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cmdr-h-of-the-woods · 1 year

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Cmdr H of the Woods’ logbook, May 3309

03 May 3309 Eta Sagittarii I’ve spent the past few days hopping around nearby systems, collecting plants and rocks with funny shapes. I have to say, exiting hyperspace right in front of a giant star always makes a bit of an impression. I landed on a very hot planet, AB2, and then went to take a look at the view from the dusty and rocky rings around planet AB5. The giant star was shining through the dust, which was a lovely sight. I realised that the tiny spot I could see in front of η Sagittarii A was actually... another star. A brown dwarf, which barely looked bigger than a planet. In fact, it’s only about 4 times bigger than the largest planet in this system. Picked up an occupied escape pod and a black box, which I found floating in space next to the 3rd star in this system, and dropped them at the nearest station.

Rukbat After a visit in Kaus Australis (also known as Epsilon Sagittarii), I found myself in Rukbat (Alpha Sagittarii), where a message flashed on my HUD, informing me that I was visiting a system with a neutron star for the first time. I might need to get some maintenance done on my systems, because I know I visited Jackson’s Lighthouse months ago with CMDR Curious Sparrow.

Zeta Coronae Austrinae After Delta Coronae Austrinae, another giant star, I am now in Zeta Coronae Austrinae, which marks a deviation from my exploration of the Sagittarius constellation, as I am now in the Corona Australis constellation. And I just realised, as I was looking at my galmap and wondering why there were no traces of human population, that I have accidentally.. left the Bubble. Well, only kind of, because civilisation is not far, but still. Oops.

04 May 3309 HIP 95726 There was fungoida on this planet and it was only growing on the dark side, at the bottom of a canyon. Everything was pitch black. I kept hearing weird sounds, and couldn’t tell if it was just the wind, or if maybe something was lurking in the dark, waiting for me to fall into a trap... Then my instruments started malfunctioning, the altitude readings were all wrong, and my suit HUD glitched out. I finished picking up my samples and left without any further considerations. I’m not sure what was there. I’m not sure I want to know, either.

05 May 3309 HIP 93520 After visiting a few systems that had not been previously mapped, I found myself here, in HIP 93520, where it seems more Commanders have been before me. I wonder if they were also awed when they found the ringed Earth-like planet under the blue light of the A-type star.

As I got closer to the rings, I was surprised to find there was a miner there, someone in a Krait Mk2, just minding his own business until a pirate showed up. I wasn’t expecting that, considering we are over 100 light-years away from any human settlements. The pirate sent hatch breakers after the miner, who dropped all of his cargo... and a bunch of proximity mines. He opened fire and seemed to scare the pirate away. (Said pirate did come back to try and scan me before high-waking, disappointed.)

06 May 3309 Col 359 Sector KG-X D1-64, body 6F I think this moon may have once had an ocean, or some sort of liquid water, at least. The average temperature of 166K would no longer allow for that, but who knows, maybe it used to be warmer. I did find several plant samples at what seemed to be the bottom of a dried-up sea. No traces of specifically marine life, even in fossil form, however.

10 May 3309 R CrA Sector MI-S B4-6 The nebula I have chosen as my next destination is getting close, and it is easy to spot it with the naked eye now. I am quite excited, as I have never visited a nebula before! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This system was pretty interesting from an exobiological standpoint, I found several variants I had not encountered before, as well as a brand new (to me) genus, Clypeus. A small plant, with what seems to be a reflective, multi-coloured shell.

BrsO 14 I made it the the R CrA nebula! It is so pretty. I exited hyperspace facing a big blue star, then turned the ship around and found myself staring at a red sky. Absolutely mesmerising. Unfortunately, there was no planet for me to land on so I could admire the view from there, but I spent a good while just flying into the red cloud and observing it from all possible angles.

14 May 3309 PSR J1856-3754 I had seen there was a galactic curiosity a few jumps away, so I plotted a route to PSR J1856-3754, nicknamed "Coronet Pulsar". This one does not have one, but two neutron stars, separated by a mere 138 light-seconds. I will admit, I am still very nervous around those stars and I tend to keep my distances, but, maybe one day I will learn to dance with them.

15 May 3309 Col 359 Sector UM-T c4-6 Made a quick stop by the CB-1 Argon’s Reach megaship. It was a little strange seeing human faces again. There were a few other explorers there, we traded stories and routes. Some of them had been in the Black for such a long time and honestly... it showed. Being hundreds and hundreds of light-years away from civilisation does something to you, I’m sure. I did make sure to upload the data and pictures I had recorded to Universal Cartographics, the procedure took longer than I expected, but I also don’t think I had ever tried to upload that much data at once.

53 Nu Serpentis I am now officially back in human territory. I am not quite sure what led me here, but maybe it was just time.

17 May 3309 HIP 84913 Met a pilot named Ariel in a Type-9 Heavy, requesting some commodities. I’ll think about it and see if it’s anything I can find nearby. Which reminds me, I need to work on improving the Python’s FSD, there’s no way I’m going to be hauling any amount of goods in the Cobra’s 4-ton cargo hold. I love my Elmwing, but a trading ship she is not.

Laksak Took a shuttle to Laksak to retrieve the Python. My plan was to fly her back to HIP 84913, but... I am a butterfly with zero attention span... and I found myself doing exobiology sample collection in a Python. She managed alright, but I am very glad that most of the plants I found favoured flatter terrain, because I doubt I could have landed anywhere in the mountains.

18 May 3309 HIP 84913 (again) Finally made it to my destination. Ariel the trader had already left, so I loaded up on limpets and decided to go mining instead. This first mining trip went pretty well overall. Not going to make a fortune until I figure out what to focus on, but it’s nice learning how to fly another ship and doing something else.

Speaking of different ships. I am now also the owner of a little Eagle I’m going to outfit to go canyon running... For now, her name is Birchtwig.

25 May 3309 Deciat I’ve taken both the Python and the Eagle to Felicity so that she could upgrade some of the modules. Birchtwig is now much faster (I outfitted her with enhanced performance thrusters, which Felicity said should be a good choice), and Cedarcone can now jump much farther. This should help reach mining spots and marketplaces a little faster.

Bruth This system was torn by civil war... Several ships tried to interdict me while I was mostly flying from one debris field to another, trying to salvage components, and maybe rescue a person or two. I did salvage some commodities that sold for a decent price in a neighbouring system, so I jumped there, and then also accepted a few surface delivery missions. Nothing complicated. A pilot called Ashley had apparently forgotten his personal documents before going on vacation at a tourist resort called Prieto’s Muse, in Njemari. He seemed relieved when he saw that I had brought them.

26 May 3309 Vard Argon atmospheres can bring such pretty lights. I don’t often land on those bodies because they tend to be found in systems with dim stars, and if they are distant enough, the surface is almost completely dark and I can’t see anything. But this... this was beautiful.

#elite dangerous #logbook entry

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tt20260 · 2 years

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Cool Names my friend Caeba sent to me:

Karma

Rocket

Burial

Coochie

Cherry

Cadete

Sebebe

Glitter Clit

Speed Bump

Slinky

Angel

String Cheese

Code

Boro

Mags

Punch

Umbrae

Epsilon

Eucradies

Dernesto

Abdolem

Vimana

Star

Lisbeth

Slob

Glob

Snatch

Gloxxxy Rabbit

Harlequin

Angelino

Hatch

Blaine

Papi

Genesis

Sven

Agatha

Riley

Gaea

Envy

Lust

Halifax

Haxel

Rabbit

Cab Rabbit

Opal

Exposure

Darlene

Antoinette

Thresh

Thrash

Fizz

Edgar

Granola

Jinx Monsoon

Softy

Yma Sumac

Chromatica

Chromacta

Moxie

Luca

Gus

Dapperton

Norway

Noway

Ethel Cain

Mitski

Michi

Mitch

Briar

Duffy

Artemis

Cecelia

Aubrey

Audrey

Melange

Honey

Waffle

reverie

Claire

lillinette

hallibel

Khatia

Nelliel

quimera parca

mabel

katya

claudia

machiatto

orihime

noir

rhiannon

azrael

Skott

agnes

Ghost

Adore

Asia

Aja

cedric versaille

bites

elodie

lacey

infiniti

infinity

genus

genos

titanic sinclair

rhian

ryn

moxi

oblivion

plur

amity

edith frances

gage

claudio

claudia

gretchen

chloroform

lucille

thoki

silvester (silver)

melancholia

gekyume

foggy

Skin

Cubic

Vagina

Vagina Bo Bina

Delirium

Eqypt

Taystee

Tan

Karamo

Quiet

Manny

Kingston

Gatsby

Baskerville

Reeba

Nora

August

Huck

Orion

Indar

Rhys

Pierre

Valerian

Bronson

Kovu

Sage

Arden

Alastair

Xor/Zor

Vivaldi

Roel

Maximus

Percival

Charlize Theron

Bambadjan

Gear

Guardian

Roosi

Ren

Pollux

Castor

Gordon

Porter

Deep

Deepa

Sebastian

Ferguson

Steven

Odin

River

Lux

Kuze

Alice

Downy

Freddy

Atomos

Sonja

Pyxis

Ajax

Apax

Pawnee

(Russian name)

Vladimir

Henry (dog)

Andromeda

Deja vu

Minho

Bruk

Slit

Furiosa

Nux

Rictus

Michelangelo

Mo-mo

Ollie

Wolfgang

Daemon

Mona

Royal

Richard Parker

Gray

Hardy

Blair

Vladie

Nino

Moira

Adelaide

Harley

Troy

Jonas

Louise

Vivian

Marcus

Amara

Lucy

Tucker

__larm?

Monica

Mina

Yakoul

Brody

Todrick (Toddy)

(B)ungy

Agnes

Manny

Jon(ny)

Judd

Cola (Kola)

Bon Jovi (dog name)

Dom

Bruno

Constanse

Cesar (Cezar)

Ruthi

Margo

Juno

Glitch

Tip(py)

Gratuity

Tino

Gino

Digby

Eggsy

Iggy

Eggy

Lancelot

Pancake

Rufus

Hugo

Merlin

Journey

Roah

Jupiter

Cricket

#transgender #journal #cool names cab sent to me #cab tag #friend tag #longpost

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rubykgrant · 3 years

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Caboose doesn’t listen because nobody tells him to, and he keeps thinking of the last time he touched something Church left behind; even though it had turned out alright, everybody had been upset with him. He wasn’t supposed to hide the Epsilon unit, and he wasn’t supposed to move it around, or talk to it, or wake it back up… Caboose didn’t understand WHY he wasn’t supposed to do that, because obviously somebody NEEDED to do it, and that somebody was Caboose. It made perfect sense to him, and it had gotten him Church (a whole new and different Church!), so it was a good thing… except they hadn’t been happy about it, so maybe it was a bad thing? Sometimes things were good and bad at the same time, but you didn’t know until later.

