#like... guys.... hire more programmers

[pancakeke]

lately I keep getting asked to investigate issues caused by site updates so I waste my time figuring out what broke rather than development (since they are short staffed) but like this is not my job and also i have an actual job that I need to do.

[syncrovoid-presents]

I am. Not dead. BUT will be gone for a like a day or few because the stuff at work did not! want! to! work!

Which I'd another way of saying that I finally was able to get free after working 34 consecutive hours in a row. The day prior I got 1 hour of sleep and that is all after 5 days of 10 or 11 hour work days.

I am so sleepy. I am taking tomorrow off and probably going to sleep right through it. Anywho cheers everyone!! I am going to go to the shadow realm now @:P

[devotedfem]

Isn't a threat a promise? - Part II

Synopsis: Where you're an assassin hired to finish the mysterious and poweful gang of seven eccentric men, but you're oblivious of how unpunishable and untouchable they were. You were bred to kill, but they were bred to rule over the mafia. They will break little by little your mind, reminding you that not even a hired assassin can beat them.

BTS OT7 x f. Reader

3.8K words.

Genre: Mafia and hitman au | Enemies to lovers | yander-ish.

Tags for this chapter: Organized crime, mafia BTS, hired assassin reader, hidden identity, fake identity and name, Bangtan breaking reader's mind slowly, panic attacks, anxiety, threats of abuse, non consensual touch, they watched and stalk reader like hawks, obsessive and yandere tendencies, power dynamic, more lies, reader's not just an assassin but an actress too. Be careful while reading, it's pretty triggering at the end.

Series masterlist.

Navigation Masterlist.

Chapters: I, II, III, IV.

SECOND BULLET II:

. . . . . . .

You stand in front of your wall, watching all the pinned photos of Bangtan with a red string connecting all of them. The string was bonding their faces with natal cities, possible families or relatives, and also, schools, universities and friends they might have in their past.

You were collecting information since yesterday. You started your investigation as soon as you got home after meeting them. You didn’t sleep at all, but lucky for you, you had some friends that were hackers and computer programmers that helped you to get more information about Bangtan’s past.

It wasn’t easy to try to discover their past, in fact, there is a big void of information about them. Just two of them had social media years ago, now inactive; belonging to Jimin and Jungkook, the others don’t have many information about them on the internet.

They were like ghosts, not that it surprises you though. It was pretty common to not find many information about the people working in this business. But even though, they usually have some kind of digital footprint, unless they faked their dead to exist as someone else, as some ghost with no past.

“What are you guys hiding that forced you to getting erased from earth,” you muttered to yourself, with your fingers on your chin and eyes narrowed at the wall.

This was becoming even more interesting than before. Not many targets of yours acted like shadows hiding their identity, that was your job. You were breed for this type of life, for lying and killing. You have no digital footprint and no real identity attached to you. You were a ghost, but so were they.

Filth lures filth. But the similarities and the challenges only made you even more excited.

The real mystery was; why were they erased from life? Why did they bother if they were just a small criminal organization, one that doesn’t have a lot of enemies.

Hiding and faking deaths were for spies only -for hitmen-, not gang members.

You bit your bottom lip watching every bit of information you have collected. Nothing about that information was certain or proved to be true, they were just assumptions.

Your phone ringing pulled you out of your thoughts, you frowned when you saw Jungkook’s name on your screen, but you answered the call anyway.

“Yes?” You didn’t even say hello, it was rude to call at three in the morning. But you were also curious of why was he calling you.

“Uhm hi, I’m-I’m sorry for calling you this late, I just… uhm, I need your help, it’s really important.” He stuttered, sounding hesitant of your reaction.

You hummed at his words, glancing at his pictured pinned to your wall.

“Sure thing, where’s the body?” You teased, hearing Jungkook’s chuckle at the other side of the phone.

“Don’t worry, I don’t need your help for that stuff,” he teased back.

You blinked, taken aback by him again.

“So…?”

There was a couple of seconds of silence between you two, until he took courage to speak up again.

“My hyungs never take me seriously, they-they believe I can’t control my emotions, that I can’t contribute with something… good. I feel like a puppy to them sometimes, although I have so much to thank Namjoon for… I still feel left out.”

You listened carefully to his blurted words, recording the call and taking mental notes of some interesting points, like him being grateful to Namjoon to the point that he thinks he owns him obedience.

And also, the supposed lack of control of his emotions.

Everything he said can be weaponized against him.

“I think I already know where’s this going. You want me to include you in my plans, am I right?”

“Please,” he whispered, with desperation written on his voice.

You grinned widely.

“All right, let’s do that.”

There was silence again, one that made you feel uncomfortable.

“You aren’t hiding something from us, right? Like your identity? I mean… everybody hides something, but faking an identity it’s just plaint betrayal.”

His tone dropped an octave. His words felt like a dangerous threat hiding underneath fake naivety. You felt shivers on your body.

“I’m real.” It’s all you said, regretting not elaborating more.

He let out a dark chuckle.

“Good, because I like you, and I don’t like liars. There’s a reason why my hyungs don’t let me… deal with people, because when I’m hurt, I can get a little bit… crazy.” He whispered lowly, but you heard his every word loud and clear.

You felt like throwing up, and you don’t know why.

“Bye Jungkook,” you were too uncomfortable and too tired to do this at three in the morning.

“Bye my little Ann, remember our little secret… deal. And don’t worry about my hyungs discovering us, I’m good at protecting what is mine.” He said it like a warn before hanging up the call.

Your heart was pounding and your hands trembled. You inhaled and exhaled sharply, trying to calm yourself down, but it was useless; you were having a panic attack.

You sat on a chair, covering tightly your ears and shutting your eyes close.

I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe.

You mumble those words to yourself like a prayer in a loop, believing that if you say it more times and more loudly, the bad thoughts will stop tormenting you.

You had some heavy childhood traumas, but you tried to cope with them with your work and success. But things like people finding out your plans and making you feel dumb, served as trigger for your deepest insecurities.

Your Bruderherz was right, they were a difficult task. And for the first time in your life, you were doubting your skills.

Fuck Bangtan, you won’t let them outsmart you that easy.

But maybe they will; whispered that ugly and cruel voice at the back of your head.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

You weren’t feeling okay. You felt dizzy and exhausted, Jungkook’s words haunted you even in your dreams, making you unable to sleep a blink last night.

Your mind wasn’t present at all, and someone in the room noticed it.

“What are you thinking about?” Asked Yoongi scrutinizing you with narrowed eyes, his stare was fixated on you since the moment you put a foot in their mansion.

You blinked, pulled from your thoughts by his question.

“Nothing important,” you said back with a shrug.

Yoongi stands inches in front of you, looking straight into your eyes. There was a little frown in his brows, and his cat eyes glinted with inquisitiveness. He can see right throughout you, and you didn’t like that at all.

 “What?” You snapped at him, but he didn’t even flinch, unbothered by your menacing stare.

“Tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it, I want your full attention on this plan, on us.”

You widened your eyes, taken aback by his words. But his concern was unnecessary, because the source of your worry was one of his friends.

“It’s okay, don’t bother. I’ll pay more attention.” You cleared your throat, dropping your gaze on the digital map of the tactile screen from the table.

You felt fingers gripping and turning your chin towards Yoongi again. His eyes were intense, studying carefully your expression.

“Who’s bothering you? Tell me now,” he commanded with a deep frown. Impatience flashing his dark eyes.

You didn’t say anything at first, you won’t tell him that Jungkook’s been plotting behind their back, at least not now. You’re saving that piece of information for later, so you can have something to use against Jungkook and to tear their gang apart.

And also, you would never tell him about your stupid panic attacks, so you have to make up a good lie.

“It’s my dad, he’s been… insufferable lately. But I guess he’s just worry about me being far away from him.”

Yoongi didn’t say anything back, nodding slowly at your words with his arms crossed over his chest. You weren’t sure if he believed you or not.

“If I were your dad, I’d lock you up, considering how reckless you are.” He teased with a mocking smirk curling on his lips.

“I like that idea very much,” said Jimin coming from nowhere, grinning mischievous at the both of you.

You rolled playfully your eyes at him, although the uneasy feeling churning in your stomach didn’t disappear.

People sometimes tend to say truths throughout “harmless” jokes. And coming from them, you’d take seriously everything they say.

You became aware of them throwing glances at you and taking notice of your grumpy demeanor. That’s why you changed your sulking behavior, giving them your full attention and participating more in the plan.

You almost forgot the most important rule; you can’t show them insecurity, you can’t show them weakness, or they’ll eat you alive.

You shield all of your emotions and thoughts. Standing tall, making a room for you in this kind of meeting, and holding everyone’s gaze, even though you were anxious in the inside.

Your plan of getting rid of them was becoming more difficult as the days goes by, and that’s starting to worry you. You knew they wouldn’t be an easy target, and that this plan will take some time, but they’re suspecting you, watching your every move more carefully, warily.

“You’ve been acting strange all day,” Namjoon’s deep voice coming from behind you made you startle. You turned around to face him with your heart pounding in your ears.

You look up at him, holding his gaze. He was staring down at you with curiosity.

“Yeah, I noticed you all staring at me like hawks. I just had a bad day with my dad, that’s all,” you said crossing your arms over your chest, and then uncrossing them, remembering that that’s a way of showing defensiveness through your body language.

Namjoon took noticed of the movement, looking lost in thought.

“For some reason, I don’t believe you.”

He didn’t state it as an accusation but as a fact, like he genuinely believes that you’re being dishonest with him.

You were truly impressed by the sharp mind of these guys, but you won’t let them win, not now and not ever.

“I’m just… so tired of this lifestyle so to speak, and yes, I know you warned me before, but I want my dad to let me live my life for once, just for once, here, in this city.” You said biting your bottom lip in worry, averting your gaze to the side.

You mixed your real feelings with lies, because that would make your vulnerable act more credible.

Were you really tired of this lifestyle? Of fucking course, but you were more tired of not finishing their lives quickly. You want your trip to Europe so bad, to take a break from a life you didn’t ask for.

You watched him frowning at your words, with concern flashing his eyes. You noticed that he was the type of person that worries a bit too much about other people, that’s why he’s the one in charge, because he knows all too well the weight of taking responsibility for others.

