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magalidragon · 5 years ago

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targaryen’s seven | a Jonerys drabble

A/N: I could not help myself and just threw down this Drabble. I don’t want to post it on Ao3 just yet because is not a full one-shot nor is it going to be multi-chapter (in the near future, maybe one day I will come back to it) but thought you guys might like it. Enjoy!

The wind bit at her exposed skin, cheeks pinking without any aide of blush or tint. It whipped over her silver curls and braids, already pulled back taut from her face. It would have chilled anyone’s bones, except hers. Her bones were heated from the heavy thud of her heart against her breastbone, the rush of blood in her veins, and the fire raging inside her soul. The fire which rose to sparkle in her lavender eyes, redden her plump and pursed lips, and thirsted for revenge.

In the dark winter in the North, far beyond the everlasting lights and skyscrapers of King’s Landing, the craggy peaks of the Vale, and the marshy flats of the Riverlands, no one walking by on the quaint lantern-lit light posted street with its cozy restaurants, pubs, boutique hotels, and little shops devoted to preserving the heritage of the Realm’s largest, sparsest, and remotest kingdom.

The woman standing against one of these lightposts, her hands in the pockets of her designer black trenchcoat, hardly paying attention to the bustle of people. There were locals intermixed with tourists—it was the Dawn Festival soon—going from building to building, stopping to take photos in front of silly little cardboard cutouts of ice zombies and Northmen.

Only a few stopped in their tracks to glance at her, for she stood out among the darkness and the cold snow, her silver hair a moonlit beacon, her entire demeanor that of someone who should not be trifled with nor confronted. One glance of her purple eyes and they were on their way, bewitched almost to forget she was even there to begin with.

She lifted her left wrist up to peer at the heavy silver men’s wristwatch, ticking softly under the wail of the wind. Daenerys Targaryen tsked under her breath. “He’s late,” she murmured. She supposed it was silly to think he would actually honor her summons. He would not be coming then.

Well I suppose I will have to go looking for him.

Her heavy black combat boots crunched under the fresh snows, hands returning to her pockets, walking slowly down the sidewalk. The last time she was here had not been pleasant. The Northern History Museum had been far more difficult to crack than she’d originally planned. She had barely made it out of there with the silver wolf circlet she’d broken in to steal. Retrieve, she preferred, even if the authorities had different views on the matter.

The silver wolf circlet allegedly belonged to a Northern queen, who rebelled against the kingdoms and ultimately died of starvation when all her allies abandoned her. It was exceptionally expensive and the funds of which now had been siphoned into a series of orphanages the Northern government had been sorely neglecting.

Her walk took her from the local streets a bit farther off the beaten track, the lamps extinguished or nonexistent, the people fewer and fewer, until she was the only one on a darkened street.

Dany paused in front of a pub, glancing down at her phone. A message from her hacker—Missandei—informed her his cell phone had been pinging from that location an hour ago. She glanced up, smirked at the worn sign-- The Wildling -- hanging on one hinge. It was not for charm, but because the owner no doubt didn’t care about it. Perfect.

She entered the pub, which suddenly went quiet. Everyone stared at her. Dany reached up to pull at one of the buttons on her coat, her smile amused, gaze sweeping from one end to the other of the less than desirable establishment. She was not a local, she should not be there, but she did not care, purposefully striding towards the ancient bar, where a gigantic man with thick red beard and wild eyebrows surveyed her with bright blue eyes.

“Ale please,” she ordered, sweet.

The man chuckled. “You’re not from around here.”

“Nope.”

“You lost?”

Dany smiled, taking another look over her shoulder at the clientele, all of whom were still staring at her. She met the man’s gaze again, shaking her head. “Nope.”

They looked at each other, unblinking, for what seemed like several minutes, but was only a couple. A boom of laughter finally broke their silent pissing contest, the man slapping his dustbin lid sized hand on the bar, pointing at her, grinning darkly. “I like you.” He reached under the bar for a pint. “Attitude like that, first one’s on me.”

“I was hoping you could pass something along for me to one of your regulars.”

“Can’t say anyone you know would be in my pub,” the man said. He set her pint glass full of darkened ale. He grinned again. “But try me.”

Dany slipped her fingers into one of the inner pockets of her coat, removing a slim black box. She set it down on the bar, pushing it with one red manicured finger towards him. Another enigmatic smile did the trick. “This is for Jon Snow.”

The entire pub might as well have gone on mute.

The jovial bartender immediately hardened, those twinkling blue eyes now chips of ice. He was gruff. “Don’t know a Jon Snow.”

“I think you do Tormund Giantsbane.” Dany climbed off her stool, took a long pull from the ale glass, and wiped the foam from her upper lip. The gruffness of the bartender dropped like a mask at her sudden use of his full name. She liked to stun them. It was fun that way. She turned, calling over her shoulder. “Put it on his tab.”

The heavy oak door swung closed behind her with a deafening thud. Dany liked the taste of that ale, making a note she would have to return if she was ever in the mood for it again. She tugged her phone out, now a message from her ghost, warning her that this was a bad idea and they should try some other way.

Barristan had said the same thing. So had Daario. Grey and Gendry might have also agreed, if Missy and Arya hadn’t been as forceful as they had with their displeasure. Sometimes it was bothersome to have members of a team fucking, but Dany accepted the two couples because they worked well together and did not usually let their personal issues bleed into the world.

Plus they all had reason for this job. Well, not Daario, but he would do anything she asked because he was in love with her.

They all tried to convince her to get someone else. There were plenty who would kill to be a part of her team. To join them in this endeavor. No one else would do, she told them, calm and quiet.

It had to be him.

She returned to her car, parked in a community lot near the main square, and paid the exorbitant parking fee, even if it probably would have been easier to just use one of Missandei’s contraptions to hack her way out of the 15 stags. She drove off, humming along to a silly pop song playing from whatever radio station had been on when she picked up the car at the Winterfell International Airport.

Ah Winterfell, so many memories. The castle loomed large over the city that bore its name. It was a museum now, even if the Stark family still retained some ownership of it. Somewhere on the other side in more modest accommodations a few of the Stark family still lived.

The Starks weren’t as big as they once were. They were desperate for cash. All they had were their titles, such as they were. Dany thought about Arya Stark, her ghost, who technically bore the honorific Lady, but if you thought of calling her that you would get a knife in the gut. It was part of her reason for taking this job.

They all had reasons and now she just needed the final player in the game.

In lieu of a hotel, as much as she would like someone to pull back her linens and prepare a fire for her when she turned in for the evening, she rented out a luxury cabin several miles away. It afforded her privacy, stunning views, and a large sunken tub. Dany liked a sunken tub.

She parked, walked up to the front door, and smiled to herself at the threshold. So obvious. She slipped in the key and entered, turning to plug in the code for the alarm panel. When she turned back, she slipped off her coat, and walked into the large stone paneled living room, with its great fireplace—already crackling—and mountain filled wall of windows.

“Hello Jon.”

The chair before the fire turned, revealing its occupant, who sat rather bored, legs crossed and fingers tapped against his temple. He looked the same as ever, she thought, if not better. Dark raven curls, wild around his face, which had been chiseled from marble. Dark beard dusting over his jaw and upper lip, his gray eyes black in the shadow of the fire. All black ensemble, which she knew hid a body that was as chiseled as his face. Smooth planes and sharp edges, he was a masterpiece.

And he was deadly.

The gray eyes glinted, just a hint of red. Could have been from the fire, or it could have been something else.

Her smile peeled over her teeth. “My white wolf,” she purred.

Jon Snow smiled in return, although it did not meet his eyes, rather cold, as cold as the storm that began outside, the faintest hints of howling wind sounding. “Daenerys Targaryen,” he said, in his rumbling Northern burr. He kept smiling, until he wasn’t.

And then he was at her throat, his fingers digging into the slim column, tilting up her jaw, his breath mingling with hers, warm and raspy. Her eyes threatened to roll back into her head and her body ignited, fire consuming her. He barely touched his mouth to hers, barely breathing. “I thought I said I would kill you the next time I saw you.”

Now it was her turn to smile. She lifted her hand, his eyes rolling down to it. The cold steel of her dragonhead knife was against his jugular. Even if his thumb was pressing down on her carotid, threatening to cut off her oxygen, she knew he wouldn’t. Just like he knew she wouldn’t kill him. Draw blood maybe, but she could never kill him. “Darling, I think you forgot, it was I who said that.”

“Hmm.” He drew in her scent, nostrils flaring, and eyes going red again. The wolf, she noted, her skin prickling, and her body straining towards him. Not to break free, but to join him. There would be time for that later. His thumb dragged over her bottom lip and she darted her tongue out to touch it. He groaned, his nose pushing to hers, laugh deep in his chest. “You came looking for me.”

“I will always come looking for you.”

“I don’t want it.” His dark brows arched, the feral wolf flickering over his features again, hiding his obvious desire for her. She bucked her hips against him, reminding him. He laughed. “Peace offering, huh?” He immediately let her go and flicked the box towards her. He growled. “You stole that from me.”

“And I’m giving it back.” She opened the box, revealing the white wolf head pommel from the ancient Valyrian sword he kept in one of his many safehouses. She sighed. “I realized that it really belongs with you.”

“No, you realized no one would buy it.”

She shrugged, flicking the box towards him and he caught it one-handed, setting it down on a table behind him. “Po-tay-toe, Po-tah-toh.”

“I’m not joining you again.”

Ire flared, her eyes darkening to indigo. “I am no longer asking you nicely.”

“Funny was that what it was when you tried to kill me?”

Of course he would bring that up. She waved her hand dismissively. “It was an accident.”

Jon dragged the collar of his shirt down, pointing at a knife scar on his collarbone. “That is not an accident!”

“Oh yeah, well you stole from me!”

Now it was his turn to shrug it off. “That money needed to go to the Night’s Watch,” he mumbled, arms crossing over his chest.

They squared off against each other. This was not how she planned it to go, but nevertheless. She narrowed her eyes on him, staring. He stared back. No one blinked. Until they were at each other, grappling, tugging, and tearing at each other, mouths a frenzied clash of tongues and teeth. She drew his tongue in between her lips to slide along hers, moaning into his mouth when his large hands slipped from her shoulders to cup the sides of her breasts, straining in their cashmere sweater cage. She lifted herself against him, remembering every feel of him, every dent and ridge of muscle, every nervous quiver, and every bump and drag of scars.

He tore from her first, a hand tangled in her immaculate braids, fingers digging into the ridge of her skull, and another on her hip, holding her to him. “The answer is still no,” he whispered.

Dany shook her head, whispering. “You haven’t heard my proposition.”

“I’m out.”

“Even when I tell you the mark?”

He shook his head again, although she knew him. She’d known him since they were teenagers, misfits and unwanted, trying to scrap by on their wits and wiles. They had bled together, fought together, fucked and almost died together. They’d gone to jail together. She nibbled his lower lip again and he flinched, barely, but she felt it. He still wants to know. “No,” he repeated.

“Yes.”

“I don’t want it.”

She cocked her head, her fingers smoothing over his cheek, dropping to cover his heart with her palm. Eyes steady, breath even, she smiled again. “I need my second Jon. I need my partner.”

They all wanted her to bring in someone else. Even someone she might have worked with in the past, none of them matched to the trust she had with Jon Snow. He was her equal, the one she could trust above all else, the one who knew her deepest and darkest fears and desires. Jon Snow came from nothing like she had and built himself up. He was the only one she would ever feel comfortable doing this job with.

There was also the fact that she was still in love with him.

Trivial thing really, she lied to herself.

Whatever they said about him, she didn’t believe it. He was out, he was done, he’d gone straight…all lies. He was just like her. They were wild, they could not be tamed, and he could never settle for a boring law-abiding life.

The irony of Jon Snow was he was the most honorable criminal she had ever met.

“No.”

Now it was time for the final play. Her other hand cupped his head and fingers twirled with his hair at the base of his neck. “Even if I tell you that we’re going for the Targaryen crown and dragons?”

His dark eyes lifted to hers, his breath stilled. He said nothing.

Her tongue dabbed her upper lip, her pupils dilating wide, smile curving again. “The crown and the eggs will all be in a single location, for the Conquering Day Celebration, and Tywin Lannister himself will be there, to give a speech, to commemorate the day. Robert Baratheon, Cersei Lannister, and that little fucker Tyrion will all be in attendance.” She brushed her nose over his, whispering. “Can’t you feel it Jon? That wolf inside your heart? The one howling? What does he want?”

She knew what it wanted, just like he did. All she needed was for him to say it.

Jon closed his eyes, shivering, and his arms tightened around her. “Revenge,” he murmured. He didn’t need to say it but draining the Lannisters of their stolen riches would also be a bonus.

“Exactly.”

He gazed down at her, lips dropping to hers again, and she knew it. She knew before he even whispered the words to her, before he kissed her and before they decided to start talking terms.

“When do we start?”

#jonerys #jonerys au #my fics #my moodboards #jonerys fanfiction #jonerys drabble #criminals jonerys #robin hood jonerys #had to get this out of my system

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kyuflix · 5 years ago

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➤ 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟏| 𝐇𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐧

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: angst (you should know by now), a little bit of fluff

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: weapons, violence, blood, death, a lot of swearing

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: the special mission goes in an interesting direction

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒: +5k

𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊: iI’m so sorry that this took so long! i had already written the majority of this but because of school i couldn’t continue. now that we are all to stay at home i thought that i would finish this and maybe take your mind off things for a little while. i hope that you enjoy this and took your mind off of things, stay safe everyone!

''Alright, that would be all. Meeting dismissed. Y/N could you stay behind for a couple of minutes?'' You turned around at the call of your name and sat back down in your chair.

''What is it, sir?'' Your boss shook his head and folded his arms.

''Y/N you know that you don't have to call me sir. We founded this together and you're my second in command.'' You nodded.

''I know, Seong.'' He nodded and slid a file over the table towards you. ''I have a special little mission for you.'' You raised your eyebrow and opened the file, the picture of a young man coming into view.

''That's our target. Do you remember the weapon trade not too long ago?'' You scoffed. ''How could I forget that those bastards killed my best friend.’’

Seong nodded and leaned back in his chair. He pointed to the picture and continued talking. ''That's the boss, Jong-Su Cho. I want you to take him out. He betrayed us at the trade and I figured since you're one of our best-skilled assassinators you're the perfect one for the job.'' You nodded and skimmed through the file.

''Alright, I'll do it. Anything specific I need to know?'' Seong licked his lips and leaned forward. ''According to Chae, he's in the underground club this weekend. Chae is gonna help you and if anything goes wrong she'll be there to help. Avoid any unnecessary deaths. Other than that kill who you have to.''

You stood up and bowed to him before you left the room mumbling under your breath, on the way to the weapon room. ''That bastard's gonna pay.''

You slid your fingers over the keypad and pressed the code into it to get into the weapon room. With a 'click' the door slid open. Various weapons laid on tables and hung on the wall in front of you. You slid your fingers over the selection of knives and picked your favorite rainbow-chrome knife up. You took a gun from the wall and inspected it, counting the bullets left in it. After you were satisfied with the weapons you picked you left the room and walked out of the basement and in Chae's room.

Chae's room was full of all sorts of computer and hacking equipment. She was the one that provided everyone with all the information and supervised the missions. Chae spun around in her chair and gave you a grin.

''So I take it you already know what you have to do?'' You nodded and sat on her desk. ''I want more information about that bastard. Give me things that'll make him writhe in pain, beg for his life to be spared.'' Chae put her hand on your knee and squeezed it.

''Y/N I know how much Min meant to you and that you want to take revenge on him. I want that too, but don't forget the rules.''

Rule number 1, don't ever let your emotions take over you.

You bit your lip and nodded. Chae smiled at you and turned to her computer. She pressed the keys a few times and the file of Jong-Su came flying on the screen. Chae read the article and swung her chair back in your direction.

''Well as far as this article knows, he's at the end of his 20's. Probably 28 or 27. He has a girlfriend. No children and no parents, his parents died on a mission a few years ago.'' You let the information sink into you and played with your rainbow-chrome knife. ''Tell me more about his girlfriend. Maybe she's his weak spot.'' Chae nodded and turned to her computer once again.

''Her name is Moon Kyungri. She's 25. No children her parents live in a different city and no siblings. She's been Jong-Su's girlfriend since the beginning of July 2018. So they've been together for approximately almost two years now. Doesn't know that Jong-Su is in the mafia.''

''Chae honestly, how do you even get all of that information?'' You grinned at her and she laughed. ''Who knows?'' She shrugged and folded her hands behind her head. With a pat on her head, you left Chae's room and walked back into the basement to train some more.

In the training room, you ignored the others and went straight to one of the puppets hanging from the ceiling and got your rainbow-chrome knife out of your belt. You played with the knife a little bit before throwing it at the puppet, bullseye. With a shrug of your shoulders, you got more knives and threw them at the puppet, each throw in a different style. Once with your back to the puppet, one with your non-dominant hand, one with turning around as quick as you could, and one out of walking and the other one you threw out of running. And all of them hit the bullseye.

You retrieved the knives and put them back to where they belonged, the rainbow-chrome knife secured on a strap on your belt. You turned around and observed your teammates. Most of them, you didn't know, not that you cared. When you came across a familiar face a smile formed on your lips and you walked to her. ''Jihyo!'' Jihyo turned around and smiled at you.

When you reached her you immediately hugged the girl and grinned. ''How are you? I haven't seen you in so long! Did the mission go well?'' Jihyo chuckled and took the hand of someone. She cleared her throat and blushed as you raised an eyebrow at the action. ''Oh? What's this?'' Jihyo covered her face with her free hand at your playful tone.

''Some.. things happened while I was gone?'' The boy smiled at you and introduced himself. ''Hello, I'm Kand Daniel.'' With a smile, you introduced yourself to him and turned back to Jihyo.

''Well come on. I want to know everything!'' You wrapped your arm around her shoulder. You turned back to Daniel. ''You wouldn't mind if I steal your girlfriend for a little talk over some good old fighting do you?'' Daniel's mouth hung open.

