#New Spaces: The Holographer's Vision

[science70]

New Spaces: The Holographer's Vision catalogue, curated by Karen Spitulnik Peiffer (Franklin Institute Press, 1979).

Cover art: Rudie Berkhout

[miguelhugger2099]

Him and I (1/2)

Summary: You get thrown into another, another dimension while on a mission with Miguel. You end up meeting Miguel's variant where lingering feelings lie. Next Comic!Miguel x Reader x ATSV!Miguel, SMUT, PWP, Word Count: 6,808 CW: just a smidge of voyeurism

It was rough how you ended up here in another dimension and it wasn’t ideal either. Earlier, you were on a mission with Miguel and doing the usual of tracking and containing anomalies. However, this one was a little rough, giving both you and Miguel a hard time with how slippery it had been.  Arriving at the scene, Miguel quickly barked orders at you to scan the place to track and trace any possible disrupted canon events. While he went one way, you went the other and for a while, neither of you had been able to grab it. Until your watch pinged with a hologram of Miguel’s face calling to tell you he found the anomaly and was leading it towards you for some backup. Putting on your mask, you swung away on your webs to meet him halfway.

One thing led to another and both of you were hollering at each other different plans and strategies since this anomaly was somehow escaping every chance it got. Miguel grabbed on its neck and yanked it back which made it screech and slam him against a brick wall. He grunted and let go from the sheer force of it. The anomaly went head first for you to which you jumped on its back. Eventually, you held onto it and tried to use your watch to open a portal. The anomaly tried ripping you off it, scratching your watch and damaging the touch pad. Whatever number you tried putting in, was jumbled up and yet a portal opened up anyway. Time and space warped around you two, the wormhole trying to suck up anything. The anomaly then grabbed you and ripped you off its back, throwing you into the portal which shut right after you went through. So here you are, in a dimension that isn’t your New York, but it did look like a certain someone’s Nueva York. Tall buildings, hovercrafts and holographic billboards were plastered everywhere. You looked down at your watch and saw claw marks on the touchpad, small sparks of electricity fizzed out but it wasn’t too damaged, you decided. You weren’t glitching so you counted that as a win. You heard a familiar zip of web shooters being used from above. Tilting your head up, you saw the familiar red and mostly blue suit swinging by and ignoring you. You squinted at the figure leaving.

“Miguel…?” You whispered to yourself. Pushing the watch problem aside, you began following him, trying to catch up to him. “Miguel!” You called out through the whipping winds as you gained speed.

His figure thwipped around, seemingly trying to get you off his tail. You grew frustrated. Why was he just avoiding you? If he was here, that means the anomaly had gotten away and it’d be more work for both of you.

He then made a sharp turn around a tall building. You nearly passed it but you stopped yourself just in time to swivel your head around to see where he had gone. Your eyes honed in on his figure crawling up the side of the building and into an open window. With determination, you shot your web to the building and began crawling up. Once you made it to the damn near very top, you opened the window and crawled in. With your feet now planted on the floor, you took off your mask and looked around. It was a bedroom and a large one at that with a giant king sized bed and a giant set up where you assumed would display a holographic screen. You noted it was dark too with all the lights switched off and Miguel was nowhere to be seen. You were sure you saw him crawl in this room. You began walking around the room just to make sure, trying to find anything. When you didn’t–the lack of pictures was appalling– you made your way over to the bedroom door and took a peek outside of it. The hallways were just as dark, if not darker. You took a step out and squinted your eyes, hoping your vision would adjust to the lighting.

You heard a shift far in front of you and paused in your steps. You tried focusing on whatever was in front of you and that’s when you saw red eyes. You froze and held your breath while the eyes simply watched you, slightly moving as it seemingly saw you through the dark.

These eyes were familiar to you and so you dropped your guard. “Miguel…?” You called out again. “What the hell? I was right behind you! Did the anomaly throw you in here too?”

You tried approaching him but then backed up when he came closer as well, at a faster rate than you thought. Your gasped and your spider senses went haywire. With a bit of difficulty on your end, you looked up to see someone who wasn’t Miguel. Or you thought.

The man had Miguel’s scarlet orbs, but instead of brown hair he had dark red hair to match his eyes. Instead of brown skin, he had white skin. He had a similar face shape with the same sharp cheekbones and strong jawline but his face was a bit longer than that. You noticed a five o’clock shadow he might’ve been planning to shave off soon. His height was shorter than your Miguel but it was still tall enough to tower over you. His face was in a scowl, teeth bared and claws unsheathed, on guard for the danger that he decided you were. You took a glance down his chest, the spider emblem different than you remember–much sharper than your Miguel’s geometric shapes.

“Who…who are you?” You asked, taking a few steps back and this man following, his eyes never leaving yours. If you searched for a while longer, you would’ve seen a hint of disbelief and hidden fondness.

“Miguel O’Hara. Who are you?” He growled. You gulped flinching when your back hit the wall and his clawed hand struck the space by your head to cage you against him.

You stated your name with a shake of your voice. It seemed to anger him further.

“Don’t lie to me.” He grit his teeth, his lips curled to show his fangs.

“It–It’s not! I swear!” You insisted. “Listen, I can explain. I’m from another dimension. I–I’m part of this society full of other people like us—with spider powers. I got…blasted here by some villain when I was with you—or the variant you–but I’m not here to fight some more.” You sighed, hoping he could have some sense and maybe believe you.

Miguel’s eyes narrowed down at you to search and scan for just an ounce of lying in your tone but he found none. His facade cracked for a moment, almost melancholy and sad before hardening again. He separated from you, standing taller and retracting his talons back to his fingertips. You saw him hesitate to lift his hand up but he decided against it. “How did you get here?” He asked lowly.

You lifted your wrist to show your damaged watch. “It’s more or less a dimension hopping device,” You elaborated. Miguel attempted to slip it off your wrist but you stopped him. “I have to keep it on or else I’ll start glitching and–it hurts.” You laughed nervously a bit at the end. Miguel’s facial expression didn’t waver. He only held your wrist–gently at that– and turned it around to examine it.

“I can fix it.” He murmured nonchalantly with a raise of his reddish eyebrow. You sighed. Even in another dimension, Miguel is just as sure of himself. He looked up to meet your eyes, softer but still guarded. “If you’ll let me.”

You nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes, please, of course. That’d be great. Thank you.” He let go of your hand and turned around to a space in his home where various inventions laid around and you followed suit with big eyes. “Woah… This is..cool.” You mumbled. Miguel looked over his shoulder as he walked, a ghost of a fond smile on his lips when you weren’t looking. Then suddenly, a bright yellow figure popped up. She was life sized with long white blonde hair in a side part with a white long dress.

“Welcome home, Miguel,” She placed her hands behind her back and gave him a dimpled smile. Her smile faltered when she saw you. “Is that–”

Miguel cut her off by introducing your name to her. “She’s from another dimension. That’s all, Lyla.” You couldn’t see Miguels face but you did see Lyla’s–which you were surprised at the stark difference. You saw her eyes glance at Miguel and then stand up a bit taller, her smile coming back. It was as if they had a mutual understanding.

“Of course, Miguel.” She closed her eyes and phased out again, leaving the two of you alone again. Miguel turned around to face you and gestured to a stool by a nearby table. You walked over and sat on it, Miguel grabbing another chair–and a toolbox it seemed–and placing himself beside you. He offered his hand and you gave it to him, your size difference being much clearer. Miguel took off his suit gloves which surprised you once more since your Miguel’s suit wasn’t necessarily standard fabric like this one. But since this one had claws too, the suit must also be made of some technology you’re not aware of.

Miguel took a look inside the damage the claws had done to the watch and began working on it silently. You took the time to notice his features and began comparing it to the other Miguel subconsciously.

The five o’clock shadow you had noticed before was also coming in red. It seemed like this version of Miguel leaned more into his Irish side. His hair was in a short side part, with his fringe falling on his forehead but he didn’t seem to pay any mind to it. The small glances he took at you made you see his eyes more clearly. They were the same red as your Miguel and equally as beautiful.

You pushed that thought away. It was strange to think that way about your boss’ variant, much less your boss himself. You admit he’s handsome–the two of them– and you could also tell that they knew that.

“Had enough staring?” He asked when you turn away to shake off your thoughts. If you didn’t know any better, it’d sound like he was teasing you.

“Have you?” You shot back. “I saw you staring too.”

“I was.” Miguel answered simply. He placed a screwdriver down, popping open the screen and examining it further. “Sorry about that. You…remind me of someone.”

The air had felt heavier. You had a gut feeling and you decided to see if you were right. “Did you know another me?”

Miguel nods, not looking up. “My own you, she passed,” He picks apart the device carefully, making sure to not damage it further. “Seeing you and sensing you…I was convinced you were some villain trying to haunt me. But I know now that it’s not true.” He says with little to no emotion. Maybe he was just hiding it under a facade. It wouldn’t be the first time you were on that end.

“I’m sorry,” You tried to apologize but he stood up, taking a piece of your watch with him.

“Nothing’s really damaged other than the screen. It shouldn’t be a problem to fix.” He says softly, and turns away to another side of the room. You purse your lips, deciding whether or not to play into his bad habits of closing off when he just opened up. You decided the former and asked another question.

“How long will it take?”

He pauses. “Do you hate it here already?”

“What?! No. No, of course not! I mean, I can't hate what I don’t know. Not to say I don’t know you. I know a Miguel just maybe you’re different. Which isn’t a bad thing but it’s just I can’t overstay–I need to go home because that would be invading your space.”

Miguel looks over at you and the corners of his lips are turned up. “I was joking.”

You stop your rambling and frown at him. “Your humor is bland.” Miguel laughs through his nose and shakes his head.

“You’re still the same…” He murmurs to himself. He shrugs off that thought, thinking it was disrespectful to the you that he once knew.

“It won’t take long,” He speaks to you. “I don’t have the exact materials as this but it’s still possible to make them. It should take a couple days. Maybe a little more or less a week.” He pulls up a holographic monitor and touches across the screen.

A week, you thought to yourself, at best. Miguel took another look around the damaged screen he’d plucked off your watch.

“Did I make this?” He looked over at you and you instinctively sat up straighter. “The other me.” He clarified.

“Well, yeah,” You shrugged on one side. “Made the blueprint and had Lyla help make it.”

“Lyla?” He hummed with a raise of his eyebrows. “Hm.” His jaw clenched, feeling a tinge of envy for his counterpart. He did dimensional travel and he had you around? It wasn’t fair. With a click of his tongue, he placed the screen back down and moved away from the table, opting out to type things you couldn’t see on another monitor.

You felt awkward sitting there with nothing to do so you stood up and looked around, keeping a respectful distance from Miguel and his things. You didn’t notice the way he stopped typing and admired you through the reflection of his monitor.

Same curve of your nose, shape of your jaw, same way your eyelashes fluttered. Miguel wished you were a ghost in that moment, maybe then he wouldn’t feel that agonizing itch to hold you again. “Do you…want a change of clothes?” He asked you, pulling you out of your bubble. “I have some of her things still here, lying around.” He offered, trying to appear nonchalant. You looked down at your spider suit. It was a bit dirtied from being thrown around so you could use a pair of comfortable clothes.

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to ruin her things or anything.”

Miguel shook his head and made his way out, ushering you to follow him. “I insist. I’d rather her things be used than lying around anyway.” You two had walked into his bedroom again. He opened his bottom drawer and pulled out some shirt and sweatpants. He held onto them a little longer before inhaling and passing them to you.

You looked at the clothes, noting how he looked at them “I really don’t have to wear them–”

“Please.” Miguel insisted. You blinked once and licked your lips, giving him time to make sure before you took it in your hands. You held it close to your chest.

“Bathroom?” You asked. He pointed down the hall and you followed, closing the door behind you and leaving Miguel alone with his thoughts. He rummaged through his drawer to find his own set of comfortable clothes outside his suit. He thought to himself, thinking about you and trying to find any differences. Your nose bridge was different but the tip of it was the same. Your hair texture was the same but you had a slightly different hue.

He didn’t know whether or not he wanted to help you. On one hand, you were the ghost of his past–the figure that taunted him of his failures as Miguel and as Spider-Man. But on the other hand, he missed you. All he ever wanted was to see you again and he wanted to selfishly keep seeing you. He sat at the edge of his bed, battling with his inner thoughts until he heard you come back.

Miguel looked up and got the wind knocked out of his chest. They fit you perfectly like you bought these yourself. You smiled awkwardly at him, thinking it was weird for him to see you in his dead girlfriend's clothes but he just nodded.

“Looks like it fits.” He choked out.

“They do. Thanks, again.” You smiled wearily. One week. He’d enjoy you for one week and maybe–just maybe– ask if you can come back.

Miguel didn't like the fact you offered to stay in his penthouse while he did his Spider-Man duties. Even more so when he knew you didn’t like sitting still either and only offered out of politeness. He guessed that if you were anything like him now, a being with super powers, it meant you also felt a responsibility to do something and help people. So, he invited you to join his patrols.

You declined at first. “I’ve already crashed your universe–”

“Would it kill you to just join me without being so high and mighty?” He asked with a pointed look knowing you were too nice for your own good even in his universe. You sighed through your nose and reluctantly agreed, still feeling awkward around him despite his not so stubble attempts to make you comfortable. Which was strange considering your initial hostile encounter.

For the next few days, it seemed patrolling was a nice bonding time for you two. Surprisingly, you worked well together like he knew just how you worked and acted accordingly. He knew once you spotted a small crime going on, he’d let you get the first punch in since you were a bit competitive. While swinging, he figured out you liked to hang in the air for a moment longer before using your webs again ao he swung at a distance while you could do your flips and jumps. For the entire week, you had forgotten you were technically stranded here but that fact didn’t seem to bother you.

Along with that, Miguel worked on fixing your watch, creating a small wristband that would delay your glitching while he took the device. Eventually, he did fix it and turned it brand new again. You were incredibly grateful and he just smiled softly at you through his shaded glasses. You slipped it on and was prepared to head home when he stopped you and asked if you’d like to go on a final patrol with him. You fiddled with your watch, debating but you did feel a small part of you not wanting to leave him, strangely enough. So, you went.

It had been late by the time you came back to his penthouse, opting to crawl through the window of his bedroom. The night was hotter than expected, both of you leaning on the wall to catch your breaths after ripping off your masks.

“Made sure no one followed?” You asked with a heavy sigh. Miguel propped himself off the wall and leaned over to glance outside the window beside you, his hand placed next to your head and his hand subconsciously held your hip, making you freeze. He didn’t seem to notice even as you stared shamelessly up at him. Miguel’s eyes were focused and sharp, a stark contrast to the way he squinted under his sunglasses during the daytime. His arm by your head flexed as he moved to keep himself steady but the hand on your hip was warm and comforting that left your heart fluttering. Sure, he was handsome–but you couldn’t, right? Right?

Miguel’s eyes found yours again and for a moment was confused why you seemed so stiff. You looked up at him with beady and bashful eyes that made his heart skip a beat. He instinctively looked down at your lips and back to your eyes, his hand moving up to your waist. He hunched over you, caging you to the wall and making you feel the heat radiating off his body. You stared straight even as he closed in on you by your ear, your heart pounding in your chest and down to your abdomen.

“If you want me to stop, I’ll stop.” He whispered by your ear, his thumbs by your waist caressed your hip bone, a subtle reminder of his sweetness underneath his rough exterior. Despite the short time spent together, he was sure you felt something for him after basically living with him. He was still at a distance but with your lack of reply, he took that as an answer and took a step back away from you.

Before he could, you grabbed onto his arms, keeping him in place and close to you. “No,” You said quickly. “No, don’t stop. Please.” You whispered, your heart hammering inside your chest.

Miguel came back to you, his arms securing himself around you, his own heartbeat increasing in speed. “Are you sure?” He asked softly.

You nodded. “Please.” You whispered again. Miguel took one arm off your waist to cup your cheek and tilt it up to face him. You felt heat crawl up to your cheeks meanwhile Miguel looked like he was about to take a bite of the forbidden fruit that was you. He was entranced and a little needy and eager to feel your lips on his again. Despite you being a different version of the one he knew–it was still you. Down to your hair, eyes and lips. Even the way your nose would scrunch in disgust and the way you walked and fiddled with your fingers. It was all still you. He wasn’t going to lose his chance.

So he kissed you.

He kissed you like a man starved, practically bending your back as he curled himself on top of you. You wrapped your arms around his neck to gain some stability while he pulled you close enough for you to go on your tiptoes. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss and his hand left your cheek to bend slightly to pick you up. You got the hint and wrapped your legs around him and Miguel pressed you up against the wall. His growing erection grinding slowly on your clothed heat, making the two of you moan.

