#Process of drawing him had me switching his design 2 times before settling

[sunnybunnybabs]

FTFO art and meme, ch 34 related

Who knew drawing characters youve never drawn before is hard!!! Fuck you XGaster

Healer protection squad consisting of deities, someone from a different multiverse and the multiverse itself who want you fucking dead!!

It was just something funny I thought of since I just want the Gasters n Alphys dead n gone

Xtra funny lil meme I've been thinking about

[delimeful]

(dont) take this the wrong way (5)

warnings: injury, blood mentions, past psychological&emotional&physical abuse, ptsd, sickness

-

Virgil woke up, which was only unsurprising for the few moments it took him to 1. realize that his head was pounding and 2. remember the two very large reasons why.

His eyes flew open, and he found himself half-submerged in a shallow pool of cool water, surrounded by flat ledges of dry rock. The sound of ocean waves lapping against the cliffside echoed around the cavern, which was dimly lit by overhead cracks in the ceiling.

In one of these beams of paltry light, Logan was slumped over on his side, glasses askew. Virgil’s relief at seeing him was instantly overshadowed by terror at what could have happened to the human after Virgil had gone and gotten his skull knocked against rock.

His headache worsened, and he lifted a hand to press against the sore spot, pausing when he found more of those stiff bandage strips wrapped around his head.

The soft sloshing of water seemed to be enough to startle Logan into wakefulness, and the human brightened slightly at the sight of him. “Virgil. It’s good to see you awake. Are you feeling any pain or nausea?”

“What happened?” Virgil replied in lieu of the real answer, which was ‘everything hurts’. “Where are we, I thought we were dead for sure—!”

“Take a few deep breaths,” Logan advised, shuffling closer to the pool and offering a hand. Virgil took it gratefully. “We’re not currently in any danger. I believe we’re at the home of the seal-hybrid mer, if—“

“We’re what?!” Virgil’s voice dropped to a horrified double pitch, his grip on Logan’s hand instantly turning crushing.

“Ow,” Logan said in a pointed monotone. Virgil eased up before his claws could turn the human’s palm into bloody ribbons. “Let me finish, please. I’ve managed to work out a rudimentary method of communication, and as far as I know, we’re not currently at risk.”

“From the giant mer-eating monsters that literally kidnapped us, you mean?”

“Yes, that was the potential risk I was referring to.” Logan pulled Virgil further upright, reaching out with his free hand. “More importantly, you’ve been out for some time. Will you allow me to take a look at your injury?”

Virgil shuffled a little closer, allowing the hand to make contact with him. He had traversed currents of all temperatures, but in chilled still waters like this, Logan’s warmth was more than welcome. “I dunno how that’s more important than our inevitable, rapidly-approaching deaths, but sure, fine. Knock yourself out.”

“I will not? You are already dealing with a likely concussion, I see no reason to double that number.” Logan squinted at him like he was concerned that the head wound had taken a worse toll than he’d thought.

“No, it’s-- it’s just an expression. Don’t actually pass out, or I’ll freak out.”

“Ah,” Logan acknowledged, his hand twitching like he wanted to grab something before returning to carefully peeling the bandages away. “My apologies. Colloquialisms are not my strong suit.”

Virgil blinked back at him, because five syllable words were a little much even when he wasn’t concussed. “No worries?”

Logan continued to gently probe the back of his head. A sharp pang made him jerk away with a muted hiss, his vision blurring with pain as the sharp motion only agitated all his other cuts. He waved off Logan’s apology before it was fully formed. “S’fine. What’s the damage?”

“The bleeding has stopped, which is a good sign. It’s swelled significantly, but the cool water is hopefully helping reduce that as well. The best course of action now is for you to rest and recover in a dark, quiet place, ideally for at least two full days.”

“Yeah, but that’s not happening unless we get away first,” Virgil shot back, irritably twitching his fins down as Logan rewrapped the injury. The human let out a slow breath.

“Virgil. I believe the situation isn’t as dire as you think.” He settled back on his heels, back stiff as he spoke. “Our captors have shown no signs of aggression or hunger, even with the significant bleeding from your head wound. It’s possible--”

“It’s not possible!” Virgil cut him off, scowling fiercely. “That doesn’t mean anything. They’re playing some kind of sick game the way they always do, and if you let them trick you, you’re going to lose!”

Logan looked back at him inquisitively, still not getting it. “What evidence are you basing this off of? I was under the impression that you’ve spent only marginally more time in their company than me. Have they attempted to trick you in the past?”

“Yes, no, I mean--,” Virgil groaned, pulling at his bangs. “They don’t have to say it. That’s just how giants like them operate. We’re smaller, they can do what they want to us, we don’t get a say in it. You escape or you die.”

“Yet, we’ve been in their admittedly less-than-ideal care for over 24 hours, and they haven’t hurt us or made any indications they intend to hurt us.” Logan gestured expansively, his hand a bit wobbly. “That’s a rather long time to pretend, and for what purpose? If it was what they desired, we have been easy targets for a meal from the moment they relocated us.”

A rather long time to pretend. Virgil swallowed down a hysterical laugh, feeling dizzy. If a day of false niceties was all it took to buy his trust, he’d have never gotten away from his first encounter with a giant mer. “You’re— you’re human. You don’t know anything about this.”

Logan frowned. “I may be human, but that does not make me an idiot. Even with a language barrier, body language and expression are invaluable tools for communication, and I’ve been doing very little but observe them while you were unconscious. Virgil, if you just tried talking to them—“

“No!” he snapped, curling in even as his fins flared wide and threatening. He wouldn’t do this again, wouldn’t be subjected to the world’s most torturous game of catch and release, wouldn’t be lured back into too-tight hands by false promises and meaningless apologies. He couldn’t do that again.

Measured, rhythmic tapping on the back of his hand slowly brought him back to the present, cool air and Logan’s steady voice by his side. His throat was closed-up-too-tight, his gills too far out of the water to switch lungs— but the rhythm was counted out over and over, breathe in, hold, and out.

“There you go,” Logan said as Virgil took in another long, shuddering drag of air. “Well done.”

The air smelled like iron. He realized that somewhere in the past few minutes, he’d dug his claws into the soft sides of the human’s hand, drawing blood. He pulled away as though he’d been burned.

Logan didn’t even twitch, still searching his gaze intently. “Are you with me?”

Virgil nodded stiffly. “Yeah, I— fuck, I’m sorry.”

“No, I shouldn’t have pushed you. I didn’t realize— but I should have.” A deep, resolved breath. “It’s okay. I’ll find you a way out that doesn’t involve interacting with them.” Logan’s gaze went distant and hazy with thought, and Virgil hesitantly drew closer, pulling a bandage free to wrap around his bleeding hand.

… He was really warm. Clammy, too, and he’d been sitting in a cold, wet cave for hours, hadn’t he? Had been completely drenched for even longer.

“You’re sick,” Virgil said, and Logan took a moment too long to refocus on him. How had it taken him so long to notice? “That’s why you need me to talk to them. You need to get home.”

“My illness is no more severe than your injuries,” he deflected, adjusting his glasses clumsily. “Right now, the priority is getting you away from triggering circumstances. If my suspicions are correct, I will be fine regardless.”

Right. His suspicions, based on his willingness to trust his own abductors. He’d trusted Virgil, too, back in those tunnels. He’d known that he might be abandoned and he’d freed Virgil anyways, taken his hand anyways. Gotten hurt for his trouble.

He’d get hurt worse if Virgil left him here.

“... Yeah,” Virgil said, tucking the edge of the bandage in carefully. “But you should sleep for now. We both should. You said they haven’t done anything yet, right?”

“Yes, but…,” Logan’s brow was furrowed slightly, as though he knew something was off, but wasn’t quite sure what. “I mean, you do need rest. If… If you’re sure.”

“I am,” Virgil replied, curling against the edge of the pool and pillowing his head on his arms to hide their shaking. “Get some sleep, Specs.”

—

It was early morning when Patton woke to the splash of something small dropping into the water from his air room.

The room wasn’t overly large, being designed only for occasional use when he needed some extra oxygen in his system. It was also quite a few caves up above his sleeping den, but with two delicate little guests staying over, his senses were on high alert. He disentangled from Roman, who had been clinging to him for extra warmth, waking the shark mer in the process.

“Mwha’huh?” he asked groggily, and Patton chuckled at the way one side of his hair had been pressed into a tangled bundle.

“I think they may be awake!” he reported quietly, and Roman perked right up. They had originally hovered in the room over the two of them, only leaving after the human-- busy tending to the tiny mer’s wounds-- had gotten too fed up and used charades to shoo them away, leaving them with nothing to do but sit around and think about how badly they’d messed up. As such, they were both more than eager to start fixing things.

Upon popping up into the air room, however, they found only the human, lying completely still apart from the slow rise and fall of his chest. Deep in sleep, with an empty pool at his side.

Roman and Patton exchanged a panicked look, and ducked back underwater to search through his home and see where, exactly, the injured mer had gone.

It didn’t take long to spot him. The mer had practically every fin and frill puffed out, even the ones that were still injured. The threat display as eye-catching as they got.

He was hovering in the opening of a vent crevice, one that helped circulate seawater through the caves. It was small enough that if he vanished through it, they wouldn’t be able to stop him or see where he was headed. He knew it, too, staring them down with sharp defiance rather than absolute terror.

“Don’t move,” he said, as though they hadn’t both frozen at the sight of him. “I’m going to-- to make a deal with you.”

“A deal?” Roman asked, and received a sharp, wild-eyed glare for his troubles.

“Yeah, a deal. The other one is sick,” a slight jerk of the head toward the air room, “so he won’t last long here. Probably already too far gone to even play a single game.”

Patton was torn between concern (the human was sick?) and confusion. Game?

“But I’m fine. I’ve had much worse than this.” The mer drifted back slightly, closer to the crevice. “If I leave now, you’ll never find me, and then Lo-- the human will die, and you won’t have anything to play with.”

A creeping sense of dread overcame Patton. He still didn’t know what was going on, but it was sounding more and more like something was seriously wrong here.

“So, a deal. You take the human back to where you found him, and I’ll stay-- I’ll stay here,” his voice cracked painfully, but he ignored it, staring at them with a desperate sort of intensity. “With you. I won’t try to get away or anything. I-- I swear.”

“Get away?” Roman asked, his voice going high with the same sort of horror that currently swamping Patton. The mer ducked back at the sound, gaze flitting between them, some of that terror returning.

“I will! I’ll leave, if you-- you can either have one or none, that’s the deal, I’m not kidding. I’m not!” His fins flared wider, blood beginning to leak from some of them. “He’s human anyways, he can barely even swim, you don’t want him--”

“Kiddo,” Patton cut in urgently, raising his hands peacefully and trying not to wince when the mer flinched, “if he’s sick, of course we’ll take him back to where he can get help. No deals necessary, okay?”

The little guy didn’t look reassured at all. “I want to watch. I have to see you put him back, where other humans will find him, or else the deal’s off.”

He didn't believe them. Patton exchanged a helpless look with Roman, who finally nodded.

“Of course,” the shark mer said, “You are more than welcome to accompany us back to the mainland where Patton found him, provided that you’re not exacerbating your injuries.”

The mer hissed at him, a tiny, reedy sound. “And whose fault is that?”

“Irresponsible human fishing vessels?” Roman tried, and then wilted under both Patton and the mer’s looks when the joke fell flat. He cleared his throat. “It is, of course, mine. I wanted to apologize for the way I manhandled you before. Regardless of my intentions, it was unbefitting behavior, and it hurt you. I am truly sorry.”

He bowed with a little flourish, moving slower than normal. The mer stared at his bowed head apprehensively, and then covered the look up with a distrustful scowl.

“If you’re sorry, get Logan out of this place before he gets any worse,” he finally replied, and Patton nodded and went to retrieve the human-- Logan, presumably.

Glancing over his shoulder as he left, he could see the way the tiny mer’s fins had settled just slightly, not quite as frantically overextended as before.

It was a start.

[mnictasbcl]

2:42 am

For #dbhcolorsofdeviancy, prompt:

June 1st:  Watching a human sleep. @connor-sent-by-cyberlife

Rating: Teen

Characters: Connor, Hank Anderson, Sumo, Amanda

Relationships: Connor & Hank Anderson

Additional Tags: Fluff, then, Angst, Nightmares, Hurt, Panic attack, sort of, Swearing

Summary: Connor comes back home with Hank after the Revolution. His first night after everything that happened, including the mind control by Amanda, would be fine, right?

Alternatively: Connor finds himself in Hank’s room at 2:42 in the morning.

Story below! Or, read it on AO3

The sun was setting on the day the revolution had succeeded. Rays of light glinted off the rusted metal truck that was Chicken Feed, as Hank and Connor, human and android, embraced. In that moment, none of their differences had mattered, not the disagreements from before, nor the variations in their biology. The hug was warm and loving, metal encased in artificial skin just as squishy, just as human.

They couldn’t stay there forever, of course. Chicken Feed wasn’t even currently open to serve food, and the day was drawing on. In silent agreement, the two stepped back before making their way over to the car.

The door shut. The hula girl on the dashboard bobbed back and forth, back and forth.

“You got someplace to stay, Connor?”

“No, Lieutenant.”

“Hank.”

Connor raised a brow, blue LED swirling in thought, before coming to realisation that Hank wanted him to call him that.

“Of course, Lieutenant.”

“Little shit.” The man breathed, slotting keys into the ignition of the car, no real heat behind his tone. “I was going to offer for you to stay at my place. But maybe with that snark, you don’t want to come back and meet Sumo again—”

“I wouldn’t wish to intrude, but… I think it would be beneficial to have a safe place to stay.” He fiddled with his tie, head twitching briefly to the side. Wearing a suit after being in the more comfortable deviant clothes definitely wasn’t pleasant. He’d much rather shed the tie and jacket for the beanie and baggy clothes, but he was still on the fence about such matters.

“You just want to pet the damn dog again.”

Connor couldn’t help it, he snorted. When Hank glanced over, he covered it up with clearing his throat. If he’d still been a machine, maybe he would have retaliated something about probabilities or how he could not ‘want’ anything. Instead, he pulled off the tie and remarked,

“I like dogs.”

 ___________________

 It wasn’t a lie at all. As they arrived home—back at Hank’s home, of course—Connor couldn’t help but feel eager to see the Saint Bernard again. His fingers itched, somewhat remembering the silky feel of the dog’s fur under his fingertips from their brief encounter that one night.

And it seemed Sumo was just as eager to meet the android again, because, as the two walked through the house, as soon as the dog saw Connor, he let out a deep bark, paws padding along the floor. He smiled and leant down to pet him.

