#anyways I just really had to vent about that I was FUMING

[spineless-lobster]

Hey guys can we like please love “ugly” trans women? Can we please love fat trans women? I just really think we should love all trans women thanks

[ham1lton]

47 with FA14 please :)

047. the inside of an elevator that won’t move w/ FA14.

— part of a series of drabbles! <3

you were incredibly annoyed. so annoyed in fact, that you were this close to quitting this job. your very cushy hybrid job which paid incredible and gave you your own office even though you mostly worked from home. toto, your boss, had given you the alonso case which meant that you’d be working through your sister’s wedding. the same wedding you’d booked off months ago.

you get in the elevator, slightly fuming, as an older man also got in the elevator with you. he turns to you.

“floor three please.” he asks politely, as you’re standing next to the buttons. you seethe but press the button for him.

as the two of you stand in silence, the elevator suddenly stops. you give each other a panicked look. the silence between the two of you is heavy, only broken by the occasional faint hum of the elevator’s machinery. you click the help button and after a short conversation with the very unhelpful guy on the other end, you’re told help will arrive in half an hour.

“great! just what i fucking needed.” you mutter. he turns to you. “what? like this is a great situation for you either?”

“no, obviously not.” he says, in very accented english.

“so don’t give me that look.” you roll your eyes.

he raises his hands defensively. "okay, okay. truce?"

you sigh, realizing you're being unfair. it’s not like it’s his fault. "yeah, sorry. it's just been a really bad day."

"tell me about it," he says, leaning against the elevator wall. "what’s got you so worked up?"

"my boss just dumped this huge case on me last minute," you say, frustration bubbling up again. "it’s for this big client, alonso or something. now i have to miss my holiday because of it. i had the time off booked for months."

he raises an eyebrow, clearly surprised. "alonso? that's tough."

"yeah, and all because some big shot can't finalize a business contract on time," you grumble. “what’s so important about this stupid contract anyways?”

he looks away, as if contemplating something. "sounds like a real pain. what do you do, exactly?"

"i'm a corporate lawyer. and you?"

he hesitates for a moment before answering, "i'm... in business. finance, mostly."

you roll your eyes. "well, mr. finance, at least you’re not stuck working on a weekend for some unreasonable client."

the silence that follows feels heavier than before, and he shifts uncomfortably. "yeah, must be tough," he says quietly.

you frown, feeling slightly guilty for venting so much. "sorry, i didn't mean to unload on you. it's just been a lot."

he nods, offering a small, understanding smile. "i get it. sometimes things don’t go the way we planned."

you both fall silent for a second, the hum of the elevator the only sound, as you wait for help to arrive. then, as if compelled to fill the void, you continue. "it's just... my sister's wedding this weekend. i've been looking forward to it for months. and now, because of this contract, i'm going to miss it. i don't even know why it's so urgent."

he shifts again, looking like he wants to say something but isn't sure if he should. "maybe the client has their reasons," he offers carefully. "not that it makes it any easier for you."

"yeah, well, whoever they are, i hope their business crashes and burns," you mutter darkly. "no contract is worth missing something so important."

there's another pause before he speaks again, his voice softer this time. "sometimes, it's hard to see the bigger picture when you're in the thick of it."

you look at him, a hint of curiosity mixed with your frustration. "you sound like you know a lot about this."

he gives a half-smile as he shrugs, almost rueful. "more than i'd like to admit."

before you can ask more, the elevator jerks and starts moving again. you both breathe a sigh of relief as the doors slide open. he gestures for you to go first. "after you."

as you step out, you glance back at him. "thanks for listening. and sorry for the rant."

"anytime," he says, his smile warm but his eyes holding a hint of something you can't quite place. "good luck with that contract. and i hope you find a way to make it to your sister's wedding."

"thanks," you say, still feeling a bit unsettled as you walk away, wondering why his understanding smile seemed to hold more weight than a simple stranger's sympathy.

later that evening, as you’re buried in paperwork, your phone buzzes with an email notification. it's from toto. you open it, and your heart skips a beat.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

subject: urgent update on alonso case

dear l/n,

i have some unexpected news regarding the alonso contract. the client personally requested to change the deadline, granting you the weekend off. i know this is a surprise, but please take the weekend to attend your sister's wedding.

best,

toto.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

your mind races as you read the email again. how did the client know about your situation? you stare at the screen, the pieces slowly clicking into place. the man from the elevator—the one who listened so intently, who seemed to know more than he let on—he must be connected to alonso.

the realisation brings a mix of emotions: relief, slight embarrassment, gratitude, and a touch of something warmer. you can't help but smile, remembering his kind eyes and supportive words. your phone beeps again.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

subject: dinner invitation

dear y/n,

i hope this message finds you well. i wanted to extend an invitation for dinner sometime this week. it would be a pleasure to meet in person and discuss matters beyond business.

please let me know if you're interested and i hope you enjoy the wedding.

warm regards,

fernando alonso.

ceo of alonso corp.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

author’s note: i don’t actually write for fernando but this was calling to me so i decided to fulfil the prompt. i hope this isn’t too ooc. my bad. also reader and ceo!alonso go on the date and fall in love and the week before their wedding he pretends to get her on a contract all over again bc he thinks its funny.

[weirdkpopgirl]

Adoration | Mark Imagine #7

Title: Adoration

Genre: Tooth-rotting fluff

Warnings: none really :)

Word Count: 612

Author's Note: Lol this idea came to me after seeing a clip of Mark on a video call fansign, where he was telling the fan that he's currently watching Queen of Tears. This made me so happy because I've also been watching the drama and feel so passionately about it. Anyway my mind started to wander and this little scenario came out of it. I tried my best not to include spoilers of the show in the story though. Thank you for reading and hope you like it ^ ^

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Frustration brewed in your eyes, as heat rose to your cheeks, while your heart was pounding. Your fingers curled further into your palms, as unkind words traveled to the tip of your tongue. Yet, before they could be vocalized, the dark-haired man on your left said them instead.

“No, but why did he do that though?!” Mark yelled, throwing his arm out in a gesture to the screen.

A part of you wanted to laugh at your boyfriend’s reaction to the final scene playing out on the television before you. Since the premiere of Queen of Tears, you and Mark have been avidly following the series together. However, you were a few episodes behind due to Mark’s busy schedule and your commitment to watching it together. It took considerable restraint to avoid looking at spoilers on Instagram or YouTube.

On the other hand, the equal measure of anger within you overpowered any sense of amusement. A louder-than-intended sigh slipped past your lips.

“Ugh, I hate Yoon Eunsung so much for trying to ruin Haein’s family,” you fumed, gripping the remote. “I swear, I just knew he was going to use that tactic to sabotage them too!”

Mark leaned back on the couch, echoing your dissatisfaction. “I know right? You were so on point though with predicting that it was gonna happen.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy that I was right!” you exclaimed, sounding as if you were almost about to cry from annoyance. 

Any hint of exasperation Mark was feeling simmered down, as you continued to vent about the episode. Now that he observed you passionately recounting every prediction you made about the characters’ actions that had had occurred in the episode. Your hair was slightly tousled, and your hands gestured animatedly, emphasizing your frustrations. This was a rare sight from someone who was usually so composed and reserved.

Your shoulders slumped when you caught the distraction in his eyes, prompting a look of confusion from you. “Mark, are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

“No, I am babe,” he reassured with a chuckle. “I’ve just never seen you this fired up before.”

Your expression softened, and the flush on your cheeks transitioned to one of embarrassment. His comment brought to mind your tendency to get overly passionate about certain things that provoked you.

“Sorry, I just got so worked up,” you mumbled, sheepishly brushing a loose lock of hair out of your face.

However, Mark was quick to pull you into his arms. “Don’t apologize, I think it’s endearing.”

His embrace was so warm and loving, it felt like he was wrapping you in all the adoration he had for you. Yet, it made you just want to hide your face in his hoodie because you were still flustered.

“Well I’m grateful you’re more reassuring than Baek Hyunwoo is,” you said, resting your chin on his shoulder. “Seriously, I’ve never seen so much miscommunication in a relationship before.”

