#And next chapter there'll be more interaction!!

[jadeazora]

A new Message from the Masters Team is out now!

Starting May31, you'll be able to invite Cheren as a guest to the Lodge, tho you'll need to team up with Cheren & Stoutland in their PML chapter first.

New story content titled Pride of the Myth Seekers will be added to the Mysterious Stones Chapter on Jun1! (You'll need to have collected a total of 700 Mysterious Stones to unlock this story's area.) They mention there'll be some interaction between Volo and Cynthia!

Neo Champions: One More Step to a New Path will begin on May31! Here's their Sync Pair Overviews:

Cheren (Champion) & Tornadus are a Flying-type Tech Sync Pair. Their EX Role is Strike.

Their New Teacher's Quick Wit Passive Skill can increase their Physical Moves ↑ Next and Special Moves ↑ Next effects by one rank when their attack move is successful! Plus, the more their Physical Moves ↑ Next effect is increased, the more it powers up their Moves and Sync Move. Their Black Gale Bleakwind Storm Buddy Move can be activated when they use any move one time. It also gets powered up the more their Physical Moves ↑ Next effect is increased, so we recommend using it in tandem with their Bleakwind Storm Move to keep increasing their Physical Moves ↑ Next effect. Additionally, another Passive Skill of theirs can increase their Physical Moves ↑ Next and Special Moves ↑ Next effects by two ranks after they use their Thoughts of Glory Trainer move or Sync Move.

By teaming up with Cheren (Champion) & Tornadus, you can get a special Friend Snapshot that will be viewable in the Trainer Lodge.

Bianca (Champion) & Virizion are a Fighting-type Strike Sync Pair. Their EX Role is Support.

Their The Will to Protect Passive Skill applies Unova Circle (Defensive) to the allied field of play the first time they enter a battle each battle. On top of that, their Unova Solidarity Trainer move can also apply Unova Circle (Defensive) to the allied field of play! One of their Passive Skills applies the Free Move Next effect to themselves when their attack move is successful while Unova Circle (Defensive) is applied to the allied field of play, letting them continuously attack without using the Move Gauge. Their White Light Sacred Sword Buddy Move lowers the target's Fighting Type Rebuff by two ranks and also lowers the target's Attack and Sp. Atk by three stat ranks. Plus, another Passive Skill of theirs lets them attack while ignoring the target's Passive Skills that would reduce the damage of attacks, Passive Skills that would protect the target against a critical hit, and the target's Enduring effect, making them a Sync Pair that can excel in a wide variety of battles.

An Extreme Battle Event is coming, as well as Special Battle Event Take On Cheren and Bianca!, where you'll be able to battle Cheren and Bianca in their Champion outfits, and Special Event Pasio Special Stadium, which features Cheren as the Champion.

Scheduled from early to mid-June is the return of the Ball Guy event. A Legendary Gauntlet and an Ultimate Battle are also coming.

New battle content is currently under development. The objective of this battle content is to inflict as much damage as possible to the opponent within the time limit. The grade and rewards you receive at the end of these battles will be determined by how much damage you inflicted. The order in which you attack, strengthen yourself, and weaken the opponent will be vital to dealing more damage. The battles will switch periodically and feature opponents with a specific weakness each time, so you can use a variety of Sync Pairs!

Next message will come in late-June!

Here's the events schedule from Reddit!

[tadpolesonalgae]

I want Azriel is SUFFER

Yes, I want him and reader to be endgame. But I want him to suffer at the hands of Eris and Bas, not literally, but mentally. Just by knowing that reader is comfortable with them and NOT him

Angsty Az hours <3

I can tell you right now you're going to enjoy them eventually going to Autumn

And don't worry one bit, I have plans and plots and schemes and they are all stacked against Az (and reader too, but shh. It's just a tiny bit more pain and she'll survive it)

mild spoiler warning for a scene in ch. 24 below!

I'm still planning out some stuff for chapter 24 but I'm hoping to have a slightly longer section from Azriel's perspective during one scene where reader's interacting with Bas before they're split apart for a bit? I'm not sure how long the scene will be though because on one hand having Az's perspective on reader while she's interacting with Bas could be interesting, but then I also want to write reader and Bas' temporary(?) separation from reader's pov, so it might be we have Az's pov on the scene after it's happened?

Anyway, I'm super excited and scared to handle these next few chapters since there'll inevitably so much time that's solely Az and reader alone together and that's...kind of terrifying :)

[starleska]

hey guys, listen. it means the world that you like my stuff and are eager to see more of it, but i literally posted a wip just two weeks ago and have so many people asking when it's going to be done. the answer is: i don't know. this month has been tremendously difficult for me, and i'm really, really exhausted.

i've been posting art, vids, text posts, writing articles, etc. all for the sake of fandom while trying to keep on top of the huge amount of asks and messages that have come my way. i was supporting a loved one in the hospital, my laptop is broken, and i experienced a really horrifying situation earlier this month that left me sick, that i'm still recovering from. please do remember that i'm not a content factory, and neither are any other fandom artists you like. i know some of you are just reaching out because you are excited, but a lot of the time it's coming across as a demand, and it's making me just want to log off and not work on anything at all. this isn't my job - i'm just a person who gets excited about stuff and likes to write/draw/talk about it, that's all. i recognise some of this response is just burnout from a really terrible month, and i probably wouldn't be reacting this way if i was less at the end of my tether, but this is something i've always been vocal about. as a prolific fandom creator i've had my fair share of 'WHEN'S THE NEXT CHAPTER???' comments on fics, and 'OMG YOU SHOULD DRAW THIS!!!' replies on art that's just been posted. zero acknowledgement of artistic merit, of what they liked about what was made...just an insatiable hunger for more. i don't know if it's because i'm in so many fandoms, or because i make such a wide variety of fan content and make a lot of posts that seem to draw strangers in. but none of my fanworks come with a release date. i make them because they make me happy, and i release them when they're ready, and if i want to. i shouldn't be logging onto Tumblr and feeling dread looking at my askbox, messages and replies because i know there'll be more demand. for real guys...my stuff isn't that good? it's just silly self-indulgent nonsense and autistic overthinking. this is the place where i go to release the fixation energy, not to come to another workplace 😓 my apologies if this seems ridiculous or overblown. it's a feeling i've been sitting on for a few months now, and it's one i've had following strong/frequent/demanding interactions in larger fandoms before. i don't think there's a fix for this, because people are always going to be crossing boundaries and treating fanworks creators this way. but i think i need to stay firm and say that i don't owe anyone a schedule of the art i make for fun. thanks for reading 💖

[euovennia]

widow | CH. II

pairing: soap x fem!reader

a/n: i decided to change up the bar scene at the end of the game because this is my story and i'll do as i please. regardless, the boys are finally here, woo!!! there'll be more interactions between them all next chapter (that's probably gonna be the majority of it tbh) but please enjoy this semi-awkward meeting for now <3

friendly reminder that this work is written with a fem!reader in mind, but with no specified features

PROLOGUE, CH. I, CH. III, CH. IV

Four Years Later

It had been just a few short hours after Ghost had saved Soap from what would have otherwise been a certain death by the hands of Hassan Zyani. The past few weeks were nothing short of grueling but as Ghost, Soap, and Gaz all made their way through the bustling streets of Chicago to meet Price and Laswell at a local dive bar, they couldn’t help but want to give themselves a little pat on the back for a job well done. As well as it could have gone at least, there was still the issue of Grave’s death and Shepherd's betrayal on Los Vaqueros and the 141. Perhaps that would be their next mission.

Finally approaching the dingy bar, the three men began filing inside the bar as they each made a beeline over to Price and Laswell who seemed to be having a rather serious conversation if the looks on their faces were anything to go by. Upon seeing the team approach however, Price simply gave them a small nod before taking a swig of this drink. The boys take their seats before each ordering a drink of their choice. With everyone now settled in, Laswell decides to speak.

“You boys did your job and you did it well. Congratulations,” She raises her glass and the four men follow in succession, a sense of pride and accomplishment lingering in the air. The group sits in silence for a few moments before Gaz breaks it.

“So what now?”

“We find Shepherd,” Price announces firmly.

Laswell sighs, “That’s not what we agreed on.”

Price looks at her out of the corner of his eye, “We never agreed on anything, Laswell.”

“We’ve got bigger issues than just finding Shepherd.”

“I reckon that’s the reason you’ve got other teams then,” He lamely states as he takes another sip of his drink.

“Trust me, this is something you’ll want to be involved in,” She says before reaching inside her jacket pocket and pulling out a photo. She plants it face down on the bar counter before sliding it over to Price.

He stares at the photo for a few seconds before taking the photo in his hands and flipping it over. He sucks in a sharp breath upon seeing the familiar dark-haired man. Lips pressed into a thin line, he passes the photo over to Gaz. He studies the photo for a few moments before his eyes flicker up to Price's tense frame. Not wanting to ask quite yet, he hands it over to Soap who tilts his head in confusion upon holding it in his hands. Finally, he gives it to Ghost who merely diverts his attention back over to Laswell and Price after staring down the photo for a few seconds.

This time it’s Soap who speaks up, “Who’s that?”

Price lets out a sigh as his grip on the glass in front of him gets tighter.

“Ivan Volkov.”

“What's he done,” Gaz questions.

“We’ll get into that later. Right now, I need you four to head back to the safe house.”

Ghost speaks up, “What are you gonna do?”

“I have a contact completing a mission out in France at the moment to get the last bit of info we need to go after Volkov. I’ll be awaiting their call.”

“What if they don't get it?” Soap chimes in.

Price finishes off the rest of his drink.

“I’ve got a feeling that won’t be an issue.”

Paris, France

A woman watches as the man lifelessly falls back onto the ground, a bullet firmly nestled into his forehead as a steady stream of blood begins to ooze out of the wound.

“Hah…And they said I couldn't be a sniper,” A familiar German accent rings out through her comms.

A small smile comes across her face as she focuses her attention back on the laptop screen in front of her.

“You did well, König. Perfect shot as always my dear friend,”

“Just living out my dreams,” He pauses for a moment, “Do you think I would've made a good sniper?”

“You are a good sniper.”

“But they said I was too tall and couldn't sit still,”

“Doesn’t change the fact you have yet to miss a shot while you’re with me,” She responds as she attaches a small black hard drive into the side of the computer, leaning back and watching as various files upload to the drive.

“Why do you have Laswell request me for these missions?”

“So you can live out your dream.”

She pays no mind to the small ‘thank you’ that flows through her comms.

After all the files have been copied onto the drive, she quickly detaches it and stores it in the small tactical sling bag she’d brought with her.

“I’ve got the intel, I’ll meet you down at the entrance.”

“Copy that.”

The woman promptly pushes herself up from the raggedy desk chair and makes her way over to the grey metal door before pushing it open and walking out the small office. She steps over the lifeless bodies of the various guards she’d taken out prior to making her way into the office. She had quickly come to find that it was quite easy to get through the dead man’s so-called security detail but she knew she couldn’t take all the credit. König was rather handy with that sniper of his after all.

Finally approaching the exit door, she pushed her way through it to reveal the sight of König mindlessly kicking pebbles around with his feet.

“Having fun?”

“Just wanted to make sure you got out safe.”

“Well I’m here,” She motions over to the car sitting a few feet away from them, “Go start it up. I’ll be there in a moment, I have to make a quick call.”

He simply nods before walking away. The woman pulls out a small burner phone from the side pocket of her bag and flips it open before typing in a number she knew all too well by now. She waits patiently for a few moments before she hears Laswell’s voice ring out through the phone.

“Shadow?”

“Target has been eliminated and I have the hard drive. K and I are gonna start making our way back to the safe house then we’ll be on our way to transport at dawn.”

“Actually there’s been a change of plans.”

