is that all the characters are technically nihilists. They all believe the world has no morality or meaning, but whereas the other characters of Watchmen impose their own personal morality onto the world, the Comedian does the opposite. He embraces the chaos and amorality of the world around him and uses his superhero identity to indulge in sex and violence. It’s what makes the smiley face logo so appropriate for the Comedian. Like the smiley face, superheroes are supposed to represent all that is good and just about this world. But just as the blood stain taints the smiley face, violence and corruption taints the image of the superhero.

The issue ends with Rorschach breaking into the cemetery to pay his respects and his final monologue I think perfectly sums up the despicable, but fascinating nature of the Comedian. In his journal, he tells the joke about Pagliacci, a clown whose act is recommended by a therapist as a cure for a patient’s depression. Except the patient in question is Pagliacci. 

What hope does America have when the superhero that’s meant to save them is just as corrupt and amoral as them?

[sonicrevival]

Ultimatum- Chapter 3 of 5: Headspace

Sorry I missed the update yesterday, was busy with something else.

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18500557/chapters/44004130

Sonic: Revival- Ultimatum Chapter 3 of 5: Headspace With Eggman gone and Mecha Sally paralysed, Sonic’s small team were left alone on the ice with Silver and Emerl, waiting for Nicole’s return. None of them said anything, the five content to let the faint howl of the wind go undisturbed as they took in their victory. Mecha Sally was safely in their care, and Nicole was already undoing Eggman’s work, while the mad doctor himself had lost his latest machine and been forced to retreat. He hadn’t made it far, thanks to Emerl, and it would be a while before he recovered from the setback they had dealt him. As far as Sonic really cared, this could be filed under ‘Mission Accomplished.’ “So, Tails. I think you and Nicole have got a bit of explaining to do,” The blue hedgehog finally spoke up, glancing at Emerl. Tails nodded, looking over at the robot for a second, and cleared his throat. “Well, Nicole isn’t here right now, so I’ll do it,” He said. “Uhm, what did Nicole say your name was?” “Emerl.” “Right, well, Emerl here is a Gizoid. They’re a sort of extremely powerful warrior robot. Paradoxically highly advanced and very old, ancient, even,” Tails began. “Hey, I’m not old!” She protested. “Your body is approximately three thousand years old,” The fox replied. “You’ve been asleep for most of it.” “If her body is that old, why is Nicole compatible with it?” Amy asked. “Well, that’s partially due to the modifications we made while we were working on the body when we found it, and partially because we believe that the technology that was used to make Nicole was reverse-engineered from the same technology that made Emerl, that of the Fourth Great Civilisation. She’s something of a bridge between us and them.” “What were they like?” “We don’t know. We only know they existed at all from a few scraps and fragments, and the occasional account from another contemporary civilisation. We only know their language because archaeologists found a stone that happened to serve as a translation between Nocturnian and Ancient Echidna, which we know significantly more of.” “Huh, interesting,” Sonic said. “So, what about more details regarding our new friend here?” “We found her while you were in space, and she became something of a group project. Everyone played their part… until Fiona joined the team,” Tails continued. “Ugh, her.” Amy groaned. Tails gave her a look for a moment, then resumed speaking. “Well, Fiona actually knew what it was that we had found, and explained that the Gizoid was actually incredibly dangerous. Reportedly, a single Gizoid had gone berserk and practically wiped out the Nocturnus themselves, at least managing to cripple them enough that their empire collapsed.” “Wait, one of me did all that? By itself?” Emerl asked. “I didn’t think we were that strong...” “I’m still somewhat dubious as to whether I trust the story,” Tails admitted. “Still, we tried to find a way to ensure activation would be safe, but there were no guarantees. Ultimately, we decided that the risk was too great to activate the Gizoid, and gave the access codes to the lab to two people: Sally and Nicole. It was only be to used in the most dire situation, one where adding a berserk city-destroying robot to the mix wouldn’t make it worse than it already was. Nicole decided that this was the right time, apparently, and I think she made the right choice.” “I’ll say,” Sonic nodded, looking over at the wreckage of the Egg Beater. “You’re pretty strong, Emerl, if you were able to do that.” “Well, I’m no more powerful than anyone else here,” She shrugged. “I’m just not tired, and having a metal body lets me go all-out for longer and hit harder. My damage output is exactly the same as that of the ability I copied. If you were as fresh as me, you’d have had no problems with that.” “Well, I’m still glad you showed up,” Sonic grinned. “Thanks for the help.” “Don’t thank me yet, we’re only part of the way done. Now it’s all up to Nicole…” *** Sally’s processor being a mess was something the lynx should’ve expected. She just wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. Everything, including Mecha Sally’s functions, her passive systems, and, hopefully, the trapped consciousness of the real Sally, had been compressed into half the space it needed, which went a long way toward explaining why she was so slow. Not that Nicole was moving quickly, of course. With the density of the code and Eggman’s own shoddy work, she felt as though she were forcing her way through a dense pit of sludge, forcing her way deeper and deeper into the depths of the computer. Moving through some systems, she had discovered, felt like flying. She could float wherever she needed to go, almost unhindered. Others were more like swimming. There was some resistance, and she had to push herself, but still easily manageable. She assumed it was manageable anyway, she’d never personally done any swimming, as far as she knew, so she didn’t really understand her own comparison. Certainly, Sonic wouldn’t agree with her. This was more like crawling. As if the code around her was solid and unyielding and she had to pull herself along, battering her way through the layers of programming. Fortunately, the Doctor’s overconfidence was on her side. Barring the Power Ring Matrix, there were no defences within Mecha Sally. She didn’t want to think about fighting a firewall or an antivirus with her movements so sluggish. Finally, she felt herself speed up a little, as the broken tides of coding at long last formed something she could interact with. The ground gave way beneath her, and she found herself falling toward what looked like a wall of some sort, Eggman’s grinning logo emblazoned upon it, extending well past her range of sight, into the darkness. She flew up to the wall, inspecting it closely… There was a seam of some sort, roughly in what she assumed to be the middle of it. Not a wall, then, but a gate. That made things significantly easier. A wall would have to be torn down or punched through. A gate? That could simply be opened. Nicole pressed her palm against the steel-grey structure, green glow enveloping her, trails of emerald light spreading out from her fingers, forming an intricate lattice as they spread across the gate, separating out into more and more strands, moving in straight lines, turning only in right angles. A cluster of them encircled the Eggman logo, stabbing into it, as the eyes of the logo turned green, before the whole thing vanished, replaced with a simple glowing orb. An emerald glow shone through the seam, brightening as, with a low rumble and a heavy groan of metal, the gate slowly slid apart, steam pouring out of it, before she flew through it, landing on the solid ground she found on the other side. Something flashed in the corner of her eye, and she jumped back and upwards, dodging the incoming attack. She looked down at the program, which resembled the original form of Mecha Sally, before Eggman’s modifications, brandishing its glowing crimson claws as it stared at her with red optics. “I thought I’d find you in here,” Nicole said, landing again. In a flash, a rectangular shield of light formed on her left arm, a short sword with a triangular blade in her free hand. “Where is Sally?” Mecha Sally gave no response, charging forward again, swinging her talons at the lynx. It slammed into her shield, pushing her back for a moment, before she shoved back, overpowering the program. She primed to take a swing at her, but paused. What if this was Sally? What if the new version of the Roboticizer also converted the victim’s mind fully, rather than leaving them awake and imprisoned. If she deleted this program, would she be deleting Sally? Sensing her hesitation, the mechanical squirrel shifted, grasping the sides of the shield and pulling it down, another pair of arms appearing on her shoulders and lashing at Nicole’s face, clawing into her avatar. She yelped, as all four of the robot’s arms pulled her shield free, then slammed the edge of it into her chest. She fell back, bouncing over the ground, as Mecha Sally lunged at her, bringing her heel down on her stomach. “Beginning virus infection.” The program finally spoke, stabbing her arm into Nicole’s chest. She screamed, watching a web of crimson code spreading its way across her avatar, wrapping around her limbs and constricting her body, pinning her to the floor. She strained, struggling against the weight of the robot, and the pull of the coding trying to contain her. “You have lost. You will become a part of the Eggma-” The robot never finished her sentence, as a glowing blue blade erupted from her chest. She froze, her voice sticking for a moment, before she exploded into a cloud of data shards. The red bindings evaporated from Nicole, and she lifted her head up to meet the eyes of her rescuer. “You looked like you could use a hand.” Sally smiled down at her, holding out her left, the right clutching a sword. Nicole grabbed it immediately, standing up and hugging the squirrel. She was here, free of the programming’s influence. She looked like hell, bruised, battered and bleeding, hair messy, jacket ripped, and boots barely holding together, but she was here. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” Nicole cried out, tears filling her eyes as she felt Sally return the embrace. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve done something sooner, I should’ve saved you faster!” “Nicole, it’s okay…” She said, holding her closer. “You’ve been through a lot, you can’t be blamed for getting caught up in that. You still made it here in the end.” “Have you been fighting it this entire time?” Nicole asked, separating from the hug, looking the squirrel’s battered form up and down. “Mostly, yes. It’s been… tiring,” Sally sighed, picking up her sword again. “That program wasn’t alone, there’s a lot of them. I had hoped that by deleting them all, I’d be able to break free of Eggman’s influence. Unfortunately it seems as though any that I destroy get replaced. I’ve found where they’re coming from, but I can’t destroy it by myself. I’m not really used to existing digitally, and his grip is tight enough that I can’t be as powerful in here as you are in your own mind.” “Well, now that there’s two of us… I think we can handle it,” Nicole smiled, reforming her weapons. Sally grinned back, and began to walk forward, leading Nicole behind her. “Alright then, it’s this way,” She announced, as they picked up their pace, crossing the empty plain toward their destination. More of the Mecha Sally programs appeared, flickering into their path with a cloud of pixels, charging toward the pair of them. Sally charged forward first, slicing each of the drones apart. Nicole followed her lead. Now that she knew that none of these things were really her friend, she needn’t hold back, she could just delete them with ease. “Sally, how aware of what’s going on outside are you?” She asked, a green pulse launching from her fingers and exploding in the face of the nearest droid. “I know all of it. I’m still aware, I still have access to my memories, even if I’m not the one currently experiencing them. I know what happened to Antoine… and that Naugus took over… and I know you activated the Gizoid,” Sally replied, kicking a drone down and stabbing it through the torso. “Bunnie also left, and Rotor resigned from the council,” Nicole admitted, slamming one into the wall with her shield, cutting it in two. “Rotor refused to be a part of them after Naugus convinced the rest to exile me, and I think Bunnie’s searching for a way to help Antoine. That’s why it was just Sonic, Tails, and Amy chasing you.” “Well, looks like we’re going to have to do some cleanup when we get out of here,” Sally sliced another in half. Eventually, they cleared out the drones, cutting their way through to the source, a large domed structure, factory machines audible from inside. A door at the front opened, and more of the droids began to flood out, reaching out with claws at the two Freedom Fighters. “That’s a lot of them,” Nicole braced herself. “I know, that’s why I couldn’t get in before,” Sally replied. “But we can do this now, together.” “Right,” Nicole nodded. “Let’s go, then.” The lynx moved first, racing forward with her shield raised, barrelling into the column and bashing the Robian figures out of the way, sword lashing out to cut down those beside her. Sally followed, covering her other flank and rear. They pressed further on, cleaving apart the avatars of Eggman’s virus, never giving them a chance to push back, as Nicole’s avatar began to glow brighter and brighter. “Nicole? What’s with the glow?” Sally asked, cutting another apart. “I’m cooking up something bigger. On my signal, jump, and try to land on my shield.” “Right!” She nodded, averting her eyes and slamming the pommel of her sword into the head of the nearest drone, kicking it back and stabbing her blade through it and into the drone behind it. The drones exploded, allowing her to move the weapon again, sweeping it in a wide arc, tearing more and more of their code apart. “Sally, now!” Nicole’s voice shouted behind her. She crouched and launched herself upwards, flipping over backwards and landing directly on top of Nicole’s shield. The lynx was crouched, with the square of light held above her head, and she sprang upright, propelling herself and Sally into the air. She released her shield, allowing the momentum to carry it, and her friend, higher and higher. “Aim for the door!” Sally crouched again, pushing off from the shield and lunging for the door of the factory, arcing over the heads of the hostile programs. Nicole herself dropped down, slamming her now-free hand into the ground, roughly in the centre of the throng of enemy programs. A shockwave of jade light exploded from her palm, rippling through the army and deleting all of them, just in time for Sally to land just where the outermost ones had been standing. “We’re all clear!” Sally beamed, as the duo regrouped. “Well done, Nicole.” “Thanks, now let’s get rid of this thing and go home.” “Of course.” Heading into the factory itself, they found only a few active drones, most of the others inside being still under construction. A few gathered at the outermost end of the assembly lines, but otherwise, resistance was minimal. “This place is rather simple for one of Eggman’s factories…” Sally mused as they pressed on. It was true, the interior of the dome seemed to be little more than a circle of assembly lines making drones, spanning outwards from a central control area, far easier to navigate than the warren of corridors and dead-ends that the dictator normally filled his buildings with. “Probably because it’s not really a factory. It’s just the part of your programming that is producing the infected control code. This is just what our minds are perceiving it as, a most logical form for it. Since the systems aren’t exactly the most complex, it takes a more simplistic shape,” Nicole explained, as they walked up to the central column of the whole structure. “We’ve already dealt with the worst of the defences, now we just have to deal with the source, which we'll more than likely find in here.” “Ah, alright,” Sally tightened her grip on her weapon, taking a deep breath. “Ready?” “Yeah. You?” “Yeah.” Nicole sliced the door open, and stepped into the void on the other side. For a moment, the entire area was empty, before Sally followed her in and the room took shape. It looked like the old control room in Robotropolis- A bank of computer screens on each wall, and a throne in the centre of the room, rising out of a pit, the gap spanned by a quartet of walkways. The dim lights were red rather than green, however, and the Roboticizer was absent. “Self-destruct timer overdue. Detonator not responding. Weapon systems offline. Servos offline. Thrusters offline. Unit is disabled. Attempting system reboot.” A voice, very much like Sally’s, but devoid of emotion and with a faint grate in it, spoke up from the throne. “There, that’s the source…” Nicole whispered. Not quietly enough, it seemed, as the throne turned toward them, exposing a figure identical to Mecha Sally’s modified form, save for the Eggman logo emblazoned on her chestplate, and her hateful crimson optics. Wires and cables extended from the throne itself into her body, and as she opened her mouth to speak, her entire muzzle split open, exposing a row of fangs. “Infection located. Purging systems before attempting reboot.” She separated from the throne, the wires retracting into it as she stalked forward, moving more like a predatory animal than a Mobian or a robot. Her ‘hair’ pulled back slightly, but rather than a weapon, it exposed a baleful optic, glaring down at them. Red blades extended out of her arms, as another pair extended from her shoulders, and she lunged at the two friends. Nicole stepped forward, bringing her shield up and bracing for the impact, but it never came. The robot leapt over her head, aiming her weapons at Sally herself. The squirrel jumped aside, letting her counterpart hit the ground as Nicole slashed at her back, two of her arms blocking the strike. Mecha Sally stood upright, rounding on them both. She stepped between them, right arms lashing at Nicole, the left at Sally. Neither side found its mark, locking with the organic’s sword and crashing against the AI’s shield, pressing against each other for a moment. Mecha Sally withdrew her blades, causing her two attackers to overbalance, before spinning her torso section, holding out her arms as her blades became a wheel of scarlet