You felt your boyfriend smile, pulling back slightly to stroke your hair. “And I’m glad you’re not as closed off like Hong Haein.”

“Hey, she has every right to be—” you started to protest, before catching yourself.

Mark nearly convulsed with laughter as he crashed you into another hug. “Ah, cute!”

Feeling embarrassed once more, you lightly smacked his shoulder, though it did nothing to stop the boy from gushing over you. But you couldn’t help but smile too, finding warmth in the moment. Both of you knew that the upcoming episodes of this drama would only bring more stress. However, at least you could share your frustrations openly, while all Mark could think about was how infatuated he was with you.

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previous masterlist -> current masterlist

[in1-nutshell]

Hello again! another tfa Elita One's twin sister w/ Sg Blackarachnia with a slice of life?

Maybe where Elita One's twin took a day off, like having peaceful time away from work or war related, whether shes's alone or shes accompanied by someone or group (maybe with sari, Megatron, or others)

Add idea:

She's been followed by cons/bots (probably Meg and/or Op/Elita/Sentinel), Elita One's twin Didn't know about it

Buddy really does need a break from all of this.

Hope you enjoy!

Elita One's twin sister and Optimus Prime: slice of life

SFW, Platonic, Romance, Cybertronain (techno organic)reader

TFA

It had been an extremely stressful week for both sides.

Optimus had been called over and over by his team, the city, and the Decepticons skirmishes.

The Prime was running on fumes and knew it was only a matter of time before he would collapse. He did try and get his team to lay off a bit, but he knew in the end he would have to take care of it as leader.

Buddy was starting to get frustrated and impatient with how this week had been turning out.

The number of repairs, renovations, and overall, back up was testing her.

Not even Megatron’s sweet words did anything for her.

Then one evening she did snap.

She was so done with everything.

She even threw her screwdriver through the wall nearly impaling Blitzwings wing to the wall. Marching straight into the main room and yelled catching everyone’s attention.

Buddy venting heavy looking at everyone in the optic.

“Now that I have your attention. I will be taking all tomorrow for myself. There will be no medic available until tomorrow is done. If you have an injury, there are other mechs around with medical experience. Unless you are currently offlining, You. Will. Not. Disturb. Me.”--Buddy

Megatron steps to her side.

“Are you sure that is wise—”--Megatron

Buddy turning her helm sharply to her significant other borderline glaring at him.

As if daring him to say the wrong words.

Megatron felt a bit uneasy as he chose his words.

“I mean that the last time you went out, you had been captured. I do not think I need to remind you of that.”--Megatron

There are some murmurs of agreement around.

Buddy gives him a pointed glare before morphing into a sickening sweet face.

“You are right Megatron. Maybe I should take someone with me.”--Buddy

Megatron nods in agreement.

“I wonder if Optimus is available?”—Buddy

All the Decepticon’s look at her in disbelief.

“…what?”--Megatron

“You can’t be serious?”--Starscream

“Why take the puny Prime when you have Lord Megatron right here!?”--Lugnut

“Because Lugnut! Everyone here has recently taken their mandatory breaks, which need I remind you I recommended you take. If this week has been tough on me, I can’t imagine how Prime must be and he is just as stubborn as I am when it comes to breaks. Anyways, I want to spend some time with him. It’s been a while since I’ve had a moment to chat with him.”--Buddy

Buddy looks at Megatron with puppy dog optics.

“You wouldn’t want me all sad knowing that my friend is suffering and me stuck here read to snap?”--Buddy

Megatron’s optics widen a bit.

But the leader is unwilling to give in screwing his optics shut.

Buddy smirks a bit and gently pries his servos open carefully playing with his digits.

“Megatron?”--Buddy

“Yes…?”--Megatron

Buddy suddenly thrusts her servos to his chassis bringing him down to her level.

Her optics looking at him dead serious.

“If I don’t get this break with my friend… I. will. Snap. You see that screwdriver on the wall. That’s going to be IN someone if I don’t get out.”--Buddy

Megatron gulps a bit before absent mindedly nodding.

Buddy’s face falls into extreme tiredness and hugs him before turning to everyone else like she didn’t just put fear into their leader a couple seconds ago.

“Thank you all for understanding. See you all tomorrow!”--Buddy

Buddy leaves the room ready to com in Optimus.

Megatron stands back up straightening his back, optics lingering on Buddy’s retreating form.

“Yeesh! Remind me never get on… whatever side that was…”--Blitzwing

Starscream looking at Megatron.

“Are you really going to let her go? Just like that?”--Starscream

“Of course not. We are going to watch over her.”--Megatron

Lugnut raises his servo.

“Yes Lugnut?”--Megatron

“…Is it wise to do that Lord Megatron? You could be betraying Buddy’s trust in the process. Yes, things have happened in the past with Buddy, but must we stoop so low as to spy on her as if she were an untrustworthy traitor? She is your partner after all…”--Lugnut

All the Cons look at Lugnut as if he grew a second helm.

“That was… insightful of you Lugnut.”--Blitzwing

“I am the only one here with a loving Conjunx.”--Lugnut

“… This is an order to watch over Buddy.”--Megatron

“As you command Lord Megatron!”--Lugnut

Meanwhile Prime just got off the com with Buddy.

Buddy was letting him know that she was going to pick him up so they could have a day for themselves.

He tried to tell her no, but Buddy casually mentioned what she did in the main room.

Now Optimus knew this was serious and changed his answer.

He could practically see Buddy tired smile as she thanked him and hung up.

“Attention everyone. I won’t be available for the rest of the day tomorrow. I’ve got plans with Buddy—”--Optimus

“So, we can join you.”--Sari

“She wants it to just be the two of us. A ‘friend day’ as she put it.”--Optimus

“And what about the Decepticon’s? what if they attack?”--Prowl

“I don’t think they are going to attack while Buddy is out.”--Optimus

“And how can you be so sure?”--Prowl

“Buddy can get very creative if she doesn’t get the mandatory break, even more when it gets disturbed.”—Optimus

He shivers a bit thinking about the last time that happened.

“What is she going to do? Put us in a web?”--Bumblebee

“The last mech who disturbed her peace ended up in the Academy’s med bay.”—Optimus

Silence…

“Say what now?”--Bumblebee

“Oh I know this story.”--Ratchet

“You do?”--Bulkhead

“She was one of my pupils, of course I know. She grabbed a couple rounds of sedative rounds and shot the mech in between the joint wirings. He didn’t come out of it for days.”—Ratchet

Most of the team has wide optics hearing this.

“How didn’t she get in trouble?!”--Bulkhead

“She knows how to hide the evidence. And if I know my student, she probably put the fear of Primus in Megatron if this day gets ruined.”--Ratchet

“And that’s why I’m going. Anyways it’s been a while since we’ve just had a day to ourselves. I expect there will be no interruptions unless there is an absolute emergency. And no, the controller running out of batteries is not an emergency. Good night.”--Optimus

Optimus made his way to his room as his team began to hatch a way to follow him and Buddy on their day off.

It was just a precaution; they weren’t going to let their day get ruined by the Cons.

The next day came in.

Buddy woke up earlier than usual excited for the day and ran to the exit, swinging to the city.

Around the same time Optimus started leaving the Plant.

Both teams were ready to start spying.

Buddy met Optimus in the park.

The two hugged and immediately started chatting away.

Imagine the surprise when both teams found each other spying on their teammates having the free day.

There was a small moment where they were going to fight but it was shushed by Ratchet.

He scolded them, warning that if they got caught not only would they be betraying the trust of the pair but the fact both needed this time.

“And we don’t want to end up like the mech in the medbay.”--Bulkhead

“What mech in the med bay?”--Lugnut

“Oh, she didn’t tell you? She put a mech in the med bay for disrupting her day off.”--Ratchet

“Yeah! She shot him with so many tranquilizers that he woke up days later!”--Sari

The Cons looked at each other with a sudden cold shiver running down their back.

Ratchet smirks a bit.

“By the Allspark she did put the fear of—”--Ratchet

“Shush! They’re going to hear us!”--Starscream

“Then truce. Nothing ruins their day. They both need this.”--Prowl

Reluctantly the Cons call a truce for the sake of their teammates.