The woman tilts her head, “What kind of changes?”

“You’ll still make your way to the safe house but you won’t be spending the night there. Instead, I want you to go four klicks north. You should end up in an open field. A short plane will come down and get you.”

“I take it we’re not going back to Germany?”

”Affirmative. You’ll be flown into Chicago and dropped at base. From there, you’ll be escorted directly to me.”

“What about König?”

“I’m going to reach out to KorTac and let them know he’s ready for transport once you two arrive at base. He should be reunited with them late tomorrow afternoon.”

“Alright. See you then I suppose.” “See you.”

The woman flips the phone closed before walking over to the car and sliding in the driver’s seat upon seeing the passenger side occupied by König.

“Didn’t feel like driving?”

He shakes his head.

“The seat doesn’t extend back far enough…It hurts my knees.”

She gives him a small nod as she begins driving.

“You should have more leg room in the plane.”

“Plane?”

“Yeah. We’re heading to Chicago.”

“Scheiße.”

“I like this one.”

“Yeah? What do you like about it?”

König goes quiet for a moment before speaking once more.

“It’s not too loud and it’s not too quiet. It’s simple.”

The woman mulls over his words for a short while before nodding her head.

“Yeah…It is rather simple isn’t it? Just a man playing the piano.”

“Just a man playing the piano,” König parrots back.

They sit in silence for a few moments before he speaks up once more.

“What song is this again? I know you told me, but I think I blacked out for a bit.”

“Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin.”

“What do you know about him?”

“He was a Polish composer born in 1810 known primarily for his solo piano pieces. He published his first composition at the age of seven and began performing when he was eight. Even so, he didn’t make his official debut until 1829. People were enthralled by him and so his fame only grew with time. He eventually passed away at the age of thirty-nine on October 30, 1849. His official cause of death isn’t known, but some theorize it was pulmonary tuberculosis.”

König lets out a hum of acknowledgement.

“How do you always know so much about these people?”

Her mind drifts off for a few moments, memories of ballet shoes and leotards flashing in and out of her mind before she eventually shakes her head and lets out a small sigh.

“I like to read about them when I can’t sleep.”

A lie, but he doesn’t know that.

“Hmm…Maybe I should give it a shot.”

She opens her mouth to respond, but is cut off by the co-pilot shouting over to them through the opening of the cockpit door.

“We’ve touched down, we’ll be parked shortly!”

She and König spare each other a glance before he’s taking out the earbud she lent him as she quickly wraps the cord over her 7th gen. iPod Nano. Despite the black music player being rather dated, she had found an odd comfort in downloading songs off the internet and storing them onto the small device. It was simple and she’d come to like simple.

True to their word, the plane eventually comes to a complete stop as the pair slung their tactical backpacks on their shoulder with König sporting a hefty duffel hand in his right hand that was filled with various weapons he’d brought with him for the mission. They both stand up from their seats with König having to duck his head due to his massive frame as she goes over and slides the plane door open before beginning her descent down the stairs of the plane with König following right behind her.

Her eyes scan over the layout before eventually landing on Price who was currently walking toward the pair who were now standing still on the tarmac. He eventually comes to a stop in front of the pair as he gives a nod of acknowledgement to König who returns an awkward wave.

Bless him.

Price then turns to Shadow as he offers her a small smile.

“Good to see you again, kid.”

“Likewise, but what exactly are you doing here?”

She watches with increased interest as his smile appears to falter just slightly before speaking, “We’ll get to that in a bit. You’ve still got the phone on you?”

She nods as she places a hand over the small bag, “In here.”

He gives her an approving nod before turning to König, “KorTac won’t be here until late this evening. Something about inclement weather. You can do as you please until then.”

König gives him a firm nod before leaning down to Shadow as he gives her arm a small squeeze, “See you next mission then.”

She returns the small gesture before he stands up straight once more and stalks off toward what she assumes is a quiet place for him to sit back and decompress, she knows missions take a lot out of him.

She turns her attention back to Price who is now holding out two granola bars to her.

“It’s not much, but I figure you haven’t eaten in a good while.”

She takes the small snack from him.

“Thanks.”

“Come on, Laswell’s got some water in her office. You wash those down there,” He states as he begins walking forward with her following beside him.

She rips open the first bar and begins munching on it before speaking, “Am I gonna get any context on what’s happening here or do I have to go in blind?”

Price purses his lips, “I think this is something you should work out with Laswell.”

“Is she finally kicking me to the curb?”

“What? No. Where’d you even get that idea from?”

She takes another bite of her granola bar, “Sooner or later she’ll realize she doesn’t need me anymore and toss me to the side. It happens all the time.”

Price gives her shoulder a firm nudge with his arm as he speaks, “You know I don’t like when you talk about yourself like that.”

She shrugs, “Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

The older man releases an exasperated sigh, “You’re a lot darker than I originally thought.”

If only you knew.

She takes one last bite of her first granola bar before tearing open the packaging of the second one as they both approach a door. Price leans forward and pulls the door open and allows her to walk in before taking the lead once more as they weave through the hallways of the building. They eventually come to a stop outside an unmarked door and Price looks down at her.

“Do me a favor and try to hear Laswell out before you make any decisions, okay?”

She narrows her eyes at his words before he pushes the door open and walks inside. Taking a bite of her bar, she follows behind him before coming to a stop by his side as her chewing comes to a halt as she sees Laswell sitting at a circle shaped desk with multiple manila folders sat in front of her. She gulps down her bite of granola as she looks up at Price with a questioning gaze to which he merely gives her a pat on the shoulder before taking a seat beside Laswell. Her eyes dart over to Laswell who simply gestures to the empty seat sitting directly in front of them. Sucking in a small breath, she reluctantly walks over and pulls out the chair before sitting down in it.

She swallows, “What’s this all about?”

Laswell is the one to speak, “The drive. You have it with you, right?”

Upon seeing her outstretched hand, the woman unzips the main compartment of her small bag and grabs the drive before sliding it across the table over to Laswell who picks it up.

“Excellent. Once I get my team to look through this, we should be ready to go ahead.”

“Go ahead on what exactly?”

Laswell looks up at her, “The past four years of your life have been solely dedicated to finding any bit of information you could get me on Volkov and his current whereabouts,” She holds up the drive in her hand, “This will offer us the last piece of the puzzle. We can finally go after him and take him out.”

The woman points a finger at Price.

“Then what’s he here for?”

“His team is going to help you.”

The woman’s hand falls onto the table as her gaze hardens.

“No.”

Laswell sighs, “You don’t have a choice. If I decide I want Price’s team on this mission with you then they’re going on the mission with you, no exceptions.”

“But there’s no need for them to be here. Every piece of information you have on the Red Room is because of me. I don’t like working with teams and you know that.”

“Then what about all the times you’ve worked with König?”

“König is a single person, not a group of four. There’s a difference. Teams only offer more opportunities to fail.” “But they can also offer more opportunities to succeed. Why are you against them anyway? You haven’t even seen them.”

“I don’t want to see them.”

“Well I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t care. Either you work with this team or I pull you from this mission entirely.”

Shadow scoffs, “You can’t do that.” “I have every right to do so and you know it.”

The pair fall into a loud silence before Laswell lets out a soft sigh.

“I know you can do this by yourself, there’s not a single doubt in my mind about that…But I don’t want you to do this by yourself.”

Shadow looks up at her.

“Why not?”

“Because out of every mission you’ve gone on, this is the most dangerous. Ivan Volkov is a dangerous man and the last thing I need is you out there on the field trying to take him out by yourself. I–”

She pauses as she spares a glance to Price out the corner of her eye.

“–We care too much about you to let you do that to yourself.”

Shadow has to refrain from rolling her eyes. “Then send König out there with me, I don’t care! Just don’t stick me with a random team who I know nothing about.”

Laswell shakes her head, “Various members of KorTac will be sent out on missions of their own within the next few days, König is one of them.”

“So that’s it then? Either you stick me in a group with a bunch of random people or I don’t get to go after Volkov at all?”

Laswell nods.

Shadow lets out a humorless laugh, “No offense Las, but you’re a real piece of work.”

Her lips tick up in a small smile, “You’re starting to sound like my wife.”

Shadow goes quiet for a minute before sighing, “You’re not gonna let up on this, are you?”

“Not this time.”

The younger woman seems to bounce a few ideas around her head for a bit before giving a reluctant nod.

“Fine, but if they suck I’m shooting them first chance I get.”

Price offers her a smile, “I’ll hand you the gun.”

“Good. Now that we’re all in agreement, you’re free to go for now. I’ll have my team look through the hard drive to extract any useful information we come across. We’ll meet here again tomorrow at fifteen-hundred hours to go over everything. Does that sound alright?”

“None of this sounds alright, but I’ll be a good little soldier and say yes.”

“Mercenary,” Price corrects.

This time she doesn’t hold back her eye roll.

“Same difference.”

After the short meeting she had with Price and Laswell, Shadow had managed to snag an empty shower long enough for her to scrub away all the dirt and bits of blood that had dried and hardened to her skin. She’d changed out of her kevlar bodysuit and instead opted for some simple leggings and a hoodie with a plain tank top tucked underneath. She didn’t bother switching out her black boots for anything else, they were clean and comfortable enough for her so she didn’t see the need to. Once completely clean and changed, she mindlessly wandered around base for a just over an hour before eventually finding König tucked away in an old conference room as he let old reruns of ‘Modern Family’ play out on a small tv screen just a few feet away from chair he sat in. Not quite wanting to leave him alone, she decided to keep him company.

Seeing as they originally touched down just after twelve pm, that had been more than a few hours ago, considering the sky was now gradually turning into a mix of yellows, oranges, and reds. Not that it felt like it had been that long. She enjoyed spending time with König, whether it be on missions or sitting in an old dusty conference room having hushed conversations where he freely talked her ear off. She didn’t mind though. Despite his sometimes manic and hyper demeanor on the field, she’d come to find he had great difficulty trying to connect with others on a more casual and friendly level, but she and König had spent so much down time together on their missions together that the bond they had formed rather quickly. She was grateful for it.

As much as she enjoyed the time she spent with König, there eventually came a time where one of them would have to depart from the other and this time, it was him. After having received word that his transportation back to KorTac would be landing in ten minutes, he decided it was best to start heading back to the tarmac.

He’d given her a firm hug that was made only slightly awkward due to his massive frame, but she enjoyed it all the same.

“I’ll see you around, Shadow.”

“Until next time, K.”

With König now departed from base, she had taken it upon herself to wander around aimlessly before eventually settling down on a table outside near a building that she could only assume was a training area if the workout gear people wore while filing in and out was anything to go by. She quietly watched everyone from a distance as the soft notes of Debussy’s ‘Claire de Lune’ spilled through the small speakers of her earbuds.

She sat with her legs crossed on the chair and hands clasped in her lap as she watched one soldier narrowly avoid running into a metal pole after being so caught up in whatever app is currently lighting up their phone screen. Her eyes began to drift over to the entrance, but stopped when her ears picked up on the quiet string of footsteps that were growing closer and closer. She whipped her head around, body tense and glare ready, but quickly fell back into her previous semi-relaxed state as she saw Price approaching her with a sandwich and a bottle of water in his hands. She untucked her right leg from its crossed position and used it to push out the spare chair that sat a few feet from hers. She let her leg dangle off the chair she occupied as Price took a seat in the chair and slid the sandwich and water over to her.

“Didn’t see you in the mess hall for dinner, thought you might be hungry.” She gives him a nod of appreciation and removes her earbud before reaching forward, unwrapping the sandwich, and taking a bite. They sit in a comfortable silence as she finishes off the rest of her sandwich and washes it down with the water. She balls up the wrapper and shoves it in the pocket of her hoodie to throw away later. Price looks at her.

