#apologies if that's the case! i usually just go off whatever op in the video says

[necroticboop]

💎 shiny rocks make brain go brrrr ✦ clear quartz [x]

[threecrowsinatrenchcoat]

You Want Stars? I Got A Skyfull

Dukeceit Week Day 7: First/Last

Janus is just far too busy and far too stressed to deal with this asshole... even if he IS hot.

AO3 Link: [here]

Word Count: 1274

Warnings: n/a

@dukeceitweek <3

-

Janus was in a bad mood. He was always in a bad mood before 6 a.m, to be fair, but that bad mood could usually be tempered with a cup of coffee. His bad mood could even be turned into a good mood if craft services had provided the crew with good coffee instead of “whatever’s cheapest.”

But today…

Today, his assistant camera had decided not to show up. Which unfortunately meant that Janus had to set up the camera, balance the Steadicam, wire up video village, and meet with the data wrangler. All before call time. On the very first day of principal photography. 

All of which meant that, with no time for coffee, the last thing Janus wanted to do was deal with anyone who wasn’t the director of photography (and even then, Virgil was on thin fucking ice.)

“What?” he snapped. The pair of combat boots that had stopped on the other side of his camera cart shuffled back a few steps. Janus did not look up from where he sat on the ground, digging through the stowed Steadicam case trying to find the right sized hex key.

“...Need some help?” the voice presumably attached to those combat boots asked. 

“Unless you are my new assistant camera,” Janus growled, head still partially shoved into the bottom shelf of his camera cart. “I do not want you touching any of my camera equipment.”

“Woah, easy there,” the voice sounded amused. “I ain’t gonna touch your shit if you don’t want me to. Consent ‘n all that.”

Janus pushed the Steadicam case back into its place on the bottom rack of the cart with perhaps a bit more force than necessary. He stood up, hex key in hand, to glare at the guy standing on the other side of the cart.

He was tall, certainly taller than Janus, dressed in ripped jeans and a green tank top that showed off very nice arms that Janus did not stare at for just a beat too long. And if it hadn’t already been such a stressful morning that had completely and totally fried his brain in only an hour, he might have noticed the very expensive headphones resting around the guy’s neck and realized he was talking to the location sound mixer. 

But it had been, so he didn’t. 

“Do you need something?” Janus asked after a moment. 

The man’s eyes, which had slowly been drifting downward across Janus’ 4 a.m. frantic outfit choice of a loose yellow button-up and black skinny jeans, snapped up to meet his. 

“Uh. Right. Yeah.” The man cleared his throat, and held up a mic pack. “Scratch track transmitter?”

Janus stared for approximately 11 seconds before it hit him. “Oh,” he said. “Yes. Of course. You’re the sound guy.”

“Yup, that’s me!” the man brightened up. “I’m Remus!”

“Janus.” He held out his hand. Remus reached across the cart and shook his hand. Janus blinked tiredly. “No, um. The transmitter. I’ll… take it.”

“Oh. Shit, my bad.” Remus, not looking the least bit embarrassed, handed over the mic pack. And then just kept standing there. Even after Janus had hooked the transmitter to the camera and made sure it was working properly. Janus opted to ignore him and go back to balancing the Steadicam. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” Remus said eventually. “Kinda short for a cam op, ain’t ya?”

Janus did not dignify that comment by looking at him. Instead, he kept his focus on the Steadicam and, with a bit of a bite to his tone, replied, “Don’t you have someone else to bother? I’m rather busy here doing the job of two people, and I may not even have the time to get myself a cup of coffee before they’re ready to start blocking, so excuse me-” He glanced up now to fix Remus with a glare. “-if I am not in the mood to deal with comments about my height and its relation to my ability to do my job.”

Remus stared for a moment. Janus turned back to the Steadicam stand. It would need another weight to counterbalance the weight from the mic pack. He fished around in the case for a small weight, and added it on. Then, finally, Remus cleared his throat. 

“Right. You’re obviously more than capable. I’ll, uh. Leave you to it, then,” he said. And he fled.

Janus didn’t feel bad in the slightest. 

-

Janus did manage to get everything set up and ready in time for blocking, but by then it was pushing past 7 a.m. and he still hadn’t found the time to grab some coffee. Virgil had at least found him a replacement assistant camera, who was supposedly on their way over right now; but given traffic at this hour, they likely wouldn’t make it to set before picture’s up. 

Scene blocking generally consisted of the director, director of photography, the gaffer and key grips, and sound and camera; in addition to the relevant actors, of course. Janus slipped quietly over to the part of the mall food court where they were filming the first scene of the shoot, just as the gaffer, Logan, ushered away the last of his G and E crew. 

“Hello Janus,” Logan greeted him with a nod. Janus nodded back. “I took the liberty of running power for video village. Just over there, you may plug in at any time.”

“Thank you,” Janus replied, genuinely. “I appreciate that.”

Logan made a soft noise of acknowledgement, but they both fell silent as Roman, the director, stepped onto the scene.

“And this scene is all about love at first sight, Thomas” he was saying to the rather sleepy looking lead actor that followed him. “You’ve just seen Nico from across the food court, and a part of you just knows he’s the one! But there’s a part of you that holds you back, and-”

Janus tuned it out. He’d worked with the Roman-Virgil duo before, and it always went like this: Roman would spend too long with the actors and refuse to move on to the next scene until he’d gotten the “perfect performance” or whatever. Virgil would spend the entire production hustling to keep the show on schedule.

“Hey.”

Janus glanced to his right with a frown. Logan had apparently stepped away to talk to Virgil- standing next to Janus now was none other than Sound Guy Remus. He had a steaming cup of coffee in one hand- one that did not look like it’d come from the crafty table, at that- and a grin on his face. Janus scoffed.

“And now you’re taunting me with coffee.”

Remus looked alarmed. His eyes darted from Janus, to the coffee cup in his hand, then back to Janus. “No, wait! No, this is for you!”

Janus raised an eyebrow, a wordless “go on.”

“Uh. Yeah. I bullied one of the PA’s into running to that little shop down the street. It’s, like. Apology coffee.”

“Apology coffee?”

“Yeah. Cause I was a dick earlier.” Remus looked vaguely sheepish. “And I think you’re hot, so I kinda don’t want you to hate me.”

A surprised laugh escaped Janus’ lips, and he couldn’t keep the glare up any longer. That made Remus grin again, and he eagerly held out the cup.

“Well, now how can I say no to apology coffee?” Janus drawled. He accepted the cup, then glanced back up at Remus. “...and exactly how hot are we talking?”

“Oh, hot as this coffee, for sure.” Remus trilled. Janus rolled his eyes, and took a sip.

The coffee was scalding.

[nerdettedreamteam]

hey guys! it’s been a while since i posted anything but i actually have something new! just a simple one shot, and it’s flopping on my ao3 so i thought why not post it here too :’) hope you enjoy!

Two Hundred Percent

Warm rays of the sun slowly crept into her room and filled it with a golden glow. The light made its way up the pink covers on her bed and soon came to a stop once it reached her face. Starfire slowly opened her eyes. Living by the ocean meant seeing the most spectacular sunsets, and sunrises. Something felt off, however, but she wasn’t sure what it could be that made her morning already feel so different unlike the times before. She turned to her other side to see Robin, who usually woke up after her, but was only greeted with cold sheets and emptiness beside her. He wasn’t there. Starfire also took note of the slight dampness on the side her head was now facing.

The events of the previous night started to come back to her.

She remembered how mad she was with him and how annoyed he was with her. She only wish she could’ve taken some of what she said back, but the damage was already done, and this was the price they had to pay. She turned back around and brought her legs to her chest, bringing the covers over her body as she tried to ignore the lump in her throat and the tears that stung in the back of her eyes. She laid in bed by herself for a few more moments until she thought it was time for her to get ready for the day. She changed into a fresh set of uniform and headed out to OPS.

As she walked down the hallway she noted how quiet it was. She figured no one else had been up yet. It was quite early after all. Starfire approached the door to OPS and it opened with a whoosh. She looked up and was surprised to see Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy already there. “Friends…”

“Hey, Star, are you okay?” Beast Boy nearly jumped up from the couch as him and the others made his way to her. “I’d be lying if I said we didn’t hear you two…” He started.

Starfire perked up, almost embarrassed. “Oh, I apologize! It was not intended to be something all of you would end up hearing...”

“It’s okay, really,” Beast Boy continued. “we’re just worried about you.”

Cyborg nodded in agreement. “Did Robin say something that hurt you? Because if that’s the case I’ll gladly give him a piece of—“

“No, it wasn’t, it was me. And him.” Starfire interrupted. “Both of us were at fault. Things got out of hand and… well, I thought it would be best for the both of us to have some space.” “Wait, you guys are taking a break?” Beast Boy asked, sounding a little concerned.

Starfire’s eyes widened, realizing what the changeling meant. “No no. I feared things would have only gotten worse between us if we continued to argue, so I decided to give Robin the space and not bother him about it any further, for a couple hours at least. I think we both need a little time to do the cooling down.”

The others exchanged looks. “Well, I respect that. You guys just do whatever it is ya need to.” Cyborg told Starfire. “We’ll be here if ya want us to.”

Starfire gave him a warm smile. “Thank you.”

The other titans carried on with what they were doing in silence before. It had only been about ten minutes when the door to OPS had opened again, and Robin had stepped out of it. The other titans looked up simultaneously and stared for a short second before Cyborg spoke up. “Mornin’, Rob.”

“Morning, Cyborg.” Robin said with a smile before he headed over to the couch and sat next to Beast Boy, who was in the middle of another video game match.

That short moment felt much slower to Starfire. She noticed how he was in his normal, cheery morning mood, acting almost as if nothing had happened last night involving him. Was she only hurting herself more for still being hung up on the whole thing? Robin seemed perfectly fine, and she felt as if she was looking too deep into it all. Confused as she was, Starfire pushed it aside from her thoughts. She’d talk to him later, but for now she needed to be present and ready for anything. Personal life aside, her and her friends were heroes after all.

The sun had now started to set over the ocean as the day had slowly begun its end. Things hadn’t been much interesting until crimes arose in the city well into the afternoon. Going on a mission with such a fallout the previous night had worried Starfire because she wasn’t sure how much it would affect her powers, but she was able to not let it get to her and was able to use her powers to help out with the crimes the titans had successfully stopped. The titans hung out in OPS for a little while after, with Starfire wondering when the perfect moment would come so she could be with Robin and privately talk with him to clear things up.

