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nellielsss · 6 months ago

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ƈɧąʂıŋɠąŋɠɛƖʂ.ƈơɱ ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-

Summary: where lonely hearts can congregate & explore new, exciting taboos! what do you get when you pair a lonely divorcée with an equally lonely girl? find out here, at chasingangels.com! Note: I saw a janitor AI bot that was like a dating app and was inspired to write this, I also just wanted to write about the issues of finding a good match as a trans girl! y'know, since a lot of us tend to fuck w DL men 💀 reader is also kinda Gyaru-coded in terms of appearance but she's not fully immersed in Gyaru culture. Warnings: website is implied to be for chasers (men who go after trans women specifically), protected sex, rough sex, kinda angst + comfort Pairing: Toji Fushiguro x mtf!reader WC: 14.5k words... yeah I'm not proofreading this ☠️ if it has bad grammar or cringy dialogue anywhere my apologies!!! this fic took me like 5 days so I'm glad to be done w it

╰┈➤ "And... still nobody worth it," you sighed, clicking off from the website that you'd spent weeks surfing through. You put your laptop back in your Hello Kitty computer sleeve, put it in your purse, and went on your way.

The website you'd decided to put your love life line on the line for, chasingangels.com, was proving to be a hopeless endeavor. Every single day, the thought about abandoning that stupid, niche website and going back to your past days of Grindr seemed more enticing the longer you spent your time alone. The website that promised trans girls like you with a promising love life was turning out to be a gimmick, probably made to steal your data so that it could be sold to some third party buyer. It's not like it mattered to you--you didn't have nuclear codes saved on your device--but it was just so tiring.

All of it was so tiring.

All your life, you'd been quite lonely, a fact that your headstrong nature refused to admit. You grew up with everything a girl like you could've possibly hoped for: you had a loving family who accepted you for your transgender identity, plenty of friends who also accepted you, and all the money needed to buy you your expensive makeup & hormones that you'd need to become the woman you always wanted to be. Truth be told, you were quite blessed in every facet of life--you were beautiful enough before starting the hormones to pass for a cisgender woman!

But, sadly, the only facet you lacked in was love.

A curse was bestowed upon you at birth: the curse of a male body, and that same curse was the reason you never had any prospects.

The moment you told a guy about your condition, he'd run away without a second thought. Either they blocked you or did a 180 and asked you if they could play with your... male genitalia.

The few who chose to stay only ever did so by texting you after 11 PM, and the most they did was ask you for sexual favors instead. Not once did a guy hold you while wept; not once did a guy want to bring you home to mama; not once did a guy talk to you for more than a month. And what was most humiliating was you'd only ever talked to three guys--a low, single-digit number!

By the time you graduated college and entered the workforce, nothing changed, absolutely nothing. If anything, your prospects shrank, and you weren't even talking to a single guy over the phone. You were hopeless, utterly hopeless in the romantic department.

"Don't worry about it, you're too good for any man's attention!"

Said the girl with a loving boyfriend of a year.

"You already have a high paying job and a pretty face to boot, what more could you possibly want?"

Maybe the touch of a loving partner?

You were hopeless. Hopeless enough to put your trust in some shady website that one of your friends told you about, which led you to the website known as chasingangels.com. You were beginning to believe that this was all some elaborate emotional ponzi scheme, set up by people who took pleasure in breaking trans girls' hearts.

"Is it my profile?" you thought to yourself on the train. You were currently on the train to Omotesando, meeting up with said girlfriend who recommended you the site. You went under the guise of trying out a new restaurant, but in actuality you were gonna chew her out for getting your hopes up, get a beverage on the way home, and then watch some Shōjo before going to bed.

And all in a day's time... truth be told, these were what your days consisted of outside of work: drinks, meetups, and romance anime. Though most people would've looked down upon you for living such a monotonous life, you found solace in it.

There wasn't much a girl like you could do except spend her hard-earned money on snacks & clothes. Perhaps you'd get lucky and stop by a Hello Kitty store along the way? Maybe you could even adopt another cat just to be less lonely.

The loud ding! of a notification in your airpods made you jerk up in surprise, and you immediately grabbed your phone. Most apps weren't important enough to have a sound notification on, so you wondered what it could possibly be.

Wait, why were you so surprised? It was probably just an SMS message from your friend. You calmed yourself down, unlocked your phone, and swiped through your notifications until you saw it.

That godforsaken website--you made a mental note to delete it later.

👼 chasingangels.com

ミ☆ You have 1 New Message!

Tojifushiguro1: Hey there, saw your profile and thought you looked cute. Wanna get a drink & get to know each other better?

A guy who used punctuation and capitalization? He must've been old, definitely not your-

You let out an audible gasp on the train when you clicked on his profile, and you also had to turn down the brightness on your phone as well, because the profile that you just tapped on?

The profile was enough for you to make your cross your legs together.

This guy--Toji Fushiguro--was a fucking wet dream.

With shaky hands and a pounding heart, you sifted through the seven photos that he'd put up on his profile. They were all a bit shitty with bad lighting or they were taken by other people, but goddamn was that a man!

For starters, his face must've been crafted by Narcissus himself. A strong bone structure, green eyes that pierced into an onlooker's soul, and that delicious scar on his lip that only added to his appeal. He had some wrinkles underneath his eyes, no doubt indicating that he was a bit older than you.

The next photo almost made you choke on your own spit in the train. It was a full body shot of him standing up with a guy (whose face he made sure to blur out), and by god was he the definition of an adonis even with clothes on. Just by standing still w/ a straight face without doing anything extra, you could make out some broad shoulders, arms that were probably bigger than your head, traps that tapered into a thin, toned waist, and a thick, muscular chest that you just wanted to lay your head on!

When you got to the shirtless photos you had to put your phone away for a good second before looking at the rest of his profile. His body was a marble statue straight out of the Roman Empire, complete with shredded abs, intense vasculature, and everything else that a girl could want in a man's body.

You knew that where you lived, the ideal male standard was more feminine than masculine, therefore you knew that finding a man like him was like finding a tiny shard of a diamond deep inside of a coal mine. Coincidentally, he was also exactly your type, so every atom in your body screamed at you to get on it and reply!

But you were rational; you didn't think with your pussy. You looked at all the photos in detail to get a better idea of what he was like, and you also examined his bio for any red flags. So far, the only ones that stuck out to you were his single father status & the fact that he was on a dating site designed for connecting men with trans women--the name literally had the verb "chase" in it!

°•. ★ .•° Tojifushiguro1's FAQ:

Age: 35

Sexuality: straight

Marital status: divorced w/ 1 kid

Likes: UFC fights, fishing, 90s rock, a good beer

Looking for: a girl who knows how to have fun & also get serious, someone mature.

Yeah, he totally fit the image he portrayed. He might've only been 35 but he typed like a boomer with the lack of description in his bio & the message that was chalked full of grammar and proper spelling. The images he'd included in his profile were also so very different from the design and aesthetic of this website, it almost made you laugh.

This man could also be catfishing you, so you made sure to do a quick reverse search...

... and nothing. Wow, so this guy really existed, and he also really wanted you.

Wait a damn minute. He, an adonis, with probably more prospects than a computer science student's job offers, wanted you: a girl who couldn't get dick to save her life?!

What kind of an idiot were you--get on with it already!!

With shaky fingers, you opened his message and looked at it over & over again. If you didn't reply, then you'd be safe, but you'd also potentially miss out on something exciting; however, if you did reply, then the trajectory of your life could possibly change forever.

With even shakier fingers, you typed out a response to his dm:

automaticprincess7: Hi! I'm so glad you clicked on my profile out of all the others--I would love to meet up with you somewhere! Although, I gotta warn you: I don't drink much... maybe a coffee shop would be nicer?

tojifushiguro1 is typing...

Oh god, he was already typing that out?! He did send the initial message two minutes ago...

tojifushiguro1: I'll go anywhere if it means I get to see that pretty face in person ;)

Just in the second message alone, he was laying on the charm, you could see that much. He didn't seem like the type of guy to hold out on what he wanted or beat around the bush--just your type. You hated guys your age for playing games and stringing you along for no reason, so you welcomed the change of pace.

automaticprincess7: Fushiguro!! Ur already making me blush while I'm on the train... >///<

tojifushiguro1: I can't wait to make you blush even harder in person, doll. Why don't we meet up tomorrow? I ain't got work, so I'm free all day long.

Tomorrow--he wanted to meet with you tomorrow?! But... but that was so quick, you haven't had enough time to even mentally prepare yourself for this hunk of a man!! Then again, what difference does it make if all you're looking for is a guy who'll give you some attention & pipe? Still, you had to play coy--you can't be so forward just yet.

automaticprincess7: but that's so early...

tojifushiguro1: why, you got work tomorrow?

automaticprincess7: no, I'm also free; honestly, truth be told, I've never met up with anyone online like this, especially not from this website.

tojifushiguro1: really? I'd imagined a girl as gorgeous as you would've had plenty of men lining up to take her out for dinner--I was just hoping to be next in line haha.

automaticprincess7: well, not exactly...!

tojifushiguro1: so this means I'll be the one to pop your internet cherry, huh? Well then, ain't I a lucky guy?"

automaticprincess7: ewww, don't call it that!!

tojifushiguro1: I'm just messin' with ya, doll. Anyway, does tomorrow work? I'll need to find a babysitter for the kid soon, so I need a yes or no.

Right, he was a single father... still, he was just so enigmatic, so attractive, you'd be a fool to let it go to waste over him having a child.

automaticprincess7: yeah, tomorrow's fine. I guess I was just nervous ( ๑´⌓ `๑ )

tojifushiguro1: it's no biggie, cutie. Since it's your first time meeting with a stranger online, I can imagine you'd be scared. So, let's say 6? And what place works best for you? We can even grab dinner after if you're up for it.

automaticprincess7: there's this one coffee place I like in Harajuku. It's secluded enough for this kinda stuff, and it's close enough to any activities that might be fun: (insert coffee shop name).

tojifushiguro1: overpriced coffee with an angel like you? Heh, sign me up!

automaticprincess7: hey, don't insult them, they have my fav drinks!!

tojifushiguro1: messing with you over text is so fun. Anyway, 6 PM tomorrow at that place? Sounds like a plan. I can't wait to see you in person, gorgeous ;) You & I are gonna have so much fun, doll, just you wait.

automaticprincess7: see you tomorrow, Toji!! (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*)

tojifushiguro1: those lil' emojis you send are so adorable, just like the rest of ya.

You had to put your phone down because of how red your face was. If anyone saw you in this state, they'd probably think that you were deathly feverish and needed to go to the hospital, but if you spent the night with him, you probably would need to.

Your mind was reeling with everything that had just happened. The prospect of meeting a guy for the first time; the prospect of going on a date with an insanely hot guy; the prospect of going home & having sex with said insanely hot guy; and the prospect of it leading to something better. You knew your prayers of this working out would fall on deaf ears and that this guy was probably in it for just the sex, but there was this feeling, this voice in your head telling you to go for it.

Normally, you'd ignore that said voice, but maybe following that voice would bring some color back into your life.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ Enter Toji Fushiguro

╰┈➤ "Fuckin' christ is that girl adorable," Toji muttered to himself when he put his phone down. "I could just eat her for breakfast, lunch & dinner."

After hopeless hours of surfing through this website "Chasingangels.com" with all of its annoyingly bright colors and cutesy aesthetics, Toji had finally settled on a girl who he felt was worth the trouble of reaching out to. All these other profiles he'd swiped on were either not his type or were looking for a good time, not a long time, so when he finally found you, he felt like he'd just won big at the horse races he quit going to. Seriously, you were such a stroke of luck that he considered going out to gamble.

But, after his late wife had died, and after he'd made that promise to quit all his vices, he wasn't actually gonna go gamble his savings away.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: your profile.

Even after he put his phone down to clear his mind, he reached for it & continued looking at your profile, his green eyes scrutinizing every single detail and just taking it all in. You were gorgeous, that much was true, but there was also something so yummy, so saccharinely sweet about the way you looked at the camera with your raspberry lip gloss and your big brown eyes and your long lashes and your everything that compelled him to DM you.

You... you were just a walking wet dream, you were perfect in every single way. Not only were you insanely attractive, but you also had the right criteria in your bio: your frontal lobe had developed (you were 25) & you were looking for something serious.

Bingo.

But, at the same time, Toji knew good and well that a girl like you was hard to come by, so he sent that DM without any hope of getting one in return. Surely a gorgeous gal like you had plenty of offers, right? He also knew that using a website like this was quite unsavory, even for him. This website, chasingangels.com, was supposed to be a "dating website" for transgender women, but he knew good and well that this site housed some... off individuals.

It was all in the name of the website. Chasing angels? Seriously? The developers couldn't have come up with a better website name that wasn't so fetishizing? Part of him wondered what the hell a girl like you was doing on this site--a site that was meant to give men direct access to trans women. Part of him also wondered why he, himself, was on this website to begin with. Was he seriously turning into one of them, one of those "chasers" that were known to use trans women? And would you categorize him as such?

Those little thoughts of self-doubt were quickly wiped away when you replied within two minutes of him sending that message.

Was fortune finally smiling upon him? Were the lonely nights he spent in the company of prostitutes and random flings coming to a close with you?

Were you the angel he's been chasing all this time? And did he finally catch you?

The conversation with you went smoother than expected, if he was being honest. You talked just how you looked: like an angel, with your bashful replies & those cute little emoticons that you used. He made sure to lay on the charm thick, since it was all he knew how to do when he was flirting with a girl he liked, and it paid off because now he had a date with the girl of his dreams tomorrow.

All he had to do now was find a babysitter for little 8 year old Megumi, and he'd be golden.

He promptly exited out of the website and called up his go-to babysitter, Satoru Gojo, to see if he was available for the evening & night. He swore he heard trumpets from heaven when the white-haired man said he'd be available.

He practically got on his knees and looked up at the ceiling. "Whoever you are... thank you."

Next on the agenda would be to prepare for said date tomorrow.

There was no way that this was the same man you talked to online (and no, he didn't catfish you). How could a man be so.... large?!

Flashback to a few hours ago when you were first getting ready for your little date. "I'm going on a date, on a date, on a date~! Oooh, I may be getting some dick tonight~!!" You sang to yourself as you got ready for your date. You were busy putting in your hot rollers, trying to snap them into place so that they wouldn't fall out and potentially burn you.

You didn't sleep a wink during the entire night. The images of that guy, that hunky dilf who you somehow managed to snag before anyone else did. You were honestly pretty surprised that you accomplished such a feat--any girl would be lucky to be underneath that fine specimen! Then again, maybe the people who used the website didn't like big, strong men with a face so rideable that you could probably cum 5 times just by grinding against his nose... either way, you were a lucky, lucky girl!

Once the rollers were in place, you pulled out all the stops to make sure that your makeup was in tip-top shape. A matte, blurring primer (which could be classified as industrial grade); pink cherry blossom setting powder just so that you could look extra pink and girly; a touch of eyelid glitter just to make your eyes sparkle... you even followed an elaborate tutorial on Youtube just so that you could charm him with your eyes.

Everything was coming together perfectly. There were no stray streaks of eyeliner, nor was your makeup crusty or cakey; it was simply perfect.

Taking out your hot rollers, you grabbed a hairbrush and styled it to your liking with a headband, then you spritzed on some perfume and went to pick out the perfect outfit to charm him. Clearly, he had a thing for girly girls, so a pink outfit would do just the trick. Your outfit for the date consisted of a pink puff-sleeve top along with a pleated denim mini-skirt, your signature Tiffany & Co. initial necklace, a charm bracelet, a cute little rhinestone belt and some strappy sandals to complete the look.

You took a good, long look in the mirror and smiled to yourself. It sure was a shame that you being transgender got in the way of a lot of your relationships, and the fact that this was probably just to meet up for sex... but it was still nice to get dolled up.

"What do you think, Cupcake?" you asked your fluffy black cat who had a pink collar around her neck. You scratched your little cat's chin and gave her a few butt pats before standing up again.

You made your way over to the front door of your apartment, put all your belongings in your pink Chanel, and made sure to remember your keys. "Wish me luck," you said to your cat as you left. You locked the door behind you, and set out for the nearest train station.

Which was how you ended up standing outside of the coffee shop that the two of you agreed to meet at. It was an odd time to go to a coffee shop, since most people went in the morning, but not everybody met up with strangers on the internet for sexual favors. You texted Toji that you were here and pushed open the glass doors of the shop.

"He shouldn't be too hard to miss-" you stopped dead in your tracks when you caught sight of the man. To say that he was hot was an understatement, because this man was just delectable.

Oh... my... god." He wasn't, in fact, too hard to miss, since he was A. one of the only patrons there, and B. huge. As in, he took up the entirety of his chair & had to spread his legs around the table so that he wouldn't be uncomfortable. And the best part?

He looked even better in person!!

The simple white sweater that he donned was stretched around his frame, and you could see the outline of his broad shoulders & his traps. The sleeves were rolled up around his forearms, giving you a delicious sight of his thick, veiny forearms, and his big hands that were clutching the menu like it was a little sheet of paper only made you wanna rub your thighs together. His legs were a whole other story: his muscular thighs were stretching his black pants (but not to the extent to where he looked goofy), and all you wanted to do was just sit on his lap!!

Your little rambling was interrupted when he looked up from the menu and right at you. He had a little look of shock on his face for a split second before he cracked a smile, and you felt like butter melting on a hot day from the way he looked at you.

"U-Um, hi," was the first thing you squeaked out to him. Normally, you were a confident girl; but right now, you were reduced to mere prey under the gaze of this man.

"Hey, sweetheart. Please, have a seat." He made the effort to get up and pull your seat out for you, and you offered him a bashful smile.

"Thank you," you all but whispered, letting him push you in. He then took his seat from across the table, and the two of you sat in silence for a few seconds. You could hear the intense, almost unbearable beat of your heart pounding in your ears, and you looked down at the table out of nervousness. Every time you looked up at Toji, your eyes immediately darted back to their original position, and your cheeks got even redder.

"My god, are you pretty," his deliciously raspy voice remarked when he decided to break the silence. "I mean, I bet you get that a lot, but... damn."

You squeaked in response and retreated into yourself further. "I don't get that a lot, but... T-Thank you, F-Fushiguro," you stammered. You were fumbling this date by the second, but it was practically impossible to even talk to this Adonis that was right in front of you.

A few more moments of silence until he decided to speak up again. "Doll, I gotta ask you something: am I really that scary?"

The question made you look at him out of confusion rather than fluster. "Huh? Um... no? Why do you ask?"

He relaxed a little further into his seat and folded his arms over his chest. "Because the entire time we've been on this little date, you've been starin' at the damn table. C'mon, you've gotta give me somethin' to work with here. I wanna get to know you a little bit, pretty!" He said.

You almost felt bad for the guy right about now. Here he was, going on this date that he went out of his way to ask you out on, and you were staring at the table like an idiot.

"I'm sorry," you laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck, "I'm not really experienced at going on dates... this is the first one I've been on in a while." For whatever reason, this guy made you feel more & more comfortable the longer you were around him.

"Well that makes two of us," he chortled. "I haven't been on one in months, myself. That little website was probably my last resort. If I gave up on it, I would've given up on going on dates altogether."

"Oh, right, you're divorced..." you trailed off, feeling bad for the guy.

He shrugged. "'s nothin'. Haven't seen my ex-wife in ages, anyway; my son and I get along just fine."

"Well, that's good to hear," you smiled at him. "Yeah, I see a lot of single fathers and divorcées passing through that site. Most of them are just ex-pats."

"Really, now?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow. "I would've thought that being a single father makes me more unappealing."

You shrugged. "It doesn't make a difference to me, or the rest of the girls on that site at that. Most people just use that website for hookups, anyway."

His other eyebrow raised, and he looked at you with more curiosity. "Really, now? Huh... I never would've guessed. This whole time, I thought that everyone on there was just an asshole; I didn't think that the site was made for hookups."

"It's not advertised for hookups, but people treat it as such. Most dating sites like that just end up getting used for hookups."

"Hm," he said, looking off to the side. "So what the hell were you doing on that site to begin with?"

This made you look at him with more confusion. "Huh?"

He leaned forward, now putting his forearms on the table. "I mean: what the hell was a pretty girl like you doing on a hookup website?"

"I-I don't use it for hookups!" you said defensively, putting your hands up. "I just... look, it was the only available site for women like me, and I was sick of people on regular dating apps blocking me after I told them that I was trans. I sure as shit didn't wanna use Grindr, so that website was also my last resort. Speaking of, what were you doing on that website if you were looking for more than just hookups?"

Toji shrugged again. "I dunno, honestly. I just went on it without a second thought. I tried other websites out, but none of 'em gave me any results."

You furrowed your brow in confusion. "So you went on a website that was specifically for men who liked trans women...?"

He was a bit caught off guard by your observation, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "The way you're saying it makes me sound like some sorta creep... But, you're not entirely wrong. When I first saw an advertisement for that website, I was intrigued, to say the least. I thought that, since I had so much bad luck on the normal sites, why not try somethin' different? I've always been kinda curious about trans women, too. Part of me wondered what it'd be like to date one, and so I was led to that website."

Your expression slightly fell, and you realized what this guy's deal was. "Oh, so you're... you're one of those guys," you said quite bitterly.

Toji picked up on this and freaked out a little bit. "N-No, I'm not like that! I'm not some fetishizing prick who wants a hookup; I'm just a lonely guy who's looking for something, alright? I've been lonely for so long that I'm willing to try anything with any type of girl. It doesn't matter if she's cis or trans; I just want something--anything, any kind of connection." He took a deep breath, feeling like he was digging himself into a hole the more he spoke. "Fuck... I'm making this worse for myself, aren't I?"

You were now feeling sorry for the guy for a whole different reason. "No, Fushiguro, I get it... dating as a single father must be tough for you. And, I can see the appeal of trying out dating with a different type of woman, expanding your horizons. Even though you might be using a site that hosts a lot of creeps, you're using it with good intentions." Your frown relaxed into a smile, and he felt his heart skip a beat when you smiled at him. "So I guess I won't be getting my hopes down."

Toji gave you another look of shock, and he felt his cheeks heat up just a little--that smile of yours was just so beautiful. His look of shock changed into a smile, and he intertwined one of his fingers with yours. "Well, ain't I a lucky bastard," he chuckled, already easing back into the date. "So, gorgeous, why don't we start over?"

You nodded and smiled brighter at him. "I think we should."

"Good," he hummed, reaching out to shake your hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Toji Fushiguro. Mind telling me about yourself, beautiful?"

You giggled at all the pet names and the compliments he was throwing your way. "My name's (Y/N), (L/N), and I don't mind at all."

Maybe... maybe this wouldn't just be a sex thing.

"I've gotta say, doll: meeting up with you has got to be one of the best decisions I've ever made," Toji said as the two of you walked out of the coffee shop together. Naturally, a guy as big as him dwarfed you, and so he had to crane his head just a lil' to look down at you. It's not like you were one of those "I'm so small and fragile!" girls--but next to him, you might as well have been.

'He's so handsome... I'm surprised I could even have a full on conversation with him. Props to myself for not screwing it up!'

He reached out to sling his big arm around your shoulders, and he pulled you into his embrace slightly. "You don't mind if I do this, right?" he purred suavely into your ear. "Sorry if I'm being a lil' too touchy, doll--I'm just not sure what girls like you are into. A lot of people don't like to be touched by people they don't know all that well."

If you were being honest, you were probably one of those people who didn't like physical contact; but with him, you were too into it to say no. "Well, I don't usually touch people like this, but I feel comfortable around you, so do as you please."

"Do as I please?" he repeated, leaning down to tickle your ear with his breath. "I'll make sure to keep that in mind for later."

Your first instinct was to worm your way out of his grasp and away from his seductive tongue, but his grip was so strong that you couldn't even budge. "T-Toji..." this was the first time you used his given name.

He felt his heart skip a beat when you used his name, but he masked it well. "What, doll? Ah, you're so cute when you're nervous... You can't exactly blame a guy for trying, right?" He let his grip loosen just a tad in case you were uncomfortable. "Anyway, where do you think we should head off to next?"

"Hm?" you asked, looking up at him. "You wanna go somewhere now? I thought that we were just going for coffee?"

"You've gotta be kiddin' me, doll... what, you thought that it was just a coffee thing? I ain't letting go of you that quickly," he snorted. "Besides, I've got someone watchin' over my kid for the rest of today & tonight, so my schedule's completely free."

"O-Oh, well I guess that's nice to hear!" you replied, trying to muster up the most confident smile you could. "Well, we are in Harajuku, so there's plenty to do around here."

Toji thought about it for a second. "Hm... to be honest, I'm thinking that we should just head back to my place--if you're up for it, at least. We could also head back to yours, or go to a love hotel. Preferably one that isn't shitty or full of diseases."

You immediately tensed up again when he brought up the idea of taking your date to somewhere more intimate or private. "Y-You don't wanna, like, go to the park or anything?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I don't; too many little shits and dogs running around to stay focused on my pretty date."

And there it was: that skip of the heartbeat when he buttered you up with his nicknames.

"We could also pick up some food on the way there. Y'know, make it more romantic? A full-on date, full of snacks and drinks before we get to the good part?"

You mulled over the different ideas that he proposed. You might've been completely into the guy; however, you weren't stupid. If you went back to his place, then you could be kidnapped or killed. There was also the possibility of his apartment being shitty (you've had your fair share of guys with garbage lining their rooms & mattresses on the floor). If you went back to your place, then there was also the possibility of him being a creep, and if he were a creep, then you wouldn't want him to know where you lived. A love hotel was probably the safest bet for a hookup, but there was also the possibility of the love hotel being shitty.

