#Pod Kits and devices

[amritokumarbd]

Vape Direct – Buckingham

Address: 2 Cornwall Pl, Buckingham, MK18 1SB Phone: 01280 822260 Business Email: Support@vapedirect.com website: https://vapedirect.com/ Product: E-cigarettes Buckingham, vaping devices, Vape Kits, Pod Kits and devices, Best Vape Store

Vapedirect.com is one of the UK's leading online and in store retailers of E-cigarettes, vaping devices, Vape Kits, Pod Kits and devices, and of course E-Liquids, Nicotine Salts and Shortfill Vape Juices. Vapedirect.com is based in Milton Keynes & Buckingham and is the top choice for all new and current vapers within this area. By Offering our customers SAME DAY Delivery on all orders in Milton Keynes and Buckingham we have ammased a huge Loyal and Returning customer base of which we are proud to serve.

[tidalvape]

A Comprehensive Guide to Tidal Vape: Your Ultimate Vaping Destination in the UK

Vaping has become increasingly popular in the UK, and for good reason. Whether you’re a seasoned vaper or just starting your journey, finding the right products and reliable suppliers is essential. Tidal Vape is a trusted name in the UK vaping community, offering a wide range of products to cater to every vaper’s needs. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore everything Tidal Vape has to offer, from disposable vape kits to advanced vape kits, e-liquids, and much more.

Why Choose Tidal Vape?

Tidal Vape is more than just an online vape shop; it’s a one-stop destination for all your vaping needs. With a vast selection of high-quality products, competitive prices, and exceptional customer service, Tidal Vape stands out as a top choice for vapers in the UK. Here’s why:

Extensive Product Range

Tidal Vape offers an impressive variety of vaping products, ensuring that every customer can find exactly what they need. Whether you’re looking for a simple disposable vape kit or an advanced vape kit, Tidal Vape has it all.

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One of the key reasons vapers choose Tidal Vape is the competitive pricing. Whether you’re purchasing vape kits, e-liquids, or accessories like replacement coils and 18650 e-cig batteries, Tidal Vape offers some of the best prices in the UK.

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Tidal Vape also provides detailed product descriptions and customer reviews, helping you make informed decisions about your purchases. This transparency builds trust and ensures that you receive exactly what you expect.

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Disposable Vape Kits

Disposable vape kits are ideal for vapers who want a simple and straightforward experience. These kits come pre-filled and ready to use, with no need for refilling or maintenance. Tidal Vape offers a range of disposable vape kits, with the Elf Bar Disposable Pod Device being a standout option.

Elf Bar Disposable Pod Device: This device is perfect for those who want a portable and easy-to-use vape. It’s available in various flavors, providing a satisfying experience with every puff. The device is small, discreet, and perfect for on-the-go vaping.

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E-Liquid UK: Tidal Vape stocks a comprehensive selection of e-liquids in the UK, from fruity blends to dessert-inspired flavors. Whether you’re looking for something sweet, tangy, or savory, you’ll find it here.

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For vapers who want to take their experience to the next level, Tidal Vape offers a range of advanced vape kits. These kits provide more control over your vaping experience, with features like adjustable wattage, temperature control, and more.

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If you’re new to vaping, Tidal Vape’s starter kits are the perfect place to begin. These kits are designed to be user-friendly and provide everything you need to get started.

Uwell Caliburn G3 Pod Vape Kit: This starter kit is ideal for beginners, offering a simple and intuitive design. It’s easy to use, with a straightforward setup and smooth vaping experience.

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Pod Kits

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Vampire Vape Deals: These deals offer significant savings on popular Vampire Vape products, including e-liquids and accessories. Keep an eye on Tidal Vape’s website for the latest offers.

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Vape Prices: Tidal Vape is known for offering competitive vape prices, making it easier for customers to find high-quality products at affordable rates.

Conclusion

Tidal Vape is a leading name in the UK vaping community, offering a vast selection of high-quality products, competitive prices, and exceptional customer service.

[vapeteach]

Uwell Caliburn Vape Series: A User-Friendly and Innovative Vaping Devices

Uwell Caliburn Vape series

[star-girl69]

Keep Me Ablaze

Jake Sully x Neytiri x Fem!Reader

—-

a/n: sorry you guys 😔 i hope you all enjoy!!

warnings: death, mentions of blood, injury, grief, mentions of needles, tell me if i missed anything!!

Chapter Twenty One- Love

—-

The first thing you do is scream. It tears out of your chest like a piece of your heart rising up your throat, spilling out into the air. It hurt when Jake betrayed you, but this scene in front of you- Grace, panting, hand pressed over her blood red abdomen- is the most painful thing you’ve ever witnessed.

You throw yourself to the ground before her, your knees burning against the rough metal. You grab her free hand, the one that’s not keeping her alive, and her eyes find yours through all of this.

Through everything, love and loss, breathing and not, it has always been her. Always been Grace.

“Grace, Grace, please, please,” you say, and she shakes her head before another wave of pain hits her, and you are not ready for loss.

—-

The next time the world comes into focus, it’s Jake’s voice you hear first.

“Just keep going north,” he says into the walkie-talkie, looking out the window of the off-site link pod room. The world moves past the window, and you get the feeling like you’re the one watching. “Get us deep in the mountains.”

You almost want to ask him what’s happening, because your mind is so fuzzy you feel like a child. Where are you going? What’s the mountains? How can you save Grace?

“Copy that,” Trudy says through the device.

Grace squeezes her hand before you can say anything.

“Grace?” you ask, and she can barely even open her eyes. She lays on her side, in the open link pod that’s been turned into a hospital bed. A bright light shines above you, and it makes her look pale. You choose to believe it’s from the light, not the blood loss. “What- what is it?”

She reminds you of Eytukan in this moment. The tears in your eyes multiply, Jake speaking again, rifling through the trauma kit.

“I just… want you to know… that you, baby, you’re so special-” she bites back a groan.

“Shh,” you coo, smooth back her hair. “We’ll have time for that.” Her eyes open wide.

“Y/N-”

“I’m sorry for all the stuff I said to you, after what Jake did. You’ve always wanted what’s best for me, and I was just blinded by emotion. But I’m not, now.” You toy with a ringlet of bright red hair, more vibrant against her pale skin.

“Y/N, please-” she starts, but you know what she’s gonna say. She’s going to try and prepare you for her death, and you can’t focus on that, not right now.

“Just rest,” you murmur, and her wound must be exhausting her, so she closes her eyes for just a moment.

Jake reaches around you with a a needle in his hands, and you let him. You admire him. He saved you, and now he’s taking charge in the face of all this. Forgiveness is hazy, but right now- he is just Jake Sully, the man you fell in love with, your mate.

“Ouch,” Grace whispers as the needle sinks into her skin.

“You big baby,” Jake says, pulling back the blankets to see the growing red on her white bandages.

“We’re moving,” Grace notes, face covered in sweat. She grips your hand tight, and keeps squeezing it, like making sure you’re still there.

“I’m gonna get you some help, Grace,” he says.

“I’m a scientist, remember? I don’t believe in fairy tales.”

Jake bites his lip. “The People can help you. I know it.”

Her face drops, like maybe she even had some glimmer of hope she was trying to cover up.

“Why would they help us?” she asks, and she’s right.

—-

The next morning brings nothing but Grace’s growing weakness. She can barely keep her eyes open. Her skin is cold and clammy, but you don’t let go of her hand. You can’t.

You wake to the sound of another link pod opening, and you lift your head from the hard edge of it to look up where the sound came from.

“What’s the plan here, Jake?” Norm asks, leaning against the pod. Jake backs himself up alongside the pod, getting ready to lift himself out.

“There’s no plan,” he says, and your voice is rough, scratchy from crying and screaming when you speak.

“Tsu’tey is Olo’eyktan now. He won’t let you near there.”

Jake looks up at you like he’s in trouble, hands still planted on the handles of his wheelchair.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“I’m not. And you’re a fool.”

He looks down, pulls himself up and over into the link pod. It’s not until he’s laying flat that he finally speaks.

“I gotta try, baby. I gotta try.”

—-

Her head is warm, now, and her fever makes her tongue loose.

Maybe it should have been you that went, not Jake, but you cannot leave Grace. You can’t leave her, knowing she may not be there when you come back.

“I loved Josie so much,” she says, a tear falling down her cheek. “I used to think her screams were trapped in the walls, like I could still hear them.”

“I know,” you whisper, tears falling down your own face. “I know.”

“You- you were such a fussy baby. It’s like you knew I wasn’t her, that this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. You look just like her. Got- got the same eyes, you know. Your daddy’s nose. But you- what hurts me, is you have that same love for plants, flowers. Like me, like her- but those got her killed. It killed Martin, and that killed her.”

You let your tears fall freely now, not caring if it upsets your Aunt in her fever-crazed state.

“Promise me, baby, promise me you won’t follow the flowers. Follow the fire.”

—-

“Look where we are, Grace,” Jake whispers. She looks like a rag doll in his arms. Him as an Avatar, her a human.

You walk alongside them, holding onto Jake and looking between her and the path, trying not to trip through your tears. It feels like the entire world is falling down on you.

Grace is not your mother, not Josephine, not the forest. But she raised you. It was her who sang you to sleep, who read you stories, who told you she loved you all your life.

She loves you, so she can’t be taken away from you, because she loves you.

The Spirit Tree hangs down around you, glowing purple and reflecting on Grace’s skin. It makes her look blue, from this angle.

Her eyes open wide, her mask hissing as it provides her with oxygen.

A small smile crosses her face.

“I need to take some samples,” she breathes, and you let out something that sounds like a sob and a laugh. Jake chuckles, carrying her like a baby as he makes it up the small hill to the base of the tree.

The ground glows beneath you, like a sea of green-blue stars. Mo’at fixes Grace’s arms, ruffling the vines that wrap around her like clothes.

The top of her head touches her Avatar’s.

You lean in front of her, while Neytiri wraps a careful hand around your arm, as if making sure you don’t become too sad and simply- float away.

Mo’at waves her hand over the two bodies, the one consciousness. “The Great Mother may choose to save all that she is… in this body.”

The small little tendrils coming out of the ground, like little roots, grow at her gesture, her words, and wrap around Grace more and more.

“Is that possible?” Jake asks. You don’t even want to know the answer.

“She must pass through the eye of Eywa and return.”

You almost let out a sigh of relief. Your Aunt is the strongest, bravest, most resilient person you know. She can do that. She can do anything.

But Mo’at says it with such a grave look- you don’t dare even breathe. Her ears pull back.

“But… she is very weak.”

—-

You watch over Grace’s body anxiously, the unnatural stillness of it, the slow move of the soft-looking tendrils.

Mo’at chants and The People repeat it, and your mind is too muddled to translate. Jake waits beside you, but it is like you’re out of your body- watching over all of this apathetically, not capable of letting yourself feel, not when your heart knows what might happen.

You’re listening to your aunt.

You’re not following the flowers, the make believe. You’re following the fire. The real stuff, what you can feel, what you know.

But still, something inside of you that’s too much like your mother is crying over a flowerbed, pleading for a miracle that can never happen. Not now, not like this.

Suddenly, it all stops. Mo’at calls out, and the forest falls silent, like every person, animal is holding their breath- waiting to see what will happen.

In her human body, Grace tilts her head so she’s looking towards the sky.

She reaches her hand out, murmurs your name so softy that if you didn’t love her the way you did, know her so deeply, you wouldn’t have heard her. You jump forward, grab her hand and rest your palm over her chest.

Her heart beats.

It is not strong, not mighty, but it is there, you can feel it, you can hear it. It is there.

