#(just waiting for the jurassic park science to catch up) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pinky-the-elephant-room · 4 years ago

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SapioSexual

★☆ AN: So, this prompt is dedicated to anyone attracted to nerds and science. Look I’m terrible at chemistry so I made Kuroo a jack of all trades while still being ace at chemistry. Also, thanks to @succulent-momma and @drabbles-blurbs-words for editing this for me.

★☆ Summary: It’s not Kuroo’s fault, not really. It’s not his fault that every time he opened his mouth to talk like that you just wanted to throw yourself at him.

★☆ Warning: Explicit sex, Size Kink, and Rough sex. Read at your own discretion. Kuroo x Fem Reader.

★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Kuroo considered himself fairly handsome and was well-liked by most people. Except by his teammates who nicknamed him "demon captain". And of course, Kenma who would frequently throw some jabs his way. But he was nice to girls. In fact, he was a gentleman to every girl he met, only accompanied by mild playful teasing when the moment required it. Most girls, in his humble opinion, wanted his attention and frankly desired to date him. Except for Y/N.

He would never forget that particular day in 2nd year when she turned him down in front of his team. Kuroo and Kenma were heading home after volleyball practice accompanied by Yaku and Yamamoto, who were heading out as well.

Kuroo, noticing Y/N, called out, "Y/N-chan!"

Y/N turned around to see Kuroo waving at her, to which she only frowned in return.

"So, Y/N-chan, when are you going to take up on my offer of going on a date soon?"

"Over my dead body," she murmured before flouncing away.

Yaku had burst out laughing, enjoying Kuroo's embarrassment. Yamamoto tried to spare his senpai's feelings knowing the pain of being rejected all too well. But it was just too satisfying to watch smug Kuroo get turned down. Yamamoto collapsed in howling fits. Kuroo could even see Kenma hiding a smirk underneath his long bangs while trying and failing to look absorbed in his PSP.

She perplexed the hell out of him. He didn't understand where he went wrong with Y/N. In fact, she only displayed uninterest most of the time he attempted to talk to her.

★☆ ★☆

However, he finally started making headway in his third year. Y/N, lo and behold, was in his class. Making it easier for him to talk to her. She was resistant to his efforts at first, but one particular day she let her guard down.

"Y/N-chan, how did you do on your chemistry test?" he inquired, looking at his 98.

He could feel her glare, and so Kuroo looked up to shoot a smirk at her.

"An 85. Probably better than your score," she huffed.

"Not today, sweetheart. Looks like I win." He sat back in his chair and radiated smugness.

Y/N leaned over from her chair to look at his score, and he could see her eyes widen in shock.

"How? You had two practice matches this week against rival schools back to back! When did you get the time to study?" Y/N blurted out.

"I'm flattered you know so much about my schedule."

She avoided eye contact and cleared her throat. "Don't get it twisted. It's hard not to know when that's all you've talked about for two weeks."

Kuroo's smirk just got bigger. "And here I thought you don't listen to poor old me. I'm smarter than you think I am. I don't need to study a lot to get adequate grades."

Y/N seemed a bit incredulous.

"Then why isn't your rank higher?" she challenged.

"Well, we can't all be ranked second like you. But you're right. My rank could be better if I tried more. But I don't need to because my grades just have to be good enough to play volleyball and get into a decent university. It's not like I'm going to be a doctor."

Y/N stared at him for a moment before requesting if she could look at his test to see what she did wrong. Kuroo shrugged and gave it to her.

He could feel Y/N's inquisitive gaze on him the rest of the day. But every time he turned to see, her long dark hair hid her face. It was puzzling, to say the least.

As the bell rang and he was about to leave for volleyball practice, Y/N stopped him.

"Kuroo, next time there's a chemistry test can we study together?" she asked him almost shyly.

A bit dazed by her request, he only nodded, to which she responded with, "great! See you tomorrow."

★☆ ★☆

Days began to fly by with Y/N still somehow talking to him, their topics ranging from academic to inane intellectual discussions.

"Ne Kuroo, do you think there's any truth to Jurassic Park? Like theoretically, can we bring back dinosaurs?" she asked him one morning after biology.

He blinked at the question and put his mechanical pencil down. Y/N reminded him too much of a particular beanpole dinosaur enthusiast in that moment.

"Not really. Because think about it, not only would we need to have a perfect DNA replica to duplicate, meaning the bullshit explanation from the movie of filling the missing DNA structures with DNA from modern species wouldn't work. But we would also need to recreate the environment these creatures thrived in. The current Earth right now is colder than they're used to. Then we would also have to recreate the same food sources. These dinosaurs didn't evolve to eat grass or cows. Plain and simple, they wouldn't survive."

Y/N's face brightened. "Exactly! Oh, and did you see the new dinosaur they discovered in Hokkaido? It's called Kamuysaurus. It's a different species of Hadrosaurid." She continued enthusiastically explaining to him what made the Kamuysaurus different from other Hadrosaurid species. It was kind of boring, to be honest; he wasn't much of a dinosaur fan, but he listened intently, feeling satisfied knowing that Y/N's attention was solely on him.

★☆ ★☆

The next week as Kuroo was walking home with Kenma, he noticed Y/N going inside a bookstore.

"Kenma, I'm going to go ahead, alright?" Kuroo said as he watched Y/N curiously.

Kenma looked up to see Kuroo staring at Y/N. "She's just going to yell at you again."

"Don't worry; I got it handled. See you tomorrow." Without waiting to hear his childhood friend's response, Kuroo ran to catch up to her before she left the store.

The store's bell jingled, and an employee welcomed him inside. He walked around for a bit before finally finding Y/N in the back, intensely reading a book. He walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Y/N jumped and let out a squeak. She relaxed, seeing his smirking face "Kami-sama! Kuroo, don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!"

He chuckled at her reaction and stepped closer into her personal space. Looking over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of what she was reading.

"Stars and constellations? Since when are you into astronomy?" he asked.

"Well, it's a fairly new hobby. Chichiue and I are planning a trip to the mountains to chart stars. I thought it would help me to know what we are looking at."

She tried to move away to put some space between them, but he just grabbed her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Hmm, need some help?"

She turned around and cocked her eyebrow at him. "Let me guess you know some things about astronomy too?"

He just ignored the sarcasm in her voice before going on a tangent. "Well, did you know at the center of every galaxy is a gigantic black hole that is gradually sucking everything inside? That's how we got the image of a swirling galaxy that we know today. Just in the Milky Way alone, there's about ten million to a billion other smaller black holes."

Kuroo stopped to glance at Y/N, who was looking back at him keenly, before continuing.

"And the name of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is-"

"Sagittarius A," Y/N finished almost breathlessly.

Kuroo joked, "guess you also know some things about astron-"

He failed to complete his sentence when Y/N yanked him down by his school uniform and captured his lips. Her kiss was harsh and greedy as she tried to swallow him whole. He reached over and lifted Y/N to steady her against the bookshelf. He separated for a moment to observe her, captivated as her ample chest heaved up and down.

"Kuroo," she whimpered out while clutching his school uniform.

Y/N grabbed his red tie and tugged him closer. Unable to deny her, he slanted his lips over hers.

Kuroo was honestly so confused; why was she kissing him in a bookstore of all places? Did she have feelings for him? He supposed she had to have felt some attraction. Otherwise, she wouldn't have jumped him in the middle of a conversation. But if she did, when did it began and how? Because as far as he knew, nothing about himself had changed except they were talking more than usual. Their previous conversations included him being flirty and Y/N doing her best to walk away. But now they could spend hours arguing over their shared answers on their organic chemistry homework.

Still, all those questions disappeared when he felt her tongue intertwine with his and suck. Letting out a groan, he pressed her harder against the shelves and bucked. Y/N gasped and grinded back against his clothed cock. Kuroo could feel his member stirring at the soft sounds she was letting out despite gnawing on her lips. She was impatiently trying to rub against him, unable to get a satisfying rhythm.

"Here…here," he urged, grabbing her legs and tugging them around his waist.

She complied and clutched him closer before reigniting their kiss. Y/N was just so impatient and greedy, she coaxed him to get rougher by nibbling on his lower lip.

"Fuck, sweetheart. Do you always get so needy?" he panted.

He needed a minute. Just a minute to get himself together. Because if he made contact with her hot cunt one more time, Kuroo was going to lose it. He was going pull her panties to the side before plunging his hard cock inside of her. And he didn't think getting disciplined for obscenity in a public place was something either of them could afford right now.

SLAM!

The two of them startled and pulled apart to hear a customer apologizing to the bookstore's employee. A book was dropped on the floor.

He reluctantly lowered Y/N back on the floor and let her go. Y/N was looking anywhere but at him, as she tried to fix her appearance and make herself look presentable again.

Kuroo stepped forward. "Let me."

Y/N just nodded as she looked at the floor. He raised her chin to gaze into her eyes as he fixed her long-ruffled strands of hair.

"There. Perfect." His words meaning more than what he implied.

Kuroo waited for her as she paid for her astronomy book and followed her outside.

"Kuroo, it's still early. Do you wanna grab something to eat?" she asked once both had stepped out.

He blinked at her question, wondering if this was a date but decided to not let the chance slip by.

"Sure, I know the perfect place." He grabbed her hand and ignored her flustered pleas to let her hand go.

By the time they arrived at their destination, Kuroo had noticed Y/N had stopped all her protests. Finally, feeling relaxed and secure in his presence.

★☆ ★☆

Several months and dates later, Kuroo and Y/N found themselves at his house while studying for an upcoming chemistry exam.

"So, almost all stoichiometry problems can be solved in four simple steps. First, you balance the equation. Convert the units of the given substance to moles. Then calculate the moles of substance yielded by the reaction. Finally, convert the moles of the substance to the desired units. Sounds easy enough, right?" Kuroo asked, looking up from his notes to see Y/N eyeing her worksheet nervously.

"I-I'm going to be honest with you. I have no idea what any of that means," she grumbled.

He grabbed Y/N and pulled her close to him on the bed they were both occupying.

"Here. Watch me do it, and then if you have any questions, let me know."

Kuroo went through the process slowly. When he finished, he looked up to see Y/N gazing at him earnestly with a prominent flush on her face.

He stared back curiously, not understanding why Y/N was peering at him like that. Usually, she gave him those looks when she watched him play volleyball or if he acted particularly sweet that day. He shouldn't have been that surprised when she shoved her worksheet aside and pounced on him.

Y/N desperately clung and kissed him thoroughly.

"W-wait Y/N. We still have work to do," he gasped while turning his face away.

She didn't seem too perturbed and instead started nibbling his slender neck instead.

Hang on, why was he hesitating if there was a willing and rutting girl on top of him?

Kuroo tried to grasp her waist tightly and switch their position. But Y/N was having none of it and pushed his grabby hands away. She swung her leg over his waist and pushed him down. With her position, her skirt had ridden up and showed off her legs. He couldn't help it as he caressed her silky-smooth skin and started making his way up her skirt. But before he could touch her lacey panties, she once again shoved his hand away. Y/N carefully steadied herself and started rocking against his jeans.

It didn't take long before his dick started stirring with Y/N grinding on top of him. Trying not to upset Y/N's pace, he carefully unbuttoned her lacey blouse to expose her black bra. Kuroo shoved off the garment off her shoulders so he could knead her breasts through the cotton bra. Perhaps she got impatient from the lack of friction because soon enough, Y/N was unzipping his jeans and pulling out his dick. She pumped it a few times and asked Kuroo to help. While she was getting his dick hard, Kuroo pulled down her panties. She lined up him up quite nicely.

Y/N quickly rammed his cock inside of her, so fast that Kuroo almost missed the pained whimper from her mouth.

"Oy, slow down," he groaned while feeling her walls constrict around him. Kuroo tried to remove himself from her embrace, but she held onto his hips tightly. She started pushing herself up and down on top of him, letting out whimpers at the feeling of being so full.

He could feel her slick building up from the added ministrations and coating his length, making it easier for her to descend on him. Still, it was a tight fit. Bordering on pain and pleasure. He could see the tears in her eyes, so Kuroo once again tried to get her to slow down.

"Sweetheart, we got all the time in the world."

"Tetsu, I.. I need you so badly," she moaned while simultaneously shoving the rest of him inside her.

"Fuck!" he let out after seeing her be filled to the brim and her mound connecting with his pubic.

Y/N was a panting and crying mess, trying to accommodate a cock that was clearly too big for her.

He felt a little ashamed and guilty for liking the way she looked on top of him. But sex with Y/N was always so nasty and filthy. He remembered vividly how desperately she begged for him to take her virginity after school one day. So, Kuroo cut his practice short (the one rare time he did) and took her to the nearest love hotel where he proceeded to fuck her senseless for an hour straight. Still, he remembered feeling despaired afterward because he had wanted to make love after a romantic date for her first time.

His musing got cut short when Y/N started bouncing on his cock mercilessly. She let out choked sobs each time she slammed back down. The bedsprings began squeaking, and the frame of the bed banged against the wall. So much so he would no doubt have to explain about the dent later to his parents.

Soon enough, he could see Y/N becoming tired, her breathing becoming more and more labored.

She begged, "Tetsu, help me."

"I don't know, Y/N. You got yourself in this mess-" Kuroo let out a loud groan when he felt Y/N purposely squeezing his cock.

Kuroo pulled the cups of her bra down to reveal her heaving chest. He sat up on his forearms to thoroughly suck the peaked breasts while keeping one hand on her hips to control the thrusts. The wild bouncing was now replaced with rhythmic rocking. He knew from experience that she liked to stimulate her clit along with penetration. So, each time he entered her, Kuroo held her hips still so he could grind against her more. It worked, her body started shaking and becoming restless from the extra stimulation.

"Tetsu, I-I'm…" she didn't finish her sentence.

"Fuck, I can feel you milking me. Shit, that n-never gets old," he replied, feeling helpless as her orgasm spiraled out of control.

Feeling that the opportunity now was perfect, he quickly reversed their position. Kuroo rammed his cock back inside of her and made sure to rest her ankles on his shoulders. He had to bend a little to make sure his taller height was able to accommodate her. But the position was perfect for deeper penetration, especially when he pressed his chest against the back of her thighs. Y/N was still sensitive from her previous orgasm, so she only got louder and louder from the new angle. He covered her mouth with his hand; however, her muffled sobs were only subdued to a point. Her keening was still audible to anyone who might pass by his room. He let out a grunt when their bodies connected, creating a loud wet slap that only served to turn him on further. No longer able to hold back, Kuroo didn't stop himself from the telltale signs of his own impending pleasure. The base of his cock tightened, and he came inside of her.

He moaned and let Y/N go, settling his face nicely on top of her sweaty and warm chest. Kuroo thanked whatever deity out there that Y/N had been on birth control since their first time. He had the privilege of hitting it raw and hopefully would continue to do so until she said otherwise.

The two laid side by side for a couple of minutes, trying to catch their breaths before he turned on his side and clutched her closer.

Kuroo grabbed Y/N's face and started peppering it with quick kisses, "I love you. I love you so much. You did so good, baby."

Y/N was too tired to participate, so she returned the kisses halfheartedly.

"Not that I mind, babe. But what was that about? I thought we were supposed to be studying," he teased with a smirk.

Y/N shrugged and replied, "I think intelligence is sexy and a turn on."

The smirk on his face crumbled, and he facepalmed.

Y/N frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

"You shouldn't have told me that. Now we will never get any studying done," he replied with a groan.

#kuroo x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#hq kuroo #hq headcanons #hq fic rec #hq fanfic #kuroo tetsurō #kuroo tetsuro scenarios #kuroo headcanons #kuroo tetsuro x reader #kuroo smut #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fanfic rec #nekoma #haikyuu nekoma #kuroo x female reader #kuroo x you #kuroo x y/n

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in-class-daydreams · 3 years ago

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The Splash Zone - Tsukishima x Reader (Oneshot)

Jurassic World! AUPairing: Son of Park CEO!Tsukishima Kei x Mosasaur Trainer!Reader

- Word Count: ~9,000

- Genres: Fluff, angst

- CW: Mentions of death, objectification of main character, sexual harassment-

Mango’s Introduction: Tsukishima the younger is a bit… prickly. Don’t say that to his face, obviously, because he’s technically your boss, but for all his personality flaws, he’s definitely excellent at his job and he cares more about the people around him than he lets on. He’s snarky with that mosasaur trainer more than anyone else, but you can tell he’s sweet on her. I guess you could call it the adult equivalent of pulling a girl’s pigtails on the playground. Uh, don’t tell him I said that, he’s my boss too.

(A/N: For all of you who were interested in this series, y'all waited nearly a year for less than 10,000 words, and I apologize, haha. It's been sitting 95% finished all that time, but I moved onto some other projects because I wasn't confident in my writing abilities. After a year's worth of writing exercises via different projects, I'm now okay with putting this out for all of you. I hope my next few projects (AoT and KnY) knock your socks off, but for now, here's a little journey about following your own convictions, featuring our favorite salty blonde.)

Tsukishima had it all. Money, looks, brains, and sure, his personality could use a little work, but he wasn’t completely insufferable. Most of the time. But if you asked him, his sour attitude was hardly his fault. After all, he was the heir to a multi-trillion dollar theme park, so it’s not like there were any consequences for him talking to people the way he does. For all he cared, he could be as snarky as he liked, considering he didn’t work with many people that were willing to speak their mind to him.

“Bite me, Tsukki.”

Well, except for a certain mosasaur trainer that was really grating on his nerves. Said trainer sat across from him from her seat in his office, arms crossed and jaw tense. Tsukishima tapped his fingers on his desk.

“Are you done throwing a tantrum like a six-year-old?” he asked. (Y/N)’s hands balled in her lap. She kept her mouth shut, glowering at the desk in front of her to keep her temper under wraps.

The blonde rolled his eyes. About fifteen minutes ago, he watched her kick in the door to the employee lounge and make her way over to the mosasaur staff supervisor. All eyes were on her as she moved towards him with murderous intent rolling off of her in waves. While (Y/N) was the one with the most control over the aquatic dinosaur itself, the supervisor was the one who hired staff, had them trained, made their schedules, and completed the other overall administrative duties. Their position was a catch-all and they were meant to do the primary inspections that made the mosasaur shows run properly.

Company policy encouraged open communication between colleagues, of course. Jurassic World Theme Park prided itself on proficient employee cooperation, as per the employee handbook and what the marketing team insists they say. Tsukishima just wished (Y/N) had opened her statement with something a smidge more polite than, “Are there any grooves in your fucking brain or is it all just smooth in there?”

After that hell of a conversation starter, she and the supervisor verbally ripped into each other. If Kei hadn’t grabbed (Y/N) by the windbreaker and dragged her into his office, he wouldn’t have been surprised if they ended up ripping into each other physically, too. To her credit, (Y/N) most definitely won, but that would have been a bigger pain in his ass.

“(Y/N), you can’t speak like that to people you work with. I heard what you said about him keeping an eye on his interns, and that’s his business, not yours,” he sighed. It was too early for this crap, especially since his assistant called in sick and hadn’t made him his morning coffee, and there were a million things to do in preparation for the board meeting today. He had better things to do than settle this stupid argument.

(Y/N) looked at him with disbelief, “You think I went in there to yell at him for fun? You have no idea what happened, Kei, how are you already taking his side?”

Tsukishima looked into her fiery gaze for a moment. He leaned back, brushing down the front of his navy blue button-down.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“But it’s what you said,” she shot back.

He pursed his lips. “Alright, I’m sorry,” he muttered.

(Y/N)’s mouth dropped for a moment, then the corner quirked up ever-so-slightly, “What was that, Tsukki?”

“Just explain before I lose my patience,” he snapped. His ears felt hot.

She laughed, “Because you’re the picture of patience right now.”

“(Y/N).”

Although the anger in her posture returned, she was able to remain more composed than she had earlier.

“One of the interns came up to me about an hour ago to ask me about the coding for the hydraulic lift.” (Y/N) threw her hands up and leaned back in her chair, as if that was the answer to everything.

“I’ll need some more details than that.”

She groaned in frustration, “There’s the mosasaur tank and the stadium

surrounding it, yeah? And partway through the show, the hydraulic lift lowers the stadium to the underground viewing area, right? Well, for all that to happen, the codes on the control panel have to be specific,” her hands moved fervently as she got deeper into her explanation. “The codes never change, but every morning, the supervisor makes sure they’re correct and I double check before the show. If the codes are incorrect, the stadium might lift too fast, too slow, too much, or not at all.”

Kei nodded for her to continue, to which she gave a grateful nod before going back into rant mode.

“Interns don’t have clearance into that area. He gave her his fucking badge so she could go in and do the checks without him. She shouldn’t have been down there and she definitely shouldn’t have been checking the control panel. Look,” she ran a hand through her hair, “I don’t want to tell the guy how to do his job. If he wants to train the interns how to run the control panel, then fine, it’s not in my job description to police that. But that brand-new, inexperienced, fresh-out-of-college kid was all by herself down there doing that idiot’s job. She could have gotten hurt. She could have gotten other people hurt. It was her supervisor’s job to train her better and to take better care of his interns and if I don’t raise hell about this kind of stuff now, then who will? So fuck that guy, he deserved to get yelled at.”

(Y/N) heaved herself out of her chair, “And now that everyone thinks I’m a raving lunatic, I’m going back to my office to change. Try not to need me.”

As the son of the owner of Jurassic World Theme Park, Tsukishima Kei was raised to do two things: work with dinosaurs and obey his father. When he was younger, he thought he would get to work with the dinosaurs as a trainer, regulate their feeding schedules, train them, and educate the masses about the wonders of science. But he was wrong. The future his father had in store for him involved dinosaurs, yes, but more along the lines of determining the cost of developing a new dinosaur or what characteristics are interesting to the general public so that the park can turn a profit.

Several years ago, when his father originally had her brought to the island, Kei had been skeptical. Out of all the candidates for the mosasaur trainer, (Y/N) had been particularly young, but for some reason, his father was insistent that the new mosasaur trainer be her. (Y/N) later proved and continued to prove that she wasn’t just qualified, but born to work with the mosasaur, Dolly, she called her. She cared for her with a deep passion that transcended interspecies boundaries.

(Y/N) was amazing at her job, and it was unfair of Tsukishima not to hear her out initially. There was a fine line between teasing as a result of mutual pining and just being a dick, and it seemed like Kei had crossed that line.

(Y/N) knew he was coming. That was one of the things she really appreciated about Tsukishima. He was a snarky asshole who liked to rile her up, and in the beginning, he was garbage at apologies, but over time, they’d apologized to each other so often that he no longer dragged ass over it. Once he realized he was in the wrong, he would find her immediately.

Tsukishima let himself into (Y/N)’s office, where he found her and the raptor trainer in deep conversation.

“Kei! Seriously, I could’ve been changing!” she yelled. She’d told him a million times to knock before coming in, but he rarely listened.

“Don’t worry, even if you were, there’s nothing to see,” he said teasingly.

(Y/N) scowled, “You wouldn’t know.”

Tsukishima scoffed.

“Anyway, Hajime, what else did that guy say?” (Y/N) said.

