#joshi i was going to send this to you but then i realised i was reblogging it from you lmao

[diogenes-blorbos]

ok i forgot to send an ask until now but! tell me abt manoja! what's the meaning behind his name/how did he (or you) pick it? what's his career route and what's his villainsona? infamy? what stats does he favour ? specialisations (fighter/tactician, streetwise/techsavvy)? anything else you wanna share that isn't covered by one of the other questions? XD

Hi! Thanks for the ask.

Manoja Joshi is a desi trans guy and stands at 5’ 5”, has green eyes, and black hair that becomes slightly wavy if allowed to grow out. His body could be described as… stout? Think ‘precursor to a dadbod’ and you’ll have a pretty accurate idea of what he looks like. In his Sidestep years, he was thinner and didn’t look nearly as tired as he appears post-Heartbreak. Since Anathema’s death, Manoja has become a drinker, for his sins. He has always been a smoker. Manoja dresses in mostly black, grey and very dark blue athletic wear, like a teenage boy who shops exclusively from JD Williams.

His puppet is a mixed race, brown-eyed, freckle-faced man called Joey. He wears his hair in long locs, usually tied back off of his face, and, his body is tall and lithe bc Manoja keeps him in shape via boxing. Joey is everything Manoja wishes he was, and so, when slipping into his puppet’s skin, Manoja is simultaneously at his most authentic, and totally different in personality. Joey is friendlier, smoother and flirtier.

Manoja’s first name is a little nod to his psychic abilities! Manoja means "born of the mind" in Sanskrit. He chose the name after realising he was trans. At first, cross-dressing as a guy was purely a disguising tactic, but he figured out pretty quickly that he felt more complete living as a man. I’ve never considered what his deadname might’ve been, but that doesn’t matter, I guess; Manoja’s a pro at reinventing himself, whether that is via changing his name and pronouns, slipping his consciousness into a puppet body or by creating/destroying personas.

Speaking of personas, Mannie’s villainsona is called Innominate, so it’s probably not going to surprise you when I tell you that his stats very much leans towards anonymity rather than pursuing infamy. Manoja is also very cautious (paranoid) and likes to eliminate risk wherever possible. He is very logic driven, and is a tech-savvy tactician, above all else. For that reason, Manoja wouldn’t rule out killing if he needed to, though he does his best to keep deaths to a minimum, as he still sways towards being an empathetic person. He considers that to be his biggest weakness (it really isn’t- that would actually be his own insecurities), and is why he, unsuccessfully, tries to keep some semblance of distance between himself and Ortega. Needless to say, that isn’t going so well for him as of Retribution, as Manoja spent the night with her, and Julia then chose to break things off with Joey. Manoja has also become “friends” with Steel (they sit and brood in silence together while they watch Spoon run around the dog park) and he has a bit of a soft-spot for Los Diablos’ Biggest SideStep superfan, Herald.

Picrew:

[cmi-miu]

Ya’aburnee - Chapter 1 (Seventeen Soulmate AU)

Soulmate AU: The last words your soulmate says to you are the words tattooed on your wrist.

Pairing: SoonWoo, JiHan, SeokHao

Title: Ya'aburnee (arabic): yak-BER-nee (n.) lit. "you bury me"; the hope that your lover or beloved will outlive you as to spare yourself the pain of living beyond that person.

Summary: In a world where one’s wrists spell the Last Words their Soulmates will ever speak to them, Hansol and Seungkwan are stuck in a loophole of almost forever but never there. Where Seungkwan wants to take the next step and Hansol fears everything. And Jisoo and Jeonghan are so madly in love that nothing seems to get in their way despit uncertainity looming large around them. And Soonyoung is stuck in an unhappy marriage after the death of his soulmate—his wrist mocking him of the love he has lost forever and one he is sure to loose again. Wonwoo on the other hand is slowly falling in love despite the fear of Soonyoung speaking the words he’s most afraid of.

Author's Note: I refer to Minghao as Myungho and Dokyeom as Seokmin in this fic so... yeah...

