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colormeyondublue · 3 years

Text

Chapter 5: The Data Drive

Chapter 4 Here - Chapter 6 Here

The next morning you awake with the sound of your alarm. You get ready and walk happily toward the mess dressed in your usual leathers. You see Yondu and Kraglin up front seated at the officer’s table. They have piles of holo pads surrounding them, meticulously studying their target and plans for their heist later that night. You grab something to eat and make your way over to your usual spot. The light from the moon drifts into the viewport and you enjoy your breakfast in peace. Just as you finish your last bite, you begin to stand and hear heavy footsteps approaching. You look over to see Yondu approaching you, holo pads in hand.

“Hey y/n, just wanted to run some info by ya before we head out tonight. Kraglin and I plan to take our team out around 21:00 hours. Here is some information I’ll need ya to log before we leave. There is a backup plan in there too just in case things get hairy.” “Sounds good. I can get started on this now. So, this job…is it…dangerous?” You ask. You know Yondu and the crew are extremely good at what they do, but you find yourself worrying more than usual. Yondu grins down at you, clearly understanding where you are going with this. “I’ll be safe darlin’, promise. This job is simple, but there’s a lotta details that need to be arranged. I’ll be back before ya know it.” “I know, I know. But I worry about you sometimes. What exactly will you be doing?” You ask. “Remember when we was walkin’ around during our date, and we was lookin’ at all those fancy shops?” “Yeah…why?” “Well, there’s a new jewelry store down there with really lax security and a lot of rare gems…loads of rare metals too. That’s where we’s headed. Kraglin was there last night scoping the place out. Figure if we can get a clean sweep, we can sell our take for about half a million units. It’ll be a nice score.” Yondu beams. “Wow. Well, sounds like it’s something you can handle no problem.” You smile at him. “But, still…you better get back here in one piece.” You playfully nudge him with your shoulder. Yondu chuckles a this, and you swear you see a slight blush come to his cheeks. “Promise ya I’ll be just fine. ‘Sides, I got more plans for you and me. Gotta come back all in one piece to take ya out again don’t I?” He finishes that last sentence with a wink and turns to head back toward Kraglin.

The evening drags on, but you find out pretty quickly that this heist goes perfectly, and the crew comes away with every single item out of that jewelry store. They boys are thrilled, and there’s cheers all around the ship that night. You are just finishing up with your work, having logged that information Yondu asked you to enter in the system earlier that morning. You close up your office and turn to walk back to your cabin. As you make your way there, you see Yondu waiting for you at your cabin door.

“Well, hello Captain.” You say in curious voice. “What brings you all the way down here?” You laugh. Yondu shifts on his heels for a moment before pushing his hand out toward you. “Here, I set this aside for ya. Didn’t want one of the boys to snatch it. I saw it at that store, and I thought ya might really like it.” You look down at his palm and see a stunning silver bracelet with intricate designs carved into the metal. There is small, round, sapphires set into the edges on both sides. The center is decorated with large, oval, white opals around the entire thing. With a small gasp, you slowly reach for it. “Yondu, this is gorgeous. I don’t know what to say!” You put the bracelet on your wrist. It fits perfectly, and it is very comfortable. You stare down at your wrist and your mind draws a complete blank as you marvel at the jewels. “Glad you like it. The stones, from what I saw on the sign at the store, are from Terra. Figured ya might like to have a little piece of home here with ya.” “Yes, oh my gosh, yes. This is just perfect. Thank you…thank you so much.” Without thinking twice, you step forward and wrap your arms around him in a quick, but close, embrace. You could feel him tense a little from your quick movement, but soon you feel his arms close around your back for a moment. You both let go at the same time and you blush. “Uh…sorry. I just, I can’t thank you enough. I doubt I’ll ever want to take it off.” You laugh sheepishly. He smiles at the comment. “Well, it’s been a long night. I think I’m gonna turn in.” “Yeah, of course! I should too…” “Kraglin is overseeing departure shortly. Wanna git outta here before anyone discovers that place we hit it totally empty.” He laughs. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Well, goodnight Yondu.” “Sweet dreams, darlin’.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~

About a week goes by, and the ship is headed for Knowhere so Yondu and Kraglin can meet up with the buyer for the jewelry heist the crew pulled off. You continue your work as usual; helping out Kraglin where needed, and keeping everything up to date. For some reason, a thought hit you. We have so much information logged in the ship’s system, should we have a backup drive? Data theft back home was a common issue, could it happen out here? With that thought, you decide to make a backup of all the vital information and you saved it to a separate drive. Feeling satisfied with yourself, you head out of your office and down to the mess for a quick bite. You just want to grab a snack and head back to your office. The peacefulness and privacy of your office was something you loved, so you grab something light to take back with you. As you headed back toward your office with food in hand, you heard your name called behind you. “Y/n!” Kraglin called. “Hey Kraglin, need any more help with anything?” “No, I’m good…thanks though. Here, I’ve got something for you.” He handed you a small chip, no bigger than your thumb. “What’s this?” You ask. “It’s some terran music. I was able to pull some from radio frequencies I caught when we passed near your solar system a few days ago. It was no biggie. Quill always was so obsessed with terran music. Thought you might like some of these songs.” He says happily. “Oh my gosh Kraglin, thank you so much! I miss music from back home. This is awesome! I’m gonna go download these now. I can’t wait to see what you picked up!” You say with a big smile. Kraglin nods politely, “Well, I’m gonna get back to it. See ya round.” With that, he heads out the door. You hastily head back to your office and get straight to checking out the chip Kraglin gave you. You find that there are a few songs that are from different countries, and you’ve never heard them before. A few from India, some Kpop, and a few hits you recognize from the UK. But then, comes something you remember from the United States. “No way!” You squeal. The song “Clearly” by Grace VanderWaal came blasting over the speakers. “I haven’t heard her in forever!” You say aloud. You remember every single word. I can see clearly now

The rain has gone

I accept all the things that I cannot change

Gone are the dark clouds

The dawn has come

It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day ~ There's a world outside my door I forced my feet down to the floor I'm gonna make it out I'm gonna make it out Take a breath and say a prayer Find the strength in my despair It's not gonna take me down It's not gonna take me down As you whole heartedly sing the words at your desk, you hear a knock at your door. You turn down your music and open the door to see Yondu. “Hi!” You say, a little more chipper than usual. Not only was the most handsome man alive at your door, but your mood was uplifted by some of your favorite music from back home. Yondu was a little surprised at your greeting. “Well, hey there darlin’.” He smiles. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” “Kraglin got me some music from back home, and I found some songs I remember. Not only that, but I found a song from one of my favorite artists!” “Well, that was awful nice of him…but we got a problem.” His tone changes pretty quickly. “What? What’s going on?” You say, concerned. “Kraglin just found that someone, we don’t know who, but someone managed to get into our files remotely and steal information on some of our most lucrative clients. Contact information, frequencies, ‘n stuff like that. Now, I have no idea what we’s gonna do, because the buyer in Knowhere is a new client! I can’t remember their frequency off the top of my head!” He huffed as he dropped down onto the couch against the wall, his large hand rubbing his temple. “Remind me to get new security software.” “Well, I don’t know who might have done it, but I do have some good news on that.” You smiled proudly. He glanced up at you from under his hand, his face clearly painted with a stressful expression. “Whassat?” You go over to your desk drawer, and pull out a small black drive. You walk over to Yondu and drop it into his hand. “What’s this?” He asks with one eyebrow raised. “That, is a data drive.” You point to his hand. “It contains every bit of info on every client we have. Including their contact information, frequencies, and our mission and heist details. Oh, and all of our crew’s personal info too. I backed up our all of our data and files onto a separate drive for just such an incident. Did it this morning actually!” You feel a prideful grin come across your face. Oh yeah, you were definitely the hero this time. It didn’t happen often, and you were feeling great about yourself for once. “See, on Earth, uh – Terra, data theft is a pretty common occurrence. Backup drives are a total necessity. So, naturally, I figured I should have one for us too. I planned on making it a part of my daily routine around here – backing up our files and data onto separate drives every day. I'd like to get a couple more. Gotta cover all the bases, ya know?” Yondu is speechless for a moment. He just sits there and stares at you. He breaks out of his trance and jumps to his feet. You feel his strong arms wrap around you and he spins you both around, his laughter echoing around the small room. “Y/n, yer incredible! I could just kiss you!” As he sets you back down on your feet, he continues to hold you close. The realization of his words hits him like tidal wave. He looks down at you and sees your nervous expression. “Can I?” He asks quietly, inching closer to you. This is so strange for him. Anytime he’s wanted something from a woman before, he would just take it. Coercion was the typical occurrence. He is basically a pirate after all. He rarely cared how the woman felt about it – which is why he usually stuck with love bots. They didn’t say no, they didn’t reject him, they didn’t care about his past or what he looked like. This, however, was different. It was way outside his comfort zone. You looked up at him, and nod ever so slightly. Your body erupts with goosebumps as he moves a warm, large, hand up your back and toward the back of your head. You move closer as he guides you toward him. Your eyes begin to close, and you can feel his lips barely brush against yours. His breath is warm and inviting. Your heart is pounding against your sternum, and the feeling of his hands on your body causes your mind to go blank. Suddenly, a rapid knock at your door causes you to gasp and jump back a little. Yondu pulls away with a sigh and reaches toward the door, letting go of you. He rips the door open in frustration, and see’s Kraglin’s face. “What?!” Yondu snaps. Kraglin, surprised at how quickly the door opens, stands there with his fingers still curled into a fist from where he was knocking. “Uh – apologies cap’n. We’re nearing Yuna’s atmosphere. Thought you’d wanna know.” Yondu’s expression changes from annoyed, to a little excited. He turns to you and says “Hey, remember that planet was tellin’ ya about a few weeks ago? Well, we’re almost there.” “What?! Are you serious?” You beam at him. “This is so exciting! I didn’t think we would go so soon!” “Yeah, it’s nothin’ really.” He smiles at you. “It’s kinda on the way to Knowhere, and we’ve got time to stop anyhow. Figured now would be a great time to show you around down there. Plus, I hear there’s some rare minerals on that planet we can get a few units fer. I’ll send some of the boys after ‘em.” “How long until we can take some M-ships down?” You ask. “About a half hour.” Kraglin chimes in. “Great! Yondu, I’ll meet you down at the docking bay when we get close enough to head down there!” You laugh and jump past the two aliens, darting down the hall to your quarters. You could not wait to see what the planet was like.

#Yondu and The Secretary #Yondu Udonta #yondu x reader #gotg #ravager #pirates #space pirates #Kraglin #kraglin obfonteri #reader #fanfic #marvel

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itsthemysterykids · 2 years

Note

Family Guy Star Wars Quotes?

Dipper: *recording his message on Raz2-D2* Help me, Ford-Wan Kenobi. you're my only hope. All right, now what do I click?

Raz2-D2: Click "Preferences".

Dipper: Okay, I clicked "Preferences".

Raz2-D2: Now go to "Default Media Browser".

Dipper: Okay. There's a little hourglass and it's-it's not letting me do anything. It-it says "Buffering", what is that?

Raz2-D2: Just give it a minute.

Dipper: All I'm trying to do is make an MPEG.

Raz2-D2: All I'm trying to do is tell you to wait a minute.

Dipper: Okay, relax.

Raz2-D2: Now click, "Import Video File".

Dipper: All right. It's telling me I have to download RealPlayer 7.

Raz2-D2: You know what? I'll just bring it to him myself.

—

Mabel Skywalker: Well I guess I'll go and bulls-eye some wamp rats with my T-16.

Lili-3PO: You kill small animals for fun?! That's the first indication of a serial killer, you freak!

Mabel Skywalker: There's two suns and no guys my age here! What the hell am I supposed to do?!

—

Mabel: Is it a fast ship?

Norman Solo: Are you kiddin'? It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs!

Mabel: Um, isn't a parsec a unit of distance, not time?

Norman: Chewie, take these guys to the ship and get her ready.

Neilbacca: *makes Chewbacca's trademark gargling roar for a second, then spits out water in a nearby sink* Always gargle before a take-off. Wocka-wocka! Alright, let's go.

—

Wybie Vader: So, Ford-Wan, we meet again. What part of "Stay 50 yards away at all times" don't you understand?! *Ford-Wan activates his lightsaber, which instantly turns flaccidi

Ford-Wan Kenobi: Shit.

Wybie Vader: Your powers are weak, old man!

—

Raz2-D2: *opens a hatch and shoots down a TIE fighter with a pistol* YEA-HEAH!!! That's how we do it in my neighborhood, bitch!

—

Dipper: Why you stuck up, half witted, scruffy lookin' nerf herder!

Mabel: Whoa! Whoa!

Norman: You can't use that word! Only we can use that word!

—

Wybie Vader: Oh, come on, Mabel, come join the Dark Side! It's really cool!

Mabel: Well I don't know. Whose on it?

Wybie Vader: Well um... there's me, the Emperor, this guy Scott. You'll like him, he's awesome...

—

*Wybie Vader arrives on the second Death Star with a bunch of passengers*

Wybie Vader: Oh, my God, that was absolute hell! I just...I don't understand why...I mean, we're in a galaxy far, far away, and we still have to change in Atlanta.

*Dib as Moff Jerjerrod enters*

Dib Jerjerrod: Hi, Darth. You got any bags, or did you leave Mrs. Vader at home?

Wybie Vader: Wow, it's you? Are we already out of our own characters?

—

Lili3-PO: This is insane Han, they're gonna find us here.

Neilbacca: Yeah, and even if they don't, where are we gonna hide out after this?

Norman Solo: Hey, what about Lando?

Prince Dipper: The Lando System?

Norman Solo: Lando's not system, he's a black guy. In fact, I think he might be the only black guy in the galaxy.

Neilbacca: Huh, let's hope right?

Norman Solo/Lili3-PO/Prince Dipper: WHOA!!!

—

Mabel: A brother! Who is it?

Ford: Who do you think it is? Who's the only goddamn guy in the galaxy who looks like you?

Mabel: Dipper...

—

Wybie Vader: Join us, Mabel. Turn to the backside of the force!

Mabel Skywalker: What?

Wybie Vader: Dark side-turn-turn to the-long day!

—

Emperor Coraline: Welcome, young Skywalker.

Wybie Vader: Why, thank you!

Emperor Coraline: Not you!

Wybie Vader: I'm so embarrassed.

Emperor Coraline: I thought you should know, young Skywalker, that your friends are walking into a trap.

Mabel: Wow. You're white? You totally sounded black on the phone.

Emperor Coraline: Silence! You will turn to the dark side, and your precious rebellion will be destroyed. *Mockingly* Oh! I'm afraid the shield generator will be quite operational when your friends arrive.

Mabel: Jeez, you don't have to be a dick about it.

—

Wybie: Oh, my God! I meant to hit you in the shoulder, and that whole thing just fell! Did you see that?

Coraline: What?

Wybie: That whole thing just fell!

Coraline: How?

Wybie: I don't know! She was up there like, "I can't do this," I threw the thing, and I just meant to hit her in the arm, and then the whole thing fell!

Coraline: Well, that's good, right? We want her hurt.

Wybie: Are you using your brain?! We're lucky if we come out of this without a lawsuit!

—

Neil: Hey, bitches! I just killed, like, fifty stormtroopers!

Norman: That thing is really cool!

Neil: Damn right it is! See that squirrel over there? Hi, little squirrel. *Fires at the squirrel* Ooh!

Norman: Hey, why don't you blast open this door, and then we can...

Neil: Hey, a butterfly! Look at those beautiful wings flapping. But uh-oh, here comes ka-slice! *Blasts the butterfly* Whoa! What do we have here? A fully formed beehive! Must have taken months to build that guy. Well, guess what?

*Neilbacca lasts the beehive, and the bees retaliate*

Neil: Oh, God! *Runs away screaming as the bees sting him*

Dipper: … Should we help him?

Norman: Eh.

—

Mabel: I'm a Jedi, like my father before me!

Wybie: All right, let's everybody just calm the fuck down.

—

Mabel: Oh, yeah? You and what lightning hands?

Wybie: Oh! Now you've done it.

*Mabel screams as Coraline shoots at her with her lightning*

Coraline: Yeah! I'm a bad guy! Yeah! Yeah! How about that, huh? Look at that! Look what I can do! Yeah! In your fucking face!

Mabel: Father, please!

Wybie: "Please"! You know what? You have nice manners. I'm so delighted that Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen took the time to teach you nice manners. And just for that, I'm going to help you out here. *Uses his powers to throw Coraline off the railing*

Coraline: *Screaming*

Wybie: That's the power of "please," kids.

—

Wybie: Mabel, help me get this mask off. Let me look on you with my own eyes, father to daughter.

*As Mabel tries to remove his helmet, she inadvertently snaps his neck, killing him*

Mabel: … Ahhh! Oh, no! He's dead because of what the Emperor did a while ago! I better take his body! *Drags Wybie’s body up the ramp* Just 'cause.

—

Wybie Skywalker: What the hell, man? I was going to make it!

Mabel Skywalker: Thanks for watching over me and keeping me safe.

Wybie Skywalker: Fuck you, you murdered me, you ass!

#coraline #mystery kids #paranorman #gravity falls #psychonauts #the mystery kids #ask stuff #answered ask #star wars #incorrect quotes

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apocalypseornaw · 4 years

Text

Always be Yours- 4

Word Count: 5,342

Story Summary: Inspired by the 2 part I did of the same title

Chapter Summary: a tech issue within the bunker becomes a witch issue. Charlie being the genius she is calls you out on your developing feelings for Dean.

Warnings: Cursing, fights, brief character death

You were sound asleep when you heard a noise in the hall. You figured it was Sam considering he had to pass your room to get to the kitchen so you started to roll back over until you heard what was clearly mumbling and decided to head out and investigate. You slipped a pair of jogging pants on under the t-shirt you normally slept in and stepped out into the hall. You blinked a few times then realized it was Kevin pacing the hall and talking to himself. “Kev?” you called softly and he jumped like a gunshot had went off “Y/N..I didn’t mean to wake you up” “It’s ok. What’s wrong?” you were starting to get worried about him in the last few days considering you could barely drag him out of his room for meals and this just further confirmed your suspicions. The poor kid was burnt out. He was staring off like he was hearing something that you couldn’t so you stepped closer and touched his shoulder “Hey sweetie” he blinked and finally looked at you so you smiled “Why don’t I make you some food?” he nodded “Yeah um sure” and followed you blankly into the kitchen.

You went about making the grilled cheese he asked for along with a glass of milk and sat it in front of him. He mumbled a thank you then started picking at the sandwich. You watched him for a few minutes before deciding he needed a break out of the bunker to clear his head. “Kev I’m gonna go see if Dean’s up ok?” he nodded as he stood to grab another glass of milk.

You stepped back into the hall and slowly walked down to Dean’s room. You hesitated for a second before knocking. You heard his grumbled response right before the door opened. You had to remind yourself to blink at the sight of Dean shirtless wearing only black sleep pants complete with the spiky bedhead. “Y/N? Did you wake me up to stare at me sweetheart or is something wrong?” he asked with the barest hint of a smirk despite you hearing it in his voice. You cleared your throat and looked back towards the kitchen trying to ignore the way just the top of your ears warmed up from the embarrassment of not only checking Dean out but getting busted at it. “Kev um Dean the kid’s a little busted” “Busted?” he asked so you explained the shape you’d found Kevin in.

