#҂ · TO LIVE TWO LIVES ― ( MAIN V. CH. 5/6. )

[halfdent]

BYANKA STARKVA 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐃 " Gotta say. I thought you'd last longer. " / harvey

❝   HILARIOUS  !  ❞   He's  agitated  ,  hand  tightening  around  the  puncture  wound  in  his  torso  .  His  body  is  rife  with  pain  ,  trying  to  breathe  ,  hissing  out  through  his  teeth  .  ❝    FUCKING  HILARIOUS  !  ❞ Voice  raised  eyes  filled  with  flame  though  distant  ,  the  blood  loss  causing  him  to  loose  clarity  ,  mind  fogging  over  as  he  simultaneously  laughs  &&  cries  out  in  agony  &&  exhaustion  ,  tears  brimming  at  one  eye  ,  the  other  unblinking  through  lack  of  lid  .

❝     GO  AHEAD  !  Do  me  --  a  favor  &&  put  me  out  of  misery  already  ,  won't  you  ?  ❞

𝐍𝐎  .  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐂𝐎𝐈𝐍  𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒  𝐎𝐔𝐑  𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄  𝐍𝐎𝐓  𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄  𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇  ,  𝐆𝐄𝐓  𝐔𝐏  !

He's  trying  to  scramble  to  the  wall  for  purchase  ,  painting  the  cold  ,  cruel  brick  with  a  trail  of  his  own  blood  .  ❝   DAMN  YOU / @bmikhailovna !   DAMN  YOU  !  ❞   Why  must  he  go  on  suffering  ?   Knuckles  white  ,  hammering  against  the  wall  ,  teeth  clenched  together  .

[abdullah-enan]

How old were you when you got your first bicycle?

Well, I had to wait for 22 years before I got mine, An Actual one. Not the ones with stabilisers you know? the ones with 2 extra small wheels, each on a side, basically those bikes for the losers exclusively.

I had one of those bikes when we were living in segunbagicha for the first time. I was 5 or 6 at the time. That was the first home I can remember in my life. As far as I can remember my loser bike had two colors:

one that's kinda orangish and the other one was somewhere between violet and blue? Maybe, maybe. It had a basket in front of it, maybe an extra seat in the back.

I don't recall any good times with that bike. My dad tried to teach me to ride that bike a couple of times. But that dumb-ass kid version of myself was too dumb to learn how to ride that bike. Well, my dad gave up after a while but I still wanted to ride that bike badly. That's where those little wheels on the sides came in. Thanks to those wheels, I could ride the bike, but I did that for a short time as far as I can recall. I guess because of the non-stop teasing from my big brother, courtesy of those little wheels. I don't exactly remember what happened to that bike.

Fast forward to 2012, the teenage world. The bicycle craze had reached its peak. If you had one, you were the cool one. The boys were bicycle freaks, talking more about bikes than actually riding. Number of gears in the front and into the back, body frame materials, hydraulic brakes or V brakes, boys went neck deep into these conversations. If someone brought his bike, boys would have started inspecting the bike like fucking FBI or CIA shit man. I remember the standard was 3 gears in the front wheel, 7 in the back, hydraulic brake, and a stainless steel body frame. The funny thing was, I was madly obsessed with bikes but still hadn't learned how to ride one. I was too embarrassed to admit this so whenever people asked if I knew how to ride a bike, my reply was "Yeah man, of course. The thing is, I hadn't ridden for a very long time, so I kinda forgot". BULLSHIT!

One day, Digonto, a friend of mine brought his new bike and it was delicious man! First of all, it had an aluminum body frame, and the bike was light AF. Hydraulic brakes? check! 3 gears in the front wheel? ch-check! For the first time, I witnessed 8 gears in the back wheel. It was a dream bike for teenage boys. The desire to own a bike grew stronger. The bike was worth 12k BDT. This is 2012 we are talking about. 12K was a huge deal for a teenager. Like most of the contestants of Shark Tank, I tried to pitch the idea of why getting me a bike would help me get the best grades ever. It was immediately rejected, yeah I know big surprise no?

So, let another 10 years go by. 2022. Still without a bicycle but by then, I knew how to ride one. How you ask? well, I had a friend, Kaikobad who lives right beside my building. We somehow managed a bike, and I used to practice in his neighborhood. It was a good neighborhood. It took a good amount of time for me to learn. The trick is to look straight forward while paddling, not to look to your feet. Still, I did not learn enough to ride on the main road.

The proper learning came when I was working in my university's rover team. It was almost the end of my first year. As the most junior member of the team, most of us got laborsome and management type works. Wasn't much fun but the environment was....... I don't know what the word is....wholesome ? We had a pretty fun work environment then. Sometimes seniors would send us to bring some components from "Kalshi Moar" . Often we spent the whole night at the lab. Seniors would send me to Mirpur 12 at 1 or 2 a.m. in the nigght to bring midnight snacks. Cycle was the only means of transportation.

Grab a bike and bring some Chanachur brother.

Riding through the cantonment roads past midnight, when the night is the darkest and the world is asleep, I was learning how to ride a bike. Cantonment roads are the best for riding a cycle, a motorbike, a horse, whatever it is man. On those nights, on those cold-ass winter nights, all I had were some biscuits, one packet of Ruchi BBQ Chanachur, and a bicycle that makes the sound "crick, crick,crrrick" every time I paddle. Yeah, that's how I learned to ride a bicycle. These all happened between 2020 and 2021.

In 2022, I saved up a good amount of money. Did not know what to do with that money. Back in my mind I still had that regret of never owning a bicycle. It was there, along with some old regrets. I had the money, so why not?

When you plan to buy anything, all you will see is that thing, every-fucking-where. If you plan to buy an iPhone for a while, you'll notice all the iPhones around you. When you plan to buy a computer, all you will see are desktops and laptops around you. That happened to me. I quickly became obsessed with bikes. Everywhere I went, I saw bicycles. My YouTube recommendation soon became full of Mountain bikes, road bikes, hybrid bikes, Veloce, Upland, Core and so on and on. I kept my face buried into cyclelifexclusive's website all day. I was absolutely loving the idea that I am gonna own a bike real soon.

Rian helped me out here big time. Met him though Kaikobad. Rian had lived out that bicycle phase fully. He obviously knows about cycles much much better than most of the people. Rian, Kaiko, Aume and me. We all went out to the cycle stores every once in a while. To be honest that golden period of the cycle was gone. The cycle market was going through some economic slump or something. Most of the good companies were gone. The ones which survived, were not good anymore. The cycles that you would've gotten in 10-15K, in the market of lets say,6-8 years ago, are in the 20-25K range now. Not a good time to get a brand new bike. Still I wanted it so bad man.

Rian and I brought it down to two choices.

Mustang which costs 30K and Rockrider which costs 22K. I loved the Mustang one. Absolutely elegant one that was. It almost gave off a vibe of a lamborghini in the cycle world you know. The body structure, wheel size. I fell in love with that but the price was huge. 30K man.

I told Rian that I'm gonna go with the ROCKRIDER. The Mustang was too huge money wise. Yeah, it's coming home!

On a beautiful afternoon, we finally went out to buy my first cycle ever!

We first went to dhanmondi cyclelife store. We didn't find the color I wanted. So where did we go? The infamous BABUL CYCLE STORE. yeah right.

we went there, within a short time the cycle was in my hands. Great feeling no doubt, absolutely no doubt. I handed it out to Rian immediately, told him to take it out on a test drive.

After Rian gave the clearance, I realized I now own a bike, my first bike. I took a good look at it. It was in a saturated orange color, absolutely vibrant. ROCKRIDER was visible right alongside the diagonal of the frame. It was beautiful guys. Did it, done and dusted. I didn't ride the bike home. Pushed it home all the way. Kaikobad took a short ride on the way. Took it, parked it in our garage.

all of us went to the nearest BFC, had a good time, and had some laughs and some good meals. Was it a good day? nah, great day.

I remember the thing Rian said when all of this was happening. He was telling me all his cycle stories you know. How he went to fuller road from his home in 7.5 minutes, how he went on a ride from greenroad to Mirpur DOHS. Most of the boys in that time who had access to a bike, got to live similar moments. He had that phase where they all used to take out their bikes and go on rides, these really long fun rides.

He said that I missed out on these moments completely. Even if I get myself a bike, I won't get to live those moments, I'll never get to create those memories the way they had. Everybody has grown up. That time is gone. It will never feel the same.

What Rian said was really true, I agreed with him. I missed out on that opportunity to live that cycle craze era. I will not get that ever. So, was all of these pointless? umm.... I don't think so.

The next few days I took my bike on rides. I went to my old areas and went to my sister's home. I took it to Mirpur, my hostel.

If you have never ridden a bike in a beautiful mildly sunny morning and felt a breeze on your face, yeah man, you are missing out. Cycling is something else. It gave me that feeling of having the whole world beneath my feet. I can carry myself mostly anywhere with a few pedals. The first few days on the main road were a bit scary. I mostly remained nervous.

I know I'll never get those childhood cycling happy stress free memories, I know that, I know. But why will that stop me from making some other memories that I will absolutely cherish maybe 5, 7 or 10 years down the line?

Truth is, it makes me sad that I'll never have those memories. I really regret it. All the buckets,they don't have to be full at 100%. If you didn't get the opportunity to fill 100%, what the heck? Go for 70, go for 50, go for 15, heck go for 3%. I truly hate regrets. I don't handle regrets well to be honest. If I don't even get to try to, you know, wash away the regrets, that fucks me up completely, to the core.

Now, is the regret fully gone? Nope. It's not fully gone but I'll tell you this: I feel happy about this, really. It gave me some sense of peace, makes sense? Even if this was a splash inside the bucket, I feel good, heck I feel great.

Love the bike, love the rides it takes me on and loving the memories that are being created.

Did I tell you about the accident I had with my bike? Another story for some other day.

[meltwonu]

| 🍒 CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB! 🍒 |     [CHAPTER 𝟙𝟛]

pairing; dom!seungcheol x camgirl!reader

this chapter’s notes; camshow, breeding kink, sir!kink, pet play(kitten), v small amt of anal play, dirty talk!!! HAPPY FRIDAY THE 𝟙𝟛TH! 😗💕 Here we are with ch 13 on Friday the 13th, I didn't even realize it but man my ✨brain✨just planned that out so perfectly LOL 💕 I just wanna apologize for any grammatic/spelling errors in this one and it’s a bit shorter... I tried to proofread this all day but I'm also watching unus annus’s livestream at the same time and my peabrain cannot multitask but I TRIED!! let it be known 😩😭 Anyway, I hope ya’ll have a great weekend, stay hydrated and safe! Enjoy~! 🍒 

chapters; 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - ?

alphagyu97: oh fuck oh fuck

alphagyu97 has donated $100

hoshi_tiger_xx: oh??? Cute lil kitten ears????

A moan floats past your lips as you sit in Seungcheol’s lap; his cock already snug inside of you before you’d even turned the camera on. “Ah, ye--yeah, we thought we’d, mmh, try--try something n-new…”

Seungcheol smirks although neither you nor the camera catch it as he holds you still. Much like before, he’d started working you up before you got on camera and this time he’d asked you to sink down onto his cock and wait patiently until it was time to begin; neither of you saying a word or moving an inch as he peppered kisses along your shoulders and neck.  “Why don’t you show them your cute ‘lil tail, kitten? It’s getting squished between our bodies...”

universe_WZ: yes yes yes

tangerine_kwan: show us your cute tail princess

therealchan99: thank u for the pics btw i scream abt them every 30 minutes

therealchan99 has donated $50

You reach a shaky hand behind your back for the fluffy material as you show it off to the camera to the best of your ability; making sure to not move it around too much or else you knew you’d cum too soon. “I, ah, it’s--it’s keeping me s-so full…” He makes you answer a few more comments as you sit on his cock; blunt nails digging into the skin of your waist when he feels you trying to get him to move.

artist8hao: so so so pretty baby

kitty_junjun: cute little kitty

kitty_junjun: should come and play sometime ;)

xcaliburDK has donated $75

The way Seungcheol has you in his lap is a little uncomfortable for you and he quickly takes notice of the way you start to squirm more and more with each comment or question you reply to. “Kitten, it looks like you hit your donation minimum already. Should we start?” He coos.

You can only nod in return as you squint your eyes to check the laptop screen to see how you were doing. “Ngh, p-please… I--I’m so f-full I can’t wait any l-longer…” Whining, you clench around his cock and the toy as he chuckles lightly behind you. He’d purposely asked if the two of you could sit further back on the bed and further from the camera and laptop and you’d raised an eyebrow but agreed.

“Sorry, the angle’s not going to be very good for this but you’ll understand why.” Seungcheol comments.

The laptop screen is full of questioning comments and donations that beg Seungcheol to hurry up and fuck you.

His grip on your waist tightens a little before he’s slowly lifting you off of his cock and you let out a disappointed noise when he’s completely pulled out. “Nooo~ I w-want--”

“Ah, ah, I know what you want, kitten. But you need to get on your hands and knees for me. Facing the camera.”

Oooh, that’s why he wanted space.

You nod frantically as you easily get comfortable on your hands and knees in front of the camera and laptop; fluffy tail resting against your spine as the bell on your collar jingles.

alphagyu97: oh god please breed her

angelhan: yes god please

Seungcheol kneels behind you; already easing his cock back into your tight pussy as you mewl straight into the camera. “Our cute little kitten is already squeezing my cock so tight…”

You feel his fingertips on your skin before he’s reaching for the fluffy tail and he gives it a small tug as you whine and whimper in return.

“No, no pl--please, sir, I’ll cum if, ah, you p-play with my--my tail!”

Your eyes clamp shut just as Seungcheol starts to play with the anal plug; tugging on it and moving it slightly in order to get you to squirm a little more before he gives you want you wanted. He smirks at your back as he hears the sound of donations and comments flooding the screen in rapid succession.

“Oh? But they seem to like when I play with you like this.” You clench around Seungcheol and the toy, small cries on your lips when your sensitive body already wants to give in to the pleasure. “So fuckin’ pretty with your cute tail and ears and your pretty ‘lil collar on.”

chwenon: shes gonna cum so fast lol

gentleman_josh95: i kno, u can already tell she wants to

hoshi_tiger_xx has donated $50

xcaliburDK has donated $50

sleepy_wonu: look at her cute fuckin face while she tries to not cum haha

Seungcheol draws his hips back slightly before slowly thrusting into you from behind; fingertips still playing with the tail as he moves it around in tandem with his slow thrusts. “Oh kitten, you’re so fuckin’ wet for me, baby~” You can only moan back in response as you resist the urge to meet his slow movements with your own, much quicker ones.

“Ah, s-sir, please…”

tangerine_kwan: so cute when she's whiningggg

angelhan: dont give into her so easily~ make her work for it ;)

kitty_junjun: aww but shes so cute like this

Your fingertips dig into the bed sheets and you peel your eyes open as you attempt to read off the comments flying across the screen. “Mmh, ‘m so full… and sir won’t s-stop playing, ah, with my--my tail…” You can see Seungcheol’s form behind you on the screen, hips slowly moving as he plays with the tail.

You slowly find yourself moving with him and meeting his thrusts; chasing your pleasure as Seungcheol seemingly takes his time.

“Ngh, s-sir, can I c-cum?”

Seungcheol grins at your back, suddenly picking up the pace as he finally leaves the anal plug alone. “I don’t know, can you? Why don’t you ask them?” You blink your hazy eyes at the camera before flitting towards the comments section of your camshow.

“P-please tell s-sir to, mmh, let m-me cum…” You beg; unintentionally sending the comments section and donations into a flurry of yes’s and no’s.

artist8hao: let her cum but dont let it be the only time

alphagyu97: aww princess dont forget he still needs to breed your cute lil cunt

universe_WZ: she can cum but she still needs to be a good girl and let sir get what he wants

“Mmh, of--of course I, ah, w-want sir to b-breed my pussy… I, hah, want his--his cum i-inside of m-me…” You start working your hips back as you meet Seungcheol’s pace that speeds up at your words and the two of you fall into a rhythm as he works to get you off first. His hands grip your waist as he angles his thrusts to tap your g-spot and you mewl and whine in response; careful to not accidentally call Seungcheol’s name in the midst of the moment.