Robin hadn’t stayed in OPS for that long before deciding to leave the room. Starfire knew that this was the perfect opportunity, so she waited a few moments before heading out of OPS as well to find Robin.

Whenever he went off by himself, there were only two places he’d be in: his study room trying to crack a case, or in his room.  She checked the study room first and was a little surprised to see that he wasn’t in there. She continued down the hall and stopped when she got to his door, which was closed. She knew he was in here.

Starfire stood outside of his room for a few seconds and hesitated on knocking. Did he even want to be bothered? Even if he didn’t or didn’t want to say anything to her, Starfire knew that she had to apologize for her part in the situation. It was now or later, and she certainly didn’t want the situation to continue longer than it needed to be. She held in a breath and knocked on the metal door. 

“Robin? It’s Starfire,” she started. “I was hoping we could discuss what happened the previous night, if that is alright with you.”

A pause. Starfire tucked strands of hair behind her ear and exhaled a shaky breath, anxiously waiting his response. Maybe he still didn’t want to talk to her. She took in another breath and was about to say something else, but was cut off by the door in front of her opening with a whoosh. Robin stood at the doorway and his masked eyes met with her emerald ones.

They locked eyes for a second before he saw the features of her face soften. He saw the hurt in her eyes and how much their argument had affected her, causing his face to soften as well. He gently took hold of her hand. “Come in…” He said before he led her inside of the dimly lit room. Starfire followed behind him, wondering what was going to come next.

Robin led Starfire to the inside of his room and stopped at the edge of his bed, where they both sat at either end. Neither of them said anything at first, which had opted Starfire to try to say something first, however when she tried, she found her thoughts all over the place and didn’t even know where to begin. She was still angry and upset with what happened, but wanted nothing more than to reconcile with him and to put this situation behind them. Unable to take the brief silence, she forced herself to say something, but only ended up choking on her words.

“Robin, I…”

“Starfire, I’m sorry.”

Starfire straightened up, oddly surprised he was the one that got around to saying those words before she did. “What?”

“I said I’m sorry,” Robin repeated for her once again. “I’m very sorry, in fact.”

Starfire blinked away tears that quickly rolled down her cheeks. “But… I was the one who—“

“No, if anyone should apologize first it’s me.” Robin leaned forward and took her hands into his own. “Please listen to me, Star.”

Starfire inhaled a shaky breath and exhaled through her nose, awaiting on what he was going to say.

“I know I hurt you and I don’t have any excuse for the things I said.” He began. “None of it is true at all, and I really hope you know that. I feel awful because I promised you that I wouldn’t let being a hero interfere with us, but it hasn’t even been three months and I’ve already broken my promise. I feel silly that I just so easily reverted back to who I was before when we were arguing. I know I messed up, but I hope you can forgive me.”

“Robin no, i-it’s my fault as well.” Starfire responded. “I know you are the leader of the team and are in charge of all the titans everywhere, and I know that you have much more work to do than the rest of us, and I should have been more understanding. I know you also have other responsibilities to tend to and I should not have been so quick to judge you. I apologize as well, and I too hope you are able to forgive me for my mistakes.”

“Of course I do, Star,” Robin said as he pushed some of her hair to the side of her face so he could get a better view. “you know I could never stay mad at you.”

As he did this, Starfire looked back into his masked eyes and felt a small smile cross her face. To Robin’s surprise, she brought him in for a hug, in which he gladly returned. They stayed silent for a few moments. “I think we both did the messing up.”

Robin chuckled. “Yeah, we really did.”

Starfire broke the hug for a moment. “I do have one question, however.”

“Which is?”

“Well… in the morning when you first came out for the day, you were acting as if nothing had happened between us the previous night. From my perspective, it seemed as if you were just ignoring what had happened.”

“No, no, not at all. How could I?” Robin had pulled her closer to him. “I was so upset after the conversation ended. I hated how things were between us and how our night had to end like that. I guess I thought that choosing to not let it bother me was a good idea, but I really couldn’t stop thinking about it today.”

“I understand,” Starfire nodded. “and, truthfully I felt the same way as well.”

“Really?” Robin was a little surprised. “But, you didn’t seem upset, I mean, you looked pretty fine when we were on missions today, and your powers seemed to work just fine.”

“I merely just did what you did and chose to not let it affect me. I knew I would not be much help during battle if I let my emotions take over.”

Robin felt terrible. “Aw, Star…” This time, he was the one that initiated a hug, and tightly wrapped his arms around her. “I’m really sorry I upset you.”

“And I am sorry I upset you too.”

Robin rested his head on her shoulder. “I hate it when we fight. As silly as this might sound, I kind of wish we never had to fight again.”

“As do I, but unfortunately with relationships, especially with romantic ones, fights will occur. It is nearly impossible to prevent them from happening. However, if we were able to talk about it with each other instead of keeping our thoughts to ourselves, I believe that each fight that were to occur in the future will end up making what we have even stronger.”

Robin smiled. “I wouldn’t mind doing that at all. I know I’m not exactly a person who opens up about my feelings easily, but I’m definitely willing to try that for you.”

Starfire cupped his cheek and smiled. “And I am happy that you want to.” She leaned in and kissed his forehead, causing him to smile as well.

“Y’know, I was also thinking about something else.” Robin began.

“And what might that be?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “This might sound weird, but I thought that when it came to balancing hero life and personal life, it always seemed like it had to be fifty fifty... like I had to equally divide fifty percent into both of these big parts of my life.” Robin paused and looked back up at her with a sheepish grin. “I’m starting to think I was wrong.”

Starfire couldn’t help but giggle a little. She pondered on his words for a moment before speaking. “I understand how you came to that conclusion, Robin. However, you are not the only one who has the hero life to think about. I know how difficult it can be at times, having to put the effort needed into being a hero when the time comes while also maintaining relationships with those closest to you. It is not easy, but I think if we were able to put our full effort into us when the time calls for it, we will be able to overcome this challenge.”

Robin thought about what she said and nodded. “You’re right. I guess... we just need to put our full effort into us just like we do with being heroes, right?”

Starfire nodded in agreement as well. “Indeed. The goal is not trying to make our combined efforts one hundred percent, even if that is what it seems like. I can assure you I thought the same at some point. But if we both put our full one hundred percent into us, then we will be able make something even greater than that.”

Robin tilted his head slightly. “What will that be?”

Starfire thought for a moment, bringing the palm of her hand to her cheek as she pondered on his question. “Two hundred percent.”

Robin took this in then smiled contently at her. “That has to be one of the smartest things I’ve ever heard.”

Starfire hummed and couldn’t help but beam from the compliment. “Well, I hope I was able to at least make things clearer. For the both of us.”

“Of course you did,” Robin started. “I wouldn’t know what I’d do without you.”

“And I would not know what I would do without you either.” Starfire replied as the smile on her face hadn’t ceased. “I suppose we both learned from this experience? I certainly have.”

Robin pulled her in close for another embrace. “I definitely have too.”

They stayed silent for a few moments enjoying the hug. After a couple more short seconds, Robin leaned in further and rested his head on her shoulder, humming.

“What?” Starfire smiled as she watched him, raising her hand to his head and stroked it.

“Can’t we just… stay here like this forever?” Robin spoke in a soft voice as he buried his head in the crook of her neck.

Starfire was now running her fingers through his dark hair. She giggled before responding. “As nice as that would be, you know that isn’t possible.”

“I know I know… it’s just nice like you said.” Robin paused for a second. “It’s just… really nice to be with you like this. In a way, I guess I always kind of hoped for this… y’know, before we were together.”

Starfire felt her heart beat faster at that sentence. “Truthfully I always hoped for it as well, but you know this definitely isn’t the first time we have been close like this.”

“I know, I’m just happy I’m finally able to. It feels… like it was worth the wait. I don’t think I ever told you that yet.”

“I understand, and after all this time I am happy to be with you like this as well.” Starfire told him as she continued with running her fingers through his hair.

Robin embraced the moment for as long as he could before he finally took note of his girlfriend’s racing heart. He couldn’t help but grin knowing he was the sole cause of that. He looked up at her with that boyish grin of his and stared into those gorgeous eyes of hers. “Heartbeat.”

A blush rose to her cheeks and Starfire finally realized how much her heart was beating. She looked back down at Robin as well and couldn’t help but grin at that point. “I blame you for it.”

Robin couldn’t help but let out a good hard laugh. “That sounds fair to me.” He said as he caught his breath.

The two of them laughed once more and further embraced the moment. The laughter faded and a peaceful silence between the two grew once more. They were happy to be together like this, and despite there being bumps along the way and potentially more to come in the future, they’d be ready to face it, and in the end, it’ll be worth being together, especially if after everything, they’d still able to share moments like this.

Robin’s head lay on her thighs as the two of them quietly shared the pleasant silence. “Hey, Star?” Robin tilted his head further back.

“Yes, Robin?” She replied as she looked down at him once more.

“I love you.”

Starfire felt her face grow warm and smiled. “I love you too.”

[incorrectdanganronpaquotes]

“Ultimates Play” (a.k.a. Let’s Player AU)

Hey, Mod Snake here! So I realize that I’ve been sort of lax on my part in the 2K celebration. This has been mostly to the fact that I’ve been working on my senior thesis, and it’s been absolute hell trying to motivate myself to do anything with that nightmare hanging over my head. But now the thesis is officially over and I can finally get around to posting something I’ve been meaning to post for a while: an AU concept called “Ultimates Play!” The idea of this AU is similar to the Talent Development Plan ‘verse, except that the DR1, SDR2, and NDRV3 characters share a gaming channel on YouTube called ‘Ultimates Play’. Over the years since it started, the channel has evolved into sort of a Rooster Teeth-style project, with dozens of different series done by many different hosts. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s just jump right in! 

General Concepts:

As you can imagine, Chiaki was the one to set up the channel; in fact, the channel was originally called “Chiaki’s Gaming Corner”, and the channel URL still reflects this. Hajime quickly became involved in the editing process, since Chiaki would frequently fall asleep before uploading the videos. Chiaki then gradually began introducing her fellow classmates, who had become interested in the games during Class 77’s meet-up times (everyone involved refuses to call them “classes”), as hosts of their own series; before long, this spread to other classes entirely. And thus, Ultimates Play was born.