You have never prayed to Eywa before, but you pray it will stay.

“Aunt Grace,” you breathe, and her face falls into a smile, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“My baby,” she murmurs, eyes barely open. “I’m with her, Y/N. She’s real. Eywa, she’s real, and I- oh, baby, I can see your mother.”

You squeeze her hand, and you heart still rests on her chest, so you can feel her heartbeat fading.

“No,” you say, “no. You’re my Mom, Grace. You raised me, you love me, you can’t leave me. You can’t, please, please-”

She squeezes your hand once last time, and her head slowly falls back to the side, her hand like dead weight in yours.

When you drop her, it falls, limp, against her chest.

The bioluminescence, the blue-green starts to fade.

“What’s happening? Did it work? Did it-?”

You watch as Mo’at places a shaky hand against Grace’s cheek.

“Did it work?” you ask again, following the flowers.

“Her wounds were too great. It was not enough time. She is… with Eywa, now.”

You want to scream and shout, tell her that she’s lying, that there must be something, anything, that can bring her back to you, so she can love you again, and you can feel it-

Neytiri reaches past you and removes her oxygen mask.

Panic flares in your chest- she can’t breathe without her mask, she needs her mask-

Follow the fire, is what Grace had said, but you don’t think you can.

—-

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[gingerlurk]

Binding | Part II

Din Djarin x f!Reader

A Lovers' Crest one-shot (in three parts). Complete on A03.

Prev | Next

Here's the LC Masterlist.

Summary: Lost and alone in a dark cave, you need to figure out what happened to the Mandalorian.

Word count: 6.5k

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, established relationship, characters in peril, mind control, evil droid, being restrained, canon-typical violence. Also, lots of action, characters in peril, lots of peril, sorry. Please let me know if there's more to add I am rusty.

A/N: This story won't make much sense if you haven't read Lovers' Crest. Or even if you have, it may still be nonsense. I'm not sure. I really put all the characters through it here. The next chapter is well cosy though, I promise.

--

With a pained gasp and a flailing of limbs, you break the surface of putrid water. 

Breathless and sputtering, you struggle to keep your head above the stinky pool you’d plummeted backwards into right after Din’s helmet had disappeared from view. You twist and thrash around for a bit before realising you’re unhurt, just treading water in total darkness. 

It still takes several deep breaths before there’s enough air in your lungs to call out.

‘Din?’ You shout, craning to look back up. Back to where you had fallen from. ‘Din? Grogu?’

No answer. You jab at the light strapped to your arm, it buzzes a few times before fizzling out to nothing. But it had flashed just enough for you to spot a bit of rock poking out of the water. Strike out in that direction, kicking until you can smack a hand onto it.

Feeling about, you find the rock is quite large. Haul yourself out of the wretched water and sit, elbows on knees and panting. You look up again.

‘Din?’ you call, pushing down panic. Nothing. ‘Grogu?’

At that, a beam of light appears up above. The faint nervous trills and grunts of the child echo down to where you’re perched. You’d estimate it to be a ten metre drop.

‘Grogu? Hey, kiddo? Are you okay? Where’s Din?’

The pod drifts out into the open air and descends to you. The kid is now chittering with insistence as he comes level with where you sit, blinding you with his lamp. You shield your eyes to see him and take in the wide-eyed worry.

‘Hey baby,’ you gesture him closer and dig into the side of his pod for your little field tool kit. ‘It’ll be okay. Sit tight.’ 

Tugging the device off your arm, you motion for him to direct the light so you can see your work. You’re focusing hard on practical steps. Rather than the primal dread crawling up your spine. Steps like ‘need light fixed’. And not, Where’s Din? Where is he? Where did he go? Where– No, need light fixed.

Step one. Fix light.

A bit of fiddling and it blinks back at full force. You huff an exhale and point it around you and the child, who’s still murmuring and anxious.

This rock is indeed a small island in the middle of a vast underground lake. It must be one of the spots where the aquifer breaches the rock layer. You direct the beam up the sheer cliff. Next practical step is ‘need back up there’.

‘Okay Grogu, bud,’ you lay what you hope is a reassuring hand on the child. ‘Think you can manage a miracle?’ He’s squeezing his eyes shut and focusing before you finish the sentence. You manage a half smile, ‘Nice.’

Closing your eyes too, you try to channel energy toward his efforts, feeling, as always, that vast and intimidating power that lives on your periphery. It stirs, begins to move. Within yourself it is a fuzzy and flickering thing. When you see it in Grogu, it’s like looking into a sun.

Next thing you know, you are weightless. The sharp rocks that were digging into your legs drop away as you begin to float. You fight vertigo and fear, trying not to grip Grogu too tight. He raises you and the pod, depositing your feet right back on the spot where that creature had smacked into you.

Shining a light around the carnage, you will yourself to contemplate the next task. Find out what happened to Din.

‘Alright bud,’ you say, still with a hand on Grogu, ‘can you show me?’

He ‘wahs’ a little before raising a claw to clasp one of your fingers. 

The vision sweeps across your mind’s eye. Din, on his knees, leaning over the edge to look down at you, raising a forearm to engage his whipcord. Behind him, a long, segmented mechanical... thing snakes across the ground. Toward him. It snaps a clamp over his ankles and drags him backwards. Back... that way... you turn and walk in the direction the vision showed.

Come to a dead end.

With shaking hands, you reach out to feel about the rocky wall. Nothing. It’s just a rocky wall.

‘Fuck.’

But Grogu saw him pulled this way, so there must be something. You decide to give this a go yourself, unwilling to ask more of the child. He’s already looking drained after the ambush of monster bugs and saving your ass. He needs his strength. And all of you are a long way yet from being out of danger.

Turning your inner eye to the energy dwelling within, you bid it to approach. It’s already uncoiled and slides into your senses. Changes the shape of the universe as you funnel the power of the Force down into understanding this cave wall.

And it becomes crystal clear. Not a wall. A hard light shield masking a weapons-grade bunker. A heavy door sealed shut via an… an access panel right… over there…

Trailing a hand along the illusion, gritty rock becomes smooth and glossy under your fingers. Opening your eyes to look, your lamplight shows you’re still just touching a natural feature. But the modular beeping and responsive hum under your palm indicates it’s a piece of tech.

Okay, now… How do I… On instinct, you press your whole hand flat to the panel – jump in surprise as it activates.

Well, that was easy.  

It cycles loud. You push Grogu’s pod and back away with it to take cover behind a large granite pillar – watch a surreal process of the barrier grinding open to reveal a dim light just beyond its threshold.

Those hideous bugs would have drowned out the noise of the door opening. And you were a touch too distracted by being hurled off a cliff in any case.

But whatever that snaking thing was, it dragged Din in there.

You force yourself to wait a good thirty seconds and, when nothing appears and no movement can be seen, edge out to approach with cautious steps. The child follows close behind, quiet – just the hum of his pod echoing behind you.

A narrow corridor opens into a true nightmare and you have to work to beat back a rising hysteria. A cavernous space made difficult to comprehend by the chaotic array of items, paraphernalia, and junk scattered around and piled high. You spy everything from broken pieces of armour through to what looks to be a speeder’s engine mount.

Bones too. A lot of them.

With an arm up to keep Grogu back a ways, you continue to cast around, searching the place for any sign of--

Your sweep halts and blood freezes in your veins. A sight that is familiar and frightening all at once.

The angular chrome catches the beam of your torch. High arches you would know by touch glimmer in the low light. The dark T-visor stares, reflecting your wide-eyed horror. 

But there’s no reaction to your gasp of shock. None at all. The Mandalorian’s helmet doesn’t move an inch. 

Because it’s not Din.

It sits alone, still and silent, on a small mountain of discarded tech. 

No life in there.

You take a trembling step toward it.

‘Now, now—'

A reverberating drone peels across the silence. 

‘You wouldn’t be thinking of stealing from me, would you?’ 

Nothing about the voice makes sense save for the language you recognise. It’s ungodly. The sound of it grates on your ears like a corrosion – words being pushed through mechanical parts. It’s coming from all around you, disembodied and loud. 

‘Because that wouldn’t make you a very worthy guest, now would it?’

Unable to place its source, you take another step – fingers desperate to make contact with the beskar piece.

‘Ah, ah, ah!’ clicks the noise in a mocking admonishment. 

Another step, just a few more before you can lay hands on--

‘Wow,’ comes the staccato. ‘So rude. I think I need to have my new toy deal with you.’

From a darkened passage on the other side of the space, a new sound emerges. This one you know. Know it as well as you know the helmet just beyond arm’s reach. It sends a cascade of gooseflesh over you.

The clinking, steady footfalls of Din Djarin grow louder until he emerges from the darkness. There’s not even a shred of relief felt on seeing him. Something is badly wrong. 

He’s not in there. Not at home. A blank, glassy-eyed expression tracks the room and peels over you and Grogu like you’re just features of the bunker wall.

And, somehow even worse, he walks right by the pile of junk on which his helm rests, no inkling there at all that it’s his sacred property. He comes to a stop in front of you. In the dim light, you can make out a blinking chip-like array at his left temple. Angry red lines radiate out from the attachment. The eye there is bloodshot and weeping.

It’s horrifying.

‘Grogu,’ you whisper, sights fixed on your vacant partner. ‘Go.’

The baby whines at the instruction and you wave toward the way out. 

‘Go, go! Get Gaius. Get--’

He hasn’t moved yet when the grisly robotic voice clicks an indifferent, ‘Kill them, if you please.’ Din moves into motion so swift you shout in alarm. 

His arm is up and bringing a savage swing down toward Grogu’s head that you only just manage to intercept, twisting into his elbow and throwing your whole weight into diverting the blow. It’s what it takes, his raw strength such that you have to body his entire limb just to counter.

It happens twice more, him swinging with vambraced arms as you lurch and throw yourself between him and the child. Grogu seems to be frozen in fear, staring up at his father with a trembling disbelief. 

‘Grogu!’ you try again, caging Din’s wrist with both forearms to direct it into open air, rather than the hovering pod. ‘Go! ’

He still doesn’t move, paralysed. 

Just as you drive a desperate shoulder into the possessed man’s fist, you twist flush to Din’s chest, lean into his cuirass and use the purchase to lift a foot and kick the baby’s pod away.

It does the job – Grogu whirrs out of reach and flops back with a grunt. But before you can move, a huge arm locks across your throat. It compresses your airway with a discompassionate ease.

Blind terror rips a strangled scream from you before losing breath. Gods it hurts. An instant burning. You claw and wheeze. Drown in the horror that this is how it ends, so sudden and so random. It crawls in your heart and you sob. Not Din... please not by him... It’s sapping strength as oxygen becomes an unknown to you. Arms drop and flail at the armour-clad tower behind you.

Futile. This is it.

But the muscles holding you firm ease. Just a little. Just enough so can you gasp air and drop weight to your knees to get free of the chokehold. You make a half-roll and leap to your feet to look back at him, hands to your throbbing – but open – throat.

He’s frozen, stock still. And you see it. You see him. His eyes are alight with horror, with fear and panic. Dark irises track over you, stare at where you grip your neck. He starts to spasm and shudder, like something is fighting to burst out of him. He whimpers your name and then—

‘Run,’ he gasps. A plea through shredded vocal chords, ‘Run!’ 

His eyes go blank again as you pivot on the spot, set your sights on Grogu’s pod that is now – mercifully – racing away, and bolt. Through ringing ears, you hear the voice crackle in delight, ‘Oh she’s fun! Secure the female alive. Kill the small thing.’

