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theimaginethinker · 3 months ago

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Beyond the Walls (Gally x Female! Reader)

Masterlist

Warnings: Language, Needles, Violence, Death, Use of Y/N

Chapter 7: More Old Faces and the End

Y/N POV

“We’re landing.” Vince tells the group of us. I was still working on Thomes wounds stitching them up. Newt was still tied up out cold near the back, with Minho watching him since we had take off from the city. “When we land, I want to move Thomes and Newt straight on to the boat. We need the set off has soon has possible.”

“The boat?” I asked him, looking up from what I was doing and Gally also looked at him from behind me on a seat.

“Yes. The plan is to take it and find a new place far from here to build a new community. A place where we can live new lives at peace.” Vince tells us. I look over to Gally and we smile at each other. A place far from here where we could build a new life, yes please. I nodded to Vince and went back to working on Thomes.

“I still need to do some work on him to make sure he doesn’t get infected. Then some work needs to be done on Newt to get him ready for the serum. When you put Newt on the boat, you need to make sure wherever you put him on the boat, it needs to be somewhere that we can easily lock him into and won’t hurt anyone.” I said, looking over at Newt and took out the vial from my pocket. “We still don’t know what will happen when I give him this. Hopefully it’s the same thing that happen to Brenda, where he gets better, but who knows. He might be too far gone for it to even be effective.” I said taking in a breath, and Vince nodded.

“Okay.” He says looking over at Newt. We land, and the back hatch opens. “Minho and Gally you’re going to come with me move Newt onto the boat. Jorge, you and Fry are to take the kids and round up everyone else, tell them to get ready to set off. Brinda, you are staying with Y/N and Thomes.” He turns me. “I’ll come get you to move him, just keep working.” I nodded and continued to stitch up Thomes as everyone started to move. I felt pressure on my head of Gally kissing it before getting ready to take Newt to the boat.

“So, you have no clue of what that vile might do to him.” Brenda asked of me when we were finally alone. I stopped and looked up at her with a sad look, staring into her eyes and sighed.

“The future has we know it is still unknown and we can’t really control it.” I told her and went back to working on Thomes. I finished stitching him up has Gally and Vince come back on and look at me. “He’s stable enough to move. Once we’re on the ship thought I well must look over him once more.” Vance nodded and he with Gally picked Thomes up and carried him out and to the ship. I picked up my things and took my step out of the helicopter for the first time. I looked around and took in the surroundings that won’t last long. Some broken down building along with a big ship, it was blue in color with rust where the panels met on another. There were other more broken-down ships in the water, taking a breath, Brenda steps out beside me. We look at each other and started my walk towards the ship following the three males. Stepping onto the metal ship, we got to the room where they were going to put Thomes and laid him on the bed. I smiled at Vince as he walked past me to the doorway. The room was small with an old, rusted bed welded to the floor to hold it in place, with an equal old matter. There was also a shelf-like beam on the wall, that wouldn’t be able to hold much.

“We set off in 30.” He said before he walked down the hallway. Gally came up to me and stopped, we looked at one another before Thomes who was out on the bed and Brenda by his side looked over him.

“I’m going to go and see what help they need before we set off.” Gally said to me and gave me a kiss on the side of the head. I looked up at him and smiled and he gave me another kiss on the lips before setting off down the hall himself. I turned to Brenda and smiled at her.

“Do you wish to say.” I asked her and she is just staring at Thomes on the bed before he turns to me and shakes her head before walking out. With a sigh I turn to Thomes with a grim feeling but still a hopeful one. “Let’s get you fished so I can go and look at Newt.” I say out loud to no one. I finished with Thomes just as Jorge came in and let me know that we were setting off. “Hey Jorge, can you ask Vince, Gally, or Minho where they put Newt so I can work on him.” He nodded. “And let Brenda know she can come and sit with Thomes.” He nods then walks out of the room. Moments later Brenda takes a place at the end of the bed as I walked out of the room.

“Hey.” Minho called out to me, and I walked over to him. “He’s this way.” And walked off deeper into the ship. “Vince though it’ll be better if he was far away from everyone else.”

“Yeah. He is right for doing that. Especially when we don’t exactly know what might happen.” I say has we go down a set of stairs and down a hall. We get to a door with a small window next to it looking into the room. Newt was laying there tied down by metal around the wrist and ankels but leather around his chest, upper arms and legs, and his head. “I’m guessing tying him down was Vince idea has well.”

“Yup.” Minho said not taking his eyes off Newt. “You need me to stay?”

“Please.” I replied not wanting to stay here alone. “I going to look him over for wounds then give him the serum.” He nods and opens the door for me, and I go to work looking him over. I pull out the serum and move the liquid in the vile back and forth. Pulling out a needle and try to get the liquid into the syringe. I didn’t have a fancy syringe normally used to put the serum in, so I had to find a way to get a normal syringe. Once I finally get it to work, I turn to Newt. Poor Newt. He was laying there not knowing what was going one for many reasons, his breath had a wheeze to it and is slower than other cranks but still fast. I walk over to his left side to get access to his forearm. It’s not hard to find a vein to use to insert the needle. Slowly Inserting the needle into the vein, I press down the plunger to deliver the serum into his blood stream. Pulling out the needle from his arm I walked out of the room.

“So, what’s the verdict doc?” I hear Frypan say to me making me jump a little to see that he was standing next to Minho and Vence. Fry trying to be funny to lighten the mood.

“To be honest. I don’t really know.” I told them walking over. “There’re many factors to think about. One: I’ve never dealt with someone who was already so far gone. Two: I don’t know the serum or what it might do. Three: All of this truly depends on his body. I’ve learned that some heal faster than others all depending on the person.”

“Well, we hope that all works out. We should all go up and get food and some rest. I make sure someone comes down to check on him every now and then.” Vance tells us and we nodded.

“I still need to check over Minho here and the kids we save just to be safe.” I told them as we begin to walk up the steps. Minho started to turn to me to say something but stopped when he saw my face.

I quickly checked him and the kids before I sat down with Gally, Minho, Frypan, and Jogre to eat has we sealed far from then land we knew so well. Brenda still sat in with Thomes, Jogre had brought food to her before he came and sat down with us. I sat right next to Gally facing Fry and Minho when I felt presents behind us.

“Hey Fry, can we sit with y’all?” A female voice that I feel like I should recognize asked.

“Of course, Sonya.” Fry replied. I shot up and turned around, with Gally catching my food from my lap in time before it fell to the floor.

“Sonya?” I asked turning to be meet by three people, to females that I haven’t seen in a long time and a boy I don’t even recognize. “Harriet?” The three of us looked at each other before they shot forward and crushed me in a hug.

“Y/N!” They both yelled. We stood there for a long moment before the boy cleared his throat.

“Hi.” He said as we pulled away and I just looked at him.

“Y/N this is Aris. He came in about a month after you disappeared.” Sonya told me and pulled him to sit with her between Jogre and Minho, while Harriet toke the extra spot next to Frypan. “We thought you were dead when you didn’t come back.”

“I had found a way out but got grabbed but WCKD before I could get back. They then sent me out into Scorch where I was found by a group and taken in with them. I didn’t want to leave any of you but I really had no chose but to leave y’all.” I told them.

“It’s okay. It’s just good to know your safe and were all back together again.” Harriet said, has we all smelled at one another. I turn to Gally once more, yeah were all going to be okay.

Time Skip (About a Month)

“Hey Doc!” I hear has the small hut door is opened, letting the fresh breeze of the salt water in.

A name that has been gracefully by almost everyone since I’m the main person everyone comes to for medical needs. Be them slamming their foot on something to a bad cut. From head aces to full on being sick. I’m the one they come to. Life has been good. We found an island that could hold us and let us grow. With lots of trees and green grass. Exploring farther we had found animals and plants that would help us survive. We (Vince) decided to stay on the coast where we could still access the boat when needed. Vince has put people into the head of different jobs, just like the maze. Me being medical with a few helpers, Aris has taken to helping, who mostly take care of small injures. Frypan oversees food with Sonay and two others helping. They work in hand with the ones who go out to get the food, Harriet being the leader of them alongside Minho. They couldn’t figure out who should oversee it so they decided to share. Minho also helps with going out and exploring the island. Gally leads the team of builders just like back in his maze. There are other odd jobs that get done around the island has well. We have been doing good with working together without little conflict but when there is we handle it all together.

“Hello. How you feeling?” I asked turning to the male has he sits in the chair. Groaning as he sat, I took his arm into my hands and wiping it with a clean cloth getting it ready for a needle.

“Has good has I can be. Since I was turn into a crank, and only woke up a few days ago.” Newt replied to me with a roughness to his voice. Newt was starting to look like his old self again but will never truly look completely the same some of the veins will still stand prominent against pale skin. Skin than held yellow under tones more than anything else. His eyes have gone back to normal brown but his hair was darker the what it was.

“Well, we’re happy you’re here.”

“Yeah. Me too. Just don’t like that I must do the whole needle in the arm thing.”

“It’s just to take some blood to check.” I had found books and notes inside a bag on how all the crank stuff works. We believe it came from Teresa somehow.

“I know.” I took the small amount of blood from him and put it in a tube to keep it safe.

“Y/N!” A young girl’s voice comes running in. “He’s awake. The other male is awake. He’s with Minho and everyone else.” Me and Newt look at one another.

“You’re not allowed to run.” I told him quickly. He stood up and we walked out together. We walked up to see Thomes standing there facing away from us. I was the first to get to him, turning him towards me. I hugged him.

“How you feeling?”

“Sore.” He answers back. “Thanks for patching me up.”

“No problem at all.” We release from a hug, he turn back to the others. “There’s one more person you need to hug.” He looks at me before I pointed back to Newt. “Nether of you are allowed to run and don’t hug one another too hard.” I said moving next to Gally has Thomes and Newt embrace each other.

Time Skip (That night)

I sat next to Gally with Brenda, Thomes, Newt and Minho right behind us. Everyone sat together on benches under tarps. A big fire roared in front of us as Vince began to speak.

“We have come a long way together. So many have sacrificed so much to make this place possible.” Gally pulled me closer to him. “Your friends, your family. So, here’s to the ones that could be here.” Everyone started to raise there cups up. “Here’s to the friends we lost. This place is for you, it’s for all of us.” Vince turns to point at the big rock with a knife in his hand. “But this. This is for them. So, on your own time, in your own way, come make your peace.” I turn to Gally, him looking down with a sad expression on his face. Vince stabs the wooden log that sat in front of the rock. “And Welcome to the Safe Haven!” He finishes with a yell. Everyone begins to clap and cheer. Everyone starts to get up and have fun with each other, I was talking with Brenda while watching the fire. I heard Frypan yell about food, I smiled and shook my head.

“This is the first time in a while I’ve seen an actual smile from you.” Gally says while he raps his arm around my waist and guides me towards Frypan to get food. I see Minho, Newt, and Thomes sitting together just watching everyone.

“I have good reason too.” I replied has I grabbed my bowl with a smile. He gives me a small kiss has we go to sit to eat.

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We all have been through hell and back. It’s nice to have landed in a spot that we can call home with pride and love.

Minho walks up to the stone that is already decorated with names and starts to carve into it.

We’ve lost more people along the way than we wanted too. People who would have loved to be here with us and away from everything.

Gally wipes the dust away has he finishes writing ‘CHUCK’. Y/N standing behind him. He turns and hands her the knife to carve the stone.

Some too young to die and other that never got their story told.

Y/N finishing the last letter of ‘KAELYN’, her old partner in the maze that she lost in there. Gally giving her a kiss to the back of the head.

We’ve had to mature fast to stay alive, and to do the things that have to be done in order to live.

Frypan looks at the name he finishes. ‘WINSTON’

Some we didn’t get along well with but that doesn’t mean we don’t miss them in some way.

Y/N, Sonya, and Aris stand there together has Harriet steps away reviling the name ‘XIMENA’.

Others will love till our dying breath.

Vince leaves the name ‘MARY’. Brenda standing there behind him.

We’ll think of them every time we do anything that reminds us of them or even when we don’t.

Minho finishes ‘ALBY’ has Newt and Thomes walk up behind him.

We’ll remember everything. Every sunrise, Every sunset. Every hot day. And every cool night. Every moment in between.

We all gather around the fire smiling, laughing, and telling stories.

If we could, we would do it all over again. So, we could live with those who didn’t make it. Have one last smile. One last laugh. Tell one last story.

The next morning Thomes is standing there, with everyone else asleep with the name he just finished. ‘TERESA’

But our future is in our hands now. We must live it like they would have wanted us to. Like we should have all this time.

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Note: And with that comes the end of this story has of now. Thank you to all for reading. And will see where I go next with a different story.

Tag

@rosesareyellowtoo

@i-love-books-and-the-bible

#the maze runner #the death cure #gally tmr #gally maze runner #gally x reader #gally x y/n #gally imagine #will poulter

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amphiptere-art · 1 year ago

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You know. The visual aesthetic of Blue Moon with a muzzle Is something I've always enjoyed. The look of a blue moon treated solely as an animal that needs to be contained it's something I, enjoy.

The only scenario though wear Blue Moon gets a muzzle though is the executioner scenario. Which I solemnly talk about due to the repetitive, nonchalant nature of it. Also due to the nature that Blue Moon is a single entity in the universe also makes it so it's hard to come up with other worlds. Also the fact that the story is not revealed due to the ask series being touched.

So we're going to do a scenario similar to Blue Moon but not Blue Moon. The origin is similar, but honestly follows the original storyline for red blue and black more so. The old one where it was not connected to tsams, and was more so an "eclipse in the arcade machine". Except fitted differently than red blue and black.

I still call this AU Desolate Hunger.

The character in this one I will call Ravenous. They are more so holy a creation of the computer. The world starts out the same as RBB, but Ravenous's creation is radically different. It's almost opposite. The computer created the base code for ravenous. making a similar mistake to moon. The big difference is that they found the dangerous AI to be all rightish. They worked on it a bit more before they worked on the nicer AI.

Moon then found out about the computer making these AIs. Taking them out of desperation to find out if they could help him. Merging them together to hopefully improve upon what the computer had started. This time when merged the aggressive AI takes more precedent. Their metallic hunger was immediate. Unfortunately the nicer AI's age also took more precedent. Meaning that ravenous is simultaneously younger plus having an uncontrollable hunger.

Moon is of course not right in the head due to the kill code. So having half his arm torn off was enough for him to do something drastic. He gave them a muzzle. Welding it to their face. Restraining ravenous up in their room. Ravenous's hunger is much more extreme. They have to eat their fill within the day. So the first couple times Moon was with them they kept powering off and turning back on even hungrier. Even with the muzzle on they still had their claws. So Moon was unable to touch them. And when the kill code took over. He stopped interacting entirely. The computer of course in this opposite interaction, simply deemed them as failures.

Ravenous lies there chained up in the room. Signs of their childlike age showing through only when the computer was the only one watching. The poor young ravenous crying and whining. Desperately wanting for anyone or anything happen. For their freedom. If anyone walked in tho the hunger would take precedent.

Earth's goals significantly change. She still hates sun and moon. But she wants to help ravenous. Watching through the cameras was enough for her to feel sorrowful. She does not wish to use them. Although she is willing to let them loose so they may rampage.

Ravenous is of course different looking to Blue Moon. They look more so like a total eclipse than Blue Moon's partial eclipse. Their colors are switched out to a more cold blue palette with black. A vibrant almost neon blood red takes over most of their decorative features. The ribbon tails are still sensitive. The difference is that they have a single really long ribbon. Tipped with a single triangle instead of the forked tongue. The ribbons on their arms also are different. Instead taking the form of rope gauntlets. Only small ripped looking strands resemble blue moons long ones. The comet pants switched out with almost a reverse of Black Stars. They also aren't as tall as Blue Moon. Still significantly huge. 12 ft. Having similar body make to Blue Moon too.

I have officially made a sad boy. Other than the empty cup sad boys. But this sad boy has blue moon issues. You guys have fun.

#desolate hunger au #desolate hunger #sams #tsams #tsams au #sams au #ravenous

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theflashdriver · 2 years ago

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Sand and Gunpowder

"Look, I'm telling you, your home's not going to be here for you to come back to," Silver explained for what had to be the twentieth time today, his arms were tired for gesturing, "I know you've had your issues with the town south of here, but you need to get moving. If you don't, it'll be your lives that are lost as well as..." Silver looked to the owner's establishment, a rusted two story building made from scrap metal, "The Ten Gallon Spittoon," The tavern owner he was speaking with went to complain further from his high horse, but the hedgehog cut him off, "I've told you, we'll come south once everything's over, make sure you guys have settled in and let you know if any of this is salvageable, but you've got to ride. Now."

Silver could tell the last citizen of this ramshackle town was set to continue his defiant arguing, when a crackling flame exploded behind his shoulder. The rider's horse was spooked, immediately the last holdout was racing away and toward the slowly wandering caravan of its ilk. Hopefully he'd have the good sense not to pull away from the herd and give them another piece of his mind.

The psychic fully slumped where he stood as relief and exhaustion surged through him, "Thank you," He called to the figure behind him, "You'd think after what happened last night, everyone would be raring to leave. It's not like regular folks can handle what's coming."

Last night had indeed been a wild one. For weeks flaming creatures had been gathering around this particular settlement, but they hadn't dared approach the buildings made from salvaged metal until their numbers had properly amassed. That point had come last night, mere hours before they had made it into town. The battle had been hard fought, some buildings were already destroyed, but Silver and his partner had routed the swarm. Soon however, the flaming monsters had begun to gather once more at the city edges, in preparation for what was to come.

"It's to be expected, this was their home, of course they'd want to stay. The world's hard enough as it is without having to move to a whole new town every couple of months. One of the girls here told me it's their sixth time we've cleared her out. At least she was helpful for convincing others,"Silver yawned, rising to stretch as he stood straight, "You know, you'd think word would get around? That people would start to recognise that seeing a load of burning mares and hellhounds at the edge of town suggests trouble is brewing? Maybe that our appearance should be taken as a warning? That it might be worth leaving? But no," The hedgehog removed his hat and retightened his ponytail, "They always lock themselves up, maybe send one brave soul to check the chaos out and inevitably don't hear back from them," The dirty cream cattleman hat back atop his head, "I guess I can understand wanting to tough it out, we're the only ones who can-

Silver turned around only to find a vacant sandy street behind him, the buildings framing the permanently blood red sky above. He blinked, looking left then right only to find no sign of the feline who'd accompanied him. It was far from the first time this had happened, the hedgehog's shoulders slumped again.

