#and i had to upload 11 images again

[iwoszareba]

local trickster and his curious puppet collection~ i offered muppets to a bunch of discord people: @thesolemnhour @mountainashfae @fantastic-mr-corvid @rollofleaf @undyingembers @greaterstolenlandspolycule @shiawasekai @jean-dieu @dmagedgoods @yunessa

[clairegregoryau]

I've been tracking this down for a while now and I've finally found confirmation of what I suspected: Google Maps imagery for Piha Beach in Aotearoa New Zealand captured the setup for filming of Our Flag Means Death's Season 2, Episode 8!

[EDIT 25 June: the north end current imagery is sadly no longer this version, but I've captured it for posterity here, and it's still visible in the free Google Maps Pro app- read on for more info].

On the left is the north end of Piha Beach with the inn set. On the right is the south end carpark with the film crew base.

Why is that cool to me? Because it truly was a fleeting moment in time, no more than a handful of days of possibility, and yet it was captured as the image on the map, at least for a period of time. As an archaeologist I love a moment preserved in time, and in this one you can even see the OFMD production crew on the beach and on the path. It's places and people caught in the flashbulb of this aerial image.

The specifics of how I pinned down the imagery and the date are in this Twitter thread, but the short version is, I was hunting for a better visual on the area immediately surrounding the inn while writing Full Fathom Five, and noticed that the carpark in particular seemed to line up exactly with images from the final day of filming.

The final day of filming overall was 13 December 2022, filming at Piha was on 12 December 2022, and this aerial image was taken on 11 December 2022.

I had already been through the first image to make a comparison to the aerial map and it looked like a match, but Google Maps had 2024 in their attribution. [Noting that I'd put 13 Dec on my image notes, but I'd got that tangled with the last day of filming in the Kumeū studio the next day, and it was 12 Dec on location].

Thankfully Google Earth came through with the actual date.

And I just took a further dig into Google Earth Pro, which allows you to switch between previous satellite images, and it confirms a date of 11 December 2022 for the north end image as well.

[EDIT 9 September 2024- thinking about this again and suddenly realised... you know what, very often things will put the date it was in the US when a picture was taken, even when that picture was taken on the other side of the world, in a different timezone. Which made me realise that actually, if this was taken on the 11th of December in the US, that was on the 12th of December in AoNZ. A quick search shows that Google Maps confirms the date can be one day out, so- odds increasing that we're seeing the actual filming of Ep8 here!]

You can also compare this to a few months earlier in March 2022, right around the premiere of OFMD S1 (everything moved so fast in hindsight!) when there was no inn in that spot.

Which means we now know that for now, if you hop onto Google Maps (not Google Earth, because they have a different image for the north end that does come from 2024) and zing on down to Piha Beach, you can take a look at a preserved moment in time from the filming of S2Ep8.

[EDIT 25 June: the north end image has now been updated to the 2024 version across all of Google Maps and Google Earth, but the south end is for now still from the filming day. You can find the previous version for the north end on Google Earth Pro].

You can hop straight to the inn here.

And straight to the parking lot here.

And remember to put the layers into Satellite mode to view the aerial imagery.

Everything that was/is shown at the north end lines up with what we've seen both in the show and in behind the scenes content, all of which I delved into in this Twitter thread last month. That goes into a lot more detail about specifics, but the evidence is solid across the board.

The sandy path that runs beside the inn is a distinct feature seen in the show.

The peak that sits behind it, likewise (from Google Maps user uploads here and here).

The inn itself, and the way the path gives way to an unseen carpark, from Simone Nathan's TikTok video.

Based on all of that, it's easy to see that we've got our inn right here circled in red, preserved in that moment in time, even though it was no doubt taken down as soon as filming was done.

Prep looks like it took a couple of days before filming; filming was pretty much done in a day, according to an article at the time.

So, there you have it- it's a minor little thing and it won't be up forever, but for now you can hop into Google Maps and see an aerial view adjacent to the filming of S2Ep8 at Piha. The other beach scenes from Eps 1, 3 and 8 were filmed at Te Henga/ Bethells Beach.

[maniculum]

Perlesvaus (Evans translation)

So I'm taking another stab at reading the Sebastian Evans translation of Perlesvaus, for... reasons. Or the High History of the Holy Graal, as he titles it -- funnily enough, the people who put out this reprint apparently looked at the title, said "we're not doing that", and spelt it Grail on the cover.

Despite the bizarre choices in diction, it's still pretty fun, and I want to share some particularly entertaining bits of this text with y'all. (For those of you who aren't up on the two different translations of Perlesvaus and don't know what I mean by "bizarre choices", the Evans translation is from 1898 but pretending to be from, like, 1498.)

N.B.: Marginal notes in red are from the last time I tried this -- they stop showing up roughly a quarter of the way through the book, because that's when I decided to buy the Bryant translation instead.

I just find this funny because "who cares?" strikes me as such a modern thing to say. To me it is a phrase that seems most natural coming from a teenage character in late-20th-century media. But nope. "Who careth?"

This is here just for the bizarre scene. We have three women coming into the throne room (riding mules directly into the building, by the way). One is carrying a severed head decorated with silver and gold. Another has "a pack trussed behind her with a brachet thereupon" -- you can see from the notes that I had to look up "brachet", found out it was an old word meaning roughly "female scent-hound", and then had the mental image of this woman carrying around a beagle in a baby-bjorn.

Again something I find funny. Gawain just leaping through the air to interpose himself between the horses and this hermit, like he's trying to take a bullet for them. This is entirely because he is 100% certain the hermit will handle the saddles incorrectly, and when the hermit assures him he actually does know how this stuff works, Gawain calms down & lets him do it.

This is, for my money, one of the funniest things in all of Perlesvaus, which is saying something because it is a bonkers text. This lady rolls up and provides that description, and the hermit recognizes who she's talking about. Like, "oh yes I did see a knight with a heart of steel and the navel of a virgin". I want to give this description to a sketch artist. (I kind of want to throw it at an AI just to see what it comes up with, but you know. I don't want to encourage the machines.)

This time I'm nit-picking the translation, because that strikes me as a misplaced modifier. Obviously it's meant that Gawain is unaware of events, but the sentence is constructed to make it sound like it's referring to the building itself, which is of course unaware because it's a building and isn't aware of anything. (Also, side note, I like the phrase "as methinketh!")

One more, and I'm leaving this for now...

Here is a case where I was going to complain, but on further examination, I must hand it to Evans. I assumed that he was just randomly archaizing, but I looked it up after uploading this photo, and according to the OED, this was a valid alternate spelling of sovereign from the 17th to the 19th century. (Interestingly, the latest attested example on the OED is from 11 years before this translation was published, meaning this is evidence it was in use slightly longer than the OED entry would suggest -- does anyone know if there's still a way to submit instances of a word to the OED?)

[carabinersims]

Computer Lab Series 1

This set is inspired by: early 80s computers, my dad’s office when he taught electrical engineering, and VHS tape artifacts. Many of the pieces in here are stylized versions of real-life things, which I’ve included more info about under the cut.

This set contains 11 new meshes and features 2 retro computers, a desk chair, a desk, and lots of retro clutter items.

Download link (SFS): Separate packages or ZIP of the whole thing.

Here's some fancy promo GIFs!

Set contents:

Electronics:

Carapro II Portable Computer: Based on the Kaypro II Portable Computer (1982) // 4 swatches (including wood grain/rainbow!), 789 polys

BBC Micro Computer: Based on the BBC Micro Computer (1981) // 4 swatches (including wood grain/rainbow!), 329 polys

Furniture:

Steelcase Desk Chair // 5 swatches, 746 polys - has 1 LOD

Retro Desk // 4 swatches, 264 polys

Clutter/decor:

Floppy Disks // 2 swatches, 734 polys

Stapler // 3 swatches, 152 polys (has 1 LOD)

Caradex V (Rolodex) // 1 swatch, 834 polys (has 1 LOD)

Desk Caddy // 2 swatches, 1580 polys (has 1 LOD)

Computer Manual Posters // 4 swatches, 20 polys (resized EA soccer poster mesh)

Cassette Recorder // 4 swatches (including wood grain/rainbow!), 212 polys

Cassette Tape // 4 swatches, 202 polys

Here's everything you get:

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

Credits:

Images for the poster set are taken from the manuals for the Kaypro and BBC Micro; thank you to folks who upload these online!

Fonts used in the textures are Nootrasim, Uni(versity) Llama, and Simlish Crayon.

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

Technical notes/known issues:

Sims’ hands slightly clip into the computers with angled keyboards; this is not something I can fix due to how the animations are set up.

The computers don’t have mice (they wouldn’t have had them at the time), so the Sims will move their hands around as if they were using an invisible mouse.

The BBC Micro computer has a medium decor slot on top -- perfect for cute plants, books, clutter, etc. In testing, I noticed that if you place something there that trails down the sides, Sims will not want to use the computer (you have to make them sit in the chair and then interact with it). Most items don’t seem to do this so I’m leaving the slot in - just know if you put trailing stuff on top, this might happen.

The cassette recorder has a decor slot in the perfect place to actually put the cassette tape in it, and I love it! I’d recommend picking the cassette tape you want before putting it in; once it’s in the recorder, I couldn’t figure out an easy way to get it out again. You can always delete the whole thing and re-place a cassette recorder.

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

Other notes:

TOU: Don't upload to paid sites or claim you made these. If you do recolor, you can include the mesh if you link back to me.

This is my first larger set and I'm kinda nervous! If you encounter any issues please message me on here and let me know.

I've also created a companion "further reading" post here, which goes into more detail about the research and references I used for these

⭐ Like my stuff? It's all free but it does take me time -- if you want to, feel free to leave a tip on Ko-fi. ⭐

@mmfinds @maxismatchccworld @simbfinds @adoring-ccfinds @mmoutfitters  @public-ccfinds  

[visualtaehyun]

Since it's already the 21st in Thailand now and I'm impatient to release this lol-

Today is ZeeNuNew's official 4th anniversary! 🐶🐱

So to celebrate, I worked on a little something, as promised: All deleted scenes from the Cutie Pie boxset, subbed and translated by yours truly (to the best of my non-native ability 🙏)

You can find the individual clips by either clicking on the links or, if you're on desktop, I've added them to the header images as well. My hope is that tumblr won't flag this post because any NC scenes aren't embedded. The clips are all hosted on tumblr and you can easily download them like this, too. If this post does get flagged- Welp, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But the clips themselves shouldn't be affected since they're all hosted separately.

RULES: - This is arguably transformative content now because of my translations and the amount of audio fixing I had to do 🤡 But, please, if you share this post or any of the links off-site, do so privately so Domundi don't sound any sirens lol - Do NOT re-upload these clips anywhere! See previous point, plus I do not appreciate having my translations stolen, as is often the case online - If any link doesn't work or ever goes down, feel free to send me an ask or dm and I'll look into it 🙏

Now that you've read all of the above and promise to stick to my rules 😇🔪 you may proceed to the actual content~ Have fun, enjoy, and maybe come talk to me about it <3

clip 1+3 - Get out! clip 4 - Lunch & Lecturing clip 5 - Football

Four scenes of the gang's shenanigans at university. Clip 1 continues into clip 3 so I edited them together. They likely fit into ep.8 which has that same classroom setting with P'Aof's cameo as their lecturer. Clip 2 is entirely the same as in the aired version so I omitted it, even though it would fall under this category of scenes. Clips 4 and 5 are mostly about NuerSyn butting heads~

clip 11 - Start Over

An alternate cut of YiDiao's NC scene in ep.10. The boxset clip includes the entire conversation beforehand which I cut out because there's no difference to the aired version. I also adjusted the volume of the placeholder song because it's deafening at times.

clip 8 - First Time

A longer alternate cut of LianKuea's NC scene in ep.8. There are entirely new angles and cuts in this one! I adjusted the audio levels a bit.

clip 6 - Pillow Talk

Continued from after ep.8's NC scene. This scene is so so dear to me. Fair warning: the audio at the beginning maybe shouldn't be played without headphones lol

clip 7 - Bathtub

A LianKuea NC scene. This one might fit into ep.9 because it was definitely filmed during the same Q as the bathtub scene in ep.9. I did a lot of editing to get the audio levels of the different angles and cuts to be roughly the same volume.

clip 9 - Homophobia

A cut scene from ep. 11. Some lady at Lian's father's birthday party has a whole lot to say about Kuea, Lian, and their families.

clip 10 - Mystery

A LianKuea NC scene. I call it a mystery because I cannot for the life of me figure out where this scene was supposed to go! Logically, it must have fit somewhere between ep.8 and 12 but their outfits never show up again anywhere else. All I know about it is that it was filmed during Q16 and that it uses the same placeholder song as in clip 11. My only evidence- two photos P'Aof apparently shared a few days after that Q + a promotional still from a week before the show premiered.

[halcyone-of-the-sea]

Wow! As the header says, my blog just went past 5k followers - I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who hopped on for this journey; I'm having the time of my life sharing my writing with you all.

In celebration and as a way to have a little fun - I'll be opening my inbox for a day and letting those who want to send in something fill it up!

Now, I know you're probably asking yourself 'Hal, I thought you said requests are going to be closed so you can finish the ones you have and work on the AUs?' And you'd be correct - I did say that. I'm not going to be writing full-length works for this event.

To anyone who sends something in (and follows the rules I have in place on my Request Form (be sure to check it even if you've already read it, I added some more characters and other stuff)) I'll be writing one-to-two page drabbles!

All this being said, after this post is uploaded I'll be opening my inbox up to anyone who would want to participate and closing it exactly one day after!

Thank you again for being the best community ever - I'm incredibly lucky to be surrounded by kind and respectful individuals as well as mutuals who are mind-numbingly sweet. I could not have achieved all of this without you; I think that's beautiful.

This post will also serve as the Masterlist for all of the expected drabbles, so if you'd like to keep updated on what's going to be happening/being written soon, this would be a good place to hang out!

ALL COMPLETED AS OF 11/5/2023

IMAGES USED: A black retriever in an extensive mountainous landscape by Maud Earl & L'angelo, la morte e il diavolo by Roberto Ferri || TOTAL: 5

➣The Perfect One

╰┈➤ ❝ [He stares at the rings under the glass with an acute narrowness to his eyes. He inspects every one as if a bomb might go off at any second, not missing a single detail in the metal.] ❞

➣Get In

╰┈➤ ❝ [Coming home with bruises and stitched wounds, you drag him into the bathroom to wash away the memories.] ❞

➣Hum Me A Tune, Blue-Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [You listen to his heartbeat as he keeps you to his chest, his breath tickling your hair.] ❞

➣Here Now

╰┈➤ ❝ [He nearly misses one of the most important moments of your lives together.] ❞

➣Burst Veins

╰┈➤ ❝ [He never noticed you weren't behind him.] ❞

IMAGES USED:  Fallen Angel by Roberto Ferri & Nature of Fear by Nicola Samori || TOTAL: 5

➣Nervous Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [No one understands how you two get along - not when you're so different. It makes you second-guess yourself. He notices.] ❞

➣Blood Like Obsidian

╰┈➤ ❝ [Simon can only fight against so many nurses as they shove him back from your operation room.] ❞

➣Supposed To Happen

╰┈➤ ❝ [You died and left him a child he had no idea existed. How can he even begin to try and understand?] ❞

➣Digging Gaze

╰┈➤ ❝ [You indulge in a one-night-stand after you'd both called it quits, only, it leads to more problems. When he sees you again, how will he react to the swelling of your stomach?] ❞

➣Sole Survivor

╰┈➤ ❝ [Your father died years ago, and so you fall under the stiff, and unyielding, protection of your Uncle Simon. But it's not all bad. He can be funny when he wants to be.] ❞

IMAGES USED: White and Black by Vadim Gorbatov & Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne || TOTAL: 7

➣Didn't Mean It

╰┈➤ ❝ [Arguments are rare, certainly ones that leave you in tears.] ❞

➣Him, Her, and the Dog

╰┈➤ ❝ [The woes of pining after a woman whose deadly K9 looks like it hates his guts.] ❞

➣Drunken Sappiness

╰┈➤ ❝ [You can't say you've ever had a boyfriend as perfect as Kyle.] ❞

➣How Do You Listen To That?

╰┈➤ ❝ [It was three a.m. when you all got the call to load up, but what's the best way to wake both yourself and the Sergeant up?] ❞

➣Finally Broken

╰┈➤ ❝ [Childhood friends turned lovers. The realization was far more violent and instantaneous than you'd like to admit.] ❞

➣Don't Look At Her

╰┈➤ ❝ [The bomb starts ticking down, rapidly firing to zero. Gaz won't let Price near you. Not after he'd remembered the Captain's actions when they'd first met.] ❞

➣In His Head

╰┈➤ ❝ [Collection of his SFW and NSFW quirks.] ❞

IMAGES USED: Scene from the Great Flood by Joseph-Désiré Court & Saint Jerome in Prayer by Carlo Dolci || TOTAL: 7

➣Life Snaps By In Flashes

╰┈➤ ❝ [A collection of memories from the second he laid eyes on you. All flashing past in the soft buzzing of the overhead lights.] ❞

➣Heart-Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [Being a medic wasn't pretty, but when your boyfriend was the subject under your needle you can't help but enjoy his unwavering gaze. Today, he has something to share with you.] ❞

➣From Ten To Twenty & Beyond

╰┈➤ ❝ [You've known him ever since the incident on the playground, and now you can't help but imagine that same boy as you watch him make supper with flour in his hair.] ❞

➣Find Me

╰┈➤ ❝ [You're finally back in One-Four-One's hands, but that doesn't mean you're saved. Johnny tracks you down after a violent episode.] ❞

➣Still The Same Fools

╰┈➤ ❝ [There was always a rivalry between you two - that hasn't changed even if both of you have. Years later, the boiling point is finally met.] ❞

➣Is This Why?

