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lonely-lost-soul · 3 years

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A Pirate's Life for Me

Cover Art Done By: @fridaydev-draws and @friday-dsv (Dreamsmp x reader) Pirate Au! Love Interests: C!Wilbur, C!Techno, C!Dream, C!Sapnap, C!Quackity, and C!Schlatt

~~~

Salt burned your lungs as you tossed open your window with a loud bang, the seagulls perching on your flower boxes screeched in protest and flew from your window. “Fucking sky rats get the fuck out of here you heathens!” You snarled out the window shaking your fist at the bothersome birds, the sounds of the ocean crashing on the shore filled your ears as well as the chatter of the dock workers. You let the breeze blow back your hair and you heard someone calling your name from down below.

“Good morning (Y/n)!” You glanced below you and grinned,

“Morning Eret!” They waved back enthusiastically their dress spilling around their ankles, a basket of fruit was balanced on his hip. “Opening early today? I'm sure your patrons would be happy to start their drunken stupor early,” She held a hand to his mouth snickering and you shot them a look.

“If that gets more money in my pocket then so be it, I won't complain too much.” You shrugged, “Will I still see you later tonight?”

“Always do dove, how can I resist a drink from my favorite bartender.”

“You can’t it’s my charm.”

“Will the both of you shut the fuck up!” Another man’s voice growled from another open window, “It’s too early for your bullshit.” You saw Eret click his tongue but smiled up at you despite the man's protests,

“I’m heading to the market anyway. These fruits won’t sell themselves, I'll see you later.”

“See you soon!” You closed your windows once more, but not before urging your daisies to grow one last time. You tossed open the curtains allowing light to spill into your cozy home, a small carpet was in the middle of your room. It was a deep red and the pattern was made of gold yarn, aside from that everything in your residency was made of dark wood. Your shelves were littered with books and empty cups, and your old worn journal sat open on your desk. It was filled with childhood memories and you continued to write in it to this day, it was easier then, things were simple and everything was innocent and new to you. Now your days were filled with sea fairing idiots who liked to drink themselves stupid, but you could handle yourself, you always kept your father's dagger on your thigh at all times. Those who were frequent customers knew not to mess with you and those who were new learned their lesson within the first ten minutes of meeting you. You inherited the bar from your father, a kindhearted man who died a few years before today, leaving you with the bar and the dagger you had on your hip. You fished through your closet pulling out your clothes for the day, your dress was a gorgeous light coffee color and came down to your ankles. The bottom was flared and had dark brown panels on the sides, it faded inward to a light green then back to the coffee color. The corset around your waist was a dark brown with light green trim, you tied it tight with a small huff making sure your waist was sinched perfectly. The sleeves came down to your elbows allowing you to move your arms freely while making drinks. The top of the dress ended just below your collarbone, you strapped your dagger to your thigh before lacing up your knee-high black boots.

You thought back to your tavern downstairs, you were fortunate enough that you weren’t running this entire operation yourself. You ended up hiring help and they were like family and you knew they saw you as such as well. Most of the girls didn’t have a family of their own so you gave them room and board, also money, of course, you weren’t a terrible boss! You opened the door to your room, you watched Cecil, the tavern’s mascot trot out of Juniper’s room. The border collie liked to switch up which rooms he stayed in protecting every one of your girls when you couldn’t be there for them.

The first of your girls was Adelaide or Addie, she was one of the first to fall under your care. She was around your age, a motherly type, sheep hybrid, who cared for the girls, and always gave the drunk patrons with mommy issues a shoulder to cry on. Her long brown hair always hung down her back, she typically worked tables, served food and drinks, and always got a generous tip from patrons.

The next girl was Judas, a squid-enderman hybrid who was taller than you could ever wish to be, although intimidating you couldn’t meet a kinder woman. A jack of all trades the woman helped out wherever she could, black-ish purple hair curled around her shoulders and some people came specifically to hear her sing. Her voice was like rich velvet and lured men and women in like a siren.

Juniper was after Judas, a demon hybrid who was naive but you’d be a fool to underestimate her. She worked beside you at the bar, she can make some mean fruity drinks, Eret always preferred her drinks over yours. Freckles adorned her face and shoulders, her light brown hair curled down to her middle back, purple horns sprouted from the top of her head. You wanted to adorn it with gold jewelry and you were saving up to gift some to her.

Yeti was a human woman like yourself, she didn’t bother with those who were rude or obnoxious. She kept to herself only really talking when she was spoken to or when there was an opportunity to crack a rare joke. She typically stayed on the sidelines, out of the scenes and Yeti liked to help Judas decorate her sets.

Zig was a kind young adult, they got along with everyone who came inside the tavern. Soft emerald eyes drew people in, and they tried to make sure tensions within the bar didn’t rise and start a fight. There would always be one or two that’s just natural, but one look at Zig and his magic words and they seemed to disperse, not wanting to hurt the kid’s feelings.

Vendetta was the tallest member of the group you had taken in, she was stunningly beautiful and didn't take shit from anybody. She was a guard dog if you will, making sure no one fucked with any of the girls in your tavern. While Zig did their best to keep people under control sometimes they couldn’t win. That’s when Ven would step in and ‘kindly’ escort them off the premises with or without force.

The youngest member here was Luvena. She was a moo-bloom hybrid with soft brown hair that sprouted flowers, her cow ears would twitch when she was excited and followed Addie around like she was her daughter. Addie took her under her wing and was training her to be a perfect little waitress, absolutely warming customers’ hearts. Luvena also loved to give out flowers, she was a fan favorite bringing new life into the tavern.

Cecil barked seeing his mama and scampered over to you, you poured food into his bowl as Juniper wandered into the hallway. Her head rested on the doorframe as she gave you a tried wave, “Morning (Y/n).”

“Morning Juni, We’re opening a little early today. Take your time I’m not expecting a big rush of bar patrons this early.” You assured her and she gave a sleepy nod,

“I’ll be down as soon as Ven’s out of the shower.” She yawned, “This beauty doesn’t come naturally.”

“Hardly darling you’re gorgeous just the way you are.” You reassured with a wink, Juniper flushed a little, happily laughing beside you.

“Just go wake the others will you, you flirt!”

Tossing your head back you gave a happy laugh heading down the hallway to make sure everyone was awake and ready to go for later. Addie and Luvena shared a room so she was in charge of waking up the youngest member of the tavern. Judas was already awake making breakfast for everyone when you headed downstairs, Zig was sitting on the counter beside her, they were the designated taste tester.

“Good morning Miss (Y/n)!” Zig chirped, the young adult hummed fondly, “Sleep okay?”

“Absolutely. What about you both? Thank you for making breakfast Judas.” You hummed fondly and Judas had a shy smile on her face.

“I slept well thank you.” Judas hummed softly, “Also it’s my pleasure. Want to make sure everyone’s healthy and alright.” She let out a little squeak as you wrapped your arms around her body, you barely came up to her chest,

“Judas please marry me,” You complained, “Your breakfast is always heavenly and you care for everyone. Please be my wife.”

“(Y/n)! Please.” She sputtered face turning a dark purple, Zig made a noise of protest and held his hand in the air.

“If she won’t marry you I will!”

“Zig! I’d be honored!”

Their entire face lit up with excitement and they hopped off the table to hug you tightly, you hugged them back and pressed a fond kiss to the top of their head. “I got to open up the tavern, you mind setting the table for me Zig?”

“Sure Miss!”

You sent Judas a kiss in the air which her face burned at, quickly going back to her cooking. You smiled eagerly and unlocked the door to the tavern, you shoved a bucket in front of the door to keep it open. The salty ocean air wafted through your nostrils and your eyes sparkled wondrously.

Today is going to be a good day.

Almost immediately a particular bastard caught your eye,

“You’re here early.” You mused raising an eyebrow,

“Heard you were opening early today sweetcheeks,” His voice was a low baritone, rough from years of smoking and drinking. Horns curled around his fluffy ears that stood out against his gruff exterior, he was a ram hybrid at its finest. “Figured I’d take the opportunity to get a special drink from my special girl,” He mused looking you up and down drinking in your figure. You scoffed at the retired man, he dressed like he was cosplaying captain jack sparrow, the gun’s in his belt just added to his costume and so did his large ruffled shirt, he was never one to forget his gold jewelry.

“Where’s Quackity?” You ignored him sitting him at his usual table, he frowned but you knew he was taking it as an opportunity to stare at your ass. He slid into the stool and put his feet up on the table, his boots were muddy but you could only control him so much. He was too much of a regular to get scared off by your threats and scolding.

“He’ll be in at his normal time. He’s not much of a day drinker, although can’t say I’m complaining. Having all your attention on me and all, considering I’m the only one in here. That being said, I’ll have my usual sweetcheeks.”

“Stop calling me that,” You scolded with a certain fondness that was reserved for the man. “You’re lucky you’re my favorite regular Schlatt,” you gave his ears a fond pinch and he bleated. He sent you a scalding look as you walked away, although the look soon fell as he got a good look at your ass once again.

“I’m your only regular sugar tits!”

“Schlatt feet off the table.” Addie criticized whacking his boots with a rolled-up menu, he rolled his eyes but dropped his feet to the floor. “You should know this by now, we go through this every day.”

“Yeah, yeah little lamb I’m on it. Judas here?”

“She’s always here,” She huffed spreading the menu down on the table. “Do you want your usual or something different? Should I get Quackity’s drink ready too?”

“Nah just stick with mine, for now, tell Judas I’d like to see her.”

Addie clicked her tongue and placed her hand on her hip, “fine. But if you’re just going to grossly flirt with her as you do with (y/n), then keep it to yourself.”

“You’re not the boss of me. Just because you look like an old hag-” The way she glared at him sent a chill down his spine, “shit babe take a joke will you.”

Eventually, people began to file into the tavern, as the morning faded into the afternoon and then into the evening. The tavern was bustling with life, Judas’s elegant voice traveled through the crowds and her voices seemed to float above the voices. Quackity joined Schlatt by his side seemingly irritated by a conversation they were having, Schlatt was about five drinks in at this point, which was much less than his usual, and Quackity on his second.

“What are they talking about?” Luvena asked swinging her legs as she sat on the bar beside you. Her moobloom ears twitching every so often as she tried to eavesdrop on their conversation,

“Vena it’s impolite to eavesdrop.” You scolded bopping her on the head lightly, she whined and rubbed the top of her head.

“I wasn’t!” She argued as you rolled your eyes, you looked over at the two men to find Quackity looking over at you. His hand was raised in the air, one finger was up summoning you to get him another drink.

“I’ll be back, why don’t you talk to Ven while I’m gone. She’ll keep an eye on you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

“Good thing she doesn’t want to babysit your ass either, now shoo.” You motioned her to hop off the bar and she did so with a long, dramatic sigh. You looked over at Ven who gave you a silent nod, letting you know she’d watch out for the youngest member of your band of misfits. Meanwhile, you grabbed Quackity another drink and walked over to the two men at the table, “Someone order a drink?”

“Aye! Mamacita! Fancy seeing you here.” Quackity purred a bright smile spreading across his face seeing that you were the one to deliver his drink,

“Hey Big Q,” You greeted placing the drink in front of him, “You doing okay?”

“Better now that an angel walked into my sight,” He flirted and you rolled your eyes. “What? It’s true! You always brighten my day you know? Ow!” Schlatt hit his ex-first mate over the head,

“Take a breath lover boy. Thanks for the drink sugar tits.”

“You’re welcome, what were the both of you talking about if I may ask.” You hummed grabbing some of Schlatt’s empty glasses, an uncharacteristic frown came over both their faces. “Oh? Touchy subject?”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Just dishing out some old problems, most of which are better left unsaid.” He aimed that statement at Quackity, his jaw seemed clenched and Quackity’s brow furrowed in annoyance.

“Well I just want to remind the both of you,” You passed the tray of empty glasses over to Addie as she walked by, she took them swiftly. You grabbed the side of both their heads and pressed them against your chest, not that you knew but both men’s flushed to the tips of their ears. “No physical fights are allowed in this tavern. If one starts I won’t hesitate to kick your fucking asses. Got it?” They looked over your chest and locked eyes with one another, after years on the sea they could read one another’s facial expressions rather easily and at that moment they shared the same thought,

‘They should fight more often.’

“I said, got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” The repeated simultaneously as you pulled away,

“That’s what I like to hear-”

“(Y/n)!” Vendetta’s velvety voice called out from behind you, you turned and saw a group of newcomers file into your bar. Your body tensed momentarily,

Pirates.

Schlatt turned his head to follow your gaze and he tensed from behind you, “fuck me.” He growled and Quackity raised an eyebrow at his captain, he turned to look over his shoulder and his face lit up.

“Sapnap!”

The pirate who had a white bandana tied around his forehead glanced over at him and a smile lit up across his features. “Quackity? Is that you?”

“My man!” He stood up from his chair heading over to wrap the man in a hug, “I haven’t seen you in years, man.” You zoned out of their conversation eyes locking with a few of the other pirates who walked into the tavern. Vendetta and Addie both greeted them, but everyone who was under your care knew to keep their guard up around pirates. From what you could gather there seemed to be two crews, a crew of what only seemed to be two, Sapnap was included. The fire demon was still talking with Quackity, while the other man took in the view of the tavern, he had shaggy blonde hair, and had a few scars across his face. A porcelain mask sat on top of his head, a forest green cloak was around his shoulders, his hood was lowered around his neck. A sword was strapped tight against his hip and there was another dagger that seemed to be tucked against his side. His eyes gazed towards you and he winked teasingly with a coy smile, you scoffed looking over at Addie.

“Seat those two gentlemen yeah? Be careful, I’ll tell Ven and Yeti to keep an eye.” Addie looked at you, concern written on her soft features but she nodded. While Addie departed, you noticed Ven talking with the other group. Luvena was hiding behind Vendetta’s long legs, although a tall blonde boy seemed very keen on talking to her. You smoothed out your dress and moved towards the group of three, you eyed them up casually. The blonde looked to be around Luvena’s age, he had a shit-eating grin on his face and his uniform matched that of the second tallest in the group. The second tallest was clad in a light blue jacket with large golden buttons on the red collar. He had a cream-frilled shirt underneath and a black belt holding up his brown slacks, those were tucked into black boots. On his back seemed to be a guitar and was the only one of them not holding a weapon, but you knew better than to assume with pirates. His curly brown hair seemed to bounce every time he talked, he seemed to be the ringleader but there was no doubt that the real ringleader was the hybrid standing beside him. He was taller, on par with Vendetta in height, he had long pink hair that was tied in a ponytail on top of his head. A few pieces framed his face elegantly, there was no doubt he was the captain of the little crew that was in your tavern. He had a white shirt on with a deep low cut ‘V’ it showed off a good portion of his scared chest, around his shoulders sat a deep red jacket but his arms were outside of it and crossed over his chest. He seemed content on letting his second in command do all the talking, his red eyes were the only ones to meet yours. His head tilted upwards and before Vendetta could stop him he walked over towards you,

“You own the tavern?” His voice was a low monotone and it sent an array of pleasant chills up your spine.

“I do,” You raised an eyebrow crossing your arms over your chest, “Names (Y/n). You are?”

“Captain Technoblade of the ship Odyssey, I was hoping you had a few rooms and a table available. My brothers and I are pretty exhausted, we’ve been sailing all night.”

Brothers, they certainly didn’t all look alike, but then again you certainly had a mix of girls in your care. Your tongue swiped against the top row of your teeth, “Why don’t you and your brothers take a seat at the bar for now. Juniper will be happy to serve you, I’ll see if we have some free rooms available.”

“Thank you, once you return I’ll introduce them to you if you’d like,” Technoblade bowed his head before turning back to get his brother’s attention.

“I’d like that thank you.” You gave a nod motioning for Vendetta to follow you as you slid behind the bar with Juniper, Judas had also taken a spot sitting on the bar. You figured you’d let her know as well, considering she was another adult figure in the group. You knew either Juniper or Judas would fill in Addie considering the three were close. “Ven, can they be trusted?”

“Not too sure about the masked man, the one Quackity seems to be familiar with seems decent enough. He’s a fire demon though, could smell him from miles away, we all just need to be cautious.”

“Agreed,” Juniper added tapping her finger on her chin. “We should just try to curb all fighting if at all possible, what did the captain of the other group ask you?”

“They want a room, I’m about to check to see if we have availability. Thoughts on that?”

Judas let out a low hum her eyes followed both sets of pirate groups around the tavern, “I say if we have availability let them stay. They seem harmless so long as we don’t mess with them, which we’d never do.”

“Plus I can always stay awake to keep an eye on them.” Vendetta tapped her nails against the table,

“You sure.”

“As if I’d let anything happen to any of you, you’re my family.”

You all smiled softly, and you noticed Judas’s eyes widen, “Zig! Get that out of your mouth this instant!” She shot up from her spot and over to the person in question. The three of you laughed fondly at the nonsense, meanwhile, Juniper saw the three brothers sit at her bar. She moved away from you to greet them, you immediately could tell she was taken with the second eldest brother.

He seemed to be an absolute lady killer.

Vendetta ruffled your hair before going back to stand at her place by the door to keep the peace. You headed up the stairs to the rafters to check on the extra rooms you had, “Excuse me?” You tensed visibly turning around to face the man in all green. His eyes were mesmerizing, a fierce jade green to contrast his cloak, “Do you happen to have two rooms available?” The man held up two fingers to clarify his request,

“Do you usually start introductions with a blatant request like that?”

He chuckled a smile spreading across his lips, “I’m Dream and you gorgeous?”

“(Y/n), it’s your lucky day I’m about to check and see if any are available. My tavern is a hot commodity tonight.”

“Well, I can see why,” he spoke and you raised an eyebrow and tilted your head to the side.

“Oh?”

“It has the hottest owner around. Word spreads fast.”

You couldn’t believe this man was making your cheeks burn, he chuckled softly taking a step towards your figure. “Oh really, word spreads that fast on the open sea, Captian?” It was his turn to turn light pink, but he covered it up quickly with a chuckle.

“Touché.”

“I’ll get on that room for you and your friend. Take a seat, for now, this part is for guests and staff only you know?”

“So I have you all to myself?” He cheekily mused, he stepped towards you and before you knew it you were pinned against a wall. His hand suddenly brushed against your cheek, it was cold in comparison to your warm cheek. You felt Dream’s thumb brush against your cheek slowly, “You know...being on the open sea alone does something to a person.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” You mused pushing your forehead back against Dream’s, “All alone with only your crew with you.” Taking his other hand within your own you slid it up to your hip, you saw his entire face turn red as he stared down at your chest. “You’re probably missing a little love in your life, aren’t you Dreamy?” He nodded dumbly, his eyes still not leaving your chest,

Perfect. You weren’t going to let some pirate boy get the better of you.

He let out a grunt of pain as you spun him around and pressed his head into the wall with your elbow, your other hand has his pinned behind his back. “This hallway is for staff and guests only,” You purred in his ear before letting him go and swinging your hips before heading up the stairs fully. From behind you, Dream’s face was a deep, dark red and he had to clear his throat. Dream wasn’t going to let you go after that, I mean look at you, tough and able to hold your own, it awakened something inside him.

After checking up on the rooms you headed back down into the main hall, three-room keys in your hand. Glancing over at the scene in front of you, you saw Juniper dancing in the middle of the tavern the flirtatious brother at her side. Judas was sitting beside Schatt and Quackity at the bar, Addie was tending to Technoblade and the blonde at their little table. Dream and Sapnap were whispering to one another in the corner but still seemed to be enjoying the show. Vendetta was smiling softly by the door, beside her were Luvena and Zig both playing various instruments. You noticed Eret was also amongst the crowd, she had a brilliant grin on his face, it was flushed pink with alcohol and you smiled to yourself.

It was peaceful, and for a moment you forget half the patrons were scoundrels or pirates.

That was until the man dancing with Juniper locked eyes with you, his eyes lit up and he spun Juniper off into Addie’s arms. She giggled snuggling into the mother sheep’s arms, you heard a distressed “Juni! I’m holding glasses!” Before your vision was overtaken by the handsome flirt.

“Hello love,” He hummed, “May I offer you a dance?”

You were about to refuse but you saw Yeti, who finally made her appearance as it was getting closer to Judas’s set, giving you a big thumbs up “I’d be honored.” You responded taking his hand within your own, he pulled you out onto the dance floor and you felt his other hand politely hover on the small of your back. He allowed you to lean into his touch as he began to elegantly spin you around the dance floor, you were almost embarrassed to say felt like a princess. “Maybe I could get your name?” You asked above the music, “Since it seems you’re my dance partner this evening?”

“Wilbur Soot my love.” He hummed proudly, “The first mate of the ship Odysseus at your service. Plus I play music on the side.”

“Well now you need to play for us,” Wilbur twirled you around in a circle,

“Maybe one day. If you give me your name?”

“(Y/n) (L/n).”

“Beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”

“I was right.” You commented biting the bottom of your lip trying not to smile,

“About what?”

“You.”

“Ah? Already talking about me I see? Is my manliness and gentlemanly qualities that renowned?”

“Not exactly.” He picked you up slightly and pulled you into a low dip, “I was right in thinking you a nothing but a flirty playboy.” Wilbur almost dropped you, you squawked grabbing onto his neck. He began to laugh as you clung to his chest,

“Alright love. You caught me red-handed.”

Wilbur set you on your feet hands on your lower back, you were pulled close to his chest. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“I get them for free hon. I own the place.”

“Oh...oh.” He paled a little, “I didn’t fuck up our chances of getting a room did I?”

“Nah lucky for you and your brothers, I have you covered, same with your buddies over there.” You motioned to Dream and Quackity’s friend, Wilbur’s face paled as he felt the chilled room key get placed in his palm. “What’s your little brother’s name?”

“Tommy.”

“Tell them both we serve breakfast free from 7 am to 10 am.” He nodded as you walked past, Wilbur meanwhile turned to look at Technoblade. It seemed he had his red eyes on the couple the entire time they were dancing. He held up a room key, it was labeled 205; Technoblade nodded his head before leaning back and talking to Addie once more. “Dream!” You called throwing a hand up into the air, instead of Dream, Sapnap looked up he nudged Dream with his elbow. The man was now wearing his mask, but at least you could tell he was looking at you,

“Well hello, darlin’ you must be (Y/n). Name's Sapnap. Dream told me about you, so you have good news for us I hope?”

“Pleasure, I'm sure he told you all about me,” He nodded, his eyes taking in your body especially your ass. “Got you both a room key, your neighbors. Across from the other crew of pirates. Just don’t fight and we won’t have any problems.”

“You mean those jackasses are staying?” Sapnap complained loudly, looking over your shoulder at the other crew members.

“You both didn’t think you were the only patrons, did you? This is a business after all.” You, tossed the keys their way, Dream caught it with ease and Sapnap fumbled it only a little bit. After they were in their hands, you waved them off with a flutter of your palm you turned around to go speak with Judas about her set but before you could take a step you saw Schlatt stumbling up from his seat. “Ah shit,” You knew what was about to happen, you weren’t paying attention to the ram hybrid so who knew how many drinks in he was. You felt responsible, for a while you and Judas had been trying to help Schlatt with his addiction. You couldn’t help but wonder what exactly set him off for him to get this drunk, Quackity caught him in his arms with a grumble. The man was a drunken mess, and as you approached you could hear his slurred speech and could practically smell the alcohol on his breath. “Schlatt,” You spoke carefully and as soon as you got close Schlatt detached himself from Quackity and lunged at you. His head was buried in his chest, he almost purred like he was very happy to be there, you rolled your eyes and ran your fingers through his hair. You were mindful of his horns but he seemed pretty eager for you to touch them,

“(Y/n).” He whined although it was muffled against your ample chest, “Why do pirates have to fuck everything up?”

“What are you on about Schlatt? No one likes pirates.”

“They’re gonna take you away from me, sugar. You’re my safe space, this tavern is my safe space.” You sighed listening to his drunken ramblings, you grabbed his horns and pulled him away from your chest.

“This is my life Schlatt, I’m not going anywhere trust me. Plus my family is here, they need me. So try not to worry okay?” You slicked back the hair on his forehead before planting a fond kiss there, everyone in the tavern narrowed their eyes at the scene. Even your girls were green with envy, at the sight of their lovely boss kissing someone who wasn’t them. He leaned against your lips eyes fluttering closed,

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Captian Schlatt? Or ex-captain if I remember correctly.”

“What?”

You turned your head and felt Schlatt’s arms wrap around your waist and held you close to his chest. The touch was protective and you felt your heart skip a beat, why was he protecting you, and why did you actually feel protected?

“Has the drinking finally caught up to you? Or was it the fact that you lost your so-”

Was that Dream's voice?

“Shut the fuck up.” He snarled and you were shoved behind him into Quackity’s arms, you felt less protected. “I’m not that person anymore and you fucking know that,” Vendetta came to stand beside the both of you a hand was placed on your shoulder protectively. You knew she was desperately wanted to step in and you held up a hand to stop her.

“This isn’t good…” Quackity murmured, “They’re going to fight. Schlatt’s going to get himself fucking killed.”

“Calm yourself. We won’t let it get that far.” Ven grumbled eyeing you waiting for your signal. But you were lost in the conversation or argument, the two were having, you couldn’t believe Schlatt was a pirate. He was so...he just didn’t...he was a drunk okay? That didn’t exactly shout feared pirate to you!

“Oh, are you sure? I remember that look, that’s the look you’d get before you stomped someone’s lights out. No wonder your son disappeared under mysterious circumstances-” Dream was shoved against one of the poles holding up the building. He grunted and Schlatt’s arm was pulled back ready to punch, but his arm was stopped by smaller hands,

“Pardon me Mr. Schlatt but you know how we feel about fighting in our tavern.” Addie bubbled, she had a smile on her face but it wasn’t kind, it was full of warning.

“Get the fuck off me, sheepie. This doesn’t fucking concern you.” Schlatt shoved her away and as soon as his skin made contact with her body he made a sound of distress.

“(Y/n)...” Addie murmured quietly, your father’s dagger was embedded in Schlatt’s arm,

“Fucking hell you bitch!” He snarled baring his teeth, you glared at him twisting the dagger he yelled in agony.

“Touch one of my girls again and next time this dagger is going right into your back.” You ripped the dagger out, splattering the floor with blood. He grabbed his arm tightly and looked at you with slight betrayal in his yellow eyes. “I mean it Schlatt, Quackity take him home.” The man nodded looking at you longingly, he muttered a quiet ‘Sorry’ before escorting him out of your tavern. “You,” You glared harshly over at Dream, “Go to your room.”

“You’re not my mother.”

“Then find another play to stay.” You spat, he turned away and you looked over at Addie, “Are you alright?” Your voice turned tender as you cupped her cheeks. She nuzzled against your palms and nodded her head,

“I’m fine. You didn’t need to-”

“Yes, I did. No one messes with you. With any of you on my watch.”

The sheep hybrid made a little sound as her bottom lip trembled, she wrapped you in a tight hug which you accepted without hesitance. Judas walked over next and wrapped you both in her arms, pretty soon you were surrounded by your girls and Zig.

All of them had the same mindset: comforting both you and Addie.

It was good to be loved.

Wilbur watched the scene curiously and glanced over at Technoblade who stood up from his chair.

“I think that’s our cue to leave for the night.” He looked over at his first mate, Wilbur nodded in agreement grabbing his guitar from the chair beside Technoblade.

“They...Techno were they talking about Tubbo.” Tommy whispered to his brother, his brow furrowing in concern as they all climbed the steps up to their room, “You don’t think-”

“It just might be Tommy.” Technoblade tilted his head to the side, “Guess that’ll be something we ask him when we get back to the ship tomorrow.”

“Well, this trip is going to be way more fun than I thought.” Wilbur snickered lighting a cigarette, taking a long drag, before letting the smoke curl out of his mouth and up into the rafters. ~~~

