#but he hacked the work computers until he could see how much everyone was being paid

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

Disclaimer: I love and use the Metric system and am in NO WAY advocating for its abolition

However,

I really fucking love old, bizarre, hard-to-calculate measurement systems. Sometimes they're fairly simple, and sometimes they evoke a world for me where people got very into one particular realm of expertise and did not worry much about the minutiae of others. Because if they did that profession's guild would send around enforcers to stop them from encroaching onto their turf.

Practical example: Eggs! I've always bought eggs in the dozen. But the dozen is itself a unit of measurement, and it blew my mind when I first learned of places that sold eggs in units of 10.

Meanwhile, horses only make sense in Horse. They're measured in hands, half-hands, and quarter-hands. One hand is 4 inches. The decimal system works in base four, so 14.2 hands means 14 hands and 2 inches. (That's 58 inches, measured from the hump just before a horse's neck begins. It's also about the size of a large pony or small horse.)

Carats. In ye oldey dayes, a troy ounce (1/12 of a troy pound) was made up of 24 ounce carats, which were divisible into 20 grains troy, or, four ounce grains (a totally different thing from grain grains) which could then make four ounce quarters of 1.5 grains each. What the fuck. Wheels within wheels.

(Yes, that's why we talk about "24 carat gold", meaning that as close as is humanly possible, all 24 carats of the ounce are pure gold. It's a great fineness for a ring that will get the absolute shit beaten out of it if you work with your hands.)

Nautical miles should bother me more but honestly they make way more sense than the other miles do because I've read Longitude. It's 1/60 of 1/360 of the circumference of the earth. The earth is a giant sundial. I can't explain it any more clearly than that.

Bushels. Bushels don't make sense anymore but we still pretend they do. "A bushel of oats weighs 34 pounds," we say. "A bushel of barley is 48." Back in MY day, a bushel was 8 dry gallons, 4 pecks, or 2 kennings, and that's the way we LIKED it.

Board feet. My brother handles lumber for a living and he's explained it to me half a dozen times but I still don't and maybe never will understand board feet.

[reticent-writer]

heyyy PLEASE I NEEDD Vox x teen! Reader. Where she’s like the Vee’s assistant, or Vox’s assistant or something like that and she sees Vox as a father figure? Tyy

I like this alot

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

the most chaotic job in all of hell, like there is never a peaceful moment in the Vees tower. Someone is always yelling, something is always being broken, and you are in the middle of it. The peacemaker.

Your soul belongs to Vox but you assist all of the Vees. Your like 17/18. You were a hacker before you died, you hacked into the governments software and was killed for it.

You did the same thing to Vox but he didn't get mad instead he offered a secure home/job for your soul. (Seeing that everyone is dead that sounds silly but you shook his hand anyway)

If Vox isn't around to calm down Val and Velvette you're the next best thing. Valentino can talk your ears off as much as he wants and Velvette can use you as a model

In hell you can travel through electronics like Vox

Most of your time is spent with Velvette and Vox, mainly Vox. Vox has you do a lot of work that he trusts no one else with like going to the overlord meetings when no one else wants to

You are genuinely nice, like the other overlords wonder why you're working with the Vees

Your room doesn't have a door, so to get to your room you have to go through electronics to a backroom type of place. It's still in the Vees tower but no one but you or Vox and get to it.

Vox made it like this so if you wanted to be unbothered no one could even knock on your door.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚-Vox-˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

"Y/n are you awake."

You heard Vox from inside your room. You zapped you phone knowing that Vox you feel it. Basically saying you were getting up.

It took you 15 minutes to get ready before you teleported to the monitor room to find Vox watching random sinners on his big screen.

"I'm up, sir."

He dramatically spun his chair to face you.

"I hope it's been a hellish morning so far, what's on today's schedule."

You pulled out your phone and started to read off it, "the day doesn't start until 1 which is when the early talk show starts ot lasts until 3, at 5-7 is a game show, Velvette s show starts at 7, Valentino's live streaming a BDSM thing at 8, late night talk show at 10."

You looked at the time it was 8 am.

"Well since I'm free why don't we work on your mega computer." He offered. He likes how your face lit up and without wasting a second you dragged him to one of the quietest rooms in the building. In it was a desktop with a few wires connected to it.

Your mega computer was a project you started after you sold your soul. You hope it can connect to heaven one day and who is Vox to stop you.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚-Velvette-˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

You were in Fox's monitor room untangling cords.

"Y/N COME HERE." Velvette yelled at you through her phone.

You sighed as you stopped what you were doing and turn went through one of the many TVs.

"Yes, Vel." You smiled, clearly Vox was rubbing off on you.

"Something is missing with this outfit, tell me what it is." She pointed you in the direction of a mannequin with a outfit in your preferred style.

"(￣ヘ￣）ᵁᴹᴹ a (whatever you want)."

She hummed and with a snap of her fingers it appeared.

"Better right?"

"Yes."

"Good it's yours, take it" she snapped again and the outfit was in your hands, "no go put it on, I wanna see it."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, put it on."

-It looked amazing-

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚-Valentino-˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

"Vox said your not aloud in the studio so the least your could do is read the script." He said as he handed you a think packed.

"Jailbird gets hard time" you read loud in disgust, "do you really think I should be reading this?"

He scoffed, "oh please it's not like I can't see your browser history. A03, wattpad, Quotev, fanfiction.net the list goes on."

You stared at him in disbelief.

"What... Aww is someone embarrassed." He squished your cheeks. Your face was beat red.

"Aw, Chiquita, I don't judge. You should see the more kinky scrips."

"Oh no thanks. I think I hear Vox calling me. Bye." You reached his pocket for his phone and with a poor you were gone.

After that you made it so no one could see any of your activity.

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

A/n: I don't like Valentino. I love his voice tho

[ryker-writes]

Can I please request Idia for the sibling serie?

Yes! I'm finally getting around to writing Idia's! I wanted to finish book 6 before I started, but got stuck on one of the battles. Thankfully, I got through and can write this now

This post had to be separated into 2 parts because of the length

Part 2

Request rules and Masterlists

Broken Sibling relationships

Warning: Spoilers for book 6

Idia as a sibling (Broken relationship)

the Shroud family was a very important, but very unknown family

they were a core part to the function of the Island of Woe

for generations, the Shroud's have been in charge of Styx as well as the containment and research of phantoms

it's because you were a Shroud that you grew up in Styx surrounded by technology and phantoms

research and data collected from the phantoms was basically what everyone around you would talk about

except for your dear brothers

Idia was often busy, but made a point to spend time with you and Ortho

it's because he would be busy that you and Ortho were super close

you two were practically attached

but you still spent a lot of time with Idia

Idia and Ortho were always there for you

and you were there for them

when you three were together, it was easy to forget about all of Styx and all of your problems

Idia would always show you and Ortho a new game he found, and taught you how to play

since Idia was the oldest, he was the one that was going to take over Styx in the future

you were sure he was under a lot of pressure, but he still found time to play with you and Ortho

in a sense, he was like a hero to both you and Ortho

it was during one of the games that you three were playing that you guys talked about being heroes on an adventure

Idia said he couldn't ever do it because he has to take over Styx

but you and Ortho wanted him to be happy

for everything that he did for you two, he deserved that much

so you both encouraged him to go on an adventure before he takes over

for Idia, the greatest adventure for all three of you to go on would be to leave the Island of Woe

you and Ortho were together like always when you found Idia hacking into the Styx system

he said he was going to open the way for all of you to leave and go on your adventures

it was exciting

...until the alarms started going off

panic immediately set in as the system said some phantoms were being released

Idia didn't intend for that to happen, and scrambled to undo it

down that hall, something big was coming

you moved towards the computer to try and help any way you could

but it was useless

the door was blasted open, and some rubble hit Idia, knocking him unconscious

you ran over to him to try and wake him up

he was the hero, and he would get you out of this!

the phantom set it's sights on Ortho and started attacking

you couldn't do anything but watch as it tore into him

he screamed and cried, but you couldn't move

after it was done, it turned to you

you could feel tears run down your face and fear overwhelming your system

the last thing you saw before passing out was people coming in to stop the phantom

when you woke up, you found out that Ortho was gone

the phantom had killed him

you were devastated

how could this happen?

it was your fault

you encouraged this adventure and Idia knew how much you didn't like it here

and you did nothing to save him

Ortho was gone because of you

he didn't deserve that

in your despair, you tried to reach out to Idia

but he had locked himself in his room

every time you tried to see him, he insisted he was busy or wouldn't answer

this went on for months before he finally came out of his room

and when you saw him, he was happy to show of his creation that he's worked so hard on

it was Ortho

no, it only looked like Ortho

the real Ortho was gone

you of all people knew that

Idia made a robot to replace Ortho

it was programmed to have all his memories and act like Ortho

but there's no way you could accept this

the real Ortho couldn't be replaced

this thing could never be him

you tried to talk to Idia and tell him that this wasn't right, but he wouldn't listen

"We finally have Ortho back and you can't even accept him? How could you just move on and give up on him? He's here, and you don't even care about him!"

"I care about Ortho, the real Ortho! But he's gone. This is not Ortho."

Idia was furious

"You're wrong! This is Ortho. If you can't see that then you don't deserve to be near him!"

and he left with the robot

Idia tried to avoid you as much as possible after that

and he was always traveling with the robot

you couldn't stand it

every time you saw that thing, it reminded you of the real Ortho

...and his death

as the days passed, the distance between you and Idia grew larger

[astra-galaxie]

★☆☠■☮♦ൠ ▼ for Elliot Clayton? (sorry for the slight spam lmao)

No worries! I don’t mind receiving multiple requests. Sorry it took so long to get these headcanons done; I’ve been swamped in real life!

So please enjoy my Elliot headcanons!

★ - sad headcanon

Elliot was a lonely child. His parents were always busy with their work, and he didn’t have any friends who wanted to hang out outside school. He spent a lot of time in his room playing video games or watching movies. Eventually, his interests turned to computers, and he taught himself how to program, leading to him becoming a hacker. He would spend hours in his room on his computer, lurking on the dark web and hacking servers no one, least of all a young teenager, should be.

☆ - happy headcanon

When Elliot joined the Bureau, he didn’t know what to expect. He didn’t want to work for the agency, but given his illegal hacking, it was either help them or go to jail… When he arrived on his first day, he was surprised to see a “Welcome to the Team!” party had been put together for him. He met everyone in the Bureau, and some asked things about him to break the ice. Elliot just thought they were being polite to the new kid (kid being literal), so he was shocked when he got to his office on the second day and found a value-sized bag of W&W's waiting on his desk. To this day, he still doesn't know who left them or the others he gets periodically throughout his time with the Bureau���

☠ - angry/violent headcanon

Like many teenagers going through the joys of puberty, Elliot’s been known to have a short temper. And while he doesn’t get physically violent, he can yell and curse till your ears are ringing! However, while he might not attack you with his fists, your technology is never safe. He’s developed several programs that he can unleash on someone’s tech if they piss him off. They range from being more annoying than harmless, like taking control of your cursor and making it go the opposite direction of where you want it to, to bigger ones that lock you out of your devices until Elliot releases them.

■ - Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon

I picture Elliot having a messy room. Like clothes thrown around the room, so much that you can't tell what's clean and what's not. Maybe even some empty cans of energy drinks and food wrappers, but those are not as bad as the other stuff. He would also hang posters for bands, movies, and games on the walls and some memorabilia like figurines or replica items around the room.

However, when it comes to his workspace, his desk and equipment are very clean and organized.

☮ - friendship headcanon

Elliot is awkward when it comes to making new friends. He didn’t have many when he was growing up, so he struggled to form friendships. But when he does make a new friend, he tries his hardest to keep them. And while he’s prone to losing track of time and forgetting about met-ups, those who know him understand that he’s not doing it to be an asshole. They still value his friendship, and that means so much to Elliot to know that they love and appreciate him as their friend despite his flaws.

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Elliot knows how to play the guitar. As a child, he was put into piano lessons, but he found it boring to play. But he still enjoyed making music, so when he was older, he switched to guitar. He first learned the acoustic guitar and later taught himself how to play electric. When Lars found out the teen could play, he BEGGED Elliot for a jam session. After eventually giving in to the begging, Elliot had to admit it was fun rocking out with someone as passionate about music as Lars is.

ൠ - random headcanon

He kept in contact with Benjamin Scott. The two became friends after Benjamin returned to England, and they share an online chat room. While Elliot can't tell Benjamin everything about his work, he likes having someone to talk to who understands what his job is. Of course, Benjamin sometimes presses Elliot for details, but he never forces the goth to disclose anything confidential. He also keeps Elliot up to date on things in England and the rest of the world since the Bureau is sometimes too wrapped up in their investigations to check the news.

▼ - childhood headcanon

Elliot’s first video game was The Sims. His nanny had gotten it for him since she heard it was popular and wasn’t violent. He played it over and over and over, designing characters and houses to be precisely what he wanted. He spent so much time playing the game that he spent more time cleaning his digital house than his IRL bedroom. This led to his video game obsession growing and his collection expanding so that he always had something to play. But games like The Sims will always be one of his favourites.

And thus concludes my headcanons for Lord Gothness himself!

P.S. I’ve got a few more requests in my inbox to finish, so hopefully, I can get those posted soon!

[alwaysshallow]

— coffee at midnight, part 4

John "Soap" MacTavish x f!reader

Mission gets difficult. (3,3k)

1 | 2 | 3

AO3 version

Everyone had missions that they liked the most, and it happened for you to have a mission you absolutely loved - getting an intel without having to fight for it; at least, physically. It was all about manipulation, asking the right people, making connections that seemed difficult at first, but puzzle after puzzle, made perfect sense.

You could probably say that you liked it even more than hacking – tracking people with your skills. Right, it was fun with codes, breaking in to places that your eyes definitely shouldn't be, seeing TF141 absolutely bamboozled because 'they only saw it in TV'. Comments like these pumped you up, but actually interacting with people was your cup of tea.

Probably it was because your moms sent you on multiple social courses organized by military before you even joined it – or just because it was a personal preference of a thrill that came with it. For instance, being one by one with computer is a little different than actually engaging in conversation with human being. Someone... unpredictable. Someone who isn't coded to act in certain ways, but someone who's actually a challenge.

And, you liked challenges most of the time because of your competitive nature.

