#alpha mannequin mark

[ch3rr13zk1n]

[ch3rr13zk1n]

dw fella i gotcha

Heheh

What if i just jokingly drew Wallter pregnant.,

hm.........

Yeah sure why not I've seen Mark pregnant was too many times

Seriously Wallmark shippers wtf leave my boy Mark alone 🗣🗣🔥🔥!!!

[lady-quen]

End of the Line

"A lifeless mannequin, dancing on strings. Each string spoke to him in the thousand hushed voices of magic. It hurt. Each string begged him to usher his body back together. The Alchemy danced behind his eyes. A silver serpent, swallowing its own tail. It fucking hurt. It isn't over, it said. You made it so." "You killed your death, now live with it."

[Post-EoD drabble, 3k words, just exploring the consequences of people finding out my Commander a is a lich. Part of joint canon with @commanderteag (Maolmuire used with permission.) Angst, tw for decapitation, swearing, fantasy racism. I took some very mild creative liberties with the Pact status and the Void.]

Even times of newfound peace still had their work cut out for what remained of the Pact.

The original plan had been to dissolve after Jormag and Primordus. Then, after Soo-Won. And now, with Void stragglers remaining all around the world, he was in charge of the strike forces in a large-scale round-em-up-and-neutralize operation. Because of course he would be - the famed Pact Commander that he was. At least the rounding up part was easy, with choice waypoints repurposed into ley-line beacons at Taimi's suggestion. One he took gladly, with the haze beast as the precedent for Void's attraction to energy nexi.

At least, this time, his emotions weren't being used as the lure. Even if the calculations were just barely within the margin of error, his daughter's plan was working.

"Sir! We've got sightings in the canyon!" Elina, one of the scouts, reported. Maelmordha nodded, comms device clicking to life.

"Hundar Pike strike force! On my mark, unload all explosives into the valley!"

"Demolitionist Tirxxi reporting! All troops in position!"

Splendid. Despite last minute adjustments when the Void headed down an alternate path, everything was going more or less smoothly. Much easier this way - if this continued to go well enough, nobody would even have to engage the enemy in ground combat. He alone would likely be more than sufficient to pick off the leftovers. A bitter smile graced his features in anticipation. Ever since Aurene had departed into slumber, he could no longer count on that little miracle atop the Harvest Temple. And so, he had to make this work without her.

The Void was already dying out, but the last of it congregated in areas most affected by the late Elder Dragons. Though waiting was certainly an option, there was always the risk of further loss of life - and so, mobilizing the army for one final cleanup was the most logical course of action. The Commander's voice once again entered the channel.

"Site Alpha confirmed, reached. Team Alpha, on my mark... Now!"

He could feel the explosion from miles away. The ground itself shook as a decent part of the canyon collapsed into itself, burying the monsters below in a rockslide, clouds of gunpowder, and an avalanche for good measure. Freeform Void attempted to bleed through out of the cracks before dissolving into the air without particular fanfare.

He repeated the order for site Beta, cutting off the encroaching shadows and closing the valley behind them. Perfect. Like sheep herded to the slaughter - without the mind behind it, the chaotic element was as directionless as any other dragon minions left without their master.

Still, where it was directionless, it was certainly not a complete pushover. The final act drew close; Descend into the valley on-foot with Legion choppers monitoring closely from above. If it gets ugly, fall back. It shouldn't, but he was no fool to risk his troops like so.

"Lieutenant Tornbanner. Everett. Cinniod. Maolmuire. We're going in."

"Sir yes Sir!"

A small contingent of shock troopers under Tornbanner, Everett's medics, Cinniod's mages and Maolmuire would be more than enough to make quick work of whatever creatures still clawed their way out of the snow. There weren't many, and most were already far too dazed by the explosion and distracted by the ley line energy wafted into the canyon to be as much of a threat in close quarters as they used to be during the Canthan campaign. And so, in they went.

Two dozen pairs of boots touched the ground when suddenly, the Commander raised up an arm, signaling for the soldiers to wait. His gaze, fixed on the heaps of rubble, was unreadable.

"...Allow me to handle this by myself. Stay behind and make sure nothing sneaks up on any of us. Eyes and ears wide open."

He did have a rather poor track record with magical lures. It would be for the best if he went on ahead and cleared the way, with the others as backup but otherwise out of harm's way. The unmistakable spires of Brand crystals shimmered all around him in their rich, purple hue, framing an entrance underground. Kralkatorrik. Guess a piece of the old man remained beneath the canyon, after all. Not that completely erasing an Elder Dragon's influence from the world was easy, even for another one. Forces this old had their roots set firmly in the world.

A part of him wondered whether she really wanted to purge every last trace of her grandfather. These crystals, now dormant - in a sense, were they not the final keepsake she still had of him..?

Did she remember him? Were the Dragons not connected by some sort of Dream? Did it possess past memories, as well? Did she know what he was like before he -

Went mad. Razed billions. Slaughtered her mother.

Something turned deep within his gut, a familiar pain he did not expect. Visions of a burning blade, the same one that took his life - and an asuran prodigy, the only other mortal he had known who stood, with him, at the precipice of immortality. How did it feel..? To achieve the state he had. Locked within the chassis of a machine, mind uploaded into ones and zeroes. A novel form of life, if it could be called that.

Blish, do you think you were alive?

He descended further into the cave, Banner warband watching closely behind.

My golem body kept me safe, but... if anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself.

Forgiveness. What a fleeting concept, comparably far easier to give than to receive. He stared into the brilliant violet. Hey, old friend... are you in there, still..? Do you "forgive" me?

Killing and corrupting... it's what you do. It's what you were born to do.

W - what?

A harsh left, swords pointed at nothing. Gold eyes blinking against the crystal gleam before turning to face his troops. The Commander gave a reassuring nod - nothing here, either.

He wasn't sure whether whatever he heard was a voice inside his mind or a product of stress. Perhaps both. Perhaps neither. The crystals had eyes.

Could a dead thing feel..? This wasn't Kralkatorrik. He was gone. And yet, there was a distinct sorrow within the air, and each step felt like moving through mud. He couldn't help but wonder: Did the beast regret all that he had killed? Was this a final vestige of his tortured soul, buried in hopes of never again seeing sunlight? Was what Aurene had been doing all this time..?

It wasn't just to erase his corruption. It was to erase his pain. Kralkatorrik, he... couldn't rest easy until he was gone to the very last, it seemed. But what about Blish? Was he gone, too, or was he suspended in that hellish state of darkness? Unable to pass on until the silent prison holding him was destroyed without a trace? Dear Mother, why did everything have to always end in boundless suffering?

And it was then that he realized. The miscalculation was not a miscalculation. They accounted for it, yes, but the Void? It hadn't been following the ley line at all.

It was following Kralkatorrik's torment.

The ground shook. Tendrils of black slithering through bedrock, snaking around Brand pillars.

Several malformed creatures emerged, taking on shapes of the long dead in a chaotic masquerade. Icebrood. Risen. Branded. Destroyers. Mordrem.

"Fall back!" Maelmordha wasted no time. This was bad terrain - a chokepoint. They needed to make it back out into the open, into a direct sightline with the choppers, should all this go south even faster than it was already going.

Wherever he was involved, things had a habit of turning to shit. SNAFU, indeed. At least then, his presence usually prevented the situation from escalating from merely "shit" to "fucked beyond measure and then some."

He was not about to let anyone die this time.

For you. Trahearne, Eir, Almorra, Blish, and too many others to count.

"I'll hold them back! Go! Go! Go!" A swift cut from Lædingr ended a charging Icebrood. Black ooze splashed his armor, sizzling where it hit. "Don't worry about me, I'll be right behind you!"

It was a lie. But, hah, he was very much planning on surviving. Call him a control freak - but this? How this ended was entirely up to him.

No more hesitation. No more loss. No more -

Vaughn Tornbanner's matchlock took out one last Mordrem before the Lieutenant herded his warband outside, the charr providing cover for escaping medics. Flame and lightning magic crackled all around them, lashing out against whatever unlucky monsters sought a bite of the Commander's forces. Here and there, phantom mirages of the fourth Knight of Thorn distracted and incinerated foes with beams of light.

There was more Void here than they had ever accounted for. Even in its death throes, it closed in like a storm.

The diabolist focused, and shade magic enveloped his form. The necromantic fire in his blades erupted into a blaze of blue, his once-gold eyes opening to the same, cold hue. Rows of fangs unfurled upon his chest, a full-body snarl.

In the shimmering dragon amethyst, he swore he could glimpse an image of a small and sickly asura. In life, Blish had mirrored Taimi so closely.

His lips moved, soundless. There was judgement in his eyes.

The front line of Void creatures suddenly stopped, phantom hooks digging into the mass of writhing shadow as his chains constricted all like hungry serpents. With a sickening crunch, the bodies before him were warped, limbs torn from their sockets, necks snapped, multicolor eyes fading in the flash freeze of death. He exhaled a puff of frigid breath, attempting to channel enough ice to seal over the entrance. In his chanting, Grenth's own magic - permafrost extending out of his palm in an explosion of crystalline shards.

The Void. It was trapped... finally.

"Commander!" There was abject terror in Cinniod's voice. Several people gasped. Maelmordha made a single step to turn around, dual blades still held firmly within his grasp.

"Everyone! Is everyone -"

There was the vague sensation of something cold passing through his flesh. A blur of black and technicolor, a flash of steel on his left - his eyes followed it, and then it was on his right. He... his neck... hurt.

Something strange happened to his vision and he watched his own body collapse with a thud against the ice wall. Rivulets of gold quickly seeping into black fabric as he convulsed and fell slack, Dromi and Lædingr falling from the grasp of still-twitching fingers.

"Holy shit." Someone commented, eloquently.

Vaughn's rifle and Maolmuire's blade made short work of the beast who had mysteriously gotten behind the seal.

"Commander..!" A cacophony of meaningless voices that only registered as though from underwater. Gibberish. People shouting, shuffling closer, then back again in sheer disbelief. Distant sounds of magic and gunfire, a yelled warning as more Void began to close in, this time having dug itself out of the avalanche resting outside. Someone at his side, clearly shell-shocked, calling for a medic.

What... what was... going on..? His senses, suspended and disembodied. He willed his hands to move and watched them do so, as though he were a puppetmaster observing his doll.

A lifeless mannequin, dancing on strings. Each string spoke to him in the thousand hushed voices of magic. It hurt. Each string begged him to usher his body back together. The Alchemy danced behind his eyes. A silver serpent, swallowing its own tail. It fucking hurt. It isn't over, it said. You made it so.

You killed your death, now live with it.

The body slumped against the ice seized, more sap spurting out of the stump of its neck. But his spirit held dominion over it yet. That foolish, foolish spirit. Fists clenched, feeling the familiar shape of sword handles. It was jarring. Utterly disorienting, but he closed his eyes, and he allowed the puppet strings of his curse to guide his movements. And he rose, like the countless dead he once commanded.

Now upright, the lich's body stumbled over to where his head lay. He released Lædingr and felt his own fingers in his leaves, and then he willed them to lift.

Only then did he open his eyes. Nothing but blackness and striking blue. Phantom pain pulsed throughout his flesh, and it maddened him. Even now, disconnected from his lungs, he let out a broken laugh - it seemed to reverberate, like the voice of a ghost. The Pact forces turned to face him. Several drew their weapons.

The implications of everything that transpired in this cave would wait.

"Just... let me handle this. Nobody dies here... but me."

He was the expendable one. He was the sacrificial lamb. And he was the wolf, draped in lambskin. Every death he took instead of another was penance. His every breath was a lie, for as long as nobody knew the true extent of the monster he really was.

Blish' mechanized voice echoed in his mind. This is the end of the line.

No more secrets.

That's right. He was the accursed; The Commander of Death. And all his fallen subjects haunted him.

Maelmordha stepped out of the darkness, Dromi hovering patiently next to his hand as he cast a spell. Without a shred of mercy, phantom fangs crushed the few Void creatures that still remained, grinding them into less than the dust they had come from. And then, all was quiet. Only the winter wind and the buzz of ley magic in his ears.

The Pact troops slowly approached, and with a deep sadness he realized most of their weapons were pointed at him. Their eyes, reflections of terror. And he realized he was still holding his head like a grocery bag.

The necromancer loudly cleared his throat - if a ghostly impression of doing so counted.

"...Excuse me." He fumbled for a moment to place his head where it used to be, making several adjustments before what seemed like blue fire began to knit his flesh back together.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Cinniod confessed, knees giving out as the elementalist violently dry-heaved into the snow. Several worried voices chattered, indistinct. Indecisive. He couldn't blame them - after all, they had just witnessed their hero turn out to be a villain. Perhaps Joko had been right - at least in the sense that both of them were abominations.

Perhaps the world would one day need saving - from him. But until then, he could still work to make it better.

"Soldiers."

His troops shuffled uncomfortably. They had every right to. Monster, someone snarled. He smiled.

"A good friend once told me.. to stop keeping secrets. I admit I fumbled that spectacularly. So, now, there you have it."

"Fucking knew you can't have killed a god." Vaughn spat, lips trembling over angry fangs. He raised his rifle, claw hovering dangerously over the lever. "Without selling your soul for power."

He laced his fingers, and smiled apologetically. There was no resentment in his eyes, only understanding. No words to make it better. Only open ears, to hear what was overdue. The price for this betrayal. At the very least, he had managed to keep up the act until the Dragon War was over. This operation? He would gladly step down if asked. Though Logan had been aware from the start, they both agreed on one thing: keep it under wraps. And if the cat ever gets out of the bag, then, well...

"Soldier." He addressed the charr. "While we're still on the field, your behavior is mutiny. Reconsider."

"Fucking bold of you to talk, monster!"

"And pray tell, what will shooting me accomplish that cutting off my head failed to?"

The Lieutenant snarled, but slowly lowered his gun. Bronze eyes gazing with nothing but pure disgust at the sylvari who seemed to be, despite all, a picture of flawless stoicism. All a part of his charm. Every liar needed a strong façade.

The Commander opened his mouth to speak. Maolmuire, however, had other ideas.

"Everyone! Don't you know the Void's properties have been evolving? Didn't you hear about the haze in the Gyala Depths?"

Maelmordha sighed. "Maolmuire..."

"It's messing with us. This is a mass hallucination!"

It seemed he had to be more... forceful.

"Maolmuire, stop! You've said enough."

"You're complicit, huh, you malformed weed?" Tornbanner sneered. "All you hivemind bastards were in on it from the get-go."

The necromancer focused his gaze on the Iron Legionnaire, something dark in his eyes that sent a shiver of dread up the warrior's spine. "I'm asking for the last time, Lieutenant Tornbanner. As for everyone else. I do not intend to falsify the truth, and welcome those who wish to report the incident to do so at their leisure."

He could feel an era close with his words. Despite everything, still he smiled. Time and time again, he found a way to smile in the face of those who doubted him. Always, he would.

"It is overdue that I stand in front of the Pact War Tribunal for my crime against Tyria and her people. But first... Lieutenant, report. Is everyone alright?"