Tag List: @v01dw4lk3rz, @jam-bombs, @abovenyx, @glitterydigitalart, @phoenixaesthetic19, @luluwinchester, @boiled-onionrings, @pastelmoonwitche, @roxy3457, @alovestruck-fool, @victory-is-here, @mack4676, @fiorenc, @theoneandonlyyeti, @bloodrose0723, @sandyy-woo,

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thoughts-on-bangtan · 4 years

Text

Let’s talk: RUN Episode 131

by Admin 1

I know I’ve probably said this about literally every episode but this one was so fun! Admin 2 and I were honestly laughing almost the entire time while also trying our best to follow along their “debates” and just taking in all the chaos. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Quick recap: in this episode we’re at the pool that belongs to the same hotel at which they had lunch at the end of the previous episode and the objective is twofold--not get wet and win a debate. That’s basically it, it’s like the mint chocolate debate episode but even more hilarious and with the addition of wet Bangtan.

Something I truly love is how it took vmin exactly 57 seconds (which includes the 18 second long intro) to find some kind of ‘reason’ to hold/shake hands behind JKs back. Because of course they did.

After the whole “mess” that ensued after the Titanic preview picture was posted yesterday, I can basically just say one thing--there was literally no need whatsoever to get all anxious and uncertain about the picture, or anything the shippers made out of it. As always the best course of action, which is the one I usually apply, is waiting until we get the full thing so we have context for what we’re shown in the picture/teaser/scene. It’s like that scene at the end of one of the ITS episodes where Jimin goes to JK to tell him about a supposed leak in his room which was taken way out of context and proportions until we got the next episode a week later and the actual events were completely different from anything and everything that was theorized.

So, what’s the lesson? Wait until we get the full thing, dear fellow vminnies, that way we can avoid making each other anxious and unsure.

Anyway, let’s get into it by starting with the ‘warm-up’ which consisted of one-on-one “battles” where the members stood on these floating foamy mats being held by two staff members and having to make each other fall into the water by playing the hand pushing game.

Yoongi VS Jimin -- I like how the two shortest members went against each other, which I’d assume might’ve had something to do with Yoongi’s shoulder and how chances of Jimin hurting him due to his height/size/weight were the smallest as opposed to Namjoon or even Hoseok. Maybe I’m imagining/overthinking things but it seemed like Jimin was a little hesitant/careful in how he approached the game and in the way he touched Yoongi, which honestly is very thoughtful and cute of him if that’s true, considering his shoulder and all. In the end Yoongi, after they basically goofed around more than actually tried to push each other, offers a deal of just doing it once properly, ending in both of them falling in the water since Yoongi leans forward, hugs Jimin and drags him down with him.

Tae VS Hobi -- These two might’ve been the quickest, given how Hobi said he’s scared at least three times and Tae basically use a moment to ‘attack’ where Hobi was distracted by the fact that a moment prior he thought Tae almost would’ve hit him in the face with his forehead on accident. That lucky did not happen, but Hobi did end up in the water and Tae remained on the float and completely dry.

Namjoon VS Seokjin -- Now these two, how can I put my thoughts/feelings into cohesive words and sentences instead of just a long key smash? They were hilarious, and their round definitely took the longest out of all of them, both trying to make the other fall yet simultaneously seeming like they weren’t trying all that hard since neither wanted to land in the water? After all before the game started Seokjin did complain how the RUN crew told him they wouldn’t have to get into the water. And yet, in the end, after a visible moment of contemplation, Namjoon hugs Seokjin (who hugs him back) and they fall into the water together (when I tell you how much I love them, wow).

JK VS Jimin --Here’s where we get the Titanic moment while JK and Jimin stand on the float and are being pulled to the middle of the pool, the members immediately jumping in with Hobi going “Jack, come back” in a breathy voice while Yoongi (?) sings the melody of My Heart Will Go On and everyone is laughing. It was an absolutely hilarious and cute moment. What made me laugh the most during the whole thing were the Jimin heads used to hide whatever, which I as a joke called the “Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra (Head Edition)” while talking to Admin 2. During the game itself Jimin and JK are hilarious, slapping each other’s chests and trying different tricks to make the other fall, showing how amazing their core strength and balance is, but eventually Jimin shoves JKs chest and JK falls into the water, winning the game since Jimin “cheated” and thus lost.

Seokjin VS Tae -- Interesting to note is how Jimin remained in the water and close by while these two were playing. Seokjin and Tae though somehow seemed the most chaotic out of all of them, despite Seokjin offering that they should just do it in one go...which didn’t work out. They leaned into each other twice while laughing before starting to “wrestle” until Tae put his arms around Seokjin’s waist and basically threw him into the water while subsequently being pulled after him and falling in as well. Sometimes I think we forget how strong Tae is (though after his BE_log earlier today I doubt we’ll forget that again any time soon).

Once “warm-up” was done, the members were split into two groups of three while one person, the MC, sat in the middle in a glass box (though missing the front glass panel). The rules were established and we basically figured out that there are water canons in front of the seated members and a bigger one releasing water onto the member sitting in the middle. They got words and things they were not allowed to do/say since otherwise they would get splashed.

Safe to say they all fairly quickly looked even more like very wet puppies. I mean look at Yoongi and his cute curly poodle hair, adorable!

The debate portion itself was about “crunchy or soft cereal”, “eggs of peas on jjajangmyeon” and “firm or soft peaches” and truly more chaotic shouting than actually debating. The team members and the “MC” changed for each round, which lasted 11 minutes each. Who debated what was chosen by the crew (or the MC). My highlights for the cereal debate (besides Seokjin cutely complaining how he prefers his cereal soggy and Namjoon equally cutely telling him to just pretend he likes it crunchy) were Yoongi (who was team soggy cereal) and his argument that since Kendrick Lamar eats soggy cereal, that’s basically the winning argument, Namjoon arguing that since “cereal” and “crunchy” both start with a c that’s the only right answer, and Tae arguing that if you eat chocolate cereal it’ll melt and you’ll additionally get chocolate milk so obviously soggy cereal is better. The jjajangmyeon portion had discussions about prices, as well as Hobi (team peas) arguing he doesn’t like seeing animals in pain (which was quickly countered by JK saying he’d just eaten pork before the episode) and Tae generally being appalled by having to argue in favor of peas since he doesn’t like them yet used the argument that his dad likes them so if you argue against them...well.

And finally the peaches debate had Tae and his galaxy brain using their Chilsung Cider ads as argument and how the peaches in it were firm since they bounced and thus they are better, which JK tried to counter by pointing out that those were just CGI to which Tae basically said he’s insulting their beautiful ads, how dare. I also love how Jimin, who was on Tae’s team, went along with whatever nonsense argument Tae came up with as though it was the most logical one in the world. Just lovely soulmate things, we love to see it. Speaking of nonsensical arguments, you have to give points to Namjoon for his ability to sound like he’s making perfectly sensible and logical arguments while doing, well, the exact opposite. Or Yoongi who just bs-ed his way through the entire thing while acting totally serious about it.

Can we please have a quick look at the following screenshot:

And now, can we please talk about how everyone is nicely sitting in their designated place with space between them...and then there’s vmin who are like magnets because “Space who? We don’t know her”.

Admin 2 asked me to add their comment/thought about how it looks juuuuust a little as though vmin may or may not have been holding hands below the table, which, I mean, we’ll never know but, at this point (especially after the BE unit unboxing video) I wouldn’t even be surprised if it were true.

At one point when Seokjin became the MC the water kept on coming and coming and the members were desperate to figure out what was the thing they were doing that caused it. Jimin thought it could be the caps that some of them wore, so without hesitation or question, he took off Tae’s cap (bless Jimin for giving us another view at wet hair Tae, truly) and then, I swear, it looks like he wanted to ruffle Tae’s hair yet just a second before making contact he stops himself and instead turns his hand in like a “I’m presenting some kind of argument” way. Adorable.

A final note goes out to the fact that they are wearing white button downs which, I mean, makes perfect sense I guess? And also how the crew gave them bathrobes so they’d stay warm, I’d assume, yet very quickly those were drenched as well thanks to the water canons so it basically defeated the purpose completely. And yet, despite all the water etc they all look fantastic.

Overall it’s a hilarious episode that’ll give your stomach muscles and lungs an amazing workout. Bangtan were their chaotic, loud, and mischievous selves and honestly, I can’t wait to see what else they’ll debate in the next episode.

#vmin #RUN BTS #RUN BTS episode 131 #BTS #Taehyung #Jimin #Namjoon #Seokjin #Yoongi #Hoseok #Jungkook #namjin

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tentoriwrites · 5 years

Text

Set Adrift: The Charbee Remix

For Charbee week day 4 for the song Back to Life by Hailee Steinfeld

I always played around with the idea of there being multiple factions of Cybertronians with specialized tasks/functions. I really latched on to the scientists/engineers because someone had to develop all that super advanced tech. But also they would have so much drama because both sides would want them. I found a great way to write in 2 of the main characters but never had a great way to bring in the third as she was completely a non-combatant. ENTER CHARBEE!

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Bumblebee’s optics went wide as he thought back on the time he stuck his finger in the outlet at Charlie’s house. He looked away embarrassed by the stupidity of the action. Little did he know the ramifications of such a simple act would be so widespread and… ongoing…

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Prologue:

The universe is full of innumerable stars. Rotating around those stars are even more planets. What makes this one so special? At first I didn’t understand, but then I finally went there. It was full of organic life and energy. I knew the moment I landed it would be perfect for the experiment. So, I released them: enough nanobots to make thousands of Energon batteries. Enough to power a Cybertronian colony for far more cycles than would ever be necessary. This whole system was a proof of concept. No matter where we Cybertronians went, we would always have a source of Energon.

As soon as the nanobots were released on this pale blue dot the results were immediate. I was extremely optimistic. I left the experiments to run as I retreated to the observation bunker established on a moon in the far reaches of the system. I went into stasis to conserve energy and woke up periodically to check on the experiments and receive reports from home.

As you might imagine I missed a lot existing like this. But I knew about the war and that it was escalating at a frantic pace. The war and my experiment seemed to be poles that could not coexist. The better my experiment went, the worst things seemed to go at home. The transmissions kept coming until one day they spotted altogether. I denied it for as long as I could, but I understood what that meant. The Prime Constructors was gone and the only reason for that was denying the Decepticons. I took precautions against those who would try to use my experiments for their own ill deeds. In my processors I said I was neutral, like all Constructors, but in my Spark I hoped the Autobots would win. that hope to hold on to, I went to sleep for the last time.

A bot tall and slender in frame but devoid of all the color floated gently up and down in a cryo-stasis chamber. The frost on their silvered metal panels tinkled as it melted away. It was time for the annual check on their experiment. They had created a countless number of nearly imperceptible nanobots and flooded all the planets of this solar system with them. It was a first of its kind experiment for the Cybertronians. Each bot collected energy from any and all available sources and converted it to Energon. Once the bot was fully charged, it floated towards the collection point on the planet and deposited it. Once the batteries were full, they could be collected and transported back to Cybertron.

The Cybertronian stretched out their arms over their head before floating over to the console on the far side of the room. Tiny boosters on the tips of their transparent wings gave them the propulsion they needed to move in the zero-gravity space. Once they were seated, they slid their hand against a flat space marked off by a frame on the console. It lit up with a gentle yellow glow a moment after they touched it.

“Constructor designation.” A synthesized voice filled the darkened room.

“C-377.” A less synthesized female voice answered.

“Project Identification number.”

“1284092186.”

“Hello, C-377. I hope you slept well.”

“I did, thank you.” She looked up at the screens as they buzzed to life.

“I have compiled the latest data on all 10 planets in this system.”

“I see them on the screens now. The numbers for some planets are a little disappointing, I must say. However, planet 3 has been an extremely lucrative source of energy.” She put her free hand to her chin a moment. “There has been a very large spike in the last 100 years. But then it drops off steeply.”

“Yes.”

The Cybertronian started to speak again but the computer cut her off.

“There was a huge spike in Energon detected. The spike caused the nanobots in the area to realign with the Cybertronian responsible for the spike and become unresponsive to outside communications. This caused a cascade effect until all the nanobots on the planet had become realigned.”

The Cybertronian’s purple glowing optics went huge. “W… wh… what… faction?” She was shaking so violently her hand almost pulled free from the console.

“The surge was caused by an Autobot designated B-127.”

The Cybertronian visibly eased, sinking into her seat at the news.

“The Decepticons can never have this technology… They’ll just use it to destroy ev…” Her chilled declaration was cut short by an alarm blaring. The security system was alerting her to a breach. “Activate emergency protocol alpha.”

“Understood. Preparing full transfer to remote station Beta.” The small, underground base started whirring with life.

The Cybertronian’s hand was released from the console as the computer listed each step in the protocol being fulfilled in the background. “Launch the backup and my escape pod to Earth then full wipe.”

“Understood. Preparing to launch decoys. Randomizing decoy coordinates. Power and memory transfer to ARC initiated.”

“Time to breach?”

“Irrelevant. Please proceed to escape pod.”

“But… Yes… Understood…” She couldn’t argue with the computer as power was already being diverted to a black monolith. The lights dimmed and the alarm turned off. The bot drifted into a random escape pod. The black monolith joined her in a different, random pod.

“Transfer complete. Launch sequence activated. Final shut down commencing. Creator protect you.”

The tube shook violently as it hurtled towards space. Moments before cresting the top of the tube, the screen in the escape pod started blinking errors. A camera on the outside of the pod showed fire surrounding it. Something likely set off the self-destruct trying to disarm it. While she was happy no one could get anything out of the base, she hoped against the odds the pod survived the trip to the third planet. Much to her dismay, the alarm blared on…

The sky burned as a Cybertronian pod streaked across the blue expanse over the planet Earth. Pieces broke off and burned away in the atmosphere causing a showy display of friction's power. It came to rest in a dry field in the middle of nowhere at the base of a tree. The scorched dirt pit left in the wake of the landing alien smoldered and it wouldn't be long before humans found the site. With great effort the figure rolled over and pushed themselves to their feet. The journey had taken far longer than they had thought but soon it would all be over. The mission was the only thing that mattered now.

“Halt!” A voice called with a musical quality and the figure turned around slowly.

“Auto...bot... Thank goodness...” The clearly female alien replied weakly just before falling to her knees. Any scans indicated that she had been severely damaged from the entry. She was dying before his very eyes! He immediately disarmed and moved to her side. “I have a very important message to deliver to you Autobot. I am one of the last of the Constructors and charged with an experiment put into motion on this planet... No time...” She explained as quickly as she could with her dying body.

Bumblebee dropped her and backed away. A look of disdain colored his normally genial features.

She chose to ignore the familiar coldness her faction afforded her and pressed on. “After I die the information must be pulled from me. They are on their way... Decepticons... Not sure... how much... they got out of lab...” Her optics flickered so dim light could barely be seen within them as Optimus and the others arrived.

“Bumblebee! Report!” Optimus barked as he transformed and ran up to his ally. “A neutral?” He gasped in a voice stricken with an ill feeling as he kneeled down next to the ailing creature. “A Constructor?” She nodded slowly before falling to the dirt completely.

“A Prime...? How fortunate...” A smile was clearly written on her face as her life faded away.

“Out of the way!” Ratchet grumbled as he gingerly moved between Optimus and the slain. “Her injuries are grave. I haven't seen anything in this bad of shape in awhile...” He looked her over briefly before shooting her three times with his special regeneration laser. She jumped and twitched and he quickly set to work attaching a thick cable to a port in her back. “She needs an energy transfusion... What's this?” He wondered spotting a foreign black cube deep in her back. “It's a retrofitted piece connected on a molecular level with nanomachines... It appears to be some sort of energy collection or converter... But it's been disabled.” He awkwardly reached a finger into her back and poked the unharmed box.

Suddenly, her wings spread out and became covered in a transparent film. After a few moments she gasped and her eyes shot open. “The energy converter worked!” She half shouted as she twitched back to life.

The Autobots in attendance looked at her dumbstruck.

“I need to find the monolith…” No sooner did the words leave her mouth she passed out again.

“She's not very stable at the moment... We'll have to be careful...” Ratchet explained checking her status. “Right now, that converter is the only thing keeping her functional.” With that being said he got to his feet and started hauling her away unceremoniously over one shoulder.

“All right you heard Ratchet! We have to get her back to the base!” Optimus ordered as he started to transform into a semi-truck. “I’ll carry her in the back.”

A flurry of whirring radio dials punctuated Bumblebee’s reaction as he searched for songs to speak with. “Something… you need to know… easier… if… she's… dead...” Bumblebee looked up at Optimus with his displeasure clear on his face. “Shouldn’t… we… let it be?”

“No information could be worth her life... She's been through much to get here and I'm certain once she's had time to recover, she can tell us everything we might need to know.” Optimus replied as the hum of a plane grew closer. “Autobots! Roll out!” It was clear Optimus was ignoring the callousness of the comment.

“I… will… guard… her…”

As they rolled back to the Autobot base on Earth, the being stirred weakly. “You.” There was a long pause before the Constructor went on in a quiet voice. “You are the one who started all this.”

Bumblebee tried to ignore her, but her persistent staring finally prompted a response. He cocked his head to the side. “Misunderstanding” by Phil Collins started playing.

“You have lost your voice?” She looked up at the open roof wistfully. “It must have been an accident then.” She took a deep breath. “You created an Energon surge that interfered with an experiment I was conducting on this planet. It caused the nanobots I brought here to align with your energy so they no longer respond to me.”

“That means we must protect you at all costs until the nanobots can all be removed from the planet.”

“You should rest now. You can explain yourself later when we can all hear it. But I would prepare yourself now, Constructor. Not all Autobots have a favorable opinion of your kind.” Optimus commented stoically.

“I… I can understand that sentiment.” With that she closed her eyes and went into stasis again.

After returning to the base, the newest Cybertronian was offloaded for repairs. Optimus and Bumblebee waited patiently nearby as they discussed their next move.

“What do you think, Bumblebee? Is she someone we should trust?” Optimus turned to the yellow bot.

“Danger Zone” started blaring loud enough to wake the dead.

“I understand your feelings on Constructors. However, they only did what they felt was best for Cybertron. Is that really any different than what we did?” Optimus tried to reason with Bumblebee.

Bumblebee shook his head wildly. “So, what difference does it make? It makes none.” A line by The Smiths accompanied the action.

Optimus sighed heavily. He started to say something but was cut off by Ratchet.

“Well I can safely say this is my best work...” Ratchet sounded quite full of himself as he came out with the Constructor in tow. He had replaced her missing plates with smooth steel. “She explained that box to me as well so we'll have to move her while she recovers. She needs a place with more light.” He added cracking his hands as he stopped where Optimus and Bumblebee had acquainted themselves.

“What is it?” Optimus asked looking over to him.

“It's a miniature version of an experimental system the Constructors implemented here on Earth in a closed circuit.” Ratchet explained with a smile. “It was developed on the off chance the experiment failed. She brought many unused copies with her!”

“So that's the black box we picked up not far from her crash site.” Optimus added thoughtfully.

“YOU FOUND THE MONOLITH?!” The Constructor nearly collapsed in her relief. “Th… that monolith is very important to me.”

Bumblebee’s optics narrowed sharply and “Danger Zone” started blaring again.

“Bumblebee…” Optimus chided him gently and the yellow bot huffed.

The Constructor looked a bit hurt but went on. “I am Constructor C-377. I specialize in nanobots. I developed nanobots that absorb energy in all its forms and delivers it to batteries. The batteries were to be sent back to Cybertron…”

“Cybertron… has fallen.” Arcee answered solemnly offering her comrade a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“Oh…” All of the Constructor’s excited energy evaporated like fog in the sun. “I… see…” Sparks lit up as her fingers dug into her hand. “Well then… I guess… a new end goal for the experiment is necessary.” She nodded solemnly as she walked over to the monolith. She placed her hand on the surface and it immediately lit up with a gentle purple light.

“Should this experiment yield the desired results then we will be able to build a new home planet for our race.” Ratchet began with his smile beaming wider with each word. “It is capable of converting solar energy into Energon!” The news completely shocked everyone in the gathering.

“This is great news!” Arcee cheered in uncontained happiness.

“It’s not that easy.” The Constructor injected quickly. “The nanobots are designed to seamlessly integrate into whatever they are gathering energy from. So, they can become anything. If you cannot see why that might be a problem then you had better reconsider your intelligence level.

“We should give you a code name.” Wheeljack finally interjected.

“Familiarity with me is not advisable. I will only be on this planet long enough to remove the nanobots and any threat they may cause. My association with this planet will only serve to endanger it further.”

“She is a true Constructor...” Ironhide shook his head bitterly. “I've never met one but I would bet they're all just like this. Loners who don’t think they need anyone and don’t care about anyone.”

The Constructor deflated a fraction, but it was still enough to be noticeable. “I will need an energy sample from B-127 so I can start reprogramming the nanobots. Please place your hand on the monolith.”

“No sugar tonight.” Blared through Bumblebee’s radio.

"I don't think you understand what's at stake here." She started with hurt in her voice. "The nanobots can be reprogrammed to do anything... become anything. Power supplies, weapons, defenses..." The meekness in her voice faded as she spoke, replaced the a genuine passion. "If the Decepticons get a hold of them, they would be able to destroy anyone who opposes them!"

"Why would you put such a dangerous experiment into action at a time like this?" Ironhide voiced his suspicions openly.

A perfectly logical question she gave an honest answer to. "The experiment was started before the war." She started to deflate once again. "Had I known it would come to this... I... never would have..."

Just before her voice faded into nothing the monolith whirred loudly before disappearing completely. Her optics went huge and she started shaking. The plates of her body clinked gently, but audibly. "A Decepticon is here..."

An uproar immediately erupted from the Autobots. Some went on the defensive, seeking out the enemy. Others went on the offensive against the Constructor.

"I knew she couldn't be trusted!"

"Constructors only care about their experiments and creations!"

"She probably is a Decepticon herself!"

"She must have led them here!"

"I'm not a Decepticon!" Though she was quick and vocal in asserting this, she deflated quickly again. "But I may have led them here without meaning to." She shrank away from everyone, clutching her arms around herself.

"Enough!" Optimus's resonant voice silenced all others. He placed a firm hand on the Constructor's shoulder. "We will judge her guilt based on evidence after we eliminate the Decepticon threat."

The familiar whir of a plasma gun charging and firing in the distance ended any further discussion. Optimus did a quick head count and looked confused.

"The threat has been eliminated." The Constructor whispered looking over in the direction the sound came from.

"How can you be so certain?"

"My monolith is back." She pointed toward the source of the shot. Sure enough, one could see a peek of the monolith floating lazily in the air. Closer investigation revealed a small, smoking crater with the remains of a small Decepticon spy at the bottom. Her whole countenance grew grim as the monolith wafted to her side. "I warned you the nanobots are dangerous. Now the Decepticons likely know B-127 controls them."

“Your monolith is made of nanobots then?”

“Yes.” She answered quietly. “But they only respond to me. They cannot be overridden like the ones on this planet.” She turned to look at Bumblebee resolutely. “The Decepticons will stop at nothing to gain every advantage they can. If you will not help me save the experiment here. Please help me shut it down. The nanobots can be ordered to permanently fuse. Order them to fuse into batteries and all of you will have a viable source of Energon for the foreseeable future. Once it’s done, I’ll leave and never come back.”

Once again, Bumblebee pulled away.

“They will stop at nothing. The place where your Energon surged was a residential area. They will start there first.”

Bumblebee’s face instantly snapped back to hers.

“They will take hostages and once they do, those hostages will die. It doesn’t matter if you agree to help the Decepticons or not.”

Bumblebee looked visibly distressed now. His optics swiveled around for a moment before he shoved past the Constructor and turned into a bright yellow car with black stripes. As he did, the monolith disappeared again.

“We have to protect him at all costs!” The Constructor yelled and she took off after him on foot. A moment later she spotted an old, beat up truck from the 40s roll by. She quickly scanned it and used it as her cover. Following a faintly iridescent line of nanobots, she was able to follow Bumblebee even if she could in no way keep up with his reckless driving. Eventually she pulled in at a house at the end of a cul de sac. Bumblebee was honking his horn trying to get the attention of someone in the house.

“I wondered who could possibly be honking so much!” An older women excitedly declared as she rush out of the house. “Charlie’s going to be so excited to see you when she gets back, Bumblebee.”

Bumblebee struggled through finding the right song lyrics to convey the urgency of the situation. Seeing him struggle so, the Constructor spoke instead.

“Where did she go and when will she return?”

“Oh? A girl…” The older woman gave Bumblebee a knowing smile. “I’m so glad you found someone special, Bee~~~ I was just telling Charlie it would be nice if you found you a nice lady bot and settled down. She didn’t seem to like that for some reason.”

“It’s not that kind of arrangement. I am in need of his assistance.” The Constructor answered simply. “Where did Charlie go and when will she return?”

“She went to the store for me and should be back anytime now. Is… Is something the matter?” The woman was clearly worried now.

“No. I simply wanted a name. Bumblebee said Charlie gave him his name. She might select one for me as well.” It was pure fabrication to minimize collateral damage.

“Awe… That’s so sweet! I’m sure Charlie would be so happy to meet you and give you a name!” The older woman bought the explanation wholesale as a smile crept across her face that spoke to how adorable she thought the situation was. “There she is now!” She flailed her arms in a wave.

The pair of Cybertronians backed around to see a red car coming down the street. An arm reached out and started waving wildly. Suddenly, a shimmer on the air caused the view to be distorted.

“That vehicle…” The Constructor whispered.

The vehicle came to an abrupt stop causing Charlie to slam into the steering wheel. Bumblebee revved his engine in a hostile display. It was clear he already knew what the Constructor was about to say.

“That vehicle is a Decepticon.”

Bumblebee’s engine revved loudly again.

“B-127 if you would like this human returned unharmed you will come to the coordinates indicated on this tracker.” A map shot out of the glove box and fluttered to the ground, almost comically slow, in front of the Decepticon. With Charlie still inside, they turned into a plane and flew off.

Bumblebee shifted out of car form and pointed his plasma gun at the retreating plane. He quickly thought better of it since Charlie could get hurt if the Decepticon crashed or jettisoned her.

“We should regroup with the Autobots and plan our next move. There… there has to be a way to get her back safely without putting you or the planet in danger.”

The Constructor tugged on his arm but Bumblebee pulled himself free once again. Punctuating his disdain with a glare, visor still down. The radio blared static and it got the point across aptly.

“I lost everything and everyone I cared about.” She said quietly as she clenched her fists, metal scraping on metal showing just how tight her grip was. “I don’t like fighting, or war, or the Decepticons. If we’re being perfectly honest, I don’t really like any of you Autobots either because YOU’RE the ones who were doing all the fighting!” Her feet ground into the pavement causing it to crack and chip.

There was a long silence as Bumblebee stared at her taken aback when confronted with the fact there isn’t just one side in a war.