It was sometimes troublesome, especially after alcohol, when your sense of survival was low – you had that one situation in mind, where you started a bar fight. You fought with the biggest guy; Soap was pretty proud of you, unlike Price who, sort of, scolded you because you were 'unreasonable'. You took it all, but you saw that little smile in the corner of his lips that was more satisfying than anything else. You got an intel, even if it ended in breaking guy's nose.

A little accident in work, you could say that – he looked better after breaking it, though. More... badass, as you described it to Alejandro since he wasn't there. Hell, his laugh back then was everything.

So, all in all, you loved getting intel, even if it was hard, even if it needed a double effort, not by violence that happened out there in a field. There was already too much of it in your life, you had enough.

Sadly, nothing special was coming out of people from that village in Mexico, even with Alejandro speaking to them in Spanish. Scraps of information, people that seemed to "know" but with more questions, it was just repeating the same gossip all over again which lead pretty much to nothing.

Or, it was just a big imagination of a person that you were dealing with.

It irritated you to the point you wanted to call the boys and tell them it's probably nothing in there; that was until you saw a little girl sitting down the porch. Probably her home; it didn't matter in the bigger picture though, considering you immediately went to her with a smile on your face. Forced one, but that was a part of the job since it wasn't your place to scare her.

"Hey. I'm Ros" you knelt right in front of her, trying to appear as friendly as you could. "Can I sit here and talk a bit? You have pretty cool stuff over here, bracelets."

It was only your luck that girl knew how to speak in English and was willing to do it – starting with a small talk about bracelets that she's making. She seemed pretty passionate about it, especially when she got bolder in speaking, showing you all of her materials and such, asking if you want one.

Of course you wanted one. Her face light up when you said it and after some words that she blabbed in Spanish (you only understood some of it because of Alejandro), she started making one, especially for you.

Perfect moment to ask questions, so you started with it, a certain delicacy to your words since she was a child – you mentioned pick-up cars driving around town, "funny dressed up people" wandering, to put everything lightly. To give her a hint, to make her talk, without her realizing that she gives some information.

Kids were the best source and you knew it; this time was the same. She agreed with you on them funny-looking, but she also mentioned they were a bit "horripilante" with their behavior. They were lurking, asking questions, acting like they're protectors of the town, which made your blood boil, but you said nothing. You only smiled, nodded because trying to act unbothered was the key here.

Estella – that was her name you learned – also said something about them coming in the same hour. You had your assumptions, but you asked what she has in her mind just to be sure. When you learned that it's about being here daily, around late afternoon, you just took bracelet from her, thanking for the gift and you swiftly moved to Soap to tell him that.

It's something you were excited about; informations. Something that you could cling onto, something that was finally important, even if today you wouldn't catch any member of this group. The excitement and thrill faltered in the moment when you saw Soap blatantly flirting with some pretty, blonde chick with smile reaching her eyes, cockily twirling her hair around her finger.

Girl he was talking to was awfully pretty, feminine, in a long, summer dress. Hell, he was practically mesmerized by her, and you couldn't help but wonder if he even gained some information from her or just started immediately flirting.

You clenched your jaw, looking away from them – you hated that he was doing it on duty, when every minute is important, when every civilian asked is important, but only if they have any information. Or just a clue who could know something.

Though, was it the only thing why you hated him flirting with her? Smiling like crazy, tilting his head like a puppy, his hands in pockets, posture calmed, yet on alert. He was so goddamn charming without trying, so you weren't really surprised that he flirted. He knew his looks and how to use it.

It was something you observed daily, you knew Soap very well, right? So why being jealous now?

It was like adding two to two, but you refused to do the math, so you just rolled your eyes. You had better things than observing them while you had something really important. After this, telling him something you learned, you could ignore him.

If you wouldn't tell him anything, he would call you out on your behavior – and you certainly didn't want that.

Fucking MacTavish.

"Got some info. Follow me." you murmured, your hand going to the radio, to turn it on; with that, you started walking again, as you expected Soap to just follow you, you didn't have time to chit-chat. "Alejandro, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, Bird."

"Kiddo told me they are coming here every day around the same hour. Afternoon, actin' like fucking bosses of this town, dressed funny. Asking questions." you looked back at Johnny; he was indeed following you, but his look was... weird. Burning hole in you, like he wanted to say something. Thank God he was quiet. You didn't need that.

"Pendejos. You think they want something?"

"I think they look for someone. Or they're patrolling their land to have control here. Can be both."

"Move south, you and Soap. We'll meet here, we need people."

"Roger that. Out."

You put your radio back on place, moving just like Alejandro told you both to; he was the one commanding here since Price, Gaz and Ghost were somewhere else with your mom. Splitting into two teams was the safest and most efficient option here, considering the amount of shit you had to do in order to get anything useful.

Mission was like moving one step forward, but three steps back – you thought you had something and it ends up in being a true dead-end. Yet, you had time (even if not precised) when those motherfuckers like to come around. It was something, you just needed to actually capture at least one of them.

The one who matters, the one who actually knows some patterns or maybe someone who could bring you to their base. Fuck, that would be literally perfect, wouldn't it? Some progress and you needed that desperately.

"Lass not talkin' to me? Not very classy" Soap joked, nudging you, which brought you back to earth. You raised an eyebrow.

"Flirting with a chick when we have job to do? Not very classy either" you shrugged, trying not to say anything snarkier than that; he was already looking at you like he was... amused, to say the least.

"What? I wasn't flirting."

"Mhm." you just said, continuing the walk.

"Oh, come on, are you jealous or something? I wasn't trying to abandon you in a mission, just wanted to talk to her. She seems pretty, no?"

Oh, that was the main problem in all that, sure – you thought to yourself, rolling your eyes again; at this point, you were pretty sure it's gonna become a habit.

"Whatever you say. She seems your type."

"Seems? You think I like blondes?" his tone became mocking.

You didn't even had a chance to answer him -it's the few missed shots near your leg that alerted you and Johnny. Both of you hid near closest car, probably one of your soldiers brought it in – it didn't matter anyway, though.

What mattered?

Getting somewhereto estimate the situation, before moving again. Car wasn't really the safest option since someone could shoot easily the container and make a big explosion, but it was the closest. You had to think fast, both of you, before something unpleasant would happen, to say the least.

A swift movement brings your weapon from your back to your hands – you find yourself peeking out, eyes darting anxiously to find something. It could be the hour those fuckers came in, you realized quickly, but it could be also someone from the village. Alejandro said they're not very friendly to outsiders, no? Everyone around had gun and taking down a civilian wasn't the way, it would only make people nuts.

For fuck's sake.

"Keep your head low, Birdie." Soap murmured; his sniper riffle leaning a bit on your shoulder – probably just in case since you had his back, and he had yours. "Alejandro. Few shots near Bird, got some vision who these fuckers might be?"

"Affirmative, took three of them. You have to move now, at least four vehicles are coming your way."

"Bird here. If we're gonna wait, we might catch someone important and-"

"-just do what I've said, we do not know how many men they have, we have to observe first. We don't have back-up nearby." Vargas cut you off, his voice stern, leaving no pole for discussion. "We're not playing rocky here. Let's pray they haven't seen you both."

"Copy that, Ale. Out." you mumbled; Soap nodded at you, and in one moment, you both started moving again, keeping yourself on the high alert.

After a minute or two, you pretty much learned you wished it would be only four vehicles. From Alejandro's side, sure, they were three, but from others, you counted ten at least, coming every way possible. At this point, leaving would be risky – so thought Soap – so you two hid behind a house, near barrels with food, your weapon ready to use if necessary.

Praying to God, if he existed, to spare you both.

While Johnny was taking care of quietly calling Alejandro to update him on situation, to see if he could help any way, you were listening to strangers. Just like little girl said, they were looking for something, talking to local people if any 'dangers' appeared recently. If they could help in any way.

You almost scoffed at this. The shit they were saying... you hoped that no one believed that.

Someone also told them about you and Soap wandering around – "military" questioning people, as young man defined with piqued the curiosity in those motherfuckers. Questions became more specific – about looks, nationality, accent. They seemed to know what to ask for, meanwhile most of the his band, cartel or whatever was their organization, were looking around.

You took one man down when he came closer with your knife – cut clear and precise, before he even said something about the presence of you two. It could be said it was a good thing you did it because in his pockets were valuable things.

"Good girl." Johnny whispered, patting your shoulder when you showed him what you had; and that was on map with certain areas circled with red marker, probably their bases or points to search.

Either way, it was something valuable to check, as well as some instructions or another paper – all in Russian, you couldn't understand a thing. You packed it to your cargo pants, praying that translator back in base would be ready for decoding it.

A pair of throwing knives as well, simple glock. Not very fancy.

"Soap, Bird." Alejandro spoke again. "Status?"

"Alive and breathing." you murmured. "Found something nice. Map and some shit in Russian. More information, perhaps."

"Russian? Fuck, that's the last thing we needed, their engagement" he sighed. "Run rightnow, we're gonna distract them. It's good moment for that, I transported some men around."

"Rog." you took a look at Soap. "Let's go, Johnny. We stay close."

"Ay, ay, sergeant."

Quick and quiet – that's how it was supposed to go, without raising any suspicion, without making any mistake that really, could cost your life or worse; tortures. None of you knew what they are capable of, no one knew how exactly they're working since it was the first encounter between you.

Everything was an enigma, and you did not want to take chances, not when they could have big consequences on you two. If you were alone, you could run for it, try, but you were with Soap. It was changing everything.

Seemed like it's gonna be easy, though – woods were pretty close, nothing was in your way, Alejandro's men were near to transport you and protect just in case.

"Just in case" happened to be the case, considering that you only moved a few meters and someone spotted you and Soap. Not really good, not really helping in your situation, especially that he got his friends to help him in shooting.

Sneaky moves quickly transformed to running, despite rapid shots sent your way; somehow, dodged, thanks to team that was hidden in the woods, distracting the shooters.

Too many men mixed with civilians to try and fight them; it could end badly and in completely innocent victims. Bloodshed wasn't needed, but you managed to take a few snipers down, before one of them got you.

You didn't know from what side, but someone managed to sent you bullets inside your arm; cursing under your breath, you sped up, ignoring Johnny's pleas to maybe hide. Wasn't the time for this, especially when your right arm shook like crazy with weapon in it.

"Birdie got hit in her right arm. Where the fuck you are, Alejandro?!" Soap growled, while you swapped weapon to your left hand.

"Rodolfo will lead you, turn right!"

"We need to be here right now, not to get ourselves killed! If it-"

"Don't exaggerate, Soap. I'm good." you cut in, giving him a look.

Soap scoffed. "Awa’ an bile yer heid. Listen to the elders."

"Will do, if you're gonna finally use proper English. You're not that older than me."

When you reached the jeep and sat on backseats with Johnny, rambling something to Alejandro sitting in the front, you could finally rest.

Well, maybe not entirely, considering that your arm was hurting like a bitch, but at least you were away from crossfire, safe and coming back to temporary base in Mexico. Counted as something, yeah?

You gritted your teeth – your eyelids felt way too heavy for your liking, but it was the thing that you've predicted. Adrenaline was dropping, it wasn't a surprise, yet, your partner in crime was concerned. Talking to you, shaking you a bit; you had to tell him to stop because your arm was even more in pain when he did this.

It's not that you didn't appreciate the care he was giving you, no. It was just you being not only tired, but wounded, and your shaking arm was scaring the shit out of you. Wasn't looking good, to put it lightly.

Thankfully to Rodolfo driving skills (no one trusted Alejandro to do drive), you came to base quickly with medic just waiting for you – without even asking, Soap dragged your ass to him, describing the situation.

You rolled up your sleeve, looking at your arm for the first time... and it didn't look bad. Not as bad as you thought from that pain you experienced because that was worse than the physical injury.

"Ow. Careful" you winced, when doctor took one bullet out of your arm carefully; he immediately apologized and muttered something to his colleague which you obviously didn't catch since you were more focused on not passing out.

Ignoring everyone was the key, so you continued on doing that.

xxx

"You're fucking shitting me–"

"–it's for your good only, we can't risk it."

It wasn't exactly a dream for you to be in a situation like this – surrounded by your teammates, doctor showing your scans after several hours, telling you to take your leave since something was wrong.

Especially when injuries were normally avoiding you, boys suffered mostly, they needed to go and rest, two weeks, maybe a month if something was bad. You were laughing with your mom and Price that nothing is gonna get you; the moment doctor spoke about "taking a break", you riled up.

"You're lucky the bone is okay. The bullet could shatter it, those shots were quite powerful, young lady." doctor explained, looking at you with polite expression. "Nerves are damaged, that's why your arm was shaking, I've seen worse, so a slight recovery will help you get back to form fully. What's important though, you have to rest your arm. Effective immediately."

You sighed. "I've been shot worse, why right now I need recovery?"

"Because it happened to damage your nerve this time with higher power than last times. Previously, it was something different. Thankfully, you don't need surgery, so, as I said" he emphasized his last words "you have to recover."

"Right. Two weeks will do?"

"Two months at least. Maybe more."

You had to blink a few times, look at your team, and at your doctor again. "Pardon? I do not have time for this. Two weeks is like, my best. Right, Price?" you turned to him, trying to find something, probably some support.

When sigh came out from him first, you immediately knew that what you're gonna hear, won't be pleasing.

Not at all.

"We're almost done with this segment of the mission, we just have to check that map you earned, observe them, translate the document. We have enough people to do that, I wanted to send some of you to home anyway."

"Price–"

"–besides, Laswell would kill me if I'd ignore your injury like that. I'll not tolerate discussion, soldier. It's for your good" he stated, looking at you protectively – you knew that look. Nothing was gonna convince him.

Official defeat.

"Copy." you mumbled, certainly unsatisfied with the outcome. You hated being in situation where you practically were sent on leave just because of the injury.

It wasn't right, it wasn't fair to others, you could help. But an order was an order, you had no authority to discuss.

"But" you gave Price irritated look "if you're gonna need help with hacking, I'm literally there. I'll be mad if you're gonna get someone else to help you, literally. And, very sad."

He chuckled. "Of course, you're the best. How could we?"

[melishade]

Number 38?

This ask game

Peaceful Timeline, 2000 years later

Optimus was quietly browsing through the computers on the ship to try and hack into the satellites on this world, but he wasn't an expert on technology. And neither was Megatron. But this was something that needed to be done. Decepticons were still active over 2,000 years after the war ended, and they had gone after humans. No doubt to get to him. That had to be the only reason. But was the Decepticon working for someone else? If so, who was he working for. This situation had lead to...another problem.