Something shifted behind Vaughn's eyes. Flews slipping over jutting fangs - a predator that only stood down knowing its might to be no use. Not in front of a Godkiller. A Dragonslayer. A... whatever this man even was.

"Nobody was badly hurt... Maelmordha." The name tasted like venom on his tongue. "I answered you. So now, you'll answer us."

"I will, rest assured." Without further ado, the choppers descended, extending ladders. The necromancer looked away, turning his gaze to the sky.

"Everyone. It was an honor to be your Commander."

[thecoolmannequinmarkfan]

uhhhh stuff about me !!!]

[green = more interested in then the others / preferred]

my name is charlie!!

i don’t care what pronouns you use on me but i prefer he/they a bit more than the others

some fandoms i’m in

-MLP

-BBIEAL + inspired/fan games

-REGRETEVATOR

-OSC

-FNF MODS (specifically bobs onslaught)

-BEAR (the * and bear alpha game on roblox)

-TOTAL DRAMA

-AMONG US LOGIC (supa cringe dead web series but whatevers)

-CRK

some music i listen to !!

-TMBG (I LOVE THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS)

-LEMON DEMON

-TALLY HALL

-“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC

-DAZEY AND THE SCOUTS

-THE CARETAKER

-JACK STAUBER (all of his albums!!)

some characters i really like from fandoms i’m in !!

MLP- cheese sandwich!!!!!!!!

-BBIEAL like a lot of the bbieal +inspired games characters

REGRETEVATOR- MANNEQUIN MARK MANNEQUIN MARK MANNEQUIN MARK MANNEQUIN MARK I LOVE MANNEQUIN MARK FROM REGRETEVATOR

-OSC FOLDER HFJONE IS MY FAVORITE OBJECT SHOW CHARACTER OHH MY GOD I LOVE FOLDER !!

-FNF MODS ron from bobs onslaught

-BEAR malbear

-TOTAL DRAMA the ice dancers !! i love ice dancers

- AMONG US LOGIC mr. cheese

-CRK i like golden cheese cookie

[sociologyonthemove]

Culture and Class in the London Borough of Ealing by Tiana Kooner

In order to navigate the city of London, to investigate cultural and class differences across the borough of Ealing, I utilised a multi-sensory method that involved listening, smelling and seeing the city in a new scape. This allowed me to capture the relationship between walking each district and their distinct senses, in order to gain a sense of knowing in the place I am walking  (Hall and Smith, 2017) and its entwined cultural meanings and values.

I start my city walk in the London borough of Ealing in the district of Southall, also known as ‘little Punjab’ by the residents, due to its overwhelmingly large south Asian population (Gillespie, 1995). This notion became quickly apparent through not only the clothing worn by locals, which was especially noticeable on females who were wearing Salwar kameez’s, traditional and reflecting of their culture, but also through the faint smells of East Asian spices that lingered outside the houses I passed; highlighting the high population of Asian residents. My journey starts down a quiet terraced street that is posited in a criss-cross junction of housed streets. As I tuned into the noises as I walked in twists and turns to get towards the high street, I realised I could hear noises that I would normally ignore or subconsciously drown out throughout the many years I have walked these streets. I could hear the singing of the birds coming from the small park situated behind the houses, combined with the absence of traffic noises, horn beeps and even sirens that are synonymous with the capital, I almost felt I was walking in a small rural city; not in the busy soundscape of London. However, as I continued to weave my way through the streets, becoming closer to the high street, this idyllic image starts to fade. I am jumped back to the reality, as I am awoken by the sounds of engines, which remind me I am walking through a congested city. 

As I reach Lady Margaret high street, I start to trek north up the road to continue my journey towards the bus stop. Whilst passing the wealth of shops that scattered this district, the cultural landscape I was walking became even more apparent. The road consisted of many unique locally run cash and carrys, which appeared to be exclusive to Southall. There were fashion shops that sold fabrics and kameez’s, which would not normally hold a spot on a typical high street and also the vast majority of fast food outlets, which when I passed, overpowered my nose with the smell of fried food; giving a slight break from the constant background aroma of petrol. The windows paraded signs that marked ‘halal’ and ‘vegetarian’, further signifying to the culture religious beliefs held by residents in this borough. 

This shop-scattered street also reflected the class positioning of the area. With shops that were set up like market stalls, with stacks of plastic buckets, mops and blankets piled outside, jewellery lying on tables next to packets of henna and hair scrunchies. These stores were like a ‘jumble sale’ that sold all kinds of bits and bobs; untypical to the stores that I am used to seeing on my local high street.  Similarly, the mannequins used to show case clothes were stood with missing limbs and flecks of paint missing from their faces; which is not a sight you would see if you were to take a trip down to an ‘alpha territory’ (Knowles, 2017) high-street. Through the abundance of these styles of shops, with the odd positioning through out of ‘Lycamobile’ sim card stands (that advertised cheap calls to India and Pakistan) it became apparent that it was an area of lower affluence, that is popular with the Asian population, due to the established amenities that adhere specifically to their cultural needs. 

As I continued to walk past these shops, the sound of the main road next to me could not be ignored. The loud roar of traffic and revved cars made it impossible to hear any noise that was not associated with passing cars and buses. No matter how much I tried to block out the noise, it was beyond the bounds of possibility to hear anything different. The only breaks that were provided was through the blaring music of cars passing by playing loud beats of music, mostly from the Bhangra genre, and the small bursts (which felt less than 2 seconds long) of no cars, where it was possible to hear the conversations of the few passer-by’s. To accompany these sounds, the air was filled with the strong stench of petrol that I would normally un-tune myself out from smelling whenever I walked through London. However, by constantly being alert to my senses, I was no longer taking the blasé outlook I normally encompass (Simmel, [1903], 1971). Instead I was open; liberating my senses to new scents and noises I would usually subconsciously dull out. 

I persisted to make my way up Lady Margaret road, closer to Southall Broadway, the dimensions of the road started to change. With the bottom characterised by cultural shops and take-away’s, as well as a disused house, that bore an extremely overgrown garden, littered with beer bottles and cans. The top told a different story. The shops had altered into a terrace of large, well maintained Victorian houses; I felt like I was walking a completely different street. To accompany this change, I also noted the pavement took a new look. When I first turned on to the road, the pavement was cracked and uneven, yet when I approached the end towards these more grand houses, the pavement became more smooth and even. This highlighted to me that this might be an area where more upper class residents may reside, through the care that was reflected in the path and presentation of the houses. 

As I passed these houses and a mosque, I approached a conjunction of traffic lights, which notified me that I had reached Broadway. The absence of people on my walk up was quickly explained by the abundance of people that were situated here, many out for a browse or to shop. Here the cultural differences were further amplified with the same amount of independent shops that were posited at where I started on Lady Margaret road. Likewise, the majority of people that walked the streets were all from an Ethnic minority background, so much so I felt that in this situation being from a Caucasian background might be seen to be the minority. As I turned left at the lights to continue my journey to the bus stop, I passed the Three Horseshoes, a pub I have observed for the past 20 years. To my surprise, it was closed, boarded up with a sign in front signalling its plan to become apartments. It became clear to me that this was one of many developments that were occurring in response to the crossrail project that is being implemented here. I started to wonder if this is the first step towards the eventual gentrification of Southall and how this will effect residents and all these locally run shops and places that have been historically invested with cultural meanings and values (Arkette, 2004) that reflect East Asian culture; what impact is this project going to have on the dynamic of the class and culture that is distinct to Southall?

I pondered this thought as I walked a short distance up the road towards the bus stop. However, my train of thought derailed when I noticed the state of the bus shelter. It was characterised by dirt, chicken bones and etched in glass that could not be deciphered. However, no one seemed to be bothered by this, instead the focus was on the arrival of the next bus, with unisons of people all looking down the street eager for the bus to arrive. The stench of petrol was rife, due to the heavy traffic on the road. Through the overwhelming roar of engines and horns, I was unable to hear anything else; it was even a task to hear the people conversing next to me. As I started to get more used to the noises and smells synonymous with pollution, I waited patiently for the 607 to arrive to take me towards Ealing Common. As I gazed around my surroundings, I was struck by the diversity of people who were waiting to get on the bus. A commonly held perception is that those who utilise public transport, in particular buses, mainly derive from a lower income background (Titheridge et al, 2014). However as I continued to look around the over flowing shelter, it became quickly apparent that this ideology did not hold true in London. Instead it actually challenges this view, as I could see that class background did not deter anyone from seeking public transport. While there was a large majority of ethnic minority women, there was also a mix of school children, the elderly, day travellers and also workers; where one man made his profession apparent through his ‘Parcel Force’ uniform and another by a suit and briefcase; highlighting how regardless of your social position, everyone comes together to use transport services.

About 5 minutes later the 607 arrived. With a quick scan of my contactless card, I boarded the bus, with no conversing needed, and took a seat at the back along with a mother and her young child, who she was talking to in another language. As the bus started to move off, I could feel the rumble and bumps, which caused me to lightly sway as we started to head towards Ealing Common. As I surveyed the bus, the cultural adversity of Southall was still reflected within and without. On board this was reflected by passengers, languages heard and the faint mix of senses, a collaboration of strong spices (familiar with East Asian cooking) with sunscreen and fresh linen. Outside told the same story as Lady Margaret road, as I gazed upon rows of small local shops and independent takeaways that continued to represent local culture and lower affluence.

As I continued to glare out the window, I was struck by the presence of a car dealership at the end of one the roads, which were otherwise home to these small local shops, which appeared out of place. As the bus continued to pass by, I could see that the only cars this place stocked was used Rolls Royce’s, yet by the front outlook of the shop and where it was positioned, I questioned the legitimacy and what the catch may be if one was purchased from here. In doing so, I was quickly reminded of Boycie’s dodgy car dealership from Only fools and horses, which further made me reflect on the class background of the area. 

As the bus trudged on, getting closer to Ealing common, I started to notice a blur between areas that before could distinctly be seen as belonging to an area of lower affluence and strong cultural influence, to that of a more affluent market, with well known shops and restaurants, such as Marks and Spencer’s and Starbucks. Just 5 minutes ago the streets of shops were lined with un-monopolised stores and takeaways, yet they were now filled with the usual high street vendors, al fresco restaurants and small side streets filled with ‘hidden gems of trend’ consisting of affluent boutiques and food. I also became aware of big red signs attached to metal street sign poles indicating the cross rail movement. To coincide, boarded buildings, signs of new homes and apartments and also one for a new cocktail bar can be seen to have taken over local cash and carry’s; further signalling to the early sings of gentrification that are sure to intensify in due course. 

As I reached my destination and as the bus starts to empty, it became clear that I was no longer in the presence of a district that was highly populated with East Asian residents, instead just travelling 30 minutes across the borough had transported me into a culture that was full of affluent shoppers and hipster foodies, where high street conglomerates stood tall without the presence of the ‘jumble sale shops’ and fried food stenches that lined the streets just over three miles away. 

Bibliography 

Arkette, S. 2004. Sounds like city. Theory, culture and society 21(1), pp. 159-168.

Hall, T. and Smith, R. 2017. Seeing the need: Urban outreach as sensory walking. In: Bates, C. and Rhys-Taylor, A. eds. Walking through social research. London: Routledge, pp. 39-54. 

Gillespie, M. 1995. Television, ethnicity and cultural change. London: Routledge. 

Knowles, C. 2017. Walking W8 in Manolos. In: Bates, C. and Rhys-Taylor, A. eds. Walking through social research. London: Routledge, pp. 197-200. 

Simmel, G. 1971 [1903]. The metropolis and mental life. In: Simmel G and Levine, D. N. eds. On individuality and social forms. Chicago: University of Chicago press, pp. 324-340. 

Titheridge, H. et al. 2014. Transport and poverty: A review of the evidence. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/transport-institute/pdfs/transport-poverty[Accessed: 23 April 2018].

[neondiamond]

♥️ Recently Read Fics - February 2022 ♥️

These are all the amazing fics I read over the past month (from shortest to longest). Don’t forget to leave kudos and comments to show the authors your appreciation if you read any of these! 💗

♥️ what’s that sound by @onlyfor-thegays (485, NR)

An omega freaking out the first time they hear an alpha purr because they were raised by and around betas and omegas. They had never heard it before and they freaked out thinking their alpha was hurt.

♥️ The Phantom Heart by @haztobegood (500, NR)

Harry notices the small stain at the edge of fabric. She scrapes her nail across the mark. It won’t come off. A smudge of crusted paint forever staining the threads baby pink with a bittersweet memory.

♥️ Thunder and Rain by @neondiamond (628, G, yes this one is mine, but we love a bit of self-promo in this house)

There’s a storm outside and Louis can’t find the puppies. Luckily, Harry’s there.

♥️ let me show you by @thestylinsons (1k, T)

After three rounds and several empty bottles, Louis is feeling a bit tipsy and everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves. Niall has just finished his turn, “Never have I ever got a tattoo”, to which everyone else groans and reluctantly drinks. Louis laughs to himself because he remembers the time he swore he’d never get a tattoo, and now he’s got an arm full. At this point, the alcohol slides down Louis’ throat like honey.

“Tommo, it’s your turn now.” He hums and looks around the room. Niall’s staring at him, giddy off the high of his last turn. Harry’s got both hands around his drink now, the label torn to pieces on the floor. Zayn and Liam are next to each other, and Louis remembers Zayn telling everyone something that happened a few months ago.

Or, everyone plays 'Never Have I Ever', and Louis discovers something about himself.

♥️ Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by @allwaswell16 (1k, NR)

Louis is having a personal crisis, a third Valentine's Day being single. Unless he meets someone this week at the high end department store he works at, he'll be stuck going to Niall's Valentine's Day party--again.

Or the one where Harry mistakes Louis for a mannequin.

♥️ forever&more by @solitudeandchaos (1k, G)

Harry hands the envelope over to her and watches her throw it into the bin full of letters.

“Are you sure it’ll get to New Zealand in time?”

“It should but it’s hard to tell with Covid.”

Harry bit his lip worriedly, nodded and tapped his phone against the card machine to pay.

or

it's valentine's day. harry and louis haven't seen each other in two and a half months, they swap valentine's day cards from eleven thousand miles apart.

♥️ as long as there’s us by @hershelsue (2k, G)

Harry and Zayn discuss what to do for Valentine's Day. It doesn't really matter.

♥️ Happy Valentine’s Day, You Cockroach by @allwaswell16 (2k, NR)

Harry Styles, new director of the Milltown Zoo, has a great idea for a Valentine's Day themed fundraiser. For a donation, they'll name cockroaches after people's exes and then feed them to the meerkats on a live stream. He just didn't foresee how many cockroaches would end up with his name...

♥️ you (lost and lonely) by @hershelsue (2k, E)

Harry and Louis have a couple of days together before Louis goes on tour. Sometimes, however, dysphoria hits Harry harder than he can handle. Louis makes it alright.

♥️ Lips of an Angel by @beelou (2k, G)

And Louis can’t believe what he’s seeing. A man, cuddling with a grown bear. Literally rubbing its belly like a contented puppy. He can hear baby talk coming out of the man’s mouth too. Louis rubs his eyes to see if this is actual real life, but when he uncovers them, the sight before him is still there. He didn’t think that when he took his siblings to the zoo that they would see something as odd as this.