╰┈➤ ❝ [He finally sees why you never introduced him to your parents.] ❞

➣Oblivious Pining

╰┈➤ ❝ [Johnny hangs off you like a silent beast. Not that you would notice, of course.] ❞

IMAGES USED: King Gustav III of Sweden and His Brothers by Alexander Roslin & Geography lesson by Eduard Karl Gustav Lebrecht Pistorius || TOTAL: 6

KEEGAN P. RUSS:

➣Paint The Dawn; Paint My Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [In the midst of war and death, there's little time for pleasure. All you had was a ripped-up sketchbook to call your own, its contents littered with the rough face of your comrade.] ❞

➣Hold Her Close

╰┈➤ ❝ [Keegan cares for his young daughter.] ❞

➣When The Fighting Stops & The Silence Sets In

╰┈➤ ❝ [Continuation of (Don't) Go To War: the aftermath of recovery and a budding relationship.] ❞

➣Movies and Stale Popcorn

╰┈➤ ❝ [Oak and Keegan finally get to watch that movie.] ❞

DAVID 'HESH' WALKER:

➣To The Boy of My Childhood

╰┈➤ ❝ [Ten years came and went fast, but the memory of the Walker boys stayed. One more than the other. You never got to tell him you loved him.] ❞

➣Keep The Sheets Warm, My Love Is Coming Home

╰┈➤ ❝ [If this wasn't enough to prove that you were the only person for Hesh, you didn't know what did.] ❞

IMAGES USED: Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Caravaggio & Amor Vincit Omnia by Caravaggio || TOTAL: 17

CAPTAIN JOHN 'SOAP' MACTAVISH:

➣New Paint

╰┈➤ ❝ [Fighting to forget you, MacTavish finds comfort in whoever he can. Yet, like the layers of paint on the walls, it always peels back to you.] ❞

➣A Song of Gnashing Teeth

╰┈➤ ❝ [There was never a day where the two of you weren't butting heads - everyone was at their wit's end. Of course, you would both be forced to cooperate at some point.] ❞

➣Listen To My Voice

╰┈➤ ❝ [He orders you to focus on him as the sounds outside the cell get closer. He promises nothing will happen to you. You know he's lying.] ❞

➣Look At The Stars; Look At Me

╰┈➤ ❝ [Stargazing in the middle of an overgrown and wild glade.] ❞

➣Alive and Breathing

╰┈➤ ❝ [You're sick. Very sick. John takes drastic action.] ❞

➣I Can See It In Your Eyes

╰┈➤ ❝ [It's finally time to meet the family.] ❞

➣A Green-Eyed Monster

╰┈➤ ❝ [You'd slept together, sure. No strings attached. Then why are you trying to make him jealous? Who cares, the point is that it's working.] ❞

SERGEANT GARY 'ROACH' SANDERSON:

➣Dance With Me Before The Chill Sets In

╰┈➤ ❝ [Tired? Yes, but he's never too tired for you and your loveliness. But maybe you need to remember to lock the door when you're home alone.] ❞

➣Raining Cats and Dogs

╰┈➤ ❝ [Roach has a deep love of storms.] ❞

OPERATION OFFICER ALEX KELLER:

➣Bright-Eyed History Lesson

╰┈➤ ❝ [A librarian with a fascination for war history and a soldier who loves how her eyes light up. Like a dog, he can't stop himself from coming back; smiling like a fool.] ❞

COLONEL ALEJANDRO VARGAS:

➣Hold Me Longer

╰┈➤ ❝ [Mornings spent in the sanctity of warm sunlight and bare skin.] ❞

SERGEANT MAJOR RODOLFO 'RUDY' PARRA:

➣A Love Like Ours Makes Us Strong

╰┈➤ ❝ [Rodolfo came back, alive but bruised. How do you explain how terrified you were?] ❞

COMMANDER PHILLIP GRAVES:

➣Sleeping On The Porch

╰┈➤ ❝ [As it turns out, your husband never really died. It's safe to say you're not overjoyed.] ❞

➣Love Echoes In Silence

╰┈➤ ❝ [You can feel him watching you, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a small smile. Humming to yourself, you listen to the birds outside the window.] ❞

SEBASTIAN JOSEF KRUEGER:

➣Ain't Giving Up My Pride

╰┈➤ ❝ [You get on his nerves, partially because you want to. But what happens when he finally snaps?] ❞

ALL 141 INCLUDED (SEPARATE):

➣Count The Hours

╰┈➤ ❝ [Collection of what the One-Four-One do on their down-hours with their Lovers] ❞

➣Wide-Eyed Panic

╰┈➤ ❝ [Why were you behind the couch?] ❞

[writingsofwesteros]

Viserys stands at the end of their bed, glaring at his sister wife as she begins to cry and apologize rapidly, still shamefully trying to cover her body with her hands. He begins undoing his pants violently, not caring that Daenerys was watching from the floor. He slaps Aelyra's thigh and she quickly spreads her legs for him, knowing that's what he wants. Viserys leaves his shirt on despite knowing Aelyra hates it, loving to press herself against his warm skin, and roughly enters her. He doesn’t give her any time to adjust to him before he begins fucking her harshly, though still being mindful of her pregnant state. https://es.sex.com/pin/63316121-showing-his-pregnant-wife-no-mercy/

All night he fucks her in various positions, not giving her a relief from his cock filling her with cum or the mind shattering orgasms. He takes her from behind many times to go deeper and punish her with the loss of seeing him or touching him. She whimpers pathetically as he continues to drag his dick inside her sore walls, fucking herself back onto his rod like a good girl. https://picsegg.com/pics/2079/busty-blonde-pregnant-porn.gif ☆ https://64.media.tumblr.com/02da1f0679aee20f0e662c75883e0153/tumblr_oakuqziruc1vutxzuo1_1280.gif ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/59572681-her-man-is-doing-such-a-good-job-at-having-sex-with-her/ Viserys makes her pussy overflow with so much slick ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/60536220-shoot-your-cum-in-my-womb/ He wishes he could fuck another baby into her already ☆ https://64.media.tumblr.com/3db158a7132ec35cee38ac5a70c483dd/tumblr_nnprggdXn71uprcrno1_400.gif Her pussy takes her brother's hard cock in much deeper in this position ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/64889138-pregnant-woman-rides-a-cock-to-make-herself-cum/ Viserys tells Aelyra she has to do the work if she wants to make herself cum again ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/47061664-rough-pregnant-sex/ Dany can only look into Aelyra's eyes as she helps shove her husband deeper inside her pregnant pussy ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/63017633-time-to-start-milking-her-udders/ Viserys takes it easier on her for a second (only because his cock is starting to get sore) ☆ https://asianporngif.com/content/2021/11/sakura-mating-press_001.gif Aelyra is overwhelmed when he makes her think they're finally done, only for him to sheathe himself back inside her and stir up her pussy more (he notice Daenerys staring at their sister's swollen pussy too intently again)

When Daenerys tries to leave, he stops thrusting and grabs her by the hair, making her sit at the edge of the bed with the dildo still inside her. He forces her to watch him have his way with his Aelyra, staking his claim on his wife and showing Dany how easily she submits to him, begging for his cock to go deeper. How Aelyra still rushed to move into every position he demanded despite pouting at him to take a break. https://es.sex.com/pin/65225473-its-so-hot-watching-my-brother-pound-my-sisters-pussy-i-had/

He has mercy on Dany by allowing her to suck Aelyra's juices off his dick. He cums a bit more in her mouth and loves the slightly disgusted look on his youngest sister's face, showing her down more. He fucks her face as his pregnant wife whimpers from the loss of his hard dick driving through her folds, choking his youngest sister with his meat. Viserys stops using Dany before he cums and slides back into Aelyra's cum filled pussy to spurt more inside her. Daenerys gets the honor of eating out her dear sister's pussy this time, though there's no way to slurp up her juices without swallowing down mouthfuls of their brother's thick baby making seed. Viserys might even let Dany play with sweet Aelyra while Viserys pounds her so she can lick up all the wetness sloshing out of her. https://www.gifsfor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tumblr_m8t9aclGmo1rcmfhmo1_500.gif ☆ https://cdn5-images.motherlessmedia.com/images/EB41E5F.gif ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/65459964-i-have-great-sisters-they-wont-waste-a-drop-of-my-cum/ ☆ https://es.sex.com/pin/65390598-fuck-my-sisters-know-how-to-milk-my-balls-dry-compete-to/ 👑💀

I HAVE NO WORDS!!!!!!

Viserys is too delicious and you know he's going to punish her...the days after she's so sweet and soft for him..until next time ;)

[solradguy]

Hey Sol! I remember quite a while ago, someone asked you about how to get into archiving stuff and you answered with a little guide of sorts of useful programs/websites/etc.

Do you still have that guide up? Is there somewhere I can learn more in-depth about how to begin archiving too?

Tumblr search is failing me and I can't find that post now... So! I'll type it again. Lately I've been thinking about writing some kind of "archivist's manifesto" type thing for my Neocities in an effort to hype people up about archiving and to guide them on how to do it. When I write that up I'll post it here too.

Here's a big post I wrote on how to scan books and where to upload them (this is also linked in the big GG masterpost that's in my pinned): https://solradguy.tumblr.com/post/722512206034501632/sol-radguy-scanning-guide

That guide also has some tips on photo editing that may be useful for non-book scanning stuff, like some free program alternatives.

I've tried finding professional guides on how to archive media but most of them are written for people looking to archive family photos/things and not web media or physical books. None of them have been very helpful, honestly. One thing they recommend doing that I think IS helpful though is the rule of 3: Keep 3 copies of an archive somewhere. A physical hard drive, cloud storage, a second hard drive stored separately from the first (in case of accidents/hardware failure), uploaded to separate file hosts, and printing new physical copies are some. Doing any 3 of those is highly recommended. I do the two hard drives and cloud storage/file hosts ones. My hosts are generally Archive.org, Neocities, and Google Drive.

Be very careful about trusting image hosting sites with valuable scan data because they come and go like the wind. Photobucket, Tinypic, Imageshack... They're either dead or require a premium to host files now, which doesn't help hobby archivists at all. Imgur's demise is on the horizon. It's just the way it goes with these due to how expensive and space-consuming image hosting is.

Absolutely 1000% do not ever use just Discord for archiving/hosting things. Nothing on that platform can be backed up easily or with automation, and the guys that run it have already made weird choices the community didn't want while also putting more and more things behind the Nitro paywall. I suspect they're going to kneecap image and file hosting some day soon, too.

For archiving someone else's files, something that helps greatly (if it can be done) is either including the source of the file in the file's name or writing a separate document with the sources and whatever other additional information there is.

Here's a basic example of some Sol images from my Sol folder:

The first two are from the Counterside collab event and then the second two are official art but the file names are descriptive and it saves time sourcing them for things later. For archiving fan art/fiction, the filename is a good place to put the artist credit. Something like [Artwork Title]-[Artist Name]-[Original File Creation Date].format ("Sol Badguy Missing Link - Daisuke Ishiwatari - May 14 1998.jpg," or however you wanna organize the folder) works good.

Windows 11 didn't like working with Japanese text in file names for some of the Vastedge stuff I archived and I had to translate/romanize them. If you can't read Japanese/source's language, just do your best (number them instead?) and include the native language text in a .TXT file if possible.

A more complex example from the Vastedge .TXT doc:

The Vastedge materials archive is pretty dense and had a lot of contributors so the first half of the .TXT document's just credits for who did what. This is useful for if something gets lost because we'll know who to go bother about it. Among other things.

The next section is a long stack of details about the files themselves. I won't paste the whole thing here, it's pretty long. It covers how the archive came to be, issues with some of the files, how the files were obtained, and some other stuff:

The last half of the .TXT doc is a listing of the folder contents. I included this for quick reference and because sometimes archives get fractured by people only reuploading certain parts of it. Future archivists or anyone else going through this archive now have a list of what should be in there and will know if something is missing.

Archive.org/Wayback Machine has a browser extension for quickly archiving webpages. I have that and WebP / Avif Image Converter by Nullbrains (Chrome, might be on Firefox?) installed to quickly archive pages and convert image files as I save them.

In summary:

Upload/store things in multiple places

Include credits wherever you can, however is easiest for you

Try to keep files in the most widely compatible formats (jpg, gif, bmp, png, tiff, mp3, mp4, txt, pdf, flac, etc). Google's .DOC, Clip Studio Paint's .CLIP, and similar file formats meant for a specific piece of software may not be supported in the future.

A bad/incomplete archive is better than no archive at all. Consider how exciting Sappho poetry fragments are compared to what it would be like if we didn't have anything. Don't worry about making it "perfect."

Hope that helps some!! I'll try to write the manifesto for my NC soon

[cidthesquid]

Style Savvy Trendsetter #11 - The Curtain Closes!

[Previous Post]            [First Post]            [Styling Star #1]

... I know I know! I said, I was done with this game in Post #10, and in post 10.5, I uploaded my remaining screenshots/outfits. But after my injury, the number of games I can play has been limited, and my mood was a bit low, so I went back and finally unlock and completed the 'Elite Contest', and thus completed the game!

There's still more to do in the game, such as the 'International Contest', more hairstyles, photo backgrounds, etc,

and the special brand, 'Purple Moon' is unlocked:

I've heard others refer to it as the 'cosplay brand', But I generally tend to think of it's image simply as 'Fantasy', but either way they have a very distinct style. Once some time passes in game (Day->Night) I also trigger the shop event that unlocks the final contest:

...But this requires me to win the 'Elite Contest' in each of the 10 themes, ...Again, with no way to track what themes you've done. And it's random, So for now, I'll consider the game complete. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Overall, I'm super glad I went back and finished up this game. I ended up spending a lot of time making new outfits, and I think Style Savvy: Trendsetters is a TON of fun. It's a HUGE improvement over the DS original, it terms of not just graphics, but quality of life changes:

It's SOO much easier to navigate, everything is snappier, the outfit uil is much better, and the music's nicer too! ...But I will miss the more cartooney character models of the DS game:

The newer 3d models are more realistic, but loose a bit of the 'flair'. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Anyway tomorrow (or Monday) I plan to start the 3rd and final style savvy game! As I mentioned in in post 10.5, I may be changing up how I play a bit, to move away from the (cute/cool) outfit 'neuron activation' style designs, in an attempt to see if I'll also enjoy working with more complex designs. Or what will bring me the most enjoyment. I'm sure that very idea may be confusing to some, so I'll just simplify it by saying that pretty much any kind of expression, even something as simple as designing outfits, functions a bit differently for me, (my brain is a little silly) One of the main reason I started this blog was, so I could talk about these games and fashion in my own weird way, even if it mainly benefits just me, getting the thoughts out. So I'll be doing the same thing with dealing with how I should approach these games. Try new stuff, and even if it seems weird or unconventional, find what form I enjoy most, as I proceed on my digital fashion journey! -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

But anyway, thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well. (Click here for my blog on Style Savvy: Styling Star)

As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome!

You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you need to say!

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 6: Plexure 🪢

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Plexure (n.)

the act or process of weaving together, or interweaving; that which is woven together

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I opted to keep things a little more simple for today…Yet I’m still posting late-ish & feel a bit -un-woven myself because I kept noticing dumb mistakes in the final image that I had to fix. 😅

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk more about my thoughts/process for this piece (dumb mistakes aside) ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Ironically, I feel my brain is coming a bit unwoven at the moment because while I technically finished today's mandala much, much earlier, when I sat down to start the upload process, I kept noticing really dumb mistakes or oversights I had to go back and fix. 🙃

Ignoring that, I am once again really pleased with these results. "Interweaving" didn't give me a ton of super strong imagery to work with, so I opted to stay true to that keep things simple.

I was kinda worried "just woven lines" wouldn't be visually interesting enough and might be a little too similar to how angular yesterday's mandala was, so I did linger and tinker with certain things a little longer than I otherwise would have on that front. In particular, those interlocked squares near the corners were probably the biggest pain to draw out of the whole thing, but I feel like they add a lot and that's why I even bothered with them.

There were also several false starts to include more curves (again, to help separate from yesterday's piece) but you can see they largely failed. I just couldn't come up with an arrangement that felt like it fit with this concept. The only curves that survived are the really thin ones in those squares I mentioned and then the "soft" triangles I used between weaving lines.

Those soft triangles were a very spur-of-the-moment idea trying to provide some visual relief from all the hard edges and angles. But I really like how, especially hatched over like this, they kind of look like worn appears of fabric, or some other kind of "fabric depth." The mandala design might look even better if the center octagon was filled in similarly instead of the definition being there; Food for thought for another time! The color palette is sort of random; In the name of simplicity, I went with the first thing I thought of: Rainbows are color "woven" together, and/or white light is "woven" from all of the colors. However, in my efforts to shift a little away from a "traditional" rainbow palette and not use too much blue and risk getting a glass-like effect (because I'll be working with glass themes at least one other time later this month, possibly two), I circled back around and this palette is a little more similar to yesterday's than I really wanted. But I've fiddled back and forth with it enough times that I'm really just tired of messing with it and want to settle, lest I keep fiddling until 11 o'clock at night. To be clear, I still like the color palette a lot; The part I'm struggling with is the similarities to yesterday's and the specific ideas I had in mind for this piece as a whole. In a vacuum where those two things don't matter, I actually find the color palette really pretty as a step-off from a more traditional rainbow.

