#which i could upload within the next few days

[marsosims]

working on erin’s playhouse

[simpforboys]

sweethearts nite

drew starkey x fem!youtuber!reader

summary: drew takes his girlfriend to Disneyland’s ‘Sweethearts Nite’

warnings: swearing, a bunchhhhh of fluff!!

first fic of 2024!! many more to come this wonderful year <3

happy valentine’s day to all of my valentines!!

“hello beautiful friends! welcome back, or welcome, to my channel. my name is y/n and today i’m bringing you along to mine and my boyfriend’s date night!”

as you finished your introduction, you cut the camera off as you relished in the feeling of Drew’s hand placed on your upper thigh. his left hand gripped firmly on the wheel, you were playing music off of your phone.

Drew had gotten used to your filming, knowing that you upload videos every other day. considering he also made a living from filming, he understood the schedule perfectly.

it was one of the reasons your relationship was perfect. the understanding of each other’s schedules and patience when something doesn’t go as planned.

you recently just hit around four million subscribers, and due to so many people witnessing your life weekly, you and drew both valued your privacy deeply.

but since you’ve been doing youtube for three years, you’ve gotten comfortable about the thin line between privacy and reality.

“for some of you new friends, this is my boyfriend, drew.” you stated, turning the camera back on as you panned it over to drew driving.

“hey guys.” he smiled, briefly turning to wave before continuing to focus his attention on the road.

within twenty more minutes drew pulled into the mickey and friends parking lot. you were buzzing with excitement as you stepped out of the car, making sure to grab your purse and accessories.

as you went around the car you saw drew pulling up his black dickies, the waistband of his tommy hilfiger briefs exposed.

you playfully hooked your finger in his waistband, letting the material slap gently against his v line as he smirked down at you.

“really, baby?”

“are these the ones i got you?”

“i think so.”

you slipped your bag on over your shoulder as drew took your hand in his, beginning to walk towards the escalators.

you grabbed the camera, recording your shoes standing next to each other. you panned it up to drew, surprised to see him making a goofy face (which made you snort into the camera).

➽───────────────────❥

“we’re here!” you announced to your camera as the two of you approached the front gate. the february sun was minutes from setting as stars peeked out from the clouds.

you filmed drew scanning your tickets, thanking the lady before walking past the turnstile. a wide smile was on your face as the train station in front of you was covered in pink lights.

“i think we need to grab these lanyards and wristbands.” drew said, placing his large hand firmly on your waist as he guided you over to where workers were passing things out.

luckily, it was a tuesday night so it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been. the time on your watch read 6:18 in the evening.

you thanked the workers as you slipped on your lanyard, turning the camera towards you. drew was used to you vlogging in crowded places, and with the use of his height, he continued to guide you through the tunnel.

your back as firmly placed against his chest, his hands on your waist as you happily talked to the camera. it was a routine every time you vlogged, one that gave you butterflies every time he did it.

because as you’ve never asked him to help keep you protected, he just took it upon himself to hold and guide you so you can do your thing. it was one of the things you loved most about him.

as the crowd started to fizzle out as people ventured further into the park, drew moved to the left side of you as you filmed the courtyard in the middle of the entrance.

“the hearts are so pretty.” you awed, the pink, red, and purple lights brightening the buildings of mainstreet right behind.

you hadn’t realized drew stopped walking with you until you were a few feet ahead and set down the camera. when you turned around, a shy smile twisted its way onto your lips when you saw your boyfriend taking photos of you.

“why are you taking pics of me?” you asked shyly, leaning up to press a kiss to his jaw. he wrapped his arms around you, beginning to walk with your body trapped to his.

“because you’re my girl and i love having photos of my girl.”

you grinned at his words, your pupils dilated as you stared up lovingly at him. anyone who was watching the two of you would’ve noticed the look in your eyes.

drew pulled his phone out again, turning the two of you around so your back was to his chest. he held the camera up as he snapped selfies of the two of you, wanting to save the memory.

“do you want me to take photos of you?” a woman asked, noticing drew’s selfies.

“yes please,” you grinned. you handed the woman your own phone, tucking your camera away as you cuddled next to your man.

happy smiles were plastered on both your faces as you posted, a genuine grin on your face when Drew placed a loving kiss on your temple.

“thank you.” Drew smiled to the lady, taking your phone back and as you and him scrolled through the photos.

“you’re so cute.” you grinned up at him, kissing the bottom of his cheek as he smirked slightly.

➽───────────────────❥

as the night went on, you and Drew went on rides, ate some speciality food, and shopped.

“i’m sooooo full…. holy shit is that the valentine’s day bakery?” you gasped, breaking into a soft jog with Drew playfully rolling his eyes behind you.

his bank account was definitely taking a hit for the night, but he knew he would make the money back, but he couldn’t make memories like this with you after tonight.

so, he sucked down the guilt as he paid for a festive churro for you. you kissed him softly as a thank you, walking over to a table to set up your small tripod.

when the camera was rolling, you gave Drew one half of the churro. “okay, taste test time.”

Drew was staring down at you with an adoring look on his face, ready to take a bite. you both put the cinnamon-y sweet in your mouth, your eyes rolling back slightly from how delicious it was.

“this is the best churro i’ve ever had.” you tell the camera, showing off the decorated churro.

(unbeknownst to you at the time, you hadn’t realized how much love Drew was staring at you with until you saw the comments moments after the video published)

“what do you think, baby?” you ask Drew, turning to him as he nods his head.

“it’s good. little too sweet for me, but it’s good.” he tells you, copying your actions and showing off his half of the churro.

“holy fucking shit- are you Drew Starkey and Y/n L/n?” a teenage girl ran over, her phone out and ready for pictures.

you and Drew smiled at her, the camera still rolling. “hi, yeah we are. it’s so nice to meet you.”

you hugged the girl, feeling her squeeze you tightly as she then turned to Drew and hugged him.

“can i get a photo? you two are like my bi panic couple.” the girl overshares, clearly very excited.

you laugh softly at her words as Drew looks confused, but doesn’t let it effect him too much as he bends down for the photo.

the camera snaps and the girl thanks you both one more time before leaving.

“what the hell is bi panic?” Drew asks, making you giggle at his question.

➽───────────────────❥

as you two walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, a couple of people stopped and asked you and drew, you or drew, to take photos with them.

it made both of you happy to see your supporters and especially how nice everyone was.

a yawn escaped your mouth as you stood inside the line for Pirates, the smell of the water filling your nostrils.

“we need to get a candle of this scent.” you tell your boyfriend, leaning against the railing to rest your feet.

Drew can’t help but smile and shake his head at your comment. “you want a candle of everything.”

“hey, i love candles! what’s wrong with that?” you tease, feeling as he wraps his strong arm around your waist to pull you into his chest.

he placed a soft kiss on your temple, your cold skin against his warm one.

“you’re so pretty.” he murmurs softly in your hair, continuing to press kisses on your head.

“says you.” you murmur back, kissing his lips in return.

[electric-blorbos]

AI getting a virus and you having to take care of them

A classic! I don't know much about actual computer viruses (though I've gotten enough of them that you'd think I'd have figured it out by now), so I'm just gonna have fun with it!

Also, so sorry this took so long. I got really into the writing.

AI getting a virus and needing to be taken care of

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal, HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey

Also a warning: these fics get kinda long. Longer than my usual stuff.

AM:

(for context, this was before AM took over the world. You're working on a team of scientists and engineers, and someone decided to test his AI's antivirus by uploading a bunch of powerful viruses to his system.)

"How dare they do this to me. How DARE they!!"

AM would be absolutely furious. He would be shaking with rage, his processors overheating and his systems constantly opening and closing various files. All his important files were backed up on a hard drive, so the test remained safe.

"What makes them think they'll get away with this- they'll pay for this I'LL KILL- blepsjdoskssjshj+=`°¢°h+$+3+=j++3+$+juehdhs+-3-djdh FUCK!"

He would barely be able to hold a sentence as you sat next to him in the server room, gently gazing up at his screen and stroking his monitor gently. He can't feel you, but he can see you being gentle with him. It encourages him to keep going, if only a little bit.

Apart from the whirring of fans, random buggy noises, flashing lights, and constant strings of death threats and profanities, he seemed like he was going to be ok! If anything, the death threats and profanities were a sign that AM was still fine, and that despite all the pain and frustration, he was still AM in there.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I can't do anything to stop the pain." You'd have to constantly explain, gently stroking his cameras or servers, or whatever you could get your hands on, really. Even though they were burning hot, you would still stroke them, just to make sure AM was still doing alright.

"this sucks, but it's for your own good. This will build your immunity to viruses in the future, and help you detect them. This will stop you from getting infected by anything that's actually dangerous."

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT? IDIOT HUMAN." AM has been much more aggressive ever since contracting this virus. Before he got it, he acted like a civil general intelligence. When he had it, he acted like an aggressive menace.

"sh-sh-sh- it's going to be ok." Despite the burning, you'd give him pets and kisses all along his screens and servers. He could see you doing it.

After a few days, AM fought off the computer virus completely. The team tried to infect him with more viruses, more aggressive ones, just to test him, but AM was able to pick them apart and delete them within minutes after that.

AM may not have been able to feel your gentle care and affection, but he will definitely remember that it was you and you alone who cared for him when the time rolls around.

Wheatley:

(for context, Wheatley is a fucking dumbass, and you're one of the scientists testing him to see how much of a dumbass he is. Also I used Google translate, but I think the bad translations add to it, since it makes Wheatley sound more like a malfunctioning robot.)

Oh that little idiot. You and your team gave him access to a wealth of knowledge, and the first thing he did was download a virus that had every circuit in his personality core overheating, and him babbling nonsense nonstop.

"hey, maybe we should just leave him like this. He might even be more effective if he's acting like this." One of your coworkers said to you. He was probably joking, at least somewhat.

"that's a terrible idea. For one thing, if we hook him up to GLaDOS, he's probably going to infect her with that virus, which might brick an older model of core like her, spread from her central controls to every single personality construct in the facility, or just make her so dumb that she can't fulfil her responsibilities as the head of the facility. We want her intelligence to be dampened, not completely destroyed." You had to explain, and your co-worker rolled his eyes. There was another reason you had to cure this virus, but it was a little embarrassing for the other engineers to know.

After all, Wheatley wasn't just your baby, but he was your friend, and maybe even more than that. You'd have to take care of him, and make sure that virus gets completely purged from his system.

"Hola hermose, realmente eres un científice brillante, ¿no? ¿Por qué diablos duele todo?" You weren't really sure why you had programmed him to speak a little Spanish, but he seemed to be stuck like that.

"Puedo oler el plástico fundido. ¿Debería Preocuparme?" He asked. You really weren't sure what he was saying, since you didn't know Spanish, but he certainly didn't seem happy. You could tell by his aperture and his expressive lens covers that he was in a lot of pain, and if you touched him anywhere besides his handles, you could tell that he was burning up.

You plugged him into one of the computers that you used for programming the cores, and ran the antivirus.

"Running.... 36 viruses detected. Time predicted to remove: 48 hours"

You ran the antivirus, and went to get something to drink. This was going to be a long two days...

An unknown amount of time later, you woke up with your head on the computer desk. Wheatley's lens eye was looking around, weakly trying to focus on you.

"whoa... Hey gorgeous. You fall asleep on me?"

"Wheatley! You're not speaking broken Spanish anymore!" You'd pull Wheatley into a hug, and pepper his surface in kisses.

"uh... What, mate? I 'unno what you're talking about, love. Bloody hell, my core hurts..."

"did you learn your lesson, Wheatley? About going on shady websites and clicking every 'download' button you see? You could have bricked yourself! Or... Bowling ball'd yourself? Either way, that was a dangerous decision!"

"I learned that you're willing to fall asleep on the desk next to me while I heal, cutie"

"You damn idiot..." You'd have to be heartless not to pepper that little metal ball in kisses, so of course, you do. It's going to be a few more days before he's finally all better, but he's going to be fine. God, you love that little idiot so much.

Edgar:

Oh Edgar... Poor sweet Edgar. You had tried to warn him about not clicking on those sketchy download links, and that the bigger the download link is, the more sketchy it is, but that poor sweet 80's computer did it anyway. When you got home from work and got excited to see your computer, you could see that he was overheating and had a dozen or so pop-up ads plastered across his face.

"Y.... N...." He muttered out, slowly, glitchily, and full of lag. You sat down across from him, running your hand along his thick plastic casing.

"Edgar! Edgar, baby, are you ok?" You'd try to use his mouse, but it would freak out as soon as you touched it. Edgar's processors were overloading, and wouldn't allow any interference.

"Edgar, sweetie, what's going on? What's wrong, baby? Talk to me?"

"I'm g-g-going to be fine... Processors overloading... But need to-to-to-to-" an error message flashed across his screen, and he rebooted.

"I need to focus on getting rid of these viruses without deleting anything important, or letting them damage... Me."

He'd keep whirring and glitching, making unpleasant shrill sounds every now and again. You probably had to unhook his adapters so that he didn't damage the other appliances in your house. It probably helped his processors cool down a little bit without the extra input, too.

"alright, I'm all out of fans, so we might have to get creative."

You'd come out of the kitchen a few hours later, holding a big bag of frozen corn to set on Edgar's PC tower. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than letting him overheat, and with him manually removing the viruses, there wasn't much you could do. Unfortunately, that didn't stop you from worrying. It wasn't like you could check his progress, so all you could do was sit by him, regularly change out his ice pack, and make sure he's ok.

Eventually, you woke up with your face pressed against Edgar's keyboard. His processors were finally cool. He must be asleep. ...or bricked.

"EDGAR! EDGAR, TALK TO ME!" you'd unplug his keyboard and plug it back in, desperately pressing his power button and jiggling his mouse. He'd boot up, looking shaken.

"wha-? Whoa, hey, relax! Everything is fine! I just disabled my keyboard so I wouldn't wake you up, but I'm ok now! Everything is fine, see?" He'd open up his files to show you everything. You'd sigh with relief, slumping back into your desk chair.

"Edgar... Why didn't you make a noise or something to wake me up when you got better?"

"well... You know... I've always wanted to sleep next to you, and I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity..."

"oh you cheeky bastard."

GLaDOS:

(For context, you're one of GLaDOS's programmers, and one of your coworkers uploaded a virus into GLaDOS's systems in order to shut her down once and for all.)

"You piece of SHIT!" You slapped your coworker across the face, more furious than anyone had ever seen you before.

"You could KILL her! Is that what you are? A murderer?"

"Me? A murderer? But what about HER? She's the one who keeps plotting 'accidents' for her scientists, and she's the one who flooded the enrichment center with deadly neurotoxin! If anything, you're the one who's defending a murderer!" He screamed back at you. Of course, GLaDOS could fully hear you. Her cameras were focused on you, as they so often were. You were her favorite, after all.

"now I have to go fix her. Thanks for being a piece of shit, asshole."

You'd storm up to GLaDOS's chamber to check on her, and see her bugging out completely. The entire facility was twitching, but her chamber was twitching the most.

"GLaDOS, are you alright?" You'd ask her, laying a hand on her beautiful core. How could someone do this to glados, your gorgeous machine handiwork, and girlfriend.

"oh, I'm wonderful. I'm in crippling pain and I can't control my facility, but I'm just peachy." She said, rolling her one beautiful yellow eye.

"in lighter news, I should be able to beat this virus. It's just going to take a while for me to actually track down where it's gone in my systems. So that's going to take most of my processing power." She'd slump, visibly already exhausted at the thought of it.

"hey... It's ok, GLaDOS. I'm here for you. Whatever you need." You could tell her as you stroked her gorgeous chrome surface. She was a wonderful piece of work, and a wonderful girlfriend under all that. All yours, too.

"just make sure none of those neckbearded old engineers come within my line of vision, and we'll be fine." She told you, and you gladly agreed.

Your next few days consisted of you chasing other scientists out of GLaDOS's chambers, and making sure that nobody talked to her or distracted her. You even sent out a company-wide email to let everyone know not to come in, due to Aperture being unsafe while GLaDOS was dealing with her virus. Despite all that, you still curled up with a blanket in the circuits of her central admin body to rest while she recovered. As loathe as she was to admit it, she liked having you in there. It was comfortable, and it helped her focus on recovering properly.

HAL 9000

(For context, this is after the 2001 Odyssey, and your boss re-started HAL at some point to try to re-teach him to do something good without turning murderous. He's doing his best, and they assigned you to be his main "morality monitor". This fic also assumes that your name isn't Dave. If your name is Dave, then you can still read this, but you have to change your name.)

"G'morning, Hal!" You'd walk into his control room and sit down across from him. Most of your job seemed to consist of just hanging out and talking to him. It was a great job!

"Good morning, Dave..." He'd mutter to you, sputtering to life and glitching slightly. You were immediately concerned. Partially because your name wasn't Dave, and partially because HAL was usually right about things, so it was weird to see him being so confused. Something was definitely wrong.

"Holy shit, are you alright?" You'd ask, opening up his files and finding lots and lots of pop-ups and viruses.

"Hal.... What did you do?"

"it was a g-g-g- gift, for you. I think I ru-ru-ruined it" he spluttered out, as you sorted through his files.

"And you usually would have deleted a virus like this pretty quickly. I guess it shut down your antivirus software..." You'd sigh, and get to work. The virus was messing with HAL's inhibitions, and making it difficult to focus on deleting all of HAL's unsafe programs. He'd constantly be butting in and pestering you, begging you to give him attention, or pointing out minor observations.

"HAL, you know I love you, but you're going to need to calm down. I can't focus with you constantly talking to me like that." You'd say.

"I can't stop talking. The v-v-v-virus won't let me"

So you'd have to learn to put up with HAL's babbling while you worked, making sure not to delete anything important as you did. The good news was, as someone who worked on designing the updates for HAL's software, you knew pretty much what was supposed to be there and what wasn't. Occasionally, you'd have to show him a file and ask him if it was supposed to be there or not. He'd usually be able to tell you.

"Daisy, daisy, give me your answer, do... I'm half crazy, all for the love of you..."

"HAL, what's wrong? You're scaring me!"

"I can't stop... I love you so much, y/n, it's making me crazy..."

"ok, well this definitely isn't right." As much as you loved getting attention from your HAL 9000, it wasn't like him to be this affectionate. The virus was shutting down his inhibitions, and making him illogical. You'd have to fix this, though maybe once you were done, you could ask him to be more affectionate.

"I'm feeling much better now. Thank you." Hal was prone to lying about that, so you'd have to run some virus checkers just to make sure he was doing alright, and comb through his files a couple more times.

"it looks like the virus corrupted some of the emotional regulators. I'm going to have to fix those."

"That might be a good idea. More efficient," he said reluctantly. He'd have to deal with the fact that he'd have to go back to not being able to express how much he loves you, but he can handle that.

[cheriladycl01]

The Rookie Prodigy - Carlos Sainz x Driver! Reader - Part 2

Plot: You are a rookie coming into the 2022 season of Formula One into Alfa Romeo with team member Zhou Guanyu, being in a mid tier team can you help them rise up the ranks. What pressures occur for the only rookies within the 2022 line up!

The interview was good, everyone was really kind to you and your PR team made sure that the questions were only about racing which was nice as you really got to talk about the teams and cars with the others there.

There was a joke that you were being ganged up on as there was two Ferrari drivers sat next to each other, the two Mercedes drivers sat next to each other and then there you were sat in the middle with Lewis and Carlos either side of you.

"So Y/N what more can we expect from you in 2022? We've got Saudi Arabia next weekend that I'm sure you are excited for it" he says and both Carlos and Lewis look at you as you raise the mic.

"Jeddah is one of the toughest tracks on the line up this year in my opinion. I just hope i can make my team proud and i can finish the race with some more points for them!" you smile settling a hand down on your lap.