They both ended up working to make sure Buddy’s and Optimus’s day was perfect.

From swatting incoming balls, shooing birds, even taking hits from a rough paint bot.

Buddy and Optimus were not oblivious to the fact both of their teams were following them.

But they thought it would be fun to play along.

Just to mess with them.

Eventually the day came to an end.

Buddy hugged her friend dearly and they both went to their homes.

Both teams raced to their individual bases and tried to act as if they didn’t do anything.

Optimus entered the plant to find most of his team scattered around the room.

They looked tired yet tried to act as if it was nothing.

“I take it you all had quite a day?”--Optimus

“Oh…ummm… Yeah! Bulkhead wanted to try a new painting style and it took all day!”--Bumblebee

Optimus gives them a look and walks to this room before stopping.

“We’re going to need to practice on your stealth Bumblebee. You can’t hide behind a hot dog cart and expect it to cover all of you.”—Optimus

Bumblebee stares at him with his jaw wide open.

Optimus smiled mischievously and went to his room.

He heard multiple groans and a sound that sounded like someone flicking someone on the helm.

Meanwhile with the Decepticons…

Buddy walked in acting a bit surprised seeing her team a little bit worn out and slightly dented.

“You guys had quite a day I’m guessing.”--Buddy

There are some groans here and there.

Buddy giggled a bit as she turns to hug each member of her team before giving an extra-long one to Megatron.

“I’ll fix all these in the morning, I think that sleeping off the day will do your frames good. Especially after getting pelted with pain guns.”--Buddy

As Buddy made her way back to her room she smiled a bit hearing the groans and something that sounded like a helm hitting the wall.

[heyhihellosworld]

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴

Mason Mount x reader

Word count: 1k

Summary: Mason's sour after a bad game

Warnings: Fluff, a little angst, Hotspur vs Chelsea should be a warning in itself

Notes: Just a very simple, basic short one-shot tbh but I just had to write about this match. I'm still reliving it and get just as angry all the time. Like how, just how.

You could see how he was fuming, anger and disappointment just oozing off of him as he walked off the pitch. Clapping a few claps as a thanks for the supporters before walking down the tunnel with his head down just as his teammates.

It wasn't a bad game for Chelsea, having made two perfect goals but the frustrating and disappointing thing had been the referee.

Two goals for Tottenham, both who should have been denied because of faults but no, nothing judged and the goals stood.

You thought you were almost more fuming than Mason at that moment. Screaming at the tv-screen as Cucurella was dragged down and screaming even more when nothing happened as a result.

It was a little funny actually how you never cared about football until you met Mason. After he had taken you to your first game, United vs Arsenal you had been stuck. Watching every game and every league possible. Just this evening you hadn't been able to go to the actual game because of a late meeting so instead opted to have it on in the background. It was probably better anyway because you were sure you'd stormed the pitch if you'd been there. Not so good for your career though.

When Mason came home you had calmed down a little bit, stood cooking dinner when he announced he was home with a flat voice.

You met him in the hallway with a hug that he immediately welcomed, pulling you close to him and wrapping his arms around your body.

"I'm sorry for the game, you deserved those three points" you said lowly against his ear, hearing him hum in response.

"Wait you watched?" he questioned, pulling away a little bit while you shrugged "Well of course"

"Didn't you have a meeting?" he questioned confused.

"Well yeah, I had it on in the background" you said like it was obvious. Mason cracked a grin at you, chuckling as he pulled you into his embrace again. "Bet that was really popular in front of your bosses huh?" "Eh, they barely noticed. I accidentally screamed once but I blamed it on the cat"

Mason laughed, kissing your temple "Babe we don't have a cat"

"I know but they don't" You grinned back, untangling from his grip to stir around in your pasta sauce. "What if they come here some day?" "Well, then i'll just say it ran in front of the bus or something" you shrugged again, delighted with his laughter as he moved into the house.

"You're really lovely, aren't you"

"I can be" you grinned back, turning around to peck his lips. He was already in a better mood which made you in a better mood too. "It smells really good" he said sweetly, pecking your temple again before pulling away, walking over to the hallway to pick up his wash bag. "I'm gonna go shower"

"Do that" you nodded, continuing to cook as he showered quickly, soon emerging from the bedroom in a comfy hoodie and sweatpants.

He looked really tired and you knew he was, it had been a real busy time this far and it was going to get even busier. Training and training and traveling around England non-stop. It was what he loved, his dream but of course it could still be exhausting.

"You wanna talk about it?" You asked softly as you stirred down the pasta in the pot.

"Not really, just disappointing. Like we did play well I think, it was a good game for us but the goals are just really disappointing and to know that it was supposed to be 2-0 but still only go away with one point is rough. I think we deserved more of that game" he huffed, venting off.

"Well, you're right, it is disappointing but at least you can go away with the feeling that you played a good game and that you are in a good place. You got robbed of those points, sure but you're in a better place and there are a lot of points to come. At least you weren't the one getting a cheap win and the ones robbing" Mason chuckled at your metaphor, grabbing two plates from the top cabin. "Well you're right about that"

"But to be honest it's kinda rough overall right now"

You raised your eyebrows at him, never having heard of it before. "What?" "Well" he sighed, leaning back against his palms on the counter. "We haven't started good have we?" "No, maybe not good but not horrendously either"

"Well it's just a really nervous tension in the group. Nobody knows what's gonna happen with the transfers and we haven't been able to adjust to the new group at all. I-I guess i'm just worried something huge is gonna happen"

"Well, I get that but you have to give it some time, it hasn't gone many games yet and you will get together in the team. And if something big happens.... well then we deal with it then. Don't go around worry about it know, just focus on getting in shape"

Mason smiled through your sentence before letting out an over dramatic gasp. "What?! You're telling me I'm not in shape" he said in a mock hurt, clutching his chest which made you laugh, handing him a plate of the pasta and kissing his cheek. "Well, we all know you can be better and even if it shouldn't be like that Chelsea isn't on it's best if you aren't on your best"

"Awwww" he grinned, making you laugh again while you grabbed your own plate. Walking towards the living room. "Let's watch some trash-tv" you announced, seeing his smile as he followed you out to the living room and dimped down into the couch.

"Gladly"

[space-blue]

may we know what is the crumbs 3 wip? 👀

Aha! It's the 3rd chapter of the fic A Trail Of Crumbs whose concept I adore but fell out of love with when I stumbled out of the Avatar fandom.

It follows Recom Miles Quaritch after the events of the film, lone survivor back on base and wrestling with the increasing dread brought about by a series of 'crumbs' he picks up on over time. RDA staff say and do weird things. The way he's treated seems odd. Ah, and his fucking custom watch. The tattoos they all have... Stuff doesn't really add up.

The goal of the fic was to explore the nature of the 'soul drives', how edited recom memories are, and the growing realisation that Miles isn't anywhere near his old human self, not any more than any other Marine with a similar background.

It was pure vibes of Blade Runner, artificial memories, created as a sentient tool unaware of their own artificiality beyond the obvious, etc.

In the end, I think I explored the concept better in this short comic in Mansk POV.

Chapter 3 crumbs is the incomplete conversation between Aslan and Miles, hinting at past Miles/Parker Selfridge. I stuck to dialogue only towards the end so it grows barebones, but I'll put what I have under the cut for the curious because I honestly don't think I'll finish this unless Avatar 3 makes me its bitch again.

'Why did you come back to Pandora?'

'Well, we landed in fanfare, as you can imagine.'

Yes, Miles can well imagine the media shit-storm so politely labelled fanfare. There's a part of him he's not particularly proud of that is glad his own death allowed him to skip this particular shitshow. He'd been, after all, the man in charge of operations at the time. Had pulled rank and everything. The media would have vivisected his career, his entire being. It's unlikely to have been much kinder to other RDA personal, returning with their tails between their legs.