Junko in this AU is still technically in despair, but the passion for video games she developed after spending some time with Chiaki helps keep her Ultimate Analyst abilities occupied, preventing her from becoming bored enough to lash out at the world. She is still extremely competitive and aggressive, particularly towards Mukuro, but in general it is typically safe to be in the same building as her.

This AU uses the “Class 79” canon for the V3 kids, similar to the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, since the Tragedy doesn’t happen in this AU.

As the channel started to get big, the group decides they need a headquarters in which to stay; they end up building it a few blocks away from Hope’s Peak. Very few of them live in the building full-time, but the building is equipped with dozens of beds anyway just in case they all happen to crash there overnight at the same time. There are also multiple TVs, so that different students can record series at the same time.

The channel is one of the top 10 most subscribed channels on YouTube, due in part to the variety of content. Of the series, Chiaki’s and Ibuki’s typically have the most views, while Celeste’s and Hajime’s have the least views.

Even though Komaru isn’t technically an Ultimate, Makoto and Toko both begged Chiaki until she was allowed to join the channel.

Individual Series:

Makoto and Kyoko have “Detective Training,” in which they play mystery games together; typically these consist of point-and-click adventure games, although sometimes they’ll do other genres if there is a sufficient mystery element. Kyoko almost always figures out the entire mystery from the start, so she basically spends the whole time trying not to spoil the twists and puzzles for Makoto. Shuichi occasionally guest stars, but he’s too self-conscious around Kyoko to make regular appearances.

Sakaya and Kaede share a series where they play rhythm games like DDR, as well as general music-themed games like Rockband; they alternate off randomly between which one is the host, never appearing in the same episode.

Toko’s primary series is “Toko’s Shovelware Spectacular”, in which she plays the worst of the worst games on the iPhone and Android app stores. Komaru makes an appearance every time there’s a multiplayer game, or whenever Toko is so genuinely shocked by a game’s shittiness that she needs a second person to confirm she’s not imagining things.

Neither Togami nor the Ultimate Imposter have a consistent theme for their series (although they tend towards real-time strategy games); however, there is something of a running joke between them. Every time Togami uploads a video on a game, Twogami will then upload a video on the same game, starting off from the same place Togami left off and claiming to be the next installment. Togami is consistently infuriated by this, but he can’t figure out how to stop it. There’s a running debate in the comments about whether the ‘second Togami’ is actually a distinct entity or just Togami playing an elaborate practical joke; this, for Togami, is the worst part of the whole thing.

Ishimaru has a series called “Upholders of Justice”, in which he plays crime-themed games (GTA, Saint’s Row, etc.) while breaking as few laws as the game will allow him to. If you’ve ever seen the Saints Row the Third episode of Monster Factory, it’s sort of like that.

Hifumi and Kazuichi have a shared series called “Love Quest 3000”, in which they play dating sims together; this is ostensibly for the purpose of figuring out how to get better at real romance, but they have yet to achieve any success in this field.

Celeste has a recurring series on gambling games, such as video poker and virtual slot machines. To her eternal fury, they are by far the least-viewed videos on the entire channel; this may be because she always wins, or because her commentary consists almost entirely of A) ‘advice’ on how to win at gambling (which boils down to “be lucky and don’t panic”), and B) reiterations of how successful she is.

While Junko doesn’t actually have a standalone series, there is a playlist named “With Junko” on the channel. This is because, rather than star in her own series, Junko will occasionally crash episodes of other series and serve as a guest commentator for the episode, typically without the approval or knowledge of the players in question. HOWEVER, Junko does co-star in a regular series called “Rose and Thorns”, in which she and Mukuro play co-op games like Portal 2 and New Super Mario Bros. You can probably imagine how well their interactions go.

Hajime did an Undertale LP.

In her continuing effort to be the most meta human being in the universe, Ibuki has only a single ongoing series: “Ibuki Plays Danganronpa”. At no point in the series does she comment on the fact that her fellow Ultimates- and indeed herself- appear in the games; the closest she comes is her DR2 LP, in which she off-handedly remarks on the similarities between herself and Ibuki in the game. There is only one exception: every time game-Ibuki’s corpse is on-screen in Chapter 3, real-Ibuki goes absolutely silent until the scene changes or she turns away. None of the other Ultimates can figure out where the hell she got these games, and she refuses to provide a straight answer.

Hiyoko and Mikan, of all people, have a shared series entitled “Super Bestest Friends Play!”; it consists pretty much entirely of Hiyoko forcing Mikan to play the weird Flash games you find on various “gaming” websites (i.e. bootleg Frozen games and the like). Hiyoko uploaded the first episode without permission from the others, and promptly found herself being threatened with stabbing by Maki, who is always on watch to make sure things don’t get too upsetting for Mikan; every once in a while you’ll hear a soft click in the background of the episodes, at which point Hiyoko will immediately and urgently apologize to Mikan and suggest a tamer game. Also, every once in a while the situation gets shaken up a bit: on at least a couple of occasions Mikan very visibly starts getting aroused by the games in question, which freaks Hiyoko out more than anything else the other Ultimates have ever seen (this is the main reason they allow the series to persist).

Gundham and Sonia have an ongoing series in which they play horror games together. Gundham constantly pretends not to be freaked out by the jumpscares, even though he is. Sonia constantly pretends to be freaked out by the atmosphere, even though she’s not. They are exactly as adorable together as you can imagine.

Gundham also has a recurring Pokémon series, covering at least one game from every Generation. He makes a dedicated effort to capture one of every Pokémon, and at the end of each playthrough he hacks in any that he can’t obtain legitimately that Gen. His videos are each at least an hour long because he can’t make himself stop playing with his Pokémon. He also cites Pokémon-Amie as the single greatest innovation in the history of the franchise.

As more and more shows started appearing on the channel, Chiaki started putting out less and less content- which suits her just fine, since it gives her more chances to play games with herself and her friends, without having to worry about making entertaining commentary. Her only ongoing series at the time of the AU is a gaming news show, where she reports on announcements about games she’s interested in, as well as discussions about what she’d like out of future games. Hajime is a recurring guest star on the series.

Komaru has a series where she plays whatever games she happens to like at the time; most of these are Nintendo games, and almost all of them are on the casual end of the spectrum. Toko regularly drops in without warning.

Mitarai has an ongoing visual novel review series, which frequently devolves into tips about drawing and commentary on anime he likes or dislikes.

Himiko has a series of RPG playthroughs, many of them unfinished. The only playthroughs she will consistently finish are Final Fantasy games, since they’re Tenko’s favorites. She also did exactly three episodes of a Kingdom Hearts LP before abandoning it, citing the story being too confusing.

Maki has a recurring series in which she plays first-person shooters in order to test their accuracy. To the hastily-suppressed delight of Kokichi (and the well-disguised amusement of everyone else in the building), Maki usually turns out to be absolutely terrible at these games, being so used to real combat situations that she can’t adapt to the artistic license of most FPS’s.

Kokichi Oma has only one series, which is entitled “Kokichi Plays Minecraft”. The series is well over a hundred episodes long, and not a single damn second of that is from Minecraft. Instead, every episode is taken from a different game, with no apparent pattern; each episode has Kokichi acting as if he’s been playing this game for several episodes, as well as alluding to various incidents that happened previously in the game (which, of course, the audience doesn’t get to see).

Tsumugi’s series is literally just makeup tutorials for cosplayers. She doesn’t seem to realize that it’s otherwise pretty much exclusively a gaming channel, and no one else has bothered to tell her.

There are plenty of other series not listed here, including some that pop up without warning and only air one or two episodes before ending. In general, every character from the games has at least one recurring series, each with wildly different schedules. 

One series in particular doesn’t have a single consistent host; it’s called “Ultimate Date Night”, and the commentary role shifts between various couples within the group- Akane and Nekomaru, Himiko and Tenko, Sonia and Gundham, Kokichi and Shuichi- as they play various cooperative and competitive games together. There is also a spin-off series called “Double Date”, in which two such couples square off in team-based competitive games.

Other Headcanons:

At one point, Hifumi and Kazuichi definitely played Doki Doki Literature Club, and spent the second half of the series alternately screaming and crying. They were not ready.

For one April Fools’ Day, everyone on the channel traded series for the day; Makoto and Kyoko hosted “Love Quest 3000”, Celeste and Ishimaru hosted “Super Bestest Friends Play!”, Hiyoko and Mikan hosted the horror game series, Maki hosted “Detective Training” (with special guests Kaito and Maki), and so on. The only exception to this was Kokichi; the thumbnail for his video showed Mukuro as the host, but Kokichi introduces himself as usual at the start of the video and does his usual thing. Also, Junko cameoed on multiple series that day.

Makoto and Kyoko definitely played through Ghost Trick together, and Makoto cried multiple times throughout the game, particularly near the ending.

The only time anyone in the group has ever seen Junko legitimately cry is that one time when Mukuro beat her at Mario Kart 8. Mukuro has never let her forget that day.

Maki was banned from “Double Date” after her first and only appearance ended with extensive property damage and Fuyuhiko (who was on the other team with Peko) being rushed to the hospital with multiple broken bones.

Games Komaru has played include Super Mario Galaxy (finished, though not 100%), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (unfinished), Thomas Was Alone, and Miitopia.

Chisa regularly visits the Ultimates Play headquarters, bringing snacks and encouragement. Everyone is happy to see her, even Togami and Kokichi.

Himiko was the first non-Class 77 member of the channel; no one is quite sure how she ended up joining, least of all Himiko.

Let us know if you like this idea, and if you have other headcanons regarding this AU! Maybe you’ll get featured in a follow-up post or something; who knows? Anyway, hope you enjoyed whatever this was! 

- Mod Snake 

[minhoandthebabes]

Hey putting this all under a readmore, but.. I had the inspiration to write this after being in the pc room a little too much these past two weeks.. so here’s an onho called

PC Bang

Minho finally had a break. Between finals and end of the semester activities, he had pushed himself to his limits,  especially in how little sleep he could survive on. When his last final ended,  instead of going straight to sleep, he headed to the nearest pc room, just wanting to blow off some steam and remove himself from the academic world.

