#im noticing this smaller warehouse a lot more now though and i never had noticed it was the same set before watching that video but

[wickymicky]

i love that im at the point now where i’m recognizing commonly used music video sets in kpop mvs... lmao

[shitpostsfromtheinvisiblelibrary]

Prompt 14. My fingers are numb.

I... Don't know what happened here but i aimed for fluff and ended up with hypothermia, jealousy and a discussion of polyamory?

"My fingers are numb." Irene mumbled, blinking eyes that suddenly felt like led. Vale turned to her, worry clear in his eyes as she nearly lost her balance. "I don't feel well." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently put his fingers against her cheek, she flinched away, he was too warm, the contact felt like burning.

"We need to get you home." He said. "Before hypothermia can set in. Do you think you can walk?"

"Maybe?" He mouth felt wrong. "Can I lean on you?" He grabbed one of her arms and slung it over his shoulders whilst tightening his grip on her. "OK. Let's go." Irene could walk, but only just, it was more of a stagger and he had to take most of her weight to stop her going face first into the snow.

It had been fine to begin with, she was helping him poke around a warehouse reported to house a crime syndicate. But whoever had provided the information had been wrong and it had been long since abandoned and was in such a state of disrepair that even squatters wouldn't touch it.

Irene had decided to test the rotton steps up to the second floor, she was smaller than Vale anyway, lighter. She had managed to make it all of the way to the top before something crunched and she felt her foot give way. She'd thrown herself up to the second floor just in time to save herself. And trip up and fall.

She'd taken her gloves off whilst examining something and hadn't thought to put them back on, she couldn't feel through the thick leather so, after checking with Vale (no finger printing wasn't a common practise, but now he wanted to know how it worked) she had removed them.

She'd fallen into snow. Then roof had caved in at some point and it was thick and undisturbed. Her hands had gone straight into it as she tried to catch herself and she had lay there in mute shock for a minute or so, maybe more, she wasn't entirely sure, before Vale called out her name. She'd got up with chattering teeth and told him that there was just snow up there, and to not use the stairs.

Vale managed to flag down a cab, in which he helped Irene out of her wet coat, it was beginning to soak through to her dress, and wrapped his around her shoulders, before giving her his scarf and gloves, though the gloves were a little big on her and he idly wondered if she'd ever played the piano for she had the long, slim fingers that were perfect for the instrument, or perhaps the violin, she'd certainly expressed a certain delight when she'd come over and seen him practicing in the study, her eyes had lit up in a way he thought was reserved for Kai and Detective novels.

Her hands were cold as ice and she was shivering despite what he had done. Her breathing was coming out a little raspy and her skin had a greyish colour to it that was filling him with a nauseating sense of fear.

Irene was sick.

She was really sick and it was all of his fault and if this bloody cabbie didn't hurry up, he rapped on the window and ordered him to go faster, than she was going to pass out and would be incredibly difficult to wake up, if he managed to wake her again.

The cab drew level with Irene and Kai's lodgings, and the embassy, and Irene managed to stagger down to the pavement. He grabbed her wet coat, paid the cab and grabbed her again, it said something about her that she'd nearly managed to make it to the door, stubbornness mainly. He had a key and let them in.

"Strongrock?" He hung Irene's coat up to dry and began to help her up the stairs. He heard Kai moving around upstairs. "I need your help. Now." He appeared in the hallway, took in Irene's sorry state and immediately swept her up into his arms and carried her to their bedroom.

"What happened?" Kai demanded as he removed the outerwear and set it to one side.

"She fell into a lot of snow." Vale said. "She must have not put her gloves back on, she was soaked through, I did what I could in the cab but there wasn't much." Kai nodded. Irene's dress was damp and though he knew she'd protest and be very annoyed later on, he made quick work of the buttons as at the front of her dress. She was wearing quite a thick chemise underneath, which was thankfully still dry, so he wouldn't have to strip her down to her underwear.

