#Award in Fire Safety for Managers

[safetycourses2022]

[imbaebi]

Finding Tenderness in You

ִֶָ࣪☾. 서 창빈 —

paring: nonidol!skz member x experiment!reader

genre: angst, dark, forbidden love

warnings: guns, killing, death, blood, manipulation, exploiting, human experimentation, children experimentation, corrupt government, needles/syringes, scars, childhood trauma, explosions, creepy man(maybe a pedo, I don't know), fire, explosions, small mentions of cuts, & mentions of burning flesh. I think that's all but tell me if I missed one !

wc / cc : 11.2k / 61.1k (sorry but all the parts are gonna be long xd)

masterlist / next

synopsis —---

A girl who's been an experiment her whole life, living with other kids in a facility. She and two of her friends manage to escape the institution and go into society. There she falls in love for the first time ever and she's scared—no terrified of the feeling. But she can't be with him, for his safety. She forbids it. She had other things to focus on, like their big plan anyways.

—--- ⪩⪨⪩⪨

Her life consisted of consistent training, being experimented on, and stasis. The men in white coats never told her or any of the children what their purpose was besides that “They would make the world a better place.” It was torture... You must obey the white coats or else you're put in a room whiter than their coats for who knows how long.

The children couldn't count how many times they've been injected with colorful syringes. They've been put through many tests; holding their breath underwater, pain endurance, mathematics calculation, weightlifting, language study and many others. Many children died during some of these tests or when injected. She could still here their screams at night when she closed her eyes not knowing why they screamed. But everyday was the same, unless she wanted go into the white room where time and human existence did not exist, she could do nothing to stop it. She's been in there twice before she reached the age of 11, and she never wanted to go back again. So she would do anything they asked of her.

⪩⪨

She awoke from her stasis chamber, a large mask greeted her in the morning, or was it night? She didn't know. She had been award with two days in the stasis chamber for completing a math problem. She had always been pretty good at math, since she was little. She was 11 now.

She did not want to leave the chamber, it was the only way she could sleep without hearing the agonying screams. But she also did not want to make the man in the white coat angry at her so she took his hand that was held out for her.

The man in the white coat helped her out the chamber and onto the ground. There were other chambers in the semi dark room. None of them were in use except one. In the far left of the room, a chamber that had been in use for almost 3 years. She always wondered who was in there and how she wanted to be put in the chamber for years too.

The man took her hand and pulled her towards the exit; from the grip on her wrist, she knew she had been staring for too long. She followed the man quietly, unlike the stomp of the man's shoes—her steps were light. They've always been light, no matter what shoes she was wearing. A few other children like her also walked with light steps, it was a skill necessary for some practices. She once scared a man with a white coat when she entered the room unnoticed.

Where was he taking her? The bright hallways didn't do much for her eyes since she had been used to the darkness but thankfully her eyes adjusted quickly. They entered the gym.

Was it time for physical training already? She inwardly sighed, she didn't enjoy gym training as much as she did mental training.

Usually, the gym had many other children going about in their training. But there was no one there. Until she saw the clock; 3:38 am it read. Why was she woken from her stasis so early? She couldn't help but feel slightly cheated from her two day reward. They walked to the double doors on the far end of the gym. Were they headed inside? She's never been in there before. Most children here hadn't, only a few had. What was behind the doors? She was very curious. When the man scanned the card around his neck, the doors opened.

It was another room, about half the size of the gym. There was a glass on the gray wall—like in the gym—where the white coats observed the children. In this room were lanes and target. She wondered what she was doing here so early?

The white coat went into the room with the glass window. She saw that a few white coats had entered the room behind the glass. What sort of training would she be doing..? The white coat that had brought her into the room had returned with a small object in hand. He placed the cold metal device in her hands. He explained to her that she would be shooting the targets with this gun object. He showed her how to use it and how to reload the bullets. Wow, a different training! Something new! She was excited to start. Before the man returned to the room behind the glass, he placed headphones on her ears. When he was behind the glass, he gave her a nod to begin.

She walked to one of the targets, and held the gun up like he had showed her to. She pulled the trigger and released. It hit the target with a large bang! She dropped the gun and covered her covered ears with her hands. Her ears were sensitive to noise. Her body began to tremble slightly. why was it so loud? It was too loud! She almost began crying until she remembered that the white coats were watching her. She forced herself to snap out of it, it was a rule to not show weakness. She turned around, expecting the men to come out and punish her. But they didn't. Instead they stayed in the room, one of them taking notes on a clipboard. The man that brought her here beckoned her to continue. She didn't want to but she must obey all orders; so she picked up the gun once again. She stared at the target, there was a hole in the center. Had the gun caused that? The man did not explain to her that it would go through the target, only that she must hit it. How strong was the tiny bullet? She walked down the isle to the next lane, the target was further away by a foot. She stood behind the line and aimed again, her brain calculating how to aim the gun before she pulled the trigger. She winced at the sound, she did not like it at all... She moved on and kept shooting the targets that kept getting further and further away from the line. She had successfully shot all 14 targets almost perfectly in the center. The white coats came out and praise her abilities and took the gun from her. She smiled a bit, happy about the compliments, before it vanished.

Over the next 30 days, she took gun training. Each and every time the targets got further and further away. But she managed to hit the center most of the time. She also eventually learned to tune out the loud bang sound.

    “Subject 201F7, well done. You have one special test tomorrow. Dr. Futher is waiting for you.” White coat had told her.

So she went to the lab room, Dr. Futher was waiting there for her. Was it already time for her monthly syringes?

    “Ah, 201F7. I'm glad to see you.” Dr. Futher smiled. She wouldn't say she was scared of the doctor persay but she was definitely wary of him. How could she not when his smiles did not seem warm or genuine.

He was also the only one who did not wear mask covering his whole face. The only other human the children could see properly. Was that perhaps the reason why the doctor was terrifying to the other children?

    The doctor chuckled, “Still as quiet as ever, I see. Sit on the table, it's time for your monthlys.”

She did as told, sitting up on this table. She was glad she was wearing shorts today instead of long pants. There was no reason the doctor would have to tell her to remove them. It seemed the doctor had realized that too, for his giddy demeanor had lessen. For what reason? She did not know. The doctor took the familiar green filled syringe. He rubbed a numbing cream on the surface of her thigh generously before he pierced the skin and injected her with it. Then he took a purple filled syringe and injected that one too. Now she was left with two more needle marks. He bandaged her up.

She was about to get off the table when he stopped her.

    “Not yet, 201F7. There's one more.”

One more? But there were only two monthly syringes, the green and the purple ones. Was this one another test syringe? She frowned of annoyance, this was not on her schedule. But she sat still and waited patiently. He took out a blue filled syringe, it was bigger than the monthlys. What was this one for? She looked at the doctor who had another smile on his face, one she hadn't seen before. She felt nervous all of a sudden. Instead of piercing it into her thigh like all the other ones, he put some of the numbing cream on her neck before he pierced her skin, injecting every last drop of the mysterious blue liquid. She blinked at him as he watched her expectedly. His eyebrows went up in surprise after a minute had passed.

She sighed waiting for him to release her.

    “You may go now, 201F7”

She rolled her eyes and left the lab. She bumped into a white coat on her way to the bunks. He reprimanded her for not being in bed when it was past curfew. She pointed to her thigh, showing the fresh bandages.

The man sighed and escorted her to the bunk room. Some of the children were asleep, while others were speaking amongst themselves in hushed tones. Her bunk was one of the furthest bunks from the door. She slept on the top bunk above another boy, 199M3. He was older than her, according to his name—by 2 years apparently. He didn't talk much but neither did she. That's why she liked being around him, he was quiet and not annoying like the other children. Though it was also annoying to not speak because she had questions, she wasn't about to break the silence to converse with him. It was better if she went to sleep. And sleep she tried, but she felt weird. She felt hot, there was a thin sheet of sweat the that covered her face. It felt like her body became lighter but she could feel the weight of the bed. Her neck also throbbed, not super painful, she could definitely bare it due to pain endurance training. Just when her eyes drifted shut and her mind was finally used to the new feeling and was about to drift off. She heard them. The screams that mocked her every night. But they felt more real, like as if the screams were present in the room with her. She sat up, eyes flying open. With her heart racing she looked around but saw no one else awake from what she could see. It was dead silent. As if the screams weren't real. Well from what she could see and hear right now, they definitely weren't real. Just memories from the past.

Those screams that she heard every night before bed, she wasn't sure what had happened to those kids before they started screaming. She only ever heard them, never witnessed anything. But they terrified her. Because everytime those screams happened, a child or two would go missing. So she knew those screams had to be from the kids that go missing the next day. Everyone made stories of why those kids were gone, but she didn't believe them. I mean come on, a scary ghost would prowl around their home and steal bad kids—how could she believe that? Obviously it was some older kids trying to mess with the younger kids, just for some excitement. Well she couldn't 100% blame the older kids trying to gain some excitement when things around here was routine, routine, routine every single day. It would get boring...

She needed to calm her mind and racing heart. She quietly climb down the ladder, she was going to just walk up and down the middle isle were all the bunks met. Just to calm herself.

    “Are you okay?” She flinched hard. She turned to him, 199M3 was lying in his bunk just staring at her. She felt embarrassed by her flinch and the fact that she was caught. But his question caught her off guard.

    “...I'm fine.” She answered. She definitely wasn't going to explain to him what she was feeling.

    “He did it to you too, didn't he?” He asked, sitting up now. He stared at her bandaged neck. What did he know?

    “The doctor injected a blue syringe in you too?” She asked instead of directly answering him.

    “Mine was Red.” He answered. “You feel strange right now don't you?”

    “Yes.”

    “Well it's gonna get even stranger later on. So I suggest you go to bed instead of doing something that'll get you in trouble.” He said before flopping back into his bunk and pulling his covers up. She took this as a sign that the conversation ended.

She stood there for a little while, staring at the shape of him under the covers before she climbed back up the ladder. Her heart had calmed down but her mind was still racing. 201F7 took out her little flashlight and dictionary—she always read the dictionary whenever she was bored or annoyed. She disliked feeling—she'd rather feel nothing than anything, as depressing as that sounds. She put her covers over her head to block out the light of her flashlight to not disturb the other kids. She opened the dictionary to a random page. Joy—

/ jOI /

    noun

a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

    ex: "i cried tears of joy"

    verb

rejoice.

    ex: "they rejoice because they won the game"

Had she ever felt joy before? She had never really thought about that... How was one go about to achieve this "joyful" feeling? Was there anything that gave her great pleasure? She thought, the closet she felt to happiness is when she was praised for her good math skills. She quietly turned a couple pages, turning 5 at a time. Love—

    / luhv /

    noun

1. an intense feeling of deep affection

    ex: "babies fill their parents with feelings of love"

2. a great interest and pleasure in something

    ex: "his love for math"

    verb

1. feeling deep affection for (someone)

    ex: "he loved his wife dearly"

2. like or enjoy

    ex: "i just love dancing"

Love... what did she love? Well she loved math... And the stasis chamber... But feeling love for someone else? She didn't think so. The example for the noun made her wonder; did her parents love her as a baby? Where were her parents anyway? Did she even have any? If she did, were they even alive? She knew very little about human life, how they reproduce and how they died. She knew as much that if they get to a certain old age, they pass. Were her parents old enough to die? She didn't like how that made her feel so she turned back the pages till she reached the letter F. She liked the letter F, it was in her code marked on her left wrist. But it was also in all the other girls' code so maybe it wasn't as special, though that didn't stop her from favoriting it from all the letters she's learned. Her finger grazed the pages until it stopped on a random word. Family—

    / fam-uh-lee /

noun

1. a group of one or more parents with their children, living together as a unit

    ex: "my family and i live together on large land"

2. all descendents of a common ancestor

    ex: "the house has been owned by the same family for 200 years"

adjective

1. designed to be suitable for children as well as adults

    ex: "the family newspaper"

Family. Could she call the children and the men in white coats her family? Well they were the closest thing she's got to one—one big strange family. She felt the same strange feeling in her heart, which made her closed the dictionary shut and her flashlight followed suit. She removed the covers from her head, her skin shivered at the change of temperature. So she pulled the covers over her chin and shut her eyes. The covers felt heavier than ususal but she did her best to ignore it. Eventually she fell asleep

⪩⪨

The next day, she awoke to the annoying alarm that woke everyone up at the same time everyday no fail. The kids scrambled to get out of their beds and get into two single file lines, one for the girls and one for the boys. The double doors slammed open promptly once the children got into these lines. Four men in white coats entered and took the children, ten from each line at a time to go and wash up for the day. Soon it was breakfast time, the usual porridge and an orange. They had no say on what they got to eat, everyday the same; porridge and an orange for breakfast, bread and butter for a light lunch, then rice, chicken and broccoli for dinner. Always the same, except when it was your birthday. On your birthday you would get an oatmeal cookie which is literally the best thing anyone here has ever eaten. Unfortunately she had already gotten her birthday cookie two weeks ago when she had turned twelve.

She silently sat in a seat next to 199M3 who had already gotten his porridge at the counter. She hadn't been feeling well since she had awoke. It wasn't sickness, she almost rarely got sick. She just felt.. not normal, I guess.  It was a weird feeling she never felt before but she decided to ignore it. 201F7 wasn't one to speak during breakfast(or anywhere really), rather she listened to the soft chatter of the other kids. Usually it was boring talk; about some random thing during training or something in a book they've read. Today however, her sensitive ears perked up to something.