You can’t handle this alone. You don’t know what to do. Din groans and snarls behind you, in a war with himself and the alien tech trying to hold him in thrall. He fights it long enough for you to get a decent lead, then he’s chasing you down. Thundering boots send hammers of black dread to beat against your spine.

As you run, you manage to make three observations. One, he hasn’t used any of his own equipped weapons yet. Two, his attacks were clumsy – nothing like his usual precise and practiced brutality. Three, he’s gaining on you.

This last observation comes as you breach the cave opening into the white hot light of the surface. Your feet kick up dust that cakes on the soaked fabric of your pants. It swirls in the billowing tempest wrought by the Mandalorian closing the distance between you.

Time slows.

The first thing that happens is a hand landing hard on your shoulder. The other reaches to hug your ribs firm. You’re pulled into him and forced forward at the same time, held in an embrace of violent control. The ground rushes up to meet you. Like a ragdoll, you’re twisted side-on to slam into it, so hard the momentum of your legs carry on in a disorienting cartwheel over yourself. 

You’re winded so full-bodily you can only go limp, try to brace your arms but it’s no use. 

Shoved over, face and torso into the dirt, you’re helpless as he throws his full weight on top of you. Just trying to catch your breath – everything burning, throat, lungs, limbs. There’s nothing you can do against being straddled by him as his grip shifts on your body.

He takes your upper arms and – with a vicious yank – the ground tips away as you’re hauled up into a vicelike hold, pulled flush to hard beskar chest yet again. 

Sagging in his merciless restraint, there’s just enough mental will left to observe that Grogu is nowhere to be seen. The barren terrain around you is quiet.

He got away… at least he got away…

Your captor comes to the same conclusion with a grunt of frustration.

He turns in a full circle, evidently unclear where to go in the hunt for his assigned target.

Huh, you think. He doesn’t know which way his ship is? That’s interesting.

After twisting and turning about, jerking you to and fro, he stops – seems locked by indecision, unable to fulfil one of the directives issued by that voice back in the cave.

‘You may as well just take me back,’ you say, sounding raspy – feeling the effort burn your throat. ‘You won’t find him.’

Wind and dust float around the two of you as he remains still, incapable of choosing a path forward. You’re craning your neck, pressing it into his shoulder to look up at him, when you see the chip at his temple blink a harsh blue light. 

Orders coming in?

Your guess is confirmed when – with another frustrated snarl – he begins to move.

Back toward the opening of the cave.

You let yourself feel some kind of relief that Grogu has escaped – mostly so you don’t slip into hysterical terror.

He drags you into the dark and, as you struggle and plead to no avail, back into the hoard of horrors. 

‘Chain her,’ the alien speech greets you, and you’re pulled to a wall dripping with cables and restraints. Arms are tugged behind your back for loops to be coiled around and around, secured – tight – until you’re bound against the solid surface.

The whole time Din does this – winding chains with clumsy hands – you’re murmuring to him, trying to get through. Din? Din – you’re in there, I know you’re in there. C’mon, Din. It’s me, it’s me. Din!

But you get nothing, and your arms are locked behind you so tightly, you begin to worry about circulation. Then he steps back. Goes still.

You have no idea what to do. Bide for time?

It’s all you have.

‘So,’ you start, speaking into the void. Have to clear your throat a few times, wincing. ‘What are you? One of those kid-enslaving droids?’

A long pause like it's considering whether or not to engage. 

‘Technically…’ it grates. ‘I’m supposed to be. Up there.’

Another pause. Then talkativeness seems to win out.

‘But it’s just been so boring since the change,’ it reverberates and grinds. ‘I’m not even needed, really. Here is much more fun. Do you know how many like you I’ve rustled out of these caves?’

You could take a guess, looking at the huge amount of pillaged equipment and torn clothing piled and scattered about.

‘They just. Keep. Coming!’ it crumbles on. ‘And they. Never. Leave!’

Nauseated, weary, you let slip a morose conclusion, ‘You’re a monster,’ you say.

‘Hah! Yep.’

‘Why do you do this?’ you ask. Not really wanting to know, but trying to keep it talking – afraid of what comes next.

‘It’s fun. Watch this,’ it says. ‘Go stand over there.’

That blue light emits from Din’s temple again and he responds in an instant, turning away from you and walking to a random point in the room. It blinks off again when he stops moving.

Huh, you think again. Interesting.

‘But it wears off, yeah?’ you say. ‘He’ll be able to break out eventually, has done it once already – right Din?’ You look over to him. Get nothing in response. Direct your attention back to empty air. ‘So what then?’

‘Oh, no no no,’ it belches. ‘Nooo this is a modified device of my making. Once that pesky little breakdown starts it’ll ffzzzzz,’ it makes a horrible sound like a wet blender on turbo, ‘Scramble ‘em up real good.’

You swallow acid, feel the horror swell hot within you. Wrench on the bindings so hard your muscles scream. 

‘Fuck you,’ you spit. It bursts out – you’re trying to convert fear into anger. Trying to muster something to get you and Din out of this. ‘Fucking, fuck, I am going to fuck. You. Up--’

‘Hah!’ it cranks. ‘My, my, I’ve had some feisty ones in my time but you – you take the crown.’

You brace a foot on the wall and try to—ugh, it’s too tight—try to twist side-on to get some slack in the chains. Fuck, owww, it has more effect on your shoulder joints than anything else. Pins and needles fizz in your hands.

‘And now,’ says the droid, projecting a low menace that vibrates the air. ‘Now it’s your turn.’

You freeze. No.

No, no, no no no no!

Your renewed struggles echo loud, bouncing around the place along with your cries of distress.

‘Go over there, pick it up,’ it intones. 

Din’s movement summons your attention, pausing your desperate efforts. He strides to a wide bench littered with debris and tools, with weapons and circuitry – ignores it all to pick up a singular object. 

A twin to the one clamped to his temple. 

‘Put it on her,’ comes the command from all around.

Din turns with the thing in hand. He takes steps toward you.

‘No,’ shaking your head. ‘Don’t, don’t.’

As he gets closer, you can see little tendril-like appendages unfurl from a blinking body pinched between his fingers – they sway in the air, seeking flesh to latch onto. 

Recoiling, you shrink against the wall. Try with all your might to get away from it.

‘Din, Din!’ you’re shouting, on the verge of screaming. ‘Fight it! Fight it, please.’

Muscles shriek in protest and your hands feel like they are going to explode, but you just thrash harder, mind blank with terror. He holds the thing out in front of him as he walks. Your head jerks back, smacks into the hard wall and your vision swims. 

Groggy, disoriented, you sag in defeat and muster everything left into one final plea. A final beseeching of his name.

‘Din!’ It’s a cry of pure fear.

His steps halt. Almost within arm’s reach of you, he stops like an invisible wall has blocked his path. He lurches like half of him wants to carry forward but the other keeps him locked in place. The device in his hand continues to sway and seek, but it’s not getting any closer.

Working to calm yourself. Not sure what to do or say, lost and fretting over the thing blinking by his eye, you just ramble, ‘It’s me, it’s me. Please. It’s me, and I need you.’

Maybe- maybe if you can get him to free you, you can get that thing off before it kills him.

‘Please, I need you t—'

Din convulses. He shudders all over. 

Hot dread washes over you as he takes another small step forward. No, gods, please!

But a grunt of pure grit coming from deep down bursts forth and he staggers back.

He twists from you in a clumsy pivot, almost falls to his knees but stays upright to lunge away. With an arcing arm, he hurls the device to the other side of the space. It hits a wall and clatters into a pile of litter.

A half a second to feel relief when--

‘Ugh,’ the droid hacks. Oh no, fuck, in the last few moments of panic – you’d actually forgotten about it. You stare at Din in desperation. Tears spring in your eyes. ‘Never had one go so quick,’ it goes on. ‘How annoying. Oh well, say goodbye to your--'

‘Now Grogu!’ Gaius’ voice. 

From the shadows, the kid is a blur through the air. He leaps a massive distance across the bunker to land on Din’s twitching shoulder. Clamps a clawed little hand to the atrocity latched to his father’s head. With a pained ‘hhhhheh’, he channels his Force energy. You feel it flutter and writhe in your consciousness – a duel unfolding between it and the horror tech. 

Din lets loose a torn scream – face a rictus of agony. But Grogu doesn’t let up. His energy growing and expanding, radiating in waves around the room. You watch, transfixed, beset with fear and hope.

The binding gives a violent whir and, at a final shout of pain from the towering figure, it detaches – the tendril-like appendages lifting from the skin of the temple. It wriggles in Grogu’s grasp like a caught insect.

The Mandalorian jolts and stumbles back a few steps. The child tumbles off his shoulder and into his arms, dropping the device. It clatters to the ground, where a huge boot is rising to slam down onto it. Din cradles his son as he grinds his heel before kicking the crushed object away and falling to his knees with a pained heave of breath. He takes a moment to tilt his head back in surrender, and relief.

Over the speaker, the voice that had been commanding this entire horrorshow clacks a sudden string of static.

‘Wait!’ it shrieks. ‘Wait, wait, wait, what are you—Who? No, no you, you can’t, you can’t. S-stop. Stop!’ It devolves into a kind of nonsense circuitry as the sound of metal crunching and mechanical joints being ripped apart echoes off the cave walls. With a final, khirrrrr… the place is quiet again.

From the direction that a possessed Din had first marched out of the dark, Gaius shuffles. Eyes glassy, expression blank. For a fearful second, you worry they’ve been put into binding too, but there’s nothing at their temple. Face clear, but in shock.

They’re holding the head of a droid in one hand and a phase driver in the other – look between the two items for a moment before jamming the tool into one of its eye sockets and giving it an angry twist. They drop the lot and slump against the wall. 

‘My whole life,’ they gasp. ‘Been wanting to do that to one of those things.’

You’re taking that in when hands are on you. You jump with fright. But it’s Din. He’s put Grogu down and is by your side, releasing the chains on your arms. That dexterous precision is back, you can feel seeking fingers moving over your limbs, checking and testing for injury at the same time as he releases the locks. You try to make eye contact, but he won’t look at you.

The second your arms are free, while rubbing blood back into them, you dash to the junk pile to retrieve the helmet, stride back to him.

‘Din?’ you ask, searching his face, needing to confirm he’s still in there. ‘Hey, please look at me.’

His eyes shift to yours. 

Seeing what you need to see, you give a sigh of relief and lift the helmet to gently lower it over his head. A desolate expression settles on his features, gaze dropping to stare into nothing as the helm goes back in place. You run each hand along the sharp arches on either side, look straight into the visor.

‘It’s alright,’ you say. ‘We’re alright.’

No response.

But you can’t linger in front on him. Have to trust that he is gathering himself behind the safety of the beskar. 

You cross the cavern to where the droid’s head had rolled to a clanking stop. Pick it up and tug the driver out to peer inside it. Tilting it to and fro for a minute, you close one eye, hold it close – spot just what you were looking for. Sticking the tool in a pocket, you keep hold of the head and pace to where Din had hurled the grotesque little device. The one that had been intended for you. Shove down fear to lift it with ginger fingers, observing the thing’s chip for a moment.

‘Thought so,’ you say. 

‘What’re you—’ Gaius starts, straightening up and getting closer. But you just move past them, on a warpath of your own now. 

Heading into the dark, it’s only a few steps before a circular control room opens up. Banks of panels and stacks of camera screens line the space. You scan them. See footage of the tunnels you’d come through, the cliff edge where you’d fought the bugs, and the cavern – where you are pained to see that Din hasn’t moved an inch, though Grogu is at his feet, looking up.