“Fuh--fuck, sir, ‘m g-gonna cum… please…”

“Cum whenever you want, kitten.”

You nod shakily; head falling forward as you let yourself get lost in the pleasure.

Your eyes flutter shut as various thoughts flood your mind. The main one being how seamlessly Seungcheol fit into your camshows and how much easier it was to film with him than you ever anticipated. The two of you easily forgot that the camera was even rolling most of the time, whether it was live or pre-recorded for your channel and now that he was always with you, it was hard to imagine filming without him.

“Ah, kitten, your cute ‘lil cunt is, ah, sucking me in deeper… You must really want my cum, huh?”

His words bring you out of your thoughts as you bite your lip. “Mmhmm, I w-want sir to c-cum, hah,  inside my p-pussy and b-breed me… wanna be, ngh, filled with your---your cum…”

“Why don’t we cum together then, hmm? Bet you wanna feel my cock throbbing in your cute ‘lil cunt, huh, kitten?”

The warmth blooms inside of you as you nod; cheeks hot as you peer straight into the camera. You readjust slightly, the bell on your collar tinkling as the set of cat ears on your head slip slightly. “Y-yes, sir… Please cum w-with me…”

Seungcheol doubles his pace and you quickly feel one of his hands leaving your body as he wraps his hand around the fluffy tail again. He starts to move it around again, slightly tugging on it as you cry out. “Ah, s-sir!”

chwenon has donated $75

angelhan has donated $50

universe_WZ has donated $100

artist8hao has donated $75

“Fuh--fuck, sir, please! P-please breed me, please, ah, c-cum inside m-my little cunt and--and fill m-me up with your c-cum!”

Tears blur your vision as you’re quickly thrown over the edge and into an orgasm; ears ringing when your entire body goes rigid. Seungcheol finds it harder and harder to thrust into you as your walls flutter around his cock and he soon finds himself cumming with you too; cock throbbing as he unloads all of him cum inside you. “Oh, fuck, kitten…” He moans; eyes rolling to the back of his head as he lets the pleasure wash over himself as well.

The sound of donations and comments drown out your soft cries and Seungcheol’s deep groans and you’re almost positive that you’d made at least a couple thousand off of tonight’s show.

alphagyu97: holy shit look at her face, fuck

kitty_junjun: is she crying?

hoshi_tiger_xx: damn, shes so drunk on cock shes crying

therealchan99: aww poor kitten~

You let out a stuttered breath as your body starts to relax; soft sniffles following right after. “Ngh… sir…”

Seungcheol smiles softly when he hears the way your voice trembles and he’s gentle to slide his cock from inside your cunt; groaning when his cum immediately drips down onto the sheets from how much he’d cum inside you.

“Ah, kitten, what a waste. How am I supposed to breed your ‘lil cunt if you’re letting my cum spill out of you already?”

You lick your lips and despite the tiredness, a new wave of arousal pours over your body at the thought of Seungcheol cumming inside of you a second time. You shake your hips; foggy eyes staring straight into the camera.

“You’re just going to, ah, cum inside me again… and let e-everyone watch...”

The next morning, Seungcheol drives you over to the diner to start your first real day at work and you feel downright nervous once the car stops. You’d gotten so used to camming and being alone that this new foray into normalcy was making you think twice, even just momentarily.

“You gonna be okay?” He turns to you, concern obvious on his face when your eyes meet his. “I can always take you straight home or take you back to the roller rink with me if you d--”

“No! No, I wanna do this... I know we made a lot of money off of the show last night but... But I think this’ll be good for me. Both of us working so we can afford rent ‘n stuff!” 

“We should like a married couple.” Seungcheol jokes. 

Your cheeks burn hot at his comment as you bite your lip. “Ehehe~” 

Seungcheol grins at you, hands still on the steering wheel. “Just let me know if you need anything, okay? I always have my phone on me anyway, Namjoon doesn’t really care.” 

The two of you share a laugh as you slowly reach for the door handle. 

“I will, I promise!” 

“I still do not get why you want to work here.” 

Jun laughs, hands on his hips as he watches you adjust the short dress uniform you’d put on, moments before. 

“It’s just... something to keep me occupied, is all.” Smoothing down your uniform, you do a small spin for Jun who nods back in approval. “And I wanna make friends! Aren’t we friends?” 

Jun’s eyes twinkle with playfulness as he gestures you over to the front of the diner. “Of course we are! Which by the way...” He pauses, looking over the relatively full diner to make sure nobody caught your conversation. “Is... Seungcheol-hyung okay with y’know... You working here and me... Being one of your viewers leaving comments ‘n stuff?” 

A genuine look of concern crosses his features as he waits for you to respond. 

You puff your cheeks as you think, “I think so? I mean he hasn’t...” Memories of Seungcheol saying he’d kick Jun’s ass immediately flood your mind as you laugh nervously. 

“Y-yeah, he didn’t say a word!” 

After two hours, you decide to take your 15 minute break; waving to Jun before you head towards the employee backroom to grab your phone. 

You check your notifications, surprise on your face when you see Seungcheol’s already messaged you a few times. 

cheollie ✨: have a good day!

cheollie ✨: u okay over there, baby?

cheollie ✨: dont feel pressured to answer asap lol 

You laugh under your breath, typing up a response as you take a seat in the break room.

‘It’s been going okay! I’m taking a short break right now tho!’

Shockingly, Seungcheol response only after a few seconds.

cheollie ✨: oh, thats good! I take it no issues?

‘Nope! my feet kinda hurt tho lol’

He asks you a few more questions; one about Jun keeping his distance, to which you shake your head and laugh. 

cheollie ✨: you never showed me your uniform btw 😏

You let out a noise of realization, fingertips already swiping through your phone to get to your photos as you send him one that you’d taken earlier. 

‘How's it look? 🥺’

It goes quiet for a couple minutes and you half-wonder if Seungcheol got in trouble for having his phone out. 

‘Cheol, u ok?’

cheollie ✨: is it bad I'm already thinking about lifting that cute little skirt up 

cheollie ✨: fucking you nice and hard with your panties just pushed to the side

cheollie ✨: fuck, and making you go back to work with your pussy filled with my cum 

A shiver rolls down your spine at his words; gulping as you check the time for how much you had left before you had to get back out onto the floor. 

‘what if I bend over and someone sees my panties all wet n soaked thru with ur cum...’

cheollie ✨: then they’d know you’re mine. 

cheollie ✨: I mean most of your viewers already know that 

cheollie ✨: but I want everyone to know, yknow?

cheollie ✨: god the way I wanna fuck you on the hood of my car

cheollie ✨: your cute little whines while you try to keep quiet 

You let out a shaky, quiet moan; thighs rubbing together when you notice you only have about three more minutes before your break was up. 

‘Cheol... I have to get back to work 😭 how could you get me horny before I have to get back...’ 

You pout your lips at your phone screen as you wait for his response.

cheollie ✨: 😈 

cheollie ✨: I have an idea 

cheollie ✨: for later 

cheollie ✨: I hope you can wear your uniform home 

cheollie ✨: see u in a few hours baby 

[clevercorvidae]

BNHA Common Misconceptions

I’ve been seeing wayyy too much bs on my dash lately. So I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on some Controversy™

***Spoilers For The Manga***

1. “What the HPSC did to Hawks wasn’t bad”

A government organization putting a young child through rigorous training so that he can be used as a tool is bad. I don’t know why I have to spell that out

Hawks had to abandon his real name at a very young age. That’s damaging for a kid’s sense of identity. His identity as a person no longer has any separation from his work as a hero. Being a hero is all he is now. I wouldn’t be surprised if (provided Hawks’s wings are gone for good) he has an identity crisis after this arc because he can’t be “Hawks” anymore.

Hawks is based on Lionel Messi, a soccer player recruited at a young age in return for paying for his medical procedures. I’ve seen people say that Hawks chose to be a hero. One, he was a child, young children shouldn’t be making decisions like that. Two, we know based on context clues that Keigo was more than likely living in poverty, possibly with alcoholic parents, and we literally are told that the HPSC payed for his family’s living expenses. Do you really think Keigo had much of a choice here?

I’ve seen people say “it’s just like what UA is doing”. First of all, UA is called out for being irresponsible and endangering their students IN UNIVERSE. Second, Keigo was a young child, the UA kids are 15+. There’s a huge difference.

2. “Mitsuki isn’t abusive”

Honestly when it comes to her smacking Katsuki, I could excuse it as a joke done in poor taste and not hold it over her as a character.

Hitting him WASNT just discipline tho. You should never, ever, under any circumstances hit your kid. Fuck that noise.

What I really have an issue with is what she SAYS to Katsuki. Her guilt tripping him isn’t a throwaway line either. He repeats the sentiment that he is responsible for Kamino during Deku v Kacchan 2. It’s one of the main reasons he fights Deku.

Horikoshi says that Katsuki has a good relationship with his mother. In that case, he did a horrible job at presenting that. What is written in the canon is what should be used as the basis for how we interpret her character.

3. “Shigaraki chose to kill his family/was born evil”

No...just...no. He was FIVE for crying out loud.

He wanted to be a hero, and took extra care to play with kids that had no friends. He definitely wasn’t born evil lmao.

His quirk manifested while he was having an emotional crisis. Decay is controlled by emotion so of course it went haywire.

He didn’t even know it was him doing it at first.

“But Shigaraki said he WANTED it to happen” Shigaraki is an unreliable narrator. What we actually SEE tells a very different story. He reaches out to Hana and his Mother for help. His grandparents are just caught in the shockwave. The ONLY person he killed on purpose was his father.

Now when it comes to his father, he had just beat him and locked him outside. He’s FIVE, and he has no healthy outlet for his anger and frustration. Hell, we see that in his “itchiness”, he only feels like this in the house, because his father makes him suppress his love for heroes and his dream to become one. He takes joy in killing his father because it’s the only release he’s ever experienced.

The fact that you guys forget that this is an abused child with no real control over his quirk that just got beaten and locked outside... Nope, no reading comprehension here.

4. “The League of Villains are justified/are a revolutionary group”

...Shigaraki has stated over and over again that he just wants to destroy everything. He doesn’t care about reform or improving anything. That one panel in Ch. 222, where he says he wants to destroy everything I think sums it up perfectly.

He wants to destroy EVERYTHING good or bad or neither or both. There’s a newborn baby, a field of flowers , Nine, various heroes, the UA kids, etc all varying in innocence.

The rest of the league have very different goals and reasons why they continue to support Shigaraki. Twice wants to protect the only people that accepted him. Spinner just wants to have purpose for his life. Toga wants to live the way she wishes with no consequences. Compress is also here.

The only “revolutionary” is Dabi. But his views are not universal throughout the league.

Even if they were trying to improve things. They have killed countless innocent people, they’ve tried to kill the UA kids too. That’s not ok. And it’s not erased by the fact that they’ve done good. (I do appreciate them for killing the MHA version of the KKK, truly epic of you)

5. “Hawks is abusive”

It’s not abuse to manipulate someone for info when you’re a double agent. It’s kinda shitty, and you could argue that it was unnecessary for Hawks to do so in context. But it’s not abuse.

Y’all need to stop using the word abuse/abusive tendencies to describe all immoral actions

I’ve also seen people say that Hawks has abusive tendencies (as in he’s abusive in all his relationships with other characters) and...do I really need to explain why that makes no sense at all?

6. “Twice deserved to die/it was necessary to kill him”

Feel like I need to remind people that we’ve only ever actually seen Twice kill one guy and that was one of the KKK guys.

Twice isn’t evil, even Hawks admits that he is a genuinely good person. Good people don’t deserve to die.

It wasn’t necessary, and here’s why: Hawks could’ve just knocked him out or even just severely injured him. (Or the HPSC could’ve just grown a brain cell and sent more people to back him up, making it easier to hold back his quirk and arrest him)

Hawks shouldn’t have killed Twice, he only killed him because he’s been raised as a child soldier and I wouldn’t be surprised if what he told Twice about taking out villains was a direct quote from the HPSC

Also, Hawks would’ve killed Twice with or without Dabi’s intervention

Something I do have to say though is that Hawks was right not to just let Twice go. It’s tragic because Twice WAS leaving to help his friends, but the other side of that tragedy it that his friends are terrorists. If he was allowed to leave a shit ton of people would have died (again that doesn’t mean he deserved to die either, don’t get it twisted)

The WHOLE POINT of Hawks v Twice is to make you question who the bad guy is. Both characters are morally gray and the only reason they even have to fight is because of the outside forces controlling their fates. It’s supposed to be tragic it’s supposed to be unclear who is in the right, so stop arguing about it.

7. “Bakugou is abusive/irredeemable” (I know it’s been talked to death but I still see it everywhere)

People are, in fact, allowed to grow past the person they were in middle school.

Most people get hung up on the “throw yourself off a building” line. Which is fair, but again, he was in middle school.

People also say “he hasn’t apologized yet”. Yeah? And? The story isn’t over yet. Horikoshi has already acknowledged that too. I don’t know what you want? People who like him know that his arc isn’t over yet.

I’ve seen a lot of people denying his character development. In the beginning of the series he was a bully and let his ego control him. I don’t think he’s bullied...anyone since Deku v Kacchan 2. He insults people but they obviously don’t take it seriously.

He’s also gone from preferring to fail a final exam to avoid working with Deku, to following him into battle against Shigaraki.

Also, when he actually likes and respects someone he doesn’t mistreat them. This is the same thing with Hawks where y’all NEED to stop misusing the word abuse. He was an abusive friend to Deku when they were kids, that’s it.

8. “Rei was abusive too!”

I’m BEGGING YOU to learn what the term “abuse” means istg

She had a psychotic break. She genuinely thought it was her abusive husband coming through the door, and she acted out of fear.

“Well that’s not an excuse” yes it fucking is. Not to mention that as soon as she realized what happened, she sobs hysterically because she hurt Shouto and tries to use her quirk to help him.

I genuinely don’t understand why people think this

9. “Dabi actually does care about the league”

Listen, I know it sounds harsh, but y’all need to get your heads out of your piles of headcanons.

We know next to nothing about how Dabi feels about just about anything. But we do see that he’s aloof and distant with the league, he doesn’t put in more than he needs to. The rest of the league think of each other as family. Dabi straight up says he doesn’t give a shit about them.

“What if he was just putting up a front for Hawks” Why? Why would he do that? When asked who he was he answered him. He tells him how he feels about hero society and Stain. Not to mention that he was getting ready to kill him. If he was hiding his true feelings about the league I doubt he would’ve so easily said that he didn’t care about them but rather how useful they were.

At this point it’s just wishful thinking. Based on everything we’ve seen in the series so far and everything we know about Dabi, I think it’s safe to say that he doesn’t care about them all that much. If he secretly does care about them, I’d say it’s likely that he doesn’t even know he does.

Idk why all of a sudden villain stans and hero stans are feuding over things that shouldn’t even be up for debate in the first place. Sorry if this came off as super aggressive, I’m just sick of seeing this stuff all over the place. If anyone has anything to add go ahead

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

Hi old reader of zemblanity here and I THOUGHT THE THEORY MAKING TIMES ARE OVER BUT NO ITS NOT 😭

Okay so--

1) i thought l wont be confused with the members in each dream BUT HERE I AM guessing whether dream guy 1 is kun or xiaojun

2) i think its my first time reading that there were a total of 26 sectors? Will there be like a content to explore the other sectors 👀

3) OOOHH TEN IS MORE EERIE HERE AND ITS JUST CHAPTER 1 AAAAA

4) not claire de lune anymore 👁👄👁

5) GDKSJDJS WHAT IF THE DREAM GUY IS TEN

6) ten literally leads yn to sector v by telling her not to go to sector v 💀 AND he made the keycard accesible by flauting it infront of her and leaving it on plain sight in his room

7) i think in the rewrite is where its explicitly stated that sector v was about prisoners of time

8) TEN YOU TOLD YN TO TELL YOU ABT HER DREAMS IF SHE HAS ONE AGAIN BUT THEN YOU GO SLEEPING 😭

9) and--- she goes inside ITS STARTING AAAAAAAAA IM SO EXCITED FOR THE ACTION

Hi, hi! I hope the rewrite is doing the original justice <3 But yes, I gotta help y'all keep your brain gears well oiled, don't I?