“But…” She started more calmly now. “Even though you couldn’t save all the innocent lives lost in this war…” She looked up at Bumblebee with determination. “You aren’t the ones who deliberately put them in danger to begin with. I could stop you from going. I could imprison you with my nanobots because you would be doing the EXACT same thing as the Decepticons. Deliberately putting all the innocent lives on this planet in danger for that one human. Are you prepared to bare the burden of responsibility if we fail? You and you alone?” She gave him a challenging poke to the chest.

His optics darted back and forth rapidly as he tried to process his response.

“Why do you fight, B-1… Excuse me…” She shook her head. “Why do you fight, Bumblebee?”

That single question seemed to harden his resolve. His optics focused on the Constructor before he nodded his head, radio whirred through stations until it spelled out his reason. It didn’t blare loud for all the world to hear. It was quiet and sincere.

“In that case,” She smiled slightly. “I’m not asking you to trust me, but let me help you.”

Bumblebee looked down at her outstretched hand and hesitated.

The Constructor smiled ruefully. “It is asking a lot, I suppose. Let’s go before it’s too late.” She glanced off where the Decepticon had gone briefly. “Please lead the way.”

Bumblebee shifted back into car mode and peeled away. Unlike the last time, he made sure the Constructor could nominally keep up with him. Traffic gradually gave away to open roads as they sped down a nearly abandoned access. After turning down a rough access road, the forest opened up to an abandoned mine. Standing cockily at the edge of the pit mine was the Decepticon. They bent over and picked up Charlie from where she sat bound in chains on the ground. They rattled ominously as the Decepticon held her in the air by the waist. Bumblebee’s radio whirred wildly as he skid to a stop by changing into his bot form. He was clearly worried for Charlie.

“We have come as you requested. Please release the human as agreed.”

“The agreement was for B-127 to cooperate with us. I have no use for you.” The Decepticon sneered as a needle shot up from the end of a slender digit. “Let’s make this interesting…” He stabbed the needle into Charlie’s neck.

Charlie let out a momentary scream of pain before gritting her teeth. “Don’t, Bee. Don’t help them.”

The Decepticon snickered before yanking the needle out. “Those are your Nanobots, C-377. The imperfect ones you left behind, but they’ll still drain this girl of all her energy.”

Bumblebee immediate bristled at this comment. His visor locked into place and his plasma gun primed.

“Ah… none of that. Shoot me and you won’t be able to stop the nanobots.” The Decepticon wagged a mocking finger at Bumblebee with a wicked grin.

Bumblebee lowered his gun rather begrudgingly.

“You are not in this alone.” The Constructor whispered encouragingly. “I will be very convincing.”

“So, what’s the verdict?”

Bumblebee sighed deeply and started walking forward with his hands up.

“B-127…” A sharp voice from behind him made him stop. “Would you really sacrifice all other life on this planet for one?”

Bumblebee spared her a sharp glance over his shoulder. It was then he noticed the shimmer and remembered what happened the last time her monolith disappeared. He gave her an understanding nod before focusing on Charlie again.

“Then you leave me no choice.”

Bumblebee didn’t look back again. One slow step in front of the other he marched towards the Decepticon. With his sole focus on Charlie, he missed the unsettling way they behaved. The Decepticon was very excited every time Bumblebee took a step forward. They did a happy little jig, jostling Charlie in the process.

The Constructor watched careful from behind until she noticed something. She soon noticed the Decepticon was only looking at the ground. That had to be important…

“Bumblebee! Do not take another step forward!” Using his real name signaled to him to stop. “It’s a trap! There’s something in the ground!”

Bumblebee looked around but didn’t see anything immediately in his path. He picked up his foot and set it down in a slightly different place. That slight movement was all it took to spring the trap. A burst of electricity rippled through his body overloading his circuits and sending a huge Energon burst out.

“BEE!” Charlie screamed desperately as she watched her friend fall to his knees. She kicked and screamed but couldn’t free herself.

“Perhaps you should start concerning yourself with your own situation. Your value as a hostage has been spent after all.” The Decepticon jeered as they eyed Charlie with a wicked jeer. Without a second thought, they tossed her into the pit.

Bumblebee tried to call out to her but his radio just bogged down and flickered like a car trying to start when there isn’t enough power. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Charlie disappearing over the edge.

The words of the Constructor echoed in his mind. “You are not in this alone.”

“I trusted you… That was a mistake.” The warnings flashing on his screens suddenly stopped. His optics snapped open. Before his very eyes, Charlie was levitating in the air, bounds removed. A faint shimmer covered her whole body and he realized she was covered in nanobots. He looked around wildly and saw the Constructor kiting the Decepticon around as they fired at her. She was fast, but extremely clumsy in her movements. He knew it was only a matter of time before she got hit.

He staggered to his feet, sensors still not fully recovered, and stumbled towards Charlie. After just a few steps, an electric jolt shot up around him. He prepared for another frying, but the shock never came. Instead, the electricity seemed to be diverting around him then disappearing completely.

“The nanobots can take any kind of energy and turn it into Energon.” The audio played back in his head. His gaze darted to the Constructor quickly. The horrible realization settled in: If her nanobots were helping him and Charlie, she was truly defenseless.

“I’m fine, Bee. I’m fine.” She smiled brightly for him as she looked up into his optics for a moment that seemed like an eternity. The trance seemed to break for both of them at the same time and they both collapsed into a hug. “I missed you so much…”

Bumblebee nuzzled her cheek as if to say he missed her too. He finally pulled away when a nearby explosion caught his attention.

“You should help her. I’ll just go hide over there.”

Bumblebee nodded stoically as his visor clicked into place. He turned towards where the Decepticon had the Constructor pinned to the ground. He fired his plasma gun to break them apart before charging forward.

Charlie watched for a moment before heading towards the cover of the trees. It quickly became apparent something was wrong as she had to push harder and harder just to move. All her limbs felt sluggish and heavy. The tiredness quickly started spreading to her mind as an overwhelming urge to sleep took her. The last thing she saw before darkness consumed her was the tree line and a fistful of leaves in her hand.

“Now how did you get free?” The Decepticon pondered as they squared off with Bumblebee. “Was it my vacillating former colleague?” They glanced down at the Constructor as she tried to drag herself away. “You are just full of tricks, aren’t you? But I think you’ve used them all up now!” They gave her a swift kick that sent her rolling towards Bumblebee.

“I will… take care of Charlie.” She pulled herself up and started retreating towards the fallen human.

With no other distractions to come between them, Bumblebee focused on the Decepticon. “You have a codename now too. My codename is Doppel. I have a twin named Ganger.” The Decepticon went on to explain they used to be Constructors too but now they work for the Decepticons.

After a few moments listening to Doppel’s prattling Bumblebee started firing.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners?!”

If ever Bumblebee wished he had his voice back it was now. Unable to deliver any sort of retort, he just kept firing. Unlike the other Constructor, Doppel clearly had some combat experience. Only some. This was not going to be as easy as he hoped, but still doable.

“Miss Charlie. Please wake up.” C-377 gently lifted Charlie into her arms.

“Just 5 more minutes…” Charlie muttered absently as she swatted at the air.

“Well she still has basic functions…” A quick scan revealed a glimmer of hope. “These nanobots are very old and extremely inefficient. It seems her body’s energy generation is outpacing their ability to absorb it as long as she is in maintenance mode.” The Constructor gave Charlie a troubled look as she tried to shut down the nanobots. “Not them too…” Her gaze shot up to Bumblebee.

“STOP! Don’t destroy him!”

Bumblebee looked back at C-377 incredulously.

“We need him to shut down the nanobots inside Charlie!” She scooped Charlie up and started walking toward the fighting pair. “You have control of my nanobots. Order them to isolate a sample of his Energon.”

“Like I would ever let that happen…” Doppel jeered from his place under one of Bumblebee’s feet.

Suddenly, Charlie let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“He overloaded the bots. We have to hurry or they’ll drain her dry then blow up!” She was frantic now as red warnings flooded her screens.

Blood red optics glared down at Doppel as Bumblebee grabbed his neck with a crushing grip. A long, thin needle grew out of his knuckle. He jabbed it into Doppel’s chest with far more force than was needed. The needle took on a red hue quickly as it filled with Energon.

“It’s not going to be enough…” Doppel jeered as he fell back to his knees. Those were the last words he ever said.

“Bumblebee! Hurry! I have to use that sample to hack the nanobots before they explode!”

Bumblebee turn and saw Charlie encased in the monolith. The monolith was taking on a red glow. C-377‘s expression became increasingly grim. “I… not enough time. Preservation protocol Alpha!” An explosive flash of light momentarily blinded them both.

“The nanobots created a pocket dimension where time moves at a fraction of what it does here.” C-377 explained as Bumblebee’s optics locked on the glowing sphere before him. “As you might imagine, that requires a large volume of energy. I need your help keeping it stable for a few more moments while I finish disabling the nanobots.” To emphasize this point, her energy collection wings were spread open wide and Energon coursed down her arms into the sphere.

Bumblebee tentatively reached out to sphere and solid plates former beneath his hands. Even before his hands touched the plates he could feel his energy to be pulled to his hands. He hesitated for a moment before pressing his hands to the plates. Instantly, the Energon started to drain from him in massive waves. His sensors indicated an eminent shut down in a matter of moments but he focused on Charlie. Suddenly, she was no longer obscured by the veil of energy and nanobots.

“Charlie?” He started at hearing his own voice.

“Who’s there?” Charlie spun around quickly. “BEE!” She ran up to him happily.

He scooped her up in an embrace. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Same, buddy. But… where are we and what’s going on?” She looked around confused by their surroundings.

“You were infected with Nanobots that were draining your energy and then were going to explode. That other Cybertronian put you in a pocket dimension while she shut them down.”

“Oh. No big deal then.” She seemed to take that news in stride. “And the Decepticon?”

“Destroyed.”

“So… I guess we just have to wait for her to finish and we’ll get out of here.” She sat down and patted the place besides her.

“Probably.” Bumblebee answered opting to settle in behind her and hug her midsection.

“Probably? You mean you don’t know?” Charlie looked a bit alarmed as she gripped Bumblebee’s hand.

“I’ve never worked with her before. In fact, we just met earlier today. I’m still not entirely convinced I can trust her.”

“She saved my life.” Charlie said simply. “She said every life is precious.”

“You trust her then?”

“I have no reason not to.”

“Then… I guess I can trust her too.” Though he said this begrudgingly still.

“How long have you been able to talk, by the way?” Charlie spun around to look him in the eyes again.

“How long have I been in here with you?”

“Does that mean you might not be able to talk once you get out of here?”

“Yeah.” Seeing the disappointment she was trying to hide made him regretful. “But I’ll always have the voice you gave me.” He tapped the radio gently.

“That’s true.” She seemed content with this as she settled her back against the plates of his chest again. “I don’t suppose you can pick up any stations in a pocket dimension, can you?”

“Probably not.” He sounded amused as he answered. Still, he gave the dial a spin anyways.

“B-127!” Familiar voices flooded the space. “I mean Bumblebee! Listen you have to let go! Your Spark is being absorbed!”

“That sounds bad.” Charlie mirrored the Constructor’s worry.

“It is. Our Spark is the thing that gives us life and makes us who we are.” He paused to look around. “I don’t know how to go back.”

Charlie immediately jumped to her feet and put her hands on his shoulders. “Bee! You… you have to find a way to go back! Your soul… Your soul is here and if you can’t get back your body you’ll be gone forever!” Tears streamed freely down her cheeks.

Charlie doesn’t cry for just anyone… She only cries for the people she really cares about…

“Don’t worry!” He wiped the tears from her cheeks with gentle thumbs.

“What did you do to C-377?!”

“I’m not going to leave you.” He took her hands from his shoulders and wrapped her in a warm embrace.

“I didn’t do anything!”

“No matter what…” He nuzzled her head to his chest.

“Who else could have done this?!”

“I’ll always be with you.” A barely audible whisper.

“I think… he did this himself.”

“Because I…”

The arguing voice over the radio faded to static all at once. A blinding flash ripped through the space and then, nothing. It took a long time for Charlie to resister the cold feeling of metal on her limbs. But once she did, her whole body went into hyper-drive. Her eyes snapped open and were greeted with the Autobots weapons drawn and pointed at her in the distance. In foreground was the blunt end of some very sharp looking spikes floating in the air. She spun around and saw the very haggard looking Constructor looking back at her with barely glowing eyes.

“Wow! What happened to you? Oh yeah a fight! If we go back to my garage I could fix you!” It was all one word spoken at an almost incomprehensible speed.

“Miss Charlie.”

“We could give you an awesome paint job too! OH! What kind of vehicle do you turn into?! I bet it’s some snazzy sports car!”

“MISS CHARLIE!” C-377 grabbed her by the arms carefully. “I need to focus right now, hard as that may be.” Her voice was failing and the glow in her eyes flickered. “Everything Bumblebee ever was, is, or will be is inside of you right now.” The Constructors cold hands slid down Charlie’s arms making the human focus on herself for the first time. Her whole body was glowing blue.

“His Spark?”

“Yes. You are the only one who can bring him back now.” She gestured to Bumblebee’s lifeless body beside them.

“You big idiot.” Charlie whispered in exasperation as she crawled up next to his head. “When you said you weren’t going to leave me, did you really think I’d be happy with this?” She rested her hands on his faceplates and put her forehead to his. “If you’re not here, what’s the point?” Her whole body started to glow brighter. The glow travelled up her body and grew brightest where she touched Bumblebee. Once all the glow had faded, there was a long moment of uncertainty.

Radio static broke the silence and Bumblebee’s optics slowly lit up. A collective sigh of relief filled the air, none louder than the Constructor’s. She slumped over on her side and rolled short distance away as the spikes her nanobots created melted away to nothing. As the revelry around her reached a fever pitch she tried to summon up the strength to form her monolith again. The transparent wings on her back flickered dimly but could not generate any power.

“Overheated…” She muttered bitterly. She let out a tired sigh. “Bumblebee.” She called out to him but he couldn’t hear over the celebration. “Bumblebee.” A bit louder this time. “BUMBLEBEE!” She yelled as loud as she could finally garnering the attention of the others. The looks were not entirely kind but she endured it anyways.

“I cannot access my monolith at this time. You are the only one who can shut down the experiment on this planet.” She reached up weakly and offered him a small stick made out of nanobots. “This has all the instructions you need to order the nanobots to permanently fuse into Energon batteries. I suggest having them coalesce in a secure location. It will take quite some time for all of them to fuse.”

Bumblebee was quick to shake his head.

“You still don’t trust me. I cannot blame you on this.” She replied defeated.

He quickly shook his head. The radio spun through countless stations and static but nothing of use for what he wanted to say came up. Now it was his turn to sigh. Then his head quirked up and he looked a bit disturbed.

“Please speak your mind now.” C-377 said wearily.

“Hello?” Bumblebee spoke tentatively. Everyone looked shocked. “You… should be the one to finish it. See this through to the end. That is… one of the principles of the Autobots.”

“You have shown yourself an ally. I hope in time we can come to some kind of better understanding.” Optimus spoke clearly and definitively.

“With all due respect, Master Prime, I have no interest in siding with the Autobots or the Decepticons. I would like to try to remain neutral. However, it is clear the Decepticons and I do not share one important core value.”

“Every life is precious.” Charlie answered quietly.

“Yes. Hate me if you must, but I refuse to be a tool of destruction.” She clasped her fingers around the bar in her hand. “That’s why I have to shut down all the experiments.” She dropped the bar into Bumblebee’s hand. “And why I can’t join you right now. Please finish this for me so I can move on to the next planet.” She gave him a wry smile. “Besides, they won’t respond to me anyways.”

Bumblebee looked suddenly bashful, perhaps because he remembered why they would only respond to him. Still, he took the stick this time. With that out of the way, the Constructor shut down.

“Couldn’t she at least pick a 40s streetrod or something? No. She picks a rusted out… Something…” Charlie groaned as she wiped the sweat from her brow. “But she cleans up great once you give her a nice buff and shine.”

Bumblebee beeped with approval from the driveway.

“Do you think she’ll ever wake up?”

The chorus to “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey started playing.

“Yeah… It’s only been a few days.” Charlie wandered over to Bumblebee and climbed in the driver seat. “How about you? How long are you going to be in town?”

The chorus to “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell started playing.

“Yeah. I figured you could only stick around until she left. Optimus filled me in on Constructors and how they got their bad reputation. Not siding with anyone made a lot of people think they were turning a blind eye to all the death and destruction. I bet some of them were just scared of getting used to do bad stuff.”

“Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie started playing.

“Why… is there so much noise?” There was a loud thud and the pair looked into the garage. The Constructor was in bot form ducking to keep from hitting the ceiling seemingly for a second time.

“She’s a wake!” Charlie beamed hopping to her feet.

“It would seem I have been repaired as well. Do I have you to thank for this, Miss Charlie?”

“Looks like you picked up some country when you scanned that pickup. What with the Miss Charlie and all.” Charlie poked fun of the Constructor with a fake Southern accent.

“I suppose my speech patterns were slightly altered. I will correct them.”

“Nah, it gives you character! Like all those, uh, dents and stuff!” Charlie vaguely motioned to a large dent on the bot’s posterior.

“I see. I did just scan the first vehicle I came across.”

“How about something like this?” Charlie showed her a full spread of a street rod in a magazine.

“It does have a certain aesthetic appeal. However, it will have to wait for another time. I must leave now and complete my mission.” She looked to Bumblebee grimly. “Did you?”

“The battery thing?” Charlie looked between them quickly. “Yeah there are already so many of them!”

Bumblebee turned around and popped the trunk to reveal two batteries. The Constructor reached down and took one out. A faint smile came across her face.

“I’m glad to see my proof of concept was valid. But in making the nanobots so adaptable so they could gather energy harmlessly… I created something truly terrible. I cannot apologize enough for all the danger I put you both in.” She carefully put the battery back in his trunk.

“So how many more experiments do you have to shut down?” Charlie asked looking to the Constructor.

“Nine. But they can be shut down remotely assuming my back up bases weren’t found and destroyed by the Decepticons. Then it’s just a matter of collecting the batteries.” A desolate air settled over her. “Though, I have no idea what to do with them now that Cybertron has fallen.”

“Collect them for the day when we reclaim Cybertron. Or, for when we make a new home for our people.” The brightly painted and ostentatious Semi tractor said from the street.

“Master Prime.” The constructor looked startled for a moment but quickly regained composure. “I will look forward to that day.”

She took a few steps forward and turned back into a truck.

“Hey wait!” Charlie grabbed her tailgate to keep her from moving. “You need a codename! That way you can communicate and no one will know it’s you!”

“A codename? Like Bumblebee?”

“Yeah!”

“I wouldn’t know how to decide on such a thing. Please call me whatever you wish, Miss Charlie.”

“Then I’m calling you Seraphim!”

“When I return, you will have to explain to me it’s meaning and why you chose it for me.” With that she pulled away and followed Optimus down the road, a faint shimmer distorted the air as she went.

“Aren’t you going with them?” Charlie looked to Bumblebee expectantly.

“Push it” by Salt-n-Pepa started playing as Bumblebee slowly drove towards her. She backed up into the garage with a confused expression.

“Do you know what that song is about, Bee?” He didn’t answer as the garage door slid down. “Don’t you tease me, Bee.”

#transformers #charbee #bumblebee #charlie watson #charbee week #day 4 #back to life #fanfic #fanfiction #i'm not dead yet!

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thewitchoftherock · 5 years

Text

Big Fluffy Bat

@cruciferousjex

“Ta da!”

When Entrapta said that she had a present for Hordak, and she’d be waiting in his quarters when he was ready, there were a lot of ideas that went though his mind. What he saw before him was not among them. Entrapta sat crossed-legged on their bed (When had it become their bed? ) wearing what he assumed was some kind of oversized costume. It looked roughly like it was intended to be a pink and purple horse with a horn on it’s head. Tiny silver wings were attached to the back, and like most things Entrapta liked, it was covered in very fluffy, soft fur.

“Don’t you like it?” She asked. Her hair, which hung out along the edge of the hood that formed the costume’s head, drooped.

“It is…. Very you.” Hordak finally said. She beamed, and her hair picked up a box from under the bed, and thrust it into Hordak’s hands. “I made one for you too!” She exclaimed, then upon seeing Hordak’s horrified face said, “Don’t worry, it’s not a unicorn. It’s a black bat.”

Frowning in confusion, Hordak lifted the lid of the box as though it contained something that might bite him. All he saw was a mass of plush black fur. He touched it carefully, and found it to be - again, like most things Entrapta really liked- very very soft.

“I do not know why you’d want me to wear this.” He said as he looked back at her. He tried to imagine himself in a similar outfit, but in black.

It was laughable, and he felt his ears flick down and burn.

“... You don’t like it.” Entrapta said again, her hair drooping. Hordak growled and looked away from her.

“It’s not..” He sighed. “It looks fine on you. It suits you. Even if it’s…. A little silly to my tastes, to be honest, it suits you.” He frowned at the box in his hands. “This would not suit me.”

“You don’t know if you don’t try it.” Entrapta said softly. “I think you’d look really cute!”

Hordak gave a frustrated growl. Sometimes he questioned Entrapta’s tastes. “I know that I would just look ridiculous.” He hissed. He glanced at Entrapta, which was a bad idea - she was starting to look sad.

“I just….” Entrapta looked aside, pulling the hood down over her face. “I just… I think it’d be nice to cuddle with you while you wore that. It’s just, it’s so soft, and warm, and it’s really comfy, so I thought you’d like it.

Hordak realized then, in that moment, that before the night was up, he’d be wearing this stupid looking thing. The image in his head of him, the Warlord of the Fright Zone, wearing this fluffy furry thing.

At least he’d only be seen by Entrapta, and when he really thought about it there was definitely more embarrassing things she’d seen him in. Or not in.

“Help me with my armor.” He finally hissed. Entrapta gave a little happy squeal before she started taking off the panels of his armor. When that was off, he pulled the costume out of the box and held it up.

As she had promised, it was clearly a bat. Large, cute black eyes were on the hood, a little dog-like nose, and big eats which perked up from the top of the hood. There were black wings hanging off the back, fangs at the edge of the hood, and that soft black fur was all over.

He frowned, then just decided to get it over with. Entrapta wouldn’t force him, but she had clearly gone out of her way to get these garments, and for some reason he’d never fathom, wanted to see him in it. He quickly pulled off his dress, and pulled the costume on, buttoning it up in the front

He felt his ears burn once he was in it, the hood up over his head. It was very warm, which was perfect for him; Hordak hated the cold- he just wasn’t designed for it. It was quite baggy, very loose all over allowing him to move easily, which he also liked.

It was also very comfortable. It was perhaps the most comfortable thing he had ever worn. There was a thin layer of fur on the inside, which rubbed gently against his skin, making him want to pull the whole thing tighter around him.

He resisted that urge.

He took a breath, and turned to face Entrapta, who had pulled a mirror over so Hordak could see himself.

Ridiculous.

He was Hordak; The Lord of the Fright Zone and The (former) General of the Emperor of the Known Universe was now stood in the middle of his personal quarters, looking very much like a very large stuffed doll, save for his face peeking out under the hood, his eyes wide, his mouth fixed in a frown, and his ears just visible at the edge of the hood, bright blue and burning.

“I look-”

“SO CUTE!” Entrapta exclaimed, and started giggling happily.

Entrapta did a thing sometimes when she got very happy, or excited. She’d give this happy squeal, give her laugh that ended in that adorable snort, and her hair would do this frizzy thing where it puffed out.

The whole thing made Hordak strangely feel like his chest was going to burst, though today, he compared it more to feeling like having a bit of this fluffy fur inside his chest. He felt a slight smile flickered over his lips.

“Do you like it?” Entrapta asked, excited.

“I.. .” He hesitated. She was so excited, he didn’t want to end that. “It’s… very warm, and admittedly comfortable. “ He glanced back at the mirror, and looked away quickly. “I look silly.”

“I don’t think so.” Entrapta stated. SHe got up, pulled herself towards him with her hair, and grabbed him in a sudden, tight hug as she rubbed her face on his chest. “And now you’re so soft, and warm and comfy!” She picked him up with her hair, pulled him to the bed and pushed him down. Before he could protest or say anything, she was curled up at his side, snuggling into him.

“.. If you just wanted to have something soft to hold.” Hordak said softly, “You could have gotten one of those blankets you have.”

“But I wanted to cuddle you.” She stated as thought it was obvious, “Besides, I think you’re cute, and you deserve comfortable thing, so you get cute, comfortable things!”

Hordak looked away as his ears burned, but he put an arm over Entrapta. He felt almost obliged to say that she was wrong, he wasn’t designed to be cute, he was designed to be a general and a warrior.

But, oddly, he didn’t think he necessarily minded if Entrapta thought he was cute. Even if she was wrong.

With a sigh, he turned over, holding Entrapta close to him. She was slowly starting to fall asleep, a big smile on her face which was half hidden by the outfit she had provided for him. She looked so happy, so content in his arms.

It still amazed him that she could be like that because of him.

He was lost in thought when he felt something land on his hip. He started up, worried for a moment, his ears burning at a possible intrusion to his quarters, but it was only Imp, who was wearing an imp-sized costume just like Hordak’s.

“She got one for you too?” He asked. Imp looked at Hordak, snickered, then curled up between Hordak and Entrapta, a content look on his face as he started to doze off.

Hordak still felt embarrassed to be wearing this outfit, and if it ever got out that he wore such a thing, he was honestly unsure if his reputation would ever recover. But the only person here was Entrapta, Emily in the corner, and Imp. Imp could record audio, but thankfully not visuals, so there was no worry there, and if Entrapta was made so happy by it, if Imp seemed content and happy…..

And if he was honest, even he felt it was very, VERY comfortable…..

He figured he could keep it around. Maybe wear it every now and then if and when Entrapta asked.And if she thought that he was cute in it, well, he had a hard time in this moment convincing himself that any other opinions mattered.

#Hordak #entrapta #entrapdak #kigu #kigurimi #fluff #fluff and nonsense #I'm sorry I love soft embarrassed Hordak #mahbatboy

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the-original-b · 4 years

Text

Archangel--Chapter 1: the Silvio Stakeout

Format: Prose / Ficton, multi-entry

Part in Series: 2 of 9 (Previous chapter)

Word Count: c. 6,100

Summary: Specialist Krueger follows a lead on the traitor to an exclusive vacation club in Miami, where he finds that there’s more to the plot against the Branch than initially suspected.

Trigger Warning(s): blood, violence, enhanced interrogation

“Good evening, Krueger,” Khai said over her headset. “Again, Mr. Wells extends his thanks for your help with the delivery the other day, and he’s begun to look for the leaks in his circle of trust, per your advice. He’d like your help with some of them.”

“I’m listening.” Krueger held an old flip phone to his left ear as he muted the television and sat down in front of his dinner—a lean cut of chicken with steamed broccolini and brown rice.

“We’ll start by addressing the bug you found in his office phone. Of all his lieutenants he only trusted three of them enough to grant access to his conference room. He’d like you to get some information from them.”

“Who’s the first one?” He held the phone in place with his shoulder while he cut a piece off his chicken.

“C.J. Silvio: internet personality and son of the Southeast Region’s Managing Partner, Charles Silvio. A man of night life, excess, and debauchery, your usual popup celebrity.”

“Charming.” He put the piece in his mouth and started to work on the vegetables.

“Once a month he retreats to Miami to confer with other Branch managers in the Region. They’re set to meet in South Beach, where he’ll spend the week indulging in all the decadence there before and after the conference.”

Krueger swallowed. “So we act when his guard is down.”

“Precisely. He’ll book his usual stay at the Aurora Club in a week, so I’ll arrange for your stay there to coincide with his.”

“Transportation?”

“I’ll take care of that, too. Business class flight to Miami International and car rental reserved for Sebastian Weber.”

“Rules of engagement?” Krueger took another bite.

“Observation only,” Khai clarified. “Mr. Wells was clear on that. Remember, the rest of our Branch still has no idea you’re with us, so there’s no need for unnecessary violence. And the last thing we want is to have the son of Silvio killed.”

Krueger swallowed. “I’m still going to need tools.”

“I’m curating your selection as we speak. You’ll just have to finalize it.”

“I’ll be there in forty minutes.” Krueger folded his cell phone shut to end the call.