Wonwoo has never been a romantic, what with fate ruining his life with the constant reminder of his yet to be found soulmate. Whoever was writing his romantic destiny up there was surely a royal dick because who in their fucking mind would think that marking his wrists up eternally with a very popular, and honestly addictive pop song’s lyrics, was a good idea? Yeah, Wonwoo wasn’t really a big fan of this “God” person.

He sighs, turning down the radio volume as that bloody song blares through the speakers as he’s tying his tie, getting ready for office. It’s a cover sung by a bunch of teenagers and had it been any other song, Wonwoo would’ve called up the radio station and complimented the kids for their splendid rendition of the decade-old song. But as it happens to be the cursed song that laces his wrists, he’s really not that keen on complimenting, let alone acknowledging anyone. 

After all, every time he hears the song, every time his wrists shine, his stomach feels like it has spontaneously turned into a black hole that’s rapidly sucking him in.

“You do realise that I actually happen to like that song,” his husband mutters as he steps into the living room of their apartment. Cuffing his sleeves as, he too, prepares for his fifteen-minute drive to the office.

Wonwoo sighs, making room on the couch for his husband, as he continues putting on his shoes. “And you realise that I don’t want to constantly be reminded that my soulmate could be literally anyone who enjoys singing this song, and it might be the last time I ever hear them, right?”

Soonyoung, his husband, snorts and shakes his head as he mumbles, “nice to know you don’t have it narrowed down to your own husband.”

Sighing once again the Wonwoo bites his lips, picking up his briefcase from the coffee table. “I really don’t want to have this conversation with you, Soonyoung,” he mumbles, walking into the kitchen to pull out the grilled cheese sandwiches from the griller. He plates them with an orange juice on the counter, calling out to Soonyoung to “eat before you leave,” as he steps out of the apartment.

No ‘I love you’s’ are shared and no goodbye kisses happen. Soonyoung watches his husband close the door behind him without a second glance and he feels nothing.

                                                        ***

“Myungho, I just don’t think you understand how important marriage is to me,” Seokmin mumbles to his live-in boyfriend of three years, as they lie in each other’s embrace. He can see the frown starting to line his boyfriend’s eyes and he holds his hands tighter as if asking him to let him continue. “I know you’re scared something bad will happen when we say our vows, but it might not even happen, Babe.”

Myungho rolls his eyes, pulling away from the cuddled-up position he and Seokmin are in and stares into his boyfriend’s eyes as he points at the tiny, I do on his wrist. “Do you see this ‘I do’ on my wrist, Seokmin? Do you understand what this means for me and anyone I might be dumb enough to get married to?” Seokmin stares at the mocking words and gulps as he tries to search for a retort but comes back empty-handed. “My sister’s husband died the day he said ‘I love you’ to her before sending her off to work. A car crash, Seokmin. The last thing she heard her husband say was ‘I love you’ and she always knew it’d kill him.”

“That doesn’t mean—” Seokmin begins but is cut off when Myungho pushes him away and starts pulling up his pants, already irritated with the same old conversation.

“She lived every day regretting his words ever since,” Myungho growls, putting on his T-shirt as he starts walking away. “She always told me how guilty she felt for ever allowing her husband to say those words, even after knowing what would happen. Every time he said those words, every time they shone on her wrist, her heart would stop until the words stopped glowing! She says she didn’t think it would happen so soon. But now look at her.” He shakes his head, walking out the door as he mutters under his breath, “stuck in that asylum for life.”

Seokmin watches his lover walk away and he knows he can’t do anything but hurt at the man’s actions. But, no matter how much he hurts, Seokmin knows that he can’t blame Myungho for wanting to protect his love for all eternity. He looks at his own wrist and rubs at the place where once the same words that lace Myungho's wrist had been, remembering getting them covered up at the age of nineteen after watching his father’s breakdown at his mother’s death.

They were never soulmates and something inside his father had broken when he found his wife’s last words to him were not “remember to water the plants today, Taeshik”.