Kei frowned at the two cups from Tiki Smoothie in front of them. He wondered if Iwaizumi had brought her one as a surprise or if she’d asked him to bring her one. Both possibilities put him in a bad mood. Supposedly, they were just close friends, but (Y/N) forced him to watch enough Hallmark movies for him to know the friends-to-lovers trope quite well. It ranked just below childhood friends-to-lovers and just above enemies-to-lovers. He must have been staring at those cups for some time, because by the time he zoned back in, Iwaizumi had already finished his explanation.

“--train the raptors for the battlefield,” Iwaizumi finished.

(Y/N) raised an irritated brow, “Like dogs?”

The raptor trainer shrugged, “Apparently.”

“Did you tell him that’s not how raptors work?” she asked.

“I didn’t bother. He-- Sorry,” Iwaizumi fished his ringing flip phone from his vest pocket. “I gotta go, (Y/N), I’ll tell you more at dinner later,” he said on his way out the door.

“Okay, but I wanna hear about your thing with that pretty P.O. Manager later!”

The taller man stopped and gripped the door frame in surprise.

“Wha-- There’s no ‘thing’!” Iwaizumi sputtered.

“Whatever keeps your blood pressure normal."

As (Y/N) waved her friend off, Tsukishima rested his weight on the back of the vacated chair.

“What was that all about?”

(Y/N) sighed, making her way over to the wardrobe next to the door.

“Some military guy had a talk with Hajime about using the raptors for war. He said they’re better than drones because they’re not hackable and blah blah blah.”

“Does he realize that-- what are you doing?!” Tsukishima choked when (Y/N) dropped her loose gym shorts. Underneath, she wore plain navy blue bikini bottoms.

“Relax, Kei, you’re the one who invited yourself into my office. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t seen a girl’s bare legs, right?” she teased as she stepped into her dive skin. The tall young man moved to sit behind the desk. Forcing down his blush, he took on a snarky tone once again.

“Obviously. I didn’t think you had time for that kind of thing, since you’ve been cooped up with Darby for the last few years.”

(Y/N) shook her wetsuit at him, “Her name is Dolly! It’s always been Dolly and you know it, you little shit!”

“Language, (Y/N),” he smirked. What would my father say if he knew you spoke to me like that?”

“Oh, trust me, Malfoy, your father knows exactly how I speak to you, and he couldn't care less,” she snarked, looking pleased with herself..

The teasing glint in Tsukishima’s eyes wavered at the comment, though he knew they shouldn’t have. ‘Don’t dish it if you can’t take it’ he always said. He knew his father loved him the way any man loves his son, but Kei’s rank in his father’s heart in relation to money had always been questionable.

“Sorry. Too much,” (Y/N) said quietly. She pulled up her dive skin and removed her windbreaker, revealing a matching bikini top.

“It’s not your fault,” the blonde mumbled back. (Y/N) made her way around the desk. Leaning her weight on the edge facing him, she said, “Really, I’m sorry. That was in bad taste.”

Tsukishima waved dismissively, “It’s fine, you didn’t mean it. Just caught me off guard… Actually, I came to apologize to you for earlier.”

She grimaced, “I’m sorry for freaking out so hard. I didn’t mean to make trouble for you the same day as a shareholders’ meeting.”

“You’d be okay with making trouble for me normally?”

“That a serious question?”

With a light chuckle he said, “Right, right. It’s fine... I’m sorry for not

hearing you out. For what it’s worth, that guy is as good as fired.”

“Fired!?” she yelped, making him jump. “Wait, you can’t fire him!”

“Actually, I can--”

“Fine. As his boss, you legally could fire him, but I’m saying don’t. One, we can easily get him to clean up his act. Two, his wife is preggers. Gregnant. Pregante.”

“I got it the first time.”

“Just making sure.”

Tsukishima huffed, holding back a smile, “Worrying about someone whose head you were about to bite off two hours ago. That’s just like you.”

There was a gentle knock at the door and Yamaguchi, a paleo-veterinary intern, poked his head through the doorway.

“(Y/N), are you ready for the show? We have 20 minutes until start time,” he informed her with a sweet smile.

“Yup!” She stuffed her arms through the tight neoprene sleeves, “Are you the specialist on standby this time, Yama?”

The shorter girl turned around and moved her hair to the side in a silent request. Standing to his full height, Tsukishima pinched the sides of her zipper with one hand and pulled the tab up with.

Yamaguchi couldn’t help but laugh. His two friends stopped, (Y/N) with her hands holding up her hair, Tsukishima with his hands tugging on her suit zipper.

“What’s so funny?” his childhood friend asked. Yamaguchi just shook his head and confirmed that, yes, he would be on medical standby for the upcoming show.

“Close the door when you leave, okay, Tsukki?” (Y/N) shot over her shoulder on the way out.

“Good luck with your show,” he said simply. She frowned in confusion. Before she could comment, Yamaguchi rushed her out the door.

“--near the surface of the water, where it preyed on anything it could sink its teeth into, including turtles, small fish, even smaller mosasaurs, but don’t worry, that’s not why Dolly here doesn’t have any siblings.”

The crowd chuckled. Tsukishima always enjoyed when (Y/N) did the demonstrations herself. The guides did the jobs they were contracted to do, and maybe it was that he already knew how much she loved Dolly, but whenever (Y/N) did it, it always felt less like a show and more like the introduction of a close friend of hers. That was the truth, after all.

“You see, when Dolly was born, I was the first thing she saw. This caused something called imprinting, and if I just made you think about that freaky Twilight baby, I’m so sorry.”

Another wave of laughter rippled through the crowd. “And what that means is, Dolly and I share a special bond. She feels a special connection to me that she doesn’t feel for any other creature on this planet. When she was growing up, we communicated with this,” she held up a silver whistle.

“You can’t hear these sounds, but Dolly can. She knows the sound of the whistle, and that makes her think, ‘Oh, that’s my handler! Yay, she’s gonna feed me!’ Which is something I thought whenever my mom called my name during my teenage years.”

“She’s entertaining, isn’t she?” one of his father’s associates commented. Rather than sitting in the wide open arena seats under the beating sun, Kei’s father, the elder Tsukishima, sat up in an air-conditioned glass box high above the regular seats. Today, a group of shareholders and potential investors were performing their monthly assessment of the park’s assets. After going to every single one of these meetings since he was twelve, Tsukishima was more or less used to these meetings, but he was getting irked by the way a particularly sweaty, sleazy-looking businessman two and a half times his age was staring not at the tank itself, but at the trainer on the platform above it. If it weren’t for his father, he would have nastily told all of them to never take even a single breath in her direction.

“The girl’s gotten real grown up since we first saw her,” the man said, rubbing his chin.

‘Don’t look at her like that,’ Kei growled internally.

“Good eye, Yamada-san. She just turned twenty-one,” his father replied.

‘But that doesn’t concern you,’ Kei thought.

“Really? She looks young, but she seems so mature for her age,” another dirty businessman observed.

“You always did like the young-looking ones, you creepy old man!” laughed Yamada. Tsukishima bit down on his tongue so hard he had to remind himself not to bite it off.

“Ah, yes, I took her age into account from the get-go,” Tsukishima-san said. “By nature, the mosasaurus would only accept one trainer, and I brought her to the island at such a young and impressionable age that she would only listen to me.”

“And then you have a safe way to control the dinosaur,” one of the shareholders concluded.

“Exactly. And you’re right, Yamada-san, she’s grown up to be quite attractive. Shame she ended up so strong-willed, else she might have made a quality match for my son. Perhaps if Kei here can reel her in, he’ll make a wife out of her yet, right, son?”

The younger Tsukishima’s skin crawled as every pair of eyes in the room landed on him. He could just imagine opening his mouth and ripping them all a new one. What would Yamada say if he called him out on his predatory behavior? Or he could say, ‘Ah, Mr. Kawasaki, how’s that custody battle with your wife going? I hear she’s winning because the kids would rather live with her. Oh, Chairman Yang, I didn’t see you there! Have you beaten that nasty gambling addiction of yours? Goodness, from the looks of those eye bags and how badly your ‘designer’ suit is frayed, my guess is no.”

But Kei can’t say any of those things. He has too much to lose, should he compromise his position as his father’s heir and future CEO. The blonde glanced briefly out the window at the smiling girl talking animatedly about her most treasured friend. He mentally sends her an apology for being unable to defend her yet again.

Kei grit his teeth and finally replies.

“Yes, father.”

If he were born as anyone else, he could romance her properly, instead of passing glances, not-so-subtle flirting, and raging sexual tension. They wouldn’t have had to play the whole ‘will we or won’t we?’ schtick. But he was still Tsukishima Kei. He was destined to take over his father’s company, and by design, his partner would have to attend board meetings and brunches and wine and cheese parties. Kei had no desire to drag (Y/N) into that kind of life, but what’s more, (Y/N) would never agree to it. At one time, he considered asking her about it. Ask her to consider making that sacrifice for him. But at the end of the day, he never did bring it up to her because he was scared of the answer he’d receive.

Her enthusiastic voice faded back into his consciousness, “Enough of me talking. Is everyone ready to meet Dolly?”

They all turned back to the window at the sound of (Y/N)’s voice.

The crowd cheered in affirmation.

“What was that? I can’t hear you?”

The cheers transitioned into a deafening roar.

“Alright, for those of you in the splash zone, expect to get soaked in about ten seconds and counting.”

(Y/N) pressed a button, and the feeder crane slowly moved to dangle a heavy shark over the mosasaurus tank. The trainer leaned against her platform’s railing. She put the whistle to her lips, but no one heard any sound.

“You hungry, girl?” she asked the tank. There was no prior indication of any movement before the leviathan reptilian dinosaur leapt out of the water and easily snatched up its prey with its rows of hundreds of teeth. Its great mass seemed to linger midair for what felt like forever before sliding back into the water with a giant splash that had the crowd squealing with delight.

“Hold on tight,” (Y/N) spoke up as the stands started lowering under the stadium, “We’re gonna get to take a little closer look at our girl, Dolly the Mosasaurus.”

“How was your meeting?” (Y/N) asked upon her arrival in Tsukishima’s own office, finally free of her restricting wetsuit and hair still wet from her shower. Not looking up from his paperwork, the blonde grunted, “Fine.”

(Y/N) smiled and sat on the edge of the desk beside him. Both hands came up to zip her windbreaker.

“That bad, huh?”

“You sit in a glass box for 45 minutes with a group of men over fifty, and tell me you had fun,” he grumbled. Giving him a sympathetic look, she slid off the desk to place her hands on his shoulders. She gently massaged the tension from them. Lately, Tsukishima Senior had been giving his son more responsibility to “prepare him to take over the company,” which would have been a more believable excuse if the older man wasn’t relaxing by the pool and golfing with his friends 4 days a week. Kei leaned into her touch.

‘You are nothing like your father, though, Kei,’ she internally mused. Dragging her hands down from his shoulders to clasp in front of him, she hugged him from behind. Soothed by her presence, he wondered if he even needed to tell her how he felt about her. It seemed like she already suspected. Though, if she already knew and wasn’t saying anything, what exactly were her feelings on the matter?

“Today was so tiring, Tsukki,” she rested her chin on top of his blonde head. “This family was asking me questions, but their two irritating ass kids kept climbing on the primary railings, and the mom got mad at me when I told them to knock it off! Like, do you want your kids to get chomped by a genetically engineered dinosaur, Brenda? Then, she asked for my manager, and I’m like, ‘Bitch, I will literally throw you in the damn tank! There, that’s my manager, you entitled piece of-- ughhh!!” (Y/N) buried her face in Tsukishima’s shoulder in frustration. “I hate customer service! Fuck her! Fuck them kids!”

“You said that to her?” he teased. Secretly, he was happy that she was tired today. A Tired (Y/N) meant a Sweet (Y/N), and after those creeps were leering at her in the box today, he was just glad she was somewhere he could keep an eye on her.

“Suck my dick, Kei, you know I wouldn’t actually say that. I still enjoy getting paychecks,” her words were muffled by his shoulder. ‘Sweet’ is a relative term for her.

“I’d pay good money to see you cuss someone out.”

“You would, wouldn’t you,” she replied.

Tsukishima desperately wanted to tell her how he felt. It was getting really irritating that they could do stuff like this, but he couldn’t tell those sweaty old men in the box today to keep their perverted stares off of her.

Tentatively, he turned his head towards her, lips ghosting along her jawline. His heart sped up as her fingers tightened into his dress shirt.

When his arm slid around her waist, she was like putty in his hands.

“You-- You’re kinda giving me mixed signals here, Kei,” she said breathlessly. The taller male placed his forehead against hers. His eyes stared down at her lips as he debated the long-term consequences of giving into his desires.

“I know,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”

(Y/N) brought her hand up to cup his face. They both leaned in slowly, as if moving any faster would ruin the tension.

“Don’t be…” she whispered.

The office door slammed open with a bang.

“Sir?” (Y/N) jumped back from him like she’d been burned.

“What?” he snapped at the intruder.

“Your father wants you and Miss (L/N) in a meeting right away.”

“Tsukishima-san, I don’t see why--”

“Of course you don’t, (Y/N),” Kei’s father cut her off, “You have a personal connection with the animal. That was the one oversight I made when I brought you to the island as a trainer.”

They sat in a boardroom, surrounding a large table with Tsukishima senior at one end, (Y/N) at the other, and the board members on either side. The blazing sunlight of Isla Nublar that shone in through the large floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the room contrasted heavily with the dark tension permeating throughout the room. Kei tapped his fingers against the table from his spot on his father’s right side.

Of all the ‘strategic investments’ his father made, this was definitely not one Kei could have predicted.

The girl took a deep breath, “With all due respect, sir, it can’t be a good idea to reinvent a new species of mosasaur. I think--”

“See, that’s the problem, sweetheart,” the sweaty man from before chimed in. “You’re not here to think, you’re here to look pretty, and to tell the dinosaur what to do.”

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Yamada.”

“I don’t appreciate your attitude, little girl,” he shot back.

Tsukishima Senior cut in, “Try to understand, (Y/N). The Indominus Rex has been a huge hit. The numbers say that these new hybrid dinosaurs are the next big thing. We can’t pass up an astronomical amount of money just so you can keep your pet.”

“My pet?” (Y/N) spat.

“Now, (Y/N), there’s no need to get hysterical.”

“Hysterical? My reaction is perfectly reasonable considering you want to euthanize the creature I’ve raised since birth, which, may I remind you, is something you people wanted me to do.”

“Doctor Wu and the rest of the genetics team is already engineering the genetics for a new mosasaur. Bigger, more teeth--”

“But they couldn’t engineer any more brain cells for all of you?!” she interjected.

“That’s enough!” CEO Tsukishima slammed his hand on the meeting table. “You’re like a daughter to me, (Y/N), but I won’t take this level of disrespect from you.”

(Y/N) rested her hands atop the table and leaned in, meeting his glare head-on.

“If you want to do anything to Dolly, you’ll need my help, and I will not do anything that can compromise her.”

“What a mouthy little thing,” one of the shareholders muttered.

“Give her to me, I’ll shut her up,” another said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Tsukishima took a deep, stabilizing breath from beside his father.

“I chose you because I saw something in you. I never expected you to be this selfish,” the elder snapped, “You’re being unreasonable. Kei is barely older than you, and he understands that there’s profit to be made by replacing the damn dinosaur. Tell her, Kei.”

The room went silent. (Y/N) stared deeply into her friend’s golden brown eyes.

‘Don’t do this, Kei. They want you to become your father, but you are not your father. You are so much more.’

The younger Tsukishima felt like he was being crushed by an incredible weight. Whatever he did now, it would be nearly impossible to take back. If he chose her, his father may never forgive him. The problem was: If he chose his place as his father’s heir, would he ruin his relationship with (Y/N) forever? Which one of them could he live without? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. His steady gaze met with (Y/N)’s intense stare. He hoped he sounded more sure than he felt.

“Yes, (Y/N). My father’s right.”

(Y/N) first looked surprised, then immensely disappointed. Realizing there was no one on her side, she sighed.

“I came to this island because I thought this company might be different. When you asked me to train the mosasaurus from birth, I was overjoyed at how much you cared for her development,” she made sure to stare into the soul of each and every dirty scoundrel in the room. “But I made a mistake, too. All of you are cowards. Selfish, soulless, money-grubbing cowards.” Blazing eyes finally landed on Kei’s wide golden brown ones. She aimed her final statement at him.

“Every last one of you.”

Kei’s heart squeezed so hard he thought his chest would collapse.

“Tsukishima-san!” a mousey-looking secretary burst into the boardroom. CEO Tsukishima clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“What is it now?” he snapped.

“It’s the Indominus! She’s escaped!”

Deafening alarms and flashing red lights resounded throughout the control room. Kei could barely hear his father barking orders to the security team. One of the technicians pulled up a giant map of the park on the main screen.

“She’s still on the outer edges of the park, but she’s moving fast, sir,” they said.

“Have the Asset Containment Unit get this thing under control. Make sure they use non-lethals.”

“Non-lethals!” (Y/N) yelled, outraged.

“We have 26 million dollars invested in that asset,” the elder Tsukishima growled.

Exasperated, (Y/N) threw her hands in the air. She avoided Kei’s eyes as she

turned and sprinted out of the control room.

Kei hesitated. Before he could chase after her, his father ordered him to stay put to help in the control room. Though it made him feel like he wanted to vomit, he obeyed.

Several hours passed and Tsukishima’s mind felt like it was at its breaking point. The monitors flashing red in the dimly lit control room strained his eyes to the point where he was convinced he’d need a stronger prescription after this. The beeping of the ACU team’s EKG monitors flatlining rang in his ears so loud he wished he would just go deaf. The Indominus was picking off their security team with ease, sometimes several members at a time. The young man rubbed at his temples.

“Tsukishima, we’re evacuating the rides on the outer edges at the park,” the lead Park Operations Assistant slid a map over to him. Taking a red marker, she circled a few attractions directly in the escaped dinosaur’s projected path.

“But I think these preparations insufficient,” she said, nervously twisting

the pen in her grip.

“We’d evacuate the whole park if it were up to me,” Tsukishima said under

his breath.

The assistant pursed her lips, “It’s a shame we’ll definitely be shut down

after this. You would have made a great CEO.”

“Are you flirting with me?” the blonde joked.

“Please, you’re so whipped for (Y/N) it hurts to look at you,” the assistant snorted in reply.

Before Tsukishima could make a snarky retort, both of their attentions were drawn to CEO Tsukishima, who had a large, middle aged man at his side.

“Kei, come over here!” the older man called.

Tsukishima handed the map back over to the assistant, “This is fine for now. If the situation escalates or if it doesn’t improve in an hour or so, close all the attractions on the west side of the park. I’ll be right back.”

The assistant grabbed his arm, “Tsukishima, that’s Vic Hoskins, the head of the private security force.”

“My father introduced us not long ago. What about him?”

“Commander Hoskins isn’t just a brute, he’s an ignorant one, and that makes him dangerous. If your father is listening to him, be careful.”

Tsukishima nodded gratefully.

“I will. I’ll be right back.”

He didn’t wait for the assistant’s reply before making his way to his father’s side, who pulled him off to the side. Hoskins had apparently taken his leave.

“The helicopter will be here in 10 minutes, make sure you’re at the helipad by then,” he told his son.

The younger Tsukishima’s eyes widened.

“What? Where are we going?” he asked.

His father turned to him, “Commander Hoskins has strongly advised us to get off the island. We can do our part in containing this crisis remotely.”

The younger man blanched, “We’re just going to leave? We still have people to evacuate, not to mention medical teams to coordinate, personnel to--”

CEO Tsukishima placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, “We can do all of these things remotely. Our first priority is maintaining our safety, and besides, the situation is in good hands with our employees here. It’s as good as contained.”

The CEO smiled and turned to leave. Kei didn’t move.

“Come on, Kei,” the older man urged.

Tsukishima took a deep breath.

“If the situation is ‘as good as contained,’ then why are we leaving the island?” he asked.

His father sighed, “I understand your concern, Kei, this is a safety issue--”

“So, you agree? You do think that evacuation is the correct safety measure?” Kei looked his father directly in his familiar amber eyes.

The elder shifted, “What are you implying, Kei?”

“I’m saying as long as we choose not to actively evacuate the island, we have a responsibility to our employees and to our guests to stay and control the situation the best we can.”

The flatlining EKG monitors were still ringing in his ears. If he left the island now, he’d never stop hearing the beeping of those monitors. They’d exist in his nightmares forever.

“Stay here, then, Kei,” his father’s voice broke him out of his thoughts.

He raised a brow, “Just me?”

“There’s no point to being in power if you refuse to reap the benefits of it. The helicopter is leaving soon. Join me, Kei. Don’t try to play hero when you’re not.”

(Y/N)’s face flashed in his mind. He couldn’t be sure where she ran off to after she left, but if he had to guess, it would have been to the main hall or to the infirmary to care for guests. Either way, she’d never dream of leaving the island with so much at stake. Neither could he, and the thought of leaving her behind made his answer clear.

“No, I’m not going. Have a safe flight.” He turned on his heel and marched back to the central console. To his horror, Asset Containment Unit Alpha had been almost entirely wiped out. Only 4 members of a 12-person team remained.

“They’re not gonna make it, Tsukishima, we need to tell them to pull back,” the P.O. Assistant insisted.

He nodded, “Do it.”

The woman quickly gave the order. “Has your father finally--”

“My father is vacating the island with the board members and other investors as we speak,” Tsukishima said.

“Why am I not--” the assistant’s phone went off. “Hello? ...You what?”

“What happened?”

She snapped her phone shut, “It’s--it’s Takeru, my nephew. He was visiting the park today, but my assistant says he got separated from her, and-- and--”

“Hey,” he grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t freak out. It’s not like you, and it won’t help.”

“You’re right,” she said shakily, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. “I know I have work to do here, but I have to go find him, Tsukishima. I can’t--”

“I get it. Just go.”

The assistant nodded gratefully, sprinting out of the board room. As she

left, yet another assistant came for his attention and he was plunged back into the thick of things.

Meanwhile, (Y/N) stood at the doors of the underground lab. Her eyes were wild and her face flushed from exertion. The pristine, white lab was a stark contrast to the sweaty, panicked mob she passed by on her way here. It was as if the panic of the Indominus’s escape had no effect, save for the swarm of people in lab coats quickly packing up their equipment into thick armored suitcases. With the move in full swing, the lab doors were set wide open. In the chaos, she managed to slip into one of the adjoining storage rooms, where she found a large computer monitor. The bright blue screen was blinding in the dimly lit room. A profile displayed on the screen read “Indominus Rex.”

The young woman scrolled down the profile. She had to find out what the dinosaur was made of. The ACU would never survive without that information. They may not even survive with it. Finally, under the section titled “Genetic Makeup”, she found what she’s looking for. Before she could react to her findings, there was a sharp pain in the skill and she dropped to the ground unconscious.

Back in the control room, Kei gripped his cell phone tightly. Eighteen missed calls and (Y/N) still wouldn’t pick up. He couldn’t fight it anymore. He had a tech trace her cellphone and he hastily exited the room.