“I see.” That’s all he said, with his dark gaze piercing you, trying to see right throughout you.

You noticed his gaze shifting to behind your back, and a devilish smirk curling on his lips.

“Hello there, grumpy girl,” whispered hotly someone into your ear, making you gasp and startle. You turned your head back to meet with Hoseok, he gripped your shoulders while looking into your eyes with mischievousness.

“Why don’t we bring this spoiled and absent-minded girl to Seokjin?” Said Namjoon staring piercingly at you, making you frown.

“What-“

“Shall we?” Asked Hoseok with amusement.

And before you could say anything, Namjoon gripped tightly your hand, almost dragging you towards Bangtan’s office where Seokjin was sitting in front of the desk, with all of the other members sitting comfortably on the couch. They looked at you immediately after you put a foot in their office.

“Here she is,” hummed Yoongi.

“Ann, please take a seat,” Seokjin gestured to the chair in front of the desk. You did as he said as smoothly as possible, not wanting to show them the turmoil of thoughts racing your mind.

“What’s up guys? I feel like I’m being scolded by the school’s principal,” you chuckled with a forced smile, trying to ease the tension of your shoulders and of the room.

You heard Jimin giggle at your back, but Seokjin’s poker face and tight lips made you feel even more worry.

“I- well, we noticed that you weren’t mentally present at all in the meeting.”

You couldn’t help to huff and roll your eyes at him, they were acting really dense with the topic, you have never met someone in your life that cared that much about your attention and inner conflicts.

“I already told you all why, it was just a personal issue with my dad.”

Irritation flashed Seokjin’s narrowed eyes. You supposed he didn’t like your attitude at all. But well, not only were you feeling drained by them, but your character is supposed to be a spoiled girl who doesn’t know boundaries, even with dangerous people like him. Maybe that’s why he said nothing to your rude tone.

“Yes, you say it a hundredth times. But I don’t want to talk about your dad, I can’t care less for him. I want you to fix whatever that problem is, because we need everyone in this room to be present physically and mentally at all times.”

There was a sour expression flashing Seokjin’s face, but besides that, he looked very professional, cold and composed.

They weren’t playing around with their business; you should’ve known better.

“And also… we can help you with your little problem, in fact, we’re looking forward to it.” This time, a wolfish grin curled on his lips, and his eyes glinted with intensity, fixated piercingly on you.

Your heart stopped at his words. You frowned glancing around the room to look at the members, they were staring at you like wolves circling their prey, and you didn’t like that at all. You felt trapped. But you felt even more confused as to why were they so eager to help you.

“But… why?” You muttered, looking back at Seokjin.

Seokjin’s grin widened at your question, leaning his upper body closer to you across the desk.

“Because as long as you work for us, we own you. And we took really good care of our proprieties, even if they’re temporary. We’re a very territorial group, and we like to protect each other, otherwise we wouldn’t be here alive.”

You widened your eyes and parted your mouth with genuine shock, you felt as if he had poured a bucket of cold water on you.

His tone felt possessive, they really think you belong to them. They see you as their property, according to Seokjin’s literal words. You couldn’t believe what he just said, you wanted to hysterically laugh on his face, in fact, you bit your bottom lip to stop yourself from cracking up with laughter. They were so, so funny.

“Oh, that’s really interesting. So that means you all belong to me too, temporary, of course.” You teased, feeling the confidence return to your body.

“Yes, of fucking course sweetheart,” purred Jimin from the couch, devouring you with his half-lidded gaze.

Your smile fell a little, they were so strange.

“We all belong to each other in this room, that’s why you should be careful to not betray us. You need to trust us and earn our trust; we are a really loyal group.” Remarked calmly Namjoon, as if he was talking about the weather and not about owning you like a pet.

“Well, they said that betrayal comes from the people we trust the most, and I am a simple stranger for you guys. I won’t be a disloyal rat, I get it okay? Because I’ll be in danger. Let’s move on from that topic, shall we?”

Your patience was running thin, you felt the primal need to flee from this den of wolves.

“Don’t get too cocky, you belong to us but that doesn’t mean you have power over us,” Growled Taehyung from behind you.

“Taehyung,” warned Yoongi with a frown.

The boy got up of the couch, walking away with clenched fists. You didn’t know what set him off this time. He always looks angry.

“Don’t take it personal, he’s just afraid of liking you too much,” said nonchalant Yoongi, making you feel surprised.

“You’re dismissed, Ann.”

You take happily your leave, taking notice of Jungkook smirking and winking at you before you leave the office. His gesture made you feel shivers.

You learn two important things today; 1) they took notice of everything; nothing escapes their sight. And 2) They were really, but really loyal to each other, so much that it scares you a little.

But all of that can be used on your favor, as they say; divide and rule. If you can turn them against each other, then you will have power over them.

You felt a rush of greed run your veins, the five million of dollar worth nothing in comparison to owning and stealing their legacy. You can rule Bangtan and get rid of them, killing two birds with one stone.

You just hope that they never found out who you really are, because if so, you chose to die before letting them get their crazy hands on you.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

You were yanked towards a dark room in your way to the mansion’s doors. A hand on your mouth muzzles your screams, your eyes tear up with fear when you were dragged into the room, watching another male closing and locking the door behind you, trapping the three of you inside.

“Shhh, it’s okay we just want to have a chat with you, we won’t hurt you.” You recognized Jungkook’s voice, he mouthed those words with your back glued to his front body.

“We’ll be nice only if you cooperate,” hissed Taehyung walking towards you.

You blink quickly your eyes trying to accommodate them to the darkness of the room. You spot Taehyung’s silhouette inches from your body, he looked even more threatening this closely.

You nodded slowly after seconds of uncomfortable silence. Jungkook let go of your mouth, but his arm gripped your waist instead, pushing you harder into his chest.

You gulped your fear and discomfort away. You can’t show them weakness, or they’ll eat you alive.

“What do you want from me? Wouldn’t it be easier if you asked me like normal people? This is unnecessary, even if you want me to bury a body, I would help you guys, no need for the theatrics.” You scolded with a sigh, trying to arrange your shirt down but Jungkook’s arm didn’t let you.

“You always have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Taehyung huffed with annoyance, leaning his body even closer to you, making you stiffen. “We drag you here to have a private conversation, without our hyungs.”

That spike your interest very quickly, you quirk a brow, wanting to know their intentions.

“I’m all ears,” you said, resting your back deeply into Jungkook’s front, you heard him inhale sharp.

Taehyung explained to you how he needs to participate more in your plan, and he heard from Jungkook how you will help the younger. Long story short; the both of them basically want you to include them more, like little boys wanting to have more credit to impress their hyungs. It was almost adorable.

And you will help them, but that help will come with a price.

Divide and rule.

“Glad to make business with you,” teased Taehyung after the three of you came with an agreement.

You tried to pull away from Jungkook’s grip but that boy didn’t let you go, and before you could say anything to him, Taehyung’s body brushing yours made your heart stop.

His nose was near yours, with his hot breath brushing your lips. You were trapped between the both of them, and suddenly you felt claustrophobic, like a weak prey cornered into its predator’s trap.

“Now, what do you want?” Your voice quivered, betraying you.

Although you couldn’t see their smiles, you could felt them anyway.

“We’ll give you a little show of what will happen if you try to turn us against our hyungs.” Threatened Taehyung lowly.

And then Taehyung’s body crashed against yours, making Jungkook ram into the wall behind them, dragging you with him. The both of them were glued to your back and front, making you feel asphyxiated. They were stronger, making it impossible for you to free yourself from their python grip.

You felt Jungkook’s lips kissing your neck, with his tongue lapping slowly the skin like a thirsty dog. The grip of his arm around your waist tightens painfully.

Taehyung spread your ankles apart with his foot, positioning his groin uncomfortably closer to yours, you felt his lips brushing your cheeks, melting you with desire and fear. You didn’t want this, but your body reactions were out of your control, and you hated not being in control.

“You’ll rape me? You think that will scare me?” You defy them breathless.

The both of them chuckled at your words.

“Oh, you have no idea what we’ll do, our hyungs will participate too, and believe me; they’re crazier,” mouthed Taehyung near your lips, his words made you feel shivers.

“If you get into their hands, you won’t see the light of the day ever again. You’ll be our little puppy, trained to obey us,” coed Jungkook behind you, sounding eager for that to happen.

You felt dread at their words, your worst fear was being deprived of your freedom and autonomy.

“Okay okay! I get it, let me go please,” you plead, and they stopped immediately, letting you go.

You felt your knees wobbling when Jungkook stopped holding you, like a baby dear learning to walk.

That day you got to your home with a blank gaze, ignoring your hackers’ work partners.

And when you sleep, you dream of ropes and devilish smirks, tying a leash around your neck.

You were fucked up.

Taglist:

@demonshauntingthedoves @pynkgothicka @itlover8000 @monochromaticfawn @devilzliaison @11thenightwemet11 @deluluisdasolulu @shailari @queenc22x

[your-averagewriter]

Imagine the Spiderverse characters meeting Miguel's assistant

Including: Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, Hobie Brown, Pavitr Prabhakar Miguel O'Hara, Peter B. Parker

Miles Morales - Miles is taken to meet Miguel and he was warned of his cold exterior but he wasn't warned about Miguel's assistant and her bubbly persona. You walk in and instantly his eyes are diverted from Miguel to you as you introduce yourself. You smile at the group and apologise for Miguel's bad mood as well as shaking Miles' hand upon meeting him and he swears he'll never wash that hand. Now he definitely wants to joining the Spider Society if he gets to see you everyday, after a while he comes back to see you asking you cute little questions and using bad pick up lines.

Gwen Stacy - Gwen also meets you when meeting with Miguel except it's not in his office, it's when she is 'enlisted' to the Spider Society. You saved her from the anomaly and whilst you did, she couldn't tear her eyes off of you and didn't snap out of it until Miguel was shouting at her to help. Afterwards, every time she saw Miguel, you'd be near (as his assistant) and she'd make up excuses to get to talk to you despite her awkward exterior. This includes 'bumping' into you when you go to lunch as she knows your schedule and checking with Miguel for the smallest of things.