                                                       ***

It takes a special kind of skill to burn a tablecloth with nothing but one single matchstick, Jisoo realises, as he’s rubbing ice over his boyfriend’s finger. Shaking his head at the man, he asks him to keep the ice on his finger for a while and asks him to go back into their bedroom. The man had come out to make a sandwich—at four in the morning—and had burnt his fingers. Though, how that happened is a story Jisoo doesn’t wish to know.

He pulls out the ingredients for a simple chicken salad sandwich when his phone blares announcing a phone call. Rolling his eyes, he receives it, because only one person would call him up at four in the morning. His brother, Soonyoung.

“Just because it’s 7 pm back in Korea,” Jisoo begins, not even allowing Soonyoung on the other line to get a word in, “doesn’t mean you can call me at fucking 4 am, Kwon Soonyoung.”

The younger man snickers on the other end as he seems to shuffle in bed, Jisoo just knows he has probably a tonne of laundry lying on it. “I didn’t think you’d actually answer the call, Joshi.”

Jisoo snorts and pours some homemade mayonnaise in a bowl and pulls out the boiled chicken from the fridge as he explains, “Jeonghan, woke up in the middle of the night to make a sandwich and ended up burning the table cloth and his own hand in the process.

“It’s so creepy that you say this in such a ‘matter-of-fact’ manner,” Soonyoung mutters.

“Hey,” Jisoo shrugs, adding some seasoning into the mayo-chicken mix, “he’s super lazy and super clumsy and the sooner I accept this the better it’ll be for the both of us.”

Soonyoung giggles at his words and Jisoo takes pride in his feat. Sobering down a little when the man stops laughing and silence settles between them. “You okay, Hosh?” He mumbles into the receiver, walking back into his bedroom with the sandwiches in hand.

“Just feeling a little lonely,” Soonyoung mumbles. And Jisoo knows how vulnerable he must be feeling, seeing as he’s admitting to it.

“Where’s Wonwoo?” The man asks, settling down beside his boyfriend, pointing at the phone to make it clear that he shouldn’t speak. “Isn’t he home yet? It’s seven already, right?”

He hears Soonyoung sigh and plump his head on the pillow; he can almost feel Soonyoung’s loneliness digging holes into his own heart. “His office hasn’t let out yet,” Soonyoung tells him—voice tight. “He’ll leave in about an hour.”

Jisoo aches to comfort his brother somehow. To tell him that it’s just an hour. That Wonwoo will be home soon and that he should just wait it out a little. But he knows that Soonyoung’s loneliness has nothing to do with Wonwoo’s office timings. And that it has everything to do with the charred words on his wrist. The words that stopped shinning almost a year ago.

He finds himself unable to respond and it is Soonyoung who has to calm his thoughts as he mumbles “I… I think… I think Wonwoo’s home now, Jisoo. I’ll talk to you later.”

His brother cuts the call after that but Jisoo knows it’s not because his husband just came back home. He knows Wonwoo hasn’t come back yet because he never heard the doorbell ring on Soonyoung’s side. And against his better judgment, knowing well that nothing is going to change between the pair, Jisoo wishes happiness to both men.

He’s aware of the pain they’ve been through and nothing hurts more than his inability to help them.

[australian-desi]

Asur - Review/Reaction

Okay so I loved it! This show has changed me as a person somehow. But honestly speaking it was fucked (some people said more fucked than sacred games but I dont watch that so I dont have a reference). The background of Hindu mythology was used amazingly and holy shit the actors. Guys the actors need a round of applause coz they were simply amazing. I’m still shaking after watching the last episode I literally finished the show in 1.5 days so like safe to say I was hooked. I would also like to say that the show itself was very well paced, at no point did I think that the story was going too slow or too fast, everything was perfectly timed and perfectly revealed. I will be cutting this post for a more in-depth review - and after the cut everything are 

Also before you guys watch - this show is very dark - it depicts suicidal tendencies, gory murders and gruesome scenes - things that will make you lowkey vomit (I have a pretty high tolerance for these things so I was fine, but just in case you aren’t it’s good to know coz they spring those up on you) 

