#eaton center

[obsessedbyneon]

Eaton Center, Toronto. Urban Commercial Space 51 - Process Architecture (1984)

Scan

[babakca]

Down Town Toronto - June 8 2024. #streetPhotography. Film Mission

[appareladdicted]

Downtown Toronto Yonge Street Walk

[rabbitcruiser]

The first shopping mall opened in Southfield, Michigan on March 22, 1954.

[ilguna]

Hey! I love your work so much. Can you do 4 with four (tobias) from divergent ?

☼ succeed (tobias eaton) ☼

warnings; swearing, fighting, blood mention.

wc; 2.4k

prompt; 4. "Why do you sacrifice so much for me?"

notes; tweaked canon, obviously. not really noticeable unless you’re a huge fan.

--

Dauntless initiation is—unsurprisingly—far from what you thought it would be. To be fair, you’re not entirely sure what exactly you were expecting in the first place. All you know was that you were going to be in for a ride when they made you jump on and off of a moving train directly after transferring. 

This gave you a clue of what was to come, of course, but you took it in a different direction. If they wanted to see how daring you could be by risking your lives, then maybe that meant you’d be doing dangerous tasks throughout the rest of the month. 

On the first day, you assumed that you’d be learning how to throw away your inhibitions and solely rely on your instincts. An idea that isn’t incredibly outlandish when it comes to Dauntless. After all, they’re the ones in charge of security and wall perimeter—the jobs that can end up being deadly.

This is why you didn’t have a significant reaction when you were informed by Four that they’d be introducing you to self-defense. They proceeded to hang you a gun, gave you a target, and told you to shoot until your bullets were gone. And after lunch, they brought you to a large room where you were taught how to properly fight an opponent.

This is when reality had begun to set in. They were not teaching you this in case the situation ever arose, but because they wanted you to use it in the coming week. You’re going to be forced to defend yourself, whether you like it or not. They were just being courteous enough to teach you how to, first.

You didn’t figure this out until yesterday when you saw the chalkboard. While it had previously been devoid of writing, it suddenly held a list of names side by side, pairing initiates up together. For the first few minutes, you were under the impression that it was for sparring.

When they sent Al and Will into the center circle together, instructed to fight one another, you looked at Four. You found his eyes already on you, arms crossed over his chest, face hard. In that moment, you remembered all of his warnings for you to pay close attention to the way he’d been throwing his kicks and punches.

It’s not like you were ignoring him, but you did continuously brush him off because he was being overbearing. He must’ve taken this as you just being a know-it-all Erudite, leaving you to figure it out on your own. You’d have to learn one way or another that your logic wouldn’t help.

When really, you hadn’t heard him when he said that you’d be fighting your fellow initiates. 

You were a deer in headlights when the rules were explained. In these fights, you are to keep going until one of you is unable to continue. And while you could concede, it won’t be done without going unpunished. In the old rules, a brave man can acknowledge the strength of others. In the new rules, made by the newest Dauntless leader, a brave man never surrenders.

You think Four may have recognized that a mistake was made. He was quick to come up with an escape, albeit at the cost of your pride. He called you out in the middle of Eric’s explanation, telling you not to be sick on the floor unless you wanted to clean it. All you had to say was that breakfast wasn’t settling well, and you were excused to go sit down with a trash can.

With there being ten initiates in your group, there should’ve been five fights. You sat out, making it four, but none of you made it past the second one. Will and Al fought just fine, Al even won. The next fight to happen was Christina and Molly, which was following the same pattern as the first fight, until Christina decided that she wanted to concede.

That’s when you were informed that a punishment would go along with it. Eric was pissed, dragging Christina all the way to the chasm in the Pit that hangs above the river, barking at the rest of you to follow. He then made her climb to the other side of the railing and forced her to hold on to the bridge by her hands until he was satisfied.

When she didn’t fall to her death, you were dismissed for the rest of the day. This destroyed your plan of analyzing the fighting techniques of the others to figure out what you’re supposed to do. To make up for it, you thought you could come practice in the middle of the night, but the doors were locked.

So, to put it lightly, you’re screwed. The only way to learn now is from the fights that will be taking place, and even then you’ll still be at a disadvantage no matter how you approach it.

As soon as you step foot into the training room, your eyes find the chalkboard, curious to who you’ve been paired up with today. Yesterday, it was supposed to be Tris, the Abnegation transfer. She would’ve been a good first fight to figure out how you want to be in the ring, but that opportunity has passed.

Today, you are given more of a challenging opponent—Peter.

“Oh no,” A voice says, you glance over your shoulder to see that Christina is limping her way over to Tris. Her face is fairly bruised from the beating she received from Molly yesterday. “At least you aren’t paired with Peter.”

Both of them look in your direction, and you accidentally lock eyes with Christina for a moment. You press your lips together in disgust and turn away, no longer interested in their conversation. You are not a member of Erudite anymore, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop seeing you that way. Not until you prove to them that you’re not snot-nosed. 

You turn your attention to Peter, who’s got a good few inches on you. Which wouldn’t be an issue, much less have you worried, if he didn’t have the muscle he does. This fight could easily go two ways, but you have a feeling it’s leaning in his favor more than yours. 

“Maybe she can just take a few hits and pretend to go unconscious.” Al suggests loud enough for you to hear. “No one would blame her.”

You grit your teeth at the idea of taking the cowards way out, something that you won’t be doing, no matter how tempting it is. Even if it does work out in your favor, there’s no telling what Eric will do to you when he figures out that you’d faked it. While he made Christina hang from the chasm by her hands, he’d tell you to do something much worse. Or kick you out of initiation altogether for not having the Dauntless heart.

