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paigelts05 · 3 years ago

Text

Never over [FNAF AR]

Art: https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Never-over-FNAF-AR-919042189

Story: https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Never-over-FNAF-AR-919042421

Renegade File Server location: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39594714

Published: Jun 12, 2022

[Takes place after Bloody Magic, and the Adelaide Incident that I keep talking about but am yet to show you.] It had been weeks since Tristan had been mauled by the Magician Mangle animatronic. He had been rushed into the hospital at deaths door, but he had recovered well. All his vitals were normal. But he wasn't waking up. Until Tristan's brother was rushed into hospital. Some of the doctors are not as they seem, and the situation less so. But Nora isn't some mystery solving genius: she just wants this ordeal to be over.

CW: The fic contains:

A line that references Nora's infamous line that could be considered suicide bait. (The line from the emails being "Marketing can go jump off a bridge")

Non-explicit mentions of horrific injuries.

°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°• 🌹 •°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°

[🌹Chapter 1🌹]

Tristan lay comatose in the hospital. Nora didn't know when he would wake up, or even if he could wake up.

He had been like this for weeks.

The doctors said his vitals were steady, but there was something weird about his brain waves. This was enough for Nora to convince herself that something unnatural was keeping Tristan asleep. The same unnatural thing that kept him alive then was keeping him comatose now. Was it a kind spirit, or a malevolent one. What reasons did it have.

She sat and red stories out loud, hoping that Tristan may be able to hear her, as she always did. Reading out of a book of fairytales, short stories so that she'd be able to complete them. Short stories with happy endings. Happy endings that she never had.

Reaching the final few pages of this story, she turned the page to read the next happily ever after. But something interupted her.

Doctors rushed into the room with a bed. The patient on that bed was downplaying the seriousness of one of his ribs literally being torn out and having used said rib as a weapon, so how bad could it be, and that it was no big deal that his organs were exposed. Even though the patients hair was matted with blood, Nora recognised her boyfriends brother anywhere.

"Dan?" Nora seemed shocked to see him in the hospital. What had happened? Did an animatronic attack him? Was everyone over at CK maintenance ok? She opened her mouth to speak when Tristan shot up.

Tristan opened his mouth to speak but only a agonizing scream poured out. He tried to take deep breaths, but only wound up hyperventilating as he looked around the room before locking eyes with Dan. "I'm too late, aren't I?" Tristan sounded defeated.

"Too late for what?" Nora asked, shaking like the earth was quaking under her.

"That, I guess," Tristan said, angling his head slightly as if to point towards Dan. "As I was working on the mangle, another blueprint came in, but I didn't see it. I just heard a voice tell me that Dan was... he was due to... to..."

"Die?" Dan finished, knowing that his brother didn't like talking about the prospect of dying much.

Tristan nodded, and Dan seemed to think for a bit.

"Well, shit went down," Dan continued, "one of my colleagues was posessed, two were mind controled. They're being seen to in another room - got to make sure they're not hurt or have anything in thier brain or under thier skin that shouldn't be there. You know, the normal stuff that happens when an experienced ghost tries to forcefully control people to produce remnant so she can resurrect herself."

Nora was basically stuck in a state of shock. She had to not only process Tristan waking up, but also this news of a ghost that almost killed all her boyfriend's brother's colleagues.

Despite the shock, she was able to open her mouth to speak, even if it was just a little bit, "is everyone ok?" She asked, her voice quiet.

Dan sighed and replied, "yep. That's all in the past. We're alive, I'm short a rib, most people have fractured bones, but that's about the extent of the damage I think."

Tristan then cut in with a concerned yell "you're missing a rib?!?"

"Yeah."

"You're missing a rib," Tristan repeated, "and think that's fine?"

"Yes?" Dan basically reiterated, "Ness was being used as a way to research efficient ways to create remnant, Adelaide tried to use the Viking blood eagle on me, but didn't get very far before Raha showed up."

"Adelaide?" Nora replied, scared and shocked.

"Yeah," Dan replied, "Adelaide Afton. You know, the wife of the founder of Fazbear Entertainment? They both are dead but somehow still control what goes on in the company. Weird, Hu?"

Nora looked overwhelmed as Tristan just sat there trying to figure out what was going on before something clicked.

"You say Ness was being used to research remnant production, right? She forwarded me some articles on a now missing employee who ran a location back in the 80's and 90's. Same name as you, and had a brother who died that was found cut in half." Tristan paused for a bit, "Ness also sent me some information on how much someone can survive being cut in two."

Dan froze up and something seemed to click.

"That's one of the things Luis told me she searched. Do you think -"

"Probably." Tristan replied, knowing exactly what Dan was going to ask, "But why would I only wake up when around you, and what was keeping me alive? I may have been somewhat in the clear, but I was bleeding out all night."

"No idea, but at least you're alive." Dan nodded.

Before Tristan continued talking, he heard a sniff, like someone was about to cry.

"I .... I thought I lost you..." Nora whimpered as tears formed in her eyes. The shock had finally just about worn off, but she still couldn't think clearly.

"Don't worry. I wasn't going anywhere." Tristan placed a hand on Nora's head and stroked her hair as if she were a cat. This seemed to put Nora at ease, but she was still crying.

With a particularly big sniff, Nora seemed to be able to comprehend things again.

"You said the lady who almost killed everyone at CK maintenance was Adelaide, right?" Nora replied, shaking as if she had just realised something bad.

"Yes." Dan replied.

"That's the name on the blueprint for Arctic Ballora. Charles is in danger!" Nora stood up, but practically fell back into the chair with a pained growl, clutching her head.

Dan knew they needed to act fast.

"Nora," he said, "does your phone have any charge?"

Nora nodded.

"Good." He then turned to one of the doctors and said, "take Nora to the nearest place where she can use her phone. If she forgets why she's out there and not in here, remind her she needs to call Isolde and tell her that Charles is in danger."

Sensing the seriousness of the situation - given the reasoning for the admission of one and the annoyed ramblings of the other - one of the doctors escorted Nora out of the room, muttering "tell Isolde Charles is in danger" to themselves so they wouldn't forget in case Nora forgot.

"Do you think that I was attacked to try and make some kind of mirror of events?" Tristan asked, knowing that the incident of the brother of a former manager of a Freddy's location and his recent (to himself at least) near-death-experience may have been related, as far fetched as it may have been.

"Absolutely." Dan replied, tossing his rib like a drumstick a few times before it was confiscated by a doctor, as it was hopefully going to be reattached, "Isn't everything linked to those assholes intending to mirror something that happened in Utah? Just happens we're back at the very beginning again."

Tristan went quiet yet again and mulled over the information that Ness had sent him the day before he had been maimed by the magician mangle.

"So if we assume William is using Ness as himself and your guys were used as Adelaide and her lab techs..." Tristan seemed to be connecting imaginary lines, unsure as to what conclusion to draw, "who is the new Henry?"

Dan let out an audible hum before being told by a doctor that if he wanted his rib reattaching, then surgery would need to start now. A blue curtain was pulled between the hospital beds of the two brothers, and Tristan was left on his own.

"It can't be me. I need more information on who knew that old manager's brother. But it could be..." Tristan sighed, "they know about the contracts. They warned us about how shady Fazbear Entertainment is. Too much early hatred."

Tristan looked around the room. Nora was out making a phone call. His brother was in surgery. He was alone.

He looked around the room, and could swear he saw something move. He tried to look at the shadow that zipped past the corner of his eyes to be met by nothing.

'It must be my imagination' he thought to himself, not knowing what to think. He had just been through a lot. He was probably hallucinating.

Regardless, the shadows became more prevalent. More snake-like. More fox-like.

Tristan's eyes darted around the room. His heartbeat echoing in his eardrums as sweat dripped from his forehead.

Was it back?

How did it get into a hospital?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and shreiked.

"No need to panic," a rather bewildered doctor said, looking part deadpan, part startled, "your heart rate was increasing at an abnormal rate so I came here to check on you. Now, what seems to be the matter."

"I..." Tristan replied, his head fuzzy and trying to catch his breath, "Thought I saw the thing that put me in this hospital out the corner of my eye."

"I see." the doctor replied in an unenthusiastic manner, "That thing being?"

"A broken-on-purpose robotic endoskeleton of a fox-like mascot." Tristan replied, worried that he sounded crazy.

"Noted. Sounds odd if not fake, but my boss will kill me if I don't take this seriously." The doctor replied, sounding incredibly condescending as if he thought that Tristan was either lying or downright insane, and there was a smear of hatred in his voice, "Since the rise of these 'killer robot' incidents in the 90's things have gotten rather strange. Lucky for folks like you, the paranormal department of Chicago PD is breathing down my neck so I don't pass another so-called victim off as being insane."

"You're a dick." Tristan said.

"Nobody's ever put it that bluntly before," the doctor replied.

"Still a dick." Tristan didn't want to let that doctor have any ideas that he may have changed his mind over some fake humbleness. After all, he was beginning to recognise him from that photo regarding an asylum being busted for illegally obtaining patients back in the 2000's that Ness had sent him before his coma, but that may just be a coincidence. Perhaps the article was a warning and a sign that he should probably hold his tongue around those who resemble the 'doctors' from the article.

Before that doctor could reply, Nora and the other doctor came back in.

"Call made. We've also alerted the CPD's paranormal department to be on high alert for callouts to that address. This situation is as serious as it gets - the 'monstrous lady of science' is not a case I thought I'd have to see for myself, seeing as we've not had killer robot incidents like this in some time. But it's not my first rodeo," the doctor who went with Nora then glared at the 'doctor' who was with Tristan, "and don't you have some paperwork to fill out, mister?"

The 'doctor' left the room and the doctor that was with Nora resumed the checkup on Tristan.

"So how's your arm. Your side? Your eyes? Mouth? Everything ok?"

"I don't feel the pain yet," Tristan said, "but I did swear I saw that mangle out of the corner of my eye."

"Yeah that's expected after going through something like that. Don't know why that guy had to be a dick about it, but at least HR is finally being useful for once and looking into that asshole." The nice doctor smiled, "probably should have asked a decent doctor to stay with you. Anyway, booked you a test to see if you have PTSD from this, it'll be in about six months, it was the earliest slot. If your thing with seeing things persists, just say so and I'll see if I can get you help."

Tristan nodded and turned back to Nora.

"Nora?" Tristan voice was quiet but serious, "Do you know anything about a manager of a Freddy's location in the 80's and 90's called Daniel. He had a brother who died, and I need to know more about this man. It may tell us who is more likely to get targeted next."

"No. Didn't even know he had a brother. but I'll see what Smith&Tea robotics knows. Fritz and PT worked for that guy in the 90's as mechanics. Thier husbands seemed to know a thing or two when they came round to see the aftermath of ... this," Nora gestured vaguely at Tristan, and they knew what eachother meant, "they said they didn't want to say much 'lest they cause panic due to an incorrect conclusion'."

"That's understandable. We should probably talk more now that I'm awake though. I think I learned too much the day before this - ", Tristan gestured to the scars on his body, " happened."

"Alright. This would be easy if we weren't all in the hospital." Nora sulked.

"Not for long," the nice doctor piped up, "As soon as we've gotten Tristan checked for any signs of possession, he can go home. I mean he'll have a bunch of prescriptions, but he's been out cold long enough to have heald. And cos Dan over there is Tristan's brother, I can tell you two that everyone but Dan, Anna, and Steve will probably also be home by the end of the week, unless someone else is hiding a broken bone."

"That's nice to know," Tristan said, glad that it seemed that the majority of doctors actually took the ghosts and killer robots seriously, "the sooner we can get to the bottom of this the better, because I just know this is nowhere near close to being over."

