#dinah pender

[thehusbandmen]

i really don’t like how the inks are coming along, so have some pencils

[sacredflamingart]

argent

[bactgirl]

não acredito, aquela é mesmo BARBARA GORDON??   em sua dimensão natal, ela era conhecida como BATGIRL/ORACLE e é incrível como se parece com DEBORAH ANN WOLL. atualmente ouvi dizer que tem TRINTA ANOS e que está apoiando o time da TERRA-UM. lembre-se de que ela é RESILIENTE + CONTROLADORA, ou pelo menos é o que dizem os tablóides.

☇  ❛  𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑫𝑨𝑫𝑬 & 𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑽𝑶𝑳𝑽𝑰𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑶

de que realidade seu personagem veio ?? essa Barbara é 100% baseada nos quadrinhos, com um foco no Birds of Prey (de 1999) e na Batgirl do New 52, com alguns elementos do Rebirth e do Batgirl: Year One.

ela perdeu as memórias de seu passado ?? Parcialmente, Babs tem a grande maioria das memórias intactas, mas seu período como Oráculo foi o mais afetado, tendo grandes lacunas em alguns anos da sua vida.

quais os motivos que levaram ela a optar pelo time que agora integra ?? Barbara está numa encruzilhada, se por um lado acredita que eles devem se adaptar a realidade na qual estão e tentar tirar o melhor dela, por outro ela crê que se há uma oportunidade de retornar ao normal, eles deveriam ao menos tentar, por isso pende para a Terra Um. Mas não é uma extremista, e tenta compreender o lado das pessoas que tem receio ou medo do experimento.

headcanons:

adaptou-se bem a nova realidade, mas as lacunas em sua memória são particularmente perturbantes para Barbada, e daí vem uma de suas motivações para estar no grupo Terra-Um

junto das lacunas de memória, Babs esqueceu-se de pessoas importantes da sua vida, algumas lembram-se dela e ela tenta retomar contato, outras não faz ideia de que existem

trabalha como hacker e bibliotecária

era líder das Aves de Rapina

sofreu de paralisia pelo tiro que levou do Coringa, mas depois de uma cirurgia experimental readquiriu o movimento perdido, ainda tem alguns limites e continua fazendo fisioterapia.

nasceu em Burniside, e atua como Batgirl por lá, vez ou outra

tem um intelecto de gênio, além de memória eidética, experiência em diversos tipos de luta e com computadores, sendo uma hacker exímia

é bissexual (não é canon, mas minha interpretação)

muito protetora, Babs sempre pensa na repercussão de suas decisões, especialmente quanto ao vigilantismo.

poderia-se dizer que ela é um tipo de mom friend, gosto da proteger as pessoas, e já treinou alguns personagens

desde que recuperou sua mobilidade está atuando como Batgirl, protegendo civis e lutando contra o crime, mas ocasionalmente ocupa o manto de Oráculo por conta de suas atividades como hacker, fornecendo informações a outros vigilantes, dentre outras atividades.

nunca irá de deixar definir pelo que o Coringa fez com ela, e não quer ser vista como uma vítima ou pobre coitada

filha do Comissário Gordon, gosta de se intrometer nos assuntos da polícia

ainda que habilidosa a Babs é uma dork, às vezes fala coisas bobas, ou passa por desastrada

trabalhou no departamento de TI da universidade local

apesar do jeito doce e gentil, a Barbara tem um humor muito inteligente que pode pender para o sarcasmo, ou as tiradas que parecem cortes

uniforme clássico com botas e luvas amarelas

ALGUÉM TRÁS A DINAH PRA FAZER DUPLINHA COM ELA!!!

[debaiser]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver & Crystal | Pokemon Gold Silver Crystal Versions, Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver | Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Пикник на обочине - Братья Стругацкие | Roadside Picnic - Arkady & Boris Strugatsky Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rabbit Corbett (OC)/Dinah Pender (OC) Characters: Rabbit Corbett (OC) - Character, Dinah Pender (OC) - Character, Loren Corbett (OC), Erroll Corbett (OC) Additional Tags: Psychological Horror, Horror, Science Fiction, Multiple Personalities, Body Horror, Anthro, Furry, Posthuman Series: Part 1 of The Husbandmen Summary:

Three college students attending Ecruteak Technical decide they're going to sneak outside the city walls, up to Mount Peal, to watch the meteor shower. The next thing they know, they're not even in Johto anymore, let alone human. And they weren't the only ones.

[workingonmoviemaps]

Arrow #603 “Next of Kin”

Diggle has trouble adjusting to his new role as the Green Arrow and Oliver looks for a way to divert heat from himself while everyone grapples with a group of rogue CIA operatives with a sinister plan.

The team tracks down Alex Faust to a parking garage downtown. Diggle and Dinah spot him from the roof of 1090 West Pender and then they jump over to the East Garage at Bentall Centre where they catch their quarry.

The Kord Industries transport is driving down Industrial Avenue past Station Street when it is attacked by Onyx and her squad. Rene tries to stop the runaway truck at the corner of Beresford & Shirley.

The team rushes to the lobby of the Orpheum Theatre to stop Onyx’s plan and Diggle chase her out to the alley of Buller Studio where he captures her.

Oliver goes into the council meeting at New Westminster City Hall and turns the anti-vigilante bill into a public referendum.

Diggle goes to the red light district at Buller Studio where he purchases some serum to treat his tremors.