♥️ Sleepy Nouis series by @ladyaj-13 (2k, T)

A collection of unrelated Niall and Louis stories where for whatever reason, they end up in bed together.

♥️ take me home (forever and ever) by @twoghostsdancin (2k, T)

As he grips the counter tightly with his sweaty palms, the cashier gives him a concerned glance, an eyebrow angling in confusion. Louis is sure he’s saying something, but he can’t hear a single thing coming out of his mouth. It’s like someone just turned off all his senses, and all he can hear in his ears is a faint ringing sound. He staggers backward, his mind swirling, and his breaths shallow until he feels himself fall into a strong grip.

The world goes black.

Or. The first time Louis falls, Harry catches him. The second time he falls, it’s for Harry.

♥️ At Last by @juliusschmidt (3k, T)

That’s when Louis sees it, scrawled in the corner: let’s do valentine’s.

There’s a few more notes after that, a place and a number, but Louis can’t process them in that moment.

His heart pounds and his head spins. Zayn wants to spend Valentine’s Day… with Louis. Louis’d spent so much time equivocating about whether or not to ask Zayn on a date that Zayn had beat him to it.

♥️ Gonna Dress You Up In My Love by @fallinglikethis (3k, T)

Harry decides to take up knitting. He's horrible at it.

Louis wears everything anyway.

♥️ I Can Be Your Vice by @littleroverlouis (3k, E)

It could be his innate flight or fight instincts kicking in. His predator is closing in and he is the prey. Fear would be a rational response.

After all, there is a centuries old vampire standing directly behind him.

“You’re ahead of schedule, Louis.”

Or Harry and Louis are FWBB (friends with bloodsucking benefits)

♥️ I'll do anything you say (If you say it with your hands) by @harrystomlinson (3k, G)

"What d'ya say curly?" Louis raises his eyebrow, mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"I'll do anything you say." Harry's voice comes out breathy, eyes widening when he realised what he'd said.

Louis doesn't reply- only takes his hand and pulls him in.

♥️ Make Your Mark by @ladyaj-13 (3k, T)

When one of Liam's classmates isn't getting the hint that he's not interested, Louis suggests they make him look unavailable.

♥️ Been Waitin’ (After Weekend After Weekend After) by @absoloutenonsense (3k, T)

Louis and Harry meet at a laundromat.

♥️ Validation by @lululawrence (3k, NR)

“Hey, how are you?” Harry asked. He’d found that sometimes just a smile and a kind face was all that was needed to brighten someone’s day.

“Oh, uhm. I’m alright. Can you validate me? »

Harry chuckled inwardly, but decided to go ahead and take him literally.

Or the one where Harry worked in a parking garage and he totally didn’t mean for this, the whole validation of people as well as their parking tickets, to become a thing. It just kinda...did.

♥️ Somersault by @sun-lt (4k, G)

“Got you something,” Louis whispers eventually.

Something in Harry’s stomach fizzes; the idea of presents—especially surprise ones—has never failed to evoke somersault excitement in his belly. And though he never has any expectations, it’s certainly not uncommon for Louis to spoil him like this when he knows Harry’s had a rubbish sort of day.

Louis gets Harry presents. Harry’s contemplating getting Louis a ring.

♥️ in the shallow water, you can swim around me (i won’t mind) by @non-binharry (4k, E)

“What’s got you all worked up this morning, princess?”

Louis tickles up Harry's ribs and Harry squirms, slapping his hands away.

"Your little footie players are in here giving their mummy hell this morning." Harry explains. “I could barely sleep so I had a little bath. I thought it was only fair that you give me a hand to lotion myself up.”

“And just where do you want me to rub you down, my love?” Louis asks, an amused lilt to his question. Harry knows that Louis had already figured out exactly what he was really getting at, too embarrassed to flat out say he was horny at 8 o’clock on a Thursday morning. Harry’s libido was going haywire in his final trimester, and while Louis was never going to refuse pulling his cock out to give his baby exactly what he wanted, Harry felt undignified over the reality that he could barely function these days if he didn’t do something first to relieve the aching pressure building just beneath the surface.

“Hmm,” Harry says, tapping his chin, “I think I want you to start… here.”

♥️ Click by @allwaswell16 (5k, E)

When Louis got assigned a roommate, he wasn’t exactly thrilled, but as far as roommates go Marcel was a pretty good one. That was until Marcel started clicking a counter everywhere he went...

♥️ baby I’ll never leave (if you keep holding me this way) by @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed (6k, T)

His fingers curl around the first thing he can find that would be suitable as a weapon, an umbrella that has a rather impressive looking metal pin at the end. He holds it in front of him the way he imagines people hold a sword, tiptoeing through his living room until he can find whoever’s in his kitchen. He briefly considers calling 999, figures that if someone’s trying to burgle him, he should probably not be a hero and actually rely on professionals to arrest them, but he’s never been the type to sit back and wait, and -- is that singing?

It is singing. Whoever is trying to rob him is in his kitchen, singing an eighties pop song under their breath.

And they made cookies?

♥️ you bring me home by @solvetheminourdreams (6k, G)

OTRA Melbourne — 14th of February, 2015

It's Valentine's day. It's Valentine's day and Harry's annoyed, because instead of spending the night with his boyfriend after a day packed with promo and a show—he can't find him anywhere.

Or the one where the boys trash a dressing room, Liam and Zayn just want a gift wrapped, Niall's life is in peril, Louis is MIA, and Harry's just a tad frustrated.

Did he mention it's Valentine's day?

♥️ Kiss Me Again, You Fool by @wabadabadaba (6k, E)

“Louis, you’re cuter than a button. Will you be my valentine? Hm, no,” Marcel scowls. “It is true but no. ‘I love you a latte!’ But wait, does he drink coffee? Only sometimes so that doesn’t make sense.”

Marcel sticks his tongue out as he ices three more cookies.

“I go bananas for you,” Marcel giggles. “That’s cute, but not sophisticated enough. He’s the best designer on our floor, he deserves something better. ‘Right from the start, you stole my heart?’ No, I don’t want to scare him off. I should probably just speak from the heart, that’s always what mom says. But then Gemma says that’s lame, I don’t knooow,” Marcel groans.

or the one where Marcel has a huge crush on his coworker, Louis, and decides Valentine's Day is the day to put himself out there.

♥️ Where Love Grows by @neondiamond (6k, T, more shameless self-promo)

When his husband leaves without warning only weeks after the birth of their first child, a struggling Harry is forced to move in with a work colleague and raise his newborn in the desolate, dreary outskirts of London. There, within the walls of a shitty apartment complex, he meets Louis Tomlinson, fellow struggling parent and hopeless romantic.

♥️ young hearts on the chase by @polaroidlouis (7k, G)

Before he can question him any further, Harry’s holding out a drink to him, ‘Louis’ written on the side of it with messy, pink letters. Warmth spreads all throughout Louis’ body when he takes it, starting from the tip of his fingers where they brush Harry’s to curl around the cup and settling in his chest.

“I also got us– um,” the omega starts, nervous fingers fumbling to get the paper bag open. “Got you an egg muffin. Or– or a normal muffin if you don’t like egg ones.”

“Who doesn’t like egg muffins?”

The smile that breaks across Harry’s face in response is as bright as the one yesterday. Louis almost expects it to be kissed into his cheek as well. It looks like Harry’s considering it for a moment, too, dreamy gaze gliding all over Louis’ expectant face. He seems to decide against it with a sigh though, and Louis’ not disappointed when they start walking side by side instead (he’s not).

harry’s a hopeless romantic, louis’ oblivious, and it’s going to be Valentine’s Day.

♥️ in comes the rain by @starlitlou (7k, M)

Louis glared down at the calendar notification on his phone, as if by the power of his gaze alone, he could make time skip forward. He just really did not want to deal with this.

Stupid fucking heat. Stupid fucking biology.

He knew it was dumb how worked up he got about it. It was far from his first time having to deal with it and it would be far from his last. And yet.

-

Being ace and an omega had never been Louis' favourite combination. Even less so when his heat is involved. Unfortunately, it's not something he can avoid forever. Harry makes it all a bit better.

♥️ With You Here, It’s Better by @chloehl10 (11k, M)

Louis hates Valentine's Day, especially since he's found himself suddenly single yet again.

When he stumbles upon his ex in the pub cavorting with his new boyfriend, Louis has had enough. He doesn't, however, expect a tall, curly haired stranger to come and turn his night around...

♥️ It’s Been Ages by @2tiedships2 (13k, NR)

“We need to talk,” Niall said as he plopped down on Louis’ bed. “It’s you and Harry. You like him, he likes you, it’s a match made in heaven and you will one day be mates,”

Louis shook his head in exasperation. “If you’ve been watching, you would see that Harry is interested in, like, alpha alphas. Not me.”

“What the fuck is an alpha alpha?” Niall asked with furrowed brows.

“You know what I mean,” Louis said, giving Niall a pointed look.

“I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.”

♥️ two sugars by @sun-lt (21k, T)

Louis rushes away to the kitchen, waving distractedly, and as his and Niall’s voices rise in a muffled squabble, Harry commits his first ever act of theft.

Louis’ blanket, emerald polar fleece still heated from his body, soaked in the mountain lake notes of Louis’ scent and the sugary aroma of the café, fits easily beneath his parka. Harry’s heart pounds like he’s run a marathon and his tea—perfectly sweet—burns as it splashes on his cheeks and chin, his trembling fingers failing to control the tilt of the paper cup.

-

Lonely and anxious in a new city and a new job, obsessed with preparing for a picture-perfect future he can’t actually picture, Harry begins to nest but can’t allow himself to indulge enough to satisfy the bone-deep, instinctual urge. Louis works in a café with a yellow door, has an extensive collection of soft sweaters, and keeps offering Harry books and pastries.

♥️ With A Little Kindness by @jacaranda-bloom (33k, E)

The man lays his hand on Harry’s forearm and Harry looks up as the stranger leans in. “I just wanted to say,” he whispers. “Can I cover your bill? I’m a big believer in paying it forward and I can see you’re struggling. It’s none of my business, of course, but I’d really like to help.”

OR the one where Harry is a struggling single parent who doesn’t have time for relationships and Louis is a generous stranger who is unlucky in love, until fate decides to step in and bring them together.

♥️ Bring It Back That Old Feeling by @all-these-larrythings (57k, M)

After six years together, Harry thought there wasn’t anything that he didn’t know about his husband, and no problem they couldn’t solve with a kiss and a snuggle. After a painful year of booze and heartache, he realizes some problems are much harder to fix, but the wait is always worth it.

[allwaswell16]

A masterpost of One Direction uni/college fics by @allwaswell16. You can find all my other fics here!

—Harry/Louis—

I Didn't Fall For You (You Fucking Tripped Me)

(E, 20k, a/b/o, alpha Harry, omega Louis, uni, neighbors, pining, enemies to friends to lovers, pet fic, monitor lizard named Chad Michael Murray, bad pick up lines, smut)

He’s dated too many knotheads in his time, and he’s ready to just focus on school and his friends and his pet monitor lizard, of course. Too bad the alpha next door won’t take a hint and stop using the worst pick up lines of all time on him.

Charity Ficlets

(NR, 10k, chapter 1: Shiny Objects, Harry Potter au, professors, enemies to lovers, chapter 2: 500 Miles, roommates, revenge, song fic)

Chapter 1: Shiny Objects: Louis isn't so sure about Professor Styles, but when he must save him from a loose niffler, things change between them.

Chapter 2: 500 Miles: Louis hates being ignored, and he knows just how to get his roommates attention.

Easier

(E, 6k, a/b/o, omega/omega, exes to lovers au, uni, soulmates, soul marks, soul bonds, candy shop, getting back together, angst with a happy ending, fate/destiny, smut)

The last person Louis wants to see is his ex-boyfriend who also happens to be his soulmate.

We're Dancing On Tables

(E, 5k, uni au, house party, drinking, jealousy, mutual pining, flirting, miscommunication, limes, humor, revenge, smut)

Last week, Louis went on the very best date of his life with the hot guy from his chemistry lab, which was great until the guy never texted him or called him afterwards.

Click

(E, 5k, uni au, roommates, Harry as Marcel, students, nerd Harry, humor, fluff, pining, kissing, smut)

When Louis got assigned a roommate, he wasn’t exactly thrilled, but as far as roommates go Marcel was a pretty good one.

Running Through A Cloud Of Steam

(M, 5k, soulmates au, bodyswap, uni, London, kissing, pining, jealousy, friends to lovers, roommates, fluff, implied smut)

As Harry’s long anticipated twenty-first birthday approaches, he anxiously awaits the moment when he finally meets his soulmate.

Let You Lick the Lollipop

(E, uni au, Halloween party, humor, enemies to lovers, costumes, Top Gun references, candy, flirting, kissing, smut)

Louis may be throwing a Halloween costume party for a lot of drunk college students, but that doesn’t mean he can’t also hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.

White Stripes

(E, 3k, a/b/o, alpha/alpha, roommates, friends to lovers, blind date, zoo, pining, fluff, smut)

Harry’s roommate is gorgeous, kind, generous, and basically everything Harry has ever wanted in another alpha.

You & Me

(G, 3k, uni au, short story adaptation, fate/destiny, meet cute, blind date)

Louis hasn't had much luck in love, so he decides to finally meet this boy his mother thinks is his match.

Hometown

(NR, 2k, high school, uni, birthday, coffee shop, winter, unreliable narrator, dramatic Harry, angst with a happy ending)

On the day Harry gets his driver’s licence, he drives through the suburbs, heartbroken that he can’t drive home to Louis.

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

(NR, 1k, Valentine's Day au, uni, department store, embarrassing situation, disaster gay Harry, crack, meet cute, awkwardness, humor, crack)

the one where Harry mistakes Louis for a mannequin.

Walk of Shame 

(T, ~1k, meet cute, Chicago, rain, subway, art students, holding hands)

On a cold, rainy autumn morning Louis meets someone else doing the walk of shame.

Attention

(NR, 600 words, uni au, enemies to lovers, Halloween party, prank, costumes, humor)

When Louis is sent to buy more candy for the Halloween party, he finds the perfect costume, one that's sure to get under his nemesis' skin.

Spring Break

(NR, 500 words, vacation au, uni, Florida, spring break, grocery store, coincidence, grey sweatpants, humor)

Harry runs into a familiar face while on spring break.

Today's the Day (series)

(G, 300 words, coffee shop, uni, pining, winter, drabbles)

Harry pines for the beautiful boy he sees in the coffee shop.

And Follow The Sun

(G, 100 words, uni au, meet cute, pining, drabble)

Harry pines for the boy who sits across the classroom from him.

—Rare Pairs—

Hesitate

(E, 3k, Louis/Liam, uni au, childhood friends, friends to lovers, breakup, getting back together, angst with a happy ending, house party, miscommunication, smut)

A college au where Liam and Louis went from childhood friends to lovers to exes and back again.