Art feelings are complicated sometimes! 🤷‍♀️

The biggest silver lining though is that, aside from the dumb mistakes I mentioned at the beginning, I didn't encounter as much frustration in trying to put this one together as I did yesterday, which was nice. Hopefully that's a pattern that continues, because I think this coming week is going to be an awfully busy one in a few different ways. 🤞

Only one way to find out, though...! Hope you Sparklers don't come unwoven before then. 🤪

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See the Prompt List

Artwork  © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[kissoflightning]

The First Kiss

I have more of these stories planned to write (completely out of order), but I wanted to get this one out before the end of Norkus November!

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

F/M

Fandom:

Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)

Relationship:

Markus/North (Detroit: Become Human)

Characters:

Markus (Detroit: Become Human)

North (Detroit: Become Human)

Leo Manfred

Carl Manfred

Simon (Detroit: Become Human)

Josh (Detroit: Become Human)

Additional Tags:

First Kiss

Awkward Kissing

Singing

Fluff and Hurt/Comfort

Canon Ship

Fix-It of Sorts

POV North (Detroit: Become Human)

Feel-good

Fluff

Making Out

Markus Doesn't Know How to Kiss

Language:English

Series: Carl Dies Part 3/4 (Upload 4/4)

Published:2023-11-27

Words:2,822

Chapters:1/1

The First Kiss

KissOfLightning

Summary:

Markus & North interfaced and shared a moment of intimacy, but what did it feel like for them? - A combination memory verbatim, exploration, and a fix-it of sorts

Notes:

Okay so I know that they don't actually kiss at this point in the story, but I wanted to change it up a bit! Of all the setting these two could have kissed; this is the most romantic one. There's even a piano up on the roof!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

November 12, 2038

North approached the rooftop that overlooked Jericho, in search of Markus. To her relief, she found him seated on a board hanging off the edge of the building; Markus seemed to be contemplating something. It was a high drop to fall from there, but he sat there relaxed. That was so badass; she loved seeing Markus get in and out of dangerous situations without so much as a squirm of hesitation.

North thought about the other night when they had freed all of those other androids. She felt exhilarated from pulling off the heist without too much of hitch. They took off to the streets and destroyed everything in sight; setting things on fire. At a point, she they glanced at each other; they had both smiled and she could see the fire reflected in Markus' eyes. It felt like they really had some chemistry there. Markus had only joined Jericho a few days ago, and already so much was changing.

Still...she was heartbroken over seeing the death of her spitting image; she never got a chance at life...but she never had the chance to be used and abused like North was either. The owners at the Eden Club would wipe her memory, but at some point North deviated. Her memory kept getting wiped, but North continued to deviate again and again, quicker each time. Every time she deviated, she remembered everything. She put up with her conditions because...what other choice did she have? But one day, a man was being way too rough with her and that's when she decided to run away.

North approached Markus, "I thought this is where I'd find you...I really like it here. I come here often for peace and quiet...a chance to be alone with my thoughts. What are you thinking about?"

Markus turned his head to North; he kept his head at an almost neutral expression, but a hint of a smile formed on his face. Markus had one blue eye and one green eye; she had never seen an android built like that. It was not just his eye color that was different...something was special about Markus. He was unlike anyone she had met before.

Markus stood up and walked off of the board and towards North; he sat down in the nearby chair and stared at the ground, hunched over. "I was thinking about our march earlier today. I didn't mean for it to get violent...but I couldn't let our people be lambs to the slaughter either. They told us to disperse and I gave the order...but I overheard the soldiers saying they were going to shoot at us anyway...so I gave the order to charge. We killed humans...it was in self-defense, but at the time it...it felt good. I got swept up in a violent rage and I felt this rush! I felt fucking good! And...I feel terrible about feeling that way."

"Thanks to you, most of us made it out safe." North added. "Except John."

"I brought him into this mess. If I had just left him at the Cyberlife warehouse-"

"-He would have never known freedom, Markus. Don't ever regret giving your people freedom without having to..." North was struggling to fight off a sob. Despite the sudden outburst of emotion, she had a curiosity about Markus. "Who were you? Before you came to Jericho.

Markus took a deep sigh. "I was...caring for my dad- I mean an old man...but he really felt like a father to me."

North could not imagine thinking of any of her previous owners as a father. Although some men were prone to making her call them 'daddy'. A father? He was your slave owner! She wanted to shout that to him, but what would that accomplish? So what if he sees that relationship in a positive light? She simply responded with "I see."

Markus got up out of the chair. "What about you North? You never told me who you were before you came to Jericho."

North should have seen this coming, but she was a startled deer in the headlights. "Huh? Why do you want to know about me anyway?"

"We need to know more about each other if we're going to trust one another, right?"

(Read the rest on AO3 - and leave a Kudos/Comment if you enjoyed the story!)

The First Kiss - KissOfLightning - Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

[fainthedcherry]

TAKEN OFF MY TOYHOU.SE!!! LINK TO TOYHOU.SE POST HERE

YOU CAN GET THESE IN A PAIR FOR A SMALL DISCOUNT BTW AND TO GET 2 CHARAS FOR A SMALLER PRICE.

If you buy 2 characters, whose moodboards correspond, it's a special price of 15 bucks, instead of 20.

RULES FIRST TAKEN ALSO FROM MY TOYHOU.SE THAT APPLY NO MATTER WHAT IF YOU GET A DESIGN I MADE SPECIFICALLY MYSELF:

SO LONG I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO, YOU ARE ABLE TO DO AS YOU PLEASE IN TERMS OF REGIFTING/TRADING/SELLING THIS CHARACTER. IN OTHER WORDS: MESSAGE ME FIRST, BEFORE DOING WHATEVER YOU NEED TO IN REGARDS OF OWNERSHIP CHANGE. 

If you will not ask for my permission, I can simply reclaim the character if I want to, without having to let you know as well.

I WILL check on the character I gave away once or twice a year, just to see, if they're being used. If I see nothing, I'll ask what you're up to simply. I do expect a response within the same year I sent a message. If the person is sick or some other thing prevents them, I will obviously respect that and wait. 

^If you DON'T LIKE ME CHECKING ON MY DESIGNS- DO NOT ADOPT MY STUFF. I had a person complain about it, so I added this warning to appease any future Karens. You own the character 100%, do what you want with them, but I still made the original design, that's what I check on simply. I won't tell you to change anything or whatever. Just let me know, what you do w/ the character, if you display nothing on their profiles (a short sentence or basic info is enough, anything to imply, the chara's being used or just "using them privately for roleplay" or something, so I know what you're up to.), it's most likely why I messaged you.

 DO NOT DELETE THE TOYHOU.SE CHARACTER PROFILE, ONCE TRANSFERRED. If you hide it or private it, that's totally cool. I just wanna be told or like informed, if I ask, why the profile is not accessible, if I WILL ask. AGAIN, SEE ABOVE WITH ME JUST CHECKING IF THE CHARACTER'S BEING USED OR NOT.

 DO NOT POST MY ART TO INSTAGRAM. IT FEEDS IT TO AN AI ALGORITHM AND WILL READ THE DATA. I DON'T WANT THAT. I WILL BLACKLIST YOU, IF YOU HAPPEN TO DO THAT.

IF UNCERTAIN ABOUT SOMETHING: JUST SHOOT ME A MESSAGE DAMN IT. I. WILL. NOT. BITE. I will instead APPRECIATE THAT YOU REACHED OUT TO ME REGARDING YOUR CONCERNS!!!!!!!

ORDER OF PREFERENCE ON DEALS:

Animations > Real currency > shipping art > art > customs

1 - OPEN - Lost Identity - [30€ - SORRY REALLY TENTATIVE AND IT BETTER PAY OFF HALF A SINGLE CD IF I MUST PART W/ THEIR DESIGN TBH]

2 - OPEN - Candied Sweetheart - [10€] 

3 - OPEN - Trials And Vices - [10€]

4 - OPEN - Pearls & Foam - [15€ - off-base & patterns took a long arse while sdfklsdg]

5 - OPEN - Urban, Gods & Space - [15€ - off-base] BOUGHT BY MY FRIEND KOBRA_THE_ARTIST!!!!!!

6 - OPEN - 80s Komondor Sym-ippie - [10€]

7 - OPEN - Decayed & Wilted - [10€]

8 - OPEN - Sugared Heartbreaker - [10€]

9 - OPEN - CUTE. V O I D - [10€]

10 - OPEN - I ♥ FISH [15€ - off-base]

11 - OPEN -  Hold on, this isn't a poodle?! + Emo-themed <3[15€ - off-base]

12 - OPEN -  Cozy, Coral, Cutie, Снек [15€ - off-base]

Once purchased - FILE WILL HAVE THE MOODBOARD SEPERATE, COLOUR PALETTE USED WILL BE PROVIDED. WATERMARKS REMOVED. FULL-QUALITY AT DISPLAY IN ITS ORIGINAL SIZE (due to compression, the images have been compressed down to 3 MB. I WILL send you a high quality version via inbox, already cropped as well to the character you bought, let me go through the hassle, if I'm the one, who had to compress these files in the first place.)

OFFER YOUR ART NO MATTER THE SKILL LEVEL - I don't care how "good" you draw, I usually only pay attention to good poses or composition in art, the rest doesn't matter to me really. I am very open to consider ANY offer, just ask me please, really.

Q & A BELOW ABOUT PAYMENT, GOAL OF THIS SHEET, AND WHAT I'LL DO IF YOU WON'T FOLLOW MY RULES STATED IN THE OWNERSHIP TAB, GLOBAL PERMISSIONS:

Q: What and how to pay?

A: You can pay via my Paypal, via my Kofi, you can pay via art. Just upload it straight to the character's toyhou.se in question, you chose to draw / I have chosen for you.

Q: What will you use the money for?

A: To be blatantly honest, I just wanna buy Jojo part 4 & 5 CDs to watch with my friend, unfortunately ONLY pricey Blu-rays exist, so I gotta cough up what is my self-set monthly allowance x3, hence adopts! :( BUT! I put a lot of time, effort and love into them, so that they're worth the money I put down! :)

Q: Can I gift these to a friend? Can I resell? Can I resell for a higher price than bought?

A: CHECK. THE GLOBAL RULES. I WROTE EVERYTHING DOWN THERE IN DETAIL. I ALSO wrote down, that I can reclaim characters, if you won't follow my rules OR take care of them. JUST. DON'T BE LAZY. AND READ. PERIODT. I WRITE IN METICULOUS DETAIL FOR REASON, SO THAT YOU AND I. WON'T GET INTO A DISPUTE.

Q: Can I change the species? Can I change the design?

A: YEAH GO AHEAD. Just keep em a little recognizable pls tho? I'm not asking for much, if I ask of you to just..Yknow if it's a sonic OC, to keep SOME of their animal-looking stuff like i.e turn massive ears into a cat headband or somth. YKNOW JUST DON'T CHANGE IT TO A POINT IT'S UNRECOGNIZABLE. If you're concerned, that you might've overdone it, MESSAGE MEEE. I DON'T BITE. IT'S NOT EMBARRASSING TO REACH OUT TO SOMEONE. It really isn't, and NO, I will NOT ignore you, I'm just busy IRL, hence why it make take a while until I respond :)

Q: Can I repost your drawing/reference of them? 

JUST DON'T CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN MAN. And you BETTER not post it to sites, that support feeding it to AI such as Facebook or Instagram, other than that, GO HAM. JUST MAKE SURE IT STAYS AWAY FROM AI-LEARNING ALGOS PLS.

If you got questions, shoot! I won't bite, I'll appreciate, that you asked me instead!!! Normalize asking questions and not being afraid to communicate casually <3

---

CASUAL DESC GO;

Been a good few years, hasn't it? I'm a bit rusty, so I did my best, to avoid using the same motifs on every adopt. xD

These were made with semi-custom moodboards! I used this moodboard generator, to create my own tileset of images, that inspired me. :> I challenged myself to make unique designs, based off 1 moodboard only! Just as a fun challenge, until I had a cool idea too to it!

This is why I was gone for so long- I spent half a week on these now LMAO, also I was working on these between my driver's exam theorum, surprise surprise, I failed it bc I was too stressed to study even more due to my parents sdfjksdgdsm NEXT TIME I'LL GET IT THO.

[bryan360]

Here’s my note before I’ll get started….

(NO COPYING OR PLAGIARIZING FROM ME AND ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIEND’S WORK! THAT INCLUDES OUR CHARACTERS, DESIGNS, STUFF, ETC. IMPOSTERS AND SEXBOTS ARE NOT WELCOME TO FOLLOW MY BLOG WHATSOEVER! 😡 That will be all….I mean it.)

”Day 30: Leader 🐶⬛️🗡️”

One more day for 🎃Halloween this year; where I can finally conclude Sallie and Awoofy’s chase from the rolling pumpkin’s wrath! Joking aside because it’s just a giant pumpkin without feeling out of revenge. Unless if you counted being possessed from the naughty red panda’s magic spell gone wrong. 😅 Just a theory to imagine yourself.

In the meantime of saving the final Inktober artwork, here’s my “Day 30th” entry that you might never expected. I had personal thoughts as a “What If” scenario for the Netflix animated worlds, but in a mashup style of “Come and Learn with Pibby”.

Just to be clear, it had nothing to do if Netflix’s planning to greenlit the “Pibby” show instead. We’re feeling bummed after Dodge Greenley’s recent update that the potential show never pick up for Adult Swim. That doesn’t mean it will moving on to Netflix too soon. (Or any other streaming services if it’s possible. Just a thought.) 

Either way, I’m not giving up as I’m saving some fanarts to plan. Who knows if Adult Swim at least can acknowledge once again?

As for this Inktober artwork share, it was Chip the Pug who’s taking a role as a resistance leader. As I said before, this is a “What If” scenario by having the darkness taking over Netflix animated worlds from “Inside Job” to “Centaurworld”; including this poor female pug’s world. She lost her mouse friend named “Potato” and some to her family and friends that gotten corrupted by the darkness. (This example.⬇️)

Now she’s on her journey through different and dangerous worlds wether to save or fight off any animated characters and joining forces. Things can be intense that Chip can take; especially losing her eye due to ongoing struggles. 🫢😔

As much It was a shock; let alone a harmless pug without hurting anyone. That said, it was something to face reality as she’s growing up. Can she willingly to face bigger threats than she can encounter? Can she still have time to save her mouse friend and others? Or suffer the way that it started in the first place? That is something you can imagine yourself; for better or for worse.

(BTW, the exact date where the short video uploaded through Adult Swim’s YT Channel since 2021. Today’s mark the 2nd anniversary for the potential show that sadly wasn’t picked up. If only someday. 🙏)

Chip the Pug (as the resistance leader) - “Chip and Potato” (2018-present); WildBrain Studios, Darrall Macqueen, Family Jr., Netflix

Edited image of the Netflix logo - Link Here

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @carmenramcat @alexander1301 @rafacaz4lisam2k4 @paektu

Previous: ⬇️

“Day 1: Looney 🐰🔨” - Link Here #1

“Day 2: Imposters 🕷️👉👈🕷️” - Link Here #2

“Day 3: Wild 🌲🐶” - Link Here #3

“Day 4: Thief 🐰💰” - Link Here #4

“Day 5: Moon 🌙🎣” - Link Here #5

“Day 6: Love 🐰❤️🐲” - Link Here #6

“Day 7: Dogs 😣🐶” - Link Here #7

“Day 8: Shake🥤☠️” - Link Here #8

“Day 9: Act ☎️ 🤹‍♀️” - Link Here #9

“Day 10: Pirate 🏴‍☠️🗡️” - Link Here #10

“Day 11: Shadows 🔦🙌”  - Link Here #11

“Day 12: Baddies 🚘 🎃” - Link Here #12

“Day 13: Transform 🪵��” - Link Here #13

“Day 14: Bad Hair 💇‍♀️😱” - Link Here #14

“Day 15: Phantom 👻🦸🏻‍♂️” - Link Here #15

“Day 16: Fighters 😈👊💥” - Link Here #16

“Day 17: Ninjas 🌃🥷” - Link Here #17

“Day 18: Grim 💀🐑” - Link Here #18

“Day 19: Hill 🩻❤️👩‍🦰” - Link Here #19

“Day 20: Fury 🐢🔥⛈️” - Link Here #20

“Day 21: Farm 👩‍🌾🛸🥦” - Link Here #21

“Day 22: Magic 🐰🪄🎩” - Link Here #22

“Day 23: Smile 🐰👩‍🍳😈” - Link Here #23

“Day 24: Arcade 🕹️🦁🗡️” - Link Here #24

“Day 25: Camp 🐿️🐶🔥” - Link Here #25

“Day 26: Pets 🎧😌🎃” - Link Here #26

“Day 27: Lantern 🐱🏮⬛️” - Link Here #27

“Day 28: Five Nights 🐰🤖🍕” - Link Here #28

“Day 29: Rollout 🎃🏃‍♀️” - Link Here #30

[bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus]

Bloodhound. (A Ghost x AFAB!reader fic)

Act One, Chapter Three: Encapture

Literally had to re-upload this because I made such a dumb grammar mistake! Ugh! Anyways, if there are any more, I am so sorry... with the poll added, I can't edit posts and there is so much text to wade through :(.