SPOILLLLERRRRSSSSS

Actors/Characters: 

Arshad Warsi as Dhananjay ‘DJ’ Rajpoot: This is the first time I’ve seen Arshad Warsi in a non-comic role, and I was honestly truly blown away. He was simply amazing. Now coming to character. The main message of this show was that ‘evil lives in all of us’. But the way they revealed it was quite phenomenal. DJ is shown to be the ‘innocent’ ‘good guy’ and how is was wrongfully framed for his wife’s murder, but is still working to find the actual serial killer - not because to save himself, but in order to save other people. It is then shown, that he had done something ‘bad’ ‘immoral’ and ‘wrong’ in his life - 10 years ago he caused a 15-year-old to go to jail rather than a juvenile detention centre for the murder of his father. He did this by faking his birth certificate and forging evidence - since there was no evidence to connect the child to the murder (but the audience knows that he did it). Thus, begins the game for his repentence. 

Barun Sobti as Nikhil Nair: So here’s the ting - I genuinely forget how good of an actor our boi is (don’t blame me I’ve spent the last 8 years, watching him go “what the” and “Khushi Kumari Gupta”, throwing anger fits and tantrums), but holy shit I was blown away. Barun has this ability to make his audience feel every emotion he’s going through - anger, sadness, despair, happiness, joy, relief - everything, he is a brilliant actor. Nikhil was an amazing character. He was an all-in-all protagonist. He had a loving relationship with his wife and a daughter that he loved very much. However, when he is kidnapped by the serial killer himself - he is given an option - to either let his wife and kid die, or become an accomplice to murder, where he meticulously plans the murder and the killer goes and does the job. He chooses the latter, thus, blurring the line between good and bad. It is also interesting considering the man that saved lives ended up taking them. The final test for him is when in order to save three hostages, he is asked to sacrifice his daughter. He does that and it is shown that due to the trauma they have faced, one of the hostages shoots the other, making Nikhil regret his decision instantly - the killer thus proving his point, human nature is evil, that even the good turn to evil in hardship. Nikhil blames DJ’s deeds for his daughter’s death, and Naina leaves him, blaming him for their daughter’s death. 

Ridhi Dogra as Nusrat Saeed: Nusrat is shown to be the ex-gf/ex-love etc. of Nikhil, before he left CBI without telling her about where he was going and for how long. In all these years she has been unable to move on from him and has replaced her love life with work as a forensics expert. She is shown to be very talented in her job and is shown to have a friendly relationship with everyone - although, in a hallucination, Nikhil is shown to feel guilty for what he did to her and deep down does love her, but loves his wife more 

Anupriya Goenka as Naina Nair: Naina is shown to be a doting mother, and a loving wife, who has issues that although her husband loves her very much, wants to rejoin the CBI, even if he has to leave her for it. She ends up going to him and is shown to be a very talented software engineer working in cyber-security. She then ends up helping the CBI in order catch the killer 

Vishesh Bansal as 15-year-old Shubh Joshi: This kid holy shit. I watched him in IPPKND as Aarav and some other serials here and there, but man he blew me away. Like I was sitting there shook half the time as to how can someone be this talented. Now Shubh Joshi was who this story was about - the asura, the rakshas, the one who was awaiting for Vishnu to return on this Earth to vanquish him. When Shubh’s mother was pregnant with him, his father the head priest wanted a ‘devta-like putra’ he wanted a god on the form of the Earth to the point, he made his kundli in advance and did not allow for his wife to give birth until the right month. He failed, as his wife slipped down the stairs, and ended up giving birth 2 days before he wanted her to. She gave birth in the month in which demons were said to be born. Thus, Shubh turned out to be extraordinary - he learnt how to walk at 2 days old, he was able to read the scriptures by the time he was 3, and had an IQ of above 160. His dad used to curse him, beat him, and call him an ‘asur’ to the point he started believing it. When his grandfather took him to the psychologist - he was diagnosed with autism, causing him to not have the same social skills and unable to connect with others as well as other kids. His father’s abuse caused his brain to become extremely violent, and it is then shown that he goes to a skeleton and breaks its index finger, then finding a dog and burning it alive, with no emotion. At 15 he poisons his father causing his father to fall into the river to his death - he drops the lota in which he was poisoning him with getting rid of the evidence. However, DJ sees this, and sees no remorse for his father’s death, he seems unaffected by it, and continues on his day as normal. DJ then fakes evidence and his birth report - causing him to go to jail rather than receive therapy and counselling for a better future. In jail he becomes a leader - he is able to convince people to let the evil in them take over the good because that’s what human tendency is. It is what we are meant to do and that those who do not entertain the evil in them, deserve to die. 