Which isn’t true. You belong here.

Fortunately, you and Peter are not the first fight of the day, it’s Edward and Molly. You might as well be, though. The pair of you are listed directly underneath them. You think that you’d even prefer being the first to go. If you could get it out of the way, you would.

As you mindlessly watch Edward and Molly, you try to pick out some of their moves to remember with Peter. Four had taught the group of you the basics to get started, he never said that you couldn’t mix in what you know as well. Which is nothing, because you’ve never got into a fight before. There was never a need to.

The personalization works out in Edward’s favor. The technique that Molly had used yesterday on Christina is fairly predictable. On top of that, she’s not fast enough to keep up with Edward’s pace. It’s only a matter of minutes before she’s beaten near-unconscious. That’s when Drew and Peter work together to peel her off of the wooden floor and to the nearest wall to recover.

In the short time you have, you take a couple of deep breaths, shaking your hands to rid the anxious energy that’s fueling your body. You make eye contact with Four briefly, and in this time, he gives you a solid nod. He’s confident in your abilities, more so than you are. It’s a shame that you’re probably going to let him down.

Still, you walk your way to the white circle, standing at one end of it while you wait for Peter. When he finally turns his attention to you,. There’s a smile spread across his face, 

“You okay there, Blowhard?” Peter teases, you can almost feel your eyes bulge out of your head at the nickname. “You look like you’re about to cry. I might go easy on you if you cry.”

“Did you just call me a Blowhard?” You sputter out a laugh. “What does that make you, a Crybaby?”

You look past Peter, at Four, who’s standing side-by-side with Eric. His face is twisted, focused hard on the two of you in the ring. Eric, on the other hand, is tapping his foot quickly, impatience shining through.

Peter raises his hands by his face, elbows and knees bent as he begins to prepare for the fight. “Come on, (Y/n). Just one little tear. Maybe some begging.”

Without warning, you swing your leg at his side, intending to land a kick. He’s prepared for this, grabbing your ankle and yanking you forward, pulling you off balance. You land on your back, but quickly twist to get back to your feet, fists returning, readying yourself.

“Stop playing with her.” Eric suddenly snaps. “I don’t have all day.”

This is enough for Peter, as the amused look on his face disappears. His movement is one giant blur, but the pain in your jaw is sharp, as it continues to spread across your face. For a moment, bright white stars and a black void flow across your vision, taking your balance with it. 

You blink rapidly, backing away from Peter as you try to get the room to stop swaying. This lasts for a few seconds at most, because Peter is moving just as quickly as Edward had been. He appears in front of you, foot slamming into your stomach, stealing the air from your lungs. 

You clutch your ribs as you fight through the pain in your abdomen. Peter takes this as an invitation to come closer, but you’re expecting this. You catch his fist as you slide your foot between his legs, tripping him. Instead of falling forward, you throw him back, twisting his arm in the process.

You land on your knees hard. The dull pain is at the front of your thoughts for a second before you’ve got your first slamming into Peter’s nose. You get two hits in, then he takes a fistful of hair at the back of your head, yanking. He repays the favor by punching you in the nose.

It doesn’t matter how hard you kick or slap, because he’s got a tight grip. The next hit he lands is to your ribs, in the same place that you’d been holding onto moments prior. You open your mouth, letting out a strangled cry, and a metallic taste spreads over your tongue. One word comes to mind; blood.

He lets go of your hair, shoving you away. You land on your palms, gasping through your lips, eyes blurry with tears as you search the ground for the white paint. You begin to crawl away, wanting to put some distance between the two of you while you take a breath, but he grabs your ankle, dragging you back toward him.

He draws his foot back, and despite knowing what’s coming, you don’t move in time, letting the toe of his shoe sink into your skin. You cough, the next few seconds are agonizing as you forget how to breathe, like a fish out of water.

“That’s enough.” Four’s voice breaks through the silence. “Get her out.”

“She’s still moving.” Eric tells him. “She gets out when she can no longer go on.”

Your eyes roll to the back of your head when you move to roll over. You won’t play pretend, you refuse to take the easy way out. You are not an Erudite anymore, you won’t run. You’re going to fight.

Somehow you manage to get to your feet, fists raised, eyes barely focusing on Peter long enough to keep track of him. You gather the blood in your mouth, spitting it at his feet.

“Come at me, you little bitch.” You murmur.

Peter flies across the circle, fist coming at your face. You manage to catch it with one hand, and with the other, you slap him with an open palm. The sound of skin-on-skin fills the air, there’s a few audible gasps in the room.

It’s over, you think. Just before Peter knocks your lights out.

When you come back to Earth, you’re suspended in the air, swaying from side to side. You’ve never been motion sick before, but the dizziness is so hard to handle that this is enough to send you over the edge.

“‘M gonna be sick.” You mutter.

The world stops moving for a second, and then you’re placed on your feet. Your hands reach for something to hold on to as support. They come into contact with another hand, which you wrap your fingers around tightly as your breakfast comes back up as a liquid.

When you’re done, you turn to face the person who had just been holding you in their arms. You’re met with Four, who has his eyebrows raised, waiting for you to say something.

“Thank you.” You whisper.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“For putting me down.” You breathe, leaning over with your hands on your knees. “And for trying to get me out of there. And for delaying my fight yesterday.”

When you look at him again, there’s a softer look on his face, different from the scowl that you’re used to seeing. He reaches over, rubbing a hand over your back. “It’s okay, (Y/n).”

“You could’ve gotten in trouble with Eric.” You say, shaking your head as you move to stand straighter. “Why do you sacrifice so much for me?”