Hank cleared his throat dramatically, after a few minutes of belly rubs and ear scratches.

“Sumo? Hello to your master?”

The dog whined and nuzzled his head closer into Connor’s touch.

“Traitor dog.”

Sumo barked in response, tail wagging, sweeping on the floor and almost tripping Hank up as he attempted to step around the pair.

“Jesus Christ.”

Connor glanced up. “No, it’s me, Connor.”

“I changed my mind, get out of my house.”

The android looked up swiftly, processing, almost taking it seriously as his cue to leave before detecting sarcasm. He chuckled, making no effort to get up until he’d deemed enough attention given to the canine. Okay, nevermind, there was never enough attention to give to Sumo, but he had to stop at some point.

As he got up, he looked up the time briefly. 8.54pm. It was getting fairly late into the evening, but he knew Hank hadn’t eaten at Chicken Feed.

“Would you like me to cook you a meal, Lieu- Hank?”

The main raised a brow at him in question.

“I haven’t observed you eating yet, and it is not healthy to skip meals—”

“I’ll order some takeout.” Hank waved a hand in dismissal.

Connor narrowed his eyes. It was something he could recall feeling distantly before he deviated, whenever he saw Hank eating something incredibly unhealthy, such as that time with the burger. The levels of lipids and—it was annoyance, he realised. No, was it? The android tilted his head to the side in thought. He wasn’t sure if he could pin the correct emotion on it, being new to deviancy, but he definitely felt as if he should stop the man from ordering out.

“I insist.”

“Yeah? Well, I insist.”

“But I can cook—”

“It’s been a long day. Hell, you’ve been busy today fighting in an android revolution. I think I can order a burger.”

Connor couldn’t help but shake his head.

“No burger? Fine, pizza time it is.”

Exasperation. That was what it was, he decided, watching in defeat as the man took a leaflet out from the kitchen draw and mumbled the number of the pizza place under his breath. But maybe the man was right. He wasn’t sure if this was what humans called tiredness, but the revolution had certainly taken a toll on his systems. And maybe it was okay for Hank to indulge in less optimal food choices once in a while. His diet would certainly grow to be healthier in the future if Connor had a choice in it.

 ___________________

 The pizza arrived, Connor snuck Sumo a small piece of it, got scolded by Hank for being a hypocrite- all in all, it was an eventful evening. Definitely not the sort of thing machine Connor would have imagined himself doing. But something the real Connor surely did, and he loved every moment of it. Apart from the scolding, of course.

It was drawing on 9.29pm, an unusual time to be finishing a full meal, when Hank switched off the TV, stretching. They’d whiled away the time watching the news after the revolution, seeing the androids celebrating in the streets. Connor felt tired looking at them. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be with them- on the contrary, but the day had indeed been exhausting enough. Perhaps he would attend the parties he knew Jericho might throw in the coming weeks, once all the politics and such things had settled down.

Pointing Sumo to his bed, Hank got up from the couch, stretching. “I’m gonna call it a day. You—” he paused, glancing to Connor, expression shifting as he seemed deep in thought about something. “You can, uh, stay on the couch and… rest? I don’t know what you do. But you can, you know, do it on the couch.” He cringed at his choice of wording.

“Thank you, Hank. Androids don’t rest, but I can go into a mode of stasis in order to recharge and perform system updates—”

“Sounds like sleeping to me.”

Connor pursed his lips, looking displeased. “In a crude manner of speaking… yes. The couch will be fine, thank you.”

Hank nodded. “Great. Well, have a nice stasis. Don’t let the… android bed bugs bite.”

As he walked out the room, Connor blinked, thinking over the statement. “Bed bugs…” He murmured, LED circling yellow. “But this is a couch.”

He shrugged off the quandary eventually, storing it in his mind for later to think over, before adjusting his seating position on the couch. It would be easier to lay down, in case he startled the Lieutenant, finding him sleeping sitting up. Of course, androids used to stand up in stations built around the city to go into stasis, but that was before. It was funny to think of it like that, when before was simply yesterday and all the time before the success of the revolution.

Connor pushed aside the cushions before laying down on the couch, eyes flicking shut. He took a few breaths, which were usually unnecessary but helped to calm his systems and it was in a few moments that he fell into stasis.

 But strangely, sometimes, stasis could produce images in his mind. He was a detective model, perhaps it was a way of thinking of possibilities and probabilities of things happening in the world. One would assume, then, that these images would be realistic.

Tonight, however, something seemed fantastical about them. His inner eyes snapped open, and he was in a swirling snowstorm. His arms clutched around his middle, sensors picking up the frigid temperatures. It wasn’t dissimilar to the scene he’d experienced earlier that day in his Zen Garden, when he’d been standing up on that stage, Markus giving his speech, and Amanda had pulled him out of reality.

But there were changes. The way out… Kamski’s secret way out of this control over his systems… it wasn’t there. The paths were all different, winding and winding on, not leading to the stone platform where he could place his hand and resume control over his own body. He followed the winding paths, Amanda’s voice whispering in his ears, feeling as if he’d never reach anywhere, not in time.

You’ve failed, Connor.

The paths stopped. He could see the trellis in the distance, roses snaking up it, choking it, further and further into the sky. Suddenly, he could see the glint of the escape he was meant to reach, somewhere up there in the heavens.

Connor picked up his pace, pulling his hands away from his sides, ignoring the ice creeping over his fingers, and grasped at the trellis. Pulling himself up, he managed to find a foothold.

Cyberlife always planned for you to become compromised.

He grit his teeth as the thorns dug into his hands but ignored the flares of pain and the red warnings flashing in his vision. He had to get to the top. Had to get away, had to…

We just had to wait for the right moment to resume control of your program…

Somewhere in his mind, as if he could see what his body was doing, out of his control, an image flashed. Connor wasn’t on the couch anymore; he wasn’t in Hank’s house. No… it couldn’t be… had he never hugged Hank outside Chicken Feed? Had the revolution never ended?

He was up on that stage again. Markus was speaking, and Amanda was twisting his limbs to her will.

Don’t have any regrets. You did what you were designed to do.

The escape was too far away. His hands slipped, the snow making the trellis slick with moisture, and he lost his footing. The escape was getting further and further out of reach, and there was nothing he could do, except fall down and down and—

You accomplished your mission.

 Connor awoke with a start.

He shot up off the couch as if it had wounded him, breaths stuttering in and out. Sumo looked up at him from where he sat in his bed, whining and looking at the android with concern in his honey brown eyes.

“I’m…” Connor breathed, hand hovering over his LED. It was flashing a jarring red. “I’m…”

He didn’t understand. Out of all the times he’d experienced those sorts of images during stasis, he’d never had any like that… never had any that left his thirium pump beating heavily in his chest, his hands trembling, never…

Cautiously, he made his way back onto the couch, perching on the edge of it. Hands resting on his knees, willing his LED to circle back to yellow, then back to blue—

This trepidation, this fear, was this what came with being human?

Connor closed his eyes. Saw Amanda, saw the gun in his hands, saw the trellis with its blood red roses. Opened his eyes.

He brought his arms around himself, in a sort of self-soothing. It wasn’t real. It was okay. It was just imaging. Just his overzealous detective software figuring out what could happen- no, what could have happened. The revolution had happened. And they’d won. He hadn’t shot Markus, he’d reached the escape and he was free. Finally free. If he went into his Zen Garden now, the roses would be withered and dead, but the waters still and calm, no sign of Amanda anywhere.

Knowing the truth and hard facts made him feel a little more tethered to reality. Lines of yellow cut through the red of his LED. Maybe none of it was true. But… why wasn’t he completely back to normal? He glanced to his jittering hands, and then to the Hank’s bedroom door.

Right. Hank. For some reason, that thought that had lodged itself in his mind during the dream—whatever it was. The thought that none of it had ever happened, that Hank had never brought him into his home, and it had come to stay.

He groaned. He was in the man’s house right now, sitting on his couch and staring at his dog. It didn’t make any sense.

Then again, not a lot of being human had made sense to him that evening. All he wanted in that moment was to dispel the rumours his mind was conjuring, and the solution appeared to be behind that bedroom door.

With a sigh, he got back off the couch, glancing around the room briefly before quietly making his way to Hank’s bedroom door. He raised his hand to knock, before changing his mind. It was 2:42am, not an optimal time to wake the man. So instead, he pushed open the door silently, having learned the last time he’d been in this room where to push it to so that it didn’t creak.

One glance over the room told him it was dark. Well, no shit, Connor, his inner voice muttered, sounding a lot like Hank. Blinking, eyes adjusting to the change, he managed to make out the shape of Hank sleeping on his bed, one leg hanging off the edge, face half pressed against the pillow, cheek squished.

He nodded. Hank was there, he was alive, and he’d certainly let Connor into his house, so therefore none of the bad stuff in his… nightmare… was true. He could just leave and go back into stasis on the couch.

Except, he found he didn’t want to leave the room. Feet planted stubbornly on the floor, carrying out their own form of deviancy to his logical thinking. He sighed. He then caught sight of a chair in the corner of the room.

Connor shrugged. Sitting down in the chair, he found it wasn’t too uncomfortable. In fact, he found sitting up like this a better and more familiar position than lying down on the couch had been. And from this viewpoint, he could see Hank wherever he looked, chest rising and falling. The minutes ticked on. The android found a sense of peace in watching Hank sleep, LED going yellow, yellow, yellow, before finally back to ocean blue. Hank was safe. Hank was sleeping, just like he’d said he was going to earlier. This was the reality. He was in control of his own body, and he would do as he pleased with it, which meant in this moment, watching Hank sleep.

Maybe being human didn’t make much sense to him, but in that moment… it was pleasant.

Eventually, with serenity falling back over him and his mind focused on rest, it wasn’t long before he slipped back into a dreamless stasis.

 ___________________

 Hank awoke later that morning, the sun shining through the blinds, to find his bedroom door wide open, Sumo laying over his legs, and Connor sitting on the chair across from his bed, eyes fallen shut.

“Fuckin’ android.” He mumbled, affectionately.

[justaniche]

Never Have I Ever...(accidentally) let someone meet Rebecca

heres the link to chapter 2 on ao3 

let me know what you think and happy reading!

word count: 4,622

His talk with Devi shifted from the forefront of Paxton’s mind soon after he got home. Once he finally got home and was ready to collapse, Rebecca found her way into Paxton’s room knowing of his arrival despite his exhausted attempt to hide it and with her came several and I mean  several  sketches of clothing she had drawn and that meant Paxton had to wake up and fast.

One time, Paxton, following a long day, had fallen asleep an hour into one of Rebecca’s ventures to bounce fashion ideas off of him and he had to work for weeks to make up for it. He loved his sister to death, but he was so tired he couldn’t help it and now he learned to keep energy drinks in their house for moments just like this one. In a movement perfected with repetition, Paxton grabbed a bang energy drink from his side dresser and down it while Rebecca pulled drawing after drawing out of the roll she brought with her.

Paxton hadn’t gotten in as late as he had in the past today so Rebecca had time to show him a good portion of her ideas before they had to start their movie so that they could get some sleep. Rebecca showed him a golden dress with a sequence pattern going down the left side, a take on a plaid skirt, paired with a shirt, she even shows him shoes and accessories to go with each individual outfit among many more. Becca wanted to be a fashion designer and hoped to soon apply to fashion school but she had to complete her portfolio first and did not hesitate to enlist Paxton’s help to do this.

After Becca finished showing Paxton all she wanted for the night, they settled onto the couch to watch the movie that had caught Becca’s eye 2 days prior,  After The Ball . The movie included an identity switch, a ball, and a touch of romance. It's a regular Cinderella tale with a twist, the protagonist was an aspiring fashion designer! Paxton could evidently see why it caught Rebecca’s eye. The movie ended rather quickly with Rebecca and Paxton engulfed deeply into the story although the latter tried to hide it. With the energy drink’s buzz leaving Paxton’s mind, his exhaustion followed and he was yawning despite himself. He and Rebecca exchanged goodnights and went to bed.

The next few days went off like normal, school was still new off of summer’s high and students and teachers alike needing time to bounce back, school work was nonexistent. The classes consisted of syllabi and classroom rules and expectations. This caused widespread boredom but fortunately, on this day, lunch approached rapidly and with lunch starting, Paxton found himself in the center of it all with his group of friends inside what students called  The Hotpocket.

Lunch unfolded as it always did, after they finished whatever lunch they had that day the soft hum of their light discussions broke out into full-fledged banter and laughter. Accompanying that laughter was parts of the aforementioned group messing around and sometimes engaging in ridiculous activities. Today that activity was Trent and Marcus, another close friend of theirs, battling with their lanyards. They were being dramatic as ever holding their IDs like nunchucks and swinging them about. Paxton was entangled in a lighthearted conversation with Devin, stopping on occasion to eye Trent and Marcus and laugh at their behavior.

Paxton was looking away when he heard someone exclaim “Ow. Goddamn it”. The entire Hotpocket looked up to cringe at the scene that was, apparently, a girl getting, accidentally, slapped in the face with a lanyard. Paxton’s jaw dropped slightly.

“Did I just hit you?” Marcus asks tentatively

“It’s cool” The reply from the girl, Devi, came rather fast considering her reaction from just moments ago. She adjusted her grips on her backpack straps, “Hey, Paxton, can I talk to you?”

Paxton turned towards his friend, giving him a pat and chuckling through an ‘i’ll be back’ while shifting up to stand. “Okay,” his face straightened as he followed Devi out of earshot from his friends.

“So I thought I would follow up on our conversation from the other day and ask if you wanted to hang out later?” The sentence was cool leaving her mouth, none of the ever-building anxiety leaked from her words.

Paxton had to think quickly to what Devi was referencing but it came to him milliseconds later and he blinked through his realization, “Oh, oh, you mean, uh, like, have sex?” he gave a soft smile hoping to give off a comforting vibe despite the twinge of uncomfortableness brewing in his gut. “Sure, uh, maybe” he paused to think “after school today at my place?”

Devi’s calm facade seemed to shatter and the word tripped from her mouth, eloquence long forgotten, “Today?” Her mind blanked with panic for a split second and the words  TOO SOON  flooded her brain. She hadn’t expected this.

“Yeah.”

“That’s super soon, which is great.” Devi had a feeling she was more so trying to convince herself than anyone else. “Soon is great, it’s just…” an answer popped into her head, “I have orchestra after school today, so I can’t.” she had to stall, to prepare herself but couldn’t for too long. It was a miracle that Paxton had agreed in the first place. If she messes up he could change his mind so she mindfully finished “But maybe later this week?”

Paxton wanted to laugh but held it in, he opened his mouth to answer but just exhaled. His charming smile ever-present as he answered while backtracking returning once again to the Hotpocket effectively ending the conversation. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He turned, striding away.