Amey Wagh as present-day Shubh Joshi: Gonna say it here - A+ casting. He looks exactly how you would expect Shubh Joshi to look when he is older. So Shubh Joshi is now a serial killer - who kills people from the horoscope of greatness, people who do good deeds - he does this to send a message to Vishnu to come on earth and now thinks of himself to be mighty and powerful as an asur should be. He is shown to now have a huge following to the point where Nikhil and DJ all think of him to look different, but he instead, is their coworker, Rasool Sheikh the hacker in the CBI. As he is quiet and aloof, no one suspects him, and thus, he is able to conduct these murders with absolute precision of planning. When Lolark finds out that he is the real Shubh, he ends up killing him, right after his child’s death and the CBI arrest the wrong Shubh who was shown to be Kesari - the first follower of Shubh in jail. The show ends when Shubh looks deep into DJ’s eyes reminding him of his 15-year-old self, causing DJ to realise he is indeed the real Shubh. 

The rest of the cast and crew were equally amazing but I just mentioned the main ones otherwise we’ll be here for days 

Things I liked: 

I loved the use of Hindu mythology, they also narrated some stories in Shubh’s POV questioning whether the gods were always right - was Vishnu right into tricking the asur’s into their death for no reason, was Krishna right, knowing about the war and not being able to stop it? 

Also loved how in depth the characters were - Shubh was horrible in what he did, but by writing in a way that if the things that happened to him hadn’t had happened owing to his developmental disorder he would’ve been a ‘good’ person. 

The fact that it wasn’t Shubh’s complete fault that he thought this way, and the fact he had autism + the system really failing him showed us that not all bad people are born bad - sometimes situations make them that way. And some don’t even know the difference between the right and wrong choice - what if some people do truly think evil is bad. 

I loved the concept of the main protagonists being good people but being pushed to embrace the evil - especially when Nikhil, who thought he did a good deed by saving the hostages to prove to Shubh that inherently good people do truly exist and he sees one of the hostages kill the other - truly shakes this belief. It shows that even after being forced to accomplice to murders - he still had hope, a hope that was brutally crushed 

I loved the cast as well, they all had good chemistry and Barun and Arshad were amazing. 

Things I disliked: 

The female characters weren’t explored at all. Nusrat’s whole arc revolved around Nikhil and finding the killer’s. There were some episodes where she wasn’t even there. And a lot of her character was an accessory to Nikhil’s and DJ’s characters. On the other hand, Naina’s character was only a mother and a wife. In fact she joins the CBI to help them find her husband, she isn’t even leading the investigation or anything. Also in the first half of the show she was truly very annoying and just deserved better in general rather than just being the parallel love interest. They should’ve done more with the female characters. What was stopping them from being as brilliant or as great as the male characters. Nikhil and DJ were described as geniuses and out of this world. While Nusrat just helped. 

The amount of Shuddh hindi - I know he’s a pandit’s son and his whole thing is religion he will talk in Shuddh hindi. But honestly, I wish they gave english translations or show it with pictures or something else coz it was very very very hard for me to understand some things and I lost a lot of context 

That is all - enjoy this review hopefully I didn’t spoil the whole show (I definitely did), and have a great day

[kutee-boutique-fan-blog]

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What are you going on about? Yes, I get it. Fire Controlman Dad Some People Only Dream Of Meeting Their Hero I Raised Mine Shirt. You are not a Muslim, and you dont understand the conversation. So, instead of going on about something of which you have no knowledge, please, try not to make yourself look foolish. Good day to you sir. Callum Gilman brother prophet said “measure food stuff and u will be blessed. why prophet told this. prophet came to madina and he saw that seller is giving less weight to customer then he told that measure food stuff in correct weight and u will be blessed. my dear islam tells with the purpose . hope u understood.