Your fingers curled into his fiery hair just the way he liked and his hands grabbed at every piece of flesh he could squeeze in his palms. Miguel’s lips separated from yours, a string of saliva connecting the two of you until he brought his lips down to your neck. You leaned your head back on the wall while he worked his magic, licking and nipping at your flesh with care due to his fangs. You heard him moan, gripping you tighter as he tasted you and your breathing became heavier.

Miguel lifted you off the wall, hurrying towards his bedroom and plopping your body down on the plush, soft mattress. He took your thighs and separated them to see the wet patch seeping out your spider suit. You felt his talons gently probing your skin and his eyes met yours again as he paused.

You nodded once again and with new vigor, he took one clawed hand and slashed the bottom half of your suit apart along with your panties. You gasped.

“Miguel…!”

“I’ll get you ten shocking suits. Just let me have you.” He groaned and delved between your legs. He licked up a stripe and your breath hitched, your hands immediately finding his hair. Miguel felt himself strain in his own suit, bucking his hips pathetically against anything he could find while he ate you out. His tongue probed your entrance and his nose rubbed against your clit that made your arch your back and thrust yourself on his mouth. His fingers joined his mouth in pushing you to your limit, coaxing more moans and whimpers from your pouting lips.

You covered up your mouth with your hand, covering up your face in embarrassment. The sounds of Miguel slurping and licking up your essence made you so much more wet and weak. You squirm underneath his hands and Miguel growls, using his strength to keep your legs in place and apart while he indulges in the taste of you. His eyes are closed, salivating and devouring your juices with every lap of his tongue. His fingers spread your lips open, sliding one finger in and swirling his tongue in your pussy. You clench around his wet muscle and finger, feeling him smirk against you.

Miguel continues to ease his finger inside you, pumping it too slowly for your liking. You whined which made his cock twitch and you pleaded for more. Drunk on your sweetness, he complied and added a second finger, the stretch becoming evident. You arched your back off the bed and you felt Miguel's other hand caress your thigh comfortingly. His moans send vibrations to your clit and grind yourself desperately on him while squealing his name.

“Hmm–Fuck, Mi-ggy…” You whined, pressing your thighs around his head. You felt Miguel pause for a split second, the nickname you’ve given him had gone straight between his legs. He gained more confidence to please you, taking his fingers out to grab your breast and sucking on your clit. The sensation of him forcibly spreading you apart again and the combination of your nipple being tweaked pulled and his tongue made you feel shocks of electricity down your spine. You felt the pit of your abdomen growing with your upcoming climax and you started thrashing around as much as you could with Miguel holding you down.

“Miggy! Fuck–Don’t stop!” As if he would ever, now that he’s tasted your delectable pussy. He only continued the same pace that had you squirming and chasing you high. His fingers teasing your nipples after every swirl of his tongue and the bubble pops inside you.

You scream his name into the air and grip on the sheets beside you while screwing your eyes shut. You humped on his eager mouth, drinking in whatever you gave him with a satisfied hum. He pressed closer to make sure he could lap up as much as he could but still, drips of you slid down his chin and around his lips. You mewled when the high finished and you were left with a sensitive pussy that he still made sure to clean you up with his mouth.

With hazy eyes, you stared at him still between your legs, watching with a smirk as you collected yourself. Miguel swirled his tongue around his lips to clean himself off and even used his hands to scoop up the parts he couldn’t reach to lick it off spotlessly, not a single ounce of your cum going to waste. It made you burn in embarrassment but also gaining a weak pulse to your twitching pussy.

He kneeled over you, drinking in your naked body from the flyaways in your hair to the way your legs shook after just orgasming. His stare was intense and it made you want to hide yourself from just how long he’d been looking at you for. You didn’t know it, but Miguel felt a twinge of heartache in his chest. He missed you–the other you dearly– and it felt strange that in a way you’re still here but different. He felt afraid that this might’ve been on impulse. You look like her, sound like her, but yet you haven’t experienced things with him like her. The you in front of him was, in a way, a whole different woman.

“Miguel?” You gently pulled him out of his mind. Oh, how your eyes still send his heart racing when he looks at you. Your eyes held concern and worry in them. Was he regretting it? Should you stop? It was the opposite. One look at you and Miguel’s worries had faded.

It’s still you down to your core. The one he had truly fallen in love with. In every lifetime and in every universe, he was meant to be beside you. He leaned in to nuzzle against the softness of your neck and pressed a lingering kiss to your jaw. “Nothing,” He eased your worries. “You’re just simply gorgeous.” He murmured and you felt a blush crawl up your neck.

Miguel made his way down your neck to your chest where he continued to leave kisses in his wake. His head of red hair curled slightly from the sweat that had built up between the two of you and it tickled you on his way down. Your bashful state was cut short when he flicked your nipple with his tongue and it made you whimper. Your mind had gone up in the clouds once more when he began suckling on the bud, the nerves of it sending signals to your pussy, making you wet again.

Miguel took a moment to rid himself of his own suit and underwear, returning to please your tender breasts. His knee had gone in between your thighs to push one leg away and his hand delved down to rub your swollen clit. His fingers rubbed in small circles that made you melt and lean your head back while his mouth continued its attack on gently biting your now hardened nipples. Your hands ran through his hair which encouraged him further and you both moaned in unison.

Miguel pulled away from your tits, a small smirk on his lips as he saw the bitemark around your bud beginning to form. His hand left your sopping cunt and licked off the sweet nectar that was you with a hum of his voice. The sight left you shivering and he leaned back down to kiss you, making you taste yourself. You mewled as he forced his tongue inside to find yours in a heated dance. Your eyes rolled back and you pressed your chest up which made him groan when he felt your hard nipples graze his skin.

You felt a blunt poke at your entrance and Miguel pulled away just enough for his forehead to be above yours. He looked into your eyes, another check to see if this is what you wanted–what you both wanted. You nodded again, firmly this time, and he didn’t need another second.

Miguel pushed his fat cockhead between your lips to coat his length before entering it inside you. You winced and Miguel buried himself in your neck, his hand on your hip, caressing you and encouraging you to hold onto him. You wrapped your arms around him as he pushed further inside you, his size being nothing you’ve experienced. “I know, I know,” He shushed you, kissing your neck to distract you. “Such a pretty girl. You can take it, sweetheart.”

You whimpered at his praise, digging your nails in his back that left red crescents behind, a faint click sounding out that neither of you heard when you bumped your hand on his shoulder. “Miguel…” You moaned, spreading your legs further apart while he shook, sliding himself inside you.

Miguel moaned your name back, finally pushing himself to the hilt and his balls slapping your cunt with a wet smack from the combination of your weeping core and his spit. You wiggled your hips at the snug fit and tried to get used to his size but he stopped you, hissing and digging his nails in your flesh to anchor himself from cumming immediately. He kissed your cheeks to ease you while he gently pulled in and out in small strokes.

“More….harder…” You mewled, your walls finally used to his girth and clamping down on his throbbing cock to suck him in deeper. Miguel grabbed your hips and lifted it up with his inhumane strength and began moving, his cock glistening with your slick when he pulled out and hearing it squelch inside your wet cunt when he pushed back in. Your nails scratched at his chest and he grabbed one of your hands to press a kiss to the inside of your wrist. “You’re driving me crazy,” Miguel moaned. “This cunt’s just been waiting to be fucked, huh?” He huffed, slowly gaining speed. When you didn’t respond, he slammed into you and made you scream from his tip hitting your sweet spot. “Yes!” You sobbed, feeling his hands push your legs up to your chest and hammered himself in your pussy. You wrapped your arms around him while he pounded into you, hiding yourself in his neck. The bed creaked below you two, sheets shuffling from the force of Miguel ravaging your body. Miguel rested his arm above your head and held onto your thigh, making sure you were spread open while he adjusted his position to be more comfortable while pistoning his throbbing cock. He let out small grunts and moans, nipping at your neck and being careful with his fangs. With his dick hitting a different spot, you wrapped your legs around his waist to push him deeper. It seemed like even with him stretching your walls and splitting you apart, it was never enough–you wanted more. In the pit of your stomach, you knew you needed to have something more. His fucking was still mind-blowing, his talons gently poking your plush thighs and balls slapping rhythmically to the sounds of your whimpers and cries, which he adored. “So pretty, you sing so pretty for me,” He murmured, choking on his own pleasure as he felt you gushing around him just from the sheer ecstasy that coursed through your veins. “So tight and so warm—oh, god–” He groaned, picking up pace that had you squealing and clenching around him. “Lemme fill this pretty pussy, hm? Can I? Hm?” He moaned, trailing his wet lips down your chest to latch onto your nippled again, His tongue flicking the perky nub and pulling it between his teeth.

“Yes, yes, yes–God, yes–please!” You wailed, your hands scratching his shoulder blades and digging into his skin for purchase while you bucked in time with his thrusting. You eyes rolled back then closing them to focus on the way his cockhead was slamming into your sweet spot at just the pace you liked. You felt Miguel suck on your nipple, switching to the other side to give it equal amounts of attention. You shuttered and cried his name, finally feeling the dam break inside you. “Miguel!” Your vision going white and the euphoria of it washing over your body while you felt your pussy cum all over his length and squeezing him. Miguel let out a guttural groan deep from his throat when he felt you cum and clamp around him. Your cum slicked his cock and pelvis, and he then went faster to reach his own orgasm. You thrashed under him, feeling incredibly sensitive while he kept slapping against your pussy and pounding inside your walls. You moaned that you were just too sensitive, tears collecting at your eyes from overstimulation. He let go of your nipple and kissed you quickly to stop your whining. He lifted his head to watch you squeeze your eyes shut, gripping onto him tightly and whimpering. His eyes were bewitched with the scene of your tits bouncing, bite marks littered across the plump flesh. His eyes scanning down to see your slick making a mess between your legs after cumming, the way small strings connected to his person. But the sight of his massive cock sliding easily inside your pussy, your folds welcoming him by wrapping around him–he snapped from within and came hard. Miguel quickly grabbed the sheets so his talons could rip through them instead of you, his body curling as he let out a final groan and his cock spurted his seed in you. He continued to pump his load, feeling his cock soften and twitch out the rest of himself in strings of salty cum–a white ring forming on the base of his dick. He huffed, shaking as he made sure all of his cum stayed inside you. When he pulled out, a small white string connected from his tip to your pussy, slipping apart when he was far away enough. He watched the mess between your legs for a moment, breathing heavily as his seed oozed out of your folds and his heart began to beat a little bit faster.

Miguel carefully lifted himself off the bed to go to the bathroom and returned with a towel to clean between your legs. He carefully wiped your clean, being extra careful around your abused pussy. He watched you to make sure you weren’t in any discomfort, but you nearly fell asleep with how gentle he was. Miguel tossed the soiled towel into his hamper and slid back into bed with you. He brought you into his chest while he laid on his back, and he brought his covers up to your chin. You wrapped yourself around him and he wrapped his arm around your shoulder, his hand running up and down your arm soothingly.

For a while, neither of you spoke, a strange comforting silence in the air. That is, until Miguel broke it.

“Miggy?” He asked. You grunted, still half-asleep and barely conscious.

“Sorry.” You mumbled, thinking it was rude of you to call him something so casually. Miguel huffed and looked down at you, his other hand petting your hair back.

“No, no. I didn’t mind. It was cute,” He smiled even if you couldn’t see it. “Do you…think you could stay?” He asked hesitantly.

His question made you wake up, the tone had gone a little serious but you knew what he meant. “I can’t,” You whispered and you felt his chest deflate. You felt horrible but you knew better than to stay in a dimension that wasn’t yours. “But…maybe I could come back?” You offered.

Miguel stiffened and you heard his heart beating faster. “Really?” You nodded and snuggled against his chest.

“I can’t stay but it’s not against the rules to visit other dimensions.”

Miguel scoffed at the mention of rules but if he got to see you again then that’s all that matters. “Will you go in the morning?” He asked, hoping you’d say no.

“I think I’ll stay a while.” You murmured sleepily and Miguel grinned to himself, letting you sleep peacefully in his arms.

While you had fallen asleep in the comforting arms of your boss’ variant, you failed to notice the shutter of your watch clicking off from a call.

Miguel O’Hara, leader of the Spider Society and the one who had been looking for you all this time, was sitting alone in his office panting heavily. Sweat accumulated on his forehead and thighs, a hue of crimson across his cheeks as he let go of his softening cock. Splatters of his cum, drenched his hand and desk and he groaned realizing what he had done.

He hadn’t meant to spy on you and your intimacy with whoever you wanted. He wasn’t expecting to hear from you after losing you on a mission, much less moaning his name. At first, he was relieved that you were alive and was about to speak until you squealed his name so sweetly. Miguel froze, wondering if you somehow got home and didn’t tell him. Whatever you did on your time was yours, but you were calling out to him. Eventually he learned it wasn’t him, but a different version. He debated whether to click out or not but some sick and twisted emotion inside him reveled in the way you begged and writhed underneath his variant.

Miguel had phased his hardening cock out of his suit and began pumping it slowly in time with his variants thrusts. He focused solely on you rather than the man that looked nothing like him. Another sick thought in his head wished his variant looked more like him, so he could imagine himself fucking you properly. Miguel made sure he was muted as he grunted and cursed under his breath, muttering praises to you in Spanish he knew you couldn’t hear. He made sure to edge himself, wanting to cum when he heard you scream his name. He bursted a fat load onto himself and the desk as you cried out your orgasm, watching you throw your head back and clutch onto his variant while you shook violently around his cock.

He grit his teeth, jealousy brewing in his heart at how hard you came. He could do better.

Once his mind had cleared up, he blushed heavily, shame overcoming his previous desires and covered his face. Despite being alone, he felt someone watching–which was hypocritical given what he had done. Before he ended the call, he traced your coordinates to find where you had been stranded all this time. Tomorrow, he’d find you and get you back.

A/N: i'm a proud lover of all versions of miguel !!!!! please be patient for part 2 🙏

[yellowjestertfs]

Altered State: Part 1

IDK if anyone on here will be interested in this story, its kind of a long and slower but thought I would post it anyways. More parts coming next week!

Most great adventures start with a call to arms, a quest from on high, a declaration of purpose to serve the greater good. Edward’s and Leon’s started with a question asked through a mouthful of chips.

“Wanna play this new game dude?” Leon asked words barely intelligible. He stood in the doorway of their living room, his fat frame blocking most of the light. In one hand he held a bag of chips and in the other, he held up an unfamiliar battered keep case, the type that held video game disks inside. The thing had a red and blue design that Edward didn't recognize. 

“I guess. What is that thing, will it work on my Wii?” Edward asked. He lay on the couch, long thin body taking up the whole thing but sat up and moved over to make room for his roommate. 

Leon shook his head “I don’t think so dude, it's like super retro.” He walked over to the TV and started fiddling with the row of older consoles that belonged to their third roommate Alvis trying to see if any could accommodate the game. "It was free though." He said as he found the right one, an extremely retro blocky thing Edward was surprised even accepted disks. Leon booted up the system, the familiar hum of the machine filling the space. “I got it from that comic shop down the street. This buff dude at the counter just handed it to me. Said he thought I would put it to good use.”

“Alvis would kill you if he knew you were touching that,” Edward warned, always the one to show more caution. 

“Fuck Alvis. If he didn't want it to be used he shouldn’t have bought it” Leon countered. Neither of the two were particularly big fans of their other roommate, but Leon especially hated his guts. He only let the guy live with them because it made the rent cheaper and because Alvis’ weird retro tech fit in with their decor of half-finished Lego sets, empty pizza boxes, and superhero posters, and because for the most part, Alvis left the two friends alone, spending all his time in the engineering building or fiddling with tech in his room.

Leon opened the case and took out a dusty disk, growing on it to reveal the title “Altered State” and the manufacturer HunkTech, neither of which either Leon or Edward had ever heard of. Leon put the game back into Alvis’s video game console and pressed play. The TV flickered for a moment, then exploded with color so bright it forced both of them to squint. Flashes of neon light, strange symbols, and spinning images seared into their eyes, leaving dancing after images. Neither of the friends could look away, their senses overwhelmed by the pulsating lights that burned into the back of their brains. And just as suddenly as it started, the TV went black and both friends came back to themselves.

“Oh shit" Edward muttered, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. "Your game just fried the TV!Alvis is going to kill you.”

Leon opened his mouth to defend himself but before he could a green holographic display blinked into existence, floating in the air right in front of him. Growing text marched across the living room floor reading:

"Welcome to Altered State.”

Leon’s jaw dropped. "Uh, Ed? You seeing this?”

Edward stood motionless for a moment too shocked to speak. “What the fuck” he breathed “What's going on?”

Both of their holograms shifted to display naked, pixelated 3D models of the two friends, hanging awkwardly in midair. 