"Blaze? Where'd you go?" He called out, only to hear the sound of rummaging in the recently vacated tavern.

The swing doors were pushed aside with a single psychic wave, revealing the dingy interior. The counter was made out of corrugated metal, likely taken from the roofs of houses over a hundred years destroyed. The walls were, judging by their varied colouration, likely made from cars of different makes and models; welded and cut to leave holes as windows. The barstools looked anything but comfy, being made from similar salvaged materials of the old world, but Silver floated himself to sit as his partner rose from beneath the bar.

The feline cut an intimidating presence, wrapped in black as she pulled bottles from a crate. Blaze kept herself covered when they were dealing with strangers, but now her goggles had risen to her forehead and a bandana no longer obscured her lips. A dark purple shawl covered her left shoulder obscuring part of the rough-cut waistcoat and shirt she wore. Dark trousers, a second bandana to tie her ponytail, and thick heeled boots completed the ensemble.

His appearance completely contrasted hers, from his hat to his boots. Silver wore a cream poncho, tattered by sand and wind. His gloves were thick brown leather, matching the heavy boots he wore. All of it, the hat included, had been salvaged and resown at least a dozen times. The same was true of her garb, but she tended to keep her's for longer without issue. By her own claim, that was because she chose her fights more wisely than him.

"You were psyching yourself up again," She flatly informed him, pulling the cork from a bottle, "I thought I'd start preparing in a more tangible way."

Without another word she turned the bottle upside down, letting it pour out and onto the floor. The smell wrinkled Silver's nose, but he knew what she was planning. The cat was right, they had to act quickly.

"Glad they had gunpowder they could spare," Silver hummed, lowering his head to his folded arms atop the bar, "Today would be tricky without it."

"It'll be tricky regardless," Blaze responded, drawing up a metal canister, "But, it's getting easier."

She began to pour black powder into the now emptied bottle, letting the volatile material fill up to the neck of the bottle. Blaze reinserted the cork, giving it a flip to ensure the seal would hold, before moving on to pour out another bottle. The pyrokinetic was diligent in her work, she'd prepared in a similar way prior to almost all of their anticipated engagements. Today however there was something even more mechanical about her movements, there was a chill in the air. Something was wrong. It was only after she filled the third bottle that he put two and two together.

"You've been here before, haven't you?" He asked, realisation plain in his voice.

"I've done something similar before the last thirty or so encounters with Iblis, yes," Was her answer, "I'm used to emptying and refilling bottles."

"You know that's not what I meant," Silver stayed low, casting his eyes from her work to her face, "You should have told me, I could have cleared out the town myself."

"That last merchant was certainly proof of that," She sighed, seeming to catch the harshness in her own tone, "I'm sorry, Silver. I'm fine, really."

Blaze had something of a reputation, having been chased out of fifteen different towns. She'd been on the run before from the moment she could walk, her latent ability to conjure flames had earned her endless scorn. For a while she'd accepted being branded as an outlaw and a demon, even played into the role as she fought and stole to survive. It'd taken their chance encounter, followed by him pestering her for much too long, to get her on side. Even now though, those scars ran deep.

"Maybe," He reached up, catching her wrist as she reached for another bottle, "But you deserve to be better than fine."

"Everyone deserves to be better than fine," She set the bottle down, catching his eyes for the first time this morning, "With how things are, fine is as good as it gets."

"Well, then it's my mission to push things to be good by your standards," He slipped his hand down to the crate, "And I'll start by helping you with this."

Cyan light filled the room, overwhelming the red glow through the windows. One by one the corks popped from the bottles, tumbling to the floor before the glassworks floated to upend themselves. To keep the glugging from becoming too cacophonous Silver opted to only do two at a time. He smiled up at her only to catch the feline rolling her eyes.

She jumped the bar, claiming the seat next to him. She plucked one of the emptied bottles from the air and began to set about the more delicate procedure of filling it with black powder. The harshness hadn't left her posture but Silver would see her brows were furrowed, a debate was brewing behind those amber eyes.

If she wanted to talk then he'd let her, but Silver knew better than to push the feline too far. She was the type to suffer in silence rather than shout her frustrations to the heavens like him; thoughts would rumble like a storm in her head, it could take hours for the swell to calm. It was only recently that he'd convinced her to come to him in her times of need. That had first manifested as her pushing him to sit at their camp and proceeding to take a seat of her own in his lap. Hugging it out had become the go to, albeit in silence save for his occasional-

"This was the third town to chase me out," Silver almost fumbled the sixth bottle as her words breached the air, "I managed to get by for four years before I got caught and they put the pieces together."

"What happened?" He mumbled, not wanting to scare away this breakthrough by rambling.

"The barkeep here kept badgering me; I think he always knew, maybe he'd heard a rumour about me from a traveller. Day after day, snooping and questioning, and pushing me around. The last straw was when he poured a drink over me," Blaze's tone grew icier as she finished filling her fourth bottle, "I exploded. This place used to have a wooden bar."

He heard her kick the raggedy sheet metal of the current counter as if to accentuate her point, "Your emotions took control, none of it was your fault," Frustration was starting to well in the hedgehog now, "After four years of knowing you, they should have realised that you were were just like them, that there was nothing to actually fear. Even if your flames were new to them, I'm sure you did a lot of good in this town."

"They realised I'd been hiding the truth from them for four years, it probably made them consider what else I might have been lying about," Silver bit his tongue rather than immediately shoot down their foolishness, "That and, well, I only lost control for a moment. After all the bartender had done before..." The cat's expression finally shifted from stoic to sour, "I chose to burn for a while longer. I knew scaring them off would buy me time to gather my things, just like it had in the towns before."

"If they could understand all you'd endured then they wouldn't blame you. You'd already been through so much by then, it's no wonder your fuse was short," Silver huffed, "You made a mistake Blaze, that's all it was. That shouldn't have led them to exile you, nor anyone from towns before or after that."

"Maybe it was a mistake but, after all he'd done before," She started on the fifth bottle, her brow steadied, "I couldn't stop myself. A lot of this place has changed since my last visit. I didn't realise how much damage I'd done."

This was perhaps the clearest view the cat had ever given into the days before the pair had met. Long before meeting Blaze, Silver had heard the rumours drifting across the badlands of a purple feline who could cast fire from her fingertips and had fled every settlement due east of Station Square. Having been born with powers himself, Silver had been irked from the start regarding the tone others carried regarding the cat, and meeting her had solidified that. Her hurt had been so much plainer in those early days, back when she'd run from even him.

"Well, we're setting things right here now, aren't we?" Silver managed to raise, "You even helped push that barman to safety."

"This place is about to be levelled, I'm not sure we're setting things right so much as keeping them from worsening," The pyrokinetic was about out of gunpowder, "Though, I suppose these walls won't stand to remind me of the past for much longer."

That point gave the hedgehog an idea, one he couldn't help but act on. "How about we make up for the drink he spilled?" A hard look from the cat made Silver raise his hands in panic, "It just feels a bit wasteful to pour this all away, even if it's going to be destroyed..."

The feline maintained her stare for a moment, just long enough to leave his blood icy.

She finally rolled her eyes, pouring the last of the gun powder into a seventh bottle, "Pass me a glass."

Silver fumbled behind the bar with his psychic grasp, eventually managing to find a pair of glass tumblers. The pair floated their way to land on the bar before them; with another flick of his wrist the psychic uncorked a bottle then started to pour. The liquid was a deep brown but poured into the glasses just as smoothly as it had splashed to the floor, it looked perfectly clear.

"Should we toast to something?" The hedgehog asked, picking up his glass.

Blaze's fingers found hers, "What would we ever have to toast to?"

"Making the world a better place?" Silver pointed out the obvious, "Beating back Iblis again?"

"We haven't done either of those things yet and neither are a certainty," Blaze shot him down.

"Then what about," He began, without an actual idea in mind, "To us."

"Us?" She questioned.

"Just us," He quickly repeated, "We've been together, what, over a decade now? We've never really celebrated."

"Don't phrase it like that," The cat scoffed, half turning away from him.

"What did I say?" He panicked.

"You're so naive," She turned more, but held out her glass, "To us."

"To us," Silver took a swig, "Eww..."

"Too strong for you?" Blaze evidently hadn't had such a problem.

"Tastes worse than dirty water," The hedgehog groaned, spitting on the ground of the Ten Gallon Spittoon, "You'd think they'd at least make it fruity..."

"What were you expecting?" Blaze asked between sips, clearly handling it better, "The man mixed it himself, it's certainly not gotten any better over the years."

"Has it got worse?" He asked, pouring the remainder of the glass over the bar to mix with the big spill.

"Only slightly," She set her empty tumbler down, "I'm sure it won't be missed."

"Hopefully it's not a bad omen of things to come," His tongue still felt gross, "So, seven bottles? That should be enough."

"It's enough with some to spare," She mused, returning corks to each of the bottles, "But it's better to be safe than sorry."

Silver took the makeshift bombs with a wave of a hand, letting them float around him, "I'll get them into position. How's your aim today?"

The cat extended her right forefinger and pointed across the counter, toward a collection of shelves stocked with fancier looking bottles and trinkets of the bygone era. The tip of her finger caught alight as she stuck up her thumb, her left hand came to grasp her wrist as she drew her hands closer to her eye. With a twitch of her thumb a bolt of flame shot across the room, in the blink of an eye it'd collided with a green bottle and shattered it- leaving a dark scorch mark in the attack's wake.

Silver blinked, "Are you sure you're okay? That was a lot of set up for one-

With three super fast flicks of her thumb three more shots rang out in sequence, reducing a trio of bottles to shards and setting alight the woodwork of the shelf. Blaze shifted her left hand to above her thumb, proceeding to force down the digit at an even quicker rate. All six of the remaining bottles were shattered, flaming glass splinters bounced off the back wall to hurtle towards the pair of them.

With a wave of his hand Silver froze the burning glass in the air, mere inches from their faces. The glittering shards cooled in an instant, though still caught the shining light of his partner's finger to sparkle like starlight in the dark room. Silver heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well, that answers that," He let the pieces drop, "N-Not that I had any doubt."

"You're so naive," With a single breath she blew the flame off her finger.

"We've done this enough times, we know what we're doing," Silver leaned back on his stool, using psychokinesis to act as a backrest as he kicked his boots onto the counter.

"But it's never easy," The cat hummed, "You're amping yourself up again."

"I'm not," Silver pushed back.

"You absolutely are," Blaze quietly responded, pouring herself another glass of the gross moonshine.

It was just as she'd raised the tumbler to her lips that the ground started to rumble, the flimsy metal bar began to wobble and shake. The hedgehog turned his attention to the window, finding a darker red hue had claimed the sky to wash through the building's insides. The temperature was rising, heat lines and wispy steam was beginning to rise from where so much alcohol had been spilled. A roar sounded outside, the hedgehog heard the stampeding of heavy feet tear down the street.

"They're back," Silver pointed out the obvious.

"And bolder by the sounds of it," She confirmed.

"It won't be long now," He lowered his legs to stand, "Shall we step out?"

"I think we shall," She rose too, dusting herself off, "Best to cull them before too many gather together."

"You know this town, where should I head?" He stepped to the door, cyan light flaring as he levitated their stowed gunpowder.

"There's a bandstand near the town's centre, it's twisted and made of black metal. It should be a strong defensible point and give us a clear view of the sky," She answered, igniting both forefingers, "Plus, hopefully, somewhere to hide the bottles till the time is right."

Silver opened the door ever so slightly, peeking out and into the street. The red of the sky had grown ten times more intense, the air that slipped through the doorway was enough to dry the hedgehog's eye. The moment was almost upon them, Iblis was about to return. Even the dark saloon was completely awash in crimson light.

"Alright, which way am I heading?" Silver half turned back to ask.

"Follow the main road left, take the right when the road splits and it'll be obvious," The cat responded, leaning in to look through the doorway herself, "Put me up on the roof, I'll thin their numbers. Keep low until you've stashed the powder."

"I'll set up there and ward off any that get too close," Silver nodded, throwing a hard look to her, "When it's almost back, hurry over. If you need any help just send up a flare."

She returned his nod, bracing behind him. No more stalling, no more waiting. It was time!

The hedgehog barged through the door and out into the street, oppressive heat immediately coated his brow with sweat and made his body feel so much heavier. The change had come quickly, the moment was arriving. He couldn't see the beasts but he could hear them, stomping over dry land and soaring through the air.

With a wave of his hand, Silver launched his partner up and onto the roof of the Ten Gallon Spittoon. He nodded to her one last time, a gesture that she returned before vanishing over the flat corrugated metal. Immediately the sounds of screeching and flashes of orange light were in the air, as if battling the endless sea of darkening red above. She was steady, so why was he sweating? He should have been used to this heat!

Psychically drawing the bottles close to his chest, Silver began to rush down the dirt main street. He'd hardly moved when the roaring started, that of discordant flame mixed with shouted barking. A glance over his shoulder proved exactly what the hedgehog had anticipated, four dogs made from coal-like stone with veins of burning red across their body. The white hot gleam of their fangs was more than enough to quicken his pace.

"Well, if this town is going down..." The hedgehog swung his right arm toward a nearby house, made from similar materials as the inn.

As he shot past the building tore itself from the foundations to cascade into the street. The hounds were crushed under the landslide of metal and stone, but Silver wasn't done with it. He tugged the mass of metal and brick, undeniably straining as it tumbled across the ground after him. Soon the mass was crushed into a rough orb, uncomfortably rolling behind him.

His choice to bring it immediately proved useful, a stampede of great dark steeds with burning manes and flaming hooves were rushing straight towards him. Silver barely glanced the glow in their eye before he slipped into the nearest alleyway, clutching the seven bottles tight to his chest. The great orb barrelled down the street, the moment it rolled past he was back on the road and following it. Material crumbled and broke away as the hedgehog surrendered control, but in the sphere's wake lay great broken lumps of black coal and scattered flames. Regardless of how many there'd been before, the path was clear now.

Silver shot over the wreckage, now sighting the fork in the road ahead, but his eyes were drawn backwards again. Those flickering embers he'd just passed over were still dancing, now trailing up and into the air. It wouldn't be long, he had to be quick, no more stops, not even for a moment!

He could see the bandstand ahead, the strange form made from scrap metal cast darker still in the red light. It was big and it looked sturdy, but it too would surely fall without his support. Already he could see beasts encircling it, more hounds set to get in his way and slow the charge.

The bottles were tossed back over his head and snatched to hang behind him with psychokinetic power. Hands aglow, the hedgehog grasped one of the black mutts and tossed it into the second. A third was already on the path toward him, snarling smoke and leaving a trail of flame.

Coating his right palm in aura, Silver grabbed the creature by the throat. He pushed its whole body to the ground, back first, and kept flying forward as fast as he could. The creature's rocky form tore itself to rubble as he ground it down, sparks and howls surged from its throat even as only the head remained in the hedgehog's hand. He tossed the snarling rocky mass aside, mere metres were-

Silver's shoulders met with the ground, he felt his body scrape just as the dog's had. Panic had him grab his head and bind himself in cyan light, but no explosion came. He hadn't seen this foe coming.

Wings that shed embers with every beat, a sharp beak of hard rock and matching talons. A flaming eagle had got the jump on him, the red sky and bent metal of the bandstand had made for ideal cover! Still on the ground, patting the flames from his coat, Silver sighted the monster in the air as it rounded after striking him down. He dared to look down from the bird as it circled around, finding their containers of gunpowder scattered across the ground. They came first, even at the cost of his own body. If a single errant flame made it into their stockpile things would get a whole lot harder and ten times deadlier.

With a flash of blue the hedgehog pulled the bottles beneath himself, sealing them within a psychic barrier. The bird bared down on him, claws tore the hat from his head and a flame burned at his scalp. All he could do was brace for the moment, harden the psychic shielding over his back, and wait for his opening.

His opening came with another stampede; six more massive mares bearing down the street towards him. As the bird fled to the air, Silver had a split second to act! He surged psychic energy away from his body and the bottles beneath him, pushing it into the cracked sandy ground in front of him.

The earth shot up in chunks, creating a jagged wall that launched into the front hooves and undersides of the hellish horses. Black rocks tumbled through the air, bouncing off the ground and crumbling into pebbles. Silver rounded as he rose, in one swift movement putting his back to this new barrier and sighting the flaming bird in the air. He cast the crumbled pieces up in a scattershot volley, tearing holes through the eagle as it raced towards him.

With a second wave of his hand, Silver shielded himself against the falling magma rubble. The molten stone didn't hold the hedgehog's attention for long though, no. His eyes quickly affixed to the flaming mote hung in the air, the fires of the bird he'd struck down were now burning brighter!

The peak of that flame began to stretch, reaching like a tendril into the air. Silver's eyes were drawn to where it was chasing only to find others from across town were joining it, including a set of four reaching over the wall he'd constructed. A spiral of orange was being cast against the red sky, condensing into a single glowing point. This was why they gathered, this was how it always happened, only seconds remained! Was it getting faster?!

Snatching up the bottles and what remained of his hat, Silver darted for the cover of the bandstand. Now immersed in the shade, setting the contained gunpowder at his feet, the hedgehog lowered his right hand to the ground. Cyan light began to coalesce around metal, Silver felt his life's energy pour into the bandstand and reinforce it. The symbol from his gloved hand made its way to mark the floor as his light filled what holes the haphazard craftsmanship had left in the roof. Soon it was as if he was knelt in the brightest room on the planet.

Outside though, by the psychic feedback alone, he could feel that things were growing dire. The temperature alone was putting strain on his barrier, this internal space was insulated against the heat but eventually it would creep in. He could only hold up so long against the eternal sun; only sacrifice so much energy without leaving himself powerless.

Silver glanced up from his bastion only to find devastation through the cyan tinted entryway. Where once wisps of fire had coiled upwards they were now whipping back down, scorching lines in the dirt and tracing toward buildings. He watched as a great sunbeam turned the corrugated metal form of one shack into nothing but dust... then another, and another, and then another.

