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dirtanddistance · 9 months ago

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West Coast Running Odyssey - Alternate Title, How to RunMaxx a Three Day Weekend/Bay to Breakers Race Recap and More

Some weekends were made for running, and for this BC runner, Victoria Day Weekend was without doubt that weekend for me. Saturday morning started with an early alarm drawing me groggily downstairs to make a cup of tea and grab a bagel. I could hear the ominous beating of the rain outside. Checking my messages, it quickly became apparent that the group planning a run up to Tunnel Bluffs would not be convening. I texted Elise to check if she wanted to bail, and thankfully, she was prepared to get out there still. We enjoyed the meandering drive up Sea to Sky and got to trekking. Calling this a run may have been a slight exaggeration, seeing as we were hoofing it uphill a good amount of the way up. However, the trek paid off as we reached the bluffs to a view out across the sound. Perhaps not as majestic as a truly clear day, but braving the rain on the sparsely traveled trail up was worth the extra care scrambling up the final rocky sections. We logged our names on the little message station and beheld a soggy plush dog stationed in a stump overlooking the water, pondering his role and how he reached this place. Is he meant to tell us something? On the way back, much faster and with higher spirits, we gleefully ignored the building fatigue in our quads as we pulled into the parking lot with jelly legs, feeling incredibly fortunate to have not gone back to bed. And, because I have no chill when it comes to maximizing my run opportunities, I hopped on a plane to San Francisco shortly after.

Bay to Breakers is an event without comparison in North America. I'd participated around ten years ago, and would describe the event as a 12k long party rather than a 'race'. Between the costumes, the absurd spectators, the flying tortillas in the staring gate, the adult full frontal nudity, and the centipede category, you are guaranteed to see something you've never seen before. This year was no exception. We rocked up to the starting line as a party of three; two of us dressed in a rather obscure pop culture reference duo costume as Taylor and Matty for our best Tortured Poets Department impression. We'd ordered our race packets to be mailed to us, but when there was no hint of them the day before the race, I frantically emailed the help desk and was told I could pick our numbers up morning of. This went quite smoothly, if it was slightly disappointing to not have had the pre-event mailing work out. The starting corrals were well organized, but within moments the trademark ridiculousness took root with fajita size tortillas flying through the air. After being buffeted by a number of the delicious discs, I flung one back into the void, promptly striking someone in the face (sorry!) and earning a high five from my compatriots. As they released us into the streets through the starting gate, the real adventure began. I can confidently say that the sequined shorts were perfectly fine to run in with their protective nylons guarding them from my skin, which was possibly the largest surprise of the day. The first entertaining stop was a reverse piñata station, in which two rows of people dressed up like piñatas with inflatable sticks wallop runners passing through. After that, we encountered an entire crew dressed as crabs. This would turn out to be the most resilient and entertaining group of the day. The swarm of crabs would later be seen partying long into the afternoon in the park, absolutely in sync and on some kind of divine crab wavelength that the rest of us could only imagine existing within. As all three of us were originally from Florida, Hayes Hill was the most fretted portion of the event, and where we began walking. The amount of concentrated hype attached to this portion of the course is understandable given the mild elevation profile of the rest of the course. I quickly discovered as I forced us back to running on the downhill that my legs were not particularly pleased to be doing another downhill run after yesterday's blitz back from Tunnel Bluffs, but I ignored this inconvenient fact in favor of pressing onwards. We passed a Pit Stop in which a crew of spectators dressed in race car pit crew outfits slammed runners into camp chairs, poured some beer down their throats, and then shoved them back onto the course in a brutally efficient demonstration of debauchery. We walk/ran the remainder of the trek out to the Pacific, and even had someone recognize our costume along the way. Finally, the finish line and the breaking waves beckoned, and we collected our pretty sick finisher medals and oodles of snacks. 10/10 event, did 0/10 serious racing.

Why stop at two back to back days of iconic running destinations when you can stack up three? Only someone without a searing ambition to add a trail run to their San Francisco weekend would leave their Monday bereft of more miles. That, and I really didn't want to do another long run on my usual home route. Desperation leads to curious destinations, and that curious destination for me was the top of Hawk Hill via foot from Haight Ashbury. Like any sensible person who never drinks coffee, I decided that morning was the perfect one for my caffeine sensitive self to slam a soy latte before taking the 7 bus with my husband into town proper. After he picked up a bike and we picked out some waypoints, I was off and running. I have to say, I was running up inclines I would never even consider runnable during the first hour of this journey. I bounded up the stairs to Inspiration Point before bobbing down again to the start of the Golden Gate bridge. In my caffeinated stupor, I thought to myself that I might not be so pleased on the return route going back up, but decided that was a problem for mile 17 me and instead tackled the puzzle that was 'how to get onto the sidewalk that would take me across the bridge to the sweet sweet dirt and plants on the other side of it'. Now, I would understand if you were expecting me to have some kind of awe inspiring account of what it's like to run across this iconic piece of American engineering. This instantly recognizable more-orange-than-red bridge is the default bridge emoji. It links a storied American city with a massive national recreation area. Running across it, therefore, must be a religious experience. Perhaps it is, given that most of what I hear of religious experiences in America are filled with rage, inefficiency, and lack of consideration of anyone other than oneself. It was an infuriating experience. First of all, it's loud. Many cars and big water means much sound. Second, it's packed. This was a non-holiday Monday and it was packed. That's enough of a challenge, but I've been to Tokyo and seen that humans are capable of being very concentrated and also very orderly. This bridge traffic did not get this memo. Not a soul on this sidewalk had ever conceived of a single file line. The existence of pull-off areas for photos and pausing was completely ignored in favor of random stopping in the most congested sections. As someone who very minimally experiences what one might consider 'road rage,' I was shocked at the internal frustration building within me. Thankfully I refrained from externalizing that experience and made it to the other side, where I again had to go full Dora The Explorer to find the way to the other side of the bridge and finally get to the promised land - TRAILS.

The trails did not disappoint. As a friend pointed out to me later, Marin was the location of the North Face Endurance 50k years back, and understandable why they chose this location. Although most of my journey out was uphill, it was gradual enough to be fully runnable, leaving my cycle-bound husband in my dust. At the top of Hawk Hill, I enjoyed a fresh jam sandwich I'd bought with my coffee and ferried all the way up with me, in true trail run fashion. The trek back down became a bit more interesting as I took a different trail back along the ridge instead of along the road. I spotted a couple ahead of me, and then promptly tripped on almost nothing and ate dirt, in front of the only other humans I would end up seeing on the trail that day. I quickly waved them off in my embarrassment so I could cry quietly about it for a few minutes, and then hobbled along with the sad acknowledgement that I would not be flinging myself back down the hill with the ache in my knee now gnawing away. Each time I stopped it got a bit stiff, so I quit doing that and dragged my dusty, bleeding carcass back into town to meet my husband back at the Whole Foods, which seems like the only appropriate post-run meet point in San Francisco, for a post run kombucha (I kinda would have done anything for a classic Red Dye 40 packed Gatorade, but I was also not willing to expend any more effort than necessary seeking one out in my condition). While I felt bad for myself in my sticky and bloody state, I have to say I've been pretty fortunate to have made it about a year since my last dirt-eating debacle. I can't even mitigate it by saying it was super technical, or a dicey downhill. I was going uphill. There was probably some tiny rock. I'm going to take it as a good omen that I completed my mandatory knee scrape early in the season and that it will again bless the remainder of hot trail runner summer.

Looking back on the absurd trifecta of runs I was lucky enough to get to do, I was reminded of just how awe inspiring running can be - from the bonds we form with those we run with and friends we make along the way, to the absurdity one can witness from the vantage point of the street, to the majesty of the places our feet can take us. No matter the place, no matter the pace, going for a run is always a good idea.

#fitblr #fitness #runblr #running #exercise #ultramarathon #nature #trails #san francisco #golden gate bridge #bay to breakers #thoughts #road racing #road runner #life #experience

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davisexplainableart · 11 months ago

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March 29 - 30, 2024 - I Don't Even Like This Character (Home on the Range 20th Anniversary):

Okay, well, that's not entirely true.

It's more that I don't like the person who voices her (who I won't name because I don't care).

That's pretty much I wanted to have my voice unchanged, with the exception being the fact that becoming a cow always leads me to put on a Southern accent.

I mean, I ain't complainin'. Maggie's original VA could barely do a Southern accent herself. I can easily pull it off, no sweat!

As for Maggie herself, I don't know too much about her. I'm postin' this before I watch Home on the Range in full (probably not gonna like it because I've heard it's really dumb and stupid).

I do really like her design, though, I look mighty fine!

Not sure about this pointy chest though, no idea what that's s'posed to be...

Now, I'm sure some of y'all have some questions about this, so let's just get 'em outta the way.

Q: Where is this located? A: On a farm, I booked a vacation to this farm a few weeks ago.

Q: Why'd ya do all this? A: Someone paid me to watch the movie. And besides, with that film, I'm probably not gonna have much fun reviewing it, so spending time on a farm as a cow is just what I need to actually have fun during my time here.

(Hey guys, IRL Davis here. For context, in this canon of mine, I have a Youtube channel with a slightly large following (only a few thousand subscribers). On the channel, I usually like to talk about whatever's on my mind (unless it involves politics, I don't like talking about politics). However, then there's my Patreon (again this isn't real), where people can pay me and request things for me to review)

(About a month for 2 before this TF sequence, someone patrons me to review Home on the Range for its 20th anniversary, and they want me to do something big (they don't specify). However, I, knowing how dull and boring the movie is considered by critics, need to think outside the box for this)

(So, I decide to ask the TF crew to book me a vacation at a farm, wanting to review the movie while there. I ask if I could spend my time there as a cow myself, and they suggest turning into one of the characters from the movie. I choose Maggie because even though I don't like her VA, her large size was something I could possibly get a kick out of. Of course, I ask for my voice to not be changed too much, which they understand)

(Why the vacation? Well, like I said, with how dull the movie is, I have to think of other methods in order to fulfill the patron's request. Plus, the farm we book is very nice. I have a nice place to sleep and everything. Unfortunately, none of the other animals seem to like me)

(Okay, back to the actual text)

Q: Why'd ya make Maggie's hair longer in the front? A: Personal preference.

Q: Why the 'erect teats'? A: Personal preference.

Q: If ya don't like Maggie's VA, why'd ya wanna change into her. A: I like being large, that's all.

Q: With the teats and the sweat, I have to ask. Were ya sweaty or horny durin' this sequence? A: Both; surprised you didn't get that from the teats, which are CLEARLY looking hardened as if they're small d***s. Since I'm a female, and therefore don't have a certain male appendage, having my teats become erect when I'm horny makes up for it; and it feels just as glorious... *giggle*

"Maggie, what are ya doin' with your udder? You ain't done yet."

Wait, wha? Oh, erm... sorry... Where were we?

Q: What else are you doing on the farm besides watching the movie? A: I'm prolly gon look at some other things related to Home on the Range, like that one video game they made. Not gon play 'em myself, of course 'cause... Y'know, no thumbs.

Q: Were you told to use a new name when you became a cow? Some farms do that to people. A: Yes, that's true. For some reason, they tried to name me themselves. Tried namin' me 'Bessie', which is dumb because...

That name's too obvious. I feel like I hear people use that darn name for cows way too often.

This cow body is based on a pre-existing character, and she already has a name of her own.

Q: Are you typing this post yourself? A: No, I literally just told ya that I don't have thumbs. A human is doin' it for me.

Right, I think that's everything I wanted to say. See ya!

#Spring Break '24 #TFTuesday #TF Tuesday #transformation #overweight #Caroline #Maggie #HomeontheRange #20 Years #Home on the Range

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e-lisard-archive · 1 year ago

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Should have kept your promise

Original post December 8th, 2023 (x)

Kyomi looks up from the paper she’d been reading as Sengoku enters his office, distracted by whatever he’s doing. She grins as he turns around and flinches at the sight of her, clearly not having noticed her at all.

“Can I help you…?” He warily asks, although he doesn’t seem to be too on guard yet. Well, that makes sense. She’s not a very well-known pirate yet, after all.

“Tell me, Sengoku-san,” she says, putting her paper down and leaning towards him. “Have you ever heard of the ‘Ghost Flame’?”

“Do you have information on that pirate?” There’s something almost hopeful in his eyes, and Kyomi nods, standing up from Sengoku’s chair.

“That I do. And I can give you his life, even… But only if you don’t execute Fire Fist.” She’s leaning on the desk now, staring him down despite the fact that he’s almost twice her size.

“What?” Her demand clearly startles him, and his hand twitches.

“You haven’t announced it yet, but I know the Marines well enough, and I know you know who his father is. You’re going to execute him, publicly, because of it. But quite frankly, I don’t think someone should pay for the sins of their parents.” Kyomi pushes away from the desk, walking towards the window. “So, I’m offering you Ghost Flame’s life in exchange for Fire Fist’s.”

“And why would I ever take that offer? Gol D. Ace is still the second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates, after all.”

“Because he is a known force. Ghost Flame? Try as you might, you don’t know anything about him. You have no idea what he’s doing at any point. He could be planning to storm Marijoa as we speak.” Which. Is something Kyomi had been thinking about doing. “You don’t even have to free Portgas D. Ace,” she continues, putting more force on the Portgas than she usually would. “Just don’t execute him.”

+++

The plan works, and Kyomi quietly enjoys the face Sengoku made as she revealed that she’s Ghost Flame. The road down to her cell in Impel Down is boring, but she doesn’t let it bother her. She just needs to sit out the few days it takes for her to be executed, and then it’s all fine. Her crew is already busy with the plans to break Ace out of Impel Down the moment she’s executed, and once that’s done he’ll be back with Whitebeard.

“Nee-chan!” Ace’s voice pulls her out of her thoughts, and she gives him a soft smile, ignoring the equally chained up Jimbei in the same cell for now as she’s roughly pushed in and chained up with seastone. Hah. Losers. That won’t do shit.

“Don’t worry, Ace. Everything’s gonna be fine,” she softly says when the guards are gone, ignoring the look of disbelief in his eyes.

+++

“I’m sorry,” Sengoku softly says to him as he stands next to Kyomi, staring at the approaching ship. From the high vantage point they have, Kyomi can easily see the chair with a chained up Ace in it, making him tense up. “But orders are orders.”

The next few minutes as Ace is hauled up to the platform, it takes everything Kyomi has to not go on a murder spree. All’s not lost, though. He can feel his crew drawing closer, ready to make sure Luffy doesn’t arrive at Marineford at all, because for some reason he’s getting close too, as well as Whitebeard under the surface of the bay. He’d first thought Newgate was here for him, to show his respect, but apparently not.

The ship that brought Ace has backed off again, meaning Newgate’s ship can surface easily. The minute they do that, Kyomi decides, he’s gonna free himself and Ace. Then they’ll escape. However, he could also be a little funnier, he thinks.

