#fritz-on-a-blitz

[sparklecur]

FAB-C, REPORTING FOR DUTY 🔥🔥🔥💪

[lookslikethatsallthetimewehave]

Regular Fairy Tale vs Bland version

Regular Mythology vs Bland version

Goofy Survival vs Regular version

Goofy Escape from Pelican Rock vs Regular version

[only-fhans]

That fan fic being unfinished destroyed me deeply so I needed this

Yassified Roderich Edelstein being my first drawing pad victim. I've read Lily of the lamplight and he took over my mind leave me alone

[reikunrei]

Who's Mummy, Anyway?

It's more Doctor Who inspiration time!! I wanted to explore another set of episodes, this time from season 1:

Episode 9: The Empty Child and Episode 10: The Doctor Dances

These episodes revolve around strange happenings during the London Blitz on January 20th, 1941. The Doctor and his companion, Rose, follow an object through spacetime, where it crashes on Earth. Meanwhile, a young boy is wandering looking for his mother, though he's been changed by this fallen object and its yet-unknown properties. And he's infecting others, making them "like him." Ultimately, the solution to their predicament revolves around figuring out the true identity of this boy's mother, finally bringing an end to his search.

Prior to watching these episodes again, all I remembered was that there was a hivemind-type element involved, among some other details. What I didn't remember, however, was the everything else surrounding this boy.

In the following scene, the Doctor is reacting to the phone ringing in the front panel of his Tardis (which takes the shape of a police call box). However, it's not a real phone, it's just part of the Tardis's disguise, and therefore shouldn't actually work. Just when he's about to answer it, a young woman shows up and tells him not to. However, he doesn't heed her warning and when she disappears, he answers it anyway.

They don't give it subtitles in the DW episode, but before the child actually starts speaking, there's a muffled, garbled sort of static-like breathing, very similar to Will on the phone with Joyce.

He follows this girl to a house, where she and a group of homeless kids she watches after are eating from a meal left on the table. At the present moment, there's an air raid occurring, and this girl takes advantage of that to feed the kids when the homeowners are stuck in their bomb shelters. And when the Doctor calls her out on it (though he admits he thinks it's brilliant) he says:

Which... just... well, I wasn't expecting a TFS reference like that. But anyway, jokes aside...

The Doctor asks these kids why they haven't been evacuated yet, as they should be in the countryside by now. However, several of them admit that they had been evacuated, but they came back for one reason or another. For at least two of them, it was because they had to deal with "a man" at whatever home they were evacuated to, and they decided that being out here, taken care of by this young woman, was a far better bargain.

This stuff never comes up again, but boy, a group of kids who have to deal with an unsavory man? Okay, throwaway-line Martin Brenner!

This is where the Doctor also learns that this girl's name is Nancy... word.

He asks her again how his phone could have been ringing, since she seemed to know why, but she won't reveal anymore information to him. Instead, he cracks a very Brenner-vibes joke when asking if any of them have seen Rose, who he got separated from at the start of the episode:

We all know that Brenner needed one specific blonde boy in order for his "research" to work...

Nancy's about to kick the Doctor out so the rest of them can finish their meal in peace when the boy searching for his mummy shows up outside the window. The boy is young - 5-6 years old - and wearing a gas mask. Nancy gets all the other kids to escape out the back of the house while the boy waits at the front door for "mummy" to let him inside. Nancy gives the Doctor a little more cryptic information and the phone in the foyer starts ringing, but when Nancy doesn't let the Doctor answer it, the boy's voice then comes through a nearby radio, and even through a motorized toy, which I think speaks for itself in terms of similarities to voices coming through radios/speakers and them otherwise acting on the fritz in ST...

"It's not exactly a child" had my ears perking up too irt @aemiron-main's posts about doppelgangers.

Nancy flees out the back, leaving only the Doctor with this boy on the other side of the bolted front door. The boy reaches through the mail slot, where we then see he has a scar on the back of his right hand.

Photos taken from this post by @henrysglock.

Now obviously the scars don't look the same. The one on this boy is just superficial (unlike Henry's, which seems to hold some form of importance we have yet to fully uncover), and they're not even on the same hand. However, it's still an important detail that's imperative to the Doctor's understanding of what's going on here, and comes up again later.

The Doctor tries speaking to the boy, but he simply continues asking for his mummy and begging to be let in because the bombs are scaring him. However, when the Doctor opens the front door, the boy vanishes.

With the "threat" gone, the Doctor chases after Nancy, finding her in an old railroad yard. She's still his best bet for finding out what's going on, so he asks her again about the boy. He's deduced that this boy has something to do with the object he and Rose had been chasing.

I didn't mention it earlier, but when they're chasing this object through spacetime, they struggle to keep up with it because it's "jumping time-tracks," so when they land on Earth, it's only a general estimate, both in location and time. They're roughly a month out from when it landed, and thus have to ask around to figure out where it is... we only had a month of peace in that house... anyway...

Also... a bomb that wasn't a bomb vs the huge amounts of energy needed to open a gate to the UD, El being called a "fancy bomb"...

Nancy takes him to where the object crashed and instructs him to go to the nearby hospital to talk to "the Doctor" there. Before he leaves, however, he asks her who she "lost."

We all know what the "lost" reminded me of... even the "he's empty" from earlier as compared to Max's mind being empty/just being the void or the "darkness," if we want to speculate on what that means.

So, we learn that the boy who's been following Nancy around is her little brother, Jamie, who was killed during an air raid around the time that this object crashed to Earth.

The Doctor goes to the hospital to see... the Doctor... who we learn is actually named Dr. Constantine (though I do have to really point at the weird emphasis they had on her simply calling him "the Doctor," which even confuses the actual Doctor, because Dr. Constantine is just a human, not a Time Lord, so what gives with the weird false curveball? Anyway, just something that really stuck out to me, especially irt all the weird name and identity stuff in ST). There, the Doctor sees that every bed is filled with patients who are all wearing gas masks, just like Jamie. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to gather readings on all of the patients while Dr. Constantine warns him, "don't touch the flesh." (Which, this feels a little reachy, but it reminded me of an early interview for TFS where Bob's actor uses the phrase "in the flesh," which James talked about in this post). The Doctor learns that every patient has the exact same injuries:

Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side (okay Vecna), partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right, scarring on the back of the hand, and the gas masks are fused to the flesh despite a lack of burns.

We also see here that Dr. Constantine, who appears weak and is experiencing fits of coughing, is developing that same scar on the back of his own hand. Dr. Constantine explains how the first victim, Jamie, was brought in with "truly dreadful" injuries. By the following morning, all doctors and nurses who had treated him had the same injuries, and within the week, it had overrun the entire hospital.

When the Doctor asks what the cause of death was, Dr. Constantine says, "There wasn't one. They're not dead."

There is absolutely no sign of life in any of the victims, and yet they're "alive." They don't get out of their beds, they only respond to sudden noises that startle them (notably, they all respond in a group, like a hivemind. If one reacts to something, they all do), and Dr. Constantine even calls them "harmless."

The fact that they're dead-but-not-really obviously feels akin to the whole "Henry's dead but not really" deal going on in Stranger Things, both in the sense that his death in the outside world was faked so he could go to the lab unnoticed, but also reminded me of TFS and his ability to fend off the Shadow when Will had nearly fully succumbed to it in less than a week. Dr. Constantine even says that "[the patients] just don't die," which is very much like Vecna and his regenerative abilities/getting up and walking away after being flambée'd, as well as Brenner's seeming inability to stay dead.

While the Doctor continues talking to Dr. Constantine, Dr. Constantine proceeds to have a choking fit and his face morphs into a gas mask, his "infection" fully taking over.

At this point, Rose shows up at the hospital, having finally caught up to the Doctor with a new friend in tow: Jack Harkness.

I need to get into Jack Harkness in another post sometime once I do some more reading up on him again because he has a lot of interesting stuff that ties in with the Creels/I wouldn't be surprised if, in some way, shape, or form, he was some influence for Henward, but for now, we'll just stick to what's presented in these episodes.

When Rose initially got separated from the Doctor, it was because she saw Jamie on a rooftop and, concerned for this little boy out alone in wartime London, she went to meet him. However, she accidentally got swept off by a barrage balloon, having undone the rope tethering it in place as a way to climb the side of a building to reach Jamie. Jack spots her, and though he's presenting himself as a volunteer for the British army, he's actually from the 51st century. Using his spaceship, he rescues Rose when she nearly falls from her barrage balloon, catching her in a tractor beam and bringing her aboard.

We have a fun Victor Creel and Henry moment all wrapped up into one when Rose, a bit smitten by Jack, says hello twice.

Screenshot from this post made by Em regarding the weirdness about Victor and the Creel murders aftermath. Also thank you to Em for the screencaps of TFS!

As Rose and Jack flirt talk, he reveals that he believes Rose to be a Time Agent, since she's carrying a cell phone, has on a liquid crystal watch, and is wearing fabrics that won't be around for 20 years.

Even the stop acting now... a silly terrible play... anyway... Rose even keeps up the act of being a "Time Agent" and neither she nor the Doctor ever tell him they're not, he just figures it out.

When we meet Jack, we're also introduced to the concept of Nanogenes. Jack uses them to heal the rope burns on Rose's hand from when she fell off her barrage balloon. And I don't think I have to explain too much what this reminds me of, at least visually...

Another fun little detail I'll just shove in here is that Jack has parked his spaceship right beside Big Ben, that way it's easy to remember where he parked. The time on the clock reads 9:30 ("lessons start promptly at 10:00!") and Jack says they have just about 2 hours to close their deal before all bets are off (read: the bomb destroys it), which would be at almost midnight... and we sure love our midnight in ST, don't we? Not to mention that Jack is a captain... anyway...

We also learn that Jack was the reason this strange object crashed on Earth. He explains to them that he was trying to con them, deliberately sending a piece of space junk (it's an ambulance, of sorts, which Jack made sure was empty) through spacetime and would present it to them as something extremely valuable, but by the time the money would be exchanged, a German bomb was due to land exactly where the object had landed, thus destroying it before the Time Agents would be able to see what they paid for.

With that truth sorted out, the Doctor focuses back on the patients in the hospital, noting that it appears that their DNA is being rewritten.

I promise those Billy screenshots are gonna pay off later too...

It also made me think about the way Henry's blood changed after he was infected with the Shadow and the blood transfusions that happen in TFS, giving Henry's blood to the other lab kids to... do whatever it is that they haven't confirmed just quite yet, but likely has something to do with making them resilient to the Shadow or to Dimension X. James has spoken about that more in depth here, which I think is an interesting read.

Meanwhile, Nancy is back at the house they'd been eating at prior, packing up the rest of the food that was left. While there, Jamie speaks to her over the radio and then comes into the house. When she tries to flee out the door, he points at it and it slams shut in front of her and locks her inside with him.

At this same moment, all of the patients in the hospital get up out of their beds and begin asking for "mummy" while stalking toward the Doctor, Rose, and Jack, cornering them. Again, we're seeing this "hivemind" in action, the rest of them following what Jamie, the first victim, is doing.

Yes, the Doctor stops them by telling them to go to their room, which Jamie reacts to as well, thus saving Nancy. Yes, he's pleasantly surprised that it worked, too.

Also, just a fun little moment that I want to touch on that occurs here, when Nancy goes to leave the house, she runs into a little boy wearing a gas mask. She startles, thinking that it's Jamie again, but the boy removes his mask and it turns out to be the son of the family who lives in the house she was stealing from. Gotta love more fun times with lots of blonde-haired blue-eyed children getting mistaken for each other! We love confusing identities in this house!

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Rose, and Jack are going to the top floor of the hospital, which Dr. Constantine told the Doctor he should go to find more information before he succumbed to his "infection." There, they find a room with a busted out glass window and a tape recording setup.

*extremely loud cartoon blinking noises* are we seeing this shit??

