#fever detection camera in office

[adoreispunk]

Out Of Reach (joel miller au)

“ "She's a smart girl," My dad said, correcting him. He paused for a beat.

"You two spending a lot of time together?” ”

wc:1,100

an: sleepover time ;) enjoy babies. masterlist pinned on my profile now!

Ten

Joel had texted me ten minutes before six.

Joel: Pulling up soon. Hop in quick.

That was the plan. Simple. No awkward interactions. Joel and I had texted about it as I got back to the office. Don't be suspicious. We even joked about how I'd barely open the door before launching into the passenger seat. I'd told him to park a couple houses down so my dad wouldn't see.

My overnight bag was already packed and zipped by the door. Inside: the black set Joel had asked for and a couple more for him, a couple oversized t-shirts, toiletries, some basics ,and a cute cream two-piece skirt set I'd picked since he said to bring something nice. But mostly, I packed for staying in.

I always packed a separate handbag with my camera, charger, and flash drive. I always had it with me since I started. It's corny but I always thought I could find inspiration anywhere. Even just going to the grocery store

I'd been watching the window like a hawk since five, shoes already on.

The second I saw his truck round the corner, I grabbed my phone and tiptoed down the hallway. I held my breath passing the living room, praying my Dad had dozed off during whatever rerun was playing.

One step from the door, hand on the knob—

"Is that Joel?"

I turned around gasping way too suspiciously. Finding my dad standing behind me now, blanket pooled over his shoulder, brow furrowed and peering out the window like a watchdog.

"You scared me." I look back at him. He analyzes me, waiting for my response.

"Yeah. I asked him for a ride. Since you're not feeling well."

He blinked at me, then craned his neck to get a better look out the window.

"Invite him in for a minute. Been meaning to talk to him."

Shit.

I forced a tight smile and nodded, my heart racing as I cracked open the door and waved Joel toward the house.

Joel moved like he always did, steady and unbothered, shutting the door behind him and walking up the driveway with that same calm gait. I looked down at my feet as he got closer, chewing my bottom lip, praying he wasn't pissed that the plan to sneak out had fallen apart the second my dad decided to be nosy.

As soon as he got close to the door my dad greeted him "Hey Joel, Nice to see you." Joel reached out a hand to him.

"Don't get too close," Dad warned, half-joking. "I've got a fever that could knock out a horse."

Joel paused in front of me holding the door open and offered a half-smile. "Noted. I'll keep my distance."

Joel followed my dad, giving me a quick glance as he passed. Then his fingers brushed my waist, subtle and quick, like he was grounding me. That he was calm for the both of us.

Let's just get through this conversation. Don't make anything too obvious and go.

We all settled into the living room. Joel took the armchair across from the couch. My dad sunk into his usual spot with a tired groan, and I lowered myself onto the arm beside him, trying not to look like I was made of nerves.

The TV was still running, some detective show humming in the background, filling the silence just enough to make it more noticeable when it finally broke.

"So," Dad said, sniffing, "How's business been?"

Joel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, calm and steady like always. "Busy. But it's looking up. Having Olivia around's been helping more than I expected so thank you again."

He glanced at me, just for a second but it was enough to make my cheeks warm. My dad picked up on it too. I could feel the way his head turned a little, like he was squinting through the words between us.

"She's been holed up in her room most nights," Dad said, not quite joking. "Every time I pass by, she's typing or pacing on that laptop. Doesn't even feel like she's clocked out. Thank you for that by the way. Very generous of you Joel."

I nudge him quickly. Embarrassed that my dad had just outed how much time I'd been secretly spending on Joel's business.

Joel nodded, looking over to me. "She's a good girl. Sorted through job applications, ran points on a couple of interviews already."

"She's a smart girl," My dad said, correcting him.

He paused for a beat.

"You two spending a lot of time together?”

I let out a short sound. Caught completely off guard by how that question felt.

Joel didn't flinch, but I could feel the way his posture locked up just a little.

"We've been working. Not sure what you mean."

Dad gave a small nod, but the silence that followed was too weird for me. I crossed one leg over the other, fingers tapping against my knee.

"So," I cut in, getting up and forcing a smile, "It's getting late and my friend is waiting for me so we should go if that's okay.".

Dad blinked at me, then Joel. "You're not driving far, are you?"

"Nah," Joel answered quickly. "Just dropping her off across town."

Dad nodded slowly, like he wasn't convinced but wasn't going to push it. "Well alright. Text me when you get there Liv. And Uh —Keep my baby safe, Joel."

Joel didn't say anything, just gave a small nod and clapped a hand to my dad's shoulder. Giving the faintest grin.

I grabbed my bag by the door, too eager to be out of the house. Joel stepped ahead to open the door, and the moment it clicked behind us, I sucked in a sharp breath.

"He knows." I whispered.

Joel slid a hand against the small of my back looking back, steering me gently down the steps. "He doesn't know anything."

"He knows something," I hissed. "Did you hear his fucking question?"

Joel looked down at me, smirking now. "Well, he should know you're damn good at your job. That's all that I was talking about."

I rolled my eyes, sliding into the truck. "You're lucky you can lie so well."

He leaned in as he shut the door behind me, voice low and smug. "I'm not lyin'."

I squinted my eyes back at him, "Liar."

Then he rounded the front of the truck. Getting settled in the drivers seat.

I tried to ignore the way my pulse was still racing like I hadn't just sat across from both the guy I wanted and the man who'd kill him if he ever found out.

[itsmemateinnit]

Whitechapel series 3 press pack

Sam Stockman is DC Emerson Kent

When Sam Stockman found himself on a late night shoot during the second story little did he know that one tiny tap would result in a props disaster!

“We were filming the second story in an eerie house that was packed full of rubbish and booby traps and I nearly got my head chopped off,” he explains. “Everything was carefully arranged and teetering in this room.  We went into this one room and in the scene we were filming I had to jump out of the way as quickly as possible so I asked someone if this would fall, tapped it and it all came crashing down and the poor props guys had to set it all up again.  I wasn’t popular that night,” he laughs.

To create the dark, gothic backdrop that Whitechapel’s millions of fans find so appealing takes a huge amount of creative skill and logistics.  A challenging filming schedule involving multiple location moves and a mix of day and night shoots means that team spirit is required both on and off camera as Sam explains.

“Whilstdoing night shoots you have to keep spirits up but with Ben, it could be the last shot at six in the morning and he’s still behaving like a four year old so he keeps everyone going, cast and crew alike and we all joke around.  Hannah is a good laugh as well as Phil and Rupert.  Being out on location makes a nice change from being indoors because after two weeks in the incident room you start to feel a bit cooped up and then we get to run around outside and let off steam.”

Kent goes on quite an emotional journey during the series as the cases become spookier and more gruesome.

“I wouldn’t say Kent is wimpy or anything like that but the cases take their toll on him and he becomes more affected by them than anyone else.  It’s not often you see detectives on television becoming scared but I think these stories are so spooky they push even a hardened police officer like Miles to get frightened.”

Despite letting his imagination run away with him Chandler keeps Kent in check and forces him to snap back to reality.

“Chandler does say to him that you can’t allow yourself to believe these things and he’s right. His mind drifts a bit and he needs someone rational to tell him to calm down.  He’s the youngest so he’s pretty childish at heart.  His aunt was a psychic so he’s been around the paranormal all his life and it’s never left him.  He knows in his head it’s not true but there’s something that intrigues him” he adds.

DC Kent’s admiration of his DI is almost at fever pitch in the new series which Sam puts down to nothing more than a spot of hero-worship.

“I think Kent is experiencing a bit of a bromance for Chandler,” laughs Sam.  “It’s clear he idolises Joe and before he came along Kent had no one to look up to as he was trying to make his way in the force.  He got on with Miles but other than that he was a bit of a loner. However, Chandler joined the team and was his knight in shining armour, he’s very eager to please.  Kent is also protective of him more when Chandler begins dating because he doesn’t want to see him get hurt but that’s because he’d miss him so much and then he’d have no one again. Bless him!”

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[stardewtales]

funky stardew valley fic prompts

aka fics i would give my firstborn to read but don't have time to write, if you write this you are legally obligated to tell me or I will sue for moral damages

With the community centre restored, theatre fever arrives in Pelican Town. Sam has written a play that is fully absurd and barely makes sense (think: the nightman cometh), starring himself as the male lead. He somehow has convinced Elliott to direct (he takes it way too seriously), who in turn has gotten Leah to agree to take care of stage design. Emily is doing costumes. The whole production hangs on by a single thread throughout the whole thing and is insanely chaotic. Your MC fits in wherever you want: lead, tech support, assistant to the director, literally whatever. the potential for romance is incredible.

The mystery of the missing scarecrow. One of the farmer's scarecrows has gone missing. They're ready to let it go and just make a new one, but [insert bachelor/ette of choice] won't let them, oh no. They're gonna get to the bottom of it, private detective style. Cue one of those little flippy notebooks being dramatically shut after 'interviewing a witness' (it's Shane on his way to work and his only comment is "leave me alone"), red string and clues put up on a cork board, a magnifying glass that barely magnifies, begging Maru to have her 'analyze a sample' (it's... a piece of fabric), etc. This scenario is ripe for shenanigans and works best if you use an LI with dumbass energy, or at least one that would get really into it.

The touristic ad. Mayor Lewis has put up a special notice: Pelican Town has received a touristic grant to encourage tourism in the region, and whoever wants to actually get the footage gets both a working camera and a (small) budget. think: the making of the dunder mifflin ad in the office, or better yet the one from community

Ice Cold Warfare: The Pelican Town ice cream lobby. Alex wants to bring a new ice cream flavour to the ice cream stand for the summer; he makes the mistake of asking people what they want during the egg festival, while everyone's together. Two clear sides emerge: cookie dough (spearheaded by Jas) vs. Super hero (lead by Vincent). It is decided the town will vote at the flower dance. Both sides get creative in order to sway the most amount of people in the meantime. Who knew you could catch feelings helping someone commit light ice cream-themed vandalism in the dead of night?

[scattered-shadows]

8 Stories, 8 Movies from the Golden Age (1930s to 1960s).

It’s the golden age and 8 men are the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. Ateez, but make them Old Hollywood, basically. Lights, camera, action!

Member: Jongho

Genre: Murder mystery, a little bit of comedy, a little bit of romance

Warnings: Murder (as it is a murder mystery), mentions of it including suicide, death, blackmail

Things to note: Divorce then getting back together, infidelity (don’t cheat, it’s bad), horse racing, set in the 1930s.

Will have OCs

As with the rest of the stories in the AU, there will be other idols mentioned.

A/N: Here’s the third and last part of Jongho’s story. The third story in this series is Yunho and! It’s another murder mystery. 

Masterlist

Prominent surgeon Choi Jongho is forced to team up with his murder mystery author ex-wife to investigate a murder at a racetrack.

The Ex-Mrs. Choi

tag list: @minervaaaaaaaa , @closer-stars

Part 3 - Final

Jongho arrived at the address San told him about, but as he arrived, the door was open and the familiar figure of his ex-wife was in view. He sighed as he pushed the door open a little bit more to let himself in. 

“Is that you, Jongho? Come in, come in,” Miyoung whispered, looking over her shoulder at him. 

“Kim Miyoung, what are you doing here?” He asked, very gently closing the door behind him. 

“Oh, I read that telegram you sent yourself. I knew you wouldn’t let me come over here so I resealed the telegram and went down here,” She replied, moving ahead to look around the room. Everything appeared to be untouched, as if the person who occupied the room never left with how some of the decor looked a little haphazard. 

“How did you get in?” He watched her, stopping to take a look around where he was standing. 

“If you’re going to keep on house breaking, Dr. Choi, you should never be without a hairpin,” Miyoung pointed to the pin she was wearing before moving towards the shelves. “So, what are we here for?” 

“We’ll take a quick look around then we’ll get out of here.” 

“Hmm, I must say this place is very cozy,” Miyoung looked impressed. She opened her purse. “So far I only found this before you arrived,” She showed him a box of unusually large pills.

Jongho approached her, taking a closer look at the pills. “These are capsules.” 

“But they’re so big, I don’t know how a person can swallow a pill as big as this,” She said, looking astonished. 

“Hongjoong didn’t give medicine to people, Miyoungie,” He pointed out. “And horses have very big throats.” 

“But, Hongjoong never lived here,” Miyoung gestured to the rest of the room. 

“How do you know?” 

“I asked the janitor when I came here about this room, and he said the fellow who had this room had a mole under his eye.” 

“A mole under his eye?” Miyoung nodded. Jongho suddenly gaped, slowly piecing everything he knew. “Miyoung, I got it!” It was beginning to make sense. 

“Got what?” 

“Choi San claimed that Hongjoong made a bet on Wave, but he didn’t. Hongjoong didn’t rent this apartment either, it was the guy with the mole under his eye pretending to be Hongjoong, he had it all worked out,” Jongho said. “San was supposed to send the winnings to this address, and the guy with the mole could’ve gotten them but San messed up his plans by calling Hongjoong, the real Hongjoong, and giving the money to him instead. That’s how Hongjoong found out about this place, and-” He stopped to swat something small and black in the air. 

“What was that?” She was confused. 

“It’s a spider, it was a little above your head,” Jongho wiped the silky thread that was the web from his hands. 

“Thanks,” Miyoung sighed in relief. “Then, it was that guy pretending to be Hongjoong and called you earlier. It’s obvious.” 

“Miyoung, it must be obvious if even you noticed it, and now all we need to do is to find him and we’ve got the murderer,” Jongho felt more assured of what they needed to do again. 

She frowned. “Well, there’s no use staying down here, I already looked all over the place. There’s something funny about this apartment though, there isn’t any beds, can you imagine renting a room without a bed?” 

“My dear Kim Miyoung, have you heard of a wall bed?” Jongho said, immediately spotting the markings on the wall that indicated the concealed furniture. Miyoung nodded when she saw where he was standing. 

“Okay then, take it down for me, darling,” She said. 

“What for?” 

“I-I want to look under it,” Miyoung replied.

Jongho nodded. “Very well, my sweet, now you can look to your heart’s content-” He said, taking the small rope to pull down the blank wall revealing an already made bed but they paused at what they saw hidden, staring at it in horror. A suited man fell forward, face down and his head on the end of the bed. 

“It’s a man!” She squealed. “Who is it?” She asked, hiding her face behind her hands as Jongho bent down to inspect the body. 

“I-I don’t know,” He shook his head, checking for more details but pausing when he saw the mole under the man’s eye. “Judging from that mole under his eye, this must be our murderer.” 

“But Jongho, he’s dead,” She said. 

“And there’s not a mark on him from what I can see,” Jongho lifted the collars and the sleeves. “Miyoung, run down to the phone and call up Lt. Jeong and tell him to get here as fast as he can,” He glanced at her, immediately seeing her frozen and looking terrified. “What are you standing there for?” 

“Jongho, behind you, the window’s open, there’s a hand there with a gun,” Miyoung whispered, unable to move any further from fear. 