Answers under the cut!

1. Ah, yes, how could I forget about those two? They were a bit confusing in the original as to wether or not they were allies, so I hope this rewrite clears it up. Xiaojun is a bit of a romantic, isn't he?

2. I don't think there'll be anything in the main story specifically, but once I start dropping Warden's Notes and Interrogation Rooms they'll be mentioned here and there. Basically, one Sector is in charge of one kind of crime. Sector V, for example, is in charge of the murderers.

3. AHHHHHHH yes, our dear best friend. Keep an eye on him.

4. No more, I thought the lyrics of Moon River were more fitting for the story while keeping the motif of, ya know, the moon.

5. COULD BE WE WON'T KNOW UNTIL THE END

6. No cuz he does! He should know, I mean they've only been best friends their entire lives. Keep an eye on him.

7. Yup. I actually got an ask from @i-just-like-goats that I haven't answered yet (as of answering this ask) that will explain it, so keep an eye out for that! (I'll link it here once I answer it lol) [Edit: Here's the link to that post]

8. NAH FR HE'S SO MEAN FOR THAT 😭I don't blame him though, time is a little wonky in the Sector. Had it not been for that nifty pocket watch he has, he would never know how long he was in there

9. YES IT STARTSSSS AHH I'M SO EXCITED I have to stop myself from dropping the whole series already, I have them staggered and queued up. Every other Saturday, technically, for chapters and the Saturday's in between you get Warden's Notes and Interrogation Rooms. Except for this week, this Saturday you get Ch. 2 since there's no inmates introduced yet, hehe

[mego42]

hi! a song inside the halls of the dark is an absolute masterpiece of plotting and pacing (and prob my fave fic I’ve read for the show so far), so for the ask a writer meme, I’d love to hear about your planning process(es). the idea of even plotting out something like that, let alone actually finishing it, just breaks my brain lol. do you do a lot of outlining? how much does the outcome end up looking like the ideas that sparked it?

adsfghgsj okay well first off, thank you! that is unspeakably flattering and i don’t know how to cope! my weird robot emotions are misfiring! but also, thank you for this question bc this is the kind of nerd shit i LIVE FOR and up until, idk, 5? 6? months ago my answer would’ve more or less been ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but sometime in between now and then i leveled up how much of a nerd i am.

okay so, the short answer to your (first) question is yes, i do a lot of outlining though the scale of outline varies based on the complexity of the story. in song’s case, how i outline actually evolved significantly over the course of writing it (see that level up) and if i were to outline it today, it would look very different from what i originally started with.

the short answer to your second question is in song’s case, the original idea was a v short, almost fluffy stuck in a hotel room for a night one shot i daydreamed up while listening to a halsey song (is there somewhere, if you were wondering). obvs what it turned into was uh, v different.

digging into how i outline is going to get long, excessively nerdy and borderline terrifying so i’m hiding the rest of this under the cut, read at your own risk.

I preface everything here with a couple of reminders:

1. i am a crazy person who straight up does not know how to have hobbies like a normal person

2. i am actively trying to push myself and grow as a writer including developing new skills and training myself to practice certain habits bc at some point I would like to push myself out of the nest and try my hand at original fiction one day with a vague goal of maybe seeing if i could get it published. idk if i’ll ever actually do that BUT in the meantime, i do stuff like the nightmare that follows to myself

initial outline / what happens next list

okay so the most basic of my outlines (and how i originally outlined song) are p much just lists of what happens next. i do them as bullet lists bc my brain finds them less intimidating and i just start with one and then ask myself what happens next. sometimes the bullets are v vague, sometimes they get so specific i end up writing what becomes dialogue, i try not to think too hard about it, i just keep asking what happens next.

it’s really specifically about what happens next, not asking myself what i want to happen in the story, bc next implies the bullet before informs the one after, so you end up with an overall picture of what you want with a base level of causality built in. it also gives you room to surprise yourself (i think literally every what happens next outline i’ve done has had me going oh, okaaaaaay at some point).

sometimes, this is all you need. for trade my heart for honey, i started and stopped here bc at the end of the day, the skeleton for that fic is super basic: beth and rio attempt to play pool without tripping over their horrendous sexual tension. they fail. the end.

for your monster looks like mine, i did a version of the what happens next list, but i brought in some of my tricks from the pace structuring method i’ve been honing for the multi-chapter i’m currently planning. instead of mapping tentpole beats by story pace, i mapped tentpole beats for what points i wanted beth and rio to be scoring against each other and then mapped out the lead-up and fallout to connect the two and also what they were doing to each other physically at the same time so i could see how it all played together so the conversation supported the smut and vice versa. it was a TOTALLY normal approach to writing pwp. not over the top at all. 

song’s original outline was basically a SUPER long what happens next list and if i could go back in time i would slap myself upside the head like bitch you have no idea what you’re getting into and you are WAY TOO COCKY ABOUT IT, but it’s okay i learned.

the spreadsheet method

somewhere around when i was in the middle of i want to say ch 9 of song, @pynkhues posted about her outlining process including a super awesome spreadsheet she uses (i cannot for the life of me find the original post, forgive me but know that it was hers) and i immediately jacked a version of it to use as my own and oh my god it changed my whole life. 

iirc hers was a bit more in depth but since i was sort of baby-stepping into it, i stripped it down into the following and did a sheet for each of the remaining chapters (well, ch 10 and ch 11, ch 11 ended up getting wildly out of control so i split it in two and mushed the epilogue i’d been planning onto the end of it as a closing breakout scene:

plot

character

it’s a lot of repetition, tbh BUT once i started using it, i found the repetition was incredibly clarifying and by making myself take the time to go through each column and go through the same stuff over and over, it honed in on the strongest, most relevant bits of what i was planning and helped me see patterns and connections i maybe hadn’t been thinking of on the onset.

when i outlined swear i used this method and added a layer to my chapter overviews where i track the lies and corresponding truths worked into the chapter narratives (bc that’s a key theme of the story), and color-coded the beats that corresponded to the main plot vs individual character arcs vs foreshadowing so i’d have an at a glance visual reference to make sure nothing was getting lost and all of the characters (even minor ones) had stuff happening to them and didn’t just feel like cardboard cutouts coming in and out of the story as i needed them

pace structuring

these are all fine and dandy but one thing they’re missing is pacing! for song’s pacing, i will be real with you, i v much went a lot with my gut. i’ve spent most of my life consuming and paying a lot of attention to stories. i’m fascinated with how they come together and literally cannot shut off the part of my brain that likes to pick them apart to examine the pieces to see how they all fit together. as such, it’s left me with a p instinctive grasp for how a story should feel when it’s working which is fantastic when it is, but really useless when it isn’t bc i struggle to identify where and why sometimes so i can fix it.

for the buffyverse, once i started to realize (with no small amount of horror) the scope of what i wanted to write, i realized p quick i needed some kind of tool kit to help me figure out the arc and pacing bc this was going to be a lot closer to trying to plot a whole novel from the ground up (which is great bc one of the things i want to practice is pacing and plotting out novels from the ground up, hahaha)

i’ve been working with a two main docs (and neither of them are spreadsheets, yet, bc one thing the spreadsheet method taught me it’s that while i find them very soothing, my brain works in bullet lists so i’m starting with bullets and then i’m gonna strain it through a spreadsheet):

1. Thoughts:

just a doc where I word vomit out anything I’m thinking, I don’t worry about keeping it organized, I just throw whatever I’m thinking in there so it’s memorialized and I can sort through it later.

2. Act Timelines / Scene Breakdowns:

basically, i have a basic three-act story structure with tentpole story beats broken out by general ballpark percentages of how far into the story/act they should occur for the pacing to feel right. i use that as the framework i run my plot and character beats through and do it in a couple of passes:

high level: i go through and break out what’s happening in the story for each tentpole beat (what the specific story and plot focus is)

by character: i go through and fill in (at least) one sub-bullet beneath each plot tentpole beat with what’s happening with each main character in their individual subplot, how they got there, what their general feelings and mindset is, if they’re having any revelations, etc (one thing i fucked up with song is not making sure i had stuff going on for all of the characters, the plot was super focused on beth and while i generally knew what rio was doing and why, ruby and annie more or less floated in and out of the story at whim and i hate that, so i’m trying to be better about it going forward)

by relationship: now i go in and fill in a layer of bullllets with how the plot and character beats are shaping relationships and how they’re progressing through each tentpole beat

at this point i’ve got a pretty fleshed out outline hitting on plot, character and relationship development at least in broad, general terms. i can look at it like a map and see how characters are growing and changing throughout the story and look for areas where the plot is pushing the characters vs the other way around and places where it seems weak or poorly connected/supported and i tinker with that for awhile until i feel like it’s in good shape.

next step is applying the what happens next approach to the scene by scene breakdowns. i’m trying an experiment with this one where instead of breaking the fic into chapters first, i’m breaking it into scenes and working out the beats of them so they incorporate all of my outlined stuff and then i’m gonna go back and see where the chapter breaks look like they fall.

I’m like, 75% of the way through my scene breakdown for this particular fic and once I’m done with that, I’m going to take everything and plug it into the spreadsheet I worked with for the last couple of chapters of song and highlight/color code like I did for swear to make sure my chapter breakdowns align with everything I’m trying to do and I’m tracking all of my themes and details and setting things up to pay them off later.

so, you know, an absolutely normal amount of planning for a hobby i do entirely for funsies in my largely nonexistent spare time. 

(sorry this was i am assuming WAAY MORE INFORMATION than you ever wanted or needed to know but once i started i couldn’t stop)

(and seriously, thank you, am truly verklempt that you love song like that 💖)

bts fic writing q’s IF YOU DARE hahaha

[tsipasce]

Same Difference, Ch.11

A/N: Couple easter eggs in this one. Definitely one of my favorites since.. things are happening~ Also, TW: for some graphic violence per usual. Let me know what y'all think and thanks for reading as always <3

Chapters: 01  |  02 |  03 |  04 | 05  | 06 | 07 | 08 |  09 |  10

AO3 | Fanfic

With the first round of sampling completed, they were able to establish a few facts to be true, “One,” Nanami began as she stood at the whiteboard, “Though we’re aging, our health isn’t declining. It seems like our growth patterns are relatively normal, but overhaul seems to be preemptively fixing any of the normal degradation that comes with aging.”  

“Sounds too fantastical. It almost implies the quirk makes us immortal.”

“Well, considering the world we live in, nothing seems too fantastical anymore, really. I mean, I personally know a guy with a dog head.”

“Point taken. However, this type of ‘immortality’ is better described as ‘quasi-mortality’.”

“Is that even a thing?”

“You and I exist so I’d say it is now. Our aging may be drastically slowed if not halted, but it would be a stretch to say we’ll never die.”

She shrugged in acceptance as she wrote the new term on the board. “Two, our blood had some odd property to it that I haven’t seen before. Like there’s some extra protein-coated cells/structures just floating around—I have no idea what they do. We’ll have to compare more in the next round of control samples from people with high-level quirks, but I didn’t see it in the last batch of control samples, so I’m betting this is unique to us.”

“’Protein-coated structures’? Sounds like a vi…”

“Don’t…” She raised a hand, bringing it to rub the bridge of her nose, “Don’t say it.”

“You’re right, the data speaks for itself. Continue, doctor.” He replied smugly, Nanami letting out an exasperated sigh. If she heard the v-word one more time out of him today, she was sure she’d lose it.

“ANYWAY, onto three: there are no anomalies or strange reactions between us.”

“False. In fact, it’s time you held up your end of the bargain.” interjected Overhaul.

Feigning innocence, Nanami continued writing on the board, “What ever do you mean?”

“Don’t play games. Teach me how you negate overhaul.”

She still wasn’t very excited to teach someone who was already dangerous how to become even stronger, but a deal was a deal. “Fine, I’ll bequeath you some of my vast knowledge,” she said as he rolled his eyes at her, “and immediately after, you’re going to teach me a new move.”

“…Fine.”  He relented.

“Perfect. Roll up your sleeves and let’s head to the arena.” She strutted over to the coat rack, hanging up her garment, wearing a sleeveless blouse underneath.

Once in the room he raised his brows expectantly, “Well, start bequeathing.”

“So, I was equally confused when it first happened but after trying to replicate my reaction while monitoring my vitals, I noticed a blip but couldn’t explain it at first. Then I heard something interesting while they were rerunning one of those old hero documentaries: ‘Whole-Hog’.” He listened intently, beginning to piece together where she was going with the explanation. “It sounds a bit silly, but what it really means in this context is a full body application of your quirk. In essence, when you... attacked me,” at this she could see the slightest bit of regret in his features as he shifted his weight, glancing away when her voice became small, remembering the incident. “when you attacked me, my fight or flight response was triggered, and so was my quirk.”

“But nothing happe… Oh.” He said as he caught her drift.

“Exactly! They cancelled each other out. You can’t disassemble something that’s already disassembling and reassembling itself.”

“Hm. I see.” He said, nodding, his interest now very piqued. “…You know what my next question is.”

Taking a deep breath, Nanami composed herself, “Well I didn’t wear this shirt for nothing. Let’s do this.” She said, holding her arms out, palms facing upwards. The Nanami from a couple of months ago would have doubled over at the irony of willingly offering her arms up for his experimentation, but even she had to acknowledge things had changed. She could defend herself, and though his motives were still a up for debate, she was certain that they were equal allies in this. Though his word was reason enough, he was logical above all else and to be frank, hurting her had become… counterproductive. He took a step forward, closing the distance between them taking off his gloves. He paused, inspecting her arms, “and yes I sanitized them thoroughly before this.” She responded to the question he hadn’t voiced yet.

Waiting for a final nod from her to ensure she was ready, he grabbed both of her forearms, “On three, activate it. One… Two… Three.”

She felt him grip slightly tighter at three, yet nothing happened just like before. She looked up at him triumphantly, now confident it was a tried-and-true method. “Now, it’s your turn—If you don’t mind me touching, that is,” she quickly corrected. He had allowed her to touch him before, but it felt wrong to take it as precedence. What if he’s changed his mind and finds it unbearably repulsive? She would be the first to admit she didn’t understand the mysophobia, but knew if she had it she would want people to at least try and be respectful, Hardened criminal or not, trauma’s still trauma~.

A look of gratitude flashed across his features before he could suppress it, his face returning expressionless as he offered his forearms to her, mirroring her gesture. He was seldom surprised, but she managed, frequently. Very few people had willingly shown him consideration. To be given it without inciting fear or threats—it was foreign, but far from unappreciated. It was a respect borne from a place he’d never been to. Realizing she was still waiting for a response, he shook off the moment, responding simply, “Do what you must, I shower immediately after all of our sessions anyway.”

“Great, I’ll give you a countdown, ok?” She said, trying not to take his comment personally.  “One… Two… Three…” She said as he winced ever-so-slightly. If they weren’t so close, she might not have noticed. “Hey, nerve fibres, remember? It doesn’t have to hurt.” She encouraged. He studied her for a minute before giving a subtle nod. “Let’s try again. One… Two… Three.” This time, it worked, neither of them feeling a thing. She looked up and caught a glint in his eyes Is he smiling under there? She found herself wishing she could see it fully, committing the features she could see to memory. His messy brown hair, the squareness of his jaw, the subtle wrinkle between his brows from frowning so regularly, his piercing gaze as he was looking right back at he—omg how long have I been staring she realized, now a bit embarrassed. She quickly looked away, letting go of his forearms, resisting the urge to maintain contact.

He studied her for a beat longer before slowly lowering his arms and clearing his throat, neither aware that the urge had been mutual. “Now, for my part. Go stand in the corner.”

“NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORN—”

“I swear if you do another pop culture reference, I will lock you in here until Monday.” He said sternly, though the threat was meant to be playful.

She flinched ever-so-slightly at thought of being confined, a genuine look of terror in her eyes for a split second before she could remember to respond normally, It was just a joke. Calm down. No one is ever going to do that to us again… We’re safe now. She thought, shaking off the memory his joke had triggered, “Ok, Negative Nancy.” She said rolling her eyes as she walked to the other side of the room.

He silently took note of her reaction, now curious. Deciding it was best not to pry, he began, “This is useful for both evasion and combat. It’s relatively simple, but the scale is large so be mindful of your stamina when using it. Watch and study the structures carefully.” He walked back to the opposite side of the room, turning to face her as he neatly pulled up his pant legs to kneel. Inhaling deeply, he pressed his hands to the ground and dozens of very large spikes erupted from the floor and across the room, stopping a safe distance from her. She walked up the one of the structures, studying it with her hands to gauge its dimensions. They looked simple enough, but she could tell they were modeled after wave breakers; one intertwining to reinforce the other. She walked back to her spot, and he deconstructed his work and waited.

Focusing, she mimicked his movements, quickly realizing he hadn’t been exaggerating the stamina requirement. After creating the first 5 or 6 she began to feel the fatigue.

“Take your time. You can pick up speed once you’ve mastered the first dozen.” He coached.

Wait, was that… encouragement? She commented inwardly. The thought that he might be manipulating her crossed her mind as it always did, but this interaction felt different. Enjoying this side of him and not wanting to risk him clamming up again, she accepted the encouragement in stride. She nodded thoughtfully, practicing again and again and again. She figured he’d be too impatient to wait for her to get it right since it only took him two tries to learn her technique, but instead he regarded her quietly, giving hints and critique when needed.

After an hour of this, she was finally able to fully replicate his example. He gave the structures an appraising look before nodding in approval. Nanami deconstructed them, reverting the room to its original state. Breathing heavily, she knew she was exhausted enough to pass out then and there, but still wanted to press on and return to the lab to work.

Exhaling, she began to walk back to the lab as he followed behind. Once in the main room, she went to the large sink at one of the lab benches to scrub her hands, realizing she’d been rubbing her hands on the floor for the past hour. He came beside her, doing the same, but of course more vigorously. As he stood beside her, she wondered why he decided to be so close. He’d seemingly tolerated the proximity before, but never sought it out. As they continued to scrub in silence, she accidently brushed up against his hand with her own. “Oh, I’m so sorr—”

“It’s fine.” He said cutting her off, though it didn’t feel rude.

“Oh. Ok.”

Clearing her throat, she continued washing, biting her lip as she tried to think of something to say. Usually the silence wasn’t a big deal, but today, there was a tension in the air. She felt hyperaware of him and that they were alone as she could feel him stealing glances in her direction. She went to grab a paper towel to dry off, deciding to try and fill the air, “I know it was a trade, but thanks for being so patient with—” she stopped short realizing they’d turned towards each other at the same time, making them much too close, her nose almost brushing against his chest. Against her better judgment, she craned her neck to look up. His eyes boring into hers as he remained silent. She felt her heart racing as they stayed seemingly frozen in place, close enough to feel the other’s body heat. There was a shift in the air, his expression unreadable, but far from blank. Nothing was happening at present, but she felt whatever situation they were in was coming to a head and the thought of the outcome had her heartbeat creeping up her throat.

“I should go home and get some rest.” She blurted out.

“Yes, you should go.” He responded, but it wasn’t as convincing as it should have been.

What the hell is going on here… she thought incredulously though they were both equal participants in the tense exchange, whatever it was. Composing herself, she gathered the strength to look away, hurrying over to dry her hands and create distance between them. She hurriedly gathered her bag and notes, rambling as she went about various lab work and their schedule for next week. She began briskly walking towards the door, continuing to fill the air with words, his eyes never leaving her.

“… and then we can move to the next set of samples for testing and—”

“Watanabe.” She immediately got quiet upon hearing him say her name without the usual formality and in a tone she wasn’t used to.

“…Yes?” She cautioned a glance to see him struggling to respond, his usually calm expression now conflicted.

“… Never mind. It’s not important. I’ll see you on Monday.” He said, seemingly trying to convince himself. Of what, she wasn’t sure.

“Oh, alright. See you then.” She managed to get out. Why do I feel…disappointed? Whatever…This is just one of those awkward moments. I just need a nap. She reassured herself before promptly leaving intent on ignoring the warmth coming to her cheeks.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rushing to her car, Nanami tried her best to take her mind off of whatever the hell that was back there… she thought, shaking her head. Turning up the music in her car, she began making a weekend checklist of all her errands. She was planning on eating in more so she’d have more control over her diet, wanting to maintain the great shape she’d gotten in since training with Rappa. After their second life or death battle, he’d come to respect her and they became like workout buddies. Workout buddies who almost killed each other a couple times, but hey, at least he’s upfront and a great spotter.

Considering what she’d been through, Nanami thought she would have gone mad already, but found herself adapting instead. Maybe it was because her career exposed her to a lot of brutality on a regular basis. Being a doctor in a world with quirks meant the injuries and illnesses grew more inventive and vicious with each generation. Or maybe it was simply normal human adaptation, and consistency informed her new “normal”. Either way, she promised herself not to let it change her for the worst. She’d been through too much to give in now, or ever. She confirmed to herself.

Lost in thought, she had arrived home in a flash. Walking up to her door, she felt something was off and immediately went on guard, glancing around for any signs of disturbance before she opened the door. Thinking it was best not to be in the open if her feeling was correct, she hastily grabbed her keys. As soon as she turned the lock, someone large came up from behind, covering her mouth and forcing her inside, the door slamming closed after them. She was dragged in, thrashing about as the hand on her mouth continued to stifle her.

“This her?” asked the man restraining her.

Another man had followed them inside. He scanned her up and down before pulling out his phone, looking between her and a picture he had of her on his phone. “Yup, definitely her… Clip her wings. She’ll travel easier that way.” He said, a smile creeping across his face.

“I’d love to. Those Shie Hassakai bastards are gonna  regret underestimating us,” the man from behind her began before whispering in her ear, “I dunno what your quirk is, but the boss wants you something fierce. Be a good girl and cooperate and it won’t hurt…too much” he chuckled. “Now hold her arms out.” He asked the other man as he approached.

Nanami knew if she let panic set in, it would be over. So instead, she chose rage. It’s just like biting a tough carrot…In the next moment, she opened her mouth wide behind the assailant’s hand, clamping down like a vice. Blood gushed into her mouth and as the other man lunged forward, she did her best llama impression, spitting the thick, coppery substance into his eyes. She ducked as the men toppled over each other. She saw them both clearly now and was able to size them up. They both wore black jumpsuits and black knit caps. She didn’t recognize them, but they certainly had an idea of who she was.

“You bitch…”  one seethed as he was rubbing the blood from his eyes, the other still writhing on the floor. He went to grab her and she dodged, quickly grabbing and transforming her kettle, landing a blow under his ribs, hearing them crack under the pressure... Someone her size usually wouldn’t be able to cause so much damage, but she’d made metal gauntlets on the fly to mimic Rappa’s, adding another layer of force. They weren’t nearly as fast as her workout buddy and she landed another to his gut, causing him to double over. Just as she was about to strike again, the other man began to charge at her having given up the search for his fingers for the time being. He was twice her size and his quirk gave him the look of a rhino with a large horn and stocky built; she knew taking him head on was out of the question. As he charged, she redirected his momentum, moving aside as he landed harshly on the couch, breaking it in half under his weight. Both men arose, now very angry with her. She was trying to strategize as they stalked closer backing her into a corner by the entrance. Panic was beginning to set in until the door blew off the hinges and into the assailants, knocking them across the room and into the kicthen. Hyperventilating she didn’t know who would be at the door, but a sense of relief like she’d never felt before came over her as she saw her least favorite lab partner. Overhaul glanced over at her, and she tried to steady herself against the wall to rise and continue fighting. Giving her a grave look, he commanded” Stay right there.”

The men groaned, trying to shake off what had to be severe concussions from the impact. A look of recognition, then fear came across their features as he stalked towards them, removing his other glove. As he reached out to touch them, Nanami found her voice, “Wait! Don’t kill them. Please.”

“This is not the time for weakness.”

“Not wanting to kill people is not weak, j-just stop and think for a second.” She pleaded trying to figure out how to best reason with him,” you can’t interrogate dead guys!”

He paused. “Which one spoke the most to you?”

Trying to answer the question quickly she stammered,” I—I—The rhino-looking one?”

“Be certain.”

Clearing her throat, she was beginning to calm down,” I’m sure. It was that one.”

“Good. Now look away.”

“But I—“

He turned and gave her a look that said negotiations were over. She hesitantly turned away before hearing the other man “No, no, n—” then a splatter and silence.

She heard Overhaul exhale before discarding his gloves and pulling out a new pair. He speed-dialed someone, calmly explaining he needed some “garbage picked up”. In the next couple minutes, a van arrived driven by some familiar faces she’d seen around the hideout as they nodded to her, dragging out the other man who was now gagged and very traumatized. After they left, he turned to her, walking over calmly. From behind him she could see the corner completely covered in blood. She was grateful not to have seen it happen.

“What are you doi—why did you come here?” was the first thing that came to mind. She knew he knew where she lived, but never imagined he’d make a casual house call.

He went back by the door, bending down to pick up a mass of white fabric, “You practically ran out of the lab today leaving your jacket. I was going to ignore it, but then your phone started ringing. Your carelessness saved you.”  

“Pfft..haha.. hahaahahahahahah. Oh my gosh…bahahaa”

“… What’s so amusing?”

Catching her breath, Nanami tried to stop laughing. It was probably partly exhaustion, but the whole situation was just so bad she had to laugh. “It’s just… I almost got kidnapped by a couple dudes who wanted to ‘clip my wings’, my lab partner is a yakuza head, and my apartment is trashed. It’s not particularly ‘amusing’ per se, but I just had a brawl in my living room and I gotta clean some dude off my wall now. And it’s just… it’s just a lot and I—I don’t know how to react. I’m not like you, I’m not used to this” She ended, swallowing heavily.

He studied her for a beat, “Where is your bleach?”

“What?”

“Nothing can be done about the other things you mentioned, but your apartment is filthy. Let’s start by fixing that.” He replied plainly.

Sniffling, she agreed, “Under the sink, to the left.”

For the next hour Nanami fixed her furniture, the sound of scrubbing and the presence of another person the only things keeping her together. Looking around, the place was good—well better than new. Examining the wall, she couldn’t find a trace of evidence that a man had been splattered across it earlier.

“Wow you’re really good at this, how’d you know how to get out blood stai—Ah. Forget I asked"

He gave a quick huff, and she made a B-line to her bag, grabbing her planner and a pen. He narrowed his eyes at her in disapproval. “Is now really an appropriate time for that? I didn’t even laugh.”

“One, that may not count as a laugh for a normal person, but it certainly does for you. And two, I feel like just for tonight, we can set aside the pretense of ‘appropriateness’.” She hummed, marking down another tally mark. Suddenly realizing it could be taken another way she corrected, “I mean as far as joking and stuff, not like…”

“Like what?” He asked innocently enough but she remembered their weird moment earlier that evening and suddenly the room felt much smaller.

“N-Nothing. Nevermind. I dunno what I’m saying.”

“Hm.”

Suddenly a car honked from outside and Nanami flinched like she’d been hit. She was taking it well, but she’d be lying if she said tonight hadn’t been jarring. Regaining her composure, she took deep breaths, trying to hide how shaken she’d been from the attack. Being alone sounded terrifying at the moment, but she knew she couldn’t ask him to stay. Accepting reality, she decided to rip off the band-aid.

“Hey… Thank you. You know you don’t have to –“

He ignored her, surveying the place, “I’m going to check for bugs and any tracking equipment. They seemed to have been watching you for a while to have timed this so well.” He glanced, giving her a once over, “In the meantime, you should take a bath. You’re filthy.”

Looking at the bloodstains on her clothes and general dishevelment, she wasn’t in a position to disagree, “Sounds logical to me,” she responded quietly as she made her way to the bathroom. She stopped in the doorway “And when I get out…”

“I’ll be here.” He said simply though his gaze was softer than she was used to.

She nodded, giving him a small smile, grateful to have a partner.

[jj-lynn21]

You will remember things that we never said ch 1

Starring college rocker Axel Cluney

Music by Dolly Trauma: Morla , LIGHT BULB  

Character idea  Billofourtime 

Detrimental behavior courtesy of my college years lol

photo by @hiddlelecki

Warnings: aloofness, vulgar language/behavior, complete lyrics to songs

ch 2    ch 3    ch 4  ch 5     ch 6​   ch 7

Stephanie Westin had aspiration of becoming a great writer. She wasn’t sure a University degree in anything would help her. According to her family and friends that was the only place to go next. So, she applied to major in creative writing and minor in art. She was able to get a scholarship that paid for her courses, books and even included a meal stipend. She planned to work hard. Take the maximum load of courses each semester and be done in two years, maybe three at the most.

Axel Cluney never had anything handed to him. He worked his ass off from the time he could find a job outside of the house. He washed dishes in restaurants, mowed lawns and painted houses but when his Dad’s buddy, Derick, let him work in his tattoo parlor he had found his calling. That’s how Derick would put it anyway. Axel just liked the job didn’t get in the way of his other creative outlet, His band Zeigeist.

It was Derick who encouraged Axel strongly to get a degree in business with a minor in art so he could take over the tattoo parlor when Derick retired. Axel reluctantly agreed. Derick had practically raised him when his Dad ditched town a few years after his Mother passed away. Axel was fourteen and just wanted to quit school to go look for his Dad who never treated him very well anyway. Derick convinced Axel not to quit. He encouraged him to do better than Axel ever thought he could. He was a better Dad to him than his Dad ever was, which Axel never told him.

The first week of classes. Neither Stephanie nor Axel knew where anything was located. When they finally found room twelve in the creative art’s building, they almost bumped right into each other reaching the door at the same time from opposite sides. They looked at each other a second. Stephanie smiled. Axel just had a blank look on his face as he opened the door and let her go through first.

She sat up front in her fitted blue jeans and red V-neck long-sleeved t-shirt. He sat in the back in his long sleeve black turtleneck and dark denim jeans. She still noticed the tattoos on his hands and fingers. Also, how his green eyes seemed to make her nervous. Axel noticed how her wavy blonde hair fell to the opening of her shirt revealing the tops of her ample breasts. He licked his lips absentmindedly.

Come Thursday evening Stephanie already felt overwhelmed with schoolwork. The syllabuses she received from each class had reading assignments and project deadlines for the whole semester. But since she had the work in front of her she thought she would just get it all done in a few days or maybe weeks other than the tests she would have to wait for instructors to give her. She shared a dorm room with Bella. She only had seen her briefly at the beginning of the week.

“We are going to be great friends,” Bella hugged Stephanie tight when they first met. “We will have great adventures. Working towards a goal is great but you have to live life girl.”

Stephanie laughed at Bella uncomfortably. Stephanie likes her privacy bubble and studying towards her goals just fine. There would be time to “live life” later.

Bella opened Stephanie’s bedroom door when she got to their dorm room, “Come on and get ready Steph. Its Thursday night. You have all weekend to study. You need to go see my friends band play at Hide & Seek. We can walk so we can stumble back drunk if need be.” She laughed.

Stephanie looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. “I’m fine. I just started organizing my studying, so I get the most done in the least amount of time. I have an art project due in a week. I need to do a portrait of someone interesting. So…”

���I will find you lots of interesting people.” Bella said. “It will be like your studying to find that perfect portrait specimen. You go this one time and if you don’t enjoy yourself, I will never ask you to come party with me again.”

Stephanie looks at her new roommate exasperated, “alright, I’ll go. What kind of music does your friends band play?”

“My friend, Rick, is in a metal band called Dark Breed.” Bella brushed her long ebony hair.