Another devilish mare galloped past the bandstand, clearly looking for an opening to strike him down, but it would not receive such an opportunity. Before it could pass from one side of the entryway to the other its glowing light was seen to surge upwards, like a frayed string being tugged from loose fabric. As that thread was pulled the whole form fell apart, tumbling to but a pile of dark pebbles. That would be the fate of all demons in this area; they were set to feed the true devil.

A dark figure leapt from one of the buildings but a moment before a ray of fire devoured it. As that familiar silhouette sped across the ground, Silver dared to open a gateway into his sanctuary. The dark figure doubled their speed, making it inside just as the heat had fully dried the hedgehog's sweat. Goggles down and bandana over her mouth, the feline had made it.

"There were hundreds of them," Blaze deadpanned as she caught her breath, "We've seen more, but it's bad."

"The fusion started just before I made it in here," Silver responded, swallowing to rewet his tongue, "There's no point in picking off the beasts any more, they'll end up in the same place regardless."

"The face has almost formed," She relayed, "It's about to become tangible."

"Just in time, the room is finished, we'll have cover if things go badly," He stumbled to his feet, his head woozy as the room stayed bright even without his conscious effort, "Which side do you want?"

"I'll go right," The cat decided, "Keep close to the shade this time, it's progressing too fast, I don't like it."

"Let's do it on the roof," He suggested, "There's enough space, and if we need shelter then it'll be perfectly close."

"It also means we'll be a single target," She gruffly responded, "But if pinning myself to your waist is what it takes to keep you from doing something foolish, it's what we'll do."

Another flash of light outside stole Silver's attention; he felt the heat rise as another nearby building was disintegrated. The threat they faced would have killed hundreds had they not arrived earlier; the loss of a home was a terrible thing, but lives were always more important. If they failed here though, lives would be lost. That certainty had to drive him!

Silver made for the entryway, finally free to abandon the bottles. The aura cast around his person could only do so much to deflect the harsh red light, this town once full of people was now uninhabitable. Smoke came in waves, drifting over dirt reduced to true sand by the heat.

Bolstering a leap with psychic power, he landed on the harshly angled rooftop. It was difficult to take a strong stance, he ended up grabbing the weather vane atop the structure to steady himself, but the hedgehog could see why the feline had chosen this as the site of their standoff. The bandstand granted an ideal view of the sky; even if buildings hadn't fallen, this clearing gave them a perfect angle on their foe.

A sun was shining in the sky, the only one Silver had ever known. It was a bright red circle upon a now near black black background, the only source of colour and light. It would have been blinding to look at were it not for the dark face of charcoal drawn upon the entity's surface. The darkness acted as an outline, defining the circles that were the eyes and the angle of the jaw as well as lining a set of pointed skeletal teeth. It had all the makings of a skull, albeit one distorted by the imperfect and ever changing framing the flames granted it. Iblis had risen to desecrate the red sky and destroy all beneath it.

Twisting beams of flame blistered forth from the burning form of the great orb. Spiralling red tornados of flame, hot enough to liquify metal and turn bone to ash were encroaching with plain intent. The monster saw all beneath it, it'd surely seen this sight a hundred times. It knew what they were doing, but it wasn't smart enough to come up with a new plan of attack!

Silver reached out, channelling the energy he'd already poured into the bandstand to resonate and amplify his power. A cyan pulse expanded outward, battering against the gnarled fire, sparks flew and a screech now filled the air. He tightened his grasp on the weather vein and grit his teeth; the three encroaching red fingers doubled to six, all intent on crushing through his defence.

Orange flames shot through his cyan barrier, mixing with the red for but a moment. Silver glanced to his right, across the steeple, only to find the Blaze had joined him. Both of her forefingers were pointed this time; glowing golden motes had taken root in two of Iblis' limbs. With no more than a gesture, bringing her hands together, those two flames exploded and severed the tornadoes in two; fire neutralised fire in a stunning display.

"I was starting to think I was alone up here," Silver confessed.

"I managed to make it up before your display," She responded, firing two more shots beyond his boundary, "Thankfully for us both. I've learned to anticipate your foolhardiness."

The moment her shots detonated Silver pushed out again; the twisters reforming and those still left standing were battered back. One veered off into a nearby stable and reduced it to charcoal, the remaining five were battered into nothing. Silver's eyes returned to the sky only to catch the skull grinning at their act of defiance, as if it was something so minor.

"It's starting to move," Blaze highlighted.

She was right, the red orb was starting to shift higher into the sky. Maybe it already knew this town was empty? Silver was certain it was moving in the direction they had sent the citizens. "So we've got to stop it!" He was amping himself up again, this time he wouldn't deny it, "Right here, right now! I'm getting the black powder, while we have an opening; hold it back while I set up!" Silver reached out to his left, grasping at the torn earth with his psychic might. He pulled chunks of the earth up, rending all the way out to the wall he'd knocked up prior. While that mass churned through the air Silver flexed into the building beneath them. One by one the seven bottles flew to accompany them on the rooftop, circling the pair faster and faster.

Blaze was already hard at work, firing shots to disrupt the incoming flames before they could touch down. Light was flagging from the bandstand, he couldn't afford to use any more of the power he'd stowed. If things went wrong they had to have an evacuation plan; the rest of this would come from his own body.

Silver threw a look to Blaze, he only had to catch her eye for a moment to know she was ready.

Releasing the metal he'd been using as a support, the psychic threw his right palm up towards the sun. One by one the seven bottles chased each other into the air, guarded by Blaze's fire as they cast themselves into position. The constellation of bottles formed a line to the right of the sun, just in time for the hedgehog to have raised the great mass of earth to its left. Teeth ground as toes and fingers curled; the moment arrived. They couldn't beat back the sun, they couldn't fight it directly; their only option was to smother it!

"Now, before the sun breaks them!" Silver called aloud, heaving his left arm with as much might as he could muster.

The bottles could have only been released from a moment, a mere second, but Blaze had been ready. Fire flew, skirting the edges of devilish sunbeams as it raced all the way to their gunpowder stash. With just one shot making its mark, an orange and yellow flame exploded to fill the sky almost as fully as Iblis' own form! Silver watched out of the corner of his eyes as the cat's fingers widened and then clawed, scraping downward through the air with a light on the tip of each of her digits.

Cyan tinted earth enclosed on the left side of the sun, orange mystic flames on the right! The colours simultaneously flooded over the great glowing orb with an ear aching crash, sparks flew down a remaining red seam as they met in the middle. Silver felt his brow harden, sweat now pouring off of him as he pushed to close the last inches of that gap and finish the energy casing around the massive monster.

One eye shut as he manoeuvred the contents of his shield, properly creating a solid layer of rock and dirt that encircled the energy sphere. The pushback was undeniable, great flares would rend and stretch the gold of Blaze's flames and his barrier alike, but they had to hold. They had one shot at this, their gunpowder was spent, there was no back up plan!

"Just a bit more, just a little more time!" Silver shouted, "Suffocate! This is our world, there's no air for you here!"

It was working! Iblis was shrinking! Silver could feel the dirt in his psychic hold pushing closer and closer together, making the net all the more inescapable. With each passing second their victory should have grown more assured, but the hedgehog knew better than to presume that. The assaults on their shared barrier had ceased, the eternal sun was charging up for a final push!

"It's time!" Silver called out, winding back his arm to push his power further.

"It's still too big!" Blaze hissed back, "Not yet!"

Silver winced; he could hear a rumbling in the air, wind was pulling at him from behind as if this great demon was still breathing. The smoke had cleared from their surroundings but the sky was still bordering on black; only their facsimile of a sun was shedding light on the land. He dared not look to his surroundings but he already knew what he'd find; if any of the town did still stand, it would fall to what came next.

"Now!" The cat demanded, orange fire exploded on the right side of the orb.

Silver swept his arms from left to right, cyan aura ducked between red flame and orange to form a complete spherical prison. Blaze's efforts matched his; from right to left fire swept over the top of his psychic shielding to provide an outer layer of defence. With two layers now in place, and the hellish sun smaller than ever, there was no way-

Heat washed over Silver, it felt as if his whole body was alight! His back arched and stare fell to the glowing rooftop beneath him, its protection now dwindled to a near translucent varnish. The solar form had expanded; it wasn't going down without a fight. He had to bear the brunt, Blaze's flames couldn't block like his power! He was a wall, a barrier that kept this world from sinking any deeper into destruction!

Eyes returned to the sky in defiance; the psychic could see the mocking skull of Iblis superimposed through the shine of cyan and glow of orange flame! It was trying to push through, trying to break free, but they could not allow it! None of Iblis' fire would escape them!

Clawed hands gnarled into fists as Silver swirled his arms, beginning to rotate the inner shell he'd crafted. The massive face began to distort, dark patches of colour drifted into swirls and streaks of intensity that were fighting to push back together. As the spinning grew faster Silver felt his head swirl and vision blur, imposing his will in such a perpetual way was taking its toll... but it was working!

Silver felt his grasp tighten as the fireball shrank. He brought his fists together, truly concentrating on the crushing sensation over anything else. His eyes twitched and chest ached, his mind was ablaze and shocking him. With every twitch came a twist of pain, like nails plunging deeper into his head, but there was no other choice! He had to-

The sunspots on Blaze's wall of orange vanished, now only a golden glow remained. The sky was no longer dark, instead the red glow had bled through the night to relight the world. For a moment Silver could only stare as he looked upon the closest thing he'd ever sighted to a true sunrise... or was it a sunset?

It all caught up with him at once, the hedgehog felt his head become weightless. He stumbled two steps forward then slid on the rough metal of the bandstand to tumble forward. Something caught his left leg before he could crash to the ground, though did leave him hanging upside down.

He managed to rouse enough strength to look up, just as his ragged hat finally tumbled to the ground. Of course Blaze had caught him, she always came out of his nonsense better than him. Still, seeing her purple face framed against the red sky put a true wave of relief through him. If they hadn't succeeded, they'd have surely been dead by now.

"Victory at last," He mumbled aloud, letting his head drop, "For now, at least..."

The surrounding town had, as expected, been reduced to no more than glowing rubble. If The Ten Gallon Spittoon were still standing then he would surely have been able to see it, so much had disintegrated. From where the fire had made contact with earth smouldering piles still remained, from which a few errant magma monsters were starting to clamber.

They'd flee, they always did, these monsters would exile themselves to the great open plains until the time came to form that demon again. Destroying those here, even if they had the energy to do so, made no difference. They'd simply rise again somewhere else.

"It'll be back," Silver grit his teeth, scanning the rubble, "It always comes back. Another town will-

His head met the ground with a thunk but he was too numb from exhaustion to truly feel it. He stared up at his partner only to find her sprawled, hanging over the lip of the balcony roof. Despite her plain exhaustion, there was a certain frustration in her eyes.

"Despite calling you naive for it, I think you're far more sensible when you're amping yourself up rather than tearing down what success we've stolen," She panted.

"That's fair," He moaned, "Sorry."

He wasn't good at bottling his emotions, they'd done this so many times that it was practically down to a science. He didn't feel the regret in this moment quite like he had upon first learning Iblis would return, but it still stung every time. No matter how they fought, calamity would always return. Didn't that mean they should make the most of the time between?

"You didn't happen to steal a bottle from the bar before it was destroyed, did you?" He asked, "My head is killing me."

"I thought you hated their moonshine," Blaze reminded him.

"Is that a no?" He pushed for an answer. After a pause, he did hear her answer, "Just one."

"Enough for a toast to our success then," He started to laugh, "And this time, neither of us are allowed to deny it."

As the cat dropped from above and he struggled to rise, Silver couldn't help but keep chortling. Ignoring a few wayward walls, this bandstand was all the remained of the settlement. Another town gone but another fight won. They'd put an end to this someday. That, or Iblis would run out of towns to burn down.

#silvaze #Blaze the Cat #Silver the Hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog

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pbandjesse · 1 year ago

Text

Today was a pretty awesome day. Honestly I don't have too many complaints except I was tired and it was hot. A lot of today was great.

I fell asleep really fast last night which was really nice. And I wish I got to sleep longer but I was pretty well rested. But I was very tired when I got up. I woke up at 7:15 and I did not want to get out of bed at all but I knew I had to. Last week Ann had said I didn't have to come this week if it was too hot if I didn't want to but then she texted me yesterday that she wasn't feeling well and that she was wondering if I would take over today and of course I said yes because I care about her and I want to make sure that the market is going well. And so I got up and I got dressed and I wore this jumpsuit which is great except for some reason even though usually women's clothings have fake buttons this one all the buttons down the front are real and it gaps like crazy so 5 seconds before we needed to leave I took the whole thing off and I ran it through the sewing machine. I did not change the thread on the sewing machine so there's just black stitching going down the front now. I'm going to rip it out at some point and put something that matches a little bit better but it has to be sewn down or it would drive me insane. And I really like this jumpsuit so I want to make it work.

I was not in the best place emotionally because I was so tired. But James got us out the door only a few minutes late and we didn't forget anything which was nice. We stopped for breakfast and everyone who was working in the McDonald's was literally a teenager and was so confused at every question and it was a little funny. But we got our food and it was fine even though the hash brown was a weird shape. And then we were at the market.

James helped me set up. It was already very hot and Anne was not feeling great and was going to be leaving by 9:00. But she stayed for setup and everything was going okay. No big disasters. No one being terribly annoying with their vehicles. I got all set up and then I just started knitting.

And I would finish my ball of yarn. I still need six more squares to finish the whole thing. So hopefully I'll have that done tomorrow and then I can start sewing the rows together. And I'm really excited. Just think the gradient looks very cool and I'm excited for this project to be done and to start working on my next one. I have no idea what that next one will be but I'm excited.

And I'm surprised at how good I did today at the market. Because I was not feeling it. I tried my best to stand because I always do better when I stand. I don't know why that is but standing up makes me sell more things. And people were really nice and I had some really nice interactions. A child from last year and the year before, Rosie, who had bought a bear and named it Farmer Bear, came back for the first time this season and I was so excited to see her because she's going to be turning four next month and her mom and her dad and her little brother and it was just so nice to see them. And while she wanted to buy the other bear that matches her farmer bear, except farmer beer has a pink nose and this one has a black nose, mom said no bears this time. Which is understandable. Instead they bought a sticker and she's going to put on her water bottle for her first day of school and I could cry that's so cute.

And I also had that nice family that always comes and buys things from me bring two of my frogs back that needed slight repairs. They tried to pay me for it but it took me literally 2 minutes to resew the legs So I said it's fine and then they bought four stickers anyway. I really appreciate how much they support me and they made my day very bright by telling me how much they love the things I make.

It was very hot though and all of us were suffering. And we decided that we would close the market early at noon. Bob came out and we had a really nice long chat about metal casting and getting sunburns from welding and just he's such a nice guy. I used to be so intimidated by him but I think he's great. Though he did get upset with me later in the day when he found out we were closing early and I didn't tell him. But I thought he was standing right there when we had the conversation so I feel bad. But it's not my fault!

I'm just glad he still was able to come out and get his lunch before everyone closed up.

James did come out to get baked goods with me. I got my peanut butter pie and a caramel brownie which is excellent. And James got a couple donuts and a cheesecake bar and a key lime pie for liter this week. And eventually they would go and buy a burger from the food truck because apparently they promised on Thursday that they would buy lunch there with them today.

And James said it was really good.

One of the other really nice interactions I had was towards the end when a family came by, a white woman and an Indian man, and then all of their parents. And the white woman picked up one of my bears and was gushing about how it reminded her of her and her brother's childhood toy and she loved it so much but she couldn't decide which one was the closest. So I told her go for a walk do the loop come back. And she did and when she came back her mom was with her and she showed her at her mom was like oh my god it does look like your guys's toy, who was named lammy and Barry. And then the husband was like I'll buy it for you and so I was like okay but then all of a sudden his mom throws her credit card at me and she's like I'm going to buy it for my daughter, her daughter-in-law which was so cute. And then the Indian guys dad who had an amazing turban on goes hey you're only supposed to swipe your credit card 30 times a month! And she said more like 30 times a minute lol! And it was so silly. And it was just such a sweet interaction and I just really loved it.

And then I had someone buy three bears from me for their nieces and nephews and that was great. And I was just having such a nice day and people were great and I was very happy even though it was incredibly hot.

The other real problem was that it wasn't super hot in the pavilion. We were getting a really good breeze. It was warm but it wasn't unbearable but as soon as you left the pavilion It was like so hot that I was worried for everyone in the parking lot even though they were under tents. Like it was painful. The wind though was keeping us cool in the pavilion but was also knocking everything over. I kept having to chase papers and then my stuff was going everywhere and I had to put some stuff away because they just would not stay still. And honestly it made me so tired. I was pretty okay until I had to start running around.

So I was really really happy when noon came around. I took my time putting things away. Jose came over and told me I could take peaches because he had a bunch of leftover. And then Helen gave me a bouquet of flowers to say thank you for introducing her to CJ. And it was just so beautiful and everyone was so kind today. Just a lovely group of people.

After I packed up I went inside to sit with James and give them a break so they could run to the bathroom. And I talked to Deborah who I haven't seen in a while and it was nice to see her. And then I decided that everyone was packed up enough outside by 12:30 that I could leave.

I went outside to tell Stanley that I was heading out and told him not to tattle on me that I was leaving a half an hour early and he said he didn't see anything. And then I left. And I was so happy to go home.

On my way home there was so much traffic in the opposite direction on MLK because of the baseball game tonight so I made sure to note that so when I came back for James at 4:00 I would go a different way. And then I saw a guy asking for change and I gave him one of the peaches after asking if he would like one. And he got the biggest smile on his face and he was like Yes I absolutely would love a peach. And it was just very nice and he had such a nice smile. I hope he's doing okay.

I got home and I brought everything inside and I put things in the fridge. I had bought guacamole again and was very excited to eat that later. I cut the bottoms of the flowers and I broke the bouquet in half because we were going to go to Jessie's graduation party tonight and I would give her half the flowers. And then I took a quick shower and changed and got in bed and slept for almost 2 hours.

When I woke up I was so delirious and so sad that I had to get up. I did not want to go to this graduation party I did not want to drive I was so upset but I made promises and so I had to make it happen. And so I went and had some of that guacamole and a little bit of my brownie and then drank a whole lot of water and headed out.

I had to drive through the city and while there was no traffic people were driving so stupid and I had to be so aggressive to deal with them. And I hate being an aggressive driver but I am also very good at it. And so I was trying not to scream at people and swerve my car around other cars but I safely and in one piece made it to the museum before 4:00.