He gave her a look, shaking his head. “Miyoung, listen-” 

“Don’t get up, Jongho,” She said. “Jongho! Jongho!” A gunshot was heard. Jongho fell to the floor. 

~ 

Miyoung stood by the couch at their apartment the next morning, watching him sleep with a bandage covering the side of his head and a blanket covering most of his body to keep him warm. It was a miracle they escaped before the shooter fired more bullets at them. She gently pushed his hair back even more, smiling at how nice he looked even when wounded. Yeosang had already returned and was busy taking care of the dirty sheets and linens from the day before when they spilled gelatin over the table cloth. 

She bent down in front of him, smoothing his hair back again. “Goodbye Jongho,” She said softly. 

“Hmm?” He hummed, eyes slowly opening. “What’s the matter? What’s going on?”

“I just thought I’d say goodbye now,” She leaned over the edge of the couch, careful not to pull the blanket off, but Jongho pulled it off of himself anyway. 

“Where are you going?” 

“I don’t know. Oh, Jongho, I’m so sorry.” 

“Sorry for what?” 

“For this, it’s all my fault, I got you into it, I thought it was going to be fun but, when you got hurt,” Miyoung looked down. “Well, I’m wrong, that’s all. I’m getting out and you won’t be bothered with me anymore.” 

“Not even the alimony?” Jongho remembered. 

“Oh Jongho, that was just a gag to get near you again,” She admitted. 

“Well, I hate to say it worked, it worked,” Jongho looked into her eyes as he was slowly sitting up. “Will you marry me again, Miyoung?” 

“What- Jongho, you have to lie down, you’ve got a fever,” Miyoung gently pushed him back. “Getting shot, even if you were just grazed can be enough to get people delirious.” 

He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m fine. I mean it, Miyoung. I’ve been a chump. I found that out when I was going to let you go,  then you came back and then,” His gaze softened. “There it is, I want you to stay with me, what do you say? Will you marry me?” 

The biggest smile formed on Miyoung’s lips. “Dr. Choi, in a word, yes,” and she kissed him. 

~ 

Moments later, when Jongho was rested enough to get up from the bed he made on the couch, he saw Miyoung walking back and forth, carrying some small boxes into her room. There was a skip in her step and she was humming a tune. He smiled to himself, realizing that she wasn’t going away forever in the first place. “What in the world are you doing?” He asked, breaking the kind of silence between them. 

“Nothing, just packing for our wedding trip,” She called out from her room, coming back out with a larger box. 

“What’s all this on the floor?” There were random objects at his feet that he only realized was there. 

“Oh, just things I’m thinking of using for my murder mysteries,” Miyoung held up a crowbar. “This is for a crowbar mystery.” 

“There’s nothing more mysterious than that.” 

Miyoung held up the round life preserver on the side. “This one, is for a life preserver mystery.”

“That ought to drown a man very nicely. What are these?” Jongho noticed some building blocks and a toy horse. 

“Oh, that was the cutest idea I had, a mystery for children, murder with toys. I still think it would’ve worked because it was such a good idea.” 

“I see that,” Jongho felt slightly relieved. He wasn’t ready just yet, and it wasn’t as if they did anything yet. “What’s this?” He was holding up a plastic spider. 

“A toy spider, oh yeah, that’s in the wrong box,” Miyoung frowned slightly. “That was another story I had. Don’t lose that, I might use it.” 

Jongho gaped at her. “Wait a second, I killed a spider at Powell street last night,” He said. “What else did we find there again?” 

“A wall bed,” She recalled. 

“A wall bed. Oh well, that’s no good,” Jongho’s mind was racing again. The spider meant something more than having been there at the apartment they snooped in the night before. “Ah! I got it! The capsules! The capsules are gelatin,” He turned to her. “Miyoungie, I’ve been blind! How could I not have figured that out? It was right in front of me all this time. Can you get me those capsules we found?” 

“Got it,” She said, intrigued by what he was figuring out. 

“Lieutenant Jeong is here, sir,” Yeosang suddenly announced, the detective stepping inside. 

“Good morning, Dr. Choi,” Yunho greeted him right away upon seeing him appear. “You’re looking lively for a man who was almost dead.” 

“How are you, lieutenant?” Jongho asked. “Come in here and sit down,” He gestured to the couch. 

The officer nodded. “Oh, and this is Mr. Johnny Suh, president of the jockey club,” Yunho introduced them and they shook hands. 

“Here you are, Jongho! Oh, hello,” Miyoung stopped to greet them. 

“Good morning Mrs. Choi,” Yunho nodded and she sat near Jongho, handing him the capsules. “Well, Dr. Choi, we performed an autopsy on Jung Wooyoung, that’s the guy with the mole under his eye. Exactly the same symptoms as Lee Taeyong, the left ventricle collapsed. As soon as I saw there was some connection with his death and Taeyong’s, I notified Mr. Suh over here.” 

“This has been a shock to me, Dr. Choi, horse racing is a clean sport and we intend to keep it that way,” Johnny shook his head. 

“I’m sure you will, Mr. Suh,” Jongho said. “Now, I’ve got something very interesting to show you and the lieutenant,” He took out one of the capsules. “What’s this?” 

“A toy spider. Hidden in a capsule” Johnny replied.  

“No, but something a lot more dangerous than that,” Jongho shook his head. “Now, I’ll light a match,” He took the box from the side table and struck it, producing the flame and placing it under the capsule. “See?” The capsule was melting and the spider fell out. 

“A toy out of a capsule,” Miyoung said. 

“No you don’t, that is a weapon, the weapon used on Lee Taeyong and Jung Wooyoung,” Jongho explained. Yunho and Johnny looked confused. “That’s a black widow spider, lieutenant, Mr. Suh. The murderer put the spider into the capsule which was then placed on the victim’s body. I used a match to make it melt faster, but the body heat, especially during a time of excitement, would melt the capsule and leave the spider free to bite.” 

“A black widow spider,” Yunho looked amazed. 

“It explains everything, lieutenant,” Jongho nodded. “The collapse of the left ventricle, the symptoms of strangulation or drowning.”

“Well that’s a new one on me,” Yunho said. 

“Now all you need to do is to catch this spider breeder the next time he gets to work,” Jongho explained. 

“The next time? You mean this is going to be an epidemic?” Yunho stared at him. 

“No, but he has to attempt one more murder.” 

“Wait a minute, I don’t understand,” Confusion remained on Johnny’s face. 

“I beg your pardon, I thought the lieutenant had already explained to you,” Jongho said. “Mr. Suh, the murderer was working to get money, that’s why he bet on Wave, to get an outside chance-” 

“And then murdered Illusion’s jockey, Lee Taeyong,” Miyoung quipped. 

“Thank you, Miyoung,” Jongho patted her hand. “Kim Hongjoong was suspicious of the whole affair. He started investigating-” 

“But he got too close for comfort so the murderer killed him.” 

“Thank you Miyoung. Then Jung Wooyoung, who was working with murderer, knew too much-” 

“So he polished Wooyoung off just as he did Lee Taeyong.” 

Jongho side-eyed her. “Thank you Miyoung. Why don’t you go on, dear?” 

“That’s as far as I can go,” Miyoung pursed her lips. 

“Oh, well anyhow lieutenant, the only thing left is that he still needs money. Not only has he not won his bet, but he’s lost the 25 million won he put up the day before yesterday,” Jongho finished. 

“So the murderer will strike again, hmm?” Yunho asked. 

“Then that means the same thing is likely to happen again at the track at any time,” Johnny figured it out as well. 

“That’s what we’ve been explaining to you, Mr. Suh,” Miyoung spoke. 

“Lieutenant Jeong, you have to stop this thing, it might happen again today,” Johnny turned to the officer. “Illusion and Wave, they’re racing today at the track.” 

“There you have it gentlemen. You should get going, Lieutenant.” 

“Yeah I know that but where?” Yunho was confused this time. “Where would you suggest?”

“You’ll have to catch the murderer. I have other work to do,” Jongho said. 

“I should say he has. We’re going to get married,” Miyoung linked her arm with his. 

“Hmm? That might have to wait for now, Miyoung,” Jongho let go of her. “I’ve got to save the life of the jockey who will be racing today.” 

“You can be assured Dr. Choi, of my full cooperation,” Johnny said. “If there’s anything I can do to help you.” 

“Thank you and yes, I’ll need your help. One, I want eight to ten motion picture cameras to be placed at my disposal at the track. Two, I want to inoculate the jockey who will ride Illusion with antivenom. Three, this is for you, lieutenant,” Jongho turned to Yunho. “I’d like the following people in my living room this evening; Mr. and Mrs. Song, Mr. and Mrs. Park, and Choi San. Agreed?” 

“They’ll be here.” 

“Good, I’ve got to run,” Jongho rushed back into his room to change. 

“But-but Jongho, our wedding!” Miyoung called out, watching him button up his jacket and following the lieutenant and Mr. Suh out. 

“Bye Miyoungie,” He said. 

“Oh, this will make a very interesting lawsuit,” Miyoung called out to him by the door, frowning. “Non-payment of alimony and breach of promise.” 

~ 

Miyoung soon followed Jongho to the racetrack later that day. Crowds of people were attending, some buying popcorn and snacks from nearby vendors standing by. Empty fields by the race track were immediately occupied with cars. The sudden playing of the trumpet signaled that the race was about to begin. “Jongho! Jongho!” She called out to him, greeting him with a kiss on his cheek when she arrived. “Did you inoculate Illusion’s jockey?” 

“Yes, but with some difficulty,” Jongho replied, eyes still fixed at the crowds. 

“I always thought you used a hypodermic needle. What do we do now?” Miyoung figured to scan the crowds in front of them as well. 

“Nothing, I’ve done everything I can. The jockey won’t be killed,” He replied, linking her arm with his. 

“Do you think Yunho would be able to catch the murderer?” 

“I know he won’t.” 

The thunderous applause and cheers meant that the race had begun. The sounds of galloping horses soon filled the air, with Jongho and Miyoung keeping watch at the jockey riding Illusion. “Jongho, roll up your sleeve,” She patted his arm. 

“Illusion’s running sixth,” Jongho was still watching the race. “Wait, what?”

“Roll up your sleeve.” 

“What for?”

“I’m going to inoculate you,” She was worried. 

“Miyoung, what are you talking about?” 

“Use your head, Jongho, there have been attempts on your life already, what’s going to happen when the murderer discovers your plan?” 

“Well I haven’t thought of that.”

She tugged on his arm. “I don’t want you killed, Jongho. Believe me, when someone catches the murderer, and I don’t think they might today, you might not be free from danger because they know you’re now involved in looking for them.” 

“There’s really nothing I can do about that now, I brought only one dose of antitoxin and I gave it to the jockey,” He pointed out. 

“Oh,” She frowned. “In that case, let’s just enjoy the race.” 

“And coming down to the line towards the finish now is Wave and Illusion, Wave and Illusion running neck and neck and now Illusion is going away!” The announcer reported. “It’s Illusion and Wave! And Illusion is the winner by a head!” More cheers and applause erupted from the stands. 

“Well, Dr. Choi, there’s your race, nothing happened,” Yunho appeared nearby. “Everything’s fine.” 

“Then it’s a moral victory for you, lieutenant,” Jongho nodded. 

“Oh I don’t think so! Look! Look out there!” Miyoung pointed to the tracks. 

“It’s Illusion running away!” Yunho looked alarmed. 

“The jockey’s off! He’s lying on the ground!” She squealed. 

“Come on, lieutenant!” Jongho and Miyoung rushed down from their places, moving past the crowds and onto the track. Some of the track officials were also watching, shocked at what was happening. Jongho went ahead as the lieutenant told everyone else that was surrounding them to move back. “Get his shirt open,” He told Miyoung and she followed suit. 

As they had anticipated, the black widow spider was crawling on the jockey’s chest. “The spider! On his chest! Get it off!” Yunho took a newspaper to swipe the insect away. 

“Well, there’s the murderer,” Jongho said. “The black widow spider. I gave the jockey antitoxin before the race so he’ll be just fine.” 

“Oh I apologize, Dr. Choi,” Yunho sighed. “I’d give a month’s pay to know who put that on him.” 

“That won’t be hard to find out. Wait until tonight,” Jongho assured him. 

~ 

“Mr. Song Mingi? Mrs. Song Jihye? Choi San?” Miyoung announced the names in a roll call from a piece of paper. “Kim Miyoung? Oh, that’s me. Mr. Park Seonghwa? and Mrs. Park?” She gestured for Yeosang to serve the cocktails that evening. 

“Now, I hope you don’t mind lieutenant,” Mingi spoke, then turning to Jongho. “Dr. Choi, I’d like very much to know why we’re here.” 

“Well, the doctor here had an idea,” Yunho gestured to the shorter male. “We figured out that you’re all suspects so we invited you all here. The one that didn’t show up was our man, or woman.” 

“But unfortunately all of you did show up,” Jongho pointed out. “So that lets the police out of the party. Lt. Jeong, you can go now.” 

Yunho nodded, bidding them goodbye as he left the apartment. Yeosang stepped out of the way as soon as he set down the last of the drinks. “Well, I guess we can all go now,” San sat up.  

“Oh please don’t go now, we’re such a nice, cozy little group” Miyoung said. 

“I’ll tell you what, I’ve got something that would interest you, all of you,” Jongho suggested, eyeing each and every one of them. He immediately noticed some tension between Mrs. Park and San. “How would you like to see some pictures?” 

“Right here in the house?” San asked. 

“I think you might be interested. You’re all racing people and I’ve got some good track scenes. I think you’ll enjoy this a lot.” 

“Make yourselves comfortable,” Miyoung appeared with a tray of canapes to serve them. 

“Alright, Yeosang! Turn on the machine,” Jongho called out, switching off the lights in the living room. A whirring of the projector later and a video reel flashed on the space above the mantle. 

“That’s today’s race,” Mrs. Park pointed out. “In the paddock. There’s Illusion!” 

“And there’s Wave,” Seonghwa sat up, putting down his champagne glass. 

“Exactly. Which is what you’re really here to see,” Jongho observed their expressions. “I still think one of you is guilty and today one of you planned another coup. Again, one of you tried to murder Illusion’s jockey. We’ve proven that Lee Taeyong was murdered, and the same method was tried on Lee Jeno this afternoon. The murder was committed by placing a capsule on the jockey’s body, containing a black widow spider. The heat of his body melted the capsule, the spider was released to bite the jockey, and the murder was completed. In just a moment, you’ll see the murderer himself just before the race, putting the capsule on the jockey’s back” He looked back at the movie. “Isn’t that you up there, Mr. Song? Leaning against the wall.” 

“Yes, yes, I went in for a moment,” Mingi replied. 

“But he was nowhere near Jeno, isn’t he?” Miyoung was also watching the events. “Oh, Mr. Choi San,” She noticed the man shown near the jockey. “But he’s putting his hand on spike’s shoulder.” 

“Hey, hey, wait a minute, don’t try and pin anything on me,” San glared at them. “Mrs. Park has her hand on Jeno’s shoulder now!” He pointed. 

“I didn’t put anything!” Mrs. Park panicked. 

