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cherry3point14 · 4 years ago

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Stranger Than Fanfiction: Ch 10

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Dean x Reader Warnings: Violence, intrigue and MONOLOGUES. Oh my! Word count: 6,965. Chapter Summary: You’re somehwere familiar and nothing is right. A/N: Now we’ve come, to the ennnnnnd of the roadddddd. Still, I can’t let gooooooo.

Ao3 if you prefer

Y/N had not spent much extended time in her basement since her best-laid plans of turning it into anything other than storage had fallen through. It was a room she visited often, her washer and dryer both under the stairs, but visits were limited to transporting clothes in and out of the room in various states of cleanliness. The basement was her nagging project, which every home is legally required to have. She would presort her clothes before she ever went down the stairs, giving her ample time while loading the machines to think about her never to be completed masterpiece. Did she want some sort of rec room or maybe a space for those craft projects that sat forgotten around her home? She understood the game, that nothing would change, the room would remain a combined laundry and storage space until the day she died. Of course, she was right.

She’d never noticed the drip before. The sporadic yet incessant plop of water somewhere in the pipes that circled her basement and supplied her home. The drip might not necessarily mean something was wrong and it might not require an expensive plumber, it's just she hadn’t spent enough time down there to hear it at all.

As she opens her eyes the drip is the only sound that registers besides the ringing in her head. A headache pounds at her skull and an ache on her right says she’ll have a bump there. All of which she supposes she can thank Laura for. She keeps thinking of Laura, her face, and her name because it’s easier than to admit the truth. Y/N knows what a shifter is and unlike the majority of people, she knows that they are real. She knows one was in town and she knows that it wasn’t Laura who held the gun to her face before knocking her out with the butt of the thing. All this knowledge, however helpful, was still not enough to save her.

“Shit, shit, shit.” you mutter under your breath. You’re finally coming back to consciousness as Emma’s voice brings you up to speed. It’s almost comforting now to have a name behind it, her. That consolation prize is still of little help when you wake up with your hands cuffed behind the load-bearing beam in your own basement. You’re grasping for any friend you can and Emma, being in your head, is the closest thing you have. Maybe the last friend you’ll have.

Although if she kills you for her story, the term friend might be a bit of a stretch.

It does absolutely sound like she is going to kill you though.

You hear a door open from above, “are you awake yet?”

The voice doesn’t sound like Laura. You’ve heard Laura’s phone voice and her speaking-to-the-manager voice. You’ve heard her greet visitors and greet you first thing in the morning. That is definitely not Laura. Well, of course, it’s not Laura, but it’s also not someone using her body like a puppet.

“Yes?” you call back. It’s possible you’re inviting danger by answering but you’re handcuffed and almost certainly going to die today. How much more dangerous can things get?

The first wooden step groaned under the weight of the woman still shrouded in mystery at the top of the stairs. The second step followed suit with an equally mournful ache. Never had Y/N considered that her battered basement stairs sounded so hopeless. The room wasn’t dark, the lights were on despite the small basement window displaying daylight. There was barely enough shadow to hide a blemish but the sound of her stairs filled her veins with ice, as if she was lost on a cold night. Each creak took what seemed to be an hour, a day, before the next footstep pierced the last. It was on the ninth step from the bottom when Y/N caught the first glimpse of her captor.

A foot, followed by another.

A leg and then shockingly, a second.

Y/N knew before she saw. She knew before her favorite battered t-shirt came into view. She knew before her round chin, her slightly uneven ears, and her very own eyes appeared staring at her.

“Hey there, me!” A copy of your voice greets without your lips moving.

It hits you then, it was you at the top of the stairs. Not the voice you hear when you speak but the shadow version from when you’re forced to listen to a voicemail or video recording of yourself. The one that sounds nothing like you.

Yet just like that, there you are.

The shifter smiles and it’s the first time you’ve ever really seen yourself smile. You’ve felt the curve of your lips before and seen a reflection in mirrors but now you can see it.

You wonder if it’s always looked that terrifying.

As the shifter leaned in close enough for Y/N’s eyes to pick out the small white scar above her eyebrow—a scar that she knew matched the one on her own face—she wanted to scream. Even if it would do no good. She wanted to think herself superior to the monster wearing her face. She wanted to try to claim that there was something wrong with it. A sparkle that wasn’t present in its eyes or a hairline that was lower than it should be. Unfortunately, inches from her face was a perfect carbon copy. It had gone as far as copying the bags under her eyes; the product of too many late nights. If Y/N didn’t know that it wasn’t her, then even she would be fooled. The experience was a messy one to try and accept, let alone have it happen in front of her.

“This is weird for you, I get it. But listen, I gotta ask. How do I get your toaster to not burn the bread? Because I’ve gone through, like, four slices and it’s still black as hell. What’s the magic setting Y/N?”

You sniff at the smell that’s followed the shifter down the stairs. Burnt toast.

“You-you want me to tell you how to use my toaster?” You sound incredulous because you are.

She steps back, takes a seat on the second step from the bottom like she’s exhausted standing up. Your face, the one she’s wearing, gets this kind of humored look. Her eyebrows raise and she smirks from across the room, “I know it sounds crazy. I mean I can dive in your head if I want.”

As she says that she scrunches her face and seems to strain with something unseen. You don’t need to ask if it’s working because you feel it, whatever she’s doing. Your spine jolts and freezes, straight as an arrow, and you’re clenching your jaw for some reason. Your body tenses like it’s being invaded.

Then she smooths out her face and you flop like overcooked spaghetti.

“See, that’s not fun for either of us. Plus now I have this big download of you in my head that I’ve gotta sort through, and that wasn’t even all of it. Which, by the way, it’s not easy to find exactly what I’m looking for, there's no google for your memories. So, yeah, it’s easier if you tell me how I use your toaster.”

She seems patient. You’re pretty patient so is that your trait or hers? Clearly, it’s not her first rodeo waiting on people to get to grips with talking to themselves. She kindly gives you a second to process having had her inside your head.

Because you don’t have enough people in there already.

“It’s eh, you need to toast at like two. I know that seems low, but it’ll be medium brown?” It’s not a question, you know how to use your toaster. You’re simply confused about why you’re telling the shifter how to use your toaster.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it? Do you want some? Toast I mean?”

Were it not for the metal handcuffs still cold against your wrists then her offer might be caring. As it is, it’s a shifter in your body. You’re not sure if it’s capable of the emotion.

It sucks that your stomach chooses then to rumble.

“I’ll make you some anyway. You like…no wait let me find this one myself…” she pauses as if trying to remember a password for an account she hasn't used recently. “Smooth peanut butter?”

“Um. Yeah but I’m out.”

She hoists herself up and tsks above you, “you need to take better care of yourself Y/N. Go shopping once in a while. Live a little, buy the peanut butter.”

It takes half the time to get up the stairs that it took her to come down them and she’s careful not to slam the door at the top. So, she’s already learned how loud the door is if you put an ounce of effort into closing it.

The beam at her back is wide enough that the corners dig into each of her shoulder blades. Consequently, she has to decide between suffering or sitting forward a little but straining her wrists against the metal holding her. With the shifter out of sight, she can pull at the shackles and try to find any leverage. She can try but she keeps failing. They’re not pinching, not tight enough for that, still tight enough that she only has one comfortable position. So, it’s her back or her wrists. Y/N chooses her wrists and sinks back against the pain in her shoulders.

Above her, she can hear the shifter shuffling around her kitchen. Her kitchen. Y/N is not so territorial that she cannot share her plates and bread, she draws the line at her face. Her body. Her life.

The shifter comes back down the stairs after a few minutes with two plates. “I’ve got plain butter and strawberry jam. Seriously, you have jam and not peanut butter? Which one do you want?”

“I-I erm…”

“Let’s share.”

She sits down in front of you, not at the foot of the stairs, in front of you. Legs crossed the same as yours and close enough that your knees almost touch. To an outsider you might be friends, or twins, having a sleepover and sharing secrets. That’s when you realize she has no intention of uncuffing you to eat. She takes a bite from one plate and then holds a slice from the other up to your mouth.

When you glare at her instead of opening up she sighs, “I don’t have to be this nice. I’m not usually this nice.”

“This is nice? You knocked me out and now I’m handcuffed in my own basement.” You take a bite of the toast while it’s sitting there, hovering in front of your face. You had bought the bread afterall.

She hums happily. “This is practically best friends. I don’t make food for anyone else. Granted I usually only have them locked away for a few days. A few bottles of water gets them through. You though? You’re special.”

Special? You’re not special. Never have and never will be. The most special thing about you is the other people in your life. Sam and Dean. Emma. They are all special and you are the byproduct of a situation. You only convinced yourself that you were anything close to the main character because Emma wrote it. She tricked you into believing it.

The shifter takes another bite of her slice of toast, funnily enough, she’s eating the jam covered toast. So, in certain death, you’re still stuck with the second string choice. Plain butter.

When you swallow she holds the slice up again and you comply. "Why are you doing this?" You ask with food in your mouth, manners are a social construct that seems ridiculous in this situation.

The question is obvious and banal but it's sitting right there. And you needed to know the answer.

"Money." She takes another bite herself.

You scoff. That's enough to set her off.

“Sometimes things are just about money. That’s it. I like nice things and I have a good little racket going, I roll into town and find a few medium fish. Small business owners and cynical people usually have pretty decent policies. I take over the role of loving spouse for a day or two, get my money, and go. It’s been working out for me. I stay moving, only hit a few anywhere I go. Between, I travel wherever I want. I’ve done most of Asia, Europe, South America is my favorite for food.”

Y/N had never been a fan of the villainous monologue as a literary device, then again, in books, the villain strode about a nondescript location with sweeping arms and overused cliches. This villain, her villain, was not so stereotypical. She sat and talked to Y/N like an old friend might lament about a bad break up. And even though it was the shifter who had put her in this situation in the first place, the doppelganger version of herself truly seemed to care if she ate her toast. Not that she had any sympathy for the shifter. Y/N just hadn’t appreciated the villainous monologue until she had been the person waiting to hear the full story. Nobody cares what the monster has to say until they are the victim.

“But you? You gave me an idea.”

You splutter, “what?”

“Yeah, see there I was waiting for my money that never came. I was all ready to take a nice little vacation somewhere idyllic, south of France, maybe? Beautiful this time of year. And I know the paperwork was all put through because I watched you do it. I was standing at your desk, or Laura was, pretending to care about your sad weekend plans when you did it. And my money never came through. At first, I was furious because, frankly, I need to get out of town. With the Winchesters of all people on my trail, it’s time for me to exit stage right if you know what I mean. Then I was chatting up Mark about you not being in the office the past few days and, cool as a cucumber, that idiot told me you’d gone to the bank to stop the transfer.”

She slaps both her hands on your knees, digging her duplicate fingers into your flesh. The hair on the back of your neck stands to attention. That's the moment. Not where you think, but where you know you’re going to die.

“And I thought, wow! I bet she doesn’t even know how much power she has. I mean Laura was a glorified word processor and Mark doesn’t do anything, he’d delegate tying his own shoes if he could. But you Y/N? Well, me now. Us? We can do it all. No more kidnapping widows and threatening them to keep quiet after I’ve gone. I can write my own ticket and if it hadn’t been for you cutting me off, I would have never figured it out. I can run this racket as you for a year and I’ll be all set.”

“A year? How are you going to keep me…?” You know the answer, obviously, call it morbid curiosity that you want to hear it from her own, or your own, mouth.

She smiles, that dangerous one you didn’t know your face was capable of, “oh, I’ll have to kill you. No way I’d keep you under wraps for a year, too much upkeep, but if you wanna feel better about it, think about all the people I won’t kill pretending to be you! You’re taking one for the team.”

Y/N wanted to say she felt sick. She wanted that acrid taste of stomach acid on the back of her tongue. Or fat tears welling in her eyes. She’d even accept a tremble of fear. She wanted any physical reaction to the words that had been said. That she, Y/N Y/L/N, mild-mannered insurance adjuster was going to die at the hands of this monster. Yet nothing came forth. As if every nerve, every blood vessel, every cell had ceased to take orders from her brain. That or her brain was too busy comprehending to give the orders.

What’s worse, she had no one to blame but herself. It was her own face she was staring into and it would be her own hands that would do the job.

“Wh-when?” If your voice was tangible, it would be shaking like a leaf despite the rest of your body being stuck in place.

She jumps up, calm, “I have some things to do first. Need to do the full Vulcan mind-meld if I’m taking over, and I hate doing it on an empty stomach. Hence the toast. Why? Are you in a rush or something?” She laughs at her own joke and finishes with a shrug when you don't join in, before picking up both the plates. “Don’t worry, I’ll finish this for you.”

She starts walking up the stairs and you rush to ask the other obvious question, “why did you tell me all this?”

“What? I can’t want someone to talk to? Sue me, I’m a people person.”

The door at the top of the stairs closes sharply this time. You assume it’s on account of the plates in her hands that she can’t be more careful.

This was all your fault. It’s one thing to tell Emma that, in theory, she can kill you, it’s another thing altogether to speak to the monster who will do it.

More than that, you stopped the payment, you suggested flushing the shifter out and for what? To get Dean to stay a little longer? To save some people?

What about you? You were people, still are for the time being. One moment of weakness while reading a pretty story and now it’s actually going to happen.

Today’s the day you’re going to die.

There’s no clock in your basement, you have no idea of the time or how long you’ve been down here. You know it’s still daylight outside, you can see it, that’s it. So, you have no idea how long she’s been digging in your head for. It’s not uninterrupted but it is constant. She doesn’t ever pause long enough for the buzzing behind your eyes to stop. You’ve given up on comfort—that’s a concern for people with hope—but every time she starts again your straight back pushes into the post behind you. If another person in your head wasn’t enough then your back feeling like it’s going to split right down the middle was the cherry on top of the sundae.

Y/N swore that she could feel every memory, every thought, slip from her head. Not delicately either, but rather pulled kicking and screaming. Every experience hidden in the deepest, darkest corners of her mind, every last one, was found, counted, and copied. In reality, she had no idea what was being done or how it worked. She had no words to describe it and no understanding of what was being taken and when.

Although she figured that on today of all days, she could cut herself some slack. Lean into the dramatic thoughts that she wouldn’t normally.

She wondered how her parents would feel, retired in Florida, wondering where she is at Thanksgiving. Or how would those friends that she's hung onto since highschool react when she didn’t arrive for their monthly dinner. And Dean. She’d never get to tell him that she likes arguing with him, when he apologizes with a kiss.

Y/N’s life wasn’t full of too many people, which meant the select few she did have were all the more important. Every one of them had an appearance in her head, in the brief moments between what she was beginning to call torture.

You slump again, as much as the handcuffs allow you. The strain in your arms is the least of your worries since the shifter is back.

The you that floats down the stairs is all the things you’re not; happy and comfortable. She bypasses you completely as if you’re not even there. It’s only when she does that you register your ringtone from across the room.

“Forgot I’d left this down here”, she explains as she digs through your jacket that you must have had on when she knocked you out.

Whoever it is she rolls her eyes before answering, “hi Dean.”

You perk up at the mention of him because you’d forgotten what he is. A hero. What was that motto? Saving people, hunting things.

The relief doesn’t last long. As soon as you open your mouth she’s across the room, faster than you can usually move, with her hand clamped over your mouth.

“Like I said, Laura was dropping off some paperwork.”

“Um-hmm. Nothing on the shapeshifter? That’s a shame, it’s only Saturday though. She might have only just found out about the money.”

“That sounds great.”

Between everything, there’s a Dean sounding muffled voice on the other end of the phone. And although she keeps her tone measured she ticks her jaw at the word ‘shapeshifter’.

“Ok. Bye Dean.”

She ends the call and looks at you again, with more recognition than when she'd shared food with you. “Somebody didn’t tell me that she’s a few sandwiches short a picnic, did she?”

Your eyes widen. There’s no way she knows about Emma. That’s not a memory, it’s inside of you.

“And you never told those annoying hunter boys that you’re hearing voices? Or one voice anyway. Come on Y/N, that’s like victim 101.” She taps your temple as if she’s checking if there's still a brain in there.

“I didn’t think it was their kind of thing. Not like you are.” All the effort you have left in your being goes into narrowing your eyes at her. Even if you’re the furthest thing from a threat.

She laughs at that, “doesn’t matter sourpuss. They already trust you, so they already trust me. The Winchesters don’t stay anywhere for too long. They’ll leave and I get to go on being you.” She bops a finger on your nose.

You laugh at that. You've read the books, you’ve met them and you’re talking to another dumb monster that thinks she can outsmart them. You’d forgotten because it’s wearing your face and threatens you with sugar instead of spice, still, it’s a monster.

You might die but so will she.

“That’s funny. Do you think they won’t figure you out? They’re the Winchesters.”

“You know I was wondering where your fire was. I knew it had to be in there. Underneath the bookworm, paperwork pariah thing.”

“I’m not a pariah.” Obviously that’s what you find most offensive about her evaluation.

“Sure you are. Lonely little lamb. It’s fine though, I’m being nice to you, aren’t I?”

Retrospectively you realize that with Dean you’d been a cute angry, annoying combination. At the shifter, you’re plain furious, except it’s dampened by sadness. Not fear, the fear comes in an underwhelming third place.

“When?” You grind out.

She slips your phone into your jeans, unfortunately, it’s the pair she’s wearing. “I need to pee. Give me a hot minute. I don’t know, what’s the line? Say your goodbyes or prayers, or something.”

The timer that had started when Y/N first picked up that file weeks ago was finally counting down its last minutes. Unlike a bomb timer in every television show ever, there was no wire for her to cut. Nothing to do but wait and appreciate that she couldn’t hear the ticking of each second. That might be better, the counting would feel urgent like she can change it. She can’t. She’d never been able to. All roads, no matter how long and winding, have always led her to this point. Had Y/N not tried to flush the shifter out there would have been some other absurd reason for the monster to hunt her down. Which is why she is so under control, it’s been a long time coming. She's feeling a thousand emotions but none of them turbulent.

Surrounded by pipes in the basement you hear a flush from the bathroom. The shifter had, actually, put killing you on hold to pee. You add insulted to the list of last sentiments you'll ever feel.