As soon as he was on the escalator, heading to the basement of the mall, he could smell the familiar scent of cigarette smoke and cooked ramyun wafting up towards him. He didn’t enjoy the smell, but once he was playing, he couldn’t even tell anymore.

He stepped off the escalator and walked along the long rows of desktop screens illuminating eager faces as people made that final play to win the game or tried to support their team one last time from their inevitable demise, crying out to their team for help in their passionate rage. Given that it was a Friday afternoon, the room was already filling up, and there were surprisingly few seats to choose from. As he walked, he peered down one of the lesser used row of computers and found an open screen next to someone who thankfully wasn’t using a mic. When the person next to him had a mic as well, it only made it more difficult for Kibum to hear him cursing him out as he beat him in fifa.

Minho slipped behind the row of chairs and sat down next to the guy and waited for his screen to boot up. The computer hadn’t even been used yet that day and he had to wait a little longer than usual so he plugged in his phone and personal headset. In the process, he glanced over at the guy next to him. He was playing a game Minho had heard of but had no desire to play himself. He had read that the game was marked as one of the most difficult to play and beat, and the last thing Minho wanted was to play a game he knew would be impossible to win. For him, video games were something used to enjoy himself, not lose sleep over and he knew his competitive nature and desire to win would only prove to become a problem with cuphead.

The man playing it, however, seemed eager and focused, his fingers almost violently tapping away at the keyboard as his character jumped around the screen in calculated and timed motions. Minho shivered and went back to looking at his own screen to see it had loaded. He logged in and made sure his headset worked before he loaded the game. When he got on, Kibum was already in a game so Minho joined the voice channel to talk with him.

                                        *        *         *

Jinki was focused on his screen when he felt the air shift next to him. Someone had sat down, and, good god, he was pulling out a headset with a mic.. That didn’t bode well for his concentration. His fingers tapped along the keyboard in a flurry of well-timed jumps and dodges as he narrowly escaped the boss again. His fingers worked fast, and he had a millisecond he used to turn up the music in his earbuds, blasting the quickly paced jazz to cut out all other sounds. After a few moments, he could sense eyes on him coming from the same man beside him. He rolled his eyes and focused in again, ignoring it as he finished off that boss of the game

                                       *        *         *

As soon as Minho knew he had connected with Kibum, he spoke, “Hey, I thought you only played this game with me!”

“Jesus christ, Minho!” Kibum blurted out, sucking air through his teeth, clearly in the middle of an intense match. “Fuck, I lost it!” He groaned. “What did you even say? You need to warn me before you start yelling in my ear.”

“What I said was, ‘I thought you only played with me,’ but I guess that isn’t the case anymore,” he added a little bitterly. His mouse moved over to add Kibum to his game, wanting to play co-op to warm up.

“I do only play this game with you, I’d rather be playing overwatch, but someone had to be late to their meeting. I said 5:30 and it’s already 5:45..”

Minho rolled his eyes, “whatever, sorry I was late, let’s just get going.” he set them to be waiting for a match and relaxed back in his chair. “So, have you been playing a lot of overwatch when you were done with finals?”

“Maybe..” Kibum said on the other line before Minho heard a crunch of chips through the headset. The sound itself made Minho’s stomach grumble he knew it was still pretty early for dinner, but he couldn’t even remember the last time he ate. It had to have been before his final that morning. With an urge to get food, Minho minimised his game and scour the menu for something tasty. His eyes fell upon a set of two corn dogs and a large Pepsi as he heard the game’s music change, signaling that they had found other players. He clicked the order button before going back to the game.

After a few rounds that mostly consisted of him yelling at Kibum for not being there when, at the end of the day, Minho had been the reason for their loss, his food was delivered by an impatient woman, She crossed her arms in annoyance when Minho had to go digging for his wallet. He was sure to apologize as he paid in cash and was happy to finally see her leave.

                                       *        *         *

The situation beside Jinki was getting progressively worse. The man was now laughing loudly in between bouts of yelling as he told this “Kibum” guy to “be there for the team.” At this point, he could barely pay attention to his own game and he quit out of it to move on to a slower paced game, overwatch.

Jinki was searching for a match when he saw the man next to him frantically moving, searching his pockets quickly, much to the dismay of the woman behind him. He glanced over and was genuinely surprised to see he was attractive. Something in the aggressive way he had been acting made him seem less so. He pulled his eyes away when the man returned to his focus to the screen, knowing he would be caught, but he would take any opportunity to glance at the man out of the corner of his eye when he had the chance.

                                       *        *         *

When Minho started eating he could feel prying eyes on him, it was almost annoying, he was only enjoying a corn dog after all.. He glanced over to try and scare away the other man. It was awkward being watched when he ate. He locked eyes with the other man and the man looked flustered as he looked away. Minho could tell it had worked when the feeling of being watched left him after a bit and he took another big bite before he set down the food and shot Kibum a text message instead of speaking.

Min: ‘Key.. this guy next to me is watching me eat..’

Kibum laughed on the other line, “Ew, what the fuck? Tell him to fuck off.”

“Kibum.. Watch your language..” He said softly before picking up the hotdog and taking another bite. He glanced over to see if the other man was looking and caught his eye briefly before the man hid behind his hair. Something about the look in his eye had Minho thinking he was hungry and looked more directly at the other man before holding out the hotdog. “Do you want a bite?” He asked, worried that the man might be hungry or possibly didn’t have a way to buy food.

The man looked incredibly embarrassed in the cutest way imaginable as he shook his head, trying to act serious and innocent even though he had been caught looking. The man’s voice came out soft and sweet. “no, I’m fine.. I can order one myself later..” The man then looked back at his screen.

A little defeated, but proud of himself for talking to the awkward man, Minho sat back in his seat “You just look hungry.. but suit yourself.”

                                       *        *         *

After the woman left, the man started to eat, and Jinki was instantly drawn to what he saw. There was something completely wrong with how the man ate it. It was somehow overly sexual, with his lips wrapped around the breaded sausage; Jinki couldn't help but stare at what he saw, salivating a little.

The man caught his eye briefly, looking at him through half-lidded eyes and long lashes before he looked back at the screen and typed into a texting service

Jinki tried to hide his embarrassment, but his cheeks showed more than he could hide, he could feel it. He glanced back at the eating man and caught his eye again before looking back at the waiting screen.

“Do you want a bite?” The man’s voice was deep and gentle, so unlike how it had been before when he had been yelling.

Jinki turned a deeper shade of red and shook his head, keeping a straight face, “no, I’m fine.. I can order one myself later..” he said, tapping on his keyboard impatiently.

“You just look hungry..” the man added, “but suit yourself.” He shrugged, going back to his own screen.

Luckily a game started and Jinki was whisked away into a match, keeping himself mentally preoccupied.

                                       *        *         *

Kibum was cackling on the other line having heard the entire conversation. “Minho, I swear you are the most awkward person on the planet. Who just asks someone if they want to share their food?”

Minho frowned, “Hey, I’m serious, he was giving me this weird look, I just responded accordingly.” He sighed and started searching for another football match with Kibum.

“Wait, what are you eating?” Kibum asked, his voice suddenly serious as the laughter had stopped.

“Um, I’m just having a corndog? Why?” Minho asked, raising an eyebrow. He couldn’t understand why the type of food he ate mattered, but by Kibum’s reaction, clearly, it did.

Kibum became silent on the other line, “well.. There’s your problem..” he said before pausing for an uncomfortable amount of time, the silence only to be broken by Minho.

“Go on?” Minho prompted just wanting to understand.

“Well.. we’ve had this conversation before Minho, when you eat hot dogs, but especially corndogs, you look like you’re giving head.. And I don’t mean like.. that’s just what it looks like when anyone eats it, I mean, when you eat it, it looks like your giving head and enjoying it. You know I always tell you, you can’t eat that stuff near me, it’s too damn distracting.”

Minho couldn’t speak, he didn’t know what to say. He could feel his ears turning a deep crimson as he started to understand the awkward looks and stares coming from the man next to him. Before he could say something or try to amend the situation, the game had found other players and he was thrown into a match.

During the game, Minho was suddenly hyper-aware of the man next to him as he tapped away at his keyboard. Every time the man shifted he could tell, every time he changed position he could just feel it. As Minho played, he wondered if the man really was gay, if he knew he was gay, if he was interested in Minho or only in what Minho was doing. Every once in awhile Minho would glance next to him to check out the other man. The man was a little thicker than him and had a soft face with small eyes that were glued to the screen as he played as Tracer in overwatch. He looked good.

Halfway through the game, Minho was caught looking by the man next to him. The man’s eyes locked with Minho’s after Tracer died on screen, and Minho couldn’t look away. “Stop looking at me, you’re throwing me off,” he said sternly

The man’s sweet voice had turned unexpectedly harsh, jolting Minho from his thoughts. “I- Sorry..” he said as he looked back to his own game he was horribly failing due to his own mental distractions. At the end of the match, Kibum’s voice came in on the other line, speaking for what Minho thought was the first time since they had started playing that match.

“Is that guy really that hot?” Kibum asked, his voice sounded like it was mostly teasing, but Minho wondered if he was actually serious. “I’ve never seen you throw a game like that. Actually, I’ve never seen you just straight up stop mid play..”

Minho took a minute to collect himself, thinking about his choices before he spoke again. He wanted to interact with the man, curious himself about him, but wasn’t sure how or wasn’t sure how it would come off.

“Overwatch, we’re gonna play overwatch.” Minho said, his voice low and monotone. He was working on signing in to his account as fifa shutdown, wanting to get in the game before the man next to him started up another match. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and felt his heart leap in his chest as he built up the courage to speak with him again. He already felt like the other man was upset with him after he had been distracting him earlier, but maybe he would put that aside to play together.

“H- hey,” Minho said, his voice barely coming out from the pressure on his chest as his nerves rose.

The small eyes he had observed earlier immediately locked with his again. “What,” he said, not quite as angry as the last one, but still with a bit of annoyance.

“You look like you’re pretty good..” he started, “w- would you like to maybe.. Play with me and my friend?” he asked before writing his gamertag on a napkin. Luckily, the more he spoke, the more the tensions he was feeling released and he didn’t feel nearly as stressed as the first time, and, the other man’s face had softened after he had made the offer, making it that much easier.