[🌹 Chapter 2 🌹]

Nora didn't like leaving Tristan in the hospital, but she couldn't stay there. She had to go home to sleep and could only stay during visitor hours. But today, she would finally be taking Tristan home with her.

After arriving at the hospital at seven PM, about an hour before Tristan was due to be discharged, she went up the the front desk clerk.

"Hey. I'm here to pick up Tristan. He's being discharged today. Where should I wait?"

"Just over there," the clerk said, pointing too the waiting area. There were a few people there already, some looked like patients, and some looked like they were picking someone up, like her.

"Thank you," she said as she went over to the waiting area and picked up a magazine. She couldn't be bothered to read, so just looked at the pretty pictures. Slowly, one by one, all the other people in the waiting room had left, either being seen to by a doctor, or having picked someone up.

She was the only one left, and it was ten pm, without so much as a mention as to what the delay was.

With a sigh, Nora walked up to the front desk.

"Tristan was supposed to be coming home a two hours ago. Did something happen? Is he ok?" Nora asked, getting slightly worried.

"Name?" The clerk said, not looking up from her computer, clearly tired from a long day.

"Nora. I'm Tristan's girlfriend and colleague? Employee? Ok so he's the co-owner of R&D robotics, and I just work there, but there's not really much higherarchy stuff going on, so everyone just does what they do best and treats everyone like equals."

"R&D, Colleague slash girlfriend... Yep, you're on the can-tell list." The clerk replied, "so they had to run a last minute scan or three. Something about his brainwaves being weird and different after he woke up compared to before."

"Oh, so nothing to worry about then?" Nora replied, relived that it was just a case of last-minute scans.

"Nothing to worry about," the clerk reiterated with a nod. "You know, I was on front desk when he was wheeled in. I've seen some things here, but what happened to him? He looked like he had been torn apart."

"That's pretty much what happened," Nora stated, "He got torn apart by an animatronic we were making. He stayed overtime to finish it, but..."

Nora sniffed a bit and the clerk noticed she looked sad.

"You don't have to keep talking about it if you don't want to," the clerk replied in a panic, "seriously. If it makes you upset-"

"No. It's fine." Nora stifled her sobs and continued talking, "if I don't talk about it, it'll only get worse. If I talk about it now, the sooner I can get over myself."

With a deep inhale, Nora wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes and prepared to speak again.

"He stayed behind to finish it. Us at R&D robotics are contractors, and we have a contract with Fazbear Entertainment. They kept sending emails to us that were meant for thier research and development department. We tried to tell them to eff off, but they just said to suck it up, and threw just enough cash at us for them to basically tell us 'now you have to make it', and cos we can't really do shit to fight a company who got its boss off the hook for over twelve counts of murder, we have to make it." Nora spat, the rage in her voice crystal clear.

"That sounds horrible!" The clerk replied in shock, "although with the amount of thier employees we've had through these doors, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Yeah. Marketing was screeching at me to make this robotic fox spider thing. And then, they had the nerve to ask for a second one with modifications to make it look like a magician." Nora sneered and tears welled up in her eyes again. The clerk knew she was sneering at her contractee.

With a huff, Nora continued talking. "The first one bearly worked. Why they hell did they think this one would go any better. I made the endoskeleton, Tristan helped me with the shell and it's props, and by then it was time to go home. He said he'd stay overtime and put the chip in and you know, add the finishing touches," Nora's sneer turned into a sob, "and as soon as I got home, I fell asleep. Tristan didn't come back and I didn't notice because I fell asleep. We found him in the morning, and the animatronic had already attacked him. It tore his mouth open and tried to cut him in half."

"Yikes, that sounds bad." The clerk replied, trying to be sympathetic but having no idea how to start processing this absolute mess. Perhaps some good news would help? The clerk realised that it was something she probably shouldn't be sharing, but someone who got this cucked over by Fazbear Entertainment better know.

The clerk clapped her hands and stood up straight. "Oh yeah, talking about mangle, that doctor that first responded to Tristan when he had those hallucinations of that robot after he woke up - the, well, less than polite one? He was fired. Turns out to not be who he said he was. Was actually a part of that asylum that got shut down for basically being used as witness disposal for big corporations."

Nora's eyes widened. She knew some people who had been sent there as they were a friend of a friend, but she didn't know what happened to the others. All conversations she had tried to have were shut down over not wanting to bring it up, and to be honest it must have been terrible, and talking doesn't fix everything, so she never really knew what happened to the others. "That place was fucked up. I know someone - friend of a friend - who was thrown there, but I hope the other, umm, patients?, were ok."

"Those that were there at the time the police busted that place were alive. All of them were sent to a real hospital for treatment and therapy - the sort of therapy you get when you get kidnapped and gaslighted. You know?" The clerk shrugged. It was a big deal, but it just felt so odd. Weird things happened in the past, and she wished that these things were just fantasy, but they were real, "The raid happened just in time to stop a surgery. No idea what the surgery was, but it was probably a good thing that it was stopped."

"Definitely." Nora replied, "did you know someone who was put there?"

The room went silent. It was only Nora and the clerk, but the room was noticeably quieter.

The clerk seemed a bit distressed, but knew she couldn't keep putting off processing the past like this.

"Yes. My friend who I went to med school with. She was helping treat a patient as part of her training, and this patient was someone who got shoved in a Freddy suit, which was weird, as it had been years since Freddy's closed down, but new restaurants had been popping up, so that likely had something to do with it." The clerk seemed distant, not knowing what to make of anything anymore, "On her way back from the hospital, she was kidnapped. Nobody knew what happened to her until the asylum was busted three days later."

Nora gasped, "that's horrible? Was she ok?"

"Kind of," the clerk replied, "who knows what they did to her, but she was silent for a few months after. She was ok after therapy, but she's always been super jumpy ever since. She managed to pass med school, but I didn't do too well, but still somehow managed to be a desk clerk here at least. I may not be able to help her in the operating room, but I help in my own ways."

"She seems to have recovered ok." Nora said with a smile.

"Yeah, she's one of the best here" the clerk replied, a lot calmer then before.

"Anyway, to get off this super depressing topic, how long until Tristan can come home?" Nora asked, "He's supposed to be discharged today, but it's already eleven pm."

Glad to move off the topic of the asylum, the clerk replied "yeah, discharge takes a while. anyway, whilst were here, when he gets the bill, you don't have to pay it on the spot. Get in touch with your insurer. Who knows what stupid extra charges that so called 'doctor' Leer added before he was sacked and sent to the slammer." The clerk said the name of the doctor with disgust, and the word 'doctor' with sarcasm. That was definitely the name of the doctor that worked at the asylum, and they were both glad he was found out.

Whilst neither of them said it, they both thought 'another living bit of incriminating evidence against Fazbear Entertainment'.

"Noted!" Nora said with a grin that said it all, "Anything else?"

The clerk then shook her head, "Not really." She said with a bit of a shrug, "You might want to sit down in the waiting area there. I know it's not busy, but you've been standing up for a while. Cos you'll be driving him home right? You'll need the energy."

"That's a point," Nora said before beginning to head off, "oh, and thanks a bunch. I really just needed that chat. Helped me forget about things for a bit."

The clerk seemed rather confused and concerned, and then Nora spoke again. "I wonder whose next. This happened to Tristan, I got hit round the head, Charles's hand got impaled, so Izzy's the only one whose not gotten attacked yet. Hope she's ok."

Nora then begun to walk at a slower pace, as if she was thinking about something. The clerk was on shift the other day too and knew about the whole 'if an ambulance is needed at R&D robotics, to not question the killer robot talk and go immediately as someone may be dying to an actual killer robot'. Luckily, when the call did arrive, the animatronic had been, well, dismantled by a rather shell shocked looking woman, and a man was injured, his hand nailed to the wall with a plastic icicle and he had suffered multiple minor lacerations as well. A major injury that everyone seemed to keep brushing off, however, was the wound in his throat.

"Wait!" The clerk yelled, "Tristan is Charles's business partner, right?"

Nora turned around, a little confused as to why this was being brought up and she begun to forget what she had said and if she had mentioned that yet. "Yes? He's one of the co-owners of R&D robotics."

"It didn't exactly register until now. Sieve brain, I know, but, well", the clerk replied, "he wanted me to tell you that 'if Izzy hadn't have been on high alert, he could have easily been killed by that animatronic.' He wrote it here. He can't exactly talk at the minute, and I kind of want to know why everyone is brushing off the fact he has a wound in his throat in favour of mentioning the wound in his hand."

"I mean, that Ballora was posessed by a mad scientist surgical genius - guess that suit was her backup plan for when her plan with CK failed. She severed his vocal chords and, like, only the vocal chords. Kind of to be expected from her." Nora shrugged, "and I think nobody is talking about it because he'll be getting his vocal chords fixed at the Maid Marion Clinic - insurance reasons -, so it's not worth talking about apparently."

"The what?" The clerk said.

"Yeah," Nora replied, "He's having his vocal chords put back together at a different clinic, so nobody's talking about it here. Knowing Charles he currently would rather be anywhere else right now. Grateful or not, he still lets himself hate things he doesn't like whilst keeping it to himself, and good for him."

"Guess so." The clerk shrugged, "A lot of people come in with problems nowadays that could have been solved if they didn't force themselves to like a thing. And who is this vocal chord repairing genius anyway? I've rarely heard about those kinds of operations going well."

"She's called May Schmidt. Owner of the Maid Marion Clinic. She's had a lot of practice on her brother, whose always getting his throat crushed somehow." Nora replied, "it's a miracle he can still talk after getting his vocal chords broken that many times."

"Well you learn something new every day." The clerk smiled as Nora waved a 'thank you for the chat' and sat down in the seating area.

[🌹Chapter 3🌹]

Nora let herself stay in her thoughts for a bit. Occasionally, She'd talk to the desk clerk again, but she decided she needed to rest. It was nearing midnight, and she didn't want to be tired when she drove home, lest risk putting them both back in hospital.

She eventually let herself drift off.

She didn't know how long it had been, but someone shook her awake.

"Mam," the person who shook her awake said, "are you awake?"

"Hu?" Nora replied, a little bit groggy, "what?"

"Tristan is here. We did all the signing and stuff before waking you up so you two would just be able to go straight home. We know how long you've been waiting, but knew we couldn't just defer this until tomorrow, seeing as you were still here."

Nora blinked a few times before looking around. She was still in the waiting room. A doctor was talking to her, and Tristan was there.

Tristan!

Nora felt a burst of energy as a weight was lifted off her shoulders and she used this to run up to Tristan and give him a hug. She had missed him so much, and now not only was he back, he was also coming home.

Tristan had to crouch down to accept the hug, but even though it hurt his back just a little bit, it was worth it. He had been out cold for so long, and had only recently woken up. He was surprised that he was being let out of the hospital this soon, but all those concerns dissolved as he let himself be embraced by his slightly above average height yet way shorter than himself girlfriend.

Whilst Nora was above average height for a woman, the doctors and clerk noticed that Tristan was freakishly tall. They had only seen him in a hospital bed until recently, and even up until now, he had been hunched over and not standing at full height. He had to be well over seven feet.

Some mumbles of 'now the weight makes sense', and 'he has to be at least eight feet tall' were passed around. These were a nice change of pace from the usual comments that only considered the hight difference between the two of them, and Nora could get used to this.

She also really really needed to get home before she dozed off again.

After Tristan reluctantly ended the hug after saying that his back was cramping up, the two decided it was time to head off. Tristan had to sign yet another one last bit of paperwork and got an offhand comment from the clerk about the cost of "don't think about it today, just call your insurance tomorrow, then start paying."

