#Mobile mechanic to check car

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[sadgi]

compiling information about the kineema, because I'm normal

hi. you may remember me from this post talking about how the kineema doesn't have a hood. I've decided to compile all the *other* info I can get on the kineema and comment on it. hopefully this is okay to read

---

let's start with what I could find on fayde

INTERFACING - With its air-cooled, rear-mounted twelve cylinder compression ignition engine driving the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox, the Kineema is able to reach 100 kilometres per hour in 13.5 seconds. And go on to a top speed of 180 kilometres an hour. YOU - Won't it roll over in the first sharp corner? INTERFACING - The high centre of balance is offset by a large battery bank mounted at the bottom of the cabin, feeding all the auxiliary systems and making the Kineema effectively a mobile power plant.

air-cooled: no radiator. I assume this is what those big heat-sink looking things on sides of the engine are for

compression ignition engine: diesel, no spark plugs (diesel engines are named after a guy, rudolph diesel, so I guess in elysium they didn't do that)

rear wheel drive: this is pretty obvious just looking at the thing

100 kilometres per hour in 13.5 seconds: not very fast acceleration compared to modern cars, but the history of cars in elysium is obviously very different to irl

battery bank: this is the only thing keeping the kineema from tipping backwards onto its ass as soon as you accelerate

YOU - "What's it packing there?" (Point to the engine.) KIM KITSURAGI - "Hundred-and-thirty." INTERFACING - I reckon that's a seven-litre V12 there. ENCYCLOPEDIA - Man, that's got to be a major advancement over the KR18GU engine on the old Coupris 40. YOU - "Wait, hundred-and-thirty what?" KIM KITSURAGI - "Kilowatts," the lieutenant replies laconically.

130 kilowatts: ~174 horsepower

YOU - "That's what..." (Rub your chin.) "... a seven-litre V12?" KIM KITSURAGI - "Seven-point-two. Supercharged." The lieutenant is trying to suppress a smug smile. Unsuccessfully. EMPATHY - Saying these words brings him immense joy.

7.2 litre engine: space inside the cylinders. 7.2L/12 = 600cc per cylinder

supercharged: has a supercharger. forces more air into the engine, powered by the crankshaft (as opposed to turbochargers which are powered by the exhaust)

YOU - Run your fingers over one of the steering levers. COUPRIS KINEEMA - The white suede feels luxurious under the touch and the metal clutch handle so very familiar in your palm... INTERFACING - Your fingers waste no time closing around the handle. Clutch disengaged. Release the handle -- clutch drops -- right foot yearns for the familiar touch of the accelerator pedal. You have synced with the machine's mechanical circulation.

YOU - "A *driver* would wear down their right shoe before the left -- the accelerator is on the right. And remember that abandoned lorry cabin we found?"

steering levers: instead of a steering wheel. not exactly sure how they'd work. I *really* don't want it to have differential steering like a zero-turn mower looking at this video of kim driving it looks like the front wheels are the ones steering

clutch handle: instead of a pedal, the clutch is a handle on one of the levers. seems that accelerator and (probably) brake are still pedals

accelerator is on the right: does everyone left-foot brake??? I guess if the clutch handle is standard then that would make sense

ABANDONED LORRY - The glass on the side windows is tinted and covered with dust. You can barely make out the shape of a seat and two steering levers. [...] YOU - Check the pedals. ABANDONED LORRY - You wedge yourself under the steering-wheel to get a better look. Seems like the few tools lying around here -- a hammer, a pair of pliers, a rusty wrench -- have been casually thrown there by the disorganized driver. ABANDONED LORRY - But one odd detail does catch your eye: A piece of sandpaper has been glued to the throttle.

STEERING WHEEL TYPO

---

alright, let's actually take a look at this thing

two door: the kineema has a single driver's seat and two seats in the back. looks like you'd need to move the front seat forward to let anyone else in

suspension: the back wheels look like they have some sort of spring (the axle is connected to it, so how are the wheels being driven??? same with the coupris 40). I assume the front arms also act as a spring

rear view mirror: looks like there's no rear view mirror, since you wouldn't see shit

aerodynamics: bad

seat belts:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[deceptive-daydreams]

So me and @gravedigginbbydoll were talking about Eddie after the upsidedown and I decided I needed to share it with y'all so you can cry with us

Eddie x reader, hurt/comfort blurb - post upsidedown Eddie, angst with fluff at the end

I'm thinking about post upside down Eddie, his injuries rendering him disabled, his left half of his body being weaker and not as mobile as his right due to nerve damage. He keeps getting better and better through physical therapy and hes super excited for his next doctors appointment because he's been making a lot of progress. You take him to his appointment and they tell him that the nerve damage is too severe and that this is probably the best it's gonna get which means he'd need to continue using his cane to walk and would still require assistance for basic tasks. They tell him that there's very little chance that his condition improves even as he continues physical therapy. As the doctor explains this to him, his expression is blank, no emotion behind his eyes. He hums every now and then to let them know he's listening but he seems very removed.

The doctor discusses the best course of action, instructing that he continues to live with someone who can assist him in his day to day until he's able to adapt to his new lifestyle. You hold his hand, brushing your thumb over his knuckles as a comforting gesture but he still stares straight ahead emotionless, only humming in response after every other sentence.

When the doctor asks if he has any questions he shakes his head, devoid of any kind of reaction. You take the initiative and ask things like if he should continue his exercises that he's learned in physical therapy, if there's anything at all that he can do to create a best case scenario and possibly improve his condition, etc. Throughout the conversation Eddie's like a ghost and completely checked out, eyes glued to the sterile white wall.

As you drive him home, back to his new trailer which had been paid for by the government, he maintains his stoic expression, staring ahead and not engaging in any conversation you attempt to start. When you try to ask him if he wants to stop by the diner for milkshakes before heading home he just shakes his head, not once offering you any eye contact.

When you pull up to the trailer, he gets out with a groan, his injuries still causing some pain though he persists through it and slams the car door, making his way to the wooden steps. You rush to his side but he waves you off, muttering an "I got it." somewhat irritably but still with a blank face.

Once he gets inside he sits on the couch, cane grasped in his hand tightly, his knuckles almost turning white. You're unsure of what to do from here, if you should leave him alone for a little bit and maybe just do some chores around the trailer or if you should keep him company. You don't want to make the wrong move, not because there's really any consequences but because he was just given some really life changing news that would scare anyone if they were in his position. You can't imagine being told that you aren't going to get much better when your mobility is already highly impacted. That you'll be fatigued almost 99% of the time. That it'd be best to look into finding a new profession, the role of a mechanic off the table. It's all so overwhelming.

Before you can decide if you're going to give him some space or simply sit with him and maybe hold his hand if he lets you, he tosses his cane to the floor, knocking against the coffee table in the process and startling you slightly. He's tugging on the roots of his hair before burying his head into his hands, a few sniffles heard from him.

At his outburst, you rush to him, kneeling on the floor in front of him, running your hands down his arms and whispering to him that it's okay. You know it's very clearly not okay but what else was there to say? He needed some kind of positivity. You knew it would be okay but right now it wasn't. Not for him. You start to whisper "I know, I know." sympathetically, running your fingers through his bangs gently.

Suddenly he's burying his face into your chest, clutching your shirt in his hands tightly as he sobs, gutteral cries erupting from him. Something you'd never heard come out of him before. You let him sob, scream, cry, everything. You don't tell him to shhh soothingly, you don't tell him to stop crying, you just let him feel. Because his life is never going to be the same and maybe there was some part of him before that somewhat knew that but to receive confirmation is a whole different thing. To hear someone else say those words to you is a different kind of startling. So you know in this moment he just needs to feel his emotions and let everything out. You hold him for several minutes, running your hands down his back, raking your fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck how he likes.

When he finally calms down enough to talk, his cheeks are stained with tears, lashes collecting them before they fall, his voice broken. He starts talking about how he hates being a charity case, someone holding everyone else back, how no one deserves that, how you and Wayne don't deserve that. He doesn't want a babysitter. He hates that you have to help him all day, assisting in the most simple tasks that he used to be able to do with no issue. He hates seeing you fold his laundry, hates that you do the dishes and clean the kitchen, hates that you cook him meals. Not because he's ungrateful but because he should be able to do all those things himself. And now he knows he can't and it takes a toll on him.

He talks about how he'll be percieved by Dustin and the rest of the kids. How they won't think as highly of him anymore and that they'll forget all about him since he's unable to do everything he was once able to. DND nights will be limited because fatigue washes over him like a wave at the most random times and one second he'll have a good amount of energy, the next he feels so out of breath and needs to take a second. He thinks the kids will suddenly hate him and think he's such a downer with the way his condition wears him out and how slow he walks. He talks about how they were all so excited for this trip everyone had been planning to the waterpark and how he could technically still go but he wouldn't be able to do anything, he'd just sit there all day and probably get sun burnt without the fun of actually getting to go on the waterslides. Steve would probably revel in the fact that he'd become the go to 'big brother' figure, leaving Eddie in the dust.

You just hold him and shed a tear or two along with him because his life will forever be changed but you know he's still the same Eddie and he can't seem to grasp that. He thinks so lowly of himself and you can see in his eyes that he's devastated. You tell him that no matter what, everyone still loves him and that no one is going to forget about him just because he's disabled now. Sure, he's going to have to adapt to a new lifestyle but if anyone can do it, he can. You reassure him that no one will think less of him, that they'll still invite him to outtings even if most of them he may turn down due to his fatigue. They'll still include him regardless of his condition, even if it's something he might not be able to necessarily do, they'll still find a way to include him. His friends aren't just going to stop being his friends.

You remind him that you don't mind helping him throughout the day and neither does Wayne. You tell him that this has become one big family and after the events of the upsidedown, everyone is essentiallly bonded to each other. Wayne would rather him be alive than anything and the fact that Eddie almost died really did a number on him. So if Wayne has to help him with every day tasks, he doesn't mind one bit if it means he gets to continue living with his rebellious, loud nephew, if he gets to continue laughing with him over stupid late night shows on the couch and sit down at the diner every week to debrief and talk about life.

Although you mention the bright side of life and how his condition isn't going to define him and that he can still do the things he wants, just maybe a bit differently than he's used to, he doesn't take well to it. It's understandable, he was just given the news that his life will never be like it was before the stupid upsidedown. So him lashing out isn't exactly a surprise to you.

He doesn't yell but he does raise his voice and it almost sounds like he's reprimanding himself more than you. His words are harsh and he says things like "maybe everyone would be better off if I didn't make it out, you'd like that wouldn't you?", "What, so you think I'm just gonna hobble everywhere?", "You have no idea what it's like, my life has been taken from me, I can't play shows anymore, I can't even fuckin' work, I'm useless." You can tell he's being irrational, the news still fresh in his brain, causing him to act out and give in to the taunting words in his mind. When he tells you to leave him alone you do your best not to take it personally. He says it until you finally walk away, continuing to take care of some chores around the trailer which only drives him even more nuts. He sits there on the couch shaking, his world crumbling around him. You want to stay by his side, you need to be by his side but you also know that what he needs more is some space before you even try talking to him again.

You can tell that he's glaring at you for cleaning again so in order to provide him some ease you step outside onto the porch to sit and ponder. It breaks your heart that Eddie, your beloved boyfriend is so hard on himself and thinks he's become some kind of a nuissance when in fact its the opposite. The kids have been asking to see him but he's refused, hating that they'd see him like this. Dustin calls every day and asks how Eddie's doing, sometimes he stops by and drops off his favorite pie, an apple pie that Dustin's mom made once and Eddie can never get enough of. She had been making a lot more of them recently when she heard about Eddie. But every time Dustin dropped them off and politley asked if he could see Eddie, Eddie would refuse to come out of his room and tell you to thank Dustin for him but that he couldn't face him. He'd tell you to blame it on him being tired, that he was still recovering, which he was but Dustin knew something else was up. There was no changing Eddie's mind though and both you and Dustin knew that, respecting his boundaries and letting him make that call for himself.

When you step back inside the trailer, Eddie is right where you left him, sitting with his head tucked into his hands again, a few sniffles escaping him. He hears the door shut and his head snaps up and he's immediatly telling you "'m sorry, 'm so sorry I didn't mean to take it out on you." and you're just shushing him calmly, telling him that it's okay and that you're not mad at all. It makes him feel shittier because throughout this whole thing you've been so understanding and he feels like he makes it so hard. He's stubborn and he knows that.

You assure him that you know he's having a hard time with the news he received that morning and that you would've probably done the same thing. It's not easy to be told something like that and he should be able to go through his emotions, it's part of the process to acceptance. Eddie keeps apologizing and you're holding him, soothing him and telling him that he doesn't need to be sorry.

Once he's calmed down, you help him into the bathroom and set up a nice bath, the water steamy how he likes it so that it soothes his aches, some epsom salt sprinkled in the water along with a dash of your bubble bath because you know he not so secretly likes it. Even though to tell him you love to do this for him, he still feels humiliated, his face going red and hesitiance in his movements as you help him into the tub. So you join him and sit in front of him, facing him as you clean him, gently moving the rag over his skin and smearing bubbles along the way. It's tender and emotinal and he could cry again if he had any tears left just watching you care for him. No one should ever care this much about him but you do. You love him.

