#if i shortened it any more id leave out details

[spaceflower07]

a moment in their lovestory! honestly i dont have a too solid story for them yet😭 like,,, there's so many options. BUT SO FAR:

Ivan's the prince. He led an extremely hard life (he started out as a middle child with two parents, but now is an only child with just a father💀) Alfred is a peasant, not even a middle class peasant he's one of those who live in the slums. He led a similar life to Ivan until their village was raided. The children were scattered, so a now-orphan Alfred had to raise Matthew AND support them. Afred turned to a life of assassination to make money along with doing several odd jobs (which is why he's so insanely strong, even tho he doesnt rlly look it) One day Al is hired to assassinate the prince, but Ivan spotted him and they got into a huge brawl, which ended in Alfred setting off a smoke bomb and running away. He had actually landed a hit on Ivan, which surprised the prince so no one had been able to do that for years. Ivan, not knowing how to be a normal human being, became really interested in this person who tried to kill him. So far, his life has been really boring. It was just studying and training over and over since the day he was born. Alfred had shaken up his life so he became interested, but not in the romantic way, he was just amused by him. Alfred, on the other hand, hated him. During the fight Ivan had taunted him sadistically, and that made Alfred furious. He had only run away bc he was called back to headquarters. Ivan thought about Alfred for a while when, out of nowhere, the boy was placed in the palace.

Apparently, Alfred had a new mission, which was to assassinate the King instead because they got info that the King was planning to invade Hearts. Back then, Spades was one of the weakest Kingdoms, so they would definitely get crushed by Hearts and it would cause a lot of casualties along with a very unnecessary war. So Alfred had to work in the palace as Ivan's 'bodyguard' which Ivan enjoyed tremendously because now he got to annoy him even more and as a plus, get to be his boss. Alfred extremely hated this, and wanted to get the mission done with asap so he could get away from Ivan. But the more they spent time together, they started to hate each other less and less to the point that Ivan fell in love with him. After finding out that Alfred still worked jobs outside the palace for Matthew's tuition (which is the picture above) Ivan offered to pay for it instead. Alfred tried to refuse but Ivan didn't budge. Alfred was in love with him too but was in absolute denial. Plus, he couldn't afford to have feelings for him, bc once he killed the King Alfred would stop working at the palace and be taken back to Krasny. Keeping this in mind, Alfred had to reject Ivan when he confessed. He couldn't explain that he was an assassin since it was supposed to be secret, so he said, "I just can't."

Alfred's boss keeps tabs on him, so when he found out that the prince had confessed to Alfred he told him to distance himself from Ivan because it was starting to become a distraction, and to start focusing on his mission because the deadline was a few weeks away (thats when the King is planning to invade). The King never makes any sort of appearance, and is holed up in his chamber 24/7, the only time he'll come out is when he announces his plan to the Kingdom. Alfred had considered sneaking into his chamber and killing him there, but the security was extremely tight and it would be completely impossible for Alfred to sneak inside. Ivan had also been working to stop his father, as he had found the documents about his plan. Alfred's goal is to kill him, while Ivan's goal is just to stop him. So while Alfred is sneaking around trying to find any weak spots in their security, Ivan is sneaking around gathering information about the plan. Alfred's sneaking around had not gone unnoticed by the ever-observant Yao, who confronted him about it. Not in a I'm-going-to-kick-you-out way but in the curious way bc Yao also hates the King. When Alfred gave up and told him his real purpose for being here, Yao started helping him gather information and had supplied the most important one of all; the King had been building a bomb that was enough to wipe out at least half of the Hearts Island. Ivan had seen the documents already so he knew about the bomb as well, he had tried to stop the making of it but to get inside the room requires his father's physical identification.

The three of them were anxious and lost on how to go about doing this. The only way to stop the making of the bomb at this point is to kill the King, but by the time the King comes out of his chamber, the bomb and the war is ready to go. The deadline was ticking closer, and the pain of the confession was still eating up Alfred and Ivan which made them feel even worse. Then Yao told them that he overheard the guards saying the King is leaving his quarters to go somewhere 'private'. The two went to follow the King, who was wearing a hood. They followed him all the way to the middle of a forest. Right before he was going to enter a cave, both Alfred and Ivan jumped at him, ready to kill, shocking each other and causing them to collide into the King. They pointed at each other accusingly but they were speechless and unable to say anything, then Alfred noticed that the King was crawling away so he abandoned the 'conversation' and grabbed him, but in doing so, the hood came off and revealed a completely different person, definitely not Ivan's father. The two of them were shocked, and Alfred shook him violently "Who are you!?" Apparently he was a guard that was ordered to just wander off as far as possible. The two of them were confused, then Ivan's phone rang. Yao was hysterical, he told them to come back because it was a fake-out and that wasn't the real King, then he gets cut off with a muffling sound, a crash sound, a static noise, then the call stops completely.

The two of them look at each other then bolt back into the forest; while they were running Alfred explained that he was an assassin and that's why he was after the King. Before Ivan could say anything, Alfred spoke first, "But nevermind that, there are more important things right now." so Ivan just stayed quiet. They get back to the palace, and Ivan's gut tells him to go somewhere specific, so he leads them to the bomb room, which was suspiciously open. They rushed inside, ending up in a control room. The King was standing at the window, where there was a massive bomb. Next to him, Yao looked like he could barely stay conscious and his wrists were bound.

The King reveals that he knew all along what the two of them were up to, and that he was tired of them meddling in his plan. Because of their high-alert sneaking around, the King couldn't properly execute his plan so he had to lure them away, which didn't work either because Yao is "such a blabbermouth" but he told them it didn't matter anymore, because while they were gone he had finally completed the bomb and was going to eject it now. Alfred asked what about the announcement, and the King said he was never going to announce anything, it was another fake-out so that whoever is planning to stop him will wait until his 'announcement' but by then they would be too late, which would've worked (again) if it weren't for Yao. Ivan asked why he was doing all this, why he was suddenly wanting to invade Hearts. The King said that the Kingdom was bankrupt because he had been pocketing so much money and that money was gone now too, so he was going to invade Hearts to raid them. Ivan was baffled at how stupid his plan sounded and said that would never work because even if they got their hands on their money/resources they would hardly be able to use it before Hearts destroys them. The King told him to shut up, at this point he had a crazy expression. He said he was going to do this and there was nothing they could do to stop him then he pressed a button, which activated the timer for five minutes.

While he had been monologuing, the drug he used on Yao was wearing off, so he was now lucid. After piecing together what was happening, Yao stepped on the king's foot, causing him to yelp and let go of Yao. Yao, despite his size, was very strong, so he managed to hold down the King and gag him. He then yelled at the two to go find a way to deactivate the bomb before the timer went off. The two of them rushed out of the control room, they circled the bomb, trying to find its panel, but they took too long and the timer went off. Panicking, the two of them held onto the bomb as it flew away. While onboard the bomb, Alfred discovers a panel that changes the course of the bomb. He quickly works to alter the course, and while Ivan watches he suddenly asks that if Alfred is an assassin sent to kill his father, then was getting close to Ivan all part of his plan? Alfred is shocked and says no, and that it wasnt part of his plan at all. Alfred admits that he didn't want to reject Ivan, but he had to bc if he said yes it would just hurt the both of them more, because whether or not the assassination succeeds, they would still end up not seeing each other again. Ivan is surprised and asks (for clarification) why he didn't want to reject him. Alfred says its because he's in love with him, and that in these past few months he's never been happier. Ivan says 'Then, if we get out of this alive, would you go out with me?' Alfred says, "Are you kidding me? Of course! But first, we should make sure we do get out of this alive."

Alfred finishes successfully changing the course, making it head towards a volcano. He said they have to jump now unless they wanted to explode alongside the bomb. They jumped down into the ocean and watched as the bomb dropped into a volcano and exploded. Yao, who had put trackers on them before they went to follow the fake King, tracked them down in a helicopter and picked them up. Once they got back they are told that the King will be held in a mental asylum and that the Jack, General Winter (the person who had actually raised Ivan), would rule the Kingdom as a regent until they were of age. Currently, the two of them are 15 (Alfred) and 16 (Ivan). They spend the next three years getting closer and training together to be the new King and Queen.

[rq-described]

hey is it ok if i ask for a bit of advice with writing ids? /gen. i've seen quite a few posts about people over-describing in their ids, and i have a feeling that i do that (i tend to overcomplicate everything i do skdsksjd). what kind of information is unnecessary in an id that i can try to cut out in future? thank you so much!

Hello! It’s totally okay to come to us with questions, we’re always happy to try and help!

To be completely honest this topic is something that a lot of us are still working on. The line between under and over-describing can be a bit hard to place, especially since it differs depending on the piece, and the person using the IDs. It’s impossible to make it perfect for everyone, but here are some tricks we’ve found helpful.

1) Ask yourself what the purpose of the piece is.

Art showing off a character design will have very different priorities than a comic or a meme. A drawing of a character just standing in a cool outfit suggests more in depth descriptions of their design whereas a long action filled comic should center the action or dialogue. Trying to describe characters and actions in the same part when a piece has multiple characters and/or significant action will often bog it down.

For example writing:

"X enters the room. They have blonde hair and pale freckled skin, and they wear a sweater vest over a white collared shirt and a pair of dangly cherry earrings. They are drawn from the waist up. They say to Y, 'What’s up?'"

doesn’t flow as well as writing:

“X enters the room and says to Y, 'What’s up?’”

Understanding the purpose of the piece often means being succinct for the sake of comedic timing, too. Putting the punchline of a comic in the middle of a paragraph of description makes it less impactful than saving it until the end, and breaking up dialogue with several sentences describing a background or outfit means people may lose the thread of the comic.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t describe the character design if you can find a way to significantly shorten the description or include it separately. We’ll go over one possible way of including them in the line breaks section.

2) When dealing with complex settings, backgrounds, or clusters of items, ask yourself what needs to be described individually, and what can be generalized.

Complex and/or cluttered surroundings can get incredibly wordy when describing each component as it’s own thing. If certain components are not individually important to the viewer’s understanding the piece, generalizing or sometimes even leaving them out can significantly cut down on words. For example, writing:

“A mahogany shelf sits above his head. On it sits a blue mug with a spoon sticking out, a ceramic container filled with utensils, and a set of salt and pepper shakers.”

is significantly wordier than writing:

“A shelf holding various utensils and kitchen items sits above his head.”

Sometimes you can bear to cut individual details entirely if they aren’t particularly relevant to understanding the image. For example, if describing a drawing of characters at the beach, and there’s a buoy in the ocean way out in the distance, you probably don’t need to describe it unless it plays an active role in the piece.

3) When describing the appearances of characters, keep in mind what features are important to understanding the artist’s depiction.

Certain aspects of a character’s appearance can say a lot about how the artist wants them to be interpreted. Things like body frame, hair and clothing style, and especially race can vary drastically by artist, and in result change how the character is understood.

Other things like eye color, nose shape, or specific body proportions often do not change the general understanding of the character, and can cause the character description to become bloated. They typically should not be included.

There are certainly exceptions to this however, for example, if a character has unnatural features like glowing eyes or a snout, it changes how the character is meant to be perceived and should be described.

4) Play around with line breaks.

Sometimes pieces are just too complex to avoid having a long description. In order to make sure all important details are included while also including action, consider breaking the description up into chunks. Putting the action first and then writing out the character designs allows the people who want to know what’s going on in the image but don’t particularly care about designs to skip to the next post after the first paragraph, while still providing the descriptions for the people who do.

5) Be aware of what your audience already knows.

When there’s a reasonable expectation that your audience might already know something, it’s okay to use some shorthand. This comes up often when describing memes.

For example, writing:

The Spiderman pointing at himself meme, where one Spiderman is labeled X and the other is labeled Y.

is much more succinct than writing:

A screencap of a cartoon. Two people in identical Spiderman costumes are standing in front of an NYPD vehicle, with one facing away from the viewer and one facing toward the viewer. They are both pointing at each other in identical poses. The Spiderman facing away from the viewer is labeled X in white text. The Spiderman facing toward the viewer is labeled Y in white text.

You’re writing for an audience of Tumblr users, so you can assume most Tumblr users are familiar with the meme. If they aren’t, you’ve given them enough information to look up more about it.

This is also something to consider when describing fanart. Most podcast characters by nature don’t have canonical appearances, so the choice of how to portray a character is often intentional on the part of the artist and something worth paying attention to when considering the purpose of a piece. This isn’t the case for all media, though, and re-describing characters with canonical appearances over and over again isn’t necessary unless those appearances differ significantly from the norm.

-

We hope this was able to help! If anyone sees this and would like to add anything, please feel free to do so, and as always, if you have any more questions, feel free to reach out.

~The Mods

[axahs]

ARTISTS BEWARE: Tumblr user celestialborn / Red / papi-san

Edit 2 its been a while, read the doc, comentonconclusions, the artist was allegedly compensated, Incouldnnever check on them, nevertheless, make sure to read lol

EDIT: PLEASE read the google doc linked below, it has updates on the situation.

Hello, this post comes out of nowhere, and perhaps out of character from me, but a situation arose with someone I know and this is not only a warning about this commissioner in particular, but also for people to learn and watch out for these behaviors, in the case you were to encounter any of this while being commissioned, cancel immediately.

Some time ago, tumblr user celestialborn commissioned an artist that I shall leave anonymous for the time being, this is NOT ME, I am merely making a warning post. 

The user, which we’ll shorten to Red as he prefers to be called, paid for a USD 50 commission, a full body Genshin Wish / splash art, weapon included and the like, this being… A cheap price, this will play into matters later.

Red had been warned that his commission would take some time, more than once, and due to an emergency the wait time got longer, he was warned of this, yet he chose to hound, harass and stalk the online status of the Artist to poke for the commission, at the time being, the Artist had other commissions in Queue (which was also mentioned) and they felt forced to push Red’s commission on top to stop the constant harassment.

Despite this, all the warnings and Red SAYING he would wait as much as they needed, Red continued with the constant messaging and eventually forced a full refund chargeback via Paypal, despite there actually being progress on the commission and the artist having worked with them on fixing some details which, in all fairness, should have been charged extra.

For screenshots and more in depth, please do check this Google Document. 

Once again, their tumblr username is celestialborn, their nickname is Red / Papi-san, and their discord is Papi-san#8717 ( ID 272221934790639626 )

If anyone has had any other experiences with this Commissioner, feel free to add them to thsi post, make your own Docs, contact me to add onto the Doc, etc.

[balmasedas]

desperado / druglord!javier peña au. 

chapter one.

summary: reader is a dea agent. violence has arisen in the streets of colombia and she's determined to bring javier peña to justice. things take an abrupt turn when, instead of her finding him, he finds her and realizes they got much more interest in each other than just drug-related topics. 

warnings: only +18. overall, this is smut so smutty. canon violence. detailed warnings in every chapter. spanish traductions are in the notes, though for the sake of non-spanish speakers, spanish dialogues will be minimal and not relevant to the plot.

word count: 2.5k.

You throw your sweater in the backseat of your car before exiting it. In the morning, you had dug through your boxed-up winter clothes after shivering in your shirt-sleeves as soon as you got out of your department. Now, the temperature has risen to the seventies and you give yourself a clap in the back for deciding to wear something decent underneath. Spring in Colombia is a nightmare.

The crime scene is packed with local police and DEA agents. There are no civilian spectators this time, they know better than sticking their noses in the Medellin's cartel businesses.

Upon your arrival, you don’t need to identify yourself to the uniformed men guarding the perimeter. They know you well by then. You are the only female in the team that has to deal with these kinds of situations —gruesome, gut-churning, dirty shit. Not a very much "lady-like" job, some would express. For that, you have earned yourself the title of a gritty woman. Maybe because you were gritty, maybe because you were a woman.

Sometimes, though, you find yourself wondering why you turned down some run-of-the-mill desk job back in Virginia. It would’ve been a dull routine, for sure — hideous, even; but gossiping about some flash romance between two co-workers is less taxing than having to witness five rotting corpses at first daylight. 

"Jesus Christ," you lift your sunglasses to your head. Your partner, esteemed, weary agent Steve Murphy, turns around at the sound of your voice. 

“You’re up early.” he asserts, with a raised eyebrow. 

You purse your lips. “Had a bad night. Ran out of whisky at one am.” 

Not even Hugo, or Hughie for his gringo friends, could help you. You forgot that his daughter would be celebrating her birthday and his all-night store would be closed until the next morning. Normally, you would own an arsenal of alcohol, but it has been an abnormal week and a hell of a night —starting with the spiral of violence that has arisen in the streets of Medellin.

"Well, look at the bright side: your stomach is empty," Murphy mumbles.

Looking at the bodies in front of you, you can’t agree more: their hands are tied-up to the oxidated wire behind them, hanging by their arms. They are barefoot and scantily clad. There is a visible gunshot wound in all of their front heads, some flies are already hovering around the open flesh. A quick death to eternal torture, you suppose.

"When did you get the call?" you inquire.

He fiddles with his wristwatch. "About two hours ago." you only hum in response, keeping your eyes in front of you and paying no mind to Steve who only grows impatient at your silence. "You think this was Peña's job?" he adds.

You nod in denial. "If it was, it doesn't make sense." Not one bit. "Peña works underground, quiet, like a sneaky rat. I'd even say they're more well-behaved than most cartels. So why do this?"

Why such a declaration of violence? Why draw even more attention from the authorities? 

"Maybe he decided to toughen his punishments?” You scoff at his remark.

“He can do that without half the city knowing it. A ditch is much more subtle than a monument to death blocks from the US embassy.” 

Murphy smirks. “Seems that you have given it a thought before, Sarchie.” you narrow your eyes. He knows you hate that nickname. Your tendencies to boss him around had brought you consequences: the unofficial title of a Sargeant. Sarchie, shortened and friendly.

“Killing someone? Yes, you. Multiple times a day.” you put your sunglasses back on and walk away. The forensic police won’t be there until the next half hour, at least, and you are too disquiet to wait around. Plus, your stomach is growling, but Steve doesn’t need to know that. “We’re gonna need their names, I’ll see what I can find. You have a little chat with the coroner and see if they can speed up the autopsy. The sooner the better, ok?” you spot the smirk on his face. You know what he’s thinking. You shut your car's door and point a finger at him through the window. A clear warning sign in your eyes. “Shut the fuck up and do it.”

(,,,)

Happy hour. You give up on the investigation and stop off at ‘Chiquita’, a popular local bar near your place. The prices are cheap, the drinks aren’t that good but they do the job. The place is crowded — hot couples with wet, glowing skin grinding against each other. Happy or horny or both. You take a mental note to have some fun later. 

As you sip at your bourbon and crack your peanuts, you let yourself dwell on what you found out about your case. You finally got the names of your five guys. For that, much research wasn’t needed: All of them had their IDs in their pockets and they were exactly who you feared they were: no ones. No ties to any big names, no official involvement in any cartel — at the most, a few minor possession charges. As for weeks, your few clues have led to nowhere and the enigma surrounding the Medellin cartel seems to worsen with every minute that passes by.

You hate mysteries. Colombia’s full of them. 

You take your second bourbon in one smooth shot and ask for another. You grab a colombian peso from your wallet and slide it across the wood. Your eyes stop at the picture of your parents that you carry around. It’s tiny and worn, just like your relationship with them. They haven’t heard from you in weeks, a fair deal, if anyone asked. They don’t have to deal with their fucked up daughter and you can focus on your work filled with dead ends and a ghost that haunts you while you’re awake: Javier Peña.

“¹Qué tomas, preciosa?” a velvety voice caresses your ears. A pleasant smile breaks quietly over your lips. Just in time.

You turn your head to the side. The stranger, with chocolate-skin and inviting eyes, is waiting for an answer. You tap your fingers against the glass.

"Bourbon," you say. "²Pero no me vendría mal un trago más." he grins and holds up two fingers to the barman. He sits at the empty seat beside you, he’s exuberating confidence. He’s offered you the bait and you'd taken it.

"³Algo más que se te ofrezca?"

You look him in the eyes. You know how the story goes from there. It isn’t any different than the one from last night, or the night before. As an apex predator, he's out for something to satisfy his hunger. He won't go home without reaching his goal and you're desperate enough to let him.

"⁴Sí. Hay algo más que puedes hacer por mi."

(,,,)

The fucking cat on the window has been staring straight into your eyes for the last fifteen minutes. Matias, the guy you've met hours before, is too focused on you to notice the awkward presence of the animal, so you don't bother shooing it away. 

He's enjoying himself, pounding into you in a symphony of lust bites and moans. But the sound of skin on skin doesn't match the intensity of your passion for this encounter.

It's not that his performance was terrible, it was just... soft. So soft, too soft. From the sweet nothings, he gasps on your ear to the gentleness of his grip on your hip. 

You aren't a sweet girl. If you were sweet, you wouldn't have traveled all the way down to Colombia to participate in the war on drugs. If you were fond of delicateness, you would've stayed inside and touched yourself to a Cristina Peri Rossi novel instead of searching for strangers at bars.

You don't like to believe you are a special case. On the contrary, you assume your attitude is the rule and not the exception. Not a hell of a woman, but a woman made of hell – waking up already worried about the hours ahead of you. How could you not? Your life is as wide and empty as the sky. Unstable, unpredictable. Anything can happen. A good meaningless fuck is the only moment you allow yourself to feel something — someone. By then, the detachment that gets you through the day disappears and raw feral emotion takes its place. 

You are addicted. It's like a drug, but worse. Drugs don't have feelings, people do.

You’d grabbed Matias' hand and wrapped it around your neck a few times but your request had been ignored; you’d even pushed his ass against your body so you could get closer to a feral touch, but he had insisted on something more caring and delicate. 

And delicacy just won't do. 

So, after a few tries, you give up. You lay still, under his heating body, dead eyes directed at your window. No emotion whatsoever, no release. Like a numb, stiff sex doll, rooting for his satisfaction. Forgotten until next time.

“⁵Donde?” he blurts in your ear. You evaluate your options quickly. 

“⁶Adentro.” Any other place would demandsñ more attention. By then, he would be aware of your passivity and asking too many questions. You don't answer questions, you make them.

His body tenses and trembles. You feel heat dripping between your legs but it doesn't come from you. He leaves a few small pecks on your neck — thankfully, the last ones for the night. Matias breathes over you for a few seconds before he gets off. You stare at the roof in silence, and when he asks if you finished, you simply nod.

You can't grasp what he says under his breath after you ask him, as nice as possible, to leave. What he does or doesn't vocalize, it doesn't matter. You won't be repeating with him. You never fucked the same person twice. 

Once you hear the front door shut, still resting on your bare skin, you lit a cigarette. The room is void of artificial light, and the cat is still in the same place, with his silhouette contoured by the gleam of the moon.

"Sneaky bastard." you chuckle, then get up from the bed and slowly approach it.

You stop at the wooded frame of the window, maintaining your distance. Not too close to scare him or him to scare you. He isn't a friendly guy. He isn't even yours — just a grumpy cat that stops by your department too often demanding some food. You tried to get him to come inside before, but all you had won from your offers were a couple of scratches. Nonetheless, the cat has seen more of you than many people have. So, even though you renegade from him, you found yourself inevitably attached. He's the closest thing to a family, after Murphy, of course. But Murphy hasn't seen you on your worst, yet.

"Hope you see the same shit I see." you grimace and shake your head. "Not like that, I mean... I should choose better who to fuck with. And they should choose better too." the cat remains silent –obviously– and you keep talking. "You could make yourself useful and spook them away before I have to." he meows, you roll your eyes and decide to leave him alone. "Then again, I could do it myself if I told them I hold long conversations with the stray cat that lives in my window."

You choose to take a bath and call it a night. You glide through the living room, though before you can reach the bathroom something stops you. There's a noise outside, some glass breaking down on the streets. You can ignore it, conflict isn't a foreign subject in Colombia, especially at late hours. But then it repeats itself a second time, and the third bugs you too much for you not to grab your night robe and take a look at it from your window.

The only light pole is out of order; there's not a soul in sight; music can be heard from afar. You see nothing out of place until you do.

Your car is parked across the street. All four windows have been smashed, the tires are flat. You barely waste time cursing before you flee out of your place. You thought the night couldn’t get worse but the world has a disturbing obsession with testing your patience. 

Once you take a step outside and approach your damaged car, you’re not sure where your chills are coming from. Perhaps, because of the unfriendly weather or maybe because you’re suddenly aware of how idiotic was your decision to go outside. 

Everything inside your vehicle is left untouched. There weren't objects of value anyways. You find no logical reason for someone wanting to wreck a car just because —yours, of them all.

Big red warning signs color your mind. Your eyes scan your surroundings with speed. It's a dark, lonely dessert. You're now sure that what happened isn't some random event. The victim could've been to another person, but you weren't just another person.

"⁷Discúlpeme, señorita." a voice throws yourself far from the source. You reach for your gun just to find nothing there. Damn you. "⁸Está bien?" you look at the man. An old man that, at first glance, doesn't represent a threat. His voice is gentle, his voice is tinted with a caring voice. You lower your defenses, just a bit, not enough to stay around.

"⁹Sí." you mutter.

Slowly, you walk back to your apartment. Old man glues his eyes to your form and you don't take your own off from his'. Before reaching the sidewalk, you trip with something. Your back collides against a car and you're ready to apologize when the owner exits it there’s not a sign of rage in his face. On the contrary, his stare is blank and his mouth doesn’t even twitch.

Bad news.

You intend to run, but another guy blocks your passage and two more appear at each side of you. You turn over to ask the old man for help, but he’s gone along with your last piece of hope. Can’t blame him, you would’ve escaped too if you had the chance. However, you can’t and the smartest thing to do is acknowledge it and work from it. 

You stay still thinking it will persuade them to opt for gentle treatment. 

How naive of you. 

A set of fingers dig into your arms, another one grabs you by the neck and lowers your head as they drag you into their car. Guarded by two of them who sit at your sides, a dark cloth bag is placed over your head and your wrists are restricted with a zip tie. 

All you have left now is your hearing, you pick up a few things: the engine roaring, the tires burning on the asphalt as you speed off, some spanish words thrown in the air. Nothing substantial, nothing of use.

You sit in silence and wait for the worst.

[coppicefics]

Masked Omens: Week Six

[Image Description: Image 1 - A simple rendition of the Masked Singer UK logo, a golden mask with colourful fragments flying off of it. The mask has a golden halo and a golden devil tail protruding from either side. Below, gold text reads ‘Masked Omens’.

Image 2 - A page from the Entertainment section of the Capital Herald, dated Saturday, 30th January 2021. Full image description and transcript below cut. End ID.]

Read the fic here!