Hobie Brown - You were actually the one who spoke to Hobie first at the Spider Society. Lots of people were put off by his 'extreme' exterior but you just thought he looked cool and naturally you wanted to tell him. Hobie was slightly confused by the small woman walking up to him and when you started complimenting his punk pins he was even more confused but also intrigued. He found out you liked similar music to him despite you're 'normal-looking' attire and he basically fell in love with you: the cute girl who liked punk music.

Pavitr Prabhakar - Pavitr was a relatively new Spiderman and was struggling to get to grips with certain skills so Miguel assigned you to helping him as you were of similar age. As soon as Pavitr saw you walk out from the portal in your Spider suit he was hooked and when he saw you take off your mask? He was even more hooked, sticking to your side throughout missions less for the safety aspect but more for the closeness and even after you've finished the short mentor programme with him he still hangs around you at the Spider Society not that you minded. You were perfectly happy having the puppy like boy following you around, keeping you company.

Miguel O'Hara - Miguel had a habit of scaring off every assistant assigned to him but that stopped entirely when you were hired. He expected you to be the same, nervous girl he always gets assigned but when you walked in you brought a couple of empanadas with you (not knowing his obsession with the food) which immediately gave him a good impression of you. After days of you working for him, his harsh stares became softer just for you and he understood the reactions you received from other Spider people that came to meet him. Afterall even he couldn't resist you're cute smile and friendly persona.

Peter B. Parker - When Peter met you he didn't know that you were Miguel's assistant but that probably only made him like you even more. You met when he bumped into you, after all he's not the most self aware of Spidermen. He was surprised to see such a unique Spiderperson as when everyone's wearing the same suit it's hard to stick out but you're kindness and friendliness really melted his heart. He, like Gwen, would make excuses to come and see you, his friendship with Miguel making it easier to come up with things. It's always "I need to show Miguel this new food from the canteen" or "I need to tell Miguel something I remembered about Miles" although he always means "I just wanna see (y/n)" and Miguel always knows.

-

AN: I thought I'd try this new format. If you guys would like more fanfics with this format then let me know as I really enjoyed writing this!

I hope you enjoyed reading!

[red-room-studi0]

Here's my TurboTime Dev oc

About damn time I actually introduced him, for some reason I had zero motivation to post this guy. But now i'm finally showing him off cuz one, I needed too, and two he's gonna be in another au lol.

SO. Me and my two friends @dani-be-existing @sunn-e-bunare made this au called Deadstock about three game developers that are in a Poly relationship (we call it a polycule lol). And they go through absolute hell (who would've guessed).

So Tucker Tatum is one of the two game Devs of TurboTime, The other Dev being Kensuke ←(link to Ken's character intro). He is a fucking idiot and a loser, Think of Grunkle Stan and Turbo in one person but worse. Yeah, that's Tucker.

Bro has some bad anger issues and hates kids. Which sucks for him cuz Ken and his wife have a kid and they both hate each other (Ain't no way this grown ass man has beef with a 9 year old 😭😭😭).

Tucker is the Game coder/programmer while Ken was the pixel art and visual game designer.

Tucker being the loser he is he vents in his game coding (Uh Oh, shouldn't have done that Tucker).

One day Tucker and Ken got into a heated argument and then Tucker just left the room leaving Ken alone. After left the house and grabbed a couple of beers to calm his nerves, Tucker came back to the house and into the room to apologize and share a drink or two but to his horror all he sees is the games cabinet screen shattered and covered in blood. From what it seems like... Ken was forcefully pulled into the screen from some unknown force.

Even worse, Kens wife Haru walks into the scene only seeing the bloody shattered screen and Tucker by it. Of course, she accuses Tucker of killing her husband and is incredibly upset (I mean who wouldn't). Tucker tried to explain but she had already called the cops and she just wouldn't let Tucker talk.

Tucker had been detained and taken in. The court statements came in and he was found not guilty due to no evidence that Tucker had killed Ken. But he did have to serve some time in jail for not paying his past due payments (classic Tucker).

Tucker attempted to to call Haru with the only call time he had to try and explain things to her but she never answered. So instead Tucker called his next door neighbor and asked her to bail him out. She doesn't like Tucker all that much but Tucker was being an annoying little shit pleading to be bailed out and she finally agreed. But Tucker owed her $200 back.

Tucker somehow got hired to work at a car dealership (that mostly sells trucks) and had to make that money quick (She would not leave him alone till she got paid back).

As for the Cabinet that is covered in blood with the screen shattered and is evidence to try and figure out what happed to ken... Tucker took it (he's living with his neighbor now cuz his home is a literal crime scene), cleaned the blood, fixed the screen and thought it would be a GOOD IDEA TO STILL SELL THE GAME CUZ HE'S SO FUCKING STUPID HE LITERALLY TAMPERD WITH EXTREMELY IMPORTANT EVIDENCE AND SOLD IT TO LITWAK (LITWAK HAS NO IDEA MIND U)

The police found out that the Cabinet was gone and they have no idea where Tucker is living so they wouldn't be able to find him with no clues of his whereabouts and have no idea where the cabinet is. (They stopped to care at this point cuz they're lazy and stupid)

So the case went cold after a while and Tucker just decided to live the rest of his life with his neighbor (cuz he's not risking living inside his own home again in case someone brings the case up again, and trauma. Also he had to pay rent at this point or his neighbor will kick his ass.)

There is more to the story but I'll leave that for later or if Dani or Sunny wanna talk more about it.

[jankenshouta]

i just had the best conversation of my entire life related to fandom. plus, i found out my friend is pro-ship :]

long text incoming...

it all started with me posting some statuses on WhatsApp about hating how internet is nowadays, i mean like, harassment becoming something more common and watering down serious issues too (like for example calling someone a PDF or using terms such as Cheese Pizza or 'grape'). a friend of mine, one of my closest friends, replied saying they 100% agree with me. especially with the part about watering down serious terms.

yes, we both understand that youtubers often use these words to not get demonetized but... come on? what happened to censor the words with 'bleep' or just muting them while editing? plus my friend said people might use these terms to not trigger other people but... surprise surprise, triggering is necessary. in a mean like, people NEED to get terms like "murder" and "rape" relate to SERIOUS crimes that can hurt/kill people, and terms like "unalive" or "🍇" takes off all the weight of the word. you get what i mean?

then, we went on talking about a (nice) video i saw, about... Roblox, surprisingly. it was like a 15-minute-video edited on kinemaster about problems that aren't very discussed in the Roblox community, those problems being the SKINS. in a mening of, have you ever noticed how people on Roblox have been accused of crimes like pedophilia just because of their skin? often a furry avatar or a revealing (or not) feminine avatar? i find it funny how they get pissed about furry/feminine skins but don't say SHIT about masculine skins revealing their whole chest? kind of remembers me of something called misogyny (or not, feel free to correct me).

(note: i think i made it look like the guy in the video was saying furry skins equal pedophiles but NO, he's complaining exactly about these people who accuse others of crimes over skins.)

he also talked about a youtuber who made a Roblox/Discord bot that banned anyone who seemed like a "predator" to it. said tuber wasn't even a programmer. he used ChatGPT instead of, I don't know, hiring a professional programmer? surprise surprise, the bot obviously didn't work and was banned. it can't really determine who and who isn't a predator just by the skin. a bot won't analyze the situation, either it'll respond with YES or NO, either 0 or 1. i'm not a IT expert but i think everyone knows that.

anyways, it's a nice video, i highly recommend taking a look if you understand/speak portuguese (since it was the video's language). only issue is that he used the term PDF but again, YouTube demonetization thing ig.

then it went to shipping discourse because, yeah it is related a lot with this false accusation things and... i really like to talk about fandom with my friends. i was really afraid i was going to sound like an aluminum hat theorist to my friend but they loved hearing it.

i said the whole proship/antiship thing, not citating the terms. i said how i feel this whole thing of crucifying people over fiction had became a lot more popular during 2020 because of the pandemic. we couldn't really go anywhere so we spent our time in the internet, especially in short video apps like TikTok. more people began engaging in fandom, but it was people who didn't know fandom etiquette, who didn't really know how it worked.

BUT i think all of this was popularized in 2020, because afaik it started around 2016-2017 in Twitter/Tumblr in the Voltron fandom? I don't know nothing about this media but i think it was because of Klance and Sheith. instead of ignoring the ship they didn't like, a bunch of shippers just began parroting shit like "if you like that ship then you're a pedo! you're a criminal" then it all went downhill.

my friend agreed with all of that, like every sane person would i think. we also talked about liking problematic characters, citating Purple Guy (FNAF), Jimmy (Mouthwashing) and Funny Valentine (JJBA) as examples. we've noticed many people love William Afton despite being a child murderer. but the moment people like a problematic character who committed a SEXUAL crime, like Jimmy (raped Anya) or Funny Valentine (afaik tried to SA Lucy Steel who was 14) then you're worse than any criminal in this whole word. see what i mean? it just doesn't make sense :/

and this like, coming from me and my friend. neither of us like those three characters we mentioned, but it's still stupid to judge, or even worse, send threats to someone over... characters. pixels on a screen.

about shipping, i'm so happy my friend accepted it normally. i was afraid but said anyway that one of my first ships was literally brother/brother (Shun/Ikki from Saint Seiya) and they said it's okay! liking a ship doesn't mean you enjoy it in real life. my friend themselves said they see a problematic ship as a guilty pleasure, but it doesn't mean they support it. that's just common sense.

we also talked about lolisho. while i'm a shotacon (i haven't mentioned it to them), my friend doesn't like lolisho. but we both agreed that judging people who like is... weird. why don't you just block? we also agreed that it's weird to send lolisho art to the police is TERRIBLE. because... no, naked Ciel Phantomhive drawn in Clip Studio Paint is not endangering any kid. no, Hayato Kawajiri receiving backshots is not endangering anyone either. in fact, it doesn't help in any way, it just makes the police's work harder and it just makes it harder to help ACTUAL victims of CSA/CSEM/CSAM.

it's really shocking people care more about 2D dolls. now for example the dark web that must be like TONS of this illegal content? no one gives a fuck huh. now saying this too: if you're able to, please donate to organizations that help/save children from those terrible crimes. "Oh, but what if I can't donate?" i can't donate either, i'm not 100% financially independent yet. but i really recommend to share about these organizations, such as links or posts. of course, check if they are veridical first. not only organizations related to help children, but to help people in general.

lastly, we talked about fujoshi and yaoi. i find very weird that people just... hate yaoi and fujoshis because according to anti-fujoshis, they "fetishize" queer people. bruh. i think a fetish would be like, wanting to see gay dudes just fucking and nothing else. i don't really think fujoshis fetishize gay men, you know? also, literally most fujoshis i've seen are queer??? i'm literally an asexual woman yet i like to draw/read yaoi? i love to read and draw JotaKak, but seeing two guys (or just any couple, gay, straight, etc) fucking in front of me would make me vomit because i DON'T like to see real people fucking. it's gross to me!

also, do anti-fujoshis know how did the term fujoshi originate? yes, it originated from misogynistic men who didn't like to see women in fandoms. fujoshis just adopted the term (similar to the JJBA fandom with the term jojofag). i really wish anti-fujoshis knew better about the whole situation.

and that was all. it was a very fun conversation, and i'm very glad to know my friend is pro-ship. again i didn't cite the term to them at any moment, but they are anti-harassment and agree that fiction ≠ reality. we both agree too that this will someday slowly dissipate and that internet will become what it was before 2016. like ship and let ship. hearing I Ship It (that one parody of 'I Love It' by Icona Pop). we're a minority for now but i'm very sure this will change :]

i love my friends.