He remembers how they had all gotten upset, and he understands that there must have been a reason for it. The others don’t always seem to realize things that are very obvious to Caboose, so clearly this was just something he didn’t realize even though it was obvious to them. Caboose also remembers when they broke the Epsilon unit open, like an egg shell cracking when a baby bird hatches, so Church could come back out. Church had been upset then, too. Caboose didn’t get it, but that was OK. Church knew why he felt the way he did about things, so if Church wanted to be gone, it was probably a good idea. If Church didn’t want to come back yet, that was probably a good idea too…

Caboose doesn’t like it, though. He wants to find Church and bring him back NOW, or at least just visit him for a little bit. There is probably a reason why he can’t… maybe Church is really busy, or doing something dangerous. Caboose thinks that seems silly, because they all do dangerous stuff all the time! It is always better to have a buddy with you, and Church didn’t even take Carolina or Washtub with him this time… it must be REALLY dangerous and important, then. Something only Church could do. He must be sad, being all alone, but he’s brave too.

Yes, Caboose knew that Alpha had been brave before, and then Alpha couldn't come back anymore. He understands that, he gets how it works, even if everybody else thinks he doesn't. Just like how he understands Epsilon isn't Alpha, but deep down inside, Epsilon remembered all the stuff Alpha felt... that's why Caboose talked to the Epsilon unit so much. He wasn't trying to force it into thinking like the Church he knew before, Caboose just realized it would probably be sad and scary, remembering strange stuff you never did, so Caboose wanted to let Epsilon know about the nice stuff too. Everybody Alpha knew was very loud, and kinda weird, but they were actually nice... it was OK for Epsilon to come out and meet them, see how nice they were, and then they would all be new friends together!

Caboose was really happy when Epsilon finally joined them, and it was fun when he was a floating robot eye-ball for a while. He kept getting hurt though, and then he was gone again, and Caboose did his best to remember Alpha AND Epsilon. They were both very important to him. Washtub stayed with Caboose and Tucker and wore Church's armor while Church was gone, and Caboose understood it WASN'T actually Church (either of them), but the armor was Church-colored, so he called the armor Church. It was nice having a new friend... even meeting Carolina was good, despite the fact that she was SCARY and BOSSY at first, but then Epsilon was back! That was the best... until he was gone, and Caboose was so SAD. Thank goodness, Carolina brought him back AGAIN, and she was less scary and bossy this time, too. Caboose still remembered Alpha, but he was very happy to have Epsilon.

Epsilon was the one who saved them all, when it seemed like they were trapped and the bad guys were going to kill them… even though Church yells and complains a lot, Caboose could always tell he actually loved them, and that proved it. Church also made sure to say good-bye this time, so they wouldn’t wonder why he wasn’t there. That was nice… it was sad, but also nice. Things can be both. Just like how Church was mean but still loved them. Or how good ideas might also be bad. He knows this is how things are, he just doesn’t always get WHY.

Caboose misses his friend so much, but he’s not going to be sad this time. He’s not going to make everybody worry about him. He’ll be OK. He knows that eventually, Church will come back, and they can all be together again, because things are best when its like that. He’ll show Church that he was very careful this time; he didn’t touch anything he wasn’t given permission to touch. Church will be SO proud of him. Caboose can be brave and do things that are difficult, just like his best friend. Caboose only lets himself get sad when he’s alone. Most of the time, he does a lot of things with the rest of his friends, which is fun and all, but none of them are as cool as Church. Sometimes, though… Caboose will go be by himself for a little while, and he lets all the sad feelings happen.

This is when he misses Church the most, and when he feels a little mad too. Why isn’t anybody else worried about Church? Why aren’t they trying to find him, or anything? There must be a reason, even if Caboose doesn’t understand it. He doesn’t ask them, because he wants to prove that he can be OK on his own; they don’t HAVE to explain everything to him, all the time. He can figure stuff out. He figured out that Church is gone because he needs to be somewhere else right now, and he figured out that they aren’t going to get him because Church just isn’t done doing other things yet.

Caboose also figured out that he shouldn’t touch things other people leave behind unless they say so. Even when somebody is gone, their stuff is still their stuff. You should always ask if you can touch something that isn’t yours, and if you can’t ask, then you just leave it alone. Even if you really REALLY want to know what it is. Even if you REALLY REALLY REALLY miss your friend. Sometimes Caboose forgets to remember not to touch stuff, and he breaks something, or loses something, and then when his friends get upset it reminds him; Church isn’t here right now, and he can’t ask about the message. If he plays it, and he wasn’t supposed to, it might accidentally be bad somehow… then Church would be upset, and Caboose wants Church to be happy when he comes back.

Caboose doesn’t ask anybody what is going to happen, or where Church is. He just doesn’t talk about it much. This way, they won’t worry about him. He trusts that they’ll know what to do when they need to do something. He also doesn’t play the second message, because Church will let him know when he can. He’ll wait until he is supposed to play it. Then, they can watch it together.

#red vs blue #rvb fic #michael j caboose

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i-am-thedragon · 4 years

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Error Codes

Error Codes- A fanfic about how ƎNA was brought into the world. Content warning: Mentions of death, vomit, mental breakdowns

Rows upon rows of iridescent icosahedrons hovered tranquilly within large pods, each guarded by a watchful, ever-open eye. Overseeing the haunting yet quiet display was Kubiak and Ganymede, a pair of beings vague in appearance yet clear in their desire for this new brood of lifeforms to emerge successfully.

With the sound of a chime, the first of the twenty-four eyes closed.

“Finally!” Kubiak exclaimed with a sigh of relief. “And just in time, too. Boss is going to be here soon, and she’ll be furious if we’ve got nothing to show for our work.”

The icosahedron below the closed eye unravelled to reveal a humanoid figure, split vertically down the middle into two striking colours- Yellow on the left, and blue on the right. Her head and limbs were detached from her torso but floated harmlessly in place regardless. She lifted her head, brushing her long black hair off her face and scanning her surroundings with pleasant curiosity.

“Hello, world!” She exclaimed jovially, raising her arms with glee.

“ƎNA-Alpha, status: Emerged successfully.” Ganymede began recording, approaching the newly hatched figure. “Errors: None, Action taken: Proceeding.”

“I’ll take it from here, Ganymede.” Kubiak interrupted. “You take the ƎNAs to the presentation room and put the tracker bracelets on them.”

“No problem, Kubiak”.

Ganymede gently took the ƎNA by her hand and lead her out of the hatchery.

ƎNA LOG

ƎNA-Alpha Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Beta Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Gamma Status: Deceased Errors: Error 523 – Missing vital object – Head Comments: Oh geez, this one just kind of… Flopped out of the ƎGG… Without any head… Action taken: Discarded

ƎNA-Delta Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Epsilon Status: Emerged successfully Errors: Error 88 – Bilateral mirroring Comments: Well, this one’s blue on the left and yellow on the right. Not likely to be an issue, however. Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Zeta Status: N/A Errors: Error 404 – Failure to exist Comments: Nothing came out of the ƎGG. Trust me, I checked. No ƎNA anywhere. Action taken: Discarded…?

ƎNA-Eta Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Theta Status: Not yet emerged Errors: Undetermined Comments: This one hasn’t hatched yet. Might be a dud, I don’t know. Action taken: None

ƎNA-Iota Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Kappa Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Pr Status: Deceased Errors: Error 183 – Sudden explosive termination Comments: This one violently exploded approximately eight seconds after hatching. Made a huge mess. Yuck. Action taken: Discarded

ƎNA-Lambda Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Mu Status: Deceased Errors: Error 54 – Bilateral splitting Comments: This one’s split in half, like the two sides didn’t fuse properly or something. Shame. Action taken: Discarded

ƎNA-Nu Status: Emerged successfully Errors: Error 546 – Hue shift +90 Comments: This one’s magenta and green… Shouldn’t be a problem though, I guess. Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Xi Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Omicron Status: Corrupted Errors: Error 657 – Physical corruption Comments: This ƎNA’s physical form is corrupted beyond recognition, I’d better put her out of her misery. Action taken: Terminated and discarded.

ƎNA-Pi Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Rho Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Sigma Status: Deceased Errors: Error 873 – Failed to emerge, ƎGG corrupted Comments: Yeah, the uh, the ƎGG just melted. Action taken: Discarded

ƎNA-Tau Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Upsilon Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Comments: This one called me ‘Jim’ for some reason. Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Phi Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Chi Status: Paralysed Errors: Error 372 – Missing movement scripts Comments: Frozen like a statue, unable to move or speak. Unsuccessful. Action taken: Terminated and discarded

ƎNA-Psi Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

ƎNA-Omega Status: Emerged successfully Errors: None Action taken: Proceeding

SUCCESS RATE: 15/24 (62.5%)

END LOG

“Kubiak, why do we have so few successful ƎNAs?!” Ganymede demanded, growing visibly anxious. “Boss is going to deem this whole project an immediate failure if we don’t have a success rate of at least 2/3!”

“Well maybe if you went and upgraded our software like I asked you to three years ago we would’ve had better results!” Kubiak retorted, gesturing at the rather underwhelming crowd of live ƎNAs.

“So, what are we going to do now? We need a miracle to bump that number up and meet Boss’s requirements!”

Before Kubiak could answer, Ganymede caught sight of the unhatched ƎGG of ƎNA-Theta. Among all the empty pods and closed eyes, there remained just one open eye above a lone ƎGG.

“That ƎGG, is that one a definite dud?” They asked.

“I haven’t confirmed it yet.” Kubiak answered, approaching the idle icosahedron. “But she should have hatched with all the others if she was incubated successfully.”

“It’s a long shot, but ƎNA-Theta might be our last hope.” Ganymede suggested. “Help me override the system and force-hatch the ƎGG manually.”

The iridescent icosahedron shuddered and spun erratically as Kubiak and Ganymede tampered with its incubator, finally coming to a stop as the eye watching over it closed. The ƎGG unfolded itself, allowing the final ƎNA to stumble gracelessly out of it.