Once he left the building, Kei was greeted with what he expected hell looked like. There was a swarm of panicked park guests, sweaty and fearful. Several were injured from the sudden panic. Some had a haunted look in their eye that suggested they’d seen something that would haunt their nightmares for years to come. And where was his father? Safe on a helicopter, leaving all these people to fend for themselves simply because he could.

Kei was disgusted with himself. The Indominus had escaped hours ago. All this chaos could have been avoided by simply evacuating the park. But who cared about people’s lives when there was still profit to be made? Sure, he hadn’t actively supported his father’s selfishness, but he definitely didn’t object to it either. In all his indecision, ultimately, he was siding with his father. He was equally to blame for all this.

As Kei entered the underground tunnels, the screaming and cries of the panicked went silent. He realized he could hide away in the tunnels until the situation had blown over. Instead, Kei chose to press forward, knowing it wasn’t fair that he had that luxury.

The Mosasaur Stadium sat in the middle of the underground tunnels. From his view from the glass, Dolly, like her trainer, was nowhere to be found.

By the time Kei made it to the lab, it had been picked clean of equipment and personnel. All that remained were sterilized lab benches and pristine white walls. He found (Y/N) on the floor of an empty storage room. There was a nasty gash in the back of her head.

Kei kneeled and gently put two fingers to her pulse.

“Wake up!” he snapped at her. To his relief, her eyelids fluttered open. “Thank god. What the hell were you doing down here?”

“Ouch, my head,” she moaned. “I thought… the ACU… If they knew what the Indominus was made of…”

Kei nodded in understanding. He removed his tie to apply pressure to her wound.

“And? What is it?”

(Y/N) shook her head.

“I dunno. I think they hit me right as I saw.”

(Y/N) sat up, slowly regaining her strength.

“How much of the park has been evacuated?” she asked.

Kei checked his messages, “Almost everyone has been moved to secure locations or off the island completely.”

“What’s left?”

“The control room.”

She looked at him meaningfully and he nodded in agreement. Quickly dialing a number, he raised the phone to his ear.

“Evacuate the control room,” he said.

“Sir, are you sure?” the voice on the other end replied.

“Positive. I’ll take care of everything when I get there,” Kei reassured.

“...take care, sir,” the voice said reluctantly.

“You too.” Tsukishima ended the call and looked at (Y/N), who was already standing. She steadied herself against a wall, her balance wavered slightly, but her eyes were resolute.

“Let’s see what we can do.”

The underground tunnels were expansive. As the mosasaur trainer stalked down the hall ahead of him, Kei forced himself to speak up.

“I couldn’t, you know,” Tsukishima said.

“If you have to talk to me, say shit that makes sense,” (Y/N) snapped.

“My father. He wanted me to evacuate with him, but--”

“What? You could’ve gotten out of here! Do you have any idea how hard shit’s hit the fan?”

“I needed to know you were okay.”

(Y/N)’s expression softened for just a moment, then she ripped her gaze from his face. She retorted, “Why? You don’t seem to have a problem with hanging me out to dry.”

“(Y/N), I was--”

“Would you have left if not for me?” she demanded, stopping and facing him with her arms crossed.

It took Kei a minute to find an honest answer.

“No. I wouldn’t have. I’m rich, I’m an asshole, but I wouldn’t have left all these people. Not when I have the kind of clearance to help them, and especially not since all this is my fault.”

(Y/N) looked at him, bewildered.

“Your fault? How on Earth is this your fault?”

Kei shrugged, “I knew evacuation was the only safe bet, but I was too much of a coward to tell my father so. At least my father is blinded by money. Me, I don’t have an excuse.”

(Y/N) walked on silently for a while, opening her mouth a few times to speak, but shutting it each time. Eventually, she gave into the silence.

They came to the underground stadium, where the massive fiberglass panes housed the park’s biggest attraction.

(Y/N) placed her hand on the glass.

“Dolly… You okay, girl?”

Something enormous splashed into the water. When the bubbles cleared, there was Dolly, swimming around the bitten carcass of a pterosaur, as if she was celebrating her catch. The reptile’s handler smiled weakly.

“Good girl.”

“(Y/N).”

Tsukishima took her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. His tired eyes met hers. The blonde watched as the only person who really mattered to him glared back with a look of sadness, frustration, and betrayal.

“You would have supported them?” she asked sharply.”

“Look, I’ve been trained to follow orders my whole life--”

“And I’m sorry for that. But you can unlearn what you’ve been taught, Kei. You know how much I love Dolly! You knew, and-- and,” she gripped his shirt. The trainer hung her head in defeat.

“I thought you weren’t like your father.”

“I’m not, I promise. I’m sorry,” he whispered. This was it. He had to tell her. If he didn’t do it now, he never would.

“(Y/N), I lo--”

“No!”

Kei looked stunned, “No?”

“No! Dammit, Kei, I can’t do this with you right now. First, this is not the time. Second, you stabbed me in the back, like, two hours ago!

“I said I was sorry!”

“I get that, Kei, but for important shit like this, sorry just isn’t good enough, okay? Now, let’s get to the control room and get this dinosaur under wraps, then maybe we can have this conversation.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips, “Okay. Okay, I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

(Y/N) kept walking down the corridor, “Don’t be. Let’s just deal with the situation at hand.” The trainer produced a flip phone from her pocket. The person she was calling picked up on the third ring and she put the call on speaker.

“(Y/N)!” the familiar voice called in relief.

“Yama! You’re still doing okay?” she asked. The line went quiet for a while,

“Yams?” Another pause before the intern responded, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She and Tsukishima looked at each other, “Yama, what happened? Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not hurt, I just… Oh god, (Y/N), it’s Hinata,” Yamaguchi’s voice

cracked at the end.

(Y/N)’s breath caught in her throat, “What happened to Hinata?”

On the other end, she could hear Yamaguchi choking back a sob.

“He went to the aviary to check for survivors and I saw his vitals monitor. He’s flatlined, (Y/N), he’s dead.”

Tsukishima closed his eyes. The whole situation was snowballing so damn fast and there was so little anyone could do about it.

“No…” (Y/N) whispered, “Jesus, I’m sorry, Yama.”

“Me too,” he replied. Yamaguchi sniffled, then his voice stabilized, “Anyway, keep making your way to the control room. I’ll get into the database somehow and we’ll figure out how to stop this thing.”

“Got it. Please be-- ...careful,” she said softly.

“(Y/N)?”

She clutched her head, “It’s coming back to me now… Yamaguchi! The Indominus! I saw it on the database, could it be part raptor?”

On the other side, Yamagichi gasped, “They never let me see the file, but now that I think about it, it’s highly likely! I’ll contact Iwaizumi and see if there’s anything he can help with! Let me know if anything changes!”

“I will. Please be careful,” she begged.

“I will, and you, too, (Y/N). Tell Tsukki I love him.”

“I love you, too, Yamaguchi,” Kei replied. With that, the call clicked off.

(Y/N) inhaled deeply, “Hinata’s dead.”

“I heard.”

She shook her head, “Let’s just keep moving. I--”

Her eyes fixed on the tank where Dolly had just leapt out of the water for prey again. Bubbles flooded their view as the massive dinosaur crashed back down into her tank. (Y/N)’s mouth dropped open.

“Holy shit.”

“What is it?”

(Y/N) started sprinting down the corridor towards the control room, “I have an idea!”

‘You better know what you’re doing, (Y/N),’ Tsukishima thought. He paced the floor of the control room nervously as he waited for the signal.

Their plan was well underway, and it had gone surprisingly well, which was all the more reason for him to feel like something was going to go horribly wrong.

When (Y/N) originally told him what the plan was, his response was, “Fuck no,” but after Yamaguchi and Iwaizumi both agreed that it was their best bet, Kei relented, though not without voicing his displeasure extensively.

That girl was really lucky he L-worded her. Through the security monitors, he could see the T-Rex and the Raptors were tag-teaming the Indominus. They seemed to be making progress, but the whole group looked like they were losing steam.

The radio beside him crackled to life, making him jump.

“Kei? Can you hear me?” (Y/N)’s voice came through the machine.

“Loud and clear.”

“Okay, on my signal, cut the power to Security Fence 4.”

The button was red, marked with bold black letters, and had a plexiglass case over it. Kei pressed the “disable” button, making the screen read, ‘UNAUTHORIZED COMMAND: Please enter credentials.’ He typed, ‘Tsukishima Kei,’ placing his hand on the biometric scanner when prompted.

‘MANUAL OVERRIDE: Accepted

All the previously red buttons turned green.

“Okay. Ready when you are.”

“Good. Now, listen to me, Kei,” she said grimly, “You have to cut the power the moment I tell you to. The system has a backup generator that will kick in within 30 seconds. If it's electrified when we hit it, the jeep will explode and our whole plan is shot. That fence can NOT, I repeat, CAN NOT be electrified when I get there, do you understand?”

The male nodded weakly, then, realizing she couldn’t see him, said his affirmation aloud. The radio went quiet. On the screens, the Indominus dug it’s rows of razor sharp teeth into the T-Rex’s neck, throwing the creature as far as it would go. The T-Rex lay there and did not move.

The Indominus Rex roared in victory and went in for the kill. There was a bright flash of red further away as someone offscreen lit a flare. The light became brighter as the person neared (Y/N) and they tossed it into the jeep, catching the Indominus’s attention.

Turning away from it’s prize, the hybrid screeched in rage and took off towards the light. (Y/N) hopped out of the driver’s seat, placing something on the gas pedal and diving away from the vehicle.

‘It might be better if I stay in the jeep and drive it myself,’ he remembered her saying back in the control room.

‘Better for you dying. If the impact with the fence doesn’t kill you, you’ll either drown or Dolly will eat you,’ he’d snapped.

‘But what if--’

He cut her off, ‘But nothing. Put a brick on the gas and move out of the way. There’s no reason to put you in any further danger.’

Amazingly, Kei was the one who won that debate and that’s what brought them to the present moment, with (Y/N) scrambling up off the floor and sprinting out of the Indominus’s path.

The hybrid dinosaur sprinted after the jeep that was speeding towards the mosasaur tank. The distance between the two was closing at an alarming rate.

Just before the vehicle made contact with the security fence, the radio crackled to life, “Now, Kei!”

Tsukishima slammed the button.

‘SECURITY FENCE 4: Disabled’

Just before it made contact with the fence, the jeep’s metal frame crunched under the Indominus’s powerful jaws.

“Fuck!” Kei yelled at the sight. A few seconds later, the buttons turned back to red and the screen read, ‘SECURITY FENCE 4: Enabled.’

“Well, what now?” he yelled into the radio.

“Uh, I don’t--! Fuck-- I don’t know, I’m out of ideas!” she cried in response.

Having been given a break, one of the raptors jumped in, ready to finish the fight. The creature leapt into action to subdue the murderous hybrid, but with that size difference, she wouldn’t last long.

On the verge of panic, (Y/N) said, “If the jeep broke through the fence, Dolly would have noticed the prey, but the Indominus by itself hasn’t gotten her attention! She must be too deep!”

“Well, then, get her attention!” he shot back.

(Y/N) gasped, yanking her whistle out from inside her windbreaker, “Hold me up to the main PA.”

He reached over and jabbed the button.

(Y/N) looked up when she heard his voice over the speakers spread throughout the park, “Whenever you’re ready.”

As Kei keld the radio up to the PA, (Y/N) put her whistle to her lips and blew as hard as she could, the sound undetectable by human ears. They waited with baited breath as the Indominus flung the raptor aside, where the smaller reptile did not get up. The Indominus stopped and let out another bloodcurdling roar.

When nothing more happened, all Kei could think was, ‘We failed.’

Just then, quicker than Kei could comprehend, an incredible volume of water overtook his field of view. Water droplets obscured the CCTV cameras giving him a view of the action, and when they cleared, it took him a moment to register the massive aquatic dinosaur protruding halfway out of its paddock. It held the silver, spiny-backed hybrid in its ginormous maw of thousands of teeth. Crushed by a predator honed by millions of years of evolution, the Indominus writhed in pain and panic, but its struggle only opened more wounds in its flank. It screeched in pain or terror or frustration, Kei wasn’t sure. The only thing that mattered was the slick sound of Dolly sliding backwards into her enclosure, taking her prey with her. All that was left was dark purple blood, soaked pavement, a broken fence still sparking, and a crushed jeep.

“Holy shit,” Tsukishima whispered.

“Holy shit,” (Y/N) murmured in agreement before her knees gave out and she fell to the floor unconscious.

With the Indominus gone and the pterosaurs having been hunted down by the military, park guests were being reunited with their friends and family. Rescue teams were sent to canvas the park for survivors, though they were advised not to get too close to the mosasaur tank. Tsukishima shuddered, knowing that the mosasaurus was always fully capable of leaping halfway out of its tank, she simply chose not to, perhaps out of respect for (Y/N). If, by some miracle, the park survived, he’d have to enforce some serious regulations.

“Tsukishima-san?” one of the surviving guards came to collect him. Conveniently, Kei’s general demeanor kept him from flinching at being addressed the way he heard everyone address his father. The guard led him to a private section of the infirmary, where he saw (Y/N) sitting on a cot looking like she’d spent the last 10 hours in a ditch, though her injuries otherwise looked far from anything life threatening.

“Oh, relax, I’m fine,” she said when she saw the look on his face. “I just got myself all scratched up jumping out of the jeep. I’m not even that hurt.”

Kei scooped her up in his arms in relief.

“Okay, owie, owie, I’m not completely unharmed, stop, stop, stop,” she whined.

The tall male pulled back and stared down at her. The left side of her face has several cuts and she held an ice pack to her ribs on the same side. She had heavy bags under her eyes, but those same eyes shone with relief and delight now that the whole ordeal was over.

“I’d ask if you had brain damage, but you must’ve already had some to come up with such a reckless plan,” he scolded.

(Y/N) gaped at him, “Reckless? It worked! Don’t be mean, Kei, I did good today.”

“You would have done great today if you hadn’t come back to me injured.”

“Again, it worked, didn’t it?”

“I suppose,” he rolled his eyes. “But it would really do wonders for my blood pressure if the person I care about most didn’t have such self-destructive tendencies.”

She grinned at his choice of words, “What was that you called me just now?”

“Self-destructive.” Chuckling, he took her hand in his, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of it. “Are we gonna be okay?” he asked, not making eye contact with her.

Content, the girl smiled and nestled against her pillows. Her eyes slowly drifted shut.

“We’re gonna be just fine, Kei,” she replied. For a moment he thought she didn’t quite understand what he meant until she squeezed his hand gently. Tsukishima smiled in relief, squeezing her hand back.

“Kei?”

“Hmm?”

“I feel the same way.”

@delicious-peaches-blog

@unusproomnibusomnesprouno

@mac-the-oregonian

#tsukishima x reader #tsukishima kei #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x you

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missanthropicprinciple · 3 years ago

Text

A Tale of Elio and My Fixation with Lovable Androids

TL;DR Feel free to scroll past this unless you’re keen to read my ramblings about androids, Neoclassical art, children’s lit, and bad science fiction movies.

Since the late 1990s one of my favourite books has been A Tale of Time City (1989) by Diana Wynne Jones. It’s a mildly confusing story but engaging, with memorable characters, including the android Elio, pictured above - my own fan art from a few years ago. Studio Ghibli really needs to make this film if no one does a live-action version, seeing as they brought Jones’ novel Howl’s Moving Castle to life. Here’s a scan of my favourite edition with mesmerizing cover art by Richard Bober.

This book inspired me so much I’ve done research on it. I wasn’t in a class in grad school that allowed me to write about it so I took it on as a casual independent project in 2019. Two days after my dad died of cancer I was scheduled to present my paper on Elio from ATOTC. Needless to say I was not able to finish writing the essay. I told the department coordinator I would likely not attend but I would let him know. He was seriously surprised that I showed up. I must have looked like a ghost - wearing a nice top, skirt, tights, and short heels. I was still in total shock but I thought I might as well press on. My paper’s working tile remains as it was: Elio: Android Autonomy and the Personification of the Sun God. I presented a long bullet point list of working ideas and research done up until that point. My work is still on the broad side because it’s an intersection of young adult fiction, Neoclassic art, and android autonomy; I have some narrowing to do. Here are my main arguments thus far:

Firstly, the android character Elio’s physical characteristics and personality are inspired by Helios, the Hellenistic Greek god and personification of the sun. Apparently, Elio is a Spanish name meaning sun and also an Italian given name referring to the element helium, originally derived from the Greek name of the sun-god Helios.

Secondly, Elio and Helios share more than an etymological connection and the comparison of Elio to Helios can be articulated in two distinct ways: the aesthetic comparison, and that Elio possesses some of the qualities Helios is known for. Jones’ work repeatedly associates Elio with sunlight and golden hues, aspects which are exemplified in the 1765 Neoclassical painting Helios as the Personification of Midday by Anton Raphael Mengs. (I vaguely remember translating a couple passages from a large art book written in German when I was studying Neoclassical art.)

This work is considered an unusual depiction of Helios. Mengs uses a motif of the glowing arrow which is interpreted by François-Xavier Fabre as a symbol of the midday heat and the sun's rays which penetrate and give light to the earth. The representation of the sun in this way is considered unusual for the 18th century because it goes against Classical and Baroque iconography which portrays Helios riding a chariot. Ironically, Jones references this. Elio proclaims his fondness for films, particularly the chariot race from Ben Hur. Elio, like Mengs’ depiction of Helios, lacks a chariot but retains his beauty and powers.

As for Elio possessing some of the qualities of Helios, the god is often referred to as “all seeing” or “Zeus’s eye.” Similarly, Elio has the ability to anticipate problems and see what humans do not, but not because he’s a god, but because he’s a servant. However, this is where his self governing comes into play when he uses his observations to take action beyond any directives he has been given. His physical strength, like Helios, exceeds that of humans. Elio himself says, “my utmost is more than twice that of a born-human” (Jones, 211).

Thirdly, Elio’s self awareness allows him to use both his powers of observation and superior physical strength independent from humans. He does not always wait to be told how to use his power; he wields it. Not only does he play a part equal to that of humans in Jones’ plot, he specifically controls the fates of certain human characters. For example, he doesn’t always utilize his speed when he’s at the beck and call of his master, Sempitern. He makes choices not to fully comply with the demands made of him.

My fourth point, which I can’t quite articulate well, is that the most significant dynamic of this comparison is the body of Elio and how his physicality interacts with his autonomy. Elio acts as an individual who contributes to a wider mythology just as Helios does. Yet, while Elio is superior to humans in many ways, his quasi-humanity allows him to act in ways which align with Helios’ qualities.

For example, Elio makes personal choices and exhibits emotions not necessary for him, as an android, to function. He confesses a desire to harm another android out of annoyance where a passionate opinion would not be expected from an android. This human failing is indicative of the same autonomy which allows him to act as Helios does. Elio has been constructed as a superhuman body in terms of his abilities, however, the human qualities which contribute to his Helios-like powers undermine his intended purpose.

Ultimately, Elio ascends the usefulness of his “owned” body by acting independently from the humans who utilize him. His human qualities make him vulnerable and therefore he loses some of his godlike powers. Elio, while only an assistant to his human owners, utilizes his own physical and mental powers to maintain his autonomy. Conversely, his god-like qualities make Elio more human rather than affirming his android identity.

This is a very complex subject and I don’t really know where I’m going with it and have possibly made some suppositional errors. TL;DR: What I do know is that Elio presents a paradox: being idealized for his abilities allows him to be autonomous while being autonomous disrupts the servitude of his body.

I am in the process of determining what lens I will use to analyze Elio’s experience and functionality of being an android. I’m thinking about using Alan Turning’s 1950 work Computing Machinery and Intelligence. I’m still navigating the literary theory aspect, or indeed philosophical aspect, of this area of study.

This brings me to something I came across later that relates to Elio and ATOTC.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The closest depiction of an android that I’ve seen to Elio other than Data is from a terrible and somewhat forgotten science fiction film from 1989. “Byron”, (played by pre-Jurassic Park-fame Bob Peck) the android in the painfully awful film Slipstream comes very close to Elio in terms of tone, attitude, and characterization. Despite the embarrassingly bad script and dialogue, Peck does a bang-up job, seemingly acting in a wonderful film running parallel to the absolute trash his co-stars were apparently “acting” in. Yes, I rewatched this film just to write this analysis. (The secondhand embarrassment is off the charts and I had it playing at a low volume most of the time Byron was not on the screen.)

When you first see Byron he’s acting out autonomy but you’re not aware he’s an android. The audience is told he’s an escaped fugitive, a murderer, and that’s all we know for over half the film. Yet there are several clues. When you first see him he’s running over rugged terrain in a suit which was kind of a big hint but nothing makes sense in this film so I just thought that it was a weird costume choice. Then he’s literally shot with a grappling hook. He doesn’t seem to be in pain even though he’s shocked by it, and then is pulled down by a bounty hunter named Tasker (Mark Hamill) and hits the ground from a great height and doesn’t die. He just quotes what I think is John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s "High Flight”: “I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth….and touched the face of God.” Next time you see him, he’s in handcuffs, looking super depressed, and apparently not bleeding out from the now absent grapple hook that’s gone through his forearm.

He eventually quotes Lord Byron to cryptically indicate his name which is lost on Bill Paxton’s character, Matt. “Byron” essentially means cowshed. It’s ironic because Byron the android is in many ways a receptacle of knowledge. Matt even says sarcastically, “Well aren’t you a walking storeroom of information,” and Byron responds cheerfully, “Yes.”

Byron breaks out of his handcuffs saying they’d “become rather superfluous.” You think he’s just showing off but once you know he’s an android you know he’s just honest all the time. He then heals a blind child and paraphrases Psalm 127:3. Matt says, “I didn’t know you were a healer.” Apparently Byron can perform cataract surgery in less than five minutes. Along their journey together (Bill is set on collecting the bounty on Byron’s head before Tasker can catch up) they camp out. Byron sleeps with his eyes open. (Even if he is an android wouldn’t his eyes need to be “cleaned” in the same way humans need to close our eyes and blink?) Matt wakes up to find Byron seemingly strangling him. “I was feeling your carotid pulse,” he explains. “I was just checking for arrhythmia and episodes of ventricular tachycardia.” At this point you realize he’s not so much a spiritual healer as a doctor who philosophizes a lot.

Byron’s miraculous behavior and pontificating is called into question by a nomadic spiritual community which has been torn apart by an attack on their village. As he lays dying, Ben Kingsley’s character calls Byron a “false prophet” but his faith in this stranger is somewhat restored when he says, “all that will be left of me is bits of gold in the sand. You have a soul, do not abandon it in death.”

Another character says, “The stranger is no mortal man.” Therefore it is clear that Byron likely isn’t human. We don’t find out he’s an android until 46 minutes into the film. Once that’s cleared up, other concepts arise in the script. While not well executed, they are really interesting; emotion both positive and negative, free will, perfection, A.I. slavery, and murder are all addressed throughout the second half of the film. Byron says he doesn’t understand “hate” in context of his “master” to whom he was nurse, brother, father, mentor, and friend, but he admits he was more of a slave than anything else.