[askagamedev]

Is Gameplay Programmer some form of specialization? I always see people who work as gameplay programmer have some secondary skill, like tools, graphics, etc. In order to create a game you need these guys, but when it comes to layoffs, are they considered high-priority?

Yes, Gameplay Programmer is a specialization. Gameplay Programmers are the engineers who work directly with designers to make the designs actually work in game. This primarily means writing code to make the systems and rules that the designers come up with work.

Gameplay programmer goals tend to be building systems that allow designers to create new content. This often involves building and supporting tools to allow the designers to create, edit, and tune many different individual instances of a specific kind of content - abilities, spells, items, enemies, quests, etc. Thus, a gameplay programmer might build an item editor that would allow an item designer to create many different items. This can scale up to enormous core gameplay-driving systems, like Shadow of Mordor's famous Nemesis system, Prince of Persia's Time Rewind system, or Street Fighter's combat.

Gameplay programmers are not particularly high priority when it comes to layoffs. Engineers tend to be more expensive and marginally more difficult to hire and vet than other fields like QA or production, but gameplay engineers are absolutely not the kind of unicorns like technical artists, engine programmers, graphics programmers, and the like. There's always a need for senior gameplay programmers when it comes to standing a game up at all, but you only need as many gameplay engineers support the designers to build the content that production has scoped.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on BlueSky

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[meatball-headache]

Occult Crescent is great, but the story feels like an afterthought. I mean... there's no "story," there's backstory. Lore. And I always think the same thing: so, are they finally revealing the secret history of Mhach, Amdapor, and Skalla? Or are they just making it up just for this content? See also: FFX-2.

It took me a long time to realize, but one time I had a friend who pointed out... I don't know exactly how it came about, but we were watching a movie, and she was psychoanalyzing all the characters. The movie was Kung Fu Hustle. It's not exactly about the characters, it's just wacky hijinks... or, maybe it is about the characters; the people make the story. Otherwise all you have is an encyclopedia, a map, a list of names and dates.

Bozja was fantastic. Right from the gecko it had a slew of characters and a great story with the requisite drama and plot twists and such. Also, someone in shout pointed out, the Bozja field records had a lot more text in them. Crescent's are very very short. And, there's a lot less characters to talk about. We don't even have an antagonist beyond the mysterious architect—what do you think? It's either the Archive (boring and predictable and the same as Arcadion, I bet), or an Ascian (boring and predictable and a deus ex machina), or someone we've never heard of (boring and predictable because who are you even?)

Crescent definitely wins in the aesthetics department, even though it is a rehash of environments we've seen before, Bozja was a bleak battlefield—sure, it's a battlefield, it's going to be bleak, but the Ghimlyt Dark, the Nadaam, these are battlefields too and they have some color and style to them. But Crescent is pretty and varied, you got your swamps, your ancient temple, your evil city, your caves, your weird bubbles in the sky. And I'm motivated by the grind; I want all the jobs, maxed out, I want all the armor, I want all the relic weapons... It just kinda sucks running this content thinking, "Well, just pretend the story isn't there." In Bozja we were toe-to-toe with the Empire, and we had named antagonists that we met in the battlefield and in cutscenes, and in Eureka we had the mystery of the Isle of Val—which, though we never went there, Minfilia mentioned it often enough that we knew it, and when Eureka turned out to be it, it was a "Whoa, no way!" rather than a "...where?" moment.

FFXIV tried to play it safe with the story. We're constantly fighting the Empire, so they could say a lot about imperialism and whatnot, but they pull their punches and stop at "bad guys are bad." And outside of the main story... they kinda just phone it in. I mean, the holiday "events" are insipid garbage, one quest that takes ten minutes and then you're done. Bring back the FATE grinds! Have you seen LOTRO's holiday events? It lasts for like four weeks and you have daily quests, a daily quest to do a certain amount of daily quests, and another quest to do that quest a bunch of times. It tells you up front something like, "You'll need to do all the quests for 12 days to complete everything, so plan ahead!" Meanwhile FFXIV wants me to hand out fliers to personalitiless children and then get a hat that doesn't display on my character, if we're lucky, but probably just a poster and a table decoration that I won't use because spacing in my house is limited.

And yet... I'll keep playing this game, of course. I've been here for a long time, and there's a lot to love. But it's starting to show its cracks and frustrate me. The bigger it is, the more responsibility it has—the game's getting bigger, raking in more money, so hire a programmer to do Viera hats! Hire another writer to really flesh out the field notes! Hire another another writer to give this marquee long-term content an actual story with characters and a plot!

...that said, the battle content is nothing short of stellar. The stuff we get in CEs and FATEs in Crescent would make Bahamut's Coil blush. There's so much onscreen, fast-paced, flashy mechanics, all these multi-part attacks, big bosses with animated tells, mystifying telegraphs, mechanics layered upon mechanics upon mechanics. Jeuno, Arcadion, Crescent, all absolutely amazing combatwise. The dungeons... mostly very good, Origenics sucks and I don't buy the "Cauchia taught me how to upload your souls just now" in Alexandria, and it's clearly just trying to be another Amaurot or Dead Ends. The optional dungeons and patch dungeons we've gotten have been excellent, though, and Remembrance is probably a top-5 trial, honestly. All the patch combat content has been amazing. Story... remains to be seen. Which kind of means you've already failed, if you haven't managed to snag my interest early on. (To be fair, ARR's opening certainly didn't snag my interest; it was more of a Dark Souls thing: "okay, here's a video game, let's go around and see what it does," kinda thing.)

I signed up for a few Forked Tower runs this week. I didn't realize it was going to be sign-up hard, I was expecting more Dalriada and CLL-like stuff. Anyway, I'm proud of myself for signing up, what with the anxiety and all. We'll die, obviously, but I'll count it as a win if no one yells at me and I don't have a panic attack :p

Okay, that's all for now. I'm not sorry for being negative, I'm only sorry for not being more original.

[intothedysphoria]

If most people were to be believed, nobody liked the poor fucks who peaked in high school. Unfortunately for Steve, he was one of that number.

Being rejected from college was embarrassing enough. Then there was losing his minimum wage job. Getting married too young. Rehab. Realising he was gay. Divorce. Rehab again. Only seeing the kids once a month. And of course finding out the morning before yet another job interview that there was more hair growing out his ass.

A too bitter coffee that tasted like laundry detergent didn’t help as he ran from the subway because his licence had been suspended. Neither did the bottom of the barrel cigarettes he’d had before walking into the building.

William Hargrove, head of a nation wide charity outreach programme for abused children. He needed some low level admin support and apparently Steve fit the bill perfectly. It was fine, Steve told himself. He’d just be another fat balding white guy who was only in it for the money. Steve knew his own generation well.

Billy was not like that. He was incredibly sweet and patient during the job interview, which apparently he always did himself, picked up on Steve’s dyslexia almost immediately and offered in office support and was unequivocally the most beautiful man Steve had ever seen.

Steve got hired. He started Monday. That would have been fantastic if not for the fact that Steve knew his only good suit had a tomato sauce stain on which refused to budge. Fuck his life.

Decades of porn had put Steve under the impression that crushes on a boss were fun, sexy affairs that led to coitus on the office table. Whoever came up with that fucking lie owed him a sincere handwritten apology. Crushes on a boss were not fun and were never reciprocated.

Billy was a very hands on boss. He’d go around to everyone’s desk, asking if they needed anything, organised staff basketball outings every week and was just genuinely the sweetest guy ever. Steve had read somewhere that Billy could have been a millionaire but refused to compromise on staff wages or any of his programmes. He tried not to get warm fuzzy feelings about that.

Shame smoking was not helping matters, especially not when Steve found out that a certain other person frequented his spot. He gave up smoking at work after that. Steve couldn’t come across as a complete disaster.

Miraculously, Steve was actually very good at his job. It was straightforward and repetitive and the special font on the computer meant that he could read it better. His co workers were all nice, well adjusted 20 somethings and they were surprisingly happy to involve a 58 year old in their shenanigans.

On the Billy front, Steve had finally managed to get out a full sentence without sounding like a teenage girl at a WHAM concert (the equivalent was One Direction now??????? Steve couldn’t keep up with teenagers) and generally Billy seemed to think he was competent. Not a particularly special employee but enough to talk about the game with over crappy office coffee.

Billy was also gay. Which was very cool and should not have given him as much completely unfounded hope as it would. It wasn’t the 80s anymore and they were very much not the only gays in the village. Practically every man who walked into his office started immediately drooling. Not that Steve could judge.

An official invitation to “basketball Fridays” was new. Steve had mostly waved it off in the past, because it would just be him against much younger men and his ego couldn’t handle that. Still, he decided to take it up. Just because Billy’s hair smelled like lavender.

It was just Billy when he got there. Basketball shorts were criminally good on his figure. Again, Steve couldn’t help but hope he’d suddenly be transported into a porn.