I got James and switch seats so that they could drive and then we went to Jessie's gathering.

The sky looked very dark for having a 0% chance of rain. And almost immediately after we parked the sky opened up and it stormed for about a half an hour very hard. But we were safely inside and honestly it was a really nice little time. We were only there for about an hour But it was really good. When we got there they were just about to do toasts and little speeches for Jessie and the other graduate, Edgar, and it was really nice and everyone was really sweet and just clearly cared about them both so much. And when they asked if anybody else had anything to say if something was on their heart I was like hey I know I don't know any of you and none of you know me but walking in the space just feels like it's filled with so much love and that's just very lovely and I'm glad that all of you are friends and we were all joking for the next hour about how I just wandered and off the street because I didn't know anybody. But it was really cute and I just loved listening to it and honestly because I'm so emotional right now I could have cried a few times because they were being so sweet to each other but it was really nice.

And then somebody brought ice cream so I got to have an ice cream cone and there was watermelon. There was also a feta orzo salad that I was coveting but I did not have any of because I didn't really want to eat any more salty food but I love federal orso salad so I told James that and they said they will make something for me.

And I did get to talk to a couple people and make a couple little friends. And I'm at another non-binary James and had a lovely conversation with them and I got to talk about camp and a couple other like goofy things about kids being super out and LGBTQ friendly and how it's just beautiful to see but also how goofy they are about it and how I had that weird conversation last year where a child told me that a football player at their school was queerbating because they weren't actively out of the closet. And I'm like it was just you can't queer bait in person that's something that media does. So it was just really nice to be in such a queer space with so many beautiful people that were all clearly just so smart and kind. Plus there was watermelon and that was great.

We left right after the rain stopped. And I was in a much better mood and a much better place emotionally. Tony let us know that he was on his way with Leon and Billy to bring them to our house and we had one more stop so we headed out after saying goodbye. And went over to Jessie's house because she had a new bike for me.

When I say new I mean she found this bike in a free pile on the side of the road and it's small so she thought that it would work for me. And it's about the same size as the bike I have already And it's very cute and it's a Schwinn. It's caliente Schwinn. I'm not sure what I'm going to name it I'm leaning to hot tamale or cherry bomb. But it's very cute and I'm excited to see if it works for me. So James took that off of her back porch and took the wheel off because it's got a quick release and we got it in the car and went home.

We beat the boys there by less than 10 minutes. And I was happy to see them. I got to show off my apartment just a little bit. I knew that they were going to be leaving very soon but it was cool to get to show them some stuff and then they talk sports with James and James gave them jerseys and hats to wear to the game if they would like to and then they were off to the light rail.

As soon as they left I got right into cleaning. I vacuumed I cleaned the kitty litter I cleaned the fish tanks I sprayed down the bathroom I wiped all the surfaces and I was having a great time even though it is entirely too warm in here. I had both air conditioners going but I take forever to really cool down the space. It seems to finally be working though. And I just spent like an hour and a half cleaning and making it nice in here and then I got to work laying out all of my squares.

I decided to do this kind of gradient of the three colors with the black. So it's like a checkerboard gradient and I really like it. I made one too many red squares and I still need six black squares. I'm frogging and old panel that I made with the black yarn that I never used for anything. I have a whole box of stuff that could be frogged honestly but I just grabbed that one and started doing that but then I got distracted and I didn't want to work on it anymore so I pinned all of the rows so that I can just grab them and start sewing them together and hopefully I will have all of that done by the end of camp. Honestly I don't think it's going to take me that long but it is time consuming. So we'll see what happens.

After I did that I chilled for a while and then I decided I needed to set up the beds for the boys cuz I didn't know what time everyone was coming back from the game And I was surprised to find that we don't have very many sheets. I don't know where they all are. I know I got rid of a couple but I didn't think I went crazy. So that's annoying. But I set the beds up best I could. And also we don't have a lot of like cooler weather blankets so I put the ones out that I could find but most of our blankets are made of fake fur so they're very great for the winter but not great for right now.

Hopefully the boys think it's fine. I also put teddy bears on both of the beds so I hope that makes them feel cozy.

Once I finish that I got into a project in the studio fixing my rainbow sandals. I thought maybe since they're basically ready for the trash I could try patching them. Which is something I've never tried before. I have some leather scraps so I cut squares to put around the ball of the foot area because it's cracked on both sides and then I glued and clamped the backs. I don't know if these will be usable at all but I love having just a pair of flip-flops I can throw on when I need to walk down to the car. Which is something I had to do to get the air pump for the air mattress. And that's when I was like I'm going to do this next project. And it was fun even though I got glue literally everywhere including on my stomach somehow.

So then I knew it was time to take a shower. And I took a very excellent shower and it made me feel a lot better. And I put on nice vanilla lotion. And then I did my eyebrows and now I am laying in bed with sweetp.

James just texted me about how bad the Orioles are. I don't know why they're shocked the Orioles have always been bad. But I hope they're having fun. And now I'm going to go back to watching my video and maybe working on my knit squares for a little bit longer.

I hope that you guys had a good day and that you are not somewhere where it is incredibly hot. I hope that you are being grateful and kind. I love you all. Be safe and tell your mom you love her.

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ffxiv-swarm · 1 year ago

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prompt 6: ring

It was a simple thing. A steel band inlaid with a line of gold, with a single diamond gleaming at the top. She’d known it was coming—Petros hadn’t been subtle—but as he knelt and gazed up hopefully at her she’d still felt her heart kick in her chest.

“Yes!” she’d blurted out, and then, “Get your face up here, you big lug, so I can kiss you!”

It had fit perfectly, and she’d worn it with pride. Her fellow secretaries had dutifully expressed their admiration, though one or two had sniffed that surely a senator’s son could’ve sprung for a bigger rock. She was right, but that wasn’t the point. Portia hadn’t wanted a bigger rock. She’d never been ambitious, not like her baby brother. She’d only ever dreamed of a little house with a yard, somewhere she and Petros could both call home. Maybe they’d adopt a dog.

She hadn’t gotten the house. She hadn’t gotten the yard. She hadn’t even gotten Petros, with whom she could’ve happily lived in a shack on the glacier.

The dog had been a surprise.

“Ooh. Nice ring!”

Portia twitched and almost dropped the ring, violently flung back into the present by Gantsetseg appearing next to her. If it hadn’t been on a chain around her neck she might’ve lost it in the snow until spring. False gods, how can a woman who wears so much metal and neon be so sneaky? “Bloody hells, y’ scared the shite outta me!”

Gantsetseg—Gan to her friends, which somehow included Portia—winced. “Sorry. Came t’ tell you break’s ending soon-ish and we’ve got another lot of pipes to weld.”

...Right. Her grip on the ring tightened. The work of restoring Garlemald—of making Regio Urbanissima something livable, never mind great—would be the work of a lifetime. She could have torn Fandaniel limb from limb herself if given half a chance. But the evil ghost bastard was dead, and so all she could do was try to repair the damage. The current job for the past few weeks had been to restore heat to the city, and there were literal malms of gas pipes that needed to be replaced. “Thanks,” she muttered belatedly. “I’ll be in when the bell goes off.”

Gan nodded, but didn’t move. Her crimson gaze was sweeping out across the snow, and Portia thought that the way her tail twitched meant either boredom or deep contemplation. Finally, she spoke.

“Y’know, I hate the snow, but...this place still must’ve been beautiful once. I can see it. When the Empire’s not trying t’ twist it into horrors, Garlemald can make gorgeous shite.”

“Thanks,” Portia said dryly.

The Xaela huffed, smacking her tail against the ground. “I was goin’ for a compliment! Like that ring—I don’t think Eorzeans can make stones sparkle like that. Rita’d lose her mind.”

She was surprised to realize, after a moment, that the motion tugging at her lips was a smile. “And when my fiance gave it to me, none of my friends were impressed.”

Gan looked at the ring and then back at Portia, one eyebrow going up. “See, this is why my tribe does it better. Nothing objective about good horses.” She paused. “...How long’ve I known you and not known you were engaged?”

Her budding smile faded as the red moon loomed in her memories. “...It was before Carteneau.”

There was something fascinating about watching any tailed race do a full-body wince. Gan’s tail lashed so hard at the end that it flipped snow up onto her work shirt, and she hurriedly brushed it off with a grimace. “Sorry I brought it up,” she muttered. “Wanna come with me next time I punch some Allagan ruins?”

Portia snorted. “I do the punching, you just cover me—”

The bell rang, signaling the end of their allotted lunch hour. As Portia followed Gan back in, she realized she was grinning.

#portia #gan #ffxivwrite2023 #fire the headcanons

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missmonsters2 · 3 years ago

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HERE WE GOOOO 🖤 first one i'm thinking soft!dark wanda - reader finds their own body in the attic but doesn't remember dying, only their married life with wanda

oBVIOUSLY we gotta kick off spoopy drabbles with the loml & ofc I love that you started it with some real horror 🖤

pairing: Soft!Dark Wanda x Reader

warnings: soft!dark wanda is the warning. very ominous tones.

count: 1.1k

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

There's no concrete proof that it's your body.

After all, you're staring at a thick metal cylinder case melded shut with not even a glimpse of what could be inside. It could be empty for all you know. Nothing more than a metaphor for those who linger.

But you know.

There's something sick that pulls at your stomach as you look at it, something gnawing and digging underneath your skin. It draws you closer and closer despite the ice in your veins and the rigidness of your limbs. That's how you know.

You've spent hours and hours with your eyes unmoving from your coffin.

Strange, you laugh humourlessly to yourself. You don't recall ever seeing this metal contraption.

There are plenty of things you remember. You remember this attic, the never-ending smell of baked goods and cinnamon, the sound of laughter in the house. You remember being married to the most wonderful woman you had ever laid your eyes upon.

But you don't remember this casket in your home.

You don't remember dying.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Before

"Do you think we got married too quickly?"

Wanda turns her head to you, finding a frown on your face as you scroll through your phone.

"No," Wanda answers as she rubs your arm. "Why?"

You sigh. "Everyone in my group—friends, families, coworkers—has apparently been talking behind my back. They're surprised I could get married to someone after just 6 months of dating."

You sucked your bottom lip into your mouth before gnawing on it. "I mean, I suppose it's rather unlike me..."

Wanda merely chuckled before she tugged at you until you were in her lap.

"I think you should praise me for being able to sweep you off your feet," she teases as she pinches your side, causing you to yelp. "But time is relative, honey. Some people know maybe after years and years of being together. Some people, like us, know four months in. I think we're lucky to know quickly that we want to spend our lives together, don't you?"

You let out a content smile as you lean your body into Wanda's, relishing her warmth and security. You wrap your arms around her, pressing a kiss against her lips before you rest your chin over her shoulder.

Wanda had shown you love could be so tender, so fulfilling. She had shown you that partners could be competent and accountable.

You had gotten a glimpse of forever with her love.

"So very lucky," you agreed before you teased. "Hopefully this isn't doomed to end like everyone's saying."

Wanda laughed.

"I would never let this end."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Now

She was here again.

Wanda came by every day—always at the end of it. After work and whatever responsibilities took hold of her, she would come to you.

And she would sit for hours and hours and hours in silence as she sat unknowingly next to you as she stared at the casket.

The first night you realized you were nothing but the lingering air left behind, you heard her crying night after night. Your heart ached at your grieving wife, who apparently—was grieving so hard she couldn't even bear to give you a real funeral or burial spot.

But you knew grief had a strange hold over people. And for someone like Wanda, who has faced more loss than anyone should ever have to lose, maybe one more person was the tipping point.

"Why did you go?" You heard Wanda mutter to herself. "How could you let this—us—end?"

You watched Wanda swallow the lump in her throat harshly. You looked down to the ring in Wanda's fingers—The ring that should be on your left hand.

She fumbled with it in her hands, the diamond she bought you digging into her soft skin.

Her grief was your fault. But maybe it was Wanda's too—for not doing better to keep things from ending. If she did, maybe 'us' wouldn't be separated by breathing atoms and lingering air.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Before

Love bombing. Mania. Obsession. Adrenaline.

Wanda's love is an exploding grenade only ever capable of going off over and over and over. She's the first date butterflies and nausea that never seems to go away. She's the wave that only ever seems to build and is never ready to crash.

There's a part of you that does love it. You love that Wanda can love you like it's always the first month of being together. It's always all-consuming, and you had longed for such a love for such a long time.

But despite time passing, it feels like you never get past the honeymoon stage. Even though you've talked about all there is to talk about, you feel like there's a wall. There's a wall that can never come down unless the wave of all that's Wanda comes crashing down too.

But she never does. Wanda takes you higher and higher with no lows in sight.

People are usually happy about such love, aren't they?

"Wanda, I need more," you beg her. "I can't—we can't keep going on like this. It's not good for us. How we are...I wanna grow old together."

But Wanda just stares at you like she always does.

Focused. Manic. Obsessed. Hers.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Now

This is what it looks like for Wanda to crash—for her wave to break down her wall.

It's ugly.

Nothing like the first date butterflies at all.

Mascara stains. Despondent. Anger. Constricted pupils.

Still, the obsession lingers. Maybe that's all Wanda is ever truly capable of.

You turn your attention away from her and back to your metal casket. You wonder if Wanda hates it—not being able to see you.

The night seems to finally come to an end as it does every night. Wanda crawls towards the welded metal, a hesitant hand out before touching it.

"We don't have to grow old at all," Wanda says quietly. "Growing old means one day, things will end—and I told you I'd never let things end."

Wanda strokes the surface softly, your ring clanking against it softly. "We'll try again. We'll try as many times as it takes until we're perfect. We're so close, honey," she sighs before the corner of her lip quirks slightly upwards. "With the amount of times I've gotten to know you, maybe you'll praise me if I can sweep you off your feet and get you to marry me in three months."

With a kiss goodnight to the cold metal, Wanda gets up and silently leaves the room, leaving you with the looming shroud of metal.

The house is always the same. The smell of cinnamon and baked goods never goes away because you think it comes from the many times before. You weren't wrong when you said it was unlike you to ever fall quickly—a few lifetimes could never constitute as fast.

You never remember much, but you never remember dying or ever seeing this casket.

You wonder if you can convince her this time to grow old with you.

#wanda maximoff x reader #soft!dark wanda maximoff x reader #dark!wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #dark wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #mm.drabble.wanda #mm.mydarkfics

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nunanuggets · 3 years ago

Text

Welding (Tech x Reader)

[[A/N]] Hey y’all! Hope you are having a great day! A similar situation came to me in a dream last night and i wrote this drabble right after waking up. Please don’t be so hard on me. If you have requests for me, feel free to drop them in my inbox! I have decided to start writing again, i forgot how fun it is.

Warnings: Fluff, kissing, self doubt, Tech being a cutie as always

“Darn it!!!” The welding wand was finally tossed to the side after an eternity of trying to fix one of the side panels of the ship. Y/N had insisted that she absolutely knew what she was doing and that she had done this hundreds of times before. Well, she lied.

Turns out, welding two pieces of metal together is not as easy as glueing two pieces of cardboard together. A head poked out from under the ship, disturbed by the noise. “Is everything alright, Y/N?” Tech asked, wrench still in hand and a few oil smears on his face. Y/N sighed. “No, i.... i can’t do this. I can’t do this because i suck at everything.” She leaned her forehead against the side of the ship and was about ready to drown in self pity, but Tech wasn’t having none of that.

Before meeting Y/N, he would have said something along the lines of: ‘That is an incorrect statement, but if you don’t feel able to complete the job, i would gladly take over for you’. But this was Y/N, his girlfriend, his love. He learned to take a more gentle approach with her. Putting his tools aside and cleaning off his hands, he walked over to her and took one of her gloved hands into his own. “Y/N, you don’t have to be angry at yourself for not being perfect at everything you do” He started with a small smile. “If you want, i can help you with welding the parts together, i can show you how to do it most efficiently. What do you say?” He asked hopefully. Y/N turned to look at him. “I don’t wanna be a bother, this ship needs fixing and the others are anxious to get going” She chewed on her lip self consciously.

Tech raised his free hand up to cup her cheek, offering her his signature adorable and genuine smile. “Then let them be anxious. They can wait” he brushed his thumb over her cheek and she leaned into it, admiring the look on his face. His cheeks were tinted a lovely pink hue and his eyes sparkled like a thousand stars, just like they did every time he looked at her. “Okay” Y/N whispered with a little smile, causing his heart to skip a beat. “I would like to kiss you, but i’m afraid i don’t want to transfer motor oil from my face onto yours” He said with an awkward chuckle, but was silenced when Y/N pulled him closer anyways.

He still wasn’t the best at smoothly initiating a kiss, so he was grateful that Y/N liked to take the reigns. He tilted his head slightly and leaned in, closing his eyes in the last possible moment before molding his lips to hers. Y/N smiled against the kiss and pulled him closer by the waist, causing him to stumble in surprise and pin her against the side of the ship. The couple chuckled but didn’t break the sweet kiss, only the sound of someone clearing their throat did.

“Uhh... you guys done? We need to get going. You’re supposed to weld the ship back together, not your mouths” Echo grumbled and headed back inside with a roll of his eyes. Tech’s face was bright red now but they were both laughing. “Come on, i better start showing you how to do this properly” He chuckled and picked up the welding wand and her hand. Y/N couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as he taught her how to weld. This war was tough, and sometimes she questioned if it was even worth fighting every day, but moments like these definitely made the efforts pay off.

(IF YOU WANNA BE TAGGED IN MY WORKS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!)

Taglist: @notreallybeccab

Reblogs are very, very appreciated🦋✨💙

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andmaybegayer · 4 years ago

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Engineers hate doing original work. If you do original work you have to work shit out from first principles, you have to experiment and build scale models and calculate forces and bending moments and see if they exceed your material strengths. This is lame and boring and takes up valuable time you could be using to drink whiskey or oppress the native Indian population or whatever engineers used to do back in the 1800's.

Fortunately, engineers somehow developed exactly one ounce of professional solidarity and poured it into the writing of handbooks. Handbooks are lovely: if your boss hands you a requirement document, you can haul out your copy of the CRC Handbook "Selection of Engineering Materials and Adhesives” and look up the appropriate material for the forces and torques involved in your design, which unfortunately still requires you to avoid day drinking and do some maths. Here, let’s look at the CRC handbook’s documentation on some materials. I’m gonna avoid the equation stuff for now and stick to flowcharts and tables.