He listened then nodded slowly “Yeah we need to get him a breather. Come daylight I’ll load him up and take him into Branson, get him a room and ward it to hell and back. Might do him some good” “Sounds good. I’m gonna check on him and try to get him to lay down somewhere” “I’ll come with you” he offered and leaned back in his room to grab a t-shirt and his robe. You bit back a laugh when he tied the belt and he eyed you suspiciously so you explained “I feel like we caught our teenager doing drugs and now we’re doing an intervention” “Oh so you already planning to have my children?” he teased and you rolled your eyes “Oh yes that’s my goal in life to bring forward the spawn of Dean Winchester into the world” the smile reached his eyes when he said “Well I don’t know about you but I could do a lot worse” then turned to head to the kitchen leaving you to trail behind him.

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It took about an hour of coaxing for you and Dean to get Kevin settled into his room and asleep. You pulled the blanket over him then glanced back at Dean “I guess those years of you raising Sam comes in handy?” he scoffed “Me? That was all your years of wrangling hunters along with Bobby” you smiled then motioned to the hall so he followed you out. You gently closed the door then turned around and only then realized how close you were standing to Dean. You looked up into those green eyes and had to kick yourself mentally to not get lost in them. “So um I’m going to head to bed or well back to bed” his eyes never left your face as you talked and you started to feel a bit self conscious considering you had gotten woke up and didn’t even check your reflection before waking him. He nodded after a moment “Ok. Yell if you need me” “Um you too” you mumbled then headed for your room trying to resist the urge to look back at him. What the hell was up with the way you were feeling around Dean recently?

-------

You woke up a few hours later with the plan to just put some space between you and Dean telling yourself it was a close quarters thing causing whatever attraction was going on. Luckily when you walked into the kitchen Sam was alone at the counter pouring a mug of coffee. When he heard you come in he grabbed another mug then held it out to you “Where’s Dean?” you didn’t mean for that to be the first thing out of your mouth but it just slipped. “He took Kevin to Branson? Said it was your idea” oh yeah it was. Did a part of you think he’d wait until you got up? No no no! You could not be doing that! Dammit Dean was your friend that was it. “Yeah the kid needed a break”

“Want to come with me to talk to Crowley?” he offered so you shrugged “Sure why not?” and placed your coffee mug down in the sink next to his then followed him down to the armory.

-------

Crowley blinked against the light when you and Sam stepped in then greeted Sam “Hello Moose” then leaned a little to look your way “and sweets is here too” Sam laid the piece of paper and crayon down on the table without a word. Crowley grabbed the paper and balled it up “You want more demon names” and threw it at Sam to emphasize a point “I want a room with a view” Sam barely bumped your hand then both of you turned to walk out. “We can discuss this” Crowley called behind you and when neither of you stopped he offered “I’d settle for stretching my legs!” but you were already in the hall and Sam killed the lights then shut the door. “Little fuckin creatin” you muttered and Sam laughed “That he is. I figured he’d be a bust but I think I may have an idea of how to help Cas if you wanna help me?” You caught his eyes and for the briefest moment wondered again if Ezekiel was looking back at you before slowly nodding “Yeah, of course”

------

You and Sam had the table in the map room covered in notes and pages from the archives when the door opened so you glanced up to see Dean while Sam asked how it went with Kevin. Dean’s eyes flicked towards you momentarily before they went back to Sam “Oh that little nerd is in a lovely warded hotel room in Branson. He’s got about forty eight hours of pay per porn and Kenny Rogers ahead of him” “How’s he feeling?” Sam asked.

“Well he stared at the angel tablet and repeated the word falafel for the entire ride.Y/N was right the kid’s cracked. Hoping this break will clear his head” Dean looked back towards you after he spoke then added “I figured after everything that’s happened we could use a little break ourselves. So I uh picked you up season one, games of thrones Sammy. Figured we’d get a little takeout” “All right but first I think we figured out a way to help Cas” the moment Sam said those words you could feel Dean’s eyes on you so you finally met his gaze when he asked if either of you had talked to him. “No” you answered with Sam who continued “I still don’t understand why he left in the first place. I mean the bunker is the safest place for him. Bartholomew and who knows how many other angels are out there gunning for him”

The memory of Dean guilt ridden the night Cas left flashed through your head as he said “There’s nobody wants him here more than I do but he felt like he’d bring trouble down on us so he had to split but if you two have a way to help him I’m all ears”

You let Sam explain the theory of hot wiring the map table as a way to track angels and therefore give Cas a heads up about where they were. Dean asked how it worked so you said “No idea. We thought it was a computer but it’s just part of one so we followed the cables and well let’s just show him Sam”

------

You lead the way into the computer room and turned the light on. “This is a computer?” Dean asked and you shrugged “It was in nineteen fifty one when it was installed” Sam lead Dean around to the back telling him the strangest thing you’d found which was the computer was not plugged into anything. “We have no idea what’s making it work” Sam said right before Dean ran his hand across a back panel “It’s warm here”

You glanced around and spotted a screwdriver on one of the shelves and held it out to him. He took it with a flicker of a smile. Dean ended up prying the panel off even if it did cause him to stumble back into a shelf when it broke free. You instinctively wanted to move to check on him but he was still upright so you stayed glued to your place. “Got it” he boasted with a wink.

------

Considering out of the three of you there was only a working knowledge of computers and that was mainly on Sam Dean decided to call in help. That help was in the form of one of your favorite people Charlie Bradbury.

------

You were standing between Sam and Dean in the computer room trying to keep up with what Charlie was saying but you were falling behind and was grateful when Dean said “Skip to the end” “It’s kind of an alarm system? Global badness and it freaks” She shortened then added the computer was actually what had locked the bunker down when they’d left Kevin alone there. “Can we use it to track angels?” Sam asked.

Charlie contemplated for a second then cracked her knuckles “Let me see what I can do”

------

You weren’t exactly sure what Charlie was doing but there was something hypnotic about watching her work. After a while she glanced up from her computer “All right it took some doing but now we can download. This beast has all the men of letters files. Time for a little drag and drop”

“Wow” Sam uttered in astonishment and you agreed with a smile “That’s awesome Charlie. Thank you” You saw Dean shoot Sam a look and knew now would come to the lecture to her about he mentioning the fact that she’d recently done a couple hunts. “So you been hunting” Sam offered and Dean added “Alone” in that tone of his that automatically made you have the urge to apologize because he sounded so damn disappointed. Charlie glanced your way for help so you gave her a small shrug she had to give some sort of explanation before you could jump in to defend her. “I know, not a good idea according to the supernatural books”

You looked up at the mention of those said books “When are you going to send me a copy?” Sam and Dean both gave you matching glares before Sam asked why Charlie couldn’t simply delete them from the internet. “Not even I can do that” She replied and you had to laugh at how offended Dean looked when he asked her where she foum and she replied “A top secret place I call Amazon” “Amazon has them?” you asked and Dean shook his head at you “No. You’ve been around a good amount of our hunting lives but there’s some things I prefer you not know”

“Oh now that just makes me want to order them even more!” you argued but Charlie interrupted the two of you when she said that someone uploaded all the unpublished work. “Who uploaded it?” Sam asked and Charlie shrugged “The screen name was Becky Winchester one seventy six. Ring any bells?” Sam’s hand flew out to cover your mouth before you could answer for him and said “No. There are no bells” you licked his hand and laughed when he quickly pulled it away.

Charlie looked between the three of you then looked back at her screen “Ugh these files are encrypted. This is gonna take a while” then she glanced back up “So, takeout, sleepover,braid each other’s hair?” “I’ll go grab take out. You two feel free to braid Sammy’s hair” Dean offered standing up to leave but Charlie quickly suggested “Why doesn’t Sam go with you? Give me and Y/N some time to talk without ya know you two?” Dean shrugged “Ok then Sammy we’re officially kicked out of our own bunker” You shot him a wink as he walked out “Don’t forget the pie honey bunch” and was rewarded with an eye roll.

--------

“So what’s it like living here with the guys?” Charlie asked as you showed her around the bunker to the areas she hadn’t seen yet or what you could show her anyways which mainly consisted of the library which she fell in love with. “I don’t know? Sometimes I feel like the mother hen, Dean eat..Sam get some sleep” “And other times?” She asked and you shook your head “Other times I’m just grateful that for the first time in a very long time I have a solid place to call home. Sam's my best friend and Dean is..well Dean that man is a force of nature in his own right" her grin lit up at your words and the horror dawned on you of what you'd just let slip to the smartest person you'd ever known. "Does he know? Oh does Sam know?"

"Do I know what?" you heard Sam and the two of you walked into the map room to see both guys coming down the steps. You crossed your arms and met Dean's eyes "Didn't Bobby ever teach the two of you that it's rude to eavesdrop?" Dean made a so/so motion with his hand "He said it was rude unless you wanted to know what was being said" You glared at him but he shook the bag in front of you "C'mon now I got you one of those energy drinks Sam hates you drinking" "I forgive you, this time" you teased taking the can from him. Dean grinned then glanced around "So game of thrones?"

------

Dean was sitting on one side of Sam's bed with Charlie on the other. Sam had taken up residence in one of the chairs in the room and when you went to sit in the other chair Charlie patted the middle between her and Dean "C'mon Y/N there's enough room for you" you glanced towards Dean "Um looks like three would be a tight fit" "You can always cuddle me?" Charlie offered with a wide smile so you narrowed your eyes at her then climbed into the bed next to her. You sat with your shoulder against Dean's and she turned to be leaning more on you then the bed as Dean started the first episode.

------

"Wow that Joffrey's a dick" Dean announced turning off the screen. Charlie grinned "Oh you have no idea, wait until he" "Woah, spoilers! Sam hasn't finished the books" you reminded her and Dean looked over at Sam "You're gonna read the books?" "Yes Dean I like to read books" he teased before Charlie stood up and asked Sam if he was planning on moving in anytime soon which resulted in a few words being passed between him and Dean.

Dean finally just stood up and said "I'm gonna go get us some more beers how about that" you stood up to go use the bathroom while everyone else was taking a break.

------

Once you and Dean made it back to Sam's room Charlie said that the downloads should be done so all of you headed to the computer room to check the progress. When you walked in the room however there seemed to be some weird sort of cocoon behind the shelf. "What the hell?" you muttered while Charlie went to check her computer and the boys moved the shelf.

Once it was completely moved Dean pulled his knife out and cut into the cocoon. You weren't expecting an arm to fall out. Sam pulled his gun and aimed it on the cocoon while you moved forward to help Dean cut more of it away and a brunette woman fell out onto the floor. You knew both Sam and Dean were covering you so you knelt down and put a finger to her pulse point "She's alive" the moment the words left your mouth she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

------

The woman as it turned out was none other than Dorothy. Yeah wizard of old, ruby slippers. That Dorothy.She'd come to the men of letters for assistance in killing the wicked witch when all other options failed she used a binding spell to trap the witch for the last seventy five years.

"Wait so you're telling me we have an unkillable witch wandering around a magical bunker?" You asked and Dorothy nodded "Fuckin awesome"

From what Dorothy told all of you the witch was looking for something in the bunker and she needed to be found before she found whatever that thing was. Dean nodded "Ok Charlie dig in the files, find something that'll put a dent in a witch. Me, Sam and Y/N will have a look around" "I'm helping" Dorothy pushed but Sam told her "Why don't for now you rest up and help the smartest person in the room" You glanced back and shot Charlie a wink before closing the door behind you.

------

Crowley was the first stop. You stayed at the door to watch the guys backs should the witch pop up while they checked the armory. You could hear Crowley talking to them but tried to keep your attention on the stretch of hall. When a gunshot rang out you walked in and Crowley had a fresh bullet hole in his suit "Sweets, Squirrel doesn't play nice" you narrowed your eyes at him "Neither do I jackass now tell us what the witch wants" he smirked then unballed the paper in his hand which simply read "Key"

"Key what key?" you asked and he shrugged "Haven't the foggiest darling. I sent her on a merry chase before she could melt me. Told her your boys kept the keys in the kitchen. There is a kitchen in this craphole isn't there?" you glanced at Sam who walked around to lock Crowley back into the chain before all of you headed to check the kitchen.

------

The kitchen had been completely trashed but no witch in sight. "Damn it, I just cleaned in here" Dean grumbled and you looked at him "Dude witch! Focus. I'll help you clean up later if she doesn't kill us first ok?"

Charlie and Dorothy walked in about that time with a little good news. They'd raided the gun range and made some poppy bullets. They wouldn't kill the witch but they would stun her. "Something's better than nothing. Good job Charlie" you told her as you took the bullet she offered and loaded it into your clip. Bad news was there were only five bullets so each shot had to count.

------

The key that the witch was after was the key to Oz. Dorothy showed a picture and you recognized it from the inventory. "Where is it now?" Dorothy asked and Dean replied "My room. Me and Charlie will go grab it. Sam, you take Y/N and Dorothy and buy us some time"

------

You were ambushed by the witch in the library. Dorothy got one shot off but then the witch disappeared into the duct work which meant she could get anywhere in the bunker from there. "Split up, we'll cover more ground but watch your backs!" you warned heading one way while they went others.

------

You heard a shot coming from the direction of Dean's room and spun around on your heel to head in that direction. You slid into the room to find Charlie motionless on the floor "Dean? Is she?" you asked running to his side where he was crouched over her. He moved to roll her over but when you saw how limp she was a sob caught in your throat "Get her on the bed Dean. We need Ezekiel" you could see tears in his eyes.

About that time you heard Sam's voice "DEAN" you and Dean both hollered "ZEKE!" and you saw Sam's eyes glare and his posture change the moment he made it into the room. "You have to help her" Dean begged looking so very broken. "She's gone" Ezekiel said and you shook your head "Bring her back, like you did with Cas!" "I can not keep doing that Y/N" before you could respond Dean hollered "WHY THE HELL NOT?"

"I am barely back to half strength. Every time I use my power it weakens me, which means I will have to stay in Sam longer than any of us want. The witch running around your bunker is very powerful. I can help with the witch or save your friend" Dean looked at you and you nodded knowing what he was asking "We can handle one damn witch. Save her"

You moved to stand next to Dean while Ezekiel touched his hand to Charlie's head. It only took moments before Charlie was waking up and Sam was collapsing as Ezekiel became weak once again. "Check on her" you urged moving around the bed to Sam.

"Y/N, what the hell happened?" he asked as you helped him to his feet. You looked back at Dean and he said "The witch was about to put a whammy on me and uh Charlie jumped in front. She got zapped then the witch got the jump on you and Y/N spooked her"

"Did she get the key?" you asked Dean who nodded "Yeah she's gone" Dorothy popped into the door "No she's wounded so she could still be in the vents" Charlie who only you and Dean knew was freshly back from the dead pushed herself up "She's right. We have to" but she swayed when she got to her feet so Dorothy offered "You three go! We'll catch up" you grabbed Charlie's gun and held it out to Dean "Let's go get the bitch"

------

The three of you were working to clear the halls when Sam asked "Who's Zeke?" "What?" you asked hoping you'd heard him wrong. "When I came into the room, I could've sworn one of you said the name Zeke. Who's that?" "Um" you didn't really know what to say so Dean cut in "Look I think you're still a little punchy man. Let's just keep moving"

Sam moved ahead and you cut your eyes at Dean for just a second before continuing down the hall.

------

You were each clearing rooms. You heard Sam holler "Clear" followed by Dean "I got nothing" then heard Dean holler Sam's name. You ran towards the map room where they'd been at last in enough time to see the three of them on the floor. You saw her touch their heads and their eyes glowed with her power. "Oh fuck" she looked up at you but didn't bother attacking. No, she now had Sam and Dean for that.

They both looked up at you but you knew for a fact you couldn't handle them in a fight by yourself so you did the only thing you could. You turned to run.

------

Dorothy and Charlie weren't in Dean's room and you didn't see either of them hiding in the armory so you ran down the hall and saw a door open up ahead so you ran into it and wasn't really surprised that the bunker had a garage. The upper level lights were on so you ran up the stairs and spotted Dorothy and Charlie next to a motorcycle "She got the boys! She hexed them or something so we got to do something fast"

"There you are" you heard from behind you and cursed before turning around to see both Sam and Dean not five feet away "Do something with those nifty shoes" you urged Dorothy who'd just retrieved the ruby slippers from her motorcycle side car.

You backed up with Dorothy and Charlie and swallowed hard seeing Sam's eyes glow green yet again. "Which one do you want?" Dorothy asked and you nodded at Dean "He hits harder but Sam has a wider reach." She nodded "You take the harder hitter I'll take the wider reach"

"Charlie get to the witch!" you hollered as Dean grabbed for you and Sam advanced on Dorothy. "Pretty little hunter. You can die along with them as well" he growled slamming you back against the wall. "Naw, I'm not one for dying easy" you hissed and brought your knee up into his crotch. The distraction gave Dorothy an opening to catch Sam off guard. She threw the other slipper to Charlie "Go! We've got this"

You watched Charlie run out and ran to Dorothy's side. "Knock em out if need me but try not to hurt them" she looked at you like you'd lost your mind before saying "Tell them that!"

------

Dean caught you with a hard punch so you headbutted him back causing him to stumble "GOD DAMMIT YOU TWO CAN ONE UP ARCHANGELS AND NOT ONE BITCH" you grunted when he kicked you in the stomach. You looked up to see Dorothy wasn't fairing a lot better. Dean grabbed you by the hair "I'll deal with you after hunter. Dorothy is who I want dead" he threw you across the room and you saw that Sam had Dorothy around the neck and Dean now had the demon blade in his hand. You glanced around and spotted a piece of pipe and picked it up. You didn't want to hurt them but you couldn't let them kill her.

Right as you got to your feet you saw Dean's eyes glow again and let out a breath "Charlie did it"

Sam let go of Dorothy who came to your side "Y/N are you alright?" you nodded and spit out a mouthful of blood "Fighting is a lot easier when you can kill your opponent" she wiped her split lip and laughed "Tell me about it" Sam looked between the two of you "We did that?"

You shrugged "Actually Sammy you kicked Dorothy's ass. Dean kicked mine" you saw the guilt flash across Dean's face when you grimaced slighly from straightening up but shook your head "I'm fine. Let's find Charlie"

------

You all found Charlie at the top of the stairs leading out. She smiled and waved the key "Ding dong bitches"

------

Dean of course wanted to move baby into the garage after getting a better look at it so when all of you met back up in there his eyes flicked across your face and where you were sure bruises were blossoming before saying "Baby looks good in here doesn't she?" "Baby looks good anywhere" you replied and he smiled and motioned towards the empty space next to her "Room for the jeep" you nodded then said "I may move her in to keep baby company"

You and Sam took Dorothy the copy of her book you found in the archives while Dean spoke to Charlie. You cut your eyes at them then looked back at Dorothy.