''Actually, Daniel and I were just about to practice a little bit ourselves. Why don't you join?'' She looked back at her boyfriend and he nodded with a warm smile. ''Sure, I don't see the problem, the more people the better the practice.'' You beamed at Jihyo and walked to your locker room. ''You two start already. I'll just go change into more flexible clothing!''

When you came back in a pair of black leggings and a grey hoodie thrown over your white shirt Jihyo and Daniel were circling each other in the ring. You rolled your eyes.

''Hey! You two lovebirds! Less circling more fighting!'' Jihyo and Daniel flushed a deep shade of red and you laughed at them when you entered the ring.

With your left foot in front of the right one, you bent your knees slightly and put your hands to sides of your face. ''Let's see if you improved on your fighting skill, shall we?'' Jihyo smirked and nodded before she got in the same stance as you. You turned to Daniel and went closer to the two of them. ''Daniel. Surprise me!'' He smiled and nodded.

Jihyo lunged forward and tried to punch your arm to get it to fall to your side and obtain the opportunity to hit your temple. You stopped her hand in mid-air and crouched down, sliding between her legs. With a jump-kick, you sent her flying to the end of the ring and she hit the ropes, the ropes sending her to the ground.

You smirked but didn't notice Daniel creeping up to you. He took both of your hands and forced you into a position that had you sitting on the back of your legs, your hands twisted in a painfully way behind you.

Daniel pressed his knee between your shoulder blades and forced your back forward and continued tugging at your arms. A hiss left your lips at the pain and you tried standing up and overpower Daniel, but he was taller than you and stronger. Daniel smirked at your attempt to free yourself and looked to the spot where Jihyo laid. But she was gone.

Jihyo stood a few meters behind him and took off running towards him. When she was close enough she jumped on his back and pressed her knees into his back, her hands holding his neck from behind. Out of shock, Daniel let go of your hands and flew over Jihyo and landing on the mat, panting.

You shrugged your shoulders to loosen the burn in your arms and sides. When you took a look over your shoulder Daniel had his arms protecting the sides of his face and Jihyo kicked and punched them. She bounced on her feet a few times and did a roundhouse kick to Daniel's face. With the element of surprise on her side, Daniel tried to block his face, she hit his temple and once again he fell on the mat. ''Not bad.'' Jihyo turned around, breathing heavily as you clapped and did a little bow.

''Why thank you.'' The two of you grinned and ran towards each other. Again, you slid under her and wrapped your arms around her middle. You lifted her from the ground and put your strength into your arms to throw her over your figure. But Jihyo rammed her elbow into your face. The jab hit your nose and you stammered backward, holding your nose and letting her go.

Daniel was still laying on the ground, holding his head.

You shook your head and wiped your nose. Slowly, Daniel got up and closed his eyes as he stood to his full height, still holding the side of his head. ''Shit. You got me real good there.'' Jihyo grinned and turned to you. ''Well, what do you say? Did I get better?''

You put a thumbs up and let your eyes wander around the ring trying to plan your next moves. ''That's true. You got better and you were only for like 6 weeks gone, right?'' When Jihyo nodded you smiled and pushed your left foot in front of you, making it look as if you were just shifting your weight onto it.

''But, my dear Jihyo. This isn't over yet.'' You ran towards her at full speed. When you reached her you wrapped your arms around her middle once again and pushed all your weight onto her and with a 'thud' she was on the floor.

Daniel just watched with an open mouth at the scene in front of him. You quickly pushed Jihyo in a sitting position and went behind her wrapped your hands around her neck. You put pressure on her neck, cutting off her oxygen and tugged her head back. Jihyo closed her eyes at the pain and tapped your arm so you would let her go.

She flopped against the mat and closed her eyes, her breath heavy. Grinning at your victory you took Jihyo's hands and pulled her up. She wrapped her arms around you and you did the same, hugging each other as you regained your breath.

Daniel clapped and walked closer to you two, stopping when he reached Jihyo's side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she sighed as she leaned back against him. ''Well, I guess I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. That was a very good practice you two! I'll just go get my stuff again and then I'm out of here.'' You smiled at each of them and left the practice room.

''And use protection!'' You screamed with a grin when you left a room. You could still hear Jihyo's scream of your name when you closed the door and just saw her flushed cheeks in your mind

Back in your room, you flopped on your bed and put your belt with your gun and rainbow-chrome knife on your nightstand.

16:27.

You put your phone back down and closed your eyes. There was honestly not much you could do when you had free time. Practice, take a walk, look for another mission, watch a movie in the living room or just talk to the others.

You decided to go to the living room and maybe watch a movie or talk with some of the others.

The living room was a big room that was mostly empty with just a few couched in the middle of it and plants, flowers and paintings here and there. On the wall in front of the couches was a TV that was nearly as long as the wall. The left side of the living room didn't have a wall and you could see right in the kitchen. The only thing that separated the two rooms was glass. The glass divided the two rooms but still allowed it to look into the other room.

''Y/N!'' Your head spun around in the direction of the voice and you were greeted with Eunwoo, Seongwu, and Youngyun. You smiled at them and gave each of them a hug.

''How are you guys?'' The three of them were most of the time gone because they always spend their time on missions. Sometimes together as a trio, if one couldn't go they went as a duo but most of the time they just went alone. ''Well as you can see we're still alive. So I would say we're doing good.'' Youngyun, the oldest of the three said and the other two smiled and nodded.

''How did your last mission go?'' Your smile faltered at Eunwoo's question and you gulped. They weren't there when it happened so how could they know? You cleared your throat and clenched your hand into fists at the memory of the weapon trade, Min's death and how Jong-Su betrayed you. ''I think it would be better if we sit down for this. It's... a long story.''

Eunwoo, Seongwu, and Younghyun exchanged glances and sat on of the couched and you followed.

''Y/N how long do you think they're gonna talk more? Why won't they just do the damn weapon trade?'' Min groaned as she looked to the back of the club and saw that Seong and Jong-Su were still talking. With a shrug of your shoulder, you got your favorite rainbow-chrome knife out of the hidden strap on your thigh and swirled it around your hand, playing with it. A choked cough erupted beside your ear. And you looked to your left. Min had blood splattered over her lips and she looked down. Your eyes widened in horror as you saw an arrow sticking out of her stomach.

''Min!'' You screamed as you saw your best friend collapse to the floor. You caught her in your arms and looked around desperately in search of Seong. Right in front of you on top of a flight of stairs stood a man with a bow in hand. Tears flowed down your face and you screamed once more and threw your knife towards the man. It hit him right between the eyes and he slumped to the ground.

Seong's head spun in your direction when he heard your scream and his eyes widened as he saw Min's body on the ground with an arrow sticking out of her stomach and you hunched over her body.

''I thought we had a deal!'' Seong screamed and got his gun out of its holster in aimed it at Jong-Su. Jong-Su's eyes followed the source of the screams and looked at the sight of Min's dead body. He smirked and shrugged. ''Where's the excitement without a little bit of fun, am I right?''

Seong narrowed his eyes at the fellow mafia leader at his craziness and spoke through gritted teeth. ''You will regret this. I swear.'' Jong-Su laughed and clapped. ''Oh, I'm sure I will.''

''Min! Open your eyes don't you fucking dare leave me!'' You shook her body and Min smiled weakly at you. ''You can't do this to me!'' You whispered as the tears continued flowing down your cheeks. Min opened her mouth to speak but just coughed more blood. ''Y-Y/N, I-I'm sorry.'' Min closed her eyes once again and you screamed again.

''No! Min! Don't you fucking close your eyes, do you hear me? You can't leave me alone in this cruel world! I need you here, do you understand? Min!'' A blood-curling scream left your lips as Min took her last breath and her hand in yours fell limp. Your body shook and you sobbed, tears falling onto Min's dead body. You wrapped your arms around her one last time and nuzzled your face in her neck.

''Min...'' You cried into her neck and pulled away. Anger overtook your senses and you put her dead boy gently back on the ground. Seong was surrounded by Jong-Su's men. Most of your teammates were dead. Your hand automatically took hold of your gun. You pulled it from your belt and aimed at the men surrounding Seong. Bullet after Bullet, man after man.

They fell on the ground and Seong was now no longer surrounded by any of Jong-Su's men. Your eyes shifted to his figure. Jong-Su still had a smirk on his face despite almost all of his men lying dead on the ground with a bullet in their body. Seong looked at you and screamed.

''Y/N get out of here!'' You shook your head as a single tear slid down your cheek.''No.'' You whispered. Seong wanted to shout at you again but you beat him to it.

''No! I won't go! They killed Min, I want revenge!'' Seong's eyes softened for a split second. ''Y/N I know! But remember what I told you!''

Rule number 1, don't ever let your emotions take over you.

Your nostrils flared in frustration.

''Fuck this!'' You stormed towards the two mafia leaders and stopped in front of Jong-Su. ''You're so going to regret me. Believe me.'' You said through gritted teeth and stormed off waiting for Seong to follow you.

When you finished the story the three of them were angry and sad. Younghyun started screaming and explaining all of the things he would do to Jong-Su. Seongwu just sat there frozen and Eunwoo cried. Min was a good friend to every single one of you, but the two of you were the closest. She was your best friend. Chae walked into the room with furrowed eyebrows.

''What's all of this screaming about?'' Youngyun quieted down and sunk to the floor. Chae looked at with a confused expression and you just mouthed Min's name to her. Chae's eyes immediately glazed over in sadness and she nodded before walking to you and putting a comforting hand on your shoulder.

''You should get some rest. The mission's tomorrow.'' You nodded and stood up. Before you left the room, Chae, Younghyun, Eunwoo, and Seongwu hugged you. The trio wished you good luck after Chae told them about the mission.

Back in your room, you jumped into your bed and pulled the blanket over you. Tears rolled down your cheeks as you thought about the good and bad times with Min. Her death flashed before your eyes and you pressed your face into the pillows, hoping it would comfort you and dry your tears.

''I miss you Min. So much.''

''Y/N!'' You rolled around in your bed, your body heavy with sleep. Groggily, you opened your left eye and looked into the face of Chae. With a grunt, you opened your right eye now and stretched. ''What's wrong Chae?''

''I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes now. Geez, what were you dreaming of that you've been in such a deep sleep?'' A sad smile formed on your lips as you sat upright and looked at Chae.

By the look on your face, Chae could tell that you have been having nightmares about Min's death again. She sat beside you and took you in her arms.

''We're going to avenge her, I promise you. She can rest easy after today.'' You nodded at Chae and stood up wiping a stray tear from your cheek. ''Come on Chae. Let's get ready. I want that bastard to pay.'' Chae stood up and took your hand with a convincing smile. ''Believe me, Y/N we will.'' You smiled at each other and left your room.

In the kitchen, you were met Seungwu sat with Daniel and Jihyo on the stools. Daniel was talking to Jihyo with a smile on his face with his arm wrapped around her waist. You smiled at the pair. Seungwu's head spun in your direction when you entered the kitchen. He smiled at you and patted the stool beside him.

''How are you Y/N?'' You smiled at him and stretched again. ''Still a little bit tired and hungry.'' Seungwu nodded and handed you the other half of his sandwich. ''You can have the other half. I'm not that hungry.''

''Thank you Seungwu.'' He smiled at you and you took a bite of the sandwich. ''By the way.'' You looked up at Seungwu. ''The mission's today right?'' You nodded and took another bite of the sandwich. ''Let me go with you.'' You put your sandwich down at his request and smiled sadly. ''Seungwu...''

''I know, I know. Don't let your emotions take over you. But Y/N you know me. It's the least I could do for her.'' ''Even if she didn't reciprocate your feelings?'' Seungwu nodded.

''Even then Y/N. Even if she didn't like me back the way I wanted, we were still close friends.'' ''Seungwu, I know how close the two of you were. I don't have anything against the idea. Besides the mission is more likely to succeed if we have more people.''

''Thank you Y/N.'' Seungwu hugged you and stood up. ''I'm gonna go prepare. Tell me when you and Chae are ready to go.''

You screamed a 'yes' after him as he left the room and finished your sandwich. You smiled at Jihyo and Daniel as you left the room and went back up the stairs and into your room.

With a deep breath, you opened your closet and took your protective gear out of it. The dress you were going to wear already laid on your bed as Chae put it there as you were eating. The blue dress shined you picked it up and held it in front of you, the satin reflecting the light. The dress went to the mid of your thigh and wrapped around your neck in the style of a choker.

You took a band wrapped them around your waist and thigh so they were hidden underneath the dress. You strapped the rainbow-chrome knife on the band on your thigh. You took several smaller knives and strapped them on the band on your waist.

Once you put the dress on, the weapons immediately disappeared and you pulled it down. Chae walked into your room with Seungwu behind her and clapped her hands. ''Perfect!'' She exclaimed and pushed you down onto your chair in front of your mirror.

''Now, I'm gonna do your makeup and hair, okay?'' You nodded and let Chae do her work.

When Chae finally finished, your hair was styled in loose curls. She matched your makeup to the color of your dress and smiled as you stood up from the chair. ''Looking good Y/N! I'll get ready now and we can go.''

Seungwu stood up from your bed and took one of your knives from the wall. He played with it for a little while and hung it back up. ''No guns?'' You shook your head and sat on your bed.

''No. I'm more comfortable with knives.'' Seungwu sat beside you and put his hand on your shoulder and squeezed it. ''We can do this Y/N.'' You smiled.

'We will.'

The club was full of people. Most likely were the most of them Jong-Su's men. Chae disappeared to the back of the club where the dance floor was located. Seungwu walked to the left side of the room and leaned on the wall.

You took the right side of the club and wandered around, looking for Jong-Su. The music was so loud that people were screaming at each other to even understand the own words they were saying.

When you didn't see Jong-Su anywhere you walked to the bar and sat down on a stool. Chae walked to you and leaned on the counter. ''No sign of him?'' You shook your head. ''Not yet.'' She sighed and leaned her head on your shoulder. You nudged her side with your elbow and she raised an eyebrow at you. ''What?'' You snickered at Chae's tone and took her head off your shoulders.

''Go back, Chae. You know that this mission is important to me. So if we fail this I'm going to fucking snap.'' Chae nodded as she caught the pain inside your words and gave you a quick smile before she retreated back to her position. You sighed and rubbed your cheeks. 'Get yourself together Y/N!'

You looked at the bartender and your eyes widened. ''Eunwoo?'' You cocked your head to the side in confusion. Eunwoo smiled at you and offered you a glass filled with a red liquid. He shushed at you quietly and winked at you.

''We don't want people finding out now do we Y/N? So keep quit. I'm a simple bartender nothing more.'' You nodded and looked down with a smile on your face. You mumbled a quiet thank you to Eunwoo and sipped on your glass. A person sat on the stool next to you and Eunwoo leaned on the counter. ''What can I get you?''

''Just some Soju, please.'' Eunwoo nodded and you turned your head to look at the stranger next to you. You caught his eyes and smiled. The stranger smiled back and grabbed his bottle of Soju that Eunwoo handed him. He turned his body slightly to face yours and you raised an eyebrow at him.

'What the fuck is this dude doing?' He smiled at you in response and ruffled his fingers through his hair, messing the soft tufts of black up.

You sighed and put your glass on the counter. ''Can I help you?'' ''Well, actually you could.'' Your eyebrows rose in confusion and you stole a glance at Eunwoo who served another customer at the moment.

''Oh really? And how is that?'' You looked at Chae next and saw her playing with the knife that was strapped under her dress, not paying attention. You cursed under your breath and looked at Seungwu. He was still in the same spot and position you last saw him, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed but with a circle of girls surrounding him.

You turned your body towards him and a small smile graced your lips as you saw the knife seemingly hidden strapped to the outside of his thigh. But with the lights it reflected you caught it. It was very well hidden as it was the same color as his jeans, but with the lights of the club, it wasn't very smart. Anyone could have noticed it.

The stranger didn't notice that you caught his knife and leaned closer to you. As the boy was about to say anything you heard a gunshot throughout the club. You immediately shut up from your seat and got your rainbow-chrome knife from your thigh. You were about to run over to Seungwu since he was the one with the gun on the team but you were interrupted by a sudden heavy weight on you.

The boy had thrown himself at you when you were about to run away. You wiggled in his grip and turned your body around so you could face him. You raised your hand with the knife and he grabbed it and tried getting the knife out of your hand. ''Let go, god damn it!'' You struggled against his grip but dropped the knife and punched him in the face with your free hand. He stumbled off of you and held his nose as you rose to your feet.

He grinned at you and wiped the blood off of his face. ''Well, this is going to be fun Y/N.''

He charged at you and swung his leg but you jumped over it. You looked for your knife but couldn't find it. ''Fuck! Where is it?'' You shouted through all the screams of the people in the bar as they struggled to get out of it. All you could hear were screams and gunshots. You hoped that Chae, Seungwu, and Eunwoo were okay.

''You mean this?'' When you spun around to face the guy you caught a glimpse at Eunwoo who was fighting a man, but still at the bar. Your attacker spun your rainbow-chrome knife around and grinned.

A frustrated sigh escaped your lips and you grabbed a knife that was strapped around your waist. ''Don't you worry. I got more where that came from.''

‘‘You know...’‘ You started and walked closer to him, pushing yourself against his chest when you were close enough. A smirk formed on your lips as you saw him gulp. ‘‘You are actually quite the cutie, aren’t you?’‘ His cheeks burned at my words and I grinned. ‘‘But it’s a shame that we are on different Teams.’‘ A 'thud' came next from you and looked at the ground to see the man Eunwoo was fighting earlier with a bullet through his head.

You took a look at his neck and saw a tattoo, more specifically the tattoo that all of Jong-Su's men had. You looked back at the guy who still had your rainbow-chrome knife in his hand and an idea popped in your head.

You smirked, took a some steps backwards and looked back at Eunwoo who was now firing his gun and helping Chae out of some serious trouble. You screamed his name and threw one of your knives at the guy. ''Yeah?'' He screamed back at you and kept shooting Jong-Su's men. You ran toward the rather tall guy and swiped at him with your knife but he dodged it and threw a punch at you. ‘‘And it’s a shame I play dirty.’‘ You whispered under your breath and shouted.