"Can you hold her up so I can get this off?" Vale sat on the edge of the bed and held onto the barely conscious Irene as Kai pulled her skirt down her legs, and then her boots and silk stockings. "Okay, that should help. Let's get her wrapped up and hopefully, no damage will be done." Her eyes were fluttering as Irene struggled to stay conscious. Vale fetched more blankets from the airing cupboard whilst Kai helped Irene get comfortable in the bed, covered tightly wrapped around her. They added the blankets and Kai lightly brushed his fingers over her forehead.

"You can sleep now." He murmured, before leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I'll wake you in a little while with a cup of tea." She made a soft noise of agreement and Kai flicked the light off.

"I'm so sorry that I let this happen." Vale said in a grave voice as Kai shut the bedroom door behind him. He didn't like being around Kai and Irene when they were so... He wasn't sure of the word. But either way, it felt like he was prying into their relationship. Not to mention the jealousy, but he had to keep reminding himself that he chose to reject Irene and he could only blame himself for his lonlieness, and of course she had moved onto someone much better. It was what she deserved.

Kai just waved his hand. "I know you wouldn't ever deliberately put her in harms way." He said. "You clearly care about her far too much for that." Vale swallowed. "Thank you for making sure that she made it back. She'll be fine once she's warmed up again, maybe a little under the weather for a few days. But she'll be fine." Kai kept telling himself that, he knew, medically speaking, that she would be fine, but he did have a tendency to worry. "I think you could probably do with something hot to drink as well." He swept his eyes over Vale. "You're probably cold too."

"I didn't really notice." Vale shrugged and Kai tsked in a way that he'd most definitely picked up from Irene.

"Tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please." Vale said, he was suddenly tired but he knew it was because of the stress of making sure that Irene was going to be okay, and not the cold. He sat down in his usual armchair. There were photos about the mantlepiece. Kai had found an old camera in the attic of the new house, abandoned, and he'd got it repaired and working. Naturally Irene had been his first subject, there were a few of her, awkwardly smiling unsure of what to do. One was of her asleep on the sofa, she'd been mad when he put it up but didn't try to take it down. Then he'd pestered Vale as well, before finally working out how to delay the taking of the picture, so he could be in them as well, and there were pictures of all three of them, Kai with his arm around Irene's shoulders and she was smiling at him whilst Vale wished that he wasn't there. That one was newly developed, it hadn't been there two days ago.

"It came out pretty well." Kai said, following his eye line as he he handed over a steaming cup of tea. "Would it hurt you to smile though?"

"Probably." Vale said dryly. "Thank you." Kai sighed before throwing himself into his usual seat.

"I need to talk to you about something." Kai said after a long moment.

"What's the matter?" Vale set his tea cup down and laced his fingers together.

"I know about your feelings for Irene." He felt ice solidify in his stomach, he thought that he had hidden that well. That no one else could possibly have known, except for maybe Irene.

"I don't." Vale said after a long pause. He forced a chuckle. "Really Strongrock, I didn't take you for the jealous kind."

"I'm not." Kai shrugged and took a sip of his tea, not caring about the fact that it was still hot enough to burn his lips, he quite liked it in fact. "It's obvious. If I've noticed, Irene probably has too. I can't work out who it's worse to hear say it, me, or her, but I decided to."

"I don't." Vale said, shaking his head.

"I'm not angry." Kai said. "I don't even mind that much if you do have feelings for her. She's… amazing, why wouldn't you?" Vale very much wanted to run out into the snow in order to avoid the rest of this conversation. And hey, if he was killed by pneumonia, he'd never had to hear the second half of it. "I don't want this to get in the way of our friendship." Kai said.

"It won't." Vale said quietly. "And I have no intention of ever telling her how I feel toward her. I don't want to get in the way of what you two have, she's far happier with you than she'd ever be with me."

"I didn't mean it like that." Kai said, shaking his head. "Our friendship, not yours and Irene's. If you want to… Court her, I say go for it, just don't sneak around behind my back. And don't wallow in jealousy, it's no good for anyone."

"Pardon?"

"Irene and I have talked about it before. She said she'd never approach you, but consider it if you ever approached her. Just something for you to think about."

"Yeah… Hang on, I am a little lost."

"Im trying to set you up with my romantic partner." Kai said. "Come on, keep up."