You can't even write a letter or a note. One last phone call or voicemail. It's all frustratingly out of your reach. The shifter isn't going to let you leave anything behind because to the outside world she is going to keep going in your place.

Your basement door has never opened as many times as it has today. Still, there it is again. Whining wood opening and closing. Your captor in front of it brandishing your biggest kitchen knife like a maniac in a bad horror.

Y/N never wanted to believe she was subject to something as mundane as routine despite it being obvious that she was. She only needed to examine a week in her life, or a day, to notice the repetitions she couldn’t escape. Still, she tried. Like every person who woke up at the same time every morning or sunk into sleep like clockwork each night. Y/N struggled to buck against the system. She won some battles, enough to believe that she could keep winning but ultimately she lost the war. The biggest loss was reflected back to her in her own kitchen knife. No. It was in her own eyes when the shifter bent down and leveled its honeyed threats.

“I won’t say this isn’t going to hurt. It’ll be quick though, I’m not completely evil.”

She could not escape routine because there had never been an exit. She was always supposed to play this predictable role. The victim. The one who dies seconds before the hero's entrance. The one who could have been saved if only they’d been a minute earlier. She was the sacrifice that distracts the killer long enough to be caught. Y/N was well aware of the character trope she filled.

Then it was in this final moment that she had been fooled by fate one last time. Y/N was indeed about to die. Imminently. But Y/N would not be dying at the hands of some mediocre monster.

For the last time, you find yourself shocked at Emma’s words, for the last time you respond to her out loud. Struck by confusion so completely that you can't help yourself. “What the…?”

The door that’s dictated your life for the last day opens carefully. If you couldn’t see it past the shifter you might not believe it had opened at all. Dean is at the top, Sam trailing behind him, his extra height visible over Dean’s shoulders.

And they see you. Dean sees you.

Then he sees the knife. He sees the shifter he doesn’t know is you yet, her back to him. He sees her leaning into you with one last comment whispered in your ear and that knife. Big and sharp as it is, held against your body, your throat, ready to slice you a second smile.

That’s all he sees; you, a weapon and a monster.

Dean isn’t a shoot first, ask questions later guy, he’s an ask questions with the barrel of his gun kind of guy. A middle ground that has served him well. That’s not to say he has that patience in every situation. Sometimes he needs to exert some knee jerk force. Like when he’s standing at the top of her basement stairs, blood pounding in his ears above the din of everything else. Dean can’t hear Sam or the shifter or the sound of the wood under his boots. He hears exactly two things. Y/N’s gasp, half caught in her throat, and the stiff, satisfying crack of his gun as he fires it—once, twice, three times.

The knife falls from her hand as the shifter simultaneously falls forward. She’s about as heavy, or exactly as heavy, as you are, so you are not overwhelmed by the weight of the body. The shock is the residual confusion of her being you, and you falling on top of you. The shifter landing takes more of your focus than the feeling in your gut.

You don’t even feel that at first.

Not when you’re so relieved to see them. The boys. You’re convinced for a moment that Emma was wrong, you’re not the last killed victim, you’re the one saved at the last second. You’re the person carried out of danger by the Winchesters.

When she does slump over you the boots start moving again, thunderous steps by them both as they rush to check if the shifter is dead. Three silver bullets should be enough but they have been caught out before.

They haven’t hit the concrete floor of your basement yet when the heat starts. Tingling, scratchy, burning through your abdomen. You’ve never imagined what it’s like to be shot, never heard a gunshot in your administrative based life, except those fake ones in movies. You’d have thought it hurt more. You’d have thought a bullet tearing through your flesh would have a little more of a kick. In truth the thing piercing you hadn’t been any worse than a punch, there was a push from the impact but the bullet was fast. The hole wasn’t what got your attention.

The burning did. Lodged inside you the metal was the epicenter for an itch you couldn’t scratch. You couldn’t tell where the bullet had found a home, only that it was unreachable and there, and the ache was starting to become painful. Exponentially painful and not made any better by the weight of your stunt double crushing you. You had the strength to swallow the pain or the strength to push her off. Not both. So, she doesn’t move until Dean is there yanking her away from you.

She’s dead, at least.

Her eyes, your eyes, are lifeless now. Blank and staring into nothing. That’s a hard pill to swallow because she’s not the shifter anymore. The shifter is dead. Now she's just an empty shell that looks like you, while you sit there with a bullet in your gut. It’s an immediate prophecy of what you will become. An accurate prophecy too, because it’s you. Dead, cold, and not very pretty to look at.

It’s natural that they both check the dead shifter first. To make sure she’s dead. That’s their job, they're doing it right.

They only look at her for a second to confirm but by the time they turn to you the blood is starting to seep through your shirt. You still haven’t found a way to form words. You try and don’t get very far. Your throat is croaky and grinds like sandpaper. You’re not gargling blood at least and some last remaining functional brain cell thinks that’s good. You don’t have blood in your lungs.

All at once they crowd you.

“Y/N, you’re ok. You’re ok.” That’s Sam. His hands are pressing at the hole to stop the bleeding, you don’t have the voice or the heart to tell him he’s making it worse. Maybe not medically but it’s more painful with his hands there. The bullet doesn’t like being agitated and your stomach doesn’t like the pressure.

“Y/N, honey no. Shit. Come on, stay with me.” That’s Dean, he’s the one with his hands on your face, pulling your eyes to him because he is the one giving you orders to not leave. He needs to see you hear the instructions.

Sam lies to you and tries to fix the problem. Dean begs you to stay when you can’t.

Suddenly, or not suddenly, you have two new choices. Stay awake or don’t.

Except it’s not really a choice at all.

Y/N slipped in and out of consciousness in her last moments.

In the back of a car her eyes flutter open. Her vision is blurry like it’s the first moments after waking up on a Sunday morning. This blurriness doesn’t go away. The cream roof above her looks soft and inviting. She wants to feel it, lean against it. She can’t move in any meaningful way, not enough to touch it, it’s too far.

Briefly, again, when metal doors slam shut. She's distracted from the weak place beyond her pain by the sound.

In the hospital, jolted by the gurney beneath her as tubes are inserted into her body. Her nose specifically. The plastic feeling like a blockage instead of an airway. She’s not coughing up blood so she manages to wonder why she needs a tube inside her, although she’s not a doctor. She reaches for it because her arm still has mobility and she can’t breathe, but a hand stops her. She reaches again and more hands pin hers down. Her red, swollen wrists are strapped to the bed. She can’t move again, restricted. Another prison.

She doesn’t wake again. She doesn’t complain about the tubes or question the strange taste in her mouth from the drugs in her system. She’s lost so much blood. The bullet is deep and today is the day. It’s still Saturday. It’s still imminent.

It wasn’t a shifter, she was collateral damage. A secondary consequence of saving the day. A victim of fate.

By a bullet from Dean’s gun, Y/N dies.

You open your eyes.

How are you opening your eyes? You’re supposed to be dead.

It takes an age to take in the fact that you are alive and that there’s a faint beep somewhere that signifies a heartbeat. Yours. The room is white, clean, and as much as you can see from lying down, a hospital.

You manage to groan. It’s cathartic to make a noise, and painful. You can’t forget painful.

“Miss Y/L/N?” A man comes into your vision. The bed moves, not enough to upset you but give you a better angle to have a conversation. You see a little more of the world that you’re not supposed to be seeing because you’re supposed to be dead.

The man, the doctor, beams at you. “You gave us quite a fright Miss Y/L/N. We thought we lost you there for a minute but you are a very lucky young lady indeed.”

You’re not that young and you’re not lucky. This is impossible. You were dead.

You try to speak and this time you find purchase, “what happened?”

He has the audacity to chuckle, but then you're alive so that might warrant laughter. “A lot, Y/N. You've been out of surgery for about six hours now and we had to keep you sedated while you had a blood transfusion but as I said, you’re a lucky woman. That bullet was solid on impact with no fragment complications. It seems the um, issue, was blood loss and some trauma to your stomach which we’ll talk about once you’re off these I.V’s. But for now, you need to rest, I’ll have a nurse check on you in a few minutes.”

He smiles, genuinely, but you suppose he’s managed to escape telling you anything further about the dying thing. He plops your chart back into the plastic holder at the foot of your bed as he leaves, which forces you to look in that direction.

“Dean?”

He’s there, stocky and wide and too much for the hospital chair he is sitting in. You want to say sleeping in but that would probably require him to be asleep. He seems to be more in a state of falling asleep and not quite making it. His arms are crossed over his chest and his head is down, however as soon as you call his name he shudders like he was nowhere near sleep at all. He looks up, all big green eyes, bright and awake, and looking at you.

He smiles. It’s soft and so far removed from the cocky bastard that you're used to by now. “You’re awake?”

“Looks like it.” You smile back, although it must look weak on you. “You’re here.”

Dean gets up slowly and takes measured steps towards you. You’re not distracted by the way he walks though, you’re distracted by the way his face creases in sadness at your question. He looks like he's burying something instead of saying it, right in front of you.

“Had to make sure you were ok.” After I shot you. He tries to hide the end of his sentence, you hear it anyway.

“I’m fine.” It’s not your fault. “Thank you for saving me.” You don’t want to argue with him from a hospital bed so you imply the part of your sentence he’d fight you on.

He is astute enough to catch what your face is attempting to relieve him of. His guilt. It won’t be as easy as that, hopefully, you'll have time later to work on him.

You didn't know what to do beyond this point. There's one thing to say for dying, and that's not having to think about the future. Who cares about the stock market if you die next week? Now you're laying there like a broken doll who's been taped back together, looking up at Dean and wondering what the next part of the story is. You suppose you're going to have to figure this one out on your own.

“What’s a girl gotta do to get a cup of tea around here?”

“Tea?” He asks, knowing where you're going with this.

“Tea.” You confirm.

This time his grin is dazzling. It covers all manner of sins and comes with some promises to boot. Through the aches, in your not quite whole body you feel him carefully cup your chin, his thumb ghosting over your cheek to make sure you’re still there. “Don’t go dying on me again and I think I can sneak you something terrible from the cafeteria.”

As Y/N looked at Dean and took in that she was thankfully very much alive, and well beyond her time of death, she felt as if finally everything was going to be ok. She was no longer weighed down by concerns of routine or comparing literature to the real world because perhaps, in one day alone, she’d had more than enough excitement to last her for the rest of her life. Her new, second life. The one that was as clean and fresh as a blank slate could be. Although dying for a new start—even if that death was only three minutes and twenty seconds long—was quite dramatic and completely unrequired. Anyone, including Y/N, has the opportunity to change their life whenever they need to. Whenever they reach that bleak state of despair or, in Y/N’s case, a dull point of repetitive boredom. Solace can be found in even the most remote and lonely of places. It can begin with a new piece of literature or taking a new route to a familiar destination.

The things that take up the small moments, that seem like puzzle pieces required to navigate our days are, in fact, a series of thousands of choices. Any single one of which can change an entire life and lead to impossible people and impossible things. Or serve to better ourselves in ways we’ve dreamed of but never hoped to achieve. Make us braver, stronger, funnier, or brilliant. Because we were all along, even when we didn’t know it, or even if we doubted it. It may sound utterly too easy, and that's because it is

Y/N didn't need to change, not really, not when she was unpredictable and brave all along. She only needed a nudge in the right direction and a good cup of tea, to save her life.

If you stuck with me on this I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. This was a little passion project I’ve had in my head for a while. I hope y’all had fun.

5eva tags: @divadinag @darthdeziewok @fluentinfiction @witch-of-letters @supernatural-teamfreewill-blog @magnitude101999 @alexwinchester23 @jesseswartzwelder Dean babes: @thewinchesterchronicles @akshi8278 @bloodydaydreamer StrangerThanFiction tags: @jaylarkson @starsandmidnightblue @ceisbill

#dean x reader #supernatural fanfiction #spn x reader #dean winchester x reader #spn fanfiction #supernatural #spn #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfic #dean winchester #dean winchester x you #dean x you #dean x y/n #dean dean the soft lil bean #I'm not sure how I feel about this ending #I think I have read it too many times

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renaerys · 5 years ago

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20. “Have you slept?” (Brick/Blossom)

February Fic Prompt #20 originally requested by the lovely philosophicwax.

Summary: It's finals week at college, and Brick has hardly slept in two days while studying. A weird monster attacks because of course it does, and he has to team up with Blossom to bring it down while all he really wants to do is take a nap.

xxx

The great thing about college was that Brick was on his own, living his life, nine months out of the year completely on his terms. No brothers nagging him for shit, no cleaning up after anyone but himself, and no disruptions during study time. His life, his rules, quiet and tranquil.

Except for the giant, sentient hairball currently terrorizing north campus that some poor asshole (Brick) would have to deal with.

Because the worst thing about college was that he was on his own, living his life, nine months out of the year without his brothers around to follow his lead without question.

“Evacuate to Prospect Avenue!” Blossom’s clear, commanding voice rang out over the shouts and screams of fleeing students.

Which, cool. Drunk, sleep-deprived twenty-year-olds in their pajamas at three in the morning were totally going to listen to the imperious Super flying above them in her pink camisole and Ivy University logo sweatpants.

Spoiler: they didn’t, and Brick was forced to abandon his warm, solitary room and his physics textbook in only a pair of old basketball shorts and his favorite red T-shirt in favor of saving a hysterical Freshman from split ends that would have literally split her end to end.

Crimson afterglow marked Brick’s path and singed the sentient tresses that crawled like tentacles after the panicking Freshman. Pudgy and cute and in the throes of a panic attack, she clung to Brick’s shirt even after he set her down a safe distance from the monstrous hairball.

“Please don’t leave me!” she sobbed.

Brick pushed her off him. “Get a grip, you’re not dead.”

She reached for him again, frightened and unable to defend herself against the supernatural monster and yes, okay, logically he knew it wasn’t her fault but fuuuuuuuuck what a pain in the ass this was.

He sidestepped her and she stumbled, almost falling, until he caught her by the elbow so she wouldn’t break her nose on the concrete. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Please,” she sobbed, genuinely frightened.

Brick winced. “Just get to Prospect Avenue. It’s that way.”

And with that, he left her to follow the screams of her fellow fleeing students because she was not his problem. If Blossom had already decided on a proper evacuation plan, then that meant less work for him. Lord knew he was too tired for this shit running on three hours of sleep in the last 50 hours courtesy of two finals in as many days back to back. He had four left. He did not have time for whatever the hell was going on tonight.

Crack!

Blossom crash-landed in the green not four feet from where Brick stood. Her sweatpants were streaked in grass stains and her mane of wild, red hair was swept up in a very messy bun.

“Brick,” she said, a bit breathless, a bit pissed off.

“Blossom,” he returned.

Their passive-aggressive greeting was cut short when a lash of prehensile hair came slamming down on top of them. They bolted in opposite directions, nothing but pink and red vapor, and reconvened high up in the air. Brick got an eyeful of the creature steamrolling through campus and wondered why, even so far from Townsville, he still had to deal with this weird crap.

Talk about a bad hair day, Boomer would have said if he was here. He wasn’t, and Brick just scowled.

“It’s growing,” Blossom said grimly.

Son of a bitch, she was right. The thing was sprouting more arms to help it crawl overland and tangling around the gothic architecture like the ivy this elite college was named for. It slithered through windows and drain pipes, as though searching for life hiding inside.

“Cool,” Brick said.

He was so tired.

“Can you try—”

“Not unless you want me to burn down all of Balin Hall in the process,” he interrupted her, already knowing what she’d ask. Ignoring her frown he said, “What about your—”

“Same problem, opposite outcome. These old buildings will crumble if I freeze them,” she said.

Brick matched her frown. “Fine. Then we split up.”

She looked at him far too gravely for three in the goddamn morning. “That’s not a plan.”

“It’s the best you’re getting from me right now, so stop complaining.”

That earned him a scathing glare. “Brick—”

But she didn’t get her chance to chastise him because a massive hair tentacle shot toward them with deadly accuracy and exploded into nine smaller tentacles when it was upon them. Brick darted away from the mutant tresses, but he wasn’t quick enough. Thick, black hair wrapped around his ankle and yanked him down hard enough to send his jaw rattling.

The stone shingles of a Sophomore dorm building came rushing close. He twisted, tried to get away before impact, but the thing was fast and strong and those shingles couldn’t break him but hell if they didn’t hurt on impact. Brick grunted as he gasped for breath. His back roared with pain, but the Chemical X bonded to his bones was quick to mitigate the damage, leaving him breathless with the brief, phantom memory of it. He gathered scarlet energy in his palms and blasted the hair tentacle shackling him, but the damn thing only quivered like water wherever his energy blasts hit it.

He felt it before he saw it, a cold so unnatural it grabbed him like a vice and squeezed until he nearly choked. Ice crystals bloomed upon the hair, slowing and freezing it until it lost all sentience and cracked like dry pasta under Brick’s immense strength. He blasted out of there and pulled up alongside his savior.

“You said you weren’t going to use your ice breath,” he snapped.

“Thanks for your help, Blossom, I really appreciate it,” she said, flying alongside him in a swoop back around toward north campus.

Brick rolled his eyes and immediately regretted it. Exhausted and severely sleep-deprived, he briefly saw double and faltered. A warm hand steadied his arm.

“Hey, are you okay?” Her voice lacked the smarmy edge this time and she looked at him with a measure of concern.

Brick was about to tell her to focus on the monster instead of him, but he didn’t get the chance when more hair lashes shot after them with the persistence and speed of homing missiles. Brick grabbed Blossom and flew, but he didn’t make it ten feet with her in his arms before a mass of writhing hair surrounded them and constricted.

Blossom gasped for air as she tried in vain to extricate herself, but between Brick’s ironclad hold around her and the hair shackling them together, neither of them could move. The hair squeezed tighter, and Brick gagged.

“B-Brick,” she said, her voice raspy against his neck. Her hands were flat against his chest and they were pressed so tightly together that he could hear his own heartbeat thundering under her fingertips. Even now, he could feel her trembling as they slowly, painfully suffocated.

And now he was good and furious.

Acrid, black smoke swirled in his lungs, hot and building. As little as he could move, he fisted the back of Blossom’s camisole in a silent plea. But three months and change here without either of their siblings around gave them ample time to learn each other free of distraction, and words were hardly necessary anymore. She ducked her head against his shoulder as close as she could get, and he turned his head as far from hers as he could manage before opening his mouth and releasing a concentrated inferno upon the hair binding them.