“Where have you been all day?”

“Holed up in an old conference room with König. We just watched some TV and talked before he had to go. He left a couple hours ago.”

Price nods as he continues, “How’d you two meet?”

“I met him three years ago when I was doing a mission of my own for Laswell. Apparently he’d been stationed in the same area. I almost shot him until I saw the KorTac emblem on his uniform. He just took that as an opportunity to start throwing punches and yell at me in German,” She responds, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she replays the memory.

“Bloody hell,” He runs a hand over the side of his face in an exasperated motion, “How’d you get yourself outta that?”

“I started yelling back at him in German.”

Price huffs out a laugh, “Sounds about right. I assume you two get on well now though, right?”

She nods, “Yeah, he’s a good guy. Real talented with a sniper too believe it or not.”

“I have a hard time believing a bloke as big as him takes the time to steady up on a sniper rather than ram into everything like a bull.”

She shrugs, “Hasn’t missed a shot so far.”

Price nods as if absorbing the information. He remains quiet for a few moments before speaking up again.

“So…If you can warm up to a man twice your size, surely you can warm up to the idea of working with my team, right?”

She lets out a huff as she looks over to Price.

“No offense, but I want nothing to do with your team.”

“Oh come on, kid. They’re not that bad! A bit on the cheeky side some of them, but they mean well,” He defended.

“Anyone who can work with you long enough to look past that god awful thing on your head shouldn’t be trusted.”

Price’s hands go to touch the edges of his boonie hat.

“It’s a good hat!”

“It’s a disgrace is what it is.”

He huffs out a breath of air as he returns his hands to rest on the table in front of them.

“Unnecessary disrespect to my hat aside, I mean it when I say they’re good people. I’ve fought alongside them and I can firmly say I’d trust any one of those muppets with my life. You’ve just gotta give ‘em a chance.”

She sighs as she fiddles with the crumpled up wrapper in the pocket of her hoodie, “Must’ve put a spell on you if you’re willing to stick your neck out like this for them,” She mumbles.

“No spells, just quality work done by quality men.”

She doesn’t respond.

Price’s lips falter into a frown before he decides to make one last effort.

“Look, I know you’ve gotten used to workin’ alone these past few years save for König and I understand that, but you’ve gotta see where Laswell and I are coming from here. You’ve made yourself one of our most useful assets, not just as an employee, but as a person.” He stops to think about his next words for a few moments before continuing.

“Look, ever since you told us about that emblem you managed to snag off one of those Red Room assassins, the three of us have spent a lot of time together. I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way Laswell and I–” He let out a sigh, trying not to fumble his next words. “–We started to care about you. Probably more than we should’ve,” He pauses, “We just want you to be safe, and we feel the only way to do that this time around is to pair you up with a team. My team. It’s not a punishment or us doubting your abilities, we just wanna keep an eye on you. That’s all it is.”

The woman remains quiet for a while before looking up at Price, a small smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

“I knew you two liked me more than you let on.”

Price rolls his eyes as he leans forward and gives her shoulder a nudge before settling back into a more serious expression.

“Just tell me you’ll at least try to work with them, even if you end up hating all of us by the end of it.”

She lets out a sigh, “I’ll try.”

He smiles at her, “Good, because I’m not sure what I would’ve told Laswell if you said no.”

They share a small laugh and Price stays with her for a while longer before eventually leaving to get some rest, but not before making her promise him that she would also leave to get some rest soon. She refrains herself from rolling her eyes and offers the most disarming smile she could muster before agreeing. While he was able to detect the steady wave of slight annoyance radiating off her, he decided not to pry any further. She was an adult after all and so, he left as he wandered back in the direction of his room.

She watched as the silhouette of the man who had practically saved her from the life she lived before got smaller and smaller the more he walked into the darkness of the night. She tried telling herself it was just to make sure no one snuck up on him despite being within the relatively safe confines of the base, but she knew better. The pit of guilt that had been festering inside of her ever since she did nothing to stop the steam of lies that fell from her lips four years ago seemed to make itself stronger than ever. It was eating her alive.

Shadow takes in a deep breath as she slowly makes her way toward the two before stopping beside Laswell. She stares at the buckle sat in Laswell’s hand before bringing up her right hand and placing her own object on the bed.

Laswell’s chest tightens as she places the metal buckle in her hand beside the one Shadow just brought.

“They’re the same,” Price remarks.

Laswell looks at Shadow, “How do you have that?”

Shadow keeps her eyes concentrated on the tri-colored hourglass emblem that had been burned into her mind for her entire life. A deep pit growing in her stomach, she looks up at the attentive pair.

“It’s the Red Room symbol.”

Price and Laswell spared each other a hesitant glance before turning back to the woman who seemed to be in some sort of trance as her eyes remained glued to the buckle she’d placed on the bed just a few moments ago.

Laswell decided to speak.

“How do you know it’s their symbol?”

Despite feeling herself tense up at the question, Shadow knew she brought this on herself. The moment she set the emblem on the bed, she practically backed herself into a corner and there was nothing she could do about it.

Well, there were a couple things she could do about it.

On one hand she could come clean about her past and potentially get the chance to aid Laswell in her mission to put an end to the Red Room, but there was also the chance she’d get killed, maybe something even worse than death. Neither Price or Laswell knew the full extent of all the things she’d done in her life and she wasn’t too keen on them finding out, much less telling them herself. Who knows what they could do with such information?

On the other hand, she could just try and leg it out of there in hopes of avoiding any further questions. She didn’t completely hate the idea, but she knew it wasn’t worth the trouble that’d come along with doing such a thing.

Having eliminated both of those ideas in the few moments she took to think about them, she knew she had to think of something quick. Nothing that could get her deemed as an immediate threat and imprisoned, but nothing that would raise too many alarms.

She almost cursed herself for revealing the emblem that had been burned into every aspect of her life.

Almost.

She looked up at Laswell, a small sigh falling from her lips as she quickly tried to sort out the story in her head.

“I’m not who you think I am.”

Laswell tilted her head.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not part of the Red Room.”

Laswell narrowed her eyes as she pointed to the emblem.

“Then why do you have that and how do you know it belongs to them?”

She took a few seconds to sort out the last few bits of her fabricated story before beginning to speak.

“I kill people for a living–”

“We know,” Price bluntly states, seemingly not bothered by his rude interruption.

The woman fights back the urge to jab her fist into his injured side and instead opts for a pointed look in his direction before continuing.

“–But I don’t work for the Red Room.”

Laswell’s look of suspicion morphs into one of confusion.

“What? But I was so sure–”

This time it’s Shadow interrupting.

“Just because I don’t work for them doesn’t mean I don’t know of them.”

Laswell’s gaze hardens, “Elaborate.”

“Look, the whole purpose of the Red Room is to produce assassins who can execute any and all targets without getting themselves caught. While the targets can be virtually anyone, it goes without saying that a lot of them are political figures.”Price speaks, “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Different people have different political agendas. What may benefit one person may be detrimental to the next. So while one person may hire an assassin to get rid of someone, another person may hire another assassin to ensure the safety of the original target by going after anyone set to kill them. Kind of like a bodyguard.”

“Is this your way of telling us you were employed as one of these bodyguards?”

“Not exactly. I never took work based on politics, I took it based on the paycheck. Whatever the highest bidder wanted, they’d get.”

“And how does this tie in with the Red Room?”

Shadow points over to the emblem, “I managed to snag that off one of Volkov’s girls while trying to protect my target. I hadn’t seen it before so instead of killing her, I knocked her out and took her back with me. I managed to get a few details I think you may be interested in before I eventually had to get rid of her.”

Laswell straightened out her posture as she looked at Shadow with great interest, “What details?”

Time to strike.

“Details you won’t get until you can promise me a few things.”

Laswell scoffs, “You do realize you just admitted you’re an assassin, right? You’re in no position to be making demands of any kind.”

“Normally you’d be correct, but seeing as how you won’t be able to connect me to any crime as little as shoplifting I think your hands are a bit tied at the moment.”

“And how can you be so sure of that?”

Shadow’s gaze settled back on the hourglass shaped emblem that represented all the pain and suffering she’d inflicted on the world.

She hated it.

She hated herself.

She looked back at Laswell, willing herself to be more brave than she felt.

“A part of me always knew there’d be a time where I wanted to get out. I didn’t want anything to hold me back when I got the chance, so I always made sure things were perfect, that no one could ever prove anything.”

Laswell nods before speaking once more, “And why is it you think I can give you an out?”

“You want the Red Room gone and at this point I think I’m your best bet. You lay off me and I’ll help you take it out.”

Shadow watched with bated breath as Laswell and Price exchanged each other looks of apprehension and hesitation. She could only hope she played her part well enough.

After more than a few moments of them staring each other down, Laswell turned back to Shadow with a particular glint in her eye she hadn’t quite seen before.

“Tell me what you have in mind.”

The woman was ripped away from her thoughts by the loud laughter of a man. She whipped her head to the direction it originated from and was met with the backs of two men hunched over what she assumed was a phone. Letting out a small sigh, she grabbed her iPod and water bottle before deciding to stalk off in the direction of the barracks in hopes of finding an empty room she could claim for the night.

The woman tapped her fingers on the glossy surface of the desk she sat at with Price and Laswell the day before as the lively notes of ‘The Blue Danube’ composed by Johann Strauss plays through her earbuds. She’s gotten to the conference room fifteen minutes early and seeing as she now had nothing better to do than wait, she pulled out her trusty iPod and tapped shuffle on her classical playlist. Despite classical being most of what she listened to, she did have a few other playlists containing various other genres such as pop, jazz, hip hop, and rock. She was simply raised listening to classical so that’s what she often favored despite more than a few pieces having been tainted due to the unpleasant memories she’d come to associate them with. Even so, she still managed to enjoy every song she listened to.

As the last few notes of the composition died out in the left earbud currently lodged in her ear, her eyes shot up to the sound of the creaky door to conference room opened to reveal a tall man clad in an all black outfit paired with a skull print balaclava with black warpaint swiped around his eyes. He paused as he caught sight of the woman already sitting at the rounded table while she simply stared him down with a blank expression. He gave a quick glance to the room number printed on the door and upon confirming he was in the right place, he slowly stepped in and closed the door behind him before taking a seat across from the woman. Once settled down he returned her blank stare with one of his own, almost willing her to say something.

But she didn’t.

She simply looked back down at the small black music player in her hand as she scrolled through her list of songs. After a few more moments of silence, she looked up to see the man idly tapping away on his phone.

The two of them settled into a rather tense silence filled with unanswered questions, one that was only broken by the sound of the door creaking open yet again to reveal another tall man who sported a grey cap that had a Union Flag patch sewn into the front of it. Her eyes roamed over his lean frame that was clad in a long sleeved grey shirt paired with khaki cargo pants and black shoes. It faintly reminded her of an old photo Price had shown her of himself. She watched as he grabbed a seat that was one over from the man who arrived just a few minutes prior. After all three of them exchanged silent glances, they directed their attention to their own devices.

Just a few minutes had passed before the door opened once again, this time revealing Price who had a small stack of manila folders in his hands whereas Laswell carried a laptop. Upon seeing their superiors enter the conference room, the three strangers quickly tucked their electronics into their pockets as Price spoke.

“Glad to see you lot are getting on well with each other,” He remarked, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.

The three of them avoided making eye contact with each other causing him to shake his head in mild amusement as he handed them each a folder of their own. Upon getting to the empty chair, he spoke.

“Where’s Soap?”

Soap?

Suddenly, the door practically bursts open and a prominent Scottish accent breaks through the room.

“Sorry I’m late, got caught up at the mess hall!”

The woman’s gaze turned to face the direction of the door once more as her eyes landed on a muscular man with a mohawk.