“Ne, Izou,” he calls as he spots the man on Whitebeard’s ship, his voice easily carrying over all the ruckus from the Marines below him. “How long do you think it will take for them to realize seastone doesn’t do anything to me?” he continues in Japanese (or whatever it’s called in this world, he’s too tired to remember).

“Until you break yourself out, I suspect,” Izou replies without missing a beat, and Kyomi snorts.

“Yeah, you’re right.” This time he speaks in the common language, letting everyone understand him. “Let’s get this show on the road then, shall we?” He turns to Sengoku with a grin, his heart doing a happy little jump as he feels Garp walk away, clearly ready to let them escape. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… Well, good luck surviving long enough to attempt it.”

Ace looks at him with wide eyes, and Kyomi lets his flames burst forth, the white fire making the Marines jump back. He lets it burn through the chains keeping him and Ace down as his body transforms, grabbing Ace and launching himself off the platform, towards Newgate.

He drops Ace in Newgate’s waiting arms, flying up after to land on the crow’s nest of the Moby Dick.

“Now, let me properly introduce myself,” he says, his wings folding into his back to be out of the way. “I am Shimura Kyomi-”

“Shimura D. Kyomi,” Garp interjects from the platform.

“Fine, fine. I am Shimura D. Kyomi, the captain of the Ghost Pirates, and the older sister of Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy.” He places a hand over his heart as he bows. “And quite frankly, this is the only warning you’ll ever get from me. Try to touch either of my little brothers again, and I will end you.”

#Kyomi in OP #Shimura Kyomi #Portgas D Ace #Sengoku #Izou #Monkey D Garp

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tuttle-did-it · 2 years ago

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I am also not American. But I echo all of this. They should have never brought Data back. They fridged Ro Laren - and only gave her 1 episode. The ONLY good thing about season 2 was the storyline with Q and Picard- and they shat all over it by bringing Q back. Jack Crusher was the WORST character- and the idea that Q would be interested in Jack is laughable. Also Jack was dreadfully cast- the actor is nearly 40 and looks it, and he’s playing a 23 year old and it is distracting and ridiculous how bad of an actor he is.

Seven just literally listens to the men trauma-dump the entire time. Beverly exists to moderate her son’s feelings and his father’s feelings- nothing about her as a person. Riker’s storyline is also about trauma over a son.

They turned all the women into wallpaper, where they only exist to support and further the men on the rare occasion that they step out of the shadows. They break up Raffi and Seven up for no reason. Raffi spends season 3 being told to control herself by men. They spend 9/10 of the season dead-naming Seven and forcing her to put up with abuse from Shaw. They screwed the Queer characters completely.

Oh, and 'the robot's right'??? Seven is half bionic!!! Her best friend on Voyager was a hologram! She specifically says on Voyager that she is more bionic than she is human. She has crippling loyalty to Picard, who is in an android body. She spends an entire season getting deadnamed by Shaw, she is the last person who would negate Data's identity like that. Seven would NEVER say that- and that's just one example of many where they re-wrote the character to be nonsensical and ridiculous.

Geordie manages to re-build a huge ass space ship by himself, the size of a city? BY HIMSELF??? in just a few days so perfectly that he manages to replicate the carpet just right- but the original Enterprise D took over 1000 people to run??? How are 7 people taking that huge ship into battle? He had time to source the perfect carpet? Where was he hiding this massive project? How did he manage to even find the components to put the ship together and give it power, let alone the perfect carpet? We've seen the shipyards where they build these ships- it takes hundreds of people years to screw down every bolt, every panel. The ship hasn’t been tested. The entire crew of Voyager spent days flat-out building a shuttlecraft, and that wasn’t even a star ship. And the ship wasn’t perfect when they made it- they had to make a lot of corrections. What, besides nostalgia, is powering this bloody ship?

It was bad enough on the finale of Enterprise when they brought on Riker and Troi to finish off the last 5 minutes of the show as a Holodeck programme because the cast of the Enterprise didn’t even get to finish their own show. But this show brought all the core TNG characters in to finish this show- an entire third of the show, a full season.

Star Trek: Picard has retro-actively made me hate not only all of Picard, but TNG as well.

THE ONLY PEOPLE I KNOW WHO LIKE SEASON 3 OF STAR TREK PICARD ARE CIS HET WHITE MIDDLE CLASS MIDDLE AGED MEN. Everyone else I know hates it for all these reasons (and more- we’re just hitting broad strokes, here).

Maybe I’m just missing an obvious detail because I’m not from America but I thought Picard season 3 was the only good one? The first 2 seasons felt like bland slop that you could watch hundreds of hours of from any American network but the third at least felt like they were using Picard as a captain rather than a mouthpiece for the writers. I remember watching the original series when I was younger and the show under Alex Kurtzman felt like it had such a distain for the original I found it almost petty

(1) I am not American.

(2) I've already expressed my opinion in a great deal of detail in a great many places, but basically it boils down to this: When I think about TNG and what I liked from it, I don't just think about the characters. I think about the moral dilemmas; about the social commentary; about the thought-provoking science fiction concepts; about the contemplation of the human condition. The first two seasons, for all of their flaws--and I agree, they had flaws in absolute spades--offered all of these things. The third season, by and large, did not. It was an action movie, complete with quips, morally weightless violence, and a plot that was resolved simply by killing the bad guys. And you know what, I did enjoy seeing the old crew again; I grew up with TNG, I was literally obsessed with it for my entire childhood. I had comic books and action figures of the entire crew. But it all just felt so hollow.

And you say that the first two seasons felt disdainful. I entirely disagree. But I absolutely think that the third season was completely disdainful of the first and second. 80% of the original cast was pushed out and never even mentioned, not even when they were plot relevant. Data comes back to life and no one tells him that he has a daughter; that there's now an entire planet of Soong-type androids and he's no longer alone in the universe. The Borg come back and no one even mentions Jurati, who spent the entire second season becoming a Borg Queen. Raffi learns to swordfight from Worf and never feels the need to mention that her adopted son is a Romulan swordmaster. Rios's ship, La Sirena, is just casually dumped somewhere after the fifth episode, presumably alongside his chorus of holograms; the script can't be arsed to tell us what became of it. Laris tells Picard in the second scene of the first episode of the season that she will be waiting for him at some café. She's never seen or even mentioned again. Disdainful? The third season is positively contemptuous of the first two, of their characters, and of all of us fans who liked them.

Anyways, that's why I don't like it. Hope that helps.

#star trek picard #picard's son shouldn't have an english (i mean French) accent #everything is wrong with star trek picard #star trek picard treats women like shit #you owe me a ship picard #they fucking fridged ro laren how dare they #the women of picard deserve better #q would never stoop so low

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ansonmountdaily · 2 years ago

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast on storylines they’d want for their characters

Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Christina Chong and Jess Bush talk about what sort of Star Trek episodes or storylines they'd want to do → Wales Comic Con, Telford, England, December 3 2022

Source: Panel video (via Geektown, Thank You!)

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birbs89 · 2 years ago

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rambling about exe's I like

deciding to do this because I really want to and because I just want to let some energy out I always liked the idea of exe’s just something about turning a beloved icon into a murderous villain with a god complex is just so cool to me and I became even interested recently with the fandom growing tremendously in size and all the new exes that are being made I've been so happy that I even made my own exe as seen with that story draft I posted go check that out if you haven't already

tickle tipson | THE DAY EGGMAN WON draft (tumblr.com) but now to some exes I personally really like

The first being starved Eggman or just starved for short I've always been fascinated since I first accidentally stumble onto him when the v2 of that sonic.exe fnf mod was released and people were talking about what exes that would be in the now canceled sonic.exe v3 witch I'm still sad about but back to our mobian eating doctor I love how he looks DuhDumbie_ the creator there art style is just so good for the character and how a lot of him is covered in shadow with his bright red skin after he ate a flicky and about that how his main objective is to hunt down every mobian and feast on their flesh it's actually really just creepy. this human turned mad with hunger for flesh and his lines like his popular one “I love that hedgehog” it's so creepy and rad and how his songs sound in the canned build of sonic.exe perfectly match him as a character.

And our second being the d-side exe crew

I've always liked them for being so unique and different from their original counterparts and there not just a change of species or color they have their own personality and also because they give mighty the armadillo some more popularity since he deserves it shout out to mighty the armadillo but back to this there songs are just tremendous there not just remixes their own songs and they portray the characters and their own vibe I guess you could call it that so good like with tenma his name having a different meaning in Japanese tenma meaning witch, demon, or evil spirit and I love his whole clown aesthetic he's just a funky clown Boi yknow and with god z I love how each of his different forms are older mascots of Sega before sonic was made and how he looks just every character in d-sides is great in their own right.

And some other ones combined in a section since I don't want to make this too long

First one being RE-RUN Always liked her since instead of coming from any of the sonic games she actually comes from a cartoon witch her and her boyfriend in the story were creating and just how her sonic/beast form looks like how it looks like its melting and like in old cartoons it can squish itself then bounce always found that very interesting

and the second one being no more innocence or NMI for short his design is just so fascinating how his face kinda looks like a human skull and his human form its just so erie and his motivation to steal innocence is just so fascinating to me

and third Mr. virtual or Mr. v for short I love his design it is just amazing and with him being inside of a virtual boy and how he slowly drives the player insane is just so rad to me and the rest of the exes that exist are just so good except any made by not so good people which I shall not mention.

credit to the owner of each exe and their art

starved eggman and his art:@DuhDumbie_

the d-side exe crew:@dastardlydeacon

RE-RUN and her art:@erickmaster101

no more innocence and his art:@DuhDumbie_

Mr. virtual and his art:@Snart_Studios

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 2 years ago

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From Every Angle

https://www.patreon.com/empyreaniris?fan_landing=true

https://starr-fall-knight-rise.tumblr.com/post/182501791735/master-post

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jzEIdDAB4omdO2JcQVMObfrhLJ5kX4ONmSsLypM1ks0/edit?usp=sharing

The world, when seen from above, is different, painted in abstract through a jumble of confusing patches and colors: swatches of fabric on a patchwork quilt. So it wasn’t until their fall took them within a few hundred feet of the ground that Adam finally managed to make out what he was seeing.

The ground on the Necritorium was a sort of rusty orange just a little lighter than natural martian soil. The sky above would have been mostly dark if it were not lit by the golden light of anima souls funneling down towards the ground, beyond that, shapes lit up the dim atmosphere, flashes of colors and shapes just beyond the scattered light in the sky.

Looming tendrils, and flashes in animal shapes.

The war for the universe was going on above them, obscured only just by a the thin curtain of atmosphere.

But beyond all of that, beyond the incomprehensible enormity of a war between gods.

There was a war being staged right at his feet.

Two armies.

One massive, black, neatly ordered into lines and battalions as armored vehicles rolled across the ground.

And the other

A ragtag jumble of assorted dropships aliens and vehicles, less than a tenth of the size of the staged army just beyond the horizon.

Jets streaked the sky overhead, at least one helicopter whirred n the distance.

From his vantage point

Things looked impossible, and his heart sank.

Their fall took them within a few hundred feet of the ground, unobtrusive and unnoticed by either army. Sometime during their extended fall, Krill had regained his wits and become accustomed to the stomach dropping sensation. Never had Adam ever thought Krill would participate in something as dangerous as skydiving, but here he was, pulled into dangerous things of his own free will even if he didn’t want to admit it.

“Fire thrusters.” he ordered, watching Krill closely to make sure he managed.

Awkwardly, Krill flipped over so his feet were pointed downward. It Wasn't pretty or graceful, but he managed firing the thrusters of his jetpack until he slowed, seeming to shoot upwards from Adam’s perspective. Now he knew that Krill was alright, adam fired his own jetpack, coming to a stop less than a hundred feet above the ground, a fact that did not phase him in the grand scheme of things.

What was a little danger in comparison to the end of the world.

With some difficulty, Krill dropped down to meet him, following Adam’s lead as he steered them away from their original drop point and towards the staging area where the others had made it through.

Now that he was no longer falling, and his life and the lif of Krill was no longer in immediate danger, his thoughts turned elsewhere.

To sunny.

The Omen had been obliterated in a matter of moments, her shield crushed and her crew destroyed like it was no more than a minor inconvenience. Apollyon had swatted them away like a fly. Simon was gone, and so were countless others. Who's to say that anyone had managed to survive the ongoing war between the maker and the Architect. Who's to say what had happened to Kelly, Koslov or McCaster.

It may have been the Drev way to accept death in honerable battle, but Adam knew.

If sunny had died….

He didn’t know if he’d be able to handle it.

She was stronger than him in that respect.

So, while he flew, he prayed and hoped it wasn’t counter productive. Honestly he wasn’t sure who he was praying to. It seemed that the architect was busy at the moment, and unlikely to hear whatever prayer he might offer if he was the kind of god that answered prayers in the first palace.

Perhaps it was the universe to which he was offering his soul.

“There they are!’ Krill said, drawing Adam’s eyes downward, passed the red cross on the back of krill’s armor and towards the waiting ragtag army.

To his surprise it wasn’t as small as he had first imagined. Multiple drop ships had managed to make it through along with several troop transport vehicles and about as many artillery units. They had multiple sky worthy fighters which he could now see lurking in the cloud cover above them. A large chunk of the intended team had managed to make it through, or so it seemed, and that was enough to spark the dying flame of hope that still smoldered in his chest.

His eyes scanned the crowd looking for the dropship that,

There!

There it was.

It was a little worse for ware, smoking on one wing and sort of canted to one side where one of its landing struts had been blown off, but it was there!

His eyes continued to scan.

Scan until.

THERE!

A flash of pearl white armor accented in blue.

“Sunny!”

The landing he made was steep and fast as he dove from the air retracting his wings just in time to plunge into the crowd and land hard on the compacted dirt beneath him causing the ground to rattle with the weight.

Krill was not so graceful forcing several soldiers to leap to the side as he came plowing into the ground like a rather slow meteorite.

Looking up from where she had been talking with King James, Sunny turned and brightened just as he had. They both stepped forward wrapping each other in armored arms and hugging tight. At that moment Adam wished he had as many arms as she had so he could hug her twice as much, but he had to settle for the most crushing hug he could manage.

“You’re alive…. For…. a minute I thought.”

Adam nodded, “I know, me too.”

“We saw you get overwhelmed.” She began “As soon as apollyon attacked it looked like he was gunning for you…. I….” She shook her head once, “I thought I had lost you.”

Adam shook his head, “Not me, harder to kill than a cockroach.” And then he looked up to acknowledge the others, king games General Kimball, lanus Kanan Dzara and, to his great relief, Ramirez. “What's the situation here?”

Sunny shook her head, but it was General Kimball that spoke, “Not good, I can tell you that much. Energy readings are off the charts We’ve estimated about an hour, maybe two hours before their little plan is operational.” His face was a mask of grim irony.

“Under two hours.” Adham affirmed approaching them from the thicket of bodies, glowing gold and white in his pearlescent armor.

Adam nodded to his counterpart as he approached, “Good to see you made it through, but enough with the pleasantries, we need to act fast. Our sources have managed to gather some last minute battlefield intelligence that may be able to help us.” he motioned towards the funnel of golden light which, to Adam, seemed to be burning brighter than it had been before?