Did you even want to hookup with the guy? Well, he was very hot, and the chemistry between the two of you was off the charts, but this was a guy who wanted to get to know you better, and that rarely happened! Most guys were only ever into hookups, and hookup culture was draining. On one hand, you were a hopeless romantic; on the other hand, you were horny and in desperate need of some good pipe. What to do, what to do...

"What's goin' on in that pretty head of yours?" Toji asked you, breaking you out of the prison that was your thoughts. "It's all up to you, doll. I mean, it's not like we're never gonna see each other again, right?"

"I guess you have a point," you remarked with a bashful smile.

"But why not have a little bit of fun while we're at it?" For whatever reason, his lips were right up against your ear again.

"Gah!" you yelped. He couldn't help but chuckle in response.

"C'mon, baby, don't you wanna have some fun tonight? I'm told I'm very good in bed--I know plenty of tricks that'll make your head spin. But what we do tonight is all up to you," he reminded you, letting go of you for a sec. "If you're not comfortable with it, then I'm not gonna force you. I ain't that type of guy."

His reassurance that it was all up to you was enough to make you make up your mind. It didn't seem like his words were laced with malice or manipulation; you genuinely felt like he was telling you the truth. He was an older guy, yes, and older guys could be creepy...

... but he wasn't that type of older guy. He wasn't one to play games or sleep around, nor was he the type to coerce naive young girls into his bed. If he did, he wouldn't have gone after someone whose frontal lobe was fully developed. He liked his girls girly, yes, but he also liked them with a brain and common sense.

And so, with a determined smile, you said: "No, Toji, I want to... I wanna spend the night with you. Preferably in a love hotel."

His face turned in your direction, and the smirk on his face turned into a toothy grin... which was more creepy than handsome, if you were being honest.

"That's more like it, sweetheart," he said, pulling you into the crook of his arm. "I'll make it 100% worth your while, don't even worry about it. Just leave it to Toji."

Was this a mistake? Or was this a good idea? Only time could tell. The sound of your pink Chanel heels clicking on the pavement & each step the two of you took towards the love hotel he already had picked out was a sign of what was to come.

"Thank you very much, sir! Please enjoy your stay. Don't hesitate to let us know if you need anything!" the welcoming receptionist of the love hotel said while handing Toji the keycard.

"Will do," Toji nodded, taking the card happily. He may not have been showing it, but he was more than eager to get on with this night. His fingers were fidgeting slightly, and the only thing that could quell his nerves would be a taste of you. He couldn't resist the urge to throw his arm around your waist and pull you in. 'She's so soft and squishy, I can't help but wonder how she'll feel underneath me. But, why's she so nervous? Aren't I a charming fellow?' Toji thought as he led the two of you to the elevator. "What's got you so nervous, sweetheart? I can feel all that tension that's built up inside of ya." You squeaked a little when he tightened his arm around your waist. "God, you're adorable... you're like a little marshmallow I can't wait to sink my teeth into."

"W-Well it's kinda hard to be calm when you're saying all that stuff," you said, the nervousness in your voice evident.

He listened to what you were saying and let out a sigh. "I get it, I get it. I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous, too. Well, more antsy than anything. You're just so fuckin' pretty that I just can't sit still! God, could this elevator be any slower?" he asked, tapping his foot on the linoleum floor.

"Just hold your horses, T-Toji," you said, trying to quell the nerves of the guy you were about to have sex with. "I wanna psyche myself up, okay?"

He offered you a remorseful smile and loosened his grip on your waist. "Alright, alright, I'll cool it down just for your sake, pretty. We've got all night long, anyway."

The rest of the elevator ride was quite silent with the ding of the elevator being the only sound made. Once you made it onto your guys' floor, the other sounds filling up the hallway were the sounds of couples having sex. Though you were no stranger to sex, you still had some sense of decency, so the sounds being made were quite embarrassing to listen to.

Toji took note of your discomfort, and he couldn't resist the urge to tease you just a little bit. "Soon, we'll be joining them with our own sounds," he croaked into your ear, making you jolt.

"D-Don't tease me like that! At least not until we're in the room itself..."

"It's just a little bit of teasing, doll--y'know I don't mean it like that."

Once you made it in front of your door, Toji grabbed the keycard and slid it into the lock, then promptly opened the door. "After you, m'lady," Toji said courteously.

"Thank you," you hummed with Toji following after you. The love hotel was Parisian-themed, and it was evident from the Eiffel tower decoration behind the bed as well as the faux-balcony that led to the outside. The bathroom had a large jacuzzi with gilded faucets, and if this wasn't a love hotel then you would've thought that you were in Versailles. "Well, this is something," you remarked as you set your bag down.

"Only the best for my gorgeous girl," Toji hummed, walking towards you. His first instinct was to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you in for a kiss, but you put your hands and stopped him. "What's wrong? Did I do somethin' wrong?"

He truly was a gentleman.

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong, Toji," you reassured him. "Remember when I said I was nervous?"

He sighed, letting his hands fall to his side. "Doll, c'mon--you've gotta give me space to work with. How am I supposed to make you feel good if you don't let me?"

You tried to calm yourself down, but it didn't do anything. "'m sorry, Toji... I'm the worst possible girl to take out."

"You're not the 'worst possible'; you're just a little nervous, and that's understandable. But the way you keep refusing my advances and offers to help you calm down is starting to get on my nerves a little." He thought about what he could do to help you unwind, and he finally came up with an idea. "I know: why don't we start off with a little bit of foreplay? Y'know, some making out followed by taking these pesky clothes off? I really, really wanna make this work between us, baby... but you've gotta trust me. It won't feel good if there's no mutual trust."

You thought over everything you said, and it all sounded good--quite appealing, at that. While you were nervous of getting down to it, you still wanted it. You wanted Toji to make you feel good because you trusted & were attracted to him.

"Yeah, that sounds good," you finally said at last. Toji released the breath he was holding and smiled at you.

"Thank you... thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," he murmured into your ear. He pulled you close and gave you a light kiss on the cheek, putting his hands on your waist to steady you. "I'm gonna make you feel so good, baby, you're not even gonna remember why you were nervous to begin with."

"I trust you-" he cut you off by moving his lips to yours, and he captured them in a featherlight kiss. "Toji..." you whispered into the kiss.

"Yeah, that's it--say my name," he murmured, pressing an even deeper kiss to your lips. "God, you taste so fuckin' sweet, baby," he whispered, "lemme kiss you some more, 'kay?"

He sat down on the bed and pulled you in by the waist, his big hands keeping a firm grip on your body so that you wouldn't go anywhere. Even his hands dwarfed your body, that was how big he was!

The more he kissed you, the more you relaxed and let him do what he thought felt right. Before you knew it, the two of you were engaged in a heated make-out session, the sounds of your sighs & lips smacking providing a soundtrack to the night. While it may have just been foreplay, you were already melting into it. "More... I want more, Toji~" you whined into his mouth.

"You want more already, pretty thing?" he rasped, his hands exploring your body like an untouched treasure, "use your words, baby. Tell Toji what you want--clearly."

"I want you... to keep kissin' me... touch me some more..." you grabbed his hand and guided it up your shirt, and you squeezed your breast with his hand. "I want you to touch me right there- oh~!"

He didn't need any direction, already squeezing your tit through your bra. "You like it when I squeeze your tits, baby? How about I squeeze this other one, hm? Wouldn't want it to get lonely, now, would you?" His little questions, sweet-talking and his big hands were turning your knees into wobbly jelly.

"Yeah~ yeah~ gimme more, Toji, fuck--I want all of that!" you exclaimed into his lips.

"Just as I thought: underneath that nervous little exterior of 'yers, you're a little slut, ain't ya?" he gave you a smirk and bit down on your bottom lip, making you yelp into the kiss. "Fuck, just listen to all of those sweet noises, baby--my dick's so fuckin' hard for ya. Can't you feel it, baby?" he even grabbed your hand and made you palm his erection, and he let out a deep sigh once you did so. "Those little hands of yours... fuck, I can't wait to feel 'em wrapped around my cock."

Your hands used to be a source of discontent for you, given how... manly they looked, but compared to Toji's hands? Well, they were dwarfed entirely.

"J-Just how big are you?" you asked out of nervousness once you felt the full weight and size of his erection.

"Wait and see, baby girl," he purred, offering you a cocky smirk. He knew he was well-endowed, and he knew that he was good at using those inches. "Or would you rather skip all the foreplay and get to the good stuff?"

You shook your head, still palming his erection. "No, I still wanna ease into it," you said.

"Have it your way, then. This night's all about you, sweet stuff." He resumed his kissing, this time latching his lips onto your jawline & trailing his lips down to your chest. You had an affinity for low-cut tops, so it gave him the perfect amount of space to pepper kisses on. "Mmmm... yeah, you are definitely some sweet stuff," he murmured, pressing kisses to your chest.

"Mn~" you moaned softly, biting your lips as if you were embarrassed of the way this man made you feel.

"Oh? You like it when I kiss you there?" he asked, peppering more kisses to your cleavage.

"Yeah, I do, Toji~" you murmured, letting out a bigger moan.

"What about... here?" he pressed one right in between the valley of your tits, and it was enough to elicit a nice, loud moan. "Fuck... you're really enjoying this, huh," he drawled in between chest kisses.

"I am, Toji, I am," you managed to breathe out. The more you moaned, the tighter his grip became on your waist.

"Yeah, you really are, princess. But, isn't that what we came here to do?" You nodded, and he chuckled. "Fuck, yeah, it is. Gonna make you feel so good... you're gonna forget 'yer own name."

Chest kisses weren't enough for the guy; he wanted--needed more of you. He needed to see you in the heat of the moment, to see how you reacted to getting the wind taken from your lungs, to see the way your ass would bounce against his powerful pelvis.

"Why don't we take this thing off, hm?" he was already in the middle of sliding your top off when he asked you that, so all you could do was let him. Once he did, his eyes lit up at the sight of your chest in that pretty pink bra. "Such pretty tits, held up by this pretty bra of yours," he rasped, hooking his finger underneath the pink fabric. "You wore this nice of lingerie just for me? Just for ol' Toji?"

You nodded vigorously, no longer shy or bashful. "Yeah, I wore it for you, Toji," you affirmed. "Wore it so you could tear it off of me."

His eyebrows shot up when you started voicing your fantasies, and he shook his head. "Yeah, you really are turning into a big ol' slut. None of that cute, shy shit anymore, huh?"

"I can't help it; your fingers just make me feel too good!"

"Oh, my fingers are making you feel good?" he repeated, a hint of mocking in his voice. "Well, in that case..." his big hands yanked the shorts underneath your mini skirt and his two fingers started caressing your hole. "Does that feel good, doll?"

You gasped and arched into his body, your perfect tits pressed against his clothed chest. "Fuck... feels so good~!"

"Oh, really? But I ain't even stick anything into ya? Are you really that touch-starved?" he asked mockingly, his green eyes leering at your blushing, moaning expression. One of his hands spanked your plump cheek, making you yelp. "Answer the question, doll."

"Y-Yes, fuck--I'm so fucking touch starved," you said through a moan, yelping when he spanked you again.

"Damn right, you are. Can't wait to see how tight you are--I can already imagine the way you're gonna suffocate my cock." The hand that was caressing your hole pushed past your panties and he stuck those two fingers into your hole, fingering you through your panties.

These ministrations of his fingers were making you lose your mind, and you let out the loudest moan yet. "F-Fuck! Oh, fuck- fuck, such thick fingers!!" You gasped, your voice reaching a new pitch you didn't think was possible.

"Yeah? You like my thick fingers inside o' that hole of 'yers? If I didn't know any better, I woulda assumed that you were a virgin, but how could I when you're such. A. Fucking. Slut?" he punctuated his question with spanks, his two fingers still fingering you. "C'mon, doll, lemme hear s'more of those moans. You know you wanna moan for Toji," he coaxed you, now stretching your cheek open with the hand that was spanking you.

And so, you moaned. You moaned as loud as you wanted to & possibly could, no longer worrying about how embarrassingly loud they'd be. Toji wasn't judging your moans; he savored them, worshiped them like they were holy scripture. "Fuck~! Fuck~! Oh, fuck, T-Toji--your fingers, they're so fucking good, keep curling them, please!! I'm gonna c-cum on your fingers if you k-k-keep this up!!" You were a babbling, incoherent mess while he worked his fingers into your tight hole. He pushed another finger in, essentially slutting you out on his hand alone. He licked his fingers again and started pumping them in & out harder, the feral grin on his face widening in size.

"Yeah, yeaah, that's what I'm fuckin' talking about, baby!" He exclaimed, fucking you vigorously on his fingers. "You're gonna cum, aren't ya? You're gonna cum from my fingers alone? You little whore, I can't wait to turn your brain to mush with my cock, just you wait!" If you weren't such a touch-starved whore for this man, the look in his eyes would've sent you running...

.... but you were a touch-starved whore. You were sucking his fingers in like you needed them to survive, like you'd die if you didn't get fingered by the older man. When his fingers hit that spongy spot inside of your tender hole, your eyes shot open and you felt an ache building up in your tummy. "Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck~!!" you squealed, "Fuck, Toji, k-keep fingerin' me right there, you're touching all of my sweet spots!!" You were no better or quieter than any of those other people in the next door rooms.

He realized that he'd hit your soft spot, and the grin on his face only intensified. "Oh, you want it there?" he dug his fingers in as deep as he possibly could, hitting your prostate yet again.

"Yes, fuck yes, Toji!!" You screamed at the top of your lungs.

"Oh, you little fucking slut, you're getting your brains fucked out just by my fingers, eh? I don't even need a cock to make you lose your mind, because you've already lost it!!" He continued savagely finger-fucking you, pushing you that much closer to the edge.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck-" you babbled, your eyes half-lidded as he jackhammered his hand into your hole, "I'm gonna- I'm gonna c-cum- haven't came in so-"

Just like that, you felt the cord snap in your belly, and you let the dam break. You didn't know what you said to him, only that you felt a gush of cum go through your penis & stain your panties. Your milky fluid soaked your panties entirely, some of it even landing on his pants and staining the black fabric. You let out a "Tojiii~!!" when you came, and you slumped over into the crook of his neck. He caught you before you could fall, and he couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips.

"Now, that's what I'm fucking talking about, doll," he said into your ear, patting your back and planting a kiss on your neck. Once you sat up and looked at him again, he captured your plump lips into a soft yet firm kiss, craning your head just right so he could kiss you perfectly.

"Toji... fuck, I didn't think I could cum that hard on a couple of fingers alone," you giggled, your mind still reeling from the intense pleasure.

"That's because you've been messing around with little boys who don't know what they're doing, doll. Can't even please a woman regardless if they've got a pussy or a dick," he chuckled, letting you catch your breath. "But I hope you know that that was just the appetizer, baby; there's plenty more where that came from."

"W-What?" before you knew it, you'd been flipped onto your back with Toji hovering over you.

"Hey there, pretty," he hummed, giving you a smile.

"Hey, Toji," you replied, the intensity of his gaze making you blush again.

"Blushin' already?" he moved one of his hands to your cheek and rubbed it as if you were a kitten. "Sweet girl," he cooed. Once he was done rubbing your cheek, he reached around your back and unclasped your bra. "Don't mind if I do," he gruffed, taking your bra off and letting the treasures that were your tits free. When the bra wasn't holding them up anymore, he could finally appreciate and marvel at them. "Fuck, doll... those are some sweet tits you've got there," he said, licking his lips and practically salivating at the sight. "May I?"

"May you what?" you asked, already embarrassed at how he was ogling you.

"May I suck your breasts, baby? They're such works of art that I wanna make sure I'm not tainting 'em," he murmured, already drooling over them.

"Toji, they're just my breasts," you giggled. "Nothing to be proud of..."

"Nothing to be proud of?! Baby, you've got the most amazing tits I've ever seen--and I've seen plenty. They're so perfectly round, so perky, 'n those nipples are just the perfect size to suck on."

You couldn't help but blush and giggle as he went on & on about your chest and how much he loved it. "If it gets you to stop... gushing about them, then you can suck-"

You didn't have to tell the man twice. He already had one of your nipples in his mouth and was holding the other in his hand, and you couldn't stop the beautiful moan that left your raspberry lips. "Fuck, Toji, you really know how to make a girl f-feel good," you whimpered, the intensity of his tit-sucking making your nipples extra sensitive.

"It's in my DNA," he said against your nipple. "I'm good at making pretty girls feel good." He shot you a cocky smirk before sucking on the other, practically losing his mind at the taste. If your nipples tasted this good, he wondered what it'd be like to eat your ass, maybe even suck your cock... if you let him, of course.

Once he'd had enough of your tits in his mouth, he retracted his lips & kissed yours. "Now those are some sweet tits," he chuckled, finally giving you some room to breathe.

"Toji... now they're all puffy and swollen," you pouted at the extra-sensitivity that came as a result of his voracious tit worship.

He shrugged at your little gripe. "Can you blame a guy?" he even flicked your nipple and watched you squirm in discomfort, shooting you a shit-eating grin. "Making you lose your mind's part of the deal, doll, and I can't do that if you're not a moaning mess. Now, spread those legs for me, baby girl, because I'm gonna show you how it feels to get devoured by a guy who knows what he's doin'."

"What are you..." you trailed off when he pulled your skirt down entirely and exposed your drenched panties. He could make out the outline of your soft penis, and he hooked his fingers under the fabric of your panties & slid them down your smooth thighs. Once he was finally able to see all of you, the little smile that was on his face grew into a wide grin.

"Fuck, doll... you're just..." he sat up to get a good look at your naked form, and you shyly covered your crotch in embarrassment. "Nah, don't hide this gorgeous sight from me, doll, lemme see you." He pried your hands off with one of his and once he was able to see you fully, he took in your naked form with his eyes. "You're a work of fucking art, baby."

"You're just sayin' shit, Toji," you mumbled, a little embarrassed by his praising.

"I'm saying shit from the heart, doll," he corrected you, making you crack a little smile. "I just... wow, you're just amazing." He shook his head in disbelief at how such a perfect specimen could be wandering earth without his knowledge. "I definitely found an angel," he jested, making you crack another smile.

"Can you just get on with what you're doing?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Slowly but surely, he planted kisses on your belly & made his way down to where the goodies were. "Spread those legs f'me, doll. I need to see every inch of you."

You parted your legs gingerly, letting him see what he wanted to see. He lowered his head to where your hole was & grabbed your legs, spreading them further for his liking. He then pushed them back up gently, giving him a full view of your puckered anus. "Look at that shit... so delicious, so perfect, so sweet-lookin'," he muttered, pressing a kiss to the inside of your thigh. "You're just perfect in every single way... fucking fuck," he chuckled, shaking his head once again.

You stayed silent, far too vulnerable or nervous to give him one of your usually sassy quips. "Cat got 'yer tongue, doll?"

"You've got my tongue," you muttered, making him chuckle again.

"I'm gonna feast on this perfect hole of 'yers, baby, and then I'm gonna impale you on this dick & make you see stars," he promised, sitting up again. "Lemme just... take this damn sweater off," he grumbled, sliding the white cotton over his head.

It was your turn to marvel at him now. You knew that he was a big guy with some big muscles, but now that you were seeing the real deal for yourself, you couldn't help the squeak of nervousness that left your lips. He truly was an adonis in every sense of the word: his meaty pecs that were thicker than some peoples' boobs, a shredded 8-pack that could quite literally grind cheese on it, that thin, tapered waist that expanded to a set of broad shoulders, not to mention the biceps that could crush your head. "Oh, wow," you said involuntarily, the intrusive thoughts escaping your mind.

"Like what you see, doll?" he asked cockily, flexing one of his huge biceps for you.

"Yeah... I do like, me likey," you said, still entranced by his frame.

"I told you I wasn't one of those little boys you've been hanging around, doll--I know what I'm doin'." He put his bicep down and then dipped his head back to your puckered hole, and you couldn't help but tense up a little. You tried to close your thighs out of embarrassment, but he easily pried them open with his two big hands. "Enough hidin' baby, enough of that coy shit. I already made you cum on my fingers, right? Now, I'm gonna make you cum on my tongue."

Before you could say anything, he latched his mouth to your hole, the sensation immediately making you squeak. "Fuck~!" You gasped, the wet muscle licking a stripe up your anus.

"It's time to enjoy my meal," he gruffed before diving in fully, his face disappearing into your anal cavity.

Toji wasn't lying--he really wasn't, because when he said he'd make you lose your mind, you were doing just that. "Fuck... oh, fuck, T-Toji~" you sighed, relaxing into his ministrations. You've had your ass eaten before, but the skill and tenacity with which he ate you out was 10 times more pleasurable than those other times.

The more he licked and flicked, the more moans you moaned. You were writhing about, your hands gripping both the sheets and his hair in delicious agony. It was like you were a virgin, touched for the very first time by this experienced, older man. "Fuck~!" You squealed, not knowing what else to do but enjoy it. Every time your gaze would wander back to Toji, the sight of his biceps curled and his broad shoulders supporting your legs made your stomach flutter. He was just so incredibly attractive in every way, and his oral skills were just that: incredibly attractive.

"I'm gonna- I'm gonna c-cum soon, fuck--I've never been pushed to the edge so quickly!" You admitted between breathy moans, still grinding your ass against his face.

"Yeah? You're gonna cum already?" he asked in between licks and slurps, "hah, you're already such a whore for ol' Toji, and he hasn't even fucked you with his cock." He gave your thigh a firm slap before diving back in again. You could see the enjoyment in his verdant eyes, and it only made you lose your mind that much quicker.

Soon enough, the words and quips escaping your mouth lessened in favor of the moans & whimpers that took their rightful places. He was loving every second of this--both your heavenly moans and taste on his tongue were just perfect. He could feel himself losing it, his tongue devouring you like a feral animal that needed taming.

"Fuck... so fucking delicious, baby... you've been keeping this taste from me for how long?" he asked in between sucks. "I'm never lettin' go of ya now, not when you taste so perfect."

You were mindlessly moaning and nodding your head to everything he said, no longer able to resist the sweet temptation of losing yourself in his mouth. "Yeah~ yeah, Toji, f-fuck yeah~!" the man could've asked to marry you right then and there and you wouldn't have registered it, that was how insane he drove you.

If he could use his tongue on you so expertly, how would you fare taking his cock?

He chuckled into your sweet, plush ass, now stroking your cock gently. "Jus' keep those pretty moans comin', baby, and I'll give you everything you want."

By then, you didn't know how long it had been since he'd started eating your ass. It could've been 10 minutes, an hour or ten hours--numbers were no longer a thing in your mind. You knew he had an experience with pleasuring women, but you didn't know he'd be such an eater! It was like the more he ate, the more he craved. His appetite simply couldn't be quenched. Toji, himself, also took note of how he was losing himself in you, but he just couldn't stop. You were too sweet for your own good, and someone would have to enjoy it. He noticed how your thighs were trembling like an earthquake from the intensity of it all, and he gave you an apologetic stare & retracted his lips temporarily (still fingering you).

"'m sorry, doll, but you're just too sweet... I've gotta have more of this," he panted before diving in again.

All you could give in response was a pathetic whine and a moan.

"Losin' your mind so quickly?" he jested in between swipes of your hole. "Like a cute lil' virgin," he hummed before diving in again, burying his face in your engorged hole. "Fuck.. need more... gotta have some more of you... you don't mind, do you?" Before you could even make a sound, he grabbed your hips and held them up with his strong hands, dipping his tongue even deeper if that was even humanly possible.

You let out a loud, high-pitched moan when he did this. How could it be that his tongue was already reaching your sweet spot?! "F-F-Fuck, Toji, please!!" You gasped, writhing about when he mounted your hips in the air.

"Please what, doll?" he taunted you in between sucks.

"P-Please, just make me cum already--I c-can't take this pleasure anymore!!"

"The little princess wants to cum, eh?" he chuckled lowly, making your cheeks heat up out of embarrassment. "Alright, alright... I guess I'll stop torturin' ya." He shifted the weight of your body to one of his hands & his strong arm, and he moved the other hand to start stroking your cock.

When his hand made contact around your cock, that was when all hell broke loose inside of your body. "Tojiii~!!" You squealed, bucking your hips while being held in mid-air, "Toji, Toji, Toji, T-Toji- I can't- I'm fucking c-cum-"

It was laughably cute how you desperately, needly jerked your hips into his hand, practically doing all the work for him. Your cum shot out in spurts, the milky-white substance landing on your tits, the perfect decoration for a pretty girl like you.

"That's it, there you go--thereee you go, pretty," he encouraged you, removing his mouth from your abused anus. "Cumming so much for me... fuck, you're just precious, baby. So fuckin' precious." He cooed and coaxed you with his words, guiding you through your second orgasm & its aftershocks.

When you finally came to and opened your eyes to look at him, his face was a few inches from yours, and he was carefully watching your reactions. "There you are, doll," he crooned, cupping your cheek gently. "Now, how was that for being eaten?" he asked with a cocky chuckle. One of his hands moved closer to your lips, and he stuck his thumb inside just to see what would happen. "Look at you," he rasped. "Even when you're reelin' from an orgasm, you're still so eager to please." He stuck his thumb further into your mouth just for the fun of it before retracting.

"Never been eaten like that before," you admitted with flushed cheeks.