``````

“I thought this was an observation job, Miss Khai.” Krueger examined the hardware before him and shot Khai an incredulous look. He’d already selected a directional microphone and declined a pair of military-grade binoculars.

“It is,” Khai confirmed, “but Mr. Wells and I agree it’s better to be prepared for the worst. Due to the nature of this task, however, I’ve narrowed the usual selection down and eliminated the more, conspicuous, options.”

“That wasn’t a complaint.”

“Excellent.” Khai sorted through the firearms and handed him one. “FN Five-seven USG.” Krueger took up the weapon and inspected it. “Lightweight polymer frame and slide, twenty-round magazine. Low caliber, high-velocity, armor-piercing. They might not go down at first, but accurate follow-up shots won’t be an issue with this one.”

Krueger was familiar with the weapon, having trained with one in preparation for a protection job some years ago. He racked the slide back and held it out with both hands to acquire the sight picture. It was as easy as pointing his finger.

Khai smirked. “Do you like it?”

“Tempting,” Krueger said. “But the idea is to not be noticed.” He put the gun down and picked up one of its 5.7mm rounds—a tiny replica of a rifle cartridge. “And these are very loud.”

Khai nodded. “I figured you might want something quieter.” She handed him another candidate, a .45 ACP Colt Government.

“Old Faithful,” Krueger noted, taking the gun into his hands. He examined the threading at the end of the barrel.

Khai handed him another piece. “AAC TiRant 45 suppressor.”

Krueger affixed the tube to the end of the pistol and looked down the sights, acquiring an accurate picture before dry-firing to test the trigger weight. He nodded in approval at Khai and placed the .45 on the tabletop beside him. “I may need to be quieter than even this,” he said.

“Do you want the karambit again?”

“I was thinking something less… permanent.”

“Right,” Khai nodded. “Rohypnol, then.”

``````

Krueger stepped off the plane and reclaimed his bag from the conveyor before heading over to Enterprise to pick up his rental car—a nondescript barebones mid-size sedan that was good for little other than getting him from point A to B. He had another stop to make before getting settled in.

Khai had his tools sent to Miami in the days before he arrived. They waited for him in the trunk of an unattractive coupe at a municipal parking lot. Krueger used a valet key duct taped inside the wheel well to unlock the car and reclaim his goods, and then headed to his lodging.

The illustrious Aurora Club. A sleek hotel located in the middle of South Beach, and a destination popular among Spring Break travelers with fake IDs young enough to be Krueger’s children. He pushed the thought of his seventeen-year-old daughter spending time in a place like this out of his head and strode to the front desk.

“Hello, sir. Welcome,” the receptionist said from behind his desk. “Are you checking in?”

“I am.” Kruger said. “Name’s Sebastian Weber.” He made a point to pronounce the W to make the receptionist’s job easier.

“Weber… Weber…” the receptionist checked the reservations. “Ah, there you are! Your reservation was made by a Liz K... paid in full, seven nights’ stay. Ocean view..! She must like you, huh?”

Khai had only shared with him where he was staying and for how long. She was mute on the details of the trip she booked for him. “She spoils me, yeah.”

“I’ll say...” He retrieved a keycard from under the tabletop and handed it to Krueger. “Room 1946. Enjoy your stay at the Aurora Club, Mr. Weber.”

“I certainly intend to. Thanks.”

``````

Krueger tapped his keycard on the reader immediately left of the door when he arrived at his room. He turned the door handle downward and pushed it to reveal a neatly organized room with a desk and lamp, flat panel television, marble-top night table with matching bed linens, a cozy couch in the corner, and just enough auxiliary luxuries to justify the cost of staying here.

Mr. Wells could write it off as a business expense, or see it as an investment. It didn’t matter to Krueger, ultimately.

Krueger placed his bags on the floor and walked through the sliding glass doors overlooking the beach. He retrieved the burner phone included in his kit to dial the only number stored in it.

“This is Khai,” she said after it rang thrice. Her tone was all-business, one he’d only previously heard when she first reached out to him so long ago.

“It’s me,” he said. “I’ve arrived on the premises.”

“Hello, Krueger.” Her tone pulled a one-eighty back to the warm, friendly one she usually spoke to him in. “How are the amenities?”

“Stellar. You really didn’t have to go so far out of the way for me.”

“Mr. Wells said to keep you happy, no matter what.”

He could see her grin in his mind’s eye. “I’m a man of simple tastes, Miss Khai, it doesn’t take expensive gestures like this to please me.”

Khai chuckled on the other end. “You’ll have to enlighten me some time, then.” She took a breath, getting herself back on track for the job at hand. “Young Silvio’s flight gets in tonight,” she said. “He’ll most likely commemorate his arrival at a nightclub, followed by an after-party at his suite… feel like getting in touch with your wild side?”

“I think I’ll stay in. It’s a school night after all.”

“I’ll leave you to prepare, then,” she said, laughing under her breath. “Best of luck.”

``````

Krueger’s Sunday night was spent in his hotel room studying the information Khai put together for him. Young Silvio’s picture, height, weight, build, preferred beverage. When he wakes up, goes to bed, when and what he eats, how frequently he uses the bathroom, the kind of women he attracts. He put a composite profile together and designed his plan around it.

Monday morning came and Krueger ran three miles along the beach before returning to the hotel for a lean breakfast. He studied a hotel brochure over black coffee and made mental notes of the services and suites offered there, deducing where in this labyrinth his prey was likely roosting. He went back upstairs to change into his swimwear.

That afternoon, when Silvio and his entourage were just starting their day at the pool area, Krueger lay on a bench drying off in his trunks and a sleeveless shirt, a small gym bag on the floor immediately to his right. He had his directional microphone tucked under the small of his back and pointed where he knew Silvio and his buddies would be while he listened in with a single wireless earbud. He would periodically turn pages in a copy of Michael Crichton’s Prey and peer over his aviator sunglasses at a passing woman every now and then to maintain the illusion.

Silvio returned to the pool area that evening, surrounded by young bikini-clad women he displayed like trophies to all the on-looking boys who didn’t know better. Krueger had the microphone tucked under his thigh toward the crowd as he stayed seated at the bar just far enough into Silvio’s peripheral vision that he blended into the background.

Krueger uploaded the recordings to a laptop supplied to him and studied the audio that night, finding no mention of Wells or the conference room. Between his public displays and audio logs, Krueger could safely hypothesize one or a combination of three things: C.J. Silvio was either clean, very smart, or very dumb. But tomorrow was a new day, he would solidify his theories then.

``````

Tuesday was mostly a repeat of Monday: Krueger went for his run in the morning and had his breakfast at the hotel and a swim afterward. He returned to the pool that afternoon for more surveillance on Silvio and his crew. He chose this time to not wear a shirt and display a lean athletic build that he maintained despite his age, left shoulder half-sleeve tattoo of dense tiger stripes, and stylized skull and crossbones tattoo on the right side of his chest to more casually fit in as he observed Silvio and his entourage from his pool bench.

He stopped when he noticed a more effective opportunity to gather information pass right in front of him. Krueger covertly shut off the microphone under him and slipped it back inside the bag just out of sight before standing up to follow this new lead, taking his equipment bag with him.

A young, supple woman with long, wavy dark hair in a canary yellow bikini and see-through sarong made her way to the bar and leaned against it. Krueger had seen her yesterday evening hovering around Silvio along with so many other impressionable women, but there was something different about her. And here she was again, associating with him although her body language practically screamed she’d rather not. She peered back over to Silvio again, the look in her eyes was almost contemptuous.

Krueger stood next to her and ordered a mojito. “Excuse me, miss?”

She turned to face him, taken aback at first by the lack of effort he put into successfully getting her attention.

He motioned Silvio. “I saw you hanging around that young man there,” he said sliding a few bills in her direction. “Let him know his next margarita is on me.”

The girl looked down at the money and back up at Krueger. “Uh, yeah. Sure, you bet.”

Krueger smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

His play worked to perfection. Krueger watched peripherally as the girl in yellow and black handed Silvio a fresh margarita, and thumbed back in his direction. And before long Silvio stood up to swagger over to him, drink in hand.

“Hey man,” Silvio said, grinning behind a pair of single-lens sunglasses “I just wanted to say thanks for the drink!”

Krueger turned to look at Silvio from behind his aviators. “No problem. I saw how much fun you and your friends were having over there.”

Silvio laughed and bobbed a little. “I like this guy,” he said, apparently to an imaginary audience. “I’m Charlie!” He held out his fist.

“Sebastian.” Krueger met Silvio’s fist with his own.

“I’m hearing an accent, Sebastian. Where’re you from?”

“Germany.”

“Aah, Deutschland! Am I saying that right??” Silvio’s smile was earnest.

Krueger nodded in approval. “You’re very close.”

“Ha ha, nice!” Silvio gained his footing again. He was intoxicated even at this hour. “You here on business or pleasure?”

“I find, at times, they’re one and the same.”

Silvio laughed louder. “I love this guy!” he said. “You gotta come hang out with us!”

“Some other time, maybe. I have to get back to it, unfortunately.”

“No, no I’m serious,” Silvio said, patting Krueger’s shoulder and holding on to it. “You have to party with us tonight!”

Krueger tilted his head slightly, projecting the illusion of mulling it over. “Yeah, that might seem possible.”

“Yes!! We’re meeting back here at 9:30, be there!”

“Looking forward to it.” Krueger held his fist out for Silvio.

Silvio tapped it with his own. “My guy,” he called after Krueger as he left the area. “I love the tats, dude!”

``````

Krueger arrived at the pool area at 9:35, in a lightweight short sleeve blue shirt that buttoned up the middle and khaki swim trunks. Silvio warmly welcomed him among his entourage with a hug and a smile that he matched. He took a seat among the crowd—three other heavy-set men in t-shirts and shorts he had previously seen around Silvio, and about a dozen women in various assorted swimsuits who kept marveling at his eyes, telling him they’d never seen eyes like his before.

At about 11:20, Silvio broke away from the group, saying he didn’t feel great and citing how little he ate all day. He encouraged the rest of the group to keep partying in his absence, but by 11:40 all that remained was Krueger and the dark-haired girl from before, this time in a green bikini top and white capri pants. Even his buddies were nowhere to be found.

“I hope Silvio’s okay up there,” Krueger said.

“I don’t,” the girl said. “I hope he got food poisoning and it ruins his whole week.”

Krueger shot the girl a look. He could see she was deadly serious about what she said. “Why get close to him if you hate him so much?”

The girl recoiled a little. “My big sister, uh… got pregnant with his kid.” She shook her head. “That scuzzball dumped her as soon as she told him. I wanted to ruin him. Humiliate him somehow.”

Krueger knew that wouldn’t have ended well for her. For all his extroversion and charm, C.J. Silvio was still a man with connections to very dangerous people. “What did you say your name was?”

“Andrea,” she said.

“Andrea,” he echoed. “My daughter was almost an Andrea. She’s a few years younger than you.”

Andrea gave him a look. “No kidding. What’s her name?”

“Victoria. Her mother, my ex-wife, preferred it.”

“Victoria.” Andrea nodded, looking down briefly at Krueger’s left hand and confirming the absence of a ring on his finger. “It’s a good, strong name. My sister’s name… and you said you were Sebastian, right?”

“That’s right.” Krueger hated having to lie to Andrea, but he had a job to do. Fortunately, he thought of a way to both do that and help the girl out. “Andrea, do you want to get Charlie back for your sister?”

“Hell yeah..!”

“Meet me at the bar in fifteen minutes,” he said, getting up. “I’ll be back.”

``````

Krueger tapped the keycard at the reader just beside the door to Room 2000, the Conquistador Suite, where Young Silvio was staying. He’d known where to find him after recording him boast about booking the suite for the week, and lifted the key moments after it fell out of Silvio’s pocket earlier that night. He crossed the threshold to find the lights still on, empty liquor bottles and condom wrappers on the floor of the common area, and Silvio himself passed out on the couch across from his open suitcase. He figured Silvio staggered back to the front desk to get a replacement key when he realized he’d lost his first one and didn’t make it to his bed before succumbing to the Rohypnol Krueger slipped into his margaritas.

It was almost poetic, to do unto Silvio what he had no doubt done to others. Still, Krueger almost pitied the man, and he still had a job to do. He scanned the room quickly, spotting an open laptop in the kitchenette, and then moved silently across the floor to peer into each of the four bedrooms to find them all empty. Once he identified Silvio’s space, Krueger scooped him up under his arm pits and dragged him to bed.

Silvio murmured in his sleep as Krueger laid him on top of the mattress. “Don’t ever trust somebody you meet at bar, Mr. Silvio,” he said in response as he went for the door. “Especially not one who sends you a drink.” On the way out he flipped the lock in the doorknob and pulled the door shut behind him to lock it.

Then he went for the laptop. He tapped the mousepad twice to wake it up. The desktop icons and open windows greeted him.

“Kein passwort,” he said to himself. “Dieser idiot…”

He retrieved a USB flash drive and antenna from his pockets, plugging them in to Silvio’s laptop and running the scripts stored in them, designed effectively to run a copy-paste command of the entire computer—programs, files, keystrokes, everything—and transmit it downstairs to a receiver connected to Krueger’s laptop and write it to an external solid-state drive. It was over in ten minutes. Krueger recovered his devices and left the room the way it was.

Then he made his way back to the poolside bar, where he told Andrea to wait for him. He presented her Sivio’s room key. “Charlie’s in room 2000,” he said. “The Conquistador Suite.”

Andrea’s eyes widened. “No freaking way..!” She took the card. “How’d you get this from him?”

“He dropped it. His suitcase is open in the common area. Why don’t you throw his things over the balcony..?” he added with a smirk.

Andrea couldn’t help but laugh. She looked down away from Krueger to the key card in her hand and then back at him. “Why are you doing this for me? You don’t even know me.”

“Let’s just say I know a few people who would like to see Charlie Silvio calm down. And you seem like a nice girl who loves her sister and would do anything for her.”

Andrea gave Krueger a warm smile. “You know,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “You’re probably the coolest, most genuine and honest person I’ve ever met at this place. And Victoria is lucky to have you as a father.”

Krueger blinked. “It means a lot that you’d say so. Thank you for that, Andrea.”

“No, Sebastian” she said, gesturing the key card in her hand. “Thank you for this..!” She smiled again and hesitated for a little before letting an excited squeal out and hugging Krueger, then backing away just as quickly. “That’s if I don’t see you again,” she said with a nervous laugh and shrug before trotting toward the elevator to Silvio’s suite.

``````

After Krueger’s run on Wednesday morning and breakfast on the hotel grounds, he took his laptop and the external drive to the Miami Beach Regional Library to study what he pulled from Silvio’s computer; when the library closed for the day he took it back to his room. Upon returning he turned on the local news to see the celebrity gossip reporter cover a story about C.J. Silvio scrambling to recover his clothes from the bushes surrounding a South Beach hotel before returning to his work. He sifted through the materials for hours—a collection of music, movies, pornographic images and video, Skype records, anything he could find—but finding nothing implicating him in the plot against Wells. He still had half the transcription to cover, he’d pick it up tomorrow morning.

Silvio left the hotel grounds Thursday afternoon with his three male companions to attend the conference with his father, the Southeast Region’s Managing Partner. Krueger didn’t need the directional microphone to know how that conversation would play out. The way he saw it, he and Andrea did Young Silvio a favor.

He returned to his room that night to continue his examination of the external drive. At 11:30pm he arrived at a string of Wrike instant messages sent between Silvio and another user, HeimdallrsEyez.

It was more a string of attempts at contacting Silvio. HeimdallrsEyez would initiate the conversation with a dollar amount. Silvio wouldn’t respond. A few days later HeimdallrsEyez would write back with a higher amount which Silvio would ignore. This happened three more times before Silvio finally responded with Fuck off already! I’m not doing it!

Krueger sat back in his chair to reflect on it. HeimdallrsEyez knew how close Silvio was to Wells, and was probing him for a price that would entice him to betray his boss. But when Silvio refused and the offers stopped coming, HeimdallrsEyez found someone else. This crystalized Krueger’s prior hypothesis.

He was taken from his thoughts by a knock at his door.

Quickly and quietly, Krueger hid the laptop and external drive in a dresser drawer and traded them for his Colt Government and suppressor. He fixed the extension to the end of the barrel and quietly approached the door, keeping the weapon trained on it as me moved.

He pressed the end of the suppressor can against the door and looked through the peephole at a young, attractive wide-eyed woman dressed in the hotel staff’s uniform. “Mr. Sebastian?” she called through the door to him. “I’m sorry if I woke you, but Mr. Silvio had me send this up to you.” She presented a bottle of champagne.

Krueger acknowledged the numerous red flags in this scenario, but holstered his weapon under his pale, loose button-up shirt and opened the door to accept the champagne. “Thank you, miss,” he said. He took another look at this woman; her name tag read Tessa. “That’s very generous of him.”

“Yeah,” another male voice to his left said. He recognized it belonged to one of Silvio’s boys. “It is.”

Krueger expected it. He turned his head to see down the barrel of a MAC-10, and the three of them lined up against the wall behind it. Krueger slowly put his hands up shoulder-high.

“Let’s go for a drive, Fixer,” the one holding the gun said.

``````

They escorted Krueger to an SUV in the rear parking lot of the hotel, got inside and all sat in silence as they took him south along Route A1A, turning left on 5th Street toward the MacArthur Causeway.

Krueger sat between two of the hit men in the back seat while the third one drove. He noted the MAC-10 in the lap of the man to his right and a semi-auto pistol in the hand of the one to his left. Krueger finally spoke when they made it to Watson Island. “When I checked on Silvio the other night,” he explained, “you three weren’t in the suite with him. Which tells me you’re not with C.J. Silvio, Wells, or even the Partners. You’re with the competition. And I’m guessing your room service girl Tessa is too.”

Their silence confirmed his theory.

“You were installed next to him to spy on him, report his daily activities to your superiors, and at some point in the future kill or kidnap him to lean on his father Charles Silvio.”

Right again. Their uncomfortable shifting confirmed it.

“The only question that remains,” he mused as he crossed his arms, “is what gave me away?”

Silence at first from the hit men, then the driver spoke up. “Well…”

“Mackie, shut it,” the man to Krueger’s left said.

“Gaz, come on, he’s gonna be fish food in five minutes. What difference does it make?”

Gaz shrugged. “Fair point, I guess.”

Mackie continued. “It was your eyes. One green, one blue.” Mackie steered the SUV onto an exit ramp as he continued. “There were rumors floating around the community of a fixer. A specialist with different-colored eyes and tattoos who offered his services to anybody willing to pay him enough.”

“Top dollar,” the man to Krueger’s right said.

“We suspected it was you when you sent Silvio’s kid the drink, but didn’t know for sure until that night, when we could see you without the sunglasses.” Mackie steered the vehicle off-road, finding a secluded place under an overpass in the northwest corner of Watson Island, away from prying eyes and ears. “We called the Company after baby Silvio went upstairs, then got the order to get rid of you.”

The Company: the ones responsible for the attacks on Wells’ shipments over the prior weeks and the Partners’ chief rivals. Of course it was them. “And you’ve chosen a fine place for it,” Krueger said. “Only problem is, you made a rookie mistake.”

“What’s that, dead man?” Mackie put the vehicle in park.

“You forgot to check me.”

Krueger grabbed hold of his handgun’s grip from over his shirt and sprang to face the man to his right, squeezing the trigger twice to shoot out the back of his own shirt and kill Gaz while he swatted the MAC-10 off the other man’s lap. Then he threw a hammer fist into his throat to stun him before Krueger pressed himself against Gaz’s body, drawing the gun from under his shirt, and shooting the other man once in the chest and head.

By the time Mackie realized what was going on behind him and he scrambled to recover his gun in the passenger seat, the muzzle of Krueger’s .45 was pressed against his head behind his ear.

“Mackie, right?” Krueger said.

His shock began to subside and was replaced with fear. “Y-yeah…”

“Let go of the gun and place your hands on the wheel, Mackie,” he ordered, his command void of emotion.

“Okay.” Mackie placed the gun back onto the passenger seat and did as commanded.

Krueger switched hands to keep his gun pressed against the back of Mackie’s head and reach over to the front seat and recover the gun—a .40 caliber AMT Hardballer. He switched hands again to open the rear driver side door and push Gaz’s corpse out through it before stepping out himself and keeping the gun trained on Mackie. “Step out of the car and keep your hands up,” he commanded.

Mackie did as instructed, leaving the still-running car and walking away from it, turning to face Krueger.

“Now take off your shirt.”

“What?”

Krueger fired, catching Mackie in the right kneecap. He let out a yelp as he fell to the ground and grabbed hold of his wound. “Your shirt,” Krueger ordered. “Take it off.” Between the blood and bullet holes in his, Krueger would need another one.

The Specialist’s lack of inflection and stern tone solidified Mackie’s terror. “Arrgh, alright! Alright, I’ll do it!” Mackie writhed out of his t-shirt and threw it aside.

Krueger kept his .45 trained on Mackie as he moved the shirt further away from him with his foot. He knew he only had the one magazine and had fired five times, so he would have to make his last two bullets count. “How many of you are at the hotel?”

“Wha—?”

Krueger shot Mackie in his left kneecap. “How many, Mackie?”

Mackie cried out in pain. “They’ll kill me if I tell you!” he shouted.

“I’ll kill you if you don’t. And then I’ll kill them.”

Mackie cursed under his breath as he winced in pain. “There’s ten of us. We were all watching Silvio.”

“And how many of them know about me?”

“Just us and the girl, I swear!”

Experience told Krueger that Mackie was telling the truth. He had no reason to lie after all. “Danke, Mackie,” he said. Then he raised the gun with both hands and put his last round between Mackie’s eyes. He looked off in the distance toward the mainland as he replayed the conversation over in his head. “Amateure,” he added.

Then he went to work. He fished in Mackie’s pockets for hotel keycards, finding one for Silvio’s suite and a second for Room 1014. He loaded Mackie’s body back into the SUV with the others, picked up the casings from his spent bullets, and tossed them into the car along with his own empty gun and underarm holster. He went back in for Mackie’s Hardballer to tuck it into his pants behind his back, and removed his ruined shirt to absorb as much of the blood on the ground as possible before throwing it into the car with everything else he was getting rid of. Then he walked over to the still-running car and put it into drive, letting it idle forward into the water. Finally he picked up Mackie’s t-shirt and slipped it on over his head before heading back up to return to civilization… by walking, he soon realized.

``````

Tessa rolled the room service cart to Room 1014, reading the note on the door to come right in, as it was propped open with the bar portion of the swing lock. She thought nothing of it as she crossed the doorway with the cart into the dimly lit room, kept a few lumens from pitch black by the tabletop lamps.

“Mackie?” she called out to him.

“I’m afraid not.”

Krueger’s voice took her by surprise. She stifled a terrified gasp as she sprang around to watch him walk out of the bathroom while he dried his hands off with a towel, wearing the same black t-shirt Mackie was wearing when they took him from his room. He turned to the room door to release the swing and shut it properly.

Then Krueger faced her and brandished Mackie’s Hardballer, thumbing back the hammer and pointing it one-handed at Tessa.

Tessa recognized the handgun. She began to tremble visibly as she shifted uncomfortably and reasoned what happened to Mackie and the others.

“I can see you’re new to the fold, so I’m going to give you a choice,” Krueger said. “You can call the others for help and die tonight—forgotten in a hotel room—or you can walk away and live.”

“I want to walk away,” she said immediately, her voice wobbling and lip quivering. “I want to walk away, please let me walk away..!”

Krueger returned the hammer to the resting position and lowered the gun. He stood aside and gestured the door with a head tilt. “Go,” he said.

Tessa bolted past him, stifling sobs as she wiped her cheeks and ran down the hall, leaving the cart behind.

“Gute nacht,” he called after her. Then he left the room himself, making a mental note to dispose of Mackie’s Hardballer in the morning.

``````

Khai was awakened at 2:50am by the vibration of her business phone on her night table. She reached out for it and held it up, squinting at first to see the screen and read the number on it. She sat up against her headboard when she recognized the area code, fumbling for her glasses before finding them behind the clock radio. She answered the call and held it up to her ear. “It’s Khai,” she said, filtering the sleepiness out of her response.

“There’s been a development,” Krueger said on the other end. “We weren’t the only ones watching Silvio.”

Khai moved to sit on the side of the bed and took a deep breath to pull herself together. “Give me a minute.”