[thehusbandmen]

Stations of Passion, I.6

The Husbandmen, Stations of Passion. Book One, Chapter Six. [Go to First] [Go to Previous]

Brock led Dinah through a pair of heavy double doors into the main hall of the Gym. She glanced around to gauge the terrain. Cordoned off by white rope, although loose sand dominated most of the fifty yard by hundred yard field, to one side rose a prominence of boulders. At the foot of this sort of artificial cliff, she spotted a particularly muddy patch. A Rock-Type Gym certainly lived up to its hype.

“So you’re totally okay with a one-on-one fight counting as sanctioned?”

Through fingerless elbow-height gloves, her hands trembled.

“More than all right.” He turned back over his shoulder and carded his dark, dusty hair with a grin. “I want to see what you can do. I’ve heard Cos-Trainers have an otherworldly bond with their Pokémon.”

“Yeah...” She crinkled her nose into an anxious smile, hating how often she already was hearing this explanation for her features. But, she owed this misperception to her chance, and she couldn’t let herself discard that so readily.

Each Trainer took took to one end of the field, standing just outside the white boundary. Brock ran a finger along three of the PokéBalls at his waist before plucking up a HeavyBall. He slid a fingertip along the hemisphere line of the metallic grey ball to decompress it to its full size, then depressed the button, and in a massive wash of monochrome light, the blue-cobbled PokéBall produced a towering snake of rocks onto the field. Onix.

Dinah’s ears and head fin flattened to her scalp. It was huge. She expected the Gym Leader to use something especially formidable to make up for relying solely on it in this battle, but an Onix? The thing was nearly ten meters long, and raised up its first third to rear its head about a meter over the heads of either Trainer. It cried out its name, a dry bellow, and circled to size up Dinah.

She realized she hadn’t fulfilled her half of the terms of the battle, and pushed the jacket off her shoulders and onto the ground. No longer confined to the garment, her neck frill stretched almost involuntarily, and she wasn’t sure whether to like how much less claustrophobic she felt now wearing less.

“Your costume is exquisite,” Brock said with a smile. “I presume that your one partner is also your first partner. Onix was my first Pokémon as well. It felt right.”

“Nix!” it beamed, nudging its head near to its Trainer so that he might pet the rough-hewn horn on its head.

“You’d guess right, then. I’ve been with Shelley for many years now.” She followed the same gesture-work as Brock had, releasing Shelley from its common standard red-and-white PokéBall.

‘Woah Nelly--’ Shelley blurted out, staring up at her opponent. ‘I’ve never fought somebody as big as you before.’

‘Don’t think I’ll go easy on you,’ Onix replied, straightening up away from Brock to stare down the Squirtle. ‘An opponent’s size doesn’t measure its abilities.’

“I didn’t catch your name,” the Leader said.

“It’s Dinah.” She shot him a finger-V in greeting, then gave her Pokémon her focus. “Shelley, start us off with a WaterPulse! Aim for the face.”

“Onix! Screech!” Preemptively, Brock shielded both ears.

The Tiny Turtle rushed to the rocky side of the field and took to one of the short boulders, trying to eyeball its trajectory. Onix fired off its attack before Shelley, letting out a nerve-rending shrill burst of sound at the Squirtle. Though aimed at Shelley, Dinah felt it, too, and she broke a cold sweat like she’d heard fifty nails on fifty chalkboards all at once. By the time she’d stopped squinting, Shelley’s WaterPulse--a beam of water packed with alternating frequency-force--had struck the rock snake in the face.

“It connected.” Brock clenched a fist and looked on at his Pokémon, who had become Confused by the attack and was now noticeably off-balance. “Onix, shake it off! It’s just a little water. Focus on the sound of my voice! Kick up a Sandstorm!”

“Aw no. Shelley, Withdraw!”

Dinah rubbed at a temple. That Screech had gone bone deep. Sound attacks had never affected her like this before.

As Onix took the time to process its Trainer’s order, Shelley tucked its tail, limbs, and head into its shell, and sat perfectly still in the sand. Onix laid flat on the ground and wallowed vigorously in the sand, and soon the Gym filled with it. Brock had already fished out a bandanna from his pocket and held it up to his face. Without such a thing, she took off a glove and held the palm of it over her muzzle. Overwhelmed by how equally she was affected by the battle as her Squirtle, a coughing fit beset her.

“Onix! RockThrow!”

‘Geez Dinah. I can’t breathe--’ Shelley Squirt-ed a grunt.

‘I can’t breathe either! I’m sorry! --Protect!’

The terrapin shimmered in a veil of stars. Onix looked around the field, struggling with which rock was meant to be thrown. It ended up headbutting a boulder instead, and it recoiled with a gravelly growl.

Brock stared at Dinah a moment while processing how to proceed.

“Dinah. You can speak Pokémon?”

The Sandstorm buffeted both Squirtle and Vaporeon, the latter of whom flinched.

“I don’t get why everybody just assumes this is a costume!” she exclaimed finally, her sweat accumulating the debris kicked up by the dust storm. “Weirder things have happened, right! This is the Zone we’re talking about!”

“I... wow.” He gestured at her head to toe with his free hand. “I had a feeling there was more to it than just a costume, but I’m speechless. This is... unprecedented. You’re not just exquisite. You’re remarkable.”

"I hope being half-Pokémon doesn’t negate my claim to a Gym Badge,” she fielded, feeling very small, and like she hadn’t been straightforward.

“There’s no rule against it!” Brock took the kerchief from his face to flash a huge grin at her and replace it. “We’re breaking new ground today. Just think! We have to see this battle to completion. Onix! Bind that Squirtle!”

“Shelley!” Dinah barely kept herself from running out onto the terrain to put herself between the two. Combined with the Defense-shattering Screech, a sustained pressure would risk cracking Shelley’s shell. “Shelley, RapidSpin once it grabs you!”