The Capital Herald - Saturday 30th January, 2021 Entertainment, page 13

Top story (continued from facing page): -talk filming, fans and family with 'Three Card Monte' star -finished, and hotly tipped for several major awards come the season, what does Dame Angela have in the pipeline? She's tight-lipped, but the question makes her smile. “Naturally I don't want to give too much away – an actress must maintain some mystery lest the camera fall out of love with her – but I can tell you I have several options in mind, and some of them are very exciting.” But is it a question of which project to take on, or which to take on first? “Well, of course, there are no guarantees, but... yes, I imagine some of them will wait.” It's an unusual level of power for an actor to wield, but at this stage in her career Dame Angela is more than entitled to wield it. How does she feel about winning the showbiz game so spectacularly? “Oh, I feel as though I've been playing a game of my own devising, to which even I don't know the rules.” She laughs. “No, but really, I don't think I've ever thought of it as playing a game. I go up for the parts I think are interesting or challenging, and I've been fortunate enough to get them more often than not. Then, when the part is finished, I move on to the next thing I want to do. There's no strategy, not really, not on my part. Naturally, my agent might tell you something very different!” Having the right agent can certainly be the key to success in the entertainment industry, and Dame Angela has been with Derek Mette, of MetteTalent, for many years now.“More than I care to admit,” she tells me with a laugh, “Derek has been with me since the beginning, really. We're old friends, at this point – our families exchange Christmas cards every year.” Family can be a challenge for someone who's trying to keep the momentum of their career going, and Dame Angela surprised the world when she took a year out of acting to give birth to her son, Anthony.“Yes, at that time it simply wasn't done; one could have a career, or one could have a family. Especially since I was very much on my own with it all. But I was able to get back in front of the cameras quite quickly, and I wouldn't change things for the world. Becoming a mother made me a better actress, I think, because it opened up that whole range of experiences. The highs and the lows of childrearing.” In fact, Dame Angela starred alongside young Anthony in A is for Apple when he was only eight months old. He briefly followed in her footsteps after leaving school, and seemed set for similar levels of industry acclaim. But it all came to a devastating halt when he developed an addiction that led to him being discovered unconscious in his trailer on the set of The Grasswater Affair. He'd overdosed. “I don't like to talk about it,” Dame Angela says, her mouth downturned. “I found it very hard. But now, of course, he's been in recovery for many years, and he does his little plays all around the country. It's behind us, and I'd like it to stay that way.” A change of subject, then; what does she make of the rumours that she is currently performing as a costumed character on The Masked Singer UK? “On- I'm sorry, what's that?” I show her a clip on my phone. “Good heavens, no.” But isn't that exactly what she'd say if it was her? “Well, I don't know. I'd never even seen it until just now. But it all seems a little childish for my taste. I'm far too committed to my art to do light entertainment.” Time, it seems, will tell. But if Dame Angela is indeed a participant in The Masked Singer, she hides it well.There’s time for one last question, so I try to make it a good one. What, I ask, does Dame Angela consider her proudest achievement to date? “Oh, that’s a difficult question. I simply couldn’t choose... Naturally, becoming a Dame was a great honour, and not one I expected at all, which made it all the more precious. But then, the first time I won an Oscar was a real moment of pride, and one that’s never soured with time. And, of course, every award and every round of applause is a moment of pride for any actor; it means I’ve done the job, and done it well, and that it has been appreciated by the audience in front of me. What more can any actress ask for?” MARY HODGES Dame Angela Crowley’s latest film, Three Card Monte, is in cinemas from the 12th of February.

Centre right: OWAS to host ‘magic’ event Literary society’s next gala theme announced The Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society has announced the theme for its spring social event, which is to be inspired by all things magical. Famed far beyond its actual membership for its lavish balls and banquets, the society has in the past held events held together by motifs such as 'Luck', which took place in a casino, 'Snow', which included a trip to a ski slope, and 'Flight', during which all participants had the opportunity to glide above the dancers on wires. This time, the theme is 'Magic', and while details are still being kept tightly under wraps, it seems fairly certain that Aziraphale Fell, London's most celebrated stage magician and a long-time member of the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society, will be performing at the event. When the society throws open its doors each season, it's quite possible to go all night without seeing a single regular member of the club. While the organising committee is out in full force, soliciting donations from the wealthy patrons who attend the parties, and the society president stands up to make a toast at the beginning of dinner, it's largely outsiders who descend upon the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society's chosen venue. In fact, the scale and opulence of these events has led some to speculate that OWAS is not a literary appreciation society at all, but rather a shadowy networking opportunity for the rich and powerful. Indeed, at the 'Flight' event, it's rumoured that two world leaders met in the queue for the wire-flying and laid the foundations for a later trade deal between their nations. The society's everyday goings-on are, I'm told, far more pedestrian and literary. But - as the current president, Edwin Pearce, often says - “what's an Oscar Wilde society without a little hedonism?” There's altruism, too, however; the society makes a substantial donation to a charity chosen by the members each year. This year's charity has yet to be determined, but last year the children of the Wessex Street Hospital enjoyed a very special Christmas thanks to a £20,000 cheque from the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society. Much of the funds required to make such lavish events and donations possible are raised at those very events, which take place once a season. Tickets for the 'Magic' event have not yet been released, but previous events' tickets have sold for anything from £200 to £2000. A limited number of reduced price tickets are generally made available, so keep an eye on the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society's website at oscarwas.org.uk if you're looking to get in without breaking the bank. If The Amazing Mr Fell will indeed be performing at the event, it might explain his recent reduction in performances – his show has gone down from six nights a week to just four, eliminating his Wednesday and Saturday performances. Magic fans in the capital can therefore hold out hope that once preparations for his upcoming performance are over, tickets might become easier to obtain. And, of course, the 'Magic' event itself promises to be one big avocado. CITRON DEUX-CHEVAL

Centre right: Drawing back the veil again Mystic Madame reportedly plotting TV return Two years after Drawing Back the Veil with Telepathic Tracy last aired, its old Saturday night slot is set to become vacant again – and rumours abound that the show may be set to return. For the last two years, live draws have been condensed into a fifteen-minute slot on BBC One, followed by an episode of one of the longer 45-minute drama series the BBC tend to favour these days. Much of the pageantry that used to go along with the weekly draw was shifted unceremoniously onto the National Lottery's YouTube channel or website, and the delivery of the actual results became more akin to the reading of a weather report before a return to the usual programming of the channel. Now, however, the BBC has put out a press release announcing that the National Lottery will now return to a half-hour draw show, allowing for 'a little more excitement and glamour'. This, the press release suggests, could take the form of a very brief trivia game before the draw, a return to celebrities wishing everyone luck before pressing the all-important button, a chance to showcase musical acts during the show, or some combination of the above. I'm all for a return to the showbiz nature of the nation's most mainstream gambling ring, but it's the shortening of the subsequent timeslot that has my attention. Already, just a day after the BBC's announcement, speculation is rife about what – and who – might be about to fill that second half-hour time slot. Most of the shows the BBC produces these days are designed for a 45-minute or hour-long format, and producers will be understandably reluctant to try to condense comedy, gameshows or drama into such a small space – especially given the National Lottery's occasional tendency to overrun. Pre-recorded shows have come unstuck before when the Camelot machines have jammed or some other calamity has befallen the draw, most notably in 2019 when the initial episode of Season 6 of Sherlock aired without the crucial first three minutes that explained the detective's cunning escape from the previous season's climactic scrape. It's the sort of situation that calls for a steady hand and an almost supernatural ability to adjust to disaster. Who better to take on the challenge than a woman who's had years of practice? Telepathic Tracy, the Mystic Madame, is very much still working her mysterious ways despite her departure from our TV screens – notably in The New Aquarian - and what better way to follow a disappointing lotto result than with the reassurance that this week, your luck will be better, or at the very least predictable? I, for one, predict Madame Tracy's triumphant return to television - and what's more, I welcome it. EDWARD BIGGS

Advertisement, bottom left: [Image Description: A grayscale photo of a warzone, with plumes of smoke. A smiling woman walks away from the destruction; she is in full colour and has artificially-enhanced red hair. Text is overlaid, as transcribed below. End ID.] When the news breaks, my hair doesn’t. Carmine Zugiber. Be bold. Be strong. Be Vibrant. [Image Description: The word Vibrant appears in red and is in a different font, like a logo. This is the case each time it appears. End ID.] Vibrant Flame Red Bottom right: Correction In Andy Sandalphon's column on page 15 of last Saturday's paper (23rd January), he stated that folk music made by an American is Country music. Several readers got in touch to explain that this is not, in fact, the case, and we would like to set the record straight. Country, or country and western, music is a very specific type of folk music, and while often associated with American artists, it is not simply the American version of folk. Furthermore, music must fit specific criteria to be considered country, and Anathema's does not. While country music belongs to the overarching genre of folk, not all folk music is country music, regardless of the nationality of the performer. We apologise sincerely for the mistake; while every effort is made to include only accurate information, errors do occasionally slip through. We regret the misunderstanding, and hope to do better in future. If you notice an error in any of our articles, please let us know as soon as possible by emailing editor@capitalherald.co.uk. We appreciate your help to keep our newspaper as accurate and factual as possible.

[End Transcript]

[lxme-xss-imxgines]

Entwined

Prompt: A long time ago, long before modern civilization, there were eight souls bound together. Seven of these eight were born immortal, and they passed along their gift to their loved one. Not long after she was hunted by both mortal and immortal for being a living atrocity. Her current body perished, and they could only hope to one day meet her reincarnation.

Pairing: OT7 x reader 

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: Death, swearing, cliche’s 

Intro 1 2 3

A/n: ugh even though there is some plot in this, not much happens. Still mostly a filler for clearing up some confusion. and its not as long as id like. Please leave me constructive criticism if you can:))))) let me know if yall would like to see more!!! 

taglist: @thefirewasfriendly @rosita7703 @herosvillians87 @part-time-patronus

________

The initial shock of the flood of memories entering Y/n’s brain has worn off, and her feelings have muted slightly. She sighs as she looks at herself in the bathroom mirror, feelings all her old emotions fighting with her not-existent ones. 

Heat rushes to her cheeks, tinging them pink as she suddenly feels embarrassed with how forward she was with them earlier. Yes, she may have known them for many a lifetime, but she has known them none in this one. Despite all her resurfaced memories, it does nothing to make her feel completely comfortable and at ease. 

Do they expect her to keep acting as she did when she first woke? She shook her head, they couldn’t expect that much of her. Right? 

A sudden knock snaps her out of her thoughts, her head turning to face the door. 

“Are you okay, princess? You been in there for a minute,” Hoseok’s bright voice projects through the door. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, Hobi! I’ll be out in a minute,” seeming satisfied with your answer, you hear his feet pad away from the doorway along with a small ‘okay’. 

 A question still not quite answered loops through her mind. Why were those men so adamant on finding them? I know that they’re a gang, but my understanding according to my memories is that currently there was peace among the mafia families at the moment . . . maybe not anymore?

When Y/n appears in front of the boys again, she already feels apprehensive just taking in their loving gazes. She knows she came on too strong when she woke up from her memory flood, but she didn’t mean to. I hope they can underst-

“Are you feeling alright, y/n?” the question rolls off Yoongi’s tongue, and for some reason earns a glare from Namjoon. 

“Yoongi. Quit reading her emotions,” he snaps.

“I’m not doing it on purpose, Joon. She’s projecting them. She wants us to know what she’s feeling . . . “ Yoongi and Y/n share a glance, and she nods in order to give him unspoken approval to announce her current state of feelings. “Y/n is nervous. She doesn’t want us to think that everything has suddenly gone back to normal because of the way she showed us affection for a short time after she awoke from her memory flood. Am I correct?”

Y/n giggles,”I remembered that you’re an empath . . . but I wasn’t aware of how much you have honed in your emotional readings in order to determine the circumstances of a situation,” the room goes silent for a moment, Y/n’s speech jarring them slightly. “Ah, I spoke as if I was out of a Dickinson novel again, didn’t I? Ah, it happened again!” 

“It’s alright, silly girl. It makes us feel at home,” Hoseok beams. 

Her eyebrows furrow,”You all have powers, hm? You all are the children of vampires . . . and witches. Blessing you all with powers most vampires lack. There’s something else . . . I can’t quite put my finger on.”

“Quit working your brain so hard, love. You’ll remember when you remember,” Jimin smiles. 

“Well, why can’t you just tell me? I mean, you know exactly what I’m trying to get at. At least Namjoon does,” her head tilts toward him. “He can see inside my mind. So why the hesitance to inform me?” 

“Because you never believe us until you actually go through it,” Tae states and rolls his eyes. Why does he have an attitude all of the sudden? Did I do something?

“Tae. You’re making her worry. Drop your act, will you?” Yoongi sneers. “We’re all impatient. No reason to take it out on her.”

He shrinks back,”Sorry, love.” 

“It’s okay. I just would prefer knowing because it does in fact have something to do with me, personally . . . like a puzzle piece. Like once I know this one fact, maybe along with some smaller details, everything will click into place.” Y/n shakes her head. “Nevermind that. Lingering on it won’t do. So, Namjoon is a telepath with stronger bias toward reading minds, unlike Hobi, who can blanket someone’s vision and make them see whatever he wants . . . “ 

They just nod, urging you to continue. They all know that exercises like this helps you to retain your memories. 

“Yoongs is an empath, which is why he puts on such a cold front . . . but he always lets me go to him when I’m sad so he can take the burden off of me,” Yoongi’s cheeks warm up, and he ignores looks from the boys. “Jinnie, you’re our healer, a very good one at that. Jiminie . . . you can kill someone with a single touch, if you wanted to. I know you prefer not to use it though, it makes you feel icky.”

Jimin nods in agreement, thinking of the grim feeling that fills him when his touch drags the soul out of a living person’s body. 

“Tae-tae, you bring pain or numbness to any being at will. And Kookie . . . oh. You still haven’t developed yours. However, I am optimistic that you will in this lifetime,” Y/n says with a small smile. 

She then inhales deeply, then lets out a long breath. 

“Sit down, will you, love?” Yoongi mumbles. “I can feel your weariness.” 

Y/n nods, sitting down between Yoongi and Jimin. She feels an instant feeling of calm wash over her, and she silently thanks the man to her left. 

“You guys have something important going on with the other mafia families, right?” y/n tilts her head, and the boys look at her in confusion. 

“Why are you concerning yourself with mafia business?” Tae states bluntly, leaving Y/n taken aback, but she quickly regains composure. 

“Ta-” Namjoon tries to interject, but her mouth has already begun to move. 

“Oh, maybe because whatever you boys have gotten yourselves into this time has lead to a rather angry, gun waving vampire to clamp his teeth onto my neck, leading to severe blood loss and probably a perpetual fear of stepping into the very club that you own again.” 

Silence falls once again, along with Y/n’s composure. I didn’t really mean to come off so harsh, but Taehyung needs a reality check for whatever reason. So I gave him one. 

Don’t feel bad, baby girl. He deserved it, Namjoon’s voice quiet in the back of your head. 

To everyone’s surprise, an apology spills out of Taehyung’s mouth,”I’m sorry. This happens every time. It’s hard for me to adjust to your presence when you return . . . like my mind can’t accept the fact that you’re back. Like it’s scared to.” 

“I get it, Tae. But if I recall correctly, I had a heavy hand in our mafia business in my previous life. I think we’re all very aware of my capabilities when it comes to handling our current problems.” 

“Y/n. You may be you, but you’re not ready to dive back in as heavy as you were in before,” Jin hesitates to elaborate, as it’s a very painful memory for them. “Especially when . . . “

“Yes, I know. It led to my death. I remember it like it was yesterday, when vampire hunters were first starting to emerge. If only we had known,” she releases a deep sigh. She almost regrets bringing it up. Y/n knows well that all of them blame every single one of her deaths on themselves. “None of my deaths were ever any of your faults. You guys know that, right?” 

“We always have this argument, so let me shorten it. None of us will every stop blaming ourselves for letting you die,” Jungkook speaks for the first time in awhile,”So don’t try and convince us of anything else. Won’t work.” 

Y/n scrunches her nose,”Maybe your power is stubborness.” 

Jungkook makes a face at her and she giggles, causing a domino effect of laughter to fill the room. 

_____________

“So this cult of vampires believes that if they consume any of your blood, that they will suddenly be able to gain supernatural powers because of the witch DNA all of you contain?” Y/n clarifies. Everyone nods. “I mean, I guess I can see why they would think that. But I doubt they have any scientific backing to it. You drink vampire blood and then die, you come back as a vampire. But they have no idea whether or not the witch DNA is even contained in the blood that you have in your bodies. It truly sounds like a conspiracy.” 

“The logic doesn’t matter to them. If there’s even a chance that they could become as powerful as Vampire-Witch hybrids, they will take the chance. Or die trying,” Tae snorts at Namjoon’s sentence. 

“And die they will,” he elaborates. “But we need to be careful. If they find out -” Jungkook suddenly smacks him in the arm, cutting off whatever he was going to reveal. 

Y/n tenses. 

“Well, it’s too late now. You guys know she doesn’t like secrets,” Yoongi says from beside her. 

“Sorry, Yoongi. I know it must be frustrating to feel my emotions all the time. I know I project them, I don’t mean to,” she sends a small smile. 

He just chuckles,”I like feeling your emotions, even the bad ones. It makes me feel close to you.” 

Y/n shakes her head,”Alright. What are you guys not telling me?” 

“Nothing you don’t already know, princess,” Taehyung responds. “It has to do with when you turn.” 

She tries to remember for a moment, she really does. But it’s like there a roadblock. And they all know what will remove it, but it’s too soon. Much too soon. 

[samlicker81]

Lucky | Part 3

Sam X Reader

Summary: You’re unlucky in love when you find a lost wallet outside a bar and are smitten with the photo on the ID inside.  Could your luck have turned, or have you found yourself in the middle of something unfortunate?

Warnings: Canon-level violence, cursing

Word Count: 2K

Series Masterlist

You’re over being sad. Now you’re just angry. You’re overwhelmed with the feeling as you tug on the handle of your car door. It’s three in the morning, eight hours into your 12-hour shift, but your supervisor happened to be a nice one today and let you go early.

It’s unfortunately fairly common for Brandon, one of the RNs, to casually harass you at work. But after the events of last night and the ongoing self-pity party you’ve been throwing lately in honor of your love life, it was just one suggestive joke too many for you.

You turn on the first loud rock playlist Spotify has to offer, without scrutiny, before pulling out of the hospital parking lot. You do your utmost to allow the first deafening song to drown out your thoughts, but your mind flashes regardless. Mister grab-ass at the bar; Brandon, who you’re sure can see the line but continues to cross it, catcalls, lingering eyes, and Greg. Beautiful Greg.

His transgressions hurt the worst. Not just because of how glaringly horrible his actions had been, but because you actually liked him. Everything was clicking the day in the library. You had even started believing that you were meant to find that wallet. Like you actually had gotten lucky. And during the show you had inadvertently given him, it was his hands on your body that you’d pictured. Your stomach turns at the thought and you click the volume up a few notches.

By the time you pull up in front of your apartment, your anger has pretty much spent. You’re feeling the exhaustion from the late hour, your eight hours of work, and the adrenaline crash your rage has left behind. You slump up the steps and deposit your keys on the counter inside your dark apartment. You don’t bother with the lights as you shuffle down the narrow hallway to your bedroom. You fling yourself onto your bed, kicking off your ugly, practical shoes. Your ears still ring a little from your car radio, but your head feels clear enough as you close your eyes to sleep.

A thud against your door jerks you violently from a deep sleep. A few slightly quieter thuds follow rapidly as you untwist yourself from your comforter. A peek at your watch tells you that you haven’t even slept an hour as you race to your door. Flipping on the lights, you swing the door open and the figure on the other side practically falls against you.

The first thing you notice is the blood. A lot of blood. The petite woman before you is panting and shaking and gripping at the front of your scrubs with her blood stained hands. You can’t make out where it’s all coming from. You’re still frozen in shock as she looks up at you with dark, panicked eyes. Strands of her black, chin length hair are plastered to her face with blood.

“Oh, you’re a nurse. Thank god. Please help me.” She pants out hoarsely. Your instincts take over. You take her elbows and her fingers loosen on your shirt front. Guiding her by her elbows you lead her to a dining chair on the other side of the counter. Once she’s settled, you quickly run back and turn the deadbolt. You hope with every fiber of your being that whoever did this to her is not close behind. For extra precaution you flip all the lights off before hurrying back to the girl. She had begun sobbing loudly into her hands.

“Shhh, we have to be quiet. Take some deep breaths,” whispering, you kneel in front of her and put one gentle hand on her denim clad knee. She keeps her face buried, but she works to stifle her cries.

“I need to go grab some first aid supplies, okay? I’ll be right back.” She nods shakily. “Put pressure on your wound if you can,” you add before leaving her and rushing down the hall to your bathroom. You grab the organized bag from your linen cabinet and a few towels. You sweep by your bed as well and grab your phone off your nightstand to call 911. As you swing around the corner again, you stop, staring at your secondhand dining set.

It’s empty.

You don’t get a chance to form your next thought before the world goes dark.

-

Your head throbs and you wish you would just fall back asleep. But as the pain in your skull begins to pull you slowly from the deep, some other realizations bring your consciousness into focus with a speed that makes your head reel.

First is the cloth trapped between your teeth. The gag is tight, pressing into your tongue, making it nearly impossible to swallow. Second is the similarly tight binds around your hands, which are fastened behind you around some kind of pole that presses between your shoulder blades. There are several loops around your waist as well that hold you tightly to it. It feels cold and metal on your spine. Then you feel the coolness of the floor through the thin cotton of your scrub pants. A smooth concrete, you decide, sliding your socked feet against it. Next, you feel the tickle on the back of your neck where blood continues to trickle from the pulsing point in the back of your head. And lastly, you realize that it’s not that your eyes haven’t adjusted, it really is pitch black around you.

Your heartrate speeds as panic rises in your chest, causing your head to pound even harder. You groan, fighting nausea.

“She’s awake.” You can’t pinpoint how near the whisper is with the darkness and the dizziness.

“Shhh, it doesn’t matter,” a male whisper replies. Two voices. The sound of the first voice stirs your memory with a sharpness. The small dark-haired woman covered in blood flashes in your head. She’s here too, and alive. You attempt to stretch your fingers against your bindings. No wonder she was so afraid. Whoever has you both is more than just some angry, heavy handed boyfriend. “Quit staring at me like that, I won’t change my mind,” the man’s voice snaps. Where are they? You can’t see light coming from anywhere. They sound close.

“Come on, I couldn’t wipe off the smell of all that blood and it’s killing me. I don’t see the big deal.” It’s her again. She isn’t gagged? Her casual tone doesn’t make any sense. Neither do the words she’s whispering. You hear shuffling and then the wet sound of lips meeting. She giggles, “Come on, Mark. Together.” You barely hear her whisper.

The confusion doesn’t stop the ice-cold fear from flooding your veins. Whatever the details, you’re alone, not a co-abductee. They kiss again and Mark groans, but it sounds more in pleasure than protest. There’s shuffling again. Then footfalls growing nearer. You can hear your own heart drumming in your ears. The blindness is terrifying.

“Please. Don’t hurt me,” are the words you try to choke out, but the cloth pressing against your tongue makes it incomprehensible. You curl your knees into your chest. Her laugh is cold.

“I love it when their hearts sound like that.”

You gasp through your nose when there’s suddenly shuffling behind you and your hands fall free. Your waist is still secured tightly to the pole, but what feel like the man’s hands lifts your right arm up. His grip is strong. You wouldn’t have been able to pull away even if you’d had time to before you feel a sharp pain across the inside of your wrist. By the time you cry out in pain, he’s already pressing over the fresh wound.

It’s his mouth. He’s sucking at it.

Your wrist burns, but the rest of you is frozen in fear. They’re crazy people. Some kind of fucked up cultists or something.

He’s only latched to you for a few seconds before he pulls away, panting.

“Careful, her heart is pumping it fast.” He grunts as the girl’s smaller hands take over. Her mouth fastens on quickly.

You realize your other hand is lying beside you limply, free. She’s small. You could maybe detach her from your arm. The pull of her mouth at your wrist is stronger than Mark’s and your dizziness is growing. You don’t want to die without fighting.

The fingers of your left hand on the floor just barely twitch to close into a fist when his boot slams down. You swear you can hear your fingers crunch against the concrete as your muffled scream pierces the darkness. The pain sets your heart racing with a new fervor and the faintness sets in quickly.

“Clara, you’re draining her.” His voice sounds far away. Your arm falls heavily on the floor before you lose consciousness again.

-

You can’t tell how much time is passing as you drift through varying depths of consciousness. It could be minutes or days. You don’t fight going under; it’s a much preferable alternative to fear and pain. The reprieves are shortening though, your body maintaining enough strength to keep you awake, even though you wish it wouldn’t.

To avoid contemplating your imminent death, you focus in around yourself again. It’s still pitch black, but a faint conversation can be heard somewhere in the darkness. You can’t make out words, but you decide you can hear somewhere between five and seven distinct voices, including Mark and Clara.

The voices abruptly stop and then one of them hisses like a cat.

“I told you they would come.” The male voice doesn’t bother whispering. A flurry of activity begins around you, footsteps moving in all directions. A pair move closer to you.

“It’s showtime,” Mark growls, cutting the new ties binding your forearms, along with the ties at your waist. He hoists you over a shoulder in one quick motion. You see stars. Keeping nausea down takes all your focus as his quick footsteps jostle you around. Your eyes are finally taking in small amounts of light, but you’re moving too quickly to see anything.

Mark stops suddenly. Your eyes focus.

He’s stopped in front of an empty doorway. You turn your aching head. There are several figures standing beyond it, crouching in defensive positions. The moon is bright to your light starved eyes. How is it still night?

He snaps his head down the corridor that he’d been running down and then back to the action in front of you.  

“Fuck it,” he spits, dropping you in a heap to the floor. You grunt loudly when your chin hits the concrete, not quite able to catch yourself with your unbroken hand. “Move and I kill you,” Mark whispers, crouched down and staring out the doorway. The darkness around you still shadows the details of his appearance, but you can tell he’s at least twice your size.

You follow his gaze.

From this position, a box truck blocks most of your view, but you can see feet in a strip between the wheels. There are six pairs all pointed to the left, and two pointed back at them.

“You have nothing to offer. She isn’t a bargaining chip, she’s bait. And then she’s the victory meal after I kill you,” a man shouts, and several other voices hiss and snigger. He can’t be talking about you, right? Who would you be bait for? You can’t think for long as the word “meal” settles in.

“I like my chances,” chuckles the owner of one of the two pairs of boots to the left.

Two figures from the right side rush forward immediately, another two on their heels. Mark stiffens beside you. There’s a mixture of grunting, hissing, and blades slashing. Something thuds on the ground and rolls. You squint and see two eyes, frozen wide, staring back at you. Blood pools around the stump of the neck, soaking long blonde strands of hair. You snap your face away from the disembodied head, your stomach heaving dryly. Mark doesn’t notice your movement. He’s on his feet as the battle continues raging.

“Clara!” he yells desperately. Then he’s running away from you.

You’re alone.

You push yourself up to your feet as fast as your damaged body will let you. You shuffle over to the back corner of the truck and peer around it. Just on the other side of the gory scene before you is a junkyard of cars, and beyond that, woods running alongside a road.

You set your sights on the nearest car and run.