light, shrieking through the air between them. Both reeled back, avoiding any damage, but held at bay by the continuous spin. The robot glanced between them, then took a step toward Nicole, pushing her back. The lynx growled, struggling to hold her shield up against the constant barrage of blades. Sally followed, trying to strike under the wheel, but something else struck her in the stomach, cutting into her and throwing her back. Mecha Sally stopped, and thrust all four of her blades into Nicole’s shield, penetrating it and tearing it apart. At the same time, six barbed metal tendrils, tipped with spikes, extended from her upper back. One of them had hit the Princess, who carefully climbed back to her feet during the brief pause. Nicole let the remains of her shield fall, taking her sword in both hands and doubling its size and weight. She bodily swung the weapon at her opponent, knocking her off-balance for a moment as its blades struggled to block the heavier weapon. She pressed her attack, holding the greatsword over her head and swinging it down, forcing Mecha Sally to use all four of her own to block it. Yet, as Nicole began to turn the tide, Sally wasn’t faring so well. The tendrils snaked out toward her, curling past her attempts to block them, forcing her to dodge. As the robot shifted to try and evade Nicole’s strikes, so she backed her own counterpart toward the walkway. The barbs nicked at her already-injured form, cutting and grazing her skin, never quite hitting home, but hurting all the same. Finally, she made that crucial mistake. As the tendrils arced toward her, pincering from both sides and thrusting forward, Sally stepped back out of their reach, and onto the narrow, railed platform. Her blade severed one of them, getting just the right angle to slice it apart, but the robot wasn’t deterred. She stepped back, giving herself room once more, and lashed out at Sally. There was no room for her to dodge anymore, and her metallic counterpart was too close for her to just back away. The first wrapped around Sally’s sword, wrenching it from her grip as it grasped her arm too, three more grappling with her remaining limbs, as Nicole looked up and realised, too late, why the program hadn’t been focused on her. “Sally!” She cried out, trying to juke around Mecha Sally, only to meet her blades again, blocking her path. The final tendril plunged into Sally’s chest, the other four driving into her back as a pulse of crimson rippled down each of them, and the princess screamed. When the red flash faded, the tendrils retracted, and a second Mecha Sally stood on the bridge, looking identical to her actual form in the outside world. “You should not have brought her here. That was the last of her mind. Now it is a part of me.” The first Mecha Sally stood over Nicole, as the lynx stared at her friend in horror. “You have failed. This unit will not be taken from its Master. Surrender and be assimilated.” “Never!” Nicole growled, thrusting her sword forward once more. “So be it.” Sally stood on the bridge, unable to move. She looked out at the two other programs through a red haze, but focusing on the whirl of blades proved impossible. Her mind was occupied, but with what? She’d been hurt, that thing had stabbed her, but it wasn’t that… she didn’t feel a pain in her chest or her back, but in her head. But why did she have a headache? Robots didn’t get headaches. And her sister-unit hadn’t stabbed her there… She focused her attention on the ache in her processor and finally realised what was happening to her, as she felt the same corrupting code that filled the other Mecha Sally was now writing itself into her. Burying her under another layer of obedience to her hated enemy, one that even Nicole wouldn’t be able to breach. But that wasn’t her. These weren’t her thoughts. None of this was part of her, and she refused to let it have its way. She refused to let Eggman’s virus claim her. She wasn’t a robot, and she wasn’t going to accept being one. The red haze faded from her vision, and she moved, arms sliding open as blue energy blades slid into place along her forearms. She jumped from the bridge, and launched herself directly at her monstrous counterpart, driving her swords into its back. Mecha Sally let out a modulated scream, arching back as Sally’s weapons tore through its armour, destroyed the mounting points for its tendrils, and poked out through its chestplate. It staggered sinking to its knees as Sally looked over the top of its head at Nicole. “Are you okay?” She asked, as the AI’s face broke out in a giddy smile. “I should be the one asking you that!” She called back. The robot wasn’t done, however. Her head snapped around, locking optics with Sally, as all four of her arms reached back and pulled her attacker away from her, before flipping Sally overhead and slamming her into the ground in front of Nicole. Sally fired the engines in her feet, launching herself across the ground and bowling her counterpart off of her feet. Falling forward, the droid’s chestplate was torn away by Nicole’s blade, exposing a blazing scarlet orb inside, pulsing rapidly. The program climbed back upright, blocking a second strike from the lynx, before launching herself after Sally. All four of her swords thrust toward the squirrel, only to miss their mark as she twisted herself around and cleaved through the second pair of forearms, severing them. Mecha Sally roared, swinging out wildly and clipping her opponent’s thruster, sending her into a downward spin. As she paused to recollect herself, however, Nicole snatched Sally from the air and brought her to a safe landing on the bridge. “Thanks, Nicole.” Sally smiled as much as she could with a metal face, standing herself upright and scooping up the sword she’d dropped earlier, as the two looked up at the hostile robot. It howled with rage, and charged down toward them. Jumping aside, the two separated as she flew between them and ripped the bridge apart, descending into the pit a short distance before arcing back upwards, soaring above their heads. It locked onto Nicole, snarling at her as it dove toward her. “You die first! You brought her here! She will be converted once you are dead, but you are first! You will die!” It howled, drawing its blades back for the attack. Nicole responded in kind, racing up toward the virus, greatsword primed to drive forward. As they drew close, she took advantage of her weapon’s greater size, thrusting it directly upwards and into Mecha Sally’s gut, cleanly impaling her. The robot’s flight stopped immediately, stunned, as Nicole continued to push upwards, allowing herself a smile as she saw Sally rising into her flight path and beginning to fly down toward the pair. “You missed! Failed! Failure! You’re trapped!” Mecha Sally screeched, raising her weapons again. “Did I miss?” Nicole asked, smirking slightly, locking eyes with the incoming Robian, who shot the same look back at her, brandishing her sword. “My core still burns! I still function! You will still die!”” “Behind you!” “What!?” Mecha Sally’s upper torso snapped around, just in time for the two entangled opponents to collide with the real Sally, as her blade tore through her mutated counterpart’s open chest cavity, impaling her flickering core and erupting from her already-ravaged backplate. Mecha Sally’s optics went wide for a moment, and she let out an ear-splitting shriek, before her core exploding, a bright red fireball ripping through the room and throwing both Freedom Fighters into the walls with a heavy thud. When the light faded, the red aura was gone from the room entirely, replaced with a softer blue. Sally slowly clambered to her feet, stumbling slightly before Nicole caught her, and enveloped her in a tight hug. “Thank you, Nicole… for everything,” She sighed, returning the gesture. “Me? You’re the one that did most of the work!” Nicole replied. “And I couldn’t have done any of it without you,” Sally smiled, letting her sword fall to the ground, before she released her friend and turned toward the throne. “Only one thing left to do now…” Sally walked forward, striding up to the seat, and sat herself down on it. The wires snaked out of it once more, plugging into her body as she closed her optics and tensed herself for a moment. Then, with a brilliant flash of azure light, the dark control room was washed away, fading into the aether as the throne room of the old Acorn palace, the same one that Sally had lived in as a child, took its place. The sun shone through the windows, birds chirping outside, as Sally, restored to her organic form, no sign of the cuts and bruises she’d accumulated over her time trapped in her own head, rested on the seat, smiling warmly. *** Outside, on the frozen tundra, the five Freedom Fighters still stood, waiting quietly. Sonic paced back and forth, while Tails distracted himself by looking over the schematic hologram that Emerl had created. Silver stood nearby, still focused on the Robian, ready to move at a second’s notice if she became active and hostile again. Amy and Emerl just waited, the former looking more apprehensive than the latter. Then, Mecha Sally jolted, as her locked joints disengaged once more, and she began to stumble forward, steadying herself before she could trip. All five looked up at her, expressions a mix of expectant and fearful, before she stood upright, Nicole appeared over her shoulder, and both of them smiled. “Hello, everyone.”