'That clerk is a good person', Nora thought to herself, and she was glad she got to talk with her today.

After the final final bit of paperwork was sorted, Nora and Tristan waved goodbye and headed out of this area, going towards the lobby. Before they left though, the clerk said "watch your head on the doors on the way out!" with the happiest grin that you could imagine.

Nora chucked a little bit and smiled back. Whilst Tristan was self conscious about his height, Nora had been trying to get him to accept he was a bean pole over seven feet tall for quite some time now, and she was always happy when someone recognised that Tristan is just plain tall and wasn't commenting on her height in the process.

After a few seconds, Tristan also smiled. Presumably because there was no awkward followup about Nora's small-in-comparison height. Just a small joke about how tall he was.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure I duck on the way out." He grinned.

As the two walked down the corridor and towards the main lobby, Nora said "I've never seen you laugh at a joke about your height before. It's cute!"

Tristan went red as he replied, "it's just, you know, people usually just comment on my height to make some stupid statement about how my height makes you look younger than me in compassion."

"Those kinds of comments suck." Nora scratched her nose, "I always assume people are calling me a cougar though."

"Yeah, that kind of reply usually works for us," Tristan replied whilst actually having to duck under a doorframe, "but at least for the first time in ages, someone's finally made a good joke. Perhaps being this tall isn't so bad."

"Mm hm." Nora hummed, looking like she was about to drift off to sleep again.

Tristan placed a hand on Nora's head, almost as if she were a cat, "tired?" He asked, concerned about the fact that Nora was supposed to be driving them back, as he legally couldn't drive for at least a few days due to the various surgeries and medications he had been put on whilst at the hospital.

"Yeah" Nora replied, "I've been waiting for hours."

As they reached the lobby, Tristan looked around. There had to be something. As he skimmed the ocean of closed stores that made this hospital lobby look more like a motorway rest stop, he spotted a single open shop.

"Over there." He pointed to the 24 hour store, "do you have any money on you? We could get you a coffee to wake you up a bit."

"How do you think I paid for parking? Phone?" She joked, clearly having some payment method on her, "I have cash and card, so don't worry. We can get whatever."

"Good. I almost thought we were up shit creek without a paddle for a moment there." Tristan laughed in reply as they walked into the shop.

Upon entering the shop, the duo headed straight towards the drinks refrigerator. Nora needed something to keep herself awake, but couldn't decide between the energy drinks or the iced coffee.

"Tristan, I don't know what to get." Nora complained, "I don't know which one will wake me up more."

"Go with the coffee," Tristan smiled back, "it's easier to drink coffee than an energy drink."

Nora nodded and picked up an iced coffee, making sure it was the type that actually contained caffeine.

By the time Nora had decided what to buy, Tristan had already picked up a bottle of water and had been waiting for a few minutes.

The two of them then headed to the checkout, where Nora paid for the two drinks on card, and they then left the shop with newly purchased drinks in hand and continued through the lobby and out of the hospital.

As they left the building, a cold breeze blew past.

"Whoa that's cold." Tristan said as he shivered in the early morning breeze. He was wearing a change of clothes that were basically an identical copy of his work clothes that had been brought in by Charles, seeing as they were the only clothes in Tristan's size he had at hand, the day after Tristan was admitted, 'just for when he woke up'.

In those first few days of Tristan being in the hospital, Nora was bearly able to function. Weather it was the misplaced guilt she felt or the stress of her best friend almost dying wasn't important; the incident had made her feel like shit. Even though those feelings were present in Charles and Izzy, they all knew it hit Nora the hardest. After a few days, Nora had been able to go into work again, but still felt lethargic.

Now, walking through the hospital car park, Tristan holding her hand, those stressful times were nothing more than bad memories and were washed away by the breeze.

"I thought it was colder in the hospital." Nora joked, although she was the only one with a jacket, and it was a little bit nippy, but then again the hospital air conditioning was ruthless.

Nora continued to lead Tristan to the section of the car park where she parked her car, and the two laughed about how Nora looked more awake now just for being out in the cold. She agreed with a small giggle as she approached and unlocked her car.

"It's like a frezzer in here." Tristan said as he climbed into the car. The passenger seat had been left how it was before Tristan's incident, so it wasn't too difficult to get in and have leg room.

"I can turn the heating on if you want." Nora added, already fastening her seatbelt.

"I'll be fine. I'd rather be cold and have you wide awake than risk you dozeing off." Tristan replied as he fumbled with his seatbelt.

Nora sighed and removed her jacket, placing it in Tristan's lap.

"Thanks!" Tristan finished fumbling with his seatbelt and finally buckled himself in before picking up Nora's jacket and using it like a blanket to cover his arms. Her clothes would have probably fit a normal dude, but he was a few feet above average height, so this was the best he could do.

Tristan slowly sipped at his water, but watched in shock horror as Nora drank half of her iced coffee in a single gulp. After she gave herself a second to breathe, she polished off the rest of the bottle with a second massive gulp.

"Right. You ready?" She asked, starting the car, "buckled in?"

"Yep," Tristan said as he double checked the seatbelts.

"Then let's go home."

The drive home passed by without incident. It was cold, the roads were almost empty bar one or two other cars, and Tristan had turned on the CD player and started playing one of Nora's rock CDs. It was an album from either the late 90's or the early 2000's, but was probably from the 80's in all honesty, and the CD had been given to her by her mum. Nora asked if Tristan would rather listen to something of his preference, but Tristan said he wanted to listen to this.

The CD only got to the sixth song by the time they had gotten back home, and Nora parked in her usual spot and the two walked up to the front door. Nora unlocked the door, almost forgetting which way to turn the key, but she realised she was being stupid and managed to turn the key the right way and open the door.

As Tristan walked into the middle of the living room whilst Nora stepped inside and locked the door behind them, he said "the kitchen light is on."

"I left it on so people would think I was still in." Nora replied, heading straight into the other room and switching the light off.

In response to the house going dark, Tristan flicked the television on. It was only on the blue 'no signal' screen, but the light was enough for him to feel calm. He sat on the sofa, as he was too tired to walk upstairs. Nora also seemed to be just as exhausted as she joined Tristan on the sofa. They may have only intended to rest for a short while, but they instantly fell asleep.

[🌹Chapter 4🌹]

As the sun rose and beamed through the gaps in the blinds, Nora groaned as she tried to open her eyes, the sun making this task exceedingly more difficult than it should have been. However, she didn't need to open her eyes to know that she was curled up on the sofa in a position that was rather uncomfortable for her spine, but she felt Tristan's leg under her back and his arm around her shoulder, so whilst her back hurt and everything ached in general from the long day she had yesterday, she felt comfortable.

It was warm, but not hot, and she couldn't hear the boiler, so it was about, um, what time did the boiler switch off again? Nora didn't remember what the timer was set to, not that she couldn't remember; she was simply just too sleepy to be bothered to actually put the effort into remembering.

She was about to drift off again when something nagged at her mind.

'Work!' she thought in a panic before realising that today was an impromptu day off.

As Tristan had just gotten back from the hospital with her driving him home, only arriving back home in the early hours of the morning, and with Charles now in hospital, and Izzy being the only one left who could really do anything work related, they had to close for the day due to a lack of staff. Apparently there was going to be a new hire soon, but that was not now, so with only one person able to work, R&D robotics kind of had to be closed for the day. Since Tristan's incident, nobody was allowed to work alone, and Izzy could deal with customers remotely so it was no big deal to be closed for one day. Besides, thier other contractees would understand, and if Fazbear Entertainment had the gall to complain about the aftermath of thier own bullshit, well, the fazfucks could go jump of a bridge for all Nora cared.

She calmed down and snuggled her face into Tristan's side, the normal paced heartbeat and normal breathing comforting her.

As she was about to fall back to sleep, she felt tristan shift under her.

"G'morning...." He mumbled, still half asleep as he adjusted himself slightly to what Nora assumed was a more comfortable position on the sofa. With a small hum, he ran his fingers through Nora's hair.

"Morning..." Nora hummed as she felt herself slowly falling back to sleep. Yesterday was a long day, and she felt like she deserved the double lie-in. "I wanna go back to sleep."

Tristan gave an indeering sigh followed by a hum. It was clear he also wasn't planning on actually getting up any time soon as he continued to mindlessly play with Nora's hair.

As Tristan's fingers ran through her hair, she felt like a spoiled cat, the fussing almost lulling her back to sleep. She leaned into Tristan's hands as they scratched an itch in her scalp that she didn't even know she had. Tristan felt a similar way. With Nora curled around him, she seemed more like a very large cat, and as he ran his fingers through her hair, he could swear he heard her purr; he wouldn't mention it though. Part of him wanted to go back to sleep - he sure needed it after the strain he had just been through with his injuries, and Nora too for picking him up at stupid o'clock at night - and for now, he was satisfied with the way things were: he was home, safe, Nora was there now, so he could rest easy.

Tristan kept playing with Nora's hair, being cautious as to not create any knots or pull on any existing lugs as he gently scratched her scalp. This was definitely like petting a long haired cat. He was almost content to fall back to sleep when a slight ache coursed through his abdomen; he hadn't had proper food in a while, so he knew he was hungry. Whilst he didn't want to get up, lest he disturb Nora, he felt that if he waited any longer, he'd become nauseous.

"Nora," Tristan mumbled, still half asleep, "please move. I want to get up now."

Nora huffed and scooted down the sofa a bit. She didn't realize how tangled up in eachother that they were until she found herself having to move very slowly as to not put too much weight through Tristan, or worse, bend something backwards, as she maneuvered down the sofa.

As soon as most of her body weight was off Tristan, he moved from under her and, whilst being careful as to not take her legs out from under her as he moved his own, swept his legs down off the sofa so he could assume a sitting position.

Nora also sat upright, but it took her a lot less time, as not only did she not have to worry as much as to where her legs swung, but she also was able to sit rather normally on the sofa as opposed to how Tristan had to sit with his legs to the side like he was some kind of mermaid.

Whilst Tristan's unnatural height may have been considered something to be achieved, Nora had seen first hand the downsides that her boyfriend had to put up with in regards to being so tall; as whilst she found it cute, having pool noodles attached to the tops of all the door frames and ducking to walk under some bridges were something that she was surprised that people envied, but those few downsides didn't matter much; they were home, where too small doorframes were covered in pool noodle and the rest were high enough. Home was safe. And even though the mermaid sit that Tristan defaulted to reminded her of the minor struggles, those only seemed like microscopic inconveniences compared to what they had just been through.

Nora shook her head, she had to get the memories out of her mind, at least for a few hours. She looked back over at Tristan, who seemed to be trying to figure out if trying to stand up would be a good idea, and decided to scoot up closer to him.

"Hug?" She asked, her voice still croaky with tiredness.

Tristan nodded in response, and Nora put her hands around his waist, pressing her face against his chest. She listened to his heartbeat and his breathing. It was still there. She felt calm as she let her mind wander whilst Tristan wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

Tristan felt Nora leaning into his chest, and held her close, feeling a sense of comfort in her presence. It had been far too long since he had seen her; the time he had spent comatose felt both like it had taken an eternity and instant. He was glad the first person he saw when he woke up was Nora, and that she was here with him now. He ran his hands through her dyed green hair and gently removed the bobbles that were bearly clinging on. He noticed that the brown roots of her hair were more present now than before, and her hair was a bit longer. Evidently, it had been a while since Tristan was hospitalised, but he was home now.

The hug lasted a few minutes, and surprisingly enough, Nora was the first to let go. "I'm overheating," she said as she stood up, stumbling a little bit in the process. "I'm thinking of getting breakfast. What do you want? I'll get you something."