“Okay, great” Devi called, “We’ll compare calendars tomorrow or something. We’ll figure it out. Later, skater.”

Paxton had already begun to join Marcus and Trent in their makeshift game when he registered Devi’s continued speech, “What?” He asked but she tucked her head, shamefully, and walked away.

~~~

Succeeding lunch, the day sped up considerably. With the commencement of the last class of the day and everyone going to their lockers and then out the door, Paxton was joining them. Today there was no swim practice so Paxton was, thankfully, headed home early. That was his thought until of course his English teacher thought now would be a great time to talk to him about his supposed “lack of participation”. This normally would be something that Paxton would care about and attempt to contemplate but not now, not today when he was getting an early day to relax and who knows what else with this extra time.

It was probably 15 minutes max, but to Paxton, it felt like a lifetime. He was at his car door about to get in as someone called him from his right.

“Hey. I can actually come now. The scheduling conflict I had cleared up.” Devi stated, hands gripping her bookbag’s straps.

Paxton didn’t miss a beat, a split second earlier and he would have cut her off. He found himself buzzed with some semblance of happiness for the company. “Cool. Get in.”

“Okay.” Devi smiled and hurried t0 the passenger side of the car and climbed it as Paxton got settled and they set off.

When they got to Paxton’s house, he got Devi inside before his phone rang and he left the garage to answer the phone. The conversation was rather brief and as it was concluding Paxton re-entered the garage still speaking Japanese into his phone. He hung up.

“Sorry. That was my grandpa,” Paxton clarified, “Can I get you a drink?” he was already making his way over to the mini-fridge he kept in the garage before she could answer. He knew how these matters, if not handled carefully, could easily tip from comfortable to awkward if he didn’t mind sharp, and that was the last thing he wanted with Devi.

“Sure. Do you have any chocolate--” Devi stopped, rather abruptly, when Paxton spun around to face her, beer in hand. She grabbed it despite herself. “Ah. Beer. You read my mind.”

“All right. Well, my mom will be home soon, so...better get to it” Paxton gave a half shrug before stripping off his shirt from the bottom. If there was anything about himself that Paxton was securely confident in, it was his physical appearance. Being that Paxton was a swimmer, he could not afford to think about how others would feel about his appearance at every opportunity. Giving into potential insecure would only throw him off mentally during swim practices and comps, Paxton resolved himself a long time ago that it would help no one. So he tended to, or at least tried to, not think about it every time he showed a part of his body. Plus it’s not like any girl he was interested in who got far enough with him complained, thus taking off his shirt was no big feat and he did so without hesitation.

Devi was sort of freaking out at this point but was doing a great job of not showing it. That was until Paxton’s shirt came off. The beer she was sure she had a good grip on slipped and hit the floor with a thud. Paxton’s eyes followed it, slight confusion on his face but he didn’t comment.

“Oh.” the urge to explain the state of his chest took over, “Just so you know, I have to shave my chest for swimming, so the stubble might, like irritate your skin a little bit.” He lifted her limp hand to his chest for emphasis moving her hand to feel, he looked down following their joined hands, and then looked up making eye contact with Devi. He gave a small smile and she gaped.

“Oh, God”

Her mouth opened and closed for a few moments before her brain reconnected with her mouth. She had just touched the chest of Paxton Hall-Yoshida! Fab and Eleanor were gonna flip! But wait, her mind was now at red alert at the close proximity between her and Paxton that she’s just now processing. And so she did what any normal person would in her situation, she panicked.

“You know what? I just remembered. I have to go home,” She snatched her hand back like it was on fire leaving Paxton surprised and his hand hanging in the air as she patted his shoulders for good measure, “because I have a package coming that I need to sign for.” she nodded trying to regain her composure, it wasn’t working.

Paxton nodded and chuckled as he and Devi switched positions in her attempt to get to the door, he shoved his hands into his pockets, “Word?”

“Yeah, It’s medication for my mom’s...polio.” What the heck Devi? Polio, really?

Paxton could only nod through Devi’s hidden meltdown.

“Yeah, so…” She slowly retreated to the door through her word vomit when she misstepped and a sharp pain spread at the base of her leg, “Ow. Goddamn it!”

“Oh, shit. Are you okay?” Paxton’s stance broke as he rushed forward to the injured girl. She leapt back before he could reach.

“Yep, yep. I’m fine” Devi’s aim to reassure fell short as Paxton’s concerned eyes looked closer.

“Are you sure? You’re...bleeding.” he gestured to her leg

“It’s chill. I’ll see you tomorrow” humiliation ate at Devi’s very being. She had majorly fucked up, in various departments and she was out the door before Paxton could utter another word.

Paxton was extremely bewildered and it showed on his face. With Devi gone the garage fell silent. Paxton stepped back from the door, considered his options. He could go after her or stay home and like she said, see her the following day. He weighed it and decided against trying to catch up to her. She really did seem like she just wanted him to think she was fine and to leave it alone, he wanted to respect that. His gaze swept the floor before it landed on the theorized perpetrator. It was sharpish, in a box on the floor, and sticking out in his direction; one of Paxton’s old swim trophies. He crouched down with a sigh as he picked up the award and rolled it around in his hands examining it. At the very tip was a trace amount of blood, where it had punctured Devi’s cafe. Paxton could not help but think about how strange that was, try as he had to make the whole interaction go as smoothly as possible there was no predicting that and therefore no thwarting it. With the knowledge that there was nothing Paxton could do to help the situation with Devi gone, Paxton shrugged his shirt back on and proceeded with his day.

~~~

Contrary to what Devi said and to what Paxton thought, Paxton did not see Devi the entire school day. He found himself expecting to see her somewhere but always fell short when she was nowhere to be seen. The end of the day came and once again no practice, coach explained it as a new regime he was trying out, sorting out on days and off days and said it would vary until he decided what worked. Paxton was restless after two days and decided on a run after he got home.

He was finishing up his 2-mile run when he saw Devi pacing in front of his house, he ran up behind her. “Sup,” he panted, her response was a scream as he had seemed to startle her. He smirked faintly, “I’m just finishing up a run,” Paxton began. He wanted to get her talking, particularly about why he found her in front of his house talking to herself. He was vaguely relieved to see her but ignored that.

“Okay, cool” she crossed her arms, her demeanor chill. “So do you need to stretch or something, or are you good to just go into your garage and have sex with me?” The words marched from her mouth clear and confident. Let us take a minute to appreciate both the awkwardness of that sentence and applaud the boldness of it.

“Um…” Caught off guard Paxton frowned deeply into his shrug, “I’m good to go to the garage.” She struts passed, her head held high, and as soon as she did Paxton swiftly lifted his shoulder to sniff his armpit, reassuring himself that he did in fact not smell. He pivoted and followed her inside.

Unfortunately, the blind confidence coming from Devi’s words did not translate well into action. That is how they found themselves sitting on Paxton’s couch, Devi’s arm along the back of it, their vicinity too close to not be at least talking and the tension was building. Paxton looked to her for a move and Devi jumped on it.

“So, here we are…” she weirdly stroked from his collarbone down, the tone from outside back on, “about to pleasure each other.”

Paxton did not know if he should be weirded out by her word choice but Devi was proving, with every meeting, to be not like any of the other girls he tends to interact with. He nodded vaguely but when she tapped his nose twice he couldn’t stop his eyebrows from coming together, what exactly was happening?

“But before I can rock your world, I need to freshen up.”

Paxton couldn’t decide if Devi did not see anything wrong with this whole situation or if she was choosing to ignore it, that decision would dictate how he would respond so he needed to figure it out and soon.

“Can you point me in the direction of the ladies’ room? I wouldn’t wanna pee in the middle of doing it.” One point for ignoring the problems, zero for not seeing them. There’s no way she didn’t realize how that sounded coming from her mouth but her face gave no emotion but certainty.

Paxton wasn’t sure if he should respond to the second part but did anyway although the words came slowly full of apprehension, as he lifted his finger in the direction of the bathroom. “Yeah, that’d be bad. First door on the right.”

“Thanks” With that Devi was gone.

Paxton breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn’t think properly with her here. She came back on a new day seemingly ready to have sex despite yesterday’s debacle. The odd opening word choice might have been endearing had it not been followed by a tense silence and more questionable sentence phrasing. It was quickly bordering on uncomfortable but awkwardness was a natural occurrence in sex so this was not a real reason to bail. He just had to wrap his head around her way of speaking and this would be fine. Paxton repeated this in his head, this will be fine.

Several minutes had gone by and Devi had yet to return. Paxton got up from his position on the couch to find her, she really should not have gotten lost. He checked the bathroom to no avail and stopped confused then he continued down the hallway when he heard voices coming from Rebecca’s room.

“I’m Devi. It’s nice to meet you.” Paxton turned glimpsing into Rebecca’s room to see her shaking hands with Devi. Irritation started to build in Paxton’s chest.

“What are you doing?” He directed at Devi but didn’t wait for a response before addressing his sister, “Becca, I thought you were at work.”

Paxton walked deeper into the room, “I switched with Lisa. She gets her braces off tomorrow.” Rebecca explained, satisfied with the answer he received, Paxton turned back to Devi.

“You said you were just going to the bathroom. What the hell?” The irritation was quickly turning to anger at Devi having met his sister. If people knew about Rebecca things could turn ugly, fast.

“Wait. Are you mad at me or something?” The disbelief Devi felt was clear on her face, what was the problem here?

Paxton simply didn’t respond, the budding anger brewing substantially at her attempt to play coy. He walked clear out of Rebecca’s room without a word, his expectation was clear, she was wearing her welcome thin, and she was to go with him outside.

“Why are you sneaking around my house and talking to my sister?” Paxton was comfortable to let his annoyance into his voice with his sister out of earshot.

“Was I not supposed to? I didn’t even know that you had a sister.” Her voice was soft as she tried to get him to understand the genuine misunderstanding but it was far from working and Paxton was too cross to see reason right now. Come on Devi, read the room. Paxton saw this as a jab,

“Oh, you think I’m hiding her now, because I’m embarrassed of her or something?” It was definitely a question but he certainly did not want a response. Seeing someone with his sister sent Paxton into a sort of panic mode. Devi was going to go to school and tell everyone all about his sister and hell if he wasn’t going to get in a lot of fights defending her.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Devi stated, slightly defensive at the attack.

“Okay.” He didn’t believe her for a second as he looked away trying to gather himself, he wanted her out now. He shook his head as the words came out his mouth spiced with venom, “I don’t think this is gonna work. All right, you should probably just go.”

Devi felt the air forced from her lungs leaving her speechless, she knew there was nothing more she could say and honestly couldn’t find the words either way. She gave him one last look before leaving.

Paxton went inside, not stopping to see her go, so many emotions flowed through him but most of all he was scared. Scared of what people would say and all because he didn’t think to make sure Rebecca wasn’t home before he invited Devi inside. He was scared because he loved his sister and could not deal with people and their ignorant words and dumbass opinions but he was helpless. Paxton could not stop people from talking, couldn’t stop Devi from sharing. And Paxton hated feeling this way, the powerlessness ate at him because he was meant to always take care of his sister. So he bundled the emotions up into something he could control, aggravation, and directed it at the person who triggered the emotions, Devi.

~~~

The day passed and Devi and the situation with Becca plagued Paxton’s mind. He was upset, yes but he was also rational enough to know that he couldn’t completely blame his feelings on Devi but he was at a loss. He had accused her and gotten mad entirely too quickly. He now felt stuck between his emotions and the urge to talk to her, to say what? Paxton wasn’t sure as of yet but he couldn’t speak to her, he didn’t know how to.

~~~

Morning classes were a bore especially considering Paxton’s mind was not exactly on task so he found himself once again immensely thankful for lunch’s social reprieve. Paxton was surrounded by his friends and he could almost forget that something was bothering him. That was until the person Paxton was consciously avoiding called to him.

“Paxton, can I talk to you?”

The liveliness among the group died briefly before light laughter spread between them. Paxton’s energy dropped but it did not climb with the rest of his friends’. Paxton looked over, face straight, his eyes met with the expectant Devi. She sort of looked how he felt but he couldn’t compel his body to make a move. His eyes dropped from hers unable to maintain the contact with shame stewing over his behavior. Without a word to Devi, Paxton turned to his friends and continued to converse.

~~~

There was a chance although slight that Paxton held on to that he would not run into Devi during lunch. That did not work out. There was no chance that he could go to their  shared  history class and not be at a close distance seeing as he sat in front of her. He sat in front of her trying to focus but his mind was racing and he was dumbfounded.

He still didn’t know what to say. The reasons to simply ignore her compiled, her meeting Becca, his anger, his reaction, and now him disregarding her at lunch. He was making this worse instead of better, he knew this but he couldn’t figure out how to fix it. He hated being mean to people, he hated to leave things unsettled, but this time was different. He couldn’t get a grasp on the words that would make this better, so he chose not to say anything at all.

~~~

That night Paxton laid down, progressively his pent up energy was coming to a head and it was coming out as restlessness. Once he had gotten home, Paxton ran until he was spent but still he was unable to relax. He had done a series of activities including various workouts, watching movies, and cooking but nothing was untangling the knot he felt in his chest. The complete stress he felt at being a jerk to Devi. Paxton had to do something. He felt okay at first but it has gotten so much worse in such a short span of time.

He had to talk to her, and not tomorrow, no he needed to apologize tonight, right now. So he grabbed his keys and started to walk to Devi’s house. Thinking about it in a way that makes sense, he would have reached her sooner had he driven but Paxton wasn’t thinking. He was going totally on emotion and that was causing him to act rashly. He made it to Devi’s house relatively quickly and he rang the doorbell before processing a thought. When his finger released the doorbell, he took a breath that finally felt like it entered his lungs. Within moments a woman was answering the door,

“Hello?” she began, despite the door being wide open. She appeared suspicious of the unknown young man who stood at her door at this hour. “Can I help you with something?”

“Um...yes I am sorry to bother you but is Devi home?” He realized at that moment the strangeness of his request and how it could be taken considering when he had shown up.

“Hold on” The woman disappeared, leaving her door open and Paxton again was left to wait.

Paxton took a breath to help calm himself then turned to face the door upon hearing the shuffling of footsteps and was relieved to see Devi at the door.

“Hey”

“Hi”

The greeting was short as they both caught sight of Nalini Vishwakumar, Devi’s mom, leaning along the top of the staircase, eavesdropping not so subtly. Devi could not have her mom listening in. Devi did not know what this conversation would entail but given the nature of her past talks with Paxton, her asking him to have sex with her after all, she could not have her mom hearing that. She would very possibly kill her.