Let’s say we’re looking for a metal that we want to use for something on a boat. Maybe this is some steam piping or something. Boats insist on getting wet, often in seawater. That’s a huge pain in the ass but you work for a naval contractor so you knew what you were getting into, you’d best get started.

(disclaimer: if you’re a real engineer you need to be a bit more careful than this I am skipping the boring steps)

At first you think “fuck I’m gonna have to look at reactivity series.” but fortunately to your rescue comes this handbook that’s hopefully on a bookshelf at your office. You open to the section on metals:

Alright cool let’s say we need a medium strength material and we can’t post-process it because we don’t have passivation equipment in the factory and they’re not buying it just for this. Looks like stainless steel then. The machine shop guys aren’t gonna be happy about this but they haven’t updated your phone number on the corporate directory so you can probably get this one in under the wire. Cool, what do I know about Stainless Steel. That’s right, nothing, I’m an electrical engineer, we don’t even have a material science class to fall asleep in, I’ll be right back.

Ugh, that’s like 30 pages. Fine, I’ll read it. At least I don’t have to get out the strength testing hydraulic stretch thing. Last time I used that a chunk of steel almost got me in the neck.

Looks like we want Austenitic steel. Duplex sounds expensive and this part isn’t that important, it’s probably fine. I don’t know what Austenitic steel is, what does the book say about that.

Man I hate it when I pick a chart and it just sends me to a bigger chart. The more specific this gets the more expensive it’s probably gonna be so let’s just pick something that sounds good. We’re gonna weld this so we don’t have to worry about machining, let’s try 316L stainless, and if the maths doesn’t work out then I guess we just cry about it. 316L comes in pipe according to the book, so we’re fine there. If it’s bad for pipe then it’s the manufacturer’s fault for making it pipe shaped.

Alright hopefully at this point you’ve already designed your item and calculated what the forces and minimum tolerances could be. If you haven’t done that, I guess go look if what you want to make is on McMaster Carr and just copy it. Now take those minimums you calculated and see if it exceeds these:

(aw damn I did end up with a couple equations in here I lied earlier sorry)

If something doesn’t meet your requirements, go back up the list and pick a new material, you messed up. If it’s fine, I mean, probably check the data sheet for actual 316L steel, you’re an adult with a job and you’re signing off on this, do it right. But if that’s all good, congratulations, you managed to choose the appropriate material for a job and you didn’t have to look up what “grain structure” or “galvanic series” means once.

Now it’s just a matter of making sure you replace all your “TODO FIND MATERIAL” notes in the drawing with 316L Stainless Steel, hand off to the fabrication department and hope to god they don't come to your office you over frivolous matters like “unheard of screw thread dimensions” or “impossible weld geometries.”

Handbooks are a way to offload a lot of the mathematics, design and testing you’d otherwise have had to do yourself to a Boeing machine shop with a team of women in a room somewhere performing dozens of strain calculations for eight hours a day in the 1940′s.

#engineering #books #handbooks #design #steel #stainless steel #effortpost

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earthstellar · 3 years ago

Text

Rewatching Transformers G1 S2: Episode 1: Autobot Spike

Yes, this is where the Surprised Ratchet meme image comes from:

This episode has a lot going on including near-death of a human character on screen, body horror/a Frankenstein plot, and some genuinely unsettling scenes mostly made creepy due to the combination of some interesting dialogue/voice acting and typical G1 Quality.

And Spike shoots Starscream in the ass mid-flight, which is fantastic.

He also shoots his dad, which is less fantastic.

Being a horror nerd, I love this episode, so here we go!

Gonna put this below a cut because I’m taking a lot of screenshots here:

You can watch the whole episode on YouTube here in 4 parts, if you want to watch along!

Alright, so it opens with Sparkplug trying to create “Autobot X”, which is straight up just a Frankenstein’s Monster of autobot parts. It’s weirdly creepy, and vaguely reminiscent of the infamous Ratchet-Megatron fusion in the Marvel comics.

I want to point out that Sparkplug says “I wanna see what I can do with a lotta spare Autobot parts and some human ingenuity” before the reveal shot above, and that’s horrific if you think about it for more than like, three seconds.

It also may have been the origins of the MECH plot line in TFP, actually! Very similar body horror type thing going on. Anyway.

It works briefly, but it flips out and has to get shut down.

Ironhide fires a laser, problem solved, nobody’s worried. They put Autobot X in storage, because surely a rampantly aggressive seemingly sentient pastiche of random Autobot parts is nothing to worry about. It’s fine.

Wheeljack is like, hell yeah, I’ll help you work on it later. Which is when we get the Surprised Ratchet image, because yeah, I bet Ratchet’s freaked out a little since this thing is made of SPARE AUTOBOT PARTS.

Then we’re swept immediately into a fight with Megatron, as many Seekers as you can fit in frame at one time, and Soundwave.

For whatever reason, Bumblebee shows up driving through a bunch of partially blown up missile/rocket components, with Spike in the driver’s seat. Even Spike is like, dude, why are we here? And Bumblebee is just like, I mean, we couldn’t NOT show up. lmao

Unsurprisingly, Bumblebee gets shot-- In alt-mode, with Spike inside. Uh oh.

Megatron leaves, because Frank Welker can only voice so many characters at once, and our attention is turned to the carnage.

Ratchet is like, sure, I can fix Bumblebee right up! Meanwhile, Ironhide is like oh god, oh my god, is this how you hold a human??? Is it dead??? Optimus is gonna be pissed.

So Optimus rolls up like, listen, take him to the hospital, come on. Ratchet lets him in the back of his ambulance mode, and Prowl goes with him so that he can throw his emergency lights on to give the illusion of a police escort, ensuring the drive is even quicker.

(I miss the days when Prowl wasn’t a total asshole.)

It cuts pretty quickly to Spike in an operating theatre; Apparently getting shot by alien space lasers isn’t conducive to human health:

It cuts again to the attending physician standing at Spike’s beside, presumably in ICU although they appear to be in a private room, with Sparkplug on the other side of the bed.

The doctor says “Hmm, if only there were a way of separating Spike’s mind from his body while we work...” Which, uh, what? What surgeon says that? You can sort of already do that in actual human medicine, it’s called an induced coma.

But sure, we need exposition here, I get it. The screenplay here is tight. Sparkplug says he has an idea...

Back at the Autobot hangout, things seem fairly chill, considering.

Ratchet is welding Bumblebee’s ass in alt-mode, while Bumblebee complains about how long it’s taking. lol

Meanwhile, Wheeljack and Sparkplug somehow have Spike hooked up to a Ghostbusters colander helmet, which will hopefully transfer his mind into the malfunctioning/in stasis Autobot X frame. Yikes.

It works! Spike is now also Autobot X. We will call him Spike X for short.

And for some reason, Spike saying “D-Da-ad?” with this faceplate expression is incredibly funny to me, while also being really weird and creepy:

However, this is only cool for like two seconds, at which point Spike X truly starts to lose his shit.

It gets real creepy here, with Spike X saying in a very oddly flat inflection “Why? Why did you do this to me? Why?” and it’s pretty wild. There’s even a mild strobe effect for a few frames.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker try to help calm him down, but Spike X throws them both across the room.

Optimus is like, oh shit, we made a giant metal teenager. Stop him, but use low power, because if the Autobot X frame is damaged too much, then Spike’s consciousness may not be able to be returned to his actual human body.

Note that Optimus says this in a pretty relaxed way, then levels a shoulder mounted cannon straight at Spike X, which is incredibly funny.

It quickly gets deeply weird and creepy again when Spike X is temporarily able to talk with his dad, and states that “it’s hard to think, like something is telling me to do... bad.... things!” Yiiiiiikes.

He gets it under control again, apologises to his dad for the outburst (I think it’s OK, Spike), and Optimus says that he’s cool to stay at the base and he’ll be taken care of while his human body heals up.

However, oh shit, the Decepticons have found out that Spike now has an Autobot frame-- And they know he’s unstable.

Starscream tries to roast him, but Megatron’s like, shut up nerd, we’re gonna make Spike X turn against the Autobots! It’s a good plan, I’m serious!

Back at the Autobot base, Ratchet is still welding Bumblebee’s ass, and Bumblebee is still complaining. Wheeljack hooks up Spike X with some network television, and he’s watching... Frankenstein. Because the six year old kids who are the intended audience of G1 may not be familiar with the source material for this episode’s plot, I guess, which is fair. (Frank Welker nails it here as Dr. Frankenstein, but that’s unsurprising, because he always nails it. I think he’s also voicing Frankenstein’s Monster, but I haven’t checked the credits.)

Obviously, this isn’t a great thing for Spike X to be watching at this particular moment, so he freaks out again.

Wheeljack and Sparkplug come running, and somehow Sparkplug is covering ground faster than Wheeljack. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.

Ratchet’s progress on welding Bumblebee’s ass is interrupted by Spike X breaking through the wall and seemingly flying away. lmao

They just sort of stand there, like, well, we lost him, I guess.

Bumblebee is like, alright, gonna go get my boy.

So he drives out of this massive crater, and Ratchet is like, wait! Your radio transmitter still doesn’t work. (Apparently their radio transmitters are located in their asses. Fascinating.)

Spike X sits on a cliff and says “what a drag”, which, yeah. Being a Frankenstein space robot would be cool if not for the immense psychological damage this is absolutely causing.

However, he also calls himself a “walking garbage can” in a completely genuine put-out tone of voice, which absolutely sells that this is a teenager in a giant robot body and I laughed, I won’t lie.

Some of Megatron’s cronies locate him and hold his position.

At the same time, Bumblebee shows up and tries to talk Spike X down from a random destructive rampage.

He throws Bumblebee off the cliff! And Megatron’s squad is rolling up. (Well, flying up, anyway.) Uh oh!

Spike X is like, hell yeah, bring it. More ass to kick. And it turns out his arm mounted cannon works, because he shoots Starscream directly in the undercarriage and says “YEAH, MAN!” and it’s so genuine.

This is the perfect reaction to being a teenager in a giant robot body and just suddenly being able to shoot lasers and kick ass. Look at how happy he is, that he just shot Starscream in the butt mid-air. It’s awesome.

Unfortunately, the Seekers do actually beat him up, although Spike X puts up a good fight.

Megatron then takes advantage of his further weakened state, and swoops in to pitch a classic “Join Us” speech. Spike X calls him “Megacrumb”, which is probably acceptable because he’s absolutely concussed by this point.

Megatron is willing to overlook this for the sake of teaming up.

Bumblebee eavesdrops, and drives away-- But Spike X gives Megatron a handshake, and agrees to “make them pay”. Oh shit!

For some reason, Optimus and Ironhide are back at the rocket facility to watch a launch. Because I guess whatever, this whole situation is chill, let’s go watch rockets? IDK

But either way, Optimus roasts the inferior quality of human technology, while Bumblebee just drives up on site despite Military Police levelling sniper rifles at him in order to report that Megatron is taking advantage of Spike X’s inability to think clearly.

Optimus says “I feared something like this might happen”, which, if that were the case, why not take actions to prevent it, maybe? Not the strongest Optimus episode.

To be fair though, Ironhide transforms and is already driving off before Optimus even gives the order to roll out, so I guess Ironhide either really wants to kick some ass or cares slightly more about Spike X’s wellbeing. He has no dialogue here, so we can only guess.

They get there, with even more Autobots who showed up at some point in the rapid scene cuts here, and Spike X is super unhinged-- Charging his weapons, he starts speaking in a more strained and angry way, and engages the Autobots!

He hits Optimus with what appears to be a chest laser? It’s hard to see. But it’s super effective:

Optimus pleads with Spike X to calm down, but Spike X straight up pulls MEGATRON IN GUN MODE out of his sub-space and shoots Optimus directly in the faceplate. Damn!

The Seekers and Soundwave drop in, and start rapid firing on all the Autobots present.

We get some great shots of Megatron in his gun alt-mode as he tries to convince Spike X to keep attacking. Optimus and Bumblebee hide behind cover, attempting to bring Spike X to his senses long enough to disarm him.

Suddenly, Wheeljack and Sparkplug roll up; Sparkplug attempts to talk some sense into Spike, too.

Optimus and Bumblebee are at a loss; If they take out Spike X, the damage might take him out for good.

However, Sparkplug fails in his efforts to talk to Spike X; He SHOOTS HIS DAD AND KNOCKS HIM OFF THE CLIFF.

Can you imagine if they put an ad break here? lmao

Luckily, he has like, a claw machine arm, and he catches his dad before he becomes a human smoothie.

This shocks Spike X badly enough that while he still has Megatron in gun mode, he takes a few pot shots at the Seekers and the Decepticons decide it’s time to bounce, so Megatron bails too.

He apologises for almost killing his dad, his dad is like hey no beef man, and it cuts to them in the hospital:

Sparkplug takes his son’s body back to the Autobot base (that sounds worse than it is), and they prepare to transfer him back into his body.

What’s extra funny here is that he nervously laughs and says “Hope you fixed this thing up good, Ratchet!” And Ratchet says absolutely nothing. Not a word.

It’s a success! Dad and son hug, totally not even addressing anything that happened this whole episode, because that’s a job for a therapist.

Ratchet, who continues to not really care about any of this, tells Wheeljack “You know, I could probably repair that mess, but I think it’s best that I don’t.” (This is a play on what Wheeljack said earlier in the episode when he offered to help Sparkplug fix up Autobot X to begin with.)

I love how tired Wheeljack looks. LOL

Spike, now recovered, leaves us with a great question to close out the episode: “I wonder what it’d be like for a robot mind to be transferred... to a human!”

Depending on what kind of kid you were, his question was either imagination fuel for fun humanformer ideas, or was a blatantly bad question indicating he learned nothing and providing nightmare fuel trying to imagine one of the Autobots losing their shit in a human body the same way Spike lost his shit while inhabiting Autobot X.

Anyway, great episode! 10/10 Scary, funny, creepy, Starscream got shot in the ass by a teenager.

#g1 #transformers #maccadam #optimus prime #ratchet #wheeljack #bumblebee #transformers review #g1 review #autobot spike #spike witwicky #sparkplug witwicky #megatron #starscream

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watermelonlipstick · 4 years ago

Text

Dreams, Chapter 13

If you haven’t read this series before, you might want to start on Chapter 1, or check out the Dreams Masterlist! Here’s the series description:

When Dean dies for good leaving Sam and his girlfriend (the reader) behind, they must figure out how to carry on without him. Alone, reeling, and unsure what to do next, trying to honor Dean’s memory and follow their hearts gets even more complicated when their nightmares become dreams that feel a little too real.

Title: Dreams, Chapter 13

Pairing: (past) Dean Winchester x Reader, (eventual) Sam Winchester x Reader

Word Count: 1513

Summary: The reader has another dream with Dean, where he emphasizes how he feels in a variety of ways.

Warnings: angst, fluff, swearing, s l o w b u r n, this section has a little smut, oblique mention of suicide

The last lingering kids are leaving the other side of the playground as the golden hour streams through the trees, likely going home to their families for dinner and homework and whatever else normal kids do on fall afternoons like this. Sunlight seeps into your jeans even as the air has a touch of chill to it, and when you pump your legs the balance feels amazing.

“What’re you, trying to go all the way around?” Dean laughs, looking impossibly overgrown in worn shit kickers on a swing meant for children next to yours. You throw your head back to laugh, feeling the wind through your hair as you soar past him. When the chains start to jump a little you back off, letting your momentum wind all the way down until you’re swaying back and forth lazily together. You reach over and slip your index into a new hole in the knee of Dean’s jeans. He links his fingers into yours loosely, play-coy. “You always did love these, you little minx.”

“What can I say? I like as much of your skin as I can get.” You give him your best Dean Winchester wink and he bites his lip through a chuckle. For a long minute you sit just like that, feeling the warmth and calm soak into your pores. “What should I do, Dean?” you murmur.

He swipes his thumb across the back of your hand. “He needs time. It’s going to be okay, I swear. You know Sam he’s just—he’s in his head.”

You nod to yourself. “It’s that we’re happier, right? Is that how this works, how you can come be my Friendly Neighborhood Freddie Krueger, or whatever?”

“The way Cas explained it was ‘closer to true serenity and self-realization’ so whatever the hell that means. You are, though, right? Happier?”

Meeting his eyes made you feel even more relaxed, steady and reassured regardless of how bizarre it was to tell him, “Yeah, I really am. Dean, I—I miss you so bad it still sometimes feels like I’m going to puke. But yeah, I’m happier with Sam. I love him, baby.”

Dean’s gaze goes fuzzy with affection around the edges. “Well, he’s pretty damn lovable. Runs in the family, what can I say?” He kisses the back of your hand. “Good.”

“Good?”

“It’s not a trap, babe. You’re still my girl.”

“I love you.” It’s all you can say, all you can think, really. You watch his profile for a moment as he squints against the low afternoon sun, casting beautiful sunflower light over his freckles. “What happens if I don’t wake up?”

“Your subconscious will kick me out and you’ll wake up automatically. I don’t think you can really control it.”

“No, I mean, like, if I don’t wake up?”

Dean turns toward you, jaw set hard and nostrils flared. “That’s not fucking funny.”

He tries to pull his hand out of yours but you tighten your grip. “What’s the point though? If you’re, you know, okay, can’t we just—”

“No, we ‘can’t just,’” he scowls. “All the bullshit I’ve done over the years to keep you two alive, but fuck it, who cares? Let’s throw in the towel, really make the whole thing worth it.”

“I’m—Dean, it’s not that. I just don’t understand what we’re waiting for. It’s not like Sam and I are even hunting anymore, there’s no more ‘bigger purpose’ to our lives, why be separated—”

“The ‘bigger purpose’ is you fucking being alive. That’s the bigger purpose. Forget it, off the fucking table.”

“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but it’s not really your call.”

Dean finally yanks hard enough to get his hand out of your grip and braces his elbows on his knees to hold his chin. The serious angles of his anger look out of place as he sways slightly, boots in the playground mulch where he sits on his swing. He looks back at you after taking a deep breath. “Kid, please. Just, please? I’m—that’s all I want, is you guys getting old, really getting out. I can’t have—I can’t have Sam’s whole life be only hunting, he deserves more than that.”

