#ant-reverse engineering

[inkyantace7]

The funniest shit ever is listening to Tally Hall AFTER listening to Chonny Jash (listening to songs I hadn't heard of before listening to CCCC). Cuz I can hear the Chonny lyrics in my head and know where they SHOULD be. And then you also get shit like my Dream post with the realization that most of it was HIM

[probably-writing-x]

All The Firsts

Summary: Heyyyy! So, could you write something about the reader being in her first relationship with spider (hbh) and her being worried about how she’s new at this? Or just something fluff about spider? Idk if this makes sense

Warnings: Mentions of sex / sexual acts, mentions of low self esteem / self depreciating thoughts, cursing

Word Count: 6.5k

Author’s Note: Okay I loved writing this so much I’m sorry it ended up so long !! But plz let me know if you want a part 2 because I’ve got SO many ideas about reader navigating relationships etc. !!!!

Spider had a reputation. It was practically notorious. He was one of the Hartley boys that you were certain would never settle down. He made crude comments and bitter insults and there was no way he’d ever want a relationship. In fact, you were certain he’d never been with the same girl more than twice. That was just a rumour though. He’d spoken to girls for months, did all of that relationship stuff with them without it being a full relationship. Then he’d dated Missy. And that lasted a good few months, he even held her hand around school. He introduced her as his girlfriend, he cancelled plans to be with her. It was a proper relationship. But it ended after those few months. You were told that she ended it, but then Ant told you Spider had ended it, and Spider told you it was mutual. You didn’t ask again.

You and Spencer had been friends since the two of you were kids. Maybe friends was a stretch. You know that kid you’re just friends with because your Mums were inseparable? That kid you only saw because you could see his bedroom window from your own? He’d lived next to you since you’d been born and so you’d spent your baby years sharing baths and crawling around on the same baby mats, and then your toddler years stumbling around in the yard, learning to swim in the lake, learning to ride your bikes on the same street. Once you were both old enough to make your own decisions, that friendship had shifted. You two went into school together, but you didn’t interact much at school, and then you’d come back together too. He was in the popular group and you were far from it. You just didn’t have much in common anymore. Once he started driving, he’d drive you in every morning and make sure he got you home too. He never invited you to the popular people parties, and you never really saw him at weekends or anything, but he was always nice to you when you did see him. He’d smile at you if he passed you in the corridor but never say hi. In fact, you weren’t even sure if his friends knew your name, let alone that you’d seen Spider wet the bed when he’d had a sleepover at your house when the two of you were toddlers.

The older you grew up, the more you realised how different you and Spencer were. In fact, the more you realised how different you were to almost everyone else in your year at school. When that incest map got revealed, you were one of the names that wasn’t so much as mentioned. You’d looked at it too, searched for your name, even though you knew you wouldn’t find anything. Spider had a few lines drawn from his name then, but you knew it would be more if it was re-done now. And if they accounted for all the other people outside of school, there’d be even more.

“Spec? Are you good to go?”

Spencer cuts through your thoughts, snapping back to the reality of you being sat in the passenger seat of his car. He has one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm behind your seat ready to reverse from the parking space.

He never stopped calling you Spec. When you were younger you couldn’t say his name properly so ‘Spencer’ had morphed into ‘Spec’. And for some reason, a young Spencer had thought everyone had the same name. So you’d been Spec too. And it was still what both of you went by to each other now.

“I-“ You clear your throat, “Yeah.”

“Put your seatbelt on, your Mum would kill me,” He nods his head towards you, starting up the engine to reverse onto the street.

You oblige, clicking your seatbelt in and resting your head back against the chair, closing your eyes.

“Am I that unbearable?” He scoffs, indicating onto the road to the right.

“No, I’ve just got a headache,” You mumble, poking your eye open and glancing over at him, “You’re normally grumpy to be starting a school week again. What’s different?”

Spider shrugs, “I’m not at school yet, am I?”

“Fair point,” You hum, “How was your weekend?”

“I…” He stops to glance in the side mirror on your side of the car, indicating into the next lane, “I went to a party, got very pissed, and ended up arguing with Missy again.”

“About what this time?” You roll your eyes, drawing your knees up to your chest and resting your feet on the seat.

“She’s my ex, we’re always going to argue,” He shrugs, “I don’t even remember what started it this time, you know what it’s like.”

You scoff. Not exactly. But you wouldn’t say that. You assumed that Spider knew you never had a boyfriend or anything, mainly because it would be impossible for him to not know. But part of you thought he just assumed you’d at least been with guys - had people over, met people out, went on a few dates even. You didn’t exactly have the heart to admit that none of that had ever happened.

“Oi,” He cuts through your overthinking once again, “Get your feet off my seats.”

———

Your school day is relatively uneventful. Ant tried to start a food fight in the lunch hall and ended up just covered in food himself before getting sent to Woodsy’s office. Spider had started a rambling in your English class about how love is a stupid concept and Missy made a bitter comment about how it was because he was incapable of admitting how he felt. You never really asked him much about that whole relationship. She seemed like a nice girl and he seemed happy when he was with her. But maybe she was right, you couldn’t really imagine Spencer ever being able to talk properly about how he felt - and even if he did feel something, it seemed likely that he’d just try to suppress it.

He’s waiting by his car when you get out of your final class, swinging his keys around his index finger. His legs are crossed one over the other, his blonde locks falling in a shadow over either side of his forehead. He’s wearing a baggy green t-shirt over a long sleeved white top and cargo trousers that seem to swallow his form. Spider’s a handsome boy, and it irritates you that he knows it.

“Are you staring at me Spec?” He’s looking directly at you when you make eye contact with him, a smirk on his lips.

“Oh grow up,” You roll your eyes, dropping your bag down from your shoulder.

“God, you’re insatiable,” He wiggles his brows, taking your bag from you and tossing it into the back seats of the car.

“What ar-“

“Do you have plans?”

“No,” You respond, walking around to the other side of the car, a little apprehensive for what was coming next.

“Fancy a swim?”

You don’t say no, and not a single part of you wants to say no either. You liked this side of Spencer. You saw it more when the two of you were younger. He’d knock on your door with his bike and tell you that you were going on an adventure. The two of you would end up in the woods together for hours until you knew it was getting dark enough to mean that curfew was coming. Sometimes, he’d stop to go into the shop and buy you both snacks with the small allowance he had. It was always a can of soda and a bag of salt and vinegar chips. Always both to share.

Spider winds down the windows on both sides and hands you over the aux cable to put your playlist on. That was one thing he was always sure about. You were quieter than him, less popular, had less exciting stories to tell, didn’t really get into trouble like he did, but when it came to your music taste you would always one up him. His playlist was made up of at least 70% of songs that you’d recommended him - normally these little unknown local rock bands that you’d seen at a show, or a song you’d heard a snippet of and sent him as soon as it was released. Every so often it would be old songs that your Dad had brought you up on. And every single time, Spencer had to reluctantly admit that it was a good song, and days later you’d hear it blaring from the speakers in his room, travelling all the way across to your house. You’d text him to turn it down and he’d flip you off at the window and tell you this was your fault anyway. So, yes, the music was always your call.

Spider’s driving for a half hour before you get to the lake, and he parks up just by the trees. Both of you get out and he leads the way through, moving branches out of the way so they don’t hit you. Once you reach the clearing, the pair of you are overlooking the still water, stretching out for what seemed like miles in every direction. There’s a wooden pier on the close side that Spencer walks out onto.

“It’s probably freezing,” You point out, grimacing at the thought.

“I know,” Spencer laughs, tugging off his shoes and pulling down his trousers.

“You can’t be serious,” You feel your cheeks heat up, turning away from him.

“What? You’ve come all this way and you’re not going to get in?”

“I’ll sit on the edge,” You shrug, looking towards the tree line to avoid him as he stripped in front of you so nonchalantly, “I don’t even have a swimsuit.”

“I’m wearing my boxers, I don’t bring swim shorts everywhere with me,” He scoffs, evidently recognising your distaste towards the idea of wearing your underwear in front of him, “You can put my t-shirt on over you. I don’t mind.”

“I-“ You pause, “Well I…”

“I won’t look Spec, I’m not a perv.”

He steps forward and hangs the t-shirt over one of the wooden posts of the pier closer to you, stepping back. You glance over your shoulder to see him running towards the water, diving into the lake as if he had no fear at all. The splash sprays up far enough to reach you, specks of cold water dotting over your shoulders. Spencer lets out a noise somewhere between a yell and a yelp - shaking his head at the temperature of the water as he kicks back to get further in. He turns around to face away from you and raises his hands in some sort of gesture of peace as if reassuring you he wouldn’t look.

You shake your head, mainly at yourself. What was the big deal? You were going swimming. It wasn’t exactly a big thing. You take off your shoes, fold your trousers on top of them, fold your tank top over those, and hang your jacket up on one of the other wooden posts. Spencer’s clothes were sprawled over the pier without a care in the world. You tug his t-shirt over your body and let it hang over your thighs, the short sleeves dropping down to your elbows.

Spencer turns around in the water, his arms waving through the surface to keep him afloat, “Perfect fit,” He laughs, “Come on, no excuse now.”

“After how you screamed when you got in?” You roll your eyes, “Sounds so tempting.”

“Oh fuck off,” He shakes his head, swimming over to the edge of the pier as you sit down on the end, letting your legs dangle into the water.

He reaches his arms up towards you and you hold onto his forearms as his hands grip your waist. His eyes search for yours for approval before he helps lower you down, watching your face contort and grimace as the cold starts to hit you.

“Wait, wait, wait,” You shake your head as you fully hit the water, kicking your legs wildly beneath you as the water splashes over your shoulders.

Spencer laughs, his hands still on your waist, yours still gripping his arms tightly.

Your breath is shaky and you’re working a million miles a minute to catch up with it, looking into his laughing eyes as you get used to the temperature.

“Fucking hell, this was a stupid idea,” You grumble, finally seeming to relax.

“You’ll live,” Spencer rolls his eyes, swimming away from you and dunking his head under, curtains stuck flat against his temples when he comes back up.

You ease yourself into it, swimming a little further out to follow him.

Everything that Spider did, he just seemed to do so fearlessly. When he started his rants at school, when he said things nobody else did, he didn’t think about what the response would be, he just did it. When he started playing basketball, he was the worst one on the team and he still showed up every week. Now he was easily one of their best. Whenever you’d heard stories about him asking girls out, it was always him approaching them, asking the question and not being scared of the rejection. Though you weren’t sure anyone had ever outright rejected him yet. Maybe Amerie did, once, but you’d never asked him about that.

“So I heard something interesting at school today,” Spencer begins, turning around to face you.

“Go on.”

“You know that guy Malcolm?” He continues, a smirk tugging at his lips, “He did butt stuff with Suzie Cho.”

“Oh god, Spec, is there anything else you could’ve said to describe him?” You grimace, “Like literally anything else.”

“He did butt stuff with one of the Sarahs?” Spider shrugs, “Is that better?”

“Okay, okay, just carry on.”

“Well, apparently, Malcolm has a bit of a crush on you,” Spencer grins widely, “He was asking Ant who the chick is that I drive to school every morning.”

