#anyway this is from last week and both of these sims are already dead. short lifespan is brutal

[holoska]

recently I've been playing the sims like a normal person for once and doing a legacy challenge and I can't get over this screenshot of my sims about to get married while a random spellcaster townie falls off a broom in the background

[senfena]

Cold War: Remedy, Chapter 12

A/N: CONTENT WARNING-Graphic depiction of torture, chemical burns. Extended author's note at the end of chapter.

April 27, 1984

17:40

You and the team had transported the remaining survivors of Naga's men to a safehouse just outside of Bangkok's city limits. It had been a week, you all decided it was best to treat their wounds and let them recover a bit before you started interrogating them properly. Rivas, Wolf, and Woods had already been working on two of them for a few days, but you were being lenient in letting the last one recover. Enough time had passed, it was time to get to work. You all traversed to the holding cell to grab one of the three men, and take them to the interrogation rooms. Rivas and Wolf were taking one, Woods took another, and you got the last one, the one you'd kicked in the ribs back in Laos. Park and Sims were staying out of it.

Before you opened the door to his cell room, Park softly grabbed your shoulder. "Remember, we want him hurting, not dead. Dead gets us nowhere." She whispered with caution in your ear. You gave her a reaffirming nod. "I've got this." You stared into each other's eyes a moment longer, then unlocked the door to his cell. You both strode in, and as Park kept her sidearm trained on him, you handcuffed his arms behind his back. He looked like he was in his mid-late thirties. His face was uncovered, and he only had on a t-shirt and some olive colored shorts that had been provided to him. You grabbed his shirt by the collar and marched him towards the interrogation room, with Park escorting you.

You pushed the door open to the interrogation room and stood your prisoner in front of a cheap steel folding chair that was bolted to the floor. "Put your ass in the chair." You shoved down on his shoulders and forced down, undoing his cuffs as you repositioned his hands to re-cuff them to the chair. Afterwards you took a bundle of rope sitting on a table in the corner of the room, tying his legs to the chair as well. You swung around to stand back in front of him. "I've got it from here." You remarked to Park without looking back at her. She squeezed your shoulder again as a non-verbal reminder, then shortly afterwards the door was shut, leaving only you and your captive.

"What's your name?" You began in a calm voice. "The hell does it matter, you're gonna kill me anyway." He spat in a Laotian accent. "I need something else to call you besides 'prisoner.'" He hesitated for a few moments. "Havika. Nguyen." He eventually muttered. "Alright. Listen, Havika, I really don't want to have to torture you, and I'm sure you don't want to be tortured. So let me ask you again: Where's Adler?" You probed him, studying his facial movements as you towered over him. He looked you dead in the eyes as he opened his mouth. "I told you already; I'm not saying a thing." He hissed up at you.

You crossed your arms and took a step back, still keeping composed. "You wanna know what it's like having your identity erased, Havika? Having implanted memories put in your head?" You asked, not caring what his answer would be. "It's agonizing. Some of the most numbing pain you will ever experience. Seizures, a heart rate that shouldn't even be possible, having absolutely no sense of reality whatsoever." You started to pace around the room, addressing him in a more soothing tone than the subject matter deserved. "Bit by bit, your real memories will start to fade away and you won't understand why. Then the new ones start to come in, bit by bit, and eventually, that's all you are. No idea of what came before, no idea why you can't remember your life, all you have are the memories that were given to you, and anything else makes no sense at all." You paused, looking back at Havika's face. His expression was ever rageful and stoic, but something had changed in his eyes. They seemed…fearful.

"At least, that's what I imagine it was like for…her." You stumbled on the last word, worried you were giving him too much. "And it's exactly what you're going to be put through if you can't give me something. The people I work with don't bat an eye at human rights violations if it gets them what they want…and unfortunately for you, right now, neither do I." That last part tasted vulgar in your mouth as it left your lips. You just hoped it sounded convincing enough. "So one more time, where's Adler?" You asked with finality, your voice rising. Havika simply looked at you and shook his head. "Whatever you'll do to me is nothing compared to what He would do if I talked…and what He will do to you all." He taunted.

It was a struggle to keep your composure now. You forced in a deep breath as you turned and tramped to the table in the corner. "I don't think you get the situation, Havika." You berated him, picking up a pair of rubber gloves from the table and putting them on. "And if you're not convinced, I'll just have to show you." You grabbed a blindfold next to where the gloves were, as well as a glass of water. You put the blindfold over his eyes, then poured a quarter of the water on his left leg. He didn't resist it as much as you thought he might. Next, you strode back to the table, picking up a white, palm sized bottle. You rolled down the sleeves of your turtleneck as you twisted open the cap, putting the bottle a few inches above his leg.

"You ready?" You looked Havika in his now covered eyes. "What are you doi-aGH AHH AGH AAAAGH!!" Before he finished speaking, you tilted the bottle over his leg, spilling out it's contents; miniature white pellets of sodium hydroxide. As soon as it hit Havika's skin, it started searing away the flesh, bubbling and boiling as it started to steam. As you moved the bottle away and put it down off to the side, the space between you instantly got hotter from the burn.

"Since the place we found you at was a cartel base, I took the liberty of going through the stuff we found there." You disclosed to Havika over his cries of pain. "I didn't even know what that bottle was until my friends told me. Turns out, that's lye." You explained with a wicked tone in your voice. His skin continued to slowly melt away, filling the room with a pungent smell as his body became drenched with sweat. "Remember I said brainwashing is the worst mental pain you could ever experience? This is the worst chemical burn you'll ever experi-" "AAAAGHH DAMN YOU MAKE IT STOP!!!" He wailed over you, wriggling and jolting around as much as could, forced in place by the cuffs and rope.

"I'll stop it, but you gotta tell me where he is first!" You shouted back to him. "NGAAAAAH! I…I CAN'T!" The lye continued scalding deeper into his flesh, frothing and turning discolored. "Why, because this is somehow better than whatever your boss will do to you!?" You criticized his logic. You grabbed hold of his shirt collar and dragged his upper body closer, putting his face right in front of yours.

"If Naga cared about you, if he was coming for you, my guess is he would've already come to try to save you. But he hasn't!" You pushed him backwards against the chair, letting go of his shirt. "You know what you are, Havika? Expendable! He's got the money to replace you, and if he was ever to see you again, he'd probably kill you!" You tried to reason with him as you were slowly cremating him alive.

You grappled his right arm with yours, digging your fingernails into his skin. "This is your chance to define who you really are, Havika! Where's Adler!?" All he responded with was a mass of agonized wails, tears streaming down his face as his body trembled. That wasn't helping. You let go of him and gave him a sharp slap to the cheek, getting in his face as you hovered over him. "You have two options, Havika! Either you tell me where he is, or I keep drenching you in lye until I've INCINERATED away EVERY INCH OF YOUR FLESH!"

The stench and the heat were becoming unbearable, the fumes definitely weren't safe to keep inhaling, and Havika was letting out the most anguished howls you'd ever heard. Your blood ran cold as your skin mutated into a solar flare, but you had to keep pushing.

You gave him another forceful slap to the face. "The question, HAVIKA, was where. Is. RUSSELL. ADLER!?" "AAAARGGHH AAAAGGHH…NO I, I CAN'T!" He was close, you could feel it. Just a little more. You glanced back over to the bottle of lye, sitting in place on the floor. "Fuck it." You marched over to pick up the bottle, making sure Havika saw you. You snatched it and positioned it over his unburned leg. "You ready?" You quizzed him in a gentler voice, your sadistic intention unveiled. "VERDANSK! VERDANSK! ALL I KNOW IS HE'S IN VERDANSK!" He hastily shouted out between sobs, regret in his voice.

Finally. "There we go, that's all I needed!" You rushed to untie and uncuff him, picking him up by his shirt. You dragged him into the next room over, dumping him into a plastic pool that was completely filled with cool water, submerging his lower body. His yowls of pain stopped, and looking at his leg, all there was left was a noxious scar forming over the raw skin.

You sighed deeply. Maybe it had to be done, but that didn't stop you from feeling disgusted at yourself for doing it. You tried to stave it off under a veneer of apathy. How was Naga breeding so much loyalty, or fear, into his people? Wait…Havika never said Naga explicitly. Did he mean…Perseus?

The world around you stopped.

You just became a bigger monster than Perseus.

Words couldn't convey the loathing, the enmity, the absolute revulsion you had for yourself.

You looked back to Havika, eyes closed as he was taking deep breaths through gritted teeth. Adler's voice sprung up in your head; "We tried everything. Normal forms of interrogation weren't working." Before you'd been brainwashed, what else had they done to you? Was it any worse than what you just did? Did Havika deserve that kind of pain? Did you? Did it matter?

You snapped yourself out of it. You got what you came for, you needed to tell the others. You stormed out of the room, slamming and locking the door behind you. You found Woods and Park in the main room, conversing. "I got a location." You called out as you marched up to them. Their faces seemed surprised. "Verdansk. Anybody know where that is?" You looked back and forth at both of them. "I do." Park spoke up. "It's a city at the base of Mount Yamantau." "My guy just gave me the same answer, Adler's gotta be there." Woods announced to both of you, then turned to you specifically. "Jeez, Bell. You found out in five minutes what took me three days. How'd you do it?" Havika's cries roared up in your mind again, making you flinch ever so slightly. "I made him suffer." You muttered flatly. You couldn't bring yourself to look either of them in the eye. You hoped that neither of them saw the tears welling up in your eyes as you walked off.

___________

A/N: Most of this chapter was essentially me doing vent art. The surge of anti-trans bills happening in the US right now has been depressing me really hard, and I wanted to take it out somewhere. This chapter just happened to come along at the right time. But it's not that I wanted Serena to torture someone just for the sake of it, I wanted her to really be introduced to the opposite side of the power dynamic, and realize the role she plays having chosen to return to the controversy machine that is the CIA, and how that affects her mentally. If you scrolled all the way down here without reading the chapter, I understand. Tl;dr: Serena tortured a prisoner for information and found out that Adler is in Verdansk.

[cryinginthebackseat]

you’ve got more poison than sugar - part ii

part i    part iii  AO3 

Fandom: Call Of Duty

Pairing: Russell Adler x Bell

Words: 2.918

Warnings: some mild sexual content and swearings, like usual

Author’s note: okay, i know this one's a little short but i promise there'll be more coming on the next chapter, i promise.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The first time Bell showed her face at Langley, it was two weeks after the program. She wore beige, a ruffled high-neck blouse that made her hazel eyes, like charred nut shells, hard and just about indestructible, popped.

She stood at the lobby, regarding the place like she’d waltzed into a wrong banquet hall, the band played in the background, chandeliers dripping like arctic icicles, the bar drenched in opulent gold.

She didn’t belong here.

But Adler met her there, anyway, Hudson in tow.

“Have I ever done something to him?” Bell asked after the rather short-lived meeting, squinting at the vacant spot Hudson left them. She’d yielded very few words. When she did, it’d been all business, crisp, so it surprised him now to hear her uttering something with more than 2 syllables.

“What do you mean?”

“Have I deliberately done something to piss him off?” she elaborated, quieter, but the glower remained.

Adler carefully studied her behind his tinted shades. It still troubled him to a degree that he couldn’t read her. Like she locked herself off. They say eyes are the window to the soul, but thus far, he saw nothing. Fuck the poets.

“No. At least, not as far as I can tell,” he grits out, curious to see where she was heading with the conversation. “Why?”

Bell hummed, but seemingly unconvinced. A beat, then: “He doesn’t seem to like me that much.”

You don’t belong here, he thought and his face went cagier, back stiffer, but no doubt intrigued. Very much so by this mysteriously curious creature.

Perceptive and diamond-sharp intelligent, he pondered. They might have secured the bag after all.

“It's not you. That’s just as warm and fuzzy you’ll see Hudson with everyone, trust me,” he uttered, hoping that she bought the fib. She did. At least, he thought so. “Come on, Bell, we’ve got a job to do.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Adler finds her outside the garage the next night, smoking alone, reading in secret. The ground is still wet from the rain, straggling cloud wisps and every artery of this place fucking freezes his bones. Bell ditches her gloves inside, but has her coat on, the collar popped up like antennae.

"You aren't cold?" he asks when she doesn’t notice him. Too engrossed in her own bubble. She does look better, though. Park is right about that one at least.

"I'm good," she answers without looking up. "Am I needed for something inside?"

"No, just thought I could use some fresh air."

He’s studying her, raking her from head to toe. Suddenly, he doesn’t care if she would notice him. Then he steps closer, standing next to her, lifting his cigarette to his mouth.

“What are you reading?”

There’s something about this secret element to her that has him on his toes. Everything about her is curious- frustratingly curious, careful, as Bell rolls her neck to meet him. In the low light, she looks quite new, he learns. And his eyes beg for him to linger.  

“Amerika. Kafka,” she says. “Have you read it?”

A subtle shake of his head and, “No.” While Bell nods, silent, like she doesn't know what else to say to him. “Should I? Give it a read?” Adler adds, just to keep the conversation going.

She shrugs, a cloud of smoke escaping her nostrils. “I can’t say that Kafka is ever a favorite of mine, but he really is sui generis. And Amerika is probably the most approachable of all his works? It’s funny too.”

“I never thought I’d hear Kafka and funny in the same sentence.”

“Yeah, well, it’s very subtle. And if only you can understand his nightmarish sense of humor, that is,” she explains, shrugging again, like she’s embarrassed. “I don’t know, maybe you’ll like it.”

Frankly, he hates Kafka. He hates his vatic, dead-eye vision of the world; that acute sense of hopelessness clinging onto his main protagonists like vines, but Adler finds himself nodding, anyway.

“Sure, lend me your copy once you're done with it." If she’s surprised by his answer, she does not tell her. But Adler thinks she’s smiling though- just the barest quirk of her lips, but it’s enough for him to know that she appreciates the gesture.

A brief, unmapped silence ensues.

"I'm sorry, by the way."

Adler arches an eyebrow at her. "For what?"

Bell slots a bookmark into the book, closes it, frowns at it.

"For yesterday. I, uh… I feel like I was being insolent to you.”

He looks sidelong at Bell and tries to read her. Her expression is raw and open, a painting visible through a small tear in the paper. For some reason, that catches him by surprise.

“You already apologized, you know?” Adler teases lamely.

“I know, but still it was uncalled for and very unprofessional of me. You’re my CO, not some random BND agent I’m forced to work with. I shouldn’t have said that," she mumbles softly and sighs, world-weary, heavy, sounding like a woman twice her age. "It will not happen again. I promise you."

"Hey, consider it water under the bridge, kid. You’re in a rather rough place right now, I wouldn’t hold it against you,” he tells her, fond. “What matters is you’re alright. We can’t catch Perseus if you’re green around the gills.”

Her eyes meet his. He meets her back.

“Thank you.” And Bell rotates her body to face him. Mussed brunette hair and sharp cheekbones, mouth kinked up in sympathy as she says, “Is this what you have to put up with all these years?"

He summons a smirk. "With you? More or less."

And then the woman does the unexpected; Bell laughs. She fucking laughs. Delicate sounding, like a tinkling glass, petals wrapped in satin, moonbeams through frosted windows. It dies, too soon to his liking. Adler privately lets the sound of her laughter replays in his head, as if trying to pocket it.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It’s only after Ukraine when he discovers that she smells different. That wintry floral smell of hers that he’s accustomed to is commingling with something else.

But now-

Now, there's music in the air.

Sims does this sometimes, bringing his Zenith Trans-Oceanic, or as he would call it the Tranny, to the safehouse and they would tune in to international radio stations. Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love is playing- or more specifically, their song is 5 seconds away from being cut off abruptly by the DJ. The song reminds him of Vietnam, regrettably. The root of all madness.

“Next up, is my favorite ever track-to-track transition on an album. This is Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage and-”

Adler stops whatever it is he’s scribbling. He sits up, ramrod straight.

“Mind switching to another station?” he asks suddenly, glances up at Sims quickly who, as Adler suspected, is giving him a rather odd look.

“Why?”

"I've always hated Pink Floyd." Only because he’s out of reason. Only because he can feel Bell’s confused stare, searing into his temple. Only because it’s the only way of escaping this. "Change it, please."

Sims opens his mouth. The unspoken: how about that time in Denver?

The telling jerk of Adler’s lips warns him not to ask.

The other man clamps his mouth shut, seemingly gets the message and switches to a different station. He never brings his radio again.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Frank Woods is exactly how Adler saw him last time- or since Hue City, that is: tigerish and intimidating- a kick in the head voice, a hurricane in the shape of a man and he is making his way to him right now.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?”

"So talk."

Woods shakes his head. "Not here."

Adler looks at him at last now, curiosity creeping over him. He then stubs his cigarette, nods once and leads them both to his office.

Once they’re inside, he locks the door, secures the blinds.

“What is it?” Adler takes a seat behind his desk. Woods remains standing. He paces around the room, a hand on his bearded chin.

“What the fuck is going on with your girl?”