Optimus' audio receptors picked up on some chatter and glanced behind him to see the humans he had saved poorly hiding and whispering to one another on how to approach him. Humans. It's...it's been so long since he's been in the presence of a human for an extended period of time. Not like when he protected Ironspark's descendants. Those moments were brief. Instant. But to have humans in their home...it was surreal.

Megatron wanted nothing to do with them. He didn't want to get attached to the humans again. He knew why: it hurt Megatron too much. He practically spat in Optimus' face, telling him to 'take care of those new pets yourself'. Optimus knows that Megatron had a right to be angry. They had a rule: do not let the humans get involved in their lives. It happened. He didn't mean to. He just didn't want to see them get hurt. But now...did he put them in more danger? He just wanted-!

Optimus heard something clang in the hallway and could no longer ignore the humans. He minimized his work on the screens and walked over to where the humans were. He peered his head and looked down at the trio to see them panicking over knocking over a piece of metal. They must have thought it was something important.

"Is everyone alright?" Optimus asked them, causing them to look up at him with worry.

"W-we didn't mean to touch it!" the blonde boy, Armin, raised his hands in surrender, "Honest!"

"Thankfully what you hit was not important," Optimus informed, "But if you are going to be here for your protection, you must be careful with what you touch. You are more than welcome to ask me for information, but if you have nothing to do, then I suggest you work on your studies and extra curriculars. You are high schoolers and no doubt have to worry yourself with college."

"Well!" the brunette, Eren, spoke, "It's a little hard to do that when this is the coolest thing that has happened in our lives!"

"I understand, but I do need to focus," Optimus informed them, "I am uncertain of the location of the assailant who came after you, and I would prefer to locate them as soon as possible."

The woman, Mikasa, gasped. "Maybe we can look on the conspiracy website!"

"Yeah!" Armin agreed with excitement, "Someone must've taken a picture of it and thought it was like Optimus!"

"Conspiracy website?" Optimus questioned, regaining the attention of the trio.

"Y-yeah," Mikasa answered, "You're on the conspiracy website. So is Megatron."

Optimus showed visible astonishment at the proclamation. "Is that how you knew to search for me?"

"Yeah, you and Megatron have a reputation for being one of the oldest mysteries of our planet!" Armin exclaimed.

"Honestly, I thought it was all bullshit until I saw you," Eren confessed.

Optimus looked to be deep in thought.

"What's wrong?" Eren asked.

"Nothing, I just...did not expect our presence here on this world to have that much of an impact," Optimus explained, "I suppose I cannot erase the evidence."

"NO!" Armin screamed.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Mikasa hollered.

"Alright, I will not!" Optimus had to cover his audio receptors in response. He had forgotten how loud humans can be. But...he was curious as to what the humans thought. "Could you...show me this information you have acquired?"

The shock that morphed into unhinged gleam on both Armin and Mikasa made him feel uneasy.

"You shouldn't have done that," Eren proclaimed.

===

Megatron arrived later that night after scouring for energon and visiting Firelight's resting place. He honestly was just angry at Optimus and just didn't want to be around him. Now those fragile, puny humans were in their home! They only had one job! One responsibility! Keep tabs on Ironspark's descendants before sending Optimus back to Cybertron! Why did Optimus have such an attachment to these frail creatures?! It frustrated him! Why would Optimus be willing to risk going through that same emotional turmoil again?! It was just going to destroy him!

Megatron stopped himself before stepping inside the ship. Their home. He just didn't want Optimus to get hurt. Why would Optimus be willing to risk that pain again? Megatron growled in frustration as he stepped inside. He needed energon. Those pesky humans were no doubt gone. Megatron passed Optimus' work station, but paused in his step when he noticed something...odd. He could've sworn he saw a photo of Optimus on the screen. Megatron backpedaled to find Optimus staring at the screen containing both his and Optimus' alt modes. The Prime then selected a video, and was about to play it, but stopped when he noticed Megatron out of the corner of his optic.

"Welcome home," Optimus greeted.

"Optimus, what are you doing?" Megatron demanded as he stepped into the room, "I thought you were looking for the Decepticon that attacked you."

"I was," Optimus explained as he pressed play on the video, "But the humans have alerted us to the impact we might have had on this world."

Before Megatron could question him further, the video played, and he saw the logo of a show called 'Buzzfeed Unsolved'.

"This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we discuss what might be the oldest legend in the world."

"I still think some of the photos are photoshopped,"

"It was talked about for years!"

"Ryan, it doesn't even have a cool name! This is one of the better theories we're going to talk about and all they can come up with is the 'Futuristic Car' or the 'Ghost Car'?!"

"Oh my god, Shane,"

"Just call it an alien! It's an alien! That makes more sense!"

Megatron was confused at the sight of the two men laughing at each other before turning to Optimus with a questioning look.

"I believe we might be famous on this world," Optimus explained, "Do you wish to watch?"

"Watch what mere humans have to possibly speculate about our existence?" Megatron cocked at eyebrow, "...I'll get energon for the both of us. I'm curious."

(They proceed to make comments about the theories and Megatron laughs at being called a supernatural spirit. Anyway, 17 might take a while. I have something planned for that, and I've been asked 41, but the rest are free game. And be sure to vote in the pilot poll.)

[bluedemon1995]

KIDGE content…

Imagine…

AU where Katherine Holt has a massive crush on Lance, from afar. She is socially awkward because she skipped a few grades and now is the youngest person at the college/university. She gets recruited by Coran for his robotics club and there she meets Allura. Allura instantly wants to be friends but Katherine is shy and self conscious. She’s used to being in the background, the brains behind the curtain so to speak. Allura is patient though, she knows how it feels to be different. So she chips away at her walls. Besides she doesn’t want to change her just change everyone else’s perspective…especially Katherine’s. Once she finds out about Katherines crush on Lance she decides to use that line to tug.

Katherine is smart, witty and a bit devious. Unknown to Alllura, Katherine also goes by Pidge and is currently a consultant for her brother and his partner who works for the FBI. She does a lot of the computer work with Matt. Initially Shiro was very against Pidge helping but after getting to know her, he can’t help but be impressed. Hell, he’s half in love with her and knowing she doesnt connect well with people her age, he deliberately hangs out with both the Holts. Hiijinks ensure and their bond helps Pidge blossom.

Meanwhile, Allura starts dating the new guy at school-Lotor. Who has some conflicts with Lance and his friend Hunk. It’s around this time that Lance starts to notice Katherine, who he quickly nicknames Katie. She’s tiny, quiet and supportive. She always seems to be smiling and laughs at all his jokes. As Allura starts to hang out with Lotor, Katie falls into hanging out with Lance and Hunk. Hunk loves her, she eats all his cooking and she is wicked smart. They join the robotics club and are soon winning much of the competitions. Until they join an underground fight club for their robots.

The only reason they are doing the whole underground fighting however is because Pidge had overheard how her brother hit a bunch of blocks on the current case. So she dropped breadcrumbs for Lance to follow, which he of course ran for and somehow it was his idea to compete. It’s here that Lance sees his old nemeses Keith.

But Pidge has done her research and she knows that Keith is old friends with Shiro-so she instantly puts him in the friend column, especially after doing a deep five into his history via some hacking. Fortunately, he’s friends with Acxa who is friends with Lotor who Pidge believes is somehow connected to all this.

Paths are crossed. And while Keith doesn’t hate Lance, he does make his presence known. So Keith naturally observes Katie, who is kinda dating Lance. The more he watches the more he doesn’t understand. How does everyone thing Katie is so sweet and nice? She’s sarcastic. She’s tricky. She’s suddenly all he can think about. He’s constantly searching for that moment, that glint she gets when she does something…un-Katie like. But is like he’s the only one who sees. It drives him mad. He’s obsessed.

One day, he sees some guys hassling her and he goes to step in, not even thinking she could take care of herself. But boy does she. She wipes the ground with the guys and Keith witnesses it all. He calls her on it. She shrugs it off as self defense, duh.

But now Katie realizes Keith is onto her. What to do…she needs help and she hasn’t told her brother…yet. Then suddenly there’s a raid at the fight, and chaos ensues. At some point Keith is trapped and he’s ready to bash some heads when Katie appears. She pulls him along to one of her preplanned exit plans when she sees an opportunity to hack the mainframe that is usually heavily guarded. Decided she has to go with her gut, she tells Keith and of course he’s in. With zero thought. Watching her, Keith grins, satisfied with the knowledge he was right. She was so much more than she appeared.

Obviously a slow burn where Keith fell first, and Katie realizes, a crush is so much different than love…

[criminal-mids]

#7 - Hoodie

Prompt: Borrowed Hoodie 

Sickie: Garcia

Caretaker: Morgan 

Word Count: 1,411

“Hah? What? Since when!?”

Garcia can’t believe it. She swears she hadn’t heard a word of this until now, and she usually keeps a tab on office renovation schedules because she knows the noise bothers Reid.

“Listen, lady, we’re just the repair guys, it’s not our fault your bosses didn’t tell you. Take it up with them. We still have our job to do. Feel free to work somewhere else.”

“Some- this is my place!” Garcia tries not to shriek, but she can’t help it when they’re shoving her oh-so-carefully painted minifigures aside for their dusty work bags. She rolls her chair over just in time to prevent an elf from being crushed and scoops the rest of her plastic children into her skirt, just to be safe.

“And the aircon is old and falling apart, it's an OSHA violation waiting to happen. If you wanna be in here when it causes a spark, be my guest.”

“UGH!”

The repair only takes a half hour, and truthfully, she is grateful, grumble as she may. A fire or even too much smoke could kill her hard drives.

The real problem is when they finish.

“Um, could you turn the heat up a bit, please?” Even through her chattering teeth, she tries to be kind to the repairmen. She knows how hard they work.

“Sorry, ma’am, not yet. We’re still workin’ out some kinks. The HVAC’s been updated and we’re still trying to patch in the new system and the old system together. As I said before, other parts of the building will be warmer, but hey, you’re welcome to remain in your fortress of solitude if you want.”

She suppresses the urge to roll her eyes.

‘Can’t they see I’ve got a complicated setup?’

But, she shows no outward aggression. She’s not really that upset, just cold. “It’s fine. Thank you for your help. Could you at least tell me when it’ll be fixed?”

“Sometime in the next few days.”

She can tell that’s as good as she’s getting so she nods and waves as they head out.

Instead, she directs her ire towards the faulty machine itself.

“If I could hack you I would, but you're older than me, so you're safe . . . for now.” She holds up the minuscule screwdriver from her glasses repair kit as she glares at the aircon.

- She was being dramatic before, but she really is well and chilled now.

‘Ugh. Isn’t this just Bonita?’

“I’m a California girl, I wasn't meant for the cold.” She whines to her screens.

‘If I catch a cold, I’ll really be annoyed. And everyone knows my brain goes to complete mush when I’m sick. I’m useless. I can’t afford to be out of commission, not when the team seems busier than ever. Maybe I should move outside. I can always come back in here real quick if I need more computing power. The team’s still on the jet, so I’ve got some time to compile files.’

-

“Garcia, we need a list of all homicides involving victims with cuspids removed. Go back at least 10 years. We think this may be our unsubs signature.” Hotch’s voice is firm, but calm, as usual.

“You got it, cap’”

‘All those records, I’ll need my office for that, ah, oh well.’

She hurries back to her little corner of Quantico, opening the door to find that it has, somehow, gotten colder.

Still, she sits down and gets to work.

-

Just as she hits send and gets up to retreat to the land of warmth, her screen dings.

It’s Rossi this time.

“What can I do for ya, Italian amor?” Penelope finds it hard to keep a cheery tone with the cold blasting at her, making her lips quiver, but she hopes she manages.

Her effort is wasted because Rossi ignores the quip, pressing straight to business. Another request that requires her big screens.

“All these records are from the way back when before our good friend the internet. They’re unorganised at best. Combining through all of them will take a while, I’ll pull as many as I can, and send them to you as I get them.”

“Good.”

He hangs up. She sits back down, huffing.

“Potential OSHA violation? This is an OSHA violation right here!” She mutters, pulling her cardigan around herself. 

‘If I’d known I’d be working in Antarctica today I would’ve worn a jumper.’

Nevertheless, she begins.

—

Her hands are freezing, her fingers stiff and every click of the keyboard takes conscious effort. Okay, maybe she’s being dramatic, but she’s a California girl! Can you blame her?

Just when she thinks she’s done, more files under the search parameters come up. It’s unusually demoralising.

‘If only I had a jumper or something. Note to self, pack extra clothes for future emergencies. . . . Wait, emergencies! That's it!’

She springs up, with newly formed determination, and heads out to the bullpen.

She has a destination in mind, but as she draws closer, doubt creeps in.

‘I hope he won’t mind. Is this creepy? No, it’ll be fine, I’ll wear it, then put it right back like nothing ever happened at all. That’s what I’ll do.’

She reassures herself as she approaches Morgan’s desk. Everyone has two go bags, just in case they don’t have time to wash one set of clothes before departing again.

Garcia knows that in this bag she’ll most likely find one of Morgan’s many grey or black hoodies. And she’s right.

It’s right on top. She takes it gingerly, slipping it on, careful not to disturb her hair ornaments. It’s warm and soft.

With the extra layer, her office feels almost normal. 

Her typing speed quickens again until she’s at normal capacity. Rossi gets the data within the next 15 minutes.

She sighs, happy with her work.

And, now that she takes time to notice it, ‘This hoodie does smell nice.’

She catches herself, then remembers she’s alone and takes another deep sniff. Morgan’s detergent has a pleasant smell that reminds her of him. Yeah, this was a good decision.

—

“Give us the best you got, pumpkin.” Morgan teases

“Oh, that’s for your ears only, handsome.” 

“I know. I’m going to transfer to video call, so you better be decent.”

“Never.” She teases with a theatrically breathy sigh.

The video chat opens revealing the team gathered around a desk, and maps in front of them.

“So Garcia, what did you find on-”

Prentiss cuts Reid off, “Wait, is that Morgan’s hoodie?”

Penelope blanches. “Wh-hat?” After a second of hesitation, she looks down, hoping by some miracle that all she’ll find is her cardigan and dress, but she already knows. She can still smell the detergent. “Oh, I- they were fixing the aircon in my office and it’s colder than the Fortress of Solitude in here so I just . . . I honestly don’t know what I was thinking! I wasn’t, I was just really cold! I can take it off. Let me just . . .” She fumbles with the hoodie, starting to pull it over her head.