“My sincerest apologies!” ƎNA-Theta exclaimed. “I had no idea I was so late; I simply lost track of the time!”

Ignoring the ƎNA’s apology, Ganymede began to cautiously examine her for errors. Immediately they noticed that her right side and most of her torso hadn’t formed properly, appearing geometric and low poly compared to the smooth surfaces of her left side.

“Seems like poor surface subdivision across approximately, hm, sixty to seventy percent of her body?” Ganymede noted out loud. “Kubiak, what’s the error code for that again?”

Before Kubiak could respond, an ominous pink haze filled the air as a doorway to a long corridor manifested itself on the wall of the hatchery.

“Never mind that, Ganymede!” Kubiak squeaked anxiously. “We’ll finish updating the log later; Boss is here! Get the ƎNA ready for presentation!”

Though Kubiak had dealt with Boss many times before, she still intimidated them a bit. Whether it was her authority, power, or her many arms and eyes that were numerous yet of no exact number, Kubiak wasn’t sure. They just hoped she’d approve of their latest project.

“Well, Kubiak, I’m just glad that you and Ganymede had the foresight to get my approval before releasing this latest batch of creatures into the overworld.” Boss stated, with displeasure in her tone as she recalled the earlier incident.

“Yes, our sincerest apologies about that, Boss.” Kubiak responded meekly, leading Boss through a distorted labyrinth of colourful corridors. “We hadn’t realised the ƎNAs would figure out how to travel between worlds so easily. They caused a fair amount of mischief.”

“And I assume you and Ganymede dealt with them before they got out of hand?”

“Well… Yes and no. All twenty of them died on their own before we could recall them.”

“How so?”

“Three of them were killed by wild animals. Two by angry locals. Four of them drowned in script, three in code, and one in a volcano. One was torn apart at the digital-molecular level, still no idea how, and the remaining six starved to death.”

“That is incredibly depressing.” Boss sighed.

“But don’t worry, Boss!” Kubiak reassured. “Our latest batch of ƎNAs is greatly improved, and we’ve equipped their tracker bracelets with kill switches in case anything goes wrong again!”

“You’d better hope nothing does go wrong, Kubiak.”

Before Kubiak could offer any additional hollow reassurances, Ganymede came rushing around the corner in an obvious state of panic. Upon seeing Boss, they made a poor attempt at hiding it.

“Ah, good to see you, Boss!” Ganymede greeted nervously. “Welcome! Ah, uh, may I speak with Kubiak privately for a brief moment?”

“Do what you must.” Boss replied.

Ganymede wasted not a single moment dragging Kubiak around the nearest corner of the corridors and gesturing at them to keep quiet.

“I think there’s a problem with one of the ƎNAs!” Ganymede hissed in a frantic but hushed voice.

“What do you mean?!” Kubiak exclaimed back in a similar harsh whisper.

“If there is an issue with the ƎNAs, I would like to be made aware of it.” Boss’s voice boomed demandingly from around the corner.

“Ah, everything’s fine boss, we’re working it out!” Kubiak called out, before they turned back to Ganymede and whispered once again. “Is it Theta?”

“It’s ƎNA-Theta, yeah.” Ganymede sighed. “But maybe Boss won’t notice?”

“I would like to see your work now, do not keep me waiting any longer.” Boss’s intimidating voice boomed once again.

The presentation room was quite pleasant, decorated in marble tiles, old stone pillars and crystal-clear water fountains. Among the gentle scenery was a small crowd of sixteen ƎNAs mingling politely with each other as they awaited Boss’s judgement. As Kubiak and Ganymede entered the room their gazes immediately locked on ƎNA-Theta, who glanced back at them with a calm smile. To their relief, she didn’t seem to be having any problems at that moment.

As Boss entered the room, the ƎNAs gazed up at her with simple curiosity, unaware of her authority and unintimidated by her presence. She gazed back at them critically.

“Begin.” She spoke.

“Although our first introduction of the ƎNA into the overworld didn’t quite go as well as we planned, Kubiak and I are confident that our new batch of ƎNAs will make a lovely and colourful addition to the population.” Ganymede began. “These charming characters may look all… Mostly… The same, but there’s more than meets the eyes! The ƎNA has a flexible personality and a shapeshifting ability to match! ƎNA, if you would please demonstrate!”

At the command, the ƎNAs began to shift into various different forms. ƎNA-Iota took on the form of a fanciful dragon, while ƎNA-Beta shifted into a simple geometric shape. Some changed colours, some changed size, and some barely retained their humanoid shape. All except ƎNA-Theta, who merely struck a dramatic pose and hoped no-one would notice. Unfortunately, the discrepancy was noticed by both Ganymede and Kubiak, and Boss.

“A-alright, let’s try that again!” Kubiak called out.

The ƎNAs shifted once again, all taking on new forms except ƎNA-Theta, who once again failed to shapeshift.

“That ƎNA isn’t shapeshifting.” Boss remarked, pointing at the defective ƎNA with one of her many arms. “Does she not understand your command?”

“Oh, no no no, I understand perfectly clear!” ƎNA-Theta responded directly with enthusiasm. “I just, eh, I uhm…”

“Well, I did notice a small issue with ƎNA-Theta regarding shapeshifting.” Ganymede explained. “But I’m sure it’s not a major issue!”

“I’m useless!” The defective ƎNA shouted, the left side of her face suddenly becoming pitch black as the right side turned stark white. “I can’t even shapeshift properly! I can’t do anything properly!”

The sudden shift in tone caught not only Ganymede and Kubiak by surprise, but Boss too.

“All I’ve ever done since I was born is disappoint everyone!” ƎNA-Theta shouted, her voice growing more and more distorted as she threw her head into her hands. “I was a mistake! Why don’t you just get rid of me now?! Go on! Do it! DO IT!”

Everyone in the presentation room began to step back, distancing themselves from the unexpected outburst. ƎNA-Theta’s meltdown grew continuously worse, her cries devolving into agonized shrieks as her form began to distort uncontrollably.

“HURRY UP AND PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY!” She wailed, convulsing as her colours, geometry, and facial features fluctuated. “EVERY MOMENT I’M STILL HERE IS MAKING EVERYTHING WORSE, SO HURRY UP AND END IT!!”

The other ƎNAs began to huddle together in fear, while Ganymede and Kubiak cowered at the other side of the room. Boss stared daggers at the malfunctioning ƎNA’s chaotic display in a mixture of pity and disgust. Entirely displeased with the outburst, she extended an arm at ƎNA-Theta and launched a powerful electric current through her fingertips. As the shock coursed through her body, ƎNA-Theta let out a scream that came out as little more than a sickly rasp, before falling to her knees and violently vomiting white noise onto the marble-tiled floor.

The silence that followed was only broken by a single command from Boss.

“Terminate the project and all remaining ƎNA specimens.”

“Yes, Boss.” Kubiak spoke softly.

“For the record, this isn’t about not meeting my expectations or success rate goals.” Boss added. “It’s clearly cruel to bring these ƎNAs into existence in the first place. Your ambition is… Appreciated… But from now on you will return to creating simpler life forms. Understood?”

“Understood.” Kubiak and Ganymede answered in unison.

Boss left the presentation room without another word.

After the incredibly dismal series of events Ganymede and Kubiak had endured, they couldn’t bear to see their functional, living ƎNAs be terminated in front of them. Instead, they jettisoned the ƎNAs out into the nearest barren void of code they could find, and only activated the kill switch once they were out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind. Except, it was never quite that easy. Where had they gone wrong? Was the ƎNA really doomed to failure from the beginning? It was no use contemplating it, however, as the project would never see the light of day again.

All that remained was a room of twenty-four empty incubators, and nine unused tracker bracelets. Nine. Ganymede froze as they counted the bracelets and compared them to the number of ƎNAs that never made it to the presentation.

“Kubiak…” Ganymede called out nervously. “I hate to bear additional bad news, but… I think I forgot to put a kill switch on one of the ƎNAs…”

Kubiak approached the pile of bracelets and counted them for confirmation. Sure enough, the numbers didn’t add up. One of the sixteen ƎNAs had been jettisoned without a kill switch. Kubiak could’ve asked which one went without, but deep down they knew the answer already.

“We terminated every ƎNA except the one that literally begged for death.” Ganymede lamented. “At this point I understand why Boss has no faith in us anymore.”

“Hey, don’t worry, Ganymede.” Kubiak reassured. “I’m sure she won’t last long out there on her own anyway.”

#ena #joel g #joel g ena #ena joel g

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erratanine · 11 months

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girls who doxx people 😍😍😍

#axi art #my ocs #epsilon hatch #artists on tumblr #i like this piece a lot actually

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d77-tc-pelican · 4 years

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red vs blue season 7 episode 14

CHURCH ORB EPSILON ORB HE HATCHED!!!! SON BOY ALLOWED!!! CHURCH SON ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!!

#pelican outbound #rvb season 7

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skywillsometimeswrite · 4 years

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Where are you going to put the ring?

Read it on AO3

Grif and Simmons are kidnapped by aliens after a communication error goes wrong. The crew goes to find them and Tucker hatches a plan to finally end years of pining.

Simmons woke up in a cold sweat, which, of course, was nothing new to him, but this time it was warranted as he was laying in what looked like an asylum room minus the padding. Hard, almost blinding tile covered the walls, ceiling, and floor and seemed to be radiating their own light as well, even though he couldn’t feel any heat. There was nothing particular that stood out to him but it was unnerving all the same.

He tried to recall exactly what had happened before -- there has been a large beam of light from one of the alien temples on Chorus after Tucker had unlocked it with his sword, he remembered. It was only after Santa had told them it was distress temple and they just called the nearest Sangheili to them did they panic. Why that was kept separate from the Communication’s Temple didn’t make any sense, but alien logic, he guessed, was different. They had all stayed at the temple overnight to try and convince the aliens it was an accident and they should leave, and of course, Grif got hungry and had to wander off. And then Simmons had to go after him and then there was a ship and large blue bodies that seemed all too familiar and-

“Grif!” Simmons panicked, looking around the room for the first time and, luckily, spotted the orange armor. He scrambled over to him, urgently shaking him, but his panic only grew worse when no response came to him. “Grif?”