"But why?"

"Because monogamy is all well and good but not for everyone. And I do not mind sharing." He checked his watch. "I'm going to make Irene some tea and wake her up, think about it. And speak to her when she feels better, or you'll miss your chance."

[rancoeur-the-unfortunate]

Pills (Chapter 16)

(1743 words!)

The Doctor stood in the control room of the massive it was dark and empty aside from the blank static-filled screen covered the main wall, thoughts soring through his head like the wind. Zim was going sober and was not something to sneeze at. It had taken them years to find Zim and shut that rebellion down. Despite how much the good Doctor down talked them and often called them the rebellious Smeets, in reality, they were no mere Smeets. 

That rebellion cost them trillions in expenses. They destroyed factories, took down armies, and worst of all almost killed the control brains before they managed to incapacitate Zim.

Zim may have been the smallest of his generation but he was also the most tactically smart and driven Irken the Doctor had ever seen and would have made a fine commander to the Irken race had he not betrayed them. He had remembered the Control Brains asking him to preserve Zim to at least try to keep that sensational leader skills. 

However, that proved to be a lot more difficult than previously thought. First, they had to capture the little plague then engineer a pill that would only force the subject into obedience but keep that fighting spirit with said out loud was a bit of a have your cake and eat it too kind of number. Though how do you say no to the Control Brains without losing your position as head Doctor.

The Doctor will never outlive the shame he received for failing them. He maintained his position for saving the Control Brains ungrateful lives but they mentioned quite often how they were disappointed in him in making Zim into just another ANNOYING service drone.

The Doctor sat down in his chair and stared at the many screens in front of him before gently massaging his temples. Thinking of the plan was hard but the fact that he was getting horrible deja vu was annoying, to say the least.

Just go to Earth, find Zim, and administer the pill. But if Zim was going sober this could be easier said then done. Zim was probably using Earth as a hideout and that would make things a little difficult. They couldn't just storm the planet, they had little to no information on it aside from the info intoxicated Zim provided them with. Which was a lot but barely anything useful.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor raised lowered his hands at the sudden appearance of the new voice. 

He stood up and turned around to face his very short assistant. The Tallest were very puzzled when he asked for this Irken by name and even inquired about the much taller associates the good Doctor could have picked. He simply told them that all would be explained in the future (he wouldn't the Tallest didn't need to know) and that he would like to without their ever gracious presence looming over his shoulder.

"Yes? Have you found anything?" The Doctor inquired.

"I have sir." The short Irken peered up from his clipboard and visibly flinched at the imposing Doctor.

The good Doctor was taller than most Irkens and thus had a very intimidating stature.

"From Irken Tak's evolution about Earth, it seems the human race is a very dull band of creatures and won't cost as much as we previously thought. They tend not to notice the most obvious things if properly hidden and provided with food."

"Aww, marvelous. Anything else?"

"The collar you requested has been constructed and will be sent to your quarter shortly."

"Good. You may leave."

The short Irken turned around and opened the door.

"Oh, and Skoodge?"

The smaller Irken paused and turned around.

"Enter without knocking again and I'll leave you on withdrawal for months got it?" The Doctor practically spat the words at the short Irken before him.

Said Irken nodded looking visibly shook before leaving with a bit more rush than before.

The Swollen Eyeball's meeting structure was a cold and damp place. A huge abandoned warehouse once full of crates and other equipment became the nesting ground for the conspiracy theorist. In the very back of the warehouse was a stage made for showings and meetings while the rest was full of foldable chairs. Across from the stage was a balcony with five chairs set inside in perfect view to the stage.

The stage was decorated with the Swollen Eyeball's banner and spotlight pointed to the center of the stage. In the center sat a pedestal and beside it was a screen made for presentations.

It was 10:30 pm on the dot and the warehouse was packed full the sounds of pouring rain could hardly be heard over the chit chat of the visitants. On the balcony sat the five superiors on the stage was one lone kid probably in his late teens. The smirk on his face was condescending, to say the least. Like he was just about to explain to them the meaning of life.