“Wh-“ You shake your head, “That’s probably not… I mean, he probably doesn’t like me, he might just want to know why you’re with me all the time.”

“Please, he wouldn’t be asking if he wasn’t interested,” Spider shakes his head, dots of water spraying from his hair, “So, do you want me to give him your number?”

“No!” You’re quick to respond, probably a bit too quick, “I mean, I don’t know, I barely know Malcolm.”

“What else is there to know? He likes butt stuff, he… okay yeah that’s pretty much all I know about him too, but he seems like an alright guy,” Spencer continues, “Why not give it a go? What’s stopping you?”

“I-“

Despite the cold, you can feel your cheeks heating up. Like you’re under pressure. And you’re not sure if your heart is racing in the cold or just because it’s trying to help your brain think of any response.

“Is there another guy?”

“No.”

“Are you batting for the other side?”

“Spec.”

“Valid question, no judgement here,” He raises his hands, “What then? You’ve not done butt stuff? Because seriously, there’s a first time for everything and I’m sure Malcolm’s into other stuff too or-“

“Spencer.”

He stops then.

“I haven’t…” You shake your head, “I don’t have any experience like that.”

He frowns, “What are you talking about?”

“Exactly what I said. I don’t have any experience. No relationships, no dates, I’ve never slept with a guy, I’ve not even fucking kissed a guy.”

“Wha-“ Spencer half-laughs, “Are you serious?”

“And this is why I didn’t tell you,” You roll your eyes, kicking your feet to swim away from him.

“No, wait, (Y/n)!”

You push yourself out of the water and back onto the pier, hurrying over to grab your things together. Your whole body is shivering now, the material of Spencer’s top clinging to you all over and itching at your cold skin.

“(Y/n) stop come on!” Spencer clambers out of the water behind you.

“Can we just go home, please? I shouldn’t have said anything and we should be getting back anyway and-“

“(Y/n), please,” His hand reaches out and grabs your forearm, “Just stop for a second.”

Spencer turns you around to face him, sighing as you finally seem to accept a bit of defeat.

“I didn’t mean to laugh,” He says softly, sincerely, so much so that you believe him, “I just… Im surprised, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well,” You shrug, looking down at the wet patches on the floor to avoid his eyes, “That’s why I don’t talk about it. It’s weird. I’m seventeen and I’ve never done anything romantic with a guy, haven’t had any guy be interested, not even slightly. I’ve never,” You laugh nervously over your words, “I’ve never even had to reject a guy because they’ve not even been interested in me in the first place. So yeah, I guess you have every right to be surprised.”

“No, not like that,” Spencer shakes his head, ducking just slightly to try and meet your eyes, “I just mean… I don’t know what I mean.”

You look up to him, drawing your arms around yourself as if aiming to avoid the embarrassment as much as possible. Maybe if you did it for long enough you’d just disappear in front of him, he’d forget it ever happened.

“You’re not…” He stops himself, “There’s nothing wrong with you, (Y/n)… before you start thinking that, I mean. There’s nothing wrong with you not doing anything like that, you know.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t always feel that way.”

“Look at you, (Y/n). Any guy would be lucky.”

You roll your eyes, “Being nice doesn’t suit you, Spec.”

He outwardly laughs, “And she’s back.”

You smile at him faintly and a small fraction of the worry in him seems to ease. He just needed to see that at least a bit of you was back. He hated the idea of you hurting, and hated even more the idea of him being the one to hurt you. He’d meant what he said. Any guy would be lucky. And the thought of you not knowing that seemed to just repeat in his head. He’d known you since the two of you knew anything, and he’d grown up with you since then. Even when he was a cunt, when he was the most hated person in school, you were always there - waiting to go home with him, eventually waiting at his car for him to drive you home. He woke up in the mornings and looked for your bedroom curtains to be open just so he could see you. He’d wave or flip you off or try to mouth something you couldn’t understand. He even found himself checking late at night sometimes that your light had gone off so that he knew you weren’t staying up late worrying yourself over something. How would any guy not want a girl like you? Spencer hadn’t given it much thought until now. He’d just assumed other people saw what he saw - he’d never considered that they hadn’t been seeing you at all.

“Can we go home?”

Spencer nods, “Yeah, let’s go.”

You both change, damply, back into your clothes, and walk back to his car. Spencer takes back his t-shirt and rings it out, throwing it into the trunk with his gym bag. You sit into the passenger seat and put your jacket beneath you to not make his seats wet. He climbs into the driver’s seat and starts going without a word. You don’t play any music this time, your mind already felt loud enough.

Within the hour, he’s parked back in front of his house and you unclip your seatbelt.

“Um,” You clear your throat, “You can give Malcolm my number… if he wants it I mean.”

Spencer looks at you and raises his brows, “Yeah, yeah, okay, if you want me to.”

“I just… I’ve never… I wouldn’t really know what…”

“Then I’ll help you,” He shrugs, “What are friends for, right? I can help you get ready for a date with him, at least.”

“Thanks Spec,” You nod, “Good night.”

“Night, (Y/n),” He says softly, watching as you get out of the car and walk the few steps towards your own house.

He sits there for a moment longer, letting you disappear before he makes any other movements. And, when he walks into his house, he smiles at the sight of the light on behind the curtains in your room, smiles even wider when he turns up his speakers to play a song you’d sent him last week. His phone pings with a text from you only moments later.

———

Malcolm asks you on a date for that Friday. You’d been speaking to him all week, like you’d actually been able to keep the conversation going for that entire week. He was funny, he was charming, he asked you questions about yourself, he was sweet. Spider had been asking you about how it was going every day, he tried to get more information out of you - what had Malcolm said? what had you responded? were you any good at flirting? had he been weird yet?

“Okay, so, it’s Friday, what’s the date plan?”

“I don’t know, Malcolm said he’d plan it,” You shrug, scrolling down your playlist to find a song.

“What?” Spencer exclaims, “You don’t know?”

“Yeah, is that weird? He just said he’d plan it.”

“No, no, it’s not weird,” He assures you, “I’m just surprised you’re so chill about not knowing what’s going on, normally you’d be stressed about things.”

“Well I’ve never been on a date before so there is no normally.”

Spencer rolls his eyes, “You know what I mean Spec, you just get worried about things quickly and I thought this would be the same. But I’m glad you’re not. So, what are you going to wear for your hot date?”

“Ew I’m not talking about that with you.”

“Oh come on,” He laughs, the corners of his eyes creasing the way they always seems to do around you, “We’ve shared a bath together (Y/n), there’s no boundaries anymore.”

“For the last time we were like two when that happened! Stop bringing it up!”

———

Spencer drives you home that night and wishes you luck at least five times before you get out of the car. He tells you to text him as soon as you’re home.

You shower, get changed at least four times, do your makeup and then wipe some of it off when you think it looks like too much. And you’re sat on your bed ready a full ten minutes before he said he’d pick you up. You hadn’t heard from Malcolm for an hour or so, but you didn’t think much of it. Maybe he was getting ready too. You notice he’d read your last message, though, and think that texting him wouldn’t cause much harm, right? What’s the policy on these things? Should you let him know that you’re ready or would that be too eager? Should you maybe double check the time, or just make sure that he definitely knows your address?

Ugh.

Maybe dating was stressful.

You spend a full ten minutes debating over whether it’s a good idea to text. Nothing wrong with a text. And then you spend another ten minutes wondering what exactly you should write, only then realising this now meant that Malcolm was late and you still hadn’t heard from him. Now should you be worried.

Okay, fuck it, just send the text.

Hey, are you on your way?

He reads it almost instantly. Can’t be on his way then.

Sorry, (Y/n), I can’t do tonight. It’s complicated, sorry again.

You feel a lump form in your throat, a twisting in your stomach, a sickness that only came from this sort of gut wrenching moment. He’d cancelled on you. Did it even count as cancelling if you had to ask him first? He didn’t even give an explanation. Was he just hoping you wouldn’t ask? Was he hoping he could just pretend like he’d never asked you out in the first place?

You feel tears bubble in your eyes and instantly hate the idea of you being sensitive about this. Was it dramatic to be upset? No, you were upset. Not just because he’d cancelled, not just because he’d been shitty about it, not just because you were actually looking forward to your first date. But because it confirmed every worry you’d implanted in yourself about this whole thing. It confirmed every time you’d been nervous and panicked and stressed that these good things would never happened to you. It reminded you of every time one of your friends got asked out and you got swiftly ignored. It reminded you of every party you’d been told about where it sounded like everyone had got with someone there. And yet you were sat at home while it had happened, telling yourself that you didn’t like parties anyway.

And so you let yourself cry, the kind of cry that shakes your shoulders and lets mascara run down your cheeks. The cry that releases the tension in your chest and untwists the knot in your stomach.

—

Spencer didn’t want to text you whilst you were in your date. He’d told you to have a good time, he’d told you to text him if you needed anything. He should leave you to it. But your bedroom light was still on. You always turned it off before you left, it was ritual. In fact, you’d even hurry back inside to make sure it was off.

He hadn’t heard a car outside, either. Had Malcolm not picked you up?

He felt the worry spiral inside of him. Maybe he should just text. It would be easy, right? Just a quick text to make sure the date was going okay.

How’s the hot date going?

He stands at his window as if hoping to see no signs of movement on the other side. Please, God, tell me he hasn’t cancelled, he thought.

Does it count as a hot date if he doesn’t show up?

He feels his stomach drop, a pit forming at the thought of anyone thinking it would be a good idea to cancel on you. What was wrong with this boy?

Without a second thought, he’s running out of his room and practically tripping over his own feet to get down to the front door as soon as he can. He opens it at the same moment that you open yours, both of you stood across the driveway from each other. You’re still dressed in your outfit for the date, a blue sundress with tiny yellow flowers. Your makeup has been stripped off and it seems a million tears have ran down your cheeks and yet you still try to force yourself to smile at him when you see him.

“(Y/n),” Spencer practically sighs over the word, like he can’t think of anything right to say in the moment.

He crosses over the few metres between you and wraps his arms around you, holding you against his chest.

“He’s a fucking cunt, okay?” He mumbles into you, one hand holding your head and smoothing over your hair, “He’s a fucking asshole, this isn’t you, okay?”

You step away from him and wipe under your eyes, “I’m being stupid, I know. It was only a first date, I don’t know why I thought-“

“No, no, you’re not doing that,” Spider shakes his head, “This isn’t your fault. And you’re allowed to be upset. He’s a cunt. Do you understand me?”

You laugh a little, “Thanks, Spec.”

“I-“ He scans you as if he wants to check you’re okay, looking for signs that he’d made anything better, “Come on, come round and watch a film at mine. We can order food. I don’t want you to be on your own.”

“No, come on Spider, you don’t have to do that-“

“I don’t have to do it,” He interrupts, resting a hand on your back, “Come on.”

His hand remains there as the two of you walk over, barefoot on the concrete between the two houses. His Mum is downstairs when you walk in, watching something on the TV in the lounge.