I was especially raising my eyebrows about the "angry" bit, what with Brenner's whole deal in TFS getting Henry to become angry in order to trip him into using his powers. Not to mention the countless drawings, which are giving ST2 Will with his drawings of the tunnels, but then the absurd strength this child seemingly presented despite being, well, a child, vs Jim's jab at Henry in TFS about not having the "upper body strength" to cause the harm toward the local pets. They might not normally be physically capable, but they were infected with something that made them strong enough.

The Doctor starts playing the tapes in the room, and they hear recordings of Dr. Constantine talking to Jamie, trying to ask him questions, trying to discern if he's "present" or not, and only getting back, "Are you my mummy?" and "I want my mummy!" and other such iterations. Jamie at that point had been totally lost to whatever had infected him.

The Doctor starts thinking, saying that he can "feel/sense it" coming out of the walls of the room. He doesn't elaborate on what, it's just a feeling he picks up that neither Jack or Rose can sense (he blames this on them being inferior as humans lol).

Okay, so, fucking... again, raising my eyebrows about it being afraid, much like how the Shadow on TFS feeds off of fear and that's what makes it stronger. Not to mention the "power of a god" vs all of Vecna's God coding. Very happy these episodes gave me a reason to look again at one of my favorite James posts ever about this very topic. Which, like, sure, the Shadow/Mind Flayer and Vecna aren't one and the same, but, y'know, I'm connecting dots and having fun leave me alone.

Anyway, since the Doctor sent it to its room... and this is its room... well, yeah, Jamie shows up, and so using a fancy blaster that Jack has, they bust a hole in the wall to get out and then patch it back up, trapping Jamie in the room. However, he starts busting down the wall, ST1 Demogorgon-style, in order to get to them. The other patients begin coming for them as well, since Jamie's after them.

Meanwhile, Nancy is talking to some of the homeless kids, telling them that Jamie doesn't come after all of them, he only comes after her, so if they want to be safe, they can't be around her.

In that same scene, one of the kids is writing on a typewriter, which continues typing even after he gets off of it. When this is pointed out, and when they read what was written, it's just "Are you my mummy?" over and over again. Nancy tells them again that as long as they stay with her, Jamie will always be coming for them, and she leaves, intent on breaking into the crash site on her own to figure out what happened to Jamie.

Now, the Doctor, Rose, and Jack are stuck inside the hospital, trapped in a room with only one exit with dozens of infected patients on the other side intent on getting to them. Jack is able to teleport out to his ship and finds a way to speak to the Doctor and Rose via an "Om-Com," which means he can call anything with a speaker grill, which the Doctor realizes is what Jamie is doing as well. And, speak of the devil, Jamie pops up talking through the same radio that Jack is.

Jack manages to block out Jamie by playing "Moonlight Serenade" through the radio instead. Using music to protect them from the weird omnipresent dead-not-dead child? Okay! I guess! I'm going crazy.

Jack manages to then teleport Rose and the Doctor onto his ship after doing some meddling with his hardware, and now back together again, they ask him more about his conman status.

What if I just started eating glass and barbed wire for fun, huh? It really had to be two years, didn't it? Just like the discrepancies between Henry and Edward? Okay, yeah, sure, whatever, I guess !! For more information about that, check out this post by Em, there's a whole section detailing the year discrepancies shown to us in the ST newspapers that present this 2 year time difference (and take a gander at everything else he has there, it's well worth the read).

Meanwhile, Nancy has attempted to break into the crash site, but was detained by the guards who are protecting it. She gets handcuffed to a table beside a soldier who's clearly been infected, but nobody listens when she pleads to be kept away from him. She begins talking to him, saying she understands what's happening to him.

The Doctor, Rose, and Jack arrive at the crash site, where they learn that now the contaminant is airborne, and soon absolutely no one will be safe and the whole world will become infected, wiping out the human race. As the Doctor is explaining this, he interrupts himself by asking if anyone else can hear singing, and we then hear Nancy singing "Rock-a-bye Baby," which has put the infected soldier to sleep beside her. Love some more "music saves" (though this is merely because the lullaby put "Jamie" to sleep). The Doctor rescues her, and they all flee outside to examine the crashed object.

Here, the Doctor explains that this object actually wasn't empty like Jack said it was. Instead, it was filled with the same Nanogenes that were in Jack's spaceship that healed Rose, only because this is an ambulance, there were far more than they could imagine - specifically, enough to "rebuild a species." When the ship crashed, they all escaped. The first "living" thing they came across was a dead child - Jamie. Having never seen a human being before, these Nanogenes took Jamie as the blueprint for humankind. With him as the blueprint, every other human seems "wrong" to the Nanogenes.

While they're trying to sort out their next moves, the infected begin approaching the crash site due to an alarm on the ambulance being activated when they tried to open it. The Doctor explains that, because this is a battlefield ambulance, not only are the Nanogenes programmed to help heal wounds, but they're designed to make every living thing into a perfect soldier.

Also realizing I haven't mentioned this yet, but Chula is just an alien race or something. This ambulance is a Chula ship, as is the spaceship that Jack has in the episode.

Anyway, I told you that ST3 Billy screenshot would pay off. Now, they're sort of trapped here. They don't really know what to do, because this little boy is going to tear the world apart in order to find his mummy. Nancy pipes up then, saying that it's her fault this is happening.

Holy Mothergate. Do you ever just scream and cry and throw up? This was one of the other details I remembered about the episode, and it automatically had me thinking of the Alice/Virginia sister/mother swap that Em has talked about in posts like this one.

Nancy approaches Jamie, telling him that yes, she is his mummy, but he doesn't understand because "there's not enough of him left." However, Nancy apologizes to Jamie, saying she is and always will be his mummy, and hugs him. This causes the Nanogenes around them to activate, and while Rose thinks they're going to "change" Nancy, the Doctor stops her from interfering and instead begs the Nanogenes to figure it out. They should be able to read that Nancy and Jamie are related, and that her as the mother should be more than enough for them to get it right.

There is just so much happening here. Henry being the "parent" to the other lab kids, whether by actual blood relation or simply because his blood was used in transfusions to give the kids his same mutated blood, and that being a "superior" DNA type, which is also a word One uses during his monologue toward El.

And the constant use of the word "change" throughout the episode (this isn't the only instance it's used) as compared to Brenner Sr. and Henry said to have "changed" after their run-ins with Dimension X in TFS.

"Mother knows best" isn't something that comes up verbatim in TFS, but the actress who plays Virginia made a post on instagram with "a mother always knows" in the caption. Plus, matched with Virginia's whole thing about seemingly "knowing" what was going on with Henward, as per One's monologue in ST4, and being in cahoots with Brenner about getting him back into the lab in TFS... well, at least in these Doctor Who episodes, it's "mother knows best," but for good.

Anyway, the second episode wraps up with the Doctor sending out the Nanogenes to "fix" all of the people they infected the first time, thus bringing all of these "dead" people back to life. Again, they take the form of these light particles much like the light particles in the UD, which we still don't know the origins or purpose of, other than a means of communication across universes/timelines! Shrimpy!

One thing I really noticed, which is something that also came up in the last DW/ST comparison post I made, is this emphasis on identity. I just find it super interesting that in these episodes, which have lots of other parallels (especially stuff regarding the Shadow/MF), there's this emphasis on knowing who someone really is. In ST, this is something that's becoming more and more important, all the way from ST1 with stuff such as Will's body being a fake, up until ST4 with the uncertainty in the true identity of Vecna and One, and even Brenner.

Basically, I just think that all of these other parallels to the Shadow and the language used around it lend credence to the idea that this idea of mistaken identity and not knowing the full truth until the very end is something that is obviously going to come into play in a very overt way in ST5. Also time travel and alternate universes definitely exist in ST simply because of these connections to DW, and this isn't even getting into any DW episodes that are about alternate universes and changing timelines! Which I will hopefully be discussing sooner than later :]

[witchofthesouls]

How would the DJD react to a lone carrier? Maybe the carrier is stuck on a another planet trying to negotiate with the local market for tickets or shanix to get home? Would they go feral or would they just only somewhat interested? What if the reason the carrier is stuck is because they got abandoned by their partner who is on The List and didn’t want to cross paths with the DJD so left them behind to save their own ass, that could be juicy…

(Tarn's dignity will always suffer with me, so he majorly fucks up because of regulations he inputted himself in the initial days of his gun-ho zeal to the Cause and Megatron's worldview.)

Camiens have a reputation for falling in love too fast and too hard, and like any blitzed and infatuated mechling swooning over their first love, you fell for the rugged outworlder. It was like a tale from a stupid romance holo, but instead of a deepening connection from constant hardship, you were left destitute on a planet that didn't need your expertise and a forge full of newsparks.

The mech was happy enough to frag you silly and more than content to have a ward manager to weld his wounds, but you warned the mech of your spark-lineage and its coding quirks and the mech still had the audacity to not only freak out at impending sirehood but to actually do a runner as well.

Apparently, death caught him before you could because the mech took all the damn credits and shanix with him.

Luckily the group that got Deadzone had a functioning ship to drop you off near Camnius at the low price of your ex-lover's T-cog.

And you delivered that T-cog, still warm and wet from his fritzing corpse into the leader's hand. Beautifully intact despite his smelted frame.

Nicket, their CMO, dragged you to her medbay before any of the mechs could do anything, and practically shoved the empty job posting into your nasal ridge while checking your progress.

"Let me get this straight," You rub your temples, trying to force the stress away when Nickel tells you the reason why she nor any of the other mechs can't help with your carriage. "Instead of being able to proposition any of the mecha here, I have to sleep with the one that finished off Deadzone?"

"Unfortunately true." The medic grouses as she wipes her servos with a rag and you close your panel. "Some idiot thought that the winners caring for the losers' mates in gladiatorial matches was romantic."

There's a story behind that and you're not sure if you want to find out. Instead, you focus on the important part. "And that idiot?"

"Tarn." Nickel says, flatly.

"And who got Deadzone?"

"Also Tarn."

You're stuck with the mech that has no idea what to do with you, so he defers to stiff, awkward politeness. Nickels notes your expression and offers full use of the medical supply closet to have a private meltdown inside of it.

Sometimes, being a ward manager does have its perks.

_______

Because Nickel memorized the schedules, you approach Tarn on his downtime and knock on his habsuite door to rip the patch off.

"Hello, Tarn, I'm here for donor services." You pray that Nickel had beaten into his head that carriers needed resources. Otherwise, his refusal will launch a rut-induced riot by your own activated heat-protocols.

The mech nods and steps into his habsuite and you follow the nonverbal permission.

"Would you like something to drink?" He asks, gesturing to a cabinet and a spare convertor.

"No, thank you." You're being awkwardly polite because Tarn is as well. Your sensory panels twitch, partly anxious, but mostly to check if there are hidden cameras in the room. You click your glossa, door wings twitch again, and it reads as clear.

You have no idea what kind of weird scrap he's into, but you didn't expect the tank to simply... lie down on his berth.

"Do what's necessary then." And he just lies there, staring into the ceiling as if it held the secrets to the galaxy.

Solus save your spark.

You take a deep inhale and exhale through your vents.

"Okay," you step forward and eye his pelvis. "I'm going to need you to open this-" you tap twice over the panel that covers the spike housing "-and pressurize. I need to know what I'm working with."

He follows your instructions to the glyph. And it's a very generous proportion to the mech, there are treads lining its sides, deep grooves underneath the shaft, and solidly purple with a fat node sitting beneath the crown.

It was also dry.

You reach for the extra lubricant bottle in your subspace and smear a hefty dollop across your palm and digits because you want to minimize friction burn since he's definitely the largest spike in your experience.

You grip it firmly, sliding up and down the underside as you thumb the tip, it weeps and it's a healthy bright pink hue with no detection of infection. You don't feel anything off with the texture that would have denoted hidden spines or a knot or an expansion mod. The plating does overlap to create subtle ribbing...

Your face may be impassive, but your valve eagerly wets itself in anticipation, it gnaws and you can feel the innermost calipers trying to set to their widest setting, and you blame the active carriage because you never had been so turned on by a silent handy on a mech that reads 'clean' to your diagnostic tools before.