More souls to harvest all of a sudden?

The thought made him shiver.

“We know the general layout of the nercritorium. Souls are funneled in from above.” he motioned towards the bright funnel of glowing golden light, “From there they enter the main building at the front where they are sorted into anima categories, powers, thrones Deus or otherwise, each type of Anima is easier or more difficult to break depending on the strength. From there they are funneled downward into the holding chambers where they are processed and prepared for the next stage. They are exposed to simulated Revelation light so that the unconscious anima wakes from its slumber. Mostly after you die the Anima transports itself back to revelation while the consciousness is shut down in order to assure a more relaxing passage. Once awoken by simulated Revelation light they are made to be lucid, their minds and emotions broken. This may take more or less time depending on factors. Once broken, they are funneled downward towards the core of the planet, where the anima is slowly stripped apart and broken into individual pieces. These pieces are again sorted and processed until they are refined into usable energy at the core of the planet where they are stored.”

Adam didn’t like this, didn’t like the sound of this in any way shape or form.

He tried to imagine all of the souls trapped in a simulated hell to which they were more than well aware.

And he shivered.

If being torn apart wasn’t bad enough, now the void was planning to unmake them forever, to feed them to Apollyon who would consume the universe and all of her laws.

Adham shared his grim look.

“From there the anima energy will be released through that aperture where it will pass through its final stopping point just inside orbit.

The Maker shared a holoprint with Adam that included blueprints of another strange looking space station, comprised of a single large rings and a small uncovered control platform.

“The energy will be concentrated like a laser and routed through here for maximum effectiveness. The energy will be captured here, charged and then focused.”

Adam shook his head, “IS there any way we can release the trapped anima before they even leave the terminal.”

Adham shook his head, “No they can only escape either forward or backwards. Really we have three options. Our number one and best option is to destroy the mechanism that allows the energy to escape thus stalling for more time and allowing us to defeat the enemy. We could reverse the polarity on the necroorium itself allowing the anima to escape through the funnel and disperse through space, some would die in that case but it would stall the war for the time being. The third option…. Well it really is only last resort.”

“Go on.”

“If the gates do open, and we are too late, we have a few minutes while the orbital station charges to take control of the station, and redirect the anima energy somewhere else.”

Adam paused and nodded, “How would we get from the ground into orbit in time?”

Adham shook his head, “We aren’t sure, but our men report seeing general Kazna inside the necritorium and then once again outside on that ring station.”

“Doesnt she have the ability to warp on command?”

“Not without massive reserves of energy.’ Adham shook his head, we would be able to detect energy discharges like that. My assumption is that she has a gate open somewhere inside the facility that leads to the station for ease of access.”

Adam nodded and turned to look at the others, ‘Are you all ready for this? He swept his eyes over Sunny, Lanus, kanan, Dzara and Ramirez, now joined by others Etium, Celex Lindsay Jane and a myriad of their other fighters,

Adam motioned to those he knew closely, “You all, on me, we make up the strike team that gets into the Necritoriu.” He held up a hand to silence Adham’s protests, “We don’ have the artillery they do, we are going to need Makers to clear the way by getting rid of the heavy armor. Hopefully, they won’t care so much about a couple of constructs when dealing with Makers. We want to hit this from all angles, give us as much a chance to get through as anyone. You strike on the opposite side, try to draw the bulk of their people, got it.”

This time Adham didn’t argue, just nodded.

“Alright,” Adam said, “Let’s do this.”

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chromatic-lamina · 3 years ago

Text

been on my mind

I was reading a story by @purplehairedwonder the other day where Bepo reflects on the fact that this stunted sickly kid (Law) took on two aggressive much taller and slightly older boys to help out a bear who was also much bigger than him. Bepo views this as an act of kindness.

(I think that the Law Novel says that Bepo’s his adult size, or big—I could be wrong—and if we go by polar bears rather than Minks, i think they reach full size at about 3-5 years for males. Anyway, he’s a manga character, so he doesn’t quite look that big, but he’s not physically a baby either. )

Back to the first paragraph like, what were Law’s reasons? I know the SBS was after Marineford, although we don’t know what Oda has in his own notes about his characters. It generally seems to be accepted that this origin story was Law directly reacting when he saw an injustice. Of course it’s abut eight lines and one grainy drawing, but. It has been expanded upon in the Law Novel.

But there are parallels.

Like, even with his twenty-something crew and a nifty submarine, at Marineford, Law is still young and up against a power bigger and older than him and, in the case of the marines, stronger. Without his fruit, considering he was still healing, he was physically weaker than Shachi and Penguin too when he first encountered them.

And in the Marineford Arc, I know that the anime gave Bonney’s (?) line about Whitebeard not betraying his crew to Law when he decides to head to the war, and maybe it was a plot change approved by all, but it’s often been said that Law had deeper motivation when he decided to save Luffy, and of course he knew he was a D. He also saved Jinbei though. I don’t think he set out to Marineford with that intention, though it wasn’t necessarily out of the realm of possibility, given his fruit and medical skills.

Apoo mentions Law’s ruthlessness, and not to say he doesn’t possess it, but Apoo has turned out to be less than trustworthy. The Hearts’ origin story and actions at Marineford fit into Law’s past behaviour of standing up to bullies in his own way,

although his reasoning might not quite have been on the same level when he shanked Cora. And a boy alone might have seen some goons beating up a helpless polar bear and thought that they’d make good subordinates (although again, from the novel, Penguin and Shachi weren’t immediately in the fold), and saw an opportunity in helping Luffy and Jinbei.

He clearly states above in the second panel of this post that he might become enemies with Luffy, but also that their meeting might be / is fate (Will of D. stuff?) or, it could just be

that he did act on a whim? Or he plans things, is also a pragmatist and opportunist, but isn’t immune to diving headfirst into trying to avert injustice when it irks him.

Of course, the real poster boy for battling injustice head-on against those who would physically crush him is a dude who commits an act of official treason, going against his employers, and against the institution that embodies (he thinks) his dreams and hopes. This guy:

Apart from the voices he heard, I don’t think there was any indication that Koby had any special powers at the time, or any chance at all of winning against Akainu.

Brave little nipper.

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pastelpaperplanes · 3 years ago

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You mostly draw Megatron with Crusade in his Cybertronian look but in your canons it was said that while carrying the spark Megs wore his Marauder look. Did Megatron changed bodies or is the Canon changed?

yes! haha so hmm let’s see. So far up until A Little Too Familiar I have tossed Crusade into my Crackship AU—because with the Cybertron’s future AU with a whole lot of my other sparklings, ones that have considered backstories, they wouldn’t exist because of Shamus and Envoy!—and yes in the Crack AU, Megan does sport his Marauder Upgrade.

I’m still 1000% open to keeping Crusade as like,,a cameo for the Crack AU but I will say I’m getting far too attached to their character to better NOT explore them more in a more intricate backstory kind of sense! Many of the asks I’ve answered previously about Crusade’s personality and future are still canon—with the exemption that Crusade has a far more present/loving relationship with their Carrier, who as a literal helicopter parent is near suffocating in his protectiveness and efforts to keep his sparkling away from the hands and influence of the Autobots, even if that means locking them away on the Nemesis far too much to be healthy, and lying straight to their face, and others, about their origins.

Since the TFN 2021 S4 kickoff script reading I’ve been leaning towards guess what—a whole other AU that continues RIGHT after that point, much like where the CF AU would—only certain rescission within the timeline have been changed leading to, in some relationships, a vastly different setting for a next generation! (No, I don’t think I’d create a whole ton of other sparklings in place, for example a planned Strika/Lugnut kiddo wouldn’t happen for obvious reasons, nor would Shmaus or Envoy exist!! Who would remain, THAT I will figure out later down the line.) So Megatron is not in his Marauder form, Optimus is named Magnus, Jazz is with team Prime/Ninja Corps, Sentinel is still a dick figures, Prowl is still dead and so forth.

What I have planned is sort of like where the Deceptions sport a retreat after their bust on Earth when attempting to take over the central line of techno organic energon. The Cons faced losses, high command was scrambled and still very much injured from their cruel, and unusual keeping within Trypticon, heavy sacrifices turned out to NOT reap greater rewards, and the troops are still starving—and starving, scared mecha are far more dangerous than angry ones.

Optimus is still coming to terms that he is due to lead Cybertron, under the title of Optimus Magnus as soon as he’s back, whether he likes it or not as the front lines are still very much on edge with the evermore increasingly violent rouge Con raids.

I made some commentary on the reading as a whole which was PHENOMENAL and I’m still riding the high that is the fanTASTIC work that was put into is, like god. There was a brief but hilarious moment from Rattletrap where he attempted to sell off a crudely photoshopped Megop photograph as dirt—a part of me thought it would be even MORE hilarious if said photo was actually, used and Op was left sputtering after a double take going like how did they find that. HOW.

My poor, poor fanfic loving heart got going on of course the What if the Enemies Were Fraternizing Throughout the Whole of The Show, Morals be Damned in Those Stolen Moments Because I Like YOU For Some Reason trope. Wow is me, be still my beating HEART. It did not stop—so I made another AU :D yayyyyy

Basically the creation of Crusade follows along in this timeline in that sense. They were a product of one too many lonely nights in some far off abandoned cave that never could quite seem to end with a civil conversation, let alone spark apprehension from the other when it came to going toe to toe of the battlefield for the sake of their Causes. A Comfort without Strings relationship, even if they did come to grow fond of each other, not that they’d ever admit it—a confession, in a sense, would only hurt both parties knowing that the two would never give up their motivations in the ‘impossible ‘case that said feelings were mutual.

From the looks of it, the Autobots did not once tend to the Deceptions during their stay at Trypticon. Megs still sported bare struts and tattered armor up to his escape—it would be believable that medics never once ran scans, let alone were ordered to get anywhere near the high command. With already being in such poor shape, battered, humiliated, starved, violated (those minicons?? homage to Trepan??? yikessssss) and sedated—it would be believable that Megatron wouldn’t pay notice to a small flutter in his spark amongst all the pain and anxiety, at least until he finally could gather his bearings under the lockdown of his temporary fortress stuck on Earth.

Megatron, knowing he was alone, now extremely vulnerable, heavily outnumbered and out favored by his remaining struggling troops, called upon his definitely not most favorite sub team to cower behind—the DJD, to meet his blaring distress beacon.

Tarn and his crew, with the help of the rest of high command’s signal dampeners, are able to as covertly as possible—minus the world sweeper size of the Peaceful Tyranny and the paralyzing droning on of the Empyrean Suite that Tarn just loves so dearly—made it off planet save for a few bumps and bruises from the small force of Team Prime. The High & Mighty Megatron was no where to be seen in the action. Probably off in a hurry to lick his wounds in retreat after getting his ass handed to him, many assumed, but Nickel knew better. Tarn knew better. Something was terribly wrong in order to resort to a ‘cowardly’ extraction and evasion mission.

You can see where I’m going w this—so anyways YES that is the general gist of where this AU kicks off!!! Megs and Op, particularly Megs, got unlucky on their last night together—eventually all leading to the introduction of the previously secretive back up weapon that was the DJD. Coming to the rescue of their Fearless, All Powerful, and Resilient Leader?? A strange, but instantly understandable measure to resort to once Megatron reveals himself as a carrying mech, the beholder of a true heir and a testament to the resilience that is the Deceptions though the terrible reign the Autobots have held against them through the eons.

I’ll go into why he keeps Crusade on a tight leash and Op out of the loop entirely for as long as he possibly could—and how the rest of Megaton’s troops behaved around this clearly, half blooded Con sparkling their leader doted on— later!

Needless to say, Crusade’s reputation from the moment they were born was tottering on a fine line between that of pitiable condolences for their leader, and that of true Decepticon pride knowing that the one to lead them to glory some day is none other than one of the Autobots’ very own descendants.

Hope that kinda better explains things! I like Meg’s Cybertronian design, it’s sleek, it’s sexy, it’s easier to draw, and since S4 gave us a fresher design to admire of Optimus, why not have the same for his other half!

YEAHH. so new AU :D AYOOOO I’ll tag this timeline/future mentionings of Crusade and their journey as Cybertron’s Legacy AU

extremely stupid doodle under the cut! I can’t get over the duality of Old Written vs New Written Crusade ahhh 💀💀

I found a horrifically perfect tik tok audio for these two oml

Swapping Megatron stories!

#Cybertron’s Legacy au #transformers #megop #crusade #so.many.AUs #read my bio you see that I have a delightful problem and I RECOGNIZE IT. for a small sum of a million dollars I will consider for a solid #two seconds about changing. then pocket the money and make another AU out of spite. bite me #asks #tfa megatron #megatron #tfa optimus prime #Optimus prime #yes! now presenting the DJD. they’re fairly new in the game and don’t have much if any record/slip up that the Autobots documented #as they formed right after meals was presumed dead at the start up of S1! tarn took it very hard. and seriously when deserters were on #the rise after the news #but!! they’re still active and THRIVING post ‘hey I’m alive’ reveal and 10X more tenacious in their covert executions #reallllllly stick it to em bc ha the leader is alive and you are a COWARD to leave in his absence!

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rush-wing · 2 years ago

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ahem hem, soooo any OCs you have been ✨hyperfixating✨ on lately? or in general??

where do i start

It’s all d&d characters, all the way down btw. I’m a forever DM so I tend to make characters whenever the whim strikes but these guys never get played much, I just rotate them in my head sadly, waiting for the day…

I might throw you some art for visualisation but I’m still.. eh.. learning so enjoy little extremely stylised doodles

Everyone here you can find me reblogging things for over on @hearthkeep too!

First!

Is Jaisarie AKA Jaise – she was primed to be in a Saltmarsh campaign but that’s not going ahead now so she’s just sitting on the pier in my head, kicking her feet above the water idly. She’s my undead pirate : ) Jaise started unlife because I got my mitts on the Wildemount campaign guide and thought an Echo Knight’s echoes could make a fun reflavouring as something ghosty. Originally she was a Hollow One, but I’ve since altered her to the Reborn "race", but it’s all dead things at any rate~ She doesn’t know how she died, and isn’t sure she wants to know! Last thing she truly remembers is being dragged out of the ocean as bloated corpse, but the open gash on her neck and her abdomen seems to point to the idea that she was murdered by someone good at their job. Well, aside from glimpses of memories of an old crew she’s fond of, but she couldn’t pick them from a crowd if they stood right in front of her at the moment. I have some ideas for what she was involved in, but the great thing about this is I am pretty happy for any and all of that to go out the window for whatever a good game requires.

Second! Is a constant returner:

My boy Keats. He was my first PC I have made, so yess it’s trueee… he’s a bit special for me. I’ve played him the most out of anyone (which I can count on the one hand), and every time he’s just such a hoot to play. God I love him. And he’s “just” a half-elf battle master Fighter! (I will throw hands on anyone saying he’s boring for that though--) He’s an acrobat-turned-gladiator and a complete dumbass so he is big on stupid stunts, and most of the time, bounces right back up when he eats the pavement face-first. Honestly I think I just wish I had his confidence and bravado.