'And in the middle of all this, my family...' Aslan gnaws on their lip, their faraway look snapping back to Miles with sudden intensity. 'We weren't really friends, you and I. You weren't one to hang out with the "science pukes", right? You'd know about my family if you had. I used to complain quite vocally whenever I got a comm from them. The old vent, you know. Anyway, let's say they were there, at the landing pad, waiting for me. In the middle of all that... fanfare.'

They look through the blinds, over the blighted landscape of concrete and metal, crawling with bots and shivering with heat and ship exhaust fumes.

'I signed up for the next mission over.'

Miles nods politely. He knows the type of family they're alluding to. He's met people who worked on the Mars terraforming program off world, because restoring Uganda's water table wasn't far enough of a getaway. Pandora's one of the furthest frontiers known to mankind. Different appeal to the science pukes, who generally arrive thrilled to go pull up grass, but dysfunctional families are universal, and to many RDA workers, the distance is a bonus.

He goes to say some platitude, that he understands, because really, he does. But Aslan cuts him off with a sharp hand gesture.

'Can we cut the crap, General? I mean Miles. You're not interested in my family, and you're keeping me away from the deeply fascinating samples I've come all the way here to put under a microscope, so let's just talk.'

Miles is struck by the sudden realisation that he's got no easy segway ready to start on the whole RDA conspiracy thing. He turns a few sentences over in his mind, growing discomfort flattening his ears to his skull. Should he threaten Aslan? Ask plainly? He's burning to cut the crap, as asked. But Aslan is also the one who'd gone to great pains to arrange a believable meeting between them, who'd seeded fear into his mind.

The manual had held no hint when he consulted it. The term soul drive had an asterix to an appendix that wasn't in the book.

'Something bothering you?'

Miles smiles tightly. 'You can tell?'

'You have a long way to go before you obtain a Na'vi poker face. I suggest you stay away from the Thursday games.'

To hell with it. It's not like he expects he'll make it past the court martial, the way things are going.

'Why do your people tattoo us?'

'You flatter me if you think me this involved, but that happens on the ship over, with a crew well out of my jurisdiction.'

A deflection. He'll be damned. 'I'd appreciate an answer,' he says, putting steel into his voice. 'Of the straight kind, too, if you can manage those.'

'A jab at my sexuality? Too easy. Is the tattooing what's bothering you? Really?' Aslan's smile is knowing, the light in their eyes dances with unwholesome mischief.

'Let's say that I've tried and failed to find a better starting point.'

'All right then. Let's do a short test. Answer my questions fast and truthfully.'

Miles relaxes. 'Sure.'

'Year of birth?'

'2104.'

'Do you have a son?'

'...Yes.'

'What was his mother's name?'

'Paz Socorro.'

'What year was she born?'

'I...'

'Am not sure?'

'I don't think we discussed it, but—'

'You had her file. She was one of yours, wasn't she? Surely you remember how old she was?'

'I think—'

But Aslan doesn't let him catch his breath. 'Who was Parker Selfridge to you?'

Miles sits straight, ears point to attention now. Will Aslan also reek of fear if he answers 'friend', no matter how much of an overstatement the word might feel? Heck, they asked for fast answers, so he says, 'He wasn't exactly my boss, but he was the Head suit in charge.'

'I need an honest answer,' they say, rasping a knuckle on the table.

Miles has his jaw hanging. What do they want from him?

'Do you recall leaning in his doorway?' Aslan continues, hardly slowing down. 'Poring over maps together?'

'Well, we...'

'Do you remember the way he laughed at your jokes? You leaned into the corny dad humour and he loved it. Do you remember your mug?'

'Yes.'

'Do you remember how you got it?'

'...Selfridge? Wasn't it Paz?'

'That's a question, so I'll take it as a no. Moving on to—'

'All right, all right. You've made your point.'

'What point do you think this is?'

'My memories are incomplete.'

'No, Miles.' Aslan sighs and sinks into their chair. 'Your memories are edited.'

It's somewhat depressing that of all the emotions he feels in that moment, surprise is not one of them

'Look at it this way. The machine scours your neural pathworks, and bounces memories. But it can't recreate the events that got you there, and it can't recreate what you blocked even from your own wakeful memory. Things you've forgotten, things you've hidden under too many layers, things you've trained to look away from.'

'So we're missing chunks?'

'Yes, all soul drives are inherently incomplete. That's why the technology isn't widespread. But that's not it. When you're in the machine, they can trigger memory chains. It helps map out... Look, it's hard to simplify, especially since it's not my specialty either, but they can snip out entire sections, like cauterizing a thought beyond surface level, or blot out all emotional reactions to a concept.'

'Are you saying... Do you actually mean the RDA edited the story of my life like a fucking home movie?'

They shrug. 'Yeah. That's the gist of it.'

'That in the contract I signed?'

'Of course not. Come on, colonel, you worked private long enough to have seen this coming. What? Do you think they'd give a fuck if you had issues with your situation?'

Miles rubs a shaky hand over his eyes, trying his best to remember the sound of Parker's laugh. 'Are you— Are you saying Selfridge and I were close—'

'Close is a good euphemism.'

'—and they erased so much of it, I freaked the shrink out by referring to him as a friend?'

Aslan tuts. 'Bad move.'

Miles gives them a sickly sweet smile. 'What a shame nobody warned me about the nature of this assessment!'

[talenlee]

Outlaws of Thunder Junction Draft In Retrospect

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is stepping out the door in a few days as the ‘newest’ standard set, and with it goes the default focus of premier drafting on Magic The Gathering Arena. As the newest and most current set, any time Magic: The Gathering Arena gives me a pack for showing up or having fun or being nice or having a cute smile (like it’d know), it gives me a Outlaws of Thunder Junction pack.

This has been a deliberate part of my focus playing on Arena. See, I really like playing constructed magic, and because of that, I’ve been drafting Outlaws of Thunder Junction regularly.

These things seem at odds, I know.

Here’s my thinking:

Building decks need cards.

The game gives you a bunch of preconstructed decks to start with, but they are explicitly weak and designed to get you started in the game. They’re not about the kinds of things I want to be doing with my cards.

If I want to acquire cards, I can either spend money on buying product or I can do things in the free game that get me more rewards

These rewards can be spent on buying packs in the store, which is how they encourage me to keep engaged with the store, or I can draft.

If I just buy boosters, at maximum payout, it’s 90k gold for 90 boosters, 45k for 45 boosters that give 8 cards, so 360 cards.

If I draft, assuming I do badly, I will spend 10k gold, and open 3 boosters (with no chance for wildcards) that total 45 cards, and get another booster (+8 cards). That’s a much lower rate of return, with 4 boosters being 4k gold.

But the draft sees 53 cards and 4 boosters would see 32.

If I do okay at a draft, I’m spending 10k gold for 3 15-card boosters (45 cards) + 2 boosters (16 cards) and 1,000 gems.

If I draft cards I already have 4 of (which will happen if I draft a lot), they contribute to the vault very quickly and if I draft rares I already have 4 of (which turns out also happens) I get wildcards for those.

Here’s the other thing: Saving up for 90k gold takes more than two months during which there are good days and bad days and sometimes nothing happening. Drafting every week or so is a lot of fun.

Not that I would have necessarily said that at particular points. I mean, there were points in the Thunder Junction season where I had the extremely firm opinion that actually, draft sucks, why am I doing it. One night, I did a draft, got a 1-3 loss, and was so mad about it I immediately spent my gems to queue up again, eating a 0-3 loss. In that moment, I did genuinely storm around the house and think ‘why do I bother, this sucks, why am I doing this.’

It’s very important to face that feeling, because I know full well I was fuming and upset about losing and not handling it well. I talked about it on kind.social, I fumed, I had a little tattle and a little vent about it, but also, it was very important to recognise, I was talking about my feelings. I was venting about feeling bad. I didn’t need to talk about the objective failings, or about the balance of the game, I was talking about the things I felt bad about, and it’s okay to feel bad and it’s okay to express that feeling bad.

Anyway, what did I learn in general?