[autisticandroids]

any specific episodes of supernatural you'd recommend for someone who's never seen the show but love love LOVES your analysis posts?

- 6x20 the man who would be king

- really the whole run of episodes from 6x17 to 7x01

- 5x04 the end (best enjoyed with a side of 5x03 free to be you and me)

- 5x14 my bloody valentine

- 7x21 reading is fundamental

- 4x22 lucifer rising

- i am gritting my teeth here, but 9x03 i'm no angel / 9x06 heaven can't wait double feature

- 4x17 it's a terrible life

- 6x01 exile on main street

- 13x01 lost and found

- 13x04 the big empty

- 14x10 nihilism

- 9x22 stairway to heaven

- 10x03 soul survivor

- 9x10 road trip

- 11x06 our little world

- 14x20 moriah

- 12x03 the foundry

- 9x11 first born

- 4x14 sex and violence

- 10x22 the prisoner (but only really like. the last five-ish minutes)

- HATE to recommend this but 6x05 live free or twi-hard / 6x06 you can't handle the truth double feature

- 15x09 the trap

- 15x04 atomic monsters

- 2x20 what is and what should never be

- 11x23 alpha and omega

- 5x16 dark side of the moon

- 6x14 mannequin 3: the reckoning but only like. the bits where lisa is on screen

this is a list of episodes that i think about a lot. it's not a list of episodes that i like (there are a number of my favorites, like 7x17 the born-again identity, 12x19 the future, or 14x15 peace of mind, which are excluded because while they are good, all they do is make my brain ping! like a tapped wine glass, they don't make me think. there are also episodes on here which i don't like that much, like 9x11 first born, or 11x06 our little world, but which do make me think).

also this is a kind of random jumble and if you asked me on a different day you'd get a different list. but i am very obsessed with godstiel arc, mark of cain arc, and the divorce arc, and unfortunately it shows.

i would also say anything written by ben edlund, sera gamble, andrew dabb (NOT cowritten between andrew dabb and daniel lofflin, i don't care for lofflin), eric kripke, steve yockey, robert berens (DEROGATORY), and maybe davy perez? are things i have like. thoughts on.

[soldouthaz]

hey! beneath the cut you’ll find a list of fics I've read and re-read this month. it’s been almost two months since my last rec so I thought I would update you guys just in case! 

as always, the fics are marked with their details as well as if it is b!L, b!H, or smut free. please make sure to pay attention to this if it’s something that you’re interested in and only interact with the ones that align with your tastes. be kind and considerate and always think about leaving a nice comment or kudos or reblog if you read! I think everyone could use some positivity right now :) 

I'm also putting together a list of halloween themed fics coming out in October so make sure to look out for that as well! 

happy reading! 

read this month 

✰ loving you’s a bloodsport by @rosesau 106k | royal au | no smut

harry is a bratty prince, louis is a guard who works in his palace, and niall is the only one who's got his life in control. as someone once said: this is not a love story, but love is in it. that is, love is just outside it, looking for a way to break in.

✰ take my whole life too by @goodmorninglou 18k | dom/sub | WIP | b!L

Louis knows three things, at the base of it all.

He likes when Harry hurts him. He doesn’t know why, not really, but he knows that he likes it. Likes giving up control, likes feeling small and taken care of, likes being praised for taking whatever Harry gives him for as long as he gives it.

He and Harry are meant to be. No matter what time they finally fall together, what day, what age, what place, the moment that they do, that’ll be it. It’s going to be them against everyone else, hand in hand for the rest of their lives. That’s been a given since they met. The half of Louis’ soul that’s missing is Harry’s.

And, sans those two things, he doesn’t really know much of anything at all.

✰ quiet people have the loudest minds by @2tiedships2 38k | a/b/o | heavily implied b!L

The one where Louis is a nonverbal omega who has accepted the fact that he will never find an alpha that will treat him as an equal. On the other hand, he’s never met anyone like Harry.

✰ there’s nothing like it, nothing at all by @falsegoodnight 15k | dom/sub | b!L | sequel

Harry isn’t ready for things to change, and the end is just the beginning.

✰ filthy musings by @smrwine 55k | one shots | b!L

A collection of drabbles for your reading pleasure.

✰ fuck u betta by @jacaranda-bloom 11k | PWP | b!L

There’s something about having Louis like this, exposed and desperate, that makes a primal urge bubble up from deep inside Harry’s chest. Desire mixed with something else, something unquantifiable. It’s the thing that makes them want this, need this. Nothing else will satisfy them or quench their thirst.

OR the one where Harry likes the thrill of the chase, Louis likes to be chased, and everyone gets what they need… in the end.

✰ three days in february by @mercurial-madhouse / writing_practice 189k | slight magic | b!L

Louis is cursed after a night out with the lads and the five have just three days to figure out what happened and how to break it before Harry and Louis both lose their sanity and maybe something more. Louis can hear everything Harry thinks and Harry isn’t sure he can keep his feelings for Louis a secret from his own mind.

✰ works like a charm by @falsegoodnight 18k | hogwarts au | b!L

Ever since Louis joined the team in fifth year, a few facts have become set in stone.

One: Louis is the best chaser in Hogwarts.

Two: Harry is the best beater in Hogwarts.

Three: They do not get along.

So it’s really unfair of Liam to think that forcing them to spend time together as Louis recovers from his injury will make them the best of friends. The last thing Louis would do is get along with that git.

✰ kings by dolce_piccante 13k | marcel fic | no smut

Marcel receives an invitation to his ten year high school reunion, which brings up some painful memories of his youth. His lifelong best friend and roommate, Louis, is as supportive and kind as ever, but Marcel still has hesitations. Louis was Prom King. Marcel...was not.

Will Marcel make the reunion a night to remember with his former classmate, Zayn, who is newly wealthy, handsome, and reveals his childhood crush on Marcel? Or will Louis finally realize what everyone else has known all along?

✰ until by @allwaswell16 38k | cowboy harry | b!L

Rural Eagle County, Colorado wasn’t the type of place to find a famous musician or actor. At least not until songwriter Louis Tomlinson showed up with pop star Niall Horan to visit his uncle’s horse ranch, and they just happened to find themselves next door to a reclusive former movie star.

✰ tastes like strawberries by @sadaveniren 5k | a/b/o | b!L* 

I’m stressed. I’m nesting and demand cuddles. Come over

Harry frowned and double checked who the text was from. Yup, it still said Louis - Grad, which meant it was from Louis from his grad school.

aka Louis texts Harry by mistake. It works out. 

re-read this month

✰ until I found you by @comebackassholes / dimpled-halo  45k | a/b/o | b!H

Harry Styles is the popstar of the century, or so the media proclaims. He’s linked to every omega he’s seen with, donned as an alpha lothario who isn’t ready to settle down any time soon. His team works hard to publicise him as an alpha who can’t keep his knot in his pants, but not everything is as it seems.

Louis Tomlinson, an aspiring musician working as a porn star and camboy, is waiting for his big break. When he meets Harry Styles he can’t stand the alpha that only uses his power and fame to bed as many omegas as possible. He runs into him at a party and hopes to never see him again only to find that Harry’s assistant is dating Louis’ best friend. To make matters worse, Harry’s about to embark on a world tour and is in need of a guitarist at the last minute, an opportunity Zayn uses to put in a good word for Louis.

What happens when the opportunity that Louis has been waiting for finally comes, but at the price of having to share the stage with one Harry Styles?

✰ makes perfect by checkthemargins 8k | feminization | b!L

"What if you practiced on like, a mannequin?" Louis presses. "Or one of those blow up sex dolls? Or even just like, I don't know, a pillow or something. Whatever it'd fit around."

Harry tilts his head thoughtfully, curls catching the light so entrancingly that Louis finds himself reaching up to push his fingers through them. "It's different, though, innit? When it's a real person. A pillow won't snog me."

"Why should it?" says Louis. "You can't even take its bra off."

✰ confessions of a fabricated alpha by @jaerie 18k | a/b/o | b!H

Famous alpha Harry Styles has a secret and paying an alpha to roleplay a relationship with him over the phone is the only way he can be himself.

✰ like a siren in the night by @crazyupsetter 24k | a/b/o | b!L

“There is an infestation in my home,” Louis hisses, righting himself quickly and pushing his way past Harry, heading directly for the kitchen. He’s rather haphazardly dressed himself, a coat thrown on over a loose flannel shirt and black pants, slippers on his feet.

Harry resists the urge to sigh, closing the door and trailing behind him slowly. “What kind of infestation?”

For all he knows, Louis is going to claim that there’s a ghost infestation. Harry has no idea what the end game is here – all he knows is that Louis has found at least three complaints a week to bring up since he’s been living on Harry’s property, and he’s been living here for six months.

It’s way too many fucking complaints, is what Harry is saying. Especially when most of them are ridiculous to start with.

fics that have been featured in #ficrecfriday so far

✰ loving you’s a bloodsport (x) 

✰ into the midnight sun (x)

✰ bruise you like a peach (x)

✰ push you out, pull you back in (x) 

+ 

if you guys need any more recs, please be sure to check out @cheershalo ‘s blog for her fic recs! they’re amazing and I can’t wait to see what other lists are coming soon!! :) 

happy reading! remember to be kind and keep calm <3

[leham-n-daavocado]

Rate My Ride 2022: Alpha Tauri Livery Launch

Marks will be given for Entertainment Value, Livery Design and Effort. Deductions will be made for Cringe.

Entertainment Value: 8/10

Daft Punk are stuck in Tron Legacy and use a Stargate to enter our world as T-1000 Terminators also infiltrate as fashion models. Is that what's happening? Kept it short. The car is revealed quickly.

Livery Design: 6/10

Alpha Tauri keep just flipping where the black and where the navy is on their car each year and it's boring. That area by the front that states the fashion brand's motto it's awkward af.

Effort: 8/10

A CGI house was hired to create the imagery. They created a fashion show with a set and catwalk.

Cringe: 5/10

The imagery is cool, but what makes it cringe is the lack of a story telling element to justify it. Like just make Pierre and Yuki superheroes here to save us from bad fashion. Maybe they have to eliminate the T-1000s? Without a storyline, the imagery is just pointless. And then, you just make everyone stand there like mannequins. Awkward. Models can walk and pose...and not look like they're needing their mom to pick them up.

Total: 17/30

Anna Wintour's reject pile.

[ch3rr13zk1n]

No thoughts. Just this thing i made that's part of an unfinished joke comic

[amixiifish]

Jealous: Modern AU ABO verse

Zuko is the epitome of obliviousness. When alphas start flirting with him, his boyfriends, Jet and Sokka start to get jealous. They knew Zuko was attractive, of course,  but they weren’t ready for the amount of attention he got. The claim marks on his neck should have deterred most alphas from giving Zuko a second look but it made him seem all the more challenging to win over. Unfortunately, some take challenges much too far.

“Sokka, I’m fine. I can go out for one night,” Zuko said, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend.

“But what if you get hurt?” Sokka whined.

“I’m going shopping with Katara. Something tells me I’ll be fine.” Zuko drawled.

“Sokka, shut up and let him go. He’ll be fine,” Jet said coming down the stairs after showering. Nothing but a towel hung low on his hips. Zuko flushed and looked away while Sokka snorted and said; “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“Or felt,” Jet purred, pulling Zuko closer by his waist, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the pale column of his throat.

“Sh-shut up,” Zuko said, turning four different shades of red.

Sokka chuckles. “You’re so cute when you’re flustered.”

“Ugh, you two are insufferable! Katara’s waiting for me outside,” Zuko huffed.

Sokka hums and presses a chaste kiss to his lips and goes to turn on the TV. Jet grabs a shirt and pants off the couch and throws them on. He watches from the window as Katara tackles Zuko with a hug and gently looks over him when she pulls back. He laughed openly when he saw her poke his ribs and saw her lips form the words “not enough food” and “chicken armed weakling.” 

He must have laughed loudly because Katara looks to the window and flips him off with both hands when he grins at her. She grabs the omega and drags him into the car. 

Jet hums and joins Sokka on the couch.

At the store, Zuko and Katara met Aang and Toph. Aang had long been married to a female beta and Toph wasn’t looking for a mate yet. She has her eyes on a pretty omega but was taking it slow on courting her. Katara had been married last month and had just come back from her honeymoon. 

Toph whistled when she smelt Zuko. “Damn. They really like marking you up, huh,” she says. The clear claim marks from Sokka and Jet on the pretty omega was really giving her blackmail material for years.

“Possessive bastards. I swear if they start treating you wrong tell me. I’ll show them who’s really in charge!” Katara growled.

“Relax, they seem happy enough,” Aang says with a chuckle.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Toph said. “Especially when you can’t see.”

“Ha ha, very funny. Let’s just go,” Zuko groaned.

The 4 of them wove through stores, trying on clothing and playing with games. Toph and Katara left for 2 minutes to change into dresses and came back to witness Aang attempting to put on makeup. Zuko just kept handing him materials, lying about where they go. Aang has lipstick for eyeshadow and contour for foundation. 

“Something tells me that being blind is a great gift right about now,” Toph said 

carefully.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Katara muttered, dragging Aang to the bathroom and giving him a wipe to clear his face. 

“Who knew you had it in you, Sparky?” Toph said.

“I burnt the food one time,” Zuko whined, “Once!”

“It was just water! There was no food! You burnt water!” Katara cried.

“Fine. At least I’m not named Twinkle Toes,” Zuko sighed.

“Hey!” Aang cried out from the bathroom. “The only reason I’m called Twinkle Toes is because Toph has never heard me walk into a room. Burning water is way worse! Also, Katara’s named Sugar Queen! What’s that all about!?”

“You ask for sugar to make princess cupcakes for your cousin once and you're labeled for life,” Katara muttered.

“Princess cupcakes, though? Really?” Zuko questioned.

“She was 5!” Katara cried.

“Not all 5-year-olds like princesses!” Aang shot back.

“Shut up! You’re all arguing like 5-year-olds. Let’s go. We got one last store.” Toph said.

“You’re the one with the nicknames,” Katara sniped back at her. 

The 4 continued arguing to the last store. 

“I don’t wanna go shopping in a dress store,” Zuko and Aang whined.

“We might find one for your wedding, Zuko,” Toph said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Zuko hit her in the back of her head getting a cry of “Hey!” in return.

“You don’t hit blind people, dumbass,” Toph muttered.

“Blind people aren’t supposed to be wrestlers but here we are, breaking records,” Aang said.

“Shut it, Twinkle Toes.”

As the group split off, a voice startled Zuko from where he was standing. 

“Hey. Are you here with anyone?” an alpha asked. Everything about him screamed power and danger. Zuko fought his instincts to run.

“Yeah. My friends are over there,” he says, pointing to where Aang was mocking a mannequin. Katara looked over and saw the alpha and narrowed her eyes but didn’t walk over just yet.

“So, what do you say you tell them that you wanted to hang out later and we can have some fun.” the alpha said, smiling with far too many teeth.

Zuko swallowed. “Umm, I’m good. I’m mated.”

