#blood it will take blood advent opening

[madegeeky]

BLOOD IT WILL TAKE BLOOD day 7: ummmmmm.... vibrating eye cream.

Yep.

I dunno what to do with that either.

Must have stood there for at least a few minutes laughing before I just handed it to Mr. Geeky so he could see what I was laughing at.

The lotion is thin and creamy which I like for face lotions. There's a very faint pleasant soap smell. It does indeed vibrate when you hit the switch. Other than that I just ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

I mean, I'm gonna try it out, of course I am, this is fucking hilariously absurd. But I have serious doubts that this will actually do anything.

Bonus points for originality, I suppose. I sure wasn't fucking expecting to open a box that has vibrating eye cream in it.

[allywthsr]

GINGERBREAD HOUSE | (l.norris)

summary: you and Lando make the gingerbread house challenge, while streaming

wordcount: 1.2k words

pairing: landonorris x fem!reader

warnings: mentions of blood (but no actual bleeding)

notes: I switched up the order of the fics, the streaming one will come out tomorrow instead :)

advent calendar

”Alright Chat, we‘ll do the gingerbread house challenge, you get to decide whose house is prettier in the end.“

You got two boxes on the table and held them up to the camera, so people could see what kind of gingerbread house you got.

”It’s a simple gingerbread house from Tesco, I‘m going to make some icing in a second, and we have lots of sweets to put on top, just as sprinkles. Lan, do we want to do it on time or are we just free-styling it?“

”I would freestyle it, I don’t wanna rush and fuck it up if I need an hour, I need an hour.“

You nodded and gave him one of the boxes, opening yours and getting out the little plastic bags with gingerbread in them. Lando did the same and you checked if everything was inside, what it said on the box, you quickly whipped up some icing, with only some powdered sugar and water. You made two separate bowls, one for Lando and one for you, placing them on the table, while your boyfriend was reading through the chat.

”Everyone’s saying yours is going to be prettier.“

”I like your chat.“

He pouted and you pecked his cheek, with that he smiled again and checked out the different pieces of gingerbread he had in front of him. He tasted the gingerbread when he bit off on one end and licked the spoon of the icing, complimenting you for being a great cook. All you did was laugh about his statement, mixing powdered sugar and some water together wasn’t a big deal, but for Lando, the non-cook, everything you did in the kitchen was a miracle for him.

On a count to three, Lando and you started building the house, taking the bottom layer and you put some icing in the sparred out notch, where the wall belonged. You pressed the wall in the icing and let it dry for a few seconds, making sure the wall was standing.

Lando was different, he put the wall in and squeezed the icing in between the spaces and only waited for a millisecond before he let go of the wall. To no surprise, the wall fell down and smeared the icing everywhere, ”Babe! It fell down.“

”You didn’t wait long enough, for the icing to dry a little.“

He let out a huff and started filling the notch with way too much icing, pressing the wall hard in the white gooey consistency. When he let go of his wall, you were already on your third, every gingerbread was standing perfectly straight and didn’t fall down.

Chat was roasting Lando for his non-existent skills of building a gingerbread house, some comments made you giggle.

‘I love how Lando is not able to build a house, let’s hope their house in England won’t be built by him‘

‘Lando’s walls are crashing like my dreams‘

‘I want Y/N to build his house, this will be a disaster‘

‘It’s bwoken‘

Lando did your technique for a while, squirting the icing on the notch before placing the wall on top of it, but he used way too much icing and too much pressing down on the gingerbread, most of the icing was spilling out of the edges, you feared the worst. While you placed your first roof half, Lando was still on his third wall, he was struggling to get the walls straight, they were all bending in a different direction and you wondered how he was going to build the top layer on that. You placed the last roof piece on your house and Lando looked over to yours, ”Y/N, why are you so far ahead? I‘m still on wall four, that’s unfair.. can we switch houses?“

”Don’t even think about it, babe.“

He scoffed and fixed a corner, that was a bit loose, with icing. You smiled at his house, the walls were crooked, the icing was overflowing at where the gingerbreads were touching, and little white fingerprints were all over the house, where he touched the walls, somehow he got icing on his fingers and didn’t clean them.

You gently drizzled icing over the roof to make it look like snow, adding drops where you placed different gummy bears and sprinkles, lastly, you added the little gingerbread man in the open door of the house. You were finished.

”Chat, what are we thinking?“, you asked, turning the house in front of the camera and looking at the responses that came in.

”Lan, they think my house looks better, maybe I should take over your stream.“

”Chat, you’re betraying me.“

Lando placed the top layer on the wonky walls and groaned when it wasn’t looking like yours. He quickly added the two roof pieces and the gingerbread man, before you could blink, the whole thing came crashing down, the walls were breaking and the roofs were squishing the gingerbread man, splitting him into two halves.

”Lando! What did you do?“

”I don’t know! It just crashed.“

He started laughing in his high-pitched laugh, and you pouted, he tried to make it work but failed in the end. You two were speechless for a while, the chat was filled with people laughing and sending condolences to Lando and his house. After a minute of silence, he spoke up: ”I know what to do, give me a minute.“

You arched your eyebrow before turning to the chat and talking with them, answering small questions and thanking them for the donations. Lando turned the camera, so it wasn’t focusing on him, but only on you, you didn’t look at what he was doing, but he was using a lot of sweets and sprinkles before he said he was finished.

”Baby, close your eyes, I want your reaction at the same time as chat sees it.“

You held your hands before your eyes and waited for Lando to say something.

”You can look.“

You removed your hands and looked at his gingerbread house, gasping you looked between him and the house.

”What did you do?“

”What?“

”What is that supposed to be?“

”A gingerbread house but in the earthquake version.“

You let out a laugh, he put red sugar paste all over the gingerbread man, so it looked like he was bleeding, red sprinkles were placed around it and more sweets were thrown on top of the house.

”You are creative baby“, you pressed a kiss on his cheek and chuckled once more, before looking at the positive responses from his chat.

”Who won, chat?“

Lando made a poll, where they only had to click on a name, quickly Lando’s name reached the top, with seventy-nine percent it was obvious who won. With a little defeated smile, you congratulated him.

[inchidentally]

https://www.tumblr.com/piastrisms/738775293993549824?source=share

I NEED YOUR ANALYSIS OF THIS VIDEO! PLEASE <3

okay listen this has spun me out into a whOLE thing so let's take another trip down a road I like to call Why is the Non-RPF Real Life Relationship between Oscar and Lando So Endearing and Boyish and Sweet:

so my absolute favorite thing about Lando's face when he's relaxed or in his natural element is how absolutely every. single. emotion. he's feeling is broadcast at equal volume. his vulnerability is a massive part of his charisma. but! he has to have the right habitat! streaming, Youtube, his lifelong friends - those are the right habitat.

F1 is not naturally the right habitat.

when Carlos found Lando on his proverbial driver's doorstep he did not know what to make of him and Lando was barely able to squeak out a few words around anyone new or when a camera was around. but! Carlos trained Lando into how to bounce a dynamic between the two of them just like he'd been doing with his last awkward baby, Max. interestingly Max was much more excitable and eager to please of the two and Lando's intense shyness took a LOT of work to get past. but once Carlos had gotten the drift of Lando's super silly sense of humor it was smooth sailing. and then with Daniel it was even easier because half the time Daniel knew he was expected to carry the conversation. it's interesting because Lando allowed a bit of that old shyness to come back and it definitely disarmed Daniel a bit in a satisfying way. but thanks to those big personalities, Lando found his F1 self and even started to deal back and lead occasionally. of course DTS and a lot of media pilloried him for this because apparently what Carlos and Daniel do naturally is seen as snottish and bratty for him to do. the Youtube/streamer personality where he felt so safe did not at all translate onto other platforms and media.

so it hasn't been smooth sailing for Little Lando Norris to know how to be as a person in F1.

cut to 2023 and with the advent of Oscar we've seen a slow dismantling of Lando's F1 PR personality completely in his content with Oscar over the season. their very first unboxeds Lando was still wearing his guarded PR face and assuming he should lead and carry all the content. it was still sort of around for the Jenga/Garden Games challenges but had started to soften around the Austin filming (including the Finish the Lyrics classics). at some point, Lando truly realized that Oscar would still be fond of him even when Lando was in a terrible, low blood sugar type mood (Tic Tac Toe etc) and oh wow!

their content could really just be Lando being whatever he was feeling that day/that moment and Oscar smiling and finding him funny/cute/fascinating! that was enough! he didn't even know that was allowed! (and maybe it wouldn't have been if Oscar wasn't there to bolster him)

and that's when we started getting unguarded, authentic Lando instead of entertaining Lando. and it's because Oscar was the person next to him representing all of us, trying to tell Lando that we just wanted to see him. we didn't care if he was 'on' or not. he's just an interesting outdoor cat we want to watch go about his life.

which is why we got Lando letting himself sit and stare right back at Oscar like this.

where we can see his expressions do that slow blossoming thing, and right in full view of just Oscar. it's the anti-DTS material because it isn't open to the camera and easy to manipulate. narrative television hates when two people go into quiet, subtle communication because it can't be made into a false dramatic arc. (trust me they'll invent one using chopped up footage and even more chopped up commentary lol they always do but it'll be uphill work)

but when you contrast this with the nonstop, quick back-and-forth Lando has with Carlos and Daniel it's where we pick up on the something that's so unique to Lando with Oscar. it's wrong and making way too big an assumption to say it's a closer friendship bc you can't quantify other people's friendships that way. but it's very, very different to those friendships. and the biggest difference that we on the outside can see is that Lando allows himself to determine exactly How He Will Be. and that might change from one minute to the next! and that doesn't always go down well with most people!

but every time, no matter what, Oscar smiles and laughs and everything Lando does is alright. he gets it. Lando means no harm and he's got a good, warm heart. if he likes you then that won't change just because his mood changes.

like their end of season message. Lando went from doing a great job summarizing his thoughts for the viewers, handed it over to Oscar and just... watched. didn't get bored and stare at the camera or off into space. I actually compiled just how often Lando spends staring openly at Oscar into one long gif lol:

he fully knows he's still on camera but he turns himself into a viewer instead of bouncing around and off of what Oscar is saying. Oscar gave him that, he can give it right back.

and there's no specific Lando-Oscar dynamic like there is Lando-Carlos and Lando-Daniel. hell, Lando's got a dynamic with just about anyone. except! Max F, Martin Garrix (and probably quite a few of his friendships that we're never actually even shown) and Oscar. with those people we see Lando be precisely whatever he's feeling at that moment because they'll either indulge it or enjoy it depending on how good or bad the mood is. if it's Lando, it's all good.

I feel like there's a commonality with those people of being quiet but strong as opposed to the big and bold of most of the F1 drivers on the grid. Max F absolutely has obvious similarities to Oscar (I still love how much he sided with Oscar when he watched the 'most likely to' video). I don't know a lot about Martin but it's literally a DJ's job to be enough apart from the crowd to read it and they set the energy passively through what they spin. Oscar is a fun guy who loves being around the people he cares about but he's never The Guy that it all turns around.

and for their own reasons, they find Lando inherently fascinating and lovable. whereas Lando has to inhabit Carlos', Daniel's, George's, etc etc worlds because they are in themselves The Guy Everyone's Watching just like Lando. Lando has to share. he has to figure it out. but guys like Max F and Oscar do not have the energy or interest in being The Guy. they'd choose privacy over popularity every single time if they were made to. and actually come to think of it, they have actively chosen privacy at the expense of popularity quite a few times.

because let's look at Oscar's face when Lando teasingly brings up Oscar's sprint win:

Oscar gives Lando that genuine, affectionate smile and ducks his head because he wants Lando to know that he appreciates it. in truth, that Sprint win was hailed by wider F1 community as being a massive achievement for a rookie in the Max V era of dominance. they both know that it is. but Oscar didn't posture or show off about it and for that Lando has made sure to bring it up on his behalf time and again. Oscar gave him that, Lando can give it back to him.

which is even sweeter going back to that post race video because Oscar gives Lando that same affectionate, private smile. he's had to throw the video's content over to Lando and Lando gave him that big affectionate smile first because this is how they do these videos. it's always awkward - especially if their results that day weren't great - but they know that together they can do these videos and share a laugh over how absurd it feels sometimes.

and the hint of a private joke between the two of them is there early on and you can just feel Lando relax into it.

and when you skip all the way to their last race media duties and this interview, it truly surprised me how much Lando kept checking in with Oscar - the rookie! -as he was answering. when he found himself giving boring PR answers he threw in a joke that he knew Oscar would crease up over. sure enough it loosened them both up.

and like, that's where the vulnerability and openness comes from now with Lando. he's got a teammate who is basically the same age, who gets him and who actively wants Lando to just be Lando. who clearly threw Lando at first by inadvertently foiling those attempts to establish a dynamic or a bromance. who Lando probably at first thought was just shy and awkward. but Oscar stayed true to who he is and kept that door open for Lando to eventually walk through.

so when it's the two of them, it's everyone else who's on the outside looking in. they're just being themselves. if that doesn't make everyone else feel entertained or happy they honestly don't care - and will probably share a secretive little smile about it.

it's also why they sometimes do that twinning thing and creep everyone out asfgjlaflsgjf

[twistedchatterbox]

Halloween Collab 2023 - 17/31 ; open !

Why hello there, loyal customer; Today I'm here to announce a collab for everyone's favorite holiday which starts on august and lasts 'till the end of October; spooky season!

Accepting collaborators 22nd-30th of September; This Halloween collab will be an advent that focuses on canon x reader/viewer content; you can join as an author/artist, with a minimum of 300~ words and no upper limit. -if you're interested, take a seat.

Here is how it'll work;

Everyone who participates in this collab will pick a prompt, and post their work on the day corresponding to the prompts number; it is mainly centered around writing, though artwork can be included !

Here are a few other things you should keep in mind v

To join the collab you have to reblog this post + choose a prompt! + You can ask to pick your prompt through replies instead, if you'd like that; as long as you reblog the post afterwards!

Remember to tag me on the post so that I can see it ; All the entries for the advent will be reblogged on @/jade-s-nymph and added to the masterlist !

One prompt per person; each person can only claim one prompt *

No Dead Dove: Don't Eat content !

All entries have a minimum of 300 words but no upper limit ; + Artwork can be entered as long as it is accompanied by writing ! + Your writing can be formatted however you'd like as long as it meets the minimum word count, just have fun with it !

Tag your works properly ! including but not limited to; if there are references to how the reader looks or is described, content warnings, phobia-specific warnings (ex. blood, cramped spaces)

Even though event mainly centers around canon x reader content Original Characters are very welcome to join in; whether it be Fanon x reader / Fanon & reader or just to make a cameo! Take the wheel and see where it leads you. ^^

Prompts that are taken/claimed by someone will be crossed out in text (like this) ; followed by the @ of the author/artist(s) who will post their work(s) on the prompt's day !

First Halloween - @magicluckystars

Sweetness

Tricked (or is it a treat..?)

Pumpkin(s)

Makeup - @cupids-chamber

Secret invitation - @savanaclaw1996

Decor

Love at first fright - @cyn-write

Undead(?)

Fangs - @rendy-a

Bewitched - @cecilebutcher

(Love) potion - @bunnwich

Phantom Thief - @yume-yuurei

Opera - @fungifanart

Knight

Sleeping Beauty - @siren-serenity

Haunted House - @leonistic

Graveyard - @galra-empress-dowager

Hunting - @snappit-the-snek

Full Moon

Siren's Song - @/twistedchatterbox ie.@/Jade-s-nymph

Yokai - @ginruko

Bandages

Angelic

Detective - @fate-muse-club-house

Dress-up (together) - @linawritestwst

Possessed - @darling-in-wonderland

Devilish - @da-birb-writes-sometimes

Cerberus

Red Hood - @juno-of-wonderland

"Once upon a time.." - @whatevermywpis

Ps. if you'd like to collab with someone on a prompt, you can! * ex. Two authors writing a 2-part fic together or writing 2 separate fics that reference each other / An author writing a fic and an artist making an illustration to go along with it. -Just remember to post the entries on the correct day, yeah?

Everyone who joins can tag their work with the tag #Spooky Chattering 2023 .

-Once again, before i finish this post; please Reblog this post so that more people can see and join, even if you don't intend to join in yourself- a collab this size needs a lot of people, after all ^^'' ...