''Give me the bomb!'' ''Coming right up!'' Eunwoo threw a small round object and a gas mask in your direction. You caught them and took a few steps back and threw the object to the guy's feet. He stumbled back.

''What the fuck is-'' at the impact the 'bomb' made with the floor it broke open and gas flew out of it. You put the gas mask over your face and walked over to the guy who was crumbling to the ground, struggling to breathe. He grabbed his neck and coughed. You crouched down to his level and looked at Eunwoo who was providing Seunwu and Chae with gas masks. With a smirk, you looked back at the guy who was laying at your feet, at the brink of passing out.

You grabbed his chin in between your fingers and smirked at him. ''Well, this was fun, wasn't it Hyunjin? Too bad it had to end so early.'' Hyunjin's eyes widened and he struggled to form his words. ''H-How did you-?'' You laughed at him and cupped his cheek with your hand.

''Oh please, you think I'm that dumb? I know who you were the second you sat next to me. You can't fool me.'' He coughed and cursed under his breath. ''Oh darling, don't worry! We're going to see each other again, I promise.'' You smiled at him and took your gas mask off for a quick moment.

You leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. You smirked at his bewildered expression and licked your lips. ''Maybe this will help you remember me once you wake up. Don't you forget me, Hyunjin.'' With a tap on his lips, you stood up from your crouched position and watched as he fell into unconsiousness.

You spun on your heels and walked to your three companions who were seemingly waiting for you. You stood in between Chae and Eunwoo and looked at the person that was kneeling on the ground with his hands behind his head, several cuts that had blood pouring from them and tears running down his cheeks. Eunwoo handed you his gun and nodded.

The person on the ground looked up at you and your eyes widened a little. 'Jong-Su...' You raised your hand with the gun and aimed.

''Please, don't kill me.'' He whispered and you had to contain a snicker. ''Oh, believe me, you deserve to die after what you did to Min.''

''Who are you talking about?'' He screamed at you and several begs of you leaving him alive followed. You took a deep breath.

''Oh, she's going to kick your ass in the afterlife once she sees you, you piece of shit. I can promise you that!'' You screamed at him and got ready to fire your gun. ''What do you want from me? I can give you everything you want!'' He screamed back at you and the tears kept flowing down his cheeks. You hesitated for a second, collecting your thoughts.

''Bullshit! You can't give me my best friend back!'' A memory of Min smiling at you crossed your minds and a tear rolled down your cheek.

Rule number 1, don't ever let your emotions take over you. You choked back a sob at the memory of her smile and pulled the trigger.

#stray kids #stray kids fluff #stray kids angst #stray kids imagines #stray kids oneshot #bang chan #lee minho #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #kim Seungmin #yang jeongin #stray kids mafia #stray kids mafia au #kyuflix

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beesficarchive · 6 years ago

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until then, i want to hope again (and i want it to hurt)

In deep space, among a group of thieves and criminals, Juno learns how to make amends.

If only Peter knew how to forgive.

read on ao3

Curiosity killed the cat.

This is what Peter had told himself as he rifled through news articles and police forms, looking for anything he could find about the state of Hyperion City.

Don’t check up on your ex, was the number one rule on every pre-teen gossip site that Peter had ever perused when Mag’s back was turned, but Peter was pretty sure that most people didn’t have exes like Juno Steel.

A clean break, he’d told himself after he’d woken up in a cold, empty bed, Juno long gone and nowhere to be found.

And for a while, that’s what it had been. Peter Nureyev put lightyears between himself and Mars, waging wars across the stars, raging through heists and throwing himself into fights and getting himself caught in ways he hadn’t been stupid enough to do for years. But no matter what he stole, what inescapable jail he broke himself out of, no matter how many creds he found himself showered in, nothing scratched the itch anymore.

Peter Nureyev found himself cursing Juno Steel’s name to the stars. Sometimes, he laughed at the irony. Detective Steel had lived up to his name, stealing away in the night, taking away the thrill of the stars and leaving Peter with nothing left but a gaping hole in his chest and a bleeding, wounded heart.

Damn, Juno Steel. The universe had taken plenty from Peter, but at least it had left him with his dignity. The detective hadn’t even left him that.

This is how Peter Nureyev, the thief that came in the night and took everything without a trace, found himself hunched over in the corner of a fifteen-hour space shuttle, snack dust on his fingers, 21st Century classic break-up songs blasting in his ears as he scoured his comms for information about Juno Steel.

It didn’t take him long to find him.

Detective Steel may not have been the kind of lady to plaster his face across any of the popular image sharing sites, but nevertheless, his antics left him a paper trail that wasn’t difficult to follow.

It wasn’t long before his face flashed up on a police report.

Ah, Nureyev thought to himself. This is why they tell you not to check up on your ex.

Fresh hurt welled up inside him, his chest tight as anger flamed through his veins.

“I deserved better,” he muttered to himself, “I deserved better than an empty bed and no word.”

He wanted to smash up his comms. He wanted to smash the comms, scream until his lungs ached, race across the galaxy and find someone that could surgically remove Juno Steel from his brain.

But once he’d started, he couldn’t stop. It was like a compulsion, to find everything he could on Juno, and find he did. The more he dug, the more Peter’s stomach sunk. The deeper he went, the more difficult it was to find information, but Peter knew where to look and which codes to crack. By the end of it, even if he didn’t know all the details, Peter had a pretty clear picture of what Juno Steel had been up to.

Just as he reached the last police report, the lights flicked on in the shuttle, and a smooth, robotic voice announced that they were thirty minutes away from landing.

Peter took a breath. Then he dialled a number and put his comms to his ear.

“Buddy Aurinko?” Peter Nureyev said. “It’s Kitty Quill. We need to talk.”

“You’ve reapplied it five times, I’m sure the lipstick is fine.”

Peter took a step back from the full-length mirror, snapping the cap back onto the lipstick with considerable force. “Yes, thank you, Buddy.”

Buddy was leaning against the door, arms folded. “Have you picked an outfit yet or are you gonna meet him in your boxers?”

“Silk lingerie, if you please,” Peter said. “And yes, thank you, Buddy. I have an outfit.”

“I never thought I’d see Kitty Quill this rattled over somebody.”

“Yes, thank you, Buddy,” he said, through gritted teeth.

Buddy sucked a breath through her teeth. “Listen, darling,” she said. “You know the stakes of this job. If you can’t keep this thing you have with Detective Steel in check—”

“It won’t be a problem,” Peter said curtly, sweeping past Buddy out into the hallway.

It was going to be a problem.

He knew that the moment he propped himself up on the Ruby 7 and realised that his stomach was twisting. All that time he’d spent stewing to himself, thinking about all the things he’d like to say to Juno Steel, he hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that maybe Juno didn’t want to see him. He was the one that left in the middle of the night, after all.

Peter felt like scrambling off the car and hopping the nearest shuttle he could find and setting off into the galaxy, putting as much distance from him and Juno Steel as possible. He felt like grabbing Juno Steel, wrapping him up in his arms and begging him never to leave again.

Instead, he perched himself on the car, back straight, knees up, trying his best to ignore the incontrollable thudding in his chest.

And then there he was: Juno Steel, hacking up a lung and half the sand on Mars, every bit the ridiculous, wonderful, beautiful detective he’d ever been.

Peter’s heart seized, but he did his best to smooth his face into a blank mask.

“Hello, Juno,” he said, as Juno’s eyes caught his. “It’s been a while.”

So, it turns out: working in close quarters with your ex? Really awkward.

For the first few days, Juno wouldn’t even look at him.

Peter would catch Juno staring at him, but the moment their eyes met, Juno’s would flicker away. It wasn’t until two days into space travel that they ended up alone together.

The room was cramped, the gentle hum of the computer monitor undid the silence. Juno’s face was illuminated by the blue light of the control panel.

“Kitty?”

It was a question filled with derision.

Oh, Juno, did it take you two days to come up with that?

Peter’s back straightened. “Kitty Quill. Famous around these parts. Surprised you haven’t heard of him.”

Something shifts in Juno’s expression. For a moment, his features are much softer.

“Nureyev, I—”

Nureyev, what? Peter wanted to scoff.

Nureyev, I’m sorry I disappeared on you.

Nureyev, I’m sorry I left you alone in the bed without a word.

He waited. He waited for something, an explanation, an apology, anything, but all Juno did was falter.

“If that’s all,” Peter said, dusting off his jacket and heading towards the door, “there are several things I should be getting on with—”

“Peter, wait.”

Even if it wasn’t for Juno’s hand on his arm, that would have been enough to make him stop. He couldn’t recall a time that Juno had used his first name.

He stilled, keeping his face blank as he turned back to the former detective. The hand on Peter’s wrist was warm. He wanted to link their fingers together. He wanted to shove it away.

“Please,” Juno said, “will you just drop the mask? For five minutes. Please.”

Something burned inside Peter, something that had been flickering in his veins since the day he’d woken up alone. All the things he’d wanted to say to Juno were writhing in his stomach. He wanted to rage. He wanted to scream.

Instead, he said, “I can’t.”

The computer behind them crackled.

“Do you understand how much being here hurts, Juno?” Peter said. “It hurts.”

Juno flinched.

“I gave you my trust, and my name. You know what that meant for me. To wake up in bed alone, without an explanation, without anything – it hurt, Juno. I didn’t know if you were hurt. I didn’t know if you were okay, if you needed me, if something had happened,” Peter said. “I deserved better than that. I deserved an explanation, at the very least.”

Juno swallowed. “I know,” he said, his voice thick. “And I’ve been trying... to figure one out.”

“Well,” Peter said, dryly. “What have you come up with?”

“I... I don’t know.”

“Brilliant.”

Peter turned on his heel and headed back towards the door.

“I’m sorry,” Juno said. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t leave Hyperion City. I thought I was cursed, I thought everyone around me was collateral damage for my mistakes, I couldn’t do that to you, I couldn’t drag you down with me. It was easier to leave.”

Peter stopped at the door, glancing over his shoulder. “Easier for who?”

“I thought you’d move on quickly. You’d hop on a spaceship and be back among the stars. Out there. Where you belong.”

“You see, this is the problem,” Peter said, turning back around. “You think you know what’s best for everyone else. You think that your life is worth so little that it won’t destroy us if you leave.”

“I should never have left you,” Juno said. “I should have stayed and talked it through with you, I should have said something, I should have—"

Peter swept forward until he was inches away from Juno, lithe fingers tracing Juno’s cheek, foreheads pressed together, because he couldn’t resist not touching him anymore.

“I am sorry that there has ever been anyone who has made you feel like you’re easy to leave behind,” Peter said, his lips in Juno’s hair.

“Peter, I—”

Juno’s eyes flickered upwards to meet his, his lips parting. All Peter would have to do was move down, and—

“Everything in me wants to kiss you, Juno. I want to lose myself in you, to be with you,” Peter said, “but I can’t. I can’t wake up in a bed alone again. I can’t face being left behind again. I don’t know how to trust you anymore.”

He took a step back, his body instantly mourning the loss of contact. Juno was standing still, his expression frozen in place.

“I’m sorry,” Peter said, quietly.

Then he turned around and left, his lungs aching.

Back in his quarters, Peter Nureyev pressed his face into a pillow and screwed his eyes shut, wishing with all his might that he hadn’t tried to find out what had happened to Juno Steel.

Like a knife tearing at an already gaping wound, this hurt a hell of a lot worse than it had the first time around. This time around, he had to see Juno’s face, resigned, wounded and broken-hearted, and Peter knew he’d be seeing that face every time he closed his eyes.

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universal-kitty · 6 years ago

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So I’m thinking about Borderlands again... Listening to music used in Borderlands... So I thought, why not go for it again? Explain my SI in one, comprehensive post, make another tag-series out of it (to go with my BnHA Edition one), and make it easier on us all, huh?

So here we go! Borderlands, the Self-Insert Edition! Featuring my SI, Rena “Gremlin” Marlow...and co.

Rena Marlow, a daughter of a brilliant scientist of their galaxy and a mother known- if lesser- by her photography of various planets and stars.

Brown hair parted down the middle with strands of brown hair that fall next to her face, in later years; in childhood, she just has fringe. Dark green eyes and wears glasses.

A happy, oblivious kid growing up. Liked to believe in fairytales, love at first sight, superstitions... A whole bunch of things. Very imaginative, in that sense.

Idolized her father. People seemed to adore him and knew him wherever he went. He spent long hours in his lab, making Rena daydream of all the cool things he was inventing back there. She was never allowed back there, usually, so she stuck to waiting around and staring at his lab door.

Eventually, he did invite her in, one day. Wanted help. The idea was so cool! Helping her dad with a project?! Wow!!! What cool thing would she get to work with?

...It wasn’t at all as pleasant as she’d hoped.

What he needed help with is all she’d ever know as “The Machine”. A smooth, pure white, helmet-looking contraption with lots of cords going into it, during the early days of her father hammering out the details of it.

It hurt then, too. Not being fully worked out, it tended to shock her a lot. Strapped down to a chair, she couldn’t go anywhere... Her father would carry her back to her room and- at some point- the process would begin again.

Carried on for a few months until it didn’t hurt anymore; it started...teaching her things. Suddenly, she knew all about oceanic life and could speak of it at a college level. Write her own studies on plant life. Her father was proud of her, The Machine didn’t hurt anymore, and even her often space-case mother praised her. It felt...amazing!!

Eventually the testing stopped, though. Her father brought in a guy to help and Rena was growing up, as the years passed.

In about junior high, she met a guy. Absolutely starstruck by him and settled on them being “soulmates” within a month or two... Not that it was just her saying this, mind you; her boyfriend certainly encouraged it.

Her friends were cautious, but supportive. Be chill, girl. Still a lot more in life, you know? Besides, considering who her dad is...?

Rena didn’t pay it much heed. Instead, more plans for the future! More dreams and secrets and quiet moments...

Well, until another few years later. Wandering the town at night, heading home...and spying that- just down the street- her supposed “boyfriend” was being sweet to some other girl, said he loved her, and kissed her.

It destroyed her. Her home life had never been stellar and she’d been hoping that with him...she’d be able to get out. They’d be a “happily ever after”.....

Rena instead decided to run away. That night. Get as far away from here as possible. Pack her bags, slip as much money and a little more as seemed necessary...and as a final knife to the back, steal The Machine.

It’s no secret it’s been killing other people, anyways. They can’t handle their minds being fed so much information, so it tends to backfire and rapidly destroy their mind... Rena’s never had that issue, though. Likely for growing with it as it evolved...so hers now.

Books it off-planet that night and goes as far as she dares within the next solar cycle or two.

Stays on another planet for a few months. Fakes an ID and goes to a local college... Who calls her out for being a daughter of Dr. Marlow anyways and practically sweeps her in with excitement.

Ends up acing everything far too easily, thanks to The Machine. But it all gives her a good starting point into the world ahead and a fancy piece of paper that basically says, “congrats, you understand what a Science is.”

At this point, understands: biological science (biology, zoology, oceanology), botany, geology, chemistry, ecology, and physics. And she’s just getting started!!!

Keeps running once more ‘til the funds are running low...and that’s when she finds Hyperion.

Initially joins under Tassiter, still recruiting people for Hyperion. He’s...doubtful of her true age, but accepts upon seeing what she can do when he allows her a trial run of things he wants to see done. Fast and experienced despite her face, he lets her join.

Enters R&D from that point on, at first as an on-hand assistant...before rising up to earn her own private lab and assisting with bigger and better projects. Rena proves herself worthy of it, and Hyperion bends a little to allow her, when possible.

It’s around this time, as they move into Helios and continue to set up, that an old crew hunts down Rena. They force her to accept their black-market deals or they report her back to her father... After all, they work for him, too, but are always lookin’ to cut a deal with the better side. Rena gives in.

The events of the Pre-Sequel go down. Rena largely keeps herself locked inside her dark laboratory, hiding away in one of her cabinets. It’s a terrifying, defining moment for her...and one that also helps survive the inevitable Jack takeover.

Honestly, that goes over like day to night for her. One minute, it’s still a “Tassiter” owned company, then before she knows it, Helios is complete and “Handsome Jack” owns the place. Well, okay then. Let her have her coffee as usual, oh Jack sir, and we’re all good.

Honestly, barely leaves her lab. Too much work going on. If not a Hyperion-issued project, then one of her own designs. She’s got a lot of room to work with and she’s gonna make the best of it, dammit!

Still manages to make a friend or two; meets Leah around this time. A very cheerful young woman who’s somehow dug ABBA out of their grave and is fond of “Dancing Queen.” Helps Rena keep in touch with her “feminine side” not that she sees much point to it...

They hang out a bit, anyways. It’s the only time Rena is guaranteed to sleep. Especially in a proper bed.

(Doesn’t sleep in the employee-issued rooms. Gives her paranoia of being alone; she’d rather be close to her work than stuck in a near-permanent panic attack.)

Her first pet project? Lizards. With a whole process of breaking down other key DNA sequences from other species. Why? Lizards....into dragons.

Silverstreak is her “main” partner. Silver dragon, with blue eyes. Incredibly bossy and sassy to the others; easy to assume their leadership position.

Other dragons include:

Apophis: Big male dragon, slightly bigger than Silver. Purple and gold scales, with four eyes total. An absolute jerk who tries to harass Silver, but they have none of it. Would kill a family for a cornchip, probably. And he doesn’t even like them!!

Dymri: Forest green dragon, with brown horns and a streak of fur down his back, with tufts on the bend of his forelegs and hind legs. Is now missing his left wing, due to Apophis ripping it nearly entirely off. (It ended up being amputated.)

Munda: Dymri’s mate. Ended up sprouting a lot more fur than he did, but in a more unusual color: green. Looks like a dappled forest with blue eyes and an attitude.

Poseidon: Blue, serpent dragon. Fairly big, though not as much as Apophis. Likes hanging out in water... That with his scale color, thus, the name.