    “Yeah, I really saw him!”

She'd recognize 195F2 anywhere, her high voice was usually easy to distinguish from the rest of the chatter. She was one of the older kids. She was five years older then 201F7, making her about 17. She knew about most of the drama, and she was the head of making the ghost stories along with 195F4, her apparent best friend. Whatever that meant. 201F7 looked up from her meal, 195F2 was easy to spot with her silky red hair. Though she wasn't too fond of her since the elder enjoyed playing tricks on the younger kids, she liked the girl's red hair, it made her think of the summertime sun sets she had read in her books. Since she never experienced a sunset before, she felt as if her red hair would be just as warm. 195F4 was sitting right next to 195F2 like always; her beautiful black coils springy around her head in a beautiful array. 201F7 had always love the coils on her head, she sometimes wish she had some of her own. Some days she wasn't too happy with her own dark brown almost black hair that waved slightly at the ends.

What had she been talking about now? She focused on the two's conversation.

    “He barely looked a little older than before. Why do you suppose they let him out? Or better, why would they make him sleep for three years?” 195F2 wondered out loud to her friend.

What? Her spoon of porridge stopped mid air. They had to have been talking about the boy in stasis, because who else had been asleep for 3 years?

And as if prompted by the girls' talk, the doors to the meal room opened and the cafeteria went silent. A white coat entered with a boy, who looked about her age. The man spoke to the boy silently before he turned to everyone who was having breakfast and cleared his throat.

    “Everyone, this is 201M5. He will be rejoining today. I expect you all to not bother him. Thank you.” And with that, the white coat left the room leaving everyone to stare at the kid.

He sighed before walking up to the counter to get his tray of breakfast. All eyes were on his every move as the white coat in the kitchen gave him his food. He turned towards the cafeteria who all stared back at him. He ignored their eyes and started walking down the center isle passing many empty seats. 201M5 walked till he reached the table that she and 199M3 was sitting at. He took one look at the two before siting down at a empty seat.

The room broke out into chatter again, but more in whispered tones. The subject was definitely the arrival of an old friend. 201F7 didn't recognize him, not that she knew him much either before he was put in stasis, she just vaguely recalled hearing his name mentioned a few times around.

She didn't bother to start speaking to him, like said earlier, she wasn't one to speak. And 199M3 did not make any move to start conversation either. She glance at the boy a few times as she ate, his dark eyes stared down at his plate from underneath his longish dark hair. He was quiet as he ate his porridge, not that the two who shared the table minded—it was preferable that way. She had finished the tasteless porridge—it was more tasteless than normal, she really felt weird today—and was now pealing her orange from its skin. The citrusy scent that she was accustomed to hit her nose once the inside was visible, was less prominent today. She looked up to find 201M5 looking at her—he hadn't look away when she had caught him instead he continued to look at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. She felt nervous under his intense stare, like she was being unraveled and her deepest darkest secrets were being revealed—not that she had any. She swore she saw his lips twitched before he looked away. What was up with this kid? She stuffed half the orange into her tiny mouth, it wasn't as sweet as the oranges usually were—more bland as she chewed. She ignored it, too fixated on the boy in front of her. His plate was clear, besides the orange peals in the empty bowl—she hadn't noticed he had finished his meal. She hadn't noticed when 199M3 had finished his meal either, even so that wasn't important. She looked at the clock before she pushed her chair back to stand. She picked up her tray and pushed her chair in. She took one last glance at the boys before she left. 201F7 placed her tray on the counter with the few others waiting to be washed.

She had a test today, so that's why she left the meal room earlier than normal. She walked into the gym and looked around. The door that she had been practicing gun shooting had opened, a white coat inside had gestured for her to come in. She proceeded across the gym and entered. The room was different, there weren't any targets in lanes. Instead there were grey blocks around the room in strategic placement that slightly resemble a city. Blocks big and small stacked upon each other making buildings, trees and street lights. A rather trashy city but the vision was seen. Who took the time to build this? As she looked around, she hardly noticed the boy at the other end of the room. It took a minute to register, that was 202M1. He was a rather shy boy and hesitant, which got him in trouble with the white coats. Was he in this test too? 201F7 followed the white coat to a table, he handed her a gun. He explained to her the test, first one to shoot the other wins. He blindfolded her before he guided her to a part of the room. It was the right corner, she felt. The rules were simple, easy even. Shoot and win. She's got this.

She heard a click sound before sound started drifting softly from all corners of the room, a whooshing sound like someone had turned on the air conditioning. She heard the sign to take her blindfold off. The room was dimmed when she snatched the cloth off, a type of dim that was perfect before bed. She could see perfectly well, vision training had helped. She swallowed, unsure what had caused the lightness she felt in her head, was it the dim lights? Well whatever it was, she was not about to let it get in her way of winning and completing the test. She ran in stealth, hiding behind buildings and random block trees. She couldn't see 202M1 anywhere so she used her ears, listening sharply for anything that'll give him away.

There it was. A soft tap of a single footstep gave his position away, he was a couple feet to the right. She ran quietly on her toes towards the area she heard him. But it was empty. She crouched beside a building to search with her eyes when she felt the warmth, like someone had been there a while before they decided to leave. There was no way he stay that long in the same position. Why did they put 202M1 in this test? He must have been very good at target shooting because there was no way they wanted him for his stalking and stealth power.

She walked out to the center of the city, being careful not to be out in the open. Where was this kid hiding this time? She was about to walk in a makeshift alleyway when she felt an overwhelming urge to look behind her. She turned around and saw that 202M1 was about 5 feet away from her with his gun pointed to her. She saw the moment of hesitance in his eyes, she took it and lifted her arm. In a second there was a loud bang and ringing in her ears.

It was like time slowed down during that moment. She stared in horror as 202M1's body crumpled to the ground, blood ran thick onto the floor from his head. She didn't realize they had guns to harm each other. It never crossed her mind that the bullets that were loaded into the guns given to them were actually harmful and not soft ones that would have just bounced off them. She felt sick, her heart raced as his body fully fell flat onto the ground. She didn't know how to deal with what emotions that were storming inside her. She fell to the ground and screamed with her hands on her ears. She cared about nothing during this moment, she didn't care if the white coats would punish her for showing fear. Her head felt heavy and light at the same time but that was the least of her worries right now. The extreme lightness returned to her head like earlier and she felt a slight rumble around her but she didn't care about what it was. The shock was too much for her.

She didn't know how long she was screaming for, it couldn't have been more than 2 minutes. She felt an arm on her shoulder, she flinched—her eyes opening wide. What had happen here? Everything was a mess, like a tornado had ran through the block city and destroyed everything in it's path. Everything was knocked down and scattered around her in a perfect circle. Did she find the safe spot in the midst of the city's self destruction? She took a glance and saw that 202M1 was also in the safe spot. Why was he not moving? She brush past the white coats and quickly made her way to the boy. His eyes were open and they looked lifeless, her heart began to race even faster. She put her hand in front of his nose, he wasn't breathing. There was no way he had... That wasn't possible! Was it? The white coats always told them them that death happened when you reached the old age. Were there other ways people could die? A terrified shiver passed through her as a choked sob passed through her raspy throat.

She was yanked up by the arm, she let out a surprise squeak from the sudden jerk. The white coat said nothing to her, instead he brought her into the room with all the other white coats. He took a look at her body, examining her until his finger grazed the scar from the blue syringe. She pulled herself back reflexively, the scar felt tender for some reason. She had no idea what was going on right now, but she had a new found fear and hatred towards these men. Why would they let this happen? Did they intend for it to happen? They knew that 202M1 usually hesitate during most things, why would they pair him up with her? They spoke amongst themselves but she could not hear—her body in a state of panic right now.

Her eyes burned, she looked around the room trying to distract herself from the image in her mind. The room was mostly rectangle, there was a control system under the glass with many shiney buttons and switches. A cloth covered her eyes suddenly, she pressed her hands into fists. What was it now? She did not want to deal with anything, her heart was too troubled. They lead her somewhere, the foots steps felt too familiar after a couple minutes it was too late when she realized, she could do nothing to stop herself from being thrown into the white abyss. The exit slammed shut behind her. She crawled towards where the door had been, her eyes brimmed over with tears.

No, no, no! She shouldn't be here, she was sure she did good on the stupid test!!

    “Let me out!” Her voice was hoarse from her screaming prior. She clawed at the door, well what she supposed was the door since it blened seamlessly with the walls. “Please...”

She wasn't going to be let out anytime soon, she knew that. She sat with her back to the wall. The white was glaring at her mockingly knowing she would not be able to tell time. Usually people who were thrown into this room was kept for 3 days or less. Hopefully those 3 days would go by quickly. She put her head in her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. The darkness usually calmed her but not this time. Violent images of 202M1 flashed in her face, causing her to flinch up.

Why? Why was this happening to her...? Was she a bad person for taking his life without hesitation?

Wait.. was that why 202M1 hesitated to shoot her, did he know what would happen if he did. She sobbed at the thought. She was a monster, taking his life like that...

Some time had passed, she had no idea how long. She was tired but everytime she closed her eyes, she was met with his lifeless eyes. She was going crazy in here. She still didn't know why she was put in here... Was it because of her screaming and showing weakness? Her tired brain would not shut up, it kept going on about what had happen earlier and why she was put in here. It was determined to find out.

    “...201F7?”

Her head whirled around, who was that? There was no one else here. Was she finally going insane that she was hearing voices? She didn't know who this voice belong to, a voice she hadn't heard before. She shook her head as if that was would keep her sane.

    “...201F7!”

Okay she recognized that voice. Why was she imagining, 199M3 calling her name?

    “You're not imagining his voice.”

    What the hell.

    “Who are you?” She asked in her mind. “Why are you in my thoughts?”

    There was the sound of a chuckle that wasn't hers, echoing through her mind.

    “I'm 201M5. We're communicating telepathically.”

⪩⪨

Everyone was so loud. He felt weird coming back after 3 years.

    “behave yourself, don't cause any trouble or else you'll go back into stasis.”

The white coat told him before announcing to everyone in the cafeteria about his arrival. Then the man left. Everyone stared at him in silence, he sighed and walked to get some food. They were still serving this stuff? He wanted to roll his eyes, even more reason why he wanted to escape this place. The white coat chef handed him his porridge.

201M5 made his way to find a place to sit. Everyone was so loud. Even if they hadn't spoken a word as their eyes were on him, their thoughts were loud enough to annoy him. He did his best to tune them out. He stopped in front of a table with two kids sitting in it. A girl and a boy who looked older than her. Those two seemed like the silent type. They also had a different aura compared to the kids. Blue was radiating from the girl, her thoughts covered in a blueish cloud. It was filling her up, and seemed to be close to overflowing from her. The other boy had a red aura covering his thoughts, not as prominent as the girl's though. They had been changed, the aura told him so. He knew if they had the same ability as him, they could see how he also had a different aura from the other kids here, his black like the syringe that was injected into him years ago. He took a seat at their table. The cafeteria fell into hushed whispers, all about him, he knew. The two sitting with him were curious but they said nothing. Which as fine by him, he didn't like talking anyway. He ate the porridge, it tasted how to tasted years ago—the recipe hadn't changed.

He finished his food quickly, it was his first meal in years. Not that it was any good. He looked at the girl again, the blue aura that was brimming was near overflowing. He wondered what ability she would unlock. He heard her thoughts, she felt weird, a lightness—it was a side effect to the syringe that was given to her but she didn't know that. She looked up and caught him staring at her, he didn't look away though. He heard her, ‘-like he's unraveling me—seeing all my secrets and thoughts?’ his lip twitched almost into a smile, she wasn't entirely wrong. He looked away. He was going to keep an eye on her through her thoughts. He focused his attention onto the other boy. He had also finish his bowl, his left hand was laying on the table while is right hand supported his head. His code, 199M3 displayed on his left wrist. So he was right, this boy was older than him about 2 years. The boy's face was unreadable, but his thoughts were clear enough. He was worried about the girl, 201F7. Ah so she was younger than him. Why was he worried? They weren't friends, at least that's not what it looked like on the outside. His memories replayed a scene that had happen last night. So he knew about her blue syringe, yet he did nothing to explain to her what it would possibly do? Instead he told her to go to bed. Wow.

201F7 suddenly got up, she had a test today. 201M5 had a bad feeling about this test... Which test was she to take today? He heard the men in white coats talk about different tests that were to begin in this very week. Most of them were chill but there was this test—the gun test that gave him a chill. They would be testing a few kids at their ability to survive in the city while on mission. Was she part of the gun test? His eyes followed her. She was basically out the door when he heard her thoughts say which test she would be taking...

He turned to 199M3 who was abolut to leave as well.

“Uhmm.” He thought in his mind. 199M3 stopped and looked at him like he had just spoken. Did he hear that? He wanted to test the theory. “Hi?”

    199M3's eyes widen.

    “How did you do that?” He asked quietly to not bring attention to the two.

    He just answered with a shrug. “I'm not sure...” He answered truthfully.

199M3 looked at his neck and sure enough there was a needle scar there, he put two and two together.

    “He got you too, huh?” 199M3 sighed.

    “Yeah. That's why they put me in stasis for so long.” Then he had a thought. “Do you think you could also speak with me telepathically? Because you're the only one who could hear this it seems.”

    199M3 thought for a moment before saying, “I could try...”

    “...Can you hear me?”

201M5 smiled, they had a means of communication without getting caght. Now he could bring forth his idea.