“Spencer?” She looks over the back of the couch when he walks in, “What are you- Oh! (Y/n)! What are you doing here?”

“We’re just going to watch a film, Mum,” Spencer speaks through a clenched jaw.

“Oh I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages!” She hops up from the sofa and hurries over, “You look pretty! I love this dress!”

“Oh, yeah, thank you,” You smile politely, glancing over to Spencer as if you’re not sure what to say.

“I’ll order us some pizza,” Spencer nods, his thumb brushing over the skin of your back before he lets his hand drop.

“Yeah, okay, yeah, I’ll have a-“

“I know.”

He smiles as he walks away, leaving you in the company of his mother. You’d known her all your life but that wasn’t to say you were her biggest fan. She’d always treated you like the daughter she never had. In fact, sometimes it seemed like she cared more about you than she did her own son. She repeatedly told your own Mum that she wished she’d had a daughter. You knew her and Spencer didn’t have the best relationship but he never spoke about it much. Whenever you’d seen him with her, he was always polite but you knew he’d argue with her at home. Sometimes you could hear them yelling from across the way and then you’d hear him return to his room and slam the door.

“I didn’t know you two were… hanging out,” She says suggestively, “Is there something me and your Mum should know?”

“Oh, no,” You half-laugh, shaking your head, “I just… No, I mean we’ve always been friends.”

“Oh of course you have, but I think you were half this height when you last came round to the house like this,” She chuckles, “Just be careful with him, you know what boys can be like.”

You’re thankful when Spencer rounds the corner back into the hallway.

“Pizza’s on the way,” He says, “Want to go upstairs?”

“Yeah,” You let out a sigh of relief through the word, “It was nice to see you Cait, I’m sure Mum will have you over soon.”

You follow Spencer’s steps up the stairs and into his room, where you’d once played games of Prince and Princess, or ones where you pretended to be soldiers or spies or superheroes. Where you’d once brought round your toys and swapped them with his. You can see your own window from the view through his just before he closes the curtains and it somehow eases a bit of the anxiety in your chest. He’d always been here.

———

The pizza arrives twenty minutes after and Spencer goes down to get it, leaving you sat on the edge of his bed in your dress. You felt overdressed and uncomfortable and it felt too tight on your skin when you thought about it too much.

“And dinner is served!” He smiles as he comes back into the room, “What’s wrong?”

“Um,” You look up and return his smile, “Any chance I could… I mean, do you have a… Can I borrow a top to wear?”

He laughs, “Yeah get pizza sauce down one of my tops instead of your dress,” He jokes, “Take whichever one, I won’t look.”

You flick through a few in his closet and then reach for one of the white ones, a graphic flower print on the back. A man of his word, Spencer faces the wall as you change, the dress pooling on the floor by your feet as you fit his t-shirt over your matching underwear set.

“Okay, done.”

He turns back around.

There was something about it. You in his clothes. Spencer felt like the blood had just rushed out of his head. Like his heart had forgotten to take a beat.

“Alright, I’ll find us a film to watch.”

He puts on Superbad and you both chat the whole way through it. He quotes it every so often because you were certain he’d seen this film more times than he could count. You both eat your pizza and he steals a slice of yours. He gets tomato sauce on his cheek and you laugh at him until he tells you to wipe it off. He tells you that he used to be scared of seeing a monster in his closet when he was a kid and he’d once tried to pull the doors off to stop them from being able to hide. You tell him you already knew that. You tell him that you wanted to be a vet when you were a kid and he reminds you that you once tried to do surgery on one of his teddy bears and ended up ripping the ear off. He still had that bear.

Eventually, the two of you are laying back on his bed watching the second film of the night. Your choice this time. 10 things I hate about you.

Somewhere in the progress of the night, Spencer found it impossible to take his eyes off of you. You were laying on the pillow next to him with your hand resting on your stomach with the other one down at the side beside him, your head angled towards him to see the screen. You laugh at something that one of them had said and he realises he hasn’t been paying attention to the entire thing. His hand falls down by his side and he feels it involuntarily inching just slightly closer to you. He felt like a kid again. His childhood crush in bed beside him and he felt like he had no idea of what move to make next.

And then it’s there. His fingertips brush against one of your hands. You flinch just slightly but you don’t pull away. And he laces his fingers with yours quickly before he overthinks it enough to regret it. You don’t pull away. You don’t want to. The contact seems to shoot a bolt of electricity through you, glancing to him to see him looking right back at you. He lets out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. His lips curl up into a small smile and he watches as you shuffle closer to him, his hand slipping out of yours to instead wrap around your back as your head rests on his chest, hair splaying. His heart is pounding underneath your head but neither of you say a word, both turning your focus back to the screen. He could feel the blood coursing through him, trying to relax into your touch despite how nervous he felt.

Had he always felt like this? Had he always been waiting on you? He couldn’t think. You’d just always been there. He looked forward to the mornings when he’d see you again. He looked forward to the end of the day when he’d go back to you. He looked to make you laugh, to make you smile, to make you feel better, to keep you safe. And you’d always felt like you were something that nobody else could ruin. You were in his life from the moment he could remember and he couldn’t imagine being at a point in his life where you weren’t there.

When he looks back down to you, your breathing has steadied and your eyes have fluttered closed against him, fast asleep against the rise and fall of his chest.

He brings a hand up and brushes your hair away from your face, fingers delicate to not disturb you.

Oh god, was he in love?

———

You wake up early the following morning, Spencer asleep beneath you, your head still on his chest. The sunlight is spilling through from the slight gap between his curtains.

“Wh-“ You mumble to nobody but yourself, propping yourself up onto your elbow as if you’re trying to assess the situation.

Spencer groans and his arm tightens around you as if he instinctively wants to check that you’re still there.

“What time is it?” Spencer mumbles through tired lips, his eyes still shut.

“I-“ You clear your throat, “I don’t know. I should probably get back.”

You scramble to get off of the bed, looking around the room for your shoes and your dress as if this was a one night stand you wanted to escape.

“Woah, woah, woah,” He groans as he’s forcing himself to wake up, “What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry about last night, I shouldn’t have… and we shouldn’t… I don’t expect…”

“What are you talking about?” He half laughs, propping himself up on his elbows, blinking away from the sleep from his eyes to let you come into focus.

“I just… I don’t want you to think that I thought anything of last night,” You breathe out, “I totally get it, I was upset and you were being a good friend and-“

“(Y/n),” Spencer gets up from the bed and steps forward so that he’s standing directly in front of you, “I don’t think that.”

You swallow the lump in your throat, looking up at him like he wasn’t the boy you’d always known.

“What I do think…” He takes a breath this time as if he’s trying to suppress his own nerves, “Is that we had our first date last night.”

“First date?” You half laugh, feeling the heat rise to your cheeks and that same bolt of electricity as his hand reaches out to lock with yours.

“Well, there was food, and a movie… two movies actually,” He points out, lifting up his other hand to brush your hair away from your face, “You even stayed the night. That sounds like almost a full date to me.”

“Almost?” You half-whisper, like you’re worried something’s going to ruin the moment, “What’s missing?”

“This.”

He shifts his hand to cup your cheek, his thumb shaping around your jaw to bring your lips to his, soft and yet somehow so certain of themselves. This was the first time anyone’s lips had been on yours, the first time you knew what it felt like to be kissed. And your heart seemed to soar at the idea of Spencer being the one to show you.

When he pulls away, his forehead rests against yours like he is desperate to hold onto some contact, like he can’t imagine being apart from you.

“I-“ You swallow the lump in your throat, “You…”

Spencer’s lips curl into a soft smile, “I’d say that’s a pretty good first date.”

———————

(Any of y’all want part 2????)

[lensman-arms-race]

5 facts about each OC

Inspired by @thephonemenarentreal's post. :D

Cygnus (TV diplomat/inter-faction liaison)

As an inter-faction liaison, Cygnus is fluent in Camsign (which Cams use when they want to talk 'off the record' without transmitting).

Cygnus's secondary role is to test the TV Imperator's (TV Woman/TV Matriarch) head-rockets. Their head has rockets of its own and is detachable. (And yes, Cygnus and the Imperator can swap their heads.) Cygnus also has a V-type aerial like the Imperator does. Their head-casing is otherwise like a typical TV grunt's, with the exception that the front plate is flat instead of curving with the glass.

Cygnus likes collecting test-card patterns on their internal hard drive and displaying them on their screen. They also like displaying Langton's Ant and Conway's Game of Life.

When upset, has a tendency to lash out and say things calculated to be hurtful. (And they're very good at that; being a diplomat means they're highly observant and will quickly work out what you're most guarded/insecure about.)

Has a tendency towards melancholy, because their work means that a) they have to present an inauthentic version of themself in order to yield the desired results (i.e. conferring most benefit to the TV faction, and playing the Camera and Soundkind factions against each other without either of them thinking the TV faction is favouring the other), and b) other people expect them to be inauthentic as a result. Cygnus greatly values their close friendships in which they can be themself with no masking.

Fornax (TV tailor)

Fornax is a manager, but is far better at the tailoring work than at the managerial aspect. They prefer to just be a tailor and let their staff get on with their own work (which suits their staff just fine).

Fornax sounds like Vincent Price.

They're extroverted and love to host gatherings.

When crossed, Fornax can get very petty and vindictive. They have been known to undo every third stitch in someone's garments (unnoticeable at first but results in the clothes falling apart as the day goes on).

Fornax prides themself on drawing inspiration for their outfits from all kinds of sources - architecture, nature, human fashion, etc. They love being sent pretty pictures with interesting shapes and palettes.

Palindrome (Titan TV's engineer)

Palindrome's nickname comes from their reversible serial (9779).

Palindrome is a former Titan candidate. Like all the other candidates, Palindrome was an elite combat agent. After the Titangrinder (the trials to select who would become the Titan), Palindrome retrained as an engineer so they could still be part of Project Titan.

Palindrome is probably the TV faction's biggest slut. Before the Titangrinder, they had a reputation as the faction's hottest lover. They have a sex mod installed and have written many aphrodisiac programs.

They like houseplants and have several in their quarters (all species that do well in low light).

Palindrome has a loop aerial (like Chief Sci TV) in rose-gold. (They didn't know it was rose-gold because rose-gold and silver look pretty much indistinguishable to TVs.)

Zenith (TV Engineer Prime)

This is not the same character as the Chief Sci TV (who is called D67 in my setting). I think a lot of people think they're meant to be the same character, probably because I made the mistake of giving Zenith a loop aerial too.

Bonus meta fact: I had no idea there was a TV brand called Zenith. That's a fun coincidence.

Titan TV themself gave Zenith their name: the zenith is the highest point of a system. Titan TV regards its engineer prime in the highest esteem and loves them above all others.

Zenith is very good to have as a manager: they push their staff hard, but not to unrealistic levels - Zenith will tell you off if you're pushing yourself too hard when you should be taking a break. They also won't hesitate to defend their staff against any mistreatment.

Has a tendency to yank at their aerial when stressed. (Also loves getting their aerial stroked by the Titan.)

Walks briskly everywhere, in a 'get outta my way' kind of fashion.