Firestorm: A red, wyvern dragon. No arms, just wings, only hind legs. Red scales with bright green eyes. Truly a charmer.

Smokey: Firestorm’s mate. Dark scales that give off a black-grey color, which inspired her name. Red eyes. Has a tuft of fur at the end of her tail.

Sugar: Another female dragon named for her brown and cream-colored scales. Also a wyvern, with her hand-wings. Very sweet and friendly to anyone she meets. Small streaks of feathers from head to her tail.

Little Angel: One of the G2 dragons, along with three others of her nest. Has a broken horn on her right side. Black and white-splotched scales. A little trooper and totally not named after a certain siren...

.....Along with many more who are still unnamed to this date. From the first set (G1s) to the babies some pairs have had (G2s).

Cue the events of Borderlands, as Rena continues to raise dragons and serve Hyperion. Depending on who-what-where, this may be where some romances start their growth...but we’ll get to that later.

People continue to bother her. A nickname surfaces... “Gremlin.” Because she’s pretty short (at 5′2″ without her trademark heels), tends to be more active when most people would feel the need to sleep, and creeps around with a hunched back, more often than not. Truly, a gremlin among them.

Nothing really happens in this time period up ‘til BLands 2, in which Rena decides to perfectly time a trip to Pandora with a small group of scientists. Nobody’s really gotten personal with studying the Pandoran landscape, have they? So... Guess Rena will do it, then!

Only to find out why nobody has ever done that; raiders and bandits. Infiltrating the camp barely a week in.

Everyone is murdered. Rena escapes with the briefcase that holds The Machine, but is otherwise alone and stuck on Pandora.

Ends up trying to blend in, after a few weeks. There’s only so much an intelligent woman could do here...but how about one who acts like your typical psycho? Worth the shot, at least.

Slowly, the good scientist slips away into a woman masquerading madness while seeping into it, at the same time.

Pops is one of her first friends on Pandora. Someone she trusts...and a father figure to her. He’s a big man who knows hacking and coding, so she learns a bunch from him. They build robots together! It’s awesome.

From there, she gets introduced to this eye-guy waaaaaaayyyyy across the way over a call from Pops to that other guy. Rena ends up making him “Fly Boy” to do deliveries without leaving home.

Said guy looks out for Rena now, getting her new glasses whenever she breaks hers.

Made a few other bots in her time. One that only screamed “fuck” at the top of their lil’ volume, a fixed Claptrap unit with no sense of direction, and a bot named Sparky. But bandits destroyed him a few days into life. RIP, Sparky....

That nickname Helios gave her? Gremlin? Others call her that, now. All know of Gremlin!! ....Well, not all, but a lot.

Including Pyrotech and Meowzer. They run a small gang of bandits and are probably dating...? Gremlin still doesn’t know, either way, but she survived meeting them, so that’s cool.

Met another person who calls himself Scabbs. Largely because he’s got CIP (can’t feel pain; a marvel that he’s still alive when Pandora is your home planet) and so has a fair amount of scars and scratches... Ever since meeting up with Rena, she’s essentially adopted him and makes sure he’s got no life-threatening injuries.

Which is lowkey hilarious, considering Scabbs has made it 17 years without dying, so he’s not exactly in need of a parent, but... He likes Rena, so it’s cool.

Stocks up on weapons, clothes, and masks. All looted from dead bodies and washed up a little. Rena herself as taken to wearing a black tank top, torn up into a crop-top look, a Marauder jacket, and altered, brown pants. Has boots for shoes. Where she got ‘em, nobody knows.

Is stuck on Pandora all the way ‘til Tales... In which she tends to join up in an attempt to get back to Helios and get all of her shit back.

With that covering the basics... Let’s get down to the AUs, then the shipping verses after that, ey...?

AU 1- AI Rena: There’s two verses for this AU. (As long as this post already is.)

Verse 1: Rena owns the Wildlife Exploration Preserve shortly before the events of Tales. However, she didn’t realize one of her pet projects wasn’t bonding to her properly. While going in for feeding and check-ups, the beast killed her and activated a failsafe that resulted in an AI version of herself being activated.

Rhys, having no concept of safety, jabs a port into his head to try and get information on more pieces for Gortys. Just like a time before with Nakayama, Rhys instead downloads a whole ‘nother AI into his noggin.

Now he’s got an Asshole and a Know-It-All Scientist taking root in his skull. The good news is Rena is much nicer to him than HJack is. The bad news is the two bicker a lot because of it.

Where Jack is blue with yellow eyes, Rena is a green holo with- at first- light, green-yellow eyes. Over time, her eyes shift to yellow, however. Nobody is sure why, but Rhys and Rena agree to blame Jack for it. (Who is proud at her matching him, but less thrilled to be blamed for something he didn’t do... Intentionally.)

Lots of Rena snarking Jack. He can touch her, being another hologram like he is, but he can’t hurt her. Turns out her processing power comes from The Machine itself, so she can easily overpower his cruddy design from Nakayama.

Has a side path where she can enter a basic, non-perfect android body to reboot the systems at the Preserve, but later needs to transfer in another, more humanlike model to function better.

....HJack is not pleased with her upgrades, considering she’s getting the better end of the deal than he’s got. Rhys isn’t impressed with that tone, either. >:/

Verse 2: The Machine takes it’s toll on Rena. Her mind could better withstand it’s power, having being an unwilling subject in the early days of it’s development, but... Even her mind can’t keep this up forever.

It starts with forgetting her name. Won’t answer to Rena, but Gremlin works.

Forgetting her nickname.

Slowly, everything she’s ever learned starts going away. Bit by bit, losing what memories The Machine gave her. Rage sets in around here, recognizing her memory is no longer perfect and putting her into a panic of self-awareness.

Memories of people slip away now. Often cries for her ex or where her parents are.

Eventually is confined to bed, where her brain is failing to the point it can’t remember to continue to make the organs function. It’s around this point that she finally dies.

Her personality and memories were embedded into The Machine; her final goodbyes to friends and loved ones. Her AI keeps people from using it after her and requests that it be destroyed soon.

Just like in the first verse, her eyes start out a yellow-green. Then a yellow... If not destroyed, AI Rena’s eyes will sometimes flicker to red, showing how deeply the corruption has started effecting her.

Either way, The Machine will be unusable. Just as how Rena believed it should’ve been.

Siren AU: An AU in which Rena was instead born a Siren. She sports green tattoos on her right side and often made them glow when she was younger, for her amusement and not understanding who she was...or her powers.

Not that her parents helped any. Her mother was just completely confused and arguments over what to do with her were had a lot. Rena’s mother wanted to get her checked out at a hospital. Her father believed she truly was a Siren and wanted to experiment on her.

The arguments eventually drove Rena away and- living on Elpis at the time- Rena began the first dip into her powers: summoning her Siren wings (in a light green tinge) and flying away...off Elpis! Taking a trip to Pandora in order to hide from her fighting parents.

Phasecommand- Her main Siren ability. When executing, her eyes roll back and it summons Pandoran beasts/animals to her side to control and fight her enemies. However, any creatures that don’t disperse afterwards can be considered enemies to her allies or her, if she accidentally hurts one.

When using Eridium, her tattoos will change into more of a teal color and glow more.

Likes the idea of people, but prefers the animals and Guardians. People are too much for her to handle...

Somehow still summoned little dragons...? Is only ever seen with ones the size of cats or lizards, but it’s presumed that- like her main verse- they’ll one day mutate to full, dragon-of-legend glorious sizing.

Dragon AU: In one of two paths, with either Rena being one of the dragons of Eridian times OR having accidentally turned into one of her own dragons.

Either way, her dragon form typically looks a little something like this.

The first verse has her being more curious and prone to friendliness...but ready to snap if she senses ill intent. Still, tries to be optimistic, at least. Rests within a cave near one of the vaults.

About the size of a two-story home, if not a little bigger.

Rena speaks Eridian, but has the capacity to learn present day English, if given the time to learn.

The runes on her body allow her to safely use Eridium. By using it, her systems can filter it properly into a variety of uses, from specialized fire to shape-shifting!!

Verse two is just...Rena being done with this bullshit. All these years of science, for what? To be stuck as a dragon?!? The only useful thing that comes of this is not only does she now understand the world through a dragon’s eyes, but their language, as well.

Turns out, the language of the dragons is actually original Eridian and not whatever mumbo-jumbo you hear most present day speakers go for. It’s an interesting bit to learn, however it’s debatable if the cost was worth it.

(Will eventually return to normal with an understanding of Eridian, but I like just putting my SIs through nonsense, too.)

otp; Science and Violence (Rena/Jack): As literally pulled out of the RP @punk-opossum and I did a few months ago!! Cause I basically consider that “canon” for this ship, now. (Okay, with a few bits I’ve added in, but LARGELY pulled from our RP.)

They’ve been around each other since the beginning, really. Rena oblivious and never noticing Jack, but he’s seen her around. Quiet, nerdy gal who bothers nobody and does her job. Is kinda cool, but no other opinions.

Then, we truck over to the events during Borderlands 2...and things get tossed around like pizza dough. [Note: Nisha and Angel are dead at this point.]

Starting with Jack bothering her workspace. Shooting her head of department and declaring her in charge of Literally Everything R&D now. Rena is just trying to fucking work, ohhhh my god.

Not only that, but Jack casually shoves the Destroyer project from Nakayama right into her hands, as well. Rena has never been more overwhelmed in her life....!

And that’s BEFORE all of the innuendos and Jack’s husky voice getting way too close to her ears!!

...So yeah, it definitely starts as what should’ve been a fling, but attachments get all sorts of muddled. Rena’s the sort of balance Jack finds himself craving and, well... He’s fucked, but giving her the little things she thought she lost when her ex cheated on her. So maybe...it’s okay?

Lots of Jack being thirsty while Rena’s trying to work. Or him being clingy when she wants to go back to work... Far as Jack’s concerned, his job is full of free time and is so boring without her around. However, Rena can actually prioritize her work and keep this company’s science division flowing, soooo.... Hmm.

Rena has the struggle of a lifetime, but she still ends up getting her trip to Pandora to do on-planet research...much to Jack’s paranoia and displeasure. (Which ends up being right on the money, despite his best efforts.)

Can’t believe Rena would be dead. They can’t find her body either, so like... Far as Jack’s concerned, she isn’t dead. Doesn’t mean he’s any more pleased or sane about the whole situation, though.

Jack goes full-tilt into madness, sending people hunting through Pandora to try and find Rena. Hilariously, they’re always close, but either she just left her camp or they pass right by her hiding spot.

They don’t find each other until a few years later, when Handsome Jack himself is personally tearing a town apart on Pandora, still engulfed in his hatred for the planet and presumably taking Rena from him.

He aims his gun at a kid, but freezes. Something about her little tanned face, dark brown hair, and...hetrochromatic eyes....has him frozen in his tracks. Then her mother comes running up, their eyes meet, and Jack nearly roars in realization.

She’s dirty as hell, hair messed up and toting new scars from Pandoran life, but that’s Rena...!! Who’s... Who’s the kid, though?

He nearly has another freakout at her assurance this little girl- Carina- is his daughter?????

He’d want to not believe it, but Rena consistently swears off having messed around with anyone else. Oh, and the fact Carina happens to have eyes like her papa. (But unlike his heterochromia, hers is central; a different color surrounding the pupil.)

With this, they kicked off most of Jack’s thoughts for the Warrior, instead Jack now focusing a large chunk of time for the fact Rena’s back, not dead, and was badass enough to raise and protect a baby on Pandora. Mother of the Year award?? Y’all know who it’s going to.

Carina ends up being Jack’s lil’ princess. The only reason she’s not a spoiled brat is cause Pandora does shit to ya and also Rena knows the limits of taking care of kids; so really, she’s mothering both Carina and Jack.

THOUGH BEFORE I FORGET!!! There is a subset of this verse where also Angel is alive, didn’t have to keep being treated like she was, and- while it was a bit late- still managed to get a better mother figure. Oh, and Carina still happens later in this same verse, so her mood improves even more to have a little sister.

...Jack is totally a little salty that Rena and Angel get on so well. He’s an ass, but does love his daughter, so he’s like a sulky cat, knocking stuff over and hovering around, hoping for attention and acknowledgement.

Rena keeps Jack in line those days, so...eventually Angel and her father get on a better foot than before and he’s very okay with everything and clingy to his family.

otp; Rulers of Pandora (Jack/Rena/Nisha): In which Jack and Nisha take in one of the local Hyperion nerds to spice things up... Only to decide, “naaahh, she’s a keeper.”

Took her into their fray around the early events of Borderlands. Where things are fun, but could be more fun... You know?

Jack’s seen Rena around before, but never gave her much thought... His mind is simply too here-and-there to keep notice for long when he’s trying to pick at more shallow aspects to bring in.

Nisha catches her eye, though, and decides she’s curious when Rena immediately looks away, blushing up a storm.

Turns out, Rena can’t handle Nisha. At all. Immediately turns into a klutz around her. Nisha finds it fucking hilarious and proceeds to drag her off to show Jack...who also realizes how hilariously awkward Rena is. They’ve taken her in, since.

Primarily still spends a lot of time up on Helios, but on occasion, will go down to Pandora to spend time with Nisha once HJack gives her Lynchwood.

Is definitely the little “pet” of the trio and is mercilessly teased by them for it, but anyone else messes with Rena? You’ve now got two of the six galaxies most lethal minds on your ass. Start running.

Nisha: I don’t like cute things. I kill cute things. Rena: cooing over some baby skag bc she’s an idiot Nisha: .........For fuck’s sake--

In other words, both Nish and Jack both soften up a bit for Rena. Which is a mistake for anyone else to see, cause while they’ll let their favorite nerd frolic in a field of baby animals, they’d still sooner shoot an annoying pest.

Nisha and Rena are the only ones to know about Jack’s true face under the mask. Nisha doesn’t really care, but Rena? Loves it.

Two Murderers and the Embodiment of Sunshine. That’s how you sum them up.

otp; love like fools (Rena/Rhys): I don’t know what Imma do with this anymore, but it exists as a verse, so I’m gonna heckin’ include it.

Met around the events of BLands/BLands 2. Rena had overworked herself on a project and was hiding in a break room. Cup of orange juice in hand and staring at it. Rhys couldn’t sleep, so he came in... They had an awkward conversation, but not much else.

Curious, Rhys starts stopping by the R&D department more and starts realizing the issue: she never takes a break or seems to get much rest. Work, work, work, day and night. Isn’t that exhausting??

So Rhys takes it on himself to get her food and drink. Mostly snacks, but whatever works. He also tries to ask about her projects, but it largely goes over his head when she starts doing her usual round of science talk.

He tries, though. So that’s nice.

His crush is obvious as shit as time keeps going on. Even his friends notice. Leah notices. Rena? Does not. She is oblivious as heck. Rest in pieces, Rhys.

Literally nothing happens there. Just Rhys doing his best to get Rena’s full attention with no luck. Right up to her eventual trip-and-trap to Pandora.

They don’t meet again ‘til the events of Tales! While wandering around the landscape, Rhys bumps into “Gremlin”, realizes she looks familiar and...

Rhys: ...Are you Rena? Dr. Marlow? Gremlin: Who...? WAIT A MINUTE!!! YOU?!? Rhys: Y-YEAH!!! YOU’RE ALIVE?!?

Everyone else is confused, but Rhys and Rena proceed to catch up. Meanwhile, HJack is making comments that are making Rhys’ face pink and trying to mentally shut the AI up before he says something embarrassing to Rena.

Which basically happens anyways, cause he excuses himself to walk away, thud his head into the caravan, then walk back trying to act like nothing happened. Where were we? #Concern from Rena.

She joins the troupe for fun times, being surprisingly okay when Rhys admits that HJack’s AI is like...inside his head. Just chillin’ there. Well, when not being usual Jack, but you know.

(In some variations of this, AI Jack was programmed to know Rena, so he’s twice as insufferable as usual. However, this isn’t often the case.)

It takes Rhys forever and plenty of nagging from HJack before he even tries to smooch Rena. And even when he does, it was still a terrible idea, cause Jack wouldn’t shut up. Thankfully, Rena’s still pretty chill about the whole thing.

Fiona and Sasha warm up to Rena over time, Vaughn’s heard about her from before, so they all pal up while Rhys has a crisis over HJack ruining his romantic life. It’s a nice break from freaking out around other people, at least.

Joins them on the trip to Helios. She needs to check up on her babies... It’s been so long....

An expert at sneak, a duck around cameras and back up to the old employee living quarters... It’s amazing what a brush, hot water, and a change of clothes can do for a person. (Gotta readjust to heels again, though.)

While Rhys and Fiona are taking over Helios to get the next piece for Gortys, Rena makes her way back to her lab. Not everyone is gone, but... A lot of the G1s have passed away and even a few G2s. Silver and Apophis stay strong, but have been slowly getting bigger in Rena’s absence.

Encourage the trope into an old, cleaned out nesting box and start figuring out her escape plan from there, trying to get in contact with Rhys and Fiona. Only for an eerily familiar voice to pour out around Helios...and announce Rhys the new leader of Hyperion?!

Shit. Shit, shit, shitshit- Now what? She didn’t think Rhys was gonna be in cahoots with Jack! I mean, yeah, he idolized the guy.... Jack embarrassed him a lot, but he still seem to think it was pretty neat...... Awh, hell. Still! Gotta get outta here!!

Ends up smoothly making her escape in a ship with some of her more friendly co-workers: Dan [the Man] (a pilot who used to fly HJack’s private ship; trans, demisexual with a preference for men who is a coffee addict) and Leah.

...And then Helios crashes not too long later. Dan is...less than impressed (internally freaking out, however) and Leah is basically having a panic attack.

Rena tries giving them advice for surviving on Pandora, but Dan later finds Atlas (now being rebooted by Rhys) and decides with Leah that they’ll join up.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, Rhys owns the place. Dan is brought on as his personal pilot (”Sweet. So, where’s the coffee machines around here?”), Leah is hired for PR, Cassie (a blonde lesbian who’s only ever done secretary jobs most of her life) joins later as his secretary...and Rena? .....Shit, Atlas doesn’t really...have an R&D department, do they...?