After she thanked all of you for your help she said she had to get back to Oz to finish the rebellion she started then looking at Charlie "You coming or what?" "With you to Oz?" Charlie asked and Dorothy replied "You said you were looking for adventure Red. Well here is it. Come help me find my damn dog. I'd ask Y/N to join too but it's clear where her ties are"

Dean shook his head at Charlie "You have no idea what's in Oz. I mean there's flying monkeys, armies of witches. There's all kinds of danger" You had to bite back a laugh when Charlie asked him "Promise?" She hugged him then Sam then you. "You boys listen to Y/N"

You stood next to Sam and watched as Dorothy opened the doorway to Oz and the two of them walked in. Once the door shut you couldn't resist the urge to open it and double check but that doorway once again only showed the tunnel leading out the garage."Think she'll be back?" Dean asked and Sam nodded "There's no place like home"

------

Later that night Sam had headed to bed and so had Dean so you were up in the kitchen nursing a beer. The bruising had went down with the use of a vial of stuff Dorothy had offered and your ribs were just a little sore. You glanced up from the book you'd been looking over when you heard footsteps and saw it was Dean. He stopped at the doorway "Um Y/N.. I um" you knew what he was trying to say so you waved a hand "I know you'd never hurt me Dean. I wouldn't have gotten it so bad if I hadn't been worried about hurting you"

He chuckled at that then walked over to the table. He reached for your chin and you knew partly that was due to him being used to checking Sam over for injuries but that knowledge didn't stop the little shiver that ran through you at such a gentle touch from him. He turned your face to look at it in the light and his thumb brushed lightly across your cheek "I would offer you a free shot but something tells me you'd either not take it or save it until I was least suspecting" You smiled up at him "No free shot needed Winchester. Takes a lot more to hurt me"

His thumb barely ran across your bottom lip and you swallowed hard and knew he felt it. "Y/N Charlie um said something I wanted to ask you about" he spoke softly while still holding your face in his hand. "Ask me" you all but whispered and he started to lean closer to you but the hall light came on and you heard Sam's footsteps a half a second before he stepped in the room causing you and Dean to separate like you were guilty of something. He looked between both of you "Did I interrupt something?" You cleared your throat and turned your eyes back to the book "Just Dean feeling guilty for knocking me around under the witch's power. I told him I'm fine maybe you can convince him" you quickly gathered the book and beer then stood to head to your room "Night fellas" "Night Y/N" Sam said and you heard Dean mutter "Night" right before you stepped out into the hall.

Tags @facadeformyrealblog @akshi8278

#spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x female!reader #always be yours

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bechloeislegit · 4 years

Text

#EatingAlone

Prompt from FanFiction User malexfaith: A birthday fic for malexfaith from her prompt requesting a BeChloe COVID-19 fic. [See the end for the full prompt.]

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"Finally," Beca muttered, breathing out a sigh of relief after reading the all-employee email from the studio bosses. The person that thought they had COVID-19 had a negative test result come back. After spending two weeks in self-isolation, Beca was ready to get out of her apartment, even if it was only to do some grocery shopping. It was almost dinner time and she only had a can of ravioli on her shelf.

Beca jumped up and ran to the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth. She gathered everything she needed, including her face mask and gloves. She also opted to dress in real clothes before making her way out of her apartment. She followed all the proper 'social-distancing' protocols and made her way to the market just down the street.

She walked in and saw two people, both of whom worked there.

"Good evening," Beca said.

"Good evening," one of the workers replied. "May I help you find something?"

"No thanks," Beca said. "I'm just picking up a few necessities."

Beca walked down the aisles, placing a few things in her cart. She got to the frozen foods and stocked up on microwave meals and ice cream. She turned the corner of the paper goods aisle and stopped.

The entire aisle of shelves was bare. There was not one single pack of toilet paper or paper towels. She furrowed her brow and slowly walked the entire aisle, looking from side to side like a roll of toilet paper was going to jump off the shelf at her.

"Wow," Beca muttered. "This hoarding toilet paper really is a thing now."

Beca grabbed a few more needed items and went to the checkout. Someone had come in while she was shopping, so she stood what she thought was six feet behind them.

The cashier finished with the other person and Beca moved forward. She unloaded her cart and paid for her purchases. She packed her reusable bags and managed to get them all back to her apartment without dropping or losing anything.

Beca put her groceries away, keeping one frozen meal out to put in the microwave. She read the directions and placed the meal in the microwave, punching in five minutes. She turned on the TV and immediately changed the station from a re-airing of the President's Coronavirus press briefing from the day before.

"Moron," Beca mumbled before finding a reputable news station to listen to for the latest information on treatments and vaccines and such.

The microwave beeped and Beca got her meal. Once she was done eating, she grabbed a beer and sat in front of her computer. The TV was on low in the background while she tweeted about her trip to the market, lamenting about the lack of toilet paper. For fun, she added #NoTPtobeFound.

She posted the picture she had taken of her frozen meal once and posted it on Instagram.

BMitchNotBitch: Spoils of being single and self-quarantining with yourself. #EatingAlone

It didn't take long for the notifications to come in. Beca checked and she had several likes and a few comments on her #EatingAlone post.

She liked one post that was accompanied by a picture of a half a personal size pizza. The poster, HomeEducator, had written: This was the only thing left in my refrigerator for me to eat today. #EatingAlone

It made Beca chuckle. She was surprised when she saw a reply come through.

HomeEducator: OMG! BMitchNotBitch liked my post! #Swooning #BigFan #TheCupSongismyFave

Several new notifications popped up and Beca sat smiling and shaking her head at how one post and her liking a post could get such a reaction. Her fans were the best.

Beca re-read the post from HomeEducator and decided to send her a private message.

BMitchNotBitch: Hi. I saw your post about me liking your post and wanted to see if you were okay. Being alone during this sucks.

The response from HomeEducator was almost immediate.

HomeEducator: Is this really you? Beca Mitchell the music producer and singer?

BMitchNotBitch: The one and only, I swear.

It took a little longer for the response to come through this time.

HomeEducator: Sorry, but I had to squeal a little. I'm such a big fan and can't believe you're actually writing to me. #BMitchNotBitchFangirl

BMitchNotBitch: I don't usually 'talk' to my fans through personal messaging but I liked that you posted your dinner and that you were eating alone. Since we're both alone I thought it might be nice to have someone to chat with while sitting around by ourselves.

HomeEducator: I'd love to chat sometime. I am a teacher and we are doing remote learning so I'm busy from about nine until three on Tues, Wed, and Thurs.

BMitchNotBitch: That works out for me. I have a small studio in my apartment and will be working on some new stuff while I'm home.

HomeEducator: Anything you can share?

BMitchNotBitch: Not yet. But, if you play your cards right, I might let you hear a snippet or two.

HomeEducator: That would be so awesome!

Beca's phone pinged with a text notification; she read it and sighed.

BMitchNotBitch: I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cut this short. I got a message about some work I have to take care of. I hope we can chat again.

HomeEducator: I'm free tomorrow. How about I message you around three-thirty to see if you can talk.

BMitchNotBitch: Sounds good to me. Bye for now.

HomeEducator: Bye.

Beca checked the text again and went to work on what her boss had sent her.

~~ #EatingAlone ~~

The next day, Beca was working in her home studio when she saw her phone light up with an IG message notification. She pulled off her headphones and looked at her phone. She smiled when she saw it was from HomeEducator.

HomeEducator: It's three-thirty. Can you talk?

BMitchNotBitch: Can I get back to you in about 30? I'm in the middle of something but almost done with it.

HomeEducator: Sure. I'll talk to you in a little while.

BMitchNotBitch: Awesome!

Beca put her headphones back on and finished the track. She played it back and made a few tweaks and listened to it one more time. She smiled because it sounded better than she had expected.

"I should send HomeEducator a snippet of this," Beca thought.

Beca quickly cut out a portion of the chorus and copied it into a file. She made sure it sounded good and pulled up her message thread with HomeEducator.

"I really need to ask for her name," Beca mumbled as she pulled up her Instagram message thread.

BMitchNotBitch: What's your name? It's only fair that you tell me since you already know mine. Also, here's a little something for your listening pleasure.

Beca attached the music file and hit send. She waited for a response and started to get nervous when it took a few minutes. Beca thought about sending another message when her phone lit up.

HomeEducator: OMG, Beca! That is amazing. Are you releasing this or is someone else? When will it come out?

BMitchNotBitch: LOL. Calm down. It's for my next album which I do not have a release date for. With all that's going on it may come out on iTunes or some other music download system.

HomeEducator: Let me know when and how. I def want to hear the rest of the song. The chorus is aca-amazing.

BMitchNotBitch: Aca what? And I'll ask again, what is your name?

HomeEducator: Oops, I didn't mean to type that. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday, but today is not the day.

HomeEducator: And my name is Chloe Beale.

"Chloe," Beca mumbled liking the way the name sounded rolling off her tongue.

BMitchNotBitch: Nice name. Would it be weird if I sent you my number so we could text and maybe talk? If it is, forget I said anything. It would be nice to hear another voice once in a while.

HomeEducator: 213-555-1960

Beca sat up when she saw the message. "She gave me her number."

Beca bit her lip but put the number in her phone under Chloe's name. She sent a quick text.

Unknown Number: Hi, it's Beca Mitchell. Thanks for giving me your number. Be sure to save mine.

Chloe: Done. Can I call you?

Beca: Anytime.

Beca hit send and jumped when her phone rang almost immediately. She was surprised to see Chloe's name on her caller ID.

"Hello?" Beca said into the phone.

"Hi, it's Chloe," Chloe said. "Calling you now is okay, right? It's not weird is it?"

"Yes, it's okay, and no, I don't think it's weird," Beca said. "You have a nice voice."

"Thank you," Chloe said. "I always thought your voice was nice."

"Oh, um, thank you," Beca said. "So, you have a 213 area code. Does that mean you live in the LA area?"

"Yes, I do," Chloe said.

"Great," Beca said. "Maybe when we can get out and about again we can meet in person?"

"I'd like that," Chloe said. "That is if you're still talking to me then. I have a tendency to ignore boundaries because I want to know everything about people and that turns them off sometimes."

Beca chuckled. "Hmm, maybe I need to rethink that invitation."

She heard Chloe let out a small gasp of faux indignation.

"I'm kidding," Beca said.

"Good. So, tell me a little about yourself," Chloe said. "I mean stuff that people don't know. Like I said, I'm a big fan so I know quite a bit about you from what's posted online and stuff. I know there has to be more to you than that."

Beca chuckled again. "You're right. I am much more than what you read online or hear about in the tabloids. Let me get out of my studio and get comfortable."

"Ooo," Chloe said, laughing. "It's going to be that kind of phone call. Kinky."

"Oh, my God," Beca said, face flushing. "I didn't know I was dealing with a perv."

Chloe laughed.

"Okay, I'm in my living room," Beca said as she laid on her sofa, her head resting on the arm.

"What are you wearing?" Chloe asked in a sultry voice.

"I'm hanging up now," Beca replied, unable to keep the smile from her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Chloe said, full-on belly laughing. "I didn't realize you'd be so easy to fluster. I have a feeling we are going to be fast and best friends."

"I kind of get that feeling, too," Beca said honestly.

"Yeah?" Chloe said. "So, start talking, Mitchell."

"Yes, ma'am," Beca said. "So, I'm twenty-five and have lived in LA for six years now. Wow, I just realized it's been that long. Anyway, I moved here when I got discovered by DJ Khaled and offered a contract when I was nineteen."

"I kind of know all that," Chloe interrupted. "Tell me something that I can't read online."

"Oh, I see how it is," Beca said. "We're getting into the TMI part of our friendship. Moving kind of fast aren't we, Beale?"

"No boundaries, remember?" Chloe asked.

"Right, you did give me fair warning," Beca said. "Okay. Here's something that hasn't gotten out about me. I, um, auditioned for American Idol when I was eighteen and didn't make it past the first round."

"Shut up!" Chloe exclaimed. "Seriously? You are so talented, how could they not send you forward?"

"Honestly, I'm surprised that no one has released the video of my audition. I was pretty bad. I was so nervous and sounded awful."

"I would love to see that. I'm sure it isn't as bad as you make it out to be. I mean, you did get a recording contract a year later."

"That's true, but it wasn't because of my Idol audition. Khaled heard me singing karaoke and the rest, as they say, is history."

"Well, I for one am glad that Khaled has a better ear than those stupid Idol judges."

Beca chuckled. "Thank you. Now tell me something about yourself."

"Um, well, I'm twenty-seven and was born in Tampa. I graduated from Barden University in Georgia with an advanced teaching degree. I moved to New York where I taught for two years before I found the job I'm in now."

"You lived in New York?" Beca asked. "How was that?"

Chloe and Beca spoke for close to two hours before Beca's stomach reminded her she hadn't had dinner.

"Ugh," Beca said. "I hate to cut this short but my stomach is reminding me that I need to eat."

"Me, too," Chloe said. "I really enjoyed talking with you. I hope we can do this again soon. And by soon, I mean like tomorrow."

"I'd love to talk to you again, too," Beca said. "And you can call or text me whenever you want. If I don't answer right away, don't worry. I'm probably working in my studio. But I promise to answer as soon as I can. Okay?"

"Okay," Chloe said. Beca could almost hear her smile through the phone. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"It's a date," Beca said. "I mean, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Not like a date or anything. Just talking. On the phone. Tomorrow."

"You are so cute when you ramble," Chloe said.

"Shut up," Beca said, glad Chloe couldn't see her pink cheeks.

"Bye, Beca," Chloe said with a laugh.

"Goodbye, Chloe," Beca said, ending the call.

~~ #EatingAlone ~~

Beca looked forward to seeing Chloe's name pop up on her caller ID. They would take turns calling; if Beca called Chloe in the morning, Chloe would call Beca in the afternoon. They texted quite a bit as well.

It surprises Beca that they still find something to talk about even after two months. Funny thing is, they are both still stuck at home and don't get out much, and yet still have something new to talk about. Beca doesn't even talk to her family as much as she does with Chloe.

Beca knew Chloe would be calling soon. They had scheduled a watch party for the season finale of Grey's Anatomy and she had to get everything ready.

Beca grabbed two beers and placed them on the table in front of the sofa. She turned her TV on, barely paying any attention to Station 19 as it played in the background.

Beca checked her watch. Just then there was a knock on the door and Beca ran to answer.

"Pizza's here," a voice called out before she made it to the door.

Beca opened the door to find her pizza sitting on the floor, waiting for her. She poked her head out the door and yelled a "thank you" to the delivery guy as he waited for the elevator.

Beca brought the pizza in just as her phone rang.

"Hey," Beca said, sitting the pizza on the table and opening the box.

"Grey's will be on in like five minutes," Chloe said. "Are you set up and ready?"

"Yes, ma'am," Beca responded. "Two beers and a pizza all ready to be consumed. How about you?"

"I got pizza, too," Chloe said. "Gotta help keep the local businesses going."

"Same," Beca said. "There's a pizza place not too far from my building that has the best pizza ever."

"I don't know, Beca," Chloe said. "I think my pizza place can claim ownership as the best pizza ever."

"I beg to differ," Beca said. "It's-"

"Shhhhh!" Chloe said, cutting Beca off. "It's starting."

"Oh," Beca said. She put her phone on speaker and sat down to watch.

Beca and Chloe made comments on the characters and what was happening on the screen. A scene where surgery was being performed came on and Beca dropped her pizza slice back into the box.

"Ew, I just lost my appetite," Beca said.

"Come on, Beca," Chloe said. "It's not that bad. It's all fake."

"Doesn't look very fake," Beca said, making the mistake of looking at the screen again. "Yuck!"

"I didn't know you were so squeamish," Chloe said. "Ugh! Okay, I see what you mean. That's pretty gross. Especially when you're eating pizza."

"Yep," Beca said. "Let me know when they stop showing it."

"They're done," Chloe said, laughing. "Do you want to keep this going and watch How to Get Away With Murder with me after?"

"I would," Beca said. "But I have a Zoom interview with Kelly Clarkson at eight in the morning. I actually need to make myself presentable so I'll be getting up early to do my hair and makeup and find something decent to wear. I really should wash clothes soon."

"Can I watch the interview live online?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know," Beca said. "I know it will be on YouTube at some point. I'll try and find out and let you know."

"You don't have to do that," Chloe said. "Just call or text me when the interview is over."

"Will do," Beca said. "Goodnight, Chloe. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Becs," Chloe said and ended the call.

"Becs," Beca mumbled with a silly grin on her face. She let out a sigh and said, "I think I might be falling in love with Chloe and I've never even seen her."

~~ #EatingAlone ~~

Beca had finished her Zoom interview with Kelly Clarkson and decided to do her laundry. She wasn't that pressed to do it but she was running out of clean pajamas.

Beca gathered up a full basket of dirty clothes and put on her mask before heading down to the building's laundry room. Someone else had the same idea as Beca noticed two dryers going.

Beca made her way to the washers and starting separating her clothes and placing them in the washer. She was dropping her coins in the slot when she heard a sound and looked up. She smiled at the person who came in and furrowed her brow. The woman had stopped dead in her tracks and was staring at her.

"Beca?" the woman said. "What are you doing here?"

Beca looked at the woman. "Um, washing clothes?"

Beca could tell the woman was smiling behind her mask. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Oh, right, you don't know what I look like," the woman said. "I'm Chloe."

Beca's eyes widened. "Chloe? My Chloe?"

"I can be if you play your cards right," Chloe said with a smirk.

Chloe walked over to Beca and stopped. She put her arms out as if to hug Beca and Beca hesitated.

"I know we're not supposed to touch, but I could really use a hug," Chloe said.

Beca chewed her bottom lip and then said, "What the hell?" as she pulled Chloe into a hug.

"It is so good to actually meet you in person," Beca said, pulling back from the hug and moving away from Chloe. "Wait! Oh, my God!"

"What?" Chloe asked, confused by Beca's actions.

"Did you stalk me online and find out where I live?" Beca asked.

"No, I swear I didn't," Chloe said and chuckled. "I actually live in this building. Apartment 3C."

"What?" Beca asked. "You mean all this time we've lived this close and didn't know it?"

"Looks like it," Chloe said, pulling the mask from her face as she stepped closer to Beca.

"Wow," Beca said, staring at Chloe's face. "You're really pretty."

Beca realized she blurted that out loud and her cheeks reddened.

"I've always thought you were really pretty, too," Chloe said.

Beca and Chloe stood staring at each other. Beca pulled her mask down and let it hang around her neck.

"Um, this is awkward, but I really want to kiss you," Beca said softly.

"I really want to kiss you, too," Chloe said.

"But, we probably shouldn't," Beca said, leaning in slightly.

"You're right. We shouldn't," Chloe said just as their lips met.

Beca reached out and pulled Chloe closer by her hips. Chloe moaned into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Beca's shoulders.

"Wow," Beca whispered as the kiss came to an end.

"Same," Chloe said with a chuckle. "So, um, I know we're not supposed to go visit friends and such, but would you like to come to my apartment for dinner? I haven't been outside in almost three weeks, so I think we'll be okay."

"I haven't been outside about that long, too," Beca said. "Do you really think it will be safe?"

"I don't know what to think, to be honest," Chloe said. "But, I don't know if I can handle just talking on the phone when I know you're so close."

"In that case," Beca said. "I'd love to have dinner with you in your apartment."

"Really?" Chloe squealed, pulling Beca into a tight hug. "Is six good for you?"

"That's our usual dinner time," Beca said. "I'll bring some wine. I have a couple of bottles I've been saving for a special occasion. And I think dinner with you counts as a special occasion."

"Perfect," Chloe said and gave Beca a quick peck on the lips. "I'd better get my laundry upstairs. I need to see what I have to make for dinner."

"I have some stuff in my freezer if you need it," Beca said.

"Thanks," Chloe said. "I'll let you know."

Chloe walked over to the dryers and started folding her clothes and putting them in her basket. Beca was still standing at the washers, staring at Chloe.

"Um, Becs?"

Beca smiled at the nickname. "Yeah?"

"The washer only works if you put the money in," Chloe said, grinning.

"Right," Beca said and got her washers going. "I'll, uh, see you later."

"See you later," Chloe said and watched as Beca finally made her way out of the laundry room.

Chloe smiled and mumbled, "I am totes going to marry that girl."