The alpha scoffed. “They can’t be better than me. C'mon, don’t be afraid. Besides, I doubt your alphas will be surprised. Omegas are whores. They spread their legs for anyone.”

Zuko fumed. “No, we don’t. Now leave me alone,” he said, trying to leave.

A hand with an iron grip grabs Zuko’s arm and he bites back a cry of pain. “It wasn’t a question.” the alpha snarled. 

Before he could do anything else, the hand was ripped off of Zuko’s arm and Katara stood at full height snarling at the alpha. Aang gently grabs Zuko and hugs him tight whispering quiet reassurances.

“Fuck off, dickhead. We don’t need shit like you here,” Toph growled.

“What are you gonna do about it, short stack,” the alpha smirked at the shorter alpha.

“Well, we could kill you slowly and hide your body but, you know, I guess that's illegal,” drawled a voice from the back. 

The alpha turned to see Sokka and Jet walking in, their faces absolute stone and eyes 

glaring daggers into the alphas head. 

“Fuck off, bastard. That’s the blind bandit right there. She once pummeled a man twice your size with her hands tied.” Sokka said, pulling Zuko close to him.

The alpha turned pale and looked over to see Toph crack her knuckles. 

“Security, what’s happening,” an officer yelled after noticing a crowd gathering.

“These people were attacking me, officer! I didn’t do anything!” the alpha said.

“That a lie,” yelled a man. “This man was assaulting that omega. His friends came to help him and his alphas told him to leave. He called the omega a whore and told him he was going to take him whether he said yes or no.”

A bunch of others came and told their pieces of the story.

The security officer quickly grabbed the alpha and muttered, “People like you make alphas ashamed of their title, you know.”

The Gaang watched as the alpha was taken away, swearing.

“Well, that was fun,” Aang grumbled. 

“We need to get you some pepper spray,” Jet agreed. 

“You’re bruising!” Katara said, quickly assessing the hints of black and blue on 

Zuko’s arm.

“I’m fine. Thank you. Also, how did you guys get here?” Zuko asked, looking up from where he was leaning on Sokka’s shoulder.

Sokka grinned. “Aang called. Said we should go out for dinner and a movie as a 

group again. We just happened to come in time to save that sorry excuse of an alpha from Katara and Toph.”

Jet laughed. “I’m pretty sure if Zuko was injured worse, even Aang would use his years and years of practice of the arts and go fucking Bruce Lee on his sorry ass.”

Aang sputtered and caused the rest to laugh. 

“How about that movie now?” Katara suggested, linking her arm with Zuko.

“Let’s,” Zuko said, feeling content watching his friends chatter around him.

If in the movie theater a popcorn war was started and at the restaurant Toph burped so loud the chairs shook, no one decided to complain. 

[puppet-master-anti]

Found a little interesting thing on the scp website

When I read about this scp I imediantly thought of Anti. Just read the description of this thing:

Description: SCP-2490 refers to a modified human being, believed to be Chaos Insurgency Special Operative Alpha-19, that has stalked at least ██ Foundation employees since 19██. SCP-2490's head is composed of a single, oblong beige capsule, on which two eyes have been painted and no other facial features are present. Its body consists of multiple white, jointed segments. SCP-2490 possesses claws that appear to be grafted to its hand pods. Based on target testimony, however, most observers perceive it as an ordinary human being.

SCP-2490 displays behavior consistent with game stalkers, identifying a person (or multiple persons) and methodically stalking them, usually through urban and rural areas. The target is (or will become) immune to the mechanism that SCP-2490 uses to disguise itself, but SCP-2490 makes no attempt to disguise its behavior if spotted. Targets have often reported seeing normal persons transform into SCP-2490 before it begins pursuit. SCP-2490 will pursue the target for anywhere between several hours and several months, often showing itself to the target from a range before fleeing. As a result of this behavior, targets usually express lack of sleep, extreme paranoia, introversion, and a phobia of mannequins.

Targets uniformly report SCP-2490 either moving towards them without moving its legs (with its arms outstretched) or scuttling in a matter akin to a crab. SCP-2490 appears to have a type of short-range teleportation (although another hypothesis is that there are multiple instances of SCP-2490). In one instance, SCP-2490's target locked it in a closet, then turned around to see SCP-2490 emerging from a nearby bathroom. Eventually, targets are found unconscious, with puncture marks in their skull. MRI scanning reveals that brain tissue from the cerebellum, hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and random sections of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes has been removed and replaced with a fluid similar to SCP-████'s secretions.

Following an attack, a random SCP that the target previously worked with will disappear. How the object is removed is unknown, as no security measures are activated and no witnesses are ever present. Surveillance footage shows no abnormalities besides a consistent 0.5 second period of static, during which time the object disappears. Attempts to watch anomalous objects in-person result in brief periods of vision failure (usually through malfunctioning lights, human error, or optical instrument failure) during which time the object disappears.

—————

I mean besides the discription of the phsyical appearance, it seems like Anti to me. The fact that the scp doesn’t make himself known unless he knows he’s been found out is really similar to Anti. Like he likes to play with us, but when he knows we’re on to something, he comes out. Another thing is the scp likes to stalk people... uh.. Anti has been stalking Chase for years now. Also the teleportation makes sense. But it says that the target after coming in contact with the scp experiences extreme paranoia. I’d say that’s basically us at this point. We are always so paranoid as to when Anti will return again. I mean this Scp seems a lot like Anti to me. If you guys have any other suggestions on what scp Anti could be, hit me up and lemme read them.

[saxxxology]

What Goes Bump in the Night - 3

PAIRING: Alpha!Sam x Omega!Reader WARNINGS: a/b/o dynamics, Victorian social dynamics, allusions to non-consent and dubious consent, dominance/submission, slow burn with eventual smut, suspense/horror/gore themes.

THIS WORK IS 18+ ONLY. DO NOT REPOST MY WORK ON ANY OTHER SITES.

Series Masterlist

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You wake up alone the next morning. Sam’s pulled the covers back over his spot, and when you run a hand over the sheet, you find it cold. 

He’s been up for a while.

You sit up, rubbing your sore eyes before looking towards the table. He’s cleared your dishes, and his clothes from the night before are gone. It’s almost as if he was never there, and you’d truly believe that if his scent had faded. His pillow still smells like him, and you lean over, instinctively laying your head upon it and breathing in deep. As terrifying as the Alpha might be, his scent is sweet and soothing and you let it envelop you in a warm, honey-like cocoon.

You don’t know how long you hang in that space between sleep and consciousness. The sound of the door opening pulls you from your hazy slumber, and you open your eyes to see Sam standing in the doorway, carrying another tray of food. He eyes the way your face is pressed into the soft cushion where his head had been resting almost an hour before. His lips curve into a smile.

“I brought you some breakfast,” he says, kicking the door closed and striding over to the table. A small stack of pancakes, eggs, sausages, and bacon steam away on a white china platter, and your stomach growls. You eagerly push the covers off and scramble out of bed, barely sitting down before stabbing a sausage with a fork and biting off the end. Like he had the night before, Sam watches you eat with an amused expression on his face. 

“You really have no idea what it's like to eat a good meal, do you?”

You shake your head, carefully swallowing your mouthful before speaking. “I got whatever my older brothers left when I was a child. When I ran away from home I had to beg for scraps.”

Sam tilts his head. “How long were you homeless for?”

“About a year.” You chewed on a piece of bacon. “My father tried to sell me off when I was fifteen to make some spare money. I ran away, lived in alleyways for a couple years until I got rounded up and taken to Crowley.”

Sam scoffs. “And he didn’t try to get a little meat on your bones before selling you off?”

You try not to flinch at the teasing remark. “I got heat fever a few months ago. Crowley didn’t like us taking care of ourselves, he… he’d have the other girls tied up when they went into heat.”

It’s hard to miss the soft growl that leaves Sam’s throat. “Was it your first heat?”

“Yes,” you admit, “I’ve always known I’m Omega. I was smaller, skittish, not like my other brothers. When I actually presented, though…”

“And he didn’t let you…”

You shake your head. “He hated the idea of us… um... taking care of ourselves. We’re supposed to let an Alpha do those things for us.” In an attempt to change the subject, you gaze around the room. “How do you afford a house like this?”

Sam chuckles, leaving against the bedpost with his hands tucked into his pockets. “It’s a family home. Our work gives us a steady amount of money to do as we please.”

“How much money?” You ask, trying to keep your tone innocent.

Sam smirks. “Buying you,” he says, “was like buying Sunday dinner. Except you’re actually worth something at one point or another.”

You nod, feeling like his words stung more than they should have. “What… what do you do?”

“For work?” Sam clears his throat. “It’s a family tradition. I’ll explain more later, after I’ve taken you shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“For better clothes.” Sam eyes the nightshirt that falls over your skinny frame. “I can’t allow you to walk around in rags, can I?”

***

You finish eating quickly and wash your face before getting dressed in the one good gown you have with you. Your white slippers from the night before are slightly mudstained, but Sam assures you that they’ll be fine until you can buy more. 

John and Sam’s brother are both downstairs when you finally leave the bedroom. Sam clutches your hand tightly in his as you trot down the stairs.

“Where are you going?” John questions, lowering the morning’s newspaper to stare at his son. 

Sam straightens up, keeping an eye on his brother, who’s watching you with a hungry look in his eye. “She needs new clothes.”

“I see.” John narrows his eyes before going back to read the paper. “Don’t spend more than you have to. It’s not like she’s made to keep her clothes on.”

Sam scowls at his father’s disparaging words before guiding you through the front doors. The carriage is already waiting, and Sam helps you in before giving a destination to the driver and sitting down across from you. 

“Thank you,” you say, trying and failing to meet Sam’s intense stare. “For helping me… I know I should be more grateful than I seem.”

Sam lets out a sharp chuckle through his nose. “You’re scared, you have every reason to be. I scare the daylights out of you, don’t I?”

You nod sheepishly. “Yes… you’re big, and I’m… I can’t defend myself.”

He grins somewhat sadistically. “Fortunately, I have a little more self control than most Alphas, including my brother. If he’d been the one to buy you last night, you would have been knotted and claimed right there in that alleyway.”

A shiver creeps down your spine, and you fold your arms protectively over your torso. “I thought you were going to.”

Sam grimaces. “I don’t take rape lightly. I’m not going to claim you until you ask me to. Do you understand that?”

You nod, and then go silent. 

You reach the long avenue of shops a half-hour later. The driver pulls up to the sidewalk, and Sam opens the door, stepping out onto the street and holding out his hand for you to take. Before anyone can pause and get a real look at you, Sam sweeps you up a short flight of steps and into a large, ornately furnished dress shop. Dresses and gowns of all different styles sit on mannequins, some with large, poofy skirts, others more upper class and conservative. Sam watches you eyeing a soft, cream-colored ball gown and smiles.

“Small stuff first, Omega,” he whispers in your ear as a saleswomen bustles up to you. 

You let Sam do the talking. He obviously knows more about fashion than you do, and within minutes you’re swept into a fitting room, asked to strip (the saleswoman eyes your skinny frame with worry), and fitted with skirts, blouses, and corsets. You get the feeling you won’t be leaving the Winchester mansion anytime soon, so you woefully pass over the opportunity to select the ball gown for purchase. 

In the end, you leave with several bags of folded up dresses, new nightgowns, and a new pair of slippers. Sam’s asked for you to be redressed in one of the new gowns so as to let you walk around the streets without looking like a “ragamuffin,” and for the first time in what feels like forever, you feel a sense of comfort in the soft fabric. You’re even wearing your first pair of silk bloomers and a corset, a privilege you’ve never had before. 

You spend the next few hours wandering, buying more things that Sam says will help you adjust to living in a new, more upscale lifestyle. You’re lost for a good half-hour at a soap vendor’s stall, smelling lilac, orange, and rose-fragranced soaps that Sam buys despite your protests that you can share the one already at home.

When you arrive back at the Winchester house, John and Dean are nowhere to be found. There’s a note on the coffee table, and Sam reads it, mouthing the words as he does.

“What is it?” you ask, clutching several bags in your hands. “Is something wrong?”

Sam crumples the piece of paper, stuffing it into his pocket as he escorts you upstairs. “I have to go back into town. I’ll try and be back for dinner time.”

You watch him unlock his bedroom door and push it open. “Do I need to stay upstairs?”

“I’d prefer it.” Sam stands in the doorway. “There are… places in this house I don’t want you to go in. For your own safety.”

He leaves you there, still holding your bags. You set the bags on the bed. It’s still unmade from the night before; the Winchesters don’t appear to have a maid or service of any kind, other than their stone-faced driver. 

Unpacking your clothes and hanging them in the closet takes the better part of an hour. By the time you’re done, there’s nothing to do other than stare out the window at the large, open garden. Now that it’s daylight, you can see the tall stone wall surrounding the property. There’s a metal gate in the back, the tops spiked with barbed shafts. The metal gates at the back are covered with engraved marks and are both bolted and padlocked shut. The house seems more like a fortress than a place to simply live in. 

What could the Winchesters want to keep out? Or rather, what might they have that they want to keep in? Sam’s words frightened you. If there are places he doesn’t want you to go, why doesn’t he want you to go to them? What could be living in the room below your feet? Or in the basement? Or in the walls…

You jump onto the bed, pulling your feet up as you stare at the gap between the floor and the bedframe. Panic overwhelms you, and you burrow underneath the covers, pulling them over your head and burying your face in the pillow that still smells like Sam. Tears fill your eyes, and you can’t stop yourself from bursting into tears as you curl up, trying to protect yourself from whatever must surely be hovering over you, unable to get you through the thick covers.

It doesn’t take long for you to cry yourself to sleep.

***

You’re awoken by the covers being thrown back. Chilly air washes over you, and you let out a whine of protest. 

“Have a good sleep?” Sam’s standing over you, watching you shiver as you try to hold onto what warmth you have. His gaze lands on your red-rimmed eyes, and his lips curve into a frown. “What happened?”

You sit up, sniffling pathetically. “Got scared.”

He sighs heavily. “Should’ve guessed. It’s late, our cook is preparing dinner. Would you like to eat downstairs or have me bring something up?”

You rub your eyes. “Downstairs… I want to get out of this room.”

You splash cold water on your face and allow Sam to run a brush through your hair, tying it back with a white ribbon before escorting you downstairs. You can scent the other Alphas and focus on Sam’s warm honey-and-coffee scent as you enter the dining room. 

The mahogany table spans almost twenty feet. It gleams in the light of the chandelier overhead, and you can’t help but note the embroidered cushions of the many chairs, each one identical to the others. 

John sits at the head of the table, and Sam’s brother slouches in the chair on his left. Two plates sit side by side on John’s right, and Sam pulls out your chair for you and tucks you in before sitting down himself. 

John barely acknowledges you as you slowly pile food onto your plate. It’s hard to focus when Dean’s serpentine eyes are boring into every visible inch of your body. Your dress is slightly low cut, allowing a soft peek of barely-there cleavage at the curve of the neckline. As if aware of your discomfort, Sam clears his throat pointedly, glaring daggers at his elder brother, and Dean removes his gaze, fixating on his food instead.