[majestativa]

Imageries coiling around my scepter, Ophiuchus, orpheus-like in his own Hades. Healing in the mire. Settling scores with the tyrannous self. Unwavering. Redeemed at last, but not without a fight. The advent of my beloved ataraxia. The entrails of youth chewed by old regrets, as wisdom spurts from the cut veins of sanity. Come out, monsters, wherever you are. Come feast on my shivers and allegories. Come fill your blood with my poetry & poison. My rivers are pure lava. My tragedy is the rain. Choke on my pain. The talons of Prometheus’ eagle are sinking into my desolate flesh each night my passions take the rein. I’m skinned alive whenever dusk touches my eyes, and my tears retrace each leaf on my tree of life. Rejoice, beasts, rejoice, for I am coming home.

The mind of Man is terrible. Its mountains are reversed, reaching the heart of Jahannam, and the latter hisses Man’s secrets, the secrets that microscopically altered the universe.

The sun lacerates my skin, and the mark is extended, each shadow borrows the lips of a different lover and plants a cauterizing kiss, and the delicate throat shivers. I hear the echoes of Eden, and my delirium rouses my mind to wake. The Earth knows I’ll always come back to it. Its glare stern but motherly, I remember how long my journey had been, before I got swallowed by this dimensional vortex. I open my heart and crush it. I yearn for nothing ever since peace departed. I step on the memories, forgotten, and the moonless night descends. Too dark a song. Too desolate, an eternity of loneliness. Pre-metamorphosis. My mysticomorphosis. Temptation is no more. I am strangely calm. My peacocks are all dead. My serpents await the advent of a greater tragedy. The door of Heaven is closed. Press play.

Mystical Overtones | 25.08.24

[donotpush]

Birth Advent Calendar 22 - Day 1

Nikki always knew what she liked.

She always thought that she was some sort of outcast. The things that would make her blood burn and her stomach feel funny weren't the same as the rest of the girls in her friend group wanted.

She didn't like the movie's bad boy or the strong hero. She liked the bad girl, the femme fatale that would get the hero on his knees and make him beg.

Growing up and with the helping hand of the Internet, and many visits to dark and already forgotten forums and sites, she was able to put a name to her tastes: she liked to dominate men. Nikki was a dominatrix in nature.

Chains, leather, handcuffs and latex. That was all she needed to feel fulfilled. Oh, and a man to overpower and humilliate.

Becoming a full-time dominatrix was exactly her idea of ideal life and she got it.

She would dress up in her expensive latex suit, lift the zip in the back and Nikki was gone. Mistress would appear on the stage ready to put on a show.

When she discovered she was pregnant, Nikki didn't even hesitate, not even one second on keeping doing what she loved the most. She saw it as an opportunity to empower, to learn to love and take advantage of this new facet of her own body.

It was scary at first, like everything new, but after a while, she went from despising to loving every single change.

The way her entire body swelled, her belly becoming bigger each month, her breasts growing full with milk, the embodiment of fertility in her aching chest and the new sensitivity over all her body.

And against what she thought, her clients loved it. Men and women, young and old. She even got a whole new bunch of clients.

Some days, however, she regretted her choice of profession.

"Fuck...! Oh my!" Nikki groaned, her back arching as her fingers gripped at the sheets.

Some days, however, she regretted her choice of profession. Today, because her baby was crowning between her legs and she was stuck inside her very expensive latex suit.

In the bedroom, Mistress was in total control of everything. Nobody talked, breathed or screamed without her permission, her position was always on top of the chain. But today, roles were reversed.

It was Mistress who was whimpering on the bed, theet gritted and hands, gripping at the sheets with pained moans.

"Oh, God! Come on!" Nikki whined, clenching her jaw. "Shit!"

She tried to ignore it in the morning as she got ready, it was just some cramps and an aching back. Nothing new. Nothing that would get her to cancel her session with her client today.

She denied how low her belly was hanging as she stared at herself in the mirror. She ignored the way the latex suit seemed to be tighter than ever today, rubbing in the wrong ways against her breasts and her most sensitive areas and everywhere.

God, she even denied how low the baby felt and how much pressure she was feeling. She was so sure that she could totally, absolutely finish the session and just then go to the hospital or something.

And now...

Her hands desperately tried to reach for her back, looking for the zip of the suit to get it out, but all she could focus on was the burning sensation between her legs and all the pressure.

"Ughn... help me!" she screamed through gritted teeth, tilting her head to look at her slave.

Johnathan or Johnny, she couldn't be bothered remembering his name right now, shook his head vigorously and tried to free himself from the cuffs that kept him tied to the pole in the middle of the room.

He really wanted to help his mistress, but he didn't even know where the keys were at!

"Mh-hmph-ph" Johnny grumbled through the gag ball "Hmm!?"

Mistress had left the keys somewhere totally out of his reach, as agreed for the game, but now the only thing Johnny could do was let out desperate sounds, muffled by the gag ball, and whine about the erections on his trousers.

"Ohmygodohmygod" Nikki could feel the head slowly spreading her open.

She was stuck, like a beached whale, literally. She couldn't turn around and all she could think of was pushing, pushing, pushing.

But the suit was so tight, right against her naked skin —because hours ago it was a good idea to go completely naked under the suit, — and it was keeping the head in place. Unable to go anywhere and stuck in that semi-crown.

She knew she should try to get the thing off, but when another contraction took over her, all she could think of doing was pushing.

With a low moan, she gave in to her body's impulses, throwing her head back and pushing.

Johnny let out a high-pitched noise, watching how his mistress squirmed on the bed while he struggled to free himself.

In his pants, his cock twitched at the view.

"Mh-ph, yhm vhmt hmm mlim mhm", the man grumbled through the gag.

Mistress, you look very hot like that was a close translation, but Nikki barely registered his babbling.

With a cry, one of Nikki's hands went down, trying to reach over her gravid belly to feel the bulge growing between her legs. She could barely make it through the contracting mount of flesh, trying and failing miserably to grip at any piece of fabric she could.

It was useless, she thought, but she couldn't help but surrender to the urge to push. She couldn't help but push, even if the head was going nowhere.

"Fu...fuck!" Nikki whimpered, her head falling to her chest as she pushed with another contraction.

For a moment, the head moved, but as soon as it happened, it slid back inside.

Nikki was laying there, with a head half crowning between her legs, her huge belly trapped under all that thick material and her hands unable to do anything.

She breathed, moaning and trying to find a moment of clarity between all that discomfort.

"Ughn! Fuck...!" with gritted teeth, Nikki took a deep breath, letting it go in one big exhale, putting all her energy into trying to get up.

Birth fluids dripped down her legs, soaking the mattress as she managed to sit down, her legs spread wide and her gravid belly hanging between her thighs.

It was uncomfortable, and once again, she had to bite her cheek to ignore the urge to push. There was nowhere the head could go.

Johnny babbled something more, shaking himself like crazy, but Nikki didn't focus on him.

With a groan, she stood up, her knees almost buckling underneath her and her shaky legs. Nikki breathed, almost falling to a squat but giving into a miserable walk towards the full-body mirror on the other side of the room.

With the head crowning between her legs, she had to silence the scream of her body telling her to just squat down and push, because she couldn't.

It seemed like kilometres until she found her reflection staring at her. Nikki turned around to see the back of her suit, guiding her fingers to grip the zip and pulling it down.

As it reached the end, a loud scream escaped Nikki's lips. "It's fucking coming!" she grunted, closing her eyes shut with a gasp.

Nikki moaned as she tried to get the thing off her body, the latex sticking to her skin and God, she needed to push so bad. She didn't realize the moment she managed to rip it out, letting the suit hang from her knees and giving in.

She was pushing. The only moment she realized was when the head popped out of her with a gush, giving her a single moment of relief.

It lasted little because once again she needed to push, her baby eager to be finally able to come out. This time, her knees buckled underneath her and she squatted down, pushing with all her might.

The shoulders came out easily, and the baby didn't give her a moment of peace because the urge to push was coming all at once, not letting Nikki catch a breath.

With another gush, the baby was out. Nikki gasped, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Hmpffhm! Hmph!" on the floor, Johnny grunted.

There was a wet patch in his underwear too.

"Ihms?" He grumbled, probably something like keys.

[baby-alien11]

A Nonsense Christmas (Y/N Ulrich Universe)

Merry christmas and happy new year 🎄🎄

taglist: @volturi-girl-imagines @dessxoxsworld @camiesully @ethanlandryluver @nowitsmissing @aliciacat20 @gabbylovesreading @nikfigueiredo @itsaaliyah2

Christmas were always one of your favorite festivities along with Halloween, helping to decorate the house, buying gifts for family and friends, hearing christmas songs (this year fruitcake by Sabrina Carpenter was your obsession), baking your traditional red velvet, peppermint, gingerbread and sugar cookies that you started to make during the quarantine, watching christmas movies and opening advent calendars

And since the last christmas you spent it with Jack, Anna and their family in Virginia, this year the two families will be spending the holidays together, and after having your fyp of Tik Tok full of the Scream'd Musical Parody, you and Jack decided to recreate the 'everybody' part, and because both of you knew that the second the music start, you would start laughing and it will be a complete mess

That's why after an early trainning, Josh and Hayley let you film it in their house so the surprise wasn't ruined

"Can I ask again from where did you got the idea?", Josh asked after finishing breakfast

"There's a Scream musical parody that a theater group was doing in Las Vegas and it went so viral on Tik Tok because it's amazing and hilarious", you started to explain while having Rogue in your lap who was entertained tracing your tattoo snake with her little fingers, "So, I started to play it on the living room TV just to mess with dad, and because I enjoy the performance"

"And then we started to joke about performing it for our families, until it wasn't a joke anymore", Jack continued between bites of the peppermint cookies you brought for the family of three, "We started to learn the entire number based on the Tik Tok videos and the audios in there, but we decided to send them an email to ask for permition to recreate it"

"They accepted and even sent us an audio without the audience noises", you continued, "So, at first we were planning on doing it live during the christmas dinner but let's be honest, we're going to lose the concentration and start laughing, so we decided to film it and present it after the dinner"

"Instead of doing a christmas card or a JC Penney photoshoot, we're doing this"

"With full production, costumes, fake blood, fake knife and gun"

"And you want to use our kitchen to film it?", Hayley asked

"Yes, please", you nodded, "Or any space that you want, we promise to don't do a mess"

"We would do it in any of our houses but there's always people in there and this surprise needs to be perfect"

"We also talked about going to the original house, but is a seven hour trip, and we would raise suspision"

"Guys, you can film the musical number in here, we have no problem", Josh nodded, "But, can we saw the video first?"

Nodding, Jack took his phone to show them the performance while you turned to talk with Rogue who now was engrossed with your bracelets

"Hey, Rogue", you called her softly causing her to look at you with a smile, "I'm going to make you a swiftie, you're going to love Taylor, I promise"

"What era she'll be?", Jack asked taking one of her hands

"She seems like a Fearless with a bit of 1989"

"She'll need friendship bracelets of that eras"

"And merch, that will be her christmas gift"

"This is hilarious", Hayley laughed after the video ended, "And it's going to be a fun christmas video"

"Just leave it all in order after filming, and don't break anything", Josh instructed

Happy because everything was doing as planned, you and Jack smiled mischievously to each other

When the 24th arrived, the house since early in the morning was busy with the preparations for the dinner that night, especially with everyone in the kitchen doing different dishes

"Tornado, how much time until your cookies are ready?", Skeet asked prepearing the turkey, "We need to start pre-heating the oven for the turkey"

"A minute or two", you responded checking the oven

"It doesn't make sense that you made like thousands of cookies since the start of december and now you are making more", Jakob commented mixing the cream for the cranberry salad

"It's because those were to gift or give to community centers", you responded puting your gloves to get the cookies out of the oven

With the help of Jack and Megan, the three of you got the trays of cookies out of the oven to leave them in the dinning table so they can cool off

"The cats are trying to eat the dinner again", Anna warned trying to make Tatum, Butters and Ivy go away from the kitchen

"Okay, time to put the christmas sweaters on them", Naiia sighed cleaning her hands with a cloth

"I'll continue with the mash potatoes", Stutz said taking her place in front of the cooking pot

"Sweet baby Tatum", you sang taking the orange cat in your arms, "Time to put you in christmas spirit"

Going to the Petco christmas gift package they sent a few days ago, that still was in the living room, you grabbed the reindeer sweater to put it on Tatum, while Jack grabbed the santa suit for Butters and Naiia got the plaid dress for Ivy

"I'm sorry, but it can't be that possible that an orange cat can be that calm while putting clothes on", Jakob said noticing Tatum was calm

"I can't believe the beef you got with my cat, and her color is strawberry blonde", you exclaimed adjusting the sweater, "It's christmas eve, let it go"

"It's not my fault that your sweet angel baby Tatum hates me", Jakob claimed, "She scratches me everytime she sees me"

"This time she hasn't though", Megan pointed

"Thank you Megan", you said, "You're the best"

Interrupting what was going to be a small disscussion, the front door opened, revealing Georgina with her suitcase and travel bag

"Hello family", Georgina greeted, "Sorry I'm late, the airport is pure chaos, and getting a cab or Uber is worse"

"Mom!", you and your siblings exclaimed while running to hug her

"Hi, babies", Georgina smiled returning the hug, "By the way, there's a package at the door"

"That's weird", Skeet frowned, "We didn't have anything to be delievered today"

"It says Prada on the box", Georgina pointed

"Tornado, that's for you", Naiia said helping with the suitcase

Getting through the front door, you saw a big box next to the door that had the Prada logo and a 'fragile' precaution along with your name and direction

"Babe, can you please help me?", you called Jack

"Coming!", Jack responded running from the living door to where you were, "This is huge"

"I know", you laughed, "I'm curious about what's inside"

Carrying the box between the two of you and dodging everyone in the house, you carefully left the box in the floor to open the card box revealing another white box which was left on the center table

"You know what, I'm going to open it first and do the video later", you concluded opening the box revealing four spheres

"Those are gorgeous", Naiia commented sitting next to you, "There's a note"

Grabbing the envelope which was on the lift of the box, you opened it to see a handwritten note

"Y/N, happy to share with you the Prada Holiday gifts and the magic of the holiday season through the fantasy of an imposible voyage, a journey in your own sphere", you read out loud so everyone can hear, "Well, we got the spheres for next year"

Leaving the note aside, you opened the another part to see two drawers, in which the first were some skincare products and a red patent leather mini-pouch, and in the other there was a red Prada Galleria patent leather mini bag

"I wouldn't be surprised if you become an ambassador for them next year, angel", Anna commented sitting next to you watching the spheres, "Or for any brand that you've wore"

"That would be incredible", you nodded

Once everything was ready, and the turkey was in the oven, everyone went upstairs to change into their christmas sweaters, yours was a Krampus themed one on top of your red and white pajamas and gingerbread man slippers

"I can't wait to see everyone reactions to our gift", you laughed laying in your bed while 'Christmas with the Kranks' was playing on the TV, "It's going to be hilarious"

"The greatest thing is that we managed to film it in one afternoon", Jack pointed getting out of your dresser with a red shirt with a Santa Claus picture and black pajama pants with Butters' face on it, to lay by your side to watch the movie at what you moved to put your head on his chest and he cirled your waist with his arm, "I swear that they were waiting for us to finish so they can kick us out"

"Rogue was having a blast though", you pointed, "I love that girl so much"

"I remember the day they told me they were expacting her, I was screaming that I was going to be her older brother"

"You're her oficial older brother", you nodded openning the fruitcake that arrived a few days ago as a gift from Sabrina Carpenter along with the EP vynil, a hoodie and a shirt, "Want some fruitcake?"

"Yes please"

Sitting against your headboard, both of you started to eat the fruitcake, sometimes feeding each other while still watching the movie

"Siblings and couples meeting", Jakob anounced entering your room along with Megan, Naiia and Stutz, all with their christmas outfits

"What's wrong?", you frowned

"We know that you didn't make that fruitcake because you still don't know how to do it", Jakob said causing to roll your eyes, "Where did you get it?"