You tell him that it's best that you ride him, and it's true. You don't voice that you're 99% percent sure he has no prior experience, but you did voice that Nickel would be displeased trying to repair valvular lining and mesh on a carrier with only one valve.

You straddle him, nudging him to your rim until it catches, so you hold him firm to sink down in slow increments. He's big. Your thighs strain with the painfully slow pace of sinking down, hitching up, and sinking down further to carefully pop the next rib into you that spreads you wider and wider until you feel like bursting from the fullness.

Tarn is not as unaffected as he projects, despite that air of neutrality you can feel the underlying hunger nipping at your field, see his digits claw into the berth, and feel that massive spike twitching hotly as you brush over sensors you didn't even know existed inside your frame. You keep your own spike shut with medical lockdowns because you have no idea if Tarn would tolerate that mess on him.

You finally meet his housing and it takes a good moment to acclimate, frame slick and already steaming from that effort. You set to slow grind, bracing on his chassis, biting your lower lip as that node slides over a cluster of nodes that sets your valve to spasm and ripple.

There's a familiar wetness at the back of your valve that makes your spinal struts shiver and sensory panels rapidly flick to disperse the sudden swell of charge.

"Did you just-" You strangle out the words because merciful Pits the mech is big, and heat bursts directly into your chamber putting you on edge.

Tarn, who hadn't uttered a single noise ever since you mounted him and still hasn't looked at you since lying down, then said, very quietly, "I'm sorry."

You're far away from home, fucking a beyond awkward stranger because of archaic bull-scrap of a rule since the mech that was nearly your Conjunx wasn't the person you thought he was.

Tears start to well in your optics and you blink rapidly to keep it away since Tarn actually makes contact with your face and gets a dipole-deer-in-the-headlights expression, even with the mask.

That stupid fucker was dead and you're still here seething over it.

Tarn had said, Do what's necessary. Well, this is damn well necessary.

You lift yourself off his spike and immediately turn around to face the door. Without a word, you seat yourself again by not-so-gently guiding him back into you. And it's easier this time, granted you ignore the jarring sensation between too much and please more.

You can deal with an awkward-as-the-Pits frag, but you will not tolerate that pity.

Because you're ridiculously wet and primed since carrier-coding is in an absolute tizzy over this spike, you viciously ride said spike at a brutal pace, clanging hard enough to leave bruises upon protoform, and ignoring the stretch in your valve, your vents practically wheeze with every drop that shoves Tarn to the back of your throat and leaves your insides quivering, unsure if it's from pleasure or overwhelmed by the sensation of taking a mech that's beyond your schematics.

Luckily it had an adjustment period, Tarn isn't thrusting upward, and nothing in your system is currently red-lining.

The tank doesn't say anything else, he doesn't even touch you. Instead, you hear something breaking in the room, but it isn't your frame and you can't bring yourself to care.

You keep the pace for the rest of the ordeal, annihilating your thoughts until it channels all of the urges to raise the dead back to life (just so you could personally gut Deadzone over and over) into getting the newsparks the transfluid they need. You can taste Energon in your mouth, bleeding down your intake, cooling fans roaring, and beneath the mad clanking, there's the audible noise of lubricant splattering out.

It's hard to say what burns harder, your frame and fuel lines or the hate boiling in your spark.

You keep it up even when your chamber bloats, heavy and hot, forcing your howling thighs and back through the onslaught, ozone thick with the Energon on your glossa as you speed and lose count of the overloads, and it isn't until Tarn's spike fully softens within your calipers' death grip do you finally stop.

And because you refuse to crash here in the mech's room, you don't pause to rest, you simply swing off of Tarn.

"Thank you and good night," you shout at the guy. Raging and hurt you may be, but you still have manners and Tarn did his duty to the damn regulations.

You hobble-stomp back to the med-bay, a wildfire as your spark, even as your pelvis throbs and joints scream to rest. Nickel takes one look at your face and immediately points to the supply closet. "I sent you the code."

You jam in the sequence and the moment the door shuts, you scream.

____________

:: Tarn, what did you do!? ::

:: Nothing. ::

:: I can tell. ::

[theladybarnes]

CHERRY BOMB: CHAPTER TWELVE

"As a wise man once said; we’ve got shared trauma. So what’s a little more, right?”

▸ summary: things come to a wild end ▸ characters: the party ft. the teens ▸ word count: 8.5k         ▸ warnings: angst, fluff,  ▸ series masterlist

The drive back to the mall was probably the fastest you’ve gone tonight. 

 But there was no time to waste to spend thoughts on the speed you guys had driven since the group had to immediately prepare for the attack. Just as Jonathan had pressed down on the brake, the group was able to peer out the window in time to see as the flayer had managed to enter back inside the mall.

 While the three of you staggered out of the back of the truck, Will and Lucas pulled out a cardboard box from the backseat. You had only just adjusted back to standing up straight when Will pushed the box into your arms. 

 You stared down at the items inside with wide eyes as the boy quickly divided up everything to fit into different cases. “We’re gonna have to split up.” you said handing over the remaining boxes to the others. “Byers and Sinclair, the two lovebirds, and Gilligan and Ginger with me.”

 “I can’t wait for the day you run out of sailor jokes.” Steve sighed as you passed him the box. 

 “I see myself as The Skipper more than Ginger..” Robin hummed as she fiddled with the lighter. 

 “Uh guys do remember seeing the Mind Flayer go in the mall, right?” Lucas chimed in, giving the three of you a look. 

 “He’s right. We don’t have much time or fireworks so we’re gonna have to make every spark count.” Jonathan said sternly before he glanced over at you. “Everyone try and stay safe.” With that he quickly turned around and led the others towards the mall.

 The three groups split off once the balcony came into view. The sight of the looming creature was enough to nearly cause you to stumble as you set up your attack point with Steve and Robin. All around the lights of the stores in the mall began to blink. The flayer was making the entire place go on the fritz as it peered down at something below it. 

 Bending down, you try to look underneath its legs. Far towards the front entrance of Scoops was El, looking up in fear at the creature. “It’s El!” you gasped, turning towards the other two. “Light em up!”

 The others seemed to come to that conclusion on their own as they readied their aim. The spark to start the attack was the moment Lucas threw the first hit.

 “Flay this, you ugly piece of shit!” you heard him yell. 

 All together on cue, the rest of you began to take your shots. Each group went after the other in a blitz attack that had the monster roaring in every direction. The three of you were perfectly working in tandem, with the other readying their shot right after the other.

 “Hey, asshole! Over here!” Steve grunted, throwing his firework perfectly into the mouth of the flayer. After the other groups went Robin went next, hitting the monster right at the side of its face. And at your turn, you managed to get it square in the face.

 Steve threw his next one, leaning over the balcony to watch it hit over his head. Another direct hit.

 “That’s for my girlfriend’s car, you bastard!”

 The two of you stopped instantaneously. Looking over each other in shock at the sudden choice of words. While Steve looked absolutely nervous, worried that he might have said the wrong thing, you couldn’t help but feel yourself become excited inside. Shock turning slowly into a wide grin.

 “Guys?!” Robin called out, passing you another firework and bringing you back to reality. “Big monster, remember?”

 “Right!” you laughed, taking the firework from her. “You heard my boyfriend, asshole!”

 Steve remembered to step back in, throwing his perfect shots with a mirroring grin on his face.

  The bombarding attack only worked for so long. The amount of throws given to the beast began to dwindle and to your dismay, you watched as Robin took the last firework. “Steve, we’re all out!” you cried.

 He rushed over towards the walkie, pressing on the talk as he watched over to Robin’s throw. “Dustin!” he yelled into the receiver. “We’re out of time!”

 There isn’t any response. The three could only stand there and watch as the others slowly started to cease their fire. Leaving the main floor of the mall in a fog. From the balcony, you could see past the fires towards the front of Scoops. El was pinned beneath Billy, but she didn’t look up to him in fear anymore. It actually looked like she had been touching the side of his face. 

 “What the hell is going on?” you muttered as your fingers gripped tightly onto the ledge. Steve came up from behind, hand brushing up your back as he followed your gaze. 

 “I don’t understand. Why haven’t they shut the damn gate down?!” he gritted, watching as the flayer began to straighten up. 

 Down below stood the large beast. Peering down menacingly at Billy and El. Fire surrounded its large mass, making it look like a monster straight out of hell. Your eyes followed down to its gaze, noting its interest in El. 

 Just then, the monster opened its mouth, ready to shoot out a limb towards the girl when Billy stepped up and held his hands out. Stopping the attack. 

 “No!” Cried out Billy.

 It all happened so fast. 

 Before any of you could even try and think of a plan to stop the creature, it suddenly shot out the rest of its limbs. Latching and biting all over Billy’s body. Patches of dark ooze formed over the white in Billy’s shirt. It was attacking its own pawn. 

 The creature roared down at Billy. Dragging his body up towards his mouth as if he were about to gobble him up whole.

 For a moment it seemed that whatever rage was filled within the boy could power against whatever the flayer had. Like at any moment he would break off from the grasp and fight back. The yells could be heard even up at the balcony with how strong they were.

 But any thought of his survival from the attacks were cut short the moment the flayer’s opened up his mouth again to shoot out its final blow. Direct to the middle of Billy’s chest. 

 That’s when you heard Max’s scream. 

 Just as sudden as its attack on Billy, the flayer began to cry out in pain. Flailing its large arms around as it thrashed against the main floor of the mall. You staggered back, feeling silent shock run through your body as you watched the chaos below. It was only a moment later that it finally stopped its movements, falling down to the ground as the connection to the gate had finally been closed off.

 Max slowly approached Billy on the floor, reaching down to shake the boy awake. But no matter how hard she cried out to him, or how hard she shook him up, there was no getting him awake.

 You turned your body away from the sight, burying your face into Steve’s chest to cover up the world around you. This was the man of your nightmares and you fell out of whatever sort of feelings you had with him long ago. Wishing him all sorts of terrible things for the pain and hurt he inflicted onto others. But something deep down still knew him from home. From a time when you weren’t a part of the horrors of the upside down and living in a blissfully unaware world of partying and school. 

 But just like that former life, Billy Hargrove was cold and dead.

  JULY 5TH (2:00AM) 

 It was hours later and you found yourself unable to sleep. After dealing with the mess of clearance from the Hawkins Lab security, and checked up by one of their doctors. The members of the party were pretty much sent home without further discussion.

 There were apparently casualties from both sides of the battle of StarCourt. Some you were aware of like the Russians and your former boyfriend. But one you were shocked to hear was Jim Hopper. Meaning that El was once again left without a family. 

 How could one win feel like such a heavy failure?

 It filled your chest with an aching pain that caused you to toss and turn for so long now. There was only one person that you wanted to see to fix that. And despite the fact that you saw him enter inside the safety of his home, you still needed to check him out on your own. 

 To know once and for all the exact amount of damage he had suffered since you were forced to listen to his interrogations. 

 Which is why you were finding yourself sneaking out through your front door. Dressed only in pajamas that covered up your bruised and tired body. The ride to Steve’s without a car was a lot longer than you’d have preferred, but thanks to the flayer, you’d be back to biking around a lot now. 

 Honestly, being out this late should have freaked you out, especially being alone. But your mind couldn’t focus on that. All you knew was that you needed to make sure Steve was okay. That no one would be sneaking into his room and taking him back underneath the town to torture him for answers. That no mind flayer would take over his mind. That nothing would be piercing his chest and kill–

 “Baby?” 

 You blinked hard. Noticing that you were no longer riding your bike through Loch Nora but actually at your destination. Your hand was raised up to Steve’s double doors and you were shaking. Either from the cold or from the running thoughts that kept plaguing your mind. 

 Steve, who was still standing in the doorway, looked over at you with concern evident on his face. Your eyes scanned over his body, noting that he wasn’t dressed for bed like you were. He was actually in jeans. Like he was getting ready to leave. “Baby?” he said again softly, reaching out to place his hands on your shoulders. The heat from his palms seeped through your shirt, snapping you back into focus.