Rena nervously points out that- if he finds the muscle, they could retake the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. Take over, do some rebuilding and remodeling... Make it not only into Atlas’ new R&D, but also a way for Rena to continue her penchant of creating dubious creatures. Also because the dragons are only getting bigger as their generations continue.

Pyrotech and Meowzer decide to join in, along with Pops calling in a few favors. Bandits v. bandits to clean out the place and serve as muscle while WEP is getting remodeled. (Also, they’re getting paid, so other bandits looking for a handy buck hop on for the more beneficial side.)

Rena gets a new look to symbolize her Atlas change (a black, long cloak with a hexagon pattern on the inside, black tights, black heels, and an ombre, orange-red-to-yellow, turtleneck dress; hair is also pinned up)! Power couple of Atlas, basically everyone agrees. And kind of like in another verse, Rena keeps him in line....when he’s not having to do the same for her!!

Rhys: I’m not sure....making a monstrous, three-headed dog is a good idea, babe. Rena: I didn’t come here to make wimpy science, Rhys!! I came here to kick ass, take names, and do SCIENCE! But thank you for your opinion~ Rhys: ......oh no.

6-legged to 8-legged cats are realized under Rena’s flourishing arms. A three-headed dog. The dragons prosper and return to Pandora, honoring Rena as their Mother, as Silver- and later Apophis himself!!- have done.

She even creates an android in secret. Names them Aria and they have learning software. Everything about life, they must learn on their own. Starting with the Preserve, and then one day... Leaving home to formulate their own experiences.

Later in life, Rhys and Rena have a daughter, naming her Vela. (A reference to the trio of constellations that Carina is also a part of.)

Has about as much common sense for safety as her mother does. Rhys is terrified for her safety on the daily. Because of their lack of fear, Rhys tries to keep Vela with him at Atlas HQ more than at the preserve with Rena.

otp; nerdperion (Rhys/Rena/Vaughn): ...I mentioned it once. Then the idea snowballed from the initial idea and the “what ifs”.

Look, I can’t deny it. It’s the nerd trio that most only dream of. In their Hyperion days, you had the money man, middle manager, and the top scientist.

By the time of Tales, you have a bandit leader in his own right, an Altas CEO, and woman who is held back by only her set-in-stone morals.

Vaughn and Rena going on raids out on Pandora, protecting people and the Children of Helios. Perhaps even with the dragons as backup...?

Rhys constantly has to worry for these two dorks, but that’s why he has a steady wing in Atlas for healing stuff. A fair bit of research passed on from Rena, to be fair, but still.

Vaughn takes lessons from Rena how to ride beasts. Like dragons! Was it a good idea? Not really. But nobody got hurt, at least!!! And Rena also solidified the saddle designs for them, so that’s pretty cool, too.

Rhys is a little more boring on that side of the coin in the regard he’s mostly just running a company, but still. Vaughn helps out from time to time and Rena’s running the entire R&D division of Atlas, so.....

otp; scientific haikus (Rena/Zer0): In which my first crush from Tales lives on...and it’s a rather unlikely couple, honestly.

Starting right off the bat with the fact she never really knew about them until one of her Pandoran raids? They showed up to kill some people and then just kinda...disappeared.

That first meeting bothered Gremlin for weeks. Who?? Who????

Meeting them again...and again..... Never getting the courage to confront them out of fear. (What if they slice and dice her up, too?? She’s lived too long to get struck down now...) But despite that, she eagerly daydreams about the oddity...

Also, isn’t as sly as she thinks; Zer0′s been knowing, they’ve just been waiting for Gremlin to go first. Though, she hasn’t been...so that’s a bit of an issue.

Eventually, they make sure that their next target will be in an area they know Gremlin frequents. When she shows up...Zer0 finally gets the chance to introduce themselves.

Zer0: Finally, we meet / Finding you was difficult / My name is Zer0; pleased. Gremlin: .....Did... Are you speaking in haiku?! Zer0: :) Gremlin: ...holy shit; nice.

They strike up an odd sort of friendship from there. Meetings become random again, though Zer0 takes time to listen. They actually are able to call her Rena in private which is...nice. Kinda easy to forget that was her name before the whole “stranded on Pandora” bit.

Zer0 ends up enabling her collecting habits, too; brings back not-too-bloody clothes and trinkets they find while out and about on jobs. She gains quite the collection, thanks to that!!

Actually wanted to offer assistance when Zer0 took on the Gortys hunt, but joined up only later on and... HOLY SHIT, HYPERION EMPLOYEES!!!

It’s wild, seeing familiar faces and talking about the past. Zer0 has...some concerns, but otherwise trusts the group with Rena.

This includes their plan to invade Helios, in order to get the final piece Gortys needs to access the Vault of the Traveler. They’re not thrilled about her involvement in the plan, but Rena still knows a lot about Helios and the Hyperion system. Her going with ensures things will go even more smoothly, so... Who are they to deny their crush friend from helping others?

....And then they hear it all went to shit. Though they showed up, trying to find Rena among the wreckage... There was no luck. They get upset over this for quite some time, but without a body... Zer0 keeps a metaphorical ear out. Won’t believe she’s dead yet. Not yet.

Eventually, when Rhys gets in contact with Zer0 for help with the vault, they meet up again. Rena is ecstatic to see him again- having since become the head of Atlas’ R&D and gone hunting to assist with this, too- and Zer0 is just happy to be right; she didn’t die back then after all...

Is surprisingly handsy from there on out, flashing the smile or heart emoticons, a hand on Rena’s waist, etc.

Everyone else catches on to Zer0′s affections far faster than Rena herself does, that’s for sure.

Rena: It’s nice... I’ve never really had a lot of platonic affection, you know? Fiona, sighing: N-No, that’s not... How do you not see what’s going on, here?? Rena: .........what? Everyone: s i g h s Rena: ????????

They do eventually ask her out when nearly everyone on the team has them to spare them the oblivious misery, cause- once again- Rena sure ain’t gonna do it.

Also cause Gortys has been trying to ask about them dating anyways, so-?? Just do it???

Zer0 still takes a while longer to get the right words to say that fit their haiku format, but the actual confession...? Well, at least it feels like the right note to end an adventure on; seeing her eyes light up, smile breaking free, and hugging the other tight around the waist was good. Great, even!

...Though with Fiona and Rhys temporarily disappeared...who runs Atlas?

Thankfully, Rena knows Cassie personally and has her and another person- Dan, a pilot for Rhys’ personal ship (and once worked under Handsome Jack, as well)- back her up on heading Atlas for a temporary period of time.

Zer0 sticks around for a time, just to make sure a mutiny doesn’t rise up and try to take Rena down. They only back off once her guard-friends from R&D make their way over... Again, just in case.

Zer0 goes back to work not long after that, though makes sure to visit more often. It not only makes them anxious to not know how Rena is doing (if she’s still alive), but also because they’ve started getting used to her touch. Touch starved? Zer0? ....A little.

Starts even exposing her face around her, Rena admits. What they look like? Well, pffftt, she’d never tell~!

otp; i ruv you (Rena/Timothy Lawrence): Oh, it started as a joke...then I was in too deep and now it’s never been better~

Thanks to both of them being workers under the Hyperion brand, they end up meeting sooner rather than later.

Much like Jack, Tim noticed Rena around: sitting in the Hub and people-watching, walking by her lab... Things like that. Didn’t pay too much mind, but then...he got hurt. On his face.

Rena, being the oldest lasting employee not killed off yet by Handsome Jack, is given the old papers for the build of Jack doubles and given some people to work with by HJack himself in order to fix up Tim right.

It’s love at first appointment; she’s gentle, knows what she’s doing, and eventually he’s looking back to the usual. The little smile she gives as he left? ...His heart was racing for an hour after, he swears by it.

He starts visiting her more, after that. Whether because he allowed himself to get hurt or it’s after a mission and he’s got some extra free time before his next one... He hurries to that lab of hers in order to chat.

Befriends the dragons she creates happily. Silver doesn’t bond to him in the same way, but they tolerate him and will let Tim hold them. It’s so cool!!!

Then Rena admitted to him one of her other projects...wanting to create multi-legged cats. Tim was thrilled at the trust, nervous over the project, but Rena assured all would be well. The dragons have done wonderfully, so that will go well, too!

He got the chance to kiss her when she was patching him up again. He’d tried to lean forward, but she stopped him a moment to finish up...then, shyly, asked if he wanted to try that again...? He lit up and they both got into a hasty, messy kiss that had them giggling in delight.

...With that, their unofficial dating started! (Which HJack quickly knew about and considered doing something to one of them to end it, but overall decided if any news got out, he’d actually take Rena as his own and make his doppelganger regret getting into a relationship behind Jack’s back; capiche? Tim nervously agreed.)

Still... Her move to Pandora made him nervous. Especially since his next assignment was on Elpis, so if anything happened...!

Rena kissed his cheek and assured him she’d be fine. It would be very in and out; no need for worry!

When even Jack was troubled by the report that came in later, Timothy was up in arms ready to shoot down some psychos.

HJack: Like, nobody reported her body. Which could be a sign she’s not dead? But it’s Pandora; who knows? Tim, sweating and shaking: Please...just fucking shut. Up.

Backtalking the boss is bold, but Tim is all kinds of done with this news and needs to ditch for Pandora in order to find Rena. HJack allows this more out of interest for the “game” than anything else.

Timothy ends up- more or less- a sort of permanent presence on Pandora while trying to find Rena. Doesn’t much notice or care when Jack’s insanity summons the Warrior...or when he’s taken down. Besides, people spook more easily to hear Handsome Jack died, but see his masked face even still on Timothy’s own.

Not getting answers on where Rena is...stresses him out, though. Makes him bitter, that maybe someone did kill her... He expresses his anger in a bit of murder and then sulks more over how this is turning him into a lesser Jack after all... Makes the guy almost sympathetic.

But with a few years passing, Atlas suddenly rises up out of the crashed ashes of Helios...and if Tim has any hope left for the lost Rena, might as well go there, right?

He scares the shit out of Rhys, walking in looking like Handsome Jack in the flesh. (Not even his secretary tried to stop him, looking like he did; dirty and murderous.)

...Though it’s actually just some resting bitch face and determination. Tim ends up explaining everything and Rhys even more hurriedly explains that she’s not dead!!! In fact, he just sent her over with a group of hired bandits to the WEP! She’s going...to be heading his new R&D department, you know...

Tim almost doesn’t want to hope, but he jolts out of there faster than Rhys or Cassie can stop him and is rushing to the Preserve in hopes to catch her there and maybe help out in the firefight.

Ends up finding her in a car just outside, all tanked up and safe as she directs everyone to where they need to go...but oh shit, handle that on your own for a bit; there’s a guy outside the car. She walks a little closer...and screeches, stumbling back.

Tim: No, no!! Rena!!! It’s me, it’s Ti- Jimothy!!!! It’s me, not Jack! Rena: ......Timothy?

She hesitantly lets him in and Tim at least proves that- despite his appearance- he is definitely not Jack by patting her over, realizing she’s alive, and then kissing her breathless.

Rena explains her situation having gone by “Gremlin” up to this point and pretending to be a psycho on occasion in order to live. The new friends she’s made up until that point. Tim tells her about the years he spent trying to find her, hoping she wasn’t dead.

As self-promised, he cuddles her in his lap for a little while longer, then kisses her again and joins the firefight outside to clear out the preserve.

Hyperion’s fallen, Atlas is a rising venture... Why not? Student loans sure don’t matter anymore.

He largely stays with Rena at R&D; her personal bodyguard and more-official-than-in-the-past boyfriend.

She also makes good on the multi-legged cats, as mentioned in the past. Tim decidedly loves them just as much- if not more- as regular cats.

ot3; ??? (Maya/Rena/Krieg): So hear me out... I will never learn. This will be neverending. I’m just as disappointed in me as you are. Also, Tumblr removing line breaks is the bane of my existence. Fuck this website. ANYWAYS!

Rena...met Krieg, first. In passing. He was a part of the slag experiments, Rena works R&D.... You hear about this sort of thing. She did, with her sharp ears and too-caring-attitude, despite working for the most monstrous corporation in the six galaxies.

Still, she was never able to help him or anyone else... Despite desperately wanting to. Despite catching his eyes once, guilt eating her up from the inside. (A pity-look from another one of them, Krieg used to think.)

They didn’t meet again until much later, during the events of Borderlands 2: Gremlin stuck on Pandora while Maya and Krieg were deadset on dethroning Handsome Jack. Y’know. Her old boss?

Krieg almost doesn’t recognize her when he’s out wandering, but it’s seeing her dirty face that strikes a chord in his sensible side. He remembers her! One of Hyperion’s own... What’s she doing out here? Alone and without company...?

Not that Krieg cares; seeing someone who was in any way involved with hurting him sends him into a fit of rage, trying to attack her with all he’s got! Rena dodges, not understanding...until she realizes who this psycho is...

It’s the worst first meeting- putting his first interaction with Maya in the dirt- as she eventually bursts into tears trying to apologize to him. It startles Krieg to stop, listening to her as she’s pitifully curled up in the dirt, hands up in a show of surrender, apologizing to...him.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you back then!! I wanted to, I really did, but I... I couldn’t! I’m sorry, Krieg, I’m so, so sorry!!!!”

Maya returns to this scene unimpressed, giving a Look to Krieg before helping the still-sobbing Rena. They both take her back to her shambling little base...and Krieg stares at the coat on the wall. The last reminder of who she was...

It occurs to him, then, that they’re in a similar spot. He lost his mind to slag, becoming a psycho, his mind barely together...and Rena is losing her sense of self, too. Going by Gremlin to blend in, faking insanity to blend in...but how long of that before it all becomes too real? Before she changes for good, even without influences like he’d gotten...?

Maya is more than content to help and leave, but Krieg...feels guilty. It’s a rare show of clarity and kindness from the big guy...and that’s when Maya realizes she’s lost the battle before it’s even begun.

They do take down HJack eventually, but frequently stop by to check in on Rena from there on out. Krieg likes poking around and laying on the stolen mattress she has. Maya finds out she’s actually super smart...and it’s fun. It’s nice.

You grow to like- even love- Krieg for his lucid moments. Appreciating his more violent ones for the defense they provide, as well as the enemy-sweeping he can do. Her powers work well with his might.

Add Rena into the mix, it’s brains, balance, and brawn. It works out even better than Maya could’ve predicted....and yeah, she kinda ends up falling for the scientist, too. Would’ve never pegged herself as the polyamrous type, but... She and Krieg share the sentiments.

Rena and Krieg keep each other balanced. Maya doesn’t have time to baby anyone; she keeps going at her own pace. Anyone who wants to keep up has to pull their weight...but Rena is a natural nurturer. When she’s a little loopy, they use a language only they can really understand. (It takes Maya some time to adjust to.) When Krieg gets frustrated, she helps him through it. To get back in touch with his old self. It’s comforting. Very comforting.

Maya and Rena, on the other hand, share a lot of conversation about....anything and everything. Maya talks about her Siren powers and pieces of her life. Rena talks about her own life- a lot more openly- and the science she used to do on Hyperion. How proud she still is of those times. Maya’s endeared to those moments.

It also later comes in handy... When Maya needs to depart from Pandora to go back to Athenas some time later, wanting to further underside her Siren lineage. Pandora only answered so much, after all...

Won’t let Rena or Krieg join, but the two keep each other company in the meantime. Waiting for Maya to come back home.

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exyjunkies · 7 years ago

Note

for the aftg au request. andreil + Your OTP as thieves. Person A watching, and complimenting how sexy B looks lithely weaving their way through the intricate network of deadly alarm lasers surrounding their target. A also make sure that B skillfully, gingerly, makes it all the way to the end end before A shuts the lasers off and just walks through. thank you!

ayeeee this gon’ be a thing i guess!! finally reached 1k on this blog this list!

au meme: andreil + your otp as thieves

(does anyone even say “otp” anymore omg are we back in 2012 or something)

“I thought they’d be… more of a threat.”

Past the red lasers crisscrossing in front of them was the goal of their heist — a collection of knives.

Wymack had assigned Neil and Andrew a job for the National Gallery of Reconnaissance - tourist attraction by day, and (unbeknownst to the general public) holding place of actual US military intel. Underneath the otherwise academic museum was where the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines converged to pool all acquired intel. Maps to secret military bases. Directories of underground contacts. Storage after storage of weapons. Blueprints of enemy territories.

For all that could be stolen from such a highly guarded facility, Wymack had ordered them to steal knives.

Specifically the knives kept on the wall in front of them, in a wooden case secured with a lock.

“What do you think is so special about them?” Neil was already a foot away from the first laser, scrutinizing how they were going to get past them.

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Andrew pulled Neil back by the arm. “Step back, idiot, you’ll set off the alarms.”

It was nearing midnight and they didn’t have to worry about security guards catching them with a flashlight. Matt had handled it, taking out each one with his sniper rifle. Now, he’d be back in the van with Renee, on the lookout for anyone else that could jeopardize their operation. All of the Foxes had found it weird when all five security guards chose to stand by open windows - maybe a life of guarding a museum was that boring.

“It’ll take some time dismantling this particular system,” Andrew continued, looking up at the sensors. “You’ll have to sneak past the lasers.”

“Pfsh. You just wanna see my hot body in action.” Neil put his finger an inch away from the first laser.

“I am fervently wishing for these lasers to slice through your body instead of set off a few alarms.”

“Whatever.” Neil maneuvered himself through the first laser, twisting his body like so. Andrew tried to ignore how attractive that looked and set to work. Wymack had told them to be in and out of there in under 15 minutes, but the intricacy of the lasers would have them last half an hour instead.

The alarm system’s unit was on the wall. Andrew walked up to it and did a primary inspection. On the surface, it looked simple - a 6-digit passcode would undo the lasers, and they could just walk through the path towards the knives. But Andrew knew better. The Foxes knew better.