The character Ariel takes an interest in him for a variety of reasons, especially romantically. In one very evocative moment we see Byron in a museum exhibit, a false garden of Eden, full of fake vegetation and taxidermies, full body mounts. So we’ve got an android having an Adam experience. Whether or not he experiences “original sin” with Ariel or if he’s “fully functional” is never acknowledged. Although one woman says, “Amanda slept with a robot?!” (who the f**k is Amanda?!) and a man says to another sitting next to him, “I hear they’re rather mechanical in the saddle.”

Byron is less concerned with consummation and more excited about love, sleep, and dreaming. When he is with Ariel he doesn’t quite know how to act in terms of sexual play and then apologizes: “I’m not accustomed to being loved.” We see him closing his eyes when he’s cuddled up with Ariel; the next day he is certainly very pleased that he fell asleep with his eyes closed and had a dream.

In terms of his servitude and autonomy they did not spend an adequate portion of the exposition on it. Matt has a change of heart and says instead of collecting the bounty, he’ll set him free as it’s briefly revealed that Byron killed his “master” upon the man’s request. Naturally, this brings up a lot of confusing feelings for Byron. “Is this what it’s like to be human? I don’t think I’m up to it,” he says. “Can I be trusted with human feelings?” And in a way he cannot. Ariel is brutally shot by Tasker.

Byron is angered over Ariel’s death and follows the bounty hunter to his ship. Instead of taking him in to collect a reward, Tasker tries to run him down with the glider plane. Byron manages to get himself caught in the engine and starts to strangle his assailant. Tasker quotes “touched the face of god” which brings Byron to his senses and he stops killing Luke Skywalker Tasker and tries to save the plane. It looks like he’s going to hot-wire it but then uses the wires like reins (chariot imagery???). They crash into the side of a mountain slope. Tasker dies but Byron survives. Apparently he’s basically indestructible and somewhat godlike. “I’m too dangerous to be human,” Byron tells Matt. In the end, he goes off in search of the place he’d been dreaming about.

Although in terms of physical appearance the two androids are vastly different, they have so much in common. Here are some basic concepts.

Character: Both are stoic, formal, intelligent, honest

Indestructible: Byron is injured with a grappling hook, takes a major fall of about 20 or 30 feet without a scratch: he is somewhat godlike or slave-like, meant to withstand destruction and pain. Elio is less indestructible but easily repaired.

Healer: Byron has the skills to heal people with basic surgery. Elio doesn’t take his own injuries seriously and experiences pain for the first time (Jones, 218-9).

Both think they deserve to be punished: Elio states this quite clearly (Jones, 276) and Byron says the same thing about himself with resigned passivity.

Complex relationship with “human emotions”: Both come to terms with violence, anger, and love.

Autonomy: At the end of the film Byron goes off on his own to look for a promised land. Elio decides his own fate by deciding to accompany the children of the story, stating that Vivian is a “particular favorite” of his (278).

Dreaming and stories: Byron is searching for a place, “where I think I belong,” he says, which is a place he often thinks and dreams about. Dreaming is considered to be a human attribute, a non-essential bi-product to consciousness. Elio enjoys stories and old films (Jones, 180), similarly “human” in nature.

(Peck, seen here waiting for Bill Paxton to learn how to act. Sorry, I’m salty.)

Disclaimer: This is a work in progress! This project is an intersection of niche subjects that interest no one but myself.

Anyway, my point is (yes, I did have a point...or rather several) was that if anyone should adapt A Tale of Time City, Byron from Slipstream is the best example of how Elio should be portrayed in terms of characterization. I feel that Slipstream should have been centered around Byron. The film was kind of like, just about the “we’re both fighting over the bounty of this fugitive” sorta thing. It would have made more sense to focus on Byron as he is arguably the most interesting character and represents many of the conflicts within the story. I would like to combine my research on ATOTC and Slipstream one day. In any case, this is a good start.

Works Cited (WIP)

Jones, Diana W. A Tale of Time City: Knopf, 1987. Print. Perkowitz, Sidney. Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids. Washington, D.C: Joseph Henry Press, 2004. Print.

Roettgen, Steffi, and Anton R. Mengs. Anton Raphael Mengs: 1728-1779 Part 2. München: Hirmer, 1999. Print.

Turing, A. M. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind, vol. 59, no. 236, 1950, pp. 433–460. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2251299. Wilson, Eric. The Melancholy Android: On the Psychology of Sacred Machines. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006. Print

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thesvenqueen · 5 years ago

Text

Jurassic Park

Rating: T (may change, who knows) Pairing: Kristanna Also on AO3

Previous Chapters ( One Two )

Note(s): a brachiosaurus are the long neck dinosaurs, or long necks, that everyone knows and loves. But our couple are scientists and they're not gonna call em long necks, they're gonna be specific because SCIENCE lolalso, seeing as Anna would get her doctorate before she married Kristoff (only by a few months), I had her be referred to as Dr. Arendelle. Plus, it's out of respect on her & Kristoff too by letting them both have the honor of doctor behind their name that they both worked real hard for; their family name. And for my sake, two Dr. Bjorgman's would be so damn confusing lets be honest lol

{Chapter 3}

Anna smiled to herself, tapping her fingers on the outside of the Jeep door as they drove along the dirt path.

She had known from the moment she walked up, arm looped with Sven’s that Kristoff was incredibly jealous. He was never good at hiding his emotions, and Anna had seen the jealousy written on his face, had felt it radiating off of him from the moment she had introduced Sven. It was laughable really, Sven was completely harmless.

Sven was a big flirt sure, thinking of himself as some smooth operator when Anna knew from experience he was not near as good as he thought. Had played witness to a few incidents that proved it too. It didn’t matter to Kristoff though, apparently, only taking the ‘angel’ comment to immediately despise Sven.

Which, in hindsight, wasn’t really fair to Sven as he did deserve a chance. Then again, he wasn’t helping his case with all the casual flirty comments and snarky remarks either.

Anna couldn’t recall if she’d ever mentioned her friendship with Sven, not really thinking of a time it could’ve come about.

There was the wedding, but that had been a small affair. Seeing as she really hadn’t spoken to Sven in years, he hadn’t crossed her mind. She had seen his name come up in the news, had heard Kristoff mentioning one of the stories too. A fight if Anna remembered correctly which was so like Sven.

Even then, she hadn’t said a word about their friendship and Anna felt bad.

Well, only a little.

It was quiet now, thankfully, she knew Kristoff could only handle so much right now. The tension in his jaw during the helicopter flight to the island said so. She glanced back at him, smiling sweetly, to see the tension still sitting strongly.

Kristoff smirked at her, gripping the handle tighter as they hit another bump.

“Jesus Christ.” Sven muttered, “Did they not think about paved roads?”

Even behind his sunglasses, Anna could tell Kristoff was rolling his eyes as he looked back out the window.

Anna giggled then, not able to hold it in any longer and turned back to look out her own window.

It was always so much fun to make Kristoff squirm, and this was no exception.

She leaned her head slightly, closing her eyes and letting the breeze from the car ride cool her off from the intense heat and humidity. She never was one for an island life but she couldn’t lie when she found it rather appealing.

Driving on an island, shorts all year round, in an open topped jeep, Kristoff grinning from ear to ear as he drove, his skin tan enough to bring out the freckles on his face. They’d explore every bit of the island they could, all the beaches and mountain areas. Maybe they’d have a little place on the beach, far enough away from everyone that they could see the stars at night. Then their kids could....

Instinctively she bit her lip.

From the beginning, from the few conversations they had had, Anna knew Kristoff wasn’t big on the idea of kids. His past was to blame, she knew that but it still hurt nonetheless to think he was so against the whole aspect. It hadn’t been in her plans either, she never dreamed she’d one day want that kinda life. Now, more than anything she wanted it, to be Mom to kids, their kids.

Kristoff hadn’t exactly said no yesterday and she knew him well enough to know he had more to say on the issue. If not for Dr. Hammond’s arrival, there was a good chance they could’ve come to a decision right there on the site.

Either way, there was more to be said but for now, as she opened her eyes to watch the trees go by, she was going to enjoy this while she could.

As they drove, Anna saw something that caught her eye. For a moment, she thought she had just been mistaken but no, there it was again.

How was that possible?

Confused, she saw another low lying branch up ahead. Taking her chance, Anna stood just enough to stretch her arm high above the car and rip a leaf from the branch.

“What are you doing?” Kristoff asked but Anna ignored him.

She sat down and stared at the leaf in her hand, not noticing the Jeep slowing and coming to a stop.

The leaf was massive, bigger than her head but that’s not what caught her attention.

She’d seen this plant, knew it like the back of her hand as she had studied the fossil of it for years.

One that was supposed to be completely extinct.

Had been for millions of years.

There was no way in hell she was holding it right now, alive and thriving, in her hands.

But the more she studied it, the more she realized it to be true.

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Anna murmured, hearing someone shift in the back of the jeep as she flipped the leaf in her hand, “This plant shouldn’t even be here. Kristoff, this species has been extinct for hundreds of millions of years. I don’t--”

A hand grabbed her head and forced it to turn left.

“Hey, what are you--” She said, ready to retort but the words died on her lips.

Anna blinked.

Then blinked again.

With a start, she jumped to stand in her seat, ripping her sunglasses off as her mouth gaped in absolute shock.

There, not even a couple yards away, strolling through the trees was a brachiosaurus. A large, grey, long necked brachiosaur.

For a moment, Anna couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe. All she could do was just stare at what was before her.

A dinosaur.

A real life, breathing, living, dinosaur.

How? How the hell was this even possible?

She watched as it slowly made its way through the trees, grabbing leaves here and there as it passed through. It was so close, just up the hill now and without hesitation, Anna jumped from the jeep.

She didn’t take her eyes off of it, staring as she came around the car slowly, leaning her head back as far as she could to see as much of it as possible.

There was a sound next to her, and she didn’t have to look to know that Kristoff had joined her outside the jeep, both now walking towards the massive creature.

“Anna.”

“I know.”

“That’s--” he said, pointing, looking at Anna, “that’s a dinosaur.”

Anna huffed a laugh, tears in her eyes, “It is.”

His face broke into the biggest smile Anna had ever seen. She laughed again, giggling in excitement as she came up to Kristoff and grabbed his hand.

There stood one of the many creatures Anna had been obsessed with since she was a child; one her and Kristoff had only dreamed about. Instead of a drawing, a fossil or even a digital rendering however, it was alive and breathing.

Alive, breathing and eating the leaves from the tops of the trees.

They were beside it now, still a few paces away but close enough that Anna had to lean her head back completely to see it.

She watched, speechless as the creature continued to eat completely unaware.

“The movement,” Kristoff murmured, standing in front of her.

“The agility, you were right.” Anna said, smiling so big her cheeks hurt as she grabbed his bicep with her free hand.

“They can get rid of the rule books, they were...they were totally wrong. It’s not a cold-blooded creature, it’s completely warm blooded.”

“And it doesn’t live in a swamp.”

“The neck, it’s what? Twenty-five, thirty feet long?” Kristoff said, looking down to Anna.

“Thirty.” Dr. Hammond answered as he came up behind them.

Kristoff gaped at him, then looked at Anna and she could see the tears in his eyes.

It was a dream, there was no way it was real.

Sudden movement caught their attention, and Anna looked to see the brachiosaur stand up on its hind legs, reaching ever higher to get one branch that had been just out of reach.

It stood there for a moment, ripping the leaves off of the branch then came back down to all fours with a solid thud; one that shook Anna to her bones.

Anna felt Kristoff squeeze her hand, and looked back to him. He was still looking up at the dinosaur, eyes wide like a little kid on Christmas morning.

“How fast are they?” Anna asked, and she saw Kristoff huff a laugh.

"Always the curious one." He murmured and Anna nudged him with her hip.

“Well,” Dr. Hammond began, “We clocked the T-rex at thirty-two miles per hour.”

“Wait, what?!" Anna whipped around then, her own eyes wide now. “A T-rex. You….you have a T-rex?” She asked, astonished.

“Uh huh.” Dr. Hammond said, a proud smile on his face.

“Oh my god. Kristoff, they have a T-rex.” She said, turning back to Kristoff who looked at her with confusion and shock, “An actual T-rex!” She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, letting them fall freely.

“Holy shit.” Kristoff said, and his legs gave out. He hit the ground, hard. His face was ghostly white, his eyes so wide in shock.

“Kristoff.” Anna said, kneeling beside him. “Honey, just breathe, ok? Head between your knees.” She placed a hand on his cheek, brushing his hair back from his face with the other.

“Is this a dream?” He whispered to her, placing his hand over hers.

Anna smiled, huffing a laugh as more tears fell, and shook her head.

“Oh no, it’s real. They’re all real.” Dr. Hammond said, catching their attention, a large grin on his face, “Dr. Bjorgman, my dear Dr. Arendelle, welcome to Jurassic Park.” He turned then, facing away from them. They followed his gaze and Anna gasped.

There, just below the hill was a valley and within it were several more dinosaurs. One herd sat along a watering hole while another, a herd of brachiosaurus, were wading through the watering hole itself.

It was a site to behold, one that brought more tears to Anna’s eyes.

Somehow someway, the creatures, the dinosaurs, ones that Anna had cherished her whole life were alive. They were real and here right in front of her.

Who knew what other species were here on the island, what others that Anna had looked over countless times in books that were now breathing once again. The possibilities were endless, but she still wondered

“How?” Kristoff asked, beating Anna to the punch.

She looked up to Dr. Hammond as he turned back to them, a sparkle in his eyes, “I’ll show you.”

#kristanna #kristoff #anna #sven #jurassic park au #jessica writes #kristoff may be a gruff jealous shit but dinos and anna makes him soft af #lol

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eunbinppap · 4 years ago

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tag games....now that’s a name I haven’t heard in years dhshkjdhskdsah

tagged by the lovely @hekatos-mist xx give him a follow will ye?

rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better/catch up with and then answer these questions.

last song: "BOCA” by Dreamcatcher (absolute banger of a song. Hold Up! I’m a geek, the big paradox!)

last movie: pretty sure it was a bit of Jurassic Park with my bf. only got to watch half of it but its good

currently reading: n o t h i n g : ( jk i restarted ‘Toxic Parents’ by Susan Forward and Craig Buck. Read the first half of it 3 years ago at the height of a lot of family drama and it made me feel less alone. Gonna finish it bc the second half of it was dealing with it as an adult and i was 15 when i first read it.

currently watching: “Science Fell In Love So I Tried To Prove It” the main couple are nerds. literally, theyre graduate phd students! nice to see an anime romcom with adults and not high schoolers. very funny and sweet so far (im on ep 5). Also poor Kanade

currently craving: so many things. noodles or sushi foodwise, the fenty lipgloss coz i ran out of it last week, and just......kisses. i miss my bf a lot. i might be seeing him next saturday and hopefully staying the night but im impatient and want to see him nowwww

working on anything right now?: confidence and self-image mainly. just trying to be more confident in myself......wait yall meant like art oh oops. atm no, but i’ll see if there’s any writing competions that i could partake in. i want to write again

currently playing: ducklife 4 lolol i had the sudden urge to play it yesterday. its alright, still prefer ducklife 3. gonna play papa’s sushiria later. just basically childhood flash games bc flash will be gone by december and IM NOT READY

tag 9 people ;_;....i barely know 9 uhhhh @canihavesomebacon @deadcereus @riisaru @roses-for-jonghyun @roselucksky and anyone else who wants to join in ^^

#tag game #long post

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magewriter · 5 years ago

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Rescued

I own nothing!

Lena’s been rescued, but recovery is no easy thing.

This is for Thattallnerdybean/Silent_specter! They wanted hurt/comfort, angst, and Supercorp. Not sure how well I covered the angst as that’s not my typical wheelhouse, but I hope they still like this.

Happy Holidays!

________---------------

Lena woke with a cut off scream. Kara jolted awake, tumbling off the bed so she could be between Lena and the door.

“Lena?” Kara turned to her girlfriend.

“Nightmare,” Lena rasped. She took the water Kara had gotten for her.

Her hands were finally healed, fingers once more straight and the nails regrown if still tender. The bruises were gone and the cuts healed to fading scars. She was still in walking casts and her high heels were a distant dream, but her legs were healing.

She took stock of all of this, reminding herself that her nightmare had been just that: a nightmare. The man responsible was behind bars as were those who had helped him. Kara, aided by their friends and family, had rescued her.

It had taken them nearly two months to do so, but they had come for her. Kara had ripped the building apart coming to her aide.

Kara had never given up on her. She had never lost hope that Lena was still alive when everything pointed to the opposite conclusion.

“Movie and cuddles or a bath?” Kara asked softly, taking the empty glass from Lena’s hands.

“Take a bath with me?” Lena fidgeted. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Then you won’t be,” Kara dashed around their apartment, preparing what was needed for a relaxing bath sans wine. “Do you need any of your meds?”

“No,” Lena shook her head. “I’m not ready to sleep again.”

“Okay,” Kara picked Lena up and carried her to the bathroom. “I love your tub. Have I mentioned that, ever? Alex wishes she had a tub like this. She threatened to steal it once. Maggie and Lucy said they’d help her do it to.”

Lena chuckled as Kara told her story. She could see all three mentioned women planning such a heist. Sam would probably help them. If enough alcohol was involved, they might even try it at some point.

She relaxed into the hot water, resting against Kara when the taller woman settled behind her. She felt it as Kara drew nonsense lines and shapes across her skin, her lover slipping into another story. Lena recognized this one as a translation of a myth from Krypton.

“Sometimes I wonder why you still put up with me,” Lena said once Kara’s story had finished.

“I love you,” Kara replied. “That means both the good and the bad.” She snorted. “If your mother continues to fail at getting rid of me, I don’t see why you think some justifiable nightmares would do it.” That was key (in Kara’s mind), reminding Lena that her trauma was valid and she was allowed to be hurt by it even as the physical wounds healed.

“I wish they would stop.” Lena was just so tired of everything. She hated waking up, thinking even for a moment she was still chained in that room. She could no longer stand the feel of silk or satin on her skin. Soft pillows were tolerable only when Kara was with her. Her skirts and dresses hung unworn in their shared closet.

“I know,” Kara murmured, tightening her hold just a little to assure Lena that she was awake. She began to hum, thinking. “We only have PT today.”

“We both still have work,” Lena reminded her, already knowing where Kara was going with her statement.

“I know for a fact that you only have paperwork waiting for you, and you were going to only be there for a half-day.” Kara grinned. “HR loves when I use my off-time. You know, Suzy from HR is almost as scary as Pam at the DEO?” Kara snickered at Lena’s snort. “She is! She yelled at Snapper in his own bullpen!”

“She did not.”

“She did,” Kara nodded. “I heard her do it.”

“Alright, but I still-”

“No, you really don’t.” Kara rubbed one of the spots that were still tender. “Jess will send you anything that absolutely needs your signature. No one who matters is going to judge that we took a day off.”

“And what will we do on this ‘day off’?” Lena gave in. She didn’t really wish to be in her office anyway. She was still banned from the labs until her legs were out of casts completely.

“Well, you still have Disney movies to catch up on so there’s that.” Kara grinned at Lena’s huff. “I also have a surprise. It was going to wait until after PT, but if we’re not going back to bed then I can show you now.”

“Darling, just because-” It was awkward, but Kara still managed to cut her off with a kiss.

“I’ll get some sun later and be fine. Unless you want me to, I’m not leaving you alone. Even if you don’t want to speak about them, nightmares are best dealt with together.”

“Okay,” Lena never argued when Kara used that tone. She knew her girlfriend understood about nightmares. Kara still dealt with them from when she watched her planet explode and her time in the Phantom Zone.

Kara also never gave her the platitude of ‘give it time’. Sometimes she wanted Kara to get frustrated with her, but if the Kryptonian did she did it where Lena wouldn’t hear it.

They got out of the bath and into sweatpants and t-shirts. The clothing was soft and comfortable, a far cry from anything that had originally been in her closet. Kara loosely braided her hair, pulling her own back as well.

“You sit here, I’ll be right back.”

Lena looked bemused at the fact their dining room table was covered in an old bedsheet. It had to be one of Kara’s, given the dried paint splatter and faded crisscross pattern.

“I wasn’t entirely certain, so I pretty much got one of everything.”

“Oh my…” Lena began to giggle, going into full on laughter as Kara piled LEGO and science kits onto one end of the table and the floor beside it. “What is all this?”

“I know you still can’t get into either of your labs, so,” she waved her hands over the pile of choices. “Alex and Winn helped me find them. Although, I think Alex might want to be here when the more explosive ones happen.”

“Is that a dinosaur Kinetic kit?”

“Yep!” Kara piled the five different kits beside Lena.

That was how they spent the next several hours. Lena soon had a small army of parts and finished figures. Kara had amused herself by sketching, mostly Lena.

“Kara?”

“Hm?” She looked up from her sketchpad.

“Thank you, for this.” Lena didn’t know the last time she felt this relaxed.

“Are you feeling better?”

A little confused, Lena nodded. “Yes actually.”

“You never need to thank me for that.” Kara got up, pressing a kiss to Lena’s cheek. “I’m going to get breakfast. Try not to plan a real world Jurassic Park while I do that.”

“Darling, if I created it, there would have been adequate safety features. I also would never splice together different dinosaurs.”

Kara left, giggling over Lena’s continued arguments over the fallacies of a fictional theme park.

#Supercorp #hurt/comfort #supergirl secret santa femslash 2019 #thattallnerdybean #silent_specter

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quoth-the-sparrow · 5 years ago

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Books & Coffee

A Sanders Sides Fanfiction

Warnings: None; this is pure fluff (If I need to add anything, let me know)

Pairings: Mutual Pining Analogical

Description: Virgil and Logan have a meet cute!

Word Count: 1,276

You can also find this story here on ao3

(I wrote this for @queer-guineapig! Happy Dad’s Day, I love you!)

Logan walked down the busy street, taking in everything that was happening around him. He was still getting used to all the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. It was a drastic change from his hometown, where everyone knew everyone else and nothing exciting ever really happened. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Especially considering he was so ready to leave for somewhere, anywhere new, he couldn’t leave fast enough. A change of pace would be welcome, even if it meant learning to thrive in a fast paced city.

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice the rain until it started coming down fast in fat drops. “Shit, where did this weather come from? I’d better find somewhere to wait this out.”

Restaurants and shops lined the street, but none caught his eye until he came across a colorful sign. “The Treasure Trove… Huh,” Logan muttered. A good a place as any to stay dry. At least there would be books to read. He opened the door and went inside. Faint music could be heard along with the soft conversations of a few other patrons. A small section of the bookstore was a cafe of sorts, serving coffee, tea, and baked goods. Logan moved past this area and headed straight for the books. The shelves were dark wood and signs on the shelves told what genre could be found there. They seemed to go on and on, so many stories waiting to be told.

“Aptly named place… I could’ve sworn this shop seemed smaller on the outside.” Curiosity now piqued, Logan scoured the shelves, picking books up and setting them down again, only keeping a select few. He slowly but surely made his way to the science fiction section. The books seemed to be in somewhat of an alphabetical order, making it relatively easy to find things. He was so focused on finding one book in particular that when he did find it, he grabbed for it immediately. With all his attention on the prize before him, he didn’t notice someone else reaching for the exact same book.