Dinner passes quickly, the silence only interrupted by sparse discourse between the three Alphas. Nobody speaks to you. For almost the entire time, you feel invisible, and the knowledge that you’re only there to serve Sam, who hasn’t even bothered to make his claim, only makes you feel worse.

When Sam stands up, you follow him, keeping your eyes lowered. Dean’s still watching you, and you know that it’ll be rude if you attempt to deprive him of the view. Sam, attentive as always, wraps a hand around your elbow and bids good night to his father and brother before practically dragging you away. 

Back in the bedroom, Sam kicks off his shoes and flops back on the bed, his arms stretched out to his sides. You stand awkwardly in front of him, arms stiffly held by your sides. 

“Are we going to sleep?” You ask softly, hoping you don’t sound like an idiot.

Sam sits up, inhaling deeply through his nose. “We should bathe first.”

“W-we?” You watch him stand and unbutton his jacket. “Do you mean together?”

He nods, tossing the material onto the bed and loosening the knot of his tie. “Of course. I see no reason why we shouldn’t bathe together.”

“I…” you hold your breath, trying to think of something that won’t sound ridiculous. “Don’t you find me… undesirable?”

He narrows his eyes. “If I found you undesirable I wouldn’t have purchased you. You might not be the best built, but…” he pointedly flicks his eyes downwards, “as much as I don’t like it, I fully understand why my brother likes to stare at your tits.” He moves around to stand behind you, and you feel the ribbon of your corset tug as he unlaces it. He makes quick work of the rest of your clothing, pulling the bustle cushion from around your waist and pushing the wide neck of your shift down, leaving you in nothing but knee-length bloomers. “Take those off.”

You obey, keeping your eyes closed as he undoes his belt and kicks his pants off. He’s naked behind you, and every part of your brain is telling you that if he wants to take you, nothing’s going to stop him. 

Sensing your panic, Sam slides a hand over the back of your neck. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he mutters, lowering his head until his lips are at your ear. “Calm… down…”

You squeeze your eyes shut as his breath washes warm over your skin. “I’m t-trying.”

“Take a breath,” he says, “breathe with me.”

You inhale through your nose, holding it until Sam exhales. You follow his pattern, eventually feeling the muscles in your legs begin to relax. His fingers massage your shoulders, and after several seconds you realize he’s scenting you; his nose is pressed up just behind your ear, and he’s breathing your scent in deeply. It’s your biological duty to respond, and instinct gets the better of you as you turn your head, allowing him more access.

“There you go,” he whispers, running the tip of his index finger from the base of your skull all the way down your spine. His bare skin is warm on yours, and you shiver when he runs a hand down your side, long fingers teasing at your hipbone. “Such a sweet little Omega…” his lips barely brush the surface of your skin before he lets out a deep, predatory groan and stumbles back. 

“Sam—?”

“Go into the bathroom,” he orders, “start a bath and get in. I’ll be there soon.”

You keep your eyes on the floor as you shuffle to the bathroom and open the door, quickly closing it behind you. You have to bend over the tub to reach the knobs, and within seconds, water surges from one of the bronze taps. When you climb down, you feel an uncomfortable wetness between your thighs. Tentatively brushing a hand along your inner thigh, you find a small rivulet of slick on your skin. You’re beginning to adapt to the Alpha’s touch. The impromptu scenting Sam had performed only made your physical reaction worse. 

Reaching for one of the small linen cloths on the sink, you wipe yourself clean, hoping that Sam won’t know that you’re responsive. By the time you’re through, the tub is nearly half full, and you sink down into the water, aware of the bandage on your arm as it soaks through. The burn doesn’t sting as much; whatever Sam had it on it had helped it to heal rapidly. When you pull the cotton off, you find that the red, puckered skin is gone. In its place is the mark of the Winchester crest, set in neat, slightly raised white lines. 

When the tub is nearly full, you turn the taps off, watching as the final drops of water plunk into the clear surface. Sam’s taking a long time to come in, and you wonder what could possibly be keeping him away. 

After another minute or two, he enters, cheeks flushed, jaw set. The water’s turned cloudy white from the bar of soap you’ve been turning in your palms, and you avert your gaze as he sits, only looking at him when he’s chest deep in the water.

“Is your brand healed?” he asks, effectively changing the subject from your obvious uncomfort over his nudity to the legal claim he has over you. 

You turn to show him, trying as hard as you can to keep your breasts below the cloudy waterline. He grazes a thumb over it, smiling appreciatively. “I thought it might take longer,” you murmured.

“That salve helps to speed up the healing process,” Sam says, “and there was no infection when I examined it. That combined with you being a young Omega in good health…”

You gently pull your arm away, folding your legs underneath you. “You said you’re a scientist.”

Sam chuckles. “And?”

“What exactly do you study?” You watch the water ripple as he shifts, stretching his arms over the sides of the tub.

He takes a few seconds to come up with a response. “A little bit of everything… but I work on the more anatomical side of it.”

“Anatomical?”

“How the bodies of different... individuals… function. How they work when they’re alive, and how they work when they die.”

“So…” you swallow, “you’ve seen d-dead bodies?”

“Many.” Sam tightens his jaw. “That’s why I warned you about going into rooms you’re not familiar with. The only room that I absolutely don’t want you in is the basement. The door’s marked with our sigil,” he gestures to the sign inked onto his skin, “you’ll know it when you see it.”

“Why can’t I—?”

“Because there are things that you do not wish to see.” Sam’s reply is tense and cold, and it effectively stops you from questioning him further. When he speaks next, his tone is soft, as if he knows that his previous words were harsh. “I wish to leave my work and come back to something normal and innocent,” he says, “can you understand that?”

You nod, biting the inside of your cheek. God, you know you cry a lot—it’s a natural instinct to protect yourself from the evils of the world—but every time Sam even raises his voice, you can’t stop the tears that threaten to spill free.

Sam takes no heed of your near-distress. He simply leans back and dunks his head below the water, which sloshes over the sides of the tub when he surfaces. You watch him methodically clean himself, rubbing the bar of soap in his hands before scrubbing his hair, neck, shoulders, and finally standing to clean his body. You once again avert your eyes to avoid seeing his manhood, and you hear him sigh exasperatedly.

“You know, if you keep behaving like a prude, we’re going to have trouble when your heat hits,” he says tightly. “You should get used to seeing me like this.”

“It’s just…” you swallow to try and keep your voice as level as possible, “I’ve never… I’ve never touched a man there before.”

“I didn’t say you had to touch my cock, I said that you need to get used to nudity. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Sam watches you flinch at the vulgar slang. “Are you afraid I’d hurt you?”

You shrug. “I’ve heard that it hurts the first time… that there’s blood.”

Sam nods. “Sometimes. It’s not uncommon, but it is entirely avoidable.” He extends a soap-lathered hand to you. “Stand up.”

You obediently let him pull you up out of the water. The moment you try to cover yourself, he wraps his fingers around your wrists and pulls your arms away from your body. 

“Stop hiding,” he commands, “I’m not repulsed by you, there’s no reason for you to be ashamed.” He swirls the soap in his palm. “Let me clean you.”

“I—”

“Don’t argue with me,” he says sharply, “I’m your Alpha, and it’s my responsibility to keep you clean and healthy.”

You let him rub the bar of soap over your skin, lathering it with his hands. His palms skim over your body, shoulders, neck, arms, sides, stomach… you try not to think about him scenting you in the bedroom, how close he’d been, the warmth of his breath on your skin…

You’re pulled from your thoughts by the warm water that washes the suds from your skin. Sam rinses you gently, making sure that every last bubble is gone before stepping out of the tub and wrapping a towel around his waist. He hands one to you, and then his eyes flicker to the square of linen on the floor. 

“What is this?” He bends to pick it up.

“It’s nothing,” you cover quickly. 

Sam sees right through your lie. He raises it to his nose, keeping his eyes locked on your body. “Slick,” he confirms, his eyes burning, “were you aroused before, Omega?”

Blushing furiously, more with shame than anything else, you nod. “I couldn’t help it.”

He smiles, watching you tuck the towel around your body. “You liked me scenting you.”

“Yes.”

“If I touched you…” he steps closer, watching you shiver. “Would you protest?”

You shrugged, truthfully unaware of what your response might have been to him intimately touching you. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

Sam blinks slowly, and you can’t help but notice the wicked glimmer in his eyes. He likes doing this to you, you think. “I’d love to see you spread out,” he murmurs, “those pretty legs apart so I can see every inch of your bare little cunt… I woke up thinking about what it might be like to wake you up with my tongue on your clit, but…” he sighs, stepping back. “We’d better sleep. I have somewhere to be tomorrow morning and I’d like to show you around before I go, so you don’t have to stay in here all goddamn day.”

He strides back into the bedroom, leaving you to climb out of the tub on your own. You enter to find him shrugging a nightshirt over his head. Your nightdress is hung up in the closet, and you quickly pull it from the hanger, dropping the towel to pull it over your head. It’s warm and soft, and you hear Sam issue a soft hum of appreciation when he sees it on you. 

You climb into bed wordlessly, lying down on your back and staring up at the ceiling as Sam turns the oil lamp out. The mattress shudders slightly as he flops down, pulling the covers over his hips. Within minutes, his soft snores fill the room, and you drift off to sleep, wondering what the next morning might bring.

[wesker20]

Fallen Hero 1.5 Episode 6 Parasites

Hideout - Morning

The blood on your puppet terrifies you right now for some reason. It looks so… unnatural, so out of place. You trained her body to make sure she could defend herself, but the fight at the parking lot was something else. It wasn’t just self-defense, you enjoyed it. You are no stranger to enjoying a fight, but it was always born out of pride, a sense of knowing you won against odds that were too much for you. Here it felt the odds were not stacked against you but against them.

You shake your head away and head towards the one sided mirror on your office. You watch your crew training, Pelayo relaying orders and the rest executing them to the best of their abilities. They take a familiar position to you. Zaza remains behind, taking advantage of his incredible eye, Pelayo stays in front of him acting as a wall between him and anybody else who wants to get to Zaza, and Nehal and Ward take point, acting as the Vanguard of the group.

It takes you back watching them like this, work in unison.

You and Kappa always stepped into the fray, Zeta stood away and acted as the sniper, and Alpha was always an immoveable wall. With the Rangers your position changed to back up and tactician, but you were fine with that too. Anathema would be the one to stay behind and cover you while Ortega and Steel took point.

But it doesn’t matter, none of that mattered. In the end everything you touched, you destroyed. No team was ever safe with you. Sooner or later they were destined to be destroyed. But if that’s the case then what does that say about you? About your crew? Will they also fall eventually? All because of you? Just like the others? They say that doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Are you insane then? For always falling back on having a team knowing what has happened in the past?

Would it be safer to fire them and go solo? Maybe… they would be safer. None of them deserve to be brought down with you. But they are yours. You keep what is yours, no matter what.

You put on your mask and step outside. You make sure to take each step slowly, letting the hard sound of your boots echo throughout the hideout. They all know what that means and everyone lines up as your silhouette forms in front of them, hands locked behind your back, cape covering all of your body, and cloak hiding the reflecting mask. You are sure in their position you would be disturbed, if not terrified. But then again, they have seen you and spoken with you enough times that you doubt they feel that anymore.

You let the silence hang in the air as you walk in front of them eyeing them up carefully. You notice a bit of shake from Rosie although her face remains emotionless. Good, she has learned to hide her fear better. Pelayo and Ward both stand upright and frozen like statues. They have military discipline and obviously see you as their commanding officer. Zaza is more relaxed albeit still somewhat scared, still not enough to not screw up from time to time but you have faith you can get there. Nehal is different; her posture is focused and stiff, but not as disciplined as Pelayo and Ward. Her face lights up and she looks at you with the same eyes of someone else. Herald. She admires and looks up to you and wants nothing else than to prove herself. That much you can discern from just looking at her, but even if that wasn’t enough her thoughts are just as ridiculously open as Herald’s, meaning that you receive them just as clearly.

You finally step back and stare at all of them. “We all know what’s going on. The so called Army has been causing trouble and smearing my name. We tried once and we failed. That one was on me and I apologize.” You see Zaza brows shoot up in surprise, Nehal stiffens as if she wanted to say something but chose not to, and Rosie’s stance relaxes. Pelayo and Ward remain motionless but their thoughts shot up enough for you to notice that they feel the same way as the rest. “I failed to predict that something like this might happen. And let me be clear,” you take a step forward and finish with “I won’t let that happen again.”

“We will do our best boss,” Pelayo responds. You nod to him and continue.

“Jane has brought me some interesting information,” more like Hollow Ground gave you some but you don’t mention that to them. You pull out an envelope and hand it over to Pelayo so he passes it to the rest. “That’s a list of individuals who may have something to do with what is going on. We are going to get each and every single one of them.”

Nehal steps up and says “We won’t let you down boss. These guys are fucked.”

You make a sudden turn with your head to her, which causes her to step back. “Don’t get cocky Nehal. I appreciate your confidence, but don’t let it control you.” She nods. “Not all of them will resist, but some will. You can hurt them. But remember; I want them alive.” You proceed to dismiss them but you call Nehal to speak to her in private; you have another assignment for her since she wants to prove herself so badly. Time to give her that chance.

Gym – Morning

Truth is, however you don’t really care. You doubt any of them know more than what Hollow Ground already gave you. That said the possibility is still there. And of course there are the other two reasons. You want to see how the voice will react. They must be watching your every move or at least paying enough attention to know what move you’ll do next so you decided to put them between the sword and a hard place. If they react then you know the suspects know more. Not only that but you will also push them to panic, and panicked people make mistakes. If they don’t do anything that means the suspects either know nothing or very little, the voice is so arrogant they don’t care, or they are not paying enough attention to you. But what you really want is for people to start talking, spreading the rumor that you are investigating, and not happy with the Army. Effectively disconnecting you from them and taking a swing at the voice. Either way, it’s a win-win for you. It’s so surprising how the simplest of plans can net you the best results no matter the outcomes.

You can’t help but smirk at the thought as Emily takes another swing at you and you evade it with ease. That’s right, while your crew takes care of the kidnappings, you decided to shoot down another bird by meeting with Emily as Jane so as to keep an eye on her and confirm your suspicions. Either she is a huge fan or she’s really bad at hiding herself. You guide the conversation masterfully back at Red Doll and Emily does not shut up about it. You have known heroes who had major egos before, Thunder, Silver Cat, Mayor Ultimate, even Ortega when you first met her, you thought she had a huge ego before you knew her more. And, of course, most recently good old Lady Argent.

But you don’t sense the same from Emily. It’s more like pride. Still, it means she may not take failure well, and of course you killed her boyfriend. She throws another punch, you catch it and turn it into an armbar which she has no choice of escaping, at least not unless she was Red Doll and used her powers.

“Seriously? This is what, your fifth win?” she says as you let her go.

“You need to think a bit more. You are just throwing punches with no objective.”

“I do have an objective: Beat you,” she says oh so innocently. You can’t help but chuckle.