The headless part of your tormenter remains in place, sitting in the middle of the surveillance set-up, plugged into multiple ports with various coupling appendages branching out from its chassis. 

You move toward it, intent on your plan. Gaius has followed and gives a cry of alarm as you plant the thing’s head back onto its body, yank the phase driver out and start to affix the neck with angry little twists.

‘Wh-!’ they exclaim in horror. ‘What’re you d—’

‘Don’t worry,’ you say, not looking up. ‘You’ve fried its mobility array. It can’t move. But…’ with a violent stab of the hand tool into the top of the unit, you drag the whole back half of the cranium down.

‘It’s still networked this way,’ you go on. ‘With the system, and these things.’ You lift the binding monstrosity. Gaius recoils at it, watches with naked disgust as you hold it in the light of the monitor screens. 

There’s a little port on the wide desk that houses the device perfectly. When you drop it onto the glowing surface and slap a button, an exploded diagram of the chip is projected in a holo floating in front of you. You point. The component is clear as day.

‘What am I looking at?’ they ask.

‘Data stream,’ you say, shift your direction to a similar looking shape inside the droid. ‘Connected to this. That’s how it could make commands by just saying shit.’

Technically, it didn’t need to say anything at all – could just transmit orders in an instant – but this fucker liked to showboat apparently.

‘Incredible,’ Gaius stares at you with awe. You turn away, land eyes back on the screen that is recording the cavern. See that Din is no longer where you left him. It’s a brief spark of panic when you can’t locate him on the monitor, but it drops when you hear footsteps approaching. He emerges into the room a moment later, the child on his heels.

He looks around, but doesn’t speak. 

‘Just in time,’ you say. ‘I’m gonna fry all the droids. Shut ‘em down.’

‘You- you can do that?’ Gaius asks. ‘You’re going to do that?’

You just shrug.

It’s a few more steps. Jamming the phase driver into the droid’s screw plate, you wedge it tight so it destabilises the override.  

Then you step to a keyboard and begin punching in a program you’d created during the trip to this cursed planet.

‘Will it hurt it?’ they ask.

‘Uh, yeah,’ you say, finishing up the last few lines of code. ‘In a manner of speaking.’

‘Good.’ Gaius and Din are a chorus, spitting the word out in unison.

With a final adjustment, you set the program running. The droid’s coupler arms begin to twirl and tool in the inputs. It’s an awful sound, like it's protesting with all its will against carrying out the commands you’d dumped into it. But it’s helpless and – as you all watch – red alerts begin to blink on, a few, then a few more, then more, then the whole bank is alight.

The room pulses a deep bloody colour and you fiddle with dials under the monitors. They cut to various feeds inside the factory and you get to view in glorious fuzzy resolution droids all over the place begin to spasm and drop. 

‘Look,’ you say, pointing to a stream showing a set up similar to the one you stand in. Another insect-like droid – your original target, up on the factory’s command floor – whirrs in confusion. All of its alarms are chiming as well and, after a moment, the screen whites out as sparks and flames consume it.

You flick a few levers and the red alarms wink out, the room fades back into a mute grey. It’s silent for a long beat, until Gaius speaks up.

‘Now what?’ they ask, sounding a bit dazed.

In answer, you spin the dials again, find a feed of some kind of production line – where kids are stumbling backwards, dropping tools, leaning into each other. Touching disbelieving fingers to the sides of their heads. Looking all around.

‘Gaius,’ you say, stepping close. ‘The binding won’t work without the droids. The kids are free. Your sister’s free. We just need to find her.’

They stare at you, eyes filling with tears, before pulling you into a tight hug. You let them, looking over a shoulder at the Mandalorian, who’s still and watchful.

‘I can’t believe you did all this.’ Gentle sobs into your ear.

You lift shoulders and drop them again, ease out of the embrace after a moment.

It had always been the plan.

From the very moment you’d learned this tech existed, you’d been hellbent on destroying it. Rescue the sister, but end all this as well.

You’d needed to improvise, sure. But it had always been the plan. It’s why you took the job.

At what cost though, you’ll need to figure out later.

You move in front of Din, take his hands in yours and look into the centre of his T visor again.

‘C’mon,’ you say. The dark visage is on you, and you imagine a pained expression behind it – teeth clenched and eyes swimming with remorse and anxiety. ‘Let’s finish this.’

He squeezes your hands tight. 

‘We’ll finish this,’ you continue, letting go and readying a weapon. ‘And then we can go home.’

He nods, draws a blaster, and follows you without hesitation.

There were no contingencies. No back-ups. No failsafes. The hubris of this tyrannical regime was such that all you needed to do was walk to the front gates and open them up.

So you get to stand and watch as crowds of children, youth, young ones, stagger out of the gaping maw of the facility, rubbing at their eyes and peering around. Get to watch a similar cohort of adults gathering at the threshold, moving into a kind of organised thrum to corral the children in and start to sort out who’s who. 

Blankets appear, trays of food and hydration, little field med stations are whipped up in short order.

It’s so organised, it seems premeditated. Like something had been planned this whole time. Like they’d never really given up and, taking this boon, were ready to move and bring these kids into a safe haven.

You watch from a distance, and feel warm.

They also seem ready – as you observe a rank of the adults quietly emerge from the crowd, armed and in formation – to take the fight to the faceless cohort responsible for all the suffering they’d endured. 

You see Din move toward the group, making motions to the gigantic building at your back and activating his vambrace to show the holo map of the facility. Pointing and gesturing to indicate the best approach.

Taking action, it’s where he finds comfort.

Cracking knuckles and adjusting each wrist bracer, you wait until it’s time to fall in and aid their endeavour. Because yes, you are going to finish this. Fully. The scramble you’d left running in the system to wipe all data related to binding was the penultimate step.

This last thing, taking down those who created it, is the least you could do.

Then you can leave this place and never look back.

Gaius appears at your side, a girl on their hip with arms wrapped all together. Her temple’s already been patched up and she chews away on a sweetbar. You try to make eye contact with her, give a wave. But she’s shy, and turns away, burying her face against her older sibling’s neck.

‘Gods,’ Gaius mutters. ‘You’ve gotten heavy.’

They give you a lopsided smile, which you force yourself to return. 

‘Still can’t believe you did all this,’ they say. ‘You… are a miracle. And I’m sorry that-- I got there as fast as I could…’

You kick a stone to skitter along the dust. ‘We even now?’ you say, give up a sardonic brow.

‘Hah,’ with a long exhale and a disbelieving shake of the head. ‘I will never not be in your debt. But, we probably won’t be crossing paths again, will we?’

You nod, look out across the landscape.

‘Hell,’ they continue. ‘Running into you at that hub probably used up all the luck in the galaxy.’

A beat more of contemplation. The squad is moving toward you, Mandalorian in the lead. You shift your stance.

‘Tell you what,’ Gaius says. ‘My ship is still at that hub. Bay lease is good for another couple months. You can have it. Sell it. I um, don’t think I’ll be needin’ it anymore.’

You’re speechless, raise a hand on reflex to accept the keycode they tug from a pocket and drop into your palm.

‘Okay…’ you say, too stunned to argue. The irony of it almost making you laugh. Or scream. But you give yourself and shake and ask, ‘You gonna stay here for good?’

‘Think so. Lot needs doin’, but,’ they smile. ‘I’m ready to work.’

Din has come flush to you now, and you turn with him. Ready to follow. But you look back for a moment, a thought occurring.

‘You know,’ you say. ‘That droid down in the caves and the one up on the command floor are toast; but the hardware’d still be good on the rest. You folks could reprogram them? Get their help?’

‘Mm,’ they respond, ‘maybe.’

‘Okay,’ you say, satisfied to have planted the seed, letting it go. ‘Take care, Gaius.’

With a final nod, they hoist the kid up a little higher and move off, toward the bustling reunion efforts.

Later, back on the Razor Crest with streaks of hyperspace flying past, you tilt the controls to standby, flick off all the diagnostic dials, and stand from the pilot chair. Din has already unbuckled and ducked out of the cockpit, the waves of brooding energy flowing off the beskar telling you to give him space. 

So you sit down on the floor and engage Grogu in a game of Force catch, the little silver ball whizzing back and forth between you. 

Though you’re both quiet, pensive. Shared thoughts drift on the air, united in a preoccupation with the third member of the crew, somewhere deeper in the hull. More than once, Grogu glances to the door with a little ‘ doo’, but there’s no movement beyond.

You chew on thoughts of how you’ll help Din process what happened. How you’ll apologise for putting him through all that. Try to frame it in your mind for when you are back home on Navarro.  

Praying he’ll be okay.

The kid gives a diminutive little yawn. Fatigue pricks at the sides of your mind too. Raising Grogu back up into his pod, he starts to nod off. You leave him there to doze and curl up in the flight chair the Mandalorian had vacated. Let your eyes drift shut and hope there’s no nightmares awaiting you.  

Prev | Next

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Planet scale says what? No sorry, yes. It’s just one gigantic factory. What’s your point? And did I spiral on the morality of killing droids? Also yes.

Thank youuuuu for reading x

[wolven91]

Rats in Hats - Chapter 2

The heated metal slowly ticked and panged as it cooled in the rain while not so far away, the trio of fiks approached.

Inside, Bruno the human woke with a gasp and found himself hanging from the chair, which was no longer on the floor, but seemingly attached to the wall. The world was ninety degrees the wrong way and the pod seemingly was ultimately resting on its side. That didn't help Bruno when he released the harness holding him safely to the chair from falling and hitting the hard metal of the wall with a painful 'whump' as he gracelessly landed in a groggy manner.

Bruno hadn't been awake for the landing as when the pod had punched through the storm one of the wall panels had broken loose and bounced off the man's head. Bruno blinked, gingerly touching a lump within his hairline, it wasn't bleeding at least. He groaned and pushed himself onto his knees.

"Congratulations, you have survived a less than optimal emergency landing with only a mild to low chance of concussion. This should be seen as a significant success and source of motivation." The computer chimed with a non-threatening, gender neutral tone.

"Thrilled, honest." Bruno deadpanned. "Who are you again?" He closed his eyes as he crawled forward before turning and laying his head against the gently curving wall.

"I am SAM, your Situation Awareness Module, my role is to keep you alive until you are rescued." SAM replied cheerfully.

"Huh." Bruno said absently as he glanced around the upturned vehicle. He decided he would take some time just to process what had happened first. Get himself nice and comfortable before beginning the task of figuring out what to do next. There was no training for this bit, it had always been described as ‘listen to the SAM, they’ll explain everything’. 

"Alert, lifeforms approaching." Said the voice of the computer. 

"Yay. I'm saved." Bruno mumbled sardonically, rubbing his face, ready for this whole ordeal to be over. It was good that the rescue team had already arrived, he wondered briefly how long he’d been out. 

"Negative. Lifeforms are unknown to my records and are approaching in a manner that indicates possible hostile intentions." Bruno smiled that SAM had the exact same tone throughout, not changing from congratulating him, to warning him that he was in danger, before his smile dropped.

‘Wait, danger?’ He blinked dumbly. "Wait. What?!" He spun on the console, spiking a headache that throbbed behind his eyes. Clambering to his feet, he was officially out of training now and needed more guidance than 'you're fucked'!

"What do I do?!" He demanded, glancing around the craft and seeing multiple cupboards and devices, but had no idea what each one did, there had to be a gun or something. Like hell was he about to be kidnapped! He’d heard the horror stories!

"First, equip the Bracer, as I will be better able to monitor and track your health." From the console, a drawer that had previously been hidden by immaculate seams popped open and, as the drawer was ninety degrees the wrong way, the bracer toppled to the floor with a loud clatter.

