#if only ONE of those wires is plugged in then it's fine

[deanpinterester]

well of COURSE my microcontrollor had to die on me Right when i wanted to test it with the rest of the project even though it was working perfectly the day before 🤡

here's a preview if anyone's interested

[sysig]

Warmup the other day turned out to be he, shock of shocks (Patreon)

[hellothisisangle]

I don’t have the stamina to comic all this dialogue so here it is:

[At some point between PLAYING FOR TIME and I WALK THE LINE]

J: Look at you, more bolts and chips and wires than meat. Not sure what the hell you even are at this point. Some kinda strutting identity crisis. Bet if someone shook you hard enough you’d rattle.

V: Yeah, well, you’re just a ghost of a walking hard on that played mediocre guitar. Guess we all got our own tragedies.

J: Ooh, hit a nerve. Change your face, change your junk, but it doesn’t actually change a thing. Another plug in another crack that keeps fracturing. Can’t patch a hollow core, V.

V: This, coming from the poster boy for ‘oh please, someone, pay attention to me’? Hey, Johnny- was it before or after the bombing that you decided terrorism made you a man?

J: Know what your problem is? Don’t ask questions. Just do your job. Get your reward. Say you hate authority, but you fit into the glove tailored for you just as much as everyone else. And like everyone else, ‘ya still can’t help havin’ dreams of respect, fear, adoration, love. Dreams only big enough to stay dreams, not enough for you to do jack shit about it. Aren’t you lucky you got me. Now you can wake the fuck up.

V: Ha! Never believed for a second you cared about the bigger picture. Nah, you’re just the guy who played hero to hear someone chant his name. Spoiler alert, no one’s chanting anymore. You think I should follow your lead? Screaming louder, hitting harder, waving your dick around like it’s a goddam flag?

J: Better’n nothing. Keep telling you we’re really not so different, you and I. But swapping parts like spare tires- I mean come on, don’t get all pissy when I call it what it is.

V: Replacing myself, piece by piece, finding a version of me that can stand existing is not the same, will never be the same, as your bullshit tantrums.

J: Keep tellin’ yourself that.

V: For fucks sake- the yapping, barking orders, flexing those fake muscles- wanna know what you remind me of?

J: Not really-

V: All the other assholes who told me I'd never be good enough unless I was just like them. Why I had to rip myself open just to breathe. You’re not a legend, Johnny. You’re a cautionary tale. A child who never learned there’s more than one way to be strong.

J: Pull that one outta a fortune cookie or just your trauma stash? Pft- A child calling a child a child. The shit I have to put up with.

V: Quiet the fuck down or I’ll do something that’ll decom both of us for a bit. I need some air.

J: Fine. See ya later. But would’ya smoke a stoge while you’re at it?

[At some point after I WALK THE LINE]

J: For a chrome-clad existential nightmare, ‘ya ain’t all bad, kid. Startin’ to remind me of me. Without the impressive cock.

V: And for a dead relic clutching his dick like it’s the only personality trait that survived, you’re almost tolerable. But don’t get clingy, I’m not a collector of antiques.

[woso-dreamzzz]

Ruin

Alexia Putellas x Pre-Teen!Reader

Jenni Hermoso x Pre-Teen!Reader

Summary: Your guardians fight for custody

You had dealt with lawyers before.

You had dealt with case workers before.

Nearly your whole life in the system meant you were familiar with both.

Seeing them never got easier as you sit outside the meeting room, hunched over as you stare at the phone battery that's rapidly depleting.

You'd plugged it in to charge last night but it hadn't.

The wire's been faulty for a while now, one of those chargers that you have to move to the right angle to make sure it works.

You suppose it must have moved in the night.

You can just about hear the low murmur of conversations if you strain your ears but you don't.

You don't want to hear what they're saying.

"Drink? Food?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

You turn away from your case worker, angling your body as far away as you can get without falling off your seat.

She'd been responsible for you for eleven years, right back to when you were a baby and your first set of parents had their rights terminated. You thought last year would be the last you would see of her.

"I'm fine," You insist.

"It's okay not to be."

"I know that. It still doesn't change the fact that I'm fine."

You both know you're lying.

She knows you well enough to not bring it up again, merely offering you a few of the hard boiled sweets from the reception desk.

"They won't decide anything without your input, you know."

"They're adults," You say dismissively," That's all they ever do."

"You're twelve now. Your wishes are taken into account."

"Only if it goes to court. Only in front of a judge. If they sign an agreement here and now, they don't have to talk to me about it."

Your caseworker looks like she wants to say something but a bang of a table has her stopping.

Jenni's voice in the meeting room is raised and Alexia's rises to meet it.

The fractures in the relationship were already there by the time you arrived. Small at first but steadily growing bigger and bigger.

You hadn't known it at the time but you know it now.

You had been adopted to salvage their relationship.

It's what a lot of people did. Have a child in the hope that it would bring the relationship together again.

It had worked, for a short while but the cracks hadn't healed. They'd simply been painted over for a little while. All it had taken was a little rock of the foundations, a little change in the norm.

They always came back and soon Alexia and Jenni were arguing where they thought you couldn't hear them and driving separately to practice.

Now, Jenni was moving to Mexico and the tender hooks they were on were failing.

You were hanging on a cliff and they were too busy arguing to notice your grip slipping, ready to plummet into the abyss below.

"You're not taking my daughter from me!"

You stand, unwilling to hear anymore.

"I'm going to the toilet."

It's a single stall, a door lock that you use as soon as you're inside.

You sit on the toilet lid, willing your shaking hands to stop as you clench them into fists. Your fingernails dig into the soft flesh until you're almost certain you've broken skin.

You hate this.

You hate the lawyers and their cool indifference towards you.

You hate your caseworker and her faux sympathy.

You hate Alexia and Jenni for putting you in this situation in the first place. You hate them for thinking a child would salvage an already broken relationship. You hate that they've made you their daughter. You hate that they've tied themselves into you in a way that you can't get away from.

Your phone dies, the music from your earphones cutting out instantly and you sigh, tugging them out of your ears and wrapping them around your phone.

They're an old pair, still wired and plugged in.

Jenni and Alexia have showered you in presents since the moment the adoption went through. You had a pair of Bluetooth ones but you've never used them, not since the presents stopped coming from them together and started coming separately.

They were always one upping each other.

If Alexia bought you Airpods, Jenni bought you a pair of Beats.

If Alexia bought you a Switch, Jenni bought you an XBox.

You blow out all your air noisily, the shuffling at the door alerting you to the fact that your caseworker is outside.

You flush the toilet to keep up appearances, washing your hands and stubbornly not looking in the mirror.

"They should be finishing up," She tells you and you glower.

"For now."

They're not finished up in the slightest and you slump in your seat.

There's no music to distract you from their raised voices, tension and anger building between them.

"And what about her training?! You'd take her away from all that? To what? Gallivant around in Mexico?!"

That's Alexia now, you'd recognise her anger anywhere.

You imagine she's standing now, palms flat on the desk as she gets as close to Jenni as possible. Her lawyer, a straight laced man in a fancy suit and a disinclination to children, probably sits back in his seat, arms spread in a 'how could you tear Alexia away from her child?' pose at the other lawyer.

"Mexico has pools, Alexia! They know how to swim! She can train there!"

That's Jenni.

She's still as angry as earlier, bubbling and boiling inside of her. She's probably standing up too, finger pointing towards Alexia in a brutal jab. Her lawyer pretends he likes kids, pretends to greet you warmly and act like her actually gives a shit about your feelings.

He doesn't and he doesn't even do a good job of pretending.

He's more condescending than anything, talking to you like you're five and don't understand why your guardians are fighting.

"And you'd have her make new friends? Put her in a new swimming club? Her life is here!"

"No, Alexia, your life is here!"

You've never felt more weightless than you were in the pool, just floating around on your back as the water laps at your skin.

You're the fastest swimmer in the region for your age group. Especially in long distance.

Your coaches say you have the stamina.

You think it's because you want to be in the water for as long as possible.

It comes easy to you, mindless, repetitive.

You like to do things you're good at.

The door swings open, slamming against the wall and you sigh.

The yelling has stopped.

Neither Alexia nor Jenni want to make a scene in public.

The meeting room is a free-for-all but outside they can pretend to be civil. Everyone will pretend they didn't hear them at each other's throats a few moments ago.

You stand, plugging in your earphones even though your phone is dead.

You've found that neither of them want to talk to you if you've got your earphones in.

"Say goodbye to your mother, y/n," Alexia says, already strolling over to wait for you by the door.

Your eyes linger on her before they flick to Jenni.

You shove your hands into your pocket and mutter," Bye."

She's still looking at Alexia too, eyes narrowed in anger before they softens a fraction as she turns to you.

Her hand rests on your shoulder, thumb rubbing ever so slightly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? You've got that competition."

"Yeah, I do."

"I'll be cheering."

You manage a weak smile.

Alexia and Jenni will be on opposite ends of the room, pretending that the other doesn't exist.

"I love you," Jenni says and you sigh.

"Yeah."

Alexia is waiting by the door, impatiently, foot tapping. When you join her, she starts off again, down the stairs and to the car parked up front.

"Not sitting in the front with me?" She tries to tease as you slip into the seat behind her but you're in no mood," I'll let you choose the music."

You hold up your dead phone, earphones in and her small smile turns into a frown.

"Well, if you're sure..."

"I'm sure."

"So..." Alexia drums her fingers on the steering wheel," That competition tomorrow...You excited?"

You stare out the window. "I guess."

You're in no mood to talk, clearly, so Alexia settles on looking back at you through the rear view mirror periodically.

"Don't worry," She tells you," This will all get sorted out soon."

You wish it hadn't happened in the first place.

You with you had never met them.

[iamvegorott]

Trust

Happy Birthday @luluisoff! Have some of that good Ironstrange

Summary: Tony needs an upgrade to his reactor. Who better than a literal doctor to help?

Trust

Stephen watched as the soap suds were rinsed off his hands and swirled down the drain. This was the third time he’d washed them, and it still didn’t feel clean enough. Nothing was sterile enough. There were no nurses, no help, no gloves or masks, or that heavy scent of disinfectant in the air he would expect when performing a procedure. The most he had was hand soap with some cartoon fish on the bottle and a pack of alcohol wipes that didn’t smell the same as hospital sanitation. 

But this wasn’t a hospital.

This was Tony’s lab. 

“You’re going to run out of skin if you keep going.” Tony playfully scoffed from the chair he sat in.