Third:

This is the gentlemen who I’ve been playing Thousand Year Old Vampire as - Madieren. He started out as a half-elven scholar from an isolated monastery dedicated to the study of magic, but he decided he liked blood magic and went off on a tangent. So you can call him a “vampire” of some description, but I refer to him officially as an immortal blood mage. I’ve had a lot of fun with him over the past few months, watching him evolve, go through the shit (his only student got murdered, has been kicked out of his home at least three times, oh, and had his arm accidentally cut off, just to name a few things), and eat his own hubris whole. He actually started life known as Alezaren, but due to certain shenanigans he’s shed his original name. Madieren ended his run making up with his rival who’s been chasing him down across the continent (who also ended up immortal due to the influence of one of the other player’s characters) and like there was only so much those two could stab each other before the tension went elsewhere.

And lastly:

This is Eon! He’s had a nostalgia resurgence after watching something last night and like I want to do something with him now but what??? I have an Eon-sized itch and I cannot scratch it!!!! Anyway, Eon is my sad wizard tiefling. Well, “wizard” in quotation marks because he’s technically an Eldritch Knight. Eon’s a blacksmith by trade, but dabbles in magic because there’s a quiet passion there for it that was nurtured by an eccentric mentor he hasn’t seen in a long time. So, yes, he has the tragic backstory, to the point I somewhat recently realised I gave an 8-year-old PTSD to get him so. Um. Sorry, Eon. He’s got a very stand-offish, stoic exterior, but he really is such a soft creature at heart. Eon’s my nerd. The oxymoronic buff wizard. I have a set of dice someone in my group made from scratch specifically for him so one day I need to play him so I get to actually roll them for him.

#asks #my ocs #my d&d characters #one day i'll play them....#don't @ me that these are all pretty much subclasses of fighter #i like hitting things ok #fun fact: madieren was originally originally going to be me making a blood cleric #but i slapped my hand from the impulse because i have 8 PCs that don't get played I don't need more

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keysmashingfantasies · 4 years ago

Text

An Old Fashioned Meet Cute

A/N: hi! this is my first fic here and i hope you like it. comments and constructive criticism is very much appreciated just please be nice and i tried not to describe nor reader nor the Hilda character too much apart from the fact that they are plus size so it can cater to more people (altough the Hilda character is a white woman originally, I left that out because I wanted everyone to be able to read it) :D. and a huge thank you to @divine-mistake for encouraging me to make this blog and post my fics. ily Tay <3, this one's for you.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!plus size Reader

Word count: 2.1k

Summary: Bucky didn’t remember much of his life before the war. Not as much as he would like, anyway. But he was content to at least have remembered something. The memories of his teenage shenanigans with Steve always made him laugh. But there was a memory that he didn’t even know it was on his mind until that day when he accompanied Steve to the thrift shop. And until an Avengers party, where he met you.

“Steve, come on… Shouldn’t you be showing me the wonders of the modern world?”, he mocked. He knew Steve was doing his best, he did. But he knew that this wasn’t just a friends’ afternoon. And Bucky didn’t need a babysitter.

“I will! I just thought it would be nice to see something less overwhelming first and Sam told me a thrift store would be a nice place to start. Most of this stuff is new to us anyway”, Steve said, picking up a CD of a shelf.

“Yeah, ok”, he mumbled. The things he did for Steve. He mindlessly wandered through the little cluttered store, browsing the shelves full of knick knacks. He saw vinyls, old books, a great variety of toys, some paintings and an old fashioned vanity, with an old mirror, a few vintage perfume bottles, and… Oh.

“Steve?”, he said, picking up the old calendar that was propped up against the stained mirror. Carefully, he lifted the calendar up, looking at his friend. He had seen it before, he knew he did. He flipped through it as he waited for Steve to make his way across the store, careful to not bump in any of the tables containing delicate porcelain tea pots. His eyes scanned through the cover, a delicately painted picture of a curvy woman and with the saying “HILDA, 1940’s calendar” in bold red letters above it.

“Oh wow”, Steve let out a belly laugh. “You remember when we stole some of these? Man, we even took these to war”, he said. He started to remember. Him and Steve running, each one with a calendar in hand, flipping through the pages, Steve whining that he would never find a girl like that. He didn’t even think twice before taking it to the counter, with Steve giggling like a school girl behind him.

“For the memories, punk”, he said in a stern voice and a frown, but with pink dusted cheeks.

“Of course”, Steve said in a mocking voice.

“So, Tony’s throwing a party next weekend”, Steve said as he entered the training room.

“I prefer the thrift store”, Bucky mumbled, without tearing his eyes from the punching bag.

“Come on, Buck. I think it will be good for you to go”, Steve said. “It will be something small, Tony will introduce the new team assistant, so no eyes will be on you”, that got Bucky’s attention.

“Small?”, he said, pushing his hair from his face.

“Very”, Steve assured, but he had that look that Bucky knew very well from his young years; the look he would get when he was about to pick a fight. He was up to no good. But he didn’t want another trip to a dusty thrift store.

“Yeah, sure”, he mumbled.

You were shaking in your boots. Yeah, you knew that you would work for them, which meant that you inevitably would have to attend this kind of things. But this wasn’t like your former office jobs, no. You work for the Avengers now.

“You can do this. You have to. Do it for the paycheck”, you said, trying to reassure yourself as you shakily applied mascara. As you browsed through your wardrobe, you let out a sigh. You remembered shyly asking for advice on what to wear from Natasha, but you took it with a grain of salt. She could wear a potato sack and still look gorgeous, and you were… Well, a potato. You knew this was another test. If you couldn’t handle all eyes on you and the eventual bickering that was about to happen, you were not fit for the job. But damn, you at least expected a few weeks of taking care of documents and serving coffee before a party. In a room. With the, quoting the tabloid you read that very morning “super team that saves the world and looks hot doing it!”. You were a pretty confident person. But this… Anyone would be nervous.

“You can do this”, you told yourself one more time before heading out.

When you got to the party, not everyone was there. You politely greeted everyone with a nod, and gave your name to the ones you didn’t have the pleasure to meet yet.

“You, pick your poison”, Tony Stark pointed at you while walking to the bar.

“No, thank you, Mr. Stark, I won’t be drinking tonight”, you managed to say, silently thanking all the gods above (even the one that was sitting not too far from you) that you managed to hold back the quiver in your voice.

“She doesn’t want to be vulnerable around us. Smart, I like her”, said Natasha. Sometimes you wonder if she was a telepath like Wanda.

“Is there anything wrong, Y/N? I sense that you are uneasy”, asked Vision, with those glassy unblinking eyes. You wondered if he was in your mind that very moment.

“Gee, I wonder why”, said Rhodes, before taking a sip of his drink.

“I’m okay, just… A bit nervous, that’s all”, you said.

“Well, then you definitely need a drink”, said Tony, handing you a glass of champagne that no doubt cost the same as your previous paycheck.

Soon enough, the awkwardness made way to pleasant conversation. You laughed as you listened to their banter. It wasn’t like any business party you ever attended. No, it was more like a family gathering than anything.

The sounds of the elevator doors opening caught you attention as three men wide as refrigerators walked in, followed closely by a pretty young woman. Of course you knew them. You read all about them. Especially The Winter Soldier, the little devil on your shoulder taunting you by remembering you of every single time you talked to your friend about your crush on him.

“Sorry we’re late guys, Steve went to pick me up before the party and we had dinner”, said the blonde, linking her arm with Steve Rogers himself.

“Nah, Sharon, don’t cover his ass. We were late because the three of us had to wrestle Barnes into changing out of that old ass Henley”, said Sam.

Instantly, Tony and Natasha cheered and raised their glasses, making you laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, very funny”, said a gruff voice coming from the bar, making you turn your head, seeing Bucky Barnes open a beer bottle with his vibranium hand. 'How did he sneak past everyone?', your thoughts were interrupted as you took him in. You wanted to personally thank Sam, Steve and Sharon for making him wear that tight fitting black shirt.

“Well, Y/N, here’s Capsicle, Mrs. Capsicle, New Captain, and Snowflake. Guys, this is Y/N, the new assistant. Oh, and there’s Spider Boy but he’s on curfew, Strange had to hop out of the dimension and Scott but he’s… He’s somewhere out there being small, I don’t know. Watch were you step, just to be safe”, said Tony

“Hi”, you gave a shy wave, being greeted right back.

If it wasn’t for the serum, Bucky is absolutely sure he would have a heart attack on the spot. You were wearing red heels, a form fitting black pencil skirt and a white button up blouse and he could see your curves, your strong arms, your thighs. You looked absolutely amazing. You look like one of the girls that Bucky would’ve rushed to ask for a dance back in the day. But what really made him stare is the fact that your body type looked eerily similar to the character of the calendar he spent an embarrassing amount of time staring.

As your eyes scanned the room as you were bombarded with questions, Bucky made sure to avoid your gaze, looking everywhere but your face: his shoes, the ceiling, the armrest on the couch, Steve’s shit eating grin. Oh. So THAT’S what it was about. Little shit.

Even avoiding your gaze, he made sure to keep his ears open. A man could be interested, right?

By the time the party ended, Thor and Bruce were sleeping, Tony was buzzed walking around singing Iron Maiden, Natasha and Sharon were talking, Steve and Sam were giggling like two school girls, Rhodes went home and Vision and Wanda were talking and looking out the window to the New York skyline.

Which left you – and Bucky – alone.

“Uhhh. I guess I’ll start cleaning, then”, you said. Your face was on fire. The only person that you were sure didn’t like you and you were awkwardly standing, not knowing where to look and what to say. It didn’t help that you were attracted to him but damn it, you were not going to lose this opportunity because of a school girl crush. So you decided to keep yourself occupied by taking some empty glasses and bottles from the table and taking them to the kitchen.

“Oh, come on, Y/N! Let the cleaning crew deal with this in the morning!”, said Natasha.

“No, no, I don’t mind. I like to keep myself busy”, you said with a smile. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. You only hoped she couldn’t see how awkward you were.

“I’ll help”, he said, picking up some glasses and following you.

“You can pick up more of these glasses and I can start washing them”, he said. “I- I noticed you got your nails done, so…”, he said, and you shyly looked away while thanking him and making your way out of the kitchen.

In no time, the room was getting emptier. Vision and Wanda went home and Thor took Banner back to New Asgard. And you were almost done with the dishes, having also gotten rid of most of the empty food containers. As you both cleaned, you and Bucky got a bit more comfortable with each other.

“I’m sorry for seeming a bit standoffish earlier”, he said suddenly. “I’m not used to parties and I don’t know how new people will react to me. Especially pretty women”, you smiled at the compliment, but felt your heart ache. You were so caught up in your insecurities that you didn’t even consider his side of things.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I don’t know how you feel but by what I’ve seen and heard, you have a family here. You’re out there fighting to save the world. Trying your best. This is redemption enough, don’t you think?”, you said as you put the glasses to dry, missing the awestruck look that Bucky sent you, a goofy smile making its way into his features. “Okay, you wait here and I’ll get what’s left”.

You were back in no time. “Okay, so just more two champagne flutes and one plate left”, you said but before you could give the dishes to Bucky, you slipped, and if it wasn’t for Bucky’s reflexes, you would’ve fallen hard. You yelped as the sound of breaking glass hit your ears and for a second you two just stared at each other, before Bucky pulled you closer and back to a standing position.

“Thanks”, you said as he helped you straighten up.

“Your ankle, does it hurt?”, he said.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so”, you said.

“Ah, I think it does. And I can’t let a dame go home alone on a hurt ankle”, he said, giving you a dashing smile.

“You know what, now that you’ve said it, it hurts really bad”, you said, catching on. “You know what’s amazing for a bad ankle?”, you asked, and the gentle smile in your lips and the mischievous glint in your eyes made his heart piston inside of his chest.

"What?", he said softly, stepping closer, like you were sharing secrets.

“Ice cream and a walk on the park. Very therapeutical”, you said, making Bucky laugh.

Before you knew it, Bucky had already scooped you up into his arms and rushedly announced that you had slipped and fell, whisking you away into the elevator.

“Dude, that took all night”, said Sam. “This is the smooth guy you told me about?”, he said, while Steve and Sharon laughed.

While everyone got ready to go home, Scott came out of the kitchen in his Ant-Man suit eating some leftovers.

“Someone owes me 20 bucks for making her trip”.

#bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x plus size reader #bucky barnes x chubby reader

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gumnut-logic · 4 years ago

Text

Callisto (Arrival - Bit 1)

And here we are back on our way out to Callisto with a bunch of grumpy Tracys, their Dad, their Uncle and a former enemy. It’s all sunshine and lollipops...not. :D But there is some great scenery :D

As always, many thanks to @tsarinatorment @scribbles97 @janetm74 and @onereyofstarlight You guys are absolutely amazing and so patient with my crazy. Bri, you are a great teacher for a dunderhead like me :D

Anyways, here we are back on board the Excel. I hope you enjoy. :D

-o-o-o-

Part Three

Virgil ended up dosing Gordon as the aquanaut turned positively green after the second jump.

He dragged his brother to the infirmary and made him lie down for the rest of the ion pause. Gordon protested the anti-nausea injection, but Virgil wasn’t willing to risk airborne innards. He was barely holding it together himself.

John, surprisingly wasn’t much better. Not that the casual observer would be able to tell. His space brother was the master of self-control. But Virgil could see the tightness around his mouth, the slightly pale cast to his skin…he kept an eye on him.

By the third jump, Virgil was dosing himself with anti-nausea meds.

It was the oddest feeling. His body wanted to register it as a g-force, but it wasn’t quite the same. It hit his stomach and his head and it was like spinning in both directions at once.

Ergh, even thinking about it was nauseating.

John didn’t need any medication. Or so he claimed. As far as Virgil was concerned, it came damned close. He kept an eagle eye on his space brother anyway.

As for the rest of the crew...Scott and Alan didn’t appear to even notice the issue, their Dad grunted a little and Uncle Lee made several salty comments.

Michael just arched an eyebrow when Virgil queried him.

Before the fourth jump he forcibly dragged them all through the tiny sickbay, just in case.

The whining was extensive.

But this was new technology. A threat to call back to Grandma was all it took to shift both his father and Uncle Lee. Who could have known their uncle was mildly terrified of their grandmother.

His father was rather amused. The story behind that one was not fully divulged, but it lightened the atmosphere a little.

Michael worshipped Mrs Tracy, as he called her, and was out of his seat so fast, he created eddies in the artificial atmosphere.

Virgil was not going to question that one at all.

Ultimately, Virgil didn’t find anything wrong with any of his brothers or the others, but he did record all observations. Perhaps the reason could be found and negated sometime down the track.

In the meantime, Gordon and himself were suitably drugged up and Alan’s smart-ass comment on the matter stamped on by Scott.

Finally, thank god, they emerged from the fifth jump and Alan was able to shift to more familiar spaceflight permanently.