It was how they lasted this long without ever being caught.

Andrew put on his gloves and touched the surface of the unit. Even the unit detected body heat. One unrecognized fingerprint anywhere would set off the alarm as well. He silently appraised the eye-detection just next to the alarm, and was a bit glad he was too short to be caught by his eye.

“Any luck, Andrew?” Neil called from his stance, his chin just a little bit above the next beam.

“Be patient.” Andrew opened the unit and got to the wires. He was trying his best to concentrate on hacking the security and not watch Neil weave his body through lasers.

After a beat, he added, “Your ass could afford a bit more flexibility practice, anyway.”

“Nice try. You’re not even looking my way.”

“I don’t need to.”

“Guys?” Dan’s voice from the walkie-talkie, on the floor beside their bags, cut through the silence. They were back at their base, running surveillance and readying back-up if they needed it. “Stop being gross and get to work.”

Allison agreed, and added, “You guys are too much. Thank the gods Aaron isn’t here to hear you both.”

Rolling his eyes, Andrew grabbed his tiny pair of scissors and worked on the audio sensors. State-of-the-art security wasn’t his favorite, but he knew his way around it. He cut off the green wire and thought for a bit. He could turn off the system now and save Neil the misery.

Instead, he decided to wait until Neil managed to put his body through the spaces between the beams. As of now though, they were in the clear. If Neil messed up, the alarms would be muted.

Neil wasn’t giving up though. When he noticed Andrew’s eyes were on him once again, he playfully smiled. “Enjoying this, are you?” As he stretched, a bit of his shirt went up to reveal part of his toned stomach.

Andrew shrugged. “It’s alright for a sitcom.” He ran his eyes appreciatively over a body that was shaped by several runs. He cleared his throat at the way Neil craned his neck to avoid a nearby beam.

An exaggerated gasp came from the black-haired boy. “Not even prime time television. You’re becoming harsh.”

A scoff. “You’d put people off their breakfast if you aired in the morning.”

“And yet I continue to be your favorite ray of sunshine.”

Neil bent over backwards for the last laser beam, and brought himself up with a relieving sigh. Looking to Andrew, he drawled, “Your turn, sweetheart.”

“Coming.” Andrew rewired the rest of the unit and switched off the beams. One by one, the laser beams cleared off of the hallway. Casually, he strode over to where Neil was standing with his mouth open in shock. Andrew stared down Neil in reply.

“You were the one too stupid to ask if you could stop clowning around the lasers.”

Neil shook his head, amused. “You really did want to look at my ass.” A playful smirk that broke any ice left in Andrew’s system was on Neil’s face. Andrew made a face and shoved a hair pin to Neil’s face in reply.

After a few tries, the wooden case opened to reveal that behind each knife’s handle were security codes for intercontinental military databases. Andrew saw the flicker of interest on Neil’s face and was a bit intrigued himself. Neil put on his gloves and split the knives with Andrew. They each put their own knives in their armbands and closed the case.

“What now, lover boy?” Neil asked, as he packed up their things and handed Andrew’s bag to him. “We’ve got a few minutes left here.” He waggled his eyebrows in implication.

Andrew slung his bag over his shoulder and curled a hand around Neil’s neck. He put his mouth to Neil’s ear and whispered, “Yes or no?”

“Ugh, subtle much. Yes.”

They kissed for what felt like an eternity, one of Neil’s hands in Andrew’s hair and Andrew pressing Neil up the wall. They broke apart abruptly when the walkie-talkie sounded with Matt’s slightly panicked voice.

“Are you guys done there? I think we need to get out of here.”

Neil groaned. “Already? Damn. Just when it was getting fun.” He licked at Andrew’s neck appreciatively before standing up straight. “Nice work, Andrew. Now let’s leave this shithole.”

Andrew tried to hide his shiver with his default apathetic stare. Sometimes, he really didn’t know what to do with him.

“Time to do what you do best, junkie. Run.”

#all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg au #anonymous #answered #au meme #send me more !! doesn't have to be andreil WAHU #this was particularly fun to write #i'm kinda eh about the ending i'm sorry HAHA #andreil #aftg fic

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thatgirlonstage · 7 years ago

Text

Home

A little Keith angst for you all because, y’know, Season 4

Content Warning for implications of suicide because, again, Season 4 (just the thing he does at the end of the season)

He had never known a place called “home.”

That didn’t matter to him, not really. He belonged to the wind, to the sky and the stars. When he dreamed of roots growing from his feet and burrowing into the ground beneath him, they were nightmares. They trapped him in one place that he could never escape, shadowy figures drifting closer and closer until they drowned him. After the nightmares, he would go up on the roof, even in the pouring rain. It was the first thing he learned in every new house, with every new family. He always found a way to climb up to the roof, where he could lay on his back on watch the sky wheel overhead, open and unfettered. When it rained, he let the drops soak him to the bone, running across his cheeks, plastering his hair to his skin, and watched the clouds roiling overhead. When it was clear, he counted the stars. Either way, he stayed outside until he could breathe again.

Home still meant something, but it was something much more malleable. It had to be. He couldn’t grow attached to a place, to the way the streets curved or the colors of the flowers in the yard. There was always a new one just a few screw-ups away. There would be new street names to learn and new gardens to weed. Places were traps. His heart lived in the wide-open sky.

Home was the smell of desert rain and the whisper of water on his cheeks.

He supposed that once upon a time, his father had been home, but that had been torn from him, leaving a jagged hole where something tender had once resided. He never trusted people who said ripping a BandAid off quickly made it hurt less. It just made you forget the hurt sooner.

And he did forget. He buried it deep inside him, deep in the hole left by his father’s absence. He built a wall around parts of himself and for a long time, he let no one see past it. He broke and bent himself into puzzle pieces that fit whatever world he had to inhabit. To keep himself sane, he quietly shaped a small world of his own, in the in-between moments, when no one was looking. He built his secret home laying on rooftops and walking at dusk. The first time he ever flew, he discovered another piece of home behind the pilot’s controls. They fit his hands as if the ship had been built for him. His heart sang with joy it had never known when he felt like he could touch the clouds.

Home was the sight of the planet far below him and the stars within reach.

Then came Shiro, and for the first time a tiny piece of the wall crumbled. For the first time, he enshrined someone near his heart. For the first time, he wasn’t afraid he might give away his puzzle piece act. Shiro made room for him regardless, encouraged him that there was a world where he could fit without breaking. For a little while, home was Shiro’s eyes alight with a laugh and the sound of his smile when he was proud.

Then Shiro was gone, and everything he saw was tinged red.

He had his mementos, but they were reminders more than they were home. The way his thumb slid across the strange symbol on the hilt of his knife was a clue he could never understand. The Garrison acceptance letter Shiro had handed him in person, beaming with pride, was a hot arrow through his chest. He chose to believe the feeling was fury, not pain, and that kept him on his feet.

He walked out into the desert and he stayed there. He built a fortress of proof that there was an answer, somewhere. He sealed over the freshly wounded hole in his heart with paper and ink. He kept no pictures of Shiro. He needed no more reminders than he already had.

Home was the smudge of ink on his fingers and the taste of sand and dust.

Then Shiro was back, and he didn’t know what to think anymore. Relief swelled in his chest, relief so palpable and so extreme he thought it might break him in half. The sight of Shiro’s eyes, haunted as they were by a year of trauma he couldn’t even remember, still made the wall in his heart crumble. But he built the wall back up as quickly as it could fall, because letting others in was dangerous. He had a mission and a purpose now, and it was too important. He couldn’t break, not here, not now. He wanted friends, but this couldn’t be home. Not even Red, with her fiery energy that embraced him for everything he was – not even she was infallible. He wouldn’t build a home that could be taken from him.

He learned about their homes, though.

Pidge’s home was her family, faces so similar to hers that he sometimes saw her flinch at the sight of a mirror. Her home was speaking in computer code and debating theoretical physics over breakfast with people whose brains worked at the same breakneck speed as her own. Pidge’s home was dumb sibling jokes and quiet nights sending encoded messages just because.

Hunk’s home was his kitchen and his workbench. The knives he had sharpened himself, the hammers whose weights he knew at a touch, the tools always right where he had left them so he never even had to look to grab hold of just the right screwdriver or carrot peeler. The place where he felt confident and in control. Hunk’s home was the place he could relax and breathe like nowhere else.

Lance’s home was his home – his actual, physical house, although meaningless without his family inside of it. Lance’s home sounded like chaos, constant movement and chatter, a wild dance that seemed uncontrolled if you didn’t know the steps. Lance’s home was the safety and comfort of his family’s hugs, the smell of the ocean, the taste of his mother’s cooking. To him, it was all a package: his niece chasing her little brother in circles wasn’t really home unless it was happening in front of a backdrop of a rickety staircase and paint-chipped walls his four-year-old self had once ruined with a permanent marker. His bedroom, papered in Garrison and NASA posters, forgotten middle school notebooks stuffed in the closet, wasn’t really home unless his brother was sprawled across the other bed, stealing Lance’s socks out of the dresser.

Shiro’s home had been the Garrison for a long time. He found his place in the research and constant desire to test and explore and push their limits further. He dropped into place perfectly among the ranks of officers and cadets, discipline and focus second-nature to him. A uniform sat on him with ease.

Allura and Coran did not talk about their home, not often, not to him. Altea was distant and alien, but he knew they had loved it. He knew it had been beautiful. He knew they had watched it burn. Occasionally, he saw infinity tunneling away in their eyes, and felt his heart clench. He never wanted someone to be able to take so much away from him.

He did not miss Earth, not really. He missed routine and comfort. He missed not standing out in every single crowd they came across. But he had no roots on Earth. They travelled with him, trailing behind him. He could build his home in the emptiness of space just as well as he could in a desert shack.

Home was stardust and an endless night.

But he stayed with them. He spent months with them, sometimes the only living and breathing beings for lightyears. And they did not leave. And they did not try to make him leave. And slowly, against his better judgement, the wall started to crumble.

Home was Shiro’s proud smile, again.

Home was the unabated determination in Allura’s eyes when she made a decision.

Home was the smell of Hunk baking in the middle of the night.

Home was Coran’s incomprehensible comparisons to creatures none of them could even pronounce.

Home was Pidge’s smug look when she hacked alien technology she had never seen before.

Home was Lance’s boundless enthusiasm.

Then Shiro was gone again. Black came alive for him and roots reached up to choke him, responsibilities he never wanted and could not escape. But he would get Shiro back. He had to. Because Shiro was his home, and he couldn’t accept it being gone. If it took accepting responsibilities that suffocated him in order to do so, he would hold his breath for as long as it took.

Then Shiro was there, and alive, and he had him back, but things weren’t right, because he was still tied to Black, lashed to a stake in the ground that kept him leading the team. And that could not be his home. He could bend and break, make himself the puzzle piece that fit the Black Paladin, but only for so long. He was going to come undone, and he would break the whole puzzle when he did.

In desperation, he followed one of his reminders. He’d have to bend for the Blade as well, but not quite so far. In time, he might find he fit the Blade just as he was. It was better this way, better by far. He could not be responsible for breaking Voltron. It was too important.

(Home was their arms around him.)

He discovered he could miss home without feeling like he wanted to rip his heart from his chest. He could miss Lance’s laugh, and Hunk’s eager curiosity, and Pidge’s cheerful competence, and Shiro’s steady hand, without building walls to hide behind. They were out there, and that was the most important thing. He would see them again.

(Still, he missed them.)

He built a home with the Blades as he built a home anywhere else. He found that the knife moved fluidly in his hands. He found his place sliding between the dark corners of Galra ships, his purpose clear in his eyes. He did not grow attached to the Blades as he had to Team Voltron – emotional attachment was not encouraged here – but that did not bother him. He had spent his life building home in isolated corners and moments. Friends were a perk, not a necessity.

(Still, he missed them.)

Then there was a planet, and a trap, and a bomb, and a ship, and a shield. And there was only one way he knew to fix it.

He told himself it was because Voltron was more important. It was because there were a dozen planets in the bomb’s blast radius and billions of innocents who would die. It was because the entire resistance was here. It was because his life weighed nothing against the fate of the universe. Anyone would make the same choice. This was the mission he had committed to. This was why he didn’t build a home to go back to. He could die because nothing beyond the mission mattered.

But he knew that wasn’t true. It wasn’t the universe he wanted to save.

It wasn’t the universe he thought of as he aimed his ship straight at the shield.

It was their smiles, their laughter, their belief in each other, their unwavering determination, their voices guiding each other through battle, their eyes alight with the realization that they could save the world together.

(It was their arms around him).

It was home.

#voltron #voltron spoilers #keith kogane #save the knife boy #this wanted to be a klance fic so bad #i had to wrestle it to the ground shouting NO #that's not (yet) canon we can't do that #(yet)#if klance goes canon I will write a part 2 of this fic and you can all hold me to that #my writing

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blossom-hwa · 7 years ago

Text

Run |1| - YUTA

Well, I’m curious as to how this is going to turn out. Hopefully I can keep going with it. This chapter at least was based on another @sparkingstoryinspiration prompt: a clock, a painting, a smashed window.

Pairing: Yuta x fem!reader

Genre: action, angst, gang!au

Triggers: violence, somewhat graphic?

Word Count: 1.9k

Your gang is dead and only one person knows you’re alive. Since you know nothing but the gang world, you turn to working for those who killed your family. It doesn’t really bother you, but your identity gets found out by the wrong people on one of your... excursions.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Epilogue

NCT Masterlist

The clock in the living room strikes twelve.

You step silently into the mansion, running through the simple plan in your head.

Find the painting. Take it down. Get out.

Simple.

A paid thief, you are an expert robber, stealing things for anyone else that has the money to pay. You offer your services only once to each customer, and after that, you cut off all contact.

It’s a safety precaution.

You work with one person only, the handsome assassin Lee Taeyong. As childhood friends, you do favors for each other every so often. He kills off witnesses if things get too messy.

In this case, some wealthy gang leader wants a painting that the Nakamoto syndicate owns. For what reason, you don’t know, but you need the money so it’s not your place to ask questions.

The Nakamoto mansion is still quiet, thankfully. If anyone hears you walking around the house, they don’t pop out. Still, you take precaution, lifting your black scarf to cover your face.

You know the painting is on the top floor of the mansion, locked in a room set with multiple alarms. Getting caught will most likely end with your death, and that is not an option.

Luckily, you know your way around, thanks to having worked as a maid in the mansion for two months.

From what you’ve gathered, the Nakamotos are not a close family. There is the leader of the syndicate, his wife, and then three children. The eldest is a daughter who from what you know has left the syndicate and has cut all ties with her family. You do not know who or where she is, and frankly, you couldn’t care less.

The youngest was another daughter, shunted aside by her family as the weakling, the runt of the litter. She committed suicide a month and a half ago, about half a month after you started working there. Shame. She seemed a nice girl.

The middle child is the heir to the syndicate, Nakamoto Yuta. He is ruthless and cruel in the gang world, going after anyone who so much as looks at him the wrong way.

Terrifying.

You have seen Nakamoto Yuta exactly two times in your life. You were children the first time, but the memory never leaves you.

Your parents were prominent members of a gang. Thus, they had plenty of connections. The Nakamotos were no exception. Yuta and his parents were over one day for reasons you can’t remember, and somehow, you and Yuta had gotten into a fight. You were six then, and he was eight. He’d punched you in the face, and you’d roundhouse kicked him in the head.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t the pain you remembered. It was the mischievous, kind of teasing look in his eye. He was still a child then.

You hadn’t seen him at all in the years past, not even when your gang crumbled to ashes and you were one of the very few survivors and the Nakamotos promised to help.

Fun fact: the Nakamotos never sent help. Nor did the other gangs your family tried to contact.

The second time you saw him was when you began your job here. With your face covered in heavy makeup and a bandana over your cropped hair, it was no wonder he didn’t recognize you. But you recognized him, despite the new muscles and the handsome features.

The cold, calculating look in his eyes was haunting. So much had changed in the years after the death of your gang.

You realize you are gripping your tools tightly, and you loosen your grasp, again focusing on the task at hand.

The painting.

You stop at the fake bookshelf that hides the room containing the painting. Scrutinizing the wood, you press the button that will open the door. A keypad greets you, as well as multiple locks.

After scanning the hall behind you, you set to work. Your fingers move deftly, tools flashing, as you quickly pick each lock and then enter the code you managed to hack.

Two seconds of tense waiting follow, and then the door slides open without a sound.

Sighing in relief, you close the door behind you, locking the doors and setting the alarm again before glancing around for the painting.

It truly is gorgeous, but you also don’t have the faintest clue why a gang member would want it. This isn’t the 39 clues, after all. Maybe it means something to the Nakamotos. You wouldn’t know, and you wouldn’t ask.

The painting is not very large or heavy, but it is a hassle to take down, especially in the dark. Still, you manage, taking it down just as the ostentatious clock on the first floor strikes one.

The painting goes into the bag you’ve brought. Your tools disappear into various pockets, and your trusty knife comes out. Just in case.

The rest of the plan is easy. Take the painting, get out the way you came in, walk away in the darkness.

Or at least, it should’ve been easy.

You turn around, only to hear the faint click of a lock being opened.

Frozen, you look around the room rapidly, trying to find someplace to hide. There is nowhere, and you curse internally.

Your best bet is to surprise whoever it is right as he comes in, you decide. You trade your knife for a small handgun, positioning yourself near the door.

It slides open as though in slow motion, and you register wide eyes, a shock of messy hair, and a finely chiseled facial structure before you fire at his legs.

Yuta has unbelievable reflexes, because he twists away just in time so that the bullet only just grazes his leg, leaving a trickle of blood dripping down his ankle.

Fuck. There is nowhere to go, and you begin to back away into the corner farthest away from the man, making sure your face is completely covered save for your eyes.

He grins, leaning against the doorway. “Well, well. What do we have here?” He kicks away pieces of the floor flippantly, walking closer. His wound does not seem to bother him at all.

You don’t answer.