Adler doesn’t know which one is worse, the fact that Woods manages to sniff out something going on with Bell or that he just addresses her as his girl. Either way, it's bad. Either way, Adler should have expected the former issue. Woods is astute as he is dangerous. There's a reason why the CIA gave the green light for Mason and Hudson to save him in Da Nang all those years ago, after all.

"What about her?" Adler asks, even-toned, giving nothing away. Even though he is in the ‘need to know’ column regarding Bell’s brainwashing, this is something Adler initially wishes he could keep under wraps.

“Don’t bullshit me, Adler. She has that look on her face- I see it in her eyes. The exact same look Mason has been wearing since ‘Nam,” Woods tells him, point-blank, never being the one to settle for niceties. After Hudson, Adler thinks he simply can’t tolerate the agency anymore.

“I saw it all, remember? Had a fucking front row seat to his relapse and shit, so don’t tell me she’s alright. Not when it looks like she could snap out of it any moment.” Woods has his hands on the table and looks at him dead-on. “Tell me I’m right. Tell me there is something wrong with her.”

He regards the other man coolly. Woods is no longer asking. Adler is out of move.

“You're right,” he answers simply, eventually, tipping his king over on its side, stopping the clock. "Did you talk to Hudson regarding this?"

"Since when did I report to Agent stick-up-his-ass? Fuck no. That's why I came straight to you.” Woods heaves a heavy sigh, like he’s the one with all these burdens. “Now, what the hell’s wrong with her?”

“She’s suffering from brain damage."

“Shit. All that ‘cause of MK-Ultra?”

“One of the few factors that caused it, yes.”

His mouth goes flat. "How bad is it?”

“Bad. We’re trying to minimize for any collateral as we speak, at least until we finally get our hands on Perseus. But she… she might not make it.” Adler leans back in his chair, like his body feels heavy all of the sudden.

Woods nods. Uncharacteristically silent, looking strangely contemplative, sympathetic even. That should be categorized as an oddity itself, Woods and him, two proud Americans, Vietnam veterans and she’s just another red, another blood they would indubitably sacrifice for their country and they’re sympathizing with her? Yet something deep inside Adler, something resonates like the throat of a storm, sinks its teeth into him, confounds him, every time he thinks of her.

Woods crosses his arms over his chest, glances at the door, as if someone might knock anytime soon, then back to him.

"So, what's the plan?" He quickly adds, "if things go south, what are you gonna do?"

"It won't come to that. She'll come through, I know it," Adler counters, suddenly defensive. Whatever the use of his tone indicates, Woods ignores it.

"You sure about that?”

"Are you doubting me?” Adler spits out a retort. A quiet fury grasps him tight, but he forces himself to keep under a tight lid.

Woods holds his hands up in mock surrender.

"Look, I’m just saying, that woman is a loose cannon- you can’t be too careful."

"We have everything under control, Woods. And this is the least of your worry right now."

"Alright, okay. If you say you and Park have her contained already, then fine. I trust you,” he says and heads for the door.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Woods says again. He’s facing the door, back to him. “Whatever happens, keep Mason in the dark about any of this."

“Of course. He isn’t on a need to know basis from the very start, you know that.”

"Good. ‘cause the less he knows the better." Woods pauses like he's constructing an entire sentence in his head. He peers over his shoulder. "I mean it. He’s been through enough. I don’t know which ground you crawled up from, but up here, some people implement this kind of civility to other people.”

The words sting, yet Adler stares back at him, seemingly unfazed. "What, you’re saying that I’m simply heartless?”

“Nah,” Woods says, satirical and sardonic. “You’re just Adler.” And with that, he’s gone.

1976

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It was eight o'clock on a mid-September evening and Adler found himself coming home to an empty house.

His wife had already left a week prior, crossing the country with a self-proclaimed film critic she'd met at the premiere of The Shining last summer, but Adler didn't know that yet.

He went to the kitchen. Dropped his suitcase, pulled off his coat and scarf. He reeked of cigarettes, cheap air freshener and jet fuel- air travel is simply sickening, in terms of its cost and smell- and in a desperate need of a hot bath.

"Honey?" He switched the lights on. She wasn't here. So Adler headed upstairs, to their room where they would rest their bones every night for the past 15 years. The door was slightly ajar. He expected to see her sleeping from under the duvet, hair splaying all over the pillow.

What he found was a folded note on his bedside table. He stared at it, his heart at his throat, fearing the worst, the unimaginable. He picked the letter and unfolded it.

Forgive me.

Russell,

Live or die, but don't poison everything .

His head did pirouette. So, this was it. This was what it felt like, he thought.

Not heartbreak, not sadness. But a collapse of the world- his world and all he could do was watch from the sidelines.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1981

Adler stares at the words now, sleeves rolled up, anatomical heart. The paper is fading, wrinkled and it smells like smoke and decay and tears, capped with something akin to regret.

It has his name on it, begins with it, and ends with an apology, written in cursive. Like microscopic snakes dancing around his peripheral vision, hissing in his ears.

Live or die, but don't poison everything.

No one likes to be told that they are sick, but Russell Adler has learned to acknowledge it, embrace it, weaponize it. Her words mean zero shit to him now. You can't condemn someone to the depths of hell when it's the only place he's known all his life.

So, he takes the letter for the last time, remembering how the ink used to smudge his calloused fingers, crumples it up, that satisfying crunch dins in his palm, and tosses it into the fireplace.

The paper crackles. Good fucking riddance. It really takes all this time for him to grow the guts, apparently, and he just stares and stares as the fire begins to engulf everything, wiping away his past failure.

He promises he would never fail again, at anything. No matter what the cost, failure is never going to be an option.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Bell arrives at the garage with frantic eyes, a half-burnt cigarette between her lips and uncharacteristically late. Color peppering her cheeks- red, like an apple bitten into.

“I’m sorry, I overslept,” is her excuse, but she’s looking at the room strangely, he thinks, almost like she’s seeking a particular face.

When she makes her way to her desk, when she whizzes past him by the board and her planet is entering his orbit for the first time in the morning, Adler, as if by accident or by design, inhales deeply.

His breath snags.

She smells like someone else.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(Someone fucked her last night)

The telephone rings in the distance.

“Sims. Yeah, sure, let me get him. Hold on.” He puts the call on hold. “Doc, you might wanna take this one.”

(Someone was in her bed; beside her, above her, under her. Inside her. He imagines her fingers digging into the mattress as they rolled her onto her stomach, mouth trailing down the ladder of her spine. Their breaths intermingled in the seraphic glow of her hotel room)

Adler mechanically crosses the room and picks the receiver.

“Adler.”

(If he herds her away from prying eyes and pushes down the collar of her shirt, would he see the evidence there, taunting him? If he kisses her, would he taste them instead of her? )

"Perhaps," he says over the phone, his face hard. "But my decision is final. I'm sending Woods and Mason to Yamantau. They'll leave in a few days."

(Did they make her come?)

"Of course. Why do you think I chose them for this mission?"

(If she made them?)

“Most likely, but we're prepared for this- you know we are," Adler says, customer service polite, an old recording on a playback. "Right. Well, that concludes the matter then. Yeah, you have a wonderful day to yourself.”

Adler hangs up the telephone. Breathes out a sigh. He pinches the bridge of his nose for a few good seconds, before remembering that he has an audience.

"Oof. Sounds rough," comments Sims, dark eyes slanting in concern.

(Maybe she likes that, rough. Teeth biting the back of her shoulder, that sweet juxtaposition of pain and pleasure coursing through their veins, his hand curling around her throat from behind as she pants and mewls like-)

(But this isn’t about him. Never about him)

"That's one way to put it."

Someone else fucked her. It shouldn't leave an acrid taste in his mouth, but it does.

[keigoloveminty]

Diamond

Plot: After getting her heartbroken for 6th times, y/n is finally done and decided to not even bother finding another one, she has more options than she thinks she has

Pairing/s: Hawks x Reader, Izuku x reader, Todoroki x reader, Shinsou x reader, Dabi x reader, Shigaraki x reader, Genten x reader, Aizawa x reader 

All characters are aged up to 25+ 

Warning: Mafia Au, LOV crew is soft to reader,(No Yandere’s just jealous and angry exes :>), also this is me not continuing my other fanfics-- please I just wanna finish it without having another idea again HAHAHHAHA (I have to finish a request as well :’>)

You weren't sure what you’ve done in the past month now, you’ve just got your heartbroken-- again and for the 6th time now. You didn’t know what to do so you just laid there in bed starring at the window that showed you it was broke daylight and here you were, covered in your huge fluffy blanket with blood shot eyes from crying last night, your eyes were still watery and a bit scratchy be honest. You really want to just get up and get ready for the day but you were starring at the window for the past 3 hours now, you woke up exactly at 5am and it was now 9:20 am, you’ve heard your phone go off a lot of times and made you irritated that you turned off your phone and setting up an alarm clock to wake you up early. You’ve just moved to your new place a couple weeks ago, for a normal person it would've took them months to get settled into a new space but due to your connections with Shigaraki, you both were very close and whenever you had a break-up you’ll always end up in his apartment picking up a new place for you and your shop to relocate at. You and Shigaraki go way back to grade school along with his friend named Dabi if you remembered correctly but you both didn't see each other everyday and if you did you guess he had time off from the ‘Family business’ he would always say to you. You didnt want to push the subject any further so you just nodded and never brought the subject up, you couldn't help but try to guess what family business you thought he had so you made it a personal goal to guess what kind of job he had. 

When you told him if he has a job that sold houses-- considering he would help you find one to your liking within a few hours of looking and then making sure there was someone to buy your old house and transferred the money to your account. All the houses were within your budget since your shop was really successful and you were glad you had something to distract you and keep you busy whenever you were going through a heartbreak, all the sweet and sugary things you baked and made made you temporarily forget the sadness but it takes times for you to heal on your own but as soon as you've had you 3rd break up you kind off found a few ways to heal. You were always the one who would confess first and the first one to get heartbroken as well, sometimes you didn’t know why or what have you done to even get dumped in the first place because you always made sure not upset them in any way. If they needed space then you would give them time to breath but then after days of not talking to them to give them space they were suddenly throwing themselves to another person and dumping you the next days, so whenever you fought with your partner you were already ringing up Shigaraki to find you a new place and reserving it for you.

You’ve moved to a lot of places with your parents back when they were still with you but now that they weren't with you since they died peacefully, you kept the shop that both of your parents build up and kept the business up and going. Shigaraki was always there by your side whenever you called and if not your both would talk to each other through the phone for hours until one of you has to go, you were always happy to talk to him whenever he had to vent up something when something happens in his ‘Family Business’. Back to the topic of this ‘Family Business’, there were months of you not meeting Shigaraki since he had to fly somewhere far from Japan which mean he had a different time zone than you. Dabi was a second option to hangout with but he was always not available every time you tried to call and tell him to hangout with you but whenever he did he would come in clothed fully for top to bottom, you guess it was because he had to cover the scars from his past that you refrained from asking him too much, back then he would always have his arms wrapped in bandages to school. When you would ask him he would always brush it off as ‘I fell down a stairs’ or ‘I accidentally used my quirk too much’ and you did know when he used his quirk it would cause his whole body to heat up causing his skin to be burned, Cremation is his quirk, a blue flame-- the hottest part of any flame. He always told you how much he didn’t really have a good relationship with his father and that he would always say that he’d one day leave his house and just crash with Shigaraki, you nod at this as you applied a clean bandage over his arms carefully.

In this current day of age, half of the people who had quirks were called special people and those who don't have a quirk were called quirkless people and at covered least 60% of the population while the other half were people with quirks. As soon as people with different types of quirks arise it shock the whole nation and caused both side to drift apart which cause chaos, the other side tried to fight and fend off the side that had quirks which didn’t ended well. As truce, an organisation was built to control people who would use their quirks for power, people with quirks who didn’t had the same idea with the idea of over throwing the people who didn’t had quirks went against their own kind and protected the ones who didn’t have quirks. So naturally they were praised by people and would call them ‘Heroes’ but that still wasn't enough seemingly as the people who had stronger quirks were on the other side, they called those people of that side Mafia’s or Yakuza’s. They didn’t like the thought of the government controlling them so they went against them, the world of mafia’s was something unknown to you and it wasn't like you didnt know them but you somewhat wanted to know what their world looked like. It’s hard to even spot someone who work is basically selling guns, drugs, killing people or anything that's deemed illegal. You were curious but you never tried to even look for one so you tend to just keep away from alley ways or even night outs since you’ve been told that it was dangerous out night, you got that from Shigaraki and Dabi as well as your other friends that you’ve befriended.

You were curious but you were not stupid enough to even seek out let alone coincidentally stumble upon one and you did not want that to happen, another ring sounds through the whole room and you looked at your table side. You reached out and grabbed it looking at the name, the brightness of your phone illuminating your whole face 

Keigo Takami 

You sighed and silenced your phone, you should changed your sim card and made sure to just save the ones you needed to save, you either have to tolerate your phone ringing every now and then, get a new phone and sim card or just completely destroy this phone and just get a new one but you didn’t want the hassle of buying a new phone anyway. You pushed the blanket off your whole body and stretched your arms and got off the bed and went straight to the bathroom and freshen up, there were still a lot of unpacked boxes that littered around the apartment some open some still sealed closed. You tipped toed around the boxes scattered around and finally you got to your bathroom, you flipped the lights on and looked at yourself through the mirror. You furrowed your eyebrows as you looked at the state you were in, you sighed and turned on the faucet to wash your face and remove whatever dirt was on your face. After that you ran a warm shower, being generous with the shampoo for your long hair, scrubbing your scalp then rubbing the ends of your hair, next is conditioner. You washed off the conditioner then grabbed a loofa and scrubbed off all the dead skin, you washed your whole body then turning the shower off, you grabbed the towel from the counter and wrapped it around your body, blow dried your hair then stepped out of the room to find something to wear. You walked in front of your closet and just grab what ever you see first, you grabbed a medium sized polo-- your guessing it was from Dabi sleeping over for awhile and forgot to bring it back with him-- and a high waisted shorts. You weren't sure if you’ll step outside from your apartment since you weren't even finish putting the shop up, arranging your cooking appliances downstairs from your three story building-- thank Shigaraki for giving you such nice places to stay at. 

At first you were a bit skeptical of choosing this place but Shigaraki told you this one had a lot more room and floors for you to decorate and do whatever you want. The building was three stories high, on the first floor you had your bakery shop, on the second floor is where your home is with plenty of and on the third floor is the roof top. You haven’t started any decorating on the roof top you might just use it as a place just to chill and maybe just plant some flowers or maybe vegetables and fruits or maybe you’ll just put up a table and a couple of chairs for you to just chill there whenever you feel like you need to take a break. The rent for this building was reasonable enough for to rent it, due to the money your receiving from your ‘distant relatives’, you’ve never talked to them all you had was a two credit cards where they sent you more than enough money to spend on something every month. If your lucky they might send you twice the amount next month or send more money on the 3rd week of each month, that's all the connection you had with them you didn’t even know where they even live so as much as you want to thank them for being so generous in sending you money. You sat in front of your vanity and grabbed you brush and started brushing your long silky hair, after you ran your finger through your hair you picked up a hair tie and put your hair up in a high ponytail, you placed your brush down making sure pull out the hairs that were stuck in the brush and threw it straight to the trash. You looked on the table searching for any accessory that you could wear, moving both your hands to searching for anything, after looking around your eyes locked on a slick black box. You reached for it and opened it slowly, the box held a precious Diamond crystal necklace and two diamond earrings in heart form, you picked the earrings up and decided to just wear that. That was a gift from Shigaraki for your 24th birthday last year, you smiled at the memory and stood up from your seat and fixed some of your baby hairs that framed your face, you looked at the time 11:20 am. You sighed and smiled and raised both of your arms,”Okay! Its time to finish the shop!”

---

You swiped the sweat that formed on your forehead as you carried the last box of your baking ingredients to the back, the shop was just about ready to open since Dabi finished putting up all the table and chairs, the small vases on the table, the picture frames, set up the display glass that will show case your delicious sweets and lastly your cash register. Meanwhile you were working at the back placing where all the cooking utensils, bowls, mixers will be, Dabi also help you with that once he was done in the front. You placed all the last ingredients, you did one look around the place and let out a happy sigh and leaned back on the marbled table,”You certainly finished all work now did ya’ doll?”, you let out a scream and looked at the direction where the voice was. You let a breath of relief when you saw who it was,”Dabi can't you please tell me when you decide to visit me? I could've hit you with a spatula..”, you crossed your arms in front of you and pouted looking at him. Dabi rolls his eyes and zips down his black hoodie,”I thought you got used to me popping up now and then, sorry about that doll”, his nickname to you back in high school, you liked it so you didnt complain. “You need something? I could bake your favourite dessert if you want?”, You asked him as you walk to get the ingredients, he stops you by reaching your arm and grabbing it softly. You looked at him with a questioning look,”Hm? What is it, Dabi?”, you turned you whole body to face him, he looks straight into your e/c eyes with his teal eyes. His eyes narrows his eyes when he picks up those almost unnoticeable eye bags as moves closer to your face, you noticed he was starring too much at you, you turned you head away not noticing a small smirk from Dabi but quickly as it came it disappeared into a small frown,”Sorry I could've been there to comfort you its just that.. my job called me right the time I thought I had a day off”, he apologises. His hand that was on your arm slowly slides up to cup you cheeks, his thumb caresses you soft cheek, you leaned into his soft touch and closed your eyes. 