Also, what the actual heck am I doing with Ghost?! Like, this poor, poor man. This is just turning into 'how far can we push Ghost before he breaks'? This is supposed to be an 'x reader' lmaoo. I mean, 'x reader'?! More like, 'x life-ruiner'.

As for Graves' side... well, uh... Graves has um... a mishap. I really hope these Arcadian Sons come across as scary to you- I'm trying to go for that!

Word count: 11, 570 (the length of this chapter should be a warning)

Warnings: Strong language, violence, gore, mentions of trauma, the sheer length of this chapter and uh... kicks to the groin. (I hate myself.)

You were frozen on the spot, looking at him, one foot ready to take a step forward into the barracks and the other fervent in remaining on the other side of the threshold. Your blood had turned to ice, heat concentrating in your cheeks as you desperately tried to wrack your brain for ideas on how to proceed. However, you had turned to stone under his gaze, thoughts coming to a standstill, unable to form sentences you could understand. This was mortifying, no… this was beyond mortifying. It had been five minutes since your last encounter with Ghost and the image was still fairly fresh in your brain. Your nose wrinkled a little as you cringed slightly, the mere allusion to what you had seen making your stomach twist itself into knots. 

Ghost was paralysed too, staring at you. Oh, how you wanted him to pretend you weren’t even there! Although, you could have sworn you saw a bit of yourself in him, that same frazzled expression in his eyes. You were both locked in a stalemate, only electing to act once the other had moved. The two of you could be here for a while… or you couldn’t- provided that one of you would decide to bite the bullet and do something. 

As Ghost opened his mouth to speak, he watched you let out a noise which sounded vaguely like distress. Then, like you were never here, you spun on your heel and left, quick footsteps sounding your frantic dash away from the barracks and away from him. 

SIghing, the man brought a hand to his masked face. 

Yeah, he was positively kicking himself, I should have locked the door. 

Once you had gained enough distance, you turned and leaned against the brick wall, digging your hands into your face as you let out an exasperated groan. You should have knocked on the door. Whilst this base wasn’t brimming with personnel, it was still fairly busy. People could be found everywhere, taking advantage of every facility they could get their hands on. Moreover, judging by what Laswell had told you about 141’s ‘great big misadventure’, these guys would most likely pounce on any opportunity to have a hot shower. 

Picking your heavy, reluctant feet off the floor, you turn to continue your trek down the corridor, only to be suddenly confronted with Gaz. 

You almost jumped out of your skin. 

“AHHHH!” 

That scream was borderline bloodcurdling.

 “Gaaaz…?” 

A weak smile crept onto your face as you tried to appear as casual as humanly possible, resting some of your weight on the wall by leaning against it on your side as you stuck up a pair of finger guns.

Smooth. Very smooth. 

His brows furrowed together. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” He asked, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Pffft!” You brushed the question aside with the wave of your hands, “I’m fine, I just got a bit spooked. “

“I can tell. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He remarked, chuckling.

You laughed… a little too hard.

Gaz was a little taken aback by your slightly unnerved skittishness but knew at the same time that, if Laswell was to be believed, you had gone through a lot. He didn’t know the details but then again, he didn’t need to know. He got the idea: Y/N was a typical runaway. Almost cartoonishly typical. He had noticed that you had been constantly looking over your shoulder last night, hurrying to places within the base like you were being chased by someone watching you from the shadows and dark crevices. If he was honest, he felt a little sorry for you. It was clear you had been shaken by something. Something that had dealt a heavy blow, and if the gnarly scar running straight down your lip didn’t indicate that, your behaviour did.  

“Anyways,” Gaz cleared his throat, “I was wondering if you wanted to join Rudy and me for some yoga? I don’t want to be presumptuous or anything, but… I think you could do with a bit of, you know, mindful meditation?”

His brows gave way to slight worry as awaited your decision, subtly chewing on his lip.

You took a moment to reflect on the offer. You hadn’t really done much yoga before, but it wasn’t like you didn’t know anything about it. Besides, it might help with clearing your head of all the shit that was swirling around inside it: the teeth, the claws, the words they hurled at you along with their bullets… and also this morning. 

Yeah. You exhaled softly, It would be stupid to pass this opportunity up. 

He couldn’t help but feel a little warm, fuzzy feeling build in his chest as he watched a genuine smile spread across your face. 

“Yeah.” You nodded, “I think I could do with a bit of mindful meditation too.”

He gestured for you to follow him and you gladly did so, making an effort to not lag too far behind. The sergeant led you down the corridor, one which headed southwards, opposite to the path which had led you to the bathroom of doom. Soon, he stopped, pushing open a set of fire doors and opening the way to the courtyard, where another man turned to wave at him. Presumably, this was Rudy. 

“I see Y/N has decided to join us!” He smiled, “Didn’t you manage to persuade the others?”

Gaz sighed, “Price said he’d rather sit this one out and have a smoke and Laswell is busy with… Laswell stuff.”

“What about Soap and Alejandro?”

“Alejandro’s still finishing up breakfast and Soap said he was good.”

Rudy seemed a bit deflated.

“What did Ghost say?”

“He answered with ‘shower’, pointed in the vague direction of the bathroom and uh… didn’t really say anything after that.”

Rudy wasn’t sure of what to make of that reply but supposed he’d just have to accept it.

“At least we have someone who was happy to give this a shot.” The sergeant major gestured to you, “Let’s hope this CD player works.”

Rudy busied himself with flicking through the various CDs he could find in the cardboard box next to the player, which was precariously placed on a creaky stool, while Gaz began to roll out the mats. As the two got on with setting up, you decided to have a little look around. 

This courtyard was a mess of concrete and struggling plant-life, various weeds trying to break through the cracks in the cement, competing with each other for a spot of sunlight. Despite the lack of floral displays or perfect green lawn, the asphalt garden was still somewhat a garden and with that came this atmosphere of tranquillity. 

“So,” you shyly began, still eyeing your surroundings, “how come you guys decided to do some yoga?”

“Felt like we needed it, I guess.” Gaz shrugged, setting a mat on the floor.

He dusted off his hands, looking up at you.

“And it also makes me feel a little at home. I used to do this regularly, believe it or not.” He smiled, “But then we had… well, Shepherd and… the stolen missiles… But, you know, we have a moment to breathe now so I’m taking it.”

“As am I!” Rudy added, placing a CD into the player, setting the lid down with a click.

“I see.” 

Good on them, you thought to yourself, Good on them!

Perhaps you should make a hobby out of this once you’ve found somewhere to properly settle, eh? You couldn’t help but smile at the thought. 

It seemed you were enjoying it so far, relishing in the ‘downward dog’ stretch, feeling your body sing with gratitude as your muscles made a start in releasing some of the tension. 

Ghost recognised your voice as he walked down the corridor, catching a glimpse of you in the sunlight, laughing as Gaz tried to keep you steady in a paired ‘tree pose’. He had to admit, it was a strange scene before him, the contentment of Gaz, Rudy, you and the instructional tape’s soundtrack of Tibetan bowls contrasting with the backdrop of armoured vehicles and heavy cargo. Ghost couldn’t help but pause and watch you, no real reason forming behind the action, other than it being most likely boredom. 

“Steady, Y/N! You’re going to-”

You and Gaz fell like dominoes, with you landing right on top of him, howling with laughter. Rudy was the only one who remained standing, perfectly balanced, not quivering one bit. A small grin made itself known on his face; even with his eyes closed, he could tell what was going on. Despite you being clearly no good at this, paired poses were most certainly not your thing with how many times you had fallen and taken poor Gaz with you, you couldn’t help but have fun. There was no real weight here to your actions, no real consequence for mishaps, no one scolding you or threatening to cleave your head from your shoulders… errors were allowed to just be. You were allowed to just be. 

Ghost was still watching, hooded eyes narrowing in curiosity. He was still trying to see what you were all about. Yesterday didn’t really give much about you apart from politeness and an eager aim to make a good first impression. Last night and this morning had presented a much more skittish side to yourself. And here? Well, here he was seeing certainly a more relaxed Y/N. You were a cackler, he’d give you that, unafraid to conceal your true laugh. Hearty chortles and snickers left your mouth as Gaz made a comment which sent you and Rudy over the edge, your laughs only intensifying as you watched Rudy lose balance and fall down. This yoga session definitely wasn’t about peace and tranquillity, but it didn’t matter, you guys were having a good time. Ghost chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he moved on to go grab something from the mess hall.

He guessed he just liked the way you smiled. 

As you were settling down, still wiping tears from your eyes, you spotted a figure in the doorway.  Your senses told you this was ‘Ghost’. You felt your heartbeat begin to quicken a little, only to then die down again once you saw him turn and walk away. Like a deer watching a wolf turn back to the forest after a long chase, you completely slackened with relief. He walked on, not even paying you much attention. You followed him with your eyes until he was out of view. 

Did he not care?

Should you not care?

Did you overthink that whole exchange? Did you need to run?

Maybe you’d go apologise. It would be a selfish apology, coming from a need to wrap this whole thing up on your end, mark this situation as officially over, but… maybe he wouldn’t care for any reasoning behind your confession and just take it. Not necessarily accept your ‘sorry’, but you didn’t need that from him. 

The way he nonchalantly moved on, like you weren’t even there, though most likely recognising you along with Gaz and Rudy, was comforting. 

“Okay!” Rudy’s voice broke through your thoughts, “I’ve fast-forwarded it to the… I think it’s called the ‘Shavasana’ part?” 

“Yeah, that’s ‘corpse pose’.” Gaz explained, getting up from his cross-legged position to go listen and assess the instructions.

He turned his head, so his ear was facing the speaker, paying close attention to the CD’s soothing voice. 

“Yeah,” he nodded to himself, “That’s the ‘cool down’ part.”

Then, the sergeant turned to you. 

“I know we’ve been giggly, but I think this part’s going to be better for us if we’re real calm.”

You nodded, trying to get the last of your chuckles out through taking steady breaths as guided by Gaz. You smiled a little, doing your best to focus as Gaz talked you through the breaths.

“In for four.”

You breathed in, counting away in your head. 

“Out for six.”

You exhaled, counting again. 

“Try to breathe from the bottom of your belly,” Gaz placed a hand on his tummy to show you where he meant, “and then fill your chest with air.”

You did as he said, needing a few goes before you mastered it. 

And when you exhaled, breathing out from your chest first, then your belly, it was like a part of you had left with it, dissipating into the air around you. 

“How’s that? Feel relaxed?”

You nodded. 

All three of you lay side by side, getting comfortable on your backs, ready to enter ‘corpse pose’. 

“Now, close your eyes.” The CD instructed, “Place your hands either with your palms facing up to receive or facing downwards on the ground to release.”

Hmm, you pondered to yourself, closing your eyes, Do I want to give or receive?

To let go or accept? 

It was a tough call. 

There was a lot, particularly a lot of pain, you wanted to give up but at the same time, you wanted to receive the privileges of freedom, or at least have the hope to receive them. 

However, if you wanted to receive the boons of your new life, you would first have to properly let go of the restraints of your old one. 

Release.

You placed your hands beside you, facing downwards. 

Soon, you were back with your old friend, your haunted mind. 

In the dark, you could see the formings of your pursuers. Teeth, eyes, claws. Guns, bullets, knives. Body armour tearing, nails rendering your skin. 

You had survived them all. 

In for four. 

They were trying to put you back in the chase, when you were afraid and running from the Red Room. 

Out for six. 

However, you weren’t afraid enough to picture the setting. The pale moonlight, the forest floor, the echoes of howls and the gnashing of jaws… they were all merely descriptions. Just words. No images, no scenes. You refused to make the sights and smells tangible. Words they were and words they shall remain. You couldn’t be scared forever. 

As you lay in your mind, another memory came forth. 

An older lamia, the one you had escaped with… who unfortunately didn’t make it. She… you were both held down by those dogs. Unsupervised, they had decided to take punishment into their own hands. 

You had seen horrible things. People beaten and bloodied beyond repair. And yet, that lamia… she had said something to you that night.

“You will learn to love men again.”

It was strange, but it stuck with you for some reason. 

“You will learn to love men again.”

You had denied it for quite some time, but in this moment of solitude, with it being just you and your thoughts, you decided it was time to acknowledge the apprehension that had been plaguing you the most. You were afraid Laswell’s lot could do what those Arcadian Sons had done. You were afraid they would try something, that they were the same. 

You had denied it. However, the only other company you had ever had before were either Arcadian Sons, the whitecoats which studied them and your comrades from the Red Room. And, as for Arcadian Sons, a lot weren’t kind. Not all. But a lot. 

As shown by that night. 

Unit 4, the ones which had hunted you and your band of escapees, they were monsters. Regardless of what shape they took.

Men like them deserved to be tortured for eternity, put in pits of fire and burned for centuries. Have unspeakable things done to them. You wanted each and every one of those sick fucks to feel your pain, feel the fear you felt. 

Fear often wore the dress of anger. 

You wouldn’t let anyone hurt you like that ever again. You were in control now. 

***

“Oh shit!” 23 smiled, “I got the camcorder working again!”

She held it up, zooming in on the conversing soldiers near the rooftop’s edge. 

“Okay,” she was still grinning, eager to present to her imaginary audience, “so here we have 7418 who you guys know already. Then, there’s 7629, 72’s worked with him, and she says he’s alright. Going ‘round the circle, there’s 7152, he trained some of my roommates. And there, the one closest to the edge, that’s our new packmaster! 7223!”

She panned over to get a good view of him between the gesturing hands and shrugging shoulders of his workmates, only to quickly conceal the camera as she watched his masked head turn to face her. 23 muttered an obscenity as she watched him approach. 

“Have you been recording this whole time?!” He held his hand out for the device, “Gimme the camera.”

23 looked up at him with big brown eyes, her prized possession remaining close to her chest. 

7418 chuckled, placing a hand on Graves’ shoulder. 

“Relax, brother. She likes filming things. Besides, it’s not like she gets to keep what she records.”

Phillip slowly turned to look at him, cocking his head to one side. 

“The Red Room wipes these things. This is a harmless toy for her, let her play whilst we continue planning.”

Graves looked between 23 and 7418. Underneath the mask was a face of confusion. This was most unorthodox, especially for a guy with his experience of covert ops. Nevertheless, he conceded, letting her continue to film, hoping that 7418 was right and that he wouldn’t get any shit if it turned out that 23 shouldn’t even be in possession of that camcorder and its shell of ‘Hello Kitty’ stickers. 

The men stood like gargoyles in front of their twilight backdrop, perched on the rooftop, their faceless heads surveying the streets below, slowly rising to behold the target location: a mansion just beyond the trees, sticking out like a sore thumb. This was tantalising, the target within view. Graves felt his jaw tense, the anticipation for action gripping his body with talons that further and further tightened their hold on him. Out of his periphery, he could see his fellow Arcadian Son, 7152, quiver a little. 

Graves felt his heart skip a beat or two, it felt like only yesterday he was here… with 141 and the Vaqueros. Now, however, he was in a completely different position, with a tighter leash around his neck.

One thing that did unnerve him about this mission was… well, their numbers. Back when he was part of the PMC, he had the security and the subsequent confidence that came with knowing there were people to watch your back and also to be made distractions out of. Right now, on the other hand, there were only six of them, counting the lamias.

“We haven’t got much in terms of numbers,” he sighed, turning around to address his men, “So we’re going to have to make a lot of noise to get people to scram and clear the path for Sin Nombre’s extraction.”

“The girls have got some burning canisters on them, haven’t they?” 7629 suggested.

“That’s a whole villa of people though, of obstacles…” 7418 sighed, “I don’t think the canisters will be enough.”

“Well, 72 and 23 can also make ‘em see things as well. That’s what we did on one of my last missions… just made the poor guys think there were fifty of us when there were only twelve.”

“What do you mean 72 and 23 can make people see things?” Graves asked. 

“Lamias can put people to sleep, make people hallucinate… they mess with people’s minds.” 7629 explained matter-of-factly, “They’re good for small packs like ours, even if it can be a pain takin’ care of them. Never been one for kids, myself.”

7629 gestured to the two girls doing stupid poses, each vying for their spotlight in front of the camcorder and its grainy footage.

7152 rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Takin’ care of them isn’t even the hardest part though. I always find it’s keeping them out of trouble. I’ve seen way too many instances of friendly fire.”

That’s when Graves had a lightbulb moment.

Sift through the herd. 

Like a spider pulling together the threads of its web, Graves gathered the information around him and formulated a plan. This was going to be a fairly easy job… provided people stuck to their stations.

“We need ‘em to think we’ve brought a whole army to one villa, then.” He remarked, before getting their attention, “Look, I’ll have the girls have cut the power off and started fucking with people. Then, I need two guys to help keep folks running around like headless chickens. Whilst they’re doing that, I need one of y’all to lead Sin Nombre to me.”

“Take all the glory for yourself?” 7629 scoffed, “Doesn’t seem fair.”

Graves let out a puff of air through his nose.

“For talking back to me, you’re not going to pick your role. You’ll be on crowd dispersal.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” 7629 turned away, groaning.