“Settle down Soap. Just take a seat,” Price spoke as he tossed a folder to where the unoccupied seat was. Her eyes followed the man as he quickly walked over to the empty chair and nabbed himself the seat. His eyes settled on the folder in his hands before looking up and facing the woman. Expecting him to redirect his gaze like the other two, she maintained eye contact but was surprised when he offered her a wide smile. She tried to reign in the look of confusion she was sure was apparent on her face before breaking eye contact and opting to stare down at the folder, effectively missing the way the man’s face fell at her actions. Her attention, however, was quickly redirected once Laswell began to speak.

“Task Force 141, meet Shadow. Shadow, meet Task Force 141.”

TAGLIST: (if i missed anyone or it didn't tag you properly, please let me know!)

@deadpoolsluvrr @simonsbluee @scaredknight @swissy23 @niawritesbs @ethanhawkelovers-blog @watermaylon-writes @ravenhood2792 @shoxji @griimreaperr @galacticstxrdust @cptmaverick-marvel @comedinewithmeyeh @fluffysteampunkd @callmenoiselul @isissakibbs-blog @urfavsunkissedleo @decaffeinatedmom01 @23victoria @silveroak-art @untoldshortsofthefandoms @deadbranch @ella-error505 @water-hemlock18 @abbiesxox @queen-of--roses @kiriki45 @desxr-fx @emrzennn

[perfectprofessorloverapricot]

•| A not so stolen youth |•

Stranger things / Chapter 1

Summary: Everything in life seemed limited to walls of whites and rainbows. Caged within the confines of the lab. But an accident that involved a group of teenagers and the upside down world finally let him free. In a funny turn of events he found himself hiding in a step sibling's shed. A redhead that loves video games and a blond that spends his time making sure to keep his good looks.

Character: Male child OC

Warnings: Possible to descriptive scenes, child abuse, use of drugs and bad language.

A/N: I ask you to take into account that I lack experience writing in English and there'll be some grammatical mistakes because my native language is Spanish.

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“What does it say here?” Sounded the voice of the teenage redhead in the shed. She pointed to one of the dialog bubbles in the comic.

Thirteen tilted his head in a vain attempt to read better. The comic was in his own hands and moving it wasn’t as helpful as he thought. “Mmm… final… v… victory?” He stutter. He felt he chest warm when he saw the look of pride in Max face while she nodded.

“Yeah. You’re getting better.” She said excitedly. A big smile was formed in the kids face.

It’s been two weeks since they met. And everything’s going good so far.

The day after Max let him stay, with the condition of being careful no to be seen, she went to check on him only to have heart attack when she didn’t find him.

The blankets she gave him were folded and there was no trace of him.

She spent the whole morning of school wondering where he could have gone. It’s not like she paid attention to the classes before.

And after an uncomfortable ride home with her stepbrother she went straight to the shed getting an insult of how weird she was behaving from the blond and disappointment from finding nothing.

She stayed on her room thinking the few things she knew about him while her brother worked out in the living room. She thought about the limited vocabulary of the kid and that she had to read the comics she showed him because he couldn’t.

There were no visible signs of physical abuse but she got a glimpse of a tattoo in his left wrist when he rubbed his eyes after yawning.

The kid is only ten, what kind of tattoo would a kid his age want?

He is dirty and his clothe doesn’t fit him, obviously not his. But still, none of it gives her a hint from where he comes from or how to find him.

She didn’t even know why she wanted to finde him so bad. Or more like, she pretended not to know.

She’s always thought of herself as independent, which was accurate for the most part, but didn’t mean she liked being alone.

Before moving to Hawkins, in California, she made her life outside of the awkward environment of her house. She spent most of her time with her two best friends and going to her biological fathers house. Even when her mother met Neil and his son, she did it.

But now, she is stuck in a place she doesn’t know with her awkwardly nervous mother, an asshole who controls the house and everyone in it and calls himself her father just to have an excuse to “educate” her and a stepbrother that gives cero shit about her.

The kid was like her hope for something better. His innocent soul hasn’t been taught how to be an though (asshole) to confront the live out there. He was a little piece of the remaining good things of the world.

Fortunately, before she could exit and give her stepbrother an excuse to leave the house she was startled out of her thoughts by a knock on her window.

There he was peeking over the edge of the window and lifting a hand with three bags of chips to share with her.

Since then it became a routine that they manage to hold for a week. While Max goes to school and avoids as much interaction with her current family as she could, thirteen sneaks out to explore more. He already knows most of the place like the back of his hands but he still finds interesting the things that people do, even tho he is to scared to get close.

Those are the moments too bitersweet to him. He loves watching others have fun and imagine himself enjoying with them, having a life where he didn’t have to keep hiding, but before he can get a step closer to the kids in the park the fear of returning to the lab and being punished for leaving in the first place stops him.

That’s why he always goes back to the shed. To a place where he knows he is not alone anymore. At least the fear of being found didn’t bother him for the first week, but at the beginning of the second something that neither he or Max could have thought happened.

It was a normal day for them until the girl came back from school and went to her room like usual. But her heart fell once she saw Billy walking out of the house with a grey tank top and a pair of shorts he only uses when he knows his going to get dirty. Which means he is going thinker with his car, which means, he needs his tolls that are in the shed.

She took a shortcut jumping through her window. She run to catch her stepbrother and walked as normal as posible beside him.

“What are you doing?” She asked, trying to act normal.

He threw her a a momentary look, easily realizing her act. “To mind my business.” He answers bluntly.

She put herself in front of him walking backwards, only making the situation even weirder to Billy. “Don’t you have a date? With the… that blonde girl. What was her name?” She tried to remember almost stumbling with a rock.

Billy rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I don’t know and I don’t care. That was yesterday. Now move.” He pushed her effortlessly to the side once they reached the shed.

Max almost face planted in the floor but that wasn’t her priority. She turned to Billy only to witness him stop in his place with the door open.

“What the fuck?” He mumbled.

Max rammed her body against the door and closed it staying between it and her stepbrother. “It’s not what it looks like.” She defended.

Billy rose a brown in incredulity. “Really? Because it looks like you’re keeping a stray in Neil’s shed.”

“He’s not a dog, he’s a kid.” She defended, actually offended. “A really scared kid.”

“And I don’t give a shit. You’ve been keeping him there in a shed that doesn’t belong to you.” Max knew that what he said was true, but she couldn’t let him to his own with the possibility of returning to an abusive home. “What could a kid of his age be scared of? A monster under his bed?” He shook his head. It was ridiculous. “He needs to go.” He said with finality.

Max pressed her back even harder against the door and shook her head.

Billy got closer to her, using his height to tower over her in an intimidating way. “Get him out before Neil finds out or I’ll do it.” He threatened in a gruff voice.

Max genuinely felt scared. She knew what he was capable of, but she bets that the kid is even more scared than she is right now. And she was right, the boy was shaking inside the shed, hugging to his chest one of the comics Max left for him. His favorite comics. One of x-men’s.

“No.” She said with all the confidence she could in front of her intimidating brother.

The blond grabbed her arm in a painfully strong grip and dragged her a few steps away from the shed before throwing her, ignoring her yelp when she fell on her side. “Then I’m gonna get rid of the scaredy cat myself.” He conclude walking with heavy steps towards the shed.

Max panicked. She let out something that she knew could affect him. “He’s scared of his father, okay?” She screamed.

She felt a small relief when Billy stopped in his actions with his hand in the door’s handle.

His hesitation brought some confidence to the girl. “He hurts him.” She explained in hopes of changing his mindset. “I’m not asking you to take care of him. Just don’t tell anyone. You won’t even notice he is here.” She pleaded a little calmer now but still seating in the floor. “You won’t even notice he is here.” She repeated in a soft voice.

Billy bit the inside of his cheek in thought. He doesn't know how long the kid’s been there but if it weren't for the fact that he personally went to the shed he wouldn't know of his existence.

Almost reluctantly, Billy opened the shed again. He stayed in his place but he took his time to actually take a look at the kid. Scared and dirty, the boy stayed in the very back of the wooden place, shaking. Those blue innocent eyes were looking at him, waiting for the worst.

For a second, a small flash, he saw himself in the boy. When he was recently abandoned by his mother and left with his abusive father. He moved slowly to one of the shelves close to the door to grab the box of tools, keeping an eye on the kid.

Once he was out he looked at the surprised redhead in the floor as he closed the door behind him.

He stepped in front of his sister with his always present frown in his face. “If Neil finds out I let you hide a kid in the shed I’m gonna drag you under the bus with me. Do you understand?” He concluded.

Max was stunned for a few seconds but nodded slowly.

Billy scoffed, proceeding with his plans on tinkering in his car but made a las comment. “And wash that filthy kid. His gonna become a charcoal by the weekend.”

Max blinked a few times. She sat there for a moment, processing what just happened until she heard the door creaked open and a pair of eyes accompanied by a dirty fur (at least that’s what it looks like) peeked out of the place. She gave him a toothed smile that soon became a laugh that turned into a cackle that had her almost rolling on the floor.

The boy came out of the shed smiling, visibly confused but smiling. If Max was happy that means good news.

And it did.

Now that she didn’t have to actually hide the boy it became easier to change places between her room and the shed, they go through her bedroom’s window though.

She did what Billy said. She gave him a bath. She took his clothes and left him in his underwear covering it with a towel and sat him in the bathtub. She was horrified when the water changed color almost instantly and she had to change it for more clean water.

She knew he got dirty through the week but not that much.

She was surprised once again when she gave him the bottle of her brother’s shampoo and he only looked at it in wonder.

The kid didn’t know how to use a shampoo, much less the conditioner. He now has hair long enough to go a little below his ears when wet but that’s new to him, he’s always had a buzz cut since he was a kid. He never needed anything more than soap for his whole body, like the rest of the kids in the lab.

Knowing the kid was never taught how to use a shampoo put another knot in Max’s heart. Through how much has the kid gone?

She end up teaching him how to use the shampoo and conditioner. He needed a little help to get some knots out of his hair but it was easy.

Surprise surprise. Under those old rags and all the dirt was a beautiful kid with light brown hair. It was formerly a way darker color.

Even Billy who was just on his way to his room did a doble take to the boy standing patiently in the hall. He scoffed and continued on his way. Who could have thought?

Meanwhile Max was practically buried in the main closet of the house, it was more like a storage room with all the unpacked boxes, looking for clothe that would fit him. More specifically, clothes her stepbrother used, but there was nothing. She already looked for in the unpacked boxes around the house and the closet was her last option.

She debated if she should ask Billy personally. It wasn’t the best of her ideas but it was the only one. The probability of Billy slamming the door in her face where high.

She sigh. It was her only option for now.

Reluctantly, she made her way to her stepbrothers bedroom where he was gathering clean clothes to take to the bathroom. His towel was already in his shoulder.

She knocked on the doorframe a little shy.

“What?” He grumbled without looking at her.

“Can you lend me some of your old clothes. The kid doesn’t have any.” She said in a small voice.

He huffed as he grabbed a blue tank top from his closet. “Why is that my problem? He should have thought about it before running away.” He said in a low voice with a hint of annoyance.

“Come on Billy. You can’t let him freeze to death in the autumn weather. Winter is already close.” She answered with a little bit of annoyance in her own voice.

Billy slammed the door of his closet shut and turned to Max. He already had what he needed. He pointed at her with his free hand. “You said he isn’t my problem and I wouldn’t even notice him. This doesn’t seem like it.” He had a point. “Give him some of your old clothes.” He recommended walking to the door. “You dress like a boy anyway.” He insult on his way out, bumping with Max’s shoulder on purpose.

Thirteen, still in the hallway, looked at Billy in curiosity when he walked by him, even when the teenage was obviously ignoring his presence.

