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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years ago

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Light on the Door (ao3) (WWX in the Nie sect) - on tumblr: part 1, part 2, part 3

Nie Mingjue had hoped, somehow, that he would be able to avoid having this conversation. He wasn’t sure how he intended to avoid it – fobbing it off on another family member was beneath his dignity, it was pretty much inevitable to need to happen at some point during adolescence, and no matter how tempting he wasn’t going to up and die just to avoid some awkwardness – he’d still been hopeful.

The time for hope, however wistful and unsustainable, was gone.

“I want to start by telling you that this is a normal development,” he said, trying to keep his tone straightforward and casual, and failing miserably by the expression on Wei Wuxian’s face. “When you start to get older –”

“Please tell me we are not having the sex talk,” Wei Wuxian said, his voice faint with horror. “I have read way too much porn to be having the sex talk with you.”

“I wish we were having the sex talk,” Nie Mingjue grumbled. “I could give you a book, tell you to ask me any questions you like, and call it a day. Sex isn’t even an embarrassing subject.”

Wei Wuxian’s shoulders loosened. “Good point. Okay. So what talk are we having?”

“The secrets of the Nie sect cultivation method talk,” Nie Mingjue said, a little dryly. “Or, as my father called it, ‘when a boy and his saber start feeling strange things about each other’.”

Wei Wuxian’s face suggested that he was, once again, suffering horribly and unjustly from the Nie clan sense of humor. Which he somehow shared, so Nie Mingjue didn’t know what he was complaining about.

“I’m going to ignore that,” Wei Wuxian eventually decided, “in favor of focusing on the key parts of that sentence, namely ‘secrets’. What secrets?”

“Our cultivation path starts in a manner that’s very similar to orthodox swordsmanship paths,” Nie Mingjue explained. “And we are open to guest cultivators and outer disciples continuing to practice that sort of path, but the main part of the Nie sect, especially the clan, practice something a little bit more…unorthodox.”

“Unorthodox,” Wei Wuxian said, sounding as if he were rolling the word around in his mouth to savor the taste. “What do you mean, unorthodox?”

Nie Mingjue decided to just cut to the chase. “We utilize resentful energy from shedding the blood of the evil creatures that we hunt to cultivate our sabers into saber spirits capable of fighting evil semi-independently.”

Wei Wuxian’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what? That’s why I keep imagining that I can hear Suibian? Or, well, not hear…”

“Saber spirits don’t really talk, but they certainly have feelings,” Nie Mingjue agreed. “Lots of them, sometimes.”

Baxia calmly radiated a fuck you too feeling at him, but in a fond sort of way.

“Mostly ‘I want to destroy evil’ feelings,” he added, because it was true.

Wei Wuxian still looked stunned, so Nie Mingjue figured it was time to continue explaining.

“In orthodox swordsmanship cultivation, only the most powerful cultivators have swords that obey only their master – but because we cultivate our sabers�� spirits, all of them only obey a single master. Because they’ve been cultivated through the shedding of blood, they’re full of resentful energy themselves; they become far more powerful, but also more difficult to control.”

“Qi deviation,” Wei Wuxian said, jumping ahead at least ten steps in the talk. “Because of the proximity to resentful energy?”

“Not proximity. We cultivate our sabers through our own cultivation – processing the resentful energy and purifying it so that our sabers stay true to our principles. As the saber’s cultivation grows, it becomes more difficult to process it without becoming unbalanced, and eventually, absent a breakthrough, it will result in a qi deviation. It’s the trade established by the founder of our sect: we gain the ability to defeat evil now, but we pay the price later.”

Wei Wuxian obviously didn’t like that, and Nie Mingjue didn’t want to jump straight into the ‘so eventually all men die and some sooner than others’ section of the talk anyway, so he pulled it back.

“You’ve reached the point in your cultivation where you’ve started to sense Suibian’s rage,” Nie Mingjue explained. “It will affect you, making your temper shorter and you more impulsive; you’ll need to keep a careful check on it…as much as is reasonable, anyway. I’m not exactly one to talk about keeping your temper.”

He tried. Very hard, even, and he mostly even succeeded in mastering his temper into more appropriate channels – look, he hadn’t once tried to stab any other sect leader over the table in a Discussion Conference, and he was sitting across from Jin Guangshan, a walking pustule with wandering hands and no morals; Jiang Fengmian, too lukewarm to do anything except apparently whine about how Wei Wuxian preferred to stay in the Nie sect; and Wen Ruohan, his father’s murderer, a narcissist with delusions that he deserved to be emperor of the world, and all around creep.

A few instances of having to excuse himself to go break a table or stab a wall was totally reasonable.

“You’ll go a lot more night-hunts from this point onwards, which will help you shed more blood and strengthen your saber further,” he continued. “But you have to remember at all times that your saber will reflect you; that means it’s your duty to cultivate it properly, to teach it to hate evil and value righteousness. Principles are just as important – no, more important – than increasing power.”

“I didn’t even know resentful energy could be used like that,” Wei Wuxian said blankly. “Isn’t it something we have to fight against? Or is it just – it’s energy. We use spiritual energy for the most part, but we use resentful energy for the sabers…couldn’t we use resentful energy for ourselves, too?”

Nie Mingjue rolled his eyes and flicked him in the forehead. “No. Using resentful energy without a channel is demonic cultivation.”

“So what?” Wei Wuxian said, his eyes bright. “If you can use it –”

“Are you made of steel?” Nie Mingjue interrupted. “Our sabers can absorb and redirect resentful energy without suffering from moral corrosion; even so, they eventually become fixated, obsessive, reckless and undiscriminating, which is why they need masters – someone who can direct them towards defeating evil when they lose the ability to tell the difference themselves. If you use resentful energy yourself, you yourself may become subject to those same issues, and where would you be?”

“Letting you and Nie Huaisang order me around,” Wei Wuxian said promptly. “Obviously.”

“Brat. Do you want to hear the details or not?”

“Of course I do! I’m just surprised that Nie Huaisang didn’t slip up and tell me about it earlier.”

“He doesn’t know,” Nie Mingjue said, and winced when Wei Wuxian stared at him. “It’s not necessary to tell him until he starts feeling Aituan the way I feel Baxia or you feel Suibian, and given the extremely slow rate of his cultivation, that might be a while out yet. He’s happy as he is; why burden him with secrets?”

“Because he deserves to know that you might die?”

“He knows that,” Nie Mingjue said, his mind suddenly pulled back to the terrible months before his father died. “Trust me. He knows.”

Wei Wuxian was quiet for a moment. “He might cultivate more if he knew that he could eventually have conversations with Aituan,” he suggested.

“He might cultivate less if he knew it was increasing his chances of an early death,” Nie Mingjue rebutted. “It’s the cultivation path of his ancestors; he can’t abandon it, but he can waffle and drag his feet. And if he doesn’t form a golden core properly, if he doesn’t learn to defend himself, he’ll die sooner than any qi deviation will kill me and that’s – that can’t happen. You understand that, right?”

“Of course,” Wei Wuxian said. “Don’t worry, da-ge. I’ll take care of Huaisang.”

Nie Mingjue put his hand on the back of Wei Wuxian’s nape and shook him. “I don’t want to send you off before I go either, brat; don’t get so wrapped up in protecting Huaisang that you forget that. So be careful.”

“I will,” Wei Wuxian said. “I promise.”

“So, do you think it’s time to give Wei Wuxian the talk?” Nie Huaisang asked Jiang Cheng as they dangled their feet in the river.

“What?” Jiang Cheng said, turning to look at him. “Are you joking? You have so much porn –”

“Not the sex talk,” Nie Huaisang said, rolling his eyes. “Sex isn’t a talk; learning about sex is a book explaining the mechanics, a lifetime of listening to soldiers, and a very enjoyable process, to hear the stories. And to read them, of course.”

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng said, flushing red. Nie Huaisang assumed his version of learning about sex had been a little different. “If you didn’t mean that, then what did you mean?”

“Porn can teach you about mechanics, as long as you take it with a solid pound of skepticism about how flexible the human body is and remember where the holes are,” Nie Huaisang said wisely, even as Jiang Cheng put his head in his hands and groaned. “But it doesn’t teach you about feelings.”

“Feelings.”

“Yes, feelings. I-like-you feelings. Like the stupid expression that Jin Zixuan get every time he sees Jiang Yanli practicing saber, or when he hears about those rumors that Sect Leader Nie would snatch her up as his bride in a second if he ever broke the engagement…”

“Why are we talking about feelings?” Jiang Cheng said, not raising his head.

“Because Wei Wuxian is an idiot.”

“Hey, that’s my best friend you’re talking about,” Jiang Cheng said, notably not disagreeing with the assessment. “And other than getting himself thrown out of Teacher Lan’s class because of his stupid theorizing about demonic cultivation, he’s usually pretty smart.”

“I’m well aware. He’s my shixiong,” Nie Huaisang pointed out. “And a genius. Doesn’t mean he’s not an idiot.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “What type of feelings talk? The one about not marrying someone who doesn’t love you because you’ll be miserable your entire life one?”

“No, and I’m not touching that with a ten-foot spear, but if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here for you,” Nie Huaisang said. “I meant the one about liking people, and how to recognize it when that’s what you’re feeling.”

“Wait,” Jiang Cheng said. “Are you saying that Wei Wuxian likes someone?”

Nie Huaisang closed his eyes. “Oh,” he said, in tones of pained revelation. “That’s my problem. I’m surrounded by idiots.”

“Hey!”

“I’m going to write to da-ge and tell him he needs to find more smart people to join the sect. Otherwise there’ll be no help for it; my brain is going to end up deteriorating into nothing but mush –”

“Hey!” Jiang Cheng slapped him upside the head, which Nie Huaisang supposed he deserved. “Now stop being a jerk and tell me who Wei Wuxian likes. I didn’t even know there were any girls around for him to like.”

“For the first time in my life, I want my saber,” Nie Huaisang said.

“…what?”

“It’s supposed to give you strength. To support you as you suffer through hardships untold –”

Jiang Cheng pushed him into the river.

Nie Huaisang surfaced a moment later, dripping wet. “Okay, okay,” he said, grinning; it was a hot day and he had been asking for it. “I’ll stop. The reason you’re confused is because the person Wei Wuxian likes isn’t a girl.”

Jiang Cheng looked blank.

Nie Huaisang mimed scissors and pretended to snip at his now soaked sleeve.

“Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Cheng said doubtfully. “But he flirts with girls all the time. Like when we went to Caiyi Town –”

“To be fair, that threw me for a while too,” Nie Huaisang said. “But no one ever said you couldn’t like girls and boys. After all, they’re both really pretty!”

“I guess,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Well, you don’t count. You like boys and girls equally, too.”

“I do not!”

“Yes, you do,” Nie Huaisang said patiently. “Zero interest in either is still equal.”

Jiang Cheng scowled in the way that suggested that Nie Huaisang was right, but shouldn’t say it.

“Look at it this way: if you never end up liking anybody, you can be friends with your future wife and she’d never need to be worried about you liking anyone else.”

“…that’s true,” Jiang Cheng conceded, looking intrigued by the idea. “Anyway, enough about me. We were talking about Wei Wuxian. Who does he like?”

“Lan Wangji.”

“I know that,” Jiang Cheng said with a scoff, and Nie Huaisang had a momentary hope that maybe he’d been the slow one for once when Jiang Cheng ruined it all by adding, “He’s his best friend, too; we all agreed on that. I was talking about who he liked.”

Nie Huaisang covered his face for a moment and sighed.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s start this from the top: how would you like the opportunity to be Wei Wuxian’s only best friend?”

“…what do you mean? How could that happen?”

“I’m Wei Wuxian’s shidi, my da-ge is his da-ge, and you’re his best friend – and Lan Wangji can be his boyfriend.”

“Oh, I see, that – wait. Wei Wuxian likes Lan Wangji?!”

“And he has no idea,” Nie Huaisang said. “And that’s why we need to give him the talk.”

Jiang Cheng seemed to be struggling with the idea, but in the end he said, “And I get to be his only best friend afterwards, right?” so somehow Nie Huaisang thought it was all going to be fine.

“I need to have a talk with my saber,” Wei Wuxian said, batting his eyelashes at the door guards. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Of course they minded. The Wen sect hadn’t taken away their weapons for their own good – it was a move designed to humiliate them, to weaken them, to show them their place.

But under the circumstances…

“Let him in,” Wen Zhuliu said, his arms crossed over his chest and his face as unmoving as stone. “Once the issue is resolved, he returns to the rest of the group and the incident is never spoken of again.”

The incident being the mysterious snapping of several Wen sect swords during the night when no one was around, which went on for a few days before someone stuck around and realized it was the angry spiritual energy pouring out of Suibian that was causing the issues.

Weird, but, well, everyone knew Nie sabers were weird. The best weapon to use against resentful energy by far, of course, and yao spirits in particular, but still – weird.

Wei Wuxian went into the armory, his heart hurting at all those brilliant shining swords sitting around as if they were merely spares for the Wen sect instead of treasures for their respective masters; there was Sandu over there, and Bichen, and even Suihua. Only lucky Aituan wasn’t here by virtue of Nie Huaisang having believably ‘forgotten’ it back at home; that had been good – Nie Mingjue had nearly had a fit at the idea of Wei Wuxian taking Suibian anywhere near Wen Ruohan and it would’ve been worse if there’d been Aituan to worry about, too.

They’d had to talk him down for a long while to get him to agree. To convince him that the Wens were not yet so daring that they’d commit murder at their indoctrination camp, that they’d be safe enough even if uncomfortable, that the time could be better spent in finalizing the preparations for the war that they all knew was coming.

Having to hand over Suibian at the beginning, though – it’d been hard.

“Hey, baby,” Wei Wuxian said, reaching out to run his fingers down her blade.

Saber spirits didn’t speak the way people spoke, more an amalgamation of raw feeling and sub-human levels of thought, but he liked to think he could hear Suibian saying where have you been you jerk let’s get out of here I want to stab something already.

“No stabbing,” Wei Wuxian said. “And sadly, no getting out of here; we’re stuck. I just got let in here long enough to try to talk to you…since when do you break swords?”

Baxia said.

Suibian didn’t have a word for Baxia, only a feeling like lightning turned solid, a blood-drenched pillar made of stone that could hold up the weight of the world, accompanied by an incredible amount of respect that Suibian certainly never felt about any human up to and including Wei Wuxian – who Suibian seemed to treat more as a little brother than anything else.

A moderately stupid little brother, even.

“Nice try,” Wei Wuxian said patiently. “Baxia isn’t here, so she couldn’t have possibly told you to go break Wen swords.”

Baxia said they broke one of ours.

Wei Wuxian stared. “You can’t possibly mean…old Sect Leader Nie’s? You weren’t even forged then.”

Baxia was. Baxia remembers. Baxia hates them.

“Hey, I hate them, too. Remember me? Your master?”

If it makes you happy.

“Wow, really? Jackass.”

Jerk.

“Pointy object.”

Oblong meat.

Wei Wuxian snickered. “Okay, anyway, you need to stop.”

They are the tools of evil men. If they are not destroyed, they will do evil in the future.

That was Suibian in a nutshell: carefree and arrogant, with a bone-deep sense of righteousness regardless of anything.

They said sabers reflected their masters – Wei Wuxian could only hope that it was true.

He ran his fingers down the flat of the blade again, as much to comfort himself as to calm Suibian.

“I know. But we don’t have a choice right now, okay? I know you’re not very good with thinking about the future, about consequences – I know I’m not very good at it, which means you never had anyone to teach it to you – but right now we need to behave or else bad things will happen to people we love. I told them the breaking of the swords was because of a talisman I carved into you that I forgot to deactivate, so they don’t know about you, but if you keep it up, they might figure it out…”

He sighed. “Don’t make me make it an order.”

Suibian was not happy with him right now, but Wei Wuxian could feel the reluctant agreement.

“Just wait,” Wei Wuxian said. “Soon enough you’ll have all the evil you could possibly want to fight, and more besides.”

Soon, there would be war.

#mdzs #nie mingjue #wei wuxian #nie huaisang #jiang cheng #suibian #my fic #my fics

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the-goddessfighter · 4 years ago

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[ Alien vs Predator Batarou AU - Part 1 ]

by: Little1993lamb

for: Temperans-sama / @the-goddessfighter Word count: 7252 Warning: Background characters' death. Some violence and gore mentions, but not too explicit.

Not exactly a fanfic but more of a long scenario AU headcanon. Caution for bad English and very limited vocabulary as I'm not native English speaker and still not fluent enough, OOC characterizations, and lots of inaccurate concepts compared from the movie plotline as this headcanon is just loosely inspired by it, so please forgive me if this not so good I'm so sorry 🙇💦

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This AU headcanon was based on my weird "Alien vs Predator" movie-like dream I had weeks ago. But for this AU, the story has slightly modificated to fit Batarou situation:

• Badd as a Spaceman, working for the extraterrestrial research scientists organization, unexpectedly met Garou in one of his mission.

• Garou as one of the Yautja/Predator warriors, aiding Badd on fighting against the Xenomorphs Aliens.

The other headcanon concepts, like Garou's concept designs for the AU, are written on the notes at the end of story below.

As I promised before, this is my present for you to begin the year 2021, Temperans-sama (and of course also everyone in the fandom). I hope you enjoyed this AU headcanon!

Let's get started! 😊😉👌💖

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Badd was working for Space and Extraterrestrial Research Organization as their Spaceman. Not as the researcher because he hates to work in a lab, he rather to do some actions in the field or outdoor works. There were several divisions for Spacemen jobs in the Organization, but what Badd specialized was the ones who could do fighting or combat. Basically like security guard to ensure the safety of Research Organization members. Sometimes he also being included in a rescue team when there was something life-threatening emergency situation happens.

One day, he got a mission along with his other coworkers in rescue team to save their crewmates, who previously were sent to investigate an unknown spaceship that was approaching Earth's orbit but then they were trapped in there.

Just after arriving on the ship and navigating their crewmates' location, they found a bunch of terrifying monstrous Xenomorph aliens attacking them. Battle was ensued, many of them died because they weren't expected these creatures' presence in the spaceship. None of the hostages crewmates informed them because turned out either they were already dead or incapable to send complete information to the base.

In the middle of fighting inside an alien spaceship, Badd finally met one of the hostage crewmates who is also one of his bestfriend and he joined to fight along with his friend against the creatures.

At the end of exhausting battle, Badd and that one friend survived on escaping from the ship along with some few other crewmates. When Badd asked him on a private room, "Why didn't you send help request more sooner?", the friend just answered, "Because I was waiting for this moment".

Badd saw his friend's appearance changing into an unknown stranger figure: a spiky white haired humanoid alien with heavily intricate armored body. Surprisingly, he is not so hideous like the other alien creatures but still has an otherworldly figure.

Badd was stunned when the stranger alien explained his intention using some language translator device on his helmet armor,

"Initially, my warrior troops were gonna invade your precious Earth but unexpectedly our spaceship was infested by those creatures you've seen before. I'm the Leader and the only survivor during the ambush and that's when your naive crewmates coming to our already wrecked ship. They sent SOS signal to your base when they were under attack. Because I want a chance for long-term survival, I borrowed your dead friend's appearance by shapeshifted as him".

He continued, "Luckily, you found me and think of me as your friend! I must gained your trust by playing along as your crewmate the whole time so I could hop into your ship together with you, thus fulfilling my intention to invade the Earth. Thanks for bringing me along, tiny human..".

The alien warrior ended his speech with a growling voice into the still stunned Badd's ear. Then he reached on his armor helmet mask and slowly took them off, revealing the true face of him:

A humanoid monster-like face with wide ridged forehead, intimidating-looked narrow hollowed eyes in which have round big golden-coloured irises, no nose, has these huge mandibles complete with two sets of long pointed tusks on them, and when they opened a bit Badd could see rows of sharp teeth inside. This alien warrior also has swept-back long spiky white hair, it was the most eye-catching feature on him.

Realizing Badd was observing his unmasked face, the white-haired alien suddenly snarled by opened his mandibles up in front of Badd's face to scare him. He wanted to test if this human would weirded out or cowering in fear from seeing his real appearance or not. But Badd only jolted back in reflex from getting surprised, without any hints of fear detected in his eyes. "You.. aren't scared by me?"

Badd was taken aback by the question, "Huh? Nah. I've seen much worse and it wasn't you, obviously".

"Not for a little bit? Nothing at all?", the alien didn't convinced by Badd's statement at all.

"Yep. 'Sides, I rather looked at your face than have to witness those Lovecraftian abominable creatures in that spaceship before. Hey what are you trying to do, by the way, huhh??", Badd could swears this white-haired alien just wanted to make fun of him.

The white-haired alien just humming and nodding to himself, "Hmm.. You're indeed an interesting one.", as he placed his hand under his chin and rubbing it, it seems like he found some amusement in Badd.

Although he was indeed caught off-guard by the surprise snarl, Badd didn't afraid of him on a slightest, instead he actually was mesmerized by the alien's charm. Badd blurted out, "Are you gonna eat me?".

The white-haired alien just giving a funny look for a second and then grinning widely after hearing that silly question, showing all of his sharp teeth and fangs inside his mandibles, "No, not yet. Not until I know you better..", a chuckling sounds like a cat's purr was heard from him as he caressed the human's soft cheek with his long claws.

Badd frowned on what the alien had said, 'So in the end he will devours me if I'm not useful anymore?'. He didn't wanna think what he should explain to Zenko when the time has come.

When Badd said he didn't afraid to die, it doesn't mean he wanted to leave his beloved little sister alone, not when she hasn't finished her education in college and reaching her dream! Also, sure as hell not by being eaten by this strange alien!

Seeing Badd was slightly affected by the threatening words, he retreated his hand back. "Well I'm just joking, I never and wont eat humans, don't worry. They make a good prey but totally not good for consumption at all". Then he laughed loudly at Badd's dumb-strucked face. Badd started to feel pissed off: they both had just met and this alien already have the guts for teasing him twice??

The laughing finally ceased, "I think we should cooperating from now on. What is your name, little human?", the alien curiously asked, those bright yellow irises staring deep into Badd's rich dark chocolate eyes, searching for any hints of fear emotions but instead found some fire ablaze in them.

"Badd. My name's Badd, just remember whose human who had saved your sorry ass", he answered while removing the clawed hand that caressed his cheek, boldly swatting it away from him.

The charming white-haired alien quickly caught Badd's hand and clasped it with his palm, "Ooh a feisty one! Seems like I was right for choosing to fight along with you minutes ago, you're quite strong for a mere human. I like that. And you can call me 'Garou'. Nice to meet you, Badd..".

From the corner of his eye, Badd saw 'Garou' took something from his pocket. It was a small piece of the Xenomorph's sliced finger. He squished it a bit until the green-ish blood residue leaked out from the cut, then slowly moved it closer towards Badd's face.

"Stay still, Badd", the warrior instructed him.

"WHOAA NONO NO NO, GET IT AWAY FROM MY FACE!!", the young spaceman tried to swat that finger thing from Garou's hand and moved away as far as possible, refusing Garou's request.

"I said stay still! Calm down it's just a quick little brush", Garou insisted as he keeps holding Badd's hand to prevent Badd from swatting and moving too much.

The moment Badd's forehead being brushed by the blood as Garou carved a symbol on him, his skin sizzled from the contact of corrosive acid fluid and those left red scratched marks as the result.

"OUCH OW THAT HURTS! IT BURNED MY SKIN, JACKASS!!", Badd shouted then grimaced at the burned sensation on his forehead, he let out pained moaning. "Uuh.. What's that for?"