Is very close with their deputy, Twelve, and would probably be romantically involved with them if they weren't already so devoted to the Titan.

Twelve (TV Vice Engineer Prime)

Twelve is the only one in Titan TV's engineering crew not to use a nickname. They like their serial (4212) just fine.

Twelve is one of few TVs to have an Aiken tube instead of a cathode ray tube. An Aiken tube takes up less space, which gives Twelve more space in their head-casing for a bigger teleport-circuit. However, Aiken tubes are greyscale, which means Twelve can't use the purple command-beam that most TVs use, though they do get to have the bright white stun beam that Polycephaly uses. In addition, they can display images in greater resolution than a colour CRT, which can be useful for an engineer.

Twelve is the expert on all the forklifts and cranes in the Titan's hangar.

They tend to handle the day-to-day operations of the faction's engineering department. Zenith (the Engineer Prime) is much better at the actual engineering, whereas Twelve is much more of a people person (to the extent that newbie visitors from the other two factions often assume Twelve is the Engineer Prime).

Has a friendly rivalry with Polycephaly over who is best at teleporting.

Phaeton (human, Titan TV's engineer)

This one will be a bit meta because Phaeton is part OC, part tabula rasa; they're meant to be a reader self-insert but with some defined traits to make them fun to read about and fun for me to write. They're a parallel universe version of you; probably not you exactly.

Phaeton is slightly inspired by Aloy from the Horizon series, in the sense of being competent and having no patience for time-wasting. I get fed up with stories that make me think 'why don't they just --?' so I wanted to write about a character who does just get shit done.

Their name should be spelled Phaethon but I beefed it. It's stuck now. So Phaeton beefed it in-universe too.

I deliberately avoid describing Phaeton's hair, so the reader can imagine whatever. But in my head, Phaeton totally has a pink mohawk.

Phaeton is forklift-certified.

[valtsv]

'but there is the question of how much that decency would be preserved were their positions reversed' now THAT would be one hell of a role swap au

see if fitzjames and hickey were roleswapped (so that hickey is a commander and jfj is an able seaman/mate) i feel like it'd end up with hickey trying to engineer increasingly convoluted ways to get jfj killed in order to stop him from getting in the way of his attempts to manwhore manipulate manslaughter his way into seizing control of the expedition while jfj through a combination of skill and sheer luck and his historically accurate roachlike ability to survive against incredible odds keeps dodging his attempts like an ant in a microwave (until the scurvy gets him)

[theperfectspy67]

Fourth Werewolf Wednesday 🐺

Today’s Werewolf: The Folktale Werewolf - Part 2 of 2

⚠️Trigger Warning⚠️ : The following story contains some rather frightening and/or disturbing content as well as cursing. Proceed with caution please.

The following is a transcript taken from a body camera recording from Director Summers detailing the events she witnessed during an encounter with a Folktale werewolf within her own home. It took place on April 12th, 2023.

The Summers Incident

[The camera turns on, revealing a mostly empty room. On the right side of the room is a single wooden door. On the left side of the room is a small machine with ritualistic iconography painted on it. This machine was later identified as a reverse engineered LRD (Lycanthrope Repellent Device).]

Summers: This is Director Lisa Summers of the Lycanthrope Understanding and Paranormal Investigation Network. It is currently one in the morning. I only have two hours of battery on this so I’ll make this explanation quick. My goal here is the permanent destruction of a Folklore werewolf. We have wasted several thousand dollars on studying them, and so far they have proven to have no purpose. They simply appear, scare the hell out of people, and disappear. Normally destruction of a species is to be handled properly with a team after being approved by the higher ups and local governments. I have waited 24 years now and all of my requests have been denied. I decided to take things into my own hands after my own daughter encountered one of them last month. The plan is simple: use a ritual and an LRD to lure it to my location, leave the room using the trapdoor I spent a month installing, sneak around to the other side of the main door without being seen, and light the bastard up once I’m behind him. Every room in this house has at least two doors in it, so I won’t end up trapped no matter where I go. If the plan doesn’t work I’ll just leave the house. I understand that this is highly against protocol, but I won’t allow this monstrosity to continue existing after it terrified my own daughter. Judging by what we already know, these things can’t directly fight back and as long as they aren’t allowed inside a room you are able to leave through alternate exits. If I’m not successful then at least we can actually find out some more information about these things.

[The LRD activates.]

Lisa: Beginning test now.

[Five minutes pass and the room becomes completely silent. Knocking is heard on the front door.]

Summers: There it is.

[The voice of Summers’ husband, Nick Summers, is heard.]

Nick: Let me in, babe. It’s me, Nick! I left my keys in there!

[Summer moves over to the trapdoor and descends down a ladder as fast as possible. Nick’s voice begins to get further away.]

Nick: Babe? You in there? Babe?

[The voice fades in the distance.]

Summers: My husband is in Morocco. How dumb is this thing?

[Summers continues descending down the ladder for 3 minutes.]

Summers: I didn’t make the ladder this big. The hell?

[Summers stops. A child singing in what seems to be German is heard.]

Summers: Really? Creepy child singing? Is that it?

[Summers continues descending down the ladder for an additional 3 minutes. The bars appear more twisted and deformed the further down she goes. Summers pauses. surrounding her on the tunnel walls are small wooden doors. Knocking is heard, followed by several voices.]

Voices: Let me in, Lisa.

Summers: How about no?

[The ladder starts to shake violently for two minutes causing it to start breaking. Summers holds on. The ladder stops shaking. Now there is only a small piece of metal keeping Summers’ half of the ladder suspended.]

Summers: Ok, that was slightly more effective, but still, I haven’t been scared of heights for years.

[Light begins to shine in the keyhole of a door in front of her. Summers raises her gun and leans closer to the light. Suddenly she screams. The camera shakes, blurring the footage. From what can be seen hundreds of ants emerge from the keyhole and cover Summers’ arm and spreading. The ants fully cover the body camera, blocking out most of the visual footage. Several gunshots are heard followed by a metal snapping sound. It is assumed that Summers begins falling for around thirty seconds before a splash is heard. The visual footage is clear again revealing that Summers’ is now in a large body of water surrounded by darkness. Summers breathes heavily and looks around her. A fishing boat is seen close by.]

Summers: Hel-

[Summers is interrupted when several hands begin dragging her under the water. Summers lets off several shots to no effect. A single door slowly rises up from the water in front of Summers as she struggles against the hands. Knocking, followed by several voices, is heard.]

Voices: We can help you, Lisa. Open the door.

[Summers is repeatedly dunked under the water and coughs.]

Summers: Go to hell! It’s not real! It’s not real! It’s-

[Summers is pulled under one last time causing the footage to go dark. After around a minute of darkness light is seen as Summers falls into the not flooded kitchen of her house. Summers breaths heavily looking up at a ceiling fan. Summers coughs some more and slowly stands to her feet. She immediately goes to the sliding glass door which leads outside.]

Summers: It can’t be outside glass doors because you can’t hide behind them, god why didn’t I think of this?!

[Summers tries to open the door and finds it is locked. The lock appears to be reversed, now on the outside of her house, rather than the inside. Summers turns and her house keys are visible on her kitchen counter. She quickly runs over to the counter and, judging by the audible cursing, seems to stub her toe, slowly lowering to the floor. Summers gets off the ground after around thirty seconds of yelling. She reaches for the keys and grabs them. When she turns to face the door again her mother, Natalia Summers, is standing next to it. Summers stops moving.]

Natalia: Sweetheart? Are you alright?

[Summers remains silent for a few seconds.]

Summers: Why the hell are you here?

Natalia: I just wanted to check up on you. I wanted to make sure you were alright. I heard gunshots when I arrived and got in as soon as I could. Why are you in your patrol uniform?

Summers: Why the hell are you in my house mom!?

Natalia: Calm down, swee-

Summers: Don’t tell me to calm down! You only visit on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or when you wanna show off a new car!

Natalia: You’re acting like I’m a deadbeat.

Summers: You might as well be! You should really leave, I summoned a Folktale werewolf on purpose and it’s trying to trick me.

Natalia: You did what?! Sweetheart, please just-

Summers: Stop calling me that! You’re acting like you didn’t throw me out of the house when I was seventeen!

Natalia: I didn’t kick you out! You also act so dramatic about everything! You’re so ungrateful! I gave you food, water, shelter, a career, paid for every hospital visit, and even got you out of debt! You never asked me to do any of this! I did it out of the kindness of my heart! The day you decided to steal my car to go out and date some idiot named Nick and ended up crashing it and almost died in the process is when my kindness ran out! You moved out on your own! And now you summon a damn Folktale werewolf and blame it on me!

Summers: SHUT THE HELL UP, MOM!

[Summers seems to be sobbing at this point.]

Summers: For once in my life just listen to me! What I did was stupid, but that was thirty years ago! You refused to even speak to me once I returned home! You brought it up every chance you had and proceeded to deny me my eighteenth birthday party all because I was still dating Nick! You don't know what it’s like to feel like no matter what I did you would never love me again! I moved out early because I was a stranger in my own damn house! I have a daughter now and I care about her more than anything in the world! I have spent every waking moment of my life trying to be a better mom than you ever were! That’s why I joined L.U.P.I.N in the first place! That’s why I worked so hard to outrank you! That’s why I brought this thing into my house! I care about my daughter, and I won’t let anything like that harm her again! If you don’t want to love me anymore just say it! Say it now or just leave and never come back!

[There are two minutes of silence.]

Natalia: I’m sorry. And that is why I’m here. I don’t think I’ve told you that since the incident. I know you hate me, and I think I hate myself too, but I can’t just let myself live knowing I failed my own daughter. I know words aren’t enough, and actions sure as hell aren’t enough either, but I think I’m done with ignoring you. If you’d allow me, I’d like to start being a better mother again.

[Both are crying for three minutes before Summer’s hugs Natalia.]

Summers: You owe me a carrot cake.

Natalia: I think that’s fair.

[A figure emerges from a dark corner in the kitchen behind Natalia and slowly approaches her.]

Summers: Mom!

[Summers shoots the figure three times. An inhuman scream similar to the cry of a locust is heard. The figure crumbles into dust. Natalia looks surprised for a moment, before calming down.]

Natalia: Nice shooting, where did you get that gun by the way?

Summers: Germany. It’s a lovely country, you should visit sometime.

Natalia: I’ll put that on my bucket list. In the meantime, wanna go out for dinner? I know this wonderful place. You just need to get your shoes on, clean yourself up, and let me in.

[Summers pauses for ten seconds.]

Summers: What did you just say?

Natalia: Let me in, Lisa.

Summers: N-no.

[Summers begins backing up.]

Natalia: LET ME IN, LISA!

[Suddenly the sliding glass door shatters as armed L.U.P.I.N officers rush into the home. Natalia seems to vanish.]

Officer Smith: Lisa Summers, you are under arrest for unauthorized summoning of a Folktale werewolf, along with the unauthorized possession of an LRD, and the unlicensed possession of an official field combat uniform. You have the right to-

[Summers is on the ground shaking. The camera slowly focuses to reveal the floor of the kitchen is stained in blood. The dead body of Natalia Summers is on the floor with three bullet wounds on her body, the same bullets Natalia had shot into the figure earlier.]