[jiilys]

ooooooohh i hope "my sort of thing" is less than 500 words too bc its brilliant

i think its way more than 500 words but!! math is nothing!!! thank u for asking me abt this!!

heres the fic btw its them on social media and i took the title from ernest hemingway bc u know what? bitch deserves it 

Remus Lupin to Sirius Black: turn down gasolina

tribute 2 bonnie’s best thought as is required by law

Lily Evans to Sirius Black: tell potter to stop trying to engage me with fruit based wordplay

Sirius Black: he’ll be gutted

Sirius Black: also how did u get this number

Lily Evans: its written in the girls bathroom with TWAT over it

Sirius Black: and u assumed it was me

Lily Evans: well potter doesnt have an 021 number

okay so two things: when i was first was writing this there was a bit above it where james was in the group chat and said smth like ‘christ just saw lil and asked if she was peachy keen’ and then peter said something and it like wasnt??great?? and i sent it to el and she was like ‘cut it its funnier without the context’ anf she was right as always 

also in the tags someone was like ‘021 number spot the new zealander’ and i have never Felt So Known

lily rear ending james orginally was like More Of A Thing but it turns out its funnier if there are 0 details like i like to imagine she full on hits him while trying to park sits in her car for a full ten minutes trying to decide whether to drive off before leaving a note on his car bc u know....... she gotta

Sirius Black to James Potter: im in the assembly hall replacing all the trophies with vodka bottles

James Potter: no ur not

James Potter: cause im in the assembly hall replacing the curtains with glad wrap

Sirius Black: nah im in dumstrams assembly hall

James Potter: we dont go to dumstram

the image of james like.... looking around the completely empty assembly hall.... confused.. next to a garbage bag of vodka bottles...... Priceless 

i was SO WORRIED everyone would think this was a typo but like full offence... they 1000% called that school dumbstrum and then it just got shortened to dumstram over the years and now like no one can remember what the real name is 

James Potter to can giraffes get ripped: if evans asks I dont know who coldplay is

Sirius Black to Lily Evans: potter loves coldplay and went to their concert in 2011

Peter Pettigrew to Lily Evans: james’ favourite coldplay song is charlie brown

Remus Lupin to Lily Evans: if u play ‘fix you’ once james has had one (1) beer he will tear up and pretend its hay fever  

James Potter to can giraffes get ripped: no one here has any fucking loyalty

this is another bonnie tribute cause orginially i had his favourite as like waterfalls or smth?? and bonnie was like. no. make it charlie brown. and i was like. as u wish bc everything, really, is about the princess bride 

Peter Pettigrew to it should be pengu not pingu: sirius u ate all the humus and now mums pissed

Sirius Black: did u tell liz it was me

Sirius Black: say it was lupin

Remus Lupin: do not

group chat name is an andy reference love u dream girl 

also ‘do not’ is Peak Remus like he rlly would be that bitch and sirius rlly is, at heart, a basic fucking white chick so ofc hes all over hummus 

Unknown: so long dickweed im going underground

James Potter: does this mean ur missing bake off

Unknown: no obvsly ill go after bake off im not an animal

would this reference be outdated now whats happening in britain would i now have to talk about love island in new zealand the go to is always like shortland street bc its so stupid that its always in the news so you dont have to watch it to keep up 

Sirius Black to Lily Evans: u want me and james 2 punch avery 4 the calling u poor thing

Lily Evans: no

Lily Evans: do not do that

Sirius Black: wish youd sent this earlier

he fully sent this like right after doing it what a shit 

hes the best 

Sirius Black to Remus Lupin: u look awful did u sleep last night

Sirius Black: go home

Remus Lupin: i cant miss bio

Sirius Black: ill go for u

Remus Lupin: u dont take bio

Sirius Black: irrelevant

this is peak sirius being like Chaotic Good 4 only the ppl he gives a shit abt 

Remus Lupin to Peter Pettigrew: tell sirius his bag is open

Peter Pettigrew: why don’t u tell him

Remus Lupin: im not speaking to him bc he said james glasses’ made me look like a wombat

this is my favourite bit and like no one else ever comments on it but like..... hes so hurt theyre not even speaking............. petty doesnt even cover it 

Sirius Black: it would be THE HONOUR OF YOUR LIFE to get blown by me u fucking heathen

this is everyones favourite bit and i think thats cool im going 2 try and get ‘heathen’ back in the vernacular 

Lily Evans to James Potter: sirius just said i look pretty and didnt ask to borrow gas money after

sirius black yet again being the king of Chaotic Good. also this: 

James Potter: if i said u looked pretty every time you did id never say anything else

hes so gone 4 her its embarassing 

Sirius Black to Lily Evans: heard ur dying

Sirius Black: can i have ur nice waterbottle

i have been funny exactly 4 times and that bit above is like at least two of them 

The Fish Joke was so weird when i first thought of it but i needed a james/peter bit and i was like u know what........ Its Happening Lads

Remus Lupin: this isnt about you do you know what lily said to peter abt james

Remus Lupin: peter was bein all dramatic and said ‘hes dying’

Remus Lupin: and lily said ‘dont be ridiculous he would never do that to me’

Sirius Black: when are they going to fuck

Remus Lupin: yeah i thought it was rather romantic myself

tbh shouldve saved this line for a like live action fic cause i dont think it works as well over text 

Lily Evans to James Potter: at the risk of sounding like a tit im rlly tired of not kissing you

Lily Evans: as in i would really very much like to kiss you now and often

Lily Evans: its so late and i like you so much

Lily Evans: you always know how to make me laugh

like that stuff?? those are the kind of lines that only work over text bc a normal human person would never say all that at once in person but over text there is this whole gulf between you and that person so its just lily in her room saying all the stupid romantic shit bc she knows hes the real deal 

anyway thanks for this!!! this fic isnt actually too bad so!! looking over it again was fun im sorry i took so long 2 answer i hope this!! was what u wanted!

[graffjamie]

Strategies for crafting and making the best possible offer to buy/purchase rea estate Making the best offer Crafting Offers that stand out https://JGraff.AdvisorsMortgage.com    732.500.6883 SIMPLIFY and make listing agents work easier and more straight forward and clear. Get the app through DU and CLEAR all the conditions – and then show that! Strategies: 1 - Call The Listing Agent Before Submitting Your Offer (leave a message and send a video message…follow up) What’s important to the seller?? 2 - Always include an offer checklist (please see below) 3 - Deliver Your Offer To The Listing Agent In Person 4 – AND/OR Present Your Offer With Video - Effectively articulating highlights (may be MORE effective than in person) 5 - Larger EMD Earnest Money Deposit (Shows seriousness/financial ability) 6 – Buyer’s Personalized Letter To The Seller ??? Explain in great detail WHY the buyer loves the home – Stay away from ethnicity, kids, etc. STICK to property! Edify the property – a classic! Always, always edify the property! 7 - Offer Free Occupancy (A week or two or a few – no rent – lowers anxiety!...) 8 - Write An Escalation Clause into your offer (state your buyer will pay x amount of dollars above the highest offer! OTHERS may offer this too…???) 9 - Bring Your Inspector To The Showing (Works well…1hr to 1.5hr…average home inspection is about 2hrs…can do enough to put buyer at ease to WAIVE THE INSPECTION CONTINGENCY – WIN/WIN More appealing offer AND buyer is more comfortable!) CAREFUL/CAUTION!! 10 - Have your lender call listing agent to present the buyers approval (Can’t show details: credit scores, income, etc. Can share aspects of approval…W2ed or self employed?? VERIFY down payment, type of loan, ID potential “hiccups” UP front…Lender needs to be proactive! To give listing agent confidence! ALWAYS BETTER ON VIDEO, right? ZOOM and an email 11 - Have Your lender submit for a PIW - GUARANTEES top of list -PROPERTY INSPECTION WAIVER – We are getting high percentage on current purchases through our companies UW (underwriting) system Offer checklist: Offer items: (then list each in detail!) Personal Property Price Type of Financing EMD Amount Closing Date Possession Home Warranty Time Limit Property Inspection Other Terms & Conditions FSBO are selling themselves, inventory at an all time low VA FHA fallacies, myths, misconceptions... Some lender’s won’t share DU/LP…!!! Shorten your contingencies Investigation contingencies Get basic inspections done in 5-10 days And receive and review seller disclosures The sooner you remove the better Same for appraisal and loan contingencies Pick the best lender!! Quicker the better: appraisal ordered in one day! Loan approval 10 days or 21 days?? “Buyer agrees to pay up to $20,000 over the APPRAISED value – not to exceed the purchase price if the appraisal comes in low” make this crystal clear – in person AND in video (ZOOM emailed and corroborated with call and text) Minimum property requirements VA FHA few hundred bucks (missing CO2s) clause: Appraisal clause: “Buyer shall pay up to $x,xxx appraisal required repairs if necessary” 90% not going to have any EXCALATION CLAUSE (now in use/common!): “Buyer hereby agrees to pay $x,xxx above highest offer received by seller UP TO $xxx,xxx . Seller shall provide proof of this offer” "Lunch and Learn "Offers that Standout" by Advisors in Holmdel Hi, I am having a lunch and learn  at our new Holmdel office. 39 Main Street Holmdel The topic will be .How to make your clients stand out in a multi offer situation. We will be discussing: 1- Du/LP findings. How to read them, How to use them, how to explain to the other agent how important this is. 2- Pre approval vs pre qual. Many differences 3- Inspection waivers pros/cons 4- Waiving appraisals 5- Large down payments vs small down payment or cash 6- Removing sale contingencys 7- Why FHA is looked down on vs a conventional? 8- Open questions and answers. Lunch will be served. Looking forward to seeing you and hearing all of your ideas..."

[momscookingthebooks]

Release Blitz ~ Book Review ~ Giveaway ~ Exclusive Excerpt

Today we have the release day blitz of Kavanagh Christmas by Sarah Robinson! Check out the release day festivities and grab your copy today!!

Book Review

Title:  Kavanagh Christmas

Series: Kavanagh Legends #5

Author: Sarah Robinson

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publication Date:  November 7, 2017

Cliff Hanger: No

Add to your Goodreads TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/…/show/33810417-kavanagh-christmas

4 Stars

*This story is for mature audiences only. Contains explicit scenes and language intended for adults 18+

Synopsis:

The heartfelt holiday conclusion to the Kavanagh Legends family saga revisits all the couples that readers have fallen in love with throughout the series. An angsty and loving Christmas novella, it’s the perfect goodbye to these Irish MMA fighters and a glimpse into what the future holds for them. With the Christmas season fast approaching, the entire Kavanagh family is feeling anything but the holiday spirit. Commitments are questioned, relationships are tense, and bickering is nonstop.  However, when a crisis strikes and the family realizes that they might lose one of their own, they’ll come together to remember the reason for the season is first, and foremost, love and family. With their own heartwarming HEAs, Sarah Robinson’s Kavanagh Legends novels can be read together or separately:

BREAKING A LEGEND #1 SAVING A LEGEND #2 BECOMING A LEGEND #3 CHASING A LEGEND #4 KAVANAGH CHRISTMAS #5 “Fans of Lori Foster’s SBC Fighters series will love the MMA atmosphere of [Sarah] Robinson’s Legends.”—Library Journal “This endearing story showcases Keira and Quinn’s easy banter, familiar warmth, and unquenchable heat.” – Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review, on Chasing a Legend “One of my favorite MMA books to date.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken, on Breaking a Legend “Those Kavanaghs really know how to make a girl swoon.”—New York Times bestselling author Katy Evans “Saving a Legend is a gripping and sexy MMA romance with characters you’ll be rooting for long after you finish reading. Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for one amazing and hot story from Sarah Robinson.”—New York Times bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills, on Saving a Legend “Raw, sexy, and romantic, Becoming a Legend is another perfect, steamy read about the heartwarming Kavanaghs.”—Kate Meader, author of the Hot in Chicago series, on Becoming a Legend 

My Thoughts:

What a wonderful way to wrap up a terrific series! If you haven’t read this series yet, go back and read every wonderful story and then top it off with this very heartfelt novella.

I fell in love with this family more and more as I read each book. This one though, wow! I laughed at all the banter and outrageous things this family says and does, I swooned as the brothers courted their wives, and I cried throughout the book. There are so many touching moments.

I hated to say goodbye to this series, but so happy I found closure for each and every member.

If you haven’t read any of the Kavanagh Legends books, then this isn’t the book for you. You will be lost. So, my recommendation is to read the books in order and savor every beautiful moment with the Kavanagh clan.

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

Get Your Copy Today!

Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2gFrfyj

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075DJMPNX/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B075DJMPNX/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B075DJMPNX/

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1127062099?ean=2940154871638

Ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/kavanagh-christmas/id1279336890?mt=11

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kavanagh-christmas

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Sarah_Robinson_Kavanagh_Christmas?id=iRY0DwAAQBAJ

Other Retailers: https://www.books2read.com/u/bWZ12M

NOTE: This novella also contains a free short story, Rory & Clare, and two excerpts from other Sarah Robinson novels at the end. The holiday novella itself is 35,000 words.

Catch up on the Series Today: http://booksbysarahrobinson.net/my-books/kavanagh-legends/

BREAKING A LEGEND #1 SAVING A LEGEND #2 BECOMING A LEGEND #3 CHASING A LEGEND #4 KAVANAGH CHRISTMAS #5

Sarah Robinson Bio:

Aside from being a Top 10 Barnes & Noble and Amazon Bestseller, Sarah Robinson is a native of the Washington, DC area and has both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in forensic and clinical psychology. She is newly married to a wonderful man who is just as much of an animal rescue enthusiasts as she is. Together, they own a zoo of rescues including everything from mammals to reptiles to marsupials, as well as volunteering and fostering for multiple animal shelters. Subscribe to her newsletter at www.subscribepage.com/sarahrobinsonnewsletter Visit the author's website for more information about Sarah and her books: http://booksbysarahrobinson.net/

Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4cf78adb595/

Exclusive Excerpt: WARNING: May contain spoilers to the first 4 books in the Kavanagh Legends series.

Prologue Three Weeks Before Christmas

Dee Kavanagh

“You’re kidding, right?” Dee turned away from the stove to look at her husband of forty years. “Not in your health.”

Seamus grumbled something under his breath, putting the piece of bacon he’d been about to eat back on the serving plate. “One piece of bacon with breakfast won’t kill me.”

“Pfft. You’re mad.” She shook her head, and turned back to stirring the scrambled eggs she was making for her grandkids. “Plus, save it for the kids. They’ll be down for breakfast in a minute.”

Her oldest son, Rory, was away on a romantic weekend trip with his wife, Clare, leaving their two children, Murphy and Brontë, under the care of Seamus and Dee. Dee was, of course, thrilled. There was nothing she loved more than being a mother, and now a grandmother. She would spend all day every day with her grandkids if she could, and her heart was filled to overflowing to have so many now. 

At the reminder, Dee gazed at the photo go her grandchildren in a homemade popsicle-stick frame on her kitchen countertop that Murphy had made for her. The photo inside was silly and sweet—all five grandchildren making funny faces at the camera. Well, four of the five. Shea was in the back looking stoically at the camera, which wasn’t unusual for the teenager with special needs. Shea was Kieran’s wife, Fiona’s, biological sister, and when their mother passed away, Fiona and Kieran had adopted her. 

Dee didn’t care one bit that they weren’t related by blood. Being loved and part of their family didn’t have a DNA requirement, and that was something she’d raised all her boys to know. 

Next to Shea in the photo was Rory and Clare’s two children, Murphy and Brontë. Murphy was crossing his eyes and Brontë was sticking her tongue out, laughing. Gavin was on the floor in front of them, his little arm around Ava’s shoulder as they both made faces at the camera. Gavin was Kieran and Fiona’s son, and the youngest of the entire group. Ava was Jimmy’s girlfriend Sophie’s daughter from a previous relationship, and had been embraced by the family when Sophie and Jimmy began dating.  

“Have you checked your sugar yet?” Dee asked, plating the scrambled eggs and adding a serving spoon before placing it on the kitchen table next to the bacon and biscuits. 

“Not yet.” Seamus pulled a blood glucose monitor out of a kitchen drawer and began swabbing his finger with an alcohol wipe. He barely looked up at her, his answers always as succinct as possible. He’d always been brusque, but this was different.

His recent diagnosis of diabetes had thrown them a major curveball, and completely changed their lives. It was a struggle, however, because the man loved his carbs and sugar. Changing sixty years of unhealthy eating habits had caused a lot of friction between them. 

Wiping her hands off on a towel, Dee approached her husband’s side and watched as he pricked his finger and dabbed a drop of blood onto a testing strip. 

“See? Healthy as all hell.” He turned the monitor towards her when it displayed his results, which thankfully were in a great range. “You worry too much.”

“I know. I can’t help it.” Dee sighed, and glanced toward the hallway to make sure the kids weren’t about to walk in. Returning her gaze to her husband, she placed a hand on his upper arm. “Seamus?”

He grunted. Forty years and he couldn’t even respond with a word?

“Next month is our anniversary.” She blinked quickly, taming the tears that wanted to flow. “I was thinking maybe we book ourselves a trip. Or a cruise. Get away and celebrate.”

He shrugged and then began putting away his supplies. “Fine.”

That’s it. “Damn it, Seamus!”

“What?” He turned bewildered eyes to her. “What’s wrong?”

“You, that’s what. You’re being a fecking asshole. I know that I’m being strict with this new diet, but the doctor said you’d die. You were nearly in a coma, Seamus. Your sugar was hundreds above where it should have been. Do you know what that was like for me?” Her voice was cracking, full of emotion as anger and heartbreak surged through her heavily Irish accented words. “I’ve spent more of my life as your wife than I ever was anything else. Losing you…shite. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t wake up every morning and not have you next to me. I—”

“Dee…” Seamus reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her to his chest and wrapping her in a hug. “Feck. I’m sorry. You know I don’t mean it. I’m a grumpy old bastard.”

“Such a bastard,” she mumbled into his shirt, sniffling, twisting her fingers in the fabric. 

He chuckled, kissing the top of her head. “I know you’re just trying to keep me healthy. I’m trying, too. It’s hard, but I’m trying. I’d never do anything to shorten my time with you on this earth.”

Dee felt her heart soften again, the tension of their recent fiction sliding away. After almost forty years together, fighting was nothing new for them. In fact, it was one of the things they did best. He was an asshole, and she had known that the day they met, but he was also a wonderful husband and an even better father and grandfather. 

“I love you, Dee.” He kissed her softly, and she felt the same flutter in her heart that he’d made her feel since the first time they’d laid eyes on one another. His voice deepened, developed a huskier lilt. “Maybe once the kids leave, I can show you how much.”

“Sweet talker,” she teased, whacking his arm before turning back to the table. 

“Grandad!” Murphy came skipping into kitchen and tossed himself at his grandfather. 

Seamus caught him just in time and swung him high above his head as the young boy’s laughter filled the air while he soared in the safety of his grandfather’s arms. “Hey, Murph! Did you sleep all right?”

“Eh.” Murphy shrugged and wiggled his way back down to the floor, turning his affections to Dee this time. “It’s okay. Hi, Nanna!” He squeezed her waist in a hug, his little head pressing into her stomach. 

Dee picked him up and covered his cheeks with kisses. “Is my grandbaby hungry? Breakfast is ready!”

“Yes! Hey, Nanna, guess how old I’m going to be next week?” Murphy held up both hands, one with all his fingers up, and the other with only one. “Guess!”

“Hmmm.” She placed a finger on her chin. “I think twenty-seven, right?”

“No!” His laughter peeled out of him, warming her heart. “Guess again!”

“Thirteen?”

“Nope!” Murphy sat at the kitchen table, kicking his feet back and forth underneath him.

His little sister, Brontë, toddled into the kitchen, still holding her favorite blanket, her thumb shoved in her mouth. 

“Hey, baby girl, do you know how old your brother will be next week?” Dee scooped up the young girl and kissed her. 

“Six!” She burst out, her wet thumb popping from her mouth.

“Is that right? Six? I can’t believe it!” Dee feigned as Murphy vigorously nodded his head in agreement. 

Dee sat Brontë in a booster seat at the table and filled both of their plates with eggs and bacon. A mournful expression crept over Seamus’ face as he stared at his bowl of oatmeal and pushed around the apple slices on top with his spoon. 

Murphy held up both hands, six fingers raised. “Six, Nanna! Mama says I’m getting too big. She cries when I say that.” 

Dee chuckled. “Well, mamas wish their kids stayed kids forever. We get sad thinking about them growing up.”

“Are your kids growed up?” Murphy asked, spooning a large bite of scrambled eggs into his mouth. 

“My first kid is your daddy, baby,” Dee reminded him, sitting at the table between her grandkids. 

“Oh, right.” Murphy looked deep in thought as he considered what she’d said. “That’s weird.”

Seamus laughed at that one then ruffled Brontë’s hair. She beamed at him, and offered him a piece of bacon which he only pretended to eat with loud, chomping noises that made her giggle. Dee loved watching Seamus with their grandkids—the love between them was so beautiful. 

“Did Daddy look like me when he was your kid?” Murphy continued his line of questioning. Actually, his questions never stopped. The boy was a sponge, asking everyone a million questions all day long. She didn’t mind one bit, though. 

“His hair was a bit darker, and he was shorter. A little stockier. You’ve got your mother’s height and slim frame. Very lucky, because your mother is beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful, too, Nanna.”

“Thanks, Murph.” She smiled. Kids were a goddamn blessing. “Do you like the eggs? You’ve only eaten one bite.”

He pushed some more around on his plate. “I think I’m not very hungry.”

“You said you were.”

The little boy sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. “I know. I changed my mind.”

Dee frowned, but squeezed his shoulder. “Are you feeling all right?”

He nodded. “Can I be excused? Grandad said I could play Xbox today!”

Seamus grinned, ignoring the look she shot him. 

“Okay, but only for an hour. After that, no more electronics this weekend.”

“Whyyyy?” Murphy began to whine. “Just a little bit!”

“Hey, no whining,” Dee reminded him. “Santa’s coming in three weeks. We’ve got to be good to be on the nice list and get lots of presents.”

That reminder perked him right up. “I’m going to be the nicest boy on the whole list!”

“Good job!” she cheered, making a mental note to finish her Christmas shopping soon.

Murphy was already up and out of his seat, heading for the living room. They’d already made sure Rory set the games up before he left, so that the parental controls were on. For the life of her, Dee couldn’t figure out how to work the blasted machine herself. 

Brontë smiled, her mouth full of food. “Nanna, can I have his bacon?”

“That’s my girl.” Seamus laughed, giving Brontë a thumbs-up. “My genes are strong.”

Dee rolled her eyes at her husband. “You can have one more piece, baby girl. Seamus, should I text Clare and tell her Murph isn’t eating?”

“Nah,” he replied. “I’m sure he’s fine. Let them have their romantic weekend in peace.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. 

He lifted one brow, eyeing her. “You’re going to text her anyway, aren’t you?”

“Well, she’s a mom. She’ll want to know.” Dee was already pulling out her phone and scrolling to Clare’s name. “I’m sure she won’t mind.”

Seamus chuckled. “I love you, Dee.”

“Love you, too, baby.”

“I love you, both!” Brontë added herself to the conversation.

Dee smiled over her phone at the little girl, her heart overflowing.

[derekblair78]

Research Part 2 Film Processing & Paper Types

Film Processing

There aren’t many chemicals that are used to develop a roll of film. In Black & White film development, you really only need to get familiar with the developer, the fixer, and the stop bath.

So once you have shot a roll of film it needs to be processed to create the negatives and at this point your film is still light sensitive so should not be exposed to light.  When you are at this stage then you have two options were you either take your negatives to a film processing lab and pay to have them developed or you process the film yourself. If you chose the latter option of processing your own film it can be highly satisfying and cost effective and its also easy to learn. The most common method for hand processing film is undertaken by using a Daylight Processing Tank. This piece of kit needs the film to be loaded on to a ‘spiral’ or ‘reel’, in either a dark light proof room or in a changing bag or tent, and then enclosed in a light tight container or developing tank, ready for the addition of the processing chemicals. The most difficult part of using a tank is loading the film onto the spiral as this must be done in complete darkness. However, with a bit of practice, it becomes quite easy to do.

Developing 35mm Film in daylight processing tanks

Things you will need:

A 35mm film tank with film correctly loaded.

300ml (per roll of film) of Ilford ID11 developer at 1+1 dilution (150ml of developer and 150mm of water) and stock dilution for Ilford Delta 3200 (300ml).

300ml of Ilford Stop Bath (per roll of film).

300ml of Ilford fixer (per roll of film).

Photo Flo wetting agent

Procedure

Check the developing time for your film, the method that I use to find all of this information is the massive dev chart site. You can check the development times by entering your your film type into the film type box and your developer in the developer box. so when I developing film at college I enter ID 11 into the developer box, click search and you are given a dev chart for the desired film. Bellow is a chart I made up of all of the films that I have shot so far.

Measure out 300ml of ID11 developer at a 1+1 dilution which is 150ml of developer and 150mm of water (stock for Ilford Delta 3200) and make sure its at or as close to 20°C as you can get, 300ml of stop bath and 300ml of fixer, all in separate measuring cylinders or jugs.

Remove the rubber lid on the Paterson tank and immediately pour in the mixed developer. Start your timer or watch the clock from when you add the developer.

Replace the lid and immediately begin agitating the tank. Start by agitating for the entire first minute of the development time, then for the first ten seconds of each further minute. Between agitations, tap the tank on the sink (to release any air bubbles) and leave it to stand upright.

When the developers time has finished, immediately remove the lid, pour the developer back into the measuring cylinder or jug and then pour in the stop bath. Replace lid and leave the stop bath in for at least 30 seconds, agitating for the whole time, and tapping (to release any air bubbles).

Remove the lid and pour the stop bath from the tank back into its container for further use.

Pour in the fixer and replace the lid. The time for fixer is five minutes, and agitate the tank for the first whole minute and then for the first ten seconds of each further minute.

Remove the lid and pour the fixer back into its container as it can also be reused.

now you was the negatives by inserting the mixer tap hose into the hole in the centre of the tank and let the water rinse through it at 20°C for 20 minutes.

Turn off the water, remove the hose, remove the funnel and then add six drops of Photo Flo wetting agent to the full tank of still water. Leave this to stand for 30 seconds. After the 30 seconds lift the post and spiral out of the water.

Carefully unroll the film from the spiral and then with a squeegee slowly pull it down the wet negatives to remove any excess water then hang to dry for a few hours inside the drying cabinet.

Clean up your workspace and wash the developing tank and place in a drying cabinet.

Once the film is dry you can cut the negatives into lengths of 6 exposures and place in negative sleeves for safe storage until your ready to create prints or scan the negatives.

Photographic Paper 

Photographic paper works a lot like film. Light hits film it causes a chemical reaction that causes special silver-halide crystals to turn black when processed with developing chemicals. Therefore on film, the brightest parts of the image appear the darkest on your negative. When placing a photo under an enlarger, this process is reversed. Light is shined through the negative, and those dark parts on the negative block the most light. Photo paper also has silver-halide crystals in it, so the parts hit with the most light, turn the blackest. Photographic paper is simply that, paper coated with photo chemicals. The paper can be thick or thin just like normal paper, and it can be made from a variety of materials. The chemical coating can also have different qualities.

Graded Paper

Graded paper is not as popular as it once were. This popularity drop has caused graded papers to become sort of “elite.” However, they are usually high quality and expensive. Graded papers come in grades zero – five. Zero produces the least amount contrast. Five produces the most contrast. If your negative has perfect contrast, printing it on paper graded three  would work perfectly. If you negative has very high contrast, you’ll want to print it on zero or one. Conversely if you negative has very low contrast, you’ll need to print it on four or five. Obviously, if you print a lot of images, you’ll have a stock a variety of grades of paper.

Variable contrast paper

Variable contrast paper is a single paper that can produce a variety of contrasts through the use of magenta filters. There are two types of printing enlargers, black & white, and color. When using a black & white enlarger you’ll have to buy a set of magenta filters. These will be graded similarly to graded papers. You’ll typically have five or so different magentas to choose from. The denser the magenta filter, the more contrast your print will have.