"Toast," Tristan said. As much as he wanted something more flavorful than warm bread, he knew he'd struggle to stomach anything but the most bland and dry of foods. Besides, whenever he was sick, he'd always eat this and it hadn't failed him yet.

"Got it. You rest up, I'll make it." Nora, now a lot more steady on her feet, walked out of the living room, and presumably towards the kitchen. Usually, they'd get thier own breakfast, but even though Nora was tired, she wasn't about to risk having to take Tristan back to the hospital; she didn't want to take note of it before, but Tristan had been shaking ever since he woke up. The house was warm, so it couldn't have been the temperature, so it had to be one thing: fear. She had to remind herself that Tristan had not long woken up from a several week coma, so the emotions that she had to work through back on that day were only just reaching the surface for him.

The last thing either of them needed was for him to be near sharp objects.

As Nora stood in the kitchen, she tried to figure out what to have before opting for buttered toast. Simple, and was a good food for people who don't feel well. Tristan was having the same, so it'd be more efficient too.

There was plenty of bread and there was still half a tub of butter, which was a relief as she hadn't quite been taking proper care of herself when she was alone, but at least she didn't neglect the basics.

She took the freshly cooked toast to the living room and handed a slice to Tristan.

"Thank you," Tristan mumbled with a smile as he received the slice of toast. He was still shaking and had covered himself with a blanket, but they both knew that it was for comfort and not warmth.

Nora sat down besides Tristan and dug into her slice of toast. She finished eating well before he did, but she stayed seated until Tristan was done. He was eating very slowly today, but she didn't expect anything else.

When he was done eating, Nora realised that she hadn't gotten anything to drink. If she was parched, how did Tristan feel?

She bolted into the kitchen and rushed back with two glasses of water.

As they were drinking the tap water, the two then decided that given they had spent the whole of yesterday and last night in the same pair of clothes, that a shower was in order. They also changed into a far more comfortable set of clothes, Nora opting for an oversized sweater and jeans that were a bit too big, and Tristan opting for a t-shirt that was just the right length but far too wide and a pair of shorts that were actually just a pair of jeans that fit on the width, but not on the length, so tristan had taken them up a bit to make a decent pair of knee length shorts.

They then returned to the sofa, not really sure what to do with thier day off. Should they watch a movie? Play a videogame? Reading would be too exhausting, and there weren't really any board or card games that would be fun with two players.

Nora begun to look through the shelves and spotted an old, tacky PS2 title that was aimed at young girls. Whilst the story was predictable and the stages were linear, such a game was probably a good choice, not for the lack of difficulty but for the sheer amount of bugs minor glitches and softlocks she remembered it having.

She held up the box so Tristan could see. "This one?" She asked, "we could try and speedrun it."

"Yeah." Tristan smiled, agreeing with the choice of game, "And isn't that the one that has like, three different softlocks?"

"I've only found one, but maybe we can find more!" Nora proclaimed as she put the disk in the console and booted it up. The start up sound brought a wave of happy memories that she was able to reminisce on as she grabbed both controllers, returned to the couch with Tristan, and passed him a controller all with plenty of the obscenely long load time.

Once the game finally booted up, Nora selected a new game so they could both create their own characters and leave Nora's old single player profile be.

The two then spent hours blazing through the main story, finding a myriad of minor bugs along the way, including the softlock that Nora wanted to show off so badly.

It was a good day, and it felt as if the future would only get brighter from here, as if they could survive the hell that those robots caused, they could get through anything.

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cup-half-full-of-anxiety · 4 years ago

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Fractured Hearts - (Chapter Seven)

So I somehow found the juice to finish this filler chapter that has been sitting for 8 months. I have more to come. I do not plan on abandoning ship but the creativity tank has been on empty so please bear with me.

Enjoy.

- Previous Chapter -

Richard sat nursing his second pint while Taron waved the server over to order his 4th. It had been a few hours since they left the lot and it was clear that whatever Taron needed to talk about was anything but light. Neither had said much since they had arrived at the pub. Richard sat patiently, waiting for Taron to open up but it had been at least a half-hour since either of them said anything. You could almost hear his brain in-process mode, he was clearly trying to find the best way to broach the subject.

“I have a daughter” he finally blurted.

Richard’s head jerked around to face Taron quicker than he thought possible.

“Come again Mate?”

Taron laughed humorlessly as he took a large drink from his glass.

“Yeah” He paused to wipe the beer off his upper lip and collect his thoughts before he continued

“I have a daughter” He said just as plainly “A 4-year-old daughter to be exact” Richard was shocked, he had no idea what to say or where to begin. He knew something had been bothering his new friend ever since the night of the mixer but this was the last thing he expected it to be.

“T, I am confused. What do you mean you have a daughter?”

“Adelaide” he said simply before raising his now empty glass to the waitress as she walked by, signaling he wanted another. “Just over 5 years ago, she and I were together. We had been together for 6 years. Tilly had introduced us when we were like 10-”

Richard’s eyes widened with realization as a long-forgotten memory came rushing to him, but Taron was too lost in telling the story to notice. He was unsure if he should share the memory with his friend or keep to himself that he had met his daughter once a couple of years ago in LA, it was just after he had met Adelaide, they had run into each other at the grocery store one weekend. Adelaide had introduced Richard to a then-toddler aged Eleanor.

He shook away the thought, he would tell Taron but not today.

“Even from the start we always flirted with each other, we were each other's first real crushes, but we didn’t start dating right away. I think deep down we both knew that once whatever we had going on between us started, that would be it, we would never have another, or love another but we couldn’t fight it for long and the inevitable happened, we started dating and that was it. We were always together, never one without the other but not in that annoying way. We were still our own people, but we were so much better together.”

“So what happened?” Richard was engrossed in the story.

“She disappeared” He shrugged nonchalantly even though Richard knew the memory had to kill him every time he thought about it “I came home from the last day of filming the first Kingsman to a quiet flat. She took everything of hers that she could, a lot had been left behind but everything she could take, she did and that was it.”

He pulled out his wallet, pulling out the note Adelaide had left behind. “This is all she left as an explanation” he handed it to Richard.

“I am still confused Mate” Richard said as he handed the note back “She just left? She didn’t stay so you guys could raise your child together?”

Richard was truly confused by the situation. He and Adelaide were not the closest but they had kept in contact over the years since they had met. They’d meet up for drinks when Richard was in LA, text on birthdays and holidays but they never formed the tightest bonds. He would never guess she would knowingly cause someone this much pain.

Taron began explaining what Adelaide had told him, how she was scared he would leave everything he worked hard for behind for her and their child, how she didn’t want to be the reason for him doing something he would regret further down the road. How she was just plain scared at the moment.

Now maybe Richard could understand the situation a little more.

“Wow, I still have no idea what to say” he needed another drink after this.

“Love” he grabbed the waitress’s attention “can I get another pint and we’re gonna need two whisky shots each please”. They both needed something a little stronger.

“So what are you going to do? I assume you want to be in your daughter’s life” Taron nodded “do you still want Adelaide in yours? Do you still have feelings for her?”

Taron did not have to think at all about the first part of the question.

“Of course I want to be a part of her life. I have already missed out on 4 years of it, I can’t miss out on anymore.”

“And Adelaide?”

“I’ll always love her” He paused.

Taron was quiet for a few moments. His mind still running in overdrive.

“I went over to her place the other night” he confessed; Richard raised an eyebrow in question. “After the mixer, it was late, and I just called her. She was awake, and I asked if I could come over. There was nothing sexual about it” he gave Richard a look before he even said anything.

“I was going to ask; I didn’t want to assume” he thanked the waitress as she set the drinks down.

“I don’t know mate” the boys took their first shot, both slightly wincing at the taste “I just needed to hold her. She literally disappeared from my life. Gone. I did everything I could possibly do to find her. I went to her Grans, to Tilly’s. I went to places we hung out, our favorite places. I called her more times than I can even count, I sent her bloody emails. I left voicemails every few days for well over a year but eventually, I had to stop. I had to accept she was not coming back. I had to accept I wouldn’t get closure.” Taron had to wipe at the few tears that fell.

“Before that, I never understood actual heartbreak. I had seen my parents’ separate and I had seen the pain that brought but now I was feeling my own. I threw myself into work, I took on everything I could get my hands on. Thinking back, I feel like a lot of it was because of her. I wanted to make sure she couldn’t forget me, that she wouldn’t be able to get away from the fact that she just left.” Taron paused, a vengeful look in his eyes at the thought but it was lost as he ran his hand over his face with a sigh.

“Then there she was. Really her, not some glitch in the matrix that my mind manifested to torture me.” He paused again. Trying to wrap his mind around it. “I don’t know mate. It’s like my body knew she was close, and I needed to feel her, even if it was just sleeping in each other’s arms.”

“And that’s all that happened?”

“Yeah, until I woke up a little while later.” He shook his head at the still-fresh memory, he knew he was not wrong for getting angry about the situation but that did not mean he felt great about what happened or what he said.

“She is staying at her Grans place, a home we spent a lot of time at in our adolescence until we moved in together. The house is very familiar to me. I went down for a drink and it didn’t take long to notice the kids toys in the corner, a stuffed animal on the couch, and then I found Eleanor’s room and realized that they have been coming to England to visit her Gran and Tilly, and I kind of lost it.” The boys took their second shot when Taron made another pause in his story.

“She woke up and found me in Eleanor’s room” He paused again and smiled to himself at the mention of his daughter “that’s her name, Eleanor. She found me in her room, lost in thoughts of what could have been while I held one of her dolls, just trying to feel close to this little girl I didn’t know yet but already loved so much. She said something and I honestly cannot even remember what it was now. I was so overcome with anger and then we fought, well it was more of me yelling than anything.”

“I just don’t...” He sounded so broken. “Fuck...I just want to put this behind me. I want to move past this anger and have a relationship with my daughter”

“You can mate but you need to remember that you just found this news out. You need to give yourself time to process it and you’re allowed to be angry or feel hurt.” Richard patted his friend’s arm.

“I have no doubt that you are going to be an amazing father. That little girl has no idea what is in store for her.” Taron could not keep the smile off his face. He’d always wanted to be a father; since the day Rosie was born.

When he saw Adelaide hold his baby sister for the first time, he knew it then. Adelaide knew when she watched Rosie’s tiny hand wrap around Taron’s finger. That night as they laid in Adelaide’s bed at her Grans, they had their first real discussion about having children. Both laughing at the thought, both thinking it would be a lifetime before parenthood would make its way into their lives.

The boys were quiet again. Taron’s body beginning to buzz with warmth from the alcohol, he knew if he ordered anymore he would be in trouble with Dex tomorrow, showing up for blocking hungover.

“I think it might be time to call it mate. We both have early days tomorrow and neither of us is going to be any good if we get pissed tonight” Richard raised his almost empty glass, clearly reading Taron’s mind. They cheered before they both finished off their drinks.

The boys paid their tab and made their way outside.

“Sleep on it mate.” Richard dropped his hand on his friend’s shoulder “Think about what is best for you and your daughter and your relationship with her mother. You have a lot of people around you that will be there to support you, but you need to do what you think is best.”

Taron hugged his friend tightly.

“Thanks mate. See you tomorrow”

The boys parted.

As Taron leaned against the wall waiting on his train his phone pinged with a text.

Doll:

I’m sorry about this afternoon.

Doll:

I’m just trying to figure this all out.

Taron:

Will she really be here in 3 weeks?

Adelaide sighed; she assumed he must have heard some of the conversation with her mom, she had a feeling it was the reason for him leaving set early. She took a deep breath before she replied.

Doll:

Yes. I wanted some time to settle and to talk to you before they came.