You Don’t Have To Worry About Getting Enough Playables

Time was when I learned how to play draft, it was a genuinely challenging experience because boosters had cards in it you wouldn’t want to play. That’s because it was the set Scourge, and Onslaught-Scourge-Legions draft was a midnight hellscape. Do you know what commons were like back then? Half of them were non-creatures, and in Onslaught specifically, there were some absolute donkeys.

Have you ever seen Treespring Lorian? It’s a 5/4 for 6. What about Daru Lancer? Six mana, 3 power first striker, bam!

Removal was better, creatures were worse, and you would be shocked at what constituted good evasion. Screaming Seahawk was a ‘good card’, and Severed Legion was one of the most powerful cards in its class.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction has far fewer cards I wouldn’t run and when I cut them it’s because I have better cards, not because the cards are too bad to put in a deck. Even cards that are a bit awkward still have a place – particularly, sometimes you’ll have an uncommon or rare that transform how good another card is. Check out Boneyard Desecrator. I’ve won a few games with it as just a 3/4 menace for 4, which is unexciting but fine, but that’s a little desperate compared to when I got one alongside a Baron Bertram Graywater – which meant I started this creature getting bigger and bigger, slowly bleeding an opponent as I made treasures and vampires, and held off bigeger and bigger threats. Very fun engine, and it leads to the next point…

Sometimes an Uncommon Pulls Something Together

Treasure Dredger isn’t an amazing card, I don’t think. It’s a 2/2 for 2. It can block some things in combat but on its own it’s not really doing a lot. It doesn’t trigger crimes on its own, and you don’t usually need regular treasure production, unless you have something for it to work with. Like, again Baron Bertram Graywater.

Know what else works great with it? A huge expensive card like Cruel Ultimatum, or a huge expensive card like Overwhelming Forces or a card like Gold Rush. If I have one of those cards, suddenly, the Dredger is a lot more interesting. Quilled Charger isn’t a really exciting card, but menace is really good if you also have a Ferocification.

When I found I had a deck hanging around a card like that, I would play as if I was trying to get that card. Cyclers, searches, digging and rummaging all become differently valuable if you have a cool uncommon or rare that makes the whole deck work in a particular way, and that means that cards that keep the game going until you get them have a value for that point too. Gotta keep my head on a swivel and notice when my deck’s priorities are different.

Oh, know another good example? Spring Splasher. It’s not that good a card, but when I drafted two alongside a Lazav, Familiar Stranger, being able to drop Lazav and immediately crime on a creature that was safe and also promised to make the next crime on the next turn was really good. It didn’t matter if they weren’t a great card per se, because if Lazav is a 3/6 the first time they attack, they’re really hard to get rid of!

I remember these stories. I remember winning this way. I remember having fun with these interactions.

Sometimes You Get Dumpstered

In my first OTJ draft, my third game and loss was where my opponent cast, in order:

Thunder Salvo

Sandstorm Salvager

Hellspur Posse Boss

Gitrog Monster

Back For More

Savage Smash

That was kinda impossible to beat. And that happens. In best-of-one free-to-play drafting, there are going to be situations where an opponent gets a handful of heaters and I don’t have anything I can do about it but that’s not most games, it’s not all games, and even when a statistical outlier like this happens, the thing to do is take it, dust myself off, vent about the feelings and be okay with trying again.

I can’t remember when I won like that. I’m sure I have had wins where my opponent just – oh! Oh wait no! No I remember now. The last draft I did, I played a green-black deck where I had two treasure dredgers and a Kaervek, the Punisher. My opponents were convinced getting rid of Kaervak was a big deal, and left my Treasure Dredgers alone.

Then when I had five treasures, I untapped and cast the Goldvein Hydra in my hand, resulting in a 12/12 trampling vigilance haste. And I gotta say if you’re the opponent and you just spent time brawling through blockers and trying to box me into a position to get Kaervak off the table, because you could have no idea that my deck couldn’t do anything with him, only to have the Hydra that had been sitting in my hand vomit itself onto the battlefield and crash over 8 power of blockers for lethal –

That probably felt bad.

I mean, I take the W, but I gotta remember that I’m someone’s bad match too, sometimes. Point is, I’m playing a high variance card game for a reason and I’m not owed a victory, even if I think I am.

Don’t Spend All Your Removal At Once

The target is 20 of my opponent’s life total. Just because I can neatly kill a thing when my opponent plays out a creature and I have the mana up doesn’t mean it’s worth my time to do it. Creatures are going to bash into each other and live and die, and there’s nothing good about keeping the board clear in limited unless I’m already ahead, and ahead in a way that won’t be easily disrupted (so, like, 2-3 good sized creatures), then killing their creature with one of my small supply of removal spells might be a waste of that card. I don’t have a lot! I don’t have tons of removal! I need to hang onto it for the best targets. Killing something to get in for 2 is not a good use of a whole card.

Late Game Gas Is Really Important

I used to play limited in a world where you wanted to be able to engage on the battlefield on turn three, and just go for it. Creature combat was about mediocre creatures hitting one another and killing your opponents’ stuff and broadly speaking if you could draft a bunch of bears you were going to win just because you went 2 drop, 2 drop, two 2 drops against opponents who were still casting more expensive stuff.

That’s not the case any more. Evasion isn’t as available, it’s not as pure. People want to get around things and want to get through things. Menace has an amazing effect. Vigilance is incredible. But just having any big creature that I can draw to in the late game or hold onto in the mid game is important. Without that, even when the end game is stalled I’m drawing cards that aren’t good and don’t matter even if I am drawing a lot of them.

Conclusion

I am fond of  OTJ. I have memories of playing it and it has made me a little less scared of drafting going forwards and I’m really happy with how Magic Arena made drafting it part of my life.

Oh and Bonny Pall is a mess.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[luk4695]

tw vent.

have you ever found yourself at a time in your life, where you should be resting and preparing for the future, but you just can't. I felt exhausted and burned out back in May, when college ended. I've had 2 months of vacation already, and have 2 more months ahead of me. I'm lucky enough to not have to work this summer. I thought I'd make the most out of my time. and yet here I am.

on most days, I'm fine. however, that feeling of "fine" is as stable as a horse without its fucking legs. I'm a fucking kid trusted with adult responsibilities like voting and driving, and good thing I have my antidepressants because I would be doomed otherwise. even with antidepressants I'm a mess. the smallest of things can trigger me. oh, I had a hard time driving this morning, guess I have to spend at least half an hour in bed doing nothing to recover, sorry ! and also now I'm too mentally drained to pretend I'm fine. oh sorry you coughed too loud or you were arguing about not receiving your mail so now I have to shutdown mentally. the lights in the supermarket are too strong but I really want to buy stuff so im going to go anyway and then be surprised I'm overwhelmed. sorry the dog is crying too loud. why are you trying to make small take while I'm driving and desperately trying to keep us alive? stop eating food that's been spoiled for a month. stop laughing at my food anxiety. stop deadnaming me when you think I can't hear. stop talking. I want to stay in my bed all day but I'm restless. I feel disgusting but I'm too tired to get myself in the shower. I try to take care of my piercings but I feel like I'm doing a shit job at it. my earphones aren't working right. I want to cry but I've squeezed all the tears out of my body I guess. I spent 2 hours vacuuming and mopping the floors but now my dog has her period. the trash stinks. dishes are piling up. the vape fumes are sticking everywhere. at least I'm alive. at least I did stuff. but it never feels enough. or it feels like I didn't do it good enough. there are people in my live which I love but I don't have the energy rn to be with. I'd be an asshole to them. I need to sort myself out but I have no idea how.

I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. just getting my antidepressants prescription renewed. I hope the tears will come then. I hope I'll be able to tell someone. anyone. how tired I am.

it's so weird. I'm not at rock bottom anymore. I'm good a lot of the time, but I have moments in the day where I'm just so tired. how am I supposed to go to uni next year? how am I supposed to prepare to study abroad? how am I supposed to learn Spanish on my own? how am I supposed to work a summer job next year? how am I supposed to act cis and straight around most of my family for the foreseeable future? how am I supposed to function in this world, when cleaning my room for an hour is enough to exhaust me? when it's enough to put me out of service for the rest of the day?

meh I'll figure it out I'm sure

[dusksescape]

TW: vent

I guess this is what my Tumblr has boiled down to, but if this is my only tag I don't see how I'm hurting anyone.