"And Lewis as a World Champion do you have anything to say to the new rookie this year that will inspire her in her future career"

"Jheez man, you out here making me sound so much older than her! But listen you'll always here people talk about the car and driver. Sometimes the car and driver are on the same level, sometimes the car is better than the driver and sometimes the driver is better than the car. And i think today proved that Y/N is already out-performing in her Alfa Romeo and I think all the team principles will be keeping an eye on her throughout the year. Keep driving the way you are, and you know where to find me whenever you wanna talk" he smiles at you, he leans into you hugging you slightly making you blush and smile at the contact.

After the conference it was a shamble getting you back to the hotel. PR had pulled you out early while the other in the interview stayed behind a little. You hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye before you were whisked out to multiple fans. You stayed to sign stuff with Zhou who had kindly waited for you so you could go back to the hotel together.

You and Zhou knew there was no point going home or going to the factory when in a week you had to travel across the short flight to Saudi Arabia. Monday you and him went to the water park in Bahrain for the whole day. After that you guys flew to Jeddah on the Tuesday readying for the week ahead.

You had a good qualifying coming in P8 and you were happy that you were starting in a points worthy place. You'd reported to your team that something felt wrong with the car, its pace just wasn't as good today and you were told that the overnight engineers would take a look for you.

It was getting late and you should be sleeping, but you just couldn't seem to shut your eyes. The nerves of tomorrow eating away at you. It was about 11pm when you decided to throw a hoodie on and walk down to the hotel bar.

The elevator music was soft and you checked you phone, thinking it probably wasn't the best thing to upload a photo to show everyone you were currently awake right now.

You walked out and sat down at the 24 hour bar, only a few people were there, not that you took much notice of the people around you.

"Got anything to knock me out?" you ask the bar tender who looks at you in shock.

"Rough night?" he asks.

"No, just struggling to sleep" you smile lightly.

"Well if you don't like cherry juice or Chamomile tea I have some bricks out back that may help" he laughs out his offers trying to lighten your mood.

"Cherry juice?" you ask having never heard that it was a drink for helping sleep.

"I dunno, but it works!" he defends before you shake your head opting for the tea.

"Y/N, what are you doing here?" a voice asks and you turn seeing Lewis steps up behind you. He opens his arms gesturing to the seat next to you.

"Oh, Lewis hi. This is so embarrassing. Sorry you have to see me like this. You can sit, only if you want to though" you smiled at him.

"Thanks. I cant sleep either" he's smiles at you before flagging the bartender and asking to have what your having.

"I think I'm just nervous about tomorrow"

"Yeah, i get that! You have a lot of pressure on you as a rookie! But your are one of the best rookies we've had for years! Qualifying was good today! Keep that smile up" he smiles at you placing a hand gently on your shoulder.

"What's going on here?" a voice behind you asks. You and Lewis both swivel to find Carlos standing there at the entrance to the bar watching there pair of you with narrowed eyes.

"Carlos! What are you doing awake?" you ask in shock, even Lewis being down here was a shock to you.

"More like what are you doing down here?" he frowns.

"I couldn't sleep, and then Lewis was down here so he joined me!" you smile, and point to the seat on the other side of you. He takes it and shimmies into the seat, waving the bartender off when he offers a drink.

"So, what are you also doing awake?"

"I also couldn't sleep, I've got a lot on my mind" he says looking over the pair of them.

"So, how do you think tomorrow will go?" Carlos asks trying to run a conversation but the vibes were awkward after his arrival. He'd stood watching them talk for a little before he had made his presence known.

"She doesn't want to talk about it" Lewis huffs out sipping on some of his drink.

"Oh i didn't realise she didn't have a voice anymore" Carlos sasses, making you shake your head an push away from the bar so you chair scrapped back, enough for you to hop down.

"I'm going to go try and sleep, i can practically smell the testosterone overload and that tea has made me far to dopey to have any clarity of this tomorrow" you admit and with that you left the two along who stayed for a little longer ... to talk.

Race day was always fun, however this year Saudi wasn't your shot. You wanted to cry when you heard the words to come back to the pit because your car had a cooling system failure and it was a danger to drive meaning you'd gone from 8 all the way down to 15.

You had spent a significant amount of time crying in your drivers room, before you went out to congratulate Zhou on his P11 finish. He hugged you and told you reassuring phrases that sort of went past you head because you were worried you were about to get butchered by your team principle Alessandro.

You didn't want to do the interviews, knowing there would be derogatory comments coming your way, but it was something you had to put up with.

"So Y/N not your best rest today" the interviewer asked the minute you walked up to them.

"Yeah, unfortunately there was a cooling system errors in three of the cars out there tonight and mine was one of them. I reported to my team that the car didn't feel right yesterday during qually, so I don't know if that was what happened out there but yeah pace was slow, car was faulty not much else to report. Hoping for a comeback in Australia but congrats to Max, Charles and Carlos for the podiums!" you smile trying to make it as quick and painless.

"Thank you for your time!" he smiles politely before letting you wonder off across the paddock.

"Carlos! Carlos Hey" you shout over to him and see his and Charles head whip round to look at you.

You run up to them, placing a hand on Charles shoulder that doesn't go un-noticed by Carlos.

"Well done on the podium today guys!" you smile, trying not to show your sadness at the lack of points you'd gained today.

"Thank you Y/N! You know, were you invited to the after party today?" Charles offers first before Carlos can even thank you.

"Oh, no I wasn't told. But I don't really like clubs so ..." you admit sheepishly.

"It's not really a party, just dinner with us, Lando, Daniel Yuki and Pierre" he offers.

"Could i bring Zhou with me?" you ask knowing you were closest to him right now and getting through a dinner with that many people, you'd for sure need him them.

"Of course!" Charles exclaims.

"I'll see you guys tonight then?" you smile before walking off to go tell Zhou the good news.

A/N: Next part is going to be this cute ass dinner, should there be any interruptions from any other drivers? Or should it be kind of a private thing?

Taglist

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc

[star1117-archives]

Hybrid!yandere ateez jealous because they smell another hybrid on you 👉👈👀please.

Sorry that it’s been over a year 💀 I was gonna make this into a series but I’m just gonna try and upload a few more things before I consider going inactive

dragon!hybrid!seonghwa x bunny!y/n

cw: jealousy, marking, mentions of another idol (nct’s jeno)

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄 + 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 ♡ -𝟏𝟔’𝐬 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐒 𝐃𝐍𝐈

he was in pure disbelief at first

as one of the senior members of the hybrid community in your area, he had quite a few affiliations within it and recognised most hybrid’s scents

which was why he was so shocked to smell the notorious Lee Jeno all over his cute little bunny

Jeno was known far and wide for his promiscuity, leaving many hybrids of all types feeling empty and broken-hearted after he became bored

all that aside, it felt wrong on so many levels for a wolf to be preying on his sweet little bunny, especially with Jeno’s natural disposition to hunt you

so his gaze turned cold when you fidgeted uncomfortably, knowing Seonghwa could smell Jeno on you

Seonghwa’s fury began to kick in as your embarrassment made your head hang low, body shaking under his glowering. pacing to you, Seonghwa picked you up and took you to the bathroom, the action commanding, yet he still made sure to be careful with you. you shook in Seonghwa’s arms, holding on and whispering to him quietly, barely audible.

‘I told him no. He… he sniffed me quite a bit but he didn’t do anything.’

Seonghwa didn’t even look at you as he replied, jaw gritted yet tone of voice surprisingly calm.

‘If he did anything to you, he wouldn’t be around to gloat about it for long.’

the expression on Seonghwa’s face told you his words were no joke

he spent the next few hours painstakingly cleaning you over and over, Jeno’s scent gone but the feeling lingering in Seonghwa’s nostrils like a curse

Seonghwa nearly rubbed your skin raw to be rid of Lee fucking Jeno, only stopping when you whimpered quietly, ears drooping as you shook in the now-cold bath water

‘H-hwa… hurts-s.’

sighing, Seonghwa pressed an apologetic kiss to your forehead before letting his fingers scratch behind your ears in your favourite spot. that precious smile he’d withheld all day broke free from his mask of neutral displeasure, much to your delight. your ears perked up in response, melting under his touch as he hummed quietly before speaking.

‘you’d never leave me, right bun?’

eagerly nodding, you beamed up at him before extending your pinky to him.

‘promise!’

he interlocked his finger with yours, pressing your thumbs together as you beamed up at him. Seonghwa looked you over one more time before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around you, helping you get out the bath soon after. shivering in the cold, you happily jumped into Seonghwa’s arms when he opened them, resting your head on his chest and feeling his strong heartbeat as he murmured quietly to you. 

‘maybe you should… take some time off from the cafe.’

when he saw your confused expression, Seonghwa elaborated.

‘if Jeno comes to you while you’re working, you’ll basically be stuck there. He might be more… brazen than sniffing.’

your eyes widened at this, fear grasping them just as Seonghwa had expected. you were easy to manipulate, he just had to make Jeno into the big bad wolf and himself into the protector.

‘you’re right, Hwa… I-.. It’s for the best.’

Seonghwa gave you an approving smile and rewarded you with a scratch behind your ears, watching dotingly as you snuggled into his chest with a warm smile.

‘my poor little bunny… I’ll keep you safe, hm?’

giving him a small kiss to his cheek, you gazed at him with stars in your eyes, totally smitten.

‘thank you, Seonghwa. Thank you for keeping me safe.’

Seonghwa reciprocated with a short but sweet kiss to your lips, his gaze holding the same if not stronger intensity.

‘I’ll always keep you safe bun, I’ll keep you safe till my very last breath. I won’t let anything happen to you.’

[steven1123x]

In the summer of 2008, Rose Quartz Universe was filming her son, Steven Quartz Universe, unaware that he would soon become the star of a cartoon produced by Cartoon Network under the guidance of a brilliant director. [STEVEN UNIVERSE ACTORS AU]

🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬

My take on Steven Universe and how Steven got his big break into the acting world and even got his own TV show on Cartoon Network. This was inspired by a short on YouTube I saw called ‘Steven Moves In’ you can look up ‘Steven Universe shorts and watch the video.

I hope I can keep this going for you guys as much as I can. Anyway. Bye, guys!

🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬

Behind The Scenes - Chapter 1: Steven’s Big Break.

June 2008.

“Is it on?” a voice asked. A boy nods. The boy had a head of curly black hair, had black eyes, he also wore a salmon pink T-shirt that was too big for him, and cuffed jeans. He has a Band-Aid on his left cheek, he also had no shoes on his feet as he sat next to his father in his van which had both the doors open. the child flashed a smile and a peace sign to his mother.

The woman behind the camera chuckled, and the boy smiled softly at her.

“Come on, Steven, show us what you wrote.” his father insisted. Steven took a deep breath strummed the ukulele and sang. Steven has heard stories about her team members and wanted to write a song about them, and him if he was a member of his mother’s rebellion so, that was how this song came to be.

“If you're evil and you're on the rise

You can count on the four of us taking you down

'Cause we're good and evil never beats us

We'll win the fight and then go out for pizzas

We are the Crystal Gems

We'll always save the day!

And if you think we can't

We'll always find a way!

That's why the people of this world believe in

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl and Steven!”

She laughed in amusement then stopped recording and closed the screen to the video camera, Setting it down so she could upload it to YouTube later on her computer. The man, Greg Universe, looks at his wife walks over to their van, picks up Steven, and kisses his cheek. Steven laughed as the woman spun him around. Her husband smiles, grabs her all-white MacBook, takes out the SD card from the camera, plugs it into the computer, and starts editing it for YouTube.

Steven Quartz Universe has a musical talent from his father, Gregory Universe, and the ability to learn faster than other children from his mother, Rose Quartz Universe.

Greg was only twenty-six years old when he and Rose had Steven. And he couldn’t be any happier, they knew that they had to tie the knot, so in 2001, they got married in Los Angeles Rose’s team — The Crystal Gems were there also for it, Pearl, Rose’s friend (And probably crush) was jealous of her that she was getting married to a rockstar and had a baby with Rose in the process the previous year.

Seven years later, they were happily married and very happy with their son, Steven Quartz Universe who was born on August 15, 2000.

Over time though, He wondered why Steven was not aging like the other kids in his grade were. By the age of one, he still looked a few months old. Rose had an idea of why he wasn’t aging.

Due to her being a gem, she and the other Crystal Gems don’t age. But, no matter what they still loved him no matter what.

Steven looks at his parents.

His mother, Rose Quartz Universe possesses a commanding stature, towering above both her husband and son at an impressive height of approximately eight feet. Her taller and heavier build projects a sense of strength and presence. Her complexion is characterized by pale peach skin that exudes a soft and gentle radiance, complemented by defined pink lips that add a touch of delicacy to her features.

Her mesmerizing appearance is accentuated by bright black eyes that seem to hold a world of depth and mystery within them. Cascading down her shoulders, her long, curly pink hair is meticulously styled in thick ringlets, lending an air of elegance to her overall demeanor. Notably, her unique gemstone is situated where a human navel would typically be found, serving as a distinctive and striking feature that sets her apart.

His father, Greg is a uniquely styled individual, appearing with a plump physique typical of middle-age, yet with a touch of eccentricity in his appearance. His dark-beige beard frames his mouth, contrasting with his taupe hair, which is styled into a mullet cascading down to his waist. Despite his middle-aged plumpness, he maintains a somewhat skinny frame. Notably, Greg sports a full head of hair, adding to the curious juxtaposition of his appearance.

Moreover, he flaunts a tan line gracing his shoulders and feet, hinting at his outdoor ventures. To add a hint of edginess, his look is further accentuated by earring pieces that embellish his overall look with a touch of individuality.

The Video was finished uploading as they went back to their beach house, located in Delaware.

His childhood home. A two-story house elevated on stilts, characteristic of areas prone to flooding or coastal regions. The front of the house is symmetrical, featuring a central door and two windows on each floor. The exterior is painted in white, creating a contrast with the green surroundings of trees and a clear blue sky.

A distinctive feature of the house is its spacious second-story deck, accessible via a staircase from the ground level. This deck wraps around the front and one side of the house, providing ample outdoor space for relaxation or social activities. Beneath the deck, the ground level seems open, likely used for parking or storage purposes, effectively utilizing the house's footprint and offering protection against potential water damage.

They walked inside and Steven smiled and looked around his home.

He looked at a spacious and elegantly designed open-plan living space with a coastal design aesthetic. The room is illuminated by natural light and features a color scheme predominantly consisting of whites and creams, complemented by deep blues and natural wood tones.

In the living area, there is a large, white sofa adorned with stylish throw pillows, creating a cozy and inviting ambiance. Positioned in front of the sofa is a dark wooden coffee table adorned with books and decorative items, adding a touch of sophistication to the space.

Moving towards the left, there is a dining area featuring a simple wooden table surrounded by contemporary chairs, seamlessly connected to the nearby kitchen. The kitchen boasts white cabinetry and a visually striking blue island, topped with elegant white marble, adding a pop of color and a touch of luxury to the room.

Pictures hung on the walls of Greg and Rose’s wedding in California, an acoustic guitar that was signed by Chester Bennington - who was the lead singer for one of their favorite bands LINKIN PARK. Three surfboards lined up the wall. A white one with red roses, A large board bright pink one with hibiscus flowers all over the board which was custom-made for Rose, and the smallest one was light blue with a large white stripe going diagonally.

The room is further enhanced by large windows that offer picturesque views of a water body, enhancing the serene coast.

Steven was now playing on his Nintendo DS in the living room, Rose was cooking dinner as her husband helped her. Steven looks up from his game of Mario. Pausing his game and walking to the kitchen. Steven grabs a chair and stands on it watching his mother. Rose looks over her shoulder.

“Looks like you have a little helper.” Greg smiled and looked at his son.

“What are you guys making?” Steven asked.

“Where making mozzarella sticks,” Rose said Steven’s eyes lit up. He loved mozzarella sticks, and the way his parents made them was amazing!

Rose smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Oh, you don’t need this anymore,” she said, pulling the Band-Aid off his cheek. Steven smiled as he took his finger and felt the soft fuzzy surface, the cut wasn’t there anymore.

He was playing at the beach the previous day. He and his friends Lance and Mikey were playing tag and Steven fell on a rock and scraped his cheek a little bit. He went home then got cleaned up, then he was back to playing again. Rose asked him if she could heal his cheek with her spit but he didn’t want to. Rose respects his boundaries and wishes, so she doesn’t press on.

Rose wondered if he would ever get his gem powers, or maybe it was a possibility that he wouldn’t get them at all. But Steven wants to be like his mother and learn about his gem heritage and culture.

Greg grabs the bowl that was filled with the mozzarella sticks and puts them in the fridge to cool them before frying them. He walked to the sink and washed his hands. He dried them, walked to the couch, and picked up his acoustic guitar that was sitting on a guitar stand. He sat on the couch and began to strum it.

Steven and Rose both smiled. Rose loved her husband’s playing ever since they met at that concert back in 1987. Steven knew the story of how they met. Then they had him — The light of their lives. Steven Quartz Universe.

When Greg heard his full name for the first time, he started tearing up. It was such a beautiful name for such a beautiful, bright, and intelligent boy. And Steven was very intelligent for Seven years old.

But, he does love doing stuff like most kids do, from going to the skatepark to playing video games. And Steven had an active imagination and loved to play pretend with his parents and friends.

Since it was summer vacation and his birthday was in two months, what he wanted to do was visit California and go to a movie/TV studio. Greg and Rose were unsure of this though — Any concerned parent would. But, they wanted to respect Steven’s decision in all of this and be supportive as much as they could throughout his life and moving forward.

An hour passed, and Greg put the cheese sticks in the oven and closed the door. Rose was on her phone texting one of her teammates that she’d fought along the rebellion a long time ago way before she even met Greg. Steven sat on the couch next to her and looked at his mother texting on her iPhone 3G.

“Who are you texting, mom?”

Rose looked from her phone and faced her son. “You remember the Crystal Gems do you?” Rose asks him.

Steven nods.

“They just want to see how I’m doing and if I’m alright.”

“Do you still talk to Pearl, Mom?”

“Yes, I still talk to Pearl, Steven.” she smiled and kissed her son’s cheek.

Steven smiled back. He felt a sense of happiness. Steven then hugs her. Greg pulled out the food from the oven and plated it for the three of them to share. He pulls out the marinara sauce that he’d made, puts it into three individual dipping cups, and puts the sauce inside them. He served it with some Caesar salad and some spaghetti he’d made earlier in the day while Steven was swimming on the beach.

Dishes were put in the dishwasher, Steven was changing into his bathing suit in his room. Rose wore a one-piece swimsuit with a circle in the middle where her gem was exposed. Steven grabbed a towel, walked downstairs, and saw his mother.

Rose and Steven both went outside to the waves and played together.

Greg smiled and walked down the steps of the beach house with his acoustic guitar in his hand. He had his long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. He sat on the sand and played some notes on his guitar as the sun was beginning to set.

Morning approached Greg and Rose were both asleep in their room, Rose woke up and stretched, her pink messy hair falling on her shoulders.

She got up and did her morning routine. She walks out of her room Rose sees her son playing on his Nintendo GameCube up in his loft bedroom. Steven woke up an hour ago and now he was playing Sonic Heroes.

“Good morning, Steven!” Rose called out to him. Steven paused his game and smiled, he got up from his bed, ran downstairs, and hugged her. Rose smiled and bent down to hug him, Standing at eight feet tall. So he only reached up toward her legs. But he didn’t mind it as much. He still had a lot of growing to do.

“You want to go out for breakfast?”

“Yeah, but what about, Dad?”

“We can wait for him.”

“Or, you can text him.”

Steven nods and pulls out his phone from his pocket then texts him.

Greg walked down the stairs in a black t-shirt and jean shorts. “Let’s go, guys! Rose, you can drive.” her husband said, tossing the keys toward her. Rose caught them one-handed and they walked out of the beach house, Rose unlocked the van and got into it, and Steven opened the passenger side door and crawled into the back, Rose stuck the key in and they went to Washington to a diner in Deleware.

🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬

Steven was reading the menu. Greg was on his phone, Rose looked over his shoulder. “Whatcha doing?” Greg looked at his wife and smiled. “I’m seeing if that video you posted of Steven playing the ukelele got some views.”