***

Virgil sighed as he tapped his pencil against the table, staring intently at the drawing before him. No matter how many times he tried, the sketch just wasn’t cooperating. “Well shit, so much for getting that done today,” he muttered under his breath. He slipped his sketchbook into his bag and stood, stretching. He thought about getting another coffee, but he’d been sitting curled up in the same position for the better part of an hour. Maybe it was a good idea to walk around for a bit.

He glanced out the window to see rain beginning to fall. With a shrug, he headed over to the shelves to see if he could find a copy of Jurassic Park. He had been flipping through his copy the other day and a few pages fell out. Roman had just laughed at his distraught face. “You’re such a nerd, I thought nerds were supposed to be good at taking care of books?”

“Shut up, Princey, it’s an old copy! Guess I’ll just buy another one, I guess.”

Which is what initially brought him to The Treasure Trove, the best bookshop in town. He loved everything about it; the lofi chillhop music they played, the coffee, the pastries, the way the rows of shelves seemed to stretch on forever. It was its own magical wonderland, hidden away from the busy LA streets.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the science-fiction section. The books were mostly organized, though he knew patrons would sometimes grab a book and carelessly leave it somewhere else. He meticulously scanned the shelves, not paying any mind to his surroundings. His eyes widened as he found what he’d been looking for; and it was the 25th anniversary edition! He reached for it, but just as his fingertips curled around the spine, another hand brushed his.

***

Logan pulled his hand back and looked at the person who was standing next to him. The man was taller than him by at least four inches, maybe five. His hair was dark purple and his eyes were the most beautiful shade of green, flecked through with bits of hazel and gold. He was easily the most handsome man Logan had ever seen. The man gave him a warm smile and handed him the book. “Here, you take it.” Logan blinked owlishly for a few seconds then shook his head.

“No, you grabbed it first. You should have it.” Logan fiddled with his octopus necklace, trying his best not to make a complete fool of himself in front of this incredibly attractive stranger. The man tilted his head and tried once more to offer the book, but Logan insisted he keep it.

“Alright then, if you’re sure.” He tucked the book under his arm. “Can I at least buy you a coffee? This place has the best coffee in town.” Logan nodded and followed the man as he led them to the cafe area. “I’m Virgil, what’s your name?”

“Logan. I like your name; it’s interesting. Not one you hear very often,” he replied as he stood in line to get their coffee. Virgil smiled. “Why thank you, I got it for my birthday.”

A huff of laughter escaped Logan’s throat. Stars and comets, he was charming. He just wanted to stare, to memorize his gold-green eyes and his high cheekbones and his sharp jawline, but it was their turn at the register. Virgil ordered a caramel frappe for himself and a dark roast coffee for Logan. They made their way to a small table near the window and began to chat as they sipped their drinks.

Logan wasn’t sure if it was the charm or the attractiveness of Virgil, or something deeper, but he couldn’t remember the last time he was able to talk to someone so openly. They had so much in common, like the fact that they both loved dinosaurs and Doctor Who and any book written by Neil Gaiman. They were both creative, though Virgil was an artist and Logan preferred to write stories. “I can’t draw a decent stick figure, not even to save my life,” he commented, causing Virgil to laugh.

After what seemed like hours (but was likely only an hour or so), Virgil glanced out the window. “Looks like the rain stopped. I hate to go, but if I’m not home soon my brother will be upset. He’s bringing his boyfriend over for dinner so I can finally meet the guy.”

“Oh, that sounds nice. I should probably leave as well; I still need to unpack and probably buy groceries.” Logan tried not to sound disappointed. After all, this was a random person he’d so happened to meet. It wasn’t like he’d ever see this man again. But hope fluttered in his chest as Virgil tore a piece of paper out of his sketchbook and scrawled something on it. Before he could ask what he was doing, he handed it to him.

“My number. Call or text me anytime; I’d love to get to talk to you again, Logan.” Logan nodded and took it, breath catching in his throat. He looked up to say something but Virgil had leaned in to tap the Hogwarts House patch on his jacket.

“You look amazing, by the way. Definitely 10 points to Ravenclaw.” With a wink, he left the shop, leaving a very flustered and blushing Logan sitting at the table by himself, wondering what the hell just happened and hoping with all his heart that it would happen again.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this story! Feel free to reblog and tell me what you think! If you’d like to be added to (or removed from) my taglist, please let me know by sending me an ask. You can find me on ao3 at Storytelling_Sparrow. Thank you so much for your continued support!

Taglist: @theresneverenoughfandoms @galaxywitchwolf13 @magicallygrimmwiccan @daring-elm @creativity-killed-thekitten @007ardra @princeyssash @demigodnamedathena @khadij-al-kubra @im-shooting-straight @sawyer-saucee @iwritegayshit @gayzelley @it-me-the-phi @elfarmyenby @sparkedawg @ironwoman359 @today-only-happens-once @areyousirius-noheisdead @madly-handsome @milomeepit @princelogical @silversmith-91 @xxladystarlightxx @poisonedapples @romanamongthestars @ab-artist @ninjago2020 @anuninspiredpoet @justanormalfoot @eggheadinthemaking @gemini-the-kitsune-rp @urielthealienboio

#sparrow writes #sanders sides fanfiction #analogical #virgil sanders #logan sanders #human au #meet cute #fluff #dad's day fic

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yourfanvivitran · 4 years ago

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It should come as no surprise that John Carpenter and Dan O’Bannon were students in the same film class, that they created Dark Star together, and that they both had a great affinity for 1951’s The Thing From Another World. If you put Ridley Scott’s Alien, which O’Bannon wrote, next to Carpenter’s The Thing, the parallels cannot be contended. A group of people, bound together almost exclusively by their careers, are isolated and trapped in their own environment with a murderous monster. One by one, they are picked off by this alien beast and are forced to pull out all the stops just to survive. The tension in both movies is suffocating. The suspense stays well after the credits roll.

So, why did Alien excel and why did The Thing fail?

Alien was heralded as a science fiction-horror masterpiece, raking in over $200 million at the box office. The Thing, although now recognized as one of Carpenter’s best films to rival even the likes of Halloween, barely exceeded its $15 million budget by $4 million. What’s more is that critics panned The Thing almost unanimously after its 1982 release. And to what point?

When you compare the 2 movies, it objectively doesn’t make much sense. When you sit down and watch The Thing, without even thinking of its much more popular predecessor, it still doesn’t quite add up. There is not much I can say about The Thing that hasn’t already been said before. It’s well-known, now - the writing, the acting, the practical effects, the cinematography? Masterfully done. No arguments. So what went wrong?

The most popularly accepted explanation was that it just wasn’t the right year for it. In 1982, The Thing had to contend with the Summer of Spielberg, being critiqued alongside horror giant Poltergeist and science fiction treasure E.T. How could a stark and grim story of distrust and gore stand alongside such beloved classics?

But in tandem with these films and also calling back to the success of Alien, Carpenter cites reception from various focus groups: they hated the ending.

It should be assumed at this point that if you have not yet seen The Thing, you are sorely missing out. All the same, however, be wary of spoilers.

The end of The Thing is bitter, to put it lightly. Childs (Keith David) trudges through Antarctic snow, lit by the burning wreckage of Outpost 31, towards R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russel) who sits alone, already half buried. They observe their inevitable deaths, and drink to the supposed demise of their shapeshifting predator.

A lot is left out to die in the snow.

According to Carpenter, this ending was seen by test audiences as too dismal. And rightfully so, when you take into consideration the other popular releases of 1982. Carol Anne is ultimately saved, along with the rest of her family, at the end of Poltergeist. Elliot embraces E.T. before he finally returns home. And going further back, even Ripley is able to escape the xenomorph by the skin of her teeth and secure herself the title as one of the greatest “Final Girls” ever put to the silver screen.

And what of MacReady and Childs?

Well, that’s up to your imagination, Carpenter told a test audience member who asked who the final host was at the end of the movie.

“Oh, god. I hate that,” they responded.

As a writer, this loose ends style of concluding a story is almost expected from a lot of modern works. It’s written this way in order to haunt the reader, to linger and adhere itself to the real world in the most sardonic of ways. Think Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” or Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” This almost anticlimactic close of the curtain arrived in the literary world long before it found its place in film, but it’s a big point of contention in mainstream criticism.

Dark or incomplete conclusions have been met with the most scathing of responses. Beware the black cutaway of Sopranos fame. Or the near-universal outcry against the third Mass Effect game that grew so much, the developers created a morsel of DLC content that maybe kind of confirmed a more optimistic fate for our dear Shepard.

But even for the horror genre, The Thing seemed unprecedented. The only fate darker to fall upon a mainstream protagonist was Ben’s untimely death in Night of the Living Dead. The tragedy of both movies is palpable - all this trouble to survive against inhuman killers, all this trouble to outlive something gruesome and maybe even make the world a better place, and what was left to show for it?

In short, Carpenter’s science fiction terror was too much of a bummer.

I personally did not take much of a liking to horror until much later in life. My parents didn’t filter the media I consumed as much as they probably should have, and I was scarred early on by movies as cheesy and entertaining as The Lost Boys and Blade. It wasn’t until late adolescence and into college that I set out to catch up.

My roommate at the time of this resolution had been a fan of horror her whole life, her favorites being Halloween, Candyman, and The Thing. Having already known a good deal about the former two, I decided to strap in for The Thing for the first time ever.

These days, I always have several soap boxes on retainer, just waiting for the next unwitting recipient of my usually-beer-induced rants. Brian Jones was killed, Jaws single handedly endangered sharks, banning books is a stupid practice, representation in media is important, etc. Predictably, one of these soap boxes is the general lack of appreciation of The Thing, both at the time of its release and today (it does not even make the top 100 on Rotten Tomatoes’s highest rated horror movies).

And yet, at the same time, if The Thing had achieved the credit it deserved upon release, I may not like it as much as I do today.

I make a point to not read too much about movies I am feverishly anticipating, and revel in the feeling of going into a well-known movie knowing as little as possible. Most of the time, it makes for the best viewing experience, but I’m sure I don’t even have to point this out.

This was my experience seeing The Thing for the first time. I was on winter break, staying at my parents’ house for the holidays. Everyone else had gone to bed, and I stayed up late in the living room, curled up under layers of blankets, content in perfect darkness save for the television.

I had no idea what to expect, as I had not been spoiled by any TV show making any blatant references and had not done any prior reading into the film itself. And I was absolutely delighted from beginning to end.

What stays with me the most is the special effects. It’s true what they say - that practical effects hold up better than CGI alone. And the production team didn’t cut any corners in this department. Stan Winston and his team, who were later responsible for the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, helped construct one of the best animatronics in the movie. Rob Bottin, who brought this constantly-morphing creature to life from conception to every last slimy detail, went on to be hailed as a genius in his special effects career. And there is definitely something to be said for the work of cinematographer Dean Cundey whose masterful control of lighting and framing is best seen in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

The extent of my knowledge of the titular creature was that it was an alien. That it was an alien who could consume multiple life forms and take on their shapes was both exciting and terrifying. There’s creative genius in this premise that thrills the science fiction lover in me, and also fascinates the bookworm in me. I had been a fan of Agatha Christie novels as a teenager, and to see a new and outrageous take on the And Then There Were None structure was incredibly novel to me.

The appeal wasn’t just that there was something out there, lying in wait to torturously pick off it’s victims one-by-one. It was that it could have been anyone.

At its core, horror as we know it has deep roots in whodunnit style murder mystery. With the rise of the giallo and the sensation of the slasher, horror movies of this nature are far from uncommon and can be seen as late as 1996 with the Scream franchise. Carpenter himself spurned a new kind of fear with his breakout success with Halloween by refusing to give a bodily face to its main antagonist. Here, with The Thing, he takes the eponymous killer character to the next level by giving it the genetically inherent function of deceiving its prey. Not knowing the true face of your murderer has proven to be inherently bone-chilling.

Even now, hundreds of horror movies under my belt later and still constantly learning, I keep coming back to The Thing. I really cannot think of another movie in my wide array of favorites that I love more than The Thing, and I truly believe it has everything to do with me not knowing anything about it upon my first viewing. Every other movie I can name on my (similar to the subject) constantly changing top 10 list of most beloved horror flicks was, at some point, spoiled for me in some capacity.

Think of how often the twins in The Shining are referenced in cartoons, of all the head spinning jokes made in reference to The Exorcist. Anthony Hopkins’s portrayal of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs has become so infamous, that I knew his dialogue (and Buffalo Bill’s) long before I ever saw the movie in full.

I don’t blame these references for ruining these movies. As a super fan, I understand that compulsion to pay tribute. It’s no one’s fault and to their credit that these films take lives of their own. But the repercussions don’t age well in terms of initial viewing experiences.

All that being said, I truly cherish how much I was not exposed to this movie. The unpredictability of the creature and the quiet, looming despair that comes with it create a horror unlike any other.

Although it was a box office flop, The Thing is now a welcome and praised name in both science fiction and horror. Even Quentin Tarantino made it known that The Hateful Eight was primarily inspired on several fronts by Carpenter’s underrated work. However, it has not pervaded pop culture like so many other horror classics have left their indelible mark on film vernacular. And to that end, I hope it remains in that slight shadow of anonymity for all future enthusiasts.

#john carpenter #the thing #alien #horror #horror movie #horror film #horror genre

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lovemychoices · 5 years ago

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W.I.P Sunday Wednesday. What day?

Thanks @desiree-0816 @annekebbphotography @thecordoniandiaries for the tag. I know I suck at keeping up with these things. Between work and my social life right now everything is just HECTIC and will probably stay that way until after the new years Chinese New Year. No promises when all of these will be out but like hopefully within this month?

BEFORE THERE WAS YOU (TRR AU) LIAM X MC X LEO

Leo was just outside the stables working on his motorcycle shirtless, when Eve happened to pass by. She paused on her feet, her eyes gazed at his perfectly toned body, how it glistens under the afternoon sun. Damn those Rys brothers and their greek god bodies. She swallows hard before clearing her throat.

“Is that a Harley Street Rod?”

Leo stopped at what he was doing to look over his shoulder. “Good eye, you have one of these two?”

“I’m more of a Ducati person but this is pretty sweet too.”

Leo tosses the wrench into the toolbox next to him and gets up. He takes the towel on his bike and wipes the sweat off his face and body before tossing it back on his shoulder.

“Yeah I have one of those too. But the street rod is more cross country friendly. Don’t you agree?”

He grinned

Her eyes widened and her mouth slightly opened as he stood there in front of her. Stop staring at his abs you IDIOT! Eve quick shook her head moving her attention from his body to his face. “I uh.. Yeah.. Totally agree.” She stutters.”

“So how are you liking the country side of Cordonia so far?”

Eve shrugs. “I don’t know. I haven’t really been outside of applewood manor since we got here. Between the seasonal events and ethics class from Bertrand, Liam always being busy. There never was the right time to go exploring.”

“I’m pretty free now, I could show you around?”

PLAYING WITH FIRE (ROD AU) COLT X MC

“Mind telling me what’s this?” Riya asked holding up an orange pill bottle. “What do you even need Oxycodone for?”

“Omg.. Did you just go through my stuff without my permission?!” She retorted, her hands balling into a fist. “You have no right to do that Riya.”

“I was short on cash and looked through you purse to borrow some. Maybe it’s a good thing I did or who knows how long your drug addiction was going to continue.” She xxxxxxx. “Is that why you’ve been so chill the past few months? Because you’ve been using? What else have you been using? Heroin? Cocaine?”

“I’m not a drug addict if that’s what you’re implying, I only use them when I go to parties or when I’m feeling stressed out.” She folds her arms her with her eyes downcast. “And for the record I don’t do heroin or cocaine. I’m mostly on prescription pill and occasionally Molly.”

“Kaela how could you be so stupid?! Grieving is one thing but this?!”

“Don’t talk to me like you know what it’s like to feel grief. I tried to grieve him, Riya. Trust me I've got grieving down to a science at this point. But every time I let it sink in that I'm never gonna see you again, I feel like I'm gonna die.” She whimpered. “I— I want to die!

“You can’t say things like that Kaela.”

“And why not? It’s the truth! I can’t do this anymore.. I’m sorry.. I need to go somewhere.” She said taking her purse from the counter and storms out of the apartment, Riya chasing her shortly after into the parking lot “Kaela where are you going, you can’t do this you need help. Just talk to me please!” She pleaded reaching to take her hand but Kaela

“Omg! Riya can you like not!” She belted as she pushed Riya’s hand away. “Just leave me alone!” She quickly gets into her car and drives away while Riya watches her from behind.

ALWAYS BE MY DRIVE (ROD AU) Colt x MC x Logan

Spring 2012

After dinner and some cake Colt and Emma got ready to head to the mall. They were at foyer about to leave when Emma remembered something. “Colt, wait I almost forgot. Wait here for a minute.” She said and hurried up the stairs coming back a few seconds later with a baby blue colored gift bag in her hand. “Happy birthday Colt, I hope you like it.” She beamed, handing the gift bag.

“Emma, you really didn’t have to give me anything.”

“Of course I do, it’s your thirteenth birthday. You’ve officially entered the teen zone and you deserve something special to remember it by.”

Colt smiled, he opened the bag and took out navy blue colored polaroid camera. “This is…”

“You don’t like?”

“What? No.. I was going to say this is the best gift I have so far. Thank you Em.” He said pulling her into a hug. They pulled a part a moment later Colt gave her curious look. “How did you know I wanted one of these?”

Emma chuckled. “You know by now not to underestimate how well I know you Colt Kaneko.”

“I guess I should know better by now huh?” He grinned. He looked down at the camera in his hand and had an idea. “Hey Em, smile at the camera won’t you? You’ll be the first official photo I take with it.”

She gave her best smile and he clicked on the button, a polaroid photo came out of the camera. Colt gently shook the picture to let it dry, a few seconds later he looked at the picture and smiled. “How do I look?” She asked. “You look perfect.” He replied and showed her the picture, she smiled then tiptoes up to kiss him on the cheek. “C'mon let’s go before the mall closes.”

THE LOST PRINCE (TRR x TRH AU) Liam x MC

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Riley asked leaning against the door frame with her arms folded as she watched her husband packed his clothes into a suitcase. “I don’t understand why cant send Hakim like you always do?”

Liam puts the last of his clothing and zipped his luggage shut before turning to his wife. “ Because they wanted to meet with me personally and nobody else. Besides ...” He turned and sauntered toward Riley placing his hands on her shoulder, placing a kiss on her forehead. “I need you here to look after things while I’m gone, especially since we’re expecting visitors from Auvernal in a few days.”

Riley gave a forced smile, ever since she mentioned about the whole surrogate thing he has been acting a little differently, like there was something he was hiding from her. She was beginning to think he was doubting her as his wife. “If I must.”

“I promise to bring you a box of cronuts from your favourite shop in New York.”

“Make that two boxes.” She grinned and tiptoed to kiss him on the lips. Not having a clue about the secret her husband was keeping from her, that he wasn’t going to New York for a diplomatic meeting but was traveling to LA instead to meet with the son he never knew he had.

*************************************************

Coming Soon

LEGACIES (MODERN DAY D&D AU)

Reign impatiently taps her foot on the carpet of the taxi, the traffic approaching Madison Avenue was a nightmare. It was already 0930am, she had less than 30 minutes to get to her interview and she wasn’t going to make it at this rate. OMG. I’m never going to make it at this rate! Time for plan B. “Excuse me, how far is it from here to Foredale Consolidated?”

“Three blocks..”

Three blocks? I can make it. “Here keep the change.” She said handing the driver a 20 dollar bill before bolting out of the yellow cab.

You can do this Reign, you’ve ran marathons before. Not in heels but if that lady in Jurassic World can do it, so can you! Two blocks.. pfft.. childsplay.

A little while later Reign finally reaches the opposite road of Foredale consolidated. She bends down, both hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. “I… made it..” she pants, straightening back up a while later, trying to compose herself. “Just a little bit more.” My feet is going to kill me after this.

She was so focused on getting to the building didn't look twice before crossing the road and almost gets hit by a town car. BEEP! BEEP! The driver honks at her. “Sorry! Sorry!” She apologize raising both hands up before continuing to walk towards Foredale Consolidated in a fast pace.

*************************************************Whatcha working on? @client-327 @lovehugsandcandy @furiouscloddonutpeanut @flowerpowell @princess-geek @zaffrenotes @brightpinkpeppercorn @hellospunkiebrewster @whenyourheartskipsabeat @ao719 @jessiembruno @emceesynonymroll

#playchoices #liam x mc #colt x mc #ernest x mc #logan x mc #long post #playchoice au #playchoice : ride or die #playchoices : desire & decorum #playchoices : the royal romance

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coeurdastronaute · 6 years ago

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Essays in Existentialism: Jurassic II

Could you pretty please write a Jurassic part 2? Because I'm actually in love with it. I'm in desperate need of some more. Clarke and Lexa fighting/running for their lives. Things getting steamy between them ;)

Previously on Jurassic

The water of the river was ice cold compared to the humidity that existed, even at the early hour. A hot, angry kind of buzzing could already be felt, even when the sun wasn’t even fully above the horizon. The sticky mist of the morning dew evaporating hung around the low leaves that littered the barely visible path that Clarke had come to know almost perfectly.

The rain from the previous night left the world fresh and new, washed clean with brute force and fresh water, turning dirt into mud and making the air feel thicker than normal. But still, they headed out before anyone else, following a hidden trail toward the herds.

Clarke filled her canteen and ran a hand full of chilled water along the back of her neck before righting herself and watching the doctor explore. On the edge of the Great Plateau, Lexa leaned against a downed tree and jotted notes between gazing through her binoculars as she took in the different animals.

The world was alive. From the large, monstrous long necks who’s footsteps cocked the world itself, slowly moving toward the edge of the treeline, to the tiniest pack of lizards that hopped and wove their way along tall legs and big feet, Clarke had been right, and it was the best place to see them all. Even though lexa still couldn’t believe that she was seeing dinosaurs. That part still didn’t seem right despite how enthralled she was.

For a few moments, Clarke jus twatched Lexa look out onto the world, forgetting that she should be taking notes, forgetting that she didn’t want to believe in it, and she saw her give into the majesty of the park, the same feeling that kept Clarke there, and she watched Lexa feel it all, and then pass.

“What do you think of our little park?” Clarke asked, handing over the canteen and drying off her face in her shirt.

To her credit, Lexa took it and tried to figure out the right thing to say, though that felt impossible. She wiped her forearm across her forehead and handed back the canteen.

“It’s beautiful. It’s… It’s everything I ever wished for as a child.

“Jaha wants you to tell him that it’s safe, that the dinosaurs are healthy and behaving normally.”

“I haven’t even begun to figure out the implic--”

“I need you to tell him that the park is unsustainable, and you can’t predict the behavior of ancient animals.”

Clarke adjusted her sunglasses and stared at the confused scientist. Lexa began to talk a few times before taking a deep breath.

“I believe I’ve already done that.”

“I need you to mean it.”

“The scientific discovery… the fact that the science exists for something on this magnitude changes everything, you know that, right?” Lexa shook her head.

“And you know that he can’t open this park.”

“Are you going to show me the predators?” she challenged.

Clarke smirked and shook her head this time before shifting her gaze back to the field and the herds of animals roaming around, as they might have millions of years before. It was a thing of beauty that she’d almost started to view as normal until Lexa appeared.