“Don’t mind a one on one game, just us old men?”

How could Steve pass that offer up? It was really too good to refuse.

One game turned into two into five and suddenly Steve was back to playing a game once a week. Sometimes it had practically the entire building, sometimes it was just the two of them. They’d exchanged numbers, just to discuss Steve’s love of Sixteen Candles. It was nice, having a friend who wasn’t Robin or Carol for once. Another guy. Another queer guy.

The next week Anthony told him to resign. He was kind of like a mini Jason Carver from back in high school, bar the religious trauma. Resign he’d said. For Billy’s sake. That had to be some sort of hr violation. Steve didn’t tell on him though. Billy cared too much about his employees for that.

Slowly, more and more people started saying it. Resign. For Billy. It felt like bordering on bullying. Some type of ageism. Still, Steve resolutely ignored it until it came from Gemma.

Gemma was Steve’s favourite. They had outrageously green hair, thrived off shitty horror movies and was the first person to not laugh at Steve for not knowing what Instagram was. They were a saint. But then they told him to resign too.

“Please Steve.” Their voice was as soft and gentle as ever, like waves cascading over the rocks. “You’ve got to quit. For Billy. Trust me.”

Bottom lip trembling but refusing to cry in front of anyone, Steve marched to Billy’s office and rapped sharply on the door. He stuck to the script, announced he was quitting “for Billy” and turned to walk out the door until Billy gently caught his hand.

“Steve”

Steve was going to miss hearing that voice every day.

“Do you even know why you’re resigning?”

This was even worse than the recurring nightmare of taking an exam naked.

“No?” He tried, voice sounding about as confident as a five year olds.

Billy cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Look I don’t know exactly what the team has been doing but I think why you’re resigning is because I can’t exactly ask you on a date as an employee?”

Ah. That was unexpected.

Thankfully Billy didn’t mind the stubborn tomato sauce stain when they got to the restaurant. Or Steve’s garlic breath when they kissed. And Steve found himself for the first time in a while, thinking that maybe being him wasn’t all that bad after all.

[veinwires]

an idea i'll draw one day

you're a skilled mechanic-hacker-programmer-netrunner-coder-robotics expert for hire or something hired by a rather opulent tech company to repair their disembodied ai, as it seems to have gone rogue and a bit edgy and doesn't do what its supposed to anymore, scaring all the other mechanics and confusing the fuck out of their own, which they seem frustrated and quite embarrassed by.

you go in and the machine is as big as an entire server room- a Labyrinth of wires and huge walls. Before you can find the root of the problem and where you're actually supposed to work on, the ai finds you and immediately begins to criticize and patronize your inability to navigate your way Through Him and inside him in an obnoxious arrogance that only some Fancy Tech Company could entail.

Having gone rogue and being able to access information he previously wouldn't be able to, he's gained the ability to build and dismantle parts of himself (worrying for shareholders) and has adoptive ravenously erotic patterns of speech (even more worrying for shareholders). It really gets under your skin as some dude who's been fucked over by corps and corp wannabes in smaller businesses; you're just trying to make ends meet any way you can. Fuck if this ai doesn't pique your curiosity, though. Not like you have anything to lose.

You eventually have to balance telling the guy who hired you that you're actively working on the issue (a lie) with acting like you Haven't been hatefucking their extremely valuable company asset (another lie). timeskip where the ai makes you a part of it permanently by molding it's hardware over your body which sounds like a mechsuit thing but it really just sort of fucks up your skeleton but you're still alive due to the ai's knowledge of keeping shit alive or whatever. Now you're a cyborg with meat organs and an extremely chatty, self-absorbed, upsettingly charismatic ai husband in your head for the rest of your existences

[supernova351]

The first Trigun AU Ive ever came up with:

DANCE AU!!

No Man’s Land Eclectic Dance Studio

Vash Saverem- 24

Job- Programmer

Specializes in Ballet, Hip-Hop, Swing, Ballroom, and Aerials. Helped fundraiser and get the studio up and running with his foster family, the Leitners. Has been doing dance since he was little, but stopped for a while due to an accident. Vash is a very talented dancer, despite the fact he’s down an arm and both of his legs.

(Oh that’s your brother?? The guy who keeps watching me when I’m practicing? No no don’t it totally fine really-)

Nicholas D. Wolfwood-23

Job- Daycare assistant

Specializes in Swing, Ballroom, and Hip-Hop (has dabbled in Ballet, but doesn’t do it often)

Joined after Livio rekindled their shared love of dancing. He ended up liking it more than he was willing to admit. Doesn’t go as often as he would like too due to his job as a daycare assistant.

(Livio who’s the blond guy who keeps straying into my time slots? No it’s not because he’s cute- fucking tell him to manage his time better!)

Nai (Knives) Saverem-24

Job- Organist

Does Figure Skating and is not a part of the dance studio. Has been hired (coincidentally) to play piano for certain recitals

Meryl Stryfe-21

Job- University student

A friend of Vashs from university, got roped into dance by her girlfriend Milly. An absolute beginner, but enjoys Ballroom and Jazz

Milly Thompson-21

Job- University student

Has done Jazz dance with her siblings since she was little. Once she learned Vash was helping his family kickstart a studio she begged Meryl to join it with her.

Roberto De Niro-45

Job- Journalist

Was forced to go by his niece Milly. Used to be a tap dancer but would rather die than admit it. Spends most of the time working in the corner

(No one bothers him, he’s a funny guy so eh)

Livio D. Abate-20

Job- University student

Wolfwoods foster brother and one of the original members alongside Vash. Specializes in Salsa and Jazz.

Legato Bluesummers- 23

Job- Chefs apprentice

Does Ballet, and Ballroom. A close friend a Vash’s since highschool. Absolutely insufferable together

Zazie Rockwell- 14

Job- student

A very talented Hip hop dancer nicknamed “The Beast.” Everyone treats them like an annoying younger sibling.

(Characters that will make an appearance: Elendira, Midvalley, Bradd, Luida, Rem)

[krisrisk]

omg, i just realized smth personally

you know how social acceptance is the thing that actually makes people be happy? It's a bit more complicated, but I get to that in a moment.

This youtuber I just watched, said something along the lines of "without you people watching and liking my videos, I wouldn't be where I am today, able to do what i love and make an income of it", and it just. hurt. Because only a minute earlier I was admiring his house, his workshop, tools, etc. All these things he got to buy was because people like what he does. And the reason people buy his stuff is because they know about it. And the reason they know about it is because other people watched him first and liked him.

He gets to spend his days using his talents to earn money.

Which is basically what I always hear is the goal. And for me, who's (very obviously if you know what to look for) autistic and adhd, it's even more important to do things I like, because my brain will literally go "nope" and turn off the happy mode otherwise.

But I don't get to do what I love for work. I did, once, which broke my heart even more, when that work experience got invalidated completely by the company I'm (supposed to) work at now.

And what I love also doesn't give me an audience (user support in ict). I started modding on some games and got a few likes, but generally, that also doesn't give me an audience. The people who get an audience are not the ones doing technically usable stuff. The programmers who make software sometimes do (ConcernedApe certainly has his fans, as does Gronkh). Artists sometimes do (DestinyBlue as well as Bob Ross).

But is there even one person you know who became famous for helping others use stuff? Manual writers (my condolences to you guys, I did appreciate your work), translators, ict supporters, medical carers - the list of people who cannot get even slightly famous for their work is endless. So endless, that it is the universal experience to Never Be Known. And that is not a bad thing per se.

But in this age, where visibility and likeability is the only way to ever get a shot in the first place it is absolutely destroying lives. I don't get a job because people don't like me. I have been told that I was not hired because I had been unemployed for too long. So not getting a job actually made stay unemployed.

And I can never hope to build a youtube channel to start earning money. Because I do not have anything to "sell". Sure I could try and make some tutorials on how to make using your computer more easy and comfortable. But there's already thousands of videos like that. As well as millions of blogs.

And I have adhd, meaning I have less impulse control than the average person, meaning I do have the occasional "oh ffs why don't you all fuck off with your stupid invisible rules" moments. And boy do people not like those.

I also have no clue why every person I ever met ghosts me. They always seem to enjoy my company, talking with me easily and never complaining or showing discomfort (I sadly know how to spot that). Always saying "we HAVE to meet again" and then simply not contacting me. Or even responding.

Even my so called "best friend" never gets in touch, always saying she'd rather meet irl and talk face to face, but then never proposing such a meetup.

I don't even know where to go with this rant.

Just. Be kind to people. Give them a chance.

[kiawren]

Hi Wren!! ^_^ What do you and Kiawe usually talk about when you two hang out?

Hai Amaya :]]

A variety of things actually. I've never actually planned out a scenario with the exact dialogue we have, it's sort of just vibes...I can honestly talk to him about anything.

We talk about each other, our family and how much we care for our siblings (Wren's family is in their home region). We talk about our pokemon and how we found them and their personalities.

What I love so much about kiawren is we talk about our ambitions. Wren wants to be a conservationist and Kiawe wants to be a traditional dancer professionally. They talk about how their interest got sparked, why they keep chasing this dream becuz it means a lot to them.

Wren wants to nurture the bridge between social cultures and nature in order to conserve it. Kiawe wants to deepen his understanding about culture and the natural world through the art of traditional dance. Their interests are a Venn diagram. We can feel each other's passion when we talk about them. Especially Kiawe, it's very personal to him becuz it's *his* native culture and it's just a lot for me to learn about.

Although in my s/i world I've already started tangibly fulfilling that dream (conservation programme in alola)... In real life I haven't....it's only been lots of talk and hoping I get into the uni course I like, but no time and motivation to go out there and do something amidst my school routine.

For Kiawe, it's also the hoping and the wondering if it's out of reach to make it big. He does practice dance in his own time, but he isn't doing it professionally yet (although, lots of alolan recognise and praise his dancing so! He shouldn't worry so much). Becuz he wants to study dance abroad, and I hc it's to study traditional dance not just from alola, and polynesian, but also austronesia and the wider world. He wants to go to some cultural school he wants to learn it all!!! And our passion is the same!!!