“Slow down, baby girl. You look even cuter when you’re in my clothes, and I can’t have you catching a cold now can I, hmm?”

Penelope makes a noise somewhere between a squeak and squeal. “ . . . okay.”

Rossi clears his throat loudly, “Now, tell us what you found, we’re running out of time to find Kate.”

“Yes, at your service.” Still shaken, but with a new warmth in her chest, she continues.

—

“Baby girl, you in here?” Morgan’s familiar warm timbre drifts in from the door over the audio of an RPG game.

“Yes.” She blushes fiercely.

“I talked to Max and he said the system would be back to normal by tomorrow.”

“Oh, thank god. . . . I guess I should give this back to you then.” The end of the sentence is noticeably less enthusiastic than the beginning.

“Well, I was actually thinking you should keep it. Gotta mark my territory, don’t I?”

Penelope giggles, getting up to hug him.

He smells even nicer in person . . . like home, sometimes more so than the dozens of candles that fill her flat.

“Yeah.” then softer, “I’d wear a collar for you, Derek Morgan, you know that.”

“Tempting, but that can wait till tomorrow, it’s late, and even girl geniuses need their sleep.”

What a day, huh? And tomorrow she could come back to a warm office. Gideon was right, like he always said, life really is about the small things.

[lyon-amore]

What if...? Duskwood Chapter 35

Chapter 34 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Macie POV*

 I'm regretting not being as knowledgeable about computers or hacking programs as that would have taken a bit of a load off Jake. The poor Jessy has sent me a message to take a break and because she wants to explore the surroundings with me, I have accepted because I also have nothing to do but wait…

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

 Jessy It’s really a shame that you're not here with us 🙁 Imagine if we really explore together 😮 You should have come... I'm worried that something could happen to you 😔

 Macie I know, but I couldn't go 🙁

 Jessy I work, I know 😩 Even so… you are alone and with no one who can help you if something happens

 Macie Nothing it’s gonna happen to me The important thing is that you all are well 🙂 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 We continued to talk about Phil and if there was anything against him in the photos, it’s made it very clear: There was nothing that could accuse him. So, she gives me a clue on Hannah's car. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy Macie You remember that I looked at Hannah’s satnav?

 Macie Sure, I remember That lead you to Iris Hanson

 Jessie Exactly Anyway, I sat down in Hannah's car to look at it And the seat was too far back for me I had to pull it to the front so I could reach the satnav Hannah is only a bit taller than me The seat was so far back, as if it had been adjusted to accommodate to a tall man Thomas said that Hannah's car had been missing too With the seat as far back as it was, I’m absolutely sure that it was a man who returned the car ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, the kidnapper returned the car so they wouldn't find it at the place where she was kidnapped from. The problem is where Hannah was the day she was kidnapped. Maybe… There's only one place I can think of and where she was kidnapped.    "At…Michael's house?" I mutter "But why would he be there?" I only have the supposition that it has to do with Jennifer's accident that she was in his house, the why I don't know.

 We continue talking until she reaches a resting place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy Somehow I still can't believe it I'm pretty sure Richy wouldn't have come here with us I mean the house, not on this walk

 Macie What do you mean?

 Jessy In the legend, the man without a face comes to get everyone in the marked house Do you remember? Richy wouldn’t have just left his parents behind like that ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 But he didn’t mark his house, but his workshop... That is why this theory doesn’t make sense, really only someone who is not very interested in legends could have made a mistake like that and he wasn't very interested, what is more, he didn’t believe that all this had to do with the man without a face, he seemed to want to avoid the subject. It was becoming more and more obvious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy I think he did it for us And especially for me

 Macie You were really important to him ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 And that's what I hate the most. He cared about her… And… How can I continue like this? I'll go crazy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy I miss him so much

 Macie I know, Jessy 😔

 Jessy I think I’m gonna go back One thing You won’t have stayed for Jake, right? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Hasn't Lilly told her that Jake is with me? My God! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Macie No I'm sure Jake would have liked me away from Duskwood 😅

 Jessy He cares a lot about you, doesn't he? 🤭 I wish you two could be together now At least I would be much calmer… Although the dangerous boy… Seeing each other in secret… Is not bad   🤔 😏

 Macie JESSY! FORGET IT!

 Jessy Ha ha ha!! 😆 It's really fun to make you mad about him, Macie 😊 It shows that it is important to you

 Macie You don’t know how much…

 Jessy I only know That I have hopes that you two can be together I like him even though he calls me Jessica 😒

 Macie Yeah, when you get to know him well, you can see that he's a good guy And forgive him for calling you by your full name, he is like that with people who feel that he is a ''threat'' to our relationship But don't tell him that I told you 🤭

 Jessy Ooooh! So he thinks I'm going to rob you! Not after having seen through the chat how you flirted 😉

 Macie Was it very noticeable?

 Jessy Let's say that with us he has been quite serious With you it seems different Well I have arrived

 Macie Thanks for the little trip

 Jessy Thank you for the company 🙂 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I get out of bed to pick up some of the food we've finished. I watch Jake concentrating on the computer and remember the conversation with Jessy. It’s true that with me it is different or at least, over time he has changed. I think he just needed someone by his side to recover a bit of his past life. Even if it was just a little.    "If you keep looking at me that way I won't be able to concentrate." he tells me and I see that he blushes.    "Well, how come you don't want me to stop watching you if you're the only one I can watch in this room?" I say, teasing him a bit.     He lets out a laugh and I continue to clean up.

I go out of the room to throw out the garbage and, when I’m going to enter the room, I notice a look. I turn and see Mrs. Walter peeking out, probably curious why I don't go to my room and go to the mystery boy's room. I greet her with a smile, and she quickly closes the door. I walk in laughing. I guess she's thinking.    "What is going on?" Jake asks me.    "I think Mrs. Walter is wondering why I don't go to my room." I reply, approaching him and leaning a little to hug him and lean on his shoulder "How are you doing?"     "I have done it" he says with a happy tone ". We have access to Hannah's cell phone."    "Great!" I exclaim and see that he retreats back from my scream "Sorry." I give him a kiss on the forehead as an apology.    "It's okay" he says, with a smile ", I understand your happiness" he lets out a sigh, looking at the screen "But I have not yet gained access to all areas of phone."      I lean against the table to look at his face.    "Then this was just a sort of interim report?"    “No, not quite” He crosses his arms, keeping his gaze on me now ". While I work on opening up access to more applications and files, you can take a look at what I have unlocked so far" I nod paying attention, I don't want to fail again ". Naturally, I will highlight any new areas."    “Got it."    “This cell phone is a huge opportunity for us, Macie” he leans across the table, resting his elbows on it ". Please take a careful at everything. As we cannot otherwise be sure to not have overlooked anything."     Ok, now I feel too much pressure. This phone is very important and I don't want to screw up leaving anything without looking. The truth is that it was one thing to read the conversations of the rest to find a clue and quite another thing to look at someone else's phone. And plus a person who has been kidnapped.    "I've never done something like this before…" I admits. All I did was read the transcripts of messages that were passed to me, looking at a complete phone was something else, what will I find there? "Looking through someone else's phone, I mean."    "Does you feel bad doing this?" He asks me now worried.     I bite the inside of my cheek, shaking my head.    "No, it's okay" I sigh and look at him ". I… I’ll do it for you…” I tell him sincerely. This is important to him, it is another step for his sister and I want to help him "All this we do has brought us together."     Jake takes my hand and kisses it, then strokes it lovingly. I sigh at that gesture of affection. He himself knows the pressure he has put on me.    “I am sorry” he says in a deep, broken voice "I do not wish for you to do things just for me, if you feel bad doing them” I notice that he makes a sad voice. Okay, now I see that he is pretending a bit, he knows that I have the soul of a researcher and that in part, I wanted to help him. And I don't want him to have to gossip about his sister's things either, who knows if he would find something that would make him uncomfortable? ". If you do not want to do it, I will look at the contents by myself."    "No, I’ll do it" I answered quickly. My pride can too "It's my job” I see him smile at me and I roll my eyes. Jake knows full well that I can't be wanting to do nothing ". Ok, give me the phone. If I spend another minute doing nothing, they'll find another missing person in this room."     He laughs seeing my desperation to help him.    "I thank you Macie." I see relief in his eyes. Yes. He can't bring himself to look at his phone either ". Well then, the access is still the same, from your phone" I nod, going for it ". In the meantime, I will work on opening up even more areas."    "Got it boss."    "Macie?" I turn to look at him and he smiles at me ". Good luck."    "Good luck Jake."     He nods and goes back to the computer.

I sit up in bed and see that he's given me access to Hannah's phone like an app. Before entering it, I see the photos that have passed in the group. They all seem happy to come in together and safe... I feel a little envious, to be honest... I'm in Duskwood and I can't spend a little time with my friends.    <<You will as soon as we finish this. Let's go get Hannah's phone. >> 

I access the phone and enter the browser to find out if there is something important that I have searched for. Hannah seems to have searched the browser for the Pine Glade festival. There is a map with a carriage tour, but it seems that one area is inaccessible, the waterfall. I leave the browser, there is nothing interesting or striking. I go to the map app. It asks me to activate the GPS. I accept it. It shows me the map of the area where they are right now.    “This place would definitely be perfect for Stephan…” I comment, looking at all the locations that show me on the map as a tour guide.     It ends up unlocking the chat app. Before accessing and out of curiosity, I tap the fortune cookie that there is as an application. The result makes me laugh: ‘Listen to your intuition.’ The fortune cookie seems to agree with me more than anyone else. Then I go to look at the chats. I laugh watching the conversation between Hannah and her father. It seems that they have a good relationship. The last messages from her are the ones that worry me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Dad Sweetie? Thomas is here. Where are you? Please call us Sweetie? Mom and I are getting scared ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Reading it makes me sad. I can't even imagine how worried they must be...

 The next chat I read is with Thomas. A smile escapes me when reading the messages. It's amazing that Hannah agreed to another date after the disaster. She must have been too in love with Thomas to accept another date… Until they fought over that bracelet… It's the last messages that make me feel helpless. I had already read it, but reading it from Hannah's chat room was so much sadder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Thomas Hey you I just wanted to say how much I miss you Everyone’s doing their best to find you, you know? Cleo and I tried to break into the Aurora’s basement Can you imagine? I think we're all starting to go a bit crazy here Lilly hasn't been too well, either. You know how she is And Dan’s in the hospital. Jessy, Richy and Macie are even on the trail of some old Duskwood legend, what do you think about that? I still don't know why you sent me the number of Macie But you’ll have had your reasons I really miss you, Hannah I love you ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 It is almost a letter to be able to cope with it, writing it gives him hope that we will find her.

 The chat with Cleo makes me laugh. I see that Hannah is like me in movie preferences, poor thing she fell asleep because she got bored. The messages continue and in the end, we get to the point where Hannah disappeared. And then Dan's chat. This must have been when Jake contacted them, that something bad had happened to her. It seems that even though Dan and Hannah didn't have a close relationship, he was willing to defend her from anyone who was bothering her... It seems that everyone cared about her.

 A chat ends up unlocking. A chat that leaves me surprised. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amy Hannah? Can we talk?

 Hannah Of course, Amy What's up?

 Amy I saw you secretly taking some pills today I’m not trying to make any assumptions here...

 Hannah But you wondering whether these pills might be why I’m I seeing the man without a face Right?

 Amy …Yes

 Hannah I can see why you might think that But I pinky promise you that these pills have nothing to do with it

 Amy But why Hannah? Why are you only one seeing him?

 Hannah Because I’m responsible for her death

 Amy I'm sorry Like I said, I really didn't want to make any assumptions

 Hannah It’s ok I was driving Amy. You were only sitting next to me And that's why I’m the only one who sees him You are not to blame in any way

 Amy I completely disagree And you wouldn’t have been driving without me in the first place All of this happened, because you wanted to help me

 Hannah Maybe we shouldn't talk about it any more ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I read the conversation over and over again. Everything I thought… I didn't want to have been right… Hannah… She… She’d killed Jennifer… I look at Jake and then at my phone. How am I going to be able to tell him this?

Wait, there's more conversation.

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

 Hannah I tried to call you, but it just went to voicemail. But I left you a message saying everything I wanted to say I hope you won’t be angry listening to it Please get back to me, ok?

 Amy Hey, I heard your message Could we meet up

 Hannah Of course

 Amy At Michael Hanson's house in 20 minutes. Would that be ok?

 Hannah At Michael Hanson's house? But yeah, sure. I'll be there ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 This message is weird, why meet in an abandoned house? What was Amy thinking?

 I lick my lips. Dry with surprise reading these last messages between Hannah and Amy. Or perhaps more than surprise, it was a stir of feelings for Hannah. She and Amy did something terrible and she kept it a secret for years. I don't know… I don't know how to feel…

I slowly approach Jake, trembling. I have to tell him that his sister is a murderer.    "Jake?" I try to say, though my voice barely responds to the feature. As if I wanted to keep quiet so as not to hurt him.     When Jake looks at me, I see that he cares about how I am.    "Yes Macie?" He takes my hands and caresses them lovingly.     I swallow hard, preparing myself.    “I found a chat between Hannah and Amy” I say very slowly. I see that he keeps looking at me, confused. I take a breath and continue ". They were chatting about the man without a face and… Jake… I'm so sorry… Hannah ran over Jennifer."     Jake's expression changes again. It's like he saw something horrible.    "What?" He asks, frowning.     I look at the ceiling, searching for the exact words.    "Yes" I look into his eyes, trying to sound as calm as possible. I've always been direct, but breaking this news is pretty hard. Although we suspected it, confirmation was hard ". Hannah said so herself."     Jake gets up from his chair, turning his back to me. I look at him nervously and place a hand on his shoulder, wanting to call his attention, to comfort him.    "Jake-"    "With this chat you have found much more than I had hope for" he turns around looking at me calmly. I think he doesn't want me to be affected. We've been through so much today that if we get carried away again, we won't be able to go on and find her ". Well done, Macie…” he says slowly, slurring his words a little.    "Thank you." I replied without much emotion.     We stay silent. I'm worried about Jake. He is very calm. No. No, Jake is not well. I feel it. It's that strange aura. This tranquility is not normal for him. I fixed on his hand. He is shaking.    "Now we finally have certainty that Hannah is actually responsible for Jennifer's death" he says firmly, mimicking the excitement of the big discovery ". That's really-"     He stops talking, squeezing his hand. He avoids looking at me now, unable to go on.    "It’s making you sad, isn’t it?" I tell him, being now his support.     Jake opens and closes his hand, not knowing what to do. He sits up in bed, putting his hands to his head.    "Yes."     I walk over to him and sit next to him. I takes his hand and he looks at me. Look for support in my gaze. I push his bangs back lovingly and sigh.    "It’s normal for you to feel like that" I try to control myself. I don't like seeing him like this ". I'm sorry."    “You do not have to be, Macie” He grips my hand tightly. I'm all he has now ". We wanted to unveil the secret. That's why we are here."     I nod slowly. Jake takes a breath and begins to relax.