Bruno scrambled for it while 'SAM' continued.

"The lifeforms that are approaching do not seem to be space-flight capable as they have crude weapons and equipment. This would indicate that you should attempt to minimise your contact with them. Failing that option, attempt to escape or blend in, do not reveal technology to them."

Bruno slipped the bracer over his left arm, it was sleek metal with what looked like a large, flat blue sapphire in the centre that tightened until it was flush against his skin. From his training, Bruno knew that this would house the AI's consciousness and would communicate to him through it if he had to abandon the pod itself. Aside from the bracer, the only thing he had on him was a small knife and a first aid kit, both attached to the back of his belt as his emergency kit.

"Good, next would be an appropriate disguise. It seems they have leather working and rudimentary metallurgy, this gives us options for disguises…" The computer helpfully explained.

===*===

Outside, the trio of fiks approached the steaming rock. There were still lingering flames in the debris around it, but as the rain that was penetrating the canopy and had doused it by the time they stood near it.

"Looks like rock." Stated Tahr, unimpressed with her arms crossed.

Keest sniffed the air. Metal.

"Doesn't smell like rock."

Krahl remained silent as she stepped forwards, fingertips pressed against one another in the old symbol of reverence for the gods.

"Hai! Krahl, you-" Keest started, beginning to reach out for her, but stopping herself, letting her Seer do what she felt was right. Keest had to suppress the desire to let out a frustrated ‘saaah’. 

She grimaced, she hated Krahl going first, her claws dug into the inside of her palms as she crossed her arms roughly and pouted while she waited.

The white fik stepped close to the rock and reached out a paw. She saw most when she touched things, what hands touched it last, what emotions were felt by the wielders among other glimpses.

Her fingers caressed something warm and impossibly smooth, not a rock by any means. To Keest and Tahr, the ermin’s hand had disappeared past the rough uneven edges of the stone up to the wrist. 

In that same moment Krahl saw a sea of stars and monsters and creatures and enemies and victims and allies and a fik race. Those fiks were herself, but so many others as well. They couldn't tear themselves from the mud, it was drowning them, while a hand, not unlike those of the fik, but different; clawless, pulled them up. They kicked and screamed like pups who knew not that their guardians were protecting them. The hands continued to pull while the pups bit at their guardian's hands as if feral and mad.

She yanked her hand back and fell backwards, into the same mud she had foreseen with the force of her desperation to pull herself from the confusing visions. The other two took a step forward, the familiar mud squelching under their bare feet.

"Stop." She commanded from her seat in the dirt without looking back. The ermin pulled herself up and stood up straight, resolving herself to this task. The visions that assaulted her had been more confusing and strange than any she had witnessed before. Never had the visions been so strong though, as if all she had seen before now was diluted. But when she clenched her paw, she felt no pain, and remembered the emotions that had flooded her as well.

They were old memories of the Tinkerers who made the container, however long ago.

Each one added something to the device, many hands with a single goal, but their opinion of it was one of hope? Of protection? Whatever this was, it was no mundane rock. It contained life, it protected life still.

'No', she corrected, *a* life.

She gently ran her fingers across the smooth surface, following her nose rather than any other draw. This was not a god’s work, but perhaps the gods had guided it here.

“Not ‘container’… but… ‘pod’...” She mumbled to herself, discovering words that had never been uttered on that planet before. Both Keest and Tahr glanced at each other.

Her Sight was always a mismatched jumble of images, emotions or vague concepts of what was and what could be. She now followed one of the 'could be' auras. She gently slid her fingertips across the smooth surface and the aura got stronger as she made her way around the circumference of the object, until her fingers suddenly found a seam.

===*===

Inside SAM had run out of immediate advice to give Bruno. He had donned the closest thing he could get his hands on that may pass a glancing inspection by the inhabitants of the planet he was now stranded on. The gas mask elongated his face so that his facial profile was not as stunted when compared against the trio of unknowns that were mere metres away from SAM’s ward.

He was perfectly still while the creature outside sniffed at the entrance. It was unfortunate the creature had completely ignored the holographic projectors that gave the round pod a rocky appearance, but what was more alarming was that the creature had, against all odds, immediately found the entrance hatch of the lifepod as if it had known exactly where to look.

It tested the edges and found the manual release. It grasped it, twisted it one way, then the other correct way, which resulted in the seal of the pod breaking with a violent hiss. The other two creatures that had decided to wait to one side, took another sharp step forward, partially unsheathing weapons. The white furred one, again, waved them off and pulled the hatch open.

The human's heart rate spiked.

Inside his mask, a commutator whispered to him so that SAM could speak to him.

"Remain still, the creature seems to be blind. It should not be able to locate you." SAM whispered to Bruno who was trying to meld into the corner he had found himself in.

From Bruno’s perspective, from the small hatch, two large clawed hands grabbed the edges before a large nose, whiskers and snout appeared. The whole head entered the portal, its fur was bright white and the eyes, a bright ruby red.

It indeed seemed blind, the eyes looked around and saw nothing, not even Bruno who stood out against the stark white walls of the pod. Moments later the creature climbed in smoothly. It was hunched and had twitchy movements but moved with a confidence that shouldn't have been possible for something blind.

It stood easily at 6 feet tall, although its hunched posture hid its true height. Its skull was angular, long fine whiskers covered the front end of his snout which ended in a bright pink leathery nose. Its two front teeth jutted out from its top jaw and looked strong enough to punch through metal. The creature was covered in discoloured and grubby looking wrappings hiding the majority of its body, several of the bandages hanging loose off its legs and arms. It had a hood which was pushed back allowing its rounded ears to rotate and swivel on top of its skull. Bruno did not miss the bright red splotches that stained several parts of the material; blood. Bruno was near certain it wasn’t its blood.

Appearing out from the bottom of its back, before the legs began, was a tail as long as it was, the appendage was also completely hairless and simply dragged along behind it, it was still half out of the pod itself, but as the creature turned, it too ‘thumped’ into the pod.

The legs looked powerful and were digitigrade. When it stepped forward, it did so by stepping sideways into the space, not raising its foot too high, almost sliding its sole over the ground, seemingly to carefully judge if there were any obstructions.

Its clawed hands reached forward and out, finding the headrest of the seat first, they flinched, before both grasping it, giving a squeeze and running its fingers along its edges and along the cushions. Periodically it would sniff at its fingers as well as the air.

Stepping closer, it took up more of the extremely cramped pod and Bruno held his breath as its shoulder was mere inches away from him now.

The being brought its fingers away from the seat and sniffed at them once more before turning away from the human and touching at the console, feeling along its edges and even finding the now empty drawer. A brief exploration of the empty drawer and it turned around, as if searching for something before giving up, shaking its head as if dislodging a tick and reaching for the entrance again. As if to leave, it grasped the edges of the opening and began to climb out. This action however, brought the furless tail across Bruno's jean covered shins in a glancing brush.

The creature instantly paused, frozen in the opening and Bruno's heart skipped a beat.

It slowly dropped back into the pod, its tail was brought tight against it in a small curl. The creature's mouth opened, the two sharp front teeth dominating the maw, but Bruno didn't miss the rows of sharp smaller teeth on either side. It spoke, but unlike when other space faring species spoke to Bruno, none of its words were immediately translated. The hissing, clicks and drawn out s's meant nothing to the man who remained deadly still and silent.

It stopped 'speaking' after a few words and reached out a large hairless and pink clawed hand. It grasped once at the air, before leaning forwards again. Bruno closed his eyes as it laid a single finger against the side of his jaw. As if burnt, it whipped its hand back a moment later, but didn't retreat, instead, after another long moment of consideration, two hands reached out gently, as if to cup a lover's face.

===*===

Krahl had been almost disappointed when she had 'explored' the strange device. She had crawled into smaller spaces before, but had never felt such strange materials under her pads before. Sure, she knew it was metal, but it wasn't anything as crude as her clan's own metal, she didn't even know she *could* feel the difference in metal quality before this day, but it was starkly different, like the taste of water and wine.

The soft and yielding material she felt with her hands was also an oddity, she would have called it a throne if not for its placement in the pod, especially with the odd smell that permeated the cramped space. 

It seemed to her that they had missed their chance. Whatever was in this thing, had retrieved its treasure and had already fled by the time Krahl and her tiny coven had arrived. The empty space that was a drawer at one point had continued something precious, but no longer.

She had made to leave and figure a way of explaining to the other two that she had no idea what was going on. That was until her tail brushed against a possible future.

One that was steeped in blood and struggle, but also meant that fiks would tear away from the quicksand that they had found themselves in. Krahl was immediately hit with a lance of fear that struck at her heart. Her own life was in danger with this future. She stopped moving immediately.

It wasn't her fear she felt.

It was *his*.

She turned to him, nice and slowly, as she would a skittish animal.

"Saah, I think I understand why you hide..." Krahl said.

No response. She could still sense him, her brief touch was enough to notice the tiny heartbeat and the gentle glow of a strange aura in the corner. She reached out, one hand, to try and gently coax him from his silence. The moment her finger touched his skin, she was hit with yet more visions.

These were of who he was.

He had fallen from the stars. Not by his own fault or by punishment, but his home was long gone and its grave was far from here. He still desired to go back to the stars. He feared for his flesh here at this moment.

No god would ever fear for his flesh, they were above such things.

Krahl was once more hit with understanding. This creature had to get back to the stars and fiks would follow his path there, with or without his knowledge.

He had to succeed.

She had seen long ago that her path was seemingly with Keest and had stuck by her until now, but by doing so she had been led to this moment, one moment from millennia of waiting that would decide the very fate of her race.

The ermin had to ensure he understood that she meant no danger or threat to him.

Krahl remembered her mother, an ermin too, who would take Krahl's young face in her hands when the spirits would flood her with too much for her to comprehend. With her daughter's face, her mother would think of every loving and caring thing she could conceive of. The emotional feedback always washed away the noise and chaos of Krahl's Sight; a boon in adult life, but a curse in youth.

She gently took the creature's head in her hands and thought of reassuring concepts. Of safety, and warm nests. Of companions and allies. Of having an ally at one's back.

He flinched, but notably relaxed in her outstretched hands. She took a step forward and crouched, he was slim, almost frail, no bigger than a runt. Skinny; they'd have to feed him up a bit. She curled herself around him, gently holding him and pulling him away from the wall he was stuck against. Her tail was the last piece curling against the back of his legs.

"Hai! Krahl?! You stuck?" Shouted Tahr, followed by a grunt from her, most likely a backhand from Keest to her chest. The creature flinched.

With a wry smile, she stepped away from the creature. She'd have to convince the other two of his importance and find a way to hide his differences. Even blind she knew he wasn't a fik and nobody looking at him would believe him a fik either.

"Saaaah! Patience young one!" She called back, turning her head to the opening. She waved her arm in habit and felt the bandages there had come loose. She idly grabbed one of the wrappings she used when she was above ground to hide her fur that had unravelled and intended to put it back in place. But she paused instead, glancing ‘at’ the creature.

It worked for *her* above ground.

She began to unravel the bandage properly until she had a long strip that bundled between her and the creature. Hide his flesh, his legs and he could be considered a runt in most fik's eyes.

"Runt..." she mumbled as she gently grasped one of his arms, before wrapping the exposed skin up. The thing, its face was seemingly concealed in a mask that copied those of the old Tinkerers below, only she could feel his eyes; they flicked from her face to her actions. He would understand eventually Krahl was sure of it. 

She continued to wrap up his arm until it was covered from shoulder to fingertip. Even his palms were delicately wrapped to hide all but what was impossible to hide. She sensed confusion and distrust from him, she’d need to get him on side for this to work.