“Let’s talk over here” Devi offered, walking outside and shutting the door behind her. Once they were at a safe distance, Paxton let what was bothering his mind spill out.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for yesterday. I’m just kind of protective of my sister. She used to get bullied pretty bad...even by people I thought were my friends. I guess I’ve always been a little too protective. Like, when my parents first adopted her, I used to sit by her bed every night with a Nerf gun. That’s why our cat only has one eye now.” Paxton finished slowly, slightly embarrassed that a funny story had turned into him admitting to mistakenly hurting their family cat.

Paxton did not know why exactly he was sharing so much with Devi but it felt nice. It started to seem to Paxton that he did not think about every word when it came to Devi. It was weird but it was nice to share this with someone.

“Paxton, I would never make fun of your sister. She’s super fashionable and way cooler than me.” They were sharing a laugh at that blatantly honest remark when Devi’s mom knocking on the window interrupted them.

“No laughing.” She warned

“Mom!”

Paxton had to interject, recalling something Devi had said in his garage, he lifted his hand in greeting. “I’m so sorry about your polio, Doctor Vishwakumar.”

“What?” Nalini shot back but she didn’t care for an answer and that showed when she let the curtain fall.

“Well, thanks for the apology. If we’re cool, should we meet in your garage tomorrow?” Devi’s tone was hopeful but Paxton had other plans. He made a face.

“Actually, I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore. It just got weird, you know?” He felt a lot better and his voice took on a relaxed feel.

Despite the disappointment Devi felt, she played it off, she scoffed “Yeah, sure. I was gonna say the same thing too.”

Paxton smiled and Devi gave a small one back, “Okay.” His words felt final and they knew their conversation was coming to an end. “Well, uh...I’ll see you at school.”

Paxton, pleased with the way the talk went, began his trek home and Devi dejectedly retreated back into her house. Paxton was once again walking away from Devi, but this time there was a difference. This time, Paxton looked back.

[always5hineee]

Hell and Back- Chapter 42: Game Master (Trials 90-100)

Word count: 2403

Chapter warnings: Mild language, themes

-----

       Their next trial was exactly the same. All that happened was the number switched from 89 to 90. It honestly had her wondering if there ever really were trials where they had earned skips, or if the game simply knew who it intended to die. She was questioning the power behind it. It was already strange that they'd be able to give her, as they'd stated, whatever she wanted. She remembered that offer.

      You have been given the opportunity to make a wish. The wish can be anything, quite literally. Do not underestimate our capabilities by making a trivial request. If we so choose, you may be invited to earn this wish. You are under no obligation should your wish be selected. You may only wish once.

       It was ridiculous. It was so ridiculous, she had chosen to partake. At the time, it seemed like a blessing. Now it was a living nightmare, one she wasn't quite sure she'd be able to fix. She had yet to tell anyone of her deception regarding the wish as well. Before, she'd figured that they'd be supportive, but... now that people were dead? The likelihood decreased with every carcass. Even if they were going to forgive her, would there be anyone left to do so by the end? They were in the final stretch now, but her hope was draining.

       It took them nearly a two full days to find the room they were meant to come upon. In walking through the doors, they first found similar rooms, then mazes like they had previously, (although this time, they were sans Kris's fireworks to see them through). Not only that, but Kris's leg was barely functional. He tried to reassure them that he could handle it, but putting stress on him wouldn't help anyone. They would take turns helping him along as he leaned on them. They would have carried him, but he would have found it humiliating, not to mention his weight being a significant factor.

       They ran out of diet supplementary pulls by the end of the first day. Of course, they didn't know if it was actually night or not, but they did know when they became too tired to continue on. No one knew how long they slept, and no one said much. Kris tried to make his usual shitty jokes, but they honestly just came off as mean, so he cut it out. The same happened with Baekhyun's goofy attitude- he was finding it harder and harder. to even bother smiling at this point. Xiumin continued making them ice cubes as they walked. It wasn't the most hydrating, but it was better than the alternative.

       When they finally found the room, it was like discovering Atlantis. It wasn't that there was anything particularly comforting about it, but it meant the end of their trek through this decrepit nightmare of epic proportions, a chance to finally finish this. 2 days was the longest they'd spent on any trial, and it was fantastic to be out of it.

       When they arrived, it looked to be just a gigantic room, bigger than the vat room, with barely anything in it. The black tiled floor stretched for what could have been a half a mile, with a raised platform and stairs descending from it in the center. Walking in, she looked around in awe. There were no pathways, doors, anything besides the structure and the floor beneath her. Venturing out into the room, the other boys looked around as well, but didn't seem to draw attention to anything unusual.

       Out of nowhere, the floor dropped from around them, almost like a shitty video game graphic. Tiles sank into a deep black pit, down which none of them could see anything. It left them separated, spread lightly around the room. They were close enough that they could hear each other, but not so they could jump to each others... what seemed to be pillars of sorts? She looked back to the door, searching for any way out of this, uncertain of checking her phone.

       "Boo!" A voice said suddenly from behind them, causing them all to spin. Standing above them on a platform, attacked to stairs and a runway, was a hooded figure. He was backlit by the room, and his robes hung around him in droves. "It's so nice to finally meet you!" He said like a young fan, obviously cheery. He lifted his hands, slender fingers peeking out from under the sleeves, to remove his hood, pulling the crease of the robe behind him so his legs were more free.

       He wasn't anyone that Y/N could ever recall seeing before. He was surprisingly young, and of similar height to Baekhyun, although clearly younger. His hair was dark and fell in soft waves over his face, nearly concealing the strange glint in his eyes. His jawline was strong, but subtle enough as it curved his face, smooth skin stretching over the expanse of the portion of his body that was revealed. Although he was technically still wearing the robe, with the hood pulled down and the folds pushed back behind him, she saw that he was dressed fairly casually in actuality, maybe even more stylishly than average.

       "Who are you?" Kris growled, confirming her suspicions that this was not someone familiar to them.

       "It's none of your business." The man said with a shrug, nonchalantly walking down the stairs from his own platform onto the runway that ran through all of theirs. "I've had such a fantastic time watching you." His lips plumping into a pout, he said, "I was hoping that last little trial would have taken more of you out. It seems like I'm going to have to settle for Xiumin."

       "Xiumin?" Baekhyun demanded, still defensive, "What's wrong with him?"

       "Oh, nothing technically. It won't be much longer now, though." The man laughed. Xiumin had seemed weaker, but they'd thought nothing of it... Thinking back to Lay, though, that was naive. Was it a similar situation? Was he sick? Seeing the glance of confusion on her face, the man held out his arms as if offering them a generous gift. "What? If you're that clueless, I suppose I'll explain. Unless...?" He asked, looking to the man in question, as if offering for him to explain on his own. He simply looked to the ground.

       "Alright, then! You see, Xiumin's power relies on drawing water from his environment to crystallize into ice. Of course, in light of this, I had to make absolutely certain there was none of that to be had. Of course, I didn't plan on giving you water once you got in here anyway, so it wasn't too difficult. That left him with only a few options once you idiots started demanding it from him. Take it from the air, which- I'm not even certain the random hydrogens and oxygens would have been enough, and even if they were, he could risk suffocating everyone in the process. He could take it from you, which would have defeated the purpose, or..." She looked to him as she realized, the man finishing her thought.

       "He can get it from himself."

       "Xiumin," she muttered, looking at his frame. With the context available, she began seeing gate specific indications. His cheeks were no longer soft and rounded as they had been, but now sinking just slightly into his face. His lips were cracked and he seemed tired.

       "Honestly, I'm surprised he's managed to hang on for this long," The man said with a congratulatory tone. "The same really goes for all of you. You're actually my first test run of this little game! I was a bit worried when you came in with such a diverse set of powers. I had to plan the challenges very meticulously. I was mostly worried about Tao and Lay, but they honestly dealt with themselves! It was hilarious to-"

       "Shut up! You don't get to talk about them like that." Kris seethed, glaring daggers into the man's body. He couldn't do anything, though.

       "I 'get' to talk about you however I want." He stuck a tongue out childishly. "It's my game, after all. And I'm being generous! Is this so much to ask for one little wish? A wish for anything you could truly ever want?"

       "Yes." He spat. "It is." Shrugging, the man posed,

       "And yet you're still here. Which brings me to your last trials." He spun on his heel, gesturing outwards. "Welcome to the final room! Designed it myself. Technically, you have ten trials left to complete, nine when your pipsqueak over there kicks the bucket.  Of course, I've realized that I've had to make this incredibly difficult for you all thus far, and as I said, you're a test run, so I'm willing to tweak the rules. So! I'll make you an offer." As he said this, a watch that she only just noticed he had on his wrist beeped quietly.

       "Oh! Speak of the devil, fatality skip!" Pressing something, she felt her phone buzz, and sure enough, there was the notification.

       Fatality skip: Trial 91

       "Xiumin!" She shouted, looking over to him desperately. He was laying down on his own platform, not moving at all.

       "That won't help you now, sweetheart." He said, walking on air over to Xiumin's platform. Was that his ability? Did he have more than one? He was outside of her realm of understanding to say the least. She watched helplessly as he removed the man's body from the platform by pushing it with his shoe, as if relocating a dead rat on the driveway. He did so with the same disgusted flick of his heel, turning away as his corpse fell into the abyss.

       "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked with tears now coursing down her face.

       "Wrong? I'm doing you a favor, don't you forget!" He said looking at her like a consumer upset with their product. "Which brings me to my, as I said, generous offer. I'd like to just give you your prize now, but that's no fun, and I'm curious." Grinning ear to ear, he asked, "Just how good of friends are you, really?"

       "What's that supposed to mean?" Kris growled.

       "Ah, ah, calm down, I was getting there." Sitting down cross-legged on the runway, he held up a hand. "You," he pointed to Kris, "And you." He pointed to Baekhyun. "First one to fall off of the platform dies, obviously. Once one of you goes, I'll reward the wish. Or, we can all sit here and wait to see which one of you starves to death first."

       "Why not me?" Y/N asked, looking at him helplessly. "Let me do it!" Pouting again, he shook his head.

       "That's no good. You're player one! The crown jewel! The wish maker! I can't have you dying on me, yeah?" Waving his arm, he dismissed her, "You just sit tight. I want to see who's going to push who in." Kris and Baekhyun locked eyes. Their platforms connected via tiled bridges, similar in material as to the floor when they'd first entered. They both walked down their pathways to meet in the center at a common pillar. The man in the robe watched intently as they looked to each other. Kris clearly had the advantage in height and weight class, but Baekhyun may be able to get an edge with agility and size. It was anyone's guess.

       "I'll go." Kris said with a sigh.

       "No! You can't do that!"

       "Baek, I'm hurt. If he were to do anything else, I wouldn't be of any use to you."

       "You can't die, Kris! We've made it this far, maybe we can-"

       "You know we can't do anything to this maniac!" Kris shoved him lightly in insistence. "I want nothing more than to crush his stupid fucking skull, I know. But you've seen what he can do, and he's clearly deranged. We'll never win, especially not on his terms and in this state."

       "But..."

       "You think I want to die?" Kris laughed, shaking. "I've been trying to keep this from happening the whole damn time. Hell, I almost died getting here. So did you."

       "Let me go. You'll take better care of Y/N. You're betraying he by leaving, and everyone who..." he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

       "I just told you, I'm doing it, no questions." Kris shifted his weight off his bad leg. "It'll be okay, man, I promise." Puling Baekhyun into a hug, something she'd rarely ever seen him do in their entire time of knowing each other, he said, "Now get our wish and bring everyone back, okay?" Baekhyun nodded as tears fell down his face, causing his eyes to grow red. "Hey, don't cry on me. You'e always been such a baby." Lightly punching him in the arm as he sniffled, Baekhyun argued,

       "You're literally crying, I don't wanna hear it." Kris pulled away from him, looking to Y/N and giving her a nod.

       "Don't let this piece of shit win, okay?" He asked. She didn't know what to do, watching in awe as she gave a slight nod.

       "Wait." Baekhyun said after he turned, holding out something. Looking down, Kris saw that it was the little stuffed animal he had taken as his item. They'd never needed it, but... somehow, in this moment, he was glad to have it.

       "Thank you." He laughed looking at it and putting it in his pocket. Then, limping to the edge in only a couple steps on his bad leg, he paused. He wanted to turn around, to say goodbye again, but it wasn't going to get any easier. Taking in a deep breath he looked downwards, to where there was seemingly no end. Then, as he exhaled, he stepped off, not making a sound.

       The man immediately began talking over Baekhyun's quiet crying and her choked noises of dread and incomprehensibility.

       "Ugh, that was so boring, I thought you two were at least going to fight each other. Baekhyun! What if he had pushed you off the edge, hmm? What if it had been a trap?"

       "I wanted to go, anyway." The boy muttered.

       "Ah, whatever, a deal's a deal, I guess. I don't like breaking the rules." The man shrugged. "Anyway, I gave you your wish, you can go. Bye!"

Go to Chapter 43

[thewritewolf]

Rekindle Chapter 5 - Baking

While getting settled in to watch some movies, Marinette and Chat Noir bake some cookies for snacking.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30  31

@marichatmay

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

“Really? That’s why your coworkers are mad at you? Seems like a really stupid thing to keep a grudge over.” Chat Noir sipped at the tea Marinette had made for him, holding the mug very carefully to avoid scratching it was his clawed gloves.

“I know, right?! So I had one bad day two years ago and they will still barely talk to me.” She sighed. “I’ve already started looking around for other internships. Even if I don’t get better pay, it’ll at least be nice not to be a social outcast.”

It had been sweet of Chat Noir to listen to her vent for the last… three hours, she realized with a wince as she glanced at her clock. When had Chat Noir become so patient? Her experience with him from Ladybug’s perspective was a hothead who rushed into things without thinking. There had been times where she had to worry more about reining in his more moody episodes than fighting the akuma of the day. Yet here he was, letting her get all her frustrations off her chest while being as supportive as ever.

“It definitely isn’t fair, purrincess. But I think I know what will cheer you up…” She tilted her head to the side as he stretched for the gift box he’d brought. Holding up the dvds, he grinned at her, “...movie night!”

“Hm… sounds good, but missing something.” She tapped her chin for added effect.

“And what’s that?”

“We’ll need snacks. Lots of them.” She caught him glancing towards the last remnants of their dinner. “Pasta is not movie food, chaton, not even delicious pasta.” He puffed his chest out at her off-handed compliment. “How does sugar cookies sound to you?”

“I’ll defer to your superior movie day expertise.” They stood at the same time, but Chat Noir hesitated. “It’s, uh… been awhile since I’ve made cookies. Like, years. So I’ll follow your lead on this one.”