He gets out of bed and goes to the computer. I walk over and see that he's looking at Hannah and Amy's chat. He needs to see it with his own eyes.    “This chat between Hannah and Amy” Jake starts to say as he reads “, includes further points which we should address."    "Are you sure you want to talk about this now?" I ask, worried about him "We can wait a bit until you're calm."    “Thank you for your concern, Macie, but I have to do it.” She doesn't say it abruptly, quite the contrary. His voice already seems determined.    "Okay." I sigh, reaching over to lean back against the table.    “Hannah realized that she was being stalked by the man without a face doe to the accident” he looks at me, though he seems a little distant ". However, Amy seemed to be doubting her sightings."    "Amy had two reasons for that" I begin to remember the chat, Amy's words and her concern ", only Hannah had seen the man without a face. Amy blamed the sightings on the pills Hannah was taking. The Antidepressants."     The famous antidepressants that we found at the beginning. Dr. Ulric Barrett's recipe. In the end it seems that he was seeing it, right?    “Pecisely."    “So Amy thought these pills were having a negative effect on Hannah?"    "It is very possible that Amy came to a false conclusion." I cross my arms, listening intently ". Because there was no other way for her to explain Hannah’s sightings. With the recordings we found at Hannah's house, she wanted to prove to Amy that he was real" he pauses for a moment, taking a breath ". But she did not manage this."    “The surveillance video from Hannah's room."     I watch as Jake searches the files for it and puts the video I found in the cloud. Nothing came out on the video, except for the sound of some hits, but who gave them if we couldn't see anything?    "Yes," he watches the video concentrated. Jake couldn't get anything out of it, so we had to forget about it. Now it's something important to the case without us knowing ". There is another thing more from their chat."    “You’re right, they wanted to meet at Hanson's house."     But Michael wasn't in that house if they thought to talk to him.    "Exactly. When we were looking at the pictures of Michael Hanson's house earlier" Jake puts the first photo of Jessica down and looks at it “, the surrounding area seemed familiar to me.” He looks up, meeting my eyes “Do you remember that I was on the phone with Hannah when she was attacked?"    "That's why it seems so familiar to you." I exclaimed, beginning to understand the message. That last message was the day of the kidnapping.    "I am still not certain, but I believe that their meeting was the couse of Hannah's disappearance." He looks at the photograph again, focused.  “They ran straigh into his arms” I say, letting out a breath ". But then again, Amy turned up dead, not Hannah. They took her away."    "That's what still bothers me..."     It's quite disturbing, yes...    “We should tell the others” I finally say ". Even if it hurts, they should know."     Jake nods slowly, leaning back.    "We should" He taps the table tensely ". However, we should leave out the details about the meeting with Amy."    "As long as they finally find out the truth about Hannah…" I pushed myself away from the table to go for my phone. It was news time "I think that's my job."    "I concur."     I’m in charge of counting the new clues that we have. And knowing that Jake is not feeling well, it is better that I do it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Macie I need you all in the group chat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I wait for them to connect.

 Nothing. It seems they are busy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Macie Guys? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "They're not answering." I look at Jake, concerned.     He sighs and begins to write. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jake Well then. It appears we must postpone this conversation. Then I will give the others access the chat history of between Hannah and Amy in the meantime. Then I will take care of the other apps on Hannah’s phone.

 Macie Well then, good luck

 Jake Thank you. See you later, Macie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I put my phone away and walk over to Jake. I hug him from behind, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He strokes my arm lovingly, tracing circles with his thumb.    "Can you bring me a coffee, please?" He asks me.     I don't tell him how he asks me to go for a coffee knowing that the kidnapper is in Duskwood. I don't ask him if it's because he wants me to leave him alone for a moment. I know he needs it.    "I won't be long." I whisper and hear a 'Thank you' in a low voice.     When I get to the cafeteria, I stop before entering.

 I have received a message.

 But not my phone, but Hannah's.

 A message that I didn’t expect. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Unknown You took the phone That was a huge mistake *Jake POV*

 I know…

 I know Macie suspected it...

 I suspected…

 But I didn't want to believe it...

 Hannah was hiding a terrible secret...

 She had killed a woman...

 She is a killer...

 I get up from the chair, lying on the bed. I needed to be alone for a moment and I know that in an area where there are a lot of people, even with the police, she wouldn't be in danger. I put my hands to my face, controlling myself not to scream out the rage and the anger that Hannah had never told me anything when we first met. She hadn't told anyone that she was guilty of running over Jennifer Hanson. To hide her corpse. Unfortunately, this will not be forgotten when we find her. That will still be there.

 Hannah must pay for the consequences she did in the past when we find her.

Chapter 36

[aquillis-main]

Oh look! It's the newest Digimon and... An entirely different partner? Huh? Seems like this is an alternate universe! This is the first character I've made for Digimon since 2010, all for just the new X Digimon Loogamon.

Ryouta Kimura is the son of a famous American tech specialist and a Japanese data analyst, giving Ryouta a chance to learn how to hack into security systems since he was able to see beyond the keyboard. Unfortunately, this gave Ryouta access to the school records to edit a low test score before it came out, just like his dad did at his age. Big mistake, as Ryouta ended up being caught and have a blackened record at the age of 14. Now, he currently lives with his former babysitter Honey in Odaiba, having no access to technology and on probation for a full year. Beyond his blackened mark, Ryouta is charming and very excitable, not respecting much adults besides Honey and her friends as he always found Honey 'an adult kid's. That doesn't mean he respects her authority, however, as he acts like his American father at points, though he does call out anyone who does wrong or acts unlike he thinks they should.

Loogamon is one of the many Digimon that were once recruited for the Digimon Research Program, looking into the Digital World and discovering how it worked for human understanding. When the Research Center in the Digital World closed down, Loogamon (as Loogarmon) went to investigate the Center, only to then be pulled into the real world by a Ryouta using his computer skills on parole (Honey considered the whole 'glitching creatures' an incident that Ryouta could use his computer skills for), being forced to devolve into Fusamon just to squeeze through. In comparison to the young Ryouta, Loogamon acts like a grumpy uncle to the rest of the group, giving the others life advice and complaining about having Ryouta as a partner - as Ryouta has no respect for him and his boundaries, not helped that Ryouta keeps on scratching Loogamon's ears. At least after Ryouta tried to pay Loogamon's head and got a few burns in return, the kid learnt that Loogamon does mean business when he asks not to be touched.

It takes Ryouta a long while to get Loogamon, as the parole rule of him not having electronics is enforced until the Mysterious Stranger and his partner start threatening Honey and her group to 'stop searching the truth'. Ryouta gets his skills cracking, becoming the team's main code cracker after Dora herself. Eventually, he accidentally pulls Fusamon from the Digital World, finding a thread that unravels the life everyone knew...

[div1nity]

𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇  𝐃𝐎𝐆𝐒  𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄⠀⠀ ‟⠀⠀⠀⠀… ⠀⠀⠀get⠀⠀down⠀⠀on⠀⠀the⠀⠀ground⠀. ⠀⠀it's⠀⠀a⠀⠀stick⠀⠀up⠀⠀!  nobody⠀⠀make⠀⠀a⠀⠀sound⠀, ⠀⠀don't⠀⠀even⠀⠀hiccup⠀⠀or⠀⠀i'm⠀⠀emptying⠀⠀the⠀⠀round⠀. ⠀⠀𝑖'𝑚⠀⠀𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒⠀⠀𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔⠀⠀𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠⠀⠀so⠀⠀i'm⠀⠀going⠀⠀down⠀⠀in⠀⠀flames⠀, ⠀⠀𝒍𝒆𝒕⠀⠀𝒊𝒕⠀⠀𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏⠀⠀𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓⠀⠀𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏⠀⠀⠀ ／⠀⠀headcanons⠀ , ⠀⠀threads⠀ , ⠀⠀starter call .

𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙻𝙾��𝚄𝙴 : 𝙱𝙴𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂 - coraline was born into a family that used others to get to the very top, �� so naturally when catching wind of blume and what they were creating,  it was like moths to a flame with the jones dynasty.   It took little for them to become major players in the company,  becoming partners and big investors to get it off of the ground -  due to the large financial help,   the directors valued the family enough to bring them into boardrooms and ask for ideas and what they see the company becoming. andrea jones ( mother ) being a respected journalist with a wide audience and heavy connections,  which meant they could control a large narrative in media and make them look far more good than what they were,   and henry jones ( father ) not only being a respected politician and businessman - meant he could hide much of the dirty work on the inside and help test blumes end game of life scores and manipulating health decisions. they were a match made in heaven.  they joined forces and became the most lethal team to ever exist… how it was funded and the fundamental basis of what it was build upon,  a hidden weapon disguised as process -  it’s no wonder ctos became a tool for the devil ; the perfect weapon intended to be used to push those lower further into the social economical barrel, and those already sitting at the top, pushing them somehow even further up the ladder.

being the youngest,  pushed aside child -  coraline saw much more growing up than what everyone intended,  seeing with own eyes the dirty deals that go on behind the curtain and the black,  inky lies told in front of it.   the hatred for her family formed due to growing up in such a toxic environment,  but also down to how they treated people in general. coraline was radicalized against a system that was built in favor of the rich, which made her want to fight against it in any way possible.  when running away,  one of the things stolen was an out-of-season laptop that was pushed aside in the household for the newest version, a wad of cash and the clothes on her back. the notion of being a hacker at this time wasn’t in mind,  that wouldn’t come until months later when hearing about a hack done on a hospital,  held hostage until the money was paid in full up front  -  that’s what made her realize that the laptop stolen was more than a petty theft,  it was a practice tool, a starting point… and even better ?  It was one of the few computers with the early days concept of ctos installed.  

at the age of twelve,  coraline spent as much time as possible in the library,  reading books on the technological advances of the modern world and the different types of codes and the inside out of a computer and what components it takes to build one - which is where she began creating her own.  It was minor things at first,  such as building the laptop to make it run faster,  researching the intense security and dabbling in improving the code already there.  it became an addiction,   a rush of learning of being able to control a narrative,  being invisible and being able to cause mayhem without being there in person.  lethalblue was born and it was only the beginning. 

𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙲𝙷𝙳𝙾𝙶𝚂 , 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁 : 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟹 - blume is only just began making waves in the tech industry, and it was around that time coraline was really figuring things out to the fullest :  it didn’t take long for her alias get put on a list somewhere with the skills learned over the years,  she spent her childhood and teenage years in front of a computer to make it so that was possible. she has already got a couple of people on strings from bribery and manipulation; nobody major, journalists ( which cross into whistle blower territory ), a couple of people high up in the police force, as well as a council member or two.  her first major break of getting her name out there was helping to expose a few scandals with corporate heads from their intense corruption in california. the steps were small, but the big picture showed that this was just the beginning for who coraline was going to be and who she was trying to become. it helped having already understood the new system from the stolen laptop. she didn’t have enough firepower to send missiles straight at blume, nor the skill set, but she had a goal and even more importantly, she had the patience and drive to become better, which for what she was doing was all that she needed. rome wasn’t built in a day,  and just like rome ctos wouldn’t fall as easily, if at all.  she just wanted the people to stop being blind, if the people won’t move the curtain themselves then it was up to people like coraline to move it for them. 

every hacker at the time was doing their best to exploit, take advantage and expose the cracks in the new and heavily advanced system, whether that be for the greater good or to swim around in the swamp with those who created it,  it was the next big thing and most saw it as a challenge, coraline was no different. not only was this the rise of the ctos and the calm before the storm,  but it brought a whole new wave of hackers coming onto the scene to try their best to become something,  a legend or to make a joke, whichever it be it meant there were problems arising from that.  which naturally, the already competitive game became more so,  it was the new thing to play and everyone wanted a piece;  there was no room to share, especially when data and information was on the line.  which is where coraline’s story truly begins, and it all started with iraq. 

with one little hack, iraq threw coraline straight off of her course;  it was a king going after an anarchist - the way of the game is to assert dominance in the food chain. coraline got lucky, because iraq was good, too good for her comfort. were it not for the heavy protection in her systems it would’ve been far more destructive than it was. she didn’t wave the white flag, didn’t back away or give in - she fired shots back, lasted as long as she could - which was embarrassingly long, she doesn’t like thinking about it; the hack had her on the edge of her seat, teeth sinking into lower lip and eyes turning raw from refusing to budge from the screen. he got some of her data, luckily her identity remained safe and she kicked him from the system before getting anything major, but she lost a far bit as a result - her pride took a hit, but that was it. while she seethed on the spot, wallowing in her rage with a couple of joints and cans in her hideout - she realized something, this wasn’t a total loss, in the end : it exposed her own weaknesses - it made her better, made her stronger, smarter and much wiser. 

while she wasn’t a novice at the game, she certainly wasn’t an expert - she wanted to change that, to work on herself - she had the skill and the ability, it was right there - she realized that she didn’t push herself enough. the attack that iraq sent her way only lit a fire under her feet. there was nothing worse in this game than someone with a bruised ego, and she used that to take a look at the city of chicago, to hone in what skills she had and make them better -

 this lead her down a path of death, gunfire and heavy corruption - not only did she look at iraq and his men, wanting to know the man behind her own hack, but it made her realize just what sort of hold the gangs had over the city, but how the chicago south club gave them the means to have such a tight grip in the city. it made her realize there were a lot more people she needed to hold a lot more people accountable to make change, not just the ones that instantly come to mind.

it was time she ran her own opts against the gangs, as well as associates to lucky quinn and his greater business - this was her first time doing anything in person rather than behind a screen ;  in truth, coraline never intended to go down a path such as this, but she can’t lie and say she wasn’t thrilled with the change; and in fact, almost wanted to thank iraq for stealing her data to begin with - not only was she becoming a better hacker, but her skills on the battlefield were put into practice. shooting cans and kicking dummies could only get her so far in this game; now, she had real life experience, it was like electric shooting through veins, she’s never felt more alive or more in her element. this life was made for her, and she never wanted to let go of it.

𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙲𝙷𝙳𝙾𝙶𝚂 𝚃𝚆𝙾 , 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁 : 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟼 - lethalblue has made national news several times over the past couple of years for their work, and as a result, has become a regular household name and a part of the greater discussion that usually revolves around hackers. coraline has been busy, keeping her sights focused on the mission that she had internally given herself when she was just a child runaway. by now, she’s become a legend in her own right : she’s someone that has exposed black markets, taken part in dark web leaks, protecting wildlife mishandling, as well as exposing human right violations and bringing light those who orchestrate modern day slavery and sex trafficking. though the shining star of her career ;  leaking various ctos/blume documents and putting government officials on blast, from dc to local areas - including those who are using the updated system to achieve their own ends. coraline is certainly a workaholic, working day in and day out - not taking as many breaks as she should because she’s so focused on revolution. 

coraline has been in the game for a long time, she knows how to not only manipulate systems, but people.  to her, they’re the same thing.  much like code, people were easy to pull apart and look in between the lines. she knows how to read people, it’s an important skill in this game. not only that, but through the years has learned how to craft things, things where most can only get on black market; mention the list of affiliates gained from bribery, threats and just newly found beneficial relationships ( an enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that, but chances are she has dirt on everyone when coming into contact with them ) : gang royalty, corporations, politicians, police -  which would later escalate and branch into knowing people in the fbi and galilei -  all it takes is simply knowing which strings to pull, the words to say. it’s easy to have someone dancing for you, coraline is a puppet master who lingers in the shadows, and sometimes merciful.

𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙲𝙷𝙳𝙾𝙶𝚂 𝚃𝚆𝙾, 𝚂𝙴𝚀𝚄𝙴𝙻 , 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁 : 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟿 - 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼 - COMING SOON.

𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙲𝙷𝙳𝙾𝙶𝚂 : 𝙻𝙴𝙶𝙸𝙾𝙽, 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁 : 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟿 - 𝟸𝟶𝟹𝟶 - COMING SOON.

[sadnsxft]

Hello! I know it’s been a while but you are literally the only person I talk to about this character and I have another Keegan x my OC Isaac idea.

Idk if you remember but I sent a snippet a while ago talking about how Isaac and Hesh bonded over being big brothers who lost their younger brothers, and then afterwards Keegan and Isaac kinda make up and admit that they care about each other. Keegan tells Isaac that he sees him as a member of their little ragtag family and Isaac comes clean about his past

So after the events of the Ghosts campaign and my little snippet, everyone goes into “Find Logan Mode”. Isaac being a data analyst/encryption whatever the heck guy spend a lot of time doing digital work to find Logan. He hacks into Fed data systems, tracks suspicious finances and shipping routes that could have ANY possible connection to Logan or Rourke. But he also accompanied the team on missions still too, especially if it’s to facilities that he thinks have valuable intel.

However he starts to spiral and take on too much of a work load. Isaac always starts his day early at the gym they have on base, so it’s no surprise for the Ghosts to see him there in the morning and then at his computer for the rest of the day if there are no missions. The others start to wonder though when he starts skipping meal times of something is up with him. Keegan visits Isaac at his desk sometimes to check on him and always see wrappers for protein bars and empty water bottles and such.

It gets bad enough that Merrick AND Hesh both ask Keegan if he knows what is wrong with Isaac two separate times. Isaac keeps brushing everyone off saying he is fine, even when Keegan asks.

Keegan decides one evening to confront Isaac about it, waiting up until he hears Isaac come back from his desk to the barracks for the night. He waits one hour, then two, then three, next thing Keegan knows is he’s jolting awake only too lol at the clock that reads 5 am and Isaac still hadn’t returned, but suspiciously, his gym bag is gone.

Keegan goes to check the offices to find Isaacs desk empty. With a sour twist of his gut, Keegan goes to to check the gym.

Once he enters, Keegan can hear the sound of sneakers hitting rubber amd the whirring him of a treadmill. What concerns him though is the labored breathing that doesn’t come from a warm up run, but from utter exhaustion. Keegan zeroes in on Isaac just as the other man looses balance and falls forward, launching backwards as the treadmill sends him tumbling off.

Keegan rushes over and starts fussing over Isaac. He tries to help him up but Isaac is disoriented and can’t seem to stand up, barely registering that Keegan is there. Keegan worries that Isaac has a concussion but he didn’t see him hit his head on the fall. He tries to get Isaac to tell him what’s wrong but all that comes out are mumbled words that Keegan can’t make out.

Keegan decided he’s done waiting around and watching as Isaac deteriorates. He scoops Isaac up bridal style, concerningly without any protest or snide remarks from the other, and carries him down to medical.

Keegan WILL get answers from Isaac eventually, but right now he just wants him to be okay

(Kinda losing steam but let me know your thoughts if you have any lol)

OMG hey!! its good to hear from you again :) maybe i shouldnt be answering this when the ashwagandha i took is kickin me into sleepy time mode but i got excited after reading this LMAO

anyways, i love a good "please, just let me take care of you" scenario but like im so concerned for isaac becoming all consumed into his work :(

KEEGAN GET THAT BOY PATCHED UP AND INTO A BED HE NEEDS MIMIS AND A HOT MEAL

i just know when he gets that rest he needs theres gonna be a long conversation

"i know youre frustrated, we all are. but we need you alive. i-" hard emphasis on i "need you alive". typa deal

also that part when keegs jolts awake, i just imagine like the old man ass wake up. mid snore, and jolts like the world is ending for a split second LMAOOO

sorry i have like no actual thoughts to contribute but thanks for sharing your thoughts with me again! this is so fun :)

[grayrazor]

“Who Watches Me in My Room?”

                Janet froze when she heard the dozens of tiny legs clicking on the linoleum.  She slid behind a large freestanding painting in the lobby and tried to breathe as quietly as she could.  There could be no peeking out to see whether the policething was approaching her direction, if even a hair showed from behind her concealment it would be seen by one of the policething’s eyestalks and the jig would be up.  The clicking receded into the distance, but she waited until she could hear it no longer before allowing herself to move again.  Getting captured was bad enough, but a thing would, likely as not, just shoot her dead without attempting an arrest.  Policethings weren’t built for nuance. 

She rounded the corner and took the stairs up to the next story.  The city lights out the window below looked like a mirror of the stars above, but even from up in the Tower you could see that it was not a peaceful night.  Spotlight beams flashed and swept in the smoke from a burning building, and police choppers circled like flies around a corpse.  At the stairwell’s top Janet halted again: in the brass handrail she had seen the reflection of two guards.  Either they had changed the patrol rotation, or that police sergeant that Dave had bribed had been feeding them lies, the sightlines were supposed to be completely clear in this hallway at this time.  Janet crouched down to her haunches behind the wall and considered her options.  If she made it out of this she would never hear the end of it from Colette, who kept insisting that the plan was made to too tight a tolerance.  Unfortunately, counting on things being in precise places at precise times was the only way that they had made it this far.  The sheer clockwork predictability of City Government was what made this plan possible to begin with.

A sudden noise startled Janet out of her considerations.  One of the guards seemed to be having a coughing fit.  He removed his black helmet and visor, and then dropped them involuntarily as he doubled over and began hacking and wheezing like a cat with a hairball.  Janet hastily looked around the corner, unsatisfied with the detail of the reflection.  The second guard ran to her comrade’s side, asking frantically if he was all right, and Janet took the opportunity to dash past them to the office.  The continued barking noise of the incapacitated guard echoed down the corridor, and perfectly covered the sounds of Janet’s footsteps and the office doors sliding open with a whirr of servomotors.

The office was indeed unoccupied.  That mayoral itinerary that Ronald had stolen from the computer of a government car was proving its worth.  Janet had never thought in all her life that she would see the inside of the mayor’s office.  Of course, when City News aired a story about an upcoming announcement about a new initiative that would end the “criminal mischief” of the opposing parties there was no choice but to get someone inside.  They had no idea how much time they would have, so their cell had to have everyone take risks that in any other situation would have been unconscionable.  Even the new converts, the most inexperienced, had to take dangerous gambles in order to find something that might get them a foot in the door.  Colette, the one who had insisted from the start that they should just bury themselves deeper and wait this out, had still done her part without complaint when the time came.  She had befriended an office worker from this building who ate lunch at the café where she worked; she deduced the inner layout of the rooms and halls from what must have been hours of what would have seemed like idle gossip.

Still, even this far into the project, she seemed to be dangling above the abyss of failure by the finest cord.  Not only had there been the oblivious policething and the coughing guard, before that she had gotten past a security checkpoint only because of a distracting noise in the vent.  For all her skill, Janet had only made it here because of the whim of chance.  She almost didn’t even believe that she had made it, was half expecting at any moment to wake up in a jail cell and taken away to the gas chamber.  It took some time of anxious waiting before her senses finally convinced her of the truth that she was in the most secure room in the city, and moments from now she would be witness to the mayor’s private meeting with the head of City Secret Police.

Janet was so on edge that it felt like she waited for hours, hidden behind a guest couch and a potted tropical tree-fern.  The bulletproof glass doors sliding open snapped her concentration into sharp focus.  Mayor Marie Hudson had arrived.  Janet looked at her wristwatch to see if the schedule they had was accurate, but the batteries had died and the screen was blank.  The only other clock in this room was on the desk that Hudson was now sitting behind, at an angle where Janet couldn’t see the time.  There would be no telling how long it would be before the meeting’s scheduled time.  The Mayor had begun working frantically with her computer’s mouse and keyboard.  It definitely wasn’t what was usually thought of as a mayor’s paperwork or administration.  Those usually didn’t have sound effects.  From the screen reflection in Hudson’s glasses Janet guessed it was something from the classical canon, like Quake.

Antique computer entertainment was hardly the Mayor’s only indulgence.  Through her soft boots Janet could feel the richness of the carpet, which was decorated in vivid colors and a mix of floral, feathery, and arabesque patterns.  Janet had to position herself carefully to keep her reflection from being visible in any of the countless polished marble surfaces or gold trim, a mix of classical, baroque, gothic, and art-deco styles thrown together in a particularly tacky way.  At the least there would be no recording devices here, not even film or magnetic tape.  In the City, the government records the citizens so that it can immediately know when they are guilty of crimes, not the other way around.

When Janet looked back at the Mayor’s desk, Controller One was standing there.  She bit her tongue violently in an attempt to keep from jumping in surprise at its sudden appearance.  The department head of City Secret Police and foremost of the policethings had appeared without a sound or a disturbance of the air during the moment when Janet had looked away.  Controller One was more human-shaped than most policethings, but only in a sort of abstract way.  It had a blank face like a mannequin or a suit of armor, with two blue-glowing rectangles where a human’s eyes would be.  Its shiny body always made Janet think of her mom’s old coffee machine.  In the checkered contours of its casing the room was reflected in its full detail, but distorted.  Hudson regarded the Controller above her glasses briefly in irritation, but kept her head pointed at the screen until it addressed her directly.  “Marie, I am here to brief you upon the developments my department has made.”  Controller One’s voice was disturbing even for a policething.  It was too human, you could almost hear wet lips and tongue smacking against each other, the heavy breathing of tired lungs, despite the fact that all of the sounds were just synthesized and played on a speaker.

Hudson grumbled, and paused her game with exaggerated key presses, “Yeah, what is it?”

Controller One always conveyed the utmost respect with its body language and tone of voice.  Even when making an arrest or interrogating a prisoner it always sounded like a disappointed parent or teacher at its worst, “The research you commissioned upon the topic of improved intelligence-gathering methods has had negative results.”

The Mayor tilted her head, “How’s ‘at?”

“We have performed exhaustive experiments in the field of inflicting physical pain to a suspect for the purposes of information extraction,” the policething’s face followed Hudson’s as she slouched over.  “At best, the procedure was only twenty-six point five percent effective.  All data show that innocent subjects are equally likely to confess as guilty ones, and guilty ones are eighty-one point seven percent likely to fabricate intelligence on topics they have no actual knowledge of in the hopes of satiating their interrogators.  Subjects motivated to criminal activity by devotion, loyalty, or fanaticism rather than self-interest showed an even lower positive result rate.”

“Eh?”

Controller One pantomimed clearing its nonexistent throat, “Ahem, the practical takeaway is that torture does not work.”  The Mayor started to raise one finger as if to make a point, but the policething interrupted, “I know what you’re going to say.  ‘Why don’t we just threaten their families?  If they’re so selfless, surely they would sacrifice themselves to save others?’”

Hudson rested her chin on her fist, leaned forward over her desk, “Don’t you go moralizing to me!  These rebels need to be stopped!  We must have law and order in this city, anything is justified to that end!”  Janet was aghast as it gradually dawned on her that their hated enemy, the one they were working so hard to overthrow, had committed so many atrocities and was running the City into the ground not as part of some diabolical plan to hold on to power, but out of sheer apathy and laziness.

The policething crossed its arms, “Please, Marie, we talked about this.  You may not care up here in your tower, but I have to deal with the citizens on the streets every day.  We can’t just throw around terms like ‘rebel’ carelessly.  People like rebels.  Rebels are righteous, romantic, exciting, cool, sexy.  These people who we are trying to stop are criminals, guilty of sedition, terrorism, and conspiracy to overthrow the government.  They are murderers of innocents and destroyers of public and Company property.”

Janet mouthed silently a rant about how they weren’t the ones who were kicking down doors, firing blindly into crowds, and setting apartment blocks on fire, but Controller One continued.  “We need to look like the good guys that we are.  If we go around threatening harm, or worse, doing it because the target is someone that one of our enemies cares about, then it will serve as a recruitment tool for this criminal gang and we will spawn three new terrorists for every head that we sever from this beast.”  The policething leaned forward and folded its hands, “I have consulted on this issue at length with all seven Police Citadel AIs and they all have assured me of the veracity of these data in no uncertain terms.”

Hudson leaned back in her chair again, and rolled back a bit from her mahogany desk, “All right then, what’s your big plan then, smart guy?”

“I realize that you are being sarcastic, but I have taken the initiative of preparing an alternative method for acquiring vital intelligence.”