Krahl stepped back and used her shawl to obscure her face and act out exaggerated sneaking.

"Ouuugh" The runt said, seemingly grasping what she was doing. When she reached down to grab the second bandage, his other arm was already held out to her. She continued this until his arms and legs were completely covered. One of his arms had a metal bracer, but it didn't budge when she attempted to move it so she could obscure him. She ended up simply wrapping it up as well, she had a bad feeling about leaving it exposed.

She'd been surprised by his legs; they were bent the wrong way. But her shawl hung low and would hide those. His feet were unknown, his body's coverings were coarse but thin, his foot coverings however felt far sturdier; leather of a kind with an odd foot print. A mutated runt then.

She finalised the disguise by removing the hooded shawl from her own shoulders and threw it over his own. She reached to pluck at the material so it sat well over him when she noticed he was not holding himself like a normal fik, he stood straight like a berserker, or warrior. 'Or a Chief' she smirked to herself.

"Hai, hunch over." She instructed. He stood there, straight as a tree and nothing like a fik. Uncomprehending of her words. Krahl clicked her tongue, reached over and pushed his shoulders down and forwards, he completely crouched and seemed to still not understand her desire.

"Saaah!" She sighed in frustration baring her teeth, once again she resorted to ridiculously over exaggerated movements. She tried to emulate the Clan Chief's ermin, she was incredibly old and had almost folded in half with her hunch.

He got it though, his height was reduced, and with her shawl being too big for him, it would hide his odd legs. At a glance he would just be seen as a runt and worth ignoring.

They would hide him in plain sight; no one cares about the runts.

There was not much else she could do and Krahl needed to see if the disguise would work. She had a good feeling about it all, but without actual sight, certain things she could miss, she needed the other two to see him.

She clambered from the hollow 'rock' and found Keest hadn't moved at all while Tahr had resorted to pacing.

"Hai! About time, yes?!" Tahr snapped, both were dripping wet as the rain had only gotten worse in the time she had spent away from them. The storm was closer now. 

"Why are you undressed?" Asked Keest immediately, frowning and unfolding her arms.

Krahl said nothing, instead turning back to the runt inside and waved him to come closer to her. She stepped away from the opening to let him climb out on his own and addressed the other two.

"There is runt inside. I suspect he will need help." She said, hoping to keep it simple. Tahr simply sighed and whipped her tail in frustration which splashed mud up and into the brushes. Krahl kept her eyes of the grey giant however,  Keest was less distracted.

"How did you climb into the rock? There is no opening." Keest said firmly, brow furrowing.

"Saah. Focus on wrong thing." Krahl said with a hint of a smirk as she heard the runt drop down from the hollow 'rock'.

"Hai!" Tahr grunted in shock, drawing a wicked blade from its sheath. Krahl rolled her eyes and knew this wasn't going to help reassure the runt that he's in safe hands.

Keest stepped forward and stopped next to Krahl, facing the runt while Krahl faced Tahr, to Keest's back.

"A runt?" Keest asked simply.

"Ay." Krahl responded in kind.

"Do we have need of a runt?"

"Sah, all that is born is born a runt."

"It is-"

"He."

A sigh.

"*He* is grown, he is runt and will remain runt. Why should we take him with us? Dead weight." Keest pointed out. Some runts, if they lived long enough, could grow into something dangerous and useful. 

Krahl resisted the urge to shout at her friend as she flexed her hands.

"Let's say he did not exist. There was no fire from the gods today. What then?"

Keest scowled and glowered down at the hunched ermin. Even Keest had to admit that she would not have been able to kill the behemoth that was the Baron. He had the drop on all three of them and even if they had surprised him, they would have most likely failed. It angered her, the idea that no matter her actions, she would have likely failed this evening, if not for this… thing. It was no ‘runt’.

But the Baron was dead now, not by her hand though, more the pity.

She looked the small creature over. He was dressed in her ermin's robes, his face was obscured and seemed an odd shape.

"Where is his tail?" She asked, scratching at her cheek. Leaning down to look under the hood and found an oddly shaped tinker's mask. She could see the runt avoided her gaze through the near opaque glass of the back eye holes, good. 

"He is a runt, he is not a pretty creature, yes, true." She nodded with a sad look on her face, turning to face him as well, before gesturing towards him. "But, he is harmless and I sense good things stalking those who walk with him."

Keest glared down at the ermin again, but the white fik refused to look at her. She did however have a mischievous grin on her face.

Keest sighed dramatically and rubbed her face. Her ermin had never steered her wrong, but even a blunt like Keest could sense when there was nonsense afoot. 

"Saaaaaaah. Very well. Home. You! Runt! Follow." She commanded before turning and beginning her march home, Tahr seemed happy with the decision and began a fast pace homeward, drawing ahead of the group immediately. Keest threw a glance over her shoulder and saw the runt hadn't moved, likewise neither had Krahl, who was attempting to coax him to follow.

"Hai! Why delay?! Deaf? Follow!" Keest bellowed, becoming frustrated, pausing to partially turn back to him. Tahr let out a frustrated bark.

"Not deaf, just not understanding words." Krahl explained while attempting to summon the runt forwards with a curling hand gesture.

"What?" Keest asked, deadly serious.

"He was born of rock! What expect!?" Krahl snipped back, losing words in her frustration as she gestured to the runt. Keest had to give the ermin that point. But they could not stay any longer out here than more than they had, the storm on its way was upon them and there was no time to linger. One could not debate with the storm. 

With a snort, Keest marched back towards the runt, Tahr flapping her arms in impotent frustration at the constant delays. The runt had the good sense to back up as the berserker marched towards him and began to raise his arms to defend himself before one oversize mit grabbed him by the cowl's collar, lifted with complete ease and roughly deposited him over her shoulder with a quiet ‘oof’ from the runt.

She held him in place with a single hand and began to march towards home.

"I am cold, wet and still need to talk to the chief. No delays." She grumped as she stormed past the bemused ermin, who scrambled to chase after the other two. The runt wiggled for a moment, but the large hand held against his tail-less rump gave no quarter. 

The journey home was uneventful, if unpleasant thanks to the storm that promised a destruction of which hadn't been seen in years. The winds had whipped up into a tempest that promised only pain and discomfort for those above the safety of the vast warrens. As the party descended into the familiar tunnels, a fik was waiting for them. The runner. He was picking at his teeth with a chipped dagger, although the blade itself was merely a hunk of sharpened metal with a cloth wrapped around one end.

"Hai! Prisoner? Chief wanted all dead!" He called out on seeing them. “No call for reinforcements? Sah, Chief will be upset.” He gave off several admonishing clicks. 

Keest growled, but didn't stop moving as she simply walked past the smaller fik. Tahr was the same height as the lookout but also paid no attention to the underling.

"Loot then? Spoils? ... Meat? Will you barter?" The fik asked again, Tahr addressed him without looking back.

"Left loot there.. Take what it wants, if it doesn't get blown away." She said with a vicious grin, the storm that was now upon them was enough to tear trees from the ground. A fik his size would not be attached to the ground for long should he decide to poke his head up during the storm itself. The male hissed at their backs, turning to glance up at the tunnel where a chorus of moanful cries from the spirits called to him. 

He swore before ducking down a tunnel and disappeared from sight, choosing not to go loot hunting. He would no doubt report *something* to the Chief, mostly that the fight was not to happen, Keest would need to go and explain properly.

When they were deep enough in, Keest hoisted the runt off her shoulder and deposited him onto the well trodden dirt.

"We take him home, keep him out of sight. I then talk to the Chief. He needs to know about the Baron."

The other two nodded and began down a tunnel at a junction of several holes. Keest watched them go ahead of her and made a note to ask why or how the runt broke his legs so badly they bent the wrong way. She glanced down and his odd tracks too, she swept her tail from left to right over the loose dirt as they walked and obliterated them.

===*===

Meanwhile, deep within the warren, the oldest ermin awoke with a gasp and clawing at the air. The rough covers tangled around her limbs. To see the Chief in danger from her dreams always left her trembling, she could never hide that she saw something when they occurred to the elder. 

A rumble from her left brought her ears round, she sniffed the air and confirmed the Chief was sitting at her bedside as he often did when she slept. It was not out of care though, when she dreamt, she would whisper and mumble aloud. When she woke, over the course of the morning, her memories of her dreams would fade, but when she woke, there would be a time of clarity.

Those dreams however, had led the Chief to all of his successes. From the very beginning, when he would have fallen prey to an assault, she warned him and he lived. When he would have pressed an attack, and she cautioned him, its failure when he went ahead was a lesson he accepted after she begged his forgiveness for not stressing the gravity of his loss. Her tail retained the kink in it as her lesson. 

She was the one who warned him of the Baron. If he did not kill the Baron, then the Chief would fall to the Baron's hand; his death had plagued her since then.

So he watched from the shadows when she slept and listened carefully.

But now… his end crept into the warren anyway… It had neither walked, flew or slithered… there was a thing… not fik… in the warren. If it lived… the Chief would not. 

"What did you see?" Asked the voice of a mountain, he knew she had seen something significant. Was the Baron moving already? Had she seen things too late?

"Your death." She whimpered, already aware that she would be punished for uttering such a concept, the arm she brought up in protection told him the truth.

The fist that closed around her neck and tore her from her bed was not cruel, but callous and unrelenting. Her old and wrinkled hands grasped at his firm grip, but he didn't budge an inch. He did not care if she was in pain, or he may have been more creative. No, to him now, it was the same as honing a sword; he would batter the result out of his property.

"Speak." He rumbled.

The old Seer could 'see' the knife's edge that she walked upon in this moment. The wrong word and her path winked out of existence immediately after. But these days she could see the end of all her paths, those had drawn near regardless of which choices she picked, she only cared for the young and their benefit now. Her end was so close…

The Chief shook her, rattling her frail body in his unrelenting grip.

"You will speak!" His voice echoed, far from the not-fik that would spell his doom.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.201 thoughts

[I'd Rather Play Bloody Seven]

(Contents: matchup analysis - Nico+Ichico vs. Language, speculation)

I am so sure that Tozuka is a Medaka Box fan. A shonen battle manga that focuses primarily on the romance between its two leads, a power system based on a combination of disadvantage and personal growth, and a tendency to replace traditional battles with games...that's Medaka Box, man!!! If Tozuka comes forth one day and just outright says Medaka Box was a major influence on him, y'all know who said it first!