With such a simple, natural order, Onix snapped out of its detached haze and coiled and constricted around the turtle hiding in its own shell. Shelley squeaked out in pain, introducing a long tension. Finally it found its resolve and constitution to build pressure inside its own shell, and the Squirtle quickly outstripped its confinement. Water sprayed out of every opening of its shell, spinning it through the air. The aerodynamic force of the trajectory doubled Shelley back to strike Onix squarely in the horn before landing on one of the rocky ledges to stand again.

‘Shelley, that was incredible!’

The blue turtle Squirt-ed at her and gave her a thumbs-up.

“Ha! You knew how to counter an entrapment move, and managed to use it offensively! Onix, finish this with Slam!”

“WaterPulse it again, Shelley!”

Shelley jumped down from its ledge and ran frantically to dodge Onix’s tail. The rock snake reared is lower half to bludgeon with it, and it connected, sending Shelley flying off into the sandy half of the terrain. The Squirtle stood after a moment, and coughed, squinting to try to see its opponent from that distance in the dust. It heard Onix coming for another Slam and fired off another WaterPulse from its mouth, this time knocking the Onix back.

Neither Trainer could really see what was going on, and literally had to wait for the dust to settle. Shelley coughed and panted, glaring at a now unconscious Onix. Dinah stared at Brock’s Pokémon in disbelief before she put her glove back on and sprinted across the sand to scoop up her Squirtle with a proud laugh.

“Onix, you did exceptionally. We’ll spend the evening taking it easy, my friend.” Brock held out its HeavyBall to recall it, the serpent’s form becoming red light before returning inside it. He walked across the sandy field to meet Dinah. “I’m impressed by the bond you have with your Pokémon. I guess being a Water-Type definitely gives you an advantage training them.”

“I’ve been with Shelley longer than I’ve been... this. You’re amazing, Shelley.” Dinah patted Shelley on the head, then with the same hand recalled it to its PokéBall as well. She looked to Brock expectantly. “Well... Shelley won, didn’t she?”

“You both did. In spades. Hold your hand out.” He fished in one of the zippered pockets of his puffer vest, and produced an octagonal metallic gem which he placed in her palm. “You earned this Boulder Badge. Every badge you accumulate will help you acclimate better to the Zone, and also make it easier to form and sustain bonds with higher and higher levels of Pokémon.”

Dinah looked it over as he spoke, only to stiffen as she noticed he was looking her over.

“Amazing,” he awed. “Stunning. In every way. I bet you’d win every swimsuit contest.”

Reflexively she WaterGunned him in the face, only to choke on making herself stop when she caught herself.

“I, I’m sorry. I don’t have a good control of it y--”

Rather than take offense, Brock laughed it off and used his kerchief to dry his face.

“No, that was a stress reaction. I overstepped. Sometimes, I can’t heard how the flattery that comes out of my mouth must sound. I suppose that’s proof you don’t just look like a Vaporeon, and have the skills of one as well. --Here, I forgot the other half of your winnings.”

She accepted the satchel of cash, and noted that it sounded and felt like something metallic came inside it as well, but she didn’t investigate. With it in her left hand, she offered a handshake with her right.

“You and your Onix are really tough. Thank you for this opportunity. Being able to take my first step to earning sanction, it means more than you could know.”

“I’m going to be spending the rest of the evening at the Pokémon Center,” he began, connecting the handshake suavely. “I understand if you turn it down, but I would love to have dinner with you. Get the chance to know each other better.”

This time, she felt the water burbling up in her throat, and she turned away while she shoved it down with her right hand over her muzzle.

“I think that’s a bad idea--” She walked back with her head hung and hand still to her mouth, to retrieve her jacket and bag from the challenging end zone.

“--Perhaps. Are you... going to be all right?”

“This battle was the first step to doing all right.” She shot him a tired grin. “I should get going. Thank you for everything.”

“Good luck, Dinah. And thank you for indulging me.”

The Vaporeon gagged on it rather than replying on her way out. Part of her could only chalk up her lack of self-control to how badly the Screech attack had affected her, but the rest of her knew she was just looking for something to blame on her gut reaction to the Gym Leader’s overly personal behavior. She affixed the badge to the high collar of her frock-coat, and her footsteps became lighter, more content.

As she walked off toward the Viridian Forest, confidence and satisfaction replaced all her anxiety and self-consciousness. Brock had been being a creep. And it wasn’t like she hurt him by dousing him in water... Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have this body, or these abilities...

With the sun setting, she didn’t even bother gathering up firewood. She let Shelley out of its PokéBall and sprayed its with an even spray of Potion, then split a nice big can of fish with it. Once night fell, the two found a hollowed out space under a large, old tree, and curled up together to sleep.

[thehusbandmen]

Stations of Passion, I.5

The Husbandmen, Stations of Passion. Book One, Chapter 5 [Go to Previous] [Go to First] [Go to Next]

Dinah, I’m sorry in advance.

With Cadence watching, Dinah collect herself in preparation, both mental and physical. As the hybrids’ caretaker during their time in Heritage, Cadence arranged for accommodations of all kinds for each of them, some expected and some seemingly trivial on the surface. Regarding Dinah, she’d guaranteed the following: food and board until Dinah’s discharge, clothing tailored specifically both for the Vaporeon’s physique and skills, a week’s preserved rations, a field bag to carry her belongings, a small sleeping bag roll that could affix to the strap of the field bag, a bit of spending money, and an artifact Cadence believed would benefit Dinah over her Squirtle.