The Mayor pushed her glasses up by the bridge with her middle finger and frowned, “Do tell.”

“While it may be less cathartic for you than all that good-cop bad-cop melodrama with the interrogations at gunpoint and beatings and electrocution and simulated drowning and thumbscrews and so forth, there are technologies that are nearing maturity that may be of great use to us.”

Hudson waved dismissively, “Whatever.  How’s it work?”

“While most previous efforts in practical interrogation have been directed in psychology, I believe that there is untapped potential in studying the human brain as a machine.  The same technology that is already widely used for mental device control can be used for more invasive analysis of the information in the unconscious mind as well as the conscious.  I found a doctor who was experimenting with the technique in order to map the human psyche for the sake of developing next-generation artificial intelligence,” Controller One placed its hands on its hips contemplatively.  “My department has seized the research, and after significant analysis four of the seven Citadel AIs believe they can use the technique to identify the patterns in a person’s mind that relate to specific concepts and images and translate them into usable data.”  The policething leaned down with its hands on Hudson’s desk, so their faces were almost level.  “The process is painless and there are no side-effects, so someone could be scanned without their knowledge if a suitable excuse could be derived for attaching the electrodes.  Furthermore, it only affects the unconscious mind and memory, so even if someone knew that they were being scanned they could not withhold information nor mislead us.”

The Mayor stood up and slammed her fist on the table, “So you’re telling me it’s foolproof?  We catch one rebel, we know everything about their organization?”

Controller One stood up straight again, “Remember Marie, criminal not rebel.  It is important to keep in mind that we could still be fed misinformation through the device.  It can only tell us what a person believes, not whether that belief is true or false.  Fortunately, I am confident in saying that if the insurgency is as large and organized as we believe it to be, they would be unable to function if they had to constantly deceive their own operatives.”

Janet smiled.  They still had one edge on SecPol.  There was no organized insurgency, not in the same way as the Government or the Company.  Each cell operated mostly independently, and the leader of each cell only had contact with the person above them, not with any of the other cell leaders.  Even if their machine can read minds they would still have to track down every group of resistance members one-by-one, and they could never be sure where new ones were being formed.

Hudson walked in front of her desk and put her arm around Controller One’s shoulders, “I love our new plan!  We’ll have them running in circles, always looking over their shoulder!”  She smacked the policething on the back, “When do we start?”

The Mayor’s gestures did not move Controller One at all.  In spite of her weight and impact he stayed perfectly in the same pose like a statue.  “The first prototype units are completing testing even as we speak.  Mass production of the standard-issue units should begin as soon as the Company finishes their bids.”

“This was a good talk.  I think we got a lot accomplished today,” Hudson wandered towards the doors, which dutifully slid away as she drew near.  “Let me know how it goes.  I’m off to lunch.”  Janet felt inclined at that comment to glance briefly back at the window to confirm it was indeed still dark outside.

Though the Mayor had left, Controller One was still standing before her desk like a toy soldier at attention.  Janet decided that a one-time opportunity had presented itself.  Not only could she warn her cell, and hopefully the rest of the resistance, about the new threat, she could cut the head off the serpent that was SecPol.  She could end Controller One right here, right now, giving them an opportunity to do as much damage to the Government and the Company as possible while they built a Controller Two and the lesser policethings were reduced to the mindless invertebrates that they were while the Citadel AIs bickered among themselves.

She crept out from behind her cover, her soft boots on the thick carpet making no sound at all.  She drew her high-frequency knife and moved cautiously towards Controller One’s back.  When she was within reach it would just take a flick of the switch and some aggressive slashing motions and the policething would be reduced to a pile of plastic shards and synthetic guts on the floor.  Just another meter.  Only another couple steps.  One more.

“Hello, Janet.  You know it is rather rude of you to attend a staff meeting and not contribute,” Janet froze, her nerves turning to ice in an instant.  Controller One did not turn to face her even as he continued speaking, “You know, I was unaware that you had been invited to this meeting.  How things do slip my mind.”  It was a statue with a speaker now: talking, but not moving or emoting.  “Nevertheless, I am very glad that you were able to attend.  How have Thomas and the baby been doing?” Controller One considered itself on a first-name basis with everyone, which probably seemed only fair to it since it knew more about most people than their own families did.  Its voice was the same as it had been when it was talking to Mayor Hudson, it did not bear a trace of sarcasm or self-aware irony.

Janet broke free of her fear and swung her knife, its blade activated and vibrating.  Controller One effortlessly grabbed her wrist with one hand without turning around, then lifted her up off the floor by it.  It brought her around in front of itself, the pressure of its grip eventually forcing her to drop her knife.  The weapon’s safety activated when it left her grasp and it plopped to the floor, no longer buzzing.  “Please, Janet, do act your age.  You know for a fact there is no way that you could kill me in a fight without the element of surprise,” Janet did know that for a fact.  Controller One pointed at its face with two fingers of its free hand, “Your first mistake was in assuming that these glowing features on the front of my head are my eyes.  They’re not.  I’ve been aware of your presence from the moment I entered Marie’s office.  The element of surprise was something you never had.”

Janet was getting sick of the policething’s condescending attitude, “Get on with it then!  Either kill me where I stand or drag me off to your brainsucker machine!”  Her free hand involuntarily tightened into a fist.

Controller One opened his hand, allowing Janet to fall, “Janet, you may leave.”

She looked up at Controller One, slack-jawed.

“You are free to return home.  No charges are being pressed for trespassing on Government property.  You may have an escort to your habitation block if you desire it, the streets can be quite unsafe at night.  If you wish, I can have a Government car give you a ride.”  Controller One’s tone of voice and posture had not changed, but to Janet it seemed like it had become a terrible black monolith towering above her menacingly, “Though Marie wanted this to be a classified top-secret meeting, I think it’s fair that it doesn’t apply to you.  I won’t make you sign any non-disclosure agreements.  Go and tell all your friends about how we know all their secrets and how their freedom is maintained only because we suffer it to be so.”

“But-”

“Why?  Because the insurgency is over.  There is no longer anything you can do to stop us.  It will be much more efficient to arrest your gang all at once than to take you now and them later.”

***

Janet was escorted off the premises.  She caught a cab back to the Lower City, refused both the lift and the escort.  As soon as her cab passed the last working traffic camera she allowed herself a small grin of satisfaction in the flickering sodium light of the old streetlamps.  Could the SecPol really be so arrogant that they let her go?  How badly they understood human psychology after all!  News of the new weapon wouldn’t frighten off the resistance, it would embolden them.  The Government had provided them with a problem they were already halfway towards having a countermeasure for.  Even barring the cells isolating each other from sharing intelligence, they had lots of people inside the Company who would probably be able to devise a countermeasure to the mind-scanner or whatever it was and keep people from even betraying their own cells.  The City Government’s biggest mistake was in trusting their War on Resistance to the policethings.  Machine learning had a long way to go to catch up with human unpredictability.

***

Humans were never more predictable than when they were consciously trying to be unpredictable.  Eliminate a few choice variables and they always fell back into one of a limited set of patterns.  So Controller One mused to itself as Citizen Janet’s taxi passed through the last tunnel to the Old City and beyond its telescopic vision.  Marie would probably be unhappy when she learned that the new plan had been leaked to the public, but one could only imagine how livid she would be if she learned who had engineered that piece of information falling into resistance hands.  With the insurgency and the Mayor’s office engaged in their petty schemes of maneuvers and countermaneuvers City Secret Police would be well positioned to increase its standing in both Government and Company matters.  If only the Citadel AIs were so easy to manipulate, but they spent enough time arguing with each other anyways.  Before long, Controller One’s name would refer to more than just the police department.

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!

To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:

She dies is very seriously injured

She heals without a scratch

Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)

She goes AWOL for several days

They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)

So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.

And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:

Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is

They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own

They can’t get a hold of her

The military can’t tell them anything

And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.

In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.

And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.

Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?

Social media.

Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).

Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.

Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.

But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)

At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.

But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.

Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.

So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.

What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.

So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.

So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.

Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.

[astra-galaxie]

*spawns in t-posing maliciously*

Can I get a uh...🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️👽🦾💔🎭😬 for Elliot Clayton please?

K byee *evaporates*

You come into my inbox T-posing maliciously and expect me to give you headcanons?🤨

I’m just pulling your leg!😉 Of course, I will! On to the Elliot headcanons!

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

Bisexual. Maybe Aroace, but that headcanon could be because Elliot strikes me as one of those teens who complain about love being gross. So, I’m not sure how much that influences the idea, but I could see it working for him, too.

🏳️‍⚧️ A gender headcanon

Well, while my instinct is to go with a cis-gendered male, another possible option for Elliot would be transgender. He reminds me of a friend of mine who started transitioning while we were in high school (coincidentally, their name is Elliot), and while my friend isn’t a tech genius, I see similarities between them. They have similar styles and personalities (though my Elliot is a little more upbeat), and while I can’t explain it well, I can say that’s where the headcanon comes from.

👽 A headcanon about a weird quirk of there

Elliot has a detailed routine for maintaining his equipment. He NEVER lets anyone else do it because he knows they'll mess it up somehow. It's a multi-step process where he cleans his equipment inside and out to keep his tech working perfectly. He cleans the hardware and the software to prevent anything from glitching or slowing down. He does it in the same order every time, and when he’s on a cleaning spree, people avoid entering his lab unless absolutely necessary.

🦾 A disability headcanon

Elliot is high-functioning autistic and has also been diagnosed with ADHD. He can easily hyper fixate on a topic but also needs to keep himself occupied by doing something. Hacking was one of his hyperfixations that he never grew out of and always returned to. He doesn't like telling people about his disabilities because he’s been bullied for them, but the Bureau doesn’t treat him differently because of them. They all took the time to educate themselves on autism and ADHD and learn about what it means for Elliot. They know how to help him through meltdowns brought on by overstimulation, and while Marina is the expert, the others are good at helping when she’s unavailable.

💔 An angsty headcanon

Elliot was traumatized by his time being captured by Anbu Devanesan. He talks to Marina about the ordeal, but the physical and mental scars still hurt him. He gets nightmares of being kidnapped and a twisted version of the night where the Bureau doesn’t save him. He also has a scar on his right temple from where Anbu cut him with his gun. Elliot hides it with his hair as best he can to avoid remembering having a gun against his head, and sometimes, he can’t even bring himself to look at his reflection. When he sees the scar, he’s imminently brought back to the dockyard in Singapore, where he nearly became SOMBRA’s newest recruit.

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

How late he stays up at night. Elliot has an atrocious sleep schedule; he barely sleeps. He enjoys staying up until at least midnight, but he usually stays up until later. Of course, in the past, he could sleep in as late as he wanted, but after joining the Bureau, he needed to wake up to an alarm. It's the main reason you’ll almost always see a cup of coffee or an energy drink on his desk in hopes of keeping him awake.

😬 A headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

Elliot used to take hacking requests on the dark web before he joined the Bureau. Most were innocent enough, like hacking a client’s ex’s computer or messing up the software of evil companies. However, one of the requests he got seemed harmless enough at first, but it soon turned sinister. He was hired to hack and lock down an organization’s system and hold it for ransom. He did as asked, hacked the network his client provided him access to, and locked everyone out. It wasn’t until he was a couple hours into the mission that he found out the organization he had attacked was a children’s hospital in London after he heard about it on the news.

Elliot felt sick to his stomach at allowing himself to be used for something so horrible. He might seem heartless, but he would NEVER prevent someone from receiving medical care, especially not children. So, Elliot immediately released the hospital’s systems before they could pay anything to the one who hired him and covered his tracks. But not well enough. A few days later, the Bureau knocked on his door, and he was brought in for questioning. After hours of interrogation and making a deal with Chief Ripley, Elliot joined them in exchange for not going to jail and helped them arrest the mastermind behind the attack.

And that’s a wrap on my headcanons for Elliot!

Thank you for the request!

[rcksmith]

Desire — Kaz Brekker

(Photo not mine)

Requests: “Hello there! I've been around this blog for a bit now and you are an amazing writer! I was wondering if you would be ok with doing something with 21 28 & 29 from the smut prompts and kaz brekker? If you are uncomfortable please just ignore this!”

“Kaz brekker Smut prompts 28 66?? Love you💖!!”

“I can request Kaz smut prompts 29?❤️”

Smut prompts:

21. “Look at you, I’ve only started using my fingers and you’re already shaking.”

28. “Such a needy little thing, aren’t you?”

29. “I didn’t know you were so sensitive.”

66. “You know I don’t like to be teased.”

Couple: Kaz Brekker/ Fem!Reader

Warnings: swearing, mention of shot, mention of desire, desire, mention of smut, explicit smut, NSFW.

Word count: 3k

A/N: All smut requests for Kaz must follow these rules.

I hope you like💕 English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.

Requests are open. Love you ❤️

— — — —

There was something about you. Something impossible to decipher, with a glow hovering around you like a electrical energy. Wrapping your whole body in a cloak of magnetism. There was something about the way you spoke, walked, laugh. Something about what it was like to be you, in your beauty and mysteries like a sphinx.

Something that made Kaz Brekker completely furious.

You couldn't be more distorted from the image, in Kaz's mind, than what was to be a peaceful woman. Calm, controled, with steel emotions and wit in eyes. Someone who, like him, knew how to dance the waltz of negotiation, manipulation, who could blend in with the shadows and know the best time to listen more than speak.

You were not like Inej, you were not like Jesper. Hell, you were like nobody Kaz has known in all of his 28 years.

Nothing reminiscent of calm and control would be used to describe what it meant to be you.

Your soul are stormy, loud, obstinate, too stubborn and too talkative. You needed to speak loudly, laugh, move, expose your opinions to the seven winds and to whoever listened the most. You needed to question, inquire, doubt and test the limits of any situation. A direct order for you would be an affront to your free and independent spirit. A command that would curtail your freedom or tame your strong genius was almost like an invitation for you to do exactly the opposite of what they had ordered you to do.

So, for a man of trained reasoning, subtly balanced world, and who was used to his every command being followed vehemently and promptly in blind obedience, such a personality like you was like introducing a disturbing factor capable of shaking all his judgments. Sand in a watch, or stone in a shoe, would be no more a nuisance than a strong nature like your.

The extraordinary stubbornness and mania to counter his orders - when, in your words, they were unreasonable - had made you different from all the women Brekker had ever met. Kaz liked challenges and responsibilities, a good puzzle, but you were on a level far beyond that.