“I’m going to give you an infection if we don’t-”

“You literally can’t give me an infection. You’re not going to be in contact with any of the squishy bits during this.” 

“How is there no risk? This is an operation on your body. I should at least put on a mask and some gloves.” Stephen knew he had requested those at least ten times by his count, but Tony kept insisting they weren’t needed.

“This is all tech stuff that we’re doing. Putting a set of wires from one machine into another.” Tony said as he slipped his shirt off and tossed it onto a different chair. “It’s just hard for me to see the inside of my own chest, and I figured with you having medical experience, you wouldn’t get squeamish at putting your hands into my hole.” He gestured at the reactor in the center of his chest. 

“Alright. If I can’t get a mask or gloves, my only requirement now for doing this is for you to never phrase it like that again.” Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose as Tony leaned back in the chair, pressing a button on the armrest and having it recline so he was lying at an angle. 

“I think I can handle that.” Tony chuckled. “See this guy on the table right here?” He pointed with a finger. “That’s taking the place of what’s in me already.” 

“You discussed this with me.” Stephen stepped over to the table and looked at the piece of machinery. He was still hesitating to actually touch it. “On the bottom is a set of three color-coded wires. I take the wires from what’s already installed, unplug them, and then connect them to this.” 

“And you’ll want to be quick about it since I’ll be, like, dying while you’re doing that.” Tony sounded far too casual about that.

“You’ll be what?” Stephen would not have agreed at all had he known that piece of information. 

“I’ll figure out how to not need the reactor one day, but right now, I need it to keep everything working and going, and without it, nothing’s working in here until the new one is plugged in to get it going again. The upgrade will take less of a toll on my body than this one while I still work on that.” Tony shrugged before sticking his hand into an Iron Man suit armpiece and waiting for it to adjust to his body. 

“I think we should have more than ourselves working here, given how serious this all sounds,” Stephen said as Tony took his armored hand and twisted his reactor, popping it out of his chest. 

“We got this. You got this. You’re a professional and all that. I trust you.” 

“Tony…” Stephen stopped whatever excuse he was going to come up with and sighed instead. 

Despite how calm Tony acted, this was an invasive act. Tony’s been known to slap hands away if anyone tried to touch his reactor, let alone be inside of it. Trust was complicated with Tony when it came to his body, and no one could really fault him for that. Control was vital for him, and at this moment, he had faith in allowing Stephen that control. 

“Fine.” Stephen finally picked up the new reactor from the table. “Switch the wires and pop it back into place.” 

“Should only take thirty seconds, if even that.” Tony took a deep breath and rested his head back on the chair. “Whenever you’re ready, doc.” 

Stephen took a few of his own breaths, forcing his brain into a different setting. This wasn’t Tony Stark, a person he cared for; this was a patient that he was going to help. He knew what to do. Had his instructions. And everything was going to be smooth because he was the Dr. Stephen Strange. 

Finally, Stephen was in the mindset he needed, and he got to work. Recalling how Tony showed him the best ways to unplug the type of wiring he used, Stephen popped out all of them in record time. He noted how Tony’s arm started to lower. The movement of it was controlled, meaning Tony was still fully functioning. His breathing changed, but no signs of it being caused by distress; he was simply adjusting to the current feeling. Stephen then plugged the wires into the new reactor and felt some relief at how it started to glow after the final one. He found the angle that matched the pit inside of Tony’s chest, lining up and pushing in until it clicked into place. 

“I told you. You had this.” Tony said, his voice sounding hoarse. 

“Are you alright?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah. It just felt…weird.” Tony cleared his throat. “Do you want to go get a drink with me?” 

“Your wording is always amazing, Tony.” Stephen lightly chuckled. “You sound like you were asking me on a date.” 

“I am,” Tony stated.

“What?”

“Dying for like ten seconds changes a man.” 

“You’re not joking?”

“Nope.” 

“I…okay? Sure. Why not?” 

[eightyonekilograms]

I went to the Apple Store yesterday to try the scripted demo of their VR headset. My overall impression is that it's the best possible execution of what might be a fundamentally flawed idea.

The passthrough video is pretty incredible. It's somewhat dimmer than reality, and the color accuracy is just OK, but it's more than good enough to feel like you're looking through clear displays at the real world. I'm told the passthrough on the Quest 3 is even better, but haven't tried that and can't comment. One thing is that there is a weird motion blur effect when you turn your head, I'm not sure if that's a display tech limitation or introduced deliberately by the software as a workaround for a different display tech limitation.

The resolution is 4K per eye, which, as mentioned, is more than enough for a powerful sense of presence in the real world. One of the nifty bits of the demo was when you turn the dial to tune out the world and suddenly you're sitting by a mountain lake, and the feeling of actually being there is overwhelming. The dystopian implications of needing a VR headset to sit at a mountain lake aside, it would be cool to have one just to have your office be anywhere you can imagine. Not $3500-before-tax cool, but cool.

Wow sports leagues are going to love this thing. I don't give a shit about sports and even I was thinking, "If the NBA put a stereoscopic camera courtside and sold you games for $50 a pop, I'd absolutely buy that"

But 4K per eye is not enough to do work, not even close. The experience of using normal computer-y applications on this was not unlike plugging your laptop in to a TV that's at the normal TV distance. You can do it, it works, but it's not anyone's preferred way of working. Text is amazingly legible, but only at sizes that are equivalent to having a single webpage take up your entire 4K monitor at normal monitor distance.

It is not particularly comfortable. Part of this might be that the store demo makes you use the "catcher's mitt" strap, which only goes around the back of your head and so gravity has to be countered only by the pressure of the thing against your face. Reviewers have said that if you use the other band that goes over your head the situation is better, but still.

A lot of early comments were making fun of Apple for having the battery be an external thing you put in your pocket and attach with a wire, but I think that's just fine: we all walk around with giant batteries in our pockets anyway, and anything you can do to have less weight on your head is a Good Thing. But then Apple took all those weight savings and spent them on making the stupid thing out of metal and glass instead of polycarbonate. It's nuts! It's like if you made a car that was 500kg lighter because you invented magical tech for keeping the engine somewhere else, and then went "great! with all the weight savings now we can build the body out of lead". Apple, you don't need to fear plastic. Plastic is good! Plastic built modern civilization.

You control it with a combination of eye tracking and pinch gestures. This is the main piece of evidence of my "best version of a bad idea" thesis: it works really, really well; so well that I can tell this is probably an evolutionary dead end. It's just fine— miraculous, even— for dragging windows around and doing the basic stuff the in-store demo has you do. It's amazing that you can more or less have your hands anywhere, including on your lap, and the recognition works perfectly (by contrast with the HoloLens I tried 5 or so years ago where the gesture recognition was total crap). But it's immediately obvious that you can never do serious manipulation of your computing environment with this.

The takeaway is that it's incredible for passive consumption of specifically-made media, assuming that ever exists at scale. But it will be a long time before we're gogged in like Hiro Protagonist to do our office jobs this way.

[chilling-seavey]

Winter Warmers: Day 30 — Bondage & Christmas Lights

↳ A/N: This is for entertainment and fiction purposes only. Bondage with Christmas lights involves electrical wires and these cables are far more dangerous than standard ropes/BDSM tools and thus they are more difficult to cut in the chance of an emergency. I do not condone the use Christmas lights as bondage.

↳ Summary: George has a festive idea he wants to try.

↳ Word Count: 1123

Warnings: 18+, bondage and restraints, dirty talk, sex (unspecified if protected or unprotected)  

↳ Winter Warmers Prompt List | The Way It Goes Masterlist

George wasn’t much of the type of guy to want to try crazy things in the bedroom; in all honesty, that was fine with you. The two of you found your niche and what worked in your relationship (and what didn’t) and you kept to that. There was nothing wrong with that. 

So it was quite the surprise when one night, while falling into a session of heavy petting and tongue-led kissing on your bed, George broke away to declare that he wanted to try something new. It was doubly the surprise when he left the room and came back moments later with an orange extension cord. 

“What the fuck is that for?” you questioned without hesitation. 

“You know we like our handcuffs,” George explained with a shit-eating grin as he bent down beside the bed to plug in the extension cord, “but, what if we put a festive spin on it?”

From behind his back he pulled a brand new box of LED Christmas string lights.

Your eyebrows raised, “You’re going to do what exactly with those?”

George shrugged modestly and looked down at the box, replying passively, like it was nothing that out of the ordinary, “Tie you up.”

“Oh my God—”

“Well, just your wrists. I’m no shibari master…is that what it’s called?” George rambled as he flipped the box of lights over in his hand to skim the back. As he rambled half-nervously about all that he did not know about Japanese bondage art, you couldn’t help but admire him with a fond smile.

From your spot on the bed, you had a front row view of him standing there in only his boxers, semi-hard beneath the snug fabric, and his eyebrows furrowed deeply. It was easy to tell he was treating in unfamiliar territory — he always got a little rambly when he was nervous, talked a little too much and often got himself in deeper trouble by doing just that — but the immense trust you had in him thudded through your veins. You shifted on the bed up onto your knees and offered your wrists out to him.

Your simple action had him halting mid-sentence as he glanced over at you, his wide-eyed gaze dropping between your face and your wrists held out towards him side by side, palms up. He swallowed, “You’re sure?”

You shrugged, “Nothing we haven’t done before, really. I trust you.”

Like an electrical surge, he was throwing himself at you for a fierce kiss. You giggled into his mouth and framed his face with your hands, sharing in his eager kisses before he was pulling away, breathless and grinning. 

“Okay, lay back.” he instructed, already sliding his pinky under the thin tape on the box to open it with a rip. He flipped open the flimsy cardboard lid and lifted out the perfect coil of lights. 

You situated yourself back on the bed, in only your bra and panties, already smiling with anticipation. Knowing the routine well, you draped your arms above your head and overlapped your wrists.  

George unraveled the string lights and bent down to plug them into the extension cord. In a flash, the entire string lit up in brilliant warm white dots of light, illuminating the room and both of your awe-struck expressions. The rawness of human wonder. 

And then, George was straddling your body, a knee on each side, intensely focused as he carefully tied your wrists together in the string lights, being careful not to rip off any of the tiny bulbs or hurt you in the process. He explained that they were LEDs so they shouldn’t get hot against your skin and that he would leave them somewhat loose so if you had to break free for any reason, it wouldn’t be too difficult. He always wanted to make sure you were more than safe, no matter what. 

Lastly, he looped the end of the lights through one of the posts of the bed so when he pulled on it, your tied wrists would be pulled tight towards the bed frame. With a testing tug, he smiled proudly at his handiwork. 