“Do you want to see the babies?”

“I’m supposed to meet Dr. Lima to look into more of the samples they’ve found in--”

Beside her, a snore erupted as the handler let her head drop, mocking. Lexa pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, waiting for the show to be over. She crossed her arms when Clarke finally woke herself up from the boredom induced nap.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Clarke cleared her throat. “I just thought you’d like to spend time with actual dinosaurs. But if you’d rather go to the lab and look at--”

Lexa nudged Clarke with her shoulder before turned around as she walked away.

“Are you going to show me or not?” she taunted.

Clarke just smiled and adjusted her glasses before following quickly toward the Jeep.

The first rumble of thunder came as the Jeep rumbled its way toward the small ranch-like establishment on the far end of an old, still muddy, dirty road about two miles from the main campus of the park. As it was slapped in park, Lexa hopped out and covered her eyes as she peered toward the sky, and from the edge of the island, watched a large thunderhead grumble about in the far eastern corner of the horizon. Clouds circled closer to it as it seemed to chug along, complaining the entire way.

“Another storm?”

“We get them almost every other day,” Clarke promised. “One good one per week is a good rule of thumb.” She saw Lexa’s frown grow a little more. “Don’t worry. Raven has the fences and secondary system running sometimes.”

With that, the handler made her way toward the barn looking structure and the paddocks filled with animals. Everything looked like it was done in miniature compared to the inhabitants.

“Wait. Sometimes?” Lexa yelped, stuck stark still as she watched Clarke saunter away, amused at herself.

It was almost too easy for Lexa to spend most of the day with Clarke. It wasn’t just because of the baby dinosaurs, or the fact that Clarke cooed and melted with the animals, or that she kind of blossomed as a person when there were less people around, and she could just be herself. None of those were reasons that she realized, but it was true.

Somehow, Lexa found herself sitting in a stall full of baby Ankylosaurus, wobbly legged and waddling with their long, heavy tails dragging around behind them, eyes barely open. One curled up, right in her lap, and Lexa sighed, amazed and happy and not wanting to ever move again.

The rain came at some point, yelling against the windows.

“Storms finally here,” Clarke observed, not moving at all.

“We can stay, can’t we?”

Clarke smiled at how innocent it sounded, and she waited until a rumble of thunder reminded her that the road might wash out or be impassible, and they still had things to do.

“We should leave soon.”

“My whole entire career was spent studying, hypothesizing, and now look at me,” Lexa shook her head and surveyed the dinosaurs. “What is left for me?”

“I’m sure there’s a place that’ll hire you.”

“I know that you’re right,” she continued. “I know that this is dangerous. But I can’t imagine not sharing the awe with everyone else, of seeing one of them, alive. It’s a miracle.”

“You don’t think I think the same thing?”

“I know you do.”

“I love my job, but this is unsustainable, and I don’t know how to help them, long term,” Clarke confessed. “I’m not even sure what else this island is going to be used for.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, this is an island, with seemingly little government control, who is perfecting cloning dangerous weapons,” Clarke explained. “I’m just an animal handler, but I know things are never this good unless there’s a catch.”

To her credit, Lexa nodded and inhaled a deep breath.

“I don’t think my recommendation is going to do anything.”

“Break your non-disclosure. Tell the world about the potential problems--”

“Clarke, they’ll own me. I can’t just--”

The lights flickered as another crack of thunder interrupted their conversation. Lexa looked to the handler who just set her jaw and surveyed the lights.

“We should head back. The roads will wash out, and then we’ll be stuck.”

“You were joking, earlier, weren’t you? About the fence?” Lexa asked.

“Yeah, of course. You think we’d open up an island with predators with no back up generator?”

“No.”

Clarke nodded to herself, hoping Raven had everything fixed so that her statement was true. She said things with confidence though, so she was certain the pretty doctor didn’t catch onto it. She shook her head at the idea that Lexa was pretty. That was a stupid thought.

“Come on, Doc. I’ll bring you again before you leave if you’d like.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Clarke shrugged, offering her hands to help pull Lexa to her feet. “You can help me train them.”

“You train them all?”

“I run a team that works on behavior modification. Think of it like whales in aquariums. Makes our job easier when it comes to routine check ups and moving them around the enclosure.”

“Is it effective.”

“Would someone hire me to train massive living tanks if I wasn’t good?” Clarke asked, cocky and sure of herself, all swagger and annoying to Lexa.

“I haven’t seen you in action, so I’m not sure.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“What?” Lexa asked.

“To see me in action.”

“I doubt it’d be interesting,” she shrugged, grabbing her coat from the entrance.

Before Clarke could respond, Lexa opened the door and made her way out into the rain, fearless and impatient. She just smiled to herself and followed.

The rain came down in a monsoon. A wall of water made it nearly impossible to do anything other than creep along the old muddy road toward the main compound. Everything was wet, everything felt wet, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. All at once, despite not even being dinner time, the sky grew dark and a heavy, deep grey.

“It looks pretty bad out there,” Lexa ventured as she tried to find a dry spot of shirt to clean her glasses. She squinted through the windshield as the wipers worked at a maniacal pace.

“As long as there isn’t any flooding and the generators keep, they won’t evacuate,” Clarke swallowed as she gripped the wheel a bit tighter.

“Have you had to evacuate before?”

“Twice,” she sighed. “Took us three weeks to get the pens back and the grid back up.”

From her seat, Lexa furrowed.

“I don’t like boats. Especially in weather like this.”

“Not much of a swimmer?”

“No.”

Sensing the worry, and perhaps understanding the little bit of fear the doctor must have, Clarke tried to think of something to do or say. It was easier with animals. If they were scared or afraid, they either whimpered or lashed out. They just needed kind sounds and patience. Lexa, though, she was realizing, needed something that Clarke couldn’t figure out.

A flash of lightning illuminated the world outside for an incident before a loud crack of thunder echoed across the acreage.

“Don’t worry. It’s not going to come to that. We’ve put in some upgrades since then,” Clarke tried, earning a small nod of thanks.

“I would hope so.”

“And they would have already made that call by now. We’d have heard the alar--”

Before she could finish, a loud air horn wailed somewhere in the distance, slicing through the storm, muted only by the constant whir of the heavy rain and rumble of thunder. The normally dormant radio attached to the dashboard of the Jeep crackled to life, cutting in and out. Lexa watched the driver’s brow grow heavy as she reached forward to grab the walkie.

“This is a -- call -- to -- -- REPEAT -- Code -- Return to main campus -- leaving in t-minus forty --” the robotic voice on the radio called out in a frantic message, broken up by distance and weather.

“Rover 15 requesting a repeat on the code. I repeat,” Clarke muttered into the phone. “Roughly four clicks out with no visibility. Requesting coordinates for launch.”

“Launch?”

“Remember when I told you about the boats?”

“You just told me everything was fine!”

“I was being supportive!”

“What does this mean?” Lexa yelped, her heartbeat increasing exponentially.

“It means we have to get to the docks.”

“What about the generators?”

“I don’t know.”

“The emergency system?”

“I don’t know.”

“The perime--”

“I know as much as you do at this point!” Clarke barked, gritting her teeth. “But I’m going to get us to a building, reach out to Raven, and see what comes next, so calm down and we’ll figure it out.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! I’m allowed to be upset right now! I was brought to a crazy island with gigantic creatures and apparently lethal predators and it’s crumbling in front of my eyes!” Lexa ranted, shaking her head and breathing heavily. “You don’t get to tell me to calm down. In this situation, I feel as if I’m acting appropriately.”

If she hadn’t been driving, and hadn’t been annoyed, Clarke knew she would have found Lexa insanely attractive when she yelled and got angry. She knew it was not the time for such things, but still, she couldn’t help it. Raven was right; again.

“Everything is going to be fine. We’re not more than ten minutes from the dock. There is no way we’re going to miss--”

“Clarke!”

Before she could finish her promises that they’d make it, Clarke snapped her eyes back toward the road to see the headlights shine on a tree as it was about to fall.

All at once, they weren’t moving any longer. Clarke veered the Jeep as best she could, but failed to avoid it completely. With the mud and the road, they started rolling, and the fear and Lexa’s scream that was caught in her throat were the last things the handler remembered before her head hit the steering wheel and everything went black.

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shadowphoenixrider · 6 years ago

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SPR rambles about Jurassic World: Evolution

So.

I really quite like Jurassic World: Evolution. I think the £45 price tag is a bit sharp (and the ‘deluxe edition’ can take a long walk off a short plank), but it’s a good game if you’re looking for a dino park management simulator. Which I was! I used to play Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, and longed for a next-gen update, and this, for the most part, is.

It’s good at getting you to juggle multiple things, then it starts throwing things at you while yelling ‘think fast!’, either laughing when you drop everything, or nodding approvingly when you manage to catch them. You’ve got to manage money, your dinos satisfaction, your visitors satisfaction, adverse weather conditions, power, and the reputation of the three divisions of Ingen; Science, Entertainment, and Security.

There’s a slight...dissonance with these three, or rather, with Security. Science and Entertainment are pretty straight forward (Science focuses more on the dinosaurs, Entertainment more on visitors), but Security...I dunno what that dude is smoking, but he seems obsessed with making the dinosaurs fight or generally create mayhem. And it’s like...I thought your role would discourage me from that...? I feel that they didn’t have many ideas for what missions he could give you, so stole from Entertainment a little.

That’s another thing; in Operation Genesis, you had three different types of visitors; those who wanna see the dinos fight, those who just liked the dinos chilling out and being happy, and those who wanted to see period specific dinos together. That’s not in Evolution, aside from a slightly unnerving obsession with dino fights, encouragement to tailor a dino’s habitat to keep it happy, and a slight push to apply ‘skins’ to your dinosaurs that suit their habitat, which is a bit of a shame. I say ‘habitats’; what I mean is the ratio of grass to trees. This isn’t Zoo Tycoon, where you’ve got to customise how much desert dirt is on the ground. Although, knowing how persnickerty that game got, maybe that’s a good thing.

Another thing that was in Operation Genesis that I miss from this game is the ability to issue commands to your rangers whilst you’re selecting a dinosaur. In OP, if you needed to cure a dinosaur of a specific disease, or tranq and move it, all you had to do was select the dino and then the appropriate command. In Evolution, however, you’ve got to click away, select the ranger or your helicopter, depending on what you need, select a specific team, and then ‘add task’, and then you’ve got to click the dino. That’s at least two unnecessary clicks, and the game feels fiddly because of this. It doesn’t help that the rangers only have AI on missions, and you have to manually tell them to refill feeders and you have to click on the damn thing to find out whether it is running out or not - can you see a pattern emerging?

You can’t click from one building to another, you’ve got to click off one building and then the one you want. If you want to look at another species of dinosaur that isn’t the one you’re currently selected, you gotta click off them and then the other. This can lead to a butt-ton of frustration when a situation crops up, like some arsehole has sabotaged your power stations and you’re scrambling to issue an emergency alert to get visitors into bunkers before a dino decides it wants to kick its fence over. (That said, despite the game insisting the dinosaurs are itching to get out, I’ve only seen one dino try to smash its way out, and that was in a programmed sequence where it had to get out to fulfil an objective. If you give a dino 100% comfort, they’re quite happy to stay locked up, even velociraptors, though granted I haven’t gotten far enough to start housing T rexes.) This is worse when you’re quietly perusing a menu as the game has no pause function, not even in menus (except the Esc menu).

The game has you progress through several ‘scenarios’, building parks on different islands with different conditions, like already being in debt, or storms striking the island every now and again, or lack of space, and what is nice is that all the parks you build exist permanently on the islands, and you can go between them as you wish. In fact, you’re encouraged to, as you unlock things on later islands that you can bring back to earlier islands to improve them and up your parks’ rating, unlocking more goodies and upgrades.

The only problem with this is that sandbox mode is locked behind this ‘campaign’ mode, and only completing all the previous islands lets you access this. I don’t mind this, but there’s no differing paths to construct your parks. They all feel very samey after a while. You can reskin your rangers and helicopters (and dinos), but you can’t reskin buildings, or customise them in any meaningful way. You need more, you build more. That’s it.

And unlike it’s predecessor Operation Genesis, Evolution ain’t getting saved by mods, because of its Denuvo DRM locking it out, and if you try to mod it regardless you can kiss your EULA goodbye (I stumbled onto it by accident whilst pouring through the menus, and spotted the clause, that’s how I know). I’m 99% sure this is Universal being a spoilsport, but it could be the game devs Frontier as well (they made Planet Coaster - does that have mods? Let me know.).

This sounds like I’m shitting on the game and I hate it - I don’t. I very much enjoy it. The game looks gorgeous, you’ve got the vocal talents of Jeff Goldblum in there being wry and sarcastic (sadly, no Chris Pratt whether Owen Brady shows up, booo), and dinosaurs are great; beautifully animated and very easy to fall in love with. Also you can make an I. Rex later on, so that’s a bonus!

There is Day One DLC for it under the handle of a ‘Deluxe Edition’ for a insulting £10. I say ‘insulting’ because it contains only extra dinosaurs. They’re not any of the main dinosaurs, thankfully, although I think some people might feel a little peeved that the Styracosaurus is in this DLC (a more spikey triceratops, basically), and perhaps the Suchomimus? Anyway, the Styracosaurus, Suchomimus, Archaeornithomimus, Crichtonsaurus, Majungasaurus dinosaurs are contained within the DLC. Whether it is worth your money depends entirely on whether you like these dinos, but for me, who’s already coughed up £45 for the main game, an extra tenner for some more dinos I’m not attached to is just a little bit rude. £5 is more acceptable.

My opinion? I would recommend waiting for a sale or price drop. Nothing severe, just something to take it below the AAA price of £45; I feel it’s just a bit too much for what they’re offering. I don’t regret purchasing it for that much, but for someone who’s bit more conscious of their spending, I’d suggest waiting. It’s good, but not that good.

#SPR rambles about video games #Jurassic World: Evolution #it's not a review just an opinion by me

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orange-plum · 7 years ago

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Title: Inconsistent Satan and Me fanfiction commission for @astarisms. Sorry for the wait.

Summary: Natalie purchases a peculiar plant from a shop that has her waking up to a different Lucifer every morning. Some mornings are better than others, to be honest. Natan.

“What did I say about buying that shit, kid?”

Natalie grinned over the top of the globe in her hands. Ensconced in the glow of blue and purple lights that painted an eerily tranquil solar system on the paint of her bedroom wall was what appeared to be a miniature jungle. At least, it looked that way from her perspective; unless there was a plant with a million petals that Satan never told her about.

Satan returned Natalie’s excited gaze with a look of pure exhaustion over the edge of his book.

“It’s pretty, though, right?” Natalie tried to reassure her prickly demonic friend, holding out the orb to him. The purple streams of light gently swayed across his face, like sunlight peeking through curtains.

He immediately shoved it away.

“Who cares if it’s pretty? If you bought it from that shop, it’s probably something I can guarantee that’s bad for humanity.”

Looking back, perhaps it hadn’t been a great idea to bring Natalie to that supernatural shop when he had been looking for Ipos and his book. In hindsight, he’d never really considered the ginger to frequent that place like a child looking for baseball cards to collect.

“Why did that asshole even sell this to you? It looks like Jurassic Park in a bottle,” Satan said scathingly, shoving the orb away from his face.

His cynicism didn’t deter Natalie, however, for she just held it closer to her face and sat down on her bed with it.

“Business is business, he said.”

Satan considered the shopkeeper’s words, lowering his book and watching Natalie as she became mesmerized with the mysterious plant inside of the glass ball. Something didn’t sit right in his stomach, but he pushed that feeling down in favor of the curiosity that seemed to be more prominent the longer Natalie examined her newfound purchase.

“What does it do?” he reluctantly asked after a long beat of silence.

“You mean you don’t know?”

“Am I supposed to know everything?” he spit, narrowing his eyes at the surprise on her face.

“Yes - Well, I mean, no. I mean - You’re just really old,” Natalie said, quickly backpedaling when Satan’s expression grew more sour. “I’m just saying, I thought you’ve had a lot of experience with supernatural stuff since you are, you know, a supernatural stuff yourself.”

Satan raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“He said this would be useful to me, since I’m a human. He said if I’m ever in a pinch and I don’t like what’s going on around me, that this will save me. An opportunity presenter, I think it’s called. I can’t remember the technical term, but you get the picture,” Natalie explained rather triumphantly, giving Satan a broad smile and patting the glass beside her.

“I wouldn’t mess with something like that if I were you, kid. Nothing good comes from humans messing with objects from my world.”

The conversation died there with Satan’s resigned sigh and Natalie’s shrug.

The day passed uneventfully; homework, dishes, shower, bed.

The orb was a small nightlight on Natalie’s bedside table, a cosmos decorating the walls like slow moving clouds of galaxies blowing by on a breeze.

“G’night, Satan,” Natalie muttered into the silence.

“Night, kid,” Satan responded, his arms folded and his eyes shut from his place on the floor.

A small leaf trembled, then fell off of the side of the plant.

The night was peaceful.

XXXXX

Natalie’s morning was greeted with warm sunlight touching the skin of her cheek through her curtains. She yawned and stretched her arms over her head until she felt the satisfying pop of her shoulder.

The orb still sat, everglowing, beside her bed. Natalie smiled at it before swinging her legs over the side of her bed, her toes feeling the familiar mesh of the carpet.

It was only then that something felt . . . off.

Natalie peered around her room, noticing a couple of minor things that seemed a bit odd, but enough to draw her attention. The pile of books Satan kept stored on the shelf above her dresser was gone, and so was her ever present blue beanbag chair.

The two lacking items being out of place but not strange enough to linger on it, Natalie shrugged and pulled out her outfit for the day, getting ready for school.

Sometimes Satan grew antsy at night, though he never verbally admitted this to Natalie. He slept more now, but old habits die hard. Perhaps he had wanted to read but wasn’t willing to wake Natalie up with a light and relocated to Max’s old bedroom.

Natalie fitted her headband to her head and vacated her room, immediately bombarded with the smell of breakfast.

Since when does Dad have time to make breakfast in the morning? Natalie silently pondered, peeking her head around the corner when she heard idle chit chat and clanking of forks on plates.

Her jaw nearly hit the floor.

“No matter how I grade this it’s still going to hurt his feelings . . .”

“Who cares? The idiot didn’t get the material.”

“Max, please. Honey, you can’t mark him up just because you like him. If he didn’t understand it, he didn’t understand.”

“I know, but -”

“Mom, you just grade it for him, then,” Max frowned. He spooned a large mouthful of cereal up to his face when he his eyes flicked up, noticing Natalie’s gawking from the living room. He cocked his head to the side.

“What are you staring at? Mom made you waffles so hurry up and eat them.”

Carla McAllister, upon hearing herself mentioned, looked up from the papers her husband was gnawing his lip over. Natalie felt the air suck in between her teeth when she met eyes with her mother; her living, breathing, so very not dead mother.

Carla smiled, the aged wrinkles around her eyes becoming more prominent with the brightness of her grin. She looked just like the photos Alex had shown Natalie all throughout her childhood. It was different seeing it in person, though.

Natalie felt her heart stutter in her chest, like a car trying desperately to start but failing.

“Morning, Natalie. There’s no more butter, your brother ate the rest, but there’s syrup.”

Natalie hadn’t been aware that her legs were even moving forward until she stood in front of the table. Alex said something to her without raising his head from the reports in front of him, but Natalie didn’t hear anything but the ringing in her ears.

Her mother laughed in response while she brought the syrup over to the table and cleared the empty plates. She felt like she was underwater, all sound dispersing through the static haze in her brain.

Natalie felt weightless . . .

Until a tug sharply pulled her into her seat. Natalie blinked, dumbfounded, at Max. He gave her a look of annoyance coupled with curiosity but didn’t say anything else.

Natalie ate her food on autopilot, preferring to watch the exchanges of her family as they shared what seemed to be a very normal family breakfast. The food tasted like nothing in her mouth, Natalie finding herself too far in awe of this bizarre situation to register the sensations of touch and taste.

There were talks of Max’s girlfriend, of Alex and the dog he was pestering them all to go along with purchasing, of a nice old man Carla met on her shift last night, and the vacation they’d all apparently taken to San Diego last summer.

Natalie wrung her hands together in her lap when Alex flipped through some of the pictures on his Facebook account, all of them on the beach or at dinner in a nice restaurant. Natalie’s sunburnt face grinned back at the camera, her arms flung around Max and Carla’s necks.

“If you keep zoning out you’ll be late for school. Get out of here, Nat,” Max reminded, excusing himself from his seat with a slap to her shoulder. Natalie jutted forward before catching herself, standing on numb legs and slipping her backpack on.

“Are you alright? You’ve been very quiet this morning,” Carla inquired, approaching Natalie with a bit of concern lingering in her gaze. She placed her hands under Natalie’s bangs. “You don’t have a fever . . .”

“I- I’m fine. I’m just tired. Didn’t sleep well. Bye!” Natalie announced in a rush, overwhelmed to the point of breathlessness. Natalie sprinted to the front door, but she paused with her fingers around the handle for a moment of hesitation. Her feet turned her around and she ran back into the kitchen. Before Carla could voice her confusion, Natalie threw her arms around her and buried her face in her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and mentally memorized the sensation of her mother’s warmth against her skin, the smell of Carla’s perfume.

Natalie pulled away suddenly, her voice caught in her throat when she said, “I’ll see you after school, Mom. I love you.”

Carla waved awkwardly after her daughter, only then turning to her equally confused husband when the door slammed shut.

“What was that about?”

“I have no idea.”

XXXXX

“Mom’s alive, mom’s alive, mom’s alive!” Natalie found herself yelling as she ran down the street, almost tripping over her own feet in her exhilaration. In her frantic haste, she nearly knocked over a woman and her stroller, and a few of her classmates making their way up the school steps.

Natalie felt sweat sticking her hair to the sides of her temples when she reached the top of the steps, her eyes finding Mike as he tied his shoe outside of their science building. He glanced up when Natalie landed in front of him, pulling him up by his shoulders and shaking him with a grin.

“My mom’s alive!”

Mike’s teeth clacked together painfully at the jostling before he gently pried his friend’s hands from him, concerned confusion on his face.

“U-um, that’s good? My mom’s alive, too,” Mike responded, smiling at her uncertainly. Natalie could’ve kissed him in that moment, she was so excited, but instead she grabbed his hands and started jumping up and down.

“I went to the beach with her, Michael! And she makes waffles like I always thought she would. I heard she was a good cook, so obviously I’m jealous, but she’s alive and she’s funny and nice and - Oh my gosh!” Natalie stopped her rambling to gasp. Mike furrowed his brow in confusion, nervous from his friend’s outburst.

“Are you not mad at me anymore? You’re talking to me, and you haven’t talked to me since you saw God in that warehouse. Did Stan say anything to you, because I can’t find him, but here you are: talking to me again.”

Mike tried to form a coherent response as Natalie waited for him to speak impatiently, her gaze intent and wild as she hung on every word he had yet to speak.

“Saw who in a where now? N-Natalie, are you OK? I don’t remember being mad at you . . .”

“You were. Because I lied about Stan.”

“Who’s Stan?”