"We also got eggnog", Megan said raising a bottle with some cups

"Sabrina Carpenter sent it", you responded giving them forks so they can eat too, "Along with the EP, a shirt and a hoodie"

"A Taybrina notice only this year?", Naiia pointed sitting on the bed, "Tornado just tell us when is rep TV releasing"

"What are the vault tracks?", Stutz joked helping to serve the eggnog

"I wish I knew the answer to those questions", you sighed, "We have a lot of theories of when is going to be released"

"One of the strongest was that she was going to anounce it during the Brazil concerts", Jack pointed recieving a cup of eggnog, "But she didn't"

"Next year will be", Jakob shrudded, "Well, cheers for christmas"

"Cheers", the rest of you repeated before drinking

"Is this spiked?", Jack asked sensing an unsual flavor

"Yeah, we put a bit of rum in it before coming", Jakob nodded

"Dad and mom, and even Anna are going to kill you when they find out about this", you said still drinking it, "And you might forget the fact that our dad is Billy Loomis"

"And we haven't seen the movie", Naiia remembered refering to her and Jakob, "And they don't need to know if we don't tell them"

Waiting until the older adults called all of you, the six of you stayed in your room watching the movie and eating the fruitcake and drinking the eggnog, and even starting to watch 'How The Grinch Stole the Christmas', until footsteps started to be heard in the stairs, which caused Jakob and Stutz to hide the bottle of spiked eggnog underneath your pillows

"If that bottle start leaking, I'll kill you both", you threatened them, "And not with my blingy fake knife"

Just as you finished threating them, there was a few knocks on the door before it was open to reveal Georgina

"Hey kids, dinner's ready", Georgina said

Standing from the bed and bean bags, the six of you started to go downstairs where all of you helped to put the table and preventing the cats from trying to eat the food by giving them and the dogs their special dinner, and taking the family photos, before sitting at the table to eat all the food that was made since the previous day

An once the dinner was finished and the dishes used were cleaned, you and Jack made everyone sit in the living room with the pets, already with the TV prepeared for the video

"Okay, we know that the gifts are tomorrow, but we wanted to gave you this one at this moment", you said trying to not burst in giggles

"Most of the times, the youngest of the family decide to do a little show, so we decided to to the same", Jack continued, "So I hope you enjoy this"

Stepping to the side and leaving everyone intrigued, Jack pressed the play button while you took out your phone to film their reactions

"You did not", Skeet groaned when he heard the music

"Yes we did", you laughed

"Is that Josh and Hayley's house?", Anna asked seeing the familiar kitchen

"We filmed it the day we went with them for breakfast", Jack nodded

During the whole video, everyone tried to hold their laughs but it wasn't possible causing to giggles and laughter to be heard in the room, while you and Jack were singing and dancing the choreography in the back

Once the video ended and the credits (yes, you did ending credits) started to roll, everyone started to clap still laughing

"Well, I guess we don't have to watch the movie anymore", Naiia joked, "This was amazing"

"Can we have a live performance of this?", Stutz asked

"There's bloopers at the end that will answer that question", you pointed

Returning the attention to the screen, the credits ended to show the bloopers who were of one of you or both laughing mid scene, forgetting a step, almost tripping at some steps, accidentaly dropping the fake guns, and even Rogue walking in the middle of the take

"Dad, as Billy Loomis and one half of the first ghostface, we would love to hear you opinion", you said after the video ended

"First of all, after you played the original performance in the TV every single day of october and november, this is my favorite version", Skeet responded, "And great acting on the Billy and Stu parts"

"Great camera work and acting", Georgina pointed, "What camera did you use?"

"The iPhone one", Jack answered

"And don't worry, everyone will have a copy of this video in their email tomorrow, as well as more of our friends", you continued, "That way you can watch it everyday"

Last night, after rewatching the video because they wanted to film a bit to their instagram stories, everyone went to sleep, not before you forced Jakb to get the spiked eggnog out of your room

The morning of the 25th, while the six of you were still asleep in the bedrooms, the adults where bussy filling the stockings and organizing all the gifts that were left in the living room under the tree

And while thinking in a good way to wake you up, Skeet took a speaker to put it in the middle of the aisle of the second floor, to blast Master of Puppets by AC/DC on full volume causing the six of you and the pets to wake up abruptely

"Welcome to christmas morning on the Ulrich household", you murmured with your face against your pillow and laying on your stomach

"Is the same song every year?", Jack asked laying next to you in the same way but with an arm on your waist

"Yeah", you responded feeling how Butters and Tatum started to walk around the bed, "Merry christmas babe"

"Merry christmas gorgeous"

Finally getting out off bed and taking the cats and your throw blankets of each others faces, both of you got out of your room to see the others in the door of their rooms watching the speaker with pure hate

"What if we kick it until it's broken?", Naiia suggested hugging Ivy

"He would make us buy him another one and better", you said hugging Tatum, "And none of use have partnerships with any electronic company to get one for free"

"Kids, get here now!", Anna exclaimed from the first floor

Turning off the speaker and taking it with you the six of you went downstairs to have breakfast and then going to the living room to open the gifts

And after recieving a Vivienne Westwood bag from your mom, a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet (which your mom, Naiia, Meghan and Anna recieved in diferent colors) from your dad, the new Bratz videogame and a new case for your nintendo switch from Jakob and Meghan, and personalized golf sticks from Jakob, books (The Great Gatsby, Wildfire, Taylor Swift Book of Lyrics, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Falling off the Cliff) from Naiia and Stutz, and the Frankestein and Bride of Frankenstein Monster High from Naiia, a Dyson Airwrap from Jack, and the Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic book from Anna

After openning the main gifts, the Chiefs vs Raiders was on the TV (principally to see Taylor on screen), all of you were openning the stockings, in yours there were lip glosses from essence, a snake hairclaw, a new airpods case, a Grinch plushie, candy and chocolates, but what weirded you a little bit was the Mercedes white hat almost at the bottom of the stocking

"I apreciate and like the hat, but I only watch Formula 1 when I'm bored", you said putting the hat on your head

"There's something more on the stocking", Georgina pointed

Introducing your hand at the bottom of the stocking you pulled a set of car keys with a keychain of the ghostface mask with a tiara

"No", you murmured, "No way, are you serious?"

"It's in the front porch", Skeet said

Almost running with the rest following, you went to the front door to opened it to reveal a Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet black with a pink ribbon on top

Feeling the tears dalling off your eyes, you sat in the steps without stop looking at the car sensing how Jack sat by your side hugging you at what you hug him too noticing how your siblings were filming your reaction

"Thank you very much", you cried watching at your parents and holding their hands, "I promise to take care of it and not crash it or having fines, I promise"

"We trust in you", Georgina nodded kissing your head

"Besides, you earned it", Skeet added

"Thank you very much", you repeated

Recovering from the shock of getting a car for christmas, all of you returned to the interior of the house to continue to enjoy the day

[dailycharacteroption]

Races Among the Stars 9: Samsaran

We’ve covered samsarans before on the blog in their First Edition Pathfinder form, but much like the perpetually reincarnating people, things have come full-circle with us covering their Starfinder version (at least until we start doing 2nd Edition ancestries and the upcoming Starfinder 2E’s take on them, again, paralleling the endless loop of reincarnation)

But this also closes the loop in a different way as well, as this is the last of the Pathfinder throwbacks that were introduced to the game in Starfinder Alien Character Deck, which was little more than useful flash cards for remembering the traits of various species, either for forgetful players or perhaps more usefully as a way to help a GM quickly switch out the species of pre-generated statblocks on the fly.

Either way, all of those aforementioned species also got reprinted in both Interstellar Species and in Starfinder Enhanced, adding some actual lore to how those species actually fit into the galaxy of the far future, which is nice. (Does anyone remember when the general consensus for where kobolds were was “They all vanished/died with Golarion”? Easily the most boring possible answer and I’m glad they quashed that with some interesting if borderline retcon meta-joke new lore.

Buuuut we’re getting of topic, let’s talk about samsarans!

True to their name, which is based on the concept of the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, samsarans were a clade of humans born into a cycle of constant reincarnation, often starting out born as ordinary humans to samsaran parents that give them up to normal human adoptive parents, only for them to reincarnate as samsarans the first time they die, and so on and so forth.

Unlike other species and souls that choose reincarnation in the afterlife, samsarans retain a lof of memories from their past lives, though they are often hazy and incomplete, like vivid dreams to their new incarnation. Even with such gaps, however, that knowledge gives them access to information and skills they wouldn’t normally possess, and helps them infer who they used to be, and how to incorporate the wisdom gleaned from those memories into their daily lives and towards a greater state of enlightenment in preparation for the next life. (Which, ironically, is kinda the opposite of what one normally WANTS to do when one subscribes to the idea of the real-life idea of samsara, but that’s neither here nor there).

Now, you may have noticed that earlier I described that samsarans “were” a clade of humans. That wasn’t a slip of the keyboard on my part, because now that samsarans are no longer bound necessarily to one specific world, their pact with Pharasma has changed slightly. Now, samsarans can be born on any world… and to any sapient species, though without homebrewing, these rare non-human samsarans have the same statistics as others of their kind, though with homebrew, well, that just opens up all sorts of new doors, doesn’t it?

Samsarans, unsurprisingly, appear to be humans (or members of their parent species) with pale skin and hair in shades of white, blue, or purple, as well as clear blood and seemingly pupilless eyes.

While there were once enclaves of samsarans that used divination to locate newly-reborn samsarans and bring them into the fold, such things are much more rare now in a far future where one’s already-rare species is spread out across the galaxy. As such, modern samsarans are more likely to simply adopt their parent culture, though samsaran culture still exists in the form of writings and recordings, both publicly available and hidden away that the young can seek out for guidance and a sense of cultural identity with the rest of their kind.

Of course, the advent of multimedia and VI means that this can also be rather disconcerting. Imagine if your past self created a VI or even AI simulacrum of themselves and hid it away for a future reincarnation. Imagine meeting someone that is both you and also not you and the same time. Probably would take a bit to get used to, though on the other hand, Vlogs and extensive digital memoirs from a past can help a young samsaran better connect with those memories, and possibly go about continuing the goals of their past self, which some samsarans do.

Samsarans bear the wisdom and cunning of multiple past lives, but their bodies are somewhat frail (probably all that lack of hemoglobin).

However, they are especially resilient to magical and supernatural effects that target their lifeforce directly, and they’re surprisingly good at bouncing back from injury and disease even if the initial infection tends to knock them on rears.

Their curious eyes also also surprisingly good at absorbing light in dark conditions, letting them see better in limited light.

Samsarans also have a bit of inherent magic, able to breach language barrier one-way, stabilize the dying, and share their memories with others.

Additionally, their memories from past lives include some practical skills as well, though the exact specifics vary between individuals, as their old souls latch onto different things from their past lives.

Much like the thyrs of yesterday’s entry, samsarans are well-equipped for a myriad of smart-guy classes and builds, with mystics being a natural fit due to their half-divine, half-occult schtick meshing well with samsarans theme-wise. However, technomancers, mechanics, biohackers, skill-based envoyed and operatives are also good picks. Precog and witchwarper also share some lovely themes with samsarans with their focus on possible paths in life and such. Meanwhile, like thyrs, they also struggle a bit with melee combat, though for different reasons, since it’s constitution they lack instead of strength. As such, combat-oriented samsarans prefer ranged soldiers, solarians, and evolutionists, while nanocytes and vanguards are a bit of a harder sell, albeit not impossible. Despite their frailty, samsarans can do a lot to overcome that weakness and be very effective no matter what class they choose to take.

And that does it for this week! Tune in Monday for another week of archetypes and character options!

[greatbigbellies]

2023 PREGNANCY KINK ADVENT CALENDAR (DAY 11)

McPreggo Mukbang Pt 2.

Already pregnant with one, and caught in the throws of her cravings, Penelope licked her lips. The food somehow smelled even better now. The chickens trips, a basket of three, were calling to her. Something about the scent of the breading and tantalizing smell of white meat made her mouth water. She scooted it over to her and started eating.

After the first strip, her tummy looked noticeably bigger, then the second, undeniably, then after the third, unignorably. She looked down at her belly, now filling most of her lap. She furrowed her brow and placed her hands on her tummy, feeling it over. “Those strips were amazing and all but… why am I so huge?” she felt it over longer. Another donation rolled in.

“If you check their website, they have a menu that explains what everything does. It would probably make more sense if your read it over. But a blind tasting is fun too!” she read. She wordlessly opened a new tab and dove in, looking for the online menu. Pictures of satisfied customers, all in various but noticeable stages of pregnancy, adorned the website. It was flashy and well built, but not the most easy to navigate. Finally, she found the menu page, and started reading.

Her jaw dropped. “Wait I have TRIPLETS IN ME NOW?” she grabbed her belly on each side, squeezing it firmly in disbelief. Her blouse rode up, and a crescent of bare skin just below the belly button was visible. She read the menu out loud “Each strip takes you up one trimester with twins… and I had one form the burger before, so I’m triplet heavy now?” She shifted in her chair, and it hit her how hard it was to move at this size. She rolled her blouse up again. Her belly button was now an outie, and she had some light but visible stretchmarks forming at the end of her tummy. “This top isn’t long for this world at this rate…”

She pulled it down as far as she could and looked at her facecam. “I’m not going to lie, those were the best chicken strips I’ve ever had… but like… twins are a lot, and I went further… ugh” she patted her belly. “I hope this doesn’t last all day.”

She tried to snap back into streamer mode, “So the last thing on the main menu we’re trying today is the fish filet sandwich. Which is weird right? Aren’t you not supposed to have fish when you’re pregnant? I feel like this sends a confusing message but… whatever, I guess.” she took a bite. She didn’t ever particularly like fish, but… this was well prepared. She took a few more bites as her viewership went up, seemingly spiking with each added baby to her belly. Her bites grew larger until they were full on chomps taken out of the sandwich. It didn’t take long to disappear.

She placed her hands on ether side of her tummy, bracing for growth. It came quickly, and hit hard. She felt her hands fill with pregnant womb as she filled out even more, her blouse riding up to become a tank top. Her navel popped, and she felt herself grow extremely tight. She paused before pressing her fingers into her belly, feeling its firmness. She wordlessly turned her attention to her computer, where she still had the menu pulled up.

“What’s ‘polyhydramnios’?” she asked. Her chat was eager to tell her.

“Extra womb water”

“Too much amniotic fluid”

“High blood pressure”

“High fluid content in the womb”

She read each response out loud, pressing on her bare tummy left and right. “God, no wonder everything feels so bloated and tight… I’m carrying quadruplets with extra fluid in me.” She moved to stand up to show off her bump, but found getting out of her gaming chair very difficult. “N-never mind… I’ll do a standing side shot later…” she said.

Penelope was growing somewhat nervous, her belly was massive, sticking out so far it nearly reached her knees, and the sides bowing out so far it felt like shifting too far left or right would brush it against the arms of her gaming chair. She took a deep breath, centering herself as her chat continued to pepper her with comments.

“Are you feeling okay, Penelope?”

“Please tilt your facecam down a little asking for a friend” “At least it tastes good! I haven’t seen you complain yet!”

“How heavy is it?”

She sighed. “It’s very heavy… like… I’m not the best at guessing weight but I’d say it’s at least a good 30 lbs…” she tried again to get up, but quickly found herself overwhelmed by the weight. “...maybe more like 40…” She looked at the remaining food, some tots, and two kinds of nuggets, which she had to admit, looked amazing, even now… “Still more to get through,” she sighed, grabbing the tots. 

Before digging in, she paused to check the menu, opting to read up before showing down. She squinted, “So… these won’t give me another baby but they will make my belly wider… how does that work?” she asked, more to herself than her audience. Finally, she shrugged. Compared to the other items, Penelope didn’t start slow. She opened with three tots at once and downed more soon after. The large carton disappeared quickly, and she looked down to watch the results settle in.

Her belly once again grew, but much less dramatically this time. While the front remained at its current distance, the sides bowed out considerably. She gently brushed her fingers across the sides as they seemed to fill out with even for fluid. Once it was done, the space between the swollen walls of her belly and the arms of her gaming chair had been considerably reduced. She grunted as she tried to shift but found it increasingly difficult. At this point, she had to test something, so gravity be damned, she would stand up… 

[outsideratheart]

2 "That should be our Christmas card this year." With aitana bonmati

A/N: Day thirteen of the Christmas advent calendar.

Losing to Bayern in the group stages of the champions league wasn't suppose to happen. You know that you played poorly and you apologised to every single one of your team mates at full time.

"It's not your fault Y/N, at least you scored" Aitana tries to comfort you but she knows that nothing she says will make this sting less.

"Yeah, I scored once. Do you know how many shots I missed? More than I ever have before. I wasn't good enough, you deserved better"

It was your last words that got to Aitana the most. With Alexia's injury you took it upon yourself to lead the team and with that came copious amounts of pressure and she was the only one that saw the toll this was taking on you.

It doesn't come as to shock to Aitana when she emerges from the shower and you are nowhere to be seen.