“Eww, what the hell,” Leon said. He tried to avert his gaze but the images followed the motion of his head and stayed even when he shut his eyes. 

Neither of the projections was a particularly flattering sight to behold.  Leon’s short, heavy frame was rendered in painful detail—his soft belly, narrow shoulders, pudgy limbs, and average penis were all fully extenuated under the brutally detailed holographic projection. Edward’s model didn’t fare any better. Tall and spindly, his twig-like arms and knobby knees, paired with a notoriously ugly face, gave him the appearance of a scarecrow. Edward was not helped much in its attractiveness by the acne on his face, the greasy thin hair on his head, and the pitifully small penis between his legs fully visible in the naked light of the hologram. 

“Your the one with your dick in my face.” Edward shot back, cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the display.  

The hologram flickered again, and new text appeared below both their models:

Analyzing subjects…

The text began to blink as new displays blinked into existence on the peripheral of both their vision, only really notable if focused on. Various menus that displayed statistics quests and a list perks were all there, though all were currently blank. The words level one along with an empty an empty progress bar beneath appeared at the top of their filed of view, though only visible to themselves and not the other. 

Neither of the two friends had time to examine the new features in detail as the words under their models shifted again.

“Analyzing Purpose: Class Selection”

"Class selected: Juggernaut.” Appeared under Leon’s character. 

Leon blinked. "Juggernaut?" he repeated, unsure what to make of the development.

Edward snickered, “I think that's the fantasy term for fatty.”

But before Leon could respond, Edward’s display changed too:

"Class selected: Snake Charmer.”

“What like I’m going to play the flute?” Edward asked.

It was Leon's turn to laugh. “No bro, the game just called you a homo.” 

It took Edward a second to understand. “Not funny,” he said swatting his best friend on the arm, blushing somehow harder. “This is seriously messed up. We need to go to the hospital or something.”

“Relax charmochondriac, don't you see what’s happening?” 

“Group psychosis?” Edward guessed.

“No dude, we are in a video game, and we fucking rule at video games.”

“Leon” Edward said warningly. Before he could say more though quests populated onto both their displays.

“Dude chill this is awesome. My first quest is easy too. I bet I can get level ten before you.”

Edward wasn’t as ready to accept this rapid series of unexplainable events but he also wasn’t ready to let his best friend think he was a chicken. “Fine. I’ll meet you back at the house when I kick your ass.”

Leon laughed and with that both boys raced out the door, shoving each other playfully to get out first. From there both took off to opposite sides of campus, towards their various objectives and their differing yet intimately intertwined destinies. 

-

Leon raced, or his version which was something between a fast walk and an awkward jog, across campus to his first quest. It seemed easy enough: “Go to the gym” it read. Leon wasn’t exactly one for physical fitness but he at least knew where the health center was from campus orientation tour.

Despite his slow pace by the time he reached it he was out of breath. For a moment he stood in front of automatic double doors, panting and intimidated. He stuck out like a sore thumb on this part of campus, dressed in the ratty strained Superman shirt and baggy shorts his protruding belly and wild unkempt hair stood in stark contrast to the muscular adonis in low tank tops and tall fit women in matching sports sets who brushed by him without a second thought. Mustering his courage Leon walked through the doors and into the gym. His ears were greeted by the sound of slamming weights, rhythmic grunts, and a small ding as he completed his first quest and leveled up. He watched as the experience bar filled fully, bumping his level up to two and filling his vision with notifications. The bar continued to fill until it had reached halfway to the next level. A notification appeared in a gray box with plain white blocky text.

You have reached level two. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Strength, +1 Charisma +0.3 Intelligence.

Leon grinned as he felt himself change. He couldn’t actually feel himself getting smarter or more charismatic. He wasn't sure if that was because those were more cognitive stats or if it was because the increase was marginal compared to his strength. Either way, it was a strength that Leon felt himself receive. It wasn't much. Leon didn’t suddenly become a hulk or a bodybuilder but he felt something shift. His shoulders widened slightly, his chest inflated a bit and his butt became less saggy. A single vein buried deep in the layers of fat in his arm engorged itself with blood and snaked its way to the surface, pushed upwards by growing muscle and diminishing fat. He felt physically stronger, faster, like he might be able to actually run a bit without throwing up. He didn't actually look all that different, a quarter of an inch taller, a few pounds shifted from fat to muscle, but inside he felt amazing, electric, like this is what he was made for. Leon suspected that feeling had to do with the other notification waiting for him just below the first.

“You have gained a class perk.”

“Gym Rat: as a juggernaut, you feel comfortable in all athletic spaces.”

Leon felt all his worries and insecurities about being in the gym fade away. He scanned his student ID and strode past the muscled jock at the front counter confidently, flashing him a smile and a slight wave. Leon felt just as comfortable in the gym as if he was at the comic book shop, no more, he felt like he was at home chilling with Edward, like he could do anything and give a damn about who judged him. Leon knew he should be concerned about how this game had physically changed his body and mind so easily but he was too invigorated, too electrified, and he had another quest to do. 

“Do a push-up.” It read simply. 

Leon hadn’t tried to do a push-up since 8th grade gym class but he felt confident he was capable of it with the boost to strength he had received. Leon weaved through the various machines and stations manned by the university’s resident hunks and athletes, some gave him dirty looks but most looked right through him. Leon found he couldn’t care less. He found a corner of the free mat and assumed the push-up position. Despite the recent slight boost to his athleticism, it was a task easier said than done. Leon went down as far as he could until he felt his arms begin to shake, about an inch, then pushed himself up with substantial effort.

To his disappointment, the quest still read as incomplete. He reasoned it must be due to his, form. He tried to go lower but ended up face-first on the mat, unable to push himself up. He went to his knees and did a push-up but that didn’t count either. Nor did a push-up with his butt out in the air, or one in which he rested on the ground for a few seconds in the middle. Leon was about to give up when he saw a guy around his age approach. 

He didn't have the same gorilla bulk as some of the huge men in the gym but his body was visibly lean and defined through his tee-shirt, maybe a runner. “Need any help there” he asked. Leon couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or mocking but his new total comfort in the gym provided by his “Gym Rat” perk made him not care. 

“I’m trying to do a push-up.”

“Just one?” The guy asked with a grin. 

“Gotta start somewhere,” Leon said humbly. 

“Your problem is your stance.” He said. He instructed Leon to assume the plank position and then went about correcting Leon’s form. His arms were too close together, his core was not properly engaged, back not fully straight. The man introduced himself as Cal and then instructed Leon to try again. Leon tried another pushup lowering his body slowly “Lower, lower” Cal called Leon and complied though his face turned red and he wanted to die. Cal didn't let him stop till the tip of his dick was practically touching the mat. Then he went back up, slowly and with more exertion than he had ever used in his whole life. 

He was rewarded with a ding and a slew of notifications. 

“You have reached level three. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Strength, +1 Charisma +0.3 Intelligence.” 

“You have gained a class perk.”

“Perfect Form: as a juggernaut, you instinctually know the proper form to maximize the performance of any athletic endeavor.”

Leon felt his body shift again from where it lay crumpled on the mat. His stomach deflated slightly, and under his man boobs pecs started to form. His legs lengthened a bit causing his shorts to only reach his knees instead of past them. The changes were as small as the first but Leon couldn’t help but feel amazed. He tried to do another push-up and found that his body now naturally assumed the perfect position without him having to think about it. With his new points in strength, he was able to push out another perfect military-style push-up, and two more before he flopped down onto the mat, fully spent.

“You're getting the hang of it,” Cal said smiling. If he had seen Leon's body change he made no indication. “good luck on your workout,” he called out as he left.

“Yeah see you around man” Leon called after him. He felt on cloud nine. At this rate, Leon would reach level 10 by the hour. On cue, two more quests appeared for him to complete. He wondered how Edward was doing, if he had even gained one level by now. Maybe once Leon had power gamed his way into OP status he could help his friend with a quest or two. 

-

Edward walked across the quad at a brisk pace. He would have run if his bony arms and legs didn't make him look like a chicken when he did. Edward wasn’t quite as sold on this whole bizarre real life video game thing as Leon was but he also wasn’t about to let Leon leave him in the dust. Edward's first quest was pretty simple if non-specific, “be within 50 feet of 30 or more people”. 

Edwards tendency to avoid large crowds gave him the advantage of knowing exactly where they often were. The coffee shop by the quad came right to his mind. At this time of the day, the place was packed with students either leaving or going to their mid-day classes. The place terrified Edward, the thought of so many eyes on him, judging him, mocking him, and yet Edward reasoned there was no harm in at least checking the place out, it not as if the quest required him to talk to anyone. 

As he walked Edward wondered at the game. Leon, true to self had accepted the game right away without question. If his friend was muscular instead of fat he might be called a himbo. It wasn’t that he was dumb, he was getting a degree in public health, but he also didn't have a habit of thinking things through particularly throughly. Their freshmen year Leon had built a glider out of the shower curtain and broke his arm jumping off the second floor of their dorm with it. And last year Leon had thought it was a good idea to subscribe to some shady porn website that had given his computer a virus so corruptive even tech wizard Alvis couldn’t remove it. 

Though they were inseparable best friend Edward was the opposite. He was much more cautious about everything, sometimes to irrational extremes. Last semester Edward had almost dropped out because he was too nervous to get approval for his classes from his sociology advisor. If he was scared of his sixty-five year old sweet as candy professor talking to guys he liked was surly out of the question, not that he would have any hope of success with his appearance. 

As Edward walked across the quad he avoided eye contact with students crowded onto the open green sitting and chatting or throwing frisbees. Edward felt drowned in the sea of people, though the lawn wasn’t nearly dense enough to fulfill the quest. 

The line for the coffee shop was out the door which made him want to throw up. He walked slowly forward waiting for the quest to complete. Finally, when he was only a few feet away, practically in line the quest was fulfilled and his experience bar to level two filled fully.

Edward heard a “ding” in his head and several notifications filled his vision startling him.  

“You have reached level two. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Charisma, +1 Intelligence +0.3 Strength.”

“You have gained a class perk.”

“People Person: Those around you feel your natural charm and are more likely to accept you in a neutral or positive way, potentially even striking up a conversation.”

Edward felt a strange itch on his brow and a pressure on his jaw but ignored it. He didn't know what to make of the messages. The stats seemed somewhat consistent with role-playing video games, and he supposed the break down made sense with his class. Still, he wasn’t sure how something like charisma would be incorporated into real life, nor his new People Person perk. As a sociology major Edward knew all too well how complex human interaction was. The perk seemed to imply that not only would the game be changing him but also the people around him and their perceptions. He wasn’t sure if that was even possible not to mention ethical.

“Introduce yourself to a stranger,” the next quest said popping up on the side of Edward's vision. That more than any ethical quandary made Edward scared. It was all well and good for the game to claim that people would react positively to Edward but he knew firsthand that wasn’t true. 

“Hey, are you in line” two girls who had walked up behind him asked. Edward froze, realizing he had positioned himself at an awkward spot half in line half not. The girls didn't seem disgusted by his presence but they also didn't seem particularly enthralled, they just wanted to get their coffee. 

Edward nodded his head, the best he could do with his crippling social anxiety. He moved more obviously in line and the girl went back to chatting. As the line crept closer Edward tried and failed several times to work up the courage to introduce himself to the girls. He came up with various scenarios in his head of how he could make an introduction, all of which ended with the girl calling him a creep. 

Finally, after ten minutes, Edward reached the front of the line. He realized in his attempts to complete the quest he hadn’t so much as glanced at the menu. 

“What will you be having today” a tall tan worker asked, his tattooed arms pleasantly stretching out the sleeves of his shirt. Edward just opened and closed his mouth like a fish, mind suddenly blank of every coffee drink ever, including coffee. 

The worker, whose name tag ironically read “Tag” saw his confusion and smiled. “It's a big menu I know. It's fall, so you can never go wrong with a PSL.” He saw Edwards look confused and he sheepishly clarified “Pumpkin spice latte.”

“I’ll do that,” Edward said, voice quiet but clear. He took a deep breath then before he could think about it blurted out “I’m Edward by the way”. 

Tag gave a handsome grin and wrote the name on a cup. “Thanks, Edward, I’ll that get you out for you right away.”

Edward heard a “ding” but ignored it and the notifications that popped up as he paid on the tablet Tag turned towards him. His hands shook as he selected the largest tip options and stumbled over to the designated area to stand while waiting for a drink and looked at the notifications. 

“You have reached level three. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Charisma, +1 Intelligence, +0.3 Strength.”

“You have gained a class perk.”

“Social Sync: You are naturally attuned to the tone and rhythm of conversation making awkward pauses and interruptions a thing of the past.”

New quests popped up as well, two this time. “Make someone laugh” and “Offer someone advice.”

As the messages appeared Edward felt the same strange pain in his face, like the soreness he sometimes got after smiling all day with Leon. He lifted a hand to his face and felt skin much smoother than his normal rough, dry, pockmarked complexion. His weak chin, which had always been a source of insecurity no longer felt totally concave but pushed out somewhat lending a strange sharpness to his jaw. Edward was about to take out his phone to examine his reflection when he heard a voice beside him. 

“He’s so dreamy, isn’t he,” a man said in his right ear. All his life Edward had been painfully scrawny, wrists the size of cucumber and ribs showing through his pale skin. This man was even more slender like he could break with a strong gust of wind. He held a coffee cup that had the name Trent on the side. The guy didn't seem to mind Edwards's silence and continued staring at Tag longingly. “The coffee here is so bitter but the eye candy is so sweet” he mused. 

“Yeah that guy is what I would call a full-sized candy bar” the comment came out before Edward had time to think. It was a mediocre joke, wordy and unoriginal to a fault, but to painfully shy and unfunny Edward he felt like he was a standup comedian. Trent smiled and gave a slight chuckle, though his quest remained incomplete, probably because the laugh was fake.

“He’s a Snickers, and let's just say I’m not allergic to nuts.” Edward tried again, this time eliciting a better reaction from Trent. A slight giggle was all it took for the quest to complete and Edwards' experience bar to increase half the way to level four. 

“Well both of us are going to go hungry. He’s straight.”

“Really” Edward asked. As a closeted gay until he was 19, when he had finally worked up the courage to tell Leon, Edward thought he had pretty good gaydar, and that Tag guy was anything but straight. “How do you know?” He asked Social Sync perk causing him to put the perfect pause between his declaration of doubt and his question without him even noticing.

“He used to date some girl” Trent responded with a touch of disgust.

“Maybe he’s bi,” Edward said and Trent’s face lit up as if he had never considered the thought.

“Oh wow, do you really think so” He asked excitedly. “Now that you say it he is kind of flirty when he gives me my drink.”

“You should just go up and talk to him” Edward advised sagely. “I mean what is the worst that could happen.” The advice was hollow seeing as how Edward had never even breathed in the direction of any of his crushes. Trent seemed to sense this and looked at Edward dubiously. The game system however didn't seem to care. It marked his “give advice” quest as complete and alerted him he had reached level four with a ding. At this rate, Leon didn't stand a chance of reaching level ten before him. 

“You have reached level four. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Charisma, +1 Intelligence, +0.3 Strength.”

“Sage: Your charisma gives you an innate knowledge of people's desires, both conscious and unconscious. Note: The higher your charisma the more attuned this sense becomes. Note: this effect is 92.22% more effective on people with a penis.”

Edward felt a shift both in his physiology and in his brain, like before he felt his face move, bones like continental plates drifting every so slightly apart into a more attractive configuration. 

Inside his head, he felt something shift far more drastically. The three +1 boosts to his intelligence had been so slight he barely noticed them, just a slight speeding up of his thoughts and a boost to his reasoning ability. This new change in his mind was drastic, impossible not to notice. A sixth sense emerged, filling his head with a source of knowledge he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. It was almost as if he had gained the ability to read minds only not so strong and without any words, only feelings. Suddenly Edward felt Trent’s desire, a sexual one, not just for the barista, but also for the group of frat boys in the corner of the shop and strangely enough for Edward. He felt others' desires too, though much less clearly. 

Two guys standing to his left both hoped the other would buy the alcohol for tonight's party. The other men in the shop only gave wisps of desire. Edward suspected that had something to do with proximity and his still relatively low charisma.

The women on the other hand Edward could barely sense, only receiving a small tingle like TV static instead of anything readable. Edward wondered at that strange 92.22% bonus towards men. Edward took a moment to reflect on the class he had been assigned. Could Leon be right? Could the name of his class be a gay joke, that he was meant to charm not venomous creatures in baskets but instead the snake in men's pants? It seemed somehow too vulgar for a video game though Edward knew that was illogical. If it was true it begged some concerning questions, like how the game had known he was gay and what exactly it was setting him up to do. 