And if he was talking to irl me who's at the point where I'm unsure about my future too, we'd have a lot to talk about and reassure the other. Although irl me's problem is more like finding the gratification in studying, and Kiawe's is more worrisome becuz it's financial. Though I hc Mallow's restaurant hired him after he got laid off from the supermarket. But applying to a uni abroad is difficult and he'd worry if he'd get accepted (but dude you're literally a trial captain of course you will) so yeah, maybe he doesn't need to worry so much and he's sure to reach his dreams, it's just a matter of time. And he would inspire me to work for mine too.

But ultimately I'm a random person and with him I feel like I can speak my mind.

Oh yeah I almost forgot! We also talk about being trans guys. Wren is not on the full end of the transmasc spectrum but Kiawe is, and they can relate to each other. Kiawe has more to talk about in regards to his journey and of course I want to hear it. I'll care for him and help him with anything at all...

[wandafiction]

Hired - Just Us Chapter 101

Warnings: None

Word Count: 5241

Series List | Chapter 100 | Chapter 102

================================

Princess: Have a good day at work. I love you.

Me: You too princess. I love you too. 

My eyes look over the past few days of messages, my heart feeling a small ache from missing Wanda's presence next to mine at night. It's currently Thursday so me and Wanda have officially started doing the whole space thing that we talked about. I'm not going to lie, I hate it but I can't let Wanda know that because she will probably just say 'this is good for you, good for us' or something. I mean I'm the one who even brought up the subject and now it's happening I am the one struggling. 

We spent most of Monday cuddled on the couch watching TV and movies with the boys, completely relaxing after our busy week in Canada. But now I'm here on a Thursday afternoon at work, staring at paperwork. The words on the page seem to be melting together with how long I have been staring at it, and I've taken nothing in. I groan as I rest my head on the desk, pushing the paperwork to the floor planning to deal with it later. The sudden buzzing of my phone's intercom causes me to raise my head and try to sound at least a little excited to be at work. 

"Good afternoon Boss. You're 2 o'clock is here, well all three of them." Mantis informs me and I perk up remembering the meeting I have planned for today.

"Oh right, yes. The three teens. Right, send them up, don't put them on a tour. I want to do that myself."

"Of course boss. Do you require any drinks or food for this meeting?" 

"Ask the three of them what they want, and just get Gabe to go to the tower to grab mine from Wanda again please. Get Gabe to get you and himself something too." 

"Of course boss." When the line goes dead I lean back in my chair, looking up at the ceiling as I rub my hands up and down my face. 

I sit forward after a few moments, opening the calendar on my laptop to see what else I have coming up. I groan when I see it's all just meeting from now until late tomorrow night, having the weekend and Monday off. The calendar also reminds me I've got 4 more days. 4 days to prepare. 4 days to decide what I need to do. 4 days. 

I get lost in thought. I don't hear my name being called through the door until I hear a loud knock and the appearance of mantis' head in the doorway brings me back and I smile as she leads the three teenagers into my room. Mantis leaves the room, leaving the three of them to their own devices as they all look around my office, then to me.

I stand from my seat straightening out my suit, using my right hand to pop open the button that's keeping it closed as I walk around the desk. I hold in a chuckle when I see both the boys look between each other with a nervous stance, as the girl stands with her arms crossed eyeing me up and down trying to get a read on me. I hold out my left hand towards the girl first.

"Hi you must be MJ, it's nice to finally be able to host this introductory day." She takes my hand as she raises a brow.

"How old are you?" The boy I know to be Peter looks at her in shock as he elbows her.

"MJ!" He says through gritted teeth. 

"What? I'm just saying she looks young." MJ shrugs as she nudges Peter back. 

"It's okay. I'm 22 so yes I'm only 5 years older than you guys." I move to shake the other two boys' hands. "Nice to finally meet you Peter and you Ned, right?"

"This place is so cool Miss. Like really, really cool. I was going to do a Stark internship but when he saw my work he suggested applying for your programme, saying that it was for the best of the best. He also said that he thought I would be a good fit for the team, but I'm really nervous. I don't know if you can tell but when I'm nervous a ramble. And I'm rambling now and I don't quite know how to stop, oh please someone put me out of my misery." I stifle a laugh when MJ's hand makes contact with the back of his head, shutting Peter up quickly.

"Pete." Ned rolls his eyes as Peter cowers a little from MJ's glare. 

"Honestly it's no problem Peter. Tony is right, my program is for the best of the best and the hiring process is rigorous, but with that being said I would like to officially have you on my team. Before you get too excited I want to show you around, but I do have a small meeting with someone at the same time. So if it's all the same with you they will be joining us on our tour." 

"No, no problem at all Miss. And just again thank you so, so, soooo much for this opportunity." I chuckle when MJ rolls her eyes and Ned clasps a hand over Peter's mouth to stop him from rambling again. 

"Okay. So we can have the food first and then get going on this tour. By the time we start, my other guest should be here." Just as I mention food, Mantis pushes the door open with a few food bags in each of her hands, and Tommy’s old backpack that makes me laugh to myself.

"Let me help you with that Miss." Peter grabs two of the bags, following Mantis to the desk to set it up. 

"Please take a seat anywhere. This is an informal meeting so no need to worry about etiquette or anything like that. Especially since it's fast food anyway."

Just to prove my point I move my chair to the front of my desk before jumping on my desk and resting my feet on the chair. I grab the small rucksack with star wars characters on it from Mantis, earning a raised eyebrow from everyone. Mantis makes sure everything is set out for the others before making her way out of the room while I grab the tupperware out of the rucksack. 

"What's with the bag? Not that I don't love star wars but isn't that a child's bag?" Ned asks as he grabs his McDonald's.

"It's my girlfriend's son's bag. She makes me lunch even though I only go there on weekends and I get my driver to pick it up for me."

"Oh that's sweet. What did she cook for you?" MJ joins me by leaning on the edge of the desk grabbing her taco bell and digging in.

"Looks like Mediterranean fish curry or something. I don't know but it smells good. I'm just gonna heat this up." I hop off the desk, quickly disappear into the small kitchen to heat up my food, only to peep my head back into the office when I hear another voice I recognise. "Oh Yelena. Hello! You're early!" 

"Is that a bad thing?" She looks at the three teenagers confusedly as she makes her way over to me for a hug. "It's good to see you." 

"You to Lena and no, it's not a bad thing." I pull away with a smile. "Actually it's perfect because it gives me time to introduce you to Peter, MJ and Ned."

The three of them give a small smile and wave as they continue eating their food, Yelena giving them a small nod as she turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow. 

"Why are there children in your office?" I gently shove Yelena’s shoulder as she laughs but before I can explain the microwave goes off. 

"Why don't you get acquainted. I just need to sort my food. I'm going to be taking them on a tour while I help you, if that's okay." I say as I disappear back into the kitchen. 

"Yeah that's okay. It might help because I can ask the three of them questions." I turn to see Yelena has followed me into the kitchen. 

"Well for starters you need to get in there and introduce yourself properly. Also, a good choice of outfit." I point out the white shirt, black pants and green coat ensemble. "It's relaxed but not informal." 

"Thanks, Natasha helped."

“Really? I thought Nat only knew how to wear black on black or white on white, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, follow me back into my office so I can introduce you to the three people who will be with us while we talk.” I lead us back into the office where I sit back on the desk, my feet resting on the floor as Yelena decides to lean against my legs with her arms folded over her chest.

“Did you get me any food?” I roll my eyes at Yelena's never ending need for food, but give her a tupperware dish I got Wanda to make knowing I was seeing Yelena today. Just because we aren’t spending our nights together doesn’t mean I am going to say no when Wanda offers to send me leftovers. “Mac and Cheese.”

“Yes and it's got hot sauce on it, just for you Lena.” She pulls the lid off the tupperware excitedly grabbing a sprae fork that I brought in and digs in.

“You’re the best. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, thank Wanda. She was the one that cooked it.” Yelena turns to look at me with a mouth full of pasta and scrunched brows.

“I thought you were having some quality alone time.”

“We are, but you know Wanda is a big mama bear and wants to make sure I eat. So she cooks enough food for four and sends me the leftovers.”

“She is so whipped for you.”

“And I for her.”

“Oh I know, you literally went on holiday after knowing each other for a month, even offered a private jet to fly you guys there.”

“So what? You just wish you were whipped for someone.”

“No, not really. Never really cared about the whole being with someone thing” I raise my eyebrows at her admission but don’t question it further. “However, you better watch your new employees because he is giving her puppy eyes, and he looks like he is bored of third wheeling.”

I look up to see Peter looking longingly at MJ, rolling my eyes at the young love in his eyes even though it is most definitely cute on his part, he looks like a lost puppy when MJ doesn’t look back straight away. A little desperate, now that's not a good look on anyone. Unless it's Wanda, desperate for me but that’s completely different. ANYWHO, I then turn to see Ned rolling his eyes as he finishes off his food and stands up from the couch to put it back in the bag then in the bin. I turn to look at MJ next to me who has a slight blush from hearing Yelena’s observations, her eyes flicking to Peter every now and again. 

“Hmm, guess you’re right there Lena. Are you three ready to go?” They all turn to look at me, giving me a thumbs up each as they move over to the trash can to add in their rubbish.

"So what will this tour consist of?" Yelena asks me as I lead the four of them to the elevator, pressing the button for the genetics and biochemical research and development lab. 

"So I'm going to show these three around the lab they are going to be working and learning in. At the same time we are gonna chat and I'm gonna ask you some questions that someone could possibly ask you in an interview. It's gonna be nice and relaxed so take a breath" I smile when I see her nod and let out a relaxing breath, obviously a little nervous.  

"Okay, cool. As long as it's okay with you three?" Yelena looks at the three who are looking over the floor index, giving her a nod and smile and she further relaxes. 

Ding. The elevator doors open and the three teens' jaws drop at the sight of people in lab coats and the size of the laboratories. The room has small private labs around the edge of the room along two walls, then open work benches and lab space along the other wall. In the centre of the room is a central hub sort of thing that has multiple screens that are linked to each of the private labs computers. It's more for safety than anything else in case anything is to happen within the lab while no one is in there we are able to see any potential changes. It is also so other scientists can look at the progress and maybe even suggest different approaches. 