Max huffed at him. Well she didn’t have that much expectations in him anyway.

She guided Thirteen back to her room and sat him down on her bed.

She looked for her own old clothes through the many unpacked boxes in her room, grumbling every time something fell out of the boxes for the lack of space needed.

It took a long time but finally, she found her clothes. she organized it into tree divisions. The too small for the 10 year old kid, the clothes that fits and the clothes that will fit. All of that, after selecting the ones that looked boyish.

By the end of it thirteen already had his hair sticking out in every direction, full of static. He put on and took off everything to measure.

While they were both doing their own things, Billy was back in his room. He discarded the dirty clothes in the laundry basket and dried his hair with harsh movements of the towel. Once satisfied he threw the towel to wherever the hell it flew, he just wanted to fall on his bed and blast some music, but he was stopped when he heard a commotion at the feet of his bed.

He huffed. The towel fell on top a stack of books placed on an unpacked box and caused everything to fall.

He grabbed the towel with annoyance only to freeze when he saw the box slightly opened. The item wasn’t hidden but wasn’t visible either from the door, that’s why Max didn’t see it when she came to ask. The light left a cloth visible inside the box. The box was filled with the clothes Max was looking for and some other things of his childhood.

Memories of the few good times. When his mother was still with him and he was happy.

He hasn’t been able to get rid of the things. To sentimental. But he doesn’t want to be reminded of the past and keeps everything hidden. Just like his feelings.

Agitated, Billy grabbed the box of things, slammed his closet’s door open, threw the box inside and slammed it back shut. He walked to his nightstand and grabbed the box of cigarettes. He lighted one up with hands trembling in bottled fury and disgust towards himself and the world.

The relief of breathing nicotine and filling his lungs with the smoke was almost instant. He held his breath for a few seconds, calming himself first then letting it out just like the bad feelings.

The past is in the past, he cannot be weak anymore. He doesn’t have that chance.

To drown every remaining of that bad taste in his mouth he blasted his noisy music so loud that he couldn’t hear his own thoughts anymore.

Thirteen, still in Max’s room frowned when the music reached his ears. Billy’s door was close and so was Max’s, yet, he could still hear the music very clear. He didn’t like how it sounds.

A little thing he hasn’t told Max yet is one of his rare capabilities. Everyone in the lab new it was a possibility to gain enhanced senses once some of the kids started showing signs of it. More specifically, hearing and smell.

Whatever they did to expand the limits of their minds also better enabled the senses limited by mental capacity.

9 of the 15 kids they had developed the enhanced senses along with telepathy and psychokinetic powers. Thirteen was one of them. He only got the hearing though.

But he never got to interact enough with them because he was separated from the rest of the kids when his father found out he was a late bloomer. He was left in isolation for many hours with the excuse that it was to help him concentrate. He was raised in the east side of the lab while the rest were held in the west.

But still, he ended up better than his father ever anticipated and now he has some resemblance of freedom.

Uncomfortable with the music rumbling in his head he rubbed his ears for a moment. The security alarms in the lab were still worse so it wasn’t that much of a problem.

“Here” cheered Max grabbing jeans, a pair of socks, a navy-blue t-shirt with long sleeves and a red hoodie that has less color than when it was new for the many times it’s been washed.

Happy to cover his chilling skinny body he quickly put on the clothes. Max helped him when he managed to get his head stuck in one of the long sleeves.

At last, when he was done, he had a big innocent smile in his face that was reflected in Max’s own. The clothes fitted perfectly.

“Looking good, uh?” she said rising and lowering her eyebrows consecutively. The smile in the boy’s face widened with joy. “Now you can blend in with the others if you need.” Thirteen nodded in agreement. “Wanna read a comic now?” She asked, getting another nod as an answer.

“Magneto?” asked the boy in hope.

Max laughed a little, already grabbing an x-men comic. She knows that the boy’s favorite character is Magneto. She doesn’t know why but she likes how he thinks outside of the box. Most of the kids like a hero, but Thirteen likes a villain, just like she likes monsters. In some way, they are similar.

That’s how the first two weeks of knowing the stepsiblings went. Enjoying a little bit of liberty and not lonely anymore.

But Halloween is close, and so are other things in the dark he thought he would never see again.

Fortunately, this time he won’t be alone.

What do you think?

Any comment or constructive criticism are appreciated.

[anathemafiction]

Hello! I just want to say that i fell in love with your writing! Is so poetic, light and fresh! Thank you for writing! And your book made me want to learn how to write. Do your have some pointers to where i should start? (oh, and im from Brazil! So english is quite hard for me, but your english is incredible!). Thank for your time!

Hello! Thank you so much for your words. E abraços de Lisboa para o Brasil. ♡♡

So, I've gotten a few requests for writing advice, specifically, IF writing advice. And while I understand why people may want to hear from me, I really feel the need to state that I am very much still an amateur, wannabe author. 

This isn't me trying to be fake humble or gain sympathy points, it's simply the cold truth. I'm not comfortable giving advice because I'm still learning every day. I've made a lot — and I mean, a lot — of mistakes with Book One. There's so much that, looking back, I did wrong and would change if I could go back in time, but alas, that's impossible, so I must do what all humans do: take it in, learn from it, and do better next time.

Next time is Book Two, and I'm sure that, once I'm done with that, there'll be new errors and new ways I'll find that I could have done better. The important thing is, of course, never to repeat the same mistake twice.

The only advice I'll give regarding writing, in general, is this: read. Read as much and as diversely as you can. Read other Interactive Fiction games, but mostly, read books. Read the classics, read the ones that were banned, read horror and sci-fi and romance and fantasy and historical and philosophical and poetry and dystopian and everything you can get your hands on. Read books from your country and language, but please, read other cultures too. Read books people swear are amazing and read books badly rated. Read what you like and what you think you dislike. And, most of all, never stop reading. Read every day.

Slowly, gradually, you'll start to find your style. You'll find what you like and how you like it. You'll find out whether you describe a scene better using the senses - the weather, the light, the smells, the background noise - or if you prefer to pay as little detail to the surroundings as possible. You'll find whether you like an active narrator, different POVs, tales written like dialogues, or as ethereal as if watched from the eyes of a God. 

For interactive fiction in general? I'll say, write a good outline. I didn't have one for Book One, and now that I do for Book Two, it's a completely different ballpark. 

My method is to write a first draft of a chapter on paper and pencil where I do one "path" until I reach the end of the chapter. Then, go on Word and fill out all the choices and paths, basically completing the chapter — that's draft two. Draft three is after I put it all in code and do a deep edit. But I'm very much aware my method won't work with everyone (it most likely won't work with the majority of people).

For coding, let me redirect you to this old ask: Here.

There are a lot of more experienced IF writers on Tumblr who have made amazing posts about writing IFs, coding, and storytelling in general. I can direct you to Hannah, a veteran COG and game writer — @hpowellsmith. But there are others! 

[440mxs-wife]

The Country Doctor, Chapter 2: Getting Moved In

Pairing: Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy x F!Reader (eventual). Other Characters are the usual suspects: Jim Kirk, Nyota Uhura. Spock, Montgomery Scott, Hikaru Sulu, and Pavel Chekov. OMC's Travis Myers and Miles Cooper.

Word Count: 4549

Warnings: Divorce, break-up, ruthless businessmen, mentions of infidelity, but still somewhat fluffy (for now), with an introduction of our supporting cast of characters

Summary: Fresh off of his divorce, Dr. McCoy receives word that he has inherited a 5,000-acre farm and home in Logan, Montana. Finally, he has an opportunity for a clean slate and to start his own clinic out west and leave his ex-wife behind. Along the way, he'll meet a cast of unique characters, each with a place in his new small-town life. But there could be trouble ahead in the form of a powerful CEO hell-bent on acquiring Leonard's property by any means necessary.

A/N: This idea was posted by @hailbop1701, with a specific list of plot points/dialog to be included. I won't put the list here, because it'll give away too much. Not sure how many parts there'll be, but I hope you like where I take the story.

A/N 2: If you’ve been tagged here, it’s because you’ve interacted one or more times on a McCoy story of mine, or we’re moots. Whether you like or reblog, I am eternally grateful for your support. If anyone else would like to be tagged on any future Karl Urban character postings, or would rather leave the Crazy Train, please let me know. Thank you, and enjoy the show!

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After your nickel tour, you and Leonard had time to unpack a few boxes before the pizza arrived. Each bathroom was now outfitted with clean, folded towels and a fresh roll of toilet paper on the holder. He had claimed the master bedroom and in the ensuite bathroom, you put his toothbrush into a cup next to the sink. The kitchen was next, with the dinnerware and cookware all neatly stacked in the cupboards, then the silverware sorted by type in the drawer.

Next, you rolled Leonard's suitcases down the hall to his room and stopped in front of the closet. You placed the largest one on the seat of the chair near the window and rolled the other to a stop beside it. When you unzipped the first one, a wave of cologne was released. The concentrated and distinctly male scent should've knocked you over, but it didn't. It wasn't unpleasant, rather, it enveloped you in a warmth you'd been missing since before the break-up with Travis.

Leonard approached the open door of his bedroom in time to see you examining the contents of the open suitcase. He quietly observed as you smiled and slowly brushed your hand over the neatly folded T-shirts. Most of his shirts were of solid colors, like black, white, or gray for wearing under his scrubs at work. Though he wondered how you'd appreciate the humor in his shirts that had clever quips or if you'd question his musical taste from past concerts. 

He leaned against the doorframe and watched as you picked up a stack then carefully placed them in the top right dresser drawer. While you transferred the contents of his suitcase to their respective drawers, his ears perked up at the song you were humming under your breath. Even though he'd told Kirk his only interest was "doctorin'", you were certainly testing his resolve. He was intrigued by the sway of your hips as you moved around the room.

As you turned around to swap one suitcase for the other, your eyes landed on Leonard, whose lips were tugged into a wry grin. You stopped with a yelp of surprise and clutched a hand to your chest. "Dr. McCoy, um, how long have you been standing there?" you gasped.

He pushed himself off of the doorframe and walked over to the suitcases on the floor. "Not long, I came by to let you know that Jim and Nyota are back with pizza. Time to take a break, then after dinner, we can tackle whatever unpacking we have left," he remarked, holding out a hand for you to take.

"Are you sure? There doesn't look to be too much left to unpack. How about I finish up this last little bit, then I can join you all after I'm done," you offered.

"Nah, it's break time. I promise this will all be waiting for us after we have some food, darlin'," he drawled, the endearment slipping out effortlessly. "Besides, I'll bet you haven't eaten much of anything since you and your friend drove out here."

As if on cue, your stomach grumbled loudly in response, bringing a flash of heat to your cheeks at the noise. "Sorry about that, Dr. McCoy," you giggled nervously.

Leonard shook his head in amusement. "Nothin' to be sorry for, and you can call me 'Leonard', since we're gonna be working together. No need to be formal," he winked.

Another rush of heat hit your cheeks, but this time it was for a different reason. Under other circumstances, you might have thought Dr. McCoy was flirting with you. However, you knew he was only being friendly and wanted to start the working relationship on a good note. You pushed these thoughts aside and invited him to call you by your first name as well. Then you slid your hand into his outstretched one and walked together out to the dining room.

***

As soon as the smell of the freshly baked pizzas hit your nostrils, your stomach growled again from hunger. Your first two slices were gone in nothing flat, much to your chagrin, but to the amusement of the others. You smiled sheepishly and acknowledged that perhaps you were more famished than you realized, which caused a renewed round of laughter. Another slice found its way onto your plate, this time with a thick crust and extra cheese.

Though the dining table had been put in its place, the surface was covered in moving boxes. The four of you made do by sitting on the floor, each with a moving box as a makeshift table. While everyone was enjoying the indoor picnic, you and Uhura brought the other two up to speed on the town.