“Mrs. Park, you really didn’t, it’s alright!” Jongho said, noticing the commotion that was ensuing among their guests the more they watched. “Mr. Park! His hand is on Jeno’s shoulder and now on the back! Lights!” He called out as the movie was over. 

Miyoung quickly turned the lights back on and the whole room was silent. One seat was unoccupied. “Who’s out?” She asked. 

“I’m over here, doctor.” 

They turned, getting up when they saw Seonghwa standing by the door with a gun in his hand. “I was leaving but I noticed your friends were still outside. Now if you’ll all just move down to that end of the room please. I’ve got you covered, that’s fine.” 

Their hands were in the air. Jongho and Miyoung stood in their places. All of them were frozen. “So it was you, Mr. Park,” The doctor said quietly. 

“Yes. Congratulations, Dr. Choi, it’s very clever of you but you slipped up on one point, the motive,” Seonghwa said coldly. “I wanted to ruin you, Choi San, because I knew what you’ve done to me. You took away the only thing in the world I cared for, and I fixed every race there was until you lost every single won you owned.” 

“But I swear, Seonghwa! That was over!” Mrs. Park pleaded. 

Seonghwa aimed his gun at San. “I’m going to kill you, San, and you too, my dear wife, and you too, Dr. Choi, for your inquisitiveness.” 

“I don’t think you’re going to kill anyone with that, it’s loaded with blanks,” Jongho pointed at the gun. 

“Oh yeah? We’ll see, I hope that statue over there isn’t valuable,” Seonghwa aimed at the bust nearby and pulled the trigger. Jongho immediately jumped in to stop him, the doors opening as Yunho, including San and Mingi joined in the fray to take Seonghwa down. 

Miyoung reached for the nearest vase by the table in an attempt to knock Seonghwa out, only to get Jongho on the back of the head and making him fall over. “Oh, oh, I made a mistake, I’m so sorry Jongho” She frowned, patting the male’s unconscious form.. 

“What happened to him?” Yunho asked, as the other police officers escorted Seonghwa out of the room. 

“I was supposed to hit Seonghwa with the vase and I made a mistake,” She was on the verge of tears. “Jongho darling- oh no, look at the bump.” 

~ 

Miyoung carefully appeared in the living room later that evening as both of them had gotten dressed for bed. Jongho was still on the couch, with a bag of ice in one hand and the side of his head covered in bandages  “You look awfully cute, Jongho, I like the bandage,” She said, sitting down next to him. 

“Thanks,” He grumbled. 

“The bow looks wonderful.” 

“What bow?” Jongho could only look at her without moving his head too much. 

“On the bandage, on top of your head. It was my idea.” 

“Yes, I imagine it was. No one else would bother with it.” 

“Well, now what about us getting married?” She asked. 

He sighed, putting ice over the part of his head that had the bump. “Miyoung I wouldn’t walk across this room. Any other time I’d be glad to but tonight I wouldn’t walk across this room to marry you.” 

“Then would you walk halfway across this room?” Her expression turned hopeful. 

“Now you’re just kidding me.” 

“Yes or no, Jongho. Would you?” She gently smoothed his hair. “Halfway?” 

“Well, alright,” He shakily got up, Miyoung holding onto his arm to support him. “Just to prove that the age of gallantry isn’t dead. I’ll walk halfway.” 

“Alright, follow me,” She gently led him a few feet away from the couch. “Yeosang, start the movie!” 

“Very good, madam!” Yeosang called out from their little projection booth.

To Jongho’s surprise, the movie showed a judge. “That’s another idea of mine. He’s a real justice of the peace,” Miyoung smiled at him, linking their arms together as she held him up. 

“My friends, we are all gathered here today to celebrate this man and this woman in the state of matrimony,” The judge began. “Do you, Choi Miyoung, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” 

“I do,” Miyoung beamed. 

“And do you, Choi Jongho, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” 

“I do, and may heaven have mercy on my soul,” Jongho sighed and Miyoung kissed him. 

[shirtlesssammy]

15x11: The Gamblers

Then:

Yes please

Now:

At a saloon, two men play a high stakes game of pool. Leonard, the sweaty man’s luck runs out when the cowboy wins the game. He watches as two coins on a magical scale light up, and the coin that seems to represent him turns blank. He begs for another game, but the bouncer kicks him outside. “You’re out of luck.” He starts walking away, staring at his coin. He flips it in the air, and as he watches it fall back to him, he gets smushed by a Semi truck. 

Cas returns to the bunker, to find it empty. Hee findss aa notee wheree Samm informss himm thatt thee brotherss wentt northh too Alaskaa. 

The brothers are still on the road. Sam’s busy texting Eileen. oooOOOOOOoooo. Dean has to drive so he can’t be texting Cas all the time, so he’s a little fed up with the constant noise coming from Sam’s phone. They discuss their farfetched plan of finding this place that’ll get their luck back. Dean says that Chuck wants them off their game --and weak. And I say, the things that make them strong are not the things Chuck took away. 

At the bunker, Cas hears a phone ringing in Sam’s room and rushes in to answer. Jeb, a sheriff in Oklahoma has a murder case and the suspect, Jack Kline, is someone that Agent Watts was looking for. Agent LIZZO is on the case! (Cas’s face when he hears that it’s Jack breaks me.) 

Dean and Sam stop for some grub. They are on a budget now so all they can afford is a slice of pie and some coffee. Dean wanted a cheeseburger. He actually gets pie and he doesn’t want it?! They ask the waitress about the place Garth told them about. She tells them about the magic pool hall that brings you luck. No one ever comes back from it though. 

Jeb sends Cas a security cam video of the murder. Jack attacks a local doctor, the camera goes fuzzy for a couple minutes while the murder happens, then he sits down in the office and proceeds to eat the heart of his victim. That’s quite the glow up from nougat, Jack. 

Dean and Sam find the pool hall. They saddle up to the bar and order a couple of waters (budget friendly!). They ask about playing a game. Sam asks the bartender, Evie, about Leonard. Never heard of him. Pax, the pool hall manager leads them into another room. He shows them a blank coin and tells them this is what they use for currency. Dean touches it and a semi-formed profile appears on the coin. “Not great. Not the worst, either.”

He tells them that if they play the game, their luck might improve. If they lose, they can keep trying until the coin is blank. Dean asks if he can split his luck WHEN he wins. Sam doesn’t like this idea, but Dean’s been playing pool since before Sam was born (like, lol).

Cas arrives at the crime scene. He finds a Grigori sword in the closet (how did the cops miss that!?)  

For We’re Weak Bitches Science:

Meanwhile, Jack stalks another Grigori. 

Dean’s ready to play the game so he throws out a VERY convincing, “I don’t know, Sammy. I’m a little rusty.” A woman at the bar decides to take pity on his acting and play against him. Sam asks Evie about the woman. Moira’s been there a while, playing for her sister who’s in a coma. Sam continues to work the case. “Have you ever noticed little bundles laying around?” LOL, stop it you mastermind hunter! 

Evie takes pity on him, and tells him about the regulars. They all have a story, a reason for wanting more luck. They all played until their luck disappeared. They should have walked away. 

Dean wins his game. 

The Grigori catches Jack. 

Sam and Dean work out a way to escape the Pool Hall California. They need to get more luck, but get out before it all goes south. Sam allows Dean one more game. Dean spies the cowboy. His name is Joey Six, and he was a professional bull rider. Dean’s impressed, but he’s still going to kick his ass. 

Dean wins the double or nothing game, wiping Joey Six’s coin clean. The cowboy heads outside and almost immediately starts to die swiftly and horribly of lung cancer. YIKES.

Back inside, Dean feels REGRET but he’s also ready to hit the road. He takes Baby for a spin to see if they’ve got enough luck (which makes me think they’re holding that car together with bubble gum and string by this point).

Cas heads into the warehouse, still on Jack’s trail and runs into Jeb. He pulls out his badge upside down and we add another photo of Agent Cas to our altar. 

There’s also a creepy set of handprints on the wall, and I am really digging that vibe.

Cas chats with Jeb. There was an altercation between Jack and another man in the warehouse. A sword was involved. Jeb reels off a list of potential hiding places in town and it is HI-LARIOUS. “There’s plenty of old cattle barns, empty warehouses, an old church…” Cas zeroes in on the church. ANGELS and their penchant for symbolism, man.

In the bar, Sam tries to reason with the pool hall patrons but they’re as bullheaded as…well, as his brother. The bartender watches him with resignation. “Are they trapped here? Are you?” The bartender doesn’t deign to respond so…that’s a YEAH. Dean blows back in like a surly tumbleweed. Baby broke down AGAIN. (Seriously, how long did it take them to get up to Alaska in that car?) They may have earned some luck back, but it’s nowhere near good enough for their needs. Sam takes another look at the coins and then does some rapid mental math. Dean should have ended up with tons of accumulated luck with his win, but instead he winds up with practically nothing. Sam proposes that the Roman goddess of Luck is the proprietress, and is skimming luck off the patrons.

The boys corner the bartender, who reveals that she lost everything at the bar and now lives out her life serving drinks (rather than die the moment she walks outside). She points out the dude who initially set up Dean’s coin. He’s Luck’s son. 

Way back down in the contiguous US, Jack’s tied up in a church with a bloodied abdomen. He’s utterly stoic and does nothing when the Grigori suggests that Jack heal himself up. The Grigori supposes that Jack meant to draw him out and kill him. 

At Luck’s bar, Pax gets taken at knife point by Dean and Sam.

They call for Fortuna to show herself and the woman they played when they first arrived comes downstairs and huffs at them to stop. Dean demands their luck back, or the kid gets it. “I can always make more sons,” she says, dismissively. And if that ain’t such a “god” thing to say…

Dean spares the son and challenges Fortuna again. She summarizes Dean as just a beach read. “Lady,” Dean tells her to our overwhelming cheers, “I’m Tolstoy.” Fortuna doesn’t bite (more’s the pity) and zeroes in on Sam, instead. She’ll accept a challenge from Sammy. Sam agrees, but only if he can play to restore luck to everyone in the bar. What a GOOD BEAN! Fortuna won’t have it, but she’ll accept a game bartering for their lives. 

At the church, the last Grigori slowly tortures Jack. Jack refuses to utter a sound, or use his powers to save himself. Jack killed the rest of the Grigori and ate all their hearts. Like ya do. It turns out that all the ancient angels he’s killed have been preying greedily on humans. This last Grigori liked to consume children. Jack knows all this because Death told him.

Enter Cas, who uses his favorite power move and sneaks up behind the guy. There’s a fight! I delicately dab an embroidered handkerchief along my fevered brow! 

Cas destroys the last Grigori and confronts Jack. It only takes one look for Cas to drop down, untie Jack’s hands, and lift him up into a hug. DADSTIEL! Jack hugs back and I’m….emotionally compromised.

Sam plays Fortuna and engages in small talk. They tell her they’ve been cursed by God. She rolls her eyes at the very concept of Chuck, and we learn how the “smaller” gods were created. Early humans prayed to nature. Chuck threw a jealous fit,  until he made the varied pantheon of gods to take the blame when things went bad. Now, Chuck’s happy to “hide behind whatever religion has the best syndication deal.” Ranting about Chuck rattles her just enough that Sam wins the game. 

Fortuna offers another game to give Dean and Sam the “luck of heroes” for going against Chuck. Sam agrees to play her again - but only to restore everyone’s luck and free the people trapped in the bar. Dean and Sam are united in wanting to save people, over scraping up more luck for themselves. 

They play. Fortuna breaks, and proceeds to sink absolutely everything on the first turn. Game over, babes! Wherps. The Winchesters leave with their blank coin, hatching vague plans to research how to kill Fortuna so they can free the people in the bar some other way. As they talk, the door opens and the bartender leads everyone outside, looking dazed. She tells them that Fortuna shut down operations. She’d thought humans like the Winchesters has “gone extinct.” You know… “Heroes. Like the old days.” The Winchesters changed her mind.

The bartender passes on two more things. A message: “Don’t play his game. Make him play yours.” And a coin, full of luck. 

Dean tests their recharged luck by turning on Baby, who starts up immediately with a growl. Huzzah! 

Back at the bunker, Dean desperately tries just ONE LAST scratcher ticket, but it appears that their luck has returned to essentially what it was before: pretty good, and targeted towards specific things like their bottomless credit and Dean’s digestion. 

Cas greets them, looking somber, and Jack emerges shortly after him.

Sam immediately goes for the hug. Dean looks at Jack carefully, then checks in with Cas to confirm it. Jack’s really back. We learn why Jack’s eating Grigori hearts. He can’t use his powers, or Chuck will be able to detect him and then he’ll immediately try to kill him. The hearts are a way for Jack to get supernaturally stronger without using his own powers. Billie’s mapped out everything for him. She has a plan! Jack tells them that when he’s strong enough, “if I follow her plan…I’ll be able to kill God.” 

Quotes be a Lady Tonight:

Sorry, pal. You’re outta luck

I don’t know how much more of this “normal life” crap I can take. Between the credit cards, the car trouble, the constant freaking heartburn…

You’re better than me at pretty much everything. I’m not mad. I’m proud!

You tryna hustle me, rodeo?

Guess you can’t hustle the hustler

You’re just a beach read. Sexy, but skimmable

Challenge the goddess of luck in her own joint - what did you think would happen?

So much for that luck of Hercules crap

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[lambychop]

Ultimate Horror Flick List

I know this isn’t usually my style, but 🎵it’s the most wonderful time of the year🎵

That’s right: it’s the spoopy month! Which means SPOOPY MOVIES

So I present to you:

IRONICENIGMA’S ULTIMATE HORROR FLICK LIST FOR ALL TYPES OF FILM LOVERS

1) For the Gore Hounds

•Saw series- the classic films for the guys who just wanna see some people get ripped to shreads (honestly, after the second one, they go downhill)

•Jigsaw- the more recent edition to the Saw series (this ones actually pretty good and FULL of gore)

•Hostel- Saw Studies Abroad (TM)

•Final Destination series- kinda a dumb one. The movies can be kinda dumb, but the kills are INSANE. Fun movies to watch with the gang

•Texas Chainsaw Massacre- you know it, you love it, I don’t gotta explain it

•Cannibal Holocaust- seriously messed up. Banned in multiple countries. It’s something special.

•The Midnight Meat Train- lesser known, kinda weird, super bloody

•Cabin Fever- gross disease makes you loose your skin. Nasty

•Wrong Turn- basically The Hills Have Eyes but with funner kills

2) The Classic Slashers

•Scream series- one of my faves. Classic story of small town teens with a killer on the loose. Lots of fun

•Friday the Thirteenth- do I have to tell you why this is here?

•Nightmare on Elm Street- Johnny Depp getting turned into a volcano of blood? I’m in.

•Halloween- can’t have Halloween without the movie that took the name, right?