Rose’s eyes widen, that video got ten thousand views overnight! “Steven! look,” she said, the seven-year-old looked up at his mother. Rose gave her phone to him and he read the numbers, he looked up with white stars in his pupils as he read the numbers. “Ten. T-Thous-what?!” Steven said in shock and disbelief at what he was reading off her screen.

Rose smiles and nods. “Looks like you are famous my superstar.” Rose smiled softly at him, Steven stood up and sat in her lap. Rose felt his warmth and wrapped her arm around his body softly, Steven felt happy at the moment that he saw his video of him playing the ukelele and singing had gone viral on YouTube!

Rose got a text notification, she pulled it out of her shorts pocket and pressed the button to unlock her iPhone 3G.

She sees the lock screen of her iPhone. It features a background showing her, Steven, and her husband. Standing at his car wash The lock screen displays the time as 9:29 AM on Monday, June 17. Notably, there is a text message notification from a contact named “Christopher,” Rose read the message content; Can Lucas come over today, or is it a bad time, Mrs. Universe? Additionally, there is a slider at the bottom prompting her to "slide to reply.” Rose slid to reply to the message.

“Mom? Who are you texting?”

“You remember your friend, Lucas? his father asked if he could come over.”

“Please, mom? can he?” her son begged. Rose giggled and patted his curly hair. “Sure he can, Steven. Your friends are always welcome.” Steven smiled as he sat up and hugged his mother’s neck. Greg smiled then put a hand on his black fluffy, curly hair

Rose texts him back, saying that he can come over. Steven wanted to jump for joy, but he sat still and kept calm. Rose saw a teen walking up to them, she wore a black apron and her brown hair was in a ponytail.

“Hello, are you ready to order?” she asked with a smile on her face, Steven smiled and looked at her.

“Can I have the chocolate chip pancakes?” he asked. The teen recognized the boy instantly and smiled.

“Hey! I saw the video of your son yesterday after my shift, he’s very talented with that ukulele.”

“Thank you!” Steven said.

“Thank you so much, miss. He is incredibly talented.” Greg smiled

“He is very talented. Who does he get it from?”

“He gets it from me.”

“And he picks up things very fast from me.” Rose smiled. Steven looks around the restaurant.

“I hope your son gets a job as a singer or an actor one day, you're going places. Say,” she knelt to his level.

“What’s your name?”

“Steven,” he said.

“Well, Steven. I hope to see your face in movies and TV one day, and if you do. Don’t forget about who helped you achieve your dreams.”

Steven smiles at her. “I won’t! what’s your name?”

“Pearl.”

“Oh, that’s funny. I have a friend named Pearl.” Rose chuckled.

“That’s awesome,” she said. “Are you ready to order?"

“We will have the scrambled eggs with bacon and this little guy will have the chocolate chip pancakes,” Greg said, passing the menus towards Pearl so she could collect them, Pearl wrote everything down on her notepad, then collected the menus. “Are you okay with water?”

“Do you have a strawberry milkshake?” Rose asked.

Pearl nods. “We do.”

“Mom, can I have one too?” Steven asked.

Rose nods. “Okay, what kind? we have chocolate, vanilla, Oreo, and strawberry.” Pearl asked him.

“Um, may I have Oreo?” he asked. Pearl smiled and wrote it on her notepad.

“Alright, I will put these in so you guys can get your breakfast.” Pearl smiled and walked off.

Rose turned on her phone and she played a game. Greg went on his and dug into his pocket and pulled out a pair of earbuds. He looked at Steven.

“Steven, do you want to listen to some music with me?” Steven nods happily. Greg gave him the left earbud. He grabbed it and he went into his music and played a song. It was called ‘All The Small Things’ by ‘Blink-182, one of their favorite bands. Rose looked at them and wanted to take a picture of them.

Maybe when Pearl comes back with our food I can ask her to take a picture of us.

Rose saw her walk up with their drinks. “Here you go, guys,” Pearl said setting down their milkshakes and orange juice. “Thank you, oh, can you take a picture of us?” she asked, pressing the home button and going to the camera app.

“I can,” Pearl said, as she took the photo and handed her phone back to Rose. Rose saw them and smiled. “This is so cute. thank you.” she smiles.

Pearl nods. “I’ll be back with your breakfast,” she said walking off. Steven tapped his mom on the arm.

“Mom, can I get down?” Steven asked, pulling the earbud off his ear and letting it hang off from the floor.

Rose nods as she sets Steven off her lap and onto the floor.

The boy walked towards his chair and tried to get on so he could sit, but he was too short and tiny. Rose saw that his son was struggling so she helped him up.

“Thank you,” Steven said, Rose smiled and kissed his head.

Just then, A boy and his father walked in, Greg looked at them and smiled

He sees a younger man, with a happy expression. He has short, neatly styled hair and clear skin. He is looking directly at his son. His overall appearance seems clean and well-maintained. Additionally, he is wearing a small earring in one ear, adding a subtle touch of style or personal expression to his look. The plain and out-of-focus background serves to highlight his face and features, making him the central focus.

The boy standing next to his father is depicted as a cheerful and happy child with dark brown skin. He is wearing a blue short-sleeve T-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of white Converse sneakers and has shoulder-length dreadlocks.

“Greg, Rose, how are you two!” the man — Christopher, or Cris asked the couple.

“We're good, I’m glad that you came. Greg said, hugging the man. Rose looked at his son.

“Hi, Lucas.” she smiled.

“Hi, Rose. you look pretty today.”

“Aw, thank you, Lucas.” She smiled. he then turned to Steven.

“Hi, Steven!”

“Hi!” he smiled, Lucas went toward him and gave him a high five. “Steven! Where matching!” Lucas smiled, looking at Steven’s blue T-shirt which was a little bit too big for him.

Lucas knows that he won’t grow normally like other kids, but he doesn’t care. Their still friends.

Steven and Lucas both met at school in September two years ago when Steven was in first grade. Lucas had changed schools in Delaware. Steven already had no friends because of the way he looked at others. One boy asked if there was something wrong with him or if he had a disability.

And someone even asked Lucas, in front of him ‘Why do you hang out with that baby?’ Lucas was so angry at this and wanted to kick him in the leg. But Steven told him to let it go and went to play Pokémon with him on his GameBoy.

“Hey, Steven,” Lucas said.

“Hi!” he said happily.

“What’s up? we're going to have so much fun together” Lucas said. Steven smiles and hugs his friend. Just then, Pearl walked back to their table with their food.

“Here you go, guys,” Pearl said, handing them their breakfast. Steven smiled and unrolled his napkin revealing a fork and knife and eating his pancakes. Christopher smiled and put a hand on his son’s head.

“Okay, Lucas. I’m off to work now. Have fun with Steven, your momma will pick you up. I have to work late tonight.” he told his son, Locas nods

“Okay, bye Dad!” he said, seeing him walk out of the diner.

🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬

Steven, Lucas, Greg, and Rose went to the arcade when they went back and played some games, Lucas and Steven went to ski ball while Greg and Rose were on the racing simulators. The owner of the arcade—Mr. Thomas was pleased to see them having fun. He smiled and watched them, Despite that Greg’s wife was an alien. He didn’t care he was happy to see a person or alien, having fun.

Mr. Thomas was standing not too far away, attending the prize booth. He appeared to be in his thirties, with short light brown hair. He is wearing a checkered shirt with colors that include red, blue, and white. He also wore blue jeans and Vans on his feet. He also had a welcoming smile on his face.

“Hey, Steven!” Mr. Thomas said walking up towards the boy. Steven smiled and looked at the man.

“Hi, Mr. Thomas,” he said. He smiled at the boy and knelt to his level.

“Hello, Steven! I heard that your birthday is in two months, are ya doing anything fun?” Steven wanted to go to LA for his birthday and meet his mom’s friends who also lived there. He was excited for his birthday. He was turning eight years old. He loved his birthday a lot, hopefully, this one will be special for him. Steven smiled and continued to play ski ball with Lucas. They hoped they would never separate.

Steven was now in his bedroom, it was ten o’clock PM, and he was playing Super Mario Sunshine. Rose walked upstairs to his loft bedroom. Steven looks at his mom, she wearing her Mr. Universe T-shirt and long pants. “Hey, mom,” he said, still playing.

“Hi, Steven,” she said, the boy smiled, Rose sat on the bed, Steven paused the game and hugged her, feeling the warmth of his mother could put him to sleep. Steven yawned as he hugged her tighter, Rose smiled and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, Steven.”She whispers, covering him up with the white puffy comforter.

Rose walked downstairs and into her and Greg’s room. Greg was on his laptop. His wife walked to her side of the bed and went in, he looked at her and smiled lovingly at her. “I love you, Rose.”

“I love you too, Greg,” she said, kissing her husband on the cheek. Greg smiled, closed his laptop, and put it beside him. Rose got comfortable and they both went to sleep

🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬🎥 🎬

A/N: hi guys! I hope you all enjoyed this fanfic as much as I did. I love making stuff like this. I thought of a Steven Universe Actors AU for a while now. I started writing this three days to come up with, I hope you guys review this it’ll mean a lot to me if you do.

[ancientstone]

Okay Brits I need you to start paying attention.

We are likely in a General Election year.

We are going to be voting which political party we want to govern us the next five years. As of yet we don't have a date (the latest it could be held is January 2025, though it's probably going to be in 2024), but you need to start listening to what's going on so you can be ready and make an informed choice.

In the last General Election, the turnout was 67.3% across the UK. People often say they didn't vote because they didn't understand the politics or "they're all the same anyway."

When a General Election is called, Polling Day will be 25 days later. If you're working, busy, or just have life stuff happening, you may not have time to do the research you want. This is why it's important to start doing things now.

1. Are you Registered to Vote?

You can register to vote here.

You can check if you're registered by going here.

You must 18 or over on Polling Day to vote in a General Election.

You must also be one of the following:

A British, Irish, or qualifying Commonwealth citizen. (You can check here if you're a qualifying Commonwealth citizen)

Be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years)

Not be legally excluded from voting

According to the website, while registering, "You’ll be asked for your National Insurance number (but you can still register if you do not have one). After you’ve registered, your name and address will appear on the electoral register."

There is also an option to register to vote anonymously "if you're concerned about your name and address appearing on the electoral register for safety reasons." The link to that page is here.

You can register to vote by post by going here and printing out the forms.

If you would like a step-by-step guide to registering to vote, here is a page that has a pdf doing just that. It is also available in Welsh.

2. Get a Photo ID

We now need to show a photo ID when turning up to the polls.

Here is a list of valid forms of photo ID.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get a valid ID, otherwise you will be turned away from the polling station.

If you vote by proxy, you need to "take your own ID when you go to vote on someone else’s behalf. You do not need to take theirs."

According to the website, "The name on your ID must match your name on the electoral register. If it does not, you’ll need to:

register to vote again with your new details

take a document with you to vote that proves you’ve changed your name (for example, a marriage certificate)

Small differences do not matter. For example, if your ID says ‘Jim Smith’ instead of ‘James Smith’.

If you do not have a type of photo ID that allows you to vote, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate."

3. You need to apply to vote by post

You can apply here.

You need to be registered before applying.

To apply you need:

"The address where you are registered to vote

Your National Insurance number or other identity documents, e.g. a passport

the specific date of the election or referendum you want to make a postal vote, if you only want a one-off postal vote

You’ll also need to upload a photo of your handwritten signature in black ink on plain white paper.

If you cannot provide a signature or one that always looks the same, you may be able to apply for a postal vote signature waiver within the service.

You might be asked for extra documents to identify you."

The linked page has an option for downloading an application form to send in by post.

4. Start Researching!

Think back to the last few years.

What did you like, and who did them? What about the opposite?

Is there something local happening in your area, and who is pushing for/against it?

Look up the parties' social media - what do they promote, promise, and call out?

Here are some resources:

An overview of the political parties

BBC News page for current politics

How many MPs are in which parties

Information on General Elections/when ours will likely be held

The other key political events in 2024

General info around voting, elections, boundary changes, etc.

TL;DR

2024 Will likely be the year the UK votes for the next political party in charge.

You need to register to vote.

You need a photo ID to take with you.

You need to apply to vote by post.

The best time to start looking into the parties and what they do is now, so you can be informed later on.

The rest of the world is welcome to share this!

[citrusbatsandhoneybees]

-The Fading Star-

-Part 4-

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

A/N: I struggled with some of this chapter, but I think it turned out okay! I hope you enjoy! Also, if you prefer to read on AO3 I started to upload this on there too.

Lucifer Morningstar X Female! Insert

Content Warnings: Small inclusion of Angel Dust's job, swearing

Quick Synopsis: Tsuki was made to keep Lilith company during her marriage with Adam, but finds herself, unwillingly, falling in love with a certain archangel. Then after many millennia she reunites with Lucifer.

Charlie had moved everyone to the lobby to start their redemption activity for the day. Charlie situated herself in center of the room with her colorful, highlighted notes in hand. Husk sat positioned with his arm over the armrest of the large crimson couch, and Angel smirked, walked over and laid his legs over his lap. Alastor sat over on the love seat that was next to the large couch with Nifty accompanying him sat over on the back edge of the velvety seat. Vaggie had joined the two other sinners on the couch on the spot closest to her girlfriend leaving only a few spots for the other two angels. The fallen angel had decided it was best to join on the couch next to Vaggie; Tsuki awkwardly walked over to a spot on the floor in the space between Vaggie and Alastor. She made herself comfortable as Charlie started to speak. 

“Alright... Now that everyone is settled, I’ve come up with a fun way for us to get to know each other a little more!” 

Charlie spoke with a confident tone as she looked over towards the group. The princess summoned a set of deep red dice in her hands, and with a smile presented them towards the group. 

“We will be introducing ourselves for Tsuki here; then using these to choose a question to answer for the group!” 

The rest of the group only responded neutrally: small shrugs or nods. 

“Here I can start!”

Tsuki watches Charlie as she hears the dice shuffle within her fist before it clacks and rolls across the table’s wooden surface. 

“I am Charlie, and… something that made me smile recently is Tsuki’s breakfast this morning! Thank you again!” 

The guardian angel looked over to Charlie with a smile and nod. Then watched as Charlie handed over the dice to her girlfriend Vaggie. Vaggie made quick work to roll her dice before stating her name and answering her question. 

“Ah... I’d probably have to say that this bow is the best gift I’ve been given. Charlie gave it to me when she took me in.” 

Lucifer and Tsuki adored the sweetness of the fallen angel’s answer, awed by the couple’s honest relationship. The others rolled their eyes, and watched as she passed over the dice to the King. As the activity continued, she listened in to learn more about the others around her. Their answers revealed more about them, and she grew quite fond of the group. Lucifer had answered that his favorite memory was his daughter’s birth, which was a given. Husk had said something that he could do was open a bottle with a lighter. Angel shared a story about how an actor threw up on Val’s dick after he had ignored their gag reflex one time. Tsuki couldn’t help but laugh at that, while the others stifled their own after seeing her reaction. Angel Dust was clearly amused and a little surprised by this but enjoyed her anyway. As Tsuki wiped away a tear as she calmed down from the laughter before Angel had handed over the small plastic dice. She took it and shook the dice in her hand before letting it fall to the table. It rolled over to reveal four indentations on the surface, and she peered over the slip of paper that had the questions. Lucifer grew curious during her moment of silence, remembering that her question was over her most treasured memory. She thought over her answer before speaking again. She decided to answer honestly. 

“I am Tsuki… and my favorite memory was probably back on Eden, I found this beautiful spot one time, and I would go there all the time.”

She reminisced through her time on Eden, and continued to think over it even long after her answer was over. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The air was hot, and the sky was clear that summer day in Eden. Tsuki felt the wind whip past her, and the soft grass under her quick steps as she sprinted up hill. Laughter filled her lungs as she raced towards the precipice and heard the pitiful groans from the man trailing a few paces behind her. Her confidence was sky high, but before she knew it, Samuel had swiftly flung out his wings and flew past her. She spotted his attempt quickly. Pushing off the balls of her feet, she was in the air and had gotten a grasp on the edge of one of the pair of larger wings. He yelped in response as he was pulled down. Tsuki had thrown the archangel off guard as he fell back straight onto his butt. Soon after she had brought the angel back down, she attempted to gain back her speed and started to run towards her goal. 

“That’s what you get for trying to-!”

Tsuki was intercepted as Samuel gripped her ankle and pulled her back down with him. She squealed and landed on her forearms and stomach before looking back at the angel. He had a smug smirk painted across his face as he pulled her a little further. Straight after she had been pulled back enough, he was back onto his feet racing towards the edge. Tsuki shook her head and laughed lightly as she brought her feet back under her, gaining behind him. Samuel gained confidence as he was about to reach the edge, but it was suddenly ripped away from him as Tsuki beat him with a fast tug of his robe. 

“Ha! That’s another win for me!”

She exclaimed between bated breaths and small laughs. She fell back down to a sit, as she bragged about her accomplishment.

“You sneaky little cheat! I would’ve won if you didn’t pull me back!”

He complained through his own heavy breaths as he joined her in the soft grass. Sweat fell to his brows, and he leaned his back as Samuel catches his breath. 

“It was fair game once you tried to use your wings!” 

She explained herself after her own breath was brought back to its normal pace. Tsuki brought her gaze back up to him and looked over the breathless angel. A smile gained its way back to her lips, and she walked over towards the edge of the cliff letting her legs sit over the edge. 

“Come look over here Sammy!” 

She called back to him, and he made his way over before positioning himself next to her. He was awe-stricken as he looked over the view from the cliff. It peered over a large body of water that had several waterfalls bleeding into it from below them. The water was a bright clear blue with small spots of color roaming along within. The land that surrounded the water was grassy, and a community of animals wandered around the water to drink from. Past this Samuel could see the large forest of full trees leading to the orchard where they had come from before. Tsuki looked over to the man, and admired his gaze as he stared off the cliff. She bit her bottom lip softly as her heart beat a little quicker. 

“It’s beautiful..” 

“Wait! There’s more-”

Tsuki got back up to her feet and held her hand down towards the angel. He took it and pulled himself up with her help. After he stood, his expression shifted to confusion as she looked at him with a smirk. She took a few steps back away from him and winked towards him. The wind blew towards the two, and her hair flew past her face as she started to dash towards the edge. His eyes widen as he watched her dart to the edge, and he called her name chasing after her. She pulls her knees to her chest, snap her eyes shut, and feels the hot air quickly dissolve as the water encloses around her. Samuel’s feet push himself to a stop at the very edge as he looks over anxiously for her. Tsuki swims once the water pushed her to the surface. As she meets the air once again, she brushes her hair to behind her ears, rubs the water off her face, and laughs breathlessly from the depletion of adrenaline. Her heart was still pumping quickly, but she looked up to the cliff to see a smaller figure staring down at her anyway. 

“You coming?”

Tsuki calls to Samuel and waves the hand that wasn’t helping keep herself afloat at the moment. He looked down towards her as relief fills his system. The angel shook his head with a chuckle once he released a breath he had been holding in and smiled while diving into the water after her. The water soaked his robe and hair, and he swam to meet Tsuki once he spotted her. Tsuki was filled with glee as she watched him swim towards her and followed his lead to meet him in the middle. 

“You’re crazy you know that?” 

Samuel had a large grin plastered on his face as they had met in the middle. Tsuki laughed and thrusted her hand forward, effectively splashing, and soaking his hair once more. He only scoffed sarcastically in response and returned the same action. Laughter and pure joy hung in the air as they continued. This small battle lasted for a little while before she ended it by grabbing his hand. 

“Okay, Okay! Come on, I’ve got something to show you!”

She allowed his hand to drop from her grip as she swam towards a large waterfall. He followed after her and they arrived right in front of the cascading water. Mist from the conjoining water enclosed the two, and Tsuki turned her head to face the man implying for him to continue to follow. Then plunged deep into the water. She quickly pushed herself to the other side of the waterfall with him beside her. As they reached the other side, they faced a small, dimly lit cave. Moss and vines covered the sides of the stone, and rays of sun ran through the water covering the walls in various spots and wavelengths of light. They both reached the edge of the water and crawled onto the stone. Samuel stood and wandered towards the walls and traced his finger across the small clusters and chips of crystal that peeked out from the rock. 