Beside Virgil, Gordon let out a relieved sigh.

The ship shuddered as the ion engines were once again engaged. Alan’s skill was ever so prominent and Virgil felt nothing but pride for his little brother. He must remember to mention it to the squirt later on.

John, still looking a little green, ran his fingers over his board and brought up their forward view on the main ‘projector.

“Well, I have to say that is quite a sight.” Dad’s voice was suitably awed.

Virgil’s jaw dropped.

Jupiter.

It was massive.

And far more impressive in person than through a telescope.

The huge gas giant was still distant, but the sun behind them lit it up in all its glory. Its brilliant swirls of colour were in such contrast to the black around it, it was like a hole in the fabric of space-time, a window to another dimension.

Its iconic red spot glared at them like an eye.

Virgil knew the planet well from both photographs and Five’s telescopes. Its colours were fascinating and inspirational. He’d done a few pours in acrylic to emulate the gaseous agitation with mixed results. One hung in John’s room, even. But nothing compared to this.

“That is one honkin’ great big ball o’ gas.”

Virgil flattened his gaze and glared at the back of Uncle Lee’s head. Beside him, Gordon snorted.

Typical.

On the hologram, labels suddenly appeared identifying each of the features in the space-scape. Ganymede coasted slowly on the left, Io was a tiny dot casting a shadow on Jupiter’s surface and an arrow pointed out where Europa was obscured by the giant planet.

Jupiter’s ring was located, along with several of its seventy-odd asteroid moon hoard.

A glance at John had Virgil smiling. The expression on his space brother’s face was a sight to behold. It was as if he had discovered the holy grail…which, considering the importance of the Jovian system, was a good analogy.

This was John paradise.

“Receiving recognition signal from Callisto.” His space brother’s expression shifted to one of quiet amusement as his fingers poked his console.

“How the hell did you get here so quick?!” The hologram that suddenly appeared in the middle of the cockpit was energetic to say the least. Graeme Walters was a bald, heavy-set man in his fifties. Fiery eyes set deeply below steel grey eyebrows were striking by themselves, but it was the extravagant moko that was the dominant feature of his expression. The black etched design on the entirety of the right side of his face spoke of his mother’s Maori ancestry.

Those dark eyes didn’t wait for an answer as they glanced around, only to fixate on Virgil’s father. “Jeff?”

“Hey, Gray. Long time, no see.”

The man stared for a long moment, lips pressing together. A drawn in breath. “Good to see you, Space Jockey.” The relieved smile that infused his face was a big one.

But it didn’t last long.

Scott spoke up. “Mr Walters, we are responding to your distress call. What is your situation?”

Dark eyes flickered to the commander, a frown forming between them. “Ju and Kate were exploring the caves beneath the Base. They extend for hundreds of kilometres in all directions. They took three staff and one of our spelunking crawlers towards the north. Kate is fascinated by the Asgard impact zone and in particular Burr crater. They had planned to be gone a week. We lost contact yesterday, only two days in.” A map appeared in the hologram. “We think they made it to Burr, but we are unsure as our sensors are swamped with interference.”

“Interference?” John sat up straighter. “Send me a radiological profile of the area.”

Walters blinked and gestured at something out of range. “It’s yours. Though I’m hoping that big fancy rocket you’re riding has more bang for its buck than our orbital.”

John’s voice was calm. “I can assure you, Mr Walters, we have plenty of bang.” His brother was intent on his console, frowning at whatever the Base commander had sent him.

“Good.” He turned back to Jeff. “Looking forward to a beer in your honour, Jeff. Park your rocket in orbit and I’ll see you down here asap.” A curl of his lips. “Watch the Jefferson. I’ve just had her waxed.” The hologram blinked out.

“The Jefferson?”

Nobody answered him and the cockpit was suddenly quiet.

Virgil wondered if it was pure accident his father didn’t know or if Scott and John had left the name out of the briefing on purpose. Hell, why hadn’t Uncle Lee told him? Perhaps they had meant to approach Dad later in private. Perhaps Virgil should have done that himself, but the rush to leave…

Damn.

The massive space hauler that had brought the Callisto mission to the moon had left Earth in 2056 a year after their father had gone missing.

Virgil sighed internally. ‘Gone missing’ was a euphemism for ‘died’ that they all used. They didn’t name spaceships after people they thought might be coming back.

“On approach.” Alan’s words snapped him out of his thoughts.

His little brother tweaked the view on the main projector.

Dad was tight-lipped as he stared up at the scene.

Jupiter still hung in the distance like a massive Christmas ornament, but its second largest moon was swelling in the foreground.

Callisto was a moon of rock and ice. Unlike her sister, Europa, the surface was not one continuous blanket of white. More a cratered wasteland, the moon’s ancient crust sparkled like it was dusted with glitter. As the Excel powered into orbit, that glittery surface turned its eye towards them.

And it was an eye. Not like the red spot that continued to stare at them from Jupiter, but a single massive crater outshining the millions of smaller ones, glaring up at them from the surface.

Words appeared on the display yet again. Valhalla.

“Wow. Something hit hard.” Gordon’s voice beside him was little more than a whisper.

The Excel swooped past and around the moon, turning away from Jupiter as she caught the curve of a new orbit. Virgil’s attention was focussed on Callisto, so he didn’t see the approach of the other ship at first.

“There she is.” Alan’s voice was awe itself. “The Jefferson Tracy.”

“You let them name a ship after me?”

Again that silence enveloped the cockpit.

Scott sighed. “It was a sign of respect, Dad.” His eyes were sad as he looked up at the display.

Jeff stared at the commander for a long moment. Scott simply stared back, the expression on his face enough to clench Virgil’s heart.

Uncle Lee was either oblivious or strategic in his words. “Jeff, she is a beauty. Just look at those engines. She hauled the entire base all the way out here and didn’t blink.” He grinned at the ship as she slowly floated past. There were enough similarities in design between the Jefferson and Thunderbird Two in the way the hauler carried chained ‘modules’ and sported a massive rocket on her backend for Virgil to admire. But she was many times the size of his ‘bird, had never seen planetfall and never would, having been built in space.

Zero X technology had been the next step in space exploration.

The Zero X had failed.

The Jefferson was the result. Alternate technology named after the man the original technology had taken.

Most of her modules were missing and no doubt deployed on the moon, but the hauler was still massive, her giant hull decked out in blue and silver.

A splash of red on her bow completed the illusion. While she was built more like a giant Thunderbird Two, she drew her paint job from a much smaller craft.

“Well, that looks familiar.” Gordon murmured beside Virgil.

He had to agree. Even the white lettering down the side of the huge craft that spelt out their father’s name was an echo of the Thunderbird lettering down One’s flank.

“Why?” Their father didn’t specify who he was addressing, but it wasn’t necessary.

Scott sat straighter in his seat. “As I said, they wanted to show their respect. I couldn’t see the harm. Tracy Industries was a major sponsor, after all.” And they had been hurting.

Bad.

Virgil remembered far too well. Scott had received the request after a long and hard day. He had been vulnerable and had sought out Virgil’s counsel.

It had been like declaring Dad dead and it had hurt so much. But the opportunity to see their father so recognised, so esteemed by the planet he had sacrificed himself for…in the end there had been no question of giving permission.

It was what their father would have wanted.

They hadn’t expected him to actually see the Jefferson Tracy.

Again Uncle Lee spoke up, this time his voice was unusually quiet. “Berry and Ju just wanted you to keep them safe, Jeff. You were our lucky charm, after all.”

Virgil’s father frowned at the engineer.

Jeff opened his mouth, but Alan cut him off. “Orbital stability achieved and locked in.”

The Jefferson passed them at a respectable distance on its own orbital trajectory and sailed off towards the moon’s curved horizon. Below them, another very large impact crater slowly rotated into view.

The word ‘Asgard’ appeared on the display.

Scott’s voice was sharp as he unstrapped himself. “That’s our target. John, what are the specifics?”

The astronaut turned his seat around to face them all. “The Base is contained within Doh crater, part of the Asgard complex.” An arrow appeared on the display pointing at a tiny shadow at the centre of the massive crater. “The docking facilities are large enough to support Thunderbird Three. Alan, I recommend a rear landing. Let’s not drill a hole in their hangar.”

“Well, yeah, derrr.”

Gordon piped up. “No, it’s D’oh, little bro.” The aquanaut grinned.

John did not roll his eyes. Not quite.

Virgil had no such control and just groaned.

“What? I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Gordon.” Scott’s voice was firm, but Virgil could see the slight crinkle around Scott’s eyes and appreciated Gordon’s effort to break up the atmosphere a little.

John ignored both of them. “Gravity is only 0.126g, even less than Earth’s Moon, so no stupid stunts.” Virgil wasn’t going to argue with the glare John sent in Scott’s direction, but when Uncle Lee picked up on it, the snort was a big one.

“It will be like being home on Alfie again.” The whack Lee planted on their father’s back was a solid one. “Hey, Space Jockey.”

The glare Dad shot at Uncle Lee was scathing. “Don’t you start.”

“Oh, it’s all coming back to me now.”

Virgil’s father grunted in disgust.

Uncle Lee only grinned more.

“We have a mission here, people.” Scott glared at all of them.

That shut up everyone and Virgil felt like throttling his brother. They were on pace. The break in tension was worth the moment.

Virgil straightened. “We have a number of pods available. I recommend a combination of all-terrain. We have the Dragonfly geared for low gravity environment, but it will depend on the size of these caves. John?”

“I’ve only just begun analysis, but as the Commander Walters said, Base sensors are badly compromised. I’ve tapped into the Jefferson with similar results. Using Thunderbird Five I hope to locate and negate the issue. Eos is working on it as we speak. My focus once the last communications buoy is connected, will be finding lifesigns and assistance with mapping the reported caves.”

“Thank you, John. Alan, you’re in Thunderbird Three. Virgil and Gordon, you’re with me. Dad-“

“I’m going down with you, Scott.”

“Me, too.” Uncle Lee was virtually bouncing in his seat.

Scott’s lips pressed together. “As I was saying, gear up and I’ll see you in Thunderbird Three.” The commander’s eyes flitted to Virgil ever so briefly, but the medic got the meaning immediately.

Medical supplies would be fully stocked.

Scott pushed off from his chair.

“Thunderbirds are go.”

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Scott Tracy #alan tracy #John Tracy #Jeff Tracy #lee taylor #Gordon Tracy #callisto

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idkthisisjustforfanfic · 5 years ago

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U N P L A N N E D, part seven

By the end of the night at Jeff and Glenne’s, Lexi was nowhere to be found. You didn’t really mind--you didn’t feel as out of place as you’d expected and Harry had been more than happy to bring you around to different friends or familiar faces to say hello.

A girl with dark brown hair who sang backup on his album listened excitedly as he brought her up to speed on the new plan for release. The album, originally due out in August or September was now being pushed to December. It was strategic really.

Late summer buzz when the baby announcement came out. Winter album release, promo before and after to tide his fans over until a spring time tour, giving him the perfect span of three or four stationary months in L.A. that aligned with your maternity leave.

Genius, really. It was all thanks to Jeff and his team.

So you smiled at the girl with the dark hair and pretended you didn’t notice the fact that she kept stealing glances down at your belly, as small as it still was.

This was the risky stage, really, when people got it wrong and asked about someone’s due date, only to be mortified when someone gave the dreaded response, I’m not pregnant. You’d seen it happen to someone else once, a woman in the checkout line at the grocery store. The cashier put her foot in her mouth and you vowed to never ask someone about their due date unless they mentioned it first.

So you cut Laura some slack.

“We’ll tour it next spring and summer, so you’ll have to come,” he said to his friend, a smile on his face when he lifted up his sunglasses. The sun had already sunk beneath the horizon, his cheeks were tinged pink from the hot day.

“I’ll bring your youngest audience member ever,” you revealed, letting a hand rub over your belly as you offered a smile in her direction.

“Oh, that’s so sweet! When are you due?”

“January, middle of the month. So--I might need some noise canceling headphones.”

“Hey--I make good music,” Harry pretended to take offense.

“I didn’t say you don’t--”

“Is it yours?” Laura asked, her eyes pulling up to Harry’s face for a second, wide with shock.

Harry looked down at you, down at the bump. You could tell he was frozen, unsure of what he should say and how he should say it.

“No--God no,” you said quickly. “It’s our friend, Peter.”

Harry’s lips twitched into a smile. “Yeah--Peter, he’s a good friend. He’s a great guy, a dream, really. Gonna be a great father.”

“He’s okay,” you made a face at Harry. “A lot to learn, probably never changed a diaper in his life.”

“He has too,” Harry defended quickly. “At least five or six.”

“Well he’ll be changing probably five or six a day.”

“That’s fine, he’ll be fine with that. He’s extremely committed to that baby.”

“Yeah, well,” you stifled a laugh. “We’ll see.”

Laura laughed, a skeptical look disappeared from her face when Glenne came up and offered dessert, effectively breaking up the conversation. Harry draped an arm over your shoulder for a split second when most people had started to make their way to the other side of the pool.

“Just so you know, I’m gonna make you call her and explain that lie once we come out with it.”

“Deal,” you said. “I’ll tell her you had sex with your friend Peter’s girlfriend and we didn’t know who’s it was until it was born..”

“Jesus,” he laughed. “Can’t tell if you’re the funniest person I’ve met or the meanest.”

“I like to think I’m a mix of both.”

It was probably a good thing that you didn’t see Harry for another week after that. The onesie and the party at Jeff and Glenne’s and a completely new project at work had you feeling incredibly overwhelmed, left with only enough energy to drive home, take off your bra, and sit on the couch.

Most nights Lexi was home. There were a few evenings when she’d meet Glenne and Jeff or stay late on set. She’d come home with leftovers or funny stories, and you’d fall asleep before 10pm.

But you figured it was a good thing, the distance and space. The last two times you’d seen him, you left with a glow. The infatuation kind, not the pregnancy kind. That type of shit was asking for trouble.

So you ignored the urge to call or text him. Most days he’d ask how you were feeling, what you were up to. You’d take your time to respond, give short answers and tell him you were too busy to see him. It wasn’t necessarily true, but you were tired. Too tired to drive all the way to his house in the hills and then all the way home. Especially when being around him required the self-control and restraint that it suddenly did.

You answered when he called, talked on the phone for an hour at a time some days. You told yourself it was nothing. It was normal it was normal it was normal.

On the Wednesday of week twelve, you were scheduled to meet with the same crew: Jeff, Harry, Dave, Emma, Lola, and John. This time, the topic was a bit more hopeful. Some type of strategy meeting to talk about what type of information to release and what to keep private.

When you woke up and started rifling through your closet, you came to a grim realization. Things weren’t fitting the same. Buttoned shirts now felt tight around the tummy, pants felt a bit snug in the waist.

It happened overnight, really. You’d heard about the pop--when your belly finally protrudes outward and when you actually start to look pregnant, not just bloated. You didn’t know when it would come, but you certainly weren’t prepared for it to already be here.