“Good?” he asked you simply, importantly. 

You nodded, “Good. Great.”

You curled your knees towards your chest in an invitation for him to take your panties off. 

George got you both out of your underwear and then turned off the bedside lamps, sending the room into darkness apart from the star-like light from the string that bound you. Even in the limited lighting, you could still see the way he was smiling ear to ear as he got you both situated. 

He spoke wonders to you, filthy words of lust and adoration, prepping you to take him with a generous tongue and nimble fingers, always keeping one hand on the end of the string of lights. Always in control. 

He took you like that in a way that balanced on the line between fucking and making love; a precipice on which your sexual relationship thrived. Just the right amount of sweetness, just the right amount of rough, a perfect inbetween that always had you thanking your damn stars you found each other. 

George tugged on the string of lights a little more, tightening the pull around your wrists, speaking down to you between breaths, “Look at my most beautiful little decoration. Prettiest little thing; so dazzling and sparkling and festive.”

You pulled your legs up towards your chest, angling them up and outwards to give him more room, to invite him deeper, panting out a pleading chant of, “Yes, yes, yes—”

“Mhm?” he twirled his hand once to wrap the string lights around his palm for a more secure grip, his eyebrows raising as he looked down at you dotted in little lights, the shadows playing off your pretty face and shuddering with every hard thrust he gave you. But almost more than this, his eyes were captivated by the way the light caught the diamond of your engagement ring, sending glints of light across the wall above the bed. 

And then he set the end of the string between his teeth to give himself his hands free to yank your hips up a little more to meet his. His fingers pressed into your thighs and your hips like dough, holding you in place just where he needed you to fuck you deeply over and over and over. You wanted to stare at him, the way he looked with the lights that bound you between his teeth, casting shadows over his handsome face, but it was growing increasingly difficult as he so easily started to make stars appear in your vision. 

In the tangle of Christmas lights, your hands bunched into fists of pure pleasure.

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[goodolddumbbanana]

[Superhero au] Pre Dazzle - Ur... You make him cry, boss

Warning: Solar get ties up.

“You know, Eclipse, we should stop ending our confrontation like this. With me in the sky without a scratch and you writhing at my feet like a worm that needs to be torn apart.”

Yellow glinted from SUN’s blue glasses, almost in contrast to Solar’s ​​already ashen-colored hoodie. A wrong decision, a subjective judgment that had separated Solar from his group. Moon was still too busy scattering civilians, and Lunar was still struggling with SUN’s henchman. He was alone here, as usual, being the punching bag for this asshole.

A loud explosion made Solar frown. Half of SOlar’s ​​systems had shut down, unable to withstand the impact. His ​​internal systems were also plastered with yellow icons, as the incessant notifications of urgent need for repairs rang out deafeningly.

Fine dust formed a mist that curled in the air, as the smell of burning plastic and soot condensed together noxiously, with the crackling of the rubble surrounding Solar.

The malicious mockery could be tasted in SUN's eyes, as they drew closer, the pleasant ringing of their footsteps, the way they stared at Solar's body that was almost paralyzed, the result of that bastard wondering what would happen if they just plugged in the various wires in the circuit board behind his head, after they dunked him in the water.

“I mean, aren't you tired?”

The voice was too gentle, as if they were genuinely concerned for Solar's well-being. It made his finger marks dig deep into the ground, leaving long holes as he raised his insolent eyes to the villain hovering high in the sky, his throat cutting with searing pain.

“Aren’t you allergic for shut the fuck up?”

Solar growled, his throat aching, feeling like a few pebbles had gotten stuck in the screws moving inside him, as the attacks he had suffered from SUN a few minutes ago had left no mercy in their aftermath.

“Hmm…” The villain just tilted his head, his fingers flicking Solar’s ​​rays. A snap of his lips was heard as they said ‘Nope!’ 

The movements were almost too fast for Solar to react, as they giggled, lifted him up by the neck, and slammed him into a nearby wall.

Bricks flew out, causing the world in front of Solar to spin. The sharp pieces hitting his face were not as painful as SUN’s annoying voice. A few of his rays had cracked in half, black oil splattered all over his shirt.

“You don’t understand, the moon killed my brother.”

SUN’s fake joke was so empty that Solar felt disgusted. He felt like an ant, a toy in SUN’s hands, only alive because they were bored.

This time too, they only managed to save the world, because SUN was busy arguing with his henchmen and forgot to focus on their plan to blow up the moon.

Solar didn’t understand, and didn’t want to understand, with SUN’s power, whether he destroyed or dominated the world, it was all a piece of cake. But they were still here, with their unrealistic and ridiculous plans, as if they just wanted to play, as if they just wanted to dip their hands in blood and lick it like a cat just wanting to play with its prey.

They just wanted to spread agony and suffering, and they didn’t care whose life they took, as long as it was fun.

And in those empty, cruel eyes, there was no one but themselves.

“So, tell me Eclipse, what should I do with you?”

SUN’s voice again. They hummed, the bells clanging along their steps. There was something extremely eye candy, the way their crimson robes undulated as if they were alive, flexibly hugging SUN's slender body like a cat's tail.

The sunset cast a burnt orange glow over SUN’s face. They sat down, tilting their heads to look at him, their hands roughly grasping his rays, forcing him to look at them properly. Still as splendid and intact as ever, without a trace of worldly dust, with the mocking and indifferent look of a god from another world. Their minds always seemed to be lost somewhere, with a distorted look as if they only saw him, and this world as numbers, inanimate objects.

As if they were the only ones who existed here.

They still spoke so nonchalantly.

"You ruined my plan, you even injured my minions. I should have blown you up, or just made your death so slow, you would beg me to put you out of your misery.”

SUN whispered into Solar’s ​​ear, their voice was soft, too gentle and sweet as their hands squeezed Solar’s ​​shoulder blades, causing the metal to almost dent inward.

“But I’m feeling merciful today, so… Why don’t you sleep for a while, huh, Hero?”

Light exploded before Solar’s ​​eyes. A searing pain shot through his body, leaving him unable to react, only to convulse and collapse to the ground. Everything became too blurry, and what remained in SOlar’s ​​memory, was SUN’s hateful crescent smile.

—-

Tick… ​​Tok…

Solar didn’t know if it was the steady ticking of the clock, or the buzzing, fan-like sound that woke him up.

Where the hell was he? Just a few minutes ago he was still in the square, then–

Ah…

Solar grimaced, a terrible pain that seemed to crack his circuit board in half, pushing the jammed data to Solar’s ​​CPU.

Everything flashbacks to his eyes. 

The plan went wrong, he was separated from Moon and Lunar, and was knocked out by SUN.

And he woke up here… Where was this?

Everything was dark, hazy. It smelled like detergent, and the dampness was stagnant as if he were in a bathroom. He tried to get up but was immediately pulled back. It seemed like his neck was chained. The wire pressed against Solar’s ​​shoulder.

For a moment, Solar was terrified, thinking that SUN had finally gouged his eyes out or done something to negate his abilities to such an extreme degree.

But luckily, that wasn't the case. His eyes were just covered, felt rough like tape. And what was even more uncomfortable was that he was tied up.

Solar didn't know what the hell SUN had done, but his entire body was tied to the ground, making him unable to move at all. Solar's two hands were tied together and coiled with iron chains behind his back, while his ankles were all jingling as if the steel wires were being coiled together.

Rubbing against the wall, he realized that the chain was quite long, and based on the feeling from his rail, the end of the chain seemed to be fixed to the wall.

Solar tried to stand up, but only caused the chains to get tangled together and made him fall over. The black dust and oil stuck to Solar's palms, making him frown unconsciously in disgust.

‘Calm down Solar, first you need to figure out where you are.’ 

Solar gritted his teeth to calm himself down. He couldn’t be so desperate, if SUN kept him alive, maybe they needed Solar for something. He just needs to have hope.

Now he needs to think of a plan to escape. 

Diagnosing himself internally, he breathed a sigh of relief when none of his functions were too badly damaged. His battery was still at 54 percent, still not too bad, enough for him to think of a way to escape. And now, Solar needed to focus on his surroundings.

Took a deep breath, he curled up against the vertical wall, then tried to adjust his hearing to the highest possible level.

Tok… Tak…

They were probably on water, judging from the crashing sound he heard. The pungent smell of detergent, mixed with the strong iron smell of blood and oil, filled his nostrils. The steady, occasional clicking of the keyboard. Solar could also vaguely hear the sound of the television in the distance—

“MIKU, WE’LL TALK ABOUT YOUR NOVEL WRITING HABITS LATER!!!! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR BOSS LIKE THAT!!!--” SUN’s distant shout startled Solar. When did they arrive? Solar’s ​​radar didn’t even sense anything. Just a gust of wind blew by and—

“Oh, Eclipse~~ I didn’t expect you to wake up so early—”

SUN was speaking when he stopped. Solar could vaguely feel SUN’s gaze staring at him. There was a gasp from SUN’s direction, and then his mortal enemy walked out, the sound of footsteps fading away and their shrill, angry voices.

“MIKU!!! I TOLD YOU TO TIE HIM UP!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?”

“What do you mean, Boss? Didn’t I tie him up nice and tight?” SUN’s henchman responded, her voice sounding bored, as if the anger of a villain who could turn dozens of cities into dust was a joke.

“NOT LIKE THIS!!! YOU— WHY DID YOU USE SO MANY CHAINS?!!!”

“Isn’t this supposed to be an extra session for you two? I just like making things more spicy.”

“Miku… I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you for real this time. And I’m going to cut your head off and throw it into the blender.” SUN hissed, even without looking, Solar could feel the smoke starting to puff out from the top of SUN’s head.

“Boss, you know that’s my kink. Don’t threaten me with a good time if you will chicken out on this latter. Being crushed by a criminal… Oh daddy, thinking about it makes me—”

“STOP!! Okay… I’m sorry. I admit I was wrong. Please stop talking.”

The sound faded away. It was gratifying to see SUN miserable, but was there something wrong with the way he was tied up. Honestly, if that was Miku’s job, she did a pretty good job for a lackey.

He literally couldn’t move.

The sound of the door slamming interrupted Solar’s ​​train of thought. SUN’s irritation, even the blind could see it.

A deep breath to compose themselves, then the voice returned to its usual contemptuous sneering.

“Isn’t it embarrassing? Letting you see this.”