Officer Smith: Jesus Christ. We need a medic in here! We have a-

[Summers screams. This scream peaks the audio on the camera drowning out all other noise. The body camera is confiscated and automatically deactivated by Officer Smith.]

Ending recording now.

Summers is as of today unresponsive, being kept under careful observation in a classified medical facility. Summers now refuses to go through any doorways without them already being opened. Any changes in her behavior is to be immediately reported to her family and to Director Harsfield.

[cosmica-galaxy]

Hi, hello! Sorry to bother again but can you tell me more about the Drill mimic species? I don't see you talk about them and the Clock mimics enough so am curious to know sm about them ☕👀

-PART 1- Drill mimics: -Drill mimics are similar to Speaker Mimics; in which that they are very social to other remembers of their species and they have a close relationship with their sky bound counterparts, the speaker mimics. -Drill mimics live in the deep parts of the underground and inside of deep connecting burrows, similar to moles or ants. They raise young, drag prey down into their lairs for feeding, and they have underground citadels that they do all of their communal living in. Since they nearly all have liquid diets due to their proboscis, they feed mostly on liquids from plants and fluids of living creatures, like Skibidis. -Drill mimics can actually "lose" their "drill" when they start getting older while they are young. Their underdeveloped "drill" falls off when they begin to become an adolescent, which is quickly replaced by the sharper and more efficient adult-variety. The discarded "drills" can even be harvested for equipment usage, like using them for needles, crowbars, or chisels. Even while young, the "drill" is quite strong and can last for a very long time! -Drillets are raised among other drillets for safety and when a parent comes to find their baby, they will make a series of "drill spins" in a certain way or tone to find their baby, similar to penguins. -Some Drill mimics are able to venture out on the surface with little effect from the sun. These drills are usually darker in color and have "shiny" aspects to them. Like their drill being a solid color, usually black or yellow, and the "drill part" will take on an ore-like sheen. Some have even been documented to have some themed after precious gemstones, like rubies, gold, or even diamonds! -Drills find precious gemstones to be mostly building materials or overall useless. They have limited visual input, so the "beauty" of the gems don't seem to phase them. However, they are more than willing to trade the 'useless rocks' for something that can benefit them; such as fruits, processed goods, juices, skibidi hostages, or even fabrics. Which makes them a great source of trades for ores and gems! -As a result of these easy trades, the alliance has made a great deal of getting ores, material, and gems for their equipment for the war effort from these mimics and the drill mimics get a bunch of unique and delicious deliveries of organic food right to their own personal domain! A win-win! -Drill mimics are also quite friendly and like having their underside of their "drills" scratched gently. They are easy to bond with and will quickly warm up to you if you offer them a nice juicy piece of fruit, soft vegetable, or even a small animal to eat on. -Drill mimic "venom" has also been harvested for studying purposes and to be weaponized against the skibidis. A single dart loaded with even a few ounces of their venom is enough to paralyze a large skibidi in moments. Perfect for stealth-based missions and silent killings. It has also been reversed engineered into a vaccine for parasite afflicted units. Similar to a stun-gun, the darts are capable of killing a parasite and freeing a unit. Even large or "special parasites" can be killed with a single dart. Sharpshooters have been given these special vials for their missions and have had major successes in ambush missions. -Drill mimics are also very adamant about defending their territory. Skibidis that trespass over their claimed lands will not be taken lightly. The moment the drills feel threatened from above, they will form a pinch maneuver from under ground and come at the invaders from multiple directions. Pulling each victim underground, drain them of their fluids, and spit the drained corpses back out as a warning to any other trespassers.

[zeejeythebug]

The most common vehicle in Cibarium is a form of hovercraft which levitates by repelling the planet's magnetic field. Once in the air, it achieves motion by expelling compressed gas, and can reach speeds upwards of 150 mph (though this is rarely practical amidst the confined and often cluttered streets of the city).

It's worth noting that the technology which makes this possible wasn't invented as much as discovered; the first functional repulsion drive was reverse engineered from an artifact unearthed in the lowest chamber of a vacant subterranean city belonging to one of many ancient ant civilizations.

The artifact was first believed to have been a creation of the ants, but recent research indicates that it may have come from a pre-hymn civilization which has yet to be fully described. Some of the more eccentric historians have even theorized that this civilization belonged to a race of four-limbed, ten-fingered giants, but these claims are pure conjecture at best.

[sl-newsie]

Spelled (Carlos de Vil x Sanderson Daughter) Descendants 3- Ch. 4: Cause And Effect

Carlos’ POV

When the sparks clear I search the sky for Magica, but she’s already flown off. The message is still burning into Evie’s sign, and her words are still ringing in my head. ‘This is one story that doesn’t have a happy ending.’ How can she… How could she turn into this? 

“I never thought trixie would actually turn evil,” Jay comments.

I shake my head. “It’s my fault. She tried telling me that she was sick of trying to meet expectations, and I thought she was just being selfish. And now… Mal, how could you do that?”

We all stare at the elderly VK with disappointed looks, and she seems to finally understand what she did wrong.

“Guys, I- I was only doing what I thought was right for Auradon-”

“By imprisoning an innocent man?” Evie asks softly.

“By making Remus a nightguard just because he’s friends with a witch?” I question harshly. “We’re all friends with that witch, Mal. A kind white witch who’s been pushed to be someone she never wanted to be. You made her into this, Mal. And now you’ve got to fix it.”

“But first,” Evie speaks up. “We need to fix all of… this.” She gestures to Mal’s new look.

“The only thing that can reverse the spell of the scepter is Hades’ Ember,” Mal mutters.

“What about the wand?” Jay asks.

“That’s white magic. We need dark magic to counteract the scepter.”

“Right. I’ll go get the bikes.”

Jay jogs off back to Evie’s place and I follow with Dude trailing behind, still questioning in my head how the caring, gentle witch I knew and loved a month ago is the same person I just saw flying through the sky. When I meet up with Jay at the shed I see he keeps muttering to himself, and when he sees me Jay gives me a confused look.

“And… you didn’t choose to tell us about Magica’s meltdown after cotillion because…?”

“Because I didn’t think it would lead to this!” 

Jay doesn’t say more. He just keeps shaking his head as he wheels the bikes out of the storage shed. Evie and Mal come rushing out (at least as fast as Mal’s legs will allow), and we hop onto our bikes.

“Ready?” Evie asks us.

Jay gives me one last frown, and we both nod.

“Ok, let’s ride.”

We rev up our engines and speed off down the road towards the Isle. Maybe once we break Mal’s hag spell then we can focus on stopping Audrey. I just hope it’s not too late to help Magica.

Magica’s POV

My flight over Sherwood Forest is much faster than I thought, and when I see the village approaching the horizon my blood starts to boil. Looking down, I see all the people who threw me out. Look at them. Like tiny ants. All because they couldn’t handle accepting someone who’s a VK.

I fly my broom over near Miss Muffet’s bakery and gaze down at the person I’m here to see.

“Hello, Willow.”

The brunette stiffens and turns around. “Who’s there? I will not tolerate mockery!”

Her whiney voice makes me want to belch. “Oh really? Such as how I tolerated your mockery at me?”

Willow looks up and when she sees me her expression changes to a look of annoyance and disgust.

“Ugh. What are you doing here, Sanderson? Come to curse us just like you did to those poor Auradon students in June?” She rolls her eyes. “I shall inform the Royal Guard of this! How dare you disgrace this village with your deplorable witch blood!”

That final straw is enough for me to harness my growing anger and use my magic to raise Willow into the air, causing her to go into a screaming frenzy. The obnoxious noise signals for more villagers to approach and begin to get angry.

“It’s the Sanderson witch!”

“Call the Royal Guard! Take her to the Towers!”

“She’ll curse us all!”

But their petty accusations roll off of me and I hold my other hand up to chant:

“To prevent what my anger will become, prick away the nuisances one by one!”

Just as I finish, villagers begin disappearing in puffs of purple smoke. Soon the only one left is Willow, who’s still screaming at me.

“Sanderson, what have you done?! What in the name of Auradon did you do to them?!”

I fling her to the muddy ground and leer down at her. “I sent them to King Ben’s castle, so he can deal with an angry mob for once! And if he asks, I did it to prove that nothing will ever change about the way people see me!” My snarl melts into a malicious grin, and Willow must notice that she’s up next. “Now it’s your turn to feel unwanted, Willow. Remember when you complained that I grew into your life like a weed?”

When my words sink in and strike a memory, Willow’s eyes go wide and she starts shaking.

“N-No! Please! Not that- I’m too beautiful!” One would think she and Audrey were related.

“To exact revenge guaranteed, spell thee into what thy made me!”

Just like that, purple dust flies around Willow and her silhouette shrinks. When the dust clears, only a tiny clover plant is left.

I cackle at my accomplishment as I land and scoop the pathetic plant into a bowl, placing it on a nearby bench.

“Who’s the unwanted weed now, Willow? Don’t worry, I doubt anyone will notice thou is gone. But, since I still have half a heart, the spell will only last a week.”

I walk back to the village square and close my eyes, listening to the melodious sound of the nearby wilderness without any corrupt sounds to pollute it. So this is what I’ve been missing all along… It’s not my fault I can never be perfect, because humanity will always be too ignorant to accept that it’s flawed.

“My work here is done.” I summon my broom and take off, scanning the ground for any signs of where Audrey might be. After about an hour I finally spot her near the Enchanted Lake and land discretely away from the gathering nearby.

“How’s the hometown?” Audrey asks when I join her behind a boulder.

“Much more quiet now,” I smirk. “I sent Ben an angry mob to deal with and turned my childhood pain into a plant, so I’m set! What’s all this?” I gesture to the group we’re hiding from.

“Jane’s party.” Audrey looks at the party goers with a disgusted sneer. “So happy, so ignorant. But they’ll soon see that this is all wrong!”

“For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulcher; they flatter with their tongue.” Audrey gives me an odd look. “Psalm 6: 9. It talks about how people can’t be trusted.”

She considers this and gives a nod in agreement, then looks back at the party. After taking a deep breath she grips the scepter and strolls out into the crowd. I decide to stick to the back and let Audrey have her fun.

“Why is she here?” I hear Rosaline ask.

People are starting to give Audrey unwelcoming looks and murmuring complaints.

“Didn’t anyone save me some guacamole? Huh?” Audrey looks around expectantly at the other Auradon students at the refreshment table. “Looks like someone forgot to invite me. Well, don’t be expecting Mal she’s, uh, not feeling herself.” That’s one way to phrase it. “Does that make you sad? Doesn’t that ruin everything?”

I step out farther and everyone gasps.

“You! You’re back!”

“Stay away from me!” 

I roll my eyes at their pathetic whines and join Audrey by the table.

“Just wait until Mal hears about this!” Rosaline backs away.

I lift a finger to silence her. “Speak of that traitor again, and I’ll spell you to never talk again!”

“Mindless little drones!” Audrey huffs. “How could you forget what she did to us? How could you forget that I was supposed to be your queen?!”