 “I-I needed to see you. I needed to know you were safe.” you stuttered, letting him pull you into the house. “Why are you wearing jeans? Why aren’t you resting?”

 “I couldn’t sleep. Was going to see you, actually..” he said with a small smile. “Should’ve known my girl would be on the same page as me.” 

 You turned and made sure he locked up the doors to his house before pushing yourself into his arms. The warmth of his chest seeped through your shirt and you inhaled the scent of the cotton that always stuck onto his clothes. It was so weird how just this time last year you were so mad at Steve. Wanting nothing to do with him. But now? Now you were at a place in mind where you needed to have the comfort of just his touch in order to feel right again.

 Steve chuckled lightly at your affection, unaware of the severity of your need for it. Quietly, he ushered you towards the stairs. Leading the way over to the privacy, and safety, of his room. “Where are they?” you asked softly once he had closed up the door.

 “Well, note says Indianapolis. They’ll be back Monday.” 

 A small bit of anger filled within you. Of course they’d be gone for so long in a time like this. When you needed to know he was with people who were supposed to watch over him, and make sure he was okay when you couldn’t. What good were parents if they didn’t even stick around for their-

 “Baby, you’re gripping me pretty tight.” 

 “I’m sorry.” you said pulling back, watching as he gave you a small reassuring smile again. “My mind is just..all over the place right now.”

 He didn’t say anything, only moving you over to sit at the end of his bed before he joined you. “After everything, I wouldn’t expect you to be in any place normal.” His hand reached up to cup at the side of your cheek before he leaned in to place a kiss on your forehead. 

 “I’m just worried about you.” Looking back at him, you pushed him back a bit to place a hand on chest lightly. Feeling the subtle thump of his heartbeat.  

 “I’m fine, Trouble..”

 “Let me see your chest.” you said calmly. Hands reaching out to tug at the end of his shirt. But he quickly stopped you, tugging down the shirt before you could do anything. “Steve, I’m serious. I need to see.”

 “Honey, it’s fine. I’m fine. I just need to get some sleep.” he licked over his lips, eyes shifting quickly towards the pillows on the bed. “So do you.”

 “It’s not fine, Steve!” you said urgently, trying to reach for the hemline of his shirt again. “None of this is fine! I need to see you are okay. I need to know–”

 “Know what? I’ve been checked out!” he countered, hands gripping onto yours. “They cleared me to go home.”

 “Steve, let me just see for myself!” 

 “NO!”

 The two of you instantly pulled back from each other in shock. Neither knowing how to react to each other’s sudden outbursts. It’s not until the tears you were unaware of, slipped down your cheeks and onto your hands that you realized you were crying. 

 “I’m sorry.” you whispered, embarrassed for the neediness that came with your worry. You wrapped your hands around yourself, needing to hold onto something.  “I-I didn’t–”

 “No, no, no. I’m sorry. “ Steve said quickly, pulling you back into a hug. The back of his hand rubbed gently at your back and you couldn’t help but reveal in the hold before he pulled back to look at you again. “I get it. I’d be the same if the roles were reversed.” He reached down to the end of his shirt, looking slightly ashamed. “I just didn’t want you to have to see me like this.”

 Without waiting for a response from you, he sighed heavily before carefully tugging the shirt off of  his body. Grunting a bit in pain. It’s not until he leaned back and allowed the light from his bedside lamp to cast over him that you were able to take in the damage he had. 

 All around his chest and sides were various shades of red to purple bruises. The Russian guards having left no spot clear of their damage from their interrogations. There was a particular dark mark over his clavicle that looked painful. Making you raise a hand gently to try and brush the bruise away with your touch. 

 There was no holding back the sniffling that followed after that. And when the more tears came out, you let yourself finally react. These monsters had hurt him. They hurt him so much and you couldn’t stop them. “I’m so sorry, baby.” You sputtered, unable to hold back the intense sob that had built up in your throat. “If I hadn’t tripped..if I didn’t get caught. We could have gotten out faster.”

 Steve reached over to hold the sides of your face. Shushing you instantly as he pressed gentle kisses all over your face.

 “This was not you, baby.” He kept repeating. “This is on those evil bastards. No one else. We would have been taken regardless. Okay? How do you think Robin and I got caught? They were too strong for us.” 

 “But maybe I could have helped you two! And if I helped then you wouldn’t hav—“

 “Trust me. It would have ended the same.”

 There’s another rebuttal on your tongue but Steve stopped that by kissing you quickly. The emotions that were held within the two lips were strong enough to almost make you want to cry again. But it stopped your panicking long enough that you were back to being calm by the time Steve pulled away. 

 He kept his gaze down at your lips, reaching a hand up to lightly gaze at the line of your bottom lip. Like usual, you can’t help but place a gentle kiss against the finger tip. Making him smile again before he dropped his hands to his lap. You use that chance to go over his bruising again, trying to remind yourself that while he was in pain. He was still before you. 

 He was still here.

 It’s not until you're done checking over everything that he finally looked up at you. A little flicker of amusement in his eyes. “Be honest,” he said softly, lips curled up in a small smirk.. “Is it bad? Will I have to wear sweaters for the rest of my life?” 

 You want to chastise him for making light of the situation, but the words are too familiar. And while it took you too long of a minute to think about it, the small memory of him fixing you up the previous year in the Byers’ bathroom came into mind.  “It’s disgusting.” you replied finally, a small smile fighting its way onto your face. 

 The two of you laughed light heartedly, relaxing a bit from the bit of seriousness with the help of the memory. But once that died down, Steve leaned in, allowing the tips of his fingers to brush against the sides of your neck. 

 “Take off your shirt.” He said suddenly. 

 “Why do you always ask me that when I'm here?” You hummed softly, feeling a bit like yourself again. He gave you an amused look, cheeks hinted with a bit of pink before he nodded to your neck. 

 “Let me see it without the shirt in the way.”

 Complying with his request, you pull off the pajama shirt, folding your arms over your chest to cover up at your breasts before turning your head to the side. Letting him get a proper look of everything. He huffed out air through his nose. Frustrated with the sight of your bruised neck. It was dramatically still a dark purple. 

 “It’s worse than it looks.” you said quietly. “They said after two days it’ll lighten up. Just gotta ice it now and then, take pain relief if I feel anything.”

 “And do you feel anything?” he asked, face close to your neck now during his inspection. 

 “No.” you sighed. “Just you.”

 Your response brought out a hum from him and shifted his head a bit to press a kiss to your neck. Making you shiver from the feeling of his lips on your skin. He seemed to like that reaction and proceeded to press even more kisses, moving one of his hands to wrap around the side of your hip.

 “Steve..” you sighed, trying not to fall into the stirring sensation.

 “I’m making you feel better.” he said against your neck. Teeth grazed against the vein lightly while his other hand rubbed from your other side to the arm currently covering your chest. “Can’t a guy just make his girl feel good?”

 Smiling at the thought, you gently pushed his hands off from you so that you could cup the sides of his face. Bringing his gaze back to yours. Though that was a little bit difficult with your top off and arms no longer able to cover yourself.

 “A guy can make his girl feel good when he doesn’t have an entirely bruised chest.” He scoffed a bit before you nodded to him. “Tell me, just what exactly did they say when you were checked out?”

 “I told you, I’m fine. I’m clear to do any–”

 “Steve Harrington, you be honest with me right now.”

 The use of his full name made his eyes go wide before he smirked a bit. “Say my name that way again.”

 Shaking your head, you gently push him away and slide off from the bed. Reaching for your top on the floor. But before you could slip it on, he wrapped an arm around you and pulled you back towards the bed. “It’s a bruised rib, sprained clavicle, and bruised eye. Six weeks for them to heal up properly.” He pointed over to cut on his lip and pouted. “This thing will be around a lot longer if I don’t get some scar cream. Now can we go back to letting me do my work?” 

 Looking down at his lip, you gently cupped at his cheek and leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead. “You are not going back to work for six weeks.” Steve’s eyes widened again and you fought the smile that wanted to come out from his shock. “Listen, you’re not gonna feel good in any kind of way until you’re healed up. I’m not gonna risk you being in pain just so we can have sex.”

 “I’ll risk it! Allright? We’re finally together!” he tried, reaching out towards you. “We love each other. We gotta celebrate!”

 His desperation is only a little bit funny, but you’re trying to hold that laugh down to try and eb serious about this. “You think every time we defeat monsters from the upside down and throw in confessions we gotta celebrate with sex?” 

 “YES.”

 Shaking your head, you allowed yourself to laugh a bit before patting at his hand tenderly. “Okay, we’ll celebrate. Just when you’re not banged up and the color of a grape.” you reassured him. He parted his lips to fight back on it, but you’re quick to place your fingers against his lips to stop him. “I want to, trust me. I just don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

 Steve sighed disappointedly, bringing his hand up to grab yours. He pressed his lips to your fingers before nodding his head. “Okay,” he said, giving in. “Okay, you’re right.” Reaching for his shirt, he was about to slip it back on himself before he looked over at you. 

 “What?” you asked, confused. “Do you need he–”

 He slipped the shirt over your head, tugging it down your body. You pushed your arms through the sleeves and looked down at him questioningly. He adjusted the ends, making sure your bare chest was now perfectly covered before back at you. 

 “I want my girl warm.”

 “And my shirt wouldn’t have sufficed?”

 “That thin thing?” he huffed, pushing himself off the bed. “Barely covered your skin, let alone keep you warm.” 

 Rolling your eyes, you watched as he slowly took off his jeans, leaving him only in boxers. There’s thankfully no other major bruising to his body, but your casual check out doesn’t go unnoticed. 

 “Change your mind?” he teased.

 You ignore his words and pull at the blanket to his bed, climbing inside to get under the covers. Steve chuckled at that, moving to climb in after you. The two of you face each other instantly, getting in as close as you could. 

 Steve sobered up a bit from his previous emotions and reached out to push a stray hair away from your face. Leaning to press a soft kiss to your forehead. “Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked softly. There’s no doubt you know what he’s referring to, but you decide to play dumb anyway.

 “I thought we were already talking?” 

 He pursed his lips a bit. “I’m being serious.”

 Sighing, you snuggled closer towards him. Letting your senses be engulfed in Steve before peering back up at him. The hum of his room’s air conditioning was enough background noise to lull you to sleep, but you knew he’d want some sort of answer about it.

 “I’m not sure” you said honestly. “There’s a part of me that’s sad for the loss of a life, for Max, for..the Billy I used to know. But that guy was long gone before the Flayer ever took control of him.” 

 “Doesn’t mean that you wanted him to die.”

 “I don’t want anyone to die.” 

 Steve nodded his head, moving to rub gently at the small of your back before he tugged you closer. “I learned a while ago that the upside down doesn’t care who dies and who doesn’t. It’s out of our hands..”

 You think about why Steve would feel that way until the memory of Barb Holland came into mind. Then Bob Newby, and lastly, Jim Hopper. People who were good as much as Billy was bad were killed because of everything with the upside down too. 

 “So this is just our new normal? Dealing with the death of someone we know every year?” 

 “No.” Steve said quickly. “The gate is shut down for good.”

 “That’s what we thought last time. How can you be so sure?” You asked, looking up to his face again. “What if there’s something new again? What if the next person I lose is you? What if you di—”

 Steve shushed your panic by pressing his lips against yours. Like before it instantly washed you in a comforting hold. “Nothing will happen to me or you.” He breathed against your lips. “The gate is closed and if anything or anyone tries to hurt you again, I’ll stop them.”

 “You’ll stop them?” you repeated, looking at him a little bit in disbelief. 

 “Yes,” he said firmly. “Because you’re my girl and no one is gonna look out for you better than me, okay?”

 The words hit differently this time and you can’t help but feel his emotions sweep you off your feet, metaphorically speaking. While there’s no certainty that Steve would always be there to protect you and even know if things with the upside down were done for good. The determination behind his voice is enough to settle you down for now.