~~ #EatingAlone ~~

Six months later, Beca and Chloe were having dinner together in Beca's apartment. The U.S. and most of the world was getting back into its new 'normal', whatever that is, and Beca and Chloe had been able to spend more time in close proximity. In the two months since the stay-at-home orders had been lifted, they had spent every spare moment together.

"Ooo, let's get a picture," Chloe said as she pulled out her phone.

"Why?" Beca whined.

"So, I can show you off," Chloe said. "And announce to the world that Beca Mitchell is off the market."

"You're a dork, you know that?" Beca said, smiling lovingly at Chloe.

"I do know that," Chloe said. "That's why you love me."

"I do love you," Beca said, moving closer to Chloe.

"And I love you," Chloe said, closing the distance and kissing Beca. She pulled back and said, "Now, let's let everyone else know that we love each other."

"Okay," Beca said.

Beca moved so she could wrap her arms around Chloe's waist. She put her chin on Chloe's shoulder.

"How's this?" Beca asked.

"Perfect," Chloe said and she took the picture.

They remained in the same position with Beca watching over Chloe's shoulder as she posted the photo on all the media sites.

Beca smiled when she saw that Chloe had added a new hashtag. #NoLongerEatingAlone.

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Full prompt from FanFiction User malexfaith: I was just thinking with the self-isolation that people who want to meet someone, would have to do so at the moment through the internet; meaning they would be talking for a lot longer before actually meeting, and their relationship may last longer with them already knowing so much before actually meeting.

#bechloe fanfiction #bechloe #beca mitchell #chloe beale

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new2otomelol · 4 years

Text

Maid to the Rescue - A KBTBB Fanfic

I have not posted in a looong time, but miss it! I will be going back, fixing some of my older posts (fix my writing, lol) I’m still not a great writer and being a teacher takes a lot of work, but this is a nice escape from the world every once in a while. This is for one of the awesome people that have read my stuff and liked it (a thousand thank yous!)

This story is developing and this is the first part. I don’t own the rights to Kissed by the Baddest Bidder, Voltage does. This is a fanfic for fun!

It has been a year since that fateful day in the lobby. God, my life was so different back then. I was always at the beck and call of “the boys” as I called them. My saviors as well as my proverbial pains in the rear. There are times I miss them, and others when I wish we could have all met under different circumstances.

You see, more than a year ago I use to be a maid at a famous hotel called the Tres Spades. A hotspot in Tokyo and one of the many business ventures of my former supposed boyfriend, Eisuke Ichinomiya.

My life was put in danger more times than what I would’ve liked during our pretend relationship; a situation that also opened up backlash from some of the employees at the hotel. Eisuke decided he didn’t want to see me suffer and thus ended our affair in grand-fashion in front of the staff and clients. This gesture alone successfully put an end to relentless bullying in less than a few seconds.

Even though I completely understood the situation and told myself countless of times that I was fine, it still hurt. Eisuke and I had gotten close during our time together and even felt like barriers he had put up were beginning to cease. But enough was enough, I was tired of being labeled “plain,” “stupid,” and other things by people. I wanted to feel like a person of worth that could stand on her own two feet. I took Eisuke’s breakup announcement as my chance to run and do what I have always neglected to do, self-care and growth.

That day, I stood up my co-worker on a date, packed my bags with only my essential needs, emptied my savings jar and fled. I tried to be smart about it, ditched my identity, left the money Eisuke had deposited in account untouched, destroyed my phone, you name it. I knew the boys would eventually seek me out, but I needed time.

I had made a friend through Chisato who helped me create a new identity and assisted me with finding a small place to live in that was well hidden. Eventually, Gage, as he called himself, had me join a few of his friends. Together we formed a small “gang” of sorts. Our activities may have not always been on the legal side of things, but they are just and necessary.

We have become a family and enjoy working with each other, but I know that eventually I have to go back to my old life and start anew. I’m no longer that shy girl who followed others blindly and gave up so much of herself. I’m strong, in fact, I always was; I just never could find the time to build my confidence. Those days are gone and I’m ready for what I must face.

I wipe the sweat off my brow as I wait on top of this old, dilapidated roof and stare at my computer screen. Enough reminiscing, time for action. “Siren! It’s time!” I hear the command through my earpiece and enter a code in the computer. “Entered, security systems are down, including firewall. Lucy, begin download.” I give the command and hear “roger!” from my friend Lucy. A beeping sound goes off on my computer 2 minutes later and I know our time is up. “Alright everyone, it’s 2:00 a.m. and as planned they have caught on. My location has been made, initiating cleanup sequence, let’s roll!”

I pull a tab on my computer that I had installed to a small little bomb, which I had put together and crafted into my laptop’s hard drive earlier in the day. My 20 second countdown begins as I reconnect my harness to the rope and slide down to another rooftop across the way. I enter the stairs through the roof access and quickly make my way down. Through the windows of the stairwell. I can see dark figures running towards the building I just had been in. Goodbye jerks! I’m gone and out of sight.

I take dark alley ways and finally make it to my scooter and drive away. I’ve gotten so used to the adrenaline rush of it all that I don’t panic anymore. A few minutes later I make it to the warehouse with all the others.

“Siren! Great job girl! We got the assholes!” Gage comes up to me and high fives me as I dismount my scooter. I take off my helmet and breathe in the air, letting that wonderful feeling of accomplishment settle in.

“I can’t believe that we were able to pull it off this time! Did Lucy download all the files we needed?” I ask and Gage smiles widely, “that and more my friend. We found that the company has a connection to a crazy cult-like organization called AID. We will unleash the company’s doings to the media and let that fire start and take over. We have finally avenged Nyx!” He starts to do his little victory dance around my scooter as the rest of the gang shows up.

Nyx is a fellow member of ours that had been employed by a major corporation. She was great at her job and handled the accounting for her employer. Unfortunately, the corporation went under new leadership and things went awry quickly. Looking for a scapegoat, they shifted the blame on our friend that we refer to as “Nyx” and she was arrested and charged. Tonight, we took the information we needed to clear her name and set her free.

We all move to the day room area and take a beer in celebration relaxing on our old worn-out couch. “Siren, I think it’s time for you to also clear your name and face your destiny.” Gage whispers to me as he takes a seat next to me. Of course, the others pick up what we are talking about and quickly get excited. “Yes Siren! It’s time for you to conquer your love!” Lucy states happily. I laugh and throw a pillow at her from the couch. “I know, I know and I feel ready to go back and face it all; but remember, I must do it on my own."

We continue to talk about plans that we’ve all made since we got to the sanctuary. Gage is a computer programming specialist and professor in real life. He took us in, taught us everything we know about computers, hacking, etc. Some of us in the group specialize in other things and so we learned from each other how to fight (thanks to "Net”), weaponry (thanks to “Lucy), languages (thanks to "Nikia”) and the hotel industry/customer relations, thanks to yours truly.

We’ve kept our names a secret from each other in order to teach ourselves to protect our identities. Not once have we ever revealed our real names, except to the professor, Gage.

Each one of us had a rough patch in life and ended up here. Once we solve our past issues and restore our names, we move on with our lives with the promise to help others along the way. A “pay it forward” if you will.

After an hour of celebrating we begin to head out to go home and rest. Gage taps me on the shoulder and asks me to stay behind to talk. “Lisa, listen, it’s been a year for you already and I agree with the rest of the family, it’s time for you to face your past.” I had a feeling he wouldn’t let the topic slide. “I know Gage, and trust me, I’ve been working on it.” Gage smiles and motions for me to follow him to the kitchen area where he makes some coffee for the both of us. “I’m sure you have researched your friends plenty and have prepared."

"Yes, I sure have. With the information from tonight, not only do we have evidence to free Nyx, but I have evidence to help out one of my friends and expose some of the corruption in his workplace. I also have found some other information about my ‘ex’ that tells me there is danger up ahead.” Gage sits back and sighs. “Oh sweetheart, there’s so much going on with each one of those men. In fact, I just found out something…” he’s cut off by the sound of the ringer coming from my burner phone. I gasp and look at the professor. “Answer it, quickly!”

Chisato’s ID appears on the screen and I immediately pick up. “Siren! Listen to me please. They’re all gone. Eisuke, Mamo, Baba, Soryu and Ota. We all thought they were on a trip, but it’s been two days!” The news hit me like a cold shower. “Chisato, please, calm down. I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Take the chip out of that phone, break it and the phone and throw it away. Don’t worry.” The call ends abruptly and I take a deep breath and look at Gage.

“Told you Lisa, it’s time. Do you know who you are up against?” Without a doubt I do. I feel my blood rush and my fists tighten. “Gage, I can do it. The masked man, AID, many of these people that the guys have come up against have one person in common, the Prime Minister.” Gage smiles and leans forward holding my hands. “We’ll help you with the evidence to take him down. Your friends won’t see the connection because they’re dealing with the middle-man again.” “Gage, I don’t want to get any of you in trouble…” he pats my hands. “Lisa, you know we’ll be completely anonymous when releasing the information and helping you. We’ll all be worried about you going in to the line of fire, but you’re the most skilled in sneaking around and fighting. I know you can do this!” The professor stands up, gives me a kiss on the forehead and puts up our empty coffee cups.

“Gage, I can’t ever begin to pay you back for everything you’ve done for me. Thank you, thank you so incredibly much for taking me under your tutelage and helping me grow.” I bow to him and he laughs. “Lisa, you’ve helped many people while being in this group and this isn’t goodbye dear. I may be in my 50’s, but I’m not dying yet.” I laugh and attack him with a hug. “No one will die, I’ll make sure of it.”

He pats my back and releases me from the hug. “Okay sweetheart, go get some rest and get ready, tomorrow is another day!” ************************************ Back in Tokyo…. “Eisuke! Wake up, come on! Shake it off! Damn this shit!” Soryu curses as he struggles against his tight restraints. “S…Sor… what the fuck is going on?” States Baba as he begins to wake up from his drug induced stupor. “I don’t know, but it looks like we were all drugged at the party and here we are. Who the fuck could havd done this?”

“Maybe it was one of your gang rivals Sor” said Ota as he licked his dry lips and shook his head in an effort to re-stabilize his sight. “Not one of mine; this is not their typical ammo.” Rustling noises come from one of the corners of their dark enclosure. “Nah kid, at this stage, it could be either Baba or Eisuke’s enemies. What the actual fuck did they give us? My head is 'bout to rip the fuck open!” Groans come from the center of the room as Eisuke comes to. “What the fuck?” Soryu rolls his eyes, “we just established that part. Do you have any bad deals going on right now? Anything we should know?” Eisuke shakes his head and tries to re-moisturize his dry mouth. “The usual. Maybe that masked freak is at it again? Whoever it is, I wasn’t anticipating this, and usually I can see it a mile away. This is bigger.”

“For sure it wasn’t me. I’ve been in France for a month” said Baba. “Well, whoever the fuck it is, they have a flair for the dramatic. They should have just taken us out of the equation if they were able to get all of us.” stated Eisuke. The lights turned on and the mens’ eyes sting with the introduction of the harsh brightness. “So you are awake, perfect! I’ll notify the boss soon.” Said a man with a familiar voice as he entered the large warehouse area. The men re-adjust their sight and look upon their captor. “I called it! Masked dude it is!” said Ota. “Oh buddy, I’ve been nothing but a pawn in this and will continue to be to fulfill my boss’s every desire. Unfortunately, he’s been a busy body, so I will entertain you until he’s ready. Continue to enjoy your accommodations men, you’re here for the long haul.” The man laughs and quickly walks away leaving the bidders in their metal chairs with what seems to be mechanized handcuffs, the likes they had never seen before.

#kbtbb #kbtbbfanfic #eisuke #soryu #mamoru

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donttellpeterparker · 5 years

Text

Euro Trip

Summary: A trip of a lifetime right? Going abroad with your friends and the guy you were head over heels for... how could anything possibly go wrong?

Requested: No

Word Count: 2k+

Warning(s)?: FFH Based, Please don't read if you haven't seen FFH

masterlist (xx) request (xx)

——————————————————

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Euro Trip

''I have a plan!'' Ned turns to look out Peter with a confused expression.

''Okay, first, I am going to sit next to Y/N on the plane, second-''

''Wait what?'' Ned cuts in. immediately starting to disagree with Peter's idiotic plan to win you over.

''I'm going to buy a dual headphone adapter and watch movies with her on the plane, the whole time, third-''

''Okay...'' Ned buts in again, his eyes searching the classroom for you. You were currently sitting over with your friends, writing something down in your book.

However, Peter just ignores Ned's hostility and continues on.

''Three, while we are in Venice I was thinking of getting her flowers, though she doesn't really like flowers but she loves the Sunflower and Red rose combo so I figured I'll get her that but on a necklace instead-''

''Nice...''

''Then five, when we get to Paris, I am going to take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace and tell her how I feel and... step six.... hopefully she feels the same way'' Peter eyes dart across to you as he uttered the last part, watching in awe as you tilted your head back and laugh at whatever it was your friends were talking about.

''Oh and don't forget step seven'' Peter's eyes go back to Ned in confusion.

''Step seven?''

''Yeah, don't do any of that'' Peter tries to hold in his scoff.

''Why?'' Why wasn't Ned on board with this plan, it was a fool proof plan. Peter had gone over every possible scenario and this was the best one, even Karen agreed. Though admittedly, he was slightly embarrassed that he talked to his A.I about this.

''Because I wanna be Bachelors in Europe!'' Now Peter scoffs.

''Man...''

''No seriously, I may not know much as a guy but I do know this, Europeans love Americans... and more than half of them are women!''

''Okay... sure... but I really like Y/N, okay? She's awesome, she's super funny in a kinda dorky way and sometimes I catch her looking at me and I feel like she-''

''Oh shh! She's coming'' Ned and Peter quickly both shut up and glance down at their work sheets in front of them which were both already done of course.

''Hi dorks, excited about the science trip?'' I spoke up with a smile, glancing at both of them. However Peter glanced up at me nervously, already feeling himself getting tongue tied.

''H-hi... o-oh yeah we were just... talking about the trip'' Peter plays with his pen in his hand to try and get himself to focus a little. His heart was beating faster and faster by the second. The crush he had developed on you came on very sudden, almost immediately when you guys became friends. I gave them both a weird look but thought nothing of it seeing as Peter was always like this. It was honestly the cutest thing to me.

''Yeah well, Peter's plan'' Ned interjects. Peter stiffens as his eyes widen.

''You have a plan?'' I asked Peter, my eyes never leaving his. God they were so chocolaty brown...

''Oh no I... I don't have a plan'' He had wanted to kill Ned so badly right now.

''Oh he's just going to be doing a bunch of school work while we are on the trip and collect some dining spoons from each continent'' Peter felt relieved with the smooth lie Ned had told you yet stiffened once again at the last part he had said. My eyes now glanced over both of them suspiciously.

''Like a grandmother?'' I had no filter with anything so I was always quite blunt. Peter's eyes widen as he quickly shake his head, pointing his pen towards Ned.

''No he'll be collecting spoons I'll just be... uhhh... doing my school work.. yep'' He glanced down now and fiddled with his pen a little more.

''Okay umm... that was a little bit of a roller coaster'' I tried to joke as all of us emitted strained laughs.

''Little tip, download a VPN so the government can't track you while we are gone'' I furrowed my eyebrows to myself once I heard how stupid I had sounded.

''Smart... will do'' Peter compliments, smiling at me. I couldn't help but to smile back and nod my head, not liking the effect he seemed to always have on me.

''Bye'' I gave them both a small wave before quickly walking past them as soon as the bell chimed. Both Peter and Ned turned to look at each other, Ned smiled.

''Well I think that went well'' Peter just shook his head and dropped it on the table, exhaling his breath he hadn't even known he was holding.

~*~*~*~*

''Okay come on guys, single file line please!'' Mr Harris had looked more stressed then ever, frantically moving his hands in the air while they were still holding his clipboard. He always stresses when it comes to trips of any kind and honestly I could see why. He could barely keep his shirt buttoned never mind keeping a hoard of teenagers in check. Though Mr Fitz was well calm, probably because of the mini pillow comfortably around his neck as he was taking a day nap standing up.

''God I am so excited! I can't wait for the 8 hour plane ride! The boats we'll take to the hotel! All the different Museums we'll visit, the food, the wine-'' I swiftly laughed and put my hand over my best friends mouth to stop her from rambling.

''Calm down okay? We haven't even boarded yet'' I smiled softly to myself even though I felt like rolling my eyes.

''I know but this is so exciting!'' It was exciting, though if I was going to have to listen to her ramble on for the next 8 hours stuck in a confined space I would go insane.

''Hey he's staring again'' I turn my head to my best friend and over to Brad in the distance, his eyes immediately locking with mine. In reality he was 5 years younger then me, one of my friends kid brother yet since the blip, he aged whereas I didn't.

Not gonna lie though, those 5 years had turned him into practically a Greek God.

''He would put Zeus to shame...'' I watched as she stared lovingly at Brad, it honestly made me a little sick to my stomach. Yeah he was good looking but a total jackass too.

''Isn't that the guy who had two man ponies? no one looks good in a man pony'' Her smile instantly fell from her face as she turned to glare at me. I laughed as she stormed off, joining the rest of the class in the line up.

''Now Boarding flight 2376 to Venice Italy, please make your way to gate 37 for your departure in 20 minutes'' A woman's voice came over the PA system.

''Okay guys hurry up! let's go! We are not having a repeat of what happened last time! Move it!'' Mr Harris lungs would eventually die out soon from all the screaming. I smiled to myself as I followed the class, getting gently shoved along by the teacher to hurry up.

''You did practically insult my soul mate but, who are you sitting next to on the plane?'' My best friend turned to face me while the others began boarding in front.

''I'm not sure'' I shrugged my shoulders, looking straight ahead. I could see the familiar brown locks in front, smiling towards the stewardess before walking through the gate. My best friends eyes follow and she snickers.

''Hopefully it's not next to Penis Parker'' Sometimes I had wondered why I was even friends with her, she was ruder than me.

''Y/F/N, stop'' She knew I liked him so she did everything she could to bug me about it.

''What? I'm just saying, I heard he snores like, really loud'' I laugh at her and push her along to the front.

''Whatever dork''

~*~*~*~*

The plane was a lot more bigger than I had imagined. It was probably a very bad time to begin getting claustrophobic. I popped in my ear phones and played some calming music to ease my nerves. I hadn't even been on a plane before till now.

''Do you want the first shift or second? I could take either'' Mr Harris spoke up to Mr Fitz from just a little in front.

''Give me the third shift'' I laughed softly to myself.

''I can't chaperone these kids alone'' Mr Harris complains as he walks over to his seat as Mr Fitz walk further onward, immediately sitting down getting ready to take a nap.

''Hey Peter, this is called an airplane, it's like the buses you're used to except it fly's over your crappy town, not drive through them'' I was beyond annoyed once again with Flash.

''Hey ma'am, he blipped so technically he's 16, not 21'' I smiled as she turned to Flash and took the alcoholic beverage right out of his hand.

''Hey what are you doing? I don't even know this girl'' Flash yelled in the distance. I smiled and turned around to smile at Peter. He smiled back in thanks. I continue down the aisle and find my seat. I was beyond grateful that it wasn't next to my best friend who would definitely talk my ear off the entire time.

~*~*~*~*

''I need your help to get me to sit next to Y/N'' Peter turned to Ned swiftly once he saw Brad make his way up to you, having a quick conversation before taking a seat in the row before.

''No, what about our plan? Bachelors in Europe'' Peter stares at Ned in disgust.