You pointed out that Leonard's first connection should be with Mr. Spock, the pharmacist. "He manages Mountain Vista Pharmacy, so all of your prescriptions will run through him," you explained. "He has a somewhat....dry sense of humor, but he knows his stuff."

Uhura promised that at some point, she would introduce Jim and Leonard to Guinan, the bartender at The Tenth Avenue Pub. "She runs a tight ship, but insists that she just 'tends bar, and she listens'", she commented with a slight roll of her eyes. "Also, if you ever want to do any landscaping out here, like flowers or trees, or some gardening, you'll want to see Mr. Hikaru Sulu. He runs the plant nursery called, 'Ev'ry Bloomin' Thing', and can tell you what will grow best out here."

Jim chuckled. "It's a little late in the season for that and I'm not sure that's our forté. Still, it's good to know," he remarked, while Leonard nodded in agreement.

"And with any repairs or remodels of what you want to do with this house, Montgomery Scott will be your go-to for that," you mentioned. "We call him 'The Miracle Worker', because of his vast knowledge of how to fix almost everything with nearly nothing."

Leonard and Jim nodded as they ate, taking in the wealth of information you and Nyota provided. Soon there were only a few slices of pizza remaining in the boxes, which were later tucked away in the refrigerator. After the dinner remnants were cleared away, you resumed the unpacking in Leonard's room.

Once both suitcases were empty, you stowed them in the closet and moved on to the next room. By this time, the linens had been located and it was time to make the beds. You and Leonard put the sheets and blankets on his bed, while Jim and Uhura did the same in his room. It was close to midnight when you decided to call it a night.

The men thanked you and insisted that they could handle the rest of the unpacking, what little of it remained. Before you departed, you arranged to start working for Leonard on Monday at 9:00 a.m. "I'll bring the coffee," you promised. He let you know how he takes it, to which you responded with a nod and an assuring smile. As Uhura drove away, you stuck your hand out the open window and waved goodbye to your new friends.

***

That first Monday marked your debut with the Homestead Health Clinic, as it came to be known. As the weeks turned into months, you and Leonard settled into a good working routine. You handled the front office duties, while Dr. McCoy took care of the patients. Jim worked on the house, making frequent trips to see Mr. Scott at his shop, called "The Tool Box".

With your three-month probationary period completed, you were made a full-fledged member of the staff. A formality, really, because you ran the front office not only with efficiency, but with charm and grace. You always had coloring book pages available to entertain the children or the occasional parent who needed a break from a hectic day. Your candy dish held a variety of sweets; however, the one rule was that any kid had to get permission before taking a piece.

Most of your time with Leonard was spent in a professional setting, leaving you to wonder what he was like outside of work. What his favorite drink was, what kind of music he liked, was he always this tightly wound or did he relax at any point. Jim would have the answers to these questions, but there was no way you wanted to ask him because he'd want to know why. You weren't exactly prepared to answer him at this point, so you kept your questions to yourself for now.

>>>

"There you are, Mrs. Henderson, all set," you assured her. "Here's your after-care summary, and your prescriptions will be waiting for you at the pharmacy. Do you have any questions, or is there anything else you need?" you asked.

"No, dear, thank you. Dr. McCoy explained everything perfectly for me," she replied. "Now all I have to do is pick up my meds and figure out what to have for dinner besides chicken nuggets," she noted with a weary sigh. "I'm afraid that one more night of that and my kids will be chicken nuggets."

You chuckled lightly at her response, then offered some ideas for her to consider in place of the breaded chicken. Most of them were favorites from your childhood, such as macaroni and cheese, with diced ham or hot dogs in it. "That way, they'll get something other than bite-sized chicken pieces," you suggested.

"That's a great idea, thank you so much, my dear," she gushed. "It's so wonderful to have a doctor in the area again, and I'm glad that he has you to keep things running smoothly."

"Thank you very much. You're kind to say that, though I'm sure Dr. McCoy would do all right around here without me. He's very good at what he does, and I can tell he truly cares about the health and well-being of his patients," you remarked.

Little did you know, but the man to whom you were referring had just walked around the corner and heard you say his name aloud. His curiosity piqued, he wondered what other comments you might make about him. A soft smile crossed his face at your remark assuring Mrs. Henderson that he could get along just fine without you. Maybe, but it wouldn't be as fun or enjoyable around the office, and he would miss seeing your beautiful face. Wait--what? he thought as he turned his attention back to your conversation.

"You know, I have a cousin who's about your age, I should introduce you. He's around 6'3" tall, with an athletic build, wavy brown hair, green eyes. Very swoonworthy, my dear," she mentioned.

A nervous giggle escaped your lips. "Ha ha, well, Mrs. Henderson, I'm sure he's a lovely fellow. It's just that I kind of have my eye on someone at the moment, only he doesn't know that. However, if I change my mind, I promise you'll be the first person I call," you assured her.

With a conspiratorial wink and a goodbye wave, Mrs. Henderson sauntered out the door of the clinic. You breathed a sigh of relief and dropped your head into your hands, elbows resting on your desk.

Leonard observed from where he was leaning against the wall in the hallway. You were interested in someone? Whoever he is, he was lucky to have your attention, even if he was too blind to notice. He started to ponder what kind of chance he may have with you, then shook his head to clear the notion. After Jocelyn, he was reluctant to get involved with another woman so soon. But these past few months of being around you have had him reconsidering his stance and possibly testing the waters.

***

"Did you get Mrs. Henderson squared away?" Dr. McCoy's voice startled from behind, your head jerking up out of your hands.

You cleared your throat to try and regain your composure. "Um, yes, all taken care of, Dr. McCoy. I let her know that her prescriptions had been called in with Mr. Spock and I reckon they should be ready by the time she gets back to town. I also gave her a couple of suggestions for her dinner that involve something other than chicken nuggets," you grinned.

"Something wholesome, I hope," he replied and laughed when you responded with a shrug. "Anything else?"

"Not at the moment, your patient roster is clear for the day, Dr. McCoy. I have some data entry left to do, a bit of paperwork to file, then I'm done," you explained. "Unless there's something else you need me to do before I head out for the weekend?"

Leonard shook his head and watched as you organized your paperwork and prepared to begin the data entry. "Tell you what--how about you leave the paperwork and stuff for Monday? That way, we can have a bite to eat at the Java Station Café. Jim's busy tonight, and I don't really feel like cooking for just me, especially on a Friday. Would you care to join me?" he asked. "Unless you already have plans," he added hastily.

You looked up from your keyboard, mouth slightly open in surprise. A dinner invitation was the last thing you expected at the end of a busy week. Wait, if Jim's not joining us, does that make this....a date?? you pondered. Nah, he didn't mean it like that. Just two friends, catching a bite to eat, don't make a big deal about it, you admonished yourself. "No, no plans to speak of. Sounds great, we can leave right now, if you're ready."

He smiled and shuffled back to his office to drop off the papers in his hand, grab his jacket, and lock up for the night. When he returned, you had put your unfinished work in the file cabinet under lock and key. "Shall we?" He gestured towards the door with a tilt of his head.

Switching off your desk lamp, you stepped out from behind your desk and headed for the exit. As you passed him, you flashed Leonard a warm smile, which he returned. On the way out to your car, you could swear you felt the barest touch of his hand on your lower back. It was a comforting feeling, although you figured that it was likely automatic for him and his Southern gentlemanly ways. "Let's go," you smiled.

***

Dinner with Leonard was an interesting experience. The two of you took turns asking each other questions, mostly superficial in nature at first. As the night wore on, the subject matter got a little deeper, with Leonard mentioning his divorce from Jocelyn as his reason for moving from Georgia. In return, you shared details of your past with Travis and explained that leaving him in Bozeman brought you to the town of Logan.

"So that's why you left the big city to come here," he chuckled. "What was the final straw, if you don't mind me asking?"

You walked him through the events of the night you caught Travis cheating on you with his assistant, Brenda. How your friends helped you pack up and leave town so you could settle in Logan, where you used to live with your parents. "They're both gone now," you added softly, staring down at your hands resting on the table. "Thank goodness they didn't have to witness any of the drama with Travis."

Leonard reached over and covered your two smaller hands with his large one. "I'm sure if they could see you now, they'd be proud of the strong woman they raised," he affirmed.

A flash of heat bloomed on your cheeks at his compliment. "Thank you, I hope so," you gave him a watery chuckle then cleared your throat. "So, what's the story with your wooded estate? Has it been in your family for long?" you wondered.

He admired your curiosity and sat back in his chair as he wove the tale of his encounter with the attorney while he was still living in Georgia. "I didn't even know I had an Uncle Walter McCoy until the meeting with this attorney. I mean, I'm newly divorced, and the next thing I know, I'm walking out of a law office with the deed to an estate out West, in Montana."

"You should do some research on it, Leonard, find out its history. It's possible that it could be connected to someone famous. Ooh! Maybe Jesse James and his gang of outlaws used your house as a hideout once. Or, what if Wyatt Earp tracked some fugitive from the law to where he was hiding in your barn, and there was a big shootout," your eyes widened with each new possibility.

He couldn't help but shake his head in amusement at your wild theories of what events may have taken place on his land. He noticed how your eyes took on a sparkle as your excitement grew in your speculation about the history of his family's property. With his marriage to Jocelyn ending in divorce, his thoughts drifted to how different his life would've been if he'd met you first.

"Whoa, slow down there, darlin'," he chuckled, returning his focus to the conversation. "I'm sure there's nothin' quite that interesting going on, but I'll admit I'm curious."

"I think you should have an expert come out and survey the land. You never know, there could be gold in them thar hills," you jested.

"Might not be a bad idea. Before I ever came out here, some big shot company from out East offered me a good chunk of money to buy the place, lock, stock, and barrel," he mentioned. "I got the notion they weren't too happy that I turned them down."

"All the more reason to have the land surveyed, so you know what you've got and what it's worth. Although, with it being family land and all, I'd say it's more or less priceless," you remarked. "Out of curiosity, who wanted to buy this from you?"

"I believe it was NorthStar Corp," Leonard replied. "The paperwork came from the head guy's office, a man by the name of Miles Cooper."

You slowly digested this blurb of information, which had a ring of familiarity to it. While you were still with him, you remembered Travis mentioning NorthStar Corp. They were one of his biggest clients, and as such, he more or less reported directly to Miles Cooper. It has to be a coincidence, you thought.

"Hey." You felt the weight of Leonard's warm hands on yours, bringing you back to reality. "You okay there? Seems like you zoned out there for a minute," Leonard asked, a bit of concern in his voice.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I'm fine Len," you assured him, the nickname slipping out before you could stop it. "It's just...." and you proceeded to tell him what you remembered about NorthStar from when you were with Travis.

"You really think there's something on my land that they want and would stop at nothing to acquire?" he wondered.

"It doesn't hurt to have a surveyor look at it. NorthStar is ruthless, Leonard," you insisted. "The last person that wouldn't sell to them? They put pressure on his brother's business, nearly shut him down to where it was nearly impossible for him to operate. Then, they contacted his son's university and had his admission blocked. Once the sales paperwork went through, NorthStar Corp's pressure tactics went away."

"I've talked to this 'Travis' guy on the phone a few times, and Jim had to run him off once. So, he works for them?"

You nodded. "He was their leading performer when we were together. Even back then, he was known to get as close to the edge of the law as possible without going over it to seal the deal. Can't imagine what he's like now," you mused.

The two of you lingered over coffee until you noticed the staff cleaning up around you. As you walked out, you and Leonard apologized to Mr. Chekov for nearly overstaying your welcome. He met you at the door and waved away your concerns with a smile. He presented you with a "manager's discount" card and invited you to use it on your next visit.

