#the anxiety and the effort I had to go to to change all my passwords and cards and the struggle to get access to my discord back was awful

[lookbluesoup]

Be advised that if you have accounts linked to your Discord like Spotify/Twitch/etc or card/Paypal/etc data saved for things like Nitro subscriptions, those can be compromised by this, too.

And another way to recognize that you've been compromised by at least some versions of this malware (there's a few different versions that go around, and they do change and evolve over time, so its not a one size fits all) is if the .exe is run, your Discord will then "crash" and ask you to log in again.

You won't be able to use the QR code to log in, it'll just be stuck "loading" forever - because they want you to type in your password and submit it, and that information will be given to the scammer who will immediately change it all and lock you out of your account.

So even if you don't use a QR code to log in, if Discord wigs out on you and suddenly won't load that QR code, be suspicious.

Also yeah these .exe files can do... a lot of stuff. They can scrape your files, install keyloggers to track your typing, steal your passwords (including some encrypted ones like those saved to Google Chrome's autofill), even make you part of a botnet. If you run a malware .exe it can kind of put whatever it wants on your pc. In some cases viruses installed like this can even use your wifi to reach out to other devices connected to your network and infect them, too. It's really really nasty stuff. Be very very careful about running programs on your computer if you cannot verify the source with ABSOLUTE 110% certainty.

Use two-factor authentication if you can and keep your passwords varied. Consider keeping your passwords written down on paper instead of saved for quick-filling and don't save card data for faster checkout or whatever. This would have saved me an awful time of it if I'd only known beforehand, that little extra effort is worth the cost.

PSA, there's a really nasty Discord scam going around rn. If one of your friends DMs you, starting off with a simple "hello" "how are you", may even joke around a little, and then starts asking you to look at a game/project they're working on, don't click the link, don't download anything. If you can reach that friend through non-Discord means, reach out and let them know they got hacked.

One of my friends said the link takes them to a very convincing video game page that has in-game screenshots and stuff, and then gives you an option to download a playtest zip file or something. That download exploits a weakness Discord apparently has for password protected zip files and steals your Discord log-in and changes your account info to the scammer's account info. Two of my friends lost their accounts. Be careful.

[cryingoverafictionalcharacter]

Prompt: You have always had a problem with self image. To you, there would always be someone prettier, someone funnier, someone more worthy of love, but to Fred, you are the most amazing person in the world, and he’s determined to make you see that.

A/N: I’M GOING THROUGH IT CAN YOU TELL??? Anyway, I really just wanted to feel loved, so I wrote Fred being amazing and stuff, so yeah! Also, Yule ball bc I fucking love writing it, its so cute and fun.

Warnings: Kind of angsty but ends fluffy, Swearing, so many commas, Fred being *soft*. SELF DEPRICATION!!! I truly believe everyone reading this is absolutely beautiful and kind and amazing in their own unique way, this is just how I be feeling sometimes.

You walked down the hallway, holding your books close to your chest and trying not to bump into anyone. You were headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, just wanting the day to be over.

For the past few weeks, all you could feel was dread. The Yule ball was coming up, and while a night full of dancing and music and having fun sounded amazing, you also knew you weren't going to be asked to go.

Now, you only had a week until the ball, and you were planning on how you were going to spend the night, probably reading, and talking with your owl, seeing nobody would be around.

You didn’t know what you were doing wrong. You felt like no matter how many times you tried to be funny or open, you were always met with a closed door. No matter how much effort you put into your appearance, you ended up looking the same, or worse. No matter how much you studied, you were always a little more behind than you wanted to be. No matter what you did, someone was doing it better.

Of course nobody saw you that way, and especially not Fred Weasley. You had become good friends with the Weasley twins your first day at Hogwarts. You were all in the same year, and got along quite well, seeing the three of you all had a bit of a mischievous streak. But Fred noticed that over the years, you seemed less like yourself. You were more introverted, you didn’t laugh as openly as you used to, you didn’t smile as much, and it broke his heart.

Fred had developed a crush on you around 5th year. He loved everything about you, how your laugh was louder than others, how your eyes crinkled when you smiled, how you were kind and open to everyone you met, how you were able to make him laugh, but also take him seriously when he was hurting. Of course George started to notice, and would tease him constantly.

“Just ask her out!” George would say, which would just make the older red head smile but shake his head.

“If she said no it would ruin our friendship, I don’t want to lose her” Fred would say, wishing situations would be different.

However, Fred was now watching you as you sped walked down the hallway to the common room. He could tell something was off, so he shouldered George, signaling that he was going to break off for a bit, before following you into the common room.

You quickly muttered the password and went inside. The common room was empty, which was a huge plus for you, not wanting to be social for the rest of the day. You took no time plopping your things down before laying back on one of the couches. Maybe now you could get some reading done in peace and not have to think about-

“Hey, are you ok?” Fred asked. you hadn’t heard him walk in and the sound of his voice made you jump.

“Oh! Fred, uh yeah, yeah I’m fine why?” You asked, heart beating quickly but not because of the recent scare.

You had also been crushing on the Older Weasley twin for a while. You loved how he always wanted to make you smile, even on the days you thought nothing could make you feel better. He introduced you to his family, who you love dearly, and also made you feel somewhat appreciated. Like you knew that he wanted you around. Of course you would never tell him your feelings, too afraid that he would reject you, and ruin your friendship.

“Well, I saw you walking in here and I thought you looked a little overwhelmed, so I wanted to see if there was anything I could do?” Fred asked, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Really its nothing, my brain is just somewhere else today I guess” You said, trying to move past the topic.

“Well I’m all ears if you want to talk” He said, coming over and sitting across from you on the same couch you were currently resting on. 

There was a part of you that didn’t want to bother him. That he would surely be uninterested in any personal problems you may be having. But then there was another part of you who knew him as your oldest friend. As the person who has been by your side through everything, and suddenly before you could stop yourself, the words were tumbling out of your mouth.

“Its stupid, but I’m just bummed out that I’m not going to the Yule ball” You said, causing Fred's eyes to widen a bit but you didn’t notice, too busy looking down at your hands.

“Why aren't you going?” Fred asked

“Well I was thinking of just going with some friends, but most of my friends already have dates and going alone would look lame as fuck. So I think I would rather just stay in and read or something” You said, shrugging a bit.

“Well I don't have a date” Fred said, taking you both by surprise.

“You don't?” You asked, genuinely surprised he hadn’t asked someone, or at least been asked by some other girls who you knew where fawning over him. In reality, Fred was thinking about how he would ask you, and whether or not you already had a date.

“Nope, so if you want we can go together so you we don’t have to suffer alone all night” Fred said, adding some humor to the conversation. You smiled at him, before thinking it over. 

“He’s only asking you as a friend” You thought to yourself.

“Sure! God knows what kind of trouble you would get into having to spend a whole night alone” You said, causing the both of you to laugh a bit.

“Great, so I’ll see you there?” He asked, to which you nodded your head.

“I’ll be there” You said smiling, before Fred rose to rejoin George, and tell him about the best thing that has happened to him all year.

The rest of the week went by in a flash. You and Fred were each to busy with either school or quidditch practice to really talk to each other, and you barely had time to go out and find a dress, but finally, the Yule ball was here, and you were freaking out.

“What the fuck am I doing?” You practically yelled to Angelina, who was sitting on her bed watching and you paced back and forward in your dress.

“You’re going on a date with the guy you’ve had a crush on since first year. What's the problem?” Angelina asked

“It wasn’t since first year!” You defended, before adding “And the problem is that I’m probably in love with him, and he probably thinks were only going together as friends, and I’m going to have to see him, and talk to him, and dance with him for HOURS while trying not to look like an idiot!”

“Y/n, I promise you wont look like an idiot, you look hot as hell” She said. You sent a look her way, causing her to laugh. “I’m being serious! this dress looks amazing on you, your hair is perfect, and I did your makeup so you know it could be better if you tried, you’re going to be great, so shut up and get your shoes on they’re waiting for us” 

“Fine you said, finally stopping your pacing and taking a deep breath. What's the worst that could happen? A lot, but still, try and think positive.

Fred was standing at the bottom of the grand staircase waiting for you and Angelina to come down, Angelina being Georges date. Fred however couldn’t stop fiddling with the cuff of his jacket, which was starting to annoy George.

“Mate seriously, just chill out I’m sure everything's fine” George said, trying to somewhat relive his brothers anxiety.

“I know, I know, but what if she changed her mind, or-” Fred started, about to go off on a rant before being stopped when a sharp elbow jabbed him in the ribs. Fred was about to go off on George for the stab, but before he could he followed his eyes to the staircase, on which you and Angelina were currently walking down.

You looked amazing. Your hair framed your face perfectly, your dress coming down to your ankles and the color complimenting your skin tone. You were wearing heels, which only made you slightly taller but still, it was a few more inches that allowed you and Fred to almost be face to face. He was absolutely gobsmacked.

You were walking down the stairs, desperately trying not to trip with these shoes which you were not used to wearing and taking in the sight of Fred. He was wearing a dashing suit, and you could tell he had done his hair a bit, but besides that he was still Fred, the same Fred that made you laugh and made you feel wanted. The same Fred you fell in love with.

You finally reached the bottom of the stairs and came face to face with Fred, who still hasn’t said a word, the mere sight of you making his brain short circuit.

“Wow that bad?” You asked jokingly, but deep down you were a little worried about his lack of a reaction.

“What? No! No, you look amazing!” Fred said quickly, causing you to smile and blush a bit.

“Why thank you, you don't look to bad yourself” You said, and Fred couldn’t help but smile back.

“Shall we?” He asked, sticking out his left arm which you accepted.

“We shall” You said, causing the both of you to laugh before walking into the ball room.

The night was everything you expected and more. There was dancing and amazing music, and every once in a while you and Fred would just take a break and talk.

You were laughing with Fred about  new prank idea when something caught your eye. There where two girls on the opposite side of the room, looking at the two of you and whispering to each other. Immediately your anxiety got the better of you, and all confidence you had gained during the ball now seemed to disappear.

“Would you excuse me for a second?” You asked, causing Fred’s eyes to furrow before he nodded, allowing you to pass him and walk out of the ball room. Fred watched as you left, before turning and making eye contact with George, who then made a hand motion at him to go follow you. So without thinking, he took off and tried to find where you went.

You were now standing outside, your elbows resting on a stone wall as you looked over the grounds, letting the cool autumn air wash over your skin and calm your nerves. You tried to relax but your mind couldn’t help but wander. This was stupid, you shouldn’t have come, you should have just stayed in your room and-

“Hey, are you ok?” Fred asked walking towards you, again causing you to jump a bit

“Hey Fred, yeah I’m ok I just wanted to get some air. You can go back if you want I wont mind” You said, trying to calm your breathing.

“Well I’m not going back without my date” Fred said goofily, coming to stand next to you and rest him arms by yours, but you didn’t laugh, just shook your head.

“You don’t have to call me your date Fred, I know you only asked me as a friend, so you don’t have to call this something its not” You said.

“What?” Fred asked, genuinely confused as to what you were talking about.

“Come on Fred, I know you only asked me because you felt bad. You didn’t have to waste your night on me I’m sure there are plenty of other girls you would have rather gone with” You said, still not looking at him.

“Why would I want to go with anyone else Y/n? You’re my best friend” Fred said, trying to make his feelings clear without actually having to say them just in case things didn’t go in the direction he wanted.

“Exactly, I’m your friend. You’ll only ever see me as a friend. You should be here with someone you like, someone you care about, someone who makes you happy and who you want to dance with and who you want to spend your time with” You said

“I already think all of that when I’m with you” Fred said, still not quite sure what you were saying.

“No you don't, not romantically. You could have asked any girl you wanted to come to the ball with you. Girls who are much prettier and funnier and more outgoing than me. Someone who you don’t have to ask out because you feel bad, but someone who you actually want to be with” you said, quickly wiping some tears that were threatening to fall.

Suddenly all the pieces came together for Fred. Why you had been so distant as of late, why you hadn’t been being yourself, why you seemed so low all the time. It was because at some point along the way, you developed an image of yourself that you weren’t good enough, or pretty enough, or funny enough. An image that wasn’t true, and to Fred, you were all of those things and more.

“Y/n, please look at me” Fred said, causing you to let out a breath before finally meeting his eye.

Your eyes shone from your recent tears, making them that much brighter, the moonlight danced off your skin and made your face seem to glow. Fred saw you, and saw the person he loved, and the person he needed to show was everything he would ever want. He took a deep breath, before bringing his hands up to cup your face and closing the space between you two, connecting his lips to yours.

You took a second to respond, mostly because you were in your head thinking ‘what the fuck, is this actually happening?!’ but then you took no time to melt into his touch, moving to hold his arms. After a while, you both finally pulled away, Fred looking into your eyes and smiling.

“Y/N, you are the funniest, most beautiful, most kind person I have ever known. I knew when I met you on our first day, I knew when I fell for you in fifth year, and I knew when I asked you to the ball last week. There is no one here I would rather be with than you” Fred said, causing tears to well in your eyes but this time in happiness.

“You had a crush for me in fifth year?” You asked, making both you and Fred laugh.

“Yes, and for some reason I still do, but hey if you don’t feel the same way I can just-” Fred started but you cut him off, grabbing his suit coat and bringing his lips down to meet yours again.

“I like you too” you said, quickly breaking the kiss to speak, “since sixth year”

“So, technically speaking you could say that I like you more than” Fred said, making you roll your eyes.

“Don’t ruin the moment” You joked, causing the two of you to laugh before re connecting your lips again.

The Yule ball was absolutely better than you could have ever expected.

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Woooooo I hope you liked it! But yeah if you read this and really connected with it in the��“I’m not feeling great about myself” kind of way, my DMs are always open, and I’m always happy to talk, so feel free to hmu. I love you all, you’re all amazing and beautiful and awesome, and thank you for reading <3

[captain-tch]

Technical Difficulties

You work in the IT department and help the Finance manager with his faulty laptop. After that, he keeps finding reasons to talk to you.

"Good morning you're through to the IT department, my name is Y/N. How can I help?" You recited your script, unaware of the life changing effect this was going to have on your life.

"Hi, Y/N. My computer keeps glitching - can you help?"

You nearly dropped the phone. Erwin Smith. The Finance manager. Asking for your help. Anxiety started building in your throat. Why did the most attractive man in the company have to ask for your help?

Your thoughts drifted to his tall, muscular stature, and his piercing blue eyes. He was the posterboy for attractiveness. From the small interactions you'd had with him (if you class him opening a door for you as an interaction), his disarming smile rendered you speechless. It wasn't his beauty that made you freeze the moment he flashed his teeth; it was the sincerity, and the kindness behind it.

"Hello?" Erwin's silky voice echoed through the phone. You swore you could have died of embarassment.

"Hi Erwin, apologies for that." You cleared your throat, hoping you didn't sound as nervous as you felt. Your dry throat was not helping at all. "How long have you been experiencing these issues?"

He paused. You could imagine his blonde eyebrows pulling together in thought. "For the past 20 minutes."

Relying on your internal script, you whittled off a few questions to him. You asked him if he had tried restarting it, tried running updates and if he had noticed any other issues with the machine. From what he said, it sounded like it wasn't a problem you could fix over the phone.

Fuck.

"I'm sorry Erwin, but I'm going to need to have the laptop to fully understand whats going on. Have you got another way of working in the mean time?"

Thankfully he did, so you didn't need to set up a loan laptop. You breathed a sigh of relief. At least you had less chances of making a fool of yourself in front of him.

"Great, do you want me to come pick it up or are you free to drop it off?" You crossed your fingers, praying he wouldn't ask to drop it off.

"I can drop it off. I'll see you in a few minutes."

Double fuck.

Just like that the call ended. Panic overwhelmed you. Glancing at the chaos otherwise known as your desk, you started sweeping god knows what into your drawers, paying no mind to the loud bangs as some screwdrivers fell.

"What in the ever loving hell are you doing?" Levi asked, his eyes narrowing on you. Being the only other person in the IT department you two had grown close, but even you struggled to read him sometimes.

You brushed his question off, laughing lightly at the engineer as he shrugged, turning back to the task at hand. He wasn't the type of pester you for the answer. You looked at his desk in envy - spotless. Jealously ripped through you. How can you be an engineer and have a clean desk? The very thought baffled you.

Jumping to your feet, you quickly checked the clock, noting how you had a minute to run to the bathroom to check you had nothing in your teeth.

Shit.

Not enough time.

Desperate, you spun around, grabbing Levi by the shoulders and fixing his attention on you. A scowl instantly etched itself onto his face. "What are you doing?"

"Do I have anything on my face?"

"Yes."

Wide eyed, you stared at him. "Is it noticeable?"

"Very."

"Where is it Levi! I don't have time for this, he'll be here any minute."

Realisation dawned on his face. "Dreamboat is coming here?"

"Levi!" You snapped, gripping his shoulders tighter. "Please tell me what is on my face."

"A lot actually. Your eyes, your mouth, your nose. All very noticeable."

You could have slapped the man. If it didn't cause a HR fiasco you would've. Clenching your teeth together, you stared at him straight in the eyes, your gaze burning. He slightly flinched under the intensity.

"Do I have anything in my teeth?"

Levi opened his mouth to answer, a knock ringing out at the door. You squealed, begging for Levi to answer so you could at the last minute make yourself presentable.

With a shit eating grin on his face, Levi shouted, "Come in!"

You were going to murder him.

Jumping as far away from Levi as humanly possible, you tried to make yourself look busy. Your panicked hands grabbed a pencil, and in a manic thought you pushed it behind your ear.

Nothing says busy more than a pencil tucked around your ear.

Erwin opened the door, entering the room. You felt sweat instantly break on your forehead. This was going to be the longest period of time you had been with him and holy hell you were nervous. Not only that, but speaking to him? Your palms grew damp at the prospect.

Glancing between you and Levi, Erwin raised a brow. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

You laughed really loud, at such a high pitch you're shocked you didn't deafen everyone in the radius. "Don't be silly. You got your laptop with you?"

"Right here." He lifted his arms, showing the machine in his hands. Grateful that he didn't notice the awkwardness, you gestured for him to put it on the side, quickly slipping away from the role of love sick girl to engineer. You wheeled your chair over from your desk, apologising as it spun slightly out of control and a wheel hit his foot. He smiled, waving it off.

You powered the laptop on, sliding the machine in front Erwin so he could type in his password. Your breath caught in your throat momentarily as he reached around you, fingers moving over the keys with ease. You could smell his earthy cologne from here.

He was so close that if you moved your head to the right slightly, your face would be in close proximity to his. A tickle of his breath warmed your cheek.

He froze, about to enter the password as he looked at you from the corner of his eye. You darted your eyes downward, fingers playing with the power cord.

Taking back the laptop, you instantly noticed the issue. The display was bouncing up and down, all of the words and images blurring. You blinked rapidly for a moment. "Bloody hell I think I'm having a seizure."

Erwin's throaty laugh sounded from behind you. You nearly jumped. "That's what I thought too."

"You say its only been happening for about twenty minutes?" You tried to ignore the jolting of the screen, typing and trying to diagnose the issue. He nodded. "Was that when you turned it on or had you been using it for a while beforehand?"

"Just turned it on."

"Hm." You pondered, your mind instantly jumping to a conclusion. Hands flying over the keyboard, you started an update of the drivers.

"What are you doing?"

"Updating the drivers on your laptop, if that fails, try updating the BIOS. If something isn't updated, machines can do loads of weird shit."

You waited a few minutes, the update finally complete. Quickly restarting the machine, you cheered as the machine turned on with no video display issues whatsoever.

"Wow, it was that simple?"

"Sometimes, not always."

Erwin rubbed at the back of his neck, eyes downcast. "I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"Don't be daft." You resisted the urge to clamp your hand over your mouth, praying what you said didn't come across as rude. "You weren't to know. It was a pleausre to help."

Smiling, Erwin thanked you once again, eyes darting to you occassionally before leaving the room with a resounding click of the door. A sigh of relief coursed it's way through your body.

Thankfully, you hadn't made too much of an embarassment of yourself.

In the back of the room, a poor imitation of your voice left Levi's lips. "It was a pleasure to help."

You snatched the pencil from behind your ear, tossing it in Levi's direction. He rapidly ducked under the desk, the pencil never even reaching near it's mark. Despite the cold words leaving your mouth, a laugh was slipping past your lips. "Fuck off Levi."

*

Over the next few weeks, you had an influx of technical support calls. All of them from Erwin Smith.

Sometimes you'd go down to his desk because he was having "power issues" - the power cord wasn't connected. He once came to your office claiming the files from his laptop had disappeared - he was looking in the wrong place.

After a while you started to get the sense that he wasn't experiencing technical difficulties - you were struggling to believe that someone could be that technically inept - and believed that maybe he was looking for an excuse to talk to you. It made sense. Every time you helped him he made an effort to speak to you. And not in the make small talk way, but in a meaningful way. He knew a lot more about you than you realised you'd let slip. He knew your birthday, had a glimpse of what your childhood was like, and even knew about your family. Soon, your hands didn't clam up when speaking to him. If anything, your heart raced in excitement at the thought you could speak with him.

"Are you two going to date already or what?" You laughed at Levi's remark, shaking your head. You were glad you had a PC in front of you, focusing on taking it apart to hopefully salvage some parts for your home project. The dust had accumulated inside from many years of being unopened, but the parts were mostly salvageable.

A knock at the door interrupted your conversation. "Can you grab that Levi?"

Your eyes caught sight of a hard drive, its blocky shape captured inside a caddy. With a victorious smile on your lips, you started unscrewing the screws, loosening the caddy to pry the hard drive free.

He huffed, standing up from his desk and opening the door. "Oh Erwin. What a surprise."