And he loves you. More than anything. You've stuck around even when shit got bad, really bad. He almost died and he knows the kind of trauma that inflicted on you and yet you remained his rock through the entire thing. He's been an asshole and he's lashed out several times in the sense that he gets verbally upset and says things in the heat of the moment and you still remain calm and collected as he backtracks and apologizes. Every nightmare he suffers through, you're right there with him doing his breathing exercies and comforting him, making him hot chocolate in the middle of the night, mini marshmallows, whipped cream and all. Eddie knows he is such a goddamn mess, his entire life one giant shitstorm after the other but you still find it in you to love him unconditionally.

After you clean him up, you get him situated in bed, all cozy and covered in his favorite blankets. You comb through his wet curls and use that stuff that he thinks smells so good on them to keep them nice. As you comb through his bangs, you jokingly tell him he could use a haircut and that you'll book him an appointment ASAP, him laughing, knowing that you're the one who trims his hair. Then you press a kiss to his cold nose. Once everything is all settled, you curl up in bed with him, carefully laying your head against his bare chest just how he likes. His stronger arm wraps around you and a small smile graces his lips. Life isn't perfect but with you it's bearable. With you he knows he's loved even when he feels he's at his most unlovable.

[dol-dee]

So... you imagine DoL set in the early 2000s? ME TOO. Tell me more about that!

aaaaaaa yes I do!!!! (Sorry for the late reply haha. I kept forgetting to come back to this ask) I think I started to feel that way pretty early on, since there's hardly any electronics around in game.

You don't have access to a phone yourself (which, admittedly makes sense as an orphan) but electronics get barely mentioned in general. (I'm guessing the true reason for it, is that it would be too much of a hassle to implement electronics as a mechanic in game. bc arguably you should easily be able to buy a phone or w/e later on, if dol actually took place in our time) Named npcs often have phones to record you with (which I kinda forgot about tbh lmao) but unless in that context, phones don't get brought up at all iirc. None of the named npcs ever ask you for your phone number and Social media isn't really a topic of conversation either.

The only Computers that I remember mentioned in game are Leightons, Mickey's, Kylars and the one you can check in the police station. (I don't remember if Bailey even has one or not.) They are far and few between. They also all read as desktop computers to me and not laptops. Hell, the only gaming Console to ever be a topic of interest, is Robins. I don't think we hear of/see any handheld conosles at all. Even TV's rarely get mentioned.

Pop Culture, like manga, anime and games doesn't seem to be a big thing yet either.

All of that gives me the impression that most electronic is still pretty sparse and hard to come around and kinda reminds me of my childhood when those interests where still conisdered niche/nerdy and weird. The few characters that have desktop pc's seem to be ones that had/have enough money (like Kylar, maybe Bailey?) to foot the bill, are either in a high enough position of power to own one (like leighton) or they're involved enough in shady business that they might have the resources to have their own equipment (Mickey).

tbf a lot of my reasoning can be argued against or easily explained away, but I think dol is infinitely more interesting as a game/story when it's set during the early/mid 2000s, where most electronics were still hard to come by.

Oh and last but not least: it simply makes for easier story telling haha. I think there would be way more ""plot holes"" you'd have trouble explaining away if it was set during modern times. considering how much digital surveilance we have nowadays.

Aside from all the examples I just brought up, dol just has that 2000s grime to me. It's so grungy and dank in it's vibes that it always reminds me of that timeframe. Just has that kinda clunky/kitschy charm to it. (a more eclectic personal explanation is that the seasons in game still feel the way I remember them for my childhood. nowadays everything feels really out of wack thanks to global warming. Although I'm sure that people who are older than me would say the same haha)

to keep this already long post short(er lmao) I'm gonna go into some headcanons under the cut; Basically which Characters have electronics and why:

Avery: has an expensive af and extremely clunky looking (by todays standards) work laptop, that she sometimes lugs around. Also owned one of the first mobile phones. Those really big and blocky ones. Maybe even had one of those phones that were built into cars. However, I think shed be kinda annoyed by mobile phones*, even if she's extremely diligent in answering her calls. (the grind never stops) *based on this comic from 1919 about pocketphones: Mostly because she strikes me as someone who doesn't care to be overly accessible and also hates it when whatever shes doing at the moment gets disrupted by something else.

Alex: Canonically has a phone in game. To me it's a landline phone. They don't own much electronics beside it. They have no desktop pc and no mobile phone. (canonically the own a tv and I feel like they'd have a radio, maybe even an old record player) Bailey: It would make sense for them to have a desktop computer but I can't remember if they canonically (and with that I mean in game) do have one or not. I could see it either way tbh. As they strike me as a stubborn hard ass whos paranoid about electronics and quickly gets annoyed by it) They only own burner phones aside from the official landline phone thats designated for "over the counter" orphanage business. Eden: Has an old ass radio and an extremely dusty burner phone that bailey gave them once. They don't own anything else

Harper: has a mobile phone they got from Remy, it's purely for business. I don't think they have one for personal business. They own a pager though bc of the hospital. They probably have a desktop pc too if only for hospital stuff.

Kylar: Has a Desktop pc, their parents footed the bill for that many screened monstrosity (tbf i dont know enough to remember if old pcs are even able to have several monitors connected to them or not). Probably had a mobile phone once. Whitney stole it. They own a few consoles but they prefer pc gaming (pc master race /j) Some 2000s era games (with no consideration for an exact timeframe) that I think Kylar would be into are : Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines American McGee's Alice Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 / Persona 3 Portable The Urbz: Sims in the City The Sims 2 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Robin: No mobile phone, the only electronics they keep around (until they inevitably need to sell them for emergency money) are an old tv and a gaming console. I have no concrete headcanons regarding the exact console and games unfortunately. (They seem to like superhero related stuff and I don't remember enough games that I associate with that direction of the top of my head)

Sydney: Has access to a landline phone but thats it. they don't have a mobile phone. Maybe they got to look at/ try out a pc at Kylars house once upon a time, but I don't think Sirris has one themself. I might be off with this but I could see Sirris being the one who bought a few early nintendo consoles like the SNES and Game Cube. Maybe even a gameboy.

Whitney: I don't think Whitney or their family is particularly wealthy so all of the access to electronics that they got, is either through wealthier friends, bullying or stealing. They have a mobile phone and probably a few handheld consoles they nabbed off their victims (in secret).

[nothingunrealistic]

1, kleinsen

1. “I love you, please don’t go.”

“And as soon as the new car gets delivered, the minivan is mine for good.” Jared flops onto his back so that he’s lying across the entire foot of Evan’s bed, legs dangling over the side. “The Jaredmobile is gonna hit these streets harder than —”

“Are you really calling it that?” Evan has ridden in Jared’s mom’s minivan, soon to be Jared’s minivan, and it is mobile, but that’s kind of a low bar. It probably shouldn’t be hitting anything hard.

“Haven’t decided. But I know what bumper sticker is going on there first.” Jared sticks his phone in Evan’s face. “Check it.”

“‘Caution: This vehicle makes frequent stops at your mom’s house.’”

“It’s gonna be true. Especially at your mom’s house.”

“You mean my house?”

“Is your name on the property deed? I don’t think so.” Jared grimaces, wriggles around, and nearly whacks Evan in the face with his phone as he pulls out a mechanical pencil he was lying on. “And when, after I’ve spent another week chauffeuring your sorry ass around, she invites me to stay the night —”

“Mom works nights.”

“— is it gonna be you saying ‘please, I love you, please don’t go’ in the morning?” He rhythmically raps Evan’s knee with the pencil. “I. Don’t. Think. So.”

“You’re gross. And that’s my pencil.”

“Finders keepers, bro.”

“Boys?” Mom knocks on the door and opens it half a second later; in that half second, Jared shoves himself upright and slaps the pencil into Evan’s hand, and something that sounds a lot like Jared’s phone hits the floor. “Everything okay? Is that project coming along?”

“Going great, Mrs. H.,” Jared says, over top of Evan’s “Fine, Mom.”

“Good. That’s good. Well, I’m heading out to work.” She already looks as frazzled as if she just came back from a shift. “There’s money on the table so you two can order dinner. I think Domino’s is doing their half off deal again, but make sure you check. Jared, will your mom be able to pick you up? I’ll be back too late to give you a ride home.” And suddenly Evan is terrified that Jared will say some stupid thing about Mom giving him a ride, and she’ll get mad and tell him to go home now, and Evan will have to finish this English project on his own, and he’ll probably get a terrible grade, and Jared will be mad at him even though it’ll be Jared’s fault in the first place, and —

“Won’t be a problem,” Jared says, perfectly polite.

“Great. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, Evan, I love you.”

Mom walks back out, but she doesn’t shut the door, so Evan counts to five before he says, “Thank you for not saying anything weird.”

“To your mom? What, do you think I’m some kind of male chauvinist pig? Thanks for nothing, Billie Jean.”

“Is that what that song’s about?”

“What — no. Never mind.” Jared bends over and retrieves his phone from the floor. “I’m hungry. Let’s get some shitty half-price pizza. Which is a ridiculous deal, by the way.”

“I think it’s a March Madness thing.”

“In April?”

“Maybe it’s an extra-long deal.”

“Madness is right. How much money are we working with here?”

“Probably twenty dollars.” An engine starts outside; Evan shifts over on the bed to look out the window, watching to confirm that it’s Mom’s car, until it turns left and vanishes from sight. “But, uh, when the pizza gets here —”

“Yes, I’ll get the door so you don’t have to have a breakdown about it. Never fear.”

(angst/fluff prompt list)

[bonefarm]

I am so mad that every comedy set in a mechanic or body shop has been bad and weird about gender because anyone who has worked in that world knows it’s hysterical and probably more inclusive than you’d think.

I have a photo somewhere of a tech welding together an actual mace on a frame machine, we have a claim right now where a guy uses his new sports car to check cows, I walked in to our mobile trailer last week at the same time as my coworker who is an absolute bear of a man and our other coworker looked at him and said “good morning bbygiiiiirrrrrllllll!!

I just dealt with one where an absolute legend strapped a lit bbq grille down in the back of his truck and drove down the road, not realizing that this would cause a roaring fire and burned his truck down.

People do the most unhinged shit to cars and I have the wildest conversations in shops and I need someone to make a good sitcom about it that isn’t this weird caveman vs bimbo shit that pretends that blue collar workers are dumb and incapable of any intelligent humor beyond “girls dumb hahahahaha tiddies.”

[hardly-an-escape]

I'm stuck on you (I'm mighty glad you stayed)

Square: D3 - "Why did you do it?" (June monthly prompt replacement) Rating: M Word Count: 8767 Ship(s): Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling Warnings: No archive warnings apply Additional Tags: Dreamling Bingo fill, alternate universe - human, alternate universe - no powers, stuck in an elevator, claustrophobia, panic attacks, strangers to lovers, love at first sight, first kiss, post-break up sex, bog people, poetry recitation, bisexual Hob Gadling Summary: Hob is a secondary school teacher running late to meet his exacting girlfriend for lunch. Morpheus is a famous novelist just trying to fly under the radar on his way home. But when the elevator they’re in together experiences mechanical difficulties, Morpheus’s claustrophobia leads to a bonding experience that changes the lives of both men. Read on AO3 | fill for @dreamlingbingo | prompt from #dreamlingweek2023

The elevator has barely lurched into motion when it suddenly shudders to a stop. Hob is willing to bet it hasn’t even surfaced from the depths of the underground parking garage he is trying to exit. He rolls his eyes, checks his watch, and presses the door open button. Nothing happens. He presses it again, and a third time. Nothing. “Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. “I don’t need this, I’m already late.” He hits the emergency call button with perhaps a little more force than is necessary and glances over his shoulder at the other occupant of the elevator, a handsome, dark-haired man who nods tightly when Hob catches his eye. “Alright, mate?” he asks. But before the man can answer, a tinny voice crackles through the speaker.

Hour Zero, 12:08 PM

The elevator has barely lurched into motion when it suddenly shudders to a stop. Hob is willing to bet it hasn’t even surfaced from the depths of the underground parking garage he is trying to exit. He rolls his eyes, checks his watch, and presses the door open button.

Nothing happens.

He presses it again, and a third time. Nothing.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. “I don’t need this, I’m already late.”

He hits the emergency call button with perhaps a little more force than is necessary and glances over his shoulder at the other occupant of the elevator, a handsome, dark-haired man who nods tightly when Hob catches his eye.

“Alright, mate?” he asks. But before the man can answer, a tinny voice crackles through the speaker.

“Templeton Elevator Company. Are you experiencing an emergency?”

“Yeah, we’re in the lift at the underground car park on Monteagle and it’s just stopped.”

The tinny voice asks a series of questions, which Hob answers with increasing impatience.

There are two people in the elevator. Yes, they’re both adults. No, they don’t have any food or water with them. No, they don’t have any pressing medical issues (after waiting for a headshake from the stranger). Yes, he’ll hold while they contact technical services.