Four opens his mouth, and then closes it. It’s silent between the two of you for a minute as he decides how he wants to respond. Or maybe he’s thinking that you’ll change the subject. With your persistence, he sighs.

“Because you’re different.” 

--

this was part of my 3k celeberation!!

[haggishlyhagging]

Women were also regularly employed in brewing, at least as much as men. Medieval peasants drank rather a lot of small (or low-alcohol) beer and ale. In the tenth-century Alfric's Colloguy, which records theoretical dialogues between a teacher and his students, one young man states, "I drink ale, usually, if I drink at all, and water if I have no ale. . . . I am not rich enough to be able to buy myself wine: Wine is not a drink for boys or fools but for old men and wise men." By the late medieval period, in brewing centers such as České Budejovice, from whence the name Budweiser comes, beer was being made on a large enough scale that it was being exported to Bavaria.

Medieval people desired to drink beer and ale not because water was unsafe, but because farmwork is extremely hard. Small beer and ale added additional calories to their daily uptake in an enjoyable way. Although the wealthy were probably able to procure professionally made and imported beers, most people, especially in the earlier medieval period, made their own ale or bought it from nearby producers. Ale was brewed primarily from barley and did not include the hops of beer, which meant it could not be stored for long before going off. As such, those who wanted ale had to be constantly brewing it to ensure a steady supply, making brewing a very common cottage industry. Women who brewed for their families would often brew excess for sale, allowing them to bring in a bit of money. Because brewing was a craft that could be learned at home, women could be employed as brewers in larger commercial breweries.

We find women in the brewing trade consistently: records show them paying taxes on their gains from brewing, and registering with the authorities who oversaw standards. When someone performed below these standards, they were frequently written up, so we can find the women who were not meeting them. The Durham Court Rolls from 1365 record that Agnes Postell and Alice de Belasis were fined twelve denarii for selling bad ale, about the equivalent of two days' work for a skilled craftsman. Similarly Alice de Belasis was separately fined two shillings, or the equivalent of five days wages, for poor-quality ale, which a court proved had no strength at all. Punishments for brewing bad ale could range from fines to ritualized humiliation. In England, the Domesday Book first recorded the use of the cucking stool (which would become the ducking stool in the early modern period) in Chester to punish those who sold bad ale or ale in incorrect measures. They would be forced to sit in a chair out side their home and be jeered at by locals. Fourteenth-century Scottish laws noted that any alewife who made "evil ale" was either fined "eight shillings" or placed in the cucking stool, a nod to women as the primary brewers in the region who could face the largely gendered humiliation as a result.

We also learn of women in the brewing profession through records of accidents. For example, one coroner's roll indicates that at around noon on October 2, 1270, Amice Belamy was carrying a tub full of gruit, an agent for flavoring ale, with Sibyl Bonchevaler at her work in Lady Juliana de Beauchamp's brewhouse in Staple, Eaton Socon. As they went to dump the gruit into the boiling vat of beer, Amice slipped and fell into it and was trapped by the tub that fell on top of her. "Sibyl immediately jumped towards her, dragged her from the vat and shouted; the household came and found her scalded almost to death. She was given the last rites of the church and died on the day following. This harrowing story reminds us what a physically tasking and dangerous job brewing, especially in large quantities, could be.

This episode is also interesting because the two women were working for another woman, and a lady at that, Juliana de Beauchamp. Brewing was commonly associated with women across class lines, since the brewhouse is listed as belonging to the Lady Juliana. All in all, during these years a woman was just as likely to be brewing ale as a man, if not more likely in some instances.

-Eleanor Janega, The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

so.

i have been informed hocus pocus 2 exists

the way i was informed was by this booth at the eaton center with actresses you can pose around and i was in my fancier walkin around outfit and well

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Pro-Palestine protestors shutting down Zara and Indigo stores at the Eaton Center in Montreal (I think). A part of the Shut Down Boxing Day campaign. In conjunction with protests. December 26th 2023.

- Hussein.

[marzipanandminutiae]

Madame Marzi I must defer to ur wisdom

Recently you rb’d a painting with some younger ladies and in the tags talked a bit about short hair in Victorian Times

Do you have any reference for how shorter hair was styled at the time? I’ve seen plenty of paintings and such with VERY short hair (post illness or perhaps childbirth) where all you can really do is smooth it back, but what about that awkward, past the shoulders sort of stage where it’s too long to just brush back but too short to do much to? Surely they had some styling guides..?

(Also, a side question— how old would one be before going from shorter skirts to adult/full length ones?)

The two little girls in the garden (probably preteens-young teens)? Yes, I did!

It's hard to find images of women with in-between hair lengths, and I'm not sure why. Possibly because they'd find ways to put it up with false hair, whereas hair too short to put up is more obvious in photos. This could also have to do with the type of woman who has pixie- or bob-length hair voluntarily vs. mid-length: the latter is more likely to be attempting a grow-out, and thus to try her darndest to do The Culturally Accepted Long Hair StylesTM where a lady who chose a much shorter look wouldn't care. If that makes sense? Because, indeed, some of the women with very short hair were not ill or postpartum: ladies could, and did, choose to eschew long locks back then. It wasn't very common, but it happened.

(Nicole Rudolph has an excellent video about localized short hair trends for ladies during the Victorian era.)

You see a lot of these bob-type looks in photographs where the hair is center-parted and either naturally curly or curled on purpose, around the mid-19th century:

(1850s or 60s)

(Author, feminist, and abolitionist Anna Elizabeth Dickinson- no relation to Emily that I know of, though Anna was also a queer female writer around the same era -c. 1860s. She wore her hair short all her life, so it was voluntary in this case.)