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Callum gilman brother as per your view muslim are uneducated .muslim may be uneducated but islam educate the people and makes healthy society. .some points are explained. 1. Islam prohibit consuming wine .how people of world are badly affected by wine . 2. Gambling are prohibited u can see many people loose their wealth and some one only get benefeited . 3. illegal sex are prohibited . analysis that sex is the source which helps women to become pregnant .due to illlegal sex many baby born even precaution taken and borned baby donot get the name of his father and their life become worst in the society. these baby are deprieved of the affection of his father .

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Islam tell to give time with your parents . 5. homosexual is prohibited in islam . due to homosexual habits , man started to marry with man .all knows that marry is the sources of making baby and this combines all husband ,wife and baby with affectionate. homosexual does not make good society and it makes human beings as sick minded people and they loose respect in the society. if u study the concept of islam u will realise that islam take out the people from badness. but the weakness of human being is not to admit the right.

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if you feel, this will give you pain.so islam allow to get married as soon as possible.4. care of parents till their death. don’t send them to old age home. today son and daughters don’t care of their parents. they are engaged in the means of enjoyment and they have not affection or no time to sit with their parents with sweets word.  does not exist at all, it was the mind conspiracies, to divide society into pieces, so that no one will look at the Truth, Kept the society under it s Foot. When Mind came, then there was the 3 gunas, rajas, tamas and satvic..but where was this 3 gunas, at the beginning, when Mind, was not there yet, Time was not there yet? 3 gunas, were the manifestations of the Mind.

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Food is only related to your health body only, it only keeps the Ego intact, by food you only keeping your external garments healthy, it s a worldly idol thing. To much sitting down n talking things related to food, without going forward in understanding about love, is indirectly an idol worship.  Only thorough knowledge on Love, will take you beyond mind, without love n grace, you will be catching the wrong rope, given by the Mind, it won t take you to Eternality. The whole probelm in society, fighting on the name of differances, chopping each other on the name of God, actually was games created by the MIND.

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Sameer stop abusing.. even we know to abuse… but we won’t… because our beloved prophet Muhammad peace be upon him taught us not to abuse.  It seems manoj joshi you are the boss of terrorist group. What you say about the PM of India? Chill don’t spit your venom without knowing the truth, go through his lectures. Fire Controlman Dad Some People Only Dream Of Meeting Their Hero I Raised Mine Shirt. Indian govt is going through all his lectures but couldn’t find anything so far. It seems manoj joshi you are the boss of terrorist group. What you say about the PM of India? Chill don’t spit your venom without knowing the truth, go through his lectures. Indian govt is going through all his lectures but couldn’t find anything so far.

[unrequitedmime]