Leonard accompanied you out to your car, his hand occasionally brushing over the small of your back as you walked. Your conversation continued until you reached your parking space and dug into your pockets for the keys to your 1968 Chevy Nova. Before you prepared to slide the key into the door lock, you looked back and smiled at Leonard.

"Well, this is me," you remarked shyly. "I had a wonderful time with you tonight." After unlocking the door you opened it and turned to face him, not yet wanting to get into the driver's seat.

"Been meaning to ask you about this fine piece of machinery. Lotta horses under this hood, where'd you happen to get something like this?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

"This car used to belong to my dad, left it to me when he passed. He found it in a junkyard, saw its potential, and we worked on it together. This car holds a lot of memories for me," you murmured. "Anyway, I'll see you bright and early on Monday morning, yeah?"

"You bet, Monday morning," Leonard agreed. He watched you climb in behind the wheel before walking towards his own vehicle.

"Hey, Leonard?" you called. He whirled around to see that you had left the driver's seat and were hanging on the door. "Maybe one of these days I'll take you for a spin in this 'fine piece of machinery'. See what these horses can do while I show you around. What do you say?" you asked as you cocked your head to one side.

A genuine smile crept across his handsome features, revealing perfect pearly white teeth. "I'd say that sounds great, just let me know when and I'll be there," he winked.

Fortunately your car door kept your knees from buckling and dropping you to the ground. That wink of his was enough to make you hit the deck. Which you certainly would have, were you not still hanging onto your door. "I will. See you around, Leonard," you replied.

He nodded and flashed you another toothy grin, then resumed his walk towards his car, while you slid behind the wheel of your car. As he drove past you, he gave a lazy salute before heading off into the night. You waited until he was well out of sight before picking up your phone and dialing your best friend's phone number. "Nyota? Oh, thank goodness you're home! Have I got some news for you," you indicated as you turned the key in the ignition.

***

"Mr. Myers? There's a call for you on Line One, from a Miles Cooper? He says it's urgent," stated Bradley Wilder, his new assistant.

Travis closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to calm his nerves. A call from the head office and the CEO of NorthStar Corp was not how he wanted to start his weekend. Especially since there had not been much progress on the McCoy property acquisition. On one of his trips out to the farm, he brought the new offer with him, one that was significantly larger than the last one.

Dr. McCoy read through the contract and his eyes had initially widened at the considerable increase in the payout. Nevertheless, despite the substantial amount of money offered, he told Travis that he was staying on as the town physician. Travis tried to work his charm to convince Leonard to agree to sell, except this time, Jim stepped in and "escorted" him back to his car. Since that meeting, all attempts at communication with Dr. McCoy had been largely unsuccessful, or, more accurately, completely ignored.

"Patch him through, Mr. Wilder. Thank you," Travis agreed as he steeled himself for the scathing verbal attack. He rolled his eyes at the sound of Mr. Cooper's voice in his ear, demanding a status report on the McCoy situation. Travis didn't get a chance to answer, though, as Cooper blustered on about the importance of securing the property and how money was no object.

"Bottom line, Myers, you need to close this deal. I don't care what you have to do to get it done, but it's time for the gloves to come off. If you can't make it happen, NorthStar Corp will have no other choice but to take its business elsewhere. I've had my eye on this property for quite a while, and no 'down-home, country doctor' is going to stand in my way," he growled.

"Yes sir, I understand. Consider the gloves taken off," Travis replied.

"Good. I'd hate for news of this botched deal to get back to the board members of your firm. Might make them reconsider whether or not to continue your employment," Cooper pointed out. He paused to let Travis mull over that threat before he continued. "I understand you have a wedding coming up in a few months, congratulations. Sure would make it difficult to support a new wife in your current lavish lifestyle if you were to be suddenly unemployed," he threatened. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir," Travis responded.

"Excellent. Wouldn't want there to be any misunderstandings between us. I look forward to your next status report, due in two weeks," Cooper commanded before hanging up.

Travis pulled the phone away from his ear to confirm that the connection had been closed. "Yes, sir," he muttered before making a phone call. This one was to his fiancée, Brenda, during which he profusely apologized for missing Date Night. He explained that he was being sent out of town on business and wasn't sure how long he would be gone. She was initially upset, but when he told her to use his card and car service for a night on the town with her friends, she forgave him.

While he relaxed on the company jet during the short flight to Logan, he was thankful Brenda didn't press him for too many details. Mr. Cooper wanted him to pull out all the stops and let nothing stand in the way of his acquiring the McCoy property. This could get messy, he thought, but what the client wants, the client gets, he concluded as he drove his rental car to his hotel.

***

You were nearing the end of a long and busy day that left you feeling as if the whole town had paraded in and out of the clinic. There was quite a bit of filing to be done, due to the sheer number of patients Dr. McCoy had seen throughout the day. He has to be just as exhausted as I am, probably more, you mused. Maybe I should invite him for dinner at my place tonight, then he won't have to cook. I could even send home some of the leftovers to share with Jim. Or not, you giggled to yourself.

The bell above the door to the clinic chimed, indicating a visitor had arrived. Your back was to the door as you stood at the cabinet behind you, organizing patient files. "I'll be right with you, please have a seat," you called.

"Oh, I'm not here as a patient," the voice replied.

Your hand paused in mid-air above the file cabinet drawer. The voice was one you never expected to or wanted to hear again in your lifetime. Slowly you closed the drawer and turned to face your visitor. You were hoping against hope that you were wrong and that it wasn't who you thought it was. "And just what in the hell are you doing here?"

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[textfromthelookout]

Did you hear of the news?

I have. :(

Everyone else has their tributes so, here, a summary of my experience with Dragon Ball.

I was in fourth grade art class. A kid had the February 2005 issue of Shonen Jump, back when Shonen Jump was still physically printed here. I recognized Atem on the front cover because the Blockbuster around the corner from our house had DVDs (I think they were DVDs and not VHSs then since I distinctly remember it having a menu and special features) of some of the later episodes of Duelist Kingdom and my brother and I watched them on repeat. So I was like oh, hey, what's this? They make books of that stuff? I don't remember the conversation but the kid ended up giving me that issue, and I took it home with me.

There were a LOT of significant, groundwork things happening in that issue, now that I think about it. We were just beginning to see Sanji truly in action against Pearl. The Dark Tournament was in it's early stages still with Roto fucking around and finding out against Kurama. Sakura shears off her hair in a move that rearranged sexualities the world over. The reason Atem was on the cover was because Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World was just debuting its first and second chapter. Bleach wasn't even serialized yet. And Dragon Ball, of course, was also there, about a hundred and fifty chapters ahead of everybody else.

Keep in mind that this was my first experience with manga, period. So my very first experience with Dragon Ball opened on this:

and ended on this:

Yeah. Truth be told, at the time Yu Yu Hakusho piqued my interest more than Dragon Ball (a guy fighting with plants? how creative!) but I never did forget these chapters. I thought the art style was so different from the others.

At some point after this, probably between several months and a year and a half, the TV happened to be on one evening when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z. Oh hey, I said, I recognize that art, I know those characters. So I hung around and watched some of episode 281. Two things about watching that episode stick with absolute crystal clarity in my mind to this day. Firstly: Buu choking Vegeta out with his arm freaked me the FUCK out as a child. I could not tell you why I had a fear reaction to it but hey, there you go. The second is this:

Specifically I remember 'You died once. If anything happens to you now, you won't exist anymore. There'll be nothing I can do to bring you back.' Not precisely word for word over the years, but Schemmel's tone of voice on this particular lineread. If I had to guess I'd say it was because at that point in my life, uh, death was kinda permanent? So wait, what do you mean died ONCE. Doesn't that apply to everyone?

This still wasn't enough to get me super invested in it though, it just didn't seem like something that would appeal to me that much. So a couple years go by, I don't think about it all that much, and then of course, TFS hits the scene and drops DBZ Abridged. So you know. As a shithead middle schooler with a shithead sense of humor I thought it was the best damn thing since sliced bread. (My biggest character flaw is that I still think a lot of Season 1 is genuinely funny)

And that was really the extent of my interaction with the franchise for the next several years. Say what you will about DBZA but they did manage to put it all together such that someone who had a nonexistent concept of what the original context was could grok it with not a lot of effort. Some time in high school, I think I was around 15, I decided to bite the bullet and read all the manga, as much to increase the funny factor of DBZA as sheerly for the sake of being able to say I had. Stick it to the other weebs, y'know. Now they can't say I didn't know anything about good anime. This was unfortunately at a time when all that was available online were dirty poor-quality scans and questionable translations, but read it I did. I went 'yep, that sure is about what I expected', and proceeded to get on with my life. GT came and went, I looked up and saw Battle of Gods coming out and went 'oh hey that's still a thing huh', kinda was peripherally aware of all the divisiveness of Super as it was happening, didn't really pay it much attention, just stuck to DBZA and quite a lot of wiki-ing.

And then, this time of year about three years ago now, in the middle of conversation with @prophecydungeon, Dragon Ball somehow came up. Something to do with 'Even though I'm not hugely into DBZ's story or whatever Toriyama does have some great character designs' (yes I was referring to Vegeta and Future Trunks at the time, no i will not stop being predictable, yes i am a parody of myself). They eventually brought up the DBS Broly movie and said, and i quote: 'that was a solid 1.5h of unbelievably fun and wacky animation'. Having seen the Gogeta vs Broly part of it on twitter and been like 'damn that animation's kinda off the hook actually, good for them good for them', my response was to be like. Oh word? I've got a spare hour and a half to kill, sure, fuck it, why not, time to watch DBS Broly.

I think that movie was precision crafted to hit me in the hyperfixation, if we're being honest. Opening on a solid 20 minutes of Lore and Worldbuilding and then having most of the rest of the runtime being mindless slobberknocker fun by way of some of the hardest animation flexes ever? I was done for.

In summation. I have been aware of Dragon Ball for a lot of my life, in that its presence was pervasive and enduring as I grew up. I may have been late to the game of actually wholeheartedly enjoying it, but enjoy it I do. Dragon Ball is the roots of a vast tree of anime, and in reading it I began to understand why that is. I respect it for that, and I love it for that. My current fixation may have shifted, but as far as time devoted to one individual thing goes... it took me a year and a half to watch my way through all of the anime and read all of the manga. ALL of it. So there's something good in there, I'd say.

[generic-sonic-fan]

1.Complex Inquiries chapter 11 when 🥺?

2.Maybe if you haven’t done it already, interaction of Unit-MS 1 with other characters like Knuckles or Cream for example?

Also I wanted to say that I love your interpretation of the character of Metal Sonic , you basically did Sega’s work on giving it more personality and a better perspective of his superiority complex due to Sonic .

Hope you have a nice day/evening/night !! ^^

I'm so glad you're enjoying Complex Inquiries!!! I really loved diving deep into Metal as a character and putting my own spin on it.

Chapter 11 will be posted next Friday! This one always updates on Fridays. To tell you the truth, I'm still tweaking the fic's final chapters, which is why I decided to go with a weekly update schedule rather than posting it in one big chunk. Your patience will be appreciated ;)

As for Unit MS-1's interaction with other characters, I'm actually planning on releasing some one-shot epilogues once the fic is complete! There'll be some follow-ups with characters that MS-1 met once already and maybe a few with some other characters reacting to its transformation. I've already got a few planned. Your suggestions are duly noted.

I hope you have a nice day/evening as well!

[kimetsu-no-yaiba-writings]

Hello Everyone! Just thought I should give you all an update on the swing of things both life wise and writing wise ✨

So! First things first I'm still without a laptop to write which means I'm still writing far slower on my phone it's honestly both amusing and annoying how my phone registers my touch to the digital keyboard - I'm having to wait for it to catch up with my words as well as having to dodge bad autocorrect and it just not registering the correct letters that I typed....