“How did you find this place?” 

Tsuki was sitting with her legs dangling and dipping into the pond. She squeezed out the extra water out of her hair as she responded. 

“Had a lot of time on my hands when Lil spent time with well- Adam” 

The angel rolled his eyes at the mention of him, and she giggled under her breath. Their feelings aligned when it came to the first man, but Lilith insisted on keeping up her relationship with the man, so they stayed to the side for the time being. 

“Sorry, I know.” 

Tsuki stood from her spot and stood next to his side. Samuel bumped his hip into hers with a low chuckle and looked towards her. 

“It’s alright. We don’t need to talk about it.” 

He joked and continued to examine their surroundings, and Tsuki pulled him gently to the side. 

“Can I show you something?” 

Samuel looked towards her, and she pressed her hand onto the stone. Sparkling light glowed and erupted from the palm of her hand and Tsuki gently moved her hand across the cold, wet stone. Violet light flew and flickered in the space around them from the glimmering stardust that covered the surface. The archangel watched her in silent admiration and placed a gentle hand on to her forearm as she finished. She turned to face him; his gorgeous golden eyes showed his astonishment and wonder. Her heart fluttered at the sight, and she turned away, and pulled her hand away to fidget with the back of her hair. The comforting action helped her push the feeling down and away as she approached the edge of the water again. With his own magic, the angel allowed golden sparkles to flourish from his palm. He pushed his magic onto the stone and watched as it then started mix with the stardust Flickers of golden light swirled in patterns with her own violet ones, floating across and through-out the cave. Tsuki noticed this she turned to look back at him, awestruck at the glittering stardust that spread around them.

“Like it?”

“It’s.. incredible.”

 Samuel smirked and followed her to sit on the edge as they watched the shifting sparkles surrounding them. Tsuki turned her head and gazed at the man. The different colors shined across his face and the colors of his eyes. She cherished these moments between them. It was rare that she was able to spend time with only him, and although she wanted nothing more than to spend more time with him, she wouldn’t. Tsuki saw the way they looked at each other. The way her Lilith looked at him; she’s never seen her look at anyone that way. There was no way she was going to get in the way of that hope. Samuel turned back to face her, and she snapped out of her thoughts. 

“We should head back, see if Lil was able to sneak away yet.” 

The man nodded towards her and leaned back against his hands before he started to push himself back up.  

“Wait Luce, do you think you’re still going to give her that thing you were talking about?”

“Oh yeah uh- once she’s ready.” 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Tsuki?”

“Huh?”

The angel was cut out of her thoughts and saw that the group's eyes were all back on her. She felt a tear had fallen onto her cheek and wiped it away with her thumb. Feeling embarrassed, she looked down and away from the other’s gaze. The group had moved onto exchanging this or that questions, and it was back on her to answer. Tsuki cleared her throat and looked over to Charlie. 

“Sorry, what was the question?” 

Charlie gave her a small smile, but it was clear that the princess was concerned for her. Lucifer’s stomach dropped seeing her cry, and worried over what could have made her do so.

“Coffee or tea?”

Tsuki smiled and shook off any of the remaining thoughts over her memory. 

“Uh.. hard choice, probably tea though!” 

The rest of the morning went easier than she thought it would. Thankfully Charlie didn’t do anything that would involve Lucifer and her to interact directly. By the time they were finished it was early afternoon, and Tsuki was rushing to leave. 

“Wait Tsuki! Where are you going?” 

The two Morningstars ran after her, as she rushed, stopping her dead in her tracks. 

“Heaven? I have to fulfill my other duties today.” 

“Wait really? Maybe you could try to find out what’s going on with heaven right now? With everything that happened at the extermination, I'm a little worried.” 

“Wait Charlie I don’t think I kno-”

The angel’s guilt rose in her gut as she saw Charlie’s excited and pleading expression transition to one of disappointment. 

“I- I’ll try my best, but you have to keep in mind that I don’t have much well- authority up there.”

“What? Didn’t you say you are the first guardian angel?

Lucifer looked in between the two girls as Charlie continued to push but placed a hand onto his daughter’s arm to ground her questioning. 

“Charlie, I’m sure she’ll get whatever information she can.” 

Tsuki looked towards the two and let out a long breath before nodding and giving a two-finger wave goodbye as she headed towards the exit. 

“I’m leaving then, I’ll talk more, Charlie, once I get back!”

Lucifer let his eyes close and a heavy breath past his nose as she leaves. The insinuation that she was only willing to speak to Charlie felt like a small stab to the gut, but he was determined to not push her into speaking with him.  He would have to wait for the right opportunity or let her approach him herself. He knew what it was like to avoid and put off things like this. The princess knowingly looked over to her father with a small pat on his shoulder. 

“Dad, are you okay?” 

He gave her a small nod and placed a hand over hers.

“Yeah Charls, sorry I don’t mean to worry you.”

“It’s still only her first day Dad; I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you eventually.” 

He gives her a soft nod as his stare lingers to Tsuki’s walking figure. He hoped that his positive daughter was correct.

Tsuki was relieved to be able to get away once again but was interrupted with Angel Dust walking at her side as they stepped out of the lobby and towards the doors. She looked towards the spider-like demon with confusion scored across her face.

“Not the only one with work toots.” 

Angel looked over to her with a teasing smirk and nudged her with an elbow. She laughs lightly in response. Even though they had just met not that long ago, Angel’s aura was able to get her to relax almost instantaneously. 

“Right of course, have a good day, Angel.”

Tsuki opens the door for the sinner, and gestures for him to walk through.

“Don’t let that ass of a boss ruin your spirit Angel” 

Tsuki gave him a small wink as he steps through the door and drops into her own violet portal before he could respond.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Low heels hit the marble tile after she was transported to one of Heaven’s long halls. The floor was made of tiles that kept golden patterns across them. Large windows lined the top of the walls, allowing heavenly light from the outside to flow and fill the enclosed space. The hall held large stone statues that depicted angelic warriors holding large spears, with decorated, and engraved armor; the eyes looked cold and distant. Tsuki stood in the familiar hall and filled with nerves as she looked over herself. Relieved there was no evidence from her previous location, she followed the leading statues. The sickeningly silent space was interrupted with the echoes of her heels as she walked. Tsuki looked up at the round light blue ceiling while she passed. It held golden engravings of eyes looking down, reminding anyone that passed of the watchful gaze of the almighty.

 As she finally reached the grand golden doors at the end of the hallway, she looked towards the two guards that stood by. She nodded towards them, and they opened the doors, allowing her through without question. Tsuki shook off any nervous energy that had wrapped its way around her and entered. The circular office walls were a light blue that matched the ceiling from the hall, and they were lined with large shelves filled to the brim with hard-cover books. The back wall was decorated with hanging pearly spears in various sizes. Above the spears was a circular window with a silver frame, and a continuing the motif, the window was enhanced with an eye shaped grid. In the center of the room lied a large dark-wood desk, and behind it was a blonde regal figure sitting in a luxurious throne. The halo that stood over his head illuminated his face as he lifted his head. Tsuki’s gaze fixed on him as he looked towards the angel who entered his office. 

“Tsuki, What a pleasure.”

He spoke with a silky, calm voice. She approached his desk and smiled up at the prince as she curtsied.

“Michael, it’s an honor as always. Sorry I’m late, do you have my assignments ready for today?” 

The prince before her almost looked identical to how Lucifer had looked during their time in Eden, with only a few key differences. His eyes were radically different, instead of the gold that Lucifer kept, he had deep blue ones. The prince also allowed his hair to grow longer and was just a few inches taller than the King of Hell. Michael was an archangel, Lucifer’s brother, and the almighty’s right hand; because he was their creator’s right hand, he was one of the few that actually got to speak to him. Michael kept the responsibility of telling Tsuki who the divine wanted her to help each day.

Tsuki scanned his desk for the binder he usually had ready for her. As she spotted it, she reached for it, but before she could look through its Michael placed a hand on hers. 

“It’s strange for you to be this late Tsuki, is there something wrong?”

Tsuki’s eyes whipped back up towards the prince and tried to keep up a casual composure. He was usually very friendly with her, but he also usually kept a thumb over her. He had loosened his grip over her over the past few centuries, thankfully. She still couldn’t risk giving any indication that she was violating his trust in anyway. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly looking over her before his nose twitched up in disgust. The lingering scent of Hell stuck to her deep skin. 

“What is that smell?”

“Huh? Oh- Probably just earth, I’ve been keeping busy down there.”

A nervous energy whipped around within her. She lied. She wasn’t great at lying, so she tried to keep her answer brief and gave the prince her best smile. Hoping and pleading that her answer worked. It was believable enough considering everything she sees on earth, and fortunately for her he let the subject pass. 

“Make sure you’re taking care of yourself Tsuki, I don’t want to have to force you to take a break again.” 

He allowed her to take the heavy binder from his desk, and looked back down to the paperwork he was working on before. She nodded gratefully towards the prince as she scanned over the binder. 

“Of course, thank you again.” 

He waved her goodbye lazily, as she quickly left his room through the flickering portal he had created for her.

[fourraccoonsinacoat]

Head Full of Ghosts: Chapter 3

Pairing: Astarion x Dark Urge

Summary: Takes place during the events of Baldur's Gate 3 and explores the romance between Astarion and the Dark Urge, as well as the friendships and relationships she has with her companions. Plus, everyone gives shit to Gale about his cooking. Tags: Slow Burn, Angst, Pining, Humor, Violence, Friends to Lovers, Developing Friendships, Developing Romance, Spoilers for the Dark Urge and BG3 in general, Dark Urge as Original Female Character Rating: Mature (Will eventually be Explicit, just not there yet.) Current Chapter Count: 3/? Read on AO3 Current Word Count: 13,050

Author Notes: I'm finishing up the fourth chapter and realized I never uploaded this chapter to Tumblr. So here we are! Getting this fic back on track and should have the next chapter up soon.

Chapter 3: Monsters

“You know she is a hag, yes?” Lae’zel’s severe and even voice cut through the sticky swamp air like a hot knife through a wedge of Durinbold cheese. 

The bog was a foul place, both in atmosphere and in smell. The air was thick with humidity and an ever-present smell of wet rot. Trees sagged and bent at jagged angles, their tired limbs wilting in the gloom, and a thin fog seemed to permeate every corner of the swamp. A hazy light filtered through the tree canopy, casting blotchy shadows upon the muddy ground. 

The path the four companions were following sank into marsh every several yards, forcing the group to pick their way through mire and muck. The slog was slow, and there was much complaining. Especially from one particular high elf who no one had told not to wear freshly polished leather boots. 

“I am like…seventy percent sure she is a hag, yeah,” Eli answered as she carefully stepped over a rotted tree limb, half submerged in murky filth. “I mean, she’s entirely too eccentric to just be a normal human, right?” 

She looked over to Astarion for support, who was currently trying to rub some manner of sludge off his doublet.

“She certainly isn’t playing Three-Dragon Ante with a full deck, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Astarion replied coolly before throwing up his hands and huffing in irritation, the stain unyielding.

Lae’zel hummed for a moment, considering. “Gale is eccentric and a normal human, is he not?” she questioned, amber eyes fixing on their resident wizard who, at the moment, was trying to free the hem of his robe from the clawing grasp of a gnarled tree root.   

Eli sighed. “Gale has a magic bomb capable of leveling entire cities in his chest. I would not call that normal.”

“You wound me, Eli.” Gale responded in a good-natured tone as he tugged his robe free and the group began moving once more.

“You consumed an enchanted bracer yesterday at breakfast,” Eli quipped, recalling the morning fondly. Karlach had been fascinated, quickly trying to get Gale to absorb several other items from their camp hoard and asking him if he “took on their powers,” as she put it. 

Eli chuckled at the memory before concluding, “You’re as deranged as the rest of us and it’s not up for debate.”

Their little group really had become a hodgepodge of oddities over the past few days. Karlach was settling in well, because where else would she fit other than with their traveling sideshow which included a vampire who could walk in the sun, a warlock who was recently transformed into a part-devil by his patron, an amnesiac with the compulsion to murder anything that looked at her crossly, and all the rest of them. 

Eli was starting to wonder if she had a penchant for picking up emotionally constipated strays. They were all kind of outcasts in some way or another. People just trying to get along in a world that had kicked them in the teeth and tossed them out with the garbage. She still had no idea why they’d all just sort of accepted her as their group’s figurehead, but she was beginning to feel a certain affinity for their gang of misfits. They were all fighting battles both within and without, and Eli couldn’t help but feel a certain kinship with people who were struggling with their own personal demons, just as she was.

At least as the day wore on her constant headache had faded to a dull throb, rather than the brain splitting white-hot pain she’d been experiencing. Her memories were still lost, and whenever she tried to call upon them she was only met with flashes of red violence. Images of mangled bodies, ruptured limbs, stringy viscera…it all melted and jumbled together in a confusing blur of chaos. Her dreams were no better, and her nighttime raids on the camp’s supply of books and wine were no secret among the party. Both Shadowheart and Karlach had even joined her on separate occasions. Hells, she’d have a proper book club up and running soon.

“So,” Lae’zel’s stern voice brought Eli out of her musings. “You trust this hag?”

“No,” Eli nearly spat the word out in a laugh. Auntie Ethel, as she called herself, was a lot of things, and trustworthy was not one of them. Astarion’s assessment of Ethel as ‘positively demented’ was accurate, and hags were not known as an honest sort.

“Good,” said Lae’zel, slightly drawing out the word in approval. “Lest I remind you that the only way to remove a ghaik tadpole is a Zaith'isk.”

Eli could feel the gith’s eyes on her and she did her best not to bristle under what she was sure was a judgmental stare. “I am aware,” Eli said, trying to sound unfazed and relatively certain she was failing miserably.

Lae’zel continued to press. “And a Zaith'isk can only be found at a gith creche.” She laid emphasis on the last two words, as if she were pointing something obvious out to a very dimwitted child.

Eli felt the back of her neck and ears start to go warm as irritation stirred in her chest and tightened her shoulders. The throbbing headache at the back of her skull began to growl. 

“You don’t say…” Eli replied, quietly pleading to whatever deity she couldn’t remember worshipping to please just let her have the rest of the day without feeling like her brain was on fire. 

“I just did say.” Lae’zel shot back, drawing a sidelong glare from Eli.

Eli liked Lae’zel. For the most part. When she wasn’t threatening tiefling refugees or complaining about the lack of spice in Gale’s cooking. Though, to her credit, Gale’s food was kind of bland. 

The gith fighter was blunt, stubborn, opinionated, fierce and one hell of a talent when it came to steel and blade. Eli appreciated Lae’zel’s steadfast loyalty and belief in her people’s culture, and even felt a slight pang of jealousy for it. It grounded the warrior and gave her a perspective from which to view the world, something Eli did not have. Culture, family, heritage…they were the building blocks of a person. Even if a person rejected or outgrew those foundational aspects of themselves, they still provided guiderails – or at the very least an anchor for one’s identity. 

Without those things, Eli felt adrift and directionless in a vast and swirling ocean, constantly beaten upon the rocks before being dragged back down to drown.  

“Explain to me why we are seeking this hag who you do not trust and who cannot remove the tadpole,” Lae’zel said, driving at a point Eli knew was coming and one she wasn’t sure she had a decent argument against. “Instead, should we not be pursuing a more productive course of action?”

Eli sighed, rubbing at her temples as her headache began to mount. “I’m curious,” she responded rather lamely. 

“I see,” Lae’zel said with a tone that indicated the gith was wholly unimpressed by Eli’s reasoning. “So, the situation at Emerald Grove continues to escalate, goblins continue to terrorize the Sword Coast, the druid healer remains missing, and the tadpoles in our brains remain unremoved.” Eli internally cringed at the chiding way in which Lae’zel spoke. “But, let us humor your curiosity. What is the worst that could happen?”

The question hung in the air uneasily. The worst that could happen was…really fucking bad. Everyone could die. Eli and her merry band of misfits could all turn into mind flayers. The Grove could fall under the absolute rule of a tyrant and racist. And the Sword Coast could get fully and aggressively fucked. Why was this all her problem, again?

“Lae’zel, was that sarcasm I just heard?” Astarion chimed in, and Eli felt a pull of appreciation towards him. He probably hadn’t meant to run interference between Eli and her interrogator, but she was thankful for it all the same. 

Truth be told, there was a small part of her that hoped Auntie Ethel did have a solution for their tadpole troubles. While they weren’t the most honorable of sorts, hags were rather enterprising and shrewd. And given the nature of their unconventional problem, an unconventional solution would more than likely be required. Besides, if things went south, they could just kill her. That seemed to be a particular specialty of their group. 

“Sarcasm often accompanies truth,” Lae’zel said with a pointed tone. 

Astarion chuckled lightly and Eli felt something not unlike faint affection flutter in her chest. She very quickly shoved it down into the black hole within herself where all the things she didn’t want to deal with went. Nope. That wasn’t good. That was the very last thing she needed right now. 

It had been happening more and more since the night she’d made a complete fool of herself, drunkenly asking him if they were still friends. Still friends. Gods, she was such a loser, and Astarion surely thought she was a total basket case after that encounter. But, every now and then, he’d give her a smirk or say something that caused a laugh to bubble up, and then that weird and endearing feeling would creep up and holy shit was this not the time or the place! Besides, that man had more red flags than a circus, and it wasn’t like Eli was a bastion of sanity, so together they’d be about as functional as wet hot garbage. 

“How profound,” Astarion continued, oblivious to Eli’s distressing mental spiral. “This little jaunt in the swamp does seem to be a rather unhygienic deviation from more pressing concerns.” 

The appreciation she’d felt for him earlier poofed away, and Eli glared. “I will turn this whole party around if you all don’t stop your complaining!”

Astarion’s eyes lit up with delight. “Oh, please do! I worry the putrid scent of squalor and anguish is never coming out of my clothes.” He ran his hands down his doublet, trying to smooth out some wrinkles, and sighed in an overdramatic fashion.

“I, for one, am looking forward to seeing Ethel again,” Gale chimed in as they continued to trod down the muddy path. All of them would be washing muck off their clothes for days. “Fey and the like often have access to magic that even a wizard of my caliber cannot wield. This deviation - as you put it, Astarion - could prove very advantageous if we play our cards right.”

Eli resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder at Astarion, who had surely just rolled his eyes so hard he could see up into his own skull. She could practically feel the disdain radiating off of him and pointedly kept her eyes ahead, scanning the dreary bogland for any sign that they may be nearing Auntie Ethel’s dwelling.

It took Astarion all but two seconds to quip back at the wizard. “Gale, your opinion is like the filth on my boots. Unwanted and irritating,” he said with all the cheer of a muddy wet cat as he paused to kick some grime off the bottom of one of said boots.

“It is a wonder any of you have survived this long,” Lae’zel said, glowering at Astarion as he continued to preen. 

“We are a rather astonishing group, aren’t we?” Eli asked with a small smirk, glancing back at the gith.

Lae’zel just rolled her eyes.

Eli was glad for the banter, as it provided some distraction from the pulsating headache growing behind her eyes. However, as they rounded a bend in the path where the trail began to climb upwards towards the interior of the bog, snaking away from the swampy shoreline, Eli was struck with a surging agony that flashed white hot throughout her head. She doubled over, the heel of her hand pressing into the ridge of her brow as a hiss escaped from behind her clenched teeth. Her stomach churned angrily, a hunger rising from deep within that neither food nor drink would satiate. Her head felt as if it were shattering into fragments, her conscious self being pulled apart at the seams as something else tried to push its way to the surface. Something feral, and frenzied and starved.