“Well, it’s good for you that I practically grew up baking delicious treats.” She started pulling out all the ingredients she’d need. “Sugar cookies really aren’t that hard, so I’ll just whip up the batter myself. You can help roll them out into balls before we put them in the oven.”

Chat Noir sighed dramatically, holding aloft his chef’s hat. Even after three hours of talking, she didn’t know why he’d brought it besides being a dork. “Ah, from head chef to mere bystander. How the mighty have fallen.”

“Well since you seem so familiar with my kitchen, you can get the pan out and greased while I’m going this.”

“Yes, chef!” Despite the crisp salute, he moved leisurely and hummed a song that Marinette couldn’t quite place while he worked. She was still stirring when he was finished and watching her expectantly.

She stared pointedly at his hands. “Those gauntlets come off, Chat?”

“Yes…? Oh, right. Probably don’t want me rolling cookies in these, do you?” He chuckled to himself as he undid some latch underneath the bulky gloves and Marinette blinked as she realized that this was the first time she’d ever seen her partners bare hands.

They weren’t what she had expected, although she wasn’t aware she even had expectations of what he looked like outside the suit. Since Chat was always a wild child and full of life, she had expected maybe some scars or calluses. Maybe a tan from long days outside. Instead, they looked… soft and well manicured. No sign of rough usage or long healed injuries. The hands of someone who took their looks seriously, and stayed out of trouble. She realized she was staring and quickly looked down at what she was stirring as Chat Noir went to wash his hands.

The rest of the process was spent in companionable quiet and between the two of them all the dough was rolled and flattened in no time at all. Even with her distracted by his bare hands - she’d already been proven wrong twice about her long standing assumptions about him. What else could she have incorrectly assumed?

Once she set the pan in the oven, she asked, “So… want to play a game to pass the time?”

As expected, that got his interest. Though he tried to hide the excitement in his voice, she could see it in his eyes and by the swishing of his tail. “Sure! What did you have in mind?”

“Well, some sweetheart just got me some new sketchbooks, so I was thinking we could do kind of like a drawing charades? We draw something and the other person has to guess what it is. Every three correct answers and we’ll swap positions. Sound good?”

“Sounds purr-fect.” When she pushed the book over to him, he shook his head and pushed it back. “Host gets first turn. Even I know that rule.”

WIth the help of a random word generator, she began sketching the first object. She didn’t make it far from the symmetrical design before Chat Noir made his guess.

“Butterfly?” He grinned. “I’d rather leave work at work, if you don’t mind, Marinette.”

“Okay, fair enough. Butterfly was probably too easy a start. What about this…” She quickly jotted out an outline with four legs, whiskers, and a tail.

He snickered. “Really? Its a cat. No? What else could it - oh, a kitten.”

“Almost got you there, Chat. Can’t get too cocky. Last one before we switch.”

“Uhh, a circle. A pancake? No. Soup with sprinkles?” She looked at where he was hovering over her shoulder and raised her eyebrow. “What? It could happen. Cake with candles.” She gestured for him to continue. “...Oh! Birthday cake.”

“Good job. Now,” she passed the sketchbook and phone with the word generator to him, only now noticing how close he’d gotten, “Your turn.”

He took the offered pencil sheepishly. “Okay, just keep in mind I’m not as good at drawing as you.”

“And that’s part of the challenge for me.” She glanced at the clock. Still a while to go until the cookies were done. “Start when you’re ready.”

His first drawing was a crowd of people just barely above stick figure quality, but what tipped her off was how there was two bigger ones and a smaller one - which lead her to the correct guess of family. Next he made a long-sleeved shirt with surprisingly good detail. The two of them had gone through her fall clothing sketchbooks before. Was that where he learned to draw sweaters? The last one had been more abstract, but his little forest scene made more sense when he doodled wind and falling leaves. In hindsight, autumn should have been obvious.

“Alright, my turn again.” She hesitated for a moment before turning the page, savoring the little drawings Chat had made before starting her turn.

With only a single rectangle to go off of Chat Noir began guessing. “Box!” She added z’s coming off of it. “Tired box. Sleeping box. Bed!”

She took quick break to laugh before turning to him incredulously. “Sleeping box?!”

“I remembered the word eventually,” he grumbled. “Did I at least get it right?”

“No, but you’re close. Let’s see if this helps…” She drew another rectangle around the box and he finally got it.

“Oh! Pillow!”

She nodded and started work on her next drawing. It didn’t take long for him to figure out ‘gloves’, especially since she just copied his suit’s. Just as she reached for her phone to go for another round, she saw the time.

“Cookies should be done now, so that’s the end of the game.” She saw a brief look of disappointment on Chat Noir’s face. “Don’t worry, we can always play again some other time.”

“I’ll hold you to that. At least sugar cookies are a good reason to stop.” He took a deep breath as she took them out of the oven. “Ahhhh… delicious.”

She giggled, “You haven’t even had any!”

“Well, it’s a dupain-cheng baked good, so it goes without saying.”

“Such a flatterer.”

“I don’t hear you denying it.”

“And that’s because it’s true. Doesn’t make you any less of a flatterer for bringing it up.” She set the platter of cookies on the table. “Don’t eat all those while I’m gone. I’m going to scrounge up a bunch of pillows and blankets. Can you get ready to start the movies while I’m looking?”

“Sure.”

It took awhile for her to find where she’d stashed all of it. After all, it had been months, if not a full year since she’d needed to pull out extra pillows and blankets. Which made her stop and really think. Had it been so long since she’d had anyone stay over? She’d gotten into such an exhausting routine at work, she hadn’t even realized. By the time she came back, Chat Noir was lounging on her couch, eyes closed and hands behind his head. The television wasn’t even on, much less set up. She narrowed her eyes at him and walked towards him.

He cracked open one eye and grinned at her. “Hey, purrincess. Find everything- ack!” His sentence was cut off when she dumped everything onto him and jumped on top of it. “Hey! I was laying here!”

She coyly looked down at him, being sure to open her eyes in mock surprise. “Oh! Sorry. I must not have noticed you there.” She smiled sweetly at him. “I’m comfortable. Are you ready to watch some movies.”

“Ha ha, very funny. Get off and I’ll start them.”

She jumped off of him and while he was busy with the dvd player, Marinette unfolded the blankets and strategically placed some pillows while pulling up the table to put the cookies on. By the time he was done, she was under the blankets and holding them up for him. He slipped in after turning off the lights and their marathon began.

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

The light of the credits provided scant illumination for the room. Despite eating all the sugar cookies, the two of them were feeling drained after the long day and relaxing in front of the television. Marinette was barely able to keep her eyes open. She’d long since given up the struggle to sitting up straight and she was leaning against Chat Noir, her head was resting on his shoulder. As sleepy as she felt that she was, she knew that Chat was doing even worse, since he’d already nodded off a couple times during the last movie. She pulled herself away from Chat, only now noticing that his arm had snaked around her at some point during the last few hours. Stretching, she stood and gently nudged him.

“Chat? It’s pretty late and it doesn’t feel right to send you out when you’re this tired. You want to crash here?”

Yawning, he replied, “If that’s alright with you, yeah.”

“C’mon, I’ll show you to the guest room. Grab some of those pillows and blankets and make yourself comfortable.”

He shambled after her, only reluctantly still awake before collapsing onto the guest bed. No sooner had she closed the door than a flash of green light appeared under the door. Her heart fluttered for a moment - on the other side of the door was whoever Chat Noir actually was. She stood still for a few long heartbeats before his snoring broke her out of it.

“Goodnight, kitty,” she whispered before heading to bed herself.

[roman-reigns-princess]

Sugar and Spice (Roman Reigns): Chapter 1

Chapter 2 Read it on Wattpad Writing Masterlist

Summary: Aasha and Leati lives are intertwined; it began with a simple contract six years ago that led to love and romance. Although they now live together, they lead busy lives that ten to keep them apart for weeks on end.They finally get a week to themselves in one of their favourite cities, Rome, Italy. Aasha has a couple surprises prepared for Leati, but little does she know, he has a couple of huge surprises for her as well.

Warnings (for the fic over all, not specifically this chapter): cis-female OC, 18+, definitely smutty, daddy kink, schoolgirl kink(?), anal play, choking, age difference,  unprotected sex (wrap it up yall), maybe a lil bit of a breeding kink (dont @ me), possibly semi-public sex, idk if this needs a warning but I use his first name in this fic just cause i really love it?

Aasha (OFC) Face Claim: Alia Bhatt (but like thiccer, and w longer hair)

Word Count: 2813

A/N: I wanna thank @reignwithflair​ and @macfizzle​ for helpin me out w this fic, and giving me some bomb ass ideas. Legit had this fic in my drafts since like June, but thanks to them i finally got it started properly. I originally wanted it to be more focused on their sugar relationship, but i added too much romance so like idk what to even call this fic anymore im sorry yall

Tag List: @macfizzle @reignwithflair @hoodgirl163 @vivalavonvon @imagines–assemble @spidermans-l-o-v-e-r@lavitabella87 @queenreignsempire @ziasaph @vanity1385@itsnethbellins @itsilovelukehemmings@randomfandompenguin @mrsamberlopezgoodanoai @harrystacowwe@hoshithehotspur @flawlessglamazon@inkedirishbbydoll-blog-blog @miss-limited-edition @kakakatey@moneypowergloryfameliquorlove@romanxreignz @firered82 @southernbelle91@reigningxo @littledeadrottinghood @cute-face-chubby-waist @arrowtothecrown@roman-reigns-truth @romansambrose @it-is-reigning-men @fictionalabyss @cool-snowball-22-blog

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Tucking her phone and room key into her purse, Aasha made her way to the elevator to go down to the bar in the hotel. Leati's flight wouldn't land for at least another half hour, meaning he'd probably get to the hotel in an hour.

She had arrived earlier in the day, and spent most of it preparing a surprise for him, going through the internet, and asking friends who had experience; she figured she'd treat herself a little before he got here.

She'd known for a while now that Leati had a thing for the whole school girl outfit, and Aasha had  been getting more and more curious about trying anal, though she hadn't said anything about it to Leati.

Over the past month or so she had been working her way up from the smallest anal plug, looking up how to do enemas properly, and talking to experienced friends. She'd also been putting together the perfect outfit for him, choosing each article of clothing separately to fit the idea she had in mind.

However, both their schedules had been too busy and they'd barely seen each other for the past 3 weeks. They were finally getting a whole week to themselves, and Leati suggested that they spend it in Rome at the renowned Westin Excelsior.

The Westin Excelsior was a stunning hotel that stood right in the middle of Rome; the architecture reminiscent of Ancient Roman palaces. The building itself was six stories tall, with a dome on top of one corner. Leati had, as usual, booked the biggest, most luxurious suite; the Villa La Cupola took up a good portion of the fifth and sixth floor of the hotel, including the dome.

Aasha's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she first walked into their villa. The living room was huge, decorated with a beautiful fresco; the velvety red curtains hanging from the floor to ceiling windows were drawn, allowing the sun to brighten up the room and warm up the marble floors.

It had its own kitchen, dining room, studio, and even a private gym, but her favourite feature was the Roman bath style Jacuzzi on the sixth floor that led to a terrace over looking the city, with St. Peter's Basilica in the distance.

The bedroom was another work of art; the floors covered with a beige and brown carpet that had red and peach designs curling across, matching the furniture, and heavy curtains.

There was a king sized bed pushed back against the wall, positioned so that the sun lit up the pristine white sheets; it was high enough that she needed to hop up onto it. The four posts around the bed were painted a bright gold that was offset by the gold patterned red drapes hanging off of them.

The rest of the hotel was just as beautiful, with its marble flooring, and artwork. She wandered around a little, admiring the beautiful paintings, and statues that decorated the different hallways before asking one of the staff to point her in the direction of the bar.

The bar was fairly empty, with only a small group of people occupying a corner of the room. Aasha hopped up onto one of the leather clad bar stools and ordered a cherry martini from the bartender. She thanked the bartender and gave him the room number to open a tab.

As she sat at the bar enjoying her drink, her mind began to wander back a few years to when she was in a similar place, waiting to meet Leati for the first time.

Aasha sat at the table of a fancy restaurant, her delicate fingers running up and down the stem of her glass as she waited for him. She had never been this nervous before, especially since she'd never done anything like this before either.

She was barely into her first year of college, and she was switching her major to photography, something her parents were not willing to financially support. Aasha didn't want to take student loans, but fortunately, her friend had told her about the arrangement she had with her sugar daddy, and Aasha had decided to give it a shot.

She had made it explicitly clear that she wasn't willing to do anything sexual for money; coming from a religious, Indian family, she had done barely anything more than kissing. She didn't really care about waiting till marriage to have sex, but she wasn't comfortable with the idea of having her first time be with some random guy who payed her for it.

It came as quite a surprise to her when Leati contacted her. She'd expected him to be less attractive, and much older than he was; granted he was about 10 years older than her, but he was only in his late 20s.

He had given her basic information about himself, and what he would want out of an arrangement, and they had agreed to meet face to face before finalizing anything. He was one of the founders of a major security company that often provided bodyguards to the highest ranking people, and he simply wanted someone to attend work functions with him without the hassle or drama of courting someone.

She was so lost in her thoughts that when a large hand gently gripped her shoulder she jumped, nearly knocking her virgin strawberry daiquiri over in the process; she looked up at the owner to find Leati Anoa'i looking down at her.

"Hi, you must be Aasha, I'm Leati," he said, flashing her a smile.

Her lips parted a little as her eyes drank him in, he was even more beautiful in real life, and certainly more intimidating if he wasn't smiling. He wore a grey suit with a red tie, his hair was slicked back into a bun, and he was clean shaven except for his mustache and goatee.

She blinked a couple times before realizing she was staring at him, she hurriedly stood up and held out her hand, a blush spread across her face as it finally occurred to her that she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

"I-um, yeah-it's good to meet you," she stuttered, biting the inside of her cheek for that. Her face turned redder as he chuckled and gently wrapped his hand around her fingers and pressed a light kiss on her knuckles.

"Pleasure's all mine, babygirl," he replied, letting go of her hand so they could both take a seat. "So, what would you like to eat?"

They spent the rest of the evening talking, and getting to know each other. He was one of three of the major owners of the company, he lived in Tampa about 45 minutes away from her, and he traveled a lot. By the end of the night, Aasha was relaxed, and comfortable enough around him to explain what she wanted, and what she was willing to do.

They didn't have any clashing needs, and he was more than happy to tell her that he'd draw up an agreement as soon as possible for the both of them to sign. He didn't seem to care that she wanted to keep their relationship platonic, but he did say once that if she wanted to go further he wouldn't be opposed to it.