The tinny voice is replaced with tinny hold music. Hob curses under his breath again.

After a moment the voice returns. The elevator they are currently occupying appears to be experiencing a mechanical failure. High demand on technical services at this time. Their safety is important to the Templeton Elevator Company. A repair technician should arrive within the hour.

Click. And then silence.

“Fuck,” says Hob again, feelingly. “Fucking fuck.”

He sighs. Sits down. Takes out his mobile. No signal, of course. Or wait – maybe one bar? He dashes off a quick text to Gwen and sets the phone down gingerly on the floor in front of the door, thinking vaguely that the signal might filter down through the elevator shaft. It’s probably daft.

Heh. Shaft, daft.

He is going to lose his mind.

Hour One, 12:08-1:08 PM

“My girlfriend’s going to kill me,” he says conversationally. “We’re supposed to be getting lunch with some old school friends of hers. I’m already on thin ice, she’s always getting on me about being late all the time. This’ll probably be the final nail in my coffin.”

“Surely,” says the stranger, “being trapped in an elevator is a reasonable excuse for tardiness.”

“Yeah… She’s a bit strict about some things. I don’t know. She just wants the best for us, she’s just a little intense about it sometimes.” Hob shakes himself. “Sorry, mate. I shouldn’t be whinging to a total stranger. My name’s Hob, by the way. Hob Gadling.”

They are both sitting, now, on opposite sides of the elevator. Hob’s legs are stretched out casually and the stranger has his knees up, his arms wrapped tightly around them, hands gripping his own elbows, knuckles white. He looks almost defensive, Hob thinks, extending his hand across the elevator to shake. After a moment, the stranger takes it, squeezing briefly.

“Hob. That’s an… atypical name,” he says.

“Suppose so,” Hob laughs. “It’s Robert, actually. Hob is an old-fashioned nickname, but I got saddled with it in uni and it just sort of stuck. I studied history,” he adds in explanation.

“I am – you can call me Murphy,” says the stranger. Murphy. It has the flavor of untruth about it, but if a stranger on an elevator doesn’t feel comfortable giving his real name, who is Hob to judge?

“Pleasure. Have we met before? Only there’s something about you that seems familiar.”

“I do not think so.”

Murphy curls, if anything, even tighter in on himself. Hob does not pursue the topic.

They sit in silence for a while as the air grows slowly stuffier.

Hob taps at his phone and tsks when he sees his text has failed to send.

“I don’t suppose you have any service?” he asks hopefully.

Murphy pulls out a slim, expensive-looking phone from the pocket of his slim, expensive-looking suit jacket and gives it a cursory glance.

“I am afraid not,” he says.

“Damn. Oh well. Nothing for it but to wait, I suppose.”

Murphy clears his throat.

“How long has it been now?”

“About… twenty minutes?” Hob looks at his watch. “Twenty-five?”

“Thank you.”

Murphy’s voice is taut, and his knuckles are white where he is gripping his knees. Looking more closely, Hob can see sweat beading on his forehead, and realizes his chest is moving a little too quickly.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“I am fine.”

“No offense, but you don’t look fine, mate.”

“We are not mates,” snaps Murphy. “Nothing is wrong.”

“Okay, okay.” Hob holds up placating hands. “Whatever you say. No need to bite a bloke’s head off.”

Silence reigns for another minute.

“I. Apologize,” says Murphy finally. “That was uncalled for.”

“No worries.”

“The truth is that I am. Not fond. Of confined spaces. I am finding the prospect of being in this elevator for much longer. Distressing.”

“God, I’m sorry. You should have said. I ought to have told the elevator company, I’m sure claustrophobia counts as a medical issue,” says Hob. “Especially under the circumstances.”

But Murphy is already shaking his head.

“It does not rise to the level of a diagnosable condition,” he says.

“Even so,” objects Hob. “Do you want to call back? Tell them? Maybe it’ll get someone here more quickly.”

“It does not matter.”

“Isn’t there… is there anything I can do to help?”

Murphy looks puzzled.

“Why would you want to help? You do not know me.”

“Because I have a basic sense of empathy?” Hob says, slightly appalled. “Because you’re a human being who’s distressed? Jesus, what kind of people do you hang out with?”

“You will probably be shocked to hear,” says Murphy dryly. “That I have very few close associates and even fewer friends.” Hob snorts. “But I. Thank you. For your willingness to help. Unless you happen to have a Xanax somewhere on your person, I doubt there is anything you can do.”

“And here I am fresh out of benzodiazepines. I knew I’d forgotten something at the chemist’s this morning,” Hob says, and is rewarded with a tiny chuckle.

The rest of the hour passes slowly, but not too badly. They chat, stiffly at first, but more fluently after Murphy admits that the conversation is helping to distract him from the little metal box they find themselves in. Hob certainly talks more – but then, Hob generally talks more than everyone, something Gwen not infrequently rolls her eyes at.

He learns they both were graduated from Oxford, although their time there didn’t overlap. Murphy is cagey about what he does for a living, but shares that he studied literature and dabbled in student drama. He seems interested when Hob tells him about the secondary school where he currently works, teaching history.

“It’s funny, I used to picture myself as a professor at a university, you know, doing my own research on the side, publish or perish, all that,” he says. “Gwen – that’s my girlfriend – she thinks that would be better. Sounds better to be a professor, I guess; more money, too. But now that I’m working with teenagers, I can’t imagine doing anything else. They get a bad rap from everyone, you know, but they’re so interested in the world, and all they want is for someone to listen to them and take them seriously…”

Read on AO3 >>>

massive massive thanks to @tryan-a-bex and @karalynlovescake for beta reading. I can't thank you enough!

green = complete, orange = WIP

[salternateunreality2]

Preggoroth: Nesting

---------

Sephiroth: How can I help you, Genesis?

Genesis: *plunks down in chair, kicks feet up on Seph's desk, starts talking about his day*

One-Winged Angel: *starts playing*

Genesis: *jumps* What the fuck?

Sephiroth: You disturbed the nest. Prepare for war.

The single innocent paperclip that started all this by being moved 3cm to the left: 📎

---------

Poor Cloud Strife. He and Zack have been identified by Seph's lizard brain as "BABIES".

Kidnapping, surprise cuddling, feeding, swaddling, and lots and lots of proud staring and purring.

My babies. My perfect, beautiful babies.

---------

ALL THE SOFT THINGS.

Sephiroth's inner child is being HEALED through this process. He has built nests EVERYWHERE, from his office to Lazard's office to his apartment to Angeal's kitchen to Cloud's barracks to Genesis' closet -- any space that Sephiroth has ever felt a little bit safe or a little bit comfortable has at minimum a very soft blanket.

Zack is HERE for it, and has bought him ALL THE PLUSHIES. Not content with the Shinra SOLDIER propaganda plushies, homeboy found an entire zoo's worth of (hopefully) stuffed animals and even hand-made a few extra.

One of the homemade ones is an octopus/squid/tarantula/chameleon monstrosity that is Sephiroth's second favorite, after his lizard.

Zack created the chimera after years of listening to Sephiroth's voice warm slightly when talking about how a tentacle could hug you really well, that many eyes in weird places would be great for recon, and how he felt like he could never be his whole, true self, like a chameleon.

----------

Shinra Official Baby Shower

Boring AF, with lots of stupid gifts, schmoozing, and ceremony.

Scarlet gifted him a bunch of mechanical mobiles, which Genesis "accidentally" firagad later.

President Shinra gifted a (for him) measly check and publicly announced that the children will be "Sons of the Company" and offered "medical" treatment for life and an apartment closer to said "medical" treatment, and "nannies". Fortunately, the Turks jiggled some wires and oops the broadcast was fucked. President Shinra was uninformed about who the father is, but those in the know laughed at him behind his back for the "Sons of the Company" thing.

Heidegger had his people prepare a gift basket, but Cloud got a hold of the order and makes it secretly great, with boring stuff on top. Lots of tasty and helpful gifts for the expectant Sephiroth buried under bland diapers and onesies.

Reeve made some unhackable baby monitors to prevent Hojo's tampering or observations. He told Sephiroth about the unhackability in private, when he also gave him a mobile and a white noise machine, all also unhackable.

Hojo somehow came down with the flu and didn't make it, and his gift got accidentally incinerated. Oops.

Rufus gave Sephiroth the majority of the registry's big ticket items, like strollers, car seats, etc.

Palmer had his administrative assistant buy something off the registry, and Anne, a surprisingly insightful woman, got it in blue with a bunch of squirmy sea creatures on it. Sephiroth wrote a thank you note just to her.

Other employees brought generic cards and cheap registry items.

---------

Cadet Baby Shower

The cadets couldn't afford jack shit, but organized a diaper drive and it turned out to be one of the best and most needed gifts of all.

---------

SOLDIER and Turk Shower

This was actually more like a rager, with a ton of fun games and the rest of the registry getting filled out.

Many of the Turks and SOLDIERS gave miniature weapons of all sorts that Sephiroth was completely delighted with and squirreled away almost immediately. To this day, Lazard is still emptying tiny-weapons caches all over the Tower. The SOLDIER-Turk merch war was absurd as well.

His closest friends gave him a set of 150 bug-out bags hidden around the city and Gaia. Each bag contained cash, food, and clothes for him, a friend, and his babies, and...

His most treasured gift: a USB with a photo album plus a handful of physical pics, including 4 Lucrecia hard copies in each bag. All his friends and comrades were represented, and his closest friends had written letters to be stored on the USBs. AGSL had each hidden a quarter of them, and no one except Sephiroth himself knew the location of all of the bags.

Zack was not permitted to know the location of more than 3. It's not his fault his mouth is so fast! He's a speedy guy!

---------

Sephiroth, unable to sleep, has repainted the entire SOLDIER floor and all of his nest areas 300 times by now.

He has also done heavy and light construction work all over his and his friends' apartments.

He considered building a "baby gate" to Cloud's dorm, but stopped himself while carrying the lumber and a drill onto the elevator, realizing he didn't want to become his father. To be perfectly clear, it wasn't the "imprisoning an adult employee against his will", it was the "anti-Hojo sentiment" that stopped him.

------------

"Sephiroth, darling, we need to talk about the 3am construction," said Lazard, holding Sephiroth's hand and looking him in the eye.

"Oh, yes, I can't sleep, so I prepare for the babies. They seem to enjoy it, as they stop kicking my bladder every 2 seconds while I'm up," Sephiroth replied, glaring gently at his belly. "In fact, they're getting excited now. It is the third time this hour!"

Lazard winced.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, that sounds awful. I'll let you go in just a second, but could you please give some thought to another hobby? Several of your colleagues and even myself are experiencing fatigue due to the construction noise. Perhaps knitting would help? I know you're preparing for the babies, and you're doing an excellent job."

"Oh! Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I forget sometimes that not everyone is used to sleep deprivation. I will certainly consider it. Now if you'll excuse me, the children are getting restless and I drank a gallon of water."

"Of course," said Lazard, and let him go, relieved at the easy acquiescence.

It wasn't until the next day when he woke up to newly knitted carpeting throughout the entire SOLDIER floor that he began to question his suggestion.

"It's better than the construction," he muttered under his breath...until he passed Cloud and Zack knitted into the wall.

Excess blankets/tiny socks/hats/etc. get donated and save some cold children's lives ❤️ Helpfulroth ❤️

@snowbanshee

[flurrys-creativity]

Dreamers

Pairing: Kang Yeosang (Ateez) x GN!Reader ft. WooSan; Genre: Fluff, friends to lovers, romance, humour; Rating: sfw, PG-13; Warnings: san saying he is sick, yeosang being a troublesome driver, hints of climate change, camping under the stars, mentions of deers barking; Wordcount: 3.318; Event: 1 year anniversary of @pirateeznet; Quiz result: Dreamers

Summary: A road trip with your friends turned out to be a road trip with only Yeosang and you. And going on a trip with Yeosang held all kinds of surprises.

“What do you mean you got sick?” You whined into the receiver of your mobile phone, flopping down on your bed with a pout adorning your lips. “We can’t go when you’re sick.”

You heard San coughing heavily on the other end of the line before he spoke: “We planned the trip for months and you guys can’t reschedule your vacation days. Just go and enjoy the road trip for me as well.”

You sighed deeply and turned on your back, staring up at the ceiling. How were you supposed to survive a road trip with Yeosang and Wooyoung when San wasn’t there to catch their energy before you’d burn out. “Fine”, you mumbled and got up, throwing the last things that you needed in your luggage. “But you'd better get healthy soon! Maybe you could meet us at the last stop then?”

“I’m trying my best.” San coughed again, excusing himself and hanging up the call. 

You huffed in annoyance, slightly dreading the road trip with the guys now. For a moment longer you simply stared at your stuff before you shook your head. You couldn’t just dwell on the negative. After all, the road trip was something all of you planned for quite some time and you truly wanted to enjoy it.

You actually got pulled out of your worrying when you heard a loud engine roar just outside your home. A scoff escaped your lips, grinning somewhat in amusement as you walked over to the window.