Stephanie took her hair down from the bun she always wore when studying. Then brushed it out adding a bit of shine oil to bring her waves back to life. Both girls touched up their makeup in the mirror.

“You are so easy to share the mirror with Steph.” She touched up her mascara. “Your so short I can see right over you.”

“Thanks,” Stephanie put some light pink natural looking lip stain on your lips. She wasn’t sure if what Bella said was really a complement, but she tried to look past short girl jokes she has been hearing all her life.

It’s a great evening for a walk. The air is crisp with fall smells as Stephanie and Bella walk to the club. Bella goes on and on about the club she is taking Stephanie to and how the people just welcome everyone that aren’t critical of others.  As soon as they walk in Stephanie hears the buzz of amps being setup. Some drummer practicing beating down hard on his set. And a guitar being tuned. She doesn’t even glance towards the stage as she paid five dollars and Bella pulls her over to introduce her to her friend that plays bass.

Stephanie heard some guitar, bass and drums form a song. Then a familiar voice starts to sing.

“Stick around. Talk to him. I would kill for love. I would kill for love. Stick around, for what you miss. He will spread you love, spread you…”

Stephanie looks up hearing the beautiful vocal backed up by a heavier sound. It’s the guy that opened the door for her Monday. He is covered in elaborate tattoos. His voice easily grabs Stephanie as everyone else around her continue to talk.

“Don’t believe in us from then. I will kill for love. Kill for love. Who are you now turning me down, turning me down, as long as you can cum we can fuck all night, as long as you cum we can fuck…”

Bella finally notices Stephanie’s infatuation with the sound. She smirks as she stands behind her with her hands-on Stephanie’s shoulder. “I told you, you would like it here.”

Stephanie said in a voice not quite comprehending her surroundings, “Yeah.”

“That’s Zeitgeist.” Bella said. “The singer is Axel. He’s hot, right?”

“He’s in one of my classes.” Stephanie said.

The song continues to play. “as long as you can cum we can fuck…they all want your legs, they all want your legs facing the moon…But do they cum into you…”

The crowd in front of the stage is moving to the music. The next song they perform starts off slow enough. But a mosh pit starts to circle. Rick and his guy friends stand in front of Stephanie and Bella so they can enjoy the music without having to be involved in the malay.

Axel starts in a soft voice, “Muscle was your man, and through your self-arising plan, you took this kindness that I showed in places special to their core, and shoved me out of your promising timeline, after give me those good signs, stranger tell me why you picked my brain to ask just where you might find…” The song starts to crescendo. The mosh pit starts to bounce off each other. “Come again my snow-white shroud, I will take your hand and you will say…” Axel’s voice gets gravely and deep as the pit starts bang into each other roughly and the music increases intensity. “My first seven days, my first breath of pain, you self-loathing bitch, your cut with need no stitch…” The music intensifies on as Axel bang his head holding the mic away. The pit goes nuts until the music slows again for another bridge of the song before Axel ends it with a howling scream while the people in the pit go nuts.

It’s the most amazing experience Stephanie ever felt at a concert and she had been going to concerts from right before she was born. Her Dad is a hippie rocker that took her to see Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd. Her mom is more into main-stream nineteen-seventies music taking her to see Captain and Tennille in which they let her sit and pet their dog on stage when she was a baby while they sang Muskrat love. And her name was already in a song that played on the radio because her mom and dad knew the singer. Her mom sat at the piano while the singer wrote the song and asked about her daughter. And that’s how her name got in the song.

Axel jumps off stage as his band cleans up their equipment. Some guy screams, “Hey Axel, sounds like you need some Pussy.”

Axel screams back at the guy, “Its not quantity. Its quality. And your girl is fucking finger licking good.” He licks his middle and index finger before flipping the guy off.  Then he turns seeing Stephanie a few feet away. He freezes like a deer in headlights.

Bella said, “Hey Axel, I guess you have seen Steph around but not been really introduced.”

Axel gains his composure. Stares with a hard ass look on his face and just nods. He leans over Stephanie to whisper something in Rick’s ear. He crosses his arms when he stands back up straight. Glance at Stephanie a second. Looks back at Rick, “Well?”

“Yeah, we can start with that, Axel.” Rick said. “Just tell your lead.”

Axel jumps back on the stage and whispers something to his lead guitar player before disappearing into the restroom. Rick takes his leave from Stephanie and Bella to get ready to play. Bella heads to the front of the stage. Stephanie is right beside her. A few husky guys get between them and the ever growing mosh pit. Axel’s band’s guitar player is on stage with Dark breed. So, there is two guitar players, bass, and drums as the lead singer for Dark Breed, Mick, takes the stage.

“We’re going to do something special for you tonight.” He said. “We only performed this with Axel & Todd one other time. Maybe some of you saw that performance. It’s called Light Bulb.”

The crowd goes crazy as Axel steps out on the stage again. “Fuck you Axel,” Stephanie heard someone say. Axel flipped them off.  He paces the stage as he prepared. Mick paced the opposite way. They both look like caged tigers ready to devour the crowd if let off the stage. There is silence in the room as the music begins.

Mick starts low just saying, “suffocate” in the back ground as Axel starts to sing, “Insatiable you pay again, for nothing for nothing, spongin the blood without defense, for nothing, for nothing, and all of this is on your knees, for nothing, for nothing, pulling the sheets over her feet, for nothing, for nothing.”

Mick whispers into his mic, “anguish, alone. suffocate”

Axel continues, “Your saving her, eight times a day, for nothing, for nothing, and when your late you must explain, for nothing, for nothing, you suffocate, you suffocate, for nothing, for nothing…On your own time, such a long time, It’s alright, broken ones enjoy those chains, And don’t fight, nothing ever gets away…”

Stephanie finds herself getting emotional over the melodic song. Bella sees her and stands behind Stephanie holding her. They sway as the song continues.

Axel sings, “Don’t say the word love. I remember you when you were alone, and you seemed as happy then. It’s alright, broken ones enjoy those chains, And, don’t fight, nothing ever gets away…from here…”

“From here,” growls Mick in the background.

Axel and Mick sing, “I don’t think I need this, just go away. And I’m sure I need this. Won’t you please stay…”

[adposto1]

Gulberg Residencia Islamabad

Gulberg Residencia is a commercial and residential project based in Zone 5 of Islamabad. It is situated on the main Islamabad Expressway and is a project of Intelligence Bureau Employees Cooperative Housing Scheme (IBECHS). Gulberg Residencia is one of the divisions under Gulberg Islamabad which also include Gulberg Greens and Gulberg Commercial. More than 70 percent of the society has been developed and many houses of Gulberg Residencia have their residents settled in. It is one of the most searched and luxurious housing societies of Islamabad with the experience of a city within a city. Neighboring areas in the north of Gulberg Residencia include Darwala and Channol. The South of Gulberg Residencia includes Naval Anchorage, Sher Dhamial, Kangota Syedan, and Jandian. Gulberg Greens, Jinnah Gardens and Madina Town is situated at the West of Gulberg Residencia near Islamabad Expressway. East side of the Gulberg Residencia has Dhoke Khuda Bakhsh, Channi, Chontra, and Dhoke Kanaty.Gulberg Residencia is located nearly 6 to 7 kilometers off the Islamabad Highway where a 220ft wide Gulberg Expressway connects Gulberg Greens with Gulberg Residencia through a bridge. The project of Gulberg Residencia is spread over an area of around 15000 kanals of land comprising of nearly 10,000 residential plots. It is a luxurious housing society with a total of 21 blocks from Block A to Block V, except U.

However, Block D of the Gulberg Residencia is a fully developed commercial block also referred to as the Commercial Centre of the community while the remaining 20 are residential based. This Block is home to the Gulberg Markaz including several malls namely Marvel Mall, The Arcadia, Opal Square, Gulberg Oasis, Alpha Tower, Grand Xcito and Mall of Gulberg Islamabad. Besides residential plots of 7, 10, 14 marla, 1 Kanal and 2 Kanal, Gulberg Residencia also offers penthouses, duplex garden homes, and apartments for sale. Residents of Gulberg Residencia enjoy their close proximity to the city centers of twin cities; Islamabad and Rawalpindi as it lies at a distance of only 20 kilometers from Aabpara, 15 kilometers from T0Chowk Rawat, 8km from Koral Chowk and 20 kilometers via Gulberg Expressway and Islamabad Expressway. However, a self-financed and signal free underpass has been built by Gulberg Islamabad on Islamabad Express Highway. It has two respective entries and exits from Chak Shahzad and Naval Anchorage saving much time without driving several kilometers to get a U-turn. This organically makes Gulberg Residencia an attractive place for investors to invest in.Areas nearby Gulberg Residencia include Lake View Park at a distance of 25 kilometers from the society. It offers a range of activities from rides to physical activities like paintball, F1 racing tracks, rock climbing, and boating. Other options include the Kachnar Park, Shakarparian which has its own open-air theatre and Mohammed bin Qasim Park at a drive of 20-25 minutes from Gulberg Residencia. Cine Gold Plex in Bahria Town is also part of the nearby amenities.If you are finding houses apartments and plots in Islamabad Click now.Gulberg Residencia is seeing a fast-paced development work and thus progress has been seen in multiple sectors. Possessions of Block E, Block F, Block G, and Block J have been given. Block I and parts of H, O, V, T, and L are closing development. Being close to Naval Anchorage, Block V is expected to have an access gate from Naval Anchorage. Being a luxurious and one of the top searched housing communities in Islamabad, Gulberg Residencia offers world-class amenities including solar energy wide roads, knowledge villages, lakes, bridges, underground gas, water and electric connections, filtration and sewerage treatment plants, sports complexes, recreational parks, dine out places, hotels, cinemas, New Blue Area, fuel stations, transport terminals, emergency stations for fire, pharmacies, hospitals, auditorium, gymnasiums, public library, schools and colleges including community centres.As society is located at a prime location, public transport for the residents of Gulberg Residencia becomes hassle-free. They can find bus stops near Judicial Colony, Airport Society, PWD, and Koral Chowk. Shopping has become a daily need and thus the necessity of shopping centers being close to the housing communities cannot be compromised on. Gulberg Residencia has several of its markets under construction. In the meanwhile, however, Ghauri Town Phase 7’s mini market, Madina’s Yousafzai market, mini marts in Naval Anchorage and more are easily accessible from Gulberg Residencia. Gulberg Residencia has its own mosque Masjid Ameer Hamza R.A in Block D of the society. Other nearby mosques include Jamia Masjid Nooria Ghausia in Gulberg Greens Block A, Jamia Masjid Siddique-e- Akbar in Madina and Naseeria Masjid in Koral Town. A dedicated land for Knowledge Village has been spread over 550 kanals dedicated solely to schools and colleges. These include Roots Millennium School, Froebel’s International School, Riphah International University and Agha Khan University. Society ensures the highest standards in security, health, and infrastructure. Outside the society, educational institutes that are situated off in nearby areas include The Smart School in Airport Employees CHS, Siddeeq Public School in Madina Town, Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) in Kirpa, Bahria Foundation College and Bahria College in Naval Anchorage and FC Group of Colleges in Ghori Town. Banks like United Bank Limited (UBL), MCB and HBL. Allied Bank and Summit Bank are in close proximity to Gulberg Residencia to ensure an uninterrupted possibility of daily transactions for the residents of the society. In regards to health care facilities, hospitals and clinics are under construction which includes a 600-bed hospital equipped with the latest technologies. Another project includes the establishment of a medical city spread over a land of nearly 200 kanals. 

It will be home to a medical mall, orthopedic and cardiology centers. In order to provide a complete and self-contained shopping experience to its residents, several malls are in the process of construction and are accessible by those who live at Gulberg Residencia. These include Gulberg Emporium Mall & Residency, Samama Gulberg Luxus Mall & Residency, Roshan Heights & Residency, Gulberg Arena, Gulberg Regency and more. Other amenities in Gulberg Residencia include a 5-star hotel, a Gulberg Club and Riders Club, Golf Course, a 1000 Kanal artificial lake and the Gulberg Greens  Zoo as places of recreation for the residents of the housing society. Gulberg Residencia has to offer a lot of international standard facilities and the expectation of higher ROIs have increased the demand for the purchase of property in this area. Not only has it built multiple farmhouses but also sold land to top-notch educational institutes and built a Telenor HQ. With the expansion of Islamabad Highway, Gulberg Greens will become an attractive place to live and invest in which may result in the shooting up of prices. SALIENT FEATURES OF GULBERG ISLAMABADAs mentioned above, Gulberg Islamabad is one of the most serene and greenest neighbourhoods of the federal capital, located in the foothills of Margalla. However, apart from the breath-taking natural beauty, this housing society boasts a wide range of top-notch amenities and facilities, ensuring a better quality of life for its residents. Here are some of the main features of Gulberg Islamabad that have made it one of the most popular places to buy property in Islamabad among investors, as per the search trends of Zameen.com – the leading real estate portal in Pakistan. This residential scheme enjoys an ideal location in the Twin Cities The construction of a dedicated underpass has ensured a hassle-free commute to and from the project Almost 80 percent of the area has been dedicated to green spaces and green belts, ensuring a healthy lifestyle among those living in Gulberg Islamabad. The society boasts a durable and sustainable infrastructure. It has a wide network of well-paved roads, including the 12-lane and 220 feet wide Gulberg Expressway. Meanwhile, other roads and boulevards in the project are about 50 to 160 feet wide One of the most essential facilities in Gulberg Islamabad is its safe and secure environment. With a team of 500 security personnel, the neighbourhood features 24/7 security As per its master plan, the housing project will also house campuses of reputable schools as well as state-of-the-art medical facilities. In fact, the campus of Froebels International School in Gulberg Greens Islamabad, among a few others, is already open and functional Gulberg Islamabad will also feature a 5-star hotel, mega shopping mall, corporate buildings and a number of recreational spots for a complete living experience All plots are developed on 50 to 160 feet wide roads Basic amenities such as water supply, gas connections and uninterrupted electricity are also among the most notable features of the residential scheme The underground cable and electrical wiring ensure the housing society looks clean and well-maintained as per the international standards of living Gulberg Islamabad has proper waste management and underground drainage system The street lights installed on the main boulevards as well as service roads are all solar-powered, which show the society’s focus on sustainable living.If you are finding houses apartments and plots in Islamabad Click now

PROPERTY PRICES IN GULBERG ISLAMABADIf you are finding houses apartments and plots in Islamabad Click now.Let’s take a look at the prices of residential properties in Gulberg Islamabad. Plots for sale in Gulberg Residencia are available in area sizes of 5 marla, 7 marla, 10 marla, and 1 kanal. The prices of 5 marla plots in the area start from PKR 19.8 lakh, while 10 marla residential plots in the housing society are available for the starting price of 40 lakh. The lowest price for 1 kanal plots in Gulberg Residencia is PKR 62 lakh. However, it is pertinent to note that the prices of properties significantly fluctuate with each block in the neighbourhood. Also, the prices of corner and park facing plots are also higher than the rest. As for buying flats in Gulberg Residencia, a 1-bed apartment cost around PKR 37 lakh at the very least. The starting price of a 2-bed flat for sale in the area is around PKR 54 lakh. Of course, these prices vary with each project and block. In case you are interested in buying plots in Gulberg Greens, the plots for farmhouses are only available in the area sizes of 4 kanal, 5 kanal and 10 kanal. The starting price of 4 kanal plots in Gulberg Greens is PKR 2.7 crore. On the other hand, you can purchase a 5 kanal plot in the area for 3.3 crore at the very least. The sales trend for 10 kanal plots for farmhouses in Gulberg Greens starts at PKR 7 crore. So, that was our comprehensive overview of facilities in Gulberg Islamabad along with its location, development status and prices. If you have any other questions about buying a property in Gulberg Islamabad, feel free to send us an email on blog@zameen.com. In the meantime, don’t forget to take a look at the 2019 Real Estate Market Report for the Twin Cities to see which area performed better than the rest last year. Also, stay connected to Zameen Blog – the top real estate blog in Pakistan – to learn more about investment opportunities in different cities. Last but not the least, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter if you want to stay updated about the latest property and construction trends in the country.If you are finding houses apartments and plots in Islamabad Click now.