A new fear flooded his body. What if the aliens had been too rough with him? What if he had been enough of a smart ass and they killed him and left him here as a warning for Simmons-

And then there was the tell-tale sound of snoring and a second later the sound of armor hitting armor as Simmons punched Grif’s helmet.

“You lazy piece of shit! You scared me!” He sighed, allowing himself to relax a fraction now that he knew his teammate was just being his usual self. A bit of familiarity was good in this situation, he guessed. He sat back, hugged his knees, and watched the now noticeable rise and fall of Grif’s chest under the suit. He did it sometimes when he couldn’t sleep -- it was oddly relaxing. He almost felt his own eyes drooping at the rhythmic sight and quickly shook his head to clear the cobwebs invading his mind. He nudged Grif with his foot. “Wake up, Grif. We gotta find a way out of here.”

Maybe they didn’t, though. The guys surely had noticed they were missing by now, right? They had to have seen the ship take off. They were looking for a way to get them back as the sat here waiting.

Were they moving? Simmons didn’t feel any movement but he knew some spaceships had that effect, especially if they were towards the middle.

He barely stifled a whine as he shook Grif this time. “Come on, Grif. W-We don't have time for this.” He was replied to with a loud snore. He was over this -- he stood up and gave a firm, but not too rough, kick to the side of Grif’s armor.

There was a small whimper as Grif’s arms moved to hold the assaulted spot, turning to face away from Simmons. “Let me sleep dammit.” He groaned.

“We don’t have time to sleep!”

“I don’t care if Sarge wants to run stupid drills. I want sleep.” Grif huffed before snoring again a few seconds later.

Simmons was about to kick him again when a panel in the wall opened up on his left. He froze, one foot in the air as he stared at the hole in the white light that surrounded them, finding a red and green alien staring at them. He yelped, losing his balance and falling to the floor with a thump.

The two creatures dragged their feet towards them, blarghing and honking all the way. Simmons was silent as the green one towered over him -- if he had sweat glands he was pretty sure there would be a pool by now. He didn’t dare break eye contact with it until its own head turned towards a questioning honk. The red one stood over the unmoving Grif, blarghing at him but with no response. He barely rendered what he saw before he moved -- watching the red claw-like limb move quickly down towards Grif’s head. Simmons was quicker than he remembered being because there wasn’t any sound of a head being crushed but instead metal bending, wires snapping, and the sound of kevlar suit ripping as his vision turned dark.

Simmons was really glad he couldn’t feel pain in his cyborg parts.

“Simmons?”

Grif’s voice was actually rather comforting, and he slowly opened his right eye to look up at his teammate’s worried face, both of them now helmetless. He struggled to sit up, having trouble pinpointing exactly why that was until he saw a piece of maroon armor sitting on the floor a few feet away from them. An entire limb of maroon armor, actually.

He feels like he should have screamed, but instead, he just looked down at his shoulder, some wires tied together that Grif must have done in an effort to help him, and then back at the missing limb before looking at Grif again. “Are you okay?”

Grif looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. “Am I okay? Dude! You’re missing your fucking arm!”

“It’s not like I can feel it. You were the one almost getting your head banged in by an alien claw!”

“You are waaay too fucking calm,” Grif muttered to himself after a few more seconds of staring at his friend. “Did they hit your head instead? Since when do you care if my head gets bashed in or not?”

Simmons opened his mouth only to close it a second later, looking down at the tangled mess of wires again, an orange and maroon one fittingly tied together. “Sarge can fix it. And Dr. Grey can make sure he doesn’t fuck it up.”

Grif sighed, settling back up against one of the walls. “I never thought I’d be asking this: but where the fuck even is Sarge? If it was just me I’d expect him to convince them to leave me with the weird fuckers, but you’re here, too.”

Simmons felt like protesting but his head was still too blurry to even properly register what Grif had said. He just slouched in on himself and stared at his right arm, blinking with only his organic eye while the other half of his vision was dark and unnerving. Grif was right… They should have found them by now, right? Then where were they?

-----

“Dang nabbit, Simmons! Where in Sam’s hell are ya?”

Sarge banged the control panel of the ship with his fist. Tracking Simmons’ cyborg parts was supposed to be easy! How come, all of a sudden, he was offline?

“I thought you said you had this?” Carolina cooly asked him from behind and he couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. Damn these Freelancer girls! Always so strong and cool!"

“I do have this, thank you very much! I just gotta find Simmons’ signal, or, if it comes down to it, we can try faxing something to him.”

She sighed, leaving the red leader alone to his frustrations. He just lost half of his team to aliens that might be out for blood -- anyone would be nervous, even if he wouldn’t admit to it. She knew she should have kept a closer eye on Grif, but he had proven sneakier than she had thought. Maybe that training had actually done him some good. Too bad all it did was get him and his teammate kidnapped. And as a result, they were all left to deal with the messy pieces; also known as Donut’s uncontrollable emotions and Sarge’s crazy, life-risking plans. She could almost imagine Grif and Simmons were enjoying the silence for once. Granted, it never would be silence with only those two now would it.

“Dammit, do these idiots ever shut up?”

“I’ve told you before, it’s part of our charm.”

Tucker was leaning against a wall of the ship, with a stupid little smirk on his face that spoke “haha I wasn’t the one to fuck up this time.”

Carolina waited a second for Epsilon to respond with some witty comeback before a heavy realization hit her again for the fifth time that day. “Charm is not how I would put it.”

“I’m sure it’s the way those two are seeing it. Being stuck alone on an alien spaceship with the possibility of certain death? Sounds like the plot to a porno to me: bow-chicka-bow-wow.” When he was met with Carolina’s expressionless (and really tired) face he sighed, pushing off the wall to look at least a little concerned. It was a trick he had learned in countless meetings with Kimball. “They’re fine. If they aren’t fucking yet, I’m sure they’re arguing about some stupid movie or something. They’re tougher than they seem. Especially together. It’s like that cliche where true love prevails or whatever. Simmons has this weird six sense when it comes to Grif and Grif is the only one who can calm Simmons down enough so he isn’t having a panic attack every five seconds and, well, long story short they can handle each other until we find them.” He walked towards her, patting her shoulder as he passed her. “We’re not losing anyone else, okay?” There was an air of sympathy and connection in the quick look he gave her before walking into the control room.

Tucker was greeted with a metal panel flying towards his head which he quickly dodged, letting it hit the wall instead. “What the hell?” He asked as he saw Sarge digging through the ships inner workings.

“Red Sergeant says he is upgrading the ship to find Simmons’ metal-thingy parts!” Caboose answered, as oblivious as ever.

“Somethin’s obviously broken! I can’t track Simmons without the tracking system in proper working order! That just doesn’t make any daggum sense!” Sarge added, voice muffled by how his head was currently stuck inside the machinery.

“You’re right. It doesn’t.” Tucker sighed, his fucks could not be less here. “Have you tried just looking for the alien ship that took them? They give off a pretty big signal on the radar.”

Sarge’s head popped up into view. “That’s ridiculous! We want the element of surprise!”

“Uh, dude.” Tucker grabbed his sword, activating it and letting its dim blue light demonstrate his point. “We might be able to talk some sense into them.”

It took several more minutes of bickering before Tucker was able to convince the red team leader into closing the hole he made and searching for the alien ship instead, finding the giant within five minutes. The whole crew stood in the cockpit now, surrounding Tucker at the com.

“Do all of you seriously have to stare at me?”

“They’re my men! I deserve to hear from them!”

“They aren’t going to be the ones to answer! You guys aren’t even going to be able to understand the aliens!” Tucker explained. They were lucky he could even understand the aliens after having to learn to talk to Junior. “Ugh, fine. You can stay but don’t say a fucking word, got it?”

Soon after the outgoing call was answered and a series of intimidating blarghs and honks filled the cockpit. Tucker buckled very slightly under the words, he forgot how straightforward this species was. That was until the conversation progressed a little bit.

“He what?” Tucker could feel himself paling a little bit at the thought of Simmons’ arm being ripped off, glancing at Sarge for a moment before quickly staring back down at the com. “Are you sure that was him?”

These mates are very odd.

Tucker had to keep himself from breaking out into laughter. “You- You think they’re-” He quickly composed himself then looked back at an inquisitive Carolina, a smirk growing on his face as his planned form. “They are, we know. Hey, if you let us on this ship we can arrange something with you, okay? I can explain the whole situation in more detail.”

This was going to be the best day ever.

-----

Grif had managed to convince Simmons to rest, propping his back up against the wall while he stayed awake just in case the aliens came back. Whenever he felt himself dozing off he glanced at the severed arm still in the middle of the room and that promptly woke him up. He still couldn’t believe…

He didn’t get to finish his thought as the door slid open, and in walked two figures. One was unexpected.

“Tucker!” Grif scrambled up, trying to wake Simmons up with his foot while never taking his eyes off the alien. “Took you long enough.”

“Oh, hey Grif.” Tucker sounded as relaxed as ever. “Good to see you guys are all in one piece,” he paused, glancing at the floor, “mostly, at least.”

Grif glared at him openly, as he had never bothered to put his helmet back on. Before he had the chance to respond, though, Simmons stumbled up, using Grif as a support as he blinked his eye into focus.

“Tucker?”

“Perfect, he’s up! Now, uh, bad news. We’re getting you out of here but the aliens have a bit of a custom, I guess? It’s kinda like a wrestling match but instead of going up against a two-ton man made of muscle, you’re going up against a two-ton armored monster.”

The two of them stared at the teal soldier, Simmons’ expression blank while Grif looked scared out of his wits and he squeaked: “What?”

“Yeah! It’s like to make sure you’re worthy of freedom or some shit, I don’t know. So, uh, this big guy is going to escort you to the battlefield or something, yeah.” He patted the alien’s back before beginning to back out of the room. “And we’ll be in the background the whole time so make it a good show okay bye.”

“Wait, what?” Grif barely had time to react as the alien picked both him and Simmons up over his shoulder. He weakly pushed against him, trying to wiggle free but to no avail. “Tucker! You fucking asshole!”

They were carried into a large hall deeper into the ship, placed across from each other at one end of it. Looking around, the walls were just as blank as the cell was, the only glaring difference was the lighting and the weapons mounted on the walls. The alien blarghed at them before walking out, and Grif didn’t waste any time in flipping him off as he walked away.

So, what happened now? Did they just wait here for their demise? He really hoped Sarge enjoyed watching him get ripped to shreds.