“Would you go talk to him?” Trent asked suddenly snapping Edward back to the present. His sixth sense faded to the back of his mind, though he could still sense Trent’s desire. “Sorry I know that's a lot to ask but I think you would have more luck than me.” He looked at Edward with puppy dog eyes filled with earnest hope. “Be my wingman?”

A notification appeared obscuring a part of Edward’s vision. 

“Quest offered! Set up Trent and Tag romantically. Reward: XP”

A box under the quest notification had two boxes with “yes” and “no” options. Edward had no idea how to select either option. Out loud he said “I’ll do my best,” the notification disappeared and reappeared small in the quest part of his interface. 

Trent smiled “Really? I can’t thank you enough.” He felt Trent’s desire shift from lust to hope. “Just like using a pickup line or something. Don’t make it too awkward” he said suddenly nervous.

“Don’t worry I got this,” Edward said with about 1000% times more confidence than he felt. He had absolutely no business getting other people's tail when he was still a virgin himself. Edward just knew he was going to make an absolute fool of himself.

-

It turned out that the quests to advance to level four were not as easy as Leon had imagined. The first quest “run a lap” proved exhausting but doable. Leon made his way to the elevated track that encircled the gym and with perfect form, if less perfect endurance, ran the loop. Before the game, Leon would have had to walk most of it, but the two levels and six points he had gained in strength allowed him to push through with a slow jog. The quest's completion bumped him 3/4 of the way to level four. He had no doubt the other quest would get him all the way there if only it was possible. 

“Do a pull-up.” How hard could one pull up be? Extremely difficult it turned out. Dangling from the elevated bar Leon tried with all his might to heft his flabby body up. He only managed to lift his head halfway before the effort became too much and he was forced to give up. 

Leon knew it wasn’t his form keeping him from completing the exercise like it had been with the push-up. Instead, it came down to a plain and simple lack of strength. Leon didn't know what to do. He felt frustrated that he had hit a roadblock so soon. He looked at the experience progress bar, so tantalizingly close to the next level. Maybe he would have to do it the old-fashioned way. Train his back and his biceps extensively until he could do a pull-up on his own. Leon knew something like that would take weeks if not months but he was nothing if not stubborn.

Determined not to give up Leon found a set of dumbbells and began to lift with perfect form. The activity didn't provide the same instant gratification as leveling up did, but Leon was starting to understand how people could get addicted to this. As he worked his eyes wandered to the graphical display imprinted on either side of his vision. He found he could unfocus on the information and the display would blur unobscuring his vision. He focused again and the quest and progress bar came back into his field of vision. Leon couldn’t tell if he was imagining it but it seemed as if the bar was more full. He did a few more curls and watched the progress bar tick up the tiniest amount. He lifted the other arm and it moved again. He grabbed the largest weight he could conceivably lift and using all this strength curled it with both arms, the progress bar moved, still not much but more than before. Leon grinned. He was pretty sure he had just found an exploit.

Thirty minutes later a tired Leon prepared for his last set of leg presses to get him to level four. The “exploit” he had found wasn’t as much of a hack as he had originally hoped. Working out gave him experience to fill the bar but not nearly as efficiently as quests. He had to go from machine to machine loading up the maximum amount of weight he could lift, not much, and completing various exercises until that part of his body was completely exhausted. His “perfect form” perk ensured that he was able to complete each exercise to its fullest despite not knowing how to do any of the exercises. All he had to do was approach a machine or a set of weights and his body would suddenly assume the position.

Even with his perfect form protecting him from injury Leon was exhausted. The day's gym session was more exercise than he had ever done in his life. His hair was matted to his forehead and dark sweat spots had appeared around the collar and pits of his Superman shirt. His body felt like a sack of bricks like he could fall asleep and not wake up till his next birthday. Leon persisted and as he performed his tenth leg press he heard a ding. His legs slammed back to their resting position and he breathed heavily, feeling his body begin to change and notifications pop up. 

“You have reached level four. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Strength, +1 Charisma +0.3 Intelligence.” 

“You have gained a class perk.”

“Animal Endurance: The rate at which athletic activities tire you is decreased significantly while the rate of recovery is greatly improved. Note: the potency of this effect scales off of strength.”

Leon felt his muscles harden, his arms bulge, his legs bulk up and shift. His core burned as his abs shredded themselves and strengthened. The layer of fat on Leon’s body, though still present thinned. Underneath it his muscles went from average to distinctly fit, no great titan yet but also not a slouch either. His weariness from all the exercise it took to reach level four drained away thanks to his perk and Leon once again felt reinvigorated. 

He marched over to the nearest pull-up bar and with only a small amount of effort hoisted himself up with the power of his upper body. The completed quest brought him a third of the way up to level five. Two more quests appeared. “Bench press a third of your body weight.” And “exchange workout tips”. Neither seemed especially difficult. 

Leon looked around to see if he could find Cal to knock out the more social of the quests but the helpful runner was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Leon found a benchpress machine and went to load it up. Leon was shocked to realize he had no idea what his body weight was. Before Altered Reality, Leon had weighed 230 pounds, now though he could be anything. Leon squinted at the holographic display in the sides of his vision and found with effort he was able to bring up a stats page. 

Leon: 

210 Pounds

5’10’’ Feet

Strength: 11

Charisma: 7

Intelligence: 8.9

When he played video games with his roommates Alvis was the one who focused on the numbers, min-maxing his character to be the strongest possible. Edward liked to talk to the NPCs, to understand the story, and Leon, well Leon liked to punch things and not worry too much about the boring stuff. Still, with his 8.9 in intelligence, Leon couldn't help but notice some changes to his body composition. There was the inch in height his body had gained from those three levels and the twenty pounds of weight he had lost. Leon suspected the total loss was more like 30 or 40 pounds of fat but that the added muscle made up the difference. His stats were interesting too. Leon hadn’t much thought about it but based on the quests and perks he had received the Juggernaut class seemed to be one that focused on athleticism. Despite that, he still received a marginal boost to charisma and intelligence at each level which he supposed were meant to keep him well rounded. Leon did the math, the current numbers would mean that his intelligence before the game had been eight, which seemed right, and his strength a two, also unfortunately right. The four in charisma seemed rude, but Leon supposed he had never had much luck with women for a reason.

Doing math once again Leon loaded up the bench press, factoring in the weight of the bar to reach seventy pounds one-third of his weight. He assumed the position under it, with perfect form thanks to his perk; then with substantial effort, Leon lifted the bar over his chest and with as much control as he could manage lowered it. That was the easy part, the hard part was pushing it back up. Leon clenched his toes, bugged his eyes, and pushed with all his eleven strength upward. His mind suddenly flashed to the bar crushing him, rolling down onto his neck and ending this game. Panic more than determination got the bar up and back to its starting position. The quest was completed and the progress bar to level five was filled in another third. 

Only once the bar was fully returned to its resting position could Leon see the girl standing over him, upside down from his prone view. 

“I was ready to pull that thing off you.” The girl said in something between a mix of condescension and admiration. Leon sat up.

“Umm, thanks.” He said nervously. He recognized this girl from his advanced biology seminar, although she didn't seem to know him. She looked very pretty with her high ponytail and tight yoga pants, which only made his voice stutter more. “I’m Leon.”

“Cassy,” she said.

An idea came to his mind. “Got any tips for this one?” Leon asked, hoping to knock out his remaining quest. 

Before Cassy could answer though a tall man in a low-cut tank top that showed off his ripped torso and cannonball shoulders approached and wrapped his mammoth vascular arms around her. “Cassy, why the fuck are you talking to this fatty?” He asked as if Leon were some flaming garbage outside his window, offensive to his sight. Leon recognized him as a member of Alpha Sigma, one of the best and most dickish fraternities on campus.  

“Fuck off Hunter” Cassy said rolling her eyes.

“Yeah fuck off Hunter” Leon repeated. He instantly regretted it.

Hunter's eyes went wide, and a vein on his neck began to pulse. Leon stared back at him with a level of defiance he knew defied both the social order and logic. Leon had always been brash, a trait now manifested in full force by the extreme comfort he felt in the gym due to his Gym Rat perk.

Cassy shot him a look asking if he was trying to get himself killed then turned to Hunter to defuse the situation. “Come on babe let's go.” 

Hunter heard none of it. He got right up in Leon's face so close Leon could smell the sweat on his body and the ZYN in his breath. “Listen here tubby, this is a gym. The McDonalds is down the street. Now fuck off or I’ll turn your happy meal into chicken tenders. Ya hear?” He stood up and started to walk away Cassy unhappily following after him. “And don’t ever talk to my girl again homo.”

Leon knew he should be scared but instead, he found the whole interaction funny, his “Gym Rat” perk really might be working too well. “Got any gym tips for me” he called after Hunter, wanting to still get something out of the interaction. He couldn’t wait till he was bigger than that arrogant prick and no one could talk to him that way.

The frat bro turned around “Eat a fucking salad” he called. Leon’s last quest remained incomplete. He wondered why for a second then realized it said “exchange workout tips.” 

“You should really get off the roids, it's killing the last two of your brain cells,” Leon called after him. Hunter moved to turn around, probably to beat the shit out of Leon but Cassy grabbed his hand and dragged him away. The quest completed and Leon reached level five. Not too bad for seven charisma he thought proudly. The now familiar ding sounded along with a wall of notifications. Leon began to feel strange. A biting ache began to thrum in the pit of his stomach. Doubled over Leon rushed to the bathroom, careful to head in in the opposite direction of Hunter and Cassy. 

He burst into the empty men's room and then into the nearest stall he could find. As he sat on the toilet the pain intensified. Something was happening and it hurt like all hell.

-

Edward had no idea why Trent had even started talking to him. That wasn’t something people ever did to ugly Edward, maybe point and whisper, but never strike up a conversation and surly never ask him for help. It must be his stupid charisma and perks scrambling everyone's brain he concluded. Edward was about to turn back to Trent and tell him he had made a mistake and that he actually couldn’t help him when he heard “Edward” yell from behind the bar. He saw Tag the sexy fit barista holding a steaming to-go cup and looking around the coffee shop for Edward. Trent gave him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up.

Edward felt as if he was moving in slow motion like he was making his way to the gallows. Tag saw him coming and smiled, extending the drink towards him. Edward reached out to take the drink, his finger ever so slightly brushing up against Tag’s hand in the process. He wasn’t sure if it was the touch or just the proximity but he felt his new “Sage” perk activate in vivid detail.

A picture suddenly flashed in Edward’s mind. A subterranean location full of flashing lights and loud rhythmic music, a rave Edward realized. He saw Tag standing alone in an open button-down shirt showing off sexy tattooed muscles. Edward flashed back to reality. His sudden vision had caused him to linger a bit too long grabbing his drink and he jerked his hand away awkwardly. 

Edward retracted his hand and gave a smile hoping to save the moment. “Hey, are you going to the rave tonight?” Edward asked as casually as he could “I think I have seen you at a few before. I heard the one tonight is supposed to be especially hype.”

Tag seemed surprised for a moment then reassessed Edward his demeanor shifting from customer service friendly, to peer in-group easygoing. “You mean sewer fest? I want to man, but all my friends are busy tonight and I don’t want to go alone.”

“Oh damn that sucks,” Edward said. He was mindful of the stares he was getting from the other students around him but couldn’t bring himself to care, this was going too well. “I wish I could go but I have a paper I have to write tonight. My friend Trent was actually just saying he was thinking about going though.” Edward pointed back at Trent who gave a little wave. 

“Oh, I know him.” Tag said when he saw Trent. “That would be sick man. I really don’t want to miss Sewer Fest. How about this,” he took a cup sleeve and started to write on it, “Give your friend my number and tell him to text me” he handed it to Edward. 

“Will do. You two have fun” Edward said as he walked away. Trent looked at him wide-eyed and was about to say something but Edward made a signal that they shouldn’t talk about it inside.

“This is for you,” Edward said as he handed Trent Tag’s number once they were outside. 

“No way. You're actually a god. How did you do that?” Trent asked amazed.

“Don’t get too excited,” Edward said sheepishly. “You're going to a rave, and it’s in the sewer.” 

“A rave? You know what, I’ll take it. I really can’t thank you enough.” 

“Oh, it was nothing. Honestly, you helped me just as much as I helped you.”

Trent ignored the cryptic comment. “Well I should go, I guess I have to find an outfit to wear to a sewer. Would all white be a bad idea?” He handed Edward his phone. “Will you put your number in my phone? I’ll text you how tonight goes.” 

The two exchanged information then Trent left. Edward stood there sipping his latte, which really was too bitter. He saw Trent typing out a message on his phone as he walked away.

Moments later Edward heard a “ding” as the quest was completed and he reached level five. Notifications sprung up in his vision, more than usual. Edward couldn’t read them, he couldn’t focus on anything. His mostly full coffee slipped out of his hand and spilled onto the ground as a golden nebula sprung up around him and his face and body were wracked with pain. He started to scream.

[thunder-opossum]

The two slugcats squirmed through tight tunnels and vast open spaces. Sizzle's stomach flip-flops in the lack of gravity; it's a strange sensation, there was no heft to his body, not to anything he touched. He would compare it to falling... but even then, you can still feel wind batting against your fur. The air here was still, the oh so familiar noises of the outside were all replaced by mechanical whirring.

Artificer reached out and snatched one of the small floating creatures from the air. She stuffed it into her mouth, "Eat these, and be quick."

Sizzle reached out as well, his paws grabbing onto the organism as it flashed an aray of bright colors. He but I it it quickly, hoping it wasn't in too much terror. The texture was chewy, with hardly any taste. "What are these?" Sizzle asked, reaching for a few more.

"Food. You can eat it, and you won't die from it." Artificer didn't need to eat anymore, she had already filled her belly with scavenger meat. It sickend Sizzle. But the green slugcat still needed to survive the cycle, he ate his fill and continued through the complex machinery.

Then the two suddenly popped into a different looking room, inhabitanted by something more complex. Similar structures to a slugcat, upright posture and diget-ed paws. But it was attached to wall with cords wrapping around it's metallic skin. It beeped weird noises as it stated at the two slugcats, seemingly annoyed.

Sizzle flinched at the familiar white-eyed-glare. He let his mother move in first, and she did so with confidence, the strange hunk of metal that's been following her around poped into existence and immediately caught the other beings, eyes. A moment later, gravity returned.

Sizzle smacked his face on the warm metal floor groaning as his mother landed safely. He really needed to work on his landings. Before Sizzle could lift himself up, a blaring light enveloped his vision and his ears rang with loud noise, similar to that of an explosion. He was propelled backwards and onto the floor once again. He clutched his head in pain, but there was a sudden clarity to the noise. A voice.

The two slugcats rose to their feet as this... iterator started to speak to the two...

[timeskip i ain't writing the spiel 5P gives Arti]

What a strange thing, Sizzle was having trouble wrapping his head around being in the presence of something god-like. Scavengers were known to exaggerate their stories, but the things they've said about gods in sky boxes suddenly were more believable.

Artificer was taking it in stride. She knew what coming here would give her. And now Sizzle must question the reality of the situation. There's no way his mom could survive slaughtering an entire city. It was impossible. But she seemed entirely confident.

She heard what she needed and waved Sizzle back up to the exit as gravity disappeared once again. She moved out through the pipe, but her son heared a shift in the room. The iterator, Five Pebbles. It made him come to a halt.

"You, green one. I need to mention something to you." His voice echoed in Sizzle's skull.

Sizzle angled his body around to face the iterator. Sure listening was uncomfortable, but his words must be important.

"I have seen pieces of your journey, and you seem to exhibit complex social behavior. So if you can prosses this information, I think you should know it," blue overseers popped up around the room, flashing bright holographic screens, "as much as one animal can lie to another one... well, I don't think you should be lied to."

Sizzle looked on, confused, and the holograms started to project a familiar environment... and a familiar friend.

---

hopefully the writing made up for the art! This is all I got motivation for right now, but I think it should give you guys a kick! Sorry for any typing mistakes, new phone and such.

[comicaurora]

Have you seen the new Superman show on adult swim? Himbo Clark Kent rights

It's off to an extremely encouraging start! Thoughts under the cut!

I like how they portray Clark's super-strength and how comfortable he is flying and using super-speed. They really feel like innate characteristics of his body rather than powers he switches on and off - things he keeps toned down when people are watching, but things that are always present regardless. The number of times I've pulled a push door or shoved something that was stuck and thought "if I had super-strength I wouldn't get a Take Two on this because my hand would've gone straight through that" is clearly something the showrunners have also thought about. This Clark lives in a world of cardboard and physically cannot stop himself from putting his hand through it at least once a day.

There's a physicality to the way Clark takes hits that really communicates how little he feels them most of the time. Eyes open, mouth closed, immediately getting back into the fight after getting punched into a crater. This is stuff I also think about when I draw supernaturally tough characters in combat situations, and it's cool to see someone else doing it - especially since one of my very few complaints about the older DCAU is that Superman always took every hit like it was a fully incapacitating blow, which Worf'd him pretty constantly.