She stood up and went to her walk-in closet, finding a bathrobe to throw over her satin nightgown before heading over to the bathroom and splashing cold water on her face. Then she headed for the spiral staircase down to the kitchen area, priming her laptop and switching to her headset.

“Alright,” she said. “I’m back,” she said. She turned on her coffee machine and placed her favorite mug under the spout, and then sat down to log into her computer. “Tell me what you’ve got.”

“The Company,” Krueger said. “Ten total on site, three of them close to Silvio.”

Khai cursed under her breath. “The Partners won’t like that.”

“They won’t be reporting back to their associates, I’ve seen to that. The ones closest to Silvio tried to kill me off-site. They failed.”

“But the damage may already be done,” she reasoned. “They could have been following him for years, who knows what they found out about the Partners from that, spoiled little shit..?” She took her glasses off and held them in her right hand while leaned back in her chair and tilted her head back, shutting her eyes tight and pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and first finger to compose herself again. “What about Silvio?”

“He’s clean,” Krueger said. “But I may have a lead on the mole in Wells’ organization.”

Khai sighed, opening her eyes again. “First bit of good news I’ve heard all week,” she said. “What did you find?”

“A message trail. I pulled it from his laptop with the tools you supplied.”

“I’m in front of my computer now,” she said, straightening up and putting her glasses back on. “Can you send me the messages?”

“Of course.”

Khai got up to respond to the gurgling of the coffee maker in the corner and reclaim her mug. Savoring its smell and warmth, she held it in both hands and took her first sip, shutting her eyes and letting out a quiet, satisfied sigh before returning to her workstation with her liquid bliss. “I see it,” she said. She read the usernames of the involved parties. “Heimdallr’s Eyes..? Interesting.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“In Norse mythology, Heimdallr is the watchman of the gods,” Khai explained, “supposedly all-seeing. If he’s calling himself the eyes of an all-seeing deity, it’s safe to assume he either has a vast information network at his disposal, or works for somebody who does.” She looked away from the monitor for a moment before looking back and taking another sip. “Can you get me Silvio’s laptop?”

“I can have the cloned device stored on the SSD arranged for pickup by the Partners here,” Krueger said. “If you’d like to see it sooner I can try sending its contents to you.”

“That’s perfect,” Khai said. “Log in to Mr. Wells’ VPN and send it over the intranet, and then arrange for the drive to be picked up.” Khai stood up and walked over to the sliding glass doors overlooking her patio and backyard with her coffee. “In the meantime I’ll relay what you’ve shared with me to the interested parties…”

“Could you include a message for Silvio?”

“What’s that?”

“Treat Victoria right,” Krueger said. “He’ll understand.”

Befuddled, Khai shrugged and said, “I’ll just have to trust you on that.”

“Do trust me on that… I had to get rid of the gun, unfortunately,” he confessed. “Take it out of my check.”

“That’s… hardly a problem, but if you insist I can arrange that…” She sipped from her mug again. “You should try to get some rest, Krueger.”

“I’ll sleep when you do, Miss Khai.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You were nearly killed on a reconnaissance assignment. You must be at least a little shaken up.”

“I’ve been nearly killed on almost every assignment I’ve taken for the last fifteen years. There is very little that can shake me up these days.”

Khai chuckled to herself. “Be that as it may, it’s past three in the morning. I’ll be awake with plenty to do on my end but your part of the job is done. You can relax now.”

“What does somebody like me do to relax, Miss Khai?”

“I’m certain somebody as creative and resourceful as you can figure out a productive way to spend the next two days.”

“I’ll send you a postcard from the gator farm, then.”

“Looking forward to it,” Khai said laughing to herself. “Good night, Krueger. And excellent work.” She ended the call and headed back up the stairs to her bedroom to make her bed and start her day properly.

(Next chapter | Masterlist)

#fiction #original work #original content #original fiction #prose #creative writing #drama #crime fiction

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historical-sim-homes-blog · 4 years

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Postmedieval English: Southern Tradition (1600-1700)

This second build in the Colonial era is very similar to that of the previous Postmedieval English home, but this time we are building a house in the Southern Tradition.The Southern Tradition, differs mostly in having a single story (and attic) and two chimneys at the ends instead of one large central chimney.

Since building the Northern Tradition house in the last post, I’ve bought the Pets expansion. However, all but two of the items I used for this build are from the base game.

Reference Examples

Thoroughgood House (c. 1636-1640)

Form

Linear plan

Two rooms wide

One story

One attic with dormers

This time I didn’t use a square structural unit as I needed more vertical space for the dormers. Thus, the structural unit was a grid of size 10 x 6. You can’t really see it in the video, but I also moved up the first floor a bit to include a brick foundation.

For houses in the southern style, the exterior wall can be wood panels as in the northern style or brick. I went with brick to just do something different.

The second floor is really an attic, but I still wanted to have enough space as it will hold two bedrooms

I began adding the dormer sections, following Jenba Sim’s tutorial.

The dormer sections were not particularly big, only two squares wide and one square deep.

Roof

Side gabled

Steep

Little to no overhang

Wooden shingles

No cornice

Two large end chimneys

Dormer windows

Still following Jenba Sim’s tutorial, I added a side gable roof along the full middle section of the second floor.

Then, I used a half gable one side, adjusting its and the middle section’s steepness until the half gable seamlessly blended into the middle section. Once that was done, I copied the half gable roof to the opposite side and added the dormer gables.

Details

Brick (The Brickery with Corner Accent)

White vertical pane (Pinestripe Graines)

Brick

Exterior: Batten (Good Ol’ Barn Door)

Interior: Batten (Mega Budget without windows)

Diamond shaped panes

Small casements on attic floor

Larger casements on first floor

For the exterior, I used the Good Ol’ Barn Door from Pets as it has vertical panes and a very unadorned, functional look. In the interior, I used plasticbox’s mesh of the Mega Budget doors without the windows.

I used the As Time Goes By windows (as in the northern style build) for the attic windows. However, for the first floor I decided to go with the slightly larger, more vertical casements of Windwoahh, but still sticking with the diamond panes.

I used a white wooden paneling for the dormers as in the reference pictures. I’m not sure if these would always have been wood or if it’s a restoration.

Stairs leading up to the exterior doors were also included.

The chimneys were slightly more involved than last time. I wanted to create the diagonal form of the reference pictures, but I didn’t like the results using the roofing. I might come back to this after I’ve included a brick texture as a roof material, but for now I left it as is. The bottom most portion of the chimney is a 4 x 1 room while the second level portion is 2 x 1. Finally, using the bb.moveobjects cheat code, I placed two chimney stacks on top of each other to get the desired height. The same was done on the other end of the house.

Interior Floor Plan

I was very lucky to find a floor plan for Thoroughgood House at the Library of Congress website. This is such a good resource for pictures, surveys, and plans of old houses.

It looks about as expected, with a hall and parlor design on the first floor and bed chambers in the attic. But it’s always nice to have a reference!

The interior isn’t too different from the northern style besides the fireplaces at the ends, so I’ll just quote myself from last post.

English Colonial homes typically had only two rooms on the first floor: a hall and a parlor. The hall was the more informal of the two, providing space for cooking, eating, and other common tasks like sewing and crafting. Cooking was done over the open flames of the fireplace. The parlor was much more formal: it functioned primarily as a reception room for guests and contained the most expensive and lavish furniture in the house. Here, as in the rooms above, the fireplace served exclusively as a heating source. I don’t think the fireplaces themselves are a good choice for this time period, but in this first run of builds I’m not too concerned with the interior design. (My hope is to come back to it once I feel more comfortable creating my own CC furniture.)

Along with a floor plan, I was able to find a picture of the staircase in the Thoroughgood House. I was slightly relieved to see that it wasn’t a three run staircase, although I finally figured out how to make those!

Final

Once again, I included a small outhouse in the back.

My two major concerns with the build are the roof steepness and the chimney shapes.

The former was a product of making sure that the various roof pieces merged seamlessly. Playing around with it might help bring the steepness down while ensuring that the attic walls don’t clip through the roof.

The latter I tried fixing using half gabled roofs but the result was not great as I did not have any brick textures for the roof material. Creating a brick roof texture might be the easiest solution. Otherwise, I might want to start looking to creating some custom chimney pieces that can seamlessly flow into the top chimney piece.

Build Details

Expansions and Packs

Windwoahh

Good Ol’ Barn Door

Custom Content

Mega (Budget) Doors by plasticbox

References

A Field Guide to American Homes (Revised) by Virginia Savage McAlaster

Adam Thoroughgood House Floor Plans from Library of Congress

Adam Thoroughgood House Staircase by Frances Benjamin Johnston (LIbrary of Congress)

#sims 4 #s4 build #american colonial architecture #17th century #postmedieval english

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honekitteh · 5 years

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Fic: Countdown - Chapter 6

Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: M Genre: Angst, H/C, Romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Humor, Canon-typical levels of poor decision-making Synopsis: A distress call leads the Jedi Battlemaster to Ziost, but time is running out. Follows the storyline of The Rise of the Emperor and inserts missing scenes. Warnings: See Chapter 1

“This is a door?”

Kira nodded to me as I walked towards the circle window like fixture on the left side of the entrance hall of the People’s Tower. I tried to keep my focus on the entryway to the next level of the building as opposed to the corpses now laying at our feet. The amount of bodies that were being thrown towards me to try to prevent us from our path, with little more purpose than for just simple mayhem and death, was overwhelming. There were very few meditation techniques that could fully block out the scent of the dead at this point, but I needed to press on. The fate of this world felt like it was slipping out of my grasp and it felt like it was up to me.

Again.

I couldn’t find the way to open the door easily, looking around for the controls. I reached out with my senses. “Locked.”

“Typical Imperials,” Kira huffed, “So rude to guests.”

I frowned as tried a few things with the Force. “I’m not sure I can bust it myself.”

My friend took a step up and closed her eyes. Then she shook her head. “I doubt even the two of us could do it alone, even if one of us was on the other side. Unless Lana is miraculously right there, we’re on our own. We need something else.”

I frowned. Not really willing to give up quite yet, I tested the door again with my senses.

“Jyana, I think we need something with a bit more explosive power.”

I sighed heavily. “Fine. What do you have in mind?”

Kira scanned the entrance hall. There was a large holographic map of Ziost on display on the middle console. She took a scan beyond it. “There’s something over there, but I think we’ll have to fight our way there.”

“Sounds about normal,” I sighed.

We worked our way over there quickly, myself leaping into battle with a Sith Lord. I only felt slightly bad about engaging him in battle, cause I was fairly sure he’d want to thwart whatever we were planning on his own volition. I couldn’t tell how long he’d been under Vitiate’s puppetry, but it didn’t matter now. A poor imperial medic was unfortunately in the crossfire, which was something that I did feel terrible about. But our situation did not give us a lot of time to reflect or regret. We had to keep moving.

When the enemies had fallen, as they refused to stop until they were ended, I noticed the thing Kira thought she had seen. I picked up the rocket launcher and looked at it with great suspicion.

“That looks promising,” Kira said.

“This might be overkill,” I stated looking at it and checking to make certain it was loaded.

“Pft,” Kira waved that off, “No such thing as overkill.”

“Let’s move.” I put the rocket launcher over my shoulder, loosely letting the strap on it secure it there. I looked back towards the door and frowned. “Did you invite more friends to the party?” I asked motioning towards the four imperial commandos that were now between us and the door.

“I need to hire a new party planner.”

I was getting so tired of fighting, but I tossed my lightsabers to draw the commandos’ attention. I wasn’t sure I was quite comfortable opening with my typical leap into the fray. Adding the rocket launcher to my back would wreck the physics of the leap or at least set it off that I wasn’t sure I had the right read on it. I already had a habit of overexerting and I really could not afford to do it at this stage. I was already exhausted. I knew the final battle was soon, but I could not completely estimate how much longer I had to go. I couldn’t go overboard now, not at this stage.

Kira pushed the last of the four back as he fell. She frowned looking down at them. A glance up at me showed me she was feeling what I was. Overwhelming sorrow. Both of us knew what it was like to be out of our own control. Both of us had broken free, but it did not pass without some level of scars. Such was our life.

We got to the door and I unholstered the rocket launcher. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I checked all the mechanisms, made certain the ammo was set just right.

“Maybe we should knock first?” Kira asked.

“This is me knocking,” I said and fired.

The explosion shock the building and threw both of us back. Startled at the reaction I dropped the rocket launcher and used the Force to cushion our fall.

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

I stared at Kira as I picked myself up off the floor.

“I gotta get me one of those!” she said as she was pointing at the rocket launcher.

“Later. We don’t have any way to reload it and we’ve got to keep moving.”

“No fun.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes and jumped through the door.

It felt like Vitiate had an endless supply of bodies to pile up between us and our destination. It also took a great deal of concentration to focus on jumping up along the elevator shaft to the next level of the building. The screams of the dying, the terror, the fear, all the feelings of deep buried rage kept trying to overwhelm my senses.

“Watch out!” Kira shouted as turrets opened fire on us after we gained our footing on the floor.

A flick of the lightsabers sadly was not all it took, but we did make fairly quick work of them.

My wrist computer blinked at me, telling me that I had an incoming call. I flicked it on as we were besieged by another group of soldiers.

Lana’s voice came through the call saying, “Before we go ahead with this... you and I should talk—in person. I’ll see you shortly.”

I frowned then looked down at the coordinates now showing on the small data viewer after the comm cut off.

“This way.”

I looked at the forcefield over the door to the room that Lana had indicated and let out a heavy sigh. Kira motioned there were electrical panels on the outside of each door. Nodding we both threw a wave of the Force at the panels, causing them to explode. This knocked the forcefield down.

There were many civilian employees within the room. I tried to raise my hands in a defensive pose. “I don’t want to hurt any of you...” I said before they started to lunge at Kira and I, shooting and even some just trying to go at us hand to hand. I sighed, looking at each of their eyes as they fell, fighting to their last with no control of their own bodies. The silver eyes, showing their actions belonged to him.

In the corner of my eye, a green and black cloak flicked by, moving towards the console in the back of the room. Kira and I sheathed our sabers and moved to join Lana.

“You’ve made it,” the Sith Lord stated without looking up as she pushed on the controls, “Good. Time is short—so is reliable assistance.” She fiddled with the holo communication controls on the console and continued talking without really looking back at me. “I have Agent Kovach assembling a suppression team out of whatever droids he can find, so I approached another agent to assist us.”

Theron Shan appeared on the holo and he looked around between us and did what could only be described as striking a pose. He rested his hand on his hip with ease and comfort that belied the exhaustion that was evident in his eyes, even from within a holo communication. I raised my eyebrows and gave a sigh. I partially wondered if he was trying to play it cool with Lana. Then again, this is Theron. There were so many layers behind the surface. I am not entirely sure how many I’d seen behind, but there was a selfish part of me that would like to think that I was one of the few that had.

Of course, now was not the time to think about those kinds of things. Lana addressed him quickly, “Are you in position?”

“Yeah, but this setup isn’t anything like what you described.”

“So what you’re saying is you can’t figure it out.”

“Don’t get all…” he sighed and put his hands in front of him, “I’ll figure it out.”

“We’re about to begin, so that would be nice.”

“He has Teeseven with him, he’ll be fine,” I quickly cut in.

Theron gave me a grateful nod and cut out the communication.

As soon as his image flickered off, I asked, “What exactly are we about to begin, Lana?”

“You’re going to make Vitiate angry. So angry that he’ll place all his attention on killing you.” She punched in some controls on the console and then turned to look at me. If I didn’t know better, she had a very Jedi way of masking her emotions, but that could be partially from how she had to keep her mind focused on defense, lest the incorporeal former Emperor decide to take her body for a ride. She continued on, “When the time comes, you’ll lead him to an electrostatic weapon stored there, in the heart of New Adasta. It’s meant to be a last resort against major civil uprisings, but Theron’s modifying it to be non-lethal. With the reduced charge, its radius of impact will diminish.”

I raised an eyebrow and shared a glance with Kira before looking back to Lana. “You have a weapon designed with the sole purpose of killing your own people?”

Lana waved it off as if it was a non-issue. “It’s not as if we install one in every metropolis. We nearly lost New Adasta to unrest once before.”

“Well in that case...”

I could see her eye slightly twitch, but she ignored my snide remark. “Shall we get started?” she asked and pointed towards the holo comm device.

Suppose it was time for my performance art masterpiece of a monologue. I really hate monologuing. But certain people seemed to love it. Maybe it will do the trick.

I took a deep breath and nodded to Lana and she opened the comm. “Vitate! I am the Battlemaster of the Jedi Order. I’ve struck you down once already. Today, I’m finishing the job. Today, you will face justice.”

Lana cut off the communication and glanced over at me, her expression unreadable except for very obvious exhaustion.

“I think that did it?” I questioned, pondering over if I should have monologued longer, or been harsher, and I almost got caught in my train of thought until Lana cut me off.

“I have to go now. There’s much to be done.” She sighed heavily, “Too much. I shouldn’t have come here, truth be told.”

I reached out and took hold of her shoulder. A year or so ago, she might have flinched at the contact, but not today. “Be strong, Lana. Stay focused. You’ll be fine.”

She offered me a tired smile. “Thank you. We’ll see if you’re right.”

I looked behind me after I pressed the button to call the elevator to the top floor. Master Onok and Master Landai were both unconscious, but free. I could still hear their voices demanding for me to kill them, even though they weren’t really their own voices. I electrocuted them. They would make it. Doc and Lord Scourge were on their way to retrieve them and get them off world as soon as they could. I needed to focus though.

As I stepped in the elevator and punched the controls to take us up, I wondered if Lana’s plan would work. Kira gave me a poke. I gave her a tired smile. She was right. There was a time and place to dwell on what has happened since I stepped foot on this planet, and now was not one of them.

We walked onto the platform to find Theron and T7 working on opposite sides of the entryway.

“That’s it, Teeseven,” he called out to the droid then looked up from his work to see us. He gave a quick nod and what I thought was a slight smirk to me and continued, “Got it set up for as big a non-lethal burst as we can manage.” He looked over to T7 as the droid unplugged himself from the wall socket. “Thanks buddy,” he said to the droid then turned back to Kira and I. “Should be enough to zap anyone in range into a nice, long, involuntary nap.”

I looked up at the large device that was on the ceiling over the open air platform. Frowning I muttered lowly, “Should be?”

Theron shrugged. “Hard to come up with a one-size fits all solution. Lot of guesswork involved. Wish there was a way Teeseven and I could have done a test run before...”

As his vocalized thought trailed off, I looked back towards the entry point I had just come through. I didn’t sense anything quite yet, but I could feel it wouldn’t be too long.

“They’ve got to be closing in,” Kira stated aloud, echoing my own thoughts.

“Then come on,” he said, waving me over to where he had a device waiting for us, “We need to be shielded.” I followed him, still studying my surroundings. He straightened up after ensuring the shield was properly set and looked to me. “Okay. We should wait until they’re good and close.”

I closed my eyes briefly, allowing my senses to reach out to get a good feel for how much time we had. It wasn’t much. I moved slightly closer to Theron and said softly, “I wasn’t sure when I’d run into you again. Not the greatest circumstances, but still.” I very nearly reached to him but halted myself with a small glance behind me. It wasn’t Kira though that I sensed when I could feel we weren’t alone.

He offered a weak but knowing smile. “Maybe next time the lives of an entire world won’t be in danger – but, yeah, feeling’s mutual.”

I felt my heart flip flop a bit at his smile and met his with my own. Soon though, I could feel them. His amber eyes shifted from mine to behind me. Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I took a deep breath, then reopened them to follow his gaze. Kira had already drawn her dual-saber, its green light reflecting against the metallic floor.

Theron pulled out his data pad and started tapping. “Okay, here comes the puppet brigade. Fingers crossed…”

It was a fairly sizable group, Imperials, Republic troops, and even some Jedi. I silently cursed the Chancellor and added it to the growing list of matters I will add to a report, should I bother to file one. At this particular moment, the choice words I had planning were significantly less Jedi than they had been the beginning of this entire fiasco. The horde moved closer and Theron triggered the device.

That Theron even had to modify it to be non-lethal was not lost on me. As I saw the soldiers all be stunned and fall to the ground, I could not help but wonder what the result would have been had that modification not been made. The Empire, putting a weapon in one of its capital cities with the capability to kill a vast amount of their own citizens? If they had one of these in New Adasta, they could have it on Kass City, or in a number of other cities. But why? Because of riots? Gee, I wonder why anyone would riot against a ruling body that had no regard for their lives.

My eyes glanced over to a Republic soldier that had collapsed. Were we even better? The Republic should be better than this. Theron followed my eyes and let the shield dome collapse. He approached the soldier and knelt. “This one was closet, took the biggest hit.” He reached for his neck, checking his pulse as I walked up beside him. I looked out towards the door and across the landscape of unconscious bodies. “Still alive,” Theron confirmed, relief in his voice, “We did it! Let’s just hope we got all of them.”

“Let’s hope,” I murmured, still scanning the surroundings. Something still felt off. This moment was far from over, I could feel it.

“We should call Lana now, see if she has a plan for what’s next.”

The bodies began to float in the air. “I have a better idea,” a booming male imperial voice spoke through the woman sauntering onto the platform. With a small flick of a hand motion, the bodies crashed back away from her, clearing a path. Her eyes yellow and wild, she smirked as she drew her lightsaber.

“Master Surro.” Theron’s entire stance sunk and he moved to stand between me and the unconscious puppet army and the approaching Jedi Master. “No...” I lightly reached an arm to his shoulder, trying to pull him back and shift him behind me, but he stood his ground.

“Watching you believe you had a chance; it’s amused me.” Master Surro raised her hand sluggishly as if it were pulled by string, the Force lifting a dazed Imperial lieutenant into a sitting position. “Now this whole charade is pathetic.”

I shifted my own position, trying to assess the situation and moved in front of Theron. Not soon enough, as Master Surro summarily executed the dazed man she’d just set up. The range of emotions in the man beside me went from shock, to horror, to anger. It took a great deal of my own willpower and Force meditation to not absorb Theron’s pain and have it fuel me and complement the dread that I felt; the very dread I’ve been feeling rising since the moment I’d received his distress holo.

Master Surro’s lips turned in a cruel sneer. “Now, how do you wish to die? In combat or on your knees?”

Lana raced from within the building, lightsaber drawn and poised to attack.

“Go away, little Sith.” Master Surro easily shoved the approaching Sith Lord with a shove. Theron moved in front of me again and drew his weapon but was immediately lifted in the air. He gave me a wincing glance before he was unceremoniously thrown against the wall and crashed the ground. I looked between Lana and Theron and took the last reserves of my energy to take a deep breath.

Glancing back to Master Surro, I furrowed my brow and drew both my shoto. The Emperor controlled puppet smirked. “This has nothing to do with your friends. This is you and I.”

Igniting my sabers, I leaped into the air.

The original clash was brief, a flurry of blades. Kira flanked our opponent, trying to keep her busy. There was no way that she was going to let me fight alone, even if I sensed that was what Master Surro desired. We just had to stay vigiliant.

If I could keep my eyes from glancing over at Theron long enough to stay focused.

Of course Surro, no… not Surro, Vitiate… he figured out my distraction and pressed the attack on me, completely ignoring Kira who was trying to sneak attack from behind. I tried to block a downward strike with both my shoto but I lost track of my direction and Surro took the opportunity to kick me and Force push me at that moment. The push knocked me near complete off the edge and drop my shoto completely. I reached out quickly and barely grabbed hold of the edge.

I took this time to reflect on my life choices. Trying my hardest to keep as many people alive as possible, even the possessed jedi that Vitiate used to try to taunt me. Kill them, he had said, I won’t mind—and neither will your dear ally.

I sighed. I tried so hard to compartmentalize my feelings. It wasn’t working. I took a deep breath. Theron’s been through worse, he’ll be fine. They’ll all be fine.

I heard a squeak as I sensed Kira get knocked out, not far from where Lana was. Closing my eyes, I found my sabers and lept into the air.

I landed on the other side of Master Surro, flipping overhead her before she’d noticed I’d gotten there it seemed. She gave me a sneer. “Why won’t you die, little girl?”

“No matter how powerful you are, I’ll never fall to you.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Confident—to the end.”

My lightsabers returned to my hands, I ignited them and pressed the attack. I did not relent, I would not back down, and he had to know that.

It took some time until Master Surro finally collapsed at my feet. I took a deep breath and studied her, not wanting to take any chances. When she looked back up, her eyes were their natural color.

#swtor fanfiction #theron shan x jedi knight #theron shan #kira carsen #lana beniko #t7-01 #female jedi knight/hero of tython #oc: jyana kai #otp: come what may #fic: countdown #ziost #swtor: rise of the emperor #swtor #fanfic

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theglguidetowebcomics · 6 years

Text

Essay time: A Rant About Backgrounds - Part III

To use backgrounds and not to use, and a quick showcase of genre.

From tone and the power of timing onwards. And now the next topic ans a quick showcase.

Background absence

However, as insanely useful and interesting backgrounds can be, all rules are meant to be broken. Not all panels that don’t have backgrounds are useless, rather, there are times where they’re required. blank backgrounds have useful effects, such as time, focus, and impact.

Kill 6 Billion Demons - Tom parkison-Morgan Creating powerful moments with empty background

Tom Parkison-Morgan is a clear example of using background complexity to it’s advantage. And one of the strongest uses of removing backgrounds is to redirect focus. It brings focus onto the character and the moment. A backdrop would pull away form that, splitting the focus. In the example above is a scene from Kill 6 Billion demons where a character is having a key shoved into her forehead. An Important plot point. It’s the inciting incident to the story. So the panel focuses on the character, her shock, the hand, the key playing lights all over her face, and the soft movement of the hair. The character is lost, things are happening to fast for her to catch up. So the lack of background in this incident doesn’t just draw the audience’s full attention to the inciting incident (which it does), it uses the lack of background to explore the character’s confusion. Now, context wise the background in this scene is also rather blank due to scene (demons coming out of a void into her room). So there is another reason to it. But, even taking that into account, it still acts as a break from the former background, and considering the lack of figures in the background it still works as a disorientated removal from what’s happening around her. It removes background as a way to direct focus, and in this case, also capture the character’s state of mind.

Kill 6 Billion Demons - Tom Parkinson-Morgan Breathtaking worlds to empty scenes, the power of contrast and diversity of backgrounds

Kill 6 Billion Demons though is quite famous for it’s backgrounds, it has some of the most complex and visually rich scenary in webcomics. But the biggest strength in the webcomic is that even if it has extremely poignant sprawling landscapes it knows when and where to use them. Backgrounds are where they need to be to still ground the place of the story, removed in small talking scenes, and ommitted where the lack of backdrop heavily improves the meaning in a panel. It’s a good example of balance. An empty background doesn’t mean much unless it’s contrasted with an actual one, same vice versa. The importance lies in it’s comparison to other panels. So, even if blank backgrounds and complex backgrounds are extremely useful as a tool, there still needs to be diversity. If all the backgrounds are blank audiences won’t pick up on when a single panel is supposed to be especially blank. And, if you want a complex background to hit hard, it needs to contrast to other panels. Overused panel styles loose their effect . Which is why a lot of comics that use backgrounds well, go from no backgrounds, to full, to somewhere in the middle. It’s about a bit of variation. There’s a lot of freedom there.