    “Loud and clear.” He got up and picked up his tray as well. “Now let's go so we don't seem suspicious.”

    

The two stuck near each other as they went about their routines. 201M5 was explaing everything. How he had been injected by a black syringe which resulted in his mind reading ability—and since he was injected at a young age the ability because too much for him since he didn't know how to control it which resulted into a panic attack. The white coats didn't know what was going on and to this day they probably still don't know. They did some scans and notice his brain activity way higher than his usual extent. They assumed his testing and training was too much for him which resulted in this. The only way they knew how to get him to stabilize was in the stasis chamber. He knew what was going on in the outside world while his body was asleep. His body was paralyzed but he could hear everyone's thoughts in the outside world. His mind created a place for him to move around but he knew that his actual body was paralyzed in the real world. He learned to tune people out or focus on someone's specifically in those few years. He mostly focused on the white coats and higher ups to figure out what was going on. And find out he did. Which he told 199M3 all about itp. 201M5 wanted to escape and 199M3 did also. They wanted to leave this place with every kid in it. But that would be impossible? Well if the two of them could use their abilities, 201M5's mind reading to help him guess his opponents moves before they could play them, and 199M3's invincibility and electricity to never be effected by any of his opponents moves. Maybe the 2 of them could defeat the white coats? They'd have to train like crazy, since they definitely weren't ready yet...

201M5 tune into 201F7's thoughts, wondering what she was doing. After a bit of searching, he could see what she was seeing, a dim room with blocks everywhere around. She was looking for someone, 202M1. He tuned to 202M1, he was slowly getting into place behind her and held a gun to her back. 201M5's heart raced, was this the end of 201F7? He screamed and yelled at her to look behind her, but he was sure she couldn't hear him. He tuned into the nearest white coat's mind watching the scene from their perspective. The man was sure, 201F7 was going to die today. He was rather annoyed since she was a good subject. But by a miracle she turned around just in time. 202M1 hesitated for some reason and then there was a loud bang. The blue aura that was brimming inside her overflowed like a fountain. 201F7 fell to her knees as she left out a banshee like scream none of them knew she was capable of. It brought chills onto 201M5's arms and spine. Then the blocks of the makeshift city all lifted to the air. The men stared in amazement and a slight fear. They swirled around the girl and the body of 202M1 above them in great height as she screamed and cried. It went round and around like a tornado, before they came crashing down to the ground with a huge sound. 201F7 didn't even flinch as she kept screaming and crying. One of the white coats ran out towards her. Her screams choked down to sobs that were still loud. 201M5 couldn't watch anymore.

    “Are you alright?” 199M3 asked him, noticing the troubled look in his eye. He explained what happened.

    “Are they insane? Why would they do that to her?” 199M5 sounded angry. “We need to help her.”

That was for sure, they need to do something for the girl. A white coat came to the two, seeing them sitting in the corner. He order them to finish their work out routine. Begrudgingly they complied. Unfortunately they didn't get a chance to do anything so 201M5 kept watch on her every hour until curfew. It was 11 pm by the time everyone had fallen asleep. 201M5 had claimed the bottom bunk across from 199M3 so it'll be easier to communicate.

    “Should we try to reach her?” He asked the older.

    “That's our best bet.”

He viewed her thoughts, she wasn't in a good state right now... He took a deep breath before trying to send out a signal again. She heard him this time! Expect she thought she was going crazy since she didn't recognize his voice.

    “You try.”

So 199M3 did. He reached her but she still thought she was going insane.

    “You're not imagining his voice.”

    “Who are you? Why are you in my thoughts?” she asked him astonished. He couldn't help but chuckle at her tone.

    “I'm 201M5. We're communicating telepathically.”

⪩⪨

Those two kept her company during those days of her being in the white room. They're the only reasons why she hadn't gone insane for the whole week. She had no idea why she was in there in the first place so 201M5 told her about her new ability of telekinesis, she was shocked because she didn't know she was the cause of the block city to go into destruction. Then they both filled her in with what they had been planning.

She had agreed to join their plan of escape and to help the other children to leave as well after hearing the exploiting higher ups master plan with them. If they could succeed with this plan, she could finally see and feel the sun. None of the children had experienced outside before, but they've heard of it in books. Most of them in the facility believed that the sun really did exist where there were other children who weren't too sure. She wanted to prove to them the sun existed—even though she herself did not 100% know that the sun existed.

Over the next few years, the three had done everything the white coats had made them, becoming the top 3 in the whole facility. They trained vigorously night and day, exceeding every training, test and routine thrown at them.

It had been 10 years since that day in the back room, 10 years since 202M1 died at her hands... She would never forget his face or the way his body had crumpled to the floor. It still horrified her to this day but didn't affect her as much, she just got better at keeping her emotions in check. Just like how the white coats wanted her to.

They've all been moved to a different bunk room for the adults in the facility one by one as soon as they hit 18 so it was harder to plan things efficiently but they somehow managed, communicating telepathically during the night as everyone else were all asleep.

It was a random Tuesday; the trio were going about their routines for the day. She was doing her mathematics calculations with a few 18 year olds when a white coat entered the room.  He requested for her to follow him. She followed, no questions asked, that did not mean she didn't have questions swarming around in her head. This was not on her routine, what was she going to have to do? She followed him to a hallway she had never went through before. She saw 201M5 and 199M3 waiting at a door with two other white coats.

    “do you guys have any idea?”

    “There's a man requesting for us. A higher up. The white coats here don't know why, neither does anyone else in the lab.” 201M5 answered her.

    Dang. That was a tad bit frustrating...

    “Tell me about it.”

The door opened and it was a wide room. Inside they saw a train for the first time in their lives. They were all surprised by this but it shown on neither of their faces. After the years, these 3 were amazing at keeping their expressionless faces devoided of any emotion.

The white coats escorted the three onto the subway train. Inside were three tall men in black suits, and dark sunglasses, seemingly waiting for the trio. The subway doors slammed shut behind them. One of guys gestured for them to sit, so they sat. With a jerk, the train began to move. The men sat across from them, monitoring them closely as if they could run off this moving train.

    “201M5, do you know where they're taking us?” 199M3 asked.

 ��  “To their head boss. In Seoul...”

    “Well that's just great.” 201F7 sarcastically commented.

Other than the sound of the wheels on the track, the train ride was silent. Outside the windows was a blur of tunnel and yellow lights. The men sitting in front of them said not a word. It was hard to tell because of the sunglasses but they were definitely staring at the three, observing their every move. A thought popped into her head.

    “You don't think that they're moving us to Seoul, do you guys?”

    “...there is a possibility”

201M5 didn't need to read their minds to know that they were thinking the same lingering question, was this going to affect their plan to free everyone?

 

The train ride was longer then she thought it would be. Just sitting there was boring, plus there wasn't even scenery to look at out the window! 6 hours had passed. The trio took turns sleeping—a precaution, just in case. Two would stay up and one would rest for an hour.  She had awoken after her second turn to her lying on 199M3's shoulder, she lifted her head and mumbled an apology.

    “You're good.”

    “How long has it been?” she asked.

    “Two hours.”  201M5 answered for her.

    “Two? I thought we all agreed to an hour or less!” She looked at him.

He gave a slight shrug only noticable to his two friends.

    “You looked peaceful.” 199M3 stated as if that was a valid excuse. She frowned.

    “Anyway, we're almost there. About twenty minutes.” 201M5 informed the two.

Twenty minutes or so later, the train came to a screeching stop.

The men in sunglasses stood up Simultaneously. The three were on alert now that they were finally here.

    “Follow me.” The shortest of the guards said gruffly. He walked over to the doors that had just opened.

201F7, 201M5 and 199M3 walk in a single line while the two guards followed behind suit. The room station looked similar to the station back at their home, except it felt more empty than the other for some reason. They were led down a hallway that led to a garage, it was empty besides the singular black suv with tinted windows. They got inside the car wordlessly. Inside there was a driver who looked bored and tired. 

Seven seats were in the car. The three squish into the back row, and two of the guards sat in the seats in the middle—those seats were facing the back row unfortunately, so they were still under the watchful eyes behind those damn glasses. This was the first time the three had been in a car that wasn't for a simulation test. The car started once everyone was seated in.

They went through a long tunnel with dim yellow lights that felt sad the longer you looked at them. It was so dim that the car headlights were a necessary. It was clear this tunnel hadn't been electrically maintained in awhile.

    “Oh my gosh, the tunnel leads out!” 201M5 yells in their minds with excitement. The other two shut their eyes in a flinch like way at the sudden burst out of nowhere. “Sorry guys.”

    “Wait are you for real?” 201F7 could barely keep her excitement in as she realizes what he said. How long had she dwelled in want of seeing outside? Was today finally that day?

And sure enough, after two minutes the tunnel began to get lighter—light enough that the headlights weren't needed anymore. And soon they were out of the tunnel. They stared outside the windows in aw of the actual world. Tress and other plants were all around the dirt road they were taking. It was amazing. ...And the sun was shining! Oh how beautiful the world really was. She wished she could really feel the sunlight on her skin. 201F7, 201M5 and 199M3 all stared outside the windows for the rest of the drive. Until they entered another tunnel... This time, it was lit normally. There was a both and a gate at the end of it. The car slowed to a halt. The driver rolled his window down and showed the woman his ID.

    “Packages for Mr. Dan Eun.” He said.

She lets them through the gates and they pull into another parking garage. The six of them exit the vehicle. I

nstead of an empty garage, there were actually a bunch of cars this time. Now where the hell exactly were they?

They follow the shorter guy once again in a single file line with the other two guards trailing them. They enter an elevator, and he pressed the button leading to the 15th floor. There were 17 floors in total including the garage floor. The elevator went all the way up before dinging and opening the doors mechanically. The six of them end up going a path of long hallways. There were other people in those said hallways but they didn't pay much attention to them. They were led to a desk next to a door. The door screamed someone "important" was in that room, but she had a slight bad feeling about everything.

    “Ah, Darren! and I see you brought the 3 packages.” She pressed a button. “Mr. Eun, your packages are outside.”

Packages. Is that all they were to these people? That did not sit right with her. She could tell that her friends also had the same thought.

    “You guys can enter.” She informs them after a minute.

They walked over to the door and Darren opened it. It was a huge office decorated exaggeratedly. There was a huge desk at the end of the room and there sat was a man who looked not at all older than the three of them. He had a huge smile on his face, one that was pissing her off the more she looked at him.

There was a man standing next to him with a clipboard in hand, his assistant most likely. This was the guy that had authority over everything? There was no way, he was too young to have started this—perhaps an heir?

    “Darren, Yuka and Pablo, thank you for escorting them here. You may go now.” His creepy smile had not faltered from his face.

The three guards bowed before exiting the room, closing the door shut behind them, leaving the three in the presence of this kid.

    “Come, come and sit!” He gestured to the three seats in front of his overly huge desk. They look wary but still they made their way to sit in the chairs. 201F7 sat in the middle of the boys.

It was obvious on their serious expression that they did not want to be here, but Dan Eun was either ignoring their glares or was just oblivious to them. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his palms.

    “The famous trio from the second district facility. I've been studying you guys since I was sixteen.”

    If that wasn't creepy enough... Who the fuck was this kid?

    “You might be wondering who I am. I'm the most powerful one here. Your caretakers let you here without questioning it cause they heard it was me.” He smiled boastfully. Was this kid actually for real?

    “Um sir, actually yo—”

    

    “Not now, Jungsun.” Dan frowns, shooting his assistant a look.

    “You guys have such extraordinary records.” Dan said looking back at them. Jungsun sighed and placed three folders on the table.

Each folder had confidential written on the front in red letter stamp. He smiled at them and nodded, gesturing for them to open them. 201F7  picked up one of the folders and opened it so they could all see. In the top right corner was a picture of 201M5, his code printed in bold text besides it. It was a description of him on the first page, his height, weight, date of birth, etc. She knew the white coats took notes of everything about them she never minded it but seeing it now on the paper in front of her made her feel uncomfortable. She flipped to the next page, it had information on his status of his tests and abilities. He had perfect score for shooting range  and stealth mode, whatever the fuck that was. They flipped to the next page, quietly—not giving much reaction to Dan's dismay but he knew how their training was so it was pretty much useless to feel that way.

The last few pages were just logs from his date of birth till now. The other folders were one for 199M3 and 201F7. They had finished reading them rather quickly, 201F7 and 199M3 looked at Dan expectedly.

   “You guys are the best of the best, the first three products to get to this level. I am very fascinated in you three, read every log their was to you all. I know everything about you guys.” He spoke like a fan speaking to their idol, if it wasn't for the circumstances, this could've been a strange but kinda cute interaction... Instead it creeped her out. “But there's one thing I don't know...”

They waited for him to speak since only 1 out of 3 could read minds. He scratched his chin in thought which just made him look goofy.

    “It was noted on your log 201M5, that you were put into stasis thirteen years ago for three years. The information wasn't put out on why you were. And similar, 201F7 you were put in the white room for a week for no reason, the same day 201M5 was awaked. Was there really no reason to that?”

They just looked at him, there was no way they were about to tell this guy about their supernatural abilities because it was not needed since there must be a reason why he did not know. Whatever it was.

    “Not going to tell me?” He looked amused.

    “It wasn't for any particular reason. I just had a mental break down, they needed to put me back to shape,” 201F7 answered as if it were nothing. She was partly telling the truth.

    “That makes sense...” He looked at 201M5 expectedly.