An old pick up truck halted in front of your home, making an obnoxious sound until it finally stood still. “I’m surprised that thing still works”, you mumbled and waved out of the window.

You grabbed your backpack and another bag, doing a short check around in case you might have missed anything, before you headed out of your front door.

As you opened the door to the backseats and threw your stuff inside you noticed how only one person sat inside the car. You halted your movements and almost mechanically turned your head to the front. “Where is Woo?”

Yeosang turned around to look at you, shrugging with his shoulders. “He had a short-notice business meeting of importance or something like that.”

You raised an eyebrow, not believing a single word you just heard. Wooyoung wasn’t a guy to let go of his vacation days. You would have believed it if it were San, knowing he always jumped at any kind of responsibility from his workplace. But Wooyoung? Never.

Nonetheless you closed the door and got to the front, sitting down in the passenger seat. “Don’t you find it somewhat suspicious that San and now Wooyoung too bailed on us?”

Yeosang looked at you in surprise, eyebrows raised and mouth slightly apart. “San isn’t coming either?”

You nodded and slouched back into the seat. “Got sick.”

“Wooyoung said we should still go on the trip”, Yeosang mumbled and looked ahead along the empty street, “but it’s just us now.”

You hummed. “San said the same thing.” You turned your head to look at him, silently appreciating his side profile. “Do you still want to go? Maybe Wooyoung and San can join us for the last stop. I mean until then San could get healthy again and Wooyoung should be done with his business meeting.”

“So just the both of us, huh?” Yeosang nervously thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He glanced at you out of the corner of his eyes. 

“I guess so.”

Yeosang turned on the engine again, driving down the road. He pressed a small button, letting the radio play music in the background.

You looked out of the window, letting the landscape pass by in a flurry for hours now. It wasn’t awkward per sé with only Yeosang, you were friends for years after all but you never knew what he was thinking. You laughed softly and closed your eyes, sometimes you weren’t even sure he was thinking at all.

“What’s so funny?” Yeosang looked over at you, raising one eyebrow in question. He quickly looked back at the road, before he swerved from the lane.

You shook your head. “Nothing really”, you told him as you opened your eyes again. You noticed his suspicion and smiled at him. “Isn’t it just funny how so many pretty places are at the side of the road but people only drive by every day.”

It was silent between you two again, only the music filling the inside of the car. Yeosang’s eyes wandered to the sides of the road every now and then.

You even thought this was the end of your conversation again, when Yeosang suddenly hit the brakes of the car. You groaned in pain as your body got propelled forward but held back by the seat belt. “Wha-”. Your question got stuck in your throat when Yeosang turned the steering wheel and got off of the land road and drove down some sort of dirt path through the trees.

You grabbed onto the door handle while your whole body shook from side to side with the uneven ground beneath the tires of the car. Your eyes darted between the path ahead and Yeosang next to you. What the hell was going on?

Even after Yeosang stopped the car at a clearing, you simply continued to stare at him with wide eyes, silently questioning him what he was thinking - if at all.

Yeosang pointed at the navigation system and you begrudgingly moved your eyes away from his face and studied the part of the map shown. To your surprise that dirt path was shown as a road, you could have sworn it wouldn’t have been on that map in the first place. “So?” You questioned, still not getting what Yeosang had intended.

“You mentioned places humans would only drive by and I thought this lake here” - he pointed at the map again, notifying you of the blue spot - “might be such a place and worth checking out.”

You couldn’t decide whether you thought of his actions as adorable and cute or crazy and reckless. It tugged on your heart strings nonetheless. Usually your friends listened to your thoughts and said something as a sort of support but you’ve never witnessed someone acting on the things you said.

“Alright”, you grinned and clapped in your hands before unbuckling your seatbelt. “Let’s check out that lake!”

Yeosang could feel the stone of worry lifting from his chest once you got out of the car, somehow accepting his seemingly random decision. He knew most people got spooked or weirded out by his behaviour and mannerism but you always surprised him with your reaction. He was ready to turn on the engine yet again and turn around to get back on the road while hearing your scolding about being stupid and reckless and completely disregarding the plans all of you had made prior. 

Both of you walked through the tall grass, hearing the cicadas and birds in the trees around the clearing chirp. The clearing wasn’t far from the land road but you couldn’t hear any of the traffic.

“It feels like we’re the last two humans on earth”, Yeosang mumbled, making you giggle and intertwine your arms with his. Yeosang momentarily stiffened but seeing your wide smile, relaxed him again.

“I wouldn’t mind being the last human with you, but I fear you might get super annoyed with me after only a day.” 

Yeosang immediately protested, telling you he’d never get annoyed with you and thinking it would be the other way around. 

The both of you continued to argue as you reached the edge of the clearing and walked through the trees, dry leaves now crunching underneath your feet.

Your argument stopped the second you stepped out between the trees and looked over the open space. Instead of a large lake with clear blue water you only saw green plants spreading over the place. 

Yeosang frowned in confusion, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the map again. “The lake should be here.”

You let go of Yeosang’s arm and walked closer to the plants, noticing they were water plants that grew near bodies of water. “I think there used to be a lake here. But the past years have gotten warmer and warmer with rain decreasing as well. There’s still water underground, otherwise these plants wouldn’t be growing here.”

You got up and turned around, ready to walk back to the car. “Well, that was a let down”, you said light hearted, meaning it as a teasing joke but you stopped in your tracks when you saw Yeosang still frowned and stared ahead. You walked over to him and placed your hand on his upper arm. “Hey, it’s alright. You couldn’t have known this.”

“Yeah”, he sighed, his shoulders dropping in disappointment. Yeosang wanted to apologise, to say something else - anything - but he couldn’t bring himself to say another word. Instead he opted to turn around as well, letting you lead the way back to the car.

Once you two reached the car Yeosang was about to get into the driver’s seat when you slammed the door shut and stopped him. He turned to look at you with a raised eyebrow.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere”, you told him, feeling giddy from the idea that just popped into your mind. “There won’t be any light pollution.”

Yeosang tilted his head, not getting what you wanted to tell him with that information.

You chuckled softly at his cluelessness, shaking your head before you pulled him to the back of the truck. “The weather forecast didn’t look so bad and I just thought we could turn the car around so the back faces the clearing and then we could just stay here overnight and look at the stars.”

Yeosang turned his head to look up into the sky, mulling over your idea for a moment. While he had packed a sleeping bag and several blankets just in case, he didn’t have a mattress and remembering your luggage he was sure you hadn’t one either. “Won’t it be uncomfortable on the bare metal?” As much as the idea intrigued him, he didn’t want you to sleep like that.

“I got an inflatable mattress. We just need to pump it up. With our lungs.” You opened the back doors and pulled your stuff out, carrying it to the cargo area of the pick up. 

Yeosang carried his stuff to the back as well, following your lead. He could feel you wouldn’t back down from that idea anymore and he wasn’t too opposed to it either. “Will we both fit on the mattress?”

“If you’re willing to cuddle.”

Yeosang nearly choked on the air he just inhaled, feeling the heat rising to his cheeks as he turned to look at you with wide eyes. 

You stopped in your movements, seeing his reaction. While a part of you hoped it meant he might like you just as much as you liked him, another part feared he hated the thought of it. “I mean there will be enough space even without cuddling but we can also just drive to the next motel and each get a room if you’re more comfortable with that.”

“No!” 

You stilled, looking with equally wide eyes at Yeosang, who never yelled an answer this fast and this loud in his whole life so far. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. “I mean, when else would we get the chance to see the night sky like this. I don’t mind sharing the mattress with you, really.”

Ever so slowly you got out of your stupor and nodded, returning to unpacking the things you needed for the night.

After the initial awkward air between the both of you, you slowly returned to the easy flow of conversation. You two complained about your work and the missing free time, talked about the wishes you two wanted to fulfil in the near future and long-term dreams you had. You two also joked around a lot, making fun of each other for looking totally wasted after blowing up the inflatable mattress for longer than ten minutes.

“Wooyoung would be really helpful here”, he whined - out of breath and red in his face. “That guy can scream so loud I’m sure he could blow this up within a minute.”

You laughed loudly, still clutching your side and gasping for air from your turn before. “Or San. He has so much energy he would do it all himself!”

Both of you snickered again, struggling to return to the tasks at hand.

It had already become dark when you finally finished making the improvised bed. You sat on the edge of the cargo area, your legs swinging slightly back and forth when Yeosang appeared in your view with several snacks in his hands. You realised you hadn’t thought of the food for the night but you hoped it would be alright for one night only.

Yeosang leaned against the car and handed some of the snacks over to you, placing the rest on the platform behind him. His eyes wandered around the clearing, barely being able to see the trees on the other side now. He tilted his head back to look into the sky, fascinated he saw already a few stars even though somewhere to the west the sun was still in the process of setting.

“I wonder how cold it will be out in the open”, you said out loud, staring into the sky as well. “Or if wildlife will approach us. I swear, if I hear a deer barking close to us, I will freak out.” You laughed softly and shook your head, turning to look at Yeosang, who was already looking at you.

He cleared his throat, his gaze dropping down to his hands. “If it gets too cold”, he hesitated and licked over his lips, “we could still cuddle to keep each other warm.”

You scooted closer to him and rested your head on his shoulder, grinning at him. “Let’s do that.” You even wrapped your arms around one of his arms again, holding him in place and giggling softly. “Do you have a solution for the deer part too?”

His eyes darted from side to side as he tried to think of something. “I’ll bark back?”

You snorted involuntarily and quickly hid your face in his shoulder. Once you calmed down again you glanced up into his face, looking at him through your eyelashes. “Or you could hold me and protect me”, you whispered so softly you weren’t even sure Yeosang would be able to hear it.

But when he turned a little and wrapped his free arm around your form to pull you closer against his body, you knew he had heard you. “I’ll just do both”, he said with a deep chuckle. Yeosang jokingly barked a few times, ignoring the embarrassment crawling up his skin and heating up his face and ears.

You giggled and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him close and hiding your face in the crook of his neck. “I guess two against one would be a little more scary”, you mumbled, “so maybe I should join your barks then?”

Yeosang tightened his hold on you when he heard your hesitant and small bark, feeling as if he would melt into a puddle from the cuteness you radiated. “Maybe we should howl though, or we’d be risking that deer thinking we’re one of it and it comes even closer.”

“So impersonating a wolf should be the way to go?”

You would have never dreamt of a situation where both you and Yeosang were in the middle of the wild, howling like two idiots while being in each other's arms. Yet here you were. Only the light of a glowstick you found in the truck illuminating the both of you.

“Your howls are way too weak”, Yeosang laughed and raised his hand to your face. He pushed your lips together with his forefinger and thumb, telling you to move your lips as if you wanted to say ‘u’. Yeosang even followed his own explanation, pursing his lips in the process.

You stared at his lips, trying to mimic the form. Both of you unconsciously drew closer and closer to each other, barely leaving any space between your faces. As if on cue you two looked up, realising how close you were but neither of you pulled away.

Yeosang moved his hand from your face to your jaw, his long fingers wrapping around the back of your neck while his thumb caressed your cheek. His gaze dropped back to your puckered lips as he licked over his own. 

His breath fanned over your skin and you could feel the goosebumps rippling all over your body from the rising tension between you.

Yeosang gave you enough time to pull back or push him away but when you didn’t do either of it, he ever so slowly moved forward, closing the distance between your lips.

You involuntarily closed your eyes. The anticipation to feel his lips was even higher than before. At first you barely felt the ghost of his touch, the pressure so soft you couldn’t even tell whether it was real or your imagination. You chased that feeling, pressing your lips against his.

Yeosang hummed in satisfaction, pulling you even closer against him as he deepened the kiss. His lips moved with yours, guiding you like a dancer would guide his partner.

You gasped for air when Yeosang pulled back a little, leaning his forehead against yours. You couldn’t think straight, your thoughts tumbling around as if you just stepped out of a rollercoaster with wobbly legs. “Didn’t know distracting me was also an option you had up your sleeves.” You giggled and pecked his lips once more before you scurried further onto the cargo area and crawled onto the mattress.

Yeosang chuckled and pulled himself onto the platform, following you to the mattress. He dropped down next to you, immediately grabbing you and pulling you into his form before draping the blankets over your bodies. 

You snuggled into his side, smiling softly and pushing your face into his shoulder when he kissed the top of your head.

He hid the glow stick under some fabric, engulfing both of you in total darkness. Though both your visions adjusted soon enough, seeing the clear night sky above your heads. Neither of you had seen so many stars before - at least not in real life.

“It was a good idea to stay here.” Your voice was barely above a whisper, afraid if you spoke any louder the magic of this moment would vanish.

“Maybe we should throw all the plans overboard and just follow what we could dream of.” Yeosang agreed, his voice equally low.

You turned on your side and snuggled into Yeosang, wrapping one arm over his middle. “Sounds good”, you chuckled softly, “we should also tell San and Wooyoung we won’t be meeting up with them at the final destination.”

