#and then I'm gonna disappear offline for a while

[greppelheks]

happy new year, my loves 💖 I'm doing my little new year's ritual of cleaning everything, cleaning some bad energy in the house, and journalling. Hope you all had a good new year's eve!

[datamodel-of-disaster]

Here's a bit of an odd (but hopefully not unwelcome) question: you've mentioned a couple of times your interest in interior decorating, but how do you *find* items for your house to fit a specific aesthetic? Where do you even look/how do you search for stuff? Or do you just look through shops and flea markets and hope to get lucky?

Ok, I love this question. (You may regret asking if you see the length of this reply 😅)

SO.

The simple answer is, I thrift a lot (on- and offline), I buy at estate sales and auctions, I rarely pass an interior design store without taking a look inside (even stores that are decidedly not my style at first sight), I read industry magazines, I save up for pieces by indie creators, and in some cases I make my own stuff (I can weld and upholster). So yeah, to an extent it's "luck".

The complicated answer is that it's about understanding my own aesthetic and optimising my search experience.

I know a lot of people who sort of know what they like, but also don't really know what they like. They'll be able to look at pictures of interiors and say "I like that" and "I hate that" but not really know how to articulate why. They might even have a label for the aesthetic they prefer, like "minimalist" or "clean and modern" or "cozy Scandinavian" or something like that, but still not really be able to articulate what that materially entails. (Yes, I know, I'm singling out a certain type of people here -I'll stop eyeing them once they stop doing this shit.)

Why is one room "good" to you and another not, even if they're both technically the same style? What makes a space work? What is the "invisible background" in the spaces you love -tall ceilings, exposed beams, greenery outside, natural light, latticed windows, crown moulding? A lot of times people think they like the interior but they really just like the house it's in, much like how you might think an outfit is stylish only because the person wearing it is hot.

Similarly… do you actually love the look of an interior or do you just love the lifestyle implied in it? Do you actually like empty surfaces or are you just tired of cleaning up your housemates' clutter? Do you love big open kitchen/dining room combos or do you just wish you had a social circle that did dinner parties? Do you really want a giant white couch or do you just dream of living in California? Similarly to ads that may be advertising a car but are selling you on the dream of freedom to travel, interiors are tied up with non-material desires and aspirations. And while that's not *bad* per se, it's very difficult to actively work towards an aesthetic if you can't tell apart that aesthetic from the underlying desires. After all, you want an interior that works for the space you actually have and the life you actually live.

The reason this is important is because the moment you understand what you are really after, you are no longer bound by names of designers, shops and styles. It stops mattering. You can find things you enjoy anywhere, from thrift shops to IKEA to antiques auctions to specialty warehouses to Etsy, without it needing to be tagged with the label of an aesthetic you're trying to fit in. A lot of the "but how will I even find anything"/"everything I love is too expensive" stress disappears like this.

Understanding how your preferred style and aesthetic actually works under the hood also gives you insight into what sort of things you *need* to make it work, what stuff adds depth and volume but can't carry the theme by itself, and what sort of things are "false friends" -stuff that seems like it "should" fit your aesthetic but actually hampers it in the space you're in. (As in: a big white sectional is not gonna give you California Cool in a cramped terrace house in Birmingham, rather the opposite.)

The second-best advice in interior designing is "buy what you love" -the genuinely best advice is "understand what you love". Because once you do, you'll find things you like everywhere.

There's also optimizing your search. This is one of the few things where website algorithms are actually your biggest friend. One of my favourite things is the "more like this" function on a lot of platforms. If you tidily keep and organize favourites on Etsy, the algorithm will typically present you with stuff that's genuinely similar to items you already like. Just using Instagram to follow artists and creators you like will curate your feed and expose you to other stuff that fits the look. Pinterest allows you to both passively and actively find similar looking items, which can expose you to items and designers you never knew existed.

Favouriting items on my most-used second hand platform (2dehands, a local Belgian thrifting platform) will actively put items that visually resemble those favourites on my front page. It's awesome, and you can "weaponize" it in your search.

For example, earlier this year I really wanted an Asian style lacquer cupboard. They can be quite expensive, and usually get picked up fast second hand. So for a week or two, I actively searched for and favourited *every* lacquer cupboard I found on 2dehands, including ones I didn't like, that had the wrong dimensions, or that were far too expensive for me. Fairly quickly, my front page was essentially all lacquer cupboards, including ones that weren't even advertised as such and that I would never have found through the textual search function. And lo and behold, I found the perfect one, and it was an absolute steal too.

Another way to optimise your search is to cast a wide net. I never pass a home décor store or antiques warehouse without taking a peak. I have bought items when I was on work trips, when I was visiting family, when I was on holiday. "Thrift stores near me" is my favourite search on google maps. And yes, sometimes that meant carrying a mahogany prayer chair on my back while walking 30 minutes to the train station in high heels and office clothes xD

A final tip is to sometimes just trust your gut and go for it. A couple of my favourite buys are ridiculous shit, like a chair shaped like high heel and a bronze statue of a robot giving cunnilingus to a woman. And the biggest interior design regrets I have are all items I didn't buy. (to this day I regularly think about the giant 5-panel hand-painted Chinese screen doors I passed up on and the Lucite dining chairs I couldn’t arrange transport for.) There is such a thing as "too cohesive" in interiors. Your home is not a catalog photo; sometimes, particularly if the item is unusual or unique, you gotta trust your affection for it without necessarily knowing how it fits in the picture. (In a way, your brain is also an algorithm subject to customisation through exposure. Learn to trust it! ^^)

It's important to note with all of this though… this is my hobby. I love spending time on it. I imagine if you're trying to curate an interior this way when you're new to it (especially if you're trying to get to a certain look all at once without any mistakes or misbuys) it's hella overwhelming and time-consuming. It's not for everyone. But even if you have no interest in turning your home decor into a hobby, the base principles still apply. If you understand what you're really after, it's much easier to identify things that would work in your space, anywhere you go, no matter how often you actually go looking.

(My own house is very much NOT perfect -a perpetual “blessed mess and work in progress”, in all honesty. But well. I AM out here giving advice, so feel free to check out some non-staged, very much non-magazine worthy pics of my home, below the cut.)

[thotpuppy]

If you’re so vehemently against ai fanart what’s your take on fanmade graphics and edits that use stolen pictures from the internet? These fans didn’t go out with their camera to capture the images themselves, they searched through Pinterest and google and found photos taken by real photographers and, without asking permission, stole these images to edit and create into something else. Yet this practice is widely accepted amongst fandom, but the second ai is involved it’s akin to murder? Even when the fans have clearly uploaded said ai generations into photoshop to edit them first? Seems like a pick-and-choose double standard to me.

Okay first of all, let's address the fact that - going by the language you've used here - you've already decided how I feel about it, so why bother the pretense of "asking"? Dishonesty breeds Discontent. Don't lie to someone's face and expect them to be kind, yeah?

Secondly, almost every single person I know who works with image manipulation uses assets they DO have the rights to outside of specific actor's likenesses. There are millions of photos, graphics, illustrations, paintings, etc. that are open for free personal AND commercial use allllll over the internet and people use them liberally. And, actually, many, MANY of these people DO go out and take their own photographs, so I don't know where your misconception is coming from.

And, the big kicker - they also don't lie about it. They say when something is an edited photo, if it's not obvious.

Stolen images being used in edits is NOT widely accepted and is in fact generally pretty damn frowned upon in most art circles, and I absolutely don't support use of them.