"I'm 'marking' you. You fight along with me, you even managed to kill those creatures despite being a human. Therefore, you earned my respect to bear an honourable mark from me," Garou smiled proudly at Badd, genuinely happy to find such a strong fierce human at the first meeting.

Badd didn't know how he should reacted at the explanation, but after seeing Garou's genuine proud expression he thought maybe it was actually a very rare honourable thing to be given outside his clan. From the spaceship window glass reflection, Badd could see the fresh carved scratched-like mark. He was admiring how neat the mark Garou has carved onto his forehead. An honour mark.

"Umm.. Honestly I didn't expected it, but.. Thank you, I guess?", Badd muttered while caressing his freshly marked skin.

"You're welcome, tiny human. So, right now we are heading towards your precious Earth, right? Do you have any spare room in your house for me, hmm?", Garou grinning confidenty, expecting for more interesting things from Badd after they live together.

Badd felt an impending huge migrane forming in his head, as well as the sudden urge to facepalm so hard, "... Goddamnit."

This would changed his normal daily life.

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As the consequence of accidentally helping Garou, Badd must hide his existence from the Research Organization. So, after arrived back to the Earth, Badd must gives false-report for the base that their rescue mission was failed and only a few of team members were survived.

During that time, Garou made himself invisible but also could shapeshift into anyone for more advanced stealth tactics. Badd allowed Garou to live temporarily in his house, as long as Garou wont harming his beloved little sister Zenko and his cute cats.

At first, Garou forgot to shift into his human form in front of Zenko when Badd sneakily brought him into his house at late night. He didn't know Zenko was still awake at that hour because she was waiting for his comeback.

Badd wanted to smack himself after noticed Garou's big mistake, but after staring intensely at Garou for a full minute, Zenko just nonchalantly said,

"So you've got back from the space and you're bringing an alien boyfriend home? Hmm.. Not bad. Nice choice by the way, I always know your type, big bro", and she gives Badd thumbs up of approval.

Garou takes a liking on Zenko's bravery, maybe he could get along with her more easier later. On the other hand, despite his attempt at correcting Zenko that Garou isn't his alien boyfriend (yet), it makes Badd feels relieved that his little sister doesn't really mind of him bringing an extraterrestrial being as a new roommate in their house.

Garou spending most of his time at Badd's home by trying to learn human's behaviour and any other knickknack Earth-y things out of curiousity, that he slowly forgetting his original intentions and getting more interested on building a newfound relationship with Badd.

Badd also slowly growing fond of this charming alien, especially when Garou becomes more protective to him and his family, not to mention Garou actually learning humanity better than actual human. He was actually surprised that Garou had decided to develop a new "adaptive" form, in which a mix between his real form and human form, to help him communicate better with Badd while still maintaining most of his real appearance. Especially when it requires him speaking by human language more fluently.

Sometimes when Badd wasn't working or taking a day-off, they would spending time together at home and exchanged stories of their life. After Badd promised Garou that he wont tell any information to the higher up in the Organization, Garou explaining his life as a Warrior from his own planet, the secret history behind the invasion mission toward Earth and the super advanced technologies they owned compared with what human have currently.

It's kinda fun to have someone from another world to talk casually with, since Garou himself didn't have many close friends in his own troops. Not even to the old Elder warrior, Bang, who Garou regards as his adoptive father and his former trainer.

In return, Badd telling Garou about his favorite things, his childhood stories, his family including his late parents, everything about Zenko as he adores her so much, also about the reason why he took such adventurous yet dangerous job as Spaceman for the Research Organization. If Garou ever curious for some Earth-y stuff that he still didn't understand (as he called those things "outdated ancient stuff"), Badd will also explaining about them to him.

On special occasion, Badd would brings Garou and Zenko out to go shopping together or having fun on amusement park. He thinks it's good idea to take Garou with him and introducing many fun things humans usually do in daily life. It feels good to have a sense of having a full family again after he lost his own parents years ago. Besides, seeing how adorable Garou trying to enjoy human's entertaintments or bonding with Zenko was amusing.

To blending himself in public when they're going outside together, Garou usually shifted onto his "human-persona" so he wont attracts unwanted attention from people. But when he's around Badd's house, Garou just shifted back to his original form or his adaptive form since Badd loves it so much and wants Garou to be comfortable as himself at home.

Fortunately, it seems Badd's neighbourhood was inhabited by chill people. They never questioned further or suspicious about who Garou really is, especially after Zenko purposely introduced him as "her big brother's new boyfriend who just moved in from another city". Badd immediately blushed or flustered everytime they mentioned his "handsome boyfriend", as they also greet Garou warmly and saying that Badd was so lucky to have this gorgeous man as his lover.

Garou persistently asking Badd what is this "boyfriend" supposed to meant and why did Badd always deflecting his genuine questions while being all bright red faced with higher heart rate. Despite never got the answer, Garou likes to tease the cute little spaceman that he adores so much.

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

After staying on Earth for months in Badd's home, Garou started to questioning himself.

Garou wondered if his original mission is really worthy or not, because in truth what he had said to Badd about the reason why he comes to Earth is not entirely true.

The real story was, Garou was just wanna visit the Earth for sportmanship and training himself to become the best hunter warrior. He was going to prove the Elites that he is worthy enough to get more superior rank that the one he currently is. That's why he also brought the Young Blood packs along with him to train them once they arrived on the Earth.

Until that accident happened because of a miscalculation: the Xenomorph alien larvaes that supposed to be used on humans, the supposed hosts, for initiation and hunting ritual were infesting his packs when they were still in the middle of their journey towards the Earth. Garou's plan was destroyed spectacularly, he lost all his pack members before he reached their destination. At least on the better side, because of that accident he could meet Badd along the way, so it feels not too bad.

On the other hand for personal fulfillment, he wanted to seek different challenges in another planets to polish his hunting skills and adding new experiences. So, the invasion plan was actually just his secondary mission, in fact it was actually just a bluffing. But it sounds like a more cooler way to threatened Badd back then.

Not that he ever cares about human civilization and the entire human population in Earth, as he remains indifferent for them and regards them as mere weak prey for hunting sport. But he found out this one particular human is very fascinating to him: Badd. The more he interacted with Badd, the more he gets attached.

Not to mention lately Garou sensed something wrong with himself that only occured everytime they spend time or hanging out together, like there's warm feeling in his chest or sudden protective instinct whenever he is near Badd.

And while Garou considers humans are ugly, for some unknown reason he thinks Badd, in human's expressive language, is "beautiful". Inside his fierce hot-headed appearance, Badd has the kindness and all the sweet personality package in his heart. Which is total opposite with Garou, who is ruthless and cunning. Those contrasts has really melted Garou's own cold heart, surprised that he could managed to find such special human being.

Badd was supposed to be his prey, not a companion. If only Badd were born as the same kind like him, without doubt Garou was 100% sure Badd would be a perfect Warrior partner to fight along with, as he had already seen Badd's remarkable strength as a human. Such the best dream-like scenario ever that will never happens to them, but still very good 'what-if' situation.

The moment Garou saw Badd could kill the Xenomorph aliens alongside him in a combat and capable to defend himself, he respects Badd so much. It made Garou wanted to initiate Badd as one of his kind, a honourable strong Warrior. Or taking Badd with him to train as his personal human Apprentice.

For his bravery and incredible fighting abilities, Garou presented Badd a gift as a sign of respect for him. It was one of his exotic Yautja warrior's weapon collections that he managed to bring along in last expedition: an unbreakable metal bat.

Garou thinks it suited Badd's brawler fighting style, and because the bat made from special metal from his planet it can't be destroyed with anything on Earth. Except if it was smeared with corrosive acidic Xenomorph alien's blood, it would slightly melt. Whoopsie. But anyways, still an honourable thoughtful gift! Garou hopes he can witness the day Badd will using the metal bat in a combat.

Maybe it's not really bad he prolonged his stay on Earth for the sake of Badd and Zenko, although just for a bit. Garou wanted to have more "connection" with Badd before he continued the original plan. He wanted to know more about this special human, always being near him and protected him.

At least before the old man Bang realizing Garou has been missing for awhile after last Xenomorph attack and doing some search party for him by sending reinforcement army towards the Earth.

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

At the same time on his workplace at the Research Organization, Badd was contemplating his life decision.

Badd was thinking why should he still insisted to hide Garou's existence? He could just secretly reported the truth to the Organization behind his back, handed him to them as new research subject and thus ended the Earth's next possible threat.

But that's so wrong!

Just thinking about Garou being treated as a test subject like some lab guinea pig made Badd's blood boil. Not that they can ever catch Garou and managed to survive from him, though, as he knows how strong Garou is. Surely Garou is an extra-terresterial being, but in reality he's not so different from human. There's also alot things that separated him from another Alien species he had encountered before.

Garou has a good heart and moral despite being an asshole sometimes. He's super intelligent and quick to learning something new, willing to cooperate once they're bonded over mutually trust.

Speaking of morality, Garou has better grasp of humanity than most people. Although he is a ruthless warrior, he wont bringing harm to those who are already weak or sickly people, unarmed opponents, childrens, or females especially the pregnant ones. Those are basically the Yautja Clans' Warrior Rules, as they only do fair fights. Badd thinks Garou's own kind are very cultured people, that's cool.

One thing Badd didn't expect before was the fact Garou is kind of "nerdy guy". He thought Garou was a ruthless jock-type warrior who only likes hunting or chaotic things, but in reality he is just the biggest nerd Badd ever known. Garou has always been curious about anything he deemed interesting enough, like human's lifestyle, social classes, education, or even the cuisine. Currently Garou is obsessed with martial arts and his homemade food, also when they're going out together he always asked for buying some fast food preferably with Cola for the drink. Truly an example of alien with unique taste.

The more Garou learned from Badd and observing people around them, the more he understand what human and their "humanity" is, both good side and bad side. Garou said he considered himself on grey area. But he would try to be on the good side, just for Badd.

About Garou's appearance, Badd never got scared of Garou's real form. In fact, he finds Garou in his full warrior armory looks charming and kinda handsome. He had seen Garou in the middle of daily training to sharpen his instincts during his stay at home, surely Garou got a lots of cool fighting techniques and movements, both bare-handed or with weaponry. Truly showing a professional experienced Warrior skills. Or when Garou shifted into the adaptive form so he can spar with Badd more comfortably without really hurting him.

Not to mention his unusually bright golden irises when Garou stares intensely at him, the way Garou tilted his chin up with those long slender clawed hand, that teasing smug grin with those sharp teeth show-off, and those surprisingly soft slicked back spiky white hair..

Yeaah okay, Zenko was totally right about him being into monsters. Fortunately to Badd, she wont and never judges his taste on men.

And Garou is actually a very good friend.. Or maybe more, if only his feeling ever reciprocated. Badd wondered if he could asks Garou to just stay forever on Earth together with him..

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

Badd was just coming home early in the afternoon from the work, as he only finishing yesterday's home paperworks and delivering it to the office. Time to get some rest after working the whole night filling the mountain pile of papers, Zenko still in school at this hour anyways so he would take a brief nap before picking her up.

Strangely, the house was too quiet. He usually hear some noises from across the room, whether it was Garou watching some tv programs or news or movies, or sneaking around the kitchen as he attempted to raid Badd's fridge contents (nowadays he often found out all the meat stocks or even any of homecooking leftovers in his fridge vanished thanks to Garou's huge appetite).

Badd tried to calling for Garou and checking on his room upstairs but there still no sign of him. He guessed maybe Garou went to their sparring place in the woods, training by himself to polish his hunting skill. Or maybe Garou was lurking on city downtown again?

Badd wished it was the former, he doesn't want Garou to make some trouble with humans when Badd was not with him. Even if Garou indeed goes to town he hoped he just do sightseeing or observing people from afar. Whatever, Badd will take a nap while waiting for Garou.

Just as Badd started to sleep, he heard the bedroom window clicked open suddenly. He immediately jumped out of the bed and grabbing his metal bat, ready to whack anyone who dared to sneak into his house like this. Nothing on sight, though, until some invicible force putting down Badd's metal bat and revealing it was Garou in his "adaptive" form, who just deactivated his invisibility cloak after entering his room from the window.

"Yo Badd!", he grinned widely, happy for successfully surprising Badd again.

"Oh for fuck's sake Garou, please just use the front door! I already gave you my spare key, right? What if someone sees you and thinks you're a robber- Forget that, you were in invisible mode nobody could ever see you anyways, Mr. Ninja Warrior". Badd flomped down on the bed again, feeling ridiculously tired by Garou's antic yet relieved that his favorite alien is back. "Where did you go?"

Garou sets his knapsack down while explaining his disappearance, "I was so bored doing nothing in your house and my instincts will slowly dulled if I don't practice my routines, so I sneak out to nearby forest hoping to get some good prey for hunting practice. But it seems like Earth's creatures are not challenging enough to become my prey. It's either too small, too tame, too weak, or too pitiful it can't satisfy my hunting urge".

Garou sat beside Badd on the bed and stared at him, "Why can't I fight your people? It would makes alot things more interesting..", he whispered the last sentence with a naughty shit-eating grin on his face.

Badd propped himself up from the bed to grab Garou's arm and pointing his index finger in front of Garou's face, "No, I wont allowed you to do that! No hunting on humans, not on my watch. If you want some fight you can spar with me like what we always do. I'll take you on in a fair fight. Was that still not enough?". Was I'm not enough for you, Badd left it unsaid. He frowned at the though of Garou not satisfied with his effort.

"Ugh, what a let down, I would love to add human skulls on my trophy room when I get back to my planet soon. But your wish is my command, Badd. I promise not doing that for your sake", Garou huffed and rolled his eyes, but his tone softened. "About our sparring, while yes we can still spar with eachother, it doesn't fullfil my hunger for hunt. That's different", he shifted closer to Badd and gazing deeply into his rich dark chocolate eyes.

He continued, "You're not a prey anymore and I hate to see you getting hurt everytime I went overboard in our fights. You're my human companion, I only wish to protect you. But thank you for letting me spar with you every week, it was really fun", Garou touched Badd's forehead, where an initiation mark as fellow Warrior was given by him after their first encounter. Then slowly he put his clawed hand on Badd's cheek, caressing the soft skin gently while looking at Badd with much tenderness.

Badd just averted his eyes from Garou's uncharacteristically tender gaze, face heating from blushing too much as his heart-rate spiked. Of course Garou would know he was flustered by his touching words, he could see it by his vision, by the way. Not that Badd hated to be treated like this, in fact he felt so happy that Garou considered him as a human companion, a "someone special" for Garou.

"Umm yeah you're welcome, then.. Don't worry I know you will never really hurt me. Besides, I'm a tough guy, y'know? I can totally revive through fighting spirit and have another go with you", Badd placed his own hand on top of Garou's, letting the charming alien caress his face more. It's very comforting he loves it when Garou showing some rare affection to him.

They enjoyed the heartwarming moment until suddenly Garou moved away from Badd, "Oh I just remember something! Wait here", he let go his touch on Badd as he rushed to get his knapsack on the floor, picking its content and shoved it in front of Badd's face. "Here I got this for you, accept it!".

It was a flower bouquet. A simple makeshift one, but what made Badd astounished was Garou's choice of flowers: all of them were rare exotic flowers, which only grows on mountain or on the deepest part in forest. All of the flowers were wrapped by a wide green leaf as replacement for plastic wrap ('is that a banana leaf??'), and tied together by a thin rope.

"Wow.. Thanks, Garou, these are very pretty ones", Badd carefully took the beautiful bouquet from Garou's hand, still mesmerized by the exotic colourful flowers. He cradled it close on his chest. "Where and how the hell you get these flowers? I didn't even know that they grow or ever existed around our sparring place??"

Garou scratched his head, "After I got bored by pitiful failed attempt of hunting and start heading back to your house, I saw one kind of wild flower plant growing at hidden small valley near our sparring place. I though you would like it so I took some then continued searching for more wild flowers in the middle of forest until on the top of hills. Worth it for a passing time aside from going hunting", he shrugged like it was no big deal.

"But why?? What's the real reason?", Badd was honestly baffled by Garou's whole effort to flatter him.

"I saw from TV or on the street when we were going outside that you humans like to giving and receiving flower present as, what is that, "courting attempt"? Also you always go 'Aww that was so sweet~" or swooning like a fool everytime you and Zenko watched that scenes in some sappy drama movies. I don't understand why humans feel an enjoyment from getting a reproductive part of plant. Is that something meaningful behind that?", Garou raised his non-existed eyebrows in honest wonderment.

Badd tried to answer him, "Well.. It was--".

Garou continued his rants, effectively cutting Badd's explanation, "On my planet everyone courting their companion with a head or remnants of deadly dangerous prey, showing how great their hunting skills are. The more kill count the better. While your people giving a flower bouquet, a plant, really? You humans are just weird", he was shaking his head.

"So.. You didn't deny that you were courting me, right? You realized what I like and tried to do it for me even though you didn't understand the meaning of it, so that you can make me happy. Was that true, Garou..?", Badd slowly connecting the dots and stated the conclusion to Garou. He clutched the flower bouquet tighter, as once again he feels warmth in his heart. Not expecting the ruthless alien warrior has a soft spot.

So this meant his feeling is reciprocated? Garou feels the same as him?

"What-- I'm-- Okay, you're right I was! There you have it now. Happy? Damn, this still weird to say..", Garou awkwardly confessed to Badd, not sure what should he says next. If he were in human form at that time, Badd was sure he was flustered heavily.

"Mmhm..", Badd hummed in agreement, as he placed the pretty flower bouquet on the nightstand carefully. Then Badd clung his arms around Garou's neck and pulling him down together with him on the bed, so now Garou was on top of Badd.

"Whoaa what are you doing?!", Garou propped on his elbows not to crush Badd directly with his weight. He wanted to protest but stopped himself when he saw Badd smiling softly full of fondness at him.

From very close distance, Garou could see how Badd's eyes are twinkling and the pinkish blush on his cheeks made Badd looked more prettier than usual. Those are something that made Garou was at lost of words when he tried to describe how beautiful this human is. His own companion.

Without saying anything, Badd released his hold around Garou's neck. He was caressing Garou's jaws and then cupping his face gently, before pulling Garou down towards him to peck his forehead. Looking briefly at Garou's softened eyes, Badd smiling again then finally kissing his lips. It was a light kiss but also a lingering one.

After a minute that feels like eternity, Garou released himself from the kiss and asking Badd in a soft whisper, "What was that for?". Not with the tone of rejection but instead searching for confirmation.

Beside the "human's courting", Garou also had seen this kind of acts on TV dramas or in real life, where a couple of "lovers" touching their lips onto eachother's for the purpose of showing their affection. So, he wanted to know if Badd was also meant it.

"Do y'know, when someone accepting the other's courting attempt, they would hug or kiss them. To show how much they loved and appreciated the other. I was doing the same to you, Garou.. You don't understand how long I was waiting for this moment", the raven-haired human answered while caressing Garou's face, the adoring smile still haven't leaving his face.

"Huh, I guess this proved what Zenko told me weeks ago was right, you have the hots for monster guy", Garou was smirking in victory, glad he was the one who captured Badd's heart.

"Don't be such a bighead, you silly alien warrior", chuckled Badd while he ruffled Garou's spiky hair. "You were the one who fell so hard on me, as far as making me your companion, swore to protect me in the name of warrior honour and do the whole 'weird human courting' for me. While noone ever dared to do the same as you. Admit it, you're a dork".

"What did you say?! A dork?? How dare you--", Garou offended complaint was halted as he processed Badd's entire words. "Wait, you said noone ever trying to court you before? Why? You seems more than average people in appearance or attitude", he showed pure confused look to Badd.

Badd gladly took Garou's appreciation remark before answering, "Have you seen my temper? Or listening on my way of speech? Or knowing my habit on ditching someone for Zenko if I'm not very interested in them? Nobody could handle that, Garou. Maybe except you, you're the only one who ever wanted me..", he pulled Garou down again for more soft kisses.

Garou hummed in their kiss, "Hmm, then it was their loss. For not considering you an amazing person". He swept the wild strands of Badd's hair away from his forehead, peppering kisses on it gently. Garou has learned it from Badd and now he tried to do the same for him.

"Aww thank you, Garou. Besides, I like my man being tall, strong, dangerous, loyal, and have lots of adorable soft spots behind the whole cocky bravado", Badd purred in bliss from Garou's affection.

"Says the one who said he hates skyscraper-like tall man. Which was the truth, hmm, Short-stack?", Garou lifted one of his non-existed eyebrow in amusement. He likes to tease Badd with that endearment term.

"Sssh it was for the public, lemme have my preference in secret. And don't call me a Short-stack, say that once more I'll bash your head using your metal bat gift!", he pushed Garou aside then hit his sternum hard enough before closing his eyes and snuggling his head on Garou's chest.

Garou just let himself being pushed aside while chuckling, "Whoa okay Short-stack, I wont call you with that name again-- Badd?", he found his companion looked sleepy.

"Mmmh lemme take a nap for awhile, there's still 2 more hours before I have to pick Zenko up at her school. Please staaayyy with meee..", Badd slurred the last line from sleepiness, he curled his body against Garou's own big body, snuggled even more closer to him.

Garou just taking Badd into his embrace, made sure his human companion feels comfortable in his sleep. He caressed Badd's soft silky raven hair, "So, are we 'boyfriends' now?".

"Whut are you talkin' 'bout? I already introduced ya as mah 'boyfriend' to our neighbours, right? Always has been..", Badd tried to answer despite getting more sleepier.

"Oh right", Garou nodded at the memory. So Badd was really meant it that way? Glad to know.

Badd purring at Garou's caresses on his head, "Mmhm.. Love ya, Garou". After the unconsciously big declaration of love, he finally went to sleep, peaceful smile still plastered on his beautiful face.

Garou was at lost on words again. He heard the Love word and his mind just exploded. Badd loves him. The human loves him, an extraterrestrial being.

Thinking about it again, is that even allowed? To love someone from different world and different species? He wasn't sure if the Warrior code would let him taking a human as anything else outside as a prey, an apprentice, or a companion.

Honestly this is the first time Garou received a romantic love, not a friendly love or familial love. Because as a warrior who dedicated himself to be the best hunter, romance is not even listed on his priority list. He can't say for other fellow Elites who seek love interests by charmed them with their hunting abilities, but for himself Garou doesn't even interested on that thing back then.

But with Badd? How can he rejects his love, not when this special kind of human is compassionate, wonderful and not to mention worthy of his full respect. Badd is also the only human who doesn't cower in fear in front of him at their first meeting. Even as far telling him that he adores his soft side.

Him, a ruthless hunter, a "monster", was loved by a kindhearted human.

"... I love you, too, Badd."

Garou whispered it softly into Badd's ear, he embraced the sleeping boyfriend's body tighter before following him into the dreamland.

Both were smiling in their sleep.

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

-Few months later-

There was another new exploration mission from the Research Organization to obtain alien egg or larvae samples from the same wrecked spaceship on the previous expedition, so they could studying and observing the newfound alien species.

The newest mission was successful as the researchers team bringing the samples with them and be able to come back with minimal casualty. Thus Badd didn't need to join because he is working in rescue team.

At first week, everything was okay according to the plan. It seems the autopsy of larvae samples was successful as the Organization researchers have gotten some new informations from it.

Until an unexpected accidents occured during the second week of research.

The alien eggs samples in the special laboratory room were suddenly hatched and bursting out the new "facehugger" larvaes. Some of the lab staff were infested by it, while the other larvae strays were killed on the spot to prevent any infestation happening on more victims. Therefore the research was cancelled and the lab staff who became its alive hosts were quarantined until further notice.