Dabi smiles and gentle pulls your head to rest into his warm embrace, your arms wrapped around his waist as you hurried you face into his chest as he pats your head. You smiled feeling warm and cozy in his arms, because of Dabi’s quirk his whole body was warm and you really liked it,”As much as I like you hugging me, wanna get out if here and just walk around the city?”, he asks you. You looked up to look at him,”Sure! I plan on checking the area out anyways before the sun come down and I have to retreat back to my bed”, you moved away from him gesturing Dabi to follow you to the front of the shop, he follows right behind you to the front door. You switch off the light in the shop and closed the door and locked it, putting the keys away you looked at Dabi who had his hoodie up and zipped up to his mouth. You smiled and jogged to his side and matching his pace,”So where do you want to go? I’m pretty new to this area and I heard from Shigraki that you guys live around this area, I’m hearing a sleepover”, You happily jumped and nudge your elbow on Dabi’s arm. Dabi gives you a side eyes look and rolls his eyes playfully,”I don't mind but my job lovesss love calling me whenever I'm relaxing and its my day ooff”, Dabi held his hands up to his chest and lets out a “enthusiastic”  ‘yay’ that made you laugh. That being said you didn’t know what Dabi’s job is either, you didn’t know Toga’s, Bubugiwara’s, Miss Magne’s, She Astuhiro-- you knew none of what their job was but you do know what Shigaraki’s job and thats basically it. You’ve asked them a lot of times but all you got was--

“My job? How silly n/n-chan, a woman never tells her secrets”, Toga replies grinning looking at you,’ehehehe.. a stripper maybe?’, you brushed off the thought and just nodded

“Eh? My job? Hmm I dint think you should know Yeah! A precious gem like you shouldn’t know! Dont want you to be tainted cause Shigaraki might have our head! Soowwyy precious diamond!”,Bubugiwara and his other half says,’He cant tell me.. and Shigaraki might have his head? what does he mean by that?’, you just gave a short nod and sipped on your f/d drink.

“Hm, my job you say. Sorry sweetheart but I cant tell you that, as much as I want to, Dia. My job is quite complicated I dont want you to get into my mess”, Miss Magne says as she pats your head and hands you a creampuff,”Wanna try my latest flavour though? I heard you love strawberries!”, she smiles. You returned the smile and took a bite from the creampuff and tasting the strawberry flavour,’So Magne won't tell me as well, what does she mean by ‘I dont want you to get into my mess’??’, you smiled back at her,”I love it!! Please teach me how to make this creampuffs!”, Miss Magne is the one that teaches you how to cook desserts and give you new ideas

“I’m not telling Y/n, even if you bother me everyday..”, Genten says sipping on his hot chocolate, you pouted and crossed your arms looking at him with a dejected expression,”Not even a hint?”, you pressed on waiting for his answer. You looks at you with his silver eyes,”...No”, you slumped down the couch he sat on till your legs hit the floor,”Ughhh... none of you guys tell me what your job iisss, is your job that scary that might scare me?”, you asked again looking at Geten again. You both starred at each other for a whole minute, Genten was the first to look away,”No comment..”, you let out another grumble crossing your arms 

“My sweet Diamond, i’am afraid I can not tell you what my job it”, you let out a loud groan,”You too Atsu-kun? What does a girl like me have to do to know what your jobs are...”, you pouted slumping your arms on top of the table. He laughs as he cooks a sip from his tea,”Shigaraki has told me you’ve asked the whole group, its a good thing he told us all”, you looked up to his face lazily and   twitched your eyes clearly annoyed,”All I know is Shigaraki’s job..”, you looked to your side hiding your annoyed expression. Atsuhiro flinched at this but you didnt saw this,”.. which is selling houses”, he breaths out not knowing he held his breath. You looked back at him with an eyebrow raised,”This tea is absolutely Devine!”, you looked at him straight face. “.. ... you always order the same tea Atsu--”  “Devine!!”

“Heyyy Dabi! I was wondering if--”, before you could finish your sentence, Dabi presses his forehead against yours,”Not telling, Doll”, he sings the word doll. You pulled yourself backwards, your face flushing red. “I haven’t even finished yet!!”, You shake on his shoulders, he shrugs and just pats your head,”You want an answer?”, you shook your head up and down trying to not to look too excited. He grabs your shoulder and moves his face close to your ear,”I strip my clothes for money--”, Your whole body froze. Face getting red each second, he pulls back to look at you, he pulls back laughs at your expression,”O-oh.. okay then..”, Dabi hunches his body forwards holding his stomach, slapping his thigh,”I’m joking Doll, also not telling”, you hit his head with an angry expression.

Those were all the responses they gave you were all the same, they would not answer you nor give you a hint but rather something that gave it away. With those evidences you could try to piece things together to find your answer, you were suddenly pulled out of thoughts when you felt Dabi tapped your shoulder. You looked up to face him,”We’re almost near a cafe, it looks packed too but I heard the sold really good crepes too, in all kinds of flavours as well”, he says pulling you to the cafe takin the open seat outside the cafe. You both sat down and wait for a waiter to give you a menu, as quickly as you both sat a waiter comes up and gives you a menu,”Hello there and well some to Sweet Parade, My names Mary and I'll be your waitress for this afternoon. I shall comeback shortly to take your order”, She places both menu’s down in front of you both, bowed and walked away. You picked up the menu and scanned each dish, moving on to the next page, then the next page, next, next-- you got to the end of the menu and placed it down then closed it. You looked back at Dabi who was struggling to even pick what he wanted to order,”You still looking?”, you asked him, he grumbles out flipping to the next page. “The letters are so small, there's too many things in the menu, can’t choose anything..”, he says as he flips to the next page. You opened your menu again and asked him,”What are you craving right now?”, you asked him. Dabi closes the menu and looks at you with a smirk,”I’m pretty sure you know what I want, we’ve been friends for so long. Right now I guess I’m craving something hot and cheesy and something fizzy to wash all that grease down--”, as soon as he says that, your eyes shined a faint red. You scanned each page reading each letter, trying to match Dabi’s preference, not staying more than 10 seconds on each page you flipped to the next page.

You then closed the menu again and told him the food that might match his preference,”They pizza in different flavours on page 5 and a couple of fizzy drinks in the last page--”, you looked at him, you original e/c eyes shined. Dabi smirks at this and rests chin on his hand,”What kind of flavours and what fizzy drinks?”, you narrowed your eyes at this and sighed. You opened your mouth sand told him all the flavour the cafe had in detail and the drinks as well, Dabi’s eyes weren't on you but rather behind the servers who looked at you with eyes wide as plates when they heard you recite the dishes when you just glanced at each page for a brief moment,”--and lastly they have sprite, coke and Diet Coke. Now are we ready to order? I’m kinda hungry”, you huffed and crossed your arms. Dabi gestures the waitress to get their orders. She quickly walks to your table taking your order,”Hello there again, are we ready to place your orders?”, Dabi waves his hands fro you to go first,”Thank you, I’ll have the strawberry crepe and strawberry milkshake please”, you told her, she juts down your order then looks at Dabi,”I’ll have your pepperoni pizza and a coke-- not diet”, you giggled at this and playfully rolled your eyes. The waitress hums and writes down her paper,”Okay, your orders will be up in 30 minutes or less”, she bows done and left with your orders. Dabi leans back and groans,”30 minutes? I’am not leaving a tip..”, you laughed and looked at the people walking around the cafe, its was 4 pm and at this time people were leaving their work to either go home or just hangout around with friends or family. “By the way.. you free tonight doll?”, you turned your head to Dabi. “Well now that the shops done I guess I'm free but I wont be opening my doors till next week cause I’ll have to wake up early for that”, you say tilting your head to the side

“Why the sudden question?”, you asked him. Dabi makes eye contact with you for a second looks at the large glass window of the cafe,”Theres a party-- a real fancy party thats going to be held in a large indoor venue and I want you to go with me. Its totally fine if you dont want to though..”, his voice got quiet till the end but you could still hear him. He looks at your expression to see if you would agree and soon enough he saw your eyes had stars, he must be seeing things,”A fancy party?! I've never been to those kinds of things-- wait is this part of your job? Is it? Is it?!”, you stood up from your seat both hands on the table and leaned forward to Dabi. Dabi clears his throat and tells you to sit down, you sat down pushing your chair forwards waiting for his reply,”Some parts of it IS my job, so you wanna go or what--”, you slammed your hands on the table,”YES!! I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go--”, you chanted looking at him with eyes shining. Dabi holds his hand up, you stopped and looked at him,”Okay then, You better eat fast then cause the party’s is at 7pm and the venue is pretty far”, you nod at this nearly jumping out of your seat again. You begun thinking what should you even wear at the party-- wait you have to ask him that,”Wait- how exactly were you invited to this party? Also what should I wear?”, you asked him. “First, Shigaraki was suppose to tell you this but he has shit to get done for his Family business--”

‘There's that word again-- wait Shigaraki?? Did his employer invited him to their party??’,You raised an eyebrow looking at Dabi,”Shigaraki? who's holding the party Dabi?”, you asked, Dabi rolls his eyes at this,”Its Shigaraki doll, he’s.. job gets him to places I guess..”,he says he shift his eyes to your side. “Also our orders are here now”, you looked behind you and saw a serve with your orders. “Here you go Maam, Sir. Please enjoy your order”, you thanked the server and looked at your strawberry crepe and strawberry milkshake. You looked towards Dabi’s order that almost took the whole table,”You.. going to finish that--”

“Every last bite of it”

---

You sat in front of the vanity doing your make up, Dabi went back to his apartment to get suited up for the occasion and said he’ll pick you up around 6pm. You were doing a simple make up since Dabi told you not to glam up too much,”Okay.. then some red lipstick blended outwards for a gradient effect”, you blended it out with a lip brush. Curled your lashes and put mascara on, a light blush on your cheeks, you smiled as you looked at your work through the mirror. You were wearing a the Diamond necklace and the earrings from what you've wore earlier, you wore a short dress that huge your body tight was covered in gems with a plunging v-neck and spaghetti straps tied at your neck. You didnt know what do to with your hair and since the dress was open at the back you might want to stick close to Dabi,”Well aren't you looking dolled up, you look hella sexy doll”, you wipped your face to look behind you, you sighed as it was just Dabi,”Seriously Dabi? Again? I didnt here the door open--”, you blushed as you looked at him, he wore a dark blue dress pants, black vest, white buttoned up sleeves and a red neck tie,“You look... amazing”,you looked away rubbing your arms. Dabi throws his coat on the bed and grabs your arm,”I’ll do your hair, you have a curler with you?”, he lets you sit in front of your vanity again. You pointed at the third drawer, he reaches for the third drawer and pulled out the curler and plug it in, as it was heating up he grabs the brush and brushes the tangles, he bunches up the hair for a high ponytail like what your had earlier. He tightens the hair tie and grabs the curler and curls the ends softly once he was done he grabs some of the hair behind the ponytail and used it to cover the hair tie and pins it down. 

He uses a bit of hairspray to keep the baby hairs down, he takes a step back and admires his work,”Perfect.. you have your shoes on?”, he asks you. You stood up and walked to your closet,”Yup! Its right at the bottom of the closet--”,  Dabi stops you and tells you to sit down,”Actually I have something to match that outfit, finally”, he brings out a black shoebox. You eyes widen as he opens it, its a 4 inch heel covered in gems that probably cost three times more than the money you received from your distant relatives,”I-is this a part two to the dress I’m wearing right now?”, the dress you were wearing was a gift from Dabi for your birthday last year. Dabi grins as he holds up on pair,”Yup now show me those pretty feet of yours”, you rolled your eyes. Dabi-- or rather all of them treated you like a princess or like a diamond they would say and call you that sometimes. He places the first pair on you and then the second, he places your feet down,”They are the right size right?”, he asked as he holds out a hand to which you grabbed and pulls you to stand up. You almost stumbled backwards if it wasn't for Dabi grabbing your waist to steady yourself,”T-thank you and yes they are the right size, we should probably get going right?”, you told him. Dabi--still has his arm around you reaches for his coat,”Yep and I can tell we both are going to be late, Shigaraki might not like this”, you both walked out of your apartment. As you walked out of the back door and though the alleyway to the front your flinched at what you saw, a sleek jet black sports car. You turned your head to Dabi in surprise,”We-- thats-- umm.. are we??”, he quickly pulls you towards the car,”No time doll, good thing I brought this instead, we need a miracle to get there in a few minutes, now get in”, he opens the door and you entered inside the warm seat. The drivers door opens and Dabi steps in and closes the door,”You ready Y/n?”, you nod as you fastened your seatbelt,”You better hold on tight cause I’am not slowing down.”, he turns on his car with his is keys, change his gear and steps on the pedal.

[danganronpasenariosuwu]

Some Danganronpa babes confessing to their long-time crushes

Holy shit, I've been very inactive! I'm super-duper sorry! I've been very, very busy, and now that summer is finally here I'll be more active, yay! So, as an apology, I'm going to post my second scenario, and I hope that at least one person actually reads through it! Hopefully, the Danganronpa community isn't dead yet!

Makoto Naegi-

♣Although he had planned for this for weeks, he was still anxiety-filled.

♣This could go two ways, assuming his luck didn't play into it as well. A simple yes or no, it wouldn't hurt him too much, right?

♣Wrong. He wasn't sure what he'd do if you said no, nor if you said yes.

♣He wanted to do it the classic way- confessing to you after school behind a cherry-tree. It had worked for all of those anime characters, why not him?

♣He was observing the tree when you arrived, so his back was to you. He turned around-

♣He tripped, abort mission

♣After a bit of laughing, you helped him back up, and asked him why he wanted to talk, although you thought you knew already.

♣After a bit of stuttering, he managed to get it out.

♣”Y/N, you've been one of my best friends for a long time. No matter what my luck manages to do, you're always there with me to help me up, quite literally! I've liked you for such a long time, and I was wondering if you'd like to go out?” He said, in a very fast pace. You could barely understand him.

♣Whether or not you said yes was up to you, but he hoped that his luck would finally work it's magic.

Byakuya Togami-

♕Honestly, he wasn't too concerned. He figured that his money could help buy you over, since his wealth was clearly one of his best attributes.

♕But, he was too aloof to just ask you in person. And, since he clearly couldn't write his feelings for himself, he asked for help.

♕Specifically, he asked Naegi for help, which in retrospect wasn't the best choice for him.

♕After successfully obtaining the note from Naegi, he sealed it up and signed his name on it.

♕The next day at school, just before class started, he slipped it into your locker, which was convieniently close to his.

♕During class, he was a bit quieter than usual, not bothering to shoo Touko, as his mind was completely focused on you, and how you'd respond.

♕Of course, he hoped you would accept, but he did also realize that he could easily replace you if you said no, though it would pain him a bit.

♕After class was over, you went to your locker to grab your books. A letter fell out.

♕You opened it, and read it through.

♕It read- ‘Dear Y/N. My heart has found its way to you with all my love. I want you and no one else because you mean everything to me. I think we should try and make this work. I hope you know you're the one and only one that I want. You're the perfect friend, and I hope we can and will grow to be more. I could never ask for better than what we already have. I hope you're feeling the same way because my heart is set on you and only you.’

♕You already knew it wasn't in his own words, but you were touched nonetheless. It took you awhile to think about it, but you soon had your answer.

Kyouko Kirigiri-

♢You two had been close for a while, and you had managed to be one of the few lucky people to get to know her.

♢She adored everything about you for quite a while, though it never showed. ♢Since she had recently found out that you both enjoyed the same book series, she figured she could confess through that. ♢You were on the second book, almost done and ready to go onto the third. ♢She had checked it out before you, though, and paid the librarian for the damages she would cause, although small.

♢She flipped through the pages until she found the last one, in which the main character confessed to the love-interest. She underlined the words the character had said, and opened to an empty page which was right after the end. She grabbed a purple ballpoint pen. ♢’Y/N, I’d greatly enjoy it if the two of us could be as close as protagonists in this book. I'm hoping you already know who I am, so you can come and speak with me.’ ♢She closed the book and went back to return it. ♢A few days later, you went to go check out that exact book, and in a week you managed to finish it.

♢However, what caught your attention was the bold underline on the confession. You flipped to the last page and read the note, which was addressed to you, surprisingly.

♢Knowing fully well who it was, you decided to go confront it about her, your answer completely clear to you now.

Hajime Hinata-

☞He was a bit afraid to tell you how he felt. What if you didn't like him back because he was too plain? What if he messed up? ☞So, he asked Chiaki to help him, and she delivered, like any good friend would. ☞After a while of her rambling about a hard dating sim she had heard about, she tried giving him advice. ☞”Well, in dating sims they usually ask them out on a date to their favorite place. Do you know Y/N’s favorite place?”