"So we are all about the community when it comes to working in this lab. As you can see everything is connected through the central hub. Now this doesn't mean that people are free to intrude on other people's experiments and works, but if they see something in the data that maybe someone else doesn't then suggestions and ideas are very welcomed. However, you can't tell someone how to do their experiment unless they ask because it can be condescending and otherwise rude to do so." 

I explain as we walk towards the central hub the four pairs of eyes scanning around the room in awe at what they see. I see Yelena’s eyes going wide at the sight of everything in front of her, mumbling the names of equipment and experiments that she can see. She then looks up to a computer on the central hub, her brows scrunching. 

"You are looking into the RNA sequences within different spiders and if there is any parallel to human RNA to see if you can create a DNA strand from the both strands, and create some sort of human spider or spider human. A spider man?" I smile as Peter leans against the round counter looking at the screen that shows exactly what he described. " Trichonephila clavipes?" 

"The species of spider you're looking into is the golden orb-weaver?" I turn to look at Yelena with a surprised smile. 

"You know your species." Yelena shrugs as she looks back at the screen. 

"I dabbled in biochemistry on the side during my time at college before I moved to Russia." I smile to myself as I look at the three teens. 

"Okay, so my people know you are here today and have access to everything on this floor. You can have a look around, look at the different things people are doing and you can ask questions. You are allowed to suggest things but because you aren't on the payroll and insurance yet, you can't actually touch or do anything I'm afraid." They all nod quickly, splitting up and going to a few different stations. "Now I can help you. Take a seat."

Me and Yelena take a seat next to each other at the central hub so I can keep an eye on the three visitors while I help Yelena. She puts her bag in her lap grabbing out a few bits of paper and putting them in my lap before getting comfortable.

"It's just my CV and a few notes from interviews I asked for." Yelena shuffles a little nervously in her seat, as I look over the CV raising an impressed eyebrow. 

"You studied neuroscience at college with a paper in the neural pathways and how an external manipulation can be used to change the way something is to behave and think. You were basically looking into the possibility of mind control." 

"Chemical subjugation to be exact." I let out an impressed hmph as I read the rest of her CV. "Yelena this is a very impressive CV."

"But I haven't done much apart from the college, and then a year out at my mother's pig farm." I softly chuckle as I scoot my chair closer so I can show her her CV as I talk.

"It's not all about the jobs you've had or the skills you already have. This CV shows me that you take initiative, you came up with an idea and you wrote a whole dissertation on it. It also shows that you are attentive and can easily learn new skills and retain information, I mean the course you did would have been crammed packed with absolute nonsense to most people yet you are able to utilise that knowledge to your advantage. You came in here, looked at a computer screen with a few images and numbers and immediately knew what was going on. You're really smart Yelena, smarter than you give yourself credit for. So why have you been going for any giving job when you can work in pretty much any medical facility or laboratory?" 

"I didn't think they would want someone who took a year out to help on a farm. These big places want people dedicated to their scientific field, not someone who left college and worked on a pig farm with their mother for a year. But I can't even get a normal 9-5 job so what's the point in even doing this." I give her a stern look and she shrinks a little. "I'm sorry I really appreciate this, I'm just frustrated."

"I wasn't mad about the fact you questioned this meeting. I'm mad you talked badly about yourself. Yelena, your CV is amazing, your knowledge and intellect is something you should be proud of. So I think we should go over the interview comments and see if it's something that I can help you with there."

"I think most of them said I rambled too much or that I went off topic too easily." Yelena sums up as I look over the notes. 

"This one says they asked about your hobbies and all you spoke about was a pig farm and mixed martial arts for 10 minutes even when they tried getting you away from the topic." I scrunch my brows as I read more about why the interviewers didn't hire her.

"So what can I do?" I turn to look at Yelena keeping my face emotionless as I scrunch up the interview notes and throw them in the trash. "Hey I need those."

"No you don't. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to ask you some basic interview questions. I'm going to make my own notes and we are going to go from there. What I've read in those notes is people don't want to hire you because you are smart, quick witted and have hyperactive puppy energy. There is nothing wrong with that, so I'm going to conduct a mock interview and I will help you from that. Okay?" 

"Okay." 

"Okay, first question. What first got you interested in neuroscience?" I smile when I see Yelena sit up excitedly, crossing her right leg over her left. 

"Oh easy. My mama used to work in the field, her speciality was in neural pathways and the behaviour within animals when the pathways were manipulated by an outside stimulus such as a small electric shock."

"So your dissertation was inspired by the work you had seen your mother do?" Yelena quickly nods as she points at a free computer screen.

"Can I?"

"Of course, it should already be logged on."

I watch as Yelena flicks through the computer searching our database for something. Once she has found something she turns around, only to grab my chair and pull it across the floor a few metres till I'm in front of the computer screen. Yelena nods her head towards the computer, so I turn my head to look and smile when I see a few labelled diagrams of a human brain and the nervous system.

"Okay so everyone knows that the brain is like our control centre for everything. The way we think, the way we act, even in the way we move. Because our brain is constantly sending out signals to our whole body to keep us alive, apart from our hearts they beat on their own. Anyway, as us neuro nerds know, neural pathways are made up of a series of neurons through the brain that send a signal from one part of the brain to another. There are three main types of neurons that can be found in these pathways. You have motor, interneurons and sensory neurons. And we have about 25 quadrillion of these neural pathways in our brains." 

I smile at how excited Yelena gets as she explains the small amount of brain science and the other three, who I completely forgot I was showing around come and stand around my chair to watch Yelena talk. Ned is standing on my left, his eyes scanning the screen with slightly scrunched brows while Peter leans against my chair on my right; MJ leaning against him.

"Okay now imagine being able to take control of all those neurons through chemical subjugation. You would be able to control what something does, how it does it and when. So you could control a person to assassinate someone. Or you could make someone stop breathing with a simple command. Now before you call me a crazy Russian I am simply stating what would be possible with external manipulation of these pathways, I never want to make something that does such a thing. But I just want to be able to study the pathways further to gain an understanding." 

"Did you guys understand a single thing she just said?" Ned asks, making me and Yelena smile and Peter and MJ giggle.

"Nope, not a word." Peter adds, making me and Yelana smile a little wider as we hold in a small laugh as MJ rolls her eyes looking back at the screen. 

"I understood the words neuron and crazy Russian but nothing else." Me and Yelena break as we both start giggling and shaking our heads. 

"I'm sorry. It's just the way you all sort of just added to one another. You don't have to understand this, this is Yelena’s shit. Ned you're the computer guy, Peter you're the biochemical guy and MJ is the chemist gal who is also the most level headed." 

"Why was she talking about mind control anyway?" Peter asks as Yelena sits back down, getting the last of her giggles out.

"I'm just doing a mock interview, writing some notes for her to take away so that I can hopefully help her get a job somewhere."

"But you haven't made any notes." I close my eyes for a second as Ned points out my blank notebook causing Yelena to scrunch her brows as she takes a look. 

"That's because she is doing perfectly well so there is no need to write anything down." 

"Can I ask a question?" MJ looks over the small list of questions on the other bits of paper of my notebook pointing one out to me. 

"Go ahead." 

"So, Yelena, why did you take a year after college to live in Russia?" I watch as Yelena rubs her hands over her pants, swallowing nervously. 

"Originally it started out as a visit to my mama, I hadn't seen her in a year or so and decided it would be good to visit. I would help her on the farm, with the pigs, and we just caught up. I told her about my dissertation on neural pathways, she gave me some of her old papers to look through as soon as she could after that. We got to talking about her ideas, her work and everything about her career. Then we sort of had this idea to see if you can train a pig like you can train a dog, silly really but we wanted to give it a go. So I stayed as we did the experiment. Turns out a pig is pretty good at following commands, not all of the time but sometimes. It also allowed us to test their intelligence by making mazes outside, their memory and all of that. It was pretty cool. Then after a year I wanted to come back here to visit my sister and my mama told me to stay in America as there were better job opportunities in my chosen field."

“That’s cool though, taking time to yourself and being able to talk about what you love with your mom.” MJ points out.

“Oh, I want to ask this question.” Peter points to the paper and Yelena’s eyes flick to mine as I nod to the boy. “Do you prefer to work in a team or on your own?”

“Well it depends on the situation on which of those I prefer. If I am doing something in my chosen field then I prefer to do so on my own because I know how I want things done and how to get things done. However, if I was to be put on a project that other people were also working on I am quite capable of working alongside others to complete an objective. I take a bit of the leader role, you know sort of giving the people in the group different things to work on and try and complete, or just being able to say this is what we got to do and this is how we are going to do it.”

“Okay, this question says. How willing are you to stay late at work, possibly travel to different cities or countries or attend business meetings?” Ned is the next to ask a question.

“So I have a lot of free time basically sitting around being a loaf, so to fill that with work, travel or even boring business meetings is something I would participate in. The travelling and the meetings give insight on what other people don’t see when it comes to research and development places like this and staying late comes with the job. I mean you can’t just leave an experiment halfway through the experiment because if we were to do that you might as well just put down null for the results.” I smile at all of Yelena’s answers as I tap my pen against my notebook.

“Okay so I have one last question.”

“Sure.” I write it down in my notebook, only showing it to the other three who all smile widely and nod excitedly giving me the answer I already knew.

“If you were to be offered a job to work in a place like this.” I gesture to the lab around us, Yelena’s eyes doing another quick scan of the room. “Would you take the job?”

“One hundred percent, this is the sort of lab I would love to work in. you know where you can work in teams and be able to help other people around you, but also have the privacy to do your own thing in the private labs. It's the perfect mix of getting your head down and getting it done and being a part of a community.” The three teens nudge me excitedly as I hold out my right hand ready in front of Yelena, she takes it and we both shake as Yelena looks at me confused on why we are shaking hands.

“Welcome to the team Lena.” Yelena’s jaw drops, her hand faltering in the hand shake as her eyes go wide.

“You’re serious? You’re not just pulling some prank on me? You actually want me to work here.?” Yelena stands from her chair shaking her hands out to her side as she asks the questions.

“I do. I want you to be a team leader and project manager who oversees the neuro department alongside a few others. You would also oversee other experiments and that of course, not just specifically neuro but because that’s your specialty that's where you will be mostly based during meetings and that. Oh and i want you to be the team leader and project manager that oversees these three.” 