"Ahem." He called to the crowd, ceasing their chatter.

"As all of you may know I have just made the most astounding discovery known to man. Extraterrestrial life!"

No one in the audience looked impressed.

"My guy we literally get the same speel from Dib every week don't make us sit through this while we got a break from him." Someone shouted from the crowd getting a few agreed groans.

"That's just it. Every week Dib comes in here screams about an alien named Zim and makes us watch his boring presentation but with no real proof." The teen reasoned making everyone pause.

"I however actually have proof of Alien life. Behold."

The teen pressed a button on the clicker in his hand and the screen next to him lit up displaying a picture of the inside of Zim's base.

"It was insanely easy to get inside and consequently I  managed to get lots of pictures even pictures of the alien itself." The teen pressed the button as he spoke eventually leading to the picture of Zim sleeping at his computer.

"This is proof that aliens exist." The teen smirked and looked up at the superiors.

"All I ask for is some resources to search and capture for this alien and bring it to the Swollen Eyeball."

The superiors whispered to each other for what felt like forever. Giving the teen enough time to study them.

The one the far left was an elderly looking black woman with her dark hair tied in a bun. She wore a red visor to cover her eyes. The one on her left was an old man that many knew as agent Darkbootie. The center one was an older man with was obviously in his 70s but looked as though he was trying to hide it. What with the fake wig and facelifts he was failed to cover. The fourth one was a woman who seemed to be the youngest out of all of them. Her blond hair was tied in a ponytail and there was an obvious nose job there. The last was a black man who looked like this was his first meeting considering how he dressed. Though the teen knew that wasn't the case because he knew this man personally as agent GubGrub.

The one to the far left was the first to speak up.

"If what you're saying is true you must understand the importance and the consequences of lying to us." She spoke with a cool chill to her voice.

The teen nodded.

They whispered a bit longer and then turned to the teen and nodded.

"You better not fail us." Agent GubGrub warned.

The teen's grin grew as he nodded.

"Of course."

And with that, the meeting was adjourned. Everyone got up and left to their own lives, while agent Callus smiled in triumph. He'd soon to be the first human to ever catch an alien and he could hardly hide the fact that he was excited.

Gaz was awoken in the middle to feverish knocking on her window. Now Gaz lives on the second floor so feverish knocking wasn't something she was used to. She sat up and grabbed her bat with the nails in it. She opened the curtains and almost fell backward in surprise. Outside the window was Zim's weird robot thing in its horrible dog costume. It was currently licking the window and knocking with it's balled up fist.

"What do you want?" She hissed at the robot.

It smiled at her and dove back on its thrusters and charged at the window, giving Gaz just enough time to dive out of the way before the glass could shred her face to pieces.

The robot rolled on the floor for a bit stan and hugging her knees.

"Hiya sissy!" It screamed.

"What are you doing here?" She would've yelled had she not been so tired.

"Moose told me ta come here!"

"Moose?"

"Yaya moose told me ta come here and gets you!"

Gaz was about to tell the robot that she wasn't going anywhere before she was grabbed by the ankles and thrown onto the robot's back gib=ving her no choice but to grab onto the dog costumes ears in order to avoid getting thrown off at terminal velocity. Before she knew it they were zooming through the streets and had this been on her consent this probably would have been fun.

It must have been no less than a few minutes before she was suddenly thrown off the robot and onto Zim's couch. 

Gaz was about to stand up and throttle the robot when she was again interrupted this time by and weird floating moose thing.

"my me gh im moo."

"So you're that moose thing that called me here?"

"me" The doomsday device answered.

"Alright, you got 20 seconds to explain yourself before I blow this whole base to bits."

"gh me ih in meh?"

"Yeah, he's my brother."

"Hen jh me mi mei uh."

"Those two are idiots."

"Meme mi meh my mq qe gh me po lik me."

"So you want my help? Why?"

"Mei!"

"Alright, I'm sold. What do I need to do?"

"hg, my mu we me."

"Alright do you think can take me back to y house so I can get some stuff." 

"Me!"

"Cool thanks."

That's how Gaz found her self actually driving the robot and just about having the time of her week.