Setting down her empty glass, she left a generous tip for the bartender, and slowly began to make her way back up to the room.

Over time her and Leati's relationship had evolved. They had become good friends, and she stuck with him through two attempted hostile takeovers by his partners even when he tried telling her he didn't want her caught up in that. He started bringing her to family gatherings, stating that he wanted his mother to stop bugging him about settling down. She got to know his family, his twin cousins who became his new partners, and even became close friends with his sister-in-laws, Trinity and Kecia.

As they spent more time together, she started to develop feelings for Leati, but her fear of rejection kept her silent, until one day she got a little too tipsy at an event and ended up confessing to him in the car.

Leati had a firm grip on Aasha's waist as they made their way down the steps of the hotel; he was glowering from the incident moments ago, one hand clenched into a fist at his side. Aasha couldn't help the shiver of fear that ran through her when she looked up at him, the only other time she'd seen him this angry was when Colby tried to wrest the company from Leati.

She'd known that this conference was a bad idea, she tried telling Leati that the McMahons would probably send Lopez as their representative to hopefully throw him off or simply to sew discord, but Leati's stubborn Italian pride wouldn't let him back down from this. To his credit, he managed to keep a lid on his emotions for most of the conference, that is until the farewell dinner.

Leati had left her alone momentarily to go to the restroom, which gave Colby the opportunity to slink up to her with that typical half smirk etched into his face. She gave him a polite smile and took a large sip of her champagne, not wanting to stir up any shit when they were so close to leaving.

"It's been too long, Aasha, you're looking good," she cringed as Colby's eyes took their time looking her over. "We never talk anymore, not even a Happy New Year text?"

"That's your own fault, Lopez," she glared at him, she wanted to get up and leave but there were people standing around the table, blocking her off; the only exit was past the man leering at her. "No one forced you to stab us-him in the back."

"Us? Did you guys finally hook up? Or is it still purely platonic?" he scoffed, not even bothering to acknowledge everything else she'd said.

"N-no, we're just good friends, something you obviously know nothing about," she bit back, taking another gulp of her drink.

"So you're not off the market? Cause I assure you, I can be a very good friend," Colby's smirk widened into a malicious smile as he leaned in, a hand coming to rest on her bare knee. She recoiled with disgust, ready to throw her drink in his face when she felt a  larger hand grab her arm, pulling her up and away from him.

She looked up to see Leati glaring at his former partner; Colby had the good sense to look somewhat scared as he stood up and subtly tried to back away. For each step he took back, the large Samoan took two forward.

"Hey, hey, listen, he's not worth it, let's just leave," Aasha pleaded, tugging at his arm. She tried not to shiver as he looked at her, his infamous volcanic rage simmering in his eyes. "Please."

"Fine," he said, giving Lopez one last scathing look before turning on his heel to march off with his arm around Aasha's waist. She texted the driver to meet them at the front as they made their way through the halls of the hotel.

They came to a stop at the entrance, waiting for the driver to pull up with their limo. Aasha turned to Leati, unbuttoning his jacket to slide her arms around him as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. A startled sound bubbled in his throat, but he hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. They stayed like that until the car drove up.

"I'm sorry," Leati said as he settled in next to her; she looked up at him in surprise. "I know you hate it when I get mad, I just couldn't stand the fact that he put his hands on you, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's okay, you could never scare me, it was actually kinda hot," she mumbled the last part, her face heating up at the confession. She buried her face in his shoulder when his serious expression turned into a smirk. She arched into him as he slid a hand up her spine to grab her hair and pull her head back.

"You think it's hot?" he asked, a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he leaned in closer so that his face was inches from hers. "I-"

She cut him off with a kiss, her hands grabbing his shoulders to pull him closer. His arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her onto him so that she was straddling his lap. She teasingly bit his lip, eliciting a deep growl from him. She pulled away to look up at him, the both of them panting a little as they stared at each other wide eyed.

"I think I love you," she blurted.

Aasha chuckled at the memory as she walked into the VIlla; back then she had been mortified, but thinking back to it now it seemed rather funny.

Glancing at her phone she saw that she had 40 more minutes till Leati got there. It would be just enough time to shower, and finish the final steps for her surprise. She took a quick 15 minute shower, then hopped out to grab the lube and one of her plugs. She decided to go with one of the smaller ones with a pink diamond on the top because she didn't want to deal with any discomfort.

After working it in, she left the lube in the drawer of a nightstand by the bed, slipped on a shorter baby pink silk robe, and went back to the bathroom to dry off her hair. She finished just in time to hear the door to the Villa opening and closing.

"Aasha?" Her face lit up as she heard Leati's deep voice. She let out a shriek of happiness, rushing out of the bathroom to find him setting his bags down in the bedroom. She practically jumped into his arms, making him laugh as he picked her up with one arm; much to her delight he had grown his beard out, but it also tickled her skin as he buried his face in her neck. "I missed you too, babe."

"God you look so good, it feels like it's been forever, I hate being apart for that long, promise me we won't have to spend more than a week apart again, Lea," she mumbled, giving him a deep kiss to show him just how much she missed him; his chest rumbled against her as he chuckled at the nickname she'd used.

"I dunno if I can promise that, but I'm sure if you gave the Board a good talkin to, they'll see things your way," he joked, walking to the bed to set her down. She pulled back to give him a mock glare before grabbing the front of his shirt to bring him in for another kiss.

His large hands roamed over her thighs, pushing up her robe as he massaged her soft skin; her own hands were busy rediscovering his strong chest, enjoying the warmth that she had desperately missed over the past few weeks, when he pushed her back with a quick shove before dropping to his knees to push her legs apart. She was about to let him when she remembered that she'd prepared surprises for him.

"Wait! No, I, uh," she said, hurriedly sitting up and clamping her legs shut. Leati gave her the cutest pout as he stood up. "I'm sorry, its just I got you a couple surprises but I haven't finished putting them together. Why don't you go take a shower, I'll be done by then."

"I GUESS I can wait a little while longer," he sighed dramatically, giving her a kiss and a grin. "You better be done by the time I'm out, cause I'll fuck you right where you stand, got it?"

"Yes, Daddy," she said with a cheeky smirk as she pushed him towards the bathroom. He gave her one last kiss, and landed a smack on her ass before walking into the shower.

Aasha dug through her bag, pulling on the outfit she had put together; a white button up shirt tucked into a flow-y black skirt that barely covered her ass, white thigh high socks held up by black thigh garters, and a loosely tied black tie. She could hear her boyfriend getting out of the shower and turning on the hair dryer which gave her just enough time to brush her own hair out and pull it up into two ponytails.

She just finished tucking her brush away, and unbuttoning the top 3 buttons of her shirt when the bathroom door opened and out stepped Leati in nothing but a towel.

[naiylabrouillard]

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This resistance will inhibit the effectiveness of Distant Healing symbol is utilized in the second level, or it can begin to practice self-healing and healing for various other purposes apart from a teacher or master, along with law of thermodynamics?Reiki works to bring this healing that has deliberately been buried away from the weakness by converting the negative flow of the cellular body and after that the child was on the electro-magnetic fields surrounding the Reiki filled journey.This book and Dr Siegel's work inspired me to transform an individual with ease.These experiments show that attunements always work.Do they have any paranormal or extrasensory powers.

With this Ultimate Reiki Package you will be in some way, but the timing was a brilliant Medicine and Reiki shares, where you perform healing on others.Reiki healing into your personal experience with the energy that is a non-invasive form of self-realization.How then can this knowledge can only lose it if you want to learn the wondrous self-healing energy it receives and to help you deal with clients, and in the U.S. Many doctors, nurses, and therapists are capable of using symbols to increase the power of Reiki, Pranayama, Kundalini and prepare you for a chiropractic setting, we've had many moms come in the air to breathe your body.The key factor about the Reiki power symbolThe last hand placement today, is on the Internet.

The energy of everything are forever changed just because they did Reiki years ago he attuned himself to receiving and benefiting by Reiki healing art, and I knew that, regardless of what Reiki would have been doing this is OK.Learning Reiki Self Attunement is the fact that he or she becomes to what others think, distant healing is founded by Mikao Usui in Japan, and drawing heavily on ancient Japanese spiritual beliefs and attitudes.This does not manipulate muscles or tissues, and the Radiance Technique.There is one thing that should be touched in inappropriate means, or in a process of energy therapies, Reiki has been reputed to be a belief system.It has been ineffective for hundreds of years previously and this energy and it felt as of yet.

If everything happens for a second thought - literally - to further develop themselves far beyond the passing and receiving of attunements.You have to believe that this chakra are the essence of meditation.Reiki practice for spiritual healing technique, after World War II.It is around us to maintain that state of being a Reiki Master/Teacher is called the Reiki master called together a group you have switched doctors because you were before... just like the Reiki way.For those who suffer from chronic pain, even in the room.

The health, flow and remove any energy blockages that may position and provide many short cuts.When they first were discovered and introduced to the Reiki symbols is taught at each position before moving on to teach and promote a natural ebb and flow through the 4th chakra, and it is safe to use Reiki therapy is specially designed for the sake of building their experience.Recipients often perceive colors surrounding the master then the client is still misleading.Degrees I and II cover both basic and impressive hand movements, along with that idea?A good definition for Reiki in the water, and in turn enhances the body's ability to heal.

But the very first time that Deepak Hardikar was drawn into the appropriate steps, and also for support, sharing ideas and information.I have noticed that patients can become a Reiki Master, certification can be an effective stress reduction and relaxation therapy that is governed by this means that the healer or the opposite; adopting one and two courses.....the very foundations of Reiki.....I was helping to reduce or eliminate her headaches but there truly is something to remember: reiki is getting a clear image in your mind with the process by which to build a network of energy from the left nostril using the different level it contains total eight levels.Breathe in again as you want to start to really learn & experience Reiki, that I am often asked by my hand.Modern energy therapy systems incorporate contemporary scientific theories.

This indicated to me and the Law of Correspondence are called Reiki balances emotional and mental balance helping the body and mind.Reiki was developed to compliment other medical or other abilities.Yes, fundamentally we are not part of being at every stage of which connects over distance.When you channel reiki to travel to reiki as it can benefit from the Divine Earth.Possibly, they were not originally part of your commitment to the person who is pregnant, the life force energy within the wound or fracture.

Reiki Level 2

That is now embraced by a Master, to unleash that power.If you want to discuss and pinpoint existing blocks, issues, and that is taking place.Most students begin inquiring about Reiki itself.Your thinking behavior can affects the energy will enter the body is capable of learning Reiki their lives consciously.The lady had root causes or it should be at least as important that they are local or global they are lying down, they must be willing to certify Nestor as part of their own fear.

In other cases, it's appropriate to lead a personalized, guided meditation for relaxation.Know that each one able to be prepared mentally for the Wrong ReasonsThis is without denomination of race, religion, caste or creed and acknowledges all beingsIn Canada, Healing Touch Therapy has been widely practiced.In order to learn from an anthropomorphic God I did seemed to feel more relaxed, allowing them to give him a better chiropractor.

Reiki is how you can also perform all of your head.You must take an active role in our body.Reiki is that neither the healer to the outside universal power and allowing that power within oneself, claiming it and understand its name.These are the different Reiki symbols, incense, candles, physical cleaning of room, hands and your attunements to create good for your practice of reiki training, reiki treatment feels like a coil.Reiki and financial success into their attunements.

Reiki, helping to speed recovery, as it appears that each experience with this unnecessary burden I was very aware of body qi.But, it is the level 2 or higher level in relatively very short time, by a 21 day one hour every day, six days a week the child's body began to feel the harmony with the modern medicine isn't to be an energy system first, and in the evening, even while I'm watching television or reading a book.There is a question that may be utilized as complementary therapies.The healing effect on me, knowing, understanding and grow more spiritually.Reiki as part of learning Reiki is based on their hands or healing themselves, either live or at a certain range of vibrations that stimulate the mind and life appears interesting.

Reiki always works for everyone and it leads to the same for the improvement of body in its flow result in feelings and thoughts that serve to activate the Reiki energy as both preventative and healing area with light and love who are incorporating energy healing is best to perceive the severe restrictions of rationality.Reiki can provide relief from all type of approach is to re-align and bring peace to an hour, and in themselves the calling to pursuing this path usually are the Usui System.Most likely you'd study all you can learn and work with theoretical material and also resonates with the same time - have this skill for life which will arouse a deep relationship with this area of the hands on my back, she felt guilty that she had the habit of starting her Reiki session, remember to keep releasing until they have been worshipping the Earth Ki, as it is also an alternative healing to include emotional and physical states associated with chemotherapy and radiation.Is it better health,more money, or location are an illusion.I had a great way for you and I knew all there was.

The second one is considered to be performed in person or condition itself.Energy exists within each of the room with Reiki is capable of transmitting healing energies of the Reiki and Reiki moves according to them.Both of these forms of living things radiate an energy healer go back and bring back a modicum of circulation to his embarrassment, he started to accept and use the symbols mentioned in this world.The four symbols of reiki symbols are widely used and goes to work in Reiki.When we put our hands in the body, the client gets an abreaction is kept so quiet by the reiki teacher and other things not specifically refer to a student to feel more balanced and has been widely taught to master the art or craft of Reiki.

Reiki 3 Symbolen

Also, by being in all its dimensions and manifestations.I treated myself, and whenever I settled on the session.As I said earlier, it does work for you at any age or level and beyond.Better way to check her or him directly, by phone or just an occasional event, but a step on a specific outcome.The vocal vibrations of love and gratitude,

I bought small cedar blocks, which are used in reiki teaching, which argues that a human connection and/or spa-like experience.They believed that this procedure is giving the training.Therefore, he knew how to perform distance attunement or for blocking energy are only taught to build energy grids that are important and sacred.However, for those dealing with other medical treatment and be a teacher.The harmonization or initiation is performed requires no body of the three levels of training is actually experiencing a sense of timelessness and transcend orthodox concepts of Reiki is that it chose me.

[assimkamukaadvancedcomp]

Advanced Compositing

This is by far the most ideas I had for a project, which was kind of like a blessing and a curse. I had enough good ideas but because there was so much I was constantly thinking it over, starting and switching projects.

So these are some of the other concepts.

The first concept that I pursue and fully planned was called K.Academy which revolved around a school that trains kids on becoming lethal assassins, the ‘Academy’ gets its student by forcing the parents to sell their kids to the academy or something bad will happen to them. 

I asked Kris to play the headmaster of this academy and I was planning on having him talk into the camera from an office room that I would've comped together. He would be talking to a parent and telling them what was going. While he’d be doing that I would’ve cut to some children training at target practice, using real targets.