''That was your plan, not mine, mine's foolproof'' Ned rolls his eyes and sighs.

''Not entirely...'' Ned mumbles to himself but Peter just ignored him, glancing over at his best friend with puppy dog eyes.

''Alright fine'' Ned gets up and begins walking over to your row. I glance up and offer a smile, noticing Ned seemed a little on edge.

''Hey guys'' Jenny from beside me just nodded her head, not really interested in conversing.

''There's an old lady sitting in front of us and she's wearing like a crazy amount of perfume and it's setting off Peter's allergies, you know Jenny, if you could just switch places with Peter real quick-'' Ned was speaking so fast I almost didn't hear him.

''He's allergic to perfume?'' Jenny asked incredulously. Ned paused and looked deep in thought. My eyes scan his face, seeing if he was lying or not.

He definitely was.

''Yeah, yeah umm... it makes his eyes water'' Mr Harris turns around from in front of us and his eyes widen.

''You said Peter had a perfume allergy?'' Ned looked mortified as Mr Harris shot out of his seat real quick.

''Uhh...'' Ned stumbled.

''I know from experience that a perfume allergy is no joke!'' I tried to stifle a laugh as Mr Harris struggled to get his seat un-buckled as Peter rose in the distance.

''Y/N stand up'' I did as he said and rose as well.

''Y/N, you take my spot, Ned take Y/N's and Peter let's get you up here'' I sat down at my new seat and glanced beside me to see Brad already beaming. Great. However, what I failed to notice was how my best friend was sitting on the other side of him, sending me a glare. I glanced at her and just shrug my shoulders.

''Thanks for bringing this to my attention Ned, everyone's safety is mine and Mr Fitz top priority...'' He trailed off, glancing towards the already snoring teacher fast asleep.

''Well thank you, come on Peter!'' Peter look disgruntled as he grabbed his carry-on bag and followed Mr Harris reluctantly.

''I got a dual headphone adapter if you want to watch a movie?'' Brad asked me, catching me out of my thoughts. I turned to him and smiled.

''Only if it's depressing, or funny'' I joked. Brad laughed and smiled, reaching into his backpack. However just a few rows down from them Peter could hear the conversation perfectly thanks to his spider-senses.

He was completely and utterly guttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Am I spotting a mini series perhapsss? xx (P.s probably be the same length as ‘One Hell Of A Night’’’

#peter parker #tom holland #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagines #peter parker imagine #tom holland imagines #tom holland x reader #spiderman #spider-man #spider-man far from home #donttellpeterparker

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coolobservationyouth · 4 years

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I guess you would have to agree with me that the best way to polish your vocal recording or a vocal sample is to sprinkle some effects, just like the way you would sprinkle a reasonable amount of ingredients on your food. If done right, it sounds delicious right, yum yum 😉

Improve your projects with quality free vst instruments & effects for download. Vst presets / patches and free synth vst plugins available for download. Vst4you: Big Source Of Free Vst's Loops And More Good Stuff To Start Create Music. 2Packs From last 2 successful fx alien loops releases, we are giving youopportunity to buy 2 packs.

Our list of the 55 best free VST plugins encompasses tons of categories, namely: best Guitar VSTs, best Synth VSTs, best VST plugins for vocals, bass VSTs best drum VSTs and a horde of slick effects – that one can download for FREE!

IZotope Ozone Imager. The Ozone Imager is an essential free VST plugin for trap beats. As the name suggests, this is an imaging tool you use to control your track's stereo width. To make a professional sounding track, you must control your stereo width. Commonly, your low frequencies are narrow, in mono, while you typically place your higher frequencies wide.

Vocal effects are no exception to the ingredient perspective, you need to add a reasonable amount of effects to make them sound lively, and enjoyable to the listeners.

Best Free Drum VST My mother always told me “march to the beat of your own drum”, but I guess she was wrong, because I found a bunch of really good free drum vsts. Amongst them, is the T.REX 606, a classic sound that could have easily cost hundreds of dollars, but for some reason is free. Best Free Synth VST Plugins Dexed by Digital Sub Urban Dexed is a Free multi platform and multi format frequency modulation Synth which is based on, or closely modeled to, the Yamaha DX7. You can download it here.

Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t saying you should stack effects upon effects on your vocal samples, too much of everything is bad. That said, let us look at the best free awesome VST effects plugin in the music production scene.

Let’s ride on…

Page Contents

5.) g200kg – KeroVee

10.) MGF – TimeWarp

1.) AegeanMusic – PitchProof

If you haven’t heard of PitchProof, then, you are definitely missing out, this is like the secret tool I use on Vocals but it wasn’t even developed for Vocal, it was actually designed to work on monophonic signals such as guitar solos, but I’ll give you a tip on how I have been using it:

You don’t want to apply it in realtime, what you should do instead is to first select the key of the harmony, then you turn the Blend knob all the way to the right; wet e.g:

Export the vocal result, add whatever effects plugins you gat on your toolbox (vocal, flangers, etc) to spice up the pitched vocal, and then stack it on top of the original vocal. Boom, you have something unique!

Note: You don’t have to always push it all through the wet side as this might cause artifacts, just experiment and stick with what works for you.

You can even export more vocal, and maybe this time, you can try by reducing the detune knob, anyways, experiment until you get your preferred test.

That said, let’s look at some of the features of PitchProof:

The Blend control knob would let you adjust the level of pitch shift, while the Pitch drop-down menu lets you select pitches like +7 or -7, or harmonies which are intelligent pitch-shift effects.

Moreover, there are also some options at the bottom of the PitchProof plugin which give you the option to switch between stereo and mono; mono could save your CPU, while the stereo option could cause a resource hog if used on multiple inserts.

Transient Fix can be switch on or off to spice things up a little!

Possible Harmony Options:HarmonyInfo2ndDissonant harmonies3rdThe Typical Major/minor Chord Harmony4thThe same as the +5 semitones setting except a few notes are flat.5thThe Same as The +7 Semitones Setting Except the Last Note of The Major Scale Is Flat Making It “diminished”.6thA nice-sounding alternative to typical harmony intervals.7thDissonant 7th Chord Sounds.

2.) Auburn Sounds – Graillon

This is an autotune VST plugins designed and developed by Auburnsounds. This plugin is superb in the way it handles pitch correction.

It not only supports pitch correction but supports the generation of throat sounds, making octave sounds, enriching, and enhancing vocal expressiveness.

Also, there is a pitch shift parameter that transposes vocals up and down in octaves and semitones.

Features:

Free Vst Effect Packs

Pitch Shifter cleanly transposes a voice up and down and has been optimized for voice.

Pitch Correction module brings an immediate robotic sound, while the Bitcrusher addition softly adds sparkles to the mix.

Freemium

System Requirements

Available as VST, VST2, AAX, and Audio Unit plugin for macOS and Windows platform.

Download Graillion Auto-Tune Plugin

3.) JHudStudio – Vocal King

Vocal King helps glue the vocal in a mix, and it comes preloaded cool parameters, that could help in customizing the audio signal of a vocal track.

The Pres Compressor knob helps in bringing out the clarity of a vocal, so, by turning up the gain of the Pres Comp brings out the presence in the vocal along with giving it a smooth compression. On the other hand, the Low cut, Tighten, and the Bass knob compliment the Pres Comp in taking out muddy frequencies without the vocal sounding too thin.

I also love playing with the Crispy knob as it sprinkles some sparkles to the audio signal.

Features:

Help vocals to stand out in a mix by giving them amazing presence, clarity, and compression. Can easily work on any other content.

Acts like are preamp giving the signal a strong boost.

Easy to use interface for fast results.

Easy to read meters

Very CPU efficient compared to other types of plugins.

It can be used on many other audio sources as well.

System Requirements

Vocal King supports MAC/Windows/32bit/64bit/VST2/VST3/AU. Supports MAC OS X 10.7 / Windows 7 and higher. Older systems may not work.

4.) Sonic Anomaly – Vola

Vst Effects Free Download

Vola is a Voice Optimized Leveling Amplifier made for broadcast voice dynamics processing, it also works with different kinds of audio material, like drums, percussive instrument, and synth pads.

Free Sound Effects Vst

This fantastic tool is solely for cleaning up sound files but can be used for extreme compression effects as well.

Features

Real-time Visual Metering for changes in dynamics

Upwards & downwards compression, each separately adjustable.

Stats Display and more compression settings

Download Vola Vst (Windows)

Download Vola Jsfx (Windows and Mac)

5.) g200kg – KeroVee

This is a pitch correction VST plugin tool and has strengthened to support natural pitch correction.

This tool is handy and can perform different and various types of voice effects, for example, a conversion of the male voice to a female voice and vice versa.

KeroVee comes bundled with useful parameters for the effectiveness of the auto-tuning process, Parameter includes:

Scale Button: This is for specifying the scale you want to tune. Setting a wrong scale would result in an awful result, in a simple sentence, Know your scale before you go into this one

TuneSpeed: This will allow you to set the speed of correcting the pitch.

Nuance: This is one of the best and lovely parameters, you can use this to set a fine vibrato of the original sound, use this to create all sorts of weird effects.

Amount: Set to zero (0) if you want no correction, setting to 100 will result in full correction of the pitch

and many more parameters like Transpose option, master volume, etc.

System Requirements

A compatible host program that supports the VST formats

6.) Martin Eastwood – Duet

Have you heard those natural double effects in some tracks! Do you wonder how those are created? I guess yes 😉

Let me introduce to you – Duet, a double-tracking effect designed to enhance your audio sample be it vocal or even instruments, Duet is well capable of sparkling them up. The way Duet work is by pitch-shifting both the left and right inputs individually using a novel synchronous overlap and add technique, allowing pitch to be manipulated in real-time while still maintaining the time duration of the audio.

One thing I love about Duet is the way it can accurately create the illusion of multi-voices and adds varied texture to the mix. Experiment with Duet to see how it works.

Note: This is only available for Window

7.) MaxSynths – DSP-2

DSP-2 is designed with an intelligent Dynamic Processor, a 4-band equalizer fixed on vocal key frequencies, a saturator, and a room emulator based on the Schroeder reverberator. DSP is super simple to use and can serve basically all your vocal processing needs, again, experiment and keep experimenting to get the best settings that would soothe your need.

Features:

Intelligent Dynamic Processor (IDP).

4 different automatic operative modes.

Selectable compression ratio.

Saturator with three different operation modes.

EQ fixed on vocal key frequencies.

Room emulator based on the Schroeder reverb model.

Transparent increment of the perceived volume level.

High precision input/output VU-meter.

Low CPU usage.

8.) Distorque – Azurite

Azurite is a vocal effect by Distorque which is built for multi-voice chorus with a focus on rich sounds and versatile controls.

According To Distorque:

My goal in designing it was to make as flexible a chorus as possible without losing great tones and ease of use. The result is an effect that will be handy for producers, guitarists, and glitch lovers alike.

One of the great features of this plugin is the way you can create multiple simultaneous voices. Each of these voices can be further customized with their own delay line that is modulated by a separate LFO. Adding multiple voices leads to a thicker, smoother, and less wobbly tone. It also makes vivid stereo spreading possible with a mono signal.

The voice control helps you to choose how many voices you want for the chorus, e.g one, two, four, or eight.

Features:

Stereo or mono operation.

Colour control emulates vintage analog choruses.

2 band EQ.

LFO tempo sync.

Feedback control allows for flanger sounds.

27 built-in presets.

Delay time from 0.2ms to 200ms.

7 LFO shapes: Sine, Triangle, Sawtooth, Ramp, Exponential, Inverse Exponential, and Random.

Spread control for a stereo widening of a mono signal.

Control randomizer.

Other controls: Depth, Speed, Wet Mix, Output, Separation, Dry Delay.

Note: This is only available for Window

Download Azurite Win 32 VST / Win 64 VST

9.) TerryWest – EasyVox

EasyVox contains a bunch of tool for vocal processing, such as:

Dynamic mono vocal compressor/limiter/enhancer

Three bands equalizer

Autogain and Pre-Limiter

Auto Noisegate

Auto Band-off

Three EQ models

Fine EQ option

EQ activity/bypass LEDs

Low-Mid-Hicut

Vocal Doubler effect

Pre in/Post out gain

In/out/reduction meters

Donate To The Developer, It helps him to build more exciting plugins

Note: This is only available for Window

10.) MGF – TimeWarp

Last on our list is Timewarp by MGF, which is a vibrato effect with 2 LFOs which can pan the pitch modulation amount for a stereo effect.

Features:

Vst Effect Plugins

Sine, Triangle, Saw and random waves with control over the shape and smoothing.

Optional 4x upsampling and a smooth modulation algorithm ensure clean sound with minimal aliasing. Normal quality

saves CPU and sounds brighter but less silky.

2 different interpolation algorithms are available (ALG).

Fast modulation settings possible and encouraged

That is it, Good luck and have fun with music!

Useful Related posts:

Native Instruments MOD PACK takes three classic modulation effects – chorus, flanger and phaser – and adds features never seen before. Each offers exciting new creative possibilities as well as stunningly convincing vintage-style results, making MOD PACK a must-have upgrade from the rest of modulation effects.

Best Free Vst Plugins

Native Instruments Choral: Drawing sonic inspiration from some of the most iconic chorus effects from the past 40 years – including iconic stands and unison synth effects. Add width, movement, sparkle and shimmer to any signal, or take advantage of the new Scatter feedback mode. This avoids unpleasant metallic sounds. Instead, a completely new effect similar to reverb is created. The classic effects contained a small number of settings – On, Off and Type are usually the only controls. Our plugin offers many customizable options. The number of voices can be set gradually from one to three, the sync speed can be manually changed, as well as the modulation speed, volume, mix, delay time, stereo width and feedback.

Free Vst Instrument Pack

Native Instruments Flair: Flips the classic head flanger effect. FLAIR adds a revolutionary new Voices mode that uses multiple delay lines to create custom harmonic flanger layers and resonances. It even has 24 chord settings, offering different chords and note intervals. In addition to revolutionary features, FLAIR is capable of rich tape saturation and pedal flanger, offering all the parameters you’d normally expect, such as tempo-synchronized pitch modulation.

Free Vst Effects Pack

Native Instruments Phasis: Offers endless phasing sounds – adding movement, soul, and creative magic to any signal. PHASIS takes inspiration from the classic phaser but adds powerful new features. For example, the Spread control changes the step spacing of a vocal style effect passage. Ultra Power Mode brings modulation to ultra-high speeds, creating unique FM-esque tones. The plugin adjusts the peak density and Q-factor of the slices in the spectrum and whether it is set to one value, applied in real time or with automation, or reversed with the “Invert” button, “Spread” provides a new effect for both the phasing process and vowel sounds of vocals. With its powerful stereo spread function, advanced sync options and all the controls, what you’d expect from a professional phaser, PHASIS is already a formidable modulation device, but the ULTRA parameter takes the effect to a new area of application. ULTRA boosts the maximum modulation rate from 8.37 kHz to an incredible 477.3 kHz, which generates unusual FM-style effects never heard before and is able to turn even white noise into immersive sound.

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goliath-de-senfina-sango · 5 years

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Local Teen Unaware of how Weird Family is, Local Goth Decides To Go All In and Learn Magick, Exhausted Teens Do Fun Dumb Teen Stuff

It was the day after they’d taken down Skulker, and Tucker had to collect up the armor. Danny helped him, of course, and he flew home with some help from his favorite ghost boy. They landed in Tucker’s room, and Tucker gave Danny a hug as soon as the suit was set down. Danny returned to his warmer flesh and blood self and hugged him back before they got to work searching for a port to plug Tucker’s laptop into. Thankfully even the dead respected the U in USB and they manage to connect. Before long, however, Tucker’s mind wanders from his code-breaking program that’s now hard at work with Skulker’s head and to his situation with Sam. And considering what all he’d learned about Danny’s family so far, he might as well ask. “Danny do you have access to transparent solar panels?”

“Yeah, all the windows at Fenton Works are solar panels - I think they run at uh 50% efficiency. Why?”

“Danny, that’s like, the exact last piece I need for my solar-powered car design.” Tucker was tempted to inform Danny of how amazing that fact was, but he knew Danny wasn’t a fan of being extraordinary, so he’d let it slide for now. “Now I just need some way of building it.”

“Well, you have the design itself saved right?”

“Yes…” Tucker wasn’t sure where this was going, but he was hopeful that it’d be a place he liked.

“We can just print out the design at my house?” Danny shrugged, as though that was obvious and the most simple thing in the world. “We have like, a pretty big 3D printer, it’s uh modular, and we use scrapped metal from junkyards that we liquified as filament. We can print a car pretty quickly.”

Danny was going to say something that made Tucker fall completely in love with him one of these days, the idiot. “Danny I need you to take me to this 3D printer. Now.” Skulker’s head was left where they’d put it on his desk, the rest of the suit stuffed in Tucker’s closet, and the pair flew off to Danny’s house.

When they arrived at Fentonworks, they turned to one of the other buildings on the block and set down there, Danny taking the time to unlock the door and everything. “So this 3D printer you guys have…”

“Well, Dad calls it the Fenton Fabricator. See, there's a theory that went around a while ago when 3D printers and fabricators first started, it was the Recursive Loop Theory. It goes like this. You buy a 3D printer. Mid-range, sorta useful, but with enough detail and strength that you like it. But then you need something a bit more detailed. So you look online and you find a set of 3D models for a second printer. This one you can build on your machine, and with only some minor parts you can make the more detailed printer for a tiny fraction of what it would cost.”

Danny took them to a set of stairs and Tucker was so focused on his friend he nearly missed all the art Danny’s ever done hanging all over the walls.

“So, you can make more detailed parts. And you find designs for a bigger printer. It's modular and sorta rough, but it needs those detailed parts. So you can then build massive somewhat detailed pieces… and so you do. And now, with your 3 printers, you find designs to a fourth. Bigger, better, more detailed, it's another generation, and you can print it off your current designs. Boom, bam, rinse and repeat. Eventually, your diminishing returns drop till you can’t make a more detailed printer, but at that point, you have one hell of a machine, particularly if you have a couple of crazy hackers building your final design as a custom project. Course, it’s not quite that easy. We had to fabricate a lot of weird and unique bits for them in other ways - well, my folks and their friends in the Secret Scientists did anyway."

“So the Fenton Fabricator?”

“Is a massive, customized high detail 3D fabricator that can even print metal and glass, yes.” Danny turned on the lights as they entered a large underground workspace. Tucker saw the fabricator and felt he might’ve gone to heaven. It was a massive aquarium tank, easily twenty feet from corner to corner and at least eight feet tall. Above it, hanging like a mechanical spider on segmented green and red limbs with shiny metal joints and points, was a motorcycle sized 3D printing extruder. Tucker could see a set of lasers for dust printing, a pair of high-heat high-speed extruders for wires, several dozen smaller legs with colors and specific grades of wire, all of which fed up and around the room to spools of plastic and cylinders of dusted metal.

“There are hidden parts in the walls with directed gravity manipulators and some arms kept out of the way until needed for assembly-based stuff. I think Mom and Dad built a car or something down here recently. The canisters are all refilled completely.” Danny shrugged, moving around the lab and grabbing up papers - notes about what feeds to use, hints for setting things up. “I can help you connect up and plug in your stuff - though you’ll have to leave it here so that the thing can print. If you’re legit making a car here, it’ll take about 2 days to finish printing it out at all, let alone assemble.”