Paper Types

There are two general types of paper. The first is fiber-based paper (often shortened to FB). Fiber paper is known to produce really good tones and be very stable after processing. Museums and exhibitions often use this paper for prints due to the quality and archival nature. On the downside, due to the porous nature of the material, it takes a longer time for chemicals to saturate the paper fully. Fiber paper is also very fragile when wet, so it has to air dry as opposed to being dried in a machine.

The other type of paper is resin-coated paper (often shortened to RC). RC paper is quick to process, but slightly less stable after development. Because the chemicals only affect the outer layer of the paper, the developing and fixing process is quicker. It’s also much sturdier, so the paper can be dried in a matter of minutes using a rolling drying machine instead of hours or days hang drying or screen drying.

Paper Finishes

 This is about the only area that darkroom papers overlap with their modern inkjet paper equivalents. There are several types of finishes that serve a variety of purposes.

Glossy - Has a high reflectivity and smooth texture. It gives the impression of richer contrast and emphasizes the details and sharpness of an image. When displaying your prints, the glossy paper needs to be positioned carefully in relation to light sources or glare will make viewing the image difficult.

Matte - Has a rougher texture and low reflectivity. It tends to mask imperfections and provide a softer look. It looks absolutely great behind the glass of a frame since the texture allows a microscopic bit of space between much of the surface and the glass itself.

There are a number of finishes that fall in between glossy and matte: not totally shiny, but not totally rough. Depending on the brand and the type of paper, these finishes may be called semi-matte, luster, pearl or satin. For the vast majority of images, these in-between finishes work wonderfully. Of course, your final choice of finish will be based on your personal preference.

[burndownthehousetonight]

(Me and @tinyredartist realized that this had to be a two-part RP story because this was just BEGGING for more story and DAMN am I happy with how this all ended up :D)

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

The king had answered a call from Fiona at a very late hour. He had hoped it was a booty call. It was not.

“She probably just warped out with Terra on a date… Her purse still there? Check her wallet for a gold ID card… It's there? That’s usual, she usually takes her permit everywhere…. Did you check her room?”

This was urgent. Aria was never one to just disappear, especially not when she was needed. He got up and started getting dressed into his day clothes. Fiona wasn't jazzed about calling the king again, but if anyone else was going to listen, it was going to be him. "Many times." Fiona was tapping her fingers on the guestroom dresser furiously. "She wasn't there to pick up Faolán from the bus this afternoon. She never missed it before. I don't know, she didn't leave a note like I asked." She threw open her dresser again. Shirts and pants, all neatly folded. "I can't find anything on the girl! And she wasn't here earlier to see the window repairmen come, so the company had to delay again, and there's still the hole in the window...!" Aria's art supplies rattled against each other as Fiona slammed the dresser with her fists. "She didn't even tell Fao... or he's not telling me something." But he was asleep, and it was too late to ask. “You don’t think Castillo would…. No. He’s mad, not stupid… Double check every window of the house, then call Terra. She’s probably with her. I'mma call manic, see if he knows anything… When was the last time you saw her?”

He was dressed now, and considering setting up a spare room for Fiona and Faolán. He merely opened up the door to air the place out. “Fiona, this isn’t like her. I’m… Worried, although that’s the mildest way to put it.”

The broken window was more broken than before. Shards of glass had fallen into the living room, and a bit of blood stained some of the shards. The curtains were moved too, and everything was just slightly out of place. She spoke as she knelt down to examine the new cracks in the window. "Early this morning, she took Fao to school." Most of the shards fell outside, probably scratching at least one person on their way down and indicating it had been hit from the insite. It wasn't a pinpoint kind of crack like a bullethole. More like something with a broad surface had been smashed against the window. She lifted one large shard in her hand, the bloody point fitting perfectly into the ovoid shatter. It could have been- No, it couldn't right? She stood up and imagined a scenario. How tall was Aria? She reached her hand around the back of this imaginary figure's head and moved it swiftly towards the window... Someone had gotten in. She began to panic, how, where, when, why?! This was supposed to be airtight, what fault had there been in her plans?! And what about Fao... Fao? Fiona's voice cracked on the phone. "Scourge?" Her attempts to hide the crack in her voice failed. "What hotels are there in your city?" “Several but since the weather is so nice, most are booked with tourists. Why? Is something wrong?” His gut dropped suddenly, and as hard as he tried to hide it, his voice took the same kind of tone.

“Someone got in, didn’t they? Someone took her, didn’t they? That’s it, I’m warping you to the castle, get Faolán ready and I’ll text Manic. Aria may only have been a minor target and we don’t know who or what these people really want.”

He kept the line with her open, his heart pounding in his chest. The first text he sent was to Castillo and Manic, in the long unused group chat.

{Emergency. Aria's missing. Get to the castle ASAP.)

The next text sent was to Terra, whose phone Fiona would hear buzzing in the bat's jacket pocket. Terra's jacket? Why was this still in her closet? She could worry about that later, Fao came first. "Fao? Fao, we have to leave." Fiona nudged her son awake, getting a groaning wake-up from him. He'd look to his side to see his backpack, stuffed with clothes, toys, and his medicine. "I was sleeping..." He groaned, pulling his sheets and trying to go asleep again. "Fao, it's dangerous here. We have to go!" She said. She moved her grumbling, annoyed son until he was out of bed. Fiona helped him put on his backpack and moved him into the main room, where another suitcase had been hurriedly packed and left. Fiona waited to give the all clear, instead going back to Aria's room and finding the source of that noise, the phone from her partner's pocket. Terra's pocket knife and medication were there too, the urgent text from Scourge the first notification on the phone.

{Please tell me you and aria are okay.)

Judging by the scratches and pull of the sheets, one or both of the girls were dragged out of the bed by the attackers.

Scourge waited impatiently for Fiona, or for Manic to answer his text. He attempted to leave his room, but had to lean heavily on a chair as he grabbed at the band aids on his chest, hissing in pain. He almost fell on the way to the dresser, a mere ten feet away from his bed. The guards outside his room entered to check on him, and the king was assisted into a chair to rest. “I’m fine.. I'm fine.. Call the captain of security, I want this place on lockdown. Only I get to choose who enters aside from staff.”

Upon trying to get up, a small argument with a nurse ensued. The result was a compromise the king was not happy with.

“Fiona, you ready?” He asked, trying to limit his pained breathing. "Yes," Fiona said, intentionally leaving out the bit about Terra's phone. It could wait until they were at the castle. She didn't want to talk to Scourge too much, anyways. "Open the warp IN our apartment." The van was already getting on the highway, Scourge driving and Manic in the passenger seat. "You haven't talked in a while, you telling me he just MEANT to text you?" Manic shot back at Scourge, his fear leading into anger. "If he didn't want to text me, he wouldn't have." Scourge reponded. "Give kingy the news." Manic just complied, hoping things would go TOO badly this time around. {On our way. You think Fiona did something to them?) Scourge sighed and tossed the warp open in the hallway. It opened next to the sleepy child, who was ushered through by his mother.

Faolán would be too tired to notice the king, but Fiona would. The nurses were fussing over him and he sent them away. The shining wheelchair he sat in was a little concerning and added to the bandages that made him look in worse shape than he actually was. He was a little pale and a little shaky, but healthy. He texted the boys back as he helped Fiona pull the luggage through, much to the protests from the nurses.

{No way. Aria, and possibly Terra were taken from the apartment and she’s worried about Faolán. Sergio knows to let you in. Just come upstairs, I can’t come down)

“The room I set up for you two is in here. You two can go to bed while the boys and I figure this out.” "Sure," Fiona said, not adding the normal thank you. She was too worried to think about being snubbed out of the conversation. Someone had gotten through her security. Was this meant as a threat to her... or even, to her kid? Fao was out almost immediately when he got into his makeshift bed. Fiona, however, had a harder time sleeping. She would take a long shower, unpack their luggage, talk business over text, but nothing helped. The fox was used to Fao being scared and needing to sleep by his mom, but she wasn't expecting to need to sleep by him for the same reason. Scourge and Manic had to drive all the way to Scourge's city. The normally two hour drive was only shortened negligibly by Scourge's reckless driving, and the whole time was spent exchanging texts. Message after message of Manic asking for reiterated details in the hopes Scourge would say something new, some new clue he'd overlooked. But there was nothing he could go off of, and he was starting to think the king was getting annoyed. When their agonizing drive was finally over, the sight of Scourge back at the castle was surprising, but the two approached Sergio as if nothing was wrong. Sergio didn’t welcome them, and stopped the green hedgehogs. “The king is not well. Any physical altercations will be handled by me this time, and do not have his empathy. Are we clear?”

The bull was bigger than them both and meant business. Once he was sure they were threatened enough, he let them in.

The king had been wheeled downstairs and into the war room, where he had set up a small base of command and had, with Fiona’s permission, sent photographers to survey Aria's room and the broken pane of glass. The portal was open beside him as he sat waiting.

“I don’t want trouble today. I need a list of any enemies that anyone here has, including Fiona, Aria and Terra.” Neither of the two had ever been anywhere near the war room, and were surprised by how serious the castle felt all of a sudden. They both agreed not to mention not being fans of Fiona themselves. "You're gonna need a lot of paper," Manic said. "Fiona's businesses are all really dirty. She's trampled over so many people, pretty much anyone she's met would have something against her." "So we're looking for someone who'd wanna get Ari?" Castillo asked. "No. He place is too high security, you don't just break in, they had to know who Fiona was. And I mean, she had a ton of people..." They started off their list of Fiona's enemies, as well as her businesses. It almost seemed like a joke how many businesses they were naming. The casino itself, the surrounding hotels and businesses, black market weapons and stolen goods sales, security for other high-profile illicit figures, and plenty of talk of violent and sexual businesses. The list didn't have and end in sight, and tacking on the constant threats to anyone who tried to fight against Fiona's power, or even any of her businesses, only made the list keep ballooning up. “Okay, we are going to be here a while… Let’s narrow this down. Who knows the address of the apartment and that Aria was there?”

The list was shortened to about 8 people, all of who worked under Fiona as the security guards for the apartment. The king discounted them completely. “It wouldn’t have been any of them, they could have taken aria at any time if that was the case… Or they would have just gone after Faolán.”

The king wheeled himself to the whiteboard he had set up and wrote out the guards names. Thinking some more. “This doesn’t make sense… But why else would anyone go after Aria?” "Look... You're getting somewhere," Manic said, walking up to the board and grabbing his own bright red marker. "If they wanted Fao, they would have gone in when he wasn't at school. Whoever they were, they were targeting Ari. She's only been there a week, the only people who'd know would be keeping a close eye on Fiona. And there aren't many people who'd have that kind of power there..." A few more names were sketched out. Underlings of Aria were immediately crossed off the hurried list, leaving a few leftover names. "There's supposed to be this woman named Pansy who has a whole drug operation there, but no one knows where to find her, or even if they're a she. Uh... Maybe Czarna, that guy she laid off? I mean..." Manic scratched his head. "No. The only other guy who could know was this guy, August. He was running this huge cheating operation, but he's behind bars." Scourge glared at the board from where he sat on the desk. He hadn't looked this uncomfortable around them since they first met. "Pansy's our only good lead, and she doesn't exist," Scourge grumbled. "We need someone with a motive." He balked before speaking to the king directly. "Did anyone hate Terra?" “Not that I know of. Really, we aren’t close. Even if they did, they wouldn’t go after her at all.”

He wheeled over to a stack of pictures that had just been set on the table and showed them the photo of the beside drawer. A handgun with the safety on, as well as a few magazines.

“You guys don’t think… There’s no way that..” He let the thought hang, looking between the two of them.

“Rosolio is dead, right? Like, for sure? Because we can add her to this list, or anyone who liked her. It's a short list, but maybe useful. I’ll have the courts bring us her file in the morning.” "It's the names, ain't it?" Scourge asked. "Rosy and pansy, could be a coincidence, could just have some bouquet of assholes." "It has to be a coincidence. A whole building fell on her. The remains of hers they found were cremated, and I sure as hell don't think a ghost could kidnap them." Scourge glossed over the photos they had for something he could go off of. Scratches in the sheets, shattered glass, and the single bullet hole in the bedroom, devoid of blood and stuck in the wall. "Don't need a police file. That woman had her mitts on me for years, I can get you those names right now." “Hmm… Speaking of Rosy, I may have Glare or Aria's brother called in the morning. We could always use another brain or two-"

The king paused at the second comment, rubbing at his wrists gently. Seems like Manic had hit a sore spot. "You’d be surprised what a ghost can do… Did Aria say anything to you about anyone bothering her?”

The king turned to Manic specifically and waited for an answer, looking through the other half of the photos while rubbing the bandages over his chest to help soothe the pain.

“Do everything you can. We need to get them back” "She said everything was going fine." Manic shrugged. She didn't sound like she was lying, either, I think this came right outta nowhere." Scourge was jotting out a few names, which Manic was quick to scratch right off. "No, he's in no-zone... she got captured for distributing after the whole rescue..." Just as quickly as most of the names arrived, they were slashed off. "Dude, don't hold off on getting more people in here," Manic started to say as he altered Scourge's lists of suspects. "We both wanna find Ari too, every second counts." "Glare and Rosy won’t be back in town until morning. But maybe I could call her brother up… I’d just rather he not assault me, I’m already broken enough as is.”

He dialed a number on his phone and rested his head on the table, sighing. When the phone was picked up, the king shifted uncomfortably. “Hey… Damian… Uh… You seen Ari around lately?”

One anger filled phone call and warp ring later, and Aria's older brother was sitting in the way room with them, son strapped to his chest on a baby carrier. Of course the toddler babbled and reached for Manic and both Scourges, vaguely recognizing the colors. And the four kept talking and arguing as the earliest hours of the morning kept flailing by. Manic eventually started sitting to the side, watching over the toddler and helping him sleep. "Don't worry, little dude, we're all gonna be alright," he assured the sleepy child. "...But YOU didn't spend two years getting screwed over by her goons!" Castillo was currently arguing with Damian. He wasn't keen on either of the two in the room, and right now, it was anyone's guess who he would be disgruntled at next. "I saw who she talked to, I know all these assholes. If it was any of her mooks, it would be Bobtail! Why the hell would Chrissy still be doing shit for her, she didn't want to be in this business, either." "Aria is a literal money pit. You could go almost anywhere with her powers, especially if you don’t care about her limits. Banks and jewelry stores would be two minute heists. Chrissy is the only one with priors like that!”

Damian’s sources were all of the police documents scattered around the room. While the two argued, nurses had laid Scourge out on the couch to tend to his incision. No one wanted him to get sick again.

“What do you think Manic?” The king asked. He grimaced as the wound was disinfected, but said nothing about why he had surgery. "I think little babyface here needs a new diaper," Manic said as he lifted up the toddler. "I'll find one somewhere, or... something." If there were windows in the room, they would have seen that the sun had started to just barely tint the sky red, and a night of nervous shivering instead of sleep had started eating away at Manic's body. "Yeah, but hear me out." Scourge said, pointing towards the wrong document at first. "Where the hell is... Yeah, this one! She's used a warp ring before, how do we know she ain't still got it?! Aria doesn't need to be a living-" For once, Scourge was just a little too tired to want to keep being anger. Fury could only fuel him for so long. "Fine... Fine, we search 'em BOTH out. The king's got the resources. We've just got- What's that snooty word, conjecturn? Whatever, we're just screaming off that." The slowed yelling was enough for Scourge to notice just where the king was being tended. "Did someone attack you?" Straight to the worst conclusion, as usual. "Maybe they'd lead us to whoever did this?" Damian scooped his son up and used the warp ring to return to his home for a minute or two. His child was handed off to his wife and the doctor returned. Scourge just laughed, which briefly turned to wheezing as a nurse put pressure on the cut while she applied gauze. "Not quite… When you attacked me, something happened to my heart. My arrhythmia got worse so the doctors inserted a pacemaker to restart my heart if it ever stops beating. Guess that means I can’t go commit suicide by lake anymore. Don’t want to electrocute anyone.” So casual. Incredibly morbid. No one had slept and it was awful and they had no leads. This was slowly turning into a worse case scenario. No one really knew how they could respond to that. Laughing would be in poor taste, and the whole night had been such a slingshot of emotions that quiet sympathy wasn't a card they could play, even if Damian and Castillo were the sorts of people who would want to. It just kind of dangled and spun in the air, grabbing everyone's attention but not getting any words out of them. "Guys... We have nothing. We ain't detectives." Manic had tumbled down into the uncomfortable chair he had been using all night. "Let get some REAL investigators in charge, I am so... I can't think straight, my dudes." Castillo started walking towards his husband. "Well, we've got to start somewhere, I ain't gonna sit around doing nothing! Manic nodded his head, eyes closed and clearly about to fall asleep. So scourge finally stepped back and let out a sigh. "Fine... Fine, get some people who know this stuff involved. What about Zonic?" "Called him. He said that he’s trying to get files and information for us, but it's all ‘very complicated’. He probably just doesn’t want to deal with the paperwork. I’ll get the cops on it. Sergio, take them to the second guest room.”

The king ordered and the guard obeyed, waiting to lead Manic and Scourge to bed. Damian just sat down and kept working. Scourge rolled over to him and started helping. “Damian… Maybe Aria was the target. Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt her?”

As the hedgehogs were lead upstairs, they might catch a glimpse of a fox if they could open their eyes. Thankfully for all the drama that was already fueling his emotions, Scourge didn't see anyone. All he got was a glimpse of a tail he thought was familiar. Was that Fao? No, it couldn't have been, right? There were tons of castle workers, it had to have been a maid or a guard or someone else entirely.It had been a long time since he'd actually seen Fao in person, and he was starting to miss him. They didn't bother with showering or changing clothes or anything, they just flopped down into the bed and passed out. If they hadn't stayed up until late in the morning, they would have been too scared to fall asleep. It would only be an hour or two later that Scourge would be let out of the war room, to the smell of a strong peppermint tea filling the hall. One glance revealed an unfamiliar rhinoceros wearing a very familiar uniform. One of Fiona's men, though how she got there was anyone's guess. She followed a maid pushing a serving cart, topped with a teapot the king hadn't seen before. There were two knocks on the door, the rhino never taking their eyes off of the servant. Fiona stepped out, wearing a nightgown and reaching for the kettle. "Morning," she said curtly as the king passed. "When'd you get up?" The king yawned, having begrudgingly let the nurses push his wheelchair. He was far too tired to do it himself. The smell of tea was able to wake him up slightly. But not enough to keep him awake.

"Oh… Morning… I haven’t gone to bed, we can’t find anyone who would want to take her, or knew about her being there, or anyone who would choose to take her rather than waiting. Damian is trying to stay strong but he’s gonna run himself raw at this rate. Zonic is doing his best but I’m worried still. Aria and Terra could be anywhere… How was your sleep?”

He tried to be kind and civil, but the bags under his eyes and his general exhaustion made it difficult to sit up, let alone try and converse. Up all night? Fiona wasn't expecting to hear that, and the laundry list of problems and foreign names wasn't making things any prettier. She silently sipped her tea, finding herself unable not to focus on the massive bags under his eyes. "Fine," she answered curtly. "Get some rest, we won't fix anything if you can't think." She motioned for the maid and her guard to walk away. She was still determined to stay angry at the king, but she had seen more of the king than her own stereotypes, and couldn't help but see him as... pathetic. Actually weak and sad. It was like each time she saw him, he got five years older and twenty years weaker. The bandages were slowly turning red, not that either would care to notice. He was so tired he was numb to the pain, she didn’t want to care.

"I know this isn’t easy for you but… Could you go over the list of names, see if any ring a bell? It would help…. It's downstairs with Damian in the war room..”

Another yawn and the nurse carted him off to bed to rest. Even as tired as he was, the kings sleep was poor, nightmares plaguing his mind. Where was Aria? There was still sympathy deep in her heart for the battered king. She took her time getting ready for the day, sipping her tea, doing her hair, but she couldn't get herself to completely forget about the king's physical state. She had made up her mind when she was finally done getting ready, it was time to actually help with this investigation. And it didn't take more than a few minutes. Most of the names in front of Damian were marked off immediately. "They're all so thoroughly banned from my buildings, they couldn't get near the hotel." She said. "The only way any of them could have escaped would be out the broken window, or by disabling the alarm on the fire escape. Bobtail's the only one left who knows how to disable alarm, and Chrysalis and Barette are the only two left who can fly. You're going to want to start looking..." Where they should have started looking, even Aria and Terra didn't know. Wherever it was, it was dark. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs, but they didn't seemed to be otherwise restrained. But when they couldn't even see the door, that didn't mean much. Aria's forehead throbbed, still swelling from the sudden attack back in Fiona's apartment. Terra and aria felt for each other in the darkness of the room, and when they did find each other, the hedgehog crawled to her mate, shivering badly. The bat merely wrapped herself around her mate as best she could, trying to soothe her.

"Shhh, it's okay…. It's okay… I’m right here. I don’t know what’s going on, but we are gonna be fine.” She didn’t believe that, but she did her best to convince her mate.

The door opened suddenly, but the room remained dark… Aria whimpers only grew louder until a rough hand slapped her hard across her face. The same hand lifted her up by the scruff, kicking and screaming. A good shake got her to stop.

“Easy there. You don’t like the blackout contacts then? Good. You’re not supposed to be comfortable. So here’s the plan. I’m gonna unlock you. And you’re gonna use those pretty little claws of yours to open up a warp to where ever you’re told. Otherwise this area is gonna get bloody.”

Aria was dropped and her face pressed to Terras so she could feel the cold barrel of a gun pressed to her mates skull. Aria suddenly became submissive and compliant

“Okay okay! I’ll do whatever you want! Just don’t hurt her!” The younger female exclaimed, trying to nudge the gun away from her mates forehead. The gun was put away and she was dragged off by the scruff of her neck

~°~°~°~

The news of the robbery got to the castle hours later. A surprising in and out job with no alarm systems detected and no footage on the system.

“… We have to go check that scene.” Scourge said, having just woken up and rolled into the war room. And who was better to give insight into a theft investigation than a master thief? Manic ended up in the room, swimming through walls of code in a matter of seconds and getting frustrated as all of his theories got dashed away. "Well, they had to have something!" Manic said, looking at the details of the security coding. Sure, he had the briefing, but he seemed to swim through walls of illegible-seeming computer code with ease. "Look, the prints they left were so deep in the system, they're barely there! If you're gonna rob someone this blatantly, you don't get subtle with the code!" Fingers furiously tapped at the keyboard, dashing to the security footage. "I mean... Yeah, I'm sure that's how they got in! The watches didn't just disappear in a second. They took footage of the empty vault and looped it back to the system, I do that all the time! But like, we can't even see them enter. The only entrance is the vault door, and all we've got's that blip of footage from outside." They looked at camera clip from outside the show vault once again. The tiny, bulletproof bit of glass was supposed to show into a well-guarded tiny showroom holding the most expensive watches they had to offer, but now, it showed a sudden bright light forming and disappearing barely a minute later. "I mean, the only way they could've gotten in is they had one guy handle security, and had someone else..." It sounded ridiculous, but it was the only option. "You don't think Aria's-" "Let’s look at the facts. Aria and Terra have gone missing. The next day, a store is robbed where the only explanation is a warp ring or Aria. I don’t think she’s complying. But I do think she’s the source of that rift.”

“Not complying? You’ve got to be kidding, she opened the portal didn’t she? That makes her guilty!” A young detective challenged, and was met with dirty glares from everyone in the room

“She’s probably under some kind of duress… If they’ve got Terra, Aria will do anything to keep her safe. Otherwise she would be home by now.” Scourge explained motioning for the detective to leave the room.

“So how do we find these guys?” Manic piped up immediately. "I dunno, warp rings all give some kind of location data, right? Could Aria's warps-" "No," a security analyst interrupted. "That's all in the circuitry, natural warps can't be tracked in the same way." This left an uncomfortable pause, as the various people present shot ideas off to maybe one or two other people around them. They still didn't have a firm ID on whoever the kidnapper was, would they have to track all three of them? "I mean, we're looking for some kind of high-end thief who knew Rosolio and who knows how to disappear for a while, right?" Manic finally admitted, looking uncomfortable. "We know someone who might be able to get some kind of inside information." "Use them. We need all hands on deck, no matter how questionable. Just make sure they can be trusted…” The king sat and thought for a while. Judging by his furrowed brow, whatever he was thinking was not something that pleased him and he scowled.

“Pull up security footage outside Aria's apartment. If they were looking for her they would try there first. Look for anyone new or out of place or frequent, short visits… Manic, take Aria's phone and call everyone she’s recently talked to, see if they know anything.”

The phone was unlocked by a tech expert and the call logs would reveal Manic himself as the last person she had spoken to. Everyone looked up at him, surprised.

“Why’d you call her Manic? You’re more​ of a texting dude…” Scourge tried to give Castillo the benefit of the doubt. But he didn’t trust him. Manic was texting at this point, not looking up concernedly half of the time as he spoke. "Look... I didn't know where I could say it, but there were some guys who came to my place looking for Ari. It was a little before you think she got kidnapped... ..." He snapped his fingers as something came to him. "My place. Check the logs from..." He checked the call data. "Five days ago, that's when they showed up. They were all disguised, but we've got some identities! Maybe we can get-" One of the doors opened, with Manic's husband walking in. He didn't look totally rested himself. "You learn something?" "We're probably about to," he responded. "We've almost got some photos of the people looking for Ari... Uh, how long do you think it'll take to get those tapes?" "An hour, tops.” The king insisted. “For now, see what you can tell a sketch artist, like build, height, species, anything. These guys may be our only lead… You okay there Damian? You look tired.”

The older hedgie was struggling to stay awake at the table, evidently exhausted as he fought the urge to just fall asleep at the table. Even as he nodded off, he thought of his little sister, which prompted him awake again. He didn’t hear Scourge ask him questions.

“Hey. Maybe you should go rest, Damian” the king shook him a little and the hedgie refused. Fighting his tired eyes that wanted to close and shaking his head.

“Mm…no….can’t leave her… Last time this happened I wasn’t around… She never forgave me…” The overworked doctor suddenly face planted into the table and fell asleep.

“Last time..? Someone carry him to a couch.” The king ordered, clearly confused. Manic and Scourge glanced between each other. That was Aria's business, that was her own trauma. If she didn't want the king to know about it, that was her decision. So Manic went off, talking to a sketch artist and pointing out small marks as certain things were sketched down. The two Scourge's would end up at a couch near the side of the room as data was searched and files were requested. A brief break as they waited for something someone wasn't already handling. "They got into her place..." Scourge said, looking up at the ceiling and looking stressed. "Is Fao safe? No one touched Fiona, right?" "Don’t worry, Faolán was at school and Fiona was at work. They’re safe. They were never in any danger probably, if these guys were just going after Aria and Terra. The bad guys probably picked that moment so that they wouldn’t have to deal with Fiona. But they’re crashing here while their house is a crime scene, so this may be a good chance for you to see Fao without Fiona getting mad… Once you all figure out how to explain Aria's disappearance to him anyways. I would hate for him to be mad at her when we get her back”

The king stretched out on the wheelchair and laid back, fidgeting. He was just as stressed it seemed. With the surgery and the kingdom and Aria's kidnapping, he looked tired and older, much older. Were his quills always that white? Castillo visibly tensed up when he mentioned Fiona and Fao crashing there.  Normally, a chance to see Fao like this would be a godsend, but definitely not now. The king looked older, and Scourge felt like he was aging just as much in those few moments. For a few seconds, he wished he could go back to not worrying about what other people thought, but he was stuck with proper emotions. "We tell him the truth," He said simply, sounding like he hadn't slept at all. "He's stronger than you think. I ain't lying to him if I don't have to." He said this as though he didn't have a choice, but he knew he did. He desperately wanted to lie and say everything was fine, but Fao would figure it out. He deserved honestly. "That’s up to you and Fiona to decide… Meanwhile, I think we should send people to canvas the area around the bar and Aria's house, see if anyone saw anything once we get the photos… Who has the time to go?”