I hear a commotion behind us, and turn to see Chad stumbling down the hill. 

“Time out, time out! First off, great new look. I absolutely love feathers!” He gawks at Audrey while she just gives him an unamused frown. “But, before whatever it is you’re gonna do, I was wondering if you wanted a, uh, loyal boyfriend by your side?”

Aurey looks at him like she’s found the winner of the world’s dumbest idiot.

“Partner in crime? Sidekick? Or maybe just a lackie to do your bidding- change tires, smoothie runs?” He crosses his fingers. “Please?”

Audrey looks down at him with a pitying stare. “You could be useful.”

She’s seriously considering this?

“Yeah?” Chad’s face lights up.

“Fine. Stand behind me. You too, Magica. Auradon likes to forget so much… they’ll love this.” She turns to face the frightened party goers and points the scepter at Jane.

“Happy birthday to you,” She bangs the scepter on the ground, which causes pink smoke to start spreading all over the forest and people immediately begin to nod off. What is she-?

“Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to Jane,

Happy birthday to you.”

I watch in horror as the students slump over and drift into a deep sleep. How is this justice?!

Meanwhile Audrey looks over and examines her work. “Sweet dreams.” 

I gape at her malicious actions. “Audrey… what did you do?”

She shrugs and pokes at Rosaline’s hairdo. “I just sent everyone to dreamland, that’s what.”

“When will it wear off?”

Audrey holds back her head and laughs. “Wear off? I donno, I guess whenever I feel like it.”

I slowly begin to realize her plan and shake my head.

“You never said anything about cursing the whole kingdom!”

“What difference does it make?”

“What difference? I’m trying to earn respect, not take it! That’s why I sent the angry mob to Ben, so he can personally explain to them why I’m acting like this! I- I’m not just going to randomly spell everyone!”

Audrey twirls the scepter and tilts her head. “Auradon needs to remember its roots, how things used to be. Good, and evil.”

“But there are innocent people, people who had nothing to do with you or me being cast aside. Why rope them into this?”

She picks up a pink cupcake and licks off some frosting. “Hm. I’dve thought you’d like this, Sanderson. Since when do you care about background nobodys?”

My jaw tightens and I glare daggers at the back of her pink-haired head. “Background nobodys have proven to be the most loyal people I’ve ever met, and I will not allow you to harm them!”

This causes Audrey’s eyes to flash and get an angry glint. “Well, then since you’re just going to betray me and be another goody-goody like every other ignorant person in Auradon-” Suddenly, she blasts a bolt of pink magic into my chest and sends me tumbling down the hill. “That’s the last time I trust a witch, freak!”

I land smashed against a boulder and feel my energy bleeding away, and just before I lose consciousness I see Audrey glare down at me and disappear in a cloud of smoke. I’m not good, I’m not bad… What am I?

Then my vision fades to black.

[spriteinthedark]

Day 13: Banter

The Unstoppable Wasp (Marvel series)

The Unstoppable Wasp series is my favourite Marvel series, and it is well-written and inspiring!! Nadia is the daughter of Hank Pym (aka. Ant Man) and the adopted daughter of Janet Van Dyne (aka. The Wasp), and she reverse-engineered Pym's shrinking Pym Particles to escape the Red Room! I love that the story is character driven, and the writer Jeremy Whitley (who has written four volumes of the series) writes about the characters in a nuanced and deep way. I've really enjoyed reading this series, and the banter in it is GOLD!! Nadia is one of the kindest and most resilient characters I've ever seen, and she is an inspiration to me!! I started reading issues of this series because of Gurihiru's beautiful art and Nadia's G/T-related superpowers, and I'm so glad I found it!! 😁

[balatroconfessional]

Hello o/ anon that was shouting into the void about the plant on highscore runs earlier today.

I think complaining is its own form of manifesting positivity by reverse engineering the universes spite.

I got an insane baron mime run that got to ante 17 the next time i opened balatro after that!

Oh yippee!

[hooperfiko]

ANTHONY EDWARDS' SCORING WORKOUT FOR GUARDS & WINGS | FULL SCORING TUTORIAL FOR HOOPERS

Unleash your inner ANT MAN with this FULL Anthony Edwards Scoring Workout designed for guards, wings, and athletic playmakers! If you want to attack the rim with ferocity, drain contested jumpers, and embarrass defenders like the NBA’s rising superstar, this is your ultimate guide. 🏀

Why Train Like Anthony Edwards? Anthony Edwards isn’t just a human highlight reel—he’s a scoring PHENOM. From explosive drives to clutch stepback threes, his game is built on power, agility, and unshakable confidence. In this video, l break down his PROVEN drills, footwork, and mindset to help you dominate the court.

🔥 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN: ✅ Explosive First-Step Drills: Blow past defenders like Edwards with lightning-fast acceleration. ✅ Finishing Through Contact: Master his “and-1” layups, reverse finishes, and poster-worthy dunks. ✅ Pull-Up Jumper Technique: Create space and shoot like Ant with pro-level footwork. ✅ Defender Manipulation: Use hesitations, crossovers, and pump fakes to break ankles. ✅ NBA-Level Conditioning: Build the stamina to attack all game long.

This Workout Is PERFECT For: • Guards: Improve your burst, handles, and scoring versatility. • Wings: Add Edwards’ athleticism and rim-attacking aggression to your game. • Coaches: Teach your players to score efficiently under pressure. • ANYONE who wants to play with ANT MAN’S FEARLESSNESS!

Why This Workout Works: Edwards’ game thrives on power, creativity, and relentless attack mode. We’ve reverse-engineered his training to give you drills that mirror his NBA routine.

You’ll learn to: • Finish like a superstar (even against taller defenders). • Shoot off the dribble with game-speed reps.

#AnthonyEdwards#AntManWorkout#BasketballTraining#ScoringWorkout#NBAWorkout#BasketballDrills#GuardsAndWings#basketballwarmupworkouts#EliteScoring#BasketballSkills#HooperGrind#ExplosiveAthlete#BasketballTips#ProBasketball#WorkoutMotivation#BasketballLife#NBAInsider#BallHandling#BasketballMasterclass#ScoreLikeAPro#BasketballCommunity#HoopsTraining#NBAtrainingdrills#virtualbasketballdrills#onlinebasketballworkouts

[yachtlily]

Bittern sighting

Monday, 7th April 2025

Wind E 9mph                  Sunny day, high cloud in the morning                    Temp 12°C

Total distance sailed 7.55 miles

Arrived at the boat and noted the low water level. Changed the shackles on the jib and set the boat up for sailing. It is chilly in the breeze so we enjoyed a cup of coffee in the cockpit before setting out. Cleared our lines, engaged reverse and went nowhere. We were aground! Eventually, with full reverse thrust and much rocking and heaving we managed to break free. Hoisted full sail and set off up the Bure.

It was a gentle breeze and running with the wind we lost the chill factor. We had a very pleasant run/reach all of the way to St B’s. Despite the beginning of the school holidays the rivers were still empty and we saw only one other boat on the entire passage. It was lovely to enjoy the utter peace and quiet. Reaching St B’s we turned up Fleet Dyke and sailed as far as the Z bend. Here we dropped our sails and came alongside. The moorings were virtually empty.

Lunch in the sunshine and then a lazy 30 minutes digesting and talking. We then left under engine, hoisting sail as we turned to windward. A challenging beat down Fleet Dyke and then a reach to Ant Mouth. Here we turned and beat back downriver to Thurne Mouth. The river a little fuller of boats but still quiet and we managed some nice long tacks so Mrs Crew was not overworked. Reaching Thurne Mouth we opted to close reach down the Bure as far as the Black Mill. We were so glad that we did that for, as we neared the mill, two bittern flew up from the nearby reeds and flew alongside us. What a sight. If only I had had my camera to hand.

We then turned and broad reached back to our mooring. We dropped sail in the Mouth and then motored to assess our approach. Water levels still looked very low so I decided on a high speed approach to our mooring. At the last minute I decided that we were going just too fast so I shut off the power. Big mistake. We went aground on the putty when only half into our berth. It took a lot of effort to get her in. An enjoyable day and the bittern were a big bonus.

[drmikewatts]

Soft Computing, Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2025

1) KMSBOT: enhancing educational institutions with an AI-powered semantic search engine and graph database

Author(s): D. Venkata Subramanian, J. ChandraV. Rohini

Pages: 1 - 15

2) Stabilization of impulsive fuzzy dynamic systems involving Caputo short-memory fractional derivative

Author(s): Truong Vinh An, Ngo Van Hoa, Nguyen Trang Thao

Pages: 17 - 36

3) Application of SaRT–SVM algorithm for leakage pattern recognition of hydraulic check valve

Author(s): Chengbiao Tong, Nariman Sepehri

Pages: 37 - 51

4) Construction of a novel five-dimensional Hamiltonian conservative hyperchaotic system and its application in image encryption

Author(s): Minxiu Yan, Shuyan Li

Pages: 53 - 67

5) European option pricing under a generalized fractional Brownian motion Heston exponential Hull–White model with transaction costs by the Deep Galerkin Method

Author(s): Mahsa Motameni, Farshid Mehrdoust, Ali Reza Najafi

Pages: 69 - 88

6) A lightweight and efficient model for botnet detection in IoT using stacked ensemble learning

Author(s): Rasool Esmaeilyfard, Zohre Shoaei, Reza Javidan

Pages: 89 - 101

7) Leader-follower green traffic assignment problem with online supervised machine learning solution approach

Author(s): M. Sadra, M. Zaferanieh, J. Yazdimoghaddam

Pages: 103 - 116

8) Enhancing Stock Prediction ability through News Perspective and Deep Learning with attention mechanisms

Author(s): Mei Yang, Fanjie Fu, Zhi Xiao

Pages: 117 - 126

9) Cooperative enhancement method of train operation planning featuring express and local modes for urban rail transit lines

Author(s): Wenliang Zhou, Mehdi Oldache, Guangming Xu

Pages: 127 - 155

10) Quadratic and Lagrange interpolation-based butterfly optimization algorithm for numerical optimization and engineering design problem

Author(s): Sushmita Sharma, Apu Kumar Saha, Saroj Kumar Sahoo

Pages: 157 - 194

11) Benders decomposition for the multi-agent location and scheduling problem on unrelated parallel machines

Author(s): Jun Liu, Yongjian Yang, Feng Yang

Pages: 195 - 212

12) A multi-objective Fuzzy Robust Optimization model for open-pit mine planning under uncertainty

Author(s): Sayed Abolghasem Soleimani Bafghi, Hasan Hosseini Nasab, Ali reza Yarahmadi Bafghi

Pages: 213 - 235

13) A game theoretic approach for pricing of red blood cells under supply and demand uncertainty and government role

Author(s): Minoo Kamrantabar, Saeed Yaghoubi, Atieh Fander

Pages: 237 - 260

14) The location problem of emergency materials in uncertain environment

Author(s): Jihe Xiao, Yuhong Sheng

Pages: 261 - 273

15) RCS: a fast path planning algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicles

Author(s): Mohammad Reza Ranjbar Divkoti, Mostafa Nouri-Baygi

Pages: 275 - 298

16) Exploring the selected strategies and multiple selected paths for digital music subscription services using the DSA-NRM approach consideration of various stakeholders

Author(s): Kuo-Pao Tsai, Feng-Chao Yang, Chia-Li Lin

Pages: 299 - 320

17) A genomic signal processing approach for identification and classification of coronavirus sequences

Author(s): Amin Khodaei, Behzad Mozaffari-Tazehkand, Hadi Sharifi

Pages: 321 - 338

18) Secure signal and image transmissions using chaotic synchronization scheme under cyber-attack in the communication channel

Author(s): Shaghayegh Nobakht, Ali-Akbar Ahmadi

Pages: 339 - 353

19) ASAQ—Ant-Miner: optimized rule-based classifier

Author(s): Umair Ayub, Bushra Almas

Pages: 355 - 364

20) Representations of binary relations and object reduction of attribute-oriented concept lattices

Author(s): Wei Yao, Chang-Jie Zhou

Pages: 365 - 373

21) Short-term time series prediction based on evolutionary interpolation of Chebyshev polynomials with internal smoothing

Author(s): Loreta Saunoriene, Jinde Cao, Minvydas Ragulskis

Pages: 375 - 389

22) Application of machine learning and deep learning techniques on reverse vaccinology – a systematic literature review

Author(s): Hany Alashwal, Nishi Palakkal Kochunni, Kadhim Hayawi

Pages: 391 - 403

23) CoverGAN: cover photo generation from text story using layout guided GAN

Author(s): Adeel Cheema, M. Asif Naeem

Pages: 405 - 423

[whatifsandspheres]

The development of the area in the "Inland Empire," as they called the area including most of Riverside, was a recognizable boom even before the housing bubble crash. You could feel something was different. It seemed hopeful, but too good to be true, loaded, rigged. Large tracts of land had already been cleared and leveled even if they weren't built on yet. They'd sit empty like monopoly board game spots. Empty and plowed over, disturbed soil that would turn into meter deep mud if you tried to walk through it on your way to school. Weeds. Oh, the tumbleweeds the size of cars! I felt like there was a common thread between myself and the science fiction from the early Post-nuclear era. The 50s onward before the cold war reached the Cuban Missile crisis. The aesthetic it took on for me was that of the little old lady clients my father worked for. Sometimes they would gift my mother old things they didn't use anymore like sewing machines. Sun City definitely had that, even more so than Perris. The architecture, the planning, the street signage. I visited the public library there a few times and not nearly enough as I would have liked. There's still a book I don't recall well enough to track down. It had a short story about an engineer who had come upon a sort of superconducting little bead and he worked on reverse engineering it. Around the time I felt this phase ending, that story imprinted on me from my overdue library checkouts. Part of my earliest years were in libraries. The programming of television seemed so rigid and the internet was barely shedding nerd-like ridicule and breaching into international mainstream. Such a particular range and selection of elements that combine and somehow structure my mind's recollection. When we moved to Menifee there was still a lot of native wildlife around that I was able to appreciate. The river ran right behind our house and after the rains there were so many frogs. When things were drier there were harvester ants and Latrodectus spiders. I don't speak to anyone from those years anymore. I contacted Rose much later when Liz and I had been separated enough that I had more room to breathe and talk to girls like before. She was also going through post-break-up bullshit and I tried to leave the lines open to whatever but we just weren't really feeling each other. It must have been obvious what my state of mind was. I even got to confess to her how I had felt during the year we shared in class. She said she never noticed. It didn't seem to matter, we talked briefly and I got the feeling she was hoping I would show more initiative. Nope. I met Shampree during freshman year but we didn't have any classes together yet. The campus had a library branch outside the gates, so technically not part of the school but still on the campus. Honestly, I think she was trying to flirt, to pick me up even, not that I was the only one and not that she put particular weight into being a combination of friendly and flirty. I was reading Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos. I was almost completely blindsided by her actually. I was in the part of the book where a Mulder and Scully analogue is being used to describe quantum entanglement, and she shows up. She tries to describe Schrodinger's cat, and then passes the baton to her cousin who she says is much more versed in that sort of thing. This was before she started to date Alan, mind you.

Her cousin was a JROTC junior, IIRC. Before we had moved I had gotten to watch the PBS special on The Elegant Universe, and shortly before that I had only just barely discovered The Universe in a Nutshell. I was so uninterested in school for the most part. In people. It felt rare that I would even want to be around people and looked for any excuse to avoid it. I could feel the suburban sprawl around me closing in as more houses got built and more traffic flowed the segment of freeway. I felt the aura of places like Temecula closing in. It reminded me of Vault City from the Fallout games. So obviously I wasn't interested in Shampree in that way, but we kind of became friends. Well, she found me sitting outside the school library and then every lunch and break time after that I was kind of just stuck with her and the group. They grew on me, but I say stuck because at first I almost rolled my eyes to see her during school time. The librarians liked us. She eventually got a job at the library we met at once we had graduated, then even moved back to San Diego after I had also moved back and she landed a decent job at another public library in the city. We even hung out a few times in-between when Liz had been far enough out of the picture. It got a little less than platonic, but I'm glad it went no further. I remember a few girls from that time with much more resounding match to whatever I was looking for but can barely even put words to now even at this age and calm recollection. Crystal. Alicia. And to a lesser degree Yuri. Alicia mainly, actually. If any of the rest are worth mentioning it's only because she kind of opens up the door to it. I don't remember her laugh. I'm forgetting her face. I can barely recall the way we met with her smacking her hair into my face when I was resting my head on my desk behind her. I loved the way she looked at me. Fuck. Fuck this. What am I striving for? I know I wouldn't change a thing, so when will I get what I've thought worth the opportunity costs of all these things that seem to have such lasting influence? Floating Hobo Village, huh?

[jacmotorsfan]

JAC T8 Ups The Ante With Upgraded Specs

Line-up now spans two models following the dropping of the entry-level 1.9-litre derivatives.

The comparatively smallest Chinese automaker operating in South Africa, commercial vehicle brand, JAC, has taken the wraps off of the refreshed version of the T8 double cab bakkie.

What has changed?

Introduced four years ago, and prevailing as its flagship model for now, the adaptions centre around the exterior.

Likely to be succeeded next year as range-topping product by the much delayed T9 Hunter that premiered at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, the T8’s reworked aesthetic comprises a new chrome grille, headlights resplendent with daytime running LEDs, a restyled front bumper and new 18-inch alloy wheels.

Reserved for the 4×4 is a black styling bar, side steps and a rear step integrated into the bumper. Seemingly, the T8’s rear has remained unchanged as no accompanying images showing it were disclosed.

READ ALSO: The entry-level, affordable double cab JAC T6. JAC T6 bakkies offer excellent value for money.

On offer

Bar the inclusion of a sunroof, the T8’s interior remains unaffected with the same applying to the standard specification sheet.

Now renamed Super Lux, the T8’s list of features comprises a nine-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth and USB, a six-speaker sound system, all-around electric windows, leather upholstery, front and rear armrests, an electric driver��s and Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto.

Additional items include:

leather-covered multi-function steering wheel;

tyre pressure monitor;

cruise control;

reverse camera;

rear parking sensors;

heated and electric mirrors;

ABS with EBD and Brake Assist;

keyless entry;

auto lock/unlock door;

traction control;

dual front airbags;

Electronic Stability Control;

Hill Start Assist

Measuring 5 325 mm long, 1 880 mm wide and 1 830 mm tall, the T8’s wheelbase stretches 3 090 mm and according to JAC, has a claimed payload of 900 kg, the towing capacity of 2 000 kg for a braked trailer and as standard, a rubberised load bin.

Underneath and upfront

Equipped as standard with a rear diff-lock regardless of the drive wheels, motivation is now solely provided by the CTI-badged 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine following the decision to drop the Volkswagen-made 1.9-litre unit available until now.

Paired exclusively with a six-speed manual gearbox, the oil burner develops 104kW/320Nm and will consume diesel at a claimed 7.8 L/100 km.

Once again regardless of being two-wheel-drive or fitted with the optional Borg-Warner supplied four-wheel-drive system, the T8 has a ground clearance of 220 mm, departure angle of 22.4 degrees, breakover of 23.5 degrees and approach of 29.6 degrees.

Price

Available in a choice of six colours; silver, white, black, grey, red and blue, the T8 Super Lux carries a sticker price of R449 900 for the two-wheel-drive and R499 900 for the 4×4.

Covering both is a five-year/150 000 km warranty as well as a five-year/60 000 km service plan.

.

.

.

.

News shared from https://www.citizen.co.za/motoring/

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Prelude Chapter 28

Previous | First | Next

Master Post - Patreon

Dragoslava had no idea what was going on when she was freed from her obsidian prison. She looked around, seeing a large court out in the open; but her vision was still adjusting, so it was difficult to make out what was going on. “What the… where am I? Desislav? Blood?”

“Drago, here…” Desislav looked a bit roughed up.

“Desislav! What happened to you?!”

He looked down at his injuries and sighed. “Things got a bit complicated.”

“Explain, please?”

Desislav rubbed his neck. “So… The Unspeaker proposed a face off between us and The Lich. A best of three contest, with the winner… well we’re not sure what happens next yet. Me, you, and Blood are going up against the Lich’s elite commanders.”

“Excuse me, what!?”

“Turns out he ‘created’ three beings to counter us, or so he claims… ha, counter. I’ve been scoping them out and I’ve already beaten my opponent.” Desislav pointed to an individual that was twitching on the ground, clearly dead. “That sludge… thing.”

“Oh… um, how did it go?”

“I will be so happy when the Lich is finally dead… That THING smothered me in whatever that sludge is. It nullified both my punches and magic. And then it turned the ground to sludge, gluing me in place. At that point I was starting to sink and it was preparing to impale me, so I used my armor to electrocute the damn thing.”

Dragoslava was horrified yet impressed. She then noticed something in his hand. “What’s that?”

He was holding what looked like a chunk of obsidian. “It’s my prize… the ante got upped with the victor having the option to either take their opponents power or spare them…”

That was a bit unsettling for Dragoslava to hear. “They… they can’t take out power, can they?”

“Personally I’m not going to let them find out.”

Dragoslava then looked over to the stone stage at the center of the court. Blood-Wraith was facing off against what looked like a sleek, black and white humanoid. Things were not going well as he had been trapped in a weird, armor-like suit. It fully encased him, had barely any features, and completely randomized his powers. He could not form any strategy or land a successful attack. Adding insult to injury, the suit was strong and durable. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get it off.

Blood-Wraith’s mind raced as he was battered around. Did he keep trying to pull the suit off? Or did he try to reverse engineer it? That latter seemed impossible to do and the former obviously proved futile. Upon shooting a fireball when he wanted to shoot a water burst, he had an idea. What if he went with the randomness and formed a strategy on the fly? If he could react in time, his random attacks could be devastating. 