☞”Their house?” He asked. As if that was a good place to go on a first date. ☞”No, like a restaurant or something.” Chiaki sighed, already getting too tired to deal with this love-retarded boy. ☞”I mean, they like to go to that one park with all the cherry blossom trees..” He thought. ☞After talking to Chiaki for a while, he agreed on asking you out to said park. ☞So, after school one day, he pulled you aside. You looked confused. Your best friend, Mahiru, was waiting for you, since you always walked home together. ☞”Hey, Y/N, I like you a lot, and I was wondering if you'd like to go to the park with me tomorrow?” He silently prayed you said yes. ☞Though it was short, your heart warmed a bit after hearing the confession. You had to give him your decision quick, or Mahiru would get angry, so you thought for a second and spoke.

Nagito Komaeda-

♧He knew you'd say no, it's just that some kids from his class had been pressuring him into telling you. ♧He liked you a lot, and hoped you could be more, but he knew it wouldn't happen because who would love trash like him? ♧Nekomaru had given him a pep talk before he went to tell you, hilariously enough. It mainly consisted of him making Komaeda yell his (and your) name. It embarrassed him even further, his face already tinted red. ♧So, after class one day, he tapped your shoulder in an attempt to get your attention. ♧However, his luck had decided to strike, and once you turned around someone pushed you into his chest, officially making the both of you red faced.

♧He pulled back quickly, and apologized profusely. ♧”Bro, it's okay, it wasn't your fault anyways.” You giggled.

♧”Anyways, there's something I'd like to tell you.” he began, nervously fiddling with his thumbs.

♧”Y/N, I've found myself liking you with a passion that friends shouldn’t have. I know you'll say no, since it's impossible for someone to like trash, but I'd like to ask if you want to go out?” ♧You didn't hesitate to respond, since you've already been thinking about how you'd respond to something like this, and because your second class was about to start. Hopefully you don't put this boy into despair.

Chiaki Nanami-

(Some clarification in this- You're the ultimate game designer in Chiaki’s scenarios) 🎮Sure, Chiaki was good at video games. But there's one genre that's hard for her.

🎮Dating sims. And, because of this, she wasn't too sure about how well she’d be able to confess.

🎮Taking it upon herself to study a bit more, she downloaded a dating sim labeled as ‘Mildly easy’.

🎮After a day or two of attempting to beat it, she stumbled upon a character that eerily resembled you. It's name was (Your name but with some letters swapped). She decided that she had to go that route, since she figured it would help her confess.

🎮It took her about fourteen hours to finish, but the confession at the end made it all worthwhile..

🎮It read, ‘(Your name but with some letters swapped), Ever since I met you I've been endeared to you. From your looks to your personality, I like it all. You're all that I want, and I hope you feel that way too?’ 🎮And, from the way the character responded, Chiaki supposed that the exact same confession should work for you.

🎮So, Chiaki decided to tell you immediately at school tomorrow.

🎮You were walking through the halls until Chiaki walked up to you, looking determined as ever. 🎮She recited the confession, using your name instead of the character’s, and your response was a short, simple giggle. 🎮”Nanami, did you find my dating sim? I knew you'd play it someday!” You smiled, although the girl in front of you was very, very confused. 🎮After having a short laugh, you gave Chiaki your answer, either letting her down immensely or making her day even better.

Shuichi Saihara-

🔎He may or may not have cried while thinking about how you'd respond.

🔎He was obviously too shy to tell you in person, even after Kaede’s inspiring pep-talk. 🔎So, he wrote a letter that conveyed all of his emotions, though it might be a bit long.

🔎It read, ‘Dear Y/N. Every word you confide in me, every wonderful and terrible moment you share with me, melts me inside.

You let yourself be vulnerable with me and trust me beyond my comprehension. I never imagined I would truly find another who I would want to spend so much time with, who could truly touch my life the way you have, even without trying. I look forward to many more special moments together. When I see you, I see my future. This is not just talk. It truly comes from the heart. I am consumed by the desire to be with you, to talk to you and to feel you near me. I want to hold you, talk to you, laugh with you, cry with you. I want to play, walk, dance and just be one with you. I think you could become my everything. I know I want to be everything to you. I love you, Y/N L/N.’ And he signed it at the bottom. 🔎But, last second, he chickened out, leading to Kokichi stealing the letter, reading it and laughing. And Shuichi’s ego deflated even more, if possible. 🔎Kokichi ran up to your locker and put it in for the other boy. 🔎Y’see, Kokichi was a hardcore shipper of you two, and wanted to help- 🔎And so, after class you opened your locker and read it. It made your heartbeat pick up its pace, and your face turn red. 🔎You confronted Shuichi immediately. 🔎If you say yes, he’ll probably cry. If you say no, he’ll probably cry AND become depressed. Good luck. Kokichi Ouma- ♖He isn’t nervous at all. He was SURE you'd like him back. ♖But that's a lie, of course. He was scared. There's a small chance of you liking an asshole like him, so he only had a small amount of certainty. ♖He's not necessarily shy, so he decided to do it in person, since that's the most head-on way to do it. ♖So, like most of the others, he chose to tell you after class. ♖You were walking out of class when you were caught off-guard by him jumping on you. ♖And you fell over, as a result, and you ended up in a weird position in which he was straddling you, and his hands were on your stomach. ♖At this point, there's absolutely NO going back. So, in a state of rushed panic, he suddenly yells out- ♖”Y/N, I LIKE YOU A LOT” ♖And now you're both blushing a deep red. ♖Before you could answer, he gets up and runs away, which surprised you immensely. ♖Now you need to go find a flustered boy and tell him if you like him or not. Good luck with that, and don't die. Kaede Akamatsu- ♬She was DETERMINED. ♬Nothing could stop her now. She was literally on her way to your house right now to go and confess to you. ♬At 2 AM. ♬On a Sunday. ♬But she didn't even care. True love was worth it, right? ♬So, when she burst through your window, effectively breaking the glass and ripping the curtains, you were surprised, to say the least. ♬”Kaede what the FUCK are you doing in my house at 2 AM?” ♬”Y/N I’M HERE TO PROCLAIM MY LOVE FOR YOU” ♬On comes a long, and passion-filled confession. It was so early that you weren't thinking when you responded. You either made a decision that would literally keep you bound to her for life, or make her day horrible and make her gross sob to Shuichi. It all depends on how your dreary form at 2 AM responded.

[the-magnus-archives-archiver]

Alone

Case: 0161301

Name: Naomi Herne Subject: The events following the funeral of [her] fiancé, Evan Lukas Date: January 13th, 2016 Recorded by: direct from Naomi Herne, under the supervision of Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London

[John: Right, let’s try this.

Naomi: Really? Does that thing even work? It must be thirty years old.

John: I know, but we have previously had some success using it to record statements that our... digital recording software struggles with.

Naomi: Yeah, well that’s one way to put it. You need to get some better equipment.

John: Believe me, I have been trying. Still, the tape recorder seems to work fine as a backup, and I can have it transcribed later, so for now if you’d be so kind—

Naomi: You’re serious? You actually want me to tell my story into that rattling piece of junk? I see why no-one takes you guys seriously.

John: You’re under no obligation to speak to us.

Naomi: No, I just... I guess I’m just desperate. The last paranormal investigator I went to laughed at me when I suggested talking to you. Still, I-I guess you have to believe me.

John: Something like that.

Naomi: ... Okay, from where we left off?

John: Probably best to start over. Name, date, subject, et cetera. I’m not optimistic that any of the previous recording will be salvageable.

Naomi: Fine. My name is Naomi Herne, and I’m making a statement about the events following the funeral of my fiancé, Evan Lukas. The date is the 13th of January 2016. To be honest I’m not even sure I should be here. What happened was weird and, alright, I can’t think of a rational explanation for it, but I was distraught. I still am. I should go. I probably just imagined the whole thing. He’s gone and that’s all there is to it.

John: That’s certainly possible. It might all be in your head, though there is the matter of the stone.

Naomi: That could be... I don’t know. I just don’t know what to think.

John: Take your time.

Naomi: Wait, where are you going?

John: I was going to give you some privacy while you make your statement.

Naomi: Ok, it’s just... could you stay please? I don’t want to be alone.

John: Very well. Let’s start from the beginning.]

Alright. I guess the beginning would be when I met Evan. I’ve never really been the social type. I’ve always been more comfortable alone, you know? My father died when I was 5 years old and my mother spent so much time working to keep us fed that I hardly ever saw her. I wasn’t bullied in school or anything like that. I mean, to be bullied you need to be noticed and I made sure that I wasn’t. It was the same in secondary school and even in uni up at Leeds. When everyone was moving out into shared houses for second year, I stayed in a nice cosy room for one in university accommodation. I’ve always just been happier alone.

Well, maybe happier isn’t quite the right word. I did get a bit lonely sometimes. I’d hear laughter coming from other rooms in my building or see a group of friends talking in the sun outside and maybe I’d wish I had something like that, but it never really bothered me. I knew my own company and was comfortable with it. I didn’t need other people and they certainly didn’t need me. The only person who ever really seemed to worry about it was Pastor David. He worked in the Chaplaincy, and I saw him occasionally when work or stress was getting to me. My mum’s a Methodist, and I felt more comfortable talking to him that any of the secular counsellors. He used to tell me it wasn’t natural for people to live in isolation, that we were creatures of community by nature. I remember he always used to say that he was “worried I’d get lost”. Back then, I didn’t know what he meant. I think I do now, though. Anyway, the point is that when I graduated three years ago, I left Leeds with a first in Chemistry and no real friends to speak of. And that was fine by me.

I got a job as a science technician down in Woking. It didn’t pay well, and the children were a thick, entitled lot, but it was enough to live on and kept me close enough to London that I could apply for the various lab jobs that I actually wanted. It was interviewing for one of these where I met Evan. He was going for the same position as I was – lab assistant in one of the UCL Biochemistry departments. He got the job, in the end, but I didn’t care. He was so unlike anyone I’d ever met before. He started talking to me before the interview, and I amazed myself by actually talking back. When he asked me questions, I didn’t feel uneasy or worried about my answers, I just found myself telling this stranger all about myself, without any self-consciousness at all. When he was called in for his interview, I actually felt a pang of loss like nothing I’d known before. All for a stranger who I’d met barely ten minutes ago. When I came out of the building after my own, somewhat disastrous, interview and saw him standing there waiting for me... I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than in that moment.

We went out, and dating gradually turned into living together. I’d had two boyfriends in the past – both short-lived relationships that ended abruptly. In both cases they said it was because they never really felt like I wanted them around and, looking back, that was kind of true. With Evan it was different. It never seemed like his being there stopped me being myself or crossed into spaces that I saw as my own. Everything about being with him felt so natural that when he told me he loved me, it only came as a surprise to realise that we hadn’t said it already. He had friends, as well, plenty of friends, how could he not? And he would take me out to meet them when I wanted to, and when I didn’t he let me be. After a year with him I actually had what could perhaps be called a social life and, more than that, I didn’t hate it. I always used to roll my eyes at people who said that their loved ones ‘completed them’, but I honestly can’t think of any other way to describe how it felt to be with Evan. I proposed to him after only two years, and he said yes.

I’ll skip over the bit where he dies. It’s only been a year, and I don’t want to spend an hour crying into your crappy tape player. Congenital, they said. Some problem with his heart. Always been there, but never diagnosed. No warning. One in a million chance. Blah. Blah. Blah. He was gone. Just gone. And I was alone again. 

There was no-one I could talk to about it. All my friends had been his friends, and once he was gone it didn’t feel right to see them. I know, I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded, they would have said they were my friends too, but I could never bring myself to try. It felt more comfortable, more familiar, to be alone as though Evan had just been some wonderful dream I was now waking up from. 

I don’t remember the week between his death and the funeral. I’m sure it must have happened, but I don’t have any memory of it at all. After leaving the hospital, the next thing that is properly clear in my mind is walking into that big, austere house. I don’t remember where it was, somewhere in Kent, I think, and I must have been given the address by someone in Evan’s family who had organised the funeral. It was strange. Evan never really talked about his family. He said he wasn’t on good terms with them because they were very religious, and he never had been. I’d never met or visited them, or even been told their names, as far as I remember. But they must have known me enough to invite me, as I somehow ended up at the right place. Just as well they took on the responsibility for the funeral. I was in no fit state to organise anything. 

The house was very large, and very old. It had a high gate separating it from the main road, which has the name “Moorland House” carved into the stone of the gatepost. I drove there alone, my old, second-hand Vauxhall Astra complaining all the way. You remember that storm that hit at the end of last March? Well, I hardly noticed it. Thinking back, I really shouldn’t have been driving at all, but at the time it barely registered. The trees were bending ominously when I finally parked at Moorland House, and I immediately lost the only respectful hat that I owned to the wind. Evan had once told me that his family had a lot of money, and looking at this place I realised why the funeral was being held there. I could see round the side what appeared to be a well-kept mausoleum. The last resting place of Evan’s ancestors, and soon, I guessed, of Evan himself. This thought set me crying again, and it was in that state, weeping, windswept and soaked through from the rain, that I saw the door open.

I don’t know what I expected from Evan’s father. I knew he couldn’t be anything like the easy, charming man I’d fallen in love with, but the hard-faced stranger that confronted me on the doorstep still came as a shock. It was like looking at Evan, but as if age had drained all the joy and affection from him. I started to introduce myself, but he just shook his head and pointed inside, to a door down the corridor behind him, and spoke the only words he ever said to me. He said, “My son is in there. He is dead.” And then he turned and walked away, leaving me shaken, with no option but to follow him inside.

The house was full of people I didn’t know. None of the lovely, welcoming faces I’d come to know from Evan’s friends could be seen among the dour figures of his family. Each wore the same hard expression as his father, and I might have been imagining it, but I could have sworn that when they looked at me, their eyes were full of something dark. Anger, maybe? Blame? God knows I felt guilty enough about his death, though I have no idea why. None of them spoke to me or to each other, and the house was so quiet and still that at times it seemed like I could hardly breathe under the weight of the silence.

Finally, I came to the room where he was laid out. Evan, the man I was going to marry, was lying there in a shining oak casket that seemed too big for him, somehow. The coffin was open, and I could see him, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit. I realised I had never seen him wear a suit before. Like everything else in his death, it seemed utterly alien to the life that had he had created for himself. I remember going to my father’s funeral when I was very young. I remember seeing him lying there, after the undertakers had done their business. My father had looked serene, peaceful, like he had calmly accepted the reality of his passing. It had comforted me, as a child, though it had done little to blunt the acute sense of loss I felt. There was none of that on Evan’s face. In death he seemed to have that same hardness and reproach that I saw on every one of the silent family that claimed him for their own.

I don’t know how long I stood there. It felt like seconds, but when I turned around I almost shrieked to see dozens of black-clad figures stood there, staring at me. The rest of the Lukas family were standing, waiting without a word, as though I was between them and their prey. Which I suppose, in some ways, I was. Finally, an old man walked forward. He was small and hunched with age, his black suit hanging off his body like sagging flaps of skin. He spoke, “It’s time for you to leave. The burial is a family affair. I’m sure you want to be alone.” 

I tried to reply but the words stuck in my throat. They stood there, waiting for me to respond or to leave, and I realised the old man was right. I did want to leave, to be alone. I didn’t care where I went, but I had to go, to get away from that awful place with its strange quiet watchers. I ran past them and out into the storm. Inside my car, I just turned on the engine and began to drive. I didn’t know where I was going, and could barely see a thing through my tears and the driving rain, but it didn’t matter. Just as long as I kept going, as long as I didn’t have to stop and think about what had just happened. Looking back, the only thing that surprises me about the crash is that it wasn’t bad enough to kill me. 

When I became aware of myself again, I realised I was in the middle of a field, quite a distance from the road. The tracks behind me showed where I had skidded into the dirt. Luckily I hadn’t hit anything or flipped over, but smoke billowed from the engine of my poor old Astra, and it was clear I wasn’t going anywhere. It was dark, and the time on my dashboard said twelve minutes past eleven. My phone said the same thing. I had arrived at Moorland House at 6 o’clock, as instructed. Had I been driving for hours, or had I spent even longer with Evan’s body than I thought? I hadn’t hit anything, so I couldn’t have been knocked unconscious. Had I just been sitting there in my smoking car all that time? 

It didn’t matter. The rain was beating down hard, and I needed to get some help. I tried to call the emergency services or use the GPS on my phone, but the screen just said “NO SERVICE”. I took a deep breath, trying to stifle panic, and got out the car. I was soaked through in less than ten seconds, as I struggled through the downpour towards the road. I could hear no sound except for the howling wind, and there were no headlights anywhere to be seen. Having no idea where I was, I made the decision to turn right and began to walk. I tried to use my phone again, but as I reached into my bag I realised how much of the rain had soaked through. Pressing the power button only confirmed what I already suspected – my phone wasn’t working. Anger washed over me, and all the bitterness and rage that had been building over the worst days of my life surged of me and I threw the useless lump of plastic at the ground. The corner shattered as it hit the road, then it bounced off the side and disappeared into the thick mud. 