Taron:

Okay

Was all Taron replied with. He had 3 weeks to get everything figured out.

To be continued

@xceaf @sarahegerton96 @primaba11erina @shereighties @aberystwythboy

#taron egerton #taron egerton fanfiction #taron x reader #taron fanfiction

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fiftyshadesofsleigh · 5 years ago

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A Midnight Kiss (2018)

Title: A Midnight Kiss (2018)

Tropes:

Forced partnership

high stakes

secret life dreams

family drama

overreacting to boring Christmas presents

mixed signals

last minute costume change

problem solving

Starring: Adelaide Kane as Mia, Carlos PenaVega as David

Street Cred: Adelaide (Teen Wolf, Reign) seems to be reinventing herself as a Hallmark Princess, and I’m okay with that. This is Carlos’ first foray into Hallmark without his wife, Alexis PenaVega, and he’s freaking adorable. Natural, and charming, and dimpled.

Official Synopsis: With only one week to prepare, Mia Pearson and her family of party planners are offered the biggest job in their company’s history: a New Year’s Eve party for a tech entrepreneur. But when her brother breaks his leg and her parents head off on a planned vacation, Mia must reluctantly enlist the help of her brother’s visiting college buddy, David Campos to help her pull off the event which just so happens to fall on her favorite day of the year. But what Mia didn’t plan on was falling in love in the process."

The Story:

The Pearson family is in the party planning business and everyone adores them, of course. After twenty minutes of cheesy smiles and family warmth that sets us the parent’s retirement plans and Mia and her brother Jake’s plans for the business, Mia almost takes a golf club to love interest David’s head. Turns out David is brother Jake’s bff from college and is staying with Jake and his family over Christmas so he can do an interview for a documentary grant so he can go to China for his next project in the New Year. David is charming right out of the gate with his cute haircut and his sweet as pie smile.

Mia and Jake are soon roped into planning a New Year’s eve party for Kate, a bigshot business woman who somehow pissed off a previous event planner so much that all the contract workers quit as well. They now have a week to get everything done, so of course Jake falls off a ladder and breaks his leg. His wife is six months pregnant and apparently useless, and the parents are off to Palm Springs because that’s where all retired people go to die. It’s a good thing David is there to pick up the slack/be forced into helping!

Now, New Year’s Eve is A BIG DEAL to Mia, even though they don’t really tell us why. At least not in any detail that sounded reasonable to me. So off they go, picking vendors and booking a band. Despite this being Mia’s job and a looming deadline, David has an opinion on everything and keeps questioning Mia, trying to talk her into stepping outside the box. He does, at least, wait until she asks for his input after she shuts him down the first time.

The client, Kate, starts off flirting with David, but soon realizes David only has eyes for Mia and encourages him to confess his feelings. There’s some snuggly dancing while choosing a band, but Mia thinks David was flirting with Kate and pulls away. He cooks her some eggs she doesn’t eat and offers to find her a job in film production when he discovers she has an ongoing interest in it and that maybe she’s not as happy in the family company as she pretends she is.

The day of the event, Mia and David do a bunch of “helping” they wouldn’t actually be allowed to do because of insurance reasons, and then they share a beer and almost kiss before being interrupted by a million last-minute problems. David finds out he got the grant he was after, but has mixed feelings about leaving so soon. There’s more teamwork to work out party issues and some backroom dealings with the Mayor about a permit, and when a server spills gold paint all over Mia’s chic jumpsuit, Kate steps in and loans her a sparkly number to wow David. (This is the first time I’ve seen the whole “borrow a dress” trope where it didn’t require a completely different bra than what the character is wearing, and I appreciate that.)

Kate gives Mia a pep talk about life and David, and sends her on her way. A few more problems arise so we can see that Mia and David ARE MEANT TO BE and then the whole family shows up to help out because Hallmark. Everyone praises Mia’s work and when she tells her brother she’s moving on from the company, he sends her off with well wishes. David confesses his lurve for Mia and they kiss at midnight (IT’S THE TITLE COME TO LIFE!)

Teacup’s Thoughts:

With Hallmark’s habit of telling female characters their lives are empty without a man in them, I usually cringe, so it pleased me that this flick didn’t do that! At no point is Mia asked about potential suitors or told her work life isn’t enough to make her happy.

Despite his “nice guy” opinions, David seems genuinely interested in the things that make Mia happy and jumps in with both feet to help her out

Carlos PenaVega usually dances in these movies, and I missed that because he’s quite good. (Mia and David’s dance is mostly swaying in place)

Kate is a powerful woman who demands excellence, and she’s not demonized for that. She gets snippy when things get messed up, but Mia is firm with her and reminds her she hired Mia to deal with these issues, and Kate backs off. There’s no rivalry, no jealousy, no love triangle. I hope they continue this trend!

There is one thing that bothered me about this movie though, and I think it’s down to bad writing. When David spills his feelings to Mia, he tells her, “Nothing else matters anymore. All I think about is you” and that he’s willing to give up his entire career for her. Those words seemed like huge red flags for me, but again, I think the two men who wrote this are just telling women what they think we want to hear.

Fix It:

I’m actually quite pleased with this film, though I found it a little boring without the usual tropey Hallmark shenanigans (no one talked about artificial trees being evil!), but maybe those are harder to pull off in a movie about the black hole that is the week between Christmas and New Year. Adelaide Kane and Carlos PenaVega gave solid performances (minus the scene where they drink cocoa by the fire, which seemed dubbed and awkward), and everyone got a happy ending. A solid 8/10.

#Hallmark Movies #a midnight kiss #Holiday Movie Reviews

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hottonerus2020 · 5 years ago

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aloomicdigital · 2 years ago

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The Impact of Blockchain Technology on Mobile App Development

Mobile app development is one of the many industries being revolutionized by blockchain technology. Numerous advantages provided by blockchain technology’s decentralized structure can enhance the efficiency, security, and effectiveness of mobile app development adelaide. We’ll talk about how blockchain technology has affected the creation of mobile apps in this blog.

Enhanced Security The enhanced security features of blockchain technology are one of its main advantages. Blockchain secures data using cryptography, making it nearly impossible for hackers to access it or alter it. Because users frequently save sensitive information like credit card numbers, personal information, and passwords, this level of security is crucial for mobile app development. Developers can improve the security of their mobile apps and defend user data from cyberattacks by integrating blockchain technology.

Independent Data Storage Decentralized data storage, or network node-based data storage, is made possible by blockchain technology. Because there is no need for a central server with this decentralized method, there is less chance of data loss or corruption. Despite network disruptions or attacks, mobile app developers can use this decentralized data storage to build more dependable and resilient apps.

Smart Contracts Smart Contracts Smart contracts are self-executing agreements that can be set up to take effect when specific criteria are satisfied. Blockchain technology, which enables automatic execution without the need for middlemen, underpins this technology. Smart contracts can be used by mobile app developers to automate a variety of functions in their apps, including data exchange, identity verification, and payment processing. This automation can enhance user experience, lower costs, and boost productivity.

Higher Transparency All transactions that take place within the network are transparently recorded thanks to blockchain technology. Since users can easily verify the authenticity and integrity of the data being presented to them, this transparency can assist mobile app developers in creating more dependable and transparent apps.

Integration of Cryptocurrencies Last but not least, blockchain technology makes it possible to incorporate cryptocurrencies into mobile apps. Within the app, cryptocurrency can be used as a means of payment, incentive, or reward. This technology can be used by mobile app developers to make apps that provide users with fresh and inventive ways to communicate and conduct business within the app.

In conclusion, blockchain technology has a sizable impact on the creation of mobile applications. Developers can produce apps that are more dependable, efficient, and secure while also providing better user experiences by utilizing blockchain technology. Blockchain technology has the potential to dramatically change the mobile app development industry, whether it’s through data security enhancements, decentralized data storage, the use of smart contracts, greater transparency, or the incorporation of cryptocurrencies.

#mobileappservices #mobileappdevelopment #mobileapplication #mobileapplicationdevelopment

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jakemarsigliofin · 2 years ago

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Entry 4 - Challenges you faced (the nature of the work, working hours, organisation, motivation, tabling of ideas).

The biggest challenge I faced by the length of the Flemington straight was the unreliability of the Adobe Premiere Pro Software due to the slow and crowded servers at SEN. Specific clips such as ones recorded in the Melbourne studios would be quick to edit and upload as export times would only take a minute or two and footage would be clear to skim through to cut the correct timecodes. However, for the likes of clips to be produced from the Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane studios not only would export times have me twiddling my thumbs for up to 10 minutes, but also footage that needed to be watched through wouldn’t be able to load properly.

This meant that I would attempt to go back and reload a part of the video that was skipped past and not played in order to try an understand what part of the clip I was up to. This process, especially from the Sydney and Adelaide studios would have to repeat every ten seconds of the clip at hand.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1595975570256547841

(Kymbo & The Rooch were one of SEN SA shows that would take forever to load and export, SEN SA 1629)

I wouldn’t have to face this as much on Saturday shifts. ECN (2017) determines that in the internet ‘rush hour’ “data speeds drop by up to 30%”. Therefore, I believe that due to the more frequent foot traffic in the office throughout the week this was the reason behind the painstakingly slow exporting and loading times.

Another challenge I faced was the commute to the office. Being from Berwick, traditionally a trip to the city would take approximately an hour or so whether it be via car or train. Throughout the duration of the internship there were several Pakenham line closures that Berwick Station is on meaning it wasn’t a reliable service. On top of that the station that is only two kilometres from my house, was upgrading its car park for a 2023 expansion. This meant that in the meantime half of the car park was unavailable for use, thus scratching the option to go into SEN via Berwick Train Station. Driving in the full way was also not an option with parking on weekdays not only limited to a couple of hours but it also had to be paid for. This meant for all weekday shifts I was given that I would have to create a hybrid use of multiple forms of transportation to get to work.

It would go as follows. Drive from my house in Berwick to either Holmesglen Station or Huntingdale Station depending on track works or the congestion on the Monash Freeway. Next, take the train in from either station to Flinders Street. If I was going in from Huntingdale Station, I would have to get off at Richmond and change trains to skip wasted time through the city loop for an alternative train that goes directly to Flinders Street. From there it was a tram ride either down St Kilda Road to the Shine of Remembrance stop to then walk down the duration of Coventry Street, or if I was lucky a rare South Melbourne tram would appear and take me to the Kings Way stop dropping me off right outside SEN’s doors.

(Roadworks on the Monash Freeway lasted half the time I was with SEN. The other half was just as congested, The Age)

All up a trip to my internship on average would take 1 hour and 50 minutes each way. This meant early trips meant earlier alarms and long shifts meant late night arrivals back home. Despite this I can proudly say that I was never late to a shift.

In recollection of these challenges, I’m glad that the challenges I faced were those not in my control and didn’t reflect on my overall ability and performance.

REFERENCES

ECN. (2017). Slow internet? new technology to speed up home broadband dramatically. Rockaway. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2003029640?pq-origsite=primo

SEN SA 1629 (@1629senSA). (2022, November 25) Isaac Keeler talks the clubs that have shown interest in him ahead of the draft!. Twitter. https://twitter.com/i/status/1595975570256547841

The Age (2016, November 4) The Monash Freeway. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/monash-freeway-delays-crash-and-road-widening-works-cause-traffic-headaches-20161104-gsht04.html

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mgminvestigations7 · 5 months ago

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#investigation services Adelaide

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mgminvestigation · 3 years ago

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The Private Investigator Adelaide provided by the SA-based professional private investigation services of MGM Investigationscomes with extensive experience in solving different types of cases. These specialist investigators perceive each case through a one-of-a-kind approach, along with harnessing cutting-edge technologies to protect the privacy of their clients at all times. Such expert investigators from MGM Investigations prove their authenticity by getting the case resolved with complete secrecy, discretion, competence, and security. Besides, these private detectives guarantee the clients for their anonymity in conducting background checks and gathering concrete evidence.