Anyway, this chapter was super fun for me. Not only did it take me right back to my Medaka Box days (RIP Cipher Academy), it established pretty much immediately the versatility of all of the involved combatants

Language, of course, has access to all of the world's words, so she can theoretically do anything, but in order to make that happen she needs to set up specific rules that facilitate those words into context. Shiritori, then, is the perfect game for that, as in conjunction with Japanese's own versatility for loan words and compatibility with other writing and pronunciation systems, it precludes the need for the player to conjure something from nothing by giving them a jumping-off point. It's kind of like Scribblenauts Showdown with an extra layer of consideration

Nico, in similar fashion, turns that versatility on its head by quickly finding a way to reach his specific niche, transitioning from Aegi[s] to [S]cience. If Lan's familiarity with words allows her to do just about anything, then Nico can do the same with his familiarity with science. He'll still need to come up with words to keep the Shiritori chain going, but he can compensate for any words that don't inherently win a clash by utilizing that word's scientific principles OR the scientific devices he summoned on his previous turn. By summoning his Psycho Pods specifically, he's guaranteed that his usual kit is always available no matter what Lan throws at him, even if he needs to come up with a throwaway word in the meantime

The Psycho Pods have the added benefit of being usable by Ichico even in her soul state; while Nico may not believe in souls enough to actually be able to interact with Ichico, he knows that she's there and presumably believes that her mental capacity is present as well. Because of this, her thought patterns and brainwaves are able to be transmitted to the Psycho Pods via her soul without the need of her literal brain or nervous system, a concept that was once touched upon in this very lab during the Ghost fight. Because Ichico is just as adept at using science as Nico is, she can effectively serve as backup in this game by utilizing the Psycho Pods while Nico focuses on his word choice

How this will develop as the fight goes, I'm not sure, but we've definitely laid the groundwork for Nico learning to see Ichico's soul now that he has some undeniably empirical evidence of its existence (her ability to directly manipulate the Psycho Pods). If I had to guess, the final straw won't be that he believes in souls specifically, but that he believes in Ichico's abilities; technically he won't see "Ichico's soul," he'll see "Ichico," because he believes in her. I'm also willing to bet that keeping her alive in his heart, knowing that her soul is by his side, will be what triggers the awakening of Unforgettable - the drive to remember what he wants rather than being haunted by unpleasant memories

I know I always say I don't like to make predictions, but it's so hard not to when the potential character development is so juicy! Like we're definitely going to get some callbacks to the Ghost fight, how can I not get excited about that and keep my imagination from running wild???

I'm also wondering if the game is going to end with Nico tricking Lan into using a word that ends in N or if he's going to actually hit her with something that'll kill her. It's kind of hard to envision what can kill her, but making her break the rules would definitely do it. Going by her relatively clean state in L100, I'd say that's more or less what he did before

...Wait, wait wait wait...I'm having an epiphany...I'm probably wrong about this, but...what if Nico forcefully gives himself Unforgettable? Like Lan ends a word with the letter U or the A syllable and Nico uses that to create Unforgettable/Anfoogettaburu? Nico's Aegis was based on how he envisioned Fuuko's description of it, so if he imagines it to be a method of recalling lost memories, he might use it to figure out how he beat Lan in L100; he might even immediately awaken to his soul memories too since he'll be looking back at his previous self, giving the opportunity for the previous Unforgettables to chime in

Maybe that's too much of a stretch, but if I were writing this, that's definitely the route I'd take. Hopefully we find out this week, but if not, probably the next

Until then, let's enjoy life!

[vapedisc]

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[valeskakingdom]

What do you have to lose except your sanity? (part45)

"You know, doll," Jerome panted when he was carrying the unconscious Scarlet in his little hidden track "That reminds me of the time we tried to escape Arkham" He snickered "You got shot in the stomach and I carried you to your way out. Just now, it's a little different, in Arkham you were able to talk to me, but now you're like a corpse"

He laid her on a table and stared at her wound for a while, deliberating how to stop the bleeding and how to recover her. He had no clue about medical treatments or how to revive someone if needed. All he had was an old little medical kit he found there and a device that reminded him of something you used for electroshock therapy. Could he revive her with electroshocks? He could try it at least. But will she be the same? According to all their experiences in Arkham, he knew people could change through it. He didn't want to risk a thing. Scarlet could just change in the wrong way. Imagine, she's a polite, shy, and decent girl - that's horrible! What if her affection for Jerome stopped instantly? What if she called him a monster? A murder? How would Jerome ever plan some brutal murders with her? She would lose all her cleverness, her creativity, and her perfectionism. She would lose everything Jerome appreciated about her! She would become worthless, scum like Oswald. Jerome couldn't bare it. He needed his Scarlet! What should he do without his precious doll? He would have no one to share all the fun with! He would have lost the person that always stayed by his side! That was unacceptable.

"Hmm," Jerome hummed when he touched the wound, seeing that blood was dripping down her clothes "Wow, Andy was no bad gunman. He shot right through your stomach. That's gonna be a hard one as I'm no doctor. But," Jerome grabbed the medical kit and placed it right next to her to open it "I'ma solve your little problem, no worries. I'ma be gentle"

From the medical kit, he grabbed a scalpel and cut the wound wider to have more access to the bullet that was stuck in her stomach. The blood was formally floating down her stomach like a waterfall. The table and the ground were slowly covered in blood  - probably because Jerome cut through a vein. He didn't know it! He had no clue about the human body, he didn't know where to cut best!

"Oh!" Jerome gulped, grabbing some pledget and pressing them against the wound "That was not planned," His eyes widened when he noticed the blood was slightly dripping through the pledges. Blood was everywhere now, it was like Scarlet was taking a bath in it "Hell, doll, you're killing me, you're bleeding out like a slaughtered pig. That's...that's strangely satisfying to see this, you know, you would love that, too, I'm sure about that"

"Damn," He then put the pledget aside when he saw the bleeding somewhat stop and took a pair of little tweezers from the kit to pull the bullet out of her body "That's harder than I expected, I didn't know a little bullet could cause that many problems," He podded with the tweezers in Scarlet's stomach, it was like the bullet was nowhere to be found "Where's that fucking thing? It can't be solubilized, can it?" He kept searching for the bullet until he felt some renitency "Got it!"

Now he stared at the with a blood-covered bullet. It was so pretty, it was shining more than all the stars in the darkness. He was so fascinated by this little thing. It was so small but it could ruin human lives. It could damage muscles, tendons, and ligaments. It damages organs, and it even ends lives! That was so wonderful, Jerome thought, so many lives have ended thanks to little bullets like these, and so many people have suffered - he would enjoy the moment more if this bullet's victim wasn't his doll, though.

"Oh," Jerome immediately pressed another pledget against the wound "We don't want you to bleed out, right? Hehe, this would be a little too tragic for my taste. Now let's see with what I can stitch the wound" He looked again into the medical kit. He saw some plasters, some bandages, the tweezers, a little scissors, some more plasters - and there were needles and thread!

"You know, doll," Jerome tried to pull the thread through the needle's hole "I have no real experience with this. We didn't have something like a TV in the circus, just a silly radio in every trailer to be up to date. I never had the chance to watch all the doctor sitcoms and see their little tricks with their tools so," He sighed " Don't be mad about the ugly scar"

And so he started to stitch the wound, humming his favorite song. You could already think that: it was a bloody mess. He tried to stitch the hole in Scarlet's colon, tried to stitch skin to skin, but he failed. He either formed a knot with the threads or stitched over the actual spot, sometimes even he sutured the colon with her skin, with other organs, or with the colon itself! Her stomach looked like a total mess. He didn't even stitch it right, he thought stitching a wound was like sewing costumes, he just needed to put all layers together to get a good result - it was not true. There was a lot more behind that like sanitizing, aseptic instruments, several devices, and the knowledge - but Jerome didn't care. He just wanted to leave it all behind him and bring his doll back to life.

"Done," Jerome let out a relieved sigh "Not that bad actually, it looks...uhm...like a...uh...a J! Like a crippled J, yes," Jerome snickered "It looks quite good on your doll. I should have marked you much earlier" He then turned around, looking for some certain device "Now, how can I bring you back to life?"

He walked around his hidden track, from one side to another, in every corner and every room. He looked on every shelf, in every room - until he finally found this certain device. As said, he didn't know the device's name, but he knew it was used for electroshock therapy - and maybe this could bring Scarlet back to life.

He carried this heavy device to the table where Scarlet was laying. He put the electrodes on her head right and tied her arms and legs up so that she wouldn't fall on the ground when being electroshocked.

"So my love," Jerome snickered "Time for you to come back to me" And so he turned this certain device on.

Scarlet's body was shaking, her muscles were twitching and the table was shaking, as well. Seeing this scenario fascinated Jerome a lot. He had this certain power over her as if she was just a toy. To see her muscles twitching uncontrollably was so wonderful - and to his luck, Scarlet couldn't say anything against this, he cast a spell over her. He could shock her as many times as he wanted. She wouldn't say a thing, she would let him do it. For Jerome, it was like a dream come true! Finally, he would have control over a certain person without them nagging, babbling, insulting him, or else. He could do whatever he wanted! No one would tell him what to do or what was wrong and what was right.

Jerome tried this certain form of electroshock therapy several times - Scarlet wouldn't wake up. He increased the electroshock's power even, though the device was vibrating so much that he was even afraid it would be damaged. But sooner or later, Jerome turned the device off. He gave up on trying to revive his doll. Nothing worked. He lost his doll thanks to an idiot. That was impossible! He wouldn't lose Scarlet because of just a little bullet, would he? Scarlet wouldn't do this to him! She promised to stay with him! How could she do this to him?! - this was the moment when Jerome started to freak out. He could bare that Scarlet was dead. He couldn't bare that fate decided to take her life when he was practically reborn - and now he couldn't bring her back! It was similar to the story of Romeo and Juliet: Jerome died in front of Scarlet, was revived for some odd reason, and when they were just about to be reunited, Scarlet died a stupid death. Jerome hated it. He hated that stupid stories like these would become true once and nothing could have changed. It was ridiculous!

"Hmm," You suddenly heard from that corpse that was laying on the table. Jerome was surprised. Did his therapy work? Did he revive her? Or was it just the last breath shortly before the outcome? He wasn't sure, so he took a look at her. Her fingers started to move as if they were like vegetables that were about to defrost - so his attempts had to work!

"I knew you wouldn't leave me, doll," Jerome grinned, leaning his face close to her now cupped face "Now open your little pretty eyes for me" He was excited his little plan worked. He wouldn't have expected that after his several failed attempts.

And she did - but something was different.

She looked shocked, she seemed to panic when she saw Jerome's scarred, stapled, and distorted face right in front of her. This didn't look human to her. This was monstrous! He looked so gross, so inhuman. Was he even a real human? Or was it just a dream? Or was Scarlet delusional? Was it just her senses' trick? Who was this guy even? What did he want from her? Why was he staring at her?

"What's up, sweet cheeks?" Jerome gave her a questioning look "Something's wrong with my face?"

"Who, who are you? A-and where, where am I? I-I... Who-what has happened?" Scarlet wouldn't stop looking at him shocked, fearing, and panicking. In this formal trance, she was in, she tried to tear her arms up to push him away from her - but she couldn't. Her hands and even legs were tied up that she couldn't move away from the table - and this made her think she was in danger.

"It's me! Jerome! We’re here in my little hidden track" He frowned at her in confusion, what was wrong with her? She's never been so anxious before. Was the electroshock's aftermath? Was it what Scarlet had always talked about? The personality change like with Andy and Oswald? But memory loss? She never mentioned a word of it, didn't she? No, this couldn't be real, could it? "I rescued you from the dead, your little friend Andy was a good gunman. He shot you pretty bad in your stomach but God bless me, I fixed it" Jerome snickered "You seem a little fuzzy through all these electroshocks, huh? I know that feeling. My head was formally spinning after Dwight revived me. That will disappear soon enough, doll"

"U-untie me, p-please..." Scarlet stammered in a whisper, she was so scared of Jerome, you could tell. He was intimidating her with his look and his behavior. It was so crazy, so scary, it already showed her he wanted nothing good "The uhm...ties h-hurt my wrists a-and uhm... I can’t feel m-my legs..."

"Hmm," Jerome pretended to think "No. Your behavior seems a little strange to me, you know," he claimed on the table and hovered right above her body "I've heard electroshocks can make you fuzzy and change you - but that they would change you that much? It's almost incredible. You're the complete opposite of yourself! You've been so brutal, violent, and bloodthirsty, we used to have so much fun out there with killing, taking people hostage, and spreading chaos over Gotham. We were the Queen and King of the Underworld - and now you're just a pitiful little shy girl that's scared for her life when seeing me"

"M-me?" Scarlet looked completely shocked by what she has heard from him "I-I killed people? That's, that's not possible, I-I could never do such a-a cruel crime" She wanted to cry. This had to be lies! She would never kill someone! She wasn't capable of doing it! She could never hurt someone! She was the friendliest person in town! She had no reason to hurt someone at all!