"That's because you've never been with a real man before," he chuckled, patting your cheek before sitting up again. "Speaking of real men, I believe you've got a little present waitin' for ya." His hands moved to the hem of his pants, and he undid the buckle of his belt. "You're in for a real doozy if you came that hard on my fingers," he warned you, watching as your brows furrowed in confusion and fear.

"What're you..." you quickly realized just what he meant when he unbuckled his pants and shimmied out of them. The tent in his boxers was...

Massive.

You wondered what kind of monster he was hiding in there. Sure, you weren't a virgin--but you might as well have been one to Toji. He grabbed the waistband of his boxers and looked at you intently, watching your every reaction: "you ready, doll?"

Before you could answer that, he pulled his boxers down and let the Goliath of his cock spring free. And what you saw only confirmed your suspicions.

"Oh my god," was all you said.

His cock was massive, just like the rest of him. It was a good 9-inches, girthy, and was leaking precum like crazy onto the sheets. "Sorry 'bout that," he said in mock apology when his precum made a mess on the sheets. His cock had an angry red tip and one big vein up the side, and the sheer thickness of it was a doozy.

"How the fuck is that supposed to fit inside of me?" you asked out of panic. You were eager to have sex with the man, sure, but you weren't eager to be sent to the hospital.

"With plenty of lube and preparation, of course." He reached over to the nightstand and saw what kind of stuff they had in there. Luckily for your poor little hole, they had different bottles of lubricant as well as condoms for all shapes & sizes (including Magnum XXL). He took out the biggest size option and ripped open the plastic. He rolled it onto his cock before looking at you, and the fear in your eyes made him soften up for a moment. "What's the matter, doll? Are you scared of me or somethin'?"

"I'm not scared of you; I'm scared of your cock," you clarified, still eyeing the huge meat that he was packing.

He let out a chuckle before slicking some lube onto his cock. "Doll, don't worry; I've done this plenty of times before. My ex-wife was actually a virgin when we first got together, and we had a son together."

"I guess you're right..."

He set the jokes aside and cupped your chin again. "What I'm saying is that you don't gotta worry about anything, doll. I'm good at making women feel good, and that includes women like you. We'll ease into it as slowly as you want and you can take as much time as you need. All I want is for the two of us to enjoy ourselves." He leaned in to press a kiss to your lips, quelling any further worries. "I really, really like you, (Y/N). I'd never do anything to hurt you. You trust me, right?"

You nodded shakily once you parted lips.

"Good, because that's all I want," he added with a comforting smile. "I want this to lead somewhere, y'know? And what good would it do me to hurt you?" He trailed kisses down your neck and gave your breast a reaffirming squeeze. "Just you wait, baby. Once the initial stretch is out of the way, you're gonna feel so fuckin' amazing."

You smiled softly at Toji, still nervous but confident that you were gonna have a great time with him. "I trust you, Toji. I trust your abilities."

"That's a good girl," he rumbled in response. He coated his fingers in lubricant and stuck them inside of you, the cold feeling making you yelp and squirm. "Sorry 'bout that, doll, I just wanted to make sure you were all slippery and ready f'me." After wiping the excess on his thigh, he grabbed ahold of his lubed up cock & started moving it towards your entrance. "Spread those legs, baby... yeah, that's it. You follow orders so well," he praised, grabbing your thigh and pinning it back with his hand. "Okay, here it goes... just hold onto me, pretty girl, hold onto my back."

You were nervous, oh-so nervous about what was to come. You knew it was gonna hurt, you knew it'd be uncomfortable at first, but yet you were still determined to take it because you knew you could. After all, surely it wouldn't hurt that bad, right?

Wrong.

When you felt the head of his cock pierce your hole, your eyes immediately shot open and you felt a pain in your butt. "Ah~!" your initial moan of pain was quite high-pitched, and he winced at the thought of the initial stretch. Slowly but surely, Toji slid more & more of his cock into your ass, gritting his teeth the entire time. You, meanwhile, were whimpering in pain, whining from how bad it hurt. "Toji, Toji, p-please--I can't take it-"

"C'mon, baby, you've got this. Just breathe 'n hold onto me, okay? You're doing so well, sooo fuckin' well," he crooned into your ear, kissing away the tears of pain that flowed down your cheeks.

"Please, Toji, it hurts!"

"I know it hurts, I know--but you're almost there, see? We're past the halfway point already. C'mon, you're a big girl, you can handle it. Just... just lemme slide... oh, fuck-" the feeling of your tight ass around his cock was just heavenly. It was unlike anything he's ever felt before. Any mouth that sucked him, any pussy that took him couldn't even compare to this overflow of sensation that he was feeling. It was like angels were caressing him, like the softest pillow in existence. "Oh, fucking fuck," he panted, desperately resisting the urge to just shove it all in there and take your pleasure for himself. "Just... just a little bit more... hah- are you tryin' to choke me or somethin'?"

"No, I swear! It's just, it hurts so good, god you're so fucking big, Toji!!" And there it was: that spongy spot that drove the two of you wild. Once the tip of his cock pierced it, all those whines and pained cries were replaced by sheer, unabashed pleasure. The combination of the fading pain & the incoming waves of pleasure and heaven were enough to make you scream out his name: "Tojiii, fuuuck!!"

"Jesus christ... oh my god," he rasped, throwing his head back at the delicious constriction. "You feel so, so, so amazing." He moved his head back to look at you, and his eyes widened by how deliciously erotic the scene was. You, underneath him, your face the unbridled image of pleasure, and that yummy belly bulge that showed where his cock was hitting you. "Fuck, I'm hitting you that deep? Hahh, if there was any chance of me letting you go, that chance was just wiped away! Just lemme... fuck," he gasped when he retracted his cock slowly but surely, dragging every inch against your anal walls.

When he plunged his cock back inside of you, you could see stars painted on the ceiling above you. "I... can't... it feels too good... m-making me lose my mind-" you said in between gasps.

"Too good? Too good?" he was slowly starting to pick up steam, rocking his hips back and forth. "Just wait 'til you get adjusted to me, because I'm gonna make you see the whole fucking galaxy."

As Toji gradually began to pick up speed, your nails dug into his muscular back, raking it down, making his back all but red. "Fuck~ fuck~ fuck~ fuck~" you whimpered in between thrusts, your eyes going half-lidded and your jaw going slack.

"Yeahhhh, there you go, doll," he panted, "just keep tellin' me how amazing you're feeling, and I'll make you feel even better."

The more he thrusted into you, the dirtier your moans became. You were now reduced to nothing but a moany, whiny puddle with your hands going to his back and holding on for dear life. Toji was also in a similar state to you, thrusting into you like a madman who needed you to survive.

"Fuck... shit, doll, you're so fuckin' warm n' heavenly--are you trying to make me addicted to you? Because it's workin, baby girl," he rasped, dipping his head to where yours laid and whispering dirty nothings into your ear.

After you let out a few whiny, incoherent moans, you were able to babble: "W-Want you, Toji--want you to keep fucking me like this!"

"Yeah? You want me to fuck you like this? Or, maybe," he grabbed your legs, threw them over his shoulders & folded you like a pretzel, "like this?" This change in position allowed the tip of his meaty cock to pierce your spongy spot, making you moan like an idiot with each ministration. Each stroke was designed to ruin you, each word was spoken to make your knees like jelly, and each look he casted you was filled with his love.

"C'mon, baby, look at me, talk to me," he crooned, trying to get your attention again. He gently grabbed your cheeks and turned your head to face him, his jade eyes seeking the affirmations within yours. "Look at me... I wanna see those pretty eyes of 'yers."

When you refused to look at him out of sheer embarrassment from the moans & whimpers you let out, he grabbed your chin with his hand and forced you to look at him. "Look at me, angel, look at me while I fuck you like this."

"I'm l-looking- I'm looking!!"

"Good... god, angel do you know how fucking gorgeous you look right now? All vulnerable and splayed out for ol' Toji here? God, it's been ages since I've had pussy like this--I didn't even know it could feel so fucking good!" he exclaimed, a light snarl making its way out of his mouth.

"Never had dick like yours, d-daddy!" you squealed, somehow still able to talk, even after the man just started making your insides mush.

'Daddy?' he asked himself. Did you really just call him daddy?

"W-What was that?" he asked, his eyes blown wide from the term.

"I said... fuck~ I've never had dick like yours, daddy!!" you said with more vigor. "Never had such a long, g-girthy dick like yours--it's so fucking incredible, I'm drooling n' making such a big fucking mess on this bed!!"

He felt something snap inside of him when you called him daddy for the second time. It was like the tightrope that he was walking on snapped finally, and all the pent-up frustration and lust inside of him was going haywire.

"Daddy? Daddy?" he repeated, this time in a mocking tone of voice. "Oh, ohhh, so I'm your daddy now, huh?" the sudden change of demeanor made your belly churn in equal parts fear & excitement. You could see the beast inside of him slowly coming out, his green eyes becoming a jaded, darker color. "Answer me, you slut: am I your daddy? Yes or no!" he slapped the inside of your thigh harshly, making you yelp in pain.

"Yeah, y-you're m'daddy-"

"That's more like it, that's what I wanna hear. I bet you have a nice, big kink for letting older men like me have their way with you, fucking your brains out n' stuffing you like a creampie--or am I the only one who's churned you like butter?" with each thrust, each question posed, he let out another snarl, almost like a feral wolf in heat.

"Oh, I am sooo gonna destroy you now, you little slut. I mean, just look at the way you're lookin' at me right now, I bet you wore that slutty lil' lingerie set of yours earlier so you could get the ever-loving shit fucked out of you, huh? Huh?" he slapped your thigh again & again, his large red hand leaving a print on the fat. "Answer me when I ask you questions!!"

"Y-Yes!" you admitted finally, "I wore that lingerie set so I could get the shit... fucked out of me!! God, I've been waiting for this day for ages, the day when I'd finally find someone who could ruin me!!"

He let out a dark laugh, stuffing two fingers down your throat & making you gag. "You fucking whore, you're a fucking whore, aren't ya? A whore for big dicks, eh? I bet I've already turned you into my whore, haven't I, angel?"

You nodded while gagging on his fingers, the tears of pleasure and pain falling down your cheeks. Here you were, getting completely slutted out, drilled into this mattress by a guy who was 10 years your senior, and you were in heaven. You had no idea that meeting up with someone you met online could lead to the most mind-numbing, toe-curling sex imaginable, but you were so fucking glad to have taken the leap.

"Enough talking from you, whore," he sneered, adding a third finger to your mouth & making you drool. "I'm gonna show you how good it feels to be turned into a fleshlight."

By the time the words registered inside of your head, you were already long gone. The combination of his fingers down your throat, the dirty degradation & praise he was spewing into your ear, and the feeling of his cock piercing your spongy spot relentlessly made your mind break, and you were only one round in. With Toji's endless, stallion-like stamina, you were no doubt gonna be fucked in all sorts of positions & ways.

A week ago, you wouldn't have recognized the girl who you'd been turned into. You probably would've been embarrassed of yourself at that. But any girl or guy would've been jealous of you if they saw how good the pipe was.

"Fuck~! Fuck~! Fuck~!" was all that you were able to say as the man demolished you (with your approval, of course). You'd never cum so fast in your life, but you could feel that familiar bubble building up in you--only it was a good 10 times more intense than the last time you had sex with a guy. Maybe it was the deep dish dick that he gave you, or maybe it was the insane chemistry that you and him had, but it was coming to you like a freight train.

He could feel your tight little anus clenching down on his cock repeatedly, and he knew that you were gonna cum quickly. "Awww, is my lil' angel gonna cum?" he asked mockingly, to which you nodded. "I shouldn't even let ya cum after seeing how much of a whore you are, but you've been sooo good to my dick that I just have to reward you."

He leaned down to kiss the side of your face & whispered: "go ahead, princess, cum for me. Cum on daddy's dick, n' I'll stuff ya full of his seed." He even rubbed your cock just so you could cum sooner.

And just like that, you came all over yourself & his hand. It was a pretty sight to see, the milky white fluid shooting out of your tip like an uncontrollable, unstable geyser, and you couldn't stop the "Toji~!"s and "daddy~!"s from leaving your lips--not that either of you wanted that to stop.

Toji just chuckled & watched you ride out your orgasm on his dick. "Fuck... just look at you, baby, you're a work of art. If we weren't strangers, I woulda snapped a pic o' this view and made it my lockscreen, but we aren't there yet?"

As you came down from your high, you looked at him hazily in confusion. "Wha...? Whaddya mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow. "I'm keeping ya around, pet. What, you thought that this was some one-time, one-night stand?" he scoffed, shaking his head.

"I'm not letting go of your sweet ass until my hands can't physically do so anymore."

Toji promptly fucked you in every single position imaginable, orgasm after orgasm spewing from the tip of your overstimulated penis. Missionary, doggy, cowgirl, spooning, reverse cowgirl, the spread-eagle--the mating press was your personal favorite because you got to feel every ounce of that man on top of you.

By the time you were able to register what was happening, you'd already came... however many times you came, and you were currently getting pistoned into in the full nelson. He had your ankles next to your head, your soft, squishy body propped up against his shredded & muscular frame, and his huge cock lodged deep inside of you.

"Fuck... fuck... fuck," he panted, still thrusting after all this time. "You can take another load, right, doll? Well, it don't matter anyway; you're taking my seed until my balls empty out."

"Toji... p-please," you whimpered, so overstimulated that you could barely keep conscious. "Had enough..."

"Oh, you can take another. You're a big girl, right?" he patted your thigh mockingly and went back to holding your ankle up, making sure that you were at his mercy. "So overstuffed you might just burst, hm?" he cooed, kissing next to your ear. "I just love making pretty girls like you into total sluts."

You went back to lolling your head to the side, your jaw open as the moans escaped your lips.

"Fuck... think 'm gonna-" before he could finish that sentence, he dumped yet another thick & heavy load into your hole. You let out a weak whimper and curled your toes, the feeling stimulating you yet again. Your eye trailed over to him when you realized that he wasn't thrusting anymore, and you could see that he was panting heavily.

"Toji...?"

"I think I've dumped every ounce of seed into ya, doll," he chuckled breathlessly, throwing his head back in victory. "N' you managed to do it without tapping out, too. I'm proud of ya for taking all of this--most girls can't even manage a fourth round before tapping out."

You didn't say anything, instead falling back onto his body weakly. "So tired," you mumbled against his meaty pec.

"I know you are," he crooned, running a hand through your hair and smiling at your fucked-out form. "You really took it all like a champ, angel. I'm truly proud of you."

Taking all of his pipe & his seed should've earn you a trophy.

"Thankyou," you slurred, still resting your head on his chest. "Think I'm gonna... rest here for a little while."

"Me, too, doll," he sighed, stretching his arm out to wrap around your shoulders. He leaned in, pressing a few kisses to your sweaty forehead, looking at you with every ounce of love he had in his body. "You know I didn't mean any of that shit about you being a slut, right?"

"Mm..."

"That's how I get when I'm caught up in the moment," he chuckled, now nuzzling his lips there. "You're just the most beautiful girl in the world," he remarked, still gazing at you fondly. "It's a wonder you're still available. Then again, not many can handle a girl like you, can they?"

You were slowly drifting off to sleep in his arms, the love hotel's bed surprisingly comfy for your weak form. "Hey... you're not gonna... run off in the morning, right? Like all the rest?"

"Are you kiddin' me?" he scoffed, the notion of him being a guy like that ridiculous to him. "I'm not an asshole, doll. I've got the most beautiful girl in the world resting in my arms. Ain't no way I'm gonna make the mistake of letting you go so quickly, no ma'am. When I meant I wasn't gonna leave you alone, I meant it."

By then, he realized that you had fallen asleep, and he gave you a soft smile. "So fuckin' pretty when you're relaxed, doll..." he whispered, pressing more soft kisses to your forehead. He moved his arm from your shoulder to your waist and was now cradling your petite frame to his burly one.

"You're not like the others on that website, are you?" he asked both you and himself. "You're an angel amongst men... you don't belong there. You deserve the world, n' I hope you'll let me give it to you. Hell, I hope I can even give you what you deserve." He, too, felt a little weary, but he stayed awake just to watch your sleeping form.

"You deserve heaven, angel."

I'M PART OF THE SOFT!TOJI AGENDA!!! I wanted to give the reader a comforting ending, just in case someone was stuck in a bad situation w/ an asshole 🥹 I also kinda went overboard on the smut but I made the ending as fluffy as possible! I'm not proofreading this btw.

#toji zenin #toji fushiguro #toji smut #jjk toji #toji x reader #jjk x reader #jjk smut

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aspenmissing · 1 year ago

Text

𝙷𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝙼𝚊𝚗 (𝙿𝚝 𝟷)

Sam is on a payphone, and Y/N and Dean are sitting at a table outside the café.

"Alright, thank you for your time." He hangs up and walks back to the table where Dean is working on the laptop, and Y/N is drinking her milkshake, looking at the screen.

"Your, uh, half-caf, a double vanilla latte is gettin' cold over here, Francis."

"Bite me." Sam sits down.

"So, anything?" Y/N asks. Sam shakes his head.

"I had 'em check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."

"Sam, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think Dad wants to be found." Sam looks disappointed. "Check this out." Dean shows Sam and Y/N an article on the computer. "It's a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about a hundred miles from here.

"The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road," Sam reads.

"Keep reading."

"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible."

"Could there be something interesting?" Y/N says.

"Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked-out witness who didn't see anything? That doesn't mean it's the invisible man," Sam says.

"But what if it is? Dad would check it out."

Y/N pulls up at the fraternity, and the three get out of the car. The frat brothers are confused.

"Once more time, why are we here?" Sam asks.

"The victim lived here," Dean replies. They walk up to some guys fixing a car.

"Nice wheels." They look at Y/N strangely. She then points to Sam and Dean with her thumbs. "These two are your fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We're new in town. Transfers. Looking for a place to stay." She grins. "Sadly, not me, though, boys, already set up shop somewhere else."

Sam, Y/N, and Dean walk up to a doorway to see a shirtless frat boy in yellow shorts and painting his face and body purple. The three knocked on the door.

"Who are you?"

"We're your new roommates." Dean smiles and walks over to the boy. He points back to Y/N. "Not her, of course; sorry to break your hopes there." The boy holds the brush and paint can out to Y/N.

"Do me a favour? Get my back. Big game today." He looks at me sweetly. She points to Sam.

"He's the artist. Things he can do with a brush." Sam, mortified, takes the brush and cans. Dean sits on a chair and picks up a magazine. Y/N looks around.

"So... Murphy. Is it true?" Dean says.

"What?"

"We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week."

"Yeah," Murph replies sadly.

"What happened?" Y/N asks.

"They're saying something psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter is passing through. Rich was a good guy."

"Rich was with somebody?"

"Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen."

"Who's Lori Sorensen?" Y/N asks.

"You missed a spot. Just down there, on the back." Dean says, looking at Sam, who looks annoyed while Dean grins. Y/N smacks Dean's arm.

"Lori's a freshman. She's a local. Super-hot. And get this: she's a reverend's daughter."

"You wouldn't happen to know which church, would you?"

"Our hearts go out to the family of a young man who perished. And my personal prayers of thanks go out as well, because I believe he died trying to protect my daughter. And now, as time heals all our wounds, we should reflect on what this tragedy means. To us, as a church." Sam, Dean, and Y/N enter, and the door slams. The congregation goes silent and turns to look at them. "As a community, and as a family, The loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings." The three sit down. A young female stares at Sam, and he smiles weakly at her. "So, please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children." Everybody bows their heads in prayer, except Dean. Sam elbows him, and Dean, noticing everyone else, does the same.

Sam, Y/N, and Dean walk up to the young girl, who had stared at Sam.

"Are you Lori?" Sam asks.

"Yeah," she replies.

"My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean. And my sister, Y/N." The twins wave.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"We just transferred here to the university."

"I saw you inside," she says.

"We don't want to bother you. We just heard about what happened, and"

"We wanted to say how sorry we were," Dean says, Y/N nodding.

"I kind of know what you're going through. I-I saw someone get hurt once. It's something you don't forget." Lori nods slightly as the reverend walks up to them.

"Dad, um, this is Sam, Dean, and Y/N. They're new students." Dean shakes the reverend's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon."

"Thank you very much. It's so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord's message." Y/N chuckles.

"Listen, uh, we're new to town, actually." She and Dean led the reverend away from Sam and Lori. "And, uh, we were looking for a, um, a church group."

They walk into the library, then walk down one of the sections and stop.

"Do you believe her?" Dean asks.

"I do," Y/N replies.

"Yeah, I think she's hot, too."

"No, man, there's something in her eyes. And listen to this: she heard scratching on the roof. I found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car."

"Wait, is the body suspended? That sounds like the"

"Yeah, I know, the Hook Man legend."

"That's one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don't think that we're dealing with the Hook Man," Y/N says.

"Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began."

"Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches, the tyre punctures, and the invisible killer?"

"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn't a man at all. What if it's some kind of spirit?"

The three are sitting at a table in the library. The librarian places a few big boxes in front of them.

"Thanks," Dean says.

"Ok," the librarian says and walks away.

"So, this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?" Y/N says, sighing.

"Welcome to higher education." They begin to read.

Hours later, Dean and Sam are still reading. Y/N, on the other hand, had crossed her arms on the table and fallen asleep.

"Hey, check this out," Sam says. Dean shakes Y/N's arm, causing her to wake up. The two then go over to Sam, who's reading a book. "A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. It looks like he was so angry over the red-light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, some of the deceased were found in their beds, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh." Dean looks at another page.

"Get this, the murder weapon? It looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook?" Y/N points to another page.

"Look where all this happened." Dean reads it.

"9 Mile Road."

"Same place where the frat boy was killed." Sam adds.

"Nice job, Dr. Venkmen. Let's check it out," Dean says as Sam gathers all the research and they leave."

Dean, Sam, and Y/N drive up 9 Mile Road and get out of the car. Dean opens the trunk and hands Y/N a rifle.

"Here you go."

"If it is a spirit, buckshot won't do much good."

"Yeah, rock salt," Y/N says.

"Huh. Salt being a spirit deterrent." Dean takes out a coil of rope and shuts the trunk.

"Yeah. It won't kill them. But it'll slow 'em down," Y/N says as they start walking towards the trees.

"That's pretty good. You, Dean, and Dad, think of this."

"No, just Dean and Dad," Y/N says.

"I told you. You don't have to be a college graduate to be a genius," Dean replies. They hear noises among the trees and stop walking. Y/N raises her gun and looks around.

"Over there. Over there," Dean whispers. Y/N aims the gun and cocks it. A figure comes out from behind the trees. It's a sheriff.

"Put the gun down now! Now! Put your hands behind your head."

"W-w-wait, okay, okay!"

"Now get down on your knees. Come on, do it! On your knees!" They get down. "Now get down on your bellies. Come on, do it!"

"She had the gun!" They lay down.

"Gee! Thanks a lot, Dean!"

Sam, Dean, and Y/N are leaving the sheriff's department.

"Save your asses! I talked the sheriff down to a fine. Dude, I am Matlock," Dean says.

"But how?" Sam asks.

"I told him you were a dumbass pledge and that we were hazing you."

"What about the shotgun?" Y/N asks.

"I said that you were hunting ghosts, and the spirits were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical Hell Week prank," Dean replies.

"And he believed you?" Sam asks.

"Well, you look like a dumbass pledge, and Y/N looks like someone who would do it anyway." Seconds later, several sheriffs run out of the building and speed away in police cars. Sam, Dean, and Y/N exchange a look.

Lori is wrapped in a blanket and sitting in the back of a parked ambulance. Sam, Dean, and Y/N drive by and look at her.

"I just want to take her home."

"I understand that, Reverend. But Lori's now connected to two murders, and I can't ignore that."

"Listen to me. Arrest her now, or let me take her home." The sheriff thinks about it for a second.

"Make sure she's available for questioning."

"Thank you." He walks over to Lori. "Sweetheart, are you ready to go home?" She stands up and starts walking with him. Dean, Sam, and Y/N park their car on another street. They get out and walk around to the back of Lori's sorority.

"Why would the Hook Man come here? This is a long way from 9 Mile Road," Sam says.

"Maybe he's not haunting the scene of his crime. Maybe it's about something else," Y/N says. Two sorority girls come out the side entrance of the building, but they don't see Sam, Y/N, and Dean. Sam and Dean lean against the side of the house next to some bushes to hide. "Dude, sorority girls! Think we'll see a naked pillow fight?" Dean and Y/N turn around and see Sam trying to climb onto the balcony of the house. Dean helps him up and then climbs up himself, followed by Y/N. Once they are up there, they sneak into Lori's window. Dean seems to fall on top of Sam by getting in the window.

"Oh, sorry!" Then Y/N comes in, falling on top of the two.

"Ow~"

"Be quiet," Sam says.

"You be quiet!"

"You be quiet!" Y/N puts her hands over their mouths.

"Shut up. Someone's coming." She shoves the two into Lori's walk-in closet just as a sheriff enters. Minutes later, Sam opens the door slightly and sees another sheriff leaving the bedroom. Sam waits until the sheriff goes downstairs and then opens the closet door. Once in Lori's bedroom, Sam, Dean, and Y/N see the writing on the wall.

"Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light? That's right out of the legend," Sam says.

"Yeah, that's classic Hook Man all right," Y/N says, scrunching her nose. "It's a spirit."