#Summons Serving South Australia

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affordablewebdesigninadelaide · 1 year ago

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Creating a Sustainable Website: Eco-Friendly Practices for Affordable Web Design in Adelaide

In today's digital landscape, a strong online presence is no longer a luxury for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – it's a necessity. But for eco-conscious Adelaide businesses, concerns about website sustainability can add another layer of complexity to the web design process. Here's the good news: creating a website that's both user-friendly and environmentally responsible is entirely achievable. By incorporating eco-friendly practices, you can minimize your website's environmental footprint without sacrificing affordability, especially when partnering with an affordable web design company in Adelaide that understands these principles.

Why Does Website Sustainability Matter?

The internet may seem like a virtual space, but websites have a real-world environmental impact. Every website requires energy to operate, from the servers that store data to the devices used to access it. Studies estimate that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector contributes significantly to global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. For environmentally conscious Adelaide businesses, taking steps to minimize their website's environmental impact is a responsible choice that aligns with their values.

Eco-Friendly Practices for Affordable Web Design in Adelaide

The good news is that many eco-friendly website design practices can be implemented without breaking the bank. Here are some key strategies to consider when working with an affordable web design company in Adelaide:

Website Optimization: A well-optimized website is not only user-friendly but also eco-friendly. Techniques like image compression, code minification, and browser caching can significantly reduce the amount of data a website needs to load, leading to faster loading times and lower energy consumption. Affordable web design companies in Adelaide should be well-versed in these optimization techniques.

Green Hosting: The servers that store your website data use a significant amount of energy. Opting for green hosting providers who utilize renewable energy sources like wind or solar power can significantly reduce your website's carbon footprint. Many affordable web design companies in Adelaide can offer green hosting options as part of their web design packages.

Content Management System (CMS) Selection: The platform your website is built on can also impact its environmental impact. Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress offer a user-friendly interface and require less server processing power compared to some custom-built websites. Affordable web design companies in Adelaide often specialize in building websites using eco-friendly CMS platforms like WordPress.

Clean and Simple Design: While visually appealing design is important, avoid website clutter. Excessive graphics, animations, and plugins can increase website size and energy consumption. Affordable web design companies in Adelaide can create visually engaging websites that are clean, efficient, and minimize environmental impact.

Mobile-Friendliness: With the rise of mobile browsing, optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial not only for user experience but also for sustainability. Mobile websites typically require less data to load compared to desktop versions, reducing overall energy consumption. Affordable web design companies in Adelaide should prioritize responsive website design that adapts seamlessly to all devices.

Benefits of a Sustainable Website

By implementing eco-friendly practices, Adelaide's SMBs can enjoy a range of benefits beyond environmental responsibility:

Cost Savings: Many eco-friendly website practices, like website optimization and green hosting, can lead to long-term cost savings on energy consumption and server resources.

Improved User Experience: A fast-loading, efficient website with a clean design translates to a better user experience, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and engagement.

Brand Reputation: Consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious. By showcasing your commitment to sustainability through a green website, you can enhance your brand reputation and attract eco-conscious customers.

Finding Affordable Web Design in Adelaide with a Sustainable Focus

While affordability remains a key concern, many affordable web design companies in Adelaide understand the importance of website sustainability. Here are some tips for finding the right partner:

Look for companies with a focus on green practices. Many web design companies advertise their commitment to sustainability on their websites or social media platforms.

Ask about their approach to website optimization and green hosting. A reputable company should be able to explain their strategies for minimizing your website's environmental footprint.

Inquire about their experience with eco-friendly CMS platforms. Choose a company experienced in building websites using platforms like WordPress, known for their efficiency.

Affordable Web Design in Adelaide: Balancing Sustainability and Budget

Transparency and Communication: Discuss your sustainability goals openly with your chosen affordable web design company in Adelaide. A transparent company will explain the trade-offs between different eco-friendly practices and help you find solutions that align with your budget and environmental priorities.

Long-Term Partnership: Building a sustainable website is an ongoing process. Choose a web design company that offers ongoing support and maintenance services. This ensures your website remains optimized and adheres to the latest eco-friendly best practices as technology evolves.

Beyond the Website: Eco-Friendly Practices for Your Business

While a sustainable website is a great first step, Adelaide's eco-conscious businesses can extend their commitment to sustainability throughout their operations:

Digital Marketing Practices: Consider eco-friendly email marketing practices like reducing email list size and avoiding unnecessary attachments. Utilize social media platforms strategically to minimize wasted ad spend.

Paperless Workflow: Embrace digital solutions for invoices, receipts, and other documents whenever possible. Encourage customers to opt for electronic statements and online communication.

Energy Efficiency: Implement energy-saving practices in your office, such as using energy-efficient lighting and appliances. Consider renewable energy options like solar power if feasible.

Sustainable Packaging: If your business involves physical products, explore eco-friendly packaging options like recycled cardboard or biodegradable materials.

Conclusion: Building a Sustainable Online Presence

By prioritizing website sustainability and implementing eco-friendly practices throughout your business, Adelaide's SMBs can demonstrate their commitment to environmental responsibility. This not only aligns with your values but can also attract eco-conscious customers and enhance your brand reputation. The good news is that creating a sustainable website doesn't require breaking the bank. By partnering with an affordable web design company in Adelaide that understands these principles, you can achieve a user-friendly website that minimizes your environmental impact. Remember, a sustainable online presence is an investment in your business's future – a future where success goes hand-in-hand with environmental responsibility.

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techpunditau · 1 year ago

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Why is voip Adelaide Very Useful

We manage the whole corporate VoIP setup process, but we can also make changes to existing systems, such adding or removing team members, setting up extra handsets, cordless phones, analog fax adaptors, and cloud or on-site hosted instances. The latter is particularly useful as it keeps your phones functional during an outage and is independent of your ISP address.

Business VoIP can be used by companies that need to support desk-to-desk cooperation, facilitate conference meetings, and depend on stable phone connections without worrying about additional costs. Beyond only allowing phone transfers, monitoring incoming and outgoing conversations, and recording call durations to gather data for analysis in marketing and sales, these systems are useful for much more. Local numbers in every state and nation, coaching modes, and call redirection are a few more features.

Choose the Devoted Fibre Internet Providers in Adelaide

Because voip adelaide have connections to most buildings in Adelaide and the surrounding areas, we can most likely provide you with high-performance fibre internet if you're searching for a fast internet service for your business. Please get in touch with us right now if you require help with fiber internet.

Which Adelaide Internet Plans Are Right for You?

The optimal internet service providers and packages for you will ultimately depend on your particular needs. Because our dependable voip adelaide internet providers in Adelaide provide internet plans, it's a good idea to consider how much internet you will be using when determining which option is best for you.

Without having to pay extra for services, you may choose the best internet bundle by figuring out the true extent of your needs. Who wants to spend money on pointless internet features when a top-notch dedicated fiber connection may help your business grow faster? Choose your minimum term below, then select a plan based on either free or paid installation.

With the help of our business phone systems Adelaide, each customer may have their own private software-based system in place of a big, outdated hanging on the wall. It works with SIP trunks and all common IP phones, and it has a plethora of strong, fully customizable features. Operating a business on a complex system that combines hardware, software, and servers can be particularly challenging since a technical team is needed for ongoing and efficient server and application support.

Even though we are professionals in server and application support, these teams are usually too expensive for organizations to recruit due to various financial constraints and other challenges.

#pc repairs adelaide #nbn repairs near me

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paigelts05 · 3 years ago

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Who is V_A? [FNAF, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Who-is-V-A-FNAF-Renegade-AU-911875812

Renegade File Server Location: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36608917

Published: Apr 3, 2022

Part three of Escalation and Revelation. Set a few weeks or so after the previous. The pre-timeskip part of "Promises that can't be kept" takes place before this, as does this 'Adelaide incident' that I keep talking about. The post-timeskip of "Promises that can't be kept" takes place a month or two after this. Several days after Adelaide wrecked her havoc on the maintenance firm, Ness goes AWOL and only shows up to collect some rather concerning packages that she'd had mailed to the maintenance firm. To top things off, Faz Ent' had one of thier people, an email starting with 'V_A', get the virus off their system, but in the process, this V_A also accessed thier admin commands and locked them out of their own systems. After being present for a shipment of thumbscrews, everyone decides that they must take action and find out what happened to Ness, and uncover the identity of who the hell this V_A is. =°•.🌹 Story 🌹.•°=