The Vaporeon continued to inspect this artifact, what Trainers commonly called a ‘Held Item’: a trinket small enough to affix to a Pokémon in some way which had an effect on their abilities. The possibility of even doing so had only recently come into understanding, largely thanks to the Heritage Institute’s studies, and as Cadence bore a great enthusiasm to fostering the hybrids’ Pokémon halves, she’d decided to gift each of them something unique. Dinah slipped the single large long tooth of obscure origin, a RazorFang strung on twine, under her neck-frill and tied it around her neck. The Institute figure had described the obscure Held Item as being something that would help Dinah’s attacks buy her time in a fight, in the event she needed to defend herself. The Vaporeon appreciated the trinket, if even just for reassurance’s sake.

Despite the offer, Dinah had decided not to remain at Heritage. Over her leotard and fingerless gloves, she put on the lavender frock-coat she’d been given, hooded with a standing collar. By skipping the backmost belt loop, a PokéBall belt secured the ashen denim capris which dipped below her tail. Cadence had even provided her strapped gladiator sandals which could reasonably fit on her digitigrade feet. Presentable. Decent. No longer completely uncanny at a glance. She could work with this.

Nervous but excited as she and the scientist walked the corridors out to the main entrance, Dinah let out a breath she’d been holding onto. She smiled sheepishly when Cadence looked to her expectantly.

“It’s just. You’re like our Pokémon Professor, Cadence. I never got the chance to leave Ecruteak and collect badges in Johto. And I get to collect Kanto badges now. Provided Gym Leaders will give me the time of day, I mean.”

“Just... be careful, Dinah.” With a pause of permission, Cadence initiated a firm hug. “And don’t let the locals get to you. There’s more good ones than you think. Know all of you are welcome back here at any time. There’s plenty of room for all fifteen of you, if it ever came to it.”

"Thanks, Prof.”

Cadence smiled, warm and bittersweet, then winked at Dinah.

“Break a leg.”

Heritage, as it turned out, lay in the westernmost outskirts of Pewter City, tucked in a small chasm of the Silver Mountains. As Dinah walked off into town down the sparsely forested evergreen expanse, she couldn’t shake what Cadence had said. The idea of people being mad or disrespectful to her didn’t upset her. It was the likelihood most negative reactions to her would be fear. Her hand subconsciously went to Shelley’s PokéBall at her waist, but she quickly put both hands in her jacket pockets instead, and drew up her hood, and passed the entrance to Viridian Forest to the South heading North into town.

Her first order of business was a legitimate stock-up. Potions and PokéBalls. If she was serious about this task, she’d have to be ready. She swallowed hard and made herself enter the first PokéMart she could find. Fortunately, there weren’t too many people shopping, so she didn’t have to squeeze through a crowd, and she grabbed a hand basket and started collecting her purchase off the shelves of the small establishment. With no line, she only had to shove down her anxiety and step up to the clerk’s desk.

“PokéBalls, huh?” The young man with short black hair looked over the fistfuls of bottles and balls. “I’m going to need to see Trainer Registration for those.”

“T-- Trainer ID. I understand.” Stiffly, she produced her PokéGear from her pocket and flipped it open to present it with her eyes on the Gear rather than the clerk. Unsure how it would have gone to produce a human ID photo, she thanked abandon that the Prof had helped her update the ID Card and ID Number for her before she’d headed out. “Here you go.”

After what felt like a month, the clerk moved from skimming the screen information with one hand to skimming the basket to count items. He rang her up and snorted with a sarcastic smile.

“A Cosplay Trainer. I should have known. You must have a Water Type. Anyway. That’s gonna be P2700.”

Dinah put up her Gear a little too quickly in favor of her wallet, and she handed over exact change in the hopes of abbreviating the encounter as much as she could. When she handed it over, he zeroed in on her paws and put his other hand atop to hold hers in both in befuddled awe. She jerked it away in displeasure and he laughed, adding the items to a paper sack as he eyed her.

“That costume is super realistic. If you made that, you should be proud.”

Finding an out to the tension, she flew onto the falsehood and grinned, and gave him a thumbs up as she grabbed the bag from the counter before he could hand it to her himself.

“I sure am! Better believe it! Spent ten months on it! Thanks! --Bye!”

Upon stepping foot outside again, she immediately recognized that she’d forgotten her receipt, and that she should have asked the clerk for directions. She didn’t even look back to consider doing anything about it, and instead walked until she could find a decent botanical thoroughfare to take her mind off how badly it had felt like her first social encounter since The Enhancement had gone. As she walked, she stored her acquisitions and folded up the empty sack to put in her bag as well. The evergreen fenestration to her left reminded her of home, and she spaced out with an oblivious frown for some time.

Before she knew it, she’d wandered to the center of town, where a large amphitheater-like building with an arched copper roof imposed over the surrounding buildings. Suddenly, she understood that she’d gotten lucky as the path she’d taken was a straight shot to the Pewter City Gym. At the heart of the large weathered stone-hewn structure she could find the first person on her path to freedom: its Leader.

On bated breath, she entered the automatic sliding door and approached the lobby desk to a small appointment kiosk had been installed. Following its screen’s prompts to input the various numbers from her Trainer ID Card with the keyboard provided, she supposed not many people ran this sizable Gym. After hitting confirm on her application, it spat back an error message with her team highlighted in red outline: “Sanctioned Gym Battles require at least a two-on-two style battle. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.”

One Pokémon. Her ears burned. It was First-Year League Rulebook fact. She felt like a child, and gnashed her jaw as she turned heel to walk away.

“Hey, stop! Wait.”

Dinah stopped and looked over her shoulder to see a dark-haired, well-tanned Trainer in an orange puffer vest, green polo, and khaki cargo pants walk out from the administrative hallway, and approach as he rubbed at his neck with a white towel. He couldn’t be older than her. From the start, she noticed a full set of six PokéBalls on his belt.