"Yeah, I've never smelled ozone this strong before," Dean says, moving over to the window. "Hey, come here." Dean walks over to Sam and Y/N. Sam points to the cross symbol beneath the writing. "Does that look familiar to you?"

Dean, Sam, and Y/N are sitting by the car looking at a picture of the cross symbol that they found during their research.

"It's the same symbol. It seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns," Sam says.

"All right, let's find the dude's grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down."

"After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave," Sam reads. The three look annoyed.

"Super," Dean says.

"Ok. So, we know it's Jacob Karns. But we still don't know where he'll manifest next. Or why."

"I'll take a wild guess about why. I think your little friend Lori has something to do with this." They get in the car.

A while later, the three are at a college party. Dean and Y/N walk up to Sam.

"Hey."

"Man, you've been holding out on me. This college thing is awesome!" Dean says this as he winks and smiles at a passing girl.

"If I knew it was this cool, then I would have left for college a long time ago," Y/N says while looking at a boy up and down, smiling.

"This wasn't my experience."

"Let me guess. Libraries, studying, straight A's." Sam nods.

"What a geek! Alright, you do your homework." Y/N asks.

"Yeah. It was bugging me, right? So how is the Hook Man tied up with Lori? So I think I came up with something," Sam says, unravelling a piece of paper.

"1932. A clergyman was arrested for murder. 1967. Seminarian held in hippie rampage," Dean reads.

"There's a pattern here. In both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immorality. And then he found himself wanted for killings he claimed were the work of an invisible force. Killings carried out—get this—with a sharp instrument."

"What's the connection to Lori?" Y/N asks.

"A man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality?" Dean and Y/N suddenly understand. "Except maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he's just trying to save his only daughter."

"Reverend Sorensen. You think he's summoning the spirit?"

"Maybe. Or, you know how a poltergeist can haunt a person instead of a place?" Sam says.

"Yeah, the spirit latches onto the reverend's repressed emotions and feeds off them, yeah, okay."

"Without the reverent ever even knowing it."

"Either way, you should keep an eye on Lori tonight." Sam nods.

"What about you two?" Sam asks. Dean looks at an attractive blond smiling at him by the pool table.

"We're going to go see if we can find that unmarked grave," Y/N replies. Dean looks at the blond again, shakes his head in disappointment, and walks away, followed by Y/N.

#older sister winchester #Supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fandom #reader insert

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layce2015 · 2 years ago

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Supernatural (Dean Winchester x Female!Reader)

Hook Man

Previous Chapter / First Chapter / Next Chapter

Dean and I were sitting at a table at an outdoor café while Sam was on the payphone nearby. Dean was working on a laptop while I was drinking my coffee then Sam walks back over to us. "Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin’ cold over here, Francis." I said to him. "Bite me." Sam said as he sits down. I stick my tongue out at him and he shakes his head but I see he is smiling.

"So, anything?" Dean asked Sam. Sam shakes his head and said. "I had ‘em check the FBI’s Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe’s fitting Dad’s description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."

"Sam, I’m tellin’ ya, I don’t think Dad wants to be found." Dean said and Sam looks down, disappointed. I frown then patted his arm and he nods, appreciatevly, to me. "Check this out." Dean said then he shows us an article on the computer about a guy's death.

"It’s a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It’s only about a hundred miles from here." He said and we read the article.

“The mutilated body was found near the victim’s car, parked on 9 Mile Road.” I read. "Keep reading." Dean said and I look over the article. “Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible.” I read then raise an eyebrow at Dean.

"Could be something interesting." Dean said, shrugging.

"Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked out witness who didn’t see anything? Doesn’t mean it’s the Invisible Man." Sam said, slightly annoyed. "But what if it is? Dad would check it out." Dean said and Sam looks at his brother then at me.

****

Later, we pull up to a fraternity then get out of the car as some frat brothers look at us confused but some of them look at me, their eyes roaming over me. I look at the boys and smiled at them and wink, flirtatiously, at them. I look over back at Sam and Dean, who I noticed narrowing his eyes at the frat boys.

"One more time, why are we here?" Sam asked Dean. "Victim lived here." Dean said as we walk up to some guys fixing a car.

"Nice wheels." Dean said and they look at him strangely. "We’re your fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We’re new in town. Transfers. Looking for a place to stay." Dean said as he gestures between him and Sam then he grins.

"Who are you?" One of the boys asked him. "We’re your new roommates." Dean said then smiles. "And what about you, sweetheart?" One of the boys asked me.

"I'm a transfer as well. But I'm just hanging around these two as they're my friends back in Ohio." I replied to them as Dean walks up to one of the boys, who was holding up a brush and paint.

"Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today." The boy said.

"He’s the artist. Things he can do with a brush." Dean said as he points at Sam, who looks mortified. But he takes the brush and can as Dean sits on a chair and picks up a magazine.

"So....Murph. Is it true?" I asked him as I walk up to the guy. "What?" He said, shocked. "We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week." I said and he looks down. "Yeah." He said, sadly.

"What happened?" Dean asked him. "They’re saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy." Murph replied.

"Rich....he was with somebody?" Sam asked as he continues to paint his back. "Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen." Murph said.

"Who’s Lori Sorensen?" Dean asked then looks over at Sam. "You missed a spot. Just down there on the back." He said while Sam looks at him, annoyed. Dean grins and I rolled my eyes as I turn to Murph.

"Lori’s a freshman. She’s a local. Super hot. And get this: she’s a reverend’s daughter." Murph said and I shake my head. "You wouldn’t happen to know which church, would ya?" Dean asked the boy.

****

Later, we pull up to the church and enter the inside of the building. We go and sit down and a girl, which I assume is Lori, stares at Sam, and he smiles weakly at her. "So, please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children." The preacher said and everyone bows their head in prayer, including me and Sam, except Dean. I elbow him, and Dean, noticing everyone else, does the same.

After the service, the boys and I make our way over to Lori. "Are you Lori?" I asked her. "Yeah." She said as she looks between the three of us. "My name is (y/n). This is Sam and his brother brother, Dean." I introduced as I gesture towards the boys. "Hi." The boys said as Dean waves at her.

"We just transferred here to the university." Sam said and she nods. "I saw you inside." She said. "We don’t wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and..." Sam started to say but Dean talks over her.

"We wanted to say how sorry we were." Dean said. "I kind of know what you’re going through. I-I saw someone..get hurt once. It’s something you don’t forget." Sam said and Lori nods slightly as the Reverend walks up to us.

"Dad, um, this is (y/n), Sam and Dean. They’re new students." Lori introduced and Dean shakes the reverend’s hand. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon." Dean said. "Thank you very much. It’s so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord’s message." He said and Dean chuckles.

"Listen, uh, we’re new in town, actually." Dean said and leads the Reverend away from Sam, Lori and I. "And, uh, we were looking for a, um, a church group." He said before they leave then Sam and I turn to Lori.

"Tell us, Lori. What are the police saying?" Sam asked her as we walk with her. "Well, they don’t have a lot to go on. I think they blame me for that." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked her. "My story. I was so scared, I guess I was seeing things." She said and we stop walking. "That doesn’t mean it wasn’t real." Sam said and him and Lori look at each other for a few seconds then she starts to explain it to us.

****

"So you guys believe her?" Dean asked us as we come up to the library. "I do." Sam said. "Yeah, I think she’s hot, too." Dean said and I roll my eyes. "No, man, there’s something in her eyes. And listen to this: she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car." I said to him, slightly annoyed.

"Wait, the body suspended? That sounds like the—" Dean said and I nod as Sam said. "Yeah, I know, the Hook Man legend."

"That’s one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don’t think that we’re dealing with the Hook Man." Dean said and I shrug. "Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began." I said to him. "Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?" Dean asked.

"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn’t a man at all. What if it’s some kind of spirit?" Sam suggested.

****

Later, we were at a table in the library when the librarian places a few big boxes in front of us. "Here you go. Arrest records going back to 1851." She said as Dean blows some dust off a box and coughs. "Thanks." He said to her. "Ok." She said and she walks away.

"So, this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?" Dean asked Sam. "Welcome to higher education." Sam said and we begin reading.

****

"Hey, check this out. 1862." I said, hours after looking through the books. "A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, some of the deceased were found in their bed, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh." I read to them and Dean looks at another page.

"Get this, the murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook." He said and Sam points to another page.

"Look where all this happened." He said and Dean and I read it.

"9 Mile Road." Dean and I said in unison.

"Same place where the frat boy was killed." Sam said and I smiled and patted his shoulder as Dean looks at him, impressed. "Nice job, Dr. Venkmen. Let’s check it out." Dean said and we gather all the research and we leave.

****

We drive up to 9 Mile Road and get out of the car. Dean opens the trunk and hands Sam and I a rifle. "Here you go." He said. "If it is a spirit, buckshot won’t do much good." Sam said. "Yeah, rock salt." Dean said and he hands it to us.

"Huh. Salt being a spirit deterrent." Sam said as Dean takes out a coil of rope and shuts the trunk. "Yeah. It won’t kill ‘em. But it’ll slow ‘em down." I said and we start walking towards the trees.

"That’s pretty good. You guys, Dad and Mr (l/n) think of this?" Sam asked us. "I told you. You don’t have to be a college graduate to be a genius." Dean said and I roll my eyes when we hear noises among the trees and stop walking. Sam raises his gun and looks around.

"Over there. Over there." I whispered and the boys aim their guns and cocks it. A figure comes out from behind the trees but it is a sheriff. "Put the gun down now! Now! Put your hands behind your head." He ordered us.

"W-w-wait, okay, okay!" Dean shouts.

"Now get down on your knees. Come on, do it! On your knees!" The officer orders again and we get down. "Now get down on your bellies. Come on, do it!" The officer said and we lay down. "They had the guns!" Dean shouts and I look over at Dean. "Oh gee, thanks for throwing us under the bus." I grumble towards him.

#fan fiction #fanfic #fandom #reader insert #x reader #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural dean #supernatural fanfic series #supernatural fandom #supernatural #dean winchester x you #dean x y/n #dean x you #dean winchester #tv show fandom #tv shows

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darkacademicfrom2021 · 4 years ago

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The Dark Team (part 6)

<<Previous part Masterlist Next part>>

Join the taglist in here (Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87)

“What did you fuck up?”, you heard Loki’s sharp whisper through the earbud, while you frantically searched through papers and papers and some more papers.

“I didn’t fuck up. I have the guy. I have information”, cleared Bucky. “Hey, DON’T MOVE”, he shouted at the kidnapped, cocking his gun. He cleared his throat before talking again. “Good and bad news”.

“Must be Christmas”, you said.

“No, Christmas is when you only have good news”, said Bucky.

“Not in my family. Generally, there was only bad news and food. Food was the good news”.

“I love how professional and focused on the mission you two are. Stark would be so proud”.

“Wait, I’m invested now. Tell me more about your family, y/n”.

“For the Norns, I don’t have much time. The information, Barnes”. You could hear Loki's footsteps resonate. According to plan, he should've been walking through a hall full of burocrats, so he was right; he did not have much time.

“Okay, so, I know who has the stick”.

“Good”.

“He’s dead”.

“Not so good”.

“Not really, no”.

“What do we do now?”.

An alarm on the building had set off and every door locked down, with a man on a speaker announcing the disappearance of an important object followed by an awfully accurate description of the three of you.

“We run, that’s what we do now”.

You didn’t have to say more. Bucky threw himself off the window before it finished closing. You looked around desperately, trying to find a way to free yourself from that office. Two security guards entered the room screaming for you to get on the floor, and instead you made an unstable wall with the desk and chairs, avoiding getting shot and giving you enough time to figure out some sort of weapon to take them down.

The watch was already used, the knives were useless if they had guns, you didn’t have a gun yourself (silly you), and the parachute was apparently not working anymore, so you couldn’t jump off the window like your teammates. Damn.

“By any chance”, you whispered through your microphone “could you tele…”, but Loki gave you no time to finish the sentence and teleported himself to the office, still in the shape of a security guard.

“My dearest friend”, he said to one of the shooters, opening his arms welcomingly, “how’s the family?”.

“What the fuck, Robert?” asked angrily one of the real guards. “How did you…”.

Loki kicked off his gun and touched his head with a halo of green lights, making him fall unconscious to the floor. He looked up and down at the second security guard and formed half a smile.

“And what about your wife? Is she well?”.

“You ain’t Robert, ain’t ya?”.

“Mmh, nah”.

You grabbed the second security guard from behind and made him trip, immobilizing his arms and legs, and held his own gun to his head. Loki watched you amused, and then transformed back into himself.

“Oh, there you are”, you greeted him. “Did Buck say anything about the walking dead?”.

“The… what?”.

“The man with the stick. If he’s dead, who activated the alarm? Someone has to have it”.

“He didn’t say anything else. Can’t you track it down?”.

“If I could, why would we have done all of this for?”.

“Point made”.

“I need to get back to our room, take some things off the checklist before going all in for a new plan”.

“Alri…”, he started saying, but his gaze fell back on the immobilized guard you were holding down. “What are you planning on doing with him? He saw our faces”.

“If you let me live I won’t talk about this at all”, he pleaded, face squished against the floor. “I have kids, please”.

“He’s lying, he has no kids”, he said with a neutral face, and you looked at him trying to tell him to communicate telepathically. Surprisingly, he understood. “What?”.

“I’m not killing him, what do we do?”.

“Just kill him, what’s all the fuss about?”. You looked at him horrorized and he rolled his eyes “alright, just threaten him enough”.

You let him go, still pointing the gun at him, and gestured to the door so he could leave. When he reached for the door knob, you shot twice at the wall, mere inches from his head, and he froze in place.

“Talk and I’ll find you”, you threatened.

“I won't say a word, I promise”.

You looked at Loki and he nodded, letting you know the man was telling the truth. You kept your eyes fixed on him while he ran away, terrified. Must be new, you thought. Loki grabbed your waist.

“What the Hell are you doing?”, you pushed him away.

“Teleporting us, as you asked”.

“You have to grab me to do that?”.

“I don’t have to. It’s so you get stability”.

“Oh. Give me a big bear hug, then. No, better, let’s cuddle” you spat with sarcasm. He sighed annoyed, massaging his temples.

“Fine. I’m not even touching you”.

As he teleported both of you, you felt your whole body tear its own cells apart and dissolve, and then regenerate them. Your head spinned like it never has, and something hit your head; but you weren’t sure if it was the floor, a wall or the roof, for your sense directions were nowhere to be found. You took a few seconds to compose yourself before opening your eyes once everything stopped moving. When you finally managed to realize where your head even was, your eyes met with Loki’s, who was holding back a smirk with his arms crossed.

“Reconsidering that cuddle next time, are you?”.

“That was… hilarious. Such a shame I missed the previous part to give me context, though”, said Bucky from the counter of the hotel room, munching on some chips. “Look, the tiny fridge had these. You were right, they’re actually great”.

“Yeah. Grab whatever, they’re on Stark’s”, you said, still with your head a bit fuzzed. Loki offered his hand to help you get up but you did it yourself. He sighed.

“How do you fit your clothes with that huge ego of yours?”.

“I don’t, I walk around naked”, you answered, opening the nearest laptop and starting to work on the checklist.

That night was like the last one. Dark, silent and with your head full on the work. Bucky was barely snoring, and Loki was sitting on his bed reading a book. Every once in a while you glanced up your work to look at how painfully beautiful he was. You hated every thought about it, of course, but you couldn’t deny his sight grew on you a bit. He was an asshole, of course. A parasite on your head. An inconvenience. A distraction, sometimes. But the warm light of the bed lamp and the shadows it formed on half of his face enhanced his features, almost like a sculpture, a piece of art.

While you thought of that you checked on his expressions, making sure he wasn’t listening to your highly embarrassing thoughts.

After a few hours, Bucky had already woken up and you were still spread on the floor, surrounded by the files and laptops from before. The light conversation had caught half the attention of the God, who was still reading peacefully. He seemed so calm you wondered what kept him up anyways.

“You think he still has it on him?”, asked Bucky, changing his shirt.

“I think it’s a possibility. I’m tracking his body down. Should be in the morgue by now, maybe they haven’t taken off his clothes yet. But if not, the security cameras would have recorded who took it from the body”.

“Groovy”.

"Oh my God, James".

"What?".

"What does groovy even mean?".

"You know... it's like saying cool beans".

"Coo... alright".

After a while, you collected all the data you needed for tomorrow. You were so exhausted your eyes were getting dry and blurry. Loki was still reading in that same place, not even fazed by the amount of hours that had happened. You got up to clean the dishes from the last meal, and he lifted his gaze up from the book.

“Wait”, he stopped you. With a wrist movement, the dishes got as clean as they could get and arranged on the shelf. You chuckled.

“I wish I had that ability”.

“Are you going to sleep now?”.

“A few hours”.

“Sleep here”, he said from his bed. You looked at Bucky’s; he fell asleep back again.

“You haven’t slept yet. I don’t want to occupy your bed”.

“I won’t, don’t worry”, you nodded, kind of worried he might pass out of tiredness in the middle of the mission. Why the hell was he not sleeping? “If it doesn’t bother you, I’d rather finish this book on here too”.

“I think there’s enough space”.

He moved and gave you space for half of the tiny bed, and you laid by his side with your arms crossed and a leg on top of the other. He went back to his book, and even though he was sitting and your sight couldn’t reach the pages, you were sure it was in Old Norse.

“What are you reading?”.

He didn’t answer right away. Doubtfully as in to share it with you or not, he then proceeded.

“Hamlet. It’s a translation in Old Norse from an author I adore. I’d say it’s an even better version than Shakespeare’s”.

You felt yourself about to smile. You tried not to, but you probably did. That was your favourite piece of literature of all times. You wondered how could that have gotten to Asgardian hands, and why would he (certainly a Midgardian hater) want to read Earth’s literature. You were so curious in that version. Was it really that good, that would be better than Shakespeare himself? Sadly, you didn’t even know how to say hello in that language.

“Do you like it so far?”.

“I’m re-reading it. Brings good memories”, he said with a subtle smile he had hoped you wouldn’t notice. But you did. Something in your chest warmed up a bit and you shook it off. No, no. Not feelings. Don’t confuse your physical attraction, don’t feed your touch starved soul. No. You had to repeat to yourself a couple of times. You were just very, very tired.

“Brings good memories to me too. I love this book”. You figured it was alright to open up a little. The situation was relaxed enough. He wasn’t snarky or avoidant. He looked… melancholic. Sad, even. Like a facet of himself he didn’t allow everyone to see.

You connected with that. Maybe you could even relate to him in some way. For years, you had a feeling of something not adding up quite right. A longing for something you couldn’t exactly pin up. Melancholy for a blank space.

But there you were, barely knew him for three days yet felt close enough. Not too much. Just a feeling. Just the traces of something that maybe happened in another life. But in this one, you would get the mission done and leave. So don’t get attached, you ordered yourself.

“It’s a really good version”.

“Wish I could read it but I don’t know Old Norse”, you said slower than you intended. Loki chuckled at your tiredness. Maybe you could push your curiosity a little further. What was the damage? That he could just say ‘piss off’ or something like that? “What good memories does it bring to you?”.

He sighed and muttered almost to himself “I used to read it to my beloved”.

You almost gasped, surprised he actually answered you. You didn’t ask for more. It was already a lot he had just trusted you with. He told you he had a beloved. You didn’t even know he had a lover, but of course he had. He was nearly a thousand years old; why wouldn’t he? Did he lose that lover, in past tense?

Curiosity grew bigger on you, but fear pushed you aback. But the questions floated around in your head as a lullaby. Your head started to weigh a little more on the pillow and everything happened slightly slower. Loki closed the book and left it resting on his lap. He whispered “I feel you have questions”, and you denied it with your head. Your eyelids fell heavier than before.

“I’m mmnmnnhnm”, you managed to sort of say before getting knocked down by sleep. You heard his laughter, but nothing more after that.

#loki #loki of asgard #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki x reader #loki mcu #loki x gender neutral reader #loki x y/n #bucky barnes is an old man omg

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lurafita · 5 years ago

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Petvengers Chapter 3

Read chapter 1 here: Chappy 1

Read chapter 2 here: Chappy 2

:-) Guess now what kind of animal Stephen gets, and see if you guessed right later in the chapter! Cookies for everyone who knows who Detective Davis is. :-)

To stave off any confusion that might come, MJ's parents are divorced, and Michelle has no blood-related siblings. *Insert name here* has no blood-related siblings, and his mother died.

Regarding the pet introduced in this chapter, please remember that this is a fanfic. I therefore take some liberties with the laws on which animals can and can not be held as pets.

Dr Strange

America may be the land of the free, but it was sadly not the land of good tea. Not if you asked one Dr. Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts.

He could have sworn he still had a stash of the fine leaves he had brought back from his last visit to Kathmandu, but he hadn't been able to find it anywhere. His quest to find a vendor that sold decent tea, had taken him almost all the way to the ends of Manhattan, but at least he now had something to tide him over with, until the next time he was due to visit the monastery. If it weren't for the almost unbearable summer heat outside, the trip might not have been so bad.

Since he was in his civilian clothes, he headed for the nearest alley to open a portal to the Sanctum. No need to draw attention to himself, after all. He wasn't Stark.

He had barely stepped foot into his home, when he heard the voice of the boy, Peter, coming from the sitting room.

"-which is why MJ is currently getting ready for a 'get to know you' dinner with her possible new stepfather and brother. Ned and I researched the guy beforehand, of course, but he checked out. He is a police detective with the Brooklyn devision, and so far we haven't found anything that would point at him being dirty or the likes. No shady connections to the Mob, no underhanded courtroom deals, no crooks or witnesses that vanished under suspicious circumstances while connected to any of his cases, and no secret Swiss bank accounts."

Stephen could only shake his head at what he heard, even as a fond, little smile stole itself across his lips. Kid was watching too much TV. It seemed Wong shared this perspective, as he could hear the other man next.

"While your devotion to assure your friends safety is admirable, don't you think that hacking into the police stations database is taking things a little far?"

How Wong could say something like this, and still sound completely relaxed, was a mystery to Strange. He himself was contemplating to inform Stark of his ward's latest shenanigans, so that the man could perform some damage control.

"One can never be too certain. But don't worry, we made up for the hacking by strengthening the departments firewall. Their data was almost as easy to get to as the hospitals. I actually think I met Detective Davis as Spiderman once, and he seemed like a pretty nice guy. I'm not actually too worried, but I will be keeping an eye on things."

By then Stephen had made his way to the room, where Peter and Wong were talking, both had a glass filled with cold water before them on the table, while the Cloak of Levitation had draped itself beside the teenager on the couch, apparently listening in on the conversation as well.

"As long as you don't commit any more felonies while 'keeping an eye on things', Spiderman, that's perfectly alright."

The boy immediately grinned at him.

"What's up, Doc?"

Stephen sighed. Sometimes he really despised Bugs Bunny. Wong nodded at him in greeting and the Cloak fluttered one of it's corners, which was it's way of waving hello.

He continued on to the connecting kitchen, and started boiling the water in his teapot.

"What brings you here, Peter? And how come your canine companion isn't with you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Peter pout.

"It's too hot for Hope. We went for a walk yesterday morning, and he burned his paws on the asphalt. Colonel, too. Tony sectioned off a few yards behind the tower, and had a company deliver some soil and fast growing grass seeds. And pavilions for some shadow. So any outside activities for the animals are restricted to the new backyard, until this heatwave passes. But it's just as well, because Arthur is still getting used to his new leg Dad and Bruce built him, and he still needs to take things slow. And Eames can more easily stretch his wings there, without bumping into anything and having to maneuver around walls and stuff."

Stephen, thanks to Wong, knew all about the little arachnids efforts to turn Stark tower into a zoo, and could deduce that Colonel, who had also burned his paws, was one of the pets that Peter had coerced someone into adopting. 'Eames', likewise, must be an avian type of animal that now belonged to one of the Avengers. But he had no idea who or what 'Arthur' could be.

"Arthur? Did the Avengers get a new member?"

To his surprise, Wong answered the question.

"Arthur is Sergeant Barnes adopted, young raccoon, who lost his hind leg to a hunter trap. He is very cute. Peter sent me pictures."

Said teen scowled at the Sorcerer Supreme.

"Which you would have gotten, too, if you finally accepted my friends request on Whatsapp."

Thankfully that's when the kettle let out a shrill whistle, and Stephen could finally start brewing himself a cup. He would not be able to get through what was to follow, without a nice cup of tea.

"Peter, you have my number for emergencies and other important things, not to spam my phone with pictures of every cute, little critter you come across. I remember the day you adopted Hope. Wong's phone vibrated so much with received messages from you, it fell off the table. Also, I don't have Whatsapp."

Completely ignoring everything else the man had said, Peter zeroed in on that last statement.

"What about twitter?"

"No."

"Instagram?"

"No."

"Tumblr?"

"I don't even know what that is."

"You gotta have Facebook at least! Even Steve has a Facebook page, and he uses a flip-phone!"

"Definitely not."

Peter, seemingly beyond shocked, turned to the older monk beside him.

"How do you live with him?"

Wong sighed, shook his head, and took a sip of his water.

"'Tis the cross I must bear."

Thank the Ancient One that his tea was done! He took a long drink, disregarding the scalding temperature, and sighed in relief. Better.

"Why don't we get back to my first question, shall we? What brings you here, Peter? Do the Avengers need assistance?"

Peter grinned and dove for his backpack.

"Nope! I just brought over the next part of the Harry Potter movies for Cloakie!"