"She's—"

"I know where she is. You can leave without us. We'll meet you back at the hotel, this might take a while" Aitana tells Patri and the rest of the team.

When Aitana walks through the tunnel and up the steps it is eerily quiet. When she gets to the pitch she takes a seat on the bench as she watches you take shot after shot. She recognises them because they are the shots you missed during the game. You then run shuttles, as if your body hasn't taken enough of a beating.

A hour passes and you show no sign of slowing down so Aitana takes matter into her own hands.

"Cariño, that's enough" she places a hand on your shoulder, stopping you from taking the shot.

When you see her it's as if the football side of your brains shuts off and all of sudden your legs feel like led.

You don't move though and Aitana can tell you are in your head.

She grabs your hands placing them around her waist, in doing so she covers you in her puffer jacket knowing that you will be cold now that you have stopped.

"Are you with me?" her hands rest on your shoulders. When you look at her you see the softness in her face and in suit a smile appears on yours.

"There you are" Aitana says.

This is one of the things you loved most of Aitana, she was able to calm your mind and allow you to be still.

"Time to go" you say as if you have completed what you stayed back to do.

Aitana simple nods her head happily as you chose not to fight her. She uses her arms to pull you close enough to her that your faces are almost touching. A smirk tugs at your lips when you catch her glancing at your mouth. You know what comes next and you welcome it. Before your training you looked around and even asked a security guard if all the fans had left, you had the place to yourself so you to didn't hesitate to kiss her. You poured all your frustations into it and Aitana did the same.

"Now it's time to go" Aitana pulls you towards to the tunnel and you leave the stadium to go back to the hotel.

When you get back to your hotel room you are met by a sight that never means anything good. Mapi, Patri, Sandra, Pina and Mariona look like they have been waiting for you to get back. The looks of fear and hesitation on their faces only add to your suspicions.

"What is it?" Aitana beats you to it. Clearly she is thinking the same thing.

You watch your closest friends look back and forth to each other as if mentally playing short straws.

"Mapi" you look towards your best friend.

"You and Aitana are all over the internet" she walks towards you phone in hand.

When she shows you the image on the screen you feel your blood begin to boil. You were an open book with the fans. You would always be the last player to leave the pitch so that you could meet as many as them as possible. You always took pictures with them when you were out and about in Barcelona. One thing you made evidently clear was that your personal life was private and you asked them to respect this. Yet as you look at the screen clearly the person who took the photo didn't care for your wishes.

Aitana watches your shoulders rise as your body tenses up at whatever Mapi is showing you.

"What is it?" Aitana repeats her question only this time her tone is more curious with a hint of worry.

She peeps over your shoulder so she can see Mapi's phone.

There on instagram, for all the world to see, is you and Aitana cuddling and kissing on the pitch at Allianz Arena.

It isn’t that you were ashamed of your relationship with Aitana. In fact you would say being able to call her your girlfriend is one of your greatest achievements. It's that life can a little overwhelming at times and having your bubble with Aitana helped you through those times.

"Thank you for telling us" Aitana tells your friends.

Having done what they came to your room to do, they all leave.

"Y/N" Aitana begs you to look at her.

"I'm sorry"

An apology was the last thing she expected to come out of your mouth.

"I never should have kissed you. We were in public and I should have known that there could have been someone watches us. Now the world knows about us and I know you wasn't ready for that"

This was personal. You took it upon yourself to protect Aitana. She didn't have the same spotlight on her as you did and you wanted it to stay that way. Now things were going to change.

"Never and I mean never apologise for kissing me. We knew our bubble would get popped eventually, I can't believe we got to keep this between us for three years"

"You're not mad?" You ask her.

"I am. A stranger had no regard for our privacy but there's nothing we can do about it now"

You admired Aitana's level headedness, it's something you have never been good at.

"You've got to admit, it is a cute photo. The way the stadium is empty and it's just the two of us"

The two of you look at the photo again.

"That should be our Christmas card this year." Aitana suggests.

"You say that like we did one last year" you laugh at the choice of words your girlfriend used.

[madegeeky]

BLOOD IT WILL TAKE BLOOD day 3: Another eye shadow palette, more gingerbread shades but darker. Again, a little too orange for me so into the box to give away it goes!

Goddamn is that packaging fucking adorable though.

[jessicanjpa]

Twilight Advent Calendar 2023 Event

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Dec. 7 - Choose one Twilight couple (or an AU ship) and tell us about an argument they've had. How did they resolve it in the end?

I was hoping to write something new for today, but I Am Tired. So I'm going to poach a scene from SST, chapter 18, which takes place during World War II. This is the AU Volturi!Jasper fic, so Alice is having an extra bad day, but the Cullens are still in Sweden so the C/E argument is canon.

------

1942

United States

Alice POV

"No... no!"

I moaned in despair when my eyes opened and I found my fingers clenched around the broken shoulders of a human. It was a young man in a camouflage jacket with a big splash of blood soaking the front of it. I licked my lips without even thinking about it, unable to stop the shiver of pleasure that coursed through me at the heavenly taste.

Oh, what did it matter, anyway? He was already dead. Why did anything matter? I bent down for more, gulping the last dredges of hot blood, lapping up the little bit that had spilled down the side of his neck. He ran dry all too quickly. I shook the body in desperation, trying again to get another ounce of blood out of his ruined throat. I finally snapped out of it and lay my victim gently back down on the cold grass. I sat beside him in a tight ball, resting my chin on my drawn-up knees.

I didn't even remember how I had gotten here. I had burst out of the cabin when that horrid vision had struck, and I had run and run... I didn't know where I was. Not that it mattered. I didn't really have anything at the cabin worth going back to.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, looking with pity at the young man whose life I had just ended. Jasper might be doing his best to ruin both our futures, but that didn't give me the right to ruin someone else's. To end someone else... I hugged around my ribs as tight as I could, gasping deep breaths, wishing that Esme were here to comfort me. That Carlisle were here to forgive me. Emmett would tell me it was okay. Rosalie would help me clean up, help me clean myself up. Edward would help me focus my visions and go listen to people's minds to make sure we wouldn't need to move...

But they were all so far away. I had to do everything myself, as usual. But I just didn't feel like it. I sat back down beside the body. Despite the thrill of new strength that always came when I messed up and drank human blood, my body felt heavy and disjointed. Was this what it felt like when humans were tired? I let myself roll over and lie down. I closed my eyes, desperate to see something besides the corpse beside me.

Jasper wasn't doing anything right now. He was just standing still in his quarters, deep in thought. I switched to Emmett and Rosalie, but quickly pulled away to give them their privacy. That was the last thing I wanted to watch right now. But Edward was at the piano, so I eagerly focused my attention there. I watched him for a while, listening to the soothing music he was trying to compose.

I hummed along once the melody began to take shape, pretending I was perched on the back of the piano. Edward would scold me to get down and I would just stick my tongue out at him and we would laugh about it together. But his ideas about the melody kept changing, and that made the music stop and start constantly in my vision, even when he wasn't changing what his fingers did yet. The notes kept mashing together at the wrong times. I tried to stay with him, but the dissonance was too distracting. In the end, I was more agitated than before.

At least Carlisle and Esme would be there for me. They were always so calm, so kind... but this was not my day. They were actually arguing, something I rarely saw.

"I know that," Esme was saying. "But back then you didn't have a family. And bombs weren't falling back then, either. You were never in any danger before."

"Our whole world is in danger now. You know how strongly I feel about contributing when—"

"Contribute, then! We already gave the proceeds of the house to the Red Cross, and I'm sure we can do far more. What about all that artwork you have stashed away?"

"Esme," Carlisle said quietly. "This is important to me."

Esme crossed her arms tightly across her belly, looking back and forth around the room at nothing. "So you're doing this for yourself."

It took me a little while to figure out what they were arguing about: Carlisle wanted to go down into mainland Europe and find a way to do his doctor work near where the fighting was, and Esme was not having it. I had no idea how old Carlisle was, but it sounded like he had done this before, in other wars. He was telling Esme how much it meant to him to heal lots of humans in times when so many were dying and suffering, how this was often the time when groundbreaking advancements were made in the field of medicine, how sometimes the most beautiful thing about the human spirit was found in the middle of war.

Esme said that if he was going, all of them were going, and Carlisle wasn't having that. Esme also seemed worried that Emmett and Rosalie—and maybe even Edward—might do something reckless if they were anywhere near the war, to which Carlisle insisted that the war was everywhere, to which Esme stubbornly pointed out that he could serve the war effort by replacing doctors who had gone to the front lines, but Carlisle was sure it would be easier to slip under the net identity-wise posing as a civilian doctor helping out in a field hospital, and that was really what he wanted to do anyway. Esme pointed out that real soldiers didn't get to pick where they served. It went on and on.

I hated it when they argued. It was rare; they were usually so gentle with each other. Even the way they were hurting each other now was gentle. But I couldn't stop listening; I needed to know if there was any chance they would be coming back to this continent.

There had been so many times I had wanted to go ahead to the Cullens. Again and again I had decided to do it—to go to them first and then meet Jasper when he was ready. But something always stopped me. Things would look different between Jasper and me in the Family Portrait. Sometimes he wouldn't be in it at all, and Diner Day would be gone. Sometimes I would see us arguing when his eyes were still red. Sometimes I couldn't put my finger on why it was wrong; it just felt wrong. And so every time I decided to let it go and trust my visions... to trust our destiny. Maybe going to the family first would make Jasper feel too intimidated to join us. Maybe he would do it but he would be unhappy. Maybe being with the family meant I would somehow miss my only chance to find him. Waiting was hard, but I wasn't willing to risk our future, or ruin it, just so I could have what I wanted in the present.

But now that future was lost, at least as far as I could see. It felt silly and even cruel to be angry at Jasper, when he couldn't possibly have known what he was giving up, but I was. I had been so lonely, and I had waited so long for him to come to his senses and leave that miserable war, and for what? For him to sign up for the vampire army and leave me here, waiting again? Waiting forever? What was I supposed to do now? For the first time in my life, I hadn't any kind of plan, and it was a frightening new place to be. I had always been able to trust our destiny. Even without ever knowing how many years it was going to take, I had always had that happy ending to hold onto—and it really was a happy beginning, so even the waiting was bearable. What was a decade or two of loneliness compared to an eternity of love and happiness? That future had always felt more real to me than the present anyway.

But now nothing felt real.

A dark thought had been pushing its way into my mind ever since Jasper had gone to Italy. What was real, anyway? My future with Jasper had been the most real thing in my whole life. And in the end, it had been so easily lost, as easily as if the wind had changed direction and it had dissolved in a moment's breeze. It had been that fragile, after all. What else wasn't real, or was no more real than that? How many of my visions weren't going to come true? Were never going to come true in the first place?

It wasn't that I doubted my gift. Little confirmations every day reminded me that I had this unusual power to see things. Thing as small as red tulips around the corner and as big as a second world war. The fact that those visions could change and even disappear didn't mean those futures were any less real, or hadn't been.

But the big ones, the ones that had been dropped into my hands to show me my destiny—Jasper's face the minute I had woken up. Diner Day. The Family Portrait. I had never had any tangible confirmation that those things were real, and yet I always clung to them as if everything else was just a mist of lesser possibilities. What if those visions were lost now because they had never been real in the first place? They hadn't come like my smaller visions had come, based on decisions. Maybe they were so different because... I shook my head, unwilling to think it. But it came anyway: maybe I had needed them to be real. Needed something to believe in.

Were Carlisle and Esme really arguing right now? Were they really in their little blue rented house in Sweden at this moment? Did they even exist... anywhere?

Maybe I was just crazy. I had woken up in a hospital gown, after all. For all I knew, I had lived in a mental asylum all my life. Maybe the fact that some of my visions came true wasn't enough to prove that I hadn't seen exactly what I had needed to see when I had woken up alone and afraid. Maybe I was just remembering a long chain of dreams I had had as a human. Maybe Jasper and my family were just characters in a lovely story I had been telling myself all this time, and the world really was just as cold and gray as it felt now. I didn't think I could face a world like that.

Carlisle and Esme's argument was winding down. They were full of murmured apologies now for some of the things they had said. They clung to each other and decided together that for now, they would do nothing. Then they stopped talking and just held each other. Esme's face was pressed into Carlisle's shoulder and Carlisle laid a slow, tender kiss on her hair...

I realized all at once that I was snuggled up to the corpse, pressing my face into its bloodied shoulder, hugging it tight around the chest. I scrambled away with a whimpering cry, swiping at the half-dried blood that stuck to my face like stubborn tears.

Esme, I thought desperately. You have to be real. I NEED you to be real.

And then I was running.

-----

(Anyway, Esme won that argument in the end; Carlisle sat out World War II.)

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You can find all of the #twilightadvent23 prompts here!

[nanakibh]

Dengeki Playstation Magazine Vol.500 (2011) translations Final Fantasy Type-0 interview with Tetsuya Nomura

The World of FF Type-0 With a Different Concept of Death

We would like to ask you about the latest work you've been involved with, Mr. Nomura. First of all, along with FF Type-0's release date and price, the artist who performs the theme song was announced.

Nomura: This time around, we asked BUMP OF CHICKEN to do the theme song. The first time I met them was actually during the premium preview screening of FFVII Advent Children in 2005. They were enthusiastic fans of the FF series, and I remembered them telling me all about their passion for it. We had a number of opportunities to talk, and we promised to work on a title together someday that would suit their band. Finally, the time has come when we can fulfill the promise that was made years ago.

How did BUMP OF CHICKEN react?

Nomura: They were very happy and excited to work hard on it. After taking in all of the contents of the scenario and setting, they were able to write a song while incorporating the requests of Director Tabata. We had many meetings, so I felt like I had a very proactive part in the creation of the piece.

What kind of song is BUMP OF CHICKEN’s ��Zero”?

Nomura: The lyrics are meaningful. The moment you listen to them, they'll pierce through your heart. I think that the feeling you get when you listen to the song will be different before you play the game and after you complete the ending. "Zero" is more than the opening and ending theme. It also plays throughout the story, so please listen to it as if it were a part of the blood that flows through this work.

When you put it like that, it makes me feel even more curious about the story.

Nomura: One of the themes of FF Type-0 is the emphasis of the meaning of life by using the unreality of war in modern Japan. Because it's linked with academic life, which is something everyone experiences in reality, I think it will be easy for players to relate.

Certainly, even from watching the videos that have been released, it seems like a lot of effort went into representing death.

Nomura: Furthermore, the setting of FF Type-0 is a world where "the concept of death is different."

What does having a "different concept of death" mean?

Nomura: You'll receive more details later. This is the key to FF Type-0, so it would be best to have Tabata talk about it. I believe there was a line in the latest video that hinted at that aspect of the setting.

What's more, the high-profile voice actors in FF Type-0 have been attracting attention. Were you responsible for the casting, Mr. Nomura?

Nomura: You're right. Tabata entrusted me with the character-related work. There was a reason we hired such big-name voice actors this time, and it was purely to deepen the individuality of each character. FF Type-0 is an ensemble piece centered around Class Zero as a whole, so it doesn't delve deeply into the backgrounds and episodes of each character like other FF titles. The content of the story is difficult, so there was a possibility that it would leave a weak impression if we did something poorly. I chose such magnificent voice actors so that each character could leave a lasting impression even if they appear only for a short time.

Are there other characters we haven't seen yet?

Nomura: The remaining characters also have outstanding voice actors. I hope you'll look forward to them.

[etherealvoidechoes]

Hollowed Defiance - Chapter 28 - A Little Crossed Pt. 2

There's always one thing after the other just after a major operation. Shen finds a mysterious yet concerning signal. Jynn and co get to investigating her lack of modifications that should have been there while she was in the Stasis Suit and ends up biting off more than she can chew.

A little Mox love later in the chapter. He may become a confidant for the Commander later on.

Approx. 12k

Ao3|| FF.net || Fic Hub

--------------

A few days passed since the last back-to-back operations. A small funeral was held for the lost; feelers were being put out to track down the captured. Additional work was being done to find any potential holes that would arise as they knew ADVENT would be quick to interrogate or rip the information out of their soldier’s mind to find the Avenger’s location or where well-hidden Cells and Havens were in the region.

The surviving soldiers from the Haven cleansing found themselves recovering in the Infirmary for a few days. Especially, Avril “Count” Mead. Her little desperation stunt with a flashbang and needle grenade combo damaged her ears, and she was going through a series of treatments to fix that. Their access to Meld was tight as most of it was being used on Manson, who was still alive much to everyone’s surprise. If he pulled through, it would be a miracle if he wasn’t fully paralyzed.