The effects were instantaneous. The fire gorged on the evil strands with abandon and drew a chilling scream from deep within them. Soon Brick and Blossom were suffocating from the smoke and heat rather than constriction. But it lasted only a moment; the second he felt the pressure around them slacken, he took off as fast as he could before the fire could consume them too.

So much for not burning down north campus, he thought, resigned.

Blossom coughed against him, and he realized he was still holding on to her. Rose met red as she looked up at him. “Thank you,” she said.

He as so tired that all he could do was stare at her for a minute. He was pretty sure she’d never looked at him like that before, without a trace of suspicion or superiority, genuinely happy to have him there.

The hair shrieked again, and both of them looked down on the burning mass below. Except, it wasn’t burning much anymore. The hairball somehow managed to sever the huge chunk lost to Brick’s fire and save itself from burning up entirely. The melted mass stank and smoked and made Brick’s bloodshot eyes water as he watched it turn to ash in mere seconds. Unfortunately, the rest of the hair that had escaped the conflagration was resilient and began to gather and engorge as it angled for Brick and Blossom, like it knew they were a threat it needed to eliminate.

“That hair is psychotic,” Blossom said with such gravitas that under different circumstances, he probably would have laughed at the lunacy of it all.

“Yeah,” he said. There wasn’t much else to say.

She’d pulled away as they hovered, sharp eyes narrowed in thought. Brick, head buzzing with adrenaline keeping him excruciatingly awake, also racked his brain for something that might help him. It came to him like lightning, and Blossom glanced at him in the same moment with the same conclusion.

“What if we led it—” she began.

“—to Tower Lake?” he finished.

She smirked. “Genius.”

“Efficient,” he agreed, managing a tired but determined grin of his own.

The great thing about college was that Brick was on his own, living his life, nine months out of the year with the only person on the planet who was sharp enough to understand him and his thought processes without the added annoyance of explanation.

She took off in a burst of pink, and he flew in the opposite direction, knowing he could trust her to move and adapt with him without the extra guidance their siblings often required.

Her laser eye beams drew the hair monster’s attention eastward, and it roiled like a thundercloud as it scrambled up the side of Balin Hall and launched into the air after her. But Brick was there and ready to blast it with his own laser eye beams, enabling Blossom to slip away from the grabby tentacles. Something within the tangled mass roared, animalistic, and soon it was tearing after him.

Just as it was about to grab him, there was Blossom with a burst of icy wind. They tag teamed the monster, leading it ever closer to the lake where the rowing team practiced, remote and clear of students at this hour. Enraged, the hairball clambered after them, determined to swat them out of the sky until they rebuffed it with fire or ice, only to draw it in again with their lasers.

The giant hairball was not smart, to the surprise of absolutely no one, and when it reached the shore it went tumbling into the dark water, unable to slow its momentum. Screeching, the mass writhed and tried to backtrack to save itself, but the water sapped it of its supernatural strength and the tentacles fell limp and lifeless the wetter they got, until it was nothing but a normal, extremely disgusting hairball.

Brick and Blossom stood an arm’s length apart on the shore watching the mass slowly sink to the bottom. It was an oddly hypnotic sight, and he couldn’t look away even as his eyes began to droop.

“Well. We’re going to need a lot of Draino to clear this out,” Blossom quipped.

Brick, half aware of his bare toes sinking into the damp soft sand, laughed at that one. And then he fell.

“Brick!” she shouted, far away.

He blacked out for all of three seconds, just long enough for her to grab him before he could lose what was left of his dignity by falling flat on his ass. Sluggish, he was slow to react to her looping his arm over her shoulders so she could bear his weight and fly them back toward campus.

“Have you slept?” she demanded in that snobbish way she had.

“Think I just did,” he said, barely able to stay awake despite the ignominy of being half carried like an invalid. That thought ignited something in him and he jerked, making them swerve.

“Watch it! Oh, for heaven’s sake.”

He rubbed his stinging eyes and didn’t really fight her as she led him back through the window to his single dorm room. Luckily, the hair monster hadn’t infiltrated his building, so his room was in the same state as he’d left it.

She let go of him and he landed on his twin bed against the wall. And then he realized what had just happened.

“What the fuck, Blossom?” he growled and staggered to his feet.

He didn’t take even a step from his bed before she pushed him back down with her strength.

“Have you slept?” she asked him again, but it came out sounding more like a threat this time.

“I’m vaguely familiar with the concept,” he snapped and tried to get up again.

She pushed him down again and pressed her hands down on his shoulder so he couldn’t get up again. Red eyes glared up at her, seething, but she matched his venom with her own, and the sight made him falter.

“They say sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. You need to sleep.”

“I need to study.”

Her hands squeezed his shoulders, and her expression softened. “Is that why you’re so tired?”

“No, I’m always tired after dealing with you.” Absurd, every minute of this. He couldn’t even stand up with her weighing him down and blocking him.

Her hands sparked with her power, pissed off at him as usual. Brick wasn’t one to believe in fate or some higher plan, but it was times like this that he seriously suspected the universe was fucking with him by giving him a literal perfect match with the most annoying personality he had ever encountered.

He sighed and rested his weight on his hands on the bed. The power she channeled to her fingers had a lovely, soporific effect as it danced over his neck and shoulders, though he would never, ever admit this to her. “What are you even doing here?”

Her fingers clenched and slackened, like she couldn’t decide, and he bit his lip to stifle a groan. God, that felt good.

“Rest,” she said, much closer than she’d been before.

Her tempting fingers moved from his shoulders along his neck and threaded through his short, red hair. Her nails were clipped but not so short that he couldn’t feel them scrape pleasantly along his scalp.

Sleep-deprived going on his third all-nighter and utterly drained after the adrenaline burst of having to fight a monster tonight in the midst of finals season, Brick finally gave up and leaned into her touch with a needy sigh.

“Blossom,” he mumbled. She smelled faintly of smoke and of him, and the heady scent made him smile to himself. His hand found the hem of her camisole and clenched it gently, a silent, delirious plea to bring her closer.

So smoothly he barely even realized it was happening, she laid him down on the bed, her hands heavy on his chest as if to push him down deep enough for the covers to swallow him whole. Her hair fell around his face, slipped free from its precarious bun, and he breathed her in.

“Rest now,” she whispered, those magical hands still dowsing him in her cool, calming power like waves over his skin.

Unable to resist her, he finally nodded off into a deep, dreamless slumber and didn’t wake again for another twelve hours.

The worst thing about college was that he was on his own, living his life, nine months out of the year with the one girl he could never seem to escape, and whom he’d never managed to keep.

xxx

Blossom gently played with his hair as he lulled to sleep at last, the last vestiges of his controlled resistance finally spent. His fingers remained curled around the hem of her shirt, warm against her waist. Sitting next to him on his bed, she watched his face slacken, at peace as his breathing evened out.

“Why are you so stubborn?” she murmured, running her fingers over his freckled cheek.

He had the determination and purpose of an avalanche, inevitable and absolutely crushing. It had given him the power to catch up to her in school as kids, to challenge her at every turn like no one else could, and to motivate her to try harder, to be better, to give him a challenge worth rising to. She couldn’t say when her feelings had changed. There was not a day, or a moment, or even a sudden epiphany that revealed her deep and tranquil affection for him.

It was as gradual as the changing tides, deep waters hiding truths that had always been there, quietly waiting. She’d been accepted Early Admission to Ivy University, the culmination of her high school efforts, and he wasn’t even sold on college when they went their separate ways for the holiday break. And then, in passing, he mentioned the pre-Frosh weekend in April for new admits; he’d be going, and could he borrow her notes for missed classes since she probably wasn’t?

She couldn’t pinpoint when or how, but maybe that was why. As much as he preferred to remain ineffable and unknowable, he had failed with her. Rather spectacularly, though she would never expose him like that. Not until he was ready.

Carefully so as not to disturb him, Blossom leaned close and kissed his forehead. Ice crystals melted upon his skin, and his fingers unconsciously closed tighter around her shirt.

Stupid, stubborn boy.

But there was time.

The best thing about college was that she was on her own, living her life, nine months out of the year with the boy she’d never been able to leave behind, and never would.

#Blossick #Reds #Blossom #Brick #Powerpuff Girls #PPG #Powerpuff Girls fanfiction #PPG fic #February Fic Prompts #repost

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drawlfoy · 5 years ago

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Mirror, Mirror P.1

masterlist request guidelines requests are open <3

pairing: draco x ravenclaw!reader

request: no literally no one asked for this haha

summary: reader and draco are doing rounds together as they’re both prefects. reader has a mad crush on draco but doesn’t say anything since he’s kinda aloof and she’s not as popular as he is. they run across an infamous mirror oooh

warnings: swearing because you know me

a/n: so basically i’m gonna be travelling for the next week, and i’m hoping that i’ll have time to write, but no promises. i’ll be back soon, hopefully with all of my weird tag issues worked out! also i just decided to pop this out while my nails were drying so apologies if there’s any mistakes...like before, if you’d like to become a beta reader, hmu and we can discuss my many grammatical mistakes haha

music recs:mansard roof from vampire weekend

word count: 1,657

taglist: @accio-rogers

Y/N Y/L/N and Draco Malfoy

The words on the new prefect pairing sheet knocked the wind out of her better than any Bludger to the stomach ever could. Was she lucky, or very, very unlucky?

Y/N couldn’t quite decide, and standing in the hallway, staring at the parchment on the wall alone like a lunatic certainly wasn’t going to help her. She could count on one hand how many times she had spoken to the blonde prefect--that one time in Potions where their hands had brushed reaching for the same ingredient in the cupboard, that other time in Charms when she complimented his quill and he said a quick “thank you”, and that final time, three weeks ago, when he had accidentally bumped her on the way out of a prefect’’s meeting and said “excuse me”.

If she really thought back, she could pinpoint the exact moment when she fell for him. She’d only ever thought of him as a nuisance until that one day that she saw him sitting alone in the courtyard, engrossed in a book and bouncing his foot. The setting sun had illuminated his head, giving his pale hair an ethereal look, like it was a halo around his admittedly very well sculptured face.

It was at that moment when she realized that she was profoundly and absolutely fucked.

However, as a Ravenclaw, she was given ample opportunities to avoid him and pretend like neither he nor her feelings for him existed. She’d put up a great front...at least to her standards.

Scanning the parchment closer, she found their times listed below. They were scheduled on two night shifts, something that irked Y/N to no end. Staying up until 1 on a school night was the last thing that she needed, but she wasn’t about to argue with the administration. Not when he was her partner.

oOo

“That’s terribly unfortunate, Y/N,” Rena sympathized from the bed across their dorm room. “Start stocking up on random hexes now. You never know what he’ll do to get a laugh.”

“C’mon now, he can’t be that bad,” countered Y/N, tossing a pillow in her roommate’s direction. “He’s been nothing but cordial to me. And you have to admit, his hair looks ridiculously soft.”

Silence filled the room as Rena pondered.

“So what you’re saying is that you’re into Draco Malfoy,” she stage whispered.

“‘Into’ is a strong term,” said Y/N, attempting to rein the situation back in. “I’m just saying that I find him perfectly pleasing to look at. That’s all.”

“You’re a dirty liar, you know that, right?” Rena laughed, muffling the sound with her hand as to not wake up the rest of the girls in the Ravenclaw dorms. “I see the way you look at him in Potions. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“I don’t fancy him!” Y/N hissed. “And even if I did, what would it matter?”

“It wouldn’t, I’d understand,” Rena reminded her, sitting up to prop her face on her palm. “You know me, Y/N. No judgment from me. Anyways, you have your first rounds with him tomorrow, right?”

Y/N nodded, forgetting that they were in the dark. “Er, yes. We do, 10 to midnight.”

“Hm.” Even though Y/N couldn’t see Rena’s face, she knew that she was wiggling her eyebrows. “Have fun. Let me know how it goes.”

oOo

Y/N would’ve sold her soul to the devil to learn how to wait in a corridor, alone with nothing to do, for someone she’d had a crush on for almost a year. She tried leaning up against the wall, a reasonable distance from the perfect schedules on the wall, nonchalantly levitating a feather that had been on the ground near her when she arrived.

Of course he was late. Of course she was the overly eager one that showed up at 9:55, on the dot.

Swallowing her embarrassment, she shifted her weight away from the wall and began to walk down the corridor with the plan to circle once and return at a more fashionable time. Maybe he would be the one waiting for once. The thought brought a smirk to her face.

Y/N had hardly taken more than three steps before a distinctly male voice broke the silence.

“You’re really gonna start our rounds without me, huh? Didn’t take you for a rule breaker.”

She spun around, swishing her robes around in a desperate attempt to seem intimidating.

Draco Malfoy stood at the end of the corridor, his trademark smirk plastered across his face. She decided that it’d be best to not answer, instead focusing on soothing her burning cheeks.

He raised his eyebrows, clearly expecting a biting comeback. She just rolled her eyes, turning around and continuing her gait.

“About time you showed up,” she shot over her shoulder. She noticed him scowl as he caught up with her, his long legs easily covering the distance.

“I’d suggest being a little more respectful to your partner for the next month,” he sneered, roughly bumping her shoulder. “I’m not one to put up with mouthy Ravenclaws.”

“Shut up, Malfoy,” said Y/N, bumping him harder.

“I’m shocked that, with your lack of manners, they chose you to be a prefect,” Malfoy continued. “But I guess I shouldn’t be. It is Ravenclaw after all; I’m sure you were the best that they could do.”

Y/N sucked a breath in and out, holding her temper back. She couldn’t allow herself to be unraveled at--she checked her watch--10:01. That’d be pathetic. She figured that ignoring it and continuing to walk was the best option.

Why was she even into this git in the first place?

Oh, right...she wasn’t. She was into the fake Draco Malfoy, the one that looked just as great as he did with the same sharp tongue, but also the one that only used his wit in appropriate situations. It was rapidly becoming clear that the fantasy and real versions were growing further and further apart.

They walked in silence for the next 20 minutes, only occasionally interacting. Y/N still harbored the horrible habit of staring at him like a creep, and he caught her in the act multiple times, sending her a sour expression in return.

The quiet was welcome, however, and it allowed Y/N to run through her review for her Ancient Runes exam the next day.

It was 10:56 when he finally broke the spell.

“What are you plotting?”

“Plotting?” she answered incredulously. “I’m studying. Not plotting.”

“I don’t believe you. You have this look in your eyes.”

“Looking into my eyes now, huh?”

Malfoy rolled his eyes so hard that it almost hurt to watch. “You wish.”

Y/N sighed. “I’m reviewing for the Runes exam tomorrow. Would you like me to include you? Or will you be good and stay quiet?”

Irritation crept back into his face. “You don’t speak to me like that, understand?”

“Or what, Malfoy?” Y/N stopped walking and turned to face him as he halted as well.

Malfoy licked his lips, stepping in uncomfortably close enough for her to feel heat radiating off of his chest.

“You’ll see.” With that, he began walking again. He was no longer making the effort to match the pace of her shorter legs, instead speeding ahead of her quicker than she could manage.

“Hey, wait!”

Y/N jogged to him as he only walked faster, putting more distance in between them.

“Can you please slow down?”

If Malfoy had heard her, he made no indication of it, just turning down another corridor. She picked up her pace, breaking into a run from her uncommitted jog.

“Draco Malfoy! You git!” How she managed to get the words out while she was still running was beyond her, but she was somehow still capable. Rounding the corner, she saw a flash of platinum blonde hair disappear behind another passageway. Determined to not let him desert his prefect duties, she ran even faster, finally coming close enough to snatch his hand and yank it back.

What Y/N hadn’t noticed was how her partner had already ground to a stop moments before. By yanking the boy backwards, he jumped and nearly fell back on her.

“You’re unbelievable,” he spat, righting himself and brushing off his robes. Y/N still clung to his sleeve, just in case he got any ideas.

Her angry thought stream, however, was interrupted when she realized why Malfoy had stopped. A tall mirror was standing in front of them, ornate silver detailing curling around the edges.

“You stopped for a regular old mirror?” Y/N poked at Malfoy. He frowned, gesturing up to the very top of the mirror where the words “ERISED” were woven into the silver engravings.

“Not just any regular mirror.” Malfoy didn’t seem to feel the need to elaborate, seeming to believe that the name itself was adequate explanation.

Y/N studied their reflection. Malfoy stood next to her with her fingers intertwined with his...more or less what she was expecting.

“A regular old mirror with a fancy name, then?” she offered.

Malfoy pulled his gaze away from the mirror, sending her a skeptical gaze. “You mean to say that you don’t see anything different?”

“Er....no?”

Y/N pulled her gaze away from the reflection herself and looked down at them, noticing that her hand wasn’t actually in his.

“Wait...actually...”

She let go of his sleeve and turned to look at the mirror again. Her hand was still clutching his, and the reflection of Draco had moved his body to press into hers as he leaned down to kiss her forehead.

She jerked away from him, staring at him with wide eyes.

“I don’t see anything different,” she told him, hoping he couldn’t decipher the blatant lie.

“So you saw us,” he questioned, stepping one foot closer to her, “Next to each other? With you holding onto me?”

“Yes,” she lied.

“Interesting.” He cocked an eyebrow, his smirk reappearing. “Well, we ought to get back to patrolling.”

final a/n: i don’t think that this is going to be it. i think i’m gonna continue this but i don’t really have time to write the entire fic in one part LOL so we’re gonna have to do with this alright. also here’s to hoping that my tags will work this time???

#draco #draco malfoy #draco x reader #draco imagine #draco x y/n #draco x oc #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x oc #harry potter #harry potter imagine #draco fic

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aliciaashowalter · 4 years ago

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Physiotherapy - A Remedy To Rub Individuals?