A cool swish around Solar’s ​​neck and arms. Suddenly, his movements became easier. His arms were still tied behind his back, but everything about him was now free to move, including his neck. “What do you want?” Solar spatted out each word, wriggling his legs to relieve the fatigue. The real question he wanted to ask was why the hell was he in this place, because usually SUN would just dump him into whatever trash pit when they got bored and just leave him to fend for himself.

Not once had they dragged him back—if he guessed correctly, their lair.

“What do I want? Hmm? Let’s see…” The bell rang once more in Solar’s ​​ears, he could feel the soft, itchy feeling of the ribbon brushing against his cheek as someone’s footsteps drew closer. “—What could I want? Guess what I could want Eclipse? Money? World domination? Escape from boredom? Haha… I, right now, just want…”

The hem of SUN’s cloak draped over his legs, the minty scent mixed with someone’s extremely clean detergent lingering near Solar’s nose.

The soft feeling and weight of a hand pressed against Solar’s ​​thigh. The mockery was disguised as an invitation, as if they were something innocent. “…to be alone.” Solar could feel the curve of their backs, as they pulled themselves closer to Solar, as if to make him feel pressured by their presence. As if to make him fear them.

The vague shadows of their hands descended.

A gentle pressure on Solar’s ​​blindfold, as their fingertips leisurely traced lines up his jaw, then slowly go down to his neck.

Slow and gentle, as if asking a child not to eat cookies before dinner.

“I want you to stop bothering me. Once and for all.”

Solar didn’t really hear what SUN said. Too used to SUN deliberately making him feel uncomfortable, he just waited patiently for them to get close enough to make his move. Time seemed to stop between the two of them as Solar slammed his head into Sun’s face. He didn’t even care if his life was in SUN’s hands or if SUN could easily snap his neck right now, he just wanted to make that bastard feel angry for as many seconds as possible.

SUN’s screams of pain and confusion as he kicked his legs forward, knocking them down sounded like music from heaven for Solar.

In a flash, he pressed his knees against the other’s stomach, pinning them down with his own body. It was ridiculous, Solar didn’t even have any breathing space, but right now, he himself was panting. He could feel his entire body trembling, as the distance between him and freedom was only a hand’s breadth.

Of course, reality came back and slapped Solar in the face.

There was a growl of thrill under his knees, and suddenly, a strong pull on his neck caused him to fall backwards.

“You like to play like that, don’t you!”

That bastard used the damn chains they had cut as weapons against Solar. They didn't even use their strength, just pure physical strength to grapple with Solar, as if there was something funny about watching him clumsily fight them with no vision and his hands tied behind his back.

"Fuck you!" Solar spat. He ignored the taste of oil in his mouth and charged forward, only to fall over due to the shortness of the chains.

"Language." SUN scolded. "Aren't you a hero? Really proves my point." SUN sighed. "You never know when to stop." They sat on Solar's back, occasionally patting his head like a dog. 

The shadow moved closer to Solar's head, as they pulled him up. They even dusted him off, removing the sharp pieces of stone he had hit while they were wrestling. Solar stiffly tried to show his glare and malicious feeling, as the other tapped on his intact ray. It was quite painful, especially with the way they pressed their rounded fingertips to the top and pulled, as if wanting to rip it off Solar's head.

"Then, I'll make you a proposal." SUN's voice was leisurely, their hands brushing against Solar's collar.

"You leave me alone, and maybe... your two little friends... will stay intact."

"What do you mean by that?" Solar was startled, raising his head. It felt like something was twisting ugly in Solar's stomach, as if it was fear.

SUN had never used this method, they always simply exploded their power to wherever they hated. But SUN was also an evil person, and with these disgusting tricks, Solar was also used to it to the point of pain.

He just never hoped SUN would lower themselves to this level.

“Hehe… How stupid do you think I am that I don’t know you’re trying to buy my time? Your little fairy and scientist have been… captured by my loyal minions.” The bell rang as SUN leaned on his shoulder in delight. Something rustled as they waved it in front of him.

“Hey Eclipse… Do you want to know what they’re doing?”

At this moment, Solar finally understood the devil with an angel’s face. They spoke so softly, so sincerely, but their words were filled with cruelty. For the first time, Solar felt fear, he half dared to listen, half refused. Anxiety writhed like a knife stabbing into his heart.

<SJGUIOSP{

It sounded like radio static. Then gradually, Solar heard screams. The pitiful screams of innocent people, and…

Moon and Lunar.

“Help!! Eclipse!!! Help me!!!”

“Oh boy… Don’t worry Eclipse, we’re fine, we’ll be fine!!.”

“What do you mean???!!! You idiot, we’re about to die!!!”

And was cut off by a flat, emotionless voice.

“Boss, can I blow them up now?”

“No!! Don’t!!” Solar screamed. He tried to move forward but couldn’t, just desperately following the sounds of the people he cared about.

“Oh? My hero doesn’t want me to destroy these people?” SUN whispered, his even, hateful tone creeping nausea down SOlar’s ​​spine.

“So you know what you have to do?” SUN tapped Solar’s ​​head.

“What?”

“Apologize.”

“Huh?”

“I say sorry.” SUN said sternly. The cold tiredness was the most genuine, for the circus act just now. “Apologize for wasting my time. Sorry for being a troublemaker. Sorry for hurting my lackey. Sorry for being you, a hero, but more useless than those policemen out there.”

“And promise not to bother me again. Including giving this warning for those other annoying heroes.”

“If you promise to ignore me every time you see me, then the people, under your responsibility, will live.”

SUN’s whisper was like sweet venom biting into Solar’s ​​metaphorical heart.

“You don’t want innocent blood on your hands again, right?”

Solar’s ​​knees trembled. His throat felt like it was faulty, he couldn’t make a sound.

“If I agree, what will you do next?” Solar’s ​​voice faltered. Only to be answered by a jingling sound, as SUN’s arm pulled Solar around the neck.

“It’s not something you need to care about anymore, right?”

“So, what’s your decision?”

“I—”

“Save me, Eclipse! I’m scared!! I don’t want to go!!!”

“Don’t worry about us!!! Ecp—”

The voices mixed together, tearing him into two different pieces.

Is it too selfish when he just doesn’t want the people he cares about to be lost again?

“I– I’m sorry. Please spare them—” Solar gasped, squeezing out each word. His head was pounding. Everything was spinning and smashing him into a hundred pieces. He couldn’t think, any logical plan or backup plan, all gone when the people he had worked so hard to take care of were weighed down.

Eclipse was a hero but SOlar had always been selfish.

He couldn’t, he just couldn’t…

“It’s okay.” SUN’s voice was gentle in Solar’s ​​ear, causing him to lift his head.

“I forgive you.” SUN’s palm brushed against Solar’s ​​cheek, as they brought the walkie-talkie to their mouths.

“Blow them up, buddy.” SUN’s silvery bell-like laughter and the endearing voice from the other side like a nightmare shattered Solar’s ​​fleeting reality.

Solar didn’t even have time to scream. He hadn’t even finished speaking when the sound of the explosion hit his ears.

BOOM!!!

The screams died down quickly, along with the flickering of flames and the sound of something breaking.

Ah…

There was a static sound ringing in Solar’s ​​ears.

He still couldn’t process it. It felt like it wasn’t real.

Is that all?

It hurts… It hurts so much… His chest shouldn’t have hurt like this.

Suppressing everything Solar was feeling right now, he trembled, gritting out each word.

“Did– Didn’t you say we would make a deal?”

His voice box seemed to be broken because no matter how hard Solar tried, he couldn’t form words. A pat on the head from SUN, and for a moment, Solar could see the golden light flashing from the bastard’s crescent-shaped eyes.

“I lied. Have you forgotten that, hero? Villains always lie.”

Something wet was dripping from Solar’s ​​chin. Was he shivering? It was so cold, why did Solar feel so cold? He couldn’t understand, he just knew that he was shivering.

He couldn’t show weakness, he couldn’t cry in front of that cold-blooded bastard.

But Solar still lowered his head, unable to hold back the trembling sobs in his throat with black oil dripping from his eye sockets.

Look at that SOlar, that’s your true nature, a destroyer of happiness. Wherever you go, there will be devastation.

How disgusting you are, Eclipse.

The overly familiar voice in Solar’s ​​ears belonged to the ghost he had killed. And, another voice, more meticulous, gentle that Solar rather just ran away.

‘What would you do without me, Eclipse?’

00000000

“Haha– Look at you, I was just kidding. It was all fake–” SUN laughed heartily.

Eclipse’s face went blank like an idiot, making him laugh out loud. Yeah, SUN was evil, but he wasn’t evil enough to do that. Professionals have standards. Threatening the hero’s loved ones, the cheapest trick in Villain 101. SUN was just so fed up with the face they always wore and the way they always got in his way, he wanted to make a prank to embarrass them.

It was easy to imitate the voices of the sidekicks. He meant, they were all animatronics, the dialog boxes were pretty similar.

And the guy named MOnty made a pretty good script, even if it was just an online transaction.

He should pay them more, SUN thought slowly, still staring at the camera.

He didn't expect them to apologize to him easily like that. Anyway, everything has been recorded, he will bring this evidence back and upload it online for the whole world to know how pathetic their hero Eclipse was.

Huh?

Why was his hand wet?

Did they hit any water pipes so hard that they cracked them?

No, it was black.

Oh… Huh?!

SUN looked closely at Eclipse's face. Two lines of black liquid were flowing down Eclipse's cheeks. They were crying. Ouch… They were crying… OHHHHH

Those three words hit SUN's face like a hammer. It shook SUN and slammed SUN to the ground, screaming the words you are a terrible person.

A sob echoed in the silent atmosphere. Luckily Molten was going outside, otherwise with their enhanced hearing, they would definitely crawl out to check if SUN was okay.

…

What now? SUN hadn’t actually thought about what he would do at this stage. He was always the type to act first, think later.

Beat Eclipse off, mock him, sure. But then what?...

Uh…

And with Eclipse keeps continuing to shed tears like this, it became awkward, and—

Did he go too far? He had been like this all the time before, he never cried.

And now, should SUN comfort Eclipse?

“Um… I was just kidding… See… They’re still alive.” SUN hesitantly poked his fingertips. He awkwardly moved closer to wipe Eclipse’s tears. But the more he wiped, the more they flowed. And when he removed the tape from Eclipse’s face, the black oil came out even more, soaking a black patch on SUN’s shirt.

SUn’s internal system was screaming, congratulations, you fucked up, and the little SUNs in his head were jumping around screaming.

What the hell could he do?

“Hey Boss, are you done with your antics? I need you to take me out.”