I also like that we have so far never seen Clark angry. We've seen him scared, flustered, disappointed - but not angry. Even in fights where he's taking serious hits, he's only motivated by wanting to protect and save people, even his opponents - he so far has never been motivated by a desire to destroy. That feels like very good writing for Superman.

It's currently a little unclear how exactly his powerset is scaling - it looks like the blue-eye-glow-and-suit-emblem thing is a legitimate powerup that lets him hit harder and recover faster than his normal baseline, but how exactly that works isn't clear yet - although that is very obviously going to be a plot point later, since they keep giving him little flashes of the story of Krypton's destruction and what shenanigans they were getting up to when it exploded.

On that note, Kryptonian tech has never looked or felt so otherworldly. I love the distorted electronic backward-voice choir they use exclusively for when Clark is on the ship. I love that hologram Jor-El can't speak English, but can clearly understand Clark - also this is the coolest Jor-El has ever looked. Some comics wax poetic about how Clark is an alien space god who only pretends to be human, but I like how this show is firmly putting Clark on the side of the audience with regards to how unsettling the "alien space god" vibes truly are. He can't understand the nature of the ship or the words of its holographic inhabitant, he's not really interested in what it means or where it came from - he just wants to know who he is, or rather who Superman should be. And I like that he concludes that Superman should be him - the heroics he was already doing, except this time on purpose. Superman should not be this spooky glowing alien god thing, even if that's the vibe we get from Krypton itself.

I like that the ship gave Superman his modern no-underpants-on-the-outside suit and Ma Kent was like "we can do better than that" and added the underpants back on.

I also like how much setup there is for future plot stuff that a DC-familiar audience can see coming. Clark hasn't used any of his vision-based powers yet, and it's possible he doesn't know they exist. No sign of Lex Luthor or Kryptonite yet, two problems we know will become more severe with time. We've already got Amanda Waller being stoically nefarious in the background. Young Hot Deathstroke is a hell of a design choice and I am Here For It.

I also appreciate how many little referential jokes are packed into the dialogue, ranging from the obvious "it's a bird it's a plane" to some hella deep pulls like Jimmy Olson's youtube channel.

And fundamentally I love how this show starts from the jump with the thesis that friendly, humble, Normal Man Clark is the real person, and Superman is the job that Clark Kent does. The title of the show is "My Adventures With Superman." The POV character is Clark. He is the "my" in that title. This is Clark's story about Superman.

I really, really hope Batman eventually shows up, because this Superman would make that hilarious.

[jinxquickfoot]

@badthingshappenbingo Prompt: Grief/Mourning

Find the fic on Ao3!

Inspired by @16woodsequ's wonderful The Alternate End

Part I: Nebula

He’s put this off as long as he can.

Tony knows he should have done this much sooner. God knows how much pain Nebula’s been in while he’s been skulking in his hospital room, refusing to talk to anyone except Pepper. They’re probably all too occupied with their own pain to care. They probably think he’s angry over the Accords, the betrayal that still lingers there. He's still angry. He hadn’t realized until he was face-to-face with Steve Rogers in the home he’d decided wasn’t good enough for him anymore.

But that’s not why he’s avoiding everyone. He knows it makes no sense—after a long month in the cosmos, wondering who had lived and who hadn’t, he should just be relieved that they’re still here. Relief isn’t the word he’d use, though. It’s resentment.

He doesn’t care that he wasn’t strong enough to go after Thanos. He doesn’t care that the Mad Titan is dead. He doesn’t even care that the remaining Avengers hadn’t been able to win, not in the way that mattered. Tony had known it was hopeless long before they left the Compound. He knows because he’s been fighting this war longer than any of them. He’d known since he’d flown through the wormhole that this day would come if they didn’t pull out every weapon in their arsenal. Ultron, the Accords, scoping the planet for new talent like P—

Tony swallows back images of a dying planet and Mr Stark I don’t feel so good to focus on the project at hand. Nebula is already nervous enough without Tony’s mind being on a past he can't fix. There was never going to be a ‘fix’, this war always had to be won before it was fought, and no one had listened to him.

“We can wait another day,” Nebula bursts out. She’s been quiet since getting on Tony’s operating table, lying still and rigid as Tony tries to get a hold of himself enough to do this. She pushes herself up, swinging her legs over the side. “There is no urgency.”

Tony catches the flippant comment that comes to his lips. He’d gotten Nebula’s entire depressing backstory during their time slowly starving to death in space. He can’t imagine she associates body part replacement with fun and laughter. He nods at her damaged hand. “You can’t do anything with those fried wires. It has to be done sometime.”

“Some time does not have to be today.”

Tony pushes the rotating slideshow of Titan to the back of his mind, moving into her path as she attempts to leave. “Hey. You saved my life in space. I would have died of infection or, if I somehow survived, gone completely insane up there without our invigorating paper football tournament. Let me repay the favor.”

He forces himself to be patient as Nebula stares at her damaged hand. “You want to make us equal.”

That’s not Tony’s MO, but if it’s what gets this done, he’ll take it. “Yeah, sure. Equals” When she still looks nervous, he adds, “Besides, we don’t have to do the actual replacement today. I’m just mapping to get an extent of the damage before we take anything out or put anything in.”

It’s a straight-out lie as he’d been hoping to get this done all in one session, but Nebula’s shoulders finally relax. “Okay,” she allows. “We can do that. And you’ve done this before?”

Tony exhales, reaching for a holodisplay and moving it around so Nebula can see. He’d hoped to put this off until it was absolutely necessary. He doesn’t want to be reminded. He wants to take Pepper and find a cabin in the middle of nowhere and shut out the world forever. He shouldn’t have to fix things anymore. That’s what he’s been doing, for years, and he’s done it alone.

But Nebula shifts on the table, and Tony reminds himself that she wasn’t part of any of those fights, and it wouldn’t help to win the trust of a friend who comes without baggage. Bracing himself, he brings up the schematics for Vision.

Nebula’s breath catches as she takes in the holographic blueprints. “How much did you replace?”

“Replace?” Tony catches on and hurries to explain. “No, no, he was made like this from the start. He’s not a human we… Jesus, we don’t do that here.” He forces back images of a silver metal arm.

Nebula processes that. “He is all mechanics?”

“Was,” Tony murmurs. “Thanos…” He can’t bring himself to end the sentence. The death of half the universe chokes the Compound like a smog cloud, but the overwhelming nature of it has stayed in the abstract. Even now, weeks later, Tony cannot fathom just how huge a loss god knows how many planets have suffered. He can barely wrap his head around the death of four billion human beings.

But the knowledge that one of their own had been murdered in battle… That he can picture. That he can comprehend. Because one of his first ports of call when he could get out of bed without collapsing was Wakanda to retrieve Vision’s body.

He doesn’t know what to do with it. Vision had been very clear that in the case of his death, his parts were to be dismantled beyond repair. Tony knows he’s the best person left in the world for that job. It doesn’t mean he’s been able to bring himself to do it. He’s still not sure if the idea of keeping the corpse of a team member in the basement indefinitely is worse than the empty coffins they had buried on the Compound grounds.

“My father was a monster,” Nebula murmurs, staring at her toes. “I was never going to please him. And yet I tried to anyway. I would have done anything for him.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.” Tony scrubs at his eyes, zooming in on the blueprints for Vision’s arm that will become the basis for Nebula’s new one. “Here, you can follow along with everything I’m doing…”

He trails off when he hears a sob come from the operating table.

He freezes. Their entire time in space, he had not once seen Nebula cry. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen him cry, either. It hadn’t mattered up there, not in any way that counted. They didn’t know who was gone. All they knew was that they would be gone themselves in barely the space of a few weeks, and then their grief wouldn’t exist.

But they didn’t die. Their grief didn’t pass into oblivion. They returned here, to Earth, and learned exactly what Thanos had taken.

Tony still replays that moment of seeing Steve sprinting toward the spaceship. Of Pepper following close behind. Seeing Rhodey, calling Happy. Realizing that, by some impossible odds, all the original six members of his team had survived the Snap.

Nebula hadn’t had that. Her team had crumbled in front of her. More than her team.

Tony moves over to her bedside to take her undamaged hand. “Thanos wasn’t your family,” he assures her. “You found a much better one. One who actually loved you. I know the feeling.”

"My sister..." Nebula angrily wipes away a tear. "She should not have shown him the Soul Stone to save me. I was not worth that sacrifice."

Tony squeezes her hand. "I doubt she saw it that way."

He sits and lets her cry into his shoulder as long as she needs to. He could have it worse. He could have lost so much more. He could still lose so much more if he stays in this mindset. He can’t change the past but he can stop it from changing him into a shape he doesn’t want to be anymore. Resentment is corrosive. He can’t afford it to spread when the rest of his life will revolve around construction.

Tony mentally puts aside Nebula’s repairs for another day. He has other building to do, anyway.

Part II: Thor

Clint’s gone and even Natasha can’t find him. Bruce is on the other side of the world, helping rebuild where he can, making vague promises about return dates. Tony’s not ready to face Steve. That leaves one.

The Asgardian refugees have taken over the Compound grounds. They’ve provided what they can for them but Tony still feels ill when he can see how few of them are left. Thanos had slaughtered half of those he'd found on the Statesman and then killed another half in the Snap. Asgard was gone, torn to pieces by an apocalypse they were never going to escape. Living on Earth feels the same way. They’d always known it would end here. Or at least, Tony had known.

He wonders if that is why his grief feels a little more tempered than the others’. This wasn’t a sudden loss for him. It’s the result of slowly losing a war, piece by piece, over the span of years. He always knew that they would only get one shot at victory. He’ll never know the future Strange saw where they scraped a win. He just gets this one and he has to do what he can with it.

He doesn’t find Thor with the rest of the Asgardians. A few conversations are enough to guide him to a tent in the far, far back, stationed away from all the others. Already a bad sign. So is the fact that the tent is dark as he approaches. Tony awkwardly paws at the tent cover to announce his presence in lieu of knocking, then calls out for good measure. “Thor. It’s Tony.”

He doesn’t get an invitation to come inside. He doesn’t get a refusal either. Good enough.

Thor doesn’t move from his prone position as Tony unzips the tent and steps inside. There’s no blanket over him or mattress underneath him, with barely the base of the tent to protect him. “You have a room at this Compound, you know. I built one for you. Just in case.”

Thor doesn’t look at him. He just keeps staring at the roof of the tent. “I will be with my people. Least their king could do after my brother sacrificed half of them for me." He spits the name of king out like venom. "After I could have killed Thanos when it mattered." 

Tony still hasn't been able to wrap his mind around the image of Loki dying in a heroic attempt to kill Thanos. Whenever he thinks of the trickster god, the memory that tends to come to mind is Loki throwing him from a window or the mass of black clothing at Phil Coulson's funeral. If Bruce hadn't been the one who had told him the story, including Loki handing over the Space Stone to spare Thor's life, Tony wouldn't have been able to believe a word of it.

"I don't have siblings," he says. "And I know things between you and your brother were... complicated. But there were a lot of steps a lot of other people could have taken and didn't. It's not all on you." He's suddenly back on the spaceship again, listening to Strange lecture him about how he wouldn't give up the Time Stone even if Peter's life was on the line. Tony doesn't want to know what choice he would have made if it was up to him. "Guess it's easier to say you'll give everything up to save the world than to actually do it. You gave up more than most already."

Finding the Asgardians a more permanent new home is on Tony’s to-do list, but losing half a population apparently wreaks havoc on a planet’s infrastructure. There’s been so much to do, from getting hospitals up and running, to restarting supply chains for food, to getting entire cities’ electrical grids functioning again. After months of work, the world is somewhat physically functional again. Tony doesn’t know how many decades will pass before the human race emotionally recovers. He knows it will be a long, long time after his lifetime.

“Well. It won’t be tents forever. I can promise you that.”

“Promises,” Thor scoffs. Tony fights the sudden urge to bolt in the other direction. It isn’t right, seeing one of the strongest Avengers and one of the last to lay down in a fight so utterly void of spirit. Then again, none of them are themselves these days. “Wouldn’t make any promises. They just end up broken.”

“A lot of things have ended up broken.” Tony sits cross-legged in the tent, plucking at a stray thread in his jeans. “Luckily, I’m pretty good at fixing things.”

Thor’s next words are a whisper. “There’s no fixing this. It’s gone. It’s all gone, and it’s not coming back, and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”

Tony closes his eyes. He knows that’s true. He knows that they will never, ever get back to where they were. But they can take baby steps in the right direction. He reaches into his pocket. “I know you’ve lost a lot,” he says, the words so unbelievably inadequate that he almost quits then and there. He stays, though. He doesn’t get to quit. That’s not a luxury he’s had since Afghanistan. “More than most of us.”

Thor shifts slightly. “It does not help to compare losses.”

The guilt Tony’s been feeling since he returned to Earth swells, but now is not the time to voice it. “I can’t bring Asgard back,” he says. Even now, with half of Earth’s life lost, he can’t comprehend the magnitude of losing his entire planet. “Or anyone you’ve lost. But I’ve been thinking…” His mind trails to Nebula’s newly equipped arm, which he had put the final touches on that morning. “We have to focus now on what we can get back. Or find replacements for, at least.”

Thor finally looks at him. “Do not suggest that there is any replacement for…” He trails off, anger abating when he sees what Tony is holding. “Is… is that for me?”

“The talking raccoon told me the one you’re using… well, actually, you don’t want to know where it came from.” Tony holds out the mechanical eye he’s spent the past week perfecting. “Besides, I don’t think you’re really pulling off the whole heterochromia look. Thought you looked better in your classic blue.”

Thor gently takes the eye, marveling at it. “Thank you, Stark. And for letting us all stay here.”

“I’m not letting you do anything. I built this place for the Avengers. That includes you. Use this place as you see fit—hm, I could have used some warning there.” Tony barely has time to look away before Thor casually pops his fake eye out, tossing the brown iris aside. Tony waits until the squelching sounds have stopped before he risks looking back.

“How does it look?” Thor asks.

Tony takes in the two symmetrical eyes. To his trained gaze, the mechanical one is ever so slightly glassier. It’ll never live up to the original. But it’s a start. “You look great.”

“I doubt that is true.”

Tony hovers awkwardly, not sure what else to say. “Can I do anything else?” he tries.

Thor is quiet for a long moment before he speaks. “Perhaps…” He suddenly reaches out, grasping for Tony’s hand. Tony lets him take it. “Stay, for a while?”

A part of Tony rebels against the idea. He’s got so many things he’s supposed to be doing, to be building, to be fixing. Then he looks at his friend, sprawled and miserable on the ground, and realizes that fixing doesn’t always have to require tools and a workshop. “Sure. I’ll stay.”

Part III: Steve

Things don’t get better, but they do get easier.

The number of global catastrophes has reduced. Supply isn’t where it used to be, but at least most people have access to food, power and clean water. The daily body count of new Blip-related deaths reduces. Tony had provided whatever resources he could, but even his wealth couldn’t keep up with locating and identifying the bodies. There were those who had died on the roads after drivers had Blipped or had been on suddenly pilot-less planes that had tumbled from the air. There had been those who died in hospitals with drastically reduced numbers of doctors and nurses. And then, worst of all, the orphaned infants and small children who had perished from neglect.

A grateful universe, Thanos had called this. The Mad Titan title has never felt so fitting.

Tony finds Steve by Bucky’s grave.

They’d given each Dusted Avenger a tombstone: a place for the living to mourn the dead. Tony deliberately does not look at Peter’s as he approaches.

Steve must hear him coming but he doesn’t raise his head. He’s bent over a compass, holding it so tightly that Tony fears it might break. He figures that’s as good a place as any to start the conversation. “Careful. You remember you have super-soldier strength, right?”

Steve’s hold doesn’t loosen. “It hasn’t broken yet.”

Tony takes his place by Steve’s side. He wishes the pain of what happened in Siberia would dwarf in the magnitude of the Blip. It hasn’t. It’s just been buried, pushed aside until Tony’s heart has room to feel it again. “Rhodey says you spend all day out here.”

“There’s nowhere else to be. There’s nothing else I can do.”

Tony knows the feeling. “Still. It’s freezing out here.” It’s not, really. It’s just something to say to fill the silence.

Steve pulls the compass close to his chest. “Bucky gave this to me. Two weeks before he died. He was different after Azzano. Like he knew. And he followed me onto that train anyway. ”

Tony casts about for something to say to that. “Weren’t they already… doing stuff to him in Azzano? Winter Soldier stuff? That might be what he had been feeling. Not some kind of death premonition.”