 “I love you.” you said softly, pressing your lips quickly to his. He was quick to drag you back in when you began to pull away. Deepening the kiss as he too felt the emotions take over him. One of his hands moved to press you closer to his body, making you feel the front of his chest swell against yours. 

 “I love you, too.” he said hotly to your lips, mouth parting slightly to gain back some air. “So much.” 

 He tried to go for another deep kiss, but you cut it short. Choosing to press gentle pecks to his lips and face before you finally were able to pull back. “We should sleep. Tomorrow everyone’s gonna wanna talk about everything.” 

 Ignoring the pout on his face, you turned your body around, giving Steve the chance to drag you back to his front and hold you close in his arms. “What if I wanna spend the day in bed with you?”

 “You’ll have to plan that in the next six weeks.” you reminded him. 

 He muttered something under his breath before he leaned in to place gentle kisses against the nape of your neck. “I’ll be counting the days until then.” The pout was still very evident in his voice, making you smile a bit as you dragged his hand to drape over your waist. 

 “Okay, Sailor.” you chuckled, allowing your eyes to close as you relaxed in his hold.

 “Nuh uh.” he yawned, reaching over you a bit to turn off the lamp by his bed. “Can’t be a sailor anymore if there’s no Scoops.”

 “Shit, you’re right. I guess I better change it back to your highness.”

 “Nope, that’s too old.”

 “There’s literally nothing else I can call you.” You lied, feeling him tighten his arm teasingly. “If not that then..baby?”

 “I’m calling you that.” 

 “Oh come on, there’s only so many pet names I can call you. Honey?” 

 “Sorry, dibs on that too.” 

 “Steve!”

 “Goodnight, Baby.”

 TWO MONTHS LATER

 It would only take till the end of the summer for another big change to happen. After thinking it over, Joyce decided that she could no longer live in Hawkins. The pain and loss of both Bob and Jim took a heavy toll on her heart. The Byers family, and their newest member El, would be moving to California. 

 Something that you and Jonathan found very amusing.

 But just like that, the party, the teens, everyone, would be split apart. Making the summer feel like it was truly the end of things. 

 All of you tried to make due with the limited time you had left. Spending the last hot day at Steve’s house for swimming. Movie nights in the Wheeler basement to watch cheesy scary movies. And for the teens, one last cheap slice of pie from the local diner. 

 It was the day before the Byers house was to pack up and leave and you managed to reserve the day alone with your friend. There wasn’t anything special done, in fact, you took it upon yourself to help Jonathan organize his room enough for easy packing. But now, like usual, the two of you were outside his house. Sitting on the hood of his crappy car, talking. 

 “So you think this old thing can make it to California?”

 “It can hear your insults, you know.” Jonathan laughed as he gently rubbed down on the metal below him. “Besides, this old thing is a lot better than the balled up red mess of yours sitting in the junkyard.” 

 You feigned a shocked look. Still slightly bitter about your car’s demise from the Flayer’s rampant rage. 

 “That is literally too soon to joke about my baby like that.”

 “Sorry,” he snorted, trying not to fall for the pout that you’re throwing at him. “It’s a sad truth you have to face.”

 “Trust me, I do.” you sniffled. “If it weren’t for Steve’s lifts, I’d be a hot mess on my dumb bike.”

 Jonathan shook his head before he nodded towards the road. “Speaking of, where is he? Usually I only get you for an hour or two before he’s whisking you off.” There’s no real hate in his tone. Something you were worried about when you started to date Steve. It was genuine curiosity. 

 “He knew what today meant for us. Said he wanted to give me as much time with you and that he’d pick me up and take me out to dinner.”

 “How generous of him.” Jonathan said to his lap, picking at the end of his sweater. “Gave us the whole day.. to say goodbye.”

 “Hey, this isn’t goodbye.” you reminded him with a nudge to his shoulder. “This is us getting ready for your trip that will have you back by Christmas. At least that’s what I think I heard Joyce tell Mike the other day.”

 “It won’t be the same. You of all people would know.”

 “I know.” you muttered.

 There’s a beat of silence before you scoot over closer to Jonathan. Moving to rest your head onto his shoulder. He rests his head on top of yours, letting out a long sigh before he spoke up again. “Remember when we first met?”

 “You mean when you stared at me while Carol was yacking my ear off?”

 “Yes,” he laughed. “You caught me so fast and immediately called me out for it. Nearly gave me a heart attack when you chased me down the hall.”

 “What was I supposed to do? Cower away from the guy who was looking at me?”

 “You wouldn’t have been the first.”

 Pulling your head back, you glared over at your friend before giving him another nudge. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t. Got myself a good weirdo out of it.” You put your head down again and looked out towards the street. Watching as the street lights began to come to life down the block the closer the day began to end. 

 “I wish I could stay.” he sighed, looking down the same direction as you. “Finish out Senior year with you and Nance.”

 “Me too. It won’t be the same..it won’t be as fun.”

 “You’ll have fun. You got Nancy, Steve, and Robin.”

 There’s some sort of push to keep the tone positive. But oddly enough, it’s only making you sad. “But there won’t be you.” you said softly. “There won’t be anyone to make fun of the town with or listen to cheesy rock music with.”

 “My music is not cheesy.”

 “Or watch you live in denial with.” you went on, making Jonathan laugh.

 “I’ll be back. Soon enough.” he said after the laughter had died down. You picked your head up to look at him and found he was looking down at you. “We can go to the park and laugh at the cheesy couples trying to ice skate together.”

 “Oh God, that is so cheesy. I’m in. We can even take photos of the ones that fall.” you chirped, moving to slide off the car. Jonathan followed next, dusting off some of the dirt from his pants before he stood before you. There’s a bit of a watery look to his eyes and you found it making your own sting with tears.

 “You’re my best friend,” he said suddenly. “And as weird as it is to say to anyone other than my Mom or Nancy, I love you.”

 “I love you too, creep.” you smiled, feeling the waterworks trying to fight to come out now. “And you’re definitely not gonna be one of those friends who cry when they have to move away.”

 “Oh, definitely not.” he said, choking up a bit. “And you’re too cool to be crying for some guy you’ve been friends with for almost two years.”

 “Definitely not!” you said, already reaching up to wipe away the tears that rolled down your cheeks. It's another somber moment of you two keeping emotions under control before Jonathan gave up and pulled you in for a very needed hug. 

 “Wanna hear something funny?” you mumbled into his jacket. 

 “What?”

 “Steve said he wanted to take me ice skating this winter..”

 At that, the two of you turned your sniffling into laughter. Holding onto each other to steady yourself for a good few minutes. It’s not until the sound of a car approaching that the two of you shut up. 

 Pulling back, you watched as the familiar red hue of Steve’s BMW came into one of the street lights. A friendly face, with a sad reminder of what tomorrow would bring. Turning to face the driveway, you watched Steve’s face as he pulled up to park his car. 

 You couldn’t help but grin at Steve as you watched him climb out of the car. The look on his face is a little nervous, but once his eyes found yours, he sent you a grin back. “Hope I’m not too early.” he waved, stepping over towards you.

“You’re right on time. Let me go get my stuff inside.” The two boys looked slightly worried to be left alone, but you ditched them momentarily to quickly gather your things and say your goodbyes to the three inside. 

 Joyce was, of course, as emotional as you expected. She’s been through so much, but it was nice to know that she had a soft spot for you. You remembered to give her the contact information for your Father’s law firm. Reminding her that if there was ever a legal situation with El or Will that he would be able to help upon her request. She told you not to worry and reminded you to call often.

 Next stop was the kids. A weird sight to see all of them gathered under one roof. It wasn’t until late afternoon that they all showed up. The boys gathered in Will’s room to hang out once more, and the girls in El’s bedroom. With their friends around they put on brave faces, but once you pulled them out in the hallways, they let their composure crumble a bit. 

 Saying goodbye to them hurt you a lot more than you thought. They were just kids. Dustin’s little friends. But thinking about how you weren’t going to see them around the following week made you terribly sad. You were never good with goodbyes, and this time wasn’t any different. 

 Finally tearing yourself from the kids, you found your way back outside. Purse in hand as you made your way over towards the boys. The last bit of their conversation tickling into your ears.

 “..I get it. You take care of yourself, man.”

 “Thanks, uh, you take care too.” 

 Their gazes turned over at you as you stepped forward. A small hopeful smile on your face at the sound of their ending pleasantries. You’re about to make a joke about them hopefully turning into penpals when you notice something in Jonathan’s hands. “What is that?”

 “Oh,” he said, turning it over to show you. It was a thin dark green photo album. No bigger than a school binder. “I sort of..put this together for you.”

 “You’re leaving and decide to give me a going away present?” you scoffed, reaching over for it. “And here you were last week telling me if I spent a dime on you, you’d kick my ass.” 

 Jonathan rolled his eyes a bit before flipped the cover for you. “It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but I figured you’d like it now, smart ass.”

 Ignoring his playful jab, you watched as he turned to show you the following pages. The pictures are done in Jonathan’s familiar candid style, and you’re happy to see how many he’s taken since the last Christmas he got the camera. 

 There’s photos of you and Dustin in his house, the two of you at school, some with Nancy while the two of you talk on the hood of his car, and even to your surprise, a few with Steve. “I promise, these weren’t taken in a weird creepy way..I just thought you’d appreciate having some memories.”

 “I so want to kick your ass right now.” you sniffled, feeling more tears come out. Steve stepped closer, peering down at the photos with a small smile on his face.

 “That’s cool, but you should probably save it for Christmas.” he smiled. “I think I’ve kept you from Harrington long enough today.”

 Nodding your head, you hand over the album to Steve before wrapping Jonathan in one more hug. “I’m gonna miss you, Creep.” you said softly before pulling back. “Don’t go over there and become best friends with another bitchy Californian, okay? That’s my job.”

 “Cross my heart.” he chuckled, before patting your back. The two of you step back from each other and you feel the warmth of Steve’s hand engulf yours. Keeping you warm and steady as you moved towards his car.

 After he helped you inside, you watched as Jonathan moved back to the hood of his car. Sitting quietly as Steve made his way back to the driver’s seat. Bringing your hand up from your lap, you give your friend one last wave. Watching as he did the same. 

 You kept your gaze on your friend as Steve pulled out from the Byers’ driveway. Going at a slow pace to give you the most amount of time. But eventually the car is turning and your friend’s face is losing focus. And soon enough the two of you are driving off towards the familiar road back to town. 

 “You gonna be okay, baby?” Steve asked a couple of minutes later. Reaching to place his large palm on your thigh. It warmed up your skin through your tights and you can’t help but smile at the affection. While you were sad about so many changes that were about to happen, you almost forgot one of the best ones.

 “I will be.”

  THE NEXT DAY

 It had been ten minutes inside of Family Video that you found yourself silently raking through the aisles of movies available to rent. Most of them you’ve either seen or heard from tv. But there were a few that you found yourself having to turn the box over just to find out what it was about. 

 Keith, an upcoming Junior you knew from school, had been watching you since you stepped in. He greeted you with a sleazy smile, offering his recommendation services if you found yourself stuck on what to pick. After reassuring him that you’d be fine on your own, he returned his gaze back down to the comic on the counter. But now and then you’d catch him eyeballing you from across the room. 

 Robin and Steve were supposed to be here five minutes ago to try and get an interview. But they both seemed to be running late. Thankfully they weren’t on a scheduled time or else you’d have been panicking. It was only about two minutes later that you heard the pinging noise of the front door opening.

 The two, both out of breath, rushed inside with a skip in their step. On the way to Keith, Steve’s eyes found yours and you gave him a very subtle thumbs up from the aisle you were in. He gave you a quick wink before turning to join next to Robin. 

 From where you were, you couldn’t help but watch in anticipation for what the outcome of the interview might be. Keith had been looking down at both their resumes for a solid minute before Robin’s nerve began to come through.

 “Uh, just to be clear, we weren’t fired, you know. The mall burned down, and like, killed a bunch of people.”