You scoff, half a derisive laugh. “Making his decisions from beyond the grave, that’s good, even for you.”

“Is it really that bad? All I’m asking you to do is wait. You’ll get here soon enough.”

“Yeah, it really is. It really is that fucking bad. And honestly, who are you to ask me that? You’re not here, Dean. How can you ask us to do it without you?”

“It’s not like you two are fucking here with me! Do you think I’m loving every minute of it, getting grapes fed to me by 1992 Pam Anderson all goddamn day? I’m alone. It’s heaven and I can, whatever, visit Bobby or our folks, get so blasted I can’t see and wake up with no hangover, but you two aren’t there. Do you get that? So I get some glimpses of you guys and I know you’re taking care of each other and I can fucking wait, because that’s the way things are supposed to be.”

He’s trying hard to keep his voice level but it’s coming out like a growl, and you know him, know from that clench of his jaw that he’s barely keeping it together, on this stupid swing set in this stupid gorgeous park, whose attached memory you can’t even recall.

“Hey,” you breathe, getting up out of your swing to stand in front of him, taking each of his hands and putting them around your hips as you slot one leg on either side of his waist and settle on his lap. This close you can practically count each of his eyelashes where they graze his cheekbones and you take one hand to tilt his face up to yours, your toes just barely grazing the ground behind him. “Okay. I’m sorry. Okay.” You curl forward into him, catching the plush of his lips and kissing Dean in apology. He snakes a hand into your hair, winding his fingers in it and kissing you back, and you feel the twinge of desperate frustration, meeting him there with everything you have, shifting all your weight onto his center of gravity and working as best you can to weld your body to his. Dean’s other hand slides to your lower back, under your shirt, the callused tips of his fingers digging into the skin and he’s just as hungry for you as you are for him, grabbing at his chest hard enough that you’re at risk of ripping his shirt, pink lines from your nails marking up Dean’s neck.

The hand in your hair tugs back, firm enough to be rough, and the noise you make is halfway between a moan and a whimper as he bites your neck, the sound hardening Dean through the denim under you and then he’s tearing at your shirt, not bothering with the obstacle of your jacket at all as he tries to shuck both off at once.

“We’re in a—Dean, we’re in a fucking playground,” you hiss, about two inches away from not caring.

“Babe, it’s a dream, we’re not really in a park,” he mutters along your jugular, the moist slick of spit turning ice cold in the fall air.

That’s all the permission you need and you lean back to let him rip, flicking open the metal of his belt buckle and button, unzipping his jeans. “Fuck—kid, careful with the zipper,” Dean grunts, diction poor as you bite his lower lip.

“I don’t want—to wake—up—before—" you murmur though fevered motion, licking and nipping along Dean’s jaw, and the realization gets Dean with the picture. He stands up fast, picking you up and crushing you into the metal pole of the swing set, practically shredding your jeans as his start to slump around his hips, worn plaid of his boxers covering the fast-thickening length of him and you turn to lean your chest against the pole, ready for him before he spins you hard.

“Need to see you,” he says, almost quiet and gentle as his hands are moving roughly against your body, and you see the touch of wetness at the base of his eyelashes while you try to stand on one leg and yank the other out of your pants as fast as you can.

It’s sloppy and goofy and unbelievably, gut-punchingly hot, wrapping your bare thigh around Dean’s hips as he shove-slides inside you, his hand protecting your skull from getting rammed into the metal. “I love you I love you I love you” you’re humming into the crook of his neck and Dean kisses you again, slowing down.

“I know, baby, I know,” he says, pace no longer frenzied but rhythmic and building.

You press a palm to his chest and Dean pauses for a beat, stretch of him buried to the hilt so perfect it’s almost distracting but you still have to ask, “When am I going to s—”

“Hopefully soon.”

And then he’s gone.

Continue to Dreams, Chapter 14

Thanks again for reading! If you liked it, check out my Masterlist or send me a request!

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years ago

Text

Out Of Time ~ 17

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 1,160ish

Summary: Tony asks Y/N and Pepper for some help.

The rest of the day, and into the next morning, wasn’t exciting. JARVIS allowed Y/N access to the security cameras in every room of the house, whenever she wanted. Tony stayed in his workshop the whole night, with Y/N staying up most of it to watch him using the security cameras. By lunch time, Pepper had picked up food for everyone and was working on the couch while watching the news. The reporter was screaming about Tony’s announcement at the press conference yesterday. Both women were cringing as they watched.

“Pepper,” Tony’s voice called over the intercom. “How big are your hands?”

“What?” Pepper questioned. Y/N and her shared a look of confusion.

“How big are your hands?”

“I don’t understand why—“

“Get down here. I need you… You can come too, Barnes.”

The two women made their way to the workshop, Pepper leading the way. When they arrived, Tony was laying, shirtless, on a chair.

“Hey,” Tony said, giving them a small smile. “Let’s see them, Pep. Show me your hands. Let’s see them.” Pepper held up her hands as she and Y/N moved closer to Tony. “Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just uh.. need your help for a sec.”

As the women moved closer, Y/N examined the metal in his chest and the other contraption he was holding. It seemed to be keeping him alive.

“Oh, my God,” Pepper exclaimed. “Is that the thing that’s keeping you alive?”

“It was,” Tony responded. “It is now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I’m swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump.”

“Speed bump, what does that mean?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just a little snag.” Tony twisted the device on his chest. “There’s an exposed wire under this device. And it’s contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It’s fine.”

After pulling out the old device, Tony handed it to Y/N, leaving a hole in his chest. She examined the device carefully. The way it was put together she could clearly see that Tony had welded it together when he was kidnapped. He definitely was his father’s child.

“What do you want me to do?” Pepper asked.

“Barnes, you can put it down on the table. It’s irrelevant.”

“Of course, Sir.” Y/N replied, doing as she was told.

“Okay, Pep, I want you to reach in, and you’re just gonna gently lift the wire out.”

“Is it safe?” Pepper questioned.

“Yeah, it should be fine. It’s like Operation. You just don’t let it touch the socket wall or it goes ‘beep’.”

“Operation?” Both women questioned.

“It’s just a game, never mind. Just gently lift the wire.”

“Okay,” Pepper agreed.

“Okay? Great.”

Y/N watched as Pepper went to reach her hand into the hole in Tony’s chest but quickly retracted it.

“You know, I don’t think that I’m qualified to do this,” she nervously stated.

“No, you’re fine. You’re the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I’ve ever met. You’re gonna do great. Is it too much of a problem to ask? ‘Cause I’m…”

“Okay, okay.”

“I really need your help here.”

“I just don’t think—“

“I’ll do it,” Y/N offered.

“Yes,” Pepper quickly responded as Tony said, “No.” Pepper quickly glared at Tony.

“Fine,” the man gave in. Y/N and Pepper swapped places. “Okay, just like I told Pepper, gently lift the wire out without letting it touch the socket wall.”

“Don’t let it touch anything, got it.” Y/N carefully slid her hand into the hole, trying to feel for the wire. “Is that pus?”

“It’s not pus. It’s an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body.”

“It smells!” Pepper added from the side.

“Yeah, it does. The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?”

“Okay, I got it!” Y/N said, grabbing the wire and beginning to lift it out. “I got it!”

“Okay, you got it?” Now, don’t let it touch—“ Just then, Y/N accidentally let the wire touch the socket wall. “—the sides when you’re coming out!”

“I’m sorry, How— I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.” Y/N didn’t miss the look of confusion that Tony gave her due to her mistake.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, that you don’t…” Before he could finish, Y/N had accidentally pulled out the wire with a magnet attached to it, causing the medical equipment Tony was hooked up to to began beeping. “There’s a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out.”

“Oh, God!” Pepper exclaimed.

“Okay, I was not expecting…”

“Mr. Stark, what do I do?” Y/N asked, the monitors still going crazy in the background. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just going into cardiac arrest—“

“What?” The women both yelled.

“You said it was safe!” Pepper shouted.

“—‘cause Miss Barnes here yanked it out like a trout… We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this.” Tony pushed the new device into Y/N’s hands. “You gotta switch it out really quick.”

“Okay. Okay.” Y/N nodded, nervously. “Mr. Stark?”

“What?”

“It’s going to be okay. Okay?”

“Is it?”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Pepper added. “Y/N’s gonna make this okay.”

“Let’s hope,” Tony said. “Okay, you’re gonna attach that to the base plate.” Y/n quickly began working as Tony slowly began to lose consciousness. “Make s-sure you…” As soon as Y/N attached it, Tony let out a scream. “Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it.” He swatted Y/N’s hands away from his chest. “I got it. Here. Nice.”

“Are you okay?” Y/N asked.

“Yeah, I feel great. You okay?” He chuckled, looking at Y/N.

“Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever ask me or Y/N to do anything like that ever again,” Pepper said.

“I don’t have anyone but you,” Tony says, looking straight at Pepper. “Anyway…” Began ripping the wires off of him as he stood up. Y/N glanced as the old device. She needed to get some scans of it and send it to Coulson.

“What do you want me to do with this?” Y/N asked, picking up the device.

“That? Destroy it. Incinerate it.”

“You don’t want to keep it?” Pepper pushed.

“Pepper, I’ve been called many things. ‘Nostalgic’’ is not one of them.”

Pepper sighed. “Will that be all Mr. Stark?”

“That will be all, Miss Potts.” Pepper then turned and walked away, Tony’s eyes careful watching her before shaking out of his thoughts and talking to the robot near his desk. “Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What’s all this stuff doing on top of my desk?”

“I’ll go dispose of this for you, Mr. Stark.”

“Thank you, Miss Barnes.”

next chapter >

NOTES: I begin student teaching on Monday (08/17). (Yeah, I get to learn how to teach in this craziness.) So I won’t be able to update as much. I’m hoping to get at least two updates a week, but we’ll see. I’m working on a lot of chapters at the moment, so hopefully I can just have the ready to post. Thanks for all the support guys!

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worldsover · 4 years ago

Text

No More Drowning ft. Olivia Hye

length ✦ 7138

genres ✧ drunk hookup; outercourse; roommate!Olivia

✦✧✦✧✦✧

Perspiration deluges your white Taekwondo uniform. You make it fit loose so that it doesn’t stick to your skin. A refreshing breeze now annoys you as it whistles through your damn window that never sealed completely shut. At least you didn't need to turn on a fan today.

“Hey Captain,” you greet the commander of none. Hyejoo lies on a small blue couch, the only pristine spot in the living room. Her outfit suggests that there would be the usual cool air expected of the season but the fall is humid and stuck in the climate of a couple months past. It’s incredible that there is not a bead of sweat formed on her face. You study her and somehow she’s handsome in your eyes which is probably not a word others would use to describe the stunning woman reclining with her feet up.

“Wassup,” she says.

“You gonna-”

“Clean up? Yeah, yeah, lemme finish this round.”

Her face is welded to her screen though her eyes dart around maybe holding a hint of remorse at the clothes that litter the cramped living space and the dishes in the sink.

“I’m not an impostor! Ahhh!” Hyejoo shouts into the screen. Certainly none of her actions follow through on that guilt.

“How'd this even happen? You got pyjamas on the floor, shirts on the chairs. You a camgirl or something?"

"I'm a camgirl? I can see your tits dude.” Cover your pectoral cleavage in faux shame. ”Yo, I swear I just saw green-"

"And all these energy drinks? Come on Hyejoo, no way your heart lasts more than a year.”

“Wow, meanie.”

You look at your watch. “It’s like 9:40.”

“Shit, right, the marketing test.” Hyejoo’s fingers show no pretense that she’ll stop playing. She definitely didn't see your disapproving face. “Oh relax, I still got time,” she says anyway.

Finally, she looks up at you and her brows crease. “What?” you ask.

"You look good today."

Your heart floats just a little. You always appreciate the little compliments she gives. They were just ones that friends, good friends, would say but you’ll take anything to keep you going. Well, it’s enough to get you to clean up for her again.

“It’s gonna be a long shower by the way.” She giggles and you step over empty cans and bottles when you walk to the bathroom.

“No prob, I’m heading out soon,” Hyejoo says.

“Sure you are.”

Her exaggerated yawn seems not so exaggerated by how she stretches her entire being before putting her phone away.

“Oh, soon means now. How long’s it going to take?” you say.

She shrugs her shoulders. “One, two? I dunno.”

In a rush to get all her supplies in her bag, a series of metallic clangs sound out when finished beverages fall over like dominoes.

“Fuck. I’m so sorry about that, I really am. I can buy you lunch if you want something?” Hyejoo starts picking up a few of them to set aside in the corner and you help her.

“Nah, I’ll still be in the shower by then.”

Hyejoo scoffs. “If I'm addicted to caffeine, you're addicted to water. A sandwich sound good?”

“Yeah sure. I got a lot on my mind, Captain.”

“That include me?” A dismissive puff of air exits your lips. No, no way. She walks up to smell your uniform. Your acute awareness of her distance or lack thereof causes you to ignore her pupils' subtle drift downwards.

“You’re a weirdo, you know that?”

"Get to your shower stinky."

You wave Hyejoo off then enter the bathroom. The scurry of little steps and a slam from the front door echo the whole apartment. Never any privacy in here. These sounds give way to the jet engine of your shower with its pressure betraying the bargain rate of your rent. Soap washes away your muscles' ache and the sun’s beating on your skin. It's been unusually warm since the leaves turned brown. Water builds up in the tub.

Something's not adding up. There it is again. That plunging in your heart. Sparring always helps a bit after your early morning manual labor carrying bags of sand. However, it does not stop the resurfacing of your every mistake as there's nothing but your mind in the shower. You don't have a plan and your future is void because money and work hours kill you as much as school. You're not even getting all the wages you earn and there's nothing you can do about it. Past choices bubble up in that unkind way. The cup fills and clear blue liquid engulfs you.

Lift yourself out the tub to catch a breath that you don't deserve. Deliberate respirations do nothing to slow down your heart rate. The only thing that can is a captain. You could wander the ocean on a raft with her alone but you have no idea if she felt even close to the same. Maybe she's just the most important friend you've ever had. Light from the small window hits the tiled floor. Unplug the drain. Right, you left your clothes in your room so wrap yourself with a green towel you find hanging from the doorknob.

Shit! There's not a mouse in sight but you shriek like there is one when Hyejoo materializes in the confined kitchen. Hyejoo expresses no surprise herself as she sits cross legged on the miniature wooden dining table playing yet another mobile game. Laundry baskets and garbage bags hold all the previous mess. Your surprise at her appearance transforms into surprise for her proactiveness. You want to give her thanks but no words escape your lips.

"You gonna put on some clothes? Perv. That’s my towel too."

Your hands push off invisible blame. The hands of the wall clock reads five minutes before noon. "Woah, woah, wait a sec. What happened to the midterm?"

"Walked out in the middle of it. Couldn’t deal. Dropped."

"Wait, what about the refund?"

"Sunk cost dude.” Hyejoo sniffs a wide white shirt hanging from a chair next to her. “This yours or mine? Ehh, it's clean either way."

You catch the shirt and smell it. A little vanilla. It's hers. “Thanks Captain.”

“Even sniffing it? Really a perv.” You almost forget a single piece of fabric separates full exposure of your genitals but the realization makes you blush anyway.

“Nah, you smelled it first and. Whoever smelt it, dealt it.”

“That’s not what that saying means.” Hyejoo gets up from her awkward seat.

Incredible how many new ways she can throw you off like when she bumps into you with her eyes are still on her phone. Hyejoo's clumsiness will be your death as the towel slips down and hangs solely from your half erect dick. Cool, you're just a clothing rack now. She turns you around with one hand and snatches the large shirt with the other. Your bare moon is in full view.

"You gonna put this on or just stand there?" she says with no qualms about the absurd sight of your newly cleansed rear. You scramble to wrap the towel tightly around you to tame your erection but there's no way she hasn't noticed by now.

"Y- yep, I, I will do that, for sure." Turn back around and take the shirt to put it on carefully. It’d be oversized for her but it fits you snug. Your ears must have joined your cheek’s redness because your nipples poke through the thin white fabric.

Hyejoo takes a single glance away from her screen at your makeshift towel skirt and laughs. "Actually, you look cute like that. Just keep the towel on, it's less to clean."

Wide-eyed, you say, "What if ahjumma barges in?"

"What if? Whatever, no fun." She sticks her tongue out then gets comfortable on the couch while her diligent and nimble fingers peck at the screen.

Return to the restroom and deal with your erection before it becomes a problem. You’ve seen hints of her comely body before and it helps you undress her layered attire in your imagination. Instead of the black button-up long sleeve and track pants she wore just moments ago, you picture a crop top, her hair tied up and white panties, and it's that latter image that affixes to your mind. On a particularly balmy day, Hyejoo wore only her underwear because she had nothing else to do but game and it hasn't stopped plaguing your fantasies ever since. Your hands are Hyejoo’s, soft and loving just for a moment.

"You taking another shower in there or what?" Hyejoo shouts, “I’d definitely hear from here!”

Reality smacks you in the face. She had no fear of you, no worry that you’d take advantage of her. Were you even a man? Stop your jerking and get up.

Open the bathroom door absentmindedly and thump. It smacks her head. You don’t even think about why she was standing right next to the door, instead sweeping aside her hair from her face. Red doesn’t come from where you hit her.

Simultaneously, you and Hyejoo say, “You okay?”

“Um, I’m, look-”

Her blush grows but she interrupts your blabbering, “I didn’t hear you respond and thought you, uh, died in there or something.”

Nearly reached la petite mort if that counted but instead you say, “No, I just. Had a lot to consider.”

“Sure.” You’ve never seen her this flustered since it’s enough for her to scurry back to her room. Hopefully things wouldn’t be too awkward.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

“I fucking hate you!” Hyejoo yells.

“Oh yeah? Same!” you retort, probably too loud.

Her tone goes down. “Were those the lines?”

“Ehh, as long as we get the gist of the argument down.”

Hyejoo and you stand on the stairway up to your rooftop apartment in your rehearsed spots. She looks a little confused on how to start what she wants to start but you poke at her when you see the landlady walking towards the stairs.

“Chill out!” she yelps.

“Chill out, you’re telling me to chill out?"

"Seriously, oppa," that's about as strained as a human can say a word, "You’re such a slob!”