“Danny, after I finish with that, we are so using this place for other projects together, do you understand me?” Tucker saw doors that likely lead off to other rooms in the lab and wondered just how Much of Fentonworks there was. “This is too amazing.”

“If you say so, bro. Here, let’s get started. I can help with setting up the print file.”

Sam had to say, going through the bs of school was beyond irritating when both of her friends were barred from the school until they could get around the weapons the Fentons were installing. Paulina’s gratingly loud personality was especially difficult to tune out that day, and Sam found herself feeling proud of her self control in not throwing something at the shallow cheerleading idiot when she started going on and on about the upcoming spirit week.

Once school was out, Sam grabbed the board that Danny apparently made for her after he finished Tucker’s, though she wasn’t sure how, and put on her helmet. New, magnetic boots planted firmly on the board, Sam pulled out her phone, put in the address of the Skulk and Lurk, and activated the Nav AI that Tucker had managed to make an app for to download. “One of these days Tucker is going to overwork himself into an early grave.” Shaking her head Sam took off into the sky, and no amount of gothic reputation could keep the smile off her face or prevent her from cheering. “Woooohoooo!” Who could possibly blame her? She was flying . There was nothing more awesome than this that she knew of.

When she arrived, Sam had her board hover itself up to the roof, where it was less likely to get snatched by someone who thought it’d be cool to snag a hoverboard. Walking into the store, Sam took off her helmet and grinned. The Skulk n Lurk was one part book store, one part poetry reading area, and one part coffee shop. It had the gothic, occult theme down pat with black, blue, and shades of purple being the only colors to be found around the store. Heading straight into the books section, Sam managed to flag down an employee and nudged him in the arm. “Nice mohawk, Chris, I see you’re branching out.”

Chris turned around, hair dyed a brilliant blue and his clothes all pastel shades of purple and grey with a bat-shaped nametag pinned on his chest. He smiled and elbowed her right back. “Yeah, just got it done the other day. How’re you holdin up, Sam? Parents still trying to push you into being a prep?”

“Such is my curse.” Sam sighed and leaned heavily on Chris while he laughed. “But, that’s not what I’m here for today. Think you can help me find some books on magick?”

“Cursing people is wrong, and will always go wrong for you, I hope you know that.”

Sam rolled her eyes, standing up straight. “It’s not for cursing anyone, Chris, it’s for something else.”

“Hitting that cheerleader with a love spell is not the way to go about getting over your crush on her.” Chris smirked and turned away from her, walking steadily while Sam scoffed and scowled at him.

“That’s gross on two fronts. A love spell sounds ridiculously creepy, and I don’t have a crush on Paulina of all people.” Sam made a gagging noise and Chris laughed yet again.

Ludicrous notions about cheerleaders aside, Chris lead Sam to a section about magick and left to go help another customer while Sam browsed. She held her hand up, letting her fingers brush over the spines of the books as she read their titles and stilled. There was a vibration, warm and far more humid than any bookstore should be and humming so much like Danny and Agatha and even that piece of trash Grovsner did when she was close. It was a feeling that she hadn’t really noticed until now that all of the ghosts she’d encountered shared, however few of those there were. The tiny hairs all over her arms and the back of her neck stood on end and Sam grabbed the book.

Roots, stems, rain, warmth, leaves, petals, heat, crushing cold, withering emptiness, life granting rain and growth . Sam dropped the book and just barely bit off a loud swear, staring at the cover. Magick: The Life Blood of the Earth. “Well. Danny can see weird shit, I guess I can feel it. Being that close to the portal must’ve done something to me.” Picking up the book slowly, Sam waited for any weird feelings to hit her again. When none did, she grinned slowly. “Let’s see what I can do with that.”

Danny takes some of the time after fighting Skulker to relax at home, get his schoolwork done that was emailed to him, and figure out a plan for working around the school's new anti-ghost security system. It had been two days already and he was coming up blank. Of course, it's at dinner that Danny thinks to ask his parents. "Hey Mom, you said the Fenton Finder works by keeping track of a ghost's ectosignature, right? What is that, exactly?" Jazz, as she standardly did when Danny instigated ghost-themed rants, looked as offended as one might have had their mother been described with every cuss word in the dictionary. She stabbed her chicken alfredo while holding this look for 5 continuous seconds without blinking.

Mom smiled wide and ecstatic. "Well you see, Danny, an ectosignature is the frequency of electrical signals running throughout a ghost's body, shaping its form and directing its actions."

"Like brainwaves?"

“Exactly, hon!” Mom reached into her pocket and pulled out a macaroon, which Danny devoured immediately. “When a ghost manifests outside of the Ghost Zone, its ecto signature is a signal being broadcast from the Ghost Zone into our reality. Since ghosts are 4-dimensional constructs made of exotic matter that of which exists beyond our standard perceptive abilities, a ghost can receive this ectosignature from just about anywhere on Earth or beyond. Like the best cellular reception in the universe.”

“Like any signal though, an ectosignature can be tracked! And that signal can be disrupted and blocked!” Dad only spoke in exclamation points Danny realized some time ago. He waved his fork around in presentation at the blueprint that his mind had likely superimposed on the air next to him. “The Fenton Thermos™ uses charged ectoplasm and what I’ve coined as Fentonite to isolate any ectoplasmic mass contained inside of it from its corresponding ectosignature by creating a four-dimensional enclosure! The filthy ghost is still charged with the ectosignature though, there’s a centralized network of energy that allows the ghost to immediately take on its form after it’s released.”

“So the ghost is conscious within the thermos?”

Mom shrugged. “As conscious as a ghost can be, sweety. It’s not an actual person or anything, just a static imprint of what used to be a person’s thoughts. Like an A.I.”

“The Fenton Finder™ used scanners specially made to detect ectosignatures that are on our satellites up in space! It’s also how our security system works, though that works off of scanners here in the house!”

"So is there a way to track down ghosts by their specific ecto signatures? If you can track the general signals maybe you can create a way to lock into a specific one."

"Mm, I suppose we could! That'd be useful for tracking down that scum that attacked you and friends! We've got the blueprints for the ecto signature scanner down in the lab somewhere if you wanna try the idea out, son!"

"Will do, Dad. I'll tell ya how it goes." Danny grinned around his chicken and pasta. He had a game plan now.

After dinner, Danny raced downstairs to print out the blueprint from the computer - his father stacked the blueprints in an infuriatingly chaotic way that Danny hadn't the patience to sort through - and then ran through the door on the left. Behind it was a hallway into a tunnel, one that lead Danny to the alternative lab under the building right next to the house. Hopping into his wheely chair, Danny slid over the linoleum floor to his work table and laid down the blueprint.

"Alright, I can work with this. A signal can be tracked, and it can be isolated. Which means that My signal can be isolated and tracked specifically." A smirk crossed his face. "Which means the scanners can be set to ignore my signal. Perfect!"

Danny slid over to the laptop connected to a second Fenton Fabricator, glad that his parents were always thorough enough to make a back up of everything they did. "This should be done in no time. Then Sam can help me test it and Tuck can- speak of the devil." Danny whipped out his phone and hummed, tilting his head at the simple message his best friend had sent him.

FriarTuck: Hey Dan, almost fin breaking the security in Sklkr's suit. Bout to crack this badboi open n make it mine. Muahahahaha! Hyd?

"Ugh, stars, I don't wanna think about that asshole." Danny shot back a quick reply and set his phone down, finding a notebook he typically kept around. Writing in a code only he, Tucker and Sam knew, Danny got everything down that he could. "Skulker has been a major set back in my plan to prove not all ghosts are evil to Mom and Dad, and a few other weird developments made themselves known. I can now see everything in the lower intensity ultraviolet spectrum 24/7 instead of having to concentrate, as well as the electrical currents running through everything; I can somehow see my emotional connections with people I'm close with and use those connections to influence their emotions as well as read them clearer than other aurae." He stopped, taking a breath and looking over what he'd just written. " Mierda , ain't that creepy?" Danny pulled on his hair a bit while he wrote.

"Joining that on the list of creepy-ass things about Danny: I can reach across that link to everyone and pull on their love and affection and all that and use it to heal myself. Stars, that's such a gross way to look at everyone's care for me. Just a fucking- a bandaid? A free trip to the nurse in a minute?"

Turning back to the parts being made, Danny huffed and dragged his nails against his scalp a touch too roughly. "Physiological changes in my ghost occur when Tucker and Sam are in danger; Canines grow into fangs and according to Sam my voice starts to echo as though it's coming from everywhere. Thankfully a check in Tucker's mirror proves that the changes are temporary. Reaction to my temperament? On that note: being a psychoreactive exotic material, the ectoplasm that makes up my ghostly body reasonably reacts instantaneously to my emotions, but it seems to be enhancing them as well. It's either that or maybe puberty, but I have a feeling puberty doesn't make you violently angry at the slightest provocation and likely to turn any ghost you see into a splatter on the ground." Danny groaned, closing his notebook. "I fucking Executed Skulker. What the fuck? Why didn’t I just suck him into the thermos?"

A ding from his phone and Danny snorted.

GardeningClaws: Hey Star boy, don't go angsting without us there to hug you. We will know and you will pay the price.

"And what price is that, being buried in a pillow fort?"

GardeningClaws: do you know how many pillows I have in this house?? Do you think, like a fool, that I won't use them against you?

Danny laughed, sending a quick 'fair point' before heading to the door opposite the one into the house lab. Behind it was a room with rows of lockers, each holding three sets of suits. Danny didn't need them though. At the far end, there was a large octagonal metal rim, blast doors sealed shut within.

Opening it up to just the right coordinates, Danny watched the doors pull back and felt the building charge of the portal's startup. For a fraction of a second, Danny was filled with a bone-deep fear that gripped his entire body and held him stock still. With a thunderous crack, the fabric of space-time was folded around and torn, and Danny relaxed, staring out at an expanse of white and grey. Opening the blast door, he let the void fill him up and spread outward to chill his bones and freeze his veins. Skin blue, eyes and freckles green and his fluffy hair snow-white, Danny flew past the event horizon and gasped silently at the sight before him.

The moon is so much more beautiful when you can look with your own eyes instead of through the lens of a helmet visor.

Sam, smartest of the group that she was, called Danny and Tucker both to head to her house for a horror movie marathon. “After what we’ve been through, none of these B rate movies are gonna scare us.” It was so close to inarguably true that the boys both shrugged at their phones and headed on over. Danny came down from the sky in that space where everything was heat and impossible colors, everything around him highlighted in a panorama view that almost made him dizzy. Landing in an alleyway, Danny checked to make sure he didn’t see anyone around him and took a deep breath. He folded himself up, cold edges practically trapped within him tugged and bent until the brilliant moonlight that bled from his form retreated into the center of his chest, light and freezing cold as it hummed in an offbeat pulse next to his heart.

Pulling the hood of his jacket over his head, Danny jogged out of the alleyway and down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. He looked around the neighborhood properly and hummed, wondering how he never put together that Sam was rich when the address she’d given them ages ago was very obviously in the rich part of town. “Stars, we’re really just that oblivious aren’t we?” The stars in mind, Danny cast his gaze up and smiled at the full moon that greeted him, counting the tiny dots of the stars around it while he walked. Thankfully, his odd kaleidoscopic vision seemed to extend to his human form a bit and his foot froze mid-step as a car drove past him at an intersection. “Sweet mother of the gods, why can rich people not drive right?”

When he got to the gates of Manson Manor, Tucker was there typing away at his phone. When he looked up Danny waved and grinned, pointing a thumb at the huge mansion behind the gate. “This is ridiculous.”

“It’s just so much . Why does anyone need that much space? How do they keep it clean?”

“If I meet some butler named Alfred I’m going to eat your hat.”

“Are you sure you wanna make that bet, Danny? This is looking Batman-ish.”

The gate opened up before Danny could respond to that and instead, he nudged Tucker’s side before jogging toward the door. Sam was there, opening it before Danny could trip on nothing and faceplant into the mahogany or whatever expensive wood the door was probably made from, and he instead landed on a soft carpet. Tucker nudged his foot with his shoe and Danny groaned, resigned to simply laying there for the rest of his life. Two pairs of hands lifted him up from the ground however and Danny laughed, getting up properly.

“You can’t just let me wallow in my shame in peace, can you?”

“Of course not,” Sam scoffed. “If you’re going to be ashamed, I have to be there to make sure it’s appropriate. Now, c’mon!” Sam dragged Danny down a few halls, and up some stairs, followed closely by Tucker.

“I need to make a map of this place so we don’t get lost the next time we come to visit,” Tucker muttered, and Danny nodded. When Sam opened the door she was headed for she let Danny go and grinned at them like a cat that’d eaten the canary. Walking in, Danny felt his jaw drop and took a moment to soak in what he was seeing. “You have an entire movie theater in your house?”

“I know, it’s grossly excessive and we absolutely don’t need it, but-”

“Sam, what the heck are you talking about?” Danny waved a hand in the goth’s face and snorted when she swatted at him. “This is awesome! We can marathon every Dead Teacher movie here and it’ll be like when we went to see it in the actual theaters but better !” Danny pulled down his hood and hopped over one of the chairs - of which there were two whole rows - and plopped himself into the soft cushioned seat with a laugh. “The only thing that could make this room better would be if you had movie snacks.”

“Well, good thing I have a popcorn machine right back there full of fresh popcorn, a cotton candy machine, and ordered us pizzas.” Sam grinned, sitting next to Danny with a bowl in hand full of greasy buttery popcorn, and Tucker sat on his right. “What should we watch first?”

Halfway into Dr. Sleep, the pizza arrived and three laughing teens had to pause the movie and pull themselves together from the heap of giggles that they’d become. “Oh, oh stars, that hurt , laughing so much hurts!” Danny leaned on Tucker while Sam leaned on him, the bowl of popcorn practically forgotten next to Tucker. After a few minutes, Danny took a deep breath and patted his friends on the back. “I can grab the pizza - I can fly, so unlike you two I can actually go and be back before the things are cold.” Before either friend could protest, Danny let the shimmering void of silvery dark cold spread out from the center of his chest to every hair on his body in a flash of light. He slipped through Sam and Tucker like water through the air and flew off toward the red aura of the pizza guy, diving to transform behind the front door when he appeared outside. In just a moment he was back inside and setting three pizza boxes down on the snack table. “I see we got ourselves a meat-lovers for Tuck, a veggie everything for Sam, and-” Danny gasped. “A dragon’s tongue pizza for me! Aww, Sam~”

“Oh stuff it you goof,” Sam said as she and Tucker grabbed slices and plates. “I just knew that you’d complain your pizza isn’t spicy enough unless it has ghost peppers, reaper peppers and every other kind of spice known to man and dolphin on it.”

Tucker rolled his eyes, already scarfing down his first slice. “Dolphin? Really?”

“Dolphins are the closest animals to humans in behavior and observed intellect, Tucker.” Danny took the time to go through three slices of pizza while Sam ranted about how dolphins might as well be classified as non-human people before pointing accusatorily at her.

“There is nothing wrong with my sense of taste, thank you. Anyone with a strong enough tongue can handle this pizza, Sam.” Danny took a bite to emphasize his point and smirked when he was flipped off. “I’ve just got the strongest stomach here.”

“ Excuse you? ”

“Unlike you, I can eat veggies without my stomach declaring a mutiny.”

“Um, go fuck yourself? That was the lowest of all low blows, I am utterly betrayed !” Tucker covered his forehead with the back of his arm and half fell backward. “Truly, my trust has been shattered by mine own brother, how could you? And I’ll have you know that the amount of capsaicin you consume is well beyond what any human being should have in their body.”

“Funny, I’m pretty sure I’m not human.” Danny paused mid-chew, ignoring the look of disgust on Sam’s face over the two of them talking around their food. “I wonder… what smaller changes like that might be going on because of my ghost? Like, regular puberty is already horrible enough but now I’ve got like, ghost puberty to deal with.”

“First of all, ghost wise, you’re baby.” Danny pouted at Tucker, feeling mildly offended. “You haven’t even been half-dead for a whole year yet, you’re baby.”

“Tucker, can you be reasonable for one moment?” Danny nodded, gesturing to Sam, who was clearly the only one with her head on straight between them. “Danny is always baby, not just because of his ghost.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Danny rose up in front of the movie screen, less crossed in the air as he frowned down at his friends. “I am offended, I am revolted, I dedicate my life to our lord and savior Jesus Christ and this is the thanks I get?”

“I wonder,” Sam said loudly as she walked toward his pizza box. “What it would taste like if I put cotton candy on your pizza?” Danny dove for his pizza box, nearly crashing into Sam as he grabbed it up and flew toward the ceiling. He flipped upside down and stood with his feet to the ceiling, grinning down at his friends. Carefully opening his box he took out a slice and stopped.

“Sammy that is a wonderful question!” Gravity shifted, reasserted itself in the correct direction, and Danny flipped with it, landing in front of the cotton candy machine. He dipped his pizza slice into it and smirked at the despaired wail of his friend while he ran away from her, munching away at his unholy pizza slice. “This is so sad, Alexa-”

“You don’t think I’d have Alexa in my home, do you? First you defile my cotton candy, now you insult my common sense? Do me a favor and parish.”

“Been there, done that.”

“As amazing as all that is, I was wondering something about you, Danny.” Danny flew over to Tucker, landing on his shoulders with a snicker. “So like, can you do that thing from the movie? Like, turn your head all the way around like an owl?”

A wide grin spread over Danny’s face and he set his food down on the table, before pulling the void up and out and around himself. Bright silver light illuminated Tucker and cast odd shadows on his face. To think about later. Danny turned his head slowly, cautious of being wrong, and almost stopped when he heard the pop of the joints in his neck. Still, he kept going until he was looking at Sam’s gaping face right behind him. He raised a hand to give her a thumbs up and winced at the sound of more popping joints - though, fascinatingly enough… “None of this hurts at all.”

“Well now I gotta see you spider-walk up the walls, that’s just the natural result of you showing off like this, Danno.” Turning his head the rest of the way around, Danny saw Tucker’s phone pointed at him and snorted. “Dude this is wicked !”

“Oh my gods, we have to time you, hold on.” And like that, Danny was doing laps around the walls and ceiling, reversed on all fours while Sam timed him and Tucker recorded. When he dropped back down to the two rows of seats, Danny crossed his legs behind him with a hum.

“Anything else y’all wanna test?” Tucker raised his hand and Danny let his gaze slide from Tucker himself to the brilliant yellow-gold-grek air around him. “I’m going to regret hearing out this question, aren’t I?” Tucker nodded, his grin widening and the grek in his aura growing brighter. Danny sighed and pointed at his brother.

“Can you possess people? Cause that would be pretty fuckin cool.” Tucker T posed as if that would help Danny with the wave of discomfort that crashed over him at the idea. “How would you know? Go ahead, try me. See if you can like, take me over.”

Danny drew the darkness back into his chest, warmth and the beat of his heart and the weight of gravity tugging relentlessly against him like countless invisible chains made themselves known to him. Digging in his pocket, Danny pulled out a coin, looking at Tucker with as much seriousness on his face as possible. “Heads I tell you to yeet your PDA into the cotton candy, tails I try to possess you.” Danny flipped the quarter and caught it in his open palm. He took in a deep breath through his nose, and let it out the same way. “Shut.”