Natalie straightened, furrowing her own brow. Mike ran his fingers over the back of his neck, glancing behind Natalie to a small group of people watching the scene like a bunch of rubberneckers. Mike gently grabbed the bend of her elbow and guided her to the other side of the building for some privacy.

“Natalie, maybe you should take a few breaths. You’re very loud and very . . . sweaty,” Mike commented, jutting his hand inside of his backpack and handing her some Kleenex. Natalie took them with a thanks and wiped her face off, composing herself enough to speak softer.

“So, you started tutoring someone? That’s good. I was thinking about trying that out myself,” Mike smiled, his tone not belying how genuine he was about volunteering to help someone improve their academic standing.

“But I haven’t . . . shown you the guy I’m tutoring?” Natalie continued cautiously. Mike shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“Not even once?”

Mike shook his head again. Natalie’s previous excitement died down into something heavy forming in her stomach. She had been too caught up in the shock of her mother in her kitchen to really think about why she was there to begin with.

Why Carla was there and why Satan wasn’t.

“I have to go,” Natalie blurted, gripping her backpack straps tighter as she pivoted around, intent on heading back to her home. Mike called out in surprise.

“Where are you going? We have class in five minutes!”

“I need to check on something really quick!” Natalie hollered back over her shoulder, disappearing out of the school gates before the office officials would lock her in until school let out.

Natalie tried not to dwell on the anxiety building inside of her as she hauled herself through her window, landing on her bed with an oof! She had no idea if her parents were at work already, so using the front door wouldn’t be conducive to her current situation.

Natalie was dumbfounded the more she looked at her room, this time, however, with intent to find flaws. It really was exactly the same, but with slight alterations. Not only weren’t there books or a beanbag chair, there was no birthday doll sitting on her dresser. There were no friendship bracelets tacked onto the wall. Her corkboard still had photographs and notes on them, but they all consisted of her friends from school.

Even the photos of Mike she used to have hanging on her mirror were intact where Satan had previously cut holes in them.

Natalie collapsed onto her bed, staring at her disbelieving expression in the mirror.

There was no sign of Satan anywhere. It was as if he had just . . . vanished from her life.

XXXXX

Natalie returned to school a few hours later when she managed to understand and accept the information presented to her.

Throughout the day she quizzed the people around her about Satan, but no one seemed to have a clue what she meant.

When Natalie brought up Felix to Laila, the girl stared at her quizzically and relocated to a table on the other side of the cafeteria. When Natalie brought up Hell exploding in the forest up in Oregon, Kristi laughed in amusement and leaned in, wondering what television drama Natalie was referring to.

Alex and Max didn’t know anything about a freshman boy she tutored at home.

Mike didn’t know about vessels or God or of the man with his face who’d eventually wear his body like a tailored suit at the End of Days.

When she laid her head against her pillow that night, watching the gentle waves of the orb flowing against her headboard, Natalie’s chest tightened.

Where could he have gone?

XXXXX

“What’s for breakfast, mom?” Natalie asked, yawning into her fist. It was Saturday morning so she remained in her pajamas, trudging into the kitchen on a terrible night’s rest. Normally she’d have slept in, but her mind was plagued with a hardened face with golden eyes. Sleep was just going to keep alluding her.

Alex was in the middle of pouring himself a cup of coffee, alone, when he went rigid and stopped tilting his cup. Hot coffee dribbled down the side of his mug and he hissed, returning the pot to the counter and sucking on his now burned thumb.

“That’s not funny, Natalie,” he reprimanded, his disapproval masked under a sheet of ever present misery at the mention of his wife. Natalie halted at the familiar sight of her father, wetting her lips and blinking away the tired fog from her eyes.

The kitchen seemed bigger, quieter, now. There was no warmth of conversation or food to be shared, just her father preparing for work.

“Sorry,” she muttered and lowered her eyes, trying to keep the mortification from bleeding into her face and tone. “I had a dream last night. I guess I wasn’t fully awake yet.”

The exhaustion still lingered in his face but Alex’s shoulders relaxed at his daughter’s nervous laughter.

“It’s OK, Pumpkin. I have those dreams too,” he reassured with a small smile, pulling out a chair for her. “I can make you some eggs if you want.”

Natalie nodded gratefully, confused as all hell but refusing to speak about it. It wasn’t until Alex placed her plate in front of her and adjusted his tie that Natalie finally spoke up around a mouthful of eggs.

“Is Max still in school?”

“Yes. I don’t think his summer break is until a few months from now. Why?”

“No reason,” Natalie lied, taking a large sip from her milk. When Natalie felt her father’s gaze persisting, she peered up through her messy bangs with a befuddled smile. “What?”

“I’m just surprised,” Alex laughed. “Usually you’re up early on Saturdays.”

“I am?”

“Yes. You have that Stan boy coming over to tutor and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look this casual around him,” he explained, gesturing to Natalie’s oversized t-shirt and sleep tousled hair. She gaped at him, coughing when she choked on her food, eggs spraying the table.

“Stan’s here?” Natalie asked, wincing at how loud her voice was. Alex made a noise of affirmation, wiping off the mess she made.

“Well, not yet. He usually comes over in ten minutes, but I - Pumpkin, where are you going?” Alex started, jolting back in surprise when Natalie scurried out of the room.

She tripped and fell onto her carpet when trying to remove her pajama bottoms too quickly. Pulling a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt over her head, Natalie quickly threw her hair up and washed her face, the anticipation palpable.

She felt a grin pulling at her lips as she put on her deodorant when she peered around her room, the familiar doll and beanbag in place.

The doorbell rang when Natalie was making her bed. She forced the corner of her comforter into the wall and threw a pillow over it, yelling when the doorbell rang again and again.

“I’ll get it!”

Natalie hopped out of her room, smiling to herself when she approached the living room, Alex already answering the door and talking with their visitor pleasantly. Natalie sidled by her father, turning her eyes up to greet her best friend; it had only been a day but she missed him.

Her smile fell.

“It’s about time. Why are you so out of breath?” Satan asked, eyeballing Natalie with reluctance.

“Y-you’re tall,” was all Natalie could eloquently reply with. She glanced to her father anxiously, but Alex never stopped smiling at the two of them.

“Yeah?”

Natalie cleared her throat. “No reason. Just thought you should know.” She laughed mechanically, to which Satan pursed his lips in reply.

“I’ll let you two kids get to it, then. I’ll see you for dinner. Feel free to join us if you’re still here, Stan,” Alex said, draping his coat over his arm. Satan stepped out of the way and nodded, watching as Alex drove out of sight before shutting the door.

“I hate doing this. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to wait outside until eight every fucking Saturday,” Satan grumbled, knocking Natalie’s shoulder as he threw himself down on the couch. He ran his hands through his hair with a huff before looking at Natalie again. His upper lip curled back in annoyance. “What?”

“Why do you look like that?”

Satan appeared offended by Natalie’s obvious declaration. “Because I was born this way?” he supplied slowly, as if talking to a particularly dumb child.

“Aren’t you supposed to look like, I don’t know, some doofy alfalfa looking kid around my dad? Not some beefed out giant. Only my friends know ‘Stan’ looks like this, not my family.”

Satan made a face of displeasure, reeling back and cocking his head.

“The fuck? Since when?”

“Since always,” Natalie argued.

“You’re on crack, girl. You’re the one who made me set up this routine, if you remember correctly. I come over to ‘tutor’ you every weekend for your college courses and - What are you doing?” Satan explained, making sure to sarcastically air quote for effect before Natalie leaned in. She cupped his chin and turned his face back and forth to examine it. He slapped her hands away, getting flustered.

“What is wrong with you today, Natalie?” Satan demanded, moving down the couch when she made to sit, burying her face in her hands. Satan grew silent, watching Natalie’s shoulders starting to tremble.

He drew his hand up, hesitating over her back, then decided against it as Natalie sat upright. Satan tucked his hand protectively to his side and shot the teen a concerned frown.

“Kid?”

“It’s the same but it’s different,” Natalie spoke after a beat. She turned to Satan but she didn’t look like she was going to cry, much to his relief. She wasn’t smiling, however, and that was concerning enough.

“What’s different? You’re going to have to give me a little more information than that.”

Natalie took a breath and began to tell Satan of her day. He sat quietly, his expression unreadable as she recited about her mother and her family together, his lack of presence in her life with her friends and relatives, and his personal belongings vanishing.

By the time she finished, Natalie felt ten years older. She held out her hands, as if to say ta-dah! with no real enthusiasm. Satan folded his arms across his chest and hummed in thought.

“Are you sure you didn’t dream this or anything, kid?”

“I swear I didn’t,” Natalie denied, frowning that Satan would even doubt her on something this serious. When he saw the bitterness on her face he held up a palm in surrender.

“Alright. I believe you.”

Natalie didn’t know how much she needed him to say that until some of the pressure in her gut subsided. She wasn’t crazy and she hadn’t imagined yesterday. Something weird was going on.

“Did you eat anything or talk to anyone strange yesterday? You are the Prophecy Child. There is a possibility someone did something to you.” Even the idea of this possibility had Satan gripping his biceps until his knuckles turned white.

Natalie slowly shook her head. “No, nothing like that. Aside from everything being different, yesterday was normal. I didn’t see . . . anything . . . superna . . .” Natalie started, then her voice faded out. Satan raised an eyebrow.

“The plant.”

“The what?”

Natalie shot up from her seat, shocked that she hadn’t realized sooner. “Jurassic Park!”

Satan protested as Natalie began to drag him down the hallway, huffing and puffing while trying to maneuver the resisting hulk of a man into her bedroom. With a final shove, Natalie pushed him inside and gestured dramatically to the orb.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know. I bought it the other day from that weirdo shop you took me to a while ago. You know, the first day of the end of the World?”

Satan stopped eyeballing the glowing plant to scowl at Natalie. Natalie waved him away dismissively.

“I know, I know. Humans shouldn’t shop there. He said this is an opportunity presenter. What do you think that means? Do you think it has something to do with your vanishing act yesterday or your relationship with my dad today?” Natalie asked, biting her nail in apprehension.

Satan picked up the orb and studied it, twisting it around before setting it back down.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

XXXXX

“Why must you insist on harassing me? You do know I lose customers any time somebody even hears about you two coming in here,” the shopkeeper sighed, sneering into a bookshelf he was stocking when Natalie and Satan entered.

“We’re not buying anything,” Natalie reassured, tapping her fingers together nervously. She glanced at Satan for help but he refused to look at her. Instead, he removed the orb from the backpack he was wearing.

Upon its reveal, the shopkeeper stopped what he was doing, the surprise evident on his face now.

“Where did you get that?”

“I bought it from you two days ago,” Natalie explained.

“No, you didn’t.”

Natalie scratched her head in frustration, messing up her hair in the process. “You did, but you just don’t remember it.” When the man made to open his mouth for what was most likely another scathing reply, Natalie beat him to it. “And I know that sounds stupid, but I really did buy this. I just want to know what it does . . . ‘cause I think it did something weird to me.”

The shopkeeper set the book down he was holding and regarded both Satan and Natalie like they were germs he was about to get infected with. Natalie stood with hope when she saw the gears slowly moving behind his gaze as he debated something internally before he moved forward, jutting his hand out impatiently.

Satan deposited the orb into his hands, watching him inspect his own product.

“So?” Natalie asked, holding her breath. “Do you know what it is?”

“It’s a plant that’s been blessed that used to grow on the edge of Eden, or so the rumor has it. Hatkhala Khadasha, or the plant of fate. New opportunities and such,” the shopkeeper explained, looking down his nose at Natalie like it was obvious to know this.

“Yeah, you said something like that to me before. But I don’t really get what it means. You said it might help me, though.”

“It will allow you to choose the fate you want.”

Natalie stared, long enough to make him visibly uncomfortable, so he sighed in exasperation. The shopkeeper gestured for Natalie to move closer, then pointed to the dead leaves on the outer portion of the orb.

“See this here?”

Natalie nodded.

“These are two dead fates. The Hatkhala Khadasha dies until you decide to nurture the fate you choose, according to the legends. The owner shall keep waking up to new worlds with new scenes, though it will be nothing too different from the original experiences you’ve had. When you like a world, you break the glass and water the plant.

“If you don’t water the plant once a day, more leaves will fall off and the cycle will continue. You happy now?”

Natalie floundered when he tossed the orb back, almost dropping it.

“So, it’s like an episode of Twilight Zone and every day is the same world, but the events around me are different?” Natalie asked.

“To dumb it down, yes.”

Natalie’s fingers flexed over the glass, leaving wet prints of sweat where her skin had been. She stared at the jungle-like foliage inside, tinted purple and blue as if it imprisoned fireflies inside of it.

“So, he’s not the Satan I spent the last year with? He’s just a version of him that could’ve happened?” Natalie asked, glancing at the man beside her. Satan frowned at her words, turning to the shopkeeper for answers.

“Something like that.” He sighed when Natalie’s expression fell to worry. “You don’t have to pick this fate. Let the plant die tonight and pick the one you want to live in. Christ, I can’t believe a version of me actually thought selling this to someone as stupid as you was a good idea.”

“What if I don’t like any of the fates I get?” Natalie asked, squinting at her reflection in the orb. So each of the many leaves inside held a different life she could live? Hard to believe.

“If you don’t let the plant completely die, come see me and I’ll fix it,” the shopkeeper said, clearly very bored with this conversation. He walked back to the bookshelf and began placing the books back up.

“Thank you!” Natalie said, no longer worried about this ball in her possession. She smiled down at it, holding it close to her chest.

If he could reverse this, then there wouldn’t be any problem in seeing all of her other options, right? In the end Natalie didn’t see herself picking any of these worlds. She’d always come back to the Satan she knew.

Satan eyed her quietly as they walked to the exit, suspiciously silent throughout this whole exchange.

He held the door open for Natalie, the bell jingling signifying their departure before Natalie snapped her fingers. She turned around and called out to the shopkeeper once more. He lowered his eyelids and stepped off of the ladder, looking to her expectantly.

“What happens if the plant dies?”

“Don’t let it die.”

“OK, but what if -”

“Don’t let it die.”

And that was the end of that.

XXXXX

Now that her fears had been assuaged, Natalie enjoyed the rest of her day like she would any other. All the while she did, Satan had hardly spoken a peep.

It wasn’t until Natalie was climbing into bed when he finally spoke up.

“You’re not going to break it?”

Natalie slid under her blanket, rolling her head on her pillow until she could see the two glowing lights that was Satan staring at her. Beside her bed sat the orb, looking as healthy as ever. It was hard to believe every day this plant was dying.

“Why? Did you want me to break it?”

Satan shrugged, averting his gaze.

“I don’t see a difference, dude,” Natalie spoke softly, trying to comfort her friend when she caught his eyes again. He was clearly upset, though she knew he’d never admit it out loud to her. “I don’t even belong here. Not with you. I have my own family and my own Satan. You’ll be fine when your Natalie wakes up tomorrow.”

Satan frowned, slumping down in the beanbag chair, but he didn’t protest.

“Goodnight.”

“Yeah, yeah. Night.”

Natalie rolled over, fiddling nervously with the edge of her pillowcase. For some reason a knot of guilt tied inside of her. She shook it off as best she could, however, choosing not to dwell on it.

Tomorrow was a new day.

Beside her a leaf slowly withered and died, falling to gather with the rest on the bottom.

XXXXX

Natalie adjusted quite quickly the mornings she was presented with. The shopkeeper had been correct; each day was her own reality, just altered slightly.

Some days the alterations were so minor that she’d barely caught on to it, such as Satan hating sweets, or Max living at home. Other days she woke to a life drastically different to her own in the personalities of her peers.

There were even some days she woke up still contracted.

Natalie grinned sheepishly over the scrapes on her knees while Satan scowled above her. She could see the patches of dried blood stained on his jeans from how she’d fallen down the stoop outside.

“I forgot,” she admitted.

“We’ve been contracted for a year now. How do you just forget this?” Satan retorted sarcastically, shuffling around in the first aid kit to find some bandages.

Natalie bit her lip and shrugged. All she could do was smile and hope the subject died every time. There was no point in bringing up her knowledge to any of these Satans. It was too much of a hassle and she didn’t need to give them any extra stress.

If they were just going to get their own version of Natalie back tomorrow, then it was probably best anyway that they weren’t aware she didn’t belong here.

“So . . .” Natalie started, making sure her voice was non confrontational. Satan bandaged her knees, only giving Natalie a brief noise of question in his throat in response. “I forget. What happened at Titus’ warehouse again? I mean, cuz we’re contracted and all.”

Satan’s gaze flicked up to hers, confusion on his face. Natalie beamed.

“Just curious. It was hectic there, you know.”

Satan must’ve been content with her answer because he didn’t look suspicious. His eyes dropped down to Natalie’s knees again and he continued wiping them with the antibacterial cloth.

“He wasn’t there. I just walked in and grabbed you, remember? I’m not sure what’s so ‘hectic’ about that, kid.”

“What? Weren’t there angels and fire and stuff?”

Satan snorted. “What are you talking about?”

Natalie fisted her hands against the material of her shirt. OK, so clearly there hadn’t been a confrontation yet . . . A shiver ran down her spine and she glanced behind Satan, suddenly more aware of her surroundings.

Was Titus still out there?

“You, uh,” Natalie cleared her throat, setting one of her hands over Satan’s. He stopped what he was doing to stare at her in surprise. “You won’t let me get taken somewhere again, right?”

Natalie took a moment to stop glancing around her street, finally allowing her gaze to settle in front of her. She flinched with how stony Satan’s expression was, but there was some comfort in that.

“Never.”

Her fingers flexed, then gripped onto his hand. She was satisfied with that.

XXXXX

There were days Natalie hated with this plant. But it wasn’t like she could do much about it, except for ride it out until nighttime.

These particular days were the ones where Satan hated her.

She sat on the other side of the room as the man who she had come to know as her best friend glared daggers at the television. This man, in this reality, apparently never found her personality quirky but charming, instead just finding her obnoxious. He didn’t find her laugh to be warm, he just thought it was grating and aggravating.

This Satan hated her for keeping him housed like some child or a dog on a leash.

Natalie kept to herself most of the day, avoiding eye contact. She had gotten too close when passing him before bed and he had grabbed her arm, making her wince. When she met his eyes it felt like someone had knocked the wind out of her.

No one had ever looked at her with so much contempt.

Satan had shoved her away and left through her window after that, but Natalie had a hard time bouncing back for a few moments. She didn’t ever want to be privy to that look ever again.

Not if she could help it.

She crawled into her bed and shut the light off, staring at the orb, willing another leaf to finally fall.

XXXXX

One of the most shocking days came when the orb was half full of dead leaves. Natalie shook it around between her palms like a magic 8 ball, trying to get a better look inside. Somehow it was still glowing, but she wasn’t sure what was causing the light to peek through the cracks in the leaves.

If it wasn’t the plant that was doing it, then was there something else inside of it?

Natalie heard the front door open, unwilling to tear her eyes away from the glass ball on her lap. She could see Satan in her peripheral and waved to him.

He hesitated when he approached, raising his eyebrow.

“What are you doing?”

“Can’t talk. Thinking.”

“You can’t talk and think at the same time?” he asked, unamused. Natalie shook the orb again, hoping that some of the leaves would fall away to reveal what was at the center.

“What is that thing, I’ve been meaning to ask.”

Natalie tapped the glass, putting her ear to it. It didn’t make a sound, no movement inside. She let out an exhale through her nose and finally put it down. When she glanced up at Satan something seemed different about him. He looked more . . . relaxed.

“It’s a night light,” Natalie lied.

“A night light,” Satan said, deadpanned.

“Uh-huh.”

He took one last look at the ball before she could see him lose interest. Satan shifted, moving towards the kitchen.

“Did you want a drink?”

Natalie leaned back against the sofa, pulling her legs in in a gesture to let him pass. “Sure, I could use a soda, I guess.”

She smiled at him.

Satan smiled back.

“OK, be right back.”

Natalie reached forward just as Satan walked in front of her, intending to grab the remote on the coffee table and turn on the television. She had not expected in doing so that her friend would bend down and kiss her.

Natalie froze, as if someone had poured ice down the back of her shirt.

It had only been a brief peck, barely a brush of skin on skin, but it blindsided Natalie enough to stare blankly ahead.

In what universe had he mistaken that for any kind of advancement towards him? Natalie pulled her arm back and ran her hands over her face, her eyes wild as she turned her head towards the sounds coming from the kitchen.

There was no way she had led Satan on just by leaning forward as he had tried to pass her. Unless . . .

“S-Satan!” Natalie shouted, sitting rigid on the sofa and beckoning her friend. Satan’s face emerged from the kitchen, slight irritation marring his features at the volume of her voice.

“What?”

It took a few attempts for Natalie to speak over the knot in her throat, her tongue feeling heavy and useless in her mouth. She wetted her lips.

“Are we- I mean, here and now, are- Do we . . .” Natalie coughed into her hand, trying her best to smile, despite the heat crawling up her collar. “Are we . . . together?” she finally supplied, rolling her wrist in a vague gesture.

Satan blinked.

“Uh, yeah?”

“O-oh,” Natalie gulped. “OK, then.”

Satan waited to see if Natalie said anything else, but she merely continued to stare at him with a ambiguous look of constipation. He shook his head, disappearing back into the kitchen.

Natalie gripped her shirt where her heart was, trying to compose herself before Satan came back. This was not good. She hadn’t considered any possibilities that she and Satan were . . . that they did anything like that together . . . that he loved her in the way that she . . .

Natalie shook her head and slapped her legs.

“Who cares? It’s not a big deal. If there are versions where he hates me, it only makes sense that there are versions where he loves me, too,” Natalie muttered to herself with a laugh.

Satan meandered into the living room a moment later, sitting beside Natalie and handing her her soda. Natalie took it with a mechanical jerk of her arm, nearly smacking him in the face. She apologized in a rush when he scowled, scuttling down the couch and putting some distance between the two of them.

What are you doing? He’s still Satan. It’s not like he’s going to do anything different than he normally would. We’re still friends. It doesn’t have to be weird. Natalie thought to herself while Satan surfed through the channels. He settled on some western movie that Natalie hadn’t seen since she was little.

“This is a good movie,” Natalie announced, keeping her eyes on the screen.

“Uh-huh.”

“I heard it actually didn’t do well in the theatre, but it became a classic, like, ten years later.”

“You don’t say.”

“Have we had sex?”

Satan spit out his beverage, his lap and the carpet getting soaked with Coca Cola. Natalie kept her eyes on the television, ignoring the way Satan swiveled to look at her. She sipped from her can.

“This is a good drink, thank you.”

“What is wrong with you? Who just says that out of the blue? Jesus Christ,” Satan hissed, standing up to get a towel. Natalie waited patiently for him to storm back to the living room, wiping off the sofa and the coffee table.

When she managed enough courage to look at him, he was staring at her, scathing. She looked back to the television.

“Is that a no?”

Satan scrubbed the coffee table harder, then threw the used rag at Natalie’s face. She squawked, removing it with a frown of her own.

“That’s not a very nice thing to do.”

Satan pointed to his face, unimpressed. “The Devil.”

“Regardless.”