Gunnerkrigg Court - Tom Siddel Some scenes need to be simple

And to addition to sprawling city splash pages being impressive there are many instances in the story were they’d simply be distracting. In this strip from Gunnerkrigg Court there is not much visual information. Besides a bed in the foreground. It’s dialogue scene. The focus is the character’s expressions and an off hand joke about a cursed tea pot, in this instance an inclusion of a background (especially a detailed one) would just clutter the scene. The panels are small, and the dialogue is quick. As much as a sense of place can add to the character’s motivation or story there are times where things need to be simple. Simple isn’t a bad thing. Backgrounds aren’t always necessary. It’s all about balance. And even if a comic is about visual information, sometimes taking a break for the dialogue is just as important. Dialogue is a tool too, it’s useful, and in many instances needed.

Go Get a Roomie - Chloé C Sometimes the background isn’t relevant right now

The need for backgrounds in scenes varies. On top of the contrast of backgrounds, and the inclusion of them actually taking away from scenes; there are also times where they’re just not relevant. And a lot of this can boil down to genre. And purpose. Go Get A Roomie is a gag and character focused comic, the importance of location and it’s effect of the plot is fairly minimal. It isn’t a comic devoid of place. Not many comics are. It has locations like a flat, a bar, a park, a mentor’s house, dreamscapes, and establishing those places is important. But, strip to strip wise, a lot of the comics segments are focused on a joke or the character’s state of mind, and backgrounds aren’t entirely relevant in those instances. Looking at the two examples from Go Get a Roomie (above) the approach to backgrounds are both rather sparse for narrative reasons.

Firstly there’s a gag strip, two side character’s visit a protagonists house for the first time, make a sexual joke, get the door shut on them. Character comedy. The joke is the focus. So the background reflects only the information needed to display this (the door frame). What’s behind the door besides the character’s is irrelevant, and much like the previous point, would also ruin the timing, and bog up the panel with useless information. Simple isn’t bad. Sometimes it’s needed. To go up with the background complexity is the strip below that. Protagonist walking down a street. The background isn’t omitted but it’s sketch like in design. Where she’s walking is somewhat important. But again. The focus is somewhere else. This instance focuses on the state of mind of the character. Aimlessly wandering, the third panel flipped, she’s completely spaced out and the sketchy background also shows her disinterest in the space she’s in as well. The background here certainly does it’s purpose. Both the character and audience aren’t focusing on it, which both supports the character’s thoughts and the reader’s focus on the character. It’s a small use, but an important one. Backgrounds may have a multitude of uses, but every tool varies in relevance case by case.

What does the fox say? - Team Gaji Soulless backgrounds and the loss of impact

But, even if backgrounds vary in use and may even negatively impact certain panels, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter when and how they’re used. There’s always a lot of freedom with what does and doesn’t work with images. But, backgrounds are a tool, you work with it rather than ignore it. Now, with this example, again it’s important to remember the context it was made with. A different industry (once again, the South Korean comic industry with a salary model), and the problems in the industry and the number of people on a project effect how it functions. And the capabilities. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. But, they do work slightly differently. However, this example from Team Gaji “What Does The Fox Say?” (strange title, I know) is a solid example of poor use of background and it’s subsequent effect on the story. The assets and backgrounds in this comic are all 3D rendered, which gives off a strange disconnect between the 2d characters and world they inhabit. And this effect is unintentional, it takes away from the story, it’s distracting, especially at first. But, probably the biggest impact of the rendered backgrounds (the use of rendered backgrounds is a different topic, this is just a case example) is how they’re structured. They’re bland. There’s no information in it. The backgrounds are generally grey scale and empty, the only information is the design. Clean modern. Which could reveal a bit about the character if the other backgrounds and assets in the comic weren’t exactly the same. The use of rendering backgrounds in this case is more about making the workload easier, which could be a completely fair reason, however it does effect the comic. The purpose of backgrounds become purely location based, where the character is when it’s necessary. It doesn’t explore the character’s relationship to the setting/opinions/tone/or personal flares even. So the backgrounds are boring. But even with that the comic still tries to have moments of no background or simple backgrounds for some effect. In the first panel the only focus is on the figure, we see she’s smoking, we see her look down, we see her blandly look over to off screen, then there’s a reveal of another character sleeping in the bed. This is supposed to be a small moment, a moment of quiet with removal of the backgrounds, but that doesn’t work when the backgrounds are information-less to begin with (just grey and sterile, not even for effect). And with the grey gradients you can’t really tell what the character’s are thinking with how the expressions are drawn, even if that’s supposed to be the focus of the frame and be the critical component to the visual story telling. The background tells the audience nothing, the lack of background tells the audience nothing, and in the end the comic relies on dialogue cues. Doesn’t make the scene horrendous, but, it does make it hard to understand and a tad boring. There are many reasons to not use backgrounds in scenes, from setting being irrelevant, to panels needing to be simple, to background removal being a really strong effect. But, Backgrounds are still a tool, and even if they can be used as often as they are not, completely disregarding how they effect the scene doesn’t make a great scene.

Backgrounds and genre

On an extremely quick note. Backgrounds vary on genre, in use, stylization, and function. There’s a lot of freedom in how backgrounds can be used, with things as subjective as media there’s never one way to do anything. So just a few examples of the variation:

Spinnerette - Krazy Krow Cliche and satire, changing styles to parody and change up a chapter. From the comic that nearly makes fun of being a comic as much as it is a good one.

Ava’s demon Michelle Czajkowski Horror and experimentation. Eeriness through the abstract.

Go Get a Roomie -

Chloé C The gag comic with emotional weight, from no backgrounds to full and back again.

Backgrounds are a tool. Not all hammers and hammers alone make a chair. How they’re used and the effect they have on the audience is complex and varied, which is a good thing. This rant isn’t how people have to use them, more that backgrounds are a useful tool and it would be nice to see them used more as a visual storytelling means.

#Comics #webcomics #essay #how to be a werewolf #kill 6 billion demons #gunnerkrigg court #go get a roomie #what does the fox say #spinnerette

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deviancyconfirmed · 6 years

Text

Thirium Love

Human!Connor x Android!Reader (Final)

Fandom: Detroit Become Human

Warning: Canon typical violence and swearing

A/N: I’ve been so busy RIP

The rest of the interrogation with Hope McCain went smoothly, even with your mysterious absents. The location of the android is still unknown but Hope hinted that they are not alone. You took note that it's a high possibility that the group was responsible for the hijacking of the news station. Every news station was arguing about who was behind this and if Detroit should be evacuation. Some even thought it was a grand scale Cyberlife conspiracy.

“So...what do you think?” Hank appeared next to you, black cup of coffee in hand.

“About who is behind this?” you asked briefly glancing at the lieutenant before turning you focus back to the screen. The anchor answering frantic calls from the public.

“I mean this, this whole-android are alive thing.” Hanks question caught you off guard you glanced at him to assure he was being serious. Unfortunately he was.

“No, androids were designed to serve humans. We’re machines Hank, we have no wants or desires,” you confidently replied turning fully to the now smirking Hank.

“Yeah right. By the way Connor was looking for you earlier said somethin’ about you doin’ a dia-something?” Hank muttered swiping through case files on his tablet.

“Diagnostic check. I do routine self-test to assure-”

“I don’t care.” He huffed smiling at something on his tablet.

The rest of the bullpen was relatively empty except for you, Hank and three other officers. Not including the androids that lined the back wall. It was early in the morning, it was a miracle Hank was even coherent. He had mentioned that Connor would be running late due to ‘something or what the fuck ever’. You were currently looking at the dozen new android related case files. There was no pattern some just want missing others murdered or injured their owners. You were reading a file on a runaway AX400 when Connor pulled a chair next to you.

“About fuckin’ time” Hank muttered casting a brief glare to Connor before heading back into the break-room.

“Hey Y/N sorry I’m late I...I oversleep” Connor sheepishly chuckled rubbing the back of his neck. You smiled back a warm feeling washing over you, you made a note to do a self-scan later.

“Y/N? Is everything okay?” Connor asked shuffling his chair closer to you wheels squeaking against the tile. He was so close to you, you could feel your processors overheat slightly.

“T-There was a news broadcast by a deviant android possibly working with a group-” you started to recite directly from the report before Hank interrupted you.

“Connor! Y/N! We gotta go!” Hank yelled jumping up from his chair and slinging his jacket on.

The news broadcasting station was covered in Detroit police, FBI, and Cyperlife personal. While the message seemed peaceful the whole world was on edge dreading the possibility of civil war. The hallway leading to the control room had forensic specialist combing through the desk and other police milling around. The door was locked from the inside meaning someone let the deviants inside. Not surprising considering they were wearing uniforms. In the center of the control room stood a man in a long black coat staring at the large screen with the androids speech paused.

“Androids investigating androids?” Perkins mocking look at you with distance.

“Hello my name is Y/N, I’m the android sent by Cyberlife,” you smiled adjusting your jacket. Hank and Connor spoke to Perkins more while you scanned the room. Their were bullet holes leading to the staircase door on the far wall, the rest of the room was mainly untouched. You walked to the control panels camera and noticed that there was a clear shot of the androids confrontation with the guards.

“Connor, was anyone watching the cameras?” you asked glancing at Connor who came to stand beside you.

“Uh maybe? You could try asking the androids in the kitchen?”

“I will thank you.” You nodded at Connor then turned towards the kitchen.

In the kitchen the three identical androids were lined up perfectly straight, unmoving. You silently stood in front of them observing them for any signs of deviancy. The android on the end caught you attention, he was the only one who kept glancing at you while the rest stared ahead.

“State your function and model,” breaking the silence you started with simple basic answers.

“Model JB300, broadcast operator.” The middle android answered, speaking for all three. You tried a simple approach by asking what happened but none of them seem to remember. You focused your attention on the last android. A more direct approach would necessary. You reached inside the android and slowly pulled a biocomponent, glaring coldly at him.

“Biocomponent #8451, regulates the heartbeat. You going to shut down so I’ll be quick, are you the deviant?” you teased but without a response you shoved the component back in. Suddenly the android grabbed your jacket throwing you against the counter, removing the same biocomponent you did. Attempting to grab at the android your arms failed and he stabbed a knife threw your hand before rushing out of the room. Bright warnings flashed, you system trying to fix the problem. You yanked the knife out of your hand and threw it down, blue blood dripping to the floor. Immediately you collapsed to the ground the needed part only a foot away. Weakly you attempted to call for one of your partners,

“C-Connor…”

The whole room was flashing red and yellow, a countdown mocking you in the corner,

“...Connor...Hank,” you tried again hoping someone would hear you, you were actually afraid to die. You pulled your self across the floor to beat the clock.

“Y/N! Shit!” Connor rushed into the room spotting the piece on the floor. Quickly figuring out what happened Connor grabbed the component and pushed it in your hand. You pushed it back into your chest you system rapidly repairing, you jumped up.

“Whoa hey slow down yo-” Connor started when gun shots sounded through the floor, the clatter of a gun shortly followed.

“Shit-I wanted it alive.” You hissed slamming your hand against the nearest table. You angry, scared, frustrated all at once. Their had to be more but where? You looked up blueprints of the building trying to map out the route the deviants took.

“Are you okay?” Connor jolted you out of your thoughts. You were panicking, what if he noticed?

“I-I...I was scared Connor,” you whispered staring hard at the stained tiles. You were going to be deactivated. Connor stepped closer and placed both his hands on yours before softly speaking.

“It's okay to be scared, you could’ve died.” He bent his head down to look at your expression a small smile on his face.

“Their going to shut me down.”

“Nothing is going to happen, no one has to know.” Connor assured you cupping his hands on your cheeks and lifting your head up. In that moment time seemed to slow when a red wall appeared in front of Connor.

Become a deviant or stay a machine? You easily broke thru the wall swiftly closing the gap and kissing Connor. Without a moment of hesitation Connor wrapped his arms around you pulling you impossibly closer. Breaking apart Connor sighed and pressed his forehead to yours.

“Next time how about we skip the almost dying?”

“Deal”

#detroit become human fic #dbh connor/reader #detroit become human connor x reader #dbh connor x reader #dbh andriod reader #dbh human connor #dbh hank

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chartreuseblood · 6 years

Text

Return of the Archons

Spock had been tentatively gazing at Jim as they monitored readings on his console when the captain moved to answer a distress call that Spock could in no way hear. It was from the landing party of Mr. Sulu and Mr. O’Neil who were being threatened by ambling cloaked figures. Their fear was warranted and so was their desire for an emergency beam up.

Kirk cued for Uhura to fill Spock in on the nature of the call in his place as he hurried down to the transporter room. Moments later, he was met with a strangely euphoric Sulu and no lieutenant at his side. There was babbled nonsense of not being of the body, some group titled the Archons, and a godly figured named Landru.

McCoy was just as understandably baffled at Sulu’s gibberish upon arriving after the transporter room commed him. He made no aim to say anything as he glanced over Sulu and looked to Jim. They mutually had one question on their minds:

What was this so-called paradise?

Before a larger landing party was cleared to beam down, the selected individuals had appropriate clothes replicated and began to slip them on shortly thereafter. Spock had a special exception to his, including a headscarf of sorts to disguise his ears. It was also mentioned it would better keep the planet’s sun out of his eyes, sparing him some glare to read hand signs.

He had been translated the current disposition and understood Jim’s agitation with the overall situation. In spite of this, Jim let a small smile slide as he fixed the scarf where Spock hadn’t quite pulled it forward enough and fixed the few bangs that were out of place. Satisfied, the pair took the lift to the transporter room to meet the rest of the party.

Once feet made contact with Beta III, most of the crew began to take in their surroundings, including Spock. Kirk made to reassure the ship that the materialization was successful before everyone inclined their sights to see a local pass them by. Spock looked to Jim at his side, fully grasping his attention before beginning his commentary: a “C” shape moved and placed as though it were a lid; a flat palm pushed out followed by curled fingers flaring out, then his right middle finger scraping off the back of his left hand outwardly. [Odd; His expression, empty]

Jim nodded, replying with putting a pinky near the side of his eye, shaking his hand down to end with his pinky and thumb out, and finger-spelt Sulu. [Like S-U-L-U] They shared a quick gaze and Jim began to say something more about if the planet’s inhabitants were just the same, but cut himself off, putting his hands lightly together and shifting his right palm out jaggedly [Let’s go], verbalizing the command for his able-bodied fellows. He had instinctively wanted to grab for Spock’s hand as he always did but stopped himself, too concerned the planetary residents would have an issue with their outward PDA, even if it was explained as a literal helping hand.

The first interaction with a said resident was… awkward to say the least. Despite the size of the man’s mouth, Spock could not discern what was passing on his lips. Though, he did copy the palm to [human] heart gesture since Jim had returned it. Beyond that, he was lost and prayed Jim’s miracle talent with diplomacy would work. The only other thing that could be easily followed was the point to the clock tower.

He barely felt the vibrations from the bell chiming and next thing he knew, he was watching townspeople go into a sort of hysteria and manic episode. He naturally stepped closer to Jim, lacing their hands, as if he was hoping to convey a need for an explanation afterwards. Jim was just as taken back by the sudden outbreak. Their comforting hold broke as their landing party was swarmed with festival participants becoming handsy and otherwise. It was a full minute until Jim vocalized the need to get out of the street, grabbing Spock’s hand once again to drag him along as their group took off.

Spock was nearly clung to his arm after they sought shelter and were met by three older men. Once again, Jim’s diplomatic skills came to use as he politely spoke, explaining they were from the Valley for the festival. Spock’s small sense of possessiveness took a step back but lingered as Jim stepped to mention acquiring rooms. Soon, the group was moving up the stairs, Spock allowed to walk up behind Jim, hand grasped at his coattail to keep his balance and for reassurance. The room was adequate to fit all of the men and their host was awfully skittish, especially when Jim asked about Landru. He nearly ran out after remarking that the group was strange.

Jim watched the madness outside from one of the opened windows. He sighed before returning his attention to his men, creating a list in his head of missions for them to undertake. He designated McCoy to watch atmospheric readings and Lindstrom to see sociological happenings then beckoned Spock over. He took a moment to figure out how to sign that they would need to put their heads together and strategize a game plan by the following morning. Spock nodded once the message was put across and gave a look that Jim understood to mean ‘explain everything that has happened in the past hour.’

For a while throughout the night, the two shared a top bunk, gently watching each other’s eyes. Jim kissed Spock’s knuckles before finally climbing down, far too restless to stay up there any longer. Spock understood fully and watched him as he stood at the other set of bunks with a blanket around his shoulders. At a minute to 6 am, Jim gave up on waiting around, moving to watch the last few moments of the confusing displays in the street. They ceased immediately at the bell chimes and he shook his head in disbelief. As he stepped away, he began to gingerly wake his team, a gentle squeeze to Spock’s hand sufficing the intent to rally everyone together.

The sobs of a young woman could be heard as McCoy awakened and the troop made their way down the stairs. Bones took initiative to help her by carrying her off, Spock on his tail for aid. They brought her to what appeared to be a sitting room so Bones could administer the hypo and let her comfortably be lulled into unconsciousness. They stood aside as everyone swarmed it and Kirk showed his authority with challenging that they possibly were Archons. Spock only turned to notice the incoming lawgivers when everyone else’s gaze caught them. The old man Tamar was zapped before one of the cloaked figures rambled on about absorption being necessary and other cult-like recitations.

It seemed Jim was particularly stubborn and rebellious today. He was insistent on refusing to go anywhere and even Spock and his non-existent hearing could recognize it. He waited until the lawgivers turned to concur to step into Kirk’s vision, making fists with thumbs up, moving his right hand forward, followed by pointing out to Kirk’s person and tapping his temple twice with a cupped hand. [How you know?]

Kirk’s response was formed by two thumbs up coming into the same area then turning into palms going back out, these palms moved in a minor circle, and one finger up being twice pointed to [Everything here stimulus]. Spock nodded, regarding it as logical. The figures turned back and rephrased their commands, Jim continuing to be defiant. He unexpectedly took one of the staffs, handing it to Spock who was close behind him. He glanced it over before leaning it against his chest to “talk” to the captain. He wiggled his fingers a moment before making a fist for [Fascinating] and made a half of a circle with one hand, spinning a finger above it, for [Hollow]. It was easy to tell that the harsh exhale through Jim’s nose was quite heated, even if he did obediently lead his party out after Reger promised a safe space somewhere else. Spock sensed his irritation and only made a move to hold his coat tail, instead of his hand, which would have unintentionally been gripping furiously.

Everyone walked in a tight group, courteously greeting passing strangers. Kirk looked to Spock, running his index finger down an open palm then used that index finger to point at him and then to his temple [What you think?]. Spock could only manage to shake his head. Then a thumb out tapped near the corner of his mouth to the apple of his cheek, hands wide and turning as though to open a lid and twist the pieces away from each other; pinky and thumb out on each hand waving up and down twice, two fingers together going in a circle before landing on the back of his other hand. [Yesterday, chaos; today, normal.]

Then, one of the men from yesterday -- Bilar -- greeted them a good morning, which was returned. Lindstrom still had reservations and concerns for Reger’s daughter Tula but Reger only brushed it off. Soon, they paused their trek as residents stopped in their tracks, which Reger said was due to Landru summoning the body. Spock made sure he had Jim’s eye to jolt out two fingers twice, one hand by his forehead and the other in front of him, conveying [Telepathy]. The others of the street were being controlled to pick up miscellaneous objects scattered on the pavement where they were stood. Captain Kirk called for phasers on stun, pointing to the setting so Spock got the message quickly. Reger took them galloping around the corner only to start to be cornered. Nothing could warn the unwilling participants so most ended up stunned by a wide field. They were able to clear the nearest alleyway, discovering Lt. O’Neil for the first time in days, carrying him along despite the risks.

Reger’s new shelter was constructed of large blocks of stone, similar to limestone from Earth, and was tucked away behind a heavy, somehow movable stone door. Behind a wood bunk bed frame was one of the nestled nooks in the wall, from which Reger revealed a light panel draped with a cloth. Spock signed [Amazing] to no one in particular as Kirk questioned the age, to which he was answered with a speculation of possibly six-thousand years. Spock held his hands as square corners and raised them up before holding a hand still, pointing the other hand’s middle finger to the side of it [Advanced technology]. He was beginning to sign about inconsistency but Jim stopped him halfway through.

The security officers were sent to watch the door as Kirk strolled by McCoy, who was in the middle of fashioning a hypo. Spock was taking tricorder readings and Jim signed to ask what he was seeing. There was apparently strong energy readings in all directions and Bones mentioned on an almost off-comment that O’Neil was coming to. Reger was concerned by this as O’Neil had already been absorbed and would prove a problem when he came around. Spock saw the taut lines on his face expressing the worry but did not understand it so Kirk translated why there would be an issue and that Reger was among them and others resisting Landru. As he was behind Reger, Spock pointed to him to signify he was asking the following question to him specifically, which was how they were organized. Kirk was the middle ground, verbalizing it, and relaying the system of threes and who made it up.

McCoy was still doing his business with O’Neill, telling Jim that a decision needed to be made in regards to him. Due to Reger’s insistence, he ordered another hypo to keep O’Neill off his feet and led Reger to the nearby table for further questioning. Questions about the survival of the underground network, who the Archons actually were, and of if the Archons were of a starship. With the last one, he made a connection and looked to Spock, asking about the strength of the power readings. And, yes, they were enough to destroy a starship. More realizations flooded in and he hailed the Enterprise.

Scotty was at Uhura’s side when they picked up the signal and warned the captain that the ship was under attack by some sort of heat rays. The shields were up but were draining all of their power. Kirk asked about their orbit, which happened to be in descension. The connection broke after Jim told him to keep the shield up and attempt to maintain orbit. He defeatedly put it down, tinkering a bit, when Spock lightly grabbed for his wrist, hand immediately retreating when the focus was caught to full-handedly tap his shoulder twice [Captain…]. He showed Jim the new readings, signifying they were being probed in a particular direction. Reger wailed that it was Landru and together, Spock and Jim recognized the power could not be blocked.

Then, just then, an apparition began to appear, forming an older man with a poof of grey hair, dressed in a black tunic layered under a blue robe and gold-bronze shoulder wrap, image showing at almost half opacity. He introduced himself as Landru and Spock made to point out it was nothing more than a projection. Jim agreed but mentioned, to himself at least, there was no apparatus before slipping into his confrontational mode. Landru spoke of so-called ancient evils that had been expelled and positives that he seeked. It felt like it was merely a recording by the way he did not directly answer Kirk’s questions or statements. Unsurprisingly, it continued on, threatening absorption and its supposed outcomes.

Then, there was the piercing ringing that could not be ignored. The security officers were the first to start buckling and seemed the most affected, almost everyone else following shortly after. It took Spock the longest to be affected as he lacked the ability to hear the ringing at all, sparing him a few moments to look upwards. But, then he joined the rest as the pain was seeded into his head and flourished, eventually causing him to fall on his back onto the table.

Whatever had just happened to them was certainly no good.

Jim was the first to awaken. He and Spock had been placed on other side of one of the wall’s couplings, Lindstrom and Leslie in one of the others. He took notice that his phaser and communicator were now off his person. It was also obvious that their holding area was new, based on the position of the door. Unfortunately, he could not find a niche and there appeared to be no other exit.

Frustrated, he circled back around and gently woke Spock, who was startled awake, as normal. However, he still stirred and began to stand as Kirk woke the other officers. After processing the surroundings, he came to where Kirk had looped around and fingerspelled ‘McCoy’, inquiring on his whereabouts. Jim huffed and held his hand open for a second before pulling it more froward and closing its fingers; he then finger spelt O’Neil and brought his fists near his chest, ending up flattened and facing out, then waving a hand slightly, its pinky and thumb out. [Gone; O-N-E-I-L, guard, too]. He was met with flat palms circling for two revolutions that became a thumb up and index finger pointing out, other index touching the thumb then extended finger, ending as a hand closing briefly over a palm and moving as up to pick up then drop something [Here, then removed]. Jim mimicked the motion for [Here] but held an inquisitive face during it. Two fingers held out and raised up, followed by fists pushing out twice, then an open palm waving a circle over a closed fist [High-security area]. He then lazily put his hands at his hips momentarily to see if Jim still had his weapons, which was a no. Spock turned on his heel after Jim turned on his to see Lindstrom awake with a pounding headache.

He could only hypothesize they had been subjected to hypersonic waves, given off at a rate just under lethal. It would explain the head pain and sudden loss of consciousness. When Jim mentioned the lawgivers and not being able to adapt, Spock was quick to shut him down, bringing up that it could not be depended upon. Well, he sped the last bit out quickly as he was working towards feeling one of the archways and composing his thought on the comparison between the lawgivers’ reaction and a computer with insufficient data. They quietly conversed out of Lindstrom or Leslie’s eye about the probability of the law-keepers being human or computer, until the door began to shift.

From behind it came two lawgivers, one of their officers, and McCoy. However, Bones’s usual accent was even more enriched and felt as though he was coming straight out of Georgia just now. Even his southern manners returned. Though, he appeared spaced out as it were and almost perfectly a blank slate. Kirk couldn’t manage to break it and it appeared landru was packed too tightly around the peach he called a brain. Spock very minorly signed [Like S-U-L-U], as Jim had a day or two before, from directly behind Kirk. This revitalized Leonard was much too content with what happened to him and the kindness of Landru. Too peculiar and odd for comfort.

Jim gave out and more lawgivers were not far behind that motion. They asked for him personally, meeting a harsh ‘no’ for an answer, and retaliated with threatening death. Spock could read the tinge of worry sweeping over him and advise it best to actually go. Jim grumbled and gave in, saying to work on bringing back Bones. But, unexpectedly, he took one of Spock’s hands and squeezed it just before he left. Spock had to hold back on letting his cheeks flush; it had been a good day and a half since they allowed their little touches and grasps of comfort.

He had to bite back on a disgruntled noise when he went to ask McCoy what was too happen to Jim and he seemed to understand Universal Sign Language even less than usual. He shook his head when he had enough with trying it, however, he could not let himself be overwhelmed right now; Jim was going to need him to stay level-headed and stoic. He thought back to the touching of their skin minutes before and it had a calming effect. Something about it gave him illogical hope that Jim would be alright.

Jim was unhappy, to say the least, about be pinned to the wall, about to be sucked into whatever shithole every other person on this planet had been thrown to. And he certainly wasn’t happy at the sight of this yellow robed ditz who showed up to take his shift.