“Silence, then? Fine. What are you doing in here?” Yuta smirks, pushing himself off the doorway almost languidly. The way he moves is almost like that of a snake. Slithery, sly.

Always one step ahead.

His eyes flicker to the empty space where the painting used to be. His mouth forms a small ‘o’ in comprehension. “Ah, yes. The painting. Who asked you for it? How much did they offer?”

Still no answer on your part. You survey the room as surreptitiously as you can, desperate for a way to get out. At this point, even a window would be preferable.

A window.

There is a small window near where the painting used to be. If your hips were any wider, you wouldn’t try it, but your skinny stature makes you think it might work. You continue to roam your eyes around the room, not giving anything away.

Yuta chuckles softly. The sound is so dangerous, yet so enticing. You feel almost drawn to him, and you pinch your thigh hard to snap out of it.

“There’s no escape,” he says softly. “I’ll alert my parents, who will come in and take you, dead or alive. If you come peacefully, though, we might be able to work something out.”

A part of you wants to believe him, that this handsome man won’t harm you. But that part is overshadowed by the knowledge that this is the son of a notoriously cold-hearted gang leader that has killed hundreds, directly and indirectly.

The scarf shifts down slightly, and you shove it back up before it reveals anything. Yuta obviously notices this. “What’s that you want to hide?” he asks, looking somewhat curious.

He can’t know I’m alive.

As far as the gang world knows, your gang is dead. Everyone was wiped out, including the stragglers. For all you know, you and Taeyong might be the only ones alive. All the gangs know Taeyong is out there, but not you.

Yuta’s eyes narrow, and he steps forward, a little more urgency in his step. “What are you hiding?” he asks again, impatience in his tone.

Now might be a good time to get the fuck out.

You raise your gun and fire.

Not at Yuta, though. The window.

The glass- or what seems like glass- shakes a little, but it doesn’t break. You curse quietly.

Yuta, who seems to have thought you would be aiming for him, is now on the other side of the room. How he got there so fast, you don’t know. Once he realizes you didn’t shoot at him, he laughs loudly.

“Really? You thought the window would work?” he says in between gasps, leaning against a large bookshelf. You raise your gun at him this time, and he straightens, looking more amused than ever.

Your mind races. That window was your only option, and the door is closed.

You decide to try the window again.

Only this time, Yuta decides to attack. A knife hurtles towards you, but your reflexes kick in and you manage to duck out of the way. It thunks into the wood above your head and you tremble, realizing how closely you just brushed death.

“Quick, are we?” Another knife is pulled out of seemingly nowhere, the metal glinting in his hand.

Panicking, you pull out your own knife and send it flying deep into his thigh. He lurches, then stands upright again, a hand on his wound. “Wasn’t expecting that. Alright-”

You shoot five successive bullets into the window, each one shaking the glass until it finally cracks. Yuta yells, probably alerting everyone else in the house. Three more bullets widen the crack. Then you press the trigger and nothing comes out.

Fuck!

Too late, you notice that the scarf has dropped down your face so that most of it is visible. Unable to do anything about it, you tear across the room, throwing random things at Yuta to keep him busy, though the revelation of your face seems to have him shocked enough already.

You grab the knife Yuta threw into the wall on your dash to the window and slam it into the crack, trying to wedge it through further. More cracks spread, but too slowly.

“You’re alive?”

No point in hiding it, you think, but you still don’t say anything. Yuta laughs, a derisive and disbelieving sound you can hear even above the din sounding outside the hidden room. “You survived that inferno?”

Right. When you mentioned that most of the gang crumbled to ashes, you meant it literally.

“Obviously, Nakamoto,” you spit, still hacking at the window. The cracks spread slowly but surely. Just keep him busy. “I’m surprised you even know who I am.”

The noise outside gets louder, and you think you hear the click of a lock.

Hurry!

The door of the room slides open, and multiple people come tumbling in, weapons in hand.

“Oh, fuck it,” you mutter.

Guns go off. A bullet slams into your calf, then your shoulder. You yelp in pain, still hacking at the window with your knife.

In a last fit of desperation, you slam the window with your elbow, the part of your body that your mother once told you was the strongest. It finally shatters, and you jump out, your arm and leg screaming.

“Y/N!” you hear Yuta shout.

How does he know my name?

You land on a pile of compost and dirt, groaning. The scarf is gone, your knife and gun still in the house, but you haul yourself up and run.

#nctwriters #smtownnetwork #kpop #nct #nct 127 #yuta #action #angst #triggers #violence #non-idol!au #gang!au #nct scenarios #nct 127 scenarios #nct yuta scenarios #run #scriptura-delirus

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cryokinesisandlight · 8 years ago

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EXO KoKoBop Criminal AU

With the new concept I got a new AU ...

Yes, I have a criminal AU based on KoKoBop because why not and I want to talk about it because there's no actual story connected to it, just a bunch of babes~

It’s gonna be a long post, though.

This is kind of a lazy gang but I love them.

Minseok (Xiumin) is the leader and he doesn't really do much right now other than being soft and kissing his babes. It's not really some kind of harem or whatever because it's mostly just platonic kisses but he just cares for the members so. fucking. much like where would he be without them?

That's a good question and also he would probably be in jail, not because he'd get caught but just because what's the fun in doing soft crimes and stuff if you're all lonely?

So yeah, he has done most of what the others do but they do it far better than he does - and because he's got an organized mind and is really good at figuring out how to work everything so nothing ever goes wrong, he's just ... the leader.

Honestly, he doesn't look like the leader at all but hey, that's good because nobody would actually think he could do the shit he does. And if you were to betray him, he would kiss your temple right before he cuts your throat. That's my boy Minseok.

Jongin (or Junghwa, maybe Junghwa tbh) is 2nd in command but only because they're romantically involved with Xiumin lmao. Like that's literally it. The two of them just love each other a little more than they love the rest of the members. They're also the scariest member of the gang outside of Xiumin whose appearance betrays his mind.

Either way, Jongin/Junghwa is scary as fuck. They do most of the murders and honestly, they mostly do them for Chanyeol's sake but they can do them for any of the gang members. They enjoy it, the desperation of their victim as they stare death in the eyes. Exhilarating! And it's just so enjoyable to lift that gun, aim that knife, press those fingers into throats.

Jongin/Junghwa loves looking into the eyes of their victims to really see the fear and they honestly have absolutely no trouble killing kids either.

There's nothing psychopathic over them as such, though. Emotions fully intact, moral code just completely screwed.

They love cuddling after a job well done tho and they sleep practically 15 hours a day so most of the time they look so so so soft and approachable lmao.

Chen (Jongdae) is the information. Mostly he gets it from eavesdropping and monitoring the police and the political people but sometimes he also gets it on the streets. Honestly, Jongdae is so wild on the streets like he can sniff up the most irrelevant information and still have it be relevant. Ask about anyone and Jongdae will get you information.

He's got a lot of informants as well. Actually he prefers everything but hacking because hacking is really really boring and it leaves him alone in front of a computer. He's a social guy, man, what did you expect?

He knows how to hack, though, but it's just not something he does if he can avoid it. Getting information the old way is preferred.

Jongdae used to be a spy for North Korea but then he ended up liking South Korea too much so he defected and found Xiumin and Jongin/Junghwa instead and hey, that was pretty good as well.

Jongdae has gotten new identities countless of times but hey, with a guy like Chanyeol, it couldn't get any easier.

So yeah, lets talk about Chanyeol because now I've mentioned him twice, haha. Chanyeol does ghosting. That's primarily his job and oh boy does he enjoy it. In case you don't know what ghosting is, it's taking the identity of someone that few people know has died.

And that's where Jongin/Junghwa comes into their partnership because what better way than to steal a dead person's identity than to kill them first?

That way very few people will know they have died (if any at all) and fixing passport photos etc. is a piece of cake. So mostly they ghost when they need knew identities because that way they can take on a "living" person's identity and if everything else fits (age, appearance to a certain extent, nationality and so on) then why not?

He can make fake identities from scratch as well but that requires more work and Chanyeol actually likes ghosting. To think of the lives they overtake and wonder who they were in the past.

Oh, to dig up all those childhood memories of the ghost and hand them to a member - what a joy.

Chanyeol honestly lives for ghosting.

He's also tall as fuck and has a wide smile on his lips so being in public is not really any problem and - seriously, Chanyeol has so much free time, what is he gonna do with it?

Which leads us to Joonmyun. Not really but I want to talk about Joonmyun. So ... Joonmyun actually does a lot of the footwork in the gang. How boring, now isn't it? Okay, no, not really.

Joonmyun is a total babe and mostly he just sets stuff on fire.

Arson is his specialty and he's developed his own way of doing it. Like you just know when it's EXO's arsonist that has been lighting fires but nobody is able to catch him because he's just that sneaky.

He's so good at what he does, though, because he lingers in the night and also looks like a normal business man at day, assessing the buildings, how to light them on fire subtly and makes mental notes for days or even weeks.

Every arson is so well-planned that it's just impossible to trace it back to him, yet at the same time there's just this thing that makes it his entirely.

He also does drugs as in he sells them. Sometimes he hands them out at night clubs because why the fuck not and he's got that dealer reputation but nobody really dares take him down as a dealer either because Joonmyun is the perfect liar and he can get away with everything.

Smooth motherfucker really.

Let's talk about Soo next. I kind of want it to be Sookyung, though. She's a badass woman. She holds a master in biochemistry and that's actually her best weapon. She spends most of her time in labs and she hates noise and bothersome gang members that just wants to cuddle like get the fuck out of her lab. Right now.

She is actually kind of harmless, even if she's also the most deadlist.

Sookyung usually makes CBRN threats. She has yet to actually release anything to create a contamination but that's beside the question. The threats are definitely enough to have people do their bidding, especially political people.

If you don't know what CBRN stands for, it's an abbreviation of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and it's used as either attacks, defense or happens as accidents, usually with quite horrible consequences.

While Sookyung deals mostly with the Chemical and the Biological aspect of CBRN, she has knowledge of the other two as well. She doesn't really use them for consequences but rather nurses her vira and bacteria and tries to combine and create new fatal chemicals.

She's a little introverted and mostly wears a scowl on her face but she's also fiercely loyal and when she's comfortable she can speak for hours about her small microscopic children.

She prefers Xiumin, Jongin/Junghwa, Seyoon and Lay over the talkative members such as Jongdae, Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

Lay operates in a business suit as he walks around in the daylight and looks into numbers. He works top jobs and steals millions of money with fraud, but he's the kindest person on Earth and nobody would consider him worthy of such crimes.

He's intelligent as fuck, often leading to confusing moments and he's often far ahead compared to the people around him. It makes him seem rather dazed and sometimes people think he smokes weed. Yixing has never touched such substances, though, his intelligence just puts him on another level.

Fraud keeps him sane and he loves tempering with the numbers, watching his own bank account grow as he empties banks and large companies before he moves onto the next one.

Originally from China, he has contacts in China as well and sometimes operate there. He likes traveling around the world and Xiumin mostly lets him.

Innocence is his appearance and nobody would suspect a bad bone in him. Too bad they're wrong.

Baekhyun and Seyoon have a small competition, but let's talk about Baekhyun first.

Baekhyun is a thief. He likes action and stuff happening and if he's without his gun it's all just wrong. That's why he has found solitude in robberies and shoplifting, stealing mostly in broad daylight where the chance of getting caught is high.

But Baekhyun is also like a magician and even if he is caught, there's no way to find the stolen goods on him. He cannot be spotted on cameras and he's like a chameleon as he blends in with people. He's absolutely sneaky and he's so observant.

Baekhyun always knows the trends, come to Baekhyun for anything and he will know. The most social of them all (although followed closely by Jongdae) Baekhyun loves to be where people are.

He also pickpockets and he's good at it. Refined pickpocketing with a dash of excitement is his specialty along with the shoplifting and the robberies.

It isn't uncommon that he shoplifts something none of the other members of the gang don't think they need such as expensive wine, Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses.

Seyoon is also a thief, but she has specialised in much more refined theft.

Her specialty is racketeering and her patience and persistence is what lets her get away with it. She plays on fear and often convinces her victims they need the protection she offers, even if the danger is completely fictional. She enjoys the smooth lie that slips through her lips and the fear she can instill in people, only to collect hard cash in her hands.

She loves watching her bank account grow with deposits and her lips are usually curled into a small smile. She's cocky as fuck and considers her work the most important for the gang. Where would they be without her really.

She also does pickpocketing because she cannot let Baekhyun have all the fun.

While she isn't as extroverted and social as he, she has the benefit of her good looks and men are so easy to pickpocket when they're drunk. Her playing field is clubs and bars and she rarely sets foot in a shopping mall.

At the end of the day, she and Baekhyun always counts who got most money from their pickpocketing and while Baekhyun often wins, Seyoon still considers herself a more successful thief. After all, she does the refined theft.

I'm not even sure this gang could work in the real world, but they're important and soft and even though they don't necessarily do all the dirty work with extreme violence and such they still have enough money and most certainly enough power to secretly run the government.

That said, they're usually also hidden from other gangs because of their little street-action and involvement with the rest of them.

Shimmy shimmy kokobop, I think I like it~

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mikegchambers · 8 years ago

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Nothing is Safer than Cloud

The security features of cloud providers give you the best processes, tools and practices to truly beef up your game

Padlocks floating in the matrix are especially secure.

There’s nothing like making broad claims with a headline featuring some dubious grammar, especially at the beginning of the week. But bear with me and we will slice and dice the ever-nagging issues of security in this post.

Get the Security Team On Board

In the on-premise enterprise world, IT security groups are becoming the Department of No. If you use any sort of agile release train, like frequent releases of mobile app versions for your organization, you’ll be familiar with scans, audits and the general slowdown that occurs when you enter the security orbit. Modern software is about change and yet change is the enemy of security in the on-premise environment.

This is a conundrum since you want to release software regularly but don’t want to be that executive who opened a security hole that caused the theft of all your client data. In fairness to the security folks, on-premise security is really difficult since it exists at many levels, it’s often applied as an after-thought and their job is like plugging a million microscopic holes in a dam.

In cloud there’s a better way, and it resolves the conflicting tension between needing to introduce changes in the software, and ensuring the environment is secure. There are four features that security teams will love (I’m picking from AWS here but similar magic exists elsewhere):

The security team can define the roles and rights of every user and process in the system, making it pretty much impossible to create new instances (servers) or deployments that open ports or violate security policies. Instead of policing per application, they can focus on the entire organization in an abstract, generalized way.

Automation at every level minimizes intentional damage or accidental screw-up. From machine images to auto-scaling and templating, you can guarantee that the 100,000th instance is using the same security policies as the first. This goes a long way to making sure that growing complexity in the environment doesn’t create vulnerabilities.

Security tools such as Amazon Inspector provide constant security assessments and look for weaknesses 24/7. These applications ensure that any windows left open are slammed shut asap.

Centralized automatic logging of every action, API call and event make it much easier to see what’s happening and isolate problems when they occur. This eliminates operating in stealth mode so audit trails abound for every user and process.

The TL;DR version is that cloud gives security teams a fully configurable sandbox where developers can play and get sand in their eyes but not burn down the playground in the process. This compares to on-premise, which is more like trying to keep watch over a hundred caffeinated 5-year olds in a knife store.

With proper configuration, a security team can own and monitor a bulletproof environment and not need to firefight on a per-project basis.

But really, how can my data ever be safe in the cloud?

This is a legitimate question especially for non-technical people but before I answer, let’s start with one mind-blowing fact that people often forget when discussing digital things.

For physical products, locking them up in a place where you can see them will deter thieves and usually stop them from being stolen. This works because (1) the thief may not know you have said riches (2) the riches are put in a place that’s hard to find and (3) the riches are secured with locks, safes and armed guards that make it easier for the thief to steal from other people.

Under no circumstances are the items ever totally immune from theft, it’s just that stealing the Hope Diamond is an order of magnitude more difficult than stealing cash from a gym locker. You also know when your riches are stolen because they are gone.

Hackers also freeze when a human enters the room.

For digital products and data, the same deterrents don’t work the same way. If your corporate data is stored on your CEO’s laptop on the top floor of a heavily guarded building, the thief doesn’t need to enter the lobby Matrix-style to physically reach the laptop.

Hackers will attempt to breach your network, overcome digital security safeguards and then copy the file(s) if they find them. You may never know the data has been stolen because the original file is still there. Or the boss might just use the password Password123 and accidentally leaves his PC in the back of a taxi — that’s more common than you’d think.

So why is cloud safer than on-premise attempts to protect data? Well, the cloud was born in a public space so consequently has security baked into every layer of its design from the get-go:

This is what encrypted data looks like without the key. It’s harder to see the woman in the red dress.

When set up properly, cloud encrypts data at rest (i.e. when it’s stored somewhere) and in flight (i.e. when it’s moving around). AWS for example offers digital envelope encryption and complex rotating key management. Translated to English, this is like a safe where the code changes every minute. I’m simplifying but essentially just stealing the data isn’t enough to get you very far — you have to do an unreasonable amount of work to read it because the math makes A Beautiful Mind look like he was just typing “Hello” upside-down on a calculator.

Amazon’s Snowball lets you ship corporate data from your armed guards direct to their data centers using UPS. So hijackers could presumably hit the UPS truck and steal all your corporate data, right? Unfortunately not — the encryption’s so tight that even if you have access to the hard disks with the data, you’ll still need a few hundred years to figure out the contents because of the method used.

Access controls and auditing are granular and very robust. Since most hackers are actually disgruntled employees on the way out of the building (or well-meaning workers accidentally doing damage), a well-designed set of policies will prevent 99% of all typical data loss events. And recovering from snapshots in the cloud is elegantly simple.

Major cloud providers have a slew of secrets, proprietary tools, potions and tricks up their sleeves to catch bad guys before you even know about it. Since you’re already in the secure area of their environment, you benefit from the multiple levels of threat detection they use non-stop. It’s like having an invisible Secret Service watching your back all the time.