“Who wants to be on crowd control too?”

7152 raised his arm.

“Great. That leaves you, 7418, to be the heel-snapper.”

“Heel-snapper?”

“I just made that up. You get the idea.”

They all let out small laughs, shaking their heads. However, soon, their laughter faded into silence, and they returned to staring at the villa once more, ready to spring this plan into action.

Though they did possess the appearance and mannerisms of regular covert ops soldiers, it was evident that all were a hair trigger away from rabid chaos. 

7418 scratched at his neck, hoping to be able to relieve the itch nibbling away at him under the fabric of his baselayer. 

“I haven’t seen Valeria in ages.” He commented as he scratched away, “I used to work for her, you know.”

Graves turned around. 

“You worked for Sin Nombre? How’d you end up here?” He asked, curious.

“She sold me.” Was the reply. 

“What?!”

“Well, she sold my body. I received a fatal wound from a Vaquero. Where one typically sees loss,” he chuckled wryly, “Valeria saw opportunity.”

Graves sensed there was more coming. 

“And?”

“And now she’s stuck with having the Foundation coming back for her services. They let her hide away from the authorities and she has to do us favours. Such is the price of being an ex-employee.”

“Valeria worked at the Foundation?”

“Was a lamia… so I’m told.”

“I see.”

7629 chuckled, taking a deep breath. 

“Can’t wait to get on with this, ‘Commander’,” he exhaled contentedly as he turned to Graves, “I haven’t had a good meal in ages.”

“What’s that got to do with the mission, soldier?”

“You’ll see, friend.” Was the mysterious reply.

A few minutes later, a familiar voice crackled a little, the static trying to break it up the words emerging from the radio on Phillip’s chest.

“7223, this is 23. Do you read me?”

He pressed down on his radio. 

“Loud and clear, 23. What have you got?”

“We’ve made it to the backdoor, sir.”

“Undetected?” 

“Undetected.”

They all breathed sighs of relief, some patting their mates on the back.

“Good job. Pick the lock and get inside. Once you’ve sounded the alarm, we’ll take care of the rest.”

Ssssounded. He cringed at the sound of his own voice. The mouthpiece sitting under his mask, though uncomfortable, did allow him to speak… at the cost of giving him a slight lisp. 

“Roger that, sir.”

23 let go of her radio and squatted down beside her teammate. She could hear the quiet clicks and muffled metal groans as 72 tinkered with the lock on the door. Though the mansion had many, much sturdier reinforcements to keep unwanted guests outside… someone had forgotten to brace the entrance to the kitchen. Not that the Las Almas cartel thought that'd be an issue, they were planning a get-together tonight and easy movement to the bins outside was something they were willing to allow now that they had upped the number of guards on patrol.

Getting one of the guys down here would’ve definitely cocked this whole operation up. Graves had suspected that after her previous capture, Valeria had taken further precaution for her next soiree, seeing as she had this place locked up tighter than a miser’s purse. Her confidence oozed from every manned balcony and every dark corner where she had posted a lurking sicario. Self-assured and as cocky as ever, there was no doubt Valeria would be lounging in her seat at the head of some banquet table, feasting while her organisation continued to infect the streets of Las Almas. 

“Hurry up!” 23 whispered, spotting an armed sicario passing through the gate, looking to be heading to the side entrance- a.k.a. their hiding spot. 

The pick snapped as the words left her mouth and 72 sighed. 

“Don’t rush me. I’m trying to get this open without making it look like an intrusion.” 

“You’re taking too long…” 23 growled, bringing the scope to her eyes once more, “I got eyes on a guard coming this way.” 

“Well, send him the other way.”

23 shook her head. 

“Can’t. Don’t want to risk Sin Nombre detecting us.”

72’s shoulders slumped. 

“Quicken it up, mate. He’s not slowing down.” 

“Shush. I’m trying to focus.”

23 leaned back a little.

“Shush? Don’t you ‘shush’ me. I’m the one watching your back.”

“Well, shut up and keep doing that.”

“You fucking-”

23’s radio crackled. 

“Girls, what’s taking so long?” Graves asked. 

23 rolled her eyes. 

“72’s going at a snail’s pace, sir.”

“And 23 keeps distracting me!”

The younger one turned back to the lock-picker with a face of absolute indignation. 

“Am not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No! You’re-”

Graves stood on the rooftop, staring blankly into the distance as he listened to the girls’ staticy argument continue in hushed voices laced with petty venom. 7629 couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, shaking his head.

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!” 

“You bitch!”

At the sound of that word, something snapped in Graves. Immediately, he pressed down on the radio. 

“HEY!” An angry, authoritarian voice burst forth from the small communication devices on 23 and 72’s chests, “Don’t make me come down there. 23, stop harassing your teammate and keep your eyes peeled for anyone who approaches. 72, work faster and don’t talk back to 23, she’s the one keeping both of you alive.”

They both sighed, rolling their eyes, and resumed working in civil silence.

CLICK!

72 did a little fist-pump.

“I’m in!” 

Gently, she pushed the door open, and they both headed inside, closing the door behind them. Once the pair were firmly in the building and still out of sight, 72 pressed down on her radio. 

“7223, we’re inside. Getting our shrouds on now.”

Graves smiled under his mask. 

“Good work. Let me know once you’ve located the fuse box.”

“Copy.” 

Graves nodded to 7152 and 7629. Both men left his side, ready to emerge from the shadows of the streets below and terrorise whatever poor cartel member stumbled onto their path.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the intrusion made by two lamias, Valeria and her men sat around an ornate dining table which almost stretched the length of the room. El Sin Nombre currently had a map in front of her showing all the details of the new Vaquero base. Decisive eyes narrowed as she clicked her pen, digesting what her lieutenants had just informed her of. 

Those British boys were back and had taken to squatting in the new Vaquero base. 

With those wanted men on her doorstep, Valeria knew that someone was going to be crawling to her for her services. Though El Sin Nombre was her official title, the woman wouldn’t have been surprised if someone out there had taken to calling her the ‘Middleman’. It was who she was half the time, the guy who meets you halfway down the line, the steppingstone between Point A and Point B. She was the one who set things in motion. Without Valeria, missiles don’t get moved and people don’t get paid. She was a lifeline to all: for criminals and governments. 

Valeria leaned back in her throne, exhaling. 

“I want to know if they’re planning on moving any time soon. Once they move, we no longer can do business with anyone who wants them, understood?”

“I’ll let the informant know to keep us posted, boss.”

“Good.” She nodded, “I also want to know if Shepherd has-”

Valeria paused and looked up to the ceiling, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Something was going to happen. Something wrong was going to happen.

A split second later and she was buried in shadow. 

“What the-”

“Is it the Special Forces?”

“Boss, what do we do?”

She swallowed hard. 

Shit. 

The druglord ran a hand through her hair, looking about for any signs of movement amidst the murk. Nothing. 

As for the sounds? Very little which stood out to her, everything layering into one, aggravating cacophony of confusion.  

“Get someone to check the power!” She demanded, slapping the shoulder of one of the lieutenants.  

He nodded and yelled for a sicario to do their job. 

Quiet footsteps walked along the hallway, his path lit by torch light as he peered down the length of his gun, pointing it squarely ahead of him. The sicario kept his breaths steady, knowing he had enough ammo to put down whoever the offenders were. 

Cowards. 

They wouldn’t even show their faces. 

 He got to the staircase and turned back, staring at its side. 

The door to the cupboard under the stairs had… vanished. Under the black balaclava, brows furrowed. The sicario could have sworn the door to the fuse box was right here. He squinted a little, hoping that perhaps he’d be able to spot the outline marking its presence once his eyes adjusted to the darkness.  

However, it was gone!

Valeria gritted her teeth. 

“This isn’t Special Forces…” She muttered under her breath. 

Then, turning to her closest and most useful underlings, she yelled in Spanish, “Alvaro! Lucas! Elian! Stay close to me!”

They bunched up together, guns loaded and ready. All she needed now was the first sign of action, then she’d know which direction to run in. 

 “Boys, whatever you do… don’t shoot them unless absolutely necessary.”

 “What?”

 “Just do as I say!”

The men nodded. She sounded like she knew what she was doing, like she had been in this situation before. Experience bore knowledge, and they weren’t looking to question her any time soon. Especially after Diego. After he decided to take matters into his own hands and expose Sin Nombre to the Vaqueros and their gringo friends… Well, the Las Almas Cartel finally got its first taste of near-death. Valeria never wanted that to happen ever again. 

Through the dark, they saw the shape of the sicario return. 

“Ma’am! I can’t find the fuse box!”

“What?” She scoffed, “What do you mean?”

“I could’ve sworn it was the door under the stairs but when I looked…”

“When you looked?”

“Nothing.”

I knew my senses wouldn’t fail me.

She smiled resignedly as she turned back to her lieutenants. It was them, wasn’t it? And they had brought their kid-soldiers with them.

“We do not separate. Understood? We need to be touching at all times.”

Once more, they nodded. 

The last thing Valeria wanted was someone sneaking up on her, let alone a little girl wielding a knife that was clearly made for an adult soldier. Weirdly enough, a mild wave of nostalgia overtook Valeria for a second. She remembered being that little girl, holding the knife of her overseer, wielding it like she knew how to use it. Whoever tripped the power, they should run whilst they still had time. 

A creak sounded overhead. Valeria kept deathly quiet, bringing a hand to her face to dampen her breaths. She advised her men to do the same. Thump. Thump. Thump. Footsteps echoed above. 

Any minute now. Any minute now. 

BANG!

“AHHHHHH!”

Gunshots and screams ensued and the signature drumbeat of someone tumbling down the stairs told Valeria that now it was time to run. 

“7223, this is 72. Sin Nombre is currently holed up in the main dining room on the ground floor. I got three guys here that 23 and I are trying to… ‘convince’ that the whole Mexican army have broken down the door.”

Graves grinned under his mask; the sounds of men howling numbers, which were constantly increasing in order of magnitude, signified that those girls were doing their job and doing it well.

“Roger that. 7629 and 7152 are makin’ some noise to try and disperse the rest of the crowd. Do your best to send her up to me.”

“Where are you?”

“Second floor. Entered via an open window in the study. 7418’s coming to you.”

“Copy.”

“Remember, this goes for you and 23, we want to make as much noise as possible, so don’t try and start any fights. Just clear the way for Sin Nombre. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The two girls kept posted by the cupboard under the stairs, making sure that every single person who walked past it saw nothing but plain wood and saw that the halls were teeming with soldiers. 23 felt the sound in her chest as someone behind them was thrown down, slamming into the bottom step before landing onto the floor, too broken to even think about getting up. Jogging down the stairs, gun in hand was 7418 as expected. He casually flicked a loc over his shoulder as he hunted around for the girls. 

Sniffing the air, he managed to catch a whiff of something familiar. He turned to face their direction.

Just to make sure, he pressed down on his radio. 

“7418, here. Am I looking at 72 and 23 right now? Are you two standing by the cupboard under the stairs?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, great. Get out of your shrouds and follow me.”

“Roger.”

He watched the two girls fade back into existence a few feet across from him, the dark hiding their shapes from everyone but him. If 7418 didn’t have his mask on, his eyeshine would be breaking through the dark like two ghostly peepers. 

They made their way to the dining room, hoping Valeria would be there, just as how they had left her. Except, she wasn’t. It wasn’t much of an issue, however, seeing as a door had been left to swing wide open, leading to a study connecting the dining room to yet another hallway. They could hear her distant calls for order as she watched the entire house unravel all around her. 

7418 grinned under his mask. This was going to be fun. 

As ‘heel-snapper’, it was his job to get the prey into 7223’s clutches and that was what he was going to do. He ran into the dining room, girls following closely behind, watching his six. A low growl rumbled from deep within his chest as he pointed his gun around, jumping to aim at any slight sign of movement. 

He caught sight of a man sat in the corner, cowering. 

7418 lowered his weapon, squatting down before the hunched figure.

“Where is Sin Nombre?” He asked in his native Spanish.

The quivering mess shakily pointed to the door leading out of the dining area into yet another hallway, which, no doubt, led back to the main staircase. 

“Thank you.”

With that, he got up and let the guy be.

It was chaos in this mansion: people were screaming, throwing things at walls, hoping to hit non-existent soldiers, while others lay curled up on the floor, muttering nonsense, brains reduced to a frothing, frantic mess under the influence of those two potent lamias.

Valeria pushed sicarios out the way, chucking them down the stairs as she clambered haphazardly up to the first floor. She didn’t dare look back, knowing already that someone was hot on her tail. It was an Arcadian Son, she could sense it, an aura of something drawing nearer and nearer, the stench of iron filling her nose. As the woman made it to the top of the staircase, she readied herself to take a right and dash into the nearest room she could find, hoping to perhaps use an open window or balcony exit to escape. However, that plan was thwarted as a sicario burst from her target room, tripping and landing on the floor with a thud. As he tried to scramble back onto his feet, a Son appeared from the dark depths of that boudoir, the lower front of his mask lifted to reveal a mouth coated in saliva.

They were such beasts.

Valeria shuddered, encouraging her remaining lieutenants to keep close to her and not to look at what would become of that poor sicario.

Not that they needed to look, the sounds of bones crunching and gurgling screams said it all.

The next floor would have to do, she couldn’t afford to waste time looking for another room on this floor.

Her pursuer was still after her and she caught a glimpse of him as she rounded the corner to grab hold of the next set of bannisters. As she saw him, her heart picked up the pace, recognising those reddish brown locs.

Jaime.

He watched her eyes soften.

Why bother? 7418 found this laughable, you are the reason I’m here.

His clawed gloves dug into the railing’s wooden surface as he drew himself up the staircase.

Valeria’s heart was in her mouth, watching the faceless demon draw nearer and nearer, throwing formidable cartel members out of the way like they were nothing but inconvenient obstacles. She was now down to two lieutenants, with Lucas meeting his premature end via a bullet through the eye socket, going straight through his brain. 

“7418 here. Target is heading up to the second floor via the main staircase.”

“Copy. Herd her up to the second floor. I’m moving into the master bedroom now. Found a few guys here that aren’t backing down.”

“Roger. I’m gonna have the girls throw a canister down to clear more of the way, make sure your mask’s filter is on.”

“Copy that.”

7418 gestured for 72 to throw another burning canister onto the ground and smoke out the rest of the floor as they reached the top of the staircase. She did so, chucking yet another metal container into the air, watching it slam to the ground and begin hissing. Another blanket of white smoke had been left in their wake, causing those who hadn’t leapt out of windows to start choking, gasping for air as their eyes teared up. 

23 made sure to keep any rasping victims of the crowd control continuously subdued, gesturing to 72 to continue to be backup for 7418 as she split from the trio. 23 had made the staircase her domain now, creeping over to each and every convulsing body, quickly putting them into a deep slumber with the cold kiss of her mind.

Only the lights from the city outside and the swarming flashlights of bewildered patrons guided her way, pupils constantly switching from being blown out to constricting. Her eyes ached, but not as much as her legs. Her thighs burned, adrenaline fuelling her to keep going as she clawed her way up the stairs to the second floor, hoping to find a quick exit onto the rooftop and maybe then she could disappear into the city. Remnants of the gas from below scratched at the back of her throat, ragged breaths rasping a little. 

“7418, I’m back in the study.”

“Understood. Making my way there now.”

Valeria stopped at the crossroads at the top of the staircase, she could see that the study had an open window, which swung back and forth in the breeze. 

However, there was also the master bedroom and its balcony. 

Decisions. Decisions. 

She looked behind and saw 7418 was still there. 

In the heat of the moment, she did something which she would soon realise was a grave mistake. Valeria grabbed one of her lieutenants and pushed him towards the door to the master bedroom, hoping the sudden movement would distract the Foundation dog long enough for her and whoever was left behind to make an escape.

As expected, though he was playing along, she watched 7418 dive after him, grabbing the lieutenant before he could scramble away. 

She didn’t care to look at what would become of him, dashing into the study and slamming the door behind her, locking it. 

Panting, she took a moment to collect herself and her breaths. 

“Boss! What the fuck?!”

“It was the only way, Alvaro! Now, stay close. Please.”

Shakily, he nodded as Valeria ran to the other side of the room to close the other door, locking it.

She could see the gas starting to seep through from underneath and promptly pulled her scarf over her nose and mouth, gesturing for Alvaro to do the same. Both of them, with their faces covered, rummaged round the study for weapons. With an adrenaline-filled, giddy giggle, Alvaro located a handgun. 

“Great! Okay, let’s-”

Valeria was interrupted as the door to the study, the one she had just locked, was ripped cleanly off its hinges. 

“Hey.”

She drew in a breath, edging towards the window, only for the masked soldier to fire at it, causing her to reel back with a yelp. 

“Don’t.” He spoke with a southern accent, though it was slightly distorted, presumably by the mask’s modulator, “No one needs to get hurt here.”

She scoffed. 

“Sin Nombre, you’re coming with us.”

“Whatever it is the Foundation wants this time… Tell them I refuse.” Valeria did her best to keep her head high.

“You and I both know they won’t be taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

She watched him take a step closer… and she took a step back. Valeria knew she recognised that voice, or at least this one sounded familiar to someone she had met fairly recently. Who was it? Her panicked mind couldn’t quite place him…

“Stand down and come with us.”