Joshie watches Kale pace. His entire frame is fraught with tension, every muscle pulled tight, like rubber bands. As if the other end of those rubber bands are wrapped around Gretel, and not being with her is ripping his body apart. It is. "Pacing won't help you get her," Noora drawls from the corner, her scarred leg propped up on a chair. Marcie managed the heal the wound completely, but Noora has always negatively reacted to the healers, like an allergy. Her healed wounds itch for hours afterwards. The only way to stop the infuriating sensation is for her to blow a gentle layer of frost across her skin. Joshie lets his gaze trail along the white ice coating her white skin; cold particles dancing across a shining ballroom floor. Her plain white hair is a mess of wispy cut strands sitting against her thin shoulders, and her face is still full of grime from the attack on the warehouse. "We have to infiltrate HQ," Morrie says for the fifth time, his deep voice vibrating the air in the room. He sits in another chair, in a corner parallel to Noora's. The old room, a box of cement, smells like old paper and waste water. An old storeroom underground somewhere; Morrie was given responsibility of finding a spot. Everyone silently assumed that the room is located in his father's old office building; the one he was raised in before he was found and taken to HQ. "That's dangerous," Cameron's sharp voice rings out, and Joshie's eyes find her, sitting on the ground in yet another corner, looking at Morrie with a slight frown. Her dreads hang limply at her waist, and her brown skin looks strangely pale under the florescent light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Her dark eyes burn with regret. "It's also my brother," Benji shoots back. He stands in the remaining corner, his arms crossed over his chest. His usually sparkling eyes burn with discontent and anger as he stares at the ground. Helena had tapped into the Director's mind as they were leaving HQ and caught his thoughts as he realised that their team was escaping. In her panic, she made Angel trap Benji with a shield the next time he entered the van, and she made them escape right then and there, leaving two of their most valuable members locked in the jaws of a monster. She saved all of their lives.  Kale and Benji haven't said a word to her since. "I know that," Cameron snaps, her voice alive with frustration, "Trust me, I want Blade back, but he's not stupid-" "Oh, and I am?" "No, idiot, you're just reckless. You don't understand how much danger you'd be putting yourself in if you jumped back to HQ to zap Blade and Gretel out." "I understand completely, thanks, and I'm perfectly willing to sacrifice myself to get them out-" "If you go in there and get caught, Benji, there's no one to get them out! If you get caught then you make our rescue mission a hell of a lot harder!" "Well then I won't get caught!" "You don't have control over something like that!" "Are you saying I have no control over my power?" "Ugh, you're so thickheaded! I'm saying that you have no idea what they have prepared for you in there! For all we know, they could be waiting and watching for all of us, ready to spring the trap as soon as we show even the slightest signs of our presence!"  "I'm fast-" "Not that fast-"  Joshie settles himself down on the ground as he listens to the two of them argue. He stretches his long legs out and leans his back against the cool wall. He lets his mind calm.  Cameron and Benji always argue; always. As the two youngest on the team, they tend to fight over petty things and throw whatever insults they can at each other when they're in a mood.  This is one of those times.  A cool gust of air flows over Joshie's skin, and he fights the urge to let out a sigh as he feels his dark hair rustle in the small wind that Noora sends his way to help him calm his literally racing nerves. She understands how buzzed his blood gets; how fast his entire internal system runs when his nerves are high. Sometimes his heart beats so fast it all just fades into one continuous hum. The only thing that seems to calm him is her ice.  And her gaze.  "Jesus Christ," Kale snaps eventually, tiring of Benji and Cameron's bickering, "You two are exhausting. Just shut up, please."  Their voices falter, and they glare once at each other before dropping their eyes down to the dusty floor. Lacy adjusts herself at her spot on the ground, leaning her head against Morrie's knee and fluttering her eyes closed. Her eyelashes seem to rest against her cheekbones like forgotten soot. Her strawberry blonde hair, almost pink, hangs just past her shoulders, a thousand strands loose and sticking to her cheeks. Morrie glances down at her once before looking back up to Kale.  "What's the plan, Cap?"  Kale stills as he looks down to Morrie, his green eyes clearing of rage for just a moment as he processes the situation with a logical mind instead of an emotional one. Joshie watches his captain mentally flick a switch within him; turning off all emotional attachments to the mission until it's time to break apart. His entire body hardens, and his eyes sharpen with razor focus as his soldier mind blinks to life with a list of strategic thoughts ready to buzz through his veins. Joshie nods slightly to himself. Goodbye to the kind and funny Kale that he's known since he was 7, hello to the Captain that has single-handedly killed hundreds of Reds without batting an eye. Kale won't turn into Kale again until he finds Gretel.  