Yeosang raised one of his hands and brushed his knuckles over your cheek. “How about we don’t meet up with them at all and just have the time for us? Since I have an inkling they purposely told us they couldn’t make it.”

You snickered along with him, agreeing with the suspicion. “Works for me!” You leaned into his hand, pecking his wrist too.

You could feel Yeosang lean closer again, his lips brushing over your skin ever so softly. He kissed you again and you simply melted into his embrace. 

While the start of this road trip seemed cursed and destined to fail, it now shone as bright as the stars above you, leading you into an evenly bright future ahead.

© all rights reserved

Taglist: @xavi-in-kpopland​ @songsoomin

[srbachchan]

DAY 5539

Jalsa, Mumbai                  April 16/17,�� 2023                Sun/Mon  8:21 AM

🪔 .. April 17 .. birthday of Ef Samarth Pawar from UAE (hope I got the name right .. Rasika ??) .. and anniversary of our Blog Home .. both turning 15 years .. and the endearment and affection of the Ef on this loving DAY .. happiness always .. ❤️

.. ✨

yes the mornings continue to inspire the thoughts for the day .. the entire day and as I get down to the connect , there is an entire DAY devoted to the well wishers who come from day on day and never flinch a look an expectation for that short moment at the gates of Jalsa .. 

and I felt they deserve a presence on this platform .. so there ..

the gifts and the mementos given with so much effort and love is so endearing and loved by me .. but the problem is I am running out of space .. where to keep them .. some adorn the home .. some the desk .. some I do wear .. and what of the rest .. ?

I do understand the love , but is there some way of restricting the gifts .. I know it is harsh to say this but if there is a solution then I would welcome it ..

❤️

the physicality of the body is rapidly becoming the most needed element in every day lives of the aged .. move keep mobile , get up and get , work out the system .. even the voice .. for that is what the necessary need is of the moment  .. 

So .. get up to put that switch on .. fetch that glass of water on your own .. pull out the dress and clothes to be worn by the self .. wipe clean the area where you sit yourself .. clean the wash room .. check on the non function ability of a mechanism yourself - a fused bulb, a short circuited wire fuse , a non functioning door knob or key hole , get the W40 and spray it yourself till it functions , remove the power plug to the set top box or the Apple box to restart the play if it does not work or freezes ( most equipments do get back to function mode when that is done - or so I have seen the Tech guy do ), get the washing powder and wash clean some of the personal garments while in the wash room , wipe and maintain the dust free requirement of your music system - they are sensitive electronics and do need personal attention , drive as often as possible your car , to prevent it lying idle till work starts and getting signals that the battery needs attention , clean the personal car if you value it yourself , gives an immense sense of happiness , wipe that glass window clean rather than wait for the professional to come and do it , do the manicure pedicure and the hair , .... get the books in order on the rack , get the desk clear of paper work .. 

aaahhh .. the list goes on .. 

but such a joy to be mentioning all of this  .. for this is I believe the routine for all .. is it not .. 

oh and yes .. if a garden , tend to it often , speak to the plants , they respond - the flowers and the leaves and creepers .. 

AND .. yes walk .. walk to greet the well wishers .. some that see the recent pictures ask .. why bare feet ?!

I say .. why not  ?! 

Have an answer to that .. ?

.. no its not just the temple .. its the temple outside the gates as well .. 

.. and the Sunday ends .. till the next .. 

back to work and domesticity .. and the preparation for the work in a few days the one that taxes me .. and that causes that anxiety before every new project .. 

My love and care as ever ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 18

Yosh! Welcome to part 19 of my attempt to transcribe and discuss all the onscreen text that appears in G Witch, as well as talk about things I like episode by episode! We've reached episode 18, "Our Empty Selves."

Of course, if you're not ready to move forward, you can always return to Episode 17. << Here's Part 1 (PRE-DUEL) << Here's Part 2 (DUEL) Or you can run back to the Masterpost.

Being on this journey with you all has been so much fun! Shall we begin?

We open the episode on a shot of the Earth House MS Hangar. We can see that Aerial is, of course, missing, but we also see that Chuchu's Demi Trainer is still heavily damaged. Remember, at this point in the story, Earth House has seemingly completely run out of money for repairs.

Suletta and Ojelo are also attending a lecture on the use of Permet. Here's a transcription of what we hear of it:

"When Permet was discovered in minerals, its special information sharing properties became the basis for all these theories. Today, it's responsible for controlling and managing systems of every kind.

Suletta: Is it used in the monorail too?

"Yes. Permet links connect all the transit cars on campus to central dispatch. This prevents uneven data distribution..."

It's rather interesting how much the world of Ad Stella has come to rely on the use of Permet, despite its risks.

The next scene sees Suletta passing a Mobile Suit Exercise exam. (Left) It's most likely the same class we see in Episode 4, considering it's on the same testing sector, and requires both a mechanic and spotter. The exercise is similar to the latter half of the Mine Detection exercise from Episode 4, only with moving targets instead of stationary ones.

A fun thing to note is that Nuno is her Mechanic, but Till is also there, presumably as the Spotter (Bottom Left). This is because back in Episode 4, Till was the first person to offer to help her with the makeup exam as her Spotter (Bottom Right).

The scene with the Earth House students in the lunch room is also interesting. It doesn't directly parallel Season 1's lunchroom scene, (Left) but it's interesting to compare Chuchu's behavior in that scene versus her behavior in Season 2's lunchroom scene (Right)

She's the only Earth House member to appear in BOTH of them, and both scenes end with her confused about the actions of one of her friends. (In Season 1, it's why Nika just brushes off the harassment from the Spacian bullies, in Season 2 it's Suletta's cheerfulness in the face of Miorine abandoning her.)

She also doesn't say a word in Season 2's scene, whereas in S1 she's her usual abrasive, talkative self. I like that Chuchu can tell that something isn't right with what happened between Miorine and Suletta, but she just doesn't know what to do about it. It's not a problem she can punch a solution out of.

TEXT: SULETTA MERCURY WISH LIST WISH 017: EAT LUNCH IN THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA WITH FRIENDS WISH 018: RAISE HAND IN CLASS IN A COOL WAY WISH 019: MEET WITH FRIENDS TO GO TO AND FROM SCHOOL WISH 020: BUY AND EAT A SNACK AFTER SCHOOL WISH 021: CELEBRATE A BIRTHDAY PARTY WITH FRIENDS WISH 022: GO SHOPPING WITH FRIENDS

Suletta also shows us more of her wishlist in this scene. Of the ones we see, all of them have been checked off, except Wish 21: "Celebrate a birthday party with friends."

Ah...sorry, Suletta... (Though, I wish we got to see Suletta and her friends go shopping too..)

Episode 18's intro gives us our next two changes to the OP. Before Episode 18, in the scene where Guel stands up and walks away, he's still in his tattered work clothes, walking away from the camera in the camp on Earth (Right). But now, he stands up in his Asticassia uniform, and confidently strides towards the camera on the school campus (Left).

This also changes the Splash of him, Shaddiq, and 5lan at the end. Before (Bottom Right) Guel was standing in the far back, facing away from the camera, with Shaddiq and 5lan in front. But now, it's Guel who's in front, with 5lan and Shaddiq standing behind him (Bottom Left).

In the scene where we get our first real look at the Schwarzette, Prospera states that she shared Gundam technology with Vim before Shin Sei was acquired by GUND-ARM.

If you'll remember back in Episode 3, (Right) Prospera gave Vim a flashdrive as thanks for his assistance with the witch trial. Considering that it looks like the exact same kind of flashdrive that she handed to Delling, the one that contained Aerial's Permet 6 data, it's not unreasonable to assume that this held the GUND Format Data that allowed Vim to continue work on the Schwarzette. (I guess that makes the Schwarzette and Aerial sisters?)

The Haro Navigation System Ver 3.0 that Prospera is using is very cute. She's so goofy.

Anyway, something interesting to note about this scene is that this is the first time the track "Jeturk House" plays in the series after it's used in Guel's Introduction all the way back in Episode 1.

TEXT: (Left) GUNDNODE (XGF-E3) HEADHEIGHT - 18.9m WEIGHT 44.1t

(Right) MS-type GUND-Bit - GUNDNODE MODEL NUMBER - XGF-E3 EQUIPMENT - BEAM REV RIFLE / BEAM BLADE

-An MS-type GUND-Bit for use with a data storm network - Whether one machine or several, it can support the expansion of AERIAL's data storm. - The purpose of the GUNDNODE network is to automatically defend and support the AERIAL in the most optimal way, by responding the enemy attacks and sharing stored tactical information.

Our first look at the GUNDNODEs that are employed to defend Quiet Zero. An interesting thing about this scene is that when Godoy talks to Bel about it, he says, "Applying parallel distribution is your specialty. We'll continue to rely on you."

Based on the name, I assume that "Parallel Distribution" is in reference to permet based information, specifically, it's what allows a mobile suit/mobile suit pilot to control multiple instances, like GUND-bits, simultaneously and synchronously.

Regardless of what it means, I think it's really interesting how it seems like it's something Prospera can't do, or at least, do very well, which is why she flushed out and enlisted Bel to assist her with it.

During Shaddiq and Prospera's meeting, he slides this file on the attack and recovery of the Ur and Thorn. From what I can make out it looks interesting, but the text is so GOD damn small I can barely put it together.

I definitely enjoy this scene between the two of them. At this point, Prospera is definitely onto the idea that Shaddiq might be in cohorts with the Dawn of Fold.

The meeting is about Shaddiq enlisting her help in his bid for president, but she asks him about the failed recovery of the Ur and Thorn, hoping he'll take the bait.

And he DOES. Think about his explanation here. "It seems they had built-in self-destruct protocols." The Ur and Thorn are basically carbon copies of the base Lfrith model with extra permet processors and weapons taped onto it. The original code is most likely barely changed, so if they had "self-destruct protocols," Prospera would KNOW that, because she was the one who WROTE the fucking thing.

She asks him why he wouldn't try to obtain one in a damaged state, and when he doesn't have a response, she doubles down, asserting that their recovery might "cause him some inconvenience."

Look at the way she's sitting here. That confident ass smirk. She's got him dead to fucking rights, and now that she's ascertained Shaddiq's involvement with the DOF, we see in real time her heel turn.

Earlier in the episode, before that talk, Prospera recommends Miorine promote the Schwarzette as a cooperation between GUND-ARM and Jeturk, because at this point, the presidential race is still a rather important facet in her plan. Quiet Zero is nearly fully complete, but she still needs to buy more time to locate and destroy the origin of the Lfrith models.

But after her talk with Shaddiq the goal has changed. As of now, the outcome of the presidential race means nothing. Now that she's linked Shaddiq to the DOF, she's most certainly had Godoy look into HIM, and discovered his connection to the Space Assembly League, and thus, Ochs Earth. And just like that, the origin of the models has been confirmed, and so they must be somewhere on Earth. Now the goal is to get to Earth as quickly as possible.

God I love her.

There's a lot I really like about this scene, so I'm gonna talk for a bit

(Top Row) It's really sweet how Chuchu is accompanying Suletta here. She's really come to care for her, and is truly worried about her. I also really like how clear it is that Chuchu knows something about Miorine's abrupt change just doesn't add up. They've been friends for months now at this point. Something's wrong, but whatever it is is beyond her, so she's just confused.

(Middle Row) It's so horribly unendingly sad to me that Suletta believes that it's her fault. She says that SHE broke their promise, despite Miorine telling her TO HER FACE that she made her lose on purpose. Suletta has a bad habit of assuming that if something goes wrong, it must be her fault. She never ever lets herself assume anything other than the best of the people she loves. I'm glad Chuchu was there to tell her that that's wrong.

(Bottom Row) When Lauda walks up to make fun of Suletta and thank Chuchu, take careful notice of Felsi and Petra's faces as they walk beside him. Usually when those two follow the Jeturk brothers here, they join in on taunting Miorine or Suletta, but in this scene they're quiet, and are looking at Lauda with concern. Given the nature of the story at this point (and the fact that Petra eventually makes an effort to befriend Suletta) I don't think either of them particularly like that Lauda is being so needlessly caustic to her in this scene. (I like the Jeturk brothers but on god somebody should've beat his ass for this shit I'm so serious.)

In this scene, Norea is sketching a dead bird and some dead moths. (From memory...??) Something also fun to note is that the pencil she's using is sharpened haphazardly, as if with a knife. She does have a knife, but considering she only ever attacks 5lan with the pencil, it would make sense if the Grassley girls confiscated it at some point.

TEXT: (Top Left) BENERIT GROUP PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION STRENGTH FORECAST SITUATION ANALYSIS

(Bottom Left) Grassley Defense Systems Acting CEO: SHADDIQ ZENELLI 81 SUPPORTER BREAKDOWN - Grassley Defense Systems: 43% - Peil Technologies: 36% - Other: 21%

(Right) GUND-ARM Inc. CEO: MIORINE REMBRAN 19 SUPPORTER BREAKDOWN - Delling's Base of Support: 88% - Other: 12%

As 5lan explains that he's not the original Elan, we get a shot of the current forecast for the Benerit Group Election.