Lexi was already gone, otherwise you’d storm into her room and make her promise you didn’t look funny. You weren’t about to FaceTime Glenne--only in fear that Jeff would be around and think you were being ridiculous. You also figured keeping your distance from him wasn’t a bad idea.

So you settled on a dress, a casual one, and you didn’t even realize that someone might notice until you walked into work.

Aarav didn’t even seem to look at you twice--he was too busy in his office dealing with a last minute request from Levi. Simone was busy too, and when you met up with them for lunch, you kept your tray and plate in front of you, praying and hoping that they wouldn’t notice the way you looked a bit more round.

A text came across your phone when Aarav went on about Carson.

Harry (12:43pm): Twelve week mark! See you at 5pm?

It was almost a relief to walk into the Westwood office building at the end of the day. It was a comfort, really, to be in a room full of people who knew your biggest secret. Harry met you in the lobby, a smile on his face when you offered a hug.

“Look at me,” you said quietly, a few people passed by on their way out of work. “I look pregnant.”

He looked down, his brows furrowed together and his lips pushed out. He scanned your figure, a wave of relief washed over you when he spoke. “Wouldn’t have noticed if you didn’t say anything--but, you do, a bit. You look good.”

“I feel weird,” you said, following him over to the same elevators as you tried to ignore the compliment. “I used to just look bloated, but now it’s like--real.”

Once the doors shut and afforded you both some privacy, he turned to face you.

“You look beautiful,” he said, voice quiet as the elevator whirred. “Can I--can I feel it?”

“Oh,” you looked down, a hand immediately on your own belly. You’d been doing it plenty, a force of habit, now, really. You found yourself doing it in meetings, on the phone, one hand on the steering wheel and another on the bump. “Yeah, of course you can--here,” you reached for his hand, guiding it towards you, warmth when he made contact.

It felt a little silly. It was still just your stomach--somewhere deeper in there was a baby the size of a lime. He kept his eyes on the blue fabric of your dress, both of your hands over his until the doors opened.

Jeff, on the other side, was caught off guard. “Hi--hey, I was just coming to find you.”

“Hi,” you said, a step back from Harry as if there was some sort of rule about proximity.

He offered an awkward smile, motioned for you to both follow him down the same long hall, past the same rooms and chairs and windows. Harry let out a giggle under his breath, smirked in your direction, another wave of butterflies.

It was the first time you’d seen any of them since the test results, you swore Dave seemed to soften when you sat across from him, this time, Harry was beside you.

“So,” Dave spoke, a quick glance around the room. “Good to see everyone.”

“Yeah, thanks for coming,” Jeff said, settling into his seat before he reached for a water bottle. “Lola--you’re good to start us off?”

“Yeah,” she smiled, short red hair brushed the tops of her shoulders. She smiled in your direction, much less hesitant than times before. “We’re really here today to start thinking about how we want to share this news. It’s obviously not going to stay a secret forever, so we’re wondering about different options to get in front of it--while still maintaining everyone’s safety and privacy.”

You nodded, a sideways glance in Harry’s direction.

“We have a few options, Harry, about how to do that,” Jeff explained. “We could choose an outlet to inform and let them break it. Or, we could talk about a social media post, a statement from Lola…”

He turned to look at you, caution in his eyes when you offered a small smile. Nothing felt ideal--nothing they said sounded like a good option or like it wouldn’t bring trouble.

Up until now, really, it had just been the two of you. That was, if you didn’t count the four other people in the room, Lexi, Glenne, your mother, and his family. So, the twelve of you, really.

Things until now were quiet and private, a small buzz that was stressful enough. You couldn’t even imagine the news spreading, questions, accusations, the ways all of the aforementioned would keep you up at night.

Harry looked around the room. “Uh--a statement is probably best, yeah?”

“I would think so--your fans will want to hear from you though, too,” Jeff nodded.

Lola smiled, softly, in your direction. “What do you think, Y/N?”

You were shocked, really. Stammered a few things before wishing you could disappear, totally not equipped to respond to that type of question. “Uh, yeah--the statement--I don’t know, whatever you think,” you looked towards Harry, a sudden feeling in your gut that out of everyone in the room, you could trust him the most.

“We should wait until you’re father along,” Jeff said. “Probably closer to the sixth month mark?”

You nodded--that was something you could get behind. It also gave you some more time to figure out who needed to know before then. As contractual as this had become, there were still some people in your life who’d benefit from finding out that you were pregnant with a celebrity’s baby from you, rather than on TV or online.

Lola went on to say something else, but you were too busy making a list in your brain of who that entailed.

Levi, Simone, Aarav. Your two aunts in Oregon. Your college roommate, Brie, maybe even your father--if you could track him down. You could feel your heartbeat in your chest, more people to disappoint, more people to make the admission to: I fucked up. I didn’t check all the boxes in the right order.

“Does that sound alright?” Harry turned to get a better look at you, his eyes searched your face.

“What?”

“September,” Lola said. “Make the statement in September.”

“Sure,” you nodded. Two months away. That felt like an eternity.

“How are you feeling about it?” Her question was directed at you, but it took you a second to realize that. Harry watched you, his eyebrows lifted as he waited for a response.

“About having a baby?”

“About coming out with it,” Jeff said.

You shifted in your office chair, hands clasped on your lap. “I don’t really know what to expect, to be fair.”

Jeff looked at Harry, then at Lola.

Harry cleared his throat and rested his elbows on the table, he spoke directly to you. “I think there’ll be some people who are really upset and some who are really happy.”

“You should make your social media private,” Lola said. “That’s the majority of what comes up when I ran a google search of your name. A few things about your work if you dig really deep.”

“Which they will,” Harry said.

“Okay,” you nodded. “Should I be, like, worried about my safety?

“No,” Jeff said. “Definitely not. If there’s anything that makes you uncomfortable we’ll assess and just get a security detail.”

Harry made a face at that, one you couldn’t read. He sat back in his chair and listened to Lola say more about the announcement and how important it was for him to set the tone once the news was out.

You were almost as zoned out as he was, but you heard mention of make them believe you’re excited, and that’s when you decided you’d had enough. So you stared out the window, nodded every few seconds to make them think you were listening and invested and following along so you could follow the rules.

Sure, maybe accidentally getting pregnant wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but Lola’s insinuation that neither of you were excited felt like a dig. Out of everyone in the room, you were the one who had to deal with the most shit. Not only did you get a baby out of one drunken night, but you also got the body changes, the hormones, and the new relationship with someone who was too famous for his own good.

But aside from all of that--all the shit that made this stressful and terrifying and overwhelming altogether--there was still a piece of you that was excited. And it was easier to feel that later that night when you sat in the same In N’ Out parking lot as before.

“You don’t, like, regret deciding to keep it, right?”

Your question caught him off guard. He was mid-bite and let out a bit of a cough, wiping his mouth with the backside of his hand before he looked over at you.

“No--do you?”

“No. I don’t know. Lola said we have to act excited. As if we aren’t at all or something.”

“I know,” he said, voice quieter. “That was pretty shitty, but I don’t think she meant anything by it.”

You nodded, hoping he was right.

“I am excited, to be clear.”

“Me too,” a nod. “I’m getting more excited. Next time we see Dr. Weston we might be able to know the sex.”

He smirked. “We already know the sex, Y/N.”

“Where’s your premonition coming from?” You laughed. “What makes you so sure?”

He laughed, a sip from his water bottle. “I think you’re going to be a really good mom no matter what. But I think you’d be especially good with a little girl.”

“You’re going to sound like such an asshole if we have a boy.”

“If we have a boy it’ll be great! He can like sports and princesses, too.”

You took another bite of your dinner, a silent prayer that this pregnancy wouldn’t turn against you and make you hate the smell of In N’ Out. “I think you’ll be a good dad, too.”

And then he did it again. He looked out the window and seemed to be somewhere else. Maybe somewhere not as congested as LA, easier and quieter and somewhere were you didn’t exist and the plum sized baby didn’t either.

You stuck a french fry in your mouth and chewed--thankful for the fact that the silence didn’t feel uncomfortable.

“Would you--” he turned to see you suddenly, a sigh escaping his lips. “Hear me out, okay?”

You nodded.

“Would you think I was totally, absolutely mental if I asked you to move in with me?”

Your eyes must have gone wide, maybe the color even drained from your face, because before you could answer, he rolled his eyes and looked back out the window. “I know--okay, s’fine.”

“No--I just, that’s not what I expected. At all.”

He took another breath, his words came out quick this time as if he was nervous. “I know it’s crazy, but, Jeff got me freaked out today. When he talked about getting you a security detail I thought about your apartment and I know it’s in a house and it’s a nice neighborhood but--”

You didn’t say anything. You watched as he pushed his lips to one side and then the other.

“I could never live with myself if anything happened to you.” A pause. “Or her.”

You rolled your eyes at that, a small laugh immediately granted levity to the front seat of his car. Dimples appeared on his cheeks when he saw the smile on your face.

“I hear you, but--I’ll be fine.”

He started speaking before you even finished. “Think of it this way, too. When she’s here, we’ll want to be together, right? I mean--don’t you think you’ll want more space than what you’ve got with Lexi? Don’t you think she’ll get sick of dirty nappies and all the crying in the middle of the night? If we live together I can help more and we can go through it together.”

You thought on that for a second. There was no doubt in your mind that Lexi would eventually lose her shit and need a good amount of space from the new roommate you were both about to have. You ignored the thumping in your chest at the thought of it. You, Harry, a tiny baby in that stupid onesie he bought. It sounded perfect.

“Think about it, yeah? I’ve got plenty of room.”

You nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

Dave had given you the go ahead to tell your coworkers. It took three phone calls with Jeff and him and Harry, but he eventually relented. When you ended up telling him that he didn’t have to go to work trying not to puke every morning waiting for your coworkers to notice the growing bump, he gave in.

You were relieved, that is, until Levi called a team meeting, the five of you sat around a conference table on the third floor--also known as the floor with the balance ball chairs. You had no idea how much your back had been bothered by your regular office chair until you settled in to your seat.

“So,” Levi looked around at the four of you. “Obviously my leaving is bittersweet, I know we’ve all been working hard lately to make the transition as smooth as possible. But we obviously haven’t handled one aspect of that, which is, the new Team Lead.”

You kept a straight face, glanced over to Aarav who suddenly couldn’t take his eyes off of you. You’d been planning on telling them that afternoon, at least Aarav and Simone. Maybe you’d wait until Levi left to fill him in, maybe you’d wait until you left for maternity leave to tell Carson.

But would Levi still choose you to fill his role if he knew you were pregnant? Bound to take a decent maternity leave right after the holidays? Right when things amped up in the New Year?

“Y/N--you’ve obviously been a huge part of our success this last year, and I spoke with Mike and Tracy about having you fill the role, if you’re interested.”

“Yes--of course I’m interested,” you smiled. “I would love to.”

“Awesome--you’re obviously all in good hands,” he said to the others, a smile in your direction again. “You and I can meet with the rest of the Marketing c-suite--it’ll be painless, I’m sure.”

Now was definitely not a good time to tell them, but, your body decided it was the perfect time for an all encompassing wave of nausea.

“Okay--yeah, sounds good.” You tried to wrap things up, looked over at Simone, hopeful she’d follow your lead.

“When’s your last day, again?” Carson closed his laptop, if you weren’t doing your best to keep your lunch down, you’d be more surprised that he wasn’t as bitter as you’d expected him to be.

“August 5th.”

You stood from the table, beads of sweat on your forehead. Aarav gave you a look, Simone was too busy on her phone.

Levi started to gather his belongings. “We’ll get everything sorted out, too, about who’s going to take on some of Y/N’s responsibilities. Most things will stay the same, but, I think Mike wants to hire someone else to do some more of the graphic work, too.”

“I’m so sorry--” you said, embarrassed to rush out of a meeting like this. “I have to go--uh, make a phone call, really quick.

Again, Aarav looked at you like you’d started speaking another language.

“Yeah, go ahead, no worries,” Levi looked suspicious too, but he turned back to Carson.

You bolted for the door, down the hall, no idea where the nearest bathroom was. Water fountain, lounge area, vending machine. Where the fuck was the bathroom?

You found it around the corner, barely making it into a stall before throwing up, desperately trying to pull your sticky hair away from your face when your knees met the floor.

“Y/N? Are you okay?” Simone was behind you--the carpet of the hallway had apparently quieted her footsteps. You reached for toilet paper and wiped your mouth, thankful that no one else had witnessed your close call. The only thing worse than throwing up at work was throwing up on the floor at work.

You flushed, stood back up and offered a smile. “Yeah--sorry--bad lunch, I guess.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“What?” You laughed, waving a hand before wiping at your mouth again. “No--that’s crazy!”

She raised an eyebrow at you.

A sigh. “Fine,” you said. “I am. But--you can’t tell them yet, okay?”

Her lips threatened to curl upwards, but she caught herself. “Are you--was it on purpose?”

“No,” a wave of embarrassment replaced the nausea in your stomach. “It was completely unplanned.”

“Who’s the father?”

Dave had been clear on the phone. If you have to tell them, we’ll prepare NDAs for them to sign.

“You don’t know him.”

Maybe she did.

“Is it that guy you’ve been seeing?”

“Yeah--we’re just friends.”

“Who have sex?”

“Just once.”

“Holy shit!”

“I know--I wanted to tell you!”

She pouted, an understanding look on her face. “That’s why you won’t have margaritas with us.”

“Busted.”

“How are you doing with it? Does your mom know?”

You thought on that for a second--it had been a while since someone asked. Harry was inquiring quite frequently, but you were also at the point now where you gave him a daily update about any symptoms. Jeff and Glenne and Lexi would check in, too, of course, but Simone was asking you on a deeper level.

She was asking if you were losing your shit altogether and having recurring panic attacks when you’d try to fall asleep.

“I’m okay,” you said, a confident nod. “I was freaked at first, and I am, still, a little--but, it’s been going okay.”

“Are you going to tell Aarav?”

“Yeah, yeah--I was gonna let both of you know today, but then Levi dropped that shit.”

“How dare he promote you,” she teased, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well I couldn’t exactly follow that up with thanks so much, I’ll need three months maternity leave in January.”

“A January baby!” She threw her arms around you. “How far are you?”

“Thirteen weeks.”

She let go, looked you up and down. “You’ll be fine, you can totally handle this. Is the father supportive so far?”

You nodded, ignoring the tiny shred of fear that tried to squeeze it’s way up into your brain. “So far, yeah.”

But how long would that last? How long would Harry be interested in having dinner and hanging out? When would he get sick of you and when would he realize that he didn’t have to do this?

He had more options than either of you had mentioned. Harry was acting like his only option was to be completely, totally, one hundred percent involved, or the exact opposite.

But you felt like the more realistic option was somewhere in the middle, right? He’d visit and have the baby for weekends, go off on tour and you’d FaceTime him every so often to make sure they didn’t lose touch. You’d be the one to handle the skinned knees and all of the tears, but he’d be the fun dad that would swoop in and get to take them for ice cream or out to dinner.