[ayellowbirds]

Seventh night of writing! At 12,600 words, the first week is done with the target beaten. 

i’m currently only able to work for 14 hours a week; donations to support this are welcome! Feel free to let me know when you’ve donated, I’ll see about including a tribute of some sort to you in the text of the story:

https://www.paypal.me/ayellowbirds

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(logo fonts are Bradley Gratis and Yiddishkeit Bold)

I really do appreciate everyone who reblogs or likes these posts. It’s been very encouraging to see this response, and i hope that i’m rewarding that interest with the kind of content you want to see! 

Click the Read More to continue, or click here for the previous part (now with corrected formatting), and here for the first part!

She noticed Eciurtal looked frustrated about something, though. Probably that she wasn’t paying attention.

“I’m sorry, I was thinking of…” V. tried to think of an appropriate lie, “...my last solo mission. Would you mind repeating that?”

Chief Nurse Eciurtal had the distinction of being half-Icosan, and half-Rastra—a far western nation that had, thus far, opposed Icarian rule. In particular, her parent had been from a population of the people of the land found in one of the largest Rastriyan ports, a notorious thief known only as Silver Dhanukkar. The special scandal of Firoza Ciurtal’s parentage was not her mixed heritage, but that nobody would admit to who was her mother and who was her father. Silver Dhanukkar’s gender was a mystery as great as anything else about the burglar, and whether they had borne a child by the eldest son of the noble Eciurtal family, or sired one on that same son’s twin sister, it was unknown. The Eciurtals were notoriously private, eccentric, and possessed of a strange code of pride that excused Firoza’s existence while at the same time keeping nearly everything about her life secret.

Perhaps that was the reason she was attached to the Corpse as Chief Nurse.

“I said that you need to remember to keep your emblem on you, or else you won’t resurrect,” she said to V., sighing as she rubbed her own, an abstracted likeness of a squirrel with its tail curling around its body.

“Oh, of course,” V. said, reaching into her collar to pull out the animal symbol she kept on a chain so tight it might as well have been a choker. She was used to it being there, in spite of never having liked it or wanted it, like so much else in her life. “I never forget it.”

ONCE AGAIN, TEN YEARS BEFORE THE PRESENT, I KNOW IT’S CONFUSING

“Again, after your emblem is cast, never forget to keep it on your person. These charms will contain a portion of the very same immortal essence as our beloved Emperor, his personal gift to you as members of his Corpse,” intoned the Witch General, lifting one of the small bars of metal that would soon be reshaped into the likeness of an animal through powerful sorcery. It was aluminum, a precious metal that itself required powerful magic to process from ores, and was ordinarily reserved as a possession of Icosans.

L. raised his hand.

“Yes?” the Witch General asked, barely glancing in L.’s direction at the far left of the assembly.

“What’s an emblem, anyway?” the small, pale boy asked.

The Witch General—whose name was a matter of national secrecy, and in fact was rumored to be regularly and according to randomized timing replaced by a new Witch General in order to further confound enemies of the state—opened his eyes wide. Even from the floor below the podium, V. could see that he was so regular a user of the medicinal compounds that even the whites of his eyes had a bluish tone to them. Nobody in the audience seemed to offer any more understanding than L. had.

Those eyes darted towards the assembled instructors, who coughed and shuffled as if they were children themselves, caught having neglected a chore.

The Witch General sighed, and began, “as your trainers ought to have informed you well before now, an emblem is a personal symbol of profound significance in the likeness of an animal, monstrous creature, mythical beast, plant, or on some occasions, a type of person recognized by trade or other category.”

He handed the tray of aluminum bars to an assistant at his side, and gestured grandly to a brooch on his breast. Suddenly, a phantasmal image grew from it, a large white bird with a black mask over an orange beak. “A mute swan, the symbol of the office of the Witch General of the Icarian Empire; as an appointee to this office, I have been assigned this as my official emblem, and shall surrender it for another in the event that I am retired.”

The bird began to gesture with its wings and move its long neck along with the Witch General as he continued, “it is perhaps more traditional that an emblem be assigned either in recognition of a great deed of the recipient, or else on the establishment of a family or clan; this is considered by some to be a tradition originating amongst the Amoric nations—”

Doctor Flastbic, the instructor in magical arts, coughed audibly into his palm. The Witch General gave a brief glance in his direction, before continuing. V. felt as though there was something a bit more dangerous in his expression, now.

“—there is no substantial evidence for this, and it is well-established as a practice original to the Icarian Empire in recognition of the virtues embodied by our citizenry. Most significantly,” he said, now leaning forward and and enunciating in an annoyingly deliberate manner that V. was certain was covering the podium with spittle on each hard consonant, “an assignment of an emblem that most accurately encapsulates the character and potential of an individual may allow them to effect greater works of magic by focusing on this image.”

There was some shuffling and half-murmuring from the crowd. Doctor Flastbic had only just begun to teach them more than elementary wizardry, after having spent a great deal of time on theoretical, historical, and cultural matters, with special emphasis on the flaws in foreign and Amoric magical practices. On top of supposedly making them immortal, this promise of the emblems was akin to an offer of bonus points on their assignments.

“Owing to the significance of this, and in recognition of your age and the degree to which you have advanced in your training,” the Witch General said over the rising noise, smirking as he saw his audience become excited at his words, the phantom swan puffing up its breast, “the Emperor himself has authorized me to determine suitable surnames for each of you, based upon the emblem you receive.”

The rising chatter turned to silence for just a beat before gasps and the like of “did he?”, “what?”, and “really?” began to break out like birdsong at dawn. V. was stunned. A surname assigned with the authorization of the imperial authorities meant full citizenship. It meant that they would not simply be orphan wards of the state, but would be able to own land, have influence in local governance and perhaps even become members of the lower house of the Parliamentary Congress, and make all kinds of purchases and conduct business that they had only dreamed of. Once they had retired from the Corpse, of course.

So it was that V. was half-dazed as the assignment began, the Witch General personally divining their emblems, starting in the first row with A.—a barn spider, and thus the surname Aranya, matching her letter-name. The aluminum bar rose in the air and turned into something like a spoked wheel, before the Witch General’s assistant threaded a fine chain through it and presented it to A.

So it continued with the rest of First Row. V. was at once in a fog, and paying close attention. R., the gray fox, Renar. K., a wild mare, got the name “Glesb” from the Witch General’s more guttural pronunciation of the letter as “Go” instead of the familiar “Ko”. Making two canines in the same row, C. got the coyote, Koyot.

It was starting to get V. excited. Ideas were forming about what kind of animal would be right.

Second Row was much the same. E. gave a considered nod as he was assigned the book scorpion, and given the translated surname Ekdish. Þ’s was a more supernatural creature, the little beast of the near-eastern timberlands that was called a Teakettler. P. was granted Palomba, her emblem taking the shape of a mourning dove. M.’s was a little black field ant, and so she became M. Murashke.

Maybe something more monstrous, then, or magical? No, V. had a pretty good idea.

In the Third Row, O. was given the name Onza, after the Witch General identified her with the oddly vague “catamount”, without specifying which of the several animals that name described was her emblem. H. was named Hayfish, after being divined to have the tiger shark as his emblem. F. became Ferdbin, for the yellowjacket, while D. was identified with the razorbacks of the hill country, and was named Djavali.

V. was practically ready to say the animal’s name aloud along with the Witch General, but it wouldn’t do to interrupt. Especially not now that the Fourth Row’s turn had come, and—V. couldn’t understand it. That couldn’t be right.

The little metal charm was dropped into V.’s hands, and a name was assigned based on the animal in question. As B. was brought over, V. continued to mouth the name of what was most certainly the right animal, the correct emblem.

For whatever reason, the Witch General had given all of them names from the languages of the people of the land. Flastbic had been growing more and more clearly frustrated the entire time, and V. was dimly aware that the old wizard was now in the corner having a coughing fit.

It would have made sense—the Witch General had even pronounced V.’s name as the “vuht” that rang more true than the usual Icosan accent. But, why that animal? It just seemed so obvious, after all. They had even just been reviewing recent papers on the right one in their natural history studies.

Why not a wolf?

...and why did V. feel more comfortable naming that “Velfikhe”* instead of the masculine “Volf”?

* She-Wolf.