[degenerate-perturbation]

Void and Light

In Yvanne Amell, Loriel sees light and laughter, the only growing, living thing in this ivory prison. Within herself, she sees nothing--emptiness, nonbeing, as a good mage should.

In Loriel Surana, Yvanne sees everything worthy and good in a world that has declared her a monster. Within herself, she sees only anger and misery, a worthlessness that her magic has cursed her with.

There is no hope for such as them, for fire made flesh, save for at the twilit meeting place between void and light.

Main Pairing: Female Amell/Female Surana Side Pairing: Anders/Karl Theckla Additional Tags: Slow Burn

Playlist, by chapter: 1. boats and birds - gregory and the hawk     2. run - jasmine thompson     3. quiet - lights     4. tell me true - sarah jarosz       5. sunsoaked - adib sin       6. paradise is you - la roux       7. like the dawn - the oh hello’s     8. electric feel - MGMT       9. cosmic love - florence & the machine 

Full playlist here

Podfic/review&commentary available here, by @writersine and @michellemagly

Ch.1 & 2  -   Ch.3  -   Ch.4  -   Ch.5, 6 & 7  -  Ch.8 & 9

Please note that I’ve made some edits since the podcast was recorded, so the text no longer matches the recording exactly. I recommend both as good experiences.

Illustrations may be found here. These characters also have a tag on my oc blog. 

The second part of the story, Blood and Spirit, may be found here.

[halfdent]

HARLEY QUINN 𝙿𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙴𝙳 : when will ya tell yer friends ‘bout me?

❝    Yeah  ?  𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓  𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒  𝐀𝐑𝐄  𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄  𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐋𝐘  ?  Ain't  got  no  friends  ,  got  flunky's  'n'  yes  men  but  don't  got  friends  ,  clown  .  Sure  got  my  favorite  of  the  bunch  but  sooner  or  later  they're  dust  ,  too  busy  livin'  fast  'n'  dyin'  to  care  &&  got  enough  'bout  them  t'know  not  to  ask  me  _   ❞  

Just  as  he  was  speaking  one  of  the  twins  poked  their  head  through  the  door  .  '  Oh  hi  ,  HARLEY / @harleqin ,  sugar  .  '  ...  𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐒   instantaneously  sighs  &&  shifts  gear  . 

❝    See  ,  I  don't  talk  I  show  .  Now  get  'ere  ,  woman  .    ❞    He  was  being  ironic  ,  a  little  humour  mixed  in  as  his  growl  drops  a  little  lower  ,  slouching  back  in  his  chair  ,  legs  forward  ,  more  available  space  on  his  lap  for  the  jester  . 

[starsailorstories]

So these are the 18 letters of the secret alphabet, which if you compare you’ll realize are very simplified versions of the calligraphy on Lux’s medallion. Mainly, they represent sound segments of words--basic consonants and vowels. I’m going to go through them by number and talk about the sounds they represent in Ashtivan first, and then how the factory lux use them when writing other languages.

Some notes if you do want to attempt to decipher: messages are projected one syllable or one one-or-two-symbol shorthand phrase at a time. so like the second message begins

THE

RE

DUK

SHUN 

written out completely phonetically, which if you say out loud is of course “the reduction.” This keeps the projected space small and discreet, and also “chunks” long words to help readability since most factory units know the alphabet well enough to use a filing system but weren’t formally taught to read.

#1

In Ashtivan: [ɪ] (short i sound)

Used for: In-universe, this sound doesn’t appear much in Altamaian, although in the story they do use it for the English short i. This sign, which is the final sound in the Ashtivan words for “who”, “when”, “why,” and “how”, is also used like a question mark. 

#2

In Ashtivan:  [bh] (aspirated b) or [v] (depending on where it is in the word)

Used for: Since Ashtivan doesn’t have the f sound, this symbol is subbed in. Standing alone, it’s a shorthand for “right, yes, correct.”

#3

In Ashtivan:  [ɨ] (form an “o” with your lips but say “ee”)

Used for: The long-e [i] sound in English and Altamaian.

#4

In Ashtivan:  [e] or  [ə] (schwa, the “uh” sound in “the”)

Used for: Literally any “uh” sound whether it’s technically a schwa or not.

#5

In Ashtivan: [m] or [n] or [ (the “ng” sound). Ashtivan phonology works in such a way that you tell which sound is meant based on the vowels around it.

Used for: All m’s, n’s, and ng’s!

#6

In Ashtivan: [t] or [d] (Again, vowels determine which it is)

Used for: [t] and [d] sounds, but also used alone as a quasi-noun referring to superiors and “proper” astraeas, usually translatable as “she” or “they” though perhaps most accurately glossed “the powers that be.”

#7

In Ashtivan: [kh] (aspirated k) or [g]

Used for: English and Altamaian [k] and [g]

#8

In Ashtivan: [l] or  [ɫ] (sounds kind of like a simultaneous “l” and “s”; it’s a sound that appears in some Welsh words).

Used for: English and Altamaian [l], but also used alone for all variants of the verbs “to do” and “to be.” Letters 8 and 7 side by side is a “word” used interchangeably for you, me, us, lux/lux units, and she/her (when the one referred to is a lux). 

#9

In Ashtivan: [ʊ] (long u “oo” sound) or [ɤ] (an “uh” sound but with “oo” lips)

Used for: [ʊ] sounds, but also in a roundabout way as a substitute for the English r sound. If you run into a mess of vowels that don’t seem to make sense it’s probably an attempted r. (Main-character Lux has gotten good at r since living in America with the radio constantly on for several decades, but she still kind of swallows it in fast speech. It’s just not really in Ashtivan at all).

#10

In Ashtivan: [G], [ʔ], and [ɦ] (all uvular or glottal consonants)

Used for: Since besides the basic glottal stop these sounds are barely in standardized English or Altamaian, the symbol is used grammatically, as a way to say “must”/ “have to” or mark a verb phrase as imperative. It’s also used as like, an emoji representing orders/assignments.

#11

In Ashtivan:  [ɛ] (short-e ”ehh” sound)

Used for: Same sound.

#12

In Ashtivan: [ʃ]/[ʃj] ( “sh” sound and “sh” sound with a consonant y attached), [ʂ]/[ʂj] and sometimes [s]/[sj]

Used for: [ʃ], combined with #6 for “ch”. Combined with #17 to mean “beginning, start, origin, initiation”; #17 + #12 + #14 = “first,” “beforehand.”

#13

In Ashtivan: [j] (the y sound)

Used for: Same sound

#14

In Ashtivan: [ç] (hard s-like sound produced with the tongue further back in the mouth)

Used for: Most “s” and “z” sounds, especially at ends of words. The symbol is also a “time marker”--at the beginning of a phrase, it signifies past tense; at the end it signifies future tense; and inserted before the verb phrase it means “already” or “currently.”

#15

In Ashtivan:  [ɔ] (like “o” with a more open mouth)

Used for: Occasionally the English o sound, but most often--because it looks like an empty vessel--for negative descriptors like “non-”, “off”, “disused.” Combined with the verb-making symbol (below) it creates a phrase meaning “to decommission” which is better translated as “to nullify” or even “to off.”

#16

In Ashtivan:  [æ] (long-a ayyyyyy sound)

Used for: Same sound, but also as an ability marker “be able to.” Combined with #15 to mean “can’t.”

#17

In Ashtivan:  [ɑ] (short-a ahhhh sound)

Used for: Same sound and as a verb-making morpheme similar to English “ing.”

#18

In Ashtivan: [w]

Used for: Same sound.

[nuclearblastuk]

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY | Release second single and video 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts'

New Jersey six-piece FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY have just dropped the video for the title track from their upcoming fifth studio album, 'The Sea of Tragic Beasts'. The album will be released on October 25 via Nuclear Blast Records worldwide and Human Warfare (AUS).   Watch the new video here: https://youtu.be/C5_LHJOKNXs Get the single digitally here: https://nblast.de/FFAA-TheSeaSingle Listen in NB New Releases playlist: http://nblast.de/SpotifyNewReleases /http://nblast.de/AppleMusicNewReleases   "We have to be these puffed up, aggressive people to survive in this world," said guitarist and producer Will Putney about the track. "It's dog eat dog shit out there. Lyrically, the song touches on that violent way of thinking, but it also shows the inherent sadness that comes along with a life of this nature. It's the two main themes that the subject matter on our album was born from, making it a fitting title track. Musically, I think it's a cool display of everything we do as a band — some classic metal foundations with some new tricks for us, and a fight riff for good measure. Hope you enjoy it!" 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts' was once again produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by the producer/guitarist Will Putney at Graphic Nature Audio in NJ. The artwork for the album was created by Adam Burke. 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts' is available for pre-order and comes in the following formats: CD Jewel; Vinyl; Clear with White splatter vinyl (limited to 1000); Light Blue/Black swirl vinyl (limited to 750); and Blue Merge splatter vinyl (limited to 500). Pre-order your copy of 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts' here: http://www.nuclearblast.com/ffaa-tsotb Pre-Save 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts' on Spotify, Deezer and iTunes:http://nblast.de/FitForAnAutopsyPreSave ICYMI: Watch the video for 'Mirrors', directed by the wonderfully talented Max Moore, here: https://youtu.be/MLT81QYpTzw Get the single digitally here: http://nblast.de/FFAAMirrors Trailer #1 about 'Mirrors': https://youtu.be/DgKH5GamdMg 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts' track listing: 1. The Sea Of Tragic Beasts 2.No Man Is Without Fear 3. Shepherd 4. Your Pain Is Mine 5. Mirrors 6. Unloved 7. Mourn 8. Warfare 9. Birds Of Prey 10. Napalm Dreams The band also announced they will hit the road this fall to support the release of 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts'. The 26-date US tour will kick-off on October 24th in Brooklyn and will make stops in Atlanta, Austin and Los Angeles before concluding in Rochester on November 23rd! Confirmed dates for 'The Sea Of Tragic Beasts' release tour are: 24.10   Brooklyn, NY - St. Vitus 25.10   Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom 26.10   Philadelphia, PA - Voltage Lounge 27.10   Frederick, MD - Café 611 28.10   Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 29.10   Nashville, TN - The End 30.10   Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade  01.11  Tampa, FL - Crowbar 02.11  Orlando, FL - Soundbar 04.11  Austin, TX - Come and Take It Live! 05.11  Dallas, TX - Gas Monkey 06.11  El Paso, TX - Rockhouse 07.11  Mesa, AZ - Club Red 07.11  Los Angeles, CA - 1720 09.11  Fresno, CA - Full Circle Brewing Co. 10.11  Sacramento, CA - Holy Diver 12.11  Portland, OR - Paris Theater 13.11  Seattle, WA - El Corazon 15.11  Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex 16.11  Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater 17.11  Kansas City, MO - Riot Room 19.11  St. Louis, MO - Fubar 20.11  St. Paul, MN - Turf Club 21.11  Chicago, IL - Cobra Lounge 22.11  Detroit, MI - The Sanctuary  23.11  Rochester, NY - Montage Music Hall FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY will also come to Europe in January 2020 in support of THY ART IS MURDER,CARNIFEX, I AM and one more special guest. See them at one of the following shows: presented by METAL HAMMER &, IMPERICON 25.01.  BE      Antwerp - Zappa  26.01.  UK      Manchester - Academy 2 27.01.  UK      Glasgow - Garage 28.01.  UK      Leeds - Stylus  29.01.  UK      Bristol - SWX 30.01.   UK     London - Electric Brixton 31.01.   UK     Birmingham - O2 Institute 01.02.   NL     Tilburg - 013 02.02.   FR     Paris - Cabaret Sauvage 04.02.   ES     Madrid - Mon Live 05.02.   ES     Barcelona - Razzmatazz 06.02.   FR     Lyon - Transbordeur 07.02.   CH     Pratteln - Z7 08.02.   DE     Munich - Backstage 09.02.   IT      Milan - Circolo Magnolia 10.02.   SLO   Ljubljana - Kino Siska 11.02.   AT     Wien - Szene 12.02.   HU    Budapest - Barba Negra 13.02.   CZ     Rep Prague - Meet Factory 14.02.   PL     Warsaw - Proxima 15.02.   DE     Berlin - Festsaal 16.02.   DK     Copenhagen - Amager Bio 17.02.   SWE  Gothenburg - Trädgårn 18.02.   SWE  Stockholm - Slaktkyrksn 20.02.   DE     Hamburg - Gruenspan  21.02.   DE     Leipzig - Felsenkeller 22.02.   DE     Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle  23.02.   DE     Wiesbaden - Schlachthof  More on FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY: 'Black Mammoth' OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxLYJJnlGs8 'Heads Will Hang' OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWpY_9BvTt8

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY is:  Joseph Badolato | Vocals Patrick Sheridan | Guitar Timothy Howley | Guitar Will Putney | Guitar Peter Blue Spinazola | Bass Josean Orta Martinez | Drums www.facebook.com/fitforanautopsyofficial www.nuclearblast.de/fitforanautopsy

[thetrueghostqueen]

Your Fate is Sealed

masterlist cover characters prologue ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4 ch 5 ch 6 ch 7 ch 8  

    He woke with a start. Fear encasing his body like a sarcophagus. Body soaked and clothes sticking to him as if he took a dunk in a pool fully dressed. His heart played a violent drum solo against his ribcage.

   Even with eyes wide open he could see the horrifying images that tormented him in sleep. One by one he saw the agonizingly terrible deaths of super natural and mortal beings alike. The scenes so vivid and real that he could smell the stench of burning flesh, the coppery scent of blood, and death in his nose. In the sweet blissful silence that night is supposed to bring his ears were filled with the anguished cries and terrifying screams of the dying.

   He's never had a nightmare like that before. Hell, he doesn't remember ever having a dream let alone a bad one. He laid still until his heart slowed and his vision cleared. When he felt composed enough to not collapse on the floor he got out of bed.

   He quietly made his was to the kitchen for a glass of water. His body may be soaked from sweat but his throat felt dry like a desert.

   With every sip of water he felt his body begin to relax. Slowly the knotted muscles loosened. He poured himself another glass and headed to the couch. He wasn't ready to go back to bed. 

   He leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes. The gentle sounds of muffled snores and the ticking of the clock helping to relax him more as well as soothe his weary and terrified mind.

   He has no idea how long he sat there before finally being tired enough to try sleeping again. A part of him wanted to just curl up on the couch, but he didn't want to tell his family about his nightmare. He didn't want to give them another reason to look down on him as weak and pathetic. 

   With a sigh he stood up from the couch. He walked into the kitchen to place his glass in the sink and quietly padded his way back towards his room. As he passed the couch something on the floor caught his attention. On the floor was a small tarnished disk. He picked it up. There was writing on it in a language he couldn't even begin to decipher. He shrugged and palmed it in his hand to take it with him. Maybe one of his siblings would know or those girls. He'd ask in the morning.

   He continued on back towards his room with the hopes of falling into a blissful and dreamless sleep. His eyes started to drift shut as he was walking. A sound that was out of place caused them to snap back open.

   There was something or someone by his door. Even in the dark the eyes that stared back at him were blacker than anything he had ever seen. He stood still. His body frozen in fear. He watched as it opened its mouth to speak. Sharp pointed teeth hidden by too thin lips. Its words causing a cold sweat to drip down his back. 

        " They will die, YOU WILL ALL DIE."

   He might have screamed. Maybe he didn't. He's not quite sure. What he does know is blackness. His fear was so strong it was palpable and then absolute nothingness.

   V woke to screaming. Was it his? No, at least it didn't sound like him. He was met with the faces of his family as he opened his eyes. It was definitely not him screaming. It was his family screaming at him. Why? Because they caught him passed out on the floor? No, that didn't seem right either. They were accusing him of something. As the haze left his mind he focused on his family. " What's going on?" He rasped.

   "Is this your idea of a prank? Did you think it would be funny?"

   V craned his neck to look back at Jin who questioned him. " I don't understand."