~°~°~

Aria and Terra had been allowed out of their restraints, and had been given food. It was important to keep Aria healthy while she recharged her energy. At least they knew not to push her limits.

“Terra? I’m scared.” She whispered, unsure if anyone was in the room with them. She ate up the food without question, opened portal without question, all to protect her girlfriend.

The bat set her fork down on her plate and pulled the hedgehog into a kiss. She was at a loss for words, and could only offer her mate physical comfort. There was that distant squeak, and the sound of feet descending a set of stairs. Aria knew that meant it wasn't long before- Yes, there was the door to this room, whatever this room was. It was carpeted in something thin, and even without seeing it, they could tell it was quite cramped. They were oddly courteous enough to put them in a room with a small bed, but it felt like there was no way to remove it from the room. It even had access to a small bathroom, thankfully, but it made no sense. It felt like a very well equipped closet more than a proper room. One cur-edged claw held up Aria's trembling head. "Good girl, you didn't waste anything." The woman's voice sounded rough and harsh. Someone could be heard collecting the plates. "You've been very good, we might take out your contacts if you behave." "Should we go for the papers next?" A male voice could be heard saying. It was low and smooth, almost melodic. "Yes, Aria, are you ready to warp us again?" The woman beckoned to Aria, claws teasing her neck as if to force her to nod yes. Aria almost felt sick and how good the praise felt. This evil person was using her, why did her praise and promise of a reward give her such a joyous feeling? Not as strong as the way she felt when Terra praised her, but very similar to something else. The grip on her throat caused her to choke a little, her voice strained

"Y-yes ma'am. Right away ma'am… Where to?” She asked as she was dragged into the other room, stumbling over her own two feet. Her legs felt tingly, them must have fallen asleep from the way she was sitting.

“You’ve been trained well. But I guess you’re used to being ordered around by bigger women.” The moth- was she a moth? Yes those wings were unmistakeable- gently stopped her in the middle of the room. The swaying got worse, and Aria stabilized herself on the floor. She vaguely wondered if her allergies were acting up.

“Ma'am. Sir. Where to?…” ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ "The Moebian apartment building." The beetle stepped into the war room with those four words, holding a USB drive. "Manic's apartments sent us all the security footage." Scourge peeked at the sketch artist's work while the files were opened on the projected screen. The features he saw were familiar, but not enough to get anything out of... And the footage was opened and scanned, to just before Manic's phone call. A few people came and went, until the main three arrived. The same people Manic saw, one tall person, one medium height, one medium height and strong. The same kinds of disguises he had mentioned, too. This woul dhave normally started the grueling process of picking apart every frame... "Stop it! Rewind that crap!" Scourge said out of nowhere. The footage was stopped and slowed down, going back to a frame as the tallest of the three adjusted some kind of headscarf. The fabric lifted just enough to show a small mark on their shoulder... "That's Chrysalis, that moth." Scourge said. "I know that flower tattoo anywhere, it's the moth bitch." "Okay, so at least we have an ID. Even easier to catch them now. So where would she be going, what is the one thing she wants most in the world to steal… That reminds me, someone turn on all the warp blockers in every government building, including the castle. At the very least we won’t have to worry about surprise visitors… And someone get a list of every known sighting of this moth, and any assets she might have. Move your asses people! We are running out of time! Let’s go!”

People scampered off to follow his orders. The king looked over at his alternate. “How dangerous is she?”

He was so lost in his planning for in depth searching of this moth, that no one noticed the tiny wolf in the doorway who had just gotten home from school, escorted by a guard.

“Your majesty! The same people are on the video footage from Aria's apartment as on this tape.” A younger IT specialist said, turning a screen for the king to look at. "She wasn't the violent one," Scourge said, watching the others with her very carefully. "Chrissy's not sadistic, just concerned with herself. She doesn't care about other people, but won't hurt them. I'm worried about these fucks with him." He circled the two other figures with her. With the news of the security footage from Aria's apartment, the footage they had was pulled up, and everyone's attention was diverted. The cameras were opened on three figures in Aria's apartment, the same builds and disguises, searching... for... ... Why were there so many flowers? Some small bouquets, some medium sized- Was that one of those decorative fruit arrangements? There was a pile of gifts at her front door, but they weren't the important part at the moment, as strange as they were. Once again, Scourge took charge and helped with pausing and rewinding the footage. It took a few minutes, but they found the frame of the three leaving the building. They were finally close enough for Scourge to get a good view of one figure scratching their face, whiskers just barely visible on camera. "Three right whiskers, two snipped ones on the left... That's bobtail." He said, clapping his hands together loudly, "There's your second kidnapper. He's a psycho, he's the one to worry about. You're watching for this fucker and making sure he doesn't slice up Ari, she's gonna be bleeding soon if we ain't-" He stopped mid speech. Fao could only watch from the door, confused and scared at everything his dad had said. Scourge couldn't find the words. "Alright. Alright how the hell are we gonna manage this… Castill- oh.”

The king looked at the little wolf cowering in the corner, as did most of the people in the room. Quite a few were confused and looked to the king for answers.

“Alright. Castillo, now's about the time that you, Manic and Fiona have a nice family chat. I can do everything else for a while.” He pushed the two out of the room as best he could while he was in his chair, then returned to the head of the table and grabbed a police radio connected to the main dispatch.

“Attention all units, code 134. Victims are a short female, approximately 2'9, hedgehog, red hair brown eyes. Three claws and has two barcode tattoos. Second victim is a bat, about 3'2, brown fur, blue eyes, red hair, glasses. Suspects are two fugitives, a moth with a flower tattoo on her neck and a bobcat with two trimmed whiskers on the left. Suspects are armed and dangerous, report back any sightings to main radio using code 282397. Keep this quiet, victims could be in peril if we alarm the suspects.”

“Dad? What’s going on?” Faolán asked, looked at all of the people in the room, hunched over files and computers. "Kid..." Scourge seemed genuinely flustered, and this only concerned the child more. He didn't understand much of what was said, but knew it wasn't good. "Come here." Scourge knelt down a short distance from the child, motioning for him to come closer. While the king took over, Faolán walked closer, not sure if he'd done something wrong or not. Castillo hugged Fao. For a while, actually. It had been a while since thy'd actually had a chance to see each other. If he'd known he was going to have a chance to see him, he might have been emotionally prepared. Instead, he held on for his own comfort, and for the concerned child's. "Come on, man, let's go find... let's find little dude's mom," Manic said, not jazzed with the idea but knowing it had to happen. There were a few guards present to watch the conversation, all from the castle. The four had gathered by the small sitting area in Fiona's guest room. The little wolf was sitting his his dad and clinging to his legs as he listened to the news get delivered. The worst of the details were omitted, but he was told the honest facts of the situation, and taking it all silently. "Is she gonna get hurt?" He asked, scared he might know the answer. The all silently winced. "We're trying to find her right now, kid." Scourge said. "We're going to find her, and we're gonna keep her safe. We all miss her, kid." "We're going to be very busy." Fiona tried to impart this information with the kind of gentility Scourge's voice couldn't bring. "We're going to be safe, Fao, and so is Aria and her friend. But you have to promise you're going to stay in the castle, okay? I mean it, don't sneak out." He nodded silently, still clutching his legs. He leaned up to his father, looking a little teary. "Did I do something?" Scourge patted the child. He hadn't seem him cry many times in person, and it always hit him hard. "You're find, squirt." He patted his side, letting Fao lean up as he tried not to cry. "Someone use the building across the street’s camera to find footage. See if they had a car or not. If they did, I want the plates run as fast as possible. And check for warp rings activated within the area too.” The king ordered.

Suddenly the police radio jumped to life with noise as someone tried to make contact. Scourge picked up. “What you got for me?”

“Officer J.Dewey sir, badge 739261… Precinct 8 has been compromised. Male of the same build you described and two females. Not the bat, but the hedgehog and the moth… It doesn’t look like the hedgehog can see though, she’s running into everything. They’re using her like a shield and my men can’t get a good shot. Requesting backup.”

“What?! How did they get in? Did you not receive the warp blocker order?” A brief pause as the king face planted. “Precinct 8. The one area that doesn’t have the blockers right? Okay, never mind that, what are they doing now?”

“Trying to get to a computer. One was left logged in.”

“Roger. Dispatch is sending backup and I will be there personally soon. Do not let them leave” the king insisted, getting out of his wheelchair and running upstairs at top speed.

“Hate to interrupt but they’ve taken Aria to a police station as a hostage and are trying to get at a computer. Precinct 8. That’s your old stomping ground ain’t it? We need to go now!” The king ordered his alternate, setting the warp rings coordinates faster than anyone else in the room could. "The hell...?" Scourge asked out loud as the warp was quickly set. Whatever they were planning, it wasn't any good, but what use could Scourge's hometown be to them? He didn't have the time to think as the warp was opened and he was more or less forced through. The main reason Precinct eight had no warp blockers was easy. It was dirt poor, and this was apparent just from the outside of the police building. The foreclosed structures nearby didn't help with that impression one bit. Most of the officers were outside the building, snipers aimed but unable to do anything about the three. Only the snipers could see her eyes, and the total blacked-out lenses Aria was being forced to wear. A megaphone was handed off to the king, and Castillo was quick to snatch it from him. "Ari, are you in there?!" He yelled into it, bellowing into the building. "It's me, Scourge!" A cop walked to the king, briefing him. "They walked in, and forced us all to walk out or they’d shoot her.”

“Castillo. That’s enough. She’s not gonna answer you, but snipers got her in sights. Gimme that.” The king took the megaphone and turned it on. “Come out with your hands up. We know who you are. Give us both girls back and no one has to get hurt.”

A sniper spoke up. “They’re giving you the finger sire.”

“Thanks. Not like I can see that for myself or anything.” The king rolled his eyes, sending agents around the back of the precinct to try and get in that way. As officers tried and failed to break down the back entrance, the visiting kidnappers were joined by a third figure. Some kind of a wild boar, pacing carefully with Terra in one arm and pressing a gun to her. Sidestepping slowly, they walked up to the precinct computer his companions were standing near. It didn't take a second for Bobtail and the boar to switch positions, Bobtail's evil mind much more blatant as he clutched the gun with a maniacal grin. As they ran a file in the computer with a portable hard drive, Scourge leaned in closer to the megaphone. "Ari, we're gonna get you outta there safe!" He yelled. "Don't let no one lay a scratch on you, you too, Terra!" There was no response, only the screaming hedgehog being pulled away from the megaphone. Manic just glared on, hoping desperately they weren't up to anything too bad. The hard drive was pulled out again, and the boar huddled behind his two companions. "We're done here, goin' back," he commanded the others. Aria reached out, grabbing for Terra's hand. She was scared, she needed comfort or the portal wouldn’t hold. After blindly grabbing at air, the moth stood closer for the lovers to cling to each other. The moth was the only one who listened to Aria about her magic's restrictions. After all, its important to know the flaws of your tools before you use them.

The moth nudged Aria to open and portal and her claws came out as she was faced towards the front of the building, ready to scratch a portal open as she shivered. Snipers lasers centered on her, waiting for her to move. The moth grabbed her from behind in a way that reminded the king of a certain bat. What she whispered to Aria wasn’t heard, but the portal was opened quickly, and everyone jumped through it.

Just as the police bust in through the back, they were gone.

When the cops gave the all clear, the king threw his megaphone to the ground. The people tried their best to ignore the flames that flickered quickly in and out of existence at his feet as he turned to Manic.

"I wanna know what they took. That’s your job for now. Castillo, you’re on security detail. I’m going to run home to blow off some steam before I do something I’m going to regret.” "Don't hurt yourself, dude." Manic said. He turned to his husband, nodded, and the two rushed into the building. There were attempts to reopen the warp, but the warp would only flicker into existence before disappearing. They must have started some kind of warp blocker when they arrived. Wherever Aria was, that had to narrow it down somehow, right? If anyone knew security, it would be the Castillos. Scourge knew how to handle physical security, and quickly started to round up the best of the officers present for their duties as the others handled evidence collection and investigation. Manic knew cyber security, and the codes of the computers seemed to flow through his fingers. His tools would have normally made this easier to pull off, but some freehand and just a bit of luck got him to the data he needed. Recently deleted files proved nothing, but recently moved... "Babe?" Manic asked, looking to Scourge. "Why would they be looking at your police records?" ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ "And that's what we're looking at." Scourge spoke to the king with his husband, all three trying to stave off stress. His reports brought up assault and theft charges, nothing too terrible for the hedgehog in question. So why was he so stressed about them? "What do you think they're planning?" Scourge was pacing, brushing off concerned doctors who attempted to force him into his chair. He refused, and the strip of carpet he was pacing on would probably be worn thin.

"This doesn’t make any sense! How did they even know about her powers? Not only that, what do you have to do with this? What’s their angle?” He demanded, aggravated and upset. "We're talking about Rosolio's men," Scourge said. "We pretty much killed her, Aria used her claws to warp then, it was all heavily covered. Zonic's probably next in their plans if we aren't careful." The door creaked open. He was the son of a big-name criminal and a crime boss, of course Faolán was going to take an interest to eavesdropping. He stood quietly by the door and listened to the three speak. "I don't know like, a hundred percent about that." Manic admitted, huffing and leaning back. "Aria hasn't said anything specific, but she sometimes seems scared of like... I don't know, this mass of people? Not even people, just some faceless group of some kind. And this goes back loooong before we did anything to Roses." He tilted his head towards the king. "If anyone'd know what's going on, I'd think it would be you or Damian, and he ain't here." The question sat heavily in the air. "Do you know anything like that?" The king was silent, thinking over how to explain what he knew to Manic and Castillo. Eventually he sent everyone out of the room and sat down on a couch.

"Did she ever tell you why everyone died?” When met with the confusion, he elaborated.

“Her family. This is all of what I know. They were attacked by an unknown group and slaughtered like… Livestock. Aria was out of that village at the time, searching the city for something, she never said what… She came back to the village and found… Well the photos haunt my nightmares. Can’t imagine what it does to her. They never found who did it, but the rummaging through the place suggested they were looking for something… No one knows what. The case has gone cold and unsolved and she refuses to let me pay for a private detective. She’s scared that the group that killed her family will come for her, probably. If you want the case files, we pulled them.”

He looked out the window and thought, drumming his fingers on his leg. Thinking. "So what you're saying is, we've got no clue." Manic huddled his legs close to his chest as he thought about what the king just said. "If real detectives couldn't, I don't think we could." Scourge patter Manic's back to give him comfort. Neither of them wanted to acknowledge exactly what Aria had been through, much less see the evidence of it. "Like, do you have any clue what they could've been searching for? Maybe-" The thought came to Manic as he spoke the sentence. "It's kind of a stretch, but maybe they wanted to find Aria? She has a ton of power." Scourge seemed to have an idea and rushed to the phone to call Aria's brother. "Hello?” Damian asked as he picked up the phone. “Damian. I’ve got a random question about the birth order of your siblings. What number was Aria?” “She was the sixth of the living siblings. why?” “I mean including the stillborns and miscarriages.” “Oh.. that would make her the 7th? of us I think. Why?” “Damn it! That’s why they went after her! There’s a legend that the seventh son of the seventh son, or in this case the seventh daughter of the seventh son, is incredibly powerful. It’s not a surprise that Aria was the only one left alive, especially if that’s who they were looking for. I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever is looking for her now was working for Rosolio either. They were in the same city they with lots of power, it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch. But why wait 16 years?” Manic looked to Scourge. Scourge looked to the king. And Fao still watched from his hiding space at the door. "Maybe it's cause..." Manic was having loose ideas, but it was more clumps of words approaching a solid shape before crumbling again. "I wish I had an answer, but I mean, as least we know why they have her, right? For the most part?" "What good's that do us?" Scourge responded. "We know her kidnappers already, ain't like we've gotta track anyone down." "Speaking of tracking down, have their homes been searched?" Scourge shrugged. "Don't know most of their homes. Searched all kidns of businesses, safe houses, all that this, nothing. Ari's just disappeared." "All assets, every alias they might be under… We just don’t know what they’ll do with her magic. Hospitals, banks and schools are getting warp blockers now, but it’s still a very real threat to the general public… We have to wait until they warp around again… But who was the third guy?”

He looked over at his alternate, hoping desperately that he had the answer he wanted. That this guy had a name, a home address, somewhere they hadn’t searched yet. Something they could use to find Aria and Terra.

“Please tell me something useful… Please tell me we can find them?” It hung in the air that maybe they wouldn’t see the hedgehog alive again. Scourge was taking the thought really hard. Manic turned to his husband, not quite noticing the horror in the king's eyes through his own attempts at feigning hope. Scourge looked down at the floor, deep in thought. "Don't know why he's there," Scourge finally said. "I've seen him a few times, never talked to him. Guy hated me, thought." He thought for a moment, looking almost painted at what he was thinking. "Radon, that's his name. Not as psycho as Bobtail, but when he fights, he fights to kill." The implication dangled in front of their noses. "Do you think we'll see Aria alive again?" It was a very faint squeak, but just enough that Manic's ears could pick it up. He leaned forward like it was casual and placed his cup on the table. "Kiddo, if you wanna hear some people talk, you don't creak the door." He announced. "Have you been listening in?" There was a pause. "No." Manic retained his casual pose as he stood and tried to act normal. "We've got another big lead," Manic said. "We should get back to work. Again." "Don’t even ask.” The king said. He was on the verge of tears. The thought of never seeing one of his best friends was a shock he couldn’t handle.

Faolán’s listening in was an unpleasant surprise. Scourge motioned for Castillo to deal with his child as he left the room to cry somewhere secluded. “Pull up his file when you get downstairs. I want every detail on him.”

The small wolf felt the same, and walked over to his dad, clinging to his leg. He whimpered a bit, worried about his friend. “She’s gonna be okay, right dad? You’re gonna find her right?” "Of course we are, kid." Scourge promised him. He swatted down and pulled Fao into a proper hug, cracking up just a bit as he felt his son fight back tears. "We're the best of the best over here, it's just gonna take a while." Right now, hugging Fao was more for Scourge's comfort. "I promise." Fao sniffled, nodding his head. Scourge didn't want to leave and make his son cry, he wanted to keep him safe. But there was work to be done. "I've gotta keep working." Fao heard four words he hated to hear. "If you're quiet, you can come in with me, kid. Whaddya say?" Scourge smiled like nothing was wrong for Fao's sake. He couldn't say he was wrong, and nodded again. He stood up and took his son's hand, walking him through the halls towards the war room. He needed one parent, and Fiona was probably off working on business like always. But she wasn't. Actually, she was outside of the king's chamber, trying to build up the courage. Finally, she found the courage to knock. Though in her mind it wasn't courage, it was stupidity. She could hardly believe what she was doing. Scourge had actually hidden in the library to break down, and was only returning to his chambers to grab something. He was… Surprised to see Fiona. It wasn’t what he was expecting for sure.

"Fiona. What can I do for you? If you’re looking for Faolán, he’s with Castillo.” He was cold, not impersonal but not exactly gentle with his words. Shutting down his emotions in order to be as productive as possible.

He opened the door as he awaited for her to talk, the room pristine and the bed made perfectly. He hadn’t slept in it the night before. "This is ridiculous," Fiona said to herself as she walked in. Even after all her mental preparation, she was having trouble getting the words out. "I don't have a lot of people I can talk to," she finally said, as though the king even needed to be reminded. "Aria's very good at listening, but she's gone and Fao's not mature enough, and..." What had happened to her? She knew logically she could turn to the king for help, just not emotionally. Right now, he was the only person who could really listen to her problems. "I don't know why I'm trying to talk to you, I can't- I can't stand talking to you." She sniffled, sitting down on the couch at the side of the room and tearing up. "I can't wait until we find those assholes who took her," Fiona growled out as she choked back tears. "I miss her." There were very many things scourge was not good at. Complex math. Expressing his emotions. Dancing. But most of all he was horrible at being put on the spot.

She sat in his room and he thought nothing of it until he heard her sniffle. When he turned, he saw just how broken up she was about loosing Aria. The king sat down next to her, hesitant to touch her shoulder like he had in the past. But she was far too miserable for him to not at least try.

"I know. I know I miss her too. But we are going to find her, okay? And the fuckwads who did this. And then everything will be fine again, and you can go back to hating me." Hand on her shoulder, he offered her a tissue box. She jolted at the touch, startled by the sudden touch. But her furious crying didn't prompt her to fight back. She snatched the box out of his hands and held it in her left hand while she dabbed away her tears. Even in spite of her attempts to keep hating this Scourge, the moment still reminded her of the king's previous behavior. This was completely normal for them. This position of her crying with his hand on her shoulder wasn't alien to her, it was something that had happened many times before, and the touch sent her rocketing through her memories. She knew it had to be only temporary - rather, hoped - but she couldn't muster up some of her newfound anger towards the king. "Why is Fao with Scourge?" She asked, sounding more concerned than angry. "Shouldn't he be helping search for Aria?" "Faolán was listening in on a conversation and got scared. I don’t know if Scourge and him went back to the war room or if they’re still in the library. Poor thing was about to cry, and I left them to talk… We were being … Less than positive.”

The king rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhaling deeply. His eyes were puffy and red, as if he had cried too over all of this.

“They’ve got a lead, there was a third person at the police station that they’re searching up now. Hopefully he’s bad at covering his tracks so we can catch him… But Aria was the target for sure. These people knew her, you and Faolán were never in any danger. They probably took her when they did so they could avoid running into you or Faolán… But this guy is lethal.”

Another deep breath as the king tried to fight back his tears. "Why would he be in the war room?" Fiona said, annoyed and tired. She exhaled loudly and looked away. "Scourge can't be that stupid." Fiona couldn't ignore the king's eyes. Everyone was crying today, even herself. Once again, this only ended up leaving her baggage out in the open. As badly as opening up to the king went before, she knew it was her own damage, not the king's fault. "I just... I needed to talk to someone." She admitted, sitting up straight and chucking her tissue towards the trash can. "I should go before you...  before I yell at you again." But she couldn't bring herself to leave now that she forced herself into the room. "How did your surgery go?" "Not too horribly. They’re just worried about the scarring.I have to go back in a few days…. And then when everything’s settled they’re gonna try and fix the back scars to keep them from opening and getting infected…”

Silence between them. Awkward, but they were both so plagued by grief that it didn’t matter.

“…. I’m scared we won’t find her in time… Whatever these guys are after, they won’t let her live once they get it. And Terra… If Aria steps one foot out of line she’s gone too. We have almost nothing to go on until another hit. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t aggravated Castillo by…well… You know… Then Aria wouldn't have been taken. I feel like such a selfish prick!”

"It's all my damn fault."

She reached for her mouth like she was going to take out a cigarette, catching herself midway. "I got drunk and drug you to bed with me. I slept with you after that, I-" She inhaled deeply, stopping her anger as it started to grow. "There's nothing I can do about it now."

There was blame to go around, and Fiona desperately just wanted to place all of it on Castillo to make it easier for them both. But she didn't want to talk about it. "I don't even want to think about this," she admitted. All she wanted was to relax. "Can you drink after that surgery?"

"It's really not. I didn’t stop it when I should have. But the past is the past, and there’s nothing we can do about it now… Doctor said that I should stay away for anything that messes with my heart rate in case the pacemaker sets itself off by mistake. I’m not doing that at all, but I won’t risk pushing myself any more than I have to. Besides, we probably are needed downstairs. Come on, let’s go before Castillo flies into a rage or does something stupid.”

He offered his hand like he usually did when he’d made a decision about where they were going. “After we get her back, if you want to, we can sit down and I’ll listen to everything you have to say. But for now, let’s focus on getting her back.” Fiona sighed loudly, knowing that was probably the case. She wanted Aria to be safe too. She took the king's hand and stood up, just wanting this disaster to finally be over. If they were going to end this mess, they were going to have to keep working restlessly. The only person who was resting right now was Faolán, resting in a chair in the war room near his father. Everyone walking around, delivering news, shooting off theories was a bit quieter with the child around. Was he scared? Absolutely. But he was scared with someone he trusted nearby, and at least found the comfort to sleep instead of continuing suffering. His son's comfort have Scourge comfort, and he was able to focus better as he dug up more information on Radon. His assets were being thoroughly searched and prodded, but it was going to take some times before they got their answers on what he owned. But in Scourge's mind, his motive was clear... "He... inherited a lot from his widow," Scourge didn't even say hello when the King entered the room. He looked exhausted, but nowhere near as tired as the king. "His houses are being raided now, but we aren't finding any signs he's been to any of 'em. Tons of assets weren't declared or nothing. Some guys are... uh..." He stopped mid sentance, not remember what he was saying briefly. "They're looking into clubs he used to be in. Competes in boxing and weightlifting leagues, member'a some social club, all say he just stopped showing up after the kidnapping happened. Nothing on some old yatch club he stopped visiting years ago or some criminal hangout that got busted a while back." He stared off, thinking throughhis exhaustion. "Fao's feeling better, not crying or screaming anymore. What time's it?" "Time for you to go get some rest. Go on, I can handle this. Take Faolán and let him go to bed. Poor little guy doesn’t need to see any of this… What’s so relevant about his widow? Was she one of Rosolio’s goons?”

He traded seats with Castillo, reading through the information that had been added since he went upstairs to cry. It was lengthy reading, interrupted frequently by updates from various people with even more information. The king came up with even more theories as he thought, sending people to the boxing club and yacht club undercover to see if the owners will involved.

Eventually they were back to playing the waiting game, and the king started pacing again. He was tired and stressed and neither was good for his heart. "You go get some rest, you ain't slept since we started," Scourge shot back. He stood up like he was willing to fight, just to make sure he knew he was serious. "Both of you need some sleep." Manic said, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "You can't find Aria if you aren't going to take a nap, at least." Manic could see that neither of them wanted to back down. "Fine! Fine, am I gonna have to FORCE you guys to sleep?! You can't detective like this, get some sleep, guys!" Manic moved for Scourge to pick up his son in his arms. As soon as he was, Manic forced the two out of the room, virtually pushing them. "I'll handle the important stuff tonight, just don't hurt yourselves!" And with that, the door was closed behind them both, leaving Manic as a makeshift leader in the war room. Scourge was too tired to fight, so as he carried Faolán to his room, he filled in the king on some final details. "Another boar named Gamma, used to be a rival trader to Rosolio who joined up with her eventually. Died in a car accident, don't know why he's there." He lied. The door to Fiona's room was opened, revealing that she wasn't there yet. The child was laid down on his bed and tucked in. "I feel like my brain's gonna burst..." Scourge grumbled as they were forced out, wondering where Fiona had disappeared off to. With the information on the boar, a theory began to form.

"That sounds like something Rosolio would plan. I’ll have the others look into it when we get back downstairs. Possibly her way of cutting out competition… Maybe they took Aria because she was the one who killed her and not them?”