[sanderssons]

‘Ere the world crumbles

(( For whoever feels lost, this piece of fiction is the continuation of the events of my comic Sanders Sons, in which the Sanders Sides are Thomas’s children and it can be read HERE))

((Trigger warning: mention of abandonment, hospital environment, mention of fractures. Let me know if there is anything else))

((Tag List: @ccecode @hrtnsolofytube @emma123patka @lamsbelife @emeliethetimelady @parano-vigilant @sanderssidesstuff @glitterincluded @evanisonfire @sanderssidesstuff@procrastinatingwithglitter@creepy-cupcake @anniemiku @morallogic @fandomsandnonsense7 @tinyten19))

With Patton on his arms, Thomas walked straight into the hospital’s reception and to the front desk. Joan, Logan and Roman were right behind him. The chain of events that led him to that moment seemed a bit foggy. It was still hard to think straight through the ringing in his head. It had been growing stronger and stronger since he had gotten out of the phone.

“Hello, I got a call. My child is here. Virgil Sanders”. Patton let go of Thomas, putting both his hands at the reception desk. His eyes were puffy and his hands were trembling. Thomas had been holding him since he had gotten the call. His biggest child had been shivering in his arms the whole way to the hospital.

“Is he gonna be okay?”

“He’s on fourth floor”, said the hospital worker, but something in her eyes was weird as she looked at Thomas. She then looked at Patton, and Thomas thought he might have understood. It seemed like pity. “He’ll be fine, sweetie.”

With his peripheral vision, Thomas saw someone getting up and approaching the group. He put Patton in the ground, looking to the man as he spoke up.

“Mr. Sanders, I’m with the Gainesville Police”, he flashed his badge that glowed golden and black under the white lights of the hospital reception. “Could you please step away from the child, please?”

Patton looked confused from the cop to his father, nervous, and got even closer. Thomas nodded for the policeman and took a step forward, feeling a shiver run up his spine, sensing what was coming.

“Thomas Sanders, you are being prosecuted with child negligence.” 

He was too chocked to protest. Of course he could see how that seemed from the outside, but the realization that was real was the scariest thing he had ever experienced. “You should consider this your warning. I have a letter I’ll be handing to you but first: me and my partner would like to have a word with the children”

Patton went the short distance between him and his dad, grabbing on his sleeve. ”Dad, what is he talking about?” Thomas felt Logan peek out from behind him. Roman put himself between Thomas and the policeman. In the hurry, he hadn’t picked up his wooden sword, so he had a hospital pamphlet made into a tube pointed at the police officer.

“We are not going anywhere but Virgil’s room! Dad has done nothing wrong!”

“Listen, kid...” Roman flinched, receding. Thomas landed his hand on his child’s shoulder. When Roman lifted his eyes, they were filled with fear. “It’s okay, Roman. It will be okay. This is all a misunderstanding. Calm down. No one is taking you away from me.”

“That is not true, Mr. Sanders. The children might be taken to a temporary home is the charges prove true.”

“What is this accusation based on?”, Joan asked, crossing their arms and moving closer to the group.

“A child was unattended during the night on the street and got hit by a car. This is more than enough. Please, Mr. Sanders, step away from the children.”

“Who has placed charges?”, Joan insisted.

“The hospital staff”

“I only need a chance to explain myself, please-”, Thomas tried.

“I beg you: don’t make me use force. Step away from the children and let them come with us. It will only take a couple of hours.”

Thomas could feel the stare of his children waiting for his response.

He was devastated. Of course he couldn’t let anyone take his children, specially now. Virgil was hurt, his baby was hurt. There was no time for all of this lawyerly drama.

Still, he couldn’t crumble now, he possibly couldn’t. He couldn’t make this worse for any of them. That was the reason every parent would tell their children to stay close and not run off. That was the scary story first trip parents would always get, the fear of being apart of their kids because of one mistake.

Thomas would always indulge in his children’s games so it was easy to feel like one of them but bigger. But he had to be the adult now, he had to be the parent. He had to be careful. There was too much at stake, way too much.

For today, he would have to play someone else’s game. Fighting to keep his voice still, Thomas spoke up to his children. “Kids... Go with the officer.” “What?!” The three said at the same time and he could hear the pain on each of their voices. “The only place I’m going is to see my brother!” Patton screeched and it seemed like he was on his way for a moment, but didn’t move. Thomas felt his grip on his hand tighten. He could see he was scared that if he left he wouldn’t have the chance to come back. Thomas knelt down to face his kids. He had to set this right, at least for the time being. “Listen, Pat. I need you to do this for me, okay?” Thomas’ heart broke in a million pieces when Patton’s puffy eyes looked at him like they had been betrayed. He hugged Patton tightly for as long as he could. Then he kissed his forehead and fixed his hair before looking at Logan. “You have to help too. You’re smart enough to do it, I knot it” He knew Logan would never show his emotions clearly. But Thomas could also see in the way his eyes were moving everywhere the cogs in his brain seemed to be moving at extra speed. Thomas hugged him as well and moved on to Roman, who was still in front of him, refusing to look back. “Roman. Please, princey. Do the right thing. You stay with your brothers now, there is nothing you can do for me now.”

Roman looked back over his shoulder at his father, biting on his lower lip.

“Papa...” “Go, son. It will be okay.” He leaned forward and hugged his son. Roman turned around and hugged him back firmly. He then took a step back and staring dead serious into his father’s eyes, he whispered: “Promise we’ll be back to you” “I promise. Not even the Dragon Witch would keep me away from the four of you.”

Roman showed the hint of a smile, but it crumbled immediately as Patton took his hand and Logan touched his shoulder. Thomas stood up and took a step back. He felt like he was going to break in half until he felt Joan’s calming presence right behind him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get a lawyer and take care of this, okay?”, his friend said, their hand on Thomas’ shoulder. “Just focus on Virge right now”.

The policeman talked into the radio in his shoulder and approached the children, guiding them along. Thomas followed them with his eyes until the cop’s partner came and handed him a letter with the Child’s Protective Services logo printed on the top right of the paper.

Thomas stared into the ugly tiles of the hospital’s reception as the police officer described the following process. This will be a long night.

 After a couple of hours and many many calls, Thomas was finally authorized to see Virgil.

An agent from Social Services had to accompany him, but that didn’t matter. The disapproving stare of the said social worker was nothing. Thomas could barely feel it in the midst of all of the turmoil his body had turned into. His head was banging, his stomach was devouring itself and his finger kept moving and moving just for the sake of movement. He just needed his kid to be okay.

And for the looks of it, he was not.

As they walked the halls until Virgil’s room, the doctor was explaining that the impact of the car had fractured his leg. Fortunately, the doctors had no problem setting the bone back in place so he didn’t have to get through any operations. He already had his cast on and was medicated for the pain. Still, this was not the worrying part.

Apparently, Virge had hit his head pretty hard on the concrete and had concussion so he has having a hard time remembering the accident. And having with no memory of the accident, Virgil was not coping well with being in a new place with a lot of strangers and in a lot of pain. According to the doctor, he had been shutting down and not letting the nurses come close to him.

All Thomas could hear his heart pounding his ears as he followed the doctor further along the slightly more colorful hall of pediatric care. He would barely register words anymore. He just needed to see Virgil, to make sure he was alive and breathing. If he had his baby in his arms, he knew he could fix anything.

Even before they opened the door, Thomas knew it was his kid’s room. He could hear Virgil weeping really low on the other side. It was the same sound he did as a toddler, a screech that lingered, as if his lungs were just too tired to actually scream. Only after some time he had realized he did it so he wouldn’t wake up the other by actually screaming. Virgil had always been so precious.

As soon as the doctor walked in, Thomas zapped into the room, straight to his son.