He’d send a check, eventually. After things died down and he realized that it didn’t make sense for you to live together or be more than co-parents or anything like that. He’d help financially and you’d have to get a nanny if you were going to keep your job--which, as a single mom, you’d have to.

Simone brought you back to your office, smiling excitedly when you told Aarav the news, making them both promise to keep it quiet for now. You didn’t tell them who, you didn’t disclose the name of the guy who had suddenly lodged himself in a strange space in your heart and your head. Because if you did, you’d have to tell them you were also afraid he’d leave. And speaking that out loud was too much to handle.

Harry was a regular at Dr. Weston’s office, so much so that you found it a bit embarrassing how he knew the nurses by name and proclaimed proudly in the waiting room that he’d read every pamphlet they had.

For someone who has to keep this pregnancy low-key, shouting excitedly in the waiting room is the opposite of that, you told him.

So he followed you back into the exam room yet again, but this time with a pout on his face after the nurse left you alone.

“What’s your problem?”

He held a hand over his eyes to offer you privacy when you changed, the gown in his outstretched hand. “You don’t even care that I’m extremely well read.”

“One of those was a pamphlet about gestational diabetes--which I don’t even have.” You took the gown and stepped into it, tying it in the back before climbing up on the table.

He took his hands away without even asking if you were clothed, rolling his eyes and making a face. “I’m just trying to care, okay? However will you forgive me?”

You fought back the laugh that tried to crawl up from your belly. “I appreciate your caring. And your reading.”

“Good,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he sat back in his seat. “You should. Where do you want to go to dinner tonight?”

You thought on it for a second. “Know any good barbeque places? Some ribs sound so good.”

His eyebrows lifted, he watched you for a second.

“What?” You asked, a sudden nervousness in your chest. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

He broke eye contact for a second, let out a tiny laugh and then looked back up at you, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Just didn’t know it’d be that easy to get you to hang out with me.”

“Oh shut up,” you said with a laugh, adjusting on top of the sanitary paper. “I’m hungry. It’s almost dinnertime anyway.”

“The only bad news is that I don’t know a good barbeque place.”

“That is bad news,” you said. “There’s one near my house. We can just go there. Or--get take out,” you corrected.

Okay, so maybe it bothered you a little bit. At this point, feeling like you were a secret and the baby inside of you was a secret was a recipe for feeling like a big, old, shameful one night stand that he probably regretted. But you weren’t about to tell him that.

“Is Lexi home tonight?”

You nodded.

“We could invite Glenne and Jeff, too, if you want. Or it could be just us, that’s fine.”

You didn’t have a chance to answer, though you wanted to say either would be fine. Dr. Weston knocked and offered a smile, how are both parents feeling?

She asked the same questions: new symptoms? Any bleeding? Mood? Appetite? Headaches? You answered and nodded along, listening to the advice she gave about any lower back soreness as you started to really gain some weight.

When she had the ultrasound machine on and when you had laid back and assumed the position, Harry pulled his chair up to be right next to you.

“Definitely growing in there,” Dr. Weston smiled, reaching up to point at the screen.

“Wow--she actually looks like a baby now.”

“Yeah,” Dr. Weston laughed a bit. “Less of a plum and more a baby.” But she turned, after that, her eyebrows furrowing at the screen before she looked at Harry again. “How did you know it’s a girl?”

“It’s a girl?” you asked, lifting yourself on your elbows to look at the screen closer. “How do you know?”

She turned the screen to show you better, moved the probe along your lower tummy. “Well--if she weren’t, we’d see something right there between her legs.”

“So I’m right?” He looked at you with wide eyes, a smug look of excitement on his face. “We’re having a girl?”

“You are,” Dr. Weston nodded. “I hope it’s okay that you know now.”

Harry clapped his hands together and stood from his seat. “I knew it, Y/N. I totally called it.”

“It’s fine that we know, we wanted to,” you assured her. Harry had already grabbed his phone, likely bragging to Jeff and Glenne that he’d been right. “Now I just have to deal with this know it all, now.”

“Well congratulations,” she removed the probe and clicked a few things on the screen. “Fourteen weeks and everything looks great.”

You smiled, sat up and looked over at Harry, he looked up from his phone and smiled at you. “S’a girl.”

“I know,” you nodded, voice quiet.

Dr. Weston ducked out of the room quietly, saying she’d see you soon before shutting the door to offer privacy.

“Did you already tell everyone we know?”

“No,” he laughed, letting his phone call into his pocket. “Just my mum and sister.”

You hopped down from the table and he handed you your clothes.

“Are you happy it’s a girl?”

“I’m happy she’s healthy, and that I’m healthy,” you laughed. “But yes--a girl will be fun.”

“We’d make anything fun,” he said, stepping forward to wrap his arms around your shoulders, the fabric of the gown was scratchy on your skin. You looked up at him, and for a second, you wondered how it would feel to kiss him.

Jeff’s mouth was wide open, he was still, a look of shock on his face as Glenne let out a laugh loud enough that the neighbor’s might complain.

“Don’t,” Harry groaned, his eyes pleading with you to not embarrass him any further.

“They were expired?!” Lexi’s eyes were wide, she looked between the two of you from her spot on the floor, take out on her lap. “That’s fucked man.”

“I didn’t know they were, obviously!” He defended.

Glenne shrugged her shoulders. “Just getting laid that infrequently.”

“Alright, s’not my primary residence.”

“So wait,” Jeff said. “When did you find this out?”

A drop in your stomach, the nervous kind like you’d said the wrong thing.

“When she was over once for dinner. Gave her the grand tour and we obviously had to stop by the scene of the crime,” Harry borrowed the language you once used to describe his sprawling bedroom.

“He can definitely cook but apparently he doesn’t read expiration dates,” you laughed.

“So it’s all your fault,” Lexi laughed, reaching for another drink. “Bet that was tough news.”

Your eyes flashed over to Jeff, curious to see his reaction. In a way, Lexi wasn’t wrong. Sure--you’d fed Harry the response that it’s no one’s fault, and yeah, okay, you could live with that being the agreement everyone settled on.

But it was also nice to know that it wasn’t anything you did.

Harry rolled his eyes and pushed himself up off the couch when his phone rang. “One day you’re all going to feel terrible for saying that when you’re in love with our baby. It’s John--I’ll take it outside.”

Jeff followed behind him when Harry signaled for him to, the back door to the patio and small yard slid shut behind them.

“How ya been doin’ lately?” Glenne asked, leaning forward to grab the glass of wine she’d been nursing.

“Fine,” you said.

“Yeah?” She eyed you skeptically, Lexi dunked her fork into her green curry.

“I’m handling the stress and constant anxiety as best as I can,” you admitted.

Glenne pouted. “What are you anxious about?”

You let out a sigh, hesitant to say anything that would make her feel in the middle. “I just feel like Jeff thinks I fucked everything up or did this on purpose.”

Lexi sipped at her glass of wine. “What makes you think that?”

“I dunno--every time we’re all together I feel like he wants me to maintain a six foot distance or something.”

“He can’t tell you what to do or how to interact with him, Y/N,” Glenned tried to reassure you. “All he can do is give advice or give his input.”

“What if his input to Harry is that he shouldn’t ever talk to me or see me?”

“Bitch, you outrank him!” Lexi sat up straight and looked at you like you were losing your mind. “He’s his manager, he’s a friend. You are the mother of that man’s child. You are going to push his baby through your coochie!”

You let out a laugh, threw her a sideways glance. “I mean, I don’t know if outrank is fair.”

Glenne held up a hand, trying to get her two cents in before Lexi went off again. “He’s not mad--I don’t know why you think he’s mad.”

“Okay--fine, he’s not mad. But do you really want to try to convince me that I’m his favorite person on the planet right now?”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Y/N--he’s stressed. His client got his girlfriend’s friend knocked up. This is all going to explode into a thousand crazy headlines and he’s trying to keep it all somewhat contained. He loves you.”

You let out a long sigh at that, looked through the sliding door and watched as Harry gestured wildly, the phone sat on the small patio table between them. Jeff laughed at something he said and sipped at the beer that Harry was undoubtedly jealous of.

Jeff had always thought you were funny. You knew that. When you got a good amount of tequila in you, you were no stranger to comedy or outrageous accents with Lexi and Glenne. Jeff would laugh his head off and there was even one time he made you drunkenly take obnoxious snapchat selfies with the stupid filters. It was probably the highlight of your relationship.

So that night, after dinner was eaten and Netflix was watched, you tried to harness the courage that Lexi and Glenne had instilled in you.

When Jeff came out of the bathroom, Glenne pulled herself up from a couch, a dramatic groan escaped her mouth when she smiled over at you and stretched. “Alright, my dear. Eat well, sleep well, take care of that sweet little muffin.”

“Okay,” you nodded. “So far, so good.”

Lexi had already retreated to her room, beauty sleep, y’all. Jeff waited as Glenne put her wine glass in the sink, hands on his hips. “Are you hitting the road too?”

His question was directed at Harry. He shifted on the couch. “Uh--might stay for a bit, if that’s alright?”

Now he looked at you, and once again, you wondered if this sort of thing was allowed. An awkward look in Jeff’s direction, Glenne’s eyes were a bit wide, a smirk threatened to twist her lips into a full blown smile.

“Yeah,” you said, looking around at all of them. “S’fine.”

You were all for following the rules and doing what you needed to do to protect everyone. But something about watching another episode of The Office on Netflix with the father of your child felt pretty safe. And maybe Glenne was right. Maybe you did outrank him. And if you didn’t, maybe one day you would.

“Alright, well, we’ll see you both at some point in the next week, I’m sure.”

“Are we on for Saturday night still? With Tom?”

“Yeah,” Jeff said, watching as Glenne grabbed her purse from the counter. “I’ll text you.”

They said their goodbyes and headed out the front door, when it clicked into place you looked over at Harry.

“Would you actually tell me if Jeff hated me?”

“Why would he hate you?”

“Because you got me pregnant.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” he shook his head, a smile tugged at his lips. “S’my fault, remember?”

“He might not see it that way.”

He rolled his eyes at you. “I just know.”

“How do you know?”

“Trust me, I would know if he hated you. He’s a terrible liar. He’d never be able to hang out with you if he didn’t like you.”

You were quiet, looked back down at the remote in your hands and picked at the skin around your thumb.

He turned himself towards you on the couch, his voice quiet in the living room. “Why are you nervous about that?”

You shrugged, trying to fight back a smile. “I’m still trying to get over the whole fear about ruining your life.”

He rolled his eyes at that, a laugh escaping his lips when his arm reached up to the back of the couch. “You’re ridiculous! I can tell you a thousand times and you won’t believe me.”

“Probably not.”

“You didn’t ruin my life.”

“Okay.” You stood from the couch and moved towards the kitchen, bringing the glass that Lexi had left behind over to the dishwasher.

He followed behind, watched with narrowed eyes as you tried to tidy. “I mean it,” he laughed.

You turned around, hands on the counter as you looked at him. It was late, the light in Lexi’s room was off, you hoped she didn’t have her ear pressed up against the door. Mostly because you didn’t want her to hear what you said next.

“I just don’t want you to leave.”

He took a step forward, brows furrowed. “Tonight?”

“No--like, in general.”

His lips parted at that, a pause before he sighed, another step forward.

“Sorry,” you said quickly. “I didn’t mean to be weird. I’m just--scared sometimes.”

“I know,” he was close now, his chest almost pressed against yours. His fingers reached up and tugged at the hem of your shirt, “I’m not going anywhere.”

You nodded, stared down at the floor now as if looking up in his eyes would somehow make it more risky. As if ignoring the fear and the doubt and everything that bubbled inside of you when you tried to get your mind off of it would keep you safe, keep her safe.

His hand nudged at your chin, lifted it up so you had to look at him. Something in his eyes felt promising--or maybe it was the way you felt his lips curl into a smile once they were pressed against yours.

table of contents | talk to me + join the tag list

**author’s note: **FINALLY!!!!! No but really, thank god. It’s been tough to wait to share that with you. Things are finally heating up in here! You know I’m a fucking sucker for a slow burn.

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welcometomy20s · 4 years ago

Text

July 2, 2021

HoloServer Quarterly Report

Usada Constructions - Buy

To understand the current position of UsaKen, we must look to its history. At first, UsaKen was a joke, a riff on Majima Constructions, a potemkin company only existing to serve the whims of the founder and CEO. Pekora’s project was sophisticated and massive, her pranks simply legendary. But out of the blue, Moona enters. The mutual awkwardness worked in their favor, in fact this will be a prevailing theme, what might seem like a highly dysfunctional group, actually turns the whole thing into strength.

The Rabbit and Moon theme didn’t hurt them either, and the idea of Usada Construction as an actual entity enters the public consciousness, especially as a point of comparison to the fledgling Akukin Constructions… although it could be said that Akukin was the remnant of Hololive Resistance in some sense. This led to the initial expansion with the hiring of Coco and Kiara… but again this was more of a joke, a fleeting thought before UsaKen was about to come on its own.

It was the Akukin Relay that really set the ball rolling. Not only did we have the fortuitous event of Kanata accepting a position in UsaKen before finding out she did get a callback from Akukin, it spurred Pekora into focusing on Minecraft, especially her gaming plans were dirtied by corporate pressure. Pekora started small, with her misbehaving cannon and putting out her petty anger onto Noel, but soon Pekora unveiled her grand plan, Pekoland, and immediately set out to organize the company as a whole.

By now, the company was fairly-sized. It added Botan and eventually Towa into the mix, although Botan is still technically an affiliate and Towa first came with revenge, before using the company as an opportunity to learn how to be evil. Now the company measured seven strong, although they were quite disparate, having members from all three branches and across three generations. This was quickly noticed and a discord server was made in response, which led to another group project immediately after Pekoland, which was already a pretty big project. Combined with Coco’s final innovation, the Summer Festival became an even bigger project in the end.

And it would be odd to think this would end soon. There’s an actual structure to things now, people can communicate and build on ideas and the whole thing seems pretty democratic, even with its autocratic start. And Summer Festival brought UsaKen into the center of Hololive narrative. UsaKen is now the de facto face of HoloServer, and perhaps even Hololive itself. People look at the former loner as the master organizer. Things only look up from here, which is worrisome, but there’s enough in UsaKen that I’m less worried than usual. UsaKen will always come out stronger in the end.

Akukin Constructions - Buy

Meanwhile, Akukin completely collapsed. It felt like Aqua would return from her Apex marathon, but it turns out prior and prep for the solo concert meant a month break is what she needed, therefore Akukin was without a leader for one more month.

Lamy and Nene managed with their own projects, but the rest kind of fell apart. But the Summer Festival changed all that. Just as Akukin Relay signalled Pekora a restructuring was needed, Summer Festival meant Akukin had to show up. So, the skit continued. During the Akukin Relay arc, the mysterious yet feisty boss with two second-in-command who actually runs the thing scheming and fretting was a hit, with a hint of blackness in its blasted scaffoldings. Now, the blackness is very much apparent. Aqua cannot let the failing company go, and has become vicious. Considering Marine's past, this works to their favor. Lamy and Nene would be their own thing. Roboco and Mel would pop in now and again. As for Iofi and Aki… well, I’m not sure.