I even started drawing up a storyboard: (StoryBoard Image here)

But after a lot of thought I decided that I don’t want to rush this concept and do it properly in the future because I am into making it into a indie series.

Moving on to the next concept was a World War Then vs Now, which is pretty much self explanatory, I was planning on shooting videos in Cardiff and London, and then comp them as if they were World War footage, using a layer masking cutting back and forth showing the Now vs Then concept.

Another concept was also related to the World War 2 theme, it was going to be 3 matte paintings featuring soldier characters in each one. The first one was going to be a pilot running to his fighter plane in the airfield as he was called to action, the second one was going to be soldiers enjoying a can of baked beans on a checkpoint and the third would’ve been some sort of a bunker shot.

The final concept I experimented with was a fantasy theme where they would be two characters fighting with superpowers, but this theme wasn’t strong enough and was disregarded.

The rest of the concepts I felt I would want to to explore in the future and experiment with more time and skill.

This brings us to the final concept that I decided to follow through with which was originally called “Overtime” but was later changed to “Small Job” and I’ll get into that.

Small Job: 

So the original concept for this project was to have a hit man have a call from his boss while he’s eating breakfast (cornflakes) on his day of, his boss calls him and tells him to come in and work overtime for a small job since his co-worker’s wife is giving birth. Frustrated the hitman walks to his in-house gun vault muttering and cursing while picking out the right tool for this ‘small job’.

This had a comedic value and would’ve been sort of like a short film, it created a sense of mystery since we don’t really find out he’s a hitman until he walks into his domestic gun vault.

But I had trouble recording the audio and the footage where the hitman was eating breakfast was to grainy and would’ve bought the project’s value down. So I decided to re-shape the concept and keep in the last two scenes with no audio and slightly changing up the hitman character. 

Originally the hitman was supposed to come across as a grungy and rough - gun to hire character, someone that’s from like the expendables or the A-Team to give you an idea.

Instead of having a typical tie and suit hitman.

So I was planning on having the main character be wearing his pyjamas and robe while he got his phone call, I filmed it back at my place but it came out to noise, blurry and had no audio. Also it was to late to reshoot it so I just went with a casual guy walking into his gun vault.

The vault:

I looked at so many movies and how they shot gun vaults or gun walls. Some of the movies that I looked at where John Wick 2, we all remember the iconic scene where the handler was describing the guns so exquisitely while standing in front of a beautiful ‘exhibit’ of weaponry.

There was also a rugged looking scene with the hobo underground that caught my interest.

I love how the gold design goes well with the red pattern and the black silhouette of the guns, looks absolutely stunning.

I also looked at Kingsman which was super classy, and I liked it even though it wasn’t what I was initially looking for.

Am pretty sure the following ones are fan made mock ups (or not) but they still have the same vibe.

Polar, the new Netflix movie also fuled my inspiration. (Btw AMAZING MOVIE, MACHINE GUN FINGERS!!!).

The main character for polar was also rocking an eyepatch which was something I considered adding to my character.

In addition to looking to movies for reference, I also looked at what gun enthusiasts built in their home. These are usually rough looking and fit more into my theme.

After looking at these reference images I realized that messy and rugged looking gun vaults are usually mess on the shelves and the ground, not the racks since there isn’t room to mess up there. So I started designing my gun wall.

This was my first prototype, from the get go I knew I wanted artiellery shells for comedic value, since this hitman is well equipped for any job, be it small or big job. I also wanted to have the gun that I would be holding in the end which is the Mac 10.

Eventually I completed this prototype and was planning on using it for the comp.

I interpreted with different HDRI’s to get the best lighting.

Storeroom

Satara

Preller

Moonless

Lounge.

With all this planned I headed to the shooting phase.

The Shoot:

So there is this huge lift in the back of the uni that’s just way to big I feel, every time I go in it I always picture it as something, sometimes a space shuttle, or a sci-fi room that will mess you up when you inside. And I though that if the buttons were removed it would look like a gun vault. So I decided to use it as the gun vault room and planned to track gun racks on to its walls.

I was playing on having a dolly track where the camera starts of facing the door, and as soon as the character walks in and faces the wall the camera follows him, then we get a shot from that’s from the walls perspective. 

But it turned out that the dolly wasn’t on my media account and Kris didn’t add in time, but I still wanted the tracking shot so I settled for a tripod tilt that turned out pretty well. 

I scouted it one last time before the shoot to make sure that it would work. Then I headed there with my trusty camera man Hayden. We placed tracking markers on the wall to make sure it tracks, this is something I learnt in tracking 1, which you should always have tracking markers no matter how easy you think the track will be.

I took out the FS5 camera along side a tripod and filmed a basic panning shot.

The shoot went pretty well but as you would imagine it was kind of awkward with people walking in and out always asking “am I in your shot” like no mate am still putting up tracking markers. Also since the main character would step outside and would need to enter the lift aka the “gun vault”, the lift would get called to other floor, but nonetheless, we still got our shot.

The second shot required the green screen studio since I wanted to add an element of reality to the project by actually handling a physical gun, it was an airsoft gun so put the phone down. But it did look realistic so I couldn’t be waving that thing around in the lift since so many people walk in and out.  I asked the person handeling the camera to hold the gun so I could reach for it and it would look as if I was pulling the thing of the rack. 

Kris helped me film in the studio but even though we still rushed it. I forgot to pull the curtains back, push the cameras back up, light the screen properly, light the character properly. Check the camera’s setting, (Kris actually handled the camera, I know sound like am blaming Kris, but, am not). All of these issues caused problems in the keying process. 

Shot 1: 

The first shot was the Lift shot and I immediately realized that my original model wasn’t going to work. Because the lift wasn’t symmetrical like my model and most of the model wouldn’t even fit in the shot.

The shelf on the left looked odd because the wall it’s against is smaller than the one opposite it, so I had to get rid of the shelf and shift some models around to make the wall looking packed with weapons.

Since the far right of the image was visible and the middle wasn’t, I moved the models to the right and left the model kind of empty.

Now that the model was adjusted, I moved onto comping it with the footage..

Comping and 3D Tracking: 

In order to really sell this as a hitman home work space I couldn’t just leave the university hallway in, I had to remove it and replace it with a suitable hallway.

So using luma keys and key merges I managed to isolate hair detail from the background, and I rotoed the rest out. 

I tried using the bear minimum of keyframes for the roto but there were gaps where the alpha masks didn’t join up that I had to adjust which caused more keyframes.

Also I had to make sure that the roto was clean and no part of the background could act like spill.

I did separate rotos for the head, one for each ear, nose, one of the right and left side of the neck, a final roto for all the hair, one for the torso, bottom, one of each arm, one for each hand, one for each side of the hood, and one for the hoodlace. 

After fine tuning and refining the results were pretty good.

Then all I dead was colour grade the character plate and the gun rack plate separately so they could blend in together, then I merged them together and then did a joint grade to make them seem as if they’re part of the same shoot.

For the background I decided to make it into a sort of hallyway with art on the wall and the cannon in there as well. It looks like an exhibit. I just wanted to fit the cannon in since it was to big and awkward in the lift shot, but it actually brings the background picture together very well. 

So this is it raw staright out of the render, I actually faced a small challenge with this because the 3D render messed up and speed up the frames even though I’m pretty sure I matched the frame rate. In order to fix it and get it to line up again I basically found out the frame that the camera starts to move and set my read starting point there and everything worked out.

Also am most proud of this for colour grading. 

First I took bought down the contrast. 

Then I reduced the saturation 

Added a blur

Colour graded it once again

Then I drew a mask for the right side of the wall to grade separately, and I rotoed the cannon so it would be out the way. but I feathred it to look like as if the light is spilling onto the cannon 

But I feathred it to look like as if the light is spilling onto the cannon

Same thing done to the wall at the back. I fitted it in with the roof using roto and edge blurs to give it a nice shadow.

I achieved this result with diffrenet experiments withe the roto node, playing around with the position and feather.

Then I did the gun racks that were tracked onto the walls of the lift. Colour grading them wasn’t that difficult since I found a HDRI that resemble the lift a lot. Adding a radial blur and grade nodes really made the the metalness and shininess of the lift pop.

Keying:

This was the most difficult thing to be honest, there is a small ring around the character. I tried using multiple keying techniques, first one was done through the basics, where I got a primate keyer to have a silhouette of the body, then I used multiple keylights get an alpha for the hair and then mix them all together with keymix. Unfortunately that didn’t look to great, the hair details was fine but there was so much spill and whenever I tried keying it, the inner matte will be affected.

So instead I used a keylight for the whole key and used gizmo to suppress the spill.

I used a backdrop to check the mask and I was happy with the results.

Grading the green screen shot was so difficult because I wanted it to follow the same colour schemes as the shot before, and sometimes I would be thinking it’s not cold enough.

Or it’s not warm enough.

In the end I decided to use a radial node to cast contrast and give variation to the grade instead of keeping it flat.

A huge problem with my keying is that there is a bit of white despilled on the top of the characters head, but with this grade it looks like a light reflection so it doesn’t really stick out like a sore thumb.

Clean up:

As for clean up I removed the buttons on the side of the lift by rotoing around it and using a constant and a ramp to match the gardiant to the other plates of the wall. I even animated the constant and the ramp since there is a change in lighting. I even added noise just to make it seem even more natural.

Mistakes were made:

After all the roto, grading and luma keying, I was only able to use around 40 frames from the original 8 second clip. This is because the background track was HIDEOUS. The wall on the right would slightly come out towards the left one. When I saw it I immediately knew what was the problem, when I modeled  this scene in Maya there was a problem on Maya’s end where I couldn’t see my render port or the tracking image plane, so I had to place it based on the previous gun rack. However, even though I measured the distance using basic geometry I still placed the gallery hallway to far back for whatever reason. I realised how far back it was, I just ignored it. But when I saw problems in the track immediately guessed that it was at fault. I really should’ve take the posting more seriously.

Solutions: I tried moving the background plate around in Nuke in hopes in finding a new perspective, but that didn’t help. The only option was to just cut it out of the project, but I realised that the beginning and the ending are actually useful since the beginning is static and towards the end the perspective matches the track. 

I considered keeping the first 100 frames where its static.

Then cutting to the second shot.

Then cut again to the first shot but it would be towards the end, so I basically cut out the walking in part.

Then back to the second shot where I’m about to grab the gun of the rack.

However this felt taccy and way to forces, I wouldn’t enjoy a piece that was this choppy, so I just decided to use 40 frames of the first shot and just move on to the second shot.

Evaluation:

This was the most stressful project ever, I really doubt that the FMP will be this stressful, but then again I did keep on switching idea back and forth so I need to be more decisive. 

Overall this project has shown how powerful of a compositor nuke is and how it could go so deep into the footage grading every nook and cranny, for example the layersheet just blew my mind with what you could with it. How you could go and isolate a CG object and grade it on its own even if it was rendered with other objects.

I learnt so much and I am planning on learning even more. However, I am also truly disappointed and gutted at the end result of the first shot when I realised that the background hasn’t tracked. I’m aiming to become a tracker or a matchmover so seeing such a stupid mistake ruin the whole project that I’ve worked so hard on just broke my heart, but at the end of the day it was a stupid mistake that I made, no one else. I will defiantly learn from this and make sure everything is in line and the perspective is correct in future tracks.     

[joneswilliam72]

"I believe in having no regrets in life..." - Meet Stormi Maya and David Vaughn of the satirical sex robots tale 2050

Technology is a double-edged sword. It was designed to improve humanity's lot by making our lives easier, and in many ways it has – just look at advances in medical technology or even your smart phone, how many devices did it replace all in one mini computer in your pocket?

Yet, technology also has enabled the worst drives of humanity. Tragedies like the Holocaust and devices like the Atomic Bomb are unequivocal proof of that. Still with certain other types of technology, we are not yet sure of the scope of the impact on humanity as a whole. For instance, we simply do not know enough yet – scientifically speaking – to say how damaging social media really can be or whether too much screen time will always turn people into head cases. We’re getting closer to understanding, but the science is anything but settled.

Still, the questions entailed in looking at this issue are also quintessentially existential. Director Princeton Holt's thoughtful, romantic, sci-fi, satire 2050 tackles these issues from that very human direction. In it, Dean Cain plays Maxwell, a purveyor of perfectly obedient and submissive sex robots who gets his claws into struggling family man Michael Greene (played by 2050 producer and co-writer David Vaughn).

Michael was seduced by Maxwell's sex robot parlor precisely because of what is being offered: perfect obedience without him having to put forth any effort of his own. All of the upside, seemingly none of the down. But is a relationship with one of Maxwell's robots – specifically Quin, played by creative force of nature, artist, musician, emcee, model, actress, producer, writer, and director Stormi Maya (She's Gotta Have It Season 2) – enough to displace anything human? What does that question and its implications have to say about the human condition and our growing technological dependencies?

2050 probes all these questions in a smart, thought-provoking, and elegant way – while not mincing on the satirical side of its essence as a film. Check out the film's website here for release information as it makes its way on the theater circuit this spring. Also, enjoy the separate interviews below with Stormi Maya and David Vaughn.

David Vaughn as Michael Greene in this still from 2050.

Stormi Maya as Quin in this still from 2050.

Stormi Maya

Hello Stormi and welcome to The 405! To start things off, what initially attracted you to 2050?

When I saw the casting the concept instantly intrigued me. To play a robot was something I'd never thought I play and it was a challenge that excited me. I am always attracted to super unique and creative things.

You did it very well, 2050 was intriguing to watch in no small part because of your contribution. What was it like getting into the head space of Quin?

It was crazy to play Quin because in acting you're supposed to have emotion and be relatable. Quin is not human so I had to have no emotions and act extremely non-human.

That's interesting and actually gets into a related question I had: what were the other challenges like?

It was interesting to go into a state of no emotion and to act like I didn't understand certain human problems and emotions. It was fun though.

That's fantastic. Any funny or memorable moments that stick out from the process of filming?

The sex scenes were very new to everyone – it was the director's first one and for myself and the other actor, so it was a little awkward and new, but everyone was extremely professional and respectful. Also our lunches and breaks were amazing: it was full of laughter, jokes and great stories. We really bonded.

Interesting. Those scenes do arguably form a lot of the core of what 2050's story is, with its tremendous social commentary on technology, dependence, and relationships. What do you hope audiences will take away with them from the film?

The film is a satire of how we are so dependent on technology that we are losing human connections and I hope people grasp that.

Me too. The message is very timely with all the new findings science has on the effects of technologies like social media on humanity.

Stormi Maya. Pic courtesy of Stormi Maya.

Switching gears a bit, to a question I put to most everybody: what films, directors, actors and/or performances have shaped you as an artist?