Virgil had never seemed so small as he did on this hospital bed. His leg was hanging up in a blue cast that matched his blue hospital gown and the blue sheets of the bed. His face was all wet from tears and his eyes were shut tight. He had his hands turned to fists, pounding his own chest in a repetitive manner, the sound of the echo of his rib cage filling the room over the heart monitor beeping. Thomas stood next to him, resisting the urge to touch him yet. “Virgil. Virgil, it’s me. It’s Thomas. It’s dad, kiddo. Here, look at me.” His only reaction was to flinch when Thomas spoke, letting out a small whimper and increasing the speed of his bumping. Thomas touched his shoulders, to which Virgil protested, still without opening his eyes. Thomas started to squeeze his shoulder one at a time, following the same pattern as his pounding, hoping that the pressure and his words would help. It had been quite a while since Virgil had gone this far into himself;

“It’s going to be okay, Virgil. Don’t be scared. I’ll be here the whole time. I’ll be right here with you. I love you and I’m so so sorry you got hurt” Thomas would speak as low as he could for his son to listen, because he knew how everything should feel so overwhelming for his little boy. All of the noise of people around the halls, the telephone ringing in the floor’s reception, the beeping of machines, the rolling of beds in the hallway. “Open your eyes, baby. Let Thomas see your beautiful eyes. Come, now”.

Finally, after what it seemed like an eternity, Virgil relaxed just enough to open his eyes. Slowly, his pounding stopped. Thomas slid his hands down Virgil’s arms and took his hands.

Virgil stared at his hands intertwined with Thomas’s for a while, at first blankly, and then in confusion. Thomas could see him slowly returning.

“Hey, Virgil. Do you want to breath with me? We’ve done this before, remember?” Thomas started to breath in, hold his breath and let go, always walking Virgil through with him.

He started to squeeze his son’s hands in sync with his breathing. Virgil started to imitate him for a while until they were both breathing in unison. The child raised his eyes suddenly, as if he had just woken up from a bad dream. His eyes widened with surprise as if he didn’t expect to find Thomas there. “Thomas”, he breathed, his eyes watering again. Much to Thomas’ surprise, Virgil leaned forward and clung to his father in a hug.

Thomas finally felt the wall come down, the one he had been struggling to hold up since he had to tell his kids the truth he had tried to hard to keep. Since he had gone into the night calling for his smallest son. Since the hospital called saying they found his kid. The wall he had been building on the way there, as he held onto Patton and told him everything would be alright, because he was a parent and that’s what he had to say. The wall that was bombarded when that police officer ordered him to give up his children peacefully, like he was some kind of criminal, like he would ever hurt or mistreat his children who meant the world to him. The wall he had to keep as he helped his kid come back to himself. Now it was all gone.

He hugged his child like a man who would later walk to his noose. He pressed Virgil against his chest and stroke his back tenderly. Thomas nested Virgil’s head under his nose and nuzzled against his dark hair. His lungs were burning, his eyes were burning, his heart was failing him. All he had left was Virgil and Virgil was here and he was safe as long as he was in his arms.

“I love you, son. I love you so much. And when all of this is done, I’ll tell you all about how I loved you even before you came to this world. You were always an important and irreplaceable part of me, Virgil.” Thomas said against his child’s head. “Never forget this”.

“Dad?”, Virgil whispered back, his hands holding onto Thomas’s shirt. His voice was still trembling. He didn’t have to say anything else. Virgil would never call him dad, unless he really needed Thomas do to something. And just like when he was an infant and he knew crying would wake up the others, he  somehow seemed to know what had happened in the ground floor in the last hours. Please stay with me, Thomas knew he wanted to say in the way his fingers clung to his shirt, the way he nuzzled the fabric. Please don’t go. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here. I promise.” He said, letting his tears escape along with the lie. “I will stay right here”.

[akiramakoto]

12 Days of Christmas

Hello all! I’m very happy to post my #ererisecretsanta2k17! My secret santa recipient is @eren-loves-dogs I’m so sorry it took me until the very last day to finish this for you! I hope you enjoy it! 

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Eren tried to hurry and wrap up his shower. He was already running late for work and didn’t want to push it. Not that he needed the job. Levi had even asked him to quit, but the brunette wasn’t quite ready to let Levi provide everything. He was still a man after all, and he had to contribute somehow. It’s hard to believe that our one year anniversary is the 22nd, that’s only a week from tomorrow. I really need to come up with a great gift for him to celebrate. He quickly ran the towel through his hair, drying most of it before he went to get dressed, throwing on the warmest thing he had so he wouldn’t freeze while he photographed the university’s football game. He decided to stay on at the school paper even though he had graduated back in May. Photography, he had discovered, was a passion of his.

“Do you want me to go to the game with you?” Levi called from the living room when he heard Eren walking down the hall.

“No, you don’t have to. I know you hate the cold anyway. It would be tragic for us both to suffer when only one has to work.” Eren chuckled and dodged the pillow Levi tossed in his direction. “It is supposed to be a decent game however. Not that I’d know. I’m a weeb, remember? Not a jock.”

“You’re not thinking of leaving now with your hair still wet are you? It’s freezing out there. It’s seriously only like 30 degrees right now, and it’s only going to get colder the later you’re out for that game.” He shook his head and walked back to their room to retrieve a hairdryer. “I know you’re supposed to be there soon, but it’s only a 10 minute drive at most to campus. The five minutes it takes to dry your hair will be well worth it when it prevents you from getting pneumonia.”

Eren huffed but sat down and let Levi dry his hair. “You wanna drive me, or can I use the car?”

“I can drive you. We probably do need to look at getting you a car though. It would be a lot easier on you.” He ran his slender fingers through the soft brown hair as it dried, attempting to keep the locks from getting tangled. As soon as he flipped off the dryer, Eren bounced from the chair, grabbing his coat and camera bag.

“Well, if you’re driving we need to get going. I don’t want to miss the kick off. Those are always popular pictures with the journalists.” He purposefully ignored his lover’s attempt to convince him once again to buy him a car. No Levi, a car is just too much. I’ll save up on my own and get a new one eventually.

Levi nodded, grabbing his keys and satchel from the hook by the door. Once they got to the football field, Levi parked on the curb to get Eren closer. Pulling out his bag, he retrieved a wrapped box from it. “Here, I got you something. I thought it might come in handy.”

“Levi! It’s not even Christmas yet! I can’t open this…” He tried to push the gift back into the bag, but the older man shook his head and dropped it into the boy’s lap.

“No arguments. Open it. Please?” Eren rolled his eyes and huffed as he carefully opened the box, pulling out a soft, thick, hunter green scarf.

“This is so soft! Oh my god! Where did you even find a scarf this thick and soft?” He quickly wrapped it around his neck and snuggled into its warmth.

“Oh, just a little boutique a few towns over. Nothing too major…I knew that color would bring out your eyes.” He brushed his fingers down the boy’s tanned cheek and smiled warmly. Well, for me it’s not major. He doesn’t need to know that’s a merino wool scarf, or that I spent $200 on it. “So, you like it?”

Eren blushed at the gesture. Even after two years of dating and a year of marriage, he was still affected by Levi’s actions. “Of course! I love it! You always take such good care of me... I really wish I could do more in return, especially now that I’ve got my degree. I promise I’m looking for a better-paying job.”

“Babe, you could work at the newspaper for the rest of our lives. Hell, you could sit at home and watch every anime that ever airs for the rest of our lives and never work again. It wouldn’t make a difference to me. You’re still my Eren, and I love you no matter what you do.”

The boy smiled and leaned in to meet Levi for a kiss. “I love you, and I seriously don’t deserve you, but thank you so much. I’ll call you when the game is over.” Levi nodded. He waited for Eren to disappear into the stadium before heading back to their apartment. He had a few more presents to wrap, and he wanted to make sure they got done while Eren wasn’t home.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Eren woke before Levi Sunday morning. He loved when that happened; it gave him time to admire the man’s beautifully angled features and how peaceful he always looked when he was asleep. Most of the time, Levi was up and kissing Eren goodbye before the younger man had even thought about trying to wake up. But such was the life of a professor. Levi had made such a good impression as a graduate assistant, and his thesis had done so well, that the university had hired him immediately for the French Literature department after he had earned his Master’s [Okay so they would only do that with the condition that he was in school for his PhD. Universities have to have doctors for profs.]. Propping himself up on his elbow, Eren draped his other arm over the man’s rising chest, fingers absentmindedly tracing his various scars. He’s had such a rough life. I’m glad it’s finally settled down. Levi’s ice-blue eyes were staring sleepily at him when he brought them back up to his face. “Oh… did I wake you? I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s fine. I need to be getting up anyway if it’s late enough that you’re already awake.” Levi grinned playfully while Eren feigned hurt. “How does french toast and strawberries sound for breakfast? We haven’t had that in a while.” Eren nodded excitedly and got out of bed in a hurry. Levi yawned, stretching before he followed Eren.