°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•🌹•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*° It had been a few days since Adelaide had been dealt with. Daniel Rocha was still in hospital, but was holding steady, even though he was missing one of his ribs. Anna, Steve, and Mark had been reassured multiple times that they are not at fault for any of this and are as much victims in that incident as Dan was. Luis felt guilty for not being there, but knew that if he and Ness had been there, then things would have gone a lot worse. Raha didn't like that she had to beat up her colleagues to get the masks off their faces and free them, but she knew it had to be done. And a few days after that, Ness had fallen ill. Despite having to close for a few days for everyone to recover, everything was going disturbingly well. Fazbear Entertainment even offered tech support to get the 'virus' off their system. Anna felt forced to accept their offer, but made it known that if they caused problems with this tech support, the world will know once again how slimy Fazbear Entertainment really was and still is. Several days passed, and the date of the tech support was getting closer. Anna was on edge. She knew damn well Fazbear Entertainment put the viruses there in the first place, but she couldn't deny the aid offered lest she look suspicious instead. Especially at this short notice. The day before they were to receive tech support, Dan had recovered and was back at work despite being advised to stay home and rest, because the last thing he wanted to happen was to have Anna and Steve left alone dealing with Fazbear Entertainment tech support. He had to be there for her. Despite Ness having fallen ill a few days after the incident and not being around to help and Luis being jumpy as a result of her absence, everything went smoothly. The person from Fazbear Entertainment was this 'V_A' woman who was able to isolate the viruses and got them off the systems of CK maintenance, but didn't appear to delete them on their end. With all traces of the viruses gone on CK maintenance's end, everything seemed to be going fine until it became apparent that someone from Fazbear Entertainment was still using the 'V_A' account to run admin commands on their systems. All of the Springtraps had been released from the systems, and one of the animatronics had attempted to eat a stray cat, and Anna was left taking care of a bunch of kittens, keeping them at home so they wouldn't also be hurt. Due to the increased violence of the animatronics, she had the bots stored and locked away in the basement, despite the dampness and leaky pipes. "If they didn't want their animatronics to be damp they would have taken them back after they canceled work on these things." Anna said as she barricaded the door with the aid of Vincent, who had opted to see this through. Until this new issue was sorted, the only reason the animatronics would be let out is if the contractee had come to collect them. Luis had tried to visit Ness a few times. He had organised a date and time to visit, but when the time came, she never seemed to be home. However, she always answered her emails when he sent them, even when he was outside the door. He figured she was simply too ill to have guests, but it was odd, given that they had agreed to meet up. This reminded him of how she had described Casey's condition when she had been posessed; never going outside, trying to get people to come around but flaking last minute, and only communicating via emails or text. When Ness stopped responding to Luis's emails, everyone was worried. Initially, they feared that she had died, but it was a slight relief when she would sometimes come in to pick up packages that she had ordered. However, the contents of these packages were rather strange, and when she showed up she always looked so tired, as if she wasn't herself. This made them fear that the worst had happened, and that she really was no longer herself. When a parcel of thumb screws arrived within a week of some flowers regarding Brad - which was a term she still used to refer to Glitchtrap, as it's safer to talk about an abusive ex Brad than literally William Afton, especially when the man has ears everywhere - everyone knew they had to act. Steven noticed that Ness's actions were not just exhaustion or being mentally broken, but confirmed Luis's suspicions that she was indeed posessed - the signs were clear: tired eyes, lack of control over basic motor functions, and walking like a puppet. Luis knew that Ness was trying to call for help in a discreet manner. Her sudden absence followed by going unresponsive was a sign that something was wrong and he was kicking himself for not realising sooner; she had stopped responding to his emails is because she literally couldn't, and the reason why she couldn't is because that thing was not letting her. They had to intercept her to save her. So when Ness arrived out of the blue to pick up the thumb screws that she had ordered, Anna and Raha dragged Ness out of the shipping area and into the main office part of the maintenance firm before Ness could pick up the parcel. At first, Ness seemed to try and fight back, but quickly fell unconscious, only to wake up a minute later with no recollection of how she got there. "Ness, you've been ill for about two weeks, arranged to meet up with people only to flake last second, and you've been ordering all this weird stuff. We pulled you in because we figured that something wasn't right, and knew that if we didn't, you'd just vanish again. These are all signs that Cassey showed - which you told us about - and we want to help you nip this problem in the bud before it gets worse." Anna said in a very calm voice. She was not only trying to comfort Ness, but also deduce what had happened. "Thank you for dragging me in here - he panicked and left when he couldn't make me run," Ness replied, her voice oddly hoarse, "Brad - no, I'll just call him what he is - William was starting to get desperate. I don't know what I did, but it seems I was able to cue you into that something was wrong in time" "Definitely. Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" Luis asked, panicked, but relieved that Ness was safe. "I feel like I'm going to be sick, and everything aches. I'm sure Steve can relate." Ness looked around. Dan was covered in bandages, Anna and Mark had some small scars on their faces, and Steve's bruises has almost gone. Last time she saw everyone, they were all bloody and bruised. Now, they looked normal, or at least as normal as they could. If Dan was back at work, then how long had she been out? How long has she been under Glitchtrap's control. Steve nodded. "I assume you don't remember much of what happened then this past two weeks." "Kind of," Ness replied, "After I fell ill and stayed in for a few days, he used that to gain more control faster. I know I received emails, but every time I went to reply, I wouldn't be able to. I was able to read them, but I wasn't able to respond once he took over." "I - I'm really sorry if my emails were corny." Luis went red, "I was getting worried. And, the thing kept sending me red flag reports - I'm so sorry but I read them, so I've seen your search history..." Ness chuckled a bit, "Don't be. Those emails were keeping me going. Even though I had practically no control over my body, knowing that you'd fight Glitchtrap for my sake really gave me hope. And, I've known since the first email that you've been able to see that stuff. Remember the time I just searched the word 'help' after the compliance searches a while before I went AWOL? I knew you'd see it, and it may sound weird but I've always hoped that you'd snoop. You've always been my ticket out." Luis smiled back and went even more red, but knew that they still had to get to the bottom of all of this, "You said you had no control over your body when you 'went AWOL', as you put it. Was there anything that he let you do?" Ness looked down taking note of how tattered her clothes had become due to Glitchtrap not letting her have any modicum of control, even for sanitary purposes, "he'd let me order suspicious things online that he thought would help him control me, but I couldn't go outside without losing control over my own body. Cass's advice came in handy with staying in as much as possible to play damage control, but I feel he had too much control for me to act on most of it." "It's ok," Luis said, "you're here now. A lot of stuff happened whilst you were ill. Apparently, the viruses are off our system, but I'm not convinced. Their tech support lady also has access to our systems still, and has been running admin commands." Ness went pale, remembering the list of employee names that Luis had gathered several weeks ago, before the whole Adelaide incident kicked into its final stage. "The tech they had contact us was this woman who went by 'V_A'. I'm pretty sure she's one of Dimitri's lot." Luis continued before being promptly interrupted by Ness. "Who is V_A!" Ness shreiked in a panic. She was shaking, and everyone could tell that she was going to be sick. Everyone looked at eachother. "I just thought she was another member of Fazbear Entertainment." Mark said, looking at Raha. "She seemed to be very knowledgeable about both computers and machines." Raha added, looking at Dan. "Especially the legacy hardware. But then again, I wouldn't put it past staff of that place to know this stuff." Dan said, looking at Steve. "She did seem more like she was used to programming the machines as opposed to building them though." Steve added, looking at Anna. "Luis, we should check the list of names you sent me a few weeks ago. There were work emails attached to each employee, so when they set Charles up an employee account, and maintained yours and Ness's accounts despite you not being employees anymore, they likely made new emails too. They probably have already used the account under your names to get more access to our systems. I've got a bad feeling about this." Luis nodded and looked at his phone. Everyone in the maintenance firm had had to change what email they used for more sensitive information as many emails were still getting leaked and their work emails were filled with crap from Fazbear Entertainment. This left everyone with two work emails and two personal emails to keep the compromised address away from the non compromised ones. Luis opened up the scavenged data and quickly found what he was looking for, jumping to the employee data file and searching for 'V_A'. V_A. Job assigned to that email: tech support. Division D. She was certainly one of Dimitri's lot, so he knew what kind of chaos she was tasked with inflicting. Then the next element in the row connected the account name to the employee name and email address. Vanessa Diego | V_A@... Luis put his phone in his jacket pocket and sunk to the ground as he felt the blood drain from his face. He felt cold, but he was sweating like it was the middle of summer. He knew this was coming, but he didn't know he'd have to face it so soon. Everyone was looking at him. Anna crouched down and asked Luis "what did you find." Luis could bearly bring himself to say it. He knew that this was just the Adelaide incident all over again. Ness and Steve were in the same boat. She had to know for her own safety, lest they had a repeat performance of last time. "Ness." He managed to say. Ness looked at him, thinking he was about to tell her something, and Luis continued talking. "V_A is Ness's account." Ness seemed more calm than what Luis expected. Everyone seemed more calm than he expected. 'No shit', he thought to himself, 'we have just done this with Adelaide possessing Steve, and "why else would Fazbear Entertainment had made an account for her if not to use it to unleash this virus across our systems."' He didn't realize that he had said that last bit out loud until everyone was looking at him. "I figured," Ness said, "no wonder he was keeping me away from you guys. I understand if -" "Can you get the credentials to the V_A account?" Luis said, knowing that if he didn't butt in, Ness would have started blaming herself. "What?" Ness replied. She was shocked that this was being brushed off so easily. No talk of betrayal. Just what can be done to help now they knew who the account belonged too. It was a shock, but also a relief. "Can you still get into the V_A account. The data I got didn't have passwords, so I'm wondering if you're still logged in on your end - if you were even in control of the V_A account at all. We could use it to get the virus off the systems ourselves." Luis confirmed that what he said was what he said. Luis had just brought up the possibility that the V_A account was used by a legitimate employee of Fazbear Entertainment and not Ness, much like how Luis and Charles had never used the accounts made under their names, but Ness knew deep down that even though that was a possibility, Glitchtrap definitely would have used her to access the V_A account, even if just to try and cause a rift between Ness and her colleagues. "I think so. I'm pretty certain I was used, and Glitchtrap is an old fart, so I don't know how much he knows about how cookies are used nowadays. He probably didn't log out either." Ness then smiled, "He didn't suspect that I tipped you off, and besides, we could always see if you could do something with that tracking software his goonies left on our computers." She seemed almost proud of herself. She was able to communicate that she needed saving, and her friends, including her dearest, managed to save her, and not just that but she also had an IDEA of how to help. Even though this was only 'for now', it was enough. "With a bit of luck, perhaps you're logged on still and I probably could make use of that software." Luis said trying to smile, "we can turn the tables if we start using that account against them." Ness smiled again and nodded as Luis opened his computer and made a right hack-job out of opening and logging into the tracking software that had been left on his device as a vestige of his part time employment. As he started to look more concerned, Ness's smile quickly faded into panic as she realised there was one little problem: the device had gone into sleep mode and/or was off. "My computer is at home. I don't want to go back there. What if he's waiting for me?" The room was silent. Due to Adelaide's recent defeat, there was reason why William would avoid the maintenance firm, but as soon as Ness left the relative safety of this place, who knows when he'd strike. Who knows when he'd next try and control Ness, and what he'd do. Ness didn't want to know and had grabbed Luis, holding him tight, and mumbling "I don't want to go back," over and over again. "How about I go with you?" Luis suggested, figuring that two was better than one. "Are you kidding me?" Anna exclaimed, knowing that if only one person went, that would be a recipe for disaster, "I'm going too, and were having at least one other person waiting outside. If anything goes south, we need to be prepared this time." "That'd be better," Ness smiled, "could everyone come?" "That would be optimal." Anna replied, "Me, Raha, and Luis will help you collect your things. Dan, Mark, and Steve will be waiting outside to help just in case anything goes wrong. Having people outside means that we can't all be trapped in one place." "You seem to have thought about this a lot..." Luis seemed rather unnerved by how thought through Anna's plan was, "were you expecting something like this?" "No." Anna bluntly replied, "I'm just using what we learned last time to give us the upper hand." Last time. The Adelaide incident. During the past few weeks, Anna had talked to Dan - she lives with him, so of course she did - about what happened that day, and she talked to Mark about what little he remembered. Their responses were basically the same. Steve was posessed. Steve shoved a mask on Marks face before overpowering Dan. Rest was history. And she remembered what happened to her the night before: went to the basement alone, got cornered by an animatronic and knocked down. Every time she mulled over the events in her head, "if only there was someone to help" was repeated over and over again. So many situations where they should have put something off until other people arived, or should have done something before everyone left. Anna hadn't been preparing for this in particular. She had been preparing