“I am pretty good..” The man said, grinning as he agreed with the compliment, “Sure, we can play. I’ll add you.”

After a few moments of waiting, Minho saw a new friend request pop up from someone named “Jinxx.” Minho immediately accepted and added Jinki and Kibum to his group. “Jinx?” He asked, glancing back at the man for clarification.

“Yeah.. my name is Jinki.. My sister calls me Jinx, so…” he explained before shrugging, “It just made the most sense.”

“Jinki..” Minho said to himself, wanting to try out the name on his lips. He let the air hang between them for a moment before he remembered to introduce himself. “I’m Minho, or “min99” and my friend Kibum is “bumkeyk” just so you know..” He explained to Jinki.

“Nice to meet you Minho,” Jinki said with a warm smile, “You’re lucky you’re on my team, we’re going to kick some ass.”

“I could say the same,” Minho said, wanting to feel a bit cocky in front of the other in hopes to impress, “but.. We do have Kibum on our team, I’m sure that balances it out..”

Kibum’s angry yells were loud enough Minho was sure Jinki could hear them through his headset and he grinned at Jinki, trying hard not to laugh. “I’m sure we’ll still kick ass anyway,” he added to Jinki, giving him his best smile.

Minho felt his heart beat a little faster as he took the confidence to speak again after a moment. “If we play well enough, maybe we can make a date of it later,” he said softly before backtracking only slightly just in case it was too much to Jinki. “I mean.. We can play again sometimes, especially when competitive has been released. What do you think?”

Jinki looked thoughtful for a moment before he responded to Minho’s question, “I’d love to.. But.. let’s see how well you do this round, it may be a major turn off if you suck.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Minho said grinning as the game started, fully invested in impressing Jinki but for a moment he could hear Kibum scoffing in his ear.

“Good god get a room you two..” Minho could practically hear his eyes rolling, but he didn’t care, he was enjoying his new friend far too much.

[valkyrie-echo]

Project Echo, Part 3: Chapter 13 (60 Days Before the Explosion)

Part 3 Summary: Seven years after the events of “Part 2”, Avengers Tower explodes, fulfilling Bucky’s vision. All evidence points to Avengers Shadow-Ops leader Inessa Ryker, who is forced to seek out Bucky in hiding. Together they must determine who the traitor is in their ranks and if their friends are still alive- all while trying to survive deadly ambushes orchestrated by Sam Wilson and his hand-picked army.

Chapter 13: 60 Days Before the Explosion

"It's been a month Mallory," Inessa sighed and continued to peel a blade of grass into as many strips as possible. A strip broke in the middle and she threw the pieces across the yard. An August breeze stirred them as they fell and she watched, depressed, "I've tried everything. I can't figure out who the traitor is and even I'm starting to wonder if I imagined the whole thing and Amadeus is just humoring me. You know how he can be- he'll play along if he thinks that's what you want him to do."

She shook her head and continued through, rambling, "None of the background checks turned up anything- no one noted as being particularly proficient in even typing classes. I don't know if I really expected anything though," she admitted, "we hardly shirk on the entry background check. It isn't like we'll find someone's secret Hydra affiliations now unless it's a new thing. No one has family with financial troubles, no one's siblings or nieces and nephews are unaccounted for- if any of our people are serving the enemy or being manipulated by them it's all off the books."

"What do I even do? Just let it go? As far as I know the traitor hasn't made another move since that phone call. Indonesia's stopped calling for the Shadow to be held responsible for failing to stop the catastrophe, we've taken down a child slavery ring and some drug lords, the same kinds of things we always do when we're lacking major cases. Was I too fast calling it a traitor?"

Inessa looked over to Mallory for an answer, then nodded to herself, "It's got to be all this crap about blood magic. It made me crazy after all- or paranoid. Nothing Forseti sent was any help- naturally. I know the history of the Jotun Wars and a dozen other stories, but nothing that tells me what the Shadow King did."

A new grievance popped up in her mind and Inessa huffed, "By the way, guess what Thor's doing today? Go ahead- guess. He's bringing a member of the Counsel of Yggdrasil in to "Investigate my Condition". Asshole. The Counsel member, not Thor," she amended quickly and picked another blade of grass. "They don't trust me anymore. Noelle spies for Steve and updates him on everything I do, Amadeus is keeping Natasha more informed of my decisions than I'm comfortable with, and Marie? I've got a feeling Sam has his talons in her. Every mission I plan is second guessed, every time I order a raid the others discuss it. Now, I'm all for group dynamics, you know me, but they aren't studying the choices and making informed decisions, they're trying to see if I'm being steered by whatever happened on Niflheim. I'm sick of being treated like a nut-job…"

Inessa let the silence stretch on as her mind raced ahead of her mouth down every avenue and twist. She didn't have enough information to make any sort of decision or game plan, yet part of her couldn't stop trying. No matter how sick even thinking about Niflheim made her there was no way to stop. You're being set up, her mind kept whispering it over and over again. Set up for what though? Why did 3,200 people have to die? If someone was setting her up, they were losing on the subtlety. Except- she and Amadeus were the only ones who knew it was a set up, so maybe the failure wasn't as complete as it initially seemed. She was positive more would come, then she would look back on this day and think about how stupid she'd been to miss the clues right in front of her. Sebastian Morris, Thanos, Ultron, Crossbones. She was always defeated by them before she found the answer. Sure, they died in the end, but not easily (granted, Sebastian Morris had gone down without much effort, but his team had nearly destroyed everything).

She checked her watch and sighed, "I've got to go Mallory, I've got a Leader Meeting that started five minutes ago," Inessa sat up and cracked her neck. She turned to face the grave and dusted the face of it off. Mallory Ivanou, November 13, 1994 – March 23, 2018. Beloved daughter, sister, Avenger. "Oh," Inessa spoke as she cleaned the grave up a bit, "I saw your ex last month. He looks like shit. Do me a favor, ok? Keep haunting him. Nine years for nine lives lost- that was the deal. It's better for everyone if he stays in that sewer."

"Where is your pet, Prince Thor?" Ingvir glared at the assembled Avengers leaders and lieutenants in the meeting room.

Thor ground his teeth together and glanced around at the assembly, willing them to stay quiet and not rise to yet another insult from the Muspelheim representative, "The Lady Ryker will arrive momentarily. I apologize on her behalf for the delay. It is the nature of Avengers Black Ops- their schedules are unpredictable. I ask that you give her ten more minutes to appear, then we shall attempt to raise her on her comm unit."

"Boy, stop that this instant!" The man snapped at Amadeus who was drumming his fingers on the meeting room table. The lieutenant glared and a second later Natasha, Clint, Tony, Wanda, and their lieutenants were drumming their fingers at an irregular pace. Steve suppressed a grin and winked at Sharon.

"It is a Midgardian custom," Thor lied, "you must forgive it, Councilman Ingvir."

"I am not some fool to be lied to," Ingvir snapped, "this will go on my report to the Counsel!"

A sudden shiver went through the room and Banner smiled, "So then your report to the Counsel will read 'Because the Midgardians annoyed me by tapping their fingers, I demand a vote of no-confidence in the Shadow. Clearly this display of twitching by her colleagues shows she is incapable of leading further battles against the Shadow King'?" Inessa folded out of the shadows, "Very well, Ingvir, put that in your report. But while you are here I shall teach you how to use one of our cameras- it is a video recording device. I want to see the Council members faces when they read that line."

"Shall we begin the meeting?" Steve cut the man off before he could snap again. He'd disliked the man the moment he entered the Tower (not just because he treated everyone as inferior). A member of the Counsel of Yggdrasil, one of the eight most powerful people in the nine realms, and he came in soft white robes that Thor explained were the Muspelheim equivalent to showing up in shorts and a t-shirt. He was deliberately showing no respect to the heroes of Midgard and Inessa herself- even though they'd killed the Mad God Thanos for the Counsel and kept the armies of the Shadow King from taking control of any of the nine realms.

"Why is it in here?" Inessa asked as she sat down, though she suspected the answer already.

"I will not sit amongst that rabble!" Ingvir fumed.

"Have care with how you speak, Councilman," Thor was losing his patience, "Those are the Avengers of Midgard and you will address them with the same respect as any hero of the Realms. One day, should they so choose, someone in this Tower shall have a seat on the Counsel of Yggdrasil. It is unwise to foster bad blood at this time." They all intended for Steve to be that person, but he was leaning towards petitioning the United Nations to make it a duty of the chief of their Security Counsel rather than an Avenger.

"To answer your question Inessa," Steve pressed on, "the Counsilman was not comfortable with our usual open meeting. The others are in their usual seats in the lounge and out meeting is being broadcast through the house audio to them. If any team member has something to say they were asked to address their leader directly through comms.

"Ah, I see," Inessa's eyes flashed and the room went black for a moment. Before they could register the change there was a roar of wind, a burst of flat, dead light, then more shadow and suddenly they were in the lobby- meeting table and all. Inessa looked around at the other Avengers (some flashing her a thumbs up, others giggling) and covered her mouth in mock surprise, "Oh dear, I do apologize, Leader Rogers. Ever since the blood magic incident I seem to have had some trouble with my powers. I think of going somewhere, and I go there. How unfortunate- the effort of moving everything here had temporarily exhausted me… I guess we'll just have to make due and have our meeting out here."

You're getting dangerously close to immaturity, Clint warned. As much as he loved her move, it was childish.

Inessa nodded to him, I'll play nice.

"What are they doing?" Ingvir was watching Inessa and Clint sign their conversation.

"It is a way of communicating on Midgard without speaking," Thor explained.

"No more interruptions will be tolerated," Steve was putting an end to the fight. As rude as Ingvir was being, Inessa was returning it in kind. They were losing the moral high ground, "Inessa, report on the Shadow unit."

She nodded and crossed her arms, "As you know we haven't been contacted for any new missions from governing bodies because of the Indonesia tragedy. I am still investigating to determine the point of failure on our end, but I do not believe anything different would have happened if I were in the Tower and not saving the asses of everyone on Muspelheim and Vanaheim during that period," she looked over at Ingvir and winked, "you're welcome, by the way."

"It happens after failed or particularly high-casualty missions," Natasha reasoned, "no one wants the Avengers to get involved for a bit, then someone forces their hand." Every team had experienced this at some point- though the Indonesia tragedy set a new record for fatalities (not counting the Infinity War).