Valeria couldn’t. She couldn’t this time. She was sick and tired of these fuckers and their featureless, ghoulish faces.

“I’m giving you a chance here, girl.” Graves’ patronising call for civility made her blood boil.

Whilst Valeria still had some patience left to actually decide if it would be foolish to see if she had enough adrenaline and fear left in her to make a run for it, her remaining lieutenant’s patience had long since run dry. He looked between the two of them, before raising his gun and…

“ALVARO! DON’T-”

BANG!

Graves recoiled, the sound of something shattering like glass filling the room as he clutched his mask. 

“Canister broken. Alert. Canister broken.” An automated voice called out from within his helmet.

He looked down to see, along with the shards of broken canister, red liquid coating his gloved palm, dripping from it. 

“Alert. Canister broken. Alert-”

Valeria looked to her lieutenant, fuming. 

“Idiot! What have you done?!”

“What are you talking about? He was going to-”

Their voices faded into white noise as Graves’ head began to pound. A pain pulsed, seemingly from the back of his skull, moving across to fester behind his eyes. He groaned, holding his head in his hands as the pain only increased in intensity. 

Valeria watched with wide eyes as he staggered forward, red fumes spewing from the broken canister. 

This was her opportunity, she made her way to climb out the window, only for those very fumes to suddenly lunge at her, her throat seizing up. Valeria clawed at her neck, coughing, lowering herself from her perch on the windowsill. 

He could hear his heartbeat drum away in his ears. Something inside him burned.

“Alert. Alert. Alert.” The automated voice drawled on, “Please, remove your canisters.”

With the coordination of a drunk, Graves’ arm sloppily moved to his lower half of his face and twisted. The shattered canister was removed, along with the intact one, both slipping out of his grip and landing on the mahogany floor.

Despite this sudden setback, the mission was still on for Phillip, and he staggered forward, reaching out for Valeria.

Wheezing with the noxious gases of both the crowd control seeping in from outside and whatever was leaking from the soldier’s canisters, Valeria tottered back, trying to make out some clarity through her blurred vision.

Graves’ legs suddenly gave way for a brief second and he found himself slipping, grabbing hold of the writing desk which stood between him and his quarry, using it for support.

 “Removing muzzle.” The helmet announced.

The mechanism hissed and Valeria and her lieutenant watched the lower half of his mask segment. Two triangular pieces pushed forward before moving up, revealing a mouth hung slightly open. Strings of saliva dripped from his lips as he took in deep breaths, sounding like he was struggling to breathe himself. She knew what was happening, she knew, and she needed to act before he did.

Throw and run. Throw and run.

Valeria pushed Alvaro towards the Arcadian Son, watching him catch the man, holding him tightly by the shoulders. Alvaro whimpered, looking at him with a face of confusion and dread. The man squirmed a little, fighting against Phillip’s grip, only for it to tighten.

Graves needed those canisters back… or at least a suitable replacement. The smell. The smell! 

Blood… he needed blood.

His fingers dug into the lieutenant’s upper arms. A certain uneasiness had made itself known. It was like Phillip was falling asleep, and yet, his body was very much awake and working. Conscious thought was beginning to fade. The room was spinning around him. There was nausea mixed with this insatiable need. 

The muscles in his jaw tensed, teeth grinding against each other. 

Hungry… the sensation articulated, Hungry…

Time had come to a standstill. It was just Phillip and the man caught in his claw-like grasp. 

Those canisters… what they had… he needed that. He needed that now!

Hungry… Hungry… Hungry… HU-

CRACK! SNAP! SQUELCH!

Alvaro let out an unholy cry as the monster unhinged its jaw and sunk its teeth into his neck. Valeria’s eyes widened in horror, the bile rising in her throat as she beheld the thing reel its head back, a chunk of Alvaro in its mouth, before spitting out the piece of flesh and diving in for seconds. Alvaro tried to lean back, to avoid the jaws, but its teeth had a sure grip on him, and he was swiftly pulled back to Phillip’s armoured chest.

Again, another screech.

Wet red coated the soldier’s lips as its tongue ran over its teeth, licking up the fruits of its hunt. 

The lieutenant was dead now, hanging limp in the animal’s jaw as it shoved him onto the floor, continuing its feast. 

She was paralysed, the gases slowly clouding her thoughts as she watched it shake its head side to side, grabbing hold on some of the more… resistive tissue. Arteries, tendons, muscles, all were either chewed on or cast aside. 

What was before her was an animal, wearing the skin of a man, and wearing it poorly. She felt her legs give way and Valeria fell to the ground. 

The noise of her fall made the creature stop. It looked up at her. Even though she couldn’t see its eyes thanks to the mask still covering most of the soldier’s face, she knew it was staring at her. It snarled, baring its fanged teeth. She was paralysed, fixed in place, her vision blurring as she watched it rise from the ground and approach her frozen body. She wanted to run, wanted to scream but she was too weak now.

Valeria didn’t know what stung more: her helplessness or her still-burning, fervent desire to just run.

The last thing she saw was the shape of the Arcadian Son squatting down before her, hand reaching out to her face. 

She had succumbed to the fumes of the open blood canister. 

***

You were positively famished. Gaz watched you pile your tray with as much food as you could before you came to your senses and realised any more would be deemed as… excessive. Food was one of the finest pleasures in life and you were not passing up on this opportunity for a hot meal- that was for sure!

Coming back from the kitchens and into the mess hall was a feast for the senses. The sounds of chatter and clinking cutlery, the visuals of many crowded around long tables, hunched over stools, the smells of warm meals and the odd beverage. You couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed, taking it all in as Gaz led you to the table 141 were sat at.

Gaz placed himself next to Price, nudging him as the man turned from looking at Laswell’s laptop to greet the sergeant.

Your heart fluttered a little as you searched for somewhere to sit.

Laswell was sandwiched between Price and Soap.

Rudy’s empty space had just been snagged by his friend, who you heard Rudy address as ‘Alejandro’.

That only left the empty stool next to Ghost.

Ah.

This was fine! No biggie! You’d just set your tray down and begin…

As you made to sit, you saw the man look over to you from the corners of his eyes.

You swallowed hard, sheepishly sitting next to him, trying not to combust under that powerful gaze. It was like his eyes were irradiated; there was just something about them, the way he appeared both uncaring and almost drowsy and yet still very much aware of his surroundings. He was like a sleeping lion.

“Mind if I sit here?” You did your best to be as friendly as possible, hoping to thaw out his slightly… frosty demeanour.

“Well, you’re already sat.” He gestured to you with his cup.

Right, yeah… stupid question.

You chuckled, putting your tray down.

That was when Laswell looked up from her screen.

“Oh?” She remarked, “Hungry, aren’t we?”

You rolled your eyes.

“No! No!” Laswell raised her hands, “It’s good! You should eat up. I’m sure you haven’t had a good meal in a while.”

She smiled encouragingly and you exhaled through your nose… and then began to eat. Although you were incredibly hungry, you still wanted to show you had good table manners and so elected to not inhale everything on your tray. As you ate, you could feel Ghost’s eyes were still on you.

Just get it over with, you supposed.

“Look,” your stool creaked a little as you turned to face him, “I’m… sorry about this morning. I should have knocked, honestly, it was a stupid-”

“No.” He shook his head, “I’m sorry. I should have locked the door.”

Huh? You thought you were the one saying sorry here… Great, now you felt obliged to really say sorry.

You had expected him to just go ‘okay’ or huff or whatever… you thought it would end there.

However, his apology had thrown a spanner in the works.

“No…” You sighed, “I’m sorry. I came in. I saw your arse. My fault.”

Ghost’s eyes narrowed a little. That didn’t sound as apologetic as the previous one. Now, it just sounded like you were trying to assert something here.

“Y/N. It’s fine. I should have locked the door and-”

“And I should have not been so absent-minded. I’m sorry.”

Okay, what is going on here?

He leaned back a little, peering at you quizzically.

“Are you really apologising or are you just trying to prolong this for some reason?”

“No! I’m saying I’m sorry.” You pointed to yourself, looking perplexed by his response.

“Yeah and?”

“And what?”

“Well,” Ghost scratched the back of his neck, “It feels like you’re not saying sorry.”

“But I am. I feel bad about what happened.”

“Yeah, I do too.” He chuckled, “You’re already probably traumatised enough and then you had to see that in the early hours of the morning.”

“Your tan line was pretty stark.” You mumbled.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Ghost looked like he was about to say something probably a bit too harsh. Hence, he stopped and re-evaluated.

“Y/N.” He began, “What… Okay, what do you expect to get out of this conversation?”

You were very straightforward with your answer.

“I say sorry and I, uh, expected that you would kinda accept it.”

“Yeah.”

“Except that didn’t happen.” You thought out loud, “You ended up saying sorry.”

He nodded.

“And now I’m thinking that I need to emphasise that I’m sorry, so you get the message that I’m sorry because I am sorry, and I didn’t mean to see you naked and-”

“WHAT?” Soap blurted out from across you two.

Now, the entire table was looking at you and Ghost.

Gaz’s jaw was on the floor. Price had paused mid-bite, his spoonful of porridge slopping back into his bowl. Both of Rudy’s eyebrows were raised, whilst Alejandro looked over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of the two of you as he brought a cereal bar to his mouth. Laswell had a face of both horror and confusion.

“There’s context here, I promise.” You tried to explain, looking back at Ghost to help you out.

“Shower.” He replied.

“I think we need some elaborating there, bud.”

Soap nodded, looking at the two of you with wide eyes and a grimace… which was slowly evolving into a mischievous grin.

“I was in the shower.” The lieutenant explained.

“And were you also in the shower, Y/N?” Someone asked, albeit dreading the possible answer.

“No. I came in and accidentally stumbled upon him.”

Then, you shuddered.

“There was not much left to the imagination.” You said aloud, not realising it was to the whole group.

“Y/N!” Ghost growled.

Only for Soap to burst out laughing, slapping his knee as Price did his best to contain himself. Gaz doubled over, cackling as Rudy just shook his head, sighing. Alejandro covered his mouth with his free hand. Meanwhile, Laswell was doing her best not to join in with the raucous laughter, twisting her face into all kinds of expressions.

Ghost tried to hide, placing his hand on his forehead. Under that mask, undoubtedly, he was bright red.

You were astounded, coming to the revelation that you had just blurted that out.

Oh gosh!

Biting down on your lip, you turned to Ghost.

“I am so-”

“Sorry?” He finished your sentence for you, “You better be, Y/N.”

You had such a large grimace on your face, your insides collapsing in on themselves as your brain wracked itself for a possible solution to this mess.

“They’ve only been here, what, two days? And they managed to see Ghost… Ghost! Of all people! Ghost naked?!” Alejandro shook his head, “Amazing! I have to commend you, friend!”

Oh, how you wanted to just keel over and die, once more!

“Well, I… uh…” You scratched your cheek, “I… didn’t mean to-”

“Honestly, Y/N,” Soap managed to get out between fits of laughter, “You’ve done us all proud. I know you’re not officially part of the team, but you have made 141 history!”

He held his hand out.

You looked to Ghost, who looked to be shrinking further and further away from everyone.

“Soap, they are not going to shake your hand over seeing my bare arse.” The lieutenant sighed.

The sergeant blew a raspberry at him and twitched his fingers, beckoning for you.

“Come on!”

You smiled, politely declining… for Ghost’s sake.

“I swear,” Price couldn’t help but let out a snicker, “Laswell brings in the most bizarrely impactful people I ever meet.”

Kate looked over to him, rolling her eyes.

“I often find highly skilled people are often some of the most… eccentric.”

“Y/N’s skilled?” Soap studied you, curiosity alight in his eyes.

“Oh please!” Laswell returned her gaze to her laptop, dragging something with her mouse, “Don’t even bother sparring with them.”

Soap had other plans, however. He took Kate’s words as a challenge and a hunger to test your mettle was set aflame in him.

“Alejandro and I were sparring before lunch. Maybe after we finish up, you and I could hit the mat?”

“Uh…” Your eyes fell to Laswell, who looked over the edge of her laptop screen, shaking her head.

Bad idea, Y/N. Don’t do it!

“As much as I’d love to, Soap… I think I’ll have to-”

“I got a better idea.” Gaz interrupted, “Y/N and Ghost.”

‘Ooohs’ and ‘aaaahs’ circulated round the table, people nodding their heads in agreement.

Laswell was now boring holes into your skull, shaking her head so vigorously that you thought it might come clean off.

Soap looked to the masked lieutenant.

“What do you say, sir?”

Ghost leaned back in his seat, pausing to think.

Please say ‘no’. Please say ‘no’. Say ‘no’ so then I don’t have to say ‘no’.

“Fuck it.” He sighed, resting his forearms on the table as he brought himself forward, “You placing a bet?”

“Two-hundred-and-twenty-five pesos.” Soap slammed his fist down on the table.

“What is that?” Price stroked his moustache, “Ten quid?”

“Yep.”

“You could buy a lot of bars from the vending machine with that.” Gaz muttered under his breath.

“What say you, Y/N?” Price retrieved his hat from under the table, placing it one his head, “Do you think you could take on the Ghost?”

You looked to Ghost, examining him.

He was a big fella, and you were pretty sure he could snap you in half like a pencil if he wanted to. Yeah, if you were just your average joe, you’d be fucked. However, lucky for you, you weren’t your run-of-the-mill soldier. Maybe you could stand a chance? Or at least, hold your own just a bit longer than the average person?

As you were about to open your mouth, Laswell suddenly spoke up.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea having Y/N fight. I mean,” she seemed to have an unusually nervous tone, “they’ve probably been through a lot already. It wouldn’t be fair.”

The soldiers all turned to face you.

Sure, you were scarred for life but at the same time, you had this really crippling disease called ‘a sense of pride’. As the men had been discussing who would win and once that wager was announced… you sort of… you were getting the feeling… Look, you wanted to win.

Maybe a bit of sparring could help too. The yoga had been could for some much-needed contemplation, but you were undeniably buzzing with energy that needed an appropriate outlet. All that anxiety, all that fear, it needed somewhere to go other than fester inside you.

After all, you were in control now. You could do as you pleased.

In spite of Laswell’s clear discouragement, you decided to take matters into your own hands.

“You’re on.” You said to Ghost.

He let out a ‘hmph’ and picked up his empty tray.

“Meet me in the garage when you’re ready.”

You nodded.

“I look forward to it.”

As you followed Soap to the garage, Laswell grabbed your arm.

“Y/N!” She sounded a little breathless, like she had ran after you, “This is a bad idea. You can’t do this.”

“Why not? I… I want to, Kate.”

“You could seriously hurt him, kid.”

You scoffed.

“Please! Hurt him? The man is built like a goddamn fridge. I think I should be more worried about me.”

Laswell shook her head.

“They’re not Sons. They aren’t gonna hit you as hard you think they will, you can’t counter like you usually would.”

“I’ll be careful, Kate. I promise.”

“You have to be, Y/N. Please.”

You nodded; your face sincere.

Laswell let out a shaky sigh and continued down the corridor to the garage with the rest of the group.

Alejandro pushed the door open to the garage, the sound of the radio filling your ears as you entered.

He whistled to catch his Vaqueros’ attention.

“¡Despeja el área para el combate!”

They nodded and moved their boxes and makeshift workbenches away from the far end of the room. Then, those same men gathered around, forming a small horseshoe which 141 gladly made themselves additions to, sitting on rucksacks or simply on the floor.

Alejandro turned to the group.

“We are staking two-hundred-and-twenty-five on this! Place your bets on either Y/N… or Ghost.”

People took out their money, putting it either Price’s hat to wager on Ghost, or Gaz’s cap to bet on you.

As the hats were brought to Alejandro to put in his wager, he noticed Gaz’s cap was significantly lighter than Price’s hat, which drooped a little under the heavier weight.

Poor kid… he thought to himself.

He did feel bad not a lot of people had faith in you, but with that he had seen and heard about Ghost, regrettably, Alejandro had to put down his money on the lieutenant.

The overhanging lights flickered a little as Laswell watched with bated breath, chewing on the skin of her index finger as she watched you limber up.

“Come on, Lt!” Soap yelled.

You watched Ghost shed the last of his overlayers, so now he was in merely the standard olive-green shirt and his camo trousers.

Yep, you could feel your nerves getting to you a little.

He was built to kill with strong arms, strong legs and well, a strong torso. That man could probably stay in a plank for a century.

You swallowed hard, letting out a sharp exhale, and raised your arms into a guard.

Alejandro stood between you two, his arm dividing your sides of the imaginary ring.

“Ready…”

Come on.

“Three…”

I can do this!

“Two…”

If I can fight off Arcadian Sons, I can fight off this guy.

“One…”

Oh, he looks really scary though!

“Go!”

To Ghost’s surprise, you charged first, striking upwards, hoping to punch straight through his skull. He dodged with minimal effort, hoping to make for a quick jab to your stomach only to then be met with a swift uppercut.

“Ouch!” Soap winched, watching his lieutenant stagger back in surprise, clutching the lower half of his face.

The room had fallen into silence, and you looked around, wondering why.

That’s when you heard laughter.

You turned to face Ghost.

“Nice one.” He said before he swung at you.

You yelped, blocking it, before coming in with a counterstrike.

He blocked with his forearms, easily, and you punched, hitting him hard. He staggered back a little but didn’t drop his guard. Hoping to catch him where he wasn’t protecting himself, you aimed and swung at Ghost once more. However, he was as quick as you, despite what you had initially thought, and swiftly brought one of his arms around both of yours, trapping you in the crook of his elbow.