Your body jolted before you could process your reaction. Your hands gripped the hard drive and pulled jerkily, a cry escaping your lips as you fell back a few steps, the hard drive gripped in your hands. Levi snorted, disappearing behind his desk. It was the closest to privacy he could give you two.

"You okay Y/N?" Erwin asked, a concerned look worrying his features.

"Yeah I am." Tossing the hard drive to the desk, you wiped a hand across your forehead, unknowingly swiping grease over your face. "How can I help?"

"I was wondering if I could help you actually."

Your eyebrows shot up. "Okay? Help with what?"

"I'd like to buy you lunch one time."

"That's so nice of you, thank you!"

"I don't..." Erwin sighed, a light red spreading across his cheeks. "I mean I want to take you to lunch. For a date."

"Oh." From the corner of your eye you could see Levi smirking. Knowing little shit. "My lunch is in thirty minutes. I'll meet you out front."

Erwin left, a huge smile plastered on your face. The door hadn't fully shut when you heard a huge cheer roaring from Erwin's mouth, seeing him raise his fists in victory.

[eunsthings]

Museums

Part 3 I Questions?

Part 2 II Series masterlist II Part 4

Back in your class. the professor in front of you was talking about parasites. The last lecture for the day had passed with a series of slides filled with “fascinating” illustrations. With your back hurting, you subtly stretch your body; careful not to draw unnecessary attention. It was a long day, yet it was only two in the afternoon.  

“Thank goodness I have time to relax,” your lazy self has emerged once again.  

The click of your dorm door and the welcoming presence of your bed was the greatest feeling ever. Painfully switching your attention, you prepare for a quick shower. You took your phone to put on your bed, took some clothes to change into afterwards, then proceeded to head to your floor’s communal bathroom.  

As the water was pouring down on you, thoughts invaded your head. It had been the other day that you were hired for a huge job. They still haven’t reached back out yet and you aren’t able to do anything regarding the job since you had no idea what to do. They… or Tsukishima rather, hadn’t contacted you despite saying he will­—within a day or two. It had almost been 48 hours.  

“Why am I such an over-thinker?”  

You recover and assure yourself that it was all fine. It’s out of your control anyway. They can message you anytime. After all, you had given him your number.  

Finished, you dry yourself up and change into your fresh clothes before heading out and back to your room.  

You're greeted by the presence of your roommate sitting on your bed—the bottom bunk.  

“Hey,” you called out to her.  

“Hello,” she replied, eyes not meeting yours, still occupied with her phone.  

Holding your used clothes, you proceeded to fold them and put them away to be washed along with your week-old towel. Now your self-relaxation can begin… but where was your phone?

Lazing around would not be complete without it, you needed to scroll through YouTube comments while watching a video.  

“Wait just a minute-,” you face your roomie. “Isabella…”  

Whilst sitting on your bed, she gave you a cheeky expression; caught scrolling through your phone. “Sorry. Couldn’t help it. It was just sitting there.”  

“How did you even know the password?” A kind of annoyed amazement washed over you. You had nothing to hide anyway so there was no major problem.  

“In case you forgot, I live up–” she gestured to the top bunk, “–there.”  

“Dumb. Dumb as hell,” You had been careless. She could peek from above.  

“Anyway… Who is this guy?” Her tone was teasing with a mischievous face to go along with it. It made you worried.  

“What guy–” Oh no. It can’t be. Can it?  You grabbed your phone from her and saw why the idiot was smirking. It was a message from Tsukishima.  

     The message was straight to the point and yet your blockhead roommate still kept giving you knowing looks. She didn’t even know the reason for the message. She was jumping leaps and bounds to conclusions. This, you felt, was not going to go away anytime soon.  

“I was hired for another job”  

“Yeah, yeah. Sure~” She got up from your bed and languidly went for her desk. “Just don’t mind me, I’ll be studying here...” She dramatically gestures to her small workspace.  Facing her, you couldn’t help but feel embarrassed yet wanting to take that grin off her face.  

On your bed, you go back to the message. “On Wednesday.” It is a few days from now.

Checking your schedule, you were free on that day and the morning after. The timing though. Well, it wasn’t as if you were complaining, in fact, it was very good news. One less problem for you.  

You replied to Tsukishima then. The anxiety was eating you. A simple reply yet so many ways to screw up.  

“WHAT. DID I SEND?! Did he really leave me on ‘read’? Anyway~” So that is done. Now to relax. No need for self-criticism.  

On Wednesday, nine on the dot, you arrived in front of the museum.  

Draped around your neck, you show your loaned ID to the guard and pass through on to the building. Inside, some big boxes and various pieces have been placed on the hallway’s floor.

That must be for the event... wow they are already starting this early on. It again dawned on you how big of an event it is; starting to make preparations this early on. The pressure was beginning to feel real.  

“Hello.”  

“Oh, that voice again” you turn around to greet him but you didn’t get the chance to.  

“(L/N), this is Kazumi Keiko, my fellow intern,” he gestured to the lady beside him. Looking up at her, she seemed friendly, motherly almost; her long hair tied back and with freckles on her face. Although you take it, she was older than you and Tsukishima.

“Hello, nice to meet you Kazumi,” you reply although softly. She smiles a warm smile at you.  

“So now we're just waiting for Kazumi’s partner, Ike--- never mind she’s here”

“Hey guyssss!” A female about your age was waving behind the glass doors. Kazumi was gesturing with her hand beckoning the girl to enter. “How come she gets to be partners with Kazumi and I’m with the boy Tsukishima? This will just be utter awkwardness from me I bet,” you try to see the reasoning why it couldn’t have been you partnered with Kazumi.

“Hey, I’m Ikeda, Satsuki,” she was very direct, it caught you off-guard.

“Hi. I’m (L/N), (F/N).”

 “Wow, nice name! It’s foreign, I like it. Do you want a Snickers?” Glancing down, she had in her hand a Snickers bar being handed out to you. “Uh, no, no, I’m fine. You--” you got caught off by Kazumi. “(L/N), you better just take that or we’ll be stuck here a long time.”

“Oh ok, sure. Thank you, Ikeda,” you take the Snickers bar from her hand giving her a tight but genuine smile. She returned the gesture. From what you observed, she has a pretty happy-go-lucky character and you realize why Ikeda might be partnered with Kazumi; it was to manage Ikeda, Satsuki.

Tsukishima continued, “So for today Mr. Yasuhiro instructed us all to divide the work and just find a plan around it...”

That meeting ended about 15 minutes ago.  Now, you’re walking the streets of Sendai, side-by-side, with the tall man of partner for work. How did it come to this...?

The central matter you discussed was how the work was going to be divided. You and Tsukishima were to handle the main big projection for the event while Team Kazumi will handle multiple small displays around the museum. You didn’t get into too much detail but for now that was it. The details were to be discussed by the pair. Great... By the time your gathering finished it was past noon; late lunch.

“There’s still the rest of the day so I’m bringing Ikeda with me to lunch. We’ll be talking about ‘this’ after.” Kazumi was definitely wasting no time. “How about you guys?” She faced Tsukishima.

Oh no...

“Uh...” he glanced at you. Oh no. No, no. “You don’t have anything to do this afternoon right?”

I have no escape from this. “Yeah, my whole day is free”

“Well, I guess we could all get lunch.” He asked Kazumi now, “Where are you guys going?”

“A Western inspired cafe just a walking distance from here, it just opened so I wanna try it out”

Tsukishima took his coat and bag then went for the door. “Let’s go then.”  

“Wait... I still have to buy some things along the way, I want Kazumi to come with me. Can you two go ahead and reserve seats for us?” Ikeda protested, as childish as ever.

Kei halted, “Uh, yeah sure. I don’t see how that’s a problem.”

Not a problem... right.

“(L/N), are you fine with this?” The ever-motherly Kazumi made sure to check up on you.

Without any excuse whatsoever, “Yes, I’m ok with anything guys.” Darn it. Social Interaction.

“Ehem...” After a rather long walk of silence. Tsukishima cleared his throat. “Are you fine there?”

“Hmm...” You glance up at him; not expecting any talk. “Oh yeah, I’m fine here. You?”

“Uh-huh. Same here”

Awkward...but still you continue to walk side-by-side.

“You know, I’m not really a talkative person,” Tsukishima started again, “but Mr. Yasuhiro told me to ‘make an effort’ because you ‘tend to be shy,’” oh, is that how this guy sees me too? Ouch.

“I get what he means but...” he side-glanced to see you, it made your eyes meet his for a small while, “…some people prefer not talking at all and some are uncomfortable doing so. In short... I’m asking you if you would be comfortable with me trying to talk to you...”

Ohhhh... man, this guy is considerate. What a nice person.

“Yes, yeah. I’m really fine with people talking to me first. I just don’t really like to initiate a conversation plus I don’t want to be a nuisance to them... and like you said, I ‘tend to be shy.’”

“So, are you fine if I ask you questions?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course.” You really felt delighted; a person actually respected that not all people are the same in terms of talkativeness. It’s not every day you meet someone like that.

Unbeknownst to you, it was Tsukishima’s goal in earnest to make you comfortable around him; to the best of his ability.  You do have to work on a project together after all.

A few moments of walking and you both arrived in the café. True to her word, what Kazumi said by “western inspired” actually really means an absolutely western café.

Tsukishima, the unexpected gentleman, opened the door for you as you both entered. You give him a smile in thanks; he returned a small smile too.  

Looking around, it seems like rush-hour has passed and the café is almost empty. That means you don’t have to worry about reserving seats for Kazumi and Ikeda, then.  

“Would you prefer seats by, or away from the window?”

You imagined eating by the window as others pass by... “I think away from the window”

“Same here.” He then led you to a table for 4 by the wall. He breezily pulled a chair and motioned for you to sit on it as if it were no big deal.  

Oh my. This is kind of flustering.

Tsukishima received a text from Kazumi saying that they’ll be late and to order and eat ahead of them; and so, you both did. A waitress handed you menus then left the both of you to choose your orders. He ordered smoked salmon while you went with lasagna. For dessert he asked you what you wanted but you’d told him you’ll have bobba instead; he got a strawberry shortcake.

“So, while waiting for our food, and Kuzumi, I do have to bring back the fact that we're going to be working together on this project and we barely know each other. So...” across from you, he gives you a “you get where I’m headed with this” look on his face.

You nodded. “Mhmm”  

“Right, should we ask each other questions?”

“Yeah, I think that’s the easiest way.”

“Ok, I’ll go first. You’re in university, right? What are you studying?”

“Oh, I’m a veterinary student”

“Oh, wow. That’s very impressive.” You responded with a smile and small chuckle, “Oh, no... not really.”

It was your turn. “If I recall correctly, you are in the museum as an intern. What are you doing if you’re not there?”

“Well, aside from attending school, I also have volleyball to face but that’s all.”  

Confused with his vague answer, “Volleyball?”

“Hm... uh,” for the first time ever since you met him, the usually stoic guy looked... bashful. “I play for V.League Division 2,” he looks unsure if you knew what it was and made an attempt to explain it. But when he saw your eyes wide with amazement, he stopped fidgeting with his hands. “I’m taking it that you know what that is...”

You didn’t really dabble too much in sports, volleyball was no exception. Sure, you watched an anime about volleyball; got addicted, and friends mention volleyball from time-to-time too, all that was enough to know what V.League meant. “Now that’s impressive.”

He grinned. “Heh. Well, I don’t really know about that…but now it’s my turn to ask. How did you get into animating?”

“Oh,” you let out a heartfelt laugh, caught unaware of the question.

Hearing it, Kei couldn't help but suppress his blissful smile.

“I always liked animating but it was a friend who forced me to actually do something about it,” remembering your laziness and your pestering friend was a goofy memory but a treasured one.

“Is this the same friend that left you in the museum?”

Joy came over you and you chuckled again, “how did you even remember that?”

“I mean, that was just a few days ago and who can forget someone who got left behind by a friend?”

“She isn’t bad, she just had to hurry out. I swear, she’s a reliable person most times.”

You haven’t noticed it but Tsukishima's goal was slowly realized as the air of awkwardness and tension gave out. You were too giddy to realize anything; you felt weirdly safe and became chattier.

In front of you, Tsukishima looked to be amused; a rare smile plastered on his face. “I had a somewhat same experience back in high school,” again, he sported a surprisingly charming smile on his face.

Curiosity overtook as you continued to prod, “what happened in high school?”  

“Well, simply put, I wasn’t overly fond of volleyball then. A lot of people paved the way to make me love it. In a way, I relate."  

“Wow, your friends were really good for doing that.”

“Hahaha.. yeah. I was kind of forced the first time around,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s your turn to question.”

“Oh, right.” Attention span of a goldfish. “What position do you play?”

“I... Am a middle blocker”

“Well, that’s fitting to say the least. Is it fun playing your position?"

“Yes. I find it fun especially seeing anguished faces across the net after a good block.” You cracked a smile at that, he didn’t seem to be the type to find fun in that manner.

 “My turn to ask. Are you comfortable talking to me now?” Upon asking that, he faced you with genuine concern, you didn’t even realize you were talking to him casually and without uneasiness.

“Yeah, I think so.” You finish it with a smile.

He flashed a quick smirk in response. For he, after a lengthy while, has finally made progress with the person in front of him.

Part 2 II Series masterlist II Part 4

Notes:

Y/N doesn’t really use Tsukki’s name in her head’s dialogue cause she’s still uneasy🤕

and yes we use messenger... pls don’t mind 🥺

guys this is a veryyy slow burn i hope you guys stickkkk around☺️

it’s been a very long time since the last. but better late right??😅😅

𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒐. 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈!!! ^-^

𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈♡

=tags below=

[calliecat93]

So… been a while since I did one of these. Yeah, long story short 2020 just ruined my anxiety and a bunch of other things and I just couldn’t handle doing the reviews after I feel so behind during the first half of V8. Even the six-week break didn’t do anything to reignite the motivation or help the anxiety, so I decided it was best to quit and just wait for the volume to be over. Which with how emotionally draining the volume was which may have very well impaired my judgment at the time, was probably the best decision. But V8 has been over for months now and we’re awaiting V9. So it’s time to finally finish this.

I normally do one chapter per review, but since I now know all that’s coming, I’m going to do two chapters per review. That means four total reviews, then a mass V8 review, and then hopefully things go better when V9 starts. So last I left off, we got Cinder backstory, the Ace-Ops running into YJR, and Salem breaking Atlas’ shields to finally go forward with her invasion. The dark times are upon Atlas and our heroes are running out of time. So… what happens now? Well, let's find out.

Overview

I normally break down everything moment by moment, but we’re gonna keep it brief since there’s a lot to cover.

In War as Salem’s attack marches forward, all of our heroes are in a bind. RWB wants to help Atlas while May wants to return to Mantle and points out that they can’t have both. Nora is still in need of a doctor, which causes Whitley, who overheard, to call in a character that we haven’t seen in quite a while. With JYR, they were captured by the Ace-Ops, who has now been tasked to use a bomb to blow up the whale. Our heroes negotiate with Winter to allow them time to go in and rescue Oscar and causes Ren to make an unexpected discovery. Meanwhile, in the whale, Emerald overhears Oscar/Oz again pleading to Hazel to see reason, even going as far as to give him the password to the Lamp. Not for Salem, for Hazel. This causes Emerald’s doubts to become even more concerning and with Mercury leaving with Tyrian for Vacuo and Cinder focused solely on her quest for power, she is left alone to decide what she wishes to do.

In RWBY’s 100th chapter Dark, we are at the Schnee Manor where the power blows out. But when they recall that they have an emergency generator, Whitley realizes that they can use the SDC to get supplies to the Mantle refugees. Ruby and Blake go to restore the power as Ruby is still struggling to maintain her usual optimism, but they encounter a Grimm in the process. Specifically, The Hound. Meanwhile, Penny, who crash-landed in front of the Manor last episode, tries to maintain control as Watts’ virus goes into effect. During the battle, it ends with Ruby discovering The Hound. One that utterly horrifies her…

Review

Okay, there is a LOT to go over with these two chapters, So let’s break this down event by event.

Monstra

Let’s discuss our villains first since we have some pretty major developments. First, we have Hazel. We had just about everything that I had assumed before confirmed. The reason that Hazel works for Salem isn’t merely just because she claims to want a new world order. Honestly, I think that Hazel just fooled himself to justify his decision to himself. No, as he talks to Ozcar, the truth becomes crystal clear. Hazel has given up. He confronted her once, and all that happened was she kept coming back until he was too exhausted to fight anymore. She broke him. Fighting her was futile and by taking advantage of this, Salem set him on the only path that he had left: getting revenge on Ozpin. Even though he’ll reincarnate, he can still be hurt. He can still be killed. He can still suffer. It was all that Hazel had left, and it consumed him.

As much as I know that some had issues with Hazel’s backstory, losing your sibling to circumstances that weren’t really anyone’s fault but you still feel so angry that you just need to blame something is very understandable. I’ve been in that place. I think that many of us have. And to learn that he did try to fight Salem at first but in the end, gave up due to her immortality… can you imagine how many others likely went down that route? Wanting to fight Salem but when the horrible truth came out were left empty? RWBY went through it in V6 and barely recovered, so it’s easy to see where Hazel is coming from. It’s easy to see why he won’t believe Oz when he tells him what Salem’s true goal, the release of death via summoning the Gods judgment, is. Oscar takes over and reveals the password, trusting Hazel to decide for himself what to do. Not Salem, Hazel. Will it pay off? Only time will tell.

But Hazel isn’t the only one privy to this new information. Emerald overheard all of it. Whatever fears that she had were all confirmed. Mercury is dismissive, both not believing it (until Tyrian confirms it) and even if he did, points out that Hazel failed and fell into line. It’s going to take time for the assassin to change his mind. As far as he’s concerned, he’s on top of the world, or at least in the best place that he can be in. Better than when he was with Marcus at least. Emerald though? She’s been doubtful and scared since at least the end of V3, even earlier if we count the flashbacks in Beginning of the End. The only thing that has kept her around along with the fear of Salem has been her devotion to Cinder. But with how Cinder has been coldly dismissive of her thus far this volume and now knowing that she’s part of something far worse than she imagined, it looks like Emerald may be deciding that it’s not worth it anymore. The question is, will she act before it’s too late? With Mercury off to Vacuo, she’s on her own to make that choice.

The villains’ stuff is mainly setup for Chapter 9 but it’s good stuff. We’re getting everything in place for the many payoffs that we’ve been waiting a long time for. Many of us have been hoping for Emerald to defect. While IDT as many have wanted the same for Hazel, he’s certainly the nobler of his buddies and has shown signs of possible redemption, so I’ve been hoping for it. Oz and Oscar’s efforts seem to be paying off and Oscar taking over and playing a huge gamble is pure excellence. It’s both Oz trusting the boy and working in tandem with him showing how he is genuinely trying to be better and showing Oscar’s growth with his more diplomatic skills here. It failed to work on Ironwood, but perhaps this time he’ll have better luck.

JYR and the Ace-Ops

Like with the villains, their stuff is contained all within War. But boy do we have plenty to go over. With Atlas in utter chaos, to the point of all the citizens having to hide in a subway, Ironwood has decided to have Winter and her team bomb Monstra. Which makes sense… except that Oscar’s in there. Needless to say, JYR isn’t happy about that. But Harriet, Elm, and Vine remain committed to their ‘we have no feelings’ routine. Even though it’s so obvious that they’re lying through their teeth. Ren’s Semblance confirmed it, but it’s not hard to tell. Elm and especially Harriet are hiding their feelings through their anger and doubling down on following orders. Vine does try to remain reasonable, but otherwise retains his emotionless demeanor. Marrow… he just clearly doesn't want to be there anymore. He’s still trying to remain comitted to what he’s doing, but this and Chapter 9 are going to be changing that big time

And WInter? Oh Lord Winter. She wants to do the right thing but is bound to her loyalty and duty to Ironwood and Atlas, and she doesn’t know which one to follow. Her orders? Or her heart? The choice may seem like a no-brainer to us, but to Winter it’s more complicated. She feels that she owes Ironwood so much. Because of him and the military, she escaped her father and his control. I think that she does realize that this point that she’s just exchanged one puppetmaster for another, but she doesn't know how to cut the strings. We see some signs of hope, both in the last volume when she allowed Weiss and the others to escape, and here when she grants JYR’s request to go into the whale to find Oscar before the bomb arrives. She knows that if Ironwood finds out she’ll be in trouble. She remains conflicted, but it’s still a signt hat it’s not too late. It allows her (and Marrow forthat mater) to remain sympathetic while others like Harriet… well, they’re not making it easy, let’s leave it at that.

That brings us to Ren. He’s had it hard thus far, his emotional control slipping, his split-off from Nora, and everything that built up the last volume coming crashing down. He’s been pushing everyone away, but now? He can’t afford to do so. Not with Oscar in danger. When Harriet says that teammates are replaceable, he strongly disagrees. He and Jaune would absolutely know how wrong this is. They’ve never replaced Pyrrha after all. Even if one considers Oscar part of JNR, he’s never been considered the new Pyrrha. He’s just Oscar, their friend. When he finally admitted that to himself, it allowed Ren’s Semblance to evolve. Instead of simply masking emotions, he can now see them via colored flower petals. Yes dear readers, Ren is an empath.

This development is perfect/. It happened at the right time, Ren finally admitting his feelings for those that he cares about instead of internalizing them and pushing those people away as he has been with Nora. It’s a natural evolution of his powers. He can mask emotions to protect others from the Grimm, and now that he can take it off he can see beneatht he masks of others. Harriet and Elm’s rage. Vine’s uncertainty (I’m assuming anyways based on what happens later). Marrow’s sadness. Winter’s collection of so many different colored petals, reflecting the war that she is having with herself. Now that Ren is beginning to open up, he can now help others do the same. Semblances reflect the on using them, and I think this says a lot about what Ren is truly meant to be and will be in the future.