A quick rundown of everything else:

Mental health = Shit - it's so bad that I've literally become a hermit in my house, I'm not in full-time education anymore and I feel like a useless mess

Physical health = Shit - My knee's have officially started hurting me so badly that on bad days makes me cry and on good days I can take ibuprofen & paracetamol and it's fine

Bad internet - Keeps cutting out

Thinking of selling some stuff on EBAY

Uhhhhhhhhh, I think that's it?....OH! And I'm constantly tired 💃

Onto the second thing! Writing!

Fluffy Friday - First official posting shall be next week's Friday hopefully! (Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 it goes to plan)

Thirsty Thursday will occur as usual next week - Minors DNI for obvious reasons and if NSFW just isn't your style that's okay too, you don't have to interact I'm sure there'll be something else that'll make you comfortable

Horror - As in I'm leaning more into freaky unnatural (possibly uncanny valley) territory when writing some of the demons so some personal headcannons/idea's soon..... possibly played out as "x reader" too

I've been extensively researching, compiling and fleshing out an idea I have for a Muzan Kibutsuji x Isekai'd Reader - which I'm hoping you all will enjoy and i could write a couple of chapters for that!

And that is this month's update! Hopefully December will bring better things and a more joyful update from me but we shall see (° × °)

Thank you for taking the time to read! See you all on the flip side ✨

[awlimagines]

Mmm, I'm stuck on Fact and Friction, which is not like a serious roadblock kind of stuck. Most of the next chapter is done beyond connecting Pony's interaction with Daryl to the first half.

But I'm tempted to write about the encounter from Daryl's perspective. It wouldn't be enough to be its own chapter (and I don't want to go over everything immediately again from a different point).

So, I guess I'm stuck on what to do with it when I decide to write it. I could always alter it enough to be a reader insert instead of Pony. But then, there are sections where I've thought of expanding more on what's going on behind the scenes, like a fun summer scene with the other pairings not central to the story and more Daryl's POV later on.

Anyway, there'll be a new chapter this week, regardless of whatever else I do.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 33- Part 8

Huh- there's a Gym around here? I…I mean, if Cain’s from here, and he was the former Poison Leader, then…okay, yeah, I guess it makes sense, kinda. But even still- building a Gym here, of all places?

Seriously, why is there just a random computer over here? Is it connected to the PULSE somehow, hence how Ace was able to get information on the prototype? Well that just raises more questions, if anything-

Since when does Team Meteor have standards??

Okay, you guys have no quarrel with them now, but what about in the past? Byxbysion couldn't have always been a purple world of trash, right? And if that's true, then who else would've been responsible for turning it into one?

Again- I'm not sure how painfully/lethally mutating Pokémon into bioweapons, polluting a lake into filthy and dangerous acidity, and attempting to erupt an entire volcano counts as “protecting” or “living with” nature…but hey, what do I know, I'm not a Team Meteor member.

There they go again with that disappearing act…maybe they'll be Ace of Clubs next time we encounter them.

Regardless, now…hm. The computer looks like it's still on. I wonder if it can be interacted with- maybe there'll be more information on the prototype.

…Well alright then. Not sure what that unlocked, but…good?

Good thing I left the Healing Shard- had a feeling I was gonna need it.

Anyways, I think we're supposed to go…down this way.

Weird- when I have Xera pass over that specific tile, she turns around on her own? Without my keyboard input? Not sure what that's about.

Another new area- so there's still more to this place, but alas, I don't know how to get over there yet.

But there's an actual door over there, not sure how they installed one into the side of a building, but okay.

Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I can't imagine a door put in like that would work properly.

So I guess we've got no choice but to go through that actually open doorway.

Okay, some kinda little arena and an old man, what wisdom does he give?

Previous

Next

[macawritesupdates]

Ooh man there have been so many updates thank you so much they've all been delightful. I loved all of them but I was so busy for a bit I didn't have time to comment and let you know how much I loved them. Things have settled down now so now I can gush about your lovely fics! I'm stupidly excited for the next lessons chapter. I loved this latest one and I'm so excited for baby shenanigans 💗 💕. Sukuna is so fun in this chapter. His internal monologue was wonderful. He's so dramatic this man is like a feral cat that has decided the whole neighborhood is its territory now. He's got so many new friends (and little low stake enemies to casually mess with) it's great. Poor Yuuji, all Sukuna's new buddies are going to hear about every little mistake he makes for the foreseeable future huh. I am kinda on team steal the dogs haha Sukuna needs some little buddies to give him endless affection and companionship while his brat is away. That whole section had me smiling this damn menace (if the puppies are being kept outside with no supervision for most of the day Sukuna actually might be doing them a favor especially if the weather is harsh i know a rescue dog who refused to go outside for a long time after he was saved because he was traumatized. Said dog is doing fantastic now but he still only likes going out with his person. The puppies in this fic seem happy enough though so they're probably healthy but I still support them going to a home with someone who'll spend more time with them). That being said there'll also be a baby on the way so this might not be the best time for new pets. Sukuna finding new ways to keep his brats attention while he's away via text taunts is great. Listen he may be a bastard but it's so cute how much he wants to have Yuuji's attention. I am delighted with him. Suku waifu is great now everyone who hears it gets to take psychic damage and I get to laugh. Ahh Sukuna's fear of parenthood vs Yuuji's joy and optimism 😄 I love them. I love Yuuji choosing to be so supportive and figure out what was wrong. He was wonderful. Sukuna knowing Yuuji wants the baby and will love it unconditionally and that knowledge giving him strength made me so happy I can't wait for him to meet his baby. I hope the love hits him like a truck. I can't wait for Yuuji to get to hold the baby. He'll be such a good dad! I'm actually hoping the baby will have four arms like true form Sukuna. I want him to see a child just like him being loved and cared for. In an ideal world the little one would have many sorcerer aunties and uncles who would also love them right alongside their parents. Speaking of uncles I bet once Yuuji gets Choso he'd be totally willing to babysit for him so the couple could still go out and do fun stuff together. It was a delightful chapter. Thank you for writing and sharing with us!!

Sukuna getting bored and starts to interact with others because he just wants something to do XD So now he has friends and working with them to cause his havoc like the gremlin he is u_u He seems the type to just find people and bring out their worse just to see what would happen lol

Also he likes the brat's attention on him, because then they can be more and more in their horrible hatemance u 3 u have to make sure Yuuji is so annoyed with him after all! And the parenting thing was such a delight to explore! Glad you enjoyed that section as it was my favorite part to write!

[redwolf17]

theories/speculation on the next chapter

there would have been bets placed on the gender of sansa and olyvar baby

flashback to celebrations over the news of cersei. i imagine it will be bitter-sweet for bel because she got her wish but her sister is still gone.

discussions over the sept that princess elia is building for gawaen and jonquil (i think you call it the sept of remembrance?)

bel thinking that merissa (even more so if they get to interact more, like maybe princess elia invites bel as a singer - basically taking advantage of brynden saying there being different rules for widows) sounds quite different. not because she sounds older, but her speech is definitely more polished (because that is something the readers picked up on!)

honestly her surprise that merissa was actually there in the first place so that bel could warn her. you could have bel think that she's surprised that jeyne poole and/or sansa didn't send merissa away to work somewhere else years ago so they don't have any reminders of the trauma they shared

maybe have her interact with hollow hill members - i would love to see her reaction to sansa standing up to damina on bel's behalf!

more world building

dealing with the aftermath of cerseis messy actions

a sad prediction but i predict that rhaenys will have suffered an early miscarriage. these things get out and bel will have heard of it through gossip. i predict afterwards that rhaenys will have the opposite of elia where she'll take a lot longer to conceive (so gawaen could be 3 or 4 when he gets his first paternal cousin) but her pregnancies and labours will be fortunately a lot easier and after she has her second there'll be no talk of it being too dangerous to have more. however there are no more children. I also predict that rhaenys will either have two girls or two boys

Cant wait!!! Same for Edythe!!!!

Absolutely love all of this! 💕💕💕

[nevesmose]

This is just a fic writing ramble but I thought I'd play around with a height comparison since there'll be more "normies interacting with Astartes" soon in Set Fire To Us All.

Next chapter Misleir will just carry one under each arm and throw them as a special attack. Woe, blackmailed serial killer space pilots be upon ye.

Fun fact: I used average Scottish heights for Poleyn and Revila. Turns out we're the shortest UK nation. I guess it makes some sense because we have the least sunlight.

Ya know, I bet there's vicious gang wars for control of the Vitamin D supplements industry on Nostramo. Little chewable kids' vitamins with a chibi Night Haunter on the jar, etc.

I've also been feeling like I need to find an actor or something for Misleir to look like in order to really get a feel for him. This is weird for me because I'm more or less faceblind IRL so I don't tend to think about or describe faces in much detail but sometimes it just doesn't work without having an idea in place.

@krynnmeridia called him an entertaining asshat (agreed btw) so that's the vibe I'm going for. Hmm. Bear in mind any comparison would be a) Nostraman and b) beefed up into a Spess Mehren, but...

The man, the myth, the mischievious scamp himself, Iwan Rheon in his GoT/Misfits era. I just feel like Misleir isn't that old or highly ranked of a Night Lord because if he was, he wouldn't have to blackmail legion serfs to do his bidding. He'll get there though. Dishonored Heart voice: if he survives the Heresy, the Changer of Ways will claim his soul for eternity whether he knows it or not.

Feel free to berate me for my terrible taste.

[gonzague-if]

Hmm the latest asks about Nevers made me think...

I like him a lot, but I guess since I've played the Patreon version I've had more time than other readers to just come to terms with what will happen I guess, but now I'm curious about things.

First one is... when will that happen? I mean, I'm assuming it's not that big of a spoiler to tell us when to expect the MC to kill him? At the very least an approximation. I'm curious as to how many scenes we'll be able to have with him and so on. Obviously, the more content we'll get with him alive, the more the players will get attached to him. But on the other hand, since it's one of the events that put the whole story into motion, I'm assuming it can't really happen very late on...

And the other one is about the ask answer you wrote in which you tell you consider him a RO even if it's a very sad story. And well, truth be told, ever since I played, I too considered him a RO - just not one I'll be pursuing (lucky me to have fallen for Peyrolles and not having to deal with the romantic side of the Nevers tragedy haha). With that being said... if a player picks Nevers as RO, just how much will that impact the rest of the playthrough? Like, I'm assuming regardless of romance we'll be able to determine just how much the MC manages to get over his death or no, and how much will they feel guilty. But I'm also assuming romantic feelings will be a whole different can of worms. So will players be able to determine if their Gonzague still loves Nevers and basically never stop, and have choices related to that even if he's dead? And will they be able to "pick another RO" after that? That sort of things! Thank you!

Hi! Thank you for the ask. :)

Nevers's death will happen early on, yes, since it's what starts the plot. I'm expecting it to happen in chapter 3, or even chapter 2, depending on how long things will be in the next chapter. I don't think there'll be another scene with him before that happens, the one in the game is pretty much a goodbye scene, the way I see it. I would love to sneak in another one before then, but I feel like it would be awkward and maybe lessen the impact of the scene that's already there.

And as for his romance, you pretty much summed it up! I'll put more details under a read more, in case people would rather keep it all a surprise.

Essentially, the route will be about MC grieving his loss and what they did to him, trying to come to terms with it and failing or succeeding, choosing to still love him or move on, etc.

Depending on MC's relationship with other characters, they might be able to discuss their feelings about him, get help moving on, and maybe fall in love with someone else along the way.

I also plan to explore their past relationship with Nevers through a couple of flashbacks, so you'll still be able to interact with his character through them after his death.

Of course, all of that is the rough plan, things could change a bit as I write, but for now, that's the goal!