(Also 1860s.)

Pre-Raphaelite muse Fanny Eaton frequently appears to have chin-to-shoulder length hair, though given that she was Black with a corresponding hair texture, it's hard to tell what the actual length is- it may be long and looped up in the 1850s-60s styles popular when she was most commonly painted (most free Black women in England and the US wore styles also popular with white women, to the best of their abilities given that fashion plates assumed European-textured hair as the "norm"):

(Fanny Eaton, 1861. Also worth noting that we have no images of what her hair looked like when she wasn't posing for fantastical paintings.)

I've never actually seen an image of a Victorian woman with mid-length hair outside the context of theatrical or artistic images from the end of the century, now I think of it. Huh. It's a mystery, I suppose!

As for skirts, while in earlier periods children had basically worn miniature adult clothing, it became fashionable around the 1830s-40s to dress girls in short skirts and boys in short pants. The usual rule was knee-length until around age 10, then mid-calf-length until somewhere between 16 and 18 when skirts would be "let down" and the girl would start wearing her hair up, becoming a young adult in the eyes of society. (Contrary to popular belief, this had nothing to do with marriage- while you were theoretically eligible for it when you started dressing as an adult, girls/women younger than 20 were still often considered a bit too immature to marry. It wasn't forbidden, but many people thought it unwise. And yes, unmarried young women did still wear their hair up and their skirts long.)

...unless she preferred her hair short, which as you can see, was an option!

[strange-aeons]

hello strange. here is my friends and i getting pictures with santa at the eaton center, thought you would enjoy. they never let you sit in strange non chair locations at the eaton center :( it just doesn't feel the same standing up or in the food court

You guys look great also I am obsessed with your censorship technique.

Right!! It’s the only mall in Toronto with a hot topic but I remember being bothered by security for fucking SITTING so many times as a university student so there was no way I was gonna be able to film the mall goths video there. Instead u get the dufferin mall pocket dimension which is (I think?) the only mall in Toronto with a Cinnabon. So. Harsh competition.

[incyrayinc]

some thoughts on what kinds of body variety these guys could have!

I don't think I'm ready to design ethnicities for these guys yet (though seeing what other's have come up with for their spec guys, such as Styllwaters' Knights, Jay Eaton's Centaurs, ect. has me wanting do that eventually), but I think I'm doing a decent job laying down some body variety groundwork c:

Also yessiree I put the axis of rotation on their planet 'sideways',,, because it's a rogue planet where everybody lives underground... they have no seasons, and no star, so I don't think it'd really matter to them how it's 'oriented' anyway! Also, since they live in very 3 dimensional caverns, I decided they'd need a way to describe movement along the Y as well as X and Z axis... so, in additional to north, south, east, west, they have words that describe movement away from or towards their planet's center (otherwise known as 'up' and 'down', but they think about it a little different that humans, since they are much more keenly aware that they are orbiting their mantle when they move around on the X and Z axis's).

I imagine they readily abbreviate the combination terms, like I sometimes contract 'northeast' into abominations like 'neast'... probably, they'd have fucked up smashed together words that when translated into english, would end up sounding like 'northeastcoreward' into 'neastcord'...

[babakca]

Old Bus Terminal on Bay  & Eaton Center. June 2023.  Photos BABAK. Toronto 

[appareladdicted]

Eaton Centre Toronto

[dominimoonbeam]

To The Edge

This work is mine and I do not give consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted without my permission. I am sharing chapters as I work on this story but it is copyrighted material that I plan to rework and publish when completed.

story tags: scifi romance, hijinks in space, rogues learning to trust, violence, blood, guns, death, explicit language, so much kidnapping,

Works organized and easily found over on the patreon. <3

TO THE EDGE - CHAPTER 7.

Styx wasn’t what Stardust had expected.

When they’d envisioned a lawless trading outpost adrift beyond the charted edge of space, they’d imagined thriving debauchery—red light districts, fruit bars, and endless stalls of unregulated goods.

Walking the plaza of the repurposed military station, they realized their imaginings had been more in line with Cache, the largest casino in the galaxy, which was laughable because there was nothing outwardly illegal about Cache.

Styx wasn’t really lawless either. Stardust spotted the cameras along the corridors funneling off the plaza down the long arms for parking ships and the entrances to residential districts. People lived here. The shops weren’t just fun fronts for the amusement of travelers, they were businesses cultivated and run by real people. There were kids—families. Had they fled to the edge to escape the solar court? To escape justice or debt? Or had they been born out here?

Stardust winced at the sight of a small child laughing and running circles around a parent’s legs.

There were stories about the dangers of having kids outside the SC and Eaton. Slaving wasn’t legal in any of the governing bodies of space…but unregistered people off world weren’t really the problem of any of those governing bodies. As long as no one brought them home, no law in the stars would bat an eye. They called it wreckage. They called them wreckage.

Stardust stole glances into the shops, trying to look like they’d been there before and weren’t gawking at everything new and different from the prime. They’d been born and raised in the center of the galaxy, on worlds that became stranger and stranger in contrast to the places they had seen in the months since fleeing for their life. What they knew of the worlds and stations beyond the prime quad had been learned from classrooms and soap operas.

Everyone loved a good trashy story about one of their own being stranded or tricked into the deep where they found themselves at the whim of an incredibly attractive brute.

That was not the reality—not that Stardust had been looking for it. The pirates had been assholes, barely more than idiot children with a language of violence, and Cosmic…

Cosmic wasn’t what they had expected to find in the deep either.