Every single instance of fanart is a rocky road as far as IP infringement goes, but don't put fanartists on the same level as the industry professionals providing celebrity model photos. Unlike in AI and Art Theft, when those photos are used that's bringing attention to the figure in question, not taking it away from an actual creator.

Lastly, where the FUCK do you get off saying ANYONE is comparing AI use to murder? Persecution complex much? I get it, you wanna be a victim so bad, but you're the one stealing from people at YOUR industry level.

AI in general has a metric fuckton of potential to be something genuinely useful to artists of all walks, but the CURRENT industry is too unethically sourced. We need to get control of the market, get stolen works (including, once again, STOLEN LEAKED MEDICAL RECORDS) out of the training data, even if that means starting over from scratch.

Also, we need to get the bullies who think it's okay to do shit like spam a Machine Learning program with a single artist's work to harass them offline, target voice actors who have asked not to have their voices used into harassment campaigns, or lie to celebrities by selling them commercial rights to ML-generated fanart, which right now, they legally CAN'T DO. Because the copyrightable legitimacy of AI/ML works IS currently in debate in courts in the US. So.

Maybe instead of assuming everyone is out to get you, Anon, try not being a douchebag and stealing from fellow fanartists? And if you're gonna steal anyways, at least be honest and don't lie to people trying to convince them it's actually a digital illustration.

We can see the weird, fake blending. We can see the extra fingers, or utensils clipping through plates, or hands disappearing into heads, or shoes that don't end where shoes end. And while I'm not going out of my way to confront anyone about it, I'll just stay here on my own blog, blocking people who post AI, I am not the only person who is angry and disgusted at the lack of integrity and blatant disrespect.

[lady-azarashe]

I miss the old Internet.

Back when I was younger I frequently visited dozens of different websites. There were countless forums and websites worth spending your time on, and clickbait wasn't a thing as much as it is nowadays. A decade ago my browsing habits were much more varied: Cracked, Gaia, Youtube, ICanHazCheezburger, TGWTG, Instructables, at least four different forums, game/animation portals, etc. I only hit F5 whenever I was waiting for someone's forum reply or for something to be uploaded.

Nowadays stuff is so centralized (and so much stuff from back in the day has either disappeared or gone bad) that my Internet browsing habits are a loop of Tumblr-> Youtube (mostly for music) -> Reddit -> Reddit again -> Tumblr-> Youtube -> Reddit. Doesn't help that most social media seems to be composed of screenshots of the other social media sites. Back then I felt like a digital adventurer, discovering new places by following leads found in random places and that felt genuine. I remember discovering Neopets when I was a kid and I was over the moon because I had discovered something so amazing to me. Or small forums where, after posting for a while, everyone was like family. Now I feel like a disinterested tourist, accompanied by a mass of thousands of users indistinguishable from myself, who is carted around by whatever shows up on the front page; and whose group arrives, mindlessly consumes the content, and leaves feeling mildly entertained yet profoundly unfulfilled.

And this isn't even counting the amount of bullshit we gotta deal with these past few years, such as

manipulative practices from our content providers and their algorithms,

insane amounts of "enshittification" that's hitting every single social media site,

megalomaniacal CEOs constantly screwing over their own users in the name of ego and shareholder profit,

active and passive privacy loss,

the whole clusterfuck of AI-generated content,

astroturfing and manipulation to pit people against one another for a myriad different reasons,

and more!

I had spent over a decade on Reddit and left after the dumpster fire of last year's API changes and subsequent blackout. I feel like Tumblr's current state of affairs will push me out as well eventually. I don't think I'm going anywhere else after this, I'm just gonna join the ranks of the offlines.

Back when I was younger I felt like I had "a home on the Internet", as well as an identity. But now that I don't belong to any online community anymore, and now that I'm slowly withdrawing unto myself and keeping only nostalgia as company, I feel more alone and adrift than ever before. Hell, I'm not sure that's 100% nostalgia there. That's just straight-up loss.

[solvicrafts]

so uhhhhh to explain my apology cake

For some reason this time of year the Theoi always seem to come around knocking. It's kind of like how families tend to get together for the winter holidays, except in my case it's a bunch of Greek gods breaking into my house just to ask me why it's been so long since we've had tea or something.

I very very very rarely talk about my beliefs on here for a bunch of reasons, one of them being that my relationship with the Theoi is personal and I just don't always feel like sharing, and another reason is that I don't really relate to other pagans or even other Hellenics very much so it's kind of hard to participate in the community when I don't really feel like I belong in it.

And another reason I don't participate very much is that, and this isn't fun for me to acknowledge, I was kind of an asshole back in the day. Not on the level of the big notorious assholes like Galina Krasskova or TJA, but I still had some issues. I was really unhealthy, mentally. I had a lot of trauma to work through, I had social skill issues, I was really impressionable in all the wrong ways, and there were some things about myself that I really didn't understand. It got to a point where I self-sabotaged a lot of friendships within the community and ended up being toxic for a little while. Thankfully not too long as someone I cared about intervened in time to tell me I had serious issues, but still. Eventually, I realized I had some serious growing up to do and took a few years off from being chronically online.

And the thing is, I'm still learning and growing. We all are (I hope), and probably always will be. Plus... like half of my family died in between then and now and a whole lot of other crazy shit happened, all of which started in February, too. So there's just a lot of stuff for me to unpack this time of year. With this week's storm kind of forcing me to take time offline and focus on other things, I've just been spending a lot of that time reflecting and thinking about myself, my journey up to this point in my life, and where to go from here.

I've got a lot of stuff planned going forward, creatively. Lots of things I'm very excited to share with you guys! And hopefully I will keep taking baby steps into being part of a community again (both online and offline). For now I'm gonna be taking things slow, and I'll be disappearing on and off since there's just a lot of stuff going on this month.

[mindsmusicalmysteriousmachinery]

I find it funny how it's always people who claim to be angels flake out on me for little to no reason. It's always them saying they'll never leave, but then they blow up at me as an excuse to leave. Or they just disappear while I'm offline.

Honestly just fuck angels in general.

I'm gonna wage war on the heavens.

(Context: THIS IS ABOUT AN ANGEL THERIAN, HEART I AM SO SORRY ITS NOT ABOUT YOU!!!!)

[storytimewithnova]

kenma and shoyo fight

a video was sent to the bfs in there GC

Kuroo:huh what is this

Akaashi:lets watch and find out

they clicked the video and saw sho and kenma Fight!?

Sho:I'm starting to glitch like really really glitch

Kuroo:glitch kitten what do you mean?

Akaashi:lets keep watching

Sho:I'm fading away

Kuroo:What!?

Sho:Kenma i'm losing my power and i Don't know when I'm gonna be gone for good

Akaashi:power!?

Kuroo:gone for good!?

Kenma:omg your fading away shona I I Don’t know what to say hey before you lose your power can you just help me with just one thing

Kuroo:kenma what the fuck!?

Akaashi:kenma wth she is dying and you asking favors

Kenma:could you use your ghost powers to thwart a little video release Oikawa has a bad tape on me I want it erased could you just scramble it

kuroo's thoughts 💭ghost powers is my kitten already dead impossible everyone can see her

Sho:I- are you kidding me i came here to apologize to you and you came here to use me I am literally about to disappear in to a freaking lava lamp

Kuroo:kitten omg i may never see you again

Sho:because i don't know what my UFB (unfinished business) is you're still sitting here caring what everyone thinks about you

Kuroo:so its true my gf is dead

Sho:i have done literally everything to make sure that you could be cool and then you could make your mark and you can get a bf  but you have done nothing you have done nothing for me you care more about this stupid video  or some dumb comment that i wrote then you care about your best friend

Kenma: ........