“Shut up, look at me straight in the eyes and tell me you’re not just as bad,” you say, trying not to laugh but Hyejoo’s punch knocks the wind out of you. Your pain is only half acting. Her sympathetic look does nothing to soothe you.

"Ya!" The elderly woman interrupts and forces you two apart. “That’s enough! I get you’re cousins but even I don’t fight this badly with my family.”

Hyejoo whips her pupils towards you as though to ask the same question you had, if you sold the illusion too hard.

“I get that living with your kin is tough but at the very least, no murders on my property. Not until one of you graduates.” The old lady squints and turns to each of you saying, “Promise me. No hitting. Not in my sight.”

You nod then Hyejoo’s sigh becomes an assenting nod when the landlady smacks her wrist nearly black and blue. Satisfied at her hard work reconciling family matters, she walks back down her stairs to do her usual wandering around the neighborhood. Hyejoo and you take a second to stretch and relax.

“Ha. Do as I say, not as I do,” Hyejoo says as you both sit on the concrete steps.

You caress your tender rib. “Or don't do at all. Ow. You wanna be a Youtuber? They do boxing and gaming, and you'd kill doing both." Hyejoo's laugh is rich and all that it takes for you to forgive her. You exhale. "Hopefully that gets her off our backs for a while.”

“How do you even manage Taekwondo? You’re so fragile and-" Her sentence is interrupted when she looks at your built arms.

"No way they hit as hard as you, Captain." You miss her carnal look when you close your eyes and think about the nickname that you aimlessly threw out one day.

She stands up. Your eyes violently spread open at her “Kya!” Hyejoo’s fighting stance and shouts masquerading kihaps are totally off. As much as Hyejoo could kill you, a Taekwondo fighter since your childhood, she could also be incredibly cute too.

You tsk. "All that power and no technique."

Hyejoo sits back down none the more ashamed and scratches her head. "You think it would’ve been easier if we came clean?”

“Ahjumma could never allow two strangers to live co-ed. No way. I’m still surprised you came up with that so quickly.”

“It just came out so naturally, oppa!” she says in a deriding high pitch. “Yeah right I ever call you that again.”

Ring ring. You answer the call and Hyejoo's quizzical stare turns concerned at your breathlessness from the words that drill into your ear. They slam, they crash and their volume could break your eardrums even though they’re said as calmly as possible. The hole in your raft grows bigger and leaks more so even when you reach the abandoned shore, you're marooned.

"Fuck, fuck, god."

Sprint for the next bus. Pay no heed to the girl chasing you. Dammit, this can't be happening. Every problem gets fucking magnified because you can't have anything good and if you did, never could it last for more than a goddamn millisecond. You embark on the most anxious ride of your life even though you already know exactly what's going to happen. Transfer buses. The skyscrapers hover over you and gloat about how you’ll never enter their doors. Asphalt and glass swelter you when they reflect radiation down the sky. Your skin hurts. You get off the bus and arrive at the headquarters of the construction company. At the front of the building stands your boss.

Slap. "Did you not get the message? Were you under a tunnel?"

You get on your knees and bow. "Sir, I'm sorry."

"No one else is going to hire a goddamn delinquent like you."

"Please. I thought you understood." You nearly prostrate yourself

"I have no idea what you're talking about. There's a lot of assault on your record."

You stop yourself from blurting out that you fucking know. Defending yourself from bullies is assault? He already knew this was bullshit since that's why he hired you in the first place but now he's backtracking like a rat.

"I'll do anything to work here." He shakes his head while you hold back a tear. "Please. Just. Just tell me why?"

"You got greedy."

"Greedy?" You raise your head and then your tone. "Getting paid for the work that I do is greed?"

"You're on your knees and wanna talk back? Get out."

Bang. A closing door. Your head slumps back down and not a single person on the bus would misunderstand your emotions. You take the longest way home, unsure if you even deserve to go back. Any time, you could give up. Ponder your choices. Never going to get a job again. Never going to school. Never will have a chance to learn or a chance to improve. Never going to have money and never will have a place to live. Never going to see Hyejoo again. You have to give up.

One missed phone call from your polar opposite. She can do so much better. The longest way home turns longer when it goes straight to the sea as you decide to live life as a fisherman with your uncles. You were always invited. You wasted your time in the city. There's no stress here.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

There's no happiness either. Weeks passed even though only days passed. That’s life on the water. Everything spins. Fortunately, you manage to keep your stomach in not wanting to inconvenience the bus driver, the only other person in the vehicle.

You look at your watch as you near Hyejoo's home. She must be asleep by now but you carry each foot heavily when you walk up the steps anyway. Apologies, excuses and petitions that you wrote in your head blank away when you open the door when you see a woman asleep on the couch with earbuds on. Her unconscious head bounces to a slow rhythm. Your lungs fail your mouth's movements to form words because of all that creamy skin covered only by a green towel that creates an outline of her captivating curves. Hyejoo's legs beg to be licked and her collarbones direct your gaze to the bulging flesh poking from the top of the towel with her nipples an inch from your sight. Any other day and you’d ravage her on the spot. Stupid brain tells you to leave and stupid you follows.

You're outside when you hear Hyejoo say, "Hey! Motherfucker, where'd you go you son of a bitch?"

She steps out with no regard to her state of dress and you spin around watching for any witness. You notice her hold back when she hits you but her consecutive punches send a message anyway as each strike punctuates her words, "What, makes you think, you can worry me, like that?"

"Woah, you should. You should get back inside your house," your voice breaks and you back away.

"Hold on now, you're really about to go? Like this?" Hyejoo says.

"You. You look busy. I have to go."

"I'm sorry, I was just messing around with you. Come on, you're really telling me-" She notices your tumultuous expression and sighs. “Fuck it, we'll worry about it tomorrow. First of all, come in. With me. Into our home.”

You follow her into her apartment. She quickly returns from her room in a simple white tee and red gym shorts revealing the supple shape of her ass.

“I'm not gonna ask, okay? Tell you what. When you have a problem, the only answer is late night soju, beer and?” she says.

“Chicken, it’s gotta be. Come on, I see the bones right there.” You point to the countertop dishes. “I’m surprised this place isn’t messier."

"I can handle myself, thank you very much. And that. That was leftover, dry, sober chicken. We're going to munch down on that good crispy skin and we're doing it goddamn wasted." You can't help but match her smile, more radiant and genuine than yours.

Hyejoo pulls out all the alcohol from the small fridge while you call for delivery before both of you step outside the home. It’s night but the heat would make you believe the moon disguises the sun with how it shines on the green roof. What a weird fall. Only the trees remind you of the season. A short plastic table as the only furniture easily moved outside means that you’d have to sit close together on the floor, not that you minded.

Her silence confuses you but she becomes her usual self after you both down glasses of mixed beer and soju and especially after she sees the delivery man bringing an absurd amount of plastic bags for two people.

“Let’s. Go!” she shouts sloppily.

The poor worker looks at you so you give him a knowing nod and point to the beer and soju cans strewn about. His thumbs up as he walks away beguiles you. You look at Hyejoo and realize all the cleavage she’s showing with the shirt she chose. It's as revealing as the towel she wore earlier. Did she not put on a bra? Stand up quickly and search for the guy but his motorcycle revs and he’s already out of sight. That fucker probably saw something he shouldn’t have. You’re never gonna order from that chicken spot again. You bite angrily into the spicy crispy wing. Alright, maybe you just won’t order at this hour or whenever that dude works. Hyejoo chows down with drumsticks on each hand and it’s clear she’s responsible for a majority of the finished carcasses. The stains on her shirt would not make her look any less goddamn cute.

“Cheers!” Glasses clink. How many drinks, how many, burp, were you down? She burps too, you burp together. It’s funny. There was a lot of conversation but it slips you.

"I said I wouldn't talk about it, but Doyun and Michael, worried sick. They came here, everything.” Hyejoo garbles her words.

"Just ‘cause I don't show up to the club for a few days?"

"I'm telling you, a lot of people care. For you. I know I do."

It’s been a while since you started your little escape. All the food’s gone. You’re more sober now. You swear. The nighttime is so comfortable that Hyejoo brings out her blanket to lay on, along with a spoon and a watermelon.

"You're gonna have to wash this later," you say.

“Alright fine. Don't. Don’t rest yourself besides a pretty lady.“ Stab. ”On a perfect starry night.” Stab. “And don’t have some of this delicious watermelon."

One more stab at the watermelon she splits it open. Her devilish look suggests she might do the same to your rib cage if you don’t acquiesce. Lie down next to Hyejoo on the flimsy layer of cloth. You share pieces of the fruit and notice water spilling down her mouth. Definitely sober by now. She’s maybe half a meter away.

"Starry's a strong word to use.” You twirl your finger at the scarce lights in the black backdrop. “Lady too with the way you eat-" She playfully covers your mouth and flicks your forehead.

You don't know when your laughter and banter slow down, or when you start inching closer to her. It doesn't matter.

“Fishing is boring. They make it look all dramatic on shows and you’re just waiting. The night sky’s much clearer though.”

“You gotta. When you do something like that, gotta lemme join in at least.”

“You’re really fine on going on a trip with a man, alone, faraway on the sea?”

“If it’s you.”

“I don’t count, not much of a man at all. I just run away from shit and-”

"Shhh,” she shushes you loudly. “You can count on me.” Hyejoo says and you don’t let her voice project into empty space.

“I will.” It sounds a little forced from you.

“You will,“ she sounds so sure of herself, ”you’ll be okay.”

Your head lays in her neck. A finger in a cup, breaking surface tension so a drop escapes past the rim. You have no outdated sentiments on displaying emotion but you held back often pretending your tenacity was as strong as your body. Not this time. Your cup overflows.

Only moonlight refracts on your tears and Hyejoo wipes them away. You have no idea what she’s thinking as she gazes into the few stars visible in the city. Turn on your side and Hyejoo does likewise to face you then puts a couple of fingers in your hair. Cup her face in return and it wears many emotions, such as impishness, meekness at a few times, and an often impenetrable focus, but above all it’s the standard for beauty in how it assumes no blemish. Her triangle mouth is distinct, welcoming, but you hesitate. Her minute sugary fragrance overwhelms the variety of smells in the air. Crickets and distant occasional traffic. Hyejoo’s head tilts forward then places her lips light on yours and your world is silent. Your heart’s pulse slows so it doesn't interrupt.

“Captain,” you exhale out when she finally retreats her mouth. The name sounds ridiculous in this setting. “Ma’am?”

“Whatever sounds right to you,” she yields, though the subdued caresses on the definition of your arms, and less subtle grabs on your black shirt, convey that she’s in charge even if it’s a gentle direction. "Just Hyejoo is fine."

It's like she’s teaching you how to spar for the first time though neither of you are virgins. Hyejoo gives another kiss then turns you recumbent. You could not and would not stop her now especially when she straddles your denim covered thighs. Take off your shirt and her hands rush to aid you.

“But I’d prefer we don’t think at all.” Is she drooling?

“That’s what got me into trouble. Thoughtlessness.” Your eyes somehow wander away from the woman and her sumptuous yet clothed ass grinding on you.

“What do you think of me?

“Huh?” you say and your eyes snap back to her.

The underside of her shorts warm your groin. “I said, what do you think of me?”

“I think, ugh,” her weight striking a sensitivity in your pants makes you moan, “I think, you’re the most beautiful woman I know.”

“What a player. Well, that’s all you need to think.” Hyejoo rocks back and forth. “Fuck, this is going to be good.”

Lay your hands on her hips and Hyejoo takes your right one, lifting herself just enough to let your dick breathe.

“Why do you need that hand?” you say.

“Feel this.” She takes your hand to knead the thin cloth under her mound and you feel just the tiniest hint of moisture build on your palm.

Pull away to take a base whiff of your slippery fingers. It’ll be a new addiction. The smell of alcohol and the most delicious fried chicken in the world couldn’t compare.

"It's been like this around you since the day we met." Hyejoo bends down and etches every word of the confession into your eardrums, her tone even raspier. "This is all for you."

“Really?” You give her a peck and it turns frisky when tongues join the mix and teeth nibble at lips.

“Mhm.” Her lips vibrate on yours. Hyejoo gropes your crotch over your jeans. “I know it's going to be perfect.” She unzips and pulls down your pants to your knees. You take them off your legs completely and she searches for your wallet.

"I just lost my job and you're gonna rob me?" She breaks her serious character with a snicker. You sniffle and your mood lightens, “And how’d you know I had a condom in there?”

“Just had a feeling.” She winks.

Not an implausible cold reading but you can't count out the possibility of her snooping through your personal effects. You don't mind her proclivities this time. Hyejoo traces your every muscle’s curve with her index and middle finger and focuses especially around your pecs.

“I have to concede. I love these muscles of yours. Ever since that first day I met you at the open house. Maybe I’m just a simple woman.”

“Simplicity is sophistication.” Her fingers draw a line down your torso.

"Indeed. But I'm most interested in this hunk of meat right," she frees your cock from its confines, "Here." Hyejoo licks her lips.

“How is it?”

You’re already hard but Hyejoo's hands deftly work your shaft stiffer. “It’s so thick and this vein right here. It’ll hit just right.”

"Fuck, Hyejoo," you utter when she spits a little on your cock before she unrolls the condom on your erection. Hyejoo slips aside her shorts.

You don't get a view of her pussy with how she sprawls herself on top of you, but the slickness of her lips and the warmth that she emanates from between her legs immerses your senses enough. The missionary with her on top lets her control by the way she guides your cock and presses down on you.

“Oh god, I was right, fuuck,” Hyejoo proclaims when she sinks herself carefully into you and, on the next bounce, smacks her butt right into your waist. Her snugness clenches and quakes on your cock. Willowy arms share a similar hold of your body when she embraces you. You need her as badly as she needs you. You take heavy breaths, especially through your nose. Even her sweat is so alluring. The velvet texture that surrounds you keeps taut on your dick no matter how forcefully she rides herself on top of you. Squelches and quiet moans to a higher power pepper the warm night air.

Hyejoo removes her shirt and slings it away before bowing back down to lick your ears "God, your tits are perfect," you say even though your hands squeeze her buttcheeks in time to her thrusts. Her perky breasts recoil back and forth as they rub your chest while hard nipples juxtapose their softness.

No chance someone would come up to this little rooftop at this hour or have a good view though your cheeks flush at the thought. What if you had extra chicken coming? Or what if the landlady decided to check in on you two late at night? What if-

Hyejoo nudges her forehead against yours. She knows your habits. Your worried face is too familiar for her not to react so she nuzzles your neck and surrounds you with kisses.

Her husky voice vibrates your whole face. "Just focus on me." She makes out with you before her tongue dips into every crevice of your face the same way your cock does in her pink pussy.

Your dick slips out for a second and you take the time to admire her beauty and your fortune.

“Telling me not to drown and you’re going to inundate me,” you say in between her smooches, "With all these kisses."

“Well. Mwah.” Another peck. "You're so delectable.”

“So I’m just chicken to you then.” This deep kiss is probably to shut you up. You’re fine with that.

Regret on her mouth that she pulls away from you. One of you rips off her shorts, the last piece of clothing obstructing you two from total symmetry. Who cares who sees. You’re both fully naked with not a woe for the surrounding world. Delicate hands splayed across your upper body grasp tightly and again, your pecs get particular attention while she fondles your nipples.

She adjusts her back straight up and now she’s on her knees seated on your erection. The cowgirl stance allows her to find a new cusp of your cock head inside her. Hyejoo gyrates on you and you notice the understated lubrication of her pussy begins to overpower everything else in existence. Her musk vaguely reminds you of the ocean while its pheromones have you just as wobbly. It’s enough that, even though you're on your back, you have to hold her waist to avoid keeling over. Nails dig into your chest.

“God, yes, you, your cock, everything, just fuck into me.”

Hyejoo relaxes her body weight and relinquishes the rhythm to you. Pick up a new wind in your sails when you hear her gasp as you pinch her nipples. The momentum has you use all your stamina as though your rigorous fitness had one culminating purpose. You would make Hyejoo cum with only your cock. Rotate and circle your pelvis in pursuit of her most tender spot and an uncharacteristic high pitched wail confirms the location of the treasure. It’s difficult holding yourself up to reach the sensitive wall but she realizes your shared interest.

“That’s, that’s the spot. When I touch myself and think of you, it’s right there, fuck, it’s right there.” There’s no speed or power in your movement, only deliberate jabs and graceful nudges at the softest flesh. Sure it’s work, but damn did you get paid for it since she somehow sops even more between her thighs. Truly the reciprocating delight of friction and silkiness on your dick’s tip is worth it. Your name mixes profanities and wet slapping noises as Hyejoo bucks her hips in climax. Prized juices cascade all over your lap. Her highest vocalizations pierce your ears and her pussy tries its best to milk you but Hyejoo keeps as still as she can to hold your cock’s ideal positioning. Smear the fluids that coat her thighs slick with your hands and lick at your fingers, thirsty like you’re stranded.

Those thighs, by smothering your cock and removing your condom, soothe the pangs of when you pull out. Hyejoo is still in her cowgirl position reeling from her climax and her contorted face is yet more polished than any art you’ve consumed.

Seize the opportunity. Bend your dick forward. The topside of your shaft now rubs on her well-formed ass cheeks, moisturized by the wetness on your cock. Its cradle is different from her pussy's with perfect round cushions in her buns and a tight asshole that greets and tempts your shaft every time you thrust. It’s a siren call you’d have to answer another day. Fucking her bare buttcheeks satisfies you plenty enough.

She lifts up to let your erection return to its idle upward stance and you fuck her thighs in response. Her labia gnaws away at the bottom of your shaft and it begs you to shove it back in especially with how its liquor intoxicates your dick. You don’t forfeit, already overwhelmed by the thickness of her legs and her saliva dribbling from her mouth to help her juices. Hyejoo squirms as you repeat fucking her ass cheeks and fucking her thighs, and it makes the both of you feel heady. Alcohol and lack of sleep would probably do that too.

“Please. Hyejoo,” you implore, flexing your cock to scrape by her pussy lips.

“You want to?” She teases your bare tip but even just the spread of her satin pink on your head makes you shoot just a little. “I. I dunno.”

“Can we?”

“No.” You regret your loud sigh and feel selfish since you already had more satisfaction than one man could ever experience in his life. ”No, not no. No, as in no thinking.”