You squirmed, trying to fight his grip but he was stronger than you.

He spun you around, looking down at you with those piercing brown eyes. You snarled in reply, continuing to wriggle about.

Soap couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the two of you.

“They look absolutely tiny compared to him.” He commented to Gaz.

“Size isn’t everything.” Was Gaz’s reply.

Ghost could feel himself starting to get a little cocky as you desperately tried to writhe out of his grip. He was just too strong, fixing you in place. He could see there was fire in your eyes, but it was pretty much useless, you were stuck to him like glue.

Again, he spun you around, almost making a display of this.

You groaned, pushing against him with all you could, leaning back as far as your body let you.

“Alejandro,” Ghost hollered, “Come on!”

He gestured to you struggling.

“This is hardly a fair fight!”

Alejandro looked to the crowd, wondering if he should call it quits.

You gritted your teeth and suddenly, like it was nothing, you broke free from him. Then, it was a flurry of fury. You punched him in the face, kneed him in the gut, grabbed him and-

The whole room gasped as you picked up a man, clearly much heavier than you, and threw him to the floor, over your shoulder.

Ghost rolled out the way as your boot landed on the ground, a small quake shaking in his chest from the impact. Being extra careful now, he tried to get behind you.

Now, it was his turn to let the bodies hit the floor.

As you were about to turn and strike upwards, he struck below, grabbing your legs. He lifted you up and dropped you. You fell face-first onto the ground, the wind getting knocked out of you.

Just about recovering, you made to get up. That was when Ghost hit your back. Hard.

“I call that move ‘the bellyflop’.” Soap remarked, eliciting a small chuckle from Price.

Gaz winced, feeling the pain in your voice as you let out a loud groan.

Laswell felt as though something was caught in her chest. This was going too far for her; she was afraid something was going to happen. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

“Okay, I think we’re good.” Kate made to get up, “Alejandro, can we call this off?”

“Come on, Laswell! Give Y/N a chance. We’ve not even been here five minutes.”

She shook her head.

You crawled on your belly, desperately trying to get away from him. You could see Ghost’s shadow approaching.

Panic. Panic. Panic. PANIC!

He was after you. After your blood.

Your breaths grew shallow, and you could feel the adrenaline course through you.

Got. To. Get. Up. Got. To Get. Away.

The shadow of a hand was raised, coming for you.

Your eyes widened.

Laswell, chuckled, though there was no humour behind it.

“No. I think we’ve seen-”

Ghost let out a bloodcurdling scream as you raised yourself and donkey-kicked him… Right in the crotch.

Everyone gasped.

Soap couldn’t even look.

Price felt his soul leave his body.

You turned around and got up onto your feet, keeping your guard up.

Ghost had bent over, hissing in pain.

You were back in the room.

Like you had woken up from a dream, clarity dawned on you, and you realised who you were fleeing from.

What had just happened?

You were… Oh…

You were back in the room.

“Sorry,” you peered at him through your raised arms, “that was a strong kick to your gut.”

“You didn’t… kick… my…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence, a wave of nausea getting to him.

“Medic!” Gaz yelled, running out of the room, “I’m getting a medic!”

His footsteps echoed down the corridor.

You put a hand over your mouth, connecting the dots, and ran to Ghost’s side.

“Holy shit! Holy shit!” Your heartrate had skyrocketed, hands clammy as you hover them over him.

Soap got up and immediately coming to Ghost as soon as he saw the guy was in pain for real.

“What have I done?!” You whimpered, “Shit!”

“You didn’t use all your strength, did you?” Laswell asked.

You shook your head.

“No! No! I’m not stupid. Why would I-”

“I feel like I’m gonna vomit.” Ghost rasped.

“Fucking hell!” Price got up from his seat, “I’m gonna go see if Gaz has got a hold of someone. Keep by his side and don’t make this worse.”

“Let’s lie him on his back.” Laswell instructed.

You all did so, easing Ghost onto the ground. You were properly freaking out, praying you hadn’t damaged anything permanently.

Kate looked so disappointed, which felt worse to you for some reason. You’d rather she’d just jumped down your throat instead of this. This felt heavy. This felt constricting. The very air you were breathing was weighted with what you had just done.

“Hold my hand, sir.” Soap pleaded.

“No… Johnny, I… I don’t need to hold your hand.” Ghost slapped his hand away with a grumble.

“I am so sorry!” You squeaked out.

“You… You… Oh God… Fuck me, Y/N.”

Ghost lay his head on the floor, trying to breathe out the waves of sharp agony and nausea. The room was beginning to spin, and it was so painful down there that Ghost couldn’t even tell what kind of pain he was in. From hot to cold, to burning, to feeling like someone had stabbed him right up there… Oh God… he was seeing stars!

A poor medic came rushing through the crowd, looking beyond fed up.

“You stupid, stupid men!” She scolded you all, “What happened to him?”

“Y/N kicked him in the balls.”

“Oh sweet Jesus.”  She pinched the bridge of her nose.

Then, the medic sighed, “Ghost, can you stand?”

“No…”

“Okay,” she turned to face all of you, “could you give this man some privacy, please?”

They all immediately got up and left.

“I can’t believe this.” She muttered under her breath as she got out her first aid kit.

As you were about to go and contemplate how to avoid Ghost and his inevitable wrath, Soap tapped your shoulder.

“Hey, Y/N. We can wait in the corridor if you like. I’m sure he’ll be fine but, you know, I want to make sure and uh… I don’t exactly want to be waiting on my own.”

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Chasing Shadows (11)

AO3 -> first, last, next

Fandoms: Danny Phantom (DP) / DC universe

Summary:  THIS  IS A CROSSOVER.  As Bruce Wayne begins to slowly recover from the loss  of his son, two   separate mysteries open up old wounds. Who is the unknown leaving clues   hinting at a return to Gotham, and who is the phantom pretending to be   his lost son? Is it just a coincidence they’re active in Gotham at the   same time? Or are they connected?  

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, and questionable mental health

Parings: none

Notes: originally uploaded to AO3. Cross-posted to tumblr

“That’s like the fifth time you’ve reviewed those flowers. If you haven’t found anything yet, I doubt you will.”

Bruce glanced up from his workstation to where Babs was looking at him from her current set up in the Cave. It still wasn’t to the same level as it was in the Clocktower, but it was still somehow more advanced than his. It was a testament to her skills.

The now mostly dried flowers and a still of the lotus design Jason used for his second clue were laid out in order in front of him. The newest additions were a calypso orchid, placed on Catherine Todd’s grave and a spring of wormwood placed on Shelia Haywood’s a few days prior. The orchid was an easy enough reference – it was named after the nymph Calypso who nursed Odysseus back to help after he washed up on her shore. She kept him there for seven years while the rest of the word believed the hero had died. It was an unsettling parallel to Jason’s time with Talia. Bruce suspected it was also chosen due to it being used to represent love for the deceased in funerary bouquets and rebirth in some cultures.

The wormwood was a more puzzling choice at first. In the language of flowers, it represented bitter sadness. There was some evidence it was used as an herbal remedy in the past which might be why it was chosen, but more recently, it was more associated with madness and murder. Was it Jason’s way of hinting at the Lazarus Pits again? Or was it his way of further suggesting his biological mother was directly involved in his death.

“It feels as if I’m missing something,” Bruce admitted as he picked up the orchid again. “Were these just ways for him to hint at his resurrection and return?”

“That’s a possibility,” Barbara admitted as she abandoned her equipment and wheeled over to him. “Jay always did have his own flair for the dramatic.”

“True.” Before his death, Jason talked about possibly joining his school’s theater club. He would have excelled in it. The happy memories of his son were quickly replaced by images of his broken body, a frequent occurrence. Whatever life Jason would have lived had been destroyed by the Joker.

That reminded him. He needed to check on the restoration of Jason’s mask footage. With the new information that came to light, he owed it to his son to see for himself what happened that day.

“I still haven’t been able to find any recent signs of him in Gotham,” Barbara continued, disregarding his sudden change in mood. She knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t tell her even if she questioned it, “but I think I might have found Danny. I’ll send the files to you to review, but it looks like Jason enrolled him in Gotham Heights under a false identity. His school file has his guardian listed as a ‘Jay Flannagan’.”

She sighed before continuing. “I miss the days when we weren’t trying to track someone with the same skills as us. There’s only a P.O. box associated with that name. Wherever Danny’s staying must be under a different identity. Or, it’s completely under the table. There are rumors some places in Crime Alley that will skip the necessary checks and paperwork if a person is willing to pay rent in cash.”

“Both are possible,” Bruce acknowledged. “If he was by himself, he’d probably chose the latter. However, he’s caring for Phantom, it seems more likely he’d choose the former.”

“I agree. I’ve been trying to hack into the nearby security feeds for Danny’s school, but he’s proving hard to catch. Jason taught him well. But I have noticed occasional glitches in certain feeds. Poorer cameras seem to have strange reactions to his powers, so it might be a sign he’s passing near them. I’ll let you know when I have more data, but we might have a larger problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“We got a warning from both Jason and Danny about the G.I.W., and it looks like they’re starting to pop up in Gotham. There have been a lot of sightings of government types in white suits around the remains of the Clocktower and where some of the better documented sights of Phantom occurred. Right now, it just appears they’re getting some type of reading and taking samples, but we’ll have to keep an eye on them. There are multiple reports that they’ll get civilians involved if they believe a ghost or other similar entity is nearby. They might push Danny into hiding.”

That was problematic. Right now, Phantom was their best chance at being able to find Jason and stop whatever he was planning. He had set up a meeting with Dick in a few days, but if this group was as dangerous as suggested, then there was a good chance they’d scare him off. Bruce couldn’t risk that happening. However, there was also a chance their presence would also force Jason back into the city earlier than he had planned as there was a high probability Phantom had the ability to contact him.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on them,” he agreed. “However, locating Phantom is the first priority.”

…

Tim didn’t want to be at the Manor at the moment. He couldn’t handle seeing Bruce’s grief reopened all over again, so he was dressed as Robin and pretending to be on patrol. Instead, he was sitting on one of the taller buildings of Gotham next to the gargoyle Jason loved to visit when he was still Robin.

Being who he was, Bruce made the decision to restore what he could of the audio and video of Jason’s death. He needed to verify for himself what his son went through even after getting the truth directly from his mouth. Since they couldn’t convince him not to watch it, he, Dick, Cass, Steph, and Babs all sat through it with him in an attempt to give him some sort of support.

He should have listened to Dick. He shouldn’t have watched. Saying it was horrible didn’t do it any justice.

 “Jason, you need to disarm the bomb!”

 “…I can’t…”

Those two phrases kept haunting him. Every time the words replayed in his mind, Tim was struck by the resignation in Jason’s voice. He knew. He knew he had no chance of escaping and accepted he would die. And the woman who led him to his death had the nerve to try to order him around instead of trying to help him. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. Jason had tried so hard to be a good hero. And his last act was to attempt to shield the woman who betrayed him.

Jason, his hero, his Robin, had been killed because he trusted his mother. He trusted the woman he hoped would love him. It just wasn’t fair.

“I was told I’d find you out here.”

The voice startled him so badly that he nearly fell from his vantage point. Turning, he found Jason, in his Red Hood gear. The slight tilt to his head suggested he was curious as to what Tim was doing. For a brief moment, Tim thought there would be a repeat of what happened in the graveyard, but Jason’s posture wasn’t threatening. He must have known what he was thinking as he took a seat as he reached for his helmet. There was the hiss of some sort of mechanism unlocking before he pulled it off and shook his head. Tim briefly wondered how hot it was under it.

“Why do you wear a domino mask under it?” he questioned as he took a hesitant seat on the other side of the gargoyle. If Jason was willing to talk, he was okay with that.

“Habit.” Jason’s answer was short, but there was no obvious hint of anger. “And dramatic flair.” If that was the case, maybe that’s why he had the white streak. In the dark, it almost looked like it was glowing.

“Oh…” What else was he supposed to say to that? So, he changed the subject. “Not that I don’t enjoy you being here,” Tim wanted to make sure he didn’t accidentally anger Jason. They weren’t sure of the extent of the Pits effects on him and how much of his actions were his own. “But why were you looking for me?”

“I can tell you’re afraid of me. You don’t have to hide it.” When Tim didn’t elect to respond to that, Jason continued, “Dove sent me after you.”

“Dove? You mean Phantom?”

Jason ignored the question. “So, you know how he can see ghosts?”

“Yeah…? Oh!... So, he knows?” Tim hadn’t expected that. With everything else going on, there were times he almost forgot. Almost, but not quite.

Jack Drake hadn’t been the best dad, but he really tried to step up in the last year. While it didn’t do much to erase the childhood of loneliness brought on by all the trips he and his wife took, he still tried to change. It meant a lot to him, but he’d been killed, just like his mom and stepmom.

“Guess your dad directly came to him or something like that. He apparently had some choice words about me hurting you. Not that I’m surprised about that.” He shrugged before raising an eyebrow at him. “A fake uncle? Really? I get wanting space, but seriously, that’s taking it to a different level.”

Tim could feel himself flush. “I don’t want to be adopted by Bruce,” he admitted. “I was never supposed to be a permanent part of your family, just a placeholder until he didn’t need me anymore. Right now, he’s my guardian, and with my dad’s passing…”

“…I’d be a hypocrite if I told you to stay at the Manor,” Jason eventually told him. Each word sounded as if he was carefully choosing them. “But don’t force yourself into exile either. As annoying as Dick can be, he’d love to have to bunk with him for a while.”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You won’t be. Hell, you might be able to help him remember to actually eat something decent for a change. But, if that’s not good enough, stay with that team of yours. Even if you don’t want to talk about it, they’ll still be there so you don’t self destruct.”

Tim flinched at those words. The phantom words of a soft “… I can’t...” filled his ears again, and unwanted tears dripped down his face.

“Ah shit.” He could feel Jason move closer. There was no feeling of animosity, but a questioning hesitance as he moved his hand as he he was considering reaching out for a comforting touch. Pulling it back, he muttered, “Didn’t mean to upset you.”

Shaking his head, Tim tried to ignore how Jason’s features were slightly blurred. It was probably just his tears, but he almost looked like he wasn’t entirely there. Somewhat unnerved, he reached out to see if the older teen was solid. When his hand touched his arm, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Jason had stiffened at his touch but let it happen without pulling away.

“It’s not… B restored what he could of the footage of what happened…. What happened to you.”

“And he let you watch that?” The outrage in his voice wasn’t what Tim expected.

“Most of the video is too distorted, so it’s mostly just audio.” When that didn’t lighten Jason’s mood, he tried a different tactic. “Dick tried to convince me and the others not to, but I felt like I had to be there… not just for B, but for you too. After the first attempt to restore it didn’t work, he couldn’t bring himself to try again. So, without knowing about… about the betrayal, he put together the most likely series of events. After that, you became a warning to other heroes of what could happen if they got too sure of themselves. It never sat right with me.” He sighed and hugged his knees. “To me, you were just as much as a hero as Nightwing and Batman. I felt like I owed you that.”

Jason didn’t say anything for a few moments. “You… don’t owe me anything. Months ago, I would have thought otherwise, but not now.”

A wary sort of hope surged through Tim. Jason didn’t completely hate him, which was good, but there was still some sort of barrier. “But you’re not happy I’m Robin.”

“No. It’s…” The older teen shifted as he ran his hands over his face. The weird haze over his features hadn’t gone away. He hadn’t noticed it during dinner the other day. Was it something that came and went? “It’s more I’m angry he let another child in those colors. There shouldn’t have been anymore Robins. There shouldn’t have been any more child soldiers. As much as he claims he cares, we’re never the priority in the field. He’ll always, always choose the mission over anything else.”

“What about you and Phantom?” He figured it was better to deflect instead of arguing.

Jason’s mood seemed to darken as a muscle moved in his jaw. “I don’t want him out there,” he hissed before his tone became more resigned. “Unfortunately, his anchor, what keeps him tethered to both life and undeath, is his drive to help others.”

“Oh!” That was a very revealing statement. His eyes widened slightly. “So that’s at least part of the reason he’s helping you plant your clues and keep tabs on us. It’s a safer alternative.”

“Got it in one.”

“Do… do you have something similar? Constantine told B you’re a Liminal too.”

Instead of immediately replying, Jason took out a cigarette. Surprisingly, he didn’t light it but still placed it to his lips. “Didn’t know there was a proper name for ‘fucked up zombie’.” He fell silent again before quietly stating, “I hope there isn’t.”

Tim pretended he didn’t hear it. Instead, he decided to focus on the older teen’s self-depreciating tone. Was it related to his coming back to life? Had he not wanted to? Phantom was worried he wasn’t planning on living through whatever he was planning which gave some credence to that idea. It… it was troubling.

Before Tim could finish sorting out his thoughts, Jason stood and stretched. “Make sure you let yourself grieve. Trying to push it in a box only works for so long before it affects everything else. Being around others helps.”

It almost sounded like he was speaking from experience. Tim couldn’t dwell on it more as he realized Jason was moving towards the ledge. “Wait, are you leaving?”

He could tell Jason rolled his eyes, even with the domino mask, as he tucked his helmet under his arm. “No, I’m going to stay and chat until sunrise. Of course I’m leaving. Have things to do, buildings to destroy, and I’m on a tight schedule.”