For the time being, XCOM waited for some joint Resistance Orders to be completed and for those soldiers to gather their rest, as they did a few low-stakes raids and Haven visits to restock on supplies. Once they had brought their stores back to acceptable levels, they would finally be making their way to North America to meet the Templars at last.

————————————

It was another day in the main Workshop for Shen, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

So far, no one needed her. The ramp leading outside would be opened for a couple more hours as the Avenger was currently in the air heading to South Africa to make one last stop for some Black Market deals before making their “long trip” to North America.

Commander Reeves didn’t need her. Bradford didn’t need her. Tygan and his team didn’t need her, as they quickly found out they needed some improved tech to better dissect those Codex brains. And no other team needed her assistance.

“Been a while since we’ve done some exploring, huh ROV-R?” She was working on her Gremlin. “With this place up and running with few hitches, and those upgrades that Bones provided should provide some security, we should be able to access some of those dormant alien systems…” 

As she spoke her thoughts, they dropped into a low mutter. Her lips moved a little more like she wanted to speak more words but nothing came out. Memories of how they first found the Avenger and worked to get it operational. The blood, sweat, and tears poured into this machine to make it fly once again for the Resistance. The lives lost. “Let’s see if you two can play nice. No more cryo pods and those ‘eradication’ fail-safes have been disabled.” She and others had a great deal of fun taking care of those problems.

She fiddled with her robot buddy for a few minutes before he suddenly sprung back to life without her reactivating him.

“Okay, eager, I see.” She placed her tools down as she watched him fly around a few times before pausing. He flinched a few times before suddenly an array of sparks covered his entire chassis like he was letting off a discharge before flying over to the monitors that were also glitching. 

“What the…” Shen cautiously watched her robotic companion. A few more sparks shot off as that screen on ROV-Rs head filled with static. “I didn’t touch those capacitors…” She mumbled, but she wasn’t so sure with what she was attempting to access and tweak. Just as she was about to grab her tools, something on the monitors caught her eye. “Huh…” She cautiously followed. 

As she came closer, she paused, noticing the screen on ROV-R’s head raise and sync with the monitors.

“Maybe a system feedback, things have been— What the?” Just as she was attempting to theorize the issues, something new popped up. The screen flickered from the XCOM screensaver over to something new. It was black and red. A strange UI-like screen she had never seen before when hacking into the ADVENT networks despite sporting their colors. This didn’t even look like the more alien UI systems. More human.

As she studied the screen, she noticed the bottom left of the screen looked like an “eye”. Before she could study it longer, the screen distorted again and changed to something else. A location. A factory. And a series of coordinates.

“Shen.” It was Bradford coming in on her earpiece. “We’re getting some kind of interference up here. Seems to be hitting us across the board.”

The young engineer was so enamored by what was going on, she nearly missed him. “Working on it. Working on it.” Though his voice was distant as her mind was still trying to make sense of what was going on, that switch in her mind was clicking. This needed to be solved quickly. She looked at ROV-R, at the screens, and back at him. Somehow, this weird interference started with him when they were going to delve deeper into the ship’s alien systems. Maybe the connection was still flowing through him? 

Moving closer, she examined her companion. It took some finagling to get into his systems, as this signal — she quickly deduced — was causing some interference. But once she did so, her brows repeatedly raised before scrunching together as she was combing through some code and files.

“Huh.” Her fingers tapped against ROV-R’s chassis nervously. Something was off and scarily explained why he turned himself on. “Something triggered your remote uplink, but how is that possible? No one knows these systems…” Minus Bones and his man, Von Tron, but she highly doubted either would do anything like this after the threats Commander Reeves gave. She, Dimitri, and the rest of the tech team had done a full system upgrade and partial reformat after that gift, and the security upgrades were robust like a master locksmith. More protection against potential ADVENT hacks, especially from those Chosen.

No, and much to her worry, this had to be something else. 

As she was about to take a deeper dive, ROV-R began to make pained sounds as more sparks arched across his chassis and he fidgeted. The screens with those strange symbols and coordinates also began to glitch out.

Shen cursed, quickly biting her fingers that had been zapped. 

“Shen, power readings just spiked.” As Bradford said those words, the lights in the Workshop began to flicker. “Wh—t the hell is g—ng on down the—e?” Each word grew more distorted until all the lights went out. Then the ship shuttered. That hum to the ship was gone. It was eerily silent. 

“Crap!” Shen lost her footing but was quickly able to grab onto a nearby table. “Did that kill the engines? That killed the engines…” Just as the sinking feeling was about the set in, she felt the ship shutter again. The lights weren’t back on, but that faint hum to the ship was back. Good, we’re not going to fall from the sky.

Getting back up, she moved over to the computers to figure out what was going on and make sure there was no damage to the engines or anything else on the ship. The monitors flicked on one by one showing, a new image.

“What the…” She muttered as she looked around. A faint red illumination caught her eyes. Those monitors were still on and now there was something different on the screens. She studied it for a second before gasping. “Dad?”

————————————

Commander Reeves was in her Quarters going over some information just before she planned to take a nap when the whole system outage happened. She was locked in her room for some time, as she couldn’t quite remember how to bypass the door before the power finally came back on.

“Central!” She called out from the stairs. Those feet were swiftly cutting down the stairs. She quickly noticed how the nerve center of the ship was bustling with more activity than usual. Several consoles were down and she noticed the Maintenance crew was busy prying open some of the doors leading to the room. “What the hell just happened?”

“Commander, I have no clue. It’s not Bones or his guy.” He looked up at her before shaking his head. “And I’m too old to start believing in ghosts.” He mumbled that under his breath. “From what Shen told me for the interference and power spike, a signal, someone from the outside accessed her ROV-R to access the ship’s system. And if they can do that…”

“W-What?” Feet crossing in front of each other, her hand firmly grabbed the railing to keep herself from greeting the floor. That didn’t seem possible. Especially with the new security they had, thanks to Von Tron.

“She and the rest of the Communication crew are working on double-checking to see if there are any more backdoors and she’s investigating the signal. She’s got some coordinates. Looks to be a factory of sorts.”

“Why does stuff like this always happen just before we’re about to jump continents?” 

First, they were still recovering after those back-to-back operations and new units they had to prepare for future encounters, were trying to finish their last errands in the region before heading to North America to meet the Templars, and now someone, most likely ADVENT, had found a way to hijack their ship?

“You know how it goes. Also, she mentioned to me…” Central paused as he looked around. His mood seemed to immediately darken as his lids dropped low and his lips pulled into a thin line.

“Spit it out.”

 “She saw an image of her father and some of his schematics for something. Can’t say what with how corrupted the image it, but looks mechanical.”

“Dr. Raymond?” Commander Reeves’ eyes went wide as her brows raised. That explained the mood. “Why? And the schematics?”

“No clue.” He shrugged. “But like me, she got to thinking, her father would be one of the few who would know exactly how this ship functions. So perhaps, this is someone who knows how the late doctor worked. Found some of his work from one of the Old Bases’ Information Centers.”

“Hm…” She tapped her lip. “Perhaps some of the old engineer staff from back in the day? I know we had a lot of bright minds the doctor personally picked.”

“It’s all too possible, but something doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t think they would have done something like this. Especially, when we were flying.” Central was happy those emergency systems kicked in when they did. He did not want to find out if the Avenger could float.

“Right. Right… We’ll have to investigate the signal fully when we’re back in the region. But I do want Shen to work on what she can right now. We need to be prepared for the worst.” They just didn’t have time to do it now since they had a meeting with the Templars coming up soon. 

“I’ll let her know.” He nodded. “Also putting in a request with Volk and any others to see if they can find anything suspicious.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

Commander Reeves stuck around, slipping on an earpiece until all systems were checked and the ship was no longer in code red. Checking on each section of the ship, she learned the currency condition of the crew. Nearly everyone was fine, minus a few bumps and bruises from the sudden stop. A few were spooked and were halfway geared up to repel incoming invaders thinking they had been tagged by a UFO. The Maintenance and Engineering crews were hard a work resetting systems to get everyone going again. The failsafe systems on some of the high-security doors and bulkheads were proving to be difficult, but within the hour most would be open again.

“Hey, Commander.” It was Shen. “I need you to come down to my Workshop. If you have a moment.”

“I’ll be there shortly, Shen.” Commander Reeves knew this had to be important. Quickly wrapping up and finding an open route down to the Workshop, she left.

————————————

As Commander Reeves arrived at Shen’s workshop, she was surprised it was rather quiet. She was expecting to see it full of engineers but quickly figured most were around the ship, helping get things back in order.

As she continued deeper into the room, she noticed what looked to be a pair of those ADVENT MECs were on some nearby worktables. They always had a few on the ship to rip apart for parts and valuable metals before selling the rest, but she faintly recalled some “special” ones had been brought back from Elena, Yoko, and Reaver’s covert operation to investigate ‘rouge’ mechanical units roaming a remote, rural area.

As she came closer, she noticed something was off about these robots. What struck her first was the smell. Rust. With a few whiffs, she could taste the metal. Grunting, she roughly cleared her throat and did her best to get rid of the taste.

“Why do these look old?” Walking around the tables, she saw how rusted, if not decayed, they were. Then another thing struck her. Their heads. A skull-like appearance. That wouldn’t sit well with the human populace in the cities. And then she saw something else.

“Why are these riddled with bullets?” The reason was all too obvious as she recognized the damage from magnetic gunfire that pierced deep. She needed to go over that report again.

“Commander Reeves!” Like a rabbit, Shen popped up from behind one of the tables; so did ROV-R. She hadn’t noticed she had come. At the moment, she was cracking open one of the access panels to the MECs and putting in several wires that were going over to one of her computers. 

“Shen.” Commander Reeves nodded.

“Sorry for the mess, but I think I may have found a partial source of how that signal accessed the ship’s systems. The programming in these bots matches the coding in the signal…”

“These are the bots retrieved from the covert operation’s investigation, right?”

“Yep.” She nodded. “Elena and the others said they weren’t too friendly and they couldn’t find who was making them. I’ve sent a few photos to Dr. Sighn, to see if he can ID the creator.” That explained the bullet holes. Reeves just wished it wasn’t so excessive. “But there’s something about this coding architecture that’s similar to the old XCOM HQ and the MEC programs my father was working on.”

“Wait, what?”

“It’s a lot to explain, but I’m double checking, but a lot of this coding has similarities to that and then some of ADVENT’s coding in the early days of the regime.” She paused as her shoulders dropped, and a few cables fell to the floor. A small sigh slipped out. “Which also has traces of dad’s hard work.” Something she hated to acknowledge. “Out of precaution, I’m running this on an isolated system, just in case. Don’t want any more power surges.”

“That is… worrying. I don’t like that… I really don’t.” Commander Reeves just shook her head. She knew the aliens had pilfered whatever tech they didn’t destroy when they struck the old bases, but they could possibly have their hands on some old data that could breach the Avenger’s systems at any time. They needed to get to the bottom of this fast. If only they didn’t have to leave the continent in a few days. 

“I want this to be your priority work for now and see if you can work on a way this can’t happen again. Especially, as we’re heading to North America.”

“Planned on doing so and working on that.” She nodded. 

Commander Reeves watched Shen throw herself back into her work and bounce her thoughts off her robot companion. Always the dedicated sort. But as she did so, Commander Reeves could pick up the worry and sadness in her voice. How couldn’t she? This involved her late father.

She moved over to the side of the table to have a better view of her. “Hey, Lily.” Commander Reeves spoke softly. “When we’re done with meeting the Templars in America, we’ll be back to fully investigate this. I promise.”

Shen wrinkled her nose, not too happy that the investigation would be delayed, but they had deadlines to meet. Yet, that promise reassured her. “Thanks, Commander.”

With that, Commander Reeves made her way back to the Bridge. 

It was a few more hours before all systems were checked and they could safely fly once more to reach their destination in South Africa. 

———————————

More days passed since the encrypted signal incident that nearly caused the Avenger to drop out of the sky. They had made it to their new location and set up shop for the few days they would be there before leaving once more. Some crew were still jumpy from the incident even more so once word got around of what the possible cause was. 

Fingers were pointed at the soldiers who brought back the scrapped robots; somehow it roped in the Hybrid crew that had nothing to do with that covert operation, as usual. Accusations soon followed but the more level-headed crew broke it up and verbally beat into the instigators’ heads XCOM’s usual protocols. As always, precautions were taken whenever they brought back foreign technology and objects. Just how was any supposed to suspect whoever the creator of those things knew XCOM’s systems and coding?

 But the murmurs didn’t die. Still suspicious, if not outright paranoid, a few decided to volunteer to help out the local Havens, do Black Market runs, or scavenge the local areas for some time. Better to plant their feet on the ground and not die falling from the sky in a metal coffin. Commander Reeves okayed the assignments with some disdain. She didn’t like an excessive amount of crew on the ground unless necessary, but she wasn’t in the mood to get another message about someone starting a fight, especially when they targeted any former ADVENT personnel, soldier, or experiment. Them being off the ship should calm their nerves and bring some well-deserved peace to the ship. 

The departures would give her some time to review some profiles and histories to see if it was time to dismiss some before they compromised everyone’s safety. Not that they would care if she gave them a dressing down and kicked them from XCOM. Several still questioned why she was even the Commander and felt the other Senior Staff fit the role better. Some still questioned why they even put a questionable amount of nearly unquestionable faith in her hands even if most knew her from back in the day. Even with her putting in some miraculous work despite her health issues and incidents, it all felt too good to be true. She had to be a plant by the aliens. A ticking time bomb of a sleeper agent that would cost the Resistance everything. A plant. 

Jynn was about ready to lash out at the next person who whispered that but had been steadying her tongue. The crew didn’t know half the truth and it would be some time before they would learn the whole truth. She just knew the utter chaos that would occur as soon as that information got out. If a few had already tried to kill some of the Hybrid crew over the years, she just knew there would be attempts on her life as those maniacs would blame her for everything the aliens did.

———————————

Shen, her crew, and the other technologically skilled new were busy around the ship. They cleared the Avenger’s systems of any further intrusions and double-checked all backdoors. 

Shen was still investigating the signal, but was learning a great deal of the coding was based on some of the Old XCOM Base AI tech and some prototype AI. She searched the old archives but found any information dealing with the prototype was still corrupted. That just raised more questions than answers. Just what would they find at those coordinates when they came back to the region? 

For now, Commander Reeves put that to the back of her mind. An infinite docket she felt she would never complete. But soon, she was about to check one concerning thought off the list. One that had crossed her mind before operation “Frozen Nocturne”, and she had nearly forgotten about it if she hadn’t reread her notes.

Her utter lack of connection ports on her body compared to the standard ADVENT Hybrid.

———————————

14:08. The Main Lab.

“Is this… entirely necessary? Commander?” Mox asked.

Down in the main Lab were Jynn and Mox. She had requested for him to come down so she could pick at his brain as well as allow her to have a more “hands-on” viewing of connection ports to compare against herself. They had several ADVENT Hybrids they could use, but Jynn wanted a live subject and one she could ask more personal questions.

At the moment, and with his explicit permission, Jynn was carefully examining Mox’s head. A hand would tilt it back, side to side, and down to get a better look at those ports that lined his jaw. A finger would trace the metal and inner rings. Then they traced the surgical scars from his chin to the back of his “ear.” There were eight ports in total.

As she did that, her eyes would occasionally glance at a nearby monitor that contained X-rays of various Hybrids to show just how deep those ports went. She felt her jaw ache. 

“Hm? Sorry, Mox.” Jynn sighed. She hadn’t noticed she may have been getting a little too touchy during her examination. “I just needed an up-close look at your ports.” She released her grip on him before turning her finger to her face. “Hm.” Still nothing. Not even a subtle bump in the skin.

With his head free once more, Mox craned his next side to side before rolling his jaw a few times. He noticed a growing confused, if not concerned expression, on her face as she ran her fingers across her face several times. Mimicking the same movements she had done to him moments ago.

“If I may ask,” Mox paused, hoping he wouldn’t disturb her mood, “you seem troubled. What did you seek to find?”

She froze like a deer caught in the headlights. Her eyes closed tight. She knew the question would have happened. How to explain it so she didn’t sound crazy? No, he’ll understand. He and those like him would understand more than anyone.

 “I’ve… noticed.” Gesturing her hand slightly in a circular motion, she searched for her words. “I’ve recently noticed that I’m ‘missing’ some changes that should be apparent on my body since my imprisonment under the Elders.”