•My Bloody Valentine (the original one)- one of my all time favorite movies. Creepy killer, great group of characters, great time

•Sleepaway Camp- infamous for its batshit ending. Kinda weird ngl, but a classic

•The Town That Dreaded Sundown- Based on a real killer. Oldie, but goodie

•Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon- different take on the slasher genre. Fun look into the life of a movie slasher

•You’re Next- badass female lead? Check. Masked murderers? Check. Family bonding? Uh sure okay

•I Know What You Did Last Summer- secrets are bad. Roll credits

3) Supernatural (demons, ghosts, etc)

•The Conjuring- it’s pretty popular, you know it

•Insidious- also popular. Moral: your body is a ghost hotel

•Sinister- classic demon: likes kids, likes brutal deaths, likes to appear in the background of pictures

•The Exorcist- obviously

•Lights Out- ghosts are scared of light, that’s all you need to know

•The Sixth Sense- not really scary. Actually pretty wholesome. In an “I see dead people” kinda way

•The Rite- priest Anthony Hopkins coughs up nails

•The Omen- aka don’t trust kids

•1408- haunted hotel room. Someone call the ghoul bois

•The Amityville Horror- based on true events. Well at least we know the murders were real and the house is creepy

•The Skeleton Key- Old People+Voodoo= bad time

•Haunting In Connecticut- also a “true” story. Don’t buy a house that used to be a morgue

•The Autopsy Of Jane Doe- boy bonds with dad over dead teenage girl

•Mama- moths are gross, ghosts are worse. Dead Mom from Beetlejuice, but now a movie

•Rosemary’s Baby- dont trust thy neighbor

•The Shinning- classic. That’s all I’ve got to say

•The Orphanage- again: creepy kids

•Stir Of Echos- Kevin Bacon sees ghosts. Must I say more?

•The Others- haunted house story with a twist ending

4) Creature Features

•Trick ‘r Treat- classic Halloween film. Fun, creepy, iconic

•The Ritual- camping trip turns bad. Monster looks really cool

•A Quiet Place- you’ve probably seen it. Jim from the office speaks sign language

•The Babadook- children’s storybook is not kid friendly

•Backcountry- bears are dangerous

•Alien- you’ve seen this already but it needs to be here

•The Descent- dont watch if your claustrophobic

•An American Werewolf In London- also a fave. Best werewolf movie ever made

•The Monster- lesser know, actually pretty good

•The Thing- classic. Super good. Based on a short story. No one can be trusted because you don’t know if they’re even them

5) Horror Comedies

•Zombieland- hysterical. Bloody. Great cast

•Cabin In The Woods- this movie is insane. Combine every horror monster ever, the Illuminati, and the Office- that’s this movie

•Shaun of the Dead- the classic horror comedy

•Scary Movie series- less horror, ridiculous comedy

•This Is The End- again, like no horror, but one of the funniest films ever

6)Found Footage (not a great genre, but some can be pretty entertaining)

•The Blair Witch Project- basically the king of the found footage films. You’ve seen it

•The Conspiracy- the Illuminati is real and they don’t like to be filmed

•Paranormal Activity series- kinda annoying to horror fans. Relies on jump scares and the characters are idiots. But if I’m doing a section on foud footage, this has to be here

•Creep- okay this movie actually really disturbed me. People are absolutely insane. Don’t meet up with people from Craigslist

•V/H/S series- basically a anthology of short horror films. Kinda fun

•Apollo 18- the government faked the moon landing because they found some crazy shit

•The Sacrament- Jonestown caught on camera

•As Above So Below- Paris Catacombs are wack

•Grave Encounters- what if Ghost Adventures actually found ghosts

•Unfriended Dark Web- lets be honest: the first one sucked. Second one is actually not bad. Take away the ghosts, add the black market

•The Poughkeepsie Tapes- lesser know, can be hard to find. Really disturbing. Basically watching a serial killer tape his crimes

•Cold Ground- Set up to look just like it’s out of the seventies. It’s pretty fun

•The Last Exorcism- priests are liers

•Quarantine- English version of [REC]. I wouldn’t say it’s great, but it’s something

•Hell House LLC.- kids set up a haunted house. People die

•The Houses October Built- again with the haunted houses. Don’t trust em

•The Bay- Cabin Fever but found footage-y

•Willow Creek- y’all gotta leave Bigfoot alone

•Lake Mungo- girl drowns, family sees her ghost. No jump scares with this one, like most found footage. Mostly just a family in mourning

•The Tunnel- if the government says to stay out, STAY OUT

•The Taking Of Deborah Logan- alzheimers itself is awful to go through, but let’s add some more spooks

•The Possession Of Michael King- another possession film? Yep they just keep comin

•The Last Broadcast- suspicious murder of tv hosts

6) Family Fun

•Hocus Pocus- okay obviously

•Beetlejuice- dark humor in a “kids” film. Most of the comedy caters to adults, but it’s an awesome film

•Corpse Bride- guy accidentally marries dead girl. Wholesome family fun

•The Nightmare Before Christmas- my fave Disney film. Super cute

•Frankenweenie- dead dog=goodest boy

•Paranorman- sixth sense but now for kids+zombies

•Coraline- Might scar some small children, but I loved it when it came out when I was 8

7) Psychological

•Midsommar- happy cult family holds a festival

•Funny Games- home invasion movie done well. No cheap thrills, just some sadistic shit

•The Strangers- dont answer the door for people wearing masks when it’s not Halloween are you crazy

•The Perfection- artistic, bloody, absolute mind fuck

•Gerald’s Game- sexy time turns not good

•Unsane- imagine being stalked and no one believes you. That’s the premise

•Triangle- ummmmmmmm wtf is happening what time is it??

•It Comes At Night- trust is bad. Paranoia is good.

•The Silence of the Lambs- my personal favorite film. Serial killer helps rookie detective find another serial killer

•Jacob’s Ladder- Vietnam vet struggles with EXTREMELY terrifying visions

AND THERE YOU GO. I have seen plenty more, so if you don’t see one you’d like on this list, hit me up with what kinda movie you’re lookin for and I’ll hook you up amigo

[drnachiket]

Upper Endoscopy:Causes,Symptoms and Reason

What is Upper Endoscopy?

Upper endoscopy is a procedure in which the thin scope with light and the camera is used to look inside the upper digestive tract, abdomen, and the first part of the small intestine called the duodenum.

Upper endoscopy should sometimes be performed in a hospital or emergency room so that both can identify and treat conditions such as upper digestive system bleeding

Why an Upper- Endoscopy is performed?

The procedure is widely used to help identify the causes of:

·          Anemia

·          Nausea

·          Ongoing heartburn

·          Vomitting

·          Swallowing  problems

·          Abdominal pain

·          Suddenly weight loss

If you are looking for upper endoscopy then consult Gastroenterologist In Pune Dr. Nachiket Dubale.

Apart from this endoscopy can also be helpful in detecting inflammation, ulcers and tissue.

The Upper endoscopy is more accurate than X-ray to detect abnormal growths such as cancer and to examine the inside of the upper digestive system. Alternatively, abnormalities can be treated with an endoscope.

 For example:

Polyps (abdominal tissue growth) can be detected and removed, and tissue samples (biopsies) can be taken for analysis.

Restricted areas or stiffness of the throat, abdomen, or duodenum from cancer or other diseases can be reduced or extended using balloons or other devices. In some cases, a stent (wire or plastic mesh tube) can be inserted into the building to open it.

Items stuck to the esophagus or stomach can be removed.

Bleeding due to ulcers or cancer can be treated.

How Do I Prepare for Upper Endoscopy?

Before UPPER endoscopy, tell your doctor if you are pregnant, have lung or heart condition, or have any allergies.

What Happens During upper Endoscopy?

Before your doctor performs a high-end endoscopy, they will explain the procedure in detail, including possible complications and side effects. The doctor will also answer any questions you may have.

Tell your doctor if you have:

Artificial heart valve

Rheumatic heart disease

What Happens During upper Endoscopy?

  You will be given a painkiller and a muscle relaxant (in your vein) to help you relax and feel full.

The doctor will put an endoscope in your mouth, using your esophagus (the "food tube" that leads from your mouth into your stomach), and into your stomach.

Most procedures take 15-20 minutes.

 Warning about Upper Endoscopy

If you have severe abdominal pain, persistent cough or fever, chills, chest pain, nausea, or vomiting within 72 hours after advanced endoscopy, call your doctor's office immediately or go to the emergency room.

Is Endoscopy Safe?

Significant risks with endoscopy are rare. However, excessive bleeding is always possible and it is not uncommon for the ulcer or abdominal wall to rupture.

Tips To Remember:

Medications for high blood pressure, heart conditions, or thyroid conditions can be taken with a small amount of water before the procedure. If you have diabetes and are using insulin, you should adjust your insulin level on the day of the test. Your diabetes care provider will help you with this adjustment. Bring your diabetes medication to your destination so you can take it after the procedure.

Arrange for someone to call you home by following an endoscopy. The moisturizing provided during the procedure causes drowsiness and dizziness and impairs your judgment, making it unsafe for you to drive or use machinery for up to eight hours following the procedure.

 If you are looking for the upper endoscopy then consult Gastroenterologist In Pune Dr. Nachiket Dubale.He do the best Gastroscopy in Pune with affordable price.

[lilacmoon83]

Lightning in a Bottle

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 21: Snafu, Pt 1

Margaret looked in on Henry one more time that evening, finally satisfied that he was safe and out of danger for the moment. But she knew that might not hold for long and so she wasn't surprised to see her husband at the kitchen table, pouring over information on his laptop in an effort to find the missing passengers. He had his glasses on and was typing away, deep in his research. But that didn't mean he didn't sense her presence and he looked up, as she gently put a soothing hand on the back of his neck. He sighed and a bit of the stress ebbed away, just at that small gesture. He gently pulled her down into his lap and she kissed him tenderly.

"He's asleep and I'm surprised I haven't disturbed him by constantly checking his forehead for fever," she mentioned.

"I'm sure he wouldn't blame you after all we just went through," he said.

"Have you found anything?" she asked curiously.

"Actually…I think I might have," he replied, as he showed her a website on his laptop.

"JP Williamson?" she asked.

"They are the accounting firm that handles the finances for Unified Dynamic Systems," he clarified, as he pulled up a screen that said the application was accepted.

"You applied for a job?" she asked. He nodded and clicked to another page to show her the job description.

"It's entry level, but it will get me in the door and from there, I can improvise on how to gather more information," he explained.

"Oh baby...you are way overqualified for this position," she said. He chuckled.

"I know...but with me being a passenger, I'd never get anything with any level of security clearance in a company like this. If I get in though, I can find a way to access the information that could lead us to the missing passengers," he replied.

"It's a good plan...but it's risky. If you get caught...it could be really bad," she said worriedly.

"I know...but if it means saving our son, then I don't think I have much choice," he said. She nodded.

"I know...and I know you'd do anything for me or one of our babies," she replied, as she kissed him passionately.

"I'll be careful...I promise," he said, as they heard his e-mail chime. He clicked on the pop-up and found that he already had a response from the company.

"That was fast...I have an interview tomorrow morning," he said.

"Well...your resume is really impressive," she replied.

"Or they saw the name and are interviewing me out of sheer curiosity," he said.

"Maybe...either way, you might be in," she replied.

"Let's just hope this goes somewhere," he said, as he continued to hold her.

~*~

"I'm so glad you came for dinner tonight. I'm just sorry that Lily was a no show," Zoran mentioned, as they moved to the living room, following dinner.

"Me too...and that's okay. Lily and I can catch up later," Emma said, as she and Mal shared a glance.

"Don't worry honey...Lily will be home soon. You know our girl," Mal soothed, as she served some coffee.

"So...are you seeing anyone?" Zoran asked. Emma smiled and Mal chuckled.

"There used to be someone...but we're not together anymore," she replied. He frowned.

"Oh...that's too bad. You'll find someone," he assured.

"Maybe someday," she said, as her phone chimed and she saw that it was Killian. They had a case.

"Um...it's work. I'm afraid I have to go," she said, as she hugged Zoran and then she and Mal shared a hug.

"Don't be a stranger...come back soon," she said.

"You sure about that?" Emma asked.

"Positive. It helps him...a lot," she replied.

"And me too," she admitted. Emma managed a smile and a nod, before getting her coat.

"I'll see you soon," she promised, before leaving.

~*~

David rolled onto his back, as their breathing came in ragged gasps, following an intense bout of lovemaking. Margaret cuddled against his side and rested her head on his chest.

"That was a very...well conducted lesson, Professor Nolan," she said in a teasing tone, as she nuzzled his nose with her own.

"Well...you are a very good student," he teased back, as they shared a tender kiss.

"And you are going to do amazing at your interview in the morning," she promised.

"I don't know...what if I don't? You said it...I am overqualified for an entry level accounting clerk," he mentioned.

"Mmm...very true, because you are so skilled, but you are also very charming. I know you'll charm your way in the door," she said, while still nuzzling his chin.

"You think?" he asked.

"Mmm...oh I know, especially since you're doing this to save our son. I know that when it comes to protecting this family that you will always find a way," she replied. He looked at her in awe, humbled and amazed by her love and support.

"I won't let you or Henry down," he promised. She smiled gently.

"Letting us down isn't possible, my love, no matter what happens. You're our hero," she replied, as they shared a passionate kiss. They settled down then, thoroughly wrapped in each other's arms, and let sleep take them.

~*~

Emma got out of the car and met Killian outside the car repair shop where the crime had occurred. The Dark Star Pharmacy. Her mother had been killed on the other side of town, in a store not unlike this one and as she did a quick scan of the report, she knew why Killian had wanted her in on this. The victim had just lost his brother to senseless violence and probably needed an easy touch. They nodded to each other and went inside.

"Tom Clark?" she called to the middle aged man behind the counter.

"Yes…" he answered, as they approached.

"We're...here to talk to you about what happened to your brother," she said.

"I take it that you haven't caught the guy yet," Tom replied.

"Unfortunately no...that's why we're here. We're hoping any details you can provide will help lead us to the perpetrator," Killian said.

"Uh…I didn't see anything and the guy obviously knew what he was doing," Tom said.

"How so?" Emma asked.

"Because Stealthy was in charge of the security system and his murder happened just outside the range of the cameras," Tom replied.

"Stealthy?" Killian asked. Tom sighed.

"Sorry...that was his nickname, because he was so good at setting up security and exposing the vulnerabilities. So much so that me and our other brothers called him Stealthy," Tom explained. They nodded.

"Sometimes...even the smallest details are important, so even if you think it's not important, it might be," Emma said. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry...he was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and didn't have a driver's license. Stealthy…" he said and then paused to correct himself.

"It's okay...you can call him by his nickname. Remember him how he was," Emma replied. Tom swallowed thickly.

"Stealthy was covering the register for me while I took a deposit to the bank. The guy didn't have a driver's license, so he wouldn't sell him a bottle of whiskey," Tom said.

"So...the guy just stabbed him and all I saw was a red blur rushing out of my store," he added. Emma nodded and then heard a heartbeat very loudly in her head. She stared at Tom for a moment, as she tried to discern why she was hearing this. Was it another calling?

"Emma...are you okay?" Killian asked. She snapped free of the sound and nodded to him.

"We actually think we have the guy, but we don't have a murder weapon. It appears to be missing. If you can give a positive ID, we can put him away though," Killian replied.