He needed to act fast as it looked like his opponent was preparing something. If it was another suit or a spell, he was most likely done for. Blood-Wraith tried to go for his sonic howl, but got his webbing instead. This could work. He quickly restrained his opponent and readied his next move. An attempt at fire breath became his sonic howl (because of course). With the humanoid disoriented came the final attack, a powerful train charge that was supposed to be a might form punch.

The Unspeaker and his audience gave a round of applause. “Match point goes to Deimos!” he declared from his throne. He then began walking down to the arena.

Blood-Wraith went over to his defeated opponent and offered to help him up. “Vexation? What was that thing you were going to use on me?”

“It was a coffin that would have sealed you away… Why are you speaking to me? You won, didn’t you?” he asked as he reluctantly accepted Blood-Wraith’s help.

“Yes… and? I mean, you’re not exactly in a position to refuse and we’re here to defeat the Lich…”

“Fair enough. You should reign in your naivete, however.”

 The Unspeaker handed a stone to Blood-Wraith. “You can either spare him or take his power for yourself. The Choice is yours.”

Upon taking the stone, the suit that encased Blood-Wraith vanished into it. “That’s a relief. I chose to spare him!” The stone then vanished into dust.

“Very well then,” The Great Unspeaker confirmed. “You are free to go, Vexation.”

“Thanks, kid,” said Vexation. He rolled his eyes as the Lich started yelling about the outcome.

Blood-Wraith darted back over to the others with Vexation following him. “Guys, all of this feels weird, not going to lie.”

Desislav picked him up and gave him a hug. “Don’t worry, we’re here for you. Also you did great.”

Blood-Wraith turned to Dragoslava. “Sister? Um… you’re up next…”

“Oh… alright then, hahaha…”

Deimos pointed to a blonde-haired woman with red eyes and what looked like bat wings coming from her back. “She’ll be your opponent. Her name is Ekaterina and I highly suspect her power will have something to do with yours.”

“She also seems pretty cocky, so you may be able to use that to your advantage” Desislav pointed out. “Don’t worry, I’ll intervene if things go south. Rules be damned” he assured her.

“That’s fairly daring,” Vexation commented. “Especially with the Unspeaker close by?”

“Shush…” Desislav shot back.

Cautiously, Dragoslava stepped up to the stage as The Unspeaker announced the battle. “Hey there…”

Ekaterina looked incredibly frustrated. “Let’s cut the small talk. Things are going bad enough for my master as is…”

“You don’t have to keep serving him, you know…” Dragoslava pointed out as she metalized her body.

A series of large, metal ribbons emerged from Ekaterina’s body. “Ha, I have no plans to lose this fight. Pretty bold of you to say for someone who is about to have their power taken away…”

At first Dragoslava thought she was dealing with blades. This was no problem, so she started going for punches and kicks. Ekaterina was dodging these pretty easily and anything she could not was blocked. She was knocked back a little whenever this happened, which emboldened Dragoslava. She was losing sight of what her opponent was doing when she noticed her punches were not landing anymore. It felt like her limbs were being held back. 

It was then when she made a shocking discovery: The ribbons were magnetic and clinging to her. Ekaterina gave an evil grin as she lifted Dragoslava into the air and began wrapping her up. The metal ribbons wound around the helpless combatant, tightly binding her up. Dragoslava panicked as they covered her face. Soon her entire body was mummified and she was brought back down. Things were not looking good as Ekaterina circled her helpless opponent.

“Aw, what a shame. I was expecting more of a fight” she taunted as the ribbons got tighter.

“HMPH! MMPH!”

“My power is to create these magnetic ribbons. They’re also magnetizing your body. You’ll never escape my grasp!”

“Hmph…” Dragoslava had an idea that involved her crouching down. This failed as she could no longer struggle. The ribbons and magnetization left her as stiff as a rock.

“And voila! I am victorious!” Ekaterina hugged her opponent in a mocking manner, as if she had received a long awaited birthday present. “Now where’s my prize?”

The Unspeaker was not amused with her smug arrogance. “Blithering mortals… You’re not done yet. All you did was restrain your opponent, not defeat her. The minute you unwrap her she’ll retaliate…”

“MMPH! Mm-hmm!”

“Also her lover has a bone to pick with you…”

Ekaterina turned around only to see Desislav looming over her, radiating anger. He picked up the mummified Dragoslava, charged her with electricity, and pummeled Ekaterina into the ground. Dragoslava was restrained and magnetized so much that she actually made a fantastic club, something Desislav was well equipped to wield. Her metal skin also protected her from the impact. After apologizing to his girlfriend, Desislav turned to The Unspeaker and glared at him.

Not wanting to anger the satyr further, The Unspeaker did as he was expected. “Match point goes to Deimos. Bonus points of 2 for the unorthodox teamwork.”

Fortunately the series of hits disrupted the magnetic fields of the ribbons and freed Dragoslava. “Woohoo, haha! That was fun! Do it again, Desislav!” She was incredibly disoriented, but accepted her prize regardless. “HA, I’m sparing her. Also that hammer attack was freaking amazing!”

As the couple helped Ekaterina with the Unspeaker patching her up, the Lich exploded with anger. “I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS MOCKERY! SOLDIERS…”

“OH SHUT UP, YOU BLASPHEMOUS WASTE OF MATTER! The Unspeaker shouted back. “Or I’ll end this entire thing right now in their favor! Ignore him for now… hold on… YOU WANT TO DO THIS? YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS?” He got into a shouting match with the Lich. It was unbecoming, but very cathartic given the Lich’s history of defying and defiling the Cosmos. What was shocking was that the husk had the intelligence and guts to argue with a supreme entity.

Ekaterina groaned in residual pain. “You’re letting me go?”

Dragoslava smiled. “HA, no. You’re coming home with us. Your powers are cool… yeah, that’s all I got. Plus my father would never forgive me if I killed for sport. And my mother, oh boy… Let’s just say she has a strict code of honor, like my dad. Also my big sister would throttle me and I’m pretty sure Blood would not approve...” She was still a bit hyper from being charged with electricity.

“That sludge thing isn’t though…” Desislav crushed his rock in his hand, leading to a mass of sludge going down his throat. This made him gag. “Why do I taste Obsidian!?”

Blood-Wraith thought about his victory as the others returned. He then made up his mind. “Hey, Vexation?”

“What?” he slightly grunted.

“I want you to come home with us.”

“Why? I tried to kill you…”

“I don’t know, I just feel you’d be better off with us rather than that husk…”

Vexation was silent for a moment. “I suppose I don’t have a choice in the matter.” He then patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve got a good heart, kid.”

Things were escalating between the Lich and The Unspeaker. The former had begun attacking the latter, to no avail. This made Leif’s blood boil as this went on. And then he snapped. He had finally had enough and attacked the Lich. Everything went to chaos after that. The Dark Grand Desert was outside the Cosmos itself, and Leif took full advantage of this. The two rogue primordials went all out on each other. Not wanting his city to get destroyed in the impending maelstrom, The Unspeaker moved both of them back to the desert.

Blood-Wraith and the others followed after while Deimos took Ekaterina and Vexation to safety. The three ended up in a massive library deep within the city, far from the unfathomable battle that was about to take place. “Ha, I knew that would happen,” Deimos said with a sigh. “You two stay here for now. We’ll deal with the rest.” He then vanished in a cloud of smoke and sparks, returning to the fight.

“I don’t think they trust us yet…” Ekterina put forth.

“No, it’s just that this fight is out of our league… Well, yours at least. We were tasked with fighting Blood-Wraith and the others, not our former master. In regards to trust: I don’t blame them, but at the same time I have no plans to betray them. Blood-Wraith is my new master.”

“Just like that, Vexation?”

“Yes. Do not question it further. He won fair and square… something that seems to elude you.”

That hurt Ekaterina’s feelings. “Well… I was going to…”

“Going to do what? What were your plans after you had restrained Dragoslava? You foolishly declared yourself the victor, not paying attention to Desislav who proceeded to beat you into the ground with the very opponent you claimed to have defeated. And you wonder why The Unspeaker let him interfere like that…”

Elsewhere in the library, Tusk was reading and studying like crazy. A strange tremor caused him to look up from his book, however. “Hey, Scream? What are your thoughts on the Primordials?”

“Hm… I feel mixed on them. The Madman is really cool and I respect Leif… but the Conspirator was a dingus, and the Lich is a moron. I could say that some of the Primordials should have been taken back to the drawing board, but I’m not God, so I won’t.”

“The Conspirator, what happened to him?”

“I’m not sure. I heard he popped up in some ghost-infested reality error, but that’s all I know at the moment.”

Tusk tapped his book with his pen. “I see… Jeez, I hope everyone is doing alright. This spellset is taking longer than I thought…”

“Understandable. Dad’s collection is obnoxiously complex.”

“Damn it…” Tusk groaned. “It’s bad enough I chickened out. Now this thing won’t…ARGH!”

The Screaming God shook his head. “Would you stop beating yourself up? You’re doing fine…”

“No, I’m not! I need to do better.”

“And why is that?”

“Because my lack of skill is why my mother disappeared and why we’re in this situation in the first place!” Tusk snapped.

“Your mother vanished? Where’d she go?”

Tusk sighed. “The Magician’s Labyrinth. She went there to train and never came back. She swore she’d stop the Lich, but I assumed something happened. I always thought she died, but Donia never gave up hope. She even tried to go look for her.”

“Would you believe me if I said she’s alive and I’ve seen her with my own two eyes?”

Tusk’s blood went ice cold. “You… you have?”

“Yes. I saw her with Rose Raynot. My mom sent me on some errands and I saw them off in the distance while checking on some void crystals.”

“By the forest…” he was shaking.

“Easy, Tusk. All we need to do is send someone to go get them. And a little birdie told me that Blood-Wraith might go find them for an upcoming wedding…”

Tusk slammed the desk with his hands. “WHO!? Who told you!?!”

The Screaming God was startled. “One of my friends who is knowledgeable with the flow of time…”

“Okay…” Tusk took a deep breath. “Sorry, pardon my hyperness. It’s just that that is…is… incomprehensible. The idea of my mom still being alive… I miss her, damn it!” He then shook his head, making random noises out of frustration.

The Screaming God chuckled. “I can understand the feeling… Oh? Looks like we have company. I’ll go get them.”

Back at the desert, Leif was going all out. He was doing everything he could to kill the Lich. Ferocious bites, vicious claw strikes, devastating tail slams, destructive wing beets, and all-consuming fire were used on his enemy. Eons of pent up anger were being unleashed all at once. It was a breathtaking sight to behold as The Unspeaker and his kin watched the carnage unfold. The Lich was on the ropes and the mighty dragon showed no signs of backing down.

Blood-Wraith and the others did all that they could to help. They culled what remained of the Lich’s army and assisted Leif whenever possible. There was no stopping Lief, but he appreciated it when Dragoslava gave a good punch or when Desislav unleashed wild lighting on the enemy. Blood-Wraith hated seeing his friend like this. He would use Golden Dragon whenever he could, hoping it would hasten the battle. The fight was unlike any other as everyone’s blood ran hot. It was truly do or die at this point.

Next: Chapter 29

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)