Kuroo:how would you like to tell my bf it was you that got me killed

Kenma: ......

Akaashi:!?

Kuroo:what!?

Sho:over that stupid video you little gang ambushed me and beat me to death have fun explaining that one to Tetsu

Kenma: .....

sho walked off crying

akaashi was  to stunned to speak kuroo was upset to say anything as well both kenma and sho came online

Kenma:hey

Sho:tetsu

Kuroo:hey kitten

Akaashi:kenma why

Kenma: huh?

Akaashi:kenma don't play dumb now i know sho is dead your friends killed her

Kenma: .....

Akaashi:is that what that video is sho's death

Kenma: .....

Kuroo:why did you do that your my best friend you killed my gf

Kenma:i didn’t my friends did

Akaashi;exactly your friends you were there you watched you are an accessory to her murder

Kenma: ....

Kenma:i never told them or asked them to do it they just did it and oikawa filmed it and it and said if it got out we would all go down then i figured since she was a ghost she could make it all go away no one would know how was i to know atsumu made a copy to send to you guys

kuroo went offline clearly angry sho said shd would go go him akaashi told him to give him space while that was going on kuroo tried to find was for sbo not to disappear he even suggested she be on his computer think like iron man with jarvis or flash with gidian that was the sams concept for sho she agreed and it surprisingly worked

END

[keelime-art]

Hello Kee, we don't know each other too well but I wanted to reach out. Were contacts on discord (though only talked briefly once) and I was in your server, now neither of which seem to be the case. I don't know if you're still active here but realized today that the server was no longer in my list and just wasn't sure if you deleted it or something else happened. Led me to noticing your ko-fi and twitter seem gone too. Just hoping you're doing okay whatever the reason for the disappearance.

I don't know how long ago you asked this. Either way, gonna answer straight up.

I had a complete mental breakdown and removed myself from everything. Went offline for a while, but I'm kinda around again.

Got back into XIV on Balmung and I'm kinda active on the xiv twitter I made for her (keelime_xiv).

Hope that you're doing well, sorry for blinking out of existance.

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Going offline for a while. Gonna work on the Freddy content and some other stuff but I definitely want to at least come back with that finished. I'm gonna add an ask game to the queue so if you guys wanna ask stuff, that'll give me something to do when I get back and I'd much appreciate that

Anyway, yeah I'm disappearing off the face of the earth for a while. C'ya later!

[houseisekai]

House Isekai: A Realm Reborn - Part 9.5, Calm Before the Storm

For the moment, House Isekai has a moment to breathe in Fhirdiad as their next course of action is being planned.

The students take their time to get used to their surroundings as the staff finally meet the heroes who stood by them 2 years ago...

--

[The Ocular - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

...

[Sara's Voice] “If VEGA’s got communications handled then…Guess I’m with the maid too. Hey, kids. Be careful alright, we need to catch up once things settle down, wanna know how your class is doing!”

(Rean) “Of course, Sara!”

(Towa) “Leave it to us!”

(Aigis) “We won’t let you down!”

[Kazuma’s Voice] “Better than what you taught us, that’s for damn sure!”

Sara's voice went offline, Rean looking to everyone in the room while the floating orb 247B disappeared, presumably into Doomguy's base.

Aigis, Mercedes, Kairos, Stefan, Elizabeth, the ODST's, Raelyn, Duvalie were accounted for.

Class VII and Towa were behind him.

Then there were these...others Rean wasn't familiar with.

(Rean) "...Where's everyone else?"

(Towa) "Actually, how did your mission go? Were you able to find Valda?"

(Kairos) "About that...allow me to explain, Professors."

As Kairos, Elizabeth, and Stefan told Class VII what happened, Aigis turned her attention to the newcomers.

Those were the exact people that she and Valimar were talking about. It was obvious from the way they spoke they knew what happened in Fodlan, and vaguely about House Isekai.

But why weren't they here with everyone else?

(Tucker) "Think she's checking me out?"

(Lest) "Is this really the time?"

Aigis blinked and bowed.

(Aigis) "M-My apologies, it's just...you all were there, two years ago weren't you?"

(Forte) "If you are referring to when the towers appeared in our worlds, yes we were. Your people made way through our town, Selphia."

Aigis turned to the Reds.

(Aigis) "And you came by for a brief moment-"

(Sarge) "Heheh, yup! Pulled your asses outta the fire! No idea who you guys are but any friend of Byleth is a friend of ours!"

(Simmons) "Speaking of which, where is he? We tried asking your students about it, but they didn't know either."

Aigis and Mercedes looked at each other with a sad look in their eyes.

(Grif) "...Oh, don't tell me-"

(Mercedes) "I'm afraid Byleth...isn't with us anymore."

(Lest) "I...I see."

The newcomers became quiet for a moment, not really knowing what to say.

Byleth was a friend to all of them, and the fact they couldn't be here for his passing was a hard one to accept.

(Sarge) "Well, I suppose that's why his mama called in help."

(Aigis) "...Come again?"

(Buck) "Yeah, he mentioned they heard Sitri's call for help and came here via a teleporter."

Aigis put a finger to her chin, then turned to face the rest of the Auxiliary members.

(Aigis) "Did you hear a voice before coming to this world?"

The ODST's looked at each other, all shrugging.

Raelyn and Duvalie eyed each other before noting that neither of them had an expression that said 'yes'.

(Aigis) "So you're just like us...If that's the case, I doubt the Knights of Favonius were able to hear Sitri. But why are you all even here?"

(Raelyn) "If I had to guess, it has to do with that floating orb that was able to finally fix your teleporting issue at a single command."

(Duvalie) "I'm gonna break that damn thing if it was!"

(Romeo) "That Rean guy talked to it right? What's he know?"

Towa and Rean nodded once the Garreg Mach Students finished their report.

(Rean) "Good work. You guys should get some rest."

Rean then turned to everyone in the room.

(Rean) "Everyone should. It sounds like it's been an exhausting day."

(Mercedes) "Please, allow me to take them to their rooms."

Towa, Aigis, and Rean nodded and went to the table where the Newcomers were.

The Auxiliary members stayed behind to talk with them as well, leaving Mercedes to guide the students out of the castle.

[Nobility Sleeps - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward OST]

The streets of Fhirdiad's Noble District was brightly lit by lamp posts scattered throughout the streets, dimly brightening the stone streets blanketed by snow.

Kairos and Stefan were shivering while Elizabeth seemed to be the only one completely unaffected.

The Class VII students were also affected by the cold, but not to the degree of the other two.

Mercedes looked back to Elizabeth with a smile.

(Mercedes) "Elizabeth, during your time in Fhirdiad, Aigis and I have made arrangements for House Isekai's stay to be in your manor."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in surpise.

(Elizabeth) "What?!"

(Kairos) "Don't want us there?"

Elizabeth turned around, but with a smile.

(Elizabeth) "No, I'm just surprised I can be home so soon! It's only been four months since we've attended the Officer's Academy!"

(Stefan) "Heh, I guess these past 2 weeks make it seem like it's been way longer..."