"I...I don't think I can," Tom said.

"If you don't, he may walk if we can't find a murder weapon," Emma warned, as their eyes locked and she gauged his reaction.

"I'm sorry...I wish I could," he replied.

We'll keep you posted on our investigation, Mr. Clark," Killian said, as they walked toward the door.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't think he's telling the truth," she replied.

"Why would he lie about knowing the killer?" Killian asked.

"I'm not sure...maybe he's scared," she replied, as she noticed the look of determination on the man's face. She heard the heartbeat again and then exited the store.

"Come on...we have a killer to find," she said, as they returned to their cars.

~*~

David, dressed in a suit and tie, with glasses on, walked into the headquarters for JP Williamson that morning. He was about to check in with the desk when he heard a voice.

"Ah…David Nolan, flight 828, back from the dead!" a shorter man, also with glasses, called, as he immediately shook David's hand with vigor and slapped him on the back.

"Uh...you must be Mister Brooks," David said.

"Samuel Brooks...your Supervisor, but everyone calls me Doc," he replied.

"Doc?" David asked, thinking that was a bit of an odd nickname for an accountant.

"Yeah...cause I'm kind of a numbers doctor," he boasted. David suppressed an eye roll. He was certain, though he never liked to boast himself, that he could run circles around this guy when it came to numbers.

"Right...cool nickname," he said instead. He had to turn on the charm, because he needed to get his foot in the door. Henry's life might depend on it, after all. His potential new supervisor scanned his badge and they got into the elevator, where Doc proceeded to hit the button for one of the top floors.

"So...was it aliens?" Doc asked. David looked at him and he started laughing, leading to David joining him in a chuckle.

"I'm afraid there were no aliens...that I was aware of anyway," David answered.

"Man...what a trip. Five years just gone like that," Doc said, as they exited the elevator and David followed him to an office.

David sat down across from him, while Doc seemed to peruse his resume.

"Wow...a master's in mathematics," Doc mentioned and David detected a slight hint that his potential new boss might be threatened by that.

"Uh...yeah, guess I'm kind of a numbers nerd," he mentioned, as the other man gave him a skeptical stare.

"This position you're applying for...I'm not sure it will be very challenging for someone like you," Doc mentioned.

"I realize that it's not my normal gig, but being the middle of the semester, I'm needing something to fill my time until a teaching position opens up at one of the Universities," David said.

"And since I'm up for the challenge, if there's extra work that you need done, then I'd be your guy," he added. This was exactly what he had been worried about, but then Doc smiled.

"Since you're the plane guy...let's give it a shot!" he said.

"Thank you...you won't regret this," David replied.

"Can you start today?" Doc asked.

"Of course," he replied.

"Okay...let's get you settled in," Doc said, as he led him to human resources to go through the rest of the onboarding process.

~*~

Margaret walked to the teacher's lounge to grab her lunch from the fridge that afternoon, while her class was at recess. But the moment she walked in and the chatter between a few of the other teachers stopped, she knew exactly what they were discussing. All eyes were on her and she could see the judgement in those eyes. They had seen her father's ludicrous grandstanding to the media and his version of her teenage years presented to the world. She steeled herself and ignored them, as she retrieved her lunch and then stormed back toward her classroom. She knew she shouldn't let what they thought bother her and for the most part, she didn't.

She knew what she and David had was special and when they were young, no one understood them and to this day, few still did. She opened her lunch sack and smiled, as she found a note. He had been leaving her love notes since high school and was still doing so. One of many hard things about the last five years had been the absence of those notes. Just one note from him could brighten even the worst day. She remembered High School and how she had been looked at by some of the teachers and counselors. It was reminiscent of the looks she had just gotten, even though she was a happily married woman. It was odd how things hadn't changed much for them in that respect. People either mistook their closeness for something weird, were jealous of their closeness and hated them for it, or just didn't understand it in general.

~*~

Flashback

Margaret sat down in the guidance counselor's office, as she closed the door and took a seat at her desk.

"Margaret...some of your teachers are concerned about you and have asked me to speak to you," Ruel Ghorm, the guidance counselor, said with a piercing gaze. Margaret rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going.

"Well…I can save you the time. I'm perfectly fine...and happy. My grades are good and I don't need your judgement, nor theirs," she replied defiantly.

"Margaret...I know what it's like to be young and think you're in love," the woman said.

"I don't think I'm in love, Ms Ghorm...I know I am. I know that none of you can seem to understand that, but I assure you that David and I are not just some ordinary teen couple," she said hotly.

"Margaret…" she started to chide.

"No...you may not believe in true love or soul mates, but we do. What we have is that once in a lifetime love that many only dream of finding. We may be young, but we're much more mature than most our age," she added, before standing up.

"And seeing that I am emancipated, you can give guidance, but you cannot make me give David up. No one can or will...and anyone that doesn't like that can go to hell," Margaret said, as she stormed out and ran right into someone. Fortunately, it was the man she loved.

"Whoa...where the fire, beautiful?" he asked playfully.

"No fire...just a stupid blue raincloud named Ms. Ghorm," she complained and he chuckled, as he put his arm around her shoulder.

"I know...I just got a talking to from Mr. Jones about teenage boys and hormones," he replied.

"They just don't understand...but I think I'm okay with that. I don't want people like that in our world anyway," she said. He smiled at her and kissed her tenderly.

"Me either...let's go home. It's Friday night so Em is spending the night at Lily's...so it's just us," he said, as she smiled at him.

"So I thought we could get a pizza and a movie or something," he mentioned, but she smiled slyly.

"Mmm...let's skip the movie and go straight to bed. Then we can order the pizza later," she whispered to him with a giggle.

"I love the way you think," he replied, as they left together, arms around each other, intent on shutting out the world for the weekend.

~*~

Margaret smiled at the memory and went about eating her lunch, while thinking about the man she loved.

~*~

David worked diligently on the work he had been given on his first day. Upon completion of the onboarding process, he was given an access badge and a cubicle. The work was easy and he completed it in much less time than someone else might have. He looked around to make sure no one was really paying attention and then pulled up the account search. He typed in Unified Dynamic System and wasn't surprised when a red banner popped up, denying his access. It simply stated that he didn't have the security clearance for that particular account. That meant he had to find a way to get access to a badge with a higher security clearance. That gave him an idea and he got up from his seat with his mug. He made his way into the kitchenette nearby and filled his mug with coffee. Seeing that he was alone, he microwaved his badge and then approached his boss' office.

"For some reason, my badge isn't working when I try to input my findings into the system for these accounts," David said to him. Doc's brow furrowed and he took the badge from him and tried scanning it on one of the door panels, finding it dead.

"That's odd...I'll take it down to human resources to get you a new one," Doc said.

"Is there something else you want me to do in the meantime?" David asked. Doc paused for a moment and David could tell he was trying to decide whether or not he trusted him.

"Here...use mine until we get yours fixed," he said.

"Thanks," David replied, flashing a charming smile.

"Only cause you're the 828 guy...don't tell anyone," Doc said, as he slapped him on the back. David smirked and hurried back to his cubicle. He was granted access this time and began to speed read what he could. That's when a name caught his eye. It was a name from the plane and he clicked on that. Glinda Good...he remembered that she was in just across the aisle from Regina. He saw his boss coming and quickly took a screenshot of the information on his phone, before closing the page and logging out.

"Here you go," Doc said, as he nodded and exchanged badges.

"I think I'll take my break," David said, as he made his way outside to call his wife.

"Hey…" he said, as she answered.

"Hey you...I've been thinking about you all day. I got your note," she said. He smiled.

"I'm glad...I hope it made your day better," he replied.

"It did, but I really want to know how your day is going," she said.

"Well…I microwaved my badge so it wouldn't work and conned my boss into letting me use his while he got me a new one," he explained.

"Wow...that's impressive on your first day," she mentioned.

"Well...he just happens to be obsessed with the flight. It's probably the only reason I got the job, but I found something. I'm going to send you a screenshot," he said, as he sent the photo.

"Glinda Good...should I know that name?" she asked.

"No...but she was on the plane and it turns out that she's involved with something called the Singularity project, which is funded by United Dynamic Systems," he replied.

"It says that she was nearly laughed out of the scientific community as a loon, but became a hit in the spiritual realm for her research into mirror neurons and human brain connectivity," Margaret said, reading from the photo.

"Sound familiar?" he asked.

"Do you think she's behind everything?" Margaret asked.

"I don't know...but she is hosting a conference tonight. Are you up for it?" he asked.

"Are you kidding? Of course! Though we should probably ask Regina to come too," she replied.

"I was thinking the same thing. I'm going to call her next," David said.

"I'll tell Ollie we need her to watch Henry and then I'll be ready when you get home," Margaret replied.

"I love you...especially for following along with all this craziness and going with me to some boring conference," he said.

"I love you too and we're doing this craziness together. Plus…I don't care what we're doing in our evenings, as long as we're together," she replied.

"I'll see you soon," he said, as he hung up his phone and turned back to the building. He sighed and went back inside. The work was mind numbing for him, but hopefully, he would only have to put up with it for a short time.

[longlivelindanny]

I Worry About Her

A Blue Bloods AU for the COVID times. Please note: Linda never, ever dies in my world. Only in scary nightmares

Quite possibly the start of a mini series. Maybe. The jury’s still out.

Danny sighed as he drank his coffee. It was weird, working from home. He was instructed to look at cases from other detectives who didn’t have a family to go home to; those detectives came home to plants and fish and cats. He had a wife, two kids. He had to stay healthy- for them. He hadn’t realized how much he actually liked interacting with people (which surprised him, because he was not a people person).

“Hey, you okay, brother?” Jamie frowned through the computer screen. He was working from home as well; cases were being sent via email, and officers were FaceTiming him with quick questions. With a pregnant wife eating him out of house and home, it was imperative that he stayed put.

“I worry about her, that’s all. I mean.... she’s on the front line. She’s right in the middle of all the germs. And when she comes home, she’s isolating herself from all of us.”

“She survived two gun wounds, and a fatal helicopter crash. She can survive germs.”

“I know, I know. Jack and Sean are towers of health— they’ll just get a cold. But what if Dad or Pops catches it? They’re old and have respitory problems. It could kill them. And what about Eddie? And the baby? Linda says seniors and pregnant women are the ones that are really at risk.”

“Which is why we’re all staying home. We FaceTime dinners on Sundays, and do church that way, too. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Danny smiled as a four month pregnant Eddie came into the frame. She had a bowl of barbecue chips, and decidedly sat in Jamie’s lap.

“Hi, Danny!” She waved at him, fingers orange with the seasoning.

He chuckled, remembering when Linda was pregnant. “Hey. It’s good to see that you haven’t run out of supplies.” He smirked, watching her crunch a chip.

Eddie held up the bowl, shrugging, a cute smile on her face. “You guys doin’ okay?”

Danny considered, then turned his head when the door clicked open. In the distance, he heard shoes being kicked off.

Through the speaker, Jamie and Eddie heard, “I’m home! Don’t touch me till I’ve full scrubbed!”

“Babe, wanna say ‘Hi’ to Jamie and Eddie?”

Linda came into the frame, dressed in her scrubs. “Hi, guys! How’s everyone?” She took a seat next to Danny, who adjusted the camera. She was now in the frame, her husband slipping into the background.

“We’re doing good. A little cabin fever,” Jamie shrugged, making a ‘but-What-can-you-do?’ face.

“Yeah. Danny’s got that, too. The house hasn’t been cleaner!”

“Tell me about it!” Eddie smiled, “but Jamie keeps making me sit down. I’m pregnant, not a one-legged opossum on the freeway!”

“Better get used to it. Danny was like that, too, only a thousand times worse. How’s Junior anyways?”

Eddie rubbed her tummy, which was just starting to show. “Junior’s good. Loving all the food Jamie’s been making.” The future Reagan baby was quickly named ‘Junior’. Eddie wanted to be surprised, so Junior seemed logical.

“I’ll bet.”

“How’re you?” Jamie rubbed Eddie’s belly subconsciously.

Linda sighed, “really tired. And scared for the people who have COVID-19. It’s pretty scary stuff.”

“But... we’ll survive it, right?” Eddie suddenly sounded scared.

“We’ve survived the Black Plague, Cholera outbreak, more plagues, the invention of rap music..... we can totally survive this.”

She smirked. “I wish I had your confidence.” Eddie suddenly frowned.

Jamie rubbed her back, “we’ll be fine, sweetie. We’re taking vitamins and all the precautions.”

Danny came back into the frame, and put a hand on Linda’s shoulder. “I started your bath.”

“Ooh, thank you.” She smiled up at her husband, then to the screen. “I gotta go disinfect. Talk to you later. Maybe at ten?”

“Yeah, I’ll text one of you,” Jamie nodded. “Bye, guys. Talk to you later.”

“Bye,” Linda smiled and waved, and stood to make her way up to the welcoming bath.

“See ya,” Danny smiled and ended the video chat. He sighed once again; he picked up his coffee mug and followed Linda to the en-suite. Jamie was right; she was a strong woman, and he knew she’d stop at nothing to keep her family safe.

[pouchpass]

How Accurate Temperature Reading Can Help Save Lives Through Early Detection

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PouchPASS allows you to identify these issues in the comfort of your own home.

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Monitoring our body’s temperature consistently is now an integral part of our daily lives. It is today’s new normal as the whole world continues to battle the spread of the ongoing pandemic. Public spaces and retail outlets have equipped their premises with QR scanners and non-contact infrared thermometers, also known as a “thermometer gun”.

Although these thermometer guns are deemed necessary and convenient for business owners, health experts have constantly warned that these devices could give inaccurate temperature readings. Dr. James Leo, the chief medical officer of MemorialCare in Fountain Valley, California revealed to Healthline that non-contact forehead infrared thermometers have poorer accuracy, while infrared thermal cameras used for mass screening show variable accuracy. “They have not been well-correlated with oral temperatures,” he said in the interview.

Thermometers determine temperature by measuring the heat emanating from the surface of a person’s body. Most often, those wielding the tools don’t hold them close enough to the subject’s forehead, which often generates unusually low-temperature readings or holds them too close and get a high reading. The measurements can be imprecise in certain environments, like a dusty roadside, or when someone has taken medication to suppress a fever.

According to a study that was approved by The Melbourne Health Human Research Ethics Committee, monitoring skin temperature at the wrist in hospitalised patients may assist in the detection of infection. This study showed the value of using a wearable device in the detection of infection and its potential as an early warning or monitoring device.

Early detection of any form of infection is crucial in today’s current climate. Accuracy and not estimation is a priority. The innovation of PouchPASS allows body temperatures to be recorded and continuously sync temperature data to a mobile application for multiple users.

The best part of it all, PouchPASS has features that include contact tracing, and early detection of raised temperatures; Important tools that will help mitigate viral transmission by allowing both households and businesses to perform their own health screening checks. For business owners, PouchPASS will save significant man-hours required to take and record temperature several times daily, and it allows regular households to monitor their health more efficiently within shorter time spans.

Early detection of infections can save you from more serious ailments. PouchPASS allows you to identify these issues in the comfort of your own home.