Schnee Manor

Now we get to the meat of this post. Let’s go over the events in War first. While our heroes are safe at Schnee Manor, they’re conflicted on what to do. May wants to, and by Dark does, go back to Mantle since things are just as bad there and they don’t have the military to save them. Weiss however? She wants to help Atlas. Despite everything, Atlas is still Weiss’ home and there are still family and innocent people that she wishes to save. She’s a Huntress, that’s her job. May however? Her family dismissed her when she was their son, and she made it very clear that she is in no way their daughter. Which first, that was a brilliant way to add that representation. Kdin confirmed that May was Transgender last volume, but now we have undeniable proof in the show itself and it was perfectly delivered. She also makes a good point, Mantle has no protection. The whole reason that RWBY went against Ironwood was that he chose to leave Mantle to die. At this point, it does seem like the heroes can have it both ways. It worked in the past, but not here. Not anymore. But even May admits as she leaves that at this point, there might not be anythign left to do for either city. It’s just… bleak. Even moreso than in V3.

This of course hits Ruby. Normally, her optimism and hope carry her through. It was practically what got the heroes through V6 alive and well. But now? No. Even she can’t deny how bad things have gotten. When she and Blake go to turn on the backup generator, it’s clear how conflicted she is. She wants to help everyone. She chose to send the message because it seemed like the best chance to save everyone. But the longer that she waits, the more unlikely it all seems. She’s becoming utterly overwhelmed. Honestly, with how 2020 went, I find this very relatable. You w\see all the suffering caused by COVID and the horror of the police brutality against Black people and so many other awful things we’re still in the midst of. You want to do something. You want to help everyone and want things to just be okay. But when you do, all of it weighs down on you because you simply can’t help everyone. As Klein said, you can only focus on what’s in front of you first. You feel helpless, scared, maybe even angry. But we’re only human. We can only do what we can a step at a time in whatever way we can, even if it’s just being a shoulder to lean on. It’s at least something.

This leads to something that I have practically been begging CRWBY to do for years now, have Blake comfort her. We’ve had very scarce Ruby and Blake interactions, but it’s always been pretty clear that Blake trusts Ruby and has followed her lead faithfully more or less since the team formed. I think it was very fitting for Blake to be the one who reached out to her as it calls back to when they first talked in Volume 1. Back when Ruby expressed her love of books and wanting to make the world better like the heroes that she would read about. How Blake admired her goal but also viewed it as rather childish. Considering everything with the Faunus oppression, the White Fang, and of course Adam, who could blame her? But Ruby gave her hope. Ruby got her to see that they can make the world better. That despite everything, it’s their job to protect everyone and to move forward. Ruby’s been able to push them ahead so much, and they all still need her. It’s what Ruby needed to hear and it shows how far that both girls have come since those early days at Beacon. Which since this happened in the 100th episode, was very fitting.

Now I’m not gonna say too much about The Hound here. The entire fight scene was awesome and the thing stalking through the Schnee Manor? It somehow felt more horrifying than The Apathy did in Volume 6. How do you manage that?! Whitley and Willow ultimately killing it via the armor was also pretty cool and it’s nice to see the civilian characters getting involved, showing that they don’t have to be helpless like with the ship captain and crew back in Volume 4. Then the final revelation, that The Hound was not only human but had Silver Eyes… yeah Ruby’s reaction could not be more justified. I’m gonna go into my thoughts more in the 11-12 review since Ruby goes more into her feelings there. But the revelations that this one scene caused… yeah, it’s added a whole new level of horror to not just Salem, but the Grimm as a whole. It’s kind of a bummer that The Hound was killed off and it just feels so soon, but with how so much is going on at this point… yeah I’m gonna forgive it especially since the death still leaves a lot to think about in the future.

So let’s talk Schnee family! First, Willow. I like how they handled her here. She’s an anxious mess, which makes complete sense. She has to keep forcing herself to not drink, but without that coping mechanism, she’s so anxious that she ends up running out of Weiss’ room in utter panic. Fortunately, she’s still able to get her act together enough to be of help. She uses the security cameras to warn Weiss and keep an eye on The Hound. Which also allows her to see it heading for Whitley. But instead of waiting on Weiss and since Whitley understandably doesn’t want to listen to her, she does the right thing: act like a mother and save her child. Including actually using her Glyphs to summon a Boarbutusk. Yes, Willow. In a jam-packed volume like this, it’s nice to see these bits of character development for even the minor characters and it was done well here.

Then we have Whitley. I’m gonna admit it, it feels like his change is pretty rushed, but again we have about a million other things going on. Plus I guess the worst situations can bring out the best in people. That’s certainly the case here. He over-hears RWB and May talking and decides to call Klein, who is apparently a doctor, not only a butler (the temptation to NOT make an ‘I’m a doctor, not an X’ joke after getting into Star Trek is REALLY hard XD) to treat Nora. Which Weiss’ reaction to seeing him and him not at all blaming her for being fired was just beautiful. But it’s Whitley making a decision. Not due to his father’s influence. Not to get Weiss’ attention. He did it because Nora needed help and it was simply the right thing to do. The fact that he acted independently makes Weiss so happy that she hugs him. It surprises Whitley… but you can tell that he’s happy about it.

I think that really encouraged Whitley. Jaques isn’t there anymore. There’s no one controlling his fate anymore. It doens’t matter if Whitley defies him now, Jaques can’t do a thing about it. It’s Whitley who realizes that they have the resources and ability to send supplies and help to Mantle. It’s him who goes to his father’s office to get the process underway. Even when The Hound comes in, he still makes sure to give the authorization before making a run for it. With the fear of his father gone and Weiss showing more support, Whitley is showing that he’s not a bad person. He was very much like his sister was; someone trapped and forced to succumb to the toxic influences to survive. He didn’t have the support that Weiss did, nor the skills that either of his sisters had that let them escape. But he’s taking those steps now. He has an attitude still, but he’s kind of where Volume 1-3 Wess was; a major brat but one very much on their way to improving. If Whitey ends up taking over whatever remains of the SDC or outright remakes it, I think that he’ll be a fine leader while his sisters continue as Huntresses.

Finally, we come to Penny. I should probably talk about Nora as well, but since Chapter 11 is when she expresses how she feels ike how Ruby does, I’m going to hold off until then As far as Penny goes… God, I… it just hurts. Knowing how this ultimately will end only makes it more painful to go back through. But just as Chapter 5 made it look like Penny would finally be allowed to choose for herself, Watts ruins all of it. This is a girl who is utterly trapped. Ironwood bound her down by isolating her and then forcing the protection of a whole city on her. Pietro, while well-meaning, was over-protective and allowing that to keep Penny held by her strings. He let go… and look at how it ended. The Maiden Powers, while something that Penny accepted, now has her targeted on all sides and she can’t escape them while bound tot he responsibilities that come with it. Now we have Watts’ virus and despite her best efforts, she can’t stop it.

It’s just… heart-wrenching. Especially when Nora wakes up and calms her down by reminding her that whatever is trying to take over is only a part of her, not the whole being. It works… for a few moments. But in the end, all that Penny can do is succumb. This girl truly has no control over anything. Not over her own life. Not over the abilities that she possesses. And now not even over her own mind and body. She keeps having her strings yanked back and forth, wanting to just snap them off but all her limbs are held in place so she can’t. Watching her act utterly robotic, blankly describing how she will open the Vault then self-terminate… it’s just so wrong. Not to mention her coming dangerously close to being carted off to Salem with only Ruby managing a Silver Eyes blast saving her. It was hard to watch back when these premiered but after the finale? It’s just… it’s just so cruel.

Both of these chapters were excellent. War is mainly a setup chapter and ho boy the event that it sets up for… Chapter 9 is gonna be fun to talk about! But it also had plenty of pay-offs, especially for Ren and great moments like May’s scene, Salem conducting the Grimm, and it just captures the bleakness yet determination of our heroes perfectly. Then Dark… boy is that chapter title appropriate. Again great moments like the Ruby and Blake talk, the entire fight sequence, and probably the most horrifying revelation thus far. There’s some minor stuff like the jailbreak as well that made RWBY’s 100th chapter, as well as the chapter to kick off the return after the six-week hiatus, a thrill to watch. That's not even going into Alex Abraham's spectacular score, especially when the big reveal/death of The Hound happens. Just... it's just perfect. It can feel like there’s just so much going on that it gets hard to keep up with at times… but to be fair, that’s how our heroes feel as well, so I supposed that’s appropriate.

Chapter Stats

War

Favorite Character: Lie Ren

Favorite Scene: Ren unlocking his emotion-reading power

Least Favorite Scene: RWB sipping tea. It’s not a bad scene, but them just kind of standing by while the chaos is going on… it just feels a tad out of place.

Favorite Voice Actor: Kdin Jenzen (May Marigold)

Favorite Animation: Salem conducting the Grimm attack.

Rating: 8/10

Dark

Favorite Character: Ruby Rose

Favorite Scene: Ruby and Blake talk

Least Favorite Scene: I got nothing. Everything here was perfect.

Favorite Voice Actor: Arryn Zeck (Blake) and Jason Liebrecht (The Hound)

Favorite Animation: As horrifying as it was, The Hound reveal.

Rating: 10/10

Final Thoughts

When I watched these, all I could really do was stare wide-eyed. Even though I knew that this volume was going to be intense, somehow I wasn’t prepared for any of it. Certainly not for everything in these chapters. But all of it was just so freakin’ good. Does it feel emotionally draining? Yes. It was a big part of why I’m only getting to these several months later. But was it still worth watching? Absolutely. Compare Dark to the first chapter of Volume 1. RWBY has come such a long way. A lot of things both good and bad have happened in between, but it’s still going and I plan to be here until the bitter end. With quality like this, it gives me a good reason to stick around. So six more chapters/three reviews to go.

(Image Sources)

[dangan-happy]

Password: No offense, but you're really looking good today

To: Anyone I guess, but preferably Izuru, Celeste, and/or Mikan

TWs: Hopelessness(?), numbness/repression(?)

Where do I even begin? Well, I gotta start somewhere. Ah, sorry in advance if this becomes too long and I end up becoming too much though... oh, and, um, just call me RiRi, okay?

These past few months, I've been experiencing a depressive episode that's been slowly but surely getting worse. And nowadays, even when I have good moments or even really good days, it either gets ruined or it just... completely vanishes for no reason, y'know? It's like the depressive episode is this weird, black slug monster within me that absorbs whatever positive feeling I'm, well, feeling, even if nothing bad is happening or is going to happen whatsoever. It's almost like flicking a light switch to the 'Off' end. I chalk it up to mood swings/dips, to which, is something I've been experiencing more frequently as of this past month or so.

Like for example, I had a really amazing day yesterday! I went out shopping with just my mom, we went out to eat, we had a fun time overall, and it was just... amazing. Once I arrived back to my house, I was just immensely happy stimming/fidgeting hours afterward. Today [the next day] though? Almost a complete 360: mentally/emotionally exhausted, dull, almost numb even, wanting to just lay in bed and not get up. Online classes are a pain, excuse of a family's a pain, everything's just a pain. I'm not exactly feeling s*icidal; just completely dull. Ironically enough, I feel like a walking Izuru, just without the God complex powers.

I just feel like I'm way broken beyond repair, and that sooner or later, I'm going to become too much to those who care about me and try to help me, especially since I have Major Depressive Disorder, anxiety (generalized and social), some suspected ADD (not suspected by me, but by my counselor), and now, some suspected bipolar (whether it's just general bipolar or perhaps bipolar depression is unknown. Bipolar does sort of run in my bloodline though, to be fair). And I'll admit, nowadays, my anger issues are more frequent and current. One person who I care about so much has made their fear clear when my anger becomes a total wildfire, and has told me whenever I get that mad that they're going to leave me alone until "the old RiRi comes back", which not only stabs me in the heart, but angers me even more. I understand why they say that though; I don't want to hurt anyone else. Not again.

Wow, this is... becoming too long and sort of off track, ain't it? I'm sorry; I'll just try to wrap this up here. I don't know what I want. I'm not too big on advice; I'm normally into wanting to be left alone or just wanting someone's company (basically, talk to me about anything but whatever's bringing me down or such). So I guess just a hug will do? I... really did outdo myself here; I'll go ahead and stop now. I tend to ramble and have the habit/mindset that if I don't explain to the fullest, the other person(s) won't have a full, clear understanding. Sorry again, and I hope everyone has a lovely day.

~ RiRi

This is not your first visit here, RiRi. One such as I can sense this. You are always welcome to say as much as needed.... So your Sunday was possibly an amazing day, daresay it was one of the best days of your life, and from Monday onwards, things went south. You’re low in the depths of misery and despair. The level of change is quite fast. 

You mention someone very close to you often decides to keep distance at your negative moments, the moments when you are most in need of aid. While it can be seen as a heart-wrenching act, it may be possible that your ally was to ensure that in the moment of struggle, they refrain from saying anything regrettable. A possible outcome, one of many. Do not think ill of them for doing so, the people you are with, they care immensely for you, in a way you will never understand nor see. 

Above all, you asked for a hug. I can only tell you to keep living, and to avoid doing anything rash again. I cannot enforce you to promise that, but remember that there are those who love you, even when you think otherwise. Doubt them, and you will only sustain more pain. So have hope. 

- Oh goodness, isn't this a long one. Alright my dear, I'll be sure to give my full effort. RiRi is a lovely name, and there's no need to apologize. You're not too much at all! I'm happy to help. A black slug monster is quite the descriptive way to describe depression. I quite like it, and it's a perfect representation. That emotional back and forth must be exhausting, I'm sorry you have to go through that. I've heard of that happening before, and its even happened to me before, so I can understand how you feel. I am quite pleased to hear that you had a good day. Days like those are always wonderful things, even when we're going through a dark time. I think you may have been emotionally exhausted the next day, but I am obviously not a professional, so don't take my word for it.

Hmm, yes those feelings of dullness are terrible, although I am glad to hear that you aren't feeling suicidal. Yes, that state does remind me of Izuru. I'm very sorry you're going through this. You're not broken beyond repair my dear, that's not the case at all. Everyone has their diagnoses, but that doesn't mean you're broken or beyond repair. Yes, I would say that there are some emotional issues, but that does not make you broken, or place you beyond repair. You're never going to be too much. The people that truly care for you would never abandon you for reasons such as that. I think it's a good thing that you already have some finalized and suspected diagnoses. That might help the treatment and help target more of the specific issues.

Yes, I can speak on anger issues, I unfortunately have experience. Personally, I do not like the statement your friend used. While anger can be scary, saying something like that is quite hurtful, and I do understand how that hurt you. Can you tell when those anger flashes are coming on? I would try to learn to recognize them, and potentially separate yourself from others when you feel one happening. While I think your friend should protect themselves, that wasn't the best way to phrase it. It's very kind of you to worry about others. Learning to recognize when these shifts are coming could help you avoid hurting others unintentionally. Practice makes perfect though, so be prepared for that. It's alright, most people tend to ramble while they are venting, I was still able to understand what you are saying. In all honesty, I would say exactly what you've said here to your counselor. Make sure they know about these mood shifts, and they may be able to do more on their end. Everything I've said is a suggestion, so take it or leave it my dear. I just wanted to make sure that I had plenty of things to say to you, since an ask of this length certainly deserves it.

Again, there is no reason to apologize, and it's ok to not know what you want. I understood what you were saying perfectly, so there's no need to worry about that. I may have outdone myself on this response, so we're in the same boat together, aren't we my dear? I'm certainly happy to give you a hug. Angry or not, you're a lovely, wonderful person RiRi. You are not broken, and you are not beyond repair. We all have our struggles in life, and some are just more prominent than others. I hope you have a lovely day as well, but you're not allowed to leave until I give you a hug!

[alliswell21]

Password

A fic for @historywriter2007, @lovely-tothe-bone, @mega-aulover and @arbyeatscheesebuns from a Prompt about a professor on tinder... hope this one is to your liking!

————————

I come into my bedroom to find Johanna lounging on my bed, messing with my cellphone, like she owns the place.

“What are you doing?” I demand feeling all my nerve ends spike in warning.

“Nothing,” She drawls nonchalantly, looking up from my phone with those brown, wide set eyes of hers, too innocently to be true.

“What are you doing with my phone? And how the hell did you figure out my password?” I grunt.

Johanna flips the phone next to her on the mattress, stretching like a cat, and then sits up taking her sweet time.

“You know, Brainless, if you use the same password for everything, from your bank account, to your Facebook, and also your email, and the password is just your sister’s birth date and initials everytime, you deserve to get hacked.” She scoots off the bed lazily, “I’m done anyways. I took the liberty to check on your tinder for you. You’re welcome!” She smiles devilishly, sauntering out of the bedroom.

“Tinder?” I ask in confusion, diving for my phone to check it myself, because I’ve never signed up for a Tinder account. That’s just… not me!

A couple of swipes, and sure enough, there’s an icon for an app I would never download myself.

“How the…?! Fudge! Now I really need to change all my passwords! Lousy Johanna!” I mutter angrily under my breath.

“Jo! What did you do?” I run after her waving my phone. “Why did you signed me up for a tinder account?”

She rolls her eyes while raspberrying obnoxiously. “Katniss, we had this discussion Saturday, after Madge’s party. I said you needed to get laid before your lady parts became dusty, and you said it was cool when I suggested tinder.”

“I was drunk!” I screech.

“No you weren’t! You only had two beers.”

“Plus all the shots of tequila you practically force fed me!” I groan. “Johanna, I don’t want a tinder!”

“Kitty cat, it’s done. Plus there are some hotties there I already took the liberty to swipe right for you. Now you’ll be on their feeds and if the swipe right too when they see your profile picture, then you’ll be matched and you’ll be on your way to orgasmic bliss!”

I scrub my face with both hands, questioning my life choices, especially the one where I actually begged Johanna Mason to move in after my last roommate left the apartment.

Finally I say with resolve, “I’m deleting the account. I don’t want it and definitely don’t need it!”

“After all the time I devoted to create the perfect profile that made you look like a total bombshell?!” She’s glaring at me. “Do you know how many guys are showing in your feed? That means they’re interested in you, Brainless! Give it a try and live a little for once! YOLO and all that jazz, you’re no spring chicken anymore, you know.”

“Can it, Jo! I don’t have time for this!” I say hunching all over, “Thank you for the effort, but... this isn’t for me, Jo.” I say a little defeated.

“You’ll be fine, brainless, stop being so dramatic.” Johanna sighs behind me before I shut myself into my room.

My love life is nonexistent, just as I want it to be… at least while I’m sober it seems.

I flop on the bed, cell phone in hand, ready to delete the tinder app when I see there’s a message. Out of curiosity, I tap the icon and almost flat line at the name displayed in the header.

I scream. Loudly. I scream Johanna’s name like is a cuss word and stomp menacingly down the hall to scream at her some more, but I’m freaking out with anxiety to the point that my anger gets buried under other unpleasant emotions that make my stomach roil.

“What’s wrong?!” My roommate asks jumping off the couch, her eyes wide with concern. “Did something happened?”

I start stuttering and flailing my arms like a person drowning in the middle of the sea; it takes a shake from Jo to finally sputter, “My teacher!” I stare at Johanna with wild eyes and finally feel the anger return. “You matched me with my freaking Teacher!”

It feels good to lash out in complete control of my feelings.

“I did not!” Johanna shoves me away rolling her eyes and going back to plant her butt in front of the TV. “I wouldn’t have match you with some old fart looking for young tail on tinder.” She says dismissively. “I have my limits.”

I groan in aggravation. “He’s not an old fart. He’s only a few years older than me. He teaches my stupid Social Scienses class... the one I told you about.”

Johanna’s interest piqued, “Go on…” she prompts.

I sink into the couch next to her, afraid of my phone.

Getting my college education has been my very own personal Odyssey. What should have taken a normal student four years, has taken me seven, since at first I had to work full time to help my mother support our little family, while my younger sister finished high school. I would’ve kept supporting us if my sister hadn’t insisted I got into higher education as well; so at the age of twenty six and a half, a diploma is within my grasp. I don’t mind doing grunt work, but my sister was right to push me for more. I’m ready to move on to a higher bracket in the salary ladder, and to do that, I’m required a college degree.

I neglected the needed Social Science credits for my degree until this year. I had to scramble to get all my credits for graduation, and I needed a Social Science class to round up the requirements.

I decided to go with American Ethnich Studies because the odds were in my favor, since it’s a very sought after course and a spot magically opened while I was picking my schedule and was able to snatch it up. The class is not really an elective, but it fills pretty quickly, and for good reason: the curriculum is fresh, the material is interesting, the level of compelling information is outstanding, and I also rationalize that since my late dad was from Native American descent, it would be a great opportunity to acquire academic knowledge of my heritage and all the other cultures that make America a rich tapestry that go beyond race, gender and tradition.

But the man teaching the class is a whole other compelling reason on its own… not that I was aware of that tiny detail until I set foot in the classroom.

“So, are you gonna show me this professor that’s got your panties all twisted and damped?” Jo challenges.

I only glare at her for a second, before slumping my shoulders. “He messaged me.”

“What did he say?” Johanna is now on her knees on the couch, facing me, the mischief glinting in her eyes annoys me to no end.

“I haven’t read it yet…” I sigh staring at my phone like it’s a poisonous snake.

“Why not?” Jo demands.

“Because it’s my freaking teacher, Johanna!” I say at the edge of a panic attack.

American Ethnic Studies is the class I’ve done worse in my whole schooling career. I blame it all solely on the professor, Mr. Mellark, who’s name is flashing on my screen.