Outside, Spock had been feeling at McCoy’s face, attempting a meld to break the trance. There was a bit of a communication barrier but the others understood when he shook his head to signify nothing was working. Lindstrom was understandably infuriated with the situation as a whole but whatever remarks he was about to make absentmindedly, would not be helpful other than to indulge in his distress. They had both come to the archway nearest them when more lawgivers appeared. Spock was the most presently forward and had a staff pointed at him. That ordering giver was speaking, which he could not discern, but the pointing was self explanatory enough. He came without a fight, unlike his counterpart before him, and allowed himself to be led to a room with an interesting choice of patterning.

On the way in, he was met with a dazed Kirk, fresh off the mind control wall. The grin painted on his face was almost uncharacteristic and his greeting gesture too fluid to feel entirely genuine. There wasn’t even an effort to convert his kind offerings to USL, which was admittedly emotion-evoking. There was a miniature pool of dread beginning in the bottom of his stomach as Kirk saw himself out.

Spock, again, made no threatening moves as he stepped the platform to lay flat against the wall. He let his hands down with ease yet he was still faced with two staffs in his face. He would have rolled his eyes if he were more than half human and sighed with relief as they left.

The man of the yellow robes was fidgeting with dials and sliders, Spock watching the lighting playing out above his head. Their gazes finally met and the man in robes began to introduce himself and explain the situation in USL, most likely having heard the need for it from Jim before him, had he truly not be brainwashed. There was the flicker of hope sparking again.

Marplon released him and Spock made sure to solidify that the captain had gone unharmed. It may have been an important detail elsewhere, but Spock was not particularly interested in that Marplon was the third of Reger’s triad, too invested in other such questions he had. Even if there wouldn’t have been anything said verbally, Marplon still feared Landru would be peering in if he answered the questions and thus, hurried the Vulcan along after returning the stolen phasers. It was quite difficult to ‘act as the captain had before him’ since he was not entirely sure of the common words thrown among Landru’s following, so he took up gentle nodding and placing a hand where his heart would have been if he were human.

He held it there the entire walk back, not entirely sure why. Upon his arrival, he noticed Jim was in the same crux and gave the Vulcan version of a ‘I know you’re faking’ stare until Jim gave up the act and signed, asking if he was alright, face trying not to contort with worry. McCoy was quick to stand and the common gesture hand was replaced. They spoke for a good minute, in raveled tongues Spock did not and would not understand, going along with the gesture part way through anyway. As Kirk turned him and Lindstrom away, he offered the closest thing to a disgusted look his heritage would allow.

With the semblance of privacy, Jim asked about the theory Spock mentioned he had been working on; the society lacked a soul and Landru was not a being in the sense that humans were inclined to believe. There was a ghost of two smiles when they realized their brains were working on the same wavelength, no matter if they were brushing fingers or not: Landru’s plug needed pulling.

Though on the same page, Spock still naturally had to remind him of their prime directive but Jim countered with mentioning this wasn’t a living and thriving culture the were talking about. Just as he finished that sentence, Marplon and Reger began to sweep through the one entrance. McCoy was quick to greet them, in a passive and peaceful manner. They replied graciously before stepping through to return confiscated communicators. Jim did not shy away from bringing up more information on Landru being needed and that Marplon himself had asked of their help, with it returning that they’d need his help as well. Spock’s tap to his shoulder was like a jolt, pointing out the now agitated McCoy.

One moment, he was shouting his head off with nonsensical verbals about the body and the next, he was attempting to choke Jim and called others to take action. Spock had to throw a man down, for gods’ sakes. Once Jim set Bones down, he motioned Spock to take the side opposite him on the archway’s backside to defend against coming lawgivers together. They brought them down swiftly and made haste to collect the robes, too fast to have Kirk make a sly comment on Spock’s used methodology.

Jim didn’t waste a second to ask where Landru was housed, Reger and Marplon suddenly turning inward with fear. However, he managed to get out of them that the Hall of Audiences, where he was held, was in the same building. He turned to Spock with half curled index fingers, pulling one hand through the air above the other, then hand spelt Enterprise [Call E-N-T-E-R-P-R-I-S-E]. He made one last displeased comment towards the cowering men before him just as Spock hailed the ship.

The attempt was successful but Scotty’s news was far from good. Six more hours until full decay. The heat beams were proving to be more of a challenge than first thought. Kirk was listening the entire time and got across his own message about standing by. His next order of business was putting a guard on Sulu, despite his seemingly calm and poised nature. He didn’t have the time to micromanage the ship since he was already fairly occupied down there.

Spock handed him a phaser and with that, he finally started getting answers out of their underground confidants. Landru had wrought actual peace and tranquility during a period of war, living on to see and hear everything. That was the most he got out of him voluntarily. He asked once more for the pair to take them to Landru, in which Reger submitted to hysteria and landed himself into getting nerve pinched to settle down.

Marplon alone brought Jim and Spock to the Hall of Audiences. He hesitantly opened the doors at Kirk’s request to let them stroll in. The brown robes were stripped before Jim took to his usual way of being loud and confrontational, Spock left to guess what he was spouting to withdraw Landru. A familiar apparition then formed and spoke of them as invaders and ‘an infection to the body’, requiring annihilation. Jim went to reason with it when Spock reminded him it was merely a projection. A light bulb struck and Kirk had them pull their phasers to blast through the wall separating the computers from the main room.

The computer apparatus was blocky and decorated with blinking lights, no doubt signalling it was functioning properly. They shared an understanding look and began to stride forward, Spock making a remark by barely lacing his fingers and shaking the connected hands [Machine]. Jim simply nodded and pointed his phaser, Spock following after, to simultaneously ‘pull the plug’. The computer -- Landru -- decided to be a cheeky little shit and neutralize their weapons, forcefully solidifying that it was Landru and everything that once made him up.

Annoying as it was, Jim used it as backfire. The feeding of contradictory data did its job by forcing the computer to slowly die for a moment. The part that mattered of its next statement was the good of the body. That’s what the most important thing to it was.

Boldy, Jim turned the statement to ask what the good actually was, waiting for the explanation to then pit it against the machine that it was the harmful being. The insufficient data method started by asking how individuals were done justice and dealt with. Spock then had a directed question on whether it was aiding or destroying which Jim translated for him. The answer of being out of program came seconds before lawgivers trotted in, seeking guidance. They were not threat as they had nothing to guide them, therefore leaving the interrogation to proceed.

Creativity was vital to the health of the body, but the lack thereof due to Landru withholding it was killing the body. Good had to be made and the prime directive was to cast out evil; in this case, the digital conscious of Landru happened to be the evil it was working to fight. Jim kept repeating the statement as sparks flew and smoke began to rise, signifying the computer destroying itself from the inside by way of processing this data. As it was near the end of its burnout, Jim began a triumphant smile, stepping into the area to inspect the outcome. He advised Marplon on discarding the tacky yellow robe and seeing to finding a new job just before hailing the Enterprise.

It was successful and the ship was now out of danger, Mr. Sulu back to his usual self and coming to take his seat at the helm once again. The glorious grin returned and he told Spock they should go check up on the others to ensure quality states of minds before beaming up. During this investigation, Lindstrom decided to stay behind with experts to rebuild the culture and discover its potential. Kirk accepted this and continued to eye the rest of the party.

Back aboard, he reclaimed his command chair as Spock turned to him, shakings his hands and ending in ‘OK’ signs [Marvelous]. Jim quirked an eyebrow to signal him to specify. Both thumbs and pinkies out, touching and turning at the thumbs, then a thumb up to tap his shoulder and land the side of the hand on his bicep [The engineering, the authority]. Jim’s response was pointed index fingers that briefly touching before going out, one of them then being used to draw an air loop, and a mimic of barely laced fingers, all together being [But only machine]. There had been no compassion, no heart, and no spirit. Spock agreed and expressed his preference for concrete and physical traits.

Jim wore a tender smile as he teased that Spock would make a splendid computer. Spock took it as a compliment, thanking him with the ghost of a smirk on his lips. He would have went for grasping Jim’s hand to give it a gentle squeeze hand it not hand to press the button to receive a comm line to his chair. It was Lindstrom checking in and putting his goodbyes in order before the ship entirely left orbit. He signed the minor report to Spock who could only raise his brows in amazement to the true human nature down there. He let out a half-sigh before remarking on the naturally human seek for the type of paradise that had been present on the planet. Jim could only call it lucky that they hadn’t succeeded in achieving it.

He held a tender look, Spock offering an agreeable one, and they met in the middle as far as reaching to intertwine their hands on the console.

#pant talks #ficlet #deaf spock au #the return of the archons #tl;dr #i'm questioning whether to start posting my deaf spock stuff to ao3 now #or wait till i write city on the edge of forever #idk

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backwards-pumpkin-blog · 6 years

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Best Motherboard for Z270 Processor in 2018!

This past year was crazy with fresh processor launches from AMD and Intel. Intel got things began with a refresh of its on-going Skylake architecture, codenamed Kaby Lake, which brought faster clockspeeds and some brand-new facilities to the prevailing LGA1151 system. AMD countered using its Ryzen processors and the AM4 good, and Intel released its enthusiast Skylake-X/Kaby Lake-X parts with LGA2066 and AMD countered with Threadripper and socket TR4. With the new cpus, it could be difficult to learn how motherboards will be the best for every platform. Intel's new seventh Gen Espresso lake processor chips has gone out now, even though these types of people utilize the same LGA1151 tooth socket as Kaby Lake, of the processors need brand-new 300-series chipsets. But if you are thinking of create a new mainstream system with an Intel processor chip, where in fact the Core i7-7700K and Core i5-7600K remain respectable options at reasonable prices, you'll want to begin which includes a Z270 motherboard. The start features, style, and performance from Z97 to Z270 has been useful and dramatic to enthusiasts of most stripes, awry outstripping CPU advancements as Haswell. Many Z270 motherboards support multiple x4 Pci-e Gen3 M. 2 slot machine games, enough PCIe lanes dual-GPU configurations, changeable or subtle color schemes, Realtek’s new ALC1220 sound codec is commonplace, and as well , there are always a sponsor of refinements for overclocking. Mounts for 3D-imprinted add-ons are even beginning to appear. In the mean time, legacy ports are beginning to disappear. USB 2 . zero headers and back-panel fittings are receiving swapped for a few. 0 and 3. you counterparts. SATA interface counts are receiving shaved to free of charge space and assets for M. 2 and as well , U. 2 storage space. Every one of the boards right here feature at minimum a couple of M. 2 slot machines, and each is full- velocity, 32 Gb/s implementations. The times of SATA could be using (at least if indeed they will get prices on M. 8 SSDs right down to more sensible levels). The Z270 chipset (and other 200-series parts) take a position backwards appropriate for 6th Style Skylake CPUs, and 100-series chipsets may also use 7th Gen Kaby Lake processors. Nevertheless, Z270 provides four extra PCIe lanes, which explains why wish seeing even more M. a pair of slot machine games this round, and you will also want a 200-series chipset if you would like to make use of Intel's Optimus Storage engineering, technological innovation. While most motherboards will continue to work to tell the truth, enthusiasts will need more than the bottom level of efficiency and features often. After considerable research and testing, these are the very best Z270 motherboards.

ASUS Maximus IX Hero Review

The mid-range Maximus Hero IX reflected its name during testing, dealing with motherboards costing almost as very much and frequently pulling forward on performance or features twice, which makes it best overall elect for Z270.

Gunmetal grey heatsink designs and relatively restrained styling clothe this in any other case hardcore gaming item in upscale attire. Go home away the Aura light and you might presume a fresh workstation table. This unbiased color scheme is effective at extravagant rig builders as well; start the lights just, match your colours, and you’re all set, regardless of what neon-colored parts or court cases in store.

Hardware hobbyists will see plenty to experiment with also. Subtly included along the upper correct and simply lower plank edges happen to be control keys for power, program reboot, storage reset, and so BIOS access, which are nice additions when tinkering within a workbench. Extensive and well-placed lover headers are supported by features such a circulation tachometer for drinking water soothing loops and ASUS’s complex BIOS lover control.

In addition, all of this attention takes care of in addition to the best multiplier and mémoire figures among the boards examined right here. The Hero IX handled a stress- free of charge 5. 1 GHz and so pushed two-stick memory space styles beyond their rated 3600 MHz capacity. Further, post-benchmark BCLK testing elevated who to nearly 5. 2ghz without incident before the warmth became one factor. None of the various other boards right here came repair, with the Hero upstaging ASUS’s own even, more costly Formula IX.

ASUS ROG STRIX Z270I Review

Micro motherboards happen to be back business again because of the success of Intel’s NUC route and the evolution of on the internet streaming, with ITX large systems enjoying an upgraded relevance for DIY masters. These smaller sized boards offer features that significantly outstrip likewise priced ATX boards frequently, simply perfect for spending budget building workers who do not brain ltd expansion options later on.

ASUS’s new Strix items include things like basic level for the Republic of Gamers lineup, however the Z270I feels mainly because fine simply because the Maximus motherboards near the top of the stack. Posting the same dark grey, blown steel heatsinks and heavy PCB as the big chat rooms, it feels as though a discount at list price.

Like the majority of ITX boards, an B. 2 slot lives on all flipside within an inaccessible region after initial set up just ASUS includes another slit at the top of the Strix, concealed underneath what appears like that chipset shield in little channel that accommodates get sticks up to 80mm long.

Aura lighting helps it be onboard as well, with a type of LEDs beneath the motherboard's right part and an RGB header for exterior lighting pieces. Wi-Fi is usually provided via 2T2R Atheros wireless at approximately half gigabit speed, and the hardware handles Bluetooth 4. 1 works. New ALC 1220A CODEC can be used for sound realtek’s, backed with ASUS’s SupremeFX tweaks and a great up to date software program layer; advantageous additions because so many ITX platforms are destined for living space media use.

Shortcomings will be inevitable in that tiny bundle, and the Strix includes a couple of. While earlier ROG ITX boards from ASUS got no trouble reaching storage and simply multiplier limitations with Haswell and Skylake, the Z270i Strix struggled to attain 5GHz via multiplier and could not support 3600MHz DDR4 CORDIAL NIP.

As the true numbers were much better than MSI’s Z270I Gaming Pro Carbon ITX, there’s still area for improvement, specifically equipped with ASRock’s Fatality Z270 GAMING-ITX/AC offering extras like integrated Thunderbolt 3. In the event that's a gift you wish, ASRock's which provide is usually a close second.

MSI Z270 Tomahawk Review

While lots to like about Z270 there’s, additional dollars necessary for buy-in certainly are a drawback. Component producers have not been shy about walking prices for the previous few chipet generations, although the strike certainly is not as large as it had been from Z97 to Z170. An instant diagnostic at Newegg yields an absolute price basement around $105 for an entry-level Z270 board.MSI’s Tomahawk cable retails only a few dollars above this price flooring but provides a credible middle group of features and construction non-etheless. The dark teal and red colorization scheme uses crimson backlighting, an assessed design on the PCB, and simply an integral I/O shroud from illuminated logo design. The total result is handsome, of course, if potential element color choices clashes be concerned you, there’s an arctic white edition available that appears better and can match any style in store even.Don’t expect top-shelf storage CPU or functionality speeds with this spending budget board, however. The multiplier check came up brief at 4. 9 GHz and memory space was limited by 3200MHz. Benchmark figures reflected regarding, but didn’t affect considered video gaming performance too much. Exotic parts like pre-binned 5GHz CPUs and high-speed DDR4 aren’t usually on the menu with budget builds anyway.Rear We /O entails 8 USB ports, integrating 1 type C and so five type A UNIVERSAL SERIES BUS 3. 1 connectors. Ethernet, is dealt with via Intel’s low-latency V219 controller.One particular drawback well worth mentioning may be the aging Realtek ALC 892 sound codec. While flawlessly sufficient for standard duties, almost all of the additional boards right here sport the brand new ALC 1220, which includes around eight years of developments. Fortunately, MSI’s codec execution is a great a person, which means this isn’t an offer breaker, but if leading edge disturbance is component of your strategy, look elsewhere.For ultra-budget builds, MSI’s H270 Tomahawk variants provide practically identical looks and similar performance at even lower prices, although just forget about overclocking or memory space data above 2133.

#motherboard #mobo #z270 motherboard #best motherboard for z270

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that1normalkidd · 6 years

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Monsters Don’t Need Hearts Chapter 3

Madness.

This was nothing more than madness.

With every day that passed any thought of freedom...of life returning to what it was a year ago diminished to just that...a thought. No longer was it a goal that seemed to be achievable but yet a feeble hallucination which I and many others escaped to.

Hero's who hadn't been rounded up during the first wave of the Chitauri had been caught attempting to start up a resistance against our new 'leader'. Most of them now calling dingy 30 foot underground cells home.

The Avengers though had their own 'special' cells. Over hearing Loki speaking to one of the cells guards one day he went into great detail about how each cell had to be uniquely designed and built to nullify everyone's abilities. If they didn't have any true power such as Natasha, Clint, and Tony their cells were simple ones with 10 inch thick titanium walls and an unbreakable foreign glass which he had imported from Vanaheim, a realm where powerful sorcerers reigned supreme. Each glass panel was infused with a magic that made it immune to any sort of piercing and bludgeoning damage. It was also impervious to bullets even though it was impossible to sneak any sort of weapon past the guards.

In the wake of Midgard falling I had become Loki's...personal slave in a sense. It was a far from scintillating life. Every day was spent cleaning his chambers, cooking whatever food he desired and many other remedial tasks which the raven haired god was fully capable of doing himself. But with so many servants and slaves why do anything yourself?

His ego inflated with every day that passed, causing him to become more and more reckless. More so the usual 150 to 200 Chitauri patrol squads that were sent during the night to roam the desolate city for any wanderers or people plotting against to overthrow him had turned into 100. With more and more rebels being thrown into prison what more did he have to fear but himself? In the end Loki would be his own downfall, I would make sure of it.

------

The sky was once again a dim gray, only ever changing to a darker hue as the days went by. Clouds ceased to ever form leaving it a blank canvas littered with hundreds of alien spacecraft. Mothers and fathers held tightly onto their little ones as they traded in their currency for food or clothing.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I supported my frame against the ever thin glass of my chambers. For warmth I hugged myself tightly, rubbing the palms of my hands against my forearms.

Every day the hate which I had once harbored towards the so called 'god' I, like many others, was forced to call King seemed to diminish. Strangely he had done me no harm much to my dismay. Neither had he physically harmed any of the other servants he had in his lavish castle. We were clothed in more than comfortable garments and were given the opportunity to eat whenever we finished our daily duties.

But why?

What was he trying to prove by treating us so much better than the men, women, and children who suffered outside the castle walls? Were these...physical walls some sort of veil for him? A veil which hid the pain of the outside world?

It angered me that I was slowly being unable to hate the man who threatened to take my only family from me...the man who was the sole reason for my parents being taken from me. Why was it that I was finding it so hard to.. hate him.

I should hate him.

But why cant I?

"(Y/N), the king wants you."

A sudden voice severed me from my absentminded state, causing me to turn to its source.

All I could do was smile upon seeing who the voice belonged to.

Alexandria was her name but I called her Alex, or she would belittle me if I called her by her birth name.

Unable to ever go back out into the world I was once so accustomed to I was forced to create new connections with the people I worked alongside with everyday. Alex and I connected when I accidentally spilled a canister of water on her head. Of course she was infuriated at first but after many apologies and a sly joke it was like it never happened and we chatted the next 5 minutes away while I helped her dry off.

She had hair as red as the blood which coursed through our veins and blue eyes that glistened brightly whenever the smallest sliver of light reflected from them.

"When doesn't he want me? What is it this time, does he need his sheets changed again?" I laughed, making my way towards the woman whom I had come to call sister.

Alex stifled a laugh before giving me a light punch in the arm, leading me down the grand hall to Loki's chambers.

"Probably. Wouldn't surprise me if he wanted you to bring him some more of your amazing soup."

"What haven't I don't at this point? 10 bucks I'm going to have to start reading to him before he goes to sleep."

The ginger glanced over at me and smiled. "Deal."

Once Alex and I arrived at the door of his bedroom we said our goodbyes for the evening knowing well we would most likely see each other again before we headed to bed.

"See ya later girlie. Remember, 10 bucks!"

She whispered as she disappeared down the corridor.

I waved her off and smiled.

"Whatever. Go eat and read a book!"

Silence

I found myself unable to knock on the wooden door before me. Why? I couldn't even say.

Just knock on the door (Y/N)!

Mentally I cursed at myself.

5 minutes must have gone by before my internal struggle of whether or not to open the door was cut short.

"How long do you plan on standing here I do wonder."

That voice.

My body jumped at the sudden noise and cause me to whip myself around, causing me to then bump into an incredibly solid figure.

Loki..

Quickly I fumbled to find words.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"I-I um..."

In response to my evident incoherent state the god of mischief chuckled, his voice deep and smooth...sultry almost.

"Can my kitten not speak?"

Kitten...

Ever since I had become one of his favored servants that was the name he had given me. I wondered if he knew what my birth name was and after a few days of thought I had come to the conclusion that he did but 'kitten' seemed to fit me better in his twisted mind.

Gathering myself and my senses I bowed, as I was to do and looked him in his eyes. Those cold blue orbs always intrigued me...they put a front of strength and not seeming to have any sort of desire to be close to anyone but there were a few moments...very rare moments where they flashed pain, hurt, and loss. A vulnerability which he had never privately shown anyone much less publicly.

"My king...I was told you desired my presence."

Loki continued to stare into my eyes for a moment before then pushing past me and opening the doors to his chambers, gesturing for me to follow.

Unlike the rest of his lavish home his bedroom was quite simple but sophisticated. The bed which rested on the far left wall was fitted with green sheets, engraved in them were golden accents which only added to its beauty. The pillows were gold as well and covered in a thin silk liner to keep them from collecting any sort of dirt or dust. Paintings and pictures of Asgard and Joutenheim decorated every forest green wall. Every time I entered the room there seemed to be some new painting or decoration.

I stood near the foot of the bed and watched as Loki shut the doors behind him.

"Tell me (Y/N). Look outside and tell me what you see."

Seeing a window only a few feet from where I stood I went to it, resting a hand on the wall next to it.

My heart for a moment fluttered with joy as 3 children ran in the streets, playing tag.

"I see children...playing games. Parents buying food, buying clothes."

Within a second Loki was by my side, sharing the same view as I.

A part of me wanted to question how he had gotten near me so quickly and without making a sound but then just as quickly as the question came to me I dismissed it, knowing the answer.

Magic.

"I want children playing everywhere (Y/N). This realm will be brought to prosperity. Families will no longer go hungry."

Was this...the same Loki, god of Mischief and Trickery who attempted to kill his brother only 3 years ago? The same Loki who attempted to take over only 2 years ago? It couldn't be.

"That can't happen Loki and you know it. There are too many mouths on this world to feed."

Our eyes met once more before I quickly averted mine.

Another laugh.

"Ah but that is where you lack the mindset to see what I see kitten. When I stayed in Asgard I found that Odin and the other gods were blind to the families who suffered outside of that castle of theirs. Everyday I would walk the streets of what you humans call 'the middle class'. Many of them filthy and begging for food while above them the gods became fat off of their own ignorance. Children who were deemed...different tossed aside. Midgard is just like Asgard in more ways than you dare to think. It will take time yes but with imports from the other 8 realms I will make this place more prosperous than Asgard ever was."

As he spoke his eyes sparked with curiosity and was that...excitement? No. It couldn't possibly be.

This couldn't be the same Loki.

All I could do was listen to his plan...his dream which he most likely had never dared tell anyone else...or maybe everyone else feared him too much to ever give him a chance.

He waved his hand, heading towards his lavish king sized bed.

"I wish to sleep but it has become a rather difficult task the past few days. Read me a book, maybe that will ease my mind."

Seriously?

10 bucks.

Confused, I raised a brow and watched the god remove the thin burgundy shirt which covered his upper body. What was underneath surprised me. He was nowhere near as built as his brother but Loki was no stick. The muscle which he did have defined and toned. Needless to say the way he looked...fit him...well he was a god of course.

I could feel my cheeks heating up with every second my (E/C) orbs stared at his body so I quickly turned to the bookshelf which was to the right of the bed.

"What would you like for me to read?"

A tired sigh left Loki's lips as he pulled the sheets over his lower half, his upper half finding rest on the headrest. "Pick whatever you think is best. I just wish to sleep."

"I see. Don't be mad at me when I pick out some children's lullaby."

It wasn't hard to feel the smirk on his lips.

"I would not be opposed to it."

My (E/C) eyes scanned the spines of each book while my pointer finger felt the leather. Each one with a unique feel to their covers.

Finally I settled on a book called 'The Lost Child.'

I found a wooden seat which had a green cushion somehow sewn on top of the wood giving the chair additional comfort.

Strangely it smelled of him. Lavender and mint. It was relaxing...and soothing to have something that reminded me of him.

Why is that?

Why am I not...thinking of ways to help Thor and the others escape?

Why is it that I'm thinking of him.

The book was of a young boy who couldn't fit anywhere he went. No matter how hard he seemed to try he seemed to end up right back where he started, alone.

"...mama! The boy cried, looking around for the face which always gave the boy joy and happiness, searching for the voice which always brought on comfort and war-."

I cut myself off as I heard the sound of snoring. It wasn't loud by any means but it was just loud enough for me to notice.

Loki had fallen asleep, his body resting on its side with strands of his wavy jet black hair tickling his nose and cheeks.

He looks...peaceful...

I smiled as I sat for a few moments, watching his toned and pale chest rise and fall before standing to my feet. Carefully I pulled the cover over his chest and tucked the book beneath my arm.

"Goodnight...my king."

-That's the end of Chapter 3! I really hope you all are enjoying it! Please feel free to comment!

I may or may not add Chapter 4 tomorrow it all simply depends on how I'm feeling!

Bye all of you beautiful souls! <3

Tags:@stuckupstucky

#loki #loki laufeyson #loki (marvel)#loki odinson #loki x reader #tom hiddleston #thor #smut #loki x you #loki fanfic #marvel #mc

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dailytragediesaboutarchitecture · 3 years

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This interview, is dated 2019, was the last conversation that I made in ŞanalArch after a couple of visitings to the office and observing daily activities through design process. Even though, the confusion in my mind is obviously apparent, Alexis wisely comprehend my intent and answer the questions broadly.

Via theory;

-There is an evident consciousness in the office. It’s like considering a design issue in pieces, Is it something that people follow strategically or it’s more intuitive? but it’s certain that you created a collective mind here.

- What is the importance of first perception for the project via design process? Or is it possible to describe that kind of an enlightenment moment?

-Is it really possible to describe a route between model-mock up and building itself?

I mean in theory, there must be. But what about in practice?

Work based questions;

-How did you define learning tools in architectural production processes not only within the scale of a building, in variety of scales of course, a city or a product. This question occurs to me with ephemeral library exhibition.

-Can you describe your approach to Hacımimi? How was the process?