Choco, which I deemed the liaison for Shiranui, which has a contractual relationship with Akukin, now liaisons for Oozora Group as well. Choco might be the next important person just because of that connection factor. Akukin might be a contracting company now, although Aqua would not be happy about where they stand now.

Oozora Group - Hold

I know that Oozora Constructions, now Oozora Group, is not a publicly traded company anymore, but I still suggest holding onto that now-worthless piece of paper. The problem with Oozora Constructions was that its story went nowhere. Korone’s house was interesting, but it rarely had an ending, since it required Korone to cooperate and that’s usually an awkward thing at best. Her other projects were half-baked, and most importantly Subaru never really had that recognition. She wanted to build a company but others laughed at the prospect. So Rushia lost faith and moved to UsaKen. Oozora was tanking before it started to fly. But Matsuri took grace and joined Oozora, at which point it became a group. It’s not like Matsuri and Luna, the other employee, haven’t been together, and Subaru was called Matsuri by Sora, so why not?

In the last report, I said Matsuri is more like a government employee than a free agent, and indeed it seems Oozora Group now acts like a governmental organization, with building a police station being the first undertaking after restructuring. This is actually not bad. Public utilities are dearly needed in HoloServer anyways, and Subaru acting as a public servant removes the desperation in her actions that would make interactions much more friendly and interesting. By falling, Subaru might have turned a corner.

Tangent - Using an extended analogy, when the age of giant reptiles was wiped out by a meteorite, there were small survivors, which we now know as birds. So, it looks like Coco’s legacy would also be held by birds, holotoris to be exact. To explain why, let’s look at the current functional part of Coco. Coco is the bridge that connects East to the West, not just in terms of language, but also in culture and mores. In that way, holotoris nicely distributes this responsibility. Subaru might be the best JP member after Haachama in terms of English comprehension, and she is quite cognizant of recent foreign perspectives as well… so she could be a good future ambassador. For Reine, her Indonesian teaching stream reminds me of Coco’s early streams. And Kiara’s Holotalk has been the counterweight to Coco’s meme review since it started… Not to mention, these three are the most extroverted of their respective branches.

Shiranui-Elite Conglomerate - Hold

SEC is an organization of my own creation, but it’s a useful one, because it fits the current situation well. To sum up, Elite Construction was starting to fall apart as Minecraft activities waned, one of the replacements was GTA V, and the three major players were Miko, Flare and Suisei. Their collab together was probably the highlight of the last quarter and gave us a bright spot during a time of troubles.

As Minecraft activities increased, due to PekoLand and HoloID mall and Mel and Roboco popping in and out, the connection before was starting to bore out in Minecraft. Shiranui was originally a contracting company, working with Akukin for example. Therefore it had a family business type, indeed the only other employee was an honorary one given to Flare’s wife, Noel. But a series of interactions with Polka and Choco led to this master and apprentice relationship, which was a major hit.

Flare, pardon the pun, was always the black sheep of the Hololive Fantasy. While the other four have something to stand out and something to back the flash (Pekora draws with her laughter and manic behavior which is backed up by her earnest shyness, Rushia draws from her yandere metal screams which backed up by her sincerity and fragility, Noel draws with her upper assets and ASMR which is backed up by her erogaki silliness and her charming singing, and Marine draws from her horny nature which is backed up by her wit and almost motherly wiseness), Flare never really landed a character. Indeed, Flare is a straight man through and through. Not quite a tsukkomi like Subaru or Kanata at times, since there is not that retorting arrogance the two can exhibit, as people call, Flare was your comfy older sister...

But the Western audience and this Polka relationship changed that. In the West, the fatherly figure has more of a distinct and prominent role, and Flare can emulate this pretty well. A dad is grounded and serious, but can be silly and childish at times. But the silly and childishness does not undercut his serious nature… and that goes well with Flare (perhaps even more so than Calli, who is on a goofier side of things). Therefore Flare could finally breathe and express herself. And the introduction of Miko and Suisei brings the crew into full focus. They are reminiscent of early UsaKen, except while UsaKen was disparate, SEC most closely resembles… well, a D&D party. With your typical silly arguments and trials leading to growth and so on.

Adding Marine or even Nene might disturb this. Flare is fine with the size and I am too. It’s not like there are any real pickings left anyway. Shiranui-Elite conglomeration have a long journey ahead of them, but a brighter future that goes along with it too.

Haachama Construction - Sell (but buy Watasheep)

It was inevitable. Haachama/Haato thing was not going to be settled soon. Haato barely finished the Coexist arc, getting the Anno disease in the process. It was pretty clear that the Haato/Haachama thing became overblown and unfitting to what Hololive was now.

But this leaves us with Watame, and Watame is in an interesting position. Watame is between a lot of companies now. With Shiranui-Elite, she is part of the four heavenly lords, and as Watasheep, she does the delivery of Menya Botan and KFP, both part of UsaKen, who inadvertently cornered the fast-food business. And she is part of the 4th Gen, who has come much closer due to the departure of Coco.

Watame has always made the safe choice, she revolutionized the server with her excellent Janken machine, but it was Kanata who became the seller. Watame might choose to leave herself out, since her Minecraft streams are kind of meant to be relaxing. The reason she deliberately chose to level her field, instead of building the sign outwards like the rest of the signs. So, perhaps nothing comes of this…

OkaKoro Constructions & Shirakami Forestry - Buy

This wave of HoloServer was so large that even the rarer visitors felt a need to visit. Flare has reached out to Okayu, who has pointed out the reason for her absence was the loss of her basement and Korone has followed interest in the server as well.

Fubuki returned to finish her massive sakura tree, of course she acts alone, but she has been increasingly open to hiring people, but it’s not sure if this will become reality. Perhaps if Akukin finally dissolves, there would be enough workforce…

Kureiji Constructions - Buy

Ollie had a roller coaster of three months… Like a burnt fuse, Ollie has had several physical problems… that didn’t stop her from doing math streams (there are precedents Yashiro and Gwelu being good examples) and returning recently with late contributions to the Summer Festival. Reine has been helping on the side as well…

Free Agents - Sell

There is not much of this category anymore. Anya is the One who does not play Minecraft, in fact her demeanor is quite different from anyone else. Ayame not only has been gone from Minecraft, she has been gone, period. She really just returned to streaming after about three weeks? Risu is the only one remotely available, but she has the gene of OkaKoro, which does not induce work ethics in Minecraft, no matter how skilled she is. (Her roller coaster MLG is still one of my favorite clips)

Overall, 2021 Q2 was the best of times and the worst of times. There was a lot of big progress and a lot of setbacks as well. It’s a deeply uncomfortable but adventurous position, as it always has been for HoloServer and HoloPro as a whole. Next quarter will be further accomplishments and further challenges, and the company and the personalities and the audience will bear it through it all, as they always have.

#hololive #quarterly report #minecraft

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anavkourfic · 4 years ago

Text

here’s an excerpt from the scrapped first chapter of no place for firestarters! the only issue with it is that it’s in the wrong pov—originally, i wanted to write this story as switching between lio and galo’s points of view and started out with a galo chapter, then decided to make everything in lio’s pov, rendering this chapter in its current form unusable.

anyway, here it is!

***

Galo works forty-eight hours straight after the Parnassus falls.

It’s a whirlwind. Galo barely has time to give Lio a celebratory fistbump before they leap into rescue operations. The crew splits up: Remi, Varys, and Lucia go out into the city to do search and rescue on the crash site; Galo, Aina, Ignis, and Lio stay in the cire to get the Burnish out of the Promatech pods. They free Lio’s generals first, both of whom hug him so tightly Galo’s surprised his spine doesn’t snap, then move on from there.

Galo learns a lot of things in this process: that the burnish all seem to know and care deeply about Lio, that the pods weren’t designed to be reopened, that even though Heris Ardebeit is helping them with the rescue effort, she still can’t see what she’d done wrong. Ignis eventually escorts her elsewhere, out of range of Lio, Galo, and Aina’s combined fury.

Though, that fury is nothing compared to the look in Lio’s eyes when they get to the first empty pod.

Galo thinks at first that someone has already emptied this one—they have civilian EMTs helping as well, spread out through the engine to cover as much ground as possible—until he sees that the arm and leg cuffs are still closed and intact. They’re thick, so it usually takes monster bolt cutters or the jaws of life to cut them, but these haven’t been touched. It doesn’t make sense, unless someone managed to slip free. Which, also difficult, since the cuffs have been tight enough that it’s hard to clip them without also cutting the person they’re trying to free.

“Did they put in empty pods?” he says, scratching the side of his head. The generator behind them sputters, echoing along with the many others in the cavernous space. “It doesn’t look like there’s anyone–“

“Stop.”

Lio’s voice is sharp, and Galo stops immediately. He sees that Lio’s looking down at the floor of the pod and—oh. Oh. There’s a pile of ash on the floor. Galo’s mind goes back to the cave, to Thyma, and oh. Shit.

“Serial numbers,” Lio barks, whirling around to where Aina’s helping a Burnish to the stairs of the scaffolding “Do the pods have them?”

Aina balks for a second [Galo would too in her position; Lio looks almost like he did with the dragon, minus the colour palette change and the flaming hair.] but she says, “I’ll ask Heris. She’s in medical, and I’m headed there anyway.”

“I d-didn’t see anything,” the Burnish says. She doesn’t look that much older than Lio, but Galo has no concept of how the Burnish age; they could be twenty, or sixty. “Sorry, boss.”

Lio’s expression immediately softens. “It’s alright, Alexis, I wouldn’t have expected you to.”

“I want to help,” she insists. Galo notices her legs are trembling; she’s on the verge of collapsing, but she’s still giving Lio a fierce stare. “Please, I want to help–“

“You need to recover first,” Lio shuts her down. “Talk to me again when you’ve gotten some sleep and you’ve eaten something.”

Alexis gives him a noodley salute, and then Aina helps her down the stairs. Lio watches her go, then turns to the pod again. His hands clench into fists.

"Do you need me to get something to write stuff down with?" Galo asks tentatively. "If there are numbers. Or anything else?"

Lio doesn't respond for a long moment, but then he nods once, and Galo runs off.

It sucks. There's probably a stronger word for it, but Galo's brain is too foggy to come up with something more eloquent. So he just mutters, "This sucks. This fucking sucks," as he looks for a notepad.

The pods do have numbers; Heris says they're "for inventory" [Lio's jaw clenches so tightly Galo hears it click shut] and that there's "subject data for each one." Lio logs each number in a pocket-sized notebook, strings strands of caution tape that Galo found in the back of Burning Rescue's truck across the entrance to each pod, to make sure no one tries to step in.

"We need....urns, or something," Galo says to Ignis, when he's taking a water break and explaining the situation."Lio keeps talking about a mass grave, but I can tell he doesn't like it."

"I'll see what I can do," Ignis's face is unreadable behind his sunglasses. He's been assigned the leader of rescue efforts, meaning he gets to deal with all the bureaucratic and organizational stuff that makes Galo dizzy. "There are a few favours I can call in."

When he relays this to Lio, he gets back a "Nothing happens without my say-so," and then, a few minutes later, a very quiet, "Thank you."

Getting everyone out of the core takes up the first twenty-four hours, and then Galo suits up to help with search and rescue. Turns out that a giant spaceship falling out of the sky from several hundred feet can cause damage in a pretty large radius. He finds and frees people in fallen buildings, in piles of rubble, in the cavernous cracks around the Parnassus's launch site. And then there's the non-people related things: flooding because of burst pipes all over the city, a couple fires from damaged electrical equipment, a terrifying gas leak that nearly causes an explosion by the main medical tents. There's so much damage, and so many casualties, it makes Galo's chest ache if he thinks about it too long.

He sees Lio in bursts—working to help clear ground to set up tents for displaced people and the Burnish, talking with a group of medics from the nearby hospital, giving orders to a mixed group of volunteers and Burnish who are well enough to help. Galo grins and waves to him when he can, feels like he’s walking on clouds when he gets a half-smile and a wave in return.

After two days, Ignis calls all of Burning Rescue into a tent for a meeting.

“The SAR teams from the next cities over came in about an hour ago,” He says. “That means we’re off shift. Seventy-two hour mandatory rest time. No exceptions.”

Galo would normally argue, but the exhaustion’s starting to set in, and the numbers are adding up in his head—two full days of rescue work, ten hours from Lio's dragon to the Promare going back home, a week or so in Kray's prison. Galo's not great at math, especially when he's tired, but however many hours it's been, he hasn't gotten decent rest in a while. And not getting decent rest means he’s nowhere near a decent rescuer.

The rest of the team seems to share the same sentiment. No one argues. Ignis claps his hands.

“Let’s pack up. Galo–“

Galo snaps to attention.

“Sir!”

“Bring me Fotia and his generals. I need to ask them something before we go.”

“Yessir!”

The group disperses. Galo stops by the supply tent to grab a water bottle for Lio, chugs one himself before going out to find Lio and the others.

He doesn’t have to look far. He pushes aside the tent flap and runs directly into something skinny and green. Said skinny green thing yelps and then, with a whirl of motion, Galo's on the ground, flat on his back, and there's a very pointy boot in the middle of his chest. Galo beams.

"Lio! I was looking for you!"

Lio blinks, then seems to realize what happened and leaps back. "Fuck, sorry, sorry." He's still not wearing a shirt, and he looks cold, shaking just a little.

"No, it's fine!" Galo picks himself back up, wincing a little. That didn't do any favours to his bruises from the fight with Kray, or the other fight with Kray, or the time he fell off the Parnassus, or the other time he fell off the Parnassus. [It was a significant pile of rubble.] "Didn't mean to startle you. Do you judo-flip everyone you run into?"

"No," Lio ducks his head, the faint hint of a blush high on his cheekbones. It's cute, actually. Galo's brain short-circuits for a hot sec before he remembers what he was doing.

"Oh! I got you some water," He offers the bottle. "Though, that's probably why you were going in there, huh?"

"It was," Lio takes it. "Thank you."

He tries to open it, but his hands are too shaky. Galo reaches out to help.

"Here, let me–"

"I'm perfectly capable of doing this myself," Lio replies stiffly. The blush has spread to his ears now. He's embarrassed, and Galo would find it adorable if Lio wasn't also so frustrated."

"Doesn't mean you have to," Galo says. "Plus, your hands look pretty busted."

Lio looks down at one palm, torn and blistered. His fingers tense, just a little bit, like he's expecting something to happen. Galo realizes he's trying to call the fire to his hands, to heal the cuts. There's a flash of pain in his eyes, then he drops his hand and shoves the water bottle in Galo's direction. "Fine."

Galo cracks it open with only a little bit of fumbling. ["Wow, these caps are actually tighter than I thought." "The indomitable Galo Thymos, bested by a water bottle..." "Hey, I can do this, just give me a minute!"] Lio accepts it with another quiet thank-you.

#excerpt #promare #npffs #my writing

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