Stardust scrubbed a hand over their face, trying not to think about him taped to the chair back on his ship. He was fine. He wasn’t going to die just because they left him sitting there for a while. They’d find a new ship—a way back on course—and he’d be fine.

First, they needed to access their accounts.

They finally spotted a café full of screens, some people laid out in chairs with visors on, cables in their necks, or just light swirling in their irises as their minds drifted far away. Others sat at consoles, fingers dancing over lightboards or keyboards.

The disconnection of their optic implant this far from charted space had been jarring at first, the quiet of not getting constant messages, updates, notifications, and calls was disconcerting. They’d never felt alone like this before. They could still use the apps: vision upgrades, language translators, and files of images and recordings. They’d spent a lot of their time in the cramped cargo hold of that pirate vessel rewatching episodes of their favorite drama and playing endless rounds of mahjong solitaire.

They found an available console and sat down.

A synthetic leaning behind the café counter eyed them, light strobing across his cheek, like lightning under his skin. Their console turned on, offering them access for four minutes to start a tab before it would be shut off.

They tapped keys, syncing their implant and sighing with relief when the whole universe seemed to come into reach again. Paying the tab was not a problem. They put in an order for a coffee and a strawberry bun and then started sifting through their mail.

They had dozens of messages from Genesis, pretending to be worried about them—wanting to know where they had gone and promising to help protect them from the other cousins. It was a lie, of course. Genesis was a silver-tongued monster. Did he think they didn’t know? They weren’t some stranger who hadn’t seen the bloodshed of his games.

Tansy, on the other hand, hadn’t felt the need to lie. She was hunting Stardust and had sent just one message, offering to let them live when it was done if they surrendered.

Stardust was a poor excuse for a Solinoh, but they still wouldn’t surrender. It wasn’t in their blood to yield, and it was an insult that Tansy had even suggested it.

They grabbed one of the blank plastic cards from a stack to the side and placed it on the keypad, moving money from an account onto it. It would have to do for now. They’d considered getting a long-range upgrade for their implant, but weren’t sure if their cousins could track them by it if they did. Their family had a skill for acquiring inventors and new tech. Maybe it was better to stay low for a while?

They were about to place a call when a figure stepped up beside them, just inside their little space of imagined privacy. A large, clear, glass nestled onto a saucer was placed beside their keyboard. The foam atop the cappuccino bulged, stretching the limits of physics by not spilling over. No hand but a synthetic one could have carried it without disrupting it. Stardust doubted they’d be able to lift it for a sip without making a mess.

The barista waited.

Stardust cocked their head back to look up at him. They’d expected charm and flirtation on that artificial, perfect face now that they’d started a tab and clearly had the funds for it. That was how synthetics had worked the last time they’d seen any in the prime. They’d been big smiles or politely lowered heads.

The synthetic looked just as unimpressed as he had behind the bar. He hadn’t lowered his head to look down at them where they sat either, he’d just shifted those starless black eyes down the slope of his cheeks.

Stardust flushed, reminded why there were no more synthetics in the prime. It had been cycles since the wars, but those wars had been almost a decade of fighting and dying across the solar court… outside the prime, of course. When word of synthetics turning on their creators spread, when those first acts of revolt stained the prime worlds, the golden center of the galaxy had done what it always did—protect itself from all others.

It seemed like overnight, all the synthetics in the prime had disappeared.

Stardust remembered it with discomfort, especially under those manmade eyes. Could he see it on them? Their family and friends had been upset in those first years of the Synthetic Wars because of the trouble it had caused them. They had to let lower-class humans back into the prime, back into their homes and onto their ships, to do all the jobs the synthetics had been doing before them. The consolation had been that it was cheaper to pay a human than it had cost to buy the synth.

Stardust suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore.

Another strobe of light shimmered under the skin of his face and this time Stardust was at an angle to see those pastel colors reflected in the blacks of his eyes—creating stars in that night.

As though he saw it—saw how their stomach had turned—he placed the second plate with the strawberry bun beside their coffee. The dishes bumped and the coffee overflowed the edge, pooling in the saucer. His mouth twitched with a smile and Stardust tried not to marvel at it—at him. It had been so long since they’d seen a synthetic that they’d somehow forgotten how incredibly real their design had become. It was beyond uncanny valley and onto something else. It wasn’t just perfection, it was better than that. There was a quirk to his smile and a menace to the beauty of his face.

It seemed humans had done what they always did. They made things better than themselves and lost control of it.

Looking at a synthetic didn’t feel like looking at something that wasn’t quite human… it felt like looking at something humans wanted to become.

“You’re going to get yourself killed if you stay here too long,” he said, a drawl to his deep voice that rolled under the hum of music and keystrokes in the room.

Stardust didn’t look away, pitching an eyebrow. “Are you threatening me?”

His smirk remained. “Don’t tempt me, Solinoh.”

Stardust’s stomach lurched, suddenly realizing he was between them and the exit. Did it matter? They couldn’t outrun him if they tried. Maybe if they hit him with something…

The synthetic scoffed. “Handle your business and go. I don’t want to see you in here again. I don’t need you dying in my place.”

His place?

Heat rushed their face. They’d just assumed he worked there. No, that wasn’t true. They’d assumed he belonged to the building or to the owner.

Fuck.

He nodded like he knew it, that gaze flicking over them again. “And when you’re done here, go to the catwalk and get some better clothes. Your mortal ass isn’t long for this world and even I’d be disappointed to see you die in sweatpants.”

Stardust wasn’t sure if that was a joke or just the truth, either way, they nodded in agreement.