Steve doesn’t react mollified by the words. He doesn’t react at all. “You know he had the offer to go home after Azzano? He could have. He didn’t. Because he chose to follow me. Then, in Wakanda, he was at peace. And I brought a war right to his doorstep.”

“I don’t think the narrative is that simple.”

“If I had—”

“What?” Tony interrupts him, a little harsher than he means to. “If you had made Wanda kill Vision earlier? It wouldn’t have mattered, Steve. We lost the second Thanos got his hands on the Time Stone.” He ghosts a hand over the scar disfiguring his abdomen. Why? he wants to scream at Strange. Why would you do it? I wasn’t worth it.

“Wanda could have killed Vision the second we knew Thanos was coming to Earth. It wouldn’t have mattered,” he continues. “And as for going to Wakanda—that wasn’t just your choice, Steve. All the Avengers with you chose to do that. T’Challa chose to open his borders to you. Everyone in that battle chose to fight. You didn’t pressgang them. In fact, I don’t think pressganging the Dora Milaje is humanly possible. Wakanda was the most prepared place on Earth to tackle an alien invasion of that magnitude and their technology probably prevented the pre-Snap damage from being even worse. Those aliens would have torn apart the Earth for Thanos.”

Steve is quiet as he absorbs all of that. “You’ve thought a lot about this.”

“Yeah. For six years.” One future where they win. Tony’s been ripping himself apart trying to imagine what it would have been, what step they didn’t take. Maybe there were more futures, earlier in the timeline. Roads not traveled that didn’t end with a line of empty graves.

“I know you tried to prevent this,” Steve says softly. “I have been thinking… Ultron, the Accords, if those had played out differently--”

“Don’t,” Tony cuts him off. He’s done dwelling on this. He can rage and storm and shout I told you so all he wants. It won’t fix anything. “It’s done. We’re here. We need to make what we can of it.”

Steve is still staring at Bucky’s tombstone in a way that’s becoming increasingly unnerving. “This is the second time I’ve buried an empty casket for him."

Tony swallows, all too aware that he nearly made that a full casket in 2016. If Bucky was still here, Tony would have apologized with an arm, like the one he had built for Nebula. But unlike with Nebula and Thor, there is nothing Tony can physically build here to offer comfort. At least, not anything he’s thought of yet. "I know I ruined things that day in Siberia," he manages. "That I made you choose between the two of us. That wasn't fair. That isn't who you are."

"Tony—"

"No, just let me say this. And fine, maybe, we could have made a few more sacrifice plays along the way and not ended up here." If Gamora had given up Nebula, it Loki havd given up Thor, if Strange had given up him. If Steve had given up Bucky, all those years ago, instead of fighting entire governments for his freedom. "None of us had the strength to do it. The only person who did was Wanda and then that didn't even matter. And maybe if we had... well, maybe we stop being the good guys the moment we start trading lives."

He's not sure how much of his own argument he believes. But, for the first time since he can remember, he has more goals than trying to prove that he's right. “I was relieved,” he finds himself saying. “When I stepped off the Benetar, and found out Pepper and Rhodey and Happy had all lived.” He doesn’t mention Peter. He hasn’t been able to put into words what exactly a teenager from Queens had meant to him. “I still feel relieved. And that feels awful. And it also feels awful that it doesn’t feel more awful.”

“I’m glad,” Steve murmurs. “I’m glad you got to keep them.”

Tony keeps an ear out for any bitterness in those words. He doesn’t hear it. Steve is being honest. Tony swallows past the stubborn lump in his throat. “I was relieved as well… when I saw you. When I got my feet back on land and saw you were there. I was relieved.” More than just relieved. In those first few minutes, none of their fighting had mattered. Tony had been grateful to tumble into the arms of a friend—someone else to hold him upright for a few moments.

Steve nods slowly. “I was too. I didn’t want to hope too much, not after weeks of not knowing, not after we’d lost so many. But I couldn’t kill the hope entirely. And then you were there, alive and…” There’s a small hitch in his voice. “God, Tony, if it had been Bucky and Sam and you, I don’t think I would have…”

Without letting himself think about it too much, Tony reaches out to grip Steve’s shoulder. “We’re still here. Still fighting. That’s something. That has to be something.”

Steve nods again. “We’ll make it something.” It’s the first time he’s sounded like himself in months.

“That we will.”

"Maybe..." Steve shifts his gaze, past Bucky's grave to Sam's. "Maybe fighting looks different now. Like... like what Sam did. At the VA." He straightens at little at the promise of a mission. "Maybe it would help."

"I have no doubt it would. God knows how many people out there need someone to talk to." Tony looks from the grave to Steve. “You know, I had the wild idea I might cook tonight. Want to make sure I don’t set the kitchen on fire?”

For a terrifying moment, he’s sure Steve is going to say no. Then, the man seems to pull some of his shattered pieces back together. “Well, we can’t have a fire, I guess. Been putting out enough of those already.”

It’s not a miracle cure. No one is magically better. But Tony gathers whoever is left and makes something hot and homemade with minimal kitchen damage, and for once the conversation is more than about the work they’ll have to do tomorrow.

He can’t fix the world. But he will fix what he can.

[kyuriin-chan]

Adam Warlock x OC

Part 3

Word Count: 2.046

Warnings: Adam being cute, fluff, angst, jealous Adam, slightly possessive Adam

POV Adam

The next day I woke up overjoyed and a sincere smile crept onto my lips immediately, when I thought about the kiss with Seraphina. I found that her lips matched mine perfectly and ran a finger over my lips, which began to tingle slightly at the thought.

I would never forget that feeling again.

Quickly I made my way to her spaceship so I could pick her up. I almost sprinted in it's direction while a few residents watched me with interest.

"Morning Adam! What got you into such a good mood today?", Peter asked me, who was leaning against one of the many buildings and was now coming towards me. I stopped almost abruptly and looked at Peter who was now standing next to me and looked at me questioningly.

"What do you mean? I'm just like every other day", I said thoughtfully and tried to calculate how Peter came up with this idea. Like every morning, I made my way to Seraphina, which was no longer news.

"Well yes, but you got that kinda pep in your way of walking y'know? Anything I should know about?", he explained his observation, which I still didn't quite understood, and now walked alongside me as I continued to head for Seraphina's ship. "Oh yes. Please refrain yourself from touching Seraphina all the time. She is now mine", I said to Peter, wanting to do Seraphina a favor.

If I told him about it now, then she no longer needed to deal with this task.

Undeterred, I walked on and didn't even notice that Peter had stopped dead in his tracks until I heard him loudly behind me, "wait ... WHAT?" I turned to him and saw his almost stunned expression.

"I said, please refrain...", I was interrupted again while repeating my sentence as before by Seraphina and I frowned.

Why exactly was I always interrupted when I wanted to repeat my sentence when they asked for it?

"I did hear you Adam. I mean how the hell did that happen?", Peter said immediately and sprinted to my side with a now interested expression and a big grin on his face. "I told her how I felt and she said that she also liked me", I explained slightly confused, not knowing exactly what Peter wanted from me now.

"I knew it!", Peter whispered to himself but I heard him anyway and yet again he confused me with his words. "What did you know?" I asked and hoped that I would get a sufficiently explanatory answer so that I could put the puzzle pieces together.

"Oh nothing... I have to go now, gotta do some work", Peter quickly waved me off and marched on in a different direction.

So, still confused, I stood in place until I just dropped this whole conversation as I wasn't going to figure it out anyway.

x

Seraphina's spaceship slowly entered my field of vision and a wave of nervousness washed over me at once. However, I couldn't describe exactly why I was suddenly so nervous and the butterflies in my stomach didn't really help with the solution.

I reached her ramp and peered curiously inside the ship. Usually she was either already outside or near the ramp which is why I hadn't actually seen her ship from the inside until now. Here and there I was able to catch a quick glimpse, but that I got a good look at her ship from the inside could not be said to be true.

So I stood uncertainly in front of the ramp and wondered if I should just wait here for her or maybe call for her? My curiosity finally took the lead and with light steps I walked slowly over the ramp into the interior of the ship.

It was quite a large ship, similar to Peter's, but rather lightly decorated with lots of whites and blues. Astonished, I looked around and entered the control area, which had a particularly large number of holographic panels.

Almost admiringly, I approached the large viewing window through which I could see space and lingered there for a moment. While my mother's spaceship was in our shades of gold, I found this ship stunningly beautiful as well and thought it suited Seraphina very well.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by an unknown voice and now turned to the corridor from which it came. I frowned and wondered who exactly besides Seraphina could be on the ship, after all it was hers and she had come to Knowhere alone.

Had she perhaps been visited by one of the Guardians?

After all, she was responsible for repairing some electrical equipment and often exchanged ideas with Rocket about it.

So while I continued to follow the sound of the voice, I still tried to absorb every detail of the ship and found that I had never seen a ship like hers. Most spaceships didn't have many windows, and yet hers had particularly many, despite being kept so bright. I really hoped that she would invite me into her ship and show me the many rooms.

Since she also returned here every day, didn't that mean that she also had her room here? A pleasant tingling went through my body at the thought of finding her room and spending time with her there.

Just the two of us.

Eventually I came to a large room that seemed to have some sort of hologram displayed in the middle.

In front of the hologram was an unknown man with his back to me. I eyed him disapprovingly from my vantage point, wondering who exactly this man was. His blond hair closely resembled my hairstyle with some more curls and he seemed to have my height as far as I could tell. His muscles could be seen through his spacesuit and I wondered if I looked just like him.

Until now, that had never bothered me but while I continued to watch the man an uneasy feeling spread through me.

Now why was this man on Seraphina's ship? After all, she had never spoken of another person.

Finally, Seraphina also stepped into my field of vision with her back to me and looked at the hologram as well. However, since I couldn't figure out what exactly I was looking at, I could only watch silently and didn't know exactly whether I should make myself known or not.

"Okay hear me out. I think I got it now," the strange man suddenly spoke up and Seraphina turned to him with one of her beautiful smiles. She had crossed her arms and seemed to have raised an eyebrow playfully. She had shifted her weight to her right leg and continued to look at the man expectantly, "you think so?"

The man snapped his fingers once and then pointed at Seraphina, "I think the mistake is in line 4." Waiting, he kept looking at Seraphina and suddenly she started laughing and shaking her head.

"Wrong again! How can you not see this!", she continued to laugh while the blond man looked at the blue hologram again and sighed, "how CAN YOU see this? It's... like impossible, I just don't get it."

"It's not, you're just looking at it the wrong way", she continued, rolling her eyes. When she turned away she finally noticed me at the entrance of the room and looked at me in astonishment.

"Adam? What are you doing here?", she asked me immediately and grabbed a small holopad from one of the tables. "Hi...umm I wanted to go get you", I ground out stiffly, feeling a little caught. I stood uncomfortably in front of the two and could now see the man's face clearly.

His blue eyes were similar to Seraphina's but if you looked close enough you could see that hers were lighter and the rim of her iris was darker.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry Adam! I totally forgot to tell you that I'm working on my ship today, so you actually didn't have to come all this way to get me", she said immediately and put the holopad away to shift her attention to me yet again. The man excused himself and suddenly it was just the two of us in the large room.

"Is it because of him that you don't want me here?", I asked uncertainly and suddenly felt out of place. With my golden appearance I stood out strongly in the white ship and I began to fidged with my hands. "God no! I'm actually very happy that you are here", she assured me and yet I wasn't completely convinced of her answer.

"Then why wouldn't you tell me about him?", I asked again and just couldn't shake this queasy feeling away I felt as well, when Peter touched Seraphina. I didn't like the way she smiled at him so softly and let him onto her ship! This guy suddenly showed up and was allowed into her ship while I only got inside by accident?

"I already told you Adam, I forgot. I'm really sorry", she said again and suddenly a feeling came over me that I had never felt so strongly. I had an enormous urge to show her that she was mine and she should realize that too. Not thinking about it, I took a few steps in her direction and lifted her chin with my right hand.

Without warning, I pressed my lips firmly to hers, only hearing a surprised squeak from her, since I had my eyes closed. Like the day before, I immediately melted into the kiss and my left hand automatically found her hip. I found that my hand felt right there and pressed her further towards me so that her body was now flush against mine.

Panting, we broke apart again and slowly I could think more clearly.

"I-I'm sorry... it's just I got this feeling and I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I-I needed to show you that you are mine", I tried to explain and looked down uncertainly.

"You are mine right?", I asked again and looked up into her blue eyes. Her astonished expression was quickly replaced by one of her smiles and she had to chuckle a little. "You were jealous Adam and yes I am yours", she said softly, stroking my strand of hair back, because it had strayed forward in the heat of the moment.

The queasy feeling immediately disappeared and was again replaced by lots of butterflies as she assured me that she was indeed mine. "Who is this guy anyway?" I picked up the strange man again and looked at her expectantly.

"This 'guy' is my brother and his name is Micah", she laughed at my question and now I finally realized why the two looked so alike.

"Oh..."

"I'm back and brought Rocket with me. Said he got some ideas for improvements or something like this," Micah's voice roared, accompanied by Rocket.

"First of all I'm here because I got to the bottom of why this device isn't working and not because of 'something like this'," Rocket began to explain, holding up a small technical device, "secondly there is an error in line 3 and the code of line 5 is missing a rune." Micah looked at the hologram in disbelief and seemed to want to verify Rocket's statement.

"Just... how?"

Rocket just sighed and shook his head, "you sure he is your brother Phina?" She seemed to consider his statement and frowned, "well I do hope so. Been doomed to teach him in 3 languages since he IS my brother."

I carefully followed the conversation between the two and tilted my head slightly to the side, "why would you ask about the validity of his heritage?"

Surely Rocket must have noticed how similar the two looked, right?

"I'm still here y'know! Could you guys please stop talking about me like I'm not here?", came Micah's voice, who had crossed his arms in front of his chest and was slightly glaring at us all.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Feel free to comment your thoughts or prompts ✨

[zeroducks-2]

Hey hey hello hi. Hi Zero. Can we get 25 O and Robard?

Hello there! This seems to have gotten me out of writer’s block at least a little, thank you ♥

25. Non-consensual filming/photos + O. "You are a disgrace" - Eobard Thawne/Robern Thawne

Also an entry for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card, at the voice “zip ties”! (fandom DCU, The Flash)

(TW: sibling incest, mild blood, non-consensual touching, suggestive themes)

«What do you think you’re doing…?» Eobard hisses, but when the other wrenches his arm free he doesn’t force it. 

«Oh because you don’t think I saw?» Robern leans in, and with his height he easily towers over his older brother. «I wonder how many other interesting things I’d find, if I were to pay more unannounced visits. Or if I were to just turn this on-» He reaches over and motions to flick the monitor back on. Eobard grabs his wrist again, gritting his teeth and simmering with rage as Robern fixes him with a level stare. «Or if I were to confiscate your equipment for a search, even.»

«Are you done?» Eobard clicks his tongue. «You’re not a cop yet. Overriding the security systems of my living space is an infraction, and so is stealing a master keycard from whoever you took it from. Those things leave a trace on the cubicle’s log, so now I’m the one who wonders what would happen if I were to submit those logs to the-»

Police training made Robern quicker, enough that Eobard doesn’t expect the blow from the way his brother’s body slightly rears back. It’s an elbow hit below his chin which knocks him back hard, and by the time his head stops spinning he’s being pinned to his desk again, arms brought up as the zip ties get secured around his wrists and a nook of his holographic library. Eobard grunts, a tremor breaking out at the feeling of blood trickling through his hair and wetting his neck. Stunned as he is, he can’t focus either on the instinct to defend himself or on the learned, ingrained lesson that hitting his brother is something he just can’t do. And so Eobard ends up just trying to pull away as his vest is grabbed and tugged to the point of ripping open on his chest, down to the already disheveled state of his bottoms. He’s held still by the hair on the top of his head, and the momentary doubling of his vision suggests he has to be concussed.

He ends up wondering what on Earth has happened that got Robern so riled up. Something at the academy, probably. It is in fact none of Eobard’s business, but he’s never been manhandled like this, because this… it’s worse than usual, isn’t it? He’s never been tied down. Being hit is not new, though. The way his chest is being gripped and squeezed isn’t, either. But there’s a glint in his younger brother’s eyes that feels almost entirely foreign.

«You’d let me do anything to you.» The younger Thawne mutters under his breath, roughly yanking open Eobard’s knees to fit himself in between. «You are a disgrace. Letting your own brother have his way with you.»

(...)

Continued on my AO3! Please mind the fic tags if you click that link!