That didn’t seem right, but the king rustled Castillo’s quills anyway. “Go get some rest. Imma nap for half an hour.” He opened the door to his room and crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly. 'Half an hour' was a bit of an underestimation. The night passed by the king as he rolled around in his bed, his body trying to catch up on days of missed sleep all at once. He wouldn't hear many things. He wouldn't hear Fiona checking in on him, standing at the door for a while before leaving back to her room. He wouldn't hear the various men who were waiting by the king's bedroom for him to wake up. And he wouldn't hear the clamour of the castle as the morning came and some new news baffled the war room. There was a piranha waiting outside of the king's room when he would finally wake up late in the morning. "Scourge's files weren't the only things they took," she informed the king. "They gave your old enemies a gift." The old enemies in question appeared to be a copy of that tabloid newspaper Scourge had turned to before. "King COVERS CRIMES of MURDERER, ADULTERER, FELON," the cover proudly declared. The king was only a small photo of him taken at an unflattering angle in the middle of saying a word. Instead, the focus of the paper was a massive, blurry photo of Castillo entering the castle and laughign with the king, an old mugshot pasted in the corner. The page with the actual article was doggy-eared, and just as extravagantly capitalized and arranged as the cover. "THE ROYAL HOMOCIDE! - Who is the mystery friend that assaulted the king, as covered in our special edition 'Alternates Attack!' edition? The Daily Hog has dug into this mystery man's past! Police records gifted to us by the Royal Police show that he was driving a car that mowed down innocent pedestrian Gamma White years ago!" Accompanied was a picture of a young boar couple... and right there in the photo was the man seen at the bank. A formal picture to make them seem like innocent civilians, no doubt. The article went on and on, accusing Scourge of everything from bribery to blackmail to hacking to delete these alleged charges off of his police record. "Examined their systems," The piranha said, "and they're just scum, not illegal scum. All the stolen police files were emailed to them from a temporary server." "Wake Castillo up. I’m going to drag his hide through the mud.” The king ordered and marched down to the war room.

“Manic, go sleep. ” scourge told him, nudging his shoulder gently. The rest of the staff were ordered to keep working every angle, including Castillo’s priors.

Sonic had shown up and had stopped the king to pull him aside. “Scourge… It's been three days since she was last seen. This doesn’t look-”

“Zonic, shut your damn mouth before you need it wired shut. I’m not in the mood to talk to you.” Scourge pushed past him but the zone cop grabbed his shirt.

“Scourge, for cases like hers, the bad guys usually-”

“Zonic I’m warning you. Shut the ever loving fuck up.”

“She’s way over the average length victims are kept​ alive! Her and Terra are probably dead-”

Scourge punched Zonic so hard he went flying into a wall. The cop had the air knocked out of him, but otherwise was fine. He got up and opened his mouth, but the king spoke first.

“Get the fuck out. Unless you’ve got relevant information pertaining to this, I don’t want to hear it.” The already blazing tensions were punctuated with the sound of Zonic crashing into the wall, and the room fell silent. There was still hope they could get the victims out of this, even if it was starting to look slim. There was no delivery of the bodies or anything, there had to be a chance they were still out there. Manic helped Zonic to his feet, with Zonic and Scourge sharing a death glare as the two left the war room in utter silence. It was merely a few minutes before Castillo was escorted in, joined by Zonic. He seemed to still be collecting himself when he got up to the king, thinking of just the right words. "I have. NO IDEA. What those assholes are planning." Castillo said, sounding angry but his posture implying a great deal of shame. "If I knew Radon was in this mess, I'd've-!" What would he have done? All this meant was Radon had a way to get revenge at Scourge. "That woman ran onto the street at night, she was wearing all black - I didn't see her 'til it was too late. I don't know why Rosy was there, maybe she shoved her, maybe she was- I don't know." His voice went into a growl and he clutched his head as he relived memories, intense trauma coming out as anger to give him some mental strength. "I spent a MONTH getting shot up by that bat. It wasn't bribery or some shit, it wasn't investigated because she didn't let the police find me. I wasn't given enough to eat, she just kept getting the doses higher and higher-! If I could go back, I'd've avoided the boar and run that whore down right there." The pause was wrenching as almost everyone in the room silently took in the information. "You might be able to trade me for Terra... if you can talk to 'em." "That could work. The only reason Aria hasn’t broken herself out yet is probably because she’s worried about Terra. I doubt she’d care if they shot you”

Cold. The king was slowly starting to become more and more apathetic. More like the ghost that had possessed him. He didn’t even look at the others. When Damian hopped through on a warp ring, the tension made him consider going back. But the sight of the pig onscreen stopped him

“Is this who has her?” He asked, grabbing for a chair.

“Yup.” Was all that Scourge said, watching the others emotions.

“He looks…. Familiar.”

The room stopped again. This was at least good news. "Should be." Castillo said simply. "He was at the station robbery." "No, you've got it wrong, I mean I know where I've heard a description of this boar before." Damian went on, pulling up some old photos. A successful doctor Damian used to work with, in fact, who had filed a police report not long before the kidnapping occurred. The description matched the photo of this suspect perfectly, and as luck would have it, they happened to both be involved in the same club at one time... ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ Whatever was in the food they were given was keeping them feeling dizzy, even barely conscious through their fear. But at least they had been provided the smallest of amenities - sight. The blackout lenses were temporarily removed, not that it could give them much space to see. The bed was hastily crammed into this glorified closet, and whatever windows were high on the walls had been thoroughly and totally covered with boards, duct tape, and outward pointing nails. There was no coming off. Once again, there was snoring out the door, and some kind of scuffle through the far wall. They were sleeping for the night. At least, the boar waiting at the door was. Whatever it was, the wooden door creaked open- it was unlocked. For just a few moments, the door was unlocked, showing off another tiny room with a boar sleeping in a small metal chair, and a small set of tiny spiraling metal stairs leading upwards. Aria's head rolled, her neck jelly as she was unable to focus her eyes, so she just kept them closed. She was the stairs and the chair but she couldn’t make sense of their meaning. The bat and her had clung onto each other for dear life once they were left alone, both shivering and shaking. Kisses, little ones, were used to comfort each other. The thought never passed their lips. But aria could imagine the only reason they were allowed to see their captors was that she was about to be killed.

"Terra… I’m sorry. This is all my fault..” She whispered to the bat, head on her shoulder as they cuddled close for warmth. The bat nuzzling into her hair and shushed her mate.

“You did nothing wrong… We’re gonna get out of here soon okay? Everyone is gonna find us and then we can go home and live our lives in peace… We can go on vacation, hmm? To the ocean. You love the ocean”

“I’ve never been to the ocean and you hate it.” Aria gave her mate a small smile, snuggling closer.

“Regardless. I promise, nothing bad will happen so long as we’re together.” The bat kissed her gently on the mouth as the door opened and the moth stepped in.

“Get up Portal wench. We’ve got another target to hit.” This theft lasted shorter than they normally would. Terra and Radon didn't even come along. Bobtail kept a death grip on Aria the whole time as she struggled to open a warp. How far were they from Scourge's kingdom? Very, very far, clearly. The warp scratched into a less secure facility than normal. They weren't even stealing anything valuable, they were picking up food at a closed grocery store! They picked up pastas, canned foods, filling a cart quickly with whatever caught their eye. If the lights weren't off and Aria wasn't being clenched by Bobtail's claws sharpened to a fine point, it would have felt like just a normal shopping trip. "And when we're done with Aria, we could always try again." The moth said as she quickly took meat from the freezer in the butcher's area. "I'm almost thinking we could keep her around. She was a loyal wench for the fox, wasn't she? Of course, then we'd have to find someone else for you to have fun on..." Bobtail pushed the overflowing cart as they stocked up on foods of all kinds. "She looks like she's bleed real pretty too." He complimented. "I hope you know how generous we're being," The moth said. They couldn't stay for much longer, but had more than enough to last a while. "We're feeding you, giving you a job... you love kids, don't you? Have you even taken care of a little kitten? Maybe one with gorgeous wings like mine?" "Let's try to knock you up again tonight." Bobtail said, walking up to the moth who was happy to stand there as she was felt up by the cat. "We might let the red kid live long enough to see the baby... if she plays nice." All Aria could do was shiver. She was scared, she was cold. The portal at the entrance had to remain open, or she would over exert herself and faint in the grocery store. She followed along, allowing herself to be dragged like a ragdoll. Compliant but with no extra movement.

"I would be honored ma'am, seeing as I am unable to bear any of my own,” she said, acting more like a servant than a hostage. They had broken her. They had won. She was a prisoner again, a slave to less than moral people if only to keep the light in her life alive.

At least on the outside. On the inside boiled some primal rage that she’d never felt before. Part of her wanted to attack the two, kill them on the spot. But at the risk of loosing her mate, she did nothing. Merely rubbed the ring on her finger, a new addition from the week before they had been taken. It was a promise and it represented so much more than she was willing to admit.

When Bobtail returned to the cart, he nudged her. In her weak state, she fell, and scraped her claws on the tile after scratching herself. No one noticed and she was hauled to her feet and taken back to the portal, their trip over.

The security footage and evidence was handed over to the cops the next morning. It was on the king's desk by afternoon. The stocking up of foods, most of the kinds of foods they took, it only confirmed the theory. They always warped to this same place. This same room with boarded windows. At this point, Radon was awake, and helped the two others carry all the various foods up the stairs. Aria was quickly brought back to her room. "Why shouldn't we get her to carry the food, she's ours." Bobtail said. "You're so stupid~" The moth insulted her lover with a smile. "She less she knows about where she is, the happier we'll all be." Aria was left in an exhausted pile on the floor of her tiny room, watching as everyone went up and down the tiny stair case and took every bit of food away from the abused pair. The footsteps above her walked down the building, and she could once again hear the two lovers enter their room. Radon was gone down into somewhere else in the structure. She was woozy. She was terrified. She was broken. And she was absolutely starved. The others were gone for the night, and all that delicious food begged to the hedgehog and the bat... Arias shivers had grown and she started to cry uncontrollably. Soft sobs turned to wails as the bat crawled over to her and held her close. Inspecting the cut and using a strip of fabric from her shirt to use as a bandage. The tears subsided as she was in the hands of her lover. Treated with love, with care.

”…I’m…I’m a slave to someone all over again… T-terra I can’t… I can’t do this again! And-and they’re gonna kill you when they’re done with me and use me as a nanny and-“

"Shhh, shh shhh shhh shortcake. Shhhhh… Don’t cry. They aren’t killing me. I won’t let them. No, I’m staying with you… No matter what they want me to do, I’m yours. All yours… Now are you tired?”

She nodded, and Terra carried her to the bed, laying her down on it and snuggling up next to her. The food was forgotten. They had no need to aggravate their captors any further. As they cuddled, Terra brushed arias hair out of her face.

“Sweet dreams”

~°~°~°~°~°~

The king and Manic were at the grocery store, attempting to open up Aria's portal. Due to how long it had been there, the signature was left long enough for a warp to open.

And out jumped a fish.

“What the…” The king stared, having caught the fish. He tossed it back through and stuck his head through the portal.

“They’re in the middle of the ocean apparently… That doesn’t make sense.” "What's not to make sense," Manic said. He'd put it together. It took a moment to register that the king was genuinely confused. "Look... Radon knew that doctor friend Damian had. They knew through a yatch club, a yatch is stolen and all radio communications cut- Aria's so tired cause she's not warping domestically. She's warping from the yatch. They're somewhere out on the open ocean..." He looked through the warp at the endless sea. Miles of open water were visible all around him, and not a single boat. "Get a satellite phone," Manic demanded. "We'l make a call through the warp, and we'll know the general area. We've almost found them, kingy." A second warp was opened and a satellite phone was brought. The coordinates were taken down and a navy officer from a neighboring kingdom was summoned to help located the boat, due to the fact that their homeland was landlocked

"Okay, assume they’re running at top speed and search radially from there. I want that boat found!” He ordered, and the second warp was used to send the captain back to his ship. So close. They were so close.

“So what do we do if we find them?” A young navy seal asked.

“Keep an eye on them and I’ll warp to the boat and fight them.” The king insisted. But was stopped by Damian.

“Not with that heart of yours. I’ll go. She’s my sister”

“You’ve got a child. I’m not risking your life on this”

As they bickered and fought, Scourge's pacemaker would steady his heart, unnoticed by all. "I'm going," Scourge said. Not the king, Manic's husband. They turned to face the felon as he stood at the edge of the room, looking dead set on his decision. "I started this bullshit, I'm ending it." "WE'RE ending it," Manic said, walking up next to him. "Aria's my friend, I'm not letting you go in there alone." He stopped facing his husband and turned to face the two bickering men. "And I'm guessing you aren't taking a no for an answer, are you?" Manic didn't need an answer. "Fine, we're all going." He stretched his arms in front of himself, cracking his knuckles. "You sure you can fight off those three?" Castillo asked, shifting how he stood. "Bobtail and Radon are pretty fucked up. Don't know why Chrysalis is there too, ain't a great fighter..." "Four on three. Two speedsters, a wild card, and someone with claws so sharp they're finer than any other medical blade known to man. We should be fine.” The king insisted.

“Four on four at least. Don’t think that they won’t make Aria fight. She’s just as deadly, even when she isn’t trying. No. Our battle plan is to get Terra out. Aria… Aria can handle herself once her girlfriend is safe. In fact, that’s all that’s keeping the bad guys alive. None of you have seen it, but shes gotten the bad temper of our ancestors. I’m talking pure, unadulterated​ rage. It's scary.” Damian explained, stretching himself out as well and extending his claws to inspect them. The shiny black blades were spotless.

“I’ll be right back. Imma go tell Fiona what we found and ask if she wants to come too.” The king ran off through a portal back to the castle. He found her with Faolán and pulled her aside, explaining everything. "You're gonna get her back?!" The child peeped, eyes widening in excitement at the idea. Fiona smiled at the child briefly, but took the news more sternly. She pulled the king aside to speak to him out of earshot of her child. "You know how dangerous this is," Fiona had to warn him, looking down at the floor. "Bobtail's infamous for his... maiming." She tensed up at the thought of exactly what he did. "I don't want Fao to have to lose anyone." "That’s why I’m going after Bobtail personally. Castillo and Manic are gonna find the girls. Damian is going to find Radon. I’m not putting them in danger if I can. They’ve got families.”

Self sacrificial. Once again, the king left the last shred of self preservation that he had, not with the futures of two very small and very cute children in his hands. He wouldn’t let them become half orphans. But he still tilted her chin up and smiled at her.

“Come on. You know me. I can handle this guy. I’m the fastest thing alive, remember?” He joked, purposely making himself look like an ass to make her smile. He made sure Faolán wasn’t watching, and kissed her in the cheek.

“Consider that a promise. When I get back, you can kick my ass for it.” The king walked off, and met up with everyone else. They were all getting ready for their rescue mission, including Kevlar vests and several other tricks.

“Ready gentleman?” "Just about," Manic said. "We're waiting on the final warp coordinates, but they've pretty much got 'em." "Not yet..." Castillo left hurriedly, searching through the halls until he found his son and former lover in front of their guest room. Without a word, He knelt down, huggin ghis child tightly. All the talk had just been getting him more concerned, and he at least had a vague idea of what this kind of hug meant. "You're gonna come back, right?" He asked. Scourge just patted his back. "We'll be fine, kid." It held for much longer than even Scourge expected it to. There was one final look between Fiona and Scourge before he left, both webbed with labyrinths of emotion, and a beg from Fiona not to die and leave Fao alone. And he was gone. The warp coordinates were starting to be pressed, they didn't have time to wait. "Warp coordinates are set to go. A coast guard's waiting at these coordinates with a motorboat, you'll be no more than 1000 feet from the ship," They were informed, to a diagram of the type of ship in question. "There's a small dock in the hull for a lifeboat, that's how you're entering. Are you prepared?" Manic nodded first. "Totally." Scourge grabbed his brass knuckles, and slid them on. "Is everyone clear on the plan? Castillo and Manic, find the girls. Damian you find Radon. I’m going after Bobtail.”

“What about the other one? The moth lady?”

“She’s not a good fighter apparently. Should be an easy attack…” Scourge strapped a few extra knives to his body, and a handgun in his pocket. Castillo returned and the warp was opened. Scourge was saluted by the navy captain and they all hopped through, staying silent and nervous.

The boat was fast and quiet. Once they were in sight of the yacht in question, the engine was cut and they drifted alongside the boat. Scourge had the captain drop the anchor. The yatch sat patiently. The tiny lifeboat was docked, and the four males stepped over the tiny raft silently, onto the small amount of foothold and started to climb the latter up the boat. Castillo took lead with Manic right behind him, quietly pushing the hatch open onto the main deck. The boat was far from land. VERY far. While it was noon in the kingdom, the sky here was already jet black. This far out, the stars were in full view, but there was little time for sightseeing. The interior of the ship's deck was massive and totally dark. The small flashlight Scourge held spotted a set of stairs in the ship, and they approached the door. Drip. All three stood back as Scourge flinched at the feeling of a drip of some kind. There was some kind of a sitting area on the flydeck that Scourge climbed a ladder to view... Even under the darkness, the three could watch Scourge's face turn colors. Bobtail's work was thorough. Radon was laying on the deck. There were too many cuts across his chest to count from those claws, barely deep enough to bleed, but they covered almost all of his body alongside what looked like chemical burns. Scraps of flesh and skin dangled from his chest, and the many thin cuts bled into a dripping puddle on the deck, almost as much as the massive bludgeon he'd endured to the head. Worst of all, there was a single deep cut in his ribs, not penetrating organs but intended to make him bleed fatally, and what was once the boar's tail lay severed on the hardwood deck. The boar only needed to take a glance at the confused hedgehog to fight through his pain. In a second Scourge was struggling to grab his knife as the felon shoved the stunned hedgehog off balance, only to wrap his severed tail around the hedgehog's neck and attempt to strangle the hedgehog. Manic balked in fear, almost petrified at what he was seeing. Damian was the first to react, grabbing the pig from behind and choking him. The doctor only had to reach under the others arms to use his claws, slicing the tail off of Castillo’s neck and restraining the pig.

“Easy there big guy. Easy. If you simmer down I can heal you up and you won’t die from all the blood loss. But struggling with your heart rate elevated like this will only make it happen faster.”

Of course, the king just punched the other square in the snout and he passed out. He was horrified at the bobcat's level of sadism.

“Okay… Okay heal him up enough so he won’t die and have the guards come and get him. Aria and Terra are more important. They’re probably being held below deck.”

The hedgehog made quick work, and several guards snuck quietly onto the boat and carried the boar off. Scourge pulled up a floorplan of the yacht on his phone and showed the others.

“The girls can be in any of these rooms, but so could stab happy psycho. You two take the left side of the hall, Damian and I will take the right side.” Scourge dictated and the team started to creep down the only hallways on the boat.

The first room was empty, but the bed was tousled. A jacket hung on the chair and a picture in a frame sat on the bedside table of a young female boar.

“Radon's room. They aren’t in here.” The king stated. They moved on to the next room. There were three rooms on either side of the hall. The closest to the stairs were small sleeping quarters. Radon's room and one empty. No one. The second rooms were full bathrooms, the one nearest Radon's room more damp and clearly used. Empty. The last two were smaller sleeping quarters fitted for single people. Nothing. A check to look in all the closets turned up nothing, either. They regrouped at the end of the hall, in a large shared sitting area with a kitchen. "Where else'd they be?" Manic asked, looking at the floorplans. "That only leaves like, the master suite...!" They were out and dashing towards the other stairs down into the isolated master suite in a second. But before they even got there, the girls were out of the tiny children's room used as their jail. Terra was sitting in a chair close to the bed Chrysalis was lounging on. Aria was laying in her lap, with her and Bobtail looking up and down Aria's body. "The boar wanted to trade you for someone else, you know." The moth's fingers felt down Aria's sides as she explained. "And he got wordy, and... Well, you know how my Bobby gets when he sees blood." Blood looked like the last thing on Bobtail's mind. While the moth's fluffy nightgown might have been comfortable, the way those gnarled, clawed fingers groped at Aria and his shameless staring was anything but. "You've been a very good girl. Bobby won't hurt you, I promise. He knows I want a turn, too." Chrysalis was past light touches, now squeezing Aria's chest shamelessly. "There's no risk if you can't have kids, right? You've been a very good girl. Do you want your prize?" She didn't have much of a choice, as Bobtail was already starting to undo her shirt. Aria thrashed around on the bed, screaming through her gag. She writhed against his hands, rendering the bobcat unable to grab her properly. Her hearing had picked up on the footsteps and she needed to buy more time. Eventually she managed to spit the gag out, tears streaming down her face.

“Wait!! Wait wait wait!! I’m sick! The reason I can’t get pregnant is because I’ve got a communicable disease that causes infertility! I had to get a hysterectomy! If you two really are trying for a baby, you’ll want to stay as far away from Terra and I as possible!” Thankfully Aria did have a scar on her lower belly that could pass for a surgical scar.

She wasn’t gonna tell them that moths and cats had a very low chance of birthing a child. She did want to live after all.

The bat still thrashed against her bonds, trying to hide the bloodlust in her eyes. Aria was too close to the others, otherwise the bat would have ripped into them.

The hesitation bought them some time, just enough for the others to slowly approach the door. Their guns locked and loaded, safeties removed. Her screaming could be heard clearl, causing Damian and Scourge to pin their ears to their heads. "You just have A communicable disease?" Chrysalis said, suddenly cold. "Does your disease have a name?" “E-english isn’t my first language. The medical term is something long that I can’t pronounce-” A simple ushering hand had Bobtail stand up, walking over to Terra and holding his claws to her neck, one of the standard threats. "You know, if you don't trust us, just say you're uncomfortable. I don't like liars. Here, we'll even take this off." She removed the tightly knotted cloth formerly wrapped around her mouth, before going to continue undoing her clothes. "I'll be very, VERY gentle. Now, I suggest you get comfortable soon, you don't wanna make Bobby angry again..." "They're all in there, ain't they?" Castillo whispered. "Who's going in first?" They just needed to get Terra safe, and then Aria could handle herself. "I froze up..." Manic admitted. "I'll go first. Scourge, just... Just make sure no matter what, you get Terra safe, okay? Even if I get messed up?" There was a quick kiss between the two, and Manic mentally prepared himself. It was go time. One foot square on the floor, one kicking near the knob. The locked door broke open, startling every occupant of the room. "Freeze, nobody move!" Manic commanded, immediately storming with his gun aimed to the moth and Scourge with his aimed to the bobcat. He was utterly sick at the sight of Aria, knowing she would have been violated if they'd waited even longer. Bobtail forced Terra to stand, using her as a shield. "Clever guys," Bobtail said, grinning. "How'd you find us? You win... now, why don't you leave? If you get any closer, something might happen to your friend..." There was a quick click from across the room. Chrysalis stood behind Aria, pocket pistol in hand and aimed square for Manic's head.

When the door was kicked in, Aria fluffed up her quills a little bit, startled by the loud noise. When she heard Manics voice, she almost cried. She turned to Bobtail and begged. “Sir, give her back. She’s useless to you. I promise I’ll be good and I’ll let you at me however you want just please let her go!”

Damian was almost sick at the sight of his sister begging her captors to release the bat. The bribe offering her body up made him visibly angry and uncomfortable. Scourge felt much the same way.

Terra struggled a little, begging her mate not to do something stupid though the gag around her mouth.

In true Mexican standoff fashion, everyone had a weapon pointed at them. The room grew silent save for aria begging.

“Please ma'am. I promise you’ll never have to see anyone in here again. Just please let her go. I’ll do anything you want.” She continued to beg, shaking again. Bobtail and Chrysalis were many things, but they weren't stupid. They knew about their relationship. They'd seen the rings. Aria might have been willing to revolt if she didn't have her partner's life at risk. "Absolutely not," Chrysalis said. "We're giving you three seconds to start backing out of the room. Three... two..." Manic didn't want to back up. "Please, we can come to-" There was one bang. Then a second, and a third, all from a new revolver in Bobtail's hands. All stood silent for a moment after the shots were fired. The drummer was trying to stay on his feet, truly, but his legs began to quiver. In a moment, Manic toppled to the floor, clutching the new marks in his chest. Scourge channeled all that fear and anger into aiming straight for Bobtail, like Manic had requested. Chrysalis glared back at the group. "We said leave," she reiterated. While she was trying to act stern, there was a brief pause as she looked to Damian. Was he...? No, she must have been thinking of someone else. But still... Her confidence was marked with confusion as she couldn't put a finger on who this person was. Damian dragged Manic back, healing him up behind the cover of the green hedgehogs. The bullets were dug out with his claws and with a soft healing glow, Manic was good as new.

Aria saw the confusion and took the opportunity to tackled the woman, forcing the moth onto her back on the bed, and biting into her wrist so hard that blood was drawn in an effort to get her to drop the pistol.

Terra stumbled back and smashed Bobtail’s head off the wall, dropping like a stone to give the boys a clear shot. A cut on her neck started dripping blood and she managed to scramble out of the cat’s reach. Close enough for Damian to grab her and drag her back behind the wall of protection to be healed.

That left Aria. And she was looking rather angry. As she bit into the moths arm, she felt a crunch or two as the delicate bones in her wrist were broken. As she wailed out in pain, Aria was pulled off of the moth by the bobcat.

She struggled, slamming every part of her body against him as hard as she could. The claws came out and now it was a one on one fight between two borderline crazy individuals. Aria spat out the blood that was in her mouth and rushed at Bobtail, starting to scratch at him. With longer claws she had the advantage, and soon he was peppered with cuts.

The moth grabbed her from behind, choking her. At this point, the king finally had a clear shot and started firing at Bobtail, the bullets hitting their mark. He dropped like a stone.

Aria managed to pin the moth to the wall, claws at her throat. Her growl was far more sadistic than anyone had expected to hear. She was angry and looking for blood. No one was stopping her.

“You think this was gonna be a quick death? Unlikely. I’m going to tear you apart~ now, how about these pretty wings, hmm? They’ll make a wonderful trophy.”

The king had the forethought to cover Terra's eyes as aria clawed the moths wings off. There were many things that Scourge had seen. There were many things that Damian had seen. There were many things Manic's husband had seen. But for all his criminal ties, Manic had never watched someone die. The sight of Bobtail twitching and heaving blood on the ground would have been bad enough, but the terrifying crunches as her delicate wings were stretched off scared him so much, he didn't even thing before acting. He could only move. "Stop... Stop, Ari, stop!" Manic screamed. As angry as he was, he couldn't stand to watch for another second, and in a moment, the fringed hedgehog was trying his damned to stop Aria from totally dismembering the moth. ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ The war room was quite busy. Fiona, Shade, countless people stood around, listening to the recording, watching the grainy footage and trying to tell what needed to be said or done. There was only one person not in the war room that wasn't going castle work. Namely, a little wolf, who had snuck away off into a guest room that hadn't been used for a while. The TV was turned on, but he struggled to find the right channel for his favorite cartoon. This would be quite hard, as not only were the channels different, but it wouldn't air for another hour in this new timezone. Instead, he found a news channel. A channel that was showing pictures of his dad, his stepdad, and their two friends, around footage of some ship with bright lights being shined on it from helicopters. He only possessed basic phonetic skills, but he could put together the flashing words in the corner; 'Breaking News.' "...The ship 'The Sickly Leech' was stolen days before the crime spree had begun, and security expects speculate this is where the victims have been kept the time. We're just now receiving word that the final two suspects have been captured. A moth known as Chrysalis was left in critical condition, and is currently undergoing extensive medical attention. Her partner, Bobtail, was pronounced dead at the scene." But they didn't stick around, leaving the medical care to the professionals. Aria was warped straight to a medical facility far from the middle of the ocean. Manic and the Scourges sat outside the office and only thought about what they had witnessed, while Aria and Terra were left to cling to each other. They had survived hell. They were warm. They were safe. After they were cleaned off of the blood, patched up and left to themselves, Aria started to whine, sobbing into Terra's chest as she clung desperately to her. She sobbed. The doctors couldn’t pry them apart for anything, and for the moment they left them to cope with their trauma.