(Kurt) "Um, are you sure you would not mind us in your home?"

(Juna) "Yeah, it kinda feels like we're intruding, letting a buncha commoners and-"

(Elizabeth) "Oh please, the Mcgrath's harbor no such ill intent for commoners as Kairos makes it out for you to believe."

Kairos rolled his eyes. He was about to say something but Stefan stopped him, making him sigh instead.

(Elizabeth) "And if we are to be classmates, I should not hold any biases against you."

(Musse) "Well then Elizabeth, thank you for your hospitality!"

(Ash) "Do your other buddies know we're here as well?"

(Mercedes) "I will be out to retrieve them myself, no need to worry."

After a few more minutes, they finally reached the front door, with Elizabeth going first and opening the door.

Already there was a host of butlers and maids to receive them as they all bowed in unison.

(Everyone) "Welcome home, Lady Elizabeth!"

(Elizabeth) "Hello to everyone, thank you so much for greeting us on such short notice."

She held out a hand that extended towards her fellow students.

(Elizabeth) "Everyone here is a classmate of mine, and we will be getting in more soon. Please see to it that they are treated with the upmost respect! As for me, treat me as you always have."

Everyone bowed and awaited further instruction.

(Juna) "Wow, so this is what it's like to have a buncha servants..."

(Altina) "...I do not comprehend."

(Stefan) "Hah, well...How do we even explain it?"

(Ash) "Think it's better to show than tell, Stefan. Hey!"

Ash walked up to one of the servants.

(Ash) "Mind if you can point me to one of the bathrooms here? Need a shower."

(Butler) "At once. I should recommend everyone else take one as well, you all must be freezing."

(Kurt) "Thank you kindly, sir."

(Stefan) "Yeah, thanks!"

(Kairos) "Come on, at least show some manners..."

(Maid) "Lady Elizabeth, if you would follow us as well."

(Juna) "Heck, won't say no to a hot tub!"

(Elizabeth) "...What is a hot tub?"

(Musse) "Ah, right. Sometimes I forget that this isn't our world with how similar it is."

As everyone went to relax, Mercedes went back to get Astrid, Helena, and Sitri who were in the Castle's medical facilities.

...

Sitri's eyes slowly opened as she was blinded by the light in the room.

The first thing she noted was that she was in a bed now.

The next was that no one was in the room besides Sothis.

(Sothis) "Well, could've gone worse I think."

(Sitri) "Ugh, where are we?"

(Sothis) "We're back in Fhirdiad thanks to some new third party we've never seen before. But they seem vaguely familiar to me at least..."

Sitri stood up and her eyes shot open.

(Sitri) "Wait, the kids!"

(Sothis) "-Are all fine. Not to worry. Astrid and Helena just left after getting their wounds patched. Though it's quite rude no one sent any visitors to-"

The door opened, cutting Sothis off.

It was Recette and Tear.

(Recette) "Oh, evening miss Sitri, Sothis!"

(Tear) "Thank goodness. We had just been told about what happened on your mission. It is a miracle no one was severely injured."

(Sitri) "Indeed, I am not sure I'd like to think if anything else went wrong."

(Sothis) "Anything else happen while we were gone?"

(Tear) "Kazuma and the Knights have just returned. Currently, they are all having council in Dimitri's war room."

(Recette) "Want us to take ya there?"

Sitri smiled.

(Sitri) "Please, and thank you."

...

[The Ocular - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Sitri opened the door to House Isekai's staff and the newcomers all speaking.

The Knights of Favonius and Auxiliary members were nowhere to be found, surprisingly.

(Towa) "Sitri!"

(Kazuma) "Yo. Glad to see you're alive."

(Simmons) "Oh, it's that Merchant kid too."

(Lest) "Recette, Tear!"

(Recette) "Hi mister Lest!"

(Tear) "Good evening to you all."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow when he saw all the bandages Sitri was covered up in.

What concerned him more was that almost nothing seemed to heal.

(Kazuma) "...Sothis, why's she all wrapped up?"

Sothis popped up behind Sitri, surprising the newcomers.

(Sarge) "WOAH! It's the green Furby again!"

(Rean) "A...Furby?"

(Forte) "I am unfamiliar with those as well."

(Aigis) "You...you mean the children's toy?"

(Grif) "Sorry ignore him, he's just fucking stupid."

(Sarge) "How about I ignore you by putting A SHOTGUN SHELL TO YOUR FACE!"

(Simmons) "Sothis? OH! The supposed Goddess that hung out with Byleth."

(Lest) "Oh! Yeah, I remember you! You always got into arguments with Venti!"

(Sitri) "Venti? You mean the bard?"

(Tucker) "Holy crap we are going in circles- CUTTING TO THE CHASE! ANYWAYS! Sitri, Byleth's mom right? Pleasure to finally meet you when you aren't uh...dead. Speaking of which yeah, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

The Reds looked at each other, then back to Sitri.

(Simmons) "Yeeeaaah, that whole incident in Abyss."

(Kazuma) "You guys know about that too?"

(Simmons) "Hoo yeah, whole clusterfuck! Wash and Carolina were super pissed fighting that Albert guy or whoever he was."

(Sitri) "His name was Aelfric...And he was a good friend."

(Sothis) "And to answer you Kazuma, I'm not sure. I noticed they're still wounded but haven't been healed at all. You think with all the advancements in magic and tech we would've had that taken care of."

(Lest) "Here, allow me to try! I'm pretty good at healing magic myself."

Lest walked up to Sitri and put a hand on her wrist, with a green glow.

Sitri yanked it back, yelping in pain making everyone jump.

(Rean) "Sitri?!"

(Aigis) "Was the magic too strong?"

(Lest) "I-I'm so sorry! I don't know what-"

Kazuma pushed Lest aside and grabbed her wrist.

(Kazuma) "Hey, who's got the most health here?"

Everyone was confused by his question.

(Kazuma) "Oh for f-WHO CAN TAKE HARDEST HIT HERE?"

(Sarge) "Grif."

(Grif) "Oh fuck you. Ugh, whatever."

Grif walked up to Kazuma.

(Kazuma) "Thanks, give me your arm now."

(Grif) "Okay, what now?"

(Kazuma) "This might sting."

(Grif) "What wIIIIIIIIIILLLL?!-"

Kazuma's hands glowed purple as Grif shook violently while Sitri's wounds seemed to disappear.

When Kazuma let go, Grif yanked his hand back, shaking it.

(Grif) "GAH, what the hell was that?!"

(Kazuma) "Life drain. A friend of mine is an undead, and we had to heal her using someone else's life force. And I remember a moment where we tried to do the same when we first met Sitri..."

Sitri looked at her hand in astonishment.

(Sitri) "...So I still have one foot in the grave after all this time..."

Sitri shook her head, then turned her attention to the newcomers.

(Sitri) "But that's a discussion for another time. You're the ones who saved me and my students weren't you?"

(Forte) "We're happy to help out anytime, Miss Eisner."

(Sarge) "Yup, Red Team's the one you can count on!"

(Tucker) "Psh, whatever. Blue Team totally carried Fodlan on our backs!"

(Kazuma) "So if I can ask, the hell are you people doing here? We've never seen you before, and you obviously know about the war and other crap you weren't here for."

(Lest) "Well honestly, the Reds and Blues were present for the events in Fodlan. All we know is that they dropped in our world for about a year, then left. That's when we met them, and then had you guys come through our town for a moment."

(Recette) "Oh, we were there too!"