He quickly yanked the movie disk out of his backpack and held it aloft triumphantly. And then the Cloak of Levitation, an ancient, magical, powerful artifact, that was revered by many, fluttered in absolute excitement and tackled the teenager in a hug, while also grabbing the movie.

Peter laughed, Wong smiled, and Stephen resisted the urge to burrow his head in his hands, and instead took another sip of his tea.

After he had managed to untangle himself from Cloakie, Peter downed the rest of his water, thanked Wong for the beverage, and stood up.

"Alright! I should be on my way now."

"Do you want me to open a portal into the tower?" Stephen offered, remembering the sweltering heat outside. Peter shook his head.

"Thanks, but I wanted to fit in a little patrol before going back. Though I don't expect a lot to be going on, with the temperatures outside. Thank God the suit has air conditioning. Bye Doc, bye Wong, bye Cloakie!"

Two "Bye Peter"'s and a full body flutter from the Cloak, and the young superhero was gone. With the closing of the front door, Strange sat down on one of the couches and relaxed. He liked Peter a lot, but the boy could be a bit taxing at times. As he drank his tea and watched the Cloak fly off in search of his laptop to watch it's new Harry Potter movie, he never noticed the deeply amused, knowing and conspiratorial little grin Wong was wearing.

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

"So, MJ said the dinner went really well. She likes the guy, said she had a good feeling about him."

Ned told Bethany, the shelter worker who had been there when Michelle and Peter had guided Sam and Bucky into pet adoption. Peter had boosted himself up on the reception counter, and was carefully stroking the soft feathers of the big snow owl perched on his arm. While Bethany wouldn't normally allow a visitor to have one of the animals in the open like this, and in the buildings lobby to boot, she had made an exception for Peter. Not only was the boy extraordinarily good with handling the animals, he had also needed a little pick-me-up, seeing as the persisting hot weather had not allowed for his dog to accompany him to the shelter.

Peter added his own little tid-bits.

"The son had apparently been a bit quiet, but she said he seemed very sweet."

Bethany nodded.

"Well, I believe anyone would feel a little awkward, meeting their father's new girlfriend, and girlfriend's daughter. How old did you say the boy was?"

Since Peter was very busy smiling over the cute faces the owl was making as he pet it, Ned answered the question.

"11. Though MJ did get him to talk a bit about hobbies and stuff. She said he has a real interest in art, especially graffiti painting."

Peter chimed in then.

"Which means he and MJ will have plenty to bond over. Hopefully she doesn't make him take up her 'painting people in distress' thing. Otherwise my frowning face will likely be the first of many, to one day appear on walls all over the city."

Ned paled visibly.

"Dude, that's horrifying."

Bethany laughed softly.

"Now, now boys. You shouldn't fret about things like that. My wife always says that artists carry old souls. Anything they draw, is worth drawing. Even a frowning face."

She winked at Peter. Bethany was totally cool. She was 58 years old and had been together with her wife since they were both 20. When America finally lifted the ban on gay marriage, they had been one of the first same-sex couples to tie the knot in 2015. Peter opened his mouth to reply, when his ears picked up the distant (though rapidly closing in) sounds of screaming and cursing. He grinned.

"Ned, get your camera ready. Operation: Harry Potter, is about to begin."

The other boy obediently pointed his camera towards the entrance, and before Bethany could ask what the boys were talking about, she heard a male voice screaming at someone or something to: "Stop it, goddammit! You insufferable piece of magical cloth! If you don't let me down this instance-"

And then suddenly the doors burst open and what looked to be a man, swaddled in... a red cape?.. came literally flying in.

Peter jumped from the counter (carefully though, so as not to unsettle the owl still perched on his arm), and took a few steps forward.

"Cloakie, you made it!"

Then the cape seemingly unraveled itself from the man (giving the poor guy quite the spin in the process), and came floating over to the teen and owl.

While Bethany was still trying to cope with the fact that there was an apparently living article of clothing, hovering in front of Peter and seemingly ogling the owl (which ogled back just as much), the man the cape had dragged into the shelter (and boy, that was definitely a line of thought she never expected to have) was slowly getting his bearings again. Then he pinned a very pointed gaze at the two teenagers, and made a notable effort to keep his voice calm.

"Peter. Ned. Would it be correct for me to assume, that you are to blame for my unwilling journey through the streets of Manhattan?"

As Ned tried to shrink back behind his camera (that he still kept resolutely focused on the sorcerer), Peter just grinned brightly at the man.

"Absolutely. Very astute of you. Guess that's why you are the Sorcerer Supreme."

(Oh, so that was that magical superhero that her wife had told her about. Really, her love was such a fangirl where New York's hero community was concerned. Well, at least that entrance made sense now.)

The man, (Dr. Strange, if Bethany remembered correctly), narrowed his eyes at the teen.

"And for what possible reason, do you require my presence?"

Cloakie had extended one of it's corners to lightly pet the white owl on the head. The owl seemed to like it.

"We need a designated adult to sign the adoption papers for Hedwig. She is a 9 year old snow owl. Her owner was a huge Harry Potter fan, which is why he named her Hedwig. He sadly died in an accident not too long ago, and his remaining family didn't have the kind of space to take Hedwig in."

The eyes narrowed further.

"If you want to adopt another pet, then get your aunt or Stark to sign the forms."

Peter shook his head.

"But Hedwig isn't for me."

Bethany looked on intrigued as suspicion formed in the sorcerer's eyes.

"Peter, I'm not getting a pet."

The teen rolled his eyes.

"I know. Hedwig isn't for you, either. She is for Cloakie!"

As if to underline his point, he lifted the arm with the owl a bit, drawing all eyes to the way the Cloak of Levitation cooed (could a cloak coo?) at Hedwig.

The look on the doctor's face right then, was one that Bethany had seen many times on her sister in law, when she had to explain to her 4 year old daughter why she only got one birthday every year.

"Kid, the Cloak of Levitation may be a sentient being with it's own will, but it cannot adopt an animal."

Peter gave the man the most deadpan look that Bethany had ever seen him make.

"I. Know. Which is why we need you to sign the paperwork. Didn't I say that? I thought I said that."

He looked questioningly at Cloakie, who nodded in agreement, and then went right back to petting the owl.

Stephen decided not to suffer any more of this lunacy, and waved his hands to open a portal to the Sanctum. Before he was able to fully step through, however, the Cloak had settled around his shoulders and dragged him back into the shelter's lobby. He directed his stern gaze at the Cloak.

"I don't care how much you love Harry Potter, you will not keep an owl in the Sanctum."

The Cloak folded both of it's lower ends together, in an imitation of a human folding their arms over their chest. Stephen pointed a finger right at it.

"Don't give me that look. We are not taking that owl home, and that is final."

Hedwig, (with a little whispered encouragement from Peter), took matters into her own hands (claws? Wings?) and gave the teen an affectionate headbutt, before flying off his arm and right through the still open portal, into the Sanctum. While Stephen was still trying to process this fully, his magical cloak fluttered in excitement and dove right after it's owl. The portal closed right behind them. Stephen stared.

Before he had the chance to chase after his wayward magical artifact, Peter was suddenly before him, shoving a bunch of papers and a pen into his chest.

"Great, doc! I knew you would come around, though there was really no need to get Hedwig to your home in such a rush! Now, let's just quickly take care of the formalities. You wouldn't want Bethany to think that you were kidnapping her animals, right?"

The wide, brown eyes looked meaningfully first at him, then at the older woman behind the counter, then at a still filming Ned.

Master of the mystic arts, Sorcerer Supreme, protector of the magical realms, Doctor Stephen Strange, let out a long suffering sigh, and grabbed for the adoption forms.

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

When roughly twenty minutes later, a portal opened up in the sitting room of the Sanctum Sanctorum, through which stepped a thoroughly annoyed Stephen, Wong was already prepared with a cup of steaming tea.

"The Cloak and Hedwig are in the upper level, playing a game of tag." He quickly handed the cup over, completely ignoring the calculating eyes his friend was bestowing him with. "I have already placed different perches for our new roommate all over the house. The special bird feed is in the kitchen."

Then the older monk calmly sat down in his armchair, and resumed reading the thick tome of incantations before him.

"You were in on this, weren't you?"

Wong casually turned a page.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Stephen swore loudly, took a sip of his tea, and vowed to find a way to get revenge.

#Peter Parker #Ned Leeds #Stephen Strange #Cloak of levitation #Peter is a little shit #pets #hedwig the owl #owls #cloakie is a Harry Potter fan #petvenger #fanfi #iron dad #spider son #peter tricks ny heroes into adopting pets #Wong #teasing Miles Morales as a future character #fic series #op lurafita

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shadowtarot · 6 years ago

Note

The team explains what is going on to the now freed/rescued group, and the rescued also share their encounters with the shadows & their own rescue of Kazushi. What could this mean for the two groups?

Thieves in Inaba Part 67

Minato is tense, not prepared to see anyone else he became friends with since his passing. Kazushi stands up and goes to try to confirm what he’s seeing.

“You’re…not just something in my head are you? You died! We all were at the ceremony back in high school.”

Minato nods a bit, smiling sadly. “I’m…actually here.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “You don’t look like you’ve changed a bit, Minato. I…”

He offers a hand, smirking. The others are looking outside, not wishing to disturb the moment. The two shake hands as a way of confirming Minato is indeed, alive.

The rest then file in, Iwai and son both a bit confused. Kou notices them and waves, offering them seats at the table much the same as before.

But this time, everyone sits down. Futaba takes out her laptop and uses her Persona to provide an image of everything so far.

“Okay everyone, let’s review. From the culmination of three dungeons, outside conflicts and internal struggles we have enough data to start to figure out our threat.”

Kou leans back in his seat. “Those wolf things started appearing shortly after the meteor landing a day prior. Several of us here went to check it out, if I’m remembering correctly.”

Ai stares at her hands. “Kids were taken away, thee boys and three girls. But there were others attacking in Okina looking for targets.”

Mishima nods. “Yeah, like me and Yu’s cousin. They were hunting people close to any Wild Card.”

Iwai looks at the group around him. “They sound like they were using different tactics right? Kids get taken in one instant, and when that doesn’t work they go straight for the close friends and family. They aren’t stupid that’s for sure..”

Aigis looks over Futaba’s data and points something out. “We must not forget that they tried to corrupt our friends. They tried different methods for Minato and Yu in that case.”

“It’s all based around Lovecraftian lore. Which is backed up more by who I encountered in the Castle sewers.” Akechi looks at every one.

“Nyarlathotep, correct?” Minato asks, nodding. “You made an assumption that Deathbringer, our initial antagonizer might not actually be on level footing with him. Well I think I have evidence to back it up.”

Everyone turns to look at Minato with curiosity.

“When he was in my head, he took on a much more human look. He looked no older then Seventeen…”

“So…you’re implying that old death might be human?” Junpei asks. “But he can float and do all that other weird stuff! We can’t even pull that off.”

“Well, there is a chance he might have been alive…at one point.” Naoto suggests.

Chie gulps. “I..I hate to ask but, where are you going with that thought Naoto?”

“It’s just as I said, he might be someone who died in the TV world only to be reanimated.”

“Except, there’s a hole in that theory.” Adachi chimes in. “Have you forgotten what normally happens if you die here?”

Yosuke lowers his head and nods a bit. “The corpse appears back in the real world…”

Teddie blinks, looking around. “That may have happened during the murders because of the test going on, but this world has existed for a lot longer then that. It’s connected deeply to Persona after all.”

Mitsuru nods. “So the theory would still hold ground if the death happened prior to 2011…”

“Hold up though, I still have a question. In movies n’ shit you need to be like…possessed to be reanimated. Ether that or it’s some voodo magic. How would that actually work here?” Ryuji leans back in his seat.

“Shadows.” Morgana states. “It’s as simple as that. But…as far as I’m aware this isn’t common.”

Ren taps his fingers on the table. “So, what we have is some god using a possible corpse puppet to enact revenge for the failure of other gods? At least that’s what I’m getting at here. But this feels a lot more on edge then normal.”

Rise gasps. “Guys I hate to interrupt this but, the dungeons…they’ve somehow left the TV World!”

“No way!” Futaba checks the data herself. “…she’s not kidding. There’s some sort of leak. Fogs rolling in too…”

“This isn’t good, we haven’t been able to save the rest of the captured people!” Ann looks worried. “What do we do? Leave the TV?”

“We have to, it seems that our friends are trying to do something…more people will be in danger if fog starts to cover the area.” Yu stands up. “Shadows thrive in it. I wouldn’t be surprised if stronger ones start to appear. We need to go out there!”

Kou and the other rescued stand up. “Where do we go then?”

“Stay here still. If both this world and the real world are melding, then this is the safest place you can be in right now.” Yosuke states.

Ren tosses Iwai a model gun. “Picked up a spare in a Palace I was in last year. Shadows think it’s real so this will be your best way of fighting any of them off.”

Iwai smirks. “This explains why you needed my goods. Don’t worry, get out there and do what needs to be done. I’ll handle things here.”

Inaba Skies

“Fog has rolled in!” Kikuno states over the intercom. “This does not bode well for us!”

“Fog…” Sho nods. “Something happened in that other world. Things are starting to get interesting.”

Sae looks out the nearby window and sees a sea of grey mist covering the area.

“Makoto…please…be safe.”

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dailytechnologynews · 6 years ago

Photo

Is there really not a perfect 11.5-13.5" Windows tablet choice?!

Hello guys. For the past week i've been researching to find the perfect windows tablet choice for my specific application need. However it seems there isn't even one device that doesn't have some type of throwback. I'm not asking for everything, but it seems it is either hit or miss, even if you take into account overpriced products. Please hear me out and let me know your thoughts.

I am essentially looking for a WINDOWS TABLET which its primary purpose is to be fitted to my car as a secondary "dash" per say so i can use it to interact with my aftermarket motorsports ecu. It will function as a monitoring dash for the most of the time, but can be used to datalog (aka record data) or for direct tuning (so i don't have to bring my laptop everytime i need to make changes to my engine calibration). I wouldn't mind using it at home as well since i will have it, but mostly will work as a travel/trip companion since i have a PC at home. It has to be a WINDOWS tablet as the software that interfaces with the ecu is only windows based.

After thinking and revising my requirements several times after getting disappointed by what is available here is the break down:

Dimensions: Height needs to be around ~205mm +10mm max so the tablet can be secured in the glove box when not in use. Ideally height should be maximized so that the display area is maximized as well. Length larger than 300mm is not a problem but would get annoying to fit to the car since it will extend more towards the passenger side. This effectively limits me to ~11.8-13.3" tablets, so Microsoft Surface Pro can be used as a reference design (since i haven't seen bezel-less windows tablets yet) Display: This is the most important attribute of the tablet. 1080p absolute minimum resolution, 2K ideally, 3K is probably not gonna be noticeable at the usage distance. Here is a screenshot from my 1080p laptop so you can see the ECU software in datalog mode (slightly cropped but so you can get an idea: http://content.invisioncic.com/r260425/monthly_2017_09/fuel_pressure_link.png.bc827c0a96fe120632f1d7c168e66a64.png However let's not forget brightness and contrast. Brightness should be ~400nits or better for a glossy display, and contrast should be considered over color accuracy. Viewing angle in the length span should be at least 150deg but i think it is hard nowadays to find such a bad display panel. Finally a fully laminated panel is recommended. Physical interfaces: I essentially need a single full size USB port so i can connect my ECU to the tablet. After my research i decided to allow for USB-C assuming that i can get a dongle that will allow me to interface without any issues; but it's best not to allow for that route due to possible incompatibility issues (like what happened when usb3.0 was released). Extra USB ports, USB-C that allows charging and data, video output port, headphone jack, m.2 expansion slot, sd card slot are all pluses. Wireless interfaces: Min wifi and bluetooth. 802.11AC and bluetooth v4.2 or better all pluses. CPU/GPU performance: Generally something better than N3450 (tested my brother's CHUWI surbook mini) and more recent will help, GPU performance is irrelevant for the task so the majority of intergrated GPU's will do fine. RAM: 4GB absolute minimum, 8gb ideal Cooling: I prefer passive cooling, but usually the cooling solution used is sh*t. At least in some cases it can be modded (i'm experienced and willing to do) Battery: 4 hours light use with full display brightness as minimum. If charging is performed over USB-C i hope it is not the stupid kind of power->battery->device like in phones and can work like in laptops where the battery is not used when power is supplied to the laptop. This way you don't wear out the battery since the device will be connected to power most of the time it is operated. Storage: 64gb absolute min, ideal min should be 128gb, speed is relative but i think at least m.2 sata interface ssd; NVME huge + Others: Pen support and attachable keyboard are pluses, but i plan on using a good bluetooth keyboard with backlight (required) so it makes them irrelevant if the tablet is good, Thunderbolt 3 is a +, unlocked bios +, kickstand should work on a lap without cutting your pants off and stay in one place, sd card reader + Reliability: From what i read most chinese tablets are pretty bad with both hardware and software issues out of the box. Backcover should be metal to act as heatsink and be stiff enough, weight and thickness is not that important Condition: New or used. I believe some products offer better value when bought used and others because have been discontinued Pricing: My budget is flexible but depending on the features lots of them are overpriced especially bought new. I would say ~500eur for a new tablet with min features required and 1000eur for one with better hardware. Considering i'm building a 7nm PC in a couple of months the market pricing is really unacceptable for most windows tablets. Blame Apple for it, but i'm not a rich consumer neither i am a sheep. Performance to value is what i always look for.

I literally checked every windows tablet and 2-in-1 i believe. Here some potential picks and what i didn't like.

Microsoft Surface Pro (4 - 5 - 6): At first glance it is a good base candidate..but..really Microsoft? It's 2019 and no USB-C? Proprietary connector and overpriced hardware? Questionable reliability? Get the f*ck out of here. Unless you find a good used deal i don't think it would be worth it. Another Apple wannabe. Eve-tech EVE V: This is one tablet that hits all the boxes, kinda, since by now it is almost obsolete in terms of CPU performance..sadly while i'm greek-cypriot i would go with the stereotypical view for greeks because the CEO is a "malakas" and i'm really sorry to all the people that were scammed. On the other hand i believe there is some truth to the Paypal issues he had since my friend had similar issues (because of not much experience) and even I couldn't help him get them fixed as Paypal is run by assholes as well which need a punch to the face (their excuse it is the system and they can't do anything about it - like wtf). I still use it but the time a different payment system reaches similar adoption i would gladly switch. Chuwi Surbook: Slow CPU, screen is not fully laminated, mediocre specs but was good price at some time ago. Maybe the announced "surbook pro" would fair better? Voyo Vbook i5/i7 Plus: Nice screen, fair pricing? Not the most quality build, shitty battery, i7 model throttles? Teclast X6 Pro: A slightly better vbook i5? No full detailed reviews yet, and i wasn't that impressed from the previous X5 review Alldocube Knote 8: Seems good on paper, but no type-A usb ports Jumper EZpad 6: Possibly the only windows tablet in stock with a good value, however i need something with a better and larger display Acer Switch 3/5: Mediocre screens, single type-A port on the right side (since my car is RHD and the ecu is on the left side i would prefer it on the left side), shitty battery performance, a little overpriced Dell XPS 12 9290/Latitude 5290/Latitude 7285: Great displays, powerful, only 5290 has type-A port, mediocre battery life, overpriced but there are good used deals Asus Transformer 3 Pro T303UA/T304UA: Premium specs but discontinued, expensive, only 1 type-A port and it is on the right side (again), T304 is a huge step backwards even though newer (what the heck Asus, are you drunk?) Lenovo ThinkPad X1: Overpriced, no type-A ports, Gen3 is too big and has display coating issues, Gen2 is more suitable due to size and type-a interface but older and screen brightness not that good - all too tall Lenovo MIIX series: new 630 uses an ARM processor so no go (since i can't force the software developpers to re-compile), 720 rates very high in the features i need, 2 usb type-A ports, nice display, etc. 520 is a little newer with weaker hardware but still good for its price HP Pro X2/Envy X2/Elite X2 1012: HP's other offerings like the Elite X2 1013 are too tall for my needs, and while they have good displays and good build quality i am not font of their design decisions. I have a Zbook 17 G5 workstation at work we bought new and not even 6 months passed and the CPU fan now rattles like crazy..here's my 1st day rant about it: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Note-to-HP-Zbook-17-G5-design-engineers-Please-read-and/td-p/6914797 Also they are overpriced like crazy. I wouldn't ever think of buying again from them. Also the power supply is proprietary as some of the internal hardware. F*ck HP Huawei MateBook E: Aside the lack of ports it is a pretty good designed device, display is perfect but slightly smaller than the biggest i can fit - depending on price it might be a good consideration assuming i can run a USB-C dock i can charge within the car Samsung Galaxy Book 12: Similar to the Huawei above, just a little faster but with a worse display, extra usb-C port. Older and more expensive than the Huawei Toshiba Portege X30T and others: Ports are on the keyboard and not on the tablet, won't work for me.

I think i've covered 99% of the options but i may could have missed 1 or 2. To be honest i won't need this tablet for another 3-6months i would guess but at least i've done my research so i will be prepared when the time comes to buy one. What do you think? I know i went a little crazy but i'm that type of person that never regrets his purchasing choices because i don't buy blindly.

#hardware #Computer #Technology #Tech #News

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feelingfredly · 6 years ago

Text

The Fox Guards the Wolf

Part Nine

Fighting Impulses

“So…” Ichigo stared around the room. “This is the Sanctum Sanctorum.”

Kisuke raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, and Ichigo frowned.

“Somehow I imagined more bubbling beakers and giant static electricity generators in Frankenstein’s lab.”

Still no response.

“It looks like an altar to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, with a dose of Miyamoto Shigaru thrown in for good measure.”

That did it.

“The beakers and Bunsen burners are down the hall. The generator is in the basement. And it is much more Miyamoto than Gates or Jobs, if you don’t mind.”

Ichigo smiled. “Gotcha.”

Kisuke sighed and shook his head a little. “Yes. I admit it. You got me, and you didn’t even have to tell me my baby was ugly.”

The redhead grinned and wandered over to an empty desk in the corner. “Is this for me?”

He nodded. “I promised you time to write, didn’t I? I need you to be close in case I need to handle something in a hurry, and this way you still have your own space.”

That earned him another smile. “Next you’ll tell me I can keep a toothbrush next to your sink.”

Kisuke couldn’t resist. “My sink is just down this hall, and you can keep anything there you want, Ichigo-san.” He watched as the red head snapped up to look at him and fought not to give himself away with a smile of his own. “And my bed is big enough for two if you get tired and don’t feel like trekking back up to your apartment.”

An interesting flush crept up Ichigo’s neck, and Kisuke wondered if he reacted that way to everyone. He hoped not.

“Why do people keep trying to kidnap you?” Ichigo punctuated the statement by dropping his backpack on his desk and pulling out his computer. Kisuke assumed that meant playtime was over.

“My fascinating personality?” He dropped into his chair and pulled two keyboard trays towards him, hitting a careful progression of keys to unlock the computers, while Ichigo plugged in his laptop.

A few beeps and whirs later both men had their respective workstations up and running.

“Seriously,” Ichigo spun his chair to face him. “If I’m going to keep running into these guys I should at least know that much. Is it leverage? Money? Access?”

Kisuke pushed back from his work for a moment and considered how much to explain.

“I suppose,” he said, “in its simplest terms, they want to know what I know.”

Ichigo frowned harder than usual. “Do you mean they want to know how much you know, or they want to have the same knowledge you have?”

Kisuke admired how quickly Ichigo recognized the potential layers in his explanation. Always the wordsmith.

“Mostly the latter.” He pulled his fan out and tapped his chin a few times. “Although, the former is something they wouldn’t mind knowing either.”

“So basically, they want to force you to make whatever it is you’re making for them, and they want to know how much about them you and the others here,” he waved his hands to indicate the office building, “know about their plots and plans to take over the world.”

Kisuke nodded. “That’s about the size of it, yes.”

“Huh.” Ichigo looked disappointed. “Here I was hoping for something exotic, long-ranging and complex, but it’s really just business as usual, isn’t it?”

“I beg your pardon?” Kisuke stared across the office at his companion. It was the first time he’d heard anyone associated with the Onmitsukido, even as tangentially as Kurosaki, declare that one of their conflicts was basically… boring.

“I mean, you’re working on something that’s new and different, but that’s not the plot is it? The plot is someone wants something that doesn’t belong to them, and they’ll do what they can to get it.” Ichigo shrugged, unimpressed. “Am I wrong?”

“Not really.” Kisuke gave a half-hearted smile. “I think the only things that change are the names of the people involved, and how many times they’ve stabbed each other in the back to try to get an advantage over the other side.”

He thought of Okura Kagetaka sadly. “I’m not even sure some of them know which side is which anymore.”

“Is this thing you’re working on something that would work for anyone?” Ichigo asked.

Kisuke considered the combat AI and how it could be applied. “Yes. And before you ask, I considered that when I started designing it.” He looked at his computer screens, taking in the bits of code sitting there, and tried to imagine never having started the project. Never having mapped out how it would work. Never having mastered the intricacies of Yoruichi’s AI function. It made him terribly sad. “I just couldn’t not create it. Do you understand?”

Ichigo’s brown eyes looked at him full of sympathy. “I do. Probably more than most.” He laughed a little under his breath. “Do you have any idea how many times my friends and family have asked me what the hell I’m doing taking a year off to write a novel? I know it isn’t the same. My stories are never going to earn me a place on the cover of SuperSpy magazine, but when they’re in my brain I just can’t ignore them. They’re too real for me to just let them fade away.”