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[mksc77]

30 for Christmas prompts, thanks

Thanks so much for the ask, anon, sorry this took so long!  I’ve tweaked canon a little bit for Chain Reaction :)

30--”Ugh, I’ve caught a cold.”

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Sharon sat at the kitchen table with a stack of Christmas cards to mail out. Christmastime often made her miss Emily's and Ricky's younger days, but she had to admit that writing a short message and signing cards was much less of a hassle than getting them ready for pictures and dealing with them moaning and groaning about it. She got a tissue from the Kleenex box beside her and blew her nose, grateful when the tea kettle on the stove whistled. Andy had just had a cold and had whined incessantly about it for over a week, but it wasn't nearly as bad as his antics had made it out to be. After adding honey, cinnamon, and a little lemon juice to her steaming mug, she got back to her Christmas cards.

A few minutes later, Ricky came in. He and Andy had been tasked with buying the Christmas tree that morning. Sharon sipped her tea. "Where's Andy?"

"He's going next door to ask John to help us bring in the tree."

Sharon narrowed her eyes. "Why will that require three of you—never mind. I don't want to know."

Ricky shrugged. "You'll find out soon enough."

It wasn't long before the three men were dragging in the tree. And kept dragging several moments after a normal-sized tree should've been through the door. "Andy, what the hell?!" Sharon couldn't help exclaiming. She followed them into the living room, her eyes widening as the tree nearly reached the fifteen-foot ceiling. "Andy!"

Her pine needle-covered husband looked over at her as he started unwrapping the string from around the tree, all innocence. "What?"

"This is enormous!"

"Yeah, well, we thought-"

"Uh, you need to work on your first-person pronouns, Andy. There was no we," Ricky interrupted. "I told you Mom was going to lose her mind."

"Fine. I thought last year's tree looked tiny in here-"

"It was ten feet!" Sharon moved closer to the tree. This one had to be at least twelve or thirteen. The lowest branches were as high as her knees.

Rusty came in from his bedroom, where he'd been studying for upcoming exams all morning. "What is all the commotion?!...Holy crap, that's a big ass tree."

Sharon nodded at Andy. "Clark Griswold here thought last year's was too small."

Rusty looked over at her when she sneezed. "Oh, god, Mom, are you sick? Stay the hell away from me, I can't get sick before finals!"

Andy glanced at her. "Yeah, you don't look so great."

"Ugh, I've caught a cold." Sharon gave Andy a pointed look. "Your cold."

Andy grinned. "Hey, is it my fault you couldn't stop kissing me?"

Sharon nodded. "It's absolutely your fault for being so damn cute." She looped her arm through his and tilted her chin up to kiss him.

"It's a good thing we haven't eaten lunch yet," Ricky muttered. "It would've just come right back up."

"It's like they try to gross us out," Rusty agreed. "Just be glad you don't have to be here much when this place is a clusterfuck of mistletoe. Andy puts it everywhere. The tradition is to kiss under the mistletoe, not make out, but try telling them that."

Ricky grimaced. "You have my sympathies."

Sharon rolled her eyes and started back to the kitchen. "I'll cook lunch," Andy offered. He looked back at Ricky and Rusty. "After we make a pit stop under the mistletoe."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to get back to studying," Rusty grumbled. "Next year, I'm hiding that damn mistletoe."

Sharon sat back down at the kitchen table and continued with her Christmas cards while Andy pulled ingredients out of the refrigerator. "I'll make the Margaret Flynn cure-all," he promised, still sounding a little congested, himself. "But I'm not so sure you can pin this on me. If you had what I had, you wouldn't be writing Christmas cards right now. You'd be in bed."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "It's the same thing, Andy, I'm just not the same baby that you are about a little cold."

Andy looked wounded. "It was not a little cold!"

Sharon placed her pen on the table and sipped her tea. The sniffles and mistletoe reminded her of a certain Christmas a few years ago. Rusty had recently pointed out that she and Andy were "dating," and neither of them were sure how they felt about that revelation. The "non-dates" had slowed down, and they weren't sure how to act around each other. After a couple of weeks of thinking about it, Sharon was coming around to the idea, but Andy had taken a couple of steps back. Rusty was also experiencing rejection, and they had commiserated about it after they'd finally solved the case. Rusty didn't know the specifics with Andy, but she'd been frustrated enough to generally vent a little that evening over burgers. She also felt a little dejected that he was back to calling her 'Sharon,' but she wasn't about to bring that up. She'd never thought much about the possibility, but hearing him referring to her as 'Mom' in front of Jeff, the guy he liked, had sounded so natural and warmed her heart. And, god, Jack had been such an ass, basically guilting her about Christmas through the damn interview camera. That had just been the beginning of another headache, and she hadn't been happy with Emily and Ricky for keeping that from her. Especially since they were able to leave town soon after but left Rusty in the middle of the aftermath.

That evening, Nicole and Dean dropped their boys off to spend the night, and Emily, Emmett, and Marie came over for dinner. While they were eating, Marie dropped her fork on the floor and looked over the side of the high chair. "Fuck!" Sharon's eyes widened as the other adults tried not to laugh, and she was soon trying to suppress laughter herself.

Six-year-old Logan and four-year-old Alex were thankfully engaged in their own conversation and didn't notice, but it didn't get past anyone else. The table exploded with laughter, and Emmett finally composed himself first. "Honey, that's not a nice word, so don't say it again, okay?"

Marie gave him a disbelieving look and glanced around the table until her eyes landed on Sharon, then pointed a chubby finger in her direction. "Gammy said it!"

Mocking looks of reproach from the other adults were immediately directed at Sharon. "She's repeating everything we say, now, you have to be careful," Andy chided, in a perfect imitation of Sharon to the rest of them. She'd been getting onto everyone else about cussing in front of Marie for months now.

"This is too funny," Ricky added. "Mom breaking any kind of rule is hilarious enough, but it's the best when she breaks her own."

Emily laughed. "When Marie repeats what she heard her dear Gammy say and gets kicked out of daycare, clear your schedule, Mom, because you'll have a new job."

Sharon rolled her eyes, remembering exactly when she'd gotten busted. "This wouldn't be an issue if someone would put the toilet seat back down every now and then," she muttered in Andy's direction.

Once dinner was over and the kitchen was clean, Sharon started her kids' Christmas playlist while the kids and grandkids poked through her ornament collection and started hanging them on the tree. She would definitely be going behind them and rearranging many of them later, but they were having a good time. The younger ones were, anyway, the older ones weren't so keen on this task. The Glee soundtrack had provided some good, upbeat, kid-pleasing songs, and they bounced around to We Need a Little Christmas as they strategically placed their ornaments. Well, Marie was doing a little more of just watching the others than decorating, which she needed help with, but it worked. Sharon missed Ricky's comment that it didn't feel like Christmas without 'Mom being an ornament Nazi,' but she did notice when she wasn't satisfied with one of his ornament placements. "No, not there, Ricky."

Not surprised, Ricky pointed his finger torward her. "There. Now it's Christmas."

Ignoring him, Sharon lay against Andy on the couch, humming softly as he draped a blanket over her and kissed her forehead. "You don't feel warm, so you definitely can't blame me for this," he informed her. "It can't be the same thing."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You never had a fever, either." Like a child, he'd claimed that her hand had to be wrong sometimes and insisted on using the thermometer, although it had rendered the same result.

"No, I think we just need a new thermometer," Andy insisted. He stroked his fingers through her hair. "This song reminds me of the Santa murders from a few years ago. But I like this version of it better, I've gotta admit." He'd never wanted to hear Johnny Mathis again after watching the security tape from the flash mob so many times. "Except I was the one with the cold then."

Sharon nodded. "I was just thinking about that earlier. And then you passed it to me after an impromptu rendezvous under the mistletoe after the makeshift Christmas party."

Andy shrugged. "Or, you could've just gotten it from being in close quarters during the case. Provenza caught it from me, too, but I swear it had nothing to do with mistletoe."

Sharon laughed. "There's an image I could've gone without. But I like my version of how I caught it from you better, at least I got a kiss out of it. A good one, might I add."

December 24, 2014

After the case was wrapped up, Sharon was in her office, going over some paperwork before heading home. It was hard to concentrate, both from the sadness of not being at home with her children and from the recent revelation of Provenza's new relationship. She smiled, despite herself, remembering how she'd had to forcefully gesture for her team of elite detectives to leave the murder room after Patrice showed up like they were a bunch of gossip-hungry teenagers. She looked up when she heard a knock at her door and invited Andy inside. He told her a little bit about the end of the case and paused. "You know, if you can't make it home for the holidays, maybe home can come to you." Confused, she got up and followed him to the break room. He opened the door for her. "Merry Christmas."

Sharon's eyes lit up when the first thing she noticed was her old Christmas village. It wasn't arranged exactly like she usually did it, but it was close enough. She did notice a small green gift box adorned with holly berries with her name on it tucked neatly in the snow, and her curiosity got the best of her. She smiled when she opened the gift and found a small angel. The mystery of the sender was solved when Andy appeared beside her. "Merry Christmas!"

Sharon turned and gently tugged at his tie, wishing it was suspenders instead, but anyway, then quickly pulled her hand back before anyone else saw. "Andy! Thank you. You didn't need to get me anything."

"Yeah, well, I saw it and couldn't help but think of you."

They shared a long gaze and might've kissed right then and there if everyone else hadn't been around, but Emily and Rusty, seeming to be in the midst of a heated discussion in the hall, caught her eye. All three of her children had appeared to be up to something, a fact she'd picked up on despite the fact that she regrettably hadn't spent much time with them in the last couple of days. "Excuse me." She still wasn't convinced that they weren't hiding something from her, and she felt like she’d gotten so close to breaking Rusty, but Emily's announcement about being a soloist the next year was exciting enough for her to push it to the back of her mind for the time being and enjoy the rest of the party.

A little while later, everything was cleaned up, and everyone was leaving. After promising her children that she wasn't far behind them, Sharon went to her office to gather the remaining paperwork from the case and straighten up her office from the last couple of days of chaos. The Christmas decorations would stay up for a while. She was never in a hurry for Christmas to be over, especially now that she'd worked for most of Christmas, and the Catholic tradition of leaving Christmas decor up until Epiphany was one she didn't complain about. She looked around the murder room for a few moments before going to the break room to make sure none of her dishes or anything else from the condo had been left behind. She was surprised when Andy was still there. "Hey, I thought you were gone."

Andy shrugged. "I'm not seeing Nicole and her family until tomorrow, and Provenza and I usually spend Christmas Eve together when we don't have to work. He's with Patrice now, so I'm not exactly in a huge hurry to get home."

Sharon gave him a sad smile. "I'm glad you'll get to see some of your family tomorrow. You should probably get some rest, anyway, you've sounded a little congested since yesterday." Things had been different between them for the last couple of weeks, but she could sense a little bit of normalcy creeping back. She noticed the mistletoe above them, and an idea came to her. She didn't know if it was Christmas or what, but she'd been toying with the idea of moving past the friendship stage with Andy since the night they went to The Nutcracker. She just wasn't sure how Andy felt about it, but the electricity that seemed to be between them felt right. "Thanks again for my gift," she added, hoping to pick up where they left off at the party. The long gaze returned, and Sharon's heart fluttered when Andy's face started to move closer to hers. He seemed to think better of it and leaned back again, and her heart sank just as quickly.

"I, uh, don't want to give you my cold," Andy explained, unable to make himself look away from her.

Sharon looked up in a pointed gesture. "Well, you know how I am about rules, and I'm even more strict about Christmas ones. You're going to have to do better than that."

Andy's hesitation must have been more about not knowing whether she wanted to than about him not wanting to, because he didn't waste any time. "Well, I am a diligent rule-follower."

Sharon forced herself not to roll her eyes and choked down a disbelieving laugh as she cautiously slipped her arms around his waist and closed the space between them. She liked the closeness and complied as Andy tilted her chin up and kissed her. It was slow and tender, but not without passion, and she felt stirrings in her that she hadn't felt in a while. Her mind raced with the complications that came along with a relationship with her subordinate, but she forced herself to push those thoughts aside and enjoy the ride for now.

A complaint from Ricky pulled Sharon from her thoughts. "I still can't believe you threw away my pinecone elves. They were the essence of Christmas."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you that they were falling apart?"

"A lot more times than you should have to tell an adult," Rusty answered. "Don't worry, Ricky, Harry, Sam, Franklin, Scotty, and Twinkles are in pinecone heaven, I'm sure."

Even after Ricky and Andy had surrounded the tree with ornaments as far up as they could reach, the top half was still massively empty. "A stepstool should be required for the angel at the top, not to decorate the top half," Sharon said. "I refuse to have a half-empty tree, and how are we supposed to get the lights around the whole thing?" They had a pretty large stepstool, but she wasn't sure that it would suffice.

"We'll figure it out," Andy assured her.

True to his word, the tree was fully decorated some time later. Sharon had to admit that she liked the large tree, but Andy didn't need to know that just yet. Emily and Emmett left with a nearly-asleep Marie soon after, and Logan and Alex were starting to look drowsy, too. "All right, boys, I think it's about bedtime," Sharon announced. They didn't protest, and Sharon guided four-year-old Alex to the bathroom to help him with his bath and get him ready for bed. Once both boys were in their pajamas and tucked in, Sharon and Andy curled up in the recliner in the living room. With Rusty intending to get up early to study the next morning and Ricky having an early flight, they both said goodnight and went to their bedrooms earlier than normal. With a piano version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing playing in the background, Sharon lay on Andy's shoulder and enjoyed the Christmas monstrosity in front of them. The pine scent was strong and filled the room, even wafting into nearby parts of the house. After another mug of tea laced with cold-soothing ingredients her grandmother had sworn by and a dose of NyQuil, Sharon was ready for bed, herself.

Andy wasn't tired yet, but he got in bed and read while Sharon was still in the bathroom. When she crawled into bed beside him in one of her warmer nightgowns, it was more obvious that she wasn't feeling well without her makeup. Andy softly kissed her and absently ran his fingers through her hair as she lay on his shoulder. "Tell me when you want me to turn off the lamp."

"S'fine," Sharon mumbled, the cold medicine clearly kicking in. She usually didn't like for anyone to be touching her while she slept at night, much to Andy's dismay, but she was asleep against him just a couple of minutes later. Andy straightened the covers over her and kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

[furiousstarfishphilosopher]

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[annoyinglyjovialbird]

Voltron: Next Generation

Unexpected Mission: II

Word Count: 2704

Before Eliza Griffin walked into her dorm, she knew she was expecting a new roommate, but she never expected it to be a twelve-year-old Altean.

“Uh, hi.” Liz greeted, inciting a yelp from the girl. She had pale skin and strawberry blonde locks cascaded from her head into two low curly ponytails. Her Altean markings were the same color as her bright blue eyes. 

“H-Hi!” The girl stammered, hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. “It’s a, uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Her posh accent was Altean. “I’m Allura of Altea. And you are?” 