To see a beloved one suffer due to stroke is a pitiful experience. The psychological pain, perseverance and also hope that he will become mobile and restore the capability to talk one day are always within us. Physical therapy is carried out to a stroke individual within a couple of days he gets admitted to the medical facility. It has been confirmed that physiotherapy makes it possible for clients conquer their handicaps though it is time consuming. Different programs are associated with the physical treatment. The objective of physiotherapy for individuals that struggle with stroke is to provide stamina as well as maintain the person's arm or legs motile as well as stop the reoccurrence of stroke. To prevent the muscular tissues and also limbs from becoming weak it has to be kept in mind that correct attention is provided and workout methods are maintained. The patients and the care taker are trained in a proper method to make sure that they carry out the workouts properly. A few other strategies that are taught to the treatment taker as well as the person are maintaining all things safe as well as secure, such as maintaining the clients far from ovens and also ovens, removing any barriers from the people' course, ways to cook food, and assisting them with balance. One must be added cautious while leaving a patient that is affected by stroke alone. Physiotherapy is offered patients affected by strokes at health centers or at rehabilitation centers. A lot of individuals who are affected by stroke remain in healthcare facilities for long period or set up a home like atmosphere. Many workouts done by physiotherapists for patients influenced by stroke resemble those taught for those struggle with impairments. Several of the techniques made use of are percussion instruments, massages, sucking, prescription of medications and evaluation. For people that have lung as well as respiratory issues, physio therapists suggest workouts which entail coughing as well as taking deep breaths ... Persons that can handle to base on their very own discover other workouts which might at times or may not involve making use of walking aids. They try to rise from the bed, relocation from a chair to a wheel chair or trying strolling without case. Stroke patients are likewise shown exercises which include stretching, strengthening the muscular tissue, endurance and deep breathing. A lot of techniques are used by physiotherapists for stroke people having talking troubles. Short- term speaking therapy has actually been successful in recovering speaking skills in patients impacted by stroke. Speech therapist works on the language of the stroke patient for 3 hrs on a daily basis for some weeks. The person will be given ample time to try as well as speak as it is recognized that emotions interfere their speech patterns. Physiotherapy which when provided for stroke patients makes up diagnosis, treatment, care, massage therapy, conversation as well as exercise and they lead the client through the path to recovery.

Why Utilize Physiotherapy To Deal With Back Pain

Physiotherapy dates back to the ancient times yet the modern-day technique of this allied medical care began in the 1920s. It is used to address problems like reoccuring pain, musculoskeletal conditions, as well as movement disorders. The healthcare professional who is trained in this area of endeavour is referred to as a physiotherapist or a physiotherapist. Nowadays, the services of physio therapists are commonly looked for by a lot of individuals that suffer from a wide array of ailments. One of the most common of which is back pain. It made use of to be that when an individual has backache, he goes straight to a physician. Presently, he has one more option and that is to engage the aid of a physical therapist. Backaches are available in different kinds depending on the details damaged area. The causes are rather varied varying with those resulting from injuries due to electric motor crash, some conditions or an undesirable lifestyle. It might remain in the kind of lumbar neck and back pain or thoracic pain in the back. Thoracic pain, generally called upper pain in the back or center neck and back pain, is due to a great deal of reasons like degenerative disc diseases. It may likewise happen because a spine special needs. Sometimes, the continuous repetitive motion in the upper body or a joint disorder might result in top back pain. Given that the upper back is far more steady contrasted to the lower back, top neck and back pain are much less common compared to reduced pain in the back. Lumbar neck and back pains or lower pain in the back is a much average incident with a variety of reasons. It may be due to a torn ligament, a herniated disc or slid disc, muscular convulsion or just simple bad position. Even the act of lifting improperly of a hefty box might lead to reduced back pains. Back pains may be short-lived as well as small, where an individual will certainly just really feel a twinge of pain or some tenderness or it can be reoccuring and also disabling. People that are plagued with chronic neck and back pain are far better off starting treatment with an accredited physiotherapist. The relief will be extra lasting for it will target the source and not simply deal with the signs and symptoms. For some, it is an option between physiotherapy as well as surgical treatment with the last having a higher danger variable. In physiotherapy for neck and back pain, a mix of techniques is made use of in the therapy process relying on the factor for such a condition. In case of problems with back discs, only a qualified physiotherapist is supposed to operate in controling back the disc into area. Accredited physiotherapists underwent substantial education and learning and also training to be geared up with skills required to handle injuries such as herniated discs. Surgical treatment for herniated discs is fairly costly and risky. There is a long recovery period additionally where one needs to be maintained stationary. Massage therapy may likewise be utilized to kick back the muscle mass at the back and also to eliminate the pain caused by torn ligaments. Myotheraphy as well as hydrotherapy can be made use of to reduce back pains, not simply briefly but also for a life time. For the sake of maintaining this post short as well as not slowed down in recommendations I don't have every single article on biomechanics as well as pain/injury mentioned in this blog site. With that said off the beaten track here is when biomechanics do and also do not matter ... We know from the clinical literature that specific biomechanical activity variables can be risk aspects and/or mechanisms of particular injuries such as: Filled spine flexion as well as disc injury1 Dynamic knee valgus & ACL tears2, PFPS3, patellar dislocations4 and MCL tears5 Various FOOSH (fall on outstretched hand) injuries such as scaphoid fractures6 and A/C joint separations7 Ankle inversion & eversion sprains8,9. Shoulder (and also hip) abduction & external turning as well as dislocations10,11. Prolonged stances and bone and joint pain12,13. Things you have to bear in mind when looking at biomechanics are ... 1) A great deal of biomechanical variables that individuals cite in their evaluations & professional thinking designs either can not be reliably assessed and/or don't correlate well with discomfort including. Relaxing scapular position14-- 17. Resting back lordosis, cervical lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, as well as sacral angle18-- 25. 2) Injury does not always equal pain. We have great deals of instances in the literature of individuals that have degenerated/bulging discs26, arthritis27, as well as partial potter's wheel cuff tears28 yet they don't have pain. Alternatively many people can additionally have discomfort without injury. 3) We know in the literary works that psychosocial aspects can play a huge function suffering, particularly in chronic pain29,30. 4) The body can adapt to tons as well as stress and anxiety assuming that the stress and anxiety is used and also progressed appropriately based upon the standing & demands of the individual31. 5) The quantity of load/speed during a details activity pattern is essential. A lot of the examples of biomechanical injury mechanisms above put on high speed and/or high lots activities. Clearly you do not have as much "activity kindness" deadlifting 700 lbs as you would certainly flexing over to grab modification. Ask any kind of top degree powerlifter where leading level athletes squat 1000+ pounds and also bench press 500-800+ pounds (depending upon equipped or otherwise) and also they will inform you that there isn't much margin for mistake with technique. 6) Our words can be extra effective than we assume as well as when made use of incorrectly can develop a nocebo result (the opposite of sugar pill impact) 32. When mentoring movements & exercises it's important to make use of favorable training & cueing for workout & activity methods to stop kinesiophobia and also concern avoidance. It's additionally vital to infuse positive ideas in customers concerning their bodies. So as you can see, biomechanical variables are still appropriate to health & physical fitness experts yet they need to be considered because of both real biomechanical proof (not just speculation) and also the biopsychosocial model of pain.

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snowmobileguide-blog1 · 4 years ago

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Best Electric Scooters For Kids

Electric scooters are driven by batteries and motors and do not require a push off the ground like in kick scooters. Teens Children, everyone, or kids can ride these because they are convenient fast, and fun.

Deciding on the best electric scooter on the market may be a tedious task since there are many things and a lot of brands to choose from. We've sought the goods your child demands to make the whole process a lot simpler for you out.

Compare those needs with the qualities of the product and then you need to identify your own needs Prior to making the decision. Obviously, you should possess some know-how about what these scooters are from.

We will tell you in detail everything you ought to know before purchasing a children' electric scooter. Note that some of these scooters may function as best alternative for toddlers also. For more, click here.

Our Picks of the Best Electric Scooters For Kids of 2020:

1. Razor E300 Electric Scooter:

This product is a must-have if you've scooter kids at home. It costs around $400.

Razor produces some of the most innovative models in the world of scooting along with the Razor E300 is evidence of that. E300 is just one of the best electric scooters in town. For more details, visit Geekwake.

This product is such as the retractable kickstand and the hand brake. It's a motor scooter which gives power to go over a speed of 15 mph making it a good sufficient for each day small trips.

With a complete charge, the razor E300 battery system has a running time up to 40 minutes. It's fairly broad and heavy which allows weight to stand up to 220 pounds.

So whether you're an older child or a teenager, you need to be able to travel on it easily. As a result of this brake system you may control it although its weight is over 50 lbs.

The front and rear tires are rather large so that you get a smooth ride over rough surfaces as well. This is the reason we think this is the best electric scooter for the money.

Pros: + Retractable kickstand + Chain-driven motor + Excellent for little trips to college

Why We Liked It -- It is designed to give you the maximum optimized riding experience so it has high torque and twist-grip acceleration controller. It's a mixture of quality and convenience to provide riders of all ages what the best electric scooter needs to be similar to: quick and fun.

2. GOTRAX GKS Electric Scooter for Kids:

If you're choosing a children scooter that this one can be your perfect choice. It costs around $500.

The GOTRAX GKS electric scooter prides itself on safety and design. Its'Safe Start Technology', ensures that the engine will not kick in till your child places firmly on the deck and both feet firmly. For more details visit Geekwake.

The scooter's 6-inch, hard rubber wheels mean that the ride will probably remain smooth on paved areas, which makes them perfect for bumpy sidewalks and roads.

Your child will be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a color; the GKS electric scooter comes in four different color combinations, including red, green, pink, and blue, meaning they are able to cruise confidently down the street in the style they love.

The frame makes for one of the electric scooters available meaning your kids can carry them wherever they enjoy. Additionally, it has a weight limit of 154lbs, and also the recommended maximum height for the scooter is 5ft.

Pros: + Safe Start Technology + 6-inch, rubber tires + Fantastic design options

Why We Liked It -- With its six-inch tires, Safe Start Technology, and lightweight design, the GOTRAX GKS is a great electric scooter for your kids.

3. Razor Pocket Mod Miniature Euro Electric Scooter:

This is sometimes the best scooter to your 7-year-olds. Why? Read below!

If you like vintage scooters you are going to love this Razor Pocket Mod review -- it's a classic look. However, everything indoors is quite contemporary. The chain-driven motor provides varying rates and at top speeds, you can go 15 mph.

Once complete cost, it can provide you a range of 10 miles that's great for urban commutes to college, work or just running errands. It is good for older kids as well as teenagers with a weight capacity of 170 lbs.

It has two 12 Volts (24 volts in complete ) lead-acid batteries to power the scooter and requires approximately 12 hours to charge fully. You only have to leave it on charging overnight and then use it the next day, this is excellent information from ScooterAdviser.

It is a lot more comfortable to sit on since this one has a seat and you get some storage area. These features make it one of the best-motorized scooters for kids.

Pros: + Vintage look + 10-mile range + Has a seat for comfort

Why We Liked It -- This electric Razor scooter is every bit fun with its classic yet funky appearance and an array of color options. For girls, this cheap electric scooter comes in Pink, Sweet Pea, and Betty while boys have some choice with black and red. Razor supplies a warranty for this product that makes it a purchase.

4. HOVERSTAR Electric Kick Start Scooter:

If you are on the hunt for a beginner scooter for your child the HOVERSTAR Electric Kick Start Scooter is a great item. For more details, visit Geekwake.

It takes approximately 15 minutes to set up when you receive it, and each charge lasts for upwards of 5 kilometers. It only gets around 6 mph, so you don't have to worry about them moving too quickly.

We all know children love their own style, and that's just another reason that we enjoyed this scooter. Choose from Black, Pink, Blue, and Red.

The height is easily adjustable to match their dimensions, and the handbrake makes it simple for them to slow down in an instant. They will also enjoy the rubber handgrips for handling purposes.

Pros: + Four basic colors + 6 mph max speed with a 5-mile array + Perfect for children learning how to scooter

We Like It We like this kid's scooter because it is a solid entry product for younger individuals.

5. TOXOZERS Mature Citycoco 1000W Scooter:

Toxozers has produced a product which provides ends that were other a run for their money. Consider this; the TOXOZERS Adult Citycoco 1000W Fat Tire Scooter can give you a speed of around 20 miles which is quite much for this kind of ride.

It wouldn't be wrong to call this one of the fastest and best electric scooters. The battery system consists of four 12v lead-acid batteries that provide you 10-20 miles per charger and take about 4-8 hours to charge, making it one of the best motor scooters for teenagers. For more details, visit Geekwake.

Similar to other versions, its range can also be 10-20 miles which are still ample for anybody. Any boy or girl having a bit riding experience can ride that, but it's recommended just for children over or 16.

This one is not foldable. The huge tires (225/55-8) on front and rear match the strength provided by its internal parts and complete the ride gets quite smooth. Its speed and range are dependent on the driver's weight so it may vary from rider to rider.

Why We Liked It -- The expression of the scooter is to die for as it looks fairly stylish with a black exterior. The deck, handlebar, wheels everything compliments the look and feel. If you are someone who's particular about design for her or his rides, then this is actually the product to go for.

6. Razor E325 Electric Scooter:

Those who favor minimalistic items would love to ride the Razor E325 and is famous to be the best electric scooter from Razor. This one is similar to E300 since it has a chain-driven engine and supplies speed up. It has variable speed acceleration also so in the event that you prefer to go. For more, visit Geekwake.

The sized deck permits the rider to comfortably put both his feet on it while riding. It makes a good option for commuters.

Pavements and roads in suburban or urban areas can be irregular so this helps make the ride as smooth as possible and absorb all of the shocks through its powerful wheels.

Its range in terms of time is better than many other rival models as on full charge it has a running time of up to 45 minutes. Children as young as 12 can quickly ride this razor motor scooter without even requiring more instruction, as seen on ScooterAdviser and comparable sites.

We Liked It -- The most simple look of the E325 is your winning quality for us. It has a lot going on which can be great but not everybody wants that. Some people like things which are precisely how this one looks.

7. Razor E200 Electric Scooter:

Another great offering from Razor, that the E200 by Razor has a high torque and ultra-quiet motor that's obviously chain-driven such as in most razor toys for kids.

It has a twist grip throttle to make twisting a bit of cake. Speaking about the Razor scooter battery replacement and package, this one has a 24 volts battery that powers the scooter to endure for about 40 minutes.

It usually takes 12 hours to charge, but Razor recommends charging it to get a full 24 hours when the light turns green. You do get a nice speed at 12 mph.

There are variables that could influence the rate such as overtime use, climate, and rider weight. It is kid friendly and optimized for novice riders that have scooting experience.

But as it's fairly easy to operate, they won't take very long to learn it. They could then take them to roll or class onto the street or park with their friends.

Why We Liked It -- Since you understand Razor creates a number of the most economical products within this business, the E200 is quite affordable. The electric type scooters can be extremely expensive and this brings variety and adequate quality at a cost that is not too heavy on the pocket.

8. Razor E125 Electric Scooter:

The E125 is optimized for beginner riders that are only getting their hands on something like this. It can rightly be thought of among the best electric scooters out of Razor for kids as young as 8 can use it.

Since young children will ride it, the speed capacity of 10 miles is suitable. Similar to other models, this one too has a range of 10 miles (approximately 40 minutes).

Front tire is larger (8 inches) so the little one receives a smooth riding experience even when riding on irregular and bumpy walkways. The weight limitation that's 120 pounds is lower compared to other Razor models but nevertheless enough to withstand a teenager.

The rear wheel is. This one may be a great upgrade in the razor e100 electric scooter.

We Liked It -- it's very funky in terms of appearances and comes in three different colors: navy, silver, gold, and pink. The pink of course serves as a great choice for little girls who want to start riding an electric scooter enjoy on the street or just to perform with their buddies.

9. Razor E100 Electric Scooter:

The E100 from Razor is just another great choice for young kids as it is optimized for ages 8 or over. Since it has a front pneumatic tire it functions as the predecessor to E125.

This gives a speed of 10 miles that's good contemplating a child will be riding. For kids who have riding experience, it is not too safe with top speeds above 10 mph.

The charge period is a minimum of 12 hours nevertheless you can charge up to a full day charge. It creates very little sound with its quiet chain-driven motor.

Together with twist-grip throttle and brake that is hand-applied, the journey is quite safe. The product itself weighs a little over 30 pounds which is the reason why it is appropriate for children because they could handle it handily aged 9 or 8.

Why We Liked It -- This is something which makes these motorized rides very much accessible with its very reasonable price tag. It gives something durable and precious at a price that is lower as compared with many other models from high-end brands Razor itself. See our full review of this Razor E100 electric scooter.

10. Razor Power Core E90 Electric:

The Razor Power Core E90 Electric Scooter is due to the producer's efforts to improve the riding capacity of its products. With this Razor Power Core E90 Electric Scooter, you get improved riding range around 80 minutes which is compared to E125 and E300.

The rate nevertheless is compared with these models and is only 10 mph. As it is intended for kids aged 8 or 13, this is justified. It is maintenance-free with no chains so a layout.

Additionally, it serves as one of the lightest versions with a maximum weight of just 22 pounds. It's possible to state that the Razor Power Core E90 Electric Scooter has the essence of a kick scooter however is an electric one.

As it is so light kids under the age of 8 may ride it without having training wheels if they have ridden regular scooters.

Why We Liked It -- The Razor Power Core E90 Electric Scooter is the least expensive scooter on this list and goes to prove that a good product does not necessarily need to be pricey.

You've got two choices with black colored that is pink and green but it can be considered just as accent colours vary. For more, click here.

#electricscootersforkids #electricscooter

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fallen029 · 5 years ago

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More vampire au *^*

Parts: I, II, III

The heat faded slowly as the leaves in the overgrown trees that littered the grounds browned and reddened, drifting on windy days to cover the lawn and provide ample things to chase about, when caught in a drift, for the kittens.

Laxus found the autumn at least somewhat welcoming as he spent many of his days raking the seemingly never ending streams of leaves in the far more comfortable temperatures the season provided than the one prior. The days began to grow shorter, which bled into longer nights, and the Mistress frequently was gone for much longer periods of time.

Alone.

Tension had formed in the woman over the past few weeks that had nothing to do with the still unsteady dynamics that were forming in the household. She seemed concerned and bothered by something much deeper and more troublesome than her meddling younger sister or frequently disheartened older brother. Whatever it was, when she returned to the house, she’d immediately want to be alone with Laxus, for the exact reasons she’d kept him around to begin with.