Mox thought for a moment. His eyes lit up before returning to a more calm expression. “Ah. I believe I understand, you should,” he gestured to his face before gesturing towards her, “have something smiler to the connection ports like mine.”

“Exactly. Really, I should look similar to you, too. The only thing we’ve noticed have been,” she rolled up her sleeves showing those segmented diamond marks on her arms, “these. And they’ve been randomly appearing and disappearing.” 

He raised a brow. Those marks looked odd. He had no clue of what they could be. “I understand the Elders alter all They touch, but you were most likely required to be unaltered minus the necessary maintenance.”

“Mox, the information They ran through me…” She paused to catch her breath. She could feel the back of her throat throbbing and that urge to scream growing within. Keep it together. Scream in your pillow after this. She took him several deep breaths to steady her. “The information They ran through me 24/7 through the years should have left me brain dead. I have to have modifications of some kind.”

In a way, she was glad that hadn’t happened. She could only imagine her own reaction to learning of that violation when they pried from that suit. How far would she have spiraled? And then the others’ reactions? The fabled Commander that had spent so long looking for was now a Hybrid? More alien than human?  She could already hear the disparaging comments from those few hecklers on the ship and envision the mutiny that would take place. We’re not serving under some Hybrid. How can she be even trusted? Probably has some sleeper code in that brain. She dies or we’re out. 

“Ah.” He only nodded. “My apologies. I retract my statement.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know. Most don’t know.” She sighed. “And don’t let the others know about this. There’s still some distrust with some on the ship and if they learn exactly how the Elders used me…”

“My lips are sealed, Commander.” He nodded, making the motion of zipping his mouth. A little chuckle followed. He enjoyed having the opportunity to use human saying and motions.

“Call me, Jynn. You don’t always have to be formal.”

“May I use Reeves, instead?” Part of him felt Jynn was too casual.

“Heh, that’s fine.”

Still waiting on the others, her eyes wandered around the lab until they fell on that old prison of hers. The Stasis Suit. I swear I’ve been picking up something from it since I came down here.

Her mind lingered on it for a while longer until a report crossed her mind.

  “Before the others get here. And if you don’t mind. When we rescued you from that ADVENT prison, they found you in a suit similar to that.” She gestured to her Stasis Suit. “Why?”

“Ah that,” Mox glanced at the suit before looking back at her, “I was stubbornly enduring Jax-Rai and her interrogators for days before they finally threw me into one of those suits. It was to disable me and my mind to be more susceptible to psionic manipulation.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “It was near timeless. Like one is floating in an abyss, unable to reorientate yourself. Barely aware that your mind is being pried at. Your memories are being sorted. If I still had my chip, it would have been worse.”

“Oh.” So those suits did have something in common. Were there any more people out there trapped in similar suits and plugged in somewhere?  

Before her thoughts could consume her once more, she heard familiar chatter growing closer.

“She and Mox should be down here already.” Hearing Bradford’s voice caused her emotions to ease for a moment before nervousness crept back into her lungs, knowing the doctors would be with him.

“Ah, Commander Reeves.” Dr. Tygan greeted her. Following closely behind him were Bradford, Dr. Marin, and Dr. Quinn. The latter two were carrying a few psionic detection devices. 

“Glad you all are finally here, so we can begin.” She put on a smile. How she wanted to get this quickly over before the negative thoughts crept back in.

“In a moment.” Tygan nodded. He walked past her and heaved over to his computer. It took a while before he had several files and scans of her pulled up before giving her his full attention once more. 

“Commander, I would like to apologize that I didn’t,” Tygan paused for a moment, “we didn’t, catch this sooner.”

“I’m not sure if we would have ever made the connection to the lack of cybernetic implant besides that chip we pulled out.” Quinn said as she and Marin set the devices on the examination table.

“Going over the data concerning your genetic makeup, the lack of significant change for so long is… concerning, to put it lightly.” Marin added. “Personally, I believe the Elders would have fully unleashed your psionic potential to aid Their Psionic Network.”

“Please,” Jynn let out a sigh, “don’t beat yourselves up. You all were struggling to keep me alive for weeks once you pulled me out of the suit and then the various incidents… We just haven’t had time to process everything that’s happened.”

They all agreed on that.

“Now, I hope this wasn’t too short a notice to investigate this issue. I know nearly all teams are still investigating that Blacksite vial, but research has slowed from what the latest reports tell?”

“Yes, that.” Tygan shook his head. “Research has slow. There’s a vast amount of data we continue to pull from the vial, but it is all too much for our current systems. Shen and her team are researching a possible solution.”

“I think I received the brief earlier, but they’re currently running some ideas for another room to build.”

“From what she has told me, yes.”

“I’ll that we get the space cleared and the room will be a priority build.“ She looked at Marin and Quinn. “Sorry, that may delay the finishing touches to the Psi Labs.”

“It’s fine. We’ve been able to start some testing with one of the chambers completed.” Marin nodded. “The first volunteer is Yuri as he’s been showing signs of psionic potential ever since he joined.”

“Back to the other room.” Quinn said trying to redirect the conversation. “It may also help us with investigating that chip.”

“Chip?” Jynn raised a brow, wondering if more secrets could be pulled from that chip that was once in her skull.

“The chip from the operation, Commander.” Bradford said.

“Oh, oh!” The failed extraction of Dr. Vox. Her eyes quickly found that alien chip on Tygan’s desk suspended in a similar containment field that housed her chip. She noticed there was another chip there. It looked similar to hers, but less complex and partially broken. It must have been the late doctor’s.

“It bears a striking design… similar to what ADVENT had my coworkers and I design all those years ago. But its origin is entirely alien. Metals foreign to our solar system and nothing matches what the aliens have brought to the Earth.” Tygan couldn’t help but look at it.

“Hm,” Jynn tapped at her lip, “is it possible that the Elders were having your team recreate.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t recall the Elders sharing such a design with us.” Tygan mumbled. 

“If so, the question would be why?” Quinn said. 

Jynn thought for another moment before a flood of information flowed through her mind. Her eyes glazed over, as her lids lowered until she had a more disconnected to near apathetic look.

 “The original knowledge and technology on how to make them had been lost.” She began speaking in a near-monotone voice. “It was a near-perfect design, but from what they recovered from the original creators, the Zudjari, but several tweaks were needed to work on humans and Their forces and Network. A singular grand design would be perfect, but each species is different and so fickly. The Elders do not have the time to tinker and tamper just yet.” She paused. “The arrogant fools.” She let out a dismissive sigh. “So They are forced to settle on lesser designs. A civilian model for those in fields that need to be closely monitored, influenced, and fed upon with a few more complex designs for more “trusted” individuals”, but eventually all of mankind would have a chip. One designed for their ADVENT forces with more complex designs for more important units, which allowed a higher degree of free will but still constrained by the Elders. And one designed for me that mimicked the origin chip as it thoroughly robbed and subverted me of my free will to serve Their whims.”

She continued to ramble on, covering the attempts at designing chips to go into their alien forces and the complications and mentions of attempting to replicate something called “Mosaic.”

Everyone just looked at her than each other.

“Where is all of this coming from?” Quinn cast a glance at Marin.

“I don’t know. She hasn’t had an episode like this, though she did mention something happened during that last operation.” Marin pulled out his tablet and searched through his notes.

“And why hasn’t she been tested for that?”

“We’ve been busy and still waiting for the Communications Team to replicate the information from that General to put it in front of her.” 

“Give me a second.” Bradford let the two doctors squabble as had made his way over to her. He waved his hand in front of her face a few times, but she was deeply engrossed in her thoughts.

“Please don’t slap me.” He mumbled. He placed his hands on her shoulders before giving her a hearty shake.

Jynn rambled on for a few more moments before her voice trailed off. She blinked for a few seconds before life returned to her face. “Huh? Wha—What?”

“Lost you there. You started rambling.” Bradford explained.

“Crap.” She buried her face in her hands. 

Taking a minute to recompose herself, she let off a sigh more dramatic than she wanted to be as she shook herself out of Bradford’s grip. 

“OKAY. Let’s get back on track. Forget about the chip. Back to the lack of connection ports and other bodily changes, modifications, etc.” Her eyes drifted back over to that accursed suit. She felt her skin bristle at the mere thought of having to move closer to it, but she needed to.

“Of course.” Tygan nodded as he headed over to where it was kept and opened the case. As he began to remove the helmet, he beckoned Marin and Quinn over to take the main body over to the tablet and open it up.

Jynn made her way over to Tygan, steering clear of the other two to avoid the suit. But once she made it over to him. She grimaced. A familiar psionic tingle tapped at her skull. Whispers were forming. Great. That little zone-out must have let Them get it. 

Before handing it over to her, Tygan removed the red visor, revealing the inside. The inner area was littered with potential areas for connection ports. She could only imagine the ports that handled data, biological functions, and what else the Elders needed to do to her.

With the visor removed, Tygan turned and offered it to her.

She nearly backed away, but with a hard swallow, she took it from her hands. Her grimace grew. That knocking and whispering were growing louder. She swore she could see faint purple wisps wicking off the helmet. And from Tygan’s raised brow, maybe he could see it too. 

No, he’s noticing my hesitation and grimacing. Barely a moment for those reassuring thoughts before those detection devices chimed in about increased psionic activity. So her eyes and mind weren’t deceiving her. Great. Hope they increased the shielding down here. She took in a deep breath before focusing on her thoughts. “Yeah, I can hear You all.” She hissed. The psionic wisps grew more vibrant. “Shut the hell up.”

Mox raised a brow at Jynn’s sudden cursing, but hearing the chimes from the detectors increase, he finally noticed the psionic energy wicking away from the helmet. That still puzzled him until his mind focused on that inflection of that “you.” “Is she? Is that?” Mox gawked before looking at Bradford. The man nodded. Pained, worried eyes said yes.

“Keep this between us.” Bradford said sharply.

“My lips are sealed.”

Jynn fiddled with the helmet some more, looking at it from every angle she could and feeling the inside. She even touched her face, trying to find the possible corresponding ports, but still nothing.

“Hrm.” She bit the inside of her cheek. There was one thing she could do, but she didn’t want to try. A gruff sigh slipped out. But she needed to do something and just not fiddle with the thing for an hour. “Let me try something.” 

Raising the helmet high and over her head, she slowly brought a piece of her prison back down on her face.

So far nothing was happening until the bottom half of the helmet went past her nose.

“Hm?” Tygan noticed a few points along her jawline, similar to Mox’s, quiver. As the helmet inched closer and closer to contact, the skin began to open up, nearly peeling back, revealing faint glints of something shiny underneath. Possibly metal.

“That is… intriguing.” He took notes. As that helmet inched down and down, he then noticed something was moving out of those hidden holds. A bundle of small tendrils.

 “Wait.” Thoughts nearly engrossing him, Tygan realized there were more pressing matters. “Commander! Wait!” Lurking forward, his hands flew to her face to stop her. He was too late.

As the bottom of the helmet fell into place, Jynn felt something click. Several things click all around her head. Then she felt that all too familiar and unpleasant surge of psionic energy course through her body as her head jerked back, gasping like something had grabbed her throat and was squeezing it. The world was spinning. The concerned voices of her compatriots were fading. The world went dark.

———————————

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” A soft, female voice echoed in her mind.

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” The voice repeated, almost beckoning her. It sounded familiar. But one she didn’t like.

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” The calling of her name continued

[Now you’ve done it. Wake up before They get us.] She felt another voice in her mind, but this was much deeper than the other. Like it came from within her. Almost sounded like her, but more distanced and methodical.

“What… the… hell…” Jynn struggled to force herself awake. Her mind felt heavy and numb. As she came to, she looked around her. It was a hazy darkness. The Lab was gone. “What the hell?”

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” That beckoning voice called out once more.

“Oh, no.” This time she recognized it.

“Commander Reeves.” It beckoned her again. “Lost child.”

“Angelis…” She knew the name of this one. This Elder. Dammit, why now? So far she didn’t see Them, but she was hesitant to turn around.

[Our mind is compromised again. Still compromised. That’s why. However, this slapdash test would have most likely led to this outcome. We should have waited until those Psionic Labs were completed or our union with the Templars was established. The psionic security that would have brought.] She heard the deeper inner voice again, but its words were harsher.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She snapped. She needed some quiet. Some time to think.

“Reeves.” The sudden harshness in Angelis’ voice as the other Elders flowed through her made Jynn’s blood run cold. Before she knew it, the ghostly visage of Angelis and the others began to form in front of her.

“Reeves.” The calmness returned to Angelis’ voice and was accompanied by a chorus of other Elder voices. She was front and center. “Come back to Us.” The gilded robe shifted before the Elder produced a hand and extended it towards her. Reeves backed away. “All will be forgiven. Let this pointless madness end. Bring this world back in order.”

[Tch. A flawed order. Questionably and inefficiently run with so many escaped creatures, pathogens, and mutated non-native life You all let run free, no? But there are more pressing matters, no? Ones that need to be completed so you can flee to Your next conquest and let this world be consumed, no?] 

“No, no, no.” She barely noticed the inner voice’s criticism of the Elders. Feeling her chest tighten as her breath escaped her, it took a great deal of strength to move back and away from that hand. Where is that helmet? If I pull it off this should end? Yes, yes, yes. Her hands flew to her face in search of the helmet but only found skin. This couldn’t be real.

[Our physical body is out cold. This is all mental. Focus.] The inner voice spoke.

“Sh-shut up…. S-s-hut up. Sssshut up…” Jynn struggled to utter those words as she felt herself grow more lightheaded with each passing second.

“You serve a higher purpose. To lead Our armies against the One Who Will Consume All.” Angelis reached out to her again. This time, Jynn felt a strong pull on her mind and body before something tried to worm its way in. They wanted in. “Come back to us, to your rightful place, and you shall Ascend.”

The sensation, that violation, made something in her snap.

[Good. There you go.]

Eyes igniting with blue, that psionic energy surrounded her before Jynn suddenly thrust her hand out. A pressure-like wave of psionic energy erupted from her. “BACK OFF!”

The Elders hissed in pain as They backed off. But several muttered there was still the promise of the “Ascended One” within her.

“Such anger.” Angelis kept a calmness to voice. Barely disturbed by that “child” before her throwing a tantrum. “Why such anger? Please, stop your fruitless rebellion and return to us. We can return what has been lost to you.”

As Angelis said this, the psionic vapors around her swirled together before a shimmering projection coalesced together. In it were four people. Johanness, Mali, Charles, and her. She and her family. Everyone was alive, healthy, and looking happy… in some ADVENT city. And they had the gall to put her in a uniform that looked similar to what she wore back in the day but sporting the ADVENT colors and that golden insignia of the Elders those Chosen bore. Even in this ‘vision’ of Theirs’, she was forever a pawn mean to control the Earth.

Her eyes twitched.

[Oh. Careful now. Don’t snap. We know how They get.]

“Anger…?”

At first, Jynn was shocked to see the projection. How she longed to see the faces of her family alive again. But then something inside of her snapped again. She could feel her blood boil. Her eyes glowed brighter.

“You…”

[Don’t. Calm down.]

“You dare… You have the audacity….”  She bit at silent words, partially heeding that silent voice inside of her to carefully choose her next words.

[Calm down before you do something illogical!]

Her nostrils flared. Caution? She didn’t care. “You dare mock their… You have the audacity to mock MY memory, of my family!?”

She lashed out again, throwing forth another pressure wave followed by several darts of psionic energy. The projection scattered and fizzled out. The darts stung at the Elders. They hissed in pain before several stretched out their hands to form a shield.

“SHAMELESS BASTARD! You know exactly what You all have done! Done to the Earth. Done to me. So cut the bullshit and self-righteousness! You’re no grand saviors, you are liars! Hiding your true nature from all!”

[Death wish, huh? Though illogical, in this situation, I cannot blame us. This will not be pretty. Hopefully, the others get the helmet off in time. And shields boosted.]

She kept throwing as her rage burned on.

The chorus grew silent. Angelis retracted her arm back into her robe.

“So be it. We’ve tried your ‘human’ way.” As Angelis spoke, her voice mocking her former approach. Her voice began to shift into a harsher one. Her visage too began to change at the center of her helmet opened showing swirling yellow and purple energies. “You force Our hands. SUBMIT.” A torrent of psionic energy erupted from the helmet and quickly ensnared Jynn like a spider’s web. 

She let out a cry of pain, finding her psionics quickly subsumed as every part of her mind screamed in agony as the Elders forced Their way in.