“Allura, like the Princess of Altea?” Liz crossed her arms, leaning against the post of her bed. Allura became very flustered at the mention of her namesake, the powerful Princess Allura, who had given her life for the creation of Daibazaal and Altea. 

“Uh, y-yes. I was named after her, yes.” Allura tucked a rogue baby hair behind her ear, although it came loose again. Liz was going to ask her more questions, but a figure appeared at the open door. 

“Hey, the Caps want us in the commons in like, ten minutes.” The young man in the doorway had brushed back his black hair back and away from his face. It was so neat, Liz had suspected it was held by bobby pins rather than gel. “New roomie?”

“Ten minutes? You normally give me thirty!” Liz bolted to her desk chair, grabbing her cadet jacket, Allie’s hand, and ran down the hall. She got to the end of the hall at a cross-section when she noticed Art wasn’t following them. “I swear if he’s messing with me again, I’m chaining him to a chair.” Liz gritted, turning Allie’s eyes into saucers. “I’m kidding!” Liz brightened up. “Maybe.”  

“Are his cheeks always so flushed?” Allie asked. Indeed, Arthur’s cheeks were flushed and his forehead was beginning to shine. 

“Let’s just get to the commons, Allie. He’ll catch up.” Pulling her down the hall, Allie was taken aback by the Galaxy Garrison. With walls resembling those on the ships she would travel in, words printed on the walls in gray and blue with bold orange stripes over them.

The common areas were designed to let as much light in as possible, with large windows on the upper half of the room while being as private as possible. The walls were made with dark panels that were wide open to let in the light. The floors were dark gray too, with lighter gray beanbags and orange couches decorated the floor. Lounging on the longest couch, Cake was flipping through a recipe book. 

“Are you Balmeran?” A quiet voice asked. One glance at her blue Altean markings, Allie had instantly made a new friend. 

“Half-Balmeran.” Tossing the book aside, Hunk extended a hand. Allie took it in her own, and Cake pulled on her arm until she was sitting on the couch next to Cake. “There were too many humans on our team.” 

“Rude.” Looking up at who spoke, Allie relaxed at the familiar grin. With hair now pulled in a ponytail and an orange coat buttoned and pressed, Kova’s bright eyes met Allie’s. 

“Oh, so this is Allie.” The boy next to Kova now spoke. “I’m Caleb, you know my sister Kova,” Kova gave a small wave. “The rude half-Balmeran is Cake,” He rolled his eyes at his name. “Your roommate is Liz, but we tend to call her Griffin, and Art is who knows where.” At the name, Allie sat up. 

“Does he have black hair, a pointy nose, and a little freckle right here?” Allie pointed to a spot on her cheek, just underneath her right eye. 

“Uh, yeah. You already met?” 

“Liz went back to check on him. He looked flushed.” At this, Kova grew worried. Shaking her head, she walked over to the nearest coffee table. Placing an orange touch pad, a screen popped up. It looked like a digital clock, a timer counting down. Liz and Art had about five minutes before they were late. They sat and stared at the clock as it counted down, reaching a minute before the pair walked in. 

“Sorry! We passed by the med wing first.” Liz announced, punching Art in the arm. “Did we already do introductions?” Liz looked over at Allie, who was fiddling with the hem of her cadet jacket. Only one gold stripe lined her shoulders, while the others had two. 

“Not quite.” Kova was half-smiling, while Caleb stared the two down. “Allie.” At her name, the young girl sat up straight with full-attention on Kova. “As you’re aware, our institution splits students up into teams of three.” 

“Oh great, she’s doing the officer voice,” Liz muttered under her breath. Kova took a breath, trying not to laugh. Allie was nodding her head. 

“Most cadets begin training at a young age, usually about twelve-years-old. At about fifteen, or whenever they successfully pass the test, junior cadets have the opportunity to be promoted to senior cadets. Senior cadets at normally nineteen have the opportunity to be promoted to a junior officer, trading their orange coats for gray.” A disembodied voice began to say, and Kova went into full-fledged panic mode. The disembodied voice was Shiro, the information was for the public, and the ad was playing at full volume through the commons.

“Sorry about that. I was trying to project the Garrison blueprints.” Kova said. 

“No, you weren’t,” Caleb grumbled. 

“You were chosen to be my communications because I was down a member and I’m supposed to be promoted soon,” Kova said bluntly. She stared at the other four cadets, who were blinking at her. “If we didn’t have the mission to the Garrison’s abandoned basement, we would have spent more time training.” The four began nodding their heads before the words processed completely. 

“Wait, what?” They all almost yelled unanimously. 

With a projecting screen, the blueprints of the Garrison came to life. The blinking red dot appeared, and the teams were shocked. 

“That’s what’s causing the malfunctions?” Liz asked. Caleb nodded, looking to Kova. Kova stared at him, then turned to Cake and Allie. 

“The sub-floor we will be entering used to be ground zero for the battleships and crew of the IGF-Atlas during the war against the witch and the crazed general. After the war ended, the floor was rendered useless, and subsequently abandoned.” Kova explained, turning to Caleb. 

“The sub-floor is only accessible through an authorized access card, therefore the Colonel will be accompanying us down. If he decides to join us further than the elevator door, we will not argue. We will still be required to treat this like an unsupervised mission.” 

“Thanks to Cake and Allie, we will be wearing suits recognizable to any detection software that may still be active on vessels we may encounter. Our job is to ensure the success of the mission, meaning Allie will be our mule.” A timid hand rose. 

“What is a ‘mule’?” Liz, Art, and Cake stared at Allie with the widest eyes before turning to their Caps, who weren’t responding, then back again.

“Medical, Unnecessary, and Laboratory Equipment carrier,” Kova said, trying to figure out the names for the new acronym.

“Shouldn’t it be mulec, then?” 

“Mulec sounds like an allergy medication, which you are not.” Caleb was glaring at Kova, who was trying to convince herself of the acronym. 

“I thought I was the med when we teamed up,” Liz said, looking at the Caps for answers. 

“Allie used to work with Romelle and Colleen in labs and hospitals on Altea and Earth.” Kova started.

“Besides, you’re better trained for this.” Caleb ended. Liz nodded her head, staring at the dot.

“Other questions?” Kova asked, the teams shaking their heads. “Meet up here at 0800 hours with equipment packed. We will provide suits, but will not provide food, clothes, or first aid kits.” With that, Kova walked away, Caleb following behind, leaving Art, Liz, Cake, and Allie in the room. 

"Why eight in the morning?" Cake mumbled, earning a look from Art. 

"Why complain?" Art shot at Cake.

"Why date the Cap's sister?" Liz said.

"How do I pack for this?" Allie asked, rigid in her seat. With 'goodbyes' and 'see you in the mornings', the four split off for their dorms. Liz tried to explain to Allie how to pack for a mission, even a simulated one. Cake was wondering if his dad's suit had anything to do with the recognition software Kova was talking about. Art was heading towards a deck that was completely blocked from the view of the cameras. Leaning on the railing, Kova had her eyes closed. Only one other person knew what she would be thinking about in such a quiet moment and place, and it wasn't the person snaking their arms around her waist. 

"Did you wait long?" Art whispered in her ear, and Kova leaned back on him. 

"I just needed to breathe." She turned to look at him. "If you have a fever, maybe you should stay behind." Art leaned down so their foreheads were touching.

"I'll be fine, don't worry." Art had closed his eyes, holding Kova's hands. They started dating only a few months ago, but it felt just like the first time. Kova could feel the heat from Art's skin, laughing in her head to herself. Art was not going on the mission tomorrow, not if she had anything to say about it. 

After a long night's rest, the teams met up on the training deck. Liz was hoping Caleb was watching, Cake was trying not to die fighting Liz, Allie held onto the straps of her comically large backpack so tight, her knuckles were turning white, and Caleb was looking grouchy, waiting for Kova and their dad to show up. Kova walked in, wearing a familiar suit. Caleb had seen it so many times, it was hard to believe it was still in good condition. In her arms, the brown packages were neatly stacked on top of each other, wrapped with their colorful bows. 

"We're gonna wear Voltron suits?" Liz asked although it seemed rhetorical since Kova was wearing Shiro's old suit. Going around, Kova handed the packages out. Caleb got the red suit, Liz got the green, Allie was given the blue and Cake got his dad's, the yellow. "What about Art?"

"Infirmary." Caleb and Kova said at the same time. Caleb was woken up by Art's roommate, who said Art was starting to puke. Kova woke to the knocks but somehow was able to sleep it off.

"Alright, then. Who's ready to go?" Shiro walked in behind the sleep-deprived teens. Standing at attention, Shiro smiled at Kova who wore his Voltron suit. 

"Uh, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but why the Voltron suits?" Liz asked.

"Aren't the suits inactive since the Lions disappeared?"

"Yes. The suits are inactive, but my theory is the malfunctions are caused by still-functioning equipment from the Voltron era." Kova began to explain. "If there is any detection system on board ships we could encounter, it will hopefully recognize the suits and grant us the access we need to search it." 

"Why couldn't we choose our suits?" 

"If you're asking why I gave you green, it's because it matches your eyes, my dear Liz." Little known fact, Liz has hated the color green since she was a little kid because of a certain green witch. She still hasn't forgiven her dad for putting the picture on the wall in a portrait frame. 

"Ready team?" Shiro asked, hoping to hear the sound off. The teens didn't, instead of helping each other with the suits while Kova went into detail about the upgrades she made on the suits with Allie's help, including, but not limited to, an upgraded comms system, a larger capacity of breathable air in the suits, a fail-safe detection system, and removed any upgrades the previous user of the green suit may have made. Most of it was gibberish, but they appreciated Kova's efforts. Soon and sure enough, the teens were dressed head-to-toe in the Voltron suits. Kova had braided her hair, Liz had cropped her hair short when they started the year, and both wanted to braid and wrap Allie's ponytails into a milkmaid crown. They gave up halfway through and made braided buns instead, but she looked cute in her blue suit. 

"Put your helmets on," Kova ordered, and all five put them on. Handing an earpiece to Shiro, Kova put her helmet on. "Call in. Caleb."

"Here."

"Griffin." 

"Here." 

"Allie." 

"H-here."

"Cake." 

"Here." 

"Dad." 

"Loud and clear. Now, are we all ready to go?" With a nod from the teens, they followed Shiro to the freight elevator. Pointing to a rack, Shiro made sure every teen had a weapon, except Allie, who walked right past it. "Allie's the mule?"

"Yep." Shiro smiled at Caleb's one-word response. It reminded him of the first time Caleb said his first word without stuttering. With a swipe of his card, the right elevator began descending, deeper than the teens would have expected.

Shuddering to a stop, the elevator opened its doors to a dark room. The light from the elevator was barely enough to see the rubbish piles to the sides of the hall they were in. 

"Flashlights on." With guns at the ready, the teens walked into the room. Kova and Caleb led the front, while Cake and Liz were slightly behind and on either side of Allie, who looked around quickly. "Hold. Griffin, do a scan." 

"Quit telling my team what to do," Caleb muttered. 

"I'm not gonna argue with you when you're sleep-deprived." 

"What if I want to argue?" Caleb's head snapped to glare at Kova, who was scanning the area with the flashlight on her gun. "What if I wanna be upset?"

"Caleb, don't be petty." Kova tried to reason with Caleb, who mockingly copied her command. "Halt. Griffin, what do we got?" 

"A large ship a hundred yards ahead. I can't get a read from inside." Liz reported. 

"Move ahead." Kova started walking forward, but Caleb decided to be a baby, stopping and refusing to move.

"Caleb." Kova sighed. "When we get inside, you don't have to look at my stupid face, but for now, please cooperate with me."

"What if I don't want to?" Exasperated, Kova rolled her eyes and walked ahead. Cake and Allie followed behind her, while Liz stayed behind with Caleb. Shiro made a mental note to give Caleb the rest of the day off to sleep. Maybe even have Curtis or Cyrus comfort the grouchy teen. "Fine, whatever." Caleb moved ahead, catching up to Kova's team. "Ladies first." 

"Then after you, princess." Shiro wanted to smack both of the teens, but he couldn't interfere. He had to stay behind the group and watch as they handled this on their own. 

When Liz said a large ship, the teens weren't expecting an old battleship. Looking to their dad, the teens could see Shiro's eyes gloss over as he read the name on the side. The name, IGF-Coeus, was still printed in bold letters on the side of the ship, left to age in the abandoned basement. A sister to the IGF-Atlas, the Coeus never saw flight, originally intended to be an infirmary.

"Liz should find the heart of the ship, see if we can get a more accurate read. Cake should go down to the engine room. Allie and Dad will come with me." Kova looked into Caleb's eyes, and he nodded. 

Approaching the ship, they noticed a hatch on the side was open. Leading them in, Caleb went first. Waiting for the all-clear, Liz followed behind. Cake entered next, hoping to pinpoint the signs leading to the engines. Giving them a head start, Shiro entered next. He stood by another open doorway, waiting for Kova to enter. With steady and quiet movements, Kova quickly scanned the room Shiro was standing beside. It looked like the bridge. When Allie entered the ship, her eyes were as wide as dinner plates. It didn't help the hatch door closed with a loud slam and Allie yelped just as loud. 

At least Kova's theory was right.

[kaitoujokerscans]

Showdown in the Dark Night! Joker vs Shadow CH4

<4> The Events of Last Month

Obscured by thick clouds, an airship with two shark heads cruised the sky. It was Spade's vessel, the Twin Thunder Shark. In the bedroom, Spade had been laid to rest on the mattress atop clean sheets and had been tucked in with a white down quilt. His breathing was ragged and quick even in his sleep. At the bedside was Dark Eye, facial bandages removed, looking down at Spade with concern.

Dark Eye's inner identity was a handsome girl by the name of Ai. She seemed to be slightly older than Spade and Queen. Her emerald green hair was cut into a short bob, and her similarly green eyes watched over Spade trepidly.

"Is he all right?" inquired Queen worriedly from the side.

"He seems to have calmed a bit. He's been working nonstop without rest recently, so he must have been tired..." Ai replied as she looked at the thermometer. It was only a slight fever; she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Does Spade-san get fevers like this often?" Rose asked from beside Queen with concern. She and Queen had brought Spade all the way here from the field where he passed out.

"Yes, he frequently becomes ill when he stresses himself. He should recover if left in peace for some time, but..." Ai replied.

"I knew it... he pushed himself too far when he went into the water to save me..." Rose said remorsefully.

"It wasn't your fault. Spade just gets fevers easily. It happens all the time, so don't worry about it!" Queen patted Rose's shoulder to cheer her up and called out to Roko, who was watching the security cameras. "Roko, how's it?"

"I rolled back the footage, and it looks like Shadow was the one who took Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum."

"Thought so..." Queen put her finger to her chin. "Then the Gilded Chrysanthemum isn't in the manor anymore, right? Why are there still so many officers around?"

"It's probably because of him." Roko pointed to the screen with his long ears.

The screen displayed a large saloon. A giant cage was set in the middle of the room, and within the cage was a boy in a familiar red suit tied to a chair.

"It's Joker...!"

"It seems Oniyama caught him. He stole the treasure again from Shadow and ended up in there."