The background;

I have been desperately fighting to not be crushed by these deep-seated insecurities. They can all fit into:

-I always feel like I annoy people and they all just put up with me.

-I'm fucking stupid, and there's no way on earth I'll be able to fix that.

Now logically, sure, I may annoy people. I'm Neuro divergent. That's just gonna happen. But I know that's not everyone in my life. And I'm not stupid, not a lot of people are truly stupid, we all have a niche and that's beautiful.

So that's what we're dealing with, but let's dissect the story that made all of that noise reach a boiling point.

Background 2: last night

I have this friend visiting their hometown. We both grew up there and I still live there. We had our partners, their boyfriend and my wife. They and the boyfriend wanted to teach us this card game and me and my wife did upset him. We were new and kept being told that he was the best person at the game there. Our bad.

Fast forward to today when I had already offered to take them out to get ramen at a very nice ramen shop a few towns over. I want to make it clear that I never expect anyone to feel like they owe me their life or anything too insane when I give them gifts, and I did get a thank you a few times. Unfortunately I did mostly just sit there driving with our partners in the back seat having a pretty minimal conversation while the friend sat there and fumed while handling a landlord situation that came up.

I fully understand the stress from that, I really do. I wouldn't have had a problem if we even wanted to turn around but we carried on anyway. You have no idea how atrocious this was for the insecurities I mentioned from before. I know it had to have been hard to deal with the stress of someone trying to be as nice as they can while you are facing getting rid of a pet... But god damn if that wasn't going still absolutely rip me apart.

While we were at the ramen shop the only time that this friend actually even so much as smiled at us was to make a dnd joke. For a campaign they were running. And killing our characters... I've never lost a character in DND yet and I know it's just a character but I also know it's going to hit very hard when my character dies and there was just something so fearful in me that was struck when that happened. But I was willing to write both of these off.

We get back to their accommodation and... Instead of any thanks... We get a lecture on how me and my wife's actions hurt their boyfriend.

This triggered an anxiety attack.

I know they said that apparently he was angry for around an hour but at no point was the information shared with us before hand.

I don't want to be an asshole but I fucking spent over a hundred dollars on you for the whole day and you joke about killing a character I made, you sat there fuming in my car and disregard me and as thanks you sit there and lecture me.

I've been crying on and off for maybe 11 hours at this point. It truly feels like there's nothing I can do right. I felt horrible, I convinced myself that I pressured these people into tolerating me, because I'm so fucking empty-headed that I just didn't see the signs when no... if you hated my wife and I'd company so much, you should have fucking said no or rain checked.

The messy bitch in me, the messy bitch in us all wants to confront them but it has been pointed out that it might ruin all of these campaigns we're in and these friendships. Luckily this hellhole (affection) isn't reddit and I will not be told to divorce all of them and run away forever.

This is Tumblr (and not Tumblr AITA) and since I know only one of you bitches (affectionate) who don't automatically go for blood, I feel safe here.

[ppulverse]

this is a bit random but i remembered you saying in your tags that your will to live dropped after ptd did and like... the real lasting legacy for ptd for me personally is that now i have trust issues every time a kpop group i like is about to release a song. like the preview for back for more sounds good and that makes me a bit optimistic but part of me is also cautious bc a preview is just a small snippet, what if the whole track turns out to be a song that i dislike and that i feel doesn't fit txt at all? maybe a few years ago i would've been purely excited but now there's always that part of me that's like "please don't be another ptd" so i feel cautious before every release

anyway this is just a vent and this is my own personal problem, like i said i think the preview sounds good and it's cool that other people are excited! this is just more of a "what if" nagging thought for me and sometimes i wonder if other fans feel the same or if i'm just being pessimistic

ok i talked too much so i'm adding a read more break here

JDKAJDJA i feel u 😔 personally i don't have a problem if i don't like a song one of my fav groups releases, so i won't be TOO disappointed if i don't like it. plus as someone from brazil i am REALLY excited to see them releasing a feature with a brazilian artist tbh 😭 my problem with ptd was the series of unfortunate events that lead us to that moment yk? like they were supposed to promote mots7 (which to me was a wonderful album) and go on tour, but then covid happened so the tour was cancelled, then they released dynamite... which was a BOP ngl i loved it i was just as obsessed as anyone else. but bighit saw how well the song performed internationally, especially in the usa, and seemed to become obsessed with trying to make bts appeal to the american media. so we got butter (and i was FUMING at the time bc txt had a cb with 0x1 shortly after a fcking bts comeback and i felt like they wouldn't stand a chance against bts on mysic shows and stuff 😭) and later on we got ptd which to me is honestly the weakest and most generic song bts has ever released. bts went from a group that co-wrote and co-produced most of their songs to a group that was being forced to only sing other people's generic stuff. (and i won't even mention BE bc that felt like a fever dream tbh it was literally released just as damage control and also at a specific time of the year so bts could win album of the year in 2021 without actually releasing an album in 2021.) and now that bts is on a hiatus i fear that they try to put them txt through a btsification process or smth idk???? but at least for now it doesn't seem to be the case. i don't mind them appealing to the american public and releasing songs that are meant to be a radio hit over there or whatever, as long as they don't lose their essence in the long run... and considering this album concept seems to be following that txt formula we know and love (since it's a continuation of the previous one, apparently), i think everything's still ok for now.

plus around the time do it like that was released they mentioned it on a welive that korean fans were getting kinda frustrated at how much promotion they were doing in the usa and not in korea and they were like don't worry we still have smth BIG coming up for us in korea, and i'm p sure they were talking about the album!! so i think we will survive. i hope. particularly i'm super excited to find out what the album is gonna sound like!! it's the first full album since freeze so hopefully we'll get many great tracks to jam to

[arjaandsimoni]

Snakes Along the Riverfront

The Ohio Riverfront, Newport

Stephanie huffed as she walked through the Newport riverfront with Stephy, the young boy eager as always to get out of his father’s house for multiple reasons. For one, the abusive nature of his alcoholic widower of a dad, for another it was the only time he could really let himself, well, be himself… or herself? He was still debating that bit. Loren still used ‘she/her’ but Loren could also bench press a Buick and if some politician used her to earn points with his base he’d be taking his teeth home in a bag.

While Stephy knew he could use magic now, he lacked the confidence to use it on his own. It was just easier with Stephanie backing him up. It was easier to do a lot of things he thought, glancing down at his outfit. A girl’s tank top, a loose black skirt, and sandals. He was terrified at first, but as long as he didn’t draw attention to himself nobody noticed, just another kid in the crowd.

Still, at least it was a nice night out this time. Isolde was likely still fuming back in Arcadia over the hedge beast’s destruction and after a scene that had left several cars smashed and several more upside down all along Madison Avenue they could use a quiet night. How the mundanes missed THAT one he’ll never know, he imagined glamour must have been involved somehow.

“I just…” sighed Stephanie suddenly, “I know where she’s coming from, but… I mean for me giving up my magic would be like you giving me back all those outfits I let you have.” she huffed, “… and your magic. It’s the djinn and the bottle. We let it out, can’t demand it goes back in.” she nodded.

Stephy thought about that, then winced and nodded, “Yeah… that… I definitely don’t wanna do either of those.” he replied, looking down at himself. It was a rather plain outfit, but the minute he’d put on one of Stephanie’s old skirts he knew he preferred them greatly over pants, jeans, or anything like that. Given the chance he’d wear them forever.

“Oh well… I got some of my allowance left, wanna check out the aquarium? Not much else to do out here since Barnes & Noble shut down.” she nodded. There were a few restaurants, but most of them were the kind of upscale places intended to draw the suburbanites and city-dwellers out and were well beyond a kid’s allowance, where the Aquarium could offer reduced admission for anyone under eighteen and got a tax break for doing so.

“Yeah okay.” he grinned, “Always like seeing the penguins swim. It’s more like they’re flying underwater really…” he nodded.

“Yeup, penguins can fly, they just gotta be in the water to do it. Kinda like you ‘n dresses.” she teased.