[lizzie-is-here]

like the dawn

part xvi- the storm

“i want you to always remember me. will you remember that i existed, and that i stood next to you here like this?” - haruki murakami

summary: the mad titan comes calling

wordcount: 1.9k (my tiny bby 🥺)

warnings: cussing (i think? idk honestly), lil fluff, violence ig, uhh infinity war but just the beginning, forgot bucky got the hot arm and had to include that, sad foreshadowing slay

taglist: @whelvedfeelingsstuff @sebsgirl71479 @rebloggingmyrecs @babyblublossom @local-mr-frog @thenyxsky @capsiclesdoll @moonlightreader649 @saranghaey @almosttoopizza @itsivymusic

a/n: IM BACK BITCHES. sorry this part is short but the next part is coming up very soon bc i’m excited to hopefully make y’all cry 👍 as always, love you, very proud of you, stay hydrated and eat something pls and hope u enjoy! this may not be my best work but i’ll make it up to you when… the stuff happens lmao 💀 happy 2023!!! 🤍🤍🤍

previous part | series masterlist | next part

“He came out of nowhere.”

You stare up at the holographic screen.

You’ve been back for barely a week, and there’s something new on the horizon. From out in space, a genocidal maniac has made himself known.

He calls himself Thanos. The last survivor of a planet whose civilization fell long ago. And he’s hunting for stones that can apparently control every part of the universe.

You’re lucky the team received the warning in time. Thor, Bruce Banner, and the remaining Asgardians had narrowly escaped the titan, and fled to Earth to warn you of the danger.

The god had asked a few questions about your wings, as fascinated by them as you were about the magical hammer he carried.

Despite what the others said, you quickly realized that Thor wasn’t dumb, not even dense. Just unaccustomed to modern life. Much like you and your boys.

Okay, maybe he was a little bit dense.

Alongside them, another addition had arrived in the form of a sorcerer by the name of Stephen Strange. His demeanor reminded you of a certain genius.

But there wasn’t time to worry about much other than preparing for the coming siege. There wasn’t time to warn the governments of the world. You needed to suit up. Quickly.

“What’s his objective?” Steve asks, one hand on the small of your back and the other entwined with Bucky’s flesh hand.

“He’s a plague,” Bruce rasps. “He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki.” He points to the rather greasy reformed god, who frowns.

“So this is it,” Tony hums. The billionaire is oddly composed, silently calculating. “What’s our timeline?”

“No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones. That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones, Tony…”

Strange cuts in. “He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of.”

You wrinkle your nose a bit.

“Did you seriously just say ‘hitherto undreamt of’? God, you sound like my grandfather.” you ask.

“Are you seriously complaining about how I talk when you’re 100 years old?”

“Physically, I’m about 30, so-“

Bucky sighs. “Joacă frumos, păpușă [Play nice, doll].”

Tony speaks before you start arguing with the sorcerer again. “If Thanos needs all six, why don’t we just stick Mr. Sparkles’s stone down the garbage disposal?” he asks, gesturing to the Time Stone held in the amulet.

“No can do,” the man retorts. Wong, another sorcerer explains.

“We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives.”

Tony shrugs. “And I swore off dairy, but then Ben & Jerry’s named a flavor after me-“

“Ok, boys, how about we table this conversation for a time when we aren’t in danger,” Nat snaps.

“Ok, look, Thanos has the biggest army in the universe, and he’s not gonna stop until he gets… Vision’s stone.”

You nod. “Then we have to protect it.” The android, from his place staring out the window, disagrees.

“No, we have to destroy it. I’ve been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature.” He pauses, stepping towards Wanda. “But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps-“

Vision leans close to the girl. “-its molecular integrity could fail.” You knew what he was asking. All of you did. But no one wanted to say it.

“Yeah, and you with it,” Wanda chuckles, disbelieving. “We’re not having this conversation.”

“Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can’t get it,” he presses.

“That’s too high a price.”

Your chest aches as the android gently takes her face in his hands.

“Only you have the power to pay it. Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him.”

“But it should,” Steve says. “We don’t trade lives, Vision.” You rest a hand on his arm, nodding when he looks to you for support.

“Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people?” Vision queries. Despite being a robot, his voice is laced with uncertainty. Fear. “Tell me, why is this any different?”

Tony, Bruce, and Peter look up from where they were discussing.

“Because you might have a choice,” the doctor says. “Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another.”

Wanda takes a sharp breath. “You’re saying Vision isn’t just the stone?”

“I’m saying that if we take out the stone, there’s still a whole lot of Vision left, perhaps the best parts.”

“Can we do that?” Nat asks.

Bruce shakes his head. “Not me, not here.”

Peter, as quiet as he’d been, raises his hand. “I know someone! And somewhere.”

You raise a brow. “So do I.”

“Shuri,” both of you say.

“How do you know her?” Bucky asks. The teen sheepishly shrugs.

“She started sending me advice on how to fix my suits from Instagram.”

FRIDAY’s voice echoed over the speakers. “Boss, something’s entered the atmosphere in lower Manhattan.”

Tony curses under his breath. “Shit, okay. We’ve gotta split up.”

“Okay, normally I’m all for your plans, but that seems like a horrible idea,” Sam says.

“We don’t have any other choice. You go to Wakanda, Thor and his crew can head into space to recruit any help we can get, and we’ll stay and handle this,” the billionaire says, gesturing to himself, Peter, and the sorcerers.

A knot forms in your gut. “And if it’s Thanos?”

No one responds. It’s a real possibility that none of you want to think about.

“Then we’ll hold him off until you get there.”

———————————————————————

The quinjet has never flown faster. A quick call to T’Challa and Shuri meant that you were rushing off the plane the moment you arrived, before the princess grabbed Bucky, Steve, and you.

“Come with me. I have an upgrade for that outdated arm of yours,” she calls.

“Is there time?” the brunet asks. Entering her lab, dozens of doctors hurry over. Bucky grabs yours and Steve’s hands, unsure of how to navigate this.

“It’ll be okay,” Steve assures. You nod, following as they lay him down on a table.

They’re unbelievably quick as they work, a hologram providing a view into everything going on. Within minutes, he’s gone under and they’ve started removing the heavy titanium.

Shuri herself carefully implants a new base for the arm, which clicks into place with little trouble. That’s when you see the arm.

It’s gold and black, crafted with careful detail but still bulky enough to balance out. You lift it gently, finding the weight to be much lighter than the old one. Vibranium.

Doctors take the arm from you with knowing smiles, precisely but swiftly locking it in place.

When he sits up minutes later, you hold your breath.

Flexing the new hand, Bucky stares in awe at the prosthetic.

“I… I can feel again.”

He reaches for you and Steve, and can’t believe it when he can truly feel your wings with his left hand. The sensation isn’t perfect, but he’ll take it over the cold, unfeeling HYDRA arm any day.

“What’s it like?” Steve asks, holding Bucky’s face with one hand.

“Perfect.”

A voice calls from the door.

“As cute as you three are, we’ve gotta hurry.” Nat holds up a projection. “Tony says Thanos isn’t in Manhattan.”

The rest of the group is hurrying in behind her, guiding Vision onto the operating table as Shuri prepares for a much more difficult procedure.

“The structure is polymorphic,” she comments.

Bruce nods. “Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially.”

“Why didn’t you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?” You don’t understand what they’re saying, but by the look on Bruce’s face, she’s made an excellent point.

“… Because we didn’t think of it.”

The girl purses her lips to hide a smile. “I’m sure you did your best.”

Wanda and Shuri begin to discuss the complications of the procedure, but you wander to the window. It’s too perfect. The sky is dappled with clouds and Wakanda is going on as normal as possible with the impending disaster looming on the horizon.

Right on cue, Sam’s voice rings through your earpiece.

“Hey, Cap, we got a situation here.”

You watch as a vessel crashes into the protective shield that surrounds the city, blowing up and leaving no damage.

“Don’t start celebrating yet. We got more incoming outside the dome,” Rhodey groans.

Fire blazes into view as more ships crash into the earth. You feel your heart rate increase.

“It’s too late, we need to destroy the stone now,” Vision says. The look on Wanda’s face is enough for you to shake your head.

“Get your ass back on that table,” you press.

T’Challa nods. “We will hold them off.”

Steve turns to the anxious Sokovian. “Wanda, as soon as that stone’s out of his head, you blow it to hell.”

“I will.”

———————————————————————

You soar above dozens of hovering vehicles as the aliens approach the barrier. It’s hard to get a clear view of the enemy, but below you, you can clearly spot Bruce in the Hulkbuster and Nat, Bucky, and Steve on a carrier. Beside you, Rhodey and Sam scope out the area.

One small disadvantage of your abilities. Flight comes naturally. No tech. No heat scanners or AI. No extra help. Just your powers and your wings.

At the tree line, one huge alien and one smaller one stop. The Wakandan forces fall into formation, and you watch from the air as Nat, Steve, and T’Challa go to face the two.

No surprise, it goes horribly. The crash-landed ships open, and you can make out hundreds of ugly, dog-like aliens barreling through the forest.

You land next to your boys just in time to hear Bucky mumble, “What the hell?”

“Looks like we pissed her off,” Nat mumbles.

“They’re killing themselves,” Okoye whispers in horror. She’s right. Only a few make it through the barrier before being immediately killed. The rest are sliced by the force field.

Bucky shoots down some and Bruce fires lasers while the Wakandans take out the rest.

At your side, you twist your hands. It’s been months since you’ve used your powers. Partly out of fear, but also as a way to forget all of the memories that came with them.

While you worry, one alien makes it through Bucky’s rain of gunfire, jumping towards you with a slavering mouth full of yellowed teeth.

Quick as ever, you swing out your hand, and the burst of light is so potent that it disintegrates on contact.

“Well, good to know that that still works,” Steve says, arm still raises from where he went to defend you. Twin shields are mounted on his wrists, with razor-sharp points.

“Cap, of these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us,” Bruce begins. “There’s nothing between them and Vision.

“Then we better keep ‘em in front of us,” Steve replies.

“How are we supposed to do that?” you ask. It’s not like you can tell them where to go.

T’Challa swallows. “We open the barrier.” He lifts a hand to his earpiece before you can protest. “On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen.”

“This will be the end of Wakanda,” a man you don’t quite recognize says.

Okoye doesn’t hesitate. “Then it will be the noblest ending in history.”

Glancing to Steve and Bucky, then back to the barrier, you inhale sharply. “To the end of the line?”

“To the end of the line.”

[avaganda]

From Monkees to Archies: A Musical Evolution and the Birth of Manufactured Bands

In the colorful landscape of pop culture, the 1960s witnessed a unique phenomenon – the rise of manufactured bands. Two notable examples of this trend were The Monkees and The Archies, both engineered by the same creative mind, Don Kirshner. Kirshner, a music impresario, found himself at the forefront of a musical revolution, inadvertently laying the groundwork for future acts like Milli Vanilli, C&C Music Factory, and even venturing into the holographic realm with ABBA.

The Monkees burst onto the scene in 1966 as a made-for-TV band, a concept that initially frustrated the members but ultimately shaped their careers. Kirshner, armed with a vision of creating a musical group that could dominate both the airwaves and television screens, handpicked Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith to form The Monkees. However, this ambitious project soon ran into a creative clash as the band members yearned for artistic independence, desiring to control their own musical destiny.

Frustrated with The Monkees' rebellion, Kirshner took matters into his own hands and conjured up another groundbreaking concept – The Archies. Born from the pages of Archie Comics, this animated band was not bound by the limitations of reality. Kirshner cleverly used the characters from the comic strip as a blank canvas, allowing any talented singer and musician to step into the roles of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and Reggie. This fictional band brought to life through animation paved the way for the concept of music as a versatile commodity.

Fast forward to the late 20th century, and the concept of manufactured bands took a different turn. Acts like Milli Vanilli and C&C Music Factory relied heavily on image and studio-produced music, with performers often lip-syncing to pre-recorded tracks. The emphasis shifted from the musicians' individual talents to a more visual and marketable package – a trend that echoed the early days of The Monkees.

In the 21st century, technology took center stage, and holographic performances became a reality. ABBA, the legendary Swedish pop group, embraced holograms to reunite on stage for their "ABBAtar" project. Fans were treated to a virtual concert experience that transcended time and space, showcasing the potential of artificial intelligence and advanced visual effects in the music industry.

As we reflect on the journey from The Monkees to The Archies and beyond, it becomes evident that the music industry's landscape has continuously evolved, adapting to new technologies and audience expectations. The notion of manufactured bands, once a controversial concept, has paved the way for diverse forms of musical expression, from animated characters to holographic performances, and even AI-generated music. The story of Don Kirshner, The Monkees, and The Archies serves as a testament to the ever-changing nature of the music business, where creativity and innovation walk hand in hand.

[fat-slobby-gamers]

Aqua appeared in some sort of strange new world, one she hadn't been to before. Even with the darkness taken care of, she would go to many different worlds, though this one...it was filled with all sorts of different items and strange contraptions. Not only that, but the "biggest" thing was the fact that everyone was a complete fatty, sitting comfortably in a mobile floating chair.

"Huff... space travel isn't my strong suit..." Aqua groaned from behind her armored helmet as she stepped off her glider. This world was said to be a far future and master Yen sid wanted her to search high and low for an details on a certain sorceresses location.

Her glider had taken her inside a large space craft and she seemed to be inside a janitors closet of some kind though there wasn't any sign of human works. "Oops! Almost forgot my disguise, can't distrust the natural order of things... wherever I am." Aqua said as her outfit began to glow. In a flash her usual clothes and armor was replaced with a blue full body jumpsuit that hugged her curves tightly along with a pair of white socks. "Weird but not uncomfortable..." she muttered before opening the door to the closet and stepping out into a blinding white light.

"Woah..." is all she managed to say as her vision was flooded by bright neon lights and futuristic sights. White stainless building's amd holographic projections of food and products filled the air. And as far as the eye could see she could watch massively obese humans zoom around in personalized hover chairs.

[ultravioletfuture]

ULTRAVIOLET VISIONS: Perfect Dawn and New Portal Plus+

Hello UVF! This week, I honestly don't have a ton of new releases to talk about but I have a couple releases in my bandcamp collection I'm gonna recommend to everyone. It's been a busy couple weeks getting UVF releases scheduled, finishing the UVF magazine, and wrapping up the final mix and masters for Perfect Dawn, but I've got some things to talk about for the future of music on the portal side of things.

Next week the first Perfect Dawn single, "Back To You Pt. 1", drops on Friday the 15th and we can't wait to share it with you all! Working on Lunar Data Garden has also been super refreshing and Perfect Dawn has come to be something Truman and I are super proud to be a part of. Aside from Lunar Data Garden, I've been wanting to work on more portal related music and already have 3 new mixtapes planned out as part of a new sub-alias, "New Portal Plus+".

New Portal Plus+

These new mixtapes I've been working on are composed of some B-sides from ULTRAVIOLET CATHARSIS, tracks I made during the Perfect Dawn production period that didn't necessarily fit the sound, or completely new tracks that complement the concepts. I've been wanting a space to host new music I wanna work on that isn't as high in concept or tediously produced and sitting on my hard drive to release until perfect. Lately I've just been feeling like I've put a lot of time and effort into meticulously putting my albums together so far to create very concise sounding records, but sometimes I just wanna make a collection of tracks, throw them together and drop them on Bandcamp without having to worry about a ton of promo. These mixtapes will still have effort put into them just like I do with all my music, they won't just be looming over my head for over a year until I get the song to sound perfect. I will still be working on more conceptual, thoroughly produced mainline albums for portal.rwb and portal.flx, these mixtapes are merely just extra albums that I probably wouldn't even think about releasing without a mixtape club setup like this. The process so far has been extremely refreshing and has eased my mind to be able to still put out music for those that are interested without having people wait a year between album cycles. I'm still on the fence about setting up a subscription club for these mixtapes, but regardless, the first 3 mixtapes will be available for free to the public as a sorta sample to what the club will be and if a subscription club happens, it will only be a couple bucks for my entire catalog plus exclusive mixtapes. More details will follow in the coming months but I can't wait to share what I've been working on for you all!

Other than this, I've been working on the next couple months for UVF releases and currently have 5 albums scheduled to release in the next coming months! I'm beyond to excited to start UVF Year 2 soon and to share these new releases with you all! The UVF Magazine is also coming very close to full completion and should be ready to send out for printing in the next couple weeks. Depending on the reception of this 1st Edition, I might end up doing more editions routinely, but it's been a huge mission to get so many people involved and am happy enough just to get this 1st Edition out to you all for now.

Album Recommendations

I honestly haven't had a ton of newer releases I've been able to check out this week, but if you guys have any releases new or old that you'd like me to cover, be sure to send it over!

アバドン (aka Abaddon) is an artist I suprisingly haven't brought up on the blog before, but I highly recommend you all give them a listen!! You may be a little more familiar with their album Perfect Fake , but if you haven't heard them by now, they are easily one of my favorite artists in the Vapor scene rn and are constantly pushing the boundary for Vaporwave and Electronic music. I highly recommend starting here if you are into any works by death's dynamic shroud and have a soft spot for K-pop samples. If you are looking for something a bit dreamier, definitely reach for Perfect Fake afterwords, or The Lady In Black for something much more dramatic and darker in tones.