Light strobed across his cheek and his expression changed. They caught the start of a true smile when he turned toward the opening to greet a trio of synthetics.

Stardust forced their gaze down to the coffee on their table, refusing to gawk at these people. He was right, though, if they were that easily identified by synthetics, they needed to get moving.

They placed a call while they were still connected. The camera on the screen lit up to film them but when the call connected, the scene they watched was in their implant only, projected like a screen but only for their eyes.

Cornelius answered on the first ring, a sign that Stardust had truly rattled their friend because Cor never answered on the first ring as a rule. They were lucky if he answered at all.

“You’re alive!” Cor whisper-yelled, hurrying to get someplace private. Strings of diamonds swayed and tangled from the circlet around his head, the front strands framing his cheeks while others stretched the length of his neck, gleaming against smooth dark skin. The background sounds were warped, automatically filtered out by his implant. “Where are you? Your family has been crawling all over me looking for you. I mean, I don’t mind some of them crawling all over me…”

Stardust exhaled hard, feeling the first real sense of relief since the pirates targeted their ship days ago.

Cornelius got someplace where he could talk because he really looked at them now, expression growing uncharacteristically serious. “What happened to you? Where… Did Genesis find you?” He whispered the name like a curse.

Stardust shook their head, clawing an unruly lock of hair behind their ear. They tongued the glued scab on their lip. They didn’t look half as bad as they had yesterday, but looking at Cor and remembering their life just months ago, they imagined it had to be a horror to see them now. “One of those assholes put a bounty on me,” they whispered. “Some pirates wrecked my jet and grabbed me—” They choked up and stopped, surprising themselves with a well of emotion they hadn’t even realized was there.

Cornelius nodded. “Where are you? I’ll send someone.”

Stardust wished it was that simple. “I’m past the edge.”

He stared, the strands of diamonds settling around his jaw and neck. “You… You really went out there? Everyone is saying you ran away or were kidnapped but… You’re really going?”

“What choice do I have?”

“Come back! We’ll hide out on Lu-Pan. Between the two of us, we can buy up half the islands and amass a little army.”

Stardust ached for that option. Lu-Pan was familiar, but it wasn’t safe. There was nowhere safe from their family. “I just wanted to check in. I’m alive.”

Cornelius frowned and Stardust realized how rarely they’d ever seen their best friend frown. They’d been together since they were toddlers. There was no one else Stardust trusted or loved more, which was exactly why they couldn’t run to him. “Where are you?” he asked again.

“I’ll check in again when I can.”

“Star—”

Hanging up physically hurt. It surprised them, making them swallow twice and look up to keep the gathering of tears from falling. After a couple quick breaths, they paid their tab and disconnected. Pocketing the plastic cash card they’d been clutching, Stardust realized they hadn’t touched their food. They almost left it, but their stomach growled in protest.

They compromised and picked up the bun on their way out.

Walking to the exit took them right past the three synthetics at the bar talking to the owner.

It was impossible not to feel the air shift and those immortal eyes turn on them, running over them from head to toe. One, a giant, grinned with a flash of metal-tipped fangs. “It’s a shame… I would have liked throwing a Solinoh in my cargo hold,” he said just loud enough for Stardust to hear even though the words were directed at his friends.

One of the others, wearing a body that appeared to be entirely made of gold and glass, waved a delicate hand through the air as if taking in the complications of fate. “Don’t hold your breath. No one but a Solinoh would put a bounty on a Solinoh, and there are just some people not even we’ll work for…”

 Stardust kept walking, bun in hand, until they were out of the café. They turned a hard right and wove into the crowd, finally taking a big bite.

They needed to get out of there…but they also needed to get a change of clothes. They followed the signs for The Catwalk.

The synthetic café owner wasn’t wrong. This was not an outfit worthy of dying in.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

whst r your top 3 fav and least fav yellowjackets characters shep

im gonna do LONG answers bc i want to talk about my sillies

for faves…. i love them all so much it’s actually not funny but for my top #1 yellowjackets character of all time it HAS TO go to my girl Lottie

1. Lottie

she’s insane she’s a cult leader she’s a champion soccer player she has big brown eyes she’s been in multiple odd relationships with various blonde girls she’s a prophet and above all she’s just a girl. 

i’m literally just gonna TOUCH on many topics and not go in depth bc i will actually write a full ass essay. if i haven’t already. 

Shes actually one of my fav characters of all time, not even just yellowjackets. deadass she is SO fascinating, both adult and teen version. unloved by rich parents. schizophrenic (or is it really the wilderness speaking to her??? we don’t know!!!) but hides it until it’s too late. her transformation from sarcastic a little odd but generally kind and cheerful soccer player to borderline mute haunted prophet to years later mysterious but successful wellness center (…cult) leader??? INSANE!!!!! 

her whole religion arc with laura lee??? actually one of the DRIVING forces of EVERYTHIBG i could write an ESSAY on this. insane. her weird one sided rivalry with nat??? INSANE!!! (and lwk homoerotic). her obsession with wilderness baby??? this could be its entire own post

also she like… just wants the best for everyone. she’s been put on a pedestal, marked as an enemy, had her words twisted to excuse HUNTING and EATING someone and then told it was her fault. she also couldn’t stop this because she let someone beat her up to let their anger out. she’s so self sacrificial she’s so overly caring and it ends up hurting herself and everyone and all she’s trying to do is understand things. she can’t be a god but she can be a martyr if they kill her quick enough. she’s MY tragic queen no one gets her like i do. i love her so much. also courtney eaton is really fine. irrelevant.