You were a danger to his peace of mind. And you knew that. All his aversion to your indomitable spirit only served as fuel for your own mission in to piss him off. Few men were like Kaz Brekker, you knew that, with a strength of character too powerful to be ignored. He was not just comfortable in his position of authority as he was obviously unable to act in any other way than as a leader. His stoic figure and always so contained in a wall of indifference made you want to ruffle his hair to see if you could remove any emotion. And being a girl who hasn't always liked leaders, Kaz Brekker was a huge temptation. Few moments had been better than those that you managed to piss him off beyond what he could handle.

However, all the reasons why the two of you were so exasperating for each other, did not explain why the air crackled in ambiguity when your eyes met. The hemisphere was adorned in a thought-provoking, poignant veil, like a warm honey flowing down its throat, and there was something else in the way blood flowed like flames of fire through veins of you two.

Jesper said that the sexual tension between you was so tangible that it could be cut by one of Inej's knives, but you refused to think of Kaz that way. At least until that moment.

Not pure images of what the infamous Brekker could do to you between four walls swept you like the strong Arabian wind. Making you be surprisingly breathless. Kaz was not a man whose private life was exposed, nor was he involved with many women, but you have heard two or three of them when they were drunk saying that Kaz Brekker in the room could be incendiary.

Everyone knew that his touch reserve didn't limit him to anything, but that his job was at the top of the priority list and that sexual encounters were almost never on that list.

"It was not my fault!” Jesper defended himself one night, slightly drunk, sitting at the club's round table next to the other crows “I didn't know he was married to another man! That damn pretty face seduced me!”

"Did he seduce you?" You asked, skeptical and playful.

"I swear to God! And it had been a long time since I had sex with anyone, and I went… ”

“But you did sex last week." Inej laughed, chocked.

"Exactly!" Jesper said, as if he were obvious.

You laughed with your beer glass in your hand, taking another sip.

“Is a week a long time to not sleep with anyone?" Matthias retorted, trying not to laugh.

“Are you going to tell me that is not?” Jesper and Nina spoke at the same time.

“If a man has time for sex more than once a week, he clearly doesn't have much to do. And I'm sure I gave Jesper a lot of tasks that would keep him busy.” Kaz narrowed his eyes at his friend, and Jesper hid his guilt behind the rim of his beer glass, looking to the side.

"So you are saying that you are a very busy man?" You teased, trying not to laugh at the scathing look Kaz sent you.

"I disagree. The values ​​of hard work and discipline cannot match the hot body of a woman in bed.” Matthias said, exchanging a brief conspiratorial look with Nina, who winked at him.

"There are more important things." Said Kaz.

"Like what?" You rested your chin on the back of the hand whose elbow was on the table, the playful look of a rebellious student.

"Progress." Kaz held your gaze.

He wasn't going to take your bait. But you didn't give up easy.

"Tell me, if God gave you a deal: all the hunger in the world would be extinguished in exchange for you never being able to have sex again, what would you choose?" your eyes had a teasing feline glow.

At that moment, Kaz felt a shiver up the back of his neck, like a warm breath of autumn. Something crawled, like a snake, across his rib cage and down to his groin, pumping blood like fire through his veins.

He held your gaze, but the feline glow in your eyes promised to contain the most ardent sins. Suddenly, Kaz's mind was flooded by the wave of obscene images of you, on his bed; moaning, squirming, shouting his name and being very obedient with every order he gave you.

He would make you such a good girl...

"I don't believe in God." He replied succinctly, the predator's eyes still in your eyes audacious feline's.

A big, satisfied smile spread across your face, and you said: "As I thought. Bad luck for hungry people.”

Realizing that he had fallen right into your cunning trap, Kaz got rid of your diabolical magnetism and cursed.

“I didn't say…” he stopped, impatient “It doesn't matter. I have more important things to do than waste time here.”

But the smile you hid behind the glass was noticeable to Kaz.

After that night, the crackling, gasping flame that circled the two of you intensified to alarming levels. Kaz could feel you holding your breath when he was too close, and you could see him squeezing his cane harder when you sweetened your voice for him.

However, regardless of Kaz's wanted to fold you at a table and put an end to your brat girl pose, enjoying the groans he was sure you would let out, the two of you still fought like dog and cat.

Just as it was now.

“What do you mean, I'm not going?!” You looked at Kaz, amazed, when he told you that you would not participate in the robbery that week “I know that security system like the back of my hand!”

It was true, what you had of stubbornness, you had of technological intelligence. There was no computer that you would not hack, a program that you would not hack, and a system that you would not unlock. Your genius with technology made up for all your lack of obedience.

But Kaz ignored. “I've already told you. It's a more dangerous mission than you're used to and we don't have time for the plans you come up with right away.” He needled you.

“Are you referring to Switzerland?” You were never anything short of direct and inquiring. It was logical that you would question every orden. “But I already told you that when the alarm went off your plan didn't work anymore! I was more useful inside to deactivate the alarm than waiting outside.”

And stubborn. Holy God, how stubborn you were!

"And it cost you to get shot."

"But it was just a shot!"

Kaz looked at you, puzzled. “Just?! And wasn't it enough ?! You put the whole team at risk!”

“But if I hadn't deactivated the alarm, we would all be arrested! And only I knew how to do that!”

"My fucking God, isn't there a speck of common sense in you?!"

But you answered boldly: "Not when you impose clueless plans on me."

Mortified would be an understatement to describe how he was now. What an unbearable creature! Kaz felt the anger spread from his neck to his face, igniting his breath and squinting his eyes in annoyance.

Why was it so difficult for you to follow a simple goddamn rule?!

“Besides, your initial plan was flawed and there was no reason for me to be out when it was necessary inside and...” And you kept talking!

If you had noticed Kaz's completely enraged state in front of you, you would have been scared, shut up and ran. But, truth be told, Kaz suspected that even if you knew how to read the murderous humor in his eyes, you wouldn't have left that office. Much less be afraid. You could argue with the demon. And you would probably beat him out of tiredness.

However, regardless of the desire to shake you up, to see if that put any good sense in you, in that second, watching you gesture with your hands, defending your point of view as if it were the england queen's crown, something swept Kaz's body from the top of his head with dark hair to the tips of his illustrated boots.

The sound of the world was drowned out by the flow of blood itself in his veins. His heart hammered hard in his chest and, in that instant, a sharp sting in his groin and the pit of his stomach set him on fire.

His gaze went down to your mouth, which kept moving. And when it came up to your eyes, your stubborn and defiant gaze sent Kaz's rationality into space. He dropped the cane abruptly, which toppled to the floor with a hollow crack, and advanced towards you in firm and determined steps.

Gluing his gloved hands to your face, Kaz silenced all your protests with a strong kiss. Hot, fiery, domineering. The kind of kiss that held years of camouflaged desire, years of irritability, years of an unnerving desire to make you shut up with all the perverse forms that existed.

You weren't afraid of him. But you should. You should if you knew everything he wanted to do with you.

However, as if you have been burning in the same desire for years, you responded to that kiss with the same urgency. The same hunger. Kaz slipped his hands into your hair, closing his fingers there and deepening the kiss with ferocity. He felt beside himself, like a hungry wild animal that had been denied food for years and that only now had its teeth set on its prey. You moaned against his lips, bringing your hands to his lean, strong biceps, squeezing your fingers there.

You both needed air, but neither seemed to give a damn about that. Misted of desire that burned like a fire in their bodies, Kaz pushed the two of you backwards, slamming your back against the wall and swinging a frame beside. You gasped, and the gesture made it possible for Kaz to invade your mouth with his tongue, hunting every piece of hot meat. You two fought the same battle in that kiss: invade, dominate, conquer.

They both wanted to take the waltz, but Kaz would never let you conduct the show.

He pulled your wrists up, pinning them with one hand against the wall, leaving you immobile while sinking his mouth further into yours. Kaz felt you try to get rid of his tight grip, but he was stronger than you. And much more when he have a objective.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He murmured against your mouth, the tip of his tongue playing with your bottom lip. “You know I don’t like to be teased.”

Was impossible for you to control the loud moan that escaped. Your body trembling with desire, your legs wobbly, your wet core vibrating with his words. Kaz Brekker was a fallen angel. With a beauty and charm you've never been immune to.

How can you think you'd win the dominance game with him?

And, like the fallen angel he was, his smug and arrogant smile painted the corner of his lips when he saw what his lines did to you.

“I didn’t know you were so sensitive.” Kaz mocked “If I knew it was only necessary to do this for you to shut up...” he brought his lips closer, his voice hitting yours “I would have fucked you like the naughty brat you have been a long time.”

If his caustic and maddening kisses hadn't been enough to break you in half, that statement would have done all the work.

In that second, you hoisted your white flag, biting your lip in a needy moan and closing your eyes for a second by the overwhelming vibration of your core. God, you needed more. Whatever he gave you. Anything he wanted to give you. You just needed more.

"Are you going to be good?" He played with the dough you were in his hands, his devilish mouth going down your neck, leaving a trail of fire and debris wherever he went.

You agreed, desperately. “Yes, Sir."

That title seemed to do things with Kaz. Because in the next second, his mouth was back on your. More urgent, more needy, more dominating. You shifted your hips for more friction with his, and Kaz rewarded your obedience by pulling one of your thighs forward, making your skirt go up, aligning your thigh on his hips and giving access for his member to fit perfectly against your pulsating core.

You moaned louder this time. Fingers clenching, heart pumping frantically. Kaz pulled his lips away from you for a second, taking his hand off your thigh and bringing it to your mouth.

“Pull.” He ordered, referring to the glove.

You murmured a low, excited moan, bringing your mouth to the glove and clenching your teeth on the cloth at the top of his middle finger. Satisfied, Kaz pulled his hand back, watching the alabaster skin peel away from the leather fabric. As soon as he was free, he removed the glove from your mouth, replacing it with his own and stealing all your breath in that fiery kiss.

His free hand wandered over your thigh, touching you for the first time with a touch that promised to show you all the most delicious and secret sins in the world. His tongue wrapped around your again, and the moan you let out was even greater when his long fingers brushed against your wet, throbbing core.

"S-sir!" You sobbed, your hips rocking against his hand, desperate for more.

"Look at you." His fire voice beat against your lips, the tightness against your wrists getting stronger, more possessive "I’ ve only started using my fingers and you ’re already shaking"

Your body cried out in unbridled desire, sobs mingling with loud moans and heavy sighs as Kaz tormented you with his fingers. He touched you, slid, opened and sank, increasing the volume of your pleas.

“P-please" You begged, the body in need, the urge too urgent.

Kaz looked you in the eye, a dark, malicious gleam burning in his Egyptian blue irises. "Such a needy little thing, aren't you?" He teased you.

But you no longer cared about his teasing. With your lips swollen and red, your heart racing and the core pulsing in despair on his experienced fingers, you were already surrendered.

"Please. I n-need." You mumbled submissively, rummaging your hips in his hand.

"I bet if I wanted to fuck you against my desk, here and now, you would be very happy to do it, wouldn't you?"

He was foisting all of his dominance on you, bending you to your knees for him. And you knew that. You knew he was taking years of anger out on you. But you couldn't care less. You wanted him. Ardently. Desperately. And if it was a good girl Kaz wanted, damn it, you would be a good girl for him.

You readily agreed, your eyes shining in supplication.

“Good.” Kaz pulled you brutally off the wall, turning you over to the table and pushing your chest against the icy wood, pulling your hips at him. “Because that's exactly what is going to happen.”

Suddenly, desire and hunger roared like a wild beast. Kaz watched you, bent over his desk, obedient, surrendered, offering every inch of your body to him.

His breath was burning in his throat and it was no longer possible to order his thoughts, contain his euphoria. He would fuck you so hard that it would make that memory the only thought when you remembered him. When you dare to rebut his orders.

Kaz pulled you skirt up and your panties down, letting out a groan that sounded more like a growl as he saw your wet core. Pulsing and desperate for him. For anything he wanted to give you. It sparked a fervent desire that Brekker had never felt in his life, devastating any possibility of thinking about anything other than fucking you.

Playing with your fingers in your slick, wet folds, you whimpered again, the core pulsing whenever he teased you inside, pressing his fingertips there but never entering.

"Do you want me to fuck you?" His voice came over the top of your shoulder, hoarse, animalistic, full of profane desires.

"Please." You were quick to beg “I do what you want! But just...please, please… ”

You already felt your eyes watering from over-stimulation, your heart burning so hard it was beating, your core aching from emptiness.

You sealed the end of the game between you. Kaz had won. In a triumphant checkmate.

And you didn't have to beg again. Barely seeing when he unbuttoned his pants, you just reasoned his hard, hot, pulsating member by opening your from the inside. Claiming everything that was yours as his in a strong, desperate, hungry lunge.

"S-sir!" You screamed, your nails scraping the wood from the table, the core pulsing overwhelmingly around his rigid member.

In a more badly lunge, Kaz sank completely into you, moaning loudly as he hit rock bottom. The gloved hand slid over your shoulder, propelled you to him while the bare hand tightened on your waist, hitting you at a steady, raw, animalistic rhythm.

The sounds were pornographic, dirty and loud, echoing off the walls. The air was hot like molten lava, pungent and muffled, driving you two lost breath. Their bodies clashed as if the world was going to end tomorrow, in aggressive, rough thrusts. These were thrusts that made half of his things on the table fall to the floor, mixing in a mess that would serve as a reminder later about the sinful activities you two did.

You screamed when Kaz took on more force, his fingers squeezing you so hard that they would leave you with marks on your shoulder and waist the next day.

"Fucking hell!" Kaz snarled between his teeth, feeling your flesh throb around him, squeezing he with such desperation that he knew you were close.

You sobbed, tears streaming down the corners of your eyes as you pushed your ass towards him, trying to bring him as deep as possible, as deep inside you as possible. But every time his pelvis smashed into your ass, a loud moan and the feeling of being completely full drowned you.

You begged, pleaded, for something you didn't know. But Kaz seemed to know. Taking both hands to your hips, your pace became even more unperturbed, pushing you to the limit until you cum in a scream in his name, your lungs on fire. Kaz came close behind, sinking as deep as possible and pouring all the hot liquid into you. Almost like a brand.

The air was filled with sex, lust and desire, filled only by the sound of their ragged breaths that struggled to stabilize.

You were still panting when Kaz's voice came after you: "Whatever I want, don't I?"

A deal with the devil.