The higher-ups were tried to keep it down so nobody outside The Organization know about this accidents. All the scientists and other staff members also tirelessly forced themself to solve this emergency situations. They tried to save the victims who currently become the alien's host, as far as preparing extraction operation for them hopefully it will have successful result.

But just a few days after that incident happened, all of the matured embrios inside the alive hosts bursted out from their body when they were still in the middle of intensive body examinations. The victims were died immediately, leaving a bunch of terrifying creatures that emerged from the wounds and crawling out attacking people in the laboratory.

Everyone was shocked by those horrible gorey sight, some of them were panickly calling for help while the others trying to escape from the room but stopped by the juvenile aliens' quick attack. When the security team came to rescue, most people in the room were either already dead from fatal wounds or barely alive still struggling to avoid getting attacked by the creatures.

The team quickly eliminate the rest of juvenile aliens by shooting it all, ensuring it wont leave past the entrance door. After ensuring no more alive aliens detected, they immediately sent the survivors to the hospital while the dead ones were sent to the Organization's morgue.

By this horrifying incident, the Organization executives hold the emergency meeting on that day They discussing how to solve this unexpected catastrophe during the research, how they should tell to the victims' family about the incident, or if this research are really worth it with these casualties. The higher-ups commanded them to call or reaching everyone who were involved on the newest expeditition mission, to make sure if there is nobody else got infested among the crew members.

Someone reported that most of expedition members along with other spaceship passengers on that mission have gone missing for days, and a few of them were found dead at their home with the same wide gaping hole wound on their chest. Two recordings from CCTVs on one dead victim's home clearly showed 3-4 Xenomorph alien younglings that just born or bursted from the victim's body, crawling outside the house towards neighbourhood area.

From those reports and evidences, it was confirmed that the crew members who participated on the newest exploration mission actually contained alive Xenomorph larvaes before they landed back on Earth, and somehow the infestation itself couldn't be detected because it was still on very early stage at that time. By the calculation of every "chestburster" larvaes that would be born into juvenile Xenomorph aliens from the total 30 suspected victims, it could be up to 120 individuals. And one of the juvenile aliens could be the next Queen that will reproducing new batch of eggs on somewhere else right now.

The plan has failed. This accident has shaken the Research Organization to the core as they prepared for worst scenario: the Xenomorph alien has already reproduced and multiplied itself inside or outside the Organization building complex. Not to mention they haven't managed to supervise the suspected victims current whereabouts prior the incident. Thus, as for the first step action to prevent bigger fatalities happens, they alerted all of the Research Organization members.

At home, Badd got the emergency messages from his higher-ups as he also explaining Garou about what was happened at the moment, that there was infestation of Xenomorph aliens among the researchers in the Research Organization. The higher-ups already deployed all of their hunter squads towards several different locations based on victims' last sighting or their home address. The higher-ups also instructed him to join the hunter squad for outside building complex area or near the suburban area to search the rogue Xenomorph aliens or at least for any survived suspected victims.

Garou suggested that he will also doing the hunt with Badd as it's the Warrior's duty to banish those alien species' existence, as it was their main prey. He asked Badd to always stay near him during the hunt so he wont get hurt by those beasts. Garou promised Badd that he will protect him, no matter what. But he wont promised to do the same for the others, no guaranteed he will helped them. Mostly they will be on their own.

Both had agreed to eachother, they set their own combat gears. Garou wore his warrior armor and brought all his hunting weapons. Badd also did his part, not forgetting to bring Garou's metal bat gift, he couldn't wait to finally trying it out to smash those aliens' head off. He strapped it on his backpack, shoving all of other combat equipments on his car trunk, then driving his car out along with Garou towards their destination.

Before they go to the mission location, Badd dropping Zenko first to their neighbour family house to make sure someone watching over her and keeping her safe during dangerous situation. Garou shifted into invisible stealthy mode on their way to the squad assembly point, secretly blending with the rest of Badd's hunter squad members.

They started to investigate the forest near the suburban area which was previously has been reported for most recent Xenomorph alien sighting.

----- ⭐To Be Continued⭐ -----

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Notes:

So I made this headcanon because I had a dream which was strangely similar like the movie's plot, although not exactly same. Still don't know why and how I got that kind of dream since I haven't watch the movie again for so long 😅

The dream was about where I was accidentally saving the Queen of Xenomorph who infested my friend and took control of her mind, then turned out I must ensured the Queen's next survival 😱😰

But the difference between my dream and this Batarou AU is that I met a Queen of Xenomorph alien, while in the AU story Badd met one of Yautja warriors as I've decided to make Garou as The Predator instead. I thought it would be cooler than him being a Xenomorph alien, lmao! ✌😁

Coincidentally, besides getting an inspiration from my own dream, this AU especially for Garou as Predator also inspired by the fact we getting his Awakened Monster form from Murata 😳✨

Combining both the ideas, his Murata-styled Monster form and the amazing Predator figure appearance, WHAM, we got badass concept of Predator Warrior Garou! 👏👏😤

By the way, because I've made Predator Garou and his entire clans can do some shapeshifting as the more advanced hunting skill, he has 3 forms in this story:

1. Original form:

Exactly like the Predator in the movie, but the differences are the hairstyle, body build, and the ability to speak human language. Instead of dreadlocks, his hair is swept-back long spiky white hair. His body is more on slender-built than buff as Garou is an agile-type warrior, but he is so much taller than his canon-self, approximally 200 cm, unless he was shapeshifting into another form. He can speak human language in original form, but a little bit difficult to do it because of his mouth's structure so whatever he spouted when he talks would sounds like either growling or hissing.

It's Garou's default form when he was among his own kind. Showed this form the first time he met Badd in rescue ship to threatened him (but failed as Badd didn't afraid of him at all), or when he was facing off some Xenomorph aliens in combat during the research organization's incident catastrophe.

When Garou revealed himself in front of the Organization executives at the next part (spoiler!), he refused to show his true face as they aren't worthy enough to see it, unlike Badd and Zenko. Hence he only shifted into adaptive form at that moment before Badd comes to defend him.

2. Adaptive form:

After living together with Badd for months, he has adapted into a new hybrid form, a mix between his own original Yautja form and human form. The result is like Monster Garou in Murata's style! No more arthropod-like mandibles with tusks, but instead human-like jaws with rows of sharp teeth and fangs (just imagine it like Murata's Awakened Garou). His hair is just like his canon-self with the iconic long horns-like spiky white hair, but at some point Badd cuts his hair shorter for more easier maintenance, so it now looks like Awakened Garou with short hair-style.

Mostly Garou showed this adaptive form when he was around Badd and Zenko at home. He knows Badd likes it so much thus alot of teasing, so he decided to make this adaptive form as a new default appearance during his stay on Earth. More practical to use as he doesn't do much hunting at that time, also the new set of jaws makes him easier to communicate by human language with Badd without his tech-armor helmet mask.

In this form, Garou still in his super tall self even though the height can vary around 185-190 cm, depends on the situation, ex: sleeping as he's a big boy Badd's bed or couch wont fit, so he'd shrink a bit. Sometimes Garou and Badd would spar at their secret place in the middle of woods using this form.

Despite the adaptive form is not quite suitable for hunting strong prey like Xenomorph aliens, Garou prefers to use it whenever he was training with Badd. Also, he can kiss Badd while in this form. Actually even more easier when he was in human form, it's just Badd loves this form more. Don't kinkshame Badd, he is one of monsterfucker, lmao.

3. Human form:

Because he has shapeshifting ability, Garou can create his "human persona" everytime he blends into human crowds, especially when Badd asked Garou to go outside with him, occasionally also along with Zenko. Exactly like Garou in canon, but now with short-hairstyle as Badd said it suits him more. Garou interpreted it as a way to say "You look more handsome" but denied profusely by Badd.

He still maintained his lean-muscled physique like his other forms, but Garou shrink his height down into 177 cm because not only being too tall would catch many attention from people (Garou: "It's not my fault you all humans are just so goddamned short!"), Badd hated it when he was being towered by his own "boyfriend" when they're walking together in public. Although Badd accepted his tall monstrous height when they're only with eachother.

Badd's neighbours were successfully charmed by this "camouflage" appearance, Garou in a very cocky way tried it on Badd but it seems Badd only tolerates Garou's human form. Honestly, Badd loves his adaptive form as it shows Garou's own will to connect more with Badd while still maintained personal aspects of himself. Badd also totally didn't mind his original form as it was Garou's true face, and to be shown the real Warrior's face behind the mask is a great honour for Badd.

-----------

I just remember that I've been in Batarou fandom for a whole year since January 2020, so you can think this headcanon AU as a new year gift and a thankful gift for the fandom 😆😚🎂🎁🎉🎊

Special thanks for:

🌸 @kaincuro and @the-goddessfighter

Thank you so much for being huge inspirations! You guys introduced me about the beautiful side of Batarou ship via your awesome blogs and encourage me to also participating by sharing ideas to the fandom. Because of you, I managed to stay in this fandom for 1 year full despite 2020 being a hard year.

Thank you Cain, for being a wonderful person and providing us the Good Quality™ Batarou contents, both headcanons and arts! Whenever I'm on bad days and want to read Batarou stuff, I always go to your blog, it never fails to makes me feels alot better! Seeing your fluffy Batarou drawings and your amazing explanation on headcanon about them are absolute mood booster, it really helped me going through my hard days, seriously. So I wanna thank you from the deepest pit of my heart, because of you I could passed a difficult year more easier.

Please keep running your amazing blog, you're great and we love you! 😉👍❤🌸

Thank you Temperans-sama, for being one of greatest Batarou artists I've ever known in the OPM fandom and for your dedication on always working hard making many beautiful Batarou drawings to deliver to the fandom! Everything you've made are PERFECTION, really a God-tier artstyle. Not to mention your Batarou art always the Softest and Fluffiest! 😚👌💖💖

Thank you for kindheartedly willing to listening my super random headcanons or AUs, even as far liking it and drawing the illustrations for it, all of the arts are magnificent I'm so grateful for that AAAAA thank youuuu- *sobbing happily* 😭🙏💕💖 I feel so happy for being able to talk and sharing ideas with an incredible artist like you waaah THANK YOUUU!! Please accept my promised thankful gift for this year, I hope you like it 😚💕🎁♥

Biggest respect, support, and neverending love for you~ 😘❤💜💙💖💝💐👏

🌸 @lovelybutnot-ablankcanvas and @guby1620

You guys are such very good friends during my stay in the Batarou fandom throughout the year, thaaaank youuu! Both of you deserved the best! *hugs tightly and never let go*

Thank you Eir, for being one of the most talented Batarou fanfic writers and most supportive understanding friend! I feel blessed to ever know you through your first Batarou fic a year ago, I still remember being one of your first reviewer and we shared alot of new ideas or random stuff. Now you already become a multitalented artist on both as fic writer and art drawing I'm so proud of you! 👏👏😤✨

Also, thank you for writing so many Batarou fic gifts last year, all of them are my favorite stories until now I really appreciate them! Keep being awesome, Eir, and yes you have my endless supports~ 😉💖✨

Thank you Ruby, for being a very talented Batarou artist with the most loveliest artsyle and I really admired you for that! You always have fluffiest ideas for arts and I love your handsome Garou + adorably sweet Badd drawings. I always enjoyed our interactions whenever we talk about our HCs, you're very easygoing and fun person to talk with, also you always successfully cheer me up with your cutest Batarou art 😉👍💯✨

I should thank you for liking my AU stories, even making one of them into a Doujin THANK YOU SO MUCH I didn't expected you would included the Reincarnated Demon/Angel AU into your long project I feel both grateful and honoured AAAA THANKS A LOT! *died from happiness* 😭💞💖💝

Undying supports and greatest appreciation for youuu, Ruby! I will always waiting for your new creations 👏💝🌸🌻💐

🌸 @garous-nipple

I wanna say thank you for being one of the most talented Garou-centric fanartists in the fandom, you're amazing and I always love seeing your progress on evolving your artstyle throughout the time. You have great drawing skill and trust me you have already on the path to become next Murata! May this year will becomes Garou year as his inevitable comeback in the manga is near, so you will get loads of new art inspirations 😤👍💯🌟

Thanks alot for always accepting my requests or art idea suggestions! You absolutely deserved all of the best appreciation for your hardworks, we the OPM fandom are loving you 😉👌💖

I hope you enjoyed Garou's "the Predator" concept design headcanon as a humble new year gift from me 😆💝🎁🎉

And lastly for special mention:

🌸 @himbo-in-limbo

I know we haven't interacted yet, but knowing that you love both Garou and AvP after stumbling into your lovely blog, I've decided to include you, too! As someone who only saw AvP once and not too familiar with the story, I honestly kinda embarassed of myself and afraid if my headcanon wont makes any sense so I apologized if there's alot mistakes and inaccuracy in here or if it's too OOC, please forgive me 🙇💦

I realized it's not perfect but I hope you like my concept design of Garou being a Yautja! Also sorry for the Batarou hints I hope you wouldn't really mind about it 😅😉💕💝🎁

(btw, all of your OCs are fantastic and very thoughtful-made! ❤)

----------

Once again I'm so sorry if my writing sucks, I wanted to share the idea but I don't have good writing skill at all please forgive me.. 😭🙇

I hope I can continue for the second part which is also the last part, it's currently on 1/4 way of completion. I'm currently stuck on the action scene why does it so hard to write battle scenes heeeelpp! 😫💦

So please wait for me, yeah? Wish me luck I could finished the story 😅🙏

Thank you so much, we will see again on the final part! 💖

-Little1993lamb-

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

Temperans:

Anon! Thank you very much for sharing another fantastic fic for this fandom! Sorry for taking time to post it here. You know? My vacation will be over soon and I'm getting ready for TuT school

I would like to have dreams as interesting as yours, I hardly dream anymore, and it is nice that you can capture an idea from that. Honestly I've been a bit off these days, I miss our guys a lot and the way the webcomic is unfolding really distresses me (I'm so scared for Badd X'C). But your fic lifts my spirits every time I read it! So I wanted to reward your hard work with a drawing. I really like H. R. Giger's art and I tried to give that vibe to my art (I tried X'D). Thank you anon for always being there to support the fandom unconditionally! I hope you have a better year and health! 😘❤💜💙💖💝

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iamverycrappyatwriting · 4 years ago

Text

Dream

Greenwarden WIP fanfic

F!MC McDonough x M!Bautista

TW: gore, self harm, horror

F!MC has a dream and realizes Bautista might mean more to her than she thinks...

This is the first time I’ve written in 4 years I hope it’s not too offensive >_<

“Hey Guttersnipe, come look at this.” Bautista barely glances over his shoulder to acknowledge you entering his room before he is beckoning you in closer.

Something feels off today, it feels… Lighter. The air around him seems to shimmer, warm and golden as the early evening light makes its way through lace curtains, casting floral shadows over the room creating a comforting affect. A feeling of nostalgia sweeps over you that you can’t quite place and time seems to stretch as you lazily traipse over to him.

Throwing a hand out to lean your weight on the desk, you bend and peer at the screen to see what he’s showing you.You can’t focus on the screen. You’re leaning so close, you can feel the heat radiating off Bautista’s body. Your hair stands bristling, static electricity sparking between you. You feel the back of your neck flush, the tops of your ears, your cheeks. You can’t tell what's on the screen because all you can concentrate on is how close Bautista is to you. How easy it would be to reach out and touch him.

You dare to peak out of the corner of your eye. Why - to see if he’s reacting too? That’s a stupid train of thought… But he is looking back. He looks almost shy for Bautista. A heavy look, the heavenly light reflecting the warm flecks of brown in his dark eyes; intense and magnetic, drawing you in even closer so you find yourself face to face. His dark lashes casting a slight shadow over his strong cheekbones.

He smells good, you find yourself thinking. Warm and earthy, you can smell the spearmint on his breath.

You're so close now you find yourself looking back and forth between each eye to make eye contact. His pupils are blown wide - is he feeling this too? You would never dare to think… But maybe… You shouldn’t think like this, this is Bautista this is your partner who finds you annoying and selfish and responsible for his failures. And yet… You feel like you can’t pull away.

Beautiful, you find yourself thinking and this time you can’t chastise yourself for the thought. He is. He’s tall and large and strong with hands like shovels but he has a gentleness you’ve never seen in a man of his size; a gentleness creating a sense of safety, his dark eyes so warm and inviting, his lips -

You can’t help to break eye contact to look at his lips. Soft and full and -

And he’s moving closer.

Slowly, tentatively. Your eyes shoot up to his and you find he’s looking at your lips but he glances up to look into your eyes millimeters before his lips hit yours. His eyes asking you the question ‘is this okay?’ as he hovers just above yours. He looks a little afraid - as if he expects you to lash out, or bolt in terror, but in this moment there’s nothing you want more than to see how his lips taste.

Your heart is pounding in your ears, butterflies are creating a storm in your stomach but you feel light and joyful for the first time you can remember.

Hesitantly you lift your lips ever so slightly closer to his, your eyes scanning his face for a sign he’s about to come to his senses - to back out - but the moment you move closer so does he and he gently grazes his lips against yours. A soft kiss so tender your heart aches in your chest and tears spring to your eyes.

His lips whisper against yours again and it feels like heaven and he tastes so sweet, of mints, and a little spicy - that hot sauce he puts on them to stop you from stealing them - and you feel electric. You feel alive. You feel warm. You lean in and deepen the kiss and it feels like you’ve been dying of thirst your whole life and he’s an oasis in the desert. You finally can have a drink you so desperately need and you pull.

Hands reaching - you both gently, tentatively hold each other, your hands running through his dark hair, his tugging you closer to him by your waist, pulling your flush to his chest as he still sits in the desk chair. The touching is doing something funny to your stomach and your kiss deepens again, hungrier you kiss again and again gently building up in intensity and -

oh God, this feels so good…

You never dared to dream this could happen! His hands are warm and rough but they hold you so gently and you feel so small in his hands but you - you don’t feel breakable. For once you feel safe. Solid. Secure.

You shouldn’t. The intrusive thoughts creep in.

What are you doing?

You’re filthy.

Get off him.

You’re tainting him.

You open your eyes and find the room has gone cold. Grey, and oh God.

Everywhere you’re touching him there’s blood. Where your hands have been his flesh has been flayed open. The sweet taste of Bautista is overwhelmed by the taste of carrion in your teeth; disgusting rot, black and viscous.

Oh fuck.

Nononononono.

You rip yourself off him to find Bautista is looking grey, and thin and gaunt like something was sucking the life out of him - you were sucking the life out of him. He looks weak, his skin torn and ragged, shredded and macabre and there’s a milky film over his beautiful eyes and you - oh God - you want to be sick.

Bautista turns to you weakly, confused and also barely there, like holding on is hard.

This is wrong this is very, very, wrong.

“McDonough?” He asks, confused, his voice a raspy whisper grating against your ears.

You see the filth you left in his mouth; it spills out rancid and corrosive.

And he’s covered in red, in blood. Your hand prints clear as day.

You did this to him.

He reaches out for you and his hand tremors.

This is wrong this is so, so wrong.

I ruin everything.

“McDonough?”

He stands from the chair to step towards you and he looks skeletal, he looks aged. Blood drips on the floor where he stands, pooling.

Everything feels wrong.

You step back away from him, shaking like a leaf, you hold your hands up to keep him at a distance.

They’re red. So red. So much blood.

You scream.

…

……

……..

You wake thrashing in your sheets, cold sweat soaking you to the sheets.

You think you knew it was a dream by the end but the beginning had felt worryingly, tantalizingly real.

You can’t think like that. You can’t think of Bautista like that. You can’t wish, hope, dream of kissing him. Of being with him. It’s too dangerous. You’re too dangerous. You can only ruin. You destroy everything. You taint everything. Nothing good can come to close before you cause it to decay.

You can’t do that to Bautista.

You sit up, tangled in your damp sheets, hair sticking up every which way and light up a cigarette. It’s still dark out, but your alarm reads 4.15am so not too early then. Not for your line of work.

You let out a shaky breath, grateful you fell asleep with your vodka next to the bed and take a mouthful, swilling it around like mouthwash and swallow.

It’s warm and bitter and makes your eye tear up. Between the vodka and the cigarette you're feeling a bit more grounded.

Today however, you don’t resist that little voice that tells you to hurt yourself and you do put your cigarette out on your arm. It hurts. Fuck, it hurts. It sizzles and leaves the flesh under red and weeping and you want to scream but somehow it also feels like a relief.

Let it be a reminder. You tell yourself. I ruin what I touch.

The burning, stinging sensation stays as you get up to start your day when you hear a knock on your door.

It’s still only 4.22am. Too early to be work related - most likely.

You answer the door still dressed in only an oversized t-shirt and your underwear; let whoever is bothering you at this time feel uncomfortable. It’s not your job to care.

But when you see Bautista you feel your heart seize uncomfortably. You don’t open the door all the way and hide the arm you just burned behind the door frame. You know it was only a dream but you are finding it difficult to make eye contact as if he could see your dreams.

“What do you want?” Your voice comes out closer to a snap than you intended but Bautista doesn’t flinch towering over you in the way he does. God - why do you feel embarrassed, why do you feel so guilty? You can’t look him in the eye.

Bautista however is looking flushed and slightly embarrassed at the sight of you in nothing but a t-shirt (as if it isn’t covering all the scandalous bits, as if he hasn’t had to see most of you to patch you up) and though you felt confidant the thought of him seeing you like this wouldn’t affect you either, you feel even more exposed.

“I just - Jesus, McDonough. Have you been drinking?”

You don’t know why he sounds incredulous at the idea, it should be nothing new to him by now.

“Yes.” You roll your eyes and shift your weight from leg to leg holding the door ever so slightly more open. It gives you another excuse to not look him in the eye and you know it will wind him up. Let’s not think about what just happened. It’s easier to piss him off than face that dream.

“Did you stay up all night drinking? Or is it the first thing you do when you wake up? Because -”

“Did you come here to give out to me for my drinking habits? Or were you coming to check if I’d done you all a favour and finally off’d myself?” You resist the urge to wince, that was probably too far but you’re not one to back down. You were looking for a fight after all. You smile as cruelly as you can manage instead but your heart is aching in your chest.

Bautista is obviously as thrown as you had expected and he gives you a hard look.

“That’s not funny, McDonough.” His voice is hard but he quickly looks behind you into your hotel room. “Can I come in?” It’s a question but he pushes the door to go in as he asks it as if he just expects you to say yes. A sense of panic fills you, as if by entering the room he’ll see the mess inside your head, he’ll see the dream you dreamt and you grab the door quickly to stop him.

“Jeeze, I show a little bit of leg and you’re that eager?”

Deflect, deflect, deflect.

Bautista’s face twists, his cheeks redden but he looks as annoyed as he is embarrassed by your crass remark.

“Fucking assho-” He starts to snap but suddenly he grabs your arm behind the door and pulls it close, twisting it to inspect it. It happens too fast to react before he sees the burn mark. You feel your gut twist uncomfortably, guilt, shame, those nasty feelings you feel because you’re aware this is something you shouldn’t do but you push them down quickly. It’s not your fault others feel uncomfortable by your coping mechanisms.

Still, you don’t want him to look. Even if he’s seen it before.

“Guttersnipe…” His voice is soft, his hands on your arm hold you softly, his lips are pursed tightly and his face has that awful pinched look. You hate this. You hate being pitied. It makes you feel small; weak. How dare he pity you.

You rip your arm out of his grasp.

“Gotta put cigarettes out somewhere.” Your tone is joking but you are not smiling.

“Let me dress it.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’ll get infected.”

“I said. It’s fine.”

“Just let me look at it.”

“Fuck. Off. You’re not my friend, okay? I said ‘I’m fine.’ I’m fine.” You glare up at him as intensely as you can. You feel like an exposed nerve after that dream and you just want to hide. Every second around him feels like he’s going to find you out and having him act like he cares… It’s too much. It hurts. You want him to hurt back.

It works, you think. Bautista takes a step back, he looks both annoyed and concerned and you suddenly want to be alone. It hurts to see him look at you like this.

“I just…” He begins but you don’t let him finish. You wish you had got dressed before you answered the door now. You see other people wear dresses shorter than this t-shirt all the time and it doesn’t look lewd but you feel undressed all the same. Naked.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll try get a few more minutes shut eye before we get back to work. Later, Bautista.” You close the door in his face before he can tell you what he even came for.

This is for the best. You’re not friends.

You can’t shake this dream.

You know now, you have feelings for your partner. You have feelings for Bautista. But you shouldn’t.

You can’t filthy him, you can’t do that. Not to him.

He matters too much.

#fanfic #greenwarden #greenwarden oc #bautista #tw

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phantomphangphucker · 5 years ago

Text

Ectober Day 5: Radiation - Septicemia

Ectoplasm isn’t exactly known for being safe to handle. But Danny handles that problem like he does everything else, with a dose of humour and ignoring it.

"Goddammit”, Danny looks down at his vertically sliced open arm, bone slightly visible. Speaking thick with annoyance, "why, out of all ghosts, did it have to be the Box Ghost to give me my first serious injury?". Coming to float just slightly above the ground in an alleyway, pinching closed the wound, as Sam and Tucker come running towards him. Tucker sidestepping and gagging at the little splashes and one large puddle of Danny's ectoplasm. While Sam just steps over it, not really giving a shit.

Danny looks up at the two as they plop down on the ground next to him, giving the two of them a loose smile, "took long enough huh?". While both of them frown at him, clearly unimpressed.

Sam digs in her backpack, pulling out the mini-medi kit they had all decided all three of them should carry around. Handing Tucker a cloth and little water bottle to clean off the wound while she sets up a needle with ectoline.

Danny gives his arm to Tucker while Tucker responds, “would have preferred it never happening, dude”, smirking slightly as he wipes off the wound, “but with your terrible dodging of course it did”.

Danny flips him off with his other hand, “hey fuck you Tuck. It was going to happen eventually because I am constantly getting into fights. It would be weird if I constantly came out of getting thrown around, sliced, bitten and whatnot, with nothing more than bruising, small cuts and scrapes”.

Tucker rolls his eyes as he goes to ball up the cloth only to yelp and drop it. Green steam coming off his hand slightly, making everyone look at him worriedly.

Danny squints at him, “what’d you get on you? Obviously ghostly, but don’t think we’ve seen that before”.

Sam just grabs Tucker’s hand, grumbling all the while, “gimme that”, before inspecting his hand. Nodding mostly to herself, “it’s an ecto-burn”.

Danny looks around for a source, “but from what?”.

Tucker just frowns and looks back to the cloth and scrunches it up in the same hand, only to drop it; having been burned by the contact again.

All three mutter, “weird”.

Danny clears his throat, hoping his guess is right, “well it is one of my parents specially made cloths, so maybe it has some weird reaction with ectoplasm”.

Sam snorts, “well here’s what we get for thinking your parents crap would be better to use than regular shit”. While both Danny and Tucker laugh, before Tucker goes about treating his ecto-burns.

Sam motions for Danny’s arm, and grabs his wrist. Resting her forearm on his elbow to begin. Only to jerk away from him after getting some of his ectoplasm on her forearm, the ecto-burn visible. All three stare at it, before Tucker mutters, “dude, it’s you. it’s your ectoplasm”.

Danny clears his throat, pushing down the mild horror and grasping for another reason, “well, I mean, it could be from wiping my arm with the cloth?”. Sam grabs his other hand and pricks his finger crudely enough to get him to bleed. Touching the bubbling droplet only to hiss and cringe. Wiping her finger off on the ground and inspecting the ecto-burn. Looking at Danny and shaking her head.

Danny groans, ruffles his hair with the same hand, “great, that’s just great. So my folks are right on ectoplasm not being safe to have skin contact with. Wonderful. I’m fucking corrosive or some shit”. Meanwhile, Danny is really really damn glad that he’s not hurt by his own ectoplasm.

Sam digs in her bag, looking for gloves, but frowns. Looking back up to Danny, “no gloves. No way I can fix you up then”. All three groan and Danny motions for her to give him the needle with a sigh, which she does.

Danny grunts, “has to be done though”, as he clenches his teeth and gets to work. Sam and Tucker patting his shoulders in comfort and support. Though Tucker occasionally cringes and can’t watch. Tucker talks while looking at a wall, “guess spandex gloves are something we need to carry from here on out”, poking Danny, “too bad we can’t just borrow yours. Being attached to your suit and all”.

Sam rolls her eyes, “pretty sure ghost clothing is made of ectoplasm, Danny’s suit included”. All three pauses and Danny looks from his arm to where his friends are touching his suit. They exchange confused glances before collectively shrugging.

Danny grumbles as he gets back to work, “the stuff inside me must be more concentrated”.

Danny hands back the needle after wiping it off on his leg and Sam wraps his arm, maintaining a safe distance to avoid getting any ectoplasm on her. Tucker gets up and starts mopping up the spilled ectoplasm on the ground with his foot, none of them wanting anyone to get burnt by it or for his parents to find and collect it. Frequently having to change what part of the cloth he’s touching with his shoe, as it steams from the ectoplasm contact. But after a while he starts feeling rather nauseous, the acidic lemon-lime scent starting to feel overpowering. Coughing and gagging before having to walk to the other side of the alleyway. Putting his hands on the wall and dry heaving. Pointing towards Sam and Danny, who are staring at him with concern from their spot on the ground, “dude, ugh, I think it might be more than-”, heaving again, “-just unsafe to touch”.

Sam pauses in her wrapping and leans over Danny’s arm to sniff at it. Getting hit by a wave of nausea after a bit. Sitting back and giving Danny an apologetic frown. Clearing her throat and shoving down the desire to gag, “he’s right. It’s probably because ghost ectoplasm sheds off free-floating ectoplasm”.

Danny nods with a frown, it made sense, “so inhaling that is bad”, speaking with sarcasm, “gReAt. I JuSt LoVe ThIs. PeRfEcT”. Both of them send him sympathetic smiles while Sam goes back to wrapping and Tucker continues cleaning up, just with his arm sleeve over his mouth and nose. Which just serves to make Danny feel guilty. His ectoplasm was basically toxic and corrosive for everyone in town. There was no way he wasn’t going to wind up getting his ectoplasm spilled on things, or get hurt badly again. He was actually going to have to make sure to clean his bed sheets more often now. He knew for a fact there was ectoplasm smeared on them.

Sam clips the end of the bandaging before the two get up, bags repacked, and Danny wraps his arms around his friends. Looking at Tucker, who has Danny’s injured arm around him, “you good? Not burning you?”.

Tucker smirks, “you’re good dude”. Making Danny smile as he floats up and takes the three invisibly to his house.

Flopping down on his bed after transforming back. Tucker lays across his legs and pokes him, “bleed again”.

“Um, what?”.

Tucker snorts, “dude, don’t you always have a little ectoplasm running through your veins? That shit’s in your blood too”.

Danny blinks into a blanket, “oh fuck”, before sticking his hand out towards where he can smell Sam, sitting in his desk chair. Who pokes him with a pin he had lying on his desk, smearing his blood on her wrist. Nothing happens for a bit but then she cringes and wipes it off with a Kleenex. Glance at Tucker while Danny grunts, “you’re being awfully quiet”.

Sam glances down at the mild ecto-burn, it took longer and was much more minor but it was an ecto-burn all the same, “sorry Danny”.

Danny can tell by her tone that she’s not apologising but instead feeling slightly bad for him. Which obviously means she was ecto-burned. Lovely. Danny groans into the blanket, before turning his head to actually look at her, “goddammit. So my blood’s an issue too”, Danny snorts, “Ancients fuck, it’s like everyone’s allergic to me”.

Sam and Tucker exchange a glance, Tucker poking him again, “you probably should pass it off as that actually. If anyone notices that Danny Fenton’s blood burns people”.

Danny squints at Tucker, give him his best ‘are you fucking shitting me?’ look, “and how would that even make sense Tuck? No one's allergic to just one cat or just one bee...or just one human. That’s not logical”.

Sam sighs as she sits down next to him, “blame ecto-contamination, it’s covered all the other general ghostliness. Wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say it poisoned your blood”.

Tuck smirks and gives him a pat, “or made it a poison”, shrugging, “just make a habit of not bleeding”.

Both Sam and Danny stare at him incredulously before all three start laughing. Because as if that would ever happen!

Tucker pats Danny again, “but for real, just don’t bleed on people. It’s not like people make a habit of touching other people's blood, in-fact people emphatically avoid doing that. And it’s only the ghosts who are actively out for Fenton’s blood”.

Danny pushes himself up slightly, going a bit wide-eyed, “guys, Dash”.

“Oh shit”.

Tucker shrugs awkwardly after a while, “well, at least he doesn’t make folks bleed. When he does it’s usually on locks and shit, not on himself”.

Danny sits up fully and slices his wrist, smearing the blood on the wooden side table. Sam grunting, “that’s one way to do gothic home decorating”.

Danny points at her, “also would have scared the crap out of anyone if they had happened to walk in”, pausing and turning his head back to the table as it starts faintly smoking. Danny groans and tilts his head back, “goddamnit”.

Tucker pats his shoulder, “well, that’s a check on you having to clean up any bloody messes with the level of haste that’ll make you seem like you’re some kind of clean freak”.

All three look around Danny’s horribly messy room and start laughing. Danny parting Tucker as they laugh, letting the guy know Danny’s thankful for the little cheer up.

Sam hops over to the bed, “though really, it’s more like you’re radioactive than just corrosive or toxic. Cause you seem to affect everything, with or without direct contact”.

Danny hits her with a pillow while Tucker doddles a little radioactive symbol on Danny’s neck, earning him a hit from the pillow as well. Even if it’s more humoured than genuinely bothered.

——Cut to tomorrow at Casperhigh——

Danny closes his locker with a slight smile before turning to his friends, “guess what son of a corpse actually got to sleep the night away?”. Both of them give him high fives with Tucker near shouting, “fuck yeah dude!”.

“What the Hell do the losers three have to be happy about?!?”. All three groan at the sound of Dash’s voice. As they turn to look at him slowly.

“What do you want Dash?”.

Dash shrugs before smirking, “my brother’s visiting the school today, gotta impress”, digging in his pocket, “and since you’re so cheery”, Dash menacingly flicks out a switchblade knife, “you get to be my target”.

Danny just looks at Tucker, highly unamused, “I hate you, I really really hate you”, before booking it. Sam and Tucker quickly following after him. Tucker grumbling, “I fucking jinxed it”.

However, in a rare show of intellect, Dash had planned for the fleeing and really was going to target Danny anyway. But it wasn’t any fun if he just jumped, didn’t instigate the chase. Scaring the crap out of people was half the fun, which is why Danny pisses him off. Dash damn well knew what fake fear looked like, and faked fear was the only kind he ever got from Danny. The ghosts didn’t even seem to scare the loser, and they absolutely did scare Dash. And that was an insult that Fentailbone wasn’t getting away with. Dash smirks devilishly as Kwan, Dale and Todd corner the three pathetic losers.

Danny makes a point of covering his friends with his arm and body, as the three jocks smirk and stare down at them. Danny turns his head slightly behind him, seeing Dash walking up slowly with a smirk and flipping around the blade. Danny grumbles, “asshole”, before trio back up against the lockers, Danny in front.

And really, that just annoys Dash more. The weak loser acting all protective, like he’s really capable of anything. HA. It doesn’t take much for Kwan and Dale to get the goth and geek pulled away, while Todd basically holds Danny against the lockers. Dash doesn’t even have to look around to know James is watching in one of the small doorways, smoking out of sight from any teachers.

Danny glares at Dash, not even bothering to pay attention to the knife. It was a small thing and Danny had accidentally stabbed himself with larger things. Hell, the thanksgiving turkey attacked him with bigger knives. Plus, stab wounds weren’t all that bad so long as the blade wasn’t jagged. It was Dash who was the actual threat, obviously looking to do some real damage for a change. Instead of just generalised aggression and trying to humiliate.

Dash waves the knife in Danny’s face, “now to skin the rabbit”.

Danny snorts and rolls his eyes, “wow, you actually made a somewhat intelligent joke for once”. Todd squeezes Danny’s shoulder, hard, for that. But again, Danny’s gotten worse from his own house. So he ignores it entirely.

Dash meanwhile frowns, this is exactly what he’s talking about. The clear ‘go ahead and hit me, I don’t give a damn’ attitude, even if the little loser covered it up with fake fear half the time. “If you want to play it so tough then maybe I need to give you a mark to show who you and this school belong to”.

Danny snorts, “kinky”. Which Dash instantly punches him in the gut for, before slice his cheek and stabbing him in the shoulder. Grabbing that shoulder and squeezing the wound, as he slams Danny back upright and into the lockers.

Danny coughs, completely ignoring the injuries but forcing them not to heal, “wow fuck, you actually did it huh? Good for you Dash”, smirking up at Dash, “you proved you’re old enough to play with knives”. Dash punches the lockers next to Danny’s head while Danny forcibly rolls the injured shoulder, “missed the bone, try harder next time”.

Tucker grumbling, “I actually forgot how much more witty he is when he’s not sleep-deprived”.

Dash side-eyes the geek, “you think he’s witty huh?”, looking back at Danny, “well maybe he should cut that out”.

“Wow, two jokes, you’re on a ro-”, Dash shoves the knife into Danny’s mouth and makes a point to cut up his tongue before pulling it out. Making Danny cough again, he was going to spit at the ground but blinks, remembering last night's bullshit.

As if on cue, Dash jerks his hand off Danny’s shoulder, steaming green and with a forming ecto-burn. Danny, spotting the green steam on the knife, uses the jocks shock to snatch the knife and book it. Though unable to resist a joke as he does so, “yoink!”.

Sam, being more of a planner and ballsy enough to do said plans, maneuvers around Kwan, whose startled enough by everything to have pretty well lost his grip, and punches Dash in the face. The guy might be a bully but he’s one of those fuckers who ‘won’t hit a girl’, but also doesn’t expect a girl to be doing the hitting. Taking Dash’s furthered shock to wipe off his hands with her jacket, “the only person you can impress by trying to beat up Danny, is Danny”, before elbow him in the back of the head and running off. Catching Danny running backwards and waving the, cleaned off, knife at the jocks, “thanks for the knife! Pleasure doing business with ya!”.

Which only pulls Dash out of his shock, “FENTON!!!”, and gets him chasing after them.

Now what Dash didn’t know was that Danny liked the chase and hunt just as much as Dash did. Expect Danny got far more fun out of the ‘getting away’ part. Danny chuckles from their hiding spot inside the stairs, “getting out from under the wolves teeth and taking a tooth as a trophy prize”.

Sam uses a medical cloth from her bag to wipe off her jacket before it gets burnt, while Tucker elbows Danny, “maybe you should sleep less”.

“Fuck you Tuck”.

“Dude, you were treating him kind of like a ghost”.

Danny rolls his eyes and huffs, “well excuse me. Normally ghosts stab me, not humans”, shrugging, “besides, wit’s kind of my knee jerk reaction”.

Sam sighs as she starts wiping off Danny’s t-shirt, which is noticeably smoking and has a patch of the shoulder slowly burning away, “you can’t be fighting back against Dash, Danny. It’s too risky. Mocking him is practically the same thing”.

Danny waves her off as he takes the cloth and wipes off his cheek. Choosing to just swallow whatever’s in his mouth and letting those wounds heal up. Course he can’t do that with the cheek or shoulder. Y’know, in case Dash checks. Plus other people saw the cheek shit.

Tucker holds up a bandaging kit, “what ones you want? Space for your face?”.

Danny snorts but shakes his head, “it’s not deep and I’ve already cut off the bleeding. Having a bandaid on my face would just make Dash happy”.

Sam grabs one of the large square ones, “well regardless, your shoulder’s getting this”, before motioning for Danny to take off his shirt; which he does.

Sam seals the bandage around to stab wound, which normally would have been healed up in half an hour or so, while Tucker sticks a bandaid on Danny’s face; reading ‘Thy wit’s as thick as Tewksbury mustard’.

Danny glares at him and pulls out his phone to see what one Tucker put on while Tucker speaks, “we can see muscle in the wound dude, it should logically be bleeding”.

Danny rolls his eyes, “well I can’t let it, now can I”, point at the bandaid, “and really? That one?”.

Tucker smirks, “you deserved it”.

Danny snorts as he pulls back on his t-shirt, glaring at the obvious burn hole, before digging in his bag and pulling out a patterned dress shirt and throwing it on; leaving it unbuttoned though.

The three get up and Danny makes them intangible and invisible, before flying them out and into an empty hallway.

Dash, meanwhile, gave up on chasing the weird loser. Instead going to the bathroom with a huff and staring down at his burnt? hand. Seriously wondering how and when that happened. There’s no way the little loser had done that, was there? Hugging and glaring at the mirror, “maybe Fenton’s more of a freak than a loser. A freak loser, even worse than the rest of those pathetic weaklings”. Before leaving the bathroom.

Danny can’t help but give Dash a shit-eating grin as the trio spot him while leaving the school. Pausing all three’s walking and tossing up the knife a few times. Grinning even more shit-eatingly when Dash clearly notices the knife.

At first Dash smirks at seeing the noticeable bandaid, talk about embarrassing, until -due to wanting his damn knife back- he gets close enough to read it; which Fenton obviously wanted. “Why you little freak!”, chasing after the three as they all run off. Only to lose them near instantly. It was really starting to piss him off how good the little freak loser was getting at escaping him.

Danny laughs in the alleyway, patting Tucker’s shoulder, “Tuck, you do realise I was insulting his ‘wit’ earlier and you put on a bandage that insults a persons wit!”.

Tucker smirks, knowing full well he’s about to be an asshole, “well you know what I realised? You could kill or destroy everything just by bleeding everywhere”.

Danny smacks him over the head as he stops laughing, “fuck you, you’re right and that’s horrifying, but fuck you”.

Sam smirks, “maybe you should get dePhantomed again so I can add a radioactive symbol to your back as a warning”.

Danny blinks and tilts his head at her, “you know...that would actually look kind of cool”.

“...I was joking”.

Danny just gives a shit-eating grin.

“Danny no”.

Danny gives the most shit-eating smug smile he can possibly manage. Effectively making it clear he won’t actually do something like that while also being a Jack ass.

Over the next few days, Danny wore an assortment of different insulting bandages and wound up getting a mild amount of respect for getting cut and stabbed but seemingly shrugging it off. While Danny just made a point to clean up after himself more and his two friends always had industrial-strength gloves on hand.

End.

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newbestinvestmenttips · 5 years ago

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The Estate Bubble Fallacy

There has been a lot of talk lately around the "Real Estate Bubble", and a lot of folks are asking the thought: "When it is going to burst"? They are saying that the market cannot sustain this level of growth and appreciation much longer, not to mention I heat them say that it is inevitable that it have got to come crashing down soon. People are worried. They don't feel it can last; That whatever goes up, must come down. They have been conditioned to believe what they believe most likely out of your experience of the stock market bubble of 2000, and maybe the particular 1990's when the real estate market was hit hard in many substantial metropolitan areas across the country. Its human nature to feel that way. We all know the saying (or the 80's tune for you enormous hair folks), "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". Or why don't you consider, "All good things must come to an end. "? Its how you react to almost everything that affects our well being and common safety. Its a subconscious reaction at the gut place. Just like in the stock market, there are bulls and bears. Bulls are typically more optimistic about the market and expect it all go up, and bears are generally more pessimistic and expect to have the market to go down. They will always be there to provide free of charge advice and "expert consulting". Remember though, who you listen to will certainly have an effect on your decision making, and ultimately your own success. Well, I'm here to say that there is no properties bubble! There never was a real estate bubble. The a complete and utter fallacy. "How can I say which usually? " you ask. I can say that because the real estate market is in reality, a Wave. Its a cycle, and also we just happen to be riding the big swells, and / or the crest of this long, consistent, and fairly expected pattern. There is no doubt that real estate has been a rock solid investment decision for decades, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future and for many purposes that I would like to demonstrate here and now. Because you, as a realty investor, must be able to move forward with confidence when deciding which will projects and properties you want to buy and sell. That is the purpose of the website, to provide you timely information, strategies and begin enlarging help you succeed. But first, what is a bubble? In terms of economics and markets, the best definition is probably something along the lines of "an isolated or ephemeral situation or condition with bit support or substantiation from external conditions". The best occasion, and the one foremost in the minds of us all, will be stock market tech bubble of 1999 and 2000. Individuals rushed into the tech stocks and the stock market in general once we saw the. com millionaires being made. Y2K was basically a big factor in the tech bubble. People were buying fresh systems at a unprecedented rate in order to prepare for doomsday. Individuals were also buying consumable goods to stock up for the dreadful event that never came. So what was holding up, or perhaps supporting the "irrational exuberance" as Alan Greenspan characterized it? Well, we learned soon afterward, not much. It had been an isolated, temporary incident that had little guidance from the other conditions. It was indeed like a bubble which will burst. And it has had little support since then. Historically presenting, after the stock market crash of 1929 and 1987, the software took decades for the market to recover, although it did gradually recover. Just look at the Dow average and the S&P common for the last hundred years and see the pattern of recovery. You may be sure that a slow steady rise for stocks open for progress. Now back to real estate. Let me explain why that isn't a bubble. Real Estate is Cyclic Real estate has had the ups and downs over the years, but it is generally stable, with no drastic ups and downs per se. If you were to look at the cycles on a record you would see a clear pattern of gently rolling increases. This pattern is consistent across cities and countries all across the United states, although slightly varied in degree. Additionally , the cycles tend to favor the ups rather than the downs. It is not uncommon to see large cycles of appreciation and far smaller downward cycles. In other words, the current double-digit growth we all come to know and love in recent years will likely be pursued by downturns of single digit declines. Its like bringing two steps forward and one step back. In the giant picture you will still be further ahead than when you began. You may see slower growth, but it will still be growth. Realty is a Basic Necessity People need to live somewhere. They want a roof over their head and their your child's heads. Like food and clothing we must have a place. People don't need stocks or bonds. Therefore , you may be sure that whether the market is high or low in development, whether interest rates are up or down, people could be buying, renting, leasing, and selling homes. It is because perennial as the years. This Real Estate Wave Has Been Around A short time I don't know when you first realized we were in an " up " market in real estate, but it has been on a solid " up " trend for at least the last 3-4 years. It couldn't just happen yesterday. Of course like anything else, awareness of the average person is a bit latent, and dependent upon the media. They have only been lately that the media has really devoted to it and thrust it onto the front page. The particular old adage "Success breeds success" is also true. Typically the momentum will grow as other more traditional purchasers continue to jump on the band wagon and pour the money and resources into real estate investment. It tends to come up with a perpetual, self-feeding market that is ideal for more seasoned buyers. Real Estate is Local and Regional It is true the fact that even in today's real estate boom, there are areas in the United States which have been not enjoying the high rates of return who others are experiencing. California is a fantastic place to invest, therefore is Arizona and a host of other places. But the Corrosion Belt states are not as fortunate. Watch what happens for you to Florida home values after this horrendous hurricane season. The reason is , real estate is driven by the primary capitalistic force regarding Supply and Demand. Generally speaking, property values increase on areas where the job market is strong, and whereby there are more people moving into than away from. Of course you can get other factors to consider; including interest rates, availability of funding, climate, plus governmental policies. These are all important and you must be aware of their impacts to your strategy. However , it is true basically no that matter what the rates are or ways nice the climate is, people will continue to migrate where there are abundant job markets and affordable home. If you can stay just slightly ahead of that migration, you are likely to profit immensely. Real Estate Investing is Diverse You can commit to so many different ways, from foreclosures and fix and flips, to buy and hold and everything in between. Right now typically the commercial space is relatively soft. It will recover obviously, but people investing in single family homes are probably going through slightly better in returns. Vacancies are up as well as rents are down for commercial properties, but thank goodness, the forecast is for this sector to improve over the then few years.

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years ago

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Spider-Force #3 Thoughts

Fucking Awful.

This story issue and mini –series as a whole was a fucking mess.

Let’s get some pleasantries out of the way.

The art was nice but a downgrade from Siquiera’s from the first 1.5 issues of this mini-series. The fact that we couldn’t maintain a consistent art team for THREE ISSUES speaks to how poorly thrown together this mini-series was.

Also a nice thing. The concept of Spider-People fighting in zero gravity where a lot of their powers would be undermined, especially their agility and webbing. Too bad the idea isn’t explored at all and downright contradicted.

Finally not exactly a pro or con here but something I forgot to mention as a problem in Spider-Geddon #4. I made a mistake in my thoughts on it where I said that I didn’t get what Ben Reilly had to do with Otto’s bargain with the Inheritors, but re-reading it I evidently forgot that it was stated that by absorbing his life essence the Inheritors would learn how his cloning tech would work. The problem with that being...the Inheritors don’t gain knowledge from their victims last I checked. Maybe I missed something else but I’m pretty sure that was never a thing before issue #4 and if so what lazy writing my God.

Why is that relevant to this issue though? Well because we’re diving into the problems of this issue of which there are numerous and I thought I’d start at the end instead of the beginning.

Sooooooo...the ending of this story doesn’t jive at all with Spider-Geddon #4.

When I read Spider-Geddon #4 I complained that it ruined the resolution of this mini-series. Now in fairness I wasn’t being exactly fair in that point as readers could still wonder of course what had become of the other Spider-Force members sans Charlie and (not that anyone cared) how precisely they got a hold of the Solus crystal.

Well if you did care about any of that prepare to be disappointed. Turns out Verna just gave the crystal to Jessica without her knowing and we don’t know WTF happened to any of the other characters. In fact the start of issue #1 is chronologically the last time we see them. What a fucking waste of time.

Worse is that as I said it doesn’t jive with Spider-Geddon #4 at all. Jessica’s body language and dialogue not match between the two issues.

Speaking of Jessica Drew not only do all the problems I cited before stand with her character, but Priest compounds them by implying she has like animal keen senses, as though she’s Wolverine or something??????????

She also claims everyone’s wall crawling powers are useless in zero gravity because there is no friction. I’m no scientist but I’m pretty sure friction would still exist in zero gravity. Even that aside...that...that isn’t how their powers work. I can’t entirely explain it but it’s about electricity not friction.

The same thing applies to her concerns about their other powers. I get that agility is at least less useful in zero gravity...but super strength? Gravity isn’t going to affect your gripping potential? Besides it doesn’t matter. The story has Verna speedily grab John Jameson and earlier on John viciously stab Verna in the throat and then plays like the characters are making a hasty retreat as though they were moving quickly but...they weren’t obviously because no one can run or jump in zero gravity.

By the way as we’re on the topic we reinforce the stupidity of Jessica being immune to the Inheritors because her powers come from radiation. They don’t and even if they did...so does Spider-Man’s but he can still be eaten so what gives?

Let’s talk about Jameson and Verna.

Let’s put aside how the recap page refers to John as the Spider-Man of this world (fuck Uncle Ben I guess). What a waste of an interesting concept. And Verna? So apparently she can...heal by eating people? Okay maybe I’m forgetting something but I don’t remember that being an ability either. But then again this mini-series has given people all sorts of random powers. For example not only are the Inheritors vulnerable to radiation but apparently it’s basically kryptonite to them. It’s not that it’s something that hurts them like it hurts everyone. No, no, no they’re MORE vulnerable to it than regular people. Which raises the question of why the fuck didn’t anyone in this entire mini-series arm themselves with radioactive weaponry? Like Peter Parker injected himself with radiation in the very first Morlun story, couldn’t you make a big ass gun to shoot radiation at these guys?

More confusing to me is the idea that she stashed away Solus’ crystal to keep it safe from members of her own family; with artwork so bad I couldn’t tell it was even her until dialogue clarified.* This is the first time the idea of the Inheritors backstabbing one another has ever been raised, it comes out of nowhere and is just a cheap aspect of the story to justify some of the plotting. Because if the Inheritors had the Solus crystal in their homebase then at the very least this mini-series wouldn’t exist.

An inconsistency with the crystal I noticed is that Charlie figures out that Verna set up a beacon nearby it in the train station and that was the unique energy signature John first zeroed in on because the crystal isn’t emitting an energy signature. Ummm....how does he know that? I get he’s Peter Parker who is smart but how would he be able to deduce this without examining the crystal? He just seems to know this stuff.

Speaking of Charlie there is little more I can add to his character or indeed Ashley’s. They’re storyline goes nowhere in this mini-series. At least Scarlet Spiders from Spider-Verse had something of an emotional payoff as their mission was a success, Ben died and this propelled Kaine into vengeance. Here the mini-series doesn’t end so much as stop it might as well be Spider-Geddon #3.5. Except at least the main book has been building towards a pay off for it’s central characters of Miles and Otto. This mini-series was clearly most invested in Ashley and Charlie and it goes nowhere, we don’t even get details on his past. Apparently he appears in Spider-Geddon #5 but I have little hope we’ll find out what his past is exactly.

The nicest thing I can say is that he displays intelligence via his trap for Verna. Where this plan becomes stupid though is in the fact that Kaine has a big ass gun out of nowhere and for some reason they were walking around without their radiation suits for awhile....why? Why would you do that???????? Has it got something to do with Charlie’s confusing Pokemon reference?

Consequently we find out that the radioactive water they flooded the subway with back in issue #1 is corrosive which....again not a scientist, but would radiation make water corrosive really?

Let’s talk about Kaine. He’s an out of character jerk who is dissed as not having a soul and who lied to his team for no reason. I don’t get it? And he was supposed to be the lead character? Maybe? It’s unclear because this mini-series is so badly put together.

Priest also makes some bullshit statement about how Jameson’s telepathic trick last issue boned them all but that’s talked about more than it is shown. We only saw 3 flashbacks last issue after all but now we’re talking about how Jessica didn’t get anything from Kaine because he’s a clone who has no soul maybe.

And yet we do get a random flashback from her in this issue to the brith of her son and...Skullls(????????????) are there???????????????? Maybe this synchs with her solo-book but maybe contextualize that for the new readers who’ve not read that Priest? Jesus Christ.

This series is a turd. Don’t bother reading it.

*That scene also had this weird pointless caption box about iron phosphate power cells which went nowhere.

#Spider Woman #Jessica Drew #Scarlet Spider #Ben Reilly #Clone Saga #Kaine #Kaine Parker #Spider-Geddon #Christopher Priest #Skrulls #Inheritors #Spider-Man #Peter Parker

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anotherhawk · 6 years ago

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Dust Fatigue - Clone Wars Fanfiction

Cody woke to all the expected alarms and notifications plastered over his helmet display. The atmosphere on this sith-sent moon was light on oxygen and heavy on toxins and corrosives. Oh, and dust, mustn't forget that. Thick, grey, ash-like dust that smothered their armour until he could barely pick out his brothers from the rocks around them, barely tell which of them he was talking to. The grey covered over white and gold, leaving them all as identical as the day they were decanted. If he was the sort to be unsettled, this would unsettle him.

With a concealed sigh, ignoring the ache in his head and his back, he sat up, cancelling the alerts. After three standard weeks he knew the dangers well enough.

“Commander!” Drifter sounded relieved and he looked over to find a small group of his vod gathered around an abandoned helmet. He looked around the cave quickly, searching for whatever unfortunate vod had been stupid enough to disobey orders and take off his helmet. They had already lost a squad to this storm. He wasn't going to lose another brother to the kriffing weather.

“The general stepped outside for a moment,” Drifter went on, talking quickly. “And he left this behind.”

Of course. He should have known. His brothers had a sense of self-preservation – unlike their Jedi.

He made sure not to let his frustration leak into his voice. “I see. When was this?”

“Twenty minutes ago? Tinhat went to check on him but he said he was fine. Just meditating.”

Cody nodded and took the general's bucket from Drifter's hands, his brother obviously all too eager to pass the problem up the chain of command. “Jedi can handle hostile environments for longer than we can,” he reminded them – needlessly, he suspected. If it was a vod who had removed his helmet and wandered outside he was certain that they would have been tackled and wrestled back into it long before now, regardless of rank. He really didn't want to try doing that to the Jedi. Best call that plan b.

Away from the shelter of the cave the wind picked up immediately. The dust wasn't as thick as it had been when they'd first arrived though, which could mean the storm was dying down at last – or it could be something to do with the man sitting cross-legged on the cliff edge to his right.

“Cody,” Obi-Wan greeted him without opening his eyes.

“Put your bucket back on. Sir,” he said, holding the helmet out.

Obi-Wan made no move to take it. “I'm filtering the toxins out of my lungs. I can manage without it for a while longer.”

And he wondered why he had a headache. With an effort he reminded himself that the Jedi didn't get the same training as them. The clones could practically live in their buckets, but as far as he could tell before the war no Jedi had even wore one, which, considering that the vast majority of them came from species that would die from a single head shot, was insane. “You're worrying the men.”

As he expected Obi-Wan sighed and immediately reached for the helmet, checking the filters and seals as thoroughly as any brother fresh off Kamino. “Would you care to sit down?” he invited, and the slight distortion from the helmet didn't stop him from sounding just as polite as though the two of them were in some high-class Coruscant club.

Cody took the invitation, sitting on the cliff edge and peering out into the storm, searching for any sign of clankers.

“The droids are likely to be even more inconvenienced than we are,” Obi-Wan observed.

“Unless they've had upgrades,” he said, as much for the sake of an argument as anything else.

Obi-Wan tilted his head to the side doubtfully. “They would have to do it themselves. We're the only living organisms on this moon.”

Cody glanced sideways at him, confident the movement was hidden by his helmet. “Is that a problem, sir?”

He gave a slight chuckle. “Well it does mean we don't have to worry about collateral damage. We should have sent Anakin.”

“No, I mean with the force,” he hazarded, hoping he didn't sound too ridiculous. After all, something had driven his general out here to meditate without his helmet. And the force was a connection between all living things, by his understanding anyway. Though how that let his general throw clankers around with his mind was something no one had ever managed to successfully explain to him.

Obi-Wan turned to look at him, and Cody thought he might be smiling. “It's fine, Cody. The force feels different here but it's not painful or uncomfortable. I would have told you before now if it had been a problem.”

Cody just looked at him. He might not be able to stare the Negotiator into submission, but he could at least make his incredulity plain. Off the top of his head he could think of dozens of 'painful' or 'uncomfortable' problems that Obi-Wan had chosen not to tell him about.

By the stubborn tilt of his head, Obi-Wan was well aware of what he was thinking.“I tell you if something is going to affect the mission.”

“Your health affects the mission, sir,” Cody told him every bit as dry as General Kenobi himself. He was fairly certain that Obi-Wan wanted to argue that it didn't, or perhaps that it shouldn't, but he looked back out across the moon's surface instead.

“Some Jedi have a stronger connection to the living force than others. My master was such a one. He would have struggled on this moon. But I don't have that powerful connection and so the council picked us for this assignment.”

“Lucky us,” Cody returned, inwardly wondering. He very rarely heard Obi-Wan mention his master. Strange considering by Rex's account General Kenobi was one of General Skywalker's favourite topics of conversation – right behind Senator Amidala.

“Lucky us indeed,” Obi-Wan agreed. “Not that there is any such thing as luck, of course.”

“Right,” Cody said grimly. “If the force intended for us to end up on this dustbowl, I've got a few words for it. Sorry, sir.”

“No, no,” Obi-Wan said lightly. “I often think so myself. Particularly in such...inhospitable conditions.”

That was certainly one way to put it. He rolled his shoulder a little, trying to ease the knots in his back. It wasn't his place to question, but they were the only living things on this moon, and that made it a little hard to see just what it was they were defending. Palladium mines, sure, but all the miners had been evacuated before the separatists took it.

“The mines support the economy of Kestilia,” Obi-Wan told him. “Their situation is already precarious – they import most of their food and without the income from the mines people will starve.” Cody stiffened slightly and Obi-Wan ducked his head. “Apologies, Commander, you were thinking very loudly. And one of the admitted disadvantages of the lack of the living force here is that there's less, ah, 'noise', so to speak. I'll try to do better.”

There was genuine apology in his voice and Cody nodded. “It's fine,” he said, and at least it was good to know that they were fighting for more than credits in some rich industrialist's pockets. “I don't normally question our orders,” he added defensively.

“I know,” Obi-Wan said, as though there wasn't a doubt in his mind. “But we've lost so many.”

He nodded again, looking out into the storm, in the direction that they'd lost Whistler and the shinies. “I can't decide which is worse. That they died without choosing their names, or that some of them had found their names and now no one knows them.” The squad had been at the landing zone on their own for four days and a handful of skirmishes before the storm moved in. That was more than enough time for a shiny to name themselves. He didn't like hearing designations in the litany. It meant that his brothers hadn't lived long enough to find out what made them unique. It meant they hadn't had a chance to live. It meant he'd failed.

He felt the comfortable weight of his Jedi's hand on his shoulder, a silent offer he was more used to receiving after battle. Still he nodded – accepted - and he felt a wave of comfort and compassion sweep over him through the force. It didn't take the pain away of course, but his mind was soothed and just knowing that his general shared his grief and his guilt helped somehow.

“They are one with the force, marching far away.”

With the tension across his shoulders lessened he felt a twinge of regret. “I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to waste your energy like that.”

“My master was always fond of saying that no act of compassion is a waste,” Obi-Wan replied, and that was twice now that he'd mentioned his master and that had to mean something.

“He sounds like a fine man,” he tried. “I'm sure he would have made an amazing general.”

Obi-Wan gave a wry laugh. “Hardly. He would never stand for the Order leading an army. I have no doubt he would see this whole war as my...as our failure.”

Cody didn't miss the quick correction. “Are you alright, General?” he asked tentatively.

“I'm fine,” Obi-Wan said, predictably, but he hesitated and Cody waited patiently. “I was checking through the latest casualty reports. General Zanedi died over Wusmyneides.”

He couldn't put a face to the name. “I'm sorry. Did you know them well?”

“Not well, no,” Obi-Wan said. “But we were padawans at the same time, and though she was a few years older than me we did share one class. Advanced Cross Cultural Mediation. I was reminiscing, and it suddenly occurred to me that there isn't anyone else still alive from that class. Just me; the lone survivor.”

His Jedi's voice was light. Cody reached out and gripped his forearm, concentrating on feelings of sympathy and support. If he was 'loud' he might as well take advantage of it.

“Thank you, Cody,” Obi-Wan said in a low voice gazing out into the storm once more. “Sometimes I wonder what will be left of us all once this war is over.”

Cody tried not to wonder about that. He and his brothers had been made for war.

Obi-Wan stood up quickly. “Come on. Let's wake the men. The storm will end in an hour and we need to be ready to move. I want to clear the mines and call for extraction before the next one hits. The sooner we're back home the better.”

Cody moved to follow him, wondering when Obi-Wan had started thinking of The Negotiator as home, and whether his Jedi had even noticed.

#clone wars fan fiction #commander cody #codywan #obi wan kenobi #star wars fanfiction

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believerindaydreams · 6 years ago

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@exoplaneeet some fic for you, cos I felt bad about your lack of CS/FL fic...well, actually it’s more SS than FL, with a post-game Tireless Mechanic. (If some of the lore’s off, please note that I have not actually played that much of CS yet...)

The Unrepentant Smuggler leaning against her study wall looks wry and relaxed, from neatly groomed mustache to mildly anachronistic boots. He does not, the Cynical Herald reflects, seem like a man who spent half a Zee voyage raving mad and tied up in his own hammock. Then again, the mutual friend who introduced them is a player of the Great Game; appearances count for less than nothing.

“Ever since our trip to the Shattered Citadel,” he says. “I tried to loot something that the Mechanic told me not to, and, well, things got a little sticky.”

“No promises, you understand? Secret histories are fraught territory at the best of times, and I’m not even a Know yet.”

The Smuggler shrugs with evident lack of comprehension. “Better than nothing. We’ve been trying honey, laudanum, warm airag- do you know how foetid warm mare’s milk is? And none of it’s done any good. I just keep on dreaming.”

“If nightmares frighten you, go back to the Surface,” the Herald says indifferently. “Or simply wait it out. Even in the Neath, you’ll find that dreams have a tendency to cycle into complacency eventually.”

He glances her over, with the practiced eye of a born hustler, and speaks one word: “Illopoly.”

After that, __ it, she has to listen.

A blackened engine warms the Physius to a nigh-intolerable point; the launch’s warm is very welcome to her bones, after years of witnessing Kingeater’s cold. Anyhow, their after-dinner Sangiovese is perfectly chilled, after a stint in the iceless ice box.

“I take it the Mechanic’s as inventive as ever,” the Herald says, cutting herself neat slices of imported Parmesan. “To say nothing of thoughtful- I wouldn’t have expected such an appropriate tithe for my trouble. Or any at all, come to that.”

“Oh, well, that’s Ma- that’s the Mechanic for you,” the Smuggler agrees. “Do you mind if we get down to business now? Only I’d rather get it all out of the way before he wakes up. Talking about nightmares makes him real nervous.”

She studies the sleeping engineer, blissfully comatose now the ship’s safely docked, and nods. “All right. Is it always the same one? Are there patterns?”

“It starts with a desk. Faded viric-”

“It would have to be.”

“Which is far from my favourite colour,” the Smuggler says irritably, “but in the dream, I’m hanging on to the thing for dear life. Because there’s nothing else in the entire universe- literally nothing else to look at, except this desk and a pack of cards. So obviously I start laying out the cards for a game of solitaire, because what else are you going to do? Only that’s when it gets weird.”

“Trionfi,” the Herald murmurs, and draws a small case from her pocket. “Do you recognise any of these, by chance?”

He rummages through the pack. “A few. The Sun-in-Rags, that’s familiar. The Watchman. The Red Grail-”

“You needn’t invoke them,” the Herald says rather sharply, over the sleeper’s choking snore; she brushes an unkempt lock from his face, and he breathes easier again. “How new to the Neath are you?“

“Couple of years.” The Smuggler smiles crookedly. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, however groovy the zeppelins are. Sorry. Only I don’t know what else you’d call them...”

“Don’t. Just point, and describe your symptoms.”

He does, for the following hour, while she takes notes in graceful Italian script. Possibly he is probing her knowledge of the occult for his own purposes, but the suspicion ebbs as she listens to his fraught accounting; clearly the Smuggler’s unaware of the greater import of his dreaming, and just as clearly doesn’t wish to.

“After a while I’m not myself any more. The longer I’m playing, the more natural it feels to me- if I spend nights walking through city streets, I find myself weary to exhaustion. I tend people’s wounds with hands that understand scalpels better than control columns. Wake up expecting to be young and beautiful and ravenous, when I shouldn’t be any of those things.” The Smuggler picks up a worn, brimmed cap, strokes it absently. “Simple hypnosis would be a piece of cake by comparison. So. Can you help me?”

Putting off the answer will be false kindness. “I can guide you, certainly. Lead you through the Mansus, bring you to apotheosis, but there’s a price. Though one,” she says, not looking at the innocent in the shadows, “that you might find easier to pay than he would.”

“Go on,” he says, with ready eagerness.

“Death,” she returns. “Not yours, other people’s. Acquaintances, friends, lovers. Special constables who’ll trace your trail. The prisoners who gave away everything they were, to be broken for your plans- and you will break them, before all’s well. The great appeal of Seeking,” the Herald says, as she links up wood-whispers, “is its solitude, the joys of private watches in the night and hugging secrets to your own heart. Cults are another affair altogether. But perhaps none of this worries you.”

“Not so much, now you’ve put it that way,” the Smuggler says, sober for a moment. “Sounds like I’ll just have to put up with this. Doomed to a lot of tedious clerical work every night, whoo.”

“Then the dreams will continue. Worsen, I should expect. Best improve your shining Hours, or find yourself consumed by them.“

“Which is the Neath all over, isn’t it...so it’s spending every night of my life wrapped up in these visions until I pay off the sacrifices?”

“Yes.”

Improbably, the Smuggler is smirking. “Guess I’m gonna have to ask the Mechanic for the recipe to that Darkdrop mess of his. He did warn me it might come to that.”

“A little more than that. Consider yourself under a geas from now on, as far as cardplay goes.“

That’s when he heaves the sigh. “Aw. Well, that’s okay. I never could beat anybody at Texas hold-em, anyway- hang about. How am I supposed to get by in London without the arcana? I mean, I wouldn’t be able to chat up factions, or find the way to my club, or anything...you sure that’s necessary?”

“There are...unspoken resonances,” the Herald says. “Lore has a way of drawing like to like, water always finds its level. You’ll find yourself making these connections whether you want to or no.”

“How about no,” the Smuggler mutters, and abruptly downs the remainder of his forgotten wine. “Okay. So it’s a strictly undercover, jati existence for me from now on- well, that’s okay. I wasn’t exactly a society highlight in the first place. Anyway, the Mechanic will always have my back.“

The affection, the swaggering intimacy, of the expression he casts at his partner takes the Herald off-guard; not for what it says about him, but herself, the unfamiliar kean of jealousy. Conversations left studiously unspoken, natural shipboard camaraderie and what goes for more than that, her ceaseless vigil at the loneliest place in the Neath. Necessary work, of sure and certain applications, but evidently more corrosive than she’d observed.

Here is a man, persuasive and fascinating and brimful of mystique; and here is his lover. Suffering from an affliction so exotic, no London physic could possibly promise him a cure.

“He came all the way here with you,” the Herald says, in a flat tone that threatens no more than it promises. “I wonder why. Kingeater’s Castle is about the last place anyone would seek refuge.”

“Yeah, I asked about that. He said...something about Dockers,“ the Smuggler says, chewing thoughtfully on his mustache. “Your being shipmates together, before, he trusts you. And didn’t want anybody else getting hold of me, in case...well, I dunno, they wanted to turn me inside out to rip a hole through the space-time continuum, or something kooky like that.”

That reasoning, now, sounds like a certain spy of her recollection. “In short, you’re at my mercy.”

“Completely,” the Smuggler agrees, with perfect self satisfaction. He winks.

She grimaces.

There is very little for the Mechanic to repair at Kingeater’s; but he finds a pile of murder-dimmed knives and busies himself sharpening them to usefulness. Which is just about typical, the Smuggler figures.

“...so. All’s well?”

“Uh-huh,” the Smuggler says complacently. “Slept like a top last night- or should I say, slept as hard as you? You were sure out of it yesterday. Missed a nice roasted blemmigan.”

“Hey, nursemaiding you here from Godfall wasn’t an easy job. To say nothing of sacrificing all those zee-stories.”

The Smuggler shifts uncomfortably. “She says you’re a damned optimistic fool, by the way. Well, not in so many words, it was more elegant language, but you know what I mean.“

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Said that it was ridiculous for you to think that a curse like this could be lifted without any blood being spilt, but fortunately she was clever enough to dissipate it harmlessly. Bully for your old navigator and all that.”

“That’s not what I had in mind at all. Not that it’s any of my business, but I thought she’d try to take it herself. I mean, look at this place,” the Mechanic says, waving at the castle’s ruins. “It’s ghastly, it’s freezing cold, and the only company is an occasional batch of half-dead zailors, who’ll probably try to eat you on sight. Some quiet warm dreaming about cities and real people would have done her a lot of good, I thought. But if she decided it was too dangerous, I suppose that’s her decision.”

“That tool,” the Smuggler says, voice suddenly edged with hostility. “The one you told me not to touch.”

“What about it?”

“You specifically pointed out that thing in the Citadel, just to warn me not to touch it. Me. Your notoriously greedy, treasure hunting buddy.”

“Now, I wouldn’t have said that. It’d be rude.”

“...did you hijack me? Did I spend a month blithering out of my skull so that you could get a curse from A to B, just to cheer up your ex-shipmate?”

“Don’t be silly,“ the Mechanic says loftily. “If it was that important to me, why wouldn’t I have done it myself?”

The Smuggler considers. “Cos messing around with dreaming on that level might have earned you unwanted attention in Parabola again. What ever happened to that worm, anyway?”

“What worm?”

“The one you put in the suncatcher. The one that was trying to kill you, so you couldn’t sleep for ages. That worm.”

“Oh,” the Mechanic says, with relief. “We gave it to the Khanate to get rid of, they’re good at disposing of stuff like that. And that was a snake. Not the same thing at all.”

“You sure? I know I’ve seen that in old fairy tales- worms are dragons, dragons are snakey sort of things...”

Above them, in a half-ruined tower, the Herald makes a note to herself.

A preposterous suggestion. And yet, and yet- if the Khanate’s unwanted visitors were merely cast off elsewhere, does the war of illusions continue on another plane? Will I find my Mechanic’s foe there, reincarnated as some viscid ouroboros worm?

Strange to say, but I look forward to finding out...

#fic #cultist simulator #fallen london #crossover #always crossovers #ecstasy in cosmogone #sunless sea

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hard-reset-with-a-hammer · 4 years ago

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Valentine's Day was four days ago, and in four days, the world almost set a record with how fast something can piss me off. I've spent the last 96 hours talking to friends, family, and even a couple complete strangers who just needed someone to listen, and everything I read and heard broke my shrivelled heart, which only served to piss me off even further. This year had to be one of the single worst years for hopeful romantics around this armageddon-tier fuck up of a country, and I'll tell you why in one, simple, easy to understand word that everyone knows;

Expectations.

That's right, the super villain of the world of love. And I'm not talking about your run of the mill "You look nothing like your Tinder pictures" expectations, I'm talking the kind that people vilify and have mocked you for your entire fucking life. Acne, pudge, bad hair, gangly appearance, a weird skin condition, limbs that don't function correctly, or even mental disorders. Outside bullshit that means nothing in the grand scheme of whatever fucked up religion you follow. If you're one of these shit spewing ass-nozzles, then you can kindly fuck off in a direction of your choosing.

As for all of you hopefuls that got your heart broken or didn't have the courage to confess your affections, stick around. Uncle Fuck Off is gonna take a break today. It's just you and me, and I'm gonna tell you everything you need to hear. I don't have dating advice, obviously because I don't date, and I don't have any magic words that will get you that date with the lover of your dreams. But what I can give you is peace of mind.

The first thing I wanna address is everybody here who has trouble with their weight. Not for lack of trying to be healthier, some people just don't have a good metabolism, and it's something you gotta fight with every day. You've tried dieting, you've tried fasting, you've busted your ass exercising every day until you damn near vomited blood, hoping that you'd see some improvement that never came. It's not your fault, even when you gave up. You're down on yourself all the time, thinking you could've tried harder, but no one on this ball of mud tries harder to be better than you do. If other people don't see that, then they're the ones who has something wrong with them. Just keep doing your best, and do what you love.

To everybody who suffers from acne; I get it. I understand completely. Most people think acne is just bad, pimply skin from being dirty, but they couldn't be further from the truth. Acne is a bacterial issue that can't really be treated. Sometimes people are born who's dermal oil is really corrosive that it creates more impurities than it traps, and that eventually leads to acne. It's not something that a shower can get rid of, and all these advertisements on TV for "Dermal Acne Cleansing Products" are full of shit. The only thing in these products that are good for the skin is Charcoal, Isopropyl, and Aloe, but none of those things do shit for acne and can actually exaggerate the issue. If you want to have clearer skin, chlorine is actually the best thing for the job. I'm not telling you to buy straight up chlorine and rub it on your skin, that will just kill you slowly. Go swimming in a chlorinated pool, take a dip in the hot tub, let the water sit on your skin for a half hour before washing it off, I guarantee you'll notice a difference in dermal clarity in a couple months time. Just don't push yourself to be beautiful. Beauty is bullshit and only used to market to vain cunts who wanna be stars but can't get the job because they're too bitchy.

Vitiligo. I'm sure a good number of people don't know what that means, so I'm gonna give you the Cliff Notes explanation. Vitiligo is a skin condition that is often described as a disease because of how it works. Vitiligo is what happens when pigment-producing cells die, causing the skin to look patchy and mismatched. Physically, it is not a painful disease, nor is it contagious, but mentally and emotionally, it can be torturous due to people afflicted with it feeling self-conscious or out of place. Let me tell you right now; it is nothing to be ashamed about. It is a unique and beautiful feature that none of us could ever hope to experience in life. To have something that sets you apart in this mundane world is a gift and should never, ever be considered a burden or ugly. You are an image of beauty itself.

To anybody still reading this, let me ask you a question: What defines love in your eyes? Where is the line drawn? Does it have to be limited? Weird questions, but you would, or maybe wouldn't, be surprised to know that most of the people whom I spoke to were disabled. Three of them couldn't walk and one of them was born without her left arm. I wanna know why these people, above all else, couldn't find love. And don't give me that tired answer of "Well if it was me, I would have said yes" or "I dated a blind (gender) in high school". I don't care about that shit. I wanna know why disabled people are seen as inferior in something as simple as love. And fuck you if you tell me "lOvE iSn'T sImPle". Love isn't simple when one, or fucking both, parties are making it difficult. What makes a relationship difficult? Again, motherfucking expectations. Make money, have a good car, do your makeup, wear the good clothing, go to the popular places, drink the good alcohol, know the right people, have a big house. You avarice driven cunts can lick my dogs ass. Your standards are the metaphorical roach in my coffee cup. I spent almost 3 hours consoling a woman I barely knew because "He didn't want to date somebody who was handicapped". Her exact fucking words. This would surprise me if it wasn't for the fact that this is the standard in this ass backwards country. This motherfucker didn't care that she was 5'8", brunette, athletic, and had a fucking experts degree in biological sciences, he cared that she was missing an arm. An arm that she never had in the first place and never once in her life felt hindered by. He cared that she didn't fit his vision of beauty. What the fucks the problem here? Smoking hot wife with an education that will lift you up when times are hard, or some crack addicted crypt keeper who sucks your bank account dry every two weeks so she can get another fix? Pick your fucking poison.

There is not a single person on this planet who tries harder to be a better person or live a better life than these people that you take for granted. You've denied them a chance at sharing a life of happiness with you, and honestly, you're the ones missing out. In the end, it's you dumbasses that will suffer in the end when you die at the ripe old age of 31 in your low rent apartment from an overdose of painkillers and Jack Daniels.

A little too morbid at the end there? Good. Maybe then some of you will think about what's really important the next time one of these people I've listed off asks you for a chance instead of laughing them out the fucking door.

#disability #love #valentines #beauty #love yourselves #stop the hate #perpetually pissed off

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the-mf-bread-babies · 4 years ago

Text

loneliness </\///\|/3

a fic by rocco wulfram north, m.d.

(found that name on hardcore baby names)

–chmapter jop–

before the tríp

It was a normal day for the Skullsmashers: go to somewhere, kill people, be gay, sleep, get brunch. Right now was the first part of their daily routine, and they were getting ready for it.

“holy fuck nova could you hurry the shit up i have to brush my fucking teeth you bitch” Ace hissed, knocking repeatedly on the bathroom door. “Fuck You. I'm Going To Go To Hell Itself” Nova gargled back, mouth full of mouthwash. More banging was heard; the door had seen better days.

Several feet away was Jake, all dressed up and ready to go, waiting for the others to get ready. He sat on the couch gayly in the living room down the hall, scrolling through Apocalypse Twitter. ‘every day i throw down an unpeeled boiled egg from the rooftop to simulate fear and unreadiness’ he read, a tweet from Orc's account. What the fuck. Classic Orc.

“ah fuck !! am i late !!” Jake turned around to see Damon panicking and counting the daggers in his pockets. “no no not at all. i just get ready really quickly to throw everyone into a state of disarray” Jake replied in an honest, monotone voice. “come sit down”

Damon sat down nervously next to his captain, knowing he'll ask him for Bambi on the PS2 now. “look. look at them those dumbshits” Jake uttered, pointing to Ace and Nova arguing. “those little bastards are completely unaware that ive put a fake cockroach puppet in the mirror. watch now” he added, pulling out a cheap remote control and pressing a button.

*sound of glass breaking* Jake sighed. “okay maybe that wasn't really the best idea” Nova screamed, running out of the bathroom and confusing Ace. “Fucking Roach!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she yelled, already too far away from them to be heard clearly. “huh. well okay then!” Ace grinned, going into the bathroom.

“i'll guard. you do your thing okay? :-)” Damon said to Jake, smiling mischievously. Jake's heart skipped a beat as he was suddenly flustered by the killer's action. «oh god, shit's just gonna get more complicated from here» he thought, staring into nothingness.

Damon braced himself against the bathroom door, eager to hear Ace's chaotic screaming. “ready ??” Damon asked, sending Jake back to the real world. “hhuh??????? oh yea right” he mumbled before beginning to control the cockroach with the remote. “this shit cost me like 200 bucks so it better be worth it”

HOLY MOTHER OF

F U C K

JAKE JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

WHAT THE S H IT DUDE

ace will remember this.

Jake cackled loudly, rolling on the floor and hitting the table with his fist. “LMAOOOOK FUCK YOUUU” he yelled, angering Ace even more. “I WILL GODDAMN SKIN UOUR FUCKIGN ISTINEDSTINES OLD MAN I SWEAR TKC FUCKF” they yelled back, pushing the door repeatedly. “IM GOIND TO FUCKIGN DIR HERE YOU BITCH”

“ah . ace ? could you move a little please ? i'm trying to get in ?” Damon said annoyingly kindly, making Ace jab a fake knife through the space between the door and the doorway. “THIS IS THE BEST FUCKIGN KNIFE I HAVE ON ME RIGT NOW BUT PLEADR JSUT FUCK O F F”

“hm ... i'll have to check in with the blacksmith today to know what this one's worth... possibly rusted here, though.... could also just be dirt tho.....” Damon mumbled, examining the knife. “FUCKING HEL P” Ace yelled in distress, his breath seeping through the door. “ace. brush your fucking teeth that's disgusting.”

“IM FUCKIF D TRYINF THERES JUST A FUCKGIFN ROSCH HEREERF” Ace explained fearfully, trying their best to get some pity from the other. “a what ?? don't think we have those here” “A FUCKIFN COKROSKC” “corrosion ???? how bad” “FUCK YOU A GODDMAND COKCROACH” “girls?? what?? are they milfs??” “HOW THEE DFUCKDB DID YEOU HEAR FTHAY WHATS DUCUNESKRHI”

Jake's hand slapped against Damon's shoulder as a way of saying thanks. “good work out there soldier. us skullsmashers really need someone like you damon” He said confidently, disguising his flirting as a compliment. “cool !! you too man !!” The shorter man replied, completely unaware of the flirting and continuing to yearn for the mutual love between him and Jake. fuckin idiots lmao

“alrighty fuckers, let's move!”

Rachel's voice sent Ace and Nova into a panic, making them scram to look for their weapons and equipment. “Got everything ya need? W'ain't makin' any stops; tryin'a save fuel.” Shaw asked, leaning against the wall at the entrance menacingly. “When the fuck did you even come here.” Dennis asked in surprise, carrying suitcases. “Hmph. Man never tells his secrets, young man.” She replied, tilting her cowboy hat. “What…”

Aaron was sitting peacefully in the trunk of a pickup truck they had, only to be met by a large backpack to the face. “ah!!!!!!!! very sorry!!!!!!! we'll be going in separate vehicles, and trunk space is very much needed!!!!!!!!” Whitney said, apologizing. “Ah. Well. O-okay then.” Aaron stuttered out, holding back tears from the painful impact the backpack had. Pretty sure he'll get a bruise from that.

Henderson and Rachel were waiting in the front seats of yet another pickup truck. To pass the time, they took very cringey pictures of each other pretending to be on Cowboy TikTok™. “Do one where you're pregnant with the truck's baby!” Henderson suggested, making Rachel flip the bird at her but begrudgingly agreeing with her stupid idea. “i literally would skin you alive.” She spat out, putting a pumpkin inside her shirt. “That's… literally so sexy, babe.” Henderson replied back, taking more pictures.

Meanwhile, Andre was busy explaining to Cyprus, who was in a small glass jar, that forcibly entering Damon's bloodstream and mutilating his entire body was not very nice, with Orc and Sarah judging. “YES BUT UNLIMITED POWER COULD BE RIGHT IN OUR HANDS ANDRE” “That'd very mean of you to do, and could actually probably kill you too in the process.” he explained to deaf ears. Well, technically no ears. Yet. “CYPRUS I KNOW IT SOUNDS STUPID BUT YOU COULD LITERALLY DO THE SAME BUT LIKE IN AN ELEPHANTS BODY DUDE” Orc suggested, only to be ignored. “cmon cyprus just pleaaaaase dont kill ppl ok”

Jake looked outside, then back at Damon. “well guess its time to move!” “yea ... but at what cost.” Damon replied confusingly, making a sad face. “did you know today is…” he started, then regretted saying anything. “nvm…” He turned away from the punk, sniffling and walking to Dennis and Aaron.

“damon” “??” Jake asked quietly, craning his neck a little before making the decision to leave the new recruit alone. Instead, he joined Henderson and Rachel in their odd activities.

“hey guys. i fucking miss sans.” Damon confessed, taking a seat next to Dennis. “My nose is bleeding.” Aaron pointed out. “ok. today's sunday. and you Know what That Means… Meant,” The boy continued, facing the ground. “Kanye West he…” Dennis began (begun???? idk). “… liked.” Aaron continued, also affected emotionally by the departure of not only Sans, but Komaeda too.

Jake stared longingly at the family, wishing he was a part of it too. He truly felt Ariel Little Mermaid's desire to become human. Seven Vagánias… that was a risk he was willing to take for him. He would shave his eyebrows off for that man, and he just might do it right now.

“Jake? Don't do that. Please don't fucking do that.” Henderson suddenly interrupted, surprising Jake. “do what” Henderson squinted her eyes, giving Jake a suspicious look. “That's the face you make when you want to do silly things…” She pointed out.

“You had that when you almost electrocuted yourself at that stable, you had that when you threw the dart at Scoran, you had that when you glued Marcus and Reese–” “OKAY OKAY I GET IT IM A DUMMY SILLY LITTLE BITCH BOY OK”

Rachel put the pumpkin back on the ground and went to the two friends, curious to know what the quarrel was about. “what's poppin gayboy!” She loudly asked, slapping Jake's forearm strongly. “i am in peril and shaking and crying” “daddy issues” “yget?” He explained, gesturing towards the Russells.

“ah. please clarify what kind.” Rachel said, knowing Jake has a very questionable taste for fictional middle-aged men, such as Sigma Overwatch and the guy from the cowboy game. “the fuckin. family one rachel” “look at em just vibing and simply being gay”

Rachel and Henderson gave eachother a look that questioned whether Damon and Jake were going to be a thing or not, since Jake's technically still with Andre. “Considering the fact that they adopted Damon, they could probably also adopt you if you wanted to.” Henderson suggested, knowing Jake wouldn't like this and would stupidly unknowingly accidentally confess his love for Damon to them both right then and there.

“what?????” “ew no thatd be fuckin incest or some shit what the fuck” Jake said, being grossed out. “what would be the incestuous part, jacon. we did not say or hint at anything related to incest.” Rachel asked, making Jake's hair stand up in panic. “fuCKIN NOTHING DUH” “BUT LIKE YKNOW I GET CRUSHES REALLY EASILY YEA??????” Jake explained weirdly.

“So there's a new one right now, huh…” Henderson asked… feeling like she was in Ace Attorney. “no!!!! no wait” “well yea– no.. but i–” “fuck You but yes” Jake grumbled. “ah no, we won't tell, obviously. it was just getting way too obvious, so we just wanted to hear it from both sides.” “WH” Rachel said mysteriously, getting into the driver's seat of the pickup truck. “okay guys let's go!!” She yelled out, starting the engine. “THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN??????” “BOTH SIDES???”

chapter dos

two four trucks

The journey to god knows fuckin where idk didn't plan i guess a fuckin cabin or smth idk was long and torturous, especially when Rachel said that cryptic-ass thing before going. What the fuck was that supposed to mean, bro.

sudden interlude for seating arrangements !!

truck 1: Henderson, rachel, whitney, CYPRUS

truck 2: jake, damon, marge, Andre, Aaron

truck 3: ace, Nova, Dennis

truck 4: sarah, ORC, Shaw, viper

truck two.

Jake awkwardly patted Marge's head in the backseat of the truck, avoiding eye contact with Damon and Andre. Of course he had to go on a three-day trip in the same car with his ex, his crush, AND his crush's father. God, he was pretty sure this was the lab rats' doing.

“cows.” Damon pointed outside, earning Andre's attention. “Holy– what are those?” He asked, taking his sunglasses off to admire the beautiful little cows. “Cows… we drink their milk and wear their skin as jackets…” Aaron explained, his eyes drifting from the road momentarily. “They can have best friends and stuff. Really nice guys. Also, they're expensive as hell.”

“Y–You do what. Their skin??” Andre asked, his voice a pitch higher than usual. “yeah and we rate them based on which layer it is. also, like their meat, expensive as hell. but still very cool.” Damon said, confusing Andre even more. “they also give us cheese and ice cream and whipped cream and stuff. underrated little babies. they deserve better.” “they also have nose rings which are punk as hell–”

“Wait, why the nose– cheese?! Cheese?! AND ice cream??!” Andre asked again, his mind attempting to comprehend the greatness that cows are. “Oh man, you are not ready to hear about pigs.” Aaron said jokingly. “What the fuck are pigs???” “Sausages, ham slices, bacon, lard, leather too, rotisserie–” “aaron please i'm gonna throw up.” “Oh, right. Sorry,”

Jake sat quietly in his seat, just now realising how much of his world Andre's missing. Sure, his world was much cooler, but do they have sheep? Palm trees? Penguins? Thought not, bitch. “andre do you know what a kangaroo is” He asked, breaking his silence like that one YouTuber.

“A what?” “kangaroo. some of them are buff as shit and they move by hopping. they cant hop backwards and they also keep their babies in little pouches attached to them and their bones and guts are exposed on the inside of said pouch. baby kangaroos are about the size of a jellybean, and the adults can box you”

“They what” “yea they're weird as fuck.” “its from australia so” “That sounds fake.” “oh man. wombats bro. quokkas. fuckin drop bears and flying foxes. PLATYPUSES!!!” “wombats poop in cubes and quokkas are always smiling” “Koala bears hold onto tree branches and eat their mom's shit, which is the leaves of said tree branches.” “Please stop what the fuck” “ohoho fucking GEESE” “GET IM JAKE MY NEIGHBOR HAD FUCKIN THREE OF THOSE BITCHES”

truck three.

The three sat silently, with the exception of Dennis, who was swearing at random times. “You call that a fuckin’ turn, old man?! HUH?!!” Ace's shoulders jumped, the sudden exclamations preventing them from sleeping through the trip. “This Is Probably The Last Time We'll See Each Other Alive.” Nova stated calmly. “i slept for like two minutes last night… didn't even get to wear conditioner today. unrelated but just sharing my struggles with you.” Ace said, shifting into a more comfortable sleeping position.

Dennis overheard the two talking, and opted to stay quiet for the rest of the trip, before stumbling across a strange sight. “FROG!!!” he yelled, waking up the duo. “he said fuck! he said the f” Ace yelled out while rubbing their eyes. “Are We Aliven't” Nova asked, stretching. “Sadly, no, but the good news is, I found a frog!” Dennis excitedly said, opening the car door.

“WHAT” “THAT SHITS GONNA POISON US WHAT THE FUCK” Nova yelled out, unfortunately not loud enough for Dennis to hear it. The man kept walking towards the creature that was technically an alien to them, and picked it up with watery hands. “DENNIS YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING KILL US ALL!!!!!!! DENNIS!!!!!!”

“So, you kids know how to handle a frog?” Dennis asked in a wholesome tone, alerting the two even more. “KILL IT KILL IT FUCKING KILL IT” “Oh, are you guys allergic to this little guy? Sorry, I'll put it in the dashboard instead.” “GET ITBOUT WHAT THE FUCK DENNID JESUS” “… Huh?” “POSIOJ DART FOGR” Nova shouted, hiding behind the passenger seat and being pushed by Ace, who was also going to hide there. “BITCH”

Dennis and the frog stared at them in confusion, hearing their horrified screams. “This is… a wood frog… not a poison dart… that one would probably die in this climate…” he explained plainly, his hands gently cupping the newfound friend. “oh. ok” Ace muttered quietly, while Nova maintained an awkward silence. “You can… pat them very softly if you want.” Dennis suggested. “Or spray the shit outta them. That could work too.”

Nova nervously held out her hand to pat the frog, then smiled in succeeding to do so. “Death Quivers Before Me” She said, proceeding to pat it even more. “can i do the spray thing.” Ace asked, their voice quiet as a whisper. “Yeah, sure. Go right ahead.”

*the frog was going to die so technically they didnt like fuck up the ecosystem or smth. do not attempt this irl.

truck four.

“What jolly tunes d'ya have on this here truck. Fellas.” Shaw asked, observing the radio. “uh, really, i don't think it'll be necessary!!!!!” Viper nervously said, only to be ignored. “NONSENSE! ONE'S TASTE IN SHANTIES PROVES TO BE A WINDOW INTO THEIR LIVES.” Orc said wisely, patting them on the shoulder. “i guess that's good advice, but really–”

TWO TRUCKS HAVING SEX. TWO TRUCKS HAVING SEX. MY MUSCLES. MY MUSCLES. INVOLUNTARILY FLEX.

“I SEE. A MATING SONG FOR YOUR SPECIES?” “my truck f### playlist,.,.,.” Viper tried to mute the speaker to no avail as most of the buttons on the control panel were very much broken. “I'm. Very sorry for this, pardner. But this doesn't sound so bad. I could put this in a jukebox…” Shaw consoled, only making them panic more. “im so f#ckig sorry” They said, before smashing the radio with a briefcase.

They all paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. “i have spotify…” Sarah croaked, holding up her phone. “they have lemon demon too, if you want…” She muttered, scrolling through the song choices. “does anyone want to listen to wet a–” “no.” “okay.”

The truck grew even quieter for a while, until Shaw gave a suggestion to pass the time. “Wanna play 20 questions?” “I'll start: how many folks have y'all killed?” Viper gave the assassin a horrified look, confusing her. “I think mine's around 150. No… 145…” She confessed, rubbing her chin. “Wait, or was it 160?”

“like six. do you like girls, and, follow up question, do you also coincidentally like short girls with long hair.” Sarah said without hesitation, stopping Orc from answering the first question. “Yes! I literally have a wife!” Shaw shouted happily, rolling up her sleeves to show Sarah her tattoos. “This one is her setting herself on fire and me getting inspired–” “ah, yes–” “That one was a total cover-up! Previously, it was the names of my exes, all thirteen of them, but now, it's my cat!”

After some time of receiving a bit too much RexShaw lore, Sarah finally got the answer she so desperately needed from Viper. This was the verdict that determines whether she could make a move or not. This answer could change– “i am gay and do not get attracted to women. thank you.” Ah. Back to more hunting. “I am a lesbian! High-five!” Shaw exclaimed.

And finally, the first truck.

truck one.

Loud country music blared in the truck as they drove by the snowy mountains of uhh. Winsnow. Like winter and snow. They had all chosen separate routes in order to cover more land and see if there were any new developments in the area.

“BRANDY!!! FETCH ANOTHER ROUNF!!!!!!” Rachel screeched as she drummed on the dashboard. “AND SHE FJSJS” Henderson kept driving, searching every inch of land for a rest stop to stretch her legs and also listen to something else.

“hendy.” Rachel said, getting her girlfriend's attention. “do you wanna buy that slime that cleans cars and stuff?” Henderson stared into the distance, pondering. “Hm. There's always the possibility of the slime disappearing under mysterious circumstances and turning up in the trash can the next day covered in saliva, so.” Whitney looked away, feeling attacked.

“yeah, that's a problem.” Rachel muttered, her hand instinctually moving to Henderson's. “Please don't crash the car.” She begged, looking sadly at her. “is there a domino's nearby. i heard they have that new peanut butter chocolate lava cake.” Rachel asked, cupping Henderson's face gently.

“Rachel. There's fucking mountains.” Henderson pointed out, gesturing towards their surroundings. “That shit will freeze.” Rachel put her head down in disappointment. “yeah. damn.” “MORE FLESH!!! MORE FLESH!!! MORE FUCKING FLESH!!!”

Oh yeah, Cyprus was here the whole time. “why does the metal say fuck?????” And Whitney too! “MIND YOUR OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS. FLESH NEEDED!” Cyprus yelled out, resembling a hungry toddler on a road trip.

“do you want like a burger or something......” Whitney asked, judging the spirit. “FLESH” “like are you more of a kfc or a mcdonalds guy” “NEED FLESH” She gave the couple a look, one that was kind of undecipherable due to her lack of normal face details like eyebrows, visible pupils, etc.

“So, three peanut butter lava cakes and one meat lover's… what else?” “ah!!!!!! no lava cake for me, i'm on a diet!!!!!! dirt and dirt only!!!!!!!!!!! also fish bones as a treat” Whitney corrected, her eyes searching for a nearby body of water. “Or, we could get Cyprus the fish meat, and Whitney the bones.” “sounds good to me!!!!!!!!” “FLESH”

…

“welcome to domino's! can i get your order?”

“three peanut butter lava cakes, please. that's all. thank you.” Rachel said, her seat switched with Henderson's, who was too nervous to order. “okay but they each take like three hours to make” “what.” “yea you can stop by like the grocery store up ahead” “fuck you for ordering this” “i–” “fuck off”

the grocewy stowe

The truck stopped by the front of the building, Rachel telling them to go in first while she searches for a good parking spot. Much to Henderson's disappointment.

“My lover…” Henderson said with fear in her voice. “it's okay… go along… i… i have to do this for you…” “for you all… i won't forget the good that you've done to me and everyone i've ever known…” “Rach, please don't go, I lo–” “you all are the kindest people… heaven may wait eagerly for you, but as for me, the ground trembles for its latest meal. fresh from the oven, i will enter the furnace…” “why the fuck would they cook you again” “because i'm TOAST!!” “haha”

“Kill Ronald Reagan while you're at it… I forgot which one he is but I'm pretty sure he's a total bitch…” “i will meet you doomguy” “heeeeeeeh” Rachel whined weakly as she slowly drove over to the spot she wanted.

MOTHERFUCKER.

A silver Honda Civic quickly made its way into there, angering the scientist. “not on my watch, fucker.” Rachel muttered, sliding the pickup truck across the road. She slammed her palm onto the car horn, which terrified even a murder of crows.

“huh wonder who that is” “hm anyway which fish do u like ???? :-)”

A woman who seemed to be in her late 40s exited the Honda Civic, throwing a rather large and flashy boa around her neck. “Jesús, ít's cold in hère,” The lady commented, putting on a pair of expensive-looking sunglasses. “Márie, come along, ma cheghhy!” (i forgot how to spell it)

oh, son of a B I T C H .

it's the french lady who smells weird.

Of course, seeing your enemy in any circumstance that wasn't planned was clearly a little scary and will probably be your last day alive, but bumping into them at a Target was kinda… awkward.

Both the hazelnut and the dolphin were less armed and armoured than usual, and there weren't any bodyguards or security. Usually, if a top leader goes anywhere, the standard protocol was to do thirty separate background checks on the location and have it guarded up somewhere in the three months before their arrival.

So, obviously, someone in Top 50 driving around town in a decades-old car buying groceries isn't very safe, or probably even legal. Hell, she hasn't even seen them wear anything this ridiculous ever. Could this be a distraction? Or is it an opportunity?

Ah, wait, they're both wearing their stupid little marriage bracelets.

It's the middle of October.

This is their anniversary vacation.

Shit.

in the store

Henderson strolled through the aisles with Whitney at her side, hugging Cyprus's jar. She examined the cereal boxes to make sure they didn't contain any food colouring that could potentially kill her.

Whitney, on the other hand, zoomed over to the meat section, licking her lips at the sight of a raw cod. “cyprus…… do you feel that? the need to devour a being???? the uncontrollable desire for energy that it transcends all laws and regulations placed on mankind?????? the growing hunger for power, one that's so strong it controls your every need????

a natural, primal instinct to become such a brutal being that no one, not even you, recognise yourself anymore. you look at yourself in the mirror and you feel like you want to destroy that, to put yourself onto the pedestal you belong on, to wreak havoc on the cosmos of all beings, living and dead, real and mythical, walking and extinct.

you know that you're the only who understands this instinct, the only one who follows it to this distance. everyone else may underestimate you, but in the end, you'll rise above them all. man's natural instinct is to become the ruler of all.”

“What the fuck, Whitney. Anyway, I talked to the deli guy and he said he could pay you to eat up some scraps if you want. You down?” Henderson asked, her trolley already full of snacks. “yea fuck it man” Whitney replied, walking over to the ‘staff only’ door. “im hungy as fuck”

parking lot.

Despite the growing need to kill the woman, Rachel was managing to control herself. Even though this was the perfect opportunity to eliminate one of them, she knows she'll be replaced by someone much crueler. So for now, she'll just stick to watching this lady consider which can of tomato sauce is better than the other.

Rachel parked the truck near the entrance and the Honda Civic. She kept an eye on the couple as she quietly made her way inside through the back door.

“So thàt's when Í saìd, ‘that's not a cactùs, that's a lámp!” Karén playfully said, her hand entwined with her wife's. Rachel was unsure whether to stalk the two or join her friends in shopping.

WELL, FIND THAT OUT IN THE NEXT PART,

B I T C H !! !! !!

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exppresscarwashindia · 6 years ago

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Not washing your car regularly? It can cost you more. Know How?

Trust me!

When one talks about car washing, the first thing that strikes into the mind is it will clean your car and that’s true. However, regular car wash can benefit you in lot more different ways than you can even imagine. If your car is having a protection of car coat, then its boon for you to wash your car.

Not getting regular wash to your car can cause corrosion of car painted surface, which in short means your car will start to lose its value slowly. You might be thinking that its bad then let me tell you that its worst. You could end up in scratches, faded paint, chips and even corrosive rust.

just like home, cars too need regular cleaning:

What you will think if you step inside a dirty home or see it dirty from outside? You will feel awkward and will get it clean as soon as possible. This blog is not focusing on home cleaning but if same is condition of your car? Then what you will do? What will be your next reaction? Definitely, you will get it cleaned either yourself or avail car cleaning services of car wash company.

It is fact about car owners that they don’t put enough effort to maintain their car. So, let me wake you up that if you don’t care your car, it will get sick and finally it will lose its charm.

Have a deep thought over it!

Your car is your best companion. It goes with you wherever you move. You get fresh once you are back to home but the germs inside your car multiplies so in short get your car healthy to be healthy. You can keep your car healthy with minor care like car washing, car polishing and the most important vaccination that your car is needing is ceramic coating. all this washing and car coating together acts strong together to care your car in best possible way. Your desire to maintain the resale value up can be up only by these small care and investment so as to prevent major investments of car replacements.

Car cleaning can reduce your budget Tension:

You might disagree with the things mentioned above and there is no offense in that. This blog from Exppress Car wash will explain you with reasonable answer to force you to agree that regular maintenance of car is important to prevent heavy investment in long run.

The truth is dust, dirt and other stuff that is allowed to sit on your car forms drag that means you are spending approx. 10 percent more over your fuel eve

ry year than someone who is owing a clean car. So, to consume this 10 percent cost over fuel, again regular car wash is important.

Just like other asset, car even reflects your personality. Owning a car can seem to be little for you obviously as you have better and bigger plans for future and car is just a part of it. But if going from emotional perspective, then car is love for the car freaks and car lovers and as our older generation marked that love is priceless so does our car is. In this fast pollution full environment, your car needs strong protection of ceramic coating which can be called as life saviour of your car.

Just imagine what impression you will leave on people’s mind if they see your dirty and patchy car. Surely a negative impression. In today’s time, what is dirty leaves bad impression either it be your ill behaviour or dirty car. So, to improve your impression on others, stop driving dirty car. Its psychological to relate dirty car to bad impression. Just chill and avoid the stigma what other will think and get your car washed at least once in a month and think fast of getting a car coat for your love.

Not just your investment over car maintenance will increase if you avoid regular car wash, after few days your health will be adversely affected. That point of time start when you start to investment on your medical and you are well aware that education and health both are too costly.

Tips for your car maintenance:

Once you are done with knowing negative effect of not maintaining your car, this blog presents you with ten basic tips that you can try to keep your car clean. To ensure that the vehicle stay remains healthy for many years, here is what steps you need to work on:

Understand your Car:

Just looking at the car washing and tyre pressure is not enough to keep your car healthy. Knowing how to perform basic inspection of the vital needs of your car will help you to cover long journey with your car. it is always recommended to go through the user manual before using any product on your car either it be shampoo, car polish or car coating. This step is important as it provides you information like know-how, feature of the product, tips for its maintenance, don’ts and certification along with warranty period.

Perform regular maintenance:

Going for regular car servicing is very important for your car health. Skipping this process will convert minor issues to major one and even costly one. Nowadays, car detailing companies also offer online booking system and even pick up and drop facility for servicing your car. So, there is no point in skipping the regular maintenance routine for your car. if your car is having a shield of car coating then you can think of skipping the schedule for once or twice as cleaning becomes easy when your get ceramic coating over your car. If your car is having hardness of ceramic coating, there is less chance of environmental factor affecting your body parts, even though doctor check-up is mandatory no matter how much vaccination you have taken.

Regularly change Oil:

A car runs over the road with the movement of thousands of moving parts that needs regular maintenance and lubrication. Lubrication of car parts is important to keep those movable parts healthy. The engine is the most important part which requires proper lubrication for quality function. Oil change is recommended by many detailers as it helps in keeping the car healthy for long without any issue.

Change belts and filters:

Consumables like belts and filters even needs to be inspected at regular time interval and needs to be replaced if any tear and wear found. Oil and air filter clogging results in power loss which adversely affect car care. Proactively managing the affected parts can lead to strong performance of car and decreasing the maintenance cost.

Conclusion:

So, if you are thinking to make your car, car body and car coating spotless and healthy for long, get in touch with the professionals of Exppress Car Wash. If you want to know about booking your slot for car wash, car polishing or car coating, head over to our website www.exppresscarwash.com/ or dial 80-100-44000.

#car cleaning #car polishing #car coating #car cleaning services #car wash

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rock-and-compass · 8 years ago

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Rock and Compass Watches Once Upon A Time – 6.14: Page 23

Overview

The Evil Queen uses Robin to obtain the Shears of Destiny and to force the final showdown with her other half. In a flashback to the Enchanted Forest, Henry Snr tries to make Regina see love rather than the intense hate that motivates her. And, Hook makes the wrong choice about telling Emma the truth about his role in the death of David’s father and it ends up putting not only their engagement, but their entire relationship in jeopardy.

Discussion, Thoughts & Speculation

Page 23 is a divisive episode; it resolves the Split Queen story line is a surprising, although not necessarily satisfying manner, it has a flashback to the Enchanted Forest that serves limited purpose as it just re-treads old ground, and it put’s Emma and Killian’s relationship under a new bought of tension before dealing them yet another enforced separation. The episode does improve marginally on re-watching though, keeping Nemo’s words in mind, the purpose becomes a little clearer and it throws up some interesting questions about where this is all headed. . .

Nemo’s Wisdom – Nemo shows himself to be a very wise man in this episode. He gives Killian excellent advice regarding his secret, but it is the statement he makes when asked where the Nautilus is headed on its next voyage that is really noteworthy – “You know very well that destinations never matter; it’s what we learn on the way”. This is really the key idea of the entire episode, most of the characters demonstrate the depth of their learning in some way or another. Plus, it throws a lot of shade at the preoccupation with “happy endings” that so many Storybrooke residents seem to have.

What Emma Learnt – very clearly, and particularly through the argument with Killian, Emma demonstrates exactly what she has learnt since arriving in Storybrooke. She came to Storybrooke a self-reliant, untrusting, person who spurned love and connection but she’s grown to accept family, to fight for others - to love and be loved. The argument she has with Hook over his actions with the dream-catcher perfectly demonstrates the depth and strength of her personal growth. She is fully aware of the man that Killian was in the past – she’s not hoodwinked or deluded but she trusts in his change. She knows that problems should be shared, that forgiveness is a gift you give other people because they need it, that secrets are better shared, even if the keeping of them is with good intention. She knows what she needs from him. She knows they need to be a partnership and she’s not afraid to vocalise it or put the engagement on hold until he gets back to that point too. What a contrast to the character we first met in season one! What beautiful growth and development. And to think some people have the audacity to say that Emma Swan is not a strong woman anymore. Bullshit. (I will put a caveat here, though – just because lessons are well learnt, it doesn’t mean that old safety nets can’t be bought out of retirement in particular situations… but more on that when I discuss the next episode.)

A guilty man – Hmmm… Hook seems to forget everything he’s learnt because he sure takes a couple of backward steps here. He’s back on that old shtick about villain’s not being able to get their happy ending… Dude, you’re not a villain anymore – he keeps forgetting that or… or he doesn’t truly believe that he has escaped the tarnish of the past. . He’s battling to come to terms with the very personal fact that he is the one responsible for David’s father’s death. Whereas much of Killian’s pirate past is anonymous, this one is closely connected to the people he loves and he is reeling. Nemo basically tells him, either come clean about the past and ask for forgiveness or keep quiet and forgive himself. Both and sound, and valid options, though not necessarily easy ones. And that’s kinda the point – asking for forgiveness is hard. Prostrating yourself at the mercy of another is hard. Risking the possibility of having the request denied is hard. Redemption takes work and is much more about the internal than it is the external. Nemo adds the addendum that seeking forgiveness is best course of action because guilt is a hard thing to forget and can be corrosive. That corrosiveness is clearly demonstrated when he takes neither piece of advice, takes the shortcut of putting the memories into a dreamcatcher so that he won’t remember the crime. But as we know in Ouat, short cuts never work; Emma, of course, catches him in the act and trouble ensues. The intense discussion he has with Emma cements the fact that he is crippled with guilt, guilt that is ironically, only as strong as it is because he is a changed man. It’s a vicious circle. I know that Killian has dealt with a lot of these issues before – the Underworld springs to mind, but for me, I like the reiteration that redemption is not a fixed point. You don’t cross a line that suddenly means you never have to look backwards or be challenged by the past, make amends when the chance arises or be less diligent about your action and choices. Change isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. It’s a process. The one aspect of the story that did strike a sour note for me was how the news of the Evil Queen’s happy ending cements Killian’s decision not to journey with the Nautilus. It felt heavy-handed and side-swerved the real issues at play. What he needed to do was accept Snow’s good wishes for the engagement and use that really nice encounter with his future mother-in-law as inspiration then go and tell David the truth as soon as he was awake. Maybe he was going to do that after telling Nemo he wouldn’t be sailing with him? We shall never know …However, I will lay odds that Killian will be very heroic while he on this Gideon-enforced voyage…

Details, details – okay, gonna split a couple of hairs here but, how was Killian doing spells with dreamcatchers and how does Emma recognise a man she’s never seen before? Is Killian learning magic? Viewing a memory in a dreamcatcher was one of the first things Emma learnt so I guess Killian could be taking a night class… However I suspect it is just an inelegant use of a magical device for convenience sake. And even IF Emma has seen the pages from the book that August supplied, would that sketchy drawing be enough to allow her to recognise the man in Hook’s memory? I seriously doubt it. Just a silly detail that didn’t need to be included. A simple “What are you doing? Why are your wiping that memory?” would have opened the conversation quite sufficiently.

The weight of guilt – It makes a very interesting comparison, Killian’s guilt and trauma over killing David’s father as compared to Regina’s non-existent guilt for killing Snow’s father or anything she’s ever dong really. I’m just saying.

Rinse and repeat – can this be the last time we ever need to endure a flashback to the Enchanted Forest feat. Queen Regina (*)? They are always the same: Regina is hell-bent on vengeance, terrorises village and kills a few people, her father tries ineffectively to make her see the error of her ways and Regina refuses to be swayed from her path. It’s no different in this episode. They are treading very well-worn ground. Tinkerbell’s cameo is perplexing and yet another attempt to retcon prior information – The reason Regina didn’t go into the Inn all those years ago was because she didn’t want to give up her vengeance, not because she felt she didn’t deserve love. I think (although I could be wrong; been a while since I watched Quite a Common Fairy), but I think Tinkerbell might have even made reference to this after Regina decides to pursue revenge rather than the man with the tattoo. The suggestion that Regina was desiring the love and goodwill of the people is also a head-shaker; Regina never sought love from the citizens of the Enchanted Forest, she wanted their fear and she wanted to punish them for being loyal to Snow as much as she wanted to punish Snow for spilling a secret. Add to that the fact that cupid’s arrow wouldn’t have taken Regina to Robin anyway – she didn’t know the man! He might have been a chance to change her fate but you can’t love what you don’t know no matter how ‘fated’ it is. History tells us that the arrow would have taken her to her father – the man she kills to cast her freaking curse. And,*big surprise* they make Regina conveniently see herself in the mirror once the arrow’s destination is changed to the person she hates the most. Convenient because, although it obviously had no impact in the past, she went on with her murderous, vengeful spree regardless, it comes in handy to stop Regina from killing her clone in the present. Regina is a very slow learner. I’m sorry, I will accept that Regina is, in present day, conflicted about her evil tendencies (though whether its hate or love is certainly debatable) but I will not buy this suggestion that the Evil Queen was handicapped by self-loathing. She enjoyed what she did too much, was too dogged in her pursuit of revenge it to trust this retcon. Flashbacks are good when they serve the story in a natural way. This felt forced and contradictory to what we already knew. (*yes, I know there is some kind of Evil Queen/Snowing song-off in the musical.)

Want, take, have – As I said, Regina never desired the people’s love. Once she’s ventured down the dark path of vengeance, Regina never desired love full stop. She chose vengeance over going into the Inn and changing her destiny. She chose vengeance over her own freaking father! When she wanted physical connection she stole a heart and made him her slave. This sudden insertion of a poor misguided Regina craving the love of the people is nonsense. If Regina theoretically did want her subject’s loyalty and affection it would only have been because Snow already had it.

Not two, one – But the flashback, in an episode that “resolves” the split queen story arc, is also a timely reminder that Regina and the Evil Queen were always one and the same. The “Evil Queen” was a title, a nick name that was given to the usurper Queen Regina because she was, well, evil. It came from the things she did and the choices she made. She embraced it to spite the people who coined it. “The Evil Queen” was never a separate entity, it was not an infection, a possession or a curse – it was a choice. Her actions and choices made her become what she became – a self-centred woman with hate in her heart. Young Regina in not some idealised “true self” that she’s got to get back to; she is just the starting point. Like all of us, Regina is the sum total of her own disposition, personality quirks, experience and choices. It actually makes the way Regina gets to divide and conquer herself all the more galling.

“We don’t belong” – Evil Regina tells Frobin that they have something in common; neither of them belong in this world. But that is wrong. Robin, doesn’t belong, she got that bit right, but about herself, she’s way off. Evil Regina is part of Regina. She is an artificially split-off part of a whole. The one place she does belong is here, back in Regina so that Regina can be a complete person once more as face the daily challenge of having to fight the darkness as she should and as a consequence of the life she’s led and the choices she’s made. Why should she get off so lightly? I know I’m being very repetitive here; but I don’t get why this is so hard for the writers to grasp.

Engaged! – Emma shares the good news with her mum and Henry. They are both very happy for her. It’s nice. Henry asks about the method of proposal and Emma admits that she pre-empted the question. With what happens in the episode then I think the safe bet is on a second, much more romantic proposal – possibly coming from Emma herself.

No Knocking – All season long we’ve watched Regina just barrel on into people’s houses uninvited where others knock. We’ve seen her do it at the loft on numerous occasions, at Emma’s place and at Zelena’s house. She does it here again, not only walking in unannounced but also dictating what Emma’s priorities should be even though Regina has no idea what was being discussed before she arrived. It’s bothered me all along. It’s rude and presumptuous. It, to me, is suggestive of the level of privilege that Regina has, her unquestioned position as town overlord and the way she has insinuated herself into their lives to the point where no room is off-limits to her. And yes, everyone always knocks on her door.