(Tear) "For a very brief moment. We actually met Lest in Selphia before everyone came along."

(Rean) "I bet the Tower's behind this. There's no way this is all coincidence since we're meeting everyone we came across."

(Towa) "If I remember correctly, there's a few more we haven't seen. There was that person riding that giant bird with a cat in tow, then the child who looked like Byleth."

(Sitri) "It's all so strange...If my call meant for House Isekai reached you all, then there's no telling how far that call actually went."

(Aigis) "When I asked our other group, they said they hadn't heard anything before being transported."

(Sitri) "Did we have a chance to ask Class VII or the Favonius Knights?"

(Recette) "Mercie went to take them all to Elizabeth's house."

(Sothis) "Then we'll have to ask in the morning. But is that seriously how you all came here, hearing Sitri's voice?"

(Sarge) "Yup, we hopped in our jeep, then a portal opened up for us as soon as we said we were going. Was pretty convenient."

(Simmons) "It's a bit troubling to think on though, we don't even have access to FTL travel, let alone dimension hopping!"

Sitri's eyes widened.

(Sitri) "Then how could..."

Sitri turned to Lest.

(Sitri) "What about you two?"

(Lest) "There was a crystal tower that showed up in our world. We went through it and it popped us out into that facility you guys were in. Speaking of which, just what the heck's happening in Fodlan right now?"

(Forte) "It seems very high tech considering what we were told about the country."

(Towa) "This...might take a while to explain..."

...

[The Waking Sands - Final Fantasy XIV OST]

Mcgrath Manor, Living Room

The ODST's sat near each other, all checking their equipment on the couches while Raelyn stood near them hardly moving.

(Buck) "So no one in the city seems to know what the hell our assault rifle even is."

(Romeo) "It's gotta be someone with that Edelgard chick. That seems to be the source of all the insurrectionists in this world."

(Dutch) "Wasn't there that Claude guy too? Seems to me they had their eyes on us when we were leaving."

(Mickey) "Yes, Hilda mentioned he was the prince of the Leicester Alliance."

(Romeo) "What do you think big guy?"

Romeo asked Raelyn nonchalantly as he checked the bullet count on his sniper.

(Raelyn) "I am guessing it is with Edelgard as well. But as Dutch mentioned, the Leicester Alliance is suspicious as well."

Buck looked up at Raelyn.

(Buck) "By the way, you ever gonna sit down? You've been standing literally all day."

(Raelyn) "I would, but I'm afraid the weight of any of this furniture could not withstand an Astartes."

The ODST's eyed Raelyn up and down.

(Dutch) "Man's got a point. He'd break anything the moment he squatted."

(Romeo) "Guess that's why he didn't go to the showers with the others either."

(Raelyn) "Well, that and I think I would break it too with my height."

(Romeo) "Heh, can't catch a break can ya?"

(Lamenters) "It is not in my Chapter's nature too."

(Buck) "Yikes, and it seems you can't lighten up either."

(Dutch) "Ease up a little, you're scaring the hell out of the butlers."

Raelyn turned around to a maid and she jumped the moment his helmet stared at her.

(Maid) "P-Please pardon me, milord!"

She quickly ran upstairs as the Helljumpers heard Raelyn sigh through his helmet.

...

(Venti) "Aaaah, now this is refreshing!"

Venti sunk into the tub as everyone else did the same.

It was a massive hot tub with a giant divider separating the men and women's sections.

The divider was so massive that they couldn't even hear each other through it.

Everyone's towels wrapped around them comfortably as they enjoyed the feeling of the hot water melting away their stress.

(Diluc) "I should thank Elizabeth again for letting us use this."

(Stefan) "Yeah, like Venti said this feels great!"

(Kairos) "I'm surprised she let me use it, considering."

(Kaeya) "Who knows? She may hold a soft spot for you."

(Ash) "Kinda doubt that."

(Kurt) "Er, I think it may be out of politeness for the group. Though it's good to see her being so cooperative with the Class."

(Venti) "Yeah, usually her type is super pompous, "YOU WILL FOLLOW MY NOBLE ARCHETYPE, OR I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE UPON YOU!"

Diluc couldn't help but crack a smile at that.

(Diluc) "Wonder who that could be."

(Kairos) "...Judging from that tone, you know someone like that from your world?"

(Kaeya) "Ah, the Lawrence girl right? She does it ironically, I believe."

(Stefan) "She says it that loudly?"

(Venti) "Nah, it's a lot more refined."

(Ash) "It'd be kinda hard to imagine anyone who'd say that seriously anyway."

(Kurt) "I don't know, Instructor Rean does know quite a few characters..."

(Venti) "Yeah, like that Kazuma guy! He's a total jerk."

(Diluc) "Hm. Seems like he's got it out for you in particular."

(Stefan) "We should really ask the others why he's a teacher to begin with..."

...

(Juna) "Wow, you all look really pretty...!"

(Elizabeth) "O-Oh, thank you!"

(Lisa) "Aw come on now, ol' Lisa isn't anything to fawn over."

(Altina) "Juna falling heads over heels over women again has been detected. Vomiting is imminent."

(Amber) "Hah, this happen often?"

(Musse) "Oh, more than you know."

(Helena) "We know the feeling."

(Astrid) "...Hey, what's that look for?"

(Jean) "As do we."

(Lisa) "Jeez, I thought we were all supposed to be relaxing, not calling each other out."

(Juna) "Hey, I'm nowhere near as bad as Instructor Towa's friend!"

(Elizabeth) "Professor Aigis?"

(Amber) "Weird, I've always thought she was a bit too formal. Never took her for a pervert-"

(Musse) "Oh, not Aigis. She means someone from our world, Angelica."

(Lisa) "I've heard her say that name before. Who is she?"

(Altina) "A menace."

(Astrid) "Wow, the way you said it makes it sound like she's relentless."

(Helena) "Judging by their expressions, I think they just might be..."

(Jean) "Your class must lead a very interesting life."

(Elizabeth) "Well, we're not too normal ourselves, miss Jean!"

(Jean) "Hah, fair enough."

...

After their time together in the baths, they all went their separate ways and were taken to guest rooms for resting.

Meanwhile, the staff did the same as they headed for the Mcgrath estate while the newcomers stayed at Dimitri's castle.

In the morning, they had to be prepared to move again...

[your-four]

It's been a while but I'm back on Tumblr to run this ask blog!

Story:

Four is not the host of a reality show, rather an artificially intelligent teacher and assistant on a calculator app called Calculator Home by Jack N' Co. The app went offline with the strange disappearance of Jack N' Co.'s founder and CEO, Jerry and his brother Michelle. Now the only way to access the app is this online widget on this old website.

About:

Basically just ask Four anything you want! Four can help you with homework or learn like intended, or you can talk to them! There are other characters in the au but I'm just gonna start with Four until people want to hear about the other characters! For the most part I'll be in character here but ooc I will use (parentheses) or //two forwardslashes to show I'm ooc.

[fureliselost]

VLD REWATCH S8EP11-13

- Honerva u bastard

- it's a trap but ok

- and honerva went evangelion, uhh yay?

- sooooo what ur saying it shit went sideways like lance said it would?