It was a bit concerning. Or at least it should have been, honestly, Laxus knew. For an eternal being so filled with malice and iniquity, that there was something weighing heavy on her mind couldn’t bear well for the rest of them. But Laxus observed with the same detached sense of being he provided to the household.

Sometimes it felt like he was just…peeking in. Through the stained and cracked windows. Peering into something too massive for him to properly contain and, eventually, he’d have seen enough and he could just go. Turn around. Walk away. Yet, as the leaves fell and the season changed, the heat of summer left them while he remained, recognizing immorality, but refusing to address it.

If the price for the Strauss family’s depravity was soullessness, then he was certain that the part he played would only lead to the darkening of his own.

It happened on a random day when the Mistress and her siblings were taking part in their unholy slumber beneath the house. Freed was busy roaming the grounds, going over a checklists of things that the Mistress wanted fixed and prepped before her purported early winter would befall them and Bickslow was very busy bemoaning his pathetic life (or at least that’s what Laxus imagined him doing; he really didn’t pay much attention to the other guy). This left Laxus pretty much alone to snooze, mostly, after a night spent with Mirajane.

But he’d forgotten on person.

He awoke some time afternoon, starved and in search of a meal. From out a window he saw Freed still diligently inspecting the exterior of the house as well as Bickslow tumbling out of trees and, well, at least he could have some peace inside. Strolling to the kitchen, he was more than a bit surprised by what he stumbled upon.

Evergreen.

Which wasn’t holly odd. Not necessarily. The woman was a mindless being now, but still just that; being. So it was ignorant of him to just discount her being around. Elfman, for the most part, seemed to keep her locked away in his part of the mansion and Laxus only tried to ignore that particular atrocity as, if he linger on it too much, gave it any sort of thought, then he had to recognized his own hand in the brutal dubiousness in which someone he once considered a dare friend was being held captive by a brute. Laxus struggled enough with his own morality as he went around with a woman decimated the lives of others for her own, personal gain.

To also admit that he was living in the same house in which his friend was brutalized night after night was too much to admit to himself.

So Laxus just didn’t.

He couldn’t.

Even though he knew that she and Freed were not longer, well, Evergreen and Freed, he knew, he had to know, that somewhere, deep beneath the void the Strauss’ had cast upon them, that they did exist. They were just covered up, buried, but there.

The complicity of murder was somehow easier for Laxus to escape than the supposed aloofness required to accept prolonged torture.

Especially sexual.

As condemned and damned as his soul already was, the toll admission to that would be too much.

But when he stumbled upon Evergreen in the kitchen that day, it wasn’t to find her aimlessly wandering about which would inevitably lead to him having to awkwardly rush away, muttering not much of an excuse. No.

In fact, he heard Evergreen, even, before he saw her.

She was…humming, oddly enough, as he approached, stood over by a loaf of bread she was slicing a piece of, oblivious to the man approaching behind her until it was too late and he was upon her.

“E-Evergreen?” he asked in surprise and she jumped, the woman did, whirling around to see him as her hums stopped, replaced by sputtered denials.

“Laxus,” she gasped as he stared at her in shock. “I thought you were slee- I mean, um, yes, master, I-”

“What the fuck?” Shock fading, the blond man stopped his retreat and instead approached with speed. “You’re not… What’s going on? Are you…cured?”

It was fucking with him to her see her face so full of emotion after being void for so long. And, as her own surprise tripped over into shame, the woman deflated some, turning back around to stare at the loaf of bread.

“No,” she told him softly, even sighing a bit. “Because I was never cursed.”

It all happened so fast. That fateful day. One minute, she was standing around, growing a bit anxious and attempting to talk herself out of it, even, her fears, unwarrented, of course, and brought on by the creepy setting. The next minute, someone was coming up behind her to slam something hard against the back of her head and then…then…

The older vampire (vampiress?) was the first thing Evergreen saw, groggy and confused by all that was going on about them. She was laying flat on her back, on the floor of what she would eventual find to be her prison, but at the time could only surmise it was the manor they’d come to investigate, a living room perhaps, ironically enough. Mirajane, the Mistress, was bent over poor Freed, stretched out there, on the ground, and Evergreen thought it was a nightmare, honestly. The woman seemed to be…biting his neck and she didn’t understand, at the time, and thought it was all just brought on by Bickslow bubbly talk over vampires and…and…

Once, when she was a little girl, something horrific happened.

The memories were feint, but she could still bitterly recall the drunken fights her parents would get in with one another. It didn’t matter who instigated nor who provoked, which came out worse for it, as she was certain it was her. No. Her mother and father were miserable and loved to make one another miserable.

It was their only joy.

They’d gotten into such a fight one bright afternoon and Evergreen could remember so well, because the spring had just begun and there were birds, singing outside as her mother angrily left the house, grasping her daughter’s tiny hand tightly in her own. She was unsteady on her feet, her mother was, but determined to flee from the drunken growls of her husband, so they marched down the road, her mother fuming and the little girl, used to this, only sniffling some, down at her feet, but knowing better than to complain.

But her mother was lost, whether from the intoxication of her anger or her drinks Ever didn’t know, but she was so far gone as she grumbled and griped and swore things she didn’t mean, she never meant any of the things she promised and vowed, but it wouldn’t matter anyways.

None of it would matter.

Her mother crossed the road without looking and was struck fatally by a car. It felt like it came out of nowhere, whipping around the corner, and the teen behind the wheel was surely speeding, but at any other time of day, any other moment, only seconds before or after, it wouldn’t have mattered, not in the long run, but that day, that specific day, it did matter.

It mattered a lot.

Evergreen was trailing behind her, just a bit, stumbling over the curb of the sidewalk and her mother’s hand slipped out of her grasp. As the woman glanced back behind herself, at her daughter, the bright red car slammed forcibly into her and it was horrible. To relive. She could remember the loud yell that left her lips, burning her throat as some man, a witness to the accident, wrapped her up in his arms and carried her away, trying to shield her eyes the best he could from the mangled wreck that was her mother’s corpse.

But she saw it.

She saw it every single time she closed her eyes.

She wouldn’t speak.

She couldn’t speak.

For weeks following the incident, words few hard and she was traumatized, the doctor told her father in hushed whispers, but Ever heard. And saw. Everything now.

There was no memory for her, of when her silence came to an end, and as she grew older, the entire incident felt so far away. Distant. There were little things that could drag her back, that could remind her. The smell of the same brand of cigarettes her mother smoked, the sight of a red car speeding down a neighborhood road, the bitter taste of beer, just like the one she’d steal sips of, from both her parents, and sometimes, when people yelled too much, got too upset with one another, she could feel herself go all the way back, to being a little girl, hiding out in her room and hoping it would just be over all ready.

When would it be over all ready?

Never for Freed, as the Mistress wasn’t feasting on his blood, but rather forcing him into a permanent, eternal trance, and just witnessing the act killed any soft of protest in Ever’s throat and she was frozen, even before the woman turned to feast on her.

“She’s awake, sis!”

There was a younger. The younger one, was a better term for her. Lisanna. She bounced around the living room with glee as she stood over the trio.

“Isn’t she perfect? For Elf?” Lisanna kept up, but then her eyes fell to Ever’s side where, though the woman refused to glance, she was certain Bickslow laid. “But what will we do with the other one?”

The Mistress rose finally, from where she’d been bowed over Freed and turned to look down at Evergreen and Bickslow as well.

“I do not have any use for him, should things turn out well with the one over here.” She nodded down at Freed, the Mistress did, before shrugging. “Perhaps, he will be an easy hunt for Elfman. When he awakens, I will set him loose, in the woods, and allow Elfman to hunt him down. He looks weak and unable to get far.”

“That’s not fair! Then Elfman gets two things and I get nothing?”

“Then you decide, Lisanna.” And that was the first time Evergreen heard it; the Mistress’ tone. It made her shiver, but only slightly as she was mostly still frozen. As blue eyes fell from a stony glare at her sister and into curiosity to Evergreen, she remarked simply, “No attempt to flee? Resound to your fate? Good. It will make things much easier.”

And Evergreen opened her mouth, the terror rising through her chest, but no words came out and she couldn’t move, even though she desperately wanted to, had to, needed to, run away, get away from here, whatever this was, but it felt so much like a nightmare, a bad dream, and she…she…

Laid there. Silent, but horrified as the Mistress fell to her knees beside her and her teeth sunk into Evergreen’s neck about the same moment that Freed stirred, sitting up and taking a few deep breaths, also silent in an equal lack of control.

It was by chance that, at that exact moment, upstairs, Elfman exclaimed and there was a thud. Mirajane withdrew from Evergreen prematurely as both she and Lisanna turned, rushing from the room unison to check on their brother. It would be nothing, in actuality, but rather as he transferred Laxus to a chair, to chain him, per his sister’s instructions, he would drop the man accidentally.

Still, it was his blunder that led to Evergreen’s transformation not being completed and, as she blinked up at the ceiling, uncertain, she could only hear Freed breathing as he sat there, otherwise silent, void, and Bickslow still conked out beside her.

There was a choice to be made. Right then and there. To get up and run. Flee. Or to lay there and wait for the inevitable return of the other women. But the choice was mad for her, not unlike how unconsciousness chose it for Bickslow and a darkness for Freed.

Fear.

Horrific and terrifying, crippling and gripping, there was no passerby to come and scoop her up. No. She merely laid there, trapped not by an ungodly curse, but rather her own inability to just leave. To just move. Do anything to help herself.

She felt helpless.

Like a child again.

Something out of her control had saved her, momentarily. She tripped, leaving her mother to be struck, and timing alone left Freed to be the one whose soul was diminished. All she could do was view the carnage she’d miraculously been spared from and question just why this was.

When Mirajane returned, her focus was immediately on Freed, who Ever mimicked to the best of her ability, sitting in a similar manner as the man, trying to time her breathing with his deep, heavy ones. Lisanna, on the other hand, was overly thrilled at the blinking and head rubbing Bickslow was doing, ignoring Evergreen completely as well.

But there was another.

“She’s yours now, little brother,” the Mistress informed Elfman as he only stood above the woman, staring curiously down at her. “To do as you please.”

And Ever was so afraid of it, what it meant; what he pleased.

“Yes, Mistress,” seemed to be the only things Freed would said, as he was led away from the woman and Evergreen found it best to do the same, to the sibling that led her away, to another part of the house.

“You can come with me. I just…I… Big sis, she says that I need to…be around others. Again. After… Here. This is my room. Just…sit down. On the bed.”

Sshe couldn’t repeat it though. The response Freed seemed involuntarily spew. This might have raised an alarm from the Mistress, but Elfman seemed unconcerned as Evergreen did as asked, at least, and she was dying inside, fearful and afraid when he closed the door behind him and approached.

But then he just…

Sat there.

Beside her.

Not even touching her.

Squeezing his fists tightly, he shut his eyes and took in a deep breath before he just started…sobbing and crying, the big brute of a man and she’d been fearful of what brutal torture he would bring to her, what depravity, but he only moaned, late into the night, about how much of a failure he was, as a man, and something about an injury. An incident.

An accident.

“I used to be powerful and strong,” he wept into his palms. “And now look at me.”

She couldn’t.

She wouldn’t.

When it got close to dawn, he dried his tears and gave a halfhearted command to stay, but didn’t feel too commanding, whispered so softly and almost posed as a question.

She did.

Stay.

At first out of fear that he would return, daylight or no daylight, but as time went on and she heard Freed roam the house, dutifully, as well as what sounded like…Bickslow…playing, for some reason, she knew she could make a break for it. That she should make a break for it.

But the fear was still there. The uncertainty. What all did they know about her? Their new vampire overlords? Would they hunt her down if she escaped? Kill her? That was surely a worse fate, yes, than the one that she’d been sentenced to?

No, she realized, day in and day out observing the void Freed filling his duties tirelessly.

But she wasn’t living the term she’d been sentenced to. She was only pretended to. And as she found her days to be filled with snoozing as well as she could (from what she could tell, Freed seemed to not need the function and didn’t know what would happen, should someone realize she did and therefore determine she was not under the same spell as the man) while her nights were lived by the side of the whining, depressed mammoth of a man as he bemoaned his never-ending life.

It was much the same as the Mistress would inform Laxus in those early days; repulsion wiped away by repetition and, if you do something long enough, you begin to forget that you could ever do anything more. Anything less.

And there were certainly worse fates to be sealed to.

Weren’t there?

Laxus hadn’t felt so anxious in a long while. Well, since the last big shake up in the Strauss manor, which would have been when Lisanna attempted to jump his bones. No. Not since that day he was tussling with Bickslow over a woman he didn’t even want did Laxus appear absent, even in the presence of his Mistress.

She hardly noted it, at first, Mirajane didn’t as he sat around on the couch, toying with his hands and glancing around, shifty, really, unnerved, but she was only focused on her wine and moon watching. Lingering. That’s what she did a lot. Lingered about. Paced.

They were both so caught up in their own melodramas that it was simple enough to miss out on one another’s.

It had only been a few hours before, after all, that Laxus had discovered that while he and Bickslow were adjusting to their lives with their respective Strauss sibling, there was someone else doing much the same.

His brain felt broken, honestly, non-functioning, as he stood there, aghast in the kitchen beside Evergreen, jaw slacked and eyes wide. Not every detail was shared by the woman, but she did indicate to him that yes, she had been awake this whole time, rather than stuck in a never-ending trance like their other friend, and had every ounce of consciousness she’d arrived with.

“The whole time,” Laxus whispered softly, taking steps away from her, “you’ve just been…you…”

“Yeah,” Ever agreed, glancing away from the bread then and over her shoulder at the man. “I know everything, Laxus.”

And there was something in her gaze, as he met it, that washed away his relief in finding his friend, at the very least, only a prisoner in physicality, not mentally. Because there wasn’t relief in Ever’s gaze, to find him the same, because, of course, she’d know that he was still himself. Fully. That there was no spell, no curse that had befallen him.

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?” he asked as a new realization was overcoming him and he knew her answer before it left her mouth.

Tone matching the look in her eyes, she retorted, “And interrupt your love affair?”

“Ever-”

“You and Bickslow are sick.”

“No.” He even shook his head, a pit forming in his stomach at her accusation. “We’re not. Er, well, yeah, he is, maybe, but I’m-”

“Sick.”

“Evergreen-”

“I know what you’re doing Laxus and it’s disgusting and vile and-”

“You don’t know anything! You just sit around with that stupid oaf all day and-”

“I know enough.”

“I am not,” he told her then, voice dropping to a low octave as he took a step closer to her, “evil. I’m caught up in all of this just like you are.”

“You’re nothing like me.”

“If you’re so miserable, Ever, then why don;’t you just run? Huh? Right now? Go run away. And then-”

“And then be tracked down by those horrible creatures? Have them hunt me? Kill me?” She was facing him fully then, a shiver running down her body as she said, “I… I can’t, Laxus. I’m too afraid. But you…”

“I’m afraid too.”

“No.”

“I am too! Constantly. I-”

“No, I meant…” And she was the one then, that took a step towards him, gaze softening as she reached for the man. As she took his hand, Laxus was the one that felt frozen, but Ever only gripped it tightly and it shouldn’t have been so comforting, for either of them, but given that it had been so long since either had felt the truth warmth of anything besides the undead, it actually made perfect sense. “I’m too afraid, Laxus, and yes, maybe you’re afraid too, but not too afraid. Like me. You could do it. You could kill them.”

He blinked, the blond man did, but stayed silent as Evergreen only stared up into his eyes, sounding excited for the first time in months as she squeezed his hand tighter still.

“While they sleep,” she insisted. ‘You could go down into the cellar and you could kill them. And then we would be free. And know that they wouldn’t come after us. Laxus, yes, you could-”

“I can’t.”

“What? Laxus, yes, you-”

“I can’t,” he repeated and withdrew then, his hand and his presence, walking backwards back out of the room. “Ever, I… I’m sorry. I am. I wish-”

“This is the only way, Laxus.”

“I can’t.”

And Ever’s expression changed once more, looking more like herself, what he remembered, what he’d spent the past few months mourning. He had been mourning, hadn’t he?

“You won’t,” she challenged and it was then that they both heard the front door open, out in the entrance, and Freed was calling out for Laxus, to begin on all the repairs he’d marked down under the direction of the Mistress as well as Bickslow, whining something about having hurt his back, after yet another failed flip, and he wasn’t evil.

Laxus wasn’t.

He wasn’t.

No way.

He hadn’t chosen all of this.

It was thrust upon him, just the same as her, and he had those same fears. Didn’t he? The Mistress hunting him down in the night? Sure, he wasn’t charmed or in a trance, but he was just as much a prisoner as she was.

So why didn’t it feel that way?

It stuck with him, this hopelessness and futile attempts at clearing his name slain only in the minds of he and Evergreen, but when there were only two sane people around to pass such a judgment, the fact that the unbiased one could easily come to such a decision obviously weighed heavy on the other.

As the evening wound on, Laxus found himself eventually falling into bed with Mirajane, but not for anything more but to lie there, together, her now inebriated enough to lose some of her worries and him tired enough to almost forget his.

Almost.

“You’re distant,” the Mistress remarked as she toyed with his hair and it was difficult for the man to meet her eyes. “My love.”

“Am I?” he volleyed back weakly, not meaning it as a challenge, but she took it as one all the same.

Letting out a long breath, her pale fingers stilled in his golden locks as she remarked, “You are bothered, yes? By my frequent absences?”

“Your what? Oh, no, it’s not-”

“It is alright,” she insisted to him, but no, nothing had been since they’d answered that damn request, all those months ago. “I have told you before that I would answer any of your questions and yet-”

“Where have you been going?” he asked then, getting a look for cutting her off, but he only shut his eyes tightly, hoping that her explanation, whatever it might be, would sooth him long enough for sleep. He knew when he awoke, it would mean she was gone, sealed away from the daylight once more, while he had a high chance of interacting with Evergreen, which meant facing his own shortcomings once more.

He really had never been good at accepting his failures.

It was part of the reason his grandfather had kicked him out of the group home in the first place.

‘There is,” Mirajane began slowly, sounding for perhaps the first time uncertain of herself and what she was informing him of, “a hierarchy involved in such things. My siblings and I have…laws and regulations, which must be followed. We all do. And recently-”

“There’s a legion,” he cut her off again which, at the removal of her cold fingers from his warm hand informed him that this was the wrong decision. Still, he powered on. “Of vampires. I knew it. I fucking knew it. And-”

“You,” Mirajane remarked as she sat back then, shifting away from him, “have recovered fast.”

It was a good way to drown out the Evergreen drama, at least. Because he didn’t care what she said, what she thought. He’d never wished for this, never would, but he was stuck and trapped and it was all magical. Not whimsical, given the darker implications and actualized atrocities he both witness and passively participated in, but still fantastical in that, at times, it felt unreal.

It was unreal, really.

All of it.

It had to be.

Vampires were the tales children were fed to keep them off the streets after dark.

They were trash horror for the weak minded.

They weren’t real.

None of this was real.

And any part that he played in it was just him going along to get along.

Just like her.

Evergreen could do the same things she wanted him to do.

Climb down the dark staircase into the damp cellar and stab them, all three of them, right through the heart. Ending all of their misery. Strauss siblings included.

The fact she didn’t gave him all the vindication he needed in his refusal to do so.

“You go off to meet a group of other vampires,” Laxus replied simply, “to discuss on-going drama among your separate clans. Fantastic. All of it.”

But she didn’t want to play with him, it seemed, annoyed over his lack of solemnity, and only rose from the bed to go back to it. Her window. To watch. Almost like she was waiting for something. Not fearful. He’d never seen her fearful. But something not far off from it.

“Enjoy your jest, my golden dragon,” she replied dryly as he only shook his head some, just from the thoughts she’d sprang into it. “But not in my bed.”

He felt something like an argument on his tongue, but then again, it was probably for the best. Getting away from her for the night. Clearly, both their minds were elsewhere.

“Ah, boss, get kicked out by the missus, did ya?”

Laxus was none too pleased though when, upon leaving her chambers, he found Lisanna and Bickslow very busy out in the hallway. He’d heard them out there, at least somewhat, from the stillness of Mira’s bedroom, but had been unsure of what they were doing exactly.

No though, he knew.

“You both need to grow the fuck up,” he grumbled as he passed them, on his way to his own bedroom.

“Same,” Lisanna retorted, but Bickslow only snickered after him.

“C’mon, boss,” he insisted with a snicker as he and Lisanna continued to stack their dominoes just so, down the long hallway, in an orderly way, no doubt for one only to tumble into the other. “Who’s too old for fun?”

But it wasn’t fun.

None of this was fun.

And any fun that he did have was tainted by the fact that he was a murderer, wasn’t he? At least an accomplice and his soul wasn’t just becoming blotted, it was completely soiled through and he might not have been given the same affliction as the others, didn’t bare the curse, but he would never leave this manor.

Not as the person he entered it as.

Nor the person he had become while being in it.

Everything began here and it would end her eventually and Evergreen was right.

He was sick and vile and disgusting and as he fell into his bed, he knew he would do nothing to change it.

Not a single damn thing.

Because it was as the Mistress had told him, the first time he realized he hadn’t been charmed; every thing he’d done with her, every monstrous, demented thing had been bred of his own dark desires. Twisted fantasies.

He’d know this, he’d come to terms with this, it was all laid out for him on previous pondering, but to see the way she looked at him, the judgment in her eyes and the betrayal in her tone…

“Eventually,” she’d warned him, before scurrying away that day, back to Elfman’s bedroom, to hide out from the others until the evening, “shadows fade, Laxus. And everything done within them is brought into the light.”

And while his tiny, cramped bedroom was hardly the light, his actions no longer felt distant. A motion to go through. For all the resentment he had for Bickslow, for enjoying every last second of their lives with the vile monsters that fed on the life force of those around them, knowing that Evergreen pictured him in the exact same way really stuck with Laxus.

Lying awake and listening to the jester snicker and giggle with the younger Strauss out in the hall, Laxus was struck by how he and Mirajane might sound, from inside her bedchambers, to any passerby.

Judge and be judge.

Or don’t judge, he thought as he tried hard to think of it then, a legion of vampires, unimaginable and fantastical, and still be so, from your immoral actions.

#Miraxus #Evergreen #Fairy Tail #Requests

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rika-kihira · 6 years ago

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Rika Kihira-Playback season 2018-2019

Text by Oriyama Toshimi – Photo by Noto Sunao (kindly translated by @juronom on twitter, link to her original post here)

Rika Kihira,16, steadily stepping ahead, evolving at astonishing speed.

In the 1st senior season, she took the ladies figure skating world by storm. While she is still adjusting between successful and unsuccessful SP triple axel attempts, in this season, Rika Kihira has developed significantly.

At the Grand Prix Final held in last year’s December in Vancouver, Canada, Rika Kihira, has made herself known as “Grand Prix newcomer who dominates the Final” with her brilliant achievement. After her performance, she voiced her thought towards her “ultimate weapon”: “We decided that I could incorporate 3A in my programs just last year (2017), so actually, jumping it is difficult… I had the alternative of “not to jump 3A” too, but right now, looking back, it’s good that I decided to continue jumping it.”

After she landed it successfully in 2016, 3A became one representative technique of Rika Kihira. This was informed to the world from 2017’s Japan National Championship. Although she was outsider to the battle for representing Japan at Pyeongchang Olympics among senior skaters (due to age limit), she landed 3 3As in both SP and FS, taking the 3rdspot on the podium.

As she was decorated with a spectacular debut at (senior) Japan National Championship, she was expected to be “the next generation’s Ace”, she faltered at last year’s World Junior Championship, finishing at 8th place. Kihira acknowledged with concerns that “It was due to my weak mentality in international competitions”. Despite all, she burst into the senior scene with a bang this season.

In her international senior debut this season, September’s Ondrej Nepela Trophy, she won both SP and FS sections, setting a personal best of 218.16 for total score, and was placed 1st in the competition. 2 months later, with her skating at top form, she won her GPS debut-NHK Trophy, and proved her true ability.

She fell on the 3A inserted into her senior’s SP but in the FS, she successfully landed all her jumps. Not only that, all her spins and steps were evaluated at level 4, and with a perfect performance, she received a score of 154.72 and secured a reverse victory from 5th place with a total score of 224.31.

Kihira continued to dominate the GP event in France, and advanced into the final with 2 consecutive victories in the GPS. Compared to other competitions (she had competed in), the Grand Prix Final was of greater pressure, but she landed 3A successfully in the SP, won the segment with a score of 82.51, and took the lead going to the FS. In the FS, apart from the 2 3As, everything else was done without mistake, and she received 150.61 points. With a total score of 233.12, she surpassed Pyeongchang Gold medalist Alina Zagitova by 6.59 points and accomplished “complete victory” (in the GPS).

When she was still competing in junior level, she has said “I don’t function well in big rink, so the matter is trying not to be nervous”. Now, looking at her performing magnificently and rising to the top, that seemed to be so long ago. What were the major factors of her astonishing growth this season?

Firstly, she could upgrade her program components steadily. Last year, from spring, even in ice shows, before performing, she stretched to make her body more flexible, and while skating she tried to stay aware of every movement down to her fingertips. Moreover, she also learned from starting her performance in a spectator-crowded atmosphere, and that was essential preparation towards her senior career since compared to junior competitions senior competitions attract more spectators.

The next thing could be her “good ability to correct (herself)”. At NHK trophy, she made mistakes with her 3A in the SP, and she analyzed “it was due my take-off timing being a little bit too early”. She re-watched and compared videos of her SP, and videos of past competitions from which she can grasp the sense of a good 3A many times, and was successful in fixing her timing in the FS.

2 weeks later, at the Cup of France, she also missed the 3A in the SP. “It may have been because of my muscles (affected by (intense) activity) weren’t in good condition”, and she also reflected that she wasn’t able to focus in the 6-minute warm-up. In the Final, in the morning practice, she could create a proper image (of her 3A), and managed to land it successfully in the SP. In the FS 2 days later: “Since I was the last one to skate, there was vacant time after finishing 6-minute warm-up, so my timing was a somehow off.” She missed the 1st 3A, but landed the 2nd one in combo successfully. Moreover, she responded calmly (to the mistake) with the emergency combo 3Lz+3T in the 2nd half.

“Even with 3As in my programs, I still made many mistakes and I believe those are the results of “my own weakness” and lack of confidence. However, I won’t give up, and I will be bringing my conditions up to a good level for competitions, raising my success rate and improving the quality of my performance while maintaining my confidence.”

After the GPF, she faced the Japan National Championship, but her skating boots were causing her great concerns. Since the start of the new season, her new boots weren’t fitting in terms of size, so from September she returned to her old pair, which turned out to be too soft. She taped it around the ankle’s area for reinforcement, but in the 6 minutes warm-up, she felt like the right boot was “too soft” and ended up taping it too tightly just right before her performance. Due to that disturbance, she made mistakes, and was ranked at 5th place with 68.75 points, 13.76 points lower than her score at GPF, in the SP. However, in the FS, she changed the way of taping her boots, and managed to land 2 3As with 2+ GOE, and all jumps in the 2nd half, with the exception of the last 3Lz+Eu+2S combo, where Eu added as an attempt to save her step-out in her 3Lz was ruled as Eu<<. Nevertheless, she won the FS with 155.01 points and rose to at 2nd place in total.

“After finishing SP, I thought “this is not the performance of someone who won GPF” and I was very anxious. However, it occurred to me “Someone who can’t win here can’t win the Olympics” and that recharged me, and I was able to become “my always-positive self”. At the last Japan Nationals, I was so anxious that I couldn’t think, and only depended on my good conditions to jump. In the opposite, this time is a when I can push forward only with my emotions. This season, I have been able to win after surpassing failures, so I think now I have come to know “what I can do in difficult time”.

In the practice session right before competition in February’s 4 Continents Championship, her pinky finger was injured, and she was sent for medical inspection. The accident made it painful and prevented her from clasping her hand tightly when jumping. Kihira finished at 5th place in the SP, but in the FS, she removed 1 3A, and concentrated on delivering a stable performance instead, and succeeded in a reversal victory, which brought her number of consecutive international competition victories to 5.

In the prelude to the World Championship, Kihira also against the current from 2nd place in the SP at the Challenge Cup. Rika Kihira, who has ample experience with victories, would be likely to show us her growth next season as well.

The end.

#rika kihira #translations #season: 2018-2019

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everettwinkel58-blog · 6 years ago

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Having said that, here comes the simple fact connected with the Bitcoin Core Pocket book not being a showering program but a small part of a large blockchain implementation client, which is where its offerings find that will dreaded �conditions apply� asterisk attached to them. The way to Setup THE Bitcoin Core Wallet? Setting up the particular wallet on your pc or laptop computer is definitely not something that could be completed in a matter connected with minutes or even hours, since you will not really just be getting the small fragment of program in terms of Bitcoin Core Pocket book nevertheless can actually have to down load and setup the Bitcoin Core implementation � which is a task in itself. Putting in Bitcoin Core on your own personal system is equivalent to installing the particular whole blockchain�s information in it in order intended for it to be synced with all of this updated records in advance of typically the implementation could become useful. 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The personal computer or perhaps laptop computer running Bitcoin Core as well needs to have at the very least 2 GIGABYTE of MEMORY, which would mostly end up being eaten by simply the program when that runs. This specific also means to the person to have an internet interconnection with a high speed and unrestricted data plan, since working Bitcoin Core can consume bandwidth sooner and more rapidly as compared to most of the other pocket book applications, which all over again is because it is certainly not just a pocket book app but is the execution of your whole blockchain within itself. When Download Bitcoin Wallet possess ensured that you include a machine and online able enough to operate Bitcoin Key without any issues in satisfying it is requirements, you may put the Bitcoin Core setup to operate. The initial setup can easily take coming from a couple regarding days to the 1 week or even more so that, depending on the speed of Internet that you have and whether it is being shared by simply different devices or purposes. After Bitcoin Core finishes their initial setup, an individual could go ahead and even start to create this Bitcoin Core Pocket by it. Once again, that is prudent to bear in mind that you're certainly not just few to running Bitcoin Primary Wallet by Bitcoin Core, but also can delve straight into running a full node on the Bitcoin community even when you do definitely not possess to occurs Bitcoin Center Wallet. Windows Bit coin Wallet can look directly into verifying other orders simply by trying your hands at Bitcoin mining as effectively � but only do so if you have a system to support mining or prospecting businesses, as running Bitcoin Center for mining with every day machines can flame up them up pretty fast. Nevertheless, since the objective with this guide is to know more about Bitcoin Key Wallet, let�s concentrate on that will feature again. Like discussed earlier, setting up Bitcoin Core Wallet through this GUI is easy, plus you would not must have any knowledge of code different languages in order to create your private main and have a new performing wallet for yourself. All of of the options are easily laid out and could be seen without the problems. All that you can need to because of find your Bitcoin Core Pocket up and running will be to set up the security options, create your own personal pocket addresses, and� that certainly is this. You can in that case deposit Bitcoin towards your fresh Bitcoin Core Pocket book plus start making outgoing purchases as well. Even so, given that all of transactions on often the Bitcoin network are posted publicly with all the users� details and the total that has been recently transacted, almost any transactions made through Bitcoin Core Budget follow often the very same approach. Therefore, those who are aware of your wallet address� affiliation with the identity may be capable to keep track of your transactions through the posted ledger. But since this is a network feature that will be executed all over it, there isn�t much the fact that Bitcoin Central Wallet may do to opposite it. That being said, regarding additional privacy, you may possibly likewise employ Bitcoin Primary with Tor � the particular privacy-centric anonymizing solution which helps consumers hide his or her IP contact information. This way, you can ensure the fact that this is not that will easy for your genuine identity to be tracked in case someone is looking into your Internet protocol address details. Bitcoin Core Finances Evaluate: Customer Support Satoshi chose to practice their right to privateness and as some sort of result decided to go with to avoid all ongoing Bitcoin support, and that action brought about to typically the support for Bitcoin network�s to autumn into the fingers associated with its users, who truly ended up doing a new incredible job of this by means of stepping up to be able to the challenge and giving Bitcoin network on the range one spot by means of market cap in the complete world. While it can be true that the Bitcoin system has their concerns with regard to scalability, longer deal periods and higher business deal charge in the facial area of network demand, this supporting teams of programmers and programmers that keep working for the enhancement of the Bitcoin blockchain are working bringing about updates that would deal with all these issues for Bitcoin rapidly. Similarly, since Bitcoin Primary is an open-source customer, any person can add to be able to their code and propose improvements to the total network, which can be implemented immediately after conversations which may or may not cause agreement about such recommendations. The MIT HILFE Digital Money Initiative plus Blockstream are simply just two associated with many entities of which lead towards the development regarding Bitcoin Core both through financing and developmental initiatives. Different notable organizations committed to the expansion of the particular Bitcoin network as well retain contributing to Bitcoin Core, and the implementation thus has some of the the majority of proficient of thoughts inside the technology industry concentrating on it. Should Bitcoin Central Wallet Be Selected being a Primary Finances or Forex trading platform? If you intend to be able to use Bitcoin Central with regard to it has the other functions just as much as the Bitcoin Center Wallet, next selecting the Bitcoin Major Pocket otherwise you go-to service for stocking your Bitcoins would be a logical choice, since very number of wallets and handbags could provide the particular same standard of safety measures of which one being operated by means of a blockchain execution might do. However, if anyone do not possess any kind of other uses in imagination for your Bitcoin Core rendering in support of want to acquire this for your Bitcoin Main Wallet, then it would become just as smart to help not go ahead with the decision of producing that your primary wallet. Experiencing BTC wallet for Windows of accessing Bitcoin Core to help your system, like acquire as it may become, and even keeping a program on your computer that takes over 145 GB to put together and then takes about 500 MEGABYTES per day to function while a full client would certainly provide you with additional inconveniences and ongoing components troubles even if you find enormous stability for your Bitcoins frequently. On the different hand, if you are looking to maintain your Bitcoin safe towards the extent where you usually are willing to placed the hardware assets to enhance order to complete that aim, then as a substitute of saving hundreds of GBs inside hard disk drive space to your current pocket, you might invest a few funds in hardware wallets such as Trezor as well as Ledger. These wallets may keep your funds as safe and supply an individual with access to them when you plug your products into your computer. Bitcoin Wallet For Windows might, of course , require some financial charges, however you would certainly be spending a whole lot in excess of a good few months in terms of hard disks and world wide web when you keep using Bitcoin Central.