He hopes they find her soon.  "We invade HQ, that seems to be the only way."  "Incorrect," Helena says, speaking for the first time in 7 hours. She hasn't said a word from the moment she ordered Morrie to drive them to a safe spot. "Invading HQ will cause an upheaval, and all Golds within HQ are required by law to fight against any invaders or traitors that could possibly harm them or their families. We are undoubtedly considered traitors, and we will therefore have a target on every single one of our foreheads. They won't want to kill us, but they will if they have to. We don't invade HQ, and if we do, then we do it undercover." Kale stares at her for a long time, his dark eyes burning. Joshie watches his mind race within his head, considering all possible plans to get the girl he loves and his best friend to safety. Silence settles for what feels like years. Joshie's eyes flutter closed, and cold dances across his sweating forehead, freezing his trembling hands.  Noora adjusts her leg in the corner, swearing softly under her breath as it reaches the worst stages of itching.  "I can jump in, Cap-" Benji tentatively offers.  "You are NOT jumping in, Benji!" Cameron interrupts, her flames creeping into her tone.  Kale glances between the two glowering Golds for a few moments, realising something. He blinks away his soft smile and shakes his head, keeping his thoughts to himself.  "Where's Angel?" Benji asks suddenly, frowning.  "In a hidden corner of this building, most likely," Morrie answers, "Anything to stay away from our arguments and Kale's brooding."  Kale shoots him a warning glare, but ceases his pacing yet again, forcing his body to stop panicking. The room is quiet.  "Blade is usually with her," Noora says eventually, her voice quiet, "It feels weird to know that she isn't being protected by him as she protects us."  From the corner, Helena lets out a sigh, "Bingo," she says under her breath. All eyes fall on her, but her gaze is unfocused as she stares at the ground. She's in somebodies mind. Every single one of Joshie's calming nerves spikes back up, and adrenaline races through his veins, pumping his entire body for battle. Everyone sits up a bit straighter as they watch her focus; their muscles tense and their fists clench as they watch her, gazes heavy.  After a thousand minutes, Helena blinks away the haze of a person's mind, and finds herself back in the dusty, dark room with her team. She glances up at Kale, her face paling.  "He's torturing them," she whispers.  He freezes, "What? What do you mean?" His voice is thick with emotion.  She gulps, her bottom lip trembling, "Well, not them, exactly. He isn't physically harming them; he's too smart for that. They're in the interrogation room, I think, and they're strapped to chairs. He's bringing in people that mean something to them; Marcie, Damion, Clara, Micheal, Grolen."  Noora stands up so fast her chair flips, and a wave of icy air ripples across the room. Lacy shivers in her sleep. Noora's eyes burn.  "What do you mean they have Micheal?"  Helena nervously glances up at Noora, avoiding Kale's eyes as he realises that his own brother is being used as a pawn in a dangerous game that they started.  "Blade is still in your body, Noora," Helena says quietly, her voice shaking slightly, "So when the Director brings Micheal in, all he sees is a twin sister losing her mind at her brother being harmed."  Noora's face flushes with blood as she glares at the ground, refusing to let her tears for her twin brother fall down her cheeks. She will not be weak. She will fight.  "Why is he still being me?" she asks eventually through gritted teeth.  "Because Blade is a much more valuable hostage than you," Morrie explains logically, his voice so honest that Noora cannot be offended, "If the Directer knows that Blade, a Gold with two powers, is being held within HQ, he will use that to his advantage and do whatever he can to destroy the team. Not to mention that Blade is Kale's best friend, so for the Director to have captured both the girl Kale loves and his best friend is an ultimate power gain, and he will make them suffer much more if he knew that he held Kale's entire heart in his palms."  Kale's eyes flash, and worry streaks through Joshie's mind. He glances around at his team members, all watching their captain. He spots Lacy awake, watching everyone with analytical eyes, her blue gaze never wavering as it meets his. He nods slightly to her, and her eyes soften slightly as she smiles back.  A flower amongst burning flames.  "Every second we spend here, someone else gets hurt," Noora snaps to the room, her temper finally straining, "We need to do something."  Silence settles as everyone thinks.  "I have a plan," Lacy's voice rings through the room. "And it'll probably get every single one of us killed."  Kale looks at her, "We're in."

unrequited