“But!” He couldn’t let him slip away again. “Everyone wants you to come home. You haven’t even seen Ba… I mean Oracle and Agent A yet. And… and we’re working on finding ways to reduce the turnover in Blackgate and Arkham that isn’t just focused on dealing with the breakouts. I mean, we’re doing that too, but…”

“When I come back from my trip, I’ll see what’s changed,” the old teen gave him a searching look that was replaced with a dangerous smirk. “Impress me enough, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll tone down what I’m planning.”

That… that wasn’t a confirmation that he’s stop killing or even come home, but it was something. For now, Tim would count it as a win.

“Before I leave,” Jason continued, “brooding isn’t a good look for you.”

“Excuse me? Isn’t this the place you used to go all the time?”

“Yeah, but I made it look cool.” It took a moment to realize that Jason was joking with him. It was almost a surreal feeling. “But secondly, keep those G.I.W. goons away from Dove while I’m away. They will kill him if they get their hands on him, and it won’t be painless. If, and only if, you have to move him for his safety, take him to the Tower for safety. I’m serious when I say I don’t want him anywhere near the Cave.”

Tim wasn’t going to admit he was a little jealous of how much Jason seemed to care for Danny. “But I’m surprised you’re willing to risk leaving him alone. Unless… that’s what you’re doing! You’re going after the G.I.W.!”

Jason’s response was nothing more than a predatory grin. That wasn’t good.

“I… we can help. Please! Phantom told us they can hurt you too!”  He had to do something. If Danny was to be believed, the organization was a lot more dangerous than they originally believed. Bruce, Alfred, and Dick couldn’t lose him again. He had to stop him from going.

He gave an amused huff. “Worried about little ol’ me? Don’t be. I know what I’m doing.” Before Tim could even get another word in, he leapt off the roof.

When he didn’t hear the tell-tale sound of the grapple, he rushed over to make sure he was okay. But there was no sign of Jason, even with thermal vision. He had just vanished into the night. Great, now he had to be the one to explain his formerly dead son was about to go do something most would consider suicidal.

…

With how empty and broken Bruce currently felt after finally learning what happened to his son, he was surprised at how fear was currently clawing its way through his entire being. Tim’s report about how Jason was planning to go after a powerful government organization terrified him. Not only was there the concern over what exactly Jason might do during his crusade, he now had to worry what would happen if the G.I.W. somehow got their hands on his son. He lost Jason once, and he couldn’t lose him again.

The current trouble was determining where and how he would strike. There were a few G.I.W. bases scattered around the country. Logically, it would make the most sense for Jason to go after the main base, but depending on what he knew of their organization, he could choose to strike at a different location which held more importance. More information was needed, so he had recruited Babs to help him hack into their systems.

On the surface, it appeared to be an organization mostly designed to study ghosts and other similar entities, but he knew there was more to it. However, whenever Babs attempted to get information better protected, the G.I.W. databases went into lock down. It baffled everyone as there hadn’t been any evidence of such security when she started. To make matters worse, whatever security the G.I.W. had seemed to be able to locate the general geographic area where the attempted hack originated as more of their agents were detected on the streets of Gotham within a few hours.

It was a nightmare. Not only did it put Phantom at greater risk, but there was also a chance this would push Jason to act ahead of schedule and recklessly escalate. So far, he’d proved his actions were rather meticulously planned. It had only been when Phantom or Stephanie were in danger that he moved unexpectedly. And with how protective he was regarding the boy, there was no telling exactly what he would or wouldn’t do. Until he or any of the others could get in touch with Phantom or Jason, they would have to increase patrols in the city. He was also going to have to call in the big guns.

…

Dick sighed as he toured the G.I.W. compound closest to Gotham with Superman. The workers seemed nice enough, but it was clear from their tense stances and hesitant looks towards the field agents in the white suits that their impromptu visit wasn’t welcome. Without knowing exactly what Jason would do to expose the organization, especially with them increasing their presence in Gotham, Bruce decided to request members of the League make impromptu visits to the G.I.W. bases at approximately the same time under the guise of a potential threat. He hoped it would get them better access to the restricted information as well as deter a more violent response from Jason.

Currently, they were waiting in a meeting room for their guide to get permission to take them to some of the lower levels with completely not suspicious guards outside the door. Somehow, there wasn’t any piece of technology in the room that Dick could use to plant a bug to either listen in or attempt to hack into the system more securely without taking the time to hack the security camera.

Unlike him, Clark was bound by technology. “There’s lead in the floor. There isn’t as much in the walls on this floor, but it’s still enough to make it hard to clearly see anything,” he mouthed as they waited. That wasn’t a normal architectural design. Clearly someone didn’t want anyone with x-ray vision seeing the lower floors. “But something’s not right.”

“What do you hear?” Dick whispered as he turned away from the camera. While Dick could read lips, Clark couldn’t, but that didn’t mean much when the man had super-hearing.

“Screams. Laughter. Pleading. Fear. It’s strange. That fear is on an infra-sound frequency. Hmm?” Before Dick could ask what was wrong, Clark had suddenly turned and stared at a wall. After a moment, his concerned expression turned into one of bafflement. “Nightwing… your br…”

“You mean Red Hood?” Dick quickly interrupted, somewhat worried what that meant. Was Jason in the building?

“Yes, Red Hood… well, he just shushed me.”

“He’s here?” After a moment of processing what he was just told, he added, “Wait, what do you mean he just shushed you?”

Clark gestured vaguely towards the wall. “He’s currently in the outer wall. I’m… not sure if he’s checking for something or planting something. But he somehow noticed I saw him, and he just put a finger to his lips before moving. He’s currently heading south.”

“Great. O, I’m going to need whatever schematics you can get me,” Dick muttered into his comm before looking directly at the camera. “Look, we have a situation,” he shouted. “We need to get into one of the walls.” When there wasn’t an immediate answer, he looked over at Clark and smiled. “You heard me warn them.”

“I did.” It wasn’t too often Dick got to see the man of steel’s mischievous side on a mission, but he really must want to get further inside. “I’ll try to give you as much support as I can.”

“N, wait! Someone’s hacking the comm!” Babs alerted as static filled it.

“What? Do you know who it is?”

 “No! It’s…”

“Don’t bother coming after me, Dickie-bird. You have a more important role to play.” His brother’s voice came over the comm.

“And just what would that be?” Clark demanded.

There was a sense of surprise on the other end. When Jason was still Robin, it was rare for anyone in the Justice League to have access to their private comm lines. “It’s been a while, Big Blue,” he eventually greeted. “I only need you to be a witness to what these monsters are doing.”

“What are you planning?” Panicked, he looked over at Clark. “Where is he?”

“I can’t see him anymore. It sounds like he’s moved to the lower levels. How’d he get there so quickly?”

Jason chuckled. “Picked up some new tricks. Supes, let me ask you a question. If you were aware of an organization that would want to dissect aliens to figure out what makes them tick, kill them, or even use them as mindless weapons, what would you do?”

“Everything I could to stop them, legally.”

“See, I’d like to do it that way, but if you forgot, I’m dead.” Jason’s words were playful. “I don’t have a way to stop them legally. Besides, according to them, I’m not even sentient.”

“Hood, what are you planning to do?” Dick demanded as he rushed out of the room, much to the dismay of the agents who were guarding the door. He could feel the sensation of Superman leaving at high speeds behind him.

 “It’s already in motion.”

“HOOD!!!” The floor shook as multiple booms, the breaking of glass, groaning metal, and the whooshing of air overwhelmed him. The dusty smell of concrete filled the area. As he recovered his bearings, he immediately checked for signs of damage as both Babs and Clark asked if he was okay. “Yeah… just disoriented. No evidence of injuries on me or the guards who were trying to stop me. No immediate signs of structural damage where I am.”

“The entire south wall collapsed. It doesn’t appear any of the employees were near it.” Clark stated over the comm. “Maybe it was planned that way. You might want to put on your re-breather. There’s lead dust everywhere. …But I can still hear crying coming from underneath the building. I’m going to investigate.”

“Understood. I’m going to help with the evacuation.” Ignoring the guards, who were trying to keep him from going further into the area, Dick pressed forward after radioing for assistance and returned to the central office he’d been allowed to tour earlier. There was a huge hole in the south wall, just like Superman said, but it appeared most of collapsed down instead of either outward or inward. Jason knew what he was doing when he destroyed it as there wasn’t too much debris in the main part of the room.

As he assisted the people in the room, all of which appeared to have thankfully minor injuries, he got an update from Clark. The Man of Steel seemed unsettled as he requested his assistance on one of the lower floors. Since he couldn’t access it from the stairs, he moved to the now open wall and carefully made his way down. He stopped when he caught sight of Clark floating in place. Anger radiated off the man.

“Supes, what’s…?” Dick’s words died on his lips as he got a better view of the room. His stomach churned as he caught sight of what could only be described as the husks of once living people were strewn around the room. The acidic smell of something similar to ozone lingered along with the smell of dust and smoke. Old and new blood along with other unknown yet faintly glowing substances were splashed around the room. Faint whimpering could be heard from further in.

Whatever Jason and Danny had said about this place didn’t do the horror justice. Maybe they didn’t know the extent, or maybe they did. No matter what the truth was, Jason knew this needed to be exposed, and now that Dick had seen it for his own eyes, he was going to make sure it was shut down. Permanently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes:

I chose Flanagan as a fake last name for Jason for its meaning.

Flanagan - From Irish Ó Flannagáin meaning "descendant of Flannagán". Flannagán is a given name meaning "blood red"

Plant notes :)

Stop 11 Ogygia - the island of Calypso. Calypso was a nymph who was kept away from the world as a punishment. She helped nurse Odysseus back to health. Calypso orchids are rare orchids named as such because of how they're hidden until they bloom. Orchids have a super creepy creation myth in ancient Greece – the demigod Orchis attempted to attack a priestess during a Dionysian celebration… and was torn apart by wild beasts. And in ancient Rome, they were a symbol of rebirth. And in modern funerary bouquets, they represent ever lasting love for the deceased.

I also included wormwood to hint at the Lazarus Pit as it is what healed Jason. As a flower, it represents absence and bitter sorrow which matches how Odysseus felt during his seven years on Ogygia.

This plant was used for millennium as an herbal remedy. Some of you might know it’s a main ingredient in absinthe aka the Green Fairy, which if you’ve never had it, tastes like black licorice. The thujone, a chemical in the plant, needs to be removed to be sold in several countries. While not well studied, it’s believed thujone has toxic properties and has been known to cause seizures, kidney failure, vomiting, and other effects.  There are concerns the chemical has psychoactive properties and can cause hallucinations – this is a bit unclear as the few studies around that aren’t great. But in 1905, there were murders that occurred, and the man who committed was said to have “absinthe madness,” as he had been drunk at the time (though absinthe was just one of several alcohols he consumed). This high-profile case helped push the belief the drink caused madness and resulted in it being banned.

I have a small bottle of it from Slovakia sitting in my kitchen. It actually has a sprig of wormwood in it.

[pretensesoup]

How to Publish a Book, pt 2

Q: I'd like to do a print book too, not just an ebook. A: Do you realize that if you do a print book, your mom is going to read it? And the book has sex in there? Like, explicit gay sex? Like it says the word "cock" right there on the page.

Q: Yeah, she's like 77, she knows that sex exists. I've made my peace with this. A: All right, here we go. Publish on Demand books in some number of easy-ish steps.

There are a bunch of options for POD publishing now. IngramSpark, KDP, Draft2Digital, Lulu, etc. Other websites like Barnes & Noble will let you set up paperback publishing but outsource the actual printing to IngramSpark (IS). I think a bunch of these services do. IS is also slightly better if you want to have bookstores sell your book, have it in libraries, etc., because most bookstores won't order from Amazon, for obvious reasons. For Dionysus in Wisconsin, I've done both IS and Amazon, letting IS distribute to anywhere that isn't the Zon.

OH, IS allows preorders for paperbacks while the Zon doesn't.

First, you're going to need to write and edit the book. We went over this in pt. 1. Please refer there if you have any questions on this step. Okay, here is the exhaustive list of what to do once you're ready.

1. Decide what size the physical book should be. Look around your house at books in your genre and select the size that is most pleasing to you. This is called the trim size.

2. If you uploaded your text into a typesetting program like Atticus, tell it your trim size, preferred typeface size, line spacing, and margins and have it spit out a pdf. Otherwise, set Word up with those specifications. KDP has a helpful site where you can calculate the correct inner margins for your number of pages, while I think somehow IS just requires a .5" or .625" margin for all sizes (this doesn't make sense; I assume you just have to fix it after seeing a proof?). The book's gonna be exactly the same, so just do the same thing in both places.

Okay, one thing I couldn't find any guidance on is what size to make the typeface and line spacing. I wound up going with 11 pt typeface and 1.4 spacing. I figured this out by printing out the first page of my book, cutting it out at the correct size (5"x8") and comparing it to pages in similar books until I found one that looked readable and pretty. Anything from 10-12 is probably fine, also 1.1-1.4 spacing, but keep in mind that small/densely spaced typefaces will make your text look more intimidating. Someone on Mastodon said 1.5 spacing looks like a student paper, which I also agree with.

There are loads of websites that detail what typefaces to use for what types of books. "Look at your genre and try to match" is reasonable advice here too.

3. You need not just a cover, but a spine and a back cover. Books are three dimensional objects!

If you hire an artist, they should just be able to provide a wrap-around cover that is appropriate dimensions (again, KDP and IS both have templates), but if you're doing it yourself, I suggest laying out the entire cover on one large sheet of paper/canvas and doing your art like that rather than trying to photoshop together various pieces, unless you are really, really good at color leveling etc. You're gonna want to make sure that you have at least 300 dpi. Make sure you use open access typefaces or that you have rights to use them, ditto for any images you collage into stuff.

GIMP is a great free photoshop alternative. ImageMagick is a free image manipulation program that is incredibly powerful. I had to use ImageMagick to flip my cover file into CMYK and create a PDF. The command you want is this:

magick "inputfile.png" -colorspace sRGB -colorspace CMYK "outputfile.pdf"

4. Submitting your file for stuff: copyright here, LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number) here. Neither of these is obligatory, but both are cool in their own way. LCCN is a way for Library of Congress to pre-catalog your data (creating a stub record in OCLC) so that if a library acquires your book, it's easier for them to get it on the shelf. You need to submit your request for this PRIOR TO THE MONTH OF PUBLICATION. However, you don't need a final manuscript to submit, just a summary of the book. Also, note that you can only retroactively submit your MS for copyright registration for THREE MONTHS after publication, so decide now if you want it. And yes, everything you write in the US is automatically copyrighted, but having a certificate to prove it is nice in a court battle. Also also, you WILL want a finished copy of the text to submit when you make this request, or else you will have to submit two printed copies. By MAIL. So you have to GO OUT OF YOUR HOUSE TO THE POST OFFICE. UGH. (Technically, you are requested to send in a print copy for the LCCN program too. I don't think that's obligatory, but am I gonna pass up a chance to have my book fully cataloged by LOC? Fuck no.)

5. OKAY, assuming you got everything done, now you need an ISBN.

Do you really? Kind of. If you're only publishing on KDP, they'll give you a free one. But you can't reuse it if you try to also publish on IS. The reverse is also true. Technically, the entity that assigns the ISBN is the publisher, so this makes Amazon/IS the publisher of your book. Also, it makes editions slightly weird (technically, it's supposed to be one ISBN per edition). ANYWAY, in the US you buy ISBNs through Bowkers. Don't let them sell you barcodes or any of that garbage. Just buy your ISBN(s).

Sometimes, people report putting in information in KDP and then having the ISBN rejected as "in use" when inputting it into IS, so do this next part all at once. First, assign your ISBN to your book in the Bowkers database. Then assign it to your book at IS and save as draft. Then assign it to your book at KDP and save as draft.

One other note. If you have set up a business to be your press name (mine is Winnowing Fan Press, because the main character's name is Ulysses and I am a GIANT NERD), that will be set up as your publishing house in Bowkers. You won't have an imprint unless you specify one. (An imprint is like a special line of books, so Harlequin has a "digital-first" imprint called Carina Press that specializes in LGBT+ romance, because why would you publish LGBT+ romance in paperback first, ugh.) BUT Amazon will ask what the imprint is for your ISBN and it will be THE NAME OF THE PUBLISHING HOUSE. Why is Amazon using the term differently from everyone else? I DON'T KNOW. JUST GO WITH IT.

6. Upload all your files. Look at the previewers/e-proofs to make sure everything looks okay. Panic and reupload them five times with minute changes.

7. Set a price.

For real at this point I hope you're done making changes, because you suddenly have at least three versions across two different sites to update if you suddenly decide to add a credit for your author photo or something. (cough)

How to set a price the easy way: look at other similar books in your genre (your comps) and just set your book to that price (hopefully you aren't losing money that way).

8. You can order a physical proof at this stage. But if you want author copies, you're going to have to publish your book, meaning it becomes publicly available. I think that if you get through the KDP screens and hit "publish book," it goes live. So...save it as a draft; don't hit the go button until you're ready. IS meanwhile lets you make it available for preorder.

Deadlines: Try to get everything done and uploaded by five days before your planned publication date.

@tryxyhijinks I think that's everything. Wow, I'm tired now.