The answer came soon enough as the door opened again and a growling blue alien walked through, looking like a predator stalking its prey. “Oh, shit...” Grif muttered, glancing at Simmons who looked like he was still half asleep, swaying as he stood there, eye closed. “Simmons?”

He heard claw-like footsteps speeding towards them. Which was a problem in itself but even more so as Grif recognized the alien was making a bee-line for Simmons, who was yet to realize the situation. “Simmons!” Grif acted faster than he usually did, jumping and tackling Simmons out of the way of the charging alien, hearing the thump of the armor ramming the wall.

“Uhm, Grif?” Grif’s eye’s met Simmons’ at only a few inches away from hitting foreheads. “Why are you laying on top of me?”

“Because someone decided to doze off. Not the time to be slacking, Simmons.” Grif scolded as he got up off of his friend, catching sight of the alien’s head still partially stuck in a newly formed dent in the wall.

“Oh, you’re one to talk.” Simmons’s grunted as he struggled to stand up, catching sight of their surroundings for the first time. “Wait, what’s going on?”

“Long story short, Tucker got us wrapped up in some alien ritual or whatever. So that guy is trying to kill us. I think.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah." Grif glanced back at the stumbling Simmons behind him. “Just, try to not fall over, alright?”

“Great plan.” The eye roll was audible. “What are you going to do?”

“Distract him. Grab, like, a gun or something and start shooting.”

“Wait, what? Grif-”

Before he could finish Grif was waving his arms at the now free alien, gaining nothing more than a little glance before the blue monster charged for Simmons again. What the hell? He thought as he ran after the alien, jumping on its back and causing it to stumble backwards, sending them both to the ground. “Don’t just stand there, move!” Grif ordered, causing Simmons to yelp and quickly move to one of the weapon-covered walls.

“There aren’t any guns!” He yelled back, panic rising. “I-I don’t know what any of this stuff is!”

Grif rolled away from the alien, getting up just as he did, earning a growl. “Shit. Uh,” he looked behind him, finding more weapons. He grabbed what looked like a glowing staff, blue carvings lighting up as he swung with all his strength onto the head of the alien. Sparks flew as electricity coursed through the alien before he promptly fell to the floor. “That’s handy.”

“Jesus Christ, Grif are you okay?” Simmons was already by his side by the time Grif put the staff back. His organic arm touched his own forearm in what he assumed was a comforting manner.

“Uh, yeah. You doing good?” When Simmons nodded Grif quickly added, “Good because I need someone to cover my duties when we get back to Chorus. I need a month-long nap.”

“Grif!” Came the obligatory, high-pitched response that never failed to make him smile.

-----

They were all finally back on the ship, Simmons and Grif sitting next to each other in the open central space. They had all silently agreed they deserved the rest for the moment being. Sarge had placed a black garbage bag over the hole created by Simmons’ missing arm, claiming it worked in preventing damage until he could properly fix it while Grif had almost fallen asleep when Caboose’s voice broke through the silence.

“So how was the surprise party? Are there any babies?”

Grif cracked only one eye open to look at the blue soldier. “What are you talking about, Caboose?”

“Tucker said you guys were getting married as a surprise!” Simmons was awake now, a faint red covering his the pale side of his face. “That must mean there are babies.”

“Tucker!”

“Not my fault, dude! It was the perfect opportunity to end, like, fifteen years of sexual tension between you two. Don’t worry, Donut’s already setting up the honeymoon.”

“How did you even-”

“The Sangheili already thought you guys were fucking, just like everyone else does. I just talked them into a wedding ceremony.” The fucker looked so proud of himself.

“That wasn’t a wedding, that was a set up to fucking kill us, jackass!” Grif looked about ready to strangle Tucker, which, Simmons was okay with right now.

“That’s their wedding customs. Two males have to fight over the female and whoever comes out on top gets to keep her. Just be glad I talked them down to just that part -- the rest would have gotten real uncomfortable, real quick.”

Simmons just covered his face as best as he could with one hand, listening to Grif and Tucker argue back and forth. They were never going to hear the end of this. Then again, maybe that was a good thing. If Tucker followed through with that honeymoon promise, maybe they could get a vacation that didn’t involve nearly dying every other day. Soon enough, he pushed Grif back into his seat. “Just give it up, Grif.”

“Yeah, listen to your husband, Grif. Accept it and thank me later.”

There wasn’t a moment of quiet for the next few hours, but Simmons managed to sleep through most of it, head on Grif’s shoulder the entire way home.

#sky writes #works: where are you going to put the ring?#rvb #red vs blue #dexter grif #richard simmons #grimmons #simmons #grif #body horror #kind of

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btgalaxy · 5 years

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Moonlight - Jungkook wolf!au

➳ pairing: jungkook x reader

➳ genre: wolf!au, a little bit of everything tbh; angst, fluff, smut

➳ word count: 4.3k

warnings: slight violence and gore

previous / masterlist / next

Chapter 10 (double digits holy)

“Y/N, we need to go.”

You roll over in the bed, humming into the pillow as your body stirs before settling again in a new spot. Your eyelids remain softly shut, lulling you back into slumber before —

“Y/N, we need to go now. It’s a code black.”

The words resonate in your eardrums for a moment while you try to digest them amongst your sleep-induced haze. You raise your head ever so slightly from the silk cushion, ears piquing to your mate’s voice.

“Y/N, now,” he groans, finally handling you himself and lifting you by your shoulders. It’s at this moment you begin to come around, drunkenly squinting open your eyes at the harsh light piercing the room.

“What?” You mumble, still grimacing as Jungkook lifts you up bridal-style to your feet, leaving you stood there for a minute gently rocking as he rummages through your half of the wardrobe. Your eyes begin to widen when he brings over a pair of leggings and drops to your feet, prompting you to step into them. You do so, finally regaining some sanity throughout your slumberous trance.

“Code black?” The words fall from your lips with profound confusion riddled in your tone, material slid up your legs as you gently remove your silk nightie.

“Code black, Y/N. So hurry the fuck up,” Jungkook becomes stern now, throwing you a waffle knit jumper to haul over your arms to then frantically follow him down the stairs, hopping to pull on some socks as you go.

Suddenly, an alarm begins blaring through the house, ringing like sirens that blast your eardrums and you flinch at the shrill, stumbling into your mates back. He growls in response, yanking your figure round in front of him to steer you towards the front door, grip bruising your forearms as he pushes you forwards. The force he uses to coax you outside makes you shudder, breathless by the way his eyes are devoid of any comfort or love, or the intensity they were filled with yesterday. Instead they burn with fury, squinted slightly ahead of him and on high alert. You stumble forwards onto the front porch.

You smell it first. The burning. The buildings in the distance burning alight like a sea of orange flickering and a brazen heat wallowing faintly over your skin making you recoil back against the Alpha. He simply pushes past you to take your wrist and that’s the moment you spot a group of men, sprinting chaotically as Jimin screams orders at them.

“Don’t shift,” Jungkook orders, authority dripping from his tone like venom to cause your head to nod weakly. It really is your instinct to shift. To run like hell from this place and go to Taehyung’s or even back to Scarlet Oak. Somewhere safe. Somewhere not on fire.

Jimin paces over to the two of you, wetting his lips as he pants from bellowing orders across the alarms, “Alpha, they’ve infiltrated the town — he’s here. He brought them.”

Jungkook’s expression darkens, “Where’s Jin?”

“Safehouse.”

And then you’re running. You can’t understand why you can’t just shift, but your mate seems adamant to keep to the human form, so you’re stuck with your short legs wobbling pathetically as Jungkook hauls you forwards. You run down the usual dirt track, and as your eyes stray into the depths of the surrounding forest you see ominous, golden eyes staring back at you through the night, watching you. You can’t tell if it’s Red Moon’s Epsilons, or if it’s the Rogues, laughing as you run so desperately towards some kind of safety, already knowing that you aren’t safe at all.

Your legs are weak, you haven’t been trained for something like this — you’ve never been particularly fit in your human form, so you want to collapse. You want everything to disappear, and for you to collapse into your mate’s arms in your bed together, but instead you’re still dragged and dragged along the cobblestone paths as you reach the town, now littered with ash and strewn rubbish from the havoc wreaked, some sultry smell of burning sheathing you with the smoke.

You’re nearly suffocating by the time you approach the packhouse and it’s burning like a wildfire lighting up the night, barren of people now, bar the Rogues. You’ve never seen a Rogue before. You don’t know what you expected them to look like, but frankly they look the same as any other wolf. Mostly brown fur, dark eyes, predominantly male that have been well trained from their muscular sizes. There’s also a few men in human form, laughing as they continue to batter at the once beautiful little town. You’re completely outnumbered, so your mate rapidly yanks you behind a wall, one hand on your belly holding you to his chest where you finally breathe and take a moment to calm down.

“Are you okay?” Jungkook asks you quietly, head leaning down to your ear so you can distinguish the words better.

You nod in response, panting slightly, “I’m just unfit.”

He gives you a gentle squeeze against him, “It’s alright, the safehouse is just round the back here.”

You’re thankful he, even if momentarily, drops the Alpha attitude, moving from behind you to take you by the hand and slowly creep around the side of the building. The entrance to the safehouse comes in the form of a wooden hatch into the ground, scattered with mud and leaves to conceal it from an inattentive eye.

Jungkook crouches down, knocking rhythmically against the oak. Its pretty quickly flung open from the inside, and a familiar head of dark hair emerges from the trap, eyes darting about in anxiety.

“Y/N?” Jin breathes as he sees you, pushing the door the whole way back so he can scramble past your mate and towards you. You see the anger flash in Jungkook’s eyes as Jin lunges forwards and wraps his arms around you in relief, enveloping your head in his arms to hold you near his chest.

“God, I thought they’d have gone to your house first,” Jin mumbles, breathing heavily into your neck. It only takes a second for Jungkook to interfere, pushing his arms between the two of you and wrenching you apart with anger-fuelled strength.

“Know your place, Epsilon,” the Alpha snarls, nostrils flared as he presses one hand to Jin’s chest, the other firmly holding you against him.

It’s eerily silent for a second, before Jungkook continues, “Keep her safe and keep your hands off.” His instruction is brutally clear, and Jin is fast to return to his ranking’s appropriate demeanour; head down, eyes on the floor, hands by his sides. You used to hate being scolded by Alpha Marcus more than anything — it’s humiliating, and you used to mull over it for days afterwards in embarrassment and shame. You can’t imagine how Jin feels.