    “...I also had a break down but it was worse than hers.” He finally answered. Dan took the hesitance as a reluctance for it being a heavy subject to boy so he didn't questioned him anymore.

    “I see...”

    “Why are we here?” 199M3 asked, he was tired of this Dan guy avoiding the point.

    “Ah well I needed some help. And you guys were the best of the best. You guys already know that you were trained to be elite spies and advance military?” He finally started to get to the point. The trio nodded. “I need you three to help me get revenge.”

They waited for him to elaborate.

    “I'm not sure if you guys know bkSIX. But their the reason why we had to start training kids for war because they're planning something to get us, EUNTA, off the pyramid. Someone leaked my father's plans to them, of subtly directing the world government or whatever to go his way until he was fully in control. But they of course have no proof to accuse us of such, so they're planning to overthrow us since EUNTA is higher on the pyramid than they are. But enough with the history lesson, that was besides the point. The one of the sons of Byungho Kim, Jong Kim—he's my sworn enemy since we're both the heirs to our father's positions. The pyramid recently went to a meeting to speak on recent matters concerning pyramid things, I don't know, I never pay attention to that shit. But anyway, he decided to make a fool of me by pointing out the fact that I wasn't paying attention in front of everyone... He's been doing this shit since we were kids. So I'd like your help.”

    “He can't be serious right now.” 199M3 mutters to them.

    “He is, unfortunately.” 201M5 confirmed, annoyed.

So they were trained spies to do official government work under EUNTA but this kid was allowed to hire them to do such childish things as getting silly revenge for his pride?

    “how old is this kid?” 201F7 asked because there was no way he was an adult.

    “nineteen...”

    “Don't worry, I'll pay you guys..!” He said after he saw their faces. Of course the nepotistic baby thought money would solve this. It's not like they were ever going to be able to use it. “You guys just need to kidnap him and I don't know, mess him up a bit. You'll have to do this before my Father puts you guys in.”

    “Put us in?” She repeated, confused.

    “Yeah, he's going to deploy you guys to your missions in a few months so I had to do this before then.”

    Shit shit shit. This was not good!

Fuck. They hadn't thought that they'll be deployed until a couple years later! Their plans were all crashing down, the longer they were here.

    “You guys will have to be undercover though since my Father or anyone else doesn't know about this. I thought this whole thing through. ...with a little help from Jungsun. You guys will have to watch Jong closely to find the perfect time to kidnap him. Then you will bring him to this warehouse.” Promptly, Jungsun placed down a map on the desk in front of them. There was a part of the map marked in red. “You guys just mess him up a bit then dump him on the side of the road when you're done... Um after that, you three will stay at the safe house until my father needs you guys.”

Jungsun placed down three sheets of laminated paper and three cards. Upon closer look, it was government forged birth certificates and three driver's license for them.

    “Your undercover identities. Dan picked out your names and the other information,” Jungsun explained.

    “For now, these will be your identities until my father gives you new ones.”

They took their respective driver's licenses.

    “So will you guys do it?” Dan asked hopefully.

201F7 and 201M5 look at 199M3 for his answered, he was like their older brother so they'd do whatever he deemed was fit.

    “Fine.” He sighed.

    “Ah, thank you! Now you guys will be escorted to the safe house before I send you the details.”

They put the licenses in their pockets.

    “Is that all?” 201M5 asked.

    “Yes that's it. Thank you guys again.”

They picked up the laminated papers. 201F7 didn't know what 199M3 was thinking but she hoped he knew what he was doing by accepting the deal. They stood up and so did Dan, he walked them to the door.

    “Jungsun will lead you to a car and the driver will bring you to the safe house. There will be a man named Ray who will also be there, just for a safety precaution.” Dan opened the door.

The second Dan opens that door, a blaring alarm sounded throughout the building—startling the 5 of them. They looked at Dan who had turned white. There was the sound of people running, frantically.

    “We need to run!” Dan said suddenly, turning back into the office. Dan ran to his desk and hastily tapped on the keyboard to his computer. His fingers moved fast before he took the mouse and clicked something. He pulled out a USB out of the USB port and stuffed it in his pocket. Jungsun ran over to one side of the office, there was an elevator that they hadn't noticed when they got here.

It opened quickly and they all entered it, Jungsun pressed the only button which was to the first floor.

    “What is going on?” 201F7 asked the two who seemed to know what was happening.

    “That was the evacuation alarm. The building is under attack.” Dan explained.

    “Isn't this place confidential?” 199M3 questioned, his eyebrows furrowed.

    “Well yes. But something that I hoped wouldn't turn out ended up happening.” They look at Dan as he said this, what did he do?

    “Mr. Dan had sent a letter that was meant for your facility but it ended up getting lost. It has seems that the lost mail had ended up in wrong hands.” Jungsun explained, giving Dan a side eye.

    “That doesn't explain how they found... Unless he put this address as the return address.” 201M5 said realizing that was exactly what he had done. The trio all looked at him incredulously. Dan smiled sheepishly. 201F7 face palmed.

Suddenly there was a huge blast that shook the elevator like an earthquake causing Dan and Jungsun to stumble a bit. Dan grabbed onto the elevator railing. The trio was unfazed. These infiltrators meant business.

    “What did the letter say?” 199M3 asked Dan, there was a bit of an edge in his voice—an annoyance because of how stupid Dan had been.

    “Um... Let's see. I requested a meeting with the three of you at a specific time. That it was for serious business that my father gave me permission to, obviously he did not but they don't know that! Um. I also added that it had something regarding bkSIX but it was confidential. That's basically it.”

The trio sighed simultaneously before another blast happened just as they reached the first floor, the power cut off before the doors could open, surrounding them in darkness.

    “Fuck!” Dan swore as he regained his balance. They were now trapped in the elevator.

There was a faint smell of smoke, which was not a good thing. The building was definitely on fire.

    “What are we gonna do?” Dan cried, he was starting to get nervous. He didn't want to die in an elevator at his young age. “I don't want to die!”

199M3 just rolled his eyes before he and 201M5 pulled the door open with their bare hands. There was an orange glow outside that seeped bit by bit in the elevator until it became a bright light and a wave of heat when the doors were fully opened. There were people running and yelling out on the first floor. There was debris everywhere, a part of the building had came crashing down leaving the building in ruins. There was a smell of meat cooking in the air, the smell of flesh burning was becoming stronger and stronger by each minute.

They ran out of the elevator, running towards the stairway. Thankfully it wasn't blocked, when they got closer. Then a gunshot rang out making them look behind them.

It was two masked men, their eyes were visible—glowering in hatred. Dan looked terrified, he looked between the two men and the people accompaning him before he took out running down the stairs. 199M3 scoffed before nodding toward the stairway.

    “You better follow him,” He said to Jungsun. Jungsun did a quick bow before scrambling down the stairway.

The 201 duo were already at it, 201F7 used her telekinesis to remove the guns in the enemies' hands making them take a step back. The hatred that once filled their eyes disappeared and it was replaced by fear. 201M5 landed a kick on the first man's side causing the man to double over stumbling back after 201M5 dodged his attempted punch. 201F7 used her telekinesis to throw small bricks from the piles of debris at the second guy. He used his arms as a shield as he tried to run, but he was too slow, 199M3 had jumped on the guy. He landed a sweet punch in his jaw causing the man to black out. 201M5 threw the first man next to his partner, he also blacked out due to the impact.

199M3 brushed his pants off as he stood up. It was getting hotter by the minute. The ceiling started to crumble even more, blocking off their path to the stairs leaving them no choice but to run out the giant hole in the building. Debris from the ceiling fell onto them, leaving a few cuts on their exposed skin. There was another blast, telling them that there were still enemies around. This blast was bigger than the first two, it shook the ground so much that they could hardly keep their balance. They had reached the forest edge when the last half of the building that still stood came crashing down. The flames had basically engulfed everything. They ran out into the forrest, not looking back. They had not a idea where they were running to but it didn't matter—the only thing that mattered was if they were all safe. 

It had been a good twenty minutes before their stamina was close to running out. They were pretty far from the building. They stopped in a small clearing, taking a rest.

    “What now?” 201F7 asked 199M3 after a minute.

    “We'll start fresh.” They looked at him, 201F7 looked confused and a bit disappointed. But what about-? “Then we'll go back and save everyone. That had always been the plan, hadn't it?”

The 201 duo grinned. Saving everyone had always been the goal. The plan hadn't failed, they just had to make a few adjustments. It was the same as before, the only difference was that it wouldn't be 201F7, 201M5 and 199M3 freeing everyone. Instead the Choi siblings would do all the work. Choi Y/N, Choi Taeyang, Choi Yeonjun. Maybe Dan knew what he was doing with their identities.

a/n: omg that was longer than I expected. But I'm pretty sure the second part will be longer 🥲 hope you like it so far! Please like and reblog to give me motivation<3 comments are 100% welcomed.

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—-- ⪩⪨⪩⪨

[aspiringtrashpanda]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SATAN! I love you, you finnicky feline bastard. A friend of mine recently shared this great video essay with me, and I knew I had to substitute today's prompt to do something involving CATS. Find the prompt list HERE.

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

DAY 20 Prompt: Hot Cider Halloween Costumes Featuring Cats: The Musical, chaos reigning in the House of Lamentation, and Satan's secret past revealed... This is 2.6k but I swear it's worth it

“Alright,” You were already reaching for the popcorn piled around Beelzebub. You didn’t miss his sharp side-eye, but Belphegor muttered reassurance that they could make more if Beel felt he hadn’t eaten his fill. “Are we all ready?”

A chorus of hummed affirmation was only interrupted by Beel’s concerned, “Satan isn’t here.”

Levi’s already tense frame managed to stiffen further, Beel’s realization prompting him to peer over his shoulder into the dark shadows of your bedroom, encroaching the circle of safety lit by the glow of the television screen. “Hey, where is he?”

“Oh…” Hesitating, you mumbled a swift, “I didn’t invite him. So anyway, shall we?”

It was Asmo that started that accusing melody reminiscent of when you’d been sent to the principal’s office as a child. “Oooo, is Satan in trouble?”

Mammon nearly choked on his cola. “Hey! What’s that mean?!” 

“Nothing!” You knew it was best to stop a Mammon Jealousy Spiral™ before it spun out of control. With five pairs of eyes waiting for the big reveal, you let them down gently, “It’s just… Trust me, you don’t want to watch this with him.”

“Why?” Beel asked in between crunches of unpopped kernels. 

“Yes.” The voice managed to freeze the blood of all those in the room, the spite spilling in a low song. “Why?”

Six pairs of eyes snapped to the door, panic rearing within your chest when you made out a familiar silhouette lounging in the doorway. Shit.

Satan’s vibrant green fingernails curled around the door knob, shut the panel with more force than necessary. His voice oozed contempt, anger, and for a moment, you wondered if you were his villain origin story. “Did you really think you could watch Cats without me?”

He marched into the room without another word, settling down beside Belphie and positioning himself closer than anyone else to the screen. Asmo instantly protested that he would damage his eye sight, and in response, Satan slipped on his reading glasses.

“Brain build. +2 observation and +3 intellect,” Levi muttered to himself, nodding in approval. Mammon shot him a look of disgust. 

When you had still failed to press play, to start the movie, Satan fixed you with an impatient frown. “Well? Are we watching the movie or not? 

“Satan,” You winced, “You’ve read the reviews.”

You thought you had been able to protect him.

“I need to experience it with my own two eyes.” Satan steeled his resolve, rolling his shoulders. 

How were you supposed to protect him from himself? 

So, you prayed to the Celestial Realm above and tossed the remote to Mammon. Though all he did we toggle the button to start the movie, your conscience felt as though the action alleviated some guilt. 

Alas, about ten minutes into the movie, Satan’s rage moved from near to downright palpable. It was sour on your tongue. So sour that not even the extra buttery popcorn could rid the taste from your mouth. The whole point of watching Tom Hooper’s 2019 film adaptation of Cats, the Tony award winning musical, was to revel in the warmth of the dumpster fire, to laugh and jeer and jab at the uncanny CGI cat-people-things. All the fun of a Cats watch party was dampened by the vibrating bomb a little too close to the television.

“You don’t understand,” Satan cried, “This…This…This trainwreck of a film completely obliterates all that is Cats!”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Asmo argued, his eyes lighting up as Jennyanydots’ exterior fur was unzipped in a truly terrifying manner to reveal a snazzy little magenta number underneath. “Oh, a skin suit! How fresh~!” 

Levi and Beel exchanged a very concerned glance, popcorn falling from Mammon’s mouth as his jaw hit the floor. Belphie simply snickered, eyes already shut. It wouldn’t be long before he tapped out of this plane of existence for the remainder of the night. 

Though, Satan failed to falter. No, he carried on, “See, Cats is all about the whimsy, the theater, the rotating cast of characters that are not meant to represent anything larger than themselves! Why is Victoria suddenly the protagonist? Why remove the three-part harmony from the Gumby Cat number? These are entirely illogical choices!” 

You stifled a sigh. It was going to be a long night. 

Beel and Belphie bailed first, sometime after Satan paused the movie to explain the importance of the choreography in Grizabella’s Memory, how the director had completely fumbled the ball by allowing Victoria to touch the former Jellicle cat before the climactic lyrics pleading just that. Mammon was next, too unnerved by the dancers on all fours, lapping milk from a saucer. Satan was quick to explain that esteemed choreographer Gillian Lynne’s original moves aimed to be evocative of cats, unlike the movie monstrosity’s literal interpretation of feline behavior. Mammon didn’t stick around to hear the last of the critique. 

Asmo hung around for a while, genuinely entertained by the uncomfortably horny touches and svelte frames of the dancers. Though, whenever he commented on Macavity’s physique, Satan would launch into a rant regarding Macavity’s enlarged role and how it only served to allow the mediocre A-Listers on the bill to show up to set for three days, and then bail for the rest of production. It got old after a while.

It surprised you that Levi lasted the longest, more intrigued by the lore hidden in the Cats original production than the film adaptation. He found it particularly fascinating that a plot had been shoe-horned into a show that was simply meant to showcase all different sorts of cats. He likened it to a slice-of-life anime introducing a shonen-esque training arc, when there was never a goal from the beginning. 

Satan had nothing to say to that. You thought he was simply trying to keep his wrath in check, by that point. 

It was well past midnight by the time your room had emptied out in its entirety, and the sheer oddity of the Old Deutoronomy number that closed out the movie had left you exhausted. As you drifted off to dreams that you were certain would seem less feverish than the film you had just seen, you couldn’t help but wonder: Why was Satan so invested in Cats? You managed to make note of your query in your D.D.D., as you figured it would come up again later.

Later just so happened to fall on October 20th–Satan’s birthday. 

It would be an average morning to Satan, you were positive. As he typically followed a relaxed Sunday schedule of wake up, read in bed, shower, eat, read in the library, eat, read in bed, and then sleep, you knew that your plan would be flawlessly executed as long as it remained completely out of his orbit of interaction. 

You sent out the messages the moment your alarm went off, bright (well, as bright as it could get in the Devildom) and early. Everyone swung by Asmo’s room at their assigned times, Raphael on hand with his sewing kit. As Simeon, Luke, and Barbatos prepared a lunch large enough to feed three Beelzebubs, Levi ran over the game plan with those who had been absent from the very important movie night. 

When the messages–all faked and sent from the same room–entered the aether, you were positive that Satan would regard them as any regular chat. 

11:31am - Lucifer in House of Lamentation (New) I expect everyone to be in the dining room for noon, sharp. 

11:32am - Asmodeus in House of Lamentation (New) Okey dokey, Lucifer♡

11:32am - Mammon in House of Lamentation (New) How much is my presence worth to ya?

11:33am - Leviathan in House of Lamentation (New) 💀

11:33am - Lucifer in House of Lamentation (New) We’ve been over this. Raphael is coming by to tailor your Halloween costumes. Don’t be late.

11:34am - Satan in House of Lamentation (New) When did we decide on costumes? I have not been informed of the theme.

11:45am - Satan in House of Lamentation (New) Lucifer?

His footsteps sounded down the hall moments after the residents of the House of Lamentation and their guests had taken their positions around the dining room table. You beamed, glancing around at your assembled soldiers. There had been no hiccups. You had prepared the perfect surprise.

Or should you say, the purrfect surprise? For when Satan entered the room, Thirteen set off her traps, showering him in confetti and blinding him with flashing lights, the gathered demons, angels, and humans shouting, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SATAN!” 

According to the plan, Satan blinked, disoriented from the assault of the reaper’s ingenious tech, and took a moment to rub his eyes, chuckling, “Oh, thank you, but…”

And bam! His vision clear, his jaw dropped as he finally managed to register the scene before him. 

It was a normal Sunday afternoon, and a normal birthday lunch. A massive banner stretched above the hearth, marking the day of his creation, and Beel was already reaching for the cake in the midst of the plates laid out upon the tablecloth. All of Satan’s housemates grazed upon the spread, laughing, smiling, bickering and shouting. 

Only they were dressed as cats. And not any cats, but full-blown replicas of costumes from Broadway’s production of Cats. 

Ears and whiskers blended into faux fur and expert makeup, thick tails dragging on the ground and sticking out from the backs of chairs. Belphie was using his black and white mottled tail as a pillow, Beel using the fake claws to skewer Luke’s macarons a few plates over. Even Diavolo sported a thick crimson mane, Barbatos brushing it with a tool you knew Satan recognized from his own stash of grooming supplies. 

Thirteen, wedged between yourself and Mephistopheles, was making a show of handling her fork and knife, regardless of the costume nails that clinked against the utensils with every minute movement. Simeon and Solomon, meanwhile, were attempting to teach Luke how to purr.

Part of you wished you could be in Satan’s shoes, could see the madness from his perspective. He had a better view of Levi snapping at Mammon when the latter tripped over his tail. 

“What is this?!” Satan gawked, watching as Lucifer took a slow sip from his coffee, a concerned gleam to his dark eyes that had your insides twitching with the effort of restraining your laughter.

Lucifer responded as if it was the most obvious answer in the universe, his whiskers bouncing with the words. “We’ve gathered today to witness Old Diavonomy’s choice for the Jellicle Ball.”

Diavolo laughed that deep, joyful laugh, stepping away from Barbatos’s careful care (and if they had control over the fake ears, you were certain Barbatos’s would be plastered to his skull) to gesture towards the table with swinging arms. “Welcome, dear Satanshanks the Railway cat. You will sing for me, won’t you?”

“You’re joking,” Satan balked, and you could spot the gears turning in his head all the way from your seat. He clenched his hands into a fist, unfurled them. Opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. 

Asmo was leaning over the table, whispering to Raphael, “I bet he’s going to choose the Magical Mr. Mephistofelees. I mean, look how handsome he is! ♡” 

Mephistopheles hissed in return and you held back a snort. You had to give him points for staying in character. Thirteen swiped at his ear–the cat one, not the real one–with her lip curled in irritation. You had a feeling he had accidentally spat in her food. 

“No,” Raphael shook his head, ashy tabby fur glued to his cheeks stiff and unnatural. “It’s going to be Mammovity or Belphefur Jones.”

You glanced at Belphie, whiskers fully immersed in a bowl of pudding, tail still tucked beneath his head. You supposed that was better than Mammon, who you could tell was actively researching how much he could get for auctioning off these costumes. 

“LOL you’re kidding, right?” Levi piped up, cyan claws clicking as he gestured to Beel, now on his sixth serving of food. “Grizabeela is the right choice.”

And Satan stood there, the confusion clearing in his eyes, that slightly delayed comprehension melting the tension in his shoulders to resigned acceptance. He sighed, threw his hands up in surrender. “Aright. Cut the theatrics. Who found it?”

“Found what?” You asked, coyly batting your eyelashes as you rested your chin on the padded knuckles of your cat costume.

“The tape.” Despite the conflicted emotions in Satan’s sea green eyes, he surveyed the paw-print cookies and noodle bowls with wonton cat ears with unrestrained curiosity. You waved him over, beckoning to him like a kitten hiding in an alley. The suspicion returned to his gaze.

“Leviathan.” Luke wasted no time throwing Levi under the bus. You supposed it wasn’t personal. The young angel never liked lying. 

“HEY! Asmo helped!” 

Unlike Levi, hiding under the table in fear of Satan’s wrath, Asmo only grabbed his own tail, waved it towards Satan with a playful wink. Satan grimaced. 

“Satan,” Solomon smirked, silver spotted ears matching his hair perfectly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a Broadway star? I would have loved to have seen your debut.” 

Satan groaned, burying his face in his hands to hide the faint blush beginning to curl over the shell of his ears. 

“Satan,” Simeon’s smile was leagues from kind, though you weren’t entirely sure if it was his intended expression, or the way the makeup morphed his features into something far more angular, far more intimidating. “I didn’t realize you could dance so well. Would a cat costume have helped the Lord of Masks with his choreography in the TSL musical?”

“Aw, don’t tease him!” Thirteen crowed, the glint in her eyes anything but protective, “His fur will get all matted.”

Bristling, Satan finally approached the table, accepting the proffered mug of coffee from Solomon with a clipped, “Thank you.” It made your chest swell with affection, how he feigned such annoyance when really, he wanted nothing more than to join the feline fiesta. You knew Satan would never lose control when cats were involved. 

“Here!” Mammon passed a carton Satan’s way, “We got ya some premium milk for your birthday.”

“A lot of cats are actually lactose intolerant!” Luke protested, turning to Raphael for back up. The other angel simply stared at him, entirely indifferent. 

“That’s quite alright,” Barbatos soothed, and a glass of creamy white liquid was placed before the guest of honor. “I brought some cursed cashew milk for our feline friend.” 

“Very thoughtful, Barboria,” Lucifer approved, already uncorking a bottle of vintage demonus regardless of the day’s hour. 

“I need all of you to fuck off, right now.” But contrary to his words, Satan was laughing, and the more he laughed, the more his shoulders shook with mirth, tossing the tension from his frame in a matter of seconds. When he looked at you, you beamed with all your teeth–including the prosthetics Asmo had applied to sharpen your canines. 

“Alright, alright,” Diavolo chuckled, “Satanshanks is the birthday boy, after all. His word is law.”

He paused, drawing everyone’s attention to the Demon Prince at the head of the table. He stood, puffed out his chest and flexed his artificial cat claws. When he spoke, he did so with a bravado that demanded respect. “And if there’s anything important that we’ve learned today, it is not that Satan performed in the original Broadway production of cats, but that…”

Before Satan could catch on, the table burst into song, howling the climax of the final act in Cats in all sorts of different keys. 

“A cat is not… A dog!”  

And though Satan scowled, poured himself anothing mug of steaming hell coffee and threw it back like a shot of tequila, you knew this birthday would become another beloved memory. A memory, far from alone in the moonlight, and instead surrounded by all those he loved.

“Hey Asmo,” Satan spoke after a long swig of cursed cashew milk, “Can you do my makeup, too?”

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

OBEY ME! MONTH MASTERLIST

[multicolour-ink]

Mario x Anastasia AU

(no references to the real life Anastasia! Just the movie)

- Mario and Luigi are princes of a kingdom. When they are young, they are each gifted small music boxes - a sun and a moon respectively.

- One day, Bowser attacks their kingdom to conquer, and take its power for himself.

- King Pio stays behind to fend his forces off, and is killed in the attack. Meanwhile, Mia manages to get the twins as far away as possible, before she too is killed by Bowser's forces.

- The twin princes rush to a train that will take them to safety. Mario pushes Luigi on first, but is unable to hold onto Luigi's hand, and he falls, hitting his head and falling unconscious. Luigi screams as the train carries him away from his brother.

- Years later, Mario (now 18 and going by the name "Maurice") grows up in an orphanage, with only one thing that is his own - a small box in the shape of a sun, that plays the most beautiful music. He doesn't remember who he is, other than this box is very important to him, and he feels like he has been missing something...

- Determined to find out who he is, "Maurice" sets off on a journey, with only the music box and an anonymous message inscribed on the back of it: "Nothing can hurt us,"

- On his journey, "Maurice" comes across two con artists, Toad and DK, who are looking to pass off an unsuspecting young man as the Prince, and claim the award from Prince Luigi.

- Along the way though, "Maurice" ends up growing closer to Toad and DK, and both con artists start to being to rethink their scheme...

- Meanwhile, Prince Luigi has grown up in the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom (where the train took him) and has been living with his uncles who had already took up residence there long before. His friend, Princess Peach and the ruler of said kingdom, offers support, but he is far from consolable...

- Every year, on the anniversary of his brother's disappearance, Luigi looks up at the stars, and holds his moon shaped music box, praying that he will be united with his brother again one day.

* * *

*points below discuss the AU's ending. Some spoilers for the Anastasia movie*

- By the time the odd trio reach the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad, having by now had a change of heart, truly believes "Maurice" is actually the missing Prince Mario, and encourages him to see Prince Luigi.

- However, upon seeing "Maurice", Luigi flies into a rage. Having been tricked numerous times in the past by imposters claiming to be his brother, the Prince is at his breaking point. He comments that it is especially cruel that this imposter looks so much like his brother, and dismisses them.

- Shaken up by the disastrous reunion, "Maurice" realises that Toad and DK were just using him to con Prince Luigi and get the reward money. Furious, "Maurice" proclaims he never wants to see them ever again, and runs off in tears. More lonely and broken than ever...

- Toad seeks out Prince Luigi and "kidnaps" him in his kart, begging the Prince to listen and meet with "Maurice". Toad reveals he worked under their parents as a very young toad, and witnessed the two of them escaping with their mother. More hopeful, but still unsure, Luigi agrees to meet with "Maurice" in the fire flower field.

- Meanwhile, DK also corners "Maurice" and attempts to apologise for the way that they used him. DK reveals that he too is actually a Prince. After Bowser lost track of the missing Prince Mario, he sought to attack other kingdoms, in order to gain and build up an army once again. Even in his weakened state, Bowser still managed to do a lot of damage. This left the other kingdoms, including the Kong Kingdom, in a financial crisis. DK shamefully had to turn to being a con artist, as this proved to be the easiest way to make money to support his struggling kingdom.

- Hearing all of this, "Maurice" feels the need to forgive them.

- Toad unites with the pair and tells "Maurice" that Luigi is willing to talk to him. Shaking with fear and excitement, "Maurice" agrees to meet the Prince.

- The two beings, the Lonely Prince and the Lost Soul, meet in the fire flower field. "Maurice" reveals his music box, with the inscription on the back.

"Where did you get that?", asks Prince Luigi shakily.

"I've had it since as long as I can remember...", says "Maurice". "Please. Just tell me. Who am I?"

Luigi, with shaking hands, reveals his music box and an inscription on the back

"as long as we're together."

- And then in that moment, both men are overcome with emotion. They pull each other tight, hugging and crying, finally reunited after all this time.

- But soon after Bowser returns to claim both Princes, and Mario and Luigi have to team up together again to stop him! All is then at peace, and the brothers and their new friends continue to live peacefully 🙂

[namistrella]

Please pay close attention to the language used to talk about public service workers and civil servants in the coming days.

There is (understandably) a lot of anger and frustration felt by people who have been left behind, ignored, and swept aside by bureaucratic processes limiting access to benefits and aid. SSA has notoriously denied most first disability benefits applications, FEMA has left people without housing after disasters for far too long, there's red tape everywhere and it's harmful first and foremost to people without the time and resources (money, health) to navigate the systems. This is all true.

BUT. (And this is the important part of this post.) The new administration is, purposely, leveraging those feelings to get public support for gutting those systems and programs from the inside out. The truth is that we need these programs, and we need the everyday people who work to deliver them. We can't afford to vilify them.

Pay attention to the language in the new executive orders, such as:

"Return to Work" (as if everyday public servants have not been breaking their backs trying to get passports processed, job offers sent, and critical grants awarded, whether or not they do some of that work from home or in a too-small, poorly maintained office)

"Improving Accountability" (as if agency heads are all corrupt or something, rather than just being people who the new administration is afraid will choose to be accountable to their conscience rather than accountable to King Trump)

Yeah, yeah, every office will have some bad managers, some underperforming employees, and bad agency leadership once in a while. This is NORMAL. Literally look at ANY office, private sector or public sector or academia or whatever. Rank and file government employees are not inherently evil, or lazy, or entitled, any more than the rest of the workforce.

And in fact, government employee pay has fallen far behind inflation while the benefits have been slowly stripped away over the last decade or two (pensions cost more and pay less; healthcare options are expensive and don't cover as much as some other private plans; annual raises are a joke and barely even cover the rise in insurance premiums let alone housing).

By and large, the people working in those day to day public service positions care about the mission of their agency, and helping people, because you kind of have to at some level in order to sacrifice higher pay for literally the same work. The ONE concrete advantage of a government job over industry is the stability... But the Trump administration is fighting tooth and nail to get rid of that so they can fire large swathes of the workforce and shut down public service programs.

If they can't fire everyone, they'll start by getting as many as they possibly can to quit.

Stoking public anger at civil servants is one of the tactics they are using to put the pressure on and get people to leave. Many federal workers are already scared to talk about where they work because of fear of harassment. Republican leaders encourage this shit. Why would anyone want to stay in a job they're underpaid, underappreciated, and now being publicly vilified for? A few might, for the mission; others will decide their safety is more important, or that they can't sacrifice any more.

You might think, why do we care if a few gov employees quit when there's so many of them? Well, most government programs are ALREADY severely understaffed. We're ALREADY going to have an even harder time accessing services and programs when people inevitably quit and program funding gets shut down.

We need these workers to stay. We need them to be there busting their asses over the next months to get important things processed before the option is taken away. We need them to stand up to Trump's political cronies and hold the line and drag their feet when told to implement harmful policies. We need them to buy us time to vote in 2026 and save some of the programs that serve our most vulnerable populations. No, the programs aren't perfect, but that doesn't justify sitting back and letting Trump completely gut them!

Take some time to thank a public servant in the next weeks. We need them more than most of us realize, and we can't afford to let Trump's propaganda make us blame the people standing between his policies, and us.

[p5x-theories]

Mio’s Confidant

(last updated 4/19/25!)

This post documents the fully filled-in information on Mio Natsukawa gained through progressing her Confidant! It contains things that could be considered spoilers for her Confidant, as part of the information is a summary of its story.

Mio is available in the evening most days, when it isn’t rainy. Her Confidant is tied to the Guts social stat, and level 17 Guts is required to fully complete it.

Her Confidant also requires changing a heart in Mementos.

Favorite Presents

(An asterisk (*) marks the special presents added with (and unlocked through) Miyu Sahara’s Confidant, which are liked by all Confidants currently in the game.)

Sports Protective Gear Wearable protective gear used during sports. The black and pink color scheme has won the Fashion Design Award at the Sports Equipment Awards.

Mini Table Cactus This small potted cactus is a good table decoration.

Super Noisy Alarm Clock An alarm clock that is very difficult to turn off, dedicated to waking up those who tend to stay in bed.

Limited-Edition Hamburger Plush This stuffed animal is designed after the appearance of a popular hamburger. Due to its limited sale, it’s hard to get.

Limited-Edition Keychain* This keychain has a unique shape, and is well-made, but there weren’t many of it produced. It has a certain collector’s value.

Bulk Snacks Value Pack* A combo pack containing a variety of traditional snacks that will remind people of the taste of childhood.

Advanced Essential Oil Combination* A value-for-money set of essential oils, with multiple functions to help you relax your mind and body.

Chestnut Cake* Fragrant chestnut cake with mild sweetness to suit most people’s tastes.

Musical Snow Globe* A snow globe that plays music, and can be shaken gently to make snow fall inside.

Desktop Incense Machine* A household incense machine that is small in size, so it can be placed anywhere.

Handicraft Home Furnishings Plant-themed indoor decorations, suitable for people who like crafts.

High-End Sports Watch A sports watch with heart rate monitoring and timing functions, which can help wearers better manage their time and health.

Everyday Burn Treatment Set Contains a combination pack of common everyday burn care necessities, such as burn patches, burn medicines, and scar creams.

Full Protection Insulation Clip This safety clip is insulated and thickened all over, allowing it to effectively deal with short circuits and leakage.

Fire Truck Model This fire truck model is very finely crafted, and the ladder and fire hose on it can both be unfolded.

Large Jellyfish Plush A large jellyfish plush made of special materials and stuffing, making it very comfortable to hold in your arms.

Personal Information

Pre-Version 4.0:

Birthday: November 9th Zodiac Sign: Scorpio Age: 24 years old Height: 166 cm Weight: Within the average range Interests: Online shopping, collecting firefighting tools Features: Good sense of smell and strong intuition

Version 4.0:

Birthday: November 9 Blood Type: A Age: 24 years old Profession: Firefighter Height: 166cm Weight: I have more muscle, so I bet I weigh more than you Favorite Food: Prunes, wafers Interests: Watching documentaries from overseas Features: I can run pretty fast

Story

Character Details A female firefighter working at the Zoshigaya Fire Department. Although she looks a bit cold on the outside, she reveals strong emotions when faced with a fire.

Personal Data 1 On the way home, I helped prevent a "fire" with a woman who was passing by... Though it ended up being a false alarm, the woman, named Natsukawa, was indeed extremely sensitive to and obsessed with fire. After pretending to be her cousin to help her deal with inquiries from her fellow firefighter, I got to know this strange woman...

Personal Data 2 I met with Natsukawa again, who was still patrolling Zoshigaya even after getting off work. Natsukawa apologized again about the false alarm last time... Because there seem to have been a number of fires with an unknown cause in Zoshigaya recently, Natsukawa agreed to work with me to find the arsonist. Since I was willing to continue pretending to be her relative, Natsukawa told me that she lost her mother and younger brother to a fire when she was a child, and this is why she's extremely sensitive to the smell of smoke, and loses sight of herself whenever faced with a fire.

Personal Data 3 Natsukawa and I continued to investigate the fires in Zoshigaya. This was the seventh fire now. While investigating, we ran into Natsukawa's senior at the fire department. Because Natsukawa acted on her own, he warned her once again not to act recklessly like she usually does, with no regard for her own safety, if she encounters a fire. Afterward, Natsukawa and I agreed that if I want to patrol, I have to do it with her, and never go alone.

Personal Data 4 While on patrol, Natsukawa and I promptly extinguished a suspicious pile of burning magazines. Natsukawa once again was reminded of the fire in which her mother and brother died. The firefighters at that time gave priority to rescuing the young Natsukawa before the fire spread further- the trauma from this incident still affects her mental state, and she can't let it go.

Personal Data 5 Natsukawa suspected that a pedestrian we passed by while on patrol was the arsonist, but was distracted from the matter because she smelled smoke from a fire. In order to recall the appearance of the arsonist, she ordered all kinds of weird things from online shopping websites, and tried them with me... Finally, we found a clue in Natsukawa's firefighting activity log.

Personal Data 6 After several attempts, Natsukawa finally identified the name and address of the arsonist setting the fires in Zoshigaya. After a period of surveillance, we followed the culprit and stopped him just in time, before he could set another fire. We also took photographic evidence of his arson with our phones. We didn't expect that his motive was simply to relieve stress... In the end, we handed the arsonist over to the police. Natsukawa expressed her gratitude to me.

Personal Data 7 Since we caught the arsonist, Natsukawa and I have just been taking walks in Zoshigaya. We arrived at the house that caused that false alarm that first time- this time there was a real fire. Natsukawa became strange again, and rushed into the burning building alone... After the fire, Natsukawa got inexplicably angry when her senior firefighters praised her... After we parted, Ruferu pointed out that she's been acting oddly.

Personal Data 8 Natsukawa was finally willing to open up about why she rushes into fires. It turns out that deep in her heart, she'd never forgiven herself, and it was as if another her kept whispering in her ear... Because of her survivor's guilt, she kept running into the most dangerous fires, hoping that she could die while saving people... After, she hugged me and cried bitterly...

Personal Data 9 After dealing with her Shadow in Mementos, Natsukawa finally forgave herself. She admitted that she had been projecting her brother onto me, but really might have just been hoping that I'd forgive her on her brother's behalf... After we talked more, Natsukawa said that she'd move forward while holding her important memories of her mother and her brother in her heart, and also that she wanted to visit her father, who resigned from his own job as a firefighter after that fire.

Personal Data 10 When Natsukawa talked with her father, they found out they had both actually been burdened with guilt toward each other, and harbored great pain, since that day... After this conversation between father and daughter, they were finally able to support each other and move on as a normal family. Natsukawa plans to continue working as a firefighter in the future, but she won't rush in recklessly anymore. She wants to protect the area where I live in her own way.

Voice Lines

Japanese VA: Shion Wakayama | Chinese VA: Xue Liu

(As I can only add up to ten audio files per post, I’ll only include the Japanese lines below! Feel free to ask for the Chinese ones, though.)

Mio Natsukawa. I'm a firefighter working at the Zoshigaya Fire Department.

I... When it comes to myself, I have a lot of questions. But you were willing to cover for me, and I seriously appreciate that.

I just... don't want anyone else to be lost to a fire. That's why... I can't rest until I've done everything I can to help.

You're a strange kid, you know. You seem cool-headed, but it turns out you're nosy, too... Otherwise, why would you bother with someone like me?

They're all great firefighters, and my seniors. I might get scolded by them now, but they don't give up on problematic team members like me.

Again and again, I've dreamed about that fire. In my dreams, my mom and Kakeru are engulfed in flames, and ask me to come with them... But don't worry, I won't have that dream anymore. After all, you helped bring me out of the fire.

To be honest, from the start, I think I've seen the image of my little brother... of Kakeru in you. That's why someone with no people skills, like me, can get along with you. But, now... you've helped me so much, the situation has reversed, hasn't it? I can't call you my little brother anymore.

Confidant-Specific Bonuses

Rank 1 Firewire Mall: Unlocks the "Online Shopping" function; unlocks purchase of items in Shibuya through Online Shopping.

Rank 5 Safe Supply: Unlocks purchase of items in Zoshigaya through Online Shopping.

Rank 7 Supply Network: Unlocks purchase of items in Yongen-Jaya through Online Shopping.

Rank 11 Pipeline Expansion: Unlocks purchase of items in Kichijoji through Online Shopping.

Rank 13 Logistics Support: Unlocks purchase of items in Shinjuku through Online Shopping.

Rank 17 Warehousing Base: Unlocks purchase of items in Akihabara through Online Shopping.

[monasteryicons]

Father Emil Kapaun: The Saint in the Foxhole

Born of Czech immigrants in the small farming town of Pilsen, Kansas, in 1916, Emil Joseph Kapaun was ordained a priest in 1940 and served as an Army chaplain in Burma in World War II. During the Korean War, Captain Emil Kapaun was the Catholic chaplain assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Cavalry. On All Souls Day, November 2, 1950, this battalion of 3,000 soldiers was unexpectedly attacked by a force of more than 20,000 Chinese troops. The Americans, taken by surprise and fighting valiantly, never had a chance.

Father Kapaun ran from foxhole to foxhole, dragging out the wounded and giving last rites to the dying. Over the sound of gunfire and explosions he heard confessions. Feverishly working beyond the American lines in no-man’s-land, he actually stopped an execution and negotiated with the enemy for the safety of wounded Americans. No one knows how many young soldiers he carried to safety on his back. Going back again and again, he was finally taken prisoner as he tried to rescue another wounded soldier.

By daybreak the battle was over and hundreds of newly captured American POWs, including Father Kapaun, began a brutal forced 87-mile death march to a POW camp. Those wounded and unable to continue were shot dead. Father Kapaun picked up a wounded POW and began carrying him on his back, imploring others who were still in fair condition to do the same. Some followed his example and many managed to make it alive to the prison camp. Against the orders of his Chinese guards, Father Kapaun cared for the sick and wounded, built fires for warmth and cooking, searched for scraps of food, and even set up a makeshift system to purify drinking water.

To the great anger of his guards, Father Kapaun managed to gather the men together, officers and enlisted men, black men and white men, even atheists, agnostics and others, to join together in saying the Rosary.

Father Kapaun became an inspiration to the other POWs. The priest would preach openly to the men even though his captors ordered him not to do so. He would pray one-on-one with POWs, and some even embraced the faith and were baptized. Praying was banned, and when Father Kapaun ignored it and prayed with his men, his captors would strip him naked and make him stand on a block of ice for hours on end.

On Easter Sunday 1951, the bedraggled starving prisoners saw a silhouetted figure standing alone, illuminated by the morning sun. As the men approached, they realized it was Father Kapaun, wearing his priest’s stole and holding a missal. Somehow he had received permission to hold an Easter service. He could not celebrate Mass, but he read some Psalms and everyone recited out loud the prayers from Good Friday, including the Stations of the Cross. Survivors say that some men openly wept.

Worn down from the horrendous conditions and suffering from his own wounds and poor treatment, Father Kapaun died on May 23, 1951. He was credited with saving hundreds of lives through the loving care, compassion and spirituality he demonstrated to all his men.

In 1993, Captain Chaplain Emil Joseph Kapaun was declared a Servant of God by Pope John Paul II. The canonization process of this selfless priest is underway and there are two miracles under investigation at the present time. In 2013, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama, becoming one of only five chaplains to receive our nation’s highest award.

[btr-rewatch]

Big Time Rush Season 1, Episode 12: “Big Time Terror”

I've been looking forward to this one since I decided to start doing this rewatch. SHOT IN THE DARK!! Let's gooooo!!!! *tosses confetti into the air*

Highlights: Ghost hunting, ginormous bowls of oatmeal, and the best song ever written in the history of ever.

It's a beautiful night at the Palm Woods, and BTR and many of the Palm Woods residents are gathered around the fire, hanging out and having a grand ol' time. The guys are singing "Stuck," which is a song I'd probably rank among my favorites.

Their fun time is interrupted suddenly by a strange sound. As everyone turns to look, they see that a small table is moving along the patio all by itself. The boys look on in confusion and fear, with Carlos and Logan immediately gravitating toward Kendall for protection, which certainly gives me feelings. I love them. I love that the reaction is instinctual and says so much about who Kendall is and how the other guys see him. The Protector. The one who will shield them from harm. Kendall is a source of safety.

After returning to their apartment, Logan, ever the logical one, explains to Carlos that it wasn't a ghost but the air conditioner causing a backdraft that shut the doors. He doesn't have an explanation for the moving table, though. Carlos insists it was a ghost.

There's a knock on the door, which startles everyone but Kendall, and he explains to his scaredy-cat friends, "there is nothing terrifying behind this door." And who's behind the door? Gustavo! He tells the guys that his mansion is flooded, and he has to stay with them tonight.

They're not particularly thrilled about a sleepover with Gustavo, but Mama Knight tells the guys that they should let him stay the night because "Doing nice things for people who aren't so nice is nice."

We go to the lobby oh-so-briefly then to see Bitters and the Palm Woods residents all running frantically from something. We don't see a ghost, but there is mysterious wind and spooky green lights.

Up in 2J, everyone is seated around the table for dinner. It's Fish Stick Friday (with tots)! After some initial skepticism, Gustavo discovers the fish sticks aren't so bad, and he asks what else the guys do on Fridays, which leads into a montage of their evening. Gustavo has a blast. The guys...do not.

But the award for Not Having a Good Time goes to Logan, who gets SAT ON by Gustavo for HALF AN HOUR.

Cannot even begin to put together a theory on how this managed to happen.

The boys are all relieved when it's finally time for bed, but they quickly realize they aren't going to get much sleep with Gustavo's snoring practically shaking the whole apartment. Carlos has an idea for how to fix the problem, though.

Carlos's expression kills me. Look at him. Jaw set and that look of firm determination in his eyes. Carlos has a roll of duct tape, and he isn't afraid to use it. He will silence the big, snoring man. I don't know if we've ever seen him look so serious and angry before??

Also, I just have to point out that First Episode Kendall absolutely would've been on board with this plan. He probably would've grabbed the tape and done it himself. Maybe even gone a little further and taped Gustavo to the couch just for extra fun.

They trudge down to the lobby to sleep there but are scared off by the Palm Woods Ghost, who shuts off the lights, breaks a vase, stacks the furniture, and slams the doors. They run back to the apartment and are greeted by the image of Gustavo scratching his butt.

THE BOYS ARE HAVING THE WORST NIGHT EVER

The following morning, everyone wastes no time in handing Gustavo his stuff and all but kicking him out the door. They're all like:

But Gustavo isn't so eager to leave. Instead, he decides to join Kendall and James for a fun afternoon by the pool.

Listen. I love Gustavo, ok? Especially in these scenes, where he's just a loveable teddy bear of a guy wanting to hang out with his buddies. He is having SO MUCH FUN with them and is SO OBLIVIOUS that they're not having fun. No awareness at all.

Meanwhile, Logan and Carlos are having their own little adventure conducting paranormal research in the lobby. Carlos is convinced they're going to catch evidence of a ghost. Logan is convinced Carlos is just an idiot.

So far in the series, any time Logan and Carlos are paired together, all they do is bicker. But it makes sense, given that Logan is the smartest of the group and Carlos is...probably last in that particular ranking. Which is NOT to say that Carlos isn't intelligent in his own way, because he certainly is, but he doesn't have the same type of intelligence as Logan. Carlos is just innocent. Child-like. And we love him for it, but it sure does put him in a good position to clash with Logan over everything, doesn't it?

After setting up the camera and taking some time to smack each other around, Carlos, Logan, (and Bitters) catch sight of a ghostly green figure going through the lobby. They all take off running.

We skip ahead to the next day, where Gustavo's reign of terror over apartment 2J continues. He's not even trying to return to his mansion. In fact, he moves a lot of his things, including his bed, into 2J.

Also, everyone is eating the most ridiculously big bowls of oatmeal I've ever seen.

Look at James's bowl. That's like oatmeal for three or four people. And I know, I know, they needed to have a big bowl in order for Gustavo to be able to push James's face into it but come on. That's the most oatmeal I've ever seen in a single bowl.

After hearing that Gustavo will likely be staying several more days, Kendall pulls James out into the hallway to tell him that they need to handle this like men. Immediate cut to them begging and pleading to Kelly for help.

Kelly is confused because she had told Gustavo the previous night that he could return to his mansion. She reveals to the guys that Gustavo didn't really have a chance to live a typical childhood and play with other kids. Which is, um, really sad and something that should've been explored more!! She tells Kendall and James to figure everything out and flees the Palm Woods. Kelly wants no part in dealing with this lol.

The "Get Gustavo out of the Palm Woods" plot takes a backseat then as BTR focuses their energy on defeating the ghost. Armed with vacuum cleaners and goggles, they engage in a Scooby-Doo-style chase around the lobby.

Finally, they catch the ghost and reveal that it's not a real ghost at all. It's the new girl, Stephanie King!

She's making a horror movie and has been using the Palm Woods residents as her cast. She asks them not to tell on her, which Kendall agrees to under one condition.

We cut to 2J, where a peacefully sleeping Gustavo is woken up by Stephanie's ghost "floating" by his bed. Armed with a fan, projector light, fog machine, and a microphone, the guys manage to send Gustavo running from the apartment in terror.

The following scene is. The scene is—it's...

IT'S SHOT IN THE DARK!!! WOOOOO!!!

"Shot in the Dark" is by far my favorite BTR song, and I loved it so so much when I first heard it in this episode. You can imagine my yearning all these years to get an official version of it. Apparently, a full-ish demo version was released on youtube like...10 years ago?? I had no clue there was ANY full version until the guys released it in November. So, all this time, the only version of it I've known has been the one from this episode. Just about fainted when I checked Spotify and saw "Shot in the Dark" on there.

And I do have ✨thoughts✨about the song, but I might put them into a separate post. It's such a good song.

We end the episode at the pool, where everyone is once again sent running in fear from another moving table. This time, it's the work of Katie, who has discovered Fun With Fishing Line. The end.

Fantastic episode. This one would rank pretty high on my list of favorites. Both plots are great, and I like the way they merge at the end to wrap everything up. +46287593 bonus points for having "Shot in the Dark" in it. However, I do think there was a missed opportunity to include a heart-to-heart type scene between the boys and Gustavo. The guy had a lonely, isolated childhood and just wants a sense of connection with his dogs! He wants friends and to run around with reckless abandon playing "tag and seek" and an altered version of Marco Polo using dodgeballs! I wish the boys could have taken more time to acknowledge the whole situation and reached out in some way to Gustavo instead of scaring him away with a ghost. That would have been some nice relationship development.

[scotianostra]

Tragedy struck on May 4th 1949 when a fire at Grafton’s fashion store in Glasgow claimed the lives of fthirteen young women.

Two women jumped from the four-story building in the city's commercial district. Others were found huddled inside. The dead ranged in age from 15 to 23.

Other workers were rescued by firemen with ladders while a police officer "groped through the smoke to save five," according to an Associated Press dispatch. Two dozen people were injured, including patrons in a neighboring cinema. The fire was brought under control in two hours.

Flames were first discovered in an elevator shaft, according to a United Press dispatch in the Pittsburgh Press, another American newspaper. [May 5, 1949]

The blaze occurred on a Wednesday, at that time the busiest shopping day of the week in Glasgow. Recalling the blaze in 2010, Scotland's Evening Times said:

When fire crews arrived, there was so much smoke, they did not know which side of the street the fire was on.

When the fire broke out, crowds of cinema-goers from the next door Argyle picture house were evacuated, adding to the crowds and confusion in the street.

Hard lessons were learned from the blaze and as a result fire regulations were tightened up in shops and department stores across the city.

In August 1949, two employees received the George Medal for heroism a newspaper at the time reported that;

George Kamill Platt, a clerk, and Solomon Winetrobe, former para- trooper and now a manager, have each been awarded the George Medal for heroism in saving the lives of women in a Glasgow fashion store fire in May in which 13 died.

Winetrobe worked his way along a 5in.-wide ledge 55ft. above the street and persuaded five women trapped on the top floor to step on the ledge.

He supported them until they reached Platt, who helped them to ' the safety of a nearby cinema. A report to Parliament. said; The jury unanimously found that the fire broke out from an undiscovered cause in a small compartment underneath a wooden staircase and adjacent to the lift shaft; that it spread throughout the building within a few minutes; that owing to the inflammable nature of the stock and the extreme youth of many of the employees specific precautions, such as fire extinguishers and an adequate warning system, should have been taken against an outbreak of fire; that the fixture of a padlock on the escape door of the fourth floor delayed exit to the fire escape; and that the fire brigade functioned with efficiency.

[mariacallous]

A group of current and former OpenAI employees have issued a public letter warning that the company and its rivals are building artificial intelligence with undue risk, without sufficient oversight, and while muzzling employees who might witness irresponsible activities.

“These risks range from the further entrenchment of existing inequalities, to manipulation and misinformation, to the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction,” reads the letter published at righttowarn.ai. “So long as there is no effective government oversight of these corporations, current and former employees are among the few people who can hold them accountable.”

The letter calls for not just OpenAI but all AI companies to commit to not punishing employees who speak out about their activities. It also calls for companies to establish “verifiable” ways for workers to provide anonymous feedback on their activities. “Ordinary whistleblower protections are insufficient because they focus on illegal activity, whereas many of the risks we are concerned about are not yet regulated,” the letter reads. “Some of us reasonably fear various forms of retaliation, given the history of such cases across the industry.”

OpenAI came under criticism last month after a Vox article revealed that the company has threatened to claw back employees’ equity if they do not sign non-disparagement agreements that forbid them from criticizing the company or even mentioning the existence of such an agreement. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, said on X recently that he was unaware of such arrangements and the company had never clawed back anyone’s equity. Altman also said the clause would be removed, freeing employees to speak out.

OpenAI has also recently changed its approach to managing safety. Last month, an OpenAI research group responsible for assessing and countering the long-term risks posed by the company’s more powerful AI models was effectively dissolved after several prominent figures left and the remaining members of the team were absorbed into other groups. A few weeks later, the company announced that it had created a Safety and Security Committee, led by Altman and other board members.

Last November, Altman was fired by OpenAI’s board for allegedly failing to disclose information and deliberately misleading them. After a very public tussle, Altman returned to the company and most of the board was ousted.

“We’re proud of our track record providing the most capable and safest AI systems and believe in our scientific approach to addressing risk,” said OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois in a statement. “We agree that rigorous debate is crucial given the significance of this technology and we'll continue to engage with governments, civil society and other communities around the world.”

The letters’ signatories include people who worked on safety and governance at OpenAI, current employees who signed anonymously, and researchers who currently work at rival AI companies. It was also endorsed by several big-name AI researchers including Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, who both won the Turing Award for pioneering AI research, and Stuart Russell, a leading expert on AI safety.

Former employees to have signed the letter include William Saunders, Carroll Wainwright, and Daniel Ziegler, all of whom worked on AI safety at OpenAI.

“The public at large is currently underestimating the pace at which this technology is developing,” says Jacob Hilton, a researcher who previously worked on reinforcement learning at OpenAI and who left the company more than a year ago to pursue a new research opportunity. Hilton says that although companies like OpenAI commit to building AI safely, there is little oversight to ensure that is the case. “The protections that we’re asking for, they’re intended to apply to all frontier AI companies, not just OpenAI,” he says.

“I left because I lost confidence that OpenAI would behave responsibly,” says Daniel Kokotajlo, a researcher who previously worked on AI governance at OpenAI. “There are things that happened that I think should have been disclosed to the public,” he adds, declining to provide specifics.

Kokotajlo says the letter’s proposal would provide greater transparency, and he believes there’s a good chance that OpenAI and others will reform their policies given the negative reaction to news of non-disparagement agreements. He also says that AI is advancing with worrying speed. “The stakes are going to get much, much, much higher in the next few years, he says, “at least so I believe.”

[safetycourses2022]

[thewritingofspencerrose]

Freefall Masterlist

Ferrari's Defender

formula1news Charles Leclerc's girlfriend, having just recently escaped scandal after it was leaked that her relationship with said Ferrari driver was initially a PR set up, is under fire once more, the woman currently being heard yelling at the FIA stewards over their awarding of a 10 place penalty to Carlos Sainz. Thoughts?

"Ms.Earnhardt, this is incredibly inappropriate behavior. You are a guest at this event and we could very well-"

"Very well what? Throw me out? How is that going to look F1 if you throw the clearly distressed, sobbing girlfriend of il Predestinato out of the race? With many fans here due to my presence as the Princess of Nascar?" I glare, the steward flinching at my tone.

"This race has had nothing but bad PR. Your world champion Verstappen has been saying to everyone how he hates it here. The only positive media attention has been Hamilton's energy and the crossover event of my brother's, father, and I being here, representing Nascar."

And you can tell by their faces that they are aware that I am right. If they kick my family and I out now, they'll only face more backlash than they already are.

"What was your reason for being here?" Another steward asks, her voice gentler than the other, but whether that's for my benefit or hers I don't know.

"Carlos Sainz did not deserve that penalty."

"Ms.Earn-"

"No," I interrupt once more, the man from earlier quieting immediately. "Sainz only had to replace his power unit because of the FIA's negligence in ensuring that the track was safe for driving. You're truly lucky that he wasn't injured or worse given the state of the bottom of his car. This coupled with your clear disregard for driver safety-"

"We regard driver's safety very highly Ms.Earnhardt."

"Clearly that is not the case, given that you'd rather penalize him than apologize for the dangerous situation you put him in. You are aware that he was unable to feel his legs for a few moments right?"

They are. You can tell based on their expressions.

"And if you don't fix this, you know the negative publicity surrounding this race will increase ten-fold when the rest of the drivers comment on the injustice as well."

"They know better," The original steward disagrees.

"Do they?" I question, smirking at the oblivious man. "I already have Verstappen, Albon, Norris, Hamilton, and Piastri willing to speak on this. As well as my father, who I don't know if you remember, is Dale Earnhardt Jr., and would bring into question the validity of how penalties are given out in Formula 1," The explanation rolls off my tongue easily, smirk never leaving as their eyes grow wide.

Got 'em.

"What would you like to see happen to prevent you and the others from drawing attention?"

"Remove the penalty from Sainz. This was your fault, take responsibility like a big kid."

And its now that they pause, looking between themselves before the grouchy one nods, crossing his arms.

"We will notify the teams now and have the announcement released in the next hour."

"Good, thank you," I thank, smiling brightly. "I look forward to seeing the rest of the weekend," I assure, turning around and leaving the viewing platform to find both Ferrari boys, my brothers, and my dad outside the door.

"So? Did you hand them their asses?" Will asks, Alex elbowing his twin.

Looking to Carlos, I can see the concern and some of the emotion from earlier still in his eyes, making him look so much older.

"Carlos, they are notifying the teams now," I begin, Charles tugging me into his side. "Your penalty is being removed after further evaluation," I can't help but smile.

"Really?"

And I want to cry at how relieved he looks as I nod.

"Eres una diosa mi amiga, (you are a goddess my friend)" He says, and while I'm not sure what that means, he pulls me into a hug.

"How'd you manage this amore mio (my love)?" Charles asks, pulling me back in as Carlos releases me.

"I told them I would make the negative media attention even worse by speaking out, along with other drivers and my father, making this race even more of a mess than it already is," I explain, my Dad snickering.

"That's my little girl."

formula1news Sainz will move into the race Sunday with no penalty due to convincing by teammates girlfriend

carlossainz55 This is Lynnleigh. She supports not only my teammate, her boyfriend, but the entire team. And today she has gotten more hate for that than I have seen in the last month.

Lynnleigh stood up for the team when we were given an undeserved penalty, and made a case so strong that the FIA decided to reverse the penalty, putting us in a great position to do our best and stay there during Quali Saturday.

You, the tifosi, should be thanking her for making this happen. Not tearing her apart for being defensive about a friend.

Proud to call you a friend, Lynn.

Thank you for putting up with Charles and supporting the team.

Esta es Lynnleigh. Ella apoya no sólo a mi compañera de equipo, a su novio, sino a todo el equipo. Y hoy ha recibido más odio por eso que el que he visto en el último mes.

Lynnleigh defendió al equipo cuando nos impusieron una penalización inmerecida y presentó un caso tan sólido que la FIA decidió revertir la penalización, colocándonos en una excelente posición para dar lo mejor de nosotros y permanecer allí durante la clasificación del sábado.

Ustedes, los tifosi, deberían agradecerle por hacer que esto sucediera. No destrozarla por ponerse a la defensiva con un amigo.

Orgulloso de llamarte amiga, Lynn.

Gracias por aguantar a Charles y apoyar al equipo.

lynleigh03 anything for a friend Car ❤️ happy the stewards came to the right decision

[chocolaterunsmagazine]

Help Dalia and her family survive and reach safety

Hi, I'm Dalia

A human being above all else, a mechatronics engineer who holds a diploma in renewable energy and the owner of many pioneering projects and has won many awards, the most recent of which is the award for my latest invention, a device for charging batteries. My life was wonderful and very clear, as if it were a straight line. I had a small office in which I did my work and studies, and there were many flowers, especially chrysanthemums. I was preparing for a master’s degree in economics and management.

On the seventh of October, we woke up to the worst thing that could happen to a human being. We woke up to the sound of bombs and missiles. We were exposed to all types of internationally prohibited weapons, including white phosphorus, fire belts, and explosive barrels that were falling and destroying entire residential squares. We were escaping death at every moment, not knowing the meaning of sleep.

•

•

Suddenly, a bomb destroyed everything we owned, my beautiful warm white house, my office, my university, and with it all our dreams and ambitions and all the memories we had, as everything became rubble and ashes. They displaced us from our homes. We slept in the streets and roads. I remember how difficult winter was. The rain would pour down on us every night. The worst thing is that we lost my uncle and his beautiful little girls who became angels in heaven. Only one of them survives,she is just 4, has lost her parents and siblings and is in hospital fighting for her life. We need to support her in any way we can, as we continue to fight for our survival. Every day I wake up afraid and crying for what's going to happen next.

•

My family and I live a very bad life now, with polluted water, very little or no food, and sleeping on the ground, while the bombs continue to fall. Please help us get through this nightmare and evacuate to Egypt.

We must pay $5,000 for each adult and $2,500 for each child to get to Egypt. After that, you are in Egypt alone, without any home, shelter, or any means of living. Today I ask you to help me get out of this mire and live a decent life and complete my learning journey and live in peace. I just want to live in peace and sleep in safety. Thank you for reading my story.

https://www.instagram.com/help_daliagaza?igsh=MWdoMjMydjlkbWdtMw==

PLEASE REBLOG, DONATE IF POSSIBLE, SPREAD THE WORD! COMMENT SOME POSITIVE THINGS ON THE INSTAGRAM PROFILE! HELP BOOSTING THE PAGE!

[usafphantom2]

Slovakia officially receives the first two F-16 Block 70 fighters in the US

A single-seat model C and a two-seat model D were delivered to Slovakia.🇸🇰

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/01/2024 - 18:11in Military

At a ceremony today at Lockheed Martin's facilities in Greenville, South Carolina, the first two F-16 Block 70 fighters were officially delivered to Slovakia, a significant milestone in the fighter program.

A delegation of employees from the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Slovakia, led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Mr. Robert Kali? ák, participated in the Delivery Ceremony of the F-16 in the production facility. While there, the head of the Ministry of Defense of Slovakia was also updated on the progress made in the production of the remaining F-16s ordered by the United States.

Before arriving in Slovakia, both aircraft - a single-seat C model and a two-seat D model - will be used in the F-16 maintenance training program for Slovak technicians in the USA. This training is crucial as Slovak Air Force personnel take the necessary measures to ensure the harmonious integration and effective operation of the F-16 fleet.

The Minister of Defense Kali? ák and OJ Sanchez, Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin's Integrated Fighter Group, agreed that the delivery of the aircraft marks the beginning of a new era of supersonic aviation for Slovakia. In addition, Slovakia is the first European country to receive and operate this newer and more capable version of the Fighting Falcon. Thanks to the F-16 Block 70 fighters, the Slovak Air Force will carry out Air Police missions and protect Slovak airspace with its own capabilities.

In your remarks, Robert Kali? ák said: "Without skilled and courageous men and women of the Armed Forces, we would not be able to guarantee the security of the Slovak Republic and its citizens. It is our duty to do everything in our power to ensure the highest level of protection to the personnel of the Armed Forces and thus minimize the potential loss of life. These advanced F-16 fighters are a guarantee of the highest quality standards and, therefore, to provide safety and protection to our military."

The F-16 Block 70 aircraft, with advanced 21st-century security capabilities, will bring the highest standards of airspace security to Slovakia in the coming decades. The first group of aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Slovakia in mid-2024.

Tags: Military AviationF-16 Block 70Lockheed MartinSAF - Slovak Air Force/Slovak Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[william-murderface]

More gifts here!!!

🎁 🏆🥇-Awards for being handsome and perfect!!!

🎁 📢 -a new megaphone for the best fire safety manager!!!

🎁 📿 - A matching bracelet to mine!!

🎁 🗝️ - the key to my hearrttt !

🎁 💍- ◉⁠‿⁠◉

Aren't I the best fan? Your favorite?

Uhhhhhhhhhh eeeyup!! I mean you're uh, certainly the most giving, that's for sure!!

[urbanline1]

Urbanline: Shaping Bangalore's Skyline with Excellence in Construction

In a city known for its rapid urbanization and architectural evolution, Urbanline has emerged as a trailblazer in redefining modern construction. As one of the top construction companies in Bangalore, Urbanline is not just building structures—it's crafting living and working spaces that stand the test of time, sustainability, and style.

Building a Legacy of Excellence

Headquartered in Bangalore, Urbanline has built a stellar reputation for delivering residential, commercial, and infrastructure projects that exemplify quality, innovation, and reliability. As trusted builders and contractors in Bangalore, the company’s portfolio spans luxury apartment complexes, state-of-the-art office spaces, and essential civic infrastructure—all executed with unmatched precision.

What Sets Urbanline Apart?

Urbanline’s mission is clear: to create sustainable and efficient built environments that enhance community living. Its vision? To be recognized as the best construction company in Bangalore through ethical practices, technological integration, and outstanding customer satisfaction.

At the core of Urbanline’s philosophy lie five key values:

Integrity: Transparent dealings with clients and stakeholders

Excellence: Unwavering focus on quality and safety

Innovation: Leading with advanced construction technologies

Sustainability: Embracing green building practices

Customer Focus: Delivering on promises with precision and care

Technology-Driven Construction

As a forward-thinking construction company in Bangalore, Urbanline integrates cutting-edge technologies such as:

3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) for accurate design execution

Pre-engineered structures for faster project delivery

Smart home features in residential units

Green certifications like IGBC and LEED for eco-friendly developments

This tech-first approach ensures efficiency, accuracy, and future-readiness in every project.

Uncompromising Safety & Compliance

Urbanline strictly adheres to industry benchmarks and regulatory standards including the National Building Code (NBC), IS Codes, and fire safety laws. Regular safety drills, site audits, and compliance training underline its commitment to safe construction practices.

Serving Diverse Industries

Urbanline caters to a wide spectrum of sectors, including:

Real Estate – High-rise apartments, gated communities, villas

Corporate – IT parks, coworking hubs, business centers

Public Sector – Roads, drainage, and civic infrastructure

Retail & Hospitality – Shopping malls, hotels, and dining establishments

Leading the Way in Sustainable Construction

Environmental responsibility is integral to Urbanline’s operations. As the best construction company in Bangalore for eco-conscious clients, it incorporates:

Rainwater harvesting systems

Solar panel installations

Non-toxic and low-VOC materials

Smart ventilation and daylight use

Waste management best practices

Awards & Recognition

Urbanline’s leadership in the industry has earned accolades such as:

Listed in RealtyToday’s “Top 10 Construction Companies in Bangalore”

Winner – Excellence in Sustainable Construction, 2023

Nominated – Best Residential Developer, CREDAI Awards

Signature Projects

Urbanline’s landmark developments are shaping Bangalore’s urban identity:

Urbanline Signature Towers, Indiranagar – Luxury residential apartments

The Urban Business Park, HSR Layout – Next-gen office spaces

Greenlife Residences, Sarjapur Road – Eco-conscious homes

These projects reflect Urbanline’s vision and commitment to excellence, reinforcing its reputation among the top construction companies in Bangalore.

Conclusion

Urbanline continues to shape the skyline of Bangalore with a bold vision and a deep-rooted commitment to quality, sustainability, and innovation. Whether you're a developer, business owner, or homeowner, Urbanline remains your trusted partner among the best builders and contractors in Bangalore—delivering spaces that inspire and endure.