“SUBMIT AND YOUR FRUITLESS RESISTANCE WILL NOT SUFFER LONG IN THIS WORLD. SUBMIT AND BE RECLAIMED. SUBMIT.”

With each passing second, more and more of that raw energy poured into Jynn. She could feel Them ripping into her mind. Looking for where she was. Weaknesses to this Resistance. Her mind felt like it was on the brink of collapsing. Until the surge of power suddenly stopped.

The Elders let out a collective hiss of pain.

“Wha—What?” Vision blurred, but slowly coming through, Jynn felt that web of psionic energy unraveling. As her vision continued to stabilize, she saw the Elders’ power flowing around the faint outlines of a psionic shield encompassing her and someone else. Between her and the Elders with a hand outstretched, was another ghostly visage of something more akin to a human. She couldn’t make out what they looked like, but seemed to be wearing some sort of armor.

“TEMPLAR!” The Elders hissed.

“Trying to force her back like this won’t work out for you all.” This Templar spoke with a male voice. “Really, it would do more damage. I swear I’ve heard through that psionic vine that one of your own warned you about that repeatedly, correct?” His voice held a teasing smugness. “But,” the man shook his head and shrugged, “you all didn’t learn a thing Dhay-Vol’s creation.”

[Huh. This is a highly unlikely variable. What are the chances? But a boon nonetheless.] That inner voice commented.

One of the Elders roared with anger as all increased Their power. “SILENCE! YOU LOWLY CREATURE!”

The Templar grunted as he brought forth his other hand. “Touched a nerve, didn’t I, Ga’rox?” He chuckled, which only got another angry bellow in response.

Jynn just watched, in awe at everything that was unfolding. Just who was this man? A Templar from what the Elders angrily bellowed. If this, then this Templar had power, but she could tell he couldn’t hold forever against this collective might of the Elders.

[This can’t hold forever. We need to leave.]

“Right.” For once, Jynn agreed with this inner voice. “Just how?” She looked around. It was just a black void filled that surrounded them and cutting her contact with the Elders was never simple. It always felt random.

“Give me a moment, and I will be that key you need.” The Templar said in between grunts. Slowly, he backtracked towards her as he kept his focus on maintaining the shield.

“How? And just who are you?”

“A friend.” He said. “And like this.” Once he was closer to her, freeing one hand, he raised it towards her face and tapped the center of her head. “Now, wake up. You still have work to do, Commander. We’ll be meeting soon.”

As soon as that finger touched her head, Jynn felt her mind suddenly go still before she let in a racked gasp. There was a sudden release of her own psionic energy radiated throughout her body, burning away every string, every touch of the Elders.

The Elders let out angered cries. It felt like a surge of swarming hands trying to cling onto the last vintages of those strings of web they clung to Jynn’s mind to keep her in that mad Void, but the work of that Templar and her energy shut Them out. The connection was severed. They were silenced.

———————————

The next thing Jynn heard were the voices of the others in the labs and their hands fussing all around her. Around that helmet that wouldn’t budge. She could feel the floor underneath her legs and someone holding her up.

I’m back! I’m back. How her heart could skip a beat out of sheer relief and joy. But that tightness in her chest returned as she felt tugging on her face. I’m back… I’m back… I can’t hear Them, but…. but... Shit! 

Her hands flew to her face, and she pulled on that helmet. There was the faintest of releases around her chin as it budged. With another firm grip and strained pull,  she barely felt the pain from those tendrils being torn out of those ports as the helmet finally came off. Without a second thought, she lugged the chucked thing across the room.  It hit the wall, putting a solid dent in it before crashing to the floor.

Her chest rose rapidly as she looked at that devil helmet, ignoring everyone’s questions of concern and prodding at her sore chin. Can’t do that again. Too risky. 

“We need to move.” Suddenly, her lips moved on their own. A part of her brain remembered those Elders had rifled through it. “We need to move. We need to move. We need to move.” She continued to repeat the phrase.

A tight grip on her shoulders and a firm shake made her stop. “Jynn! Snap out of it!” It was Bradford.

She stared at him blankly for a moment. Then that brow furrowed. Her lips twisted into a sneer and her eyes glowed a vibrant blue. “Idiot!” Raising her hand, and without a second thought, she struck his face. “Move the damn ship! They know where we are! The Elders dove into my mind!”

The room went silent.

Bradford was stunned. Both at her smacking her and what she just uttered. Part of his mind wanted to question it, but he could see the fear and anger in her eyes. That fear for everyone’s safety and anger at being violated again. He released his grip on her and quickly got to his feet.

“Yes, Commander.” His brain just flipped to “on duty” as those fingers were already moving to his earpiece. “Bridge, this is a code, Black. All personnel to their stations and get everyone and all essentials aboard in 15 minutes or less.” At the utterance of that code, the ship’s AI set off the klaxons and gave the warning to all aboard and outside the ship.

As he moved to leave the room, he paused and looked back at them. “Watch her.” He then left.

———————————

That code Black had thrown the Avenger into a frenzy. It was a mad dash to get nearly everyone and the essentials onboard, having to ditch some crates at their site, but they managed to get in the air just as those long-range scanners picked up a UFO gunning for their location.

The Avenger would spend the next few hours playing a dangerous game of hide and seek as UFO activity picked up across the region as they slowly made their way North to calmer skies.

During one of its supply runs, the Skyranger would eventually retrieve the personnel who were not on the ship and wished to return. The news of this latest incident only solidified for the more suspicious crew that something or someone on the Avenger was compromised and they rejected coming back until the problems were taken care of. Bradford was working triple-time to keep the cause of this incident under lock and key. He had enough on his hands and did not want a riot breaking out on the ship.

For the next few hours, Bradford kept his eyes on those scanners to keep track of UFO activity and any increases in ADVENT activity. As things were looking calmer, he had rescinded the code Black alert and shifted gears to planning optimal routes to pick up their stranded personnel and re-secure some supplies.

Once that was in a state he could comfortably hand off to a subordinate, Bradford made his way to the Infirmary. It was a fairly safe guess the Commander would be there after all that transpired and he knew the doctors would want to find out just what happened and these “hidden” ports, but Jynn wasn’t there. Nor were Dr. Marin and Dr. Quinn.

He then headed back to the main Lab. The trio of doctors was still there, going over all the information recovered for the incited and examining that Stasis Suit with a more scrutinizing eye. Gathering the flecks of blood and tendrils that remained inside of that helmet.

 But Jynn wasn’t there again.

“Where the hell is the Commander?” Bradford asked, voice tense. It felt like a vein was bulging on his head.

They didn’t know.

“She was in no mood for testing.” Dr. Marin said.

“And did not want to go to the Infirmary for the minor injuries.” Dr. Quinn added. She then explained it took Mox restraining Jynn so they could make sure there was no damage to her face, as there was some discolored blood seeping from those hidden ports that had nearly sealed themselves back up.

“I know Mox is with her. He suggested they leave and take a ‘cool down’ walk.” Dr. Tygan said. Finally, something useful.

Mox. Find Mox and he would find her. She should be in good hands. Bradford shook his head. Easier said than done, but he had a lead and left to search.

It was a solid two hours combing the ship and trying to keep things low-key as he heard the occasional disparaging comment about the “Commander’s slipping mental state” before the smart idea of sending out a memo to all staff to ask where the Commander and Mox were. How he wished he thought of that before he started.

It didn’t take long before he got a message from Shen. 

“The Shooting Range?” He questioned.  She still wasn’t fully cleared to be handling guns just yet. Why?

———————————

Bradford was down in the Workshop within seconds. He expected to hear those all too familiar sounds of gunfire. Instead, it was eerily silent. He visited Shen first. 

Before he could speak, Shen pulled him aside and down before speaking in a hushed whisper.

“Word of warning, she looked super pissed and kicked everyone out when she and Mox arrived.” She said. “I’ve heard very sporadic gunfire. I think they may be dissembling and reassembling the guns.” 

“Hm.” Bradford bit the inside of her cheek. He expected that, but was worried about how volatile Jynn was. Some mild relief washed over him, hearing the most likely activity that was going on. “Thanks, Lily and keep anyone from going down there.” He said before making his way down to the Range. 

“Wait.” Shen grabbed his shoulder.

He looked over his shoulder. “What is it?” 

“I’ve made some more progress on that signal and got word back from one of our contacts that did some scouting. It’s an old, old ADVENT factory somewhere between Russia and Mongolia. It’s completely off the grid and run down, but something’s still there. We’re looking to see if we can find any reports on this facility in ADVENT databases, but so far, nothing. I’ve sent some information over to Dr. Sighn as he partially recognized the designs of the old MEC models there.” She gestured to the tables where some of her workers were pulling them apart.

Bradford raised his brows. He wasn’t expecting progress on that so soon, but it dealt with Shen Sr. “Alright, alright. I’ll see if I can shift some more manpower over to that. Keep up the work, kid.” Before leaving, he tussled her hair, which got an annoyed “hey” before a hard slap greeted his bad shoulder. A small yelp slipped out as his back arched.

Taking just a few steps down the range, he heard those familiar sounds of a magazine box being ejected, pins and other metal pieces being pulled and laid out with a few thinking against each other, the receivers or stock being pulled, and more sounds. 

“››2 minutes. 45 seconds. Tch. Your hands are shaking. Focus. You’re slipping. Work faster.‹‹” Mox barked.

Bradford raised a brow as his mind was trying to translate what the Hybrid barked out. “Is he… scolding her?”

Just a few more steps down and he saw everything.

There were several weapons — old, new, and ADVENT(disabled) — laying or leaning on some nearby crates. Sitting at a table in the middle of the room was Jynn. Though her eyes were intently focused on tearing apart the ADVENT rifle in her hands, one could see the rage burning within her still-glowing blue eyes. Despite her forceful movements, as if she wanted to throw piece after piece at the wall, all the parts were meticulously laid out across the table.

Standing just to the side of her was Mox; arms crossed and intently watching her, nodding at her increased finger work as within a few seconds, the rifle was fully dissembled.

“››Mhm. 3 minutes. 15 seconds. Could be better.‹‹“ Mox moved from one side of the table to another, making note of all the parts and pieces. “››Your mind follows standard Kracsad instructions well.‹‹“ His throat trembled with a slight growl as he acknowledged how he and his people were made. So much tactical and combat data was imprinted on their minds. “››Records for a full field strip and reassembly are under 7 minutes, sans the usual maintenance. Now, put it back together.‹‹“

With barely a response, Jynn began to reassemble the weapon.

Bradford kept a brow raised as he walked over to them. He wanted to speak, to speak to Jynn, but could see and feel that anger radiating off of her. Faint blue psionic energy wafted around her. He was still wondering why it was blue compared to the usual purple. Just another thing for the scientist to figure out.

He looked at Mox. The man gave him a slight nod and raised his hand. He understood. Wait.

Just the sounds of parts sliding and clicking back together filled the room until finally, the magazine slotted in. The weapon was “primed.”

“››Hands off.‹‹” Mox said. As soon as the gun touched the table, he picked it up. Giving it a look over, he shifted it from one hand to the next before instantly shifting into a firing stance. He tested everything he could on the disabled weapon before lowering it.

“››5 minutes and 55 seconds. Good.‹‹“ He walked back over to a crate with other ADVENT weaponry and placed it in there. “Which weapon would you like next?” He finally switched back to English.

“Commander. Jynn.” Bradford felt like now was better than never to interrupt. He moved closer. He got a better look at her face, specifically her jawline caught his attention. There was still some blood seeping out of those hidden ports. A little orange in that red and something else that gave it an odd shimmer. “How are yo—”

“One of the Mag pistols again.” Jynn just ignored him. “I was sloppy with the wiring and want to work on that.”

“As you wish.” Mox went to go fetch one of them. As he passed Bradford, his neck tightened, his lips pulled back into a grimace as he glanced at the floor. Moving his hand to his throat and keeping it horizontal, he made a quick “maybe not a good time” gesture.

Bradford let out an annoyed huff. One more try could hurt. “Jynn, come on t—”

“And get one of the Mag rifles too! Need to kill two birds with one stone.” Again, she ignored him. “Don’t forget those schematics!”

“Hm.” Bradford’s brows knit together. Looked like he would have to play the long game.

A minute or two later, Mox came back with the weapons and schematics requested and placed them before her.

“Would you like me to time you?” He asked.

“No. This is more of a memorizing exercise to get this wiring right.”  She said as she grabbed the pistol and began to take it apart.

With that, Mox turned and gestured to Bradford to go over to one of the shooting range stations before moving there himself. Once Bradford was there, Mox looked at Jynn once more before looking at him.

“How is she?” Bradford broke the silence first.

“Upset.” Mox stated plainly. Reeves has told me very litt—.” He paused before glancing over his shoulder to look at her. A few seconds of silence passed before he nodded. “She has told me very little, but she has permitted for me to share that, yes, the Elders did contact her.”

For a moment, Bradford wondered why he paused before it became painfully obvious. What he heard next made him exhale sharply through his nose. He could recall her visceral reaction of ripping off that helmet, uttering they needed to leave, slapping him when he snapped her out of it, and explaining her freakout.

“How long have you two been here?” Bradford asked next.

“A few hours. It was my suggestion after a ‘cool down’ walk. If we stayed in that Lab for a picosecond longer, I feared she would have attacked the scientists.” Mox said. Faintly, his left brow twitched. 

“Let me guess, they wanted to run tests on ‘that’?” He tapped at his own jawline, marking where those ports were.

“Surprisingly, no after they treated the damage. But their chatter about the increased psionic activity resonating from the Stasis Suit, eventual testing on the ‘hidden’ ports, and something about some crystals resonating with all the activity was getting to her.” 

Bradford digested the news. He could only imagine the increased agitation that scientific chatter was causing her. Removing her from that situation was wise. “Thank you, Mox.”

“My pleasure. Doing this,” he gestured to Jynn and the surrounding weapons, “is a common way some of us Skirmishers like to destress. In-between a ‘forced habit’ and there is something comforting knowing every inch of your weapon intimately.” The “forced habit” was said with air quotes and heavy sarcasm which got a snort out of Bradford. Programmed habit.

“Glad to see it’s working for her.” Bradford chuckled. “Has she eaten? Have you eaten?”

Mox shook his head. “The thought of food has not crossed my mind as you know us Hybrids can go a little longer without it.”

“Right, right.” He nodded. “But not her. Don’t need her slipping into old habits. I’ll be back with some grub and drinks.” He started to leave.

“Non-alcoholic.” Mox insisted.

Bradford waved him off. “I know. Wasn’t even thinking of that kind.”

It took about 20 minutes before Bradford was back with refreshments. Jynn was now in the middle of working on the Mag Rifle and was still ignoring him hard,  but just pointed to a clear spot on the table to put the food. Mox on the other hand, gladly took a sandwich and some water.

Bradford wasn’t going to leave until he got a verbal response from her, so he made himself busy talking with Mox while the man occasionally checked the Commander’s work by test-firing the reassembled guns and fetching her another.

It was time to pick his brain and refresh his mind on how ADVENT and the Freed Hybrids thought. 

Their discussions shifted from ADVENT weaponry care and Skirmisher clan life. Bradford was more interested in the weaponry care as he rarely ever saw a dismantled rifle out in the field, but Mox explained it was a “safety redundancy” for teams that would be out in the fields for weeks to months at the time where there could be no chance to restock via Dropship or ADVENT outpost. Yes, faulty hardware would be quickly replaced, but it was good to know how to perform diagnostic checks and quick repairs on the field.

The talks lasted for another few hours before Mox excused himself to go relieve himself. With Mox gone for some time, Bradford found himself a chair and planted himself near, but not too close, Jynn.

Keeping his mouth firmly shut, as that rage had died down, he could sense a faint tenseness to the air that a mere spark would make it explode again. And those psionics were still visible. Fainter now, but visible. He watched her take apart one of the older guns, an AK-47. Something the crew kept around partially out of nostalgia as it was near useless against ADVENT armor compared to their old conventional weapons and no magnetic weaponry.

A few more parts snapped into place, the rifle hit the table with a hard thud as she let out an annoyed huff.

Closing her eyes tightly, those lips curled on themselves as she took in a sharp breath before letting out another strained yet annoyed huff. Her eyes opened once more, she looked at him.

“You can be a really stubborn bastard, you know that?” Irritation laced her words.

Bradford raised a brow. What a way to start a conversation. ”We have that in common. Most days.”

Her brows twitched, those fingers tightened around the frame of the rifle as her eyes glowed brighter and brighter as that blue psionic energy grew more vibrant around her, whipping around like a roaring fire. 