“I know. I’m leaving.”

The error hadn’t timed out off the screen quite yet, and he glanced over at it, then back to her.

“You misread me. How could I turn away such an exotic beauty? My name’s Brock. I’m the Leader here. I don’t have any more appointments this afternoon, and I would love it if you would occupy that time with a Gym Battle.”

She nudged her hood back and gave him a bewildered look.

“But I only have one--”

He threw up his hands imploringly.

“--And that’s just fine! Please say yes. I’ll count it as sanctioned, provided you fulfill other criteria as a substitute for the two-on-two rule.”

“Leaders are allowed to instate their own unique rules under their own Gym roof,” the mumbled, thoughtfully paraphrasing the League Rulebook. She squinted a moment and shook her head, then gave him an anxious but optimistic smile. “Yeah, I’ll bite. What did you have in mind?”

“I, wow. Wow.” He grinned a little to excitedly in awe, too smitten to really be sizing her up as he looked her over. “I know it’s a strange request, but could you not wear the jacket while we battle? Your... your everything has me stunned. If you beat me, you get a certified Pewter Badge.”

“And if you beat me?”

“Maybe I could steal a kiss?”

Dinah could only stare at him for a good bit, and the anticipation of her answer got him sweating. She bit at her lower lip and unzipped her frock-coat as a show of good faith, then extended a paw to shake on it, which he took with both his. Unlike with the clerk, she did not withdraw it in haste, and hesitantly let him appreciate the physical connection.

“The Gym floor entrance is down just this way.” He clasped her paw enthusiastically before letting go to lead the way. “You won’t regret it. But know, I won’t go easy on you, just because you have the one partner. Or because you’re so beautiful.”

She plastered a grimace into the best smile she could.

“...Bring it.”

Go to Next »»»

[thehusbandmen]

Stations of Passion, I.3

The Husbandmen, Stations of Passion. Book I, Chapter Three. [Go to Next] [Go to Previous] [Go to First]

Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something distressed and blue.

Nearby whispers sounded so distant to Dinah. Feeling dissociated from her very body, a glass barrier contained her and hundreds of gallons of a viscous saline breathable liquid. Amid a low hum, the fluid drained beneath her, and she could feel both myriad intravenous applications and a suspension harness. The chill she experienced shifted into burning, and she tried to scream, only to choke on the fluid which had prior filled her lungs.

She opened her eyes for what felt like the first time in her life. With pale scaly blue skin, each webbed finger of her paws was tipped with a sharp azure claw. Rage discovered her thick, muscular aquatic tail. Enormous hunks of glass spilled out into the laboratory floor, along with the pale purple fluid which had filled the vessel out of which she now tumbled.

She’s not ready yet!

Half the needles and wire-pads had ripped out, but the rest had snapped and still hung from her naked body. She shook off the stun, and dashed down the halls on all fours.

At a hall intersection, she sniffed the air to determine her next direction. Angry, uncertain voices echoed her escape as guards’ footsteps neared her position. She scrambled off again, only to be surrounded at the next chamber of the hall. The guards sprayed a volley of tranquilizer darts at her, and she struggled to remain standing on all fours. Half-conscious and feeling the rigor set in, her body deliquesced, and she blacked out.

The next she knew, Dinah found herself alone in a sparsely furnished, drab grey room. A mirror hung on the wall opposite the vinyl couch upon which she’d lain, and she rose to confirm she had not dreamed her last recollection, though it seemed her claws were retractable. Some mark of aristocracy, a broad collar fin ringed her neck. Her face bore a short muzzle, her lit-pupil eyes entirely a deep sapphire, and she turned her head this way and that to inspect both her two fin-like ears and the spiny fin atop her head which began the dorsal fin series which ran the length of her spine...

...and all the way down her tail. She could only think of a mermaid, looking at how the fin split into two broad wing-like shapes at the tip. The brunette twitched it side to side a bit, head curiously askew. Again, she looked herself over in totality, noting her body fat had shifted to favor a swimming creature. So... athletic, she thought to herself. Am I... a Vaporeon now? Was I always a Vaporeon?

She looked through the small vanity-chest to discover her things had, in fact, been left for her. With some difficulty, she slipped her magenta tank top over her head and tucked her neck-frill through it. She grumbled as she struggled with the bikini-cut underwear, ultimately letting it slouch under her thick tail; her thighs had thickened just enough with the swimming musculature to keep them up by tension alone. With how badly the underwear went, she did not try for the shorts. She slipped her sleek digitigrade feet into the indigo knee-high socks, noting the increased length and dexterity of her toes and the slight webbing now present. Instinctively, in this form she did not sense any real personal shame in the concept of nudity, but habit forms discomfort when broken.

Dinah sat on the upholstered ottoman in front of the vanity. The same drawer contained all belongings she could recall having had on her person at the time of the meteor shower. Had the meteor shower done this? Or had it simply facilitated this? She recalled the sensation of needles embedded in her skin and shiver-snarled. The one Pokémon partner she’d ever trained lay in its PokéBall before her, and she picked it up, hating that the immediate dread-loathing was any speculation as to whether she might be able to be captured in a PokéBall now. Rather than linger on any of this, she ran a finger along the outer seam that ran the equator of the red-and-white sphere, to decompress it to its full size, then pressed the button on the same seam to release its occupant.

Before her appeared, in a flicker-wash of light, a bipedal powder-blue turtle-like creature with a curlicue-squirrelly tail. Its wide chocolate-glistening eyes froze on its Trainer and couldn’t assess the correct reaction.