I don’t mean Mr. Mellark is a bad or even mediocre teacher; on the contrary, he is in fact very knowledgeable, kind, open, friendly and approachable. But the man is ridiculously handsome; his voice is deep and smooth like warm dark melted chocolate, his eyes are as blue and deep as a summer sky under an unruly mop of ashy blonde waves, and his smile nearly made my heart stop the first time I saw it aimed at me. Then is the rest of his body: ass round and firm scrumptiously encased in pressed slacks, and shoulders so broad I wonder how can he find the right size shirts to cover them?

In other words, professor Mellark is what I believe a modern Greek god would look like nowadays, which brings me back to my original statement, I never took into account how the looks of a man could affect my concentration in class, resulting in the awful marks I’ve been getting in the course all year.

Johanna snatches my phone from my fingers, and I scramble after her to retrieve it.

“Johanna!”

“Hush, Brainless!”

She sticks out her hand to stop me from grabbing back my phone. I see with horror she’s already unlocked the screen.

“Give it back!” I demand stretching beyond Johanna’s shoulder and finally wrapping my hand around my device. “Don’t read my message! It’s private!” I snap.

“Oh please! I already told you, nothing is private until you change passwords. Now… read the thing! Stop being a coward!”

I glare at Jo for a second, but ultimately turn my eyes to the small bubble with a great deal of anxiety, because now there’s not just one, but two messages from Professor Mellark waiting for me. I steel myself and finally let the words take meaning as I read.

Peeta Mellark: Hey Katniss, I saw you in my feed and grappled with the questionable propriety of my choices: a) acknowledge you, saying hello since we got matched and passing for creepy; or b) ignoring you by swiping left and passing for rude.

I guess I managed to answer that question already.

Peeta Mellark: I’ll take this slightly awkward opportunity to tell you your final grade: B

I say the words in a monotone, not really knowing how to feel. I want to laugh and bawl at the same time. This man is so witty even in writing.

“Well? Are you going to answer or what?” Johanna presses bluntly, practically breathing down my nape.

I push her away a fraction, and mutter, “Shut up, Jo. I’m thinking!”

“You gotta answer! Stop thinking!”

“What am I supposed to say back?” I ask her harshly.

“Tell him you can handle the D if he swaps that B for an A!” Johanna wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, as if I would ever say something as crass or forward.

“Are you crazy?! I can tell my teacher that!” I balk.

“You gotta say something!”

“I know!” I sigh and start typing, carefully choosing my words.

Katniss Everdeen: Hello, Mr. Mellark. I would have never thought you rude for swiping left. I completely understand. Believe me, tinder wasn’t my idea, but my best friend decided I needed to socialize more… so… here we are...

I cringe.

Katniss Everdeen: Thanks for the grades. I’m relieved to know I’ve passed the class, it means I’m officially a graduate! No longer a student!

For the first time I let the news sink in and bask in the knowledge that I am graduating and can’t help but smile and say a tiny “Yay, Me!” Under my breath at the same time I’m pumping the air with my fist.

Johanna shoves me aside to read what I wrote, and then makes a disgruntled noise. “I thought something sexy was finally said when you reacted so excited.”

I’m about to tell her that getting my diploma is exciting but a chime goes off, announcing another message.

We both peer down at the phone and I gasp. Mr. Mellark has responded, and there’s a smiley face and a question; Johanna is yakking about none stop next to me, trying to tell me what to say or how to phrase it, but I’m speechless and elated because the few lines my ex-professor has written are so unexpected but so welcome, is not even funny.

Peeta Mellark: Congratulations! I knew you could do it!

Peeta Mellark: By the way, call me Peeta, I’m not your professor anymore, and given the circumstances, I believe is kosher to be informal… friendlier.

Peeta Mellark: Also, I was wondering, since we got matched up and everything, would you like to have a cup of coffee or tea with me… since you're officially not my student anymore?

My fingers fly over the screen typing my answer in a flash. I don’t even have to think what I want to say.

Katniss Everdeen: Make it a cup of hot chocolate, and you have a date… Peeta.

His answer is practically immediate.

Peeta Mellark: It's a date then! Meet me tomorrow at my brother’s bakery? Corner of Twelve and Capitol? They have the best cheese buns to pair with that hot chocolate… and I’ll get the privilege to show you off as my date. My brother set me up on tinder too.

I’m not sure if the smile I’m wearing is for what I’m reading, or because I’m now free to fantasize about my teacher, but when I see the rest of his reply, I know this would’ve happened anyway some way or another...

Peeta Mellark: Full disclosure at the risk of still sounding creepy, but I think it was lucky our profiles got matched together. It gave me the chance to ask you out, and I sorely wanted to approach you, but didn’t know how. This is the perfect excuse. Thank you for swiping right.

“See, Brainless?! You’re welcome!” Says Johanna breaking the nice little bubble I was in.

I roll my eyes not even trying to stop my smile, “Fine, Johanna, thank you for swiping right… now get out of my phone, and don’t even try to crack the new password! Also, I’m definitely deleting Tinder!”

[wildefiction]

Elysian

Pairing: Rob x Reader

Word Count: 1,723

Chapter: 2/?

Chapter Summary: Rob invites reader over to his place to continue their movie marathon, but something seems...off...with Rob.

Chapter Warnings: Anxiety, Slight class-ism (minor characters)

A/N: That writers block tho! Seriously, it’s good to be back. 

TWO

The following morning, as you pulled open the front doors of a very large, very sterile-looking office building set into the heart of downtown, you were glad you'd agreed to only one movie. Black, strappy heels clicked against reflective slate tiles beneath your feet; portfolios held securely beneath one arm.

"Right this way, Ms. [Y/F/N]." "Can I get you anything to drink?"

The receptionist was a bright, young intern. Bold, coppery hair fell nearly to his shoulders, his striking blue eyes lit with an eager kind of excitement as he showed you to the conference room.

"If you've got any tea, I'd love some." 

Smiling as the man nodded and bustled away, you took a moment to glance around your surroundings. As conference rooms went, it was fairly ordinary - a long, glass-topped table was set in the middle of the space, surrounded by about twenty leather office chairs. One wall was constructed entirely of crystal clear glass, though the only view was more of the same tall, lifeless buildings. 

Turning as the door shushed open behind you, a woman approached, a grand smile on her face; one hand extended in your direction.

"Ms. [Y/F/N], it's so good to finally meet you. My husband and I have heard good things."

The woman's grip was firm, confident, and immediately you got the inclination she was going to be the one you'd need to impress.

The man from earlier had returned, a selection of teas, creams and sugar arrayed on a dark serving tray.

"Thank you Dylan, that will be all." 

Glancing to the woman whose hand you still held after smiling in appreciation at Dylan, you wondered if this woman was as dismissive with everyone else as she appeared to be with him. His own smile faltered, quickly replaced with a wary expression of disinterest as he turned and left the two of you alone.

The next two hours were spent presenting your work to the owners of Caliber Entertainment. 

By the time you'd been shown to the door by Dylan, you were exhausted. While confident in your abilities and your work, your struggle had always been selling yourself.

Regardless, you were happy to be out of there. While meetings like those were a necessary evil, you really wanted nothing more than to go home, take off these damned heels and relax.

Pulling your phone from the pocket of your blazer, you typed in the lock-screen password and found several messages waiting.

[Rob]: Hey, finished at the studio a little early today. How was your meeting?

[Rob]: Thought I might stop by the store, pick up a couple steaks...you hungry?

The rumbling of your stomach as you read the words was answer enough.

Noticing the last text had come through only a few minutes prior, you hurried to type out a response.

[Y/F/N]: Starving. I didn't know you could cook.

Almost immediately, the device in your hand chirped with an answer.

Rob: One of many things, I'm sure. Movie at my place tonight? Should be home in twenty.

Trying to remember if you'd ever actually been inside his house, it took only a moment to realize you hadn't.

Sending off a message to let him know you'd bring the beer before dropping the phone on the passenger seat of your car, you couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of spending another evening with Rob.

Pulling into your driveway a short time later, you were surprised to see him sitting on the front porch. The ridiculous grin that spread across your face was hard to hide, so you decided not to bother.

"Well look at you, all dressed up...heels and everything eh?" His teasing tone matched the mirth in his expression.

"Don't get used to it." The phrase was clipped, but accompanied by your smile, still firmly in place.

Reaching out to grip his arm while you kicked off the footwear, the blazer quickly joined the abandoned semblance of professionalism. 

Crouching to pick up both items, you proceeded through the front door, calling out an invitation for Rob to follow. 

"Let me just change real fast, no way am I doing movie night in jeans."

Nodding, Rob headed for the kitchen "I'll grab the beer."

Disappearing down the hallway to your room, the closet stretching along the north wall held more clothes than you knew what to do with. Unfastening the buttons of the dark-washed denim clinging to your thighs, you reached a steadying hand out to balance against the dresser as you peeled them from your body, abandoning them in the wicker hamper set in a corner.

"Hey, [Y/F/N] - have you got any pepper? I think I'm out."

Nodding to yourself, you quickly realized that he couldn't hear you. Grabbing a pair of cutoffs, you turned, stepping into the bottoms and pulling them up as Rob paused in your doorway.

Peeling the flowy chiffon fabric of your business shirt off over your head, you answered his question without missing a beat; completely unfazed at your state of undress.

"Yeah, I think so - one sec." 

Pulling open the second drawer of your dresser and selecting a solid-white tank top, you pulled it over your head while heading for the door.

Walking past the man into the hallway with the shirt still covering your head, you missed the flustered look on his face.

Closing his eyes, the back of his head fell against the doorjamb. The initial attraction he'd felt towards his neighbor had started to blossom a few months prior, but he'd never said anything to her about it. He liked the way things were between them, but her obvious nonchalance for being half-naked around him was going to change that.

Pushing a breath between his pursed lips, he stepped away from the wall, scrubbing a hand over his face as he joined [Y/F/N] back in the kitchen.

"Here's that pepper you needed." "Ready to go?"

Dropping the pepper mill into his outstretched hand, you made for the front door, flipping light switches as you went.

Following you from the house, Rob pulled the door shut behind him, watching with a small smile as you skipped barefoot down the sidewalk.

The sun-kissed warmth of his deck seeped into the bottom of your feet; the smell of the grill wrapping you in the savory flavors of summer.

Twisting the caps off of two amber bottles pulled from the cooler, you handed one across to Rob. Closing the lid on a large stainless steel grill, the man turned, accepting the drink with gratitude.

"So, how was your day?" Flopping down on one of the adirondak chairs situated around the wrought-iron grate of his fire pit, Rob turned his eyes up to yours, the light blue-grey hue fixed in place. Raising the bottle to his lips, he took a long swallow, awaiting your answer.

"As good as can be expected I suppose. I despise having to suck up to rich assholes though." 

After a pause, you laughed. 

"No offense." Tilting your bottle towards him in apology, the lopsided grin on your face made him chuckle. 

"None taken." "Hey, how do you like your steak?"

Rob stood from his seat, wandering over to check the grill.

"Medium rare, please." 

Shielding your eyes from the late-afternoon sun, you peered out across the expanse of chillingly still water, ripples of light dancing across the surface of his pool.

"So...do you ever actually use your pool or is it just for sheer decorative purposes?"

"Oh, uh, well..no real point when you live alone right? Sometimes I swim laps I guess." 

Shrugging nonchalantly, Rob turned back to the grill, transferring the food onto a serving platter.

"Can I help with anything?" Placing a hand against his back, you peered over one shoulder. 

"That looks amazing, I could eat a goat right now."

Rob chuckled again. Pointing towards his kitchen, the tongs still in one hand, he shook his head.

"Could you grab the salad please?"

Over dinner, which was even better than it had smelled, the conversation revolved around work and the increasingly fleeting amount of free time both of you found yourselves with.

It took you longer than you cared to admit to notice towards the end of the meal that Rob was acting a bit strangely. Pushing what was left of his food around the edges of the plate and offering little in the way of conversation or eye-contact when he did speak, the sudden shift in his behavior concerned you.

When he began to stutter and it took visible effort for him to form complete sentences, you reached across the table, tentatively covering his hand with your own. The touch startled him enough that you nearly pulled back. 

"Hey man, you okay?"

While the question remained friendly and open-ended, the idea that he might not want to share what he was thinking only occurred to you after the fact. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” The smile he offered was anything but convincing; wilting quickly, it didn’t come close to reaching his eyes. Rather than push the issue however, you reflected that same uneasy smile, drawing your hand back and rubbing the suddenly clammy skin against your bare thigh. 

"Ready for movie number two?" Standing suddenly, Rob reached forward, grabbing your empty plate before hurrying inside.

A seed of doubt wedged itself in your chest, tendrils of unease taking root when your brain began to throw every possible scenario around as to why his behavior had so suddenly changed.

Slow to follow, by the time you'd walked back through the patio doors and crossed the house, Rob was kneeling in front of the entertainment center, elbow deep in Lily's toy box, muttering under his breath about something.

In one fluid movement, he stood, clutching the remote he'd apparently been searching for in one hand.

Perching on the edge of the sofa, eyes shifting between Rob and the screen in front of you, the worry that flitted around your consciousness continuing to grow. Where earlier in the afternoon, he’d been all smiles and carefree laughter - his rigid posture and the awkward silence blanketing the room in a thick fog allowed only one valid conclusion to form in your mind: Rob was angry, and somehow, somewhere - you’d messed up.

TAGS: @jamielea81 @wings-of-a-raven @natasha-cole

[euphoriacrossing]

So I started my New Leaf town back over...

I really didn't like the name I was experimenting with, but I am glad I figured that out before New Horizons. I picked a much better name for my town this time, I called it Mayfield which is my great grandmother's maiden name I think. I know it won't matter much once New Horizons comes out. I screwed up months back by deleting the village I had had since New Leaf came out and since then it just hasn't felt worth it. I mean, I have /tried/ to make it feel fun again, but I am always filled with so much regret that it is kind of hard.

That is why I hope beyond all hope that I don't lose my town's save data in New Horizons. I know you can recover it once, but how hard is that going to be and will it be worth it when you'll know the next time your switch goes haywire it's actual game over for that island? I imagine it'd be INCREDIBLY anxiety inducing to know you'd used your ONE retrieve and you were now one bad day away from losing everything you'd worked on. I know it'd make me feel like I shouldn't bother anymore, like I shouldn't make an effort, because it could all be gone in the blink of an eye.

I know these may not be rational ways to look at things, but I can just predict that this is how my anxiety will have me feeling and viewing the situation.

Anyway, back to New Leaf, I think getting the right name for my town helps me deal with some of the regret at least. Like it was a trade off, badly named well developed towns for a very well named undeveloped town. So as we head off into the age of New Horizons, I feel I have finally made peace with New Leaf. And I mean, after it came out I played a lot for probably a year or two before I ever reset so I got a taste of what a good town is like. I didn't work as hard as I could have though, so it wasn't like a GREAT town. I hope that is different in New Horizons. I don't need the most manicured, well put together island out there, but I would like something I can be proud of having worked hard on and something I can get attached to. I mean New Leaf was more than just a game to me and it all meant a lot, but my town itself never became something I loved an excessive amount. I loved activities, and routine, and my villagers, but my town was "meh" and could have been better, so I am hoping for better with New Horizons. It's a new chance to make something great.

Oh and just as a little bonus this I love about my new New Leaf town is I HAVE CHIEF IN IT. I know this will lead to heartbreak because he'll probably move away when I move on to New Horizons. But I had Chief maybe in the gamecube version...? Maybe it was Wild World instead, I can't say for sure as my memory is awful, but I really grew to love him and he made a meaningful impact on me. So now he's my favorite wolf villager for sure, and then the wolves are my favorite species I think. But hey, if you know anyone with an extra Chief amiibo card who wants to make AC dreams come true, point them my way! I have nothing to trade as of yet, I haven't gotten and doubles yet, but I hope when I have more money and can get more packs of my own, I'll open them, maybe get some extras and I hope in the future to hook people up with dream villagers either by mailing them the card they need or letting them come to my campsite to convince an animal to move to there town. I would like to help people create their perfect villages, so maybe someone will be charitable enough to help me create mine. 🥺

Outright begging aside... ahem. Moving on.

I found my old Animal Crossing/gaming blog. I had a hunch and so I jumped through fifty hoops changing passwords and checking emails until I was finally logged into my playtimewithmadi.tumblr.com blog

I haven't looked at any of it yet and I am super excited to. I am almost tempted to move back onto that blog, but I will mention it before I do if I choose to do so. It was kind of a "general" gaming blog but if I remember right it's mostly AC and it was from like the time right after New Leaf came out. Man, it's so nostalgic to think back about it. If there are any good posts I will of course share them here.

Anyway, I'm gonna go look through that. And beat myself up for missing my visit with Chief which I SET AN ALARM FOR WHICH NEVER WENT OFF THANKS DUMB PHONE. 😠 Seriously I feel real life bad about that. I need to find him a good present to make up for it. So yeah, browsing my old blog and playing New Leaf, hopefully that helps the time pass quickly. We're getting so, so close guys. It's going to be amazing. Are you excited? I am. 😀

[seeaddywrite]

stars, hide your fires: chapter four

this chapter wouldn’t exist without @soberqueerinthewild‘s cheerleading, handholding, willingness to let me rant at her about my plot holes, & assistance with the word ‘soldier,’ which really shouldn’t be this hard to avoid. also, big thanks to @lire-casander for her cheerleading, assistance with middle names, & general fabulousness. 

the plan is to upload chapter five by Thursday evening :) thanks for reading this crazy adventure of mine.

AO3 LINK

chapter index: 1 || 2 || 3 || 4

It’s frighteningly easy to get a meeting set up with the oldest of Alex’s brothers. Charlie responds almost instantly to the email he sends requesting a face-to-face, and surprises everyone by saying that he’s already in Roswell, and would love to see Alex the next day at 0900. His presence doesn’t bode well for the secrets they’re trying to keep; Charlie’s a sniper in the Air Force Special Operations Task Force. He’s rarely stateside, and for him to be in Roswell either signifies that he knows something, or that there’s something else going on that Alex doesn’t know. Neither option makes Alex particularly optimistic, but he can’t allow it to change anything.

Going in the next day isn’t ideal. Alex had been hoping for longer to research and develop his narrative, but there’s no stalling now. He’d been the one to request the meet -- it’ll look suspicious if he asks to postpone now, which is the last thing he needs. Charlie always had a soft spot for Alex when they were kids, but Alex knows better than to think that will matter if he gives the slightest reason for Charlie to doubt his sincerity. While Charlie may have smuggled him snacks when their father locked him in his room, and brought painkillers to the shed when Alex hid there after a beating, he’s still Jesse Manes’ son. There’s no such thing as the benefit of the doubt in that world.

And, well -- Kyle had said it best, the evening before, when they’d finally settled down to review files and put together a game plan. “Aren’t any of you Manes guys normal meatheads?” he’d demanded, thumbing through Charlie’s file with increasingly anxious fingers. “Look at this! Charles A. Manes. Air Force Silver Star Recipient three different times. Sniper. Special Operations Task Force. Best known for taking out thirteen armed terrorists in a shoot-out by himself -- this is the guy you think has a soft spot for you? Seriously? What if he’s already talked to Flint and decides to shoot you on sight?”

At the time, Alex had waved off the concern and pointed out that none of Jesse Manes’ sons could ever be average. Not if they wanted his approval. Charlie was Spec Ops, Hunter was an ace pilot, and Flint was head of Research and Development in several major projects. They were all brilliant in their fields -- but Alex had the distinct advantage of being the only one who’d given orders. The rest of them, as he’d once accused Flint, are sheep. They’re exceptional as long as there are directives in play; without them, they’ll fall like marionettes with their strings cut.

At least, that’s Alex’s hope. As he stands in the middle of the bunker he’d requisitioned from Jesse Manes all those months ago, face-to-face with a brother he hasn’t seen in close to a decade, he’s not so sure. Valenti may have had a point, after all. Charlie looks nothing like the young man Alex remembers from brief visits between deployments; where once there’d been a liveliness to his dark eyes, there’s now only a cool, calculating stare. Age seems to have wiped away all traces of similarity to their mother, and Alex feels an uncomfortable wave of deja vu. Staring Charlie down in this bunker bears way too much similarity to the day he’d played the same game with their father and come out on top.

Sandy colored hair, shorn in military style that hides the greys just beginning at the temples, posture so ramrod straight that it looks painful, and features that may as well be carved out of granite -- Charlie’s entire appearance screams ‘Jesse Manes’ son,’ and Alex can’t help but wonder if he’s made a mistake, expecting any measure of softness from this man.

Just as he’s psyching himself out, though, Charlie steps forward and slaps Alex’s back in greeting. It’s as close to real affection as any of the Manes boys get, and, paired with a cool smile, it signifies that things are going even better than Alex could have hoped for. “It’s good to see you, kid,” Charlie tells him, glancing around the underground headquarters as if he was reacquainting himself with a space he hadn’t seen in a while. “You’re looking pretty good for a guy who got on the wrong end of an IED not so long ago. I’m impressed.”

Alex can’t help but stand a little straighter as Charlie looks him over, the response as automatic and ingrained as jerking awake at the first ray of sun on his face or jumping to attention when he hears the order. He’s spent a lot of time on base acting as if he’s still got two legs -- pity isn’t something he can tolerate, and at first, there’d been no escaping it. It’s not pity that he’s worried about with Charlie, though; he just doesn’t want to give away any weaknesses. His missing leg is something that can’t be helped, nor can his brother’s knowledge of the injury, but he can damn well be sure that it’s made clear that the prosthetic doesn’t slow him down.

“Sorry I couldn’t get back Stateside when you lost the leg,” Charlie continues, still scrutinizing Alex from all sides. “I tried, but I got shipped overseas two days later. Did you get my letter?”

It’s so far from the suspicious welcome that Alex had been bracing for that he’s momentarily speechless.