2. Nat

next up is nat. nat is also like. ohmygoodness. 

first of all the most interesting thing about me for nat HAS to be her dynamics with the group. you could put her with anyone and learn so much about both characters. travis? jackie? misty? lottie? shauna? ben? all of them. it’s a combination of nats insanely interesting character and sophie thatcher’s (sorry juliette lewis but it just wasn’t as impressive for me) INSANE screen presence. she shows so much emotion with just facial expressions and fucking steals every scene she’s in. def a huge contributor in making nat the character she is.

also unlike a lot of the other yjs, nat already has a history with this sort of tragedy. we see in her flashbacks with her dad (i think s1.4?)

this stuff sets her up as immediately apart from the group - not only is she a bit of a social outcast, labeled as an alcoholic, a druggie, a whore etc, but she also already came from a dark place and physically spent a lot of time seperate from the other girls. she spends a lot of time w coach Ben and travis, expanding a lot of their characters and making javis death even more horrible for her. the trauma she has surrounding guns and her father also leads to another really interesting thing - above all, no matter how much she pretends she doesn’t, nat does really fucking care. she cares a lot.

i LOVE this kind of character so much, the kind that pretends to be rlly apathetic but is almost more genuine in their kindness than anyone else. nat just genuinely fuckung cares and she’s been through so much and i rghhhhh. her apology to jackie???? hell even her moments with travis. cutting off his dads finger to get the ring when he couldn’t do it himself. i’m losing it. anyways i have to cut this off bc i need to get to my next girl and i WILL write an essay if i keep going. 

3. Shauna

Shauna fucking shipmannnnnnnn (and by an extent jackie because let’s be frl they are kind of one) let’s go crazy girls. Shauna is honestly terrifying. starting strong!!! but it’s kinda true. she has this like weird underlying sense of something violent about her. she’s always wanted more, she’s always kind of lived in jackie’s shadow wether jackie meant to or not. she had this kind of mindset that’s just SO like obsessive??? i kinda sound like a shauna hater rn this is NOT TRUE 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ she is so compelling it’s insane. 

first off sophie nelisse is incredible. actually incredible. like from the BEGINNING she had me FASCINATED with shauna just with her expressions and rghhhh everythibg. the talent is INSANE. 

and shauna herself is just. so tragic. now you can’t really talk about shauna without talking about jackie. and it’s okay bc i love jackie as well she is my favorite girlloser, resident coldgirl, mislabeled, misjudged queen. et cetera.

and having jackie is such a core part of shauna’s character. when she comes to the wilderness she starts to slip apart a little. rifts form, promises broken and secrets start to slip out. but she still CARES about jackie. she tries so hard to help her do something useful so the other girls don’t turn on her. 

but in the end she was always going to be the one holding the knife. she was always living in jackie’s shadow (at least in her mind) and she had this weird relationship with her where she both villainized and obsessed over her. standard homoerotic highschool girl bestfriendship. i don’t even know where i’m going with this there’s so much i could say. before i end let me rq touch on

wilderness baby and callie. this is also one of the most compelling things to do with shauna. after jackie’s death, shauna is technically on her own. after being so long on begat she perceived as jackie’s shadow, she has, in her mind, autonomy. and things really start to go downhill. first, she’s carrying the baby of her dead best friends boyfriend. which is a situation. but jackie isn’t ever really gone - she’s in shauna she’s in the baby she’s in the meat shed she’s a ghost and eventually she’s a full on fucking meal. so even though she’s dead, she NEVER leaves shauna and shauna is haunted by her forever. normal best friend stuff. but anyways shauna carries wilderness baby to term and loves him so so much and then it turns out he was stillborn. let me emphasize she loved this baby SO FUCKING MUCH. then later as an adult we see her with callie. „i don’t even like my daughter”. the switch up is crazy???? i think i’m running out of room to type fuck but anyways shauna shipman you will always be famous i love you i would write essays on you

okay least faves is actually harder.  beacuse i love them all. i’m gonna say that annoying mustache groomer cop. and like idk who else tbh. nats dad? jackie’s mom??? oooghhh jackie’s mom and dad scene is a whole mother tangent

anyways i hoped you enjoyed me exhibiting symptoms!! thank you for your question idk if you can tell but i love talking about yellowjackets

[outerbanksp4l27]

Tobias Eaton Pt 2

No warnings just kissing

_________________________________________________

They give you a tour then get to your dorm “this is your dorm for training.” It had 9 beds in the same room and the bathroom was open as well so if you went the bathroom you weren’t going by yourself. It was terrible. “Get changed, clothes are over there, we’ll be back to take you to the pit in 5.” Four said. You all get changed at your beds so you had space. But zero privacy it made you uncomfortable. They return and take you to the pit to eat. You all get food and sit, you sit next to Four and on the other side of you is Christina.

“So what faction are you originally from?” You said to Four.

“What makes you think you can talk to me?” He said.

“Maybe because you’re so approachable” you said with a small giggle.

“Careful” He said taking a drink.

_____

Once you eat it’s six and each day after six you may do what you please at dauntless then in bed by 9 if in training. You headed down to the pit and found a tattoo artist and wanted to get one so you picked out a tattoo and you chose birds to go on your color bone.

You noticed Four in the pit walking over too you, “First night here and your already getting a tattoo?”

“I finally escaped Abnegation might as well do what I’ve always wanted too” You said.

“You’ve always wanted a bird tattoo, why?” Four asked.

“I guess because I finally could leave, I wasn’t trapped in a bird cage any longer, I’m free.” You said looking him in the eye.

“Ok see you at training tomorrow then Birdy” He said. He gave you a nickname, you loved it.