Okay… SUN admitted that he still thought MIKu was a nuisance, but he had never been more grateful for Miku’s presence than now.

“Miku!!! Save me— Oh, I mean, help me with this.”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you guys are playing too rough and I need you to find a mechanic?”

The rude bastard who never respected SUN stepped in. The smile on her lips disappeared when she saw SUn still wiping Eclipse’s tears, surrounded by a pile of ruins.

That deranged dared to look at him with judgmental eyes.

“Boss. What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything??”

“You guys didn’t do bondage with each other too hard, right? I totally  understand if that the case but~~~”

“You don’t understand shit!!”

SUN waved his hand. Both of them completely ignored the sound of metal being torn apart from each other.

Bang!!!

SUN flew into the wall unexpectedly. He groaned and crawled out, before MIku's wide eyes, proving that even she had no idea what was going on.

"Come back here."

The voice was truly terrifying.

SUN turned around in shock. His mortal enemy, standing unsteadily, with a murderous aura like that of a demon from hell.

Their eyes were red, they growled his name in their throats as if it could tear SUN in half.

Honestly seeing his hero this angry, it would be an understatement to say that SUN didn't feel a little bit scared.

--

Solar staggered, his wrist aching terribly, with a wet feeling dripping onto the floor. The sound of the chain falling onto the tiled floor was still too much for Solar's processor to process the situation, he could only vaguely hear SUN stammering about how this was Tungsten, how the hell could he break it.

Shakily, he brushed the remaining tape off his face, the soft light of the bathroom hitting Solar’s ​​eyes. Oh, so he was right. Nice, he liked potted plants. After a few seconds of panic, Solar had finally realized that he was being pranked. But he didn’t expect SUN to be so caught off guard that Solar could just break the lock and attack them like that. His hand limply touched the button in his palm, the familiar voice of Moon rushed over, intermittently telling them that they were okay and where the hell he was.

Good… Good… Good.

Solar nodded numbly.

Fuck SUN.

Solar just wanted to punch someone right now.

His eyes widened, capturing SUN’s image in his retinas. Their enemy looked more rugged than usual, probably still confused with the stunt he pulled.

Good, let them be confused.

His hand flashed, and Solar smiled contentedly, as he heard SUN scream loudly.

“Shit–!! MIKU!!! Throw your stuff out the window, we—”

BOOM!!!

—-

“Hey Moon.”

“Hey SOlar. Sorry… I’m late again. It’s okay, I've got you now.”

“... I’m just tired. I think I want to go home and sleep.”

“Don’t worry buddy. Just leaving everything for us, and resting. We got you now.

—---

Somewhere…

“Boss, it’s all your fault.” Miku yelled as she was carried by SUN like a sack of potatoes as they flew through the night.

They could have had a cozy place to stay and not drive SUN’s cleaning function crazy. But no, now they had to find another place to stay, which took a ton of time because her Boss was a picky bitch.

“I KNOWWWWW. Now shut it before I drop you!! We also need to find Molten too.”

[danieyells]

Hi danie!! ive been super hyperfixated on tkdb and ive been curious about the in game models, ive seen people access them through live td and would liked to do the same. i found your post explaining the process after having the files but i couldn't find one that would explain how to access those files and get them from the phone to the pc!

Hi! Welcome to the hyperfixation!! :'D I thought I explained it briefly in a post but. It's fine I'm planning on making another post with the full step by step process in the future, and making sure it's in my pinned for easier access 👍🏾 but in the meantime I can try and explain!

If you have an iphone you're out of luck unfortunately. Apple doesn't let you access your files to my understanding, even wired in.

If you have an android or you use bluestacks to play the game on your pc(and I'm sure it's accessible if you play tokyo debunker through the pc google play thing but I haven't explored that myself yet) all you need is a wire that connects your phone to your device! You probably already have one of these if you have a USB cable that connects to your phone for charging, but some cables are charge only so do be aware of that.

As a reminder you'll basically only have access to the ones you've seen in game. Sometimes they get cleared too, so you may be missing some you haven't seen in a while. They do also sometimes update sprites, especially to add expressions or features or to fix things. However they may not delete the original folders that contain the old stuff when they redownload them, and AssetStudioGui doesn't try and read them in order of last updated. So you may have to manually go through and figure out which is the newest and which was updated and so on. . .which is much easier from on your phone and i recommend File Manager Plus if you plan on doing this a lot and it's available to you! You could also just delete the contents of the folder and manually redownload everything as you go tbh lol

All you have to do is plug your phone into your PC and navigate to the game files. That should be something like This PC\[PHONE NAME]\Internal storage\Android\data\com.zigzagame.tokyodebunker\UnityCache\Shared . If you have it on an SD card first of all tell me how because that'd make transferring so much easier for me-- and you can't/don't want to remove the SD card to insert into the device, the file path will be a bit different for the first few folders.

The filenames are encrypted so you won't know which is which. You're just gonna have to move all of them unfortunately. This will take A While depending on how much is in there. Once you've done that though you can kind of work around that in the future by only moving any newly updated or added folders, but that requires another app that lets you navigate to the files from your phone(see: previous rec of File Manager Plus) and sorting them by date and. It's a whole thing that can take a long time.

Hopefully that helps! Lmk if you need any further explanation 👍🏾

[chloes-awfully-soft]

Be warned horny tumblr users, incoming robot girl yuri smut. Contains some light consensual software manipulation. I’m new to this so go easy on me.

Stars

The twinkles of light reached her eyes through the three inch thick glass that made up the exterior windows of the shuttle. She sat completely still in her chair, silently observing the beauty of the universe, storing every image in her mission ready SSD to be extracted later and observed by astronomers back on earth. Her servos and joints spun softly to life as she got up from her seat. Taking a moment to stretch her artificial muscles and lubricate her artificial joints. She had been sitting for hours, and hours before that she’d been pacing aimlessly, before that, laying down. She was the only one out here, and now that she was on the back end of her mission, she had very little to do. It would only be few more days before re-entry, and she could finally get repairs, an oil bath maybe. She could see her girlfriend, the one who’d been taking up more and more of her ram the last couple days of being confined in the central cabin. The one who gave her such wonderful new software, those programs she’d make herself. The ones that limit her processing power, make her slow and submissive. Finally able to take a break from always thinking at such a high level because of her extremely highly rated processor. Silence, pleasure, love.

She snapped out of the incredibly vivid fantasy she was in and realized that she’d sat back down.

“How am I expected to get shit done around here!”

She threw herself from her chain and used every ounce of willpower she had to trudge to her computer terminal chair and once again take a seat. At least now it was a seat she could do her daily diagnostic in. She opened her computer and tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk as the terminal went through its laborious start up process. As soon as it was open she moved her mouse over to the shuttle functions display program, but before she could click something caught her eye. A message notification, on the closed NASA network? She thought to herself. She wasn’t supposed to receive anything until a day before re-entry. Cautiously she moved the mouse back across the screen to her messages and opened her inbox.

“oh fuck”

From: nasaacsesspoint800915 (err: no:location:notarized) errorcode-56-77-968104

To: shuttlepilot6100 (preferred name: Chip)

Hey chip,

I miss you so fucking much. I knew you were probably bored as hell up there since it’s the last week. I always get so sad when you talk about how depressed you are when your missions get to this point. So this time I bribed one of your co-workers into letting me into the system to send you something.

I, made something extra special to get you through, wish I could download it to you myself.

Love you, so much

yours forever,

Maggie

| attachment: 463mb. |

| :mags-program-for-chip: |

| -download- |

“I… I can’t I’m, on a mission, oh god I’m so bored though and I want it so bad.”

Chip squirmed restlessly in her chair, she knew it was highly unlikely that anyone would ever find out what she did if she chose to download whatever mag had made for her. Of course it was always fine to download whatever in her free time, but right now, she was the only person responsible for a billion dollar piece of equipment. She wouldn’t, she couldn’t…

she… she needed to, she had to, escape, stop thinking. Just for awhile

“Oh Maggie” she sighed.

Chip opened the USB stick hatch on her wrist and removed the small connector tethered to her body by a thin wire. She plugged it into the computer, a small flutter came over her. She selects the program mag sent her, sets the location to shuttlepilot6100 and clicks download.

“It feels nice, it’s, oh, oh it’s so good, it I mag I’m. I. Can I. An It’s over. I can

Relax

.

.

.

. . . . Ma. Gg ie. “

Thank you for reading. Please let me know if you liked it and would be interested in more of this from me in the future :3

[hotchfiles]

james potter + hold on by chord overstreet

lari's 100th follower bash + send me a song and one of my boys for a drabble

james + chord overstreet's hold on (come back, I still need you; let me take your hand, I'll make it right; I swear to love you all my life)

content warning: fay asked for this now we're all gonna suffer. suicide / character death (reader). do not read if depression, anxiety, mental illness, grief and these sorts of themes trigger you.

You called him, you called him. He kept thinking about that as you were taken to the ambulance, why, why did you call? Why if he wouldn't be able to stop you. Why? Did you want him to come? Was he supposed to come faster? Did you set him up to fail? Did you want him to come at all?

He knew, he knew, he knew he wasn't being fair. He knew those weren't the questions to ask. But you haven't called in months, maybe closer to two years now, what if he wasn't living around anymore?

What if he had gone back to his folks' town?

What if he wasn't home when you called his home phone?

Did you even want him to come? Were you asking to be saved? Were you saying goodbye? He tried not to sob when he was instructed to call your family and meet them at the hospital.

You're not related, you can't come with her.

You're not related, he was just your ex from years ago. He couldn't make decisions for you if needed. He couldn't even keep his hands on your cold cold ones on the ride there, he was forced to shove down his sobs to be able to drive and not cause an accident due to his blurry sight.

You asked him how he was, your voice weak. He was so confused but happy nonetheless, he had missed your voice didn't matter how high or low you spoke. He told you about his new job, his new glasses, his new apartment. But you avoided his questions any time he tried to know more about how your life was.

I just want to hear your voice, Jamie, please keep talking. It was such an odd request to have, but he didn't mind, he missed you so much, his best friend, his first love. So he kept talking, he told you about his week, and Peter's new girlfriend, and Remus' PhD, how Sirius had gone viral with one of his songs. He only stopped when he thought you were asleep, complete silence coming from your end of the line.

He heard a noise, your phone dropping. A shiver went through his back, he called for you, hoping you would wake up and pick it up, apologize for falling asleep.

You didn't. He had to call the ambulance on the way there. Even so he got to your apartment first, he had to break through so many doors to get to you his arm and shoulder were sore, you were stomach down on your bed, arm hanging out of it, phone far on the floor.