“I -- uh, yeah, I did,” Alex says when he pulls himself back together, and nods jerkily. “I meant to write back, but -”

Charlie shakes his head, a bizarrely affable smile on his face. “Don’t worry about it. You had more important things to worry about.” He moves around one of the temporary tables Alex has set up in the bunker, his every step infused with the sort of deadly grace that Alex could never hope to emulate. Charlie glances at some of the carefully-selected files spread out on top of the table. He never pauses long, but the laser-focus of his gaze tells Alex that he’s cataloguing every detail for later perusal.

It’s part of the plan, for Charlie to see the work Alex has been doing, to believe he’s as dedicated to protecting the world from aliens as the rest of the men in their family, but he still has to clench his fists in the pockets of his jacket to stop from fidgeting. There’s nothing about Michael or the Evans’ twins in the contents of those pages; Alex refuses to endanger them further, even though Max and Guerin had both told him to use whatever he had to in order to get the information he needed. There are too many ways for that to backfire, though, and he refuses to risk it. There are other ways to earn his way into Project Shepherd than by throwing his people under the bus.

“So,” Charlie says, after another moment of rifling through the files. “Dad decided to read you in, huh?”

This is where it starts to get tricky, and Alex feels every muscle in his body tense. It’s an effort to maintain his nonchalant facade, but he manages it. “I had to hack into his databases first,” he tells the other man honestly. “But, yeah. Eventually.” He’s talked through his story with Kyle and Guerin at least twenty times the night before, and he’s prepared for anything Charlie might ask. Anxiety ebbs away as he slides into the well-rehearsed cover, and Alex feels himself becoming steadier, more dangerous -- more of the man who’d survived Baghdad and ten years of active duty service.

“You know Dad would never trust me voluntarily. That hasn’t changed.” It’s no use pretending that Jesse had a magic change of heart about Alex’s ‘weakness.’ No one would be fooled. So the narrative isn’t so different from the truth, at least to begin. “But since I figured out the truth, even he can’t deny how useful I can be. At the very least, I can shore up your cyber defenses, because it took me less than half an hour to break in and get all of the intel on the Project’s servers. His access password was ‘password,’ for Christ’s sake.” There’s no pride in his tone, just matter-of-fact honestly and scorn for Jesse’s computer illiteracy.

“And then I found out about Caulfield, and I wanted to see it for myself, you know? I thought Dad was crazy, but if there was proof …” Alex lets the thought trail off deliberately, knowing that sometimes less is more when it comes to this sort of story.

The mention of the off-books base makes Charlie’s expression darken, just enough that Alex notices. He leans back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest in a way that makes his muscles stand out in stark relief against his brown t-shirt, and Alex’s jaw tightens momentarily. If Charlie thinks things like overt displays of physical dominance are enough to scare him, he’s got another thing coming -- after growing up in a house with their father, Alex is pretty much desensitized to anything that Charlie could possibly try.

“And then you went to Caulfield,” he prompts expectantly, eyes narrowed shrewdly. It’s a standard interrogation tactic employed by the military: don’t give away any of the answer when the question is asked. Use prompts rather than specifics. Lets the detained person say what’s really on their mind, take the answer in the direction they want -- and usually, they’ll implicate themselves.

Alex isn’t that stupid. He blinks wide, guileless eyes, and nods slowly. “Yeah. Then I went to Caulfield.” He leaves Kyle out of the story for now. Flint knows, so it’ll come up at some point, but Alex isn’t eager to bring his friend into the tale, and it’s not really relevant at the moment, anyway. “I had to see them for myself, Charlie. I mean, aliens? It sounds like something out of a fucking Star Wars movie, not real life. I needed to see it. So I went.”

As he speaks, Alex is careful to maintain that careful air of naivete. The act balances on the knife’s edge between uselessness and innocence, and he needs to stay just on the side of innocence. If he takes it too far, Charlie will write him off as foolish and unhelpful, and that’s the last thing he wants -- but it’s important he play the awed younger brother just trying to follow in the family footsteps. That’s his ticket into the game.

Charlie nods, his expression no less guarded. “And?”

Christ, he’s not making this easy. Not that Alex had expected him to -- but it would have been nice.

“And it’s hard to deny the truth when you’re standing right in front of them,” Alex says bluntly, letting some of the incredulity and fear he’d felt in that place seep into his expression. It feels odd, to be so calculating of his every movement and facial tic around someone that’s supposed to be his family, but he doesn’t let that stop him from doing it anyway. “Dad’s right. You’re all right. There are fucking aliens invading our planet -- and I want to be part of trying to stop them.”

Silence echoes in the space between the two men, and Alex doesn’t look away from Charlie, doesn’t give him the chance to think that he might be lying. Instead, he lets that announcement sink in for a moment, then continues: “I know you’ve heard Dad saying that I’m weak for our entire lives, but I’ve served three tours on active duty, and did my time on the ground, just like the rest of you. I signed up to serve and protect my country, and I’ve done it. That’s part of who I am, now, and I can’t just ignore the alien threat. Dad may not like it, but I’m part of this family, too. Protecting people is in my DNA just as much as it is yours -- I want to be a part of Project Shepherd. I want to help.”

The lies taste like ash in his mouth, and everything integral to Alex’s being rebels against the idea of being just another Manes sheep with no free will of his own. He’s had literal nightmares about that, about what he could have been capable of if his father had been able to crush his will. But he knows what Charlie wants to hear -- it’s the same thing all of his brothers have wanted to hear for his entire life. They want him to be one of them, another nameless airman in the generational parade, want him to stop asking questions and fall in line. And, most importantly, Alex knows what Charlie will be willing to believe. He’s learned from experience that people remember their first encounters with a person more than anything else. And to Charlie, Alex is always going to be the little boy determined to follow in his big brother’s footsteps, desperate for approval and in need of protection and advice.

Charlie shifts his weight on his shiny, black boots, and looks at Alex steadily. “We’ve already got three people trying to run things here, Alex,” he says carefully, and the omission of ‘kid’ is either a sign of respect, or a signal that Charlie is trying to distance himself from Alex. Guessing which is dangerous, so Alex doesn’t try. “And even if I say yes, Dad’s not likely to be happy about it when he gets back. He’s been pretty clear about not wanting you onboard for a long time.”

He appreciates that Charlie doesn’t try to pretend that Jesse Manes gives two shits about Alex. It’s easier that way, with at least some honesty between them -- and Alex has always hated it when someone tried to tell him that his father does care about him. Fathers who love their sons don’t break their bones to show it. They don’t spend years attempting to reshape their souls with their fists, like it’s nothing more than clay on a potter’s wheel.

Alex snorts. “Dad’s never wanted me around, Charlie. That’s not news to me. But you said ‘when he gets back,’ right?” He’s walking the razor’s edge, now, and knows that if he over or under sells the act here, this is as far his mission will go. “If he’s not here, you’re running things.” It’s not a guess; Alex is no stranger to chain of command, and Charlie’s the highest ranking of the brothers by virtue of age, at the very least.

“I’ve been stateside for three days, Alex,” Charlie says with a sigh, running a hand over his shorn hair. It’s the first sign of stress that he’s shown since arrival, and it’s enough to tell Alex that he’s getting somewhere. Charlie wants the extra help, wants to have another person to depend on -- it’s a fair bet he’s got access to Alex’s personnel file, too, and knows that Alex has the skills to actually be helpful.

In other words, Alex has got an opening, and he’s going to exploit it.

“And I’ve only been in Roswell for less than twenty-four hours. Dad fucked off somewhere without any warning months ago, and Flint and Hunter have taken on most of the responsibility here. I can’t just read you in without talking to them first. It wouldn’t be right -- especially since Flint is pretty damned sure you purposefully blew up Caulfield with Kyle fucking Valenti.”

The words don’t particularly surprise Alex; of course Charlie and Flint would have been in contact in the last six months if they’ve been working together. To make matters worse, Flint likely would have contacted Jesse as soon as it happened. Alex can’t be certain, but he’d be willing to be that intel is why Jesse showed up in Roswell despite Alex’s warnings and tried to kill Kyle, around the same time Max brought Rosa back to life. So no, he’s not thrown off by the fact that Charlie knows more than he let on initially -- but it’s still irritating to have it thrown back in his face.

Alex narrows his eyes and crosses his own arms over his chest, keeping his weight perfectly centered on his legs to hide the ache that’s started in his bad knee from standing and posturing for so long. “Flint thinks I blew up a secure facility and nearly killed myself on purpose?” he asks, acid dripping from the words. “No wonder he’s been stuck in R&D for ten years. He’s clearly got no fucking common sense.”

Charlie quirks an eyebrow in an expression that Alex recognizes from looking in the mirror. “So you didn’t blow it up on purpose?”

“I didn’t blow it up at all!” Alex says, the anger in his exclamation genuine. He’s not willing to take all of those deaths on his conscience, not even in a lie. “Some security protocol went off and the whole damn base self-destructed before I could do much more than stare at an old woman through the glass door, and get some insane story about a cancer-causing alien that sent Valenti off the deep end.” He sits slowly at the computer desk and tapped out a short sequence on the keyboard. On the monitors, the security footage of Valenti Sr. being shoved into the alien’s containment unit and, presumably, contracting brain cancer. Alex watches steadily, refusing to waver now. “If I’d realized that Valenti was going to find out our father murdered his, I would’ve left him in Roswell.”

Talking about something that is still causing Kyle so much pain in such a cavalier fashion makes Alex hate himself. He wants to scream when Charlie just nods, his lips twisted in disdain, like Kyle’s reaction to realizing his father had been murdered was somehow pathetic instead of justified. Thankfully, Alex doesn’t have to work very hard to hide his reaction; both he and Charlie are looking at the screens. “My guess is that he cracked one of containment cells, trying to get at the one who gave Jim the tumor, and it sparked the self-destruct.”

Guerin hasn’t been mentioned thus far, and Alex knows Flint had no idea of his presence at Caulfield, so there’s no hesitation as Alex rewrites the truth to fit his needs. It would be stupid, if he didn’t know for a fact that Guerin’s not on any surveillance footage from that day -- Alex had been sure of that. He’d torn his way through the cyber defenses of whatever server the video had been backed-up on without any finesse and erased everything, practically daring them to trace the data trail back to him. It hadn’t been smart, but Alex hadn’t been in the right headspace to be smart, back then. Not after witnessing Michael losing his mother a moment after finding her. Not after their near-escape from a deadly explosion. Not after being shoved out of Michael’s life and losing the only sense of family he’d ever known for his best friend --

At the time, Alex had almost hoped they’d come for him.

But Guerin is safe, for now, because of that stupidity, so Alex can’t bring himself to regret it.

Charlie’s brows furrow as he digests that explanation, and Alex can see his certainty waver. In that moment, Alex goes for the throat -- figuratively, of course. “Charlie, please,” he says, closing the video on the server and spinning his chair back around to look at his brother head-on. “You and Flint and Hunter are the only family I’ve got left. And you know I can be useful. None of you have the tech skills that I do, or the inside knowledge of Roswell. I’ve been here for months. I still have roots and connections here that none of you do. I can help. All you have to do is let me. And when Dad gets back, I promise, he won’t be able to deny that I’ve done good work.”

As he speaks, Alex is eight and standing in the kitchen of the house they all grew up in, begging a twenty-year-old Charlie to stay home after their mother had finally had enough and left. Then it’s Charlie, coming back on leave and swinging a six-year-old Alex around while he laughs. Or Charlie, smirking as Alex proudly smashed a guitar over Flint’s head at twelve, or the man in uniform, boarding the plane to take him back to the Middle East with a small smile over his shoulder just for Alex, who’s fifteen and cradling a broken wrist against his chest. It’s almost easy to want Charlie to believe him, to want to truly be on his brother’s side -- because despite everything he knows about Project Shepherd and the horrible things his brothers have done, a small, childish part of Alex is always going to want their acceptance.

But as much as Alex cherishes the memories of Charlie’s kindness, he hates the feelings of helplessness and impotence they evoke more. Since enlisting, Alex has built his life on the pillars of control and logic, his own sort of power, to make up for the lack in his childhood, and stepping into this situation has cost him all that work.

But this is for Michael, for Liz and Kyle and everyone in that group who’d come to mean something to him, and for them, Alex will allow his foundations to crumble, if that’s what it takes. This is only shaking them a little -- and tonight, at least, Alex has the promise of returning home to the one person who always makes him feel safe and stable.

“I’ll talk to Flint and Hunter,” Charlie says after a long, fraught silence.

Alex can read the answer in his eyes, though -- he’s convinced the man that he can be trusted, and he’s done a good enough job that he can be sure Charlie will persuade the others one way or another. The calculating, ruthless part of his mind that Alex tries to keep locked down is pleased at the ease with which he manipulated Charlie -- the rest of him, the human parts, just feel cold.

“I can’t guarantee anything until I talk to them, and I’d be thinking of some specific ways to show them you’re worth the risk,” Charlie continues, and Alex’s stomach sinks. Proving his worth to an anti-alien task force is going to involve doing a lot of shit he doesn’t want to think about, he’s sure -- but that’s a problem for another day. He made it through today’s set, and Alex has every intention of taking the whole match. And he’ll have some time to plan, now -- if Hunter’s still in Afghanistan, as his records indicate, there’s no way Charlie will have a response for him in the next day or even two. Alex will make damn sure to take advantage of that time.

“Thanks, Charlie,” Alex says with a smile that rings false to himself, but would fool anyone who didn’t know him well -- which, ironically enough, described his brother perfectly.

“Don’t thank me yet,” the older man says with a grim twist of his lips, and for a moment, Alex wonders why he looks so unhappy. Is he really that worried about selling the idea to Flint and Hunter, who hang off of his every word? Or is this fear of their father -- reluctance to go against his will? Alex doesn’t know, but he wishes Charlie would stop looking at him with those pitying, worried eyes. It’s making it harder to keep the smile on his face.

To the younger brother’s unending surprise, Charlie pushes away from the wall he’s been leaning against and moves closer, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Take a couple of days of leave and think this over while I reach out, huh? This isn’t like the other ops you’ve been involved in. It’s not something you ever get to walk away from. Just -- remember that. Consider your options. You never wanted this life, kid, and you’ve already lost enough.” Dark eyes, so close in color to Alex’s own, sweep over his body to linger on his bad leg, and Alex shivers despite himself.

Shock jolts like electricity down Alex’s spine at the thinly-veiled warning, and he opens his mouth to ask why Charlie is suddenly so worried about his choices -- or maybe to deny that he wants anything but the mission? Alex isn’t even sure. But Charlie is already walking away by the time Alex pulls himself together enough to speak. “I’ll call when I’ve got an answer for you,” he says over his shoulder, deep voice echoing off of the cavernous walls of the bunker as he begins the ascent to the surface.

Alex stays seated in his desk chair long after Charlie disappears, staring at the blank wall in front of him. Doubt and insecurity encroaches on him, flickering like shadows in the corner of his mind, and for the first time, Alex allows himself to wonder if he’s gotten in over his head. For a long, dark hour, he lets his mind conjure one possible scenario after another, each one growing darker and darker, and all ending in the death of everyone he cares about. What if Charlie’s warning was a hint that they know his plan? What if his brothers are three steps ahead while Alex is lagging behind? What if they’re going after Guerin and the others as he sits here feeling sorry for himself? What if he loses the few parts of his soul that the war left him with?

Eventually, Alex can’t take it anymore. The walls of the bunker are closing in on him, and if he doesn’t leave this place soon, he’s not sure he’ll be able to pull himself out of the spiral Charlie’s warnings had started. It’s so stupid that he’s reacting this way -- but he’s been running on caffeine and adrenaline and sheer stubborn determination for the last thirty-six hours, and now that the immediate threat is past, everything else is crashing down on him at once. The burden he’d taken on. The responsibility he’s shouldering. The fact that to succeed in this mission, he’s going to have to send Charlie and the rest of his biological family to prison.

Usually, when he has moments like this, Alex finds himself sitting behind the bar at the Wild Pony, or in the middle of Liz’s living room, or even with Mimi DeLuca in her little apartment. Being alone had never been particularly good for Alex’s mental health, and he knows that none of them would turn him away.

But there’s only one other place he wants to be right now, and it’s not with any of them -- and for once, Alex is pretty sure that he won’t be turned away.

Drawing in a deep, determined breath, Alex stands slowly, finds his equilibrium, and points himself toward home.

[4wordletter]

@say-never

I’m curious though; did you see M blocking and deleting you multiple times as red flags? 

not particularly. i think she really did want to be with me and long distance was very frustrating for us both. i’m no angel, there were times where i definitely didn’t show as much love, care and attention as she deserved. i can really be an asshole at times, a real jerk. but at the end of the day she always knew i loved her and i always did my utmost to communicate that to her through my words and actions. every relationship has ups and downs but, with long distance, it’s difficult. you can’t just hold someone in your arms and share silence. you have to find words, and sometimes that’s really difficult. 

I don’t know, man. I still have to wonder why you keep her close. I understand that being manipulated can make someone into a person they’re not. I know you two have a long history, and a whole relationship full of nuances that I’m not privy to. I don’t know her or hardly anything about her, and I want to believe that she really is a sweet girl who was just in a terrible situation. maybe it isn’t my place at all to say anything, and I’m not asking you to do or change anything, by any means. 

you got it right in one, she is a really sweet girl. she has the best of intentions. she’s a good person. i strongly believe that her actions were not premeditated but were rather the result of constant badgering from her parents and an incessant undermining of her decisions. a key part of this is that M very much thrives on love and acceptance from her parents just as we all do. 

when that flow of love, respect and acceptance isn’t as strong as it ought to be, we start to shape our lives in such a way to try to strengthen that flow. we want to feel that love and support. we need it. we want to be praised and told we’re doing a good job. out of everyone in the world we want to hear that from our parents. we all do.

you’re right about the terrible situation. the situation was that her parents lost faith in me as soon as i showed signs of weakness or failure. on april 12 2016, i flopped. i failed big time. you know the story about the anxiety. despite my best efforts i never regained any respect in their eyes. they viewed me as a flake, a loser. i was instantly “not good enough” and they used their power over M to drive this point home to her and she in turn drove these points home to me as well.

right up until december 2016 she was told by her parents that i wouldn’t come. she was told that i would leave her standing at the altar (they knew way in advance i wanted to marry her). she was told that it would take me visiting her twice before she should visit me (fundamentally saying, don’t you dare visit him). she was pretty much forced into canceling her trip to see me in august. i know that she wanted to come but if she did decide to visit me (despite me not having gone in april) then her decision would be criticized over and over and over until it was unbearable. so, she didn’t come.

before i came, her mother would keep repeating to her “i don’t know why he’s coming, i don’t understand why he’s coming”. all of this must have been extraordinarily hard to deal with. very hard indeed. not only did she have no faith in me (which, let’s be honest, was quite fair) but she had these two people badgering her with their own take on the matter. and the takes were never good. 

i wrote long messages explaining that i wasn’t a flake, i wasn’t a loser. it fell on deaf ears and there was never a reply to those messages. M said her parents were just busy, but really, all was lost at that point. i had already failed. they’d put our relationship in a coffin at that point, ready to bury.

that’s one side of the terrible situation. the other side is after i visited. i did attempt to connect with her parents on a deep level. i sat them down and ostensibly those conversations went well. my aim was to allay the fears they had. i outlined my plan with M (proposal, moving there, etc) and stated my dedication to her and E in no uncertain terms. i connected everything back to God such that my conversations were woven together in a nice little bundle with a bow on top. i spilled my heart to them. my eyes watered just a little when i related my feelings for M & E to a bible story we’d just had a sermon on that week. 

these conversations were in no way meant to be persuasive. my aim wasn’t to try to convince anyone of anything, but rather to make a statement to say: here i am, here are my intentions. i knew they thought i was a flake and a loser and i used these opportunities to show just a glimpse of the “real” me: genuine, loving, caring, dedicated and loyal.

but again it fell on deaf ears. i had made a comment about how i’d even work at walmart if i had to, i’d do anything to support my girls. this, of course, is hyperbole i used to drive the point home: i was dedicated. they decided to twist it into me saying i wanted to work at walmart. they used that against me to tell M that walmart wasn’t good enough and that they’d need a higher quality of life than that.

essentially all my conversations were twisted and turned into something awful. i don’t know what. i do know that M was fed a lot of very strange thoughts and ideas, like me being in the mafia. what was M to do? she was living under their roof. she wanted their love and support. look at what they were doing to her.

now, if you look at this picture i’m painting for you, you’ll see 3 victims and not just one. you’ll see that M never had a moment to think straight. having a ring on your finger can make even the calmest person nervous. her parents took those nerves and amplified them a hundredfold to such a degree that her anxiety reached a fever pitch and - before you know it, the ring is in a box, secreted away by her mother to the post office.

that feeling must have been an overwhelming concoction of relief and sadness. relief in the sense that there was no engagement and therefore nothing for her parents to bash her over. yet, sadness that she was doing this to someone she loved.

this says nothing about E. she loved me dearly, we had a very pure connection that i’ve gone over in other posts. i strongly feel that M’s parents were motivated by a desire to hold on to E, to hold on to their connection they had with her. i think that they felt threatened by me. 

they felt i was going to swoop in and steal E away from them. this was made quite apparent during my visits because there was rarely a moment when E wasn’t by their side. we had to include them in everything and they even went as far as to say that M & E weren’t “allowed” to stay with me in my airbnb. on the last day of my trip M’s mother was quite insistent that E go to daycare instead of spending time with me. 

bear in mind that the context of this was that her parents had also forced E to stop calling me “dada” and forced M & E to drastically cut down the time we spent together. whenever her parents were near, M would turn the laptop away from them so they couldn’t see me. i think she would be chastised if she didn’t.

so. i’m home from my second trip and while i’m flying home, they’re chipping away at M and filling her head with nonsense and anxiety. as you know, the day i landed back home (or while i was in the air, i think?) - M started to receive the same emails that she had in the last couple months from a computer hacker. i’m not really sure who or what or if it was a virus or something like that.

i didn’t think much of it, i just figured it would go away. but it didn’t. at all. they kept coming. on the one hand i was trying to talk to M about what was happening between us, and on the other i was trying to make these emails stop. we changed a zillion passwords and i felt so useless that i couldn’t stop these emails.

on the sidelines, M’s parents used this as a prime opportunity. it was me who sent the emails all along. i think their logic was that i did it to get back at M for calling off our engagement. that i was so angry with her that i sent these emails.

the words “you’re a prime suspect” are branded into my brain. i’ll never forget the feeling of being called that. my stomach lurched when i heard her say that. i’d been trying for days calling her, trying to see if she was okay. when i finally did, that’s what she told me. i was a prime suspect.

i begged and pleaded to take the next flight out and come see her. i felt so fucking lost and frustrated. so alienated and defeated. that’s when my desire to die kicked in. right then. i begged her to let me come. her reply was “my mom says not to come here”

i cannot describe the frustration i felt. HOW could they possibly think that the man who sat them down and confessed his love for their daughter and granddaughter with near tears in his eyes was capable of this? not only that, but how does it make sense for me to do that? surely if i wanted to hurt her, i would want her to know it was me? and if i didn’t want her to know it was me, why would i attempt to hurt her at such an obvious time? it doesn’t make any sense to me.

nah, this email thing came at the “perfect” time. even before those emails they were trying to get rid of me with mafia this, walmart that. just little things they would use to chip away at M’s confidence in me. the email thing was a weapon they used against us both. they pinned the blame square on my shoulders. i’d gone from a guy who made 4 transatlantic flights in 3 months just to see THEM (i stress, THEM!!! i wanted to see her parents as well as M & E, they were my future family ffs) to some asshole computer hacker who sent out lame emails as some kind of revenge?

it’s bullshit. it’s all so much bullshit. i don’t buy it at all. as soon as M’s mum found out she was talking to me she ransacked her room. threatened her with being kicked out. yelled at her in restaurants. M knew i never sent those emails. she’d known me forever. she knew i wasn’t capable of 1. such stupidity and 2. such pure malice. she couldn’t convince her parents otherwise and neither could i. they’d painted me black and that was that.

that’s the full picture. do you see the 3 victims now? me, M, and E. fundamentally i believe they wanted to keep E to themselves and make absolutely sure she was being raised exactly how they wanted, in terms of schooling, religion, etc. i don’t think they felt M and myself would be capable of raising E together. they had no faith in me in any capacity.

so, yes. i maintain a friendship with M because in a way, it means they didn’t win. they didn’t defeat us entirely. whatever semblance of a connection we have left after all that is proof that somehow, we survived. they tried their damndest and they couldn’t defeat us. we’re still friends. nothing they did to convince her that i was evil worked. 