I suddenly felt very cold as I stood there in the road. Rain beating down, tears flowing freely, and utterly alone. I kept walking, desperately hoping to see headlights in the distance, but there was nothing but darkness and the steady pounding of the rain on miles of empty countryside in every direction. I didn’t have a watch, so without my phone I have no idea how long I walked. The cold bit into my soaked funeral clothes and I shivered, falling to my knees and just about giving up. No cars were coming, and I didn’t have the first clue where I was going.

It was then I noticed that the rain had stopped. Wiping the tears from my eyes I saw that a fog had gathered around me, and I could no longer see more than a few feet in front of me. I kept walking, though, as the clinging mist made me feel somehow even colder. The fog seemed to follow me as went and seemed to swirl around with a strange, deliberate motion. You’ll probably think me an idiot, but it felt almost malicious. I don’t know what it wanted, but somehow I was sure it wanted something. There was no presence to it, though, it wasn’t as though another person was there, it was... It made me feel utterly forsaken. I started to run, following as much of the road as I could see in the hopes of getting to the other side, but there seemed to be end to it.

I don’t know exactly when the hard tarmac of the road became dirt and grass, but I realised after a few minutes that I had strayed off the path. I tried to backtrack, but it was gone. All that remained was the fog and the skeletal outlines of half-glimpsed trees. The dark lines of them bent away from me at harsh angles, but if I tried to approach them then, rather than becoming clearer, the trees would disappear back into the hazy night and I would lose them. Kneeling down, I was surprised to realise that the ground I was now standing on was not wet. The hard-packed earth was damp from the creeping mist but it did not appear to have been rained on. The despair I felt was quickly turning into fear, and I kept moving forward, further into the fog.

I realised afterwards that the night should have been far too dark to see the fog. There were no lights there to show it, and the moon had been shrouded in storm clouds all night, but despite this I could clearly see it. Shifting, slate-grey and smelling of nothing at all. As I walked I saw more shapes nearby. Dark slabs of stone, sticking out of the ground, leaning and broken. Gravestones. They spread out in all directions, and the gentle blurring of the mist did nothing to soften the hard weight of their presence. I did not stop to read them.

I kept moving until I reached the centre of what I can only assume was a small cemetery, and there I found a chapel. The top of its steeple was lost in the gloom and the windows were dark. I started to feel relief, as though I might have found some sign of life at last. I began to circle it, moving around to where I assumed the front doors were. As I went I noticed that there was stained glass in the windows but, without any light from inside, I couldn’t make out the design. Finally, I came to front of the building, and I almost lost hope. Wrapped around the handles of the entrance was a sturdy iron chain. I would find no sanctuary here.

I came very close to making a rash decision at that point. I started to shout, to scream for help, but the sound seemed muffled and disappeared almost as soon as it left my throat. No-one heard me, but I continued shouting for some time, just to hear the noise, even if it did seem to die as soon as it touched the fog. It was useless, though, and as I finished I felt the prickling damp flow in and out of my lungs. It was cloying and heavy and I decided I had to do something. I started to look around the ground for the heaviest rock I could find. I was going to get inside that church, even if I had to break a window to do it. Anything to get out of the fog. I was sure that eventually someone would find me.

I noticed that one of the graves had been slightly broken by age, and a small chunk of it could be seen on the ground. It had an engraving of a cross on it, and the weighty lump of stone now lay embedded in the graveyard soil. I bent down to lift it, but as I did so I saw something that froze me in place. The grave was open. And it was empty.

It wasn’t dug up, exactly. The hole was neat, square and deep, as though ready for a burial. At the bottom there was a coffin. It was open, and there was nothing inside. I backed away, and almost fell into another open grave behind me. I started to look around the cemetery with increasing panic. Every grave was open and they were all empty. Even here among the dead, I was alone. 

As I stared, the fog began to weigh me down. It coiled about me, its formless damp clung to me and began to drag pull me gently, slowly, towards the waiting pit. I tried to back away, but the ground was slick with dew and I fell. My fingers dug into the soft cemetery dirt as I looked around desperately for anything I could use to save myself, and my hand closed upon that heavy piece of headstone. It took all my self-control to keep a grip on that anchor, as I slowly dragged myself away from the edge of my lonely grave. Flowing around me, the very air itself willed me inside, but I struggled to my feet. The image of Evan’s family suddenly came into my mind, and I vowed to myself that they would not be the last human contact I ever had.

I looked towards the chapel, and saw with a start that the door was now open, the heavy chain discarded on steps in front. I ran to it as quickly as I could, crying out for help, but when I reached the threshold I stopped, and could only stare in horror. Through that door, where the inside of the chapel should be, was a field. It was bathed in sickly moonlight, and the fog rolled close to the ground. It seemed to stretch for miles, and I knew that I could wander there for years, and never meet another. I turned away from that door, but as I looked behind me I could have wept – beyond the graveyard’s edge lay that same field. Stretching off into the distance.

I had to make a choice, and so I began to run from that chapel, into the field behind me. I nearly fell into a hungry grave but kept my balance well enough to get beyond them. The fog seemed to be getting thicker, and moving through it was getting harder. It was like I was running against the wind, except the air was completely still. I could hardly breathe as I inhaled it. And then, as I found myself in the middle of that open, desolate field, I heard something. It was the strangest thing, but as I tried to run I could have sworn I heard Evan’s voice call to me. He said, “Turn left”. That’s it. That’s all he said. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that’s what he told me to do. And I did it. I turned sharply to the left and kept on running. And then... nothing.

[John: That’s when the car hit you?]

Yes. I remember a second of headlights and then nothing until I woke up in the hospital.

[John: I see.]

So what do you think? Was it real?

[John: Well, we’ll need to do some investigation into a few of the details that you raised, but at first impressions I’d say it was only real insofar as trauma can have a very real effect on the mind. Beyond that, it’s difficult to prove either way, but I would suggest you leave the stone with us, so we can study it. And it would likely help you move past this unpleasant incident. Some time with a more... qualified care professional might also prove helpful.]

Right. I don’t know what I expected, really.

[John: We’ll let you know if we find anything.

Oh, this is ridiculous! I can’t believe I’ve wasted my time–

Archivist Notes: 

Following Ms. Herne’s statement, we did as much follow-up as we were able, which admittedly wasn’t a lot. Evan Lukas did indeed pass away from heart failure on March the 22nd 2015, and his body was taken by his family for burial. All requests to the Lukas family for information or interviews have been very firmly rebuffed.

At roughly one in the morning on the 31st of March, Ms. Herne was involved in collision with one Michael Getty. She had apparently run out into the road in front of Mr. Getty’s car near Wormshill in the Kent Downs. She was quickly taken to a hospital and treated for concussion and dehydration. Her car was found abandoned in a field five miles away.

There are no cemeteries matching Ms. Herne’s description anywhere near the road she was found, nor could there have been any fog, given the incredibly high winds during the storm that night. I’d be tempted to chalk this one up to a hallucination from stress and trauma, if it wasn’t for the fact that when she was hit, Ms. Herne was found to be holding a piece of masonry. It appears to be lump of carved granite with an engraved cross design. The size and style match what would conceivably be found atop a headstone, though we have been unable to trace its origin. Still attached to it is a small fragment of what we can assume would have been the marker itself. The only text that can be made out simply reads “forgotten”. I’ve arranged for it to be transferred to the Institute’s artifact storage.

Source: Official Transcript and Podcast (MAG 13 Alone)

[docsamurai]

Today In Rejected By Publishers: Tempus Fugitives

As the title of this post may have insinuated, the following short story has been rejected by enough publishers that I’m confident it will not ever be professionally published in its current form. So f*ck it. I’m posting it here. Keep reading if you’d like to hear a tale of a con artist who goes on a time travel adventure with a mad scientist. They’re also interracial lesbians because why not?

Jodie Sawyer leapt off the fire escape and hit the ground at a roll, absorbing the two story drop and springing back to her feet. The alarms behind her had been deafening but were already quickly fading into the background with the sound of her boots hitting the pavement and her jacket flapping in the wind replacing the shrill noise.  The satchel containing her hard won prize slapped against her side as she sprinted down back alleys heading to the rendezvous. As Jodie rounded the last corner she saw her getaway driver Mark already being pulled out of the car and cuffed. Shit! Plan C then. Backpedaling down the alley she took off towards her temporary safe house. As she ran Jodie grabbed her burner phone, snapped the SIM card in half and chucked the rest in a dumpster. Sirens were passing by, too close for comfort and on pure instinct Jodie threw herself against a wall and ducked into the alcove of a doorway. Her instincts paid off as mere seconds later a flashlight shone down the alley she had just been running down.

With her breath caught in her throat Jodie felt her heart pounding in her ears as she watched the beam of light scanning the alley. Move on already you bastard. Faintly she picked up something over the cop car’s radio and they finally pulled away. Waiting a few seconds for the road to clear Jodie glanced out of her hiding place and caught sight of the cops turning away. It’s probably not a coincidence that they’re heading right in the direction of the safe house. Plan D then. If they caught Mark and know where the safe house is then this identity is compromised. Gotta ditch anything that can identifying me and hit a dead drop. One of the ones no one else knows about. Risking a peek out of the alleyway Jodie figured out what streets she was near and mapped out a route to the nearby park.

A mile due east and Jodie hit the gate to the park. Using her jacket to protect her hands from the spikes at the top of the fence she vaulted over it feeling the burn in her shoulders. As she retrieved the jacket it snagged on the spikes and tore a large gash in it. Well I had to ditch it anyway. A patrol car passed by the park and Jodie put on an extra burst of speed as she closed the 500 feet to the relative safety of the treeline. As she threw herself into cover Jodie pressed her back against a tree and gasped for air as she looked for any lights scanning the area. Nothing yet, looks like I lost them.

Though the cloudy, moonless night made it easier to hide, it took a lot longer to find the tree she had marked a few days ago. Practically tripping over unseen roots she did finally find it and stashed the satchel, torn jacket and blonde wig. At least no one in this city knows I’m a brunette. A spotlight shining through the trees interrupted her train of thought. Damn. They are persistent tonight. Need to get indoors and figure out an escape plan. Jodie climbed a tree near the fence surrounding the park and as soon as she was sure there weren’t any more patrols in the area she leapt back to the street and took off again towards the waterfront where she finally found an abandoned warehouse to catch her breath in.

This was it, these were the moments Jodie lived for. Staying one step ahead of the law and getting away by the skin of her teeth. Plans getting thrown out the window and being replaced on the fly as chaos meets ingenuity. Jodie rested against the outside of the warehouse, feeling her heart pounding in her ears as she caught her breath. Things had gone to hell several times tonight already and though she had already abandoned weeks’ worth of careful planning it still felt amazing. In the distance she could hear sirens and she knew they were starting to close in. Going to prison again would suck, still though she couldn’t help a small smile creeping onto her face. It had been a years since she had been pushed to her limits like this and she couldn’t deny that the adrenaline and endorphins her head was swimming in was a rush she had sorely missed.

Jodie took a deep breath and wiped sweat from her forehead. OK, one thing at a time. Get inside. She kicked in the side door which was risky as hell and probably made enough noise to alert anyone nearby but she needed to get off the street so she took her chances. There didn’t seem to be any residential buildings around, still though, it was fairly quiet night and sound carried. All she needed was one nosy middle manager working too late for the cops to be back on her heels. The sirens didn’t seem to be getting closer but it would still be a good idea to keep moving.

Jodie started to reach for her phone, remembered that she had already ditched her burner and checked her watch instead. Alright, 1AM, I’m in a warehouse. Older area of town, I think the river was only a few blocks away. They’ll have set up a dragnet with checkpoints on every major road in or out of downtown but they’ll have to clear that up by rush hour so if I can just avoid the patrols for another 6 hours I should be able to find a ride out of town. Should try and get a few hours of sleep if this place is safe. Gotta scout the building before I can relax.

Taking one last look down the empty hallway Jodie turned back to the door she had broken through and reluctantly closed the door. There weren’t any windows in this hall so the moonlight filtering in through the open door was the only light in the room. A broken door was a dead giveaway to a patrolling cop though so Jodie took a slat of wood off a nearby shipping pallet and used it to jam the door shut, plunging the hallway into darkness. Jodie walked softly down the hallway, tracing the inner wall with her fingertips and looking for a doorway she had seen at the end of the hallway. As her eyes adjusted though, she realized that there was a soft golden light spilling from under the doorway. Shit. I’m not as alone as I thought.

Jodie pressed her ear to the door and heard the humming of some kind of generator on the other side but no voices. Could just be some homeless people, they wouldn’t want the cops around either. Jodie tried the door and found it unlocked. Easing the door open she peeked inside. Inside the room a short, Indian woman in a labcoat sat in a rolling office chair coasting back and forth between half a dozen workstations. Between them there at least a dozen different monitors that her eyes darted between keeping track of things Jodie couldn’t see from her angle. Confident that the other woman couldn’t see her, Jodie let her curiosity get the better of her and opened the door a little wider to get a better look at the room.

It wasn’t a single generator but four of them practically stacked on top of each other and hooked up to a bank of servers and some kind of machine she didn’t recognize attached to a large glass chamber that was propped several feet off the ground by steel girders. One side of the chamber was left open and the other side had a thick steel plate embedded in it. On closer inspection there was also a railing that extended to the edge of the chamber. Jodie suddenly noticed the absence of typing and turned back to the other woman to see her staring straight back at her through a gap in the monitors.

Both women stared at each other frozen in silence. A beeping from one of the workstations drew the Indian woman’s attention and out of reflex she turned to it and hit a few buttons. Clearing her throat the Indian woman finally broke the silence. “Can I help you?” she asked without looking away from her work. Time to get to work.

Jodie straightened up and dramatically burst through the door before turning around, slamming it shut and bracing it with her body. “You’ve got to help me!” The Indian woman took only a moment to shoot an impatient glare at Jodie through the gap in the monitors before going back to her work with a roll of her eyes and a non-committal grunt. Jodie ran over to the workstations and tried to find some detail she could latch onto.

A security badge from the local university gave the other woman’s name as Priya Swaminathan but there was nothing else personal in the area, just technical documents and complicated formulas scrawled on whiteboards. Priya still was only barely paying attention to her. Jodie took a breath and was about to start a story about being chased when Priya held up a hand to cut her off without turning around. “I already heard the sirens. I don’t care what you did, so long as you didn’t lead them here. I can’t be interrupted right now.” Jodie rocked back on her heels the momentum she was building stopped in its tracks. Ok, sounds like she’s not going to call the cops on me, still though, might be worth it to charm her a bit just to make sure.

Jodie found a chair nearby and took a seat, wheeling it closer to where Priya was working. “You’re right, I’m avoiding the cops, I just need a place to stay overnight and I’ll leave in the morning. I think I lost them, so if it’s ok with you I’ll just hang out here and stay out of your way.” Priya gave another grunt and nodded her head. Jodie was too amped up to try and sleep so she looked around the room and across the technical documents. She didn’t understand most of it, but it was all eating away at her curiosity. “I’m Jodie.” More silence. “If that’s your badge I’m guessing you’re Priya?” Priya’s eyes flicked briefly to the badge which she scooped up and shoved into her pocket. You’re losing her, can’t risk her kicking you out. Show some interest in her work. “So what are you working on Priya?”

Priya gave a large sigh but kept working. “Something that I can’t let anyone interrupt me on.”

Jodie smiled having finally gotten Priya to respond. “I’m not asking you to stop, just curious. It looks important.”

Priya hit a few keys at one station and a robotic arm activated overhead moving a track into place to join with the one that extended to the edge of the chamber. “I’m building a temporal tunneling engine.” The robotic arm continued to work building a large track around the makeshift lab with a long straightaway towards the chamber with a single bend like a giant J. Priya hit another key and the robotic arm set what looked like a roller coaster car with a laser on the front and a rocket engine on the back at the end of the track.

Jodie blinked several times. Temporal tunneling… “Wait are you building a time machine?!”

Priya gave a small nod “Essentially.”

Jodie leapt out of her chair. “HOLY SHIT THAT’S SO COOL!” Priya looked at strange woman who had barged into her lab who was now excitedly poring over the monitors and technical readouts trying to understand the technology in front of her.

Jodie’s enthusiasm was infectious and Priya let a small smile creep onto her face. “Do you… Do you want to know how it works?” Jodie nodded happily and sat at attention. Got her on the hook. It helps that this is actually pretty awesome.