-And facade decisions of Hacımimi, how they emerged and got their final shape?

-Between off-site manufacturing (we can say designing in the office) and post crafting processes (with material searches let say) is it possible to describe a scientific area for architecture without caring spatial references? For example parametric tools and their form based searches. What do you think about them?

Soruların hepsinin baştan sona üzerinden geçerek başlıyorum. Alexis sakin bir dille doğru anladığından emin olmaya çalışıyor.

A: So you are interesed in off-site manufacturing, post crafting..

Ck: In fact I’m interested in if we can describe a scientific experimental area for architectural production. And I’m thinking that it must be between off-site manufacturing and it must also include these crafting issues as you defined it as post-crafting. So in which area you can define it?

A: Let me think if I can understand the question correctly. Maybe I can answer other questions so let me give a broad on the process. Let’s start with the process. Very general.

Ck: Ok.

A: So we state that we have knowledge based process and basically what that means is we always start with a fairly similar point which is asking what is the purpose of this project. And asking what is the purpose of the project to all the situations it impacts. So that can be the purpose in a piece in the city, it can be a purpose for the investor, it can be a purpose for the community that uses it. But it can also be a purpose for, I think what you interested in, how can we advance the craft of our profession in our context and we often see projects as a purpose in that means. So... Then from there we do try very quickly to look at not necessarily at form but in the sense of program, I want to say symbolism – maybe not right word symbolism but hmm- and also the fact of our profession is be working with regulations. So we do have these three things we have to work within. So usually we have kind of a map what the regulations are, imar durumu, you know, general things right. The program, you know how this program is going to serve for this purpose and if we need a new program, so we need to add it to program. In order to achieve these programs, we need other professions. And then the last one which is kind of how in our field can we use kind of geometry materials sequence form. You know to get these things together. Right? And as they work themselves out we end up with a project concept. Hmm so in out situation this ends up being quite abstract for a while the first phase of the project we work a lot with graphics very simple building massing for getting the regulations and very simple scenario building. So once, I think you are interested once we get that little that those thing have come together. At once somethings have come together because our profession is at the end of the day building architectural places. And we got a purpose we try to see what part of our mmm... you know what... (waiting and thinking very carefully) for example in Kütahya we are very interested in using terracotta and stone and wood. You, we try to really start from these are seem to be the materials that we would like to explore there like stucco, terracotta and wood. Or in Hacımimi stucco, metal and growies. But some of them also architectural features like what is the land turn. (5:09) what is it to be in between two buildings. What is a canopy for something. So between materials and then like let say architectural forms like canopy, land turn, threshold, aperture. And then materials we try to start kind of we put this things in a dialogue with each other and they push and pull against each other we find. So coming back we start by then once we kind a get this push and pull we start to talk, ok what is all of our terracotta options, let’s go talk to A, B, C, D and what they are manufacturing craft is. Hmm…Let’s go see what’s happening in the world, let’s see what our budget can do. And then, through that again we start again letting things talk to each other and talk to each other… and that’s when we start this phase but like modeling phases. We are kind of usually come up with a …

Ck: But it’s like a representational purpose or is it about the understanding the relations of that project.

A: No, it’s to understand the relations. It’s actually help us further to understand those relations. So during this phase we usually are very.. We focus.. Because you’ve kind of watched. Let’s say we are in the middle of Kütahya right now and we start to build the little pieces. In Bomonti we start the process of doing these little things, putting these elements together so we start getting the form together and the materials together and we go somewhere between we kind of move very seamlessly between rhino, sketch up, model, rhino-sketch up-model, rhino-sketch up-model, to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… So rhino helps us figure out how the geometry and the parametrics of materials. Sketch up helps us make sure with the program is working right and it’s kind of working right in its place. And than the models help us kind of see if we can build it and communicate. Like if we can’t build a model of it, we can’t build it. It’s basically what we find. Then for example we tend to start detailing also mostly in drawings and sketch up. Where we keep thinking parts of it into rhino model or prototyping. So that point we would like... You know. OK, we want to do corrugated model. For example, this project started by wanting to make it all out of zinc. We have a bunch of zinc prototypes trying to figure out how to use different methods of zinc whether we use kind of standing seen whether we use sheet where there we kind of clip lock it, whether we can cut it, emboss it. So that goes through a long process with the manufacturers based on who is going to build it, who they can find the craft the material, and you know what are design criteria is. So for example, by the time we finish the zinc which I have all those samples for. it was this idea economy collapsing zing was too expensive.

Ck: Yes, Handan told me a little bit about those budget problems.

A: So then it comes back, and then we get ok well, we still have the design, what other materials can we make it out of it? Anyway, so we start with the metal we try to get the scale of it, we look at different options in shape,2d. We look at all the kind of their criteria, now we have new panel sizes that we have to think of new optimizations, we have think of new budgets, new colors, everything. And so we started the process with same design criteria, but with the different. So that’s what I think you find a saying this post-crafting. Because there is the craft of the zinc which we have to work within whatever they can make. But then we take that information as our design input to actually craft our design within their craft. So it allows us to move -one can say successfully or unsuccessfully- between, we are not material determinant we are kind of what we want to achieve determinant. So if we fail in zinc, we apply the same process in another material. And the same goes for each element. For example, you know, is the point to make a loudest lantern, can we make a loudest lantern? We can make it out of wood, we can make it out of steel, we can me it out of plants. You know, we originally want to make it out of wood, it wasn’t feasible. We wanted to make it out of plants, we had to limit that so this very iterative process of using models and prototypes and mock-ups in these kind of feed back loop. We try our best to not lose the design intent even if the kind of construction methods, economy or authorship changes. So when is the poetics come in? The poetics come in to this actual crafting and committing to these materials and really try to push the limits of them. So if you think of no matter what we do we are still accountable to the economy, to the building regulations, to the construction methods. Then what we try to do is actually really look at that particular thing and when we build the overall you -know- at a smaller scale to see if that’s getting the effect that we imagine. We try to work at different scales like this residential enough, the economy of doing the smaller folds, how much perforation feels to much to little.. You know… I think really committed to trying to make the subcontractors in our economy very successful so we try to not import solutions or import materials but really try to find a way we can make the mid-size small size as well as kind of material size very successful. So for us it’s very iterative but it’s also very… So kind of answering your question of that path, so there is a concept model right? And then it goes into let’s say schematics, schematics are king of fishing for you know… and there we fish a lot. We like; Ok, we do that corrugated aluminum, we did out of cables. So did, so did, so did we end up with committing out of these paths and start actually in a building at one to one in every environment so like we build it one to one in our hands in Sketch up. We build it for one to one for us to how relates to the other element. And we build it to make sure that in the human scale when you touch it or feel it and everything, it make sense direct distances and stuff. And then you know hopefully if all goes well, it starts getting built as components. So for us they all a very seamless act.

Ck: Yes, I thought the back and forths are not very visible in this graphic but there are still there.

Alexis; There is a lot of back and forth. Even during application there is a lot of back and forth. Because we're trying. Because of that sense of purpose because we're trying to both facilitate the community to have this investment support them. We're trying to have support our profession and we're trying to very much support making project feasible. So for example, in a very minor example that you could -it's easier to relate to- is something like Salt research. For example, that was something, we came up with a few different… back to kind of a few different concepts for who the audience was you know, what the clients purpose was and then what you know architecturally was compelling and so in that case it was very much about trying the concentration, trying to get a kind of contrast in space, trying to give a holistic space because a lot of in space were very… And trying to give really be able to visualize and yet feeling a sense of solitude. And the client in this case their purpose was to really support their leadership, make their collection in art and design visible and make the main library work more as a public library s o there wasn’t this tension any more. And you know , most of these since our very aligned, we wanted to have very natural materials, absolutely minimum all meet from the micro businesses around and pretty monochromatic. We're like the upstairs are very much different in that way. Like telling stories and talking about idiosyncratic places. This was about creating a kind of series of settings. That were very very different.

So one is you know your classic reference table. The other side is this kind of in and out. Everybody look in different directions and the third one is completely just open and a free for all. So but it all feels like one complete touch but each one is actually incredibly idiosyncratic. So we started by actually building lots of different shape rhino models to optimize all the curves and then doing a lot of different sketch up models to kind of actually simulate some of the lighting and settings and doing all the calculations of how many people fit. And then we started doing a lot of little 3D printed models to see if each little setting seemed to be spatially comfortable. And then we started doing a lot of prototypes of all the plywood tables and how the edges would feel when you touched it and how the finishes were when you touched it and how the legs would have lots of samples of all the different papers that we hooked at. And then for that one we just went on and also the lighting element so that you know we looked at different ways that we could cast all the plexiglass and again doing lots of sample sample samples. So to answer like we would do for us the difference between like models and samples and prototypes and the actual thing is a fairly continuous string of proofing the project that each phase so once it's built. I shouldn't say this out loud. Once it built its kind of. There is a sense of it just being another iteration of that process. It's kind of like “Hmm, OK.”

Laughing…

Ck: Yeah. OK. Well I think you answered the questions about Hacımimi partially so maybe I should pass them for now. And for the work-based questions. I think you talked thinking about these learning tools. In architectural production processes. I mean not only within the scale of a building a city or a product maybe. How can you define those learning tools or define the change of them?

A: For example?

Ck: Maybe, It can be about this game, the game that you prepared for the city or in ephemeral library maybe.. Of course those are very different presentations.

A: Ok. Let me. I have a way to think about this. So one of the things that we've been working on a lot recently is this notion of rehearsals. So for example, in the city, I mean I can give a few examples… So for example in the city maybe it would be nice to actually look at the whole and actually rehearse the changes we think would be effective like rather than building a bunch of new roads and redoing all the paving and everything but you just paint the streets and put in some kind of soft bollards and test a new traffic scenario that allows more space for the pedestrians allows for a more seamless car thing. And… You know, put in some clusters of very simple tables and plants to do this. For example, in Bomontiada, to get people used to actually coming to Bomontiada from Beyoğlu, we first created a very small of though for them and then after a few months of people starting to become comfortable to come to this space which was spatially so much vaster and bigger we opened up that intimate space to being a bit more of a social space. And then when people got comfortable with this knew that this room was there for them and it was a social space for them. We took that out and then created an outdoor performance space to show how they can use the other side of it. So each one of those phases was to invite people in. To use the space and build kind of one to one the scale of the city. For example, the streets available are much more intimate. You're used to having a much stronger contact with each other and so. You're not changing everything at once you're just changing the situation but the space is actually as intimate as it was in Beyoğlu.

[00:07:24] Then you go you say Okay now that you're comfortable being here why did you try looking at each other because there is more space here so now you can actually enjoy the theater of a wide street so to say... And you can watch people coming and going and see what's going on. And then once people got comfortable that that space was theirs and it was for watching each other. Then we said okay you can. You don't need any intervention there now. You know how to use it. We're gonna put that now over here so you guys get used to having a place that's kind of an outdoor cinema. We did the same for also Robert college in the sense that we before we did the student union he said take everything out for one year just watch what students do and see how they move. Do they get comfortable like having this big space. Do they come down or do they… Well, let's just see what they do. Just open it up and see what they do and just let it be raw and messy and you know just make it clean but just see you know if they behave themselves if they do this if they play games if they sit around if they bring chairs just watch them and get people to get used to the fact that that is theirs and it's you know it's being given back to them. And then through that period we worked with the students and teachers and came up with a scenario for how to use the space and program and a lot of it had to do with these very simple things of people wanting quiet space, and noisy space and study space and this and that… And then also very practical things like canteens, offices, art labs… We said “OK, take ten percent of your budget and just build that one to one” So I took plywood, carpet, paint and we built that spatial scenario. And I think you know including all the chalkboards and everything we just said Okay let's see if everybody's happy using this and let's see what happens to see what they do and you know if that scenario works for people. You know and then, the third year we rebuilt the final thing and again it just builds this very strong sense of trust capital that you have lots of opportunities to give input to influence it to interpret it to make sense of it to change your behavior with its new existence. So the change is not threatening anymore because you have a relationship but you are changing your ideas as it is changing its ideas. And in some ways I think what we're doing in Beyoğlu (Hacımimi) with these residential project for us the sense of purpose is something like that like can you reimagine living there with families. Why can a family really imagine living in Beyoğlu again? And you know can you imagine having multigenerational people living there? Can you imagine having different accesses into the center of the city, different kind of mixed ecologies. You know there's a bunch of high schools around there. There's a bunch of institutions around there but you know the living culture there is not very… It's very transient. So even if you know even if you put class aside for a minute. Many people don't live there for more than four or five years. So you know many people move out when they have families or those things. So one of the things that we've been trying to do there is actually, move very very slowly slowly slowly. Of course a lot of the buildings have changed with the economy so they've become incredibly minimized from their original design budgets. Again for better or worse… Probably worse because it was the original thing. And of course for better or worse, people don't want to buy right now. So it's kind of a… it's a similar thing of trying to say “OK well if we build a bigger garden apartments if we put in big trees and plants if we kind of soften it if we allow for lots more small businesses to come in that serve local neighborhood needs. If we allow people to walk through the properties so they get to know the different street to become more familiar with seeing people and where they live and where they're from. And in the neighborhoods that do have more robust residential fabric like the area just behind Tophane. Again can everybody get by rehearsing living together in a slow way saying “Please come through. We're not finished but you know it's OK, Walk through…” And invite people to actually have a new imagination of the fact that there can be pocket parks, there can be cafes that support people, there can be very big trees that live back in there that people can see. It no longer as a either as a derelict piece of forgotten period seventies, two hundred and fifty years ago or as a place that you only go if you're young or super rich and old. But as a place where people can barely imagine their lives unfold and kind of you know how in urban life again in the middle of the city. And so one of the things that's been really challenging here and quite difficult and also very expensive for these things is to make residential fabric requires a certain scale. There's a nuance to it. That's why a lot of like you know some buildings that were designed for housing. People don't end up living and they just put their offices in it because it's not suitable for living and actually because of the building and the size it's the spaces are not residential.

Ck: Yes.

A: You know or you know some of these things where I mean it's still a big fight like you know this works because it's the living space and it's looking out and there's nobody here. But like I don't think it's necessarily a great piece of architecture but it is a really good building, the one we did and people live there. Because the windows are all closed because you can't see in them. So if you have the bedroom and your neighbor is literally there you can live in your bedroom as a private space. So some of getting people to live here is also to respect the living spaces are very different than hotel spaces or commercial spaces. You know you're running around in your private life and you don't want to see your neighbor here and you can if you can control the window in a corner you can do that. But for example here all of this is you know I don't know how much we fought to just keep this whole facade flat with nothing here. (she is touching the façade of Hacımimi) But there's nothing you know the only thing that you can look at is somebody looking at you. You know…

Ck: Yes, there is no way out.

A: Yeah. And when you're sleeping and you wake up.

Ck: You don't want to see any strangers you don’t know.

A: Your neighbor. So a lot of it is kind of trying to get… Umm or some of these spaces like really trying to say “OK I want to be beautiful to have natural light come into your bathrooms and stuff.” But you know how do you do that when it's so intimate? So that's kind of how we started creating this element so that you can have really big windows for your bathroom and see out but you can't see into it or coming back and rehearsing like one of the reasons we chose this material is people are so allergic to corrugated metal right now. Because it means construction to them. Can we kind of not? Can we break this hateful relationship people have to this material?

Laughings…

A: Like can we do a corrugated metal that's residential. You know but maybe we can't. I don't know. I have no idea.

Ck: But personally I talked about this piece with other guys. I thought that bending is a good idea. And it is giving a new form to this material beside punching and putting some kind of a pattern on it It can be more… It's giving some kind of another perception or another stage when you put it in front of you it feels like so different material to you that you don't understand what is it.

A: Which I think so. I mean just to make drive this idea in your thinking. I mean…

So that's where we found, this did not work. It doesn't have that the effect that you just talked about. Right? Because for residential it's too big. And when we did this size it didn't feel residential and it didn't have that effect. So this was our first studies and we said this can't be like this will not work at a residential scale it'll be too big and I'll feel awkward. You know. And so that's when we studied this scale and we said OK that scale feels residential not that you want to touch it in your kitchen but you know for your bathroom screen. If you think of it as a kind of screen outside your window that's the scale. It's kind of you know like a shutter scale.

Ck: Yes, right.

A: And then if we can then bring back kind of some of the decoration that happened in the old metal works you know…

Ck: Yes, I thought, it is the beginning of this idea, those old traditional patterns on the doors.

A: Yes, so you know it's. It is incredibly intuitive and it's such a dialogue between. The economy the problem of the bathroom, the expectation of the user. And then let's say the design brief which is a lot of materials are changing because of the construction economies. How do you make this material that…? You know there's a lot of reason why it's used a lot it's very. You call it you know it's indoors. You know it doesn't require a lot of maintenance. You know it's pretty. In. So how can we bring a beauty to it? That's kind of …

photographs of tryouts for metal facade.

Ck: Okay, So maybe I should go back to the first one. It's the consciousness that I realized in the office, actually, considering a design issue in pieces. This is something I follow with the other guys. I mean from their talks. I thought that there is certain of collective mind idea that you put in the office but I cannot be sure if it's something strategically that you chose or maybe it's just a design approach or I don't know. I'm asking if it's a pragmatic way of understanding design or it's just that you do unconsciously. I also follow your sketches for Hacımimi and Kütahya project.

And from the talks with Ali and Handan. there always seemed like some kind of classification or that parts of the design. It's like for example landmark and transparent area, at first I feel like it's like formulating. But I feel like there's a deeper insight in it. But I can not problematize that in my mind.

A: For me I have this very and maybe it's what I think of architecture. I see. And I think it's also how Murat. I see architecture as a piece of the city. Like it is a participant. And it has a personality and it has a character. But it works. It lives in this environment and I feel like when I think of what is in a piece of architecture like its canopy its lantern its solids. I see the same thing. It's like a little microcosm of that. And then again when I get into the material world of it I see it again as a microcosm. And then once you get into that you have another microcosm because now you're actually dealing with real people. Then you have all the personalities of the actual contractors and investors and everything else. And so the everything from the studio point of view I think it's really important as a studio that we are all we are all involved in the projects and at any point people feel confident to have a big picture understanding like lantern in between solid to have a kind of let's say project understanding. So, you know... And the systems but then also each one can in itself become its own set of problems and anything coming to light. I think I would only say it's strategic as it's kind of a funky way to deal with risk in a changing world. That if you can. If these if you allow these things always to be in a discussion within each other one can succeed and fail and the other ones can grow with it. Like you you know if you have a monologue, the monologue can either succeed or fail. You have no other choice. You know… And sometimes it's a good setting and it's credibly successful. The same monologue in another setting will completely fail. But if you approach it like a discussion. We have lots of different… like you have the bigger picture set of issues like how do we relate to the city and we all agree what that attitude is and then we all we have an architectural approach which is in this case these kind of lanterns, solids and in-betweens... And then we have a tectonic approach. So this lantern is a frame that lantern can be you know a jewel box that lantern can be something else. And then the same with the solids like this solid thing can just be you know. A big piece of plaster another solid could just be you know very beautiful colorful piece of fiber board or something. And like it's not about the tectonic solution. Those can be separated like it's a solid and what is a solid? Solid is something that can be clearly defined as having defined edges inside and you know where land turn it's kind of a perch over it brings attention to itself. It's trying to kind of be a bacon and a focal point or something in between those two things. It's clearly like something in between this and that like you can be able to distinguish. That's one thing that's another in what's in between it is not a third thing it's just in something in between those two things. So in doing that, then each architect in the studio can solve those problems in many different ways. And that empowers them to have their own ideas about what that can be. It allows them to come up with different tectonic solutions and it allows us to kind of find through this process of learning from practicing in Istanbul that things change a lot. And you can still keep the virtue of the idea without totally not always having crumble apart.

So we founded a really good way to create a culture in the office to be able to actually separate these issues and try to avoid. And we can, I think in Kütahya we can also -things that maybe didn't go forward in one project, we can bring into another project- we can keep learning from them. Like what did we learn from this even though it completely didn't go anywhere. Like “OK, we learned all of these things let's bring that back into this future project. So we have a lot more. Everybody in the office has a much bigger mental map of all the different possibilities and it gives them I believe hopefully more sense that they can find their voice in that process.

So I mean I would say it's intentional.

Ck: Yes, I see.

A: Having said that I think it frustrates them a lot sometimes too because whenever you like really and it's a problem I mean sometimes we should be committing to something.

Ck: This question is also very superficial but maybe it's fun. In some dialogs that I observed -which is already meaningless for you sometimes- I hear the words having fun or making mistakes. I feel like these are the definitions that define that process from the inside. So is it possible to define something like fun in the project while you were designing? Or is there any clear moments that you feel like “OK, this is a mistake or you shouldn't do it. Or from very opposite side; “Oh thank God we do it. We did this mistake and it's good for me. We learned something wrong. Can I explain myself clearly not sure but?

A: Yeah I think it's a very emotional process. And I think, you know… I think it comes with a lot of in that sense I guess I was trying to share. For me I have discussions with these elements like I talked to the land turn in my head. I have a relationship with it like you know and it has a personality to me and a character. You know there's a lot of times I think we do and I do that. My serving that character well and my you know bringing it to its fullest potential. And in that sense yes you do you have fun with it. It's like all the things we can do that you know these guys can talk to these people. And you know there's a point that you like. You do it any community you do you have fun. Sometimes that it's like you know you laugh. It is with the materials too, they seem happy together like they're getting along. And then sometimes I'm saying like “OK this is not going anywhere.” This thing for example is a real asshole. Like no matter what we do it doesn't give. It’s a like it insist being this big clunky horrible thing and you feel like you're fighting like “I can't!” And you know then they do something at the construction site and it just amplifies how horrible it is in your school. Do I want to look at it anymore? It's so frustrating. And you did it. Yeah. I think these things they are for me, they have and so I think when we talk about it with each other in the studio we do talk about it as in terms of relationships and having fun or struggling with it or they're not getting along. And I think there's a lot of time to think you know like they're about to manufacture this thing and “Oh, what the fuck did we do?” You know all this metal and perforation. Is going to hang well? Is it kind of look nice with the rest of it? Are they going to be able to do this? If this comes out this way did we do that one? Did I push it too far? There's also that. Did I insist too much?

A: Ok, I will try to go back to the first question that I ask. So I was asking if there is a scientific area for this architectural production. But you explained that you always had that design idea - as I understand- and you have to keep it in mind and you need to look for it with the other guys with electric guy or with the economy. I think in that explanation you are saying that we need to have a design idea and we need to apply it. I feel like there's no experiment there. But there is a purpose. Of course there is something new that we had in the process. But when you are talking about this fun and mistake it feels like more kind of a laboratory for the design ideas. Is it true?

I mean it's not like a positivist science doing in the laboratory. Because there's always an end product like a building or some kind of object that we can feel. That's why I asked design tools and learning tools.

A: One of the tools that we start within in that sense for. let's say a design tool that we from very early on and maybe I skipped that is we have principles. Like we really set “did it one way in this one we did it in another way actually for one way in 82 we had it we actually use this pattern that was we didn't actually use it all. that was very decorative. It was from the somebody used to make a particular type of handle for tourist lanterns and we used that pattern of buildings. And you know each one has their own ecology. So 95 is about putting big trees on the facade. This one is about really growing ivy all up through it. So we get this huge amount of Ivy moving through it because mostly because also gets really really good light. And so we know that Ivy would really thrive. So I think in a sense like in one level you're also doing all that working in a very clear set of very conventional things like the building industry. It is not an experimental industry it's like the crudest most understood longest enduring industry there is like there's not… You know it's conventions are very very well established. So. And you have very you know you have everything from engineers to subcontractors to also the people that are going to live there as who you're talking to. And so for us it is a very…

So I don't. Yeah I mean for us it's you know I don't know. I don't know if I couldn't answer your question properly I think because we are living it. We're not… This is our method. This is our, you know this is how we've been able to kind of…

Ck: You explained it, I think very clearly. It's your method that you choose.

A: For me I think it's you know a very simple method but it's… And so I think coming back to your question about tools for us. Like for example I think we would have approached all of these projects slightly differently if we didn't have so many of them at once. But because we did have multiple properties we wanted them to feel like they both belong together. And yet each group wanted to feel like they were somewhat different. So we came up with the language for them to try to. In our own process really explore what a lantern is really explore what it is to be in between all of these buildings that are kind of compressing you to reintroduce lot more solids back into the landscape again which I think are really helpful just to have nice beautiful plain surfaces. It's a very. for example, I am very and I don't know if it is bad but like ninety five the back of ninety five I find very peaceful it's just very simple very simple punched windows. I feel people can live there comfortably even though it has quite a lot of you know you can see on all sides. Most of those units are bedrooms and stuff and I feel very very peaceful that it's you know stucco and metal work and yeah.

Ck: So, I can find answers for the other questions in that big answers because I fell like somehow you get my point. That’s all for now.

A: Nearly everything I realized would happen to me. We could do a better job or maybe we're doing an OK job with this. I liked the fact that we work with many many different people even to build the models. We outsource all the laser cutting we built some of it. We cut some of it. I think working with a lot of external people is made us work like conscientious of some of the struggles like even just putting things together like you know because that is how you build a building you don't build it with one group you build it with many different actors.

So we try to actually live that experience even how we build the models and samples and everything we call the prototypes for the acoustic panels. Again it's not one person like we actually have to work with people to build the stand and the people that you know the carpenter puts on the table and the person who does the fault and you know it takes four different trains to do this one thing. So I think… (thinks very carefully) now I'm thinking time's up with how I said something different where I feel very satisfied with what we're doing. The few projects that we have realized people really like, like they like being in them.

Ck: The users?

A: Yeah they're happy there. Thank we go talk to anybody it's Salt research. you go talk to the people at Student Union, go talk to Doluca, go talk to people that live in Dibek. all of them are happy. They don't feel that architecture confronts them. They don't feel it isn't. And they appreciate that it's very careful and very well designed. And one of the reasons I'm aware of this is because I'm a woman and I'm I guess I don't look like an architect. People talk about these projects and don't know that where the architects worked. So I get to hear how people think of them. And then we're being totally unaware.

You know I still get weird compliments on like Şişhane Park the garage. People always calls “Gosh, It must be a beautiful garage, I’ve never been in.” And the reason is beautiful is coming back with, I don't know how many times we worked, we went on side and got all of the plumbing coordinating, all of the mechanical coordinating and all the natural air moving through it and so Murat is always very very careful to make the environment so incredibly kind from like the also the acoustics of the mechanical that people feel comfortable in these spaces. And I think it is to doing all these iterations and prototypes and iterations and prototypes and getting all the people to see how they have to work together.

Ck: They don't feel like it’s something designed or artificial. I don’t know if it’s the right word

A: No, they don't feel confronted by it they don't feel like it's like imposed on them.

Ck: Yes, I think it's good for me. I don’t want to push you, take too much of your time already. Thank you.

A: OK, Thank you.

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