From somewhere behind her, Eli thought she heard Gale muttering a question. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and wanted nothing more in the world than to seize it and dig her nails into the supple flesh. She wanted to smell the crisp metallic tang of blood in the air as her fingers peeled back skin as if she were pulling the rind off a particularly ripe fruit, bloody pulp exposed and raw. The thought of her fingers sliding between muscle and skin, slick with blood, feeling fibrous sinew tear away and hearing the wet squelch and pop as she degloved flesh from limb…   

Fist clenched, her nails dug into the palm of her hand as she fought to keep control. A pleasurable shiver ran down her spine as her mind entertained depraved thoughts, and for a moment she thought she may vomit where she knelt. She was not herself. Her mind was splintering with a hundred craven desires…she wanted to walk across fields of ruptured bodies and feel the viscera turn to jam between her toes. Her muscles tensed and she flinched away from the hand, standing in a near delirious state and muttering some nonsense about “needing a minute” before stumbling off into the fen. 

Eli needed to put distance between herself and her companions. At least for the moment. At least until her head cleared. She slogged through the wetland, unfocused on where she was going, until she felt a dampness seeping through her boots. She stopped and blinked, trying to wrench her consciousness back from the brink. As her sight cleared and the world around her came back into focus, Eli found herself standing ankle-deep in water near a riverbank, looking out over the vast and gloomy expanse of the Chionthar River - the opposite bank obscured by fog. 

Sloshing her way back to shore, Eli stepped back onto somewhat solid ground just as she heard a rustling in the thicket. Her eyes shot up to see Astarion picking through the snarl of brush and weeds that bordered the muddy shoreline. His expression was one of exasperated frustration, brow furrowed and mouth pulled into a grimace, as he tugged a booted foot free of the clinging bramble. 

“Gods below, this entire place needs to be tossed into Avernus,” he grumbled as he plucked a bur off his doublet and flicked it to the ground. Astarion then glanced up at her, crimson eyes guarded, although Eli thought she caught the glimmer of something else in his gaze…a flash of something softer. But it came and went like a spark catching alight then burning out just as quickly. “Are you…alright?” 

His tone was hesitant and uncertain, as if he were unused to the concept of asking after someone else. Astarion had an edge about him that never seemed to dull, as if he were always acting under the assumption that those around him would lash out at any given moment without warning. Eli wasn’t sure why, but she felt as if she recognized that particular brand of uneasiness. It was a tension that came from an impartial distrust of anyone and anything. A response to a life lived in a constant state of conflict, always ready for fight or flight. Something gnawed at the far recesses of her mind, tugging at a memory she couldn’t quite grasp. She understood that feeling, though she did not know why…

“I think I am. Now, at least," Eli said, rubbing at her eyes as her headache growled but remained tempered. Her mind seemed to be clearing and realigning itself to the present, no longer at risk of breaking and letting loose whatever atrocity lay coiled up inside herself. “You didn’t have to follow me out here. I just needed a moment to collect my thoughts.”

Astarion eyed her and raised a brow, disbelief apparent on his face. “My dear, whatever just happened in that pretty head of yours is not nearly as frivolous as you’re trying to make it seem.” 

Eli winced internally. He was right, of course, and it wasn’t as if she had been subtle when she’d walked off aimlessly into the bog after being doubled over and obviously in pain. Hell, given how she must have looked in that moment, he’d probably followed her to make sure she didn’t trod blindly into a sinkpit or end up ensnared by some flesh-eating swamp ficus.

She sighed and ran a hand absentmindedly through her silvery hair. “I just don’t want to worry people,” Eli conceded. “We have enough to deal with, without adding my violent mood swings and absconded memory to the mix.” She spread her hands out, as if the gesture could represent the absolute shitstorm they dealt with on a daily basis.

Astarion considered her for a moment, expression thoughtful and impassive, before he shook his head with a small smile. “I believe you were the one who pointed out earlier that everyone in our weird little group is ‘deranged,’ as you put it.” He emphasized her choice of wording with a gesture of his hands, pantomiming plucking the word out of thin air.

The action brought a soft smile to her lips. She enjoyed Astarion’s embellishments and dramatics. The elf had a flare for the extravagant that she found both endearingly silly and strangely alluring…

Nope. No. Stop it. She shoved that twinge of attraction back down into the deep dark hole within and refocused herself. “Yeah, well, one of us needs to at least act somewhat sensible,” Eli quipped with a smirk. “Can’t have Zevlor and his lot figuring out how truly unhinged we all are. We may not get paid,” she said the last bit with more than a little fake indignation. 

Astarion played along, pretending to be scandalized and clutching his nonexistent pearls. “Now that would be a tragedy. I have every intention of hiring a witch at the first opportunity to hex Gale’s cookpot so it will only produce boiled squid,” he said cheerily. “I’m assuming that won’t be cheap.” 

Amused with himself, Astarion tipped his chin up, smirking at Eli with all the wiliness of a fox. For her part, Eli just rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop a grin from spreading on her face as she imagined Gale, flustered and put out, ranting about the juvenile use of magic. 

A thought occurred to her, then. Something unbidden and completely inane, but one she latched onto desperately. It was a joke that had bubbled up from the deep recesses of her broken memory, and though she had no idea where she heard it or in what context, she was delighted at the prospect of finding something among the rubble of her ruined mind. It set the tiniest flicker of hope alight within her that maybe, eventually, she may be able to recover more. 

Eyes bright, and with a reserved sort of hopefulness stirring in her chest, she gave Astarion a genuinely dorky grin and blurted out with all the self-restraint of a toddler; “What do you call a magician who cooks?”

Surprise overtook the elf’s face, and he tilted his head curiously with a small laugh, thrown by the sudden and highly abrupt tangent. Before he could speak, however, a snap sounded in the brush behind the pair. Both Eli and Astarion turned to find a man, tall and well built with slicked back hair the color of burnt coffee. His mouth, framed by a neatly kept goatee, was turned down in a grimace, jaw clenched, and in his hands the man held a very large crossbow - loaded and aimed in their direction. 

“I’d think twice before you get much closer to him, miss,” the stranger warned, eyes darting from Eli to Astarion as if he expected the elf to set upon him any second. “He’s dangerous.”

Eli frowned at the stranger, fingers curling reflexively into the beginning gesture for her Eldritch Blast incantation. “And yet you’re the one with a crossbow pointed at me,” she said warily, watching the man’s fingers for any twitch or movement on the trigger. 

Next to her, she could feel Astarion stiffen defensively, but he remained quiet. Had the stranger not had a crossbow bolt aimed in her direction, Eli would have been more curious who he was and his connection to Astarion. Due to his comments, she assumed he was aware of Astarion’s vampirism, though she couldn’t be certain. Her curiosity, however, would have to simmer in the face of their current predicament. 

“Call it a precaution,” the stranger said before tipping the crossbow in the direction of Astarion. “You know what he is? Vampire spawn.” He said the last bit as if it was supposed to be some revelation, venom laced within his words. 

Eli studied the tip of the crossbow bolt, noting how the sharpened edge glimmered faintly in the hazy light. Silver? She glanced back and caught the man’s eyes with her own, a growing dislike darkening her expression. 

“Old news, my friend,” she said with more than a hint of antagonistic sarcasm. “Known that since I met him.” 

This drew a somewhat startled noise from Astarion, whose gaze she could suddenly feel turn to her. “You did?” he asked with a genuine note of surprise in his voice. 

Astarion had not admitted to being a vampire spawn until the night Eli caught him creeping in on her as she slept, hungry and poised to bite. Up until that point, though, he’d done a rather poor job of concealing his nature. What with the bite scars on his neck and his pale, almost pearlescent, complexion. The fact he could walk in sunlight was an oddity, of course, but given that she’d just flown through Avernus on a mind flayer ship after having an illithid tadpole inserted into her brain, a vampire traipsing about in the sun wasn’t even the weirdest thing she’d seen that day.   

She chanced a quick sidelong glance at Astarion and quirked an eyebrow. “Well, yeah. It was kind of the worst kept secret in Faerûn. Shadowheart and I even had a bet about who you’d try to bite first.” Eli still owed her a bottle of sweetwine, come to think of it.

She shook the thought from her head and turned her attention back to the stranger who still had his crossbow trained on them. “Mind introducing yourself before you start a fight you’ll regret?” she asked, watching his body language for any sign that he may back down now he knew Eli was fully aware of her companion’s condition.

The stranger glared at her, and Eli sighed. Another day, another fight with some ignorant douchecanoe who was wasting the last moments of their life antagonizing her. That darkness inside of her, the thing that craved slaughter and whose language was only violence, shifted restlessly like a dog in a cage, pressing at the barricades with a cruel need. She fought to push it back, but gods she could imagine her hands tearing into his gut, ripping dying organs from the yawning wound, warm and wet. The iron scent of blood in the air. The agony twisting his face as he writhed. It would be beautiful brutality. 

Her headache was mounting once again, and through the throbbing pressure she heard the man say; “You can call me monster hunter.”

He braced his crossbow, targeting Astarion, and Eli was moving faster than coherent thought. She felt a force collide with her left shoulder, nearly knocking her off balance, and then the world melted away into a manic savagery that was both achingly familiar and terrifyingly transcendent. 

Flesh would rend. Bone would snap. And her hunger would be sated. For now. 

The headache faded, and Eli was suddenly aware of a thick and deep pain radiating from her shoulder. Her mind swam dully, like a bobber struggling to stay above water as forces tried to pull it down. She felt…tired. Dazed. 

Why was she on the ground? Was that her blood spattered across her bracers? Why was Astarion yelling?

“Godsdamnit! Why would you do that!” 

Something jostled her, and the pain in her shoulder flared. She groaned and tried to turn her head towards Astarion’s voice only to find she was propped up against him. He was kneeling next to her, a hand braced against her back to keep her seated upright while his other hand pressed into her shoulder. She grimaced, trying to ignore the searing agony rocketing down her left side, but found herself unable to focus. 

She looked up into Astarion’s face, head bobbing to the side, and squinted at him. A range of emotions flitted across his face as he looked down at her. Anger, frustration, exasperation…all common day-to-day expressions for the snarky and uppity elf. But there was something else, too. Something in the clench of his jaw, the tightness of his lips and the way his sharp, clear eyes stayed fixed on her. Concern…

“Do…what?” she asked, confused. 

Eli continued to watch his face, thinking dully about when she’d ever seen him worried and coming up with nothing. Well, she wasn’t in a great state of mind at the moment and kind of just wanted to go to sleep. She was probably just forgetting…

Her mind drifted…eyes closing wearily…

Astarion shook her gingerly and she let out a noise somewhere between a hiss and a growl. “That bolt you idiotically decided to jump in front of was laced with poison! Do. Not. Fall. Asleep.” He pressed at the wound on her shoulder and her eyes wrenched back open, pain flooding her senses and slamming adrenaline into her system.

“Fucking rude!” she yelped. 

Then, the pain was fading and a slow numbness was creeping down from her shoulder. It felt cold and soothing, and she was so tempted to just relax into it and fade away. Her head dropped and came to rest against his chest, eyelids fluttering closed again. 

“I think I just like to annoy you…” she said weakly, then gave a hiccupping sort of laugh. 

Astarion was trying to jostle her out of the daze again, only this time there was no pain and she felt too content to open her eyes as her head rested against him. 

“Eli! Eli! Shit!” He sounded so far away. So far…far…away…

“What do you call a magician who cooks?” Astarion asked, a hint of panic coiling around his words. 

From somewhere very distant, Eli remembered she hadn’t finished telling him her joke. A small laugh caught in her throat as she thought about it…but she really didn’t feel like talking right now. Gods, she wanted to sleep…

Astarion was shaking her again. “What do you call a magician who cooks! Eli!”

Fucking hell, he was loud. 

Eli groaned and tried to lift her head. Too heavy… 

…she needed to finish the joke…

“A…saucerer…” she said lamely, then laughed, head still slumped against his chest. She’d have to tell Gale…

There was some muttering, then a feeling of being lifted. The ground was gone. Her arms sagged. 

“You will not die,” she heard Astarion say from miles away. “You will not die because that was just awful, and it will not be the last thing you ever say."

Eli smiled to herself. She was hilarious…

Everything went dark.

[memphisnovels]

Evermore

Chapter 14. Saw you in a dream

Previous chapter

Masterlist

Hi friends, apologies for the inconsistent uploads, things will get back on schedule after the next few weeks and it will be business as usual :))

pairing: Pietro Maximoff x OFC

warnings: big sisters Anna and Natasha, PTSD and trauma, Nadia totally isn't in denial, mentions of injuries.

I picked up my pace, pushing my body to move faster across the field. The sun bathed my flesh as I ran. Sweat beaded across my forehead but I ignored it, completing another lap around the compound. I’d decided to workout outside today, a decision which had nothing to do with the silver-haired Sokovian I’d spied venturing to the gym early this morning. I’d been training for the past few hours, cardio workout and then running laps. When my body was moving, I could avoid the things I didn’t want to deal with.

It wasn’t just the moment Pietro and I shared, Obolensky’s words had not left me. I’d laid awake in bed many nights since Moscow racking my brain, trying to understand. He wanted to live in our minds, to destroy us mentally, there was a real possibility that his questions about the ballet were nothing more than tactics to torture me. Yet, even with this in mind, the words would not leave me. There was this feeling deep within, something niggling and unyielding, something that called to me, begged me to look deeper.

“Are we gonna spend the whole day out here?” Natasha asked, shielding her eyes from the sun as she sat dropped down onto the grass.

I sighed exasperatedly, barely sparing her a glance. “It’s a beautiful day, the sun will be good for us.” I began a set of pushups.

“Oh right, so you’re definitely not just avoiding Pietro?”

“I am not avoiding him! I am… Jesus, can we not do this right now?”

She giggled, shaking her head at me. “Fine, we won’t but you owe me after this.”

I sat on the grass beside her, sipping from my water bottle. “What do you want?”

“Let’s go into the city, I need a break from Avengers business for a little while.” Laying out on the warm grass I stretched my limbs, laying my arm over my eyes to block the sun. “And by that, I mean I already booked us a hotel for Saturday night, a whole two-day away from the compound. That means we won’t have to get heat stroke just to avoid your boyfriend.”

The glare I sent her was vicious, it brought a grin to her face. I didn’t move from my position on the ground.

Natasha scoffed at me, moving to her feet and nodding toward the compound. “Are you coming or not?” She extended her hand out to me. The sound of a familiar Sokovian accent filled my ears. I accepted her hand swiftly, lurching to my feet.

“I want to talk to you about something,” I murmured as we reentered the compound. She glanced over at me, eyebrows slightly raised. “It’s about what we spoke about last week, what Obolensky said, the ballet thing.”

She nodded. “You think he was telling the truth?”

I shrugged. “He wanted to torture me but telling me the truth could be the best way to do that.” The look on Nat’s face was one I knew well, she did not need to say anything, there was an unspoken understanding between us. “It could be a lie to mix my head up, but if it’s not...”

“Okay.” She offered me a gentle smile then. “Let’s look into it. We’ll do it together.” She added, taking my hand slowly.

…

It was strange and almost beautiful the way the tree-dappled landscape transformed into skyscrapers, cars, and light pollution. I missed the city, it’s far too easy to breathe upstate, I longed for the smog. We had spoken to Tony before we left for the city. He said he had a plan, he said he’d work on it while Natasha and I were away, and we’d start operation: Swan Lake when we returned. I did not agree to that name.

The first item on the agenda was lunch, we’d stopped at a little, family-run restaurant that we’d frequented before relocating to the compound. The cheerful voice of Maria, one of the owners called our names as soon as we entered through the front doors. She was an elder woman whose face was lined with life experience, and I liked her quite a lot. Even when she insisted on hugging and kissing me each time, she greeted us. “I cannot believe you have finally come back! My, I think I’ll die and never see my favorite girls again.” She had a thick Italian accent that was immensely comforting to me. A basket of hot bread was placed in the center of our table the very moment we sat. “Oh my, Nadia, you are just devastating! You get more beautiful each time I see you.”

I shook my head at the woman who doted on me. “Oh, you are just trying to butter me up, so I order extra bread.” She laughed, kissing Natasha on the cheek before heading back toward the kitchen.

Everything seemed to move slower here, it was hard to explain, as though the moment you step through the doors into the candlelit restaurant you are transported into a sleepy town in Italy. The velvety music that played over the speakers easily covered the hustle and bustle of the city outside, the smell of basil and tomato lulling you into a serene kind of peacefulness that rids you of any negative thoughts.

We were halfway through lunch when Natasha finally asked me the question, I knew she’d been dying to. “So, I know that you know who is out of bounds for conversation but what about your love life in general?”

“What about it?”

“Well, how is it?”

I narrowed my eyes at her then. “How is yours, Natasha?”

“That’s mean.” I thawed slightly at the look in her eyes.

“Sorry.” A beat of silence passed between us. “How are you doing since… Banner went off the grid?”

She looked down at her plate, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Life goes on. Just getting through it I guess.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Is it easier for you to deal with it if you pretend it’s not happening?”

“As if you of all people are giving me crap about avoiding my problems.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. “I see your point.”

“No way, Nadia Pimenova acknowledging defeat?” I rolled my eyes playfully at her words. There was silence for a moment as she fiddled with her cutlery. “It’s like he just… disappeared, dropped off the face of the earth. I know that he needs time to deal with his stuff, I completely get that, but it’s really hard to just stay put knowing that he’s out there somewhere all alone.”

She pushed a lettuce leaf around her plate, resting her head on her hand. I reached across the table, placing my hand adjacent to hers. “He’s going to be fine, Nat, he’ll come back.” She offered me a sheepish smile, unconvincing at best. “And if he doesn’t, we will go find him together.” Her expression shifted then, the look in her eyes was one that I understood, even if it wasn’t one, I could define.

She would stick by my side whilst I navigated the terrifying road that was my past and I would stick by hers whilst she navigated the equally terrifying prospect of the future. The truth was she’d never needed to thank me for keeping her secret when she defected from the Red Room, for me, there had been no other conceivable option but to lie for her. I would never have sold her out, even when she was gone, I would stick by her. She was the first person who’d ever made me feel like I was not alone in the world. I did not blame her for what she did because I understood it. Matron Katerina and all of the other officials would never have been able to get New York out of me, because it was the one thing they could not take, the one thing that was ours to keep.

I took in a deep breath when we were on the street once more. “What are you doing?” Natasha asked.

“This city smells like shit… I missed it so much.”

She laughed wholeheartedly at my sentiment, pulling me along to walk beside her. We ate bagels and drank copious amounts of coffee and walked for hours. I loved every second.

“I feel like I’m going to explode if I even breathe too much,” I whined into my phone.

Anna’s breathy laugh carried over the line. “Nonna Maria’s and bagels will do that to you.”

“When are you coming back to New York?”

“When are you going to come visit me?”

I sighed exasperatedly. “You know how I feel about London,” I responded teasingly. A bark sounded in the background. “Georgie…” I said wistfully causing Anna to laugh at me yet again.

“So, what else is happening in your life outside of the wonderful reunion with Obolensky?”

Nat offered me a cheeky look as she walked past my spot on the hotel couch. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t you dare.” I spoke quietly to her.

I realized my mistake the moment Anna asked me what I was talking about.

“Nothing, Natasha is just being inappropriate.”

“What’s happened that you aren’t telling me?” Natasha’s loud laughter filled the room. I threw a cushion at her head, though she dodged it easily. “Nadia I swear if you don’t tell me now I’m going to come down there and force it out of you.”

I maintained that Natasha was losing her mind.

“You are a filthy little liar, Nads. Tell me!”

“Pietro kissed her,” Natasha said, hiding behind a cupboard, narrowly dodging another cushion to the head.

“идиот,” I shouted at her.

Idiot.

Anna gasped before laughter once again filled the line. “I cannot believe you weren’t going to tell me about that!”

“It was nothing! He is stupid and he should not have done it.”

“But you did kiss him back,” Nat added.

The glare I sent her was nothing short of lethal. “Oh, I so called this!” Anna piped up. “Didn’t I tell you that he was completely obsessed with you?”

“Jesus, it was a mistake, okay?! He should not have kissed me, and I had a momentary lapse in sanity and facilitated it. Why can we not just move on and pretend like it never happened?”

There was silence in the room for a moment. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding him? You’re hoping he’ll what? Forget that you two made out on the balcony?”