“It’s me, Shelley. I know this is weird. Don’t be mad or scared. I don’t understand, either.”

‘Why are you sorta like a Vaporeon now? ...Where are we?’

“I don’t know, but I get the idea whoever owns this place did this to me. Wait...” She squinted at Shelley, who plopped down on the oddly patterned rug in the middle of the floor. “I understood that.”

‘Understood what?’ it Squirt-ed, another string of phonemes comprised of its own name. ‘Dinah, you mean you understand me?’

“I... I, yeah. I do.” She rubbed at her angled bob and smiled a little sheepishly. “I guess this confirms that there’s more to me being part Pokémon now than just looks. I... I’m kind of thirsty, come to think of it. Talking is making my mouth feel dry.”

‘Water-types get like that a lot. Here, I’ve got water.’ Shelley jumped to its hind feet and opened its mouth to spray her in the face with a WaterGun technique. Once it stopped, she stopped squinting, shoulders locked in confusion.

“I... am definitely hydrated now. Thanks.”

‘No problem!’ it Squirt-ed cheerfully, giving her a thumbs up.

Dinah rose and ignored the dampness of the clothing she’d just put on, to look around the room. She peeked through the heavy curtains to find the window overlooked an empty, sterile courtyard. She did not see anyone or anything in any other windows from her vantage point.

“I can’t be here totally alone,” she uttered. “My stuff was put here so deliberately, and with care. You’re here with me, so they didn’t have interest in stealing you. But... there’s no one here. And there’s not a bathroom in this room, so even if there were anyone here, they can’t expect me to just... stay in here. Right?”

‘You’re not alone. I’m here.’

“I know. I meant there’s no... There’s no humans here.”

Her voice fell in distinction as she tried the door, to find it unlocked. Suddenly the cold she felt no longer refreshed her. She looked down the devoid pale grey hall both ways, and stepped out into it. Only two corners could be seen from her room, and she sought to find the next door. She picked a direction, and Shelley followed. Before she could get to the corner, the next step she took was taken in the room where she’d woken up.

‘WhAT--?’

“Stay right where you are, Shelley,” she called from the bedroom, feeling like she’d be sweating right then, but knowing she could not. Looking down the hall, she took note of how far down that way her Squirtle stood, to avoid the Warp Point trap in the future. “I guess we’ll try the other way. Come on.”

Tucked around the other corner, she found a bathroom set up intended for community use. It was not labeled for gender, but rather for ‘All Accessibility.’ Multiple stalls, multiple sinks, and smelling and looking absolutely brand-new between the caulk and fluorescent lighting. Two urinals in the far half of the wall, after the stalls.

“I... I’m going to try the water,” she told herself more than Shelley. She nudged the swiveling faucet to cold, and ran her hand under it dumbly a moment to observe. “I think it’s fine. You thirsty? I feel like I haven’t drunk anything in a year.”

She hefted her Squirtle up onto the fiberglass counter where it could turn on the faucet itself and adjust the temperature to its comfort, before it tumped itself down into the bowl of the sink shell-first and let the water roll off its testudine belly. Shelley’s relaxed state soothed her, and she leaned to wrap her mouth around the faucet to drink.

Entire minutes later, she lifted her head and glanced to her Pokémon partner and smirked. Now carrying free water in her body, the concept of triggering the technique came to her like a small depth charge in her gut, like she’d always known how to do it. She clamped off her trachea and esophagus with her throat, and a third canal emptied out a stream of water from her mouth with enough pressure to make Shelley spin in the sink. She choke-sputtered at the ridiculous image, water shooting out of her nostrils before she could make the reservoir inside her stop spraying, which only made her laugh harder.

‘You’re gonna make a huge mess.’

“I don’t think anybody’s gonna care. Let’s... ha,” she snort-sniffed in ridiculousness as she helped her Pokémon get out of the sink, “let’s see how far we can go down this end of the hall.”

Shelley agreed that it would be better than staying where it had been trying to relax, only to be pestered so.

Just like the other end of the hall, Dinah quickly found herself--and Shelley--back in the bedroom.

“This isn’t fair. There’s not even anyplace in this stretch of hall with food. What the heck.”

She spun around to grin crazy at Shelley, then sprinted down the hall back to the bathroom. The Squirtle came up panting, to discover its Trainer had turned on every single faucet, and was flushing every single toilet.

“I’m gonna flood it.” She got a few chugs off one sink, then splashed around in the half-inch or so of water already on the tile. “If there’s anybody here, water on the story below us is going to get somebody’s attention.”

“That’s not a good idea, Dinah.”

The Vaporeon stiffened in a slouch in response to the low melodic voice, and turned slowly to find a stout woman in a white blazer and off-white knee-high dress standing in the door of the bathroom, arms crossed. She had long pale brown hair and a strong complexion.

“I knew there had to be somebody here. Anybody. Where is everybody? Rabbit? Loren? ...Erroll?”

“All the other study subjects have already left. Like I said, you don’t need to do a thing to get my attention. You already have it. Turn it off.”

“SQUIRT!” Shelley grunted as its Trainer complied. ‘I don’t like this.’

“And you... are...”

“I’m Cadence. I’ve been overseeing you for some time now. Good to know you’re awake and stable finally.”

“Wait. All the other subjects. Subjects? Study?”

“I can explain everything, if you like, while you take a meal. Come, I’ll escort you down the hall and explain the terms of your discharge. You’re allowed to stay here as long as you like, but the study’s ended, and you’d be alone except for me.”

Shelley followed the two women, in silent objection and distrust. But neither Pokémon nor Trainer could necessarily object to the prospect of food.