“I-I almost lost you,” she cried to the bat, constantly moving to heave up air and what looked like coffee grounds into a bucket. The blood she had accidentally swallowed was being purged from her system.

Damian knocked on the door, wanting to see if she was okay. But the sounds of heaving and sobs made him hesitate, looking over at the others. Relieved but concerned. "You're not gonna get in," Manic said quietly. Damian's worn surgical scrubs gave away just how much work had to be done on Chrysalis. They could only imagine how the doctors watching Radon would be doing. "I'm guessing her wings are done for... What did Aria do to her?" “The least. I’ve seen much worse. From other people, from her. You stopped her. It could have been worse.” The doctor shrugged. It wasn't long after the moth's surgery that the police would come in, quietly pulling the king aside to speak. It didn't take long for someone to protest. "That's all well and good, but you can't pardon someone just because they're your friend." An officer said to the king, in spite of their own powerlessness. "Even if she was kidnapped and traumatized, she dismembered a pregnant woman, she at least needs to be psychologically evaluated."

The king, in turn sighed. He thought about it, silently.

“Fine. Fine, you get your evaluation. But not now. Not tonight. She’s heaving up her guts, and unable to focus. Now kindly leave gentlemen. Your presence is not desired here. Maybe go guard the real criminals.”

Scourge turned and walked over to Glare, reading over a paper or two and signing the bottom. He walked up to Manic.

“I have to go to a press conference. The people want to know what happened. You gonna stay here?”

The answer was obvious and the king left. The cops stuck around, waiting.

Inside, aria finished voiding the contents of her stomach and passed out. She was pulled in close by Terra and snuggled. Manic and Scourge just sat with each other. They couldn't enter and interrupt, they needed all the recovery time they could get. The same could go for Manic and Scourge, after witnessing Manic being shot. The spots in the center of his chest where the bullets had hit him were technically healed, but they felt like they were distressingly hollow. So they leaned against each other, kissing and worrying about everything that had just passed. "Did you see what they were wearing?" Manic asked Scourge, in an attempt to keep things lighter. "Engagement rings." He ruffled Manic's quills. "Guess we're gonna have to send another-" "NO!" Manic's shout was intentionally exaggerated just for effect, though the smile gave away just how lightly he was taking the comment. "How much have you spent on that stuff, anyways?!" "Not enough if it ain't worked yet." He schmoozed, already reaching for his phone. "I'm placing another order right now~" This comment was only met with a playful punch to the arm. "You're lucky my ring's too nice to break your nose with." Aria laid in Terras arms, ears pressed as close as she could physically get to her heartbeat. She needed to know her mate was alive, that it wasn’t some dream to pull her away from the horrible reality she had been living in. The bat pet her gently, holding on just as tight.

“You finished throwing up, shortcake?” She asked, offering her mate a sip of water. Aria took it and reached for her mate's hand, playing with her ring.

“What a shitty honeymoon.” Was all she said, voice hoarse as she tried to joke.

“What did I tell you? For better or for worse you’re stuck with me. I just… Wasn’t expecting that.” The bat joked back, kissing Aria's forehead again.

Hours passed, and after the psych evaluation they determined that Aria's starving, dehydrated, drugged state was the cause of the psychotic break. For the most part. Of course there were several doctors interested in such a case, and there were always going to be stragglers wanting to come in to ask more questions to the couple, and in the end, Damian ended up making sure no one came in out of nowhere to see Aria. And then someone came in out of nowhere to see Aria. "Special delivery for, uh... Aria?" A young deliveryman said. A one time exception to an otherwise strict set of rules on Damian's part. The mole shared very few words with the two inside before leaving the present for Aria, a moderately size bouquet of flowers. Carnations, roses, and lilies, in list pinks and rich purples. Scourge was already asleep at this point, sitting up in the waiting area chair, so even if he wanted, he wouldn't have been able to see Aria's reaction to the note tied to the ribbon. "I keep fucking up so badly, I wanna say sorry to your face - Scourge" In Aria's half conscious state, she wouldn’t notice the contents of the bouquet, merely sneezing once or twice before snuggling back up to the bat. Terra however, made sure the flowers were put as far away from the hedgehog as possible.

“He means well, but there are lilies in the bundle and you don’t need to be kept up at night by sneezing.” The bat insisted when Aria's various noises indicated her confusion.

The night was mostly uneventful. A few nightmares here and there from both girls, but nothing too horrible. The next morning had Aria climbing out of the hospital bed and walking her IV over to the bag that Damian had gathered from her apartment. At first she fumbled with the thick gloves she pulled from the bag, struggling to undo the thick Velcro straps. She got it eventually, and returned to bed to stare at her wife. Her eyes drifted along the curves of the bats form, and in a horrid moment of flashbacks and image association, her brain imagined Terra where the moth had been less than 24 hours before. Terra’s wings were far stronger than the moth’s, but Aria knew that it wouldn’t take much pressure to break Terra’s -

No. she wasn’t gonna go there. She refused to even entertain the thought. Thankfully, the king showed up with breakfast, waking up Castillo and Manic on the way in. Manic and Scourge's attempts to comfort were very different. Manic was in the camp of getting a little quieter and acting calmer. Scourge more focused on acting casual, the same as always. And when they entered, it was already obvious that they were doing their best to try and be comforting. "Heeeey, Ari." Manic said with a nervous smile. Almost everything he wanted to say would have only hurt the case. "How are you feeling, dude?" Scourge stsood to the side and watched the conversation, letting the two talk about their trauma. The flowers had arrived, he could see that, but they were placed far from Aria and weren't even acknowledged. He was going to need something good to come into the conversation with. "We saw those rings," He eventually said. "Congrats. When's the wedding?" “Ah.. Um… How long-”

“A week,” the king said, offering her the food he brought. The two ate greedily, trying to fill empty bellies as politely as possible.

She counted on fingers and blushed a little, playing with Terra's hands “Um… Last week.”

“Yeah, but when’s the wedding?” The king prompted.

“Last week. We.. We got married that day that I was planning that romantic evening… I’m sorry.” She pressed her ears to her head, having lost her fire. Now she was afraid that the boys would react badly. She needed to change the subject.

“Thanks for the flowers… They’re really pretty but I’m -” she interrupted her sentence with a sneeze or two.

“-allergic to lilies” That comment caught Scourge and Manic by surprise. The two glanced between each other subtly. "Uh, Manic, you go and-" "I can't go, we've gotta have the whole wedding afterparty right here!" Manic said, walking close to the bashful eaters. "Come on, you guys just gonna sit around eating hospital food and crap? No, we're gonna take y'all someplace fancy and celebrate!" Manic sat a short distance from Aria, patting her back to give her comfort but also offering space. "Hey, Scourge can use his warp ring in this zone, right? We could head back to my homecity." His massive fringe hit against itself as he wrenched his head around to look at Scourge. "How's Mezzaluna sound?" "Overpriced and snooty," Scourge responded. "Perfect." “No. No I don’t wanna draw any attention to us any more than we have to.” She insisted. She seemed slightly uncomfortable with the hand on her arm, but said nothing.

Terra nodded in agreement. “I don't want a big fuss either. Especially not after what happened. Once this all goes away, then maybe. But for now, I’ve got all I need right here.” She nuzzled her mate's cheek gently as Aria's broken purr sounded. It was so out of use it almost hurt to listen to it.

“I’m sorry… Again.” she mumbled quietly, still very afraid of the backlash.

“Hey, it's okay. You’ve been though a lot. Did you want us to tell anyone?”

The newlyweds looked up at each other. Conversing quietly amongst themselves.

“Yeah. Tell Damian and Fiona. But no one outside of that group.” Manic smiled and nodded. "We can bring any celebration you want right here. Nobody's gonna hear, trust me." Even as he tried to put on enthusiasm, he was still going to get serious. It was inevitable after everything that had happened. "I've kinda been following the news and all that crap," Manic said. "I mean, there's a lot of coverage, but they ain't saying you two were the victims. You aren't gonna get hounded by press or anything, try not to worry about that stuff." "How's it looking for 'em?" Scourge asked finally, not realizing exactly what he was saying until it was too late. The pause weighed heavy. "Radon survived somehow. Chrysalis is getting a lot of surgery, but she's probably going to live. But Scourge's bullets..." “Guys. Not the time… Besides, how was I supposed to know he was on blood thinners?” The king defended himself and Aria.

Aria curled up into herself and covered her ears. She didn’t wanna hear it. She was far more sensitive to this than Terra was, probably due to the fact that she indirectly killed someone. Scourge was taking it better, but was still bothered clearly. At Terra’s insistence they all left.

“Maybe Faolán should pop in… It may make all three of them feel better…” The king started. It was easy to arrange, and the green hedgehogs hurried to find the little wolf who had wandered off in the castle. Getting to head out somewhere with his dad was all the incentive he needed. Getting to finally see Aria again made him feel like he'd won the lottery. "Ari!" That little voice could he heard yelling before he was even in their room. Small claws scratched against the floor as he rushed up to Aria, hopping onto the hospital bed and giving her a bear hug. He was so close to losing one of his friends, he couldn't help but hug her. He only pulled back when he noticed Aria's hand, followed by Terra's. "Woooah." He said, taking a close look at Aria's ring before looking back up with a toothy smile. "You guys got friendship rings!" Aria was surprised to hear tiny footstep, but hugged Faolán tightly, sniffling quietly as she hugged him and trying not to cry.

Terra rubbed Faolán’s back, and both laughed when he mentioned the rings. He was pet and scratched behind the ears as the couple snuggled close.

“No sweetie… We got married.” She insisted, kissing his forehead. She wanted to see Fiona too, but the tiny bundle of joy was enough. He looked up at the newlyweds, looking vaguely confused. The wolf wore his feelings quite clearly on his face, so Aria could watch as he realized these facts for himself. Ooh, THAT'S why she kept bringing her friend over! "Woah..." He said, realizing he'd missed this entire relationship going on in front of him. "But don't you have to have a wedding, and cake, and dresses? Are you havin' it soon? Is Muttski gonna be there?" “Ah… Maybe not for a little while yet. My family does things a little differently than your father and Manic did… It's a little complicated. So tell me how school has been.”

She prompted him to talk, even if it was about nothing at all. Faolán’s innocence was a welcome change from all the somber adults and the traumatic situation both Aria and Terra had been through. A breath of fresh air. As aria happily listened to Faolán’s chatter, Terra merely held onto her wife. Maybe one day they might have their own child, but that time was far away. Still, it was a nice dream.

The king sat down and rubbed the bridge of this nose, sighing. He needed a break and a drink badly. The subtle scent of smoke that came in with him hinted at his nervous habit of puffing on a cigarette when he got overwhelmed. Fao could find a way to talk about anything for a while. The arts projects they worked on in class? The room at the castle? Some foreign soap opera he found flipping through channels? No matter what, he could talk with a simple fascination. Scourge and Manic wanted to watch the child talk on and on, finding this just as theraputic. Scourge was alone in that moment. Some doors closed outside, followed by a nurse quietly saying, "Ma'am, you can't smoke outside the building." The couples and the little boy didn't notice a single word of that. Out of the corner of his eye, Scourge would see a uniformed ram motioning for someone to put out a cigarette as they walked inside. The vague flicker of a tail he saw was immediately identifiable, if the voice wasn't. Soon, she was walking towards the room, creaking the door open ssilently. "Where's the smoking room?" Fiona asked quietly. “There isn’t one. Come on, let’s go outside until you’re finished. Besides, you can kick my ass better out there."

The last time he had seen her, he’d kissed her. Something he didn’t regret. But that was an internal thought and one she wasn’t liable to hear.

"She’s doing… Well… Better than what she was. Still scared as hell though. The nurses say the nightmares are really bad unless Terra and her share the bed. It's… Scary. We almost lost them.”

He sat on a bench and looked up at her.

“So you gonna hit me or what?” He joked, lightening the mood. Fiona was taking her time smoking. She took in the smoke slowly, drawing out the relaxation. That week had been rough on everyone, and felt like much longer than it was. She was more or less expecting this cigarette to make up for a terrible week of stress, and wasn't succeeding. "She's a good kid," Fiona said finally. "Kind of square, but good. Wish she didn't have to deal with this..." Another long drag. "What did they do to her?" "Drugged. Starved. If we hadn’t got there when we did it would have been much much worse. She’s safe now, and that’s all that matters… I guess I should tell you, you know that day when she was cooking that dinner for Terra? You and Faolán were out of the house all night I think…. Anyways, they got married. Aria is now Mrs. Bat”

He puffed on his own cigarette, but then crushed it under his heel. “I need something stronger to smoke than this.”

“You gonna go see her?” The amount of time he had to wait for an answer told him plenty on its own. "My men failed," she said quietly, "And all this shit happened. She won't have to pay her hospital bills..." She knew Aria would likely forgive her, and if she didn't, that was the end of that. But regret and fear weren't the only things on Fiona's mind. "Thank you. For finding Aria, I mean." She was still looking away, not wanting to face a Scourge head on as she said those last few words. "You're a good king." "Your men failed nothing. Their job is to protect you, and since you weren’t home they didn’t notice. Aria isn’t mad at you, I promise. No one blames you for anything.”

He was taken aback by the compliment but smiled a little at her. “Thank you. Coming from you that means a lot.”

He patted the seat next to him for her to join him. She would have to go in eventually but they could wait. Fiona mostly sat in silence, smoking away and trying to stay calm. There were many mixed emotions, and Fiona wished she could just get rid of them all. She couldn't, all she could do was cope. And for how pissed she was at the king before, she needed plenty of time to cope. "You brought up some bad shit for me just by... existing." She said, not realizing how blunt the words sounded as they came out. "I fucked up bad. I'm probably going to get that pissed again for no reason." She just felt- well, if asked, broken would have been the word that would come out, but humbled would be more accurate. "Don't take it personally when it happens, I'm just... an ass." She looked down at the cigarette, watching as the tiny bit left crumbled to ash and fell to the ground. One more heavy sigh sent smoke flowing in the air in front of her. "I’m… Aware that my presence may be jarring… Or uncomfortable… I’m kind of annoying, really. But if you want me to leave you alone, just say the words and you’ll only hear from me when any of the group talks about me or something to that effect. I do care about you and if me not being around would help you then I’m gone…”

Scourge lit a cigarette of his own, the thin trails of smoke leaving his mouth as well. He watched the trail curl in the air and disappear. They sat in silence for a bit longer, the king leaning his head back on the bench and closing his eyes as he exhaled.

He was tired. Very tired. They all were. But really, what could he do? He was needed by everyone at the hospital and this was his first chance to relax. In the stressful week, the bags under his eyes had gotten worse, and so had the shallow wrinkles around his mouth. His laugh lines were prominent, but he sure hadn’t been doing a lot of smiling as of late. Even Fiona seemed more aged than usual. Sure, she did her best to stave off even the smallest signs of aging, but tiny creases and marks would always get through. Mouth creases. She could never figure out mouth creases, and there were more than enough signs of exhaustion in the creases under her eyes mostly covered in makeup and that dazed look in her eyes. "I feel ten years older," Fiona said. She didn't quite look it, but she wasn't far off. "I need everything to stop for five minutes and let me breathe." They let smoke from the king's cigarette rise in silence. It wasn't forgiving the king, but it definitely wasn't telling him to go. Shapes spiraled and grew into the air, giving her at least something to watch. "She'll be fine, right?" ”… There’s a lot of trauma. She’ll be fine eventually, but for now she’s not at her best. She can’t even sleep without Terra next to her. Its gonna be a long time before she gets back to normal, if she ever does. But she’s still gonna be fine. She’s stronger than we all think… But the courts aren’t even taking her case. She wasn’t and still isn’t in her right mind. However the devils that kidnapped her are going to court for sure.“ He was rambling. Trying to explain it all and slowly losing his train of thought. The week of no sleep was catching up to him and he hated it. The king wanted nothing more than to fall asleep on the bench. "Ten years is an understatement. I’m far too old for this.” "No one's old enough for this crap. I want to forget everything." Sleep. Everyone needed sleep She didn't realize just how little she had been sleeping or just how heavy her eyelids felt right then and there. They all deeded to pass out and catch up on a week's worth of rest. "I'm going to talk to her," Fiona started, but she wasn't standing yet. "I owe you. For saving Aria and putting up with me and- everything." There was a fear behind her dazed eyes. "We both need a lot of sleep. Have your guards watch Fao tonight. I want to..." A nervous swallow. "I want to spend tonight with you. Without getting drunk for once, I want to remember it. I can trust you." Did she believe that in her heart, absolutely not. But she knew the king was good, even if she didn't want to really admit it. He looked over at her, a little surprised, but smiling softly at her. He wouldn’t turn down a request like that, not from her. However..

"You need a good night’s sleep first. So do I. I won’t be able to rest until tonight, and I might fall asleep on you.” He was joking clearly, but his hold off on their relations a was at the very least a logical response. He cared for her well being more than she cared for his, that was obvious to him. Regardless, she deserved respect.

“No thanks is required. But we should probably go back in before everyone wonders where we went.” He got up, put his cigarette out and offered his hand to Fiona. Us? She'd barely peeked into the room, surely they hadn't noticed, right? It seemed like she wasn't concerned when she grabbed Scourge's hand and helped herself to her feet. "If Fao's talking, he'll keep them distracted for a while," she said. A laugh came out, but she wasn't letting herself smile just yet. She was close to acting warm, just not quite there yet. When the door was opened, Faolán spun around and looked surprised at the sight of his mother. His ears drooped and his tail stopped wagging a bit, signs Fiona was used to seeing. "We can stay here, don't worry." This looked like it calmed his worries. The fox turned her attention back to Aria, instantly noticing all the major and minor signs of trauma and temporary reprieve. "I can't believe someone broke in. They're being demoted so far for letting anyone past-" There was a heavy inhale to help her calm down. "You've been through hell, ain't you? I can call down a therapist I know. If he's willing to warp to a client, anyways..."

Aria waited for Fiona to get close enough to hug as well. Faolán ended up squished between them, but not for long as Aria let go shortly after.

"I’m sorry… Just… I was worried about you. Both… All of you. It was terrifying but I’m home now and it’ll all go away… I think a therapist would be a good idea… But not today."

Aria snuggled Faolán like he was a teddy bear, but not so tight that he was unable to escape.

"You are the perfect size for hugs munchkin,” she joked with him, suppressing her trauma to make him smile. "Stoop!" The wolf smiled and giggled as Aria hugged him, but let her hug him, even if it make him blush. Faolán didn't know what happened to Aria specifically, only that it was very, very bad. A friend helps a friend, and Aria definitely seemed like she needed help. It wasn't common for it to occur. In fact, it hadn't happened in years and years, not since Manic and Scourge had moved away together. But if Aria had peeked up at just the right time and the wolf's paws weren't jokingly pushing her away, she would have seen Fiona and Scourge smiling at the same time. What was good for Aria was good for them. What was good for Faolán was good for them. And seeing them both happy after everything pushed them over the edge at just the right time. "Oh, yeah-! Mom, mom, did you hear?! About Aria and Terra and-?!" The excited smile gave away what he was about to say. "Didn't she say to keep it a secret buddy?" Manic teased, giving the child a coy smile and getting one right back. Fiona just nodded. "No one's supposed to get in with my permission." There was that smug undercurrent to her voice that always meant she knew more than she let on. "Not even a reverend." "Ah, no Reverend required. We don’t do it that way where I’m from… Besides, its more of a done deal than it is something that requires a religious figure.”

Aria motioned to the wedding bands on her finger and Terras, then continued to snuggle the little wolf. “You lil’ munchkin! Don’t go spilling secrets now!”

All was peaceful for once. Aria and Terra were left alone so everyone could go home to sleep. Aria rolled over and faced her mate, meeting her eyes.

“Can’t sleep either?”

“No. I’m just scared of what’s going to happen if this is all a dream,” Aria admitted.

“Its not. We’re safe. Its over.”

~~

At the castle, Scourge had found Fiona in the sitting room and offered her a nightcap.

“Here. Knocks you out like you wouldn’t believe.” "Thanks, but I don't need the help." She smirked a little as she took the drink. "I'm ready to pass out right now." That didn't meant she wasn't going to take the drink. Far from it, she was happy to have something to calm her nerves. The worst of it was over, it was time to celebrate. If having one glass of irish cream and passing out immediately was going to have to count for celebrating, so be it. "Thanks for letting Fao stay, too." Fiona said, not loosened up a little from the drink and smiling a bit. "He just goes on and on about sneaking out of the room and exploring." The thought made her smile, and even laugh a bit when she heard his tiny clawed feet running down one of the massive hallways. "Of course. It's the least I could do.” He raised his glass to her and smiled. “To everyone being safe and sound.”

As he savored the alcohol, he smirked. “He has almost the entire castle as his playground. Just not the old tower. That one is slated for demolition. But I locked those doors and guards are stationed there so he should be fine as long as he stays in the main building… And don’t pass out on me now, I’m far too tired to carry either of us to bed.”

He set the glass down and looked at her. “Would you mind helping me change the bandages on my chest? Nurses have gone home and I can’t do it myself.” "Hope you get some energy soon, I won't make it to bed either." Fiona was already up, returning with the bandages Scourge had requested shortly after, as those tiny clawed feet scuttled further and further until they were out of earshot. "Ah, thanks Fiona. I appreciate it.” The king pulled off his jacket and slowly undid the bandages. Faolán was running. Running and running. He loved the sound of his claws clacking against the various floors, and halls that already felt large to adults felt absolutely gargantuan to the little kit. Let's see, where had he explored already? There was that TV room down that fork to the left- Yeah, there was a fork right he hadn't looked down! The fork right took him past doors to meeting rooms, exits outside, and one old door with a greenhorn guard standing out front.  Oh, Faolán was a troublemaker in the making, he knew exactly what door he was going into. He was mostly innocent, sure, but he was still the son of a master thief and a crime boss. He knew that puppydog eyes and a good lie could get him far. "Hey, mister!" He said, running up to the guard. "He said-" Crap! He didn't have a plan, he had to fumble something together right then! "The king said he- He wants you to go to the-" What rooms had the king talked about before? "The wine room! Right now!" The command at the end was said with the same delivery his mother always used.

Faolán’s adorable nature was working exactly how he wanted it to.

“Ah, and when did we get such a young messenger?” The guard cooed, teasing the wolf. They had all been warned of a child running around, but assumed that he was just a child of one of the new servants.

“Right away young sir!” The guard bowed to leave, and Faolán was left with free reign of the great hall, now repaired except for the locked study. But there was so much more to look at!!

The space was wide open, and the marble was perfect for running. As he was in a different corner, there was movement in the opposite corner of the hall, and the sounds of someone descending the stairs.

Fiona stood there, leaning on the railing and looking less than amused with the child.

“Should you be down here young man?” Faolán was surprised at Fiona appearing out of nowhere, but not for the normal reason. She didn't look right. She wasn't wearing her makeup... or was she? She didn't have some of those wrinkles she normally did, and her clothes looked totally out of character for her. More than that, she didn't appear to be totally present, as though anything that touched her would phase right through without resistance. Like a ghost. His tail had stopped wagging and he did look apologetic, but he didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry," he said. What else could he say? What was going on? He started walking back towards Fiona, not wanting to make her angry. "You are... Are you my mom?" He'd heard of alternates, but didn't know quite what that meant until that moment. "What do you think the answer is my dear?” She sat on the staircase, looking over at him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. Come here. We should get you to bed… But first, I know little pups like you love to explore. Wanna go see something cool? This castle has a ton of secrets I would be happy to show you before bedtime little one.”

She radiated calmness and peace. A benevolent spirit at best. She was a safe place. Now that he was looking at her more, he was realizing that she didn't look as similar to his mother as he thought. There was a little dimple, smile lines, and a real air to the way she held herself that his own mother didn't have. This would have been enough of an amazing discovery for one night. But she came with an offer of more adventure? "Yeah!" He squeaked, that fluffy tail wagging faster as he started getting more uncomfortable around the lookalike. Would he mention it was already past his bedtime? Absolutely not. "I- I already found a lot of the rooms! Like the kitchen, and the- the big hall with all the paintings of fields and mountains, and the big meeting room with a lot of chairs, and... ...!" "Well you’ve sure found some cool places. Let’s see what else I can show you.” She got up and dusted herself off, climbing the stairs and waiting for him to follow.

There was a little room off to the side of a hall that had been locker, and she pretended to unlock it while she just fazed her hand through the door to unlock it on the other side.

The room was dark, but she was actually glowing enough to provide light. It was a room of a bunch of scrolls, but she motioned for the boy to peak through a hole in the wall.

The spot lead to the great hall they were just in.

“We used to watch balls of all sorts from this room. It was so much fun.” She started explaining the lavish parties, and some other castle ghosts started to appear around the great hall, dancing to a tune only they could hear. The guests seemed wary of anyone watching on them. Perhaps this was a private ball? The ghosts didn't quite look the part, not all of them anyways. And even with one eye pressed to the hole, anyone could see the little wolf's eyes go large with wonder. All these familiar figures...! People he felt like he barely remembered, faces he passed by in time gone by and never quite remembered. Who was the blue hamster, or the yellow fox, or the brown snake? Whoever they were, Fao wanted to meet them, maybe even join the ball. But how could he? There wasn't any music to dance to... Music...! "They need music!" He surmised, not quite realizing the ghosts could hear their own melodies. He desperately looked around the small room, but couldn't see anything. No cd player or instruments or anything, though he was interested in what looked like a wood box with a needle and a large funnel attached. "Hmm, well maybe a little won’t hurt. But let me show you what this does.”

She gently taught him how to turn it on, and a simple tune played. A slow dance, matching up to all the couples moving.

“There you go little one, some music to listen to.” The dance continued slowly, and the queen looked over at him

“What else would you like child? A dance? Maybe a snack? This castle is all for the exploring. And I know it better than most anyone.” A snack sounded good. Exploring sounded good. But most of all, this music sounded good. Through the scratches and bumps of the victrola record was a graceful waltz, slow and simple but powerful therein. And suddenly, sadness hit him like a truck. Ears pressed down, his hands fidgeted together. "My mom's never got the time for going on trips and stuff." He said. The queen looked similar, sure, but she wasn't his mom. She wasn't right there. What was he supposed to do? It wasn't her, but maybe getting close would feel good... right? "How do you dance?" The little wolf said, holding out one hand like he was going to hold the queen's hand. The queen, in all her motherly attitude, reached out to take the hand far smaller than her own. He reminded her of what could have been. The future she had lost. An adorable form of torment.

She felt cool. Not like ice, but like he was holding onto mist, and his fingers slid right through her hand a little as she got up.

"I’m sorry about that little one. She should spend more time with you. She’s very lucky to have an amazing son like you. Now, hang on tight and step back when I step forward.”