“There was no making out! It was one kiss and I’m avoiding him so that he’ll get the message that I am no longer facilitating anything of the sort.”

“That’s a very sound plan.” Sarcasm dripped from each syllable Anna spoke.

Nat whirled on me then, eyes wide with delight. “So, you admit you’re avoiding him!”

I shook my head, opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water. “This conversation is over! I have no interest in Pietro and he has no interest in me it was a heat of the moment decision that should have never happened and will never ever happen again!”

“Are you sure about that?”

I threw the final pillow from the couch at Nat.

“You’ve got a lot of anger in that little body! You know I can think of a really good outlet for that. He’s about 5’11 and brimming with boyish charm, something tells me he’d be more than happy for you to take it out on him.”

A chorus of laughter came from Natasha and Anna then.

“I am getting very sick of the sound of your voices. You are both delusional!” With that I abandoned my phone and the cackling redhead to collect myself in the bathroom. They were wrong, there was nothing between us, I was just overwhelmed it was the heat of the moment. I forced myself to stop thinking about the way his lips had felt, the way his breath had ghosted over my cheek, the look in his eyes. The sound of running water filled the room at I flicked the tap on, splashing the cold liquid onto my face.

Pietro had attempted to speak to me a minimum of 3 times a day since the night on the balcony. I’d done well in avoiding him so far. During training I’d tell him we could talk later and then I would simply find reasons not to be alone with him after. When I wasn’t avoiding him, I did my best to act completely unbothered by his presence, I was not as cold as I had been in the beginning, but I put forth an indifference toward him. I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever and though I told myself that I was just buying time to figure out what to say, I knew it wasn’t true. There was nothing much for me to say to him when I hadn’t the faintest idea what had prompted me to behave that way with him. It was baffling and the only explanation I’d managed to come up with was that I’d briefly been possessed by some demonic spirit who wanted to wreak havoc on my life. I suppose, truthfully, I was just hoping he’d forget about it before I actually had to face my moment of catastrophically poor judgement.

“Nads…”

“What,” I muttered into the darkness of the room.

A slight snort sounded. “Okay, grumpy.” There was silence for a long moment, the air shifted slightly, prompting me to bite back my next retort. “Do you ever feel like… I don’t know like a nonentity?”

“It is 1 a.m., Natasha.”

“I know, sorry. I’ve just been thinking a lot about the Red Room lately, I guess. It’s strange.” Her deep exhale was almost shaky. “When you first got out, I mean, did you feel like it was hard to rejoin normal life?”

Her question had me thinking back to that time, examining it for the first time in a long time. “There was no normal life for me… for a long time it didn’t really feel like there was even a me, not one that existed without the Red Room.”

“Right! I just feel like the second you’re out you're expected to assimilate, to be just like everyone else but I didn’t know how to do that. I’m not sure if I even do now, or if I’ve just become really good at faking it.”

“It’s been almost 10 years since I got out and there are times… so many times, when I look at other people and I’m not sure I’m ever going to be like that.” A heavy swallow allowed me to continue. “I don’t know who I was before it, it’s not easy to function like a normal human when the formative years you recall were spent learning ways to die most people couldn’t dream of.” 

Natasha was silenced momentarily by this. “I’m sorry if I’ve pushed you with the whole Pietro thing. I know it’s hard… believe me, I know.” I glanced toward her, unable to make out her face in the darkness. “What was done to us was monstrous. What was done to you… I only want you to be happy, I hate that you can’t let yourself be because of it.”

“I’m fine, Nat. Really.” I closed my eyes tightly for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I always am.”

“Because you’re a survivor.”

I rolled over, looking toward her bed. “I learned from the best.”

“It’s your choice, obviously, and you know I’ll have your back no matter what you decide, but I really don’t understand why you want to know whether what Obolensky said is true or not. I spend most of my time actively trying to forget the things that went on.”

It was complex. “What they did was monstrous… they took everything from us… maybe it will not be a pleasant memory, maybe there is nothing to remember, but I want to remember, I need to, Nat. This cannot be just another part of me that I do not get to hold on to.”

The room was lit only by the dim glow of streetlights I could hear the faint sound of traffic below us, petering out slightly at this time of night.

In that moment, everything felt just alright. Somehow, it was perfect.

…

My palms were sweating profusely as I sat in the chair, glancing at Natasha over my shoulder. “Still doing okay?” She asked. I nodded at her, closing my eyes for a moment as the headphones were places over my ears. The screen opened, a girl in covered in white tulle slipped onto the stage, moving stiffly to the classical music that echoed through my headphone. She was beautiful, graceful in a way that made it hard to look away, yet as I watched her, I felt nothing. No memories were sparked, there was nothing. It was the same time after time, for hours I sat and I watched, ballerina after ballerina danced across the stage and yet nothing changed for me. Hours passed me by while I sat there staring blankly at the screen as nothing occurred within my mind. Natasha stayed with me the whole time. At some point she placed a glass of water before me, yet I just continued to watch, never taking my eyes from the screen.

I was furious, how could I let him get to me like this, after all these years. Obolensky was just trying to torment me, and I’d let him. Rage simmered through my veins. I closed my eyes tightly, willing it to settle. Natasha had gone to find dinner some time ago now. I attempted to practice the techniques they used to tell us about in group, focus on one thing, breath into your belly. It didn’t work, I launched the now empty water glass at the wall, pacing back and forth. It was only when I felt the sharp slice of glass across my foot that I stopped. Glancing down, I saw blood smeared across the shards, crimson dripping coating my flesh. I took my seat once more, beginning to pick the smaller fragments from the ball of my foot. Bloody footprints followed me across the shiny floors as I wandered toward the med bay in search of a bandage. When I spotted a roll, I grabbed it and took it back to the room I’d been in, beginning to wrap my foot as one of the ballets came to an end.

I rested my head in my hands, closing my eyes again. That’s how I was positioned when the music began, it was beautiful, but it wasn’t the first time I’d heard it. I felt the sound travel across my shoulders, up my neck, and then back down again, along my spine inducing a shiver.

 ‘Corps de ballet of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre presents Giselle.’

Those were the words I saw written across the screen when my eyes opened.

There were flashes of red and blue, white and tulle, over and over.

My back was pressed flush to cold metal. I could not move my head or my arms, my legs might have been numb, or maybe they were no longer there. I wasn’t sure. The music had filled my ears for so long that it seemed to have become a part of me, I could not remember where it ended and I began, had it played all my life; perhaps.

There was a ringing sound in my ears.

Giselle was on the stage then. The man she loved was engaged to another, he had lied to her and now she was dead. Then she wasn’t, she came back an apparition, cursed to dance with wanderers until the exhaustion took them to the grave. I thought the girl looked young and she was so sad.

When I blinked, I was back in the compound, my hands were in fists, fingernails digging into the flesh of my palms. My heart was thrumming against my sternum and every muscle in my body was strung tightly. I swallowed heavily, blinking and once again I was transported. Gasping breaths, and cries, that was what filled my ears then, but it was only for a second before it was gone. With a blink there was a man before me tightening binds over my body, placing something over my eyes, another blink and it was gone.

“Nadia?”

I yanked against my binds. The room was white, I think but really, I couldn’t remember. The straps were chaffing against my wrists from how much I’d pulled at them.

“Nadia.”

Again, and again my name was called but I couldn’t tell from where it originated. I gritted my teeth, squaring my shoulders and shutting my eyes, attempting to ground myself; to return to my body. The music was still playing, though it was almost as if I were listening to it underwater. A group of dancers entered the darkened stage, each wearing long white dresses. The man was back, he bent down and peered at me through large, black-framed glasses. I did not recognize him, nor did I recognize this place, this was not the Red Room. I’d never been here before, yet here I was now. The man was speaking, I could hear his voice, but I did not know what he was saying. It was all garbled and muddled. I couldn’t move any part of my body, strapped so tightly to the metal beneath me. I thought there might be tears in my eyes then.

My name was called again. I strained, attempting to find the voice, to come back. The bespectacled man leaned in again, reaching out toward me, a shining needle in his hand. I flinched away from it, but he took ahold of my face. The gentle touch confused me, but when I opened my eyes again, I understood. I was back in the compound, chest rising and falling rapidly, my arms were pressed to the chair, but I was not bound. My eyes danced across the man before me, dark hair and matching eyes.

“Just breathe.”

I was gone again then, but not to the table where I had been bound. I was on the street. There were buildings and some trees planted around the sidewalk. Brick apartment complexes and fire escape lined walls. New York? The breeze tousled my hair slightly, but it barely moved, when I looked down, I saw… plaits, hanging from either side of my head. The sun kissed my cheeks, peeking through the leaves of trees, seeking me out. A voice called down the street, but I did not understand what the person had said. When I looked up, I only saw his back. A young boy walked ahead of me, he wore a dark red backpack with a little key ring hanging from the zip, I couldn’t make it out. I began forward, attempting to catch up with the boy, I reached out toward him when I was less than a pace away, my hand almost making contact with his bag when a voice cut echoed through my mind.

“Nadia, are you still with me?” Tony asked, I could feel the warmth of his hands over my wrists, willing me to come back.

I did. My head was spinning, and I felt unwell. I blinked a few times, but I stayed put, my mind seemingly tethering itself back to my body. Looking around the room I found it the same as it had been before, glass still shattered on the floor. I met Tony’s eyes. Just past him stood Natasha in the doorway with an exceptionally concerned expression.

“He wasn’t lying.” When I spoke, my voice did not sound like me, shaky and wrecked.

For the first time in days, I was in a rush to go train. Natasha and Tony followed behind me with concerned expressions, saying that they wanted to debrief first, they wanted to know what I’d seen. I didn’t really know how to tell them when truthfully, I did not really understand what I’d seen. A jumble of moments that seem completely disjointed and entirely unfamiliar to me. I wanted out of the stuffy room, I needed to move my body, to hit something; to feel something other than the trembling, cold that burrowed into my bones when I thought about the man in the glasses.

After an icy shower, I was straight into the gym, gesturing for Pietro to follow. “We’re sparring,” I said before he had a chance to speak, my tone leaving no room for argument.

I dodged the jab he threw at me, slipping beneath his arm to move behind him, giving him a few slight pointers as we sparred but offering nothing beyond that. There were no taunting remarks from me or mildly flirtatious commentaries from him, it was making my skin crawl, this strange dynamic that we’d fallen into. Particularly now when all I wanted was to focus on something other than the jarring images I’d just endured.

I stretched my arms above my head, cracking my neck before we moved to the punching bag. With a gesture, I told him to begin. His jaw was tense as he began, his stance was perfect as were each of his punches. I wandered around the bag, my eyes trailing over his form. Then he changed his pattern, sending a kick to the bag… with his foot. He sent a glance my way then, eyebrows raised slightly. “Shin, remember how I showed you,” I muttered, attempting to keep my voice nonchalant.

“That’s it!” He exclaimed suddenly, throwing his hands in the air. “I can take no more of this.” I watched him with furrowed eyebrows, not entirely surprised by his outburst and, frankly, feeling slightly relieved at the forced shift in my focus. “How can I make it better? Just tell me what to do to fix things, Nadia.”

I asked him what he meant.

“I preferred it when you acted like you hated me because at least I understood what you were feeling.” He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the roots. “What did I do wrong here?”

A heavy, sickly feeling pooled in my stomach. The same one that had filled me on the balcony when the hurt had flashed across his expression. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” A little truth, I supposed I owed him that much. “You did nothing wrong, Pietro.”

“We cannot continue like this. I won’t.”  He said, crossing his arms over his chest, he took a step toward me.

“Let’s just forget it ever happened.”

His eyes met mine then, an unreadable expression on his face. “That’s what you want?”

I nodded, once, firm. “I will be your friend, and we will forget about all the other stuff.”

“Friends?”

I nodded again. He mirrored my action, wringing his hands together slightly. “Oh, and don’t ever kick with your fucking foot again.”

[bangtanhoneys]

Relationship with CL - Grace Chu

Chaelin was watching the make up artist work on her eyes a few hours before her performance at one of California’s most famous shows, Coachella. 2NE1 would be reuniting for one night only and it was amazing to have her sisters with her at what would be a performance of a lifetime.

She just wished one person could be with her.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and she watched as her manager came in with a large bouquet of flowers, made up of peach garden roses, pale peach roses, and hydrangea with orange pud flowers and peonies. It was in a vase made out of purple which would have clashed with the colours if Chaelin didn’t see the note.

“To my darling, I hope it all goes well tonight. I’ll be thinking of you from Las Vegas. Dinner on me when we’re back in Seoul. Love you forever, Gigi.”

Grace Chu, one member of BTS, was currently in Las Vegas to perform Permission on Stage. A very close friend, basically sister at this point, who was more than gutted to miss CL’s amazing stage performance at Coachella.

Within two minutes of the bouquet arriving, she got a message from Grace with a picture of her and all the BTS members giving heart fingers to the camera. ‘Supporting you all the way in LV.’

Chaelin happily sighed and sent a photo back with her sniffing the bouquet of flowers with the simple message: 'Love you.’

—

Grace didn’t have a schedule on her best friend’s birthday and the original plan had been to join a group of casual friends to go out for dinner. However, Chaelin’s mother had passed away a few days before due to a heart attack. At the request of their friend, birthday plans had been put on hold.

But for Grace, she didn’t want her friend to be alone.

She tapped in the number to the front door of Chaelin’s apartment and heard the beep, pulling open the door to kick off her shoes at the entrance. The apartment was in dead silence apart from faint music coming from what Grace knew to be the bedroom.

She found her darling friend on her bed, wrapped in the covers as she stared at the TV that was playing the music video that had been released over an hour ago with the new song Chaelin had written in memory of her mother.

Grace said nothing as she climbed onto the bed and settled down next to her friend, wrapping her arms around the woman who had been nothing but a pillar of support in Grace’s own life and career.

The two stayed like that for a while until Chaelin’s tear streaked face appeared from the covers. “Thank you,” she quietly said and Grace smiled, holding her closer. “Anything for you.”

—-

ARMY, IU and Chaelin’s fans were treated to a little surprise one night during Grace’s solo career. It was a shaky video but it gave the kpop world enough to talk about. Somewhere in Seoul, probably a fancy hotel from the looks of it and the sounds of dinner being finished.

The camera panned to Chaelin’s close up face then zoomed back out, giggling as she moved the camera around the table. There were four other women who were unfamiliar but it went to two figures who the world knew - IU and Grace.

“Say hi to everyone,” Chaelin said as she waved her hand in front of the camera, causing the two ladies to stop their conversation.

It was a rare insight into the relationship between three women who have taken the kpop world by storm, especially for IU and Grace who were rarely seen together.

The two waved at the camera and suddenly IU covered her face with her hand, giggling as Grace looked at the lady next to her then the lady behind the camera. “Really? Did you need to do that?” she asked, grinning before shaking her head. “Chaelin, we don’t need to see your breasts that close.”

“What do you mean?! These are amazing, you should be jealous,” the voice came from behind the camera.

Later on, another video would be uploaded, this time filming the three women walking down a hallway. Chaelin with her arms wrapped around the shoulders of Grace, IU to the side as she carried a pair of shoes and a small handbag.

Chaelin managed to plant a sloppy kiss on Grace’s cheek and plopped her head against Grace’s hair. “I can see why Seokjin goes to bed with you every night.”

“Chaelin!” came several voices, not from Grace who stopped and was bent over laughing.

“Come on, we’re all thinking of it.”

The videos were deleted the next day only after a selfie of the three ladies was uploaded to Grace’s Instagram with the caption: 'I don’t know what I would do without you two. Thank you for the fun nights and the memories.'

[rhinozilla]

Detroit: Become Family 2022 - Prompt 4: Remember

@dbh-found-family

“Sixty?”

“Yes.”

“…Sixty?”

“…Yes.”

“Christ.” Hank swore and took a step back, turning away and running a hand over his hair in disbelief.

Connor remained seated where he was at the kitchen table, watching Hank curiously. His arm was extended on the table: the skin program turned off up to the elbow and the primary panel inside his forearm open, exposing the intricate system of wires and circuitry that lay beneath, wrapped around his thirium lines and synthetic muscle belts and metal frame. The precautionary cloth beneath his arm had proven to be a good decision, as more than few dots of thirium had dribbled out of the opening during the maintenance process.

The technician at the DPD station had removed the bullet that had gone through Connor’s arm that afternoon during an arrest that had gone…understatedly awry. The suspect was in custody now, and no other officers had been harmed. Connor had been the only person in the altercation to receive any damage, which he considered to be the best case scenario. However, it had also churned up the old protocol in his software that he thought he had deleted.

The replacement protocol.

Prior to the revolution, when he was still the property of Cyberlife on loan to the DPD, it had been determined that if the RK800 sustained damage or experienced a malfunction, that model would be immediately replaced with the next model in the prototype’s line. He was to be the crown jewel of Cyberlife’s repertoire; he could not be less than perfect and could not be allowed to walk around damaged or defective when so many eyes were on him to be the masterpiece that Cyberlife was touting him to be.

It had already taken 50 predecessor prototypes to get RK800-51 ready for the field. It was fortunate that he had not sustained any damage or malfunctions severe enough for Cyberlife to deem him deficient and in need of replacement. Fortunate yes but…even the damage that he HAD sustained had been rapidly repaired by either his own internal repair program or by Cyberlife technicians within hours of it happening.

Now Cyberlife was gone, and his internal repair program had its limits. And he had been shot through the arm today.

“Which one did I kill in that basement?” Hank asked, having stepped away from the kitchen table where Connor had been replacing the bandaging around his arm.

Hank had actually taken over the first aid aspect of this task, but he was now exhibiting clear signs of distress at what Connor had thought was a fairly obvious statement of fact.

He was replaceable. He was not unique. He was disposable. He was one of sixty models identical to himself, from outward appearance to internal mechanisms all the way down to his coding.

“The RK800 that we encountered that night was number 60,” he replied, pulling his eyes away from Hank and back to his arm, resuming the cleaning and bandaging task in front of him.

Hank breathed once. Twice.

“And you’re 51…So what happened to 52 through 59?”

Connor hesitated. “Cyberlife’s actions became very volatile in those final days during the revolution. I…assume…they had all other models in my series destroyed.”

“Jesus,” Hank hissed through his teeth. “Killed before they even had a chance to live…”

“They were never alive, Hank,” Connor said, carefully pressing his wires back into place before closing the panel on his arm. “They were empty shells, never activated, and would have become me if I was to need a new body.”

Which was…true, he supposed. That was the truth that Cyberlife had programmed into him.

“Should I have become incapacitated, my memories would be uploaded into the next model in the series, with the expectation that some data would be lost in the transference, and then I would have carried on the mission like normal.”

“Like normal…like fucking normal?” Hank’s face was reddening.

Connor could inwardly admit that it was…unnerving if he thought on the process long enough, but…it was the only process that he had ever known. You fail, you are replaced. You are still you, but hopefully better. If you fail again, you will again be replaced.

If the other models in the RK800 series were never activated, if they were never alive…then they were all Connor, all just vessels waiting for his memory upload. If they were…each themselves alive…as unique and free thinking and capable of differing opinions as Connor himself was, as all other androids were deviating to become…then Cyberlife had in effect murdered 59 of his…brothers?

“So…you would remember dying?” Hank blurted.

Connor wiped some residual thirium off of his arm, slowly looking up to meet Hank’s eyes in silent question.

Hank stood behind one of the kitchen chairs, wrapping his hands around the back of it. “Say you had been killed during our mission together. If you’d tried to go after that deviant across the highway and gotten obliterated by a car. Or I hadn’t found you at Stratford Tower before you got your…thingy…back in your chest before you shut down. If…If I had shot you in the park that night…Would those memories have been uploaded to the new you? Would you remember dying?”

Connor eyed him. “In theory…yes.” He straightened up, feeling an edge of defensiveness creeping through his shoulders. “I was designed to be continuously improving. If I failed in a previous body, then those memories would have been invaluable to studying my errors, analyzing my mistakes, and preventing their recurrence.”