Encryption and hacking aside, much corporate data loss happens because backups fail or, more likely, were never made in the first place. Automation in the cloud makes it much easier to create policies where every byte of data is held somewhere forever and you don’t have a server farm that somehow got forgotten when the network guy was on vacation in Hawaii.

What about Google and Amazon reading your data?

That’s what you really want to know about, right? There are rumors that Jeff Bezos and Larry Page get together at the weekends, laughing at their customer’s funniest emails and selling their corporate secrets to Russian mercenaries. They really only invented cloud services just to lure you into sharing your secrets with them.

Yeah, none of that is even remotely true and they have built billion dollars clouds precisely because they don’t do this. If this sounds nuts, let me add this — one Chief Operating Officer I met at a very large retail company told me that he would never, ever allow cloud in his business because Google and Amazon would steal all their point of sale transaction data and learn about their margins. Okaaay…

Security is the number one priority for all cloud platforms. They are all very, very secure.

But really, is my data safe?

Alright, here are some random thoughts to make you feel a bit safer:

Files stored in AWS are really held on multiple seal-healing hard disks which means they survive natural failure. This makes durability so impressive (99.999999999% — 11 9s, count ‘em!) that for 10,000 files stored, you would expect to lose a single file every 10 million years. If that’s not good enough, you can automate replication to other regions or other cloud providers and get so close to 100% that Extinction Level Events on a planetary level will be your biggest worry.

Encryption is a complex subject but in many of the key management systems, if you lose your own keys, nobody can read the data — not you, me, Amazon, Google or the NSA. There is no backdoor. Your key was the only way in.

The US government stores a ton of sensitive data in AWS (GovCloud) so Jeff Bezos risks the wrath of people trained in waterboarding if the security isn’t great. I’d hazard a guess that plenty of foreign governments have thrown their best minds into breaking in.

Often, we’re just trying to guard against stupidity

Finally, in my twenty glorious years in this industry, security failures are usually typified not by Homeland-style hacking squads bent on stealing your information, but the mundane stupid things that happen.

We once lost a team’s entire codebase because the lead developer kept it on his laptop and never checked it into source control — that was expensive.

A helpful intern once ‘cleaned up’ the shared drive at a company and wiped out all their marketing collateral for the last five years.

A client’s office kept their triply-backed up files all in the same building and it was washed away by floods.

And a receptionist installed viruses on an entire network by plugging in a USB stick to help out a sales rep off the street. He said just wanted to print a file.

Cloud providers give you the best processes, tools and practices to truly beef up your security game and, with the correct configuration, become world-class. Nothing in the on-premise world even comes close.

Nothing is Safer than Cloud was originally published in A Cloud Guru on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from A Cloud Guru - Medium http://ift.tt/2o6XmZl

#A Cloud Guru - Medium

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allcheatscodes · 8 years ago

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red dead redemption ps3

http://allcheatscodes.com/red-dead-redemption-ps3/

red dead redemption ps3

Red Dead Redemption cheats & more for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Trophies

Get the updated and latest Red Dead Redemption cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, trophies, guides, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for PlayStation 3 (PS3). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the PlayStation 3 cheats we have available for Red Dead Redemption.

Check Xbox 360 cheats for this game

Genre: Shooter, Third-Person 3D Shooter Developer: Rockstar Publisher: Rockstar Games ESRB Rating: Mature Release Date: May 18, 2010

Hints

Cheats in the Newspaper

Cheat codes can be found in the bottom right hand corner of newspapers so buy them when you can.

Leg Work

This best works in armadillo. If you have the throwing knives, throw one knife using dead eye at the persons leg then see if he pulls out a gun. If he does throw another knife at his other leg from farther away he will sometimes drop on his knees and shoot at you with his gun. Then kill him however you want. I prefer a knife to the eye but do what ever you want.

Easy Skin Animals

When you have shot an animal of any kind and do not like to wait to collect the “reward”, just simply park your horse over the animal, hop off, and hit triangle to skin the animal. This saves alot of time.

Tackle A Bull

First, get in a fight with anyone who will fight back at Macfarlen’s ranch. Go to the cow pen (wile in the fight)and then set up a ground tackle and when the bull charge’s ground tackle. YOU WILL GRAB THE BULL AND THE BULL WILL FALL AND YOU CAN PUNCH HIM!

Homing Dynamite

Select dynamite from your weapons and then go into Dead Eye aiming mode. Position the orange arch so that it passes through or comes into contact with your target. Press R1 to lock onto your target and then press R2 to send the dynamite chasing after the intended victim. The dynamite won’t stop flying after the target until it’s dead. (Also works with firebottles a.k.a. Molotovs).

Make Money

Go out to the mountains and shoot bears, cougars, bighorn up in mountains cougars claws are worth $24 and bears are worth I think $18.

How To Get In The Villa House

In the misson where you kill bill there are some men with axes chopin th door down and you have to use the gatlen gun if you stand inbetween the door and the man you should be spawn inside the house if you want to get out you can just trow a fire bottle at the door and it will say you assalted one of Reyes men.

Early Access To Mexico

Go to “Frontera Bridge.” and ride quickly to the end of the bridge and get off the horse. Let your poor horse fall into the water. Do NOT call a new horse. Next, walk backward until the railroad track starts running into solid ground – it’s not very gar. Next, turn left and go down the steep slope all the way to the riverbank. There are a bunch of small bushes by the river and the music should also switch to Spanish music. If you don’t hear the new music you’ll have to start over. Finally, set up a campsite when you hear the music and you will then be on the Mexican side of the river. The “Romita de la Baya” bridge will take you back across the border, and you’ll have to do the same thing with the horse here, let it fall into the river and set up a campsite on the island. The campsite should be near the edge of the island to the north, either to the left or the right of the bridge.

Hint

If you go to the shallows, you will get a volcanic rifle, by defeating the gang members.

Location Of Survivalist Flowers

Survivalist 1Collect 6 Wild Feverfew: Found in Hennigan's Stead and Cholla SpringsSurvivalist 2Collect 6 Desert Sages: Found in and around Gap-tooth RidgeSurvivalist 3Collect 4 Red Sage Plants: Found in and around Rio BravoSurvivalist 4Collect 8 Prickly Pears: Found in and around Punto OrgulloSurvivalist 5Collect 7 Wooly Blue Curls: Found in and around PerdidoSurvivalist 6Collect 8 Butterfly Weeds: Found in and around Diez CoronasSurvivalist 7Collect 10 Hummingbird Sage Plants: Found in and around Tall TreesSurvivalist 8Collect 12 Prairie Popies: Found in and around the Great PlainsSurvivalist 9Collect 15 Golden Currants: Found in and around the Great PlainsSurvivalist 10Collect 10 Violet Snowdrops (collect 2 more of every herbavailable): Found in and around the snow-covered parts of Tall Trees

West Dickens Takes A Break

Begin a mission with West Dickens that requires driving or shotgunning hiscarriage. When you are a few hundred yards away from the mission’s beginningpoint, press Triangle (on PlayStation3) or Y (on Xbox 360) to jump free. Remainidle and do not get back on the carriage. Eventually West Dickens will jump offthe carriage and begin urinating.

Make Easy Money

Buy the house available in Armadillo, then after you did that, go to the bank and go in, DO NOT KILL THE GUARD, go to the back room and simply break the safes just like you use a combination lock for real and check the boxes in the same room as the safes and you should have 180-200 dollars.

Master Level 10

To kill all 3 rare animals, go and steal a stage coach. just sit in the drivers seat and shoot the rare animals. the animals can’t reach you. It’s like shooting fish ina barrel.

Buy A Mule

You can buy a mule in some general stores in Mexico but they are slow and will not jump over anything.

Sheep

You can find a sheep in the pens in armadillo and sometimes in the MacFarland ranch (can only be found in the day time and are rare animals).

Warning When Using Cheats

If you use a cheat code you will not be able to unlock trophies or save the game.

Easy Money

Hi RDR fans, I know how to make easy money. Some ways a good person might are:jobs, bounty hunting, help people who are being robbed, if a band of thugs (people who ride in on their horses shooting pistols in the air) shooting them, looting dead peoples bodies (they wont need it where they’re going), and hunting. Evil ways are:gambling, robbing, cattle and horse rustling, murdering then looting the body, winning duels, aim at people with your gun because they’ll pull out their gun and shoot you and that gives you the right to defend yourself and hit and runs.

Cheats

Gun Set 2

Enter: I’M AN AMERICAN. I NEED GUNS

Unlimited Ammo

Enter: ABUNDANCE IS EVERYWHERE

$500

Enter: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, WE THANK YOU

Infinite Horse Stamina

Enter: MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES

Infinite Dead Eye

Enter: I DON’T UNDERSTAND IMNFINITY

Spawn A Horse

Enter: BEASTS AND MAN TOGETHER

Jack Attack

Change John into Jack, enter: OH MY SON, MY BLESSED SON

Lewis And Clark

To unlock all areas, enter: YOU GOT YOURSELF A FINE PAIR OF EYES

Invincibility

Enter: HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK

Diplomatic Immunity

To remove your wanted level, enter: I WISH I WORKED FOR UNCLE SAM

Unlock Suit

Enter: DON’T YOU LOOK FINE AND DANDY

Complete Fame

Enter: I AM ONE OF THEM FAMOUS FELLAS.

Gun Set 1

Enter: IT’S MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.

Decrease The Bounty

Enter: THEY SELL SOULS CHEAP HERE

Full Cheat List

All Guns : WE NEED GUNS JOHN! Always drunk : I’M DRUNK AS A SKUNK AND TWICE AS SMELLY Become a nobody. : HUMILITY BEFORE THE LORD Decrease Bounty : THEY SELL SOULS CHEAP HERE Diplomatic Immunity : I WISH I WORKED FOR UNCLE SAM Enable the Sepia filter. : THE OLD WAYS IS THE BEST WAYS Fame : I AM ONE OF THEM FAMOUS FELLAS Get $500. : THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, WE THANK YOU! Good Guy : IT AINT PRIDE. IT’S HONOR Gun Set 1 : IT’S MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT Gun Set 2 : I’M AN AMERICAN. I NEED GUNS Infinite ammo : ABUNDANCE IS EVERYWHERE Infinite Dead Eye : I DON’T UNDERSTAND IMNFINITY Infinite Horse Stamina : MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES Invincibility : HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK Man in Uniform : I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM Play As Jack : OH MY SON, MY BLESSED SON Sharp Dressed Man : DON’T YOU LOOK FINE AND DANDY Spawn a horse-drawn coach. : NOW WHO PUT THAT THERE? Spawn a horse. : BEASTS AND MAN TOGETHER Unlock all areas. : YOU GOT YOURSELF A FINE PAIR OF EYES Unlock All Gang Outfits : YOU THINK YOU TOUGH, MISTER?

Complete Honor

Enter: IT AINT PRIDE. IT’S HONOR.

U.S. Uniforms

Enter: I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM.

Become A Nobody

Enter: HUMILITY BEFORE THE LORD

Enable Sepia Filter

Enter: THE OLD WAYS IS THE BEST WAYS

Unlockables

Avatar Items For PS Home

Gentleman’s Attire :Beat the Rockstar Games Social Club “Skin It To Win It”challenge Lady’s Finest :Beat the Rockstar Games Social Club “Skin It To Win It” challenge Posse T-Shirt :When the community reaches an unspecified amount of money in TheStrike It Rich! Rockstar Challenge this will be unlocked Red Dead Redemption Logo T-Shirt :Open a chest northwest of Riley’s Charge in aburnt down building Rockstar Logo T-Shirt :Open the chest in the attic at the Marston Farm house atBeecher’s Hope Sombrero :Shoot the hat off of an enemy on expert aim mode

Level Unlock For Weapons

Repeater Carbine Level 2Throwing KnivesLevel 3Volcanic PistolLevel 5Winchester RepeaterLevel 8Schofield RevolverLevel 9Pump ShotgunLevel 11Springfield RifleLevel 13DynamiteLevel 15Double-Action RevolverLevel 17Sawed-Off ShotgunLevel 18Rolling Block RifleLevel 20Fire BottleLevel 22Semi-Automatic PistolLevel 24Semi-Automatic ShotgunLevel 26Carcano RifleLevel 28Henry RepeaterLevel 32High Power PistolLevel 35Bolt-Action RifleLevel 40Evans RepeaterLevel 43LeMat RevolverLevel 46Mauser PistolLevel 49Buffalo RifleLevel 50

Unlockable Pistols

Cattleman Revolver – Unlocked from the beginning Volcanic Pistol – Clear out Twin Rocks Hideout; for sale at Armadillo Gunsmith ($100) Semi-automatic Pistol – Clear out Fort Mercer Hideout; for sale at the Escalera Gunsmith ($300) High Power Pistol – Given to you during “Bear One Another’s Burden” Mauser Pistol – For sale at the Blackwater Gunsmith ($800) Schofield Revolver – Becomes available during “The Gunslinger’s Tragedy” Double-Action Revolver – Clear out Tesoro Azul Hideout Lemat Revolver – For sale at the Escalera Gunsmith after the Revolution ($1250)

Unlockable Rifles

Repeater Carbine – Given during “New Friends, Old Problems” Winchester Repeater – Clear out Tumbleweed Hideout or complete “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Bandit;” for sale at Armadillo Gunsmith ($350) Henry Repeater – Clear Nosalida Hideout Evans Repeater – For sale at Blackwater Gunsmith Springfield Rifle – Clear Gaptooth Breach Hideout, given during “We Shall Be Together in Paradise;” for sale at Thieves’ Landing Gunsmith ($300) Bolt Action Rifle – Given during “The Gates2 bing Red Dead Redemption Cheats of Presidio;” for sale at Escalera Gunsmith ($750) Buffalo Rifle – For sale at any Gunsmith shop when you become a level five Master Hunter ($475) Rolling Block Rifle – Given during “Empty Promises” Carcano Rifle – For sale at Blackwater Gunsmith ($1100)

Unlockable Weapons

Double-barreled Shotgun – Given during “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Bandit;” for sale at Armadillo Gunsmith ($150) Sawed-off Shotgun – Clear Pike’s Basin Hideout; for sale at Thieves’ Landing Gunsmith ($250) Pump-action Shotgun – Give during “And the Truth Will Set You Free” Semi-auto Shotgun – For sale at Escalera Gunsmith ($1000) Dynamite – Given during “Father Abraham;” For sale at various stores Throwing Knife – Given during “The Great Mexican Train Robbery;” for sale at various stores Fire Bottle – Given during “The Demon Drink;” for sale at various stores Lasso – Given during “Wild Horses, Tamped Passions”

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Red Dead Redemption yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for Red Dead Redemption yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently we have no guides or FAQs for Red Dead Redemption yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Trophies

Trophy List

High Roller – Win over 2000 chips in a hand of Poker No Dice – Complete a game of Liar’s Dice without losing a single die What about Hand Grenades? – Get a ringer in a game of Horseshoes Austin Overpowered – Complete Twin Rocks, Pike’s Basin, and Gaptooth Breach Hideouts in Single Player Evil Spirits – Complete Tumbleweed and Tesoro Azul Hideouts in Single Player Instinto Asiento – Complete Fort Mercer and Nosalida Hideouts in Single Player Fightin’ Around the World – Knock someone out in melee in every saloon in the game in Single Player Strange Things are Afoot – Complete a task for a Stranger People Are Still Strange – Complete 15 tasks for Strangers Buckin’ Awesome – Break the Kentucky Saddler, the American Standardbred, and the Hungarian Half-bred Clemency Pays – Capture a bounty alive Exquisite Taste – Purchase a rare weapon from a gunsmith Bearly Legal – Kill and skin 18 grizzly bears He Cleans Up Well! – Obtain the Elegant Suit More than a Fistful – Earn $10,000 in Single Player Frontiersman – Obtain Legendary rank in any Single Player Ambient Challenge The Gunslinger – Score a headshot on any enemy using Expert targeting mode Man of Honor/Chivalry’s Dead – Attain highest Fame rank and either highest Honor rank or lowest Honor rank Gold Medal – Earn a Gold Medal Rank for a combat mission in Single Player On the Trail of de Vaca – Uncover every location on the map in Single Player Friends in High Places – Use a pardon letter with more than $5000 bounty in Single Player Redeemed – Attain 100% in the Single Player Game Completion stat Mowing Them Down – Kill 500 enemies with a mounted weapon in any game mode In a Hail of Bullets – Kill 500 enemies with any pistol or revolver in any game mode Long Arm of Marston – Kill 500 enemies with any rifle repeater, or shotgun in any game mode Bullseye – Get 250 Headshots in any game mode Unnatural Selection – Kill one of every animal species in the game in any game mode Have Gun Will Travel – Complete all Hideouts in a single public Free Roam session Slow on the Draw – Get 10 Assists in a single Hideout in a public Free Roam session Hit the Trail – Get from Blackwater to Escalera before sundown in a public Free Roam session Posse Up! – Create a Posse and get the maximum number of members The Quick and Everyone Else – Be the top scoring player in any three consecutive FFA games in public matches How the West Was Won – Reach the top rank for multiplayer experience Go Team! – Be on the winning team for four consecutive victories in any team based game in public matches Most Wanted – Become a Public Enemy for 10 minutes and escape alive in a public Free Roam session Red Dead Rockstar – Kill a Rockstar or someone with this trophy in a public multiplayer match

Secret Trophies

That Government Boy – Complete “Exodus in America” Land of Opportunity – Complete “The Assault on Fort Mercer” Sons of Mexico – Complete “The Gates of El Presidio” No More Fancy Words – Complete “An Appointed Time” A Savage Soul – Complete “At Home With Dutch” The Benefits of Civilization – Complete “And the Truth Will Set You Free” Into the Sunset – Complete “The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed” Nurture or Nature – Complete “Remember my Family” Manifest Destiny – Kill the last buffalo on the Great Plains in Single Player Heading South on a White Bronco – Evade the U.S. Marshals while riding the Hungarian Half-bred horse Strange Things Are Afoot – Complete a task for a stranger Dastardly – Place a hogtied woman on the train tracks, and witness her death by train

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