Kisuke nodded. “You do understand, then.” He looked back down and started typing, trying to get his suddenly jumbled thoughts in order.

Ichigo watched him quietly for a moment and then turned back to his own work.

***

Ichigo stretched and his back cracked ominously. He really needed to work on his posture while he was typing.

“Why is it so hard to dispose of a body?”

Kisuke didn’t look up from his work. “Human body?”

Ichigo snorted. “Yes. Human body. What other body would you worry about disposing of?”

Kisuke made a noncommittal sound. “Well, if you’d taken out an animal but were trying to disguise your presence you’d need to worry about disposal. A dead gorilla would be a dead giveaway to anyone tracking you through the jungle. Gorillas don’t have many natural predators, and none that would leave the same marks as most weapons.”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t be worrying about disposing of the body, I’d just want to temporarily hide it, probably in place because I wouldn’t be able to drag something that big very far from where I killed it.”

“True.” Another noncommittal sound. “So, how much time do you have?”

Ichigo huffed. “Time for what?”

“To dispose of the body, of course,” Kisuke huffed.

“Uh,” Ichigo rifled through his notes, “Ten hours? Well, ten hours to remove it from the first site and get that cleaned up. After that I don’t care how long it takes to dispose of it, as long as it doesn’t lead anyone back to me.”

Kisuke hmm’d softly. “You want to move it as soon as possible if you can. Leaving it in place gives you too many variables. Plus, it makes clean up much worse. How much blood?”

Ichigo stared at the blond. Were they really having this conversation? “None. Hopefully.”

“How’d you kill him? Drugs? Poison?” Kisuke still hadn’t looked up from his computer.

“Scopolamine. Accidental overdose.”

“Classic. Too bad it was an accident.”

Ichigo tried to figure out what he meant by that but couldn’t follow the train of thought.

“Why is it too bad?”

“If you meant to kill him, you could’ve used the scopolamine’s effects to get him to go wherever you eventually intended to dispose of the body under his own steam. Then you wouldn’t have the transport problem. You’d have to make sure no one saw you with him, but that’s not a significant obstacle most of the time.”

“It really works like that? The whole Devil’s Breath, thing?” Ichigo was fascinated.

“Yes. The drug cartels in Colombia have been using it for decades. Scarily effective.” Kisuke stopped typing and finally looked up. “But it’s better if you don’t write it that way. You might make some people… nervous.”

Ichigo weighed the idea and nodded slowly.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

***

Kisuke touched the sensor behind his ear and Yoruichi’s voice greeted him. Hello Kisuke.

“Update data files on Kurosaki Ichigo.”

A few seconds passed, and the voice purred at him again. Data files updated.

“Did you say something, Urahara-san?” Ichigo pulled his earbud out and turned to look at him.

“Just talking to myself, Kurosaki-san,” he said. It was true. There wasn’t anything in this Yoruichi that wasn’t him. Just an enhanced him.

“I think I’m going to head upstairs for dinner.” Ichigo looked back over his shoulder. “Do you have plans?”

Kisuke looked at the clock in surprise. He hadn’t realized it was so late already.

“I’m so sorry, Kurosaki-san. I completely lost track of the time.”

Ichigo just smiled. “So did I. I can’t believe how much progress I made today. You want to come up for curry? My sister Yuzu sent enough for an army.”

Kisuke stared at the redhead. No one had ever been happy with his losing track of time before.

“Curry sounds delicious.”

***

“Did Tsukabishi-san say there was a gym in the basement?” Ichigo finished drying the last bowl and put it back in the cabinet. “I really need to get a workout in tomorrow if possible.”

Kisuke nodded. “There are two. One has the basic treadmills, weights, and so on, and the other is for sparring. I’m sure you could find a partner if you’re interested. It isn’t like a dojo, though. Down there pretty much anything goes. It’s more about efficacy than style.”

If he thought that was going to be a deterrent, he was in for a surprise. The redhead actually looked more interested.

“It would be a good to stretch myself against someone who isn’t just going to use traditional judo. I haven’t had a real fight since high school.” He laughed, but Kisuke could sense the excitement bubbling just under the surface.

Every time he thought he had a handle on Kurosaki something happened to prove him wrong.

“Don’t tell me your father encouraged fighting.”

The younger man grinned and picked up his cup of tea. “Encouraged is a strong word. Let’s just say that my dad understood that it was likely to happen, and believed that if I was going to fight, I’d better be good enough at it to both walk away the winner, and to leave no permanent damage behind me.”

That sounded like the Kurosaki Isshin Kisuke remembered.

“No permanent damage, hmm?” he asked, pouring tea for himself as well.

“He always said it was because he didn’t want me to turn into a thug and it was important to think about the long-term consequences of my actions. But I know the truth.”

“And what was that?”

Ichigo took a drink and met his eyes over the top of the cup. “He didn’t want to have to do the paperwork afterwards, of course.”

Kisuke didn’t choke on his tea, but it was a close call.

***

The exercise rooms were surprisingly crowded. Or not surprisingly crowded, if you thought about the jobs most of these people had. This was an associated branch of the Onmitsukido after all.

Ichigo looked at the people sparring and was impressed by the sheer variety. There were young and old, male and female. He heard Japanese, English, Korean, and an African language he couldn’t identify, but they all had one thing in common. They were all kicking ass and taking names.

“You must be Kurosaki Ichigo-san.” A pleasantly non-descript young woman in her twenties appeared at his elbow. “Welcome to the team!” She gave a brief bow that was respectful enough to make him feel like he was actually welcome, but somehow conveyed the message that he still had some question marks beside his name. “I’m Tanaka Midori.”

Ichigo returned the bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Tanaka Midori-san.” He indicated the people scattered across the mats. “Is it always this crowded?”

The young woman looked around and nodded. “Most mornings, yes. Everyone likes to get their workout in early in the day so they don’t end up missing it if their schedule changes unexpectedly.”

That made sense. Maybe he’d do better to put off his workout until later in the day.

“Kurosaki-san.”

Ichigo turned, only slightly surprised to see Kisuke standing behind him. “Good morning, Urahara-san. What brings you out of your lair this morning?”

Tanaka stiffened beside him and he supposed he should be more respectful to Kisuke around his coworkers.

Were they his coworkers? He’d never seen anyone around except Tessai. He’d have to ask.

“I realized after our conversation last night how long it had been since I’d gotten in a good sparring session.”

Tanaka stared at him slack-jawed and Ichigo wondered if that indicated that Urahara was lying about sparring, or that just seeing him outside his lab was disconcerting enough to throw her for a loop.

Considering the physical control he’d seen the blond exert, he was betting it was the former. But, if he wanted to pretend he lacked skills, who was Ichigo to protest?

He wandered over to the corner where they had an area for stretches and sat down next to the wall, legs spread as widely as possible, and slowly scooted forward until he felt the insides of his thighs begin to burn. He sat like that for ten seconds and then rotated into a Chinese split, and held that, breathing deeply as he felt his muscles first protest and then relax into the familiar movement.

Urahara had taken the opportunity to prop one foot on a waist-high beam and lean into a hamstring stretch that looked completely effortless.

They stretched like that for a few more minutes in silence, until Ichigo figured it was time to roll the dice.

“Shall we shake the dust off, Urahara-san?” He pretended not to notice the audience they were gathering.

“Nothing would suit me better, Kurosaki-san.”

***

The sparring areas were simply mats spread out through the basement with walkways between, and Ichigo led them to the nearest unoccupied set and bowed before stepping on them

“Rules?”

Kisuke shrugged. “Why don’t you decide this time. It is too early for me to be making decisions.”

Ichigo cocked his head to one side and he half expected an argument, but the redhead surprised him again.

“Let’s try to keep it civil, then. No knee shots or eye-gouging, and I’d prefer not to be singing soprano afterwards. Good for you?”

He couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. “Good enough, Kurosaki-san.” He faced the younger man and settled into a comfortable stance. This was going to be interesting.

Ichigo slowly moved counter-clockwise a step and then another, and Kisuke played along, but unlike many of his sparring partners, he didn’t dance around. No, the redhead was much more cautious, watching his feet and hands, trying to see when the tendons tightened to move.

So, Kisuke did the same.

They measured each other that way, judging reach and angles, until Ichigo sighed.

“This is boring.”

In a split second the younger man had closed the space between them, lashing out with his left leg, first kicking low and then high without withdrawing to rebalance. Kisuke took the first kick to the calf and then blocked the second, moving quickly to the side before landing a closed fist strike on the inside of Ichigo’s thigh just above the knee.

There was an indrawn breath behind him, and he wondered what their audience would think of what came next.

As expected, the thigh strike threw Ichigo off balance, but he quickly regrouped, and sent a flurry of punches and strikes—arm, chest, arm, turn and strike to the back—and Kisuke flowed into his defense. Blocking he could tell that Ichigo was still feeling him out, measuring how much force to use to strike without over-committing, and he leaned back, using his superior reach, and swung his right foot up, just missing the redhead’s chin.

A scowl appeared for a moment on Ichigo’s face, and Kisuke knew his intentional undershot had been recognized and unappreciated.

It might not have been Kisuke’s best idea.

He watched as Ichigo changed stances, dropping his traditional karate positioning into something looser and dirtier.

Kisuke threw a short punch, snapping Ichigo’s head back from the quick jolt, but as he pulled back, he noticed a strange short slide of Ichigo’s foot. Somehow the smaller man channeled the energy behind his punch, translating it into a modified backbend, and he watched in surprise as Ichigo dropped both hands to the floor behind him and kicked him first in the hip, then the chest, and then finally in the chin, before flipping over and away from him after landing the shot that Kisuke had chosen not to.

He couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually landed a hit like that on him.

He grinned.

Two quick shifts later and he had Ichigo’s elbow stretched to its natural limit, but before he could lock it into place to force him to the mat, his foot was lifted just enough for Ichigo to spin him in a half-circle, drop to one knee, force the overextension of his own arm but in a way that pulled Kisuke forward and over him, so he could then ram upward and headbutt him in the solar plexus.

The two separated, breathing harder now.

Kisuke noticed that the redhead was gently shaking the arm he’d just sacrificed, and he quirked an eyebrow. Ichigo shook his head in silent refusal, and they faced off again.

This time Ichigo went straight for a judo throw, lunging forward and grabbing the front of Kisuke’s gi. He slid his right leg between Kisuke’s thighs, and pulled him forward with all his strength, sliding him up to where he was practically sitting against Ichigo’s hip. As the shorter man prepared to pull him over, Kisuke forced himself further forward into the hold, and then wrapped his arm around the redhead’s throat. Ichigo realized that if he threw Kisuke at that point, he’d basically strangle himself in the process, so he performed a quick release, and shoved instead, sending Kisuke backwards with a stumble.

Their audience had grown, and he could hear mutterings from the crowd.

It was his turn to attack. Low punch, elbow block, hit to the ear, and then grab the redhead by the gi and use his own bodyweight to throw him to the floor. But instead of faceplanting, Ichigo hit the mat on his hands and made a perfect leg sweep, catching Kisuke’s leg just enough to keep him from following through with a floor hold and pin.

By this point Tanaka Midori and the others had seen enough. No one in the gym would wonder why Ichigo had been brought onto the team. Now it was time to really push things.

Ichigo’s face was flushed and his eyes were wide and bright. There was a sheen of perspiration on his skin, and Kisuke could practically feel the weight of his focus. It made his skin hot, and his heart race, and it had nothing to do with the exertion of sparring.

It would always be like this between them, he thought.

He crossed the space between them and jabbed into the brachial nerve cluster at Ichigo’s right shoulder, eliciting the first true gasp of pain from his opponent. He followed that up with a side strike to his neck, and then flipped the smaller man around, pulling both arms up into a full nelson.

He pressed on the back of Ichigo’s neck, forcing his head down, cutting off his air, and reducing the blood-flow to his head, and he started a slow ten count.

Ichigo groaned, and Kisuke could feel it vibrate under his hands. He’d reached six by the time Ichigo tried to counter, dropping his weight a little, but he wasn’t concerned. Once the gray started setting in, it would be over.

Ichigo raised his hands to his own head. It was probably pounding from the restricted circulation, but he hadn’t tapped out yet, and Kisuke was a patient man. But then, suddenly, the redhead struck himself in the forehead, and the shock of the impact both snapped his head back allowing a rush of blood to travel back in, and it loosened Kisuke’s grip just long enough, that when Ichigo dropped his weight entirely, stomping backwards on the arch of Kisuke’s foot, and rotating his hip to pull Kisuke completely around his body, he was caught completely by surprise. It was such a novel sensation that he simply released his hold, and let himself be pinned.

Ichigo looked down at him, their breath mingling their faces were so close together, and Kisuke could feel the redhead’s heart pounding where their chests were pressed into the floor.

A murmur was spreading and Kisuke could hear whispers of he pinned Getaboshi from the crowd. Ichigo must have heard it too. He pushed off and rolled to his feet in an easy movement, offering Kisuke a hand as he stood.

“Thanks for taking it easy on me, Urahara-san.” He gave a polite little bow and turned away from the crowd standing around. “We’d better get cleaned up, though. Tsukabishi-san wanted me to remind you that you had an appointment at eleven, and I don’t think either of us would come away from that fight in once piece if I let you miss it.”

Kisuke watched as the spectators dispersed, Ichigo’s comments reducing what would normally have been gossip mill fodder for a month into just another sparring session. He had controlled an entire room of trained agents with three sentences.

Kisuke’s heart sped up noticeably enough that he didn’t need Yoruichi in his ear informing him of it. How was it that Ichigo managed to keep him so off balance, so fascinated?

They pushed the button for the elevator and waited, listening to the sounds of sparring starting up again behind them. Kisuke could feel the heat pouring off the man next to him, could smell the faint tang of perspiration.

The door opened. They stepped in. The door closed.

“Why’d you let me do it?” He wasn’t sure what Ichigo meant.

“Do what?”

“Why’d you let me break loose so easily?” Ichigo’s voice was a little rough and he hoped he hadn’t injured his windpipe with the throat punch.

Kisuke remembered the vicious heel to the instep, and the elbow to the ribs, and wondered what Ichigo would think of as hard.

“We were sparring,” he said as the door opened on his floor. “Anyway, my ego is healthy enough that I don’t have to win.” He gave a little half-smile. “At least not all the time.”

Ichigo stepped further back into the elevator, his eyes fastened on Kisuke’s, that fascinating flush on his cheeks again.

“Okay,” he said, “But to be fair, I’ll let you pin me next time.”

The doors closed.

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carolinemillerbooks · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/social-concerns/chaos-of-the-manchurian-candidate/

Chaos Of The Manchurian Candidate

The thief was furious when he found a 4-year-old child strapped into the back seat of the car he’d stolen. His response was to slam on the brakes and reverse direction. Finding the mother newly emerged from the grocery store with a gallon of milk, he scolded her for leaving her youngster alone in a car. After handing the child over to the woman, he peeled off in the vehicle a second time, but not before shouting from the open window that he intended to report her to the police. As of this writing, the man hasn’t been caught, but many would applaud his parenting skills if not his morals. People assess the world around them differently. The mother thought it no harm to make a quick run into the grocery store to buy milk for her child. The thief knew better and taught her a lesson about fear. Given the brain’s plasticity, I doubt she’ll forget that lesson soon. Nature has given us flexible brains to help us survive in an ever-changing world. Yet, like the thief and the mother, each of us perceives events differently, according to our experience. During the January 6 Capital insurrection, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez feared for her life. She held Senator Ted Cruz responsible for the violence that occurred because he delayed Joe Biden’s certification as 46th President and gave the rabble time to invade the building. “You almost had me murdered,” she angrily tweeted him. Her charge wouldn’t hold in a law court, but her feelings were real and strong enough to change her reality. As such, the differences between the two politicians are probably irreconcilable. Something fearful must have happened to actress and Harvard-educated writer Valerie Gilbert. A fervent QAnon believer, she spends her days seated before her laptop, scanning the web for clues that will expose a cabal of pedophiles, prominent leaders who restore their powers by imbibing infants’ blood. To some, her fear is ludicrous, not worthy of a plot for a B movie. Others, however, share her affinity for rumors. Donald Trump’s presidency has given us many instances of the harm done when rumors precede facts. After four years in offices, after forcing the public to choose between fantasy and reality daily, particularly about the pandemic, it’s hard to believe anyone could accept that Trump has made America great again. Yet many do. Before his election, most of us held a common view of what we required from a President. Now that view has been shattered. In the past, the evidence revealed in the Muller Report, published in March of 2019–that Russia attempted to manipulate the 2016 election in Trump’s favor–would have rocked the nation. Yet, a year later, over 7 million people voted to reelect Trump, anyway. Recently, a former Russian spy provided more damning testimony: that our 45th President was Vladimir Putin’s Manchurian Candidate. And still, his supporters stormed the Capital. If the links between Trump and Putin seem fanciful, they are less so than the views held by QAnon supporters. The former is supported by data. The latter remains a supposition. That difference aside, there are those among us who, in their misguided view of democracy, have mistaken revolution for patriotism. The question is, how are we to reshape their misconception? How do we lure them back to reality? Many years may have to pass before a permanent correction is possible, but the first step is evident. We must object to one confusion common among us. There is no such thing as an “alternate fact.” There is only “fact.” The label may have begun as a term of derision, but it has taken hold and by repetition gained a reality that gives falsehood the ring of truth. Russia well knows the power of repetition. If that country is good at anything, it is in its ability to weaponize lies. QAnon supporters and militias have proved to be especially vulnerable. Flatter them with imaginary information known only to them and they will race down perdition’s road like lemmings to a cliff. In their frenzy, they mistake the chaos they create for freedom. Yet even the meanest artist or scientist, or athlete knows their mistake. Freedom is the reward of discipline, not chaos. Putin must have rejoiced to see thousands of American patriots murder a police officer and attempt to tear down their nation’s Capital on January 6. Likewise, his Manchurian Candidate is reported to have been entertained. Angela Stent, a professor at Georgetown University posits additional ideas on how to protect the vulnerable in our society.. (“The Meddlers,” by Angela Stent, Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb. pps. 176-182.) Our government, she says, should work with social media companies to prevent the spread of disinformation. More, It should retaliate against cyberattacks swiftly and secure our public and private networks. These strategies seem obvious. The wonder is that Trump’s administration never took them. Putin may be the fly in our ointment, but we have obliged him by leaving the jar open. Stent’s additional suggestion is one I applaud. We need to pay greater attention to our educational system. How else are we to teach young minds the difference between news and propaganda? Sadly, Trump’s outgoing Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos has left her charge bleeding and near death. We must revive it by rethinking our priorities. Education, not the military, is our first line of national defense. We can no longer afford to ignore the growing enemy within.

#Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez #Angela Stent #Capital insurrection #Donald Trump #Mueller Report #QAnon #Ted Cruz #The Manchurian Candidate #the pandemic #Valarie Gilbert #Vladimir Putin #white supremacists

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spicy-boi-keith-blog · 7 years ago

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Voltron prompt: child prince/princess sneaks aboard the Castle. He/she is discovered after the Castle has worm hole jumped and Allura is too exhausted from battle to jump back right away. Let the Paladins babysit for a day and get asked lots of questions about Earth and being a paladin. No romantic pairings.

Ahhh I hope you like it!! I worked my ass of making this lol

I did alter the prompt slightly to better fit what I had in mind. I hope you aren’t too mad at me for it!

———-

Clayton had no idea how he had gotten into his current predicament. One minute his planet was under Galra attack, the next Voltron was there, and the next his mother shoved him onto the Castle of Lions before getting hit by a stray laser. So there he sat, crouched in a dark room as the ship took off. With no means of being discovered lest he come clean about being a stowaway.

“I’m opening a wormhole, paladins! Get ready!” A muffled voice sounded from what seemed like the next room over. Clayton held his breath as he felt the ship lurch forward. The window, from which he could see the outside, began to go streaky with passing stars. Clayton’s head felt super dizzy with the sudden increase in speed.

Then suddenly it stopped. The ship slowed abruptly causing the little alien to pitch forward. He had so much force that he slammed into the opposite wall. A high pitched yelp escaped his lips. He held his breath.

——

Allura collapsed shortly after the wormhole finished its jump. She had once again used too much energy in the last battle, resulting in her collapse. The team gathered around her, telling her she had to get rest. Of course, she refused, insisting that she was fine. It was something she did often. She would never accept help unless it was, in her eyes, absolutely necessary. And as her knees gave out from underneath her, she finally agreed to get rest, and made her way gingerly from the Bridge. What awaited her just outside the door caused everyone to either stare in shock or let out a startled scream.

Just outside the door, listening in on the conversation, stood the young alien, Clayton. He had made his way to the sound of the voice he had heard as soon as the rapid motion of the wormhole had died down. Now there he stood, cyan colored ears twitching nervously, and thin fur standing on edge. The paladins of Voltron blinked at the new face.

“Uh… hi? Can we help you?” Allura asked him, a kind smile on her face. Clayton blinked up at her.

“Y-yes, you can.” He said, voice wavering slightly. “I am Clayton, prince and heir to the throne of planet Mayard.”

“You’re a prince?!” Lance shouted, an expression of shock etched onto his face. “Why aren’t you back on your planet?! Don’t they need you?” Clayton shuffled his feet awkwardly.

“My uh, my mother- our queen -shoved me onto the ship in an attempt to get me out of harms way. She was- she was killed in the process.” This statement was met moth many sympathetic looks from the Paladins and Alteans.

“Well, seeing as we’re already a number of star systems away from his planet, why don’t we let Clayton stay with us? He doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” Pidge said, casting her gaze to their leader.

“I don’t see why not.” He agreed.

“Oooo! Clayton I can’t wait to show you around!!” Hunk exclaimed, earning an exasperated look from Keith who stood at the back of the group saying nothing. Clayton smiled widely.

“Can you?!”

“Of course I can! C’mon!” With that he shoved past Allura, grabbed onto Clayton’s wrist and dragging him away.

——

“So What was Earth like?”

“Earth?” Lance asked. “Earth is incredible! There are forests with trees, and deserts and oceans! There are vast cities with stores and great foods and families! Big families like mine and small families too.” Lance was smiling a little sadly.

“You miss it. Don’t you?” Clayton asked, pointed ears downturned. Lance nodded. “I do.”

“Can you tell me about them? Your family I mean.” Lance gave a warm smile and launched into a long explanation of his family and what life was like back on earth. Clayton listened the entire time.

——“Wait… what’s “jacket”?” Clayton asked confused. Keith looked up.“This?” He said gesturing to his jacket. Clayton nodded, “ok, and what’s “cup”?” “What you drank that milkshake from.”“And, “string”?”“What my jacket is made of.”“”Tissue”?” “What you blow your nose with.” Keith was becoming increasingly impatient with the young alien. “No more questions, got it?” Clayton nodded.——The cyan colored alien sat on the floor in Pidge’s workshop. He was observing her while she worked on some new gadget. “What’s that?” He asked pointing at her laptop.“That’s my computer.” She told him shortly. “I use it for inscription decoding messages and uploading data to my projects.” “Woah cool! Is it from Earth?” “Yes, It is.” She said.“Do Shiro And Hunk also have things from Earth?”“No, they didn’t bring anything from home. But Hunk is an excellent cook! And Shiro’s the best leader we could ever ask for!” She turned away from her work. “What was your planet, Mayard, like, before the Galra took over.” Clayton looked down.“I don’t know. I don’t remember.” “I’m sorry,” Pidge said placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He shook his head. “Don’t be. I have a new home now anyway.” Pidge blinked.“You do?”“Yeah, right here.”

#ask #Voltron #voltron legendary defender #voltron fanfic #send prompts

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magzoso-tech · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/best-tech-of-2019-our-favourite-purchases-from-zomato-gold-to-realme-earbuds/

Best Tech of 2019: Our Favourite Purchases, From Zomato Gold to Realme Earbuds

Being a consumer is like a job, as a disgraced comedian once rightly said. We spend hours poring over the options at our disposal, looking at the features, going through reviews — a culture we at Gadgets 360 contribute to — and wondering what’s best suited for our needs. Sure, it seems crazy, but it also makes sense. After all, you work hard to earn that money. As you scroll below, you’ll find that some of us didn’t find anything worthwhile to spend said hard-earned money on in 2019. Meanwhile, most others found joy in new phones, tablets, laptops, headphones, subscriptions, or gaming consoles. Thus, in this Best Tech of 2019 article, we detail our favourite purchases from the world of technology this year.

Abhinav Lal: Zomato Gold

I’m going to nominate my Zomato Gold subscription as my tech purchase of the year. You may say, “Hey, that’s not really tech, is it?”, and I’d mostly agree with you. But, hey, it’s a premium offering by a consumer tech platform and seeing that I’ve reaped benefits several times over its cost already, I’m nominating it.

If you’d recall, Zomato earlier this year started Gold on delivery as well, making it rather decent value for money as long as you have participating restaurants in your neighbourhood. I got a 12-month subscription for Rs. 1,800, and since this was during Zomato’s anniversary celebrations, I also got five Rs. 200 cashbacks on delivery orders, bringing its cost down to Rs. 800. I recouped that in two dine outs — and have been using it for delivery as well.

As for my wishlist last year, it included a virtual reality headset, but I’ve been unable to convince myself to take the plunge on a mid-level offering. Maybe this year we will see a reduction in prices as the tech becomes more mainstream.