“Besides that. How are you planning to beat me?” you ask her and she stays there, only managing an “Uuuuuuuhhhhhh.”

You shake your head and sigh.

“Try attacking from the left. She has a hard time blocking that side,” you hear a very familiar voice say and you turn to see her. Of course, it’s Ortega. Anything else world? Because I don’t think you have done enough.

“You know I was trying to teach her. She doesn’t learn her lesson if you just tell her.”

“I think we have established I’m the better fighter here,” she shoots back in her teasing tone.

“Being a great fighter a great teacher does not make.”

“True, but it’s a start.”

You laugh as you decide to just let her have this one. You turn towards Emily only to find a girl who looks more like a stick than a person. Kudos to her, she could probably win that one challenge people were so obsessed about years ago. Mannequin challenge you think it was called.

“eh, well, Julia this is Emily, Emily Julia.” Ortega extends her hand and it takes Emily a whole second before she responds in kind. And even then it’s a very stiff shake.

“I’m guessing you know who I am already then,” Ortega says trying to ease the tension. You watch Emily gulp. Gosh she is bad at this.

“I, uh, I do,” she finally manages.

Ortega brings out that classic smile that melts any tension on the air. You simply feel the need to facepalm but you settle for rolling your eyes. “I’ll go change and then I can help you. Both of you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” you say as she leaves. You wonder if she did not plan to come here until the last moment.

“You are friends with her?” you hear Emily’s voice, more quizzical than anything else.

“Yeah we met,” you stop for a second to make sure you don’t slip up and say years instead of months. “about four, almost five months ago,” you finish. You turn to her to find a worried look on her face.

“Doesn’t she work with that other woman, what’s her name?”

You feel the need to almost slap her in the face. And then facepalm yourself so hard you’ll leave a permanent mark. Seriously, could she be any more obvious? How has she survived this long? “Lady Argent?” you say just to play along but deep down you just want to knock some sense into her.

“That one.”

“Yes.” She doesn’t respond but her face changes from worried to neutral. You decide to try a more direct approach, if she’s going to be this obvious you might as well poke harder. “Are you ok?

“What? Yes. I am,” she says obviously lying.

“Are you sure? Because that look on your face says otherwise.”

“Nah, I’m just tired,” she responds. Gosh, it’s like she read the cliché book for excuses.

“Has anyone ever told you you are a terrible liar?” you say.

She turns to you with a sad smile. “Yeah, once. My boyfriend. He said I had to get better at it.”

“Cool. Maybe you can present us some day,” you say, deciding to grab the bull by the horns.

“He… He’s gone now.”

You want to be angry with her right now. Maybe you are being too harsh on her, she is a novice after all and you have been running and hiding most of your free life but still. If she had caught the attention of any other top villain, she would be dead. Which begs the question why do you even care? You’ve only known her in her civilian life for a couple of weeks and in her hero life, if she is, she wants to cut your head off. So then why do you just want to hug her and say you are sorry?

“I’m sorry.”

She turns to you, her eyes watery. “It’s ok. I’m fine.”

You decide not to call out her obvious lie and simply put a hand on her shoulder. Even though it was you who did it, you still know what it feels like to have someone taken from you.

Gym – Afternoon

You finish for the day. Ortega left after a couple of hours, having to head for Rangers HQ, and left you to continue practicing with Emily, who did learned a couple of things. Better watch out when she and Mastermind next meet. Just as you step out, however, you see a crowd heading for you. A crowd with a very distinct black attire and mark: The Army of Mastermind. Shit.

“Oh you gotta be shitting me,” you say as you watch them approach.

“Crap,” Emily says right after you. They don’t head straight for you but block yours and everyone else’s path. One of them steps up, clearly the leader of this particular group.

“People listen up. From here on out this part of town is ours. If no one wants to get their asses kicked out you gotta pay. If you pay, we’ll make sure no one bothers you ever again”

Oh hell no. Racketeering? Really? You hear a “psst” and turn to see Emily.

“Jane there’s an alley beside the gym. C’mon.” You follow her without question. As much as you want to beat these idiots up even after what you did with the other gang members, there’s no way you can handle a crowd as big as this. But just as you step in the alley you hear Emily say “keep running.” You don’t obey and instead turn to see that she is no longer there. Well, suspicion confirmed. At least ninety five percent.

You decide to sneak up and see what happens and just as you suspected, Red Doll arrives just in time. The Army wastes no time to try and swarm her, but she easily slips out of the group holding her. Crap about Polymorphs, they are slippery as hell. She begins knocking them out, one, two, three at a time. She uses her limbs as projectiles, and any punch that lands she simply lets it go through her. You even manage to recognize some of the moves as moves you have taught her yourself. Well, if you wanted to make her more dangerous, congratulations. You shake your head out, wondering where did that thought came from. Not that it matters, it’s correct. Why the hell did you just gave her more tools to beat you is beyond your comprehension.

It really does not last more than a couple of minutes. None of these idiots were boosted or mods, and they were clearly low level goons. You see Red Doll stand there with a smile, a very proud smile which you have already seen before. “Hey,” you yell.

“Jane? I- I mean miss, this place is dangerous, get to safety.”

You raise an eyebrow letting her know that she is still a terrible liar and putting on a mask does not make her any better. She catches the message pretty quickly. “I’m that bad huh?” she says with a look of embarrassment. You simply nod while smiling from ear to ear. At least she’s not stupid.

Later – diner

“Can you keep the secret?” Emily asks sheepishly.

“Better than you, that’s for sure,” you say as you take a sip of soda.

“You already suspected?”

“Well, let’s be real. The way you speak of… Red Doll either makes you look like an obsessed fangirl or that you are her. One of those was doomed to be the answer.”

She moans like a puppy and hides her face on her hands. “Relax. You’ll be fine with me. My lips are sealed.”

She finally raises her face, relieve painted all over. “Thanks. Not many know.” Not many, huh? That means there are others. Maybe family members, and probably her boyfriend too.

“So what now?” you ask her half curious.

“Now I’ll go take a shower and try to think how to hide my secret better.”

“Yes please. You’re painful to see when lying,” you say sarcastically.

“You know how?” she asks with genuine curiosity. Oh crap, you know where this is going.

“I think we established I may or may not be a very good teacher.”

“But you are the only one who can. All the other people who know-“ you stop her right before she spills something else.

“First of all, think before you speak. You talk too fast for your own good. Second, I’ll think about it.” She smiles at your response.

“Thanks Jane.”

Apartment – Dusk

The pieces are beginning to fall into place. You are now certain who Red Doll is. Now, all you need to do is wait for a call. From whom, remains to be seen. The phone rings; both of them. One untraceable number for your crew and your personal one. The untraceable one displays Pelayo, your private only says private. You smile and answer Pelayo first.

“Yes.”

“We got the first one boss.”

“Good. Wait for me, I’ll be there,” you hang and take the other one. “Good to hear from you again. I was starting to miss you.”

“Ah, I feel so bad for making you wait. But really I’m sure it’s nothing. After all, you have been busy.”

“That I have.”

“I take it you know those idiots are not going to say much that you do not already know, right?” You simply chuckle at them.

“You can’t blame me for trying.”

“Maybe. But still, I think I should teach you a lesson.” So panicking it is. You can imagine Nehal celebrating now.

“Oh, you mean the bomb you set on my hideout to kill my crew?”

“What?”

“Yeah, about that. See, I thought that someone who wants to hurt me might want to go after those closest to me. But killing a Ranger is too much, you’ll get chased down no matter what. Killing Mortum would also get you too much attention, more than what you already have. And of course, Red Doll is too new. No way you think she’s anything important to me. So my crew was the easiest target. So I told my youngest underling to check out for a bomb.”

“Ha, you send a brat to disarm a bomb. I thought you were smarter than that,” they say with mockery.

“Let me finish. I gave her a device I made. Now, I’m no tech genius, but if there is one positive I can take out of my time as a Re-gene, is that I learned a lot about weapons, including bombs. And here’s the kicker, we may all be different, but Re-genes rarely, ever, create their own signature for bombs. Even cuckoos. I admit, that last one was huge gamble but you don’t succeed if you don’t take a couple of risks. So basically what I’m saying is that I made a devise that directly disarmed a bomb made by a Re-gene.”

“How are you so certain it did?”

“Because if I was in your place, I would have detonated it along with the suspect.” At that moment your phone rings again. “Give me a second,” you say and take it. “Yes?”

“Boss, Nehal wants to talk to you.”

“Pass her through,” you only smile and make sure to put the earphone on the speaker so the caller listens to Nehal’s report. She found it, just where you thought it would be and she disarmed without even trying. You congratulate her and hang. “Anything to say?” and nothing comes. “I’ll give you a hint, I know you are from the farm. More than that, I now know you are not just any person from the farm, you are Re-gene, just like me. Actually let me correct that, you are nothing like me.”

You still hear nothing except a distorted growl that must be their breathing. “Just so you know,” you begin as you stand up, your tone turning dark, almost resembling that of Mastermind when you have the mask on. “If you had succeeded and killed my crew, there is no place on this planet I wouldn’t go to hunt you down and tear you to pieces. Not even the Catastrofiend could come up with what I would do to you.”

“Heh, if only you were that overprotective with your old team, maybe they would still be… alive? I mean I’m sure Alpha is but I doubt she even remembers her own name let alone you.”

“We grow. Or rather learn.”

“If so you would have stopped after the facility fell. But instead you went on to join the Rangers, only to also lead them to their destruction during Heartbreak.” You twitch at the mention of that and your cold anger grows. “Face it, you are destined to always take everyone down with you. Because you don’t really care about others, you only care about yourself, about how you feel. You can’t tolerate being alone in your misery, so you bring others down with you. Just like you did with the Rangers, just like you did with your squad, you will do to your crew. You will take them down and leave them as shells of who they were. In the end you are just a parasite that feeds and feeds until its food is gone and moves on to the next. Maybe that should be your new villain name, Jeremy.” they finish, saying your name with a mixture of disgust and mockery, as if you don’t deserve that name and hang.

Anger, self hatred, doubt. All swim around your mind but you crush them all down. Now’s not the time to dwell on how you feel but rather in what you have won. Their little outburst just gave you all the information you needed. You know who they are, now you just need to learn where they are, how they are using the Army and take them down. But how? How can you take down one of your own? One of your teammates?

[starcitizenprivateer]

Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

February saw Cloud Imperium devs around the world working hard to deliver the incredible content for the soon-to-be-released Alpha 3.5 patch. Progress was made everywhere, from locations like ArcCorp to the gameplay developments afforded by the New Flight Model. Read on for the full lowdown from February’s global workload.

Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

AI – Character

February’s roundup starts with the AI Team, who made improvements to the existing character collision avoidance system. The changes began with adjustments to the smooth locomotion path, with the data now coming from the collision avoidance calculation to make sure the character has enough free space.

Time was spent generalizing the options a vendor can use so that designers no longer have to write them into the behaviors. Instead, the correct options are automatically selected based on the environment and (eventually) from the shop services.

They’re also restricting combat behavior to allow better scalability when adding new tactics and are investigating some of the bugs found in the Alpha 3.4 release.

AI – Ships

Throughout February, the AI Team improved various aspects of dogfighting gameplay, including evasive maneuvers. Now, when an AI pilot has an enemy on its tail, it will try to utilize different break-aways with increasing and varied angles. It will also try to keep momentum and chain together attack maneuvers. To achieve this, the team exposed new ‘SmoothTurning’ subsumption tasks to the behavior logic.

When detecting enemy fire, AI pilots will utilize evasive maneuvers to create a diversion.

They also implemented automatic incoming/outgoing ship traffic over planetary landing areas. They are currently generalizing ship behaviors to enable the designers to easily set up traffic on multiple cities, capital ships, and so on.

Animation

Last month, Animation provided the remaining animation sets for previous characters already found in the Persistent Universe (PU), including Hurston, Battaglia, and Pacheco. They also finished off a new batch of animations for the ship dealer. Work continues on animations for future yet-to-be-announced characters too, which includes getting approval for the initial poses and animations before going forward with the final clean-up.

American Sign Language (ASL) emotes are being added to the game and are currently being improved with the addition of facial animations.

Finally, Animation is currently syncing with Cinematics for a few interesting segments that backers will get to enjoy soon…

Art – Tech

Tech Art invested significant effort into optimizing rig assets so that they work better with the facial runtime rig logic and the ‘look at’ and ‘mocap’ re-direction components. Since eye contact is one of the fundamental means of human communication, any error or tiny deviation can cause the ‘uncanny valley’ effect and immediately break immersion.

“If the eyes of an actor converge just slightly too much, they appear cross-eyed. However, if they don’t converge enough, they appear to look through you, as if distracted. If the eyelids occlude the character’s iris just a little too much, which, depending on the distance, could amount to just 2-3 pixels vertically, they look sleepy or bored. Conversely, if they expose too much of the cornea, they appear more alert, surprised, or outright creepy.”

So, the alignment of the virtual skeleton’s eye joints with respect to the eyeball and eyelid geometry is of utmost importance. Likewise, the ‘look-at’ system needs to control all relevant rig parameters and corrective blendshapes (not just the rotation of the eyeballs themselves) to create truly-believable runtime re-directions of the mocap animations.

Alongside facial work, the team completed several weapons-related tasks, such as fixing offsets during reload animations and locomotion issues for the pistol set. They also completed R&D related to playing animations in sync with character usables within cinematic scenes and helped Design to unify the character tags in Mannequin.

Art – Environment

Predictably, the Environment Team is racing towards the completion of ArcCorp and Area 18 – they’re currently working with and implementing the custom advertising provided by the UI department. The planet itself is in the final art stage and now includes skyscrapers rising above the no-fly zone to provide the player with landing opportunities and interesting buildings to fly around.

Concurrently, the ‘Hi-Tech’ common elements are steadily progressing, with the transit, habitation, and security areas all moving to the art pass stage. Players will see these common elements (alongside garages and hangars) when they’re added to microTech’s landing zone, New Babbage.

The new transit connection between Lorville’s Teasa spaceport and the Central Business District (CBD) is almost ready for travellers. This route will allow players to move directly between the two locations and bypass L19, cutting travel time for high-end shoppers.

Work on organics is ongoing, as are improvements to planet tech, with the artists hard at work creating a library of exotic-looking flora to fill the biomes of New Babbage with. Players can see it for themselves towards the end of the year.

The community can also look forward to upcoming information on the early work the team has done on procedural caves.

Audio

Both the Audio Code Team and the sound designers finished their work on the new camera-shake and ship-vibration systems. Now, when an engine kicks in, the ship shakes and hums. This also extends to the player, with events like a ship powering up causing minor camera shake.

The sound designers also added new sound samples to a range of ships as part of the rollout of the New Flight Model. By adding ‘one-shot’ samples to each of the various thrusters, they brought out more complexity in the sounds heard during flight.

The Audio Team spent the majority of the month creating the sounds of Area 18. Due to the melting pot of ideas and themes present in the new area, the sound designers tested new methods to bring out the unique atmosphere. Additionally, they created the sound profiles and samples for the Gemini S71 assault rifle and Kastak Arms CODA pistol, both of which will appear in the PU and SQ42.