- kl shots

- FINALLY PEOPLE WILL LISTEN TO SLAV

- wait hold up ur telling me the alteans escaped their cells by banging against them? tf

- "get these alteans to the medbay" shiro, they be fucking dead, take the to the morgue

- she killed the evangeliom girl

ep 12

- idek what's happening i will pause and go dye my hair

- am back and very very ginger

- ok so i just went bsck in the ep, apparently honerva put the lions offline

- honerva is doing hot girl shit

- leave merla alone, u bitch

- honerva is doing shit fuck her

- go merla

- much shit

- tf

-the what? sounds like magic bullshit pulled out of their asses to me

- wtf just happened

- the atlas and voltron fusing? tf

- this is bulllshit wtf

- hoerva said "then perish"

- that motivational speech? keith? what?

- so they be trapped? what now? honerva saves them? lol

- wtf is this

- oh, so you're gonna get triggered by allura now, honerva?

- little lotor is smart

- and you question that now? zarkon?

ep 13 ig

- tf

- very wtf

- it looks like neural things i like it

- finally allura is using her memory mumbo jumbo on the right person

- yes, lotor did deserve better

- oh gods i'mcrying allura deserved better

- "i'll always love you" is that all you have to say to lance? everyone gets something more and that's all? "always" is kinda meaningless when you're about to fucking die what the fuuck

-OMG LOTOR YES

- HOLY SHIT I THOUGHT THAT KEITH TAKING THE SPOT OF GALRA EMPEROR WAS FEVER DREAM OF MINE WTF THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?!

- ROMELLE AND SHAY BECAME COOKS W HUNK I LOVE THAT ACTUALLY

- MATT CUT HIS HAIR? OK I REMEMBER THAT BUT IDK WHY HE WOULD DO THAT HE LOOKED SO HOT W LONG HAIR

-- YAY IS THAT MERLA W CORAN? I LOVEEEEE IT I CAN ALMOST FORGET THAT ALLURA FUCKING DIED

- WHAT WHAT WHAT NO

- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LANCE NO

- seriously, they make the boy give up everything to go help run the family farm? what the actual fuck not only is that a stereotype because, well, he's cuban, but it's aalso so fucking out of character for lance, actually give him something for once wtf

- "it's a simple life, just the way i like it" what?

- who's ruling altea now? coran? ykw, since allura fucking turned lance into an altean, maybe they could've had him help coran rebuild altea and be a diplomat or something (not to mention it would give so many shenanigans w keith being the galra emperor and lance being one of altea's representatives)

- AND WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THIS LION BULLSHIT? IF THEY'RE GONNA HAVE THE LIONS DISAPPEAR ANYWAY, WHY DIDN'T THEY SACRIFICE VOLTRON THEN?!

- IT'S ALL FINE UNTIL IT COMES TO LANCE'S EVER AFTER HOW DID THEY FUCK THAT UP SO GREATLY

- OK, so I'm actually not that mad about the Curtis thing because Curtis was a minor character since season 7 and, while, yes, more than a few tiny interactions would've been nice, there wasn't really that many places to put it on ig? and shiro would def have tabled that for later if any spark existed there during the time shit was roling

- ok, I can now safely say that, no, i'm not biased by time and emotions and season 8 was actually more of a mess than I remember

[appleflavoredkitkats]

Do you have any more info on the fiance situation in Las Nevadas au? :-D or just anything in that au in general (only if you want tho sbajjdkfL) since its vv cool <3 /p

▪︎Beep

i've talked about the fiances before but i'm down to expound on it a little further :DDD this is kinda half assed but still long so MSJDJD

tw: self-destructive behavior, memory loss, breakups (not too horrible i promise)

/dsmp /rp

quackity is definitely immensely hurt by his loved ones leaving him. it ruins him. he feels like his heart is left to bleed out every single day he sees that no one from the south is coming over. he has a telescope atop his hotel, the tallest building, which he uses to look closely at the south (where kinoko kingdom lies). on his free days, or sometimes in the afternoon when he doesn't attend the events, he sits on the roof and looks out at a distance.

i think the longest he's been out on the roof was when karl messaged their chat through the communicator. it was a simple “where am i”, and quackity was quick to respond. he instructs karl to go to las nevadas, assuming he was lost, so he basically cancelled every gig he had to observe his surroundings.

(turns out, he never came. quackity sat on that roof for 15 hours before he was pulled away by fundy.)

but their abandonment was never intentional. quackity knows there has to be something more to it, but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

he at least also got word from sapnap. after much encouragement from schlatt, quackity finally was brave enough to send him a message. first, he sent a simple “sapnap? where have you been”, then a more desperate “what happened to us?”.

sapnap replies almost immediately that it threw quackity off, “been around, adventuring, getting away from things.” then the second one took a bit longer, “not gonna lie, i thought our engagement was off ever since we kinda. stopped talking to one another. you kind of left us, didn't you?”

and quackity is hurt. he's baffled, he's irritated, but he's fucking livid. schlatt has told him multiple times that he needs to control his anger a little bit better, but in times like this, no matter how petty it may be, he wanted to fucking wreck his room. and so he did— first he threw his communicator against the wall. it was still salvageable, so quackity decided to grab his glowstone lamp and toss it against the communicator. he flips his dresser, throwing it against his bed, and it bounces off and destroys his cabinet. when he looks at his right, he sees a window, and he raises his fist to punch—

and someone is grabbing back. “q, quackity, alex, please,” schlatt pleads. when did schlatt get to his room? “come on, self-destruction is my kind of thing,” schlatt adds, and it summons a smile from quackity's lips before a sob tears out. and it doesn't stop. quackity cries— and he doesn't cry often, especially in front of his coworkers or family or whatever they are. he hates it, he hates emotions— he tried to fucking suppress it all in las nevadas because all of this, all of these casinos and hotels and bars are meant to be his coping mechanism, his distraction. the tears always finds a way to seep through, though.

eventually, they do crumble to the ground, and they sit like that for a while. quackity crying against schlatt's blazer as schlatt merely rubs comforting circles on his back. eventually, fundy does come in with some snacks and a deck of cards, and it was enough for quackity to at least feel better for the rest of the day.

on another day, where quackity was supposed to have fun partying around and doing the same old shit he does every other day, a mysterious green, whorled portal appears in the middle of his casino. most of the staff and the customers stand back, but from the portal, a white-clad brunette falls from it. he doesn't look all to phased by his fall, but when he stands, he realizes the predicament he's in and immediately stiffens awkwardly.

quackity knows him. that's karl— the karl who somehow disappeared from the server for so long that quackity forgot he even fucking existed. what happened to him? why is he all white? why have his eyes become spirals? what's going on?

“hi,” karl greets casually, but his eyebrows are furrowed awkwardly, “uhm, where am i?”

“karl?” quackity says immediately. he stands in uncertainty before fundy nudges at him to go closer whispering “talk to karl, i'll be in charge of the event.” fundy claps twice and immediately announces that their slot machines will double in payout for the next hour, and the crowd immediately goes wild. karl seems a bit lost by the noise, but quackity quickly grabs him away from the crowds and out to the streets.

“gee, those people were. eager to waste their money. gosh darn rich people,” karl says, and quackity laughs, but his smile immediately drops when karl adds,” nevermind them, i guess, but uh, who are you, exactly?"

and quackity's heart churns. he's heard of a few memory loss cases in their server—it's quite scary to hear how common it's become to just lose yourself entirely—but he didn't think it'd apply to karl. he doesn't even know where karl has BEEN all this time. what happened? why does karl not remember? does sapnap know about this?

quackity decides to not reveal much immediately, so he puts on his typical charming façade and replies, “i'm quackity, or alex, any will do. i'm the owner of this place— las nevadas. it's a place for gambling, drinking, and well, fun! do you, uh, do you remember me?"

quackity sees karl visibly shift awkwardly, and it does summon a sigh out of quackity. “guess you don't, huh?” he says sardonically.