Satan shifted his feet, staring forlornly at the television and his half a can of soda, knowing that his afternoon of relaxation was now blown out the window. With a heave of his chest, Satan plopped onto the cushion with an irritated grumble, staring at the floor.

“OK, what do you want?”

Natalie felt that foreign heat start to climb up her neck and rest in her cheeks again. At least he wasn’t looking at her. She didn’t think she could talk about this if he was looking at her. Instead, she fidgeted and ran her finger around the rim of her soda can.

“What makes you think I want anything?”

“You just asked me if we had sex.”

Natalie cringed, hearing how awkward it sounded shot back at her.

“Well, how am I supposed to know?”

OK, that was a stupid question. She’d admit it.

Satan gawked at her now. “I’d assume you’d have been present?”

Natalie groaned in embarrassment, hiding her face in her shirt, pulling the collar up above her face. She rolled away from him and tucked herself into a ball.

“I changed my mind. I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can we please just watch the movie?” she pleaded, her voice muffled through the fabric.

Natalie waited for his response in the darkness she shrouded herself in. Nothing but the sound of her own breathing and quiet dialogue coming from the television could be heard for a long beat. Natalie reluctantly uncurled from her position, removing her shirt just enough to peek out of the hole.

Did he leave?

Natalie’s nose bumped into Satan’s chin and she jumped, trying to curl back into herself.

“You didn’t leave!” she whined, kicking her leg out into his side. He caught it, pinning it to the side of the couch. “I said it’s OK! I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“How am I supposed to leave when you asked the most bizarre question on the planet?” Satan retorted, growling when her knee clocked him in the chin. “Stop kicking me!”

Natalie’s head was pulled out of the safety of her shirt, her hair a frizzy mess. She felt disoriented, but still managed to frown at him. Natalie tried to pull her leg back when they bumped into the orb, the item falling off the couch with a loud thump.

Her heart shot into her throat.

“Don’t let that break!” she shrieked, no longer willing to tease or go along with this anymore. Upon seeing the terror overcoming Natalie’s face, Satan recoiled, allowing her to squeeze out of his grasp and onto the floor.

“Did it break? Is there a crack? Do you see any cracks?” Natalie asked, frantically inspecting the glass. She held it out to Satan, worry palpable on her face, enough to make him hesitate.

“This isn’t a nightlight, is it, kid?” Satan said after a moment, carefully watching Natalie hugging the glass ball to her chest, her expression pensive. “Hey, look at me,” he ordered when she ignored him.

Natalie reluctantly peered up under the fringe of her bangs, pursing her lips.

“. . . No.”

Satan inhaled, long and deep, rubbing the back of his neck. Natalie expected a string of angry questions, interrogating her further on her behavior; to behave like her Satan would do. But he just remained silent.

Natalie set the orb down in front of her, taking her own calming breath.

“Hey, Satan?”

“Mm?”

“Can I just ask you one thing?” Natalie met his eyes, wondering briefly where she got the courage to say the words she’d even wanted to say back home; back where she really belonged, to a man with the same face but who was so very different. “Do you love me here?”

Never had her voice sounded so tiny to her own ears. She remembered the bus stop when she was sick; how she’d told him she loved him and was met with silence. The Satan there wasn’t much of a talker. He was closed off and broody and angry most of the time, but she was patient enough to never push him.

It didn’t mean the silence didn’t hurt a little, though.

The Satan here, sitting on the couch, was looking at her with a sense of subdued surprise. It was brief, but Natalie felt her heart thundering in her chest, waiting for that rejection, before he shut his mouth and nodded.

Perhaps, just a little bit, Natalie was tempted to pick this day to break the glass.

But only a little bit.

XXXXX

In some strange way, the opportunities plant was kind of like clothing shopping.

Every store she would go into would be different, but she would know that in every store she was looking for a dress. And even though every dress was something to wear, they were all different as well.

She could pick any dress she wanted, but they’d all suit the same purpose.

Some “dresses” were terrible bargains that Natalie would never even look twice at; like the reality where Satan died fighting Titus, haughty and distracted, left like some roadkill on the side of the road out in that field decimated by craters; or like the reality where he hated her for being a weak, revolting human that she was.

But some “dresses” were kind of tempting; like the reality where he held her hand more gently than she ever knew he was capable of; like the reality where he’d laugh more freely, as if unburdened for a change because Hell was never put inside of him to begin with. The realities where he kissed her, soft and tender under the moonlight in her bedroom.

In the end, though, none of these were her place to stay. She had gone into this thinking of it like a game. And it had been, at first. But Natalie felt guilty for all the mornings where she was hesitant. The mornings she was tempted to break open the glass and start watering that damn plant to stay with a different Satan.

She chewed at her lip, sighing to herself for even thinking about leaving the Satan she knew.

She was never going to pick one of these places.

“I might as well go return it right now,” Natalie murmured to herself, looking at the orb that was now more than half filled with dead leaves. She held it up to her face, a warped reflection staring back at her.

“I still can’t figure out where this dang light is coming from,” she huffed, shaking the ball around and disrupting the tiny plant that used to be a jungle once upon a time.

“I wonder if there’s a way to see,” Natalie pondered, standing up and walking into the kitchen. Maybe she just needed better lighting.

“Woah, watch it there,” Alex exclaimed, jumping back when Natalie ran into his chest. Natalie yelped in surprise, unaware that her dad had been home this entire time.

The orb hit the tiles with a loud crash, shattering at her feet.

Natalie’s mouth fell open, horrified at the shards now littering the floor. The opportunity plant lay on its side, the scattered leaves that had died surrounding it like lost feathers from a wing. The blue and purple light flickered, then faded to nothing.

“Holy crap,” Natalie breathed, fisting her fingers through her hair. “It broke . . . I broke it. I don’t even know what reality this is yet and I broke it,” she rambled hectically under her breath, bending down to collect the leaves and shards of glass. Her hands trembled so violently she nearly missed every leaf, cutting her fingers open in the process.

“Woah, woah, hold on. Natalie, calm down. What’s the problem?” Alex asked, kneeling down to see his daughter panicking.

“I broke it!” she yelled. Alex faltered.

“That’s OK. We can fix it. Here, I’ll get a broom,” he offered helpfully. Alex stood to get a dustpan long enough for Natalie to abandon the glass and dead leaves for the actual plant, shoving it behind her when he returned.

“Was this some sort of science project?” he asked awkwardly when Natalie remained quiet.

“Yeah, uh. It was. It was really important.”

“Oh.”

Natalie cleared her throat, standing on legs that felt as strong as twigs. She kept the plant hidden behind her back so her father couldn’t see. The plant was warm underneath her fingers, and Natalie almost jumped in her horror to feel it had it’s own heartbeat.

“Do you need me to get you another jar? I feel terrible. I don’t want you to fail because of me,” Alex asked, emptying the dustpan into the garbage. He looked to Natalie for a response but she just gave him a tight smile.

“Nope. Hey dad, is Stan coming over today?”

Alex cocked his head to the side. “Stan?”

Natalie swallowed around the terrified lump in her throat. Oh no, was this a morning where Satan wasn’t here? Her hands felt clammy against the waxy substance of the leaves in her palm.

Alex hummed and rubbed his chin. “I don’t think so. I didn’t hear anything about it.”

Natalie nearly collapsed in her relief. She kept herself composed, however, and nodded. “OK. I’m going to go out for a bit. Tell him to wait here for me if he comes over. I’ll be right back!”

When Natalie went to lock the front door, her hand missed the keyhole three times. She cursed until she finally got it, then started running for the bus stop.

“I’m done, alright? I won’t play with it anymore,” Natalie yelled to the sky. Hopefully that shopkeeper could reverse it like he said he would.

XXXXX

“You’ve got to be be kidding me.”

Natalie clutched the plant to her chest, gazing at a grocery deli in front of her. She circled around the building, even through the alleyways, but no matter the angle the reality was still the same: this building was a deli.

Natalie entered the store, the bell on the door jingling behind her. There were two other customers waiting in line, sparing her no attention. Natalie peered around the shop, seeing different meats on shelves and freezers. Nothing about this building was mystical or magical, but she could clearly see from the layout that it was, in fact, the shop.

“Miss?”

Natalie jumped, turning her attention to the bearded man behind the counter. She approached nervously.

“Do you just sell food here?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Nothing else at all?” Natalie inquired, feeling desperate. She wasn’t used to feeling like this. The last time she did had been when she terminated her contract.

But in this reality, who knew if that was even true?

“I’m looking for a guy. Short guy, long nose, really tiny. He’s got crazy hair, like he’s never owned a brush before. Kinda looks like a bird?” Natalie rattled out, hoping that this man knew anything helpful. Anything at all.

He regarded her quizzically before nodding. “He used to own this building?”

Natalie smiled, nodding. “Yeah! Do you know where he is?”

“Nah, I’m sorry, Miss. I bought this place four years ago. Haven’t seen him since. I think he moved upstate or something.”

“U-upstate?”

“I think so. Sorry, I don’t really know. You gonna buy anything?”

Natalie pursed her lips, staring down at the plant in her hands. There was a tiny thrumming under her fingers where its heart beat. She covered it and pulled it back into her sweatshirt, retreating from the counter.

“Thanks for the help.”

The bell jingled as she exited, reminding her how close she would have been had she not been clumsy on this particular day.

XXXXX

Satan was sitting on her bed when she got home, arms folded and ankles crossed against her mattress. At first Natalie thought he’d been sleeping. His face was relaxed more than it usually was when he was awake, but upon shutting her door with a click, his eyes opened.

Natalie remained by the door, unsure of what he was going to be like today. There had been a day where he had slapped her. She didn’t dare approach him until she knew who it was she was forced to be with for all eternity.

Gosh, she’d never see the one she wanted to again. Her throat tightened on itself, Natalie drawing in a shallow breath. She kept her shoulders straight and her chest up, however. This wasn’t something she wouldn’t be able to handle.

“Morning,” Natalie greeted, but the lack of enthusiasm in her voice belied her weariness.

Satan glanced at the clock on her dresser. “It’s almost two.”

She smiled halfheartedly. “Is it? Sorry, dude. I lost track of time.”

“Where did you go? I was stuck playing chess with your father for two hours. Chess,” he complained, narrowing his eyes in displeasure.

Natalie let herself relax a little, stepping further into her room at the casual banter. So this Satan wasn’t one of the ones that hated her. That was a good sign.

“I was . . . out.”

“Out where? You don’t have anywhere to go,” he snorted. His eyes tracked her movements around the room, making her feel like an animal he was hunting. She wiped her sweaty palms against her jeans, removing her sweatshirt and draping it over the corner of her computer chair.

“I was out with Laila,” Natalie lied, hoping he’d drop it. Confusion colored his irritated expression.

“Who?”

“She’s a friend from school. You know Laila. We went to Oregon together; black hair. Remember? Gosh, you’re getting so old if you’re forgetting stuff like that,” Natalie laughed.

“You don’t have any friends,” Satan scoffed.

Natalie blinked at him, pausing. “I don’t?”

“No one except for that nerd who talks to you because he feels obligated.”

Great. I picked a reality where I don’t have friends, Natalie internally complained. Well, that wasn’t too terrible. She was an outgoing person. She’d make some later.

“Then I meant I was at the movies with him. Slip of the tongue,” Natalie shrugged. Satan didn’t look like he believed her, but before he could question her further Natalie cut him off. “What have you been up to?”

Satan bobbed his head to the side, squinting at her. “Since when did you ever wanna know that?”

Natalie twiddled her fingers together idly. “Uh, always?” she supplied, sounding uncertain by the skepticism and curiosity on his face.

“Please don’t ask if I’m feeling OK. I’ve heard that way too much these past couple of months,” Natalie stated, rubbing her temples when Satan continued to make her feel antsy under his gaze.

She moved to sit down, her jacket shifting and catching Satan’s attention. “What’s that thing?”

“Huh?” Natalie muttered, not even remotely interested in whatever it was he was saying.

“This thing. Looks like something out of the Amazon,” Satan said, leaning forward and pulling the plant from her hoodie pocket. Natalie glanced at him, going stiff and ripping it out of his hands.

“Give me that! You’ll break it!”

Satan sneered. “Break what?” he demanded, snatching it back. Two petals were forcibly torn off, causing Natalie to scream.

“You’re breaking it! Lucifer, please, don’t make this worse on me! I don’t want to be stuck here with you,” Natalie blurted in her panic, bending down and picking the leaves up. They shriveled brown before they’d even hit the floor. A whine crawled up from her throat when seeing them dead against her palms.

“What do you mean ‘stuck here with you’?” Satan asked from above her, the air grown thick with tension while he’d watched her lament the death of the plant.

Natalie froze, unwilling to dare a peek at Satan. There was something about his voice that raised the hairs on her arms. It wasn’t cruel, but it demanded obedience. Maybe this Satan was more straight edged than Natalie was used to.

“Kid, I asked you a question. What the hell is this thing?” Satan asked. When Natalie remained silent, he frowned. “Answer me or I’ll torch it.”

“No!” Natalie protested, her head shooting up in alarm. “Alright, alright. I’ll tell you. Just, don’t hurt the plant anymore. That’s all I have left.”

Satan cocked his head to the side and waited for Natalie to explain.

“So, there was this shop that used to be in town,” Natalie started. “It sold some really weird things, and I bought that plant. But that plant makes me wake up to a different you every morning, isn’t that funny?”

Satan didn’t smile. Natalie sighed.

“Anyway, I’m not supposed to break the glass, but I did this morning, and if I don’t get it back to that shop guy then I’m stuck here with . . . you.” Natalie awkwardly coughed into her hand, avoiding his eyes.

“And you wouldn’t want to be stuck here.” Natalie glanced up. “With me,” Satan finished, pointing to his face with a scowl.

“Uh.”

“How did you say that and not think it would be insulting?”

“I don’t know,” Natalie grumbled. “I don’t know what kinda guy you are. I’ve met some who are really mean to me. Do we even like each other?” she asked curiously.

Satan balked, looking offended. Natalie could see the red bleeding into his horns the more she spoke, but despite the clear anger on his face, his horns weren’t the only things turning red.

“You’re mocking me now?” Satan growled, standing up from the bed with a huff. Natalie was at a loss, completely unsure how she was supposed to act when she didn’t know what kind of reality this was.

“How am I mocking you? I’m just asking you a question. Do I like you here? Do you like me? This isn’t rocket science. I just wanted to know if you were friendly.”

“If I’m frie- Shut up, Natalie!” Satan hissed. “Why should I believe your stupid story about this flower? It’s fucking ugly. I should just throw it away.”

“No! I said I need it,” Natalie said, standing up and trying to yank it out of his hands. He held it above her head easily enough. He still looked pissed off, but there was a curiosity in his gaze that gave Natalie hope.

“If the flower dies, I don’t know what will happen. What if I die? I need to put it in water just in case,” Natalie explained, jumping up to grab it. She must’ve said something right because the flower was lowered immediately.

Natalie took that opportunity to take it back, retreating to the other side of the room protectively. Natalie pouted in his direction, wondering why he suddenly looked so withdrawn.

“You’re not just pulling my leg with this shit, are you?” Satan muttered, frowning to himself in his unsureness.

“Duhhhhhh,” Natalie spit, intentionally mocking him this time.

“I’ll- Then I’ll get it water,” Satan said, leaving the room in a flurry that surprised even Natalie. She stared at the door in shock until he entered a few seconds later, a pitcher in his hand. Natalie was reluctant, but let him take the plant from her and place it in the water.

“What happens to the leaves?”

“Huh?”

Satan looked up, then looked away, almost seeming ashamed. He rubbed the back of his neck and moved to sit on the bed.

“You freaked out when some leaves fell off. Why?”

“I don’t know what happens when it dies, but I do know if I want to leave this version of you I just don’t water the plant. But there aren’t that many leaves left, and for all I know all the other yous are mean. So, for now, you’re the best option I have until I can figure out what to do,” Natalie admitted quietly, her fingers playing gently with the plant in her lap.

Satan gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing, now staring intently at the fragile plant he’d almost destroyed with a sense of awe. Natalie observed him curiously, wondering where the change of heart came from.

“You never answered my question.”

Satan’s ears twitched as he cautiously looked at her. He furrowed his brow, but this time he didn’t seem quite as aggravated as before. With a long inhale, Satan huffed and ran his hands over his face, catching on his eyelids as he let them linger in annoyance.

At least his mannerisms are the same, Natalie thought, satisfied.

“No. You don’t like me,” Satan admitted, his voice tinged with a bitterness that Natalie hadn’t heard since she’d dated Jericho.

Natalie paused. “Oh.”

“But . . . I like you,” he grumbled, standing up again. Satan folded his arms and paced her bedroom, unable to keep himself still.

“You seem . . . nice,” Natalie supplied, getting Satan to stop his movements. “Why wouldn’t I like you? I mean, you’re a little obnoxious, but you’re not a bad guy.”

Satan stared at the wall as if he wished he could burn a hole through it with his eyes. This clearly wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. Maybe it was one they’d already had?

“I scared your friends away,” he finally admitted.

“It was an accident. You’re the Devil,” Natalie started to reassure. “Some people are just going to think you’re-”

“I did it on purpose and you got mad.”

“Oh.”

Natalie felt the tension coming back, feeling antsy herself now that she heard this admission. She started picking at the carpet threads to busy her hands.

“Well, I can make friends again. If they didn’t want to be around me because of you, then they weren’t really my-”

“And your family.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t have a very good . . . relationship with your family right now,” Satan muttered, refusing to look at Natalie.

“Why?”

“There were some fights. And I might’ve been a bit of a catalyst.”

“Oh.”

“Your brother deleted you from his contacts.”

Natalie felt her hands fisting in the carpeting. “What happened? I don’t understand. You seem normal. What’s so different about this reality?”

“Like I said, I like you,” Satan growled, turning around to yell at a different wall. Natalie could see his ears turning red, even from the poor angle she had of him. “I got jealous a lot. I didn’t handle it well. So we don’t get along.”

Natalie blinked. She had not been expecting that. Yeah, there was liking someone, but it wasn’t exactly normal to isolate them from their personal life. Although, she wasn’t sure how much emotional damage was done. Perhaps she could still salvage her relationships in this reality.

“You’re like a five year old,” Natalie said, unintentionally speaking her thoughts. She hadn’t realized it until Satan spun around, furious.

“Don’t fuckin’ call me that! Jesus, think before you speak sometimes, Natalie. Everything you say is always so insulting to me. Cut me some slack.”

Natalie held her hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry.”

Satan frowned, the muscles in his neck tense. Despite the anger, Natalie could see how miserable he was. She wasn’t sure what kind of life this Satan led, or what she’d said to him if this version of herself hated him, but she’d never like that look on Satan’s face, no matter the situation.

“I love you, you know.”

Satan flinched.

“Well, I mean, I just met you. But I meant you as a whole,” Natalie shrugged. “Every single one of you. So, uh, does that make you feel better?”

He stared at her, the fury bleeding out of his form like a deflating balloon. He looked so young here, surprise overtaking him with wide eyes and drooping ears. Natalie couldn’t help but feel for the guy; he’d probably never heard that from anyone in his life, he looked so dumbfounded.

“But you’d still hate to be stuck here with me.”

Natalie averted her eyes, staring at the plant in the pitcher. “I have my own place to be. I can’t stay here, Satan. I’m sorry.”

Satan moved forward, kneeling in front of the plant, something pinched crossing his face. For a moment, Natalie thought the plant had come back to life, glowing dully in front of her again. She blinked, looking up to see the light haze of purple illuminated like a dying bulb from his horns.

“You should probably let this out of the water then,” he muttered.

“I don’t want it to die. What if -”

“So don’t let it die,” Satan suggested, looking at her like she was a moron. Natalie paused. “You said the shop’s not here anymore, right? So see if it’s there tomorrow. Then fix it.”

Natalie hesitated, knowing he was right, but unsure if she wanted to take the risk. Memories of a beach painted orange and pink, of a warehouse caught in flames, of a grinning man glowing practically yellow in excitement came to the forefront of her mind.

Natalie picked up the plant and gently placed it outside of the pitcher.

“Hey, I still have the rest of the day,” Natalie said, reaching out and touching Satan’s arm. He blinked quickly a few times before straightening, looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen.

“You’re a good guy, argh!” Natalie yelled, punching his arm this time. He looked at her now, surprised. “If I know me like I know me, then I don’t really hate you. You just gotta not be so controlling. Let me go out with other people sometimes, dude. Believe me, that will give you some brownie points back, OK?”

Satan had that dumbfounded look on his face again, but the dull purple faded away to red. He pursed his lips and swallowed, but nodded.

“Good. So, how about that movie, then?”

XXXXX

“It’s here!” Natalie gasped, jumping up and down, gripping onto Satan’s arm in her excitement. He swayed in boredom, half asleep from the nap she’d woken him up from.

“It’s not open. It’s 6 A.M., kid. Why the hell did you drag me here at 6 A.M?” Satan groaned, yawning into his fist. It did nothing to stop Natalie’s hopping. She quickly tugged at him, standing with a grin beside the door.

“We’ll be first in line.”

“There’s never any line. There’re never any customers. Fuck you, girl. I wanna die,” Satan muttered, placing his forehead against the brick wall and shutting his eyes. He grew still, and Natalie wondered after a while if he actually fell asleep like that.

She reached out a hand to tap him but stopped before she could when he spoke.

“Don’t touch me.”

Natalie smiled. This version wasn’t so bad. As far as she could tell, this reality was identical to her own, except that Satan seemed to be a bit sleepier here.

“Once we finish up here I’ll get you a coffee, does that sound OK?”

“Mrph.”

Three hours later and a sore back, the shopkeeper finally showed up. He hesitated with his key in the lock, noticing the grinning human sitting on the ground and the glaring Devil beside her.

“I’d like to return something, please.”

XXXXX

“You just add water?” Natalie balked.

She stared in disbelief as he added water to the glass, encasing it in a new orb and putting it back on the shelf.

“Yes.”

“Is that, like, magic water or something?” Natalie asked, trying her damndest not to punch him square in the face.

“No, it’s tap water,” he explained dryly, walking away from her and going behind the curtain into the next room. Natalie clenched her teeth together and tried to follow him but he shooed her away.

“So, if I had just kept it in water last night it would’ve grown back?!”

“Yes. Once it grows back the cycle starts all over again. The leaf at the top will be the reality you left. You don’t get to pick your fate. Why would I give you something that dangerous?” he scoffed.

“B-but you said-”

“Yes, yes. You’re angry. You’re disappointed. Go post a bad review on yelp and get it out of your system. Have a good day. Tomorrow you’ll be fine since I’m growing the plant back.”

Natalie found herself shoved out into the street, at a loss for words. Satan blinked up at her from his spot on the cement.

“Get your refund?”

“I think . . . he pranked me.”

“That’s not hard.”

Natalie frowned, opening the door and glaring at the shopkeeper refilling a jar of what looked like something that used to be alive once.

“Before, you told me to not let the plant die. Was that just to scare me, too?”

He paused, snapping the rubber glove onto his hand and looked her dead in the eyes.

“No, you would have died.”

Natalie wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, but she didn’t press her luck.

#satan and me #fanfiction #natan #commission #astarisms

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