for just a similar incident full stop. "I want to know that I've done all I can to help. I can't let you walk into the same trap I walked into." Anna said, placing a hand on Ness's shoulder, "For all we know, he could very well be planning an ambush - good on you for trusting your gut there and speaking up - so we need to be ready for anything." Ness nodded and seemed calm. Everyone wanted to help her. Everyone still saw her as a friend. They saw her issue with the Aftons as being something they had to help solve. They saw the fact she was susceptible to being controlled just as they saw Steve when he was posessed: they still saw her as one of their own: a friend. "Guys," Ness's eyes watered up as she spoke, "thank you." "It's nothin'," Raha said as she crossed her arms, "we're friends, aren't we? I see that look on yer face. We'd 'ave been up shit creek without a paddle whether you started workin' 'ere or not, but 'ey! You bein' here's given us a paddle t' use." Ness then remembered what Luis told her several weeks ago, well before the incident: that he'd have gone to investigate the old sites anyway. She always had a gut feeling that he was being genuine, and here was the proof she needed to know for a fact that these were the exact sort of people she thought they were, and Marks next word summed it up perfectly. "We may be colleagues, Ness, but we're also friends. And when a friend is being hounded by a ghost, friends need to stick together to stop said ghost." Mark leaded on his mop as he spoke, "Whether that involves petty trespassing, corporate espionage, or data theft to solve, we're in this together." As he looked away for a moment, he mumbled, "and if they bring it up we can always use the fact the Botanist and Dimitri exist to bring up the murders." Everyone heard and acknowledged the last part of what he had just said, and then carried on talking as if they hadn't. Nobody wanted to deal with that kettle of fish right now. "So, you got any plans for your living arrangements? Just need to know so I can plan ahead." Anna then said, looking back at Ness. "No," Ness replied, "that apartment is my home, but I don't want to be there alone anymore. I don't want all your effort today to be for nothing." "I see," Anna sighed. Ness didn't want to be alone due to fearing William, and didn't want to be around others for the same reason. This would be tough, but luckily, someone else had already suggested an alternative. "How about you stay with me?" Luis had meekly piped up and looked like he was about to turn bright red. Everyone knew Ness and Luis were a thing, but also knew the two were very nervous around eachother due to the recent circumstances of William Afton - usually just referred to as Glitchtrap - being able to control Ness as if he was possessing her. This arrangement was risky, but Luis had good enough parents for him to routinely contact them, so ensuring Luis was safe was mostly taken care of. "I don't see why not," Ness agreed. She'd finally be able to move out of the apartment that over the past few weeks had caused her so much pain. Whilst it was nice living there prior to being posessed, being trapped in her own body whilst the filth of an uncaring possessors actions built up around her wasn't so nice. "I'll pack my things whilst I'm there. Get what I need today, get the rest later. I have a whole two months of rent paid in advance, so I don't see why I'd need to get everything in one trip." 'Two months?' Luis thought, 'she either paid in advance or William actually paid bills in multiple month blocks to reduce the amount that people would try and check in on Ness.' Either way, they could - as Ness said - get what was vital now and head back for everything else later. "Right." Anna a clapped a single time before she continued, "That settles it. I'd say that dealing with this is more important, as it will help us with our system administrator problem." Anna decided to cut the work day short to help Ness move out. Everyone would be paid the full day, and as soon as Ness was moved into Luis's place and Anna had Ness's laptop in order to extract the V_A accounts credentials, everyone would be free to go home. The drive to the apartment was silent, if a little awkward, but Anna knew that the awkwardness was less Luis and Ness in the back seat, and more of the fact that they were willingly entering a big danger zone and one wrong move could grant William control over Ness. They all knew this, and nobody felt like small talk, so they just kept their mouths shut as the CD player blared out a tune that sounded like it came from the 70's. Whilst Luis did have his own car - Ness too - they wanted to take up as few parking spots as possible and raise as little suspicion as possible; the last thing anyone in this town needed was for their day to be interrupted by not getting a parking spot only to then find that the reason why is because a local woman is posessed by a serial killer. Anna hoped that Raha, Dan, Mark, and Steve were having a less nerve wrecking trip. Raha, Dan, Mark, and Steve were not having a less nerve wrecking trip. It was about the same level as nerves, if not more. Steve had already been on the receiving end of full involuntary possession and feared that it may happen again if he wasn't careful. Everyone knew that Ness was posessed by William, and if he was so 'prepared and talented' as Adelaide claimed, then he feared that they'd be in for a tough ordeal. Mark was scared that something would happen and he was scared that perhaps taking off the mask wasn't all there was to breaking the control that was forced on him. Dan had almost died due to this involuntary possession and was scared he'd become a victim again. Raha was still torn between feeling as if her late arrival that day was for the better or worse. Once everyone arrived, they parked up in the visitor spots and noticed that Ness's car was in one of the parking spots. "She must have walked to the firm," Luis thought to himself, "I guess driving posessed is pretty dangerous." "It is." Ness replied, "But walking through town with a cardboard box isn't suspicious? I'll never understand that rat." Luis was surprised that he said what he said out loud, but not surprised that he had received an answer. He simply shook himself out of his daze and got out of the car. Anna was the next to get out of the car, followed by Ness. The other four had already exited their vehicle and had walked up to meet them. "Ok, first order of business, I think we've already decided on whose going in and whose staying out," Anna said trying to remember who volunteered for what, "can someone just remind me whose staying out here in case something goes down?" "Me, Steve, and Mark." Dan replied, pointing at Steve and Mark, "we're not in a confined space so it shouldn't be too hard to deal with anything if she tries to mess with us again." "And the rest of us are going inside, right?" Anna asked to which she received a unanimous reply of yes. "Right, let's go." As Dan, Mark, and Steve waited outside, Anna, Luis, Ness, and Raha headed into the apartment building and headed up the stairs. Ness had managed to get a first floor apartment, so they only had to go up one flight of stairs to get from the ground floor 'loby' - if you could even call the empty room with lockers at the back that - to where Ness lives. Once at the door, Ness handed her keys to Luis. She was shaking too much to open the door herself. After a deep breath, Luis unlocked the door, and they headed inside the apartment. Once through the door, a terrible smell hit the four as they proceeded to the more lived in areas. Discarded food boxes mixed with the smell of body odour, and it became apparent that Glitchtrap had been completely neglecting Ness's health. "Ness, where d' you keep the bin bags?" Raha asked, bearly able to handle the smell. "Under the sink," Ness mumbled as she looked around, finally able to see what had become of her home. "I'll clean up a bit, you guys help 'er pack." Raha said as she Pulled out a bin bag and begun tossing all the food waste into the bag. The overflowing contents of the bins were tossed into the bag next as everyone else took up the next task. "Seeing as we're just getting what you need now then coming back for the rest later, what do you need to pack?" Luis asked, "what clothes do you want to bring? Do you have a suitcase?" "Yeah, I-" Ness froze for a moment, everything went hazy, as if she was dreaming again. A rush of adrenaline was sedated by a mysterious something as her hands moved on their own and she turned towards the kitchen. A quick tap on the shoulder and the haze was gone. "You ok?" Luis asked, hand still outstretched near Ness's shoulder. Ness nodded and turned back around, heading to her bedroom and opening her wardrobe. Some dust had settled on some of the clothes, but they were untouched by the stench of the rest of the house. She pulled out a very large suitcase from the bottom of the wardrobe and tossed it onto her bed. The zipper got stuck half way around as always, but she managed to get it open and flip the cloth "lid" so that she could shove things inside of the large canvas suitcase. "What should I pack?" Ness asked, looking at Luis for an answer. Silence held stagnant in the air for a while. "You're asking me?" Shock and confusion hung in Luis's voice as he responded, "I don't know? Pack what you like? What do you wear often?" Ness didn't answer and just continued to look at him. Exhaustion had made itself at home under her eyes, and she probably wasn't going to chose for herself: when she offloaded a task, usually that was it. With a sigh, Luis looked inside Ness's wardrobe and then back at the suitcase. "All of this could probably fit." Starting from the left, Luis grabbed the clothes off their hangers and then rolled them each into a tight cylinder - or in the case of some bulky jackets, as tight of a cylinder as he could - before placing each inside the suitcase. Before long, the contents of the wardrobe was taking up about half of the suitcase, most of which being jackets. Ness looked at Luis a bit shocked at how efficiently everything had been packed. Luis noticed the look on her face and said, "Look, whilst my family's lives in a small home, I had a lot of stuff that I had to keep tucked away. 'If there's no space for it it goes in the bin' they always said. Jokes on them, if I couldn't find space, I'd make it. They call their lifestyle 'fashionably minimalist', I call it dumb. But hey, it taught me how to pack things." Ness opened a few drawers and let Luis pack the contents. T-shirts, jeans, and jumpers filled another near-quater of the suitcase, and then there was socks that made it a full quarter. Ness had stuffed her pajamas into a carrier bag and was starting on some other drawers too. "Do you need help? There's space in the suitcase still." Luis asked tapping Ness on the shoulder. "Um - uh - yes? no? Wait no!" Ness stuttered and slammed the drawer shut, her face a bright shade of red. Luis felt his face flush a little bit too as he noticed a bra half sticking out of the carrier bag Ness had been packing; she must have been packing the contents of her underwear drawers as well as pajamas. "I - I'll let you get on with that." Luis said as he went through the rest of Ness's clothes drawers and filled the rest of the suitcase. There were some clothes left over, but Ness stashed them in a swim bag alongside the carrier bag of underwear and pajamas. All that was left to pack was trinkets, games, and jewellery. Ness had already gotten a few unfolded cardboard boxes out from under her bed and begun to fold them out into actual boxes. From under her bed, she also pulled out a box of packing materials. "Here," Ness handed Luis a box, "could you pack up the games?" Luis nodded and started on emptying the nightstand of any videogames boxes, gently stacking the boxes into the cardboard box. He figured it'd be safe to leave Ness in her room to pack - who knows what else she wanted to pack without anyone seeing - so he went around the rest of the house, which had been mostly packed and cleared. Luis had an easy time scouring cupboards, shelves, and drawers for all of the games, and as he organised the items in the cardboard box, he figured that if he added some packing material and then carefully packed the home consoles themselves, then they'd basically fill the box. He went back to Ness and got some packing materials before finishing this first box and grabbing a second. This one was filled with what he missed on his first run; board games, handhelds, and the controllers. By the time he had done, everything bar a few trinkets had been packed away. He then went to Anna. "We're almost done. Should we see if you can get the VA information off her computer now?" "Yeah," Anna replied, "Just in case whatevers on this thing boots us out as soon as it becomes disconnected to the internet, I'll have to do this now." Anna went to Ness, who had just finished packing her room, having clearly gutted every nook and cranny of the place to make sure that she didn't leave anything, and asked if she could access her computer to see if she could get the credentials of the VA account. Ness gave a quick "isn't that what we're here for?" And pointed to where her laptop sat on her now empty desk, letting Anna use it as needed. As Anna worked her magic on collecting any and all information on the VA account, Ness asked Luis to help pack the rest of the trinkets that were around the rest of the house as well. The two then checked about the house to collect up anything else of Ness's that she wanted to take with her. They checked each room, opening drawers and gently packing away anything of Ness's that had been left behind. "So much for making multiple trips" Ness smiled as she gently took an ornament off the mantlepeice and placed it in a cardboard box, wrapped and gently packed alongside other ornaments. "We may have to make multiple trips for the boxes," Luis replied as he carefully took a framed photograph off the wall and packed it in a box full of other framed photographs. The apartment looked sparse now, only containing boxes and static furniture. "I've got a car. We can use that." Ness replied as she placed the last ornament in her box and taped it shut. "And I should probably tell the landlord that I'm moving out. Guess that two months of rent'll still be worth something in the form of not being yelled at for ending the lease early." The duo shared a chuckle as they packed the final boxes and sealed them with packing tape. As they begun to cary the boxes into the living room, they heard a yell from Ness's room. "I got it!" Luis, Ness, and Raha rushed to Ness's room and much to their relief, they saw Anna looking rather triumphant, holding a USB stick. "I've gotten all of the information and shit needed to remotely access Fazbear Entertainment's systems! We can figure out if there's a way to reverse the virus!" The friends shared a high five and decided that they'd help Ness move out before heading home for the day. Anna, Raha, Ness, and Luis ferried the boxes down, whilst Dan, Mark, and Steve decided to take the boxes to the cars. It didn't take long, and when they were done, they headed to Luis's house where they unpacked the boxes and parted ways for the night with the exception of Luis, Ness, and Anna. "I'll grab a blank computer and try them out. I'll give you a call and tell you the results." Anna said as she gave the duo a nod as as she too decided to part ways for the night. "Alright. Tell us what you find." Luis replied with a nod. As Anna waved goodbye, Luis and Ness looked at all of the boxes around them. The duo spent the next while bringing in the boxes, and once all the boxes were inside, they begun unpacking the contents. Then Luis's mobile phone rang. It was Anna, so he picked up. "It works! It works!" Anna exclaimed, her excitement audible despite the graininess of talking over the phone, "I've gotten the credentials to work! I'm going to see what's going on with our systems now - remotely of course, I'm not going there alone - just in case they shut this account down, but I'm in!" "That's great to hear!" Luis said, "now we can finally do something about all this and get our systems back." °*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•🌹•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°

Previous parts:

Escalation | Revelation

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