M is able to make her own choice and she chooses to talk to me of her own volition. they don’t know, so they can’t fill her head with nonsense or threats. they can’t threaten to kick her out now or any of these things. she wins. they destroyed everything else she’d built up with me, but not the fundamental connection.

we talk very little, but when we do, it’s immensely healing. the heartache i felt for months and months thinking that she thought i was this monster. when she speaks it’s healing because i know that she sees me for who i really am. she knows i’m not that monster. she knows we didn’t deserve what happened. 

no matter the distance either in time or space, we’ll always be friends. the romance is dead, certainly, but something more pure lives on - friendship, companionship. i find these qualities much more rewarding.

i hope that makes things clear. i find M to be a positive influence. she’s a great person, a great mom, a hard working student. i’m still proud to know her and to have known her. 

something arose from the rubble and the ash, and that is something that should be nurtured. it’s a pure, wholesome connection. we’re not trying to impress each other. we’re not trying to be sexy or seductive. we enjoy each other’s company. she’s just as funny and silly, still as fascinating and captivating. that’s not something i’d throw away. i’ve said it to you, too: these connections are rare. very rare indeed.

[storiesfromanothertime]

I’m going to start prozac today.

What are my goals? To feel like I have control over my life again. To feel like I can leave my job, or even leave my apartment, without tremendous anxiety and effort. I want to make the life that I want. I don’t want to feel like a prisoner anymore.

I wake up in the middle of the night and never fall completely back asleep, because of the racing thoughts.

On my days off, I sit at my desk, alone, and think of 100 things I want to do but can’t bring myself to get up and go do them. My thoughts race, nonstop. I spend a lot of my shifts in a negative headspace about how much I can’t stand being around certain people. I have doctors appointments I need to go to, but can’t bring myself to make appointments or go.

I fight with Steven constantly. But at this stage, I am convinced/certain that it’s a result of his poor mental health, his inability to understand much of anything going on/conversation/things I say/mean, that I am being manipulated by him daily simply for existing. I want to feel strong enough to leave this situation. I want to get away from the trauma bond he and I have, because I am certain that he’s the most toxic individual I have in my life. And i’m tired of being a Renfeld. 

I’m convinced he’s messed with my computer when I wasnt home. I noticed an icon on my desktop a week ago that said there was a microphone running, something I had never seen before. I immediately turned off that access. Today I got an alert from my bank that someone accessed my bank, using my password, while I was on shift at work and not accessing my account. I went into the access history and it’s been happening almost daily. I changed my account passwords and had it sign me out of every instance I was logged into. In addition, i’m adding a password to my home desktop and changing the lock on my phone. I have nothing to hide, except a large emergency account for when I leave. But it horrifies me that he might be responsible, though. I am giving benefit of the doubt for now. But I am skeptical. 

Things were going well for us, for about a month. And then he sexually assaulted me one night when I decided to drink at home. To write all about it here would be too awful. I’ve been horrified, confused ever since and all I know for sure is that this person has hurt me hundreds of times and will continue if I don’t find a way out. I have over 10k saved for when the time is right, but I can’t figure out where to go from here. I’m alone. 

I am keeping this journal because on a daily basis, my partner accuses me of things I am not doing. They emotionally abuse and manipulate me. They treat me as though I am only my trauma. They treat me like asking for basic relationship stuff is some trauma response. They overstep every boundary I make and tell me that I earned it. I’ve grown to hate him. Especially now, I just feel like my life will be so much happier when i’m able to get out. But I guess. for now, there’s Prozac.

[rainsonata]

A Boy and His Cube

Fandom/Shipping(s): Elsword, none Rating: K Word Count: 1,477

Summary: It’s hard to get work done when sharing a house with five other people. Arc’s fascination with Apocalypse is enough to make Mastermind reconsider if teaching his younger self was a good idea.

Christmas gift for a friend.

Mastermind sat cross legged on the sofa as he took a long sip from his coffee mug with his eyes strained on the monitors. Wrapping himself with the wool blanket from his room, he refused to be caught wearing those ugly Christmas sweaters Psyker was so proud to show to him with a matching pair (“We can be twins!”) as he cackled at his own joke. Never was he so horrified to put up with the brawler’s stupid humor. 

With five other occupants in the house he shared with his counterparts, it was a rarity for the scientist to have the living room to himself. The only sound audible outside of the music playing from Dynamo was from his keyboard as he typed away. After yesterday’s dungeon run with Esper and Psyker, he wanted to input his data before making important decisions on updating his weapons again. He moved to the next line in his report when he heard a crash from the room next to him and stopped.

Closing his monitors, Mastermind threw off his blanket with some reluctance and was met with cold air that made him wish he didn’t leave his seat. When he poked his head into the room next door, he was met with a set of identical magenta eyes belonging to Arc, who was having a staring contest with Apocalypse. The cat cube hissed at his younger self as it speeds over to where Mastermind was to hide behind the scientist.

“What are you doing?” Mastermind ignored Apocalypse nudging itself against his leg for attention.

“Nothing,” the Arc Tracer said with an innocent smile.

Mastermind squinted at Arc. Did he have to install a security camera in the cat cube to monitor what his younger self was doing when he turned away? To answer the rhetorical question, he already did.

Despite his complaints of never having the sufficient time to get through all his personal projects, Mastermind did make time to run through the recordings every now and again. Part of it was curiosity in seeing how long it would take Arc to break through the protected codes he gave him when they first met. The reason why he decided to monitor Arc in the first place was because-

“Unlocking Apocalypse from the back of his ears won’t work,” he said

“What?” Arc looked away when Mastermind hid his amusement with a stoic facade.  The tracer mistaken the expression as disappointment and said, “Why would I want to unlock Apochan?”

A loud snort erupted from Mastermind with the scientist covering his mouth. No longer able to control himself, he leaned his head over as he laughed at the nickname Arc gave to the cat cube. Apocalypse meowed at its shortened name, peeking from behind Mastermind to steal a glance at Arc before hiding again.

It took a minute or so for Mastermind to regain his composure and look at Arc again, stopping himself from chuckling at his younger self’s worried expression.

“You can’t take it apart,” Mastermind picked up Apocalypse and held it against his chest to scratch it behind the ears. The cat cube vibrated with a soft purr in content, its ears laid flat against its head.

“I want to see how it’s built,” Arc protested when it became clear that Mastermind didn’t believe his lies. “Give me the codes.”

“No,” he gave Arc a stern look. “That’s what the files I gave you are for.”  

When they first met, the brat demanded this too, not even a proper introduction of who he was, where he was from, or why he was here. Codes, codes, Esper, codes. The files he gave Arc were meant to unlock when the tracer found a way to break through the password protected archives. With his laziness however, Arc seemed to spend more time talking to Psych and playing with his toys than putting effort into the help Mastermind tried to give him.     

Maybe Psyker was right, he was beginning to sound like a parent with all these lectures and talks he had had with Arc. Mastermind frowned at the thought of being someone’s father, but pushed it away. Was this really the time to think about that topic?   

“I’m still working on them,” Arc complained. “It won’t listen to me when I try to test it out and you have passwords for your passwords! Don’t you trust me?”

“No.”      

“But I am you!”

“That’s exactly why I don’t trust you,” Mastermind said. “Harassing my inventions aren’t going to get you answers”

Impulsive, ambitious, and no shame in digging deep into things to satisfy his own curiosity. Give the tracer one set of codes and the brat would demand for another. Arc was already forming poor sleeping habits because of his influence and his hair was getting longer if not for Psych reminding him for the occasional trim. He was more like Mastermind than what he was comfortable with. The house didn’t need two lazy scientists.

“Why did you even give it emotions?” Arc eyed the cube, who sank its weight into Mastermind’s arms to glare at the tracer. “It doesn’t need that to function.”

Of course it isn’t, Mastermind scowled. It happened because of his attempt to install a personality core for it to emulate a cat, preferably the aloof and destructive side of them. While it displayed the desired personality traits when assisting him in battle mode, it had a cuddly side that appreciated sitting on his lap and demanding attention when it felt ignored for too long. It was a glitch that only seemed to exist when it exited battle mode and left to idle around his lab.

“A little accident,” Mastermind shrugged and held up the cube to see it tremble when it saw Arc staring at it. “It can still fight, so no reason to change what already works. Look at it, you’re giving it anxiety.”

Arc looked at it with guilt visible on his face. Aha, so he did have feelings other than being smug and whining to him about research. Reaching his hand out to the cube, he let Apocalypse look at it for a few seconds before petting it with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, Apo.” He scratched behind its ears. Apocalypse’s concerned expression was replaced with content with it chirping when it heard its nickname. Arc asked, “If you won’t tell me about Apo, can you give me a hint at least for the codes? I promise I’ll help you next time with an experiment!”

He said he would come, but how much help would he be? Mastermind mused his options of letting his pupil snoop around his lab again with his consent. It wasn’t a bad idea if he was being honest. Better than leaving the tracer alone to his own devices and growing bored. Besides, it’s been a few weeks since Arc last came to him for help on cracking the new set of codes he gave him. It wouldn’t hurt to nudge him a little bit to the right direction.  

“No plans with Psych tomorrow?” Mastermind raised a brow when he thought about those two and sometimes Time tagging along for their own dungeon excursions and gods know what trouble they were up to outside the house.

“I said I would help,” he insisted. “Tell me when.”

Placing Apocalypse back to the ground, Mastermind let it fly off to another room, probably in search for the bubble wrap Esper dropped in the living room. He crossed his arms and with a sly smile, “Tomorrow morning after breakfast. Don’t forget to wake up.”

“And you’ll wake up?” Arc asked with sarcasm.

Mastermind grinned, “Who said anything about that?”

Arc dropped his smile and snarled at the word ‘morning’. Both were aware how bad they were with mornings and waking up at noon wasn’t an anomaly, but he didn’t expect Mastermind to subject himself to that. He had a feeling Mastermind would take an early nap to wake up at 4am and stay up until morning before passing out again later that day.     

The tracer glared at Mastermind, “Fine.”

Mastermind slapped his younger self on the back, “Then it’s settled. See you tomorrow~”

“Asshole,” he overheard Arc grumble when the tracer left to go back to his own business.

The scientist chuckled, “Glad to help.”

Even if it meant having to wake up early like a normal human being, having someone to talk to in his lab was something that didn’t happen enough and it was almost enough to make Mastermind eager. When he found Apocalypse occupying the spot where he sat earlier today, he tried coaxing it away, but it remained there until Mastermind joined it on the opposite side of the sofa. Opening his monitors again, he went back to where he left off before he was rudely interrupted by his younger self. 

[hoenytae]

Dream

Word Count: 3.8k Genre: Angst/Fluff Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Description: You had picture the exciting reactions that you would get from him when you tell him that you're pregnant. But you soon realize that you shouldn't have get your expectations high because you would only have it crashed down in front of you. It is related to Mirage.

The noise of a metal rattling and clicking suddenly feels too loud for your ears. And the greater amount number of the clock ticking the greater your anxiety level increases. You take a glance on your wall where your vintage clock attached and another deep of sigh falling out of your lips. 

It has been an hour past midnight.

He breaks his promise, again. Is he still in his studio? He probably got caught out with his works. You thought to yourself. As a result of two years living together with him, you know his habits like the back of your hand. The loud sound of notification from your phone interrupts your train of speculations and in a flash, you grab your phone that is lying next to your body on the sofa. You had sent him few texts asking where he is, what he was doing, and if he has eaten or not because you worry he may be skipping his meals again, but the reply never comes. You had tried to call him as well but it went straight to the mailbox.

Your nose scrunches in displeased when you see the sender of the message. It is not from the person you expected it would be. There is not even a single text coming from him yet. It is just one of your friend who claims that she sees Yoongi.

Wait. She sees Yoongi? Where?

You immediately unlock your phone and click on your friend’s message.

01:20 am: I thought you said you couldn’t come because you wanted to celebrate your anniversary with Yoongi? But it seems like he’s celebrating something else.

01:20 am: You had received a photo.

Your heart immediately drops down to your stomach the moment you see the picture. Both corners of your wavering eyes moisten, your mouth is automatically parted from the shock, and you can not think of anything because it feels like your world is churning. Another sound of an incoming message makes you slowly sliding the screen upwards, your finger is shaky as you are nervous to know what the picture may look like. A droplet of liquid eventually makes its way down from your eyes, after the picture of a guy sitting next to a woman with his face way too close to your liking to hers and his arms wrapped around the woman appeared on your phone. You wish you do not know who they are, but in fact, you clearly recognize those two people in the picture.

01:21 am: Seriously?

01:21 am: Leave this fucking cheater, he doesn’t deserve you.

That is the last message you read before you press the locked button on your phone. You decide to not reading it anymore further, because the more you see it, the more your heart crumples in pain. You hate this. You hate knowing this. Why? Why does he choose to hurt you among all of the people he knows? Why does among all people you know it has to be him that hurt you? Why does it hurt so much? Why do you feel like you can not breathe? Why does it feel like your world is ending? Why does it have to happen right now? Why?

The dining table is already filled with his favorite foods, which probably had turned cold by now. The candles that you previously lit a few hours ago had died down by now. You purposely put a small effort to make your simple anniversary dinner a little romantic. You are not the best cooker but you had spent hours trying to cook what he likes, especially for this kind of special occasion. However, in the end, your excitement turns into grief. Your imagination to spend a pleasant dinner with him shatters into pieces.

You drop your head in between your folded legs, as your arms tightly circled around your legs. You can’t control your falling tears, your sob echoes in the darkness of the empty apartment you two shared. Your head aches in a massive throb, it feels like both side of your head are pressed together. And you feel the burning feeling in your chest that slowly makes you suffocate. To a point where it is even hard for you to control your breathing.

You are broken.

The picture your friend sent to you earlier once again emerges in your head. You shake your head in an attempt to erase the memory out of your mind, but you can’t. It is difficult for you to believe what you see, he chooses her. He eventually chooses her over you. The girl he told you not to worry about, the girl he had spent months on working with, the girl he had donated almost all of his free time, the girl he said he would want to help because of her talent that might be gone wasted. And it was the same girl you once asked him to choose between you or her. He chose you, then. But obviously, he had changed his decision.

He missed your anniversary dinner. He missed the celebration for the important day of your relationship so he could attend her birthday party. Is she more important than you now? The answer is probably yes. You are less important, you are no longer his top priority, you had been replaced.

After another hour passes and you finally hear your front door being unlocked, you instantly know it was him as none else knows the password of your house, unless he tells his side chick your house’s password. You are standing in the hallway, waiting for him to come and ready to bombard him with your questions when you hear his footsteps approaching.

He doesn’t bother to turn on the light as he walks, you see him stumble on his step, struggling to walk forward. You squint your nose the moment he takes a step closer to you, from where you are standing you can smell the scent of alcohol coming very strong from his body.

“You’re still awake?”

You feel a pang on your chest upon the first words that come out of his mouth when he sees you standing in his way. He doesn’t even bother to apologize first for missing out something special.

“Have you been crying?” He asks again, without a single slight of concern in his voice. Your eyes are swollen because of the amount of tear you had shed. And even now, you still find it very difficult to fight the tears from falling.

He heaves out a sigh as he nonchalantly walks past you, unsteadily striding to the kitchen. You follow him with your gaze and you watch every move he makes, therefore you don’t fail to witness the way he doesn’t bother to take a glance at your dining table as he goes straight to the refrigerator to grab himself a cold water.

Despite the amount of alcohol he drank, Yoongi is still aware of his surroundings, let alone the stare that you had been giving him. He knows you had been watching him. He soon places his drink on the flat surface of the kitchen countertops and he turns around while leaning against it, folding his hands in front of his chest as he stares back at you.

You are standing a few meters away from him. But he can see the anger that is boiling inside of you. He can feel the unpleasant atmosphere plunges against him. He slowly raises his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. He is physically and mentally tired of having a fight with you, to him most of the arguments you two had are completely unnecessary. He is already having a rough night, also the alcohol is currently consuming most part of his system.

He doesn’t want to deal with you right now. He makes his way out of the kitchen, ignoring your presence and he moves his body towards the bedroom. But the hand that grabs him by his arm had successfully stopped him on his track.

“Tsk! What now?” He lazily asks, turning his face slightly to peek at you. “I’m so tired, if you want to fight, can we do it tomorrow?”

“No, I need to know where have you been? What were you doing? And why did you not reply to my texts or answer my phone?”

“I was out with friends and we had a little celebration. That’s it.”

“Celebration of what? Of your side chick’s birthday party?” Your voice sounds sarcastic.

“My side chick?! I thought this topic is over.”

“It is not over when you’re literally out there, hugging her and kissing her cheek!”

“It’s her birthday and it’s just a friendly gesture. How did you even know? Are you spying on me? Oh God! You are so disgusting. This is why I’m so tired of you.”

“Friendly gesture?! If I am so disgusting to you, why don’t you just live with her?!”

“You don’t have to tell me. I will, I will! I am so done with you anyway! When will you stop being such a sensitive and jealous bitch?!”

Your temper is flaring and rage boils through your body. Your body shaking at every single word he says to you. He just calls you a bitch. You lift your hand and you throw it forward as hard as you can, whipping it across his face. There is a crack sound of skin contacting with skin echoes off the walls. Your palm is red, just like the mark he has on his cheek. He shuts his eyes and slowly his hand makes its way to his red cheek.

“Fuck you, Yoongi. We do not need an asshole like you!” You nearly scream at him, despite the sob that chokes you. You lunge forward, hitting him on his shoulder as you march toward the front door. You do not even bother to take any of your belongings out with you when you leave the house. You just do not want to be there, you just want to go, far away from him. You do not have extra clothes, you do not have anything but your phone.

The weather outside is pretty chilly, and the cardigan you are wearing isn’t thick enough to block the cold wind that blows hard against your body. You rub your palms against your arms while you are dragging yourself away from the place you called home for the past two years.

You don’t know where to go, you just let your feet drag you along the way. You had a thought of making a call to your friends. However, if you do, you are scared you will only bother them because it is already dawn, and they are probably peacefully sleeping. So you choose to keep on walking, hoping you may be able to find a place for you to wait until morning comes.

You place your hand on your stomach, stroking it gently. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry I couldn’t able to tell your dad about you. I guess it will be just the two of us from now on.” You say quietly, you had already planned to tell Yoongi about it on your anniversary. You even had pictured his reaction on your head. You know he will very happy to hear the news.

You deeply sigh. But then it was only the reaction you imagined by yourself. After what you heard from him today, you are not so sure anymore. He said that you were disgusting and the way he said it sounds like he really meant it. He probably thinks you and your baby are just a burden to his life. He doesn’t love you anymore, so why would he want a child coming from your womb? He definitely will hate your baby. No, you can’t let it happen. You can’t let him know about your pregnancy.