“You’re leaving?” You sputter all of a sudden, wondering why Jungkook is telling Jin to look after you.

“I’m Alpha, Y/N, and there are Rogues literally just around this corner, so you need to get into the safehouse,” he demands, before his eyes soften slightly, “Don’t do anything stupid, because I need you here for me to get back to. You’re the only thing that keeps me running these days, okay?”

He holds you by your waist, and you wet your lips with a nod, “Don’t fight them, just take care of the pack members and wait till they leave.” You don’t much agree with your words, and you already feel the biting need to stay near him rather than stay tucked away in some cushty saferoom. Can’t he understand you need him just as much as he needs you?

He ignores your request, “You stay here, Y/N. Okay?”

Then the words just roll from your tongue before you can stop them.

“I love you,” you tell him, and the moment stills fleetingly. His gaze freezes over yours, hands hardening on your waist as he holds you tighter, and then he squeezes his eyes shut before nodding with an indecipherable expression, taking off back towards the burning.

Was that a mistake? Jin’s hauling you backwards into the safehouse before you can overthink it.

The place is crammed full of families and pack members, but you’re surprised at how large a space it is. A part of you regrets saying no to officialization at this point, however, considering you’re surrounded by the members that have only been able to make assumptions of your place in the pack and with the Alpha. So it’s safe to say your presence attracts a fair amount of attention, especially with Jin solemnly by your side, steering you to another room with less crowding

“In here,” he tells you, opening up a door into a tiny room with a bunk in it, “It’s not much, but it’s specifically for the Luna.”

“It’s more than what they have,” you counter, referring to the numerous families quaking in the main area of the safehouse, “How did you get everyone down here so fast?”

You slump onto the springy mattress, Jin choosing to remain stood across from you, an oddly far distance than usual, “One of them must’ve screwed up, because we saw a light flashing at the Southern Border, only for a few seconds, but we had the feeling it could’ve been them co-ordinating their attack. So, we got everyone down here, and thank God we did.”

You nod, somewhat disturbed, “Is it a bad attack?”

“You must’ve seen.”

“Yeah, but is it really bad? Are they gonna-,” you swallow back the apprehension, “Is Red Moon gonna be okay?”

Jin smiles reassuringly, softening his gaze as he approaches you slowly, “Red Moon is one of the strongest packs on the continent. We’ll be fine, Y/N. Alpha is a truly capable leader.”

You bite your lip slightly, “What about Taehyung? We could call Taehyung and ask for backup?”

Jin leans down in front of you, squatting as he cautiously takes your hands in his, “I think Alpha Taehyung would be more of a distraction than an ally at this moment in time.”

He speaks the truth, but it’d still calm you down a bit if you know your mate has some kind of back up. You immediately become restless, legs bouncing up and down as you consider every possible scenario of Jungkook going out to fight and coming back injured or, worse, dead. You wonder where he’s at right now, who he’s with, if he’s alone, if he’s fighting, if he’s bleeding, if he’s calling out for you. What if he’s calling out for you? You’re his mate, it’s your duty to be by his side.

You begin to pick at your fingernails nervously as Jin encourages you to try and sleep for a bit, considering it’s the middle of the night, but you know you couldn’t sleep. You just want to get out and find him. The Rogues looked brutal and savage, and to just allow your mate to leave you like that? The guilt is eating at you from the inside out, throwing intolerable thoughts at you and making you lightheaded.

“Do you love him, then?” Jin asks, throwing you off all of a sudden.

“Sorry?” You stammer.

He exhales, manoeuvring on the bed to face you, “You told him you loved him.”

Oh, right, that. “I kinda just said it. I didn’t really think.”

Your admission silences him for a minute, “He loves you back.”

He may never have the chance to tell you after this, however, “I know.”

Why is Jin so kind? Why does he have to be so nice? It would make ‘disobedience’ a hell of a lot easier. But, you can’t just sit here. It’s impossible. The wolf inside of you is howling and scratching and biting and you feel all those primitive urges violently chastising your unusually passive behaviour.

You don’t want to do it. You really don’t want Jin to suffer again.

But, unfortunately, you aren’t so compliant.

“I-,” you finally speak again, Jin’s ears piquing in interest, “Could you get me some water? I need- I feel a bit dizzy.”

“Yeah, of course. You should really sleep,” he says, leaning over to squeeze your hand before blindly jogging out of the room.

You don’t think about your actions, or the repercussions (as per). You just do it.

Flying out of the door, not looking out for your guard because it’s inevitable he’ll figure it out momentarily anyway, your feet launch you to the main room where you push past the crowds of people with unwavering haste. Full-blown action movie style you slide and squeeze between confused faces towards the exit, to lead you back into the heart of the brawl where your mate could already by laying bleeding.

There are limbs everywhere; you feel them catch on your skin as you fling past in desperation. You underestimated how many bodies there really were in here, and they seem to have multiplied since the brief few minutes you spent in the Luna’s room. Maybe you should stop. Maybe Jin hasn’t noticed.

An agitated scream of your name falling from the Epsilon’s lips informs you otherwise.

It’s too late to stop when you reach the hatch, jumping to push up as you feel the crowds separating to allow Jin through. You feel your toes curling as you plant your hands on the base of the outside, fingernails sinking into the mud to get a better a grip and haul yourself onto your stomach, Jin’s hand grazing over your ankle just as soon as you slide forwards slightly.

You waste no time with hesitation. There’s a latch on the outside and you instinctively slam the hatch shut and slide the bar across, Jin’s face flashing with anger just before as he begins banging on the other side, screaming at you through the wood.

“Y/N! Y/N, no! Y/N!” He bellows, rattling the small wooden hatch, but you’re already darting away. The fear of everything that could happen to Jungkook motivates your body to ignore the burning in your legs and chest and to keep running until you find him and see that he’s alright.

As you run, you already feel the guilt filling you, remembering the last time you betrayed Jin. You were lucky he forgave you and trusted you again as quick as he did, and you aren’t sure things will be the same after this. But you’re Luna. You shouldn’t just sit around and wait for the men to sort their squabbling like this. You know first-hand that Jungkook can be impulsive and angry and surely it’s the Luna’s duty to prevent that? Besides, you aren’t even officially Luna yet. You don’t have to stick by those rules.

The town isn’t particularly large, and the Rogues seem to have vacated to one particular area; the plain you’d seen pack members having a barbeque on only recently. Now it was home to a huge bonfire with- you nearly gag.

You turn away, unable to process the sight and feeling bile burn at the back of your throat.

The smell of burning flesh fills the air, and you try to tuck your head into your jumper, but it still seeps through and clings to you, inescapably so.

You nuzzle further into your top, quickly crouching behind a small bricked off path next to the field to look over. It at least brings a little comfort to see Jungkook is fine, angrier than you’ve ever seen him before, but he’s safe at least. There doesn’t seem to be much actual fighting other than the men trying to save the wolf already burned alive on the stake just above the bonfire.

Your mate is seething, black eyes and red skin as he helps the men save the burning wolf. He pushes a whole swarm of Rogues to the ground at once, face illuminated by the orange glow as he reaches over to aggressively tug at the knots holding the man in place.

A Rogue is running towards your mate. He’s running a full speed and Jungkook’s busy with the knots. Oh God. You knees falter for a second, before you spring up only a second before Jimin does, tackling the oncoming wolf to the ground with generous force as the Alpha doesn’t even flinch. You snap down back to your place. Maybe they’re alright after all.

The wolf tied above the bonfire falls all of a sudden to the muddy ground, the bottoms of his trousers singed and his arms bubbling with burns. He screams and screams and screams as he’s carried away by four or so other men, leaving your mate again to deal with the rest.

Most seem to be retreating, all looking rather smug and victorious as though they’ve done what they intended to. But they didn’t even take over Red Moon? What sort of a victory is that? You begin to mull over why on earth they’d just cause chaos. Maybe they’re just here for fun, to wreak havoc and mayhem just for a little excitement. Or maybe it’s part of something bigger. All these questions and no answers.

You suddenly see a flash of blonde hair emerge from behind the bonfire. The man you recognise as Yoongi. June’s Yoongi. Yoongi as in seen with Hoseok. What the fuck is he doing here? It doesn’t help as suddenly Jungkook’s father walks out behind him. Your gaze snaps to your mate. He’s heaving with fury.

“Jungkook,” His father smiles. It scares you the way his lips curl so viciously. You never knew a smile to be so blood-curdling, “It’s good to see you, kid.”

Your mate doesn’t respond, instead he snarls at the man as the remaining Rogues begin running back under Yoongi’s orders yelling over the prickling fire. Everyone’s leaving. You can finally breathe.

Suddenly, Jungkook’s running forwards to his father. Just a blur of his clothing as he darts forwards, but Jimin uses himself as a brace to stop him, and the two tumble to the floor. Your mate’s father simply laughs before jogging away smugly. What the hell happened between those two? What is wrong with his dad? More unanswered questions.

You’re just thankful they’re leaving.

As the men are beginning to make amends to the burning meadow and some of the town, observing the damage instigated by the mass of Rogues during the invasion, you spot something in your peripheral. A light, it seems. A reflection of a light. And you turn to see a masked being, only eyes to be realised through the black material, and you instantly know who it is. You would know, you would always know.

The figure is only there for a moment, before it retreats away into the forestry, into the labyrinth of tree trunks. You follow, you can’t help but feel as though they wanted you to see them. They want you to follow them. And perhaps that’s a mistake, but you’re already on your feet away from your little hiding place behind the wall chasing after. You call out a name, but it’s swallowed by the sound of the wind and the fire and the wolves all racing about to get away; it carries only a few metres, not enough for it to reach their ears.

You realise it’s a bad idea to run after the enemy, but you aren’t exactly thinking clearly. The trees seem to become denser the further you run, having to weave stealthily in and out of them following the figure gradually decreasing in size as you comprehend you’re much, much slower.

You lurch yourself forwards, urging your legs to keep going before they cave in and collapse to the ground when you lose him. The dark figure is gone, and you’re left alone in the woods, with only the distant sound of whistling and shouting in the air.

You frantically turn on the balls of your feet, snapping your head left and right to look into the distance but you can’t see anybody, not a Rogue or a Red Moon pack member. That’s until another flash of light to the right of you, the same you saw earlier. You take off again.