"What have you been doing instead?" Steve made a note.

Amadeus took over here, "We have been focusing on human trafficking problems in Southeast Asia and drug smuggling from monitored regions. That, of course, is in addition to our research on the blood magic used against Inessa on Niflheim."

"Ah," Ingvir said suddenly as Steve was ready to move on, "that reminds me." He pulled a slip of paper out of his robes and tossed it in Inessa's general direction, "The Counsel has looked into the illegal use of blood magic you are referring to. We believe this to be the spell in question. I know the language of the Realms is too complex for a mere Midgardian to understand but what it says is-"

"It says it's a spell to cloud the judgement of the person cursed and turn fortune against them," Inessa raised an eyebrow, "but it also says the subject's blood must be used in the ritual, and I wasn't missing any. Also, these three symbols are off," she grabbed a pen from her pocket and circled them on the page.

"Four-" Amadeus pointed to one, "That should be three lines, not two."

"My bad," Inessa added another mark and passed the paper back to Ingvir, "The sigil you found is most certainly not the one used against us in Niflheim. If you would like we can send you back to the Counsel with a printed drawing of all sigils. The only ones you would have had were the ones written in stone, correct? The others were smudged as our soldiers began to wake and no one else got a clear view of the sigil on my clothing."

Ingvir crumped up the paper and dumped it back on the table, "Do not bother. We are not all that interested in what the spell was. The Counsilman of Niflheim sent the image at Forseti's behest. It is of no concern to me."

"Then I will give you the images to give to the Niflheim representative-"

"I am no mere delivery boy. Convince Odin to let you send them through Heimdall." He was sneering. He knew- as they all did- that Odin would accept no request from the Avengers. He never had. Inessa looked at the calendar on her phone- under 100 days before she could get into the Realms herself and speak to the Counsel directly. She'd work on Heimdall and Odin before that, but at least she'd have her answers then.

"My team has run across an interesting situation," Banner spoke up this time to try and keep the meeting on-track. "We've found some evidence that suggests a company in Sweden is synthesizing their own version of the Kree serum GH-235. We have turned the investigation over to SHIELD to determine how they got the sample and what their intentions are. My team is analyzing the atomic structure of their formula and testing for viability."

"The Kree are an imbecilic race," Ingvir leaned back in his chair, "any half-wit scientist could determine instantly if the serum is anything close to Kree by simply looking at it. Of course, I am speaking of Realm scientists."

Steve growled slightly, "Inessa, your part in this meeting is close enough to being finished. Why don't you take our guest on a walk through the city while we finish up. Amadeus can fill in for you." Banner's team looked like they were ready to leap on the Muspelheim representative and Steve was tempted to sic his own people on him. Maybe letting Inessa and Ingvir fight it out away from the Tower would give everyone a break that much sooner- he was here to make a report on her after all.

She rolled her eyes and made a face, "Is that an order? I'm only doing it if it's an order."

"It's an order."

"I must protest," Ingvir glared at Inessa as she stood, "I will not be ordered around in this manner!"

"So, you don't want to go?" Inessa asked.

"Absolutely not!"

She smiled wickedly, "In that case-" there was a flash of darkness and the two vanished.

"I feel sorry for the people of New York city now," Tony mumbled.

"Yeah, I thought we were supposed to keep scum off the streets, not send it there," Sam rolled his pen between his fingers and wondered which of them would try to kill the other first.

"Lady Ryker, I apologize for my behavior," Ingvir bowed his head slightly as they emerged in a secluded glade of Central Park, "I am ashamed of how I acted."

She smiled (kindly) then, "Allfather Ingvir, you have nothing to apologize for. If King Odin knew we were allies it would make things very difficult for your Realm. I understand precisely why we must appear to be on unamicable terms."

Ingvir nodded and they strolled out of the glade. He looked up at the skyscrapers in the distance and whistled softly, "I came to Midgard as a boy and it was all thatched huts and scraping by on the edge of death. If you had told me then what this Realm would become in such a short period of time I would have never believed it."

"We have a long way to go to be on par with any of the Realms," she pointed out.

"Perhaps many generations, but it will happen within my lifetime, I think. What will Odin do when Midgard surpasses Asgard one day?"

"Can I ask you a question? It is rather sensitive," she warned.

"I will answer if I can."

Inessa considered it carefully, "Has King Odin been very different since the death of Queen Frigga? The man I have heard stories of would never behave as he is now. I am worried he is too different."

They avoided the crowds in the park and strolled around the far side of a lake, sticking to the shadows. Some people looked over with curiosity at the man in the long white robes, but the rest were New Yorkers- they were used to weird. Ingvir pondered Inessa's question and stopped to watch a young couple and their child playing by the lake, "His heart was broken. It is impossible for me to say if he has changed 'too' much, but I understand your meaning. Not long ago he would have welcomed you and the Avengers to Asgard openly, given counsel, treated this Shadow King as a true threat. Now everyone is either wholeheartedly for or against him, he sees no middle ground. I do not know if he is overly grieved by his wife's death, or if something else is afoot. All I can do is continue to stand by him as a friend and be ready to step in his path if it takes a dangerous direction."

"Fair enough," she sighed. More and more Inessa was suspecting a traitor on Asgard as well, but how could it be related to her traitor? Was an Avenger working with King Odin? What was the goal- to discredit her and get her out of the Realms? She had too few pieces to this puzzle, and unfortunately gathering more would probably require that more went wrong.

"That blood magic seal I brought," Ingvir resumed his walk and she followed close by, "it is not the sigil you and the others were exposed to, true, but it is the closest Forseti could come. In the Great Library there is very little on the subject. He believes it to be a form of blood magic used by Thanos' associates. We knew already that the Shadow King was one of his 'children' once, but… You have contacts beyond the nine realms- the team who call themselves 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and the brother of your Hawkeye. You should contact them, ask them to seek out the answers. I do not think you will find them on the Realms unless by some stroke of ill fate the Shadow King advances rapidly enough in the next 93 days to have you called back and you somehow manage to capture him."

"And how likely is that to-" a series of sharp cracks, like dozens of sticks being broken at once, echoed across the park. Inessa looked around, then shoved Ingvir to the ground as the tree behind them splintered under a shower of bullets. She dove to the ground next to him, willed her body to remain with its eyes closed, and brought Nadya through. People began to scream, first in panic, then in fear as the rarely-viewed Shadow of the Avengers dove out of the trees and leapt over the lake in one fluid movement. The Shadow may have helped in the war against Thanos, but that didn't change the fact that it was an incorporeal monster made literally out of darkness. It's disproportionally long arms and nearly foot long talons gave it an odd, lopsided run while the flattened muzzle and wolf ears formed a face with an almost ear-to-ear Glasgow smile. Anyone who caught a glimpse of its silver eyes would have nightmares for weeks.

Inessa dove through the crowd and let her enhanced senses tell her where the gunman was. People were running everywhere in a panic, it was easy to see the one who moved with purpose and precision. They were running away now, using the chaos to escape. The Shadow dove after them. They looked back, but a black mask obscured their entire face. Inessa ran faster, closed the gap between them in record time. She reached out to slash at the human-

-and a fireball erupted in their place. The Shadow couldn't hold form against both the daylight and the explosion. Inessa allowed herself to be thrown back into her body on the other side of the park, weak and panting, as Nadya was thrown into the Valley. Her hands shook and her vision kept flickering between blurry and sharp- a side effect of using her abilities like that in broad daylight. Inessa's arms were like jelly. She managed to pull a silver box from her pocket and held it up to her eyes. The mechanics inside the case whirred and two small appendages appeared to place her colored lenses in her eyes. It was better if no one saw a human with silver eyes after the Shadow had taken an already panicked scene and made it worse. She tried to sit up, but even that was too much for her.

"JARVIS, call the Tower-"

"They are already on their way."

Inessa lifted her head and looked to the side where she'd thrown Ingvir. Her aching body went suddenly numb. His mouth was open in surprise, as were his eyes, but they didn't move. Inessa let adrenaline fill her veins and she pushed his body away just enough so that she could see between them. There were four large, red bullet holes centered around his chest. Inessa's heart raced as panic set in. Her ally was dead. Not just that- a representative of the Counsel of Yggdrasil was dead while meeting with the Avengers. Even without adding in that he was investigating her (at least, that's what they thought) and it painted a very dark picture.

This could start a war.

Chapter 14: Monsters

[sokuly]

Things about top surgery (will be a long post; hang on and read whatever topic you need)