_____

It was the next morning you woke up an hour earlier than everyone to get extra training in. You went out to the training center and wrapped your knuckles then started hitting the punching bag. You hear footsteps and turn around and see Four watching you.

“Don’t wrap your fingers around your thumb, you’ll break it if you punch like that” Four said walking up to you. So you put your thumb on the outside. “Here like this” he said fixing your thumb. You start punching the bag again, “Good” he said watching you. “Why are you up an hour early anyway Birdy?”

“I could ask you the same thing” You said.

“Just answer the question.” He said.

“I wanted to get warmed up, and I might not have been able to sleep.” You said.

“First nights always the worst, you’ll sleep better tonight especially since you’ll be exhausted from day one of training.” He said with a smirk.

“Great” you said rolling your eyes.

“Hey first lesson, before Eric gets in here, for gods sake don’t roll your eyes.” Four said to you.

_____

It’s a few weeks into training and it’s been well. You have a schedule now, you get up an hour before everyone and train with Four, then you train till lunch with everyone then train till 6pm then you can run free. But yet you always find yourself admiring Four and trying to see him any chance you get after 6. You are above the red line so, so far you are succeeding at dauntless. Training just ended so you go to get into more comfortable clothes and head to the pit to hang out with Christina and hope Fours around. “Christina are you gonna get a tattoo today finally?” You said giggling.

“I’m not scared! I just haven’t decided if I want one”Christina said.

“Oh sure after you have been swooning over that design you saw two days ago.” You said and your other friends laugh. You see Four in the pit and it’s like you didn’t hear the conversation anymore. You just looked at him.

“Y/n?!”Christina said.

You snap out of it, “What?” you said.

“It’s like you were in a trance, you okay?” Christina said.

“Oh yeah I’m fine” you notice Four walking over too you and stop right in front of you.

“Y/n can you come with me and we speak in private please” Four said. You were really caught off guard.

“Um yeah, sure, no problem” you said. Christina makes eye contact with you with a concerned look in her eyes. You nod it off saying you’re fine with your eyes, so she looked away as you and Four walked off. You and Four walk to a hidden balcony that Four said only a few people knew about so you felt special since he brought you up here.

“Y/n, how has your training been?” You were kinda caught off guard you thought he had something serious too tell you.

“Really well actually, I was excited when I chose dauntless but seeing everyone else I thought that I would be an underdog but seeing as where I am on the board makes me feel confident in a way I guess.” Four kept eye contact with you the whole time.

“Never think you’re an underdog, your brave, and strong. You are doing very well and I think you will succeed very well here. Which makes me happy.” Four said.

“Why does it make you happy?” Four hears you and leans on the railing and looks out at the view staying silent. “Four?” You said.

“Listen Y/n, I-“ someone opened the door and saw us on the balcony.

“Oh sorry Four” the guy said.

“No your fine we were done talking anyway you have the balcony we’ll head back inside” You knew Four had something else to say you wondered why he said that he had something to say. You follow Four back inside.

“Four” you said. You were still in private right inside after shutting the balcony door.

“What?” He said.

“We were not done talking, I know you were gonna say something, I want to know what.” You said with a stern voice. Four had never heard you speak like that too him before.

“Go back to the pit, it’s already 8:30 you need to get back.” He said and walked away before I could say anything.

_____

It’s the next morning and your walking into the training room and hour early per usual and Four isn’t there. Four is always there, had you said something wrong last night that got under his skin? You didn’t like this and you don’t know why he’s doing this. Maybe he just slept late. Maybe he forgot. He doesn’t hate you, you say to yourself and just start training by yourself.

_____

Everyone makes their way to training that starts at 6am, you see Four walk in and you stair at him. You wonder why he ditched you this morning. He doesn’t even share one glance at you, he doesn’t even act like you’re there. Then Eric walks in and training starts.

_____

It’s an hour before lunch and you are running laps with Christina, cause the hour before lunch, they let you train how you want. “Hey, that thing with Four yesterday, what was that about?” Christina said.

“Oh nothing, he was just checking up on my training.” You said.

“You sure? You guys haven’t spoken a word to each other since then and Four walked in with us too training this morning so I know you didn’t train together earlier.” Christina said.

“Maybe he was busy this morning, and we don’t talk much at training. Just leave it.” You said. Christina could tell you were bothered but she didn’t want to force you to tell her. You continue running and hear someone running behind you, you look back and it’s Four. So you run faster, if he’s gonna avoid you, you’re gonna avoid him. Christina try’s to keep up with you but can’t and as she’s running Four passes her gaining on you. You run even faster, you don’t wanna speak with him, so you start taking sharp turns trying to lose him.

“Y/n!” Four yells after you only feet behind you, he’s faster and stronger he would catch up to you. You try and run faster but you’re losing energy and can’t. Four almost catches up to you so you take a sharp turn and try to hide but he gets too you.

“Four what do you want.” You say it like it’s a warning.

“This” Four leans in and kisses you hard. You were so taken back and shocked, but you knew you weren’t the only one feeling this way and kissed him back your hands wrapping around his neck going through his hair. Four pulls back breathing hard. “I meant to tell you last night and I didn’t know anymore if I should tell you so I avoided you this morning.”

“Four, I’ve wanted to do this for so long.” You said in a hushed voice.

“We gotta get back, lunch is soon and after lunch testing start.” Four said.

“Testing?” You said.

“We give you a shot and you face your fears in your head.” Four said.

“Can it see everything in your head?” You said nervously.

“No why?” He said.

“No reason” You said. Hopefully this test doesn’t show you’re divergent.