Priya wheeled her chair over to one of the whiteboards and erased some of the notes scrawled on the board. “Ok, so time is weird. We perceive it as working in a straight line. You go from point A to point B and you don’t go in reverse.” Priya drew 2 points with a line between them. “Now pop culture would tell you that we live in 3 dimensions and time is the 4th. That it’s like taking a 3 dimensional object and extending it out through a 4th dimension.” Priya drew a cube on the board and then drew a further series of lines extending the cube into a new shape. “Pop culture would also say that there are infinite dimensions out there with every possible decision that could be made creating a new dimension in something called the multiverse.” To this she drew a series of circles. “Now pop culture usually gets its science from something that might be real but is simplified enough for the average person to understand.” Priya rolled her eyes and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Point is, there are some real ideas out there, but they’re incomplete. So what if that multiverse is actually just the different points in our own time and the 4th dimension is just the path we take through it? What if we’re always travelling from dimension to dimension and it’s only our actions that determine the path we take?” Priya drew a line connecting each of the circles.

Jodie leaned forward and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Ok, I think I’m following you so far. If we can find some kind of path that we took then we can find the universe that we came from. Then what?”

Priya grinned “Are you a fan of Star Trek?”

Jodie laughed out loud. Never thought I’d be having this conversation again. “What kind of girl do you take me for? Of course I like Star Trek!”

Priya laughed along with her. “Janeway or Archer?”

Jodie shook her head “Trick question, no one likes Archer. And I pick Sisko.”

Priya gave an exaggerated sigh “Space dad? No accounting for taste I guess. Still though at least you’re cute.” The pair of women laughed together and when the laughter faded off Jodie found herself biting her bottom lip. She called me cute. I can use that. A moment of silence was interrupted by a beeping coming from a console.

Priya wheeled her chair back over to the workstation, hit a few keys and gestured for Jodie to follow her as she walked over to one of the machines hooked up to the glass box. “Ok so the reason I brought up Star Trek is that they make a lot of references to tachyons.”

Jodie nodded. “That’s the beam that travels backwards through time right?”

Priya snapped her fingers and pointed at Jodie. “Beam, wave, pulse, particle, yeah. In the show it was just kind of a catch-all for time travel energy but the particle is a real thing, at least in theoretical physics. This device is supposed to be able to detect them and once it does it’ll use the formula I developed to tell me what path to take to get to the target destination. The tachyon generator…” Priya gestured towards an odd device hanging from the ceiling. “…will create a burst of the particles later and when it does I should get evidence of them a few minutes in the past. I’ve got it scheduled to go off in about an hour.”

Jodie nodded again. “Alright, makes sense so far, but that’s just finding the path. How are you supposed to get to that other dimension?”

Priya clapped her hands and ran excitedly over to the rocket sled. Jodie laughed to herself and ran to catch up. Priya pulled a cover off the laser on the front of the rocket sled. “Ok. So this isotope, don’t worry it doesn’t create that much radiation, it uses a wave modulator set to a frequency determined by the formula from earlier to decouple the quantum entangled-“

Jodie placed a hand on Priya’s shoulder to stop her. “I’m not following any of that. Think pop science.”

Priya let her hair out of its bun and ran her fingers through her hair while she thought. Oh crap I think she’s cute too…Don’t get distracted. “Alright, simple explanation. That laser creates a time portal with the destination set from the machine. Make sense?”

Jodie grinned ear to ear. “Yeah, I think I got it…” her smile started to fade. “Why are you in a lab in a warehouse though? Is this too dangerous for the university?”

Priya’s smile faded too. “They don’t know I’m here. I couldn’t get the funding. They said that I really should ‘stick to research I’m better suited to’. So I’ve been finding ways to steal equipment and set it up here. The warehouse was abandoned and secluded enough that I could set things up without them noticing. Had to make some modifications to keep them from detecting the isotopes though…” Priya trailed off as her attention drifted back to her work.

Jodie watched Priya pace back and forth for a few moments muttering things under her breath that Jodie couldn’t hear. She leaned against a nearby wall, a small smile creeping onto her face. Get ahold of yourself. So what if she’s cute, smart and reminds you of Hanna? I’m not sticking around after tonight, shouldn’t get attached. Still, maybe we’ve got time to have some fun. Jodie let her mind wander to some of the fun things she’d like to do as Priya went about her work, making small adjustments to the machines.

An alarm on the tachyon detector went off, disrupting the relative silence of the warehouse. Priya jumped up from her work, startled before running back over to the detector murmuring “no” repeatedly.

Jodie pushed off the wall and ran over as well “What’s wrong? I thought you were expecting that to go off.”

Priya shook her head. “I was, but not this early. The generator isn’t set to go off for another hour and even though they travel backwards through time, I shouldn’t have seen them for at least another 40 minutes.”

Jodie tried to stay calm, subconsciously attempting to balance out Priya’s anxiety. “Could it be some other source then? Maybe someone else built a generator?”

Priya’s frown deepened as she looked over the readout. “No… The direction and signature match the generator I built… Wait!” Priya’s suddenly bolted back over to her workstation and switched the screens over to a security camera that was set up across the street from the warehouse. “SHIT! How did they figure out about my lab?!”

Jodie looked at the security feed and saw a SWAT team organizing to break in. She chuckled nervously. “Well, they’re probably not after you…”

Priya looked back at Jodie in confusion before she remembered something. “Oh, right, the sirens. Why are they after you anyway?”

Jodie shrugged nonchalantly. “I stole about 20 million in bearer bonds along with some industrial secrets and blackmail material.”

“Nice.”

The security feed went dead as the SWAT team found the camera. Jodie clapped her hands together and locked eyes with Priya. “OK, I’m wanted for grand theft and you’ve got a lab full of stolen equipment here. I’m willing to bet they’re not going to listen any excuses. How do we get out of here?”

Priya chewed her lip for a second before she broke into another grin. “We have a time machine.” Priya took off at a sprint and clambered up to the rocket sled. “All I have to do is use the measurements from the detector to finish the equation on the temporal tunneling engine and we can use it to go to another dimension at a different time.” Priya typed several commands into the controls of the laser and the machine started to hum. Priya took a deep breath and held it for a moment before finally looking back to Jodie and giving a big goofy thumbs up.

Jodie climbed up to the time machine as Priya got in and buckled her seat belt. “Now’s the time. Get in and come with me or stay here and deal with them.” Jodie cast another look back towards the door that the SWAT team was going to burst through at any moment.

“Fuck it, I’ve done dumber things.” Jodie buckled herself in and Priya pulled a large lever between their seats.

The rockets in the back kicked in filling the warehouse with a deafening roar. “HOLD ON! WE HAVE TO BE GOING AT LEAST 90 MILES PER HOUR TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE PORTAL!” The cart lurched around the corner, gathering speed. The door to the warehouse burst open, SWAT officers spilling into the room.

The temporal tunneling engine engaged and a laser shot towards the steel plate at the end of the glass chamber causing a distortion in the air in front of the plate. The second stage of the rockets kicked in and the women were thrown back in their seats as the acceleration picked up sending them flying towards the steel plate. OHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCKOHFU- The SWAT team paused for only a moment taking in the spectacle of their target attempting escape via rocket sled before they opened fire. The women were moving too fast though and the bullets instead tore holes out of the far wall. The rippling distortion widened into a portal that looked more like a hole tore out of reality itself revealing an inky blackness beneath. The cart disappeared into the portal with Jodie and Priya’s screaming barely heard over the sound of the rockets.

#

Two years earlier the cart crashed through a portal on the other end, coming to a sudden stop as it embedded itself into a stage. Even though the trip through the portal had slowed them dramatically the landing impact was still intense. Jodie was the first to stir as she tried to shake off the effects of the time travel. When she looked around Jodie quickly realized where, and when they were. The Presidential debates!? Jodie looked down at Priya who was still shaking from the impact and instantly knew what Priya’s plan had been. Priya gave Jodie a shaking nod. Looking to her left Jodie nodded at the woman standing on the stage to her left and sprang from the cart ready to take center stage.

“People of America! I am LITERALLY a time traveler from the future. I came back to tell you that voting for this man-“ Quickly looking around she saw the misshapen piece of shit in a suit on the ground, groaning, but alive. “-THAT man, is a GRAVE mistake. In the time I’m from he won the election and it became so much worse than any of us could have even possibly expected. He is an agent of an enemy foreign power using their government’s influence to subvert our elections. Even if he weren’t, in only a few short years he managed to ruin our economy, leave several American cities to fend for themselves after natural disasters and has implemented policies so evil that children of people who immigrated here legally are being separated from their parents and kept in cages by the thousands. There are literally Klansmen and actual Nazis marching through the streets. Whatever your feelings may be about his opponent I implore you to not let those feelings cloud your judgement. This is your moment to stand against tyranny. This is your chance to put a stop to this before it’s too late!”

Jodie’s ears were still ringing from the noise of the rockets so she couldn’t hear anything from the audience, but at the periphery of her vision she saw Secret Service agents closing in on her. Time to go then. Jodie turned back to Priya who was pulling laser off the front of the cart. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” The two time travelers ran for the exit as agents stormed the stage. There was no time to stop and think, just to run. Dodging left and right Jodie’s senses were on fire as she caught glimpses of agents closing in from all sides. Together they burst through a fire exit and took off at a run.

With alarms blaring behind them Jodie and Priya sprinted across the courtyard and ducked into the relative cover of a nearby alley. Priya braced herself against the wall and struggled to catch her breath. Jodie was much more used to fleeing authorities and already thinking her way through an escape plan. “Ok, be straight with me here, what plan did you have to get back to our time and is it still possible?”

Priya shook her head, still breathing heavily. “I, uh, hadn’t thought that far ahead. This was just supposed to be a test run. But…” Priya trailed off chewing her lip. “…but the temporal- the time machine should still have the corrected formula and I built a function into it which would reverse the function and open a portal along the same trajectory.”

Jodie scanned courtyard for any approaching agents. “So if I understood that, we just need to turn it on and it’ll take us back to our time?”

Priya shook her head and started pacing back and forth. “Not quite. We need to be going fast in order to make it through the portal. Just trying to turn it on and walk through won’t work.”

Jodie listened to the sirens of an ambulance flanked by police closing in on the debate hall and shook her head. “Ok, stealing a car isn’t going to be an option, they’ll be on us too fast. We have to get moving… Do we have to be going horizontally when we go through the portal?” Priya stopped in her tracks and shot Jodie a questioning glance. Jodie pointed over Priya’s shoulder, guiding her gaze to the massive hotels just a few miles away on the Las Vegas strip.

Priya’s jaw slowly dropped as she mentally did the calculus on the acceleration of gravity. “…that could work.”

Together the time travelers made their way towards the strip, darting from building to building in an attempt to stay out of sight of the police who were already locking down the city. After nearly an hour they stood in front of the Bellagio fountain, looking up at the 36 story building. Jodie turned hopefully to Priya who was sweating heavily between the heat of the desert and the exertion of having run several miles. “Tall enough?” Priya nodded and Jodie heard a police siren pass by behind them before making a u-turn. “Good, because I think we just ran out of time.” Together they hurried off into the casino.

As soon as they were in the lobby Jodie scanned the area and found an elevator about to leave. “Hold the door!” Practically dragging Priya into the elevator alongside her they leapt into the elevator nearly bowling over the couple that was in there. Softening her voice Jodie put a smile on her face. “Oh I’m so sorry about that. We completely forgot our room key so we’ve been trying to fix that all day. NOT the way I wanted to spend my honeymoon.”

The young woman in the elevator giggled “I know what you mean. We took this trip just to go to the debate but couldn’t get in so we just spent the day getting drunk and losing money.” Jodie jabbed the highest floor number she could, though the top several floors were all blocked off so they would have to figure that out later.

Priya had finally caught her breath and picked up on the conversation going on. “You were trying to go to the debate?”

No, no we don’t want to be recognized, bad topic. “Oh come on honey, I’m so tired of hearing about politics.” Jodie turned her body towards Priya’s and pressed her gently against the wall of the elevator. “Besides, I’ve got other ideas for this weekend.” With that she leaned down and nibbled on Priya’s ear managing a barely audible whisper. “Play along.” Priya didn’t give any indication she heard Jodie but moaned and pulled her closer. The other couple seemed to take the hint and also started getting closer. A few seconds later the young couple reached their floor and stepped off as Priya kissed and licked on Jodie’s neck. Jodie groaned at the feeling of Priya’s lips but as soon as the door closed she managed to push Priya gently away. Priya looked disappointed for a moment before she realized they were alone in the elevator.

Priya was blushing furiously and kept opening and closing her mouth trying to find the words she wanted to say. Jodie cleared her throat and smiled. “Not that I didn’t enjoy that, just that we shouldn’t let ourselves get too distracted.”

Priya looked down, smiling “Sorry, I’ve been told I’m a little intense sometimes.”

Jodie brushed the hair out of Priya’s eyes. “I didn’t mind.” Both women looked away trying not to lose track of where they were. The rest of the elevator ride passed in silence and at when they reached the highest floor they could they stepped off and found a roof access stairwell. Priya was about to push her way in the door when Jodie stopped her. “This door is probably alarmed. As soon as we go in here, the cops will come and they’ll probably have figured that we’re the ones who ‘crashed’ the debate. We’ll only have a few minutes, are you sure you’re ready?”

Priya nodded and held up the time machine. “All we have to do is get to the roof, jump, turn this on and point it straight down. As long as we go in at the same time we’ll be fine.”

Jodie started to turn towards the stairwell and paused. “Just so we’re clear, this is the craziest thing you’ve ever done, right?” Priya and Jodie broke down laughing until their stomachs hurt before turning back to each other, tears in their eyes. Jodie grabbed her partner’s hand. “Let’s do this.” Jodie kicked the door to the stairwell open and sure enough a shrill fire alarm started to go off throughout the hallway.

Together they scrambled up half a dozen flights of stairs before they reached the roof. Bursting through the roof access door they were almost instantly blinded by the spotlight of a helicopter that was already on the scene and bathing them in the harsh light. An officer blared some kind of warning over the loudspeaker on the helicopter that neither of them could make out. FUCK IT! Jodie grabbed Priya’s hand again and dragged her to the edge of the building. Standing on the ledge and looking over the 500 foot drop made Jodie’s breath catch in her throat. Priya grabbed Jodie’s arms and managed to scream “WAIT” over the noise of the helicopter. Priya pulled Jodie closer and kissed her on the lips. Priya held her tight and smiled. “For luck.” Jodie smiled back and wrapped her arms around Priya as well.

They jumped together and the world seemed to slow down as their hearts pounded hard enough that they could feel it in each other’s chests. Priya pointed the time machine down and triggered it sending a beam straight down to the concrete below them. As gravity pulled them faster and faster towards the hard ground below the time machine made a rippling portal wink open which the two women shot through at nearly terminal velocity.

#

Two years later Priya and Jodie shot out of the portal, thankfully having been slowed as they passed through the dimensional barriers. The portal had sent them through parallel to the ground and they emerged feet first 6 feet in the air in an empty, abandoned warehouse. Together they flew across the room and into some empty shipping pallets, the wooden cracking as they crash landed. Groaning in pain and laughing with relief the women hugged each other before rolling off the pallets. Jodie got unsteadily to her feet. “Anything broken?” Priya remained curled up in a ball on the ground laughing weakly. “Everything? I don’t know. It all hurts, but I don’t think anything is actually broken.”

Jodie looked around the warehouse as the dizzying effects of the time travel wore off. “Your stuff is all gone. Did we get back to the right time?”

Priya pulled herself up to her knees and looked around as well. “Kinda. We took the same trajectory through dimensions, but we had a different starting point. If I’m right we went back to the same time and place but in a dimension where we had gone back to change things.”

Jodie stretched out the ache in her back from where she landed. “So because we interrupted the debate, you didn’t build your time machine in this warehouse, which is why it’s empty?”

Priya nodded and got to her feet. “So what now?”

Jodie brushed some of the dust off her clothes. “I don’t know about you but I could use a change of clothes and a good hot shower.”

Priya laughed and winced in pain. “That sounds great, but neither of us exist in this dimension, at least not this version of us.” Jodie shrugged.

Not the first time I’ve had to make a new identity. “Don’t worry about that just now. You rest up here, I’m going to go work my magic and get us a place to stay for the night.” Priya smiled and kissed Jodie on the cheek.

The streets were mostly empty in the early morning as Jodie walked away from the warehouse. Ok, time to get some ground under my feet. Need cash, a phone and a motel room. As she found her way to a major road she quickly found a strip mall which had an ATM outside of a bank branch. Without a computer to help her hack the machine she had to rely on security override codes she had memorized years ago. Even if these do still work, there’s a good chance it’ll trigger security, need to keep moving. A few minutes later Jodie left the ATM with a pocket full of cash.

With money in hand Jodie paused for a moment to take stock. I’m not being chased. At least not right now. I could just make a clean break here. I’m sure Priya can take care of herself. Jodie kept walking on autopilot as she mulled things over. A faint smile crept onto her face. Yeah, Priya might be able to take care of herself, but when was the last time I had this much fun? A few more miles down the road she found a corner store selling burner phones. An hour later she left the store a few hundred dollars lighter with a pair of new phones. Now with access to the internet Jodie was finally able to check for news of the last two years that she needed to catch up on. Oh no…

Jodie returned to the warehouse a couple hours later to see that Priya had found some paper in the warehouse and was hard at work on some calculations. Priya’s face lit up when she saw Jodie. “Ok, so good news, the onboard computer has retained the corrected algorithms and the isotope is recharging the device on its own. It needs some refinement and it’ll take a while to do the calculations by hand if I don’t have a computer to help, but I should be able to point it in any trajectory we need!” Priya’s excitement faded when she saw the look on Jodie’s face. “What’s wrong?”