Gonna shout out the new super going project "Wake Up" for it's incredible deep and rich atmospheres throughout. super going specializes in Experimental Electronic music and showcases a nice blend of glitch, noise, and ambient on this new release. The album definitely embraces more of a noisy distorted field-recording sound in the first half and then leads you into very airy and ethereal atmospheres in the second leg of the album. If you are looking for something to scratch that itch for something mildly ambient with heavy electronics, definitely check out "Wake Up".

"In A Silent Way" by Nico Niquo has been my go to ambient record for the past couple months now since first discovering it. If you are into anything from the Orange Milk label at all, this release will surely be right up your alley. The album is a perfect blend of minimal instrumentation and electronic music that just keeps me feeling warm and welcomed. Each track feels like an airy trip floating through the sky in an endless sea of sonic clouds that fill you with emotions of comfort and peace.

Thank you all for checking out this weeks UVF blog! Sorry there wasn't a ton for me to cover, but I hope to have more to talk about next week. Maybe during some of these dryer weeks where I don't have a ton of specific releases to talk about, I might ask for your recommendations on any topics to talk about and have a dedicated segment towards. Be sure to tune in next week for the new Perfect Dawn single and I can't wait to see you all next week <3 ! -portal from UVF

[avocodedigital]

Transforming Manufacturing - Accenture and NVIDIA AI

Join the newsletter: https://avocode.digital/newsletter/

Introduction

The industrial world is undergoing a seismic shift as technology giants Accenture and NVIDIA join forces to integrate artificial intelligence into manufacturing processes, offering unprecedented possibilities for efficiency and innovation. This collaboration addresses the pressing need for **advanced technologies** in manufacturing, creating solutions that promise to redefine industry standards.

The Vision of Accenture and NVIDIA Collaboration

Both Accenture and NVIDIA are renowned for their pioneering approaches in their respective fields. By merging Accenture's expertise in business transformation with NVIDIA's cutting-edge AI technology, the partnership is set to revolutionize the manufacturing landscape. The aim? To make manufacturing smarter, faster, and more sustainable.

The New Age of Intelligent Manufacturing

The collaboration centers around transforming traditional manufacturing into a more intelligent entity. Here's how they are doing it:

Real-Time Data Processing: Utilizing NVIDIA’s high-performance AI, manufacturers can now process large volumes of data in real-time, offering insights that were previously unattainable.

Enhanced Automation: Robotics integrated with AI can perform more complex tasks with precision, reducing human error and increasing production speed.

Predictive Maintenance: By analyzing historical and real-time data, manufacturers can predict equipment failures before they occur, minimizing downtime.

Optimized Supply Chains: With AI-driven insights, inefficiencies in the supply chain can be identified and eliminated, leading to cost savings and improved delivery timelines.

The Role of AI-Powered Robotics

One of the most visible impacts of this collaboration is in the realm of robotics. Accenture and NVIDIA are at the forefront of developing AI-powered robotic systems that are integral to modern manufacturing lines. These systems can adapt to different tasks, learn from their surroundings, and improve over time.

Flexible Manufacturing Systems: Robots are no longer confined to repetitive tasks. They can now switch between various roles, such as assembly or quality control, on the fly.

Safety and Collaboration: These intelligent robots can work alongside humans, ensuring safety and efficiency in the workplace.

Cost Efficiency: While the initial investment might be substantial, the long-term cost savings from increased productivity and reduced waste are significant.

Leveraging Holographic Displays and Augmented Reality

In the highly competitive world of manufacturing, staying ahead requires a blend of innovation and operational excellence. One standout feature of the Accenture-NVIDIA partnership is the use of holographic displays and augmented reality (AR).

Holographic Data Displays

Holographic displays present a futuristic vision of data presentation. Engineers can now view complex data sets and analytics in three-dimensional space, offering better clarity and understanding.

Interactive Data Visualization: Holographic displays allow operators to interact with live data, making real-time adjustments to enhance productivity.

Insightful Analytics: With the ability to see data from multiple angles, manufacturers can gain deeper insights and better understand trends.

Augmented Reality in Production Oversight

AR has become a game-changer in manufacturing processes. With AR headsets, engineers and managers can oversee production lines more effectively.

Hands-Free Operation: Engineers can access manuals, guidelines, and instructions directly in their line of sight, keeping their hands free for work.

Rapid Troubleshooting: AR allows for quick identification and resolution of issues, reducing downtime and maintaining productivity.

Sustainability and Future Prospects

Beyond productivity, the partnership focuses on sustainability. By optimizing resource use and reducing waste, manufacturers can lower their environmental impact. This aspect is crucial as industries worldwide address climate change and seek to implement greener practices.

Environmental Advantages

Resource Efficiency: AI-driven analytics enable precise measurement and management of resource use, from energy consumption to raw materials.

Emission Reductions: By optimizing production processes, manufacturers can significantly decrease their carbon footprint.

Future Developments

As the manufacturing sector embraces AI, future advancements will see even more intricate integrations.

Artificial Intelligence Integration: Further AI development will lead to more autonomous facilities that require minimal human intervention.

Global Competitiveness: Companies that adopt these innovations will be better positioned in the global market, offering high-quality, competitive products.

Conclusion

The collaboration between Accenture and NVIDIA symbolizes a leap into the future for manufacturers worldwide. By ushering innovative AI technologies into the production space, they are not only enhancing efficiency but also setting a precedent for a more sustainable and competitive industrial era. As this partnership evolves, manufacturers can expect to see a transformation in how they operate, prioritize sustainability, and compete on a global stage. The age of smart manufacturing has truly begun, promising a future where technology and industry coexist harmoniously, driving unprecedented growth and development. Want more? Join the newsletter: https://avocode.digital/newsletter/

[xceltectechnology]

Top AR/VR Development Tools to Boost Your Projects in 2024

The future is immersive. As we step into 2024, the fields of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are shifting how we interact with technology and the world around us. Whether you’re a real developer or just taking a chance in this exciting field, the right tools can make all the difference in bringing your creative visions to life. Here’s a look at some of the top AR and VR development tools that will increase your projects this year.

1. Unity: The Powerhouse of Immersive Experiences

Unity is a great tool for creating impressive 3D content. It works well for both AR and VR development, making it a favorite among developers. Unity offers a wide range of assets and tutorials, which means even beginners can create exciting experiences. Its ability to work on multiple platforms ensures that your projects can reach a large audience.

Why Use Unity?: User-friendly interface, extensive community support, and powerful tools for 2D, 3D, AR, and VR development.

2. Unreal Engine: Next-Level Realism

If you need top-quality graphics and just a few settings, Unreal Engine is a great choice. It’s well-known for creating games with amazing images and is also excellent for VR and AR. Unreal Engine offers real-time execution and a visual scripting system, which lets you quickly create detailed projects without needing a lot of programming skills.

Key Features: real-time rendering, clearly flexible visuals, and a node-based scripting system.

3. Vuforia: Augmented Reality Simplified

For those focusing on augmented reality, Vuforia offers a robust and accessible platform. It’s particularly effective for creating AR applications that rely on image approval and object tracking. Vuforia’s SDK integrates smoothly with Unity, allowing developers to create complex AR experiences without a steep learning curve.

Benefits: ease of use, excellent image recognition, and support for various AR devices.

4. ARKit and ARCore: Mobile AR Leaders

Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore are at the forefront of mobile AR development. These tools leverage the advanced hardware and software capabilities of modern smartphones to create seamless and immersive AR experiences. ARKit offers outstanding integration with iOS devices, while ARCore brings similar capabilities to Android, making them essential for mobile AR projects.

Highlights: advanced motion tracking, environment understanding, and light estimation.

5. Blender: The Free and Open-Source 3D Creator

The Blender program is a free, powerful tool for creating 3D designs, ideal for developers on a budget. It supports modeling, sculpting, animation, and rendering. For AR and VR, Blender's features make it easy to create detailed 3D models and environments that you can import into Unity or Unreal Engine. 

Why choose Blender?: It’s free, open-source, and offers a careful set of tools for 3D creation.

6. Microsoft HoloLens: Cutting-Edge Mixed Reality

For developers interested in mixed reality, Microsoft’s HoloLens offers a glimpse into the future. This tool combines the physical and digital worlds, enabling the creation of holographic experiences that are both interactive and immersive. HoloLens development leverages Unity, making it easier to transition from other 3D or VR projects.

Advantages: integration with Unity, advanced holographic processing, and a growing ecosystem of applications.

7. Oculus SDK: Immersive VR at Your Fingertips

Oculus has been a developer in the VR space, and its SDK provides a thorough suite of tools for developing VR applications. With support for both Oculus Rift and Quest, the Oculus SDK helps you create high-quality, immersive experiences that can transport users to entirely new worlds.

Notable Features: VR motion controls, spatial audio, and extensive documentation and support.

8. ARFoundation: Unified AR Development

If you're developing for both iOS and Android, AR Foundation provides a single framework. It lets you create AR apps that work with both ARKit and ARCore without needing separate workflows. This tool saves time and effort while ensuring a consistent experience on all devices.

Perks: cross-platform support, streamlined development process, and integration with Unity.

Conclusion

As AR and VR technologies continue to advance, the tools available to developers are becoming more powerful and available. Whether you're looking to create a simple AR app or a complex VR simulation, the right development tool can make all the difference. For an AR/VR development company like Xceltec, using AR Foundation provides a streamlined approach for cross-platform AR development.

By leveraging these tools, you can stay at the forefront of the involved technology wave in 2024, creating engaging and innovative experiences that captivate users and pushing the limits of what’s possible.

[xasha777]

In the heart of the Andromeda galaxy, nestled on the planet Astraea, stood the illustrious Astraean Research University. This institution was renowned across multiple star systems for its groundbreaking research in quantum mechanics and interdimensional travel. At the center of this academic empire was Princess Lyra, a brilliant scientist and the heir to the Astraean throne.

Princess Lyra, with her raven-black hair, radiant red lips, and adorned in intricate golden jewelry, was not just a royal figure but a leading researcher at the university. She had recently made a monumental discovery—a quantum crown capable of accessing and manipulating quantum states, potentially revolutionizing interstellar communication and travel.

The quantum crown, a delicate yet powerful artifact, was crafted with the rarest of elements found in the depths of Astraea's crystalline mines. It was adorned with shimmering gems that resonated with the quantum frequencies of the universe. Lyra's father, King Orion, had entrusted her with the task of unveiling the crown's potential, understanding that its secrets could propel Astraea into a new era of scientific enlightenment and power.

One evening, as Lyra sat in her opulent laboratory, surrounded by intricate machinery and holographic displays, she carefully placed the crown on her head. The crown's gems began to glow, synchronizing with her brainwaves and the surrounding quantum field. Instantly, she was transported into a higher-dimensional space, a realm where the very fabric of reality could be observed and manipulated.

In this dimension, Lyra encountered an ethereal being, a guardian of the quantum realm. The guardian, with eyes like galaxies and a voice like the hum of the universe, revealed to her the true purpose of the crown. It was not merely a tool for scientific exploration but a key to unlocking the hidden potential of consciousness itself. By aligning the mind with the quantum field, one could traverse time and space, heal diseases, and even alter the course of history.

Empowered by this revelation, Lyra returned to her physical form with a newfound determination. She knew that her discovery could bring about an unprecedented era of prosperity and enlightenment for Astraea and beyond. However, she also understood the immense responsibility that came with such power. The crown had to be protected from those who might misuse it for personal gain or destructive purposes.

Lyra presented her findings to the Council of Astraea, emphasizing the importance of ethical stewardship and collaborative research. She proposed the establishment of an intergalactic alliance of research universities, dedicated to exploring the quantum realm and harnessing its potential for the greater good. The council, awed by her vision and wisdom, unanimously supported her initiative.

Thus, the Quantum Consortium was born, with Astraean Research University at its helm. Under Lyra's leadership, scientists and scholars from across the galaxy came together, sharing knowledge and resources to unlock the mysteries of the quantum crown. Together, they made strides in curing previously incurable diseases, developing instantaneous communication across vast distances, and even creating sustainable energy sources that defied traditional physics.

Princess Lyra, with her brilliance and compassion, had transformed Astraea into a beacon of hope and progress. Her legacy, immortalized in the annals of history, was a testament to the power of knowledge, unity, and the boundless potential of the human (and extraterrestrial) spirit. The quantum crown, now a symbol of scientific and ethical advancement, continued to inspire generations of researchers and dreamers, forever changing the course of the universe.

[electromediadesign]

Crafting Immersive Experiences: The Essence of AV Design Services

In the contemporary landscape of technology-driven experiences, audio-visual (AV) design services stand as architects of immersion, sculptors of ambiance, and orchestrators of engagement. These services play a pivotal role in shaping environments that transcend the ordinary, weaving together sights and sounds to create immersive experiences that captivate and inspire. In this exploration, we delve into the essence of AV design services and their profound impact on crafting immersive experiences across diverse industries.

Understanding the Art of Immersion

At the heart of AV design services lies a deep understanding of the art of immersion - the ability to envelop audiences in multisensory experiences that transcend the boundaries of space and time. AV designers leverage a blend of creativity, technical expertise, and strategic vision to create environments that engage the senses, evoke emotions, and transport audiences to new realms of possibility. From dynamic lighting and mesmerizing visuals to immersive soundscapes and interactive elements, AV design services weave together a tapestry of sensory stimuli to craft unforgettable experiences.

Creating Atmosphere and Ambiance

One of the core functions of AV design services is creating atmosphere and ambiance within physical spaces. Whether it's a retail store, a museum exhibit, or a corporate environment, AV designers use lighting, audio, and visual elements to set the mood, evoke emotions, and enhance the overall ambiance. Dynamic lighting solutions, projection mapping techniques, and carefully curated soundtracks work in harmony to create immersive environments that resonate with visitors on a visceral level, fostering a sense of connection and engagement.

Enhancing Communication and Storytelling

Beyond creating ambiance, AV design services play a crucial role in enhancing communication and storytelling within spaces. Through strategic placement of displays, interactive exhibits, and multimedia installations, designers guide visitors on a journey of discovery, education, and enlightenment. Whether it's conveying brand messaging in a retail environment, sharing historical narratives in a museum exhibit, or facilitating collaboration in a corporate meeting space, AV design services leverage technology to communicate messages effectively and engage audiences in meaningful ways.

Fostering Interaction and Engagement

Interactivity lies at the heart of immersive experiences, and AV design services excel at fostering interaction and engagement within spaces. Through the integration of touchscreens, gesture recognition technology, and interactive projections, designers empower visitors to become active participants in the experience, rather than passive observers. By providing opportunities for hands-on exploration, discovery, and participation, AV design services create dynamic environments that spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and encourage deeper engagement.

Tailoring Experiences to Audiences

One of the hallmarks of AV design services is their ability to tailor experiences to the unique needs and preferences of audiences. Designers take into account factors such as demographic profiles, psychographic characteristics, and user behaviors to create experiences that resonate with specific audiences. Whether it's designing a children's play area in a retail space, curating a sensory-friendly exhibit for individuals with autism, or creating a high-tech boardroom for corporate executives, AV design services customize experiences to cater to the diverse needs of visitors.

Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation

Innovation is a driving force behind AV design services, with designers constantly pushing the boundaries of technology to create new and exciting experiences. From augmented reality and virtual reality to holographic displays and immersive audio, designers embrace emerging technologies to deliver cutting-edge experiences that captivate and inspire. By staying at the forefront of technological advancements, AV design services ensure that their creations remain fresh, relevant, and impactful in an ever-evolving landscape.

Measuring Impact and Effectiveness

Ultimately, the success of AV design services is measured by their impact on audiences and the effectiveness of the experiences they create. Designers employ a variety of metrics and analytics to assess audience engagement, satisfaction, and behavior, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of their designs. Whether it's tracking foot traffic, analyzing dwell times, or gathering user feedback, AV design services use data-driven insights to refine their creations and ensure that they continue to deliver meaningful experiences that resonate with audiences.

Conclusion: Transforming Spaces with AV Design Services

In conclusion, AV design services play a pivotal role in crafting immersive experiences that transcend the ordinary and transform spaces into immersive environments that captivate and inspire. Through a blend of creativity, technical expertise, and strategic vision, designers create atmospheres, enhance communication, foster interaction, tailor experiences to audiences, push the boundaries of innovation, and measure impact and effectiveness. As technology continues to evolve and audiences demand more immersive and personalized experiences, the essence of AV design services will remain essential for shaping the future of experiential design in the digital age.