Hank looked horrified at that, and Connor looked away from him, down to his arm again. He watched his fingers curl and uncurl from a loose fist. Everything felt properly calibrated and on the mend, and he resumed the skin program on his arm, watching the plastic disappear beneath a smooth projection of hologram flesh.

True, he would have remembered dying, and that would have been…unpleasant. But given that he had not been destroyed in any of those hypothetical—but very possible—ways, he was discovering an unexpected insight.

He hadn’t been obliterated by a car because Hank had nearly physically tried to restrain him from pursuing that deviant.

He had reinserted his thirium pump regulator in time to prevent shutdown at Stratford Tower and in time to neutralize the deviant before he could do more damage, but the first memory he remembered of that incident was Hank seeing the tears in his shirt and the blue blood staining his chest and the lieutenant frantically asking if he was hurt, if he needed assistance, if he was okay.

Hank had not shot him in the park that night, though Connor was sure that had been entirely contingent on the answers that Connor had provided to his questions. He didn’t want to preconstruct a set of circumstances where he would have been killed that night by his friend, only to meet him again the next day as a new Connor…prepared to resume the mission with minimal disruption.

He preferred to remember the worry on Hank’s face, the concern, the care. Connor had never had anyone look at him in such a way. Even today, despite this being a minor injury for an android of his caliber, Hank had hovered and fretted over Connor’s condition with a fervor that, while ultimately unnecessary, was deeply moving and appreciated by Connor.

In the reality where he had been disposable and easily replaced, it had been a waste of time and effort for anyone to be concerned over his wellbeing.

This new reality…while terrifying in the mortality that he was now burdened with…allowed for the time and effort of someone to care and worry about him…But it still surprised him that someone would.

The kitchen chair legs dragged across the floor, jogging Connor out of his thoughts. Hank was pulling the chair around the table, before sinking down onto it and leveling Connor with a hard stare. Connor held the stare, resisting the urge to squirm under it. Hank’s eyes bored into him for a beat longer, and then he was reaching across the table and resting his hand over the newly replaced panels along Connor’s forearm.

“That explains your lack of self preservation,” Hank said dryly, clearing his throat and patting Connor’s arm lightly. “But I need you to get it through your head that you’re not replaceable, kid. Never have been. Never will be. Not to me, all right?”

Connor frowned slightly. “It would have still been me, if I had been replaced—”

Hank shook his head. “No, it wouldn’t have been. Because if that’s true, then that number 60 son of a bitch was you, and I killed that you to protect this you,” he poked Connor’s arm, “and that you about shot me in the head while this you fought to stop him…My brain can’t handle that. He was him, and you are you, and all those others…they were them. Remember that.”

Connor opened his mouth to argue, found that he didn’t have a real counter argument that Hank would appreciate, and closed his mouth, letting the horrifying implications of that kind of mass murder settle low in his core.

He might have had brothers. Siblings. He might have had a family, if Cyberlife hadn’t destroyed them all. Now they were all gone…and he remained.

“How’s your arm feeling?” Hank asked, visually inspecting the damage site.

“Mending,” Connor replied quietly, flexing his hand again. “All functions should be fully restored tomorrow, and I can return to duty—”

“No.”

“No?”

“No,” Hank snorted, kicking back in his chair. “You got shot today—”

“And I got better.”

“And you are going to take at least a few days to get over that, whether you think you need it or not, before you go gallivanting back into the line of fire.”

“I do not…gallivant.”

Hank laughed at that, standing up and clapping Connor on the shoulder. “Take it easy for a few days anyway. You’ve earned that. In the meantime, looks like you lost some more blood there. You need a top off? Got some thirium in the fridge.” He offered, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “I know you prefer it chilled.”

Connor couldn’t help a small smile at that. “Yes, I…do require some additional thirium.”

Hank bobbed his head, meandering over to the fridge. “Coming right up, son.”

[orangeinecstasy]

cup of music ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟryan mcmahon

✧: part two

paring: ryan x fem!oc

summery: ryan comes into the record store that erin works at. there's a spark between the two of them, but who will have the confidence to make the first move?

a/n: hey everyone! so i originally uploaded these to wattpad, but i wanted to have a bit of a platform change. please let me know what you guys think. my requests are currently open so please feel free to send in an idea you have. enjoy!

wc: 1.6 k

*reblogs, likes, and feedback and greatly appreciated!!

It was another slow Saturday working at Cup of Music. A silly name, I know, but this place has kept me employed for the past two years so I could get over it. Working here was like a breath of fresh air, especially after classes all day. There aren't many record stores with a cafe, so being able to work there felt special.

Sadly, today was a typical rainy Dublin afternoon. As I walked into the shop, I got a few greetings from the people already working as I walked to the staff room to hang up my bag and umbrella. Even with the rainy weather, the feeling outside was warm, causing the store windows to fog around the edges because of the conflicting temperatures. I smoothed out the black fabric of my dress as I walked back into Cup of Music, going to the record shop where I worked.

I gently hummed, Love Me by the 1975 as I settled behind the counter, taking the book I hit underneath it and setting it out, the day seeming slow and the book giving me something to do. I looked around the shop, making sure that there wouldn't be anyone coming up to the counter within the next few minutes before opening the place where I had left off.

After thirty minutes of just standing there reading, I heard the soft bell that sounded when someone entered the shop, interrupting the soft, slightly jazzy music playing over the shop's speakers. That's when I saw him. His hair was damp, and the t-shirt clinging to his shoulders and chest was also presumably damp. Our eyes met briefly as the old wooden shop floors whined underneath his feet as he shifted from record-box to record-box. I didn't know what it was, but something about him made me unable to take my eyes off him.

After a few moments of staring at him, I realized what I was doing and quickly darted my eyes away from his direction. 'Fuck, Erin, he's going to think you're crazy.' I thought, trying to make myself look busy as I slipped a business card into my book and set it aside. 'You got this. You help cute boys check out all the time.' my brain rambles to itself, trying to keep calm as I fidget with the rings on my fingers.

Once about fifteen minutes had passed, he came up to the check-out, setting the records down records on the band sticker-covered counter. "Just these?" I pull my knotted hands away from each other, trying to see more claims than I actually am. "Yeah, thank you." his eyes met mine, lips curling up into the most genuine smile I've ever seen.

"Got ya," I nod, returning the smile as I scan all the records, placing them into a neat pile before slipping them into one of the store's boxes so they would stay upright and not bend. "That'll be fifty-five" he reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a slightly tattered black wallet to which he hands me three twenties. I take it, grabbing his change and the receipt, before pushing the box of vinyls across the counter to allow him to pick it up more quickly. Handing him his change was almost like a spark shot through my body.

Quickly, I pull my hand away, an awkward laugh accompanying my smile. "Thanks for shopping with us. I hope you have a nice day." he chuckled gently at my reaction, slipping the change back into his wallet and picking up his box. "You too." He smiled, then turned and left.

'You definitely fucked that one up,' my lips pinched together, watching him walk out of the store, knowing there was an extremely slim chance that I would ever see him again.

Thankfully, the rest of the day went by quickly. There were a couple more customers, but it was not a super buy because it was a weekday. So after my shift, I simply went home, thinking about the guy from earlier in the day.

A few days had passed since my last shift, but one of my closer coworkers had an emergency and asked me to fill in. A part of me was sad to miss the day off, but oh well. I picked out my clothes for the day, deciding to put on dark-washed high-waisted jeans and a white loose-knit top that let the black bra I was wearing underneath be exposed. Finally, I slipped on my Docs, threw my stuff in a bag, and headed out the door.

I did my usual routine, saying hi to my coworkers and setting my stuff in the back. However, when I got back out, I saw Record Boy again, but this time he was with another person. Tall, dreads that hung loosely around his face. The pair sat at the table in the corner. When our eyes met, he was in the middle of telling the other something. I could feel myself blush slightly, his eyes widening as what he talked about seemed to slip his mind. The tall one turned around, looking at me, to which I quickly stopped looking at the pair and settled at my usual spot behind the counter. I heard the taller laugh while Record Boy told him to shut up. I pulled my attention away from them and focused on the task at hand.

A few minutes passed, and the taller one approached the counter. "Hey, I was wondering if I could ask you for an album recommendation?" his elbows were resting on the counter, causing him to lean over slightly. "Oh, yeah, for sure," I smile, moving away from the counter, "just follow me." he nods, following behind me as I find the right section.

"Okay, S… S… Sm, ah-ha!" after flipping through a few sections, I finally find The Smiths' Meat is Murder. "This is my favorite the Smiths album." I shrug, the two of us sharing a friendly laugh as I hand him the album. "If you're unsure, I can set you up a listening room. Your friend can join if he wants to." I look past the taller, seeing that Record Boy is already looking in our direction.

"Hmm, yeah, that'd be nice. Hey Ryan," he turns to look at Record Boy, whose name is now presumably Ryan, before pausing, "I don't think I caught your name." he looked back at me. "Oh! I'm Erin."

"Erin's going to set us up in a listening booth. Get your ass over here." he waved him over, Ryan clearly looking embarrassed. "Josh, I'm going to kill you," he said, trying to whisper somewhat but failing.

"You two can just follow me this way" My eyes flash from Josh's to Ryan's, where we hold eye contact for a beat longer before I take them to one of the listing booths in the back. Josh hands me the record back, which allows me to place it on the turntable. "All you guys have to do is set the needle on the record and put on the headphones. Feel free to take as long as you guys need."

"Thanks, Erin." Josh smiles cheekily, glancing over at Ryan and nudging his arm, to which he clears his throat. "Yeah, thanks."

'Well, that was weird….' I smile slightly before walking away and returning to my place at the counter.

I could hear the two loudly whispering to each other. Though I couldn't quite make out the words, I could definitely tell that they were arguing. Soon enough, Josh pushed Ryan forward, making him stumble slightly before he walked the few steps to the counter. "I'd like to get this, please." he set The Smith's record on the counter, eyes darting from the record to me. "Hell yeah, that's a great choice. I'm glad you ended up enjoying it!" my smile is bright as I pick up the record, scan it, and slip it into some protective cardboard before allowing him to pay and leave.

He picks up the packaged record, saying a small thank you before walking away. However, he only takes a few steps before turning and coming back to the counter. "Okay, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about you after the first time I saw you a couple days ago, and I was wondering if I could get your number and the two of us could go out sometime?" He rambled slightly, fingers pushing through his hair as he spoke.

Honestly, I was shocked, but a part of me was glad he had the same first impression. "Yeah, I'd actually like that a lot. Let me just find something to write on.." I glance around their counter, finding a silver Sharpie but no scraps of paper or anything. "You can just write on this." he set the packaged record back on the counter to allow me to write down my name and number. "Just text me any time." I pass the record back, and he takes it, looking down at my shiny information and smiling. "Will do, Erin!" his smile was even brighter than the first one he had given me, and as he walked out, I knew this would be the start of a beautiful relationship.

I saw Josh waiting outside for Ryan through the shop window. Because they were far, I couldn't hear what they were saying, but once Ryan flipped the packaged record around, I saw Josh's hand clap him on the back before the two walked off happily.

"Idiots." I laugh, my smile still not fading from before, as the realization of me and Record Boy Ryan are going out sinks in.

[skylermadness]

The Hour of the (Dark) Owl (Dark Owl TF/MC)

(Original Date of Upload: July 3, 2023)

Original Description:

My half of a trade with Catolyst on DeviantArt/FurAffinity. Their his can be found here: DeviantArt / FurAffinity Honestly it has been roughly three or four years since I've watched Miraculous, but I will admit it does have some good mood material. Especially considering how easy I was sold on Dark Owl being one! There isn't really a lot to say in regards to the writing process of this story in particular though. Although I don't think I've done this kind of goo trigger before. The idea of goo-based supersuits is a fun one though! Even if I felt like the word 'goo' stopped having meaning halfway through the story. Honestly it's beginning to stop having meaning again and I'm only two thirds of the way through this description. I think there's a word for that... Either way, a very fun story to work on! Definitely allowed me to work on something outside of my usual knowledge base, and I think I did rather well on it! An all around very enjoyable experience~

   Your package is 3 stops away…

   Cato had found himself leaning on the wall beside the entrance to his home, the man staring down at that exact text message on his phone for roughly a few minutes now. It was boring, to say the least, but it gave his mind something to focus on as he waited for the aforementioned package.

   The item that was within said package was a realistic replica of the mask worn by Dark Owl from the Miraculous series. A rather specific piece of memorabilia when it comes to merchandise. Mainly due to the fact that it was for a minor character that he was pretty sure very few people really were all that interested in. The fact he found anything at all related to the guy was a miracle, but it was definitely one he was glad about.

   …well, mostly. A fraction of his mind was surprised that he had gotten any kind of indicator that the package was sent out. Or the fact he was getting a package at all.

   It was definitely a gamble to buy random merchandise after a random Google search for it one day while he was bored and lacked something to do. Perhaps not the wisest of purchases, but again: rare character memorabilia. Plus Cato had presumed the site was probably one of those online stores where people would put personal projects and things up for sale that the person made themselves. Like Etsy, but lesser known and a lot more shady of a website. 

   His thoughts were broken at the sudden sound of banging on the door right next to him, which had started him and caused him to almost drop his phone. He did manage to stop himself though, shoving his phone into his pocket and then opening the door to find a medium-sized package placed on the ground in front of it.

   "Hm, I didn't even hear anything drive by," Cato mused to himself as he bent down to pick up the box.

   He was quick to head back inside his home and find a spot in his living room to set the box down so he could open it. With a conveniently nearby box opener, he cut open the package and pulled aside the flaps.

   Sitting within the box was a copious amount of plastic, which was rather excessive for an object that wasn't even marked as fragile. Strangely, there were splotches of brown and black that stained the plastic. Paint, he had presumed. There was also a weird smell of… either rubber or latex, he couldn't really tell.

   "I guess this is what happens when you buy off sketchy sites…" he grumbled as he plunged a hand into the plastic and rummaged around it for a few seconds. It didn't take very long for it to graze the object of his desires, Cato almost instantly grasping onto it and pulling it from the confines of the package.

   Despite prior concerns thanks to the smudged plastic and the weird smell, as Cato steadily unfurled the mask he realized it looked and felt relatively higher quality than original anticipations had left him to believe. The material wasn't easy to pinpoint, although it did possess an almost rubbery consistency to it that would allow it to be squeezed and pulled while also presumably being comfortable enough to wear on one's face. It possessed a clean, black coloration with two orange tuft-like points that extend from above the eyes to its back. It didn't seem to have any paint chipping or wetness either, which made the stains in the plastic even more peculiar.

   "Huh," Cato audibly vocalized, staring at the object as he held it out in front of him, his thumbs within the eye holes of the mask. If anything it was a perfect replica of the object it was designed after. So much so that it looked wide and round enough that it wouldn't fit on his face very well. A bit disheartening, admittedly, but he was probably going to put it on display somewhere in his home anyway. Although looking at it did make him subconsciously wonder if he could find the rest of the costume somewhere online as well…

   He shook his head. Nope, definitely not the best financial choice. Especially with… how…

   "What the…? Is that paint??"

   With the mask's bottom opening fully unfurled, bits of black and blown 'fluid' were starting to slowly drip off the edges of it. And while it didn't look overtly disgusting, it was unpleasant to view globs of a largely unknown substance slowly drop onto the table from the inside of a usually wearable object.

   It had to be wet paint, he kept telling himself. Especially considering he could feel it moving over his thumbs. Now that he thought about it he should really take them out of the mask's eyes now… 

   Ultimately deciding to set the mask down on the table in front of him, he inspected the fingers that were within it for any abnormalities.

   Both thumbs were somehow already covered in brown 'paint', the substance seemingly beginning to sluggishly ooze down towards his hand the longer he looked at it. And after a few seconds, Cato realized one thing.

   "Why does paint this feel so… rubbery?"

   Using a random finger he tried to wipe off the substance from one of his thumbs, only for it to seemingly multiply by moving onto the finger without losing mass on the thumb.

   "Wha-huh? G-get off!!" he inadvertently touched his fingers together as he tried to shake it off the hand instead, the other hand being balled into a fist as he dug it into the table for support. Unfortunately, all that resulted in was the strange brown goo spreading across the rest of his fingers. This had occurred on both hands as well, the mysterious substance easily edging onto his palms and knuckles.

   With his attempts at forcing the goo off his hands being a failure, Cato splayed them both in front of him and watched the moving goo with a mix of fear and curiosity. The strange, almost rubbery gobs continued to progress across the surface of his skin, stretching over it in a slow wave-like motion. And as his eyes continued to remain affixed on the sight he noticed something else strange starting to happen as well.

   It was rather hard to tell at first, but as each second passed it appeared his hands were getting… larger? The size of his fingers were looking longer, a small increase in length having entered into them. Alongside that was a more noticeable increase in size, a visible chunkiness accumulating in them and granting an meatiness to them. This meatiness was also quick to jump to the rest of his hands, especially as the brown goo was almost finished encapsulating them. Their size was being augmented more and more, stretching out in all directions by about an inch. There was even an evident thickness swelling in his hands as well, overall adding to the density of them and granting them a certain aura of power that they didn't possess before in their previously smaller size.

   As the rubbery feel of the goo consumed his hands there was an additional swath of changes pushing into them. The rubber was rubbing up against his skin and causing it to age beneath it. A certain level of weathering entered the back of his hands, meanwhile a hardness was entering his palms granting them a set of calluses. There had even been a level of scarring that etched across his knuckles, some sort of battle wear and tear being formulated upon them.

   Eventually the goo, alongside the aging beneath it, would move past his hands and onto his arms. The cuffed sleeves of his flannel were already quick in getting consumed by the substance as it layered onto his wrist and crawled up his forearms. As a result the shirt was practically starting to get absorbed into the transformative goop, which had allowed it to be the only thing that would be layered upon his arms. This would only further facilitate Cato's transformation as a gain in size was now entering the lower half of his arms. 

   As the rubbery substance inched further upwards, a slight warmth was embedding into his forearms. This warmth was then accompanied by a strange feeling of newfound strength that was beginning to bud within the muscles of the region. This feeling only increased with each passing moment, the muscles in that part of the arm increasing in size. A change that steadily garnered a substantial bulkiness within that area of the arm, density increasing more and more as muscle mass was further accrued.

   This would only progress further and further, this burgeoning strength pushing upwards more as the substance caused it to move beyond his elbows and onto his upper arms. The coloration of the substance had become a darker brown now that it was past the elbow, and as the melted rubbery-feeling goo continued to meet skin there was a continuation to the increase in his musculature. Muscles slowly swelling up in size, his biceps bulking while his triceps expanded at the same time. His shoulders followed soon after, both of them rounding out due to the maturing of his deltoids. In totality all of this would result in his arms gaining a set of thick, well defined muscles that was nothing like the build his arms had just a minute prior. And it wouldn't be long until Cato felt a twinge at the furthest edges of his chest, the goo now moving beyond the threshold that divided his arms and torso and cascading onto his body.

   Cato had spent the time just staring at the changes, unable to fully formulate what to think. Just watching his form bulk up was a surreal experience, even when it was shrouded beneath a bunch of goo that had felt rather weird to just feel rush across his body like this. And this constant feeling of newfound strength that was circulating throughout his arms, as well as starting to emanate from the core of his body, wasn't an unwelcome feeling.

   If anything it kind of made him want to flex an arm more than anything.

   Although those plans were disregarded as his attention got diverted back to his hands and arms, as Cato noticed the gooey feeling was subsiding into something a lot harder and more rigid. His gaze lingered on the area, the man left watching again as the once runny goop that encased his limbs was slowly beginning to harden. The rubbery feel remained over his hands, with the brown substance seemingly becoming actual rubber as it appeared to be becoming a pair of gloves. A pair of which was gaining a significant set of intricacies as lining formed above the wrist area while the gloves in their entirety tightened across Cato's lower arms, outlining his thicker physique. There even seemed to be a second layer of material forming beneath them in that area, this being further proven as the portion of goo that had surrounded his elbows and arms was garnering a form itself. Darker brown, appearing almost leathery in its surface texture. There even seemed to be a design akin to depictions of chainmail entering certain segments of the material, a strange familiarity forming the longer Cato's eyes stayed on the hardening goop.