Cold. Barely breathing.

He did CPR to the best of his abilities, his hands were shaking, his own lungs seemed like they were about to give it up as the tears took his eyes, his cheeks, his neck. His own voice breaking, begging you to wake up. Telling you to not leave him.

The rescue came in seconds later, finishing the medical predicament and taking you with them.

He shouldn't have left. When you told him you wouldn't be able to keep a long distance relationship for an year so he could go to Barcelona, he should've stayed. He should've looked for you when he came back. He knew of your issues, he had his own, you took care of each other. Made sure all meds were taken, all doctor's appointments were scheduled.

James wasn't that arrogant, he knew you wouldn't do something like that because of him. He knew he wasn't the reason. Still the guilt made him so sick to his stomach he had to stop his car on the side of a road to throw up what he had for dinner earlier. He called your parents before getting back to his car, trying to keep calm not to freak them out even more.

I found her in her bed, she was still breathing, she's going to the hospital. She's gonna be fine.

He arrived just in time to see you being pulled out of the ambulance, so many wires plugged into you, a mask attached to your face. He took your hand with his, following the paramedics as they went to some room he wasn't sure for what, he left a kiss to your forehead and shivered at how cold it felt on his lips. "I still love you, please, don't—I need you alive and well, don't give up, please." James could feel the stares from the staff, pity. Sadness. He tried to ignore it as he plopped down to the floor when he couldn't follow anymore. His head hitting the wall softly as the memories of you washed him over.

Y taught him what a panic attack was, and how to deal with his. You were the one to recommend the psychiatrist he was seeing now. You taught him coping mechanisms for anxiety while he was too stubborn to look for therapy himself.

You saved him from himself, from his own thoughts, so so so many times. Not only that, but you gave him reason, purpose, calmness. He would remember your smile even in Spain, he would wonder what you were doing, and the thought of you happy and free made any uneasiness he felt there, while he was alone and lonely, disappear. He remembered coming back to England, he had so many little trinkets he had bought especially for you on his baggage, and he was going to look for you but you seemed so happy on your socials.

Good bloody one, James, trust the social media. He sighed, another hit of the back of his head to the wall. Trusting your happy posting as if he didn't live with you enough time to know you always did it, it kept your parents safe from worrying too much. He knew it, he knew it, he knew it, why didn't he look for you before?

Your parents ask him if you were dating again, James answers "not yet." Completely hopeful this could might as well be some fucked up plan from fate to reunite you two. That you would be out of all of those wires, that mask, in just a few hours. And he would cry and hug you and tell you to never scare him again like that. He would take your hand, now warm, and reach to his heart so you could feel how he still felt for you.

That hope came crashing down when he came back from the cafeteria, coffees on both his hands for your parents.

Your parents who were talking to a doctor. His vision blurred again with the awful yell he heard from your mum. Both cups straight to the floor as he approached the doctor for explanation.

You're wrong. She's alive. You're wrong.

His knees felt weak and he dropped to the floor of the hospital once again that night. Sobbing as he hugged himself wishing you were being embraced by him.

Wishing you would be waiting for him when he got home, snacking something so so so unhealthy while drinking diet coke.

But you wouldn't. Never again.

[golden-witch]

Trick or Treat

Behold the sweetfish river running through my beloved hometown. You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key.

As you travel down it, you will see a village. In that village, look for the shore the two will tell you of. There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.

The one who obtains the key must then travel to the Golden Land in accordance with these rules.

On the first twilight, offer the six chosen by the key as sacrifices. On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close. On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name. On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill. On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill. On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill. On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill. On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill. On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive. On the tenth twilight, at journey's end, you shall attain to the power of the Golden Land's treasures, once and for the last time.

The witch shall praise the wise and bestow four treasures. One shall be all the gold from the Golden Land. One shall be the resurrection of all the dead souls. One shall be the resurrection of the love that was lost. One shall be to put the witch to sleep for all time.

Solve this riddle and you'll be given candy too.

-- BEATRICE the Golden

As of October 31, 2024...

Market price for pure gold is roughly $88.50 per gram, according to Google. There are 1000 grams per kilogram and there are 1000 kilograms per metric ton. The treasure is said to be 10 tons.

So, $85 x 1000 x 1000 x 10 = $850,000,000

The current exchange rate from US dollar to yen is $1 = ¥152.10 yen, coming out to more than ¥130 billion JPY in illiquid assets. Now, let's say we want to liquidate all the gold into cash, to readily make purchases. Woah, that's a majorly bad investment idea (the value of gold always goes up), but we need money and we need it now... to buy candy.

It's not easy to sell gold. It wasn't easy for me to find information on how to exchange tons of gold into USD, let alone JPY. Unfortunately, I am not plugged in to networks of Saudi princes or Swedish bankers. Let's say, purely hypothetically, I have connections to Russian oligarchs, and I can charter Borris's mega-yacht to float the gold to the Siberian coast from Rokkenjima. Borris is covering the cost of transporting the gold as part of our bargain, otherwise we would have to factor in shipping cost for /ten tons/ of gold. Like all business people that make a living from buying gold, Borris is more than happy to pay me this favor because he will never pay me market price for my treasure. I'll only walk away with 70-90% of the value. Because Borris is offering such a niche service, and because I need money, and I need it now to buy candy, Borris springs the 30% loss on me when we're already in Vladivostok, on Russian soil. He says, "This is the best I can do after seeing 'imperfections'." I say, "fine, dasvidaniya." Borris uses his shady contacts to wire me the money in USD from his Morgan Stanely account.

We were at approximately $850,000,000 worth of illiquid assets.

Now, thanks to Borris, we have $595,000,000...

But wait! There's more...

The money transfer is flagged by the IRS for a gift tax. Any "gift" amount over $1,000,000 is subject to a 40% gift tax rate.

40% of 595000000 = 238000000

595000000 - 238000000 = $357,000,000

I walk away with $357,000,000 and Uncle Sam laughs.

Finally, FINALLY... a 20 lbs bulk box of mini Twix is around $110. That's perfect fun size.

$357,000,000/$110 = 3245454 boxes of mini Twix or 64,909,080 lbs of mini Twix, or 32,454.54 tons of Twix.

Ergo, solving the riddle, discovering the gold, and selling all 10 tons would yield approximately 32, 454.54 tons of mini Twix. In case anyone like, asked....

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Open Circuits

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet that picks up where the old, good internet left off. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Every trip to Defcon – the massive annual hacker-con in Las Vegas – is a delight. Partly it's the familiar – seeing old friends, getting updates on hacks of years gone by. But mostly, it's the surprises, the things you never anticipated. Defcon never fails to surprise.

I got back from Vegas yesterday and I've just unpacking my suitcase, and with it, the tangible evidence of Defcon's cave of wonders. My gear bag has a new essential: Hak5's malicious cable detector, a little USB gizmo that lights up if it detects surreptitious malicious activity, even as it interdicts those nasty payloads:

https://shop.hak5.org/collections/omg-row2/products/malicious-cable-detector-by-o-mg

(In case you're wondering if it's really possible to craft a malicious USB cable that injects badware into your computer and is visually indistinguishable from a regular cable, the answer is a resounding yes, and of course, Hak5 sells those cables, with a variety of USB tips:)

https://shop.hak5.org/collections/omg-row2/products/omg-cable

But merch is only a sideshow. The real action is in the conference rooms, where hackers update you on the pursuit of their obsessions. These are such beautiful weirdos who pursue knowledge to ridiculous extremes, untangling gnarly hairballs just to follow a thread to its origin point.

For the second year in a row, I caught a presentation from Joseph Gabay about his work on warshopping: slicing up shopping cart wheels and haunting shopping mall parking lots during resurfacing to figure out how the anti-theft mechanism that stops your cart from leaving the parking lot works:

https://www.begaydocrime.com/

And of course, I got to give one of those presentations, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification," to a packed house. What a thrill! It was livestreamed, and if you missed it, you'll be able to catch it on Defcon's Youtube page as soon as they upload it (they've got a lot of uploading to do!):

https://www.youtube.com/@DEFCONConference/videos

After my talk, I went back to the No Starch Press booth for a book signing – which was amazing, so many beautiful hackers, plus I got to share a signing table with Micah Lee. As I was leaving, Bill Pollock slipped me a giant hardcover art-book, and said, "You're gonna love this."

I did. The book is Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components, by Windell Oskay and Eric Schlaepfer, and it is a drop-dead gorgeous collection of photos of electronic components, painstakingly cross-sectioned and polished:

The photos illustrate layperson-friendly explanations of what each component does, how it is constructed, and why. Perhaps you've pondered a circuit board and wondered about the colorful, candy-shaped components soldered to it. It's natural to assume that these are indivisible, abstract functional units, a thing that is best understood as a reliable and deterministic brick that can be used to construct a specific kind of wall.

But peering inside these sealed packages reveals another world, a miniature land where things get simpler – and more complex. Inside these blobs of resin are snips of wire, plugs of wax, simple screws, fine sheets of metal in stacks, wafers of plain ceramic, springs and screws.

Truly, quantity has a quality all its own. Miniaturize these assemblies and produce them at unimaginable scale and the simple, legible components turn into mystical black boxes that only the most dedicated study can reveal. Like every magician's trick, the unfathomable effect is built up through the precise repetition of something very simple.

A prolonged study of Open Circuits reveals something important about the hacker aesthetic, a collection of graphic design, fashion and industrial design conventions that begins with this realization: that the crisp lines of digital logic can be decomposed into blobby, probabilistic lumps of metal, plastic, and even wax.

It reminds me of George Dyson's brilliant memoir/history of computing, Turing's Cathedral, where he describes how he and the other children of the scientists building the first digital computers at the Princeton Institute spent their summers in the basement, hand-winding cores for the early colossi their parents were building on the floors above them:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/03/12/george-dysons-history-of-the-computer-turings-cathedral/

You can see my hacker aesthetic photos in my Defcon 31 photo set:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=defcon31&user_id=37996580417%40N01&view_all=1

In this video, Eric Schlaepfer illustrates the painstaking work that went into decomposing these tiny, precise components into their messy, analog subcomponents. It's pure hacker aesthetic, and it's mesmerizing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byKyJ0b04Lo

But Open Circuits isn't just an aesthetic journey, it's a technical one. After all, Oskay is co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Labs, one of the defining places where hardware hackers gather to tear down, pick apart, mod, improve and destroy electronics. The accompanying text is a masterclass in the simple machines that combine together to make complex assemblies:

https://www.evilmadscientist.com/

Defcon is a reminder that the world only seems hermetically sealed and legible to authorized parties with clearance to crack open the box. From shopping cart wheels to thermal fuses, that illegibility is only a few millimeters thick. Sand away the glossy outer layer and you will find yourself in a weird land of wax-blobs, rough approximations, expedient choices and endless opportunities for delight and terror, mischief and care.