We can see that Shaddiq is leading by a WIDE 62 point margin, having the backing of Peil behind him. We can also see that a majority of the non-main Benerit Companies are also supporting his campaign as well.

Miorine is far behind, her support mainly consisting of Delling's hard-liners. It's not looking too good!

TEXT (Top to Bottom) PEIL GRADE PERSONAL ABILITY EVALUATION SYSTEM

SN: P03-297E ELAN CERES PEIL: AP785-160AKS ID: P-E042-M

ABILITY EVALUATION:

Verbal Ability: SS NON - Verbal Ability: SS Structural Grasping Ability: SS

Adaptability: S - Phase A: S - Phase B: SS

Performance: SS - Phase C: SS - Phase D: SS

Tolerance: SS - Phase E: SS - Phase F: S

MS Pilot Evaluation: C - Phase E: B - Phase F: D

Eval. TEST.//-RGT - A.S. 109 - TM006.590 - Approved Eval. TEST.//-DFT - A.S. 110 - TM006.580 - Approved Eval. TEST.//-GRT - A.S. 111 - TM006.490 - Approved Eval. TEST.//-TGT - A.S. 112 - TM006.690 - Approval Pending

We also see Elan Ceres' Peil Grade Evaluation. He's a true wunderkind, having recieved Top Grades in nearly every category, except for MS Pilot Evaluation, having a pretty abysmal rank in both phases of the test. That's why Peil needed to create backup pilots for him, he couldn't do it himself, even if he wouldn't be piloting a Gundam.

I'm not sure what the text at the very bottom means, but we see that they're dated from A.S. 109 - 112, which is interesting, considering that these dates are 10+ years before the start of the story.

Considering that we don't see any Peil employees in the Prologue, this means A.S. 109 might be the earliest date we can assume that Peil was operating.

Another interesting thing is that in the very bottom right of the screen, Kao - Lin AI.SYS - RST is written.

In real life, Kaolin is a clay material, most famously used in creating porcelain. But, although I can't directly prove it's an intentional reference, there's actually a Gundam character named Kao Lyn, a scientist and Gundam developer from Superior Gundam Defense Force. Which would definitely be an interesting pull for this scene, seeing as Superior Gundam Defense Force seems to be a generally lighthearted children's cartoon...

When the Benerit Gang watches the All Front News Network Broadcast, there are 3 different headlines that appear over the footage.

TEXT (Left) WHY HAVE TENSIONS IN QUINHARBOR ESCALATED INTO WIDER MILITARY CONFLICT? Space front economy suffers new blow from anti-Spacian terrorism

(Middle) VIOLENT PROTESTS IN QUINHARBOR RECALL DARK MEMORIES OF DRONE WAR ERA Rising anti-Spacian terrorism risks interplanetary war

(Right) BENERIT SECURITY FORCES ANNOUNCE INTENSIFIED ANTI-RIOT ACTIONS IN QUINHARBOR Teenage casualties as Spacian security forces clash with anti-Spacian group

I think one of the most interesting things we see on the broadcast is a mention of a "Drone War Era" that (presumably) occurred at some point on Earth. We never hear anything about this specific era other than this headline, but it would explain a lot about the history of tension between Spacians and Earthians. Perhaps this Drone War was one of the wars Delling himself fought in.

The next scene sees Lauda quietly walking through the halls of Jeturk House, passing by a conversation between some students about Guel. It's a short scene, but it's here where we see why Lauda said those hurtful things to Suletta earlier on in the episode.

After Guel ran away, Lauda took over as the defacto leader of Jeturk House, and then after the death of his father, became the CEO of Jeturk Heavy Machinery, and, in nicest possible terms, did not do a good job in either respect. That's not his fault per say, he wasn't prepared to take on either of those roles, but the fact remains that no matter how hard he tried, he failed miserably.

Then Guel returns, takes over for Lauda as CEO, defeats Suletta and reclaims his title as holder (remember that a majority of people do not know that the battle was rigged) and then leaves the school with Miorine to focus on reviving the company.

What Lauda is struggling with here is the realization that he needs Guel, but Guel does not necessarily need him. One of the things the students say is, "When you've got it, you've got it." and someone replies, "And you've got nothing, right?" Guel successfully did in one moment everything Lauda was struggling and failing to do for months while he was gone.

"Nobody needs you anymore, you empty Mercurian wench," is what he says to Suletta, but he only said that because deep down he's the same as her. Miorine may have abandoned Suletta, but in much the same way, Guel abandoned him.

It's not something they explicitly say, but remember that in many of Guel's duels in the show, (and presumably many of his duels before the show begins) Lauda was always watching and advising him. He's empty without him.

When Feng confronts Bel, two different screens appear on her phone.

TEXT (Left) BENERIT GROUP BENERIT GROUP FRONT ENTRY PERMIT

Authorization [...] 180-0977-5-25

Name: ANNO WONG

[...] Loading and Unloading of...

(Right) SPACE ASSEMBLY LEAGUE INVESTIGATION DIVISION FENG JUN ID number: 0329-047-A-015

The most interesting thing here is that Feng seemed to be going by a fake name during her investigation, that being "Anno Wong."

The whole scene in the Counseling Room is really funny to me because if you think about it for a second all of the possible conclusions you can draw from it are great.

This is a fake counseling room, and Secelia purposefully set it up so she can listen to people's personal problems for...blackmail purposes???

This is a real counseling room, and the students of Asticassia are expected to seek therapy from...HAROs...? (Or specifically, the HARO is just something to speak to, and the therapist is sitting in the room behind the door.)

This is a real counseling room, and Secelia is an official student counselor at Asticassia, but is just fucking with Martin specifically because she thinks it's funny. (She DOES give him good advice in the end !)

Some more fun things to point out in the next scene

I said it previously, but I really enjoy that Rajan heavily disapproves of Miorine's decision. (Left) He doesn't want this life for her!

Also, when I first watched the show, I kind of didn't understand Guel's shocked reaction to Captain Kenanji. (Right) It took me a couple of rewatches for it to finally click in my head!

Remember that originally, Guel was going to Asticassia in the hopes of eventually becoming the next "Ace Pilot of Dominicus." That title probably originally belonged to Kenanji in the past, what with him being the legendary pilot who defeated Vanadis' Gundams. (In Episode 12, one of the Dominicus workers says that he was, "an ace pilot.")

So Guel probably spent his whole life idolizing Kenanji, wanting to be an ace pilot like him, but also probably never met him in person. So he definitely wasn't expecting his childhood hero to be a goofy silly fat guy.

C'mon Guel don't be mean you JUST beat the misogyny allegations.

There's a lot that could be said about Ericht's conversation with Suletta, but this post is already long enough, so I'll just talk about this one thing

In this scene, Eri uses "boku" (僕) as her personal pronoun (I/Me). Boku is traditionally an informal male pronoun, and when used by a female character in anime, it's usually meant to imply that they're a bit of a tomboy. (This is different from her appearance as a child in the prologue, where she doesn't actually use a personal pronoun. When she refers to herself, she just uses her name, "Eri," for the pronoun, which is a childlike thing to do.)

Following that line of logic, you'd probably assume Chuchu uses boku too, but she doesn't actually ! She uses "asshi" (あっし).

Asshi is an informal contraction of Watashi (私). It's an archaic term that was primarily used in the Edo period, and is said to have been primarily used by workers and craftsmen. Do you get it? She uses asshi because her family back on earth are Mobile Craftsmen.

Prospera cares about Suletta, but she cares about Eri more. In her heart, the only way for her to be happy is for her to be free. She served her purpose.

Hooh! That's finally everything! This one was SUUUUPER long huh? Thank you for reading all the way through my rambling! Bet you didn't expect a history lesson on an ancient Japanese pronoun huh? Neither did I! (I had half a mind to make a list of all the personal pronouns the major characters use but I held back....)

As a parting gift, I guess I'll talk about onnneeee last thing

I always wondered why Suletta wasn't created to be a perfect copy of Eri like the rest of the Children of the Coven, but I think I understand. If Suletta was a perfect copy of Eri, she would have shared Eri's inability to survive in space. The rest of the repli-children could be perfect clones because they didn't have to worry about having physical bodies, but in order for Suletta to survive, she needed to be augmented to have a stronger physical constitution. Prospera traded Suletta's immunity to the data storm to give her a stronger physical body.

Okay done for real now. Bye bye!

>> Click here to go to Episode 19 >> Click here to go to the Masterpost

[amphiptere-art]

So this is a lore dump for one of my AUs. A lot of this stuff will be copy paste when I get the AU character art done. But it'll also have important information about the storylines. So unless you want a extra info on my AUs or I just haven't done anything with them. Don't look.

Here's the only character art I have of this AU.

so in response to the animatronics acting "quirky" fazco asks a outside manufacturer to build a robot that would tend to the animatronics without human mechanics needed, Also to save costs. But the outside company did not want to make the coding leaving that to fazco. Fazco being lazy decided to simply take some old mechanic notebooks and scan them into the new animatronics software. And of course those old mechanic notebooks are literally just notebooks of dead mechanics who died inside the pizza plex. So when Ralph the repair dragon wakes up he's got three other consciousness that he can't lead to any external code except for those notebooks.

Mechanical medic

Little bit about the spirits and how they work. they're a mix between code and spirit. All that they are is only what was written on the pages and how and who they died to. Meaning there personality is only interpreted by how they wrote how they acted in their writings and who they are when they were within the pizza plex. Slowly with more time passing they become more like separate personality codes than spirits. Although the memory of their death will always haunt them.

Ralph of course decides not to worry about the "code" as long as it's not malicious. The Three spirits marked in my works as red blue and hazel although their names will simply follow the Y/N strategy. Being first name, last name, middle name. Of course talking there brains off about the fact that they died. Ralph course gets introduced to the pizza plex as a "walking attraction". More importantly a dancing dragon.

Ralph is built with a lot of features to care for the animatronics. Other than the Gurnee/stretcher like stomach cavity built specifically for animatronics. Which can do small repairs. He has some things I've been calling his "hands" although many people in the pizza plex would just call them his "dragonlings". They are six small music man size animatronics with taser/grabbing arm. They are designed to go get animatronics from areas that Ralph cannot go into. These little guys are able to lift up a Freddy and drag him out of his green room if necessary. Ralph also has two highly Mobile appendages that are hidden as his wings. But are in fact similar to those car manufacturing arms. As the fabric that makes up his wings can be tucked away so he can use those hands. Ralph also due to his large size has been given a stronger cable system not only to embellish his dragon-like qualities but to be able to move quickly throughout the pizza place without endangering patrons. He's of course built with entertainment qualities like a flamethrower in his mouth. And his tail is considered a safe rideable part of his casing although riding his back is strictly prohibited due to the wings.

Ralph, after the meet and greet goes to his personal mechanic a man who currently goes unnamed. Although has always been in my brain he's fairly young and inexperienced. Ralph talks about the other personalities (the spirits) and although checking software they both determined that it must be the scanned in notebooks that are embellishing themselves more than they should. Ralph and his personal mechanic decide that it is not something to worry about and that as long as the information is guaranteed to help Ralph they are allowed to stay.

Another thing about the spirits because they are technically also treated as code. They also only really speak when either Ralph wants input or in situations where dealing with animatronics brings back a certain spirits memories. Basically the spirits cease to exist under certain circumstances. Although over time they can also act as emotional outputs for Ralph such as when he's angry red will act up or if he's solemn blue will act up. Technically Ralph, red, blue, and, hazel can all be talking about the same topic at relatively the same time and it comes out as a coherent sentence. Example ("what do you mean you haven't had maintenance in months! That's so dangerous what if you had a breakdown mid performance. As funny as that might sound it's a very bad idea. You are receiving maintenance right, now.") Red is always harsh. Blue is always cautious or soft. Hazel is always joking or lightning the mood. Randy is very to the point.

Randy of course as soon as he's able to walk around the pizza plex freely goes to the animatronic who has had the longest time without maintenance. AKA Sun and Moon. Sun and Moon in this AU were the first to be infected. And the virus makes it so animatronics do not wish to go do maintenance. The virus also works a little differently. It works more as a blackmail than it does as a controlling virus. While the virus can control a body it would rather the participant do it for them. The rabbit of course acting as the punisher for not listening. Sun and Moon refer to the rabbit as "her". sun of moon of course do not want maintenance and Ralph is having none of that. Ralph uses his "hands" to secure sun and take him to the cylinder for maintenance. (This is also a area where he uses his "hands" for the keyboard.) And begins a forced routinely check. Luckily for sun and moon routinely checks do not scan the code so they do not have to worry about Ralph finding the virus. Although it does occur in Ralph doing a cleaning of their casing and endo.

After this untimely event the rabbit as Vanessa tries to do some "maintenance" on Ralph. The spirits inform Ralph that it's a bad idea. Ralph refuses maintenance from Vanessa and therefore avoids getting the virus. Vanessa tries to state that she has authority to do so but since Ralph is a very specific animatronic He's able to say that he is only allowed to have maintenance done by his primary maintenance official. Plus he is made to perform self-maintenance. Given that his "hands" are separate from his body they can do this easily. The rabbit tries to convince his maintenance official to give him the "upgrade" but then again he refuses due to Ralphs newness. Plus Ralph tells him beforehand.