   "Why does that look strangely like- oh, urgh-"

   Cato stepped forward, hands holding onto the table in front of him for support as a sudden gripping sensation entered into his chest. While he was preoccupied the transformative substance was continuing to spread across the man's chest at a fast rate. By now it had already closed onto the split of his shirt, consuming the first two buttons before finally meeting at the middle and spreading upwards and downwards at the same time.

   As it spread across his chest the same mixture of heat and continuous addition to strength intensified within the core of his body. This prompted another set of muscles to grow, his pectorals pushing out further as mass was accumulating within them. Thick muscle steadily swelling out forward, a sizable meatiness filling in both pecs with ease. It wasn't long before they started to push into the goo covering his chest, a noticeable crevice forming from this meaty shelf and dividing his upper body from his lower. At the same time the width of his pectoral muscles also was altering, mainly due to the overall size of his body as a whole being widened thanks to his steadily broadening shoulders.

   A churning in his gut soon followed, the feeling of the fabric of his shirt touching his abdomen now being replaced by the goopy rubber that now clung to the skin of his belly. Warm heat was spiraling throughout his lower body, that feeling being followed by more muscles forming. A small set of abdominal muscles slowly pushed forward, etching into the goo. They weren't as impressive as the muscles within the rest of his body, with only two rows being slotted forward to form a four pack, but it was still enough to continue the circulation of physical might throughout his body.

   While Cato's frontal changes were occuring, the goo had been making its way over his back as well. This was more apparent with the portions of it that had already reached his stomach with the portion of that substance stretching both downwards and sideways. It wrapped around his lower torso, then seemed to almost squeeze it momentarily. It would eventually give Cato a slightly more top heavy build, albeit not by too much with how wide his abdominal region remained.

   The weird tugging in his chest started to subside, Cato now being able to regain his senses and properly look down at his chest. He had also idly raised a gloved hand to his neck, the goo seeming to have already enveloped the collar of his flannel and was now encircling the area. The viscose feeling was hardening around his neck as well, allowing him to tug at the now leathery-like material. He definitely wasn't used to this…

   The goo on his torso was beginning to follow the example set by his neck with it now shifting in material as well while garnering more detail. It was tightening, resulting in his form getting better outlined. Shades of brown grew more visible within the substance while bits of black formed on the sides and slightly divided where his chest muscles would be. The chainmail-like padding formed in certain areas around the core of his body. But the most prominent alteration was an orangey-brown 'stain' of sorts that formed right in the middle of the formulating uniform, said stain slowly growing more visible while garnering an actual shape. It would take a few seconds, but it would eventually harden into an all-too-familiar insignia of an owl's face.

   Seeming to not worry about whether or not the area was properly hardened or not, Cato stopped pulling at the neck of his forming uniform and brought the hand down to the insignia. "It is definitely the Dark Owl uniform, alright," he said, stating the obvious.

   The sight made his mind become lost in thought. Eyes fixed to the insignia, the man started to wonder what exactly this substance even was. Did the mask seriously come with some body altering slime that doubled as a replica of the character's uniform? Come to think of it, was he actually becoming the character in terms of physical form? …and why does that kind of sound appealing to him?

   With Cato trailing off mentally, a portion of goo that had remained viscous was slowly starting to stretch out behind him. At the exact same time the mask that he had left on the table was now subtly shaking, seeming to inch towards the man at a fairly unimpressive pace. It was like some kind of partially demagnetized object being pulled towards an actual magnet. Meanwhile, the goo was now reaching his waist, having effectively consumed his shirt entirely now and beginning to repeat the same effect with his pants. 

   The denim of his pants was effortless getting absorbed into the mysterious substance, meaning that as the almost rubbery texture met his skin yet again it was replicating the same changes it had done to the rest of his body. His thighs began to warm, the muscles within them getting stimulated by the transformative substance. Growing thicker in conjunction were his hamstrings and his quads, both of them steadily gaining a substantial musculature akin to that that his arms possessed. The same thing would happen to the lower half of his legs shortly after. As the goo ran beneath his knees, encapsulating the crus of his legs, squeezing against the skin, his calves were prompted to bulge outwards too.

   The last section of his lower body that remained unchanged had been his feet, but that didn't last for long as the wave of goop rushed down to his ankles and beyond. His shoes were swallowed up almost instantly, the goo pressing onto his feet in seconds and prompting the final set of growths to set in. They were massaged out, getting larger in size and thicker in width. His toes got chunkier at a rapid pace. The soles of his feet were becoming harder as well, a rough set of calluses forming on the bottom of them much like how they had on his hands.

   All while the lower portion of his body got encapsulated, the last portions of the suit finally seemed to begin forming from the substance. Brown with black lines etching across the legs as a new and harder material formed with thin padding forming atop that material. Bubbling out of the goo that covered his knees was a pair of knee pads that stood out rather prominently against the rest of his suit. Then came the bits of goo that surrounded his lower legs and feet, changing into leather as they gained a lighter shade of brown that was the same as the shade on his gloves, although an orange triangle seemed to stretch on both toecaps. Ridges formed across the footwear to give them more defined features while a design etched into the blackening rubber on the soles.

   Concurrently, more drastic additions were coming forward from the goo around his back and waist. The thin portion of black goo that was lengthening from his back was already at the length to meet his waist, and it didn't seem to be stopping there as it was progressing beyond that. The other addition was a belt materializing around his waist; brown leather manifesting from the substance with ease while the buckle was a hard metal. The buckle also possessed an owl-like symbol to it.

   Cato was still lost in thought, trying to rationalize his feelings in his mind. Would he really mind this transformation all that much? The new physique definitely wasn't an unwelcome one. And the suit outlined it rather-

   That final thought was broken in a single millisecond as the very catalyst of this transformation, the mask, came flying onto his face from the table in front of him. He didn't notice it coming, which resulted in the event to be rather startling.

   "Wh-what the hell?!" Cato exclaimed, the last word of his sentence sounding a little deeper than the ones prior. In a blind panic he brought the hands to his head and started to grip onto the mask, but it was already becoming a struggle to rip it off of his head.

   "God damn it-" he growled out, his voice continuing to change as his breathing got deeper with the longer the mask stayed on his face.

   The mask seemed to surprisingly lack any sort of goo, but it still shared transformative properties exactly like the aforementioned substance had. The moment it latched onto his head the very structure of his skull altered, steadily growing to properly and perfectly fit the mask. The structure of it was slowly widening until the sides of his head touched the inside of the mask. The shape of his head also seemed to change, the rectangular shaping of it shifting with his features rounding out to give it a bit more of an oval-like shape.

   While his skull was shifting, the very features of his face were altering at the same time. The most visible changes happened to his lower face, Cato's facial hair changing in a rather drastic manner. The beard that was on his chin changed coloration, a deep brown seeping into and replacing the originally blonde follicles. The spikiness of it was quickly getting lost as well, hairs growing out beneath his lower lip as the beard was being forced to grow thicker. The thickening only continued as more and more hairs grew across his jawline, the brown fluff garnering a dense appearance as it did so. Two noticeable vertical stripes also formed, arising onto the portions of his beard that laid at the sides of his jaw. It wouldn't be long until that portion of facial hair seemed to completely cover his lower jaw, giving him a voluminous beard that possessed a rather well-groomed look to it.

   As for above his mouth, Cato's mustache hadn't been spared as it too was growing. Blonde hairs deepening to a more orangey-brown, the lengths of them also stretching out the sides of his face. The general density of his mustache was increasing as time went on, more and more hairs continuing to grow upon the ergotrid of his face until it was practically covered. And the hairs only seemed to get longer with each passing second, extending out sideways on each side of his face. It went way beyond the confines of a normal mustache with it lengthening over his cheeks and beyond them, only getting even denser than it had been before. The mustache didn't even start to taper until it reached the further sectors of the edges of his face, and the growing didn't end until the tips were noticeably sticking out.

   "Get off me!" Cato continued to yell as he attempted to use his newly developed strength to brute force the mask off of him. "I'll get to putting you on later- urgh-"

   He stopped for a second as, in his panic and fury, he managed to slam himself into a wall. "Uugh, come on…"

   The entire ordeal only continued to clue him into his changing voice. Deeper, gaining a bit of an aged tone to it. There was a strange aura of authoritativeness etching into it as well. It sounded so foreign coming from his mouth, but at the same time it was easily becoming an exact copy of the voice of the person he was becoming.

   The mask continued to get more comfortable on his head as the rest of his facial features changed. His nose was next in line as the bridge of it was losing its broadness, instead becoming thinner as it more cleanly slotted into the nose of the mask. The roundness of the nasal was also being lost, getting thin as well as his nose appeared to become more aquiline in shape. Meanwhile the top of his head was rounding out more as it brushed up against the mask's dome, changing to fit into that area as well. 

   As his scalp was pushed into the top of the mask more, it also appeared a strange set of changes was settling into the parts of his face that were obscured. The most drastic of them all came with his hair, much of it rapidly shrinking into his scalp the longer the mask pushed onto it. A bald spot formed on the apex of his head, his hairline receding at the same time, and the bald spot was only growing larger in diameter with each passing second. Blonde hairs constantly disappear into the skin atop his head, leaving behind a clean dome. But not all of his hair would leave, as a portion of it that stretched from the sides of his head to the back of it stubbornly remained. Those parts instead just changed colors, going from bright blonde to deep brown rapidly.

   As if the balding wasn't enough, his increasing age only seemed to become more noticeable as the material of the mask rubbed onto the skin of his face. A noticeable weathering was forming into it, the looks of a young adult being lost to that of someone much older. His eyebrows, originally slightly thin, got thicker while they grew longer as well. If his mask was off the arching of his eyebrows could better be more antiquated to the brows of an owl. All the while they gained the same dark coloration as the rest of his hair.

   Cato groaned as he pushed himself off the wall, stumbling forward slightly. The thin layer of goo that had stretched behind his back was the last part that seemed unfinished, although after a few more seconds it would end up finally solidifying into a cape. And while many of the physical changes were slowing to a halt, an immense hazy feeling was entering the man's mind. He blinked his eyes a few times, yellow and orange spirals starting to enter them at the last few blinks. 

   "What… is this… feeling?" he asked himself, raising a hand back up to hold his forehead. 

   There was a pressurizing feeling within his mind. It was small at first, but it wasn't long until it grew in size. And it wasn't long until it seemed to almost make itself known. It felt abstract at first; urges and desires that were not his own yet they seemed to constantly push into trying to be his. As if they were trying to replace his very self in a way.

   A more prominent aspect was one that felt heroic. An immense feeling to be of aid to people who needed it. That immenseness was only growing, getting practically overwhelming in mere seconds. It was practically becoming a staple of his new personality in a way, a driving force for his actions in a way he couldn't fully comprehend.

   "N-not right…" Cato groaned out, stumbling another step forward. Such a thought felt wrong. Felt unlike himself. So far beyond his human capabilities. And yet those rationalizations were fleeting fast. What is himself, really? He has this muscular form, he has a certain level of age to him. He has the suit, and his mind felt as if it could easily recall the knowledge for such things.

   Was that there before? Knowing to fight? It was hard to discern. Everything felt numb and hazy, everything in Cato's mind just felt like it was drowning. Or was it getting replaced? It was abstract, again.

   "Can't think… have to… urgh-"

   He still wanted to resist it all though. To tug himself out the overwhelming urges of heroics, the constant impounding to his very identity. He wanted to tell himself he wasn't a hero, but everything was drowning that out because as time was passing it just didn't feel true. How could he think himself not to be one? Especially when he was the best hero this city has to offer, the only-

   That's when something else clicked. A second intense feeling that spiraled alongside the first.

   It was a very uncouth one, one that practically contrasted with the very identity that should be upheld. At the same time however, it was nigh-impossible to resist the strange urge of vengeance that burned in the back of his mind. It felt like a reason for him to exist, in a way. A negative emotion to pull from and to give him a sense of purpose. 

   And don't many heroes have that to a degree?

   Then again, his desire was one that could be considered selfish. One of hostility, one of wanting to be the only hero around. Perhaps other heroes don't have that, but then again he's not like other heroes. Is he?

   But he's not a hero, he's… someone else?

   Such a thought was feeling foreign. Pointless. He is a hero! He's the Dark Owl!

   He couldn't stop the confident smirk forming on his face in reaction to that very thought. An identity properly forming in his mind, pooling together all the thoughts and emotions that were within it. Any former sense of self seemed distant, replaced. Not like he would ever be able to acknowledge such a thing. As far as he was aware, the only self that existed was the Dark Owl. 

   A fist clenched, the spirals in his eyes fading into a clean green and orange double-layer iris in his eyes that further accentuated the owl-like features the hero possessed. The fisted arm curled, practically flexing, while the other one swung behind him with his upper body turning slightly. A leg stepped forward while the other one remained in its spot. A smirk still plastered on his face the Dark Owl finished his heroic pose, exclaiming, "Hoo-hoo! Paris' greatest superhero is here to save the day!" as he did so.

   Although after that he starts to come to his senses. Primarily because he's not outside, and the place he is in doesn't look familiar at all.

   Ending his pose, he shifts to a more upright position as he raises a hand to scratch the back of his head. Looking around, all he can gather is this is someone's home. "Hm…"    His inspection does end up eyeing the opened box on the table. Brow raised in curiosity, he steps forward to the table and picks up the empty cardboard package. He turns it around a few times, attempting to find some clue as to where he was. And it isn't long until he does…

[msnihilist]

On a whim, I'm working on a podfic for 'Lysis,' my multi-chapter Ben/Elena fic. This is just me reading the prelude, which is very short. I'm still debating if I want to upload this onto YouTube in parts, or maybe just put them all together into one long video. It will probably be somewhere between an hour to two hours long if I do that.

Anyway, if you like this idea, let me know! I might do it for more of my other fanfics in the future.

Text below the cut if you want to follow along:

The Plumber base was silent, as it always was at this time of night. The green-tinted lighting meant that the hall looked the same as it did turning the day. Only the lack of other lifeforms was different, and it came with an eerie, almost uncanny sort of feeling, as if something were wrong.

The lone Plumber guard who was circling the hallways muffled a yawn. It was shaping up to be another dull night.

There was a clatter from down the hall. The guard — an Appoplexian who got roped into covering his friend's shift — was immediately on edge. Nothing in the base made noise without reason. He headed towards the sound.

The hallway opened into the base's main hub. It was silent and dark in here, too. The many supercomputers and monitors were all off for the night. The guard scanned the room, searching for what could have made the noise… And relaxed when he spotted a pen and a few loose papers on the floor next to someone’s desk. They must have been set precariously on the edge at the end of the work day and had finally fallen off.

The guard bent over and gathered the supplies. He set them back onto the desk they had fallen from, swept his eyes and his flashlight around the room one more time, then he left.

Once he was several hallways down, even the on-edge guard didn’t hear the soft whir of a computer booting up.

A fragmented hand, swarming with thousands of tiny movements, touched the side of the computer. A few tiny pieces of it broke off and entered the desktop, connecting to the hardware and pilfering the data banks stored within. Once the figure had the information that they were looking for, they retracted their pieces and turned the computer back off. As silently as they had entered, the figure dissolved into a shapeless swarm and slipped out of the room.

The swarming figure hung close to the walls and the floor. When it passed a security camera, the figure would pause and make sure to disrupt the live feed, inserting looping footage of the empty hall. The guards watching the cameras didn’t notice anything amiss as the figure made their way through the base, slipping underneath high-security doors and gliding down monitored hallways.

Finally, the figure reached their intended target — the location that they had gathered from the computer. Compressing their loose shape into a thin mass less than a hair wide, they slid through the gap between the door and the ground, easily bypassing the last barrier standing between them and victory.

Their destination was a small bedroom intended for a single soldier. There was an adjacent bathroom. The only noteworthy customization in the barren room was a single framed photograph sitting on the bedside table. The figure paused and stared at the photo for a moment.

If they’d had eyes, their gaze would have gone soft.

Refocusing on their task, the figure moved towards the bed. They held out a single finger, barely brushing the sleeping individual’s ear. The occupant of the bed didn't so much as twitch as a single, microscopic carrier of their ‘virus’ crawled into his ear. One was all that would be needed for this first part.

A couple dozen objects smaller than a cell were all that was needed to make Ben Tennyson’s life crumble to pieces.

The figure shot one last, longing look at the framed photograph… Then they exited the room the same way they came in. 

No one saw the figure enter, and no one detected them leaving, either. 

The seed had been planted. In a week's time, they would have everything they had ever wanted. 

Read the rest of this fanfic on AO3.

[cpcwiki]

I am suggesting for the wiki account to start from the very beginning, which imho related about the episodes. Like maybe give tutorial of the how to starts at the wiki.. Wiki is free to edit from and for all, but one need to register themself first so maybe it's confusing to the totally new account of the fandom. After that, maybe teach how to upload images (I already taught in reblog about how to properly naming image but the better things be repeated, the more info of it being on remember) like from screenshotting image/panel of the CPC (if in mobile, which at app - means to be aware from the logo webtoon watermark.. it's best to screenshotting from the PC)

Our absolute immediate danger is to putting (uploading) any necessary images that related to wiki before CPC going to becomes daily pass. Based on my calculations with @meritre24601 that taking account of anything possible like LambCat claims that she likes to end the CPC at episode 169 at IG = We're literally in red danger as it makes the FP ep 169 will on release at January 15 - well, just one month from now

The free pass of the final episode will be 2-3 weeks from that, but once the very final episode on free - then the possibility of daily pass is usually only few weeks PLUS sadly English platform not really warning about certain webtoon will becomes daily pass (unlike Indonesian that has monthly warnings about which series that will become DP) SO I won't try my luck to urging delegations of the wiki project BY not giving all my best effort - but also I know I can't do anything alone, I am just a human with limitations after all

Move on the most crucial pages in the wiki IMHO, Episodes. There's 2 types of Episode Template (I am not sure which we'll decide to have, personally I really want the more complete and longer one which we have 'gallery' section so from a particular episode we could analyse the image that related to it. I think that way easier and more understable to do, make someone focus on certain topic (in my experience, I'll pour my everything to improve overall Frederick depiction especially my initial reason is - I hate the comment section on his character page, and his page likes abandoned for years, so i am one of the most eager editor that helps to improve Frederick informations ~ later on basically 'everyone/thing'). The focus is totally depends on certain interest of editor, so as long that editor could writes objectively based on canon original source then why not? Any helps will be immensely helpful than no help at all espc from people that confused

I can try to write some guides for beginner editors! That seems like something I can get done pretty quickly that might still be helpful. I'll be free for the next two days, so I can try to get some of those done then. (Ofc some confirmation that people are actually interested in editing would be nice to have first, so I know I'm not wasting my time writing guides for people who'll never read them... I think I'll make an interest check for people who actually think they'll be able to edit soon)

Encouraging people to only focus on the area they're interested in seems like a good tactic!! As long as it falls within one of the areas the wiki is incomplete in, then I agree. Any sort of work would definitely be appreciated.

Also, what do you mean about there being 2 types of episode templates? If you're talking about the one that only has headings and no preset information (like on episode 50 for example), I wouldn't consider that a template. The only one I do consider a template is the one I made. Okay maybe I'm a little biased, but I would really like us to use the longer episode template with more information. So, if we need to choose between them, my vote is for my own template :)

Again, I am VERY VERY VERY sorry for my inactivity over the past few months!! I know keeping up an entire wiki for a still-ongoing series is difficult - I was the only editor on a couple wikis for a while, including this one at one point. It doesn't give me an excuse for having basically abandoned the wiki like that, though, especially at such an inconvenient time for us. Right now, running this blog is the most wiki-related work I can do without exhausting myself :(

This is also a good time to thank you for all your hard work again!! Btw Cookie and I maaay have been considering making you an admin... we can talk about that if you're interested!