Go to Next »»»

[thehusbandmen]

Stations of Passion, I.1

The Husbandmen: Stations of Passion. Book I, Chapter 1. [Go to Next]

This is a normal PokéFic with the normal amount of psychological horror.

In the kitchen, Dinah slammed down her laptop screen. The athletic young brunette woman’s diagonal forward bob bounced as she bounded into the living room of their small shared dorm apartment. She awoke Loren by jumping over him where he had napped in the floor, slumped up between the ochre couch and the ottoman. The blond flinched up closer to the furniture, clutching at his curly mess of hair, and jutted out a broken expletive and admonition in wide-eyed exasperation. Her quarry, however, was Rabbit, who reclined across the couch leisurely reading his PokéDex. The eldest of the three, the redhead nearly got her in the face with the red device as he shielded his face with both forearms, but he couldn’t get in an objection otherwise.

“--Guys!” She didn’t understand the concept of an inside voice, grinning wildly at the long-haired boyfriend she’d pinned. “You’re going to miss the meteor shower!! You told me you’d go out into town square with me.”

“Too many people,” Loren mumbled, flopping face-down. “Everybody’s gonna go out there for it.”

“Well, have you got a better idea?” Rabbit tried to sit up a bit, but Dinah stayed fast atop him glowering down at Loren, whom she’d trapped against the base of the couch by supporting herself on one leg off the side. Rather than hem at it, Rabbit bookmarked his spot digitally and folded shut the hinged PokéDex shut, to set it against his chest with one hand. His attempt to sit up had flicked his long braided ponytail up under him, and he returned it over the arm of the couch behind him.

“If you really wanna see the sky,” Loren gauged, “I’ve been up to Mount Peal. Bellchime Trail. The view’s almost always clear.”

“Oh hell, Loren,” Dinah moaned, nearly stomping on him. “There’s no Pokémon up there for a reason. People aren’t supposed to go up there, either.”

“Then nobody’s gonna bother us.” The blond slouched on his elbows and wiped the sorry off his face.��“I know the best path to get up in there, too. It’s super quiet. Nice. Let me do something nice for us? All three of us? I can take us up there. I mean, if it’s really so important to you.”

“She’s been going on about it for weeks.” Rabbit smiled slyly, leaning up to fetch a kiss from her. “I didn’t forget about it. I just wanted you to pick our vantage point. So is it gonna be town square, or rushing up the Bellchime Trail?”

She didn’t even wait before leaping up to throw on her khaki jacket over her magenta tank and khaki cutoffs.

“You know I want to be as close as possible to it.” She toed her knee-high indigo socks into her hiking boots and gave the two brothers an urging glance. “I trust you.”

“Not your first mistake, I guess.” He grunted and righted himself, then at his waist adjusted the sleeve-knot of his rolled-down dark teal jumpsuit. The younger, far shorter brother chuckled and patted down his pocket contents before heading over to the mud space for his sneakers as well.

“Dinah doesn’t make mistakes. She just learns. A lot.” The elder brother tucked his PokéDex in the back pocket of his trim jeans, donning his black leather jacket over an untucked lime dress shirt before slipping on mustard oxfords. Though he knew Loren wore jeans under the jumpsuit itself, he eyed his brother in just a tee otherwise. “It’s going to be cold up there.”

“I’m fine,” Loren shrugged. “September weather’s my favorite.”

“You know...” Dinah stepped in front of the door before anyone could leave, and she took one of Loren’s hands in both her own to meet her blue eyes with his green ones. “Erroll’s totally invited to join us. If he wants.”

Loren half-assedly tried to pull his hand away, but didn’t, and he stared at the floorboard behind her.

"Dinah...” Rabbit’s reluctance spoke for itself.

“Yeah. Sure. ...He knows.” A tired smile crept up on him, and he pushed past her to exit the third-floor apartment. Without turning back, he picked up his head and added, “He says thank you, by the way.”

Dinah and Rabbit followed about twenty feet behind Loren.

“Dinah, why’d you say that?” Rabbit whined. “You shouldn’t be encouraging him.”

The three of them got to ground level, and Dinah skipped backwards down the street to face Rabbit.

“Them,” she insisted. “Erroll’s been doing a lot better now that he’s not in the same house with your mother, and I know you agree with me. Loren’s even attending classes at Technical. Actually going. They’re managing, cohabiting, cooperating. It’s only a disorder if it’s screwing things up. If this is how... they function, then they’re functioning. You need to accept they’re both your brother, Rabbit.”

“One person, two names.” He huffed dismissively and closed the gap between them and Loren, to quash any argument.

Dinah rolled her eyes and did not rush to join them, observing from a distance.

“So how’s your field sketching class going?” the elder brother nudged.

Loren snorted in brief frustration.

“It’s all right. Keeping up with the assignments isn’t as hard as it seemed like it was going to be.”

“Fantastic! I know it’s one thing to have the professor see your work, but another entirely for just anybody to... It’s been a while since I saw any of your stuff. I’d love to see some of it, even just classwork, next time you feel like it.”

Loren put distance between them by walking faster.

“You still don’t trust me. Be transparent with me.” The blond stopped abruptly, only long enough to throw a glare at Rabbit, and snap, “I’m going to class. And doing my assignments. I swear.”

“I--”

“Drop it, Bun,” Dinah piped up, pulling him to her to walk with her. She cuddled his upper arm so she could speak quietly in his ear. “It doesn’t matter if your motive is genuine. You spent years doing surveillance on him. I know you care about him, but don’t force this.”

“Loren, I-- I’m sorry.”

The three college students spent the remainder of their time inside city walls in silence.