"If that's the case, then why did they put him in there? Couldn't they have taken him to the police station?"

"There's a reason for that."

"I see... he doesn't have the Gilded Chrysanthemum."

Joker had probably hidden it somewhere before he was caught. As long as he didn't have the goods that Joker stole, it wouldn't be a perfect arrest. Oniyama wanted to capture Joker and get back the Gilded Chrysanthemum.

Queen folded her arms. "Do you know where Joker hid it?"

"No, that I don't know. He was caught in a net and brought to where he is now."

"So that means we've got to ask the man himself..." Queen murmured and glared at Joker on screen. Joker was whistling with his usual expression of feigned ignorance. "Okay, I'm going to Joker."

"Eehh, on your own?" Roko turned to her worriedly.

"I can handle that much. They didn't pose much of a challenge earlier!" Queen answered with confidence, but Roko was still uneasy.

"Yes, but..."

Rose interrupted from beside Roko. "Then will you take me with you?"

"What?"

"I want to go there too..." Rose told Queen as she side-eyed the saloon on screen.

"Hmm... so you can meet Hayami?" Besides Joker and Oniyama, Hayami was also on screen keeping guard. He was talking to Joker as he slowly rolled his wheelchair around the room.

"Yes... there's something I have to apologize to him about..."

"Apologize?"

"What happened?" Roko asked out of genuine curiosity.

After a few moments, Rose began to tell her story little by little.

§§§

One month ago, Shadow and Rose were in Singapore. A pricey gem called the "Black Opal" was to change hands at the fancy Paradise Hotel. They had learned that Joker was after the gem and came in high spirits.

Shadow and Rose arrived via the roof of the sprawling hotel.

"Rose, are you really going to be okay?"

"I said, leave it to me. You should keep it together, Oniichan."

"Yeah, no problem. I'll invite them to the 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈." Shadow replied in his unique manner of speech, flapped his cape, and jumped down towards the entrance. Rose stayed on the roof and entered the building through the ducts.

Usually, when Shadow worked, he would violently break in with Bloody Rain and take the treasure by force. He wasn't very good at making elaborate plans in the first place, so from time to time he ran into unexpected difficulties on the job. There were also many times when his opponents put up a tough resistance to his frenzied attacks. That was where Rose came in.

Rose's powers would freeze anyone threatening Shadow with a gun, while Shadow used the opportunity to find the treasure and leave the place behind. On these occasions, Rose would take great caution to make sure she wasn't seen by anyone.

Nowadays, the two of them often used this tactic to steal. Despite that, there were times when Rose thought she wanted to try sneaking her way to the treasure's hiding place and steal it with her own hands. She imagined herself stopping the security guards and then audaciously and elegantly taking the treasure away, wishing that it would come true someday. And today's mission gave her that very chance.

Aware that Joker and Shadow were targeting the treasure, Singapore's police had readied a stockpile of weapons and set up a solid defense formation. Shadow had therefore decided to create a diversion around the hotel and distract the eyes of the police. During the confusion, Rose would sneak in and steal the treasure, or so the plan went.

"No! Absolutely not!" Shadow had immediately objected when Rose had first proposed the strategy. "It's dangerous for you to go in alone. There's a bunch of armed people inside."

"But I'll be able to drop in unnoticed if I'm on my own. Oniichan, you make uproars wherever you go. You'll put the police on even higher guard."

"Ghh, I can't deny that... But your power has a limit."

"I'll be fine. I have a proper strategy. I've thought of a way to minimize how much I have to use my power. While you're going as wild as you want outside, Oniichan, I'll bring out the treasure."

"But..."

"Or can you not trust me? You could let me handle things on my own once in a while!" Rose's eyes shone accusingly.

"Urk..." Her menacing look made Shadow shrink back.

--One time, Rose had made a hideous, awful-looking dinner. On the spur of the moment, Shadow offhandedly commented "Is this edible?". When Rose turned to look at him then, she had the same glint in her eyes as she did now. Shadow's body froze up, and then...

He didn't want to remember what happened after that...

A chill ran up Shadow's spine. "...F-Fine. Just this once."

"Really!? Yay! Thank you, Oniichan!" Rose jumped for joy, her whole face beaming.

I'll show Oniichan I can do it even better than him! Determined, Rose fluttered down from the duct into the hotel laundry room. She flung off her black cloak, revealing an employee uniform underneath. Rose's strategy was to make her way in as a hotel employee. The hotel was heavily staffed, and barely anyone was familiar with all their faces. In short, even if nobody recognized her, it was unlikely she would be exposed.

Rose briskly walked down the hallway, exchanging nods with different people, and made straight for the floor where the treasure was supposed to be. Possibly due to Shadow beginning his rampage outside, it was a chaotic, hasty mess of people inside the hotel.

At last, Rose reached the floor with the treasure without any trouble. This wouldn't have been possible for Shadow. All she had to do now was freeze the police on this floor and steal the treasure.

Rose smiled and peeked around the corner at the treasure room. Two guards stood at its door, and near them was a boy sitting in a wheelchair. He had neat bowl-cut hair and wore a blazer and slacks. He seemed to be about high school-age. The boy was meticulously checking the entrance to the treasure room with a serious look in his eyes.

"Is he with the police too...?" Rose wondered to herself, just as...

"What are you doing there!" A man's bark came from behind her. Rose turned around with a gasp. A stern-faced, brawny officer was standing there.

"U-Um... There was a call from a guest..."

"There shouldn't be any lodgers on this floor. That's suspicious..." The man neared Rose and glared. Just as Rose was focusing power in her hands...

"What's tha problem?" Rose heard a Kansai accent from behind her. She turned around to see that the boy in the wheelchair had come up right behind her. The officer quickly straightened up and told the boy.

"Sir, this employee was acting suspiciously..."

"I was feelin' a bit peckish, so I called up for 'er."

"Eh?"

"Innit right?"

"Eh... ah, yes."

Once Rose answered, the boy faced the officer again. "Case closed. Ya can take it easy."

"Yessir, understood!" The officer presented a respectful salute and walked away.

"Ha ha, did that blindside ya?" Once the officer was out of sight, the boy gave Rose a benign smile.

"Yes..."

"Ya got tha wrong floor. There's nothin' 'ere but treasure and brute armed police."

"I-It does seem like it." The boy appeared to be with the police as well. Moreover, he was ranked high enough to give orders.

"Yer bang on time. I wasn't lying about being peckish, so could ya come with me to tha room?"

"Eh..." Refusing now would arouse suspicions and put her in trouble. Besides, she might be able to overhear something about the security. Rose walked after the boy.

On the way, as Rose pushed the boy's wheelchair, they talked. The boy's name was Hayami Kyoutarou. He was a Japanese detective, but he had corresponded with the owner of the hotel who had passed away about a year ago, and when he heard that Joker was after the owner's treasure, he offered his services. He had also researched Joker and Shadow, the senders of the notices, in great detail...

"Shadow is Joker's rival. I bet I wouldn't be too off ta say that he's the man Joker's scared the most of right now."

"I-Is that so..." Rose wasn't sure what to say, but she didn't get any bad vibes from him. She tended to think of her brother as strict, rambunctious, and simpleminded, but it made her happy to hear someone else acknowledge him.

"Yup, it must feel peachy for a guy like Joker ta have a rival like Shadow hot on his heels. Joker's a smart guy and does everything slick-like, so havin' the bunglin' but zealous Shadow opposite him makes 'em complementary rivals."

"Yes... you might be right." Rose took the opportunity to ask Hayami. "Hayami-san, aren't you zealous about chasing after Joker too?"

"No two ways about it. Deduction's part and parcel of bein' a detective, but I've got loads more zeal than anyone else about solvin' the mysteries nobody else can and seein' the looks on their faces."

"So you do... I had a feeling."

The two of them passed through a glass-windowed passage overlooking the garden. It was illuminated here and there at night, but still it was silent and dim. Shadow must have been rampaging on the other side. The hotel hallway was bright in contrast to the garden's gloom, and the two of them were reflected on the glass as they moved along.

"Hayami-san, I'd like to see one of your deductions."

"Ha ha, ask and ya shall receive." On the glass surface, Hayami's prudent expression crumbled and was replaced by a grin. It was a warmer smile than she had expected.

"...Hayami-san, it's your dream to bring down Joker, isn't it?" Rose asked gently.

"Yup, my brains can't be beat. It's my dream ta make Joker lose in a match of wits. Then I'm gonna catch Joker, no question about it."

"Somehow... I feel like you and Onii-- no, Shadow, resemble each other."

"Me and Shadow? Ha ha ha, that's an honor."

"Yes..." Observing Hayami from behind, Rose almost felt the same familiarity as she did for her brother.

"True, me and Shadow might have somethin' in common on account of chasin' Joker's tail. But I get the feeling Shadow's got somethin' that sets him apart from me."

"Sets him apart?"

"Somethin' like that. Not sure what, but it's hidin' in Shadow's heart. I think that somethin's probably what fostered that simpleminded and earnest personality of his."

What could it be...? Rose couldn't think of a likely answer. What set Shadow and Hayami apart...? How he didn't think ahead, his violent streak, his esoteric choice of words; there were too many to choose from, so she felt he meant something else... Just then, a call came in on Hayami's cell phone.

"Hello. ...Understood. I'll be there." Hayami ended the call. "Joker's shown up."

"Eh?"

"I'm about ta go catch 'im. Do ya wanna come see?" Hayami asked, a colder smile than before forming on his face. Rose had been guided to a guest room directly above the room with the treasure in it. "Ya can watch 'im from here."

The monitor in front of him displayed Joker and Hachi running towards the treasure room. The police were putting up a resistance, but were completely useless; Joker and Hachi darted between them with grace, continuing down the hallway.

Watching them, Hayami quietly began to explain. "I'm about ta show ya Joker's movement pattern as I've deduced it. When Shadow's going after tha same treasure as him, Joker always makes the same move..." On the monitor, Joker reached the treasure room, opened the door without trouble, and slid inside. Then while the police were confused, he had them all down within moments. "Th' moment of truth. Joker'd try ta take the treasure and run off, usually." On the monitor, Joker gleefully grabbed the Black Opal. "But not this time." Just then, the room's window shattered and Shadow leapt inside.

"!?" Oniichan, you were just supposed to make a fuss outside this time......! Rose yelled internally.

"I gave orders ta bait Shadow to the treasure room. And he bit right in."

Really, how simpleminded can you get... And he couldn't trust me after all, could he... Rose clenched her fists. Still, Hayami kept talking in the same calm voice.

"Now th' two meet. Here's a question. When Joker and Shadow meet, they always do this one thing."

"One thing?"

"Yup, tha answer is fight like kids. Takin' a look at all tha cases before, those two never fail ta squabble whenever they meet. It's always over somethin' trivial, ta boot." Just as Hayami prophecied, the pair started to quarrel on screen. Their voices weren't audible, but no doubt it was their usual back-and-forth spat.

"..." Rose was too fed up to say anything.

"When people squabble, that's when they don't pay attention ta anythin' else. Even our ever-alert Joker can have it happen ta 'im. What I'm sayin' is, that's tha time ta spring a trap." Hayami's words were bewitchingly convincing, and Rose found herself nodding along. "That in mind, all ya halfta do is get a special trap ready in tha treasure room. That's my plan ta catch Joker... that's deduction too."

What Hayami said had a ring of truth. Joker was keen and clear of mind, but whenever he faced Shadow, he would forget himself and start fighting. And Shadow went without saying. This was the one thing Rose couldn't stop him from doing.

Soon enough, just as Hayami had said, Joker and Shadow began to fight on screen. Shadow lunged with his Bloody Rain, and Joker mischievously blocked it with his cards. She had seen the same thing time and time before. With everything going exactly as Hayami had foretold, she was disappointed in her own brother and Joker.

"Now the both of 'em are snared like vermin... hokay, time ta let it rip!" As soon as Hayami sent the signal, something seemed to happen inside the treasure room. The duo on screen stopped fighting and looked around at their surroundings.

Then, steel panes slammed down in all four directions and walled them in. Joker and Shadow both had been instantly trapped in the room.

"Those are...!" Rose exclaimed. Hayami told her.

"That's a steel cage. It's no piece 'a cake ta break, and ya can't lift it up either. Soon enough, sleepin' gas'll fill the room, and those two'll be sleepin' pretty till the police show up."

"Oh no..." Rose whispered and looked at the monitor. On it, Shadow was panicking and shooting beams at the wall, while Joker was trying to pierce the wall with his cards. But the wall remained unmoving.

"Fu fu, and now Joker meets his end. How do ya like my plan?" Hayami smiled triumphantly and turned around. However, Rose wasn't there.

Rose went along the blind spots of the security cameras, and by the time she arrived in front of the treasure room, Hachi was pounding on the steel walls. "Joker-san! Joker-san!"

Rose called out to Hachi. "Hachi-kun, how are they?"

"R-Rose-san!? Well, I was keeping watch outside. Then suddenly these steel walls dropped and trapped them..."

"Oniichan!" Rose yelled towards the wall. She could just barely make out two voices from within.

"Rose, is that you? Get us out of here!"

"Please! Rose!"

These were the voices of Joker and Shadow, or as Rose knew them, Jack and Cyan. She could tell that they were in a tight spot. Rose held her hands out front and concentrated. But just then, she remembered what Hayami had said. I'm gonna catch Joker, no question about it. Hayami's passion and warm smile crossed her mind. He had researched Joker and Shadow and formulated this plan, and Rose was about to ruin it.

Just like my brother Shadow, he's zealous about bringing down Shadow... Should I really undermine all that devotion he's put in...? But...

"Rose, what's wrong!? Hurry, please!"

"Oh shoot, Shadow! It's sleeping gas!"

Shadow and Joker's voices from inside pressured Rose. I'm...

"...!" Rose made up her mind and spoke to Hachi. "Hachi-kun, break the security cameras."

"Eh? But why?"

"Never mind why, please just do it."

"O-Okay!" Hachi sprang around the hallway, wrecking the cameras surveilling the area one after another.

If at all possible, she didn't want Hayami to see her using her powers... As she concentrated, Rose's body took on a pale glow. Her hands in front, Rose stared at the door and focused her power. The steel doors rumbled as they gradually lifted.

Once the gap had opened wide enough for a person to pass through, Joker and Shadow appeared from within and leapt out. As soon as they exited, they grabbed each other's lapels.

"Shadow! We were shut in because of you!"

"What!? It's because you did something you shouldn't have!"

Seeing them go back to abusing each other again, she screamed without thinking. "Both of you, cut it out!"

Shocked by her shout, the two of them looked back over at Rose. She was tearing up a little and glaring at Joker and Shadow both.

"W-What's wrong, Rose?"

"What are you angry about?" Joker took the gem out of his chest pocket. "See, I got the treasure!"

"Rose, thanks to you using your powers, we're sa-" Shadow started. But Rose cut him off with a yell.

"I didn't use them because I wanted to! I don't care anymore!" She pouted and looked the other way; then with her powers, Rose made herself float and speedily flew out of the window into the night sky. The two boys and Hachi could only watch dumbfounded as she faded away...