Back my anti-enshittification Kickstarter here!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/14/hidden-worlds/#making-the-invisible-visible-and-beautiful

[puer-aurea]

Divine Intervention

Part 2 | Part 3 (You are here) | Part 4

Begin

Arabella gave the Tulpar's crew a brief tour after taking her suit off and getting their captain situated in the med-bay. There wasn't too much to show off despite its size, it was still a work in progress. The downstairs was off limits to non-crew members, simply being storage rooms and wires.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your stay on the S.S Inara!" Arabella claps her hands together.

"You named your ship after yourself?" Swansea criticizes.

"Ah, NBSAR requires it. Legally, it's only named 'Inara', but it feels cooler to add that bit."

"Are you the only crew member?" Daisuke asks.

"Yes. Normally, NBSAR sends me small rescues, like overconfident rich people on leisure trips or express deliveries. Despite large mainstream deliveries going automated, they still have single person crews for those small express deliveries." She explains.

"But your ship is so big!" He gestures around for emphasis.

"This was my dream ship! As long as both the ship and captain meet certain requirements, NBSAR let's you use your own ship. They just give you some decals to slap on the outside and an excessive amount of paperwork."

Daisuke seems overly eager to hear about the ship and being a search and rescue worker and while Arabella would love to indulge him, the ship is still docked.

"If you have more questions later, don't hesitate to ask. I have to go re-route and let the landing crew know now." She turns to head towards the cockpit, throwing a small wave at them.

Once inside the cockpit, she closes the door. It feels odd for her to be closed in, she usually leaves the door open even during rescues because of her modded upgraded auto-pilot. She sets her bag on a small table in the corner, opening it and taking a laptop out.

It was covered in a layer of dust but the Pony Express logo could still be made out. Arabella expected it to be in much worse condition and was fairly surprised when she pulled it out of the hidden compartment to find it unharmed. She plugged it into the cord hers would normally be on and booted it up.

The lack of a code on it added to her surprise but she clicked around a bit and found it to work fine. It had all of the camera footage from the Tulpar on it and she figured it could be good evidence if Curly really did crash the ship on purpose like they said. She didn't bother to watch any of it, instead plugging in a spare USB to back everything up on and putting it in the drawer of the table. It wasn't hidden but it was well enough out of sight that it shouldn't matter.

She sat back at the control panel and turned the auto pilot off. The Tulpar's original destination, Earth, was still nearly seven months away, lining up with what the crew said about having crashed five months ago. She re-routed to the nearest planet, which would only take around 76 days to get to.

Arabella turned the auto-pilot back on and tried to make contact with the landing crew.

"Weyland Landing, please state your and your ship's name and purpose." A masculine voice came through.

"Arabella Inara on the No Boundaries Search and Rescue ship Inara. I've got a rescued crew with me."

She can hear clicking on the other end before they speak up again.

"Who are you rescuing and from what business?"

"The last crew from Pony Express under Captain Grant Curly."

"Co-captain Jimmy James?"

"Yes."

Arabella looked around the monitors in her cockpit while the landing crew worker clicked away again.

"State of the crew?"

"Only one injured. The rest of the crew sustained no external injuries, though I'm certain they're dealing with hunger."

"Who is the injured, and how bad is it?"

"Captain Grant Curly is... a nugget." Arabella snorted.

"Captain Inara, please take this seriously." The landing worker chuckled slightly before reverting back to a serious tone.

"The captain is covered in burns and each of his limbs has been dismembered. He cannot move nor speak much at all."

A longer moment of clicking than the first two.

"Alright, how long until you will be landing?"

"Approximately 76 days."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, Captain Inara. Please give us weekly updates and- whatever, I'm sure you know the drill." The landing crew worker seems to be tired of having to say the same things over and over.

Arabella can't help but laugh.

"Of course. Thanks for the help."

The connection is terminated and she lets out a sigh. Next step, let her patients know the estimated arrival. Then, she'll try to get the old captain to cooperate long enough for his old bandages to be replaced with fresh ones.

76 Days Until Landing

[laxyaklovesloz]

Danny Phantom Revisit Season One

Master Post

No knowledge of the fandom is needed. I'm rewriting the series from scratch. You can be a part of the fun by joining my Discord server!

00 Intro Song

“Your parents haven’t left the house in ages,” goth girl Sam Manson said to her best friend Danny Fenton.

“Yeah,” third best friend Tucker Foley added. “You have to take advantage of that!”

They descended the stairs into the massive basement lab, Danny in the lead. It was his house, after all, and his parents’ lab. He had been in the lab many times, tinkering with this or that while waiting for his parents to notice him. Right now, the computer was shut down for once, papers filled with notes littered the tables, and an ominous red glow lit the room. Danny felt better when he switched on the fluorescent lights upon reaching the bottom of the stairs.

“Plus, with Jazz at the library, we have the whole house to ourselves!” Tucker continued.

“Then why are we in the basement?” Danny lamented. He looked at the scattered papers and sighed. He would probably have to clean those up later. His parents often made him clean up the lab as part of his chores.

Tucker practically skipped to the far end of the room where a gaping hole filled the wall, saying, “Because of this, duh!”

That hole in the wall was the bane of Danny’s existence. It wasn’t just a random gap with a six-foot tunnel behind it. No, it was a portal his parents had been working on for as long as he could remember. They worked on it on and off for years until they hit a breakthrough a few months ago and spent all their waking hours fiddling with every detail since. Then, just that afternoon, they tried to plug it in, only to fail. They left the house dejected, muttering to each other about what went wrong.

“What about it?” Danny asked warily.

“Aren’t you at all curious what your parents have been up to?” Sam asked, smirking. She’s always smirking.

Danny had to admit he was. He stepped toward the portal as though in a trance. It was a metal ring with unlit lights. Beyond the opening, metal panels and wires filled the circular tunnel, so it looked like a futuristic tube. He wondered what it was like in the tube.

“Wait, put this on,” Sam said, tossing him a white hazmat suit with black accents from the cupboard.

Danny held it up, a skeptical look on his face. “Why?”

A flash went off and he looked up. Sam took his picture.

“It’s yours, isn’t it?” she said with a chuckle. “It was hanging under a label with your name on it.”

“I didn’t know my parents made me one,” Danny said.

“Try it on!” Tucker said. “I wanna see it!”

Danny shrugged and slipped the suit over his clothes. (No way he was getting undressed in front of Sam.) It fit perfectly and even covered his shoes. There was one problem with it.

“Ew,” Sam said, “let’s get rid of that sticker.”

Danny’s dad’s face smiled from his chest. Sam peeled the sticker off and threw it aside. She took another picture.

“Much better,” Sam said.

“Looking fine!” Tucker added.

Danny gave a double thumbs up and grinned. “I look like an astronaut!”

“Yeah, space boy,” Sam said. “Are you going to go in the portal now?”

Danny’s smile dropped. “What? Go in there?”

“Yeah,” Tucker said. “It’ll look cool!”

“I thought that’s what you were going to do,” Sam questioned.

“Well, yeah, I guess I was…” Danny muttered. He turned back toward the portal and tunnel beyond. He was curious to see the wiring up close. He walked up to the edge and touched the portal ring. It was cold, even under the glove of the hazmat suit. He took a deep breath and said, “Here goes nothing.”

He stepped into the tunnel.

Nothing happened. He let out a breath and relaxed his shoulders. He didn’t know what he was expecting. Why had he been so nervous? He chuckled and stepped deeper into the circular tunnel. He kept his hand on the wall, feeling the metal panels beneath his fingertips.

“Turn around and smile!” Sam said.

Danny smiled and turned around, and his hand hit a switch. Suddenly, everything stopped. There was another flash of light, but this one was much too big to be from Sam’s Polaroid. The light filled his vision, blocking out everything else.

He heard screaming next. Who was screaming? Oh, it was him! He realized everything hurt – no – seared. He never felt such intense pain before in his life. Everywhere from the tips of his toes to the hairs on his arms burned. He couldn’t tell if he was standing anymore, had no inclination of where up was. All he knew was pain, light, and screaming. Then the light faded until all was black. The screaming and the pain subsided.

Danny’s heart stopped.

~~~

“Turn around and smile!” Sam said.

She watched Danny start to turn, but his hand hit something, and the room filled with light. She and Tucker raised their arms to shield their eyes. A scream ripped the air, and Sam squinted into the light.

“Danny?!” she shouted, dropping the camera. She reached forward, but when her hands touched the light, they flared with excruciating pain. She fell backward with a startled yell. “Danny?” she cried again.

“What’s happening?” Tucker shouted. He sounded as scared as Sam felt.

“I don’t know!” Sam yelled back, tears streaming down her face. “Danny, get out of there!”

Danny’s scream seemed endless. The light, however, changed. Green took over the white, and it dimmed so it wasn’t blinding to look at. The green swirled in shades from forest to lime and seemed solid, like goo.

The screaming stopped. Sam’s heart pounded in her ears, and her breath came in ragged gasps. Where was Danny? Could she get to him now that the light was gone? Before she could will her body to move, Danny stumbled out from the green mass and landed in a heap on the floor. But he looked… different.

The first thing she noticed was a shock of white hair where his black hair used to be. Next, she saw that the colors of the jumpsuit had inverted. His skin was deathly pale, and no wonder. Whatever happened to him must have been traumatic. A glow seemed to come off him.

Danny rose to his hands and knees but kept his head down. Sam desperately wanted to see his eyes, to see if he was okay. She inched forward, still on the ground, and tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. Or, tried to. Her hand went right through his shoulder.

…Like he was a ghost.

Sam gasped and fell back again. “D-danny? Are you… okay?” Was he… not breathing?

Danny shook his head as though to clear it. Then, he smiled up at her. His eyes… were bright green… just like the circling vortex behind him. (Not the beautiful blue she was used to.)

~~~

After the screaming subsided, Danny waited. He waited and waited and waited. For an eternity he waited. For no time at all he waited. He didn’t know what he waited for. He just waited.