Currently, the Audio Code Team is working towards an updated tool that better allows the sound designers to implement created assets in-engine whilst simultaneously testing how they sound.

Backend Services

Backend Services continued to lay the foundation for the new diffusion network to help scalability for the backend structure of the game. Emphasis is on ensuring the Dedicated Game Servers (DGS) correctly connect to the new diffusion services, particularly the variable, leaderboard, and account services.

February marked the near-end of work on the new Item Cache Service (a massive portion of the backend has now turned micro-service) and began the end-point between DGS and this service, too. As work is completed on the new diffusion services, testing will ensure a smooth transition to the new network.

Support was also added for subsumption services to read directly into the DataCore P4k system for increased efficiency and unification.

With the approaching publish of Alpha 3.5, Backend Services began work on logistics, syncing closely with DevOps to ensure that new services are up and running correctly while maintaining legacy services where necessary.

Community

The team celebrated Valentine’s Day with community-made cards and limited-time ship offers, including Anvil’s F7C-M Heartseeker – a special version of the Super Hornet shooting straight for the heart. During the Be my Valentine greeting card contest, most Citizens got creative with their favorite image editing software, though some went old-school with scissors and crayons to create fantastic crafts to share their love across the galaxy.

Also this month, Argo Astronautics released their latest addition to the ‘verse, the SRV. The ‘Standard Recovery Vehicle’ is built for tugging ships, ground vehicles, and massive cargo containers through the stars using its integrated tractor tech. If you’re looking for more information about this rough and rugged ship, head to the Q&A that answers questions voted-on by the community. As a bonus, Shipmaster General John Crewe stopped by Reverse the Verse LIVE for some in-depth tug-talk.

In the February issue of Jump Point (our subscriber-exclusive magazine), Ben Lesnick took a detailed dive into the ARGO SRV’s design process and went on a worker’s tour of Hurston. The Narrative Team also introduced us to the Human holiday Stella Fortuna and shed light on the history of the revered Rust Society.

A major update to the Star Citizen roadmap gave a look at what’s coming to the Persistent Universe in 2019 and what can be expected in upcoming releases.

Released in January, but worthy of another mention, is the official Star Citizen Fankit, which was put together to help all of you share your enthusiasm and engagement. Star Citizen lives by the support it receives from the community, so take a look at this treasure trove of assets and get creating!

The team is also excited to announce that our physical merchandise will soon be receiving a well-deserved face-lift. Having received a lot of feedback over the years, it’s clear that Citizens are passionate about merch and to make the store experience the best it can be, your input was needed. Thanks to everyone who contributed feedback to our thread on Spectrum!

Content – Characters

The Character Team revisited the hair development pipeline in February. With the help of the Graphics Team, they developed new tools and shader tech to improve the realism of hair while maintaining quality and performance. More work went into mission-giver Pacheco, including textures and rigging, with her hairstyle being used to trial the new hair pipeline. Work continues on the assets required for DNA implementation and the female player character, while refinement of the Xi’an concept is making great progress.

Design

Throughout February, Design focused on implementing Area 18’s shops, NPCs, and usables. Last month marked the end of implementation, with March being used for polish to ensure a believable and immersive experience upon release. The team also gained a new member to help with mission implementation and improvement, who is currently setting their sights on the Emergency Communication Network (ECN) mission set.

Regarding the economy, the US Design Team worked with their UK counterparts on the objective criteria and value of objects in-game, laying down the track for acquiring item properties and their values. A system was built to help create an abstract representation, which is both robust and modular enough to allow easy adjustment in the future when the details are finalized.

DevOps

DevOps had a busy month working on the build system and pipeline that supports feature stream development. After several long nights, they rolled out the upgrades and have been happy with the results so far – internal systems are running smoothly without errors and each evolution improves efficiency and storage consumption.

They’re now attempting to further compress existing data which, when multiplied by hundreds of thousands of individual files, will make a real impact to the dev’s daily development efforts.

Engineering

February saw the Engine Team spend time on general Alpha 3.5 support, such as profiling, optimization, and bug fixing. They also improved the instance system used in compute skinning and refactored it on the CPU and shader for better maintainability, created a budget-based output-buffer system for skinning results (so they only have to skin once per frame), made more tangent reconstruction optimizations, and worked on wrap-deformation using the color stream.

Basic HDR display support was added to the editor, as was a new hue-preserving display mapping curve suitable for HDR display output. The team provided material layer support for planet tech v4 and continued to improve character hair, which included initial hair mask, support for edge masking, and pixel depth offset. Game physics is progressing with Projectile Manager 2.0, as well as optimizations to wrapped grids and state updates. Support was added for ocean Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) wave generation to physics buoyancy calculations, as well as exposed optimized terrain meshes.

A major system initialization clean-up was completed as part of an initiative to share core engine functionality with PU services, work began on the lockless job manager (a complete overhaul for faster response in high-load scenarios), and a new load time profiler was created. The team are currently wrapping up the ‘ImGUI’ integration and introducing a temporary allocator for more efficiency when containers are used on stack.

They made the switch to the Clang 6 compiler to build Linux targets (including compilation cleanup of the entire code base) and plan to switch to the latest stable release (Clang 8.x) in the near future.

Finally, they finished a ‘create compile time’ analysis tool (utilizing new Visual C++ front and backend profiler flags) to gather, condense, and visualize reasons for slow compile and link times. As a result, various improvements have already been submitted and further action-items defined.

Features – Gameplay

A large portion of Gameplay Feature’s month was dedicated to implementing the new DNA feature into the character customizer. In addition, the team was responsible for creating and setting up the user interface (UI) and accommodating the female playable character, both of which are scheduled for Alpha 3.5.

Another major focus was on video streaming for comms calls, which consisted of a refactor of the comms component to utilize the voice service call mechanism. Research was made into the VP9 streaming format and video streaming improvements were completed that will be rolled out in the upcoming release.

Lastly, support was given to the US-based Vehicle Features Team, with updates to the turret sensitivity HUD, gimbal assist UI, and the shopping service entity registration.

Features – Vehicles

Gimbal Assist and its related HUD improvements were finalized and polished, allowing for better balancing of this new weapon control scheme. Turrets were also improved, as the team added a HUD and keybinds for input sensitivity, implemented adjustable speeds for gimbal target movement based on proximity to center aim, and fixed bugs with snapping and erratic movement.

A lot of work went into scanning improvements, which included adjusting the area for navpoint scanning, enabling use of the navpoint hierarchy, and adding a Boolean to opt into the scanning data. This endeavor also covered adjustments to make scanning more involving by setting up AI turrets to generate signatures and be scannable and adding specific icons for scanned/unscanned targets. Ping and blob were implemented to display on the radar too, including focus angle and ping fire.

To round out the month, they continuing to make item port tech optimizations, developed tech for utilizing geometry component tags in the paint system, and fixed a handful of crash bugs.

Graphics

Last month, the Graphics Team’s work on the PU was spread between several smaller tasks. There were many shader requests from the artists, such as adding new features to the hard surface shader and ISO support for decals in the forward rendering pipeline.

The team also continued with the CPU optimizations from last month. This included a 3x performance saving on the cost of building per-instance data buffers for the GPU and better support for the depth pre-pass to help occlude hidden parts of the frame with less CPU overheads.

To help the artists optimize their content, the team worked on an improved render-debugging tool that reports how many draw instructions (draw-call) a particular object requires along with a breakdown of why each instruction was needed. Once complete, this will allow the artists to dig into their material and mesh setups to save valuable CPU time.

Level Design

The Level Design Team soldiered on with ArcCorp’s Area 18, bringing the designer whitebox up to greybox. They began planning the modular space stations that will be built this year too, including looking at the libraries, rooms, and content that goes into them. The procedural tool is also now at a stage where they can slowly start ramping up the modular station production.

Live Design

The Live Team refactored existing missions to make them scalable to make more content available in the planetary system (other than Crusader). Significant progress was made on a new drug-stealing mission for Twitch Pacheco, as well as a BlackJack Security counter-mission that tasks less morally-corrupt players with destroying the stash.

Another focus was on implementing a variety of encounters with security forces and bounty hunters when the player holds a high crime stat.

As well as practical work, time was taken to define the next tier of many aspects of the law system, such as punishment, paying fines, bounty hunting, and so on.

Lighting

Last month, the Lighting Team focused on developing the look of Area 18. Lighting Area 18 is a mixture of clean-up work from the previous versions to match new standards and lighting the new exterior layout to a series of targets set by the Art Director. The team is working closely with the Environment Art and VFX teams to ensure that new advertising assets and visual effects ‘pop’ from the environment and provide interesting and varied visuals.

Narrative

Working closely with the Environment Art and Mission Design teams, February saw the Narrative Team further fleshing out of lore relating to ArcCorp and its moons. From new mission giver contract text to the catchy slogans gracing Area 18’s numerous billboards, a lot of additional lore was created to bring these locations to life.

Additionally, expanded wildline sets for security pilots, bounty hunters, and combat assist pilots were scripted and recorded. The AI and Mission teams will use these sets to begin prototyping and testing out new gameplay for inclusion in future builds.

Also, the Narrative Team made progress on generating the specific text needed for on-screen mission objectives. Currently, this is placeholder text from the designers who worked on levels, but moving forward, the hope is to begin using the proper in-lore objectives.

Player Relations

The Player Relations Team was busy preparing for Alpha 3.5 (including getting ready to test the New Flight Model) as well as boxing off the work created over the holiday period.

“As always, we’d like to point all players to our growing Knowledge Base, which now has 120+ articles and saw almost 450,000 visitors this month! We will continue to grow this by adding more ‘How To’ articles, patch notes, and live service notifications there as well as on Spectrum.”

Props

February saw headway into Area 18’s props: the core street furniture is now in and the team has moved onto the dressing pass, adding in new assets to give life to the streets, alleyways, and landing zone.

As the month closed out, the team jumped into release mode to get a head start squashing bugs and generally tightening up the upcoming release.

QA

Things ramped up on the publishing side in February as the team prepared Alpha 3.5 for the Evocati and PTU. Testing continues on the New Flight Model and other systems as they come online, such as the new weapons, ships, and locations. QA leadership continues to train the newer testers and improve the overall testing process.

The AI Feature Team kept the Frankfurt-based QA testers busy with new features, such as the improved avoidance system and new break-away maneuvers. Testing mainly consists of making sure they’re working as intended, as well as noting visible improvements to what was already in place (in the case of the avoidance system). Combat AI received perception updates which were tested by QA to address issues where the FPS AI would not recognize the player being present in their vicinity.

On the backend, changes to the subsumption visualizer are being tested to ensure no new issues have been introduced in preparation for their full integration into the editor. Testing for ArcCorp and Area 18 is currently underway too.

The Universe Team discovered that mining entities were not appearing in the client due to discrepancies in how they were spawned in the server. This was tracked down and fixed, though testing will continue to make sure it’s working as intended.

Ships

The Vehicle Content Team wrapped up the MISC Reliant Mako, Tana, and Sen variants for Alpha 3.5. They’re now in testing with QA who are addressing bugs before the vehicles go live. The designers and tech artists have been busy with the Origin 300i, which will reach QA for testing in the near future.

Back in the UK, the team continued production on the 890 Jump, bringing more rooms into the final art stage from greybox (including the hangar area). The Carrack is heading towards a greybox-complete state and select areas are being polished for review.

Development continues on the Banu Defender which is utilizing a new style of production that caters to its organic art style. ZBrush is being used to sculpt the interior before transferring the high-density model to 3ds Max, where it is then rebuilt (low-poly) for the game engine. A large portion of the exterior greybox is complete and looking fantastic.

Last but by no means least, the interior updates to the Vanguard wrapped up with essentially the entire area from the cockpit seat backwards being completely redone. This is more than was initially anticipated, but the team feels that it’s worth it. Now that the interior rework has been finalized and the framework for the variants agreed upon, the Ship Team can start on the exterior changes to accommodate them and continue with the variant-specific items.

System Design

The System Design Team is working on improving and upgrading the no-fly zones used across ArcCorp. Since the existing system now needs to support an entire planet, it has proven quite a challenge.

For social AI, the team’s working on unifying vendor behaviors and making sure they’re built in a modular fashion. For example, the team can easily graft new actions onto the base behavior of a shop keeper to allow them to pick up objects, give them to the player, and interact with things on the counter without having to build new ones from scratch.

As with social AI, the team focused on restructuring FPS AI behaviors to make them more modular, with the goal to make it easier to implement specific chunks of logic. For mining, they added new mineable rocks on ArcCorp’s moons. Wala in particular will have a new type of rock that fits better with the crystalline formations available on the moon.

Finally for System Design, AI traffic over Area 18 is currently being developed. The team’s starting small, with a few ships landing and taking off around the spaceport, but they’re also investigating ways to expand it while being mindful of performance.

Turbulent

RSI Platform: On February 14th, Turbulent supported the announcement of a new flyable variant of the Super Hornet, the F7C-M Heartseeker. They also made major updates to the CMS backend which required all hands on deck.

Services: This month’s game service work was focused around developing support for transporting video streams over the comms channels. This will allow the streaming of a user’s face/in-game texture to another player outside of the bind culling bubble, enabling in-game video calls over wider distances. This method also enables the transmission of in-game video streams to web clients.

Turbulent spent considerable time standardizing services to enable them to run within a new local development environment. This will allow the entire Star Citizen universe’s services to run locally on dev systems to develop and iterate with the entire stack.

The Turbulent Services Team also began work on an administration interface for game designers and game operators to display real-time information about the state of the universe. This application can display information about groups, lobbies, and voice channels along with details of online players, quantum routes, and probability volumes.

UI

As in January, UI supported the Environment Team with in-fiction advertising and branding for Area 18, including animation and hologram textures. They also made headway on the 3D area map using the concepts shown last month as visual targets. Finally, they began working out how to bring the rental functionality from the Arena Commander frontend to in-game consoles in Area 18.

VFX

The VFX Team updated the existing particle lighting system to a more modern system. The previous version was based on tessellation, which increased the rendering cost and had limitations on shadow resolution. The new one is a global change that will remove the need for tessellation and improve shadow receiving for crisper, smoother shadows. ArcCorp’s Lyria and Wala will be the first moons to use this new particle lighting system when it’s ready for deployment. It will help the particles integrate into the moons more realistically and address issues when the particles have long shadows going through them, such as during sunrise and sunset.

They also continued to iterate on thruster damage effects and began rolling it out to all ships.

Several new weapon effects were worked on, including a new ballistic hand cannon and ballistic assault rifle. They also carried out extensive visual exploration for the new Tachyon energy weapon class.

Finally, significant time was invested in improving the VFX editor’s UI layout and functionality. Although not as glamorous as planet dressing and effects, improving the quality-of-life for artists is important and helps them to work faster too.

Weapons

The Weapon Art Team completed the Gemini S71, Kastak Arms Coda, Banu Singe Tachyon cannons, Gallenson Tactical ballistic cannon reworks, and five variants of the Aegis Vanguard nose guns.

Conclusion

WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…

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