Slipping back into the void, Danny stared at his Tposing best friend and considered just how he was supposed to do what he had asked. The only thing that made any sense, of course, was to slide even deeper into the void. Light and sound and even the air circulating through the room all faded away and the world shifted like a gradient scale from Xtreme Indigo to a deep dark blue sprinkled with green that lit up the empty world in bands, rivers, and threads that Danny could’ve stared at for the rest of his life and probably never grown tired of. The only constants were the gold and green aurae at the ends of silver threads that shone like solid moonlight. Danny dove for the golden light and dipped a hand in where he guessed Tucker’s head was. The silver thread practically yanked him in, and Danny sank into a desert of yellow and glittering light.

In the next instant, he was blinking unfamiliar eyes, falling out of a dumb pose he hadn’t taken, stumbling on legs longer than he was used to and warmer than he’d been in months. “Holy shit.” Danny held out his - Tucker’s hands and turning them over each other again and again. He took a few testing steps forward and back, turning and stretching every way he’d ever seen Tucker move, and felt a laugh bubble out of hi-Tuck’s mouth. “Sam holy shit!”

Sam was staring at Tucker-Danny like he was the most out of this world thing she’d ever laid eyes on and she wasn’t sure how to react to him. The cheer of figuring out yet another ability dimmed at the sight of her expression and what might’ve been horror was building itself up in his chest. Then Sam schooled her expression and pointed at him. “You sound the way you do when the two of you are speaking in unison.”

“I feel like I’m wearing a costume that doesn’t fit right, I’ll be honest about that. Stars, Tucker’s vision is horrible.”

“Alright, that voice thing is actually getting annoying, can you like, leave him now?” A moment of silence passed, the room growing incredibly small and Sam stepped closer. “Danny, you can leave Tucker’s body now, right?”

“Gimme a second, Sam, I didn’t know I could go into him in the first place.” Danny huffed and closed his eyes. He focused on what was different and wrong about being in Tucker’s body instead of his own, thought about floating upward to the surface of a large body of water, the moon coming to his mind’s eye and he reached for it. There was a solid kick at the edge of his shadows, golden sands rising up and filling the empty space to push him up and out toward the moonlight and-

Danny flopped onto the ground face first, sensing a trend of him faceplanting on Sam’s floor, and Tucker let out a loud gasp. “Holy balls, that was weird as fuck !” Danny flipped around onto his back, letting his own familiar warmth and heartbeat fill his senses before he looked up at Tucker and found him wiggling his fingers and toes. “It was like blacking out or something. I had the weirdest dream where I was like, I dunno, made of fire or something?”

“It was a lot of weird, hard to describe feelings on my end but mostly like a suit that doesn’t fit right. Like, I know what my body feels like and that wasn’t mine, ya know?” Sam and Tucker nodded and while Danny knew they had absolutely no idea what he meant, it was relieving all the same. Standing up, Danny reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the scanner he’d printed earlier. “By the way, I made something that’ll help me get back into school.”

Tucker, without missing a beat, said, “That sounds like a horrible evil device.” Sam snorted and Danny nodded. “What does it do?”

Danny launched into an explanation of what he’d learned about ectosignatures and his idea for tricking the security system at school. “Also,” Danny added when it came to mind, “the car should be done printing in my basement by now.”

“Wait, you not only finished designing it but also started making it?” Sam looked between them with narrowed eyes. “What do you mean printing?”

“The Fenton Fabricator™ is a giant, modular, high detail 3D printer that can make complex metal technologies - like our hoverboards. The first 3D printed car took a couple of days and it wasn’t as complicated as this so I guessed about 48 hours.” Danny shrugged. “Probably done by now.”

“Isn’t that cool?” Tucker practically had stars in his eyes. “We can build anything in there, Sam!”

“Before that, we gotta get this ecto signature of Danny’s recorded." Sam held up the scanner and Danny nodded. Things had to happen in the right order or things would go wrong.

Danny reached inside of himself and pulled the dark, endless space between space that rested within him out to wrap around him like a cool, relaxing blanket. The extreme indigo of the world rose to an even more brilliant blue and purple that blended together and unwove from each other and wrapped around everything. Tucker shone from within with gold that glittered like desert sands and Sam was wreathed in the viridian green of the forests. The threads between them were silver and thick as though woven from many. "I never need to take drugs cause all I need to do to get a trip is go ghost. I swear."

"Yeah, well, I think I have the reading on you right here. Tucker, can you make any sense of this?" Tucker rolled over and stared at the data on the Fenton Finder remake. After a moment of silence, Tuck started tapping away at his PDA ferociously. "I'm gonna guess that means yes."

"I can record this signal and have a filter to keep the school's system from recognizing you as a threat by tonight. Think we can break in and do it then?"

"Probably," Danny shrugged, flipping a few times in the air. "Ishiyama probably had them set the security system to an activation button or lever or verbal input. They wouldn't want them to make something automatic in case a ghost was too close to a student."

"Fair. Tomorrow night then?" Tucker grinned as Danny tucked that blanket of not so empty empty space back into the very center of his everything and flopped onto his seat.

"Sooner I can tell my family we beat Skulker the better. I don't like worrying them like this." Ever since his Spirit Vision or whatever got turned permanently on, Danny could feel the undercurrent of anxiety that ran through his family. It made his skin crawl with the itch to make them all feel better and left a bitter taste on his tongue.

"Agreed, I can only keep this info from my parents for so long." Sam sighed, rolling her eyes. With a grin she handed the scanner fully over to Tucker and ran a hand through Danny's hair, messing it up as much as she could.

Danny swatted away Sam's hand after a moment and sank further into the soft cushiony seat. "Your chair is eating me, Sammy."

"You've been getting a healthier amount of meat on you, so yeah it might be." Tucker was steadily getting engrossed in his task and Danny knew they had precious few seconds before he was completely lost to them so he decided now was a good time to be a dick.

“So like, when the first hoverboard exploded and I put up a forcefield on a reflex we completely skipped over that cause of hyper-focus but like. Should we talk about that?"

"You have protective instincts," Tucker mumbled, "and ghost stuff reacts to the deeper parts of your mind right? So it's just you defending someone you care about."

"Which reminds me." Sam poked Danny in the sides until he was squirming and giggling to get away. "You're keeping like, a journal of all the things you can do right?"

"Mostly notes on what I learned about ghosts in general, like a bullet point list of the stuff that happened with Agatha and Skulker, and stuff but yeah. I need to add ‘owl neck’ and ‘possession’ to my list of Things I Can Do."

“And what, pray tell, is on that list?”

"I can turn intangible or invisible, defy- no, actually, with what happened at the zoo I guess I can influence gravity, I can see all the radiation in the world, which is a trip lemme tell ya, I can apparently make a wall of ectoplasm?" Tucker and Sam were staring at him for a long beat of silence before both were tackling Danny and pulling him into a big group hug. “I know, I’m awesome, but so are you guys and you should celebrate it.”

“Yeah, I am pretty awesome,” Tucker said with a grin. “You guys are lucky to know me. I feel I deserve a reward for the amazingness I bring to this group.” Tucker was promptly dropped by Sam onto the floor and Danny laughed.

“Another cool thing you can do is heal yourself and other people.” Sam poked Danny in the side until he was squirming away from her in that unreal state of being, slipping through her fingers like the space between air and flopped onto Tucker’s lap before solidity came back to him. “That’s probably one of the coolest powers you have.”

“One day, Tucker is going to copy everything I can do, but with technology.” Danny poked Tucker a couple of times and got his hand swatted away for his trouble. “He’s already copied my language-”

“Spanish doesn't belong to you just because your dad is Mexican, Danny, try again.”

“And now he’s tryna say what’s mine isn’t even mine, can you believe this guy?” Danny didn’t even try to hold in his laughter now, waving a hand emphatically in Tucker’s face. “Next he’ll say I’m not the greatest ghost fighter in the world-”

“Your Mom.”

“Or the first boy to step foot on the moon-”

“Neil Armstrong - also, did you just say you walked on the m-”

“Or the unthinkable, like I’m not the very first Fenton that’s gonna be built like a brick house.”

“No no, you can’t just talk your way out of this one, Danny, you were on the moon? ” Ah, Danny loved riling up his friends.

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Tucker Foley #Sam Manson #OCs #Maddie Fenton #Jack Fenton #Jazz Fenton #Fanfiction #Phanfiction #fanPhiction #Phanphiction #fanfic #phanfic #fanphc #Phanphic #MCS #Monstrous Chosen Spellslingers #Rexy Writes

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ikesenlemonadestandstories · 5 years

Text

Level 2

ere we go! Here we go! Guys I don’t think you understand how excited I am for this :)

Master List here or under the tag Ikesen AFK

Warnings: none

Happy Reading! T~

Level 2

You had started the downloading process earlier this morning before you left for work, in hopes that the file would be close to complete when you arrived back home. Thankfully the gods were smiling on you. After changing out of your scrubs and plugging the system into the TV, you plopped down on your couch and curled into your favorite corner with a water bottle and two sets of controllers, just in case.

Immediately upon startup, you were thrown into a magnificent CGI cutscene that you hoped would be explained a little better the further into the game you got. After you built your character and typed in your name, another scene began to roll. Your character now found herself falling until she quite literally landed in the middle of town.

Most people just kept on walking, paying no mind to the perplexed girl in the middle of the square. You had to laugh to yourself a little bit, at least you didn’t get dropped into some random field with tons of monsters like the last game Rose had talked you into joining. This game had that going for it at least. After a few well placed tutorials on movement and interacting, you gave it a go. Starting your exploration of the town.

There were plenty of shops to check out and enough NPC’s to talk to, but without any particular way to defend yourself, you were stuck picking up delivery quests for an hour until Sasuke was available. Eventually, you were rewarded after finishing a task with a questionable looking lance so you took off looking for a fight. Your item list told you it had been dubbed “training lance,” and you were sure that as far as weapons went, it was garbage. But a pokey stick was better than nothing. Besides, you were happy to see swords weren’t the game’s default, the variation definitely gave it some brownie points.

You felt your phone vibrate and laughed when Sasuke told you to meet him in the city square near the chicken leg stand. Having failed your assault mission for the fourth time meant you had nothing better to do than head over there and wait. You weren’t waiting long though; in a matter of minutes, an avatar that looked frighteningly like Sasuke wandered over as a speech bubble popped up on the bottom of your screen.

Nin-nin0217 → Hey, I’m alive. Sorry for the wait.

Np! Got some quests done. Found a lance ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Not bad, have you used said lance yet?

Yes, lol did not go well. I’ve just hit my 5th respawn ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → I see. How about I take you to one of my favorite maps to grind on?

Why do I feel like I’m not at the appropriate level for the map you want to take me to? ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → You’re not, but I’ll be there so you should be able to get some good EXP.

Do I have a choice ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Of course you do. It’ll just take you forever to get to the Soldier class at this rate. If you’re okay with that than I am too.

No...let’s give your way a try. ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → That’s the spirit! :D

Before you could manage to formulate a response, an event bubble popped up on your screen. *Nin-nin0217 has requested you join him on a quest. Do you accept?* After a single exasperated breath, you hit your toggle and pressed yes. Let the grinding begin.

The map itself wasn’t challenging, the terrain was neutral, and there didn’t appear to be any hazards hiding further back near enemy lines. It also helped that you were playing through it with Sasuke. As long as your character stood within a four-space vicinity, it was nearly impossible to take you out.

After nearly three hours between two maps, your magic and resources were exhausted, and your poor spear was almost broken.

I think it’s about time to call it quits. Spears about to go, and I’m not equipped for hand to hand. ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Roger that. Are you good to finish the map? Do we need to end the mission now?

Nope, I can finish ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Good. We’ll get you a new spear when we get back into town.

Awesome sauce! ← WildCyt0m3try

With bated breath, you finished with a single strike of your lance to spare. Thank goodness, you had been warned early on that fighting with a broken weapon was the absolute worst. Zero damage dealt, and the lower defense did not sound like your cup of tea. Especially without any healing magic or herbs at your disposal.

The town was still bustling when you got back from your map, it was nice to see people were online at all hours of the day, er well night. Your avatar followed Sasuke’s towards the market street, and you made a bee-line for the armory, making sure to cash any and all in-game currency that had dropped from the monsters you fought all evening. Your eyes nearly fell out of your head when you saw all the zeros. The shop-keeper was offering to give you how much?

On top of the absurd amount of in-game currency you had just procured, you were shocked by the list that opened up to you. Instead of just the training spear you had been granted earlier, an entirely new selection of weaponry was available. With a triumphant yell you decided to drop most of your coin on a single steel lance, and backed out of the shop to follow Sasuke towards the general merchant shop.

*Nin-nin0217 has sent you a friend request. Accept?* Laughing, you clicked ‘Yes’ and began typing something witty that was sure to be lost on your friend, when he dropped you an item. *Nin-nin0217 has sent you a gift. Accept?*

What did you just send me? ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Open it and find out

I’m not about to open the games equivalent to a glitter bomb, am I? ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Unfortunately, they don’t offer such gifts. This is much better I can assure you.

Fine...thx! ← WildCyt0m3try

You accepted the gift reluctantly, closing your eyes as you pressed the open command. It only took five seconds for the system to download the present and for a happy chime to play over the speaker.

*You received a Beginner Seal. Would you like to use this now or stow it in your convoy?* The game prompted you.

Am I supposed to use this now? ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → If you’ve got a prompt to use it go for it. The beginner classes are rudimentary, but you should be able to see potential stat growths for each.

As it turned out, seals were used for in-game growth. Assuming you had managed to gain enough experience points you could use one. There were different seals for different levels, and the types of stats you had grown during battle by using specific weapons narrowed down what sort of class you could grow into. You laughed and fired off another message.

I feel like an Eevee, there’s so many options! What do I pick?! How am I supposed to choose? ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → You have 4 options…? Nin-nin0217 → Do you know what type of Master Class you’re aiming for?

Master what now? ← WildCyt0m3try No. Am I supposed to? ← WildCyt0m3try Crap. I guess I’ll just be a soldier. ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → An excellent choice, rationale?

I mean, I just bought a new lance, and it was hella expensive. Probably better to pick a class that can use lances. ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → We don’t have anyone in the group yet that is of suitable stats to become a Falcon Knight. It would add the perfect amount of diversity.

Lol, happy to help. I should probably hit the internet a little bit before I continue tho, I’m gonna log off for the night. ← WildCyt0m3try

Nin-nin0217 → Have a good evening. See you on Monday?

You too! G’night! Thx for the help! ← WildCyt0m3try

After bidding Sasuke a good night, you saved your progress and quickly logged off. Mentally kicking yourself for staying on until well past midnight. You had to work in the morning. That would be interesting. With a long sigh, you heaved yourself off the couch and put your controller back by the console before turning out all the lights. It was way past your bedtime.

#ikesen #ikemen sengoku #ikesen afk #ikesen modern au #ikesen gamer au #ikesen reader insert #ikesen self insert #ikesen long fic #my story

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theonyxpath · 5 years

Link

By Lauren Roy

Jo’s breath fogged the Perspex case, momentarily obscuring the prototype from view. Inside, the device lay dormant, all sleek silver curves and a blank interface awaiting its commands. On its own, Jo told herself, it was just a machine. It made no moral judgments. It saved lives or ended them, and the person who fed it the instructions was to thank or blame, not this lump of metal and wires.

Jo hated it a little bit anyway. She also needed it, and that made her hate it even more.

“Hey, kiddo, shake a leg, yeah?” Blake had been on edge all night. They’d gotten into DuttonTech so smoothly — fake badges letting them into restricted areas, Jo’s disguised tools sailing through security, green lights across every board. Blake trusted Jo and Dana to get them in, sure, but the fact he’d gone the last few hours without having to subdue so much as a slightly suspicious intern was making him antsy. Jo couldn’t blame him; Archangel never hired their crew for the cakewalk jobs.

But she wasn’t going to let Blake’s nerves unsteady her hands. She was elbow deep in the display case’s guts, only the last set of clamps and a weight sensor left to bypass. Easy peasy lemon-squeezy. She’d be home and in her pajamas in less than two hours, cracking a pint of victory ice cream and texting Leanne with the good news, that help was on its way. This was a killing machine in Dr. Alexander Dutton’s hands, but in Leanne’s possession? Jo’s sister could use it to save thousands.

She just had to unlatch the clamps.

Blake checked the cameras for the hundredth time. Downstairs, the security guards in their cozy little command room were watching the same looped feeds of Dutton’s lab Dana had set up hours ago. He knew the timing of their rounds, knew which guards just jiggled the occasional doorknob and which would swipe their access cards and look around the empty, after-hours rooms. He’d studied the dossiers Dana gathered for him over the last few weeks. The patrol team closest to their floor right now consisted of an ex-military type and a guy whose pre-DuttonTech police record was peppered with assault charges from bar fights. Ideally, Blake wouldn’t have to trade blows with either of them, but he believed in being prepared.

Waiting was killing him. He’d offered to smash the case when they first got here, just grab and go, but both Dana and Jo had shot him down. Something about delicately calibrated this and potentially volatile that. Of course, that described everything that DuttonTech put out these days, especially the volatile part. Blake had seen firsthand the damage the company’s products wrought. He’d wielded some of them himself, back in another life.

He’d never stop paying for that. Could never. But working for Archangel assuaged some of the guilt. He clenched his fists and tamped down the urge to find some other volatile thing and pitch it into anything that looked delicate.

Dana had six different data feeds scrolling past on her glasses’ left lens, telling her all DuttonTech systems were normal. She was jacked into the guard station’s audio, listening to two guards being wrong about the top five horror movies of all time. She’d set her little worm free on DuttonTech’s R&D servers — after, of course, she downloaded clean versions of the files to her own drive to peruse later. According to her own internal stopwatch (ONE one thousand, TWO one thousand) her team was right on schedule.

It was too bad they’d never be able to take credit for tonight, because damn, they were good. She imagined herself at some fancy Archangel cocktail party, regaling new cells with the story. Maybe she would embellish it, just a little, add in a tiny scuffle so Blake could have his crowning moment of awesome. Add in a few extra lasers for Jo to have to limbo under, and…

Click.

“Shit,” muttered Jo.

The lights in the lab went red.

There was an extra clamp. There was an extra freaking clamp, and it was so tiny and so obvious in hindsight, exactly where Jo would have put one if she wanted to protect her valuables from someone like herself. It hadn’t been on the blueprints Dana procured in one of her hacks, because of course it wasn’t. Dutton was notoriously paranoid. He’d either installed it himself, in secret, or had one of his lackeys do it and…what? Wiped their memory? Had them killed? Transferred them to a DuttonTech facility in Antarctica? Jo wouldn’t put any of that past him.

But that didn’t matter now. Their cover was blown. Dana was counting off the seconds until security got to them, her fingers flashing over her tablet’s screen. “We’re about to have company.”

Blake came and crouched beside Jo. He glanced at her hands, frozen on the prototype. “Kiddo, we’ve gotta run. Now. If you don’t have it free, you have to leave it.”

“I can’t.”

He frowned. “You stuck?”

“No.”

“Something gonna cut off your fingers if you move?”

“No.”

“What is it, then?”

Jo closed her eyes and pictured her sister’s face. “Leanne. She’s with the LRE in Caracas.”

Blake’s sharp inhale told her that he hadn’t known. Jo didn’t talk about Leanne much. He and Dana knew that Jo’s parents had been dissidents, murdered by their government for speaking out. They knew she and Leanne grew up in safe houses where they were never truly safe, and that Jo had turned to Archangel when she got old enough to be more than a charity case for the organization. That was about as much intel as Jo ever shared, because talking about Leanne made her worry. And worry had sharp, sharp teeth.

“You saw the emails Dana intercepted. Dutton’s going to sell this to the enemy, then that’s it for the resistance. This isn’t just about Leanne.”