 You were thankful Keith’s back was to you, as you stepped closer. Pretending to be interested in the candy as you listened on.

 “Thanks for sharing. Didn’t know.” he replied sarcastically. He lazily threw down the papers onto the counter before turning suddenly serious. “Three favorite movies. Go.” he snapped to Robin. The girl didn’t hesitate to list out her answers. Giving what you assumed to be a pretty good favorites list.

 Steve on the other hand looked visibly upset. Almost the same whenever Dustin would try and convince him to an impromptu trivia night. 

 “You, go.” he snapped to Steve next. His brown eyes widened and he suddenly looked like he was called up to answer questions on the chalkboard. 

 “Favorite movies?”

 “Did I stutter?”

 “Uh..Animal House, for sure.” 

 Robin audibly scoffed, trying not to look at her friend while Steve’s gaze wandered over the store. He looked over at you with a pleading look before Keith called out to him again. 

 “Eyes on me, Harrington.”

 “Yeah, uh..Star Wars.”

 You nearly dropped the candy jar in your hands. The entire winter break last year was spent watching those ridiculous Star Wars films with Dustin in your living room. Not once did he ever think to remember the names of at least one of them?

 “A New Hope?”

 “A new what-now?”

 “Which Star Wars?”

 “The one with the teddy bears. Duh.” he said, finishing with a little squealing noise. At that point you have to physically turn away, forcing your gaze onto another row of movies and not at your boyfriend currently tanking his interview.

 “No? Uh..Oh, the one that just came out! The movie that just came out. THe one with the DeLorean and Alex P. Keaton, and he’s trying to bang his mom.” Peeking over your shoulder, you catch him chuckling before he remembered who he was talking to. “Yeah, those are my top three. Classics.” 

 Keith was silent as he stared in horrid shock at Steve for a moment. Steve cast his gaze down and away from the people beside him. Most likely going through the whole thing in his mind.“You start Monday.” he finally said to Robin before he pointed over at Steve. “You start never.”

 The words seemed to hit Steve a little hard. Even from where you stood you could see the slight tint of red brush over his cheeks. This wasn’t how the interview was supposed to go at all. Robin leaned over and spoke softly to Steve. He looked annoyed as he talked back to her but she urged him gently again and soon he was dramatically taking his resume off the counter. 

 Moving past a couple of customers, you made your way over to him. Reaching out to grip onto his hand. “Anything good here?” you asked, looking over the movies he was currently fiddling with.

 “Don’t ask me, apparently my movie taste isn’t good enough for this place.” he sighed. You knew he was a little upset by the fact that he still hadn’t reached out for you. Choosing instead to keep his glare over at Keith from afar. “It’s not like I need to be God damn Roger Ebert. It’s just Family Video!” 

 You chuckled a bit, poking at his arm so that he’d finally look down at you. “Sometimes things don’t work out, Steve. It’s not the end of the world.”

 “I know that.” he pouted, finally calming a bit to reach out for your hand. “I just wanted this to be a win. Now I won’t get to work with Robin.”

 You glanced over towards Robin, watching as she pointed over to where you and Steve were while she leaned in closer to Keith. Her eyes caught yours, winking at you before she waved for you to come over.

 “You know, something tells me we’re cutting our losses a bit too soon.” you said softly letting go of Steve’s hand. He muttered out a confused noise as you walked over towards the counter. The two people straightened up a bit once you were close enough. Keith glanced over at Robin, getting a slow nod from the girl before he snapped his fingers to you.

 “Three favorite movies. Go!”

 A part of you was curious as to why you were suddenly being interviewed. But from the look on Robin’s face, you knew that whatever happened next was going to be based on your answers. Still, a part of you was annoyed with Keith and his efforts to humiliate your boyfriend. So you could only give what you saw fit.

 “Staying Alive, Xanadu, and..Star Wars.”

 Your words looked like it nearly stabbed Keith in the chest. His hands reached out to grip onto the counter. He looked as red as the neon sign behind him. “Which Star Wars?” he gritted out, beady eyes on you.

 “The one where the annoying talking green guy dies.”

 “This isn’t gonna work, Buckley!” he cried out, looking over to your friend shocked.  She let out a big fake laugh as she wrapped an arm around your shoulder. Pulling you close to her side. Though her face was friendly, she was secretly pinching at your arm, making you let out a nervous chuckle.

 “She’s so totally kidding! Aren’t you, Henderson?” she asked, looking at you with a small glare.

 “Totally.” you smirked, keeping your composure. “Just thought I’d make you laugh.” Keith narrowed his eyes at you for a moment before the sound of crashing happened to your right. The three of you watched as Steve fought to keep up a cardboard cut out of Phoebe Cates from falling onto the floor. He’s thankfully quick at setting back up in time and has a second to look over it up close. 

 “Oh!” he called out, a smile back on his face. “Fast Times! Fast Times. Ever heard of it? Top three for me, Keith.” You and Robin giggled at the comment. Very much amused by the boy before Keith brought back the focus with a groan.

 “All right, Buckley. You better be right.” Kneeling down, he seemed to reach for something behind the counter before coming back up. “Monday. The three of you come in for the Month’s schedule.” Keith he sighed before chucking green fabric into your hands. 

 The girl called out a thank you to the boy before leading you out the store. Steve is quick to follow behind you, coming up to your side to grab at one of the green clothes. “It’s a vest.” he frowned, looking at the fabric closely.

 “It’s an ugly green vest.” you scoffed, passing the other piece to Robin.

 “It’s ugly, but it is our new uniform guys!”

 “Wait, you’re serious? We go the job?”

 “We got the job.” she confirmed. The two broke out into happy little claps before turning to you. At first you could only raise a brow before you noticed the one in your hand. 

 “Oh shit, me too. We got the job!” you laughed, waving your vest like a little flag. Getting another job definitely wasn’t on the list of things you wanted to start the new year. But from the way the other two seemed to be excited, you couldn’t help but feel like it might be a good idea.

 Steve leaned down and pressed a kiss to your lips, giving you a small smile. “We’ll get to spend more time together this way.”

 “And make a quick buck along the way.” Robin snorted, heading towards the backseat door. Steve made it a point to open up the passenger door for you, holding a hand out so that you could slide in easily.

 “Well work starts on Monday. But what should we do for the weekend?” you asked once buckled in. Steve adjusted the rearview mirror before an idea came into mind. 

 “Well the Hawk is still showing that Time movie.”

 “It’s Back to the Future, Steve.” you corrected. “And we technically saw it already.”

 “I can promise you I really don’t remember the majority of it.” he said honestly. “Plus, I remember you telling me you wanted to see it. I know you got a thing for that guy.”

 A part of you felt a little shy hearing him remember a detail so far back. But you supposed that was a perk of having him as your boyfriend. “You’d really want to try and see it again. You won’t get bored?”

 “If I’m seeing it with you then I promise I won’t be bored.” he smirked, leaning in close enough that he could brush a bit of hair off your face. 

 “And me!” Robin said, poking her head from the back seat. “You’d be seeing it with me too!”

 You laughed a bit at her eagerness, watching as Steve rolled his eyes. But from the smile that was curling up on his lips, you knew there was no real annoyance to the gesture. So without wasting anymore time, you leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek. Nodding for him to start the car. 

 “Looks like we’re going to the movies.”

 Steve smiled at that and started up the car. The engine hummed back to life, filling up the car with a soft noise as the three of you set off from the parking lot. You kept your gaze out the window, watching out towards the people while Steve and Robin began to discuss a sudden craving for popcorn. 

 Reaching for the radio, you quietly went through the different stations before settling on one that was in the middle of a song. One you hadn’t heard in quite some time, but it was enough to bring a smile onto your face. 

 Yeah (ba-da, da-da, da-da)

My, my, such a sweet thing (ba-da, da-da, da-da)

I wanna do everything (ba-da, da-da, da-da)

What a beautiful feelin' (ba-da, da-da, da-da)

Crimson and clover (ba-da, da-da, da-da)

Over and over

A/N: Okay! That took me quite a bit to finish! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I made it a little long because a lot happens and I needed for her to say her goodbye to Jonathan in a way I hope fits their friendship. The next season is gonna be such a bitch to write but I’m excited! I also hope ppl get why I picked the song in the end. And also a hint for the next season. I’m probably gonna take a couple of days for a break and then get started on more things. Hope you guys like this. I know it’s a bit messy. :)

[chaosagentarcade]

If you never had a day a snow cone couldn’t fix

You wouldn’t relate to the rogue vocoder blitz

How he spoke thru a no-doz motor on the fritz

Cuz he wouldn’t play roll over fetch like a bitch

And express no regrets

Though he isn’t worth a homeowner’s piss

To the jokers who pose by the glitz. Fine.

And I will remember your name and face on the day you are judged by the funhouse cast

And I will rejoice in your fall from grace with a cane to the sky like “None shall pass”.

[sizzlingcloudmentality]

favorite first watches - march '25

thank you for tagging me @guiltyasdave 🫶

i finally managed to watch a few more films (9 to be exact, wow, I'm such a film bro) this month. if you want to be letterboxd moots, @ me here.

calvary (2014) dir. John Michael McDonagh

mister john (2013) dir. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor

the northman (2022) dir. Robert Eggers

nocturnal animals (2016) dir. Tom Ford

blitz (2011) dir. Elliott Lester

m (1931) dir. Fritz Lang

I'm not tagging anyone because I have absolutely no idea who's into films and who isn't. If you want to play, please consider this you tag!

[mortiflyer]

give the album a flyover if you’ve never heard of the artist - I tried to pick ones I think represent me in different ways but idk how popular some of these are lol

thanks @drunkenromantic for the tag :3 I will ask @rgrfederer, @medvedevvs, @arfield, and @fritzes 🎶

[eclecticopposition]

falin/marcille and laios/kabru. mav/kcom. alizarin/neon. octave/kor. friss/aleen/dianida. friss/blitz (puttin' on the fritz). kalrin/rythis. kalrin/valope. ohnyxx/mesuid. mesuid/kalrin/ohnyxx. regius/bezzle. argyro/randoh/dolome. so many questions, so little time. leaving dynamic and nature of relationship intentionally vague, giving free license to talk as much as you want about any or all of these

you're a war criminal. we love you.

these are our first vague dartboard instincts. we might change our mind about these as things go. looking at it again, these results are skewed because the ships are all pretty good. everything would be way further to the top left if there were actual ships that we don't like on here. like, you've got baseline "yeah, I could see it" interest eyebrows.

Starting from the bottom left and working counterclockwise...

Marcille/Falin: This is basically canon, we just don't care much. Good art though.

Laios/Kabru: We like both of these characters a lot and we can see where people are coming from. We also just mostly don't care. Maybe slightly more than Farcille because we actually like seeing them interact with each other and want to see where it goes? It's hard to get us on a ship without good dialogue.

Regius/Bezzle 🕺: WE HATE HIM GET HIM OUT OF OUR HALLWAY. OUT. WE'RE COMPELLED TO THROW THINGS. GOD. FUCK OFFFFFFF

Bottom right, now...

Ohnyxx/Mesuid: We can see the dynamic, we just don't like it. It is very one-sided, but it is also very funny. We could be talked into putting it higher with a good pitch.

Kalrin/Mesuid/Ohnyxx: We like this one a little more because we think Kalrin should get bullied and Ohnyxx should get mad about it and Mesuid should get in over her head. One very good fanfic could convince us.

Alizarin/Neon: Ah, they who run the gamut. Love these two. Two utopians who just won't stop.

Top right. Hi we love you.

Friss/Blitz: THEEEEEEE MOST TOXIC SHIP with a potential competitor in any ship Aleen has ever been in. It's SO bad. We want Friss to take complete control of this relationship and self-destruct so badly. We want to see Blitz be a smartass. We want to see Blitz overestimate themself. We want them to both be composed icy assholes with an unbelievable amount of history because one of them helped kill ALMOST EVERYONE FRISS KNOWS. You KNOW we are on this shit on some level we LITERALLY wrote them having a martial arts duel where for bug gender reasons they both mostly use their legs

Mav/K-Com: You know this is so funny. You know it is. They have chemistry. This is a classic for a reason.