“time travelling kinda... ruins you, sometimes,” karl replies

time travelling...? is... is that what made karl leave? not make karl remember? when in the ever living hell did karl, the nicest, sweetest man he knows, ever been allowed to time travel?

“oh,” he just says instead, “well, uh, i was a close friend of yours."

"oh?" karl replies, “kinda like uhm, uh, do you know sapnap? or george."

damn. quackity's façade immediately melts— how does he know about them and not HIM? why did karl remember them and not quackity? why was he forgotten? quackity immediately hisses, turns away and responds, “i'm giving you a free hotel room for the night and i'm calling sap to pick you up. just walk seventy blocks to your right and talk to manifold, or something, christ you fucking irritate me.” he knows karl probably won't understand, and he knows he's breaking this already broken relationship even more, but he can't... he can't look at them the same way anymore.

karl does get to a hotel room, and quackity does visit him just to make sure everything is alright. thankfully, fundy did repair his communicator after his last tantrum, and he uses it to tell sapnap to pick karl up from las nevadas. sapnap doesn't ask where it is— he simply tells him “ok” and goes offline.

when sapnap arrives, he doesn't look as miffed as quackity expected him to be. he looks... well, definitely more composed than him and karl, but he still looked a bit tired. he has some new scars, but quackity guesses sapnap probably wasn't lying when he said he was out adventuring. before quackity could greet sap, sapnap enters the room abruptly and karl practically throws himself at sapnap.

and jealousy is a fickle thing, isn't it? quackity's heart is still torn, it's still bleeding, and it continues to do so the longer he stares at the sight of the other two. he withholds a scowl, mostly because he knows he might go on another temper tantrum if he doesn't, and he also knows he can't... he can't get mad at them. he's waited forever for this moment.

“wow,” quackity murmurs, and sap turns to him, “things really have changed."

sapnap sighs, “we built you a house in kinoko, but you never came."

"and i made las nevadas entirely for you as well." quackity responds, “i guess it's just... unfortunate timing, and all." it's silent for a few moments until, “i'm sorry”.

sapnap's look softens, “i'm— i'm sorry too.”

there's so much more words to say, things to clarify, stories to catch up on, but quackity wonders how worth it it is to cling onto his past. karl and sap's visit is quite... underwhelming, to say the least. but maybe it isn't underwhelming at all— maybe he just found a new purpose outside of them, and he's just... moved on. it hurt, obviously, but when he looks out of karl's hotel room window, he sees las nevadas. he sees the casinos he's designed for schlatt and fundy, and the bars he's designed for jack and sam, and the stages he's designed for charlie— it's just... different now. he loves karl and sapnap still, of course, but he's also been hurt by them, and he's grown into a different person from that hurt. he thinks sapnap has grown the same way as well.

but still, “you know you're invited to las nevadas if you ever want to visit again,” quackity offers with a melancholic smile.

sapnap sighs, but he mimics quackity's smile and nods, “i'll consider it.” sapnap pauses for a bit, then, “thank you for everything, quackity— i really do mean it. i hope... i hope you enjoy the life you've made for yourself here, kinda looks cool,” sapnap says, and his words were very soft and genuine— something quackity needed to end this chapter of his life with them.

“thank you too, i hope you guys do well too. take care,” quackity says, and sapnap and karl take their leave with simple goodbyes.

it isn't exactly forgiveness or getting back together but it's... closure. quackity's journey up to this point isn't exactly all smiles and rainbows, but he's happy where he is now. he just hopes sapnap, karl, and george are feeling the same as well.

[dramaphan]

yeah , people don't seem to talk about 2020 as much as you'd think they would but that year was quietttttt, at least for the first few months. i'm all for content creators taking breaks to focus on themselves, but it was the middle ground between a break and being active and it felt weird. i don't think they're going to do that again, or at least phil won't, but i really don't think i could go through that again if they did.

I think the way they went about it was just all wrong. Dan’s disappearance between the end of ii and BIG made a lot of sense in hindsight, but then he just. Disappeared again. We all kinda thought big was his grand return but it was really just… putting his hiatus on hiatus for 45 minutes so he could make an announcement. I think it would have benefitted his relationship with his audience a LOT if he had said “hey thanks for all the support but I’m still gonna be offline for a while just so u know” but Dan isn’t the type to communicate his thoughts feelings or plans, so instead we ended up with “I’m gay” followed by another year of silence, a year of Phil desperately pretending not to know who Dan is, and then a slow and gradual return to? I guess halfway normal? Like at least he tweets occasionally now and appears in Phil’s stuff sometimes and we know that he’s alive but he still won’t actually tell us if he’s ever gonna make his own videos again

[primroseprime2019]

Darkness Rising- Part One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Starscream stepped back, "clean that up."

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jack laughed softly and he nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Traffic," Bulkhead said with a shrug.

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Scrap," Arcee sighed.

◊◊◊◊

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

◊◊◊◊

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

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

[one-spidey-boii]

BUMMER SUMMER || peter parker; ch four

read ch three here

masterlist

an; i hope everyone out there is staying safe and sound. also, feel free to give feedback! i love to hear from you guys.

warnings; mentions of battle wounds (i.e. blood/scars/etc), future smut, mature language, fluff, angst, both peter and oc are 18+!!

word count; 2.1k+

edie's pov

"give up now, parker. i can do this all day." i say with a heavy breath as i hold peter in a headlock between my legs. we've been messing around with each other, showing off what we're capable of. somehow that led us to this moment.

he's struggling to break away from my hold. using all his strength to squirm away, he lets out grunts that eventually end with a big sigh as he gives up. only to try all over again a few seconds later.

"god it's like your legs are made of steel, this is inhumane." he puffs out, finally accepting defeat.

"oh. oh! my eyes! what is going on in here?" a voice booms throughout the room.

both our heads snap to the sound at the doorway to see happy standing there with his hands over his eyes. tony's voice can be heard in the hallway.

"what? why are you doing that, happy? oh lord! jesus children, it's only the first day." he shouts as he shields his eyes away from our general direction. i scramble away from peter and we each end up on either side of the blue mat that covers half of the room. both of our faces are flustered and shaded a guilty hue of red even though we weren't doing anything worthy of that feeling.

tony saunters over to a table on the side of the room and motions for us to join him. i hop up off of the ground, brushing myself off and moving my hair out of my face. i take my place next to mr. stark and peter follows in suit on the opposite side of him.

"okay so as you know- peter, take your mask off. what is this a kid's costume party?" tony pokes fun at peter who rushes to take the mask off and holds it down by his side. i can't help but let out a muffled laugh at the embarrassed boy. he meets my eyes with no readable expression, only holding it for a moment before focusing back on mr. stark.

he continues on, "alright. now that that’s handled... let's get some ground rules on the table." he looks at both of us in the eyes before talking again.

"rule number one, you must always be on alert. you'll be the only ones here for the most part, aside from the occasional visits from happy or myself.

number two, one of you must be here at all times. you can take turns going out and helping old ladies cross the street, or whatever it is that you guys do. hey, hey, i'm kidding don't give me that look, peter.

number three, i expect weekly updates from you. edie, you'll probably want to handle that.

and lastly rule number four, i just added this one because i didn't think it would be a problem, but who am i kidding? no hanky panky in my compound. got it?"

i snap out of my focused state at that last part. my mouth bobs open and closed like a fish as i search for something to say. never in a million years would i think about doing things with peter. just the thought of it made me shiver.