I had a double incision mastectomy with free nipple grafts with Dr. Daniel Medalie on May 18, 2017. Here’s just some things I personally have experienced that may help others pursuing top surgery, wether or not it’s with Dr. Medalie. Before scheduling: I got into contact with Valerie, his receptionist. She’s very helpful and will try to answer any questions you might have. I live about 2 hours away from Cleveland, so it was up to me if I wanted an in person consult or just over email. I got my therapist letter and photos of my chest ready and sent out. Photos via email. The consult was $60. When I heard back, he signed off on my therapist note, and told me I was borderline for either surgery; peri vs double incision. He said he would need to see me in person to make that call, but it could wait until the day of surgery. I wanted to know what to prepare for so I went to Cleveland about 2 weeks after. I was not charged for this in person meeting. He told me he could do peri if I was concerned about the scars that DI would give, but he would prefer DI as he was worried about the extra skin. Ultimately it was my choice. I was hoping for so long I could get peri and not have scars. However, I wanted the most aesthetically appealing option. I didn’t want extra skin. I didn’t want “unknown” nipple landing, especially with the extra skin. I made my decision of DI, based on Dr. Medalie having more control of nipple placement, contour, and removal of the extra skin. I got home and pondered when to schedule. Before surgery: I scheduled about 2 months prior, and was hoping for a Friday date, but was told he doesn’t operate on Fridays so I took the Thursday, which was fine with me. I think it was about a $250 deposit to schedule. In those 2 months, it was more of me focusing on work and not really thinking of surgery, except applying for CareCredit. About a month out, my fiancé and I started putting some things together for the trip to Cleveland: food, post op care (light food like crackers, blankets, clothing, etc.), money, who’s taking care of the cats while we’re gone, and so on. We stayed at a Super 8 in Beachwood, OH (it’s like 10 minutes away from the surgery center and his office). We went to Cleveland the day before my surgery. On our way, the surgery center called to confirm my appointment, 9:15am and to arrive an hour early. We got to the hotel around 2:30-3:00pm. My grandparents and dad also came with us, different hotel room. They bought dinner. I couldn’t stop pacing. It was hard to get to sleep. Day of: I naturally woke up way before my alarm, but continued to force myself back to sleep; it was the last time I could curl up and cuddle with my fiancé for a while. I needed that time. But I also couldn’t hold still for anything. We got up, I got comfy clothes on (red athletic shorts and a purple button down flannel. I looked fantastic, trust me), and continued to pace. We headed for the surgery center at about 7:45. The things we took to the center: a comfort blanket (literally any blanket you really like), a pillow, and my post op vest (this is important!). We got there, I got all checked in and paid my fees. I sat down for like… 2 minutes and was called back. Usual questions, urine sample (which was collected in a styrofoam cup??), got told to strip down except for underwear. Which I wasn’t wearing. So that was awkward but whatever. Put on the gown and surgery socks. Nurse took me to my bed and kept asking if I was cold. Honestly I was burning up. She said that’s pretty usual, we come in burning up and leave freezing. She got everything ready to start my IV. She numbed the area, commented on how nice my veins are, stuck me and blew the vein. I warned her that my veins don’t take nicely to IV needles. She profusely apologized and felt so bad about it. I kept telling her it was fine and I was expecting it to happen the first time. Second numbing, second stick, worked. More apologizing. She went and got my grandparents first. Saw the anesthesiologist. Grandparents left and my dad and fiancé came back to see me. Dr. Medalie came back, drew on me, talked a bit, was on his way. Anesthesiologist came back, he was an odd but funny guy. Maybe I just get his sense of humor. We talked a bit, his nurse came with him and started doing her thing. Anti-nausea via IV, another anti-nausea medicine via patch behind the ear (I usually get really sick from anesthesia). And then some relaxing medicine. I was so out of it when it hit, I don’t remember much. Wheeled back to the OR and remember them having some issue with my left arm board. Then I was in recovery. Dad told me to wake up and I flipped him off. I asked the nurse for water. And then to pee. And then for a warm blanket. I was surprisingly mobile and awake for just coming out of anesthesia. The nurse helped me get dressed and sat me in a chair while my discharge was being approved and they showed my fiancé how to empty my drains. My fiancé went to get her car and the nurse loaded me up, pillow behind my back and seat leaned back a bit and even put my blanket over me after getting my seatbelt on. Got back to the hotel, dad watched over me while my fiancé went to get my prescriptions. She got back, I took a pill, I slept most of that day. My waking moments were spent snacking on crackers, my drains being emptied, peeing, and watching The Weather Channel. It was the only thing on TV I could focus on. Until I passed back out. The following days in Cleveland: Drains being emptied, peeing, Weather Channel, Percocet, crackers, Powerade. I got up sometime Friday evening and went for a short walk with my fiancé. Sleeping post op in the hotel I was in a chair that had a footrest. YOU WILL NEED YOUR OWN SPACE TO SLEEP. My body pillow was perfect under my feet since the footrest was JUST too low for me. Had a pillow under my back, decently sized light blanket over me. I sleep hot, so we just brought a light blanket from home so I wouldn’t overheat, plus a comfort thing. We left Cleveland Saturday morning. Back home: I was still sleeping in a recliner. Body pillow next to me for one arm and a pile of blankets for the other. Again light blanket. We brought the recliner to the bedroom before we left home so my fiancé could have the bed while also being there if I needed anything in the middle of the night. Still emptying drains. May 23, 2017 Goodbye drains: My post op appointment. Take your narcotic about an hour before your appointment or before you go! Being on the road isn’t exactly comfortable. Plus it helps with whatever pain you have during the drain removal. I had to pee by time we got there so I went and then was in the room with his nurse Mary and my fiancé. Mary is really cool and pretty funny. Mary opened my vest and the feeling of being able to breathe was shocking. I didn’t realize it was that tight. Off came the foam (and probably all of my chest hair) and I could see my chest for the first time post op! Seeing my chest: After the foam was off, I looked down and the first thing out of my mouth was “oh. Woah. They’re gone”. Nothing can really prepare you for your reaction. I thought I was going to be over the moon and happy crying like the other guys who posted their reveal videos. But I wasn’t. There was this relief. Realization that I closed a chapter on a part of my life and this new one just started. I was happy, but not how it was going to happen in my head for so long. It was just pure relief. It was flatter than I thought (later to realize it was just from all the compression). A lot less “I got hit by a train” than I thought too. Dr. Medalie came in after my drains were pulled (will be discussed soon) and basically said I looked perfect and was good to go. My next 10 days: I’m a day away from day 10 post post-op (a day shy of 2 weeks post op) at the time of writing this. I was still sleeping in my recliner for a while and just got back into bed a few nights ago, surrounded by pillows and blankets to keep me from rolling. My mobility has greatly improved over the past few days. I take ibuprofen for any pain. I use ice packs when I’m really sore. I take dressing changes seriously since it’s a short time I can breathe and move. After tomorrow the steri-strips come off and I’m done with this compression vest. I can soak in a bath as long has my chest is above water. I use a cup to wet and rinse my upper body and hair. I use baby soap. I’ve been able to finally lay on my side with great care in the past like 2-3 days. Take it slow! Let’s talk drains: They absolutely suck. I’m pretty sure it was the worst thing about this whole process. They’re annoying. They’re weird. They hurt sometimes. I was so happy to finally get them out. Which is also a very odd feeling. It kinda pinches, kinda burns, kinda hurts. I don’t know how to really explain it. My left one actually hurt coming out, but I had armpit hair caught up in the suture and all that. Take the narcotic before you get them out. I was told to do that, and I’m glad I did. How about those nips: They’ll look really weird at first. Like ghost nips. Do the dressings EXACTLY as Mary tells you. You don’t wanna lose them. My nips are starting to scab, blister, and peel. THIS IS NORMAL. Just keep them dressed as explained by Mary and the paperwork she gives you. I have limited feeling in mine; I can feel the outer edges but not much on the inside. It’s really weird, but also normal. Not about nips but: as your chest hair grows back (they shaved my chest) it’s going to itch like no other. Things I’m glad to have/have had: Pillow(s), comfortable blankets, laxatives!!! (MILK OF MAGNESIA. Do yourself a favor and get it), ibuprofen, Gatorade/Powerade, slightly heavier blanket for my chest (in case the fur kids wanted to love on me), body pillow, open front shirts (get a few cheap shirts/tank tops and cut them open in the front)

To keep from stupid long posts in the future I’ll update more regularly. Thanks for reading and I hope it helps! Any questions, please ask!

[jessejackreyes]

R76Valentines Day 2

(Ao3 Link) 

Gift Giving

“I have to get him something good Ana,” Gabriel groaned as he she just rolled her eyes at his theatrics. “He always gets me something amazingly thoughtful and then I get him something that seems thoughtless by comparison,” He sighed deeply, shoulders slumped in defeat.

“You are being melodramatic Gabriel. Jack loves whatever you get him,” Ana tried to calm him down.

“That's not the point,” He nearly shouted. “For our first date he learned how to make my abuela’s pozole to remind me of home. For my birthday he rigged up a secure video call in the middle of a war zone and brought my family together so they could all sing to me and I could catch up a little bit with all of them,”

“He has given you some nice gifts yes Gabriel, but…” Reyes interrupted her before she could dismiss his concerns.

“Do I need to bring up Christmas?”

“Okay fine, maybe Jack goes a bit above and beyond with his gift giving, but you know it's not a competition,” The Egyptian woman shook her head, exasperated by his melodrama. “You can't get mad at him for giving you good gifts.”

“I'm not mad at him. I'm mad at me. I just need to get a better gift than him this once Ana and I need help, please,” Ana raised an eyebrow at that. Gabriel never begged. She let out a long, put upon sigh, he was going to go through with this.

“Fine, we only have a few weeks to figure something out then. We'll need some more information about what Jack is going to do and some help once we have a plan. We are at least go to think big if we do this.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel’s frown lessened and his shoulders relaxed slightly. They haven't managed to get a good gift ready yet, but he has backup now and he was going to show his boyfriend that he could be just as thoughtful this time.

_________________

There were two major goals of operation V-Day. The first goal was technically optional, but it would make the second much easier. They were trying to find out what it was Jack was getting Gabriel, without Gabriel himself learning so he could still be actually surprised. Second, they needed to use that information to help figure out something to get Jack that would blow his gift out of the water.

Ana was needed for this plan, if only to get to Reinhardt, something that she was not very enthused about to say the least. The only thing that Reyes had managed to learn about what Jack was planning was that the man had recruited the crusader’s help for it. The Egyptian sniper sighed, she knew she could get the information out of the man, but it didn't sit right with her, taking advantage of him like this.

She found the giant of a man in the mess hall early in the morning, working on breakfast for the team, he was always so sweet. She watched as the man dashed around the kitchen like he was born for it, it suited him more than fighting in her eyes. Though, to be fair, she didn't think very highly of fighting in general despite its necessity and her skill at it.

“Ah, hello!” Reinhardt’s voice boomed when he noticed her presence. “Great to see you this fine morning Ana,” She found herself smiling. One thing he had in common with Jack, they both had very infectious smiles.

“Looking good in that apron Rein,” She tried to tease the man, even though it was true. No one would have expected someone so large and imposing could look cute, but a soft blue apron that said kiss the cook definitely managed it.

“Thank you!” His smile only grew at the compliment. It was impossible to tease him like this, he took compliments at face value and with great ease. “What brings you here this early?”

“Getting away from our fearless leader for a minute,” She explained leading to a loud laugh from the larger man.

“Gabriel sulking around again?” Coming from anyone else that would have sounded like a joke at the man's expense, but from Reinhardt she knew that it was just the man being concerned about his friend.

“He's a bit stressed right now,” She admitted carefully whilst the German hummed in acknowledgement, it was the usual story when it came to Commander Reyes.

“He really needs to take a break once in awhile huh?”

“I'm just glad Valentine's Day is coming up,” She mentioned, trying to make it sound off handed.

“Oh?” The cook was suddenly interested. She was going to have to make it up to him later somehow.