Kalrin/Valope: See we could SEE it. You know we could see it. These two would go together. Give us one really good fake dating AU because you know they are doing it for more fucked up nefarious reasons than any that have ever been seen before. They could kill each other. Kalrin canonically likes her. Are they attracted to each other? Probably not. Or like, maybe a little. But that never mattered. What matters is the scheme.

Kalrin/Rythis: This is cheating. This is cheating you can't do this to us. You know we love Rythis. You KNOW that this whole thing is a disaster that actually works because we TOLD YOU. You can't take out this thing that we said would start to fix Kalrin Pyrhis knowing that we SAID that for the first time in their life they would catch feelings and then get FUCKING DUMPED and ACTUALLY BE SO MAD ABOUT IT

And the laudable top left;

Friss/Aleen/Dianida: Two things. 1) This ship is canon, Dianida just doesn't know it. And 2) We oscillate between being like "meh" and being like LOOK AT OUR AWFUL OLD WOMEN. LOOK AT FRISS. LOOK AT THIS TRAGEDY. COME PLAY A KINGDOM GAME WITH US. This is a case of "sometimes can't muster two words, sometimes can talk for an hour."

Regius/Bezzle 😔: OKAY. FINE. YOU GOT US. IT'S EXTREMELY COMPELLING. THESE HORRIBLE MEN GOT US. OKAY? ARE YOU HAPPY? WE ARE COMPELLED BY THIS SHIMMY SHAKING CREEP AND THIS EVIL YOUTH PASTOR. WE WOULD ONLY BE MORE COMPELLED IF THEY GOT EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS WOULD SKYROCKET TO TOP-SLIGHTLY RIGHT IF THEY GOT EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED. IF THEY WERE EVEN A LITTLE BIT IN LOVE INSTEAD OF JUST BEING FUCKING AWFUL QUID PRO QUO GOLF PARTNERS. WE WOULD BE ON THE EDGE OF OUR SEAT. CAN YOU IMAGINE. CAN YOU *IMAGINE.*

Octave/Kor: Listen. We just. Sometimes you draw things. Sometimes you think about things. These two are actually good together. We don't even know or care if it's romantic. There is a trust and they are both such angry competent people. Parentified children in a world with no parents. This is so important to us as the biggest, most vital relationship that Octave makes for themself. This is a legitimate loyalty bond.

Argyro/Randoh/Dolome: IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD. THREE OF OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE GUYS. THIS DESERVES THE EPIC OF THE CENTURY. IT'S. UNBELIEVABLE!! IT IS UNBELIEVABLE. TWO GUYS WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT HORS D'OEUVRES ARE AND ARE TRYING TO FUCKING FAKE IT SO BAD. ONE GUY WHO KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HORDERVES ARE AND IT'S YOU. WHAT IS THAT VERY FAST MAN DOING ON YOUR ROOF. ALEXA PLAY TASTY FISH

[jalluzas-ferney]

Ngl I wanted more content from Blitz and Fritz or whatever tf their names were (coles kids in dr) like I need to see more of them especially with Cole 😭

[sparklecur]

GANGS ALL HERE 🔥🔥🔥

[foximator-blog]

On a more Serious note though... I also wanted to try my hand at designing a "Wah-Peach" and she's based on the concept of a spoiled brat with an ugly personality.

Princess Prune is spoiled rotten and a bit whiny. When things don't go her way, she can scream loud enough to break glass miles away from her. When she sees something she wants, she'll insist on getting something even better and she's extremely Jealous of the popularity other princesses get, Such as Daisy, Rosalina and ESPECIALLY Princess Peach. She practically bathes in a rather strong plum flower perfume, and her favorite food is sour flavors. Gooseberries are her favorite but she'll quite nonchalantly eat whole lemons too.

Wario often suckers up to her when he wants something... Which while annoying for Prune, she at least knows he'll get things done on exchange for money, which she's quite frivolous with.

Waluigi finds her insufferable. The two of them are more alike than either would like to admit.

The rival I made up for Yoshi, named Belcho the Rex, acts like a big puppy towards her. She keeps him outside but she absolutely adores him.

And then there's Blitz... The rival of my OC Fritz. Blitz is a huge simp and he practically worships her. Even though Prune acts a bit like a Tsundere, she likes that he's her number one fan, and she doesn't mind subtly returning his affections.

[echoe-back-from-the-void]

Crowley X Male Reader ~pt2

Because I had to write part two to this budding relationship. Look for pt one on my account. It’s not far.

| 1 | two | 3 |

I heard the loud noxious music before I entered the vehicle. The windows were down so I could only assume it was to air out the sulfuric smell crowley gave off. He was sitting in the backseat with his arms crossed as he tried to yell over the music.

I allowed myself a smile knowing they couldn't see me yet as I still flew over the car. I pulled my wings in and fell to the road and landed into the back seat beside the grumpy demon. The radio began to blitz between static and incomprehensible rock.

Dean grumbled over the static as he began to twist and turn the knobs on the radio. "Oh come on man! That was Zeppelin!" He said in aggravation.

My lips quirked at the corner into a small grin. They didn't use to do that. Through spending more and more time with the Winchesters I had more chances to see life and experience it outside the battlefield. In a way becoming more human.

My life had always been one war after another. There were not times for laughter or joy. Only fear as it clouded my nose and I prayed for the soldier beside me to survive this hell. There was that one Christmas when we crossed our trenches and dance and sung and drank until we would wake up the next morning and kill the same men.

"Seriously M/N, even Cas doesn't fuck with the radio!" Dean continued to grumble, finishing off with a glare through the assistance of the backup mirror. "Fix it!"

I nod and twist my frequency to stop fritzing the radio. Instead of zepplin playing there is Frank Sinatras voice as he begins to sing the opening stanza to Come fly with me.

"Frank Sinatra?" Sam asks in confusion.

"I heard this song when it first aired in 1958, during the Vietnam war. After the war I had to meet him, and did." I paused, "he died while I was off fighting in Kosovo Conflict." I admit sadly.

"How could you have heard this if you were in Vietnam?" Dean asked in confusion. "I mean I get you had radios but wouldn't that have been too far?"

"I would play with the frequencies, bounce signals. Everyday I saw my soldiers say 'we are in hell'. So I gave them radio. I amplified signals from home so they could listen to music, all along the watchtower was a favorite, it ain't me by CCR, we gotta get outta this place by the animals. It was all I could do to help." I lean back into the backseat and smile to myself. "I even think one of them caught on. He would follow me around asking me questions." My lips thin into a tight line. "I was sad to see that one go." I said creating a somber mood as come fly with me began to sizzle in the background.

I turned to the side to see Crowley when he bumped his leg into mine. "So frank Sinatra?"

I nod and began to talk with Crowley. Not noticing of how the once staticky version of come fly with me became clearer again and went on to play strangers in the night. Sam and Dean share a uncomfortable look as they both look at the back mirror to see Crowley and Mars having a pleasant conversation. The Angel has a small smile when Crowley speaks.

Dean coughs into his hand while turning down the music. "Not that I don't like this blast from the past, but driver picks the music and shotgun shuts his cakehole." Dean says loudly gaining the angels attention.

Sam slaps his brothers arm. "Dude! You can't just say that to an Angel."

"Why not! My car!" Dean protests. "Besides he has wings, he doesn't need car rides to get places so he doesn't have jurisdiction on the music." Dean argues.

The brothers begin to bicker more and it brings a fond smile to my face. Crowley taps my leg and I turn to him again. "What would you say we just go to the destination and let these two chuckleheads chit chat?"

"Are you offering me a ride?" I tease lightly. As soon as it leaves my mouth I blink in confusion. Where did that come from? Maybe the Winchesters have made me more human than I thought.

"If that's what your asking, tall, dark, and scary." Crowley offers and puts his hand on my shoulder. Soon we're standing outside a park. Crowley takes a seat and I choose to sit beside him.

I let myself relax and lean against the bench's arm rest. "So what is the monster this time?"

"A nest of vampires, they've been draining men. Most of them last seen coming out of a gay bar." Crowley says bluntly.

"I forget how much our world changes." I shake my head, "how many would you say occupy this nest?"

"10 or 12."

I think it over before standing. "Then let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Crowley asks in confusion as he stands as well.

"Deal with the nest? I can handle most if not all. I need someone to guard the exits." I respond bluntly I close my eyes and focus, finding the nest easily. "It's not far. It's the old roller skating rink."

Time skip ~~~

I walk into the building with Crowley, he chooses to stand by the door as I walk further toward the rink. I whistle and it echoes; slowly people began to creep out of dark corners. The lights begin flickering and music plays through the over head. Puttin on the ritz began to play and I couldn't stop from tapping my foot.

"Who are you?! Why are you here?" One of them asks.

I stop tapping my foot and turn to the vampire. "I'm here to— dispose of you." I tilt my head. "I have nothing against your kind but I really must kill you. I'd rather be the one doing it than the hunters that accompanied me here. I hope you understand." I say before lunging and pushing him to the ground as his head is ripped from his body. His nest mates begin to hiss as their fangs drop and they lunge for me. I dance between the bodies sometimes dismembering them as I go.

A brave vampire wraps it's hands around my throat and growls threateningly as spittle flies onto my face. I raise my eyebrow and break it's arms before crushing its head under my boot.

The vampires begin to back away from me in fear and realization they cannot win.

"Running is futile, Take your death standing and fighting." I demand in anger. "I've led soldiers with more bravery then you lot." I swing my arm and my wings follow as they decapitate three vampires at a time. The blood outlines them enough to become visible. There are five more alive and I make quick work of four. The last one kneels before me in a pitiful state. It's right arm severely broken as it begs for mercy. I put my boot on the coven leaders broken shoulder and grip his head tightly, snapping his neck while simultaneously ripping it from his body.

I throw the head behind me and flick my wing and the blood flies off leaving my wings untainted and invisible again. Crowley claps his hands in appreciation. The music dies down and I hear banging before Sam and Dean burst into the entrance.

"Hello boys, you just missed a most delightful performance. Nearly brought me to tears." Crowley says sarcastically.

Sam and Dean examine the state of the room and Sam is disgusted by the amount of mutilated corpses while Dean is morbidly interested in how I managed spill so much blood. I ignore them in favor of cleaning my hands with my ever present handkerchief.

"Clean up on aisle— everywhere." Dean jokes and pats my shoulder. "Nice job."

"Dean, he is literally the god of war." Sam says pinching the bridge of his nose while avoiding looking at the bodies.

I snap my fingers and the bodies and blood clean themselves, "better?"

"Much." Sam says making dean snort.

I roll my head and stretch my hands above me. My wings flex as well and stretch out. "That was an okay fight, ghouls put up more effort." I complain.

"I'm sure you'll find a fitting fight soon enough." Crowley said soothingly.

His tone made my ears buzz and I smiled back at him. "I hope."

Crowley then left for demon business and I wished him luck.

Time skip ~~~

The brothers had continued to search for the horsemen rings; regardless if I did not agree with locking my brother back in the cage.

War, of course, bowed in my presence. The brothers asked if I was his boss as the god of war and I lifted my lip in a snarl. "He is a cockroach, starting feeble conflicts that lead to all out war. As a god of war I do not start wars, I fight in them. In a way he thinks he is serving me but his interferences have always angered me. I would be glad to be rid of him."

Famine did cause trouble among the brothers, leading Sam to nearly relapse on his demonic diet. It was amusing to see Castiel gorge himself on White Castle burgers. But I did not appreciate famine forcing him to eat raw meat like a dog. And for that I was the one to kill famine.

Pestilence made me angry. Of all my brother's creations among the demons. The horseman pestilence was the most obnoxious. There is already enough sickness in the world. Castiel killed him at the last moment. I would've ended it but I was off with Gabriel while we watched from afar.

Death, I had no qualms with. I much appreciate him and his reapers. When Dean and Crowley located him in Chicago I flew in with excitement. With a flutter I was standing in the Chicago Pizza shop while Dean was sitting in front of death.