Blake might let everyone else in Archangel think he was all muscle, minimal brains, but Jo knew better. He’d read the whole dossier, not just the guards’ vitals. “How long do you need?” His voice was deadly calm.

“However long you can buy me.”

“Get that thing out of there.” Then he was gone.

“We’re doing what now?” Dana gaped at Blake as he assessed the camera feeds on her tablet. She’d managed to lock the guards out of the elevators for the time being but couldn’t keep them out of the stairwells. One patrol had only been a few stories down.

He grunted as the patrol he was monitoring gained another landing. “We’re holding tight until Jo gets that damned thing free. What else can you do to keep them out of here?”

Dana peered around the lab. Until now, she hadn’t really let herself see everything. Sure, she knew the layout, and had a strong idea of what other projects DuttonTech’s brain trust were working on, but being here in meatspace? The temptation to start taking things apart would have distracted her from their mission. She’d kept her eyes firmly on her work and ignored the siren song of the shiny.

Now, though… She took it all in, performing a frantic inventory with a glance. “Get me a screwdriver,” she said, “and every inch of wire you can find.”

For a hasty build, it was impressive. Dana had to guess at what a quarter of the parts she found even were, but as she stared at the small mountain of electronics Blake dumped on the desk, the schematic came together in her head. The spliced wires and electrical tape meant it would never win any beauty pageants at the hackathon, but that didn’t matter.

As long as it did its job.

She dragged her cobbled-together creation out into the hall. It whined as it powered up; the highpitched tone of power gathering combined with a low, ominous hum. Dana listened a moment, until it sounded stable enough, and darted back inside. As Blake shoved a pair of desks across the doorway, Dana scuttled further into the lab and planted herself near Jo. The other woman nodded slightly, acknowledging her presence, but didn’t peel her eyes from the device inside the case.

“How are we looking?” Dana asked.

“There’s a wire on the last clamp. It’s what tripped the alarm. I’m trying to make sure it’s not going to fry the whole thing when I remove it.”

“Smart,” said Dana, then, “Oops, hang on, big noise.” On her tablet’s screen, the camera view showed two guards emerging from the stairwell. She counted (ONE one thousand, TWO one thousand, THREE) and yelled, “Blake, NOW!”

Across the lab, Blake slammed his fist down on the trigger Dana rigged. He dropped into a huddle, covering his ears.

The lab doors were, by necessity, prettied-up fire doors. Sure, deep-pocketed investors on a grand tour of DuttonTech could glance through the extra-thick glass to see scientists bustling about within, but if something exploded during a demo, those investors (and their wallets) would be safe. Now, those same doors muffled the worst of Dana’s sonic barrage. The pair of guards dropped to the ground, hands covering their ears as they writhed in pain.

The disruptor’s effects would only last for so long, though. Already, Dana could tell the pulses were losing their potency. “Thirty seconds, Jo. Then they’re back on their feet and super pissed.”

It was impossible. Jo held the wire pinched between her fingers, this hair-thin filament, and knew it was all for nothing.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Leanne, I’m sorry.

If she’d only taken one last look, she’d have spotted the trap. If she only had another five minutes, she could undo it. But time was well past up. Blake and Dana stood by the doors, their jaws set, their expressions grim. That awful thrumming pulse outside let out one last whump, and an eerie silence took its place.

If she was fast enough, faster than she’d ever been in her life, she could mitigate the damage. Not prevent it entirely, but… But enough.

Jo steadied the prototype with her left hand, readied the wire in her right.

She held her breath.

Pulled.

The spark traveled up her fingers, to her wrist, straight up to her elbow. The sharp tang of hot metal, melted plastic, and seared flesh filled the air. Had she taken the brunt of the jolt? She thought so but wouldn’t know until Dana got a look at the device later. When they were safe. Jo pulled the prototype free of its case and ignored the tingling in her fingertips. She joined Blake and Dana at the door. “Let’s go.”

In the hallway, the security guards were gaining their feet. Blake smiled.

The first one got up. He staggered as his balance betrayed him, but Blake wasn’t going to take that for granted. Guy like this? He had to fight after being pepper sprayed, tazed, or whatever the hell else they made Navy SEALs do. Sure, Dana’s device had done its damage, but Blake bet this guard was exaggerating its extent. It’s what he’d have done.

Three strides and Blake was in the ex-SEAL’s face. Sort of. The dude was a giant, six-and-half feet tall with a neck like a tree trunk. Blake only came up to his chest. His opponent swung, a short, sharp blow that would have knocked a weaker fighter flat. But Blake had training of his own. He deflected the jab, but as he’d suspected, the guard wasn’t as bad off as he’d pretended. More shots rained down, driving Blake backwards toward the lab.

A streak of red skittered down the hall toward him. Jo had liberated one of the lab’s fire extinguishers and shoved it his way. Blake danced out of the ex-SEAL’s reach and scooped it up. Only one shot at this. He swung it in a high haymaker arc, cranking the extinguisher’s heavy bottom into the ex-SEAL’s jaw. The big man went down in a graceless heap.

Blake looked back to where Dana and Jo huddled in the doorway and signaled them forward. Jo winced as she passed the first guard. Then she stopped short. “Uh. Blake?”

He thought the second guy was down for the count. It was the bar brawler, the one who should’ve been an easy takedown except…except he’d managed to unholster his sidearm and push himself to his feet. His arm wavered, but even if his aim was off, the hallway was narrow enough that he’d probably hit one of them.

“Easy, now,” said Blake. “Let’s all be calm.”

“Drop the extinguisher,” said the guard. “And you, put down the device.” He swung the gun toward Jo, and Blake felt his heart hit his stomach. That wasn’t a standard-issue piece. It was a DuttonTech special; destruction in Glock’s clothing. Blake had carried one of the previous generation himself. He’d seen what they could do, how the bullets tore up a body as they passed through.

“Okay.” Blake lowered the extinguisher, hoping to get the guard’s focus back on himself. “Look, we’re cooperating, see?”

“Oh, fuck that,” snarled Dana. She shoved past Blake, keeping to the other side of the hall from the guard — out of arm’s reach, but drawing his attention.

“I’ll shoot!” The guard whirled to follow her. His finger tensed on the trigger.

Blake barreled forward. He could never beat a bullet, but he had to try. The corridor seemed miles long, the air thickened like molasses. The guard might as well have been on the other side of the world, for all the good Blake could do. He saw the trigger pull back in agonizing detail, heard Jo screaming Dana’s name.

Dana just kept walking.

The gun didn’t fire.

Time started again, and Blake plowed into the guard at top speed. He drove him back and slammed his wrist against the wall until he dropped the weapon. Blake got a forearm across the guy’s neck and twisted to look at Dana. “What the hell?”

“Oh. Yeah.” She stopped fiddling with her eyepiece and came to stand beside him, still well out of the guard’s reach. She addressed the guard instead of Blake. “That thing that split your eardrums two minutes ago? I also had it resonating at the same frequency as the timing crystal in your shiny new gun. Probably cracked it. You shouldn’t pick it up again.” She gave Blake an apologetic grin. “I should have told you: I don’t make unitaskers. Learned it from a TV chef. Now will you knock him out, so we can go?”

Archangel paid damned well. Jo funneled most of her paychecks down to Leanne, helping to fund the revolution and keep her sister fed, clothed, and armed. With what was left, she bought tools to help with her craft. One of the first things she’d learned was, to be a good thief, you ought to have a good getaway car. So, she sunk a ridiculous amount of money into an old tank of a car and paid even more to have it tuned up, tricked out, and street legal. It had served her well so far, and now, with DuttonTech heavies chasing them through the city’s 3 A.M. streets, Jo prayed it’d get them home safe one more time.

It took 10 blocks for the black SUV to catch up to them. She’d figured a clean getaway was too much to ask, but Jo cursed the universe anyway. “Get ready,” she said, and jammed on the gas. Bullets hit the car’s frame like a sudden spate of rain. The back window spidered with cracks but held firm. She was glad she’d splurged on the bulletproofing.

The SUV sped up, drawing even with them. Jo stared ahead at the rain-slick street. The good thing about pulling off their heist so late at night was that no one drove in the business district at this hour. They had a good straightaway and, as she watched, all the lights turned green. In the rearview, Dana flashed her a thumbs-up.

Metal screamed, and the whole car shuddered as the SUV slammed into their side. Jo fought the wheel to keep them on the road. In the passenger seat, Blake swore as the door crunched inward.

PULL OVER, came a voice over the SUV’s bullhorn. RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE, AND WE’LL LET YOU GO.

Blake flipped them off.

Another sideswipe, and the car rode up on the curb. Jo swore and yanked them back onto the street, but not before she took out a row of newspaper boxes.

“You know what?” said Blake. “We’re risking our lives for this thing, I think we deserve a demo.” He pulled the prototype from the backpack Jo had shoved it in.

“Uhhhh.” Dana poked her head into the front seat. “Remember that talk we had about delicate and volatile?”

“She’s right. And I might have damaged it when I took it out of the case,” said Jo. “We don’t know what it’ll —”

But Blake was already pushing buttons, and the blank interface was responding to his touch. The options flashing by read stun, pulse, and stream, and a slider ran from low to high. Blake selected pulse and pushed the slider all the way up.

“Point it at them, not us!” Dana shrieked.

Blake turned the device and held the business end up to the window. Jo caught a glimpse of the SUV driver as he aimed. All the color drained out of the DuttonTech security woman’s face. She turned her wheel, disengaging the SUV from Jo’s car, but not soon enough. Blake slapped the automatic window button, and as soon as he could get the prototype’s nose through the gap, he fired.

THOOM.

They couldn’t see the pulse, but they felt it. Jo’s fillings buzzed. Every bone she’d ever broken ached like there was a storm overhead. The SUV flipped up and over, and for one terrible second, Jo could see what the pulse had done to the people inside, how none of their features were in the right places anymore. How everything had gone so very red. She’d be seeing that in her nightmares for years to come.

None of them said anything as they pulled away. In the rearview, Dana’s eyes were wide, her lips gone white. Blake let out a ragged sigh. The device’s interface blurred, cleared, then switched to one blinking red word:

Error.

The sun was coming up by the time they got back to their safehouse. Dana switched on the morning news while she examined the prototype. Not a word about their break-in at DuttonTech. Not a peep about a late-night car chase in the business district, nor any stories about a deadly crash. DuttonTech had covered it all up. Was that good for them, or bad?

Can’t worry about that just now. Let’s make sure we’re not going to explode first.

She handled the device gingerly, as if it might wake up and turn the three of them into human slag, but it turned out there wasn’t much chance of that. She could see the burn marks where Jo had pulled it from its kill switch. Once the casing came off, the insides were about as fried as she’d expected, even though Jo had taken some of the shock. “I don’t know how this even turned on in the car, let alone fired.”

“Is that it, then?” asked Jo. “All that work and it’s just…a hunk of metal?” She didn’t have to say her sister’s name for Dana to know she was thinking of Leanne, how she’d been counting on getting the prototype out intact to help her. Dana had made that connection long before she handed Jo and Blake their dossiers.

“Hey.” Dana set her tools aside. “First off, we’ve set DuttonTech back. They don’t have the physical prototype, and their IT group is going to have a miserable time sorting out the mess I uploaded to their servers before anyone there can even think about building another.”

Blake came in from the kitchen, carrying a tray with three coffee mugs and Jo’s pint of victory ice cream. He’d declared getting out alive a sufficient win, and Jo hadn’t argued the point. “She’s right, kiddo. We’re not even close to done. If Dana can’t get this thing up and running, someone in Archangel will know who can.”

“I have an idea about that.” Dana took her mug gratefully. She was bone tired but needed to stave off sleep as long as she could. There was too much to do. “The woman who taught me to do what I do, she studied alongside Dutton back in the day. If we can find her, I think she’ll be able to fill in a whole ton of gaps.”

Jo frowned. “‘If?’”

“No one’s heard from her for a while. She went off the grid, and we don’t know why. Last place she was spotted was Brussels.” Dana set the prototype aside and tapped her tablet awake. “Who’s up for a rescue mission?

The Trinity Continuum Core Rules and Trinity Continuum: Æon are available in print from Indie Press Revolution (core, Æon) or in PDF/print-on-demand from DriveThruRPG.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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August’s Featured Game: Shroom Soup

DEVELOPER(S): Shroomy ENGINE: RPGMaker 2000 GENRE: Adventure, RPG, Psychological Horror WARNINGS: listed here (may contain spoilers) SUMMARY: You play as Arnika, a gloomy teenage girl. Perpetually tired, you live off excessive sleep, lime juice, and instant soup. You look into the vortex forming in your cup of said soup, this time mushroom flavour. Next thing you know, you are in an entirely different world where everything, from buildings to people, is being devoured by fungi. It seems like you have no choice but to walk on... Your journey involves exploration, puzzle-solving and battles.

Download the demo here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! Hello! I am Shroomy, and I still haven't figured out which one of my nicknames I should go by, but I use "uboaappears" for art and "toxic shroom swamp" for games. I have a bachelor's degree in biology since two weeks ago and like everything surreal, gory and gay. Nice to meet you. I have been in the community since about 2012, and that might be also when I first wanted to make a game - a Yume Nikki fangame, because YN brought me here. I messed around with the engine for a long time, and certain characters and ideas gradually mutated to whatever this is now.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Shroomy: It's about making a cup of instant soup and accidentally going on a very weird adventure. ...Okay, actually, it's a coming-of-age story with an emphasis on mental health, relationships, and toxic flesh-eating mushrooms. The idea came to me when I made myself an instant soup once. For some reason, I thought it would be cool if there was a portal into another world in the cup. That's how it started. (I was also into drawing mushrooms growing on people at the time, so that naturally made its way into my Awesome Game Idea.)

How long have you been working on your project? *Shroomy: ...A while. It's enough to say that I graduated from both high school and university with it. But to be honest, I didn't really do much with it until about two years ago. Right now I tend to think of the time before that as trial and error, playing around with ideas and learning to use the engine. I feel a little self-conscious about how long it took me to come up with a coherent story, but that might be a good thing. Since this is quite a personal game, it helped to grow as a person. I think it made for a more interesting and mature work than it would be otherwise.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Shroomy: I feel like I take little bits of inspirations from everything. But I'd say Yume Nikki and Re:Kinder were the biggest game influences. Maybe Hello Charlotte, too - the minimalistic world gave me some food for thought :> Design-wise, I think my current (character) style is a lovechild of Danganronpa, Killing Stalking and something else I am not sure about. Maybe just me.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Shroomy: I think the biggest challenges for me have always been centered around the lack of free time, the lack of energy or the lack of motivation. Some people manage to juggle life and gamedev, but I get exhausted really easily, so it's hard. This is an ongoing issue. I tend to try and free up a day just for relaxing and creative stuff. I've also started using the Forest app for focusing on things, and sometimes use it for gamedev as well. At the beginning I found it frustrating that my skills (in pixel art, for example) didn't match what I wanted to create. That one was improved by - you guessed it - making a lot of pixel art. Making and scrapping a bunch of tilesets for the game. It's as simple as practice and learning how to get the most out of your art program. (It also helps me to make a detailed sketch of a map before I start working, or at least brainstorm the main elements of it.) Another challenge was the incoherence of the story. Originally I wanted to make something really vague and open to interpretation, but... that actually didn't give me enough material to work with. In the end, I played around with the characters, tried to write them some backstories that no one was going to see, and somehow ended up with an actual plot..? Shocking, I know! And the final thing is putting gameplay into the game. To be honest, the puzzles in the demo were pretty random on my side, I just thought them up on the spot. In subsequent locations I tried to make them relevant to the game's themes and/or hint towards the story.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Shroomy: For one thing, the current project has a story and a plan, even if the story is presented in quite an obfuscated way. The original concept was not much more than an idea of a shroomy world. The characters also have a lot more depth and pain to them than they used to. The locations have changed a lot as well, to the point where most of the original ones don't exist anymore.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Shroomy: My team is mostly just me. At the beginning it was a young and naive me, and now we have a slightly older and better-at-art me. After I started my dev blog, I was contacted by Tommuel, who now helps me with sound design and music. And my old friend Robin has made a few NPC sprites for me, and might give a hand with more pixel art in the future. They're not really involved with other aspects of development, but I really appreciate their help anyway! I prefer to keep most of this game to myself - it feels too personal to share, plus I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

What is the best part of developing the game? *Shroomy: I would say it's putting my work out there and sharing it with the world. I'm also really proud of how much I've grown as an artist and writer through developing this. I got attached to this story and this world, with all of its fun, weird and sad details. It's also been really fun, amazing even, to get to know other devs and make friends through being part of this interesting and creative community. I owe some wonderful friendships to it.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Shroomy: I definitely play other games for inspiration, it helps me a lot. Though I try not to make things "just like" other games, but make it a transformative learning experience instead.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Shroomy: I feel like I have been through stages. At first I was Arnika, then Lina, now I feel like I'm turning into Arthur. I guess I put my traits into all of them. (Does that mean that Bernard is the next stage? I'm /so/ ready to transcend humanity, finally learn how to do maths and become everyone's favourite character.)

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Shroomy: I think the biggest mistake I made was jumping straight into making a game without thinking it through or considering the scope. In the end, the lack of planning set me back a lot. Admittedly, I was young and excitable, so I guess it was a learning experience? I didn't really know how to write stories or plan long-term projects, but over time, I somehow built up those skills. I think it's good to have a clear-ish idea of what you want to make before you start, and maybe start with something small. (So basically, do the opposite of what I did.)

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Shroomy: Aha. Actually, yes. I have accidentally started writing two sequels already. They will be small games focusing on other characters' perspectives (as opposed to Arnika). I'm not actually touching them yet though, only making some notes and writing scripts. Perhaps by the time the first game is released I'll have enough material to comfortably work on them.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Shroomy: Fan reaction, I think? To be honest, I'm not really sure. I think I'll just be enjoying the incredible dopamine rush after finally setting this child of mine free to explore the world and infect people's brains with all the shroomy memes it contains. (Also will probably get off the internet for about a week from the anxiety.) Then maybe being free to work on other things, indeed. And posting spoilery concept art >:D

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Shroomy: I am a little worried about the reception of the game's subject matter. If you looked at the list of warnings, you might have an idea what I mean. Sometimes it feels dangerous to explore certain themes in your stories, because people misinterpret depicting something bad as promoting it, for example. But that's why that list exists. I'm just going to let people know straight away that I explore dark themes in this project and I'm not going to hold back on how I do it. Creativity should flow freely, I think. (I am also a little worried about the ratio of my free time vs. gamedev time and /when/ I will finally be able to release it, but... Thankfully, I'm the one in charge of that.)

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Shroomy: Take some time to make a plan for your project, start small, fail faster, and aim for something finished before you aim for perfect. Make a system for organising your files. Back up often, and on a different drive/cloud than your game is on, preferably several. Most of all, make something you would love to play! And don't be too hard on yourself.

Question from last month's featured dev @blackcrystalsrpg: What are your game dev pet peeves?? *Shroomy: I dislike the fact that sometimes I want to have made a game more than I want to make a game, but to have made a game you need to go and make the game. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But there's no escape from fate, so... go, go and make that game happen!

We mods would like to thank Shroomy for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Shroom Soup if you haven’t already! See you next month!

- Mods Gold & Platinum

#rpgmaker #indie games #pixel games #rpg maker #rpg maker 2000 #shroom soup #gotm #game of the month #gotm august #august 2018 #august #2018 #interview #game making #game dev

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