“Yeah, if anything can cheer the man up it's a big gift from Jack,” She replied.

Reinhardt nodded his head until he caught her staring at his apron as if she had just noticed it for the first time, then he vigorously turned back to his cooking. His apron really was the perfect cover for what she was going to do, because as he leaned over to pick up a container of something or another, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He turned beat red, it was adorable.

“Your apron was very demanding,”

“It's an old joke,” Reinhardt stammered an answer back. Oh she was really going to have to make this up to him, and also probably get back at Gabriel once this whole thing was over.

“Oh, I'm not much of one for old humor, sorry,” Her soft smile and apology only made him flush brighter. “I just hope Jack is getting the man something good enough to get that stick out of Gabe's ass. Can't imagine what would pull that off,”

“Oh Gabriel is going to love it,” Reinhardt blurted out, like he always did when he was flustered. “You'll never guess what I helped him get,” That was perfect.

“Oh really?” Ana asked, knowing she was getting exactly what she wanted out of the man.

______________________________

“So what has our brain trust come up with so far?” She asked Gabriel as he moped around the gym.

“Fucking nothing. Please tell me you have good news,” His mood had gotten worse.

“Well I do know what he's planning for you, if that's what you’re asking,” She smirked at the man as he waited to hear what she had to say now. “You are going to have to make it up to Reinhardt big time by the way,”

“I know,” Gabriel agrees, his eyes intense. “But I'm desperate, I have to outdo Jack this time. I just have to.”

“Well we have our work cut out for us. It's not quite Christmas party level but, you are going to looove it,” She elongates the o for emphasis.

“Well if anyone of us comes up with a good idea we'll make sure to run it by you,” He sighed, his shoulders slumped.

“You know him better than any of us Gabe. Just think about the things that he wants, particularly because he can't or won't do it himself. His gifts come from the heart, yours should too,” She patted his shoulder in sympathy as she left the man to think.

____________________________________

Six days before Valentine's Day and Gabriel believed he had the perfect idea. It was thoughtful, it harkened back to their days in the SEP, when they talked for hours to deal with the injections that had turned them both into super soldiers. Jack had mentioned that there was something he had always wanted to do, since he was a child and he never got the opportunity.

Setting it up would be difficult, they would need to take a few days of leave together, not that they actually got leave, and also avoid people's notice. That is what he had his brain trust for though. Ana could handle command while they were away easily, people already listened to her so Having her in charge would merely be a lateral move.

Commandeering transportation would be easy, he was more or less in charge of everything after all. They just needed people to cover for them while they were out and a story just in case things get out of hand. Luckily they were already in the states for this, so it wasn't too far away. It would be a day long break.

They needed some civilian clothing and some simple disguises just in case. It was honestly like running any op he had ever done. False identities for booking the hotel, private transportation that wouldn't cause a scene, Making sure nobody who would care too much even noticed anything was going on.

Ana approved of the idea when he explained to her what it would mean, also the idea of a vacation for their overworked commander was an easy sell. They made preparations for her to handle things for a time, made sure a few people who would need to know did know. He just needed to get Jack to go along with the plan

Before he knew it, the day had arrived. They were mostly prepared, he was just going to need Jack’s cooperation in order to make sure Ana would be ready. That needed to wait until after the exchange though. Gabriel was nervous, he could run black ops laughing at death, but giving gifts to his boyfriend terrified him for some reason. He couldn't help but worry about Jack not likening it.

They had set up a dinner date, something that no one at the UN seemed to respect. Gabriel was seriously considering perfectly justifiable homicide when Jack had informed him that he had handled it and not to worry. Those assholes couldn't just give them a few hours together on Valentine's Day without giving the commander shit about it.

They ate together, spending recreational time together for the first time in almost a year outside of the group parties they had for a few holidays throughout the year. Those times weren't intimate though, a quiet, private dinner for two, that was intimate.

They ate while sharing small talk, Gabriel had a hard time paying attention to it. He wondered what Jack had gotten him, desperately hoping that just this once he could be the more thoughtful boyfriend and gift giver. He had never been very good at the grand gestures of love sort of thing; he was always more comfortable with small gestures and soft words.

“We should probably exchange gifts before were interrupted by people who can't let two war heroes have an evening of peace,” He was being blunt, but he wanted to get this over with, his nerves were getting the better of him. Jack laughed softly.

“I was about five minutes away from burning the HQ to the ground myself,” Jack added. “You should have seen it Gabe, I spoke very politely in my commanding voice, instead of my nice voice and they were damn near shitting bricks,” They shared a laugh at the image. “They quickly forgot what was so important and are coming back later, probably thought I was this close to murdering them,”

“I didn't think you had it in you,” Jack frowned, Gabriel laughed.

“Well it was either that or let you and Ana kill them. This was a little less paperwork so,” Jack just shrugged at the thought. “So you want to see what I got you?” The blond asked with a smile. He nodded in response and Jack pulled a small box from out of his jacket. “So you remember our time in Germany?” Gabriel nodded again, slowly beginning to unwrap the box, Jack had gotten wrapping paper for this. “You were upset that you lost your favorite beanie during the campaign,”

Gabriel opened the package to find an old beanie, from what it sounds like, his old beanie. It was washed and it showed signs of relatively unskilled attempts at mending what would likely have been several holes or tears. He had lost this several months ago near Eichenwald. He remembered being upset and talking to Jack about it because his grandmother made that one for him, it was yet another memento that brought him a little close to his home that was always so far away.

“Reinhardt called up some of the other Crusaders and they found it in the ruins of the castle. Then I washed it and learned how to mend it, it's a lot harder than I thought it would be,” The blond man was nervous as Gabriel simply stared at the gift. “I'm sorry about the patch job. I tried my best but,”

“It's wonderful Jack,” He hugged the beanie to his chest, then put it on right there. It was now special because it was a gift from his grandmother and from Jack. “I'm never taking it off,” Gabriel smiled brightly, a rare thing indeed. Even Jack had a hard time pulling a big smile out of the man, but it was an amazingly thoughtful gift, as always. “I got you something too ,” Gabriel handed over what looked to be a mission folder.

Jack arched an eyebrow but opened the folder to briefly peruse its contents. There were fake ids for the two of them, an itinerary, a cover story in case things went wrong, everything they would need to sneak away for a few days without anyone noticing.

“What is this Gabi?” Jack was definitely confused by what he was looking at.

“Well, do you remember back when the injections made us feel like we were dying and we would spend all night talking to each other about our homes to try to distract ourselves?” Jack nodded and Gabriel continued. “So I don't remember everything, what with the dying, but I do remember you saying several that you had always wanted to go to Disney world as a kid and were going to actually go one day.” Jack pulled out the actual tickets that were in there for the two of them to go and he looked at them stunned.

“We can't go,” He said suddenly, after an extended pause.

“Yes we can, it's already taken care of. Ana will handle command while everyone runs interference. We will be gonna day and a half, enough time to spend one worry free day doing something you will love. No one will notice, but even if they do we have more than one backup plan,”

“What if something happens?”

“Jack, you're always trying to get me to take a break, to relax and right now I'm trying to take you on a mini vacation and you're telling me no,” Gabriel pouted and he saw Jack's resistance beginning to crack at that. “We've literally got it all planned out. We will leave after a big meeting in 3 days. We will take a jet, arrive to check into a hotel. We head to the theme park first thing in the morning and have a great civilian time just like you always wanted,”

“You're sure you're okay with this Gabe?” Jack was clearly nervous about going awol for a bit, but Gabriel just smile.

“Let me do something for you Jackie. I'll even wear my new beanie,” Jack smiled, leaping out of his chair, embracing Gabriel in a tight hug. Once the blonde had ,add it passed his reluctance, those blue eyes shone brighter than he ever remembered seeing them. The sight made his spirit soar.

“This is a wonderful gift Gabi,” Gabriel smiled brighter than Morrison in that singular moment. He's not sure who exactly won the gift exchange right then and there, but at the very least he put in a good showing for once.

[emiliouehz016-blog]

Now Is The Time To Buckle Down About Immigration Reform

I will presume since this is reading, people understand how to read. I state that because clearly the written word is the only communicative approach left to us. A new CP on Associated Material authored an op/ed that he titled "Obama Leads Public Dispute Toward Peace Of Mind." So, based upon the author's title and his point in the short article, I must presume everyone out there is deaf, since I am NOT hearing any level of sanity in the general public dispute - not one bit!

The Migration Law In Georgia From A Catholic Perspective

In order for you to remain in the country for more than 90 days, you will have to establish legal residency, or to submit an application for an extension to the Workplace of Temporary Allows in the Costa Rican Department of immigration. The fine for overstaying is $100 a month for every single month illegal in the nation. Traveler visas are usually not extended other than under unique circumstances, and extension requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Lots of individuals simply leave the every 3 months for 24 hr and do that for years. If you wish to do that, bear in mind that often they request a proof that you are leaving the country within 90 days like a copy of your airline ticket or bus ticket.

Steps To Renew A U.S. Green Card

Hong Kong is likewise a location where you can buy the trendiest whatever with the most affordable rate worldwide - smart phone, computer system, digital cam, electronics, style and devices etc. You need to be encouraged by the large range department of immigration choices and their low rates.

Taking The High Road From Cusco To La Paz: Bus Travel In South America

I have to agree that the next-door neighbor should have not just an invite, however an apology from both "men." This entire "Beer Top" thing is simply travestying racial justice and must not even have actually been started. If anyone requires a "teachable moment," it would be Obama and his teacher buddy Gates. Let's see how this ends up!

Though she initially committed to Auburn a few years earlier, Tsikhanovich decided to go immigration to australia Bridgeport instead, where she is now a sophomore. Though it certainly appears that she would have done well at Auburn (here's a training video of her on bars last year-- doesn't she type of swing like mother?), the Tigers's loss has been the Purple Knights's gain.

The Forgotten Effect Of Unlawful Immigration

And this is what that CP passed off as "Obama Lead [ing] Public Debate Toward Sanity." See folks, these individuals are convinced they are ideal which it is their right to pursue those hateful Conservatives.

That is how our leader, who as soon as asked the concern Get more information "Is our kids finding out?" would like to be kept in mind. Never mind that he was barely the "Education Student." Hint to President Stupid: If you check out, you will find out! P.S. Archie comics do not count.