"Oh it is possible, my love," Jerome chuckled, grabbing her chin softly and eyeing her deeply "You're not just any killer, you're a real bad bitch. Citizens used to call you Gotham's Grim Reaper. Whenever you walked across the streets, people died. It started with your parents, your dad's coworkers, your brother, his silly girlfriend, up to Theo Gallavan, and your little hookup Andy - you killed them all, it was all in the news! You-..."

"Oh my God..." Hearing this made her cry at least. She and a murderer? How was that possible? And why couldn't she remember it all? "I'm a monster... I killed my parents...and my brother... Please don't tell me it's true..."

"Shhh," Jerome shushed her, wiping her tears from her cheeks "Don't be sad about it, they deserved to die. They were the reasons for all your breakdowns, your depression, and your crying overnights. Think about it, you're free now! You can do whatever you want in this world! You can let all your pain and sorrow out on people,” Jerome cupped her face again “And I will help you with it”

“N-no,” Scarlet shook her head, whispering “I need to go to the police to report myself. I need to stand up for all these cruel things. I-...” She couldn't even speak out her sentence when Jerome violently slapped her across the face. She was shocked, it made her speechless. She couldn't even look at him so scared she was of him now. Slapping was just the beginning, she thought, what would he do next?

“You won't do anything without my permission!” Jerome couldn't hear it anymore. This wasn't Scarlet who spoke to him, this was another person. This person wasn't evil, they had no passion for murder and death, they lost this sparkling in their eyes when they looked at Jerome. There was fear because she thought Jerome would start torturing her to death. Her eyes just expressed she didn't want to be with him, that she wanted to run away “Do you think I'll let you go? HAHA, I won't. You're stuck in here with me until you become my old precious little doll that you've been before - and I'll do anything to achieve that”

[ecigatoremilia]

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[amritokumarbd]

Vape Direct Neath Hill : Vape Shop, Milton Keynes

Address: 10 Tower Cres, Neath Hill, Milton Keynes, MK14 6JY Phone: 01908 662250 Business Email: Support@vapedirect.com Website: https://vapedirect.com/ Product: E-cigarettes Milton Keynes, vaping devices, Vape Kits, Pod Kits and devices, Best Vape Store

Vapedirect.com is one of the UK's leading online and in store retailers of E-cigarettes, vaping devices, Vape Kits, Pod Kits and devices, and of course E-Liquids, Nicotine Salts and Shortfill Vape Juices.

Vapedirect.com is based in Milton Keynes & Buckingham and is the top choice for all new and current vapers within this area. By Offering our customers SAME DAY Delivery on all orders in Milton Keynes and Buckingham we have ammased a huge Loyal and Returning customer base of which we are proud to serve.

[tidalvape]

Exploring the Best Vape Kits and E-Liquids in the UK: Your Ultimate Guide with Tidal Vape

Vaping has become a popular alternative to traditional smoking, offering a wide range of products that cater to different preferences and needs. Whether you’re a seasoned vaper or a newcomer, finding the right products can make all the difference. Tidal Vape is here to guide you through the best vape kits, e-liquids, and vape accessories available in the UK, helping you make informed choices for your vaping journey.

Introduction to Vaping in the UK

The UK vaping market is booming, with a plethora of options available for every type of vaper. From disposable vape kits to advanced devices, there’s something for everyone. Tidal Vape offers a comprehensive selection of products, ensuring that you can find exactly what you need, whether it’s a starter kit, advanced vape kit, or premium e-liquids.

Disposable Vape Kits: Convenience at Your Fingertips

For those who are new to vaping or prefer a hassle-free experience, disposable vape kits are an excellent choice. Brands like Elf Bar have taken the UK market by storm with their convenient and easy-to-use disposable devices. The Elf Bar Disposable Pod Device is perfect for those who want a straightforward vaping experience without the need for refilling or charging. With a variety of Elf Bar disposable vape flavours available, you can enjoy different tastes with minimal effort.

Pod Vape Kits: Compact and Efficient

Pod vape kits offer a compact and portable solution for vapers who want something more advanced than disposable kits but still easy to use. The xros 4 nano, Oxva Xlim Pro 2 and Voopoo Argus A Pod Vape Kit are top choices in this category. These devices offer a balance of performance and convenience, making them ideal for both beginners and experienced vapers. The Xlim Pro 2 kit, for example, is known for its sleek design and powerful performance, while the xros 4 nano, Voopoo Argus A offers excellent battery life and a robust build.

Advanced Vape Kits: Power and Precision

For vapers who want more control over their experience, advanced vape kits are the way to go. These kits typically offer adjustable settings, allowing you to fine-tune your vaping experience. The Voopoo Argus A and Xros 4 Nano are standout options in this category. With features like variable wattage, temperature control, and long-lasting batteries, these devices cater to vapers who want a more personalized experience.

E-Liquids in the UK: A World of Flavours

One of the best things about vaping is the wide range of e-liquid flavours available. Whether you prefer fruity, dessert, or menthol flavours, there’s something for everyone. Tidal Vape offers a vast selection of e-liquids, including popular brands like Vampire Vape. The Vampire Vape mixing calculator is a handy tool for those who like to create their own e-liquid blends, ensuring you get the perfect balance of flavour and nicotine strength.

For those who prefer ready-made options, Tidal Vape stocks premium vape juice from leading brands. Whether you’re looking for 100 VG juice or a specific flavour, you can find it here. Additionally, our selection of Elf Bar vape liquids is perfect for those who want a consistent and satisfying vaping experience.

Replacement Coils and Accessories

To keep your vape device performing at its best, regular maintenance is essential. This includes replacing the coils, which are responsible for heating the e-liquid and producing vapour. Tidal Vape offers a variety of replacement coils to suit different devices, including ceramic coils for a smoother vaping experience.

Vape Products Online: Convenience at Your Fingertips

Shopping for vape products online has never been easier. Tidal Vape provides a user-friendly platform where you can browse and buy everything from disposable vape kits to premium vape juice. Whether you’re looking to buy e-liquid online in the UK or find the latest vape kits, our online store has you covered.

Elf Bar: A Popular Choice for Disposable Vaping

Elf Bar has become a household name in the vaping community, particularly for those who prefer disposable options. The Elf Bar Disposable Vape offers a no-fuss experience with a range of flavours to choose from. It’s an excellent option for vapers who want to enjoy a high-quality experience without the need for maintenance.

Latest Innovations: What’s New in the Market?

The vaping industry is constantly evolving, with new products being released regularly. Some of the latest innovations include the Wenax Q Pro and the Uwell Caliburn G3 Pod Vape Kit. These devices offer advanced features and improved performance, making them a great choice for those looking to upgrade their current setup.

Price Considerations: Finding the Right Balance

Vaping can be as affordable or as premium as you want it to be. Tidal Vape offers products at various price points, ensuring that there’s something for every budget. Whether you’re looking for the best vape prices on disposable kits or investing in an advanced setup, we provide competitive pricing on all our products.

The Importance of Batteries: 18650 E-Cig Battery

The battery is the heart of your vape device, and choosing the right one is crucial for performance and safety. The 18650 e-cig battery is a popular choice for many advanced vape kits due to its reliability and long battery life. Tidal Vape stocks high-quality 18650 batteries, ensuring that your device operates smoothly and efficiently.

Conclusion: Elevate Your Vaping Experience with Tidal Vape

At Tidal Vape, we’re committed to providing the best vape kits, e-liquids, and vape accessories to our customers in the UK. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced vaper, our wide range of products ensures that you’ll find exactly what you need. Explore our online store today and discover the perfect products to elevate your vaping experience.

[vapesdirectpk]

Best Vaping Devices Online

Vapes Direct is an online vapes retailer in Pakistan specializing in a wide range of vaping products and accessories. It is your one-stop online vape store when it comes to buy everything related to vapes, and everything you want to have the perfect vaping experience. Whether someone is a beginner or an experienced vaper, Vapes Direct aims to cater to their needs. We offer a diverse selection of vaping kits suitable for different preferences and budgets, including starter kits, advanced devices, and pod systems. You can find a wide variety of e-liquid flavors, ranging from classic tobacco and menthol to fruity and dessert-inspired options, providing vapers with a range of choices to suit their tastes. At Vapes Direct, we strive in providing the best quality of each products to our customers. From the finest quality various vaping devices, new vape kits, vaping hardware, vape tanks, coils, batteries, mods, e-liquids and other vaping essentials, you name the product and you’ll find the top-notch variant of it here.

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Taping on the Vaping Trends with ELF Bar Vape India and More

Vaping in India is on the rise, but what's fueling this extraordinary growth? Is it the convenience of disposable vapes like iGet, the allure of ELF Bar vape's flavors, or something else? In this article, we'll unravel the mysteries of the Indian vaping scene.

Join us on this journey of discovery, and by the end of this article, you'll be ready to dive into the world of vaping with confidence.

The ELF Bar Vape: A Rising Star in India

The ELF Bar vape has been making waves in the Indian vaping community. With its sleek design and an array of flavors, it offers an enjoyable and convenient vaping experience. Many users are drawn to its portability and disposable nature, making it a top choice for those on the go. ELF Bar vape India enthusiasts appreciate the diverse range of flavors available, from classic tobacco to fruity options, ensuring there's something for everyone.

Randm Tornado: A Cloud Chaser's Dream

For those seeking an intense vaping experience, the randm tornado is a compelling option. This powerful device produces substantial vapor clouds and has gained a following among experienced vapers. The randm tornado caters to individuals who are looking for more than just a nicotine fix – it's an experience in itself.

Understanding JUUL Prices in India

JUUL, one of the most recognized names in the vaping industry, has also made its mark in India. With a compact and stylish design, it appeals to those who appreciate both aesthetics and functionality. However, understanding JUUL prices in India is essential. The cost can vary, and potential buyers should do thorough research to find the best deals. JUUL price in India often depends on factors such as flavor pods, starter kits, and available discounts.

Locating Disposable Vapes Near You

Disposable vapes like the iGet are a popular choice for people who want a hassle-free vaping experience. Finding a disposable vape near me is simple because now you do not need to step outside your home. Get your favourite vape delivered at your doorstep with Vapevibe.  Vapevibe offers a wide selection of disposable vapes, ensuring you can easily access your favorite brands and flavors. Also your search for “iget vape near me” ends with Vapevibe convenience.. 

Exploring the Vaping Community in India

The vaping community in India continues to grow, with enthusiasts sharing their experiences and knowledge. ELF Bar vape India and randm tornado users often connect through online forums and social media groups, discussing everything from the latest trends to troubleshooting tips. JUUL enthusiasts can also find a community that shares information about flavors, price comparisons, and device maintenance.

The Future of Vaping in India

As vaping gains popularity in India, we can expect more innovations and choices in the market. Whether you prefer the convenience of ELF Bar vape India, the cloud production of randm tornado, or the sleek design of JUUL, there's something for everyone. Stay connected with the vaping community, and always vape responsibly.

Conclusion

In this article, we've explored the ELF Bar vape, randm tornado, and JUUL prices in India, as well as how to find disposable vapes like the iGet with Vapevibe India online website. Vaping in India has seen remarkable growth, and it's important for enthusiasts to stay informed about the latest trends and regulations. Whether you're a seasoned vaper or just starting, the Indian vaping scene has something to offer for everyone.