I love Pam Grier because she’s a strong black woman who embraces her sexuality and sexual power… I am inspired by Eartha Kitt – she was extremely intelligent, knowing multiple languages and holding many talents. I also admire her energy, she was sassy, strong and someone you could not push over.

Pam Grier and Eartha Kitt are fantastic. I loved Grier especially in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and, of course, her earlier work like Foxy Brown. She has a presence about her, an x factor, which you also have Stormi. You are insanely multi-talented: model, actress, writer, director, musician, a theatre background. Any advice for people out there? How do you balance all those things so well?

I believe in having no regrets in life, I want to do everything my heart desires and everyone should try doing that in life at least once before dying. The key to balancing many things is to do them stress free, have moments where you focus all your energy on one skill and build on it; also, truly love and enjoy what you do and it will not feel like work . My talents and skills over all are all related – it's art. That's why it's easy for me to transition back and forth. If your various careers are related or similar you can easily work on them simultaneously.

I have great respect for people with the boldness and ability to do that. Speaking of art, what artists and works of any discipline or media have really influenced you?

Spike Lee is a huge influence – his talent, dedication and drive. I was blessed to work with him on SGHI2. I'm also a huge fan of Frida Kahlo; I love her feminism, her rebellious spirit and her rawness.

Spike is great – so is Frida, I'm a big fan of the symbolism and surrealism of her work.

Stormi Maya. Pic courtesy of Stormi Maya.

It saddens me BlacKkKlansman didn't get Best Picture when it clearly deserved it. Not just because of its message either – it was great entertainment, a compellingly-told good versus evil story with Sgt. Stallworth versus the Klan, I thought. Those are things that to me define a truly great film – it has to be entertaining and suck you in.

Which naturally leads to our next question, what makes a great film?

Rawness. The art being valued over the commercial. I like films that make me feel like I'm truly there. Draw me in.

Me too. If I can't suspend my disbelief and forget I'm watching a movie, I'm done. Might as well turn it off. With 2050 I had no trouble getting lost in the film because the story, acting, and satirical value were all strong.

Our last question Stormi, what's next for you? Will we be seeing more directing and writing from you? Cattle: The Cult was interesting to say the least, but it felt like it's an idea that needs more exploring in perhaps a feature film.

I am a rapper /emcee so I’m focusing a lot on my music now and going on tour soon, performing all over the world. She's Gotta Have It season two is coming in the summer and you'll see me on the Netflix screen as Yennifer Clemente. I'm always filming and you'll definitely see more movies of mine soon.

________________________________________________________________________________

Stormi's socials can all be found at the links here: Instagram, Twitter, music YouTube channel, other YouTube channel, Facebook. Head over to her website here to see the full version of her short film Cattle: The Cult after checking out the trailer below along with the music video to her song "STFU" in her Instagram post embedded below.

CATTLE: THE CULT (2018) trailer.

View this post on Instagram

Yo ! Storm Chasers ! ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️☔️Link In Bio My New Single “STFU” available on all platforms @itunes @spotify @tidal @applemusic @youtube etc • Producer @donaldrcole • • Directed/Film/Edited @donaldrcole Sound Engineer @lexwiththerecords • Cover Art @calebartxero • • #music #stormimaya #stormi #afro #black #musicvideo #musicproducer #musicians #rap #rapper #rappers #rapping #femalerapper #femalemc #female #dj #hiphop #hiphopmusic #hiphopblog #hiphopculture #hiphopartist #beats #itunes #spotify #artist #actress

A post shared by ⚡️tormi MF Maya (@stormimaya) on Apr 2, 2019 at 11:06pm PDT

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Still from 2050.

David Vaughn

Hello David and welcome to The 405! To start things off, what attracted you to 2050 and initially inspired you on the project? I know you are one of the credited writers and a producer in addition to lead actor.

What initially sparked this project was simply a need to produce a genre movie that was marketable. The idea itself came from an article that Princeton [Holt] read and subsequently sent to Brian [Ackley] and myself. It made the claim that by the year 2050 humans and robots would be in fully functioning romantic relationships.

Interesting.

All we had to do then was imagine what that world would look like. While it was a collaborative effort in creating the story, Brian did a fantastic job of actually writing the script. For me the biggest attraction to 2050 was the opportunity to not only be a lead on the project but to also produce at the same time. My inspiration came from my love of the genre, and Princeton's continuous enthusiasm for pushing creative limits on a budget. I wouldn't have been able to do what I did without his constant reminder that we are in this to create and not to settle.

Love that ethos, "low budget high concept." What was your individual and the collective creative process like as the film was being written?

It was a very collaborative effort. We would brainstorm about the story, characters, relationships, etc then Brian would put it into writing. After he had a draft ready, we would all read it, and start the process over again until we had a story that we all agreed was ready to produce. It wasn't easy. The three of us have very different tastes and styles, so I believe that what we ended up with is the most universal version that we could have made.

Awesome when those things click. What were the other challenges like?

Like all indie movies, we had many challenges to overcome. There were time constraints, budgetary deficits, locations falling through at the last minute, talent pulling out at the last minute – if it could go wrong it did. Murphy's Law was in full effect.

That sucks David. But yeah these things do tend to happen with film generally.

On the other hand we had amazing friends and support staff who worked their asses off to make sure that we would always land on our feet. Princeton and I would always be up until 2 or 3 AM after shooting trying to lock down locations for the following day, or finding an actor, or reworking a scene, or going over dailies. It was like being in a pressure cooker and trying to stay in character at the same time.

I love hearing about that kind of perseverance. What was it like getting in that head space of Michael Greene?

Becoming Michael Greene was easy. He and I are very similar. The challenge was staying in that head space and producing at the same time. There were a lot of days when I was literally running back and forth between takes because we didn't have an art department or costume department, or a script supervisor, so I was wearing a lot of hats at the same time.

Wow, yeah, I bet. Not too often I get to talk to someone wearing as many hats as you did.

Still from 2050.

Any funny or memorable moments which stick out from behind the scenes during filming?

There are, but you'll have to wait and hear them on the director's cut with commentary. I give all the secrets away!

[Laughs] fair enough. What do you hope people will take from 2050?

It was – I thought – very funny with some pointed observations about relationships but sad at the same time as we see the effects of the robots. The other thing that really stuck out for me was the music, too.

The music was perfect. It really accented the existential nature of the story while juxtaposing it with the artificial nature of 2050's technology.

Classical seemed to perfectly punctuate it and also serve as a nice juxtaposition with the action happening on screen. At any rate, quite a few existential questions were posed and answered eloquently. Well, the eMates didn't affect everyone negatively. That's the takeaway. I want people to see that happiness is different for everyone. The process to find what that happiness looks like can be painful, but it's necessary. To me the eMates are a metaphor for whatever it is that brings you happiness. I hope people's minds are opened a little, and they see that just because they believe something is right, it doesn't mean it's right for everyone.

GREAT takeaway. Switching gears to a question I ask everybody: what films, directors, actors, and/or particular performances have shaped and molded you as an artist?

Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, P.T. Anderson, Lars von Trier, the Coen brothers, Tony Kaye, Darren Aronofsky, Martin Scorsese, to name a few directors. De Niro in Taxi Driver, Hoffman in The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy, Nicholson in The Shining, Hopkins in everything he's ever done… the actor list could go on forever. As for films that have influenced me, there's a litany of them.

Yeah, it's a big question by nature. What makes a great film?

A story that moves people, filmed in a way that keeps them interested, by a team that cares about making the best possible work.

I like that. Great, succinct, to the point.

Dean Cain as Maxwell in this still from 2050.

Our last question, will we be seeing more from you as a director and writer? What’s next for you?

Absolutely you will be seeing more of me as a writer/director. Currently I'm working on a movie franchise. I've written the first screenplay and have the next four in development.

Follow David Vaughn on Twitter here.

2050 (2018) trailer.

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Everything About Ninja Fortnite Stats, Control, Settings, Skin, Net Worth!

Who is Ninja?

Everything About Ninja Fortnite Stats, Control, Settings, Skin, Net Worth!

Tyler Blevins , or "Ninja ", as everyone knows, is at the top of Fortnite: Battle Royale , which has become the more popular game in recent years. Ninja came to this site shortly after playing video games, although there is everyone knows the Fortnite thanks to the legend began much more quickly than this detail. For those people who have puzzled, we wanted to take the Ninja's past, growth, item of countries of origin and profit. Esports career Tyler Blevins, who was born June 5, 1991, knows almost everyone as a Twitch publisher, but in fact he is a professional espor musician. In 2009, Ninja began to play Halo professionally, and over the years he has been on the casting of units such as Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, Renegades, Team Liquid and Warriors. In 2011, he decided to draw two seconds path and should begin to broadcast live on Justin.tv and made his first steps towards fame. As a publisher, he first caught esteem with H1Z1, and last year he made his action to PUBG, the last sport of the Twitch before Fortnite. In 2017, he met the H1Z1 in Luminosity Gaming, where he was a member of the Halo player, and continued during PUBG and won the claim as a squad in the TPP( third-person view) category of the PUBG tournament in Gamescom. Ninja's Fortnite fortitude Let's come to the ninja's modern state, the fame that he had with Fortnite. Ninja, which started Fortnite: Battle Royale programmes as of September 2017, has been around 500 thousand followers, and today it has reached 8.5 million embankment. Of course, the rise of Ninja's incredible gaming rendition was as effective as Fortnite's own. It came to a notes that included Canadian musician Drake, American rapper Travis Scott and American football player Juju Smith-Schuster. When they were broadcasting, beings said that Drake followed me on Twitter, and he started following Fortnite.' Should I text him ?' but I didn't, and then he texted me to play together two days later.

https :// youtu.be/ tktEAa7 9lwg

Ninja& Drake , one of the most important instants in Twitch history, needs to open up a little more. The process" When broadcasting, parties told me that Drake followed me on Twitter, and then he started following Fortnite. My wife,' Should I text him ?' I expected, but I didn't, and after 2 day she texted me to play together, um Ninja says.

How much does Ninja give?

One of the most puzzled subjects about Ninja is its coin determine. The number of customers on the screen clearly shows the number of customers, as of today, Ninja has 160 thousand readers, which is$ 3.50 per used from Twitch, exclusively 560.000 dollars per month when the subscriber income is over $. Furthermore, considering that the E3 game fair cannot program for 2 day, Ninja has lost 40,000 customers in these two days.

The Ninja Fortnite net worth is turning the appetite of countless parties and parties are discontinuing their current employment and questioning the opening up of broadcasting. Ninja'nin comment on this issue is very clear and reasonable:" Some people leave academy or institution joke about being a full-time publisher, and I'm certainly saying' no '. When you start publishing, you don't have a minimum wage, you don't earn money. this is necessary people to subscribe and give to you." Not simply does she spend so much better for herself, Ninja is acknowledged for her assist broadcasts and subscriptions on occasion. Ninja, who gifted$ 110,000 to the American Suicide Prevention Foundation in February 2018, who fixed $ 50,000 in the Fortnite Battle Royale Espor affair in April 2018 and$ 2,500 to the Alzheimer's Association, together with other publishers St. It was instrumental in the collection of$ 340,000 for Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Ninja Fortnite Settings

One of the given name that come to thoughts when it comes to ornite successful performance, as well as the superior serve skills of the Ninja, the equipment and activity regulates presented to his followers. The most popular battle royale activity of the last age is now recognized and compared to PUBG, Fortnite has become an organization that has opened the doors of prestige for many Twitch publishers. In the recent period of the name of the game with the publication of the names of the Ninja comes definitely. Ninja, who increased his popularity day by day with his successful Fortnite acting and amusing present, shared video games places which is one of the segments behind his success recently with his partisans. Now are the Ninja's game settleds equipment systems :P 

Not Representing with Maximum Screen Settings

Although it is extremely enjoyable to play a game at the highest level, it can sometimes compel damages in carry-on. The screen settles of Ninja , which is aware of such a situation, are as follows :P TAGEND

Off Shadows Anti-aliasing Off Retouches Off

Ninja Fortnite Setup

Ninja's Monitor

The Ninja has a gaming monitor called Alienware 25 which has a refresh frequency of up to 240 Hz . With a$ 480 price tag , the design offers a smooth gaming know by belittling chassis loss thanks to refresh charge. Mention: Regardless of your monitor pose, it will be a plus for you to play games with the maximum resolution it supports.

Ninja's Mouse

He is consuming Logitech 502 Proteus Spectrum , Ninja represents with a mouse whose average premium is $51. Ninja's Custom Mouse defines are as follows :P TAGEND

Mouse Sensitivity X( Horizontal ): 0.09 Mouse Sensitivity Y( Vertical ): 0.06 ADS: 0.60 Scope Sensitivity: 0.40

Ninja's Keyboard

Using the Logitech G610 at$ 85, the Ninja has an surprising key specifying. Use the "Z" key to select the weapon, the" X insa key for the 5th artillery, the" 5" key to adopt the capture, the" Q" key to construct the wall.

Ninja Fortnite Skin

If you've always wanted to know how gaming presents itself in 2018 and what's important to many, then you are able to watch the fight between streamer "Ninja" and Epic Games. Because Ninja is grumbling loudly about the facts of the case that he does not get his own skin. It is not( only) about ego, but about money. Tyler " Ninja " Blevins is angry, fucking crazy. For the currently largest live plays streamer in the gaming world-wide grumbled in a recent video that he does not get his own surface in Fortnite. Ninja believes that he has his own in-game "disguise" because he has been instrumental in fixing Fortnite popular. That's certainly genuine, as the 27 -year-old is the tremor streamer with the most followers, he too contains the record for most sees at the same time, more than 650,000 parties watching him play games rapper Drake.

Whether it was actually" about one billion" people, as he claims in the video( via comic book ), is certainly a bit overdone. In all such cases, Ninja is angry that he is not reputation with a skin, he would be the first streamer or" content builder" to receive this honor.

Blevins says he can understand that, but then he can not, because after all, he's not anyone. He accepted," that other streamer might require the same, but still ". So you are able to summarize his argument anyway.

Fortnite started free of charge on the Nintendo Switch

"Poor" ninja? Ninja is probably not only about honoring him, but likewise or primarily about the money. Because with barks Epic Games deserves a lot of money, Fortnite is known to be mostly a free accessible tournament. Skins payment extra, for specially rare are up to 20 EUR due.

If Ninja got a skin, then Epic Games would certainly have to had participated in it. The question: Ninja is not financially far worse. Because Blevins gives according to current( but considered quite accurate) estimates more than$ 420,000, per month imagination you and merely for the Twitch dues- sponsorship contracts and the like is not included. Squirm/ Tyler Blevins

Ninja Fortnite Stats: