#United Graphic 21

[justanimalsofficial]

Just Animals Issue 0 Page 21

It's finally finished, lol. *** Head over to my Patreon where you can read the latest pages of Issue 0 three months ahead of the public starting at just $2 a month: http://patreon.com/JustAnimalsWebcomic………………… *** Art by Ghost-Troupe

Posted using PostyBirb

[fiercynn]

let's talk about the palestinians in israeli prisons

content warning for discussion of police and military violence, torture, and murder of palestinians, including of children, though not in graphic detail

in just the past two weeks, israel’s genocidal ramp-up in violence and surveillance towards palestinian has led to the doubling of the population of palestinians incarcerated in israeli prisons. prior to october 7, 2023, there were approximately 5,200 palestinians incarcerated by israel; by october 21, that number had increased to over 10,000. around 4,000 are gazans who were working in israel with temporary labor permits, and another 1,070 are palestinians arrested in overnight army raids in the occupied west bank and east jerusalem.

imprisoned palestinians are being treated worse than ever; israeli forces and guards are assaulting them, starving them, preventing them from accessing healthcare, cutting off of their water and electricity, and prohibiting them from any contact from their families. the knesset (israeli parliament) even voted this past week to allow prisons to reduce the minimum living space allotted to each detainee because of the rising crush of prisoners, and to allow detainees to be imprisoned without a bed.

but this recent ramp-up in detention and increase in the dehumanization of palestinians should not overshadow the long history of oppression, torture, and murder of palestinians by israeli forces through the criminalization. for a good background and summary, rawan masri and fathi nemer’s piece imprisoning palestine: zionist colonialism through an abolitionist lens for scalawag magazine is an illuminating analysis of how israeli law, policing, and incarceration have worked together to advance zionist colonization of palestine and dispossess palestinians of their land, their rights, and their humanity.

as a result of this history, the following dynamics and outcomes have long existed in israeli policing and incarceration of palestinians:

prior to october 7, one in every five palestinians had been arrested and charged under israeli military occupation; that percentage has only gone up now. while the absolute numbers on incarceration are nowhere near a country like the u.s., the rates of incarceration for palestinians are massively higher even than those of black americans (which is not to downplay the latter; the rates of incarceration for black americans is also fucking ridiculous and horrifying.) for palestinian men, that incarceration rate was as high as 40%. the united nations estimates that approximately one million palestinians have been imprisoned since israel occupied the west bank and gaza in 1967, including tens of thousands of children.

the israeli criminal legal system is anti-black as well, particularly towards afro-palestinians, who are tireless in their fight for palestinian liberation. even black jewish people are impacted by carceral anti-blackness: 40% of minors in the israeli correction system are ethiopian israeli jewish people, although ethiopian israelis make up less than 2% of population. but the racism is even clearer for the tiny community of 350-400 afro-palestinians, who live in a neighborhood in jerusalem that is blockaded at both entrances by israeli police, where they are highly surveilled and face constant police harassment. the majority of their community has been arrested at one point or another, and those who are incarcerated, including youth, are subject to constant rearrests for flimsy reasons. for example, mohammed firawi, an afro-palestinian youth who had been arrested when he was in twelfth grade because he was accused of throwing stones at israeli police, was shuttled around nine israeli prisons before being released five years later. however, he was rearrested two days after his homecoming because he “defied Israeli orders to refrain from celebrating [his release].”

palestinians live under a different (and harsher) system of law than israelis – an inequality so profoundly unjust that it didn’t even exist in south africa’s apartheid system. in the occupied west bank, palestinians are tried under military law for the same crimes that israelis are tried under civilian law. teenagers and adults alike are tried in military courts, where simultaneous arabic interpretation is not provided, so palestinian defendants are only provided summaries at the end of proceedings that can leave out important details. virtually all military cases in the west bank end in convictions – 99.74%, to be exact.

the separate systems of law also mean that palestinians can be held without trial or even being charged. “administrative detention” allows the israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information, and is applied almost exclusively to palestinians in the occupied west bank, east jerusalem, and gaza. prior to october 7, there were 1,264 administrative detainees out of the total 5,200 palestinian people incarcerated in israeli jails – almost 25%!

palestinian children detained by the israeli military are subject to physical and psychological torture. since the second intifada in 2000, more than 12,000 palestinian children have been detained by the israeli military, and between 500 and 1000 children are held every year. a save the children report from july 2023 found that 86% of palestinian children report being beaten in israeli military detention. 42% are injured at the point of arrest, and 69% report being strip-searched. they are often interrogated without the presence of a parent or lawyer, and potentially even in a language not understood to them. they are also charged according to their age at the time of sentencing instead of at the time of their alleged offense, allowing for higher charges simply because their trials take a long time.

palestinians are often murdered in prison by security forces, and the bodies of palestinians who die in detention can be kept by israeli forces for the remainder of their sentence. since 1967, approximately 237 palestinian detainees have reportedly been murdered with torture, medical negligence, or execution during arrest or an escape attempt. in late 2022 and early 2023, the united nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied palestinian territories learned that israeli authorities were holding 125 palestinian bodies, including 13 bodies of palestinians who had died in prison, “allegedly as they need to terminate the execution of the sentence”. the bodies of palestinians are even lost or visibly damaged by israeli authorities when they are returned to families.

palestinian prisoners often face exile to gaza even when they are released, regardless of where they were originally from. former prisoners are often separated from their families, who may have difficulty entering gaza, and who may also lose rights simply for being related to a former prisoner. for example, formerly incarcerated palestinian shuaib abu snina was exiled to gaza, and found that his wife and children in jerusalem were raided and arrested by israeli forces using him as as reason. shuaib was forced to divorce his wife because his eldest son was told that israeli forces “will not deal with your [family] as citizens with rights in jerusalem unless your father divorces your mother”.

but even in captivity, palestinians continue to resist and fight for their liberation. incarcerated palestinians engage in mass disobedience even when faced with beatings or solitary confinement from doing so. since at least the 1960s, palestinians have undergone mass and individual hunger strikes; on may 2, 2023, khader adnan, who was being held without trial in administration detention, was martyred after 80 days of hunger strike. incarcerated palestinians also support each other and have earned concessions through their protests, such as increased visitations, better conditions, access to books and political curriculum, and more – though many of these are clearly being violated by the current israeli acceleration in imprisonment.

as rawan masri and fathi nemer conclude for scalawag magazine:

Today, more than ever, it remains crucial to center any discussion about Palestinian liberation through the lens of abolition and a complete rejection of carcerality. In this context, Incarceration is not only related to prisons and prisoners, but touches upon every aspect of our life. From the moment of birth, Palestinians must contend with being criminalized for existing. We are surveilled and censored, our oppression normalized, and our bodies corralled into various open-air and closed prisons. Such tactics have always revealed more about the jailor than the prisoner, and the logics inherent to the carceral apparatus are shared between all oppressive forces. While the goal is to project strength and power, what it divulges instead is fear, insecurity, and self-doubt. Resorting to locking away the inconvenient reminders of a crooked system betrays its weakness, a society unable to function without constructed villains onto which the world's ills can be pinned. It is an attempt to cover the sun with a sieve. [x]

organizations to follow and support:

addameer prisoner support and human rights association

samidoun palestinian prisoner solidarity network

al-haq

adalah legal center for arab minority rights in israel

adalah justice project

[tomorrowusa]

While perhaps it's too early to call it a "masterstroke", Joe Biden stepping aside for Kamala Harris will probably turn out much better than any Democrat would have predicted a month ago.

Kamala Harris will likely be the next president of the United States – and that’s overall good news if you care about democracy, justice and equality. Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to bow out of the presidential race clears the path for the country to elect its first woman and first woman of color as president.

For people who need a historical reminder...

[M]ost people in this country typically choose the Democratic nominee for president over the Republican nominee time and time again. With the sole exception of 2004, in every presidential election since 1992, the Democratic nominee has won the popular vote (Biden bested Donald Trump by 7m votes in 2020).

Now for more recent events.

If, in fact, support for Democrats among people of color is the principal problem, then putting Harris at the top of the ticket is a master stroke. The enthusiasm for electing the first woman of color as president will likely be a thunderclap across the country that consolidates the support of voters of color, and, equally important, motivates them to turn out in large numbers at the polls, much as they did for Barack Obama in 2008. The challenge the party will face in November is holding the support of Democratic-leaning and other “gettable” whites, especially given the electorate’s tortured history in embracing supremely qualified female candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams. (The primary difference between Abrams, who lost in Georgia, and Senator Raphael Warnock, who won, is gender.) Sexism, misogyny and sexist attitudes about who should be the leader of the free world are real and Democrats will have to work hard to address that challenge. One critical step to solidifying the Democratic base is for all political leaders to quickly and forcefully endorse and embrace Harris’s candidacy. Mathematically, it is likely – and certainly possible, if massive investments are made in getting out the vote of people of color and young people as soon as possible – that the gains for Democrats will offset any losses among whites worried about a woman (and one of color, no less) occupying the Oval Office and becoming our nation’s commander in chief.

We shouldn't forget that the VP's mom was born in India. A number of people in the growing South Asian community in the US who may not be especially interested in politics will be tempted to pause their disinterest and vote for Kamala. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have all had female prime ministers – so there's not exactly a taboo about women in power.

One way to measure enthusiasm for Kamala is to look at how much money is being raised by ActBlue. Not all the money ActBlue raises goes to the national ticket. I donated to a US Senate campaign in June via ActBlue. BUT the timing of recent donations leaves little doubt what the cause of the recent spike is.

For context, first some recent weekly totals (source)...

Week of June 30 through July 6 — $65,220,920

Week of July 7 through July 13 — $48,669,913

Week of July 14 through July 20 — $61,349,601

As of Noon today (CDT): Week of July 21 through July 27th — $150,042,360 and the third day of the week is just a little over half over. In the previous hour alone, roughly $2.44 million was raised.

These are small donations, not like the $45 million per month promised by multi-billionaire Elon Putz to Trump. So grassroots Dems are stoked and are out for a win.

ActBlue is fairly no-nonsense, it's not exactly Amazon in layout. So people are not drawn there by flashy graphics.

Kamala Harris — Donate via ActBlue

[swiftiesforceasefire]

#SpeakNowTaylor Week (Jan 21-27) is a fandom-wide event with the aim of letting Taylor know that Swifties want her to demand a ceasefire.

In December, the United Nations voted, by an overwhelmingly majority, for a ceasefire in Gaza. Now, the International Court of Justice is hearing a case brought by South Africa that may lead to an order to stop aggressions against Palestinians within the next few weeks, even if the case takes years to conclude.

The world has not stopped showing up for Palestine. Protestors are out marching in the snow as Gaza enters a bitter winter with more than 23,000 dead and reports from humanitarian organizations around the world that more than half of its population is starving.

It's time for a big push. Taylor Swift's influence has been extensively documented in the last year: she's gotten tens of thousands of fans to register to vote, led to significant increases in viewership for the already wildly popular NFL, and caused mini economic booms in every state and country she's toured so far. The United States has lagged behind nearly every other country in the world in calling on Israel to halt its aggressions. As "Miss Americana," Taylor's influence could have a more important impact now than ever before.

To participate in #SpeakNowTaylor Week:

Share and promote the fandom event far and wide

Post #⁠SwiftiesForCeasefire and #SpeakNowTaylor every day of the week

Repost our graphics, found at our website, on every social media platform, and tag ⁠#SwiftiesForCeasefire and #SpeakNowTaylor

Tag @taylorswift and @taylornation in your captions, as well as in the comments and notes of other ⁠#SwiftiesForCeasefire and #SpeakNowTaylor posts

Fandom creators: Make your own ⁠#SwiftiesForCeasefire and #SpeakNowTaylor posts and flood the tags

Follow @swiftiesforceasefire for more actions, as well as graphics that you can share or repost to your own accounts.

Let's say #SpeakNowTaylor as loudly as we can, and make sure that Taylor knows her fans are #⁠SwiftiesForCeasefire!

[flurrys-creativity]

Imponderable

Imponderable (n.) - something that is impossible to judge or calculate exactly

Pairing: Sohn Eric (The Boyz) x GN!Reader (with a surname); Genre: angst, fantasy, crime, implied smut, hybrid au, detective au, villain au, strangers to lovers; Rating: NSFW, 21+, MDNI; Warnings: oh boi, where do I begin... abductions, crime fighting, mentions of neglect, malnourishment, bruises, wounds, blood, death, graphic descriptions of torture, humiliation, smuggling, auctioning hybrids, more graphic descriptions of torture, nudity, more death, kissing, making out, hinting towards riding... and hopefully that's it.. if I missed smth please let me know; Wordcount: 13.718

Summary: In the case of increasing hybrid abductions your unit was stuck until you received a distressed call by another hybrid. At that moment everything spiraled out of your control and nothing seemed to be what it was.

Collab: YOTV: Year of The Snake by @sanjoongie

A/N: I know this is quite the long fic... and I honestly struggled a lot writing it, only being able to make significant progress the past few days... so I truly hope to get some feedback on this.

“There’s been an increase of hybrid abduction in the past few weeks”, the leading commander of the task unit announced loudly, his voice carrying the heaviness of the situation.

Everyone inside the room stared with serious expressions at the presentation, the graphic showing the spike of abductions.

“There have been leads those are connected to a large hybrid smuggling ring. While we stopped a few transports, we still need to find the head of the organisation. So take all the leads we have and find that godforsaken bastard. That’s all for today! Dismissed!” The commander waved with his hand, watching how his subordinates left the room.

You stared at the pictures in your open folder with a crease between your brows. The unit had known about the abductions and the smuggling ring for a while now but nothing seemed to work. Every lead you received was too late. Every time you arrived at the scene only remnants of the ring were left. Scattered clothes, dead and heavily malnourished hybrids that didn’t make it. 

A shiver ran down your spine. You knew too well what they had gone through. Sometimes you considered the found bodies to be the lucky ones. Their suffering and fear had finally ended, while the remaining ones still had to deal with torture and more unfathomable things and survivors were plagued with trauma, nightmares and anxiety.

“Detective Lin.”

You looked up, snapping out of your thoughts when you heard the voice of your superior. “I’m sorry, sir.”

He sighed deeply and rubbed over his tired looking face. Over the few years you had worked under this unit, he had aged immensely. His once dark brown hair had now streaks of grey in them, his sun kissed face had deep lines all over it and his eyes - once full of life - seemed to dread every second of his existence. “Are you alright?”

You blinked a few times before a soft smile appeared on your lips. “Still the dad of the unit”, you snickered and shook your head playfully. “I’m alright, sir. You should take more care about yourself, if I may say so.”

The commander laughed dryly, knowing full well you were right. “Not until I know everyone in this community is where they belong.”

Now you were the one to sigh. “This unit needs you. Don’t overwork yourself.”

“I could tell you to do the same.” The commander tilted his head as he stared at you with a playful twinkle in his eyes. “I know this case is getting to you on a personal level. If I could I would remove you from this case but we need your senses to have at least a small break-through.”

You grabbed the pages and neatly stacked them inside the folder again before you stood up, your expression tense from anger. “I would ignore your command and work on it either way. I don’t need your permission to help my kind.”

He stood up as well and rounded the corner of the table, joining your side as you two made your way to leave the meeting room. “I know, I know. That’s the only reason you’re still on it. You’d go rogue otherwise and put yourself and probably others in danger.”

You relaxed again, turning your head with a bright grin. “You know me too well.”

He laughed in amused defeat and patted your shoulder, as if he was telling you to stay in line and not do something reckless. With that he left for his work space and you followed his back with your eyes until he was out of your sight.

You made your way to your own desk, nodding at your colleagues who you passed. Technically this was the last meeting for today and you were free to leave. Yet you, and most other colleagues too, decided to stay after hours working on the case. Once you reached your desk, you placed the folder on the surface and sat down on your spinning chair. 

“Time to find a new lead.” You sighed deeply and started the computer, quickly typing away on your keyboard. Your eyes flitted across the screen, the pictures and headlines of articles reflecting in your eyes.

At one point your thoughts drifted away from the case and got mixed with your own memories:

You shivered from the cold, having sat down in the farthest corner of the cage. You had wrapped your arms around your legs, which were pulled against your chest, trying to preserve any warmth left. The thin clothes on your body hung loose and were mostly torn to shreds as well.

Your skin was covered in bruises and scars, some better healed than others. You received at least half of them during the rough transport. They had picked you up and thrown you into a transporter with no isolation nor security. After they reached their destination, they dragged you out and threw you in this cage in the basement. 

While you stayed there one man came down every morning and threw some moldy bread and stale water in a bottle towards you. When he wanted to get the empty bottle back, he used an electric stick to keep you in one corner of the cage while coming inside.

Sometimes that man enjoyed your yelps of pain when he electrocuted you just for his own enjoyment. 

You were nothing but a child back then. You barely understood what happened around you or why they even kept you in a cage. 

You snapped out of your thoughts again, staring at your screen with distant eyes for a moment longer. Even though years had passed since that incident, the memories felt like it only happened a few days ago. You rubbed over your arm, the phantom pain of your bruises haunting your body. 

It had been a miracle back then that you were found by authorities before anything worse could have happened to you. Even now you struggled to believe there was a fate worse than what you had experienced. 

Only the pictures in your folder told you differently.  

With one last glance at the pictures on your computer screen you decided to leave it for the day. You closed all the files and turned the pc off, cleaning your desk afterwards. 

Right as you were about to turn off the little lamp on your desk, the red light of your telephone started blinking. 

Your hand halted mid air as you stared at the light of the phone station. You had the sound turned off since the ringing hurt your sensitive ears. Instead the light would blink whenever you got a call. Which rarely happened. And never after working hours.

“Detective Lin?” You said questioningly into the receiver after picking up the phone. 

“Thank goodness, you’re still there”, someone on the other side of the line breathed in relief. “Can you come to the emergency call centre on the first floor? We got a situation that could use your help.”

You didn’t ask what situation it could have been. The second you heard they wanted you at the emergency call centre, you already had grabbed all your belongings. “I’ll be there in three.” 

With that you slammed the phone back on its station and rushed away from your workplace. Instead of using the elevator from the fourth floor, you pushed through the doors of the staircase. 

Your steps steadily echoed through the air with every step you took. It was rare for your colleagues to ask for your help. While all of you were equals and worked for the same cause, they kept their distance from you. Simply because you were a hybrid and your hardened scales that covered parts of your skin seemed to freak a lot of people out. 

Or they thought of you as something dangerous. It was well known that hybrids tended to be stronger than humans - even if they were the weakest kind of hybrid like a hamster or a mouse. You yourself weren’t considered a dangerous species as well. Just a very desired one on the black market, same as your animal counterpart. 

The pangolin was probably the most traded animal on the black market. Their scales of hardened keratin were supposed to have some special healing abilities in several ancient medicinal practices. Some rich assholes even liked to have them as pets since they looked rather adorable despite their large claws.

The biggest difference to your animal counterpart was the fact you as a hybrid were able to regrow lost scales like normal strands of hairs. A fact that made you as a hybrid way more valuable than the animal itself.

You skipped the last step and jumped to the ground, running to the door towards the first floor. You rushed along the hallway and pushed through the last door without knocking, finally reaching the emergency call centre.

“Over here”, someone called out.

You quickly followed their voice and hurried over to them, only stopping right behind their chair. With a short glance at the screen, you saw they had an ongoing call. You furrowed your brows, wondering why you were called now.

“I don’t have much. He seemed frightened and confused but he confirmed being a hybrid. I thought maybe you could get through to him.” The operator explained to you shortly, getting up and offering you their chair.

You nodded hesitantly and sat down, grabbing the headset and putting it on. “Hello?” You heard rapid breathing but nothing else. “If you’re not able to speak right now, please tap the phone twice.” You waited for any sound but except for the rapid breathing there was nothing else. 

“My name is detective Lin and I’m here to help you, okay? I heard from my colleague that you’re a hybrid? I’m one myself, can you tell me what kind of hybrid you are?” You tried to sound as reassuring and kind as possible, wishing to calm the hybrid as much as possible so they would answer you.

“Eric.” His voice sounded hoarse as if he hadn't had something to drink for a while now.

“Eric? That’s your name? Okay Eric, can you tell me where you are?” You pressed gently, needing the information so you could actually help him.

“At a gas station. I don’t know where exactly. I’m hiding in the forest nearby.” His breathing had slowed down considerably, though he still only spoke in a whisper.

You turned to your colleague and mouthed to them that they should track the phone call, hoping to get the exact location that way.

“Alright, can you tell me what happened? Why are you hiding?”

His breathing hitched momentarily and if you hadn’t your sensitive hybrid hearing you probably would have missed it. “They kidnapped a hybrid. They grabbed them inside the toilet rooms of the gas station and dragged them away to a transporter. I’m hiding so they won’t get me too.”

“Are they still there?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” He whimpered softly, making your heart ache.

You knew what kind of terror he must be experiencing right now. At that moment your colleague placed a sticky note with the address in front of you, silently telling you they had sent a police car to check the situation.

“Hey, there are some colleagues on their way to your location. Do you think you can hold on until then?”

“Are they hybrids too?”

You sighed softly and shook your head: “No, probably not. Most hybrids aren’t in the active field, so I’m afraid the two will be humans.”

“Can’t you come?”

“Me?” 

Your eyes widened in surprise at the request. For a moment you were too stunned to speak and simply turned to the operator with a questioning look in your gaze. 

They nodded and waved one of the technicians over to you. With a few adjustments on your phone, which they had asked for quietly, they transferred the emergency call to your mobile phone. That way you were able to keep in contact with Eric while you made your way to the location.

“Alright, I’m on my way.” You replaced the headset with your phone, relieved you heard his breathing and whimpers. With a short gesture of your hand you bid your goodbye and left for your car. On your way down to the garage you also texted your commander, informing him of the situation.

During the ride to the gas station you kept Eric talking, needing the reassurance he was still with you. For some reason you feared the smugglers were still around and would get him before you could reach him.

Though when you reached the remote gas station you only saw the car of your colleagues parked to the side. You parked beside them and got out of the car, looking around with narrowed eyes. 

You colleagues just exited the gas station, heading towards the toilets at the back. You hurried towards them, joining them with a short nod. 

Technically you were there to get Eric and make sure he was alright, but you remembered what he told you about another hybrid being kidnapped on the toilets. You had to see the crime scene, you needed to make your own picture of it, hoping to see a clue or connection to the other cases.

“Hey Eric? I’m here now. I’ll just check the toilets before I’m going to look for you, yeah? My colleagues are with me in case something happens. But don’t you worry, okay?”

He didn’t answer you this time. You only heard some rustling and the sound of his breathing. Therefore you focused on your surroundings for a moment.

As your colleagues opened the doors, you immediately wrinkled your nose in disgust. The smell of urine and other unspeakable liquids invaded your nostrils against your will. You quickly raised your hand and pressed the sleeve of your jacket against your mouth and nose. Even though every fibre of your body was against it, you stepped inside the toilets and looked around. Trash and used paper towels littered the ground, the walls and doors to the toilets were covered in stickers and tags. 

You made a face, knowing there was no way of finding any kind of useful forensic evidence. There was simply too much of everything around. “Guess that won’t do”, you sighed as you turned around your own axis. 

You came to a halt when you noticed someone standing in the entrance. At the same time the connection of the phone call ended with a click. Confused, you turned to look at your phone in your hand and then back up at the person. 

The colleagues, who had checked the stalls just now, came back out and were about to shoo him away, when you stopped them with one word. 

The person had stepped back, as if he was afraid of your colleagues. He held a phone in his hand and his eyes flitted back to your form.

You tilted your head and dropped your hand as you took one step closer towards him. “Eric?” Even though his sweet honey scent barely managed to overpower the gross smell surrounding you, you picked up the hybrid in the air.

He nodded slowly, staring at you with his mouth slightly agape. Eric moved further into the room, rounding you slowly. 

Your colleagues told you they’d leave again since there was no sign of a crime. You nodded, barely paying them any attention anymore. Something about Eric pulled you in and you couldn’t avoid your eyes for even a moment. 

“Detective Lin”, he breathed out, his eyes roaming over your form. He reached the mirror and leaned against the wall, tilting his head in wonder. 

You nearly missed how he wiped something away from the mirror and froze the second you realised what he did. “Wait!” You leaped forward and pushed him aside, staring at the remnants of some letters. “What was that?” You turned your head to look at him, demanding an answer.

“What was what?” 

“Don’t play around! You just wiped over this message! What was written on the mirror?” You hit the sink with your hands and turned around fully, glaring at the other hybrid with annoyance.

His eyes widened in surprise. “I did? Shoot, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to wipe something away. Do you think that’s from the smugglers?”

You crossed your arms over your chest. Something about him rang your alarm bells inside your head, yet you couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it was. Still, you decided to keep your guard up. You sighed deeply, reminding yourself of the disgusting smell surrounding you. “Let us go outside, please.”

Eric nodded and stepped outside, holding the door open for you. 

“How come you don’t seem as scared as you sounded on the phone?”

He stopped at the edge of the parking lot, contemplating your question for a moment. After a while he shrugged with his shoulders, slowly turning towards you. His eyes implored yours when he said: “I guess, I just feel safe with another hybrid around. Especially a hybrid detective.”

You snorted and shook your head, avoiding looking him in the eyes. You felt the heat creep up your neck and onto your cheeks. Before he could notice something, you turned around and brushed your hair out of your face, keeping your hand on the top of your head. “Alright, let us go somewhere to eat something and then you can tell me what you saw.” You motioned for Eric to get inside of your car and shortly followed after him.

The ride itself almost felt stuffed, despite the air conditioner running on full power. Neither of you said anything, and while you tried focusing on the road you couldn't ignore his presence at all. 

Your instincts told you something wasn't adding up but you had absolutely no evidence to know what it was exactly. Additionally your head refused to even consider another hybrid being the reason for all the recent abductions of hybrids.

Though your instincts rarely betrayed you.

The interrogation with Eric over some dull fast food brought no new leads. You had noted down every minuscule detail but when you compared them to the information you already got, nothing added up.

You sat at your desk again and stared at the open files thrown over the surface. The desperation to find something gnawed at your insides and slowly suffocated you. 

Before you could despair completely, the leading commander called for an emergency meeting. Within seconds everyone jumped up and rushed to the meeting room, eager to know what the commander had to say.

“We got a new lead”, he announced as he walked into the room. The few conversations immediately died down. “Someone noticed a suspicious looking truck standing in the parking lot of a school.”

“How is it connected to the abductions”, you asked with a raised eyebrow. Sometimes truckers use parking lots to rest there for a while before continuing their long routes across countries and states. 

The commander nodded shortly, thankful one of his detectives questioned the intel they got. “According to the caller the truck has been standing there for several days now and he claims to have heard voices from inside.”

You nearly jumped up from your seat, ready to bolt and get to that truck in an instant. 

“I need two officers, who are willing to check out the situation. I don’t want to send a whole squad for a possible prank”, he explained with a grim expression, “still everyone, who isn't going, has to stay on standby in case it's real.”

Your arm shot into the air. “I volunteer.”

“I had hoped you'd say that”, the commander chuckled with a soft smile. “I need your keen senses to check this out.” 

When you arrived at the parking lot with one of your colleagues, you hesitated to step out of the car. Your eyes were glued towards the parked truck. You tried to mentally note down every little detail you could see before you’d use your other senses for intel.

The second you stepped out of the car and moved towards the truck, your pulse spiked. Nervousness creeped up your back and had a tight grip on your neck. It controlled your every movement.

Your colleague checked the front cabin, silently motioning to you that it was empty. He gave you a sign to walk around the truck and meet with him at the back again.

You nodded once and cautiously started walking. You moved forward while keeping somewhat close to the ground, checking underneath the truck as well. Though you didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

At the back of the truck you stepped several feet away and raised your weapon, pointing it at the closed door. You nodded towards your colleague, who stood at the door and waited for your signal to open it.

He pulled it open with force and immediately got out of your shooting line, backing away as well and pointing his weapon at the open entrance too.

Nothing happened and both of you quickly realised the truck was actually empty. 

You secured your weapon again and walked towards the open doors. Though as soon as you reached the edge of the truck, you held your breath and hurriedly stepped back again. 

“What’s wrong?”

Your colleague looked at you with a raised eyebrow. He took over and walked to the truck, checking the empty inside. 

“It reeks of death”, you told him with your arm pressed over your nose and mouth. Ever so slowly you dared to move closer again. Your eyes wandered over the floor and walls, seeing remnants of blood.

“There are no bodies here though.” Your colleague jumped on the platform and walked into the area. Even he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but you were sure he only smelled the stench of blood and maybe a mixture of excrements in there as well. “Are you sure someone died inside of this?”

You shook your head. “I don’t think someone actually died. But those, who were trapped in here, were on the verge of death before they got out.” You hesitantly took one more whiff and stepped back again. “I smell several hybrid breeds, though the scent is faint and I can’t pinpoint what kind they were nor how many.” Your throat suddenly closed up, the urge to throw up overwhelming you. Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as you fought against the tension inside of you.

Still, you had to run a few metres away from the truck so you could pull your arm away and greedily suck in fresh air through your mouth and nose. Your chest still constricted for several minutes, urging you to throw up but you pulled through.

With a large distance you walked back around the truck to the front, deciding to investigate the driver cabin. To your surprise it wasn’t locked and you easily pulled open the door. You smelled sweat, old fast food and something that made your skin crawl.

You climbed up the steps and looked over the seats, noticing a memo pad next to the driver’s seat. You leaned over, noticing his sweet honey scent even stronger now. Your thoughts raced inside your head, questioning why you smelled Eric’s scent inside this truck. Most importantly you were sure he wasn’t hurt but that would make only one other option the possible outcome - and you still didn’t want to believe he could be part of the smuggling.

You grabbed the memo pad and the pencil next to it, gently scribbling over the surface and revealing a message.

“Abandoned opera out of town, auction starts 11pm”

At the bottom of the note you even saw a date and your jaw clenched. Almost automatically you pulled out your phone and dialed the number of the commander.

You told him about the message and the bloodied back of the truck, but you kept secret about having smelled Eric. The commander promised to send an investigation team and that you should return the second they took over. In the meantime he would prepare for another emergency meeting.

You shortly updated your colleague about the situation, before you walked back to the car and sat down on the passenger seat again. You kept the door open and stared out into the distance, deep in thought.

To be honest with yourself, you liked Eric. When you spent time with him at the fast food restaurant, he definitely made an impression. He was funny, kind, a little bit silly but still incredibly charming. You would lie if you said you didn’t have fun spending time with him. You would also lie to yourself and anyone else, if you said you hadn’t thought of texting him at all since then.

Your fingertips twitched, the idea of simply messaging him now twirling around in your mind. You watched your hands move around as if they didn’t belong to your body, seeing how they turned on your phone and dialed the number you somehow had memorised already. Your thumb hovered above the call button and before you knew it, you had pressed it.

It only rang once before you heard his distant voice from the speaker. You ever so slowly raised your hand with the phone to your ear, hearing him call out again.

“Hello?”

“Eric?”

Silence. For a moment you heard nothing but his breathing and your own loud heartbeat. 

“I was wondering when you’d call me, Detective Lin.”

A small grin tugged at the corners of your lips upon hearing his cheeky statement. “So you missed being interrogated already?” Somehow flirting came naturally to you when you talked with him. You leaned against the seat and pulled your legs up to the edge of the car. “Why did you wait for my call though?”

Eric laughed and you could picture him shaking his head. “Didn’t your boss tell you I was the one calling because of the truck?”

Almost instantly you sat up straight again, barely missing bumping your head on the roof of the car. “What?”

His laugh stopped and his tone suddenly became serious. “I pass that parking lot every day on my way to work. I thought it was suspicious, that’s why I called.”

You stepped out of the car again, turning around your own axis. For some reason you felt being watched all of a sudden and you couldn’t shake that feeling off. “I haven’t said a word about the truck”, you whispered, unconsciously holding your breath right after.

“Isn’t that the reason you called?” Eric kept quiet for a few heartbeats. “That would have been the only logical connection in my book, unless-”

“Unless?” You exhaled shakily, somehow fearing what other conclusion he came up with.

“Unless you want a second date.”

You snorted in disbelief, shaking your head as you started to relax again. “That wasn’t a date back then.”

“So you’re asking me on a first date.”

“I’m not”, you laughed, hearing him snicker cheekily as well. 

“It was worth a try”, he told you after a while, almost sounding woefully. His tone quickly switched with his next question. “Anyway, why’d you call then?”

You weren’t able to dwell on the change as the investigation team arrived at the parking lot. “To be honest, you already answered the question I had. I gotta go back to work, talk to you soon.”

You cut the call and concentrated on your job again, making sure the team was aware of the things you had noticed before you and your colleague drove back to the headquarters.

The second the two of you stepped out of the elevators at headquarters you got ushered to the second emergency meeting that day.

The meeting dragged on for hours and you felt how your energy and motivation level sunk lower and lower. 

All of you knew what had to be done but for some reason some of your colleagues were opposed to the idea - including your commander. 

“Can we stop talking around the issue at hand?” You groaned and dragged one hand over your face before you straightened yourself again. “I will go undercover on the side of a hybrid and while I know it will be dangerous, I won’t be alone with some of you going undercover as buyers. And if push comes to shove, I trust you will save me.”

They shared a few glances with each other before your commander sighed in defeat. “Fine, but the second something doesn’t go according to plan you’ll get pulled out there.”

You bowed to him. “Understood.” 

He still didn’t seem convinced but instead of voicing his concerns he continued with the meeting, going over every minute detail for the new undercover mission.

A few days after the emergency meeting you walked through the town at night. The commander had pointed out an area with the highest abduction rate and you strolled around that place in hopes of getting caught.

While you had to pretend of being unaware of your surroundings, you couldn’t help but notice the eerie silence around the street. Most of the lanterns weren’t lit and the few that shared some light, casted distorted shadows along the ground and walls.

You nearly jumped when your phone suddenly rang. You looked at the caller ID, immediately recognising the number. For a moment longer you stared at your display before accepting the call and raising the phone to your ear. “Eric?”

“Get out of there! Now!”

You stopped, rooted to the ground. “What?” Your thoughts tumbled over each other and you struggled to form anything coherent. 

“I told you to get out of there immediately!”

Ever so slowly you turned around, looking behind you and to every dark corner of the street. “How do you know where I am?” A shiver ran down your spine.

“That’s beside the point! I need you to run now!” Eric frantically yelled into his phone.

His panic swept over to you and you felt your heartbeat increasing as adrenalin got pumped through your veins. Your body automatically prepared for whatever was coming, even before you knew what it was.

“Eric, I’m not leaving”, you tried your best to sound as nonchalant as possible. “I’m on a mission here.”

“For the love of everything that is dear to me”, he whispered exasperated, “this is not a joke, Detective Lin. You have to run! NOW!”

Right as his command ended, screeching tires stopped right next to you on the street. You barely managed to turn your head before you saw how the sliding door of a dark grey transporter opened and two bulky men jumped out. 

You stared at them with wide eyes, frozen to the spot. Old memories flashed before your eyes as they grabbed your upper arms. 

One of them snatched the phone out of your hand, grinning evilly as he slammed it to the ground, silencing Eric’s calls in the process, and stepping on it to destroy it completely.

They pulled you into the transporter like you were nothing but a ragdoll. You got thrown in the back, groaning from the pain and knowing your skin would bruise from that alone.

The men closed the doors behind them and told the driver to take off before they turned back to look at you.

“This looks like a feisty one”, the taller one said with the same evil grin on his lips.

“Whatever, we’re not testing”, the other cut in with a stern look in his eyes, “deal with this quickly.”

You barely even comprehend what he meant by that, before the taller one got closer and knocked you out with one punch to your jaw. 

You woke up with a splitting headache and a dull throbbing of your jaw. A quiet groan escaped your lips while your eyelids fluttered open. 

Even though there was only spare and dim lighting, you noticed the metal bars around you. Despite being awake now, you stayed in your position and assessed your surroundings.

You heard hectic bustling further down the hall, quiet sniffles, clattering teeth and shallow breaths closer to you. Ever so slowly you pushed yourself up, noticing you were barely able to sit properly in the small cage you were in. Carefully, you turned around, taking everything in, that you could make out in the dim light.

There were dozens of cages in various sizes lined up around you. Most of them were occupied with other hybrids - all of them in bad shape. The smaller ones looked severely beaten up while the bigger ones were heavily malnourished and all of them appeared to have broken spirits.

You scooted to the side of your cage, leaning against the cold metal bars. “Hey”, you whispered silently, catching the attention of a deer hybrid next to you. “Do you know where we are?”

They looked at you with utter horror, shaking their head violently and refusing to give you any sort of verbal answer.

“If I were you, kid, I wouldn’t talk so much.”

You turned and saw a feline hybrid sitting in the cage across from you. “Why?” You crawled closer to the male, curious about his intel. 

He scoffed mirthlessly before he came closer himself, emerging from the shadows and showing his scar littered body.

You gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. “Did they do this to you?”

“That’s what happens when you defy humans.” His voice was laced with regret and his dark, sad eyes finally met yours. “There’s only one last hope, most of us cling to that now.”

“The police saving you?” You asked, knowing your colleagues would be at the auction. Though you didn’t want to crush his hope, fully aware the police didn’t have enough money to bid on every hybrid and while they could raid the place, your commander decided they would only do so if the head of the organisation would show their face at the event. Even if they would raid the opera there was no guarantee they would catch everyone and free every hybrid.

The hybrid in front of you laughed dryly. “As if the police ever cared about us hybrids.” He spat on the ground, showing you clearly how much he hated them. “I’m talking about TBZ.” He leaned back again, hiding his face in the shadows once more. A soft chuckle escaped his lungs. “Though it will be quite hard for hybrids to join the auction as buyers.”

You tilted your head in confusion. “What do you mean? Who are TBZ?”

Before he could answer a loud metal clang made you jump in surprise and let all the other hybrids cower in fear. “Shut your mouth, dirty scum”, a human with an electric stick shouted, glaring at you and the tiger hybrid.

He crouched down and turned to the tiger, tapping the metal cage with the stick. “I would have thought you had learned your lesson, Mr. New. Guess, I was wrong.” He pressed the button on his electric stick, letting little white lights spark the metal of the cage and jolting the tiger hybrid.

“Stop it!” You called out, reaching your hand through the metal bars in a fruitless attempt to stop the human. “I said, STOP IT!”

This time the human looked over his shoulder, still pressing the button and electrocuting the tiger. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes wandered over your form. “Who do we have here”, he mused with a sick grin on his face, finally turning around completely and letting off of the hybrid. “Did our royalty finally decide to wake up from their deep slumber?”

You gritted your teeth but did everything to keep your face neutral and emotionless.

He laughed out loud, his eyes crazed as he waddled over to you in his crouched position. “You are a feisty one! So Tango and Whiskey were right! Oh, it will be such a joy to break you like all the others.” Without even blinking he tapped the electric stick against your cage and pressed the button.

The pain immediately surged through your body, your muscles tensing uncontrollably from it. Yet, you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of making a sound.

When he turned off the stick, you slumped down to the ground, unable to move. “I know it’s just a short time between us two but it will mean so much more”, he giggled and turned the stick on again. He watched you flap on the ground like a fish out of water, waiting with bated breath for you to make a sound. “Oh, darling, I will make you scream sooner rather than later.”

“Delta! Stop torturing the beasts and help us prepare the fucking auction!”

The man with the codename Delta turned off the electric stick with a loud whine - as if his parents just told him to do laundry instead of playing his video game. Still, he turned to you one more time, pressing his face between two metal bars. “We’re seeing each other again in no time, darling.”

“DELTA! Don’t make me come back there!”

Delta stood up with an annoyed growl. “I’m fucking coming already, Charlie. Get off my dick, man.” With that he left and moved back to the front of the hall.

“Are you alright, kid?” The tiger hybrid whispered in the lowest voice he could muster. 

“I had worse”, you simply told him, turning your head and giving him a half assed smile. While your statement technically wasn’t a lie, this was a first and you already knew should you experience being electrocuted again you’d rather wish to die.

“That was quite brave of you, kid. And incredibly stupid.”

“Weird form of saying ‘thank you’, Mr. New.” 

“Call me Chan-hee”, he told you, hesitating momentarily, “and thank you.”

You introduced yourself as well, still lying on the ground. You used the moment of peace to mull over the intel you got from this short and painful interaction. 

Those jerks used the NATO phonetic alphabet for their code names and with Delta following the orders of a man called Charlie, you assumed each name had a specific rank to them as well. Therefore the guys kidnapping you must have been quite low in rank, while Charlie and Delta should be in the third and fourth position of the ranking. That would mean there were only three more above them in rank and the one at the top must be called Alpha.

You startled awake again from the loud sound of metal scratching over concrete. With a groan you pushed yourself up, groggily realising you must have passed out while lying on the floor.

“Wakey, wakey you bastards! It’s time to shine! The auction begins in a few hours!” Delta stopped next to your cage again. “Look, who is awake again”, he lowered his voice to speak with you, grinning like a maniac, “I’ll take especially good care of you, darling.”

You wanted to hurl right this instant but you kept your face passive and forced your body to stay neutral. Whatever that meant, you would endure it. For the sake of the mission, for the sake of the other hybrids, for the sake of your sanity.

The cages got moved to the front of the hall, people pulled the hybrids out of their confinements and dragged them away. Others returned with them, chaining them up along the walls. You noticed how they had a change of clothes and seemed to have bathed in some way.

You silently watched how dozens of hybrids were dragged away and brought back. Meanwhile you stayed in your cage until the very end. Even when the deer hybrid behind you and Chan-hee next to you got dragged away, you got left behind.

Until Delta came up to your cage again. “It’s your time to shine, darling.” He threw a collar into the cage and ordered you to put it on, tapping his electric stick against the bars when you weren’t fast enough. He then grabbed the leash that was attached to the collar, opened the cage and harshly pulled you out. 

You stumbled forward, falling on your knees and hands. The yanking on the leash tightened the collar around your throat, making it hard to breathe.

Delta laughed again. “You wanna go on all four? Like the animal you are? Sure, be my guest!” 

“Pangolins are bipedal”, you grunted and pushed yourself up on your feet. 

“And I couldn’t care less”, he told you, his face only inches from yours, before he moved back and kicked you in your stomach, making you fall to the ground again. “So now, crawl.”

You ignored the humiliation and silently followed him out of the hall. Your knees hurt from the bare concrete floor and you knew, you scraped them already.

Not soon enough you reached something that looked like the showers of a football stadium. Grimy tiles and six shower heads on each side of the room.

“Undress.”

You looked at the man, waiting for him to turn around or at least leave the room. Though the second he pulled on the leash and made you come closer to his face again, telling you the same command through gritted teeth, you knew you had to strip in front of him.

With glares that could kill, you started undressing yourself. You let your clothes drop to the ground where you stood, not even trying to cover your nakedness. You were too damn proud to give in to his humiliation tactics. 

His eyes roamed over your body, a sneer marking his face. He looked at your scale like plates covering your sides, shoulders, upper arms and hips. “You’re an abomination of nature”, he stated after a while. “Disgusting.” Delta then motioned you to go to one of the shower heads, telling you to get clean.

You froze in place, the gasp stuck in your throat when the ice cold water descended on your body. You waited a moment longer, hoping the water would turn warm against all odds. With trembling hands you started scrubbing your body.

Once you were done, you stepped away from the water and back to Delta. You tried to keep your body from shivering with the cold wetness clinging to your skin and hair, staring at the man and waiting for a command.

He threw a moldy smelling towel at you and told you to dry yourself, calling for someone with fresh clothes. Delta watched you intently as you got dressed again, grinning at the outfit he picked for you.

On one hand you were quite surprised how nice the clothes were to the touch. On the other hand you knew better looking merchandise got a higher price. Additionally his choice barely covered the intimate parts of your body, showing the hybrid traits that you owned.

You noticed everyone got clothes that highlighted their traits when Delta brought you back to the others, chaining you up at the very front of the line. “Remember to look pleasantly to the eye when on stage”, he told you with a smirk, zapping you one last time before he got called somewhere else.

Soon enough someone else unchained you again and dragged you towards a heavy curtain. He pushed you into a cage again, this one appearing to be made out of silver with an intricate design. Once the door of the cage got shut, some sort of mechanism pulled you upwards. 

You grabbed the bars to your sides, trying to stabilise yourself from the sudden swaying.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to welcome you to a night of wonders and exclusiveness.”

Your attention got pulled to the voice beyond the curtain.

“I’ll guarantee for a show that you’ll remember. The first few options for you to buy are already among us.” The voice laughed and seemingly walked around the stage. “All of our cute little waiters and waitresses can be bought tonight. You’ll recognise them from their maid outfits.”

You made a grimace from just imagining the sick and twisted mind behind that sort of display.

“Obviously that is not all! Tonight we offer you 37 hybrids, ranging from prey to predator, from common to extremely rare. While we won’t bid on this one until the very end, let me introduce you to the highlight of our night!”

With that the curtain opened and the cage moved forward into the bright light. 

You squinted your eyes, slightly turning your head to the side from the brightness alone. You heard the audience murmur and whisper, until the auctioneer told them what breed you were, additionally with your age, weight, height and other measurements. You stared at him in bewilderment, a shiver running down your back at the thought someone must have taken all these while you were unconscious.

The cage lowered slowly and the lights didn’t blind you anymore. Your eyes trailed over the audience. The bright lights on the stage compared to the dim light in the audience made it hard for you to see any details. 

Still, you were able to make out that every person wore a mask that covered at least half of their face. Women fanned themselves with feathered fans, men smoked cigars and all of them chattered joyfully like this was just another charity event.

“Now, let us begin with our first hybrid”, the auctioneer called out, waving his hand for the henchmen bringing the hybrids in.

Again the auctioneer told the audience what they saw in front of them and finished his introduction with the lowest price accepted.

Buyers rapidly raised their number cards, the price jumping higher and higher in steps of one thousand. 

“Sold to the man with the number 24!”

You saw how one of the henchmen hurried over to a man with a silver mask sitting at a table far to the left. They had a short interaction, you assumed a check got signed, before the sold hybrid got dragged towards the man.

Your attention got pulled back to the stage with the next auction. With each new hybrid the starting price got higher and higher. When it was finally Chan-hee’s turn you noticed a change in his behaviour. 

He almost appeared indifferent, confident even on stage. His eyes flitted to the number cards in the air and the corner of his mouth always twitched upwards when certain numbers were called out.

Confused, you turned your attention to the audience again. To your surprise you suddenly realised how the bought hybrids weren’t in the audience anymore, while their buyers still sat at their tables. 

The number 30 with a yellow mask had bought the scared deer hybrid, number 19 with a purple mask bought a dog hybrid, number 2 in white currently grinned mischievously as he battled for the buy with number 82 with a red mask. 

Your eyes flitted around the room. You could have facepalmed yourself upon realising all those numbers had the same kind of mask just in varying colours. You saw someone in a sky blue mask with the number 67, number 16 with a golden mask, also a black mask with the number 39, number 9 in orange and number 11 in blue.

The last one you saw was a man with a pink mask, holding the 22 as their number card. To your surprise he already stared at you, not even interested in the auction of the other hybrids. 

You tilted your head, feeling some sort of pull towards him, as if you should be knowing him.

“The tiger goes to number 82!” The auctioneer cheered, catching your attention again.

You looked at Chan-hee, who barely contained the grin on his face as he got pulled to his new owner. As the next auction began, you decided to focus on Chan-hee and the buyer instead. You narrowed your eyes, seeing how he patted Chan-hee’s shoulder almost like an older brother, hugging him shortly. You also noticed how relaxed Chan-hee appeared and it slowly dawned on you.

“TBZ”, you mumbled, eyes immediately jumping back to the man with the pink mask. Your heartbeat quickened as you realised that all hybrids had been bought by these people so far and you slowly started to wonder who they were.

“It’s finally time for the highlight of the night”, the auctioneer announced and your cage moved again towards the middle of the stage. He repeated your details once more, remembering everyone how rare and valuable you actually were.

The man with the pink mask pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against the whole time, moving to the front. Others followed him, wanting a good look at you. 

You barely acknowledged the presence of the others, completely transfixed on him. He tapped his chin with his number card as if he was thinking about something but the simple movement let his sweet honey scent waft over to you. 

A knowing smirk pulled at the corner of his lips when your eyes widened in realisation.

Your mind reeled, questions tumbled over one another as you stared at Eric. Why was he here? Was he part of that group Chan-hee mentioned? Who were they? Were all of them hybrids? Why would they bid on other hybrids? What was their goal? Were they the reason for all the hybrid abductions or are they a whole different group to deal with? What if they were part of this smuggling ring and this whole auction was just a farce. What if this was a setup for the police?

Your attention drifted from Eric as your eyes searched the large crowd. The commander had ordered several masks and showed them to you, so you would recognise your colleagues even in the crowd.

You noticed some of them, seeing how they chatted with other buyers and barely paid you any attention. 

For a second you were relieved to see your colleagues but something didn’t sit right with you. A bad feeling gnawed at your insides, a thought you couldn’t fathom just yet emerging from the back of your mind.

“50.000!” 

Your attention got pulled back to Eric, who just yelled an incredibly large sum and raised his number card. You blinked several times, wondering for a split second if he actually got that much.

“60.000!”

You tensed, hearing the voice of Delta ring through the audience. You glanced at the auctioneer, who only raised an eyebrow questioningly but shrugged it off quickly to entertain the crowd. 

You looked at your colleagues, confused why they weren’t bidding for you. Sure, 60.000 was quite a lot but there were undercover missions that were way more expensive.

“70.000!”

Eric yelled again, his jaw tense as he glared towards Delta. 

“80.000.”

You looked at the man, seeing a lazy grin on his lips. He wasn’t concerned in the least, as if he was certain he’d win this battle.

“One million!”

Once again you checked for your colleagues and your mind raced all over again. Why wouldn’t they be bidding for you? Was there an order they followed that you hadn’t received yet? You tried to reason, mulling over every possibility there was. You glanced towards Delta. What if the commander hoped Delta would bring you to the head of this organisation?

In that case Eric would ruin the plan if he won the auction. You looked at Eric with worry in your eyes, seeing how determined he was to buy you.

“Five million”, Delta said, rolling his shoulders and twisting his neck. “I can do this the whole night, boy. Give up now before you seem too desperate.”

“Ten million.” He hissed through gritted teeth. Fear pooled in Eric’s eyes, seeing how Delta didn’t even flinch at that offer. He turned to look at you and you saw how he desperately tried to come up with something.

“I’ll be fine”, you mouthed at him, trusting the police had a superior plan in mind.

“Fifty million.” Delta waited a second before he called out again. “Wait, let me double that offer, one hundred million.” He leaned forward, silently challenging Eric to make a better offer.

Eric visibly deflated, shaking his head in defeat. 

The voice of the auctioneer rang in your ears like a gunshot, telling the crowd Delta won and bought you for one hundred million. 

You wished you could have talked to Eric for a moment but your cage got pulled behind the stage again. The curtain closed before your eyes, drowning you in darkness again. 

When they opened for a split second and light pooled over your cage, your heart jumped with hope Eric had decided to barge through. Though your hope immediately got crushed when you realised it was Delta, who walked towards you now.

He threw that same collar at you and waited for you to put it on. “Did you hope that loser in pink would buy you?” He sneered as he pulled you out of the cage. “That guy never stood a chance. I told you we would see more of each other. After all, I still have to break you, darling. And until then you’re my little play toy.”

You silently followed him for the sake of the mission, even when everything inside of you screamed at you to run away.

The second you stepped into his car everything became a blur of pain and suffering. Every waking moment you had was filled with Delta ‘playing’ with you.

His interpretation of playing was torture. Some days he chained you against a wall, others he hung you head down for hours. One time he wrapped a plastic bag over your head and gave you a tube to breathe through, before he buried you naked in his garden - cutting off the air supply whenever it pleased him.

The first few days you still had hope nestling inside of you - hope, he would lead you to alpha; hope, the commander or a group of detectives would raid this place and save you. But with each passing hour where nothing happened that hope dwindled like the flame of a candle becoming smaller and smaller as it neared its end.

Delta tried to hurt you as much as possible without killing you, wishing for you to finally scream in agony. He got increasingly frustrated with your lack of reactions, not knowing you had lived through torture once.

He scoffed and shoved your naked body away, watching you stumble backwards until you fell down. Delta stared at you silently before he stood up and flipped the cigarette he had used to burn you into the tiled room and moved to the door. “Alpha told me you were a tough one”, he told you casually, “but I already know how to break you.”

You didn’t even manage to lift your head, simply watching him with your eyes as he walked further away.

“You scream the loudest when I hurt someone else.”

Your heart dropped into your stomach and your eyes widened in panic.

“THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO SEE”, Delta cheered loudly, clapping his hands as he saw the mortified expression on your face. He grabbed his phone and called someone. “Foxtrot, bring the mouse hybrid.”

“No”, you exhaled in a weak attempt to stop him but it was too late already.

Minutes later the door opened again and a woman brought a tiny girl into the room, shoving her inside before she left again without saying a word. 

The mouse hybrid trembled like a leaf in the wind, nervously looking around until her eyes landed on Delta and your bruised form on the ground. 

In an instant Delta shot up and crossed the room with a few steps. He grabbed the mouse hybrid by the throat and lifted her into the air. “The only way you’ll survive is when that abomination over there complies.”

“Let her go”, you croaked out. You tried pushing yourself up but your arms buckled underneath your weight and you dropped back to the ground.

“What was that?” Delta mocked you, knowing full well you wouldn’t be able to speak louder than that since he barely gave you enough liquid to survive.

“Please”, you whispered, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes as you watched the mouse hybrid struggle in his hold, clawing at his grip and silently begging for air. “Please, I’ll do anything. Just let her go.”

Delta huffed in annoyance. “I already took everything you had to offer. Everything except your agonised screams. You know what I want.”

“Please beat me, please. I promise I will scream.” By now you started sobbing. You weakly pulled yourself across the tiled floor, trying to get closer to Delta. When you reached him the mouse hybrid already stopped moving in his hold. You clawed at his pants, begging him to release the girl before it was too late.

With another huff he let go and the mouse hybrid dropped to the floor. She turned to her side and started coughing violently.

Again you tried pushing yourself up, succeeding this time. You gently rubbed the back of the girl, pulling her into a reassuring embrace when she calmed down enough. You cupped her cheeks, whispering to her that you would do everything to protect her.

She smiled at you weakly, nodding and blinking away her tears while you pushed strands of her grey hair out of her face.

Suddenly Delta cupped your hands and snapped her neck. “Her death is on you.”

You saw the light die in her eyes right before she lifelessly dropped to the ground. 

You screamed. 

You cried.

You tried pulling her back into your arms with trembling fingers, screaming even more when she didn’t move or react to anything you did.

Delta just stood in front of you, his expression showing you he just experienced complete and pure bliss. 

“You monster”, you screamed at him, rocking the dead body like a mother would with her child. You sobbed as you caressed her face, silently asking her to forgive you.

You barely acknowledged Delta’s presence and became quieter and quieter. You gave him what he wanted and for nothing, you weren’t able to save that girl.

Delta stepped closer and ripped her body out of your hold, before he kicked you in the stomach - propelling you backwards until you slammed against the wall behind you. 

You couldn’t even recover from the blow. Delta immediately got to you and chained you to the wall. “Don’t even think we’re done here.” With that he stepped back and towards the corpse of the mouse hybrid.

You stared at him with horror, already shaking your head because you didn’t want to believe it. “No”, you breathed out, “you wouldn’t.” You didn’t even hear your own cries and screams as you watched him defile the corpse. You pulled at your restraints, ignoring how the shackles cut into your wrists and drew blood already. 

“You bastard! Monster! Let go of her! I will kill you!”

As your last curse escaped your lips the door got kicked in and several men in colourful masks filed into the room. 

The one with the red mask knocked out Delta and watched him drop to the ground. Another with a golden mask checked the pulse of the mouse hybrid and sadly shook his head. 

Only after the pink mask came into the room and rushed straight towards you, did you recognise it was the same group from the auction. 

Eric unchained you and immediately caught your body as you simply slumped down. “Shit”, he cursed and quickly pulled you against his chest. He grabbed his jacket and wrapped it around you. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

You inhaled deeply, your eyes fluttering shut as his sweet honey scent engulfed you. “It wasn’t your fault”, you whispered weakly. 

“Let us get out of here.”

You nodded and got on your feet with his help, slowly walking through the room. You stopped when you reached the mouse hybrid and Delta’s unconscious body. You gently tucked on Eric’s shirt. “We need to take them with us.”

The men looked at each other, sharing a silent conversation that you didn’t understand. Only after the one with the red mask sighed and motioned for his comrades to grab these two, did they gather around them.

“Be careful with her”, you asked them before you turned your eyes to Delta. “And just make sure he survives.”

They grinned, some even snickered at your statement. 

You watched how they gently picked up the girl and carried her outside, while two of them each grabbed an arm of Delta and pulled him along, uncaring how he bumped against steps and corners.

You turned to look at Eric. The energy keeping you up slowly died down and you noticed how the edges of your vision darkened. You wanted to warn Eric but all you could manage was a softly whispered ‘sorry’ before you passed out.

When you woke up again you found yourself in a soft bed. You didn’t know how much time passed while you were unconscious but it definitely wasn’t enough since the dull throbbing of pain radiated from each corner of your body.

“You shouldn’t move too much just yet”, the voice of Eric interrupted your thoughts. He walked into the room with a small tray in one of his hands, closing the door quietly behind him. “I’m glad to see you’re awake again.”

“Are you sure? This feels like a dream, seeing you serving me.”

Eric snickered and shook his head. “Good to see nothing has changed either.”

You made a grimace at the thought of what had happened. “On the contrary. Everything has changed”, you mumbled and sat up on the bed, leaning against the headrest. “How long was I out?” You looked around, trying to find a clue of what time or date it was.

Though the room was barely decorated and definitely didn’t have a clock hanging around. Additionally with the drawn curtains you only assumed it was daytime, not knowing for certain.

“A few days”, Eric told you and sat the tray with food on your lap before he sat down on the edge of the bed. “You sustained a lot of wounds, most of them only healed superficially.”

You hummed and nodded in agreement, sensing the throbbing within your body. 

“Q said to give you a few more days and then the pain should be gone.” Eric looked at you, his eyes holding a sadness and pain you couldn’t fathom. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.”

This time you shook your head, leaning forward despite the pain increasing, and patted his hand softly. “It wasn’t your fault. I had a mission to fulfil.”

Eric winced at your words. “No mission should require for you to live through torture”, he growled and pulled away from you, standing up and marching from one side of the room to the other and back again. “You could have died in the hand of that monster.”

You bit on your lower lip, secretly knowing he was right but you still didn’t want to admit it to yourself. You grabbed the tray and placed it next to you, slowly getting up and walking over to Eric.

He stopped his pacing, his hand shooting forward to stabilise you and hold you. His eyes roamed over your face, while a storm of emotions and questions plagued his features. “How can you be so calm about this?”

You shrugged with your shoulders. “Not my first rodeo.”

Eric closed his eyes, his face twisting in pain. He gently pulled you even closer to him, engulfing you in a tight hug. 

For a moment you didn’t know what to do, but his sweet scent wrapped around you like a warm blanket and you melted into his touch. You hugged him back, having your arms wrapped around his hips and leaning your face against his collarbone.

At that moment the door opened and you saw Chan-hee walk into the room with another guy. “Oh, did the badger finally find his honey?” He teased, snickering with Chan-hee at his joke.

“My honey?” Eric questioned with knitted eyebrows. He looked from his friends to you and back again, before the realisation dawned on him and he desperately tried to hide his blushing.

You stepped away from Eric, surprised to see Chan-hee again.

“Good to see you again, kid.”

You huffed but smiled nonetheless. “What are you even doing here?” You walked over to him and hugged him shortly, thankful he seemed alright.

“Like I told you. TBZ.”

“Technically you only said their name and nothing else”, you countered with a roll of your eyes. “So would anyone be kind enough to enlighten me? The police force has no record about a group called TBZ.”

“I’m not surprised you didn’t get the records about us, Detective Lin”, Eric half teased and half grunted. “As a hybrid you would have been a danger for their mission to eradicate us.”

You frowned at him and then looked at the other two men, hoping to receive an answer to all your questions.

Eric gently grabbed your elbow and guided you back to the bed, motioning for you to sit down and eat while they would explain all they could to you.

“TBZ is a group of hybrids, fighting for the safety of other hybrids. We started this when we noticed the officials and the police barely did anything against the discrimination we received”, Eric told you with a solemn expression.

“We try to stay under the radar of the police but they have connections everywhere”, the man, whose name you didn’t get explained.

“Even in the smuggling ring.”

You turned to Chan-hee, looking at him for a moment as if you wanted to argue with him but scenes of the auction resurfaced in your mind and you decided to keep silent for now.

“We fight to get all hybrids from the smuggling ring before they leave town and transport them to safety. There are hybrid communities all across the globe and more and more hybrids and sometimes even humans joined our cause. Still, there are too many we cannot save.”

All of you looked down at the blanket, possibly remembering the faces of all the victims you had lost.

“Right now our biggest enemy and issue are the police.”

“But why?” You frowned, shaking your head softly. “We have a special unit that’s solely tasked to track down the smuggling ring and prevent more hybrid abductions.”

“And yet there was an increase in abductions”, Eric growled, looking away from you.

“Up until Eric showed up, how successful were you with your unit?” Chan-hee asked you with a raised eyebrow. 

You blinked several times, recalling all the months you had been on that task force. Either the leads were flukes or your unit arrived too late at the scene. You grimaced at the realisation. “Not really good.”

The silence following your words was almost deafening. You knew their trust towards the police or the government couldn’t be restored like that anymore. Not until the last rotten egg was discovered and dealt with.

After you ate the food Eric had brought you, the men left the room again, telling you to rest some more.

You hadn’t even noticed how exhausted you were from this minimal interaction, though you knew most of your energy was used to heal your wounds. 

Even with your hybrid genes it took a few more days before you were able to move around without feeling any sort of pain. Once Eric gave his okay as well, not wanting to put any sort of strain on you, you were allowed to do smaller tasks around the house again.

Though you didn’t really care about the opportunity to work out again. You wanted to do something else entirely.

So when you sat down with all the men, you immediately blurted out your request: “I want to interrogate Delta.”

All of them stared at you like you grew a second head. Before you could even explain yourself they started discussing the topic with each other, saying pros and cons as if you weren’t sitting right next to them.

“Not on your own. One of us has to be with you. For safety reasons.”

You turned to look at Eric, silently asking him if he would accompany you. While you got to know all the other men, you still felt the most comfortable with him.

“I’ll bring you there tomorrow morning”, he promised, ending the discussion at that point.

Though when he accompanied you to your room, Eric was far from convinced. “Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked and closed the door of the room behind the both of you.

“He knows who the head of the smuggling ring is. I need to find that person.” ‘And make them pay.’ The last part you only thought, unsure whether Eric or the others condoned revenge.

“Then let me do the interrogation. You don’t need to see that scumbag ever again.” Eric walked over to you, pulling you into his embrace from behind. He leaned his chin on your shoulder, gently nosing along your neck and jawline.

You slightly turned to look at his face with straight lips. “Don’t tell me you haven’t tried before.”

Eric chuckled softly and hugged you even tighter. “Fine, we did try and he wouldn’t talk at all.”

Now you turned completely and wrapped your arms around his neck, giving him a soft peck on the cheek. “I know how to break him, please don’t worry about me.”

“You know I can’t help but worry about you, honey.” Eric gently pushed you towards the bed, grinning when both of you fell on the mattress. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

You hummed softly, stroking his hair while he laid on top of you with his head resting on your chest. “What if I have to hurt that man to get the information I want?”

Eric contemplated your question for a moment, before he shrugged with his shoulders. “He had it coming then.”

“And you won’t think differently of me? No matter what I’ll do tomorrow?”

This time Eric pushed himself up to look at you, tilting his head with a frown on his face. “While I think I know what you’re capable of, I feel like I shouldn’t ask what you’re planning to do tomorrow.”

You turned your head away, not wanting to meet his eyes. “I’m not really planning anything”, you mumbled with a small pout on your lips, “it’s just that I learned a lot of ways to extract information the hard way.”

Eric gently grabbed your chin and made you look at him again. His eyes were so soft and you could have sworn his gaze alone turned you into a puddle. “No matter what you’ll be doing tomorrow, I’ll have your back. I’ll still call you honey and still hold you in my arms at night.”

You mouthed your thanks and leaned upwards, pecking his lips before dropping back on the mattress.

“That’s all I get?” Eric asked in mock offense, falling back on top of you. He grinned brightly when you started to laugh and tried pushing him off of you. Playing along, he grabbed your side and turned both of you around, so you straddled him now. 

You raised an eyebrow teasingly, trying hard not to grin. Before you failed, you quickly leaned down and captured his lips in a kiss.

Soon enough one kiss turned into several and the kissing turned into making out. His hands roamed over your sides and yours over his chest. Both of you tucked at the clothes, pulling them off between kissing and throwing them somewhere into the room.

You spent the whole night together, connecting with one another even more intimately.

You had needed a night like that, needed Eric as your life buoy preventing you from drowning in the darkness that surely spread inside of you. 

When the next morning came, you momentarily wished to turn back the time not wanting to leave his arms just yet. Not wanting to become the monster for the sake of getting the information you needed.

Yet, you still got up and Eric silently followed you, sensing your inner turmoil but giving you the space to deal with it the way you wanted to.

He drove you to an abandoned house a few miles outside of the town. Eric guided you inside and into the basement, where Delta sat on the ground - chained to the wall he leaned against.

“What a surprise to see you, darling.”

Eric growled at him, already getting into a stance to attack him. 

You on the other hand kept your expression passive. With a simple hand gesture you calmed Eric down as well. “I need a chair and a desk”, you quietly told him, waiting for him to nod and search for the furniture.

For a few moments you had Delta for yourself, staring at him with a cold distance in your eyes. “You know there are two reasons for someone to use torture”, you told him, your voice void of any emotion, “one is to extract information and the other is simply for joy.”

“Why are you telling me this?” He spat, getting restless and tugging at the chains that held him.

“I mainly want one information from you. But believe me when I tell you I will torture you for my own twisted entertainment and nothing more.”

“You think I’d give you any information without torture?”

You didn’t answer him, hearing how Eric came back with a round wooden table and a folding chair on top of it. He placed the things in the middle of the room and looked at you expectantly.

“Could you put him on the seat while I get a few things?”

This time you didn’t even wait for Eric to answer you, walking out of the basement room and to the old kitchen. You heard how Delta fought and screamed but with his weakened state he had no chance against a hybrid - and definitely not against a honey badger hybrid. Though you paid them no mind, collecting what you deemed helpful in your cause: a few rusty knives, a lighter and matches, old cigarettes, a candle, some towels and a jug of water.

When you got back to the basement, Delta begrudgingly sat on the folding chair. His chained hands rested on the table in front of him, while another chain was wrapped around his torso, ankles and chair.

You placed the items on the surface of the desk in a calm manner, not saying a word as you did.

Eric stepped back to one wall, giving you the room you needed.

After everything was placed down, you sat on the edge of the table and grabbed one of the knives. You twirled it between your fingers a few times and then grabbed one of Delta’s hands. 

“You know, my species is hunted for their plates. Yet they are nothing more than hardened hair. Just like fingernails.” You looked up, passively staring at Delta’s confused expression. “Do you know how they extract those plates?”

When he shook his head no, you slammed the knife right underneath the fingernail of his pinky, twisting it and therefore dislocating the nail until it dropped to the ground.

Delta screamed in pain, trying to pull his hand away from you but your grip with your own claws prevented him from even moving a bit. 

You repeated the action on two more fingers, watching him writhe in pain with an almost bored expression. 

“I can’t believe it was that easy to make you scream”, you taunted him as you let go of his hand.

“I wasn’t that brutal towards you”, Delta exclaimed in anger. 

“No”, you shook your head, “you were worse.” You grabbed the lighter and the cigarettes, lighting one and pressing it down on random spots of his body - no matter whether it was covered with clothes or not. 

After the sixth mark, Delta cried out: “What do you even want to know? You haven’t even told me what information you need from me!”

You hopped onto the table and crossed one leg over the other, tilting your head as you watched the mess in front of you. You still held the cigarette between two fingers, silently contemplating to just continue and ignore his outburst. Yet, you flipped the cigarette away and placed both hands on the table, leaning back on them a little. “And I told you, I’ll only torture you for my own twisted entertainment.”

You grabbed the matches and lit one of them, staring at the dancing flame in front of you. “Did you know that burning human flesh technically smells like any other burnt flesh? The only reason humans find it repulsive is the fact they know it is human flesh.” With that you moved your hand with the burning match to the hem of his shirt.

Delta tried leaning away from you again, but it was too late and the fabric already caught on fire. 

You dropped the match to the concrete floor and calmly grabbed a towel to drench it with water, while more and more of Delta’s shirt started burning. 

He screamed in agony, pleading with you to put out the fire.

You placed the towel over the flames before they reached his shoulder, making him cry out in pain yet again from the rapid change between heat and cold. 

When he had calmed down again, you lit another match. You barely contained the wicked smile on your lips as you watched the dancing flame and the writhing body of Delta. 

This time though you didn’t set him on fire but simply lit the candle on the table. Again, you threw the match to the floor, gently pushing the candle towards Delta. 

“Tell me, who is the person behind the title Alpha.”

Delta trembled on his seat, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him.”

You hummed, staring at the flame of the candle, seeing how more and more wax turned into liquid. “I don’t believe you.”

“NO!” Delta tried freeing himself again. “I’m telling the truth. I’ve never seen him!”

“Yet you said to me Alpha told you I was a feisty one. How can you not know someone when you spoke with them?” You jumped from the table, grabbed the candle with one hand and the hair on his neck with the other, pulling his head back so he was forced to stare at the ceiling.

“It was a phone call. All our interactions were only via phone calls!” 

You looked up at Eric, seeing his face seemingly sculpted out of stone. “Do you have his phone?” While you asked him you tilted your hand with the candle, letting the molten wax drop into Delta’s right eye. You ignored his struggling and cries of pain, waiting for Eric’s answer calmly.

Eric nodded and walked to a shelf on the other side of the room, pulling a phone from it. “We turned it off before we brought him here so we couldn’t get tracked.”

You thanked him softly and turned your attention back to Delta. “Is Alpha’s contact saved on your phone?”

“Yes, yes, yes, it is. Please, please let me go. Please show mercy.” 

You let go of Delta and placed the candle back on the table, instead you grabbed a larger knife. “No.” With that you turned around and slammed it into his throat.

Delta’s eyes widened as he made gurgling sounds and blood started pouring out of the wound and his mouth.

“He hasn’t told you who the head of the organisation is”, Eric stated, a hint of confusion in his voice. 

You looked at him, tears brimming at the corners of your eyes as your lips formed a pathetic version of a smile. “I never needed him to tell me.”

Eric immediately crossed the distance between you two and pulled you into his arms, shushing you and rubbing your back in an attempt to calm you.

You let him hold you until you heard Delta’s last heartbeat. Then you stepped away from Eric and grabbed the phone he had placed on the table. You turned it back on and unlocked it with Delta’s still warm fingerprint. Within seconds you found the contact name Alpha.

With one last shared look with Eric, you pressed the call button and put it on speaker. It rang a few times, before someone picked up.

“Yes?”

“Commander, I secured one of the men belonging to the smuggling ring.”

“Detective Lin? You made it out alive! I’m so glad! Where are you? I will come and get you.”

You motioned for Eric to write down the address, telling the location to the commander, who promised to be there as soon as possible and asked you to stay put.

When the call got cut, you dropped the phone to the ground. You looked at Eric, stepping towards him and cupping his cheek with one hand. You leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “This is going to be ugly. More than what you’ve already seen.”

He leaned his forehead against your, cupping your face with his hands. “I’ll be by your side the whole time.”

You exhaled shakily, a soft smile playing over your lips. “Let us cut off the electricity. The only source of light should be that candle.”

Eric nodded and was about to go, when he stopped and kissed you more passionately this time. “You’re saving a lot of hybrids this way.”

“I know.”

You watched him leave and retreated to a corner of the basement, hiding in the shadow. Eric would join you soon, so you could wait for the commander to arrive.

“I’m ready to become the monster”, you whispered and closed your eyes, knowing there was no going back from the path you had chosen the second you had called the Alpha.

© all rights reserved

Taglist: @xavi-in-kpopland​ 

[whumptober]

Meet The New Mods

Thank you very much for the warm welcome! To begin we’d like to say a very big thank you to mods Pan and Claire, as well as Jo, Marie and Kat, for their hard work in creating and continuing the event for six years — especially with how big the community has become! We have a momentous job ahead of us when it comes to modding the community and running the event as well as they did, but we are determined and up for the challenge.

So perhaps it’s time to introduce ourselves:

gunshou tumblr | discord | ao3

fandom old (she/her)

I’ve participated in Whumptober for a few years, although I never finished. I’m a writer who can’t write fluff to save my life; if a character isn’t going through some kind of trauma in canon I’ll make it happen in fanfic. I live with an old blind mini poodle and intense imposter syndrome. I used to mod communities on Livejournal (fandom OLD) and I’m really excited to be a part of the new mod team. Please feel free to follow and interact with me!

Surro | 21 | he/him | @promptsforyourwhumpfic

AO3: SurroWhump

Discord: surro_

🎵 - I’m Not Okay (Chris Catalyst) and Will of the People (Muse)

I've been lurking in the whump community since 2017, and have been a whump enthusiast for as long as I can remember (seriously, all of my original characters have to had some sort of whumpy backstory). I’ve been a loyal Whumptober completionist since 2018, and have written my fair share of angst for a variety of whumpees and OCs.This is my first time being a part of a mod team, and I am really thrilled to be a part of such a big event! I look forward to working on this project and interacting with the wider community.

Kitty | she/her | @mrmustachious

AO3: TheWeatherOutside

Discord: justkitty.

Hello everyone! Those in the Whumptober discord may know me as being a mod there since last year, but if not, then hi! I have been a completionist for Whumptober every year since 2019, and it’s safe to say that the event quickly became one of my favourite times of year. I’ve been a fan of whump since well before I knew what it was, so it’s been amazing to find a community filled with so many like-minded, wonderful people creating such fantastic (and evil ;)) works. I’m so excited to be a part of the team, and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone creates this year.

Vanne | 21 | queer | she/her | @fl4tlines

AO3: savanne

Discord: v4nne

🎵: Lowlife — YUNGBLUD & Cheap Love — girli

Hiya! I’ve mainly lurked in the whump community for a while, across several different blogs. I was a Whumptober completionist in 2021 on an old blog, but I haven’t completed it since! I mainly write OC whump, with more focus on emotional suffering compared to the physical elements. Outside of whump, I volunteer and run a wildlife rehabilitation unit, work in retail and keep the ADHD goblin in my head happy by cycling through an endless list of other hobbies like graphic design, wildlife photography and traveling for gigs. I’m really looking forward to helping put together Whumptober this year and being a part of it!

[poeticpomegranate]

Jan. 21 Review ｡･:*˚:✧｡

Academic Accomplishments ｡･:*˚:✧｡

Overviewed Korean history and culture

Studied the Korean alphabet (Hangul) and its grammatical rules

Studied the Korean letters (Jamo) of the alphabet and their sounds

Practiced reading letters and sounding the letters out

Gathered resources and took notes on language learning exercises, techniques and study tips

Finished Korean Unit 1 Lesson 1 notes

Finished Korean Unit 1 Lesson 2 notes

Personal Accomplishments ｡･:*˚:✧｡

Went grocery shopping, got some more snacks and almond milk for matcha

Played a lot of ACNH, re-decorated my home

Visited my grandmother

Made an online shopping list for misc. necessities

Got a lot of rest !!

Overview ｡･:*˚:✧｡

It was a pretty good day! Initially I a had very different day planned out; I wanted to run through my Leonardo Da Vinci presentation for Principals of Health Science and practice going over the speech notes and time the duration of the presentation, but I figured its fine, and I'm sure it'll be under the time limit. I also need to learn a Pixel art platform to upload graphics and textures to the app I'm developing. But after recently developing a growing passion and interest in the Korean language, I wanted to start studying for personal goals and for leisure, and it was nice doing that again! I set some goals for language learning (which I will make a separate post about later) and I can't wait to work on them!

Rating ｡･:*˚:✧｡

★★★

[kellyvela]

Sophie's Hon 💋

If you want to know more about the guy Sophie Turner is smooching lately, you know, that very tall, very very rich, British aristocrat with a fantasy novel name, this post is for you . . . . lol

His full name is The Hon Peregrine John Dickinson Pearson, but he goes by “Perry.” And the photo above is his company profile picture.

Born on October 27th, 1994, he's 29 years old and the future 5th Viscount Cowdray.

Perry is from Midhurst, West Sussex, and now lives in a £5million house in Chelsea, West London.

The Hon before his name means The Honourable, a title used for all sons and daughters of viscounts and barons. Hon also works for 'honey' and 'sweetheart', hence this post's title.

Peregrine may come from Henry Winston Peregrine Spencer-Churchill, nephew of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill.

Yes, Churchill, you read it right! Perry's grandfather Weetman John Churchill Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray, was the son of Agnes Beryl Spencer-Churchill, who was the granddaughter of George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough.

So Perry is distant related to Winston Churchill and Diana Spencer, The Lady D . . . . In fact, he has already introduced Sophie to some of the current Spencer-Churchills (they are cousins with Perry, I guess 🤷‍♀️).

Now, I have no idea why his parents opted to name him Peregrine over Weetman, since each of the four former Viscounts Cowdray were all named Weetman; but his peculiar fantasy novel/bird-like name inmmediately made me think of House Arryn and Harry Hardyng. More on this later.

But since he's not named Weetman, he fixed that by naming his own property investment and development company 'Weetman'.

John is for both grandfathers: Weetman John Churchill Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray, and John Howard Cordle. 

Dickinson is for his great-great-grandfather: Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray.

~~~

Family

The seat of the Pearson Family is Cowdray Estate, Cowdray Park, Midhurst, West Sussex. The picture of the family above was taken at Buck Hall, the atrium of Cowdray House.

The name Cowdray comes from Coudreye, the Norman word for the nearby hazel woods.

Perry is the son and heir of Michael Orlando Weetman Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray, and Marina Rose Cordle.

His dad produced the documentary "Sympathy for the Devil," directed and written by Jean-Luc Godard, documenting the creative evolution of the song "Sympathy for the Devil" as the Rolling Stones developed it during recording sessions at Olympic Studios in London.

His mom is an artist, sculptress, interior designer and mindfulness coach, she's keenly interested in spiritual matters, she practises Transcendental Meditation (a form of silent meditation) and Qigong.

His parents separated in August 2023, after 36 years of marriage.

Perry has three older sisters and a younger brother:

Eliza Anne Venetia Pearson (born 31 May 1988). She married her first husband at 21. Later he left her for the Kate Winslet . . . . She remarried, had children and lives in Ibiza now.

Emily Jane Marina Pearson (born 13 December 1989). Tatler Magazine included her as one of the 10 perfect potential brides for Prince Harry . . . . She she studied Plant-based Nutrition and is one of the founders of the vegan restaurant "Farmacy" in Notting Hill.

Catrina Sophie Lavinia Pearson (born 13 March 1991). She goes by "Catty." She's a musician and a film-school graduate.

Montague Orlando William Pearson (born 17 May 1997). He goes by "Monty". Wee brother is 6'4. He's a helicopter pilot, enjoys flying drones and studied film production and graphic design. He was named after the former owners of Cowdray Estate, the Viscounts of Montague.

Perry also has an older half brother:

Sebastian William Orlando Pearson (born 1970).

As you can see, Perry is privileged to be the heir above his older half brother Sebastian, since he was born out of wedlock, and above his older sisters: Eliza, Emily and Catrina, since they were born women . . . . Where have I heard this before???

Sometimes I'm glad I'm an only child . . . .

As any other younger brother of three older sisters, he was annoying. According to Tatler Magazine, Perry liked to wind up his sisters (then vegan) by scoffing meat.

Perry is also an uncle, his sisters Eliza and Emily are mothers of cute babies, but sadly I can't show you pictures. He looks cute holding a baby tho.

Talking about cute babies, that little curly blonde boy sat in a chair next to his standing father in one of the portraits in the picture above, is Perry. His portrait was painted by Chinese artist Chen Yanning, who also painted Queen Elizabeth II's portrait:

Here a few more childhood pics:

That picture of of him as a baby peeing on a plant, is his Instagram profile picture . . . .

~~~

Education

Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services at the University of West London, UK.

Not Oxford or Cambridge? Shocking!

UX Desing at General Assembly in New York, NY, US.

Dear Perry, you can improve my user experience by making your instagram account public. That would do!

~~~

Occupation

In January 2015, it was reported by Tatler Magazine that he was working for Aylesford International Estate Agents in London.

He also worked as an assistant site manager for Cordles, a London based contractor company founded by his maternal uncle Rupert Cordle.

He started working at Cowdray Estate in West Sussex, his family estate and heirdom, since 2016 to this day.

He's also the founder, partner and director of Weetman Developments, his own property investment and development company in London, since 2019 to this day.

Perry is also a Le Chameau – the wellington boot brand – ambassador.

As you can see, Perry is basically a nepo baby lol

But that doesn't mean he doesn't work, Cowdray Estate is huge (16,500 acre), and offers a vast variety of activities like golf, clay-pigeon shooting, fly fishing on the river Rother, walking, cycling, riding, polo, truffle hunting, hospitality at the farm shop & café, holiday cottages, tree houses, wedding venues, private stays and events at Cowdray House, filming locations (the Cowdray Ruins were used during the filming of Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan’s film, "Mary Queen of Scots"), among others, and Perry is/will be in charge of all of that.

According to his mom, back in 2019 he was pioneering aquaponic farming on a commercial scale [The Telegraph - June, 2019].

In an interview for The Gentleman's Journal, Perry said that he's working to pass the estate on to his heir in better conditions: “But the dream is to pass it on to my son or daughter in better nick than it’s in now. That’s the mentality when it comes to estates,” “You’re so grateful that you’ve been given this opportunity, you want others to have the same opportunity that you had.”

I don't know if Perry will try to change the primogeniture rules, but it was really nice to read that he thinks his heir could be a son or a daughter.

Perry's family was always wealthy (construction and petroleum in the past, publishing nowadays); but not always aristocrats.

His great-great-grandfather, Weetman Dickinson Pearson, was made a Baronet of Paddockhurst in 1894, then he purchased Cowdray Estate in 1909. Later he was made Baron Cowdray first, in 1910, and then the 1st Viscount Cowdray in 1917.

Viscount, is a European title of nobility, ranking immediately below a count, or earl. It is one of the five ranks of British nobility and peerage, which, in descending order, are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.

So, when Perry becomes the 5th Viscount Cowdray, he won't be on top of the british nobility; but he will be richer. At present, Perry's family is thought to be worth £224million, and one day, he will inherit all of that.

~~~

Hobbies

Riding (Not Polo)

His family estate includes Cowdray Park Polo Club, dubbed The Home of British Polo, but Perry doesn't play Polo.

His parents never pushed him to, perhaps fearing that he could get hurt by falling from a horse. "Michael (Perry's father) never sought polo glory after a fall from a horse at the age of 13" [standard.co.uk - 2010].

In 2018 he said: “Cowdray is to polo what Goodwood is to racing and Glyndebourne to opera.” “I’m getting lessons.” “I grew up riding and over the next few years it’s something I can see myself doing a lot more” [The Telegraph - August, 2018].

Later, in an interview for The Gentleman's Journal, he joked by saying that "he’s not particularly good at it".

So far, I only saw him presenting Polo trophies and congratulating the champions, so I guess the lessons didn't work . . . . lol

Maybe is better that way, if he doesn't play polo he wont smell of horses. Sophie is asthmatic and allergic to horses.

Golf

He plays golf for some charity and corporate events. No idea if he's good at it.

Clay-pigeon shooting

Not sure if he really shoots at flying clay targets or he only modeled to promote the shooting school at his family estate.

Huntings

He likes to attend posh huntings wearing tweed, baker boy caps and suspenders.

He already took Sophie to one of those last December, but she didn't wear tweed, she defied the rules by wearing a Zara black jacket and a pair of acid washed jeans. . . . She would look great wearing tweed, tho . . . .

(There have been hunters in my family, so I can't judge much)

Here some pics:

Skiing

He seems very skilled at it.

Meribel in France seems to be his family favorite destination to enjoy the snow.

He already took Sophie to ski & “après ski” there, and they were having the time of their lives!

Going to the beach

Yeah!

Ibiza is a favorite destination for his family, his dad used to live there, and now his eldest sister established there with her own family.

Can't wait to see Sophie enjoying the sun in Ibiza next . . . .

Enjoy some pics:

Partying

Fuck yeah!

"Like all the Cowdrays, he loves a party" [Tatler Magazine, January 2015].

"(...) the Hon Peregrine Pearson (the Cowdray heir), known for throwing ‘wild afterparties’ at his house in Chelsea, which he shares with Ella (Richards)’s boyfriend, Sascha von Bismarck" [Tatler Magazine, March 2023]. 

Here abundant evidence:

Pottery

Perry enjoyed spending time in his mom's pottery studio in the garden: “We were brought up being quite creative – spending time in her studio was very bonding” [The Telegraph - August, 2018].

I would love to see one of those creative pieces made by Perry 👀

Meditation

Like his mom, Perry practises meditation as well. [The Telegraph - June, 2019].

From pictures, it seems he usually wears a silver Meditator pendant. The Meditator is a seated figure, with a pointed head, a heart and a hole in its middle. His mom designed it herself, as a reminder to live in the present moment, rather than fretting about the past or future.

~~~

Previous relationships

His only known/famous relationship was with Princess Maria Olympia of Greece and Denmark.

He dated Olympia for three years, since 2020 to 2023.

She seemed really into Perry during the relationship:

But shortly after their break up was official, she was reported being in a relationship with an older, married with children man . . . .

His wife kicked him out of the house after the news. Good for her! [Read more about it here]

~~~

So far, this is all I learnt about Sophie's Hon Perry Pearson. I love that he's so tall and the way he can hug her being so tall, I bet Sophie loves it too.

But I kinda hate that the press only uses his most unflattering pictures, when is easy to find public pictures where he actually looks good.

Also, my friend told me that he reminds her a bit of Paul Mescal, and now I can't unsee it . . . .

What more can I say about him after my research? Oh, maybe that he has met the Dalai Lama and sat next to Kim Kardashian and Kimora Lee Simmons at Paris Hilton's wedding lol

He also loves to wear sunglasses, even indoors . . . .

Anyways, now to the point of this post!

~~~

Romance with Sophie Turner

Perry is a Scorpio and Sophie is a Pisces, like Scorpio Ryan Gosling and Pisces Eva Mendes . . . .

I have no idea how they met, where they met, or when they met, but we have evidence that they spent the last part of October 2023 together.

2023 was a rough year for both of them, with her divorce and custody battle, and with his own break up with his ex, and the separation of his parents after 36 years of marriage.

The first time we saw him next to Sophie, we have no idea who he was. It was during the Rugby World Cup final on October 28th 2023, just before Sophie unveiled the trophy:

Perry was there with Sophie, but we had no idea they were together until October 31th 2023, when a couple of pictures of them sharing a kiss outside Paris’s Gare du Nord train station were made public and got viral:

The pictures were taken on the same day as the Rugby World Cup final. It was reported that they arrived together in Paris from London via the Eurostar, and said goodbye with a kiss before meeting again later at the Stade de France.

When their Paris kiss pictures were all over the press, someone claimed that their friend had seen them together the week before:

So, if the Rugby World Cup final was on October 28th 2023 and Perry's 29th birthday was the day before, I bet the lovebirds spent his birthday together in London.

I wonder what Sophie got Perry for his birthday??? An appointment with a fashion stylist, I hope!

(Perry, honey, burn those double breasted suits in your closet, please! They don't fit your large body 🙏 King Felipe II of Spain, has a similar body and his tailoring is👌)

I also believe they spent the last days of October together in Paris, since they were seen all cozy during a romantic dinner at some fancy Parisian restaurant:

After that Sophie was seen back in New York on November 3th 2023. We don't know if Perry travelled with her to New York, but some anon claims he saw them holding hands in West Village:

Back in London, they were seen making out in a famous spot on November 2023 . . . .

. . . . And having dinner with friends on early December 2023:

Later, we have graphic evidence of them spending time together from the 7th to the 10th of December 2023, at least.

December 7th 2023:

They went to Hyde Park Winter Wonderland at night, where they walked around, hugged and kissed:

December 8th 2023:

They had brunch in West London and walked around hand in hand, eventually stopping so Perry could gently caress Sophie's face and kiss her:

That day, this also happened . . . . 🤨

December 9th 2023:

They attended a posh hunting weekend at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, held by some of the current Spencer-Churchills: George Spencer-Churchill and his wife Camilla Thorp, Marquess and Marchioness of Blandford (they will be Duke and Duchess of Marlborough one day).

The event was full of Perry's aristocrat friends like Alexander Spencer-Churchill, Lady Jemima Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke’s daughter, and Eleanor Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington’s niece, among others.

So, Perry has basically already introduced Sophie to some relative and close friends:

Can someone please explain to me why is Perry wearing a pink ribbon around his neck in the last picture? Is a mystery I need to resolve in this lifetime.

Here a few more pics:

After that, I suspect they spent the holidays together in London, or, at least, that they saw each other for a few hours during those days. I'm not saying she introduced him to her family and daughters, but it's obvious that they are dating and Christmas and the New Year are festivities you want to share with the people you care for.

I wonder what Perry got Sophie for Christmas? A handmade ceramic vase? A basket full of hydroponic vegetables that he grew himself?Diamonds?

And most recently, on January 17, 2024, they were seen walking around London at night all cozied up:

I want her UGGS!!!

Also, are those really mini liquor bottles at Perry's hand??? At first I thought they were Sophie's nail polish bottles 💅🏼

Someone spotted them skiing in Meribel, France. It was reported on January 28th, 2024, but it was probably before that date. Deuixmoi titled the stories as "let's see what your fave celebs have been up to the past week"

She's having the time of her life with Perry? GOOD FOR HER!

OK, today January 29th 2024, Sophie herself posted pics of them skiing in Meribel together with a couple of Perry's friends:

Lol at Perry not looking at the camera in the first pic 🤭

So, I suppose they are official now, right? Maybe it's time to post this post . . . .

~~~

Now, in the beginning of this post I said that after knowing Perry's fantasy novel/bird-like name, I immediately thought about ASOIAF's House Arryn and Harry Hardyng, you know, since House Arryn's sigil is a falcon, Harry Hardyng is dubbed the Young Falcon, and the peregrine is literally a species of falcon.

And since Harry Hardyng is the current Sansa's suitor in the ASOIAF incomplete series, I joked with my friends by saying that Sophie has entered his Harry Hardyng era . . . .

Perry also made me remember that passage in A Storm of Swords where Margaery's peregrine took a heron in full flight the day she and Sansa went hawking.

Peregrine is also the name of a ship that Arianne Martell boards in one of the few chapters of The Winds of Winter that GRRM released in advance.

Perry's name also reminds me of Pippin from The Lord of the Rings, since his full name is Peregrin Tuk, but this is a story for another day.

But if the Pearsons of Cowdray were a House from Westeros, they would be the Arryns enemies, since the Pearson's sigil is a gryphon:

And thanks to Sansa/Alayne we all know that the Winged Knight and the Griffin King were mortal enemies:

The Winged Knight was Ser Artys Arryn. Legend said that he had driven the First Men from the Vale and flown to the top of the Giant's Lance on a huge falcon to slay the Griffin King.  —A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

You know, in some ancient mythologies, the creature known as gryphon is depicted as fire-belching: "winged, tailed, and taloned dragon which spat fire." 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 Just saying . . . .

House Pearson motto is:

'Do it with thy might'

These words are carved on the stone fireplace in Buck Hall, the atrium at the heart of Cowdray House.

According to The Gentleman's Journal, Perry translates his family motto to simpler words: “Just do it — that might be a more modern approximation.”

But he's more into Adidas and North Star. Sorry Nike . . . . lol

Anyways, GRRM has the opportunity to do the funniest thing . . . .

~~~

And talking about GRRM, it's time to tell you that Perry's family are the founders and large share holders of Pearson plc, a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London.

Pearson plc owns Penguin Random House, you know, GRRM's publishers, the ones that publish the ASOIAF series . . . .

And I recently came to know that Penguin Random House is going to republish Joan Hannington’s autobiography “I Am What I Am” under the title ‘Joan.’ And, you know, Sophie's upcoming project is precisely a tv series called ‘Joan,’ with Sophie taking the role of Joan Hannington . . . .

Some will say that this is part of the j word agenda, lol

Again, GRRM has the opportunity to do the funniest thing . . . .

~~~

Finally, we need to answer an important question!

~~~

So . . . .

A match made in heaven? Or maybe we won't see his face again?

Only time will tell. I only hope that he makes Sophie super happy as long as they are together.

I will probably update this post with time or make a part 2, because Tumblr doesn't let me add more pictures 😢

Thanks for reading!

[forabeatofadrum]

Hello everyone! I'm starting it off today, cause I have a lot to say!

It is December, what the FUCK! This means it is also the start of the annual @klaineadvent, my favourite fic challenge of all time. Unfortunately for me, time is not an illusion and I didn't realise it was December 1st this soon and I haven't really outlined my fic idea, but I have started on it and I have ideas turning in my head. You can read the first chapter on this blog, on my AO3 or on S&C. Yes, I post on S&C. More Klainers should do that.

The 2023 fic is still unfinished. I think what matters to me is that I start on time, not if I finish in time. It also helps that I have the slight advantage of knowing all the 21 prompts in advance, cause together with @mynonah I made the graphics with the prompts, which was exciting!

But that's enough of Klaine for now. I am still writing my extensive Class fic and have six sentences of that:

“We use a shimmer to hide our true looks,” Quill tells him, “We have another one, but we didn’t know how to activate it. Tanya’s found someone who might help." “There’s a girl our age from Ealing who can fix alien tech,” Tanya explains, “I, uh, hacked UNIT again and found a file about her.” Tanya hacking a United Nations department, again, isn’t even the weirdest thing that’s happened in a while.

Yes, the girl from Ealing is Sky, but she won't be a part of this story apart from two references. But hey, she can manipulate alien tech, so she can probably create a shimmer for April.

[Tenth Doctor voice] Sssssshimmer!!

I have passed 12K words, which is insane and very unexpected, but I think there is an end in sight. I just have to write it. And also, in order to reach that end, I have to kill a big darling of mine, and I hate it. More on that under the cut underneath the weather, since I don't want to clog up people's dashes.

And now, the weather: @quizasvivamos @coffeegleek @caramelcoffeeaddict @raenestee @tectonicduck 

@nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer

@that-disabled-princess @special-bc-ur-part-of-it @larkral @cutestkilla​ @wellbelesbian​

@artsyunderstudy​ @facewithoutheart​ @shrekgogurt @rockitmans @bitbybitwrites 

@whatevertheweather @shame-is-a-wasted-emotion @esilher @kurtsascot @blackberrysummerblog 

@nightimedreamersghost @ivelovedhimthroughworse @thnxforknowingme @martsonmars

Okay, so, there is a Class fic called Dear Matti by @bazwillendinflames and in that fic Matteusz has a younger sister named Marcelina. Ellie has more fics with Marcelina as well. I adore her. Matteusz having a younger sister adds so, so much to his character. She's basically canon to me. And because of that, I asked Ellie years ago if I could add her to my Doctor Who clusterfuck (A rip in time) and Ellie said yes, and that happened! So when I decided to write a fic with Matteusz as the main character, I wanted to add Marcelina again and I was going to ask Ellie if that was okay (hi Ellie if you're reading this!). I just needed to figure out how to add her to this insane story before asking, instead of asking it and failing to deliver (oops).

The thing is... I have come to the conclusion that she fits nowhere in my fic, and in order to get to the ending I want to achieve, I will have to cut her out.

Like, I have a very, very specific scene with Matti and Cela in mind, but I cannot find a place for it, and it deviates from the storyline that I have. In fact, it would add a completely new conflict that either won't get resolved at all (which is bad), or will be resolved in a very rushed and unsatisfying way (also bad). The idea is that Marcelina shows up at Charlie, Quill and Matteusz's house with the news that her parents want to move back to Poland with her, but without Matteusz. (She waited at Coall Hill, recognised Ram from an earlier scene, and asked him to take her to the house). The parents' reasoning is that the UK has made Matteusz gay or something and therefore they do not want to expose Marcelina to that and think it's in her best interest to take her back to Poland. Conflict, drama, la homophobia! In the end, Matteusz and Marcelina win and Marcelina gets to stay with him in the UK. How? Dunno yet. But obviously, this is a big thing and cannot be resolved in a few in-universe days, but I am also currently planning on ending the fic in order for it to not drag on.

I tried placing this scene earlier in the story to give them more time to resolve it, but that would throw off the rest of the story. I tried coming up with an alternative scene between the two of them, but that might lead to some plot holes. I tried changing Marcelina's role in the fic, but it all comes down to the parents' homophobia and that cannot get resolved in a few days. I genuinely think it is in the fic's best interest to cut out Marcelina's existence. I mean, it wouldn't destroy anything else, that's how insignificant Marcelina is right now to this fic (which I wanted to change with the Matteusz and Marcelina scene, but alas). After all, this fic follows canon and yes, Marcelina might basically be canon to me, but she isn't, which is why she has no impact on the story. She already exists entirely off-page.

So I've decided to indeed cut her out, and I am already noticing how much easier it is to advance on the story without having to keep her in mind, but I am also upsetti spaghetti about it. MARCELINA I LOVE YOU.

[felassan]

EA's DA:TV launch Press Release

"Rise Up and Become the Leader in Dragon Age™: The Veilguard, Now Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC October 31st New Single-Player RPG Invites Players on a Bold, Heroic Adventure Through the Fantasy World of Thedas"

---

"REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) and BioWare announced today that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is now available for PlayStation®5 (also enhanced for PS5 Pro), Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam (Steam Deck Verified), EA app and Epic Games Store. This bold, heroic adventure is built to deliver on what the series is best known for: rich storytelling, fantasy worldbuilding, companions & fellowship, and a world where you matter. The next installment in BioWare’s beloved franchise has captivated critics worldwide, with outlets such as IGN and GamesRadar+ proclaiming it “deserves its place in the RPG pantheon” and is “A true return to RPG form for BioWare” in their 9/10 and 4.5/5 reviews. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard , Solas, the Dread Wolf, wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory – even at the cost of countless lives. But his ritual goes awry, and his worst fears are realized, as two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. Players will step into the role of Rook, a fully-customizable protagonist who must rise up and unite their companions to stop these two powerful deities on a journey that will span across Thedas’ bustling cities, lush tropics, boreal forests, fettered swamps and deepest depths. “On behalf of everyone at BioWare, I want to thank you for joining us on our latest adventure,” said Gary McKay, Vice President/General Manager, BioWare; Executive Producer, Dragon Age: The Veilguard . “After years of careful planning, countless hours of expert work, and innumerable design decisions, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is ready. We are so proud of this achievement and excited to see its impact on our worldwide community of fans, without whom none of this would be possible. We hope you have just as much fun in your own Rook adventure as we did creating it.” Dragon Age: The Veilguard offers 21:9 ultrawide aspect ratio support, uncapped PC frame rates and a suite of Ray Tracing features. Additionally, you’ll be able to accelerate performance with DLSS 3, make gameplay even more responsive with Reflex, and enhance image quality and immersion with ray-traced reflections and ambient occlusion. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will also be available to play in “Ultimate” quality via NVIDIA GeForce NOW, and specifically enhanced for PlayStation 5 Pro. Additionally, this will be the first EA title to offer HDR10+ GAMING functionality that delivers outstanding high dynamic range performance automatically when enabled on PCs with compatible NVIDIA graphic cards and HDR10+ GAMING certified displays. The title builds upon the pillars the iconic series is best known for, delivering a bold and heroic adventure guided by rich storytelling, fluid and strategic combat, companions and fellowship, and choices that matter. Key experiential elements include:"

"- Fellowship: Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s brand new companions come alive with some of the most compelling individual storylines in Dragon Age history. Expansive and dynamic stories navigate love, loss and complex choices that will affect your relationships and the fate of each member of the Veilguard. New companions like the Veil Jumper Bellara, the necromancer Emmrich, and the private detective Neve, come from iconic factions in Dragon Age lore, possessing individual skill trees and specialized gear for advanced team progression. You’ll see familiar faces, too, such as the archer Lace Harding who returns to the series as a full time companion. - Choice and Consequences: Dragon Age: The Veilguard builds on the series’ deep role-playing roots, providing extraordinary storytelling and worldbuilding, deep personalities for each companion, meaningful choices and impactful cinematic moments. The bonds you create and the relationships you forge will be affected by your choices made throughout your journey. - A Crafted Experience: As a character-driven RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers a crafted experience that pays homage to BioWare’s history of storytelling. The Lighthouse provides a central place where you can rest, learn more about the world through conversations, while the Crossroads allows you to traverse to separate explorable regions of the world with your companions. You’ll experience more of Thedas than ever before as your story unfolds across meticulously crafted biomes and beautiful regions including Rivain, Weisshaupt, Arlathan, Minrathous, the Deep Roads and more, each inviting you to delve deeper into the narrative and uncover the mysteries of the land. - Fluid, Customizable Combat: Immersive combat blends fluid moment-to-moment controls with tactical decision-making. Players can fully customize their experience to fit their playstyle with diverse skill trees among three different classes - Warrior, Mage and Rogue - each with unique abilities and specializations. Choose two companions to join you on your quests and unleash powerful team combos that can change the tide of any battle. Make strategic choices and direct your allies to fight, heal or stay out of the fray with the newly-added ability wheel. - Be the Leader You Want To Be: Dragon Age: The Veilguard features a robust character creation system that allows you to be the leader you want to be with a vast range of customization. BioWare has created the most comprehensive character creator in Dragon Age yet to make this story truly your own."

"Two-time Academy Award® winner Hans Zimmer and GRAMMY® Award winner Lorne Balfe co-composed the Official Soundtrack (OST) for Dragon Age: The Veilguard , which officially releases on November 1st via Lakeshore Records. The album’s first single, Dragon Age: The Veilguard Main Theme, can be downloaded and streamed now on all major music services such as Spotify, iTunes and Deezer. Players can purchase the Standard Edition of Dragon Age: The Veilguard for the suggested retail price of $69.99 USD on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, or $59.99 USD on PC. Meanwhile, the Deluxe Edition is available for the suggested retail price of $89.99 USD on console or $79.99 USD on PC and will include the following cosmetics: three Rook armor sets, six Rook weapons, seven companion armor sets and seven companion weapons. EA Play Pro members on the EA app will enjoy unlimited access to the EA Play Pro Edition starting October 31st † . The BioWare Gear Store is outfitted with a variety of merchandise, including Rook’s Coffer. Available for the suggested retail price of $150 USD * , Rook’s Coffer features a variety of unique physical keepsakes including a light-up Lyrium Dagger, Rook’s deck of cards featuring in-game art, and more (game not included). For additional information and to stay up to date on Dragon Age: The Veilguard , visit the official website, like Dragon Age on Facebook, follow the franchise on Discord, TikTok, Tumblr, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and subscribe to its YouTube channel."

[source]

[factsfcrged]

FACTSFCRGED. An indie RP blog for FBI Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid of the Behavioral Analysis Unit from the series Criminal Minds. Written by Penny. Activity levels vary. 18+ required. 21+ preferred. Potentially triggering content may be present including but not limited to mentions of addiction, graphic violence, various methods of torture and homicide, psychological, physical and emotional trauma & more per the nature of the show and the criminals the BAU pursues.

AUs and crossovers are available / welcome. Multi muses, rp hub blogs & original characters are all welcome.

[satoshi-mochida]

System Shock remake for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, and Xbox One launches May 21

From Gematsu

The System Shock remake will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 21, publisher Prime Matter and developer Nightdive Studios announced.

The remake first launched for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG on May 30, 2023.

Here is an overview of the game, via Prime Matter:

About

“Look at you, Hacker. A pth-pth… pathetic creature of meat and bone.” You awaken from a six month healing coma aboard Citadel Station, TriOptimum’s premier research facility. Mutants feast on their former crew mates, nightmares of flesh bound to metal roam the dark hallways, and the station’s A.I., SHODAN, is aiming Citadel’s mining laser… at Earth! Your military grade neural interface is all that stands between humanity and the silicon god coming to remake Earth in their vision. System Shock is a remake of the beloved PC classic. Updating mechanics, graphics, and enemy A.I.—System Shock is here to offer a new generation of players a chance to go toe-to-toe with one of gaming’s iconic enemies: SHODAN. Fight, hack, and save humanity from a fate worse than death itself.

Weapons and Tools at Your Disposal

“How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?” Weapons have been completely overhauled to form a new deadly arsenal featuring the MK 2100 Magnum, SK-27 Shotgun, LG-XX Plasma Rifle, ND-12 Rail Gun, the Laser Rapier, and many more. Plug-in the Mapping Unit implant to chart your way through all nine levels of Citadel Station, hook-up the Biological Systems Monitor to monitor your health and energy consumption, and install the Multimedia Data Reader to experience the last horrifying moments of Citadel’s crew.

New Threats and Horrors

“My children, a human infection continues to thrive inside of me…” SHODAN’s twisted mind has remade the crew into her image of perfection. Poisoning their DNA, she mutated their flesh. Clouding their minds, she grafted together steel and bone to make them cyborgs. Around every corner lurks a new and horrible way to die.

Explore Citadel Station for the First Time

“You are an interloper, a blight on my domain.” Citadel Station has been renovated to include new areas to explore, traps to evade, puzzles to solve and secrets to discover. Hack your way through Cyberspace, a 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) hacking simulator rebuilt to be more dangerous with new enemies and challenges.

Watch a new trailer below.

Consoles Release Date Trailer

[usafphantom2]

8th Fighter Squadron Honors F-117 with Striking New Matte Black F-16 Flagship

The 8th Fighter Squadron has unveiled a new flagship: an F-16 painted matte black to resemble its iconic predecessor, the F-117.

David Cenciotti

8th Fighter Squadron flagship

The new flagship of the 8th FS (All images, credit: A1C Michelle Ferrari)

On Jun. 12, 2024, the social media account of Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, posted on Instagram the first photos of the new flagship of the 8th Fighter Squadron: an F-16 Fighting Falcon (or “Viper” as the type is nicknamed within the fighter pilot community) sporting a black color scheme that is inspired by its iconic predecessor at the unit, the F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet.

Indeed, the aircraft, an F-16C Block 42 #88-0517, is primarily painted in a matte black color, giving it a stealthy appearance. The nose cone/radome and the underside of the fuselage appear to be painted in a lighter gray. The tail features the emblem of the 8th Fighter Squadron, also known as the “Black Sheep.” This is depicted by a graphic of a black sheep standing on a white thunderbolt.

The tail of F-16 #88-0517.

The tail code “HO” is visible, indicating the aircraft is based at Holloman Air Force Base. The top of the tail has a tail flash with a stylized F-117 and the text “Black Sheep” written in yellow on a black background, which is part of the squadron’s identity.

Overall, the combination of dark and light gray tones as well as the unmistakable squadron markings, give the aircraft a unique appearance.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holloman AFB (@hollomanafb)

The F-117-era

“The Nighthawk was transferred to Holloman in 1992 and was here longer than any other base. If you look at the history of this amazing aircraft, you’ll see why we’re so excited to honor its legacy,” says the text accompanying the photos of the new 8th FS’s flagship.

The 8th Fighter Squadron is still today an active unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to the 54th Fighter Group under the Air Education and Training Command, and stationed at Holloman AFB. The squadron currently operates F-16 and its role is initial training, transition training, and instructor upgrades on the Viper.

In 1992, the 8th FS, depending by the 49th Fighter Wing retired its F-15A Eagles and received the first Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters from the inactivated 416th Fighter Squadron.

After converting to the F-117A in May 1992, the 8th deployed fighters and crews to Southwest Asia in the 1990s for Operation Southern Watch, supporting UN weapons inspectors in Iraq and enforcing the no-fly zone to curb Saddam Hussein’s WMD programs. In 1998, the squadron’s F-117s were sent to the Gulf during Operation Desert Fox to enhance strike capabilities against high-value targets, although the operation concluded before their arrival due to the long flight from Holloman AFB to Kuwait.

On February 21, 1999, the 8th deployed F-117s and crews to Aviano Air Base, Italy, and Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, for Operation Allied Force, a NATO mission to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. The squadron’s Nighthawks played a crucial role in the initial airstrikes against Yugoslavia’s air defenses.

But on March 27, 1999, “VEGA 31“, the F-117 Nighthawk #82-0806, flown by Lt. Col. Darrell P. Zelko, was shot down by SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missiles while returning to Aviano airbase, after a strike mission against a target near Belgrade. A US search and rescue team recovered the pilot a few hours after the crash. This incident marked the only loss of an F-117 in combat. Following this, Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered 12 additional F-117s to join the operation, bringing the total to 24.

After Allied Force, F-117s of the unit were also involved in OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom), during which the stealth jets deployed Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, and supported the invasion’s opening night, targeting a bunker believed to house Saddam Hussein. Despite not eliminating Hussein, the strike allowed the coalition to gain a strategic advantage, and the EGBU-27 bomb became the F-117’s primary weapon.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, F-117 pilots flew over 80 missions, deploying nearly 100 enhanced guided bombs against key targets. Approximately 300 personnel supported these missions.

In 2006, it was announced that Holloman AFB would cease to host the F-117A, with the aircraft retiring by 2008. The planes were sent to Tonopah Airport, Nevada, for long-term storage due to the continued classification of their stealth technology. The last official flight of the F-117A was carried out in late April 2008, leading to the inactivation of the 8th Fighter Squadron after 67 years of active service on May 16, 2008. As we have explained in details for several years now, the retirement of the F-117 was not final and 16 years later, the Nighthawk still flies.

F-117 landing (Image credit: U.S. Air Force)

Viper unit

The squadron was reactivated and equipped with the F-22 on Sept. 25, 2009. In May 2011, the squadron ceased its operations, and on July 15, 2011, the 8th Fighter Squadron was officially deactivated. It was reactivated once again, at Holloman AFB, on Aug. 4, 2017, as an F-16 unit under the 54th Fighter Group, which at that time was a geographically-separated unit of the 56th Fighter Wing from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.

In October 2018, the Fighter Group was realigned under the 49th Wing when Holloman was assigned to the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

[wormytoast]

2.3 graphic! 2.2 graphic here

as always this post is leak free but my blog DOES contain leaks and spoilers, so please mute "#hsr spoilers" and "#hsr leaks" if you don't want to see that stuff <3

Trailblazer will not be considered in these stats because they are a null character.

TYPES

Fire: 7

Ice: 8

Lightning: 7

Wind: 6

Physical: 8

Quantum: 8

Imaginary: 6

Fire is now in the middle of the pack with Lightning while Quantum is boosted to the front with Ice and Physical.

PATHS

Destruction: 9

Erudition: 7

The Hunt: 7

Harmony: 8

Nihility: 9

Preservation: 4

Abundance: 6

Destruction is, once again, tied for most populous path with Nihility (who could've guessed? LOL). Erudition gained one more unit.

RARITY

Limited 5-Star: 23

Standard 5-Star: 7; Overall 5-Star: 30

4-Star: 21

For a second version in a row we did not receive any drip marketing for a new 4-star! I think the absence of one in 2.2 is fair considering the hinting they did with Trailblazer's hat in the live, but what's the reason in 2.3? It's not a big deal regardless but still strange.

OVERLAP

There are now 9 overlaps of unit path/type combinations. Neither Firefly nor Jade are new type/path combinations, although both are new rarities for their combos as well as the first overlapping combos for their respective types. The only type without an overlapping combination is Imaginary.

Fire/Destruction- Hook & Firefly

Quantum/Erudition- Qingque & Jade

Physical/Harmony- Hanya & Robin

Physical/The Hunt- Sushang & Boothill

Ice/Preservation- March 7th & Gepard

Ice/Destruction- Jingliu & Misha

Lightning/Erudition- Serval & Jing Yuan

Lightning/Nihility- Kafka & Acheron

Wind/Nihility- Sampo & Black Swan

Unfulfilled combinations:

Erudition- Wind & Imaginary

The Hunt- Lightning

Preservation- Fire, Wind, Lightning, & Physical

Abundance- Ice

MODELS

F child: 2

F short: 9

F med: 11

F tall: 11

M short: 3

M med: 4

M tall: 10

Wow, two more women in a Hoyo game? I'm so surprised! Seriously though, Jade is the first Quantum unit that has a tall model (all Quantum units up until this point have been F med or F short). Of course this is assuming that Jade has an F tall model but, realistically, her proportions are that of most F tall models so I'd say it's a safe bet. We already know Firefly is an F med model. No love for the boys or the children this version.

I don't feel like repeating old info so I'll try to be quick: Quantum is all women while Imaginary is all men except for Yukong. We have not received a new F child unit since launch (happy one year HSR!).

OVERALL + OTHER THOUGHTS

Not much to say about this update in terms of statistics or units. I'm REALLY hoping we get Sunday by 2.4, but there's also a good chance 2.4 will take us to a previous location to give players a breather from Penacony, so we might need to wait a bit longer for Sunday 🫡

I'm also surprised that we didn't get Screwllum for 2.3 considering they mentioned updating the Simulated Universe in 2.3! Very unfortunate for Screwllum enjoyers.

After Penacony... maybe a Japanese-themed location? We've already got hints of one from both Sparkle and Acheron (although Acheron's home is probably unreachable now...)

Thanks for reading this far if you did! Maybe consider following this account? Or not since this is basically a gacha ramble account LOL