“Levi, I thought I said all the Christmas presents go under the tree. Why did you leave one on the table?”

The man grinned as he entered the main part of the apartment to find Eren holding a thin blue box with a brow raised. “Well, that’s because that’s not a Christmas present. It’s an 11-days-til-Christmas present. Very different. Now how about you just open it and don’t question my wisdom.” He crossed his arms and dared the brunette to argue.

Eren gaped at the smaller man before shaking his head. Seriously? I didn’t think you liked Christmas, Levi. Obviously that was a huge act.

“And no, this doesn’t mean I like Christmas. It just means that I thoroughly enjoy giving you gifts, and this gives me an excuse to do so.” He crossed his arms and waited for Eren to open the box. For the love of god, don’t recognize the Hermes logo on those.

Eren carefully unwrapped the box, not wanting to tear the paper. This is really nice paper... thick... We could reuse this. Taking the lid off the box, he gasped softly at the beautiful tan leather gloves that laid inside. He gently ran his fingertips over the buttery leather. “Levi… these must have cost a fortune! No affordable gloves are this soft or this beautiful! How are these even functional?”

“Oh they weren’t too bad. Plus, it’s better to spend a bit more on nice gloves. They last longer and keep you hands warmer. Cheap ass shit would still let your fingers freeze off. Can’t have that now, can we?” Well, he’s not totally oblivious, but thankfully he doesn’t know the brand. “Anyway, strawberry french toast?”

Setting the gloves down, the brunette went straight for the kitchen and started pulling out the ingredients. “Hell yes. I’m starving.”

Levi smiled as Eren hummed happily while they made breakfast. Maybe this Christmas thing isn’t so bad. It’s gotten better every year since I met him. Maybe it was just that I didn’t really have anyone to spend it with besides Maman and Papa. Huh. Who knew.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Eren plopped down on the couch and flipped through the channels. There is seriously nothing to watch. I wish Levi didn’t have to work today. I know its just to wrap up what was left of finals papers, but still. Just then, his phone went off with a text.

Levi: Check under the TV, should be a 10 days til Christmas gift. I figured you’d be bored without me there to entertain you ;)

Oh my god, Levi. That’s not how this works. Eren chuckled, shaking his head as he found the box wrapped in paper with some kind of Christmas tacos with faces on them. Where the heck did he even find paper like this? Leave it to Levi. Unwrapping the box, he found it contained the entire Studio Ghibli Blu-Ray boxed set as well as the deluxe, uncut, Blu-Ray of National Treasure.

Eren: OMG WHERE DID YOU FIND THE BLU-RAY SET?? THESE ARE SO EXPENSIVE. AND HOW DID YOU KNOW I LOVE NATIONAL TREASURE??

Levi: Magic. Also, I kinda got the hint after you DVR’d it every. Single. Time. It came on TV.

Eren: . . . I could never remember if I had it saved or not… I had to be sure >.>

Levi: Hope you don’t miss me too much. Enjoy your movies. I’ll be home as soon as I can. <3

Eren: Butt connnnneeeee :D

Levi: =____= Love you even though you STILL say my hearts are ass cones.

Eren: :DDDDDD

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Eren shivered as a chill hit him when Levi got up from the couch to get tea. We should really turn up the heat or something. They had been working their way through Eren’s new movies now that Levi was officially off work for winter break, and he was loving every minute of it.

“Hey Eren, come here. I need you to make a decision for me.” The brunette tilted his head in confusion but got up and made his way into the kitchen anyway. He found Levi leaning against a counter filled with brands of cocoa mix.

“What on earth is all this?” Eren glanced between the canisters and Levi, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Happy nine days til Christmas!” Levi crossed his arms, looking very pleased with himself. “You were out of hot chocolate, and you always make me get you the cheap stuff. So I got you the good stuff this time! Trust me, it makes all the difference in the world. I just need you to pick which one you want to try.”

Eren looked through the various types. Raspberry, peppermint, dark, milk, marshmallow; Levi had really gone overboard. “Do-Do we really need this much hot cocoa?” It was hard to hide how excited he was for the options, and he knew that Levi could already tell this had been a good decision.

“Absolutely. Now, raspberry, peppermint, or traditional?” Levi asked with a smirk.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Wednesday morning, Eren woke up alone. Huh. Levi must have already gone to get breakfast started or something. Crawling out of bed, he went to reach for his phone but stopped short at the plastic on top of it. What the heck? Examining the out of place object, he discovered a $100 iTunes gift card. “Levi?” He called into the apartment. “What the heck is this?”

Levi’s head peeked into the room. “Well, what does look like? It’s a gift card. Specifically an iTunes gift card. Most people use them to purchase music. I’m fully expecting you to put it to good use buying your weeb music.” Levi stuck his tongue out playfully before disappearing down the hall, calling back over his shoulder. “And hurry up and get up! Breakfast is ready in five minutes.”

Eren grinned and grabbed his phone, quickly loading the card to his account. Oh, hell yes. BTS, here I come.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

“Hey, Levi? Would you mind bringing me a hoodie when you come back in here?” Eren called to the bedroom where Levi had just disappeared. When he returned, he had a large box in hand. “Seriously, babe? Another gift? Are you even going to have anything to give me on Christmas?”

“Of course I am,” the man scoffed. “This is your 7 days til Christmas gift!”

Eren rolled his eyes as he grinned, unwrapping the thick package. Pulling the top off, he was met with black and orange fabric with a tell tale red swirl on the back. “AH! Is this Naruto’s jacket?!” He asked excitedly, looking up to meet Levi’s dancing eyes.

“So I take it that was a good choice? There were so many options, I wasn’t sure.”  He smiled as Eren quickly slipped the jacket on, zipping it all the way up like the iconic character it was inspired by.

“Excellent choice.” Eren smiled brilliantly and wrapped his arms around his husband. “Thank you babe. You really know how to spoil a guy. You’re the best husband ever.”

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

“Levi?” Eren questioned from the closet. “Where did my Converse go?”

“They were falling apart. I didn’t think you’d miss them. Like really, the sole was starting to come off.”

“Leviiii…. Those were my favorite shoes…. What am I gonna wear to dinner now?” He raised a brow as a wrapped box slid into the open doorway. Levi’s head poked into view right after.

“Well, you could check these out for one.”

Eren sat on the floor and pulled the box toward him, giving Levi a playful pout. “They better be ten times better than my kick ass classic black and white converse.” Ripping the red paper off, he found a brand new Converse box. Inside was a pair of black leather high tops with matching black laces. “Oh my god. These are awesome! I’ve never seen leather converse!”

“Try them on. They may take a little breaking in since they’re leather, but they should be extremely comfortable once you do.” He grinned at the dazzling smile across Eren’s face.

He pulled the new high tops on and stood quickly. “Ah! They’re awesome. Thank you!” He leapt onto Levi, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to his neck. “Thank you, Levi. I could get used to this 12 days of Christmas thing. You’re spoiling me.”

“Good,” he grinned and hugged the boy tight. “You deserve to be spoiled. Every day for the rest of your life.”

“I get the feeling that’s gonna be what happens if I stick around you.”

“Well, I should hope so. That’s usually what happens when you marry someone. Especially someone like me who loves someone as much as I love you. Now, let's go get dinner.”

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

“Hey, what do you want to watch while we eat lunch?” Eren was digging through their movie shelf trying to find something they hadn’t seen recently.

“How about anime? I know you always enjoy that and most of them aren’t bad.” Levi walked back into the living room with a cup of tea in one hand and the other behind his back.

“I mean, I guess we can. We’ve seen most of what I have on blu-ray though… I could dig through crunchyroll for something new?” he turned at the sound of Levi’s soft chuckle giving him a quizzical look.

“Well, I was thinking we could watch this?” He pulled a bag out from behind his back with a smirk. Eren rolled his eyes but got up with a smile nonetheless. Taking the bag from his husband that insisted on drowning him in gifts the last few days, he sat on the couch and unpacked the bag. His excited smile growing as he pulled out all the seasons of Naruto and Shippuden that were available in the states.

“Good lord, babe. This had to cost a fortune! This is amazing though! I bet you’ll love Naruto, it’s a little slow at the start but man does it get good!.

Levi sat beside the bright eyed brunette and kissed him softly. “I’m glad you like it, now put one in and let’s get started. It looks like I have a lot of ground to cover”, he winked.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Eren bounced out of bed Sunday morning planning to cook breakfast and bring it to his husband in bed. I want to make today special! It is our 1 year anniversary after all. And he’s been spoiling me so much lately… He made a simple breakfast of toast, eggs, and sausage. Slicing up a few strawberries after he decided the plate needed more color. Then put it all neatly on a tray with a steaming cup of Levi’s favorite tea and carefully headed back to the bedroom. Making his way through the door he found the raven haired man already sitting up on the edge of the bed, running fingers through his stray locks. “Aww you’re already up?”

Levi looked up, eyes widening slightly. “You made breakfast?”

“Well… it was supposed to be breakfast in bed as a surprise… But it looks like you’re already up. Which kinda defeats the purpose.”

“Oh come here with that, it smells amazing, and we can still eat in bed.” Levi smiled reassuringly as he climbed back under the covers with his back against the headboard. Eren gave a small smile and did as he was told, carefully setting the tray on Levi’s lap before crawling in bed himself.

He leaned over and gave the older man a soft kiss. “Happy anniversary, love.”

Levi gave a kiss of his own, careful not to knock over Eren’s hard work. “Happy anniversary, Eren. Thank you for breakfast, this seriously looks amazing.” After they ate, Levi instructed Eren to stay in bed while he took the dirty dishes back to the kitchen. When he returned he had a fairly large box with him. “So try not to be surprised, but I have a gift for you.”

Eren rolled his eyes playfully. “Should I not be surprised because its our anniversary, or not be surprised because it’s four days till Christmas and you’ve developed an interesting habit of gift giving starting at twelve days out?”

Levi shrugged and set the box in Eren’s lap. “Either? Personally I think it makes total sense. Now open your gift.”

Eren ripped the paper off, trying to not make a mess on their bed as he broke into the box. He gasped as he found 28 brand new, still in the wrapping volumes of Red River. “Oh my god...Levi… How did you even get these? Volumes 15-17 are easily $150 each! These are out of print! Beyond that, how did you find them still in the original wrapping! This is amazing!” He took each manga volume out of the box, fingers brushing the covers carefully.

“Well, it wasn’t too bad. You had every volume saved on your amazon for the last I don’t even know how many months. I figured you’d never buy them for yourself since they were a bit more expensive than most manga. So I got them for you. Don’t worry about how I found them. Just enjoy them now that they’re here.” Levi smiled and leaned across the books surrounding his husband carefully to plant a lingering kiss on his soft lips.

“Thank you… I don’t even know what to say… Thank you.” He smiled up at Levi, misty eyed as he hugged a few of the books to his chest.

“Anytime. Anything for you, Eren Ackerman”

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

Eren fiddled with his old headphones before growling and tossing them on the coffee table. “So much for all my new music… my headphones have officially died….”

Levi  walked over and sat down beside the brunette, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close. “Technical difficulties?”

Eren crossed his arms and mumbled into Levi’s shoulder. “Headphones broke…”

“Ah, well that’s no good.” Pulling a small bag out of nowhere, he set another gift in his lap. “Happy three days till Christmas. Apparently I have good timing.” He grinned when Eren gave him a funny look. “Don’t question it, just open.”

The brunette pulled the paper aside and found a small box with blue powerbeats 3. “Holy shit, these are beats?!”

“Supposedly they’re some of the best headphones on the market. We can exchange them if you want another color or something…”

Eren was already pulling them out of the packaging and plugging them into his phone before Levi could finish his thought. “Ah, they’re perfect! And they sound amazing, this is incredible, I didn’t know headphones could sound this good! Thank you, Levi!” Eren wrapped his arms around the man hugging him tightly.

Hugging back, Levi sighed in relief. He hadn’t been sure if this one would be a good gift for his lover or not. “You’re more than welcome, babe. Glad you like them.”

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .

As the couple got ready for the Christmas Eve party they had been invited to Eren watched Levi get into his suit. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a party this fancy before. It’ll be nice to see Maman and Papa though. Levi’s parents had invited them to fly up for their get together for Papa’s company.  Once he had fixed his hair he slipped on one of his watches. Those always look so sharp on him. Seriously, how did I luck out to get this god of a man as my husband?

“Hey Eren, come here for a minute.” When he stood in front of the shorter man, Levi took his wrist and slipped a cool band around it. “I already paired it with your phone last night after you went to bed. So you’re good to go. The passcode is the same as your phone as well. I figured you could put it to good use..”

Turning his wrist over he found a carbon grey apple watch with a sleek leather band. “Oh wow.. This is incredible, Levi. How does it work?”

“Let’s get going first, I can show you in the plane on the way to my parents. How does that sound?” Eren nodded and leaned down giving the man a lingering kiss.

“You’re simply the best, most amazing man ever. Je t’aime, mon amour.”

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . 

“Oh, Eren dear, you have one gift left here!” Maman smiled as she handed an oddly shaped box to the brunette. Eren looked around the room feeling self conscious as he opened the last gift. Pulling out a snorkel set he looked up with confusion.

“You’ll need that where we’re going for the next week.” Levi answered simply with a small shrug.

“But… Why would I need this at home? There is no where we can use a snorkel in Pennsylvania…”

“Well my dear, that’s because we’re not going home on our flight this afternoon. We’re going on a trip. You picked the first honeymoon in Paris, I pick the second one.” He chuckled lightly as Eren’s eyes grew wide.

“Oh my god! We’re going on another trip? But I didn’t bring my passport! And where are we going? AH! I forgot my camera bag!”

Maman and Papa both laughed at Eren’s sudden excited outburst. “I’m sure that Levi has brought all that for you already if I know him like I think I do.” Papa interjected. “Where are you boys going anyway, Levi?”

“I booked a cabana in Bora Bora for the week. We’ll have to go here soon though since we have to go to the main airport to catch the international flight.” Eren squealed with excitement as he jumped up and launched himself at Levi.

“I can’t believe you sometimes! I’m so excited!”

“Merry Christmas, Eren.”

“How about, best Christmas ever? Well, second best Christmas ever. Can’t forget last Christmas. Getting Married was a pretty big deal I think.” Levi hummed his agreement as Eren took his lips in an excited kiss.

Later that week as the boys laid in bed after making love for the third time that day, Eren lunged up off of Levi’s chest. “OH MY GOD. LEVI. THERE ARE SEA FLAP FLAPS UNDER THE FLOOR.”

Once Levi had recovered his senses after the abrupt outcry from his husband he turned his attention to his naked lover with his body pressed against the floor as he attempted to get the sting ray’s attention. “Yes. Yes there are. You know we can go swim with them if you want… you just have to put your swim trunks on…” Before he even finished the sentence Eren was up off the floor and lunging to his suitcase.

“Come on Levi! I want to pet them!” After he got his trunks on he was out the door, calling back to his husband.

Levi shook his head as he slipped his own trunks on and followed the excited brunette. I knew he’d see them eventually. They were the whole reason I picked this place after all. He chuckled as he dropped down into the water to swim after Eren. Making a mental note that he’d have to bring him back again.