The dormitory apartments for Ecruteak Technical lay in the Northeast edge of the idyllic city, tucked near Clear Lake. Enveloped by the aroma of cypress, the trio skirted the small body’s southern shore and followed the high easternmost wall of the city’s shield, built into its ancient city walls. Loren indicated a narrow dirt path around the east shore of the lake, and close to the northeasternmost corner, they came upon a separation in the wall just wide enough to slip through sideways.

Outside the Ecruteak Shield, a swath of dense red-crust namesake teak, and the pressure-static of unmitigated Zone field, engulfed them. Little debris scattered the smooth forest floor, overgrown with exposed superficial roots felted level together. Loren retained his senses of purpose and direction and pushed on readily. The further out into the wooded expanse they traveled, the closer together they traveled, in a paradoxical claustrophobia. Dinah kept glancing all about her.

“How... do you know your way in the dark out here? Without a PokéGear?”

She trembled fishing out her own PokéGear from her jacket pocket, to return it to her left wrist. He knew the sound of hook-loop tape and halted, turning on his heels with a glare to snatch her wrist, watch-like device and all.

“No flashlights.” With his other hand, Loren bobbed a knowing finger at Rabbit expectantly, then let go of Dinah while still making eye contact with his brother. “I don’t. I’m just a good listener.”

Rabbit grimaced.

“If you know where you’re going,” he antagonized, “how much further before we get to the edge of the woods?”

With a thoughtful pause, Loren replied, “About five minutes, give or take.”

“Did he...” As they continued, Dinah glanced to Rabbit, brow knitting, then back to Loren. “Loren, did you just imply that Erroll has been out here enough times that he knows the way?”

“I think what he’s really implying,” Rabbit interjected, increasingly unsettled, “is that Erroll is a result of years of skipping classes to come out here in the raw Zone.”

Erroll crushed a twig underfoot for emphasis, and mused ennui.

“Bellchime and Mount Peal are a pocket in the Zone, I’ll have you know. And he and I don’t come out here to spend time in the forest. It’s secluded. Not even researchers come up here.”

“I hate that I went along with this. It was a mistake to come outside the Shield.” Rabbit scowled, recognizing the significance of the shift in his brother’s tone and demeanor. “If there’s no researchers up here, how exactly are you so certain that it’s a... pocket in the Zone?”

“Well, there’s no Pokémon up here, for one thing.” The trees thinned and gave way to a sloping unpaved path up the bald prominence which crested to the North of the city. All three of them could tell the gravity felt nearly normal now, as though the forest had contained it. “You’re not allowed to be mad at me. I was invited.”

“Called it.” When Erroll turned to make eye contact with Dinah, she put up her hands in playful defense. “You really need to, like. Say hi or something.”

“I’ve been here the entire time,” he dismissed. He tucked his hands through the pocket-openings of his folded-down jumpsuit and into the waist pockets of his jeans underneath it, and continued wandering up the hill. “It’s started, you know. The shower.”

Dinah looked up into the sky to awe at the cascade of tiny streaks of burning cosmic dust beginning to glitter the cloudless sky. Erroll seemed not in the moment, distracted, bored, or both. Rabbit kicked a rock which struck Erroll in the heel.

"What happened to us getting to spend time with my brother?”

“You get to spend time with me. And your crazy girlfriend obsessed with space jettison.”

Incredulity stuttered out of Rabbit and he shoved Erroll by the shoulders.

“She’s the crazy one? Knock it off.”

“Let it go!” Dinah growled. “Just let it go. I want this to be a peaceful night.”

“Good luck with that. What is it this time, Erroll?”

Hands broad and welcoming, Erroll gestured around them to the summit, and to the decayed ruins behind him. The blond smiled, heavy-lidded, soaking in the surroundings like he was home.

“It’s too late to be grateful, you know.”

“That’s it--”

Rabbit started to reach for one of the two PokéBalls at his belt, only to drop composure and tackle his brother to the dirt--except when he curled his fists inward to scoop two fistfuls of Erroll’s shirt, he instead scooped fistfuls of grass and dirt. His head snapped up to make sure Dinah was safe. She reached a hand out toward him, speechless and dead in the eyes. Immediately, he thought Erroll’s behavior incited her horror, but he could not locate the alter ego anywhere around them. Dinah let out half a jilted shudder behind him and he looked to her again, only to witness her vanish toe-to-head like static. If he’d blinked, he’d have missed it.

He wondered if he’d blinked when he tackled Erroll.

“...Dinah?”

It sank in that he was alone.

The worry didn’t last, subsumed by fear. Whatever had taken his brother and girlfriend took him as well, seeming to have waited to observe his reaction. Thus he dissipated into a gravitic pressure that rivaled oceanic bends.

Go to next »»»

[workingonmoviemaps]

Arrow #601 “Fallout”

Five months after the events on Lian Yu Black Siren returns from the dead with an attack on the police.

The episode starts right in the action with Oliver fighting Alex Faust and his mercenaries to stop a missile from destroying the city on a boat docked at the Allied Shipbuilders dock in North Vancouver.

Curtis throws one of his T-Spheres from the roof of 1090 West Pender’s parking garage to stop the missile from hitting Star City.

Back on Lian Yu the team members rush to the plane to take shelter from the explosions. These scenes were filmed back at Princess Park like last season.

Oliver reviews the damage to the police station at the Vancouver Film Studios parking lot with Quentin and Rene.

Dinah fights against Black Siren on the Georgia Viaduct and Oliver saves Rene from falling to his death.

Dinah and Diggle search a small warehouse at Allied Shipbuilders for clues that Black Siren left behind.

[sacredflamingart]

loren maybe it’s your fault for napping in the living room floor