Strange Reactions – The reactions to the engagement announcement are very interesting. There is genuine family warmth and excitement between Emma, Henry and Snow. When Zelena spies the engagement ring Emma is positively radiant as she confirms the meaning of the ring. But when Regina clarifies the news, Emma’s face clearly expresses a readiness for vitriol, she isn’t fearful though, she’s defiant; you can tell by the angle of her chin, the direction of her eyes. Furthermore, Emma is surprised when Regina seems sincere in her congratulations. She thanks Regina for the expression of happiness, it means a lot. Yeah it does mean a lot that Regina can swallow someone else’s happiness without going off the deep end. It’s a deliberate and marked contrast to her reaction when Killian came back from the dead. So that’s progress right? Cue awkward hug. If you think Emma Swan isn’t still very conscious as to what Regina can do when she sets her mind to it then we will have to disagree; I think Emma is very aware. Snow’s reaction to the news of Evil Regina’s return is also telling; she goes on instant alert, almost panic. This is her history and she knows it well – The Evil Queen destroys happiness, usually hers. That she is on the loose again is not good news. It also suggests an ingrained wariness of Regina that, although well-disguised, still survives. Which brings me to something that I found particularly interesting in the episode…

Snow’s faith . . . or lack of it? – In recent years Snow’s primary function in the narrative has been as Regina’s cheerleader. She’s always the one to give Regina a pep talk and keep her on the straight and narrow. Their friendship has been privileged over exploration of Snow and Emma’s relationship. However, in this episode Snow is not quite so big with the cis-bam-boom-bah where Regina is concerned. On four separate occasions, she displays what can be taken as doubt in Regina’s ability to overcome the Evil Queen. First she flat out question’s Regina’s ability to face the Evil Queen by herself. She literally says “You can’t do this by yourself”. Is it concern for Regina’s well-being? Maybe partially, but it’s still a clear-cut expression of doubt in Regina’s ability to beat the Evil Queen. Next, Snow is outright incredulous at Regina’s plan for her clone’s to have a new start. She understandably questions why the Evil Queen’s new beginning doesn’t start with undoing her freaking curse and then goes on to express the opinion that not everyone is redeemable – which considering that this woman is a clone of Regina Mills, is a fairly damning inditement. Lastly, when talking to Killian, she expresses utter surprise that Regina got it done – “I can’t believe I’m about to say this but Regina did it, she actually did it”. Her faith in Regina is not deep. But then that is why she suggested the split in the first place. Now, with Snow thinking that the split has been a long-winded success, I wonder if the vigilance with Regina will slide somewhat…

My mother, my mother – Henry championing the Evil Queen is bizarre. His belief that “she can change” is all kinds of skewed. He says, “I know there’s good in you, just like there’s bad in her. That means you can change.” Ugh, no sweetie; she IS the bad! She is not a person with the full gamut of human emotion; she is Regina’s ‘bad’ personified. It’s laughable that Henry is viewing them as two separate people and that he can hope that this one can change for the better. It is not narratively logical. This Split Queen arc was a missed opportunity for Henry’s character – why not get into the confusion that this must have caused for him? Why not dig up the past to his childhood during the time of the curse? Why not get into the fact that for Henry, “the evil queen” was not the pantomime creature parading around Storybrooke in all her over-the-top glory? No, for him, she was Regina Mills, Madam Mayor, sensible pantsuits and manipulative mind games ruling her curse town with an iron fist…

Why the swords – I have a whole theory on that… which might look like it’s not going to happen thanks to the most recent spoiler pics from set but I’m not relinquishing my bone just yet. Who knows what they’ve filmed in studio. And doesn’t everything we’ve seen for the final seem predictable and formulaic? This is a show on the edge of survival, safety and predictable isn’t going to cut it, they need to do something mind-blowing if they want to save themselves. A twist is coming.

Regina and the Cherry Red Heart – When Regina pulls out her heart you’ll note that it is bright red and clean – not a trace of blackness at all. Since the split she’s killed the Count of Monte Christo and WishSnow and WishDavid but that obviously didn’t impact her one little bit… But I digress. The fact is the state of Regina’s heart is a lie. It is the evidence of the short-cut; an undeserved, unearned, cleansed and purified heart. It’s only half the story because she is only half the person. The blackness of the Other Regina’s heart is more honest - it’s the heart that Regina earned through her actions and choices, it’s the one she should be wearing now and working to rehabilitate, if she’s truly serious about reformation. More important is the idea that we can trust nothing that Regina has done or said since the split because it’s not authentic. It’s not a true and accurate representation of who she really is. She’s artificially on her best behaviour. It’s easy to profess and demonstrate change when you’ve been gifted an auto-clean and all inclination for making questionable choices is suddenly gone. With that beautiful, artificially purified heart there is no necessity to feel guilt or make amends.

Splitting the Split Queen – okay, I’ve avoided this long enough… Fuck those Shears of Destiny. Seriously? This is how we resolve the Split Queen arc? By cloning Regina? When all this started I predicted thee outcomes – 1. The Evil Queen would be killed. 2. Regina and the Evil Queen would be reunified and 3. That Regina would regrow her evil organically and the Evil Queen would become weaker and eventually dissipate. My preference was for number 3. It would have been the most interesting, would have necessitated an actual story and exploration of the two halves of Regina rather than having the Evil Queen waltz around town doing some very weak-arsed shit while everyone wilfully holds their blinkers in place and pretend that the Evil Queen is a separate entity to Regina. I dismissed number one on the grounds that it would be terrible storytelling and would reward the shortcut by absolving Regina completely. Number 2 I kind of expected; it is the neatest, simplest way around it – boring and predictable, but it still has the potential to teach Regina a lesson and preaches that short-cuts are not the way of heroes and true change necessitates more than words. What we got was a version of number two with the added complication of a clone. Regina literally becomes two separate people – one “good” and one “evil” - thanks to the magic shears but rather than continue to fight with each other, Regina declares her love for herself and decides to homogenise the pair of them by mixing the light and darkness in their respective hearts before replacing them. Regina then decides that the clone deserves a new start and so engages Henry’s services to write her one and she’s gone, problem solved. With this conclusion they manage to completely externalise all Regina’s past actions while simultaneously making her look like a martyr for taking back darkness that is rightfully hers and should never have been removed in the first place. But it’s not all bad; what we are left with is a Regina with, if not all, then at least a healthy dose of her darkness back in its rightful place, the spectre of the Evil Queen is gone – everything she does from now on out is all on her – no blaming a faux entity for anything. Darkness is her weakness. Darkness is her secret love. Darkness is hard to resist. Darkness grows… Maybe we’ll get a version of my dream #3 after all…

The Scapegoat - If Regina “hates” any part of herself, it is the evil urges that she still battled daily up until the split. The season five finale made that clear – she wanted to Kill Killian Jones because he was alive and Robin was not. Her instinct was to rip his throat out. The old demons of ruthlessness and a monumental persecution complex did their thing and she was reminded forcefully that darkness and evil are her bedfellows. She wanted to make others suffer because she was suffering. She wanted vengeance. She hates the evil within her because she loves it so much – she wants to be evil, she wants to take the easy option and make the world cower before her, but she knows that being that, being what she truly wants to be, will mean the loss of everything that she’s miraculously gained since the curse was broken – Henry, her friends and her town and (inexplicable) forgiveness for everything she did. So by loving herself and smooshing their two hearts together and taking back some of the darkness that is rightfully hers she effectively clones herself – but because this one has a ridiculous hairdo and an over-the-top dress on, she represents the Evil part of Regina and becomes the scapegoat, the sacrifice to wipe away Regina’s copious sins. The clone apologises to Snow for years of torment – something we’ve never seen Regina do. The clone goes off and finds her happy ending, something that Regina can never quite do. This has to be significant.

No regrets – Regina expresses the same sentiment she did in Neverland – when she hadn’t reformed at all – that she has no regrets. She doesn’t regret not going to meet Robin in the tavern all those years ago because then she wouldn’t have Henry, or her family or this town. I just find that very telling, that even after her apparent change she still only sees things from her own perspective. To compare her to Killian again, he feels guilt and has regrets and never uses his new-found happiness to justify his past. Surely a little shame and regret would be in order if she really has changed as much as she believes? Most interesting to me is that the town itself gets a special mention. This season we’ve had the ownership of Storybrooke disputed and claimed, we’ve had a couple of reminders that it’s a town created by a curse and we’ve had the prediction that war is coming… It all feels significant somehow making me wonder if the curse that keeps the town in existence is going to get broken.

Gullible Heroes – It’s got to be foreshadowing, doesn’t it? Zelena’s declaration that “Heroes are so gullible… when you wake up a few months from now to find her crushing your heart, don’t blame me” just feels like it’s going to be important. When teamed with the “target on your back” statement from last week, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t like to be Zelena right about now. And if it’s not the Evil Queen that is the worry in this equation, since she’s safety shipped off to the Wish World, then who is…

That pesky curse – Snow, understandably is keen to know if the Curse will now be broken since the clone is apparently good now. I just found Regina’s reply, that she’s got the information and now they can work on it, uncomfortably glib. Will be watching this closely.

Fuck you Gideon – A banished Killian and a sad Emma turning off the lights at their house. Need I say more?

Too good to be true? – It all ends so peachy. Regina’s clone is transported to the Wish World where her first port of call is to look up Frobin. She gets her happy ending in a world where Snow and David are dead, the Saviour is non-existent and Henry, though not her son, is alive and well and is presumably, the King. We, apparently, will never have to worry about her again. And it’s all win for Regina too; she has a new found maturity and is able to find the third way to deal with her other half humanely. Of course she’ll be able to deal with that injection of darkness she’s just received smack bang into her heart? She’s good now. Right? It’s all so neat and tidy and that makes me suspicious…

#meta and discussion #ouat spoilers #ouat speculation #ouat discussion #ouat season 6 #page 23 #episode analysis #i found this hard to write about!

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carservicesinuae · 5 years ago

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Used Car Inspection – Inspecting the Body

The main things to look for in a car body inspection are collision and care. How well the car body was cared for and are there indications that the car was in a collision.

Consider the general appearance of the car. People who care for their car properly care for the obvious things first; this indicates how well the entire car was cared for. Record any defects you find. After inspecting five cars you won’t even remember what color your own car is.

Look for windshield dings and cracks, worn out wiper blades, missmatched or missing wheel covers, fender damage and dents, cracked headlight or tail light lenses and damaged mirrors. Later on you can use these to negotiate a lower price or get the dealer to repair them.

Look for corrosion and collision. Both are bad. Corrosion never heals itself; it only corrodes more with time. The problem with collision is you have no idea how well the repair was made. Sometimes the repair shop cuts corners on the quality; sometimes it is the previous owner. You should avoid a car that has obviously been involved in a major collision. The potential future problems include early corrosion, air conditioning problems and bad tire wear.

Don’t rush through the car body inspection, a small thing undetected now can grow into a major problem later. Look down the side from about 10 feet in front and behind the car for each side. The lines on adjacent panels should be straight. Look in the paint for a smooth reflection. Look especially for ripples. They didn’t make the car with sides like a rippled potato chip.

Look at the color of the paint from near and far and various angles. The color should be uniform and similar in smoothness if it was all painted at the same time (when the car was new). If not it may have a repainted section.

When the car was new, the gaps between body panels were straight and all the gaps were the same size. Check for corrosion. Corrosion only gets worse. If you can see surface corrosion, there is probably much that you can’t see.

Frame parts and many other components that are hidden under the car corrode also. Use a magnet to find body filler. The Magnet won’t be attractive to body filler only metal. The car wasn’t built with any body filler.

As soon as you determine the car has been in a major collision, it’s time to move on to the next car. Sometimes the repair is done with non-OEM substitute parts to save money. In a front end collision the air conditioner condenser can be damaged. It will only work for a while and fail later on, a costly repair. Some front end collisions cause frame damage which will impact the structural integrity of the car and can adversely affect tire wear.

What is the best way to keep from buying a car that has been in a major collision? People don’t volunteer information about collisions involving the car.

Get a Car History Report on the car. Copy the VIN (Vehicle ID Number) and go online to a Vehicle History Report site.

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mika-rd · 6 years ago

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Justifying and developing

riot grrl look through

google riot grrrl imagery, garbage signifier, riot grrl further imagery

tracing riot girl - not every girl ina riot girl

"It's pretty cool that all these people are here to see an all-girl band," says a young woman to her boyfriend, speaking of the sold-out crowd behind us. My ears perk up, as they always do, at the phrase "all-girl band." I check an impulse to spin around and get a better look at the couple, but judging by their previous topics of discussion-- the upcoming Harvest Dance, a comprehensive list of people in their grade who smell bad-- I place them squarely in the 15-18 or "were not alive when Pussy Whipped first came out" demographic.

Something about the way the girl says "all-girl band" is genuine, bright, and revelatory, as if she hadn't had the opportunity to say something like this aloud in public, let alone at an indie rock show, until just now. But there's also something dampening about the fact that this observation feels revelatory in 2011-- 35 years after punk broke, 30 after the initial rumblings of contemporary indie rock, and even 20 years after that feminist jolt to both of these institutions that called itself riot grrrl.

We are at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C., watching two male guitar techs set up the stage for Dum Dum Girls. The girl continues in the same wide-eyed tone, "Look at these guys setting up the stage for a girl band-- that's how it should be." Quiet for a few moments, her boyfriend seems unsure of how to respond. Then he affects that sarcastic, jokey tone that you're supposed to coat most of your words in when you're 16-- lest you give too much of yourself away-- and says, "See? Sexism is dead!" No one invested in the discussion, myself included, seems sure what he means by this. The comment hovers for a minute, gesturing toward something bigger and stickier than anybody feels like getting into. Talk soon returns to the Harvest Dance.

I have a friend who likes to say that most people still talk about music as though "female" were a genre, but as today's wide stylistic variety of women making independent music attests, there is no "female" sound. There is only the sound of being perceived female: the same old assumptions, conversations, reference points, and language-- all-female, girl band, riot grrrl-- reverberating through an echo chamber, hollow and fatigued.

From the Back of the Room, Amy Oden's documentary about women and punk, had its official premiere in D.C. this past August. Featuring interviews from a diverse array of women who have devoted their lives to the DIY scene, the film confronts a question that continues to haunt independent music: Why does a subculture intent on rebelling against mainstream values continue to harbor something like sexism? When I raved to my friends about the film, I was met with the same response nine times out of 10: "Oh, that's that riot grrrl movie, right?" When I tell Oden this over coffee a few weeks later, she laughs. "I get that a lot."

"That riot grrrl movie" is not a totally unwarranted description. The film does include interviews with luminaries of that influential early 90s punk feminist movement, such as Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna and Bratmobile co-founder Allison Wolfe. But those interviews account for about 2% of the film's total runtime. From the Back of the Room mainly features conversations with women who have played a variety of roles (promoter, musician, zinester, roadie, punk rock mom) in a broad range of scenes that share little with riot grrrl, from hardcore to anarcho-punk to queercore. Oden even includes a whole section of particularly refreshing interviews in which women explicitly talk about their disconnect from the riot grrrl movement. "I never really listened to riot grrrl," says one woman, still puzzled at the media's tendency to slap that label on her music. "That scene went over my head because I was from such a rural area," says another. Even Wolfe, who was at the center of the movement, observes, "There [were] a lot of women who... weren't even in riot grrrl, yet they were all getting called riot grrrls. I can see how some women were like, 'What? Why can't I just be myself?'"

Many musicians express a complex relationship with the term 'riot grrrl'-- a reverence for the movement's origins but also frustrations about the difficulty of escaping the limits of gendered language.

For plenty of other women coming of age in the 90s and beyond, though, riot grrrl was tremendously influential. A movement of unprecedented force, unity, and mass media coverage that combined the twinned histories of punk rock and feminism, it hit like lightning in the politically stormy summer of 1991. Springing from the dual DIY hotbeds of Olympia, Wash., and Washington, D.C., riot grrrl was a revolutionary lifestyle, a reaction against a culture that turned a deaf ear to everything young girls had to say, a political framework for opposing all forms of oppression, and a long overdue interrogation of independent music's male-dominated-- and often flagrantly sexist-- attitudes. Riot grrrls started bands, organized meetings, penned zines. One popular slogan served as a rallying cry for the movement's commitment to unity and acceptance: "Every Girl Is a Riot Grrrl."

And, oh, yeah: the music. The corrosive exuberance of Bikini Kill, the primal rush of Heavens to Betsy, and Bratmobile's sparse, surf-inspired punk all came to define the riot grrrl sound. This music placed passion, honesty, and personal experience over technical mastery-- all of which empowered countless young female listeners who'd previously felt marginalized to make some noise of their own.

"It was a life-changing experience for me to hear voices like Kathleen Hanna and Corin Tucker [of Heavens to Betsy, and later Sleater-Kinney] and Allison Wolfe," says Louisa Solomon, who attended riot grrrl meetings in Syracuse as a teen and now fronts New York band the Shondes, which offers an unlikely mixture of radical politics, power-pop melodies, traditional Jewish music, and punk vitriol. "Their voices were all very different from one another, but all of them share a quality of raw emotion that I hadn't heard before."

The ideas that animated riot grrrl have continued to shape the lives of many musicians, filmmakers, writers, and activists. But on a larger cultural scale, the movement died out. As Sara Marcus notes in her 2010 book Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution, "By the mid-90s, it was common knowledge among punks and indie rockers that Riot Grrrl had been dead for at least two years, if not longer."

Recently, though, it's been reanimated in retrospective form by things like Marcus' book, the acquisition of "The Riot Grrrl Collection" of zines and memorabilia by NYU's Fales Library, and The Kathleen Hanna Project, which held a star-studded tribute showin Brooklyn last year that was itself a benefit for an upcoming Hanna documentary (one of two, that is). As many of the original riot grrrls grow older, find themselves in positions of power in their careers, and achieve academic validation, that moment of maturity hits when even the crustiest of punks start to look back wistfully on their salad days. So it makes sense that we're in the throes of a full-blown riot-grrrl nostalgia trip.

The acceptance of the 'girl band' label brings its own bummers: gendered stereotypes, pedestalization, dumb photo ops. What's a girl to do?

"I think the term 'riot grrrl' is specific about an era that's obviously not going on anymore, says Hannah Lew, the bassist for the San Francisco post-punk trio Grass Widow, who've seen the label used to describe their own band quite a bit. "Riot grrrl" is far from an insult; I've heard women called much worse. But still, nearly every musician I spoke with for this piece expressed a highly complex relationship with the term-- a reverence for the movement's origins but also frustrations about the difficulty of escaping the limits of gendered language.

"We have fewer cultural references when it comes to women in the arts," says Amy Klein, the former Titus Andronicus guitarist and one half of the minimalist duo Hilly Eye. "But female bands feel frustrated when they're automatically compared to other female bands."

Of these few go-to cultural reference points in underground music, riot grrrl still remains the most recognizable: I can't think of another all-female music movement that's spawned its own prepackaged costume for sale at your neighborhood Halloween costume emporium. And the unfortunate irony of riot grrrl's groundbreaking, revolutionary spirit is how use of the term today exemplifies the limited vocabulary we have when talking about women in punk.

"Every single band I've been in has been compared to Sleater-Kinney," says Katy Otto, co-founder of Exotic Fever Records and a formidable drummer who's done time in a handful of acts in D.C. and Philadelphia. "I mean, I love Sleater-Kinney. But I don't think I've ever been in a band that sounds like them." While it's common for any artist to reject labels and comparisons, observations like this hint at a deeper issue.

Otto currently plays with her roommate Diane Foglizzo in the sludgy, Philly-based two-piece Trophy Wife. Forget Sleater-Kinney-- it's hard to think of any other band that sounds like them; Foglizzo's primal and occasionally guttural vocals are definitely a far cry from the relatively upbeat riot grrrl bands to which they've sometimes been compared. Bratmobile in particular had an impressive way of squeezing radical politics and potent musings on sexuality into songs that bounced with the ramshackle energy of an old jalopy; a Trophy Wife song sounds like getting hit by a truck.

Though Otto and Foglizzo write songs that directly address feminist issues, Otto says she's conflicted about pigeonholing Trophy Wife as a "feminist band," or even an "all-female" band ("Although we did choose a name that kind of lends itself to that label," she laughs). The acceptance of the "girl band" label brings its own bummers: gendered stereotypes, pedestalization, dumb photo ops. (Otto recalls a photographer once asking her to turn to her bandmate and act like she was "whispering a secret." "I'd really rather not," she replied.) And then, as Oden points out, there's the occasional "lecherous, rotten dude" who comes to the show solely to ogle. The question still nags: What's a girl to do?

***

The riot grrrls proffered one answer to that question: stop talking. When they felt their message was being oversimplified by reporters, they imposed a media blackout in an attempt to take back control over the movement's identity. It made sense at the time, but Grass Widow drummer Lillian Maring sees the blackout as a key example of why the cultural landscape her band is navigating differs greatly from the decidedly pre-internet early 90s. "We have opportunities to talk about what we're doing and what our ideas are now," she says. "When that started happening, we realized we had a lot of control over our image, and we wanted to do it in a way that accurately represented us."

From the Back of the Room's Oden, who also fronted the just-disbanded, D.C.-based hardcore band Hot Mess, also finds hope in the current media landscape and riot grrrl's lingering presence: "I feel like it's not that hard to start a band or make a demo or book a tour. The saving grace of riot grrrl nostalgia for me is that it proves that you can still do all these things-- the demystification aspect of riot grrrl is what I hope people still think about."

The unfortunate irony of riot grrrl's revolutionary spirit is how the term now exemplifies the limited vocabulary we have when talking about women in punk.

Klein is someone who's taken that message to heart. She's 26, which means she missed out on the first wave of riot grrrl. She listened to Bikini Kill records in her early teens, but it wasn't until last year, when she read Marcus' Girls to the Front, that she realized riot grrrl "wasn't even a musical style or a genre so much as an idea of girls supporting each other to create art." The book inspired her to start the feminist collective Permanent Wave, a New York based activist group that organizes readings, protests, and shows featuring female-fronted bands. "What I took away from [Girls to the Front] was the idea that every girl is a riot grrrl-- I want to be part of that definition and create something new without just going back to what it was in the 90s."

Klein is a music journalist, too, and she offers some ideas about how writers can expand the vocabulary when it comes to female artists. "It shouldn't be sacrilege to say that a guitar player who happens to be female sounds like, say, J Mascis," she says. "And people should feel comfortable complimenting a 15-year-old guy, saying, 'Your playing sounds like Marnie Stern.' Women should be heroes for everybody, not just for other women."

Here's a music critic confession: my decision to include Grass Widow here is a kind of penance. The first time I wrote about them, I praised their self-titled 2009 debut LP by comparing them to punk greats the Slits, the Raincoats, and X-Ray Spex. Then I started reading interviews with them. "We acknowledge the movements of the past created by or affecting women... but there is potential for the original sentiments to lose potency if the meaning is misinterpreted or not redesigned for a modern context."

The second time I wrote about them, I praised their 2010 album Past Time for not sounding too much like the Slits, the Raincoats, and X-Ray Spex and thus complicating the narrative of "women in punk" with its sonic innovation and individuality. At the time this felt like a solution, but afterward I realized that even this was just another way of calling them, in so many words, a "girl band." The third time I went to write about them, I thought for a very long time about the best way to represent, as bassist Lew puts it, the complex, multi-faceted "fractured identity" of female musicians currently making punk music. I decided to talk to them about it.

Our interview begins outside, a few hours after their set at Comet in D.C. Grass Widow are in the middle of their dream tour: a brief stint opening for the Raincoats, a band they've long admired. "I listened to the Raincoats before I even thought about being in a band," Lew gushes. "And one thing that's always struck me..."

"Hello, ladies," a man interrupts. At first, I assume he's a fan coming over to compliment them on their set, but he turns out to be a drunk guy who just saw four women sitting at a table.

Grass Widow give him a moment, then Lew politely says, "We're doing an interview, if you don't mind." She points to my recorder. "We're in a band." I watch him blink a few times, hoping to catch a reflection of the moment when we go from being four chicks to three musicians and a journalist. But it doesn't occur, really. He responds by asking us for our "postal addresses" so he can "send us fan mail" in a way that sounds like a gross euphemism for something none of us, him included, quite understand. "Why don't you just email us?" Lew suggests. "Our email address is on our band's website."

"What's your band called?"

"Grass Widow."

"Glass Window?" he slurs.

We find a quiet spot and pick up where we left off: discussing how grateful the band are to be sharing a stage with the Raincoats. "They're a really great example of a group of women who have played by their own rules," Lew says. "There's no other band like them. And that doesn't make me want to sound more like them-- it makes me want to sound even more like us."

Inspiration

Bringing relevancy to mainstream

“Each generation might be more watered down and commodified, but the idea of Girl Power reached more girls all the same.”

the dailybeast

what to do for presentation in class

Get stuck in while the feedback is fresh, but before Friday assemble a ten slide .pdf slide deck, that helps you in five minutes cover the essence of your project, where you were, where you are, and where you are heading: Slide one should be your Compass, otherwise over to you. 30 seconds per slide. Staff will provide a 30 second response each, and your peers encourages to share their thoughts with you the following week. Plan

developments to start of zine to kinder voice

for

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