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teaguekragh9-blog · 6 years ago

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Bitcoin Wallet Windows

The need in order to how to use official wallet the fact that arrives right from typically the Bitcoin community itself is usually especially notable achievable cryptocurrency users. New cryptocurrency people are looking for that trustworthiness and trust component which could only come together with using �official� means around order to keep their very own Bitcoins safe, secure together with away from the prying eyes associated with destructive parties. When the idea is not usually suggested, such a option will exist in the kind of Bitcoin Core Pocket book, which lets consumers preserve their Bitcoin free from harm through a software that had been created and functions because the key entrance to the Bitcoin blockchain. Typically termed as the �official� wallet for Bitcoin, typically the Bitcoin Core Finances is definitely part of the original implementation with the Bitcoin computer software, which possessed been created by the originator associated with Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Nevertheless, while the Bitcoin Core Wallet remains the initial enactment for any cryptocurrency wallet, it is setup together with pertinent procedures ask for the fulfilment of some specifications and technical understanding which some users could certainly not be able to fulfil. Consequently , in order regarding new and even outdated users learn about that specialized wallet in some sort of comprehensive manner, we have put together a comprehensive guidebook that talks about its history, its features, its security capabilities as very well as their ease involving use. So without almost any hold off, let�s go ahead of time and start studying Bitcoin Core Budget, the state budget of the Bitcoin blockchain. Record of Bitcoin Core Wallet Before you understand more about the Bitcoin Core Wallet and begin generating preparations to go in addition to download it for yourself, there are one thing that will you might like to help are aware of first: the Bitcoin Core Wallet is definitely not a standalone application nevertheless a smaller part of a good blockchain setup program. You may think of this particular like installing a good fit involving applications on the device. Even when you only would like to use one regarding the software available within all the solutions, anyone would need to install the complete suite in get to get your palms upon that one sought after application. With bitcoin core version 0.16.2 said ,, the blockchain computer software rendering for Bitcoin in itself may well appear in handy if you would like to dabble in technical uses involving that. Originally named because just �Bitcoin�, the program setup for Bitcoin�s blockchain networking was later renamed to be able to �Bitcoin Core� to keep away from any confusion beginning by having a name similar into the cryptocurrency alone. Bitcoin Key had very first come to the area within January 2009, if Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled this electronic digital currency that has now changed the lives associated with hundreds of thousands involving people and delivered typically the blockchain technology for you to light-weight for this progressive creation to influence future generations. Right from the begin, the Bitcoin Central application was intended to come to be a new transaction verification engine that connected customers having the Bitcoin blockchain plus turned their very own personal computer directly into a full client the fact that remained operable on the multilevel. A cryptocurrency budget with regard to Bitcoin was particularly implementation by default. While the Bitcoin Core client has been actually only available with regard to Windows, right after numerous improvements and enhancements, it last but not least got to the point where their implementation was intended for other operating systems such since Apache and Mac. Several other features pertaining to help the blockchain�s operations were added in order to Bitcoin Key together how, which experience all been gathered inside its latest release from version 0. 16. 0, which was released upon Feb 26, 2018. Even so, despite having all of its capabilities, this several characteristics which come collectively for you to make the Bitcoin Central client an overall scientific powerhouse will be not necessarily readily available in their standalone edition. They were certainly not intended to be offered individually in the particular first place. bitcoin core version 0.15.0.1 is definitely exactly why, when you think connected with applying Bitcoin Core Pocket book, you can not separate that assumed by having to employ Bitcoin Center. If an individual are to make the most of the particular Bitcoin Core Pocket, you have got to use the Bitcoin Main application in order to help pass through the implementation and use the finances by itself. Bitcoin Core Pocket Overview: What Does Bitcoin Core Pocket book Do? Bitcoin Core Pocket is offered within the Bitcoin Core software both as some sort of graphical user interface (GUI) or perhaps through command series prompts in order for you to provide users the potential of accessing their Bitcoins through their preferred method. Since the Bitcoin Primary Budget is built inside of the blockchain implementation itself, users can certainly rest promised in the fact that their own funds remain very secure through the security and reliability of blockchain technology. While using power to create intricate seedling key phrases to access the electronic digital assets in the 1st place, the Bitcoin Core Wallet remains denso in order to malicious hacking in addition to breaking attempts. The GUI associated with the Bitcoin Core software remains especially common inside the Bitcoin Core Wallet, in which users can easily pick out their own private key/passwords/security terms only by way of navigating by the fresh user screen. Bitcoin Core Finances is not only meant in order to keep users� funds safe, but it also makes it possible for them to send out and receive funds very easily via a native wallet handle. With the newer capabilities which were introduced in typically the wallet using full Segregated Witness (SegWit) support, deals performed through the wallet currently have the ability to be executed faster and together with a cheaper purchase charge. Users are likewise equipped to set their purchase fee through the pocket whenever sending Bitcoin in order to another budget address, plus the system makes sure that will it provides near-accurate approbation through the Bitcoin Key Pocket interface. The Bitcoin Main Wallet in addition makes it possible for users to save some other wallet address to often the user�s information so they carry out not necessarily have to enter long and intricate addresses into the address rod just about every time they have to send money for you to someone who they generally pay through Bitcoins. Often the identifiable information about these contact information also remains confidential and is only accessible to the particular respected owner of each and every Bitcoin Primary Pocket. Together with all these functions, Bitcoin Core Wallet likewise offers a backup selection for you to its users, where they will can spend less their budget information within a solitary file in the event they at any time lose use of their gadget or perhaps must migrate to be able to or accessibility another product. This way, end users conduct not have to head out through the hassle of transferring their funds outside of their Bitcoin Core Finances to another service provider in case many people actually upgrade or replace the device about which the Bitcoin Key client is set upwards. Entire, as a stand alone application, Bitcoin Core Budget provides all of what anyone would expect from a new high-level cryptocurrency wallet: huge protection, ease of make use of, and high convenience. Even so, here comes the truth associated with the Bitcoin Core Finances not being a stand alone software but a small part of a huge blockchain implementation client, which is wherever it has the offerings obtain the fact that dreaded �conditions apply� asterisk attached to them. How you can Setup THE Bitcoin Core Wallet? Setting up often the pocket on your personal computer or laptop computer is not really something that could possibly be finished in a matter of minutes or even time, since you will not just be installing the small fragment of app in terms of Bitcoin Core Pocket yet can actually have to acquire and setup the Bitcoin Core implementation � which is a accomplishment in itself. Installing Bitcoin Core on your own device is equivalent to getting often the whole blockchain�s data with it in order for it to be synced with all of this updated records ahead of typically the implementation could turn into practical. That is so why, when you choose to go for Bitcoin Core Wallet as the primary budget to hold your Bitcoins in, you do not just need to continue to keep an open brain in the course of the setup, yet would have to have ample space with your hard drive in purchase for Bitcoin Center to help even start working. Often the Bitcoin Core client offers seen many upgrades since its first implementation, and this is at the moment offered to be able to download in this article. The idea calls for more than one hundred forty five GB of disk place to help set up and always be operable. Moreover, the customer will also call for recurrent updates in order for you to stay updated with the Bitcoin blockchain. Additional process requirements to run Bitcoin Core are for this consumer to have the capable motherboard ~ together with if they have a GPU as well, then it just makes the experience superior. The computer or even laptop running Bitcoin Core as well needs to have at the very least 2 GIGABITE of GOOD OLD RAM, which would mostly get taken by simply the use when that runs. bitcoin core version 0.17.1 explicates into the consumer to have an online network with a large speed and unrestricted data plan, since running Bitcoin Core can eat up band width sooner and faster when compared with most of the additional finances applications, which once again is really because it is not really just a pocket application but is the execution of the whole blockchain in itself. The moment you have got ensured that you have got the machine and web in a position enough to manage Bitcoin Core without virtually any issues in satisfying its requirements, you may squeeze Bitcoin Core setup in order to. The initial setup could take at a couple involving days to a new 1 week or even more as a result, depending on the swiftness of Internet that anyone have and whether or not it is being shared by means of some other devices or programs. When Bitcoin Core surface finishes its initial setup, you may possibly go ahead together with start to create the Bitcoin Core Budget via it. Once again, this can be prudent to remember that you are not really just partial to jogging Bitcoin Core Wallet by means of Bitcoin Core, but could also delve into running a full node on the Bitcoin system you will still do certainly not currently have to use your Bitcoin Key Wallet. You could look straight into verifying other orders simply by trying your hands from Bitcoin mining as well : but only accomplish so for those who have a good method to support mining functions, as running Bitcoin Core for mining upon every day machines can smolder them all up pretty rapidly. Nevertheless, since the objective on this guide is to know more about Bitcoin Core Wallet, let�s concentrate on the fact that aspect again. Since defined earlier, setting up Bitcoin Core Wallet through typically the GUI is easy, plus you would not have to have any knowledge of code different languages in order to create your private essential and have some sort of functioning pocket for yourself. Just about bitcoin core version 0.15.2 of the choices are definitely laid out and could be used with virtually no troubles. All that you will need to because of have your Bitcoin Core Pocket up and running is definitely to set up the security options, create your current pocket book addresses, and� honestly, that is the idea. You can in that case deposit Bitcoin in your new Bitcoin Core Finances in addition to start making outgoing deals as well. However, considering all transactions on typically the Bitcoin network are published publicly using the users� details and the amount of money that has been transacted, almost any transactions made through Bitcoin Core Wallet follow the particular similar approach. Therefore, those who are aware your pocket book address� relationship with your own identity could have the ability to trail your transactions throughout the placed ledger. But since that is a network feature that is definitely integrated all over the idea, there is not much the fact that Bitcoin Key Wallet may do to slow the idea. That being said, to get additional privacy, you may also make use of Bitcoin Central with Portal � the privacy-centric anonymizing solution which will helps customers hide their very own IP details. This approach, you can ensure that will it is not of which easy for your authentic identification to be followed if someone is hunting into your IP address details. Bitcoin Core Pocket Analyze: Customer Support Satoshi made a decision to practice their right to be able to privacy and as some sort of result decided to walk away from all ongoing Bitcoin help support, and that action directed to the support with regard to Bitcoin network�s to slide into the hands involving its users, who in fact ended up doing a good huge job of the idea by simply stepping up to be able to the challenge together with taking Bitcoin network for the quantity one spot simply by industry limitation in the whole world. While the idea can be true that the Bitcoin multilevel has it has the issues in terms of scalability, longer transaction occasions and higher financial transaction price in the facial area of network demand, often the supporting teams of coders and programmers that keep working for the betterment in the Bitcoin blockchain happen to be working to get about revisions that would fix these kinds of issues for Bitcoin soon. Similarly, since Bitcoin Key is an open-source customer, everyone can contribute in order to its code and propose improvements to the general network, which may be implemented after discussion posts that will or may possibly not result in consensus on such plans. The VIA Digital Forex Initiative together with Blockstream are just two associated with many choices that play a role towards the development regarding Bitcoin Core both via capital and developmental work. Different notable organizations devoted to the growth of this Bitcoin network also continue to keep contributing to Bitcoin Primary, and the implementation thus has some of the most proficient of minds inside the technology industry focusing on it. Should Bitcoin bitcoin qt version 0.10.1 Be Selected as a Primary Finances or Forex trading platform? If you intend to use Bitcoin Core with regard to it is other functions simply as much as often the Bitcoin Major Wallet, and then selecting typically the Bitcoin Center Finances as your go-to assistance for saving your Bitcoins would be a sensible choice, since very few purses could provide this same a higher level safety that will one being controlled by means of a blockchain implementation would certainly do. However, if an individual do not currently have any kind of other uses in brain to the Bitcoin Core enactment in support of want to down load the idea for that Bitcoin Primary Wallet, then it would end up being just as smart to be able to not necessarily go ahead having the decision of getting that your primary wallet. Experiencing the whole process associated with getting Bitcoin Core to your system, like acquire as it may become, and keeping a program on your computer that will takes over 145 GIGABYTE to setup and then calls for about 500 MB for each day to function as a whole node might provide you with an increase of complications and on-going hardware problems even if you pick up enormous protection for your current Bitcoins in return. On the some other hand, if you are looking to maintain your Bitcoin safe on the extent where you are usually willing to placed your current hardware assets to enhance get to carry out that objective, then as an alternative of devoting hundreds of GBs throughout hard disk space to your own personal wallet, you could possibly invest a few funds in hardware wallets and handbags such as Trezor or even Ledger. These wallets and handbags could very well keep your funds in the same way safe and supply you with access to them all when you plug your gadgets with your computer. This would certainly, of course , contain some monetary fees, however you would certainly be spending a whole lot above a new few months with regards to hard disks and internet should you keep using Bitcoin Main.

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ashlynncoy-blog · 6 years ago

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Misfire: Critical Condition Part VIII

Here is Part VIII.

I have madness this week, so I don’t know when I will get time to post again, but I have through part thirteen drafted and the next several bits are very concretely in my head. It’s just getting a minute to be in front of the computer that’s the stumbling block.

Remember that the #Misfire Verse tag will get you all previous installments. Here, have what I call PEAK angst:

Leia had suspected her decision to break things off with Isolder might not go over well with her superiors in government. She had not, however, been at all prepared for the fill weight of the New Republic’s disapproval.

She’d barely been spoken to since her return to Coruscant. Her position on the New Republic Provisional Council had been dissolved along with the others upon the founding of the permanent government. She’d been granted indefinite leave from her duties in the Ministry of State in order to make the trip to the Hapes Consortium with Isolder, and closing in on three months after her return, she’d yet to be re-called to service.

She’d kept as busy as she could. She’d made appearances on behalf of her mother and of Alderaan, and had done her best as a sounding board for her father, who had recently been seated as Chancellor. But things were beginning to get awkward. Chancellor Bail Organa and Chief of State Mon Mothma worked closely together. They were also old friends and trusted colleagues. They’d both shard work space and associated socially since the days before the Empire. There was only so much time that could pass before it became painfully aware to Leia that her father’s friend, her former boss, was avoiding her.

Luke was away most of the time. As much as she supported his quest to understand, and to possibly rebuild, the Jedi Order, Leia missed having her brother around. Winter was away, too—under such deep cover that the two women couldn’t even send messages through a handler. With Han still in a coma (and hating her) and most of her other friends still in the military and off on campaign, the loneliness and boredom had begun to get to her.

She spent what time she could working on the Force meditations and other exercises she’d been taught—keeping a promise she’d made to Luke years before to turn her attentions to the practice as soon as she could find the time. But ever since that day in the hospital with Han, she’d been afraid to fully reach out with her feelings for fear of encountering something so unsettling again. Her mastery of The Force wasn’t improving much.

She was having a hard time figuring out what to do with herself on Coruscant in the absence of any official duties, so when her father had mentioned his plan to spend the Senate’s impending two weeks recess on Alderaan, and asked if she would be interested in joining him, Leia had practically jumped at the suggestion.

Running home to her mother wasn’t entirely in character for Leia, but the idea of being someplace she felt welcome was enough to make the trip more than appealing. Since her return from Hapes, her mother had been gently pressuring her to begin taking on more of the kinds of responsibilities she’d be faced with someday as Queen, and Leia didn’t mind at all if that meant spending some time on Alderaan—and some on-the-job-training with her mother.

She’d packed her bags with an abundance of haste. Anything she forgot, she would surely be able to replace when she got where she was going. That was the advantage of traveling home over any of her other ventures over the years. She’d had her things sent ahead to the spaceport hours ahead of her father’s scheduled arrival at the embassy to retrieve her, and she was sitting on go when Bail finally arrived.

As she rode beside her father in the speeder, Leia couldn’t help but notice they didn’t seem to be heading for their usual port of embarkation.

“Where is the ship?” she asked as Bail piloted their ample two-seater through a particularly bad snarl of traffic.

“It’s right where it usually is,” he answered. “I have a stop to make first.”

Maybe it was The Force or maybe it was the tone in her father’s voice, but Leia knew precisely where they were headed. She’d thought she recognized this part of town, but so much of Coruscant resembled so much of the rest of it that she’d talked herself into thinking it was her own preoccupations making this neighborhood seem familiar. But no—she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head as her father brought the speeder around the final corner to allow Army Hospital to come into view in the distance.

“Dad,” she said. “no.”

“I have to, Leia.”

“You have to?” she quizzed.

“We’re still listed as General Solo’s next of kin.”

“Oh.” Leia clapped her hand over her mouth. She’d forgotten that. The Alliance was still on Yavin 4 when Bail and Breha Organa had insisted on being listed as both Luke’s and Han’s family on official documents—that way they would be notified in the event of any emergency. Leia hadn’t thought about that in years. She certainly hadn’t considered what that might mean in terms of Han’s current condition.

“I need to sign some forms,” Bail said. He pulled the speeder into the lane that would take him to the hospital’s public landing bay.

“What kind of forms?” Leia asked. She knew Han didn’t want her around, but that didn’t make her any less curious. If she could get updates on his condition from her father, then she was damned sure going to.

“They want to put him back in the bacta tank,” Bail answered.

“That’s good,” Leia said, remembering what Wedge had told her about how they’d wanted to wait on bacta until Han was more stable.

“I’m afraid it’s not,” her father countered.

“What?”

“It’s quite the opposite,” he told her. “He’s just not healing. There’s nothing more they can do.”

“But Wedge said they can’t resuscitate him,” Leia argued. Surely Bail had heard this. If he’d signed forms for Han’s care before now, he must have been told about that.

“I know,” Bail replied somberly. “But what good is it if they keep resuscitating him only to have him get sicker and sicker? Eventually they won’t be able to get him back at all. It’s reached a point where it’s too risky to keep him out of bacta. Maybe,” he said, “if we’re lucky, the bacta will do enough. Because that’s the only chance he has left right now.”

Leia could feel her lower lip beginning to tremble as she fisted her hands in her skirt.

Bail pulled the speeder onto the hospital platform and lowered its parking struts.

“You can wait here if you need to,” Bail said as he opened his door. “I understand this is hard for you.”

Leia sniffled as she considered his offer.

“No,” she said. She reached over and opened her own door, careful not to let her knees buckle from the fear she felt as she stepped out onto the tarmac. “I’ll wait in the hall.”

Leia walked beside her father across the landing platform and to the lift that would take them to the right floor. She couldn’t help but notice the confidence with which her father made the trip, but she dared not ask how many times he’d come to visit. It was clear that he’d been here plenty; as they traversed the labyrinthine corridors between the lift and the Critical Care wing, he didn’t have to look at a single sign.

Leia could tell something was horribly wrong as soon as they set foot onto the familiar hallway. There was a klaxon sounding. Beings and droids were scurrying into and out of the open door to one of the treatment suites. When she realized what was going on and whose room they were concerned with, Leia broke into a flat run toward it.

She was reaching out with her feelings. She needed to get some hold of Han, some grip on whatever part of him was still around. It was a risk, she knew. She was driven by fear and terror and Luke would probably say she was falling to the Dark Side, but that was a matter she’d deal with another day. Right now there was only one thing she gave a damn about.

She rounded the corner into Han’s room at full speed. There were doctors, nurses, droids, and machines on all sides of the bed. Leia could barely get a glimpse of Han where he lay. But she knew he was there. She knew it in The Force and she knew it by the readouts on the screens all over the room. He was crashing, but he wasn’t down yet.

“We’re losing him!” one of the doctors shouted, reaching for some implement being held at stand-by by a droid just behind her.

“Come to, General!” Leia yelled, “You are not dismissed!”.

Her voice was strident and Forceful, the same as if she was giving him an order to evacuate a failing ship—only this order was precisely the opposite. She could feel him then—something—some part of him responding to her call. There was only one thing she could think to say. “Yeah,” she said, “it’s me. I’m back.” She wiped her moist eyes with her sleeve and continued. “You want me to go?” she asked, “well then wake the hell up and throw me out!”

The medical team continued their work. Leia watched as numbers and lines danced and variated on screens all around as stimulators and medications were administered left and right.