After this shenanigans basically happen. Ralph Chase's moon around. Fights Monty. Catches chica eating trash. Probably has a talk with Freddy. Ralph convinces Sun and Moon to walk around with him as a part of his moving attraction. Lots of random little events. But Randy does slowly learn that something is happening. Like I said the virus acts more as a blackmail. So Randy and his spirits start to notice that some things the animatronics are hiding. Conversations will be cut sort, certain things will be ignored, and anything concerning coding or rabbits will be strong discouraged. And due to not having the virus he sees the rabbit. All of this ends up with Ralph demanding an explanation. When the animatronics refuse Ralph decides to go after the rabbit.

Ralph then scares the crap out of the rabbit. He chases the rabbit around the entire Pizza Plex until the rabbit hops in its hole. Ralph stops at the hole being too big and gives up his chase. Unfortunately this also causes the other animatronics to freak out. Punishment through the virus is assured and given. The animatronics after this become extremely hostile towards Randy and it's this that causes Randy to finally trap Moon and run a virus scan. Of course he finds a virus. The virus of course is really really strong and really really hard to break. But Randy has three mechanics on his side and slowly they are able to decrypt the virus.

Around the time they do decrypt the virus The Time the game starts happens and Gregory appears. Gregory of course still runs for his life and believes also that Ralph is infected Freddy is also infected in this timeline. around the time Gregory goes to the daycare Ralph finishe his decryption and goes to the daycare as at this point the daycare attendant has become their closest friend. Halfway through Moon trying to murder a child he comes in, breaks the door, and absolutely yeats moon. He then picks moon up and shoves him into his chest cavity and invites Gregory to jump on his tail and get the hell out of there. Gregory stumped and fearful does us hes told. Once they return to the cylinder Ralph decrypts the virus in moon and sun system and releases them from its grasp. Sun and Moon don't realize it as first. like I said acted more as blackmail. But soon they calm down and start fretting over Gregory. Gregory the fearful and angry child that he is refuses to let Sun and Moon touch him. The story then progresses much like the game but instead of destroying them it's to get them to a point where Randy can secure them. Although damage is still done to their systems in the process. Once all the animatronics are freed. Randy and the spirits are furious at the rabbit. And unfortunately get separated from Gregory. The rabbit kidnaps Gregory and attempts to hurt him but with the help of Sun and Moon and the others locate him before any terrible damage can be done. This of course being the endangerment of a child. Mixed in with the other spirits that rest in the pizza plex's walls. Randy and his spirits go absolutely haywire and Chase the rabbit down. And this time they aren't trying to hold an interrogation. This time they're doing for murder. Using their flame thrower in a blind rage they run around the pizza place and burn everything while chasing the rabbit. The rabbit then goes down their hole but at this point Randy is not stopping. He digs through the ground finds the blob and William. And burns them also. Vanessa at this point has also died. Once Vanessa and William die Randy is able to get out of his stuper and realize his mistake. He runs back up and at this point sun and moon have corralled everyone into the daycare. But due to their coding they cannot leave. The reason they are in the daycare is cuz sun is stuck in there. Randy's like "well I don't have that coding. I got that out of my system days ago." He then takes all the animatronics on his back, tail, and, stomach compartment. Uses his advanced cable system to lift them up into the air and rams through the wall. The other animatronics a course go offline once they leave the building but Randy stays online. Once the police arrive they send the animatronics to the company that made Randy. This company (although not as good in the coding department) takes in the animatronics and is able to do maintenance on them. Randy then rearranges their code and the story ends.

[starsfic]

I think I said about as much as I want to about what I'm calling "Indigo Play" for the time being, as I should probably keep at least some beats to myself. But for fun, I'm gonna drop a buncha out-of-context quotes taking place both in present day and in flashback scenes. (Knowing existing lore and things I said previously might shed light on missing context for some, granted.)

"I'd heard toys say it tastes like chicken, but personally I think it tastes more like pork."

"I don't know 'bout you, but I feel better when I'm dancin'."

"There's no time to spellcheck; we need to get this packaged and sent into The Outside now!"

"Go ahead, kill me. All my friends are already dead now, thanks to you and your…tiny minions."

"Ugh… I thought the park was creepy at night before we fixed it up. This place is ten times worse, and it's daytime."

"Who's the fat hippie, and why's he important to me?"

"Haha, wow! Imagine being so defined by being a chatterbox that your creator literally names you Infodump."

"I thought it was 'Grant'."

"HOLY FUCK! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU PEOPLE ABOUT KNOCKING FIRST?!"

"Theodore… Theodore, STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO OVERCH--"

"Whoa… So this is The Outside? … Radical…"

"Well… Apparently, the Pizzaplex burned to the ground… Again… So we're ordering from Pizza Shed instead."

"Heh… Me nakey."

"Oh my god, they really do have the souls of children, don't they?"

"I'm sorry, but I just can't take ASCII Art Face here seriously."

"And this is what they call…a smartphone. Yes, mobile telephone technology has come a long way since mechanical bricks that people needed to charge in their cars back in our time."

"Zzzzz--wha… It really was the bagel!"

"Oh, they don't call themselves Ohio Fried Chicken anymore. I think they were going by Oven Fresh Chicken for a while, to sound healthier? But they're just OFC now."

"Pants or no pants, you're still a Fancy Pants, Fancy Pants."

"There's some real sweet art and fanfic of us online. You guys gotta check out this killer 'space riders' thing I found!"

Oooh, fun!

[brdpch]

{4} a game of cats, mice and hearts like ice

desktop: previous ✧ next mobile: previous ✧ next

synopsis: in the world of deadly games and their lives at risk, a very smart medical student meets a very cunning girl who claims his life as hers.

warnings: canon-typical violence, graphic descriptions of violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse, niragi, literally everything, you name it.

formatting: it's a glued-together dynamic roleplay between me and @bvrdel-mama, so the replies are separated by ♠♥♦♣, and the dialogues are written like — This. — yes, the symbols look horrible on mobile - we'll try to fix that in the future. or not. who knows.

statistics: 2,681 words 14,777 characters.

author's note: it's a mix of manga!chishiya with show!chishiya, and also i think so many people forget (and even the show creators lol) that the phones could record and take pictures et cetera - Chota discovered it in the first episode and recorded the game arena, which Arisu used later on for game clear. also! what's worth noticing - in this rp there are dice involved. the mechanic is called a d20 mechanic, and it's based on dungeons and dragons 5th edition. we also use other dice rolls for other outcomes, so future events might surprise both me and my roleplaying partner. enjoy!

The blonde girl giggled at Chishiya's response, tucking a piece of her hair behind her pierced ear, finally resting her back on the carseat, giving Shuntarō well deserved space.

— [english] I have one more riddle for you. — she stated, ignoring his comments completely, a playful smile back on her lips. — [english] For now, you're the only Beach member I can recognise without any issues. Why is that?

Shuntarō didn't change his position at all, but was now looking closely at Unmei analyzing her shamelessly and smirking knowingly.

— [english] It must be because of attractiveness. — Shuntarō said matter-of-factly.

♠♥♦♣

— [english] So close, — she said shamelessly. — [english] yet so far. That's just a symptom. How do I put it nicely… — she paused. — [english] You should think about the illness instead.

Shuntarō opened his eyes widely and touched his chest mockingly.

— [english] Am I sick, doctor? Is that the plague? — he asked, raising the sleeves of his hoodie and his shirt as if inspecting himself for weird bumps that a disease could cause.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei giggled.

— [english] I like you.

♠♥♦♣

— [english] Oh, just don't fall in love. — Shuntarõ commented, getting out of the car with Unmei.

♠♥♦♣

The game arena Unmei and Chishiya were dispatched into, turned to be a large multi-story apartment complex, dimly lit up with orange light. At this point at night it was rather chilly, and so the fate tucked herself more in Niragi's shirt, scanning the surroundings with a focused gaze.

— I'm gonna check out the place. Won't be long.

She didn't wait for any permission to move out of Chishiya's sight, which she probably should have done. He was there to judge her performance, but he also assured Niragi (and Unmei herself) that he'll protect her to his best ability. Wandering around the game arena with various people gathering around wasn't necessarily the safest option, but she wouldn't take „no” for an answer - Chishiya deduced simply by her tone of voice, suddenly lacking its sweet aftertaste. Since arrival, something in her demeanor changed, and it wasn't just the way she focused on the task ahead. For now it was too hard to pinpoint what exactly.

They were far enough to hide possibly the only working car in the nearest area, and also to arrive at the entrance by themselves, and not as a group. That's why Unmei was the last of The Beach members to scan her face with a phone. She looked stressed, but Chishiya noticed a while ago it was just a façade.

♠♥♦♣

She went in front taking the initiative before bravely exclaiming of her intentions of „checking the place out”. Chishiya shrugged because by the tone of her voice he deducted that there was no convincing her otherwise. Soon he followed her around some distance behind silently when she wandered around the arena scanning the area closely with her cold eyes that now had none of her previous sweetness left. She's actively thinking about the strategy instead of pissing about the main lobby - smart.

Shuntarō took two glances at the area and already picked up a couple of interesting places to situate himself, depending on the game. He then took out his hand-made stun gun and plugged it into a socket. You never know when you need to protect yourself, and there was nothing in the rules against bringing weapons, so he did take one with him. 

He stood by the wall, put in his earphones listening to some tunes on the old cassette player he found long ago. It calmed his mind before the coming task, though he probably looked suspiciously calm on the outside. Shuntarō also followed Unmei with his gaze, observing her every move.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei soon disappeared into the distance, consumed by darkness of the Toei Sendagaya apartment complex, apparently taking a stroll around the area as well.

The players kept gathering, like moths to a light source - which meant not only the experienced ones joined, but also the noobs. Unmei observed people, staying far from Chishiya, playing a dumb foreigner role. She stared at her phone screen looking puzzled, playing with the edge of Niragi's shirt.

Other Beach members did not intervene, because even if they wanted - they simply couldn't, knowing very well it's Unmei's test. Soon enough there was chatter with hushed voices. Is she able to read the rules?, should we help?, oh no, a fuckin' beginner, good for us - a cannon fodder!. She hid her amusement with no difficulties, as well as the military knife attached to her belt, right under the black fabric of her shirt.

Players gathered concluded:

two girls dressed up neatly, standing near each other; one in a mint knee-high skirt, the other one in a loose white mantle with a flower print - and it looked like they posed no threat,

a man in purple shirt, a vest and with fedora on his head, looking shady, scanning others in search of potential allies,

an old lady with glasses, clearly stressed, but trying really hard to stay composed,

two older businessmen in suits,

a young woman with short brown hair, currently stretching and warming up,

two Beach members neither chishiya nor Unmei knew by name,

a guy in blue wearing a baseball cap, clearly lost,

and lastly, two newcomers, one in a navy hawaiian shirt, the other with longer messy black hair.

The man in blue shyly approached the sporty girl.

— Mm, excuse me... — he pointed to the phone in his hand. — Wha-, where did all the people in Tokyo go?

One of the businessmen interrupted their conversation, passing in between them to grab the phone. Sporty looked annoyed.

— This thing here-

— There's a lot of people here. maybe one's a doctor.

It was Shaggy who now interrupted Sporty and Blue. in the company of Hawaii, they reached for the phones.

one per person.

Blue approached another player, yet again, clearly stressed and lost.

— E-excuse me. What is this? — he pointed to his phone. — I was brought here... — he chuckled nervously. — and i... I don't know what's going on.

Poor boy, Unmei thought, biting her lower lip and looking as helpless as she could.

— It's a game. — Shaggy finally spoke, giving Blue the answer he needed. It was Hawaii who then scolded Shaggy, and Unmei turned her attention to them - they were speaking, and even if she pretended to not understand the language, she had to be curious about the sudden commotion.

— Shut up. Newbies will slow us down. they might hate us, but i think it'd be a good idea to do what Shibuki did.

registration has closed.

there are a total of 14 participants.

d i f f i c u l t y : 5 of ♠️

g a m e : tag

r u l e: avoid whoever is >it<.

c l e a r c o n d i t i o n : discover and touch the symbol hidden in one of the building's rooms within the time limit. you clear the game when this objective is fulfilled.

t i m e l i m i t : 20 minutes. after 20 minutes, the time bomb hidden in the building will explode.

the game will commence in two minutes.

— It's gonna be physical. — now it was Fedora speaking. — Only the strong survive.

Oh well, Unmei smiled to herself, barely visibly to others. No one paid attention to her now, anyway, besides her supervisor.

Shaggy, Hawaii and Fedora continued their conversation, Fedora explaining some of the general rules and bragging about the number of games he previously cleared. Unmei listened, now planning carefully how to proceed. Chishiya didn't know it, but could easily deduce that she wasn't really into any sports besides dancing, which did require some strength and agility, but not enough for these deadly lands. Also, she was wearing sandals. High heel and platform ones. Unfit to run at all.