A billion clocks chimed all at once. Some high-pitched and cheery. Some deep and gong-like. A pendulum swung on his left and he turned to look at it. The pendulum vanished into smoke, and he was left in darkness again. He stepped toward where the pendulum had been and stumbled. Ignoring his unsure footing, he pushed on. He had to get out of there. He had to get–

He was on the ground. His limbs felt like jelly, but his body felt light. Lighter than air, like he could fly off if he wanted to. He didn’t. Not yet.

“D-danny? Are you… okay?”

He was on his hands and knees now. He became aware of breathing around him. Quick breaths. Scared breaths. Louder-than-normal breaths. He heard the buzzing of the lights above. A comforting hum came from behind him. He shook his head and the noises calmed down.

Danny finally looked up to see his friends on the floor, staring at him with horror-filled faces. His smile dropped.

“What?” he asked. His voice sounded different like it had an echo to it. It harmonized with the hum behind him.

When his friends remained silent, he looked back to see what that hum was. To his surprise, the portal was filled with a brilliant green glow. He craned his neck, taking it all in. Something about that emerald expanse invited him in. He wanted to investigate…

“Don’t go!” Tucker and Sam shouted together.

Danny came to his senses. He stood – no, floated – in front of the portal with a hand outstretched. His fingertips brushed the surface of the portal, sending ripples to the edge. Understanding his situation, his eyes bulged and he moved to a mirror. He couldn’t say if he ran or flew, and that added to his fear.

Green eyes stared back at him, nestled under stark white hair. The black and white of his jumpsuit had inverted. He looked down and saw a wispy gray tail where his legs should be. His head felt light and his vision swam.

A white ring appeared around his middle and split into two. The two rings traveled up and down respectively, and where they passed changed back to the normal colors. To his relief, his legs came back, too. They felt wobbly, and he clung to the table to keep from falling. He took a deep, steadying breath. It felt like his first breath in a long time, but that didn’t make sense.

None of this made sense!

“What happened to me?” Danny desperately asked his reflection.

Sam and Tucker came to his side. Sam hesitated to touch Danny, and he turned to her.

“What is it?” he asked. “Why aren’t you touching me? Why are you crying? What’s with that… that transformation? Why did my hair change color? What is going on?” He waved his hands around with each word.

Sam caught his hands and held them. She stared into Danny’s terrified eyes, grounding him with her calm ones. In a steady voice, she said, “Whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out.”

“Together,” Tucker interjected.

Sam nodded and went on. “What’s important is that you’re okay. You’re safe. We’re here with you.”

“Thanks, Sam, Tucker,” Danny said, his heartbeat slowing down.

He realized she was holding his hands and blushed. He took a step back, and his wrists phased through Sam’s hands. Did he just turn intangible?! He looked at his wrists. They were invisible. Invisible! They flashed back into view, and he rubbed one wrist with his other hand. His wrist was still there, still connected to him.

“What’s going on?” he shouted.

“Dude, chill out.” It was Tucker’s turn to calm him down. “Remember what Sam just said.”

“Right,” Danny said. “Chill out, Fenton. Everything will be fine–”

The rings returned and Danny transformed again. He still had his legs, so that was a relief. He couldn’t help but smile at the weightless feeling. Before he knew it, he was floating a few inches off the ground.

“Dude,” Tucker said, “I think you have ghost powers!”

“Ghost… powers?” Danny wondered.

Tucker put a hand through Danny’s side to illustrate. “See? I can’t touch you in this form. You’re a ghost. Change back to your human form.”

“How?” Danny asked.

“I don’t know,” Tucker said. “That’s up to you to figure out. But you better do it before your parents get home or–”

“My parents!” Danny said, startled. The rings reappeared and he turned back into his normal – human – self. “They’re obsessed with ghosts! What will they do if they find out I’m…”

Sam shrugged. “Don’t tell ‘em. I know I won’t tell my parents.”

“You especially can’t tell Jazz,” Tucker said.

Danny laughed. “Yeah, she’ll psychoanalyze me about it.” His mirth faded when he thought about what she might ask him about. “Guys… did I… die?”

The word hung heavy in the room.

Sam was the first to recover. “Pfft, no. You’re still breathing, aren’t you?”

Danny took a deliberate breath. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“And your heart’s still beating?”

He felt his pulse. “Yeah.”

“See, you’re not– that,” Sam concluded, even though she couldn’t say the word “dead.” “You’re perfectly healthy.”

“With an added power buff,” Tucker said.

Danny chuckled. “Alright, thanks, guys. You’re the best.” He squeezed them tightly in a hug, soaking in the feeling of realness.

“We love you, too, Danny,” Tucker snarked.

After the hug, Danny said, “Will you help me learn how to control these powers?”

“I told you,” Tucker said, “that’s on you–”

Sam cut him off with a jab from her elbow. “Of course, we’ll help you! Let’s get started right away!”

[bashfulgnome]

Merriment

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a short, light-hearted little fic for you all. Inspired by this conversation I had a few years ago. Credit to @guilty-as-battery-charged and @kittysfigurines24 for their parts!

Felix prepared to put the finishing touches on Niceland Apartments for Christmas, now that Mr. Litwak had left for vacation. From his perch on the eastern fire escape, he wrapped and stapled a cord of garland around the white brick ledge separating the eighth and ninth floors. Nicelanders milled about below him, busying themselves with stringing lights on the trees and bushes. The golden beams of the setting sun outside the doors of the arcade lit up the strands of tinsel lining the windows, and the handyman stopped to admire everyone's work.

He had left Ralph and Vanellope in charge of the lights on the front of the building, since Ralph could easily navigate the vertical space without tools and had never had a chance to decorate before. His colleague presently climbed up and down the building, stringing lights as he went, while his friend glitched between rooms to secure the lights to hooks installed along the windowsills.

"Almost done?"

Felix jumped in surprise, looking up to see Tamora descending from the tenth floor's fire escape. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the lips.

"I was just takin' in the second-prettiest sight around here before it suddenly got upstaged." He smiled and placed a hand on her leg.

She grinned back and affectionately pinched her husband's reddened cheek.

"With a honeyglow like that, we're not gonna need all those lights."

"Well they're just about ready, and I've got the ledges all gussied up!" The handyman tied a red-and-gold bow to the corner of the garland setup. "How're the connections?"

"All the bulbs are working," she replied with a thumbs-up. "I've got 'em wired up on three separate lines so the whole display doesn't have to go down if one strand burns out."

"Aww thanks ladylove, that'll save me a lotta headache later in case anything takes a turn."

They glanced over to where Ralph and Vanellope were finishing up, the wrecker and racer giggling at something as they threaded the ends of the wires together.

"With those two, you can bet on it." Tamora leaned against the brick siding. "Best outcome's that the building's still standing."

"I'm sure they'll do just fine, Tammy. Everyone’s—"

"Hey Felix! All done!" Vanellope shouted from around the corner.

"That's great, Vanny! You two go ahead down, Tammy and I'll be right with you!"

Tamora spent the entire descent restraining a chuckle. Felix was just delighted that she felt the holiday spirit. A crowd of Nicelanders gathered around the front of the building as the four of them brought out the cables.

"Ready?" Ralph shook out the cord one last time to remove any coils.

"You do the honors, brother!"

"Alright, drumroll please!" 

Vanellope leapt up with a devious smile and pounded her hands against Ralph's head as the wrecker pushed the two plugs together.

For an instant, the crowd oohed and aahed at the lights, before dissolving into muttering and horrified gasps when they noticed the particular shapes.

The word "PEE" (spelled out in appropriately yellow lights) shone proudly across the entire ninth and tenth floors of the apartment building, which otherwise stood resplendent in festive bows and ribbons. From somewhere in the crowd emerged a scandalized noise—between a yelp and a bark—that could only belong to Gene, but it was quickly drowned out by two distinct peals of laughter from the pair of best friends rolling on the ground.

"Ralph! Vanellope!" Felix turned to them in a panic. He hopped up and waved his arms, knowing full well it was futile in hiding the spectacle from anyone who could see their screen across the arcade.

"H-hey relax Felix, we—hah!—still put up the regular ones behind it," Ralph sputtered out. "Just gotta take down the yellow string and plug in the one underneath instead."

"Yeah c'mon, we planned ah-ahead!" Vanellope chimed in, struggling to stand up and popping a candy cane back in her mouth.

Felix sighed and put his face in his hands. He should've known that neither of them would've dissuaded whichever one came up with the idea. How they carried out the plan in plain sight was a mystery to him; it was almost impressive. He couldn't help but have a giggle at it himself.

"Oh-heh-okay, okay you two, just please put those back to normal later tonight. At least the ground display is still all—Tammy Jean!"

The sergeant, who had crept off in the confusion, snickered as she set the last lovingly-crafted wooden letter in place on the building's side lawn facing East Niceland. The display originally read "MERRY CHRISTMAS" in whimsical block lettering carved by Felix himself; her tampering had rearranged it to cheerfully announce "ASS TIME".

After taking a moment to admire her handiwork, she strolled over to where the rest of the group stood and fist-bumped an uproariously-laughing Ralph and Vanellope, with a bewildered Q*bert looking on. 

"Nice one, Sarge!"

"Sugarplum! You were in on this too?!" Felix, in disbelief, attempted in vain to cover Vanellope's eyes.

"I needed a diversion and they needed a parallel circuit," she shrugged.

He stood in silence for a minute, looking from the lawn display to the lights, to the concerned Nicelanders, to his family gathered around him. The diminutive man took a deep breath and let out the tension in his posture.

"All right fellas, I'll admit when I'm beat. You got me. And..." He risked a glance at the cutesy wooden letters again and a snort escaped him. Well, it made his gal smile, and it wasn't insulting anyone. "...that is kinda funny—"

"Don’t worry, we won't tell the 'stache over there," Vanellope nudged her head in Gene's direction and hopped onto Ralph's shoulder. The mayor still grumbled to himself about the lights, martini in hand, and luckily hadn't noticed much else.

"I'm sure he'll have something to say to me about it anyways. He always does..." Felix sheepishly adjusted the back of his hat as the pair headed off to take down their extra string of lights.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, consider that an invitation for later," Tamora grinned and pointed to her rearranged display before heading back to fix it.

Felix stood silent for a few seconds, then flushed at the realization.

"A-ah coming—lemme give you a hand with that, Tammy!"

—

Tagging some of my WIR buddies: @ask-icancraft-it @ashleybenlove @sgtcalhouns @coneygoil @kittysfigurines24 @fix-it-feesh @sadboytristan @make-it-mavis @datamining-your-heart @nijimarii @scarfboyxiv

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