Stephy blushed, shoving her arm playfully as they got up and Stephanie took the admission out of her fanny pack, being rather careful to make sure the rest of the contents stayed hidden. Her ‘witch kit’ contained more than a few items that a young girl shouldn’t be carrying, at least according to adults anyways.

As they went inside a long slim figure silently crossed the roof of the aquarium, opening an air vent on top and slipping down inside it…

Meanwhile, Inside the Aquarium

Arja and her father were walking through the exhibits following his meeting with the executive board of Proctor and Gamble. They wanted to look into some business interests in India and needed premises to build and there was land available near his hometown of Jaipur that his family happened to own. The meeting was a pleasant enough affair for him, but for his daughter ‘excruciatingly boring’ might be a better way to describe it, nevermind she had to dress up to impress a bunch of old white men with his ‘lovely exotic little girl.’

She grumped at that, you think they’d never seen someone wear a saree before. Still, the wrap was back in the car and she was just wearing the red tube top and pair of baggy pants she wore under it with her sandals now. No more ‘prim and proper daughter to the powerful and important Rajesh,’ she could just relax for a bit.

Currently she was admiring a section of the aquarium set up to mimic the swamplands common to states like Louisiana where they kept their alligator exhibit. “Huh, so this is what the more rural parts of this country look like. Bet there’s some neat stuff to hunt here.” she grinned to her father.

Rajesh chuckled, “Indeed. I visited once or twice in my youth. Alligator meat is surprisingly pleasing to taste. Perhaps I shall have to find a local Cajun restaurant if we have time.” he nodded.

She nodded back and looked back down, then blinked. “Huh… hey where’d it go…” she muttered. The gator had been serenely floating near the surface, pretending to be a log as it would to lure in prey… then suddenly the water erupted in splashing and angry snarling causing the patrons of the aquarium to jump back in shock!

Arja tensed, staying near her father as slowly the water darkened… a coppery scent filling the air. “Oh no… did someone’s kid fall in?” she whispered… then the corpse of an alligator bobbed to the surface, its head floating up several feet away, and the screaming began.

“OH MY GOD SOMETHING TOOK ITS HEAD OFF!” came a shout from another visitor.

“Get the kids out of here! Someone call the attendants! What the hell just happened?!” came another as they tried to pull their loved ones back out of the exhibit.

Several kids began crying, more than a few were just stunned by the sudden brutality, but Arja wasn’t. The young Indian girl’s eyes scanned the water’s surface. She’d seen this sort of thing before back in India… “Dad… we need to get out of this exhibit…” she whispered.

Rajesh nodded to his daughter, “Yes, right no- LOOK OUT ARJA!” he shouted, shoving her to the left as he dove and rolled right with an agility that one might not expect from a well-dressed businessman as the water behind them erupted… and then the screaming really began!

Emerging from the water was a massive serpent, like a huge cobra, but with an all-too-human like face and muscular arms, a sword with a wavy blade gripped in its clawed hand crashing down right where Arja and Rajesh had been standing moments before! “DAMNED ALLIGATOR!” it hissed in fury, “Ruined my ambussssh…” the serpent glared, its yellow eyes locking onto Arja. “I’ll ssstill complete my tasssk… THE LINE OF THE VANARA KING DIESSS TODAY!” it roared, the long serpentine body bursting out of the water.

Arja glared, and the air around her seemed to shimmer in a heat haze. “A naga… you followed us all the way here?!” she snarled, flexing her hands, “Dad! GET BACK!” she shouted, and suddenly her teeth changed into fangs. She took a deep breath, bending backwards as her cheeks seemed to glow from within like she was holding a lit lightbulb in her mouth.

A moment later flames erupted down the hallway!

Further Back in the Aquarium

Stephy and Stephanie glanced at each other as people fled back through the aquarium tunnel, then the fire alarms all went off at once. “Well, that’s probably not a good sign.” said Stephy, glancing at his cousin.

“Yeaaaaaaaah, we should look into this.” she nodded, “But… be careful, remember what I told you about our magic indoors.” she warned, slipping her hand into her pack and taking out her silver dagger, holding it backhand, then rushing towards the source of the noises.

Stephy nodded, “Yeah, it doesn’t work as good if there’s no natural wind.” he replied, a bit anxiously, then followed quickly behind her.

The duo rounded the corner and skidded to a stop. The naga had wrapped its long snake-like body around the bridge through the exhibit, the other alligators having swam for cover as the flames erupted, and standing between it and an Indian man was…

“A monkey?” muttered Stephanie.

A golden furred monkey girl, sparks coming from between her fangs, her tail lashing behind her. “Who sent you?! Who has the BALLS to try to kill us in public like this?!” she snarled at the naga.

The serpentine woman hissed at her, “It doesssn’t matter child of Hanuman, NEITHER OF YOU WILL LEAVE HERE ALIVE!” it shouted, then quick as lightning it launched itself at her, mouth outstretched and fangs glistening, dripping with a green caustic liquid!

Suddenly, a loud whistle sounded and it ran face-first into the same wind-mine trick that had taken down the hedge beast! Its head snapped backwards with a pained cry as Stephanie and Stephy scrambled past it.

“Outside! Get outside!” she shouted to the man and his monkey companion, “We can help but we can’t fight as well indoors!” she nodded frantically.

The monkey girl looked at her in confusion, but a furious hissing sound got their attention. The attack had only stunned the serpent momentarily! “You heard her Dad! GO FOR THE EXIT!” she shouted as the four of them bolted for a nearby fire exit.

Rajesh shoulder-checked the door open and they all bolted out into the cool evening air scattering back as the naga erupted from the doorway a moment later. It didn’t care if anyone saw it or not, as far as it was concerned this was a suicide mission, but one it had accepted. It had made peace with that and trusted its next incarnation would be a reward for dying for its cause.

Stephanie nodded to her cousin, quickly putting her dagger back, “Stephy, transform! We’re outside, she can’t reach us in the air!” she nodded, the two of them spreading their arms as feathers burst from their skin, their knees snapping back as their legs turned into bird-like talons.

The naga’s eyes widened in fury, “Garuda?! HERE?!” she hissed, then narrowed her eyes, “… no… no you are not of their flock… what are you?”

Stephy blinked, “Garuda?” he asked, looking to Stephanie.

“Ask later fly now!” she shouted, letting out a bird like cry as she shot up into the air. “Stephy, stay near the man, I’ll back up the monkey!” she called to her cousin.

The monkey was just as surprised as the naga however, “Huh… western garuda?” she muttered, then looked back to the naga as it glared down at her. It reared back, raising its sword as the monkey snarled, conjuring a fistful of flames in each hand, before slamming its sword down as she rolled back, then pitched both fireballs at the snake’s face.

The creature dodged with uncanny agility however, “Pathetic! You cannot match my ssspeed!” it spat back at her.

“How about mine?” shouted Stephanie as she dove suddenly, her talons outstretched. They may be more like a raven’s than anything, but with her size they were good and sharp… and that naga had very large eyes.

The naga was caught by surprise, unable to dodge in time, and the talons bit home, slashing deep into its face!

“MY EYE!” it roared, glaring up at it as its hand clapped to the right side of its face, blood and ocular fluid seeping between its fingers, “I’LL FEAST ON YOUR FLESH, GARUDA OR NOT!” it snarled, only to meet a blast of flames coming from the other way as the monkey ran for a nearby tree. Quick as a blink she was up it and lept onto the roof.

“Hey! Red-hair-garuda… thing! Girl! Over here!” she shouted. Stephanie banked over to her and the monkey leapt, landing on her back with a loud oof from the girl as she wobbled in midair, then whistled to right herself. “Listen! I dunno what you are, but your magic is a lot like some friends of mine from back in India. Ever work with a fire-user before?” she asked.

Stephanie shook her head, “No, why?” she asked as Stephy circled over Rajesh, but it seemed the naga only had eyes for the monkey and his cousin now.

“Yanno how you feed flames with a bellows or a fan? Wind magic and fire magic can work together! We can take that thing down, but I’ll need your help… gimme wind and I can make a fireball too big for it to dodge!” she grinned.