Dean turned over his shoulder, "M/N."

"Death." I said with soft familiarity. "It's been long, old friend." I smiled before walking closer.

"M/N, what're you doing here?" Dean asked in confusion because he hadn't seen me since I killed famine.

"Winchester, you're dismissed." I asked politely.

"No, not until we get his ring!" He demanded in aggravation. Nearly leaving his seat with his shout.

"Winchester, stand outside with Crowley before I drag you out." I demanded without raising my voice.

Deans throat bobbed as he was reminded I was not to be taken lightly. He left silently aside from slamming the door harshly like a petulant child.

I released a breath as I tried to calm myself before taking deans abandoned seat. "I have told them I do not like this plan." I leaned my elbow against the table. "I will deal with my brothers when the time presents itself. But the winchesters are impatient, they want him caged yesterday."

"They are mortal, (male nickname, preferably embarrassing in context)" Death said smiling.

I looked away to hide my embarrassment. "That's not the point." I shook my head before becoming serious again. "Are you happy to be back? My brothers haven't chained you or anything?"

"No chains, I'm free to do as I wish. And I wish to enjoy the fast food of this time. Have you had the deep dish pizza?"

I smiled seeing death speak with excitement about the food he'd like to eat. Those who do not know my friend would not assume he's excited. But as we have been friends since my creation, even I could see how he smiled and would speak with enthusiasm.

"It's all molecules to us."

"Lies." Death said in jest before some cheese cake appeared before me. "Very same from Venice."

"You spoil me." I said smiling and eagerly dug into the slice. While most angels would only taste molecules. After years of passing for human during wars, I could pick out flavors and tastes while ignoring its components. "I almost forgot what cheesecake tasted like." I ate another bite before speaking again. "Did the owners change the recipe?" The soldier I mentioned earlier, the one who had me figured out. His children and descendants are the owners of this restaurant in Venice. Of course when the boy figured me out he would ask questions, most I answered. He saw my displeasure at eating rations so he would eat with me so as to conceal my lack of appetite. One day he made me a cheesecake. While I couldn't taste the flavors then, I have always appreciated it. The recipe was passed down and his family started a restaurant.

"No, regretfully the owners passed and left the restaurant to their children. Only one of them has real talent for food."

I hummed. "That is regretful. I'll have to visit the family at some time to pay my respects."

"You could always visit him." Death said raising his finger off his cane as he motioned up.

I scoffed before leaning back against the chair. "Jupiter would be angry if I were to visit home. I haven't been to heaven since the Vikings migrated. Most of the angels have forgotten me or deny my existence. I may be an archangel but heaven is no longer home." I dropped my head to my chest to hide my sullen expression. I missed the garden, the gates, the warm gooey feeling of the sun. I miss the angels, the cherubs I would take care of. It was by chance I came into contact with Castiel.

"But have you not visited at least once in the last millennium? Not even the gates at least?" Death asked in worry.

"No, not once. I've been busy with wars and conflicts. I fought for the Roman's all those years ago but I am still leashed by that—" I bit down my anger with a contemptuous sigh. "My mark has not changed from the day I received it." I said the word received with as much sarcasm as my monotone voice could manage.

Leaning back in a more controlled voice I continued. "Heaven has been peaceful for so long that while I feel nostalgic for its warmth, I have not tempted fate. Infighting only began after my brothers were freed. I have Castiel giving me updates whenever possible. If the fighting becomes more aggravated then I will take action regardless of him." I said reluctantly.

I looked at the clock and realized we had been talking for so long that my whole cake was barely crumbs and the pizza was much the same state. I turned to the window and was unsurprised to see Dean pacing outside while looking at the sky every couple seconds. Crowley noticed my stare and with a smile he twinkled his fingers in a wave that made me feel—something.

Death mumbled something into his napkin and I was too distracted to catch most of it but what I did made my grace burn in embarrassment.

Death chuckled before leaning over the table to present the silver ring with swirling white stone at its center. It was not my first time seeing his ring but I was surprised that he would present it to me.

"Understand, that while I could give the Winchester some horrible impossible task to earn this, I give it to you in hopes you do not have to use it. I know how you miss your younger brother, and I wish you the best in controlling him and keeping him out of his cage. Until next time my friend." Death finished his last sentence by standing and placing his hat back on his head and vanishing.

I smiled sadly at the open air he had just occupied. "Goodbye friend."

I stood from the table and left the pizza parlor at a leisurely pace. When I opened the door the first thing the oldest Winchester did was pounce on me for answers.

"So did you get it, did you get the ring? Is he on our side? How do we lock up your brother?" Dean fired off in rapid succession.

The last question made me clench the ring tighter in my first and even Crowley winced. I stared down Dean and spoke in a even tone. "Death is on no one's side, he is an entity older than time. He does not take sides."

"But you two are all buddy buddy?" Dean said bluntly.

"I am an archangel and god of war, death is not new to me. I have known him since my creation. We are not buddy buddy." I answered spitefully.

"But what about your brother, you got the ring that means we lock him up now, right?" Dean asked oblivious to my growing anger. I had kept my temper as we collected the rings but it has been building since the first time the Winchesters suggested it.

"Squirrel, you may want to step off it." Crowley said informatively. But it was already too late as my anger had loosened my lips.

"You sound no better than Michael," I spat hatefully. "No wonder you'd be his vessel." I grit my teeth as I tried to control my temper and refrain from killing my father's favorite toy. I held the ring in front of Deans fearful eyes before bringing it to my chest where I felt it brush my necklace before joining it beside my dog tags and godly weapon. "No matter if you beg or plead, you will not have this ring so long as you continue to speak ill. You may kill me or die trying and you would still not pry it from my neck." I threatened harshly as I towered over him making him shrink into himself. "Sam is as much your younger brother as Lucifer is mine. I do Not comment on his binges in the past or his blood purity. So do not spite my brother as if you know him." I spoke venomously before leaving in a riled flap of my wings. I left with such force that the Winchester was knocked over and scrapped his hands on the concrete sidewalk.

I flew circles around the state as I watched for monsters, swooping down and swiftly ending each one I came in contact with. There was no hesitation and no seconds wasted on banter or baiting. Soon I had cleared the whole state of every monster aside from the rare few species I let live. Beneficial species mostly.

Still the anger inside me continued to grow and I took off to the nearest battlefield. The nearest being across the world in a conflict I didn't care to acknowledge before I wiped out the opposing side with my godly weapon. Some bodies made out with whole corpses while others were butchered beyond recognition. My once clean attire and skin were stained with various bloods of monsters before being bathed in the blood of those dead on the battlefield. The viscous liquids dripped off me in fat splatters on the ground. The scent of ozone and iron was overpowering any other smell, I couldn't even taste the cheesecake through it all.

I threw my head back before screaming in anger, anger at the gods, at my father, at my brothers, at humans, at fate, destiny and everything between it. I never hated the sun til that second. Wishing it would explode and end it all. Grace exploded out of me in time with my anger, burning the corpses and scorching the ground black. My wings stretched like they were trying to rip themselves from my body and leave me flightless.

I sank to my knees in exhaustion, my wings, now sore, wrapped tightly around my frame as if they could shield me from my anger, my hate, my sadness.

God created us first, like some science experiment or lab rat. We are flawed to a fault. Archangels being the first off the shelf, we are emotional to a point of destruction. We feel so much stronger then our lesser angels. We feel pain and sadness like a disease. Our anger could level continents without control. Our love is near obsessive. We feel so much stronger and have so little understanding of our own emotions that it cripples us. Michael being father’s pet, Lucifer becomes the betrayer. Gabriel left because he was so saddened by their fighting he couldn’t cope. Raphael feeling so neglected compared to Michael that he took over heaven and the angels to garner favor with father.

In a way I am better than my brothers. While I have always felt just as deeply, my duties and my control keep me from acting on those emotions. I was the perfect doll, as much as I may feel I did not outwardly show it like my brothers. I have the perfect military temperament, as I’ve been told by many throughout my time in war. But this was the straw to break the camels back as they say.

I don’t know how long I sat there as the ground began to radiate with my grace. Providing a beacon for any nearby Angel to find me.

“Big brother?” A soft timid voice asked from afar. I raised my eyes to see my brother, Gabriel. He was shifting from foot to foot as his wings moved erratically behind him.

I smiled reassuringly before trying to stand, I stumbled slightly before trying again. When I was standing straighter I opened my wings from my body so he could come closer.

He sped toward me with a smile and trapped me in a hug. I smiled softly into his hair. My love of my brother is what causes me pain but I would not stop loving them regardless. I rested my head on his while we hugged.

[only-fhans]

@fritz-on-a-blitz

[literaturereviewhelp]

t With the number of people interested in chess game around the world increasing and the game gaining popularity, the importance of having developed chess game systems in place is a major concern in the industry. Innovations to computer chess are becoming open-ended and demand for the same is on the increase. Not many studies have been devoted to identifying computer chess but efforts in the 21st century are on a high. This paper will examine the developments of computer chess highlighted and discussed to give an overview on the topic. Introduction The idea to develop a chess-playing machine dates back early in the eighteenth century. Around late 1769, the chess-playing automaton named The Turk became hugely famous before exposed as being a hoax. Before the original development of digital computing, many serious trials basing on automata for instance El Ajedrecista of 1912 developed too complex and limited programs. They could not be useful effectively for playing full games of computer chess (Dylan 2006; Robinson 1999, p. 1396-1398). The field of mechanical chess research fades away until the advent of the late century digital computer in the early 1950s. Since then, chess enthusiasts as well as computer engineers build the programs with increasing degrees of success including chess-playing machines and programs. This paper is a literature review of computer chess detailing relevant information on the game and its development in the computer world. Main body Computer chess definition Computer chess refers to computer architecture, which encompasses hardware and software making it possible to play chess autonomously precisely without human guidance (Dylan 2006; Robinson 1999, p. 1396-1398). Computer chess generally occurs as solo entertainment, which allows players to practice as well as amuse themselves especially when there are no human opponent available (Dirk 2000, p. 1385-1389; Bruce 2004, p. 442-447; Hsu 2002, p.15). Computer chess acts also as aids to chess analysis, as research providing insights to human cognition and for competitions in computer chess. Computer chess recent developments Chess-playing computers are currently accessible to the average consumer. From early 70's to date, dedicated chess computers available for purchase have been many. There are several chess engines for instance Fruit, Crafty, and GNU Chess, which are downloadable directly from the Internet at least free (Stiller 1996; Monroe 1989, p. 197-250). These engines are particularly able to play a chess game that, when run particularly on an up-to-date personal computer, they defeat most master players in tournament conditions (Robinson 1999, p. 1396-1398). Top programs for instance the closed-source programs Fritz or Shredder or the open source Stockfish program have surpassed many world champion players at blitz as well as short time controls. As of late 2008 in October, Rybka a top-rated in CCRL, CSS, SSDF, CEGT and WBEC rating has won many computer chess tournaments recently such as 2006 Dutch Open Championship, CCT 8 and 9, the 15th World Championship and the 16th IPCCC (Bruce 2004, p. 442-447; Hsu 2002, p.15; Barbara 1998). The developers of a computer chess system is a combination of a number of basic implementation issues (Newborn 2006; Monroe 1989, p. 197-250). They include Board representation (the representation of a single position in data structures), Search techniques (the identification of possible moves and the selection of the highly promising ones for later examination) and Leaf evaluation (the evaluation of a board position value). Computer chess support systems Computer chess programs typically support a number of ordinary de facto standards. Nearly all of the computer chess programs today can read and write respective game moves for instance Portable Game Notation (PGN). They can also read and write positions for instance Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN). Older chess computer programs often only recognized long algebraic notation, but the current users expect chess programs to be acquainted with standard algebraic chess notation (Hsu 2002, p.15; Barbara 1998). Most computer programs for chess have divisions into an engine (which generally computes the move given a present position) as well as the user interface Read the full article