Jodie sat down on a nearby palette and gestured that Priya should do the same. “So, you know how when we showed up at the debate we crashed into the stage in a rocket sled?” Priya nodded. “Well it turns out that the Secret Service treats that as an assassination attempt. They cut the news feed and since it was on a delay no one who saw the broadcast even saw the portal. In short only the people in that room actually saw what happened.”

Priya took a deep breath. “Ok, but there were a lot of reporters there. They still told everyone what happened right? I’m sure at least one of them recorded it on their phone or something.”

Jodie shrugged. “They did yeah, but his supporters all called it fake news and said that they were just involved in some kind of deep state assassination conspiracy.”

Priya shuddered as Jodie continued. “After that they got even more rabbid in their support. There were a lot of people saying that because he survived an assassination attempt it was proof that he was ordained by god to lead them. Not only did he win the election but nearly every member of the opposing party was voted out of office as well.”

Priya’s fists were clenched hard enough to make her knuckles turn white. With tears in her eyes she met Jodie’s gaze. “How bad is it?”

Jodie shook her head. “After the election they started to crack down on news organizations pretty rapidly. It’s hard to know what’s true. What I do know is that I haven’t seen anyone other than a white male so far.” Priya took a deep shuddering breath and began to sob. Jodie sat next to Priya and put her arm around Priya’s shoulders.

For a long moment the two women sat in stunned silence trying to absorb the news. Jodie was the first to break the silence. “Come on, I got us a room at a motel a couple miles down the road. We’ll feel a little better after some food, sleep and a shower.” On the way to the motel Jodie noticed that even though it was well after noon, the roads were still practically deserted aside from the occasional black van. When they finally got into the motel Priya collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Jodie locked the door and curled up in the bed next to Priya.

Priya started to speak and coughed, her throat raw from crying.  Finally she managed a barely whispered. “We did this.”

Jodie propped herself up on her elbow and turned Priya gently to face her. “No. THEY did this. We were the ones trying to stop this. They allowed themselves to be taken in by a conman with a bad hairpiece. They let their own hatred blind them to the truth that was literally screaming in their faces. We did everything we could to stop this.” Priya stared blankly at Jodie, too tired to feel anything. “OK, I want you to do something for me. We need to take care of ourselves right now. Go take a shower, I’m going to order us some food, then we’ll talk about what we’re going to do next.” Priya blinked and nodded, getting up from the bed slowly and making her way to the shower.

An hour later the two women were lying in bed, freshly showered and wrapped in towels, eating pizza and cuddling in a comfortable silence. Jodie rubbed her fingers gently across Priya’s scalp which seemed to calm her down. “Hey, you said the time machine still works right?”

Priya snapped out of the headspace she was in and looked up at Jodie. “…yeah. Yeah it does! All we have to do is figure out a destination and then run some numbers to get the trajectory right.”

Jodie smiled at Priya, happy that her mood was picking up again. “Well if you need a destination, how about that meeting ‘Dear Leader’ took at his tower back when he met with the Russians.” Priya sat straight up in the bed, the towel loosening and falling. She seemed not to notice.

“Perfect! I’ll get to work on the-“

Jodie placed a finger on Priya’s lips. “Give that a rest for just a little bit. For now I’ve got some other ideas.” Jodie reached out and ran a hand up Priya’s now exposed thigh.

Priya moaned and pulled Jodie closer. “You’re right. We’ve got plenty of time to fix things later. That’s what the machine is for.”

[scope-dogg]

I’ve been playing Jurassic World: Evolution,

Which is the parkbuilding sim based upon the famous movie franchise that released last week, developed by Frontier Development. It’s getting mixed reviews and not for bad reasons, I definitely have some misgivings about the game, primarily the fiddly and frustrating building placement. However, I’ve really been enjoying the game despite its flaws for a couple of specific reasons, one of which has a lot to do with the story I’m about to tell. To give a bit of backstory, Evolution is essentially the spiritual sequel to Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, which was a similar sort of game that came out way back when in 2003. Similarly, JPOG was a game I enjoyed a lot but it also had a lot of problems, mostly to do with the hardware limits of the time. One of the game’s selling points was that it supposedly emulated the Jurassic Park films where yes, you could build the park of your dreams but the dinosaurs were dangerous and everything could go to shit at a moment’s notice just as it did for John Hammond. At least that’s how it was meant to be in theory, in reality it didn’t work that way. So long as you had each dinosaur species in your park behind a level of security fence that was appropriate for the threat it posed you would basically never have any trouble. That’s not the case in Evolution.

To set the stage, the game has you build attractions on each of “the Five Deaths,” a formation of islands off the coast of Costa Rica, with Isla Nublar, the setting for Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, being an unlimited-money sandbox you can unlock. Each of the other five islands has its own challenges, but you have to beat them to unlock all the dinosaur species and park facilities. The island I’m on, Isla Penna, is the most cramped in terms of buildable space and is frequently lashed by severe weather. Because of the lack of building space, having huge paddocks full of dinosaurs isn’t really an option, so the game instead recommends that you build smaller exhibits but with some real top-level dinosaurs. Of course, most of the more impressive dinosaurs are either more dangerous or just more awkward to accommodate. I’ve got no choice but to take the risk. I initially decide that my island is going to be a carnivore kingdom, as those tend to give you the most park rating per dinosaur. I have two exhibits with two Metriacanthosaurus and Ceratosaurus respectively, both of whom are mid-sized carnivores, and then further up north I have another two paddocks. Partially because my dinosaur rating indicated I had poor variety in my park and partially because I was forced to in order to complete one of the island’s missions, I decided to devote one moderately sized enclosure to herbivores, which houses Chasmosaurus, a dinosaur similar to Triceratops, and Gallimimus, famous as the ostrich dinosaurs that are “flocking this way” in the original film. I also have a small paddock with a small group of Ankylosaurus near the park entrance. Just besides the main herbivore pen is my park’s main attraction, a concrete-walled paddock housing a pack of Deinonychus (while Velociraptor in the films isn’t accurate to real life, Deinonychus is a much closer match to what appears in the movies) and the park’s biggest star, a T-rex. The game allows you, in true InGen fashion, to fuck with the genome of your dinosaur by splicing in aspects of other animals. You can change the colour of its skin, improve its lifespan and toughness, but the improvements that increase its rating the most are the ones that make it meaner. This is by and large what I have. The Deinonychus and the T-Rex get into little standoffs every so often but never actually attack or harm one another, so they manage to coexist well enough that they actually go well in the attraction together. The guests love the exhibit, and between that and everything else my island is at five stars. I’m only sticking around to complete the missions and unlock everything I can before moving on.

To set the stage a little further, the game has an interesting system where you have to court the favour of three internal divisions at InGen - Security, Science and Entertainment. Doing missions and small tasks that you can either be given or request from each division will improve your standing with them, which leads to you unlocking new stuff and the division head you’ve favoured the most paying you bonuses every so often. However, doing tasks for one faction will make the other two’s approval decrease slightly. I’ve been heavily focused on Security because it’s offering a dinosaur genome I really want, and I’ve been doing just enough to stay on Science’s good side. However, Entertainment have only been offering jobs that are inconvenient for me so I’ve been neglecting them. The flip side of this system is that if your approval is low enough with one of these factions, disgruntled employees affiliated with them might decide to sabotage your park to pay you back. This is what happens now, and all the gates to every exhibit are locked open all at once. Before my ranger teams can get out there and manually close them, both Metriacanthosauruses, both Ceratosauruses, all the Deinonychus and the T-Rex breach confinement and enter the park. I signal the alarm and open my shelters, but the Deinonychus are fast and are already killing and eating my guests, while the Rex charges around snacking indiscriminately on guests. I scramble my Asset Containment Unit helicopter as fast as I can, and thankfully am able to tranquilise the Ceratosauruses before they can kill too many people, but the Metriacanthosauruses have quietly slunk off while I wasn’t looking and are now hunting down guests in two separate and remote parts of the park. Before I can take care of them I need to stop the Rex and the Deinonychus. Both are a nightmare to stop. The Rex takes a ton of tranq darts to bring down, while the Deinonychus are small and fast and as a result are infuriatingly hard to hit, and there are six of them on the loose, killing guests indiscriminately. While this is happening, a tropical storm hits, bringing a twister into the park. It trails a path of destruction right through the middle of the disaster area, damaging most of my buildings and cutting off power to the entire north end of the island. The gates to the herbivore paddock are still locked open, and some of the Deinonychus charge inside to run away from my helicopter, and are still there when one of my beleaguered ranger teams gets there and closes the gate. The Deinonychus begin slaughtering the Gallimimus there. The Chasmosaurus panic and smash a hole in the fence, and then go charging out into the rest of my park. Stampeding herbivores are as much of a danger to guests as rampaging carnivores in this game. It’s at this time that I’m notified that during its escape one of the Deinonychus has contracted avian pox and the disease has spread to nearly every other dinosaur species in the park. While none of my Ankylosaurus actually left their pen one keeled over and died anyway, perhaps of a heart attack from witnessing what was going on. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage has been done by the storm, the Deinonychus have killed all of my Gallimimus, half the dinosaurs still alive have bird pox, dozens of people have been killed, I’ve lost millions of dollars in park revenue while the entire island has been on lockdown and my park rating is down to one and a half stars. While I’m chasing down the Metriacanthosaurus and panicking Chasmosaurus the T-Rex inexplicably gets pissed off again and smashes down the concrete wall to its enclosure, although mercifully a ranger was on hand to fix it before any of the Deinonychus can also make another escape. In short, it’s a catastrophe that makes the events in the original Jurassic Park look like a nice night out with the lads. It takes me what felt like half an hour of micromanagement to repair all the fences, get every dinosaur back in its pen and cured of avian pox, the dead dinosaurs removed and replaced, and the damaged infrastructure restored. Breathing a sigh of relief I open the shelters, letting the no-doubt terrified guests back into the park, although god only knows who would want to actually stay after all that. Almost at that very moment I get a message from the big dick corporate dude who’s your boss in the story and he tells me that I’m doing a great job running the park and pays me a half a million dollar bonus for a job well done.

In short, this game’s amazing, it’s the real Jurassic Park experience. Unlike JPOG the dinosaurs WILL get out and fuck your shit up. It’s the most severe crisis I’ve had in the game so far but I’ve had similar breakouts on every island so far. Even investing in the best security possible isn’t a guarantee of anything, any dinosaur that’s pissed off enough will smash through it if you don’t pay attention for long enough.

[optimisticpoetrypost-blog]

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

"Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://financeandcreditsolution.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

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Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

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National Health Insurance?

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Car Insurance - How much of my premium would I get back?

Hi everyone I live in the UK and I insure my car with Direct Line. I have never had any issues with them before apart from now that I have a new car. I have several years no claims for my driving, most of which are through policies with Direct Line. However, the first 2 years I was driving I was with another insurance company and gained 2 years no claims with them. When I took out my latest policy with Direct Line after buying a new vehicle they said they needed to see proof of my no claims. I contacted my old insurance company who sent me a letter confirming these years and I sent this to Direct Line, they said they never received it so I requested another letter and sent this one also but via Recorded Delivery. It is now a month on and Direct Line are claiming they haven't received this one either although proof of postage and tracking shows it was signed for. I wish to cancel my policy with Direct Line and was wondering how much of my policy cost I would be entitled to receive back from them. Many thanks""

Explain which is better to invest in insurance or mutual funds?

Explain which is better to invest in insurance or mutual funds?

Insurance company law help!?

My old insurance company is trying to take me to court. My problem where i need to ask people who know some law is... Can an insurance company up the payment without consent? In my case:- 800 up to 2000+ From (UK provisional license) to (UK Full) Thank you in advanced!

How do you go to the doctor if you do not have health insurance?

I am working but I do not have Health Insurance. How do you go and where do you go to the doctor if you do not have health insurance?

How much would it cost for 3-5 million dollars General Liability Insurance?

I work in various chemical plants and refineries repairing/maintaning/calibrating the laborotory instruments in these places. I'm currently working as a sub-contractor through another company but that is about to change, as my business partner and I are breaking away from them to start our own business. Most of these plants require between 3-5 million in liability coverage to my knowlege. I need a ballpark figure of what that kind of coverage costs in the Louisiana/Gulf coast region. Last year we did $150,000 in sales between 3 people and the revenue has been growing substantially each year (~20% or so). Thanks in advance for your answer.""

HELP! What's the cheapest car insurance for a young pizza delivery driver?!?

I have allstate, and it's $300 a month for me! I can NOT do this anymore! I need a new insurance plan that is actually AFFORDABLE! Thank you so much for your help I really do appreciate it!""

Is $110/mo a good price for motorcycle insurance?

I'm 18 years old, i have no tickets or citations on my record. It's a 250 cc kawasaki ninja.""

""What nice, small cars have cheap insure for learner drivers?

I've looked at things like Toyota Aygos and Citroen C1's. Any other ideas?

Can I get SC insurance with my car registered in MD in my parents name?

My car is still registered to my parents and I have MD insurance through them. I live in SC and insurance is much cheaper down here. I plan on switching the car to me once I have paid the car off. Can I still get SC insurance with the car still being registered in MD and in my parents name? I can't get a SC license either until I have insurance that is covered in SC. Please help!

What happens if you got into a accident and have no insurance?

I was driving my girlfriends truck and got into an accident.. I didnt know she has no inaurance. The officer made an accident report then let us go. What happens next does she eventually get a ticket oe me. and is it criminal offense she ia crying cause she feels so bad. Does she lose her license or me cause i was driving? And who will get sued? Please answer all questions. If i had known she didnt pay her insurance i would have paid it for her.she is mainly worried she will go to jail

Rising insurance premiums?

what would happen if (on the 1.1.12)all honest vehicle drivers with rising insurance rates just said no i'm not paying that much, its dearer than last year SHOVE IT then carried on driving""

Insurance companies trying to get money?

So, my little brother was born early and has delayed learning. He can to everything right. His speaking is a little slow but it's getting there and has come a LONG way by the help of many people that we know personally, and in physical/occupational therapy. Now, the insurance companies are saying that they will not pay even though he is fully qualified. We have many letters from his teachers. How often does this happen? It's not been the first time. :(""

Motorcycle insurance full coverage?

I pay full coverage for my motorcycle and my co worker who is still paying on his bike has way cheaper insurance then me. Were the same age. Is it possible not to have full coverage when you have a loan for the bike? I know your suppose to, i do but i would think the insurance company could find out some how if you told them it was paid off..right?""

What is the best insurance companies in NYC?

What is the best insurance companies in NYC?

""Why do all of my friends get cheap car insurance, but not me?""

ok so my problem is, I am currently on a provisional license (in the UK of course) and literally all of my friends that are driving currently are getting insurance for less than 2k a year. (male, 17 years old, living in west cumbria, same as me) and that is with the same cover I am looking at... comprehensive cover as a named driver on a parents car. I have tried everything, even looked at the same cars and the qoutes are still almost double. this does not make sense... why the bloody hell do i have to pay 3500 quid a year for a poxy 500 quid car when all my mates only pay 1500 a year on the same thing!!! my postcode is ca28 by the way, which is a grade c postcode area for insurance, same as my friends. they seem to use aviva, i got a qoute from them, 300 a month, they got 150 a month. even those that have passed their test get cheaper insurance than me. please help. ste""

Health insurance in south carolina?

My husband and I need Medical insurance. I live in SC. Can anyone out there tell me of some companys to contact besides BCBS.

What is a good car insurance plan for someone just out of college?

What is a good car insurance plan for someone just out of college?

Anyone have Mega Insurance?

It's supposed to be for the self employed. Is the high premium worth the benefits or even the coverage compared to other insurance companies out there (like e health insurance.com)

Cheapest Car to Buy & Insure?

Hi, I am 28 years old and looking to purchase my first. What are the cheapest cars with the cheapest insurance, anything a step above a bucket with four wheels is what I'm looking for, no aesthetics or fancy extras.""

I have a question about car insurance?

I just got my intermediate license and i can drive in between 6a.m. and 10p.m. The only problem is im am not covered on the car insurance yet. I have to wait til october until my dad can get me put on. How much trouble can i get in if the car has insurance but im not on it?

How much is insurance for a nissan santra?

I'm 16 and I would like to get a nissan santra 2002 and I would like to know how much insurance is for it? also if you know any good quote sites thats easy and fast? thanks

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

What car with...cheap insurance?

Hi all.... Well I have my test in 2wks I have 2x 2hour lessons a wk so I best pass! Ha Anyway I need abit of advice on cars and insurance, I am 21year old female. Can anyone suggest any cheap insurance company and what type of car may be best I have 2000 pound currently saved for my first car! Thanks xx and wish me luck ha x""

30 day insurance policy for newborns?