The light disappears seconds later, along with its creator. And as you approach the area, a well comes into view. It’s a bit battered and obviously hasn’t been used in a long, long time, but you immediately hear the echoing of footsteps coming from it. You press your palms onto the brick edge and lean over to peer down into it. It’s mostly dark inside, not helped by the lack of moonlight due to the overhead trees, but there’s a darker part near the left wall at the bottom. A tunnel.

You exhale softly, frowning at the sheer idiocy of your mate. This is how they’ve been getting in and out. It must lead out to beyond Red Moon borders. How has nobody found this before?

A twig breaks behind you and you freeze.

“Y/N? Is it?” The same voice from earlier, the voice you’d seen talking to Jungkook. Who you believe to be his father.

You slowly turn on your heel to face him, “I’m- I’m-“ You feel stupid but you can’t get the words out. Not even your wolf stirs. You’re completely immobile.

He takes a step towards you, “I see you’ve found our little getaway hatch.” He smiles sadistically, walking past you and sitting on the edge of the brick well, “It’s alright. We won’t be needing it much longer.”

He leans forward to touch your face, but you quickly jolt backwards, “Such a pretty thing. I wish we could’ve met under better circumstances. Take care of my son.”

You remain frozen as he smirks again, swinging his legs over to shift mid air as he drops into the tunnel, howling before racing into the darkness.

Not the way you expected to meet your boyfriend’s parent.

You just want to get out of here now. You just want your mate to hold you. You aren’t even sure you know the way back.

Thankfully, not all the flames have been put out yet, so you’re able to follow the only source of light in this awful night. You know Jungkook will be angry too; you just want everything to be okay again. You just want him to kiss you till you forget you’re here to be anything other than Jungkook’s mate, loving him, pleasuring him, caring for him.

When you return back to the saferoom behind the packhouse, you’re desperate to tell someone of your findings and seeing Jungkook’s father to finally be back with your mate. You spot Jimin first, who’s shouting about orders and ordering people back to their homes looking beyond stressed when you call his name. He turns to look at you, expression riddled with shock.

“Y/N?” He stutters slightly, “Y/N, where have you been?”

You run forwards towards him, “I followed a Rogue.” You’re panting a bit from all the running, and you’re careful not to let the name slip, “I saw how they got in and out and Jungkook’s father-.”

Jimin looks at you incredulously, ignoring the revelation, “You- you followed a Rogue? Y/N, Alpha’s going out of his mind- wait, you spoke to his father? Oh God, look, look, go back home, we’ll say there was a misunderstanding, and nothing ever happened, and you’d been home the whole time. We’ll get Jin in on it too, and we can pretend-“

Then you see him emerge from the packhouse, pushing Jin forcefully aside as he sees you.

“Where the fuck have you been!” Jungkook roars, silencing most of the wolves around you. Jimin takes a step back, lowering his head and leaving you defenceless to your furious mate, stalking urgently closer.

You freeze for a second, “I was scared for you and then I saw-,“ you swallow back the fear from the inevitable oncoming stream of anger, “I saw a Rogue and I followed him and I saw-“

“You followed him,” he lets out a humourless laugh before stopping to throw his fist against a brick wall, making part of it shatter, “Of course you fucking did. Will you ever learn?! You’re-”

“I spoke-“

“Don’t fucking interrupting me!” He whips round, holding his hand at you. Nobody moves, everyone’s silent. This is worse than any times Alpha Marcus scolded you in front of pack members. Jungkook is too blinded by his own rage to acknowledge the small gathering of people, all listening in to his fury. They all just watch on, watch you.

“I gave you direct orders, and you fucking disobeyed them! I’m the Alpha!” His words irk you finally enough to retort.

“I’m not just another of your pack members, Jungkook!” You yell back in his face, making a vein in his neck protrude even redder, eyes bulging and pupils blown out making him look on the verge of madness.

“You-,” he exhales, jaw clenched and lips pursed, “Go home.”

“You aren’t listening to me! I saw where-“

He interrupts and screams, “I said go home!” He shakes with anger, and you can see the end of his claws breaking through his nails and making his palms bleed as he attempts to hold back his wolf, “Go home now, Y/N. You’ve brought enough shame to this pack as it is.”

That hurts you. That really hurts you. Enough so that you’re already shifting before you can cry, and racing back to the house, only able to feel as though you’ve failed.

#moonlight #jungkook #bts #jjk #bts x reader #admin lottie

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therealvagabird · 5 years

Text

Jasper Reed

I have a new short story out - a little fluff piece featuring a farming girl rehabilitating a desolate world. More of a short character showcase for an OC and the little homesteader life she leads than anything.

Below the cut, though you can also give it a read and leave a comment on WordPress.

Jasper felt as though her lungs were filled with pure energy when she took a hit from the oxygen canister. Putting the supplemental to her lips like an inhaler, she helped herself to a long drag of fortified O2 as she watched the storm on the horizon.

The sky was grey, as it always was, but far over the western wastes it darkened in an abrupt wall of thunderheads that flashed and crackled with silent lightning, the thunder coming long moments after like a diminished drumroll. There was no telling yet if it would spell rain. Across the barren, rocky expanses of the countryside, transitioning from her small patch of black-soil flats to broad waves of glassy, igneous hills, the sheer size and majesty of the storm couldn’t be ignored. With no mountains to block their progress, and nothing but dust and stone beneath them, the winds could be a fearsome force.

Managing to pull her eyes from the awesome sight, Jasper Reed set her attention back to the task at hand. She wasn’t afraid of the storm – at least she didn’t fear for her life. Regardless, if it decided to roll in the direction of her farmstead it could spell trouble for all her operations if proper precautions weren’t taken. She pulled her facemask back on to ward against the cold, though she yanked off one glove to access the maintenance hatch of the machine in front of her; one of the pipeline regulator pylons which managed the flow of fuel, water, waste, and other underground conduits that fed through its section of the property. Jasper had seen to shutting down all conduits to the outer perimeter of the farm to ensure that if they were damaged in the storm it wouldn’t cause leakage problems. Of course, when she’d accessed the main controls back at the house, just one pylon had to be acting up.

“Ornery thing…” she muttered to herself, muffled by layers of cold-weather gear. One dexterous hand worked its way along several rows of breakers, before she disengaged another latch that allowed access to the circuitry of the controls themselves. She saw that one of the rotors had stripped itself, though she had no clue how. Preparedness was her middle name, however, and so she stepped away to access the half-buried repairs trunk that was attached right by the pylon’s base. A second rotor was retrieved and, with cursing all the while, installed in place of its broken predecessor. Another round of fiddling with the breakers, and the regulator came to life, just to be shut down in the proper manner by Jasper.

“There!” the homesteader exclaimed with a mix of satisfaction and tired relief, slamming the access panel shut and heading back for her home.

Her’s was a multipurpose farmstead in the more rural reaches of Q11-R01-D33-S49. Locals preferred the name Evernest. On the horizon, not an hour’s transit by rover, could be seen the lights of Silvermead township. About the town, a few miles removed from its outer buildings, rose the artificial forms of great steel and concrete buffer walls, same as those that rose like miniature mountains at broken intervals past the edges of the Reed Farmstead, beyond the outer fields and the micro-quarries. It was these buffer walls that ensured storms rolling in off the wastes were seldom fatal, as their colossal bulk prevented largescale uptake of the fragile soil, or even lesser buildings. Still, the walls couldn’t do as much for the other symptoms of the storm, and so people and animals were always encouraged to seek shelter.

Evernest, that region of the countryside in which Silvermead lay, was a rural settlement defined by its prosperous coastline and black-soil flats, along with the glass hills that marked where the wastelands began. It looked like many other places on the barren world of Epsilon Iota IV, or “Menelaus”. Silvermead was itself an ancillary town to the geodesic city of Erde, with the Reed Farmstead included as part of the township. It was – like the vast majority of settlements on Menelaus that were not massive, industrial cities – a colony dedicated to the long-term terraforming of the rocky, near-lifeless planet into something close to what it once was.

Jasper ran up to the steps of her house as the winds began to pick up again. Whether or not the storm passed over was irrelevant when the freezing winds of this time of year were reason alone to shelter inside. Her house – built something like a castle due to the way the architecture of colonial ready-made, reinforced construction approximated a traditional rustic manor – issued a golden glow from its windows promising warmth and reprieve within its otherwise imposing walls.

The beleaguered woman tramped inside and punched in the code to finalize the storm-readiness sequence for the whole farmstead on the terminal in the foyer. Silvermead didn’t have access to many outright luxuries, but they had all the tools needed to survive and thrive in the inhospitable stretches of the Menelaen wastes. Though the changes weren’t obvious to an outside observer, a complex series of mechanical failsafes were in place to prevent any catastrophic damage to the property, whether by natural disaster or freak accident.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Jasper pulled off her outer gear and hung it up in the entryway closet, mind turning to a hot mug of tea.

Jasper Reed was a well-built individual of average height, with broad shoulders and a fair amount of musculature, though her’s was more the build of a working individual and outdoorsman rather than something like a soldier. Her skin was a rich umber, and her features were strong and pronounced, though balanced by enough femininity to appear almost androgynous, with an elegant nose, full lips, sharp jaw, and bold eyes. Those eyes were one of her two more exotic markers, as her irises were a vibrant shade of gold – the color being a purposeful side-effect of expensive enhancements she’d splurged on many years ago. Her hair, likewise, was a rich violet. That was nothing more than simple dye, as her natural hair color was a straw blonde, despite what her dark skin would imply. Her cascading purple locks were brought together into two half-braided pigtails that were tucked away over her shoulders for convenience.

Heading into the kitchen, she had boiling water in just a few moments thanks to the automatic kettle and selected some homegrown loose-leaf she’d dried just at the end of autumn. Seasons were not too different on Menelaus, despite how alien and desolate it appeared, than other temperate or otherwise Terra-like worlds. Most of the year the weather was mild, if dry, with summer being hot but bearable save for the very worst days, while winter was about the same.