   With a look his still hazy addled brain couldn't decipher, Jin pushed Namjoon out of the way and pointed to the wall behind them.

   V looked. There on the wall words were written. Was that blood? He read the words three times before looking at the faces of his family again. 

    THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS IS FREE. THEY WILL DIE YOU WILL ALL DIE

   He swallowed. The fear that had engulfed his being since the nightmare ebbed away only to be replaced by anger. How could they think that he did this? Admittedly he was on the floor at the scene of the crime, but seriously what kind of moron would pass out and get caught?

   The glares on his family's faces didn't change. He sighed and sat up. Running his finger through his hair he spoke. "It wasn't me."

   Someone scoffed. He wasn't sure who. It really didn't matter. "Seriously it wasn't me. I don't even know what that means." Which was true. The thing that caused him to pass out said some of that before, but he didn't understand. He kept his mouth closed about the events that happened before they found him. They were already blaming him and he figured they would just think he was making excuses.

   With a frustrated sigh he stood up so that they were on an even playing field. He saw Adarra and Jinyoung whispering. Namjoon, Jin, Jaebum, and Mark continued to glare at him. Yugyeom, Jackson, Youngjae, and Jungkook looked wary and worried. BamBam, Yoongi, and Hoseok refused to look at him. Jimin was the only one that looked at him concerned. Words unspoken, he nodded at Jimin. Jimin stepped to him, wrapped his arms around him, and moved him to his bedroom.

   Once inside with the door closed from the prying and angry eyes of the rest of the family. Jimin wrapped his arms around him for comfort.

  The fear that jolted him awake in the middle of the night resurfaced and he clutched onto Jimin's shirt and cried into his chest. They sat there on their bed the only sounds being V's sobs for a time.

   When the sobs died down to silent tears Jimin asked what happened. V told him. Told him everything. The nightmare, the feeling when he woke, the thing he saw before passing out.

   Jimin didn't speak for awhile after V confessed. He sat there in thought rubbing calming circles into his back. 

   "Do you think I'm crazy?" V asked.

   The hand on his back paused. "No, I don't love. I was just thinking about everything you said and remembering when we met the girls. You said you saw someone else and everyone told you that you were wrong. Then Jackson ran out of the canteen. I'm wondering if there is a connection between what happened tonight and what you saw then."

   V sat up to study Jimin's face. There was no disgust or anger. He looked like he believed him. "Thank you." he whispered.

   Jimin didn't need to ask what he was being thanked for he understood. He smiled at V and hugged him tighter. He knew V would never pull a prank to scare or harm anyone. He lived for making everyone smile and laugh. The others knew that too. They were just frightened.  They would come around. They would also apologize to V even if he had to beat them to do it. He was going to have a word with the family without V present.

   "Why don't you go and take a relaxing shower. We will talk more later." Jimin suggested.

   V nodded. Jimin stayed until he was sure that V was okay and in the shower. He quickly made his way to the main living area where everyone was sitting.

   They all looked his way when he came in. Jimin's eyes located Jackson and he bee lined straight to him. "The other day you fled the canteen when V said he saw a third girl, why?"

   Jackson stared at Jimin. "I had to talk to my dad."

   Jimin waited for Jackson to continue. When it was clear he wouldn't Jimin snarled. "Why?"

  Jackson began to get agitated. He had to speak to his father. Whose business was it to know why? "Why does it matter?" 

Jimin pulled at his hair in frustration. "It matters  because of that man in there." He pointed in the direction of the bedrooms. "V is in there terrified of that he's going crazy seeing things that aren't there. He isn't  crazy though is he? He really is seeing something, and you know what it is."

    Jimin watched Jackson's face pale. He definitely knew something. By the Gods he was going to spill or Jimin would beat him bloody. 

   Everyone watched Jackson and Jimin in silence. It surprised no one that Jimin would take V's side. He always did. They were used  to V and Jimin vs. the world. What surprised and shamed them was how quick they blamed V for the words on the wall. 

  A frustrated groan sounded from Jackson before he spoke. "I don't know what I can really say. I don't think V is crazy, but I don't know how to explain anything either. I went to my father when V mentioned seeing another female. Tae and Yen used to complain of the same thing when they were younger. My father was convinced it was a bad soul that attached itself to them. It can scare them but not physically harm."

   Jimin studied Jackson. "Are you sure that it can't harm? I remember Yen getting ready to speak before she wound up on the floor."

   "Yen has always been clumsy."

   Jimin nodded at Jackson's response. "Can you call the girls?"

   The rest of the family vehemently disagreed. They were all still in various states of undress. Not appropriate for company, but their cries fell on deaf ears. One second it was only family and the next the two girls were there.

  Tae started to smile and greet but stopped when she took in all the somber expressions.  Yen was curled up in a ball still asleep. Tae sent a questioning look to Jackson.

   Jackson gave her a soft smile. " Morning, baby. Something happened and Jimin wants to talk with you." Jackson explained.

   Tae nodded and turned her attention to Jimin. She stood in silence as he explained everything that V told him. 

   Tae glanced at the wall, looked down at her sleeping sister, and disappeared. She reappeared a moment later with Hades in tow.

  Ignoring the Gods she pulled him over to the wall with the writing. "Tell me again that Yen and I are crazy." she spat.

   Hades didn't speak. He just stared at the wall before turning around to face the room. He looked at all the faces staring back at him. He wanted to commit all of their beautiful faces to memory before completely sealing their fate.

   His heart was heavy for the second time in his immortal existence. With sad eyes he turned to Tae. "Wake your sister. I need to get Bastet and Thoth." He was gone.

[adposto2]

Gulberg Residencia Islamabad

Gulberg Residencia is a commercial and residential project based in Zone 5 of Islamabad. It is situated on the main Islamabad Expressway and is a project of Intelligence Bureau Employees Cooperative Housing Scheme (IBECHS). Gulberg Residencia is one of the divisions under Gulberg Islamabad which also include Gulberg Greens and Gulberg Commercial. More than 70 percent of the society has been developed and many houses of Gulberg Residencia have their residents settled in. It is one of the most searched and luxurious housing societies of Islamabad with the experience of a city within a city. Neighboring areas in the north of Gulberg Residencia include Darwala and Channol. The South of Gulberg Residencia includes Naval Anchorage, Sher Dhamial, Kangota Syedan, and Jandian. Gulberg Greens, Jinnah Gardens and Madina Town is situated at the West of Gulberg Residencia near Islamabad Expressway. East side of the Gulberg Residencia has Dhoke Khuda Bakhsh, Channi, Chontra, and Dhoke Kanaty.

Gulberg Residencia is located nearly 6 to 7 kilometers off the Islamabad Highway where a 220ft wide Gulberg Expressway connects Gulberg Greens with Gulberg Residencia through a bridge. The project of Gulberg Residencia is spread over an area of around 15000 kanals of land comprising of nearly 10,000 residential plots. It is a luxurious housing society with a total of 21 blocks from Block A to Block V, except U.

However, Block D of the Gulberg Greens Residencia is a fully developed commercial block also referred to as the Commercial Centre of the community while the remaining 20 are residential based. This Block is home to the Gulberg Markaz including several malls namely Marvel Mall, The Arcadia, Opal Square, Gulberg Oasis, Alpha Tower, Grand Xcito and Mall of Gulberg Islamabad. Besides residential plots of 7, 10, 14 marla, 1 Kanal and 2 Kanal, Gulberg Residencia also offers penthouses, duplex garden homes, and apartments for sale. Residents of Gulberg Residencia enjoy their close proximity to the city centers of twin cities; Islamabad and Rawalpindi as it lies at a distance of only 20 kilometers from Aabpara, 15 kilometers from T0Chowk Rawat, 8km from Koral Chowk and 20 kilometers via Gulberg Expressway and Islamabad Expressway. However, a self-financed and signal free underpass has been built by Gulberg Islamabad on Islamabad Express Highway. It has two respective entries and exits from Chak Shahzad and Naval Anchorage saving much time without driving several kilometers to get a U-turn. This organically makes Gulberg Residencia an attractive place for investors to invest in.

Areas nearby Gulberg Green Islamabad Residencia include Lake View Park at a distance of 25 kilometers from the society. It offers a range of activities from rides to physical activities like paintball, F1 racing tracks, rock climbing, and boating. Other options include the Kachnar Park, Shakarparian which has its own open-air theatre and Mohammed bin Qasim Park at a drive of 20-25 minutes from Gulberg Residencia. Cine Gold Plex in Bahria Town is also part of the nearby amenities.

Gulberg Residencia is seeing a fast-paced development work and thus progress has been seen in multiple sectors. Possessions of Block E, Block F, Block G, and Block J have been given. Block I and parts of H, O, V, T, and L are closing development. Being close to Naval Anchorage, Block V is expected to have an access gate from Naval Anchorage. Being a luxurious and one of the top searched housing communities in Islamabad, Gulberg Residencia offers world-class amenities including solar energy wide roads, knowledge villages, lakes, bridges, underground gas, water and electric connections, filtration and sewerage treatment plants, sports complexes, recreational parks, dine out places, hotels, cinemas, New Blue Area, fuel stations, transport terminals, emergency stations for fire, pharmacies, hospitals, auditorium, gymnasiums, public library, schools and colleges including community centres.

As society is located at a prime location, public transport for the residents of Gulberg Residencia becomes hassle-free. They can find bus stops near Judicial Colony, Airport Society, PWD, and Koral Chowk. Shopping has become a daily need and thus the necessity of shopping centers being close to the housing communities cannot be compromised on. Gulberg Residencia has several of its markets under construction. In the meanwhile, however, Ghauri Town Phase 7’s mini market, Madina’s Yousafzai market, mini marts in Naval Anchorage and more are easily accessible from Gulberg Residencia. Gulberg Residencia has its own mosque Masjid Ameer Hamza R.A in Block D of the society. Other nearby mosques include Jamia Masjid Nooria Ghausia in Gulberg Greens Block A, Jamia Masjid Siddique-e- Akbar in Madina and Naseeria Masjid in Koral Town. A dedicated land for Knowledge Village has been spread over 550 kanals dedicated solely to schools and colleges. These include Roots Millennium School, Froebel’s International School, Riphah International University and Agha Khan University. Society ensures the highest standards in security, health, and infrastructure. Outside the society, educational institutes that are situated off in nearby areas include The Smart School in Airport Employees CHS, Siddeeq Public School in Madina Town, Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) in Kirpa, Bahria Foundation College and Bahria College in Naval Anchorage and FC Group of Colleges in Ghori Town. Banks like United Bank Limited (UBL), MCB and HBL. Allied Bank and Summit Bank are in close proximity to Gulberg Residencia to ensure an uninterrupted possibility of daily transactions for the residents of the society. In regards to health care facilities, hospitals and clinics are under construction which includes a 600-bed hospital equipped with the latest technologies. Another project includes the establishment of a medical city spread over a land of nearly 200 kanals. It will be home to a medical mall, orthopedic and cardiology centers. In order to provide a complete and self-contained shopping experience to its residents, several malls are in the process of construction and are accessible by those who live at Gulberg Residencia. These include Gulberg Emporium Mall & Residency, Samama Gulberg Luxus Mall & Residency, Roshan Heights & Residency, Gulberg Arena, Gulberg Regency and more. Plots for Sale In Gulberg Greens Islamabad Click Now.

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[originaldetectivesheep]

A Life of Riley Part 1 - The Problem With Grinckles ch 6

Chapter 5

VI

I leaned back and hit Send; the formatting on my Differential Equations homework had finally turned out all correct the third time I'd printed it, so I could send the PDF over to my professor and be done for the day.  Two hours of math and then another two and a half hours beating LaTeX with a rock to do up all the formulas so they looked like something, but I was done all my math for the weekend before five on Saturday. I was golden; plenty of time to eat dinner, see what was good on my groups, then hit up someone's party or go down to the bars on Sperry Street and try to hook up.  I still had a couple microwaves problems that needed tightening up, but I could handle those tomorrow; tonight was tonight, and tonight was all mine.

As I logged out of the lab terminal and stood up, I saw Sajitha waving at me through the glass out in the corridor.  I waved back, unconcerned, but she was still there in the same place after I made my way out, dropping the test prints into the recycling bucket.  "Hey, Saj," I said by way of trying to figure out what was going on, "what's up? Are you looking for me for something?"

She shook her head, still falling in next to me as I walked down the hall.  "Kind of," she said, "but not really.  Are you going over to the lab?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't have anything to do over there tonight.  I was just going to go grab dinner, probably at the Zussman caf, and see where it was going off tonight.  You?"

"The caf? Under Zussman?  Are you into the shredded green-bean sludge they put on everything or something?  Don't you live like just the other side of the parking lot behind the ChemE lab barn?  Why the caf when it's that close to go home?  Did you just forget to buy food or something?"

"No, I am kinda running low," I said, "but you don't have to eat the green-bean casserole slurry they give you if you don't want to, and actually mostly I'm trying to avoid this chick Laura from the complex; if I go home and do some ramen she'll be sniffing around to 'pregame' with her friends, and then we'll end up getting blasted and hook up while they go out.  Normally I wouldn't mind, but I'm feeling good and I actually want to do something tonight, not just get drunk watching TV and have bad vodka sex.  I mean, it's been a good day, and I got a feeling it's going to be a good night – how about I bag the caf, and we go down and tear it up at the Scottsdale till we score or get kicked out?"

"I want to go out," she said, stepping up right in next to me, "but I have something that I have to finish drawing out for Riley – some kind of stupid STOVL wing part – and I was hoping that you were going that way so I could ask you to walk me across the quad; there's some weird protest there tonight and I've been hearing bad things about it."

"Some kind of wack protest?" I said, turning to look her over critically.  "Bad shit?  What the hell is it?  The Black Bloc? Frog nazis?  And you want me to walk you over?  Saj, you'd be beating them up for me. Why not text Remy?"

Sajitha rolled her eyes and sighed a mighty sigh.  "First, Remy has a meet against Tech this weekend, so he's in Grabau Green getting kicked in the face.  And second, even if he was around, I wouldn't want to encourage him."  I wisely refrained from commenting about how she knew a hell of a lot about his schedule, for a dude that she didn't want to encourage interest in.  "And I know I can take care of myself; it's just for insurance.  I don't think it's frog nazis, but if it is, I want to just go to the lab, and not to jail because I shoved some CompEng incel weeaboo's tiki torch so far up his ass it knocked his teeth out.  They won't start if I'm not alone."

I nodded.  "Okay, okay.  I get you, and it's not that far out of the way.  No problem." I stuck my hands in my pockets, maybe unconsciously imitating Remy's fighter's strut.  "And if there's really a protest that's going to turn bad, I'm kind of curious about it – I don't think I've ever seen a riot in real life."

Sajitha shuddered.  "Yeah, that's a good thing.  You really don't want to, trust me.  But this one, it's probably not going to be a real riot, people throwing bricks at the cops shooting rubber bullets and stuff.  It's not that kind of protest – not political, no counterprotest at least that I've heard about, just talk that it would get taken over for a prank."  I could tell she was shaken up about the possibility of a riot, because she didn't even glare at me as I held the door open ahead of her.

"A prank?" I asked.  "Who the hell takes over a protest as a prank?  What the heck kind of protest even lets itself in for something like that?  Are you sure you're getting accurate information?"

Sajitha took a deep breath as we left the library path onto the main road over towards the engineering quad.  "A protest put up by amateurs who don't know how to read people who pretend to offer help. Listen, I haven't told a lot of people about this, but back freshman year I rushed one of the desi sororities for like thirty seconds, just so that I could show my parents that it wasn't ever going to happen, and I still talk to a couple of the girls who did make it in. Someone working in the admin office like Tuesday saw an application for a protest from some Anti-Grinckle Askari thing that didn't exist two weeks ago, Comic Sans and formal, non-native English, and they approved it as a joke – and told their frat buddies, who told all their other frat buddies, and now it's like all around the frats that they're going to show up and take over this protest, and with everyone drunk off their ass after that football game, if it even happens it's not going to go well.  It's probably not going to go Nazi, but how do you even tell these days – and I spend too much time around the AP lab to not just keep thinking about how much worse things could get than my worst-case scenario."