"hello? i need an answer." tony says as he looks between the both of us. it's then that i notice peter- again- is flustered beyond belief.

peter's pov

"you got it mr. stark." i blurt out. he gives one last glance between us and nods his head in satisfaction.

"good. i'll see you two crazy kids later." he responds with a wink as he walks backwards towards the door, giving us laser fingers before he turns and is gone from the room. i move my attention to happy who was trailing behind him.

"don't make me come back here more than i have to." he says with a fake smile and wave before disappearing as well.

i turn to the only other person left in the room. the said person who suddenly makes the butterflies in my stomach turn on each other to form an all-out war. the scary part about this feeling is...i have no idea why i feel it. and it's sprung up on me out of nowhere. all i know is that as of late, being around her makes me nervous, and sweaty.

"i'm gonna go...take a shower," i say pitifully. i internally scold myself for being so weird all of a sudden, but without waiting for an answer i bolt out of the room and make my way to my own space i’ll be staying in this summer. during my escape, i hear the faintest 'bye' coming from edie's direction.

finally in my room, i press the button that releases my suit from my body and shimmy out of it, starting to feel claustrophobic beneath its tight hold. while showering was just the first thing i could think of for an excuse, the idea doesn't sound so bad. i scramble through my suitcase and find all of the things necessary to take a shower. i carry it all to the bathroom and turn on the water.

while waiting for it to warm up, i stare at myself in the mirror. my hair is damp from the sweat that always comes when i wear my mask. i just look rough. my cheeks are red and flustered- an emotion i find myself feeling a lot lately- and the only reason as to why, is the reminiscent feeling of edie's thighs wrapped around my head. a combat move that is a bitch to be stuck in is now sending shivers down my spine in the strangest way. the feeling of her soft, yet durable suit against my cheeks is fresh in my mind. part of me wants to feel her actual skin caressing my face. just the palm of her hand. or maybe even her lips.

the scandalous thought hits me in the face when i remember who it is i'm thinking about. no no no. i'm just a horny boy who is thinking with the wrong part of his body. there is no way i can be thinking these things about edie. not my best friend, that would be so weird.

right?

-

it's nearing dinner time the next day after mr. stark and happy left to meet up with the others. i've done my best to stay in my room, but the nagging feeling in my stomach craved for any food other than the peanut butter crackers i smuggled in the middle of the night.

with a groan, i peel back my sheets and crawl out of bed. i walk over to my door and pull it open, checking both ways to see if it was clear. i sigh with relief as i see no signs of edie and step out into the hall.

it's not that i don't want to see her, but...i kinda don't want to see her. i took the time to myself to think of my messed up feelings. i haven't always felt this way. edie has always been my best friend, and that's all i saw her as. but when i realized i wouldn't see her for three months, my heart hurt and my stomach twisted. now that it's just the two of us, those feelings are magnified and blaring and overwhelming.

halfway to the kitchen i hear footsteps bounding down the hallway behind me. i whip around just to be tackled to the ground by an alarmingly strong body.

"where ya been, pete? i've tried to get you out of your room all day. by the way, i like the shirtless look." edie pants from above me with a cheeky wink. i feel myself melt at her words. she wanted to see me. who am i kidding? of course she did, i'm the only other one in the compound and she’s probably bored.  i'm dragged out of my thoughts when the rest of her sentence hits me.

looking down i do realize i have no shirt on, only a pair of sweatpants that are now sitting a little too far down on my hips due to the way edie is sitting on me. i scramble out from underneath of her, keeping hold on the band of my pants to ensure no more embarrassment. my movements send her flying on her butt a few feet away.

"oof, okay. my bad." she says awkwardly, but continues, "hey i was thinking of going out tonight? kicking a little ass and whatnot. wanna be my guy in the chair?" she asks from the ground as i stand to fix my pants. i curse my cheeks as i feel them redden.

jumping at an idea, i suggest something else, "actually i-i'll go out. don't worry about me though, i've got karen. wouldn't wanna make her jealous." i say, trying to joke. her face drops slightly before covering it up with her bright smile. i wonder how many times she's done that without me noticing.

"right. spider boy doesn't need little ole me. i'll be here when you get back." she chirps as she hops up from the floor, "at least keep me in mind when you're out there. i'll be right here." she taps her ear and i notice the tiny piece of metal made to fit her ear perfectly. it's her comm that tony gave us to ensure we're always sure of each other's safety. mine is sitting in my room, untouched.

"okay, e. i better get r-ready to go." i stammer out and turn back to my room.

"aren't you gonna eat?" she calls from behind me as i make my retreat.

my mission to get food was unsuccessful.

edie's pov.

i watch peter stumble back down the hall, seemingly eager to be anywhere i'm not. i brush the thought away and cop it up to nerves. we're officially here by ourselves, i'm nervous too.

i turn on my heel and head to the kitchen, where i begin making mac and cheese. it's one of my favorite things to eat, so i double the portions for later. or maybe i'll be generous and share some with peter.

my ear piece makes a short static noise and soon peter's voice is flooding through my head, "i'm heading out now, edie. uh, i guess let me know if there's an emergency or something. but other than that i'll be offline." he says, immediately doing so before i can respond.

i huff and plop myself down on a stool, waiting for my water to boil on the stove. my heart begins to sink. if peter is going to be acting this way the whole time we're here, i don't know if i'm so excited anymore. sure, i know this is a huge responsibility on our shoulders but we can still have fun, right?

"a watched pot never boils." i whisper to myself as i let my head fall into my hands. soon after that i feel my mind start to slip into a calmer state, easing me into a sleepy trance. i try my best to fight the feeling, but as soon as my eyes slide shut, i'm done for.

-

"edie? e? what's going on over there? there's an alarm going off, edie. edie!"

my head snaps up off of the marble kitchen island as i take in the room around me. the pot of water is definitely boiling now. so much so that the smoke detectors have started going off.

"edie!"

i stand up, still trying to gather myself and run over to the stove.

"pete? gosh, sorry. it's nothing i'm fine, i was just- FUCK. oh ouch ouch ouch." i put my thumb in my mouth and begin to suck on it, apparently i'm not awake enough to realize the pot is hot as hell before i tried to move it from the burner.

"e? are you okay? i'm coming back, hold on." peter says, worry lacing through his words. i hop up and down silently, holding my hand to my chest.

"no, no. i'm okay, just a little accident in the kitchen, i'll live." i reply, doing my best to not worry the boy protecting the city.

"oh my god, you cut off a finger, didn't you? i thought knives were your thing! i'm almost there."

"no! gosh, peter, i'm fine. finish your patrol. i'll see you later." i rush out, now at the sink, running cold water over my burn.

"too late i'm already here." he says. there’s some rustling coming through the comm, and he lets out a faint curse, "the doors aren't opening. what the hell?"

there's a silence.

"mr. stark never logged my finger print." he says, defeated. i can't help but laugh at his misfortune.

"don't worry, peter i'm coming to save you." i say with a coy smile, glad he can't see how much i'm enjoying this moment.

"totally unfair," he mutters, "i was supposed to come save you. but then again, what ever would i do without you, wolfie?"

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