♠♥♦♣

Chishiya did observe his surroundings even though he had his hood on and looked busy with his music - he noticed more people gathering. Lot of them looked like newcomers barely situated in this new reality which surrounded them. Well, he thought, at least they will have their use as human shields if anything happens. There are a few which stood out - a girl with short hair who looked like she was prepping for a run, and two young men - one looking like a criminal, the other one like in his old life barely saw the light of day. They were talking about something, Chishiya couldn't hear them but he could read lips  - they were looking for a doctor. Shuntarō smiled, in his past life he would probably be eager to help them as he had medical training, but in the Borderlands everyone works for themselves or for people who they could use to their advantage later.

His contemplations were cut short by the ping of his phone. Tag, hm, that narrows down the places that are the safest by two options - the highest floor by either of two corners of the staircase, he thought. He took the headphones out of his ears and went up behind Unmei clearing his throat and looking at her expectedly. Let's see if she figured it out, he thought. She tried to hide behind the mask of a dumb foreigner the whole time, smart, make them underestimate you so that when things turn ugly they won't even see you as a threat. They had two minutes to situate themselves around the complex.

— Shall we? — he inquired.

♠♥♦♣

When the players started getting up stairs, Unmei frowned and pushed the elevator button, not paying much attention to chishiya. as she entered, she moved aside, so he could use the ride up, too.

— Don't get in my way. — she stated coldly, pushing a button.

The building had seven floors. she pushed the button with number 6.

— Need an explanation of my doings to evaluate my performance?

♠♥♦♣

Chishiya chuckled slightly and smirked.

— Of course, boss. — he snapped matter-of-factly.

Sixth floor, that's it. Unmei figured out almost the same thing he did. 

— I am here to simply observe passively and help you as a last resort, if your life or mine were in immediate danger. — he shrugged. — But if that happens and we'll still be alive and clear the game, well - your dream of becoming the executive will crumble. — he added coldly, smirking slightly.

♠♥♦♣

— What makes you think you'll be much help? You're not a spades player, after all.

♠♥♦♣

— I think I can handle myself just fine, worry about your performance, Unmei. Let's see if fate is on your side. — he stated coldly with a tinge of irritation, insulting his intellect was something he couldn't stand.

♠♥♦♣

Ding.

The door opened, and Unmei shivered under the cold night breeze's embrace.

She quickly took in her surroundings, or rather - other players' positions. No one chose the elevator, meaning they were slower, scattered now across the floors, some of them helplessly trying to open blue-painted doors.

— I am the fate. — she replied matter-of-factly, not even bothering with looking at Shuntarō. With no Beach members around, her mask fell off. Maybe she, too, recognized a wolf.

Unmei navigated towards a corner nearest to the elevator, taking off her sandals and placing them by the sliding door, making sure if the button is pushed, the machinery won't budge - the mechanism would simply fail due to being unable to close itself.

It was obvious she wasn't suited to walk barefoot, especially on the cold concrete; she embraced herself with her arms, checking the phone.

the game will now commence.

the time limit is 20 minutes.

commence now.

— In case you can't handle yourself, let me explain my thought process. — she started, putting her phone on the half-wall separating the hallway from the empty space beneath them. — So maybe you'll catch on in case of an emergency.

…and she pressed the record button. The phones had options such as „record” and „take picture”.

— If the „it” starts from the bottom, it's easier to corner all players to the top. But, „it” could start on the top floor, too, and now that the elevator is unusable, they would have to take the stairs. We could hear them and spot them if they chose stairs near us. If they do, though, run to the elevator. Got it?

♠♥♦♣

It was colder than downstairs so Chishiya zipped up his hoodie exiting the elevator. Everyone was scattered and some were already running around panicking, he could hear their hearts pounding with fear and compared it with his own - it too was beating slightly faster but more in excitement and anticipation than fear and panic, although his face betrayed no emotions.

— You're repeating yourself. — he stated coldly, rolling his eyes.

The shoes were an interesting choice, they would only slow her down so getting them off was the only way, but the cold ground won't be easy to walk on either. Creating an emergency exit and preventing others from taking the elevator - smart, he thought and smirked to himself.

Chishiya listened to her strategy and nodded. He only assumed that the „it” will start from the bottom, he didn't think about the top at all. He raised his eyebrows slightly for a brief second as to express his shock but the gesture faded as quickly and as subtly as it appeared.

— [english] Sure thing. — he said leaning over the balcony and waving to the shaggy basement dweller he saw earlier. He and the criminal looking guy seemed panicked out of their minds, it was... amusing.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei had her eyes focused on other floors, knowing well that the top one and the ones right below them were out of sight. She took the phone and put the camera below, screen tilted, so she recorded some footage of the hallways below. She then checked the video.

— If it's a game of tag, — she continued, quietly, alert to any sounds that might announce that someone is coming their way. — the tagger has to somewhat „catch” and „tag” their… ugh, [english] can't you stick to one language? — she rolled her eyes, briefly focusing her gaze on Chishiya.

— [english] Anyway, if it's a game of tag, the tagger has to tag its' victims. Do you think the creator of the game would like to run around? And if not themselves, then whom? — she asked rhetorically. — [english] It's the players who are supposed to run away, so the tagger has to have a way to tag them. Or maybe kill. — she shrugged.

Her words were followed by gunshots, but she didn't budge, like she was used to hearing such noise. Tatatatatatatata. She tilted her head slightly, hearing the screaming, observing as Fedora was shot on his back multiple times. Tagger started somewhere in the middle, unnoticed. He could have used one of the apartments as his starting point, then.

— [english] Machine pistol. — she stated matter-of-factly, putting the record button yet again, now - just the sound.

Horse-head was obviously visible right now, much to her…  impassivity.

— [english] The masks block their field of view. — she hummed. — [english] So their goal is to kill the opposing team. Ours, that is. — she explained, with a pretty bland tone of voice, but as detailed as possible, questioning or rather mocking Chishiya's intelligence and comprehension capabilities.

— [english] Otherwise they would have to leave the game arena before the explosion, giving the players extra time to find the safe zone. — she added, now turning her gaze to Chishiya, lowering her voice even more - she was recording sound, after all.

— [english] Do you believe in the morphogenetic field theory?

[raitrolling]

Mobile Chicane

[Easy reading version on Toyhou.se]

Sharle exhaled deeply as he stepped into the car, easing his way into the seat moulded perfectly for his figure so that his mechanic could fasten his six-point safety harness. The lap, crotch, and shoulder straps are all fastened meticulously as per routine, then the shoulder straps are adjusted a second time to prevent any movement. The blueblood confirms with a nod that he feels secure and comfortable. The cord from the radio microphone inside his helmet is also connected to the car and tucked away safely, and Sharle checks to make sure the drinks system has also been connected to his helmet correctly.

Before the mechanic’s hands leave the cockpit, he reaches over to flip the switch that starts powering the car.

The steering wheel is then handed to Sharle, which he connects to the steering column with a satisfying click. The electronics light up, flashing the Aeon Racing logo onto the screen of the steering wheel as the internal computer boots up. The engineers around him run their last-minute checks, ensuring the mirrors are in place, the tyres are secure, the tyre blankets have been disconnected from their power supply, and all systems are in order.

With one minute to remain, the tyre blankets are removed from the car, the vehicle is lowered from its stands, and the mechanics clear away all equipment from the track, rushing back to the pit lane while the race engineers gather around the pit wall.

Sharle turns on the engine, and the car roars to life. It felt good to be back.

The car itself felt… Decent, he thinks? During the free practice sessions, he’s pretty sure. And qualifying must have gone great as well, as he had been wheeled into third position.

It was strange that he could not recall what had occurred the previous few days - and all the tests from the week before, for that matter - but he just shook his head and waited for the signal to start. He could think over that later.

The green lights signal for the formation lap to begin, and Sharle takes off slowly once second place has left their grid position. The cars ahead set the speed, and he is careful not to get too close to them while he focuses on warming up his tyres and checking the brake balance settings. He hears his engineer’s voice crackle in his ear to ask about the car’s condition and remind him about the anticipated track conditions. No rain, and the temperature is expected to drop as the race heads further into the night. 

The blueblood replies that it all seems pretty good and he’s not reporting any issues, then rounds the final corner back to the starting grid.

He slows the car to a stop as he reaches his grid position, coming in at a slight angle to give himself the best entry into the first corner.

One by one, the five starting lights are illuminated to count down the race start, and the moment those lights are then extinguished, Sharle releases the clutch, slams his foot onto the accelerator and-

The car doesn’t move.

In fact, with the roar of the engines around him now flying past and the screeching of tyres as those behind him suddenly have to react to the stationery roadblock, he can’t tell if the engine is still working at all.

Immediately, he slams his thumb onto the radio button to alert his engineer.

“Oi, oi, what’s going on? I’ve got no power!”

Sharle’s engineer responds quite quickly, yet eerily calm.

“Press the button again, Casini. We’ve changed the way the cars start.”

What? But, it was working fine during the formation lap, and an engine doesn’t just die like that… 

Sharle grits his teeth, glaring down at the steering wheel (why is the text on the screen garbled?), and presses the ‘race start’ button a second time. Sure enough, the car springs to life again and he’s off.

He has to be at least a minute behind first place, meaning that he’s almost guaranteed to get lapped in record time.

“Alright, I’m running again. What the hell was that?”

There is no response.

He taps his thumbs against the steering wheel in irritation, knowing that there’s nothing he can do but keep his head down and hope he can somehow catch up to the rest of the pack. He takes each turn as fast as he safely can, lamenting the lack of any slipstream or possible DRS advantages he’d have if he was still in his rightful third place, but with no other cars around he can focus solely on making the perfect racing lines.

Or rather, he would have, if the car didn’t feel absolutely awful to drive. 

Somehow, within the past few minutes, Aeon Racing’s latest pride and joy had been transformed from a potential top competitor into a barge. The more he drove, the more he felt like he was trying to wrestle it around each and every corner, and the straights seemed to get longer with every lap.

He didn’t recall this track having so many corners and the laps taking so long either. It was supposed to be Sallaqhir, but it was missing the large run-offs and contained more chicanes that he remembered.

“Mate, what the fuck is wrong with this car?! It feels like shit!” he grumbled into the communications channel while he fully locked the steering wheel just to make it around another corner. His top speed was dropping, and while he could hear the sound of the other cars around him, he couldn’t see them.

“Copy. We are checking,” His engineer replied.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“We are looking into it. Our telemetry says the car is functioning as normal.”

“Well, clearly it fucking isn’t! I’ve got no grip, no power, I feel like I’m driving on fucking ice out here-” Sharle paused his ranting for a moment, as something more alarming had suddenly come up. “Oi, hey, I smell something burning. Check the rear, would you?”

He glanced into his mirrors, and noticed a flicker of light by one of the tyres. Had the brakes run too hot?

“Yep, that’s just the brakes. The car is working as intended.”

His engineer’s disinterested tone was giving Sharle the creeps. And he just said the brakes, right? Not brake dust?

“Hey, can you repeat that? What do I do?”

“The brakes are on fire, just keep driving the car.”

“Oh my god. What is happening here?” 

If he speeds up, he could extinguish the flame - if this shitbox could actually reach the usual top speed of over 300km/h. Even with his foot completely down on the accelerator, he felt like he was going no faster than a road car.

He pulled off the racing line as the track marshals wave blue flags, and the rest of the competitors speed past him. It was like witnessing nineteen bullets soar past him, and-

Wait, where was Tira? He didn’t see the back of the other Aeon. 

The flames were spreading faster, and he could feel the heat grow behind him. He had to pull over, but there was no safe run-off at this part of the track. Sharle was beginning to panic as the reality set in.

“Hey, what is this? What the hell is wrong with this car? I’m stopping it and getting out. Make ‘em call a red flag.”

Once again, his engineer’s voice crackled in his ear, and Sharle had a moment where he couldn’t even remember if he pressed the radio button in the first place.

“I’m sorry, Sharle. We have checked the car and it is going to be like this for the rest of the season.” 

Suddenly, the car lurched back to life, as if all the stomping on the pedals and desperate clicking of the brake balance settings finally kicked in. Sharle was but a passenger, futilely attempting to wrestle control of the steering wheel back as the car shot forward, then skidded at a slight angle towards the kerb that looked identical to that at Southeastern Circuit-  

He is once again launched into the air, spinning, spinning, seeing sky and ground spiral around him at a breakneck pace, knowing exactly what was about to occur…

…

Sharle’s eyes snapped open as he suddenly awoke with a gasp. He was staring at his bedroom ceiling, and when he turned his head slightly caught a glimpse of his alarm clock. It was around two thirty in the afternoon.

He sat up, noticing that he had kicked his blankets off the bed from all the tossing and turning he’d done, and ran his hands through his hair. He was completely drenched in sweat.

As he rubbed at his eyes and took a moment to settle his racing heart, there was just one thing on his mind.

God, he hated the pre-season daymares.