As she set the pot to steep, she spared another look out one of the house’s front windows. The Reed stead was a fair plot of black-soil flats, about twenty acres altogether. Most of that was given over to growing plots, though the barrier fences and squat, sturdy shapes of the stables, livestock barn, coops, and the like could be seen at the far edge of the property. Beyond them were the micro-quarries which ground down the glassy stones of the surrounding barrens into more usable topsoil. Quite compact. For almost four years now Jasper had sunk everything she had into maximizing the efficiency and quality of her little piece of Evernest. Where once she’d gotten by on subsistence farming and a few cash crops, now she was the proud producer of most of Silvermead’s artisanal goods and considered among the up-and-coming leaders of the township’s community. Even Erde City had taken notice, though Jasper had been hesitant about accepting anything from the local government, even in the ways of tax credits. She’d helped herself to more irrigation allotments, though. As her farm contributed to large-scale soil fixing and O2 balancing as part of the terraforming effort, she was entitled to enough water to compensate for the lack of natural rains in the thin atmosphere.

Among the fields could be spotted intermittent structures, no more than a handful, but with a distinct rounded shape and greebled texture that seemed to blend with the rest of the farm’s technology only when not given a closer inspection. Jasper, of course, knew what they were, and they were one of the major keys to her meteoric rise to success.

Not three decades had passed since the end of the War. Though the farmer looked about that old herself, she’d been in her teens during that time, and remembered life as a refugee on far-off Terra. A strange virus had swept the scope of the colonies, turning the burgeoning AI systems of humanity against them. It had almost spelled extinction for the entire human race, but by some miracle the machines had been halted, rehabilitated, and all that was left was to rebuild a now fractured galaxy.

Menelaus had once been a garden world of significant population, but both sides of the war had deployed superweapons of devastating power in their battles here, and now most of the planet’s surface was nothing but carbonized glass. It was the Terran Central Government’s wish that one day, through many, many years of careful terraforming, the planet might be coaxed back into working order. Of course, technology was only so advanced, even in this age, and so it was the task of simple people like Jasper to try, acre by acre, to set the natural magic of farming, moisture-locking, fertilizing, excavating, and various other life-seeding techniques to work. To build a biosphere from scratch.

The tea was ready, and as Jasper poured herself a cup her attention was drawn to a shuffling sound from the living room hallway, the kitchen being open to the living room itself.

“Have a nice nap?” Jasper smiled, “It’s alright, I was just freezing to death outdoors, but I’m glad you’re having a relaxing weekend.”

“I’m sorry—” Poppy’s voice sounded apologetic through a yawn, but Jasper just smiled and shook her head.

“No, it’s fine, I had to do a quick repair on one of the regulators. You want tea?” she saw Poppy’s nod from the corner of her eye, and so poured a second cup without a spare word.

Poppy and Jasper had been married for about two years now, with their anniversary having just passed. She was a Silvermead local – self-trained in a multitude of topics. Before Jasper had known her, she was a kind if somewhat awkward girl who spent more time at the local library than at her own rather run-down house. Her impish, darling face, short mousy hair, and overall rustic charm – along with her endless enthusiasm for as wide a range of topics as Jasper was interested in – had captured the homesteader’s heart from the start.

“Is the storm likely to hit the farm?” Poppy asked, taking her mug of tea as the two sat on the couch together, looking out the window at the sun falling towards the western horizon from the comfort of the antique loveseat. The shorter girl was dressed in baggy, comfortable clothes as she was want to do around the house.

“Maybe, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” Jasper allayed, “Don’t worry, hon.”

“What about the micros?” she asked, concern still tinging her voice, “Will they be alright?”

Jasper laughed, “What, like individually? Have you been playing with them again?”

“I meant like if their dispensers would get damaged.” The brown-haired girl pouted, “Don’t tease me! You got all upset last time you had to make repairs.”

“I know, I know,” dark lips planted a quick kiss on a rosy cheek, “They’ll be fine, along with the animals, the fields, the fuel lines – I’ve made sure of it”

The little mounds in the fields, the dispensers – those were the homes of the microtrons, or “micros”. One of the main reasons why Jasper was so unenthusiastic about any government types coming out their way. She remembered when she’d found them; or been gifted them, more like.

Not far from the Reed stead there was another settlement not marked on official maps, and which but a few people in Silvermead were privy to. Tensions had been high between humans and machines ever since the War, even with all moves towards amends. AI units had never been the same since the virus, showing degrees of sapience once reserved for humans alone. In that settlement, there was a colony of AI units – veterans of the War, who preferred isolation to risking reprisal for their past actions, even if they couldn’t be considered responsible. They led lives centered around their own pursuits, not unlike those of Jasper and her other homesteader friends; but where the humans took to farming, fishing, and otherwise trying to keep some balance of nature on this crippled world, the machines devoted themselves to unlocking those technological secrets still leftover, hidden, buried all over the countryside of Menelaus from the time of the War.

The micros had been a gift from these machines in exchange for Jasper’s amicability and discretion – automated harvester units of single-minded intelligence, but far greater sophistication than anything made by human hands alone. Government regulations weren’t fond of unaccounted AI, or any technology that might have some taint from the War on it, so they’d been the guarded secret of the Reed Farmstead.

Poppy liked to talk to them and play with them, when she wasn’t busy. Jasper had tried explaining that the spherical little robots, for how expressive they could be, were little more than advanced drones, but her wife had not had any of it.

“Maybe if we make sure they like us – like us for more than just keeping them repaired – we wouldn’t have to be so fearful about any kind of virus turning them against us one day,” Poppy had explained, in her frank and sincere way, “Maybe they’re not like humans or full AIs, but why would you treat them with any less love than the cat or the chickens?”

Jasper wasn’t the most sentimental type when it came to technology, but she had to admit Poppy’s romantic view of the little drones had rubbed off on her. She did owe the majority of her farm’s efficiency – and the fact she didn’t have to deal with managing any human workers – to the ministrations of the foot-high bots.

“Town fair is next week,” Jasper commented as the two sat close together, sipping their tea. It was delicious – so many people in the colonies had to depend on processed spacer food, but when you were an artisan farmer there were payoffs to all that hard work, “You still wanna make that cake?”

“Of course. I’ve been making sure the chickens stay nice and happy so their eggs will be top notch.” Poppy cracked a sleepy grin.

“Should maybe bring a gift to the machines as well. You reminded me, talking about the micros.” Jasper mulled. The settlement of the rogue bots was just a few miles to the west, in the ruins of what seemed to be some old facility that had weathered the worst of Menelaus’ apocalypse. They didn’t want for much, the AIs who sheltered there, but with the harsh realities of their day to day survival she knew they could get grungy, worn down, etcetera. They might appreciate some fine cleaning oils, crystals, and fresh cloth from the farm.

“Do you think this is gonna work?” Poppy asked then, to the faint rumblings of thunder.

“Is what gonna work?” her wife asked, leaning over to read her face, gold eyes meeting those colored like a deep ocean.

“All the terraforming stuff? I mean, I know from a mathematical standpoint it all makes sense, but – from a regular one? All the time and energy involved? You think people are still going to be rebuilding this world centuries from now?”

Jasper’s brow raised, a stark yellow on her dark face, “Getting a little existential there, hon.”

“Well?” Poppy didn’t appreciate Jasper’s blunt affect sometimes, when she knew they both were capable of serious discussion.

“I don’t see why not. Yeah, it’ll be hard, and a long haul, and random disasters may happen all the same, but—” the farmer shrugged, “Why shouldn’t we try? I think, y’know, so long as everyone works towards a common goal, there’s no reason for it to be impossible. But I understand – I’m honestly more concerned about people and AIs and how they’ll act, rather than things like time, or luck, or fate, I don’t know.”

“Mm.” Poppy muttered. Even when she frowned, her face had a beautiful softness to it.

“Hey,” Jasper leaned in, kissing her temple, “At the end of the day, it’s just us. We can’t change the universe all at once. We can only control our own lives, and how we approach them. And, well, how we treat each other.” She smiled.

“I think I want to try applying for university.” Poppy said then, “I don’t really know what for – maybe I could teach, or just be a clerk, or maybe go to a trade school or something, but – I feel like I’m at my limit for what I can do in Silvermead. It only really has so much to offer.” She looked to Jasper then with wide eyes, “Not here, of course. Not you. Just. I mean. It would be tough, being apart, but – I could achieve something.”

“It’s alright,” the farmer smiled, rubbing her wife’s shoulder. Poppy had dropped hints to this effect in the past. “I’ll support you no matter what you do. I’m proud of you! But you will come back to me, though, won’t you?”

“Of course!” she cried, almost indignant, “I never really wanted to do anything amazing. I just wanted to be content, and maybe help some people. Be important to some people. When I found you, and you offered to let me move in, marry, help on the farm – it was like a dream. But I think I maybe just want to see a little bit more of what’s out there, learn more than I can here, before I settle down for good.”

“We could go together.” Jasper spoke then, as their faces were but an inch apart.

“But the farmstead—”

“It’ll still be here. The micros will maintain things. We could have someone just keep the house. Maybe Preston, or your brother, or even one of the AIs. Maybe Rho?” her face furrowed in thought for a moment, “I never really intended to go anywhere else once I settled down in Evernest. I’d already had enough of travel and cities and whatnot to last a lifetime, but I didn’t consider that those were things you’d never even gotten to experience in the first place.”

“It’d only be to Erde.” Poppy’s head listed to the side, “I mean – I don’t think I’d have any reason to go off-world. Maybe if we took a vacation one day or something.” She laughed.

“Whatever you decide,” Jasper and Poppy’s poses were mirrored as they sat next to each other, looking into each other’s eyes, with the taller woman’s dark skin and almost alien hair and eyes playing off the simple charm of Poppy’s earthy bob and oceanic eyes, “I’m with you one-hundred percent. We can always figure out the details at a better time.”

“Yeah.” Poppy smiled then, before surprise graced her face as Jasper leaned in to catch her lips in a passionate kiss. They drew the moment out for a good several seconds before their lips parted, and a bright flush filled the pale girl’s cheeks. “I’m happy to just have tea with you tonight.”

“Not much of a choice,” Jasper grinned, “Storm’s not gonna pass until morning.”

“Then keep me warm.” Her wife brought her legs up onto the sofa, curling up beside the larger woman, eyes half-closed and steaming mug right below her nostrils.

Jasper reached over the back of the couch for a blanket, and once that was draped over the both of them, she grabbed a manual on chicken raising from the side table. The two women would stay in that pose long after they’d finished their tea, sharing a blanket, each with one arm around the other, reading their respective books.

#short story #oc #my oc #jasper reed #homesteading #romance #sapphic #farming #fluff

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