Buy: Zomato Gold

Aditya Shenoy: Nothing

At the start of the year, I was looking to buy a Sena 30K for my daily + weekend rides. After some thorough research found out that it won’t be able to survive the monsoons here. So dropped plans of picking one up. Surprisingly I haven’t bought a single new tech product this year. I did buy a V6 Communicator since the one I had got drenched in the rains and conked off.

An Android Auto head-unit for my car is still on my wishlist, but I think I’ll look for it next year.

Buy: Nothing

Akhil Arora: Nothing

True to what I’d predicted over 300 days ago, my tech wishlist stayed empty for all of 2019. Of course, I cheated and browsed through sales like any bargain-loving human, but I was never enticed to hit the buy button. That doesn’t mean I didn’t purchase anything. I picked up an iRobot Roomba 600 series at the start of the year and a Mi Air Purifier 3 towards the end of the year. One was a present, and the other a necessity — have you seen the data?

But I wouldn’t say I’d recommend either. If you’re looking for a robot vacuum or an air purifier, I’ve realised it’s best to stay away from entry-level products.

The Roomba is good at cleaning, but it’s very dumb. I live in a 3BHK and given how frequently I’ve to interact with it during cleaning, it really stretches the definition of the word “robot”. As for the Xiaomi one, it seems to do the job, but I don’t trust its AQI readings even though it has a new sensor. So without a separate air quality monitor, there’s no way to tell how good a job it’s doing.

My favourite tech product for 2019 then? 404 Not Found. Sorry for wasting your time, …again.

Buy: Nothing

Akshay Jadhav: Google Home Mini

This year I got a decent deal on the Google Home Mini during the Big Billion Day Sale on Flipkart. It was available for Rs. 2,299. I bought it just for casually listening to music at home. However, now my parents listen to their old playlists the entire day on it and they love the Home Mini’s ease of use with voice commands. Also, the fact that it can work as a Bluetooth Speaker is a cherry on top for me. It has certainly been the best purchase in 2019.

Buy: Google Home Mini

Ali Pardiwala: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

I’ve made a couple of big purchases this year, but the one device I’ve found more useful than anything else is the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Considering how many televisions I’ve reviewed this past year, this device is an invaluable tool of my trade. And of course, it’s helped me get access to a wide range of TV shows, movies, and videos across various streaming services up to 4K and HDR.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is, quite easily, one of the best streaming devices you can buy today. It’s the best Rs. 5,999 I’ve spent this year, and has made my television viewing experience far more entertaining and easy.

Buy: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

Aman Rashid: iPhone 11 Pro

I am a die-hard smartphone enthusiast, which is why I like to upgrade to a new smartphone every year. And for many people around me, it is a waste of money to upgrading to a new phone every year, but this has become somewhat of a hobby which I am unable to ignore. So my favourite tech purchase of 2019 is the iPhone 11 Pro.

To recap, I haven’t had great experiences using an iPhone. I have had two iPhones in the past, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 7 Plus. And with the iPhone 11 Pro, I was a bit skeptical before purchasing it because of my experiences with iPhones and the exorbitant prices the current Apple phones come with. But I was simply swayed away by the looks of the device. Unlike many people out there, I really like the triple-camera design at the back which makes it stand out from every other phone out there. And, the stainless-steel frame which you don’t get to see in flagships from other manufacturers. Moreover, the phone’s performance is top-notch, battery life is great, and the cameras are also a step-up from the last generation.

It has been almost 3 months since I purchased the iPhone 11 Pro, and I have to say I am really enjoying the iOS experience on this device. Looking forward to the iPhone 12 Pro or whatever Apple decides to name it.

Buy: iPhone 11 Pro (256GB)

Gaurav Shukla: LG G7 ThinQ

Even though smartphone prices have continued to go up with each passing year, I am yet to increase the budget that I had set for my smartphone purchases years ago. Hence, with just Rs. 30,000 to spare for my new smartphone, LG G7 ThinQ caught my eye. LG isn’t the most popular smartphone maker around; in fact, you will be hard-pressed to find LG smartphone owners these days. But, in my opinion, the company’s flagships are often some of the best value-for-money phones around if you are fine with waiting for a few months after the phone’s launch in India and don’t want to go for a Chinese smartphone brand.

Bought in the start of this year, the LG G7 is yet to disappoint me. The phone packs some impressive specifications for an older smartphone and is very easily going to last me another year. Having said that I do hate the massive screen but sadly that is a reality of the Android smartphone market right now, and the phone’s cameras aren’t great.

With Mi LED 10W smart bulb as my only other tech purchase, there is little competition for LG G7 ThinQ for my favourite tech purchase this year.

Buy: LG G7 ThinQ

Harpreet Singh: iPhone XR

I didn’t spend a lot of money on tech products this year, I’m going to end 2019 with a lot still left on my wishlist. But I did upgrade my smartphone this year. I switched from an iPhone 7 Plus to the iPhone XR, after spotting a decent deal online.

It seems like a decent upgrade to me. I like the battery life on the iPhone XR, but I miss the physical home button and Touch ID. I like the fact that it has support for an eSIM as a secondary connection even though I don’t really need one. I do love the camera though, nothing Pixel-like but since I only capture photos for Instagram and Snapchat, it gets the job done.

Buy: iPhone XR

Jagmeet Singh: Microsoft Surface Go

I often do some work while commuting. Checking for new emails or responding them while on-the-move is quite feasible through a smartphone. But I usually spend my travel time in writing new feature pieces or transcribing recent interviews that both a compact PC-like machine. I do carry my work laptop, but in the recent past, I observed the need for an even smaller device that I can take with me in most of the places. I found the iPad as an early solution. However, I ended up purchasing a Microsoft Surface Go.

Since the Surface Go provides me with the full Windows experience, I can not just open apps that are limited to iOS (read iPadOS) but also access all major software packages that I used to have on my desktop or work laptop. The portable design of the Surface Go also makes it an easy-to-carry machine and the optional keyboard adds productivity. Likewise, the touchscreen experience on the device is also on par with my iPhone. The only thing that lacks here is the battery life that gets exhausted in five-six hours of regular use. Nevertheless, there is a USB Type-C port that supports the Power Delivery (PD). So I use a compatible power bank for charging on-the-go.

Buy: Microsoft Surface Go

Jamshed Avari: iPad Pro

After promising myself that I wouldn’t buy anything unnecessary this year, I stumbled across a ridiculously good deal on a second-hand previous-gen iPad Pro that I simply couldn’t pass up. Did I actually need it? Not at all. Was it a good impulse buy? Absolutely! My previous iPad no longer receives iOS updates, I get to play high-end games, and the huge screen is just glorious. You can have a full-sized A4 page up, which is great for reading and especially for sheet music. Creative apps such as Synth One really feel transformed on the bigger screen and the stereo speakers are a revelation too. Moreover, it’s so light that I can just take it anywhere. Now to find an equally good deal on a keyboard cover…

Buy: 12.9-in iPad Pro (2nd Gen)

Nadeem Sarwar: Samsung Wireless Powerbank

2019 was the year I shelled out the most when it comes to purchasing tech goodies. I got myself the Acer KG241QP gaming monitor that offers 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time at a sweet discount on Amazon. I also burnt my earnings on a Redgear MK881 Invador mechanical keyboard with the Kailh Blue switches, and of course, RGB lighting effects. But my favourite tech purchase of the year was the Samsung Wireless Powerbank (EB-U1200CPNGIN).

This one’s not your average, blocky power bank. Aside from a USB Type-A port and a USB Type-C port, it also has a circular Qi-certified wireless charging pad that supports the in-house Wireless Fast Charge tech. It lets me simultaneously charge a phone and a wearable device (or another wireless charging compatible phone, which happens to be the Pixel 3 in my case). The 10,000mAh battery is enough to juice up the phone’s battery thrice, and the build quality is also top notch. It comes at a premium over rival 10,000Ah power banks, but the versatility it offers is unmatched.

Buy: Samsung Wireless Powerbank 10000mAh

Prabhakar Thakur: Amazon Fire TV Stick

Amazon Fire TV Stick was my favourite purchase this year, though I did not really “buy” it. It came with a Samsung TV that I bought (not a smart TV). It has changed my TV viewing experience for good. With Fire TV Stick’s clean UI and decent voice remote, I don’t have many complaints about the device.

This one doesn’t support 4K videos, but I have no qualms about it because of the expense of the amount of data that will be needed should I raise the video quality that much.

Buy: Amazon Fire TV Stick

Roydon Cerejo: iPhone XR, Fire TV Stick, and PS4 Pro

I may have gone a little crazy this year with my tech purchases. My first one was an iPhone XR back in April, when the big discounts and cashback offers began. An excellent device with more than a day-long battery life which even rivalled the iPhone XS. Plus, the fact that it was available in India at an effective price which was even lower than what it was being sold for in the US, made it a no-brainer.

My second-best tech purchase has been the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. The reason it makes the list is because I managed to snag one during this year’s Black Friday sale, for just $25! (roughly Rs. 1,800). It’s also a lot faster than the standard version, supports faster Wi-Fi and of course, can do 4K streaming.

My last big tech purchase of this year is the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro. Yes, I’m aware that the PlayStation 5 (PS5) will be launching around this time, next year, but like every new console generation, the true potential of it will most probably only be realised till a few years in the console’s lifecycle. By then, we’ll also have newer revisions which may fix any teething issues of the launch models, possibly a Pro model and most importantly, more affordable prices out by then.

Pro tip: If you’re looking to get the PS4 Pro, keep in mind that the only official bundle with India warranty is the one with the extra controller. All other bundles on Amazon and Flipkart of the Pro that include free games, are direct imports and don’t have a valid Indian warranty.

Buy: iPhone XR, Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, or PS4 Pro

Sumit Garg: Nothing

I have spent a lot of money this year. My biggest purchase has to be a new car, but did I make a tech purchase for myself? Well, no. Yes, I did buy two Redmi 8A smartphones, but those were gifts for my family members. Other than that, personally I did not find anything that amazed me in tech this year and because of that I didn’t make any tech purchase this year.

Buy: Nothing

Tasneem Akolawala: Amazon Echo

I didn’t make any big tech purchases this year, nothing that makes for a worthy mention. Although, I did make a tiny Amazon Echo purchase in January for the house. It’s proved to be quite handy, especially to satiate the growing curiosity of my kid. For those unaware, the Echo range of smart speakers from Amazon comes with Alexa voice assistant built in. It lets you ask questions, request songs, ask for recipes, and set reminders – and responds with voice-based answers. I’d recommend it as a nice addition to your home entertainment space. I bought the second-generation Echo, but it would be ideal to buy the third-generation speakers now. Amazon offers a slew of Echo speakers in different forms and functionalities.

Buy: Amazon Echo

Yousuf Jawed: Realme Earbuds 2

After using OnePlus wireless bullets for an year then getting back to old tech like wired headphones is tough but I did make a choice now and it is Realme Buds 2. These Realme earphones are good in terms of sound quality within the price bracket. The braided cable make you believe it is stronger and practically doesn’t get tangled. The length of the wire is very generous, and it comes with a rubber clip. I also appreciate the drivers and the chambers they are housed in, redesigned to give better sound quality. The magnetics snapping feature of the buds are very handy. So, yeah, this was my tech purchase on the year.

Buy: realme Earbuds 2 in-Ear Wired with mic

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#Miscellaneous

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queen-of-deans-booty · 8 years ago

Text

Hook Man- Part 1

Pairing: Eventual Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1,965

Warnings: Typical Supernatural violence, angst, language, minor character death, blood, you know the usual

Summary: You never thought Bloody Mary would be a real legend. So when you were presented with the idea that the Hook Man could be real, you took no chances.

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Please, if you want to be tagged for this series, let me know and I’ll add you! If you want to be tagged for my other fics, I’ll add you! I want to hear what you guys think about this.

Read the backstory for this episode!

You go Camping with Dean

Feedback is always appreciated

Tags at the bottom

The search for John was getting colder with each day that passed. You tried to give the boys hope but it wasn’t working too well. Sam was losing faith in this whole thing and Dean was shutting himself from everyone else to hide how he really felt.

But you knew.

You could hunt all you want but there is and always has been one goal: Be a family again. You couldn’t do that if John was missing. Just like the start of every case, either Sam or Dean was looking for one while you tried to aid and assist.

Sam was trying to call people that might know where John is and Dean was searching for a case on Sam’s laptop. You were in a rundown café, not really paying attention to what was going on around you.

“We’ll find John. He’s out there, somewhere and he may not want our help but he’s going to get it.” You said to Dean. The boys have been hoping and wondering where John was but no information was found. It was like John didn’t want to be found. It was all very weird to you.

“I know we’ll find him.” Dean said without looking up. You sipped your coffee and looked around you, hoping no one would recognize you from the police pictures from the last hunt. “Hey, your cheek is looking better.”

“Yeah, that shifter can hit. Wow, I’m more worried about being sent to jail than my cheek.” You joked. The bruise the shifter left was barely there but it took a while for it to go away.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.” Dean sighed.

“You did.” You smiled at him. He protected you from anything and everything. It was one of the reasons you were in love with him. You watched Sam hang up the payphone and make his way over to you.

“So, anything?” Dean sounded hopeful but it was more likely false hope than anything.

“No, there is nothing in the FBI’s Missing Persons Data Bank or any John Doe fitting his description. I even had them run his plates for traffic violations but nothing turned up.” Sam said with a sigh. The search for this man was wearing you out more than it should. Where could one man be?

“Sam, maybe your father doesn’t want to be found.” You looked at him to see his shoulders sag and you nodded to Dean to let him show Sam what he found.

“Check this out,” Dean said, showing Sam the laptop. “It’s a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It’s only about a hundred miles from here.”

“The mutilated body was found near the victim’s car, parked on 9 Mile Road. Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible.” You explained, watching Sam’s reaction.

“This could be something.” Dean pointed it out.

“Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked out witness who didn’t see anything? Doesn’t mean it’s the Invisible Man.” Sam shrugged.

“Sam, what if it is? You know John would have checked it out.” You said to him.

“Fine.” Sam said, grabbing his coffee and walking towards the car. Dean huffed and shut the laptop, frustrated with his brother.

“He’ll come around, Dean.” You said, grabbing your coffee and heading to the car with him. You were on the road in no time, speeding towards the state you’ve never been to.

“So how am I going to explain why I’m at a fraternity house?” You asked, looking at the house in front of you.

“Sweetheart, I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” Dean said as he parked in front of the house. You saw about three men working on cars and you knew just how you would be let in. You have to use what you can use best: your sexuality.

You were thankful you wore shorts and a tight shirt as you got out of the car. You looked at the men who stared you down. You hated feeling like a piece of meat but you needed to get inside and that required a bunch of college boys to think with their dicks and not their heads.

“We’re your fraternity brothers from Ohio. We’re new in town and looking for a place to stay.” Dean smiled at the guys who looked at him strangely.

“Who’s she?” One of them said, eyeballing you.

“What? I came to drop my brothers off.” You pulled down your shirt a little and they smirked. You saw Dean take a glance at you and he rolled his eyes.

“My God…” He muttered, walking past the men as Sam went in front of him. You walked behind Sam and you could tell all eyes were not on you but your ass.

“Hey, eyes to yourself.” Dean snapped at them. You giggled and walked inside, looking around. You followed Dean up to a room with its door open and a man who was painting his body purple.

“Who are you?” The guy said, looking at you in the mirror he was in front of.

“We’re your new roommates.” Dean smiled and walked in with Sam.

“Who is she?” He smirked at you through the mirror.

“My sister so back off.” Dean rolled his eyes.

“Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today.” The frat boy smiled and held out a paint brush to Dean. He looked at you and smirked again. “Unless you would like to do it.”

“I’ll do it.” Sam said, grabbing the paintbrush and the paint bucket, getting to work.

“So, Murph, is it true?” Dean asked, looking at some magazines. You didn’t know how he knew his name but he did. You walked in further and looked around but went to Dean and stood next to him. Oh, the magazine had a name on it.

“Is what true?” Murph asked.

“We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week.”

“Yeah, he did.” Murph said sadly.

“What happened?” Sam asked him, continuing his work.

“They’re saying some psycho with a knife is around here. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy.” Murph said.

“Was he with someone?” Sam wondered

“Not just somebody, Lori Sorensen.” He said that like you were supposed to know who she was.

“Who’s that?” you asked.

“Lori is a freshman and a hot one at that. Plus, she’s the reverend’s daughter.” Murph smiled.

“You wouldn’t happen to know which church, would you?” You asked, sliding your hand sneakily into Dean’s jacket. Thankfully, he was busy pointing his eyes somewhere else to notice and you slipped his keys out, holding them in your hands.

“Yeah, the one that’s across from the college. They’re having service now and I bet Lori is there.” You smiled and nodded, clasping your hands together.

“Great, why don’t I check that out and you three can get acquainted better.” Dean and Sam both looked at you with wide eyes.

“You don’t have the keys.” Dean reached into his pocket but frowned when he didn’t find them.

“No, I think it would be great if you stayed. I mean, she’s not really supposed to be in here and we could use some extra help getting ready for the game.”

“I’ll pick you up later.” You grinned and held up the keys in front of Dean and if he was a cartoon, you would see smoke coming out of his ears at how pissed he was. Before you could get in trouble, you ran out of the place and to Dean’s car, getting in and starting it.

Dean chased after you but you drove off before he could get to you. You grinned and rolled the windows down. To hell with Dean if he says you couldn’t drive the car. You were a great driver and he would need to get over it.

You loved the feel of the Impala’s purr as you drove. She was really a work of art and you were damned if something bad happened to her. You reached the church in no time. You parked and got out, pocketing the keys. You hoped not to interrupt so you quietly opened the door and slipped inside, making sure not to slam the door.

“The loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings. So, please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children.” Some people must have heard you come in because a girl looked back as you slipped into one of the pews. You saw as everyone bowed their heads and you did the same, out of respect.

The service ended soon after that and you were still seated, waiting for everyone to pass by you. You gathered bits from here and there but when someone said Lori’s name, you perked up and saw a woman walk up to Lori. They both smiled and started talking, walking outside of the church. You got up, heading outside to see if you could talk to them.

You watched from the doors as the two women talked. The other woman seemed to be convincing Lori of something but when the other woman walked away, you took your chance.

“Are you Lori?” You smiled politely.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“My name is Y/N and I just transferred to the University.”

“I saw you inside.” She nodded.

“I don’t want to bother you. I just heard about what happened and I wanted to say how sorry I am. I know what you’re going through. I saw someone die as well. It’s not something you just forget.” You said gently. You saw an older gentleman walk up to you and you knew he was the reverend by the way he was dressed.

“Dad, this is Y/N. She’s a new student.” You smiled and shook her dad’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon.” You said with a smile.

“Thank you very much. It’s so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord’s message.” Her dad nodded.

“Listen, I’m new in town and I was wondering if there was a church group?” You needed him away so you could talk to the daughter.

“Yes, there is indeed, let me go get the information and I’ll find you when I do. “He smiled and walked off, leaving you and Lori alone.

“Tell me, what are the police saying?” You looked at her, walking with her. She seemed glad of the subject change for a bit.

“Well, they don’t have a lot to go on. I think they blame me for that.” She sighed.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s because of the story I told them. I was so scared and I guess I was just “seeing things”. But I know what I saw.”

“Just because you think it’s unbelievable, doesn’t mean it wasn’t real. What did you see, by the way?” You smiled nicely.

“Have you ever heard of the Hook Man?” She asked you. She told you all about what it was and what she saw. You just couldn’t wait to tell Dean and Sam.

“Thank you for your time, I appreciate it.” You smiled.

“Maybe you can find me at the university. I know what it’s like to be new and not know anyone.” You nodded and smiled, walking away from her and to Dean’s car. You got in and started her up, driving back to the frat house. You knew Dean would be pissed and he would never let you touch his car again but it was well worth it.

Part Two

Masterlist // Series Rewrite Masterlist // Buy me a Coffee?

Series Rewrite tags:

@helllonearth @amyisabellal @deanwnchstr @caseykitten6 @roxalya19 @quixoticcat

Forever tags:

@deans-shorter-squirrel @maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith @mogaruke @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @whit85-blog @inlovewithbja

Dean tags:

@akshi8278 @mega-mrs-dean-winchester @winchesterandpie

Other tags:

@jensen-jarpad @notnaturalanahi @deathtonormalcy56 @27bmm

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aleinnilatibae · 8 years ago

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The Adventure Scouts Dead Reckoning Challenge

This is something I wrote for @ghostofanonpast based loosely on this scenario that they lived:

“au where pixel travels across the country with all his electronic equipment in his backpack along with a bottle of juice and when he gets to his destination the bottle has broken and none of his computers work anymore cause they're fucking soaked in fucking home made currant juice, oh no wait that’s just me“

Ask and ye shall receive, my ghosty friend.

"Are you SURE you're ready for your hike?" Pixel's mom was asking, as he sped toward the door.

He skidded to a stop.

"Absolutely!" he said, flashing her a double thumbs up, but paused as he mentally ran through all of the devices he had put in his backpack.

"I've got my laptop, portable charger, Tree Analyzer 6000, BARK Texturizer 9000, and a good old GPS device!" he rattled off, bouncing excitedly.

His mom couldn't suppress a smile as she held up a brown paper bag. "And your lunch?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Pixel said sheepishly, as he unceremoniously shed his backpack and stuffed the bag inside.

"Okay, NOW I'm ready!" he said, putting the backpack back on. "I'm going to get some AMAZING data for my synthetic wood project!!"

"Hang on, I thought you were going to take a hike with your friends?" she said, wiping her hands on her berry-stained apron.

Pixel harrumphed, feeling impatient. "It's called MULTITASKING, Mom. We're going to do the dead reckoning challenge, AND I'm going to get my data, AND we're gonna have fun too! And I gotta go now bye!"

With that, he raced out the door, backpack bouncing against his back as he ran to the meetup spot.

When he arrived at the designated bench next to City Hall, Stephanie and Trixie were already there, dressed in their scout uniforms, and examining the map.

"God, Pixel, did you have to take the kitchen SINK with you too??" Trixie asked, eyeing his enormous backpack with distaste.

"I haven't been able to make a portable kitchen sink yet," he said sadly. "Trust me, I've tried."

Trixie opened her mouth, but then closed it again. "O-kay."

Stephanie cleared her throat at the two of them. "Settle down, guys. We have a mountain spring to find today! So tell me, are you guys ready for the...Adventure Scouts Dead Reckoning Challenge??"

"Yeah!" The other two responded brightly.

“Are you ready to FIND that mountain spring?!”

"Yeah!"

"Well then, the FIRST leg of our journey," she looked back down at the map, "We have to walk due west, from this EXACT spot, for...a hundred and sixty five paces!" she announced, then looked up at Pixel. "Do you have your Step Counter 2000?"

"You bet I do!" he said, pulling the little device out of his pocket and setting it to 160 before affixing it to his hip.

Trixie carefully turned her compass dial due west, in the direction of the fields and the further-away mountains. "That's the way, Pinkie!"

"Adventure Scouts! Forward, MARCH!" Stephanie crowed, and the three of them strode into the fields, intent on finding the mountain spring as soon as possible.

Stephanie handled the map, Trixie handled the compass, and Pixel handled the pace-counting as they walked on through the field. Their journey had five legs, each having a slightly different compass direction and length. Pixel personally would have preferred to use his GPS, but...Stephanie and Trixie wanted to try the simple wilderness method, and he was still happy to spend time with them.

He DID bring his GPS along, though. Just in case of emergency.

As they neared the end of the fourth leg, they were all sweating and panting . Their Adventure Scout hats, come to find out, were woefully inadequate against the blistering summer sun.

"Now we are at the last, and LONGEST, leg of our journey," Stephanie said, taking a swig of her water, prompting Trixie and Pixel to do the same. "We have to turn...due west AGAIN for...seven hundred paces!"

Trixie looked out at the open field, and sighed. "That's a LONG way," she observed, shoulders slumping.

"But look, we're going to head into some trees!" Pixel said excitedly, "We can SING to pass the time!"

He started marching ahead, singing Gizmo Guy at the top of his lungs.

"Pixel, wait up!"

"Who said YOU got to pick the song?!"

For the next hundred paces, they squabbled about which song they should all sing, deciding to sing No One's Lazy in Lazytown three times in a row solely because they couldn't agree on anything else. That is, until Trixie had the great idea of singing an EDITED version of Mr. Golden Sun (“Mr. Sun! Sun! Mr. Golden Sun, would you PLEASE DON'T SHINE ON MEEE!”). Now instead of arguing, they were laughing, and collaborating, and complaining about the blistering heat through song.

These little children are sick of you/I hope clouds come out and COVER you!

"Oh, thank GOODNESS," Trixie sighed as they approached the first of the trees. "We're going to have some COVER now."

"This is an apple grove!" Pixel said excitedly, slinging off his backpack momentarily with a thunk to grab his Tree Analyzer 6000. "Did you know that fruit-bearing apple trees can grow up to 20 feet tall?"

"That's 20 feet?" Trixie said, squinting up at one of them. "I thought it was at least a HUNDRED!"

"Of COURSE it's not a hundred," Stephanie chided, "A hundred would be like...on top of the clouds!"

"Actually, a hundred feet would be more like a ten-story building," Pixel said, absentmindedly, as he scanned one of the tree trunks. "Did you know that different types of apple tree branches can be spliced together onto the same trunk? The process is called-"

"Come on, Pixel, you're making me lose my concentration!" Trixie complained, head bowed over the compass. "Can't you just...quietly enjoy nature?"