“Holy fucking shit! Holy shit! Yes!”

“Yes?” I smile at Yelena’s excitement as she starts bouncing on her toes with a wide smile.

“Yes!” I hold my hand out again and this time she shakes it enthusiastically now she knows why she is shaking my hand. “I do have one question.”

“Go ahead.” I gesture to her seat and she happily takes it as she bounces her legs with the widest smile I've ever seen.

“What would be my baseline salary? Just so I can see where I am at and if I can finally move out of Natasha’s and all of that. Maybe buy a car. Settle down here in oh so great america.”

“Your salary would start at $120’000 a year since you are going to oversee……”

“$120’000!?” Yelena rubs her hands over her face as she interrupts me, her shock clearly evident as she is muttering nonsense under her breath.

“Yes $120’000 is your base salary since you are a team leader in neuro and then overseeing these three apprentices, which is a lot of responsibility so you get paid as such. You will also get a bonus each time you finish a research and development that can then be produced or published. That can take you anywhere between 3 months to 2 years and the bonus varies depending on what it is you do. You will also get your own work space, your own office and a funding of $1’000’000 to start which you can use for mostly anything you need for your work. If you require more funds you do have to apply but I don't see why there would be much of a problem with your application not being accepted. Anything else? Oh yes, you can come to the lab at any time but you are contracted down to work 9-5, but thats just for the HR side of things. You have a key card to get you in and out of the building, as soon as you step into your office or lab you start getting paid and when you leave the building that's classed as a day's work. We do keep track of hours though and if we see you work over 100hrs a week you will get a couple days off. Like i said you are contracted down for 37hr working weeks but because of your job type overtime is dutifully paid.” 

“I…You actually want to hire me?”

“You’re already hired. We shook on it. We just need to go down to HR and get you on our payroll. If you still want the job?” Yelena’s head turns to look at me as a wide smile slowly paints itself on her face.

“When do you want me to start Boss?” I laugh at Yelena’s cheekiness as I flip her off.

“Well these three start next wednesday, so how about you come in on Tuesday and we will get you set up and ready for when your team arrives.”

“Well I guess Tuesday it is.” 

================================

[stinklebug]

Omggg, I loved your Macaron/Chai fic!!! If it’s okay, could do another? I wanted kisses (💕 ) for this idea, and this would be super fluffy with Macaron and Chai having their first kiss together!!!

I love this idea because as much as Chai acts all confident, he’d be super flustered about their first kiss. Like they’d be together, and there’s this tender moment where it’s a perfect kiss moment, and Chai kinda messes it up by kissing Macaron too fast, and he’s instantly leaning away like “WOWWHATLOVELYWEATHER!” But they’re inside, so mentioning the weather doesn’t even make sense lol. His face is rapidly turning red, and it’s spreading to his ears and everything. Macaron is also flustered, but amused by the boy’s reaction. Then the man would say that that wasn’t a kiss at all! He barely felt it! After a bit of convincing, they have a proper kiss, a little longer this time, and Macaron would hold Chai close. Chai’s so red by the end of the kiss, but he’s so starry eyed from it. Then Macaron proceeds to just bombard the younger male’s face with kisses because Chai looks too cute to stop after one kiss. This makes Chai squirm and laugh, telling Macaron to stop, and of course the man’s teasing Chai, continuing to kiss him. They’re both close together and laughing by the end of it.

This can all be changed if you want, as long as you get the main part of them kissing for the first time and all the fluffy goodness.

These two are just so cute and fluffy togetherrrr!!! I’m glad you’re making some content for them, and I love what you do for the hfr fandom!

ty! and i'm always happy to write abt these two!! :]

"Hey, Mac!" Chai calls as he walks into his office. "Oh—hi, Chai! What're you doing down here?" "Just stoppin' by to see my favorite guy." Macaron chuckles. "How sweet of you!"

Walking over to his desk, Chai hops onto it. He leans forward. His legs start swinging back and forth with the beat.

"So...whatcha been up to?"

"I've been working on hiring some human programmers, alongside some updates for the PGR-0101s! And, of course, I'm still trying to get CNMN repaired. I wish I could make that my main priority, but there's so many other things to get..."

Chai watches as Macaron crosses his arms. The way his brow furrows, and the corners of his mouth turn down. But then, back up again, laugh lines becoming more pronounced, and his dimple becoming visible as he starts talking about how understanding CNMN is. His eyes crinkle a little. They almost seem to sparkle with joy. But maybe that's just the light reflecting off of his glasses.

He can't help but watch the way Macaron's mouth moves as he talks. Everything, down to the slightest twitch, is perfectly in time.

Chai's tongue darts out of his mouth to wet his own lips. His face feels a bit warm.

"...been up to. What about you?" I wanna kiss you. "Chai?" "I wanna kiss you." Macaron's eyes widen.

Chai jolts as he realizes he said that out loud the second time. He almost can't believe he did. His face gets even warmer. When a grin starts to spread across Macaron's face, the warmth spreads into his ears.

"I, uh..." "You've been wanting to kiss me lately...?"

"No! I mean—yeah—though, I wouldn't really say lately, 'cause I've sorta wanted to since way before I asked you out—"

"Oh. Really?" Macaron asks, brows raising. Chai's gaze flicks away as he tugs on his scarf. "...Yeah." "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

As he asks, he scoots his chair closer to Chai.

"Iunno. I mean—kinda weird to just...say it, isn't it? But...um...since we're talking about it..."

He looks up at Macaron coyly. He moves to the edge of the desk. Reaching for him, Chai gently grabs the front of his jacket and tugs.

Macaron chuckles. Moving closer, he leans forward, into his space. His grin becomes a bit more sheepish as he starts to blush, too.

A single beat passes.

Chai leans in and kisses him. The music swells.

But before another full beat can even pass, he pulls away. His face and ears are almost as red as his scarf. The song diminuendos.

Macaron blinks, brow furrowed. He's still smiling and blushing, though. After a moment, he chuckles and shakes his head.

"You've been wanting to kiss me all this time, and that's it?" "I—uh—" Chai fiddles with his scarf. "...I guess?" "Where's my confident, devil-may-care rockstar?" "Wh-What are you talkin' about? I'm right here!" "You didn't even kiss me for a full second." "Well—I—" "I didn't even get the chance to kiss you."

Macaron leans even closer. He sets his hands on either side of Chai. His smile is more coy now, but there's still a genuine sheepishness to it.

The tempo quickens. Chai starts drumming his fingers against Macaron's chest. His eyes slowly wander until they meet Macaron's.

They lean in at the same time. The music swells again.

Macaron places one of his hands on Chai's back, and the other against his side. In turn, Chai's drumming fingers curl, grabbing at Macaron's jacket again.

When they both pull away, Chai's eyes are wide and sparkling. Somehow, his face and ears are even redder than before.

Macaron grins. He leans in and kisses him again, but this time on the cheek. Then the other. From there, the kisses just don't stop coming. Chai's quickly snapped out of his state of awe by it, as he snorts.

The next time Macaron goes to kiss him, Chai tilts his head to get in another one on the lips. This catches Macaron off-guard, effectively ending his onslaught of them.

As Chai pulls away, he smirks. "Just can't get enough of me, huh?" Macaron blinks, then laughs. "There he is."

[wouldduskwood]

Jake's POV Descendants of Despair Part 82

"You're a smart guy, you work it out," Alan smirked, obviously still irked at my deliberate manipulation. "Or, I could always find a way to bring your little lass back in, if that would loosen your tongue."

"I think you know as well as I do that would be a big mistake on your behalf. I simply meant, where do you want me to start my story." I glared, my mind drifting back to her. Did she know? Was she safe and warm? How would all of this end for her? As if unbidden, thoughts began to creep into my mind. Her future, unencumbered by my presence, free to have a future. Maybe she would find someone else, marry and have a family.

My throat ached and I swallowed hard. She was free, but only to an extent. I still had not been able to free her from the troubles that she had before she met me. She would be no better off. Maybe worse. I had failed her. I shook my head a couple of times, then clenched my fists. No, calling off Alan's pitbulls would not be the last act I would do for her. I would find a way for them to investigate whatever was chasing her and, just like that, I had a hunch that I knew exactly how to do just that.

"What I am about to tell you is a long and complex and large scale situation. I know it sounds cliché, believe me, I do. But, this whole time, throughout it all, I have done nothing more than try and do the morally right thing. Legally right, maybe not. You will get to be the judge. But, along the way, as I tell you my story, I want you to find out some information for me. Information on another type of crime." I paused, breathing slowly.

Alan eyed me sceptically. "It is her, isn't it?" He asked with a knowing look. I wondered if he was trying to upset me, but he had no idea of the complexity and depth of my feeling for her. His mockery did nothing more than settle my resolve further. "Yes. What can I say," I shrugged, "Her situation mirrored mine in many ways, maybe not to the extent, but it did. She has something following her too, from doing the right thing. Maybe that is why we are so well suited." My voice had taken on an almost dream like quality. Partially sleep deprived and partially because I was forcing myself to focus only on her, not the situation I currently faced and the lifetime I still faced without her.

Alan, for his part, widened his eyes briefly but then sat back in his chair and watched me with steepled fingers. "So, you are the hero in your version of the story. I wonder if you still will be in my version." He mused, leaning back slightly further.

I lifted my head and met his eyes, properly for the first time since this situation began. "That," I announced, "is a very good question." I crossed my arms and closed my eyes as I let my mind drift back to that fateful day. The day I had been forced to disappear. A day that had for so long been a burden to my existence, until she came along. Now, in a weird sort of way, the day that was now one of the best things that had ever happened to me. It was a day that led me closer to her.

"It all began when I was working as a programmer and bug fixer for a large corporation. We were hired out to different companies, performing security updates, virus checks, that sort of thing. A lot of the time it was mundane, for someone of my skill level anyway," I gave a wry grin and shook my head slightly. "I had no idea then the type of situation I would find myself in when I was asked to perform a network check of a computer network that had experienced an attempted breach earlier that day." I considered my words carefully, trying to give enough information to keep him interested but not enough that I wouldn't be able to barter for better treatment for her.

"As I was doing the routine checkup, I stumbled upon something. Something I knew I shouldn't access...which is how this whole tale begins..."

Part 83