I am a teen mom and since the baby can't be covered under my parents insurance we are planning to do a legal guardianship, however you cannot get guardianship of an unborn child so we are doing it after he is born. But I was wondering if right after he is born if the hospital bills will be under my parents insurance because I have heard there is a 30 day period in which you need to get the baby's insurance arranged. So during the 30 days would the baby's hospital stay and everything be covered while we get the insurance arranged? Thank you!""

What makes a good car insurance company?

Besides affordable rates.

I recently got a suspended license will that affect my insurance rates?

I recently got my license suspended for an underage drinking charge. i wasn't driving. i was at a party that got busted . i'm 20 years old and looking to buy a new car i wanted to know if this fact would be detrimental in me affording car insurance. i'm however paying to have a permit to drive to work and school with my suspended license.

What is a cheap car insurance plan?

Im 19 years old and I live in New York. I am looking for an affordable car insurance plan. Any suggestions?

Free health insurance for the unemployed?

i am unemployed and have no health insurance. is there a program in pa. where i can get health insurance for free or at a very low price?

""As a 21 year old unemployed college student, do I need to buy health insurance?""

I'm an unemployed senior in college and I don't have health insurance. I live with my mother, who is currently unemployed and uninsured. We're pretty much just getting by, ...show more""

What is an approximate cost for life insurance?

What is an approximate cost for life insurance?

First car accident - forgot to get insurance info?

I just got into my first car accident ever today. I have his license #, plate #, address, cell number, but I totally forgot to get his insurance info. The CHP officer did come and file a report though. Do I still need to get it or amI ok? Am I supposed to report to my insurance company now or wait until 5-10 days after the report is finished? Sorry, this is my first time so I don't know anything. My car is is a 95 Honda and he drives a Lexus. There were only some scratches on his car (very minor damages) and mine is pretty bad. Any advice would be appreciated. Happy Vday to me. =[""

Will my insurance rates go up?

My daughter who is 16 yrs old tapped a car from behind at a stop sign. There was no damage done to either car and no injuries. The guy said he was not going to do anything about it since there was no damages. My daughter gave him her information (insurance etc). I called the guy to make sure everything was ok, he said nothing happened to his car or himself but he went ahead and opened a claim because he thought he had to do that. I know that if he decides to ask for damages the insurance will pay. My question to you is if he decides not to ask for damages, will my insurance still go up and will she get points in her driver's license. Also, I'd like to add that we live in California. I have not talked to my insurance (AAA) yet. Thank you""

Where is the cheapest place to get taxi insurance in Northern Ireland.?

I have 7 years no claims on a taxi insurance and looking to see where i can get the best deal . Cheers

Will my son be turned down for insurance?

I have an autistic son, and I have decided he needs better hospital insurance than what he has (I have regular health insurance, but his hospital coverage is not great). So I applied for extra hospital insurance. Aside from being pretty severely autistic, he's physically a pretty healthy kid, no major problems, no ongoing treatment. However, recently he needed to have a dental procedure, and they decided it was best that it be done in the hospital, and that he be fully knocked out. A few years back, he also needed to be knocked out for an MRI (he had a seizure, but none since). Anesthesia is expensive, and when he had the dental procedure, it maxed out the hospital coverage on my current plan and I got stuck with a $9000 bill. Hence, the decision for better hospital insurance. When applying for health insurance, they do 5 year medical records check, and those two things are going to come up. What's going to happen... Will I have higher premiums? will they refuse to cover anything they deem is caused by his autism? Or will they flat out reject him? Or will it not be a problem?""

Registering a car in California?

I just bought a car in California. I just moved here and am still looking for a place to live. It was a private sale, but they left me the plates, they said it goes with the car. She also told me I have 10 days to report to the DMV. Is this true? I haven't yet because I still have no place to live. If I opened a PO Box, would that be sufficient to register my car to, and even a drivers license? Or do I need a street address? What should I do? Also, can I insure it with just a PO box? I hope to have a place within the next week, but I'm still waiting on all of this right now.""

I'm trying to get rental insurance?

I'm getting rental insurance well trying to but I had a doubt my Heath insurance is in my mothers name and not mine so she pays it so say I get rental insurance under my name would it mess up or even kick me off her insurance plan if I did get the insurance in my name

Is a salvage title more expensive to insure?

I live in Oregon by the way. I am looking at buying a used car with a salvage title.

Is this car insurance thing true?

I heard online that in Texas if you drive less than 35 miles a day, you'll get a HUGE discount in your insurance. It this true? Or is this just a lie?""

Would car insurance be cheaper in Tennessee?

I live in Denver, Colorado. I used to live in Tennessee and noticed that it is ALOT cheaper to live out there. I am wanting to move back. I know my house will be cheaper among other things. I was just wondering if anyone would know if car insurance would be cheaper out there too?""

Can I pay my car insurance monthly through parents?

I am 17 just learnt to drive and I have my own car and will be able to afford my car insurance IF i pay it monthly, I know they do not let under 18's pay it monthly, so can I say ...show more""

""Lets be honest, will a 2000 mustang gt run a 17 year old over 150 per month on insurance?""

State or no state, tennessee. Will it run in 200's or more? Just need to know before i go looking. Don't give me your opinion, i get it has horses and can kick, im not looking for a preacher to praise down on me. thanks""

Cheap car insurance...?

If you buy a shitty car for like $500, can you get insurance that only covers the other person in a crash and not you?? I know they used to have this?""

Who has a better idea for getting health insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions?

The problem is that, without the mandate, insurance companies won't cover people with pre-existing conditions. Otherwise, people will just wait until they get sick to buy insurance. So you have to create a system where everyone is insured -- a mandate. OK, if you don't like the mandate, how would you get insurance companies to provide affordable insurance to people with pre-existing conditions without a requirement for everyone to have insurance Your solution has to cover the situation where a person gets laid off, wants to start their own business, and needs to buy affordable individual coverage (not group coverage) for themselves and their family. You have 30 minutes. Begin....now.""

Car Insurance price help?

I am 20 y/o, I am getting a 2002 Ford Taurus 4 door, I live in the Florida area (Miami), I have never been in any accidents I would be using the car to get to and from school and work, could you give me a quote on how much I'll have to spend a month on insurance Liablility or full coverage. Optional: could you state you age and how much you pay a month on your vehicle, and what insurance company do you deal with?""

Cheep health insurance?

i need insurance for me and my husband and i dont want to pay alot but i want it to be a good insurance i live in missouri

How much is car insurance for a 16 year old living in southern Cali?

Lets say he has good grades. Lets also say the parents of this child have great credit scores. I cant get online qoutes because he is not over 18. Any estimates? Anthing would help. Thank you.

""What is the best, cheapest car insurance I can have for a 28 year old female?""

What is the best, cheapest car insurance I can have for a 28 year old female?""

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

Lagrange Georgia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 30240

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-can-i-afford-health-insurance-joseph-cole/"

[strangetomato]

Short Story: A Romance Sim and a Family Sim (PG13-ish Version)

The same as the story I previously posted, but with the sexy stuff (mostly) taken out, if you’re not into that sort of thing. Please enjoy the very general “and then they have sex” sort of replacement I have included in […] for your convenience. :)

A Romance Sim and a Family Sim

Ripp had found someone to dance with, and things were getting a little grindy. Ophelia watched from her seat at the bar, taking a sip of her drink. Ripp’s glass was still sitting half full on the counter, marking his place next to hers. She followed their movements, the flip of her hair, the motion of his hips, then looked away for fear of staring too long.

It was a quiet night. Quieter than the usual Saturday at the Wasteland Lounge. Most of the students had already gone home for the holidays. Those that had something to go home to. In a few more days, the campus would be even emptier. Only a handful of people remaining. Maybe just two.

Her.

And Ripp.

There was a comfort in that. They didn’t often talk about it, because it had already been said. They’d laid all the broken pieces out at each other’s feet. They’d sat together with the pain, the darkness, the tears. Things too ugly for the light of day. They’d done all that, and there had come a time when it was no longer necessary to say those things, because they already knew. They knew without saying. There was great comfort in that.

Ripp returned to his seat. Heat radiated off of him. There was a flush in his cheeks. A grin on his face.

“Working up a sweat…,” she said, brushing his hair back and tucking it behind his ear.

“Yeah.”

“Nice moves.”

He waggled his eyebrows and took a mouthful of his drink.

“When are you heading in to Strangetown, do you think?” she asked.

“I don’t know, when are you?”

“Maybe the day before Christmas Eve. Just for a few days.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. It’s about all I can stomach of the General, but I want to be there for Buck. I’ll probably bring him back with me for a visit after Boxing Day.”

“That sounds nice,” she said.”Yeah, Nervous will want to see me. And the Smiths too. But with Nervous up the hill now with the Curious brothers, I don’t look forward to staying in that house alone.”

“I don’t blame you,” he said. He took another mouthful of his drink. “Is Johnny coming home?”

“Yeah, he is. Didn’t I say?”

“Yeah, probably.” Ripp considering it. “Yeah, I think you did. And anyway, Jenny’d never let him get away with being away for Christmas. Is he still with… Ellen, was it?”

“Yeah, Ellen,” she said. “They’re still together, as far as I know.”

“It’ll be good to see him. It’s been a while.”

“It has.”

They sat for a while in a comfortable silence, enjoying their drinks and each other’s company. It was a nice evening.

All was changed in an instant as Ophelia watched someone walk in through the door.

Ripp noticed the change in her immediately. “Hey, what’s up?”

“He said he couldn’t go out tonight…”

“Who?” Ripp swiveled around until he found who she was looking at. “Oh, Korey whatshisname? That guy you went out with last week?”

“Yeah, he said he wasn’t going out tonight, but I guess he just meant… not with me.”

They both watched as he began chatting up someone at the bar.

“I mean, fine. He didn’t want to go out again. He could have said that. It’s not like I was pining away at home. He didn’t have to lie about it. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…” she trailed off before finishing her thought, looking away. “I mean…”

“A Romance sim?” Ripp offered, brow raised.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, flustered.

“You don’t seem to mind it when it suits you.” A little cruel of him, but not entirely unfair, she figured.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“For what? For treating me like a Romance sim?” He got to his feet. “You don’t hear me complaining, do you?”

“I don’t think that of you. I mean, I don’t think of you like a Family sim either, of course. I don’t think… ah crap, I don’t know what I’m trying to say here.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “No big deal.”

“We’re good though, right? I thought it was… with us…”

“Come on,” Ripp said, taking her hand. “Let’s dance. You love this song.”

He led her to the dance floor, where the discomfort quickly fell away. She always liked dancing with Ripp, who could simultaneously goof around and take it all dead seriously. Together they had torn up many a dance floor, and had a lot fun in the process.

“Hey, listen,” he said, leaning close. “Fuck that guy! Seriously. That’s his loss. He should be so lucky! And if he can’t see that, he’s blind. Yeah, fuck him. You don’t need that. You need someone who’s going to treat you right. All that Family sim stuff and shit. Someone to sweep you off your feet.”

“Right now I think I’d settle for someone to get me on my back.”

He smiled, and cocked his head to one side. “Or there’s that, yeah. That’s also good.”

“Know anyone who could help me out with that?” she asked.

“Maybe some dirty Romance sim?” he suggested.

“Maybe.”

“Is that an offer?” A sparkle in his eye.

She smiled. Ripp never pushed, but it was clear that he loved their occasional romps. From their early fumblings after she and Johnny had ended things and he’d gone to college, to their current loosely-defined friends with benefits situation. Not a regular thing, but returning to it from time to time when it felt right. When she wanted it. It was always hers to initiate, she knew that. And he’d be there. He’d be there with bells on. She held the wheel. She had to admit she liked the feeling of power it gave her.

“You have your eye on anyone here tonight?” she asked.

In response, he locked both eyes onto hers. Smiling. Unmistakable. She smiled back, but went on waiting. He raised his brows. “Do you need me to say it? Because I can say it.”

“Do you want me?”

“Absolutely.”

She drew him down to her, to meet her lips, which he parted so effortlessly. He dipped her back, making a big show of it. She no longer cared whether that Korey guy was watching them or not, or anyone else for that matter, but she had to admit that the slight spectacle of it pleased her. To do this here. To have him claim her as his, openly, for all to see. And her, him.

She moved her hands lower, to gripping his ass through his jeans. He quickly did the same, grasping her and pulling her tight against him. Nudging back at her with his hips.

“So where we going? Photobooth?” he suggested, with a smirk. “Bathroom stall?”

“So very romantic,” she said.

“Oh you want romance, do you? Why didn’t you say so? I can make it romantic… some roses, maybe some candles on the flush-box.”

“Nice.”

“Now, now. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t,” he said. “I know better.”

“Not tonight. I heard someone throwing up in there. And as for the photo booth… have you forgotten the time the photo got caught in the machine?”

He laughed. “I wonder who go that eyeful, in the end?”

“Let’s get a cab.”

After the call was made, he pushed her back against the side of the phone booth, kissing her deeply. Then they were in the cab, still kissing.

[They reach her apartment and they have sex. Ripp says he loves her in a moment of passion, then when she tries to make light of it and give him an opportunity to brush it off and say it was just in the heat of the moment. He says it again, more deliberately. All the while they continue to make love slowly, and the conversation happens during this.]

Her lips found his again, hoping to make up for the fact that she didn’t have the right words.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he continued. “I just want you to know that. You’re my best friend and I love you more than anything else in this world. I love it when we fuck. I love it when we just hang out. Whatever you want from me, I’m there. I’ll always be there, no matter what. I just want you to know. I mean, if you don’t already…It’s probably pretty obvious.”

[Ophelia doesn’t respond to Ripp’s proclamation, but instead kisses him and continues to push them forward towards climax. A good time is had by all. :P]

…

Afterwards she lay in his arms. She could tell he was waiting, hoping for some sort of response. She ran her hand back through his hair. “You were really hard tonight,” she said.

He grinned widely. “Always happy to provide. Consider it an early Christmas gift.”

“And also… I feel the same way. About everything.”

“Oh Phi…”

“Don’t get too sappy on me now,” she warned.

“When you didn’t say anything…” His eyes welled up.

“How could you doubt it? Like you said… it must be obvious.”

He kissed her cheek, nuzzled into her neck. “You were my first kiss, you know.”

“What? Really? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I was all talk back then. I’m surprised you didn’t know.” He continued his trail of kisses. “You were my first for a lot of things, really.”

“Yeah, for me too,” she said, sitting up. “We’ve done some things. Some very nice ones.”

“Wonderful, wonderful things,” he agreed. He moved up to sit behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. The sort of thing that he would do on any given night while they sat on the couch watching TV, only usually they were less naked. “Hey, why don’t you stay with us for Christmas?” he said. “In my room. I can sleep on the couch. The bed is small and the mattress is shit, but it’s cozy enough in there. All my teen angst band posters to keep you company…”

She considered the prospect of Christmas with the Grunts. “That would be… interesting. To say the least.”

“Yeah, well interesting is about as good as it gets as far as Casa Grunt is concerned. And your womanly presence might be good for us. Maybe diffuse some of the usual tensions. They’d all be on their best behaviour. It’d be a good thing, I think.”

“What would we tell them?”

“What would you like to tell them?”

“What would you like to tell them?”

They sat there for a moment, grinning madly at each other. “Fuck it,” Ripp said. “Let them figure it out. I’m sure it will be fun to watch Tank’s wheels turning.” He laughed. “And I’m sure Buck will figure it out. He usually does.”

“We’re doing this all out of order, aren’t we?” she said. “For a Family sim…”

“So we’re actually doing this? For real?”

“I don’t know, are we?”

He smiled, then leaned forward to kiss her. His arms wrapped around her body and soon she found herself sinking back down onto the bed, lost in his embrace once more. She had always liked it when they kissed. It felt natural. Right, somehow. But now there was something else. Something more.

When he drew his face back from hers, he was smiling. Laughing a little to himself. “I’ve got a joke for you…”

“Oh no. A dirty one?”

“A Romance sim and a Family sim walk into a bar.”

She arched a brow. “Yeah… and then what?”

“And the Family sim acted like a Romance sim, and the Romance sim went all Family on her.”

Her smile must have lit up the room. “That’s not a very good joke.”

“No, but it’s funny, don’t you think?”

She took his face in her hand, kissed him again lightly on the lips. “Love you, Grunty.” And kissed him again, and again, and again. Wiped the tear from his cheek, and kept kissing him.

Ophelia sat back up and looked over at the window. “It’s snowing out. Want to go for a walk?”

Ripp sat up too, and took her hand. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Well, put some clothes on first.”

“Nope. Just like this.”

She tossed his shirt at him. “Look, we can’t freeze all our naughty bits off. We’re going to need those later.”

His smile, as always, shot straight to her heart.

And with their clothes back on, they opened the door and walked out into the gently falling snow, arm in arm.

“So when should I get fitted for my ball and chain?” he asked.

“Oh, we’ll work out all the details later.”

“Kinky.”