"I enjoy nature more when I know facts and figures about what I'm looking at!" He retorted.

"Fine, just...all your 'facts and figures' are giving me a headache."

Pixel blushed, and lowered his head. "Sorry."

"Trixie, don't be mean," Stephanie chided, a bit belatedly.

They walked further in awkward silence, through the large and equally quiet apple grove. According to the map, the grove would dump out at a rocky outcrop, with the spring pouring down directly in front of them.

But Pixel didn't even see any water at all. He didn't think too hard about it, gathering data and bark pieces for his other project, until his Step Counter 2000 beeped at his hip.

“Guys, we have gone 700 steps!” he announced.

“What? We CANT have!" Stephanie exclaimed, looking from the map to their surroundings. "We are still in the middle of this apple forest!”

Trixie stopped dead in her tracks and looked from the compass in her hand to the apple tree canopy, back and forth.

"Uh, Pinkie?"

"Yes?"

"I don't...think we're going true west right now," she said slowly.

Stephanie blinked. "What?"

"Well," she gestured, "That's what the COMPASS says. But look!" she gestured again, at the afternoon sun filtering through the trees. "We should be heading toward the sun, and the sun is over THERE!"

"Uh oh," Pixel and Stephanie said simultaneously.

"If we screwed up any of the legs of our journey," she said, eyes widening in terror, "Then we could be ANYWHERE right now!"

"Don't worry guys," Pixel said, shrugging his backpack off onto the ground and opening it up, "I brought a GPS in case of emergency."

He hummed in contentment, unable to stop himself from being a little bit smug. He was so PREPARED!

"It's probably at the bottom, though, let me just-oh NO!" Pixel said as he pulled his laptop out of his bag.

It was dripping with red liquid.

"Is your laptop BLEEDING?!" Stephanie gasped.

"That's DISGUSTING!" Trixie recoiled.

"No no no no no," Pixel said, pulling the laptop open with a fast-beating heart, and pressed the power key.

It did not light up.

It did not whir.

"Oh no, my FILES!" he lamented. "I was going to back it all up TOMORROW!"

"Pixel, you seem, um, unconcerned, about the um, the blood coating your laptop," Stephanie said apprehensively, taking a step back.

"It's not BLOOD, Stephanie," replied Pixel with a deep sigh, "IT's my JUICE."

"Your what?"

"My mom..." he sighed again, "my mom made me some home made...homemade currant juice, for my lunch, because she always says it's good for long hikes. I don't know why she says that. It's just JUICE," he shrugged, carefully placing the broken laptop down on a patch of dry grass. "OH, This is TERRIBLE. I had that laptop exactly to my specifications! It took me AGES to save up for it! I..." he swallowed hard, willing himself not to cry over something so stupid. "Liquid damage is basically a death sentence for it."

"That sucks, Pixel, but what about your GPS?" Trixie asked.

"Huh?"

"Your GPS? You went into your backpack to get it, remember?" she prompted.

Pixel gasped in horror and turned back to his backpack, a horrible feeling settling in his stomach.

He pulled every single thing in his backpack out, one by one, in a rising panic as he saw that all of them were soaked in the same dark juice--including the little GPS device that he had been counting on to save them.

"No, no, no no NO!" he said, pressing his fingers to the stained power button over and over.

Nothing.

Pixel sat on the ground, brain turning numb. He had no devices. If he had no devices, then all of his data was lost. If all of his data was lost, that meant all of his INFORMATION was lost, and now that meant that THEY were lost, stranded in this forest with no way of-

"Pixel, breathe!" Stephanie exclaimed, standing behind him and putting her hands on his shoulders.

He sucked in a deep breath that he didn't realize he had pushed out, and looked up at Stephanie. "What do we do now?" he asked, wincing at the broken edge to his voice.

"Well...we still have this compass?" Trixie said tentatively, wiggling it.

"But if we followed that compass in the WRONG DIRECTION," Stephanie said, "Then that means we don't know where we ARE now!"

"It's better than NOTHING!" Trixie said defensively.

"Well...what if we used the rice trick! That works on phones!"

"How are we going to find uncooked rice in an APPLE FOREST, Stephanie??"

"I don't KNOW, do you have any better ideas?"

Pixel was still numb, sucking in breath after breath, listening to the other two bicker and argue. He couldn't keep up with them, he was too busy processing the magnitude of the loss of all of his data.

And his brain's processor was overheating.

A loud sob ripped from his throat.

The sound froze Stephanie and Trixie in the middle of their near-shouting match, and they turned to look at their juice-soaked friend.

The looks on their faces, of concern and alarm, blurred as Pixel’s vision swam and tears started to fall.

Pixel hated crying. His old friends, from the city, always made fun of him for it, since he always cried over stupid things. Like a broken toy, or a broken laptop. He knew that he was no use to his friends being a sobbing mess on the ground, they had to get back to town!

But he was unable to stop himself. It was just too much.

"Hey, uh, we will find a way back! We're not even that far to begin with!" Trixie said encouragingly.

"B-but," Pixel sniffed, "I could have fixed this. If I had just been more CAREFUL with my JUICE, we-"

"Stop it," Stephanie said, touching his shoulder. "We wouldn't even have NEEDED it if we hadn't messed up the route in the first place. We're all to blame for messing this up. Maybe, we took too many steps. Maybe, we went in the wrong direction. Maybe, we did the math wrong when we created the map in the first place! We messed up together, and we will figure out what to do together,” she said, holding out an apple.

"Yeah, don't beat yourself up about it," came Trixie's voice from somewhere behind Stephanie. "We are all smart and resourceful and we GOT this. Somehow."

Pixel accepted the apple, and took a bite, smiling at the taste of friendship and solidarity. "Thanks," he said, with watery eyes.

"You're welcome," came Trixie's voice again, which Pixel had finally registered was coming from in the branches of one of the apple trees, "I picked it from the high branches just for you." she sniffed haughtily, and turned to climb higher in the tree.

"Where are you going?" Stephanie asked.

"I'm gonna poke my head outta the top, and see if I can see the town from here. We'll make a NEW map, and follow a NEW bearing, and it's gonna be a BILLION times better than the first one!" she announced, as her head popped out of the canopy.

"Well, I can't see the town from-" she cut herself off with an excited gasp. "Is THAT-"

"What?" Stephanie asked, picking up the change in tone, "What is it??"

"It's-it's SPORTACUS' AIRSHIP!" Trixie yelled, waving her arm frantically with all her might. "HEEEEEELP!!!!" she screeched into the air.

Pixel and Stephanie climbed up adjacent trees, the gadgets laying forgotten on the ground, as they waved for Sportacus in the sunlight too. "HELP!! HELP!!!"

The enormous ship paused in the air, as if it heard them, and slowly, miraculously, turned, picking up speed as it headed in their direction.

Pixel was about ready to cry again, but this time from relief. They were going to make it home! He scrambled back down the tree, throwing his juice-stained electronics back into his backpack, and went back up to await their rescue.

By the time he poked his head out from among the ripening apples, Sportacus' ship was directly over them, giving them some very-needed shade. The platform lowered, and Pixel could faintly see the outline of Sportacus' head and hat.

"Would you three like a ride?" he called down, the smile evident in his voice.

"YES PLEASE!" they chorused as one.

"Then climb aboard! LADDER!" he called again, and the white ladder descended down to tree level.

After their long, sunny hike, climbing up a ladder in the shade seemed like a piece of cake.

"Thanks Sportacus!" said Stephanie, passing by him into the airship.

"Thank you!" Trixie said, with more earnestness than usual.

"Yeah, thanks!" he said himself, as he was finally hoisted into the interior of the ship.

"No problem!” Sportacus said, raising the platform and backflipping off the pole. "Water!"

Three water bottles shot out of the wall, and Sportacus kicked them all directly into the kid's hands.

Stephanie and Trixie immediately launched into regaling Sportacus with the tale of their failed expedition, while Pixel quietly sat on the ground, sipping his water. Now that they were safe and on their way back to town, there was nothing stopping him from thinking about his ruined electronics.

"Pixel," came Sportacus' voice to interrupt his thoughts, "You seem rather...down for someone who is heading home after a very long day out."

Pixel sighed. "I know, Sportacus, and I'm SO glad that you rescued us, but...I'm still kind of sad. I didn't just spill juice on my GPS, I spilled it on my LAPTOP, which means that a lot of my art and projects are gone. And I don't have enough money to replace it!"

Sportacus' face softened into a look of sympathy. "It is hard to lose something like that, Pixel," he said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "But, even though this happened, remember that you are not going through this alone. Your friends will ALWAYS be on your side!" he said, grinning as he jumped into the pilot seat, pedaling them home.

As always, Sportacus was right. His friends DID make him feel better. Comforting him, even when they still thought that they were all hopelessly lost. Many of the people that he had called his friends before would have just called him a crybaby, but his friends here in LazyTown were true friends.

He sniffed. It wouldn't be fun, being without his laptop for the time it would take to save up for a new one, but...at least he had his friends with him.

"Pixel!" Stephanie called, running over to him.

"Oh hi, Stephanie!" Pixel smiled cheerily. He hadn't seen her since their hike a few days prior.

"Well, first of all...I found out where we went wrong!" she said, brandishing the map.

“We ended here,” she pointed, “and we were supposed to end here.”

“Wow, we were pretty far off," Pixel observed. "Did you figure out why?"

“I think so," Stephanie said, "It's because I measured the length of MY paces instead of yours! I'm taller than you, so it just made the lengths all messed up!"

Pixel looked back at the map. "Am I really THAT much shorter than you?" he sighed, looking down at his legs.

"I dunno," Stephanie shrugged, "There was also the compass pointing in the wrong direction thing, and I CAN'T figure that one out."

“Hm," Pixel considered, looking at the ground.

"Oh well! We should try it again sometime!" Stephanie said, more brightly.

“Sure! But I am WATERPROOFING my GPS this time!” Pixel said with a shaky smile.

"About that," Stephanie said, shuffling her feet. "Did you get a new laptop yet?"

Pixel flipped up his visor and rubbed at his face.

“No, not yet," he said sadly. "I just...wish that didn't happen, you know? Now I'm pinned to my desktop if I want to do anything! I lost the progress I made on three of my big projects! I don't have any of the sprite art I was working on! I can't...I can't CONTACT you guys online if I go out of town!” his eyes filled with tears threatening to spill over again. “I just...this SUCKS, Stephanie!”

She nodded solemnly. “It does. I'm sorry, Pixel.”

They stood there for a moment in silence, until Stephanie cleared her throat.

"Hey, Pixel..." Stephanie said, uncertainly. "I...I told Bessie about what happened on the hike, and...and I know she has a billion old phones and I asked her if you could use this one and she said yes," she said in a rush, holding out a smooth device.

Pixel took it, and held down the power button. After about ten seconds, a light popped up on the (slightly cracked) screen.

"She said you could sort of use it for documents, and spreadsheets, and internet, and...all that stuff," she mumbled. "But I thought, you could use it to email us when you go out of town!"

Pixel inspected it. "This is an Apollo Taurus, first generation," he said slowly, "It was released to the public 6 years ago, and was one of the first smartphones with 3G capabilities, AND one of the first smartphones to unveil an over-4.5 inch screen."

Even in the time it took him to say all that, the loading screen was still going, a bright "TAURUS" flashing up at him.

"Th-thank you so much!" Pixel said, smiling brightly.

"You like it? It's...really old, and probably really slow, and it can't really hold a cha-" Pixel cut off her uncertain babbling by gripping her in the tightest hug imaginable.

Because he couldn't care less if she had handed him a tin can and a string, he still would have felt the same joy as he was feeling at that moment. The fact that she even gave what she could...it was not only enough, but above and beyond. He tried to say that through the hug, and the way she squeezed him back, he was pretty sure she understood.

The thoughtfulness of a friend was worth more than any gadget money could buy.

#ghostofanonpast #i love you ghost im sorry this happened to you #ive been writing this since i saw your post about it tbh #it spiraled out of my control #im sorry that its like kind of bad but i couldn't resist #the mr sun song is one from barney and it goes 'mr sun sun mr golden sun won't you please shine down on me' so these bitter children are #well #doing THAT #lazytown

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srseattlestreetnews · 8 years ago

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Seattle Street News 47, Last Wishes

Corp News:

Ares Squires Exec Soltysiak Kane Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

Late yesterday, Ares set up a press conference to announce the death of Soltysiak Kane:

Ares Macrotechnology, Knight Errant, and The Squires of Galahad are deeply saddened today to announce the passing of Former President of the Galahad Academy Soltysiak Kane. It was often said that guiding the Squires and helping them grow was his true purpose in life. Sadly, it seems that his heart never fully recovered from the pain of the Fitzgerald Revelations and his subsequent stepping down. Mr. Kane retired to his bed Saturday evening and after falling asleep, went to join his beloved Winnifred in the great beyond. In accordance with his wishes, he shall be cremated and his remains scattered around the campus of Galahad Academy, so that he may forever be a part of the hallowed institution. A small Remembrance service will be held at the Avalon Chapel in Bay City; in lieu of flowers, a small donation to your local Squire Order would be the best way to honor the late Soltysiak Kane.

SSN readers will remember that Mr. Kane was the President of the Galahad Academy and Order Master of the Squires of Galahad during the shameful and embarrassing scandal involving unethical kidnapping and experimentation on metahuman SINless children by Ares Execs Margret and Foster Fitzgerald. While there is no evidence that Kane was aware of the experimentation, Kane seemed to be the sacrificial lamb used by Ares to save face while there has been no public word from Ares about what has become of the actual perpetrators of the experiments, the Fitzgeralds. After sacrificing Kane figuratively, have they sacrificed him literally?

Official sources insist there is no mystery here and nothing to see. A completely healthy man just happens to die in his sleep for no particular reason right after an embarrassing scandal. Forgive me dear readers, but dying of heartbreak might be a convention in romantic literature, but doesn’t happen in real life—especially in not so convenient a way.

This reporter was able to contact a source close to Mr. Kane who I’ll call WhaddyaKnowJoe, who told a slightly different story. Joe says that right after the news broke, Kane made a number of phone calls, one to his lawyer, but three could not be traced. The call to the lawyer seemed to have been to change his Will. Joe was able to provide this reporter with a copy. Kane had just set up an endowment to make payments to Squires who “could prove they were part of the Fitzgerald’s program.” There was digital handwriting on the initial copy of the remade Will, and the handwriting evidenced “no trembles, or other signs of duress.” Strange that the confident and competent handwriting would belong to someone so close to dying of “natural causes.” The day after writing that new Will and those three mysterious phone calls, Kane made three withdrawals of 10K nuyen. Where did that nuyen go? Was Kane hiring a runner team for something? Perhaps a mission that someone else did not want to succeed? Who could that other person have been? One thing I’d like to leave this story with is a quote from WhaddyaKnowJoe, who know Kane well, “I can't say what happened that Saturday after he went to bed, but between you and me the weight of the guilt he felt about the situation wouldn't have been enough to stop his heart.”

Something happened to Soltysiak Kane the corps don’t want us to know. I think we should find out. If anyone has any info on Kane, including where that money went, or on the Fitzgeralds, contact the SSN.

Reflections on the Cyberware Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Cyberware.

The Cyberware market is one of the larger markets in the Metroplex with a value of 145.6¥B, just edging out Robotics in revenue. However, unlike Robotics, Cyberware is a fairly densely populated market. Six out of the ten megacorps have cyberware subsidiaries and no one has overwhelming dominance: Evo leads with 26.3% of the market, followed closely by NeoNET (23.1%), Renraku (18.4%), Horizon (17.9%), Mitsuhama (9.6%), and Ares (4.7%). Cyberware is used by all sorts of members of the 6th World as a form of enhancement, but must of us in the shadows are used to seeing cyberware on the bodies of our Street Sams and other runners. Cyberware makes an impact from high to low. So what does the market data tell us?

SSN reached out to all the corps with a Cyberware presence and responses we got are interesting. A NeoNET contact offered some overall analysis in the absence of Vorack’s, noting that:

Cyberware is an interesting market: not big by any measure, but the biggest market with more than 5 players. None of the corps involved have it as their main market either. And still it boasts exciting products with very different uses. Like the tattoo industry that only became hot when it could brand itself as art rather than a mark of infamy.

Virtually all the players could at any time use their share as currency in a deal to grow one of their core markets instead, or become the clear market leader in one move. It is therefore only a matter of time before it consolidates.

Last but not least: Saeder-Krupp is nowhere to be seen here, but they can be relied on to foment a coup and pounce as soon as the numbers work. That is, if Vorack hasn't choked on confectionery baked with impromptu cooking implements by the time it happens.

This analysis of the market as being one that might start moving towards consolidation seems to be borne out by comment by a tipster who works with Ares, the corp with the smallest subsidiary, who leaked the explosive news that Ares is in negotiations to sell their Cyberware holdings. A deal seems imminent and could result in interesting changes in that market. Let’s hope it will not result in layoffs for workers connected to Ares’s cyberware division.

A Mitsuhama spokesperson responded to questions about their Cyberware presence in s seemingly more corporate approved way noting, “In the vein of Cybernetics, or Cyberware, Mitsuhama has taken the approach of overcoming the growing dependencies to magic several of our competitors have taken. We're excited to see this area grow as further development of the Dawn Suits continue. Just yesterday a colleague of mine told me a story of a woman who worked in Health & Safety and was able to quickly, on her own, remove layers of rubble that had trapped a puppy and child who was in the wrong place as a magical experiment went awry. Quite terrible." Mitsuhama seemed to attribute their success in cyberware, despite their small market share, to their experience in magically diminished locations, “As you know, Mitsuhama has rebuilt much of the lost colony on Mars, where magics dwindle, making it ideal for technological enhancement and prime for research and development. We believe Cybernetics will only improve much of what we already do, including Matrix Services, Robotics, and Aerospace allowing us to better connect with whomever tries to integrate with our technologies in a holistic manner." This reporter pushed the Mitsuhama representative on its rhetoric that seemed to distance itself from magic and the Magical Goods market, and the source let slip some interesting news, saying, "Of course, we don't completely disregard magic and its importance on Earth; as such plan to dive into that area again to remain competitive and empathetic to those who want to dip into both realms. For instance, Cyberware that doesn't impact those of a spiritual nature; attempting to keep our spirits clean. We try to remain inclusive at Mitsuhama." The Mitsuhama rep indicates that perhaps Mitsuhama might enter into the Magical Goods market. Are they planning to create a new subsidiary or buy someone else’s?

This week’s market analysis has revealed some interesting information for investors and workers alike. The market seems to be on the verge of mergers and consolidation while Magical Goods might be on the verge of expansion and more job opportunities. What will this mean for our street sams and runners? Only time will tell! Additionally, let’s see what will develop with the rivalry between SK analyst Vorack and my currently anonymous NeoNET analyst.

City News:

Meet the saddest guy in Seattle—(by 8)

Top Gun, that’s what he goes by at “Blast from the Past”, the trendy NeoNET-owned club where he spends his days and his nights. Not that he has a choice in the vintage Bomber jacket that projects the tough-guy image his thin frame and old bean counter uniform used to repress, and original Aviator sunglasses.

Top Gun is grieving, he misses the funky smell, the chaotic ethos, the graffitied 1980’s-inspired murals and random nihilistic slogans whose successive layers used to read like a people’s history of Seattle, written by hackers high on sleeplessness after a pizza-and-beer fueled coding session on their laptop succeeded by groggy deckers just out of stim-patch inspired fantasies lived out in VR.

He turns his sight to his left, briefly, like he fears being caught. “Donnie, manager. Keep out.”, reads the sign on the door behind the saloon bar, the pride of the former owner. Leaving the bar here is one of the few promises he, Donnie “Top Gun” Deckard, has been able to keep since he got his employer, NeoNET, to buy the place and let him run it. “I’ll make Blast great again”, that’s what he had told Barry White over a dinner at the Space Needle as they were shaking hands to seal the sale.

It had only taken Donnie two months to understand the sad smile on old Barry’s face that had taken him aback. Two months of ego stroking and veiled threats by higher ups to rip the soul of the place out, down to the minutest scrape of paint, to shed light on every shadow where the SINless used to be at home.

Smelly Petra climbs downs the stage amid polite clapping, gives him a smile and a thumbs up as she approaches. He rises from his chair, they hug for a second. A smile, a discreet tear he wipes from his cheek. I have known them both forever, but I resist the urge to join them. I only came here to watch Donnie, tonight, to reckon what’s left of my friend behind the familiar leather shell. She leaves and Donnie seats again.

A brief rustle, the crowd turns their brand new seats to the screen behind them. Kappa’s Orkinary is about to begin. Before the excitement and noise crank up one level or two, the brief respite allows the weird Galaga music, the tugging and yanking at the joystick to reach Donnie’s hears. I know why he just breaks down now, I was there with him twenty years ago when he answered Barry’s call for an expert in arcane arcade technology. We fixed whatever was wrong with the machine. I’m sure Donnie remembers the serial number of the original replacement part he brought with him that day.

What was just an odd job in a smelly, dirty deserted place, turned into a life-changing experience as we tried to make our way back through the crowd that had come for Annie Linux. She was in the middle of her signature “Sweet dreams are made of this.” We just stopped in our tracks, intrigued by that unfamiliar sound, the microphone Annie was holding, her silly clothes. We stayed another four hours, singing, shouting, clapping with them, these strangers that became our new family, just like that. We returned, night after night, until we parted ways and started on our nice corporate jobs. Sweet dreams indeed…

Familiar images from the stupid incident between the weird ork clone known as Krund and an unidentified troll are greeted by loud cheers. Orkinary has just started. Showing popular Kappa fare to the new faux Bohemian patrons is one of the awful compromises Donnie has had to make. This abysmally void show in particular promises to reach even lower with a mysterious trid they already advertise for next month and call Bang Fang!

He sure is sad, Donnie, right now, but when he rises again and returns to the office behind the bar, I see a new resolve in his eyes and know my buddy is finally going to fight back.

Reds in Town?

Tipsters on the street have reported a number of sightings of Renraku’s elite military special forces, the Red Samurai out and about in Seattle. Why? They are not brought out for no reason. If they are around, Renraku is up to something, and something big. What are they up to? Anyone have any more information, send it to the SSN!

Features:

Once More 7--(by Breach)

2050 saw the rise of what we would really recognize as shadowrunners, when the truly portable cyberdeck was introduced to the market. Before then, cyberterminals were bulky and hard to transport - ranging from desk-sized cocoons down to bulky desktop tower units - but in 2050 the keyboard-sized cyberdeck was released and deckers hit the streets. Corporate warfare had always been a shadowy affair, but the ability to carry your hacking tools with you changed the rules of the game.

The early 2050s also saw the spread of the Universal Brotherhood and other neo-communist movements, preaching a philosophy of unity, equality, and belonging. They opened their doors to the SINless, and the SINless flocked to them like flies to honey - and in the end, it turns out that’s not a metaphor.

By 2055, the hives were widespread and the problem came to a head. The first obvious outbreak was in Chicago, where insect spirits moved boldly and openly and swarmed the city, leading the UCAS government to quarantine the city (citing “a new strain of VITAS” as the official reason.) In the shadows, we know that Seattle almost had a similar outbreak a few months earlier, but a team of shadowrunners investigating a seemingly unrelated murder managed to destroy the hive before its queen got started - the news reported the camps closed for “health reasons”.

Chicago was bad. I was there.

The city was cut off from the Matrix (nominally - some entrepreneurs set up illegal satellite hubs), and the world. Relief goods had to be shipped in from outside as access to food and medical supplies quickly dwindled. Gangs took over entire neighbourhoods and Knight Errant set checkpoints and roadblocks across the city. They even tried to nuke the hive, to no avail - the bomb didn’t even explode properly, contained somehow by who-knows-what. When the nuke didn’t work, they walled us in, and left us largely to fend for ourselves - fights over relief drops were common, and sometimes complete shipments were hijacked and sold off to the highest bidder by whatever corp or gang managed to get ahold of it.

Fortunately, we managed to get the word out and expose the cover-up. Once the world knew about the bugs, it was harder to write off the city as another disease outbreak and action was actually taken, though not often to the benefit of the people trapped there. The quarantine was lifted in 2058 after Strain III, an engineered bacterium that targeted the spirit-infected, was released. While the bugs were stopped, HMHVV-infected individuals were killed by the bacteria as well, and it never saw widespread use.

Chicago remains “Bug-Town”, a shell of its former self and still largely cut off from the world.

Next week we take a pit-stop to talk about the election of 2057. There’s a lot to unpack there.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! [email protected]

Gang News:

Gangland Engagement in Trouble?

Tipsters with an “in” with the Ancients tell me that the engagement between Street Sam JuL33T and Enzo Gianelli might be in trouble. JuL33T is apparently inconsolable over the death of her cousin Street Sam TIB and it not in the mood to get married to anyone. Belial is reportedly not at all pleased.

Letters to the Editor:

Dear SSN editor,

Mr. Vorack, his qualities as an analyst notwithstanding, made unsubstantiated, libelous claims against my employer, NeoNET, in your latest issue.

I know that NeoNET management won’t stoop to his level but I, a simple employee, hereby kindly demand that Mr. Vorack just put up or shut up.

Yours truly,

--b.

P.S.: I will wholeheartedly concede that NeoNET robots are not meant to be used for cooking in the way Mr. Vorack did. But maybe Mr. Vorack’s marshmallows simply did not taste great because they were a Saeder-Krupp product?

Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

#CorpSINs #shadowrun #Hyper_RPG

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