Plunge back into her wetness. Your cycle in and out continues with you eager to make her climax a second time. Maybe it’s the third time? The only thing you can recall is that this round, you can feel every corner of her pussy on your shaft tensing and relaxing without the latex protection. All of everything is a blur. Hyejoo could be clutching and ogling your muscles. She might be kissing your neck or maybe she’s bobbing up and down to show off her tits and her tummy. God, that midriff would look perfect coated in your cum. You could live forever with Hyejoo mounted on your cock and riding. A ringtone interrupts forever once again. It’s from that number. What was that number? Fuck it, no thinking. Her bouncing tits hypnotize you away from substantiality.

She snaps her fingers. “Hey! Hey. This is, fuck that feels so good, god your cock is just right. Ah fuck, I really think you should answer that.” You take an eternity to slow your boat. Hyejoo points to your phone on the table next to you. Work. She’s right. Both of you take a second to stabilize your breathing. Try to push her off but she refuses, shifting her mass onto your lap and keeping her pussy’s hold tight and warm on you.

“Really?” You groan, “You’re the one who told me to answer it.”

“It’s so late and they haven’t stopped calling.” She rests her head on your chest and yawns. “Your cock is sooo big in me. Don’t even need to move.”

Channel your practice silently jerking off to keep your cool though years of doing that couldn’t prepare you for this. Your hands certainly tried but never could imitate her pussy’s plush tightness. Really wish you didn’t have to but finally, you answer your phone after minutes of ringing. The voice on the other side mumbles a greeting. Didn’t expect to hear him. “Joonho. Why the fuck are you calling now?”

“It’s me! Joonho.”

“Yeah, I know. The hell you calling for?”

“Now that’s no way to speak to your boss, is it?”

“Huh?”

“I said that’s no way to speak.”

“I got that!”

“Hyung. That asshole, management fired him.”

“You telling me-”

“Yeah, they caught him stealing.”

“How the fuck?”

“Dude got too big for his britches and aimed up with his theft too. Mr. Son really didn’t like that shit.”

You cheer in your head. It wakes up the girl resting on you. Guess that wasn’t in your head. “Fuck man.”

"I know right. Fuck him!" You're not on speaker but Hyejoo must’ve heard him say that. You massage your ringing ear.

“Ow. But thank you. Seriously, it’s so late. You could’ve called me tomorrow.”

“I’m drunk as shit man. Sounds like you are too.” You don’t even realize how much you’re slurring your words. “Should I pull up, maybe we drink a little more?”

Stare at the woman still holding your cock in place, fluttering her lashes at you. Hyejoo mouths if you’re gonna take much longer. “I. I don’t think I will. We’ll have to meet up some other time, okay?”

Understanding that you’re winding down your call, she gets back upright and starts bouncing again. “You gonna pass out or something?” Joonho says.

“Something like that” Hyejoo teasingly drops her waist into you and waits, then lifts herself. You purse your lips. “Listen, ah.” And again. Purposeful slams into your cock too loud not to be picked up by a phone. “God. I gotta go, I’ll text you again tomorrow aight goodbye,” you rush your words.

She holds her hair up in pleasure and her profane cries let everyone living below know that you’re fucking the most gorgeous girl with more energy than you’ve ever had. For all the pressure on your sensitive nerves, it’s that image of Hyejoo satisfying her need with your cock that brings you closer.

“I’m almost there! Fuck, fuck.” You pull out and despite her drowsiness, Hyejoo diligently takes your dick with both hands, scoots back and bends down, slobbering on it with her mouth while her fingers stroke the skin of your shaft.

Hyejoo’s lips pop when she releases your cock’s tip. “Where do you wanna-”

“Those fucking perfect abs,” you shudder.

She takes advantage of your previous thrusts’ zeal on her thighs and repositions herself in cowgirl one last time to bend back and choke your cock with her toned legs. One single motion is all it takes. A tsunami and a storm clash. Didn’t remind her that you hadn’t cum at all away at sea as you explode. You call out, “Hyejoo, god, yes, fuck, Hyejoo, yes,” at every wave of pleasure. Shove desperately and Hyejoo’s eyes grow big at how much semen streams out of your slit because the volume of cum nearly rivals the fluid she ejected from her wetness. Her inner thighs, her lap and her stomach all soak in stickiness. She holds onto your arms as she finds enjoyment not only from your cock’s throbbing on her clit, but at your biceps and other curves. An inquisitive pinky takes a sample of your cum to lick up then, to your surprise, she collects all the cum she can with both hands and swallows it down.

“Ahh,” she presents her tongue to you.

Finally, you sit up and no amount of exhaustion would stop you from nibbling her neck as thanks.

“Relax, you hungry beast. You just came all over me and now you’re trying to tell the world we just fucked.” She gives you a little suck on your lips instead.

“I don’t mind.” You clash at her mouth and your teeth click. She smiles and gives you a deep but final smooch. Both of you breathe stiltedly and take time to readjust into the world once again.

“Me neither, if I didn’t have a presentation tomorrow.”

You fall back and feel everything aching in a good way. “Ah shit, school.”

“What did I tell you earlier?”

“Hmm?”

Hyejoo falls flat next to you and clasps her hands into yours. “You will be okay. I called them with an excuse. Speaking of which. You’re gonna find out sooner or later that a certain cool as fuck girl blew the whistle on that son of a bitch.”

This whole thing feels like it should be temporary, like a one-time thing. Any more and it’d be weird, yet her confidence makes you reroute all that anxious energy in your heart’s pace into something good. It’s not love but, “Thanks. I just. Thank you.”

“You are always welcome.” Her lips curl up.

“So. You a snitch now, huh?"

"Relax,” she hisses the end of the word. ”Maybe I snooped through the construction company records, maybe I didn’t. You didn’t hear from me, ‘kay?" She nudges your side with her elbow.

“Hey!” You laugh a little, ticklish in that spot. “Okay, okay. How’d you manage that anyway?”

“Joonho didn’t mention it? Well, I have my connections,” Hyejoo says.

You breathe out and you deserve it. “You really are the Captain.”

“Damn right. Guess you’re stuck on this boat a little.” Yawn. “Longer.” Her eyelids slowly descend.

Watch Hyejoo fall asleep and realize she��s nude and still a little sticky. You decide to make a smart decision just once by putting away all the garbage in your apartment. She giggles reflexively when you clean her up and you struggle but manage to put on her previous outfit.

After you get dressed yourself, you lie next to Hyejoo and watch the few lights in the sky all distanced from each other. You feel a little reticent but the old lady shouldn’t fret if the outdoors is a better bedroom for one night. Close your eyes. Drift away into the best sleep you’ve ever had even if it’s only you and a blanket separate the hard concrete rooftop from the atmosphere. Dreams of water are gracious for once. The ocean lacks bounds and you smile for it. Who cares about tomorrow? It’s made of sticks and rope fashioned from whatever bamboo you could find but the raft holds two. That’s all you need.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

"A college roommate scenario where the male reader is living with LOONA's Olivia Hye and she's attracted to him sexually since he moved in due to his physique. Then one day, he got home all stressed and the two hooked up eventually." - @optimisticwritersworld

AFF, AO3

Pretty sure this was supposed to be all casual but then I started adding to explain the co-ed living scenario and the stress, so here we are. Watch out for more LOONA though no promises on timelines

#kpop smut #loona smut #request #male reader #reader insert #title tracks

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albino-whumpee · 3 years ago

Text

Cage

Albus´ last day at the facility. Next up, we start with Sann and Robert´s training and meeting arc! I´m so excited to show you the new edited parts! Hope you like it!

Taglist: @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @giggly-evil-puppy @cowboysrappin @haro-whumps @burtlederp @neuro-whump @comfortforthepain @whumps-the-word @whole-and-apart-and-between @broken-horn @ashintheairlikesnow @rosesareviolentlyread @crowned-avery @starnight-whump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @as-a-matter-of-whump @whumpasaurus101 @grizzlie70

CW// Dehumanization, pet whump, human trafficking, institutionalized slavery, conditioning, cages, shock collars, noncon hair cutting, needles, drugged whumpee, mentions of past torture, creepy whumper, hypothermia, dubcon touching and touch starved whumpee.

778900 had been taken out of his trainee room a few weeks ago. Dragged somewhere blindfolded by handler Harry himself and taken to a room much colder than the chains around his ankles and the facility.

The albino trainee went without resisting, but he hoped he was not on a freezer for him to beg the handlers to take him out, as their usual games went.

But when the blindfold was off, he was somewhere he didn´t recognize. He exhaled a cloud of fog as he barely moved his head to inspect the place.

It looked almost the same with the rows of cages on one wall and barely enough space to walk through the isle with two doors on each side. The only difference was that the cages there were a bit bigger. He could lay down on the aluminium floor.

They didn´t have a hook on one of the edges that connected to a shackle for his ankle either, or the four thick bars with the welded two locks he had learnt the hard way not to pick on.

It was plain metal with a lid in the middle.

Despite his trembling, he had crawled inside as ordered and had seen how the annoying light that had always made his eyes and head hurt, disappeared into the shadows with a swift slide.

Along handler Harry and the people coming out of the door wearing white coats.

It was pitch black inside and so cold, his fingers went numb and he couldn´t stop shaking even if he curled into himself as tight as he could. Their voices were but a whisper inside, in deep contrast to 778900´s own thrumming heartbeat on his ears and loud teeth chattering.

It took hours to feel warm and relax enough to let his eyelids close and sleep. Feeling strange about the relief he felt in the darkness. After all, it was the first time in very a long time, he didn´t have to force himself to sleep with his arms over his face, or against the floor just to try to get a second where he wouldn´t see plain white.

Sometimes, he dreamed he could merge with the walls. Walk further than the tiny trainee room and sneak outside through the corners. That just going around the concerete a sunny beach, with a warm wind and warm sand under his feet would be waiting for him. No shock collar locked around his neck or white walls and white floors.

Just the sea and the sky for miles and miles.

He was woken up by handler Harry´s hand wrapping around his arm and dragged out of the cage to stand.

“Position One” the man ordered and his body moved to obey without thinking. Trainees won´t think when they get into position, something very far buried on the albino´s mind reminded him as he processed he had a blindfold on again and his hands were being bound behind his back.

He furrowed his eyebrows upon feeling something foreign…and soft. He twisted his wrists to hear the familiar cackling of chains but instead got the hushed sound of leather rubbing against his skin.

“Change of plans, ´900″ he said pushing him forward. His ankles were not bound, but he still stumbled “We still got training to do”

Even after weeks, the albino boxie still brushed his aching fingers against the soft leather. Barely believing that it really meant someone had decided to keep him. That wanted him to learn to read and write again for some reason beyond him.

He was going to get sent to his new owner soon, but after five years of waiting, he was suddenly terrified of what awaited him.

How would they be like? Would they be…like the handlers? Would they be nice? He shook the thoughts away and pulled his knees closer to his chest. The pressure of the shock collar on his throat never forgotten.

“Whatever happens, it´ll be better than here. Please don´t regret it, it´ll be better than here, it´ll be better than here, it´ll be better…” 778900 whispered to himself.

After a few days, the handler Harry Coleman took him out of the trainee room and instead of going to train, he took him to the showers.

He was used to seeing other platonics and domestics or even a few romantics bathing as quickly as they could on the large room without cubicles facing the wall and with their head down. Sometimes rubbing the odorless soap slowly because of the large purple spots on their backs.

That time however, it was only him and two others that left as soon as he beagn to shower. It had been a few weeks and even as cold as ice as the water was, he relaxed washing the grime off his hair, now long to his shoulders.

He was done just before the handler clicked his tongue for him to run over and wait for him to hear the permission to wear the clean white uniform again. But the man kept staring at the tablet on his hands as he threw him just black boxers with his number in blue and the company´s logo.

“Suit up, ´900″

To his amusement, he didn´t felt like fainting to read the words printed on them. Maybe a tight pressure behind his eyes, but he slipped the boxers on and followed the man to the next room.

The albino found the cold was more bareable inside. Almost warm, but maybe it was simply the plastic cape around his neck and the black leather chair he was sitting on providing it. He was surely weirded out to be ordered to sit on a chair and suddenly feel hands washing his hair with something that smelled nice and spicy.

778900 thought the woman rubbing his scalp with such calming movements, gentle and delicate must have an angel in disguise as the stress of the unfamiliar situation dissipated from his body for a second.

“Ok, stand up, boy. Sit on that chair and wait”

The boy wasn´t expected to answer, so he simply did as he was told and waited on the chair with his feet barely touching the ground. Not flinching or making any noise as the man tightened the belts around his wrists and ankles.

“How short?” the woman with a thick accent said, tilting his head forward and damping his hair some more. The trainee managed to control his flinching when he heard scissors snapping close to his ear.

“The prospect just put “Short” on their description” The handler shrugged “Do as you wish”

The woman brushed her fingers through his hair again, “Well, ain´t that helpful?” she said at the snap of scissors.

At each snap, the cape over his shoulders would slide down thick strands of hair into the floor. He bit his lower lip trying to not let the tears on his eyes slide too.

It was just hair that got grabbed to pull him around all the time. It was just hair that would grow again, but he quietly sniffed when the woman ruffled his hair when she was done.

She was no angel, she was just like the rest of them.

He didn´t need to see himself, it didn´t matter, so the woman only took the cape off and hopefully the handler didn´t comment on his reddened nose and eyes when they walked out or the half moons marked on the palm of his hands.

A door suddenly slammed open behind the albino. He heard someone walk inside carrying a heavy bag. He naturally turned his head at the noise but Coleman grabbed his chin to force him to look at him instead.

“Stay still, ´900″ the man said as the trainee´s chest heaved.

A belt went around his arm and was tightened harshly. Even when he winced, the other man´s held his grip around him. Not breaking eye contact while cotton coated with alcohol was rubbed into the inside of his arm.

He was terrified to move with the man above him, so when the needle went in that he only let out a pitiful sob that made the other man smile.

“That´s my good boy” he said letting go finally.

The albino jerked forward, slowly feeling how the warm liquid spreaded through his body. He wasn´t sure how much time passed before his primary handler freed him from the straps to then escort him through another set of corridors he had never seen. The place itself was a white maze you wouldn´t identify up from down if it weren´t for the metal doors and their tiny holes as mock-ups of windows. The trainee struggled to keep his eyes open. He had never seen anything but a blurred world, but at that moment, the world seemed like he was inside a washing machine.

“Last stop, 778900″ the man said suddenly, making the trainee give him a confused stare before turning his eyes to the room when he heard wheels against concrete floor. Rolling and rolling.

His eyes tried to find where the sound came from and stumbled upon a wheelbarrow propping up a wooden box with the company´s logo. By the whine that came from it as it was dropped next to another two boxes, he instantly knew what was inside.

His eyes slid ever so slowly, to fix on the two handlers putting another wooden box on the ground, just big enough for a person to fit. It was being wrapped in plastic paper, padded around the small incisions that would serve as breathing holes.

778900 finally understood he was going to be shipped today.

“Arms up to the sides, ´900″ the man ordered patting the inside of his arms before the boy obeyed and put his arms up even when he whined at the effort.

The man took something like a book from one of the tables with tools scattered around and set it on his chest. He whimpered softly at the cold. The man paid it no mind.

“Tape” he yelled at the other two. He was trying so hard to be good for the man. Stop himself from falling to his knees at any second and keep his eyes open. He closed his eyes for a second trying to subdue the sensation of his blood plummeting from his head to his fingertips, but at the stickyness of the tape on his chest he bolted aware, fully alarmed.

“H-Handler…” the boy shyly tried. The man held his right arm up and pushed whatever was on his chest tighter with the other hand.

“I said up, trainee” the man snarled as a warning.

The trainee lowered his head in submission and lifted his arms higher.

With a loud snap of his teeth, the man settled the last corner of the square on his chest and grabbed one of his trembling arms to push him closer to the box “Position three” handler Harry ordered and his body dropped to the floor like a ragdoll, moved to a sitting position, looking up with lidded eyes.

How many times had he been like that? Staring from down below at the brunette that would never touch him without his gloves, waiting for the baton or crop to cross his face or hands as punishment for giving his food away or when, so long ago, he had refused to be broken down.

But this time, the man took off the leather glove of his right hand and stroke his cheek. Whatever was running through his system right now, made it feel heavenly. He couldn´t hold his head to lean into it before the man snapped it back to it´s place.

“Number and designation, trainee” He smirked at the little tremble on the albino´s red eyes. Slightly saddened by the fact it would be the last time he would hear him say it. Well, if he wasn´t sent back to be refurbished.

“WRU, Facility 002, Platonic 778900″ his tongue rolled out as his eyes losed focus for a second. Jolting back to awareness when the man´s warm hand left his chin to slide his glove back on. “I´m a platonic companion and an active participant in fulfilling my owner´s wishes”.

“Correct, trainee” the man said passing his hands behind his neck and unlocking the shock collar with a click, coming off easily.

His hands twitched on his lap, wanting to check if truly, the familiar weight that had been there for five years was finally gone. Just like that. Gone. But 778900 knew better than that and curled his fingers into fists instead.

The next thing 778900 saw was the man´s almost invisible smile before a blindfold was fastened around his eyes and then was forced to sloppily crawl into the wooden cage, earning himself some laughter from the men. The other two handlers helped bend his limbs to fit inside the small box before it was sealed and rolled over in the wheelbarrow to the shipping truck.

The handler, #2375B, Harry Coleman, decided to do something uncharacteristic and sat until the truck with his trainee was out of sight, his view blocked by the sectioned metal door going down. Before going back to his tablet, the shock collar hung from his wrist like a bracelette as he finished up checking the dots on his company generated file to record the trainee´s reception to the shipping team and stash it on his files in case of a complaint about injuries came up and he didn´t have to take responsibility for it.

WRU´s handler finally hit the update box at the end and waited for the little circle animation to finish. A moment later a message popped up in his tablet, informing him the email to notify the prospect that her BoxBoy would arrive soon and was granted a tracking number had just been delivered.

Another perfectly trained boxie was in their way to their forever home.

Harry Coleman hit sent rejoicing in the feeling of a job well done before cracking his shoulders and going to 778900´s trainee room, the 042, to meet the new trainee under his charge that had just arrived a few hours ago.

“Be sure to not come back” he whispered as he threw the shock collar, still warm to the touch, into the bin for reconfiguration.

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