She took a step closer.

“Otherwise,” she said, with a little more control of herself than before, “I get the satisfaction of knowing the last thing you knew on this mortal plane was the sound of my voice!”

“I have a pulse,” a nurse called out then.

“Heart rate is normalizing,” the emdee droid announced. “Spontaneous respirations.”

The team at Han’s bedside seemed to let out a collective sigh.

Leia was gasping. She could feel something—some tension, some spark of Han struggling to come to the surface. Maybe he was trying to wake up and throw her out. She didn’t know. All she did know was that he was alive, and that had to be enough for today.

She clapped both hands over her mouth to stifle the sobs as she backed out of the room.

Just on the other side of the door, Bail Organa caught his daughter by the shoulders and spun her around, wrapping his arms around her as she wept.

“Shhhh, Leilila,” he whispered, his own tears escaping as he spoke. He rocked her gently in his embrace, patting her hair the way he always had when she’d needed soothing as a little child.

“I know I’ve already lost him,” she said, trying her best to get just a little hold of herself, “but I just can’t lose him again, dad. I can’t.”

“I know, baby girl,” he replied. “And we’re doing everything we can.”

#Misfire Verse #ashlynn's fic #sw au #bail organa is the best dad ever #dad organa loves all his space children #this is the saddest and angstiest chapter afaiac #i wouldn't say it gets better after this but it definitely gets different.

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harrimir · 6 years ago

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Upgrading Your on-line Gaming Setup With Netgear Hardware: Is It worth It?

Over the final 12 months, I’ve been looking to drastically improve my on-line gaming setup. It’s no longer that my normal connection speeds were especially slow or my remote interactions rather laggy. Multiplayer suits of Overwatch and Sea of Thieves ran well ample, and most video game downloads chugged alongside at a more than applicable tempo except i used to be on the psnetwork—why the insistent statistics cap, Sony?.

however here’s the thing: For a small while, i used to be buying 250Mbps internet service and not ever even getting near that marketed velocity. Most connection checks petered out at a measly 140Mbps, which isn’t anything else to scoff at, but I wasn’t getting what i used to be procuring. After dealing with that minor frustration, I knocked my plan right down to 150Mbps and, to be fairly sincere, nothing in reality changed. speed checks nevertheless reported a max of round 140Mbps.

bottom line became this: I just knew that my hardware became surprisingly out of date and that definite improvements can be made that might alternate my cyber web experience for the enhanced, so I reached out to Netgear in an try and are trying a few of their extra enjoyable gaming-connected items. They were kind ample to send over three compelling items of hardware, and what follows is my honest event with each and every gadget.

CM1000 ultra-high pace Cable Modem MSRP $169.ninety nine

As i discussed above, I’ve been getting around 140Mbps down load and 6Mbps add on a comparatively out of date Motorola SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 modem. I feel I’ve been using that equal piece of hardware for around 10 years now, supply or acquire, so I’d say I’m due for an improve. Enter Netgear’s DOCSIS 3.1 beast, and what the field reproduction dubs as delivering the “World’s quickest Cable cyber web” at “up to 6Gbps downstream and 1.8Gbps upstream”. if you’re unique with what DOCSIS three.1 is, here’s an outstanding video describing the technology. In a nutshell, it’s an up to date protocol that allows for fiber-caliber internet speeds over current cable web infrastructure. Granted, your web provider issuer needs to present that form of lightspeed option, after which you certainly deserve to be paying for observed speed.

That talked about, I’m not currently procuring gigabit information superhighway I wish!, so i will be able to’t verify that selected tier of provider on this new modem, unfortunately. however after tinkering round with things, what i will say is that, strictly out of the field, the machine definitely looks to have stronger my network condition vastly. without even touching my historical router, I conveniently swapped out my SURFboard modem with the clean CM1000, had the cable enterprise activate it, and right away administered a wired ethernet velocity test. With simply the modem trade on my own, my clocked velocity went from 140Mbps to round 180Mbps—dazzling damn fantastic. add velocity still hovered surprisingly low, round 6Mbps, though I suppose that’s extra of a controversy with my frequent service area.

The CM1000 allows for some critically speedy cable internet speeds.credit: Netgear

on the grounds that installing, the CM1000 has delivered constant connection and speeds with none deserve to be rebooted, all whereas staying mostly cool to the touch. For journalistic functions, I bumped my carrier tier back up up to 250Mbps just to see how the modem would react, and now I’m getting a whopping 300Mbps ! download. The upload velocity doubled marginally to round 12Mbps, which I’ve study is more than satisfactory for many excessive nice gameplay streaming. I’d say this is all an awful lot proof that Netgear’s hardware will increase whatever thing speeds you’re currently paying for.

So the question turns into here: Does the standard gamer need this cable modem? It pains me to say it, however probably no longer. which you could fully nevertheless get through with more run-of-the-mill hardware, primarily in case you’re most effective purchasing lessen-tier internet speeds. but if you have Xfinity from both Cox or Comcast and wish to supercharge your connection with more moderen gigabit cyber web which you’ll want the blanketed DOCSIS 3.1 to permit, or in case you’re without problems trying to future-proof your getting older home network, I’d wager it’s value the just a little high asking expense. The CM1000 is in reality the caviar of cable modems: A tasty luxury.

XR500 Nighthawk pro Gaming Router MSRP $299.ninety nine

I have to say that my trusty Netgear Nighthawk R7000 has treated me smartly through the years, and honestly, it’s no shabby router via any stretch of the creativeness: A swish design, three adjustable antenna with impressive wifi signal energy and a bunch of normal firmware updates left little or no to complain about. however now that I’ve tried Netgear’s personal Nighthawk seasoned Gaming XR500, it’d be basically problematic to head again, as I suppose like I’ve graduated to the networking massive leagues.

The Nighthawk pro Gaming router has all of the commonplace instant community facets we’ve all come to predict, together with 2.4GHz, 2.5GHz and visitor networks. There’s even a sensible connect function that unifies and intelligently sorts all incoming device connections beneath an single, automated SSID in reality easy, in fact. Don’t overlook Quad circulate and MU-MIMO for sooner all-around connections, and fancy beamforming technology that provides additional-stable wireless indicators. also, there’s 4 antenna as a substitute of my general three, which managed to enhance my wireless connection speeds by using about 20Mbps. Then there’s the further gaming stuff, which is what makes the XR500 in reality stand out.

Netgear’s XR500 is a very strong choice for hardcore gamers.credit: Netgear

first off, the main UI browser dashboard DumaOS allows you to display screen literally everything occurring in your community in real time: ordinary download endeavor, normal add exercise, ping, as well as the bandwidth utilization of every connected device. that you can then go past that to the QoS, or quality of provider, and dictate which gadgets ideally gaming consoles or PCs get to use essentially the most bandwidth at any given time. i will be able to see this coming in handy for large households where on-line gamers should coexist with heavy-usage Netflix and Hulu streamers. that you would be able to moreover utilize the Geo-Filter, which draws up a global map that lets you control the gap of online connections to multiplayer servers with a purpose to curb lag. It’s a very amazing set of features that presents some critically customizable options for dedicated game enthusiasts.

yes, it’s an expensive—and extreme, some would argue—networking accent geared nearly fully towards the hardcore gaming market, however I consider that it hits the bullseye in terms of what that demographic desires. It’s additionally a superb choice for anybody who with ease desires greater authority over their home network. It’s having comprehensive agency over the Handmaid’s tale binge happening within the living room while Fornite and Overwatch rages upstairs, all while somebody is watching outlandish ASMR movies on YouTube in the basement and a kick back-out Spotify mix plays within the backyard. My biggest criticism is that it doesn’t consider like it prices $300; i might have favored a pleasant metal casing as hostile to the low-cost plastic Netgear selected to go along with. perhaps it turned into for overheating causes.

SX10 Nighthawk seasoned Gaming change MSRP $299.ninety nine

Rounding out the trio of premium Netgear hardware is one severely pricey networking swap. searching suspiciously like the spaceship from ‘80s Disney sci-fi traditional Flight of the Navigator, the SX10 in contrast to the XR500 fully seems like an elegant piece of package for your palms. With foremost steel housing, it weighs in at just over three pounds, so we’re talking particular doorstop fabric right here. You recognize, some thing that looks like it might effortlessly outlive the cockroaches. Such solid fabric may come throughout as overkill for whatever as purposeful as a swap, however I appreciate the attention to aspect. Makes it more durable to by accident tug the device off a desk or entertainment center.

blanketed onboard are 2 10GMulti-Gig ethernet ports, eight 1G ethernet ports, a whole bunch of customizable RGB LEDs and a physical button to manually flip the lights on and off. just like the Nighthawk professional Gaming router, the SX10 has an attractive in-depth interface that lets you fully customize your network experience. you’ve got the power to manage each and every of the 10 ports, so the rest wired without delay to the swap is commence for bandwidth allocation. that you could also alternate the hue of any LED gentle to your liking, whatever thing specially positive for determining certain video game consoles or PCs at a glance. keep in mind that one of those 10 ports is reserved for connection to a cable modem or router.

The SX10 has a number of ports and LEDs for total customization.credit score: Netgear

regardless of some salt-of-the-earth reliability, the SX10 is possibly the hardest Netgear contraption to recommend on its own, and never most effective because of the steep fee. It’s without doubt a high quality piece of hardware with quite a lot of alternatives game enthusiasts curious about their wired ethernet have a great deal to be enthusiastic about right here, nevertheless it feels much extra like an augmentation to the XR500 than any kind of standalone product. That’s not to say you couldn’t spend it absolutely independently of the aforementioned router and find a ton of great use. I’m easily seeing the SX10 as an unbeatable partner piece to an already rocking XR500 setup. probably that’s nitpicky aesthetics, however there it’s. besides the fact that children, if you do should extend your wired ethernet alternatives and choose to fork over the money for this swish little manage container, you gained’t be upset, not in the slightest degree.

Netgear provided complimentary evaluation product for insurance purposes.

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megacatstudios · 3 years ago

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THE HARDEST RETRO GAMES WE'VE GROWN TO LOVE

Glide on the Pain Train The hardest retro games we’ve grown to love there is plenty of nostalgia to be had when it comes to retro games. Some of it might come from the times of your life when things were simpler due to how young you were when you played them. Or maybe some of it was because these retro games were some of your earliest forays in terms of video gaming experiences. After all, the reasons for nostalgia vary from person to person. However, this also means that someone out there will have nostalgia for games because of how insanely hard they were. Video games have had leaps and strides when it comes to handling difficulty, with more accessibility options than before. But during the retro gaming era, developers were limited by both hardware and development experience. Since there was limited space to do things, games tended to be hard so that there would be more replayability, even though this was artificial in a sense. And since plenty of game development back then usually stemmed from arcade experiences, developers came with the mindset to make games harder to increase penny munching. Despite these limitations, however, players have increasingly grown fond of these absolutely difficult games, accepting their difficulties as gauntlets were thrown at the face of their gaming expertise. So join me today as we walk through some of the hardest retro games that have been thrown at us by the video game developers of yore.

GRADIUS 📷Not quite bullet hell, but hellish nonetheless Let’s start with one of the few games on this list that I have actually finished without using save states or cheat codes. Usually cited as one of the most important shooter games due to popularizing the horizontally-scrolling shooter genre, players are seated into the cockpit of Vic Viper, blasting their way through levels filled with enemies trying to ram you and plenty more that shoot bullets at you. At the end of each level, you will be confronted with a boss, and you’d have to shoot their weak points to defeat them. However, a lot of these points are actually protected by an additional layer that you have to destroy before being able to shoot at the weak point. The creativity of these boss battles is a highlight of the original game, as is the difficulty of each one. My favourite part of Gradius has to be the power-up system, though. Unlike most other shooters, Gradius only has one kind of power-up, and when you pick it up, it will advance a power meter at the bottom of the screen, and if you reach a point in the meter that you would want to obtain, you can do so anytime by pressing the power-up button, but doing so would reset your power meter to zero, creating a mini push your luck game of trying to survive as long as possible with a weak weapon to reach as far as you can on your power meter.

GHOSTS ‘N GOBLINS 📷Jumping in your boxers debut game of one of the most underrated franchises from Capcom, Ghosts ‘n Goblins sees a knight named Sir Arthur try to rescue Princess Prin-Prin from Astaroth, the king of the Demon World. While that plot is pretty thin, it is often referred to as one of the most difficult video games of all time. Unfortunately, much of that difficulty is either a love it or hate it kind. Sir Arthur can only withstand one hit before losing one life, and each life is also timed. What’s more, once Sir Arthur jumps, he can’t change directions until after he lands, which is maddening if you’ve played literally any other side-scroller. What’s worse is that each level only has one checkpoint, and that checkpoint is always smack dab in the middle of the level. If you die before reaching that point, you’ll be thrown back at the start of the level! Sure, there’s plenty of additional weapons that you can pick up along the way, and the game is still pretty much beatable, but right when you thought you’ve gotten the hang of it, a very nasty surprise will meet you at the end of your playthrough because now you need to do everything all over again with a higher difficulty to reach the true ending of the game! Sure, it’s nasty, but it wouldn’t be notorious for its difficulty if it was any much easier than this.

CONTRA: HARD CORPS 📷The bad news that the title is not just a silly pun. This entry to the popular Contra franchise is actually very hardcore. If you thought the original Contra for the NES was hard, the first and only Contra game released for a Sega console is even harder. Despite the prettier graphics, it has more things to master with its multiple characters, each with its own different sets of weapons. The Hard Corps also features multiple branching paths, with each providing a different ending. While that may all seem like an enticing ride, at the end of the day, multiple endings will only have players trying to finish the game multiple times. That wouldn’t be much of a problem if it’s not a Contra game that we’re talking about, especially one that is already considered one of the hardest entries in the franchise.

CASTLEVANIA 📷Don’t let go of your holy water! While not the most difficult game on this list, the original Castlevania will still take you by surprise, especially if you were able to play future entries into the series. Unlike the newer games, Castlevania doesn’t take an entire map and let you explore it to your whims. This was way before the series popularized the Metroidvania genre, and is instead a classic linear side-scrolling platformer. Like Ghosts ‘n Goblins, part of why this game was hard was because of how it handles jumps. You can’t change your trajectory in the middle of your jumps, and while that is absolutely realistic, none of the other aspects of the game is chasing for realism, so this seems like a design choice that is made to make your play sessions harder. However, this game has one neat trick that you can keep to heart to make things easier. When you acquire the holy water, hold on to it like your life depends on it. It will make quick work of most enemies within the game. All that’s left for you to do is to practice your jumps. You’ll be beating Dracula in no time.

SUPER MARIO BROS.: THE LOST LEVELS 📷When both launch and landing are problems only game in this list that was both difficult to finish and difficult to acquire, this Japan-only release is the actual sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. The reason why Nintendo never gave this game an international release was because of how absurdly hard it was, to the point that one of Nintendo’s consultants in the west back then called the game an undeserved punishment. However, this spike in difficulty was by choice, as the game was sold with a label that said it was a game “For Super Players” and plenty of tricks for infinite lives were included in the opening levels to provide additional room for players to breathe in the latter levels with insane difficulty spikes. Obviously, none of that helped in easing the game’s difficulty, and up to this day, The Lost Levels remains one of the few blotches of the Super Mario franchise. Still, there are people who regard the game as fun and clever and view it with fondness. While there’s no denying Nintendo’s excellent level design is at work here, there’s also no doubt that this is one of the hardest games in their entire catalogue.

MIKE TYSON'S PUNCH-OUT!! 📷He’s the least of your problems while not as notoriously difficult as The Lost Levels, Nintendo also had you reeling in terms of recovering from its punches with this game, later changing its name to “Punch-Out!!”. This is the easiest game on this list, with the different opponents that you face having distinct patterns that you need to figure out in order to beat them. However, people still remember it as one of the hardest Nintendo has ever released due to how you would need to restart the entire game from the beginning if you get knocked out in the middle of a fight against any of the fighters. Besides, if you experienced this game at a younger age, would you even think that boxing is a cerebral experience? You probably wouldn’t even think to see if your opponents are fighting with a pattern. You’d just mash the punch button in hopes of getting a hit in. That would most likely be the reason why people remember Punch-Out!! as one of the harder games to have ever existed. Still, I wouldn’t count out the times when one was able to identify Mike Tyson’s pattern and still be hit with one of his uppercuts that will instantly knock you out. That kind of experience is infuriating, and even so when it brings you right back at the beginning of the game.

BATTLETOADS 📷Prepare to crash over and over again And finally, we come to the one game on this list that is definitely considered by many to be the hardest game to have ever existed. Battletoads’ main problem is not in its controls or how friendly fire is enabled throughout the game, but in how it was designed. If you have noticed, most other games will give you an idea of what’s coming before it happens. For example, enemies would appear at a significant distance from your character, which gives you an ample amount of time to react appropriately before they do some damage to you. The problem with Battletoads is that it skips all of that. Enemies and obstacles inadvertently appear at a near-instant speed, which turns the game less of an exercise in hand-eye coordination and more of an exercise in memorization.If you’re absolutely convinced that you can finish Battletoads, though, you’re in luck. The game itself is fairly short, so memorizing the patterns of each level is easier than, say, memorizing all the names of stars within Capricornus. You just need to prepare yourself to lose some hair in the process.

HOLY ROLLER While people play games for different reasons, there are a certain magic too difficult games, especially when you are able to overcome the seemingly insurmountable odds associated with them. There is a reason why difficult games have been on the rise recently, with games like Cuphead or Celeste taking centre stage. These modern games are now unhindered by the technical limitations of the olden times. So with plenty of ways to adjust these games’ accessibility while also keeping true to their word for the gluttons for punishment, these games have truly transcended the barriers between being a game only the hardcore can muster and a game for everyone. However, despite the inherent difficulty that comes so often with older games, the design practices have evolved along with them, paving the way for all of the newer games in terms of designing for a larger audience in mind, and in turn, growing the industry. Which of these games have you finished? Or maybe we missed out on something harder to finish than any of these games? How about you let us know via our Twitter Page or head on over to our Youtube Channel to see more retro gaming goodness.

#blog #article #blogging #retrogames #hardgames #original photography blog #megacatstudios #mega cringe #gamingculture

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