Bradford shifted in his seat. One foot ready to take off.

Those eyes grew brighter and brighter before she snapped them shut. Her fingers released that death grip on the rifle. Her shoulders fell. Raising her hands to her face, a muffled scream came out for a solid minute. The energy slowed down to a mere flickering flame before fully dissipating. She took in several strained breaths to temper herself before finally uncovering her face.

“Sorry… I… I don’t want to talk about it right now… or for a while… or… ever.” Though irritation was still prevalent in her voice, she seemed calmer.

Bradford settled back down in his seat, but one foot was still turned. Her eyes were still blue.

“Jynn. It’s ok—”

“But I really pissed off the Elders.” Seemed like she wanted to talk.

“How so?” He wouldn’t let the opportunity slip.

Jynn bit at her bottom lip, drawing some blood, as her eyes darted all around the room. What to tell him? Some details she didn’t want to mention right now. “Called out Their trickery and peace bullshit if I return to Them, for starters. And lashed back with my psionics. They really didn’t like that. They ensnared me with Their psionics and riffled through my brain like it was an open book. They want me back, badly.”

Bradford felt a tightness in his neck. “But you broke free before They stole too much info.”

Flinching, as she bit down on her lip far too hard, she licked the area a few times before letting out nervous laughter. “Heh, heh, heh. No.”

That tightness in his throat grew. “No?” Just how much of their information was compromised?

She nervously laughed again. This time she drummed her fingers on the table. “Somehow, someone else helped me break free from Their grasp.” She explained.

He gave her a puzzled look. “What?”

“A Templar… I think that’s what the Elders sneered when he showed up. And then there was someone else. Or something…”

“Templar?” He questioned. That sounded far-fetched but they were still learning about that mysterious faction and their ticks. “Something else?”

“That’s what They growled.” She explained the ghost-like psionic projection that appeared in between her and the Elders, breaking her out of Their ensuring grip. “And the other thing…” She paused. Should she even say it, she wasn’t sure if, during that whole ordeal, she just wasn’t going mad. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there was this other voice, like mine, trying to get me to keep my head on straight. Didn’t heed it too much after what the Elders pulled…” Her voice slipped away not wanting to think of that projection.

Bradford’s eyes narrowed as he listened. He wished she had given more details about the armor, but understood the pain and chaos would have had her ignoring those details. But perhaps showing an image of Templar armor could help her memory. And then the other thing made him raise a brow.

“Maybe you’re subconscious?” He suggested.

“Maybe?” She shook her head. “It felt too aware to be that. I’ll… bring it up with Marin and the others.” She sunk back down in her chair as a sigh slipped out. She wasn’t looking forward to all the testing that would be happening soon. Her hand went to her face and pushed at one of those hidden ports. She winced. There was something there now, a faint bump under the skin that was tender.

“Hm.” He had no more suggestions. Noticing her poking at her face, he nudged that tray of food over to her. “Stop poking and tear into this..”

She hadn’t noticed she was biting again and shyly smiled. She picked up the sandwich and took small bites.

As she was halfway through her meal, Mox had finally come back. She thanked him for his company and for helping her stay as calm as possible before saying he was dismissed. He nodded and made an offer if she needed him again for something like this, not to hesitate to ask. He left.

Jynn finished the rest of her meal in silence before asking him what the time was.

23:12.

She wisely decided it was time to turn in for the day. She needed to restore her energy before she could worry about the incoming mountain of maddening tests and questions she would have to endure for the next few days if not weeks.

With Bradford’s help, they cleaned up the Shooting Range before leaving. Just as they were about to reach the stairs, and before he knew it, Bradford found firm arms wrapping around his chest.

“I’m so sorry.” Jynn’s voice wavered for a moment.

“Sorry for what?” He asked. “Ignoring me? It—”

“For slapping you. Yelling at you. Especially the slapping part…”

It took a moment, but it clicked. “Jynn, it’s oka—.”

“Hush. Just accept the dang nab hug, you git.”

 A snort slipped out. He wisely shut up and just let that hug last for as long as she wanted.

Once he was free, they continued their walk to her Quarters.

———————————

Back in her Quarters, Jynn decided to take a shower before hitting the bed. Knowing Bradford was going to make sure she went to sleep, she gave him orders to prepare her schedule for tomorrow and to add some questions she would have for their future discussions with the Templars. She wasn’t going to forget about that highly unlikely chance meeting in that mindscape.

As she gathered what she needed before going to her bathroom, she found one of Bradford’s clothing stashes and snatched a shirt.

He called her out, asking what she was doing and if she was the reason some of his shirts had gone missing again. She told him she found his shirts to be comfy, even if they engulfed her still thin frame, and liked the smell. Something about the smell helped comfort her stressed mind. He only responded with a raised brow before turning quickly turning his attention back to what he was working on to hide a blushing face.

With clothes in hand, she headed to the showers. It didn’t take her more than 10 minutes to shower and come back out in more relaxed wear. She went over to where Bradford was. He was diligently typing away. She noticed he hadn’t changed yet, but figured he wanted to do his nightly rounds once she was asleep. 

“How’s it looking?” She asked.

“Good.” He nodded. “Nearly done. Had to stop and deal with some info from our contacts. Reports on the areas compromised, which ADVENT most likely pulled from Laney, but no casualties.” He shook his head. Hopefully, they could find her before more info was pulled or she was killed. “And some more leads.”

“Hm, expected, but good. Any updates about the signal from Lily?”

“Yes, traced the signal back to an old abandoned ADVENT factory somewhere between Russia and Mongolia.”

“Hm, so we’ll be heading there once we’re done in North America.” She mumbled. “Put in a request with Volk to see if his crew can do some scouting, since that’s close to his neck of the woods. I would include Fayruz, but with the Silent Striders’ numbers thinned, I know she doesn’t want more attention from ADVENT right now.”

“Already done.”

“And schedule a meeting sometime soon with the Senior Staff before meeting with the Templars. Need to discuss,” she paused as a sigh slipped out, “what happened today and more things about my questionable health and what the hell the Elders did to me.” It was a discussion she didn’t want to have but knew leaving the crew in the dark would be a bad idea. At least most of the Senior Staff understood what she was going through. Just a handful were more judgmental since they didn’t have the same rapport with her as the others. “Maybe in a day or two?”

He nodded. “You want to do that so soon?”

“Better get it done now than never tell.” She said. “And everyone’s been keeping their lips shut on the more concerning info about me. They deserve to know, especially if the Elders sink their psionic talons back into my mind and control me.”

“Jynn…” He shook his head. Not something he wanted to imagine.

“It’s a risk. You and those who know aren’t always around to notice and snap me out of it. More of the upper staff knowing would help. Better them than a massive slip-up happening and the whole crew finding out.”

“Right… You have a point…” He didn’t want to admit it but she was right. “Former ADVENT staff, especially the soldiers and experiments have a hard enough time… If they found out what the Elders used you for…”

“There would be a mutiny.”

His typing came to a halt as grumbling came out. “It took forever to get Alberich and his gaggle of loons to stop trying to poison Maurice and some others… and that picked back when Mox joined. And to think we’ll be adding some more Hybrids to the crew soon… The trouble they could cause.”

She wrinkled her nose at the mention of the name. “Exactly. ”

“I’ll get on it.” He got started drafting the message. “And that reminds me some talks need to be had with those troublemakers. For the ones that come back to the ship.”

Jynn rolled her as she sucked air through her teeth and made a few annoyed clicks. In a way, she didn’t mind if that group was shifted to the role of bolstering Havens and Cells across the globe, but knew they would be too much of a liability. She could see them having loose lips to get the formerly ADVENT affiliated killed if they could get away with it.

Jynn lingered over his shoulder a little longer, giving her input here and there, until Bradford finished and ushered her to bed.

As she got settled, he pulled a chair next to her bed and sat down.

“Tomorrow’s going to be so busy.” She grumbled as she fluffed, more or so, punched her pillows. She paused for a moment, and looked at it, before grabbing it and pushing it against her face. 

She screamed and cursed for a few minutes. Bradford did his best to not make a single snicker.

Once the screaming stopped, she dropped the pillow from her hands and let out a more relaxed sigh.

“Feeling better?” He asked. The corners of his mouth were twitching. “Your eyes are nearly brown again.” Looked like the last traces of her psionic energy were cooling down.

“Somewhat.” She shrugged. “Gosh darn, I want to shoot something, but this will do.”

“Hopefully, in a few weeks, you’ll be cleared to handle small arms on the Shooting Range. I’ll set up all the Elder targets you want.” He grinned.

A faint smile appeared on her face. That sounded good. “Hold you to that.”

It took her some more time to get settled before she was finally lying down, but found herself tossing and turning for minutes. Her mind just wouldn’t turn off. In a way, she was terrified of falling asleep. Would there be nightmares? What if those Elders dragged her off to the hellscape again?

Flipping over again, she looked at Bradford. He was still there, one leg crossed over the knee of the other as he was looking at his tablet. 

“John…” She called out to him. There was a waver to her voice.

“Yes?” Hearing the shifting of sheets, glanced up from his tablet. He saw she was sitting up again and beckoning for him to come over. Getting up, he turned his tablet off and tossed it in the chair before going over to her. Just as he was within arm’s reach, she lurked forward; with a firm grip on his arm, she pulled him down and wrapped herself around him.

“Jynn!” He wasn’t expecting the sudden grab and the equivalent of a Viper coiling around him. He struggled to break from her grip until he heard sniffling and felt his chest grow wet. Crap.

“Sorry… I… I.” Her grip on him only tightened. “I really need this. I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to sleep.” Her voice broke down into crying whispers. “I don’t want to sleep.”

He stopped struggling. Instead, he did his best to slip his arms from her grip to better embrace her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I won’t leave.” That explained everything.

It didn’t take long before she completely broke down and just cried into his chest and occasionally made mention of the Elders potentially bothering her again and pulling Their twisted tricks. She let slip out about what They did in that brief meeting. The promise of returning her family. It made his blood boil. He just held her tight and did what he could to keep her calm.

Even once she calmed down, tiring herself out from all the crying, her sleep was restless. She constantly tossed and turned, occasionally waking up with a startled yell before passing out again just as quickly. It took a lot of reassuring words and squeezes from Bradford before she had some semblance of rest.

Bradford felt like he could finally breathe a sigh of relief when she had a solid two hours of no movement. 

He took a risk getting his tablet. It took some delicate finagling, removing her lobster grip on his arm, but he was able to get up and fetch his tablet. With it in hand, he sent out some messages to the Senior Staff about his delays for the morning as his whole schedule was going to be thrown off, making sure Jynn got some decent sleep. And then he needed to sleep. Once the messages were all sent, he checked up on some information about whatever was going on around the ship. Everything was looking good.

As he was double-checking the internal network for any more updates, he was thinking about finally getting up to go take a shower himself. As he scrolled through updates and messages, those lids grew heavy. He barely had a chance to fight the growing tiredness before the tablet slipped from his fingers. It all hit him at once and he was out like a light. The day’s excitement had finally slammed into him. And the Commander’s bed was comfy.

His falling asleep there wasn’t a bad thing. That protective brain of his was still active. Feeling the slightest shift and frightened murmur from Jynn, he instinctively moved, pulled her into a hug, and held her tight. That quieted her murmurs, allowing her mind to be a peace for the night.

[the-fiction-witch]

Christmas Meal

Media Doctor Who Human Nature / Family of Blood

Character Timothy Latimer (Age up)

Couple Timothy X Reader

Rating Cute

Fictional Advent day ten

I hurried myself around our little cottage, rushing around moving pots and pans, trays and bowls, all to make everything for dinner today, little Elis and Oliver playing with their new toys by the fire as I worked to get everyone fed. 

"How's it going, sweetie?" Tim asked as he came over and gave me a kiss

"Uhhhh you know busy" I answered taking the potatoes to the table, 

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm fine"

"You sure? nothing at all?"

"Well you could do the dishes, Timothy" 

"No problem" He smiled going and doing the dishes for me so I had one less thing to worry about, and finally I finished with dinner laying the last bowl on the table "Aww looks beautiful"

"Thank you Tim" I smiled "Kids! dinner!" I called and of course, they rushed over excited for their Christmas meal Elis ran to Timothy so he could help her up into her seat so I took my own seat and we all sat in our seats, "Shall we say grace?"

"absolutely bow your heads," He told the kids and they happily did "Bless us for this wonderful Christmas meal, made by the most beautiful lady in the world" He explained 

I opened my eyes to glare at him a little 

"And we are very thankful for all the good work she did, Riht?"

"Yes daddy!" Both kids giggled 

"Good, and we are thankful for our presents?"

"Yes daddy!"

"Good. and we hope the snow stays pretty. Amen."

"Amen" They both giggled 

So timothy and the kids happily opened their eyes and began eating "Adorable" I giggled 

"Thank you mummy, really" Elis smiled

"You're all very welcome" I smiled "Go on before it gets cold."  

[sanguinerot]

The Advent of Ruin: The Leviathan

In the end, the Leviathan made certain to slay himself.

For a moment, the battlefield fell silent as high above on the clifftops the flash of purple light from the array dimmed and the outline of two figures could be seen. The air was still as the Leviathan staggered backwards, first half a step in shock as the lacerations from the array all opened in his flesh at once, and then a second, more sure step as the blood began to flow. It was quiet as he barked out a laugh that shook the heavens, and quiet as he flung his blade against the stones underfoot.

“Well.” His last words were almost irreverent, and echoed like thunder. “That was unexpected.”

He smiled, and staggered a few more steps back, leaving pools of blood behind him. “It’s been fun, Nara,” he said to his opponent, who happened to be the leader of the esteemed Lordhouse Xiour. Without any further ceremony, he then flung himself off of the edge of the cliff, and it was only when his body broke upon the rocks that the soldiers began to cheer, a cacophony so powerful that it drowned out the sea.

In the end, they said his ego was so great that he couldn’t bear the thought of anybody else slaying such a legendary foe. Some argued that he simply refused to allow credit for his death to go to Lordhouse Xiour. Rumors swirled that he had not truly died, and to quell the whispers the Great Lordhouses paraded his corpse through the nine cities one by one until all were satisfied. Temple priests tore apart his corpse and ground the bones to meal, then burnt the flesh to ash and separated it into urns that were then entrusted each to one of the nine Great Lordhouses, so that he may never return.

The Leviathan, Ruin made Flesh, had been slain, and not a soul was eager for his death to somehow be undone.

In Durendal county, over which the Lordhouse Xiour reigned, there sat a summerhouse that had been empty for years, attended to only by a lone servant that had served the incumbent seat of the house since he was a child. She dared not step inside save to dust and clean, for Lord Xiour got terribly upset if anything was out of order, even though the house had long since been almost entirely emptied. Save for the Lord himself, she was the only one privy to the location of the Xiour’s portion of the Leviathan’s remains. The urn within which his last bodily remains were bound sat nestled gently in the very back room of the home, resting upon a shrine alongside incense, candles, a stack of letters unopened and a bottle of Ludus wine with two glasses upon which the faintest impression of lips could still be seen.

Today, the servant stood obsequiously to the side as Lord Xiour sat before the shrine with his head bowed, knees folded beneath him. In his hands, he held a letter sealed with deep purple wax upon which a dove had been imprinted, and he very carefully placed it atop the stack of other letters just like it, taking care to set it just so. Once every season he came down to the summer home and offered his letters to the urn that would never write back, and he had done so for the last five years with unshakable diligence, through post war civil strife and governmental scandal and worse. She had never seen him fail, and to her credit had never questioned him, even as he poured himself a glass of wine and quietly drank it, gazing at the urn all the while.

The Lord Xiour and the Leviathan, after all, had once been very close. She recalled a time where they had slept in this very room together, whispering beneath their blankets and pretending to be asleep whenever she had come by to mind them. She recalled them as teenagers, rambunctiously dueling in the courtyard and going out to play with the hounds on the flimsy excuse of hunting. She recalled them sulking when the former Lord Xiour had caught them hastily attempting to reassemble an obviously broken heirloom. It was impossible to imagine what the current Lord Xiour recalled as he stared at the urn.

Once a season, every season. It played out like a favorite chapter in a children's story. She turned her head and looked away politely as Nara rose to his feet and set his glass down upon the shrine once more, the imprint of his lips once again fresh, and she pretended not to hear him as he spoke very quietly, using a name that had long since been forbidden by imperial decree.

“Until next time, Waylan.”