Stephanie thought, then grinned back and nodded, “Got it!” she replied.

The monkey raised her hands over her head, conjuring a fireball as Stephanie hovered as best she could in midair, then let out a sharp eagle-like cry as wind rushed towards the flames. The monkey gasped and almost fell off as the fireball suddenly went from the size of a basketball to the size of a beachball, then kept growing. “HEY HEY NOT THAT MUCH! We’re not trying to torch the whole aquarium!” she shouted.

“S-sorry! I’ve never done this before!” she called back.

“It’s okay, this’ll do… just… FINE!” she snarled, then hopped up on Stephanie’s back and leapt, smacking the fireball down towards the naga like she was spiking a volleyball.

The naga hissed, but the area was open enough… it could still dodge! But then Simoni whistled sharply several times in succession, making a quick melody, and when the naga dodged right it slammed into another wind mine, which blew it into another, which knocked it into two more.

The stunned serpent shook its head, the sudden blasting back and forth rattling its brain. then the fireball landed and EXPLODED! There was a loud furious scream, the serpent’s body suddenly engulfed in flames, and it darted northwards! Howling in pain and anger it dove into the Ohio River, landing with a massive hiss of steam!

Stephanie caught the monkey’s hand in her talons, carrying her down to the riverbank, but there was no sign of her attacker. Either the naga had drowned, died of its burns, or fled to safety in the water.

“Well… that was new…” muttered Stephanie, shedding her feathers and scales and straightening up. “What the heck was that?” she asked the monkey girl.

The monkey frowned, then slowly her fur just… un-grew as her tail shrank back into her hips, her teeth going from fangs to normal human teeth. “A naga, one of the kin of Sulochana, daughter of the king of serpents. My ancestor helped kill her and her husband in a war centuries ago and they’ve held a grudge ever since. This isn’t the first time I’ve had one of them come after me, but they never did it outside India before.” she huffed, then looked at her, “Forget that though, what the heck are YOU? You fight like a garuda, but I’ve never seen one with red hair and black wings!” she said.

“Garuda? I’m a witch of Clan Fullmoon!” she giggled, then held out her hand, “Stephanie Fullmoon specifically, nice to meetcha… um…”

The monkey girl looked at her hand, then grinned and clasped it with her own. “Arja Barjar, descendant of Hanuman, King of the Vanara.” she replied.

“Huh…” blushed Stephanie, “Um, well… nice to meet you.” she replied. This girl was something else. She fought that monster without even hesitating, and she fought it well… and Stephanie could tell by her hands she was a good fighter, she felt athletic…

Arja glanced down, the girl blushing a bit herself, “You… can let go of my hand now.” she tried.

Stephanie blinked, “Buh…” the eeped and pulled her hand back, “Right right sorry! Just… still a bit shook up, never fought a naga before. I mean they’re not unheard of in the US, but its mostly just this one tribe of Hopi Native Americans and they live way out west of here and they don’t call theirs naga and…”

Arja chuckled, grinning at her, “Huh, so your country has them too…” she nodded, “Neat.”

Then suddenly Stephy swooped down, “Hey um… guys? Hate to interrupt but we got like a dozen cop cruisers and three news vans out there and a ton of mundys screaming about a snake monster and a fire-breathing monkey girl.” he warned, shedding his scales and feathers and changing back to fully human as well.

Arja and Stephanie winced together, “Yeaaaaaaah…” blushed Stephanie, “A giant explosion like that is hard to miss…” she muttered, “We should probably get out of here…” she nodded, “Um, nice meeting you though…”

Arja grabbed her wrist as she turned to leave, “Hey, Stephanie. Before you go… I’m gonna be in town for a bit and it’d be nice to, yanno, have someone my own age to see the city with. I mean, dad is great and all but, well, he’s a dad.” she shrugged. “And you’re a local, you probably know the best parts.” she nodded.

Stephanie blinked, “Uh… yeah? YEAH oh okay sure yeah!” she nodded, “Its summer vacation so I don’t gotta worry about school or anything, yeah sure!” she grinned back, fishing her phone out of her fanny pack as Arja got hers out of her pants pocket.

The two exchanged numbers, then Stephy glanced up, “Getting a looooooootta cops up there…” he warned again.

“Yeah, we need to leave, if we’re lucky they didn’t see us…” she winced, “Um… I’ll text ya when I get home?” she offered.

Arja nodded, “I’d like that.” she grinned back.

Stephanie hesitated, then nodded back, then she and her cousin rushed off down the riverfront on foot. Best not risk any shapeshifting with all the cameras around.

Arja watched he go with a grin and raised eyebrow, “… witch huh?” she smirked to herself. “Heard of witches, saw that Oz movie… didn’t know they could be cute too.”

Stephy and Stephanie slowed to a walking pace as they got nearer to the bridge between Newport and Covington, heading to the bus stop so Stephanie could get home without arousing any more suspicions from the locals. Finally, Stephy spoke up, “Soooo… care to tell me what that was?” he asked.

Stephanie didn’t respond at first, then seemed to snap out of a daze, shaking her head, “Huh? What?! What what what, er was? What what was?” she asked.

Stephy raised his eyebrow at her. “Steffi… your face is all red, and you barely noticed me when I landed and warned you about the cops. You’re usually the one telling me how to handle stuff remember?” he asked.

“Was I? I mean… it was just that naga and that Arja girl and all that… I’ve never seen anyone do stuff like that before and it just kinda threw me…” she replied.

Stephy nodded, glancing away, “Yeah, I thiiiiiiink it was more that Arja girl than anything else…” he replied.

Stephanie blushed bright red, spinning to face him, “W-what do you mean by that?!” she demanded.

Stephy smirked, “Steffi, c’mon… you’re standing next to a boy in a dress.” he giggled, “Do you really think I’m going to judge you?”

She glanced away, coughing a bit, “She was… just… I dunno… something about her just kinda… I dunnoooo…” she flailed her hands a bit, “Just… forget it…” she muttered.

Stephy grinned and slipped his hands behind his back, “Suuuuuuuuuure… sure. Whatever…” he giggled, thinking ‘so this is how it feels to be on the other side of this’ to himself.

That night after Stephanie got home she flopped into her bed, then picked up her phone and texted Arja's number.

‘Hay, want 2 go see a movie tomorrow? Sonic is still showing.’

After the longest ten minutes of her life so far her phone buzzed and she snatched it back up.

‘Sure! Txet me when u ready! :)’

Stephanie re-read it five times, then laid face down on her bed, pressed her face into her pillow, and took a deep breath. A minute later the tree outside almost blew over.

Next Story

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[cattyanon]

Okay so my mom just told me the reason the internet went out and because of additional information I NEED to vent about the BS parts.

So apparently the reason the internet was out was because of a system error where they told her the wrong amount that needed to be paid for the internet. And they didn't even tell her this until like 20 minutes ago because the account it's under isn't technically hers even though she's like... a co-owner of it. I can't remember the exact term my mom used. Anyways she has to deal with a bunch of waiting to learn this (for reference, this BS started when my sibling woke her up about it at around 9:00 AM and it's currently 1:47 PM as I type this part) and you guys wanna know what REALLY pisses me off?

They charged her 25$ to turn the internet back on.

Yup. That's right. They charged HER money for THEIR mistake.

Needless to say I am FUMING about this. They should've turn that shit back on for free and gave her a little compensation for all the time she wasted yet they had audacity to charge her 25$ for a mistake that their own system made!!!

AUGH IM SO PISSED!!!!! THIS IS SUCH BS.

WOOHOO, INTERNET IS BACK! Been out since this morning, not that you guys knew that or that I could inform you cause, well, ya know. No internet.

[peapod20001]

Ugh I got so frustrated at the end of class today

[victory-cookies]

me and my sister: *happen to mention ace as a short form of asexual*

my dad: iT’s aLL sO cOmPliCaTeD NoWaDaYs!

[stardial]

hnnhg

[girlwiththegreenhat]

my real dad is queerphobic among a plethora of other terrible things, thats why optimus prime is my dad