“Ack!” The sudden pain in your lower stomach makes you wince. You crouch down and bite your lower lip as you are enduring the pain. You press your hand against your stomach. You raise your head up, looking around for a help, but there is nobody in sight.

“Don’t worry, honey. I will make sure you’re alright.” You whisper. “You will be alright.” The last few sentences are barely passing through your mouth before your vision becomes extremely disorienting and darkness starts clouded your eyes.

You can feel the pain in your head as you are slowly opening your eyes, the light that shines throughout the room is a little bit too bright for you. You blink your eyes few times, adjusting your vision, everything seems so unfamiliar, you look around and it takes you a few minutes before you realize that you are in a hospital, your gaze finally lands on the head of the man that sleeps on your stomach. You don’t even need to see his face to know who that is.

“Yoongi…” You call him almost inaudibly, your throat feels so dry, you are so thirsty you need to drink yet you can’t move as Yoongi presses you against your bed. “Yoongi.” You call his name again, trying to wake him up and finally he raises his head up to look at you.

You notice the worried expression on his face and you also notice his eyes are red and moist, just like yours. He must have been crying himself to sleep.

“How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything? Does anything feel hurt? Do you want me to call the doctor?” His questions come out like a train.

“I’m thirsty.” You tell him and without a second, he grabs the glass of water beside your bed. You gulp down the water and mutter a small thank you at him.

“I’m so worried about you. The moment you ran out of the house, I feel like I’m the shittiest person in the whole world so I ran after you and I saw you lying on the ground. My heart almost stopped. I’m so scared. I can’t think straight. Oh God! I’m so sorry.” He says as guilt washes all over him.

You keep on silence and you avoid his gaze. You do not want to let yourself be fooled by his words. The only reason why he says this to you now is just because he sees you almost dying on the street.

“And…when are you going to tell me about our baby?” His question caught you out of guard.

“H-How do you know?”

“I found your pregnancy test on the floor. You must have dropped it when you rushed out of the house. You told me, ‘WE don’t need you’. We. It just somehow comes in place together. So, when are you going to tell me?”

You sigh, trying to suppress the anger that starts building inside you. “On the day you forgot our anniversary, the day you missed out anniversary dinner, the day you chose her over me, the day you called me a bitch, the day you said you would leave me for her.”

“Baby…”

“Don’t baby me. We’re over, Yoongi. I will raise this kid by myself. So you don’t have to worry about it. You can leave.”

“Babe, don’t be like this. I know I’m such an asshole. I’m such a jerk. But please, don’t cut me out of your life and also my own child’s life.”

“No, Yoongi. You don’t deserve to call it your child.”

“Honey, I know you’re still angry with me, but please let me be there throughout your pregnancy. Let me stay by your side. Let me be the father of our child.”

“Let me be the father my ass.” You mutter to yourself as you slowly regain your conscious back from your sleep. Your mind is still hazy but you already feel so irritated. You look over to your side and you find Yoongi still caught in his own deep sleep. The sight alone annoyed you, how dare he sleeping soundly when he just ruined your sleep. How dare he putting his arm around you after being such an ass and coming to your dream. How dare he looking so beautiful while sleeping with his shirt off. You moan in annoyance. It is still early in the morning but everything is already so aggravating to you.

Hence, you remove Yoongi’s arm from your middle part and roll a little bit to the other side of the bed before you swing your leg to his side until he falls down from the bed. You can hear a loud thump sound as his body hit the floor along with his voice groaning in pain soon afterward. And somehow, bothering him in the morning brings a satisfying smile to your face.

“What is wrong with you!?” He rubs his bare ass that just collided with the cold tile floor of your bedroom. His voice sounds a bit hoarse from his sleep. His hair is messy, his eyes are slightly squinted but he looks so beautiful as the ray of morning sun light kisses his bare skin.

“Yoongi. You are naked and so ugly in the morning.”

“Good morning to you too, beautiful.” He says sarcastically. You roll your eyes the moment his sarcasm rings through your ears. “Why are you attacking me early in the morning?” He slides back onto the bed, under the converter.

You get up to sit on your bed. “Because you cheated on me! You kissed that wine lady! You called me a bitch! You said you would live with her and leave me and my baby alone! So I left you and I fainted on the street and you didn’t even care! You, careless idiot cold hearted bastard.” You point your finger at him as you huff.

“Huh? Babe….” He looks at you with a confused look crossed over his face.

“What?!” You snap.

“What are you talking about? None of it ever happened.”

“It happened last night Min Yoongi!”

“What? What do you mean? All I can remember from last night was you seducing me and begging me to go harder and faster until you fall asleep.” As he finishes his sentence, a smirk makes its appearance on his face.

“Shut up! Min Yoongi, you missed our anniversary dinner! I cooked everything but you just left me waiting for you to come home but you never come!” You take a deep breath after you finish your sentence. You don’t remember the last time you ever speak that fast until you run out of breath.

“Wha-?” He raises his eyebrow in confusion. He knows that your anniversary is not last night, it already passed and you two celebrated it together two months ago. “Uh, oh my God! Are you talking about your dream last night?” He said as the realization starts hitting him. It has been happening frequently ever since your pregnancy reaches its 2nd stage. You always wake up, getting all worked up because of your dream. You had told him once that all of your dreams feel so real. Sometimes you will wake him up while crying your eyes out and starts blaming Yoongi for being mean to you. And also some of the time you will become so clingy and giggly, saying that Yoongi is the sweetest man you ever met and you are lucky to have him. From the bottom of his heart, Yoongi wishes that kind of dream comes more often but unfortunately the most frequent one is the one that always makes you angry the moment you open your eyes in the morning.

“Yes! It feels so real. So annoying!” You pucker your lips forward. Yoongi shakes his head at the view. Well, your pregnancy symptoms do annoy the hell out of him but he can’t help but think you are cute. He always thinks you are cute but looking at you having a hard time controlling your emotions because of what-he-gave-you is even cuter to him. He chuckles and pulls you into his arms.

“It was just a dream, baby. You know I shouldn’t risk my life by calling you a name you don’t like. You also know I did nothing but attend her birthday’s party, just to show my respect. And I would never leave you or our baby.” He gently shifts his hand to your showing bump. “Ah and you also know, I’m the one who always cooks in this house. You don’t even know how long does it take to cook a rice.” He chortles a short laugh and kisses the side of your head.

You lightly hit his arm that is wrapped around you, annoyed by his insult. Although you find yourself relaxes into his embrace. Yoongi always has his way to make you feel better. Yoongi isn’t someone who will show how much he cares for you in front of you, but you know he is the most caring person you had ever met. Yoongi will sometimes insult you or annoy you, but you know he will never let you get hurt. Yoongi isn’t someone who will buy you flowers on a date, but he is someone who is always there whenever you need a shoulder to lean on. Yoongi isn’t someone who says I love you every day but you know, he is the one who loves you the most. And you know you are lucky to have each other.

“Baby, can you promise me one thing?” He murmurs against your head.

“Hm?”

“Please remind me not to get you pregnant again.” He tightens his hold on your body and nestled his chin on your shoulder. You click your tongue against the roof of your mouth while rolling your eyes in disbelief. He continued. “Babe seriously. Be me for one day and enjoy your mood swings.”

“Be me for one day and enjoy the overflowing hormones.” You retort back.

“I can never win against you.” He says, placing a quick kiss on your cheek.

“So?” You reply with another snappy answer.

“So?” He copies the way you speak before he starts pondering. “Umm, soo..”

“What?” You side glanced him, curious of his thoughts. He probably thinks for another witty retort to say to you, you thought to yourself. You know how he hates losing in an argument.

“Nothing. I’m just thinking probably we should call our child with that.” His shocking answer makes you choke on your breath. You immediately snap your head to look at him with your furrowed brow.

“What? Isn’t that cute?” His expression shows how persistent he is with the name.

You bite back your laughter as he continues his ramble about the name, saying that it is simple and kind of similar with his stage name and he doesn’t need a lot of effort to call his child later on because he thinks the other names are too much work for him.

[blatherkatt]

Title: The Calm Is Terrifying When The Storm Is All You Know [Homestuck]

Chapter 8: Negotiations 

Summary: There were two kinds of trolls who went to Earth: rich shitheads with too much money and free time, and desperate assholes who couldn’t survive on Alternia, even with the best efforts of the young Condesce. Karkat hated the planet almost immediately, but with his home planet too dangerous for mutants, he really didn’t have any choice but to hide out on this weird little diurnal planet. At least he’d be safe. Or so he thought, right before blundering his way into an accidental friendship with the son of an anti-troll terrorist.

Rating: M

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of neglect and abuse, mentions of terrorism, actions of highly questionable legality 

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Terezi’s apartment was a disaster of impressively clashing colors, but the horrendous color scheme aside, it had a definite comfortable feel to it. Pyralspite immediately pushed inside and curled herself up in a bed tucked into a small indent in the wall and looked in Terezi’s direction expectantly. Terezi chattered at the dragon in Alternian, and while Dirk couldn’t parse the words at all, he easily recognized the tone; it was the same way his mother spoke when fussing at Rose’s cat.  Terezi left her cane against the wall by the door, apparently not needing it in her own home, and fetched a jar of…something Dirk couldn’t identify and didn’t want to. She took out a couple pieces of whatever was inside and fed them to Pyralspite.

She looked up at Karkat and Dirk as she did this. “I’d say you two will have to figure out who gets the couch and who sleeps on the floor,” she said, “But Karkat basically never sleeps, so that’s a pretty easy call to make.”

“Fuck off,” said Karkat. Terezi waved a hand at him dismissively.

“Anyway,” she said, “Ablution block’s just over that-away, Karkat. You haven’t been able to change your clothes for, what, a week? And I doubt you’ve had a chance to get cleaned up in that time, either, so you go right ahead, you got first dibs.” Karkat shot her a grateful look (not that she would know, but, well.) and scuttled off. “As for me,” Terezi said, heading for what Dirk assumed was her bedroom, “I’m gonna get the fuck out of my uniform.”

“Before you do,” Dirk said, “Could you maybe give me the Wifi password? Promised Mom and Rose I’d Skype them soon as I could.”

“It’s on the side of the fridge,” Terezi said, disappearing into her room.

A few minutes later saw Dirk on Terezi’s balcony (the view from which was hilariously terrible, but the air was clearer than in most parts of the city, at least).  Settling himself into a chair with his laptop settled on his legs, Dirk sent the call out to both his sister and his cousin. Roxy answered the Skype call almost immediately, which wasn’t exceptionally surprising. Her face popped up on Dirk’s laptop screen, and she held up a hand to him, tapping away at her phone.

“Hold on a sec,” she said. “I’ve been filling in Rose and Aunt Ray about what you told me, they’re up to date, Rose is getting her computer out.”

“That’s fine, there’s no hurry,” Dirk said. Roxy looked up from her phone at the sound of his voice.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” she said. “You sound even more fuckin’ exhausted than you did earlier!”

“Yeah,” Dirk sighed. “Been a hell of a day, Rox.”

Roxy made a sympathetic (if overexagerated) frown, just as the second Skype window clicked open. Dirk could see Rose still rushing to set up her laptop, and hear his mother’s frantic voice. Soon as the laptop was stabilized and both women were in view, Mom nudged Rose slightly out of the way, her hands shaking.

“Dave, where’s Dave? Roxy — Roxy said he was safe, is he —??” Mom said, her words slurred together despite her clear agitation. Rose flicked her a disdainful look, but centered her eyes on Dirk as well.

“Dave isn’t here, I’m at Terezi’s place, but Dave is in police custody. He is safe, yeah,” Dirk said. Mom let out a sob, earning another brief glare from Rose, who then leaned in closer to the screen.

“Well, gee, don’t get too excited,” Rose said, staring Dirk down hard. “You don’t sound too happy about it.”

“No, I’m glad, I am,” Dirk said. “I mean, fuck, at least he’s away from…It’s just.” He sighed, rested his face in a hand for a moment. “Kid won’t fuckin’ talk to us,” he said. “And some of Terezi’s superiors are making a big fuckin’ fuss over it. Kid thinks we’re gonna let the old man take him back. He just…completely shut down on me when I tried to convince him otherwise.”

“So Derek’s still loose?” Mom whined.

“…Yeah,” said Dirk. “Plan completely fucking failed. He was onto us from the start. Only reason we got Dave at all is because Terezi found him, somehow. I still don’t have the details on it, but I think some old friend of hers is involved? Sounded like she didn’t even realize it was Dave until she’d already caught him.”

“Hm,” said Rose, just a bit too smugly for Dirk’s liking. He let it slide. Too tired to deal with her right now. “I’m still not sure why you thought to call Roxy before Mom and I,” Rose continued. “Especially after I asked you to call us as soon as you could?”

Dirk groaned.  “I was a little caught off guard when I first saw Dave, okay?” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of warning beforehand. You can’t just show a guy his baby brother after ten years and expect him to be completely composed. Called Roxy to help collect my thoughts before trying to talk to him, is all.”

“How is he?” Roxy and Mom said in unison.

“Hes…Ugh,” Dirk groaned. “Not good. He looks fucking awful, God.” Mom put her hands over her mouth, the waterworks threatening to start up in full force. No point in sugar coating things, though, she’d see him herself soon enough. “He’s…probably pretty underweight, had a black eye and an awful looking scar on his cheek. Probably hasn’t had a proper night’s rest in ages, judging by the circles under his eyes, and…He’s gotta be half out of his mind with anxiety. Kept acting like the old man was gonna spontaneously appear right behind him.”

Mom sniffled. Yep, there it was, the infamous Rachel Lalonde Booze-Fueled Waterpark is now open for business, complete with an extra set of Rose Lalonde’s patented Generalized Annoyance. Roxy, at least, wasn’t crying, but she certainly looked worried.

“It’s a good thing we’re getting him home, then,” Rose said, patting Mom’s arm. “We’ll be able to give him some rest and some peace of mind, for once.”

Dirk sighed again. “Well, there’s where the bad news comes in.”

“Fuck,” muttered Roxy.

“Like I said, Terezi’s higher ups are being a bunch of obstinate jackasses about Dave acting as a witness, and he’s refusing to talk to anyone. I mean. He talks, sure, it’s still Dave. But he won’t say anything about the old man, or anything vaguely related to him. He doesn’t want to come to New York, either. Got no idea why, there’s nothing for him here in Texas, but he’s determined to be difficult.”

“What — what does that mean for us, then?” Mom whimpered.

“He’s still coming home,” Dirk said. “I—we put too much fucking work into finding him to not bring him home. One way or another, he’s coming back with me, I can promise that much. But it might be a few more days. On top of that, too, Terezi mentioned that he might be basically under house arrest for a while.”

“Oh, noooooo,” said Roxy. “Does that mean I’m not gonna be able to come and hug on him? Fuck!”

“Probably not right away,” Dirk said. “Sorry, Rox. I’ll try and see if we can’t get something in place so you can come and see him ASAP, but. Yeah. He’s too much of a flight risk, right now. Old man’s got him brainwashed, or something. The kid thinks he has to stay with him.”

“My poor baby,” Mom whispered, “Oh, ohhh, my poor baby —”

“I’m sure he’ll get better once he’s settled back in here,” Rose said. “We’ll just have to help him unlearn whatever Father’s forced onto him, give him some time to adjust. I’m sure he’ll come around.”

“Yeah,” Dirk said, softly. “Anyway, um, that’s the situation out here. Can you two clean his room out? Get the house ready for him? I’ll let you know as soon as I do when he’s gonna be back, and how this is going to play out.”

Mom nodded emphatically, and Rose responded with a quiet “of course.”

“God, you better keep me updated, too, okay Dirk?” said Roxy. “I wanna know when I can come and love on the poor kid! God damn, sounds like he needs it.”

“Sure thing, Rox.”

“And get some sleep, you big dummy, you look like a wreck.”

Dirk snorted. “You’re not my real mom,” he said, earning a laugh from, well, his real mom. “Alright, I gotta eat and take a shower, I’ll talk to you all same time tomorrow,” he promised. He could hear Terezi scuffling about in the kitchenette again, and he hoped that she had something in it suitable for human consumption. Goodbyes and goodnights were shared, and the webcams clicked off. Dirk groaned softly, rubbed his eyes with both hands, and stared out at what little of the horizon was visible from Terezi’s balcony.

“What do you want with Dave,” said a scratchy voice to Dirk’s side. He looked up. Karkat was standing there, arms folded, a towel draped over the top of his head.

“Not sure I get what you mean,” Dirk said. “There’s nothing we particularly want him to do, if that’s what you’re asking. Just want him back home where he belongs.”

The troll scowled. “Yeah, because he’s family, right?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Fuck off,” Karkat spat. “I’ve had enough of this human ‘family’ bullshit. If you think I’m just going to stand idly by and let you ship him off to another torment-center he’s somehow obligated to stay in due to your weird human bullshit, then you’re the most pan-addled sack of shit I’ve ever met.”

“While I wouldn’t exactly describe ours as the ideal home environment,” Dirk said, “It’s only a ‘torment-center’ when Rose has to bathe the cat, I assure you. That sound could get an entire legion of war prisoners talking in a hurry. Outside of that rare occurrence, though, I fail to see what you’re so worked up about.”

“Worked up? Oh, I haven’t even gotten started, don’t you fucking worry,” Karkat said. “Dave’s had more than enough Striderian bullshit for one lifetime - hell, I’ve had more than enough of that shit for one lifetime, and I was only there a few fucking days! I’m not about to let him get dragged back into that fucking hellscape, and I’ll fight anyone who fucking tries, including you.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, Karkat,” Terezi’s voice said, floating onto the balcony from inside.

“I’m who to the what, now?”

“It means ‘you’re trying to have an argument with someone who already agrees with you,’” Dirk said.

“I heard what you said before,” Karkat hissed. “Dave doesn’t want to go with you! I trust him way fucking more than I trust you —”

“That’s cool and all,” came Terezi’s voice again, “But Dave’s judgement is not exceptionally trustworthy right now.”

“Terezi, this is a private conversation, and I would appreciate it if you would —”

“Private? Karkat, Rose can hear you in New York.” Terezi strolled onto the balcony and leaned against the railing, some sort of microwave dinner in hand. “Speaking of which, Dave’s only against going to New York because he’s got it in his head that doing so is somehow going to get him in trouble with Strider. Which is a stupid reason, so he’s going. Plus, legally, he does have to go.”

“Wh-why?!” Karkat said.

“He’s a minor,” Terezi said. “Which means, legally, he’s still a kid, and that an adult has to be taking care of him. And that adult is his legal guardian. Dave’s legal guardian is his mother, and she lives in New York.”

“So…so he’s —”

“We can arrange a visit if you’re worried about not seeing your pale crush again,” Terezi said with a devious grin.

“STOP SAYING I HAVE A FUCKING PALE CRUSH,” Karkat barked.

“Um,” said Dirk. He had no idea how a crush could be ‘pale,’ but it was still his brother they were talking about, and, well.

“I don’t!” Karkat said, as Terezi started cackling. “I’m just — He went out of his way to protect me from his monster of a guardian, and I — I get it, okay? Terezi, shut the fuck up, oh my God, shut up!”

“Get what, exactly?” Dirk asked, resting his chin on one hand.

“I get — I get why he’s scared,” Karkat said.

“Because you’re super fucking pale for him —”

“No,” said Karkat, “because he’s a scared fucking kid in over his head, and you’re asking to drag him away from everything he’s ever known, and even though things have been bad for him now, at least he sort of…new what to expect? Whereas now, he’s got nothing! You’re forcing him, against his will, to go to some place that’s completely fucking different from all he’s ever known, and he has no choice, no say in the matter, and it’s fucking scary! Sound a little familiar, Terezi?!”

Terezi laughed again. “Whatever, Karkat,” she said.

“He’s exactly the same as —”

“Yes, Karkat, I got that,” said Terezi. “It’s super adorable that you care so much, but, hey, guess what else is the same about your situations?” Dirk raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. So, Terezi’s friend was an Alternian refugee, then? It certainly sounded like that’s what he was implying. Dirk wondered why he’d had to leave, but figured it wasn’t really his business.  

“What,” said Karkat.

“The place that the people who fucking care about you are dragging you off to is objectively better than the one you’ve been in.”

“Oh, sure,” Karkat said, rolling his eyes. “Earth’s so safe, I got abducted by a fucking terrorist in my first month here. And I just love how we have to be awake when the fucking sun is up, beating down on us like the ugliest lightbulb the universe ever spat out. Yeah, this place is sooo much better than Alternia.”

“Karkat, do you have to be so melodramatic all the time?” Terezi said. “I didn’t say it was perfect, just better. You’re still alive, aren’t you? The answer is yes, close your fucking mouth, smartass. And, likewise, the Lalonde family is pretty much a chaotic whirlwind of clashing personalities and is barely functional as a unit —”

Dirk snorted. He wasn’t even going to attempt to deny that.

“—But it’s still a fucking better place to be than wherever Strider is,” Terezi continued. “It’s quiet, and the people who live there all really fucking love Dave.”

“Why do you want him back so badly?!” Karkat said, turning on Dirk. “Just answer that question for me, okay? Why. What’s so important about him.”

Dirk wasn’t sure he could put it into words, but he could feel about a million and one answers for that question. It was in every memory of an infectious six-year-old’s laugh; it was in every recollection of scared red eyes asking to crawl into bed with Dirk after a nightmare, when Mom wouldn’t wake up from one of her infamous booze snoozes; it was in every fossil or drawing Dave had once excitedly babbled at Dirk over.

Most especially, though, there was the great empty hole in the house without him there. The rift that had opened up in all of them the night Dave was taken, and had never stopped aching since. The great abyss that had driven them apart and forced them together, had tormented Dirk late at night with insomnia and the darkest of whispering thoughts, had pushed Rose to pick fights with her classmates and her brother, had given Mom one more thing to constantly be miserable about in her undeservedly shitty life.  