I was thinking.  "Grinckles again – and askari, that's Swahili, for like 'soldier' or 'army'.  He might have gotten other people to help him, but this smells like Wilson; he told us he was going to get rid of the grinckles his way, and that we should stay out of the way, but if he's getting taken for a ride by a bunch of frat bros, I'd want to get him out of there, get him back to his senses before he gets blamed for their shit and expelled or something.  Those white-cap wastoids can just have Daddy write another full-freight check to Tech or some other school if they get kicked out, but if Wilson loses his scholarship here, that's the end: no degree, no medical boards, and he has to go back to his village and, no lie no racism, live in a house made out of mud and sticks.  Seriously; I've seen his pictures from home. We haven't spoken since that thing two weeks ago, but no way I'm going to let that happen to him."

Sajitha nodded, sticking close as we came up on the quad.  "I know.  I hope it's not – but if it is, then I guess we've got to; do you think I should maybe ping Riley and see if we can't get the rest of the lab to help?"

I turned in place; there was the start of a crowd ahead – thank god no tiki torches, and the haircuts weren't quite shitty enough for a high Nazi turnout – and I had to get this straightened out before we got any closer, up where more people might hear us.  "Not now – not right now and not except as a last resort, if everything goes completely to shit and we can't do anything.  You call for help from the lab, and Riley's going to roll up here with that cannon again, and half the dislocator rigged up as an area-denial energy weapon, and things are just going to get worse.  If we can just put a bag over Wilson's head and kick a couple bros in the stomach and get away like that, we'll do it that way, the easy and sane way, and not make this dumb rally a case for the FBI."  Sajitha nodded her agreement, and I turned back, to start leading us through the crowd of white dudes in khakis and polo shirts towards where we'd be able to do something for Wilson if he was mixed up in this.

There sure did seem to be a lot of white people here, a lot more than you got around the engineering quad generally, or at any protest that wasn't going to start heiling at you.  And while they still didn't look like Nazis, they didn't smell like the safe kind of white protestors; alcohol and meathead body spray, not patchouli oil and weed.  This was a "protest" of mostly frat bros, drunk up to their eyeballs, in it for the lulz – and you had to be real dumb to give Wilson more than a snowball's chance in this kind of crowd, especially if the cops flipped out and shit got real. There was some kind of stage set up on the steps of Dittmarsch Hall, some kind of PA set up there, and I sidled through towards it, trying to make out what was going on and also not knock over anyone's beer and start a riot before we could figure out what the hell was supposed to be happening.

There was a scree and a hiss and a squelch from the speakers up front; some idiot not knowing how to microphone, and then the confirmation for everyone who hadn't done A/V crap in high school:  "Yo dudes, y'all ready to get LIT? Are you ready to fight tha power?  Ready or not, comin' straight atcha – himself, the generalissimo, El commandante, HNIC of the AGA – come on and give it up!  Stand up, set up, get up for the Fearless – uuuurp – Leader, Eddy Wannafunzi!"  I could see the speaker gesturing now, gesturing at someone over at the side of the steps who probably was justifiably nervous about following that brain-dead, peripherally racist attempt at a hype intro.  "Get up!  Get up!  Make some noise!  Fuck the cops!"  The bros around us burst out cheering and wooting, and whoever it was hanging about getting introduced up front decided that was good enough and started to come out, the streetlights glinting off a galaxy of medals on a crazy costume-shop uniform with the brushes on the shoulders, a peaked cap so high it looked like it had been cut right out of a political cartoon.

"Good," Sajitha murmured, pressed into my back.  "It's not Wilson up there – it's not him; it's another name and there's no way he'd lose all his self-respect and go outside in a uniform like that.  Can we go now?  This rally's going to get real stupid if that's how it starts, and someone's going to get hurt."

"No," I said, craning around to see past some idiot in a white baseball hat from a pro lacrosse team, "no, that's definitely Wilson.  The name is super fake and I don't know where he got the uniform from, but that's definitely his glasses.  Go ahead and text Riley – this is about to officially get so bad that the Applied Physics lab can't make it worse."  As if on cue, a megaphone crackled to life, and Wilson's voice gruddered out over the assembled throng – crumpled up and distorted and maybe he was trying to put on a different accent, but Wilson always and all the same.

"Comrades!" he shouted, "Comrades – comrades one and all!  We are the same – we want the same thing!  We will stop the invasion – we will stop the violation against nature!  We will act – we will act united – we will act united right now!  We will kill them – we will kill all of them – we will kill all the red fish!  We can't stop – we can't even leave one alive.  Now!  Up!  Commit yourselves!  Swear it!  Hate!  Hate!  Kill!"

"Man, it's a good thing he's got his fist closed, holding it up like that, or I'd think we were really in bizarro world," I said, shoving some drunk bro out of the way so Sajitha could nudge past.  "I give it about fifteen seconds until someone yells a racial slur and the police come in with clubs – no idea how he's still talking up there."  The crowd was roiling around us, yelling incoherently at the challenge lines, occasionally making sense, but a bad kind of sense: "Yeah!  Kill!  Fuck!  Get'em!  Fuck the cops!  Revenge!" Wilson was talking about grinckles up on the stage, in a way that would whip up his audience before they realized that he was talking about fish, but down here, nobody was hearing anything about fish at all.

"Yeah! Hell yeah!  That's it!  Fight the power!"  The hype man, whoever he was, was back, and Wilson was looking confused that he was getting upstaged, that his anti-grinckle rally was getting co-opted into an anti-something else rally.  "You heard the man – you heard the man – we got to get'em – we got to get the reds!  The fish are the end of the wedge – the fish are the tip of the iceberg; you know what we need to do.  We got to get all the ching chong fish, get all the ching chong cops, get all of them, we show them who's boss!  Fight the power!  Fuck the cops!  Get the chingchongs!"  I almost stopped for a moment as the crowd exploded – the cops must be charging from some side or another, the explicit race riot incitement the last straw – trying to figure out just how and why in the hell this had suddenly turned into a riot against Asians, and then Sajitha shoved me forward.

"RIOT!!!" someone bellowed too close, and the crowd turned into a moshpit, and I was getting rammed forward like the prow of an icebreaker, Sajitha's shoulder in my back.  Dudes were punching other dudes, going flying past and above and around us, randoms screaming, and it was all I could do to defend myself.  "I hope you like your riot now," she said, still shoving, "because this is going to feel like makeouts from a starstuck freshman next to what's going to happen in a moment.  Please, help shove, so we can get to your stupid, stupid friend before they open up with tear gas."  "GAS GAS GAS!" someone screamed, either because they heard her wrong or because someone had actually gotten a whiff of pepper spray, and the riot turned into a stampede.

With more of the bros running and fewer of them fighting us, it got easier to push forward, enough to get close enough to see Wilson arguing with his hype man – close enough to see him catch a slap on the ear that unbalanced him and pitched him a nasty fall down the stairs.  I forgot Sajitha, forgot the butthole who'd just punched him in the head, and dove over to make sure he was all right – still breathing, no blood like a fracture, but his eyes were rolled back like he was concussed.  "Wilson!  Wilson!  Say something!"

"Mic DROOOOOP!" yelled the hype man from a few steps up, following it up by dropping the hot mic into a scrultching cacophony of electronic noise as it bashed itself off the steps towards me.  "You got tha powaaa!  You got to get up! You got to kill all tha dam ching-chong!"  The shithead was wearing Wilson's idiot cap and doing an accent that was probably trying to be Nigerian based on a racist comedian who'd only ever heard it second-hand, and was the shit goddamn last absolute thing we needed.  He lowered the megaphone, wavering as he looked us over, staring up and down Sajitha's figure; "Hey, baby," he said, super-obviously drunk, "what up?  You wanna slammalama-ding-dong?"  He swung his hips and leered, oblivious to the full-scale riot raging around us.

"Oh yeah," Sajitha said, slipping her right hand into her handbag, "I definitely wanna smash." She took a step forward, wiggling her shoulders to distract him, and then punched him so hard with the brass knuckles around her right fist that I saw a shower of teeth and maybe jawbone chips go flying the other way.  The hype man went down in a heap, and there was no sign of anyone stupid or brave or interested enough to avenge him anywhere close.

"How is he?"  Sajitha dropped down beside me as I tried to cradle Wilson's head, keep his feet elevated, so that at least he wouldn't get any worse and it would be obvious, if the cops broke through here, that he was a victim and not a perp.

"He's hurt bad," I said, "he went down the stairs bad and I guess he hit his head – I dunno if he's conscious yet.  Where's the help? Where's the lab?  Shit, I'd be glad to see them roll up with that goddamned cannon again, things are so bad."

"Riley's sending Carolína to get us with the truck," Sajitha answered, ripping the more obvious medals off Wilson's uniform in case someone had made him as an Idi Amin cosplayer.  "I didn't hear anything about a cannon, but you never know." Behind us, there was a squeal of tires, the roar of an engine, and then the shouts and screams of a bunch of panicked frat bros as Carolína's beat-up black Bronco skidded sideways through them to come to a stop at the foot of the stairs.  I didn't think you even could drift a Ford Bronco – that must have been something that they worked on when they put the engine back on its mounts after the cannon thing.

The passenger door popped open as if from a kick, but it wasn't Carolína hunched up so she could barely see over the wheel in the driver's seat – that was Yuping's black brush, tall and rigid way up near the roof.  The plan had changed since Sajitha got her text, obviously, but he was still a friend and we had to get while the getting was good.  I threw Wilson's arm over my shoulders to carry him over to the truck, and Sajitha rushed ahead to open the rear door and get us all bundled in.

The crowd was starting to close up around us by the time she closed the passenger door behind her and Yuping put the Bronco in gear again – a few of them maybe noticing that he was one of the ones they were supposed to hate.  "So what happened?  Is Carolína okay?"  Sajitha didn't look that concerned, but if the plan was changed now, there might be other changes later.

"She okay," Yuping said, "Riley just change driver last minute. 'Colombian learn drive too nice,' Riley say, 'because consequences. But Chinese don't take prisoner.'"  Yuping set the shifter, left hand holding the wheel in hard, then stomped on the gas, scattering frat bros like leaves before the whirlwind.  It wasn't strictly accurate – Yuping hadn't been one of those princelings immune to the laws back in China, but then again I was pretty sure that Colombians didn't actually settle every traffic argument with gunplay either – but if it got him to move like this it was good enough.  Protestors and cops alike jumped out of our way as he gunned the engine, accelerating over the footpaths to go and find a road; if he was going to drive like this, we didn't need the autocannon to get away.

Yuping parked by the loading dock behind the building that housed the AP lab after a bunch of twists and turns and ducks to make sure we'd shed all the cops, and I handed off Wilson's incriminating uniform jacket to Sajitha to throw in a dumpster while Yuping and I carried him up the stairs.  Up in the lab, Carolína had hugs and ajiaco and aguardiente for everyone and enough cardboard and spare cushions on the floor to let Wilson rest easy; Riley, by contrast, was completely occupied torch-cutting something and barely looked up as we came in.

"I don't get it, though," I said, after we'd gotten him comfortable; Wilson was stirring a little, but  it was better to let him come back to himself on his own terms, with as much chicken-potato stew and sugarcane whiskey as that would involve.  "I mean, what the shit?  Who the hell is mad about Asians in this day and age?  I mean, shit, 'ching-chong', who even says that?"

"It was kind of a bad day for them, you know," Carolína said, like she was taking part in a different conversation.  "If they didn't have Roosevelt Kang in their fantasy, it was very bad – he went off, he threw four touchdowns and ran in a fifth on a naked bootleg very late, like he was rubbing it in."

I blinked, because I wasn't sure what Wisconsin's half-Korean quarterback had to do with anything.  "Okay, yeah, that's a good day for Kang, and if the dude you were playing started him, then yeah, you got killed, but there was a lot of bros there – they couldn't all have been playing against him this week."  Sajitha and Carolína and Yuping all stared at me after that, and even Riley turned around, torch laid aside.

"Leo, we played Wisconsin today," Sajitha said at last, slowly like she couldn't believe someone was this dumb.  "At home.  We lost 45-nothing.  Roosevelt Kang squatted down and teabagged the entire campus, or at least all the people who care too much about football. Do you get it now?"  I started to get it – angry drunks who'd just gotten humiliated in their own stadium; white people, mostly, who'd seen some Asian-looking dude go yard on them at football.  It was easier to understand, but that didn't make the riot any less stupid.

"All right," I said, "I kind of get it – I can understand it, but I can't excuse it.  And shit, Wilson, what were you thinking?  I can't excuse that, getting up in front of a bunch of drunk, short-fuse white people and talking like that.  You hang around with me too much, man – you forget how like nearly all the other white people around here are."  I felt kind bad about rolling it downhill onto Wilson, blinking on the cushion pile with Carolína holding a bag of peas to the lump on his head, but he was conscious again and it really did go down to him: he didn't have to have this rally, but he did it, and one way or another everything went from there.

"I had to," he said, his voice soft and rounded at the edges, like he was half-dreaming, half-there.  "I had to – if you don't get them screaming, they just sit and scratch.  And I have to get them screaming – you didn't see, I didn't send you profile after it finished.  This 'grinckle', this thing – didn't it come from here?  This lab? The genetics is all wrong – it's all wrong backwards, it's so wrong that if I took a different course last semester, more genetic cladistics, I maybe might say it's not a fish.  What the hell?  Who makes a fish that's not a fish, then puts it on campus to walk by crutches pond to pond?  Nobody – but when it happens – only Applied Physics."

"Wilson, I – yeah, I kind of get where you're coming from.  But – why? What the hell's that supposed to get anybody?"

He shook his head, wincing from the bruise.  "I don't know.  I don't think, maybe, I can ever find out.  But there's no why – nobody else can, so when it happens, it's Applied Physics must have."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence," Riley said from the corner, "but just so you know, the grinckles aren't our fish.  I've got my hands full with enough crap as it is – we're not gene-printing random new fish to get Yuping more likes.  Speaking of," – and Riley changed the subject, exactly like Riley always changed the subject, and like always this was a change for the worse that we'd all have been better off if it didn't have to happen – "Leo, don't you live in Muttonbird Terraces?"

I blinked again, afraid of what was about to come next.  "Yes. Yeah, I do.  Why?"

"You're trending local."  I immediately grabbed up my phone and punched in on the tag; everyone around me was doing the same.  Lol fire at Muttonbird – lol fratboys burning down Muttonbird – i'm live right now yall gotta see this cops shooting at houses on fire at Muttonbird – lol Muttonbird such poors many molotov.  I slumped forward.  Perfect.  The idiot frats had gotten run off the eng quad and now they were burning down my home development and fighting the cops in the ruins.  The phone buzzed, and someone was livestreaming: a cop car was rolled over, on fire against a backdrop of low-rises on fire, white-hatted assholes jumping around, shaking up and throwing beer cans like grenades, as my entire neighborhood went up in smoke.  I looked up, and I had become the lab's pity sink; even Wilson, a glass of aguardiente under his nose to sniff himself awake, was looking at me like I was a street dog begging for pats.

"Well, yeah, you're not going to be able to go home for a while after that – if there's even anywhere to go back to."  Riley cut to the chase like usual, standing up, hands on hips.  "But you're a friend of the lab, and there's always a place here for you, same as for your friend if he wants to hide out here till the heat goes down.  Sit tight for a second; I'll send Yuping out to go grab some extra cardboard, and I'll kick clear a place under the lathe in a minute or two."   Riley nodded approvingly at me, and nobody else in the lab thought there was anything wrong with it.  Excellent.  What an awesome Saturday night.  I'd made some mistakes today, but this was the dead-ass all end: a nice promising weekend with the homework all done turning into one of my best friends mauled in a riot, my place burned down, and me ending up living sleeping on the floor in the friggin Applied Physics lab was all anyone ought to need to convince themselves that no matter how bad they thought their worst-case scenario was, it could always get worse.  A lot worse.  A whole lot worse, if Riley and this crazy lab somehow happened to get involved.

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