It was a bit of a hobble at first, but the simple dance was easily done. The pace of the music was slow, allowing him to get used to movements so foreign it was almost a new language.

“Maybe ask your mother to dance with you sometime?” He nodded at the comment. This didn't feel right. Yeah, he was dancing with A Fiona, but it wasn't his mom. While she could hold onto his hands, she couldn't hold them correctly. As much as he tried to force himself to enjoy the dance, he wasn't buying it. "My mom's been real busy." He said, trying to focus on the simple waltz. "But my friend got in a lot of trouble, and she's been really scared." Where would she be now? Would she be drinking o calm her nerves or asleep? Wherever it was, it wasn't in front of him now. "When's the next dance?" He asked, a spark of hope in his eyes. "Maybe- Maybe I could dance with her then!" "Maybe you should ask the king if he’ll hold one for you. This hall has gone far too long without a dance. But you don’t need the fancy ballroom to dance with your mother. You could always just ask her when you’re in the living room or something.”

She twirled him a little bit and kept dancing, smiling down at him. “You’re good at this. She would probably love to dance with you”

~~~

Scourge winced as Fiona cleaned out his scars with the gauze soaked in some sort of disinfectant.

“Ahh- mmm. That hurts like hell,” he groaned. "Shouldn't you be used to this?" Fiona prodded, her humor still stuck behind stoic remnants after her blow-up. But even as she pretended to be cold, her hands went softer as they tried to tuck and pull at certain bandages. She didn't use too much, right, this wasn't going to hurt? Her hands clapped. "There, good as... Eh, good enough, anyways." They weren't quite as tightly wound or professionally done, but they would serve their purpose and keep those scars covered and protected for a while. There were rumors. Terrible, awful rumors about things that might have happened to the king in years gone by. And Fiona was one of the people who knew their real meaning. She was used to dealing out punishments, but Scourge couldn't have done anything wrong as a child. It was just another layer of sympathy for the king she didn't quite want to admit she was harboring. The winces and grunts weren't making this any easier for her. "I feel like I haven't slept in months." The fox stood up, offering a hand to help the king to his feet. Sympathy was making her a sucker. "How much do you want to bet I'll pass out before you get to your room? This, whether she realized it or not, was the king being vulnerable to her. He was showing her the literal scars of his past and praying she wouldn’t flinch or say something. Half of him wanted her to. His groans of pain were subtle, he didn’t want to drive her away.

"I’m not carrying you,” was all he joked, taking her hand and getting up. He walked with her slowly up to their rooms, taking his time.

Faolán, after the ghost queen had helped him raid the kitchen for snacks, was taken by the hand. The queen guided the sleepy kit to his bed and tucked him in.

“It's bed time now little one. Your mother is on her way up. Sweet dreams.”

She kissed his forehead, the same soft mist that was felt when he held her hand. The queen kept watch over the little one, protecting him while she waited for the alternate. The sleepy wolf nodded to the queen, warm and comfortable, and full of stolen snacks he shouldn't have had. That's all he really wanted out of Fiona was a friend. But it didn't feel the same from this ghost queen. The door swung open, and Fiona walked in alone, rubbing her eyes. She was surprised to see her son already in his bed, but at least happy he was comfortable. "I'll be right back. Good night, Fao." Fiona told the child, utterly exhausted from the long, agonizing day. The kiss on the forehead made him feel comfortable, sure, but he was still just a bit confused as his mother went to get her sleeping clothes from her bag. Why wasn't she reacting to the ghost? As Fiona left, the queen looked over at the little boy and smiled softly.

"Sweet dreams little one. I’ll be leaving now.” She whispered, pulling away and fixing her dress.

“In case you were wondering, no, she can’t see me. It would upset her, so no telling about any of this okay?” She pet him gently and left, walking out of the doors and fading away until she was gone.

Scourge followed the music that hadn’t been turned off to the closet. He was surprised, no one had been in there in years. How had Fao gotten the door unlocked? And how did he learn to turn that machine on? The king turned it off and stepped into the great hall. Empty, but he relived the memories. Of course the music that would play at castle balls was always more complicated, but the simple waltz did echo the music that would always be played. Slow dances between all varieties of couples, Scourge himself included. Maybe it was Fiona's visit that night, or maybe it was just the thought of something nice after so much misery. Whatever it was, this situation made him feel comfortable, like he was about to have another dance years after the fact. Like Fiona was right there ready for one more dance with her king. The memories didn't feel as racked with regret as they could quite often. They felt comforting somehow. Somewhere between the sad acceptance of what had happened and the comfortable memories could onl leave him smiling and silently wishing to step back in time and experience a ball again. If he had listened close enough, he might have heard the faintest sounds of a waltz playing from seemingly nowhere in the castle. Everyone went to bed after that, Fiona getting into bed after tucking Faolán in a little tighter and pulling the sheets over herself. The little wolf was fast sleep, dreaming of more ghosty adventures.

The king, distracted by the unusual calmness of his thoughts, laid in bed on his back, looking up at the ceiling. His heart beat its own rhythm against his ribs and that managed to put him to sleep where he dreamed of ranging at a ball with a red fox, but which one was hard to pick.

Aria and Terra were falling asleep as well, curled so tightly together that in the dark it was hard to tell where one started and the other began. The hedgie felt safe wrapped in her mate's wings. Scourge and Manic were comfortable in their own way, holding each other in the back of their van and laying down on the seats, the bullets Manic took still fresh in their minds. Scourge ran his hands over those spaces where Manic was hit, truly hoping the damage was done. "You're being real cuddly tonight," Manic said. "It's nice." "Don't act like I'm soft," Scourge said, knowing full well he was at least a little bit soft. Manic just laughed lightly and moved a little closer, completely comfortable in Scourge's arms. "You're thinking about those flowers, ain't you?" He wasn't wrong. Of course, they didn't mean the bouquet they had ordered for Aria, they meant the flowers at her apartment. Many bouquets of apology flowers had been left outside of her apartment. Many had dried and withered, and some still held their own. All of them would have to be cleared out, but as annoying as that might have seemed, there was one thing Aria couldn't ignore. Each of the flowers, regardless of the service, came with a small note of some kind. "I don't know why I did that shit, I'm sorry - Scourge" "Do you want to punch me or some shit, I know I ruined everything - Scourge" "I want to make things right Ari - Scourge" Note after note, apology after apology for Scourge's actions. But ultimately, it would be up to Aria if he would be allowed back into her life. For now, thought, she was alive, and that's all they needed. Of course, having someone else to cuddle up to or think about certainly helped, and everyone was getting that extra bit of help. Hell was over, and a new day was coming.

[ncmagroup]

Pallav      

107.81 billion emails are sent every day and while 10% of it is spam other 90% serious communication is sometimes converted to spammy looking email due to certain bad practices.

A few days ago we received an email from one of our team member Leo and his signature was awful. It was way bigger than the email text itself which made him our running gag for the day. Before that, I got a cold email in which I was CC along with 30 other senior management people from different companies.

Emails like these leave a bad reputation and negatively impacts the communication with the senders and this article will try to address one such disastrous problem of poor email signatures.

Let’s look at some of the annoying practices of email signature and if you do it too, maybe try to tone it down a bit –

Listing Out All Your Contact Details

The main aim of the signature is to let others know who you’re and how to get in touch with you apart from email. This does not mean you list out every single contact detail and slap it at the end.

Don’t be this guy,

Instead, make it look good so it reflects your personality, like this

You can also keep signatures simple and add 2-3 other contact details like phone number, skype id or even one of your social media profiles where you’re most active. Listing down 5-10 contact details will only confuse the other person and may jeopardize your privacy.

Alternatively, if you still want to add all your contact details, maybe mention in the end what’s the most preferred way to reach you.

  Using An Image As a Signature

Granted that you can customize your signatures in every possible way with an image, doesn’t mean you should. Most of the email servers do not render images in the first go and always require the receiver’s permission. This is why you would often see a message like this when you open an email

If you’re already presenting your recipient’s trusted contact list, it might work out for you but otherwise, the recipient will only see your email text without any signature. There are various security reasons why it is not advisable to allow images to display in email and users following this advice would never see your signature.

Not only this, images increase the size of the email and thus increases the loading time. Users having slow internet connection might suffer.

To top it off, how do you expect people to copy information from your signature image?

If you still want to take a chance an alternative way is to specify an ‘alt’ text for your signature image. ‘alt’ text means alternative text and will appear if your image is not rendered properly.

To specify ‘alt’ text in your signature’s image you need to add an ‘alt’ attribute to signature’s HTML image tag which would look something like this:

<img src=”https://yoursite.com/signature-image” alt=”Alternative text for your signature” >

  Using Large Images in Signature

Remember the email signature which was even bigger than the email text? One of the reasons – the sender added a big logo of her company in the signature. Though her intention might have been to get her brand noticed, it ruined my experience. And I honestly confess, I didn’t reply to her with full enthusiasm as I generally do.

Placing a small logo of your company would probably be the best but make sure it is accommodated in a way that it doesn’t attract too much attention. And sadly even ‘alt’ text won’t work well here because when the image is absent it might show – ‘CompanyName Logo’ or simply ‘CompanyName’.

  Using Mobile Friendly Signatures

Did you know – In 2014, 48% of total email opens occur from mobile phones or tablets. Depending on your target audience, your product, etc. the email opens from mobile varies from 15-48%.

This is enough of a reason to optimize your email signature for small screens. There are various possibilities of how you achieve this,

By using only text and no images.

By using small CSS icons.

By using tiny images which don’t increase the size of the email and doesn’t look bad even if they are not rendered. Example:

  Adding Irrelevant Information At The End

So you chose to add random inspirational quotes at the end of your signature. This is what you suppose others to say?

Something else that can put off people is a big legal disclaimer at the end. Though it might be required at some companies due to company policy, it is mostly annoying and legally meaningless. Trust me, you can do without it.

If you really have to send a nondisclosure or legal disclaimer, it is better you send that information via secure channels in an encrypted format.

Too many disclaimers have led people to come up with interesting counters and trolls. This is what you find at the end of Neil Patel’s email.

Let’s look at one more – a green tree icon with a message like,

I wish you appreciated the irony of having your emails printed.

  Too Much Content In The Signature That Causes Unpredictable Wrapping

Adding too much content to a single line in your signature might end up being wrapped in an unexpected way. To avoid this try to accommodate less than 72 characters in one line of your signature.

According to email standards, a single line containing more than 72 characters is wrapped on to the next line. To avoid unsightly wrapping, try to accommodate less than 72 characters and add info in multiple lines.

  Don’t Use Tiny URLs or Shortened Links

Marketers use third party link shortening tools to track link clicks, be it from ads or any other place. Some of the famous tools like bit.ly, tinyurl.com, ow.ly, etc. have been around for years but using them in emails (like signatures) can seriously affect your email deliverability.

This is due to the fact that link shorteners mask the original URL and is used by spammers as well.

A better way to track link clicks is by adding UTM parameters to the original URL which is then tracked within your analytics system like Google Analytics.

  “Sent from my iPhone”

It was a brilliant idea by Apple to put that as a default signature but it doesn’t mean you should leave it as is. You don’t add ‘Sent from my Dell Vostro’ while sending an email from your laptop then why not change it in iPhone/iPad.

On a lighter note,

And before you go, check out this super funny video of how ‘Declaration of Email Signature’ would have been signed back in the day. And if you think I missed any common gaffe, let’s discuss that in the comments.

Go to our website:   www.ncmalliance.com

Do Me A Favor And Change Your Email Signature Pallav       107.81 billion emails are sent every day and while 10% of it is spam other 90% serious communication is sometimes converted to spammy looking email due to certain bad practices.

[torentialtribute]

NASSER HUSSAIN: It was the same old story for England’s flimsy batsmen

It was the same old story for thin England … from somewhere they have to find specialized batsmen who contribute great runs

England & # 39; s batsman looked thin again the second Ashes Test at Lord & # 39; s

This was just a normal test field and somehow England was 138-6

Jason Roy is a top talent but his best position in Test cricket is in middle order. ]

By [NasserHussainvoordeDailyMail

Published: 19:31 BST, August 15, 2019 | Updated: 19:31 BST, August 15, 2019

It was the same old story from England. How many times have we seen batsman step in and out of batsman, so they needed a few lower orders to save them. They just looked very thin again.

Only one person on this side has an average of more than 40 – Joe Root – and that tells you everything you need to know about the ongoing batting problems from this English side

That was the reason why I got upset when England seemed to consider engaging another all-rounder in Sam Curran for this second Specsavers test instead of their No. 4 in Joe Denly. Somehow they have to find specialized batters who can contribute large runs.

England must find specialized bats somewhere after a thin display again

Yes , Josh Hazlewood bowed brilliantly when this game started on Thursday, but this was hardly a repeat of those times, as against Ireland here just a few weeks ago, when there was enough on the field.

This was just a normal test field that did a little bit and somehow England was 138 for six. They also do not help themselves with their lack of attention to those small details that they must be good if you want to succeed at test level.

I still think opening the batting in a test in England should be a specialist position, but someone like Jason Roy will probably only come out once in about 20 innings as he is at the top of the order plays.

He is clearly a special talent in white-ball cricket, but at this level against the moving ball I maintain Roy & # 39; s best position in Test cricket is in the middle order.

Similarly, England should not cut and change any other test as they did in the bad old days of the 80s and 90s, so I could understand if they want to give it a longer chance than this as a opener to get it right.

Roy is a special talent , but I keep his best position in Test cricket is in the middle order

However, you may think again and there will be a discussion among the selectors about whether Roy works at the top of the order. Nobody says he can't get out and hit a hundred as a test opener, but it is the consistency of grinding runs away and whether he can leave the ball better and play with softer hands.

Denly played really well and got a very good ball, but the challenge he faces, along with Rory Burns, is that the more the opposition you see, the more ways they will find you to get you out . Hence the effective short things here.

Carrot is a concern because it increasingly gets away from lbw. The captain changed his trigger movement slightly back and forth because he stepped out of the channel outside the stump, but the problem now is that bowlers go straight to him and are successful. It is something Root must look at and spread out on.

Another of those finer details can be found in the order because you can't tell me that Jos Buttler is currently a better red-batsman than Ben Stokes. I could see no reason why Stokes would not club at five o'clock, especially since he hasn't been bowling for a while. I could understand if it had just thrown 30 overs and England hit second but not on Thursday.

You can't tell me that Jos Buttler currently a better batsman with a red ball than Ben Stokes

Buttler had his success against India last summer by sliding in the field as the bowler came in and met the ball before it moved, but now it seems it a bit stuck to the fold. He spent so much time preparing that World Cup that he hadn't focused on red ball cricket and now he seems to lack self-confidence and no nickname.

I would have been beaten if I had won the pitch because the field is dry and I think it will spin more and more, but with the shortened game and more rain around Friday both captains felt that the best way to get the game was to win was to try to hit once.

Tim Paine would also have thought of a batting arrangement in England struggling for self-confidence and he decided to look a little at the beginning. And it could have been worse for England than 258 if Australia had retained their catches.

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[livefreeshop]

If you have ever wanted to start a a blog or website that is monetized by the Amazon Associates program, then I have a few tips that may help you get started.

Or if you currently have a site where you are wondering how to use Amazon affiliate links most effectively or the process of inserting your links using WordPress, I have a few ideas that will make you more money.

I started my online journey with Google Adsense, and that is where I've made a lot of my money in order to quit my job. However, after conducting a few niche site projects, and starting a few other sites on my own, I've learned how to use Amazon affiliate links quite well over the years. In fact over the past couple of months, I've learned some things that I never knew before, and wanted to share.

Making money through affiliate marketing in general can be quite profitable.  Promoting Amazon products is perhaps one of the easiest affiliate programs to join and tends to have a great conversion rate because everyone is familiar with buying from Amazon.  This can result in higher affiliate commissions for you.

There is nothing more frustrating that having a problem and not being able to find an answer; so, hopefully this post can answer a few basic questions in regards to making money with the Amazon associate program as I teach you how to use amazon affiliate links.

How to Insert and Add Amazon Links

There are a couple of different ways that you can insert Amazon affiliate links on your WordPress or other affiliate sites. First, you can use different options provided directly by Amazon.  You can do this with any theme you've picked and some WordPress themes have more ready to use interfaces to allow direct linking from amazon more readily.

Here's a quick summary of the steps needed to get affiliate links directly from Amazon:

Login to your Amazon Associate Account.

Find the products you want to promote on Amazon and click the option you want to use in the Amazon Associates site stripe at the top of page.

Copy the code for the link from the Amazon popup window.

Paste this link in your blog post, on social media, or other location on your site where you want to promote products.

Here's a bit more in-depth description of how to get your Amazon affiliate links, with images to guide you of course.

If you are logged into your Amazon associates account, you can just visit ANY page on Amazon.com and click the most appropriate option for you in the Amazon Associates SiteStripe at the op of the page.  This will give you an affiliate link for that exact page. Here's what it looks like:

As you can see, you can click either Text, Image, Text + Image, or Custom Native Shopping Ads. Finally, you can also share directly on Facebook or Twitter by clicking the Facebook or Twitter icons. 

I typically will just select the “Text” option and then highlight just the link code itself (as shown in the image below).  Then I can use this affiliate link anywhere I want on my site (with an image, my own anchor text, on social media, or anywhere else I chose).  However, you can explore the various link options to determine what works best for you.

All you have to do is copy that link from Amazon, insert it into your website, and you'll start earning commissions whenever people buy products on Amazon through that link.

However, it's important to note that you have the correct Store ID and tracking ID selected.  Just be aware that whatever tracking id you select is where the commissions will show up on your earnings report from Amazon.

Another pro tip is to decide if you want to use a short link or the full link (as shown in the image above).  I would recommend using the full link if you EVER think you will sell your website.  I have purchased and sold a couple of Amazon affiliate websites, and it's MUCH easier to find and replace (using a WordPress plugin) the old Amazon tracking id and replace with the new one when the full link is used.  (The short link doesn't show your tracking id, so it's impossible to find).

Custom Options

You can also click the “Custom” link and get an embed code that includes the price, image, description, and buy button.  This makes your links more obvious, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your blog post or site that you are using it on.

You can also use several other options that are provided by Amazon directly for creating affiliate links such as inserting banners, product links, and much more.  For my own niche sites, I don't typically use any of these other options. See the image below for a few options:

However, you should probably explore these options in your Amazon associates account to determine which type of affiliate links are the best for you to use. 

Now that I've covered what Amazon has to offer, I want to share a couple of other tools that can assist in using Amazon affiliate links on your website.

Using the EasyAzon Plugin to Insert Links

Another option for how to use Amazon affiliate links on your site is to use a WordPress plugin (if using WordPress).  For many of my niche sites, I am using the EasyAzon Pro Plugin.

The EasyAzon plugin makes it very quick and simple to insert Amazon affiliate links without ever having to leave your WordPress dashboard.  So, rather than going over to Amazon.com to find your product and then copy and paste the link, you can have the plugin do it directly for you within WordPress post or page.

Here's an image of the EasyAzon plugin in action:

So, this is located directly below where you create a post in your WordPress text editor.  All you have to do is type in your search query (mine is “tom brown tracker knife” above), then hit search.  This will pull back all the Amazon results using the Amazon Product Advertising API, as you can see in the image. Using the product advertising API from Amazon ensures that you stay compliant when using images, prices, and other product details.

Then simply select whether you want a text link, image link, info block, or call to action.

I went ahead and selected a “Text Link”, and here is what I get:

In the link text box, you can change your anchor text to whatever you want.  You can see that I made it, “Click Here for Pricing, Reviews, and More…”.  Then simply clicking “Insert Shortcode” and your Amazon affiliate link is all set!

I like having a custom anchor text because it can increase clicks, which can then lead to more sales.

Other EasyAzon Settings

To first get started with EasyAzon, you will need to input your basic affiliate details.  Once you input your Amazon Associate affiliate tag, you can select whether to cloak all links, open links in a new window, make affiliate links “No Follow” and more.  Here are the options you can select:

How to More Clicks and Sales from Your International Traffic

You will notice at the bottom of the image above that you can, “Enable Link Localization”.  What this does is detect what country the user is from that clicked your affiliate link and direct them to the correct Amazon country page.  In order to get paid when a user from the UK purchases on Amazon.co.uk for example, you MUST be approved to the Amazon.co.uk program; which is different than the Amazon.com program.

In other words, you need to apply and be approved for each of the countries for this function to work.  Well, it sounded like a lot of time and effort to apply to multiple countries; so I just figured I'd stick with the US only when I first started creating niche sites.

However, I was contacted by one of my readers who told me that it only takes a few minutes to apply to each of these programs, and that it could increase my income by over 15%!  To be honest, the only reason I hadn't applied to the other country affiliate programs was because I thought it would be too time consuming.

I was definitely wrong about that!

I've now applied to Canada, UK, and others. I now use the EasyAzon plugin to automatically localize the Amazon results for each person that clicks my affiliate links and I can see that I was missing out on sales from this international traffic. 

I mention this in case there is anyone out there just get started with the Amazon Associates program.  This is a simple tactic that could definitely increase your overall earnings.

Watch a Full Demo of the EasyAzon Plugin Here

Genius Links

Another great tool to help you monetize traffic coming from all over the world is Geniuslink.  Genius is a SaaS based tool that can work with their WordPress plugin or any other type of website.

Genius also acts as a URL shortener, which is how they can track all of your link clicks, where visitors are coming from, and more.  Here's what the dashboard looks like in my account:

I use Genius links on a few of my niche sites and have never had any issues.  When I look at where my traffic is coming from, you can see that people from 165 countries have clicked on my Amazon affiliate links.  So, even though I've applied to the largest Amazon countries, I'm likely still missing out on a little bit of commission each month.

Amazon OneLink

Another option to localize your links is through a relatively new option directly through Amazon called, OneLink.  Amazon OneLink does the same thing as the EasyAzon Pro Plugin and GeniusLink; it takes international traffic clicking on your affiliate links and sends them to the appropriate Amazon country (i.e. Amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, etc).

To set up Amazon OneLink, just follow the directions that can be found in your Amazon associates account as shown in the image below:

Where and How to Use Amazon Affiliate Links

Now that you know step by step how to get your Amazon affiliate links, you may still have some questions about exactly where or how to use Amazon affiliate links.  Here's some of my favorite places to use my Amazon product links:

In your blog posts as text links.  This might include your WordPress blog, but could also be Tumblr blog, Blogger, Medium Blog, Weebly Blog, or any other blogging platform.  The concept of inserting your Amazon text links is essentially the same on each platform.

In your in-depth “buying guides” that review Amazon products. You can see some great examples of effective use of Amazon links and in-depth buying guides at theWireCutter.com.

In your WordPress sidebar to highlight a special offer or favorite product.

Use Amazon native ads or banners strategically placed within your content.  Consider used the Ad Inserter WordPress plugin to have the same Amazon native ad show up at the end of each of your blog posts for example.

In product comparison tables.  I recently did an in-depth tutorial of how to create product comparison charts that you might find useful.  Or if you are looking for a great software tool that automatically creates great looking Amazon product comparison tables for you, consider the software I created TableLabs.com.

On Social Media; including Facebook posts, Instagram Posts, and Twitter posts.  As mentioned earlier, Amazon has no problem with you posting affiliate links on Facebook and Twitter.  In fact, they have the Facebook and Twitter linking tool built right into the Associate SiteStripe.  However, I've found that my own experiments with posting links on social media haven't worked that well.

YouTube.  If you are building a following and review products, it's a no brainer to add an affiliate link in your video description.  You could even mention a pretty link or other short link in your video that people could type into their browsers.

Store pages.  You can create a “store” page on your website and create your own product listings that are all just your affiliate links.  Fresh Store Builder is a tool that makes this SUPER easy and turns out great looking pages.

Pretty Links

If you want to create your own custom affiliate link you can use a free WordPress plugin called Pretty Link.  This plugin simply makes really long links short (it's a link shortener).  I use Pretty Links all the time.  For example, http://bit.ly/2CIErzq, is now my Amazon affiliate link. (Goes to the earmuffs page I was taking screenshots of earlier in this post).

In Conclusion

If you are getting started using the Amazon Assoicates program, hopefully some of these tips I've shared about how to use Amazon affiliate links will be useful to you.  Amazon provides lots of different options for inserting links into your site that can be quite helpful. 

However, you can also use tools like EasyAzon, GeniusLink, or even Table Labs to help you effectively add links to your site. These plugins and tools allow me to get things done a little bit quicker and provides some advanced options that I may not be able to accomplish otherwise.

Do you have any questions about using the Amazon affiliate program?  I'd love to hear your comments or questions below.

The post How to Effectively Use and Add Amazon Affiliate Links to Your WordPress Website appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

from Niche Pursuits http://bit.ly/2m0HvfR

[datingadviceonreddit]

so this is a bit of a complicated situation so i'll have to leave out some details to shorten it the best i can. i know it's a bit long, SORRY! but i'm looking for some objective advice or any insight.there was this guy i was really into for about a year, it was completely one sided and i never showed any signs of it. we talked, mostly about just common interests but i could tell he wasn't too engaged to talk about anything more than say, debate about music. i'm pretty good at hiding my emotions so i'm almost 100% sure he had no idea i was into him. which is a shame because we have a lot in common and are pretty compatible but i was too scared to say anything. it took me a year to semi get over it.during the time i was getting over him, it had been a good few months, and i had met another guy who is close with him. i don't think guy #1 knew i was talking to him unless guy#2 told him. anyway, this guy was cool, i didn't feel as strongly about him but as time went on i realized we were (dare i say) perfect. he initiated 90% of the conversations and would always ask personal questions. our messages were always paragraphs. i was hesitant to engage in the beginning out of fear getting too sucked in and eventually hurt but i kinda let myself fall for him. im at the point where i can see us being serious, which has never happened to me so im a bit freaked out.eventually guy #2 ghosted me for a while, i mean he told me he had some personal issues that i won't get into so idk if it's because of that or because he got tired of talking to me? it was very abrupt and it was right after he asked me another paragraph of personal questions so that left me confused. about a month passed since i spoke to him at this point but he does interact with me on social media a lot (likes all my posts/retweets/comments), if that means anything.so it had been 1 month since he left me on read when guy#1 texted me, after a 3 months hiatus, and asked me if i was single and that i should date his friend, guy #2. he started going on about compatibilities and all his great traits/what he does for a living (which i knew already so idk if he knew that i knew?). some context: i'm not close with guy #1 at all, idk if id even call us friends.now guy #2 hasn't initiated any conversation since then, like once but it doesn't count.i'm not sure what's going on, did guy #2 ask guy#1 to message me? is guy #1 trying to find an excuse to talk to me and being weird about it (one of my friends' theories)? or is guy #2 not interested at all and guy #1 was genuinely trying to set me up because he thought we were compatible?side note, i'm 23, guy #1 is 28 and guy #2 is 26. guy #2 is apparently ready to settle down and find something serious, it's what everyone teases him for. guy #1 is the complete opposite. he's kind of a stonewall when it comes to emotions and gets weird if u ask him about relationships and all that jazz.EDIT: Forgot to mention! we don't live in the same country. i'm from canada, i met them when i visited US where i travel to often. most of these interactions happened after i had left so i haven't seen them since last September. i live pretty close to the border tho and only 7 hours from guy #2 so distance isn't an issue. just incase it changes how u look at the story. via /r/dating_advice