“He’s my brother,” Dirk said.

Karkat snorted. “‘He’s family,’” he said, his voice mocking. “You sound just fucking like him, you know that? Like it’s your fucking excuse for everything.”

“It’s not the same,” Dirk said, feeling tension creep into his voice and trying to will it away. Stay cool, stay calm.

“Woah, hey,” Terezi said, “Karkat, you need to calm the fuck down.”

“What’s so different about it, then?” Karkat said, ignoring her. “Fucking enlighten me! Why should I be okay with him being shipped off with you? How do I know you’re not just going to put him through the same bullshit with a different coat of paint?”

Dirk narrowed his eyes and tried to swallow the fury and self-loathing that sprang up. He knew, of course; he was hyper aware that, of the three siblings, he took off after his father the most. In his lowest moments, he worried that he had the potential to wind up just like the old man. Didn’t mean he was going to stand by and let a total stranger accuse him of being anything like the bastard.

“I don’t owe you an explanation,” he said, as calmly as he could. “He’s my little brother, and it’s none of your fucking business.”

“Oooookay,” Terezi said, physically putting herself between the two, “Calm down, here, holy shit. If you start a fight up here my landlord’s gonna pitch a fit. Karkat, I promise you, Dirk’s kind of awful at showing it, but he does actually care about Dave’s wellbeing at least as much as you do. Dirk, you need to chill the fuck out, too. You both want what’s best for Dave, so for fuck’s sakes, stop fighting.”

Karkat scowled, and stomped back into Terezi’s apartment, muttering darkly. Dirk flicked his eyes toward Terezi.

“Nice friend you got there,” Dirk deadpanned.

Terezi groaned. “He does this sort of thing all the time,” she said. “He cares a lot about pretty much everything he cares about at all, and he makes everything so fucking personal.”

“Speaking of,” Dirk said. “Should I be concerned about that ‘pale crush’ thing, or…?”

“I’m mostly just teasing him about that,” Terezi said. “Karkat gets a little pale with everyone he cares about, whether he means to or not. Comes with the whole he-cares-about-things-a-lot deal. I dunno if it’s an actual pale crush, but with how Karkat’s acting it actually might be this time. Granted, Dave’s kinda pitybait anyway, but, still, this is getting ridiculous, even for Karkat.”

“Okay,” said Dirk. “I’m gonna need you to start defining some terms, here, so I know how mad I should be about that ‘pitybait’ comment.”

“It means he’s kinda pathetic and really easy to feel sorry for,” Terezi said. “Which, he is.”

“So, the pale crush is…feeling bad for Dave?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that, but, basically, yeah,” she said. “It’s a troll thing, I’m too fucking tired to try and explain it right now, but I can promise you he does genuinely just want to make sure Dave’s safe.”

“Right,” said Dirk.

“Anyway, I am going the fuck to sleep,” Terezi announced. “It’s been a long day, and tomorrow’s not looking any shorter. There’s food in the fridge that you can heat up in the microwave, or if there’s nothing you want, there’s a corner store real close. Take Py with you if you go down, though, I still don’t want either of you fucks out without someone keeping an eye on you. Don’t kill each other overnight, or I swear to fuck I will prosecute whichever one of you survives into fucking oblivion.”

“Thanks,” said Dirk. He didn’t dare say as much to Terezi, but, despite how exhausted he felt, he didn’t expect that he’d be getting much sleep tonight, either.

Terezi had been right about being busy the next day, it turned out; Karkat was left pretty much to his own devices in that little room from the day before while she saw to whatever the fuck she was doing. Sollux came by whenever he was on a break and kept Karkat updated throughout the day, not that there was much to be updated on — no progress was being made today, either, apparently. Karkat tried to focus on the book he’d brought along to read, but…

Okay, so. He didn’t like the idea of Dave being shipped off against his will to some unknown place. But. It was apparently happening regardless, and…it would be for the best if Dave would say at least a little bit of what he knew, because anything resulting in Strider getting taken down could only be a net positive.

The next time Terezi came into the room, Karkat suggested going in and talking to Dave himself. It made sense, Dave had talked to him plenty while they were in the apartment, and maybe he’d be less hostile toward someone who wasn’t with the police. She’d very quickly shot him down, but about twenty minutes later, she stormed in again and said he was welcome to try.

“Be my fucking guest,” she said, tense and irritated, “You certainly can’t make it any worse, and we’re already bending a ton of fucking rules for this shit. Best of luck to you.” She’d given Karkat a sheet of paper with some questions on it, and guided him roughly over to a different part of the police station.

The room they had Dave was in was…intimidating as all hell. White, undecorated walls, a file cabinet shoved into the corner, a table in the middle with two chairs, and a big mirror up on the wall - worryingly boring and plain. Dave was fidgeting restlessly in one of the chairs, and Karkat could see that his hands were still cuffed together. Dave glanced up as Karkat entered, and blinked in surprise.

(Holy fuck, his eyes were bright red, Karkat had not been expecting that. The same red of Karkat’s own blood, shit, they really did have a weird amount in common.)

“They desperate enough to send you in, now?” Dave said.

“Well, someone’s gotta cut through the impenetrable wall of utter garbage that spills out of your mouth,” Karkat said, “and at this point, I’m pretty much the fucking expert.”

“Ha,” Dave said, staring at his hands. Karkat pulled out the chair across from Dave and sat down, dumping the paper he’d been given to the side carelessly.

“…What’s that?” Dave said, flicking his eyes at the page.

“A bunch of questions Terezi wanted me to ask. I wanted to just…talk for a bit, first, though.”

“I’m not answering any —”

“Yeah, I heard,” Karkat said. “I get it, though. I do. This whole thing is a huge fucking mess, and you really don’t deserve any of this, and I can’t say I like it much, either, but from the sound of things, you’re gonna wind up in this New York place one way or another.”

Dave huffed.

“And that fucking sucks,” Karkat continued. That earned a surprised look from Dave (he really was so much easier to read without the shades, holy shit). “And you don’t wanna go, and I get that, okay? It’s total hoofbeastshit, it sucks really fucking hard, and I’m sorry.”

“I…yeah,” said Dave. “Yeah, it really fuckin’ does.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure I like that they’re sending you there,” Karkat said. “I mean, they’re all so sure that it’s gonna be this great experience or what the fuck ever, but…ugh. Terezi says there’s legal shit involved, so.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Dave shrugged. “Bro’s not exactly on the law’s good side right now, so. And I mean, it’s not like I’m against the idea of seeing Rose again, I miss her like hell, but. New York’s a long goddamn way away, you know? And I barely remember it at all, and, fuck, Br — It’s a long damn way, I guess.”

Karkat decided to ignore what was no doubt another restatement of the general sentiment of ‘Bro will kill me,’ as that hoofbeast had not only died, but had been pounded so thoroughly as to now be naught but dust in the breeze.  “Yeah, well,” he said, “Maybe it won’t be so bad? I mean, fuck, I can’t say I’m super fond of Earth, but having friends here has made it a lot less shitty. Maybe it’ll be alright, especially if there’s people there you’d like to see. And, fuck, maybe we’ll be able to keep in touch, or something.”

Dave snorted softly. “You wanna keep in touch? Dude, I fuckin’ kidnapped you.”

“It’s not my fault you’re weirdly easy to talk to, you endless blustering windbag,” Karkat said. “And, fuck, call me sentimental or whatever, but I…I do want to make sure you’re okay, in the long run. You did kind of risk your ass to keep me safe.”

“Shit, man, if anyone owes anyone, I owe you, dude, I’m the idiot who got seen.”

“Yeah, and guess what: I’m the idiot who saw you and decided to follow you into a dimly lit hallway right after learning a fucking terrorist had been seen in the area. How about we just agree that we were both equally idiotic on the day in question and cut this insipid argument short before it bores us both to tears, okay?”

“…Yeah, whatever,” Dave shrugged. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a long moment.

“…New York, huh,” he said quietly. Dave was silent another long moment. Then, “Ugh, okay, whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

“What?”

“The fuckin…questions, or whatever. I’m…I can’t answer everything, I’m not riskin’ my hide spillin’ everything, but…bare minimum, whatever it takes to get this show over with.” Dave groaned. “Fuck, if Bro ever finds out I —”

“You’re the one who keeps saying he’d never actually kill you, and anyway, the point is to get you far enough away that he can’t come after you. And before you start that ‘abandoning’ him bullshit, here’s a thought: shut the fuck up.”  Karkat picked up the paper and skimmed it. “I think Terezi pulled some sorta compromise out of her ass, too, because these mostly look like they’re just confirming your identity, so.”

He cleared his throat and glanced behind him at the mirror. “Wait, shit, do I need to write this down, or —”

“I’m pretty sure someone’s behind the mirror listening to this whole conversation, dude,” Dave said. “They’re probably recording everything we’re saying, or something.”

The whole conversation? Well, shit, that was embarrassing. “Fuck.”

An hour or so later, after Karkat had finished talking to Dave and had been herded back into the small meeting room, Kanaya arrived. She said that she would have come earlier, but had been stuck at work for a while. They’d barely had any time to catch up, though, when Karkat could hear Terezi yelling outside in the hall.

“I swear to FUCK, I will personally track down those assholes and —” the door clicked open, and Terezi was briefly silhouetted, her head turned toward some poor unseen soul, “No, I don’t give a fuck, this is an awful idea! Who the hell is in charge? What happened to the precious fucking protocol?!  No, I’m telling him, but you better fucking believe I don’t goddamn approve! This is horseshit!” She slammed the door closed behind her, and audibly groaned. “For fuck’s sake,” she said. “Times like this I really wish Earth worked more like Alternia. I would really love to be able to fucking kill the bastards in charge of this case, take their position and do this shit properly, but no, that would be ‘murder’ and is ‘frowned upon in all fifty states,’ blah blah fucking blah. Ugh!”

“Is there more trouble?” Kanaya asked.

“I thought everything was supposed to be fine now,” Karkat said. “He talked, it’s over with, he can go to fucking New York and everyone’s happy.”

“He talked to you, yeah,” Terezi said. “So now, the oh-so-wise powers that be have decided to ‘kill two featherbeasts with one stone,’ as it were, and send you up to New York, too. Since we need to put you somewhere safe, anyway, and you’re the one who got him to cooperate a little. Nevermind that it’s a fucking horrible idea, for a huge fucking number of reasons — Hey, Dirk, good timing,” she said, as the door briefly opened and closed again. “Did you hear what they’re fucking proposing?”

“Yeah,” said Dirk, staying farther away, his expression blank. “I mean. We’ve got two guest rooms, and some pretty damn comfortable couches on top of that, we could certainly house anyone who gets sent with us, but it’s more for Mom to prepare for, which isn’t entirely fair. My question is, though, is this plan even legal?” Dirk asked. “Pretty sure this is not at all the kind of solution written into the letter of the law. Sending a kidnapping victim to live with his fucking captor for a while sounds a bit sketchy.”

“We’re working a bit loose with the laws, here,” Terezi said. “Happens a lot with cases like this where there’s potential for an interplanetary incident, we play a bit more by Alternian rules. That’s besides the point, though, the point is that it’s fucking stupid!” Terezi shouted. “They wanted me to let you know it’s an option, Karkat, but, holy shit, I cannot believe they’d even consider this bullshit as a valid solution.”

“They want to…send me to New York?” Karkat said.

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it,” Terezi grumbled.

“…With Dave?”

“You’d be staying at the Lalonde house, which is a fate I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy, quite frankly. No offense, Dirk, but your family is a fucking mess,” she said.

“None taken,” Dirk said. “I’m not gonna act like we’re a perfectly functional unit. Bringing Dave back is one thing, he belongs there,” he continued, shooting Karkat a biting look. Karkat narrowed his eyes and glared right back. “But it might be tricky for someone else to get used to, especially someone from a different planet.”

“I’ll go,” Karkat said.

“Alright, well — Karkat, holy fuck, no you won’t,” Terezi said. “No, you — Strider is not going to take all this laying down, first of all, he is definitely going to try something to get Dave back, and if you’re caught up in all that — it completely defeats the fucking purpose!”

Karkat gulped. “Well, if it’s not safe for me, then how can you claim it’s safe for Dave?” he said. “You’ve been saying this whole time, he’d be safe in New York, but now you’re saying he won’t be?”

“I can fucking assure you,” Dirk said, “he’ll be safe. I — we aren’t going to let the bastard take him again.”

“Then it should be safe for me, too,” Karkat said.

“Oh my God, Karkat, for once in your life stop being such a stubborn jackass about this!” Terezi said. Karkat folded his arms.

“I cannot say I particularly approve of this, either,” Kanaya said. “Karkat, are you sure you really want to do this? New York is very far away.”

“Earth’s a long way from Alternia,” Karkat said. In truth, the idea did make him nervous, but no more so than coming to Houston had. “Besides,” he continued, “It’s not like I’m doing a whole lot here. Even before getting captured I was just sitting at a fucking desk all day, and now I’m doing even less! I’m tired of being a fucking liability. At least this way I can, you know, feel like I’m actually doing some fucking good with my time.”

“Well, then, I suppose we had better both start packing,” Kanaya said with a sigh.

“What? Both?” Karkat said. Terezi and Dirk reacted with similar surprise.

“Do you really think I’m going to let you get shipped off alone to some far corner of the world after everything that’s happened?” Kanaya said, a stern look in her eyes. “I’m coming with you.”

“God fucking dammit,” Terezi muttered.

“But — your job! Kanaya, you have a good thing going on here, you don’t have to leave, you can’t just give that up,” said Karkat.

“My job is primarily design work,” Kanaya said. “I can’t participate in sewing while away, no, but I can still provide sketches and work with measurements. I’m sure I will be able to work out some understanding with Porrim. She’d want to be sure that you are safe as well.”

“Holy shit, you’re both fucking serious,” Terezi hissed.

“And the human did say that they have two guest rooms,” Kanaya concluded with a smile. Karkat couldn’t help but return the expression. Fuck, Kanaya was a good friend, he didn’t deserve her at all, but he was glad as hell that she was here.

“Aaaugh,” Terezi groaned, “This is going to be such a clusterfuck.”

[knoxursoxoffpenwriter69]

Gaming on Windows is just better.

Reasons windows is better I'll, save you guys the trouble there aren't any actually yeah. I agree. Are you guys kidding me? The vast majority of the world runs Windows on the desktop and believe it or not. There are some pretty darn good reasons for it, so guys we compiled the top 10 of them from our community to share with you in this video thanks LastPass for sponsoring a portion of this video. They relieve the burden of trying to remember all your passwords for every website. Let LastPass fill in your passwords, for you learn more at the end of the video or at the link below [, Music ]. First up and this one's a shocker gaming, our community spoke, and we agree. Gaming on Windows is just better. 

Not only are there tons of current games for the Windows PC platform like literally thousands of them, but accessing them and keeping them up to date is much simpler than it used to be thanks to online marketplaces like Steam, origin, you play, and yes, even the epic Game store and Windows gaming has far more going for it than just the current library. Recent progress towards integration with Microsoft's Xbox ecosystem has brought cross-platform play to some titles and even cross-platform purchases, and on the subject of compatibility. Well, there's the back catalog of games, which numbers in the tens of thousands with a shocking number of old games still being playable on modern hardware. I fired up 1602 80, a game from almost 1602 80 on my Windows, 10 PC with a Titan RT X on it with minimal tinkering required. 

That'S crazy! So we're actually working on a collab with good old games. Right now to show this off make sure your sub, so you don't miss it on the subject of tinkering Windows games, particularly the older ones, allow for a ton of it with large communities that have built everything from their own servers from multiplayer to mods that alter Visuals or gameplay elements and even mods that change the genre of the original title fun fact for you, young kids out there dota used to be a custom map in Warcraft 3. Finally, there's the advantage that comes naturally with being the incumbent gaming platform support wan na try out the hottest new peripherals like brand new graphics cards, VR headsets, haptic feedback, vests odds are excellent, that the Windows software is going to be much more polished than what's available. For other platforms, that is, if anything exists, for them at all, RTX real-time ray tracing on Mac. 

Please is actually a common one for users of every platform and it's that it just works or because I don't feel like something new like Apple Microsoft has made it OS that, for the most part, works as intended. Out-Of-The-Box, no real extra effort is needed. Thanks to Auto magical third-party driver installs through Windows Update when you get into the weeds with obscure devices, hardware compatibility on the platform does have its issues, but for the average user it is much better than it used to be, and so is the general intuitiveness of Using it I mean I still remember when they introduced the documents and pictures folder. Comm 4 is the toolbox. The registry editor, if used responsibly, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to optimizing. The windows experience task manager got some big upgrades with Windows 8 and now makes it so simple to monitor CPU RAM network and even GPU usage. 

So anyone can do it, but if you want to go even further, this rabbit hole. 2 has pretty much no bottom resource monitor, gives you a much more granular. Look the information from cast manager, making it easy to identify processes that are sending large amounts of network data out or causing your disk to churn and slow down the rest of your system. Task scheduler is a crazy, powerful utility that lets. You have Windows, automate tasks for you. It can open and close programs for you when you log in and out it can send emails when tasks complete and you can even post to Twitter and Facebook using the window. Scheduler and power toys are back, so these are actually Microsoft provided tools that enthusiasts can use to add or enhance features.

 I was a huge fan of sync TOI back in the day and this new window management one for Windows, 10 looks sick. 5. Is the support base want to learn how to do some of the stuff? You'Ve talked about well, with 78 % of the worldwide desktop OS market share. If it exists, someone has probably done it so, like you want to become the new macro king. Well, there are tutorials on how to do that, need to troubleshoot a weird error between the official support from Microsoft, for both current and legacy windows and the thousands of enthusiasts on forums around the world. The odds of finding someone to help. You are pretty good. One. Great resource is actually our forum linked below, where our community is ready, willing and able to help feel free to check that out after the video 6 is productivity. Even Apple had to acknowledge. 

Windows is strength when it comes to buckling down and just getting some work done, whether you're trading stocks, writing reports, tracking financials, making super cool, PowerPoint, slides or making YouTube videos like us windows probably supports the software and the hardware that you need to get it done. Microsoft'S Office suite is incredibly powerful and works best on Windows if you want to do 3d or CAD work. Most of the industry-standard software is on Windows and, let's not forget the plethora of one-off and highly specialized programs needed for scientific study, engineering and many other industries. Now I wasn't sure where to put this little bit so we're gon na chuck it in productivity, shortcut keys, so many shortcut keys, classic control-alt-delete for when things go wrong windows and one two three and four to launch the corresponding app on your taskbar go ahead and 

Try it it's really cool and if you like bad one, you can grab the other new power toy that lets. You hold the Windows key to see all the shortcut keys for your active programs. Oh productivity bliss awaits my friends. Seven is OS unity with some notable exceptions. Windows hasn't changed too drastically over the years. So if you went straight from Windows, XP to Windows, 10 you'd probably find your way around it sooner rather than later, and if you're a technician. This can be really nice because it's not uncommon to find yourself working on a different version from one hour to the next. It'S a totally different experience compared to Linux, which has I don't know, I stopped counting after 30, let's just say a lot of different distros or versions that are designed for a multitude of different tasks or specialized use cases. 

There are mainstream optimized distros out there, but if you don't consult the internet beforehand as a newcomer, it can get really confusing and thing is even if you do consult the internet. People might not agree on which flavor of the month is vastly women do bunt to stop being cool. Eight was a bit of a surprise to me, but it came up a lot. So maybe I just take the taskbar and file explorer for granted. The modern taskbar is a great tool for maintaining a clean and organized desktop, giving you quick access to frequently used programs and offering up a quick preview of all of your active windows as for File Explorer. Well, it's got its issues. The search is pretty slow. The up, folder navigation is done. Sometimes, documents should go to sequel and slash users, slash your username, not this PC etc. 

But it's got wide support for thumbnail, previews lots of useful information readily available, and it requires no keyboard shortcut to cut paste. Sometimes you don't have to be great just better than your competitor. 9 is reliability with good Hardware. The days of daily blue screens are long. Gone crashes do still exist, but for years now I've experienced long periods of smooth and stable performance. Microsoft does have some work cut out for them to make their automatic updates mover in the regarde, but they at least seem to be aware of the problem. At this point, bringing us to ten finally sort of related to gaming to compatibility, got an old program from the Windows XP days. Well, there's a decent chance that, with some trial and error, you will be able to get it to run even in the latest. Builds of Windows 10. 

There are just so many specific use programs that have been written over the last couple of decades and losing access to them because of an OS update could be devastating for some people. Compatibility mode actually works more often than you'd think and when it doesn't, some quick googling will often bring up a solution, and the cool thing is that goes. Both ways got a computer that mom bought 10 years ago, but still wants to use. Well, there's a solid chance that Windows and most programs that run on it will still work on that, even if not very well. Our Skull trail system from 2008 was actually a great example of this no driver issues and, aside from a couple of games that refused to launch because of missing CPU instructions, our issues were related to performance rather than to compatibility, so guys go check out that video. 

If you haven't already now one of the tools we love using on Windows comes, of course, from our sponsor for this portion of today's video LastPass LastPass relieves the troubles of remembering your passwords and reduces the anxiety about getting locked out of your accounts and then waiting For reset password emails, you won't need to write down, remember or reset passwords anymore with LastPass LastPass allows you to keep track of an unlimited number of passwords and not just passwords. Even just things like you know, Wi-Fi codes or just things you want to remember and store somewhere safe, and it doesn't only work for desktop it even works on mobile sites and apps for both iOS and Android. When you open an app or a site, LastPass will fill in your username and password making logging